Ezekiel 31 — with JFB Commentary
The King James text with the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown commentary (1871, public domain) directly beneath the verses it explains. Verses without a JFB note stand alone.
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“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” — John 5:39
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,
CHAPTER 31
Eze 31:1-18. The Overthrow of Egypt Illustrated by That of Assyria.
Not that Egypt was, like Assyria, utterly to cease to be, but it was, like Assyria, to lose its prominence in the empire of the world.
1. third month--two months later than the prophecy delivered in Eze 30:20.
In the eleventh year, etc. June, B.C. 586. Two months all but six days had passed since the utterance of Eze_30:20-26, when Ezekiel was moved to expand his prediction of the downfall of Egypt into a parable which is partly a replica of these in Eze_17:1-24. and Eze_19:1-14, and which also finds a parallel in Dan_4:10-14.
2Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?
2. Whom art thou like--The answer is, Thou art like the haughty king of Assyria; as he was overthrown by the Chaldeans, so shalt thou be by the same.
The parable is addressed, not to Pharaoh only, but to his multitude i.e; as in Eze_30:4, for his auxiliary forces. It opens with one of the customary formulae of an Eastern apologue (Mar_4:30), intended to sharpen the curiosity and win the attention of the prophet's hearers or readers. It is significant that the question is repeated at the close of the parable, as if the prophet had left the interpretation to his readers, as our Lord does in saying, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
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.
3. He illustrates the pride and the consequent overthrow of the Assyrian, that Egypt may the better know what she must expect.
cedar in Lebanon--often eighty feet high, and the diameter of the space covered by its boughs still greater: the symmetry perfect. Compare the similar image (Eze 17:3; Da 4:20-22).
with a shadowing shroud--with an overshadowing thicket.
top ... among ... thick boughs--rather [Hengstenberg], "among the clouds." But English Version agrees better with the Hebrew. The top, or topmost shoot, represents the king; the thick boughs, the large resources of the empire.
Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon. The Hebrew text, as rendered in all versions and interpreted by most commentators, gives us, in the form of the parable of the cedar, the history of the Assyrian empire in its glory and its fall. That had passed away in spite of its greatness, and so should Egypt. The question in Eze_31:18 takes the place of "Thou art the man!" in Nathan's interpretation of his parable (2Sa_12:7), or the mutato nominee de te fabula, narratur of the Roman satirist. Some recent commentaters, however, either like Ewald, taking the Hebrew word for, Assyrian" as describing a particular kind of cedar or fir tree, or, like Comill and amend, adopting a conjectural emendation of the text which actually gives that meaning (Tasshur for Asshur), refer the whole parable primarily to Egypt, and dwell on the fact that the words of Eze_31:10, Eze_31:18 are addressed to the living representative of a great monarchy, and not to a power that has already passed away into the Hades of departed glory. The former view seems to me the more tenable of the two, and I therefore adopt it throughout the chapter. It may be admitted, however, that the inner meaning of the parable at times breaks through the outward imagery, as was indeed to be expected, the prophet seeking to apply his apologue even before he had completed it. The "cedar in Lebanon" has already met us as the symbol of s kingdom, in Eze_17:2. The shadowing shroud may be noted as a specially vivid picture of the peculiar foliage of the cedar rendered with singular felicity. His top was among the thick boughs; better, clouds, as in the margin of the Revised Version. So Keil, Smend, and others (comp. Eze_17:10, Eze_17:14).
4The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.
4. waters ... little rivers--the Tigris with its branches and "rivulets," or "conduits" for irrigation, the source of Assyria's fertility. "The deep" is the ever flowing water, never dry. Metaphorically, for Assyria's resources, as the "conduits" are her colonies.
The waters made him great. The scenery is hardly that of Lebanon, but finds its counterpart in that of the Nile, perhaps also of the Tigris, with the waters of the river diverted into streams and channels by a careful system of irrigation. The cedar grew close to the river itself; the other trees of the field were watered only by the smaller channels, and so were inferior to it in the fullness of their growth. (For the general imagery, comp. Eze_17:5; Psa_1:3; Jer_17:8; Num_24:6.)
