What does Eden represent in Ezekiel 31?

Question

In comparing Egypt to Assyria in Ezekiel 31, Eden is used in the metaphor.

Ezekiel 31:8-9:

The cedars in God's garden could not match [Assyria]; The cypresses could not compare with its boughs, And the plane trees could not match its branches. No tree in God's garden could compare with it in its beauty. I made it beautiful with the multitude of its branches, And all the trees of Eden, which were in the garden of God, were jealous of it.

What is "Eden" supposed to represent, here? And why would God make Assyria beautiful (verse 9) while the trees in Eden - in the garden of God - stand by in jealousy?

Answer 1

Prophetic literature is full of poetic and figurative language that is not to be taken literally. The metaphor that Ezekiel is using here to describe Assyria (the greatness and then the fall) is that of the "Cosmic Tree."

In the ancient Near East, the cosmos was often envisioned as a tree. The tree was seen to be a center pillar, or axis mundi, of the universe.

From the Anchor Bible Dictionary (Vol. 6, pg. 658):

The description of the "world tree" or "cosmic tree" in Ezekiel 17:22-24; 31:2-9, and Daniel 4:7:9...should be noted. Such trees are portrayed as objects of beauty, grandeur, and abundant fertility. They become shelters fro all sorts of creatures and are a source of sustenance for all of life.

This picture of the cosmic tree is then used - as it is here in Ezekiel 31 - to describe a great kingdom (or the king himself). A kingdom so great that, just like the cosmic tree, it provided shelter and food for many under its protection. But, if the tree becomes arrogant, God will bring it down due to its pride.

In Daniel 4 - the Kingdom is Babylon. In Ezekiel 31 - the kingdom is Assyria but the metaphor is pointed at Egypt. In Ezekiel 17:22-24 - it is God who plants a kingdom in Israel.

The tree symbolizes the divine world order maintained by the king himself.

Since Ezekiel is using figurative language we are not to read that the trees of Eden were literally jealous. In describing the tree that represents Assyria, Ezekiel is using hyperbolic language that even the trees in God's own garden - Eden - were jealous.

The point though is that eventually God felled this tree. Since this metaphor is directed at Egypt - the warning is that even a kingdom as great as Assyria will come down and so will Egypt.

Answer 2

I have more of a question. If the tree of Assyria in this case represented an order or a great power or group of kingdoms or an empire that all the other nations rested under, when it says there were trees in Eden then, does that mean there was a whole civilization in Eden with multiple rulers? Should the whole garden story then be looked at in metaphorical terms?

Answer 3

Firstly, addressing the questions;

1. "Eden" means Eden. The allegory here is actually "trees of Eden" vs "Cedar in Lebanon". The former represents God's people, Israel, while The latter represents Assyria, which is alluded to Egypt in this context.
2. God make Assyria beautiful can be referred to Isaiah 7:17; "The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.”. This means that God gave Israel to Assyria as a punishment for their disobedience.
3. The trees in Eden symbolize Israel's jealousy, as the Israelites considered themselves the chosen people and found it incomprehensible why they were punished by non-God's people.

Furthermore, it is worth noting that the "Cedar in Lebanon" was not among the "trees of Eden", and was not planted by God. God made it great as a means of punishing Israel, hoping that in their jealousy, they would return to Him. This methodology is mentioned by both Moses and Paul in the Bible;

Deuteronomy 32:21 NIV, also cited by Paul in Romans 10:19;

"I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding"

Romans 11:11-14 NIV

"11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious....14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them."