The Shattered Reed: Exposing Counterfeit Security (Ezekiel 29)
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The Monster 1-5
The Broken Reed 6-9
HIStory 10-16
Pay Day 17-21
On Sundays, we've been walking a path of Divine
judgements on nations.
From Ezekiel 25 through 28, we watched the Sovereign
Lord systematically pull out and burn down “pricking briers" and
"painful thorns” that surrounded Israel. He shattered the pride of Tyre
and smashed the sorcery of Sidon.
As we turn the page to Ezekiel 29, we land south of
Israel, in Egypt, the seventh nation in God's crosshairs of judgement.
For centuries, Egypt was the ultimate safety net. If
your economy collapsed, you went down to Egypt. If an empire threatened you,
you ran to Egypt for chariots and horses. Egypt was supposedly a safety net
of security.
But as we drop into our text today, God reveals what
they thought about Egypt was an illusion. Egypt was NOT a fortress, not a
safety net; it was a trap.
Abraham ran to Egypt for fear of famine and returned
with Hagar—which turned into a bloody multimillennial family feud that still
rages today. Jacob and family did the same and became slaves for 400 years.
Whatever system you are leaning on, outside of God,
can be summed up in Egypt.
We’re about to see God reveal that anything you lean
on, other than Him, isn't supporting you, it's piercing you.
The Monster
Ezekiel 29:1-5
In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the
word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your
face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all
Egypt. 3 Speak, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am
against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies in the midst of
his rivers, who has said, ‘My River is my own; I have made it for myself.’
4 But I will
put hooks in your jaws and cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your
scales; I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, and all the fish
in your rivers will stick to your scales. 5 I will leave you in
the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers; you shall fall on the open
field; you shall not be picked up or gathered. I have given you as food to the
beasts of the field and to the birds of the heavens.
Notice, God looks at the clock in verse 1: “In the tenth
year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day...”
When God looks at the clock in the Bible it's
important. It's for us. It's a time stamp that provides undeniable proof of the
authenticity and accuracy of the Word of God. Because the earth opens its mouth
to archeologists who then say: “Wow, we just discovered what the Bible's been
saying all along is absolutely True!”
Scholars date this at January 5, 587 BC. (some say
Jan. 7th)
Why does this date matter?
Because right at that time in HIStory, King Nebuchadnezzar
of Babylon had his siege ramps against the walls of Jerusalem. The city was starving.
The walls and the people were shaking.
Inside Jerusalem, King Zedekiah was checking his phone,
desperately waiting for a text back from Egypt. He had made a secret, military alliance
with Pharaoh Hophra, hoping Egypt would sweep up from the south and break the Babylonian
siege.
Right when Israel was leaning on Egypt, putting their faith
in a secular superpower, the Word of God pulls back Pharaoh’s curtain to expose
the great Oz isn’t so great after all.
Look at how God describes Pharaoh in verse 3: "O
great monster who lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, ‘My
River is my own; I have made it for myself.’
That sounds a lot like lucifer's prideful, self-absorbed, words.
Which makes sense, because if you look at the original
Hebrew text, the word translated as "monster" is תַּנִּין (Tannin). That isn't
just a poetic word for a large crocodile. In the ancient Near East, Tannin was a mythological
sea dragon—a cosmic serpent representing chaos, pride, and rebellion against
the Creator.
Pharaoh did not just think he was a king; Egyptian
theology taught that the Pharaoh was a god. The manifestation of Horus (a mythological
god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and the sky).
Pharaoh Hophra was so arrogant that the Greek historian
Herodotus recorded that Hophra bragged that not even a god could dethrone
him.
Sounds like the infamous last words of the Titanic
crewman, “Not even God can sink this ship.”
Pharaoh took the blessings
of God’s creation and claimed to be their owner and author.
But see how fast God strips his so-called divinity in
verse 4: “I will put hooks in your jaws.”
This paints a picture of when a crocodile became a threat
or a nuisance in the Nile, hunters would thrust large hooks into its jaws and
drag it onto the dry sand, where it would lose its leverage and die under the scorching
sun.
God basically tells Pharaoh: You think you are a god?
You think you own the river? Ha! To Me, you're just a gecko, to drag out of
your palace, and cast your carcass in the wilderness, to be food for beasts and
buzzards.
That smells like a foreshadow to the battle of Armageddon,
where beasts and buzzards feast on the flesh of kings and captains and all
people, slave and free, small and great Rev. 19:17-21.
Don't miss the tragedy in verse 4: the fish
sticking to his scales represent the subjects, dependents, officials, army,
and allied nations of Egypt; including compromised Judah. All who clung to
Egypt were cast out as well. When the monster got hauled out, everyone clinging
to him got hooked and hauled as well. When lucifer was cast out, a third of the
angels were too.
Who do you cling to?
Where do you put your trust?
What are you leaning on?
Egypt or Jesus?
The Broken Reed
Ezekiel 29:6-9
“Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have
been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. 7 When they
took hold of you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; when
they leaned on you, you broke and made all their backs quiver.”
