NOTES for Eze 31:1-18

The pagan ruler’s power is not merely compared to a majestic cedar. The prophetic image reveals that this tree surpassed all the other trees of Eden, 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. Yet people—not only rulers but all of us—far too easily forget the Giver of gifts and attribute their success to their own efforts. But the prophecy warns us: by exalting ourselves, we risk not only sinking into our own “human” sinful passions, which we are so eager to consider excusable, but also becoming like the very angel who first rebelled against the Creator and thereby falling into bondage to the forces of darkness. Once enslaved by passionate pride, it is extremely difficult not to take the path of resisting God, a path that inevitably ends in ruin.