CHAPTER 31

1And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third [month], on the first of the month, that the word of Jehovah came to me, saying: 2Son of man, say to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his tumult, To whom art thou like in thy 3greatness? Behold, Asshur [was] a cedar tree upon Lebanon, beautiful of foliage, and a shadowing thicket, and high of stature, and between the clouds was his 4top. Waters made him become great, the flood made him high, with its streams it went round about its planting, and it sent forth its canals to all the trees of 5the field. Therefore his stature became higher than all the trees of the field, and his branches became many [great], and his foliage-branches [boughs] became long, from many waters in his spreading himself forth. In his branches nested 6all the fowls of heaven, and under his boughs every living thing of the field 7brought forth, and in his shadow dwelt all the many nations. And he became beautiful in his greatness, in the length of his twigs [shoots], for his root was on 8many waters. Cedars darkened him not in the garden of God; cypresses were not like his branches, and plane trees were not like his foliage-branches [boughs]; 9all wood in the garden of God was not like him in his beauty. Beautiful had I made him in the multitude of his shoots; and all the trees of Eden, which were 10in the garden of God, envied him.—Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because thou becamest high in stature, and he gave his top even to between the 11clouds, and his heart raised itself in his height; Therefore will I give him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he will do, do to him: in [on account of] 12his wickedness I drove him out. And strangers hewed him down, the violent ones of the heathen, and left him upon the mountains; and in all the valleys his shoots fell, and his foliage-branches [boughs] were broken in all hollows of the earth; and all the nations of the earth went down out of his shadow and left 13him. On his ruins all the fowls of heaven alight, and on his boughs is every living creature of the field. 14To the end that none of the trees of the waters become lofty in their stature, nor give their top up between the clouds, and that no drinkers of water should remain standing by themselves in their height; for they are all given to death, to the underground, among the children of men, to those who go down to the grave. 15Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, In the day of his going down to hell [sheol] I caused to mourn [I made a mourning]; I veiled on account of him the flood, and stayed its streams, and there were many waters held back; and I made Lebanon dark over him, and all the trees of the field sank in weakness over him. At the sound of his fall 16I made the heathen quake, in that I made him go down to hell with those that go down to the grave; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and good of Lebanon, all drinkers of water, comforted themselves in the underground. 17They also went down with him to hell, to be pierced through with the sword, namely, those who, his arm, dwelt in his shadow among the heathen 18nations. To whom, then, art thou like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? And thou art cast down with the trees of Eden to the underground; in the midst of the uncircumcised shalt thou lie with those pierced through by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his tumult. Sentence of the Lord Jehovah.

Ezekiel 31:1. Sept.: μικ του μηνος—

Ezekiel 31:2. … ὡμοιωσας σεαυτον … ὑψει σου; Vulg. … similis factùs es—

Ezekiel 31:3. ... κυπαρισσος … ἑγενετο ἡ ἀρχη αὐτου Vulg. … et inter condensas frondes—

Ezekiel 31:4. ... κυκλω̣ των φυτων αὐτου—flumina ejus manabant in circuitu radicum ejus … ligna regionis.

Ezekiel 31:5. Other readings גבה ,גבהה.

Ezekiel 31:6. Vulg.: Cumque extendisset umbram suam, in … (Anoth. read.: יָשְׁבוּ)

Ezekiel 31:7. Sept.; ... ἐν τ.ὑψει αὑτου δια το πλ θος—

Ezekiel 31:8. Κυπαρισσοι τοιαυται οὐκ ἐγενηθησαν ἐν τ. παραδεισω τ.Φεου κ. πιτυες—Vulg.: Cedrinon … altiores … abietes non adæquaverunt summitatem ejus—(Another read.: כפארתיו or with ב.)