8 ‘Therefore
thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will bring a sword upon you and cut off from
you man and beast. 9 And the land of Egypt shall become
desolate and waste; then they will know that I am the Lord, because he said,
‘The River is mine, and I have made it.’
Proverbs
16:18
Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit
before a fall.
God uses a natural illustration to expose Egypt's traitorous
treachery. He calls them “a staff of reed to the house of Israel.”
Along the banks of the Nile grew tall, thick stalks of
reeds. Papyrus reeds looked like sturdy, walking sticks; like something you could
put your weight on to stabilize your steps.
But the Papyrus reed is hollow. It has no inner
strength, no moral integrity. The moment you put your weight on the reed, it
doesn't just bend—it snaps, it splinters and stabs its razor-sharp, jagged
shards, into your hand and arm and shoulder.
This was what Egypt did to Israel throughout HIStory. They’d
promise to help, and then, break their promise.
·
King Hoshea of Israel trusted Egypt to
help against Assyria, but Egypt was a no show and, Assyria ended up taking
Israel captive. 2 Kings 17:4-6.
·
King Jehoiakim leaned heavily on Egypt
against Babylon, but as soon as Nebuchadnezzar's army faced them, Pharaoh's
boys tucked tail and returned home. 2 Kings 24:1-7 and Jeremiah 37:5-8.
Whatever you lean on outside of God will eventually
snap and splinter and stab you. If you lean on your bank account for your identity,
when the market shakes, that reed will shatter your security. If you lean on relationships
or the applause of people to validate your soul, the moment they move on, that
hollow reed will pierce your heart.
Israel leaned on the reed of silver and gold to hire
military might, and it left them exposed, vulnerable and trembling. Egypt was selfish
and arrogant, promising strength but leaving Israel shattered and in ruins.
But aren’t you glad Jesus treats our brokenness
differently?
Matthew 12:20 tells us of Christ: 'a bruised
reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench.'
The systems of this world will discard you the second
you fracture; the moment you get a little bit of burn out. But not Jesus. He takes,
into His nail scarred hands, the bruised, the weak, the splintered reeds of humanity
and restores them with His strength, and uses His Holiness, to make them whole.
Leaning on Him, we are stronger and better in the broken place than we were
before.
Also, remember, when Jesus stood on this earth, He refused
to lean on the political reeds of Rome, the religious systems of the Sanhedrin,
or the shifting applause of people.
All His strength, all His power, all His words, and all His deeds, came from His Father. He said in John 5:19, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do,” and again in John 14:10, “The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.”
Jesus is our example.
Where does, what you say, and what you do, come
from?
Jesus leaned only on the Father and became the only
Foundation in HIStory that NEVER shatters, never splinters, and never breaks.
Stop leaning on reeds that break, and start leaning on
the Everlasting Arms of Jesus.
Proverbs
3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He
shall direct your paths.
HIStory
Ezekiel 29:10-12
Indeed, therefore, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make
the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from Migdol to Syene, as far as
the border of Ethiopia. 11 Neither foot of man shall pass
through it nor foot of beast pass through it, and it shall be uninhabited forty
years. 12 I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst
of the countries that are desolate; and among the cities that are laid waste,
her cities shall be desolate forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians
among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries.
Migdol
sat in the northeast corner of the Nile Delta (modern-day northern Egypt). Syene
(modern-day Aswan) sat at the southern border, right where Egypt met ancient
Cush (Ethiopia/Sudan).
By naming these boundaries, God declared His judgment
would sweep the entirety of Egypt. No hidden valley or elite resort city would escape
the reach of His sword.
Divine Justice. Egypt was scattered (like
Israel). Egypt spent 40 years in wilderness (like Israel).
Like always, secular history, whether it wants to or not, confirms God's Word. Following Nebuchadnezzar's war against Egypt around 568–567 BC, Egypt lay in desolation, a wasteland, a wilderness, for four decades, just as God had said.
Ezekiel 13-16
‘Yet, thus says the Lord God: “At the end of forty years I will gather the
Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered. 14 I
will bring back the captives of Egypt (like Israel) and cause them
to return to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they
shall be a lowly kingdom. 15 It shall be the lowliest of
kingdoms; it shall never again exalt itself above the nations, for I will
diminish them so that they will not rule over the nations anymore. 16 No
longer shall it be the confidence of the house of Israel, but will remind them
of their iniquity when they turned to follow them. Then they shall know that I
AM the LORD GOD.” ’
Just as God said, Egypt indeed returned to the land of
Pathros (which means "the land of the south), the birthplace
of Egyptian origins.
Additionally, God said they would never again be a royal
superpower but remain a lowly nation. It's been about 2,600 years since
He said that. Do you think that’s long enough to see if His Word has stood the
test of time?
After falling to the Babylonians, Egypt fell under the
Persians. Then the Greeks by Alexander the Great. Then the Romans. Then the Byzantines,
the Mamluks, and the Ottomans...
Egypt—once the undisputed center of world architecture,
wealth, and military technology—never again rose to become a global empire
ruling over nations.
JUST AS GOD HAD SAID.
Notice verse 16: "No longer shall it be the confidence
of the house of Israel, but will remind them of their iniquity
when they turned to follow them...
