3<\/strong>. the Assyrian<\/em> was a cedar<\/em> ] It is evident that the Assyrian has nothing to do here; any comparison of Egypt to Assyria is without motive. Besides Eze 31:3<\/em><\/span> is repeated in Eze 31:10<\/em><\/span>, and spoken of Egypt (cf. Eze 31:18<\/em><\/span>). The word “asshur” here is the name of a tree, either the same as teasshur (ch. Eze 27:6<\/span>), or this form should be read. Render: Behold a stately cedar in Lebanon<\/em> (lit. a teasshur of a cedar); or, behold a sherbin, a cedar in Lebanon the more general “cedar” being added after the species.<\/p>\n a shadowing shrowd<\/em> ] The “shroud,” usually “forest,” must refer to the closely interwoven branches, hardly to the underwood. The phrase is wanting in LXX.<\/p>\n the thick boughs<\/em> ] The clouds<\/strong>, so Eze 31:10<\/em><\/span> ; Eze 31:14<\/em><\/span><\/em>; cf. Eze 19:11<\/span>.<\/p>\n Fifth prophecy against Egypt: a warning to Pharaoh from the fate of the Assyrians. The Assyrian empire, after having been supreme in Asia for four centuries, had been overthrown by the united forces of the Babylonians and Medes, in the year of the battle of Carchemish (605 b.c.), which had broken the power of Egypt. This gives force to the warning to Egypt from Assyrias fall.<\/P> Eze 31:4<\/B><\/span><\/P> His plants – <\/B>Rather, her plantation. The water represents the riches and might which flowed into Assyria.<\/P> Eze 31:5<\/B><\/span><\/P> When be shot forth – <\/B>Or, when the deep water sent forth its streams.<\/P> Eze 31:8<\/B><\/span><\/P> Garden of God – <\/B>Paradise.<\/P> <\/p>\n Verse 3<\/span>. Behold, the Assyrian<\/B><\/I> was <\/B>a cedar<\/B><\/I>] Why is the Assyrian<\/I> introduced here, when the whole chapter concerns Egypt<\/I>? Bp. Lowth<\/I> has shown that ashshur erez<\/I> should be translated the tall<\/I> cedar, the very stately cedar<\/I>; hence there is reference to his lofty top<\/I>; and all the following description belongs to Egypt<\/I>, not to Assyria<\/I>. But see on Eze 31:11<\/span>.<\/P> <\/p>\n The Assyrian<\/B> kingdom and its kings were the greatest the world ever knew before thee, they had longest time of growth, through 1340 or 1360 years, from Belus who was Nimrod, or Belus Assyrius, to Sardanapalus, from 1719 or 1717, or 1718, to 3059, of the world. And they had as fair advantages, as reaching a foresight, and as unwearied diligence to advance the kingdom; yet I bought it down. <\/P> A cedar; <\/B>like a cedar; kings and kingdoms oft compared to trees, both in profane and sacred emblems; or like the most goodly cedar for strength and beauty. In Lebanon; a great mountainous tract from east to west, one hundred and twenty five miles in length, encloseth Canaan on the north. <\/P> With fair branches, <\/B>which are the beauty, greatness, strength of the tree; so had this mighty kingdom fair provinces, as branches springing from it. <\/P> With a shadowing shroud:<\/B> what we render shadowing in the Hebrew may signify either silent<\/I> and quiet, or framing and modelling, intimating that this kingdom, like a shady tree, gave shelter to the weak, as if framed artificially to this, and it was a silent quiet repose its subjects had; as weak creatures find shelter in a mighty wood, so these. <\/P> Of an high stature:<\/B> this kingdom grew to great height, while its branches were so beneficial. <\/P> Among the thick boughs, <\/B>or clouds; for so the word will without violence bear, clouds being called so from their thickness; however, the head among the thick boughs speaks the magnificence and greatness of this king, compassed about with tributary kings and princes and mighty men. <\/P> <\/p>\n 3.<\/B> He illustrates the pride andthe consequent overthrow of the Assyrian, that Egypt may the betterknow what she must expect. <\/P> cedar in Lebanon<\/B>ofteneighty feet high, and the diameter of the space covered by its boughsstill greater: the symmetry perfect. Compare the similar image(Eze 17:3<\/span>; Dan 4:20-22<\/span>).