Ezekiel 32:30

There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) The princes of the north.—The word is not the same as that used for the princes of Edom in Ezekiel 32:29. That refers to the heads of the Edomite tribes, but this is thought to imply enfeoffed or vassal princes. However this may be, from the connection with the Zidonians it is clear that not the far north is intended, but perhaps chieftains of Syria, Damascus, and the like.

The Zidonians.—With the rise of Tyre, Zidon had long since lost its pre-eminence among the Phœnician cities; but it was still an important and an independent city, and was doomed to far greater humiliation in the future.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:17-32 Divers nations are mentioned as gone down to the grave before Egypt, who are ready to give her a scornful reception; these nations had been lately ruined and wasted. But though Judah and Jerusalem were about this time ruined and laid waste, yet they are not mentioned here. Though they suffered the same affliction, and by the same hand, yet the kind design for which they were afflicted, and the mercy God reserved for them, altered its nature. It was not to them a going down to the pit, as it was to the heathen. Pharaoh shall see, and be comforted; but the comfort wicked ones have after death, is poor comfort, not real, but only in fancy. The view this prophecy gives of ruined states shows something of this present world, and the empire of death in it. Come and see the calamitous state of human life. As if men did not die fast enough, they are ingenious at finding out ways to destroy one another. Also of the other world; though the destruction of nations as such, seems chiefly intended, here is plain allusion to the everlasting ruin of impenitent sinners. How are men deceived by Satan! What are the objects they pursue through scenes of bloodshed, and their many sins? Surely man disquiets himself in vain, whether he pursues wealth, fame, power, or pleasure. The hour cometh, when all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of Christ, and shall come forth; those that have done good to the resurrection of life, and those that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The princes of the north - i. e., north of Palestine - The Tyrians and the Syrians.

With their terror they are ashamed of their might - i. e., "When their might and power were terrible to all, they were shorn of their power and delivered over to shame and confusion." There are here six nations, Asshur, Elam, Meshech, Tubal, Edom, Zidon, which added to Egypt make up seven (see the Ezekiel 25:1 note). The section which contains the prophecies against the pagan, closing with this description of the kings who had gone down to the grave, accords with the general purport of the whole section, namely,: the declaration that all the powers of the world shall be annihilated to make way for the kingdom of God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

30. princes of the north—Syria, which is still called by the Arabs the north; or the Tyrians, north of Palestine, conquered by Nebuchadnezzar (Eze 26:1-28:26), [Grotius].

Zidonians—who shared the fate of Tyre (Eze 28:21).

with their terror they are ashamed of their might—that is, notwithstanding the terror which they inspired in their contemporaries. "Might" is connected by Maurer thus, "Notwithstanding the terror which resulted from their might."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Of the north; of all those countries, Tyrians, Zidonia Assyrians, and Syrians, &c., which lay northward from Judea, now swallowed up by the Babylonian. With the slain conquered and slain.

With their terror; their terror buried with them.

Ashamed of their might; when it appeared a vain confidence, and too weak to resist the enemy and save themselves.

Uncircumcised; scorned and cast out, as profane and loathsome.

By the sword of their conquering enemy.

Bear their shame; they lie under shameful fall, from a seeming glory to a real ignominy.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

There be the princes of the north,..... The kings of Babylon, according to Kimchi, which lay north of Judea; or the princes of Syria, Damascus, and Tyre, especially the latter, which commonly goes along with Zidon, being near it, as follows:

and all the Zidonians. The Vulgate Latin version renders it, "and all the hunters"; but wrongly; as also the Septuagint and Arabic versions, which read the princes or soldiers of Assyria. The Zidonians or inhabitants of Zidon are meant as the Targum; a famous maritime city, as Tyre also was, in Phoenicia:

which are gone down with the slain; into the grave, being conquered and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar; see Ezekiel 28:21,

with their terror they are ashamed of their might, the number and strength of their armies, the valour and courage of their soldiers, and the fortifications of their cities, in which they trusted, and of which they boasted; but yet could not preserve them from ruin:

and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword; in common with other profane and wicked persons that have fallen by the sword as they have done:

and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit; See Gill on Ezekiel 32:24.

