” . . . A great eagle, with great wings, long winged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar: He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants. He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field: he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree. 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. There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation” (Ezekiel 17:3-7).
These words represent the action part of a message, spoken as a riddle and a parable by the prophet Ezekiel to the house of Israel. In the latter part of his chapters the prophet explains its meaning in general terms, without naming the principal actors in the drama. It is, therefore, desirable to make clear the historical background. The breakup of the kingdom of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians did not take place in one campaign. The policy of Nebuchadnezzar was rather to make Judah .t vassal kingdom than to destroy it, and it was only when the turbulence of the Jews left him no alternative that he completely overthrew it. In the reign of king Jehoiakim (608-597 B.C.) Nebuchadnezzar and his armies appeared and demanded submission. Jehoiakim yielded to superior force and was subservient for three years. Then he rebelled and was punished by the inroads of marauding bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites. The Babylonian regular forces also attacked Jerusalem, seized the temple vessels, made Jehoiakim captive, and prepared to carry him to Babylon. The king died, however, and was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin who was at the time but a boy, and who reigned for a hundred days only. Then once again the armies of Babylon appeared before Jerusalem. Resistance was useless, and in order to save bloodshed, the king, the queen mother Nehusta and many members of the court went out and surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar. Their submission was accepted and they, together with all the troops and all the artisans and craftsmen, were transported to Babylonia. Only the poorest of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar thought would give no future trouble were left in Judah.
This situation was represented by the early part of Ezekiel’s parable. The first eagle with its wide-spreading, long wings and multi-colored plumage represented the king of Babylon and his power. The cedar in Lebanon indicated the royal house and court of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar’s careful selection of his captives is shown by the cropping of its highest branches and the taking away of the top of the young twigs, or the head of its young shoots —- a clear reference to the youth of the boy king. Finally, the land of traffic and the city of merchants stood for Babylonia and Babylon where the skilled men, wrenched from their homes, could be plentifully employed. The aim of Nebuchadnezzar was to establish a vassal state in Judah, and, having removed all those who were likely to be dangerous to his policy, he considered it safe to appoint a puppet king. He selected Mattaniah, the king’s uncle, one of “the seed of the land,” for this office and changed his name to Zedekiah. He exacted an oath of allegiance from him and left him to his much reduced kingship. As long as Zedekiah behaved himself, he would be protected by the might of Babylonia.
This development is depicted in Ezekiel’s parable in some detail. The cedar of Lebanon which the Babylonians had cropped had been planted in the dry soil, which cedars require. The “seed of the land” which Nebuchadnezzar planted was placed by the water-side where willows grew. It could, therefore, never become a majestic cedar. It was, in fact, a vine in a fruitful field and not the best of vines even then. It was a low-spreading growth, but, although a creeping plant, it could bring forth branches and sprigs. The condition of its continual progress was that it should turn to Nebuchadnezzar for protection and remain rooted under his strength. Nebuchadnezzar’s object in appointing Zedekiah king is explained at the commencement of the commentary section of Ezekiel’s parable in verse 8: ‘It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.” “The kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but by keeping of his (the king’s) covenant it would stand” (verse 14).
The remnant of the people were thus left with limited resources, hut with reasonable opportunity of success to build an inferior, but soundly based kingdom, and this was the political situation just before the parable was spoken. At this time signs became evident that Zedekiah was playing with fire. The Babylonians had deprived him of both military power and scope to create it. Yet he was not satisfied with his lowly estate. Greater glory might be won by the use of someone else’s strong right arm. He had recourse to the device which had so often had disastrous results in the history of Judah and Israel. He sent ambassadors to Pharaoh Hophra to negotiate an alliance, hoping that by Egyptian power he would be able to shake off the control of Babylon and win independence and extra living space. Again the parable records the progress of events.
A second great eagle is described with long and wide-spreading wings like the other, but not with variegated plumage. This bird represented Egypt. Less than ten years before, in 605 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar had defeated the Egyptians in a great battle at Carchemish, and thus the Egyptian eagle, though strong, was not as powerful as its Babylonian counterpart, a fact indicated by its reduced adornment. Instead of taking advantage of the facilities for growth provided by the Babylonians in planting it by the great waters of their own resources, the Jewish vine actually bent in a beseeching attitude toward the second eagle. Thus Zedekiah, perhaps in self-conceit after a little progress under Chaldean tutelage, denounced his oath of allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar and beckoned to Egypt for “horses and much people” to help him.