Ezekiel 31:9. Sept.: δια τ.πληθος τ.κλαδων αὐτου.Κ. ἐζηλωσαν … της τρυφης τ. Θεου. Vulg.: quoniam speciosum feci … et multis condensisque frondibus … omnia ligna voluptatis—

Ezekiel 31:10. ... ἐδωκκς τ.ἀρχην σου … κ.εἰδον ἐν τω̣ ὑψωθηναι αὐτον Vulg.: … sublimatus est … summitatem suam virentem atque condensam.

Ezekiel 31:11. κ. παρεδωκα αὐτον … ἀρχοντος ἐθνων, κ.ἐποιησεν τ.ἀπωλειαν αὐτου. (Other read: כרשעו איל.)

Ezekiel 31:14. Vulg.: Quam ob rem non elevabuntur … inter nemorosa atque frondosa. (Other read.: אֵליהם fortes eorum: sibi, super se, עליהם. For אל יורדי, there is a reading את י׳.)

Ezekiel 31:15. Sept.: ... ἁδου,ἐπεστησα ἐπʼ αὐτον τ.ἀβυσσν—induxi luctum, operui eum abysso—(Anoth. read.: וכל חית.)

Ezekiel 31:16. εἰς λακκον Κ.παρεχαλουν αὐτον … τ.ξυλα της τρυφης κ.τ.ἐκλεκτα—qui descendebant in locum. Et consolata sunt … ligna voluptatis egregia et prælara—

Ezekiel 31:17. … ἐν τραυματιαις μαχαιρας, κ.το σπερμα αὐτου παντες οἱ … ἐν μεσω τ. ζωης αὐτων ἀπωλοντο. Nam et … descendent … et brachium uniuscvjusque sedebit sub—(Another read.: יֵשבו ,יֵרדו.)

Ezekiel 31:18. ὡμοιωθης; Καταβηθι κ.καταβιβασθητι … ξυλων της τρυφης … κ παν τ. πληφος της ἰσχυος αὐτου—Cui assimilatus es, O inclyte atque sublimis inter ligna voluptatis? Ecce … cum lignis voluptatis—

EXEGETICAL REMARKS

Egypt (Pharaoh) and Assyria.

The whole chapter is taken up with this prophetical allegory, which the indication of time in Ezekiel 31:1 places not quite two months later than Ezekiel 30:20 sq. (SCHMIEDER: therefore one month and eight days before the conquest of Jerusalem). In accordance with the antithesis there, a highly poetical parallel now follows, which might work in a more powerful manner upon hearers and readers, as it was taken from the still fresh experience of his contemporaries; for in 606 Nineveh had been laid prostrate by the combined attack of the Babylonians and Medes, and the kingdom which had domineered in Asia above five centuries had reached its end. The year after that was the year of the battle at Carchemish; and thus had the fate of Assyria become palpable shortly before the calamity which was threatening Egypt. Comp. besides the juxtaposition of Assyria and Egypt elsewhere, Isa. 7:18, 27:13; Jer. 2:36; Hos. 12:2 [1]; Zech. 10:10.

Ezekiel 31:2. The commencement is made properly by the question which is addressed to Pharaoh and his tumult (הָמוֹן, see at Ezekiel 30:10, 29:19), in the answer to which the prophet sets forth a prognostication for himself and his people. HENGST.: “The matter has respect not to an opinion, but to a real resemblance.” Hitzig limits the reference to the “official Egypt,” being that “which made tumultuous noise in the land, which had something to say and to order; the governing classes and ranks (Isa. 3:2, 3), in contrast to the quiet people in the land (Ps. 35:20), who keep silence and obey.” According to Schmieder, the question calls for the answer: No one! “Thou art incomparable, alone of thy kind. This was also the feeling of Pharaoh Hophra. But Ezekiel,” etc.—נּוֹדֶל (along with כבוד in Ezekiel 31:18), not = “strength,” but also not precisely: fancied greatness huge self-elation (RASCHI), as at Isa. 10:12 of Assyria, for Egypt’s very ancient culture already gave him still a real precedence, and in other respects also placed him before Assyria.

