Ezekiel 32:16-21: a reflection

16“‘“This is the lamentation with which they will lament. The daughters of the nations will lament with this. They will lament with it over Egypt, and over all her multitude,” says the Lord GOD.’” 17Also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, the LORD’s word came to me, saying, 18“Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her and the daughters of the famous nations, to the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down into the pit. 19Whom do you pass in beauty? Go down, and be laid with the uncircumcised. 20They will fall among those who are slain by the sword. She is delivered to the sword. Draw her away with all her multitudes. 21The strong among the mighty will speak to him out of the middle of Sheol with those who help him. They have gone down. The uncircumcised lie still, slain by the sword.

This passage is a lament, a funeral dirge, over the fall of Egypt, once a great and proud nation, now brought down to the grave among the slain. Egypt, that had seemed so strong and secure, that had looked down on others in its greatness, is pictured descending to the pit, laid low among the nations that had fallen before her. The lament is a sober meditation on how even the greatest and proudest are brought down at last.

Notice the sobering theme of this dirge: that even the greatest nations, the proudest and most secure, are brought low at last. Egypt had been strong, had exalted herself over others; and now she is pictured going down to the grave like all the rest, her greatness ended, laid among the slain. No greatness, no strength, no pride of place exempts a nation, or a person, from the leveling that comes at last. All are brought low in the end.

That is a sobering meditation for us, who are tempted to be impressed and overawed by greatness, and even to envy it. The greatness and strength that seem so secure and enduring, whether of nations or of people, are not exempt from the end that comes to all; the proudest are brought low, and greatness does not save from the grave. Let this temper both your awe of worldly greatness and your own reaching after it. Do not be overawed by the strong and proud, as though their greatness set them above the common lot; and do not set your heart on such greatness for yourself, for it does not exempt anyone from the leveling of the grave. Set your heart rather on what endures beyond it, on God, and on the life that outlasts the greatness the grave brings low.

Lord, this passage is a lament over the fall of Egypt, once a great and proud nation, now pictured brought down to the grave among the slain; a sober meditation on how even the greatest and proudest are brought low at last. Sober me by it, for I am tempted to be impressed and overawed by greatness, and even to envy it. The greatness and strength that seem so secure and enduring, whether of nations or of people, are not exempt from the end that comes to all; the proudest are brought low, and greatness does not save from the grave. Let this temper both my awe of worldly greatness and my own reaching after it. Keep me from being overawed by the strong and proud, as though their greatness set them above the common lot; and keep me from setting my heart on such greatness for myself, for it does not exempt anyone from the leveling of the grave. Help me set my heart rather on what endures beyond it, on you, and on the life that outlasts the greatness the grave brings low. Fix my heart on what endures, Lord, not on greatness that the grave levels.