The word “pit” is used six times in Ezekiel chapter 32. A thirty-two verse “funeral dirge” pronounced by God on the wicked nation of Egypt.
But first, verses 1-6 are astounding on their own. God compares Egypt to a “young lion” (fierce and dangerous, frightening the whole countryside) and to a giant “whale” (sea monster, dragon) in the seas! Yes, Egypt had been THAT powerful! But then God says He is going to kill both the lion and the whale! Listen: “Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net. Then will I leave thee (the whale) upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height. I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.” Verses 3 through 6, graphically written!
But it is the second half of the chapter that most garnered my attention. I think it could be entitled “Egypt in Hell” for short! Verse 18 is typical, with God still talking to Ezekiel: “Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether (lowest) parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit (a euphemism for hell).”
Now then, a big question. Is there “consciousness” in Hell? (There certainly was for the “rich man” who died and went there in Luke chapter 16, “in Hell he lifted up his eyes and said ….”)
Read verse 21 of Ezekiel 32: “The strong among the mighty (already in the pit) SHALL SPEAK to him (Egypt) out of the midst of hell (Hebrew, sheol) with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.” More “talking” in the pit, in Hell! Yes, there is consciousness!
(I read last night that the “elite” of the Egyptians, their leaders and intelligentsia and academics, were all circumcised! And felt themselves “better” than the uncircumcised! Now … they will spend eternity in “hell,” surrounded by that “trash!” How very humiliating to their mindset!)
Now, look at verse 22 … the “Assyrians” are there!
Verse 24 … so are the “Elamites,” forerunners of the Persians, “Iran” today! Note this clause from verse 25: “They have borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain.” The utter SHAME of being in hell, perpetually! Contrast that with the supreme Glory to be enjoyed by those who possess eternal life, a gift from God via the blood of Jesus Christ!
Verse 26 … “Meshech” and “Tubal,” to be studied further in chapters 38 and 39. Thought to be in Asia Minor, perhaps around present day Turkey. Jew haters, for sure, these people.
Verse 29 … the “Edomites,” descendants of Esau. “There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.” Their bodies in a grave somewhere, or having rotted on the ground! Their souls, their spirits in hell itself!
Verse 30 … the “princes of the north,” Russia? Also the “Zidonians,” ancient Phoenicians.
A welcoming committee, receiving more and more of the “wicked” into hell! Now, including Egypt and her people. Verse 31: “Pharaoh (a title, not a proper name) shall see them (in the pit, in hell), and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.” The verb “comforted” puzzled me. But 41 times in the King James Version it is translated “repented!” (Just too late!) It also carries the idea of “sorrow.”
Wow!
What a Text!
Folks, all nations simply consist of their citizens, “people.”
People headed for Hell, to live in shame (and pain) forever. Isaiah 66:24 teaches us that hell’s occupants will be considered an “abhorrence” to the peoples of God’s Eternal City! “Shamed” indeed! “And they (the true worshippers of God) shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched (Jesus’ very words describing Hell); and they shall be an abhorring (contemptible, repulsive) unto all flesh.”
Wow again!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
This ends Ezekiel’s denunciation of Egypt, occupying 4 whole chapters (7 sermons) long! It also ends his voluminous section of “Sermons against the Nations of the World.” Mostly ungodly Gentiles, chapters 25-32 inclusively. (The Edomites were “related” to Jacob, thus had Semitic blood.)
One more point: today’s chapter actually consists of two different sermons, easily demarcated. Verses 1-16 followed by verses 17-32, clearly 2 messages given at 2 different times.
Ezekiel, truthfully … what a Book, what a Prophet!