Ezekiel 31:3–9. Assyria’s Glory

Ezekiel 31:3. Behold, a call to attention, introducing the answer which the divine word has to give. HENGST.: “the future in a historical dress, as at Ezekiel 19 the history of Jehoahaz and Jehoiachim.”—אַשּׁוּר (comp. Ezekiel 27:6) is taken by Ewald for a definite kind of cedar, the highest of its kind; against which compare the convincing proof of Hitzig. Häv. also justly remarks against the construction of the word, as an adjective, that the most distinguished characteristic for a cedar tree is the accompanying designation: upon Lebanon; comp. besides, Ezekiel 17:3. It is a common image for people of great might, princes. The Sept. renders אֶרֶז by κυπαρισσος.—Because חֹרֶשׁ, “thickness,” may signify a forest, Hengst. translates here (taking מצל as partic. Hiphil from צלל), “shading the forest” or wood. The representation is carried out farther עָנָף, as well as by between the clouds, etc.; also by קוֹמָה (from קום, “stature”) גְבַהּ.—Upon עַבֹתִים, see at Ezekiel 19:11; on צַמֶּרֶת, comp. Ezekiel 17:3.

Ezekiel 31:4. Explanation of such growth.—What is said of the waters, that they made him become great, fits too well to the image of the cedar for one to be able to get something still better by a reference to the description of paradise (as Häv.), or by bringing into account the situation of Nineveh, which was important for the history of Assyria, with the Tigris on the west, the Zabatos (Lykos) on the south, with its neighbouring stream Bumodus on the east, and the brook Khosr on the north.—Still more, the flood (not the rain: comp. Isa. 44:14) contributed to the prosperity. The designation, therefore, previously, of the Lebanon was epitheton ornans. תְּהוֹם is the water-treasure in the depths pouring itself forth in springs, etc. HITZIG: image of the multitude of men flowing together into Assyria, on the basis of which the political power rose. More correctly HENGST.: “the water and the flood denote what the world calls good fortune, the divine blessing.”—אֶת־, either: with, or taken accusatively: what concerns.—Hence תהום is here kept feminine; the streams are those of the flood, and the masculine הֹלְךְ, which is likewise to be referred to the flood, is justified after this manner, that תהום can also be used as a masculine; and the masculine in the present case, as Hengst. remarks, is the more suitable, being preceded by מים.—The planting (Ezekiel 17:7) can scarcely be referred, with Hengst., through the fem. מטעָהּ, to Assyria as a tree; but is conceived of with reference to the flood, whether it might be because this had a share in the prosperity spoken of, or, which the סביבת הלך recommends, because it streams around this cedar-planting, the place on which it grows. The תְּעָלוֹת, first coming into consideration in the second line, are to be understood of the overflowings of the water-fulness that rises up (עלה), just as the all trees of the field are distinguished from the cedar tree described; and this, in Ezekiel 31:5, is raised into prominence over against them. Hengst. takes the subjects to be designated by the expression; Hitzig applies it to other lands and princes. Of the inhabitants of Egypt we are as little to think as, with Rosenmüller, of the Nile.

Ezekiel 31:5. עַל־כֵּן, from his overflow of water his greater height than all the trees finds its explanation, Ezekiel 19:11 (גבהא, Aram, for גבהה)—(סרעפה, Aram. for סעפה, with ר inserted).—פְארֹתָיו, under which must here especially be understood the fruit-bearing ones, Ezekiel 17:6.—בְּשַׁלְּחוֹ, HENGST.: “because in his time of shooting he had many waters.” [HÄV.: “at his sending forth, namely, the twigs on all sides.” Tautology. Vulg. connects it with Ezekiel 31:6.]

