The American Wisdom Series

Presents
Pamphlet #6307

Though this is Satan's world, the way he runs things, it is only because our Father allows it to be so, for He is still in COMPLETE control of all nations and peoples.

So let's eat Ezekiel chapter 29 and be strengthened by what is written so that we can be of service to Him and to our people.

Ezekiel 29:1
In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
This is 1 year and 2 days after the king of Babylon came against Jerusalem and 5 months and 27 days before the fall of Jerusalem. So let's see, there was 1 year, 5 months, and 29 days (about 1 1/2 years) from the time the king of Babylon came against Jerusalem to the time he entered into the city. (Oh, don't mind me. We were just doing a little watching and making some observations concerning dates.)
[2]Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:
Why was God against Egypt and Pharaoh of Egypt? He's about to tell us.
[3]Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
God likens Pharaoh of Egypt to a great crocodile (translated dragon here). You can read in history where Egypt had built great canals and waterways along the Nile, the river to which Egypt owed its "overflowing" fertility. So Pharaoh is singing the song of self-importance, saying, "I did it. I AM the greatest! Look what I have done. I, I, I..."

God says that's a "crock"!

Ezekiel 29:4
But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.
Looks like God is going crock fishing with His Rod of correction. He's going to yank that crocodile and his smelly fish friends that cling to his scales out onto the land.
[5] And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.
Imagine this big crocodile and all these fish flopping around in the open field. The birds and the beasts will look down at them and then look at each other and yell, "CHOW TIME!"

The "fish" are symbolic of Pharaoh's subjects.

[6] And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
Whenever a nation rips off or takes advantage of God's children, that nation is not going to go unpunished. They going to "get it" real good from our Father. This applies individually as well. When someone attacks or takes advantage of God's elect, they are going to have some major problems real soon thereafter.

You see, Israel was to rely on God for their security and protection, but as you know, they looked to the earthly, the "physical", i.e. to other strong nations instead. So Israel looked to the superpower of Egypt for protection against the king of Babylon. If you recall in chapter 17, king Zedekiah of Judah, made a covenant agreement with king Nebuchaddnezzar of Babylon, that he would be loyal and subject to him. However, Zedekiah then went to Pharaoh of Egypt for protection and broke his agreement with Nebuchaddnezzar, which was the same as breaking his covenant to God in that Nebuchaddnezzar was God's servant acting as His instrument of chastisement. That is documented in Jeremiah 43:10 "And say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them."

Even so, Egypt also did not come through on her promise to protect the covenant people. Pharaoh was big talker but not a big walker. The analogy in verse 6 is that Egypt was to be a strong staff for Israel to lean on, but when Israel leaned on that staff, it bent and collapsed like a reed found along the Nile. So you could say that it was because of Egypt that Jerusalem was destroyed.

Ezekiel 29:7
When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.
When Israel reached out to Egypt for assistance, she just left Israel standing there un-girded and fully exposed. Got it?

Our Father didn't appreciate it and the rest is history, as it is recorded in prophecy.

[8]Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.
The sword is His judgment which is His Word, the Word of God (Rev. 1:10).
Ezekiel 2:9
And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.
Everything Mr. Big Talking Pharaoh said was a crock!
[10] Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.
God said he would make Egypt desolate for a period of forty years all the way from Migdol, a fortress near Pelusium on the north of Suez, to the tower of Syrene (Aswan*) in the south and all the way to the border of Ethiopia. Then Egypt would be restored, but never again to her former glory.

*Aswan, ancient Syrene, is the capital of Aswan Governorate on the Nile river, near lake Nasser. Under the Pharaohs, Syrene was an important city near the quarries that furnished the granite for many Egyptian temples. In modern times, in 1960, Russia came to Egypt and underwrote the major portion of the 1 billion dollar cost and supplied over 400 technicians to build the Aswan Dam, which was completed in 1968.

Ezekiel 29:11
No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
Forty in Biblical numerics means probation or testing, which is present every time it is used in God's Word. For example, it rained 40 days and 40 nights at the flood of Noah. Israel wandered 40 years in the wilderness. Christ was tempted 40 days. Egypt was made desolate for 40 years, etc. You should feel a little stronger knowing this from His Word. Ummm, tastes good!
[12] And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

[13] Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered:

And so it was that Egypt would be restored, but never again to her former glory as in the days of her reign by the Hyksos, the shepherd kings.
[14] And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom.
Pathros is the Thebaid, or Upper Egypt, and is birth place of, i.e. the oldest part of Egypt as to civilization and art.
[15] It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.
Well, take a look at the history of Egypt. Since that time the Egyptians have never been a major power with rule over the nations. These scriptures were written 2500 years ago and have come to pass exactly as they are written. You can't argue with God's prophecy (His Word). When He says, "Thus saith the Lord GOD", that's exactly how it is or will be.You have to admit, this kind of documentation of the verity of God's Word is much more credible than our opinion, isn't it? So when someone asks a question about God or His Word, give them the facts of what He has done. It is written.
[16]And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Verse 15 took care of the problem of the house of Israel ever again relying on Egypt for her protection and her deliverance. Where do you put your trust?Will you sing a lamentation because you trusted in the wrong rock (Tyrus) or looked to man and his mighty "crock" to be your fortress, or do you sing the psalm of David?
Psalm 71:1
In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.
Don't look to man or the physical and become confused (ashamed). Look to the true Rock of our strength, for in Him are we made strong (Ezekiel's).
Psalm 71:3
Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.
Though this is Satan's world, the way he runs things, it is only because our Father allows it to be so, for He is still in COMPLETE control of all nations and peoples. And He has a great purpose and a great plan being worked out here below.

1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them {the ancient Israelites} for ensamples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

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