Ezekiel 30:18

Eze 30:18 At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity.

Ver. 18. At Tehaphnehes.] Or, Daphne, the gate of Egypt, at which the Chaldees entered.

A cloud shall cover her.] See Eze 30:3.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30:18 Tahpanhes was a fortress town on the northeastern frontier of Egypt. • dark day: Egypt would see its light turned to darkness when God came to judge it, as in the Exodus plague (Exod 10:21-23).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, the strength and force.

Meaning, that there shall be great sorrow and affliction.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Tehaphnehes--called from the queen of Egypt mentioned in Kg1 11:19. The same as Daphne, near Pelusium, a royal residence of the Pharaohs (Jer 43:7, Jer 43:9). Called Hanes Isa 30:4).

break . . . the yokes of Egypt--that is, the tyrannical supremacy which she exercised over other nations. Compare "bands of their yoke" (Eze 34:7).

a cloud--namely, of calamity.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 18. Tehaphnehes] Called also Tahapanes, Jer 2:16. This is the Pelusian Daphne.

Break there the yokes] The sceptres. Nebuchadnezzar broke the sceptre of Egypt when he confirmed the kingdom to Amasis, who had rebelled against Apries.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(18) Tehaphnehes.—(Jer_2:16; Jer_43:7-9; Jer_44:1; Jer_46:14.) Otherwise called Tahpanhes; the city Daphne, also a frontier town near Pelusium, strongly fortified. It may be especially mentioned, because the Jews who fled from Palestine through fear of Nebuchadnezzar had taken refuge there (Jeremiah 43, 44).

The day shall be darkened.—This is a common prophetic form of describing coming calamity. (See Eze_30:3, Eze_32:8; Isa_13:10; Joe_2:10; Joe_2:31; Joe_3:15; Amo_8:9; Mat_24:29, &c.)

The yokes of Egypt.—Not the yokes placed upon Egypt, but the tyranny which she exercised over others. The fuller expression, “bands of a yoke,” occurs in Eze_34:27, and also in Lev_26:13, the latter in reference to the deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. It appears from Jer_43:9-10 that there was a royal palace at Tahpanhes, and it was foretold by the prophet that Nebuchadnezzar should there set up his pavilion, and thence smite Egypt. It is correspondingly foretold here that the power of Egypt should there be broken, because this and the neighbouring Pelusium were the frontier fortresses and keys of the land.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. Tehaphnehes, spelled somewhat differently Jer_2:16. Jer_43:8 speaks of a royal palace there, and Eze_46:14 it is named along with Memphis as a chief city in Egypt. Its site is probably the modern Tell Defenneh (Daphnae), near the Pelusiac arm of the Nile, south of lake Menzaleh, about 30 miles S.-W. of the ancient Pelusium.

the yokes of Egypt] must here be those imposed by Egypt, a sense not very suitable to the connexion. A different pointing would give sceptres (LXX.) or staves—but “staves” in the sense of supports is more than doubtful (cf. Isa_14:5).

her daughters] may be literal (cf. Eze_30:17, young men of On), or said figuratively of her towns.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened,.... The same with Hanes in Isa 30:4 and Tahapanes in Jer 2:16 and Tahpanhes, Jer 43:7, it was a royal seat of the kings of Egypt: there was in Solomon's time a queen of Egypt of this name, and perhaps it might be so called from her, Kg1 11:19. It is generally thought to be the Daphne of Pelusium, it being near that city; though Junius takes it to be a place in another part of Egypt, at a great distance, which Herodotus (i) calls Tahcompso, an island encompassed by the Nile; and by Ptolemy (k) called Metacompso: now at this place the day should be darkened; or should "restrain" (l), as it may be rendered; that is, its light; it should be a calamitous and mournful time with the inhabitants of it:

when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt; the yokes they put upon the necks of others, who now should be freed from them: or, "the sceptres of Egypt", as the Vulgate Latin version renders it; the regalia of their kings, which might lie in this place; it being a royal seat where Pharaoh had a house, as appears from Jer 43:9,

and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her; all that grandeur and magnificence which appeared in the courts of the kings of Egypt in this place:

as for her, a cloud shall cover her; as for this city, a cloud of calamity shall cover it, so as its glory shall not be seen. The Targum is,

"a king with his army shall cover her as a cloud ascends and covers the earth:''

and her daughters shall go into captivity; which may be taken either in a literal sense for the daughters of the inhabitants of this place, which must be a great affliction to their tender parents, to have them forced away by rude soldiers, and carried captive into distant lands; or in a figurative sense, for the villages and the inhabitants of them round about this city; it being usual to represent a city as a mother, and its villages as daughters; and so the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi interpret it.