Ezekiel 31:6. Ezekiel 17:23. The closing words give the signification of the figure (Dan. 4:9). “Bird” and “living thing,” in contrast to domestic creatures, the Assyrians themselves. The imperfect יֵשׁבוּ expresses, in contradistinction to the preceding perfects, the incomplete, the continuous, the progressive. [EWALD: “sat gladly all the many,” etc.]—כל־גויס רבים, BUNSEN: all great peoples (?); KEIL: all sorts of great nations; ROSENM.: the entirety of many peoples.

Ezekiel 31:7. ב, through, on account of.—Ezekiel 17:6.

Ezekiel 31:8 carries still higher the pre-eminent glory brought prominently out in Ezekiel 31:5, through the diversified comparison and the designation “in the garden of God,” on which comp. 28:12. That לֹא־עְַמָמֻחוּ (to “darken” = excel) separates this nearer designation from ארזים, is very impressive (HÄV.): even such as were found in paradise. HITZIG: “in an eminent sense, planted by God, Gen. 2:9; Num. 24:6.” What still has not been expressed is more distinctly indicated in Ezekiel 31:9, that what God had done to Assyria even transcended the trees of paradise, therefore the eminent divine planting was even more marked in the case of Assyria. The paradise-creation was, after all, only nature, symbolizing grace, consequently might be the similitude for a state-creation, without, however, being like the latter, as little as also the most glorious trees themselves. Every tree, namely in this, in a natural respect, so that the tree of life and the tree of knowledge (Gen. 2.), as being of a spiritual nature, are exempted, and the simply parabolical allusion to Eden and to the garden of paradise is clear. [Hengst. makes the totality of the great men of the earth as stately trees in the garden of God as a counterpart of paradise, since all human greatness has its origin in God. Klief. (Raschi) regards the garden of God directly as “the world-planting,” since all peoples and kingdoms of the world have been planted as trees by God. GROT.: in Babylonia, where formerly paradise stood. OSIANDER: no king of the people of God was like him!]—[“This parabolical representation, as formerly in the case of Tyre, Ezekiel 28 combines the historical with the figurative. While the cedar that represents the king of Babylon is called a cedar of Lebanon, it is presently transferred in the prophet’s imagination to the land of primeval beauty and perfection, the Eden in which was the garden that God had planted. There this cedar is described as growing and flourishing, till it overtopped in magnificence and beauty all the trees around it. … But it was only that it might afford another specimen of that instability and transitoriness which belong to all on earth, when the good bestowed by Heaven is abused to purposes of selfishness, and the creature begins to thrust himself into the place of his Creator.”—P. F.]

Ezekiel 31:9. This “beauty” is here explained as having been made by God, as a historical creation act (עשיתיו), and expresses, while at the same time bringing the similitude to a close, the impression which the striking elevation of the Assyrian grandeur was fitted to produce.—That the trees of Eden, as in the larger sense they are called (in respect to local position), should be designated as those which belonged to the garden of God, distinguishes them still more; it is an ascension. Kliefoth takes “trees of Eden” freely, as equivalent to “trees of beauty,” lovely trees. That more is meant by the expression, while still paradise is thought of merely in the way of similitude, appears from Ezekiel 31:16.

Ezekiel 31:10–14. The Judgment executed on Assyria.

Ezekiel 31:10. This verse transfers us into the midst of the things already in fact brought to pass. We might render כה אמר: thus said to him, etc.—לכן: He who made the Assyrian so beautiful, even He, announced to him the overthrow that should take place, because of what he made out of himself.—The whole passage expresses the cause of the judgment of Jehovah upon Assyria, namely, that with such a glory from God (Ezekiel 31:5, 3) the position of the heart was not in correspondence; there was not humility in all the greatness, but high-mindedness on account of it. The commencing address, Thou, in the life-like character of the representation, becomes changed into a declaration respecting him—and he.—וְרָם׳, Deut. 8:14. Only in conformity with the gift, not in accordance with the grace. Comp. Ezekiel 31:14.

