“Two reasons are given for Pharaoh’s punishment [Ezekiel 29], but it is likely that both ultimately go back to the same cause.

The lesser is his completely callous use of Israel as a cat’s paw (vv. 6f.). This was clearly seen by the Rabshakeh (II Kings 18:21), and it lies behind Isaiah’s condemnation of every approach to and entanglement with Egypt (see also [Ezekiel 16]).

Behind the Pharaoh’s willingness to use others without any thought of their welfare lay not only the natural selfishness of man but even more the belief that he was a god incarnate.

It is always a very evil thing when a man persuades himself that for any reason he is not subject to the normal limitations of man; he will always end by falling lower than the normal level of mankind.”

-H. L. Ellison, Ezekiel: The Man and His Message, 113.