Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because it towered high and set its top among the clouds, and its heart was proud of its height, I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out.
Ezekiel 31:10-11
God continues to warn Egypt of its coming downfall. This message was directed to Pharaoh and was a warning that Egypt's pride would lead to complete annihilation. Its superpower status and military prowess would be taken away. The king would be slain. The political giant would fall like a great tree cut down by woodsmen, never to grow back to towering heights again. Egypt would be cut up and made into whatever things the conquering nations wanted to make of her.
One of the main factors in the move God made to judge Egypt was the pride of the nation. They had built a strong and pervasive civilization. From the fertile banks of the Nile they forged a society and a culture that controlled the Middle East for centuries. But the great power would fall. The culture would be cut off. Egypt will be in ruins by the time God's warnings have been realized.
There is a tense to this communication that is ominous. God is warning Pharaoh of what is to come. But in His communication, it is a done deal. The phrasing of the last sentence shows us the sovereign purpose of God: I have cast it down. It was in real time still to happen. But in the purposes of God, it was done. The judgment was final. There was no undoing it. It was done. That is a sure prophetic word.
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