<\/P> with a shadowing shroud<\/B>withan overshadowing thicket. <\/P> top . . . among . . . thickboughs<\/B>rather [HENGSTENBERG],”among the clouds.” But English Version<\/I> agreesbetter with the Hebrew.<\/I> The top,<\/I> or topmost shoot,<\/I>represents the king; the thick boughs,<\/I> the large resources ofthe empire.<\/P><\/p>\n Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon<\/strong>,…. Here grew the tallest, most stately, broad and flourishing ones. This sense is, that he was as one of them; comparable to one, for his exaltation and dignity; for the largeness of his dominion, the flourishing circumstances of it, and its long duration; that empire having lasted from the times of Nimrod unto a few years of the present time; for this is to be understood, either of the monarchy itself, or of Esarhaddon; or rather of Chynilidanus, or Saracus, the last king of it. The Septuagint, and Arabic versions render it the “cypariss” in Lebanon; but not that, but the cedar, grew there, and which best suits the comparison:<\/p>\n with fair branches<\/strong>; meaning not children, nor nobles, nor subjects; but provinces, many and large, which were subject to this monarch:<\/p>\n and with a shadowing shroud<\/strong>; power, dominion, authority, a mighty army sufficient to protect all that were under his government, and subject to it:<\/p>\n and of an high stature<\/strong>: exalted above all the kings and kingdoms of the earth:<\/p>\n and his top was among the thick boughs<\/strong>; his kingly power, headship, and dominion, was over a multitude of petty princes and states, comparable to the thick boughs and branches of a tree: or, “among the clouds”; as the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it; above the heights of which the Assyrian monarch attempted to ascend, Isa 14:14<\/span>.<\/p>\n (3) A cedar in Lebanon.<\/strong>Lebanon is mentioned only because it was the place where the most famous cedars grew in their greatest perfection. Assyria did, indeed, at one time possess Lebanon, but this was never its home or seat of empire. The word shroud in the description refers to the thickness of the shade of the branches.<\/p>\n Among the thick boughs.<\/strong>Rather, among the clouds.<\/em> (See Note on Eze. 19:11<\/span> .Comp. also Eze. 31:10<\/span>; Eze. 31:14<\/span>.)<\/p>\n 3<\/strong>. <\/strong> The Assyrian <\/strong> The Hebrew text and all versions read as A.V.; in which case Egypt would be compared to Assyria, a country as great as itself yet now crushed by Nebuchadnezzar. One species of cedar was, however, called Tasshur, <\/em> and if this is referred to here we could translate, “Behold, there was a cedar on Lebanon.” <\/p>\n Shroud <\/strong> This refers to the thick foliage. The word is usually rendered forest. <\/p>\n Thick boughs <\/strong> Rather, as R.V., margin, “clouds;” also in Eze 31:10<\/span>; Eze 31:14<\/span>.<\/p>\n “Behold a cypress (‘assur’, probably a variant of te’assur, and not therefore Assyria which would be out of place here), a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and with a woody shade and of great height, and his top was among the interwoven branches (LXX clouds).”<\/p>\n Pharaoh is likened to a large Cypress which could be compared with a cedar in Lebanon. It had powerful branches, gave good shade, and its top was among the topmost branches of the forest. Te’ assur for cypress is found in Isa 41:19<\/span>; Isa 60:13<\/span>. It was noted for its protection and shade and provided excellent timber.<\/p>\n Some cedars of Lebanon grew twenty five metres (80 feet) or more high, were beautifully symmetrical, and contained thickly interwoven branches.<\/p>\n However, some would translate assur here as ‘Assyrian’ and see Pharaoh and Egypt as being compared with what had happened to the Assyrians in their pride. In the end the ideas are the same.