Ezekiel 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. 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.
Assyria is pictured at the height of its prosperity and glory as a noble tree, a cedar in the garden of God, greater than all the surrounding nations and towering above them in greatness and beauty. It surpassed every other tree, so that the cedars could not hide or overshadow it, and the fir trees were not like its boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like its branches, nor was any tree in the garden of God like unto it in its beauty. All the other trees envied it in its towering beauty.
The cedar's preeminence in beauty and grandeur makes it an emblem of royalty. Its use to represent the righteous shows that heaven honors those who do the will of God.
The cedar represents the glory of the Assyrian realm, whose pride and cruelty led to its downfall. The rise and fall of Assyria in that greatness is rich in lessons for the nations of the earth today.