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.
5. when he shot forth--because of the abundant moisture which nourished him in shooting forth. But see Margin.
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.
6. fowls ... made ... nests in ... boughs--so Eze 17:23; Da 4:12. The gospel kingdom shall gather all under its covert, for their good and for the glory of God, which the world kingdoms did for evil and for self-aggrandizement (Mt 13:32).
All the fowls of heaven as in Eze_17:23; Dan_4:9; Mat_13:32, was the natural symbol of the fact that all the neighboring nations owned the sovereignty of Assyria and were sheltered by her protection. In the great nation we have the parable passing into its interpretation.
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.
8. cedars ... could not hide him--could not outtop him. No other king eclipsed him.
were not like--were not comparable to.
garden of God--As in the case of Tyre (Eze 28:13), the imagery, that is applied to the Assyrian king, is taken from Eden; peculiarly appropriate, as Eden was watered by rivers that afterwards watered Assyria (Ge 2:10-14). This cedar seemed to revive in itself all the glories of paradise, so that no tree there outtopped it.
The cedars in the garden of God. As in Eze_28:13, the thoughts of the prophet dwell on the picture of Eden in Gen_2:8. Far above all other trees, the cedar of Assyria rose high in majesty. All the trees that were in the garden of God envied him. The trees specially chosen for comparison are
(1) the fir tress—probably, as in Eze_27:5, the cypresses; and
(2) the chestnut trees, for which the Revised Version, following the Vulgate and the LXX. of Gen_30:1-43 :97, gives the "plane," which held a high place in the admiration of Greek and Roman writers. Of this we have a special instance in the story of Xerxes, who decorated a plane tree near the Meander with ornaments of gold (Herod; 7.31; 'AElicon,' 5.14; also comp. Ecclesiasticus 24:14; Virg; 'Georg.,' 4.146; Cicero, 'De Ont.,' 1.7, 28).
Eze_31:10, Eze_31:11
Because thou hast lifted up thyself. The second and third persons are curiously mixed; probably the former was in the nature of a warning addressed to the King of Egypt, while the latter continues the parable of the history of Assyria. For boughs read clouds, as in Eze_31:3. Ezekiel writes as with the feeling which led Solon to note that the loftiest trees are those which are most exposed to the strokes of the thunderbolts of Zeus (Herod; Eze_7:10). The Assyrian's heart was "lifted up with pride" (Isa_10:5), and therefore he was delivered to the mighty one of the nations; sc. to Nebuchadnezzar.
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.
9. I ... made him--It was all due to My free grace.
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;
10. thou ... he--The change of persons is because the language refers partly to the cedar, partly to the person signified by the cedar.
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.
11. Here the literal supersedes the figurative.
shall surely deal with him--according to his own pleasure, and according to the Assyrian's (Sardanapalus) desert. Nebuchadnezzar is called "the mighty one" (El, a name of God), because he was God's representative and instrument of judgment (Da 2:37, 38).
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.
12. from his shadow--under which they had formerly dwelt as their covert (Eze 31:6).
Strangers, the terrible of the nations. We note the recurrence of the phrase of Eze_30:11, as pointing, here as there, to the Chaldean invaders. The branches of the tree were broken, the people of the earth no longer dwelt under its shadow (Dan_4:11).
13Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:
13. Birds and beasts shall insult over his fallen trunk.
Upon his ruin. The prophet, as it were, corrects his imagery. The birds and beasts are still there, but instead of dwelling in the boughs, they (vultures and owls, jackals and hyenas) hover and creep as over the carcass of the dead, decaying trunk.
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.
14. trees by the waters--that is, that are plentifully supplied by the waters: nations abounding in resources.
stand up in their height--that is, trust in their height: stand upon it as their ground of confidence. Fairbairn points the Hebrew differently, so as for "their trees," to translate, "(And that none that drink water may stand) on themselves, (because of their greatness)." But the usual reading is better, as Assyria and the confederate states throughout are compared to strong trees. The clause, "All that drink water," marks the ground of the trees' confidence "in their height," namely, that they have ample sources of supply. Maurer, retaining the same Hebrew, translates, "that neither their terebinth trees may stand up in their height, nor all (the other trees) that drink water."
to ... nether ... earth ... pit--(Eze 32:18; Psa 82:7).
