Ezekiel 17

What unutterable compassion and forgiving love are in these words! Thou, Jerusalem, wilt not remember the days of thy youth and of My mercy to thee then; but I will remember My covenant with thee, made in those days of thy youth, and I will establish it with thee for an everlasting covenant! Is not such love as this sovereign—a love that owes nothing to antecedent love on the part of His people, but lifts itself high above the mountains of sin and spans the deep abysses of guilt and the sinks of human abominations to find subjects on which loving-kindness and Divine compassion may rest! Oh, indeed, this is the loving-kindness of the ever-blessed God! Well may it be said, “The Lord is pitiful and of tender mercy. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” H. C.

63. God’s assurance, “I have forgiven,” the assurance that we do not need to plead with Him, to bribe Him, to buy pardon by tears and amendment, but that it is already provided for us—the blessed vision of an all-mighty love treasured in a dying Saviour, the proclamation “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them”—oh, these are the powers that break, or rather that melt our hearts; these are the keen weapons that wound to heal our hearts; these are the teachers that teach a godly sorrow that needeth not to be repented of. Think of all the patient, pitying mercy of our Father, with which He has lingered about our lives, and softly knocked at the door of our hearts! Think of that unspeakable gift in which are wrapped up all His tender mercies—the gift of Christ, who died for us all! Let it smite upon your heart with a rebuke mightier than all the thunders of law or terrors of judgment. Let it unveil for you not only the depths of the love of God, but the darkness of your own selfish rebellion from Him. Measure your crooked lives by the perfect rightness of Christ’s. Learn how you have missed the aim which He reached, who could say, “I delight to do Thy will, O my God.” And let that same infinite love that teaches sin announce frank forgiveness and prophesy perfect purity. Then, with heart fixed upon Christ’s cross, let your cry for pardon be the echo of the most sure promise of pardon which sounds from His dying lips; and as you gaze on Him who died that we might be freed from all iniquity, ask Him to blot out your transgressions, to wash you thoroughly from your iniquity, and to cleanse you from your sins. Ask, for you cannot ask in vain; ask earnestly, for you need it sorely; ask confidently, for He has promised before you ask; but ask, for unless you do, you will not receive. Ask, and the answer is sent already: “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.” A. M.

17:1, 2 AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, put forth a rid- 3 dle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel; and say, Thus saith the Lord God: A 4 great eagle with great wings and long pinions, full of feathers, which had divers colours, 5 came unto Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar: he cropped off the topmost of the young 6 twigs thereof, and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants. He took 7 also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful soil; he placed it beside many waters: 8 he set it as a willow tree. And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose 9 branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs. There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend its roots toward him, and shot forth its branches toward him, from the beds of its plantation, that he might water it. 8 It was planted in a good soil by many waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that 9 it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine. Say thou, Thus saith the Lord God: Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it may wither; that all its fresh springing leaves may wither; even without great power or 10 much people to pluck it up by the roots thereof? Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the beds where it grew.

11,12. Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and brought them to him to Baby 13 lon; and he took of the seed royal, and made a covenant with him; he also brought him 14 under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land: that the kingdom might be base, that 15 it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand. But he re-belled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? shall he break 16 the covenant, and yet escape? As I live, saith the Lord God, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, 17 even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die. Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, when they cast up mounts and build 18 forts, to cut off many persons. For he hath despised the oath by breaking the covenant; and behold, he had given his hand, and yet hath done all these things; he shall not escape. 19 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and 20 my covenant that he hath broken, I will even bring it upon his own head. And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and 21 will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me. And all his fugitives in all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward every wind: and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken it. 22 Thus saith the Lord God: I will also take of the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the topmost of his young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it upon an 23 high mountain and eminent; in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all 24 fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.

Chap. 17. Ezekiel, after describing by a figure the circumstances and conditions of the Jews and Zedekiah, the vassal of the Assyrian monarch, warns them of the delusive character of their hopes of help from Egypt, protests against the perfidy which must accompany such alliance, and points out that the restoration of the people of God will be effected under a very different prince from Zedekiah. There will indeed in future times be deliverance, and a free and mighty kingdom governed by a son of David, under whose shadow all the inhabitants will gather themselves as subjects. The close of this chapter is a most striking prediction of the kingdom of the Messiah. B. C.

