Ezekiel 32
Trap the Lion!
Pray
Intro
√ Trap the lion
Chapters 29-32 record God’s prophetic word concerning the judgment that He planned to bring
upon
Chapter 29 ~ Capture the monster
Chapter 30 ~ Break Pharaoh’s arms
Chapter 31 ~ Cut down the tree
Chapter 32 ~ trap the lion
So, chapter 32 concludes Ezekiel’s prophecy against
Ap. Abrahamic covenant (ref. Gen. 12:2-3)
As Olivier shared this morning it never goes well for those nations or individuals who hate the Jewish people.
Ex. Haman to Hitler
Haman and the Babylonian Empire are gone…
Hitler, the Nazi’s and their 1,000 year Reich are gone…
So it will go with all those who hate the Jewish people the…
“For thus says the LORD of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.” ~ Zech. 2:8
Trap the Lion (vs. 1-2)
Ez. 32:1 And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Ez. 32:2 “Son of
man, take up a lamentation for
Pharaoh king of
‘You are like a young lion among the nations,
And you are like a monster in the seas,
Bursting forth in your rivers,
Troubling the waters with your feet,
And fouling their rivers.’
√ Trap the lion
This is the 6th
prophecy given by Ezekiel against
…two months
after the news of
Note that God compares Pharaoh to a “lion” and a “monster”.
He then goes on to describe how He plans to trap Pharaoh and his army and kill them all.
In fact, Pharaoh’s death is so certain that God tells Ezekiel to pen his obituary before he’s dead!
“Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of
Not exactly what you’d want to hear if you were Pharaoh!
Kill the Beast (vs. 3-10)
Ez. 32:3 “Thus says the Lord GOD:
‘I will therefore spread My net over you with a company of many people,
And they will draw you up in My net.
Ez. 32:4 Then I will leave you on the land;
I will cast you out on the open fields,
And cause to settle on you all the birds of the heavens.
And with you I will fill the beasts of the whole earth.
Ez. 32:5 I will lay your flesh on the mountains,
And fill the valleys with your carcass.
Ez. 32:6 “I will also water the land with the flow of your blood,
Even to the mountains;
And the riverbeds will be full of you.
Ez. 32:7 When I put out your light,
I will cover the heavens, and make its stars dark;
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
And the moon shall not give her light.
Ez. 32:8 All the bright lights of the heavens I will make dark over you,
And bring darkness upon your land,’
Says the Lord GOD.
Ez. 32:9 “I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries which you have not known.
Ez. 32:10 Yes, I will make many peoples astonished at you, and their kings shall be horribly afraid of you when I brandish My sword before them; and they shall tremble every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your fall.’
√ Kill the beast
The illustration that God uses to describe how He plans to destroy Pharaoh begins by referring to him as a “lion” but then moves to a “monster”.
Lion is symbolic of the king as it represents the most powerful of land animals.
We find many examples throughout history and in the Bible of kings and nations using lions to represent their power and superiority over others nations.
The “monster” that is used here has kind of a duel meaning…
The so-called “chaos” monster of Egyptian mythology.
The crocodile which was often used as another symbol of Pharaoh’s power as it was considered the most powerful and dangerous of water dwelling creatures.
The fun part here is that no matter what “mascot” Pharaoh
Hophra and
…God tells us through Ezekiel that He’s going to use Nebuchadnezzar and his army to surround him, catch him and kill him!
√ History repeats itself
Notice in vs. 6-8 that the description of the day of
judgment upon
Vs. 6 ~ water will turn to blood
Vs. 7 & 8 ~ cover the land in darkness
The picture of
Unfortunately for Pharaoh and
Reminds us that it’s important to pay attention and learn from other’s mistakes!
Studying the Bible is no exception, in fact God tells us that much of what is written in the Bible (especially the Old Testament) is there for that very purpose!
“Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” ~ I Cor. 10:11
Study, learn, and heed the lessons!
The Crocodile Hunter (vs. 11-16)
Ez. 32:11 “For
thus says the Lord GOD: ‘The sword of
the king of
Ez. 32:12 By the swords of the mighty warriors, all of them the most terrible of the nations, I will cause your multitude to fall.
“They
shall plunder the pomp of
And all its multitude shall be destroyed.
Ez. 32:13 Also I will destroy all its animals
From beside its great waters;
The foot of man shall muddy them no more,
Nor shall the hooves of animals muddy them.
Ez. 32:14 Then I will make their waters clear,
And make their rivers run like oil,’
Says the Lord GOD.
Ez. 32:15 “When I
make the
And the country is destitute of all that once filled it,
When I strike all who dwell in it,
Then they shall know that I am the LORD.
Ez. 32:16 “This is the lamentation
With which they shall lament her;
The daughters of the nations shall lament her;
They
shall lament for her, for
And for all her multitude,’
Says the Lord GOD.”
√ The crocodile hunter
No, not Steve Irwin! Not that again God identifies the weapon that He is going to use in His judgment against Pharaoh as…
“the king of
…that is, Nebuchadnezzar.
The importance of the repetition is that God is making it clear to everyone listening (or reading) that His Word is true and that it would come to pass soon!
True ~ that is, anyone could say with a great deal of certainty that some nation would cease to be a world power.
In the history of Mankind we don’t have any examples of a nation maintaining world domination over more than a few hundred years.
