Thursday, April 8, 2010

Tues 100410-11 pm Ezekiel

Ezekiel 41
41.More about the temple
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Ezekiel 42
42.Outer court
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Ezekiel 43
43.1  the glory of God...
43.4  the glory of the Lord...
43.4  the glory of the Lord...
43.10  that they may be ashamed of their iniquities...  "The Lord instructed Ezekiel to describe the temple that he had seen in his vision to the Israelites. It would so impress them with the glorious future that God intended to give them that they would feel ashamed of their iniquities."
http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes/pdf/ezekiel.pdf
43.10  And if ... make known to them...  God does not inform or guide further than we are ready to go.
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Ezekiel 44
44.7  uncircumcised in heart and flesh...  Here we seen the physical rite and the heart attitude it was to represent.
44.15-   rules for the priests
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Ezekiel 45
45.9  cease your evictions of My people...
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Ezekiel 46
Gates and offerings

Monday, April 5, 2010

Sun 100404 pm Ez 37-39

Ezekiel 37
37.4  Come hear the Word of the Lord...  I really enjoy reading this chapter.  It is a great vision and speaks to how God can do the impossible.  The Cathedrals do a nice job with the song.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLg-v4CS4nQ&feature=related
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Ezekiel 38
38.2  Gog...  The name of the leader of the hostile party described in Ezek. 38,39, as coming from the “north country” and assailing the people of Israel to their own destruction. This prophecy has been regarded as fulfilled in the conflicts of the Maccabees with Antiochus, the invasion and overthrow of the Chaldeans, and the temporary successes and destined overthrow of the Turks. But “all these interpretations are unsatisfactory and inadequate. The vision respecting Gog and Magog in the Apocalypse (Rev. 20:8) is in substance a reannouncement of this prophecy of Ezekiel. But while Ezekiel contemplates the great conflict in a more general light as what was certainly to be connected with the times of the Messiah, and should come then to its last decisive issues, John, on the other hand, writing from the commencement of the Messiah's times, describes there the last struggles and victories of the cause of Christ. In both cases alike the vision describes the final workings of the world's evil and its results in connection with the kingdom of God, only the starting-point is placed further in advance in the one case than in the other.”
http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/gog.html?zoom_highlight=gog
Magog...  Meaning: region of Gog; the place of Gog



   In Ezekiel (38:2, 39:6) Magog is a nation or region over which a man named Gog rules. There is a possibility that the people are descended from Japheth.
   The ancient Jewish historian Josephus identified the Magog as Scythians of the far North (Antiquities I, vi. 1).
   “The Latin father Jerome says that this word denotes 'Scythian nations, fierce and innumerable, who live beyond the Caucasus and the Lake Maeotis, and near the Caspian Sea, and spread out even onward to India.' Perhaps the name ‘represents the Assyrian Mat Gugi, or ‘country of Gugu,’ the Gyges of the Greeks’ (Sayce's Races, etc.).” (Matthew G. Easton)
   However, Dr. Henry M. Morris says “the place of Gog” may possibly be “now Georgia in the former U.S.S.R.” (The Defenders Study Bible, Notes for Gen. 10:2).
http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/magog.html?zoom_highlight=gog
Meshech...  Meaning: drawing out
   the sixth son of Japheth (Gen. 10:2), the founder of a tribe (1 Chr. 1:5; Ezek. 27:13; 38:2,3)
   They were in all probability the Moschi, a people inhabiting the Moschian Mountains, between the Black and the Caspian Seas. In Ps. 120:5 the name occurs as simply a synonym for foreigners or barbarians. “During the ascendency of the Babylonians and Persians in Western Asia, the Moschi were subdued; but it seems probable that a large number of them crossed the Caucasus range and spread over the northern steppes, mingling with the Scythians. There they became known as Muscovs, and gave that name to the Russian nation and its ancient capital by which they are still generally known throughout the East”
http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/meshech.html?zoom_highlight=meshech
37.3 Tubal...  A nation, probably descended from the son of Japheth. It is mentioned by Isaiah (66:19), along with Javan, and by Ezekiel (27:13), along with Meshech, among the traders with Tyre, also among the confederates of Gog (Ezek. 38:2, 3; 39:1), and with Meshech among the nations which were to be destroyed (32:26). This nation was probably the Tiberini of the Greek historian Herodotus, a people of the Asiatic highland west of the Upper Euphrates, the southern range of the Caucasus, on the east of the Black Sea.
http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/tubal.html?zoom_highlight=tubal


