Ezekiel 31:12Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

His boughs will be cast aside, and his branches will decline, so that all the nations of the earth will be stripped from his protection, leaving him devoid of sovereign power.

When the Lord triumphed over him, stripping away his authority and autonomy, the once-threatening adversaries—those who were outside the covenant of God, the Gentiles—embraced the truth of His proclamation, completely vanquishing him. They dismantled his control and cast him down upon the mountains where he had previously established shrines and altars, having set up pillars representing all wisdom. His branches scattered across the wilderness, and his stalks were shattered in every corner of the earth. Through these branches and stalks, he summoned various idols, which, through his cunning, were raised up but were ultimately reduced to nothing on the mountains and in the fields, first by the former destroyers and then by the believing Gentiles.