Ezekiel 31:11

11 I gave it into the hand of the prince of the nations; he has dealt with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out.

Ezekiel 31:11 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 31:11

I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one
of the Heathen
Or, into the hand of the mightiest of the nations {o}; the mightiest prince among them. Some understand this of Arbaces the Mede, by whom Sardanapalus had been defeated long before this time: others of Merodachbaladan king Babylon, by whom Esarhaddon the Assyrian monarch was vanquished; or rather Nebuchadnezzar, who was called Nabopolassar; who, in the first year ^F16 of his reign, in conjunction with Cyaxares king of Media, took Nineveh, the metropolis of the Assyrian monarchy; and this was by the appointment of God, and under the direction of his providence, and through the success he gave to the arms of these princes, according to his own decrees and prophecies. Some render it, "into the hand of the god of the nations" {q}; yet meaning either Cyaxares or Nebuchadnezzar; so called because of their great power and might, and which they had from the Lord: he shall surely deal with him;
or, "in doing he shall do to him" ^F18; he shall do with him as he pleases he shall easily manage him, though so powerful; and deal with him according to his deserts; or, as the Targum, he shall take vengeance on him, as he did: I have driven him out for his wickedness;
out of his court and palace; out of his royal city Nineveh; out of his kingdom and dominions; and he shall reside and reign no more there; and all this for his wickedness, pride, and oppression, and other sins: when God strips men of their honour, riches, power, and dominion, it is because of their abuse of them; for some sin, or sins, or wickedness they have been guilty of, both against him and men; and therefore it is but just and righteous in him to dethrone such princes, and drive them from their seats.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (Myywg la dyb) "in manum fortissimi gentium", Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus; "potentissimi", Piscator.
F16 Seder Olam Rabba, p. 69.
F17 "In manum dei gentium", Montanus, Starckius; "deo gentium", Castalio.
F18 (wl hvey wve) "faciendo faciet ei", Pagninus, Montanus; "faciendo faciebat ipsi", Starckius.

Ezekiel 31:11 In-Context

9 I made it beautiful with its mass of branches, the envy of all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God.

10 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because it towered high and set its top among the clouds, and its heart was proud of its height,

11 I gave it into the hand of the prince of the nations; he has dealt with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out.

12 Foreigners from the most terrible of the nations have cut it down and left it. On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in all the watercourses of the land; and all the peoples of the earth went away from its shade and left it.

13 On its fallen trunk settle all the birds of the air, and among its boughs lodge all the wild animals.