Ezekiel 17:6

And 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. IT ... BECAME A SPREADING VINE OF LOW STATURE - not now, as before, a stately "cedar:" the kingdom of Judah was to be prosperous, but not elevated. WHOSE BRANCHES TURNED TOWARD HIM. Expressing the fealty of Zedekiah as a vassal looking up to Nebuchadnezzar, to whom Judah owed its peace and very existence as a separate state. The "branches" mean his sons, and the other princes and nobles. The "roots under him" (the Babylonian king, answering to the "great eagle") imply that the stability of Judah depended on Babylon. IT ... BROUGHT FORTH BRANCHES, AND ... SPRIGS. The repetition "branches" and "sprigs" is in order to mark the ingratitude of Zedekiah, who, not content with mode...

1-10 Mighty conquerors are aptly likened to birds or beasts of prey, but their destructive passions are overruled to forward God's designs. Those who depart from God, only vary their crimes by changing one carnal confidence for another, and never will prosper....

Verse Ezekiel 17:6. _A SPREADING VINE OF LOW STATURE_] The Jewish state having then no height of dominion, it must abide under the wings or branches of the Chaldean king. _WHOSE BRANCHES TURNED TOWARD HIM, AND THE ROOTS - UNDER HIM_] Zedekiah was wholly dependent on Nebuchadnezzar, both for his elevation to the throne, and his support on it....

SPREADING - On the ground, not trained to a pole, that it might have no other prop but Nebuchadnezzar. As a vine it was less majestic than a cedar Ezekiel 17:3; but compare Psalms 80:10. WHOSE BRANCHES ... - Rather, in order that her branches should turn unto him, and that her roots should be under him....

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 IT GREW,.... King Zedekiah reigned and prospered, and the kingdom flourished under him: AND BECAME A SPREADING VINE OF LOW STATURE; not so flourishing as it had been heretofore, in former reigns; it did not rise up to a cedar, as it had been, but was like a vine, which, though flourishing, does not rise up high, but runs upon the ground, and is dependent on something else; so the king and kingdom of Judah, though in tolerable circumstances, yet were humble and dependent on the king of Babylon: WHOSE BRANCHES TURNED TOWARDS HIM; the eagle, Nebuchadnezzar, to whom the people of the Jews were tributary: AND THE ROOTS THEREOF WERE UNDER HIM; they were rooted and settled in their own land, yet under the power, and at the dispose, of the Babylonish monarch: SO IT BECAME A VINE; a flourishing kingdom in some measure, though attended with some degree of weakness and dependence as a vine:...

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

TURNED TOWARD HIM. Zedekiah being dependent upon Nebuchadnezzar....

The riddle of the great eagle (1) Ezekiel 17:1 introduction. The great, broadwinged, speckled eagle came to Lebanon, and broke off the top of the cedar, carrying it to the merchant-land, Babylon the captivity of Jehoiachin by Nebuchadnezzar. (2) Ezekiel 17:5. He took also of the seed of the land and planted it beside the waters that it might be a spreading vine, and might turn its branches towards him who had planted it the elevation to the throne by Nebuchadnezzar of Zedekiah as a feudatory monarch. (3) Ezekiel 17:7. There was another great eagle, and the vine bent its roots and sent out its branches towards him Zedekiah sought the alliance and protection of the king of Egypt. (4)...