God's Geopolitical Ledger: Ezekiel 29:17-21
Introduction: The Great Audit
We live in an age that believes in coincidence, happenstance, and geopolitical accidents. Our talking heads and tenured professors speak of economic forces, historical inevitabilities, and political pressures as though these things were ultimate realities, pushing and pulling nations like so many billiard balls on a felt table. They write their histories and make their predictions with God left entirely out of the accounting. For them, God is, at best, a private hobby for the religious, but He is certainly not the one who raises up kings and brings them down. He is not the one who directs the course of empires. In short, they believe in a god who is small, manageable, and irrelevant to the affairs of men.
But the God of Scripture, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is not such a god. He is the sovereign Lord of history. He is not a spectator; He is the author, director, and principal actor in the grand drama of the world. Every nation is His instrument, every king is His servant, and every war serves His ultimate purpose. He is running the whole show, and He keeps meticulous books. Not a single sparrow falls to the ground apart from His will, and not a single empire rises or falls outside of His decree. This is either the bedrock of our sanity and comfort, or it is the most terrifying thought imaginable. There is no middle ground.
In this brief and striking passage from Ezekiel, the curtain is pulled back, and we are allowed to see the divine accounting in action. God is settling His accounts. He is auditing the books of nations. Specifically, He is dealing with a failed transaction involving Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and the city of Tyre. And in settling this account, He reveals His absolute sovereignty over the wealth of nations, the movements of armies, and the future of His own covenant people. This is not some dusty record of ancient near-eastern politics. This is a revelation of how God governs the world, then and now. And it is a lesson we desperately need to learn, lest we continue to trust in the princes and politicians who are but dust.
The Text
Now in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his military force labor hard against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare. But he and his military force had no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had labored against it.” Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he will carry off her abundance and capture her spoil and seize her plunder; and it will be wages for his military force. I have given him the land of Egypt for his work which he labored because they acted for Me,” declares Lord Yahweh.
“On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth in their midst. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”
(Ezekiel 29:17-21 LSB)
The Unpaid Servant (vv. 17-18)
We begin with the historical situation and the divine problem.
"Now in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 'Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his military force labor hard against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare. But he and his military force had no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had labored against it.'" (Ezekiel 29:17-18)
The precision of the date is important. This is 587 or 586 B.C., long after the initial prophecies against Tyre. God is not forgetful. His prophetic clock runs on time. He tells Ezekiel that Nebuchadnezzar, the pagan warlord, the hammer of the nations, has been hard at work. The siege of Tyre was a grueling, thirteen-year affair. The imagery here is vivid and visceral: "every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare." This speaks of the immense toil of siege warfare. The bald heads came from the constant wearing of helmets, and the raw shoulders from carrying siege equipment, earth, and stones for years on end. This was a hard, costly labor.
Now, Nebuchadnezzar was not a follower of Yahweh. He was a proud, pagan emperor. Yet, God refers to this monumental effort as "labor." It was work. And what is the principle that God Himself established at the foundation of the world? The laborer is worthy of his wages (Luke 10:7). But there was a problem. When Tyre finally fell, the inhabitants had largely escaped with their wealth to their island fortress. The mainland city was a hollowed-out shell. So Nebuchadnezzar and his army "had no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had labored against it." The payday was a bust.
This presents a fascinating theological reality. God uses wicked men to accomplish His purposes. Nebuchadnezzar thought he was building his own empire, satisfying his own ambitions. But in besieging Tyre, a proud and arrogant city that God had judged, he was acting as God's unwitting instrument of wrath. He was God's hired hand. And God, being a just God, always pays His servants, whether they know they are working for Him or not. The books must be balanced. Nebuchadnezzar performed a service, and he was owed a wage. This is a staggering view of divine sovereignty. God's providence is so vast that it encompasses not only the actions of His saints but also the ambitions of His enemies. He can make the wrath of man to praise Him (Psalm 76:10).
Divine Compensation (vv. 19-20)
Because Nebuchadnezzar was shorted on his paycheck, God, the great paymaster, arranges for his compensation from another source.
"Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, 'Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he will carry off her abundance and capture her spoil and seize her plunder; and it will be wages for his military force. I have given him the land of Egypt for his work which he labored because they acted for Me,' declares Lord Yahweh." (Ezekiel 29:19-20)
The logic is impeccable. "Therefore," God says. Because there is a debt, therefore I will pay it. And how does He pay it? He gives him Egypt. Notice the language of absolute ownership. "I will give the land of Egypt..." God speaks of nations as though they are pieces on a chessboard. He moves them, captures them, and gives them away according to His good pleasure. Egypt, with all her ancient glory, her wealth, her "abundance," is nothing more than a bank from which God makes a withdrawal to pay His servant.
