Ezekiel 17 Commentary
You can tell Ezekiel is writing during the reign of Zedekiah. He predicted the fall of Zedekiah by the Babylonian army. The chapter is also rich in historic content. The two eagles are Babylon and Egypt. They combine at different times to plunder Jerusalem. But behind it, is the hand of the Creator God.
Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) is the top of a cedar. He is planted in Babylon to blossom there. The LORD would preserve the seed of salvation through Jehoiachin. Check the genealogy of the man Jesus Christ. Matthew 1.
The LORD was also interested in Zedekiah’s team back home. Zedekiah is “a member of the loyal family” who Nebuchadnezzar installed in place of the legitimate king, Jehoiachin. He was actually Jehoiachin’s uncle, a brother to his father, King Jehoiakim. The political maneuvers of Nebuchadnezzar were actually ordained by the King of kings, the Creator God so that the remnant could prosper.
Zedekiah scorned repeated warnings and advice from the prophet Jeremiah. Jerusalem would fall and the temple destroyed.
The chapter closes on a note of great hope. It’s not the great eagle in action this time; the LORD Himself joins the action. He will take the very top of the cedar and plant it on the mountain heights of Israel.
Jehoiachin would father Shealtiel. Shealtiel would father Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel would be the governor of the province of Judah during the times of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. He was instrumental in the rebuilding of the Temple of the LORD but clearly, he wasn’t the anticipated ‘planting on the LORD’.
We can scan history and we have zero chance of finding this special cedar planted by the LORD on Israel’s heights. Then we have the manger-born son! The King whom King Herod sought to kill! Yes, the LORD planted Him on Israel’s mountain but His kingdom wasn’t anything close to what everyone expected.
“He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”
We know we have it exactly as planned by the Creator God. He is the tree under whose branches birds of every kind will nest.” You too can nest there.
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