<\/p>\n Eze 31:3<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>Behold, the Assyrian, <\/em><\/strong>&c.<\/strong> This parable, says Bishop Lowth, owes much to Meibomius, who translates Ashur, tall, straight, <\/em>an epithet of the cedar; and not Assyrian, <\/em>which can have no meaning at all in this passage. The word Ashur, <\/em>is here joined with cedar, <\/em>as a definitive attribute to denote the highest and most beautiful kind of cedar. See his 9th Prelection. The manner in which the prophet has embellished his description, is full of propriety and elegance; and the colouring is such as fills the mind with the greatest pleasure. The LXX read the latter clause of this verse, His top was among the clouds. <\/em>The whole is an allegorical description of the greatness and splendour of the Egyptian empire. <\/p>\n Eze 31:3 Behold, 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.<\/p>\n Ver. 3. Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar.<\/strong> ] See Eze 17:3<\/span> ; Eze 17:22-23 Dan 4:10-11<\/span> . See Trapp on “<\/em> Eze 17:3 “<\/em> See Trapp on “<\/em> Eze 17:22 “<\/em> See Trapp on “<\/em> Eze 17:23 “<\/em> See Trapp on “<\/em> Dan 4:10 “<\/em> See Trapp on “<\/em> Dan 4:11 “<\/em> The cedar is a very tall, fair, shady, leafy, and lively tree. Such was Esarhaddon, King of Assyria, once a most potent monarch, now not the master of a mole hill. Now, therefore (by an argument from the greater to the less), if he so fell through his pride, shalt not thou much more?<\/p>\n Behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6<\/p>\n the Assyrian. Ginsburg thinks this should read teashshur (= a box = tree) instead of ‘ashshur (= an Assyrian). There is no article; and Egypt is the subject here, not Assyria. See note on Eze 27:6, and compare Isa 41:19; Isa 60:13. The subject is the proud exaltation of Egypt, which is likened to a box or cypress, exalting itself into a cedar of Lebanon. <\/p>\n shroud = foliage. <\/p>\n the Assyrian: Nah 3:1-19, Zep 2:13 <\/p>\n a cedar: Eze 17:3, Eze 17:4, Eze 17:22, Isa 10:33, Isa 10:34, Isa 37:24, Dan 4:10, Dan 4:20-23, Zec 11:2 <\/p>\n with fair branches: Heb. fair of branches <\/p>\n of an high: Eze 31:6, Jdg 9:15, Dan 4:12 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Num 24:6 – as cedar 2Ki 18:28 – the king of Assyria 2Ki 19:23 – With the multitude Isa 2:13 – General Isa 8:7 – the king Isa 36:4 – Thus saith Isa 36:13 – Hear Isa 45:14 – men of stature Jer 50:18 – as I Eze 19:11 – her stature Eze 31:17 – dwelt Eze 32:22 – General Hos 14:6 – branches Amo 6:2 – better Nah 3:3 – and there Nah 3:8 – thou Nah 3:18 – O King Mar 4:32 – shooteth<\/p>\n Eze 31:3. Care should be taken not to lose our “bearing” through the most of this chapter. It will be stating some things that actually happened to the Assyrians, but the purpose is to liken the case to Pharaoh, The Assyrians were a proud and cruel people and boasted of their strength, yet they were brought down in spite of their greatness. The parable as a whole is concerning Assyria and Egypt, hence, while the verses are directly applied to the former, some of the illustrations will be drawn from the conditions in the land of Egypt, since that country is really the one the Lord is denouncing at present. The illustration of a cedar is used because of the nature of that tree. Strong defines the original, “A cedar tree (from the tenacity of its roots). We shall see the appropriateness of the illustration as we proceed in our study of the chapter. The top in a kingdom is the king and the thick boughs refers to the citizens of the nation, especially the princes and other leading men. This describes the position that the king of Assyria had in the day of his power (and of course is true of Pharaoh at the time the prophet is writing this).