The riddle or parable which constitutes the subject throughout this chapter is explained in the chapter itself, verses 11-21. This explanation makes the significance entirely clear and certain. The first eagle (verses 3-6) is Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; the second (verse 7) is Pharaoh of Egypt. The highest branch of the cedar cropped by the first eagle and carried to a land of traffic, etc. (verses 3, 4), was Jehoia-chin, taken from the throne of Judah into captivity to Babylon. Then “the seed of the land, planted in a fruitful field, by great waters, and becoming a spreading vine of low stature (verses 5, 6), was Zedekiah, made king by Nebuchadnezzar over the remnant left in the land. He was, of course, bound by solemn covenant to a faithful allegiance to his conqueror and sovereign. Turning toward Egypt to solicit help thence that he might maintain himself in breaking faith with the king of Babylon was base treachery and rebellion, which God will punish.

1-4. This representation partakes of the nature of both the riddle and the parable. In its points of analogy it is a parable; in its enigma—in the fact that its significance is somewhat recondite and obscure—it is a riddle. The eagle, king of birds, not unfitly represents the kings of Chaldea and Egypt. So also a tree, whether the cedar or the vine-tree, with its magnificent foliage and abundant fruit, making homes and furnishing food for whole families of birds, not unaptly represents a great king, the father of his people. This figure was not altogether foreign to Chaldea, for we find it applied beautifully to Nebuchadnezzar in Dan. 4. H.C.

4. “A land of traffic, a city of merchants.”

This allusion to the commercial character of Babylon does not stand alone and unsupported in Scripture. Isaiah speaks of the Babylonian “merchants” (Isa. 47 : 15), and describes the Chaldeans as persons “whose cry is in their ships” (chap. 43 : 14). Ezekiel mentions Caneh (Calneh) and Chilmad, Babylonian towns, among the places that carried on commercial dealings with Tyre (27 : 23). In the Revelation of John, Babylon is made the type of a city, which is represented as eminently commercial (Rev. 18 : 12, 13). The notices of Babylon in profane writers and in the inscriptions fully bear out the character thus assigned to her, showing that she was the centre of an enormous land and sea commerce, which must have given occupation to thousands of merchants, and have necessitated the employment of numerous ships. G. R.

5. He took also of the seed of the land.** Zedekiah, the king’s uncle, not a Babylonian satrap, was made king. This shoot is not planted like a cedar on the top of a mountain, but in low ground, by great waters, like a willow tree, to be fruitful indeed and no more. (See verse 14.) B. C.

5,6. This eagle (Nebuchadnezzar) now takes of the seed of the land a scion of the royal family of Judah, and plants it under favorable auspices in a fruitful field and by abundant waters, where it might become, not indeed a great cedar, but a humble yet useful vine. If Zedekiah had remained true to his sovereign, and especially, if true also to God, he and his people might have enjoyed a career of honor and prosperity. His comparatively humble condition—a vine of low stature—looks to the fact that all the chief princes and the more active, intelligent and useful citizens had been taken to Babylon as captives. (See 2 K. 24 : 14–16 ; Jer. 24.)

7,8. The historical facts represented here are simply that Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar and sent ambassadors to Egypt for aid. This policy the Lord by His prophet sharply condemned. It was the burden of repeated remonstrances through Jeremiah.

9,10. The Lord now begins to make the moral application of this parable. Shall such treachery prosper? Can such ingratitude and baseness result well in the end? Will not the first great eagle (Nebuchadnezzar) take revenge upon this vine (Zedekiah), tear it up by its roots and leave it to wither and die? The passage intimates that this will be done easily. Judah was now greatly reduced in military strength by the loss of her citizens already taken captive; by her immoralities; and not least, by God’s wrath against her. The king of Babylon could easily punish her “without great power or many people to pluck her up by her roots.”

11–16. This explanation is itself plain, and most amply unfolds the meaning of this riddle or parable. The great facts of Zedekiah’s treachery were just about transpiring now in the sixth year of his reign. It was essential that the exiles in Chaldea should know these facts, and should see the justice of God’s wrath against Zedekiah and his people for this rebellion against the king of Babylon. Hence this representation held a vitally important place in Ezekiel’s prophecies to his captive brethren. Verse 16 disclosed to them the pertinent prophecy that King Zedekiah should be brought to the place where his real sovereign lived, under the power of the king against whom he had perjured himself and whose covenant he had broken, and should die there in Babylon. This announcement must have sufficed to crush out any fond hopes they might have had as to the reign of Zedekiah.

