IT!!!

[TW]

So as not to highjack Gerald thread about Worship Music I will address this here.

Full Quiver wrote:

Sure it is BUT asking the Pharaoh to whom is he like? Is Pharaoh better than the Lord? The verses obviously aren't speaking just about trees but using trees as analogies to prove that the Lord is far better than the Pharaoh therefore "it" is a bad translation.

OK, let's go back and review.

Ezekiel 31:1-7
1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third [month], in the first [day] of the month, [that] the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?

3 Behold, the Assyrian [was] a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.

4 The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.

5 Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.

6 All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.

7 Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.

Yes, it is asking Pharaoh (and his multitude) too whom he is like. It then answers the question by comparing him to the King of Assyria (and his Kingdom). This is where the "by extension" come from. In the ancient world often times when you referred a King, you also were referring to his Kingdom. When you referred to Egypt you were also referring to Pharaoh, and when you referred to Pharaoh you were referring to Egypt. Often time when a King spoke they would use the pronoun "we," because they identified themselves as being the Kingdom. God makes it clear that He is addressing Pharaoh (Pharaoh) and Pharaoh (Egypt) by the use of the words "and his multitude." You are correct that the trees are used as metaphors, but they are not representational of God. They represent the nations and people that had been under the rule of the Assyrian King, and by extension Assyria. God was telling Pharaoh that while he might think he was on the same level as God, he would be brought down the same as the Assyrian had been.

Since the question and answer are meant for the people of Egypt as well as Pharaoh the pronoun "it" is perfectly acceptable.


TW