Speak, and say, thus saith the Lord God
The one only, living, and true God, the almighty, eternal, and unchangeable Jehovah, which the gods of Egypt were not: behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt;
who, though so great a king, was not a match for God, yea, nothing in his hands; nor could he stand before him, or contend with him; or, I am above thee
F25; though the king of Egypt was so high above others, and thought so highly of himself, as if he was a god; yet the Lord was higher than he: the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers;
the chief river of Egypt was the Nile, which opened in seven mouths or gates into the sea, and out of which canals were made to water the whole land; and which abounding with rivers and watery places, hence the king of it is compared to a great fish, a dragon or whale, or rather a crocodile, which was a fish very common, and almost peculiar to Egypt; and with which the description here agrees, as Bochart observes; and who also remarks that Pharaoh in the Arabic language signifies a crocodile; and to which he may be compared for his cruel, voracious, and mischievous nature; and is here represented as lying at ease, and rolling himself in the enjoyment of his power, riches, and pleasures: which hath said, my river is mine own, and I have made it for myself;
alluding to the river Nile, which his predecessors had by their wisdom cut out into canals, for the better watering of the land; and which he might have improved, so that it stood in no need of rain, nor of the supplies of other countries, having a sufficiency from its own product; though he chiefly designs his kingdom, which was his own, and he had established it, and made himself great in it; for the last clause may be rendered, either, "I have made it", as the Syriac version, the river Nile, ascribing that to himself which belonged to God; or, "I have made them", the rivers among whom he lay, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions; or, "I have made myself", as the Vulgate Latin version; that is, a great king. So the Targum,
``the kingdom is mine, and I have subdued it.''Herodotus says of this king, that he was so lifted up with pride, and so secure of his happy state, that he said there was no God could deprive him of his kingdom F26. This proud tyrannical monarch was an emblem of that beast that received his power from the dragon, and who himself spake like one; of the whore of Babylon that sits upon many waters, and boasts of her sovereignty and power, of her wealth and riches, of her ease, peace, pleasure, prosperity, and settled estate, ( Revelation 13:2 Revelation 13:11 ) ( 17:1 ) ( 18:7 ) .