So if you were just making this stuff up you’ve got pretty
good odds statistically that someone
someday would destroy
So God wants everyone listening to know that He is speaking
through Ezekiel by identifying the man
He would use to destroy
Timing ~ God gives us the means of validating the
truthfulness of Ezekiel’s prophecy by telling us that it would be
Nebuchadnezzar who would destroy
That is, it would happen in the very near future so that all those listening would be able to see that God’s Word is sure.
In other words, it wasn’t a long range prophecy that would be fulfilled thousands of years in the future…
…this was a short range prophecy that would prove to every alive at the time it was given that God is real and that He intervenes in the affairs of Men to accomplish His will and to protect His people!
√ Total destruction
God reveals that His plan for
Ez. 32:12 By the
swords of the mighty warriors, all of them the most terrible of the nations, I
will cause your multitude to fall.
“They
shall plunder the pomp of
And
all its multitude shall be destroyed.
Ez. 32:13 Also I
will destroy all its animals
From
beside its great waters;
The foot of man shall muddy them no more,
Nor shall the hooves of animals muddy
them.
Ez. 32:14 Then I will make their waters clear,
And
make their rivers run like oil,’
Says
the Lord GOD.
The picture is that the land will be so empty that it will return to it’s natural state in which the rivers will run clear for lack of human and animal traffic!
Ap. God often removes people to heal the land
God gave the earth to Mankind but not to destroy it! Rather, we are called to be good stewards of the earth.
Ex. God’s law required a “Sabbath” rest for the land
Every 7 years the Jews were supposed to leave the land alone, no tilling, no planting, no farming.
God promised that He would make the land so fruitful in the 6th year that they could live off the produce until the crops came in, in the 8th year!
But, during the approximately 490 years that they lived in
So, guess what God did?
He took all of them to
Daughters of Death (vs. 17-30)
Ez. 32:17 It came to pass also in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
Ez. 32:18 “Son of
man, wail over the multitude of
And cast them down to the depths of the earth,
Her and the daughters of the famous nations,
With those who go down to the Pit:
Ez. 32:19 “Whom do you surpass in beauty?
Go down, be placed with the uncircumcised.’
Ez. 32:20 “They shall fall in the midst of those slain by the sword;
She is delivered to the sword,
Drawing her and all her multitudes.
Ez. 32:21 The strong among the mighty
Shall speak to him out of the midst of hell
With those who help him:
“They have gone down,
They lie with the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’
Ez. 32:22 “
With their graves all around her,
All of them slain, fallen by the sword.
Ez. 32:23 Her graves are set in the recesses of the Pit,
And her company is all around her grave,
All of them slain, fallen by the sword,
Who caused terror in the land of the living.
Ez. 32:24 “There
is
All around her grave,
All of them slain, fallen by the sword,
Who have gone down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth,
Who caused their terror in the land of the living;
Now they bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit.
Ez. 32:25 They have set her bed in the midst of the slain,
With all her multitude,
With her graves all around it,
All of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword;
Though their terror was caused
In the land of the living,
Yet they bear their shame
With those who go down to the Pit;
It was put in the midst of the slain.
Ez. 32:26 “There are Meshech and Tubal and all their multitudes,
With all their graves around it,
All of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword,
Though they caused their terror in the land of the living.
Ez. 32:27 They do not lie with the mighty
Who are fallen of the uncircumcised,
Who have gone down to hell with their weapons of war;
They have laid their swords under their heads,
But their iniquities will be on their bones,
Because of the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.
Ez. 32:28 Yes, you shall be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised,
And lie with those slain by the sword.
Ez. 32:29 “There
is
Her kings and all her princes,
Who despite their might
Are laid beside those slain by the sword;
They shall lie with the uncircumcised,
And with those who go down to the Pit.
Ez. 32:30 There are the princes of the north,
All of them, and all the Sidonians,
Who have gone down with the slain
In shame at the terror which they caused by their might;
They lie uncircumcised with those slain by the sword,
And bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit.
√ Daughter of death (twisted sisters?)
Ezekiel dated this prophecy March 17, 585 B.C., or two weeks after the previous one.
The purpose of this prophecy is to show the Egyptians that they are not superior to anyone as demonstrated by the fact that in the grave…
…they are subject to the same corruption and judgment that all the previous God-rejecting world powers are.
Death reveals that Pharaoh and his people are not gods, they are just men.
Misery Loves Company (vs. 31-32)
Ez. 32:31 “Pharaoh will see them
And be comforted over all his multitude,
Pharaoh and all his army,
Slain by the sword,”
Says the Lord GOD.
Ez. 32:32 “For I have caused My terror in the land of the living;
And he shall be placed in the midst of the uncircumcised
With those slain by the sword,
Pharaoh and all his multitude,”
Says the Lord GOD.
√ Misery loves company
God tells us that in a strange sort of way Pharaoh will find “comfort” in death in that he isn’t alone in defeat…
…all his people will join him.
Close
√ Trap the lion
Chapters 29-32 record God’s prophetic word concerning the judgment that He planned to bring
upon
Chapter 29 ~ Capture the monster
Chapter 30 ~ Break Pharaoh’s arms
Chapter 31 ~ Cut down the tree
Chapter 32 ~ trap the lion
So, chapter 32 concludes Ezekiel’s prophecy against