17–21. The help of Egypt, though promised him, should avail nothing. Deservedly this passage lays stress upon the treachery and rebellion of Zedekiah as the ground of the Lord’s last judgments on himself, his family and his throne. So true and right it is that God holds even kings to the morality of good faith in their solemn compacts. H. C.

Zedekiah’s breaking this oath and covenant is the sin which God will recompense upon His own head (verse 19), the trespass which he has trespassed against God, for which God will plead with him (verse 20). Perjury is a heinous sin, and highly provoking to the God of heaven. It would not serve for an excuse. 1. That he who took this oath was a king, a king of the house of David, whose liberty and dignity might surely set him above the obligation of oaths; no, though kings are gods to us, they are men to God, and not exempt from His law and judgment. The prince is doubtless as firmly bound before God to the people by his coronation oath as the people to the prince by the oath of allegiance. 2. Nor that this oath was sworn to the king of Babylon, a heathen prince; no, though Nebuchadnezzar was a worshipper of false gods, yet the true God will avenge His quarrel when one of His worshippers breaks his league with him; for truth is a debt owing to all men; and if the professors of the true religion deal perfidiously with those of a false religion, their profession will be so far from excusing, much less justifying them, that it aggravates their sin, and God will the more surely and severely punish it because by it they give occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme; as that Mohammedan prince who, when the Christians broke their league with him, cried out, “O Jesus, are these Thy Christians?” 3. Nor would it justify him that the oath was extorted from him by a conqueror, for the covenant was made upon a valuable consideration. He held his life and crown upon this condition, that he should be faithful and bear true allegiance to the king of Babylon; and if he enjoyed the benefit of his bargain, it is very unjust if he do not observe the terms. Let him know then that, having despised the oath and broken the covenant, he shall not escape. And if the contempt and violation of such an oath, such a covenant as this, would be so punished, of how much sorer punishment shall they be thought worthy who break covenant with God (when lo, they had given their hand upon it that they would be faithful), who tread under foot the blood of that covenant as an unholy thing? Betwixt the covenants there is no comparison. H.

22. There is a contrast between the dealings of Nebuchadnezzar and of Jehovah. Nebuchadnezzar cut off, Jehovah will set up the top shoot; Nebuchadnezzar carried it into a land of traffic, Jehovah will plant it in the mountain of the height of Israel. Nebuchadnezzar set his favorite as a vine, lowly though not poor, in the place where such trees as the humble willow grow and thrive. Jehovah’s favorite is like the lofty cedar, eminent upon a high mountain. B. C.

22-24. There can be no good reason to doubt the application of these verses to the then future Messiah. All the kings of David’s line were in the succession of promise between him and his greater Son. Hence the sad fall of the two last prior to the Captivity afforded a pertinent occasion for thus alluding to the greater glories—never to be despaired of—that were sure to the future Zion in her blessed King. The hopes of God’s people need not go down in the eclipse that came over the royal house of David through the crimes, the captivity, the death of these two kings. Their doom torcibly suggested the contrasted destiny of “the righteous branch” that should reign and prosper and fill the earth with His blessings. The Lord could not forego such an opportunity for promises so timely, so refreshing, so inspiring to His true people in all ages. H. C.

Whereas the judgments threatened in this chapter might seem to indicate the utter extirpation of the seed of David, the Lord is here pleased to assure its continuance, and the raising of the Messiah from that house, according to promise. And thus this prophecy, as well as that contained in the last chapter, closes its denunciation of woes with a striking passage relating to the kingdom of Christ. Poole.

God Himself will herein be glorified (verse 24). The setting up of the Messiah’s kingdom in the world shall discover more clearly than ever to the children of men that God is the King of all the earth (Ps. 47: 7). Never was there a more full conviction given of this truth, that all things are governed by an infinitely wise and mighty Providence, than that which was given by the exaltation of Christ and the establishment of His kingdom among men; for by that it appeared that God has all hearts in His hand, and the sovereign disposal of all affairs. H.