A Riddle and a Parable
Ezekiel 17
Our text is an intriguing passage of Scripture that is full of symbols with a powerful lesson and a ray of hope at the end.
God uses a unique combination of riddles and parable to convey His plan of redemption to His people.
Early in the passage we see God giving Ezekiel the mandate to put forth a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel.
I particularly like riddles and fancy myself good at unraveling them usually.
The whole Idea of a riddle is to obscure the truth.
The end result is we study to find the truth until we see it in a unique light.
One example is the following riddle:
What is so delicate that when you say its name it is broken?
The answer of course is "silence."
Notice how the obscuring of the point puts the answer in a whole new light.
A Parable is different from a riddle, in that, instead of obscuring the truth to make a point, a parable uses a commonly known fact to illustrate a truth.
A parable actually sheds light on the truth with the same end result as the riddle, it puts it in a whole new light.
Our text this morning utilizes both tools to make some important points.
Let us read verses 1-10 to get started.
Ezekiel 17:1 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:
4 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.
5 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.
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.
7 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.
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.
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.
10 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.
PRAY
So, there was a great cedar tree that reached into the sky.
It stood tall and proud until a great eagle came on the scene.
The long winged eagle tore off the very crown of the cedar tree and carried it into a foreign land.
Then that same long winged eagle planted a seed from the land in a fertile place with some water.
The seed grew and spread low along the ground as a vine is wont to do.
The vine turned its branches up toward the eagle in tribute and even bent its roots dependently toward the eagle.
Then another eagle shows up on the scene in verse 7.
This second eagle is great but with no indication of the first eagle's length of wing.
The low vine then bent it branches and roots toward the second eagle.
This second eagle planted the same vine again and set it in a place that it might grow and prosper.
God, however, is not pleased.
He insists in the last two verse of our text that the vine would not prosper, but would wither away and be plucked up by the roots.
If you puzzle on these words for a while you will most likely recognize the Cedar is representative of Israel and the eagles represent certain foreign nations that play major parts in the story of Israel's history.
The obvious ends about there, and the rest takes some study to figure out.
However, like most riddles, this one has the answers just a little further down the page.
READ 11-21
Ezekiel 17:11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
12 Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;
13 And hath taken of the king's seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath of him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land:
14 That the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.
15 But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?
16 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.
17 Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons:
18 Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape.
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.
20 And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.
21 And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken it.
The interpretation and meaning of the riddle is as follows:
The cedar of Lebanon is indeed representative of Jerusalem of Israel with King Jehoiakim at its very top.
The first eagle with the widespread wings is none other than Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who came and took King Jehoiakim from his perch at the top of Israel's ruling city.
He took King Jehoiakim back to Babylon and held him there.
This same Nebuchadnezzar then set up Jehoiakim's brother, Zedekiah, in his place, truly of the seed of Israel, and planted him in Judah to rule in his brother's stead.
The agreement was that Israel would grow and prosper for the benefit of Babylon.
It would never grow tall as before but would remain a low and spreading but fruitful vine to serve the whim and fancy of a foreign king.
Zedekiah knew this was not how Israel should be run and certainly not all that Israel could be.
However, he did not lead Israel in a joint prayer of repentance to God.
Instead, he sought out a neighboring heathen nation to deliver him from the oppression of Babylon.
The second eagle with less reach but much power is Egypt.
Zedekiah sent ambassadors to Egypt to seek deliverance from Babylon.
The end result was that Israel ended up the same low-growing vine that simply traded oppressors.
Instead of Babylon, Israel was serving Egypt.
Here is where we can begin to make a powerful application to our lives.
At times, we, like Israel, allow ourselves to come into bondage of one kind or another.
It may be a substance.
It may be a thought pattern.
It may be bitterness or some negative attitude.
Whatever it is, we are serving it instead of God.
John 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Like Israel, we should call upon God for deliverance and repent of our sins that got us into the mess in the first place.
Instead, we often trade one sin for another:
We seek for deliverance in all the wrong places,
> depending on some worldly view of substance abuse - perhaps that it is an illness instead of an enslaving sin,
Ezekiel 17
Our text is an intriguing passage of Scripture that is full of symbols with a powerful lesson and a ray of hope at the end.
God uses a unique combination of riddles and parable to convey His plan of redemption to His people.
Early in the passage we see God giving Ezekiel the mandate to put forth a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel.
I particularly like riddles and fancy myself good at unraveling them usually.
The whole Idea of a riddle is to obscure the truth.
The end result is we study to find the truth until we see it in a unique light.
One example is the following riddle:
What is so delicate that when you say its name it is broken?
The answer of course is "silence."
Notice how the obscuring of the point puts the answer in a whole new light.
A Parable is different from a riddle, in that, instead of obscuring the truth to make a point, a parable uses a commonly known fact to illustrate a truth.
A parable actually sheds light on the truth with the same end result as the riddle, it puts it in a whole new light.
Our text this morning utilizes both tools to make some important points.
Let us read verses 1-10 to get started.
Ezekiel 17:1 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:
4 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.
5 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.
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.
7 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.
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.
