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Daily Devotions

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 
Day 
Day 330

"In the day when it went down to hell"

Text: Ezekiel 31:15

THE FALL OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

It was the Lord who had helped Assyria to become a significant nation. It brought great strides of improvement when the kings sought to build their empire. The Assyrians did a lot for mankind. It encouraged the pursuit of knowledge. It sought to improve the livelihood of the nations associated with it.

But when the Assyrian kings began to be full of pride and arrogance, their hearts were changed. They became cruel and wicked. They harmed many people grievously. It was because of their wicked ways that God decided to end the Assyrian empire.

“Thus says the Lord God:
‘In the day when it went down to hell, I caused mourning.
I covered the deep because of it.
I restrained its rivers, and the great waters were held back.
I caused Lebanon to mourn for it,
and all the trees of the field wilted because of it.
I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall,
when I cast it down to hell together with those who descend into the Pit;
and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon,
all that drink water, were comforted in the depths of the earth.”
Ezekiel 31:15-16

1. It went down to hell.

a) The Assyrians were doomed.

b) They would be cast into hell.

2. Many mourned the end of the Assyrian empire.

a) God caused many to go into mourning.

b) The Lord caused the mighty seas and rivers to mourn.

c) Their movements were restrained by the Lord.

d) Lebanon and its majestic trees that mourned for Assyria had been compared to an outstanding cedar tree.

e) God was grieved that He had to put an end to the Assyrian empire.

3. The nations of the world mourned too.

a) God had to chastise and punish the Assyrians.

b) They were all brought down to hell.

c) The allies of the Assyrians were also affected for they too had learned their wicked ways.

d) The allies of Assyria were called “the trees of Eden”.

e) They were the choicest of the trees in Lebanon.

f) They would suffer the same fate as Assyria if they had followed their evil ways.

3. A measure of comfort.

a) This was felt by some nations.

b) Especially the nations that had been treated terribly by the Assyrians.

c) Their comfort was that the Assyrians would no longer be able to hurt them anymore.

d) This comfort was given by the Lord.