<\/p>\n Eze 31:3-9. Behold the Assyrian This, says Archbishop Secker, seems an admonitory comparison of Pharaoh to the late Assyrian monarch, applied to Pharaoh, Eze 31:18. By the Assyrian, compared here to a tall and fair cedar, such as grew in mount Lebanon, Archbishop Usher and Dr. Prideaux understand that king of Assyria whom some call Chyniladanus, others Saracus, of whom it seems the words of the Prophet Nahum (Nah 3:18) are to be understood. In like manner Zephaniah joins the destruction of Assyria and the desolation of Nineveh together, Zep 2:13. Nabopolassar, the king of Babylon, and Cyaxares, the king of Media, called by the names of Nebuchadonosor and Assuerus in Tobit, (chap. Eze 14:15,) joining their forces together against him, besieged Nineveh, took it, and, after having slain the king, utterly destroyed that great and famous city, and put an end to that part of the Assyrian empire, Nabopolassar having before possessed himself of the other part, which was properly called the Babylonian empire. See Dr. Prideaux, p. 45. In this remarkable catastrophe the prophecies of Jonah, Nahum, and Zephaniah, foretelling the destruction of Nineveh, were fulfilled. His top was among the thick boughs He overtopped all the other flourishing trees. The waters made him great As trees flourish by a river side, so the traffic of the several branches of the river Tigris, upon which Nineveh was situate, made that city and kingdom rich and populous, and she imparted her wealth and stores among the neighbouring provinces. Lowth. Therefore his height was exalted, &c. He became greater than all the kings about him. The greatness of Nebuchadnezzars power and kingdom is set forth under the same emblem, Dan 4:10, &c. All the fowls made their nests in his boughs Several nations applied to him for protection, and thought themselves and all their concerns safe under his government. Under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth, &c. Under the protection of his extensive empire did the people increase, and the countries become more populous. The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him, &c. He overtopped the goodly cedars, called in the Hebrew the cedars of God, Psa 80:9; such fair ones as might be supposed to have grown in paradise. The expressions are all allegorical, signifying the super-eminent greatness of the king of Assyria, and how much more powerful he was than any other of the kings of that time. All the trees of Eden, &c. All the kings of the East envied him, and his greatness. So the Chaldee paraphrast.<\/p>\n They were similar to the Assyrians who had towered among the nations as a beautiful cedar of Lebanon (cf. Eze 17:1-10; Eze 17:22-24; Eze 19:10-14; Eze 26:19-21; Eze 28:11-19; Isa 14:3-21). Some of the Lebanese cedars grew 80 feet high, were beautifully symmetrical, and contained thickly interwoven branches. [Note: Feinberg, p. 178. Allen, Ezekiel 20-48, p. 125, wrote an interesting paragraph on the motif of the cosmic tree in ancient mythology, which Ezekiel may have had in mind.] <\/span><\/p>\n Assyria had been one of the greatest nations in history before its fall in 612 B.C., perhaps the greatest nation. It was of particular interest to the Egyptians for two reasons. It had been the only Mesopotamian nation to invade Egypt successfully. The Assyrians destroyed Thebes in 633 B.C. (cf. Nah 3:8-10) and eventually incorporated Egypt into its empire. Second, Assyria had fallen to the Babylonians, the same enemy that now threatened Egypt. The city of Nineveh fell to Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar’s father, in 612 B.C., and Nebuchadnezzar crushed the rest of the Assyrian army at Haran in 609 B.C.<\/p>\n Behold, the Assyrian [was] a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. 3. the Assyrian was a cedar ] It is evident that the Assyrian has nothing to do here; any comparison of Egypt to Assyria is without … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 31:3”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"