Ezekiel 15
OGCREVIEW QUESTIONS
What comparisons did Ezekiel see between Judah and a vine tree?
In what sense had Jerusalem already passed through the fire of judgment prior to the 587 B.C. destruction?
How does Ezekiel illustrate the grace of God in the original selection of Israel?
Who were the Amorites and Hittites? In what sense was Israel the daughter of the Amorite and Hittite?
What treatment was normally accorded new-born babies in the ancient world?
Where and when did Israel become the bride of God?
By what figures does Ezekiel indicate God’s gracious concern for his wife?
How did God’s bride commit adultery against Him?
How is the total degeneracy of Israel indicated in the parable of chapter 16?
How would God punish His harlotrous wife?
In what sense could Samaria be called Judah’s elder sister, and Sodom her younger sister?
In what sense had the sin of Judah exceeded that of Samaria and Sodom?
How was the prophecy of the restoration of Sodom and Samaria fulfilled?
What is the everlasting covenant to which Ezekiel alludes in Ezekiel 16:60?
Identify the major symbols in the parable of the two eagles.
What had King Zedekiah done which particularly antagonized the Lord?
What is represented by the tender twig which God Himself would plant on a high mountain?
Special Study
THE RESTORATION OF SODOM
Ezekiel’s allusion to turning the captivity of Samaria and Sodom (Ezekiel 16:53; Ezekiel 16:55) has occasioned commentators great difficulty. The prophet seems to be saying that Sodom, which was destroyed in the days of Abraham, and Samaria, which had been carried away into captivity in 722 B.C., would be restored as well as Jerusalem. Whereas there is no parallel in Scripture to the restoration of Sodom, the Bible does point to the restoration of other evil nations surrounding Israel (cf. Jeremiah 12:14-17). But how could Sodom which had been totally obliterated without survivor be restored? Six different answers to this question have been given:
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Currey and Ellicott deny that the passage contains any promise of restoration for Sodom. These commentators under stand Ezekiel 16:53 to be underscoring the hopelessness of Judah’s punishment. Only when Sodom was restored something manifestly impossible would Jerusalem be restored. Yet it does appear in this passage that some kind of restoration is promised or at least implied for Sodom. Besides, if the prophet is saying that Jerusalem would never be restored he would be contradicting not only other prophets but his own predictions as well.
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Feinberg sees here a prediction of a literal rebuilding of Sodom and the cities of the plain. During the Millennium these cities will be restored. But how can Sodom and her daughters be restored when all the inhabitants of that area have been swept off the face of the earth? Feinberg limply replies .. the restoration of Sodom will pose no difficulty for the omnipotence of God [329]
[329] Feinberg, PE, p. 91.
- The renowned German commentator Keil insists that the passage must refer to literal Sodom. But Keil does not see here an earthly restoration. He contends that .. the realization of the prophecy must be sought for beyond the present order of things, in one that extends into life everlasting.[330] Keil is thus ambiguous about the fulfillment. Surely this passage does not refer to those Sodomite sinners who endure eternal fire (Jude 1:7). Keil’s proposed fulfillment of the passage almost borders on universalism.
[330] Keil, BCOT, I, 228.
- Payne has suggested that the post-exilic occupation of the Dead Sea area by the Jews constitutes a reasonable fulfillment to the prediction.[331] However, it is difficult to see how this could constitute a reversal of the fortunes of *Sodom.
[331]* Payne, EBP, p. 359.
- Still others regard Sodom as symbolic of the descendants of Sodom. Ammon and Moab were born to Lot’s daughters who had escaped from the destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19:29-30). The restoration of Sodom would in reality be the restoration of Moab and Ammon, Jeremiah 20:16 refers to the cities of the plain as the cities which the Lord overthrew and repented not. This statement seems to preclude a literal, physical restoration of Sodom. However, Jeremiah does predict the restoration of Ammon and Moab (Jeremiah 48:47; Jeremiah 49:6). A. R. Fausset develops this view as follows:
Probably. Ammon and Moab, were in part restored under Cyrus; but the full realization of the restoration is yet future; the heathen nations to be brought to Christ being typified by Sodom, whose sins they now reproduce.[332]
[332] Fausset, JFB, IV, 257.
