Va’erah
The destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE was neither the first nor last Babylonian attack against Judah. Eleven years earlier, in 597, they besieged Jerusalem and exiled its king, Jeconiah, prominent royals, artisans, and priests - including Ezekiel - to Babylon.
In the Haftarah’s uplifting first verses, God promises to redeem His exiled people, punish their oppressors and return them to dwell in their Land and radiate His sanctity. These promises mirror the Parashah’s opening promises about God redeeming the Israelites to establish them as His people in His Land.
The Haftarah then addresses the central question facing Judah in Tevet, 586, a year into Babylon's second, devastating siege of Jerusalem: should it continue to ally with Egypt against the Babylonians, or should it capitulate to Babylon, with hopes to save its remaining people, Jerusalem, and the Temple? Ezekiel and God favor the latter. During the first siege of Judah in 597, Egypt had been a useless, “weak reed” ally, fleeing the battlefield against Babylon. In terms reminiscent of the Parashah’s plagues, Ezekiel foretells that God will destroy Egypt, exile it for forty years, and then return its survivors to Southern Egypt - so distant from Judah that it won’t rely upon Egypt again. As in the Parashah, God emphasizes that this will show Egypt that, contrary to their belief in Pharaoh as the Nile’s god-creator, He alone controls the world.
The Haftarah concludes in 570, sixteen years after Babylon conquered Jerusalem. God’s instrument in human history, Babylon, will carry out His punishment of Egypt by conquering it; Babylon's soldiers will receive its plunder. (See footnote 1.) With Egypt destroyed, God will redeem and cause Israel to flourish in the Land.
Haftarah Breakdown
Verses 28:24-26: By returning His exiled people to dwell securely in its Land and punishing its neighboring enemies, all nations will recognize God’s sanctity.
Ezekiel 28:25
So says the Lord God: “When I gather in the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered and am sanctified through them in the sight of the nations, [then] they shall dwell in their land that I have given to my servant, Jacob.”
כֹּֽה־אָמַר֮ אֲדֹנָ֣י ה׳ בְּקַבְּצִ֣י ׀ אֶת־בֵּ֣ית יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל מִן־הָֽעַמִּים֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר נָפֹ֣צוּ בָ֔ם וְנִקְדַּ֥שְׁתִּי בָ֖ם לְעֵינֵ֣י הַגּוֹיִ֑ם וְיָֽשְׁבוּ֙ עַל־אַדְמָתָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָתַ֖תִּי לְעַבְדִּ֥י לְיַעֲקֹֽב׃
Verses 29:1-7: After God destroys Egypt and its Pharaoh for claiming to be a creator god of the Nile, and for betraying Judah, particularly during the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem, Egyptians will know God’s might.
Ezekiel 29:3
Speak and say: “So says the Lord God: ‘Behold I am upon you, O Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great crocodile crouching in the midst of its streams [the northern Nile delta], who has said, ‘My River is mine, and I have made it for myself!’’”
דַּבֵּ֨ר וְאָמַרְתָּ֜ כֹּֽה־אָמַ֣ר ׀ אֲדֹנָ֣י ה׳ הִנְנִ֤י עָלֶ֙יךָ֙ פַּרְעֹ֣ה מֶֽלֶךְ־מִצְרַ֔יִם הַתַּנִּים֙ הַגָּד֔וֹל הָרֹבֵ֖ץ בְּת֣וֹךְ יְאֹרָ֑יו אֲשֶׁ֥ר אָמַ֛ר לִ֥י יְאֹרִ֖י וַאֲנִ֥י עֲשִׂיתִֽנִי׃
Verses 29:8-12: From Migdol in Egypt’s north, to Sevan (near modern-day Aswan) in its middle, and southward towards Ethiopia, God will utterly desolate Egypt and exile its people for forty years.
Ezekiel 29:12
I will make the land of Egypt desolate amidst wasted lands, and its cities shall be desolate amidst ruined cities for forty years. I will scatter Egypt among nations, and disperse them through the lands.
וְנָתַתִּ֣י אֶת־אֶרֶץ֩ מִצְרַ֨יִם שְׁמָמָ֜ה בְּת֣וֹךְ ׀ אֲרָצ֣וֹת נְשַׁמּ֗וֹת וְעָרֶ֙יהָ֙ בְּת֨וֹךְ עָרִ֤ים מָֽחֳרָבוֹת֙ תִּֽהְיֶ֣יןָ שְׁמָמָ֔ה אַרְבָּעִ֖ים שָׁנָ֑ה וַהֲפִצֹתִ֤י אֶת־מִצְרַ֙יִם֙ בַּגּוֹיִ֔ם וְֽזֵרִיתִ֖ים בָּאֲרָצֽוֹת׃
Verses 29:13-16: God will return the surviving Egyptians to their point of ethnic origin in southern Egypt. It will be too small and weak to ever again oppress others. It will also be far from Judah, which will never rely on it again.
