Ezekiel 17:9

Say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof. SHALL IT PROSPER? Could it be that gratuitous perjury and treason should prosper? God will not allow it. "It," i.e., the vine. SHALL HE NOT PULL UP THE ROOTS THEREOF? - i:e., the first eagle, or Nebuchadnezzar, shall pull up Zedekiah. IT SHALL WITHER IN ALL THE LEAVES OF HER SPRING - i:e., all its springing (sprouting) leaves. EVEN WITHOUT GREAT POWER OR MANY PEOPLE - it shall not need the whole forces of Babylon to destroy it; a small division of the army will suffice, because God will deliver it into Nebuchadnezzar's hand ...

Here God announces that this vine could not flourish any longer and bring forth fruit; for it had been planted to flourish under the shadow of an eagle, and it had removed itself away. Nothing therefore remains, than that the former eagle should avenge the injury committed against it. This is the meaning of the passage: hence he says, _Shall it prosper? Shall not the eagle tear up its roots, and cut off its fruit? _Ezekiel assumes this principle_, that the vine could not _be otherwise preserved than by the power and aid of the eagle which had planted it; for when it passed away from that eagle to another, the Prophet says that the end of the ungrateful vine was at hand; _all the leaves of its branches shall wither, and so be dried up, and that not in, a mighty branch, nor in much people_. It is certain that Nebuchadnezzar was accompanied with a great army when he came down upon Judea. Bu...

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 17:9. _SHALL IT PROSPER?_] Shall Zedekiah succeed in casting off the yoke of the king of Babylon, to whom he had _sworn_ fealty? _SHALL HE NOT PULL UP THE ROOTS_] Nebuchadnezzar will come and dethrone him. _AND CUT OFF THE FRUIT_] The children of Zedekiah. _THE LEAVES_] All the nobles; all shall perish with Zedekiah....

HER SPRING - Rather, her growth. EVEN WITHOUT ... - Translate; and not with great power or with much people is it to be raised up from its roots again....

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 THOU, THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... Tell Zedekiah and his people, in the name of the Lord, what will be the issue of his ingratitude and treachery to the king of Babylon, and his vain confidence in the king of Egypt: SHALL IT PROSPER? the vine, the kingdom of Judah, and Zedekiah the king of it; can it be thought that prosperity will attend such conduct as this? was is it ever known that persons guilty of such vices ever succeeded? SHALL HE NOT PULL UP THE ROOTS THEREOF; the first eagle, Nebuchadnezzar, being provoked by the rebellion of the king of Judah and his people; will he not come against them, and utterly destroy them, and root them up from being a people and a nation? AND CUT OFF THE FRUIT THEREOF, THAT IT WITHER? the sons of the king, and of the nobles, and people of the land; so that the kingdom shall be ruined, and no hope left of its ever being restored again; which is...

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

SHALL IT PROSPER? &c. This is Jehovah's sentence on the perfidy of Zedekiah in breaking his oath to Nebuchadnezzar. Compare Ezekiel 17:13 and the Structure (S1, S2, S3). Those who interpret this enigma of Zedekiah's daughters _are hereby_ warned that their interpretation shall not prosper. See notes on Ezekiel 17:22 and Ezekiel 17:24. SPRING. sproutings....