Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He continues to prophesy the destruction of Egypt and of Ethiopia, which borders it. This prophecy seems in its first part, namely up to verse 20, to belong to the preceding chapter, and therefore to have been issued in the 27th year of the captivity, as is clear from the preceding chapter, verse 17. For here, at verse 20, he records another prophecy against Egypt, which he received from God earlier, namely in the eleventh year of the captivity: but both are on the same subject, and one confirms the other. The same destruction of Egypt and its disasters were predicted by Isaiah in chapters 19, 30, and 31, and by Jeremiah in chapters 24, 43, 44, and 46. Therefore I shall not repeat what was said there, and so I shall be brief here.
Vulgate Text: Ezekiel 30:1-26
1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2. Son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus says the Lord God: Wail, woe, woe to the day! 3. For the day is near, and the day of the Lord approaches: a day of clouds, it shall be the time of the nations. 4. And the sword shall come upon Egypt: and there shall be fear in Ethiopia, when the wounded shall fall in Egypt, and its multitude shall be taken away, and its foundations destroyed. 5. Ethiopia, and Libya, and the Lydians, and all the rest of the common people, and Chub, and the sons of the land of the covenant, shall fall by the sword with them. 6. Thus says the Lord God: They that uphold Egypt shall fall, and the pride of its empire shall be brought down: from the tower of Syene they shall fall by the sword in it, says the Lord God of hosts; 7. and they shall be laid waste in the midst of desolate lands, and its cities shall be in the midst of deserted cities. 8. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have set fire to Egypt, and all its helpers shall be crushed. 9. In that day messengers shall go forth from My presence in triremes, to destroy the confidence of Ethiopia; and there shall be fear among them in the day of Egypt, for without doubt it shall come. 10. Thus says the Lord God: I will cause the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 11. He and his people with him, the strongest of nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall unsheathe their swords against Egypt, and shall fill the land with the slain. 12. And I will make the channels of the rivers dry, and I will deliver the land into the hands of the most wicked: and I will lay waste the land and all that is in it by the hand of strangers; I the Lord have spoken. 13. Thus says the Lord God: I will destroy the idols, and I will make the false gods cease from Memphis: and there shall be no more a prince from the land of Egypt: and I will spread terror in the land of Egypt. 14. And I will destroy the land of Pathures, and I will set fire to Taphnis, and I will execute judgments in Alexandria. 15. And I will pour out My indignation upon Pelusium, the strength of Egypt, and I will slay the multitude of Alexandria, 16. and I will set fire to Egypt: Pelusium shall be in pain like a woman in labor, and Alexandria shall be torn asunder, and in Memphis there shall be daily distresses. 17. The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis shall fall by the sword, and they themselves shall be led away captive. 18. And in Taphnis the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the scepters of Egypt, and the pride of its power shall cease in it: a cloud shall cover it, and its daughters shall be led into captivity. 19. And I will execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the Lord. 20. And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 21. Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt: and behold, it has not been bound up to restore it to health, nor bandaged with cloths and wrappings, so that, having recovered its strength, it might hold the sword. 22. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I come against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and I will break his arm, the strong one that is already broken: and I will cast the sword out of his hand: 23. and I will scatter Egypt among the nations, and will disperse them through the lands. 24. And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and will put My sword in his hand: and I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and they shall groan with the groans of the slain before his face.
25. And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have put My sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall have stretched it out over the land of Egypt. 26. And I will scatter Egypt among the nations, and will disperse them through the lands, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
Verse 2: Wail
2. WAIL — O Egyptians and the rest, whose destruction I here foretell! WOE TO THE DAY — that is, as Vatablus says, O unhappy day! For the Hebrew הוי hoi, that is "woe," as it agrees in letters and sound, so it sometimes agrees in meaning with אוי oi, that is "O."
Verse 3: The Day Of The Lord
3. THE DAY OF THE LORD — on which the Lord will exercise public vengeance against the Egyptians, and that a harsh and terrible one. A DAY OF CLOUDS — a cloudy day, that is, a sad, turbulent, calamitous day. IT SHALL BE THE TIME (of vengeance upon) THE NATIONS — namely of the Babylonians devastating and avenging; or rather of the nations to be avenged and devastated, namely the Egyptians. So the Chaldean. Just as in verse 9, "the day of Egypt" is called the day of Egypt's destruction.
Tropologically, the day of death and the day of judgment will be the day of the Lord, "when the whole course of this world will be destroyed, and with error removed, the one truth will appear, and a day of cloud and mist; for no one who is fearful and uncertain about the sentence awaits the judge without dread. And it will be the time or end of the nations, not of one Egyptian nation, but of all nations. It follows: The sword will come upon Egypt, the turning and flaming sword, the divine word; which separates the good from the evil, and consumes the worst with its fire; upon Egypt, I say, of this world, so that there will be fear in Ethiopia; those who dwell beyond Egypt in the night of error and in darkness, and whose blackness is either with difficulty or never converted to whiteness. And the multitude of Egypt will be taken away; for broad and spacious is the way that leads to death," says St. Jerome.
