I have given him the land of Egypt
Mon, 26 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.
17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord GOD.
This oracle occurs in April 571 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar began the siege of Tyre in 585 B.C. and the islands of Tyre fell in 572 B.C., thirteen years later. So this prophecy comes just after the fall of Tyre. It was a long and difficult siege, and it was not cost effective for Babylon. They did not get back what the siege cost them. And so Ezekiel prophecies that God is going to give Babylon victory over Egypt as payment for their unrewarding work at Tyre.
What do we learn from this?
Once again we see that God is in charge of the rising and falling of nations. In this chapter, we see the punishment meted out upon Egypt and how God uses Babylon as his instrument. Babylon was an aggressive nation seeking places to conquer, and so they were just doing what came naturally to them. But in executing their own plans, they end up doing exactly what God ordains. They do no more than what God ordains, but also no less.
Where is Christ in this passage?
Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. As we have quoted from Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 a number of times recently, we will not do so again here. But we see that not only is the Second Person of the Trinity given the role of Savour, but He also is the Judge of the nations, ruling with a rod of iron.
In Ezekiel we see God judging and punishing the nations. He is smashing nations and ruling with His iron scepter. But this is not something that is simply academic for us. This is as personal as it can be because the day will come when we will all stand before God and be judged by Jesus Christ.
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
