Ezekiel 31:1-18

Ezekiel: “They shall know that I am God”

God’s Plans for *Israel and the Nations

Ezekiel Chapter s 25 to 39

Ian Mackervoy

Chapter 31

As Assyria *fell so Egypt will *fall – Ezekiel 31:1-18

v1 The *LORD spoke to me in the 11th year during our *exile. It was on the first day of the third month.

v2 ‘*Son of man, speak to the king of Egypt. And speak to all his people. “Nobody is like you in your greatness. v3 Assyria was once like a great cedar (tree) in Lebanon with beautiful branches. It gave shade to the forest. It was so tall that its top was among the highest branches. v4 The water fed it. Clear water from deep in the ground made it grow tall. Streams flowed at the bottom of the tree. The streams flowed to all the other trees in the fields. v5 So, this tree was taller than all the other trees in the country. It had many branches. They grew long and thick because of the plentiful water. v6 All the birds of the sky made their nests in the branches. And the animals of the field gave birth under its branches. All the great nations lived in the shade of the tree. v7 So, the tree was great and beautiful. It had long branches, because its roots reached down to much water. v8 The cedar trees in God’s garden were not as great as this tree. The fir trees and the plane trees did not have such large branches. No tree in God’s garden was as beautiful as this tree. v9 I made it beautiful with many branches. All the trees in Eden, in God’s garden, were jealous of it.

v10 Therefore, this is what the *LORD your King says. The tree grew tall. Its top reached the clouds. Because it was so tall, it became proud. v11 So, I handed it over to the strong ruler of the nations. He punished it, as it deserved. Because it was evil, I threw it out. v12 Foreigners from the most terrible of the nations have cut it down. They left it where it fell. The branches fell on the mountains and in all the valleys. Its broken branches were by all the rivers in the country. And the people from all the nations in the earth went away from its shade. And they left it. v13 The birds of the sky live on the tree that has fallen. The wild animals live among the branches that fell from the tree. v14 So, the trees that grow by the water will not be proud of their height. They will not lift their tops among the clouds. None of the trees that have much water will grow that tall. All of them will die and they will end below the ground. They will be with people who have died. These trees have gone down to the place of dead people.

v15 This is what the *LORD your King says. The tree went down, as a dead man goes to his grave. On the day that the tree died, I covered the deep sources of water. Because of the tree, they became like people who are sad after a death. I held back the rivers, and the waters did not flow. I caused Lebanon to be in darkness to show that it was sad about the great tree. All the trees in the field dried up because of that great tree. v16 The tree fell with a loud noise when I brought it down to the place of dead people. The nations heard the sound of it. I made them tremble because of their fear. Like a dead man, the tree went to join those who are in the grave. Then all the trees that were in that place below the earth were content. These trees were the trees from Eden and the best trees from Lebanon. They were all the trees that used to have plenty of water. v17 The people from the nations that supported the tree died with it. They had lived in its shade. But they died and they went to the place of dead people. They joined those people who died by the sword.

v18 No tree in Eden is equal to you, Egypt, in greatness and honour. But you will die. I will bring you down with the trees from Eden to the earth below. You will lie among people who are not holy. You will lie with those people whom the sword killed. This is about the king of Egypt and all his people, says the *LORD your King.” ’

Verses 1-9 The *Lord spoke this to Ezekiel in June 587 *BC. It is a message to the king and to the *Egyptians. This part, from verses 2 to 9, is in the form of a poem.

Egypt was great and it was so proud of its importance. Assyria had been great once. It had been proud too. But it did not still exist. The *Babylonians defeated Assyria in 612 *BC. And Egypt’s power would end in the same manner. The *Babylonians would destroy the power of Egypt.

The poem describes Assyria as a tree. The cedar of Lebanon is a tall and beautiful tree. This tree was the best one in the forest. Assyria was perhaps the most powerful nation that the world had known until that time.

Verses 10-14 Assyria became too proud of its power. Because of this, God gave it to the ‘ruler of the nations’. He was the king of the nation that was most cruel. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed Assyria. He defeated Assyria completely. He acted like a man who cuts down a tall tree. And that tree meant Assyria.

What happened to Assyria was to warn the nations. God hates proud persons and proud nations. In the end, all the great nations in the world become proud. God will destroy them all (Daniel 2:44).

Verses 15-17 The *Lord had brought down the great tree, which meant Assyria. It fell with a loud noise and all the nations heard it. All of them felt the effect when Assyria fell. They all trembled because of fear. Many were sad because of the end of such a great nation. The army of Babylon then destroyed many of the nations that had been friendly with Assyria.

Verse 18 Egypt was also a proud country. And, like Assyria, God compares Egypt to a great tree. It was at that time like the best trees in the Garden called Eden. (See Genesis 2:8-9.) But because Egypt was proud, God would destroy it. God will cut down that tree as he had cut down all the previous great trees. In other words, God would destroy Egypt as he had destroyed great nations like Assyria in the past.

This was a clear message that the *Lord would kill the king of Egypt. And he would punish the *Egyptians. God destroyed Assyria, which was greater than Egypt. So, Egypt could not avoid its punishment, because God would destroy Egypt as well.

Israel ~ Israel is the nation whose ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The country in which they live is called Israel. Israel became the name of the northern nation when it separated from Judah. However, Ezekiel sometimes uses the word ‘Israel’ to refer to Judah.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
fall ~ when enemies destroy a city or a country; when a person dies suddenly.
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. It probably means ‘always God’. This name has a relationship with the special promises that God gave to his people.
exile ~ When people have to live in a foreign country they are in exile. Such a person is called an exile.'son of man ~ Ezekiel. ‘Son of man’ was the title that God used for Ezekiel. It emphasised that Ezekiel was a mere man. Ezekiel would have to depend on God’s Spirit to make him strong. Only then could Ezekiel do what God told him to do.
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. It probably means ‘always God’. This name has a relationship with the special promises that God gave to his people.
BC ~ years before Christ was born.
Egyptian ~ a person from the nation called Egypt or anything that has a relationship with Egypt.
Babylonian ~ a person from the nation called Babylon or anything that has a relationship with Babylon.