יחזקאל, פרק כ״ט, פסוק י״ד

After a period of exile, the once-mighty Egyptian empire will experience a homecoming, yet this return marks a permanent shift in their global standing. The nation will be restored to its homeland, but its historical dominance and pride will be entirely stripped away, leaving behind a kingdom with little influence.

The primary approach among commentators is that the restoration involves bringing the captives and exiles back to their native land. A nuanced view of this process suggests a dual restoration: one aspect involves reestablishing the nation as a functioning entity, while the other focuses on the actual physical return of the people to their borders [מלבי״ם]. This homecoming will become possible only when the exiles are granted freedom through the explicit permission of the Persian king [מלבי״ם].

The returning exiles will be directed back to Pathros, a region situated in southern Egypt [מצודת ציון, שטיינזלץ]. The selection of this specific area is deeply intentional. It is the very location where the Egyptian people lived in their earliest days, during the time they first formed as a nation [מלבי״ם]. While the primary approach among commentators views this simply as their historical place of residence, a complementary viewpoint suggests a deeper meaning. It identifies this region as their absolute source and homeland, the exact roots from which their civilization originally grew [רש״י, שטיינזלץ].

Even though the people will successfully return to the land of their origins, their grand era will not be revived. Egypt will continue to exist as a nation, but it will be permanently reduced to a lowly state, forever stripped of its former pride [מלבי״ם, שטיינזלץ].