HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 3.-B=iful self-confidence, The prophet, interdicted from prophesying con- ctrning his own nation, directs his regard to one and another of the neighbouring states, with all of which the Jews were in some way connected. With Egypt, Isra.el hnd from the earliest period of its history been related and associated. During the epoch of the Captivity, the attention of those Jews who were left in Jerusalem and in Judah was turned towards Egypt, from which source they thought they might obtain assistance ago.inst the power of Babylon. The prophets who lived and prophesied about this pl·riod had occasion again and again to warn their countrymen against alliance with Egypt, against looking to Egypt for help and deliverance. They regarded Babylon as fulfilling with respect to the Jewish people the decrees of Jehovah himself, and counselled submission and a willingness to learn the Divine lessons of calamity and ot exile. It was this just view of the position of their countrymen which led Ezekiel and others to warn the Jews against seeking the aid of Egypt. But the offence of Egypt, on account of which the prophet in the passage denounces the indignation of the Divine Ruler, was the sin of pride and haughty self-confidence. I. EoYP'l''B GROUNDS FOB SELF-CONFIDENCE. There was very much in the positiun, the strength, and the history of Egypt which seemed to men to justify the nation's pride and assumption of superiority. 1. The river Nile is alluded to by Ezekiel in this passage-a river in some respects the most marvellous in the world. The mystery of its source, the remarkable rise and fall of the stream, occasioning the extraordinary fertility of the soil, the stately temples and the lordly cities upon its banks, the harbour a~d port at its entrance into the Mediterranean,-all invested the Nile with a peouliar 132 'l'llE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [oH, xx1x. l-2L
interest. In fact, as has often been said, it is the Nile which made Eaypt what it was-the birthplace of civilization and the granary of nations. 2. Hen~e the won- derful fruitfulness or the land, and the wealth of every kind which in its aaes of prosperity Egypt C'njoyed by reason of its teeming products, by which not only were its own inhabitants supplied, but distant peoples were fed. 'l'he territory was narrow hemmed in by the desert on either side, yet abounding in most of the necessaries an,i luxuries of life. 3. The antiquity and fame of Egypt were unparalleled. A great nation before the other famous monarchies and empires or the ancient world came into being, a nation renowned wherever civilization existed, Egypt was prone to count herself the mother of nations, and to look upon all others as parvenus. A genealogy lost in remote antiquity not unnaturally inspired much pride and self-confidence, much 1,~ughty contempt for those who had their position still to make among the nations. 4. Add to all this the consciousness of great military power. 'l'he armies, and especially tbe cavalry and the war-chariots of Egypt, were such as to render her both formidable as a foe and desirable as an ally. These several circumstances account for the conviction cherished by the Egyptians that they were of all nations the greatest and the least exposed to calamity and disaster. ' II. THE WICKEDNESS OF EGYPT'S SELF-CONFIDENCE. 1. This appears from the fact that Egypt as1mmed the prerogative of the Creator himself. "The river is mine I" was the proud boast of Pharaoh, who herein proved himself to have lost sight of the dependence and feebleness which are attributes of humanity. God's river, given for their use, \Yas by the arrogant Egyptians claimed as their own. 2. Egypt failed to recognize its dependence for material and social advantages upon the superhuman Source and Giver of all good. God was not in all their ways. 3. On the contrary, the people of Egypt took credit to themselves for national greatness and prosperity, It is, indeed, a sin common among the mighty, the wealthy, the flattered; who are too much given to assume first that they deserve credit for the powers of body and or mind with which they are endowed; and then, secondly, that all the results of the exercise of those powers are due to themselves. But nothing is clearer than that our humanity is bound. both to gratitude and to humility. 'l'he appeal may well be addressed to every individual and to every nation, "Who made thee to differ? What hast thou that thou didst not receive?" III. THE PU1'ISBMENT OF EGYPT'S SELF-CONFIDENCE. Such a temper of mind, such language, and such confidence as the prophet here describes, could not be allowed to pass unchecked, unrebuked. 'l'he Egyptians were preparing humiliation for them- selves; for if there is one scriptural principle more than another enforced by the lessons of history, it is this: "He bath scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart; he bath put down princes from their thrones." 'l'he facts recorded agree with the pre- dictions of the i □ spired prophet. Egypt wa.~ speedily (1) subdued by her Babylonian foe; (2) humiliated by defeat; and (3) enfeebled in her military power, crippled, and rendered impotent.-T. Vers. 3-5.-Mightier than the mighty. It is ever the vocation of the prophet, and indeeil of every religious teacher, to counteract the superficial views and to expose the worldly standards which too often obtain among men. In the time of Ezekiel there were certain States of great wealth, power, and renown, which men were wont to regard with feeliugs of reverence amounting to superstition. One office which he was called upon to discharge waa to shake the confidence of men in the great secular world-powers which seemed capable of enduring for ever, and of defying the assaults of human arms and even the decaying power of time itself. In this passage the prophet concedes the greatness of Egypt, and yet affirms the superiority and supremacy of Jehovah, the God of nations. l. THE POWER OF A MIGHTY STATE REPRESENTED UNDER AN IMPRESSIVE SlllULITUDE. By the dragon we are tu understand the crocodile, the powerful and monstrous creature which haunts the river Nile, and which is the terror of the population. An appropriate emblem of Egypt in its ancient, settled, and formidable strength. 11. THE liEPUTATlON OF THAT B'l'A'J'E AS INVULNERABLE AND IBBESISTJBLE. As the giant crocodile see1JJs to make the river its own, lording it over all beside, devouring tlie fi~L, terrifying the dwellers upon the river's baoks, so ).>Juuaoh King of Egypt, ill ,m. xx1x. 1-21.] TBE MOK OF TIIE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 133