31 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.1
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 it2 towered high and set its top among the clouds,3 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,4 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,5 with those who go down to the pit.
15 “Thus says the Lord God: On the day the cedar6 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.”
32 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him:
“ You consider yourself a lion of the nations,
but you are like a dragon in the seas;
you burst forth in your rivers,
trouble the waters with your feet,
and foul their rivers.
3 Thus says the Lord God:
I will throw my net over you
with a host of many peoples,
and they will haul you up in my dragnet.
4 And I will cast you on the ground;
on the open field I will fling you,
and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you,
and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.
5 I will strew your flesh upon the mountains
and fill the valleys with your carcass.7
6 I will drench the land even to the mountains
with your flowing blood,
and the ravines will be full of you.
7 When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens
and make their stars dark;
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon shall not give its light.
8 All the bright lights of heaven
will I make dark over you,
and put darkness on your land,
declares the Lord God.
9 “I will trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries that you have not known. 10 I will make many peoples appalled at you, and the hair of their kings shall bristle with horror because of you, when I brandish my sword before them. They shall tremble every moment, every one for his own life, on the day of your downfall.
11 “For thus says the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. 12 I will cause your multitude to fall by the swords of mighty ones, all of them most ruthless of nations.
“ They shall bring to ruin the pride of Egypt,
and all its multitude8 shall perish.
13 I will destroy all its beasts
from beside many waters;
and no foot of man shall trouble them anymore,
nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
14 Then I will make their waters clear,
and cause their rivers to run like oil,
declares the Lord God.
15 When I make the land of Egypt desolate,
and when the land is desolate of all that fills it,
when I strike down all who dwell in it,
then they will know that I am the Lord.
16 This is a lamentation that shall be chanted; the daughters of the nations shall chant it; over Egypt, and over all her multitude, shall they chant it, declares the Lord God.”
17 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month,9 on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 18 “Son of man, wail over the multitude of Egypt, and send them down, her and the daughters of majestic nations, to the world below, to those who have gone down to the pit:
19 ‘ Whom do you surpass in beauty?
Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised.’
20 They shall fall amid those who are slain by the sword. Egypt10 is delivered to the sword; drag her away, and all her multitudes. 21 The mighty chiefs shall speak of them, with their helpers, out of the midst of Sheol: ‘They have come down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’
22 “Assyria is there, and all her company, its graves all around it, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, 23 whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit; and her company is all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living.
24 “Elam is there, and all her multitude around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised into the world below, who spread their terror in the land of the living; and they bear their shame with those who go down to the pit. 25 They have made her a bed among the slain with all her multitude, her graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for terror of them was spread in the land of the living, and they bear their shame with those who go down to the pit; they are placed among the slain.
26 “Meshech-Tubal is there, and all her multitude, her graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they spread their terror in the land of the living. 27 And they do not lie with the mighty, the fallen from among the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads, and whose iniquities are upon their bones; for the terror of the mighty men was in the land of the living. 28 But as for you, you shall be broken and lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.
29 “Edom is there, her kings and all her princes, who for all their might are laid with those who are killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised, with those who go down to the pit.
30 “The princes of the north are there, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down in shame with the slain, for all the terror that they caused by their might; they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who go down to the pit.
31 “When Pharaoh sees them, he will be comforted for all his multitude, Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, declares the Lord God. 32 For I spread terror in the land of the living; and he shall be laid to rest among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.”
Section Overview
Ezekiel 31–32 contains the fifth, sixth, and seventh of the seven prophecies against Egypt, seven prophecies that themselves form the capstone seventh oracle against Judah’s neighbors. Egypt has presented herself as a potential ally against the Babylonians, but she is an unreliable ally and will not live up to her promises. Thus the oracles depict Egypt as defeated and already dead: a captured beast, a fallen tree, the subject of a funeral lament. Egypt is not a refuge in whom Judah should trust.
The fifth oracle in the sequence (31:1–18) compares Egypt to Assyria, which once thrived like a mighty cedar tree, towering over its surroundings. But the Lord felled mighty Assyria and brought it down to Sheol, the home of the unrighteous dead, and he will do the same to Egypt. The sixth oracle (32:1–16) is similar to the first in likening Pharaoh to a powerful crocodile of supernatural proportions, whose dead carcass will fill the valleys with its flesh. Meanwhile, the seventh oracle (vv. 17–32) imagines the fate of Egypt’s citizens in Sheol. There they will join those from other formerly mighty nations: Assyria, Elam, Meshech-Tubal, Edom, and the princes of the north, who all once terrorized the nations but are now no more. Sheol is the true home and fitting final resting place for Pharaoh and his hordes.
Section Outline
III. Seven Oracles against the Nations (25:1–32:32) . . .
H. An Oracle against Egypt and Her Ruler (29:1–32:32) . . .
5. The Fallen Tree (31:1–18)
6. The Hunted Beast (32:1–16)
7. Egypt’s Home among the Dead (32:17–32)
Response
The oracles against the nations are among the hardest parts of the prophet’s message to translate into terms with which modern readers can identify. For us, Egypt does not resonate as the name of a contemporary world power—any more than Assyria or Babylon, let alone Meshech or Tubal, does. Of course, in a sense that precisely proves the prophet’s point: the powerful world empires of one generation crumble into dust in the next generation. Even if they remain named locations on the map, their power is completely broken. They have all gone down together to the pit, the home of the unquiet dead.
From an Israelite perspective that was partially good news. The nations they were so tempted to fear lacked the power to do them real harm; the Lord is the one who alone is sovereign over every empire and dominion. Yet for much of Israel’s history (including Ezekiel’s own time), Egypt was not a potential enemy to be feared but a potential refuge to be pursued. From Genesis onward it was a place to go to avoid a famine in the land of Canaan, since its fertility was fed by the reliable floodwaters of the Nile (cf. Gen. 12:10; 26:1–2). In Ezekiel’s time Judean foreign policy often placed its trust in Egypt’s power to rescue her from the might of the Babylonians. But Egypt proved a disappointing hope, promising much and delivering little.
In that regard Egypt resembles the idols in which we often place so much of our hope in difficult times. We look to money, health, beauty, relationships, and many other things, ascribing them great glory and power over our futures. They are the beautiful trees we aspire to be like—or the horrific monsters haunting our nightmares. Yet in reality none of these idols has any more power than did Egypt; they may look impressive on the outside, but the Lord alone has the power to direct our future. Sometimes the Lord takes us also through hard and difficult times in order to expose to us the emptiness of our idols—they are broken reeds that wound those who lean upon them (Isa. 36:6).
In all of this our greatest need is to “know the Lord.” The ungodly will come to know the Lord through a final act of judgment (Ezek. 32:15), but his people have the privilege of knowing him as their savior in the present and as their refuge from future storms and final judgment (cf. Ps. 46:1). Our destiny is not the pit, surrounded by the unbelieving dead, but the glories of the inheritance stored up for us in heaven with Christ (1 Pet. 1:3–5). In view of that reality our goal should be increasingly to press on to know Christ and to make him known to a lost world, while there is yet time (cf. Phil. 3:10–11).Ezekiel 31–32
Ezekiel 33