Ezekiel 17King James Version
The riddle of the two eagles. A great eagle (Babylon) takes the top of a cedar (Jehoiachin) and plants a seed (Zedekiah). The seed sprouts, but then turns toward another eagle (Egypt) and rebels. It will wither. Yet God himself will plant a tender twig on the top of a high mountain, and it will become a noble cedar, and birds of every wing shall dwell under it.
God gives Ezekiel a riddle about two eagles and a vine: the first eagle (Babylon) takes the top of a cedar (the royal line) and plants a vine (Zedekiah) in good soil. The vine then stretches toward the second eagle (Egypt), breaking the covenant with the first. The interpretation follows: Zedekiah's treaty-breaking and his turn to Egypt will end in catastrophe. But God also plants a tender shoot that becomes a great cedar.
Political betrayal of covenant obligations is also theological betrayal, and the fragile shoot God plants in the end will grow into what no human alliance could provide.
24: "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." The political reversals of history are God's doing, not accident.
Around 592 BC, Zedekiah is still on Jerusalem's throne, placed there by Nebuchadnezzar and already plotting with Egypt to break free. Ezekiel sees the outcome before it happens. The eagles' allegory was intelligible enough to the audience that they asked about it.
The great eagle as Babylon; the second eagle as Egypt; the vine as Zedekiah; the tender shoot God plants; the cedar as the Davidic dynasty.
The riddle form is rare in the prophets. It draws the elders into interpretation before delivering the application. The final messianic plant in verse 22 reads as a promise that after human dynasties fail, God will establish something enduring. Branches of this image appear in Daniel and in Luke's parable of the mustard seed.
For when you watch someone trade a hard covenant for a seemingly better deal, only to have it collapse. The chapter names the pattern and refuses the illusion that a clever diplomatic pivot can substitute for faithfulness.
1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;
3And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:
4He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.
5He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.
6And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.
7There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation.
8It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.
9Say 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 wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.
10Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.
11Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
12Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;
13And hath taken of the king's seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath of him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land:
14That the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.
15But he rebelled 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? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?
16As 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, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.
17Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons:
18Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape.
19Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head.
20And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.
21And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken it.
22Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent:
23In 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 fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
24And 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.