37.5  Cush...  Land of Cush — The term Cush is in the Old Testament generally applied to the countries south of the Israelites. It was the southern limit of Egypt (Ezek. 29:10, A.V. “Ethiopia,” Hebrew: Cush), with which it is generally associated (Ps. 68:31; Isa. 18:1; Jer. 46:9, etc.).
   It stands also associated with Elam (Isa. 11:11), with Persia (Ezek. 38:5), and with the Sabeans (Isa. 45:14).
   From these facts it has been inferred that Cush included Arabia and the country on the west coast of the Red Sea. Rawlinson takes it to be the country still known as Khuzi-stan, on the east side of the Lower Tigris. But there are intimations which warrant the conclusion that there was also a Cush in Africa, the Ethiopia (so called by the Greeks) of Africa.
   Ezekiel speaks (29:10; compare 30:4-6) of it as lying south of Egypt. It was the country now known to us as Nubia and Abyssinia (Isa. 18:1; Zeph. 3:10, Hebrew: Cush). In ancient Egyptian inscriptions Ethiopia is termed Kesh.
   The Cushites appear to have spread along extensive tracts, stretching from the Upper Nile to the Euphrates and Tigris. At an early period there was a stream of migration of Cushites “from Ethiopia, properly so called, through Arabia, Babylonia, and Persia, to Western India.”
   The Hamite races, soon after their arrival in Africa, began to spread north, east, and west. Three branches of the Cushite or Ethiopian stock, moving from Western Asia, settled in the regions contiguous to the Persian Gulf. One branch, called the Cossaeans, settled in the mountainous district on the east of the Tigris, known afterwards as Susiana; another occupied the lower regions of the Euphrates and the Tigris; while a third colonized the southern shores and islands of the gulf, whence they afterwards emigrated to the Mediterranean and settled on the coast of Palestine as the Phoenicians.
http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/cush.html?zoom_highlight=cush
Put (Phut)...  A land or people from among whom came a portion of the mercenary troops of Egypt, Jer. 46:9 (A.V., “Libyans,” but correctly, R.V., “Put”); Ezek. 27:10; 30:5 (A.V., "Libya;" R.V., “Put”); 38:5; Nahum 3:9.
http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/putphut.html?zoom_highlight=put



37.6  Gomer...  Meaning: complete; vanishing
   The eldest son of Japheth, and father of Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah (Gen. 10:2, 3), whose descendants formed the principal branch of the population of Southeastern Europe. He is generally regarded as the ancestor of the Celtae and the Cimmerii, who in early times settled to the north of the Black Sea, and gave their name to the Crimea, the ancient Chersonesus Taurica. Traces of their presence are found in the names Cimmerian Bosphorus, Cimmerian Isthmus, etc. In the seventh century B.C. they were driven out of their original seat by the Scythians, and overran western Asia Minor, whence they were afterwards expelled. They subsequently reappear in the times of the Romans as the Cimbri of the north and west of Europe, whence they crossed to the British Isles, where their descendants are still found in the Gaels and Cymry. Thus the whole Celtic race may be regarded as descended from Gomer.
http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/gomer.html?zoom_highlight=gomer
37.13  Sheba...  Hebrew: id. A kingdom in Arabia Felix. Sheba, in fact, was Saba in Southern Arabia, the Sabaeans of classical geography, who carried on the trade in spices with the other peoples of the ancient world. They were Semites, speaking one of the two main dialects of Himyaritic or South Arabic. Sheba had become a monarchy before the days of Solomon. Its queen brought him gold, spices, and precious stones (1 Kings 10:1-13). She is called by our Lord the “queen of the south” (Matt. 12:42).
http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/sheba.html?zoom_highlight=sheba
Dedan...  Meaning: low ground
   A son of Raamah (Gen. 10:7). His descendants are mentioned in Isa. 21:13, and Ezek. 27:15. They probably settled among the sons of Cush, on the northwest coast of the Persian Gulf.
http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/dedan.html?zoom_highlight=dedan
37.23  I will show my greatness and my holiness...  Now I don't think that I have seen many lists of attributes include greatness.  I probably would not include it either, but it seems to be a point that God seems keen on proving without a doubt.
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Ezekiel 39
39.11  Valley of the Travelers...  The Israelites would also bury Gog and his soldiers in a valley east of the Mediterranean Sea. This probably means that multitudes of the enemy would be buried there, not necessarily Gog personally (cf. Rev. 19:20-21;20:10). The slaughter would be so great that it would take a large valley to accommodate all the corpses. This valley would become known as "TheValley of the Multitude of Gog." This cemetery would be so large that travelers would not be able to pass through that part of the land. Probably the Esdraelon Valley is in view since it is east of the Mediterranean Sea and since many travelers normally passed and still pass through it. Furthermore it is the only major east west valley in Israel. Some commentators argued for the valley being east of the Dead Sea, but that location seems unlikely.
http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes/pdf/ezekiel.pdf39.19  the sacrificial feast...  This is an interesting way to refer to the dead that God had judged.
39.26  The shall forget their shame...  What a sweet thought.  I am ready for the time that sin is but a distant memory.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Sat 100403 pm

