Ezekiel 31:4

The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. THE WATERS MADE HIM GREAT, THE DEEP ... SENT OUT HER LITTLE RIVERS - the Tigris, with its branches and rivulets, or conduits for irrigation, was the source of Assyria's fertility. "The deep" is the ever-flowing water, never dry. Metaphorically, for Assyria's resources, as the 'conduits' are her colonies....

1-9 The falls of others, both into sin and ruin, warn us not to be secure or high-minded. The prophet is to show an instance of one whom the king of Egypt resembled in greatness, the Assyrian, compared to a stately cedar. Those who excel others, make themselves the objects of envy; but the blessings of the heavenly paradise are not liable to such alloy. The utmost security that any creature can give, is but like the shadow of a tree, a scanty and slender protection. But let us flee to God for protection, there we shall be safe. His hand must be owned in the rising of the great men of the earth, and we must not envy them. Though worldly people may seem to have firm prosperity, yet it only seems so....

Verse Ezekiel 31:4. _THE WATERS MADE HIM GREAT_] Alluding to the fertility of Egypt by the _overflowing of the Nile_. But _waters_ often mean _peoples_. By means of the different nations under the Egyptians, that government became very opulent. These nations are represented as _fowls_ and _beasts_, taking shelter under the protection of this great political Egyptian tree, Ezekiel 31:6....

Fifth prophecy against Egypt: a warning to Pharaoh from the fate of the Assyrians. The Assyrian empire, after having been supreme in Asia for four centuries, had been overthrown by the united forces of the Babylonians and Medes, in the year of the battle of Carchemish (605 b.c.), which had broken the power of Egypt. This gives force to the warning to Egypt from Assyria’s fall. Ezekiel 31:4 HIS PLANTS - Rather, her plantation. The water represents the riches and might which flowed into Assyria. Ezekiel 31:5 WHEN BE SHOT FORTH - Or, when the deep water sent forth its streams. Ezekiel 31:8...

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 31:1 IN THE ELEVENTH YEAR, etc. June, B.C. 586. Two months all but six days had passed since the utterance of Ezekiel 30:20, when Ezekiel was moved to expand his prediction of the downfall of Egypt into a parable which is partly a _replica _of these in Ezekiel 17:1. and Ezekiel 19:1, and which also finds a parallel in Daniel 4:10. EZEKIEL 31:2 The parabl

THE WATERS MADE HIM GREAT,.... The waters of the river Tigris, near to which stood the city of Nineveh, the metropolis of the Assyrian monarchy; the traffic brought by which river made it rich and great, and the whole empire, and the king of it: THE DEEP SET HIM UP ON HIGH, WITH HER RIVERS RUNNING ROUND ABOUT HIS PLANTS; the vast trade by sea, the profits and commodities of which were conveyed through various rivers, which ran about the provinces of the empire, which were as plants in a field; and by which they were enriched, and the whole empire, and the king of it, were raised to a prodigious pitch of wealth and power: AND SENT OUT LITTLE RIVERS TO ALL THE TREES OF THE FIELD; so that the common people, comparable to the trees of the field for their number and usefulness, all received profit and advantage hereby: or else by waters and the deep may be meant the multitude of people, as...

Ezekiel 31:1. Pharaoh's greatness is described in the first part of the chapter (Ezekiel 31:1). He is compared to the Assyrian, once so powerful and proud. The fall and desolation of the proud monarch under the picture of a tree follows in Ezekiel 31:10. The overthrow of Egypt and the resulting consternation among the nations is predicted in the last section of this chapter (Ezekiel 31:15). Ezekiel 32:1. The lamentation over Pharaoh is contained in Ezekiel 3

EZEKIEL 31. FALLEN IS THE MIGHTY CEDAR. In this striking poem, Pharaoh (= Egypt) is likened to a cedar of surprising height and beauty, fed by the waters of the deep (_i.e._ the Nile) and giving shelter to birds and beasts (_i.e._ protection to dependent peoples). For beauty, height, luxuriance no tree (= nation) could compare with it it was the envy of all (Ezekiel 31:1). (In Ezekiel 31:3 delete the Assyrian, and read simply, there was a cedar, etc. For thick boughs read clouds with LXX. In Ezekiel 31:4 for the trees of the field, read its soil.) But the mighty Nebuchadrezzar, with his terrible army, will send it crashing with a blow, boughs and branches will be scattered over mountain and valley, those who

WATERS... DEEP: i.e. the water. ways, and the Nile. Compare Ezekiel 31:15....

_set him up on high_ i.e. made him grow lofty. There is probably, however, the figure of a parent nourishing his offspring. The words "made great" and "set on high" are rendered "nourished and brought up" children, Isaiah 1:2; cf. Isaiah 23:4. The waters rear the tree as their child. The waters are those of Egypt. _with her rivers running_ The construction is anomalous, and _with_expresses accompaniment, not instrumentality. It is easiest to read (with LXX.): _she_(the deep) _made her rivers to run round … and sent out_. Or possibly: as for her rivers, they ran, &c. _his plants_ Rather: her PLANTATION, "her" referring to the "deep," which nourished the plantation, though this is not quite natural. _her little rivers_ Marg. conduits, the small canals for irriga