2

Ezekiel 32
13 I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside the great waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
14 Then will I make their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord God.

To whom does the pronoun "them" refer?

0

1 Answer 1

2

Short answer: "them" refers to "the great waters." This same language is used throughout scriptures from YHWH because YHWH created them.

  1. The first clue is in Ezekiel 32:2-3. I'm quoting from KJV.

"Son of Man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers. Thus saith the Lord God, I will therefore spreadeth my net over thee with a company of many people and they shall bring thee up in my net." (v 2-3)

Pharaoh and his army fouled the waters (against Israel) and they will be captured in those waters.

  1. The second clue is in a comparison of other translations.

NKJV
"Also I will destroy all its animals from beside its great waters; the foot of man shall muddy them no more, nor shall the hooves of animals muddy them."

HCSB
"I will slaughter all its cattle that are beside many waters. No human foot will churn them again, and no cattle hooves will disturb them."

NET
"I will destroy all its cattle beside the plentiful waters; and no human foot will disturb the waters again, nor will the hooves of cattle disturb them."

  1. Taking the story into context...

"Then I will leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee." (v 4)

The waters have already destroyed the Pharaoh and his army and he in turn, has fouled up the waters. The "net" (a symbol) will be cast on the earth, where birds and beasts will eat their flesh.

"And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains and fill the valleys with thy height." (v 5)

The flesh of the Pharaoh and his army will be scattered on the earth.

"I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee." (v 6)

The Pharaoh's blood will run down the mountains, into the rivers, which will fill with blood.

"And when I shall put thee out, 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, and set darkness upon thy land." (v 7-8)

The Pharaoh and his army will decompose under darkness.

"I will also vex the hearts of many people when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known. Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall." (v 10)

People will fear the Pharaoh and his army and be afraid for them, when they are destroyed.

"For thus saith the Lord God; the sword of the king of Babylon will come upon thee." (v 11)

Pharaoh will be defeated by the king of Babylon.

"By the swords of the mighty will I cause the multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed." (v 12)

YHWH has laid out specifically what will happen (2-11), then refers to it in one simple sentence.

This is a chapter about the Pharaoh and how he has hurt the Israelites and how he'll be destroyed. "The great waters" were a tool to destroy Pharaoh and his army but those waters wound up being "troubled" (v 13) in the process.

3
  • +1 for the answer, though I disagree with you that the waters are Israel, though Israel is 'part of the great waters'. Pharaoh who is symbolic for Lucifer, isn't only Israel's problem but of the entire world, which are the great waters.
    – Ted O
    Mar 11, 2017 at 10:09
  • hi Ted, I'm not saying the waters are Israel. The waters are the waters = H20. Hydrogen and Oxygen. The pharaoh enslaved the Israelites and wouldn't "let them go." Mar 11, 2017 at 14:26
  • well then you are off the mark, in that sense. For what has God to do bothering with stopping beasts troubling the water, with all the oceans whose shores a handful of animals have ever come near? Beasts meant here are Lucifer's rulerships in the earth, signified so in Revelation and Daniel, and whose foot meant are their ways among sons of men, men being the great waters, but led astray by the foot of these beasts, and which sons of men after Lucifer is cut off with his rulerships that led them astray, is the stopping of these rulerships from 'fouling their waters' .
    – Ted O
    Mar 11, 2017 at 16:54

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.