Ezekiel 31:17, commentary and pictures

Ezekiel 31:17 belongs to a lament over Assyria's ruin by the Chaldeans given as a warning of Egypt's coming overthrow, whose allies described as his arm that dwelt under his shadow were the peoples who upheld his power and lived under his protection, and who fell with him among those slain with the sword. That warning was literally fulfilled when Egypt, once among the greatest kingdoms on earth, was brought low to become the basest of the kingdoms and cease ruling over other nations. The hell they went down into is sheol, meaning the grave or the state of the dead, here better rendered grave as the realm receiving the dead rather than a place of future punishment. Like every text locating sheol, it places it downward in the nether parts of the earth in contrast to the land of the living, showing the dead go down rather than upward to heaven at death. Its speaking, lying with swords, and being comforted are figurative personification of defeated rulers leveled together in death, of the same kind as dead kings rising to mock Babylon, and therefore the speech in the story of the rich man in hades likewise proves nothing about consciousness or torment in death.

Prophetic Context and Fulfillment

Ezekiel 31:17 belongs to a figurative prophecy concerning the overthrow of Egypt, in which the ruin of Assyria by the Chaldeans is set forth as a warning. It stands within the lament over Assyria, whose fall is portrayed at length in order to foreshow the ruin that would come upon Egypt. Even where the precise meaning of every figure in the chapter is not grasped, its central lesson about the fall of a great power remains clear.

That prophecy against Egypt was literally fulfilled. Egypt, once among the greatest of kingdoms and once the greatest empire on earth, became the basest of the kingdoms. Its rivers were to be dried up and its idols abolished, and it with those who upheld its power was to be brought low to cease ruling over other nations.

Those called his arm who dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen were the peoples and nations who upheld his power, were his strength, depended on his power and lived under his protection among the nations. They fell with him, going down with him to sheol, the grave in the nether parts of the earth, among those slain with the sword. This included Pharaoh and his multitude and his host, with his allies, slain in battle with the king of Babylon and lying among the battle dead. No further explanation of the verse's specific imagery is given beyond this overthrow and going down together.

Those going down with the fallen power illustrate the symbols by which Gentile dominion is set forth, for in symbolic prophecy forest and trees stand for Gentile powers and the supremacy of Gentile rule, and mountain signifies government or kingdom. So the going down of those who were the arm of the great power and dwelt under its shadow confirms that the mountain or government and kingdom of Israel was to be uprooted and abolished and Gentile enemies set to rule over them.

Sheol Meaning and Location

Ezekiel 31:17 contains the Hebrew word sheol, the word generally rendered hell in the Old Testament, whose inspired New Testament translation is hades with the same meaning, and sheol means grave, sepulchre, underworld, or state of the dead. By one count sheol occurs 63 times, translated hell 31 times, grave 30 times, and pit 3 times. By another count there are sixty-five uses of sheol in the Old Testament, with thirty-one where it is rendered hell, grave being counted separately as thirty-one times and pit three times.

The verse is listed among the places where sheol is translated hell, while sheol is also rendered grave and pit elsewhere. Here grave is preferable to hell, for it describes death and the realm or state of the dead receiving the dead, not future punishment. Those who had supported the fallen ruler went down with him to the grave among those killed by the sword.

Sheol, or hades, the invisible place or state of the dead, is located down beneath in the bosom, heart, nether part or interior of the earth, a hollow place full of graves contrasted with the land of the living, always in the bosom of the earth and sometimes in the nethermost parts. The fallen with those slain by the sword lie there among the battle dead, even those who had been the strength of the fallen ruler and had lived under his protection among the nations going down with him. Like every text locating sheol, the verse places it downward by saying they went down into it. It is therefore evidence that the dead go down there in the earth's interior rather than entering heaven at death.

If the spirits of the dead go to sheol they must go down, not upward, which contradicts the claim that the conscious spirit at death goes upward to return to God, for God is above in heaven. The verse places the dead in the nether parts of the earth to show sheol is a material place of the dead, not an immaterial spirit land, identified with the grave and compared with hades where the rich man in Jesus' story is described as buried. Sheol is the state rather than the place of the dead, and is down and not upward.

Death Consciousness and Figures

On one reading the dead in this scene are portrayed as conscious and comforted in the lower parts of the earth, with Sheol identified with the grave and compared with Hades where the buried rich man in Jesus' story is described as seeing. The weight of teaching holds otherwise, that the scene portrays those slain with the sword going down into pits together, friend and foe buried indiscriminately with their weapons of war and swords laid under their heads, set over against the land of the living. There the strong among the mighty speak out of the midst of Sheol, and Pharaoh lying among the multitude of his slain enemies is comforted at the sight. Those who were his arm and dwelt under his shadow go down with him to join the slain, including Pharaoh and his host slain in battle with the king of Babylon.

The speaking, lying with swords, feeling shame, and being comforted do not mean conscious conversation, comfort, or shame in death. They are figurative personification and metaphor for defeated rulers and armies in the realm of the dead, whose apparent company and actions are not literal conversations or experiences of conscious dead people. They are of the same kind as dead kings rising from thrones to mock the king of Babylon and Rachel weeping for her children. They are used to set forth the great truth of their common overthrow and leveling in death, where defeated nations are represented as meeting their end.

The verse is thus an Old Testament example showing such imagery can be used without teaching the literal condition of the dead. Its picture of the dead speaking, being comforted, or lying with their weapons is figurative, not a literal account of conscious dead people conversing in the earth. Therefore the speech and consciousness of the rich man in Hades in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is likewise figurative and proves nothing about torment or consciousness in death. The speech of the unconscious inhabitants of Hades personified as speaking and acting is not proof that the dead are conscious, but a figure used to press truth upon the living, of the same kind as that parable.