Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:
Set thy face against Pharaoh - a common name of all the kings of Egypt, meaning the sun; or, as others say, a crocodile, which was worshipped in parts of Egypt (cf. Ezekiel 29:3, "the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers"). Hophra or Apries was on the throne at this time. His reign began prosperously. He took Gaza of the Philistines (Jeremiah 47:1), and Sidon, and made himself master of Phoenicia and Palestine, recovering much that was lost to Egypt by the victory of Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish, wherein the latter "took from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt" (2 Kings 24:7; Jeremiah 46:2) in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Wilkinson's 'Ancient Egypt,' 1: 169). So proudly secure, because of his successes for 25 years, did he feel, that he said not even a god could deprive him of his kingdom (Herodotus,
ii. 169). Hence, the appropriateness of the description of him in Ezekiel 29:3, as saying, "My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself." No mere human sagacity could have enabled Ezekiel to foresee Egypt's downfall in the height of its prosperity.
There are four divisions of these prophecies: the first in the tenth year of Ezekiel's captivity; the last in the twelfth year. Between the first and second comes one of much later date, not having been given until the twenty-seventh year (Ezekiel 29:17 to Ezekiel 30:19), but placed there as appropriate to the subject-matter. Pharaoh-hophra or Apries was dethroned and strangled, and Amasis substituted as king, by Nebuchadnezzar (cf. Jeremiah 44:30). The Egyptian priests, from national vanity, made no mention to Herodotus of the Egyptian loss of territory in Syria through Nebuchadnezzar, of which Josephus tells us, but attributed the change in the succession from Apries to Amasis solely to the Egyptian soldiery. The civil war between the two rivals no doubt lasted several years, affording an opportunity to Nebuchadnezzar of interfering, and of elevating the usurper Amasis, on condition of his becoming tributary to Babylon (Wilkinson). Compare Jeremiah 43:10-12, and my note, Ezekiel 29:13, for another view of the grounds of interference of Nebuchadnezzar.