It was at this time that the prophet spoke. All was not yet lost, and, even now, if Zedekiah could be persuaded to reverse his policy, all might be well. In the graphic way described, he put forth his parable which was at the same time a riddle. The answer to the conundrum in the identification of its symbols was not difficult, but the mode of its presentation doubtless aroused an interest which would not have been evoked by a plain tide. Swiftly upon the heels of the parable came Ezekiel’s comment on the king’s project:
“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. Yea, behold, being planted shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither when the east wind toucheth it? It shall wither in the furrows where it grew” (verses 9, 10).
The prophet’s effort took a two-fold form. First, he denounced Zedekiah for his contemplated breach of his oath. Even a covenant made with a heathen king, himself probably ruthless, had to be kept. The failure to keep faith with Nebuchadnezzar was a failure to keep faith with God, so that, in the words of God Himself through the prophet, it was “mine oath that he hath despised and my covenant that he hath broken,” and “his trespass he hath trespassed against me” (see verses 19, 20). Secondly, he affirmed that the prophecy could result only in disaster. “Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant and be delivered?” (see verse 15). Monarch and people alike would be involved in utter ruin; Zedekiah should be taken captive to Babylon, and there he should die. Many of the inhabitants would be slain and the remainder would be scattered toward all winds. The vine would be uprooted and stripped of its fruit and the east wind should wither it.
The prophet’s denunciations were in vain. The king was too wedded to his policy to abandon it, and the Babylonians were challenged. As on so many previous occasions Egypt proved a broken reed and pierced him who leaned upon it. At the critical moment the armies of Egypt were not to be seen, and Zedekiah’s feeble kingdom was left to meet unsupported the onset of a Nebuchadnezzar, not this time willing to set up a vassal state, but resolved to make an end of a trouble spot. As ever, the Jews fought valiantly for their city and held out for eighteen months, but in the end Jerusalem was taken and sacked and destroyed and the people scattered. Zedekiah himself was blinded and taken prisoner to Babylon.
The parable is one of fable and fancy in that it endows a bird with a knowledge of tree planting and a tree with the power to make choice between birds, but it gains in power by these facts, and its simplicity would make a ready appeal to the easterns who first heard it. It also has its lessons for us. Our undertakings must, if humanly possible, be honored. The fact that our word has been given to those whose word is worthless does not absolve us from keeping it. The matter in which our promise has been given may, in the eyes of God, be of such importance that it is as if our promise had been given to Him. If in these circumstances we wantonly break it, the words of Ezekiel may apply to us. “Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things?” Happy is he of whom it is known that his word is his bond in things of relatively little importance!
Ezekiel’s message was not complete, however, with his parable of the eagles and the vine. The thoughts suggested to him by the riddle ranged far afield and he was inspired to take a gracious word of hope from it. Nebuchadnezzar had cropped the head of the young shoots of the cedar of Lebanon and had carried it to Babylon. God would perform a like operation, taking a tender one from the top of the young twigs of the highest branch of the high cedar of Israel. He would not, however, set it in a foreign land, nor, as Nebuchadnezzar did with the seed of the land, plant it in riverside lands unsuitable for cedars, but He would establish it in a mountain of the height of Israel. There in congenial soil it would thrive, would bring forth boughs and fruits and would provide shelter for all fowl of every wing. We cannot, as in the case of the parable proper, find any historical fulfillment for these words (verses 22 and 23) of the prophet. That is not to say that they are sterile. In fact, they are the most vital words of the chapter, for they are a prediction of the work of the Messiah, given by God, who will be set as God’s King in Zion’s holy hill and will from thence establish his kingdom, which will, in the fullness of its power, provide shelter and security for all nations, represented by all fowl of every wing. This, as it might be termed, appendix-parable of the kingdom of God, bears a striking resemblance to another on the same theme spoken of by the Messiah himself:
The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof” (Matthew 13:31,32).
The whirligig of time brings in many changes. Success based upon human strength does not endure, and the mighty are often put down from their seats. But we know that “whatsoever God doeth shall be forever;” and the kingdom of him who once was a tender shoot of the high cedar but is not strong in the power of God, is one which shall not pass away. So we look to the day which Ezekiel foresaw, when
“all the trees of the field (all nations) shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and have done it” (verse 24).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One