20151124 Tuesday, November 24 2015
Ezekiel 31: What Happened To The Trees In The Garden Of Eden?

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the Earth"

The location of Eden is specified in the Holy Scriptures as being in the Tigris-Euphrates valley region of what is today Iraq (see The Garden In Eden). It was there where humanity was created (see The Thinker From The Soil), where human fell (see The Sin Of The Garden), and where humanity began again after the Flood (see The LORD's Seed Covenants With The Two Men Of Iraq). Man, under the toxic influence of Satan, turned Eden, and then the entire world, into "Babylon" (see How Did Eden Become Babylon? and Who Created Weeds?).

The LORD's Creation was of beauty and magnificence. That included the angels - some of whom chose to squander their genuine freedom by becoming lawless. They became corrupt from worthless vanity, thereby subjecting themselves to the chains of failure. So too, the angel that was later known as Satan (see What Is Satan's Real Name?) was created beautiful (as he remains today - his behavior changed, not his appearance; see How Does Satan Impersonate Jesus Christ?).

"28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 28:14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 28:16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee." (Ezekiel 28:13-17 KJV)

"14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." (Isaiah 14:12-15 KJV)

The humans were put out of Paradise, just as Satan was, when they chose to become rebels against the King of the Kingdom of God - a situation that will continue until the Kingdom of God is restored on the day of the Messiah's return (see The First And Last Nation). The original Garden of Eden, which became barren and uninhabited because of man's rebellion, was later obliterated by the Flood - a fact made obvious by it being no where to be found today in the area of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers where it was planted by the LORD.

"3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

3:20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." (Genesis 3:17-24 KJV)

Some of the LORD's Prophecies and Judgments were declared in a dual manner - Satan and the human king of Tyre is one of the most well-known (see Tyre's Island In The Sea and Tyre's World Trade Center). But the principle was used for others - misleaders who were at the same time being misled by the spirit of Satan.

While many of the Pharaohs of Egypt were friendly and beneficial to Israel (see The Egypt Connection), others chose not to be. Included in that is the Pharaoh who defied the LORD by trying to defend the corrupt Kingdom of Judah from the agents of the LORD's wrath at that time, the Babylonian Empire (see Man's Way Of Choosing Friends And Enemies). The same terminology is used for him as was used for the king of Tyre e.g. "Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height," "I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit."

"31:1 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, 31:2 Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude;

Whom art thou like in thy greatness? 31:3 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. 31:4 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. 31:5 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. 31:6 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. 31:7 Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters. 31:8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chesnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. 31:9 I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.

31:10 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height; 31:11 I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness. 31:12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him. 31:13 Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches: 31:14 To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.

31:15 Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. 31:16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth. 31:17 They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.

31:18 To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword.

This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD." (Ezekiel 31:1-18 KJV)

Fact Finder: When will the Tree of Life, that was planted by the LORD in the Garden of Eden, be restored and again made available to humanity?
See Will You Return To The Tree Of Life?