To the end that none, etc. With a characteristic amplitude of style, Ezekiel preaches the great lesson of the mutability of earthly greatness. This was the lesson that the history of Assyria ought to have taught the nations of the earth, and it was just that lesson that they refused to learn. They are all delivered to death. The scenery of the parable passes from Eden to Sheol, the Hades of the nations, and the prophet gives the first stroke of the imagery afterwards more fully developed in Eze_32:17-32.
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.
15. covered the deep--as mourners cover their heads in token of mourning, "I made the deep that watered the cedar" to wrap itself in mourning for him. The waters of the deep are the tributary peoples of Assyria (Re 17:15).
fainted--literally, were "faintness" (itself); more forcible than the verb.
I covered the deep for him. The face of the whole world of nature is painted by the prophet as sharing in the awe and terror of that tremendous fail Lebanon was made to mourn (literally, to be black), the waters failed in their channels, the trees (all that drink water) shuddered. They formed part, as it were, of the pageantry of woe at the funeral of the fallen kingdom. It is as if the prophet felt, in all its intensity, what we have learnt to call the sympathy of nature with the sorrows of humanity. It would, perhaps, be over-literal to press details; but the picture, in one of its features at least, suggests a failure of the inundation of the Nile, like that indicated in Eze_30:12.
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.
16. hell--Sheol or Hades, the unseen world: equivalent to, "I cast him into oblivion" (compare Is 14:9-11).
shall be comforted--because so great a king as the Assyrian is brought down to a level with them. It is a kind of consolation to the wretched to have companions in misery.
Shall be comforted, etc. The Dante-like imagination of the prophet points the contrasts between the impression made by the fall of Assyria on the nations that yet survived, and on those that had already perished. The former mourn and shako with fear, for it is a warning to them that their turn also may come. On the other hand, the tress of Eden—the great monarchies that are already in Sheol—shall he "comforted" with the thought that yet another kingdom mightier than they has fallen as they fell (comp. Isa_14:4-20; Eze_32:17-32, where the thought is elaborately expanded).
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.
17. his arm, that dwelt under his shadow--those who were the helpers or tool of his tyranny, and therefore enjoyed his protection (for example, Syria and her neighbors). These were sure to share her fate. Compare the same phrase as to the Jews living under the protection of their king (La 4:20); both alike "making flesh their arm, and in heart departing from the Lord" (Jr 17:5).
They that were his arm. The words point to the allies, in the first instance of Assyria, and secondly of Egypt. The last words of the verse present a striking parallel to Lam_4:20.
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.
18. Application of the parabolic description of Assyria to the parallel case of Egypt. "All that has been said of the Assyrian consider as said to thyself. To whom art thou so like, as thou art to the Assyrian? To none." The lesson on a gigantic scale of Eden-like privileges abused to pride and sin by the Assyrian, as in the case of the first man in Eden, ending in ruin, was to be repeated in Egypt's case. For the unchangeable God governs the world on the same unchangeable principles.
thou shall lie in ... uncircumcised--As circumcision was an object of mocking to thee, thou shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, slain by their sword [Grotius]. Retribution in kind (Eze 28:10).
This is Pharaoh--Pharaoh's end shall be the same humiliating one as I have depicted the Assyrian's to have been. "This" is demonstrative, as if he were pointing with the finger to Pharaoh lying prostrate, a spectacle to all, as on the shore of the Red Sea (Ex 14:30, 31).
To whom art thou thus like, etc.? As in Eze_31:10, the prophet passes from the past to the present, from the third person to the second, and as it were says to Hophra, "Thou art the man! all that I have said of Assyria is true of thee." This is Pharaoh and all his multitude. In the midst of thin uncircumcised (see note on Eze_28:10). As a matter of fact, the Egyptians practiced circumcision, and Ezekiel must be thought of as using the term as simply an epithet of scorn.
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