The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it, nor the fir trees equal its boughs; neither were the plane trees like its branches; no tree in the garden of God was its equal in beauty.
God answers Pharaoh's pride by pointing to Assyria, a cedar no tree in God's garden could match. That raises two questions: what is this "garden of God," and why does God praise an empire He is about to bring down?
The tree as a world power
Scripture explains its own images. One writer comes to this chapter to learn what a great tree pictures:
The Bible TreasuryWe find, in Ezekiel 31:3-9, 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 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.
The garden of God
So who are the other trees in this garden? One dictionary traces the phrase through Scripture:
Morrish Bible DictionaryScripture likens a fruitful place to the garden of Eden. Pharaoh's fall, pictured as a high tree brought down, comforts the trees of Eden, which Scripture calls the "garden of God." God planted the trees of Eden, and here they stand for the various nations God placed in the earth, with Israel at the centre.
The trees it outgrew
The verse names real trees. Take the third one — "plane trees" in the ESV, "chestnut trees" in older translations:
Morrish Bible DictionaryScripture compares the Assyrian to a great tree, whose beauty outdoes the branches of the chestnut tree. The chestnut tree here is the plane tree, which grows in Palestine. Jacob knew it. It thrives best in rich, moist soil, and is a noble and beautiful tree.
Beauty God Himself supplied
So where did all that splendour come from?
William KellyThe Assyrian stood among the nations as the cedar of Lebanon stands among the trees — in height, size, spread of shade, and beauty. God 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 around it, so that all envied it.
Echoes of Eden
Assyria's greatness came from its rivers. One writer traces those rivers back to Eden:
Numerical Bible NotesThe rivers that had made him great were the rivers of that old Eden which had passed away. In him, and in others like him, that Eden might seem to have revived — though among the neighbouring powers there was no other just like him. In Assyria and those powers, the trees of the garden of God might seem to have reproduced themselves in another way. Yet all alike lived under the shadow of the one supreme power that was the envy of them all. … But God's fostering care made him great only for the old story to repeat itself. What gift of God is there that man will not abuse?
Where unmatched height ends
Assyria's whole position made it dependent. It drew the opposite lesson:
Numerical Bible NotesAssyria, like Egypt, was an oasis in the desert stretch that runs across almost the whole breadth of Africa and Asia. Its two rivers made that oasis, and it owed everything to them, as Egypt did to the Nile. Its dependence was plain to see. Yet what grew out of it was self-exaltation, not a sense of dependence. So in the end abasement had to follow, for God's law is: everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.
Summary
- Planted. The trees of this garden are nations, each set in its place by God — Assyria's supremacy was given, not seized.
- Watered. Rivers made the cedar great; the empire owed everything to a supply it did not create.
- Envied. God gave Nineveh every adornment. The nations around could only look up and envy.
- Abused. Assyria turned the gift into self-exaltation. Man abuses every gift God gives.
- Abased. The tree that lifted itself highest fell lowest. God's law stands: everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.