Ezechiele 31:3

3 Ecco l’Assirio; egli era un cedro nel Libano, bello di frondi, ed ombroso di rami, e alto di tronco; e la sua cima era fra rami folti.

Ezechiele 31:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 31:3

Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon
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: with fair branches;
meaning not children, nor nobles, nor subjects; but provinces, many and large, which were subject to this monarch: and with a shadowing shroud;
power, dominion, authority, a mighty army sufficient to protect all that were under his government, and subject to it: and of an high stature:
exalted above all the kings and kingdoms of the earth: and his top was among the thick boughs;
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, ( Isaiah 14:14 ) ( Daniel 4:10-12 ) .

Ezechiele 31:3 In-Context

1 AVVENNE, eziandio, nell’anno undecimo, nel primo giorno del terzo mese, che la parola del Signore mi fu indirizzata, dicendo:

2 Figliuol d’uomo, di’ a Faraone, re di Egitto, ed alla sua moltitudine: A chi sei tu simile nella tua grandezza?

3 Ecco l’Assirio; egli era un cedro nel Libano, bello di frondi, ed ombroso di rami, e alto di tronco; e la sua cima era fra rami folti.

4 Le acque l’aveano fatto crescere, l’abisso l’avea fatto divenir alto; esso, co’ suoi fiumi, andava d’intorno alla sua pianta, e rimandava i suoi condotti a tutti gli alberi della campagna.

5 Perciò, la sua altezza si era elevata sopra tutti gli alberi della campagna, ed i suoi rami erano moltiplicati, e i suoi ramoscelli si erano allungati, per la copia delle acque, che l’aveano adacquato, mentre metteva.