Verse 4: Its Foundations Destroyed
4. ITS FOUNDATIONS DESTROYED — namely, cities and fortresses well-founded and fortified. Others understand princes, others laws: for both are foundations of the commonwealth and civil order.
Verse 5: Ethiopia
5. ETHIOPIA — namely, the one bordering Egypt, that is Abyssinia, where the king commonly called Prester John rules. THE LYDIANS — not from Lydia, where the famous king Croesus reigned. Indeed the Ionians and Carians, neighbors of Lydia (who perhaps were also included under the name of Lydians, having served not only as mercenaries under Psammetichus and Apries, but also having been given lands in Egypt), but from Lydda, a city of Palestine near Egypt, where St. Peter, Acts 9:34, healed Aeneas the paralytic; where also St. George suffered martyrdom and was buried: whence it is still called St. George's, says Vitriacus, and after him Adrichomius, in Lyda or Lydda: for it was warlike, and as such is introduced by Ezekiel: whence in the time of St. Jerome, it was called Diospolis, that is, the city of Jupiter, and it was one of the eleven toparchies of Judea, the fifth in order.
CHUB. — Symmachus and Jerome translate, Arabs. Perhaps these are those whom Ptolemy, Geography book IV, chapter 5, calls Cobii. AND THE SONS OF THE LAND OF THE COVENANT — the inhabitants of the land that entered into a treaty with the Egyptians, as if to say: And all others who are allied with the Egyptians. For thus the Prophet explains this Hebraism in the following verse, when he calls them those who "uphold" and strengthen "Egypt." Others say: The Jews, inhabitants of Judea, which was promised in God's covenant with Abraham, to him and his seed, and whose inhabitants were bound by covenant with God. Whence the Septuagint translates, and the sons of my covenant.
Verse 6: From The Tower Of Syene
6. FROM THE TOWER OF SYENE — namely, all the way to the borders of Ethiopia, which was mentioned before, that is, throughout all Egypt, as I explained in the preceding chapter, verse 10. 7. IN THE MIDST OF THE CITIES — as if to say: Among the deserted, that is, devastated cities, the cities of Egypt will likewise be devastated and deserted: for Nebuchadnezzar devastated all the neighboring ones. See what was said about this phrase in the preceding chapter, verse 12.
Verse 8: When I Shall Have Set Fire To Egypt
8. WHEN I SHALL HAVE SET FIRE TO EGYPT — that is, when I shall have burned it with fire: or, fire signifies the severity of any calamity. 9. MESSENGERS SHALL GO FORTH FROM MY PRESENCE. — The Chaldeans, namely, as envoys sent by God, will go forth from their land, carried by triremes to crush the Ethiopians. But since the Chaldeans came from Chaldea by land route, not by sea, as is clear from geography; hence secondly, Maldonatus says more aptly: Messengers will go from Egypt through the Nile to Ethiopia,
announcing the devastation of Egypt, they will strike terror into Ethiopia, which was far too secure and self-confident. Moreover, God says that they will go forth from His presence, because they were to go forth by His counsel and providence. AND THERE SHALL BE FEAR AMONG THEM (among the Ethiopians) IN THE DAY OF EGYPT (in Hebrew: just as in the day, namely of the devastation of Egypt, there was great fear in it, so there will be in Ethiopia), FOR WITHOUT DOUBT IT SHALL COME — namely, the devastation of Ethiopia.
Verse 12: And I Will Make The Channels Of The Rivers Dry
12. AND I WILL MAKE THE CHANNELS OF THE RIVERS DRY — namely, to punish Egypt with drought and barrenness. For if the Nile does not overflow and fertilize Egypt, it will be barren. Others say: So great will be the multitude of the Chaldeans that they will drink up the waters of the rivers. For thus Sennacherib boasts, 2 Kings 19:24: "I have drunk foreign waters, and I have dried up with the soles of my feet all the enclosed waters." So Maldonatus. Symbolically, Rabbi David takes the streams to mean riches, as if to say: I will take away Egypt's riches: for these in Egypt depend on the waters and flooding of the Nile. INTO THE HANDS OF THE MOST WICKED — into the hands of the cruel Chaldeans.
