It was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its roots went down to abundant waters.
The verse describes a tree at the peak of its glory — tall, wide in shade, and fed by water it never made. Commentators read that tree as the empire of Assyria, which raises the question of where such greatness came from and why it did not last.
The Tree as an Empire
Scripture uses trees to picture nations, and this one stands for a world power.
The Bible TreasuryIn Ezekiel 31:3-9 we find the Assyrian power compared to a great tree, a mighty cedar in Lebanon… It is clear here that Assyria is a vast power, for great nations lived under his shadow. The image is a tree. The birds that nested in his branches, and the beasts that sought protection and shelter under them, are, according to the word of God, the surrounding nations.
Beauty Measured in Height and Shade
The verse praises the tree for its size and the reach of its branches. One commentator measures Assyria against the nations in the same way.
William KellyThe Assyrian stood among the nations as the cedar of Lebanon stands among the trees: taller, larger, wider in shade, and more beautiful. God had grudged nothing that could adorn or enlarge Nineveh and the people whose capital it was. He even gave it enormous, far-reaching power and influence over the countries round about, so that all envied it.
The Root Beneath the Splendour
The last clause of the verse gives the reason for all the splendour above ground.
William J HockingEzekiel uses the figure of a cedar tree to picture the power and greatness of the Assyrian empire (Ezekiel 31:3-7). Clearly the cause of this cedar's magnificence was its nearness to the waters. They formed an unfailing source of nourishment and strength to its roots. So in fact it was the waters that "made him great."
Everything hangs on that supply.
William J HockingCut off the supply of water, and the tree must wither and die. But plant it by rivers of water, and it brings forth its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.
A Gift Turned into a Boast
God Himself fostered this greatness. One writer finds the tragedy of the chapter in what came of it.
Numerical Bible NotesThe rivers that had made him great were the rivers of that old Eden which had passed away, but which seemed to live again in him. No tree in this Garden of God was like him in his beauty. But, made great in this way by the fostering care of God, it was only to repeat the old story; for what gift of God is there that man will not abuse?
Height Turned into the Charge
The very quality praised in this verse becomes the reason for the tree's fall. What God raised, the Assyrian claimed for himself.
William KellyBut the Assyrian coveted for himself the glory of a king of kings; and this lifting up of his heart in his height brought his doom upon him.
The fall reached everything that had depended on him.
Numerical Bible NotesInstead of seeking his protection, the birds and the beasts would live among his ruins. All the peoples of the earth had gone down from his shadow and had left him. This was no unexplainable disaster. It was a warning against pride, one that the sure government of God preaches everywhere… For the wheel turns, as Ezekiel has assured us over and over again. The one who is lifted up is exalted only for a moment, and then must come down to the lower parts of the earth.
God's Order for Greatness
One writer follows another famous tree through the same rise and fall, and finds God's order in what comes after.
J. G. BellettNebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was a celebrated tree too. But he had not first been "a tender twig," a "low tree," a "dry tree." So he exalts himself and meets the judgment of God. His leaves are scattered, his fruit shaken off, his branches cut down. He is left as "a stump in the earth." Then, broken and humbled under God's mighty hand, God blesses him and exalts him, in His own way, at the end — that we may again learn God's way, to make us "tender twigs" before we become "goodly cedars."
Summary
- Root. The water at the root explains the splendour of the branches. The tree's greatness came from a supply outside itself.
- Gift. God withheld nothing that could adorn Assyria — and this is the old story of a gift from God that man abuses.
- Reach. The nesting birds and sheltering beasts are the nations that lived under this empire's shadow.
- Fall. The height that made him beautiful became the charge against him when he lifted his heart up in it.
- Reversal. The wheel turns: the exalted come down, and God's way is to make tender twigs before He makes goodly cedars.