FM504
EZEKIEL 29

THE EGYPTIANS A TYPE
Ezekiel 29:1. In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying. – Chapters 29 to 32 are directed against Egypt, its king and people, and against the surrounding peoples. Egypt was divided into Upper and Lower Egypt, and was known as Mizraim, which meant "Middle Country," and typed organized, entrenched and enthroned middle-course worldliness. The word Egypt means "that binds or oppresses," and signifies the bondage of the Lord's people to the oppressive, enslaving spirit of the world – the spirit that slew our Lord (Rev. 11:8), and has enslaved and slain millions of God's saints. Chapter 29:1-7 represents worldliness as a crocodile, the dragon of Revelation 12:3, etc.

Ezekiel 29:2. Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt. – This message is against Satan, the Devil, the king of this present evil world, and against all worldliness.

Ezekiel 29:3. Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. – Jehovah says, I am against thee, Satan (Pharaoh means the sun, the god of the sun worshipper, the Devil), the great wicked dragon, also called Pagan Rome (later Papal Rome), that dwells in the midst of the church denominations (rivers, channels of Truth), and says, The church system is mine own, and I (not God) made it for my own purposes.

Ezekiel 29:4. But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. – God will bind thy utterances (jaws) with a chain (hook means chain or ring) (Rev. 20:1), and will cause thy active worldly church members and other adherents in thy churches (rivers) to adhere to thy protecting doctrines (scales) and will alienate thy churches from thee (corresponds to drying up Euphrates) and from all thy active supporters. FM505

Ezekiel 29:5. And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven. – And I will cause thee to be forsaken (in the wilderness), thee and all thy adherents (fish). Thou shalt fall unprotected into the hands of a cold, cruel world (open fields), not to be established again in power, but to be destroyed by the evil revolutionary governments (beasts) of the world (field), in world-wide revolution, and by wicked criminals, jail birds (fowls) and anarchists.

Ezekiel 29:6. And the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. – The worldly people who have been no real support to either Jews or true Christians (Isa. 36:6; Z.'95-144), shall realize that Jehovah is the Lord.

Ezekiel 29:7. When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand. – When they in their weakness sought some aid of thee, thou didst roughly abuse them; and didst try to destroy them in persecution.

Ezekiel 29:8, 9. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee. And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the Lord: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it. – And worldliness shall be destroyed, and the people shall know Jehovah as He is; because Satan said, The churches are mine.

Ezekiel 29:10. Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene oven unto the border of Ethiopia. – I am against thee and thy churches, and will utterly destroy worldliness from end to end.

Ezekiel 29:11, 12. No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. – Christendom shall be uninhabited and desolate for forty years after its devastation.

Ezekiel 29:13. Yet thus saith the Lord God; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered. – After forty years God will gather into the Kingdom the scattered worldly people. FM506

CHRISTENDOM'S FUTURE CONDITION

Ezekiel 29:14. And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. – And will bring them back from the dead into their own country, where they shall be insignificant.

Ezekiel 29:15. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. – This has been literally fulfilled upon Egypt, which for many centuries has not enjoyed self-government.

Ezekiel 29:16. 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 I am the Lord God. – Neither Jews nor Christians shall ever again look to the worldly people (Egypt), (Isa. 30:1-5) for help; for the sight of the worldly will make them remember Christendom's iniquity.

Ezekiel 29:17, 18. And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the Word of the Lord 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 every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it. – The forces of anarchy's king, the Devil, will perform a great service in the Divine Plan of the Ages, but there will be nothing in it for the anarchists.

Ezekiel 29:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages of his army. – Jehovah will live worldly Christendom to anarchy; and this shall be the material reward of the forces of anarchy.

Ezekiel 29:20. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for Me, saith the Lord God. – God will give worldly Christendom to anarchy, for its labor in serving the interests of God's plans against pagan religion masquerading as Christendom, because in doing so anarchy will do its part.

Ezekiel 29:21. In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the Lord. – During the Time of Trouble God will cause the power (T42) of the Jews to bud forth in Zionism, and make known the glad tidings of the Kingdom, taught in Studies in the Scriptures. – Isa. 19:1-25.