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Ezekiel 29:15

It shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms and never again exalt itself above the nations, and I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations.

 

Thought for the day – Former glory

Babylon conquest of the Near Middle East changed the region irrevocably. Under Amasis II Egypt had enjoyed a relatively period of prosperity though it never quite reached the power it had under previous Pharaohs. They had been beaten by Nebuchadnezzar  at Carchemish in 605 BC and then a final humiliation in 568 BC, twenty odd years after the fall of Jerusalem.  

 

And while Egyptians returned to Egypt 40 years after their own exile, Egypt was then subject to invasions by the Persians in 525 BC at which point it became a province or the Persian empire for over 200 years, and even though there was a time of self rule, Pharaoh Nectanebo II became the last Egyptian to rule Egypt for over 2000 years. Alexander the Great took Egypt in 332 BC, and after his death the Ptolemies — a Macedonian Greek dynasty — ruled until Cleopatra VII. When she died in 30 BC, Egypt became a Roman province.

 

God’s promise that Egypt would become the most lowly of the kingdoms and never again exalt itself above the nations is an important reminder that God is in control. And I think there is a important lesson for us as Christians. God will tear down the empires that set themselves up against him. That includes Churches that have put their own stuff before God. It doesn’t happen quickly, but it does happen. It’s no good looking back at our former glory without recognising that maybe we’ve lost our glory because of things we have done and we have allowed them to get in the way of what God wants. 


 

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