Ezekiel 31:11. Here the sentence of judgment, as just going to be pronounced for the first time, is, by the use of the imperfect, placed more distinctly before us. HENGST: “which was the more suitable, as the like in Egypt was shortly to be repeated.”—אֵל נּוֹיִם is Nebuchadnezzar, “the mighty” (אוּל), not God. [HITZIG: אַיִל, ram, for prince, champion, under which Cyaxares is to be thought of.]—What he will do to him discovers itself in what follows; it will be nothing but doing; for Asshur it remained merely to suffer.—גֵּרַשְׁתִּיהוּ Piel, with reference to his paradisiacal glory (Gen. 3:24). The perfect agrees with the quieter mode of speech.

Ezekiel 31:12. As what was said last has taken place, there is now by means of the historical tenses a narration; consequently the execution of the pronounced judgment carried out. (Others make it future, with application now to Egypt, now to Assyria.)—Ezekiel 30:12, 11.—נָטַשׁ is: “to let go,” therefore either: to let him lie (HENGST.), or: to push away, to throw down (Ezekiel 29:5). Throwing down is already indicated in the hewing, and is expressed through the “falling;” and on the other hand, “the leaving” is again resumed at the close, while it is extended to “all peoples.” The “mountains” prepare for the “valleys,” and the “falling,” the “being broken” in all hollows (Ezekiel 6:3). Still, in its overthrow, the greatness as well as lofty elevation of this cedar tree is vividly displayed.—וַיֵרְדוּ abides closely by the image, according to Ezekiel 31:6, partly of birds which had nested in its branches, partly also of beasts which had brought forth under its boughs, which, according to Ezekiel 31:12, had its place on the mountains, so that in both respects the “going down out of his shadow” is clear, and there is no need, with Hitzig, to read וַיִּדְּדוּ, from נדד, to fly, for which עַמִּים would otherwise present no obstacle; but here, as at Ezekiel 31:6, the reality at the close breaks through the figure.

Ezekiel 31:13. If מִקּוֹל מַפַּלְתּוֹ in Ezekiel 31:16 refers to עַל־מַפַּלְתּוֹ here (Ezekiel 26:15, 18, 27:27), there is no necessity, with Raschi, Kimchi, and later expositors, to think of the substitution of the image of a corpse (carcase, Judg. 14:8), and of eagles, ravens, and other beasts of prey which rend and gnaw the members of Assyria, signified by his boughs (HITZIG); but מַפֶּלֶת, from נפל, is with Gesen. simply: the fallen or hewed-down stem, which is, as it were, a living ruin (HENGST.).—יִשְׁכְּנוּ, otherwise than at Ezekiel 17:23, as is shown also by the immediately following and on his boughs is; since those who had nested and brought forth there (Ezekiel 31:6) now betook themselves away from him, taking, perhaps, whatever they could of his fruit, reaping the greatest possible advantage from the mighty catastrophe.

