CHAPTER 31

(588 B.C.)

PROPHECIES AGAINST PHARAOH

¹And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the Word of the LORD came unto me, saying (this Chapter was written about two or three months before the fall of Jerusalem. It deals with the ruin of two mighty empires, Egypt and Assyria [the latter had fallen years before], and their banishment to Eternal Hell. The language is striking, and leaves nothing to the imagination),

²Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom are you like in your greatness? (The question, Whom are you like in your greatness?, is speaking of Sardana-Palus, the last king of Assyria, who was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar. Possibly, Pharaoh looked up to this now dead despot; however, his end will be as Sardana-Palus, defeated and lost!)

³Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. (The Prophet likens empires to great trees, and their kings to the highest branches. The Prophecy penetrates the world of the dead, and reveals the disembodied spirits of deceased kings as no longer royal personages, but members of the general multitude of the dead and the damned. Thus, this Chapter is one of the few which unveils the mysterious spirit world.)

⁴The 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, the deep, and the rivers pictured the nations that contributed to the wealth of the empire; and the trees of the fields symbolized the subordinate kings. Such is portrayed to proclaim the splendor of the Assyrian kingdom, and how it was thought to be impossible to be brought to destruction.)

⁵Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth. (The exaltation was enjoyed because of the supremacy of the Assyrian empire; however, this supremacy was gained by brute terror and force.)

⁶All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations. (And under his shadow dwelt all great nations, imposes the fact that much of the riches and greatness of the Assyrian empire was derived from heavy taxation levied on those subjugated nations.)

⁷Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters. (The Holy Spirit uses the word greatness in describing the Assyrian empire, but yet it was a greatness in the eyes of man, and not God.)

⁸The cedars in the Garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the Garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. (In the Garden of God, represents the Sovereignty of the Lord over these nations, even though they did not know Him, nor even recognize Him, but were rather idol worshippers.)

⁹I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the Garden of God, envied him. (Envied him, not only pertains to Pharaoh, but also to the other nations of the world. Tragically, even Israel, the Northern Kingdom, which was supposed to be the People of God, and consequently looking to Jehovah, instead envied him, i.e., Assyria.)

¹⁰Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have lifted up yourself in height, and he has shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height (Because you have lifted up yourself in height, reveals the reason for the destruction of Assyria. It was great pride!);

¹¹I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness. (The mighty one of the heathen refers to Nebuchadnezzar, who would subjugate the mighty Assyrian empire, because the Lord deemed it necessary.)

¹²And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the Earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him. (The idea of the Holy Spirit is to impress upon Pharaoh the cause of the destruction upon the proud empire of the Assyrians, and that the Egyptians were facing the same ruin, because they were traveling in the same wicked direction.)

¹³Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches (the idea of this Verse is that once this tree stood tall and proud, but now it is no more, and the vultures and jackals hover and creep over the carcass of the dead, decaying trunk):

¹⁴To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the Earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them who go down to the Pit. (The phraseology in this Verse suggests that Hell [or Sheol] is situated in the center of the Earth. In that Pit, the greatest monarchs rank with the disembodied spirits of the generality of men. The mightiest and the greatest are in the midst of the children of men, with them who go down to the Pit.

What a warning to the whole of humanity! But, it is largely ignored!)

¹⁵Thus sa ys the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. (In the day when he went down to the grave, does not refer to the burying of a body in a grave, as the word is commonly used, but rather refers to Sheol. This is the place of departed spirits who are in Hell, and who have full consciousness. Jesus said so [Lk. 16:19-31].)

¹⁶I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Hell with them who descend into the Pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all who drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the Earth. (When I cast him down to Hell with them who descend into the Pit, pertains to the Lord casting the last king of the Assyrian empire, Sardana-Palus, down into Sheol, i.e., Hell.

The phrase, Shall be comforted in the nether parts of the Earth, refers to the mighty empire and nations, already fallen and in Hell. They are comforted with the thought that yet another kingdom mightier than they has fallen as they fell.)

¹⁷They also went down into Hell with him unto them who be slain with the sword; and they who were his arm, who dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen. (Sadly and regrettably, almost all of mankind has died eternally lost, which means they went to Hell. Jesus said so [Mat. 7:13-15].)

¹⁸To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shall you be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the Earth: you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them who be slain by the sword. This is Pha raoh and all his multitude, says the Lord GOD. (The question, To whom are you...? is repeated as it was given in Verse 2. The answer here is that Pharaoh was only comparable to ordinary monarchs, and that his death would be without honor. And so it fell out, for he was strangled. So the Prophet exclaims, pointing to him: This is Pharaoh.)