Ezekiel 32:23

23 whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and his company is round about his grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living.

Ezekiel 32:23 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 32:23

Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit
Or vault, where lay the king of Assyria, and those who fell by the sword with him, who are represented as lying in graves all around him; the nearest to him those who were in the highest posts, and most valiant and courageous, and next the common soldiers, as follows: and her company is round about her grave
not Pharaoh's company round about the grave of the Assyrian monarch; but the company of the king of Assyria, or his army, as the Targum, round about grave; or lying about in the ruins of his kingdom: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land
of the living;
even they who now are in the state of the dead, and can no more disturb and distress any, while they were alive, or in the world, struck terror in all neighbouring states and kingdoms; threatening destruction to them, and obliging them to submit to their tyranny and exactions. Jarchi interprets this of the land of Israel; and the Jewish writers commonly understand by the land of the living the land of Canaan wherever they meet with it; because here men worshipped the living God, and lived before him; and the inhabitants of this land were often terrified by the king of Assyria. So the Targum,

``because they ruled in the land of Israel.''

Ezekiel 32:23 In-Context

21 The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of Sheol with those that help him: they are gone down; they lie with the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.

22 Asshur is there and all his company; his graves are about him; all of them slain, fallen by the sword:

23 whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and his company is round about his grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living.

24 There is Elam and all his multitude round about his grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the lowest parts of the earth because they spread their terror in the land of the living; yet they have borne their shame with those that go down to the grave.

25 They have set him a bed in the midst of the slain with all his multitude: his graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword because they spread their terror in the land of the living, yet they have borne their shame with those that go down to the pit; he was put in the midst of the dead.