Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 32:17–end
This prophecy concludes and completes the burden of Egypt, and leaves it and all its multitude in the pit of destruction.
I. We are here invited to attend the funeral of that once flourishing kingdom, to lament its fall, and to take a view of those who attend it to the grave and accompany it in the grave.
1. This dead corpse of a kingdom is here brought to the grave. The prophet is ordered to cast them down to the pit (Eze 32:18), to foretel their destruction as one that had authority, as Jeremiah was set over the kingdoms, Jer 1:10. He must speak in God's name, and as from him who will cast them down. Yet he must foretel it as one that had an affectionate concern for them; he must wail for…
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Whom dost thou pass in beauty?--Beautiful as thou art, thou art not more so than other nations, which nevertheless have perished.
go down, &c.--to the nether world, where all "beauty" is speedily marred.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 32:19
Whom dost thou pass in beauty? - How little does it signify, whether a mummy be well embalmed, wrapped round with rich stuff, and beautifully painted on the outside, or not. Go down into the tombs, examine the niches, and see whether one dead carcass be preferable to another.
John Gill on Ezekiel 32:19
Whom dost thou pass in beauty?.... This question the prophet is bid to put to Egypt; what nation is there, or has been, that thou excellest in wisdom, in riches, or in strength, in the multitude of subjects, or extent of dominions, that thou thinkest thyself secure from destruction? look over other kingdoms and states mightier than thou, or at least equal to thee, and see how they are brought to ruin, and expect that this will quickly be thy case:
go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised; go down to the grave, and take thy place, and lie there among the wicked and most profligate of mankind, and such as might be most despised by the Egyptians, since they used circumcision. The Targu…
