Theological Commentary: Click Here
Ezekiel 31 gives
us a parable of warning. This chapter
feels like a retelling of why Assyria fell, which it is. The point of this chapter is to speak truth
about the future by telling a story of the past. Assyria was a mighty nation that seemed to
rule the known world, until it didn’t.
In fact,
when this chapter starts speaking about Assyria as a giant tree that towered
over everything else, the story takes on a tower of Babel kind of feel to
it. What was the point of the tower of
Babel? The tower of Babel was a human
creation designed to show how great humanity was. God came to earth, defeated it, and scattered
the people.
For the
record, that’s what he did to Assyria and its king. If you happen to be keeping score, that’s
also what He did to Egypt the first time during the exodus. It’s also what happened to the Canaanites after
the exodus. It is what will happen to
Babylon. It is what will happen to
Persia after them, Greece after them, Rome after them, The Holy Roman Empire
after them, and I suppose the idea is clear at this point.
Human beings
tend to struggle to become king of the hill and then gloat about being the top dog,
taking advantage of everyone who isn’t actively trying to bring him down. God finds this behavior ridiculous,
especially since He is the one who is always toppling us. He is waiting for us to acknowledge that we
are only great with Him. We are not able
to sit atop the world without realizing that He is still sitting more atop than
us.
Things
always go better with Him than without Him.
This is just as true at the top of the hill as the bottom. The only problem is that as we get closer to
the top of the hill it gets harder to see this reality.
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