(REFLECTIONS ON EZEKIEL 30:1-26)

Weapons can be used to protect, to defend, to deter, but they are also used for the offensive, to bring about destruction rather than to bring about peace. Perhaps our initial motivation to bear arms is to protect, but that can quickly be transformed to a way to control, elicit fear, and impose our will against another.

In today’s Scripture, the Lord was determined to stop Egypt from using their weapons, both defensively and offensively, as His judgment against this proud nation.

20 In the eleventh year, in the first month on the seventh day, the word of the Lord came to me: 21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. It has not been bound up to be healed or put in a splint so that it may become strong enough to hold a sword. 22 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt. I will break both his arms, the good arm as well as the broken one, and make the sword fall from his hand.”

Although Egypt was a powerful nation, the Lord would take away their ability to defend themselves and also to use their power to control those weaker than them. The Lord would not just take away some of their power and influence, but would make them utterly powerless to the nations.

We see in today’s Scripture, Pharaoh king of Egypt symbolize the Egyptian nation as a whole. The Lord said he would break the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. However, unlike many instances when broken bones can be bound up to be healed or put in a splint to be strong enough to hold a sword, the Lord promised to break both of Pharaoh’s arms, the good arm as well as the broken one, so that there would be no way that the sword could be picked up and used for defense and more importantly, destruction.

Yes, Egypt was the nation that Israel often relied on in the past, but no longer would Egypt be able to protect others, much less protect themselves. The idea of the Lord breaking both arms, and not allowing them to be bound up to be healed shows the reluctance, or refusal of the Pharaoh and Egypt as a whole to put down its arms.

Pharaoh, “Put down your sword!” Yet, Pharaoh was too proud, defiant, and self-sufficient to do so. So, it is the Lord breaking both arms, making sure that the stubborn nation, trying to pick up the sword even with one arm broken, would not be able to do so.

We live in a world where throughout history the great arms race has in many ways determined a nations future. Those with power, weapons, and that could pick up their swords, are the ones that would dominate the world and be a world power.

However, the Lord is asking us not to participate in the great arms race and to trust our lives to Him. What weapons do we have in our life that the Lord is telling us today, “Put down your sword”? Are they physical weapons, or our words, attitudes, and actions? Perhaps we don’t intend our words, attitudes, and actions to hurt, wishing only to defend, but even in defense we find that our sword quickly can turn and do more harm than good.

Put down your sword is about learning to stop trying to do everything all on our own, but trusting that the Lord will be our defender and protector. Put down your sword means that we won’t succumb to fear, and that we won’t live a life where we feel like we need to be self-reliant, but where we can rely on the God that saves us and loves us.

Let us put down our sword, pick up our cross, as Jesus commanded us in Luke 9:23-25,

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?”

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Ezekiel 30