Ezekiel 31:14, by way of conclusion, expresses the divine intention, the practical aim, the moral, and that with respect to Egypt. To the end that (since Ezekiel 31:12, 13 may be regarded as parenthetical expansions) can be connected with Ezekiel 31:11.—עֲצֵי־מַיִם signifies primarily: those standing on the waters, what afterwards is more nearly indicated by שֹׁתֵי מַיִם (שתה, just as Sanscr. “padapa,” designating the tree as drinking with its foot, through its root): those which attain to height and glory from the position granted to them by God—of which description was Egypt, from its relation to the Nile (Ezekiel 29). HENGST.: “the great of the earth, to whom God gives joyful prosperity.”—Comp. on Ezekiel 31:10. As there: “and his heart raised itself,” etc., so it is said here: וְלֹא־יַעֲמְדוּ אֵלֵיהֶם, therefore to be understood of self-assumption, as in Sept. אֵליהם instead of אֲליהים is no hindrance; as is also Keil’s ultimate conclusion, since אֵלֵינוּ is common, and אֵלֵימוֹ poetic, Ps. 2:5.—[Other expositions: “and their strong ones do not continue in their high-mindedness all water-drinkers”; or, “and their oaks (terebinths, Isa. 61:3) do not stand there (remain standing) in their elevation, all,” etc. ROSENMÜLLER: “and stand not to them, that is, allied to them in their height, where they had grown so high, all, namely, the other water-drinkers, that is, powerful and rich princes.” KLIEF.: “and that henceforth among all their strong trees that drink water no one may remain in his height.” EWALD: “and no water-drinkers assail (! !) their gods in their pride” (!), which he afterwards more particularly explains: So that trees, beings who might raise themselves ever so high, are still always dependent on their nourishment, and cannot live of themselves in a spirit of contempt toward their Creator, nor, again, arrogantly war with their superior (their Creators, gods), since they still are all destined to go down as common men to the lower world.] Comp. Ezekiel 26:20. They could give themselves nothing, since they themselves were given away, as such were already appointed; therefore also could not remain standing where they were standing, and assumed the airs of continuing to stand, but must go down to the lower world, therefore be brought low, be humiliated, though not before humble, come to stand on a footing with the children of men. The expression: among the children of men, is to be regarded as parallel with: given to death; and: to those who go down to the grave, with: to the underground. Those that go down, men continually dying, even the highest; or, “those that have gone down,” as EWALD: those sunk into the grave.

Ezekiel 31:15–18. The Impression and Close.

As at Ezekiel 26:15 sq. Ezekiel 31:15. (רֶדֶת, inf. constr. of יִרד) The connection is made with what immediately precedes, so that the reference is not (as Hitzig) to Ezekiel 31:13. Upon שְׁאֹל, see Doct. Reflect.—The “mourning” is immediately defined more nearly without כִּסֵּתִי being asyndetically joined to it, as HÄV., EWALD, HENGST.: “to cover with mourning,” “to veil in mourning,” “I made it veil itself for mourning.” The mourning which Jehovah effects through His judgment upon Assyria touches primarily the flood, in thorough accord with Ezekiel 31:4, as that which in the first line contributed to the cedar its increase. Therefore עָלָיו, “on his account.” That the flood was covered upon him, as the Syriac, Arab., and Vulg., is at least not indicated in what precedes (Ezekiel 31:12). Comp. on the contrary, Ezekiel 26:19. We must (it was thought) suppose a historical reference, since the siege of Nineveh was protracted to two years, while in the spring of the third year, in consequence of a sudden swell in the Tigris, raised by excessive falls of rain, the mighty flood in one night tore down the wall next the stream, and so laid open a wide breach to the enemy (Duncker, 1. p. 806; Nah. 1:8, 2:7 [6]). However, in this passage the discourse is not properly of the overthrow of Assyria in process of accomplishment,

Ezekiel 31:15 giving no representation of the judgment itself, as Häv. maintains,—but of the impression of the same as one already accomplished; and כסה as “to veil” is, even without שַׂק, perfectly intelligible, but how it is meant in respect to the flood is made sufficiently plain by the וָאֶמְנַע׳ (not future). HITZIG: “In mourning, people commonly draw themselves in and hold back, the loose garment is changed into the narrow שק; and so the flood also withdraws its waters into itself, which it had hitherto joyfully poured forth and spread abroad”—which Hitzig applies to the influx of people come to a standstill. Theodoret: to the refusal of tribute. Comp. on the figure, Ezekiel 31:4. מַיִס רַבִּים points back to Ezekiel 31:5, 6, 7.—The mourning produced by Jehovah next affects Lebanon (comp. Ezekiel 31:3), therefore the height as well as the depth. אַקְדִר עָלָיו, parallel with כסתי עליו, Hiphil from: to be “dark,” “black,” therefore: to darken, as much as: to make sad, to cause to mourn. Lebanon is otherwise the white mountain. [According to Hitzig, the other princes must be indicated by this; according to Hengst., the kingdoms of the heathen.]—The trees of the field (Ezekiel 31:4) are the third party whom the mourning affects, which is therefore also represented as far and near, עָלָף, in Pual, “to be covered;” transferred to the consciousness: to become powerless. עֻלְפֶּה has been explained as a verbal from Pual with derivative ֶ—ה, “languishing,” or instead of עֻלְּפָה, fem. of the preterite Pual, since from the connection a perfect seems to be required (EWALD), the plural construed with the feminine singular.—Keil, as Umbreit, makes all nature (?) be painfully moved by Assyria’s fall, whereas the impression of this fall is merely kept in the figurative style of Ezekiel 31:3, 4.

