Sat 100327 am Ex 25 Ez 30-31

Exodus 25
25.2  whose heart moves him...  
25.10 ark...  "You shall" six times in the ESV.
25.23  table...  "You shall" eight times in the ESV
25.31  lampstand...  Most of this section is in the third person neuter.  I wonder why.
Are the 2nd person verbs singular referring to Moses or plural to the "nation"?


Ezekiel 30
30.13 Memphis...  In Isa. 19:13; Jer. 2:16; 46:14, 19; Ezek. 30:13, 16, it is mentioned under the name Noph. It was the capital of Lower, i.e., of Northern Egypt. From certain remains found half buried in the sand, the site of this ancient city has been discovered near the modern village of Minyet Rahinch, or Mitraheny, about 16 miles above the ancient head of the Delta, and 9 miles south of Cairo, on the west bank of the Nile. It is said to have been founded by Menes, the first king of Egypt, and to have been in circumference about 19 miles.
30.14  All the towns mentioned in these verses were important religious centers as well as large cities.  ---http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes/pdf/ezekiel.pdf
Patheros...
the name generally given to Upper Egypt (the Thebaid of the Greeks), as distinguished from Matsor, or Lower Egypt (Isa. 11:11; Jer. 44:1, 15; Ezek. 30:14), the two forming Mizraim

After the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, colonies of Jews settled “in the country of Pathros” and other parts of Egypt.

Zoan...
(Old Egyptian: Sant= “stronghold,” the modern San). A city on the Tanitic branch of the Nile, called by the Greeks Tanis. It was built seven years after Hebron in Palestine (Num. 13:22). This great and important city was the capital of the Hyksos, or Shepherd kings, who ruled Egypt for more than 500 years. It was the frontier town of Goshen. Here Pharaoh was holding his court at the time of his various interviews with Moses and Aaron. "No trace of Zoan exists; Tanis was built over it, and city after city has been built over the ruins of that" (Harper, Bible and Modern Discovery). Extensive mounds of ruins, the wreck of the ancient city, now mark its site (Isa. 19:11, 13; 30:4; Ezek. 30:14). "The whole constitutes one of the grandest and oldest ruins in the world."
thebes...
Thebes (Θῆβαι, Thēbai, Arabic: طيبة‎, Ṭībah) is the Greek name for a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile (25.7°N 32.645°E). It was inhabited beginning in around 3200 BC
The name Thebai is the Greek designation of the ancient Egyptian opet "The Karnak Temple" (from coptic ta-pe, Ta-opet became Thebai). At the seat of the Theban triad of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu, Thebes was known in the Egyptian language from the end of the New Kingdom as niwt-imn, "The City of Amun." This found its way into the Hebrew Bible as נא אמון nōˀ ˀāmôn (Nahum 3:8),"no" in Hebrew meaning city with "no amon" or "City of Amon" referring to the Egyptian deity Amon-Ra, most likely it is also the same as נא ("No") (Ezekiel 30:14)   --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thebes,_Egypt
30.15  
Pelusium...
Sin, a city in Egypt, called by the Greeks Pelusium, which means, as does also the Hebrew name, “clayey” or “muddy,” so called from the abundance of clay found there. It is called by Ezekiel (Ezek. 30:15) "the strength of Egypt, "thus denoting its importance as a fortified city. It has been identified with the modern Tineh, “a miry place,” where its ruins are to be found. Of its boasted magnificence, only four red granite columns remain, and some few fragments of others.
On...
(Gen. 41:45, 50), the great seat of sun-worship, called also Bethshemesh (Jer. 43:13) and Aven (Ezek. 30:17), stood on the east bank of the Nile, a few miles north of Memphis, and near Cairo, in the northeast.

In ancient times this city was full of obelisks dedicated to the sun. Of these only one now remains standing. “Cleopatra's Needle” was one of those which stood in this city in front of the Temple of Tum, i.e., “the sun.” It is now erected on the Thames Embankment, London.

Pi-besth...

supposed to mean. “a cat,” or a deity in the form of a cat, worshipped by the Egyptians (Ezek. 30:17)

It was called by the Greeks: Bubastis. The hieroglyphic name is “Pe-bast”, i.e., the house of Bast, the Artemis of the Egyptians.

The town of Bubasts was situated on the Pelusian branch, i.e., the easternmost branch, of the Delta. It was the seat of one of the chief annual festivals of the Egyptians. Its ruins bear the modern name of Tel-Basta.

Telaphnehes...
Tahpanhes = Tehaphnehes, (called “Daphne” by the Greeks, now Tell Defenneh), an ancient Egyptian city, on the Tanitic branch of the Nile, about 16 miles from Pelusium. The Jews fromJerusalem fled to this place after the death of Gedaliah (q.v.), and settled there for a time (Jer. 2:16;43:7; 44:1; 46:14). A platform of brick-work, which there is every reason to believe was the pavementat the entry of Pharaoh's palace, has been discovered at this place. “Here,” says the discoverer, Mr. Petrie, "the ceremony described by Jeremiah [43:8-10; “brick-kiln”, i.e., pavement of brick] took place before the chiefs of the fugitives assembled on the platform, and here Nebuchadnezzar spread his royal pavilion" (R.V., “brickwork”).   ---http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/ 
When I see all these names it makes me kinda sad that I don't know enough to appreciate why these cities in particular were picked and what the significance it.  It there wordplay?  Were they particularly greivious for some reason?  What did the Israelites think as they read the list?  What would the Egyptians think?


Ezekiel 31
31.18  You shall lie among the uncircumcized...  The picture of Pharaoh being just another of the dead, must have been an insult.  Death a great equalizer.