Ezekiel 31 - Bible Study, Explanation, and Application

Ezekiel 31 Bible Study

TIMELINE:

• The date of the prophecy in Ezekiel 31 is given to us in verse 1, the 11th year, in the 3rd month, of the exile of King Jehoiachin, 586 BC.

• Below is a list of kings of Judah and dates for their reign:

  • Amon (642-640 BC)

  • Josiah (640-609 BC)

  • Jehoahaz (also known as Shallum, 609 BC)

  • Jehoiakim (initially known as Eliakim, 609-598 BC)

  • Jehoiachin (also known as Jeconiah or Coniah, 598-597 BC)

  • Zedekiah (His reign ended when Babylon conquered Judah, (597-586 BC)

WHAT WE STUDIED PREVIOUSLY

• Ezekiel 1 – Ezekiel had a vision of 4 living creatures, 4 wheels, and God’s throne.

• Ezekiel 2 – God commissioned Ezekiel to be a prophet to his rebellious countrymen.

• Ezekiel 3 – The end of the heavenly vision. Ezekiel ate a scroll of God’s words, and God called him to be a watchman over the people of Judah.

• Ezekiel 4 – Ezekiel prophesies with an object lesson in the street by laying on his side for 430 days, eating rations of bread, and creating a siege scene with a brick that represents Jerusalem.

• Ezekiel 5 – After the 430 days, Ezekiel cut off his hair divided it up into 3 parts and used it as a symbol for what would happen to the people of Jerusalem.

• Ezekiel 6 – Ezekiel prophesies against the idol worshipers in Judah, telling them their bodies will be thrown at the feet of their powerless gods.

• Ezekiel 7 – God spoke to Ezekiel about the day of His judgement. The end was near for the citizens of Jerusalem, and their doom was on the horizon.

• Ezekiel 8 – Ezekiel saw a vision of the Temple in Jerusalem. God guided him through the courts and gates of the Temple and showed him the secret idolatries that filled God’s house.

• Ezekiel 9 – God sends a man with a writing case to mark the foreheads of those who hated the idolatries of Judah. Afterwards, God sends 6 executioners to kill everyone in Jerusalem who didn’t have the mark.

• Ezekiel 10 – God’s glory departed the inner sanctuary of the Temple and ascended to His throne carried by the 4 living creatures.

• Ezekiel 11 – God announced judgement on the wicked rulers of Judah. They thought they were safe in Jerusalem, like meat in a cauldron, but God promised to bring them out for death and captivity. At the end of the chapter, God spoke of a future day, when He would regather a remnant of His people and give them a new heart and new spirit.

• Ezekiel 12 – Ezekiel prophesied about the downfall of King Zedekiah by carrying his possessions out of his house as if he were going into exile. God promised that His judgement was near, and anyone who suggested otherwise would be put to shame.  

• Ezekiel 13 – God confronted the false prophets and sorceresses amongst the people of Judah. The false prophets falsely claimed to speak with the authority of God, and the sorceresses hunted the souls of God’s people through witchcraft and divination.

• Ezekiel 14 – God condemned the elders of Judah who harbored love for idols in their hearts. He told Ezekiel Jerusalem would not be spared even if righteous men like Noah, Daniel, and Job lived there.

• Ezekiel 15 – God compared the citizens of Jerusalem to useless vine wood that was good for nothing except to burn.

• Ezekiel 16 – God compared his people to a young woman who he had raised and cared for. When she grew up, she turned her back on God and prostituted herself with foreign nations and idols.

• Ezekiel 17 – Ezekiel spoke a parable to the people of Judah about two great eagles. The parable indicated that the King of Judah would betray Babylon and be uprooted by them.

• Ezekiel 18 – The people of Judah were accusing God of punishing them for the sins of their ancestors. God clarified that each man was responsible and would be held accountable only for his own sins.

• Ezekiel 19 – God lamented the unfaithfulness of His people through two laments, the lament of the lion cubs and the lament of the vine.

• Ezekiel 20 - The elders of Israel wanted to consult with God, but God refused them based on their continual and cyclical rebellion against His laws. God spoke of His future judgement on Judah and His future grace that would restore the nation.

