Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword.
The verse belongs to Ezekiel's prophecy against Egypt, declaring the certain fate awaiting Pharaoh and his host to be broken and lie with the uncircumcised slain by the sword. Egypt, once one of the greatest kingdoms on earth, lost its power and standing to become the basest of kingdoms, broken never to rise again among the nations. It places Pharaoh and his slaughtered army among the slain in sheol or hades in the nether parts of the earth beneath, in contrast to the earth's surface which is the land of the living. That sheol embraces the interior of the earth as the region of every grave and not merely a single grave, proving no living beings are found there. The speaking of the mighty to Pharaoh out of sheol, and his being comforted at the sight of the slain, is figurative personification and not literal consciousness, for those in sheol are silent, unconscious and without knowledge. Those who held the other view teach that the surrounding description portrays the dead as seeing one another, with Sheol identified with the grave where this company is represented as conscious.
Judgment on Egypt
Ezekiel 32:28 belongs to the prophecies of correction and denunciation, standing within the group of prophecies against foreign nations in chapters 25-32. It belongs to the prophecy about Egypt and its judgment, concerning the certain fate awaiting Pharaoh and his host. It is part of the prophecies against Egypt in Ezekiel 29-32, which were literally fulfilled. Egypt, once one of the greatest kingdoms and at one time the greatest empire on earth, lost its power and standing among the nations and became the basest of kingdoms, broken to lie with the uncircumcised dead slain by the sword.
The verse is part of Ezekiel's twenty-two-year plea for Israel to turn to God, which used the kingdoms on all sides of Israel as illustrations of how God deals with them. Egypt was a former oppressor of God's people and the symbol of black infidelity. Its pride would be brought down, and it would be broken and abased and brought low, never to rise again among the nations, as a warning to those who still remained.
Hades and Unconscious Dead
The verse places Pharaoh and his slaughtered army among those slain by the sword, broken and lying with the uncircumcised in sheol or hades in the nether parts of the earth. They were slaughtered in battle with the king of Babylon and buried indiscriminately with friend and foe cast together into pits, going down with their weapons of war and their swords laid under their heads. That burial in the nether parts is set in contrast to the land of the living on the earth's surface.
Sheol there, rendered hell or hades, is in the earth beneath, in the nether parts and depths of the earth. It embraces the interior of the earth as the region of the dead and the place of every grave, not merely a single grave, always located beneath. It is the land of the dead in contrast to the land of the living, proving no living beings are found there. The dead who lie there broken in the midst of the uncircumcised are distinguished from the living above.
Sheol is identical with hades and is not in the third heaven in sight of the New Jerusalem, so if Lazarus were in heaven and Dives in hades they could not converse together. Those nether parts are the lower parts of the earth into which Christ descended when dead before He afterward ascended far above all heavens into Paradise. The surrounding passage is used to explain Christ's descent to the dead before His ascension.
Hades is a temporary prison of death from which the resurrection releases the dead. This hades in the interior or nether parts of the earth will feel the devouring fire of the final conflagration and will be consumed and cease to be the abode of the dead.
The speaking of the strong among the mighty to Pharaoh out of sheol, and Pharaoh seeing the multitude of his slain enemies and being comforted at the sight, with others ashamed, is figurative personification and not literal consciousness, conversation, action, or feeling in death. Those in sheol are silent, unconscious, inactive, and without knowledge and cannot literally talk together or be comforted or ashamed. It is a common Old Testament way of making the dead appear to speak and act to press truth upon the living and vividly represent future retribution. It is like the dead kings rising from thrones to mock the fallen king of Babylon, and Rachel weeping for her children long after her death, and trees walking and talking, and the rich man endowed with life and speech in hades. It is an example of Scripture's metaphorical language used as illustration and no more proves conscious torment after death than those figures prove their literal events.
The surrounding description portrays the dead as seeing one another, with sheol identified with the grave, where this company is represented as conscious, as held by those who so taught it.
