17 The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword; and these (cities) shall go into captivity.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Aven - The same as "On" Genesis 41:45, or "Heliopolis." The word "Aven" means also "transgression" (compare Hosea 10:8). Some have thought that here too Ezekiel substituted the word "Aven" for "On" to mark the "sin" of idolatry there in full vogue.
Pi-beseth - The Bubastis of Herodotus. The hieroglyphic name is "Pe-bast," the house of Bast (the Egyptian Artemis, the cat-headed goddess). Bubastis was situated on the easternmost, the Pelusian, branch of the Delta. The road from Pelusium to Memphis lay through Bubastis and On. In the days of Herodotus Bubastis was the seat of one of the chief annual festivals of the Egyptians. The Persians took the town and razed the walls. The ruins bear the modern name Tel-Basta.
Aven - Or On, the famous Heliopolis, or city of the sun.
Pibeseth - Bubastum or Bubaste, by a slight alteration of the letters. It is situated on the eastern branch of the Nile, towards Arabia.
The young men of Aven and of Phibeseth shall fall by the sword,.... Aven is the same with On, of which Potipherah was priest in Joseph's time and whose daughter he married, Genesis 41:45, the same with Heliopolis, or Bethshemesh, the city of the sun, see Jeremiah 43:13; see Gill on Jeremiah 43:13; where was the temple of the sun, and where it was worshipped; and so it is rendered by the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions. It is called here "Aven", or "vanity", because of the vain and idolatrous worship here performed. Phibeseth is the Bubastis of Herodotus, and called by other writers Bubastus; hence there was a nome or province in Egypt called the Bubastic nome, mentioned by Ptolemy (c), and others. In this was a temple built to the honour of Diana, where she was worshipped and Herodotus (d) says, that Bubastis, in the Greek tongue, is Diana; here she was worshipped in the form of a cat; and Stephanus (e) observes, that the Egyptians call a cat Bubastus; and it is also said that dead cats salted were buried in this city, as being sacred: according to Diodorus Siculus (f), it was built for the sake of Isis; and Hillerus (g) says, that in the Abyssine language it was called "Phy' mly' sith"; that is, the portion of the wife, namely of Isis married to Osiris, by whom this city was built to the honour of her; as appears by the pillar of Isis, on which these words are inscribed,
"for me the city of Bubastia is built; be glad, be glad, O Egypt, which brought me up.''
This place is now called Bishbesh, according to Dr. Shaw (h): now the young men of both these places, though they might exert themselves in the defence of them, yet should fail therein, and fall by the sword of the Chaldeans:
and these cities shall go into captivity; the rest of the inhabitants of the cities of Aven and Pibeseth, that shall not fall by the sword, shall be carried captive into other lands. Joseph Kimchi supplies "women" instead of "cities"; and thinks, that as the males are mentioned before, the females are understood here. The Targum is,
"they that served them shall go into captivity;''
that served the idols worshipped in these cities.
(c) Geograph. l. 4. c. 5. (d) Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 59, 138, 156. (e) De Urbibus. (f) Bibliothec l. 1. p. 24. (g) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 672. (h) Travels, p. 306. Ed. 2.
Aven--meaning "vanity" or "iniquity": applied, by a slight change of the Hebrew name, to On or Heliopolis, in allusion to its idolatry. Here stood the temple of the sun, whence it was called in Hebrew, Beth-shemesh (Jeremiah 43:13). The Egyptian hieroglyphics call it, Re Athom, the sun, the father of the gods, being impersonate in Athom or Adam, the father of mankind.
Pi-beseth--that is, Bubastis, in Lower Egypt, near the Pelusiac branch of the Nile: notorious for the worship of the goddess of the same name (Coptic, Pasht), the granite stones of whose temple still attest its former magnificence.
these cities--rather, as the Septuagint, "the women," namely, of Aven and Pi-beseth, in antithesis to "the young men." So in Ezekiel 30:18, "daughters shall go into captivity" [MAURER].
Young men - 'Tis probable these might be a body of valiant youths, collected out of these ten cities. Aven - Bethshemesh, or Heliopolis, an idolatrous city, in which was a stately temple of the sun: an hundred and fifty furlongs, that is six miles and three quarters in compass. Phibeseth - Bubastus, sometimes called Hoephestus, not far from Aven.
*More commentary available at chapter level.