The Reed That Breaks

Ezekiel 29-32 contain seven oracles against Egypt, the largest section against any single nation. This one is dated to the tenth year, during the siege of Jerusalem. Zedekiah had rebelled against Babylon trusting in Egypt's help. Pharaoh is pictured as the great monster that lies in the middle of his rivers, boasting that the river was his own and that he had made it for himself. Pharaohs claimed divine status, but God would draw this one out like a fish on a hook.

The heart of the oracle is the image of the reed. All the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am Yahweh, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. Egyptian reeds grew tall along the Nile but splintered under weight. When Israel leaned on Egypt, it broke, tore their shoulder, and made their loins shake. Isaiah 36:6 uses the same picture. Trusting Egypt was a spiritual failure: it meant trusting a nation instead of God.

God said Egypt would be humbled for forty years and then restored as a lowly kingdom, never again the confidence of the house of Israel. The final paragraph, dated in the twenty-seventh year, is the latest date in the book. Nebuchadnezzar's long siege of Tyre had brought him little plunder, so God would give him Egypt as his wages. In the New Testament, Hebrews 13:6 says: So that with good courage we say, The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?