(i) Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 29. (k) Geograph. l. 4. c. 5. (l) "prohibuit", Montanus; "vitavit", Munster; "cohibuit", Cocceius; "probibebit, arcebit", Vatablus; so Ben Melech.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Tehaphnehes - See the marginal reference note. “break the yokes of Egypt” i. e., break the yokes imposed by Egypt, or break up the tyrannous dominion of Egypt over other lands.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Darkened: war and misery shall ensue. --- Sceptres, by dethroning Apries. --- Pride; overflowing of the Nile. See Jeremias xlix. 19.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Tehaphnehes; a great and goodly city of Egypt. Tachapanes, Tachpanes, Tahapanes, Tahpanes, Chanes, and Hanes, Isa 30:4, are names given it, and this from a queen of Egypt of that name in Solomon’s time, 1Ki 11:19,20. It stood not far from Sin or Pelusium, and by the Greeks, a little softening the name, called Daphne Pelusiaca. It was a royal city, in it Pharaoh had a house; to it many Jews fled, when forbidden of the Lord by the prophet Jeremiah, Eze 44. It was one of the first cities you come to out of the desert of Sin, and was one of the keys of Egypt.

The day shall be darkened; a night shall come upon it, and such a night of sorrow as shall grow darker and darker till the day, i.e. their day, be

darkness; or else, word for word, darkness shall be the day, and may bear this sense, shall be more welcome, more useful, more desired, than the day, whose light would discover their flight, which the night concealed.

I shall break, as into shivers.

The yokes; the sceptres; for there was one of Pharaoh’s houses, and probably some sceptre and other regal ornaments: or, the bars, which kept enemies out, and secured the citizens and country; such was this frontier town. Or, when, by giving this strong place into Nebuchadnezzar’s hand, I shall break the kingdom of Egypt, that it no more oppress with yokes, i.e. burdens.

The pomp; the beauty and goodliness with which the strength of this city was set out in her buildings, towers, forts.

Shall cease in her; shall be buried in her own ruins.

A cloud; sorrow at the success of the Chaldeans against her, compared often to a cloud.

Her daughters; either metaphorically, i.e. the towns and villages about her, or literally, her children; her daughters only mentioned, because her sons were destroyed and slain.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. Tehaphnehes — LXX., Tapne (Daphnae). Modern name, Tel Deppennuch. This was another fortress which had guarded the great highway into Syria from Solomon’s day or earlier. In Ezekiel’s era it was occupied largely by Greek mercenaries. It was naturally to this frontier city that Jeremiah and other Hebrews fled (Jer_43:5-11). Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Egypt may have been largely due to Egypt’s favorable reception of these refugees. Dr. Petrie has found the old Greek camp and fort, and uncovered the brickwork where Nebuchadnezzar spread his royal pavilion (Egyptian Exploration Fund, Fourth Memmoir). The largest building in the ruins is still called by the Arabs “the palace of the Jew’s daughter.”

The yokes of Egypt — LXX. and Vulgate translate scepters. If yokes is the correct reading, it cannot mean that the yokes that bind Egypt are broken (compare Eze_34:27), but the yokes which Egypt has heretofore placed upon others. (For the symbolic “darkness” see Eze_30:3; Eze_32:7; Amos 5:29; Joe_2:2; Joe_3:15.)

