Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.
And will break his arms - not only the 'one arm' broken already (Ezekiel 30:21) was not to be healed, but the other also should be broken. In contrast to "I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon" (Ezekiel 30:24).
The strong, and that which was broken - i:e., I will break both the strong arm and that which was already broken. I will impair both the resources of Egypt which still remain intact and those which are already impaired. The one arm of Egypt already broken was all the region from the Nile to the Euphrates, which Nebuchadnezzar had already taken from him (2 Kings 24:7); the arm still intact, but presently to be broken, is Egypt proper itself. Thus all power of carrying on war would be taken from him. Not a corporal wound, but a breaking of the power of Pharaoh is intended.
I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand - I will deprive him of the resources of making war.
Remarks:
(1) The prophecy against Egypt is very full, because Egypt was the oldest enemy of Israel, and her perpetual seducer to idolatry and creature-confidences. The judgment on Egypt is an earnest of the world-wide judgment which shall fall ultimately on all the pagan enemies of God (Ezekiel 30:3), when the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled (Luke 19:24). That day of the Lord shall be the day of His visitation in wrath upon those Gentiles who shall have resisted all the offers of His mercy in this His day of visitation in love. Let us be wise in time, that so that day may be to us not a day of terror, but a day of joy in the prospect of immediate redemption.
(2) Not, only Egypt herself, but also all 'who uphold her,' should fall (Ezekiel 30:6); and among these Johanan and the Jews who "leagued" themselves with her (Ezekiel 30:5), in direct violation of God's prohibition (Jer. 42:44). They who take part with God's enemies shall share with them in their awful punishment.
(3) As sinners perversely refuse to know God as a God of love, they shall know Him as a God that hates sin, and takes vengeance on the sinner for all unatoned guilt (Ezekiel 30:8). Severe as were the temporal judgments on Pharaoh and his people, what are they when compared with the eternal judgments which shall descend on the lost? Let us flee, while yet there is time, to Him who is our only Saviour from the wrath to come, and from the "fire" (Ezekiel 30:8) which shall never be quenched.
(4) The artificial canals and "rivers" (Ezekiel 30:12) of Egypt, whence that country derived its fertility, were all to be dried up by the judgment of God. Whenever He pleases to punish a people, no resources can avail against His power and will; He dries up at will the springs of their prosperity: "He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry ground; a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein" (Psalms 107:33-34).
(5) The wrath of God is especially directed against "the idols" of a land (Ezekiel 30:13), of whatever kind they be, whether they be images directly worshipped as gods, or riches which steal away from God the hearts of those who would repudiate the charge of idolatry, though guilty of it before the God who calls covetousness idolatry. As the Egyptian On, the seat of the idolatrous sun-worship in Egypt, was doomed by God to become Aven, or vanity, so all creature-confidences shall at last prove vain to those who have trusted in them rather than in God.
(6) Ere long "a cloud" of calamity "shall cover" every authority like Egypt which exalts itself against God; the "pomp" of man's power shall cease, and the "yoke" which human tyrants have imposed on the people of God shall be broken (Ezekiel 30:18). Whereas God was about to "strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon" (Ezekiel 30:24), the executioner of God's judicial wrath, He was about to 'break both arms of Pharaoh,' the object of His displeasure (Ezekiel 30:22; Ezekiel 30:24). As Israel and Judah had been scattered among the nations, owing to the corrupting influence of Egypt, which brought God's wrath on the elect nation, so the Egyptians themselves, in righteous retribution, were be scattered among the nations (Ezekiel 30:23; Ezekiel 30:26). It is in vain that men try to bind up and heal the wound that God inflicts (Ezekiel 30:21). Stroke shall fall upon stroke in rapid succession whensoever God is against men. The very weakest instruments are sufficient, when strengthened by Him, to execute God's vengeance; and He has at His disposal all the powers that are in heaven and earth. How foolish, then, it is for any to remain in a state of enmity with God! Rather let the sinner, ere the stroke descends, take hold of God's strength, that he may make peace with God, and He shall make peace with him (Isaiah 27:5).