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.
10 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.
PRAY
So, there was a great cedar tree that reached into the sky.
It stood tall and proud until a great eagle came on the scene.
The long winged eagle tore off the very crown of the cedar tree and carried it into a foreign land.
Then that same long winged eagle planted a seed from the land in a fertile place with some water.
The seed grew and spread low along the ground as a vine is wont to do.
The vine turned its branches up toward the eagle in tribute and even bent its roots dependently toward the eagle.
Then another eagle shows up on the scene in verse 7.This second eagle is great but with no indication of the first eagle's length of wing.
The low vine then bent it branches and roots toward the second eagle.
This second eagle planted the same vine again and set it in a place that it might grow and prosper.
God, however, is not pleased.
He insists in the last two verse of our text that the vine would not prosper, but would wither away and be plucked up by the roots.
If you puzzle on these words for a while you will most likely recognize the Cedar is representative of Israel and the eagles represent certain foreign nations that play major parts in the story of Israel's history.
The obvious ends about there, and the rest takes some study to figure out.
However, like most riddles, this one has the answers just a little further down the page.
READ 11-21
Ezekiel 17:11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
12 Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;
13 And hath taken of the king's seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath of him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land:
14 That the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.
15 But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?
16 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.
17 Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons:
18 Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape.
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.
20 And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.
21 And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken it.
The interpretation and meaning of the riddle is as follows:
The cedar of Lebanon is indeed representative of Jerusalem of Israel with King Jehoiakim at its very top.
The first eagle with the widespread wings is none other than Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who came and took King Jehoiakim from his perch at the top of Israel's ruling city.
He took King Jehoiakim back to Babylon and held him there.
This same Nebuchadnezzar then set up Jehoiakim's brother, Zedekiah, in his place, truly of the seed of Israel, and planted him in Judah to rule in his brother's stead.
The agreement was that Israel would grow and prosper for the benefit of Babylon.
It would never grow tall as before but would remain a low and spreading but fruitful vine to serve the whim and fancy of a foreign king.
Zedekiah knew this was not how Israel should be run and certainly not all that Israel could be.
However, he did not lead Israel in a joint prayer of repentance to God.
Instead, he sought out a neighboring heathen nation to deliver him from the oppression of Babylon.
The second eagle with less reach but much power is Egypt.
Zedekiah sent ambassadors to Egypt to seek deliverance from Babylon.
The end result was that Israel ended up the same low-growing vine that simply traded oppressors.
Instead of Babylon, Israel was serving Egypt.
Here is where we can begin to make a powerful application to our lives.
At times, we, like Israel, allow ourselves to come into bondage of one kind or another.
It may be a substance.
It may be a thought pattern.
It may be bitterness or some negative attitude.
Whatever it is, we are serving it instead of God.
John 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Like Israel, we should call upon God for deliverance and repent of our sins that got us into the mess in the first place.
Instead, we often trade one sin for another:
We seek for deliverance in all the wrong places,
> depending on some worldly view of substance abuse - perhaps that it is an illness instead of an enslaving sin,
> seeking to justify instead of discipline our thought patterns,
> refusing to forgive because your flesh tells you are justified in your bitterness or bad attitude.
> perhaps even just seeking worldly counsel when what you need is godly counsel that will really cure and heal the pain and hurt inside.
Just as Israel sought deliverance from Egypt when he should have repented and sought deliverance from God, we often find ourselves seeking for deliverance in all the wrong places and end up trading one sin for another.
The end result is that we end up uprooted and unstable, with no real connections within the church and no real stability or healing in out lives.
God's solution to Israel's problem is found in the last three verses of the chapter.
Eze 17:22 ¶ Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent:
23 In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
24 And all the trees of the field 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.
The last three verses are clearly Messianic.
God is saying that He would take from the highest bloodline - that of David, a branch that would be planted prominently.
The result of this tall tree that would be planted is that every nation will find solace there.
Jesus was indeed cut from the line of David and planted our great deliverer.
Have you been wandering from one false deliverer to another?
Why don't you come to the one Saviour of Mankind under Whose branches you will finally find rest and comfort.
> refusing to forgive because your flesh tells you are justified in your bitterness or bad attitude.
> perhaps even just seeking worldly counsel when what you need is godly counsel that will really cure and heal the pain and hurt inside.
Just as Israel sought deliverance from Egypt when he should have repented and sought deliverance from God, we often find ourselves seeking for deliverance in all the wrong places and end up trading one sin for another.
The end result is that we end up uprooted and unstable, with no real connections within the church and no real stability or healing in out lives.
God's solution to Israel's problem is found in the last three verses of the chapter.
Eze 17:22 ¶ Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent:
23 In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
24 And all the trees of the field 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.
The last three verses are clearly Messianic.
God is saying that He would take from the highest bloodline - that of David, a branch that would be planted prominently.
The result of this tall tree that would be planted is that every nation will find solace there.
Jesus was indeed cut from the line of David and planted our great deliverer.
Have you been wandering from one false deliverer to another?
Why don't you come to the one Saviour of Mankind under Whose branches you will finally find rest and comfort.
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