Today’s
Scripture Reading (May 26, 2017): Ezekiel 30
Over
the course of 1500 years, 118 pyramids were built in Egypt using the assistance
of 20,000 to 30,000 workers. The Pyramids are ancient marvels, but our
imagination sometimes seems to have
become stuck on the three that were built on the plains of Giza, not realizing
that the Egyptians dreamed of at least 115 other pyramids to the point where
the building of them had actually
started. And the earliest of these dreamers was a priest in the service of the
sun god Ra who also served as the chancellor to the Pharaoh Djoser in the 27th
Century B.C. The product of his imagination is known today as the Step Pyramid
of Djoser – the first of the pyramids. After the reign of Djoser, he was
followed by another Pharaoh, Sekhemkhet. Sekhemkhet wanted to follow in the
footsteps of his predecessor, who was probably
his father. In following of Djoser’s footsteps, Sekhemkhet also started to
build his own pyramid, but the pyramid
was never completed, perhaps because of
the short reign of the Pharaoh (about six years.) Today we know his pyramid as
the “Buried Pyramid.” But the incompletion of Sekhemkhet’s pyramid
notwithstanding, these two Pharaohs started the 1500 year obsession with the
construction of these strange looking buildings.
By
the time that Ezekiel was writing his prophecies,
the time of the building of pyramids was
long over. Apries was the Pharaoh in charge of Egypt, and he was a builder, but
not of pyramids. However, there might be an indication that he wanted to be a
pyramid builder, and it is found in this
prophecy from Ezekiel. God says that he has “broken the arm of the Pharaoh.”
The allusion would seem to be to the assertion of Apries that he was the strong arm of Egypt. While Apries may have wanted to be viewed as a
strong Pharaoh, only two kings in the history of Egypt had ever made the
assertion that they were the strong arm
of the nation, and they were Djoser and Sekhemkhet.
Apries may have wanted
to bring back the golden age of Egypt, but God was about to let Nebuchadnezzar
break Apries arm. A broken arm left unset, can never be strong again - and
it will never be able to hold a sword again.
Apries
would try to come to the aid of Judah in their battle with Babylon. In
actuality, it would be an attempt to bring Judah under the control of Egypt.
Judah, as an Egyptian province instead of the
Babylonian province that it would become, would have helped Apries in becoming more like Djoser, the strong arm of Egypt. But the broken arm that
Nebuchadnezzar would inflict on the Pharaoh would end that dream. He would no
longer be the strong arm of Egypt, and a few years later he would find himself
deposed, and his general raised to the position of Pharaoh in his place.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 31
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