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

At Tehaphnehes; the Tabu-panes of; Jer_2:16 Jer_42:7 Jer_44:1 Jer_46:14; (where it appears as having a royal palace) the Taphnae of the LXX; the Daphne of Herod., 2:30. It was another frontier-fortress in the neighborhood of Pelusium, built by Psammetichus. It may, perhaps, be represented by the modern Tel-ed-Defenne, about twenty-seven miles southwest of Pelusium. The day shall be darkened. The normal image for the departure of the sunshine of prosperity, as in Ver. 3 and Eze_32:7 (comp. Amo_5:20 Amo_8:9; Isa_5:30; Jer_13:16, etc.) The yokes of Egypt. Commonly, as in Eze_34:27; Jer_27:2 Jer_28:10, Jer_28:12, the phrase would imply the deliverance of Egypt from the yoke of oppression suffered at the hand of others. Here that sense is clearly inappropriate. The LXX and Vulgate give "the scepters" of Egypt, which implies a different reading, and this is adopted in substance by Ewald and Smend, the latter preferring rendering it by "supports" or "props," the "red" being used as a "staff" rather than as a "scepter" (comp. Eze_19:14; Jer_43:8 Jer_48:17) The pomp of her strength. The phrase meets us again in Eze_33:28, and includes what we speak of as the parade of power, here probably with a view to the foreign forces that garrisoned both Daphne and Pelusium. The daughters may be literally the women of the city, who were to share the usual fate of their sex on the capture of a city; or as in Eze_26:6, Eze_26:8; or probably as in Eze_16:53, Eze_16:55, for the villages and towns dependent on the strong city. On the whole, looking to the mention of the "young men" in Ver. 17, the literal meaning seems preferable.

Broken yokes.

shall break there the yokes of Egypt." There are many yokes which are laid on men"s shoulders from which they may well wish to be freed; and there is one yoke concerning which no such thought need be cherished for a moment. There is the yoke of

I HUMAN OPPRESSION. The sad story of the human race is, to a very large extent, the history of human oppression. "Man"s inhumanity to man" may well "make us mourn" as we dwell upon it. And among his various cruelties and wrongs we have to give oppression a prominent place political, domestic, personal oppression. It includes the denial of the rights of manhood and of womanhood, the exacting of hard and burdensome labor, or of heavy and excessive tribute, or of a dishonoring and hurtful homage, the inflicting of pain and suffering of many kinds. It seems to be in the nature of sin to harden men"s hearts against one another, until they not only endure but positively enjoy the sight of the oppression they impose. Ezekiel speaks of" the yokes of Egypt." No doubt that country, in the plenitude of its power, exacted tribute, enforced labor, laid heavy burdens upon many of its own subjects or (as in an earlier time, when Israel was under its heel) on other peoples. But when the Babylonian power came up and subdued it, its hard hold on these had to be relaxed, its yoke was broken in twain. This, in the providence of God, has frequently happened. Power becomes wealthy; wealth leads to luxury and indulgence; indulgence leads to effeminacy and decline; weakness succumbs to some other power that has arisen; and then and thus its "yoke is broken.

II THE SERVITUDE OF SIN. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants slaves ye are to whom ye obey? Ye were the servants slaves of sin". (Rom_6:16, Rom_6:17) Sin conducts, by sure steps, to spiritual bondage; it lays a hard and heavy yoke upon the soul; it may be that of a grasping selfishness, or of an absorbing worldliness, or of a degrading vice, or of such a fatal habit as that of procrastination. But it is a hard bondage, a cruel yoke, which must be broken if there is to be spiritual liberty and eternal life. God, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, can and does break this deadly yoke.

1. He fills the soul with a sense of shame, and with a holy, renewing sorrow.

2. He leads the awakened soul to a Divine Savior, in whoso love and service the bond is broken.

3. He gives to the seeking, trustful soul the cleansing, liberating power of his Holy Spirit; and thus the yoke is broken and the man is freed. There is another yoke of an entirely different nature; it is in

III THE SERVICE OF JESUS CHRIST. "Take my yoke," he says; "my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." In that which is the service of love and of righteousness there is real liberty and lasting joy. C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tehaphnehes - A great and goodly city of Egypt; Tachapanes, Tachpanes, Tahapanes, Tahpanes, Chanes, and Hanes, are names given it, and this from a queen of Egypt of that name in Solomon's time. It stood not far from Sin, or Pelusium. Darkened - A night shall come upon it. Break - I shall break the kingdom of Egypt, that it no more oppress with yokes, that is, burdens. Her daughters - Her towns and villages.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

the day will withdraw itself [Heb. חָשָּׁך הַיוֹם,] the light will be withheld

a cloud will cover her Trouble will come upon her and cover her, and it will become dark [for her] like a day covered with clouds.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.