1 The word of the Lord came to me:
2 "Son of man, set forth an allegory and tell the house of Israel a parable.
3 Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: A great eagle with powerful wings, long feathers and full plumage of varied colors came to Lebanon. Taking hold of the top of a cedar,
4 he broke off its topmost shoot and carried it away to a land of merchants, where he planted it in a city of traders. 5 "‘He took some of the seed of your land and put it in fertile soil. He planted it like a willow by abundant water, 6 and it sprouted and became a low, spreading vine. Its branches turned toward him, but its roots remained under it. So it became a vine and produced branches and put out leafy boughs.
7 "‘But there was another great eagle with powerful wings and full plumage. The vine now sent out its roots toward him from the plot where it was planted and stretched out its branches to him for water.
1.
Jer. 31:342.
Jer. 50:203.
Mic. 7:194.
Gen. 9:165.
Heb. 13:20,21 6. Ezek. 16:27,54,61; 36:32; 43:10,118 It had been planted in good soil by abundant water so that it would produce branches, bear fruit and become a splendid vine.’
9 "Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Will it thrive? Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruit so that it withers? All its new growth will wither. It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it up by the roots.
10 Even if it is transplanted, will it thrive? Will it not wither completely when the east wind strikes it — wither away in the plot where it grew?’"
11 Then the word of the Lord came to me:
12 "Say to this rebellious house, ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Say to them: ‘The king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and carried off her king and her nobles, bringing them back with him to Babylon.
13 Then he took a member of the royal family and made a treaty with him, putting him under oath. He also carried away the leading men of the land,
14 so that the kingdom would be brought low, unable to rise again, surviving only by keeping his treaty.
15 But the king rebelled against him by sending his envoys to Egypt to get horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the treaty and yet escape?
16 "‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, he shall die in Babylon, in the land of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose treaty he broke.
17 Pharaoh with his mighty army and great horde will be of no help to him in war, when ramps are built and siege works erected to destroy many lives.
18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Because he had given his hand in pledge and yet did all these things, he shall not escape.
19 "‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will bring down on his head my oath that he despised and my covenant that he broke.
20 I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment upon him there because he was unfaithful to me.
21 All his fleeing troops will fall by the sword, and the survivors will be scattered to the winds. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken.
22 "‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
23 On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches.
24 All the trees of the field will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. "‘I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.’"
The parable of the eagles is found in vv.1-10; it is followed by an explanation in vv. 11-21. The concluding three verses are another parable about a cedar tree that also was part of the original story.
The Hebrew word for “parable” is chiydah, meaning “a puzzle,” or “a dark saying.” Ezekiel only uses the word in this chapter. Asaph used it in “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old,”1 which is the psalm Matthew quotes in his explanation of Jesus’ use of parables. We read: “Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: ‘I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.’”2
Introducing this chapter, John B. Taylor, in Ezekiel, writes: “The theme of this chapter is the treachery of Zedekiah, the puppet-king appointed by Nebuchadrezzar to replace the captive Jehoiachin. It was as a result of this treachery that Nebuchadrezzar eventually marched on Jerusalem to besiege and destroy it (587 BC), but as this is
1.
Ps. 78:2foretold by Ezekiel in verse 20 it is clear that the utterance of this parable is to be dated a year or two before then, say about 590 BC. This accords well with the position of this oracle in the book, because the last preceding date (8:1) was 592 BC and the following date (20:1) is eleven months later.”
About the two eagles, Taylor observes: “The first great eagle is Nebuchadrezzar who, with his massive military array, comes to Judah (represented by Lebanon), marches away its nobility (the top of the cedar, 3, RV, RSV) and removes them to Babylon. Knox translates: ‘he … carried it off to Merchant-land, set it down in Traffic City.’ He then take of the seed of the land, i.e. a member of the royal family, namely Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah (cf. 2 Ki. 24:17) and plants him like a willow twig in a fertile seed-bed (5; lit. ‘a field of seed’), which can be no other than his native Jerusalem, where he duly flourishes. However, he is never anything more than a low spreading vine (6), with limited powers and influence, always dependent on his Babylonian master and with his branches turned in subservience toward him. The second eagle (7) is Egypt, to whom this vine turns for sustenance, but the prophet sees no future in this move. The vine will wither away and be uprooted by the king of Babylon with the greatest ease (9, 10).”
The Pulpit Commentary explains the mention of Lebanon, which seems to be somewhat out of context, by
stating: “If the cedar was chosen to be the symbol of the monarchy of Judah, then it followed that Lebanon, as the special home of the cedar, should take its place in the parable. Possibly the fact that one of the stateliest palaces of Solomon was known as the ‘house of the forest of Lebanon’ (… 1 Kings 7:2; 10:17, 21) may have made the symbolism specially suggestive.”
The Hebrew word tsammereth, rendered here “the top of,” occurs only in Ezekiel in this chapter and in chapter thirty-one where it is translated “thick foliage.”1
John B. Taylor, in Ezekiel comments on v.8: “Verse 8 presents a problem of interpretation. AV, RV seem to imply the happy state of Zedekiah under Nebuchadrezzar’s authority. The words are virtually a repeat of verse 5, as if to show how unnecessary and unwise it was of him to be courting Egypt. RSV, translation From the bed where it was
planted he transplanted it, or better, with mg., it was transplanted, suggests that Zedekiah’s appeal to Egypt was like
a further transplanting of the tender young vine which would render it weaker and more vulnerable. This is an attractive and legitimate rendering of the MT, but it confuses the picture. Before, Zedekiah’s planting had been in the watered fertile lands of Palestine, the ‘land of brooks of water’ (Dt. 8:7; 11:11), where he was able to grow up in dependence upon Babylon. A change of direction in the vine’s growth is a very different thing from being transplanted to another situation altogether. This would mean that Zedekiah was moving his court from Jerusalem to Egypt, and nothing so drastic was ever envisaged, so far as we know. The only way that RSV’s interpretation can be logically defended is by explaining verse 5 as the planting of the seed royal (Jehoiachin or Zedekiah?) in the watered land of Babylon, i.e. in the sphere of his allegiance … On the whole the AV, RV interpretation is more consistent with the parable being told.”
