GREAT EAGLES AND THE SPREADING VINE

Ezekiel’s ‘riddle’ and ‘parable’ occupies the first half of the chapter, with its interpretation filling the latter half.

The first ‘great eagle’ of the parable represents ‘the king of Babylon’, Nebuchadnezzar; its long wings, ‘pinions’, indicating the vast extent of his dominions. The cedar of Lebanon stands for the house of David. The crest of the cedar and its topmost twigs symbolize Jehoiachin and his royal court, these being the first exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar deported to Babylon, the ‘city of merchants’.

The ‘seed of the land’ which became ‘a spreading vine’ signi­fies Zedekiah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, whom Nebuchadnezzar installed as his vassal in place of Jehoiachin. The second ‘great eagle’, which was not as glorious as the first, represents Egypt. The bending of the vine’s roots, and the shooting forth of its branches towards this ‘great eagle’ to obtain refreshment, signi­fied Zedekiah’s foolish trust in Pharaoh’s military aid to deliver him from Nebuchadnezzar’s predictable reaction to his planned rebellion. The east wind, which caused the vine to wither, is a common picture of scorching and devastating power.

This parable was communicated about three years before Zedekiah formed his disastrous alliance with Egypt. Its purpose was to dissuade the Jews of Jerusalem from entering into any such alliance. On account of Judah’s sins, God had disciplined them by giving them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. For them to rebel against Babylon would, therefore, be an act of rebellion against the Lord and against His purpose for them.

But there was more to it. Nebuchadnezzar had extracted an oath of loyalty from Zedekiah - which oath Zedekiah had sworn ‘by God’, 2 Chron. 36. 13. Since this oath had been taken in God’s name, the Lord regarded Zedekiah’s oath and covenant as being His own - His own honour was bound up with it. Speaking pro­phetically of the alliance with Egypt as if it were already forged, He says of Zedekiah, ‘mine oath … he hath despised, and my covenant… he hath broken’, v. 19. Therefore, Zedekiah had far more reason to fear Him by whom he swore his oath than ever he did him to whom he had sworn it!