Ezekiel 30:21
Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword. Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.
Ezekiel 30:21 belongs to the stirring prophecies against the nations, specifically to the prophecies against Egypt in Ezekiel 29 to 32 announcing the certain fate to come upon Pharaoh and his host. It stands grouped with the prophecies in Ezekiel 25 to 31 in which Ammon, Moab, Tyre and Egypt pass before the prophet. At the time of the prophecy Egypt was one of the greatest of kingdoms and had once been the greatest empire on earth.
Pharaoh's broken arm is a picture of Egypt's broken power, defeat and loss of strength. God had broken it so that it would not be bound up or healed, would not be given a roller to bind it, and would not grow strong again to hold the sword. Thus weakened, Egypt would be unable to recover its strength or to resist its conquerors.
The surrounding judgment connects that broken power with the abolishing and destruction of Egypt's idols and temples. It foretells also the drying up of her rivers. Together these judgments mark her fall from greatness to dishonor, poverty and abasement.
Egypt, once an oppressor of God's people, would be brought low to become the basest of the kingdoms. Brought low and abased, she would never rise again among the nations. Egypt stands as a symbol of dark unbelief.
The prophecy has been literally fulfilled, with every prediction fulfilled in a way that remains evident today. Its enduring subjugation is seen in the successive foreign powers that conquered and ruled the country and in its lasting loss of independent rule. The prophecy about Egypt applies to England taking complete control of Egypt, with Turkey's nominal sovereignty over the country passing away.