Ezekiel 29:14
I will return the captivity of Egypt and cause them to return to the [southern] land of Pathros, [to dwell upon] the land of their origin. There, they shall be a lowly kingdom.
וְשַׁבְתִּי֙ אֶת־שְׁב֣וּת מִצְרַ֔יִם וַהֲשִׁבֹתִ֤י אֹתָם֙ אֶ֣רֶץ פַּתְר֔וֹס עַל־אֶ֖רֶץ מְכֽוּרָתָ֑ם וְהָ֥יוּ שָׁ֖ם מַמְלָכָ֥ה שְׁפָלָֽה׃
Verses 29:17-21: Sixteen years after destroying the Temple, Babylon failed to conquer Tyre , to Israel’s north. God nonetheless rewards Babylon by delivering Egypt to it. Israel will flourish and will heed Ezekiel’s words.
Ezekiel 29:19
Therefore, thus says the Lord God: “Behold I will give Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, the land of Egypt. He shall take its multitude[s], its spoils, and its prey as wages for his army.”
לָכֵ֗ן כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ אֲדֹנָ֣י ה׳ הִנְנִ֥י נֹתֵ֛ן לִנְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּ֥ר מֶֽלֶךְ־בָּבֶ֖ל אֶת־אֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם וְנָשָׂ֨א הֲמֹנָ֜הּ וְשָׁלַ֤ל שְׁלָלָהּ֙ וּבָזַ֣ז בִּזָּ֔הּ וְהָיְתָ֥ה שָׂכָ֖ר לְחֵילֽוֹ׃
Haftarah Egyptology
Ezekiel’s calling Pharoah “the great crocodile” (see 29:3, above) refers to the pictured Egyptian crocodile deity, Sobek. As early as Narmer, the first Pharaoh of Egypt, Sobek was worshiped as a fertility god connected with the flooding of the Nile. During the Middle Kingdom Period (c. 2055–1650 BCE) Sobek was combined with Ra, the chief god of Egypt, thereby becoming associated with the Pharaohs and their dynasties. He then became known as the creator of the Nile and the world. Many mummified crocodiles have been discovered at his main center of worship, Crocodilopolis.
Connections
The Midrash derives a meaning of Moses’s sign of the snake-like staff from the Haftarah.
Shemot Rabbah 9:4
Why did [God] say to them [Moses and Aaron] that the sign would be of a serpentine creature? Because Pharaoh is compared to a serpentine creature, as (Ezek. 29:3) says, "The great [serpentine] crocodile crouching in the midst of its rivers." When Moses would depart Pharaoh’s presence, [Pharaoh] would say, “If Amram’s son [Moses] comes to me, I will kill him, I will crucify him, and I will burn him.” Yet when Moses entered [Pharaoh’s presence], Pharaoh immediately “became a staff” [unable to act on his threats.]
לָמָּה אָמַר לָהֶם נֵס שֶׁל תַּנִּין, לְפִי שֶׁפַּרְעֹה נִדְמָה לְתַנִּין, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (יחזקאל כט, ג): הַתַּנִּים הַגָּדוֹל הָרֹבֵץ בְּתוֹךְ יְאֹרָיו, כְּשֶׁהָיָה משֶׁה יוֹצֵא מֵאֵצֶל פַּרְעֹה הָיָה אוֹמֵר אִם יָבוֹא אֶצְלִי בֶּן עַמְרָם אֲנִי הוֹרְגוֹ אֲנִי צוֹלְבוֹ וַאֲנִי שׂוֹרְפוֹ, וּכְשֶׁהָיָה משֶׁה נִכְנָס מִיַּד נַעֲשָׂה פַּרְעֹה מַטֶּה.
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1. Tyre was a powerful Phoenician mercantile city on a small island off the coast of Southern Lebanon. It had colonies and traded all over the ancient world. In chapters 26-28. Ezekiel rebukes it for its rejoicing in the trading windfall it would receive upon the downfall of its trading competitor, Jerusalem; for its ruler’s self-deification; for its immoral trading practices, and for their resulting moral desecration of its idolatrous temples. Ezekiel declares that God will therefore send Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian army to destroy it and its wealth. The Babylonians worked mightily to besiege the isle; 29:18 describes its soldier’s hard labors, and possibly their resulting bodily afflictions. The siege failed, so the soldiers collected no spoils - their customary pay. For their efforts while carrying out His will to punish Tyre, God rewards Nebuchadrezzar with conquest of Egypt, and “pays” the soldiers who besieged Tyre with Egypt’s booty.
2. Thanks to Nachliel Selevan for providing this insight.
Image: Wikimedia, used under a creative commons license.
With emendations, all translations are from Sefaria.org. To dedicate, comment, or subscribe, email haftarahhelper@gmail.com.