Jerem xliv. 30.HOPHRAH, King of Egypt, who lived in the time of Zedekiah King of Judah, and Nebuchadnezzar the great King of Chaldæa. Herodotus calls him Apries. Herodot. l. 2. c. 161, 162, 169.Zedekiah King of Judah, being weary of the Babylonish yoke, which that King had obliged him to submit to, made an alliance with Hophrah King of Egypt, and to this end sent Ambassadors to him in the seventh year of his reign. Ezekiel reproaches him for so doing in very strong terms; He who sent his Ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people: shall he prosper? shall he escape that doth such things? or shall he break the covenant and be delivered? As I live, saith the Lord, surely in the place where the King dwelleth that made him King, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.
Two years after, that is to say, in the ninth year of Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar marched against Jerusalem, and took all Jerem. xxxix. 1. lii. 4.the cities of Judah, except Lachish, Azekah, and Jerusalem. Pharaoh Hophrah seeing his ally in the utmost extremity, left Egypt, and came at the head of his army to his assistance. Nebuchadnezzar hereupon raised the siege of Jerusalem, and marched against the King of Egypt; and at the same time, Jeremiah foretold to Zedekiah, that the Egyptians would return into their own country, without daring to encounter the Chaldæans, and that Nebuchadnezzar would take Jerusalem, which fell out accordingly; Zedekiah himself being taken, and carried prisoner to Babylon. At that Jerem. xliv. 30.time Jeremiah prophesied, that the King of Egypt should be delivered into the hands of his enemies, in like manner as Zedekiah had fal’n into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar; and Ezekiel addressed his discourse to Hophrah in the words following: “ Thus saith the “ Lord, Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh King of Egypt, the great Dragon “ that lieth in the midst of the rivers, “ which hath said, my river is mine own, “ and I have made it for myself. But I “ will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will “ cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto “ thy scales, and I will bring thee up out “ of the midst of thy rivers, and all the “ fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy “ scales. And I will leave thee thrown “ into the wilderness, thee and all the fish “ of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the “ open fields, thou shalt not be brought “ together, nor gathered: I have given “ thee for meat to the beasts of the field, “ and to the fowls of heaven. And all “ the inhabitants of Egypt shall know, “ that I am the Lord, because they have “ been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. “ When they took hold of thee by “ thy hand, thou didst break, and rent all “ their shoulder: and when they leaned “ upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all “ their loins to be at a stand. Therefore “ behold I will bring a sword upon thee, “ and the land of Egypt shall be desolate “ and waste, and they shall know that I “ am the Lord, &c.”
The xxxth and xxxist Chapters of the same Prophet are likewise levelled against the King of Egypt. There Ezekiel describes the fall of Egypt, the ruin and desolation of it after a very pathetick manner, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah. In the Ezek. xxx. 20.seventh day of the first month the Lord said to Ezekiel, “ 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 … I will break his arms, and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. I will strengthen the arms of the King of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down, and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the King of Babylon.” Ezek. xxxii. 1, 2, 3, &c. Ezek. xxxi. 1, 2, &c. The first day in the third month of the eleventh year.Some months after, Ezekiel prophesied again against Hophrah King of Egypt: And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh King of Egypt, and to his multitude, whom art thou like in thy greatness? Behold the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature, and his top was among the thick boughs, and under his shadow dwelt many nations… all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him. But because he was lifted up with pride, I have delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen, who will treat him as he pleases… And thou Pharaoh shalt be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth; thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with them that be slain by the sword: such shall be the fate of Pharaoh, and all his people, saith the Lord God.” The Prophet continues in the following chapter, and makes a mournful song upon the fall of Pharaoh Hophrah. “Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art a whale in the seas, and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers. Therefore thus saith the Lord, I will spread out my net over thee, with a company of many people, and they shall bring thee up in my net. Then I will leave thee upon the land, and I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee. At thy death I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark: I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee… the sword of the King of Babylon shall come upon thee: by the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, they are all invincible people; they shall destroy the pride of Egypt, and the whole multitude of her people shall be dispersed; and when I have thus destroyed Egypt, and all that dwell therein, then they shall know that I am the Lord.”
These predictions were executed without delay, first against the person of Apries, or Hophrah, by the hands of Amasis, and afterwards against the kingdom of Egypt, and the Egyptians, by Nebuchadnezzar’s army. Herodotus says, that Hophrah was the son of Amasis, &c.
After the death of Hophrah, Nebuchadnezzar took and destroyed Jerusalem, then he attacked the city of Tyre a, and took it after a siege of thirteen years. During this In the year of the World 3415, before J. C. 585, before the Vulgar Æra 588. a In the year of the World 3432, before J. C. 568, before the Vulgar Æra 571. Ezek. xxix. 18, 20. xxx. 1, 19.long siege, he was reduced to great straits, and to make him amends in some sort for his losses, God said to Ezekiel; “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar with his army has done me great service at the siege of Tyre; the heads of all his people shed their hair, and all their shoulders were peeled: yet neither he nor his army have received any recompense for the service they have done me in taking Tyre: therefore thus saith the Lord, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, he shall take all the people, and make booty of them: he shall divide the spoil, and after this manner his army shall receive their wages, and he shall be paid for the service he has done me at the siege of Tyre: I have given him the land of Egypt, because he hath wrought for me, saith the Lord.”
Accordingly Nebuchadnezzar marched against Egypt, and subdued it from Migdol or Magdol, which is at the entrance of the kingdom, as far as Siena, which lies at the other extremity towards the frontiers of Ezek. xxix. 6.Ethiopia. He committed strange ravages every where, killed a great number of inhabitants, Idem xxix. 30, &c.obtained great victories, and reduced the land to such a solitude, that it could not recover itself in forty years. NebuchadnezzarIdem xxix. 13. granted Amasis conditions of peace: he left this Prince in Egypt with the title of King, but tributary and subject to him: after which he returned to Babylon loaded with the spoils of so many conquered Provinces.