NOTES for Eze 31:1-18

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¹And 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,

²Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?

³Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.

⁴The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.

⁵Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.

⁶All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.

⁷Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.

⁸The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.

⁹I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.

¹⁰Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;

¹¹I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.

¹²And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.

¹³Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:

¹⁴To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.

¹⁵Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and 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 hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.

¹⁷They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.

¹⁸To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel’s prophecy about the fate of Egypt concludes with the parable of the fall of a tall cedar, which repeats in allegorical form the prophecy’s central thought. At the beginning of the parable, the tall and exalted cedar symbolizes Assyria, a cruel power that rose by oppressing the peoples of the Near East. Less than half a century before Ezekiel’s prophecy, Assyria fell under the blows of the Babylonians, and its fall radically changed the entire strategic situation in the Near East.

The second half of the parable uses the same image of the tall cedar to represent Egypt, which rivalled Assyria in military strength and influence. Speaking of the tall cedar’s fall, the prophet compares the destruction of the Egyptian state with that of Assyria, on the basis of the iniquities shared by both powers: idolatry and cruelty. This parable is very characteristic of the biblical attitude towards history: observing history over many centuries, the authors and editors of Holy Scripture find in it confirmation that all power without service to God is doomed to disappear.

It is quite possible that Ezekiel’s words also carry a political subtext which, living in Babylonia, he is compelled to express in the form of a parable. The fact is that the Babylonian empire differs practically not at all from Assyria, Egypt or other ancient empires. Speaking of their common fate, the prophet hints that Babylon will not escape it either. The very next generation after Ezekiel will witness its fall under the blows of the Persians.

Thus the prophet sees two overlapping processes in history. On the one hand, empires as alike as two drops of water succeed one another. Each plunders, displaces and destroys everything in its path, and each perishes, destroyed by the next. It must be said that this sequence accommodates not only Assyria and Egypt, mentioned by the prophet, but also Babylon, Persia, Alexander the Great’s empire, Rome and beyond... right down to the Third Reich and the Soviet bloc. Yet in this succession nothing changes fundamentally, and nothing fundamentally new emerges. For the prophet, therefore, these events are not the essence of history, but merely a background—or a covering—for what the Lord accomplishes in it. What matters most is his purpose, directed towards the salvation of the world. And despite the gravity of the accusations against Israel, God needs it for this great purpose; therefore, while undergoing purification, it does not share the common fate of human states.

In the parable, the prophet speaks of the trees of Eden, of God’s planting. Drawn into the whirlpool of political history, they nevertheless remain different from it in nature, because the meaning of their existence lies not in their greatness but in God. The prophet will say one more word about Egypt and then turn to God’s actions in the destiny of Israel and of the whole world. He will speak of salvation, of the New Covenant and the coming of the Messiah—and how trifling this whole succession of empires will seem by comparison! We cannot fail to note how instructive this parable is in the search for a “national ideology.” Not only individuals, but also countries and peoples, must seek what is worthy of eternity if they are not to share the fate of Assyria and Egypt. And that is the Covenant with God alone.

Other notes

For Eze 31:1-18