Ezekiel 30:6-12: a reflection

6“‘The LORD says: “They also who uphold Egypt will fall. The pride of her power will come down. They will fall by the sword in it from the tower of Seveneh,” says the Lord GOD. 7“They will be desolate in the middle of the countries that are desolate. Her cities will be among the cities that are wasted. 8They will know that I am the LORD when I have set a fire in Egypt, and all her helpers are destroyed. 9“‘“In that day messengers will go out from before me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid. There will be anguish on them, as in the day of Egypt; for, behold, it comes.” 10“‘The Lord GOD says: “I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 11He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, will be brought in to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. 12I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men. I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by the hand of foreigners. I, the LORD, have spoken it.”

In this oracle against Egypt, God declares that the nation's proud strength will be brought down: the pride of her power will come down, and those who uphold her will fall. Egypt was a proud and mighty nation, confident in its strength; and God announces that its pride, and the strength it boasted in, would be humbled and laid low. The proud power that seemed unassailable would be brought to the ground.

Notice what God brings down: the pride that rests in human strength. Egypt trusted and boasted in its own might, secure in the power it possessed; and God set himself to humble that pride, to bring down the proud strength that thought itself untouchable. It is not strength itself that God opposes, but the pride that rests in it, the boasting that trusts in human power as though it were secure and answered to no one.

That is both a warning and a comfort. It warns us against pride in whatever strength we have, our abilities, resources, position, or influence, and against the boasting confidence that rests in our own power as though it were secure. God humbles such pride; the strength we boast in is not our own and can be brought down. And it comforts us when we are faced with proud powers that seem unassailable: God brings down the pride of the mighty, and no proud strength stands secure before him. Do not take pride in your own strength, which God can humble; hold whatever you have humbly, as a gift, not a boast. And do not be intimidated by the proud powers that seem beyond challenge; God brings down the pride of the strong, and their strength is not as secure as it seems.

Lord, in this oracle you declared that the pride of Egypt's power would be brought down; you set yourself to humble the proud strength that thought itself untouchable. Give me both the warning and the comfort in that. Warn me against pride in whatever strength I have, my abilities, resources, position, or influence, and against the boasting confidence that rests in my own power as though it were secure. It is not strength itself you oppose, but the pride that rests in it; and such pride you humble, for the strength I boast in is not my own and can be brought down. Help me hold whatever I have humbly, as a gift, not a boast. And comfort me when I face proud powers that seem unassailable: you bring down the pride of the mighty, and no proud strength stands secure before you. Keep me from pride in my own strength, and from being intimidated by the proud strength of others; you humble the proud, and all strength is in your hand.