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EZEKIEL 31

PARAGRAPH DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects (reading cycle #3). Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

1. First paragraph
2. Second paragraph
3. Third paragraph, etc.

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: EZEKIEL 31:1-9
 ¹In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me saying, ²"Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes,
 'Whom are you like in your greatness?
 ³Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon
 With beautiful branches and forest shade,
 And very high, And its top was among the clouds.
 ⁴The waters made it grow, the deep made it high.
 With its rivers it continually extended all around its planting place,
 And sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.
 ⁵Therefore its height was loftier than all the trees of the field
 And its boughs became many and its branches long
 Because of many waters as it spread them out.
 ⁶All the birds of the heavens nested in its boughs,
 And under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth,
 And all great nations lived under its shade.
 ⁷So it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches;
 For its roots extended to many waters.
 ⁸The cedars in God's garden could not match it;
 The cypresses could not compare with its boughs,
 And the plane trees could not match its branches.
 No tree in God's garden could compare with it in its beauty.
 ⁹I made it beautiful with the multitude of its branches,
 And all the trees of Eden, which were in the garden of God, were jealous of it.'"

31:1 See note at Ezek. 29:1. The date is 587 B.C.

31:2-3 "say to Pharaoh. . ." The literary unit dealing with God's judgment on Egypt began in chapter 29 and continues through chapter 32. Therefore, it is surprising to have "Assyria" addressed in Ezek. 31:3. Assyria is mentioned in Ezek. 32:22-33. There are two options.

1. Pharaoh is to view God's judgment on Assyria as an example of what will befall him and his nation (Jewish Study Bible, p. 1101 and NET Bible, p. 1512, #3).
2. The Hebrew text, אשור (BDB 78), is corrupt and must be emended to
   1. "I will liken you to a cedar" (RSV), שור (BDB 1003 II, Qal IMPERFECT plus "cedar," BDB 72)
   2. a variant spelling of "cypress" (or a type of cedar, BDB 81, KB 1677, cf. Ezek. 27:6)

The UBS Text Project, p. 101, gives "Assyria, a cedar" an "A" rating.

1. Assyria, אתור (BDB 78)
2. a cedar, תאשׁור (BDB 81)

Another word for "cedar" appears after "Assyria" in the MT, which is spelled ארז (BDB 72), see 2,a, above.

31:3-9 The nation is described as

1. beautiful branches for shade
2. very tall (i.e., MT, NKJV, "among thick boughs' LXX, "among the clouds")
3. deep roots into good water
4. watered other trees
5. protection for many animals (i.e., nations)
6. greater than the trees of Eden
7. many branches

In essence this is the "global/cosmic tree" metaphor (cf. Psalm 80; Daniel 4). Trees were places of special reverence and respect. They often served as holy sites (e.g., Gen. 35:4,8; Jos. 24:26; palm tree, Jdg. 4:5; oaks of Ophrah, cf. Jdg. 6:11,19; 1 Kgs. 13:14; 1 Chr. 10:12) and also sites of fertility worship (e.g., 1 Kgs. 14:23-24; Hos. 4:13). However, this one tree symbolized a universal motif. It, of course, is a hyperbole in this context describing Assyria or Egypt (see note at Ezek. 31:2-3). YHWH allows nations to rise and He causes nations to fall. In YHWH's garden His trees continue to grow and bear fruit (cf. Ezek. 47:12; Rev. 22:2). Heaven is symbolized as a beautiful, fruitful garden (cf. Genesis 2 and Revelation 22).

The UBS, Fauna and Flora of the Bible, pp. 162-163, identifies this (BDB 141) as an Aleppo pine, which is the largest conifer in the Mediterranean area. They can reach over 50' in height. Its wood is hard enough to use as building material (cf. 1 Kgs. 5:8,10; 6:15,34; 2 Chr. 2:8; Isa. 14:8; Ezek. 27:5; 31:8). It is used to characterize a nation in Hosea 14:8; Zech. 11:1-3.

The UBS, Fauna and Flora of the Bible, pp. 166-167, calls this a "plane tree." The Hebrew (BDB 790) root means "stripped" of bark (cf. Gen. 30:37). It is native to Palestine and grows near a water source. They are large and long-lived.

31:9 "Eden" Eden is a geographical location (i.e., in Ugaritic, "a plain") in Genesis 2-3 which contained a special garden planted and prepared by God for His highest creation (i.e., in God's image and likeness, cf. Gen. 1:26-27), mankind (cf. Gen. 2:8).

 The special garden is alluded to in Isa. 51:3; Ezek. 28:13; 31:9,16,18(twice); 36:35; and Joel 2:3.

 Apparently the word means "abundance" from an Aramaic root. In Hebrew (BDB 727 III, 792 II) the root means "delight" or "pleasure" (lit). After Genesis the term is a metaphor for a well watered, fruitful place.

Special Topic: Eden

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: EZEKIEL 31:10-14
 ¹⁰'Therefore thus says the Lord God, "Because it is high in stature and has set its top among the clouds, and its heart is haughty in its loftiness, ¹¹therefore I will give it into the hand of a despot of the nations; he will thoroughly deal with it. According to its wickedness I have driven it away. ¹²Alien tyrants of the 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 down from its shade and left it. ¹³On its ruin all the birds of the heavens will dwell, and all the beasts of the field will be on its fallen branches ¹⁴so that all the trees by the waters may not be exalted in their stature, nor set their top among the clouds, nor their well-watered mighty ones stand erect in their height. For they have all been given over to death, to the earth beneath, among the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit."

