What is the context?
This dated message pictures Pharaoh with an already broken arm that has not been bound up to heal or strengthened to hold a sword. The image makes his inability to sustain the fight visible.
The Lord will break both arms, including the one still strong, so that the sword falls from Pharaoh’s hand. In contrast, He will strengthen Babylon’s king and place His sword in that king’s hand.
The movement of power is therefore part of the Lord’s announced action. Pharaoh’s groaning, Egypt’s defeat and the scattering of its people expose the limits of the power on which Israel had leaned.
The repeated promise is that they will know the Lord when these things happen. The final emphasis is not admiration for Babylon’s might, but recognition of the One who gives and removes strength.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley understands the strong and broken arms as the remaining and already damaged parts of Egypt’s power. Cambridge considers the possibility that the already broken arm refers to Egypt’s failed attempt to relieve Jerusalem, while continuing to treat the arms as a figure for military strength.
Henry reads the contrast as Egypt growing weaker while Babylon grows stronger. The picture explains the rise and fall of these powers without requiring an otherwise unrecorded medical diagnosis of Pharaoh.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.