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clingers-on

Ezekiel 29:1-5 (JDV)

Ezekiel 29:1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month on the twelfth day of the month, the word of Yahveh happened to me. This is what it said:
Ezekiel 29:2 “Son of Adam, face Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all of Egypt.
Ezekiel 29:3 Speak to him and say, ‘This is what the Lord Yahveh says: Notice, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster lying in the middle of his Nile, who says, “My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.”
Ezekiel 29:4 I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams cling to your scales. I will haul you up from the middle of your Nile, and all the fish of your streams will cling to your scales.
Ezekiel 29:5 I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open ground and will not be taken away or gathered for burial. I have given you to the wild creatures of the land and the birds of the sky as food.

clingers-on

Redpath states: “Why the fish of the river are described as sticking to the scales of the dragon is not clear unless it means that all the king’s retinue and hangers-on of the court were to share in the king’s fall. As a matter of fact, the end of Hophra’s reign was caused by the occurrence of a revolt of mercenaries in the far South of Egypt which might well be called the wilderness and the open field’ … The prophet also implies that he would not have the rites of royal burial accorded to him”1

The mighty fall and bring their clingers-on down with them. God is against those who try to take his place. If we try to cling on to the ones we think have clout, it will prove to be a mistake.

1 Redpath, Henry A. The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel: With Introd. and Notes. London: Methuen, 1907. p. 157.