Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_100.lzh/6_163.TXT

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leaned on his arm, were dependents upon him; or his
ministers, his instruments, whom he employed under
him as his deputies, to govern the several provinces
that belonged to him; or rather his allies and aux-
iliaries, who' helped and assisted him on occasion:
that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the Heathen;
in the midst of the nations subject to the Assyrian
empire; such who put themselves under the protection
of.it, lived comfortably under it, and continued with
it to the last; these shared the same fate as that did.
The Targum is, "his governors are broken,! .whom he
"strengthened in the midst of the kingdom."
Ver. 18. To whom art thou thus like in glory and in.
greatness among the trees of Eden ? &e.] Among all
the kings and potentates of the earth; pitch on whom
you will, say which of them all, even the greatest of
them for majesty and glory, for wealth and riches,
power and authority, and extent of dominion, you
are equal to; name the king of Assyria, if you
please, before described, though you are not equal
to him; and ifyou were, this would not secure you
from ruin; since, as great as he was, he fell, and so
will you: this is said to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and
is an application of the preceding parable to him ; _sug-
gesting, that let him be as high as any ever was, or
he could imagine. himself to be:' yet shall thou be
brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether
parts of the earth ; the grave, and lie in the same de-
pressed. and humble state as the greatest monarchs
that ever were on earth do: thou shall lie in the midst of
the uncircumcised; the wicked, as the Targum; the
uncircumcised in heart; who belong not to God, or
his people, and have no communion with either, but
are shut out of the kingdom of heaven, and have their
portion with devils and damned spirits: with them that
be slain by the sword; in a way of judgment tbr their
sins: this is Pharaoh, and all his multitude, saith the
Lord God; this account represents Pharaoh, his gran-
deur, his pride, and his ruin; this shews what will be
the end of hini, and of his'numerous subjects. The
Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, so will be
Pharao. h, &c. in like manner will he fall, and all his
people with him; for the Lord God has said it, and it
shall assuredly come to pass. The Targum is, "to
"whom art thou like now in glory and greatness among
"the kings of the east? and thou shall be brought
"down with the kings of the east into the lower part
"of the earth; in the midst of sinners thou shalt sleep,
"with those that are slain by the sword; this is Pha-
"raoh, and all his multitude, saith the Lord God."

CHAP.

THIS chapter contains two more prophecies con-
cerning the destructiou of Egypt. The date of the
first is given, ver. 1. in which the king of Egypt is com-
pared to a large fish taken in a net, and brought'to
land, and left on it, to be the prey of the fowls of the
air and beasts of the field, ver. 2, 3, 4. and the ruin
of that kingdom is further amplified by the casting
of it on the mountains and valleys; by the land
flowing with its blood; by the darkness of the hea-
vens; by the vexation in the hearts of many people;
and by the amazement of kings and nations, ver, 5, 6, 7,
8, 9, 10. the means and instruments of all which will
be the king of Babylon and iris army, ver. 11, 12. the
devastation made by him, which would be such as
wouid cause lamentation in other nations, is described,
ver..13, 14, 15, 16, then follows the other prophecy,
whose date is given, ver. 17. the prophet is bid to la-
ment the fall of Egypt, which is represented under
the funeral of a corpse, ver. 18, 19, 20. saluted by those
gone down to the grave before, or were become desolate;
· which are mentioned, to assure Egypt of its destruc-
tion, ver. 21. as the Assyrian empire, and all its pro-
vinces, ver. 22, 23. the Persians and Medes, with all
their dominions, ver. 24, 25. the posterity of Meshech
and Tubal, or the Scythians, those warlike people,
ver. 2;6, 27, 28. the Edomites. the princes of the north,
and all the Zidonians, ver 29, 30. which would be a
comfort, though a poor one. to the king of Egypt
and his subjects, to have such company with them,
ver. 31, 3c2..
Ver. 1. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, &c.]
Of Jeconiah's captivity, above a year and a half after
the taking of Jerusalem; the Syriac version reads in
the eleventh year: in the twelfth month, in the first day
of the month; the month Adar, which answers to part
of our February, and part of March; the Septuagint
version reads it the tenth month: according to Bishop
Usher {t}, this was on the 22d of March, on the fourth
day of the week (Wednesday), in the year of the Julian
period 4127, and 587 years before Christ: that the word
of the Lord came unto me, saying ; as follows:
Vet. 2. Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pha-
raoh Icing of Egypt, &c.] Pharaoh-hophra, or Apries;
say a funeral dirge for him; this is ordered, not out of
honour and respect to him, or in compassion for his
misery and ruin, but to assure him of it: and say unto
him, thou art like a young lion of the nations; for
strength and fierceness, for cruelty and tyranny, which
he exercised, not in one nation only, but in many; a
a flyely emblem of the beast of Rome, spiritually called
Egypt and Sodom, compared to a leopard, bear, and
lion, Rev. xi, 8. and xiii. o.: and thou art as a whale
in the seas; or rather like a crocodile{u}, which was
common in the rivers of Egypt, but not the whale;
which also has not scales, nor does it go upon land, nor i,
it taken in a net; all which is said of this creature here,
and in ch. xxix. 3, 4. and to the crocodile there is an
allusion in the name of Pharaoh, in the Arabic lan-
guage, as Noidius from Camins observes{w}; see ch.
xxix. 3: and thou camest forth with thy rivers; or, by

{t} Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3417.
{u} \^Myntk\^ similis em crocodilo, Noldius, Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 375.
{w} Ibid. No. 1306.