Ezekiel 32:17-32

The Company of the Damned Text: Ezekiel 32:17-32

Introduction: The Great Leveling

We live in an age that is drunk on its own press releases. Our politicians, our tech moguls, our celebrities, and our academic guild all operate under the assumption that they are the most important people to have ever lived. They build their glass towers, they amass their fortunes, they write their memoirs, and they preen for the cameras, all in a desperate attempt to carve out a legacy that will defy the grave. Nations do the same thing. They build up their armies, puff out their chests on the world stage, and imagine that their moment in the sun will last forever. They believe their own propaganda.

But the Word of God is a great slayer of propaganda. The Word of God is the ultimate reality check. While men are busy building their little kingdoms of dirt, God is busy digging their graves. This chapter in Ezekiel is one of the most sobering passages in all of Scripture. It is a funeral dirge, a divine lament, for a nation that is still walking around. God pronounces Egypt dead and buried long before the Babylonians show up to fill in the hole. He pulls back the curtain of history and gives us a guided tour of the necropolis of proud nations. This is God's exposé of Sheol, the great pit where all godless human ambition finds its final, dishonorable resting place.

This is not a polite or encouraging text. It is a divine taunt. It is a holy mockery of human pride. It shows us that death is the great leveler, and that the justice of God is the ultimate landlord. Every proud nation, every arrogant king, and every self-important man who has ever lived has an appointment in this place. The question this passage forces upon us is simple: with whom will you lie down in death?


The Text

Now it happened in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Son of man, wail for the hordes of Egypt and bring it down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the nether world, with those who go down to the pit; ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and make your bed with the uncircumcised.’ They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword. She is given over to the sword; they have drawn her and all her multitude away. The dominant among the mighty ones shall speak of him and his helpers from the midst of Sheol, ‘They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’
“Assyria is there and all her assembly; her graves are round about her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, whose graves are put in the remotest parts of the pit, and her assembly is all round about her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who put terror in the land of the living.
“Elam is there and all her multitude all around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, who put their terror in the land of the living and bore their dishonor with those who went down to the pit. They have put a bed for her among the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are all around it; all of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword (although their terror was put in the land of the living), and they bore their dishonor with those who go down to the pit; they were put in the midst of the slain.
“Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude are there; their graves are all around them. All of them were slain by the sword uncircumcised, though they put their terror in the land of the living. Nor do they lie beside the fallen mighty ones of the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war and whose swords were put under their heads; but the punishment for their iniquity rested on their bones, though the terror of these mighty ones was once in the land of the living. But as for you, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken and lie with those slain by the sword.
“There also is Edom, its kings, and all its princes, who for all their might are put with those slain by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit.
“There also are the chiefs of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who in spite of the terror resulting from their might, in shame went down with the slain. So they lay down uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bore their dishonor with those who go down to the pit.
“These Pharaoh will see, and he will be comforted for all his multitude slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his military force,” declares Lord Yahweh. “Though I put a terror of him in the land of the living, yet he will be made to lie down among the uncircumcised along with those slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his hordes,” declares Lord Yahweh.
(Ezekiel 32:17-32 LSB)

Your Reservation is Confirmed (vv. 17-21)

God's command to Ezekiel is to act as a funeral director for a corpse that doesn't yet know it's dead. He is to wail for Egypt and escort her down to the "nether world," the pit, which is Sheol, the abode of the dead.

"‘Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and make your bed with the uncircumcised.’" (Ezekiel 32:19)

This is the central taunt. Egypt was obsessed with its own glory, its ancient culture, its architectural marvels, its wisdom. God looks at all this pomp and asks a withering question: "So, you think you're special?" The divine answer is a command: "Go down." Your beauty, your power, your sophistication means nothing. You are to make your bed, your final resting place, with the "uncircumcised." This is a term of ultimate contempt. It signifies being outside the covenant, being profane, unclean. Egypt, with all its elaborate religious rituals, is lumped in with the common riffraff of the godless nations.

And who is there to greet them? The ghosts of other tyrants. "The dominant among the mighty ones shall speak of him... from the midst of Sheol." This is hell's welcoming committee. The once-great warlords of fallen empires look up from their dusty beds and offer a cynical greeting. It is not a welcome of honor, but a jeer of shared misery: "They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword." Look, another one bites the dust. Welcome to the club. Your pride brought you here, just like ours brought us.


A Tour of the Crypt (vv. 22-30)

What follows is a roll call of the damned, a tour through the various wings of this great subterranean cemetery. Each nation mentioned was once a name to be feared, a terror in the land of the living. Now, they are exhibits in God's museum of failed rebellions.

The recurring theme is inescapable. These nations "put terror in the land of the living." They lived by the sword, and they all died by the sword. They were covenantally unclean, and they now bear their shame and dishonor together. This is the end of every road that is not the narrow way that leads to life.


The Miserable Comfort of the Damned (vv. 31-32)

The climax of this grim prophecy is one of the most psychologically astute statements in the Bible.

"These Pharaoh will see, and he will be comforted for all his multitude slain by the sword..." (Ezekiel 32:31)

What a strange thing to say. How could seeing a mass grave of fallen empires be a comfort? It is the comfort of shared misery. It is the solace of the damned. Pharaoh will arrive in Sheol, look around at the ghosts of Assyria, Elam, and all the others, and think to himself, "Well, at least I am not alone. At least it wasn't just me. Even the great Assyrians ended up here."

This is the polar opposite of the comfort of the Holy Spirit. The comfort of God is a comfort that leads to life, repentance, and fellowship with the saints. The comfort of hell is the comfort of knowing that others are just as condemned as you are. It is the pathetic solidarity of the rebellious. It is the grim satisfaction of not being the only failure in a world of failures. It is a comfort that cements damnation, a peace that is no peace at all.

And God takes full responsibility. He says, "Though I put a terror of him in the land of the living, yet he will be made to lie down..." God is sovereign over the rise of nations and He is sovereign over their fall. He gives them their power, He allows them their moment of terror on the world stage, and when their part in His story is done, He removes them. History is not a random series of events; it is a story being written by a sovereign Author, and He is bringing it to His foreordained conclusion.


The Gospel from the Pit

This is a dark and terrifying chapter. So where is the good news? The good news is found not in avoiding the pit, but in understanding the One who went into the pit for us. This entire chapter describes the fate of the proud who are slain by the sword of judgment. But there was One who was not proud, who was perfectly beautiful, who was slain by the sword of judgment that we deserved.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, went down into the pit. He was numbered with the transgressors. He bore the ultimate dishonor. He was slain and laid in a grave. He descended to the lowest parts of the earth. He did this to face the full force of the terror that all these nations represent. He absorbed the judgment.

But there is a crucial difference. When Assyria and Egypt went down, they lay still. When Jesus went down, the pit could not hold Him. He did not see corruption. He rose from the grave, having disarmed every principality and power that would ever put terror in the land of the living. He conquered death and Sheol itself.

Therefore, the great dividing line in humanity is no longer circumcision of the flesh. It is faith in the one who was slain and rose again. We all have an appointment with the grave. The choice before us is this: will we go down to the pit with the proud and the uncircumcised of heart, finding our only comfort in the miserable company of the damned? Or will we die in Christ, united by faith to the One who conquered the grave, so that we might be raised with Him to eternal life?

Do not be comforted by the fact that many are on the broad road that leads to destruction. Flee from that company. The true comfort, the only comfort in life and in death, is that we are not our own, but belong, body and soul, to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who has paid for all our sins and set us free from the tyranny of the devil, and the terror of the pit.