God didn't make Egypt a lowly nation just to punish
Pharaoh; but to protect His people from temptation. If Egypt was a glittering, wealthy
superpower, Israel would be tempted to turn away from God and run to Egypt.
God removed the counterfeit safety net, forcing His family
to look to the hills where their True help comes from. (Psalm 121:1-2).
Then, in God’s abundance of mercy and heart for reconciliation,
He gave humbled Egypt the marvelous honor of harboring the infant Jesus during Herod’s
slaughter, literally fulfilling the words of Hosea: “Out of Egypt I called
My Son” (Hosea 11:1, Matthew 2:13-15).
God resists the proud but give grace to the humble. Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5.
Pay Day
Ezekiel 29:17-20
And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the
first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 “Son
of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously
against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder rubbed raw; yet
neither he nor his army received wages from Tyre, for the labor which they
expended on it. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Surely
I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he shall
take away her wealth, carry off her spoil, and remove her pillage; and that
will be the wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of
Egypt for his labor, because they worked for Me,’ says the Lord God.
The date is April
26, 571 BC. This is the latest date recorded in Ezekiel, sixteen years after
the opening of this vision in verse one, (10/10/12) and twenty-two years from
the start of his prophetic ministry.
Nebuchadnezzar’s army marched against Tyre for thirteen
grueling years. The siege was so brutal that every head was made bald from
heavy bronze helmets and every shoulder chafed from hauling stone blocks
to build siege walls.
HIStory tells us that Nebuchadnezzar overthrew mainland
Tyre. However, they could not take the island fortress half a mile out
in the sea.
Tyre used their navy to move everybody and everything
of value (vast stores of silver and gold) to the safety of the island fortress.
So, when Babylon finally breached the walls of the mainland city, he found
nothing of value. All that work, for nothing.
But even though he didn’t know it—he was working for
God.
YOU CAN NEVER OUT GIVE GOD.
GOD IS INDEBTED TO NO ONE.
Verses 19-20 say that God gave Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar
for wages for his army because “they worked for Me.”
God pays His bills, and He can use anybody or anything
to do it, because it all belongs to Him.
Psalm
24:1
The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell
therein.
God indeed governs in the affairs of men. He owns the cattle
on a thousand hills (Ps. 50:10). Seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you (Matt. 6:33).
Now for the Grand Finale:
Ezekiel 29:21
In that day I will cause the horn of the house of Israel to spring forth, and I
will open your mouth to speak in their midst. Then they shall know that I AM the
Lord.
That’s the fourth time we've read: Then they shall
know that I AM the Lord. Repeated in verses: 6,9,16,21... About 70 times in Ezekiel.
That's God's goal. Then and now. That all shall know Him
as Lord... And Savior.
Not... Lord and Judge
All will know Him one way or the other. Every knee
shall bow, tongue confess, Jesus Christ is Lord. Phil. 2:10-11.
To that end, right in the middle of Divine Judgement,
global warfare, military spoils, and shattered superpowers, God points to a Messianic
promise.
In scripture, a "horn" represents kingly
authority, power, and victory. When connected with the House of Israel
or House of David, it points to the promised Messiah.
In the tapestry of all HIStory God weaves His
Scarlet Thread, from the fall in the Garden of Eden to the Garden Tomb of His
Resurrection. To this day He weaves His wonderful ways, into the wicked ways of
man.
Here, in the closing words of our text, He points to
the Ultimate Authority on the Ultimate Pay Day springing fourth from
death to Life.
Centuries from when God told Ezekiel He would cause a Horn
to spring forth from the house of Israel, came a day, when an old man named
Zachariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, said:
“Blessed
is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David. Luke 1:68–69.
Dear Church, the world wants you to turn to Egypt, to trust
in Tannin—the shiny things the world thinks are powerful. The world
tells you to lean on reeds of financial stability, political leverage,
secular strength, comfort, pleasure, popularity...
But HIStory has proven, and Ezekiel has documented
that every worldly river flows to the lake of fire. Every human reed will
eventually shatter and slice the hand that holds it.
But 2,000 years ago, another Man took a stand before an empire. He loved them. They led Him, to be crucified. They put a reed in His hand as a scepter, to mock Him, spit in His face, beat Him with fists and reeds. Then, they had Him carry an old rugged cross, up a steep, rocky hill. (Matthew 27:29-31).
On that hill, Jesus Christ took the curse of our broken
world—the shattered shards of my sin and yours—and allowed them to pierce His hands
and His feet, His side. He allowed Himself to be broken so we could be whole.
Dear friends...
Stop leaning on hollow reeds.
Stop trusting systems of pride.
Put your full, weight, hope, trust, on the Horn of Salvation—the
unshakeable, resurrected King Jesus, who never shatters, never pierces, and
never breaks!
Let's pray.
Lord Jesus, we confess, we’ve all to often
leaned on Egypt. We have the scars to prove it. You have scars too—the ones You
took for us. Thank You. Forgive us. Help us, and all those You’ve given us, to
forever lean on You.
Thank You.
We love You, forever.
Amen.
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Ezekiel 29
This was feed for you to read. Now it’s
Seed for you to sow.
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