In Ezekiel 30:20-26, we come to the fourth segment of God’s message of judgment on Egypt. The Bible has used the arm or arms as a symbol of strength and military might. Here six times in these six verses this word has been used. It speaks of the breaking of Pharoah's arms and the strengthening of the arm of the king of Babylon.
Apparently, the arm of Pharoah had been broken once. In Jeremiah
37:7-10 God had told Judah of the defeat of Pharoah’s army which she had
solicited help to fight against Nebuchadnezzar and his army. In that defeat, Pharoah’s
strength was already weakened. This “fractured arm” was not bandaged and had not
healed, rendering it unable to hold up the sword firmly menacing to keep up with
the fight with Babylon.
Furthermore, Egypt’s other arm would be broken by God since He was
against her. In other words, He would further weaken Egypt’s remaining army. So,
whatever remaining strength Egypt had, God was going to weaken and totally
decommission her fighting force to make her powerless.
Breaking the arms of Egypt was not all. God would be empowering
the arms of Babylon to increase their might. God would then use Babylon to uphold
His justice. With Egypt’s defeat, the Egyptians would be dispersed over the
nations and scattered all over the land. This would enable them to know that God is
truly the sovereign Lord.
Sin has consequences. And God’s dealing with one’s sin cannot be prevented,
no matter how capable one considers oneself to be. As believers, we need to learn
to identify sin and mitigate it with humility and humble repentance. Learn to
keep a short account with the Lord.
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