20151125 Wednesday, November 25 2015
Ezekiel 32: The Empires Of Bible History And Prophecy

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? ... And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever"

The nation of "Israel" was created by the LORD (see The Identity Of The LORD God and The LORD God Our Saviour) as an in-itself prophecy of the coming Kingdom of God (see What Gospel Did Jesus Preach?). That is, the people of Israel originated from, and by, the nations of the world (see The Origin Of Israelites And Jews), just as will the Kingdom of God (see The First And Last Nation).

The world has known many empires - the rule of one nation over many other nations. Some empires were builders, creating new nations out of wilderness (e.g. Egypt and Greece), while others were merely malignant and destructive of what others had already built (e.g. Babylon and Rome). Whether ancient or modern, some empires build cities as their means of victory, while others render cities into rubble as their delusion of victory.

While many regard emperors to be kings, as many were in more ancient times, an emperor can be of any form of government, as made obvious by Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler, both of whom were definitely emperors. Napoleon Bonaparte was not a king; he was the democratically-elected "First Consul" of a militaristic, republican form of government. So too, Adolf Hitler was not a king; he was the democratically-elected "Chancellor" (a term that originated from the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation - see below) of a militaristic, autocratic republic. An emperor can happen anywhere.

Israel knew many empires through its history - and is yet to know one more. The primary empires of Biblical history and prophecy:

Egypt. The Israelites grew from a family of a few dozen people into a multitude by means of the prosperity and protection of Egypt (see I Will There Make Of Thee A Great Nationand The Egypt Connection).

Israel itself was a empire during the time of the united kingdom of Israel under David and Solomon (see King David's Empire and How Many Kings Reigned In The United Kingdom?).

Assyria was the empire that the LORD authorized to conquer and remove the Kingdom of Israel, thereby making them "the lost ten tribes" (see Israel In History and Prophecy: The Lost Ten Tribes and The Invasions of Shalmaneser and Sennacherib).

Babylon was the empire that the LORD authorized to conquer and remove the Kingdom of Judah (see Why Did Judah Fall To Babylon? and How Did Eden Become Babylon?; also How The Messianic Line Survived In Babylon).

Persia was the LORD-appointed empire that facilitated the return of the people of Judah from their seventy-years Babylonian exile (see The Prophecies Of Cyrus of Persia and How Hadassah Of Benjamin Became The Queen Of Persia).

Greece was the empire that rose during the intertestamental period (the approximate two to three centuries between the end of the Old Testament historical record and the beginning of the New Testament historical record (see A History Of Jerusalem: Greeks, Ptolemies, Seleucids and The Prophet Daniel: The Ram and The He Goat; also Israel In History and Prophecy: Hasmonean Judea).

Rome became an empire just before the beginning of the New Testament historical record (see A History Of Jerusalem: Pompey And The Caesars and Israel In History and Prophecy: Roman Judea).

Germany conquered and superseded the Roman Empire whereby it was officially known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (see The Holy Roman Empire Of The German Nation). The Papacy then grew from the Roman Caesar's local bishop of the Church of Rome, that was created by the Roman Caesars, into an empire in itself (see The Little Big Horn).

The Ottoman Empire was a Muslim (see A History Of Jerusalem: Constantine and Muhammad) empire that ruled a vast area of the Middle East, north Africa and southern Europe, from Turkey. It lasted for centuries before falling at the end of the First World War in 1918.

The British Empire liberated the Middle East from the Ottoman Empire. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, and others became sovereign nations again by means of the British Mandate - which also liberated the land of Israel, thereby enabling the creation of the present-day state of Israel to be born in 1948 (see A History Of Jerusalem: The British Mandate).

The "Beast" will be a Satan-empowered empire that will rule the world through a combination of military force and religious deception (see What Is The Mark Of The Beast?). It will be the "Beast" that is overthrown by the Messiah when He returns to establish the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom Of God will be the ultimate Empire, but from and by which all of its citizens will be native born from all of physical nations that have ever existed (see What Was The Lesson Of John 3:16?).

Egypt is one of the most ancient of nations (see Children Of Ham - The Origin Of Egypt And Iraq) and as such became one of the earliest empires. While Egypt remained a great nation, that still exists today, its time of empire ended with the fall of the Kingdom of Judah (for the reason why, see Man's Way Of Choosing Friends And Enemies).

"32:1 And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 32:2 Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him,

Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.

32:3 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net. 32:4 Then will I leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee. 32:5 And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height. 32:6 I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee. 32:7 And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. 32:8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD. 32:9 I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known. 32:10 Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall.

32:11 For thus saith the Lord GOD;

The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee. 32:12 By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed. 32:13 I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside the great waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them. 32:14 Then will I make their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord GOD. 32:15 When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the LORD.

32:16 This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament for her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

32:17 It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 32:18 Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit. 32:19 Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised. 32:20 They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword: draw her and all her multitudes. 32:21 The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.

32:22 Asshur is there and all her company: his graves are about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword: 32:23 Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living.

32:24 There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit. 32:25 They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain.

32:26 There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living. 32:27 And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

32:28 Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword. 32:29 There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.

32:30 There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit.

32:31 Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD. 32:32 For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD." (Ezekiel 32:1-32 KJV)

Fact Finder: Israel's centuries of refuge in Egypt also resulted in two of the tribes of Israel having been born of an Egyptian mother. Why did Jacob / Israel promote them from grandsons to sons?
See The Adoption Of Ephraim and Manasseh