- Perhaps Sodom here comes to represent the heathen in general all that survived of the Canaanites and their culture. The thrust of the passage is not the restoration of cities, but of rightful inhabitants. Ellison[333] points out that Samaria never actually ceased to be a city. Sargon, the conqueror of Samaria, immediately rebuilt and repopulated the place. Thus, the prophecy must be talking about changing the fortunes of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Samaria, and Sodom. God must punish wicked men; but His mercy is such that He must provide for the deliverance of even the greatest sinners. Ezekiel here is filled with the thought of the spiritual conversion of wicked people like Sodom. He expresses this thought concretely in terms of a reversal of the fortunes for Sodom (i.e., gross sinners). Sodom and Samaria would be given to Jerusalem as daughters (Ezekiel 16:61). Citizens of the former Northern Kingdom and heathen in general would become part of that new covenant Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22). This could not and would not take place under the Old Testament covenant of works; but Jew, Samaritan and Gentile would find salvation under God’s everlasting covenant of grace.
[333] Ellison, ENN, p. 66.
Ezekiel 15:1-8
Chapter Eight
PARABLES AND PICTURES 15:1-17:24
The justification of God’s judgment against Judah continues in Chapter s 15-17, but the nature of the defense changes. Here Ezekiel employs parables or allegories to paint a rather gruesome word picture of the ingratitude, sin and rebellion of God’s people. He describes (1) the useless vine (Ezekiel 15:1-8); (2) the faithless wife (Ezekiel 16:1-43); (3) the fallen sister (Ezekiel 16:44-63); and (4) the lowly vine (Ezekiel 17:1-21). The section closes with a brief and optimistic parable of the stately cedar (Ezekiel 17:22-24).
I. ISRAEL: A USELESS VINE 15:1-8
TRANSLATION
(1) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (2) Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any other tree, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest? (3) Is wood taken from it to make any work? or will men take a peg from it to hang any vessel thereon? (4) Behold, it is cast to the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both ends of it while the middle is singed. Is it profitable for any work? (5) Behold, when it is whole it is not suitable for work; how much less when the fire consumes it, and it is singed, shall it yet be suitable for work? (6) Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Like the vine tree among the trees of the forest which I have appointed for fuel for the fire, thus I have appointed the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (7) And I will set My face against them; from the fire they have come forth and the fire shall consume them; and you shall know that I am the LORD when I set My face against them. (8) And I will make the land a desolation because they have grievously transgressed (oracle of the Lord GOD).
COMMENTS
The earlier prophets frequently had spoken of Israel as the vine of God.[314] That figure, while beautiful to contemplate, can lend itself to gross distortion in the minds of hypocrites. Jews might begin to think that because of the accident of birth they were branches of the true vine which could never be destroyed. In chapter 15 Ezekiel sets forth a parable, as later the Greater Son of Man would do (John 15), to expose the groundlessness of this hope.
[314] Genesis 49:22; Psalms 80:9; Hoses Ezekiel 10:1; Isaiah 5; Deuteronomy 32:32; Jeremiah 2:21
The Lord here directed Ezekiel’s thinking to the vine tree the wild vine of the woods that was virtually valueless (Ezekiel 15:2). It was a fruitless vine and its wood was useless as timber. No one would think of using that wood as material for making furniture. The wood of the vine was even too thin and pliable to be fashioned into a wall peg (Ezekiel 15:3). The wild vine was fit only for kindling for the fire. Should it be snatched from the fire before being completely consumed it would still be good for nothing (Ezekiel 15:4). Before it was cast into the fire it was good for nothing; how much less after it had been charred and burned (Ezekiel 15:5).
The application of the vine-tree parable comes in Ezekiel 15:6. The purpose of the vine is fruit bearing. If a vine bears no fruit, or wild and sour fruit, it is, in comparison to other trees, of no value. So it was with Israel. If Israel bore no fruit did not fulfill its mission then it was poorer and weaker than the heathen nations round it. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were like that vine tree good for nothing except destruction by fire (Ezekiel 15:6), Israel was God’s vine which He hoped would bear precious fruit. But that vine had degenerated into a wild vine and thus had become valueless. The whole nation consisting of the twelve tribes failed in its purpose. Into the fire of affliction that vine had already been put. Israel already had been weakened by the loss of the ten northern tribes, and the Judaean exile of 597 B.C. All that remained was Jerusalem, and that city is like a charred piece of wood which was good for nothing save further burning.
God had set His face against the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The city had passed through the fire of earlier Babylonian invasions in 597 and 605 B.C. -and had been charred but not consumed. But that was no guarantee that the city was inviolable. In the next fire the city would be consumed, and when that happened the inhabitants would know that the destruction had not happened by chance, but that it was the decree of God (Ezekiel 15:7). Their land would become a desolation because of the grievous transgression of the people (Ezekiel 15:8).