In v.9 God asks the question of the people, presumably Ezekiel’s audience, whether an alliance of Judah with Egypt would have any chance of success. The people in exile would be the most knowledgeable on the topic of Babylon’s military power. The question is more or less rhetorical since the answer is immediately given. According to The Adam Clarke’s Commentary, the fruit that withers refers to “the children of Zedekiah” and the new growth represent “all the nobles; all shall perish with Zedekiah.”
Although the parable suggests that “It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it up by the roots,” it would take a long siege before Nebuchadnezzar’s army could break through the walls of Jerusalem and destroy the city. But it is true that the capture of the city was not the result of a grueling battle with overwhelming force.
Zedekiah’s rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar was actually rebellion against God. Nebuchadnezzar had made Zedekiah swear an oath by the name of YHWH.2 From a political point of view that was one of the shrewdest things the king of Babylon could have done. He may not have realized how beneficial it would be for him to have the name of the God of Israel on his side. On the other hand, it would be Babylon’s undoing that she thought the God of
1. See Ezek. 31:3,10,14. 2. II Chron. 36:13
heaven and earth could be manipulated for political purposes. Zedekiah’s oath would also become his own ruin. When he pronounced the name of YHWH, which was considered so sacred that no Jew would take it in his mouth, he did not take God seriously. That turned out to be his greatest failure. The main point of this parable is not the breaking of political treaties with Babylon or Egypt, but the breaking of the oath by the name of YHWH.
John B. Taylor, in Ezekiel, observes about the explanation of the parable: “The most notable feature of the prophet’s explanation is the way it shows how the dependent relationship imposed by Nebuchadrezzar on Zedekiah is regarded as amounting to a solemn covenant which the vassal breaks at his peril. Whatever may be thought of the standards of heathen nations, and Nebuchadrezzar’s policy was undoubtedly to make his neighbors weak and to keep them weak (14), Zedekiah had no option but to submit to his overlord. By sending ambassadors to Egypt, he despised
the oath and broke the covenant (18), and, says Yahweh, this was my oath and my covenant (19). Such rebellion
would bring not only the displeasure of Babylon, but the punishment of God – though in practice the one was identical with the other (20). The implications of this attitude are far-reaching. It indicates that agreements entered into and obligations incurred by worshippers of God are as binding as if they had been made with God in person. And what applies to nations must presumably be binding for social and personal relationships as well. The breaking of a treaty, a contract, a promise or any other kind of covenant involves God as well as the person who is thus aggrieved.” One amazing feature in the explanation of the parable is that God seems to take responsibility for the cruel way the Babylonians would treat the people of Judah and their king. God is not responsible for human cruelty. He did not inflict suffering on Job, although He allowed Satan to do it. God was not the one who ordered the massacre of the infants of Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth. When the righteous suffer, He is with them to carry them through. But for those who refuse His love and protection, what happens to them is part of the wrath of God. Jesus said: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”1
What Ezekiel predicts here about the fate of Zedekiah was fulfilled to the letter, as the report in Second Kings indicates.2
There is a third parable in vv.22-24, which is a Messianic prophecy that turns the previous parable of judgment and failure into a glorious promise of restoration. Zedekiah was Israel’s puppet-king who replaced Jeconiah who had been taken into captivity and who died in Babylon, ending David’s dynasty. Jeremiah had prophesied about Jeconiah that none of his children would ever ascend Israel’s throne again. We read the dramatic announcement: “O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says: ‘Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah.’”3 David’s line of royal offspring via Solomon would end with Jeconiah. The son of David through whom the Messiah would be born was Nathan,4 about whom we know nothing except that he was one of David’s children.
John B. Taylor, in Ezekiel, comments here: “This time it is the Lord God who takes action. After the failure of the two great eagles to make a success of establishing the state of Israel under their extensive and powerful patronage, God says, I myself (emphatic) will plant it upon a high mountain where it will grow and be conspicuous and attract the birds of the air to shelter under its protection. The sprig from the lofty to of the cedar (22, RSV) refers to a member of the Davidic dynasty, though Ezekiel could hardly have known how this was going to be fulfilled. The kingly line would, however, flourish, contrary to all appearances, and other nations would be incorporated under its secure and wide-spreading dominion. In so doing, the Lord would reverse the expected order of things, so that powerful nations like Babylon and Egypt (the high tree, the green tree) would wither and fade, while the low and dry
1.
John 3:17,18 2. II Kings 25:3-73.
Jer. 22:29,30 4. Luke 3:31would by His word be made to flourish (24; cf. I Sa. 2:408; Lk. 1:51-53).” Barnes’ Notes adds about “the mountain heights of Israel”: “The parallel passage (Ezek 20:40) points to the mountain on which the temple stood. But it is not here the actual Mount Moriah so much as the kingdom of which that mountain was the representative, the seat of the throne of the anointed Son of God (Ps 2:6; compare 40:2).”