In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude:
“Whom are you like in your greatness?
3 Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon,
with beautiful branches and forest shade,
and of towering height,
its top among the clouds.
4 The waters nourished it;
the deep made it grow tall,
making its rivers flow
around the place of its planting,
sending forth its streams
to all the trees of the field.
5 So it towered high
above all the trees of the field;
its boughs grew large
and its branches long
from abundant water in its shoots.
6 All the birds of the heavens
made their nests in its boughs;
under its branches all the beasts of the field
gave birth to their young,
and under its shadow
lived all great nations.
7 It was beautiful in its greatness,
in the length of its branches;
for its roots went down
to abundant waters.
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it,
nor the fir trees equal its boughs;
neither were the plane trees
like its branches;
no tree in the garden of God
was its equal in beauty.
9 I made it beautiful
in the mass of its branches,
and all the trees of Eden envied it,
that were in the garden of God.
10 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because it towered high and set its top among the clouds, and its heart was proud of its height, 11 I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out. 12 Foreigners, the most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all the ravines of the land, and all the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it. 13 On its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. 14 All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds, and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, to the world below, among the children of man, with those who go down to the pit.
15 “Thus says the Lord God: On the day the cedar went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. 16 I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the world below. 17 They also went down to Sheol with it, to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were its arm, who lived under its shadow among the nations.
18 “Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below. You shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.
“This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.” Ezekiel 31 ESV
Ezekiel 31 Pharaoh Put In Check
…10The soul of the wicked man craves evil; his neighbor finds no favor in his eyes. 11When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom; and when a wise man is instructed, he acquires knowledge. 12The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked and brings the wicked to ruin.… Proverbs 21: 10-12
1-9 Whom are you like in your greatness - Dear Pharaoh, can you think of another kingdom that was fierce, proud, and even feared by Egypt?
Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon - Assyria was an immense power, greatly feared, even occupying Egypt with it's forces from 677B.C. to 663B.C. The cedars of this region were famous and sought out by kings from all over, including David and Solomon. God is giving Pharaoh a comparison, this was a great nation as well, with leaders who boasted like you, and yet she has fallen. Sennacherib and his servant boasted of Assyria's conquest and boasted against the only true God. They defeated the northern tribes of Israel, and took those people into captivity, led away many also from Egypt and Cush, so this was a mighty nation.
9Later, as Sennacherib king of Assyria and all his forces besieged Lachish, he sent his servants to Jerusalem with a message for King Hezekiah of Judah and all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem: 10“This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: What is the basis of your confidence, that you remain in Jerusalem under siege? 11Is not Hezekiah misleading you to give you over to death by famine and thirst when he says, ‘The LORD our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria?’…
…12Did not Hezekiah himself remove His high places and His altars and say to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn sacrifices’? 13Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Have the gods of these nations ever been able to deliver their land from my hand? 14Who among all the gods of these nations that my fathers devoted to destruction has been able to deliver his people from my hand? How then can your God deliver you from my hand?… 2 Chronicles 32: 9-14
Now when Assyria came to Judah, Judah was not physically up to it, but Hezekiah went to Isaiah, and they prayed to God for deliverance, and He did so. 185,000 soldiers from this great Assyrian army, violent, fierce men, were all killed in one night by a single angel sent from God.
Above all the trees of the field - So now this cedar is a tidal king, above the other kings and princes of the land, for they are paying tribute to him.
In the length of its branches - He was not only tall but broad of shoulders. His kingdom encompassed much area.
No tree in the garden of God was it's equal in beauty - This is in the region where Eden once existed, the garden of the Lord, the place of two other well known trees, but which perfection was lost at the fall. Every human alive came from their though, yet in it's prime no civilization compared to Assyria.
The fir-trees were not like his boughs, so straight, so green, so regular; nor were the branches of the chestnut-trees like his branches, so thick, so spreading. In short, no tree in the garden of God, in Eden, in Babylon (for that stood where paradise was planted), where there was every tree that was pleasant to the sight (Gen. 2:9), was like to this cedar in beauty; that is, in all the surrounding nations there was no prince so much admired, so much courted, and whom every body was so much in love with, as the king of Assyria. Many of them did virtuously, but he excelled them all, outshone them all. All the trees of Eden envied him, v. 9. When they found they could not compare with him they were angry and grieved that he so far outdid them, and secretly grudged him the praise due to him. Note, It is the unhappiness of those who in any thing excel others that thereby they make themselves the objects of envy; and who can stand before envy? - Matthew Henry
I made it beautiful - No matter how grand a tree, how beautiful, how strong, yet the glory belongs to the One Who made it.
10-18 And its heart was proud of it's height - It is not wrong to be patriotic, to enjoy the elements of your culture that aren't in offense to God, but pride, exalting yourself outside of your created reality, as if you were the author of creation, this is a gross sickness, a fatal error.
4And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. 5Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “ God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you.… 1 Peter 5: 4-6
Hand of a mighty one - The Lord giveth and then sends some one else to take away, one kingdom after another.
Cyaxares, king of the Medes, in the twenty-sixth year of his reign, in conjunction with Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the first year of his reign, destroyed Nineveh, and with it the Assyrian empire. Nebuchadnezzar, though he was not then, yet afterwards became, very emphatically, the mighty one of the heathen, most mighty among them and most mighty over them, to prevail against them. - Matthew Henry
All that drink water - These great nations, like Assyria and Babylon, sit upon great waters, the Tigris and Euphrates along with their tributaries. They didn't make the water, nor did they command the springs to come forth, just like Egypt is blessed with the Nile, but she did not make it.
Who lived under its shadow among the nations - People rejoiced over Assyria's fall, yet some others mourned, for she was their protector. Judah made this mistake through it's king Ahaz, who, against the warning of the prophet Isaiah, rejected a sign from God and paid tribute to Assyria, even worshiping their gods. He admired the strength of Tiglath-Pileser the 3rd, but was also a man of low morals who was set upon living like his heathen neighbors.
You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden - Egypt, it shall be no different for you than any other tree.
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