Ezekiel 29:7

7 When Israel grabbed you, you splintered and tore up their shoulders. When they leaned on you, you broke, and they wrenched their backs.

Ezekiel 29:7 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 29:7

When they took hold of thee by thy hand
When the Israelites entered into an alliance and confederacy with the Egyptians, called for their assistance according to treaty, and put their confidence in them: thou didst break and rend all their shoulder;
as a reed which a man puts under his armhole, and leans upon, and it breaks under him, the splinters run into the flesh up to the very shoulder, and tear the flesh to pieces; so, through Zedekiah's trusting to the king of Egypt, he rebelled against the king of Babylon, which brought on his ruin, and the destruction of his kingdom: and when they leaned upon thee thou brakest, and madest all their loins
to be at a stand;
when they put their confidence in the king of Egypt, and sent to him for help when besieged by the king of Babylon, and he failed them, they were obliged to raise up themselves, as a man is forced to do when his staff breaks under him, whose loins before were bowed, but now erects himself, and stands and walks as well as he can without it; so the Jews were forced to stand upon their own legs, and exert all the force they had, and make all the efforts they could against the king of Babylon, being left in the lurch by the king of Egypt; in which, though they were rightly served for their vain confidence and not trusting in the Lord, yet the treachery of the Egyptians was resented by him, as follows:

Ezekiel 29:7 In-Context

5 I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish from the Nile. You will fall in an open field. No one will pick you up or bury you. I will feed you to wild animals and birds.

6 Then all those living in Egypt will know that I am the LORD. Egypt, you have become like a [broken] walking stick to the nation of Israel.

7 When Israel grabbed you, you splintered and tore up their shoulders. When they leaned on you, you broke, and they wrenched their backs.

8 "'This is what the Almighty LORD says: I am going to attack you with a sword. I will kill people and animals.

9 Egypt will become a wasteland and a pile of rubble. Then you will know that I am the LORD. You said, "The Nile River is mine. I made it."