31:10 Again, like Tyre (i.e., Ezek. 28:2,17), Assyria (cf. Isa. 10:12), and Babylon (cf. Isa. 14:11-14; Dan. 4:30; 5:20-23), the sin which caused YHWH to act was pride, arrogance, hubris! It is the essence of self-centeredness. It is the fruit of Eden. Maybe this is why Ezekiel uses the Garden of Eden metaphors to characterize

1. Tyre, Ezek. 28
2. Egypt, Ezek. 31

 The word "greatness" or "magnify" (BDB 152) is most often used of YHWH (e.g., Deut. 3:24; 5:24; 9:26; 11:2; 32:3; Ezek. 38:23), but here it is used of human pride.

1. Israel, Isa. 9:9
2. Assyria, Isa. 10:12
3. Egypt, Ezek. 31:2,7,8,18
4. Edom, Ezek. 35:13
5. Moab, Jer. 48:26,42
6. the king, Dan. 11:36-37

The MT has a CONSTRUCT of BDB 18 and 156 ("a mighty one of the nations"). The key term (BDB 18, KB 40) means "leader," "chief," originally "ram." The same term is used of the tree in Ezek. 31:14 (cf. Isa. 1:27-31).

▣ "he will thoroughly deal with it" This is an INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and an IMPERFECT VERB of the same root (BDB 793, KB 889), which denotes intensity or completeness. This refers to YHWH's agent of judgment, on either Egypt or Assyria.

▣ "I have driven it away" This same VERB (BDB 176, KB 204, Piel PERFECT) was used of Adam and Eve being driven from Eden (cf. Gen. 3:24) and of Cain (cf. Gen. 4:14). It denotes Egypt exiled from her homeland by YHWH.

31:12 "alien tyrants of the nations" This is the same phrase that is used in Ezek. 28:7; 30:11; 32:12 to refer to the army of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon.

▣ "all the peoples of the earth have gone down from its shade" This is typical prophetic hyperbole. Egypt did have many allies and many mercenaries in her army (cf. Ezek. 31:12-13).

31:14 The destruction of Assyria, Tyre, Egypt, and later Babylon itself should be a graphic warning to other prideful, power-hungry nations (cf. Ezek. 31:15-18). Death finally sends all fallen humans to their grave (i.e., "to the earth beneath. . .those who go down to the pit").

Special Topic: Where Are the Dead?

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: EZEKIEL 31:15-17
 ¹⁵'Thus says the Lord God, "On the day when it went down to Sheol I caused lamentations; I closed the deep over it and held back its rivers. And its many waters were stopped up, and I made Lebanon mourn for it, and all the trees of the field wilted away on account of it. ¹⁶I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I made it go down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit; and all the well-watered trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, were comforted in the earth beneath. ¹⁷They also went down with it to Sheol to those who were slain by the sword; and those who were its strength lived under its shade among the nations."

31:15-18 This paragraph mixes metaphors.

1. Sheol (i.e., "the deep"), Ezek. 31:15-18 (cf. Isa. 14:8-11; see Special Topic: Sheol, I., B)
2. Egypt as a river nation (i.e., "held back its rivers"), Ezek. 31:15

and

1. Lebanon darkened, Ezek. 31:15
2. all the trees of the field wilt away, Ezek. 31:15,16b

The trees of Eden and Lebanon are parallel and represent nations. There is a recurrent play on water in this paragraph.

1. the deep, Ezek. 31:15
2. rivers, Ezek. 31:15
3. many waters
4. drinkers of water (i.e., trees of Eden), Ezek. 31:16

Special Topic: Waters

31:16 "I made. . ." The NASB repeats this VERB twice, but in the MT it is two VERBS.

1. BDB 950, KB 1271, Hiphil PERFECT
2. BDB 432, KB 434, Hiphil INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT, cf. Ezek. 26:20

Both of these VERBS show the sovereign actions of YHWH. He sets up nations; He humbles nations. All history is in His hand.

Notice the three "I" VERBS of Ezek. 31:15.

▣ "go down to the pit" This idiom is found in Ezek. 26:20; 32:18,24,29. It denotes Sheol, which refers to the holding place of the dead until judgment day (see Special Topic: Sheol, I. B.).

The question is, "Are there levels of Sheol?"

1. Ezek. 26:20, "the lower parts of the earth"
2. Ezek. 31:18, "in the midst of the uncircumcised"

The first is simply a parallel, but the second may denote a worse place (cf. Ezek. 28:10; 32:24,29,30).

The MT has "and his arm" (BDB 283). The LXX, Peshitta, and NJB assume the same consonants but different vowels, "seed" (BDB282).

The UBS Text Project, p. 104, gives the MT a "C" rating (considerable doubt).

▣ "lived under its shade" See Special Topic: Shadow As a Metaphor for Protection and Care

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: EZEKIEL 31:18
 ¹⁸"To which among the trees of Eden are you thus equal in glory and greatness? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth beneath; you will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who were slain by the sword. So is Pharaoh and all his hordes!'" declares the Lord God."

31:18 The prophet is addressing Egypt in terms that described her greatness. Now he asks Egypt, are you a great tree also? YHWH will cut down Assyria, Egypt, and later Neo-Babylon.

▣ "the uncircumcised" See note at Ezek. 28:10.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

1. Why did Ezekiel use metaphors from the Garden of Eden?
2. What is the symbol of a cosmic tree?
3. How do the metaphors of Ezek. 31 affect one's interpretation of Ezekiel 28?

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