Ezekiel 31

Not long before Jerusalem fell, God tells Ezekiel to ask proud Pharaoh a question. Look at mighty Assyria, a towering cedar that was cut down. Will Egypt fare any better? The chapter pictures great power growing proud and then falling, and it ends with Pharaoh joining the fallen in the grave.

Ezekiel 31:1

The date puts this message in the eleventh year of Jehoiachin’s exile, a little before Jerusalem’s fall. Judah was looking to Egypt for rescue. God speaks first about Egypt’s real future, so that no one will trust in that help.

BSA: word (“a message, declaration, or command”): What follows is not Ezekiel’s opinion. It is a command from the God who rules history.

Ezekiel 31:2

Pharaoh and his crowds are asked who could match Egypt’s greatness. It is a question that exposes pride. God invites Pharaoh to compare himself with someone who was just as great and who has already fallen.

BSA: greatness (“magnificence, power, grandeur”): Egypt’s splendor is real, but the question asks whether it can save him.

Hebrew: גָּדְלְךָ (godlekha, H1433) — “your greatness, your size.” The word means both size and honor. The whole chapter plays on it, as a tree grows great and then is brought low.

See also: Proverbs 16:18.

Ezekiel 31:3

God draws a picture. Assyria, the empire that once dominated the region, was like a cedar of Lebanon: tall, shady and beautiful. Its top reached the clouds. Power looks permanent while it lasts.

BSA: cedar (“a cedar tree, strong and durable”): The cedar was the proverbial picture of strength and lasting power. clouds (“thick boughs, heavenly realm”): The tree’s top is lost in its own thick foliage, and it seems to reach toward heaven.

See also: Daniel 4:10-12.

Ezekiel 31:4

The tree did not make itself. Water from the deep made it grow and sent streams to every tree around. Assyria’s size was a gift, and God was behind it. Whatever greatness any nation has, it has received.

BSA: deep (“abyss, tehom, the subterranean water supply”): The underground ocean is the hidden source of the tree’s life, which points to the Creator behind it.

Hebrew: תְּהוֹם (tehom, H8415) — “the deep, the great underground waters.” This is the same word as the deep in Genesis 1:2. The tree drinks from the Creator’s own supply.

See also: Genesis 1:2.

Ezekiel 31:5

Because of the plentiful water, the tree grew taller than every other tree. Its branches spread and lengthened. The growth was real, and the verse shows how a nation or person can rise high and begin to forget who gave the water.

BSA: towered (“exalted, became lofty”): The same word can mean being lifted up, a hint that its height will turn into pride.

Ezekiel 31:6

The tree gave shelter to birds, animals and whole nations. A great kingdom gives protection and a place to live, and weaker peoples gather under it. This is the good side of strength, and it is what makes the later fall so far-reaching.

BSA: shade (“shadow, protection, dark area”): Shade meant safety, but it also meant dependence on a power that was not God.

See also: Daniel 4:12; Ezekiel 17:23.

Ezekiel 31:7

The tree was beautiful because of its size, its long limbs and its deep roots. Its roots reached abundant water. Real beauty and strength come from a hidden source, and this verse says clearly where the tree’s came from.

BSA: roots (“foundation, source”): What lies under the surface is what holds a life or a kingdom up.

See also: Psalm 1:3.

Ezekiel 31:8

Even the finest trees in God’s own garden could not rival this one. The picture borrows from Eden to show that Assyria stood above every other power. Yet in God’s garden, no tree stands in glory except by his gift.

BSA: garden (“a paradise, an enclosed area”): This is God’s own enclosed paradise, so the comparison is with the best that creation can offer.

Hebrew: גַּן (gan, H1588) — “garden, enclosed place.” It is the word used for the garden of Eden in Genesis. Ezekiel uses Eden language to show how high the tree stood.

See also: Genesis 2:8-9.

Ezekiel 31:9

God says plainly, I made it beautiful. The beauty was his work. The trees of Eden envied it. This makes the next verses sharper, because God gave the greatness and God can take it away.

BSA: envy (“jealousy, resentment”): Even the best of creation looked on this tree with jealousy, which shows how dazzling it was.

Hebrew: עֵדֶן (Eden, H5731) — “delight, pleasure.” The name suggests a place of delight. Assyria is pictured as one of the best trees in that delightful garden.

