Which of the trees of Eden can be compared with you in splendor and majesty? Yet you, too, will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below; you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword. “This is Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the Sovereign LORD.” – Ezekiel 31:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 27, 2017): Ezekiel 31

For a period in the early 7^th Century B.C.E., Egypt was divided. The Nubians from the south, in and around what is currently known as Sudan, had invaded and taken control of Egypt in the mid 8^th Century B.C.E. But as the 7^th Century dawned, the Egyptians began to wrestle back partial control of their country, starting in the upper Delta area of the nation. In 664 B.C.E., the Nubian empire decided to try to re-establish control of Egypt. But the Assyrian Empire, at this point still on the rise in the Near East, moved into Egypt stopping the Nubian advance and allowing the Egyptians to regain control over their lands, albeit under the banner of the Assyrians.

Necho I, the Pharaoh of Egypt at the time of the Nubian advance, was killed in battle defending the Upper Delta area of Egypt, so his son, Psamtik I is credited with the reunification of Egypt. Before Psamtik would die in 610 B.C.E., the Assyrians would be in serious decline and no longer able to rule over any of the African nations. Egypt had once again become the master of their fates.  

Then came the warrior kings. Psamtik I’s son, Necho II, fought campaigns in Asia, hoping to stem the tide of the growing Babylonian threat. Eventually, he lost in battle to Babylonians, but overall he improved the position of Egypt on the world stage through his reign. His son, Psamtik II fought again against the Nubians in a “you better not ever think about coming north again” type of battle. He won decisively, further securing Egypt’s borders.

And then, in 589 B.C.E., Apries, who Jeremiah calls Hophra, took the stage. There is evidence that he wanted to continue the warrior traits of his ancestors, but he just didn’t seem to be very good at it. Ezekiel 31, like many of the prophecies that surround it, was probably written just after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E., or just three years after Apries rose to power in Egypt. Ezekiel’s message to the new Pharaoh is that the king had interpreted a majestic kingdom. (Ezekiel 31:18 is actually the answer to the question posed by the prophet in Ezekiel 31:2 - “Who can be compared with you in majesty?”) Apries had inherited a majestic kingdom, but the kingdom would be felled, and Apries would die with the uncircumcised (likely a term being loosely used by Jeremiah to indicate an undesirable and foreign people group to Egypt rather than the more technical usage of the phrase meaning people from outside of Israel. Strictly speaking, the Egyptian population was uncircumcised.)

All of this would come true. First, Apries would be deposed as king by a commoner named Amasis I. And then he would die fighting alongside the Babylonian armies trying to regain his kingdom, a fate that Apries most likely could not have dreamed might come true as he rose to power over a majestic Egypt that had been built by his father and his father’s father.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 32