Verse 13: I WILL MAKE THE FALSE GODS CEASE FROM MEMPHIS
13. I WILL MAKE THE FALSE GODS CEASE FROM MEMPHIS. — "Memphis," in Hebrew Noph, a very great and populous city of Egypt, has the shape of a lens, situated near Heliopolis, at the place where the Nile divides and forms a triangular or three-cornered shape, founded by King Menes. It was formerly the seat of the kings of Egypt: hence there were royal sepulchers, columns, and pyramids, about which Martial writes in book I: "Let barbarous Memphis be silent about the wonders of its pyramids." Hence also there were wise men and philosophers in it: whence Pythagoras and Plato journeyed to Egypt to hear the prophets of Memphis, says St. Jerome. It was most addicted to superstition, and therefore was regarded as the metropolis of superstition. There was worshiped in it even in the time of St. Jerome a bronze image of an ox as a god: for there had once been there the temple of Apis, or Serapis, where the consulted demon gave oracles. About which Ovid writes in book I of The Art of Love: "Do not shun the Memphitic rites of the Nile-born heifer." And Tibullus, book I: "Skilled in mourning the barbarous Memphite ox." And this is the reason why the prophets thunder against it:
Ezekiel, Isaiah chapter 19, Jeremiah chapter 44, Hosea chapter 9, especially because Jewish fugitives from their homeland, out of fear of the Chaldeans, settled in Memphis against the Lord's command, says St. Jerome on Hosea 9. Afterwards Memphis was called the Babylon of Egypt: now in the Arabic language it is called Cairo, commonly Alcair: it was the seat of the Sultan of Egypt; but when he (his name was Campson) was killed in battle, Selim the emperor of the Turks subjected it along with all of Egypt, and completely overthrew the Mamluk empire around the year of our Lord 1516. There are those who assert it is five times larger than Paris; but they include the suburban district, which is scattered with innumerable villages, says Ludovicus Romanus, book I of Navigation, chapter 1.
AND THERE SHALL BE NO MORE A PRINCE FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT — namely, for a long time, that is, for forty years, as he said in the preceding chapter, verse 13.
Verse 14: I Will Set Fire To Taphnis
14. I WILL SET FIRE TO TAPHNIS — I will burn Taphnis or Tanis, a most ancient city of Egypt, as is clear from Numbers 13:23. It is called Tanis in Hebrew צען tsoan, from which, by dropping the middle letter ain, comes צן tsan, then Tan, then Tanis. For the Syrians interchange tsade with teth. From Tanis the Titans, the giants who inhabited it, derived their name. I WILL EXECUTE JUDGMENTS IN ALEXANDRIA — I will severely punish Alexandria. For this is what the Hebrew נא No means, as the Chaldean and the Hebrews translate it. For Alexandria in Ezekiel's time was called No, and it was a great and powerful city, so much so that Nahum 3:8 says it was not inferior to the very greatest Nineveh, which in the circuit of its walls measured 480 stadia, says Diodorus Siculus, book III, chapter 1, that is, 60 miles, which make 20 leagues. Therefore No was greater than Alexandria later was, which in length was 30 stadia, in breadth ten, says Josephus, book II of the Jewish War, chapter 16; and in the circuit of its walls it had 18. Whence the Septuagint translates Diospolis, as if to say, the city of Jupiter. Nebuchadnezzar devastated it, but later Alexander restored it, surrounded it with very great walls, and named it Alexandria after himself. There is therefore a prolepsis; for by anticipation our author calls it Alexandria, though at that time it was called No. So Virgil said of Aeneas: "And he came to the Lavinian shores." "Not because at the time when Aeneas came to Latium they were called Lavinian, but which were afterward named Lavinian," says St. Jerome. Whence the city of Lavinia, which still stands not far from Rome, retains this name. Hence it is clear that Alexander was not the founder of Alexandria, but its restorer and namer.
Verse 15: Pelusium, The Strength Of Egypt
15. PELUSIUM, THE STRENGTH OF EGYPT — because Pelusium was the most fortified, and had a great and secure port; hence it was most flourishing in ships and merchandise. "Whence also the Poet calls it Pelusian lentil, not because it grows there, but because from the Thebaid and all Egypt it is brought there in great quantity through the channel of the Nile," says St. Jerome.
Verse 17: THE YOUNG MEN OF HELIOPOLIS AND BUBASTIS SHALL FALL BY
17. THE YOUNG MEN OF HELIOPOLIS AND BUBASTIS SHALL FALL BY THE SWORD.
SHALL FALL. — Heliopolis is a city of Egypt, which by the Greeks, as Diodorus Siculus attests, is called Thebes. Its citizens, as Herodotus attests in book II, were considered the wisest of all among the Egyptians. In Latin it is called the City of the Sun, because there was in it an image and temple of the Sun. The ancients relate that the phoenix bird dwells at Heliopolis: because, namely, the Heliopolitans depicted the sun as a bird rising and setting. But the phoenix is not a bird, nor ever existed in the world, as I showed on Genesis 7:2. "Bubastis," or rather "Pubasti," in Hebrew פי בסת pi beset, is a city near Pelusium, at the eastern mouth of the Nile. Ptolemy calls it the City of Heroes: the surrounding region and adjacent river are called Bubastus after it. There was in it a famous temple of Diana: whence it is called holy by Ovid; for he sings thus in Metamorphoses IX: "With whom barking Anubis, and holy Bubastis, and Apis of varied colors."