Luke 23
23.23  their voices prevailed...  Mob rule often ends badly.
23.25 delivered Jesus over to their will...  Getting what we want is often a bad thing.  One of God's punishments is to give us what we want.  Save us from ourselves.
23.42-43  remember me...you will be with me...  It was all about Jesus.  The theif wanted to be remembered by Jesus and to be with Jesus is the solution.
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Luke 24
24.16  their eyes were kept from recognizing him...  It seems from this wording that there spiritual astuteness doesn't seem to be a factor here.
24.25  He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures...  This seems to be both supernatural and His skill in explaining at work here.
24.49  clothes with power from on high...  An instructive way to describe the baptism of the Spirit that was to come.
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Ezekiel 36
36.26  the heart of stone...  This would be a good sermon title sometime.
36.32  Be ashamed and confounded for your ways...  This is a very colorful and instructive description of what could probably be called repentance.  So would our Western culture prefer the term guilty to ashamed?

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Thurs 100401 pm Lk 21-22

Luke 21
21.4  out of her poverty...  The Lord seems to be more concerned about what we have left than how much we give.
21.15  I will give you a mouth and wisdom...  There are a lot of mouths, but not as much wisdom.  I suspect that too much fret about what will happen could cause anxiousness.  This may be similar to why God took the Israelites around the long way to the promised land.
21.28  redemption is drawing near...  conversion, sanctification, and finally glorification, the third part of our redemption.
21.31  the kingdom of God...  as still future here, or an important aspect of it anyway.
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Luke 22
22.2  chief priests and the scribes were...   The would have been better served by focusing on the Paschal season and cleansing out the malice and evil and preparing their hearts to celebrate the Seder with sincerity and truth (1 Cor. 5.7-8)
22.22  but woe to that man by whom...  Evil may be inevitable, but it should be in spite of me not because of me.
22.45  sleeping for sorrow...  Interesting to contemplate the connection between the physical and emotional.  I wonder why the disciples were so sorrowful.  I guess that Jesus must have set a pretty serious tone as the Seder.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Wed 100331 am Luke 19-20

Luke 19
19. 8  fourfold...  Similar to the OT law.
19.13  engage in business...  Somehow I don't remember this ever standing out to me like it did today.  The word "business" has has some thought provoking implications.
19.44  the time of your visitation...  I want to maintain a watchful heart that does not miss my time.
19.48  the people were hanging on his words... The sweet spot for any preacher.
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Luke 20
20. 16  surely not...   I just love the way the esv translates this response.  But, yes, surely.
20.26  marveling...they became silent...  This is a heart attitude that most of us could use more.  It reminds me of Job in chapter 40.
20.35  who are considered worthy...  Col 1.12

Monday, March 29, 2010

Monday 100329 pm Luke 13-18

Luke 13
13.2  think these Galileans were worse sinners...   Some ask if victims of natural disasters deserved it.  I tend to reply, "Yes, just like we do."
13.11  a disabling spirit...  This is a curious description.  I wonder if there were physical deformities, or if this was an otherwise unexplained thing.
13.24  will seek to enter and will not be able...  This seems to contradict the notion that anybody can come to Jesus at anytime if they will just meet him halfway.  This is a thought provoking verse.
13.34  you would not... This is sad and tragic.
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Luke 14
14.10  sit in the lowest place...  This sounds like something out of Proverbs--just good sense.
14.14  be repaid at the resurrection of the just...  This seems to suggest dong thing with the intentional design for maximum heavenly reward. That is an interesting perspective and twist on doing things.
14.23  Go out to the highways and hedges and compel...
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Luke 15
15.7  more joy in heaven...  What makes heaven "happy"?
15.10  there is joy before the angels...  It doesn't really say that the angels will experience joy, only that there will be joy in their presence.  It seems like an odd way to say it.
15.16 longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate...  I like the sound of pig pods.  :o) This does vividly describe just how desperate he was.
15.17  came to himself...
15.18 & 23  Two parts of coming back to God-- awareness of our sin and our unworthiness before God.
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Luke 16
16.8  for his shrewness...  Jesus can commend one trait while not approving of others.
16.13  God and money...  This is a choice that most Americans make on a daily or weekly basis.
16.23  being in torment... 
16.31  if they did not hear Moses...  The Word is enough, if a person is ready.
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Luke 17
17.1  but woe to the one through whom they come!  This is a thought that we see many times in the Old Testament (ex. Babylon as a tool of God that was guilty for its cruelty, etc.)
17.19  your faith has made you whole...
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Luke 18
18.1  pray and not loose heart...  Prayer and heart go together.
18.34  This saying was hidden...  We criticize the apostle's for how spiritually dense they were, but this seems to indicate that it was not all their falt.
18.40  What do you want me to do for you?  This is fruitful question to contemplate.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Sun 100328 pm Ez 32-35