The verse belongs to Ezekiel's prophecy against Egypt, declaring the certain fate awaiting Pharaoh and his host to be broken and lie with the uncircumcised slain by the sword. Egypt, once one of the greatest kingdoms on earth, lost its power and standing to become the basest of kingdoms, broken never to rise again among the nations. It places Pharaoh and his slaughtered army among the slain in sheol or hades in the nether parts of the earth beneath, in contrast to the earth's surface which is the land of the living. That sheol embraces the interior of the earth as the region of every grave and not merely a single grave, proving no living beings are found there. The speaking of the mighty to Pharaoh out of sheol, and his being comforted at the sight of the slain, is figurative personification and not literal consciousness, for those in sheol are silent, unconscious and without knowledge. Those who held the other view teach that the surrounding description portrays the dead as seeing one another, with Sheol identified with the grave where this company is represented as conscious.
Judgment on Egypt
Ezekiel 32:28 belongs to the prophecies of correction and denunciation, standing within the group of prophecies against foreign nations in chapters 25-32. It belongs to the prophecy about Egypt and its judgment, concerning the certain fate awaiting Pharaoh and his host. It is part of the prophecies against Egypt in Ezekiel 29-32, which were literally fulfilled. Egypt, once one of the greatest kingdoms and at one time the greatest empire on earth, lost its power and standing among the nations and became the basest of kingdoms, broken to lie with the uncircumcised dead slain by the sword.
The verse is part of Ezekiel's twenty-two-year plea for Israel to turn to God, which used the kingdoms on all sides of Israel as illustrations of how God deals with them. Egypt was a former oppressor of God's people and the symbol of black infidelity. Its pride would be brought down, and it would be broken and abased and brought low, never to rise again among the nations, as a warning to those who still remained.
Hades and Unconscious Dead
The verse places Pharaoh and his slaughtered army among those slain by the sword, broken and lying with the uncircumcised in sheol or hades in the nether parts of the earth. They were slaughtered in battle with the king of Babylon and buried indiscriminately with friend and foe cast together into pits, going down with their weapons of war and their swords laid under their heads. That burial in the nether parts is set in contrast to the land of the living on the earth's surface.
Sheol there, rendered hell or hades, is in the earth beneath, in the nether parts and depths of the earth. It embraces the interior of the earth as the region of the dead and the place of every grave, not merely a single grave, always located beneath. It is the land of the dead in contrast to the land of the living, proving no living beings are found there. The dead who lie there broken in the midst of the uncircumcised are distinguished from the living above.
Sheol is identical with hades and is not in the third heaven in sight of the New Jerusalem, so if Lazarus were in heaven and Dives in hades they could not converse together. Those nether parts are the lower parts of the earth into which Christ descended when dead before He afterward ascended far above all heavens into Paradise. The surrounding passage is used to explain Christ's descent to the dead before His ascension.
Hades is a temporary prison of death from which the resurrection releases the dead. This hades in the interior or nether parts of the earth will feel the devouring fire of the final conflagration and will be consumed and cease to be the abode of the dead.
The speaking of the strong among the mighty to Pharaoh out of sheol, and Pharaoh seeing the multitude of his slain enemies and being comforted at the sight, with others ashamed, is figurative personification and not literal consciousness, conversation, action, or feeling in death. Those in sheol are silent, unconscious, inactive, and without knowledge and cannot literally talk together or be comforted or ashamed. It is a common Old Testament way of making the dead appear to speak and act to press truth upon the living and vividly represent future retribution. It is like the dead kings rising from thrones to mock the fallen king of Babylon, and Rachel weeping for her children long after her death, and trees walking and talking, and the rich man endowed with life and speech in hades. It is an example of Scripture's metaphorical language used as illustration and no more proves conscious torment after death than those figures prove their literal events.
The surrounding description portrays the dead as seeing one another, with sheol identified with the grave, where this company is represented as conscious, as held by those who so taught it.