CHAPTER XXXI _This very beautiful chapter relates also to Egypt. The prophet_ _describes to Pharaoh the fall of the king of Nineveh, (see the_ _books of Nahum, Jonah, and Zephaniah,) under the image of a_ _fair cedar of Lebanon, once exceedingly tall, flourishing, and_ _majestic, but now cut do... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 31:3. _BEHOLD, THE ASSYRIAN_ WAS _A CEDAR_] Why is the _Assyrian_ introduced here, when the whole chapter concerns _Egypt_? Bp. _Lowth_ has shown that אשור ארז _ashshur erez_ should be translated _the tall_ _cedar, the very stately cedar_; hence there is reference to his _lofty top_; a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 31:4. _THE WATERS MADE HIM GREAT_] Alluding to the fertility of Egypt by the _overflowing of the Nile_. But _waters_ often mean _peoples_. By means of the different nations under the Egyptians, that government became very opulent. These nations are represented as _fowls_ and _beasts_,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 31:8. _THE CEDARS IN THE GARDEN OF GOD_] Egypt was one of the most eminent and affluent of all the neighbouring nations.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 31:11. _THE MIGHTY ONE OF THE HEATHEN_] Nebuchadnezzar. It is worthy of notice, that Nebuchadnezzar, in the _first_ year of his reign, rendered himself master of _Nineveh_, the capital of the _Assyrian_ empire. See _Sedar Olam_. This happened about _twenty_ years before Ezekiel deliver... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 31:13. _UPON HIS RUIN SHALL ALL THE FOWLS_] The fall of Egypt is likened to the fall of a great tree; and as the fowls and beasts sheltered under its branches before, Ezekiel 31:6, so they now feed upon its ruins.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 31:14. _TO THE END THAT NONE OF ALL THE TREES_] Let this ruin, fallen upon Egypt, teach all the nations that shall hear of it to be _humble_, because, however _elevated_, God can soon bring them down; and _pride_ and _arrogance_, either in _states_ or _individuals,_ have the peculiar a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 31:15. _I CAUSED LEBANON TO MOURN FOR HIM_] All the confederates of Pharaoh are represented as deploring his fall, Ezekiel 31:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 31:17. _THEY ALSO WENT DOWN INTO HELL WITH HIM_] Into _remediless destruction_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 31:18. _THIS_ IS _PHARAOH_] All that I have spoken in this allegory of the _lofty cedar_ refers to _Pharaoh_, king of Egypt, his princes, confederates, and people. _Calmet_ understands the whole chapter of the _king of Assyria_, under which he allows that _Egypt_ is adumbrated; and hen... [ Continue Reading ]