Ezekiel 31 explained: The Great Tree That Fell

A question for Pharaoh (vv. 1-2)

This message is dated to about 587 BC, shortly before Babylon captured Jerusalem, when many in Judah hoped Egypt would rescue them. The LORD asks Egypt's king who he thinks he compares to in greatness, setting up a lesson from history.

Assyria as a towering cedar (vv. 3-9)

Assyria, the empire that had dominated the region before Babylon, is pictured as a huge cedar fed by deep waters, likely the rivers that made its land rich, sheltering birds, animals and whole nations under its branches. Even the trees in Eden, the garden of God, envied it, yet the text says the LORD was the one who made it so splendid; some scholars think a small change in the Hebrew means the cedar was first meant as Egypt itself, but most readings keep Assyria.

Cut down for its pride (vv. 10-14)

Because the tree grew proud of its height, the LORD handed it over to a ruthless foreign power, most likely meaning Babylon, which did destroy Assyria around 612 BC. Its branches lie broken across the land, the nations it sheltered walk away, and this stands as a warning that no proud power escapes death.

Mourning among the dead (vv. 15-17)

At its fall the waters stop and Lebanon's forests wither, a picture of the whole world shaken and grieving. Down in the realm of the dead, the shadowy place where Israel pictured all the dead going, other fallen powers take grim comfort that even this giant has joined them, along with the allies who lived in its shade.

This is Pharaoh (v. 18)

The lesson turns back on Egypt: as great as it is, it will be brought down the same way. Egyptians practiced circumcision, so lying among the uncircumcised and those killed in battle meant a shameful death and burial.

Key verse: Ezekiel 31:10

Something to think about

What is it about great size or success that can make a person or a nation feel untouchable, and what tends to break that feeling?