Ezekiel 31:1-9

A. The Description of the Cedar 31:1-9

TRANSLATION

(1) And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (2) Son of man, say unto Pharaoh king of Egypt and unto his multitude: Unto whom would you compare yourself in greatness? (3) Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, a foliage that provided shade, and a high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs. (4) Waters nourished it, the deep made it grow; her rivers ran around about her plantation, and she sent forth her channels unto all the trees of the field. (5) Therefore, its height was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied, and its branches became long, because of the many waters when it put them forth. (6) In its boughs all the birds of the heaven made their nests, and under its branches all the beasts of the field bring forth young, and in its shadow all great nations dwell. (7) Thus it was fair in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters. (8) The cedars could not hide it in the garden of God; the cypress trees could not compare to its boughs, and the plane trees were not like its branches; no tree in the garden of God could compare to it in beauty. (9) I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, and all the trees of Eden which were in the garden of God were jealous of it.

COMMENTS

Pharaoh and his multitude (the Egyptian people) thought themselves to be incomparably great and powerful, yet they would not escape the judgment of God (Ezekiel 31:2). Assyria was once a lofty Lebanon cedar encircled at the top by leafy and thick boughs (Ezekiel 31:3). The subterranean reservoir of waters (the deep) sent forth a river to nourish the cedar, and smaller rivlets to water the other trees (Ezekiel 31:4). As a result, the cedar (Assyria) grew taller, stronger and more luxurious than the other trees (nations; Ezekiel 31:5). All the fowl of the heavens and beasts of the field symbolic of the peoples of the earth passed under the control of Assyria (Ezekiel 31:6). Receiving constant nourishment from many waters, the Assyrian cedar continued to spread out its branches to annex additional territories (Ezekiel 31:7). There were other great trees in the garden of God, i.e., the world; but none of them could compare to that mighty cedar (Ezekiel 31:8). That tree attained its stature and beauty from the God of Israel. It was an enemy of all the other trees which God had planted in His Eden, i.e., in the world (Ezekiel 31:9).