Page 147 - NOTES ON EZEKIEL

CHAPTER XXIX. 141
again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to
return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their
inhabitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. It
shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it ex­
alt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish
them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. And'
it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel,
which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when
they shall look after them: but they shall know that
IamtheLord Jehovah.” (Ver. 13—16.) How wonderful,
and how punctually fulfilled! yet no wit of man could have'
forecast it in any of its parts. It was the reversal of
its own experiences, and no other nation had a similar
destiny or sentence. The more we ponder the word,
the more we know its real history: not the prophecy
from the history—no man ever yet learnt truly thus—
but the history from the prophecy, for God alone sees
and speaks without error or change; and our best wisdonr
is to learn of Him, honouring His word, let who will
prefer the sight of their eyes or the hearing of men with
their ears. Dull as Israel were, they should thus know
that He was Jehovah. Egypt though restored rose to
dominion no more, became a kingdom but the basest,
and no more an object of confidence to Israel.
The rest of the chapter connects with the beginning
of it a prophecy wholly distinct in time but kindred in
subject. “ And it came to pass in the seven and twen­
tieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the
month, the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son*
of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army
to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was
made bald, and e v ery shoulder was peeled: y e t bad he*