Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 31:12

And 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.

12. The tenses in Eze 31:12-13 are perfects of threatening: the fut. would be plainer in Eze 31:12 as A.V. Eze 31:13. On “terrible” cf. Eze 28:7.

have left him ] cast him down, ch. Eze 32:4; Amo 5:2. His great trunk covers the land and fills the watercourses. The nations who dwelt under his shadow, seeking his protection, have fled away from him (Dan 4:11). For people, peoples.

have left him ] and (or, for) they have cast him down. The words seem emphatic repetition from the beginning of the verse.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Strangers; foreigners, who regard neither justice nor mercy, such were those who made up his army of Arbaces the Mede.

The terrible; so these were for their strength and valour much, but for their numbers and barbarity more, to be dreaded.

Have cut him off; not shall, for it was done before Ezekiels time, about the time Hezekiah was born, and about two hundred and forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonish captivity.

Left him; revolted or forsaken Sardanapalus.

Upon the mountains: as a tree, growing on the mountains which hang over the valleys, when it falls breaks, and its branches are scattered in the lower ground, on the banks of rivers that run in the bottom; so is this mighty cedar, this king and kingdom, fallen from highest power and honour into deepest contempt and impotence, not able to repel his adversaries or escape out of their hands.

Have left him; all that were tributary to him have withdrawn their tribute, and rejected his dominion; and such as were his allies, and depended on his patronage, have quit their leagues and dependences, and left his shadow.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

12. from his shadowunderwhich they had formerly dwelt as their covert (Eze31:6).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off,…. Cut off the boughs and branches of this cedar, and cut him down to the ground; that is, utterly destroyed him, his empire and monarchy: these “strangers” were the Medes, who lived in a country distant from Assyria; and “the terrible of the nations”, the cruel and merciless Chaldeans, the soldiers of the king of Babylon’s army; see Eze 30:11:

and have left him upon the mountains, like a tree cut down there, and its boughs and branches lopped off, which roll down from thence into the valleys, and by the rivers of water signifying his depression from a high and exalted state to a very low one, as follows:

and in all the valley his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; signifying that many provinces and countries under his dominion were broken off, and by force taken away from him; or they broke off and revolted of themselves, and either set up for themselves, and recovered their former power and authority; or gave up themselves to the conqueror. The Targum is,

“and in all valleys his army fell, and his auxiliaries were scattered by all the rivers of the land:”

and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him: those that joined themselves to his empire, put themselves under his protection, or sought his friendship and alliance, now withdrew themselves from him, and left him alone to shift for himself; as frightened birds and beasts will do, when a tree is cut down and fallen, in the boughs or under the shadow of which they dwelt. The Targum paraphrases it,

“from the shadow of his kingdom.”

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(12) Gone down.Because the cedar is represented as growing upon the height of Lebanon. Yet the people of the earth is literal.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

12. Compare Eze 31:6; Eze 28:7; Eze 30:11. The people who once humbly dwelt under its branches have now left the shadowless trunk and broken limbs or else walk over them without honor or fear (Eze 31:13).

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Eze 31:12. Have cut him off Cut him down. Virgil has a like comparison with respect to the fall of Troy:

Ac veluti summis antiquam in montibus ornum Quum ferro accisam crebrisque bipennibus instant Eruere agricolae certatim; illa usque minatur, Et tremefacta comam concusso vertice nutat: Vulneribus donec paulatim evicta, supremum Congemuit, traxitque jugis avulsa ruinam. AEN. ii. 626.

So when an aged ash, whose honour’s rise From some steep mountain tow’ring to the skies, With many an axe by shouting swains is ply’d, Fierce they repeat the strokes from ev’ry side; The tall tree trembling as the blows go round, Bows the high head, and nods to ev’ry wound: At last quite vanquish’d with a dreadful peal, In one loud groan rolls crashing down the vale, Headlong with half the shatter’d mountain flies, And stretch’d out huge in length th’ unmeasur’d ruin lies. PITT.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Eze 31:12 And 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.

Ver. 12. And strangers have cut him off. ] The greater wealth the greater spoil awaiteth a man; as each one desireth to lop the tree that hath thick and large boughs and branches.

And his boughs are broken, ] i.e., His vassals, homagers, and auxiliaries.

And all the people of the earth. ] Who once sheltered under his shadow. But the rule is,

“ Arbor honoretur cuius nos umbra tuetur. ”

And have left him. ] And joined themselves to the Babylonian.

“ Sic cum fortuna statque caditque fides. ” – Ovid.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)