Ezekiel 17:16

As 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. SURELY IN THE PLACE WHERE THE KING DWELLETH THAT MADE HIM KING, WHOSE OATH HE DESPISED ... EVEN WITH HIM IN ... BABYLON HE SHALL DIE - righteous retribution. He brought on himself, in the worst form, the evil which, in a mild form, he had sought to deliver himself from by perjured treachery-namely, vassalage (; ; ; )....

It now follows, _As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, in the dwelling of the king who placed him on a throne, shall he die. _Although the Prophet had sufficiently shown that Zedekiah could not escape the penalty of his revolt, yet God here again comes forward, and swears by himself, or by his life, that he would punish Zedekiah. Hence the great stupidity of the people appears, for God never acts falsely by his own name, or brings it forward in vain, but when necessity demands it, he swears by himself. And by his own example he prescribes to us, that we should not rush rashly upon an oath, but be sober in this respect. But God swears _that Zedekiah should die on the spot, that is, at the capital of the king who put him on the throne_; that is Babylon, where he died: and yet he did not see Babylon, because his eyes were put out at Riblath, as we saw elsewhere. (Jeremiah 39:7;...

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 17:16. _IN THE MIDST OF BABYLON HE SHALL DIE._] His eyes were put out; he was carried to Babylon, and never returned....

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

[AS] I LIVE, SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... This is the form of an oath, as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe; the Lord swears, in his wrath, by himself, by his life; this shows how much he resented, what Zedekiah had done, and how sure and certain his ruin was: SURELY IN THE PLACE [WHERE] THE KING [DWELLETH] THAT MADE HIM KING; in Babylon, where Nebuchadnezzar dwelt, that made Zedekiah king of Judah; which is mentioned, to point out the ingratitude of that prince to the king of Babylon: WHOSE OATH HE DESPISED, WHOSE COVENANT HE BROKE; the oath of fealty and, allegiance, which Zedekiah took to Nebuchadnezzar; and the covenant entered into between them, by which the former held the kingdom of Judea of the latter: the oath he made light of, though solemn, one made by the God of Israel; and the covenant he broke, though ratified by an oath; in which things were given to him he could not claim, at le...

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

SAITH THE LORD GOD. [is] Adenai Jehovah's oracle. IN THE MIDST OF BABYLON, &c. Compare Ezekiel 12:13....

Zedekiah, being carried to Babylon, shall die there....