Ezekiel 32 Study Notes

32:1-2 Many scholars see this as a portrayal of Pharaoh’s defeat by God (like a monster in the seas), much like passages that figuratively speak of God defeating the sea dragon Leviathan (Jb 38:8-11; Ps 74:12-17; 104:7-9; Is 27:1). God can lay any foe low, no matter his powers. This sixth oracle against Egypt is dated to March 585 BC.

32:3-5 The Lord will cast his net over Pharaoh, a method by which hunters captured crocodiles and lions (19:8).

32:6 The image of flowing blood recalls the plague of blood, the first plague in the exodus account (Ex 7:19-24).

32:7-8 The darkness in this verse recalls the exodus plague of darkness against Egypt (Ex 10:21-29) as well as the darkness that will accompany the day of the Lord. On the day of the Lord the heavens will be darkened, and the sun, moon, and stars will fail to give light (Jl 2:1-2; 3:15; Zph 1:15).

32:9-10 Observers of Egypt’s demise would be appalled, a recurring theme (26:16; 27:35; 28:19).

32:11-15 On the night of the first Passover, only firstborn humans and animals died (Ex 12:29). In this coming judgment on Egypt, all people and animals will be destroyed.

32:16 Women by custom served as mourners in the ancient Near East (Jr 9:17-18).

32:17-18 Again the judgment of descent to the Pit is mentioned (see 26:20; 28:8; 31:14,16; 32:23-25,29-30). This oracle, the last of the seven against Egypt, is probably to be dated two weeks after the sixth oracle (compare 32:1,17). But the textual problem of the specific lack of the month places it between April 586 BC and April 585 BC.

32:19-21 The reference to circumcision is a metaphor for uncleanness and vileness. It is a theological rather than a literal evaluation. The phrase the uncircumcised is used ten times in chap. 32 (vv. 19,21,24-30,32), to emphasize that the death of the pharaoh will be a death of shame and defeat. In this oracle, Egypt was the climactic seventh nation that occupied the underworld (v. 18).

32:22-30 Here is a macabre roll call of other uncircumcised peoples in the Pit, felled by the sword: Assyria, Elam, Meshech and Tubal, Edom, and all the leaders of the north and all the Sidonians.

32:26 Meshech and Tubal (see 27:13) were probably located on the northern border of modern Turkey. They are the allies of Gog in chaps. 38-39.