Ezekiel 17:12

Say 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; KNOW YE NOT WHAT THESE THINGS MEAN? He upbraided them with moral, leading to intellectual, stupidity. BEHOLD, THE KING OF BABYLON IS COME TO JERUSALEM, AND HATH TAKEN THE KING THEREOF - Jechoniah or Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:11)....

11-21 The parable is explained, and the particulars of the history of the Jewish nation at that time may be traced. Zedekiah had been ungrateful to his benefactor, which is a sin against God. In every solemn oath, God is appealed to as a witness of the sincerity of him that swears. Truth is a debt owing to all men. If the professors of the true religion deal treacherously with those of a false religion, their profession makes their sin the worse; and God will the more surely and severely punish it. The Lord will not hold those guiltless who take his name in vain; and no man shall escape the righteous judgment of God who dies under unrepented guilt....

Verse Ezekiel 17:12. _KNOW YE NOT WHAT THESE THINGS_ MEAN?] They are explained in this and the following verses....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 17:2 PUT FORTH A RIDDLE, etc. Again there is an interval of silence, till another theme is suggested to the prophet's mind and worked out elaborately. This he describes as a "riddle" (same word as the "dark speeches" of Numbers 12:8, the "hard questions" of 1 Kings 10:1). It will task the ingenuity of his hearers or readers to interpret it, and so he subjoins (Ezekiel 17:12) the interpretation. That interpretation enables us to fix the occasion and the date of the prophecy. It was the time when Zedekiah was seeking to strengthen himself against Nebuchadnezzar by a

SAY NOW TO THE REBELLIOUS HOUSE,.... It had been a rebellious house to God, and to his prophets, before; see Ezekiel 2:5 and Ezekiel 2:5; and now, besides this was rebellious to the king of Babylon, to whom they were in some measure subject, Ezekiel 17:15; KNOW YE NOT WHAT THESE [THINGS MEAN]? the riddle and parable concerning the two eagles and the vine; suggesting that they must be very inattentive, and very stupid, if they did not know the meaning of them; for though the things intended were delivered in an enigmatical and parabolical way, yet they were easily to be understood by all that know the affairs of the Jewish nation; being things that were lately transacted there, and were obvious to

Ezekiel 17:1. The great eagle mentioned first is Nebuchadnezzar. (See Jeremiah 48:40; Jeremiah 49:22). He came to Lebanon and took the highest branch of the cedar, the symbol of the house of David, which was conquered by this eagle. Nebuchadnezzar made the youngest son of Josiah king over Judah and called him Zedekiah. This action is described in verse 5. The other great eagle is Hophra, the king of Egypt. To him Zedekiah turned for help. The interpretation and application of this parable is given in Ezekiel 17:11. The following passages should be read as helpful to the understanding of these verses:...

EZEKIEL 17. THE PERFIDIOUS KING. Jerusalem, as we have seen, is to be punished for her guilty past and her perfidious people (Ezekiel 17:16), but no less for her guilty present and her perfidious king. This truth is driven home in another allegory, here called a riddle and parable, set forth in Ezekiel 17:1 and expounded in Ezekiel 17:11; and thus for the second time (Ezekiel 12:1) Ezekiel shatters the illusion of the stability of the king and the monarchy. For a second time, too, the figure of Israel as a vine is presented (Ezekiel 17:15) b

REBELLIOUS HOUSE. See note on Ezekiel 2:5....

Interpretation of the riddle 12. _the rebellious house_ i.e. Israel, ch. Ezekiel 2:5. _king of Babylon is come_ Better past tenses throughout: CAME … and took; so Ezekiel 17:13 and TOOK. On the captivity of Jehoiachin, cf. 2 Kings 24:11 _seq_.; Jeremiah 24:1; Jeremiah 29:1....

IS COME TO JERUSALEM— _Came to Jerusalem, and took the king,_ &c. Ezekiel 17:13. _And he took of the king's seed, and struck up a covenant with him, and laid him under an oath; he took also the mighty of the land._ Ezekiel 17:14. _That the kingdom might be in a low condition,_ or, _in subjection, and might not lift,_ &c....