Ezekiel 31:1-18

The Lord continues to reveal His plans for Egypt to Ezekiel.  Those plans are not very favorable plans, but God has made it abundantly clear that He is determined to judge Egypt as He has judged the other nations.  We might wonder why God would spend so much time speaking of this judgment of Egypt.  Perhaps the answer is, that the remnant of people who were left in Israel after the city of Jerusalem fell they were supposed to stay in the land, but due to their fear they decided to flee to Egypt for protection.  God wanted to make it abundantly clear to His people that the choice to go the Egypt was a choice to face further war and judgment. God always wants us to trust Him and not in the strength of men.  Ezekiel makes a comparison between Egypt and Assyria that should have brought fear to all who heard it.

EGYPT IS LIKE ASSYRIA IN GREATNESS: Egypt considered herself to be one of the super-powers of the region that was too great to fall and too strong to be defeated.  God wants to make sure that they understand that there is no such thing.  All nations are under His sovereign power and they will rise and fall as He sees fit.  Like Assyria, Egypt was great in power.  Assyria was compared to a great tree in a well-watered garden.  The tree was larger than all the other trees and towered in the forest.  All the other nations looked to her for shelter and shade.  This was true of both Egypt and Assyria.  They stood out as nations of great strength and they were respected and feared by all the other nations who would look to them for protection and help in times of need.  Unfortunately this strength made the nations proud and God would not tolerate this arrogance.   It is a very dangerous thing to become powerful and prosperous because these qualities seem to foster much pride in our lives.


EGYPT IS LIKE ASSYRIA IN WEAKNESS: If Egypt was comparable to Assyria in strength, this truth should have caused great concern for the nation because Egypt was about to follow the same path as Assyria.  Just as God used Assyria to judge Israel, God used Babylon to judge Assyria and He would also use Babylon to judge Egypt.  The great tree in the garden that was taller than all the trees was chopped down.  All that was left was a stump and the tree lay flat on the ground with all of her branches broken.  God is able to bring down the strongest nations with His great power.  No nation and no man is above the power of God or greater than God’s ability to overcome.  Egypt should take note of this as God was about to chop her down as Assyria had already fallen.  All of us should take note of this when we are tempted to give into pride.  We must all recognize that we are under the mighty hand of God.

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