sun" of Jer. xliii. 13, the Heliopolis of the follows wns written in April, n.o. 586. Its LXX. and Vnlgate. The form Aven (Heb. contents show that it wns written at or about for" 11 vnin thing I" RS in Hos. iv. 15; x. 5) the time of the abortive attempt of Pharaoh- was perhaps chosen as a word of scorn Hophra. to oome to the relief of Jerusalem pointing to the idolatry of the city. Pi- (Jer. xxxiv. 21; xxxvii. 5-7). This was buseth; LXX., Bubastos. The city situated the breaking of the arm of Egypt, of whioh on the Suez Canal, be,,"'lln by Necho and the next verse speaks. finishti<l under Ptolemy II. (Herod., ii. 59). Ver. 21.-I have broken the arm. The It derived its name from the cat-headed metaphor was in itself one of the most goddess Pnsht, and was the chief seat of the familiar (oh. xvii. 9; xxii. 6; I Sam. ii. 31 ; name which was named after it. It was Jer. xlviii. 26). What is ohare.cteristio in destroyed by the Persians (Diod. Sic., xv. Ezekiel is the way in whioh he follows the 51), but the name lingers in Teb-bastat, a figure, so to speak, into its surgical details. hrap of ruins about seven hours' journey A man with a broken arm might be cured from the Nile. and fight again ; but it was not to be so Ver. 18.-At Tehaphnehes; tho Taha- with Pharaoh. Hi.a arm was not to be panes of Jer. ii. 16; xiii. 7; xliv. 1; xlvi. H; bound with a roller (the equivalent of the (where it appears as having a royal palace); modern process of putting it in " splints "). tbe Taphnai of the LXX.; the Daphne of The Hebrew word for "roller" is not fonnd Herod., ii. 30. It was another frontier-for- elsewhere, and Ezekiel's use of it is one of tress in the neighbourhood of Pelusinm, the instances of his knowledge of surgery. built by Psammetichus. It may, perhaps, The corresponding verb i.a used by him of be represented by the modem Tel - ed - the bandages or swaddling-clothes of infancy Defenne, about twenty-seven miles sonth- {oh. xvi. 4). west of Pelusium. The day shall be dark- Vera. 22-24.-The:strong, and that whioh ened. The normal image for the departure was broken. The image i.a pressed yet of the sunshine of prosperity, as in ver. 3 further. A warrior whose sword-arm was end eh. =xii. 7 (comp. Amos v. 20; viii. 9; broken might go on fighting with bis left. Isa.. v. 30; Jer. xiii. 16, et al,). The yokes ot Hophra might continue to struggle, though Egypt. Commonly, e.s in eh. xxxiv. 27; with diminished strength. Ezekiel's words Lev. xxvi. 13; Jer. xxvii. 2; xxviii 10, 12, shut out the hope of any such struggle. the phrase would imply the deliverance of The left arm also should be broken as the Egypt from the yoke of oppression suffered at right had been. The Chaldee.n king should the hand of others. Here that selllie is clearly wax stronger and stronger. The sword of innppropriate. The LXX. and Vulgate give Nebuchadnezzar should be as truly "the "the sceptres" of Egypt, which implies a sword of Jehovah," as that of Gideon had different reading, and this i.a adopted in been (Judg. vii. 18). Fignratively, he substance by Ewald and Smend, the latter should stand before him groaning as a man preferring rendering it by "supports" or wounded to the death. So in Jer. xliii. 9; "props," the "rod" being used e.s a "staff" xliv. 30; xlvi. 26, we have allusions to an rather than as a '' sceptre" (comp. cb. xix. invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, 14; Jer. :rliii. 8; xlviii. 17). The pomp of which was to end in bis sitting on his throne her strength. The phrase meets us ag11in in the stronghold of Tabapanee. in eh. xxx.iii. 28, and includes what we Vera. 25, 26.-The imagery is slightly bpeak of as the parade of power, here varied. The arms of the Egyptian king are probaLiy with a view to the foreign forces described, not as broken, but as feeble. They that garrisoned both Daphne and Pelusium. hang down by his side instead of wielding The daughters may be literally the women of the sword. I will scatter, eto. The prophet the city, who were to share the usual fate of dwells once more, repeating the very word■ their sex on the capture of a city; or as in of ver. 23 and ob. uix. 12 with all the eh. xxvi. 6, 8; or probably as in eh. xvi. 53, emphasis of iteration, on the dispersion 55, for the villages and towns dependent on which was the almost inevitable sequel of the strong city. On the whole, looking to an Oriental conquest. There in the land the mention of the" young men" in ver. 17, of exile they should see that they had been the literal meaning seems preferable. fighting against God ; and so tho prophet Ver. 20.-In the eleventh year, etc. As- ends the chapter with his ever-recurring suming that the whole section, eh. xxiL 17 formula, They shall lmow that I am lehovah -xxx. 19, were a later insertion, that which (eh. :u:viii. 26; xxix. 21).
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-3.-.A cktudy day. As in the case of Tyre, the denunciation of Divine judgments against Egypt is succeeded by a lamentation for the doleful res~lt!I of those on. xxx.1-26.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 143