Mystically, St. Jerome says: "Pathures is interpreted 'trampling of bread'; Taphnis, or Tanis, 'humble commandment'; Diospolis, which in Hebrew is No, 'rest'; Sain, 'temptation.' By these names are indicated the various assemblies of heretics and of all liars, who trample and despise the Ecclesiastical bread; and follow a humble commandment that does not lead to heavenly things; and devote themselves to pleasures, and are in rest (such as we read of the rich man clothed in purple in the Gospel) and serve temptations. All these things the Lord will destroy and burn up, as well as the young men of Heliopolis, in Hebrew און On, which is interpreted 'pain'; and of Bubastis, that is, 'the test of the mouth.' All those who could not bear pain, but pursued the delights of Diospolis, and trusted in the fluency of their speech, and disputing against other doctrines, having proofs of victory, shall fall by the sword of the word of God." These are St. Jerome's words at length, which I have condensed into brief form.
AND THEY THEMSELVES (namely the women of the young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis) SHALL BE LED AWAY CAPTIVE. — So the Septuagint. For thus in a similar disaster Taphnis is described and explained in the following verse.
Verse 18: The Day Shall Be Darkened
18. THE DAY SHALL BE DARKENED — as if to say: So great will be the mourning and grief that to the Egyptians the day will seem to grow dark and turn to night, and to be covered with cloud. This is the day of cloud, of which verse 3 spoke.
Verse 20: And It Came To Pass In The Eleventh Year
20. AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE ELEVENTH YEAR — of the exile of Jehoiachin, as is clear from the preceding chapter, verse 17, which was the last year of Zedekiah, in which the kingdom of the Jews and the city of Jerusalem were overthrown by the Chaldeans.
Verse 21: I HAVE BROKEN THE ARM (the Chaldean reads, the strength)
21. I HAVE BROKEN THE ARM (the Chaldean reads, the strength) OF PHARAOH — that is, I will break it, so that by no skill or help can it be restored to its original and former state. Secondly, and more properly, I have already broken Pharaoh Necho fighting at Carchemish against the Chaldeans, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim king of Judah, as if to say: The king of Egypt will not be able to resist the Chaldeans, because from the aforementioned battle he has a broken arm, that is, his forces are so battered that he cannot hold the sword. Nor has this bruise been able to be healed until now; because he has not been able to recover the strength and the regions, especially Syria, which he lost in that battle. So say H. Pintus, Maldonatus, and the Hebrews. Therefore, since his arm is thus broken and bruised, I will easily a little later completely shatter and crush it. Whence it follows:
Verse 22: Behold, I Come Against Pharaoh
22. BEHOLD, I COME AGAINST PHARAOH — namely, I will come to destroy him. AND I WILL BREAK HIS ARM, THE STRONG ONE THAT IS ALREADY BROKEN. — In Hebrew, both the strong and the broken; so the Septuagint, as if to say: The king of Egypt formerly had two arms, that is, two kingdoms, namely Egypt and Syria: one, namely Syria, is already broken and taken from him; the other remains, namely Egypt, which he still holds, but I will likewise shatter that one, so that, maimed in both arms and hands, he will be unfit for war, and unable to hold the sword in either hand to resist the Chaldeans. So the Hebrews.
Verse 24: And I Will Strengthen
24. AND I WILL STRENGTHEN — I will give strength, courage, resources, and troops to the Chaldean. AND THEY SHALL GROAN, ETC., THE SLAIN. — In Hebrew חללים chalalim, that is, the wounded, fatally injured: therefore "slain" here signifies an action, or rather an ongoing suffering, not a completed one: for those who have been completely slain, that is, dead, cannot groan. So often elsewhere our author translates the Hebrew chalalim as "slain." For it signifies those who have been wounded, and die as a result. BEFORE HIS FACE — namely, both of Pharaoh and of the king of Babylon.
Verse 25: WHEN I SHALL HAVE PUT MY SWORD.
25. WHEN I SHALL HAVE PUT MY SWORD. — God calls the swords of the Chaldeans His own; because He used them as His instruments and executioners to punish the nations: for just as a magistrate gives a sword to the executioner to cut off the head of a criminal, so God gave strength to the Chaldeans and other tyrants to punish sinful nations. See Canons XXXV and XXXVI.