31:1 In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me:
Another prophecy came to Ezekiel on about April 1, 587 B.C.
31:2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and his hordes: “ ‘Who are you like in your greatness?
Ezekiel was addressed as a “son of man,” because he was born as a human being from the line of Adam. He was to give another message to Pharaoh Hophra and his allies. Ezekiel asked Pharaoh Hophra sarcastically, “which nation is as great as you?” (paraphrase).
31:3 Consider Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade, and extremely tall; its top reached into the clouds.
Ezekiel asked Pharaoh Hophra to compare himself to the nation of Assyria. Assyria was one of the strongest nations in the ancient world. She was like a larger cedar tree in Lebanon. King Hiram sent these cedar trees to King David so that the Jewish temple could be built (by Solomon). Cedar trees are extremely tall. They tower over all of the other trees in the forest. They were broad and strong with beautiful branches which gave shade to all who walked under them. Egypt was strong, tall, broad, and powerful like the cedar tree, but she was not giving shade to all who walked under her.
31:4 The water made it grow; underground springs made it grow tall. Rivers flowed all around the place it was planted, while smaller channels watered all the trees of the field.
Strong trees need a good water source to survive. God gave Assyria and Egypt good water supplies. Assyria was planted on the Tigris River. Egypt was similar in that she was planted upon the Nile River.
31:5 Therefore it grew taller than all the trees of the field; its boughs grew large and its branches grew long, because of the plentiful water in its shoots.
The cedar trees were the tallest trees in the forest. Assyria and Egypt were more powerful than other nations, because they benefited from their locations near the Tigris and Nile Rivers.
31:6 All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs; under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth, in its shade all the great nations lived.
All of the birds in the sky and the beasts of the fields symbolized the other nations. They nested in the shade of Assyria and Egypt.
31:7 It was beautiful in its loftiness, in the length of its branches; for its roots went down deep to plentiful waters.
Both Assyria and Egypt grew powerful from their locations on the Tigris and Nile Rivers. They were both a part of the ancient River Valley Civilizations. The four River Valley Civilizations were Mesopotamia (Babylon, Israel, Assyria), Egypt, India, and China.
31:8 The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it, nor could the fir trees match its boughs; the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches; no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty.
The cedar trees were the most beautiful trees of God’s creation. Assyria and Egypt had the power and location to become a beautiful nation that served God, but they chose to serve demons.
Assyria became one of the most brutal nations in history. She tortured men by impaling them on poles, burying them neck deep in sand and running plows over their heads, chopping off heads and stacking them at city gates, and smashing the heads of babies against walls.
The Egyptians not only worshiped pharaohs as gods, but they worshiped insects and other creatures as well. One of their favorite and most disgusting demonic gods was the dung beetle, who lived in cow manure.
31:9 I made it beautiful with its many branches; all the trees of Eden, in the garden of God, envied it.
God created the cedar trees with great beauty. He created Assyria and Egypt with great beauty. Both of these nations were given the very best land upon the earth.
31:10 “ ‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says:Because it was tall in stature, and its top reached into the clouds, and it was proud of its height,
Jehovah is sovereign over all nations, including Assyria and Egypt. Assyria was the tallest of trees. She was one of the greatest nations in all of the ancient world, but she fell because of her pride.
31:11 I gave it over to the leader of the nations. He has judged it thoroughly, as its sinfulness deserves. I have thrown it out.
Jehovah gave Assyria over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar was appointed by God to become the leader of all nations. Assyria was a prideful and sinful nation, so Jehovah raised up Nebuchadnezzar to cut down the Assyrian tree and throw her out of the forest of nations.
31:12 Foreigners from the most terrifying nations have cut it down and left it to lie there on the mountains. In all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in the ravines of the land. All the peoples of the land have departed from its shade and left it.
The “foreigners from the most terrifying nations” were the Babylonians and their tribute nations. They cut down the Assyrian tree and left it on the mountain to die. The Assyrian tree no longer exists. The Assyrian tree no longer provides shades to other nations. The other people have left the forest and no longer receive shade from the Assyrian cedar tree.
31:13 On its ruins all the birds of the sky will live, and all the wild animals will walk on its branches.
Assyria laid in ruins. Since no man lived there, birds and wild animals trampled over the ruins of the city. Alexander and his soldiers once camped there, not even knowing that it was once the great city of Assyria.
31:14 For this reason no watered trees will grow so tall; their tops will not reach into the clouds, nor will the well-watered ones grow that high. For all of them have been appointed to die in the lower parts of the earth; they will be among mere mortals, with those who descend to the pit.
Assyria’s trees would no longer grow in the forest of the nations. The Assyrian tree had been appointed to the grave. The earth is a giant graveyard which buries great nations who become prideful and live in rebellion against God. The lesson from this parable is that no nation should exalt itself highly above others, because they will all suffer the same fate as Assyria.
31:15 “ ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On the day it went down to Sheol I caused observers to lament. I covered it with the deep and held back its rivers; its plentiful water was restrained. I clothed Lebanon in black for it, and all the trees of the field wilted because of it.
Jehovah is sovereign over all nations, including Assyria and Egypt. After Babylon defeated Assyria, then the evil people of Assyria died and went to Sheol. Sheol was the place of the dead. It consisted of four separate compartments.
First, Paradise (or Abraham’s Bosom) was the place of the righteous. The Lord Jesus Christ emptied Paradise after His death and brought the righteous people into heaven.
Second, Hell (or Gehenna) was the place of the wicked dead. The Lord Jesus Christ told of an actual historical event of a rich man who was suffering in Gehenna, The rich man asked Lazarus for a drink of water, but he was refused because of the chasm which separated them.
Third, Tartarus was a permanent imprisonment for fallen angels who left their first estate and intermarried with human women (Genesis 6). They will all be transported to the Lake of Fire at the end of the Millennial Kingdom.
Fourth, the Abyss was a temporary imprisonment for demons who violated God’s laws. The demons who possessed the body of the man from the region of the Gerasenes begged Jesus not to throw them into the Abyss; instead, they wanted to be cast into a herd of pigs. During the Great Tribulation, some of the most evil demons will be released from the Abyss to punish the evil men on the earth who will reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
After Assyria was defeated by the Babylonians, then many of the other trees in the forest sang a funeral song for Assyria. The other trees in the forest were the allies of Assyria who benefited from her plunder of other nations.
31:16 I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall, when I threw it down to Sheol, along with those who descend to the pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, all that were well-watered, were comforted in the earth below.
When the Assyrian tree was chopped down by the Babylonians and sent to the grave, then the other nations shook with fear when they heard that the Assyrian tree hit the ground. If the Assyrian tree which gave them shade could be cut down so easily, then they could be the next tree to get the ax.
31:17 Those who lived in its shade, its allies among the nations, also went down with it to Sheol, to those killed by the sword.
The Babylonians also cut down the other trees of the forest and sent them to Sheol as well. The allies of Assyria included Judah, Egypt, Tyre, Sidon, and Ethiopia.
31:18 Which of the trees of Eden was like you in majesty and loftiness? You will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth; you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword! This is what will happen to Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the sovereign Lord.’ ”
Just as the Assyrian tree was cut down by the Babylonians, then so would the Egyptians and their allies be cut down by these same Babylonians.