The doom of Egypt.
I. AN INSPIRED PREACHER PROPHESIES CONCERNING A GREAT FOREIGN NATION. The Hebrew prophet did not confine his attention to the little strip of territory on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, which we call the Holy Land. He was God's messenger to the world.
1. The heathen are concerned with God's messages. God notices them and has intentions concerning them. Therefore:
2. It is the duty of the Church to make God's truth known to the heathen. Ezekiel was not a Jonah; he was not called upon to visit the heathen as a prophet of Jehovah. But his written words might be read by some of the more inquiring Egyptians. It is well to take large views of God's thoughts, our duties, and the world's needs.
II. GOD CALLS A MIGHTY EMPIRE TO JUDGMENT. Tyro was greater and more famous than the little Ammonite and Moabite countries; but even Type was small compared with Egypt—one of the great world-empires.
1. No people can be above the rule of God. The biggest earthly kingdom is beneath the King of kings. Egypt is compared to one of its monster crocodiles (Verse 3). But it is not the less to be called to account by God.
2. No people can be too strong to be overthrown. Even great Egypt is to fall. The strongest have their weak places. Mighty citadels may be shaken by earthquakes. All man's grandest works and most imposing institutions are frail, and may be broken up by the rod of the Unseen.
III. THE GREATNESS OF ANTIQUITY IS NO SAFEGUARD AGAINST THE DANGERS OF FUTURITY. After China, Egypt seems to be about the most ancient empire in the world. In the region of its influence and among its neighbors Egypt was venerable with age before any of its rivals had made an appearance on the world's stage. Its known history goes back to four thousand years before Christ. For tens of centuries this hoary old empire of the Pharaohs held on its course amidst the rising and falling of many ambitious but short-lived neighbors. Yet Egypt was not immortal. Dynasty succeeded dynasty, and Egypt long stood the shock of war and change. But at last her hour of reckoning drew near. Then her long past afforded her no shelter. England cannot live in the future on her past history. The Church of the coming age cannot stand strong and safe on no better foundation than the glory of saints and martyrs in earlier ages.
IV. INTELLECT IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR A GOOD CONSCIENCE. Egypt was famous for her learning and her science. Long before the Babylonian and Persian astronomical science arose by the Euphrates, there were schools of literature, philosophy, and physical science on the banks of the Nile. It was a help in the training of Israel's great deliverer that he was educated in the greatest center of light of his age (Acts 7:22). Yet the great intelligence of ancient Egypt did not preserve its sons from gross moral corruption, and no worldly wisdom was able to provide against the descending arm of judgment. Culture will not dispense with the need of conscience. University honors are not passports to heaven. Knowledge and thought will not shield the sinful against the wrath of future judgment.
A staff of reed.
Egypt is here compared to a staff of reed that had been trusted by Israel and had failed her in the hour of need. Earlier than this the Jews were warned not to trust Egypt because the old empire of the Nile had become weak as one of the reeds that grew by her sacred river. The confidence would be fatal, for the staff would break and pierce the hand of one who leaned upon it (Isaiah 36:6). It was common for the prophets to warn the Jews against the mistake of going down to Egypt for help (Isaiah 31:1). Now, however, Egypt is blamed for being so false and treacherous an ally as she proved herself in the time of Judah's need.
I. WEAKNESS IS CULPABLE. Egypt ought not to have been weak as a Nile reed. In her friendship, at all events, she should have shown more stamina. Moral weakness is certainly blameworthy. There is a great mistake in pleading weakness as an excuse for failure of duty. God never calls upon any one to do more than he is able to accomplish. If, therefore, his strength fails, and he cannot perform his task or face his temptations, the blame lies at his own door. We ought to be strong in soul. We have not even the excuse of Egypt—a heathen nation that knew not the true God. With inexhaustible fountains of spiritual strength within our reach in the gospel of Christ, it is our own fault if we become as worthless reeds when we should be like strong trees of the Lord.
II. FAILING FRIENDSHIP IS OF THE NATURE OF TREACHERY, We can wrong our friend without lifting a finger to hurt him, if we are found wanting in the time of need. Of all places friendship is the last in which weakness should be discovered. A true friend will make it a point of honor to be at his very best to give expected help, ever- though he be weak and suffer defeat in pursuing his own interests. He is a trustworthy friend of Christ who is weak as a reed when called upon to do any service or make any sacrifice for his Master. It is treason to Christ to be found wanting in the day of duty or danger.
III. THERE IS NO PROTECTION IN THE PLEA OF WEAKNESS. Egypt was not saved on account of her weakness. She found no excuse in her inability to help her allies. She ought to have been able to help them. They who refuse to go into the Lord's battle because they have not moral strength with which to fight the will not therefore be permitted to shelter themselves in peace and quiet. They may escape the wounds of the field, but they will encounter the ills of an attack at home. No soul can be safe in neglecting duty, shunning peril, or fleeing from the place where Christ would have him stand.
IV. WEAKNESS MAY BE CONQUERED. The reed-like character may be made stout as an oak. God can make the feeble strong. "To them that have no might he increaseth strength" (Isaiah 40:29). Thus St. Paul could say, "When I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10). Christ will not break the bruised reed; but he will not leave it bowed and useless. He will strengthen it. The secret of this transformation from weakness to strength is faith. They were the heroes of faith who, according to the Epistle to the Hebrews, "out of weakness were made strong" (Hebrews 11:34).