Ezekiel 17:13

And 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: AND HATH TAKEN OF THE KING'S SEED - Zedekiah, Jechoniah's uncle. TAKEN AN OATH OF HIM - swearing fealty as a vassal to Nebuchadnezzar (). HE HATH ALSO TAKEN THE MIGHTY OF THE LAND - as hostages for the fulfillment of the covenant; whom, therefore, Zedekiah exposed to death by his treason....

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....

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

AND HATH TAKEN OF THE KING'S SEED,.... One of the royal family, signified by the seed of the land, Ezekiel 17:5. Mattaniah, son of King Josiah, and uncle to King Jeconiah; whom Nebuchadnezzar took and made king of Judea, and called him Zedekiah, which signifies the "justice of the Lord": to put him in mind of doing justly, by observing the covenant and oath after mentioned, or that he must expect vengeance: AND MADE A COVENANT WITH HIM, AND HATH TAKEN AN OATH OF HIM; he gave him the throne and kingdom upon certain conditions to be performed, and for the perform once of which he made him swear by the God of Israel; see 2 Chronicles 36:13; HE HATH ALSO TAKEN THE MIGHTY OF THE LAND: or, "the rams of the land" x; the principal men of it for wisdom, riches, and

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

TAKEN, &c. Compare 2Ki 24:30. COVENANT... OATH. See note on Ezekiel 16:59. TAKEN AN OATH. See 2 Chronicles 36:13....

_the king's seed_ the ROYAL SEED, lit. seed of the kingdom. See on _Eze 17:5_; cf. 2 Kings 24:17; Jeremiah 37:1. _an oath of him_ Cf. 2 Chronicles 36:13. _he hath also taken_ he TOOK ALSO. On "mighty of the land," cf. Ezekiel 17:12. Probably the more influential classes are included, those who if left might be uneasy under the yoke and likely to stir up revolt; cf. 2 Kings 24:14-15; Jeremiah 29:1-2

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....

B. The Explanation of the Eagle Parable 17:11-21 TRANSLATION (11) Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me saying, Say now to the rebellious house, Do you not know what these things mean? Say: The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took its king and its princes and brought them to him in Babylon. (13) And he took of the royal seed and made a covenant with him, and brought him under an oath; and the mighty of the land he took away; (14) that it might be a lowly kingdom, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. (15) But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors to Egypt that he might give to him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall the one who does these things escape? shall he break the covenant and escape? (16) As I live (oracle of the Lord GOD), surely in the place where the king caused him to reign, whose oath he desp...