See also: Ezekiel 28:13.

Ezekiel 31:10

The problem was not height itself but what happened in the heart. The tree grew proud on account of its height. It stopped seeing its greatness as a gift. That pride brings God’s judgment.

BSA: proud (“haughty, lifted up”): The heart lifted itself up as high as the branches had grown.

Hebrew: גָּבַהּ (gavah, H1364) — “to be high, to be lifted up.” The same word describes height and pride. The tree’s physical height and the lifting of its heart are one thing.

See also: Isaiah 14:12-15; James 4:6.

Ezekiel 31:11

God handed the tree over to a mighty ruler of the nations, who dealt with it as its wickedness deserved. In the history of that time this points to the Babylonian power that broke Assyria. God was working through the rise and fall of empires.

BSA: ruler (“a strong leader, a mighty one”): A powerful human ruler acts here as God’s instrument, without knowing it.

Hebrew: אֵל (el, H413) — “mighty one, strong one.” The word is often used for God. Here it means a powerful human ruler, and the sense is of one who is strong and exercises power.

Ezekiel 31:12

Ruthless foreigners cut the tree down and left it. Its branches lay scattered across the mountains and valleys. The nations that had sheltered under it walked away. Power that is built on pride leaves nobody to stand by it when it falls.

BSA: abandoned (“forsaken, left”): Those who had enjoyed the shade left as soon as the protector was gone.

See also: Isaiah 10:33-34.

Ezekiel 31:13

The birds and animals now settle on the fallen trunk. Where the tree once sheltered them, it is now only something to perch on. The very thing that had been feared and admired has become a ruin.

BSA: trunk (“carcass, fallen tree”): The word used for a dead body shows how complete the end was.

Ezekiel 31:14

God gives the reason for the fall: it is a warning. No other well-watered tree should grow proud and set its top among the clouds. All of them are mortal and head toward the same grave. High position does not exempt anyone from death.

BSA: consigned (“delivered, given over”): These trees are handed over to death. It is not a matter of chance but of God’s decision.

Hebrew: בּוֹר (bor, H953) — “pit, cistern.” The word means a hole dug in the ground. It is a picture of the grave as a deep, dark hole.

See also: Psalm 49:12.

Ezekiel 31:15

When the tree went down to Sheol, creation itself seemed to mourn. Waters were held back, Lebanon grieved and the trees wilted. A great fall shakes everything around it, and God is the one who brought it about.

BSA: Sheol (“the underworld, the place of the dead”): This is the realm where the dead are gathered, shadowy and without power.

Hebrew: שְׁאוֹל (She’ol, H7585) — “the place of the dead.” Old Testament writers use this word for the grave or the realm of the dead. Here it is the final home of the proud.

Ezekiel 31:16

The nations shook when they heard the tree crash. In the world below, the other great trees found a grim comfort that they were not alone in their fall. The verse shows the terrible loneliness of fallen pride, and no real help.

BSA: quake (“to shake”): The noise of the fall made whole nations tremble, because it showed that no power is safe.

Hebrew: נִחֲמוּ (nikhamu, H5162) — “were comforted, consoled.” The word usually speaks of real comfort. Here it is bitter, since the comfort comes only from seeing another great one brought down.

Ezekiel 31:17

Those who had lived in Assyria’s shade as its allies went down with it, killed by the sword. Whoever puts trust in a power that is not God shares that power’s end. Safety under a great empire proved to be an illusion.

BSA: allies (“arm, helpers, supporters”): Literally the tree’s arm, meaning those who gave it strength and shared its fate.

See also: Psalm 146:3.

Ezekiel 31:18

Now God turns to Pharaoh with the question, who is like you? The answer is Assyria, and it is not a comfort. Pharaoh and his crowd will lie among the fallen. His glory will not protect him from the same end.

BSA: uncircumcised (“those who are not spiritually purified, without a covenant relationship”): To lie among those outside God’s covenant was a mark of shame, not honor.

Hebrew: עֲרֵלִים (arelim, H6189) — “the uncircumcised.” This word often marks those outside God’s covenant people. Pharaoh is placed among them, a place of dishonor rather than a king’s burial.

See also: Ezekiel 32:18-32.