Ezekiel 31:1-18

content/bible_journal/ezekiel_31:1-18.md

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+title = "Ezekiel 31:1–18"
+date = "2023-06-01"
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+
+### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ezekiel31.1-18)
+
+Chapter 31 is a prophecy against Pharaoh, but it is a little strange in that
+it is mostly not about him. Instead, Egypt is compared to Assyria, a great
+empire that had fallen in the previous century to Babylon. There are apparently
+some scholars who think "Assyria" was a one-letter copy error, and it should
+be translated as "cypress" to make the whole passage about Egypt directly. I'm
+not conviced by that. The wording of the  question in verse 2 still makes sense
+when "Assyria" is the answer.
+
+Assyria stood tall and proud like a cedar of Lebanon. Such trese grew hundreds
+of feet tall and were prized for their lumber. Their boughs provided homes
+for birds and shade for  the beasts of the field, which are compared to the
+smaller nations surrounding it. Not even the trees in the Garden of Eden were
+as beautiful and great as this tree.
+
+But that made Assyria the tree proud. Its top rose higher than the clouds and
+its pride caused God to bring it low. A foreign nation cuts down the tree, and
+the birds and beasts dwell on the fallen trunk . No longer will a tree grow
+that tall, and all the other trees take notice and quake at the disaster that
+has befallen Assyria.
+
+So then, the question is asked of Egypt again: "Whom are you like in glory and
+greatness?" And the answer is still "Assyria", for the same fate will befall
+them.
+
+* * *
+
+Human pride always seeks to supplant Your deserved greatness. Show us the error
+of our ways.