• Ezekiel 21 – Ezekiel spoke of the sword of the Lord that God had sharpened to punish Judah. The king of Babylon stood at a fork in the road, and God was going to direct him and his army to Jerusalem.

• Ezekiel 22 – God condemned Judah for a litany of sins and their total neglect of any attempt to keep His commands. He told them He would melt them down like metal within the furnace of Jerusalem.

• Ezekiel 23 – God illustrated the unfaithfulness of Israel and Judah with a story about two sisters, Oholah and Oholibah.

• Ezekiel 24 – God compared Jerusalem to a corroded pot that would be emptied and melted down. In the second half of the chapter, Ezekiel’s wife died, and God instructed him not to mourn for her publicly as a sign of the fate of the citizens of Jerusalem and their beloved city.

• Ezekiel 25 – God prophesied against Ammon, Edom, Seir, Moab, and the Philistines.

• Ezekiel 26 - God prophesied against the city of Tyre. God was going to judge them by bringing the nations against them and destroying them. Babylon would attack first, followed by the Greeks under the command of Alexander the Great (332 BC). 

• Ezekiel 27 – God described the downfall of the city of Tyre. His judgement on them was going to take them from the mountain of wealth, power, and influence, down to obscurity in the depth of the sea, never to rise again.

• Ezekiel 28 - God rebuked the king of Tyre, because in his pride, he elevated himself to the status of a God. Some believe the language is comparing the downfall of Tyre’s king to the fall of Satan. God promised to restore Judah, but Tyre would never be restored.

• Ezekiel 29 - A prophecy against Egypt and the pride of Pharaoh. Pharaoh was like a dragon in the Nile, but God would draw him out with a hook and cast him into the desert. God would humble Egypt to a lowly nation and give them over to the Babylonians.

• Ezekiel 30 - A prophecy against Egypt. The day of the Lord’s judgement would be a day of doom for Egypt. God would bring the nations against Egypt to crush their pride, throw down their idols, take their wealth, and diminish their nation. God said He had broken pharaoh’s arm so he could not take up a sword to defend his nation. 

OUTLINE:

• GOD’S WARNING TO EGYPT ABOUT THE GREAT CEDER (31:1-10):

  • As a warning to Pharaoh, God reminded him what He had done to the Assyrian Empire, which was more powerful than Egypt in its day.

  • God compared Assyria to a mighty ceder tree.

  • The tree had strong branches and reached a towering height, with its top in the clouds.

  • It became a home for every type of bird and animal.

  • God said it was more impressive than any of the trees in the Garden of Eden because He allowed it to grow strong.

  • But the tree grew proud because of its beauty and height.

• THE FATE OF EDEN, ASSYRIA, AND EGPYT (31:11-18):

  • Because of its pride, and the fact that it did not honor the God who planted it, God was going to cut down the ceder (Assyria). He was going to deal with Assyria according to their wickedness.

  • He would give the ceder into the hands of a “mighty one of the nations” (Nebuchadnezzar, 31:11).

  • Foreigners would cut it down and its branches would fall broken into Sheol (the grave) with all the wicked nations that came before it.

  • God did this as a lesson to other trees (other nations).

  • Any nation that lifted itself up in pride would suffer the same fate, including Egypt.

  • God said to Pharaoh, “Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below. You shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.

  • The trees in the Garden of Eden were gone because the garden was cursed when man disobeyed God.

  • The Assyrian ceder was gone because their pride was their ruin.

  • Did Pharaoh believe the fate of the Egyptian tree would be any different?

APPLICATION:

• Applying the principles of this chapter on an individual level, we can learn that withholding great earthly success from someone may be God’s greatest gift to them.

• We are trained to think achievement, success, and recognition are always good things, some even preach them as God’s blessings, but what is less often preached is how hard it is to remain humble when those things come our way.

• It is almost certainly a fact that some people will be in heaven with God because He DID NOT give them the success he prayed for in life.

• Better to be middle class and unrecognized and headed to Heaven than to be famous and successful and headed to hell with a head full of pride.