Dawn high on Lebanon: the dark tiers of a cedar forest, one cedar standing far above the rest, mist in the valleys and late snow on the ridge, under a calm pale sky.

The nations judged

Ezekiel 31

What would be left of you if everything that makes you great were taken away?

18 verses≈ 5 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1–3Visions of gloryBy the Kebar, about 593 BC: the throne, the scroll, the watchman
4–7Signs of the siegeA brick, a ration, a razor: the end has come
8–11The glory departsAbout 592 BC: the temple’s abominations, the mark, the glory goes east
12–15False hopesExile acted out, false prophets, a useless vine
16–19Parables and lamentsAn unfaithful bride, two eagles, the one who sins
20–24The sword drawnRebellion retold; the siege begins, about 588 BC
25–32The nations judgedAmmon to Egypt: the LORD is Judge of all the earthChapter 31
33–36A new heartThe city falls; the Good Shepherd; cleansed and made new
37–39Dry bones liveOne people raised up, and Gog of Magog defeated
40–48The LORD is thereAbout 573 BC: the new temple, the river, the land

Egypt Will Fall like Assyria

God

In the eleventh year, on the first day of the third month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude:

‘Who can be compared

to your greatness?

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

God

One immense ancient cedar towering over the forest on a Lebanon slope, its flat tiers of boughs spreading wide, cloud drifting about its top, a mountain stream running in channels among its roots.

Look at Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon,

with beautiful branches that shaded the forest.

It towered on high;

its top was among the clouds.

The waters made it grow;

the deep springs made it tall,

directing their streams all around its base

and sending their channels to all the trees of the field.

God

God

Therefore it towered higher

than all the trees of the field.

Its branches multiplied,

and its boughs grew long

as it spread them out

because of the abundant waters.

All the birds of the air

nested in its branches,

and all the beasts of the field

gave birth beneath its boughs;

all the great nations

lived in its shade.

God

A well-watered valley garden of tall cypresses and broad plane trees by a stream in morning light, and rising beyond and above them all the great cedar on the slope.

It was beautiful in its greatness,

in the length of its limbs,

for its roots extended

to abundant waters.

The cedars in the garden of God

could not rival it;

the cypresses could not compare with its branches,

nor the plane trees match its boughs.

No tree in the garden of God

could compare with its beauty.

God

I made it beautiful with its many branches,

the envy of all the trees of Eden,

which were in the garden of God.’

Ezekiel 31:9

Question

Quick question

The LORD sets a picture before Pharaoh.

What does the LORD compare Assyria to in His word to Pharaoh?

God

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Since it became great in height and set its top among the clouds, and it grew proud on account of its height, I delivered it into the hand of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with it according to its wickedness. I have banished it.

God

Gray light in the mountains: the great cedar cut down and lying across a deep ravine, its broken boughs scattered down the slopes, a raw pale stump above, the forest standing silent around it.

Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. And all the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it.

God

God

All the birds of the air nested on its fallen trunk, and all the beasts of the field lived among its boughs. This happened so that no other trees by the waters would become great in height and set their tops among the clouds, and no other well-watered trees would reach them in height. For they have all been consigned to death, to the depths of the earth, among the mortals who descend to the Pit.’

God

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘On the day it was brought down to Sheol, I caused mourning. I covered the deep because of it; I held back its rivers; its abundant waters were restrained.

God

I made the nations quake at the sound of its downfall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend to the Pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were consoled in the earth below.

God

They too descended with it to Sheol, to those slain by the sword. As its allies they had lived in its shade among the nations.

God

Dusk on a Lebanon slope: a great cedar stump in the foreground, the long felled trunk beyond it, the forest dark, under a calm darkening sky.

Who then is like you in glory and greatness among the trees of Eden? You also will be brought down to the depths of the earth to be with the trees of Eden. You will lie among the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.’”

0:18

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Lord, You made every good and beautiful thing in my life. Keep me humble under Your hand, and let me find my shade in You alone. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Ezekiel 31

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A verse to carry with you

I made it beautiful with its many branches, the envy of all the trees of Eden, which were in the garden of God.

Ezekiel 31:9

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