Ezekiel31

The LORD compares Pharaoh's greatness to Assyria, depicted as a magnificent cedar in Lebanon that grew tall and provided shelter for many nations. However, due to its pride in its exalted height, God brought it down, cut off by foreign powers and cast into the nether parts of the earth. This serves as a direct warning to Pharaoh, indicating that he and his multitude will suffer a similar fate, being brought low among the slain.

Date of the Prophecy Against Egypt

1
In the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ​
2
Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude: Whom are you like in your greatness? ​

The Parable of the Mighty Cedar

3
Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade, and of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs. ​
4
The waters nourished it, the deep made it to grow: its rivers ran all around its plantation; and it sent out its channels to all the trees of the field. ​
5
Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied, and its branches became long by reason of many waters, when it spread them out.
6
All the birds of the sky made their nests in its boughs; and under its branches all the animals of the field gave birth to their young; and all great nations lived under its shadow. ​
7
Thus was it beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters.
8
The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; the fir trees were not like its boughs, and the plane trees were not as its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty. ​
9
I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied it.

The Cedar's Judgment and Fall

10
Therefore thus said the Lord GOD: Because you are exalted in stature, and he has set his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height; ​
11
I will even deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations; he shall surely deal with him; I have driven him out for his wickedness. ​
12
Strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: on the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land; and all the peoples of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.
13
On his ruin all the birds of the sky shall dwell, and all the animals of the field shall be on his branches;
14
to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, neither set their top among the thick boughs, nor that their mighty ones stand up on their height, even all who drink water: for they are all delivered to death, to the lower parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with those who go down to the pit. ​

Cosmic Mourning and Descent to Sheol

15
Thus says the Lord GOD: In the day when he went down to Sheol I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained its rivers; and the great waters were stayed; and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. ​
16
I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the lower parts of the earth. ​
17
They also went down into Sheol with him to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were his arm, who lived under his shadow in the midst of the nations.
18
To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth: you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord GOD. ​

Study Notes for Ezekiel 31

Verse 1

This prophecy is dated approximately one month after the prophecy in chapter 30:20-26, placing it in 587 BC, shortly before the final fall of Jerusalem. The detailed chronology highlights the certainty of God's timing regarding the judgment of nations.

Verse 2

The rhetorical question sets up a taunt (a mocking lament or dirge) comparing Pharaoh to a magnificent, yet ultimately doomed, entity. The use of a parable allows the prophecy to critique Egypt indirectly before the final application.

Verse 3

The cedar is identified as Assyria, not Egypt, which is a key interpretive point. God uses the example of the recently fallen empire of Assyria (destroyed by Babylon in 612 BC) as a powerful warning and analogy for Egypt’s inevitable fate.

Verse 4

The 'waters' imagery symbolizes the sources of the kingdom's power, prosperity, and political influence, often representing the vassal states or fertile lands that sustained the empire.

Verse 6

The birds and beasts dwelling under the cedar's shadow illustrate the broad reach of Assyrian influence, signifying that many smaller nations depended upon or submitted to the empire for protection and stability.

Verse 8

The 'garden of God' (Eden) imagery is used as hyperbole, emphasizing the cedar’s perceived supreme status among all earthly kingdoms. This comparison subtly critiques the empire's self-exaltation to a quasi-divine level.

Verse 10

The cause of the cedar's downfall is explicitly identified as pride and arrogance. Hubris, or lifting one's heart in height, is the primary sin that leads to the judgment of both individuals and mighty nations in biblical prophecy.

Verse 11

The 'mighty one of the heathen' refers to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. God often uses powerful human agents, even heathen kings, as instruments to execute divine judgment upon other wicked nations.

Verse 14

This verse presents the theological purpose of the judgment: to serve as a universal object lesson. No kingdom, regardless of its prosperity or power, should exalt itself, because all are destined for death and the grave (the pit).

Verse 15

The description of the natural world mourning the cedar's fall (covering the deep, restraining the floods) signifies a cosmic, earth-shaking event. The prophet emphasizes the immense global significance of the fall of such a powerful empire.

Verse 16

The descent to 'hell' (Sheol) depicts the realm of the dead where the fallen great ones are gathered. The 'trees of Eden' (other formerly great nations) are ironically comforted that the proudest among them has finally joined them in death.

Verse 18

The chapter concludes by applying the entire parable directly to Pharaoh and Egypt. Despite their glory, they will be cast down among the 'uncircumcised,' a term used here to emphasize their spiritual contempt and ultimate fate among those slain by the sword.

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