Geneva Study Bible

There are the princes of the {s} north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, who are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit.

(s) The kings of Babylon.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

30. The princes of the North and the Sidonians. The former are probably those of the Syrian states, and the Sidonians represent the Phœnician principalities in general.

with their terror] Rather, in close connexion with the preceding, gone down with the slain, because of (notwithstanding) their terror (coming) from their might (they are) ashamed. The term “ashamed” is wanting in LXX., and it occurs only here.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30. - There be the princes of the north. The noun for "princes" is different from that of Ver. 29, and has the sense of "vassal rulers," as in Joshua 13:21; Micah 5:4. So we have the "kings of the north" in Jeremiah 25:26. The fact that they are coupled with the Zidonians (it is suggestive that Ezekiel names these rather than the Tyrians) points in the direction of Northern Syria, including cities like Damascus, Hamath, Arpad, and others. Ezekiel 32:30

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Fifth strophe. - Ezekiel 32:29. There are Edom, its kings and all its princes, who in spite of their bravery are associated with those that are pierced with the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised and with those that have gone down into the pit. Ezekiel 32:30. There are princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians who have gone down to the slain, been put to shame in spite of the dread of them because of their bravery; they lie there as uncircumcised, and bear their shame with those who have gone into the pit. - In this strophe Ezekiel groups together the rest of the heathen nations in the neighbourhood of Israel; and in doing so, he changes the שׁם of the preceding list for שׁמּה, thither. This might be taken prophetically: thither will they come, "to these they also belong" (Hvernick), only such nations being mentioned here as are still awaiting their destruction. But, in the first place, the perfects אשׁר נתנוּ, אשׁר ירדוּ, in Ezekiel 32:29, Ezekiel 32:30, do not favour this explanation, inasmuch as they are used as preterites in Ezekiel 32:22, Ezekiel 32:24, Ezekiel 32:25, Ezekiel 32:26, Ezekiel 32:27; and, secondly, even in the previous strophes, not only are such peoples mentioned as have already perished, but some, like Elam and Meshech-Tubal, which did not rise into historical importance, or exert any influence upon the development of the kingdom of God till after Ezekiel's time, whereas the Edomites and Sidonians were already approaching destruction. We therefore regard שׁמּה as simply a variation of expression in the sense of "thither have they come," without discovering any allusion to the future. - In the case of Edom, kings and נשׂיאים, i.e., tribe-princes, are mentioned. The allusion is to the 'alluphim or phylarchs, literally chiliarchs, the heads of the leading families (Genesis 36:15.), in whose hands the government of the people lay, inasmuch as the kings were elective, and were probably chosen by the phylarchs (see the comm. on Genesis 36:31.). בּגבוּרתם, in, or with their bravery, i.e., in spite of it. There is something remarkable in the allusion to princes of the north (נסיכי, lit., persons enfeoffed, vassal-princes; see the comm. on Joshua 13:21 and Micah 5:4) in connection with the Sidonians, and after Meshech-Tubal the representative of the northern nations. The association with the Sidonians renders the conjecture a very natural one, that allusion is made to the north of Palestine, and more especially to the Aram of Scripture, with its many separate states and princes (Hvernick); although Jeremiah 25:26, "the kings of the north, both far and near," does not furnish a conclusive proof of this. So much, at any rate, is certain, that the princes of the north are not to be identified with the Sidonians. For, as Kliefoth has correctly observed, "there are six heathen nations mentioned, viz., Asshur, Elam, Meshech-Tubal, Edom, the princes of the north, and Sidon; and if we add Egypt to the list, we shall have seven, which would be thoroughly adapted, as it was eminently intended, to depict the fate of universal heathenism." A principle is also clearly discernible in the mode in which they are grouped. Asshur, Elam, and Meshech-Tubal represent the greater and more distant world-powers; Edom the princes of the north, and Sidon the neighbouring nations of Israel on both south and north. בּחתּיתם מגּבוּרתם, literally, in dread of them, (which proceeded) from their bravery, i.e., which their bravery inspired. 'ויּשׂאוּ וגו, as in Ezekiel 32:24.