Neville Goddard on Ezekiel 31:1-18 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Ezekiel 31 in context

Scripture Focus

1And 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,

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

3Behold, 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.

4The 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.

5Therefore 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.

6All 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.

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

8The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.

9I 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.

10Therefore 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;

11I 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.

12And 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.

13Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:

14To 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.

15Thus 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.

16I 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.

17They 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.

18To 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

Biblical Context

Ezekiel declares Pharaoh a mighty cedar in Lebanon, lifted by waters and the favor of nations. Yet his heart is lifted in height, and God will bring him down to the pit.

Neville's Inner Vision

Pharaoh in Ezekiel's vision is not a man only; he is a state of consciousness - pride that lifts the self above the divine source. The cedar's height and its shade represent a personality that believes life and power flow from outward circumstance, not from the I AM within. The waters that fattened the tree are the currents of life-energy you have used to fuel a false sense of grandeur. When you identify with that self-image, your world becomes a garden ripened for envy and judgment, until I, the inner witness, permit a falling that reveals the true center. The command There is a mighty one of the heathen into whose hand the cedar is delivered mirrors the moment a belief in separate control yields to larger forces in consciousness. The mourning and the stilling of the rivers indicate the inner revelation: your reality is a dream formed by your inner claims. By revising the state and feeling it real, you recall that you are the I AM, the root and shelter of every tree. In that calm, the inner kingdom replaces the outer shadow.

Practice This Now

Assume the inner king now: close your eyes, breathe, and declare, I AM the king of my inner garden; revise the scene until the sense of outer grandeur yields to the reality of my divine I AM.