Ezekiel 31

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Why does Ezekiel devote such a large section of his book to the overthrow of Egypt?

Chronologically, what is the relationship of the Egyptian oracles to the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.

What metaphors are used in this section to describe Pharaoh?

What evidence is there here of the self-deification of Pharaoh?

In what way had Egypt been a staff of reed to the house of Israel?

How long would Egypt be politically desolate?

What evidence is there that Nebuchadnezzar actually invaded Egypt? that he took Egyptians captive?

HOW did Ezekiel describe Egypt after its restoration?

Why did God decree that Nebuchadnezzar should conquer Egypt?

What would become of the gods of Egypt in the day of national judgment? How was this fulfilled?

How did Ezekiel use Assyria as a warning lesson to Egypt?

How does Ezekiel picture the mighty nations in Sheol? How far can this be pressed for valid doctrine regarding the afterlife?

What did Ezekiel mean by dying the death of the uncircumcised?

Special Study NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S INVASION OF EGYPT

The Old Testament prophets devote more verses to Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Egypt than to that king’s conquest of Jerusalem.[451] However, whereas Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Jerusalem is recorded in various documents dating to the sixth century, his invasion of Egypt has been ignored by the ancient historians. Consequently, most Biblical critics before 1900, and a few since that date, have pointed to the prophecy of Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Egypt as an example of error in prophetic anticipation. In the first edition of the illustrious Cambridge, Ancient History, H. R. Hall categorically asserted:

[451] Op cit. p. 108.

We have no warrant to suppose that the Babylonian king ever carried out great warlike operations against Amasis [Pharaoh of Egypt], far less that he conquered or even entered Egypt either personally or by proxy.[452]

[452] Cambridge Ancient History, III, 1925, p. 299.

The first Biblical prophecy of the fall of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar is found in Jeremiah 46. Here Nebuchadnezzar is mentioned by name (Jeremiah 46:13) as is also the Pharaoh he would defeat, Pharaoh Neco (609-593 B.C.). Four Egyptian cities are mentioned here Migdol, Noph (Memphis) and Tahpanhes in northern Egypt, and No (Thebes) in southern Egypt.

Some twenty years after the destruction of Jerusalem Jeremiah again alludes to the invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 43:12-13). This oracle emphasizes the destruction of the gods of Egypt. Two Egyptian cities are specifically mentioned Tahpanhes and Beth-shemesh (also called On or Heliopolis).

In his third prophecy against Egypt, dated somewhere between 587 and 585 B.C. Ezekiel names Nebuchadnezzar as the agent of God’s judgment on the land of the Nile. The destruction of the idols of Egypt is specifically mentioned (Ezekiel 30:1-19). In another Egypt oracle dated to 571 B.C. Ezekiel again names Nebuchadnezzar as the invader of Egypt.

The evidence that Nebuchadnezzar did in fact invade Egypt is threefold. First, Josephus[453] relates that in the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem (582 B.C.) Nebuchadnezzar fell upon Egypt, slew their king and set up another in his place, Some of the Jewish refugees in Egypt were taken captive back to Babylon. The second piece of evidence is in the form of a small fragment of a Babylonian chronicle first published by Pinches. It shows that Nebuchadnezzar launched an attack against Egypt in his thirty-seventh year, 567 B.C. This text can be found in Ancient Near Eastern Texts edited by James Pritchard, p. 308, The third piece of evidence was pointed out by Driver. A statue in the Louvre represents Nes-Hor, governor of Southern Egypt under Pharaoh Hophra (589-664 B.C.). The inscription thereon seems to state that an army of Asiatics and northern peoples which apparently had invaded Egypt intended to advance up the Nile valley into Ethiopia. However, this invasion of southern Egypt was averted by the favor of the gods. So states Nes-hor.[454]

[453] Antiquities of the Jews. X. 9.7.

[454] Cited in Smith EBP p. 122

Ezekiel 31:1-9

A. The Description of the Cedar 31:1-9

TRANSLATION

(1) And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (2) Son of man, say unto Pharaoh king of Egypt and unto his multitude: Unto whom would you compare yourself in greatness? (3) Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, a foliage that provided shade, and a high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs. (4) Waters nourished it, the deep made it grow; her rivers ran around about her plantation, and she sent forth her channels unto all the trees of the field. (5) Therefore, its height was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied, and its branches became long, because of the many waters when it put them forth. (6) In its boughs all the birds of the heaven made their nests, and under its branches all the beasts of the field bring forth young, and in its shadow all great nations dwell. (7) Thus it was fair in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters. (8) The cedars could not hide it in the garden of God; the cypress trees could not compare to its boughs, and the plane trees were not like its branches; no tree in the garden of God could compare to it in beauty. (9) I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, and all the trees of Eden which were in the garden of God were jealous of it.