Ezekiel 31:16. Ezekiel 26:15. Since that is the same expression (מפלתו) as in Ezekiel 31:13, and in Ezekiel 31:15 his going down was spoken of, so we are carried back to Ezekiel 31:12. The “going down of the peoples out of his shadow” in that passage is explained; at the same time, however, the וִדְתּוֹ of Ezekiel 31:15 is comprised in the בְּהוֹרִדִו, and referred to the Sheol.—Now, according as וַיִנָּחְמוּ is translated “comforted themselves,” as reflexive of Piel, since here still another feeling than in Ezekiel 31:15 may be expressed, or the Niphal “and they sighed” is what is to be understood (EWALD, HENGST.), we have either a distinction between the lower world and the trembling people of the upper world, or the two are parallel the one to the other. For the first interpretation speaks the comparison of Isa. 14. Hitzig understands by the trees of Eden princes carried down with Assyria; in particular the Assyrian war-princes, who feel themselves comforted because the much more powerful one for whose cause they have fallen, their murderer, shares their fate; while Hengst. more correctly understands by them the former great ones of the earth, those who resembled the trees of paradise in glory. As paradise was itself a thing of the past, those who were likened to the trees of its region were contemplated as now existing in the realms of the dead. The allegorical character of the expression is proved by the exegesis: the choice and good. Besides, comp. at Ezekiel 31:14.

Ezekiel 31:17. They also are not those last named in Ezekiel 31:16, but the parties presently going to be described more closely—already, indeed, indicated in Ezekiel 31:16 as those with whom Jehovah made Assyria go down to hell (את, not אל, as in Ezekiel 31:14). “And his arm” defines more exactly the “they also” as the subject of “the going down,”—his help, his assistant, the vassals, subject-kings, commanders, and such like, to whom the words: who dwelt in his shadow among the heathen, very well suit, and not less that they are associated with those pierced through with the sword. Assyria was not only a political, but also a military power among the nations. [If הֵם must apply to “all the trees of Eden” in Ezekiel 31:16, so must “with him” be made equal to “not less than he,” just as Hengst., looking away from simultaneousness, views them as already in Sheol when Assyria arrives there. Therefore: they also, like him, went down before, etc. Ewald reads with the Sept.: זַרְעוֹ, “and his seed” (!).]

>Ezekiel 31:18. This verse gives the conclusion, pointing back to Ezekiel 31:2; it makes the application to Pharaoh, who is the party addressed.—כָּכָה, Hitzig: “in such a fashion, in circumstances of such a kind,” when this cedar after such a manner went down. The reference among the trees belongs to the to whom—Comp. at Ezekiel 28:10. From this passage, also, there appears to emerge the opposite of what is commonly found in it, viz. that the Egyptians appear as uncircumcised with our prophet. According to Herodotus, the practice of circumcision was actually of Egyptian origin. Origen confines it to the priesthood among the Egyptians. The kings certainly were not uncircumcised; so the vis of our passage shines clearly out: This is Pharaoh, sq. HITZIG: so shall it happen to Pharaoh. הוא is the predicate.