Pride, the downfall of Egypt

The Word of the Lord comes to us this morning from Ezekiel 32.

Continuing our learning from Tuesday. 

God is not done with Egypt and Pharaoh yet.  

Again he attacks his pride: 

 You consider yourself a lion of the nations,

But makes sure that Egypt understands what it really is:
    but you are like a dragon in the seas;

you burst forth in your rivers,
    trouble the waters with your feet,
    and foul their rivers.

And gives a consequence:

³ Thus says the Lord God:
    I will throw my net over you
    with a host of many peoples,
    and they will haul you up in my dragnet.
⁴ And I will cast you on the ground;
    on the open field I will fling you,
and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you,
    and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.

And it continues in vv 5-8 with how Egypt will be blotted out, strewn on the mountains and so forth.   God will put a darkness over the land.

The devastation will be so complete that the nations all around will be appalled with the horror of it.  How God branishes the sword at Egypt will make them : tremble every moment, every one for his own life, on the day of your downfall.

Who will God use to bring about this devastation?

¹¹ “For thus says the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. ¹² I will cause your multitude to fall by the swords of mighty ones, all of them most ruthless of nations.


And do you see it?   Do you see what God's end purpose shall be?

“They shall bring to ruin the pride of Egypt,
    and all its multitude shall perish.
¹³ I will destroy all its beasts
    from beside many waters;
and no foot of man shall trouble them anymore,
    nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
¹⁴ Then I will make their waters clear,
    and cause their rivers to run like oil,
declares the Lord God.
¹⁵ When I make the land of Egypt desolate,
    and when the land is desolate of all that fills it,
when I strike down all who dwell in it,
    then they will know that I am the Lord.

That's always what it is.
God's desire for people to know that HE is the Lord.  

In the lament all the nations/peoples of Egypt will be lamented

- Egypt delivered to the sword

- Assyria fallen to the sword

- Elam and her multitude, fallen by the sword

- Meshech-Tubal slain by the sword lying with the uncircumcised.

- Edom killed by the sword

- princes of the north and all the Sidonians bearing their shame

IN fact when Pharoah sees it all he will be comforted for all his multitude, Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, declares the Lord God.  
³² For I spread terror in the land of the living; and he shall be laid to rest among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.”

Can you imagine it?
It hurts my heart to read this.  To think of all those people suffering.  How pride was such a hard thing.   Pharoah ... such a hard lesson for him to learn.

I've been seeing that pride you know. We're reading a book called Tirzah  which is about the Israelites and their journey after they left Egypt.  It's a fictional story but in the beginning of the book you can really see Pharaoh's pride portrayed, but you can also see it in some of the Israelites in their complaints and wanting to do the journey their own way. 

Pride is a big deal.. particularly if your pride sets you up as God himself.    Only God is Lord.   He's the only one, and this example with Egypt and all her peoples is a firm reminder to us of that. 

This is a real call to me to see what pride is doing in my life, and how do I give the glory to God?  It's not always the first thing on my brain you know?   Like when I complete something and am pleased with the results...how do I give the glory to God?   How do I keep the humility in my life?   Not always an easy thing...   How do you do it?

   You can read more in my Ezekiel Studies here and here.