Ezekiel 17:19

Therefore 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. MINE OATH THAT HE HATH DESPISED ... EVEN IT WILL I RECOMPENSE UPON HIS OWN HEAD. The "covenant," being sworn in God's name, was really His covenant; a new instance, in relation to man, of the treacherous spirit which had been so often betrayed in relation to God. God Himself must therefore avenge the violation of His covenant "on the head" of the perjurer (cf. )....

The former sentence is confirmed. The Prophet had spoken after the usually received manner when he said that Zedekiah’s perfidy would not be unrevenged; but he now brings forward God as the speaker, because, unless he appeared as an avenger of perfidy, mankind would scarcely ever be seriously persuaded that punishment was prepared for perjurers and truce-breakers. As I have said that this opinion was fixed in the hearts of all, so it must be understood that this opinion was received, and that men were fully persuaded of it: but persuasions which are called “common” (186) vanish away; there are common thoughts which are almost born with us, and follow nature, but they are not firm, because the profane do not hold the principal point, that God is the judge of the world: this sentence, therefore, is added of necessity. Now God swears that Zedekiah should suffer punishment, because _he had d...

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

THEREFORE THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD, [AS] I LIVE,.... A repetition of the oath of God as before, expressing his indignation at the king of Judah, and the certainty of his ruin: SURELY MINE OATH THAT HE HATH DESPISED, AND MY COVENANT THAT HE HATH BROKEN; the Lord calls it his oath, because it was made and taken in his name, 2 Chronicles 36:13; and his covenant, because it was agreeable to his will, and was made in his sight, and he was solemnly appealed to at the making of it; all which were an aggravation of Zedekiah's sin in violating them, and made his punishment the heavier: EVEN IT WILL I RECOMPENSE UPON HIS OWN HEAD; he shall personally bear the punishment due to such crimes. The Targum is, "I will revenge his way upon his head.'' Jarchi thinks this refers to the putting out of his eyes; and Kimchi takes notice

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

MINE OATH— That is, given and received in my name. For kings in their covenants swore each by the name of his God, as Jacob and Laban did formerly in mount Gilead....

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...

ZEDEKIAH'S PERFIDY AND ITS PUNISHMENT Zedekiah had been placed on the throne of Judah as a vassal of Babylon, but was led by his nobles to intrigue with Egypt and to throw off the Babylonian yoke. The revolt actually took place in 588 b.c., but it had been contemplated much earlier: see Jeremiah 27:1, where 'Zedekiah' should be read for 'Jehoiakim' in Jeremiah 27:1; Jeremiah 27:15 of this chapter refers to an embassy to Egypt, of which Ezekiel had heard in BabyIonia. The prophet exposes this rebellious policy in an allegory, condemns it, and prediets its failure and punishment. The royal house of Judah is a cedar of Lebanon. BabyIon (or Nebuchadrezzar) is an eagle, which crops off the highest twig of the ced