Ezekiel 32:1

And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(1) In the twelfth year.—This was one year and between six and seven months after the destruction of Jerusalem, and when, therefore, one great hindrance to Nebuchadnezzar’s march upon Egypt had been removed. It is also nearly two months (Ezekiel 33:21) since Ezekiel had heard of this calamity through a fugitive. It could not have been very long before the arrival of the fugitive Jews in Egypt, after the murder of Gedaliah; yet that it was somewhat earlier is plain from Ezekiel 33:24. It was about the same time with the similar prophecies of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 43, 44); but as the date both of the murder and of the flight are unknown (except that the former occurred in the seventh month—Jeremiah 41:1—but of what year is not stated), the exact chronological relation of these things must remain uncertain.

Benson Commentary

Ezekiel 32:1-2. In the twelfth year — Namely, of Jehoiachin’s captivity, about which time Amasis began to set up himself against the king of Egypt, concerning whom this prophecy is. Song of Solomon of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh — “To the preceding funeral panegyric over Assyria, the fate of which was past, Ezekiel prophetically subjoins a similar panegyric over Egypt, though its fate was still future; making plainly here a happy variation in the oratorical figure, by which past events are brought down and represented as now present before our eyes; whereas, on the contrary, by this prophetic figure future events are anticipated, and represented as already past.” — Obs. on Books, 2:188. Thou art like a young lion of the nations — Thou art like a beast of prey, devouring far and near. Thou art as a whale in the seas — By the word tannim we may fitly understand a crocodile, as has been observed upon Ezekiel 29:3, and the description that follows agrees very well to a crocodile, but cannot be applied to a whale. And thou camest forth with thy rivers, &c. — Or rather, Thou rushedst forth through thy streams, and didst trouble the waters, &c.; that is, thou wentest beyond the bounds of thine own kingdom, and didst trouble and tread down, or subdue, the neighbouring cities and nations.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:1-16 It becomes us to weep and tremble for those who will not weep and tremble for themselves. Great oppressors are, in God's account, no better than beasts of prey. Those who admire the pomp of this world, will wonder at the ruin of that pomp; which to those who know the vanity of all things here below, is no surprise. When others are ruined by sin, we have to fear, knowing ourselves guilty. The instruments of the desolation are formidable. And the instances of the desolation are frightful. The waters of Egypt shall run like oil, which signifies there should be universal sadness and heaviness upon the whole nation. God can soon empty those of this world's goods who have the greatest fulness of them. By enlarging the matters of our joy, we increase the occasions of our sorrow. How weak and helpless, as to God, are the most powerful of mankind! The destruction of Egypt was a type of the destruction of the enemies of Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In the twelfth month - About one year and seven months after the destruction of Jerusalem. In the meantime had occurred the murder of Gedaliah and the flight into Egypt of the Jews left behind by the Chaldaeans Jeremiah 41-43. Jeremiah, who had accompanied them, foretold their ruin Jeremiah 44 in a prophecy probably contemporaneous with the present - the sixth against Egypt, delivered in the form of a dirge Ezekiel 44:2-16.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 32

Eze 32:1-32. Two Elegies over Pharaoh, One Delivered on the First Day (Eze 32:1), THE Other on the Fifteenth Day of the Same Month, the Twelfth of the Twelfth Year.

1. The twelfth year from the carrying away of Jehoiachin; Jerusalem was by this time overthrown, and Amasis was beginning his revolt against Pharaoh-hophra.A lamentation for the fearful fall of Egypt, Ezekiel 32:1-10. The sword of Babylon shall destroy it, Ezekiel 32:11-16. It shall be brought down to hell among all the uncircumcised nations, Ezekiel 32:17-32.

In the twelfth year of the captivity of Jeconiah.

In the twelfth month, answering to part of our February and part of March, and called Sabat. In the first day; and was the 15th of February old style, and the 5th new style.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it came to pass in the twelfth year,.... Of Jeconiah's captivity, above a year and a half after the taking of Jerusalem; the Syriac version reads in the eleventh year:

in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month; the month Adar, which answers to part of our February, and part of March; the Septuagint version reads it the tenth month: according to Bishop Usher (t), this was on the twenty second of March, on the fourth day of the week (Wednesday), 3417 A.M.or 587 years before Christ:

that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying; as follows:

(t) Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3417.

Geneva Study Bible

And it came to pass in the {a} twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

(a) Which was the first year of the general captivity under Zedekiah.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1. The prophecy is dated the first of the twelfth month of the twelfth year, nearly a year and seven months after the fall of Jerusalem. Syr. reads eleventh year.

Ch. 32 Final prophecy against Pharaoh

The chapter contains two parts:

First, Ezekiel 32:1-16. A lament over Pharaoh.

Second, Ezekiel 32:17-32. A funeral dirge over the interment of him and his multitude.

The line of thought in Ezekiel 32:1-16 resembles that in the other chapters:

(1) Ezekiel 32:1-6. Pharaoh, represented as a dragon in the waters, is dragged out by the net of Jehovah, and flung upon the land, where all fowls and beasts feed on him. His carcase fills the land and his blood the water-courses.

(2) Ezekiel 32:7-10. Shock of nature and commotion among the nations, even the most distant and unknown to Egypt, over his fall.

(3) Ezekiel 32:11-16. The instrument of his destruction is the king of Babylon. The overthrow of Pharaoh and his people shall be complete. The land shall be desolate and life shall cease in it; no foot of living creature, man or beast, shall trouble its waters, which shall run smooth and dead.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 1. - In the twelfth year, etc. March, B.C. 584, nineteen months attar the destruction of Jerusalem. The two sections of the chapter, Vers. 1-16 and 17-32, belong to the same year, and probably, though the date of the month is net given for the second, were written within a fortnight of each other. The thoughts of the prophet still dwell upon the downfall of Egypt, and he is stirred, as by a special inspiration, to write an elaborate "lamentation" over its departed greatness. It would seem, from the repetition of the word in Ver. 16, as if the elegy had originally been intended to end there. Possibly it may have occurred to the prophet that what he had written was rather a prediction of coming evil than a lamentation, and therefore needed to be completed by a second, coming more strictly under that title. Ezekiel 32:1

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Lamentation over the King of Egypt

Pharaoh, a sea-monster, is drawn by the nations out of his waters with the net of God, and cast out upon the earth. His flesh is given to the birds and beasts of prey to devour, and the earth is saturated with his blood (Ezekiel 32:2-6). At his destruction the lights of heaven lose their brightness, and all the nations will be amazed thereat (Ezekiel 32:7-10). The king of Babel will come upon Egypt, will destroy both man and beast, and will make the land a desert (Ezekiel 32:11-16). - The date given in Ezekiel 32:1 - "In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying" - agrees entirely with the relation in which the substance of the ode itself stands to the prophecies belonging to the tenth and eleventh years in Ezekiel 29:1-16 and Ezekiel 30:20-26; whereas the different date found in the Septuagint cannot come into consideration for a moment.