Ezekiel 32 explained: A Funeral Song for Egypt

Lion on land, monster in water (vv. 1-2)

Dated after Jerusalem had fallen, this song pictures Pharaoh as a lion on land and a great beast in the Nile, probably a crocodile, frightening wherever he goes. Muddying the streams stands for the way Egypt kept stirring up trouble among its neighbors.

Caught in God's net (vv. 3-10)

The beast is hauled out and left on dry ground for birds and animals, an image of Egypt's army slaughtered, with Babylon's forces as God's net. The blood and the darkened sky seem to echo the plagues of the Exodus story, and the darkness pictures a ruler's fall shaking kings far away.

The sword of Babylon (vv. 11-16)

Now the attacker is named plainly: the king of Babylon. Waters that settle and flow smooth as oil mean Egypt will no longer churn up other nations, and foreign peoples will sing this lament over it.

Down to the pit (vv. 17-21)

A second song, dated to the fifteenth day of a month the text does not name, follows Egypt down into the realm of the dead, pictured as a dark place under the earth. Lying among the uncircumcised and those killed by the sword meant a disgraced end with no honorable burial.

A roll call of fallen empires (vv. 22-30)

Assyria, Elam, Meshek and Tubal, Edom, northern rulers and Sidon each lie with their dead armies, and the repeated refrain is that they once spread terror and now bear shame. Verse 27 seems to set them apart from honored warriors buried with their weapons, though scholars read that contrast in different ways.

Pharaoh's cold comfort (vv. 31-32)

Pharaoh's only consolation will be that he is not alone in his downfall. The song ends where it began: the one who terrified the living lies among the slain.

Key verse: Ezekiel 32:32

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on how literally to take these predictions, since Babylon did attack Egypt without leaving it utterly empty, so some look for a fuller fulfillment while others read the vivid images as the poetic exaggeration typical of laments.

Something to think about

When a powerful nation or person who caused fear finally falls, what do you think is the fitting response: grief, relief, or something else?