This is a direct assault on the pride of nations and the autonomy of man. Pharaoh thinks he is in charge of Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar thinks he is conquering Egypt. But God declares that He is the one giving it. The spoil, the plunder, the abundance, all of it, will be "wages" for the Babylonian army. God is a good employer.
And then comes the capstone statement, the ultimate declaration of sovereignty: "because they acted for Me." Nebuchadnezzar's army, in all their pagan fury, with all their idolatrous motivations, were, in the final analysis, acting for Yahweh. They were on His payroll. This does not excuse their sin or their cruelty. God later judges Babylon for its own arrogance. But it does mean that their actions were woven into the tapestry of His perfect plan. God is never out of control. He is never reacting. He is always acting, always working all things according to the counsel of His own will (Ephesians 1:11). This should be a profound comfort to the believer and a stark terror to the unrepentant. No one is a free agent in God's world. You are either His willing servant or His unwilling tool. But you are always His.
The Covenantal Purpose (v. 21)
Lest we think this is merely a story about the machinations of pagan empires, God brings it all home to His covenant people. The ultimate point of all this geopolitical maneuvering is the salvation and restoration of Israel.
"'On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth in their midst. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.'" (Ezekiel 29:21)
What does the humbling of Tyre and the plundering of Egypt have to do with Israel? Everything. "On that day," the day God demonstrates His absolute control over the nations, He will do two things for His people. First, He will "make a horn sprout for the house of Israel." A horn in Scripture is a symbol of strength, power, and salvation (Psalm 18:2). A sprouting horn signifies a renewal of that strength, a new beginning of deliverance and royal power. This is a messianic promise. While it has a near fulfillment in the return from exile, its ultimate fulfillment is in the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the great Horn of our salvation (Luke 1:69).
All of history, every war, every treaty, every rise and fall of empires, is orchestrated by God for one central purpose: to bring forth the kingdom of His Son. The humbling of the proud nations is the necessary groundwork for the exaltation of Christ's kingdom. God is clearing the board to make way for the King.
Second, God promises to "open your mouth in their midst." This is a promise to Ezekiel, the prophet. For a time, Ezekiel had been struck mute, a sign of judgment against a rebellious people (Ezekiel 3:26). But now, as God's power is displayed and His promises begin to come to pass, the prophetic word will be unleashed again. The vindication of God in history leads to the vindication of His Word. When God acts, His prophets have something to say. Their mouths are opened not to speculate, but to interpret God's mighty acts.
And what is the final goal of all this? "Then they will know that I am Yahweh." This is the refrain of Ezekiel, the great conclusion to all of God's work in judgment and salvation. He does what He does so that the world, and especially His own people, will know Him for who He truly is: the sovereign, covenant-keeping God of all creation. He is not one god among many. He is not a tribal deity. He is Yahweh, the great I AM, the Lord of Nebuchadnezzar, the Lord of Pharaoh, and the Lord of all.
Conclusion: Our Sovereign Paymaster
So what are we to take from this? First, we must have a big view of God. Our God is not wringing His hands in heaven over the latest headlines. He is writing the headlines. The chaos we see in the world is not chaos to Him. It is the orderly, if sometimes violent, unfolding of His perfect plan. He is paying His servants, settling His accounts, and arranging all of history for the glory of His Son.
Second, this means we can have absolute confidence in His promises. If God can use the Babylonian army as His unwitting instrument, He can certainly use the circumstances of our lives, even the difficult and painful ones, to accomplish His good purposes for us. Every hard providence, every unpaid labor, every raw shoulder in our lives is seen by Him. He keeps the books, and He will settle every account justly. He is a good paymaster. No labor in the Lord is ever in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). He may not pay on Friday, but He pays.
Finally, the ultimate end of all history is the sprouting of the horn of salvation, Jesus Christ. All of God's work in the world is driving toward the day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The nations rage, and the peoples plot in vain, but God has set His King on Zion, His holy hill (Psalm 2). The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. And when we see His sovereign hand at work, even in the strange providence of paying a pagan king with the wealth of Egypt, our mouths are opened to declare His praise. And in this, we come to know, ever more deeply, that He is Yahweh.