Ezekiel 32
32.5  your carcass...  Not a lion, but a sea creature on dry land.  That is a good picture of us.  We think that we are a pretty big deal in the water, but won't be so big and tough when God throws us up on the bank.
32.224  My sword in his [Babylon] hand...  This is an interesting thing to ponder.  Babylon swinging "God's" sword, but later held accountable for its sin in doing so.  The synergy between God's sovereignty and free moral choices blows my mind.
32,19  Who do you surpass in beauty?...  This a sobering question in the context of this verse.
32.22  Assyria...
32.24 Elam...
32.26  Meshech-Tubal...
32.29  Edom...
32.30  Sidonians...


Ezekiel 33
33.3  the trumpet... interesting imagery 
33.13  yet if he [the righteous] trusts in his righteousness...
33.31  they hear what you say but they will not do it for...  The reason given is a good warning.


Ezekiel 34
43.4  weak, sick, injured, strayed, lost...  are the special responsibility of the shepherds.
34.10  the shepherds feed themselves...
34.26  they shall be showers of blessing... So here is the source for that favorite hymn.

     Daniel W. Whittle wrote the words to “There Shall be Showers of Blessing.”  The hymn appeared first in Gospel Hymns, No. 4.  Named after the famous Daniel Webster, the American politician and famous for the dictionary, Daniel Webster Whittle made an impact on American society on his own.  He lost his right arm during the American Civil war and spent time in a prisoner of war camp.  It was here that he found a New Testament to read and came to know Christ personally.  But he didn’t accept Christ until after someone at the hospital had asked him to say a prayer over a dying prisoner.  Afterward, he worked in Chicago at the Elgin Watch Company.  It was in Chicago that he met and worked with Phillip Bliss and James McGranahan—both musical evangelists who worked with Dwight L. Moody.  
     James McGranahan wrote the melody to “There Shall be Showers of Blessing.”  McGranahan had been gifted with a lovely and rare tenor voice that promised to lift him into a great career in opera.  He had become a Christian several years earlier and was very good friends with Phillip Bliss, who at the time was singing as part of the Daniel Webster Whittle  musical evangelists team.   During the Christmas season in 1876, Phillip had written to James before he boarded a train.  In his letter, Phillip had urged James to reconsider using his voice for the Lord rather than to continue training for the opera and pursuing that career.  Phillip’s own experiences in music had been similar to McGranahan’s, and they were very close friends.  Phillip had explained in the letter what a joy it was to see people come to know the Lord while he was singing.  He wanted his friend to know that kind of joy.  Not long after James received the letter, he also received news that his friend had died in a train wreck.  When he went to the train wreck to help recover any belongings and identify bodies, he met Daniel W. Whittle.  On the ride home from that tragic scene, James McGranahan gave talents to the Lord and began to serve as a singing evangelist with “Major Whittle’s” evangelism team.   --http://www.gospelpiano.com/articles/there-shall-be-showers-of-blessing-77.htm


There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.


Refrain
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.


There shall be showers of blessing,
Precious reviving again;
Over the hills and the valleys,
Sound of abundance of rain.
Refrain


There shall be showers of blessing;
Send them upon us, O Lord;
Grant to us now a refreshing,
Come, and now honor Thy Word.
Refrain


There shall be showers of blessing:
Oh, that today they might fall,
Now as to God we’re confessing,
Now as on Jesus we call!
Refrain


There shall be showers of blessing,
If we but trust and obey;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
If we let God have His way.
Refrain


Ezekiel 35
35.6  because you did not hate bloodshed...  
35.11  according to the anger and envy that you showed...  Both of these statements indicate that they got or wanted.  
They will know that I am the Lord...  Five times.  This is a common phrase in this part of Ezekiel, but this is more than usual.

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.