NOTES for Eze 31:1-18
The pagan ruler’s power is not merely likened to a majestic cedar. The prophetic image reveals that this tree surpassed all the trees of Eden, and so we may once again recall the fallen angel in whose deeds pagan kings come to share. Pharaoh’s greatness, like that of any earthly ruler, was given by God; but people—not only rulers, but all of us—too easily forget the Giver of gifts and attribute their successes to their own efforts. Yet the prophecy warns us: by exalting ourselves, we risk not only sinking into our own “human” sinful passions, which we are so eager to regard as excusable, but also becoming like that very angel who was the first to rebel against the Creator, and thus being led into slavery to the powers of darkness.
Once we have fallen under the sway of passionate pride, it is extremely difficult not to take the path of opposition to God. But that path inevitably ends in ruin.