29:1–32:32 Review · Egypt presented the greatest threat and challenge to Babylonian expansion in the Mediterranean world. For Ezekiel and Jeremiah, however, the Babylonians were God’s instrument of judgment, and accordingly they advanced a policy of nonresistance. The Egyptian attempt to throttle the Babylonian advance is the antithesis of all they preached.

29:1-21 · Verses 1–6a compare the Pharaoh (Hophra?) to the crocodile of the Nile. The king of Tyre deduced his divinity on the basis of the geography and topos of Tyre. The king of Egypt deduces his divinity on the basis of his exclusive ownership of the life-giving waters of the Nile. God goes on a crocodile hunt. The fish that stick to his scales (29:4), as the monster is dragged from the waters, represent the citizens of Egypt. Th…