COMMENTS

Pharaoh and his multitude (the Egyptian people) thought themselves to be incomparably great and powerful, yet they would not escape the judgment of God (Ezekiel 31:2). Assyria was once a lofty Lebanon cedar encircled at the top by leafy and thick boughs (Ezekiel 31:3). The subterranean reservoir of waters (the deep) sent forth a river to nourish the cedar, and smaller rivlets to water the other trees (Ezekiel 31:4). As a result, the cedar (Assyria) grew taller, stronger and more luxurious than the other trees (nations; Ezekiel 31:5). All the fowl of the heavens and beasts of the field symbolic of the peoples of the earth passed under the control of Assyria (Ezekiel 31:6). Receiving constant nourishment from many waters, the Assyrian cedar continued to spread out its branches to annex additional territories (Ezekiel 31:7). There were other great trees in the garden of God, i.e., the world; but none of them could compare to that mighty cedar (Ezekiel 31:8). That tree attained its stature and beauty from the God of Israel. It was an enemy of all the other trees which God had planted in His Eden, i.e., in the world (Ezekiel 31:9).

Ezekiel 31:1-18

V. THE GREAT CEDAR TREE 31:1-18

This oracle follows the preceding one by some two months. The date according to the present calendar would be June 21, 587 B.C. (Ezekiel 31:1). In the first unit of this chapter Egypt is likened to a cedar (Ezekiel 31:2-9). This poetic comparison is followed by two prose oracles describing the downfall of the magnificent tree at the hands of foreigners (Ezekiel 31:10-14) and its descent into Sheol (Ezekiel 31:15-18).

Ezekiel 31:10-14

B. The Downfall of the Tree 31:10-14

TRANSLATION

(10) Therefore, thus says the Lord CX)D: Because YOU were exalted in height, and he has set his top among the thick boughs, and his heart was lifted up in his height; (11) therefore, I will give him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations; he will surely deal with him in the midst of his wickedness; I have driven him out. (12) And strangers, the most ruthless of the nations, have cut him off, and have cast him down; upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches have fallen, and his boughs are broken in all the channels of the land; and all the peoples of the earth have gone down from his shadow, and have left him. (13) Upon his carcass all the birds of the heavens shall dwell, and upon his boughs every beast of the field; (14) to the end that no tree by the waters shall exalt itself in its height, nor set its top among the thick boughs, nor their mighty ones stand up in their height, even all who drink water; for they are all given over to death, unto the lower parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with those who go down to the pit.

COMMENTS

Because the Assyrian had manifested such arrogant pride (Ezekiel 31:10) God would deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations, i.e., Nebuchadnezzar. The Assyrian would be driven out of the garden of God as surely as Adam had been driven out of primeval Eden (Ezekiel 31:11). The most ruthless of foreign invaders (cf. Ezekiel 28:7) would fell that cedar and abandon it as something useless. The boughs of that once glorious tree the Assyrian armies would be broken and dispersed about the countryside. Those vassal states which had resided in the protective shadow of Assyria would now desert their master (Ezekiel 31:12). The birds and beasts would feed upon the dead bodies of the Assyrian soldiers (Ezekiel 31:13). All of this would befall Assyria so that other trees (nations) in the world would not be tempted to follow her example. Nations, like men, are mortal; they die. They depart the scene of history to descend, as it were, into Sheol the pit the abode of the dead (Ezekiel 31:14).

Ezekiel 31:15-18

C. The Descent of the Cedar 31:15-18

TRANSLATION

(15) Thus says the Lord GOD: In the day he went down to Sheol I caused the deep to mourn and cover over him, and I held back her rivers, and the great waters were stayed; and I caused Lebanon to mourn over him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. (16) At the sound of his fall I caused the nations to shake, when I brought him down to Sheol with those who go down to 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 with him to Sheol unto those who were slain by the sword; and they who were his arm, who dwelt in his shadow, in the midst of nations. (18) To whom are you like in glory and greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet you shall be brought down with the trees of Eden unto 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 (oracle of the Lord GOD.

COMMENTS

The fall of Assyria caused a great upheaval in the world. Even the deep from which all the nations of the earth were watered was plunged into mourning.[448] The rivers which formerly nourished the great tree (cf. Ezekiel 31:4) now had dried up. All the trees of Lebanon other notable nations of the time fainted in fear for their own safety (Ezekiel 31:15). Previous world powers (all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon) were comforted by the thought that now Assyria had joined them in the lower parts of the earth in Sheol the realm of the departed (Ezekiel 31:16). The allies of Assyria (they that were his arm) were destroyed once their protector was gone. They too joined their once proud master in the most disgraceful of deaths (them that are slain by the sword; Ezekiel 31:17).

[448] Cf. Ezekiel 32:7 where the sun is plunged into mourning.

In the final verse of chapter 31 Ezekiel drives home the application of his lengthy allegory. If the giant Assyrian cedar has been cut down, how can Egypt hope to escape? Pharaoh and his people will be brought down to a humiliating defeat and death. He would lie among the uncircumcised, i.e., those who suffer death by the sword and whose bodies lie unburied on the ground (Ezekiel 31:18).