Ezekiel 31

The Cedar of Lebanon: Assyria's Fall

¹In 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 his multitude: ‘Whom are you like in your greatness?

³Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade, of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs.

⁴The waters nourished it. The deep made it to grow. Its rivers ran all around its plantation. It sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.

⁵Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied. Its branches became long by reason of many waters, when it spread them out.

⁶All the birds of the sky made their nests in its boughs. Under its branches, all the animals of the field gave birth to their young. All great nations lived under its shadow.

⁷Thus it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters.

⁸The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it. The cypress trees were not like its branches. The pine trees were not like its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty.

⁹I 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.’

¹⁰“Therefore thus said the Lord GOD: ‘Because he is exalted in stature, and he has set his top among the thick branches, and his heart is lifted up in his height,

¹¹I will deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations. He will surely deal with him. I have driven him out for his wickedness.

¹²Foreigners, the tyrants of the nations, have cut him off and have left him. His branches have fallen on the mountains and in all the valleys, and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land. All the peoples of the earth have gone down from his shadow and have left him.

¹³All the birds of the sky will dwell on his ruin, and all the animals of the field will be on his branches,

¹⁴to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, and don’t set their top among the thick boughs. Their mighty ones don’t stand up on their height, even all who drink water; for they are all delivered to death, to the lower parts of the earth, among the children of men, with those who go down to the pit.’

¹⁵“The Lord GOD says: ‘In the day when he went down to Sheol, I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for him, and I restrained its rivers. The great waters were stopped. I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.

¹⁶I 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. All the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the lower parts of the earth.

¹⁷They 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 middle 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 will lie in the middle of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. “‘This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,’ says the Lord GOD.”

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God commands Ezekiel to deliver a prophetic oracle to Pharaoh using Assyria as an object lesson. Through an extended metaphor of a magnificent cedar tree in Lebanon, God describes how Assyria once towered above all nations in beauty and power, providing shelter and security to many peoples. However, because of its pride and arrogance, God delivered Assyria to destruction, cutting it down and casting it into Sheol as a warning that no earthly power can exalt itself against the sovereignty of God.

Context

This chapter continues Ezekiel's series of oracles against Egypt (chapters 29-32), using Assyria's historical downfall as a warning to Pharaoh about the consequences of pride.

Key Themes

Outline

1-2
Oracle Against Pharaoh God commands Ezekiel to address Pharaoh with a rhetorical question about his perceived greatness.
3-9
Assyria's Former Glory God describes Assyria as a magnificent cedar tree that surpassed even the trees of Eden in beauty and provided shelter to all nations.
10-14
Judgment for Pride Because of its arrogant heart, God delivered Assyria to foreign powers who cut it down and left it desolate.
15-18
Descent to Sheol God describes the cosmic mourning when Assyria fell and joined other fallen powers in the realm of the dead.

The Cedar of Lebanon: Assyria's Fall

31:1–31:18

prophecy parable-telling contemplative

Using the allegory of a great cedar tree representing Assyria, God warns Pharaoh that pride leads to downfall, as even the mightiest nations fall when they exalt themselves.

person_contrast

Pharaoh, typically portrayed in contexts of divine judgment and sovereignty, here receives an unprecedented warning about pride through Assyria's allegorical downfall as Lebanon's mighty cedar.

Insight Character Study

Pharaoh, typically portrayed in contexts of divine judgment and sovereignty, here receives an unprecedented warning about pride through Assyria's allegorical downfall as Lebanon's mighty cedar.

Cross-References

Connected passages across Scripture

Ezekiel 31:1 1 reference

Lexicals 1

2 Chronicles 15:10 Lexical

So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign.

Ezekiel 31

The Cedar of Lebanon: Assyria's Fall

The Cedar of Lebanon: Assyria's Fall

Insights

Cross-References

Ezekiel 31:1 1 reference

Ezekiel 31:3 5 references

Ezekiel 31:4 1 reference

Ezekiel 31:5 1 reference

Ezekiel 31:6 5 references

Ezekiel 31:7 2 references

Ezekiel 31:8 3 references

Ezekiel 31:9 1 reference

Ezekiel 31:10 5 references

Ezekiel 31:12 3 references

Ezekiel 31:13 5 references

Ezekiel 31:14 5 references

Ezekiel 31:15 5 references

Ezekiel 31:16 5 references

Ezekiel 31:17 5 references

Ezekiel 31:18 5 references

Interlinear

Historical Context