Ezekielchapter 17
24 verses · Ezekiel · 593 to 571 BC · The Prophets
He took some of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil; he placed it by abundant waters and set it out like a willow.
Introduction
Ezekiel, The Prophets, Ezekiel Overview.
Ezekiel spoke this to exiles who followed every piece of political news from home and hoped Egypt would break the power of Babylon. He tells it first as a riddle, the kind of animal fable told in royal courts across the ancient world, and only afterwards gives its meaning. The chapter turns a question of foreign policy into a question of keeping an oath. Listen for who plants what, and for the name by which the oath was sworn. Then listen for the last planting, which belongs to God alone. It asks where a king's future really comes from.
Context
- Who
- Exiles following the political news from home and hoping Egypt would break Babylon
- What
- A riddle of two eagles, a cedar and a vine, explained as Zedekiah's revolt against Babylon, closing with God's own planting of a shoot on a high mountain.
- Where
- Tel Abib in Babylonia, speaking of Jerusalem, Babylon and Egypt.
- When
- About 591 to 589 BC, while Zedekiah was seeking help from Egypt against Babylon.
- Why
- To condemn Zedekiah's broken oath and to promise a king whom God Himself would plant.
Historical context
Riddles and animal fables were a normal entertainment in royal courts across the ancient Near East, and a prophet using one had a captive audience before anybody realised they were the subject of it. Ezekiel tells the story first and explains it afterwards.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
The history behind the riddle is exact. In 597 BC Nebuchadnezzar, the first great eagle, came to Jerusalem, took the topmost shoot of the cedar, and carried it to a land of merchants. That is King Jehoiachin, taken to Babylon. He then planted a seed of the land: he installed Zedekiah, Jehoiachin's uncle, as a low spreading vine that would live if it stayed low.
The second eagle is Egypt. Zedekiah sent envoys asking for horses and a large army, and Egypt under Psammetichus II and then Hophra encouraged the hope. When the siege of Jerusalem began, an Egyptian force did march out and the Babylonians lifted the siege briefly, then the Egyptians went home and the siege closed again.
The heart of the charge is the oath. A vassal treaty was sworn before the gods of both parties, with the vassal calling down curses on himself if he broke it, and Zedekiah had sworn his by the name of the LORD. In that world, breaking such an oath was not merely politics; it was a religious crime, and God treats it as one committed against Himself: my oath that he despised, my covenant that he broke.
The chapter closes with God planting a shoot of His own, a tender twig from the top of the cedar, set on a high mountain of Israel, growing into a tree where birds of every kind nest.
Significance
The exiles had a party line: Zedekiah was making a brave play, Egypt would come through, and Babylon would be broken. This chapter tells them the play is treaty-breaking, that God is a party to the treaty, and that it will fail.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
But the last image is the one that would stay with them. Nebuchadnezzar transplants a king and it withers. God transplants a shoot, and it becomes the tree everything else shelters in, a promise, on the mountain height of Israel, of a king Babylon did not appoint.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The site's table of synagogue readings ties no weekly portion and no Haftarah to this chapter. Probed for this lane, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot 0 and haftarah uses 0 for Ezekiel 17, and no festival reading for the book. The table holds the Haftarah of each weekly portion and the six books read whole on a feast or a fast. Across chapters 1 to 24 of Ezekiel the same probe found a Haftarah only in chapters 20 and 22.
How it is read
Rashi is the main commentator on this chapter in the corpus. He is quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. The translation is modern, so every quotation from it is fifty words or fewer.
Rashi names the riddle before he reads it. It compares "Nebuchadnezzar to an eagle and the kings of Judah to the lofty top of cedars" (Rashi on Ezekiel 17:2:1). Plucking the top of the branches means that the eagle "humbled his [Jehoiakim’s] greatness and his monarchy" (Rashi on Ezekiel 17:4:1). The seed of the land is "Zedekiah his son" (Rashi on Ezekiel 17:5:1). The second eagle is "The king of Egypt" (Rashi on Ezekiel 17:7:1).
Zedekiah "promised in good faith and raised his hand in a covenant" (Rashi on Ezekiel 17:18:1), and broke it. The oath brought on his head "is the blinding of his eyes" (Rashi on Ezekiel 17:19:1). The net recalls the deer on the roof of the cave (Rashi on Ezekiel 17:20:1).
At the tender twig of the twenty-second verse Rashi follows the Targum: "And I will take the King Messiah" (Rashi on Ezekiel 17:22:1). The high tree brought low is "The nations that were ruling over Israel" (Rashi on Ezekiel 17:24:1). A note of grammar stands at the ninth verse. "The entire Hebrew alphabet is found in this verse, and I am puzzled that it is not listed in the Masorah" (Rashi on Ezekiel 17:9:1).
The corpus carries 4 notes on this chapter without an English text, marked linked. Radak's notes stand at 17:1:1, 17:11:1, 17:15:1 and 17:16:1. Each stands cited and unquoted, because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries 40 rabbinic locators on the verses of this chapter, 4 filed under the Talmud and 36 under the Midrash. It carries the text of none, so each is cited by ref here and never quoted or paraphrased. The verse numbers are the Hebrew ones the corpus prints.
On verse 2 it holds Kohelet Rabbah 1:12:1, Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 15:9, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Shirah 7:1 and Midrash Aggadah, Numbers 12:8:2. It also holds Midrash Lekach Tov, Numbers 12:6:1, Midrash Tehillim 78:1 and Sifrei Bamidbar 103:1. On verse 3 it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Shirah 2:17, Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 1:7:1, Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 1:7:8, Sifrei Bamidbar 134:5 and Sifrei Devarim 6:2. It also holds Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 801:5. On verse 5 it holds Ein Yaakov, Sukkah 3:8, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 29:7 and Sukkah 34a:3.
On verse 13 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 12:1, Bava Batra 88b:6, Bereshit Rabbah 64:3, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Nedarim 9:2 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Yevamot 2:2. It also holds Ein Yaakov, Bava Batra 5:26 and Ein Yaakov, Nedarim 9:2. On verse 14 it holds Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vayera 33:2. On verse 16 it holds Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vaera 18:1. On verse 19 it holds Otzar Midrashim, Keri & K'tiv, Midrash Ketiv V'lo Keri 5, Vayikra Rabbah 6:4 and Vayikra Rabbah 6:5.
On verse 23 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shabbat 2:12, Ein Yaakov, Shabbat 2:22, Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 11:3:3, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Shirah 10:4 and Shabbat 30b:10. On verse 24 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 29:3, Bereshit Rabbah 52:13, Bereshit Rabbah 53:1, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vayera 33:1 and Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 15:1. It also holds Midrash Yelamdenu, Selections from Yalkut Talmud Torah 100:1 and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 52:2.
What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Ezekiel 17:2:1 to 17:24:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Radak, Radak on Ezekiel 17:1:1 to 17:16:1, cited by ref only: Sefaria holds no English version of the ref; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/ezekiel/17.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators on the verses of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for Ezekiel 17: parashot 0, haftarah uses 0, no festival reading for the book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A riddle of two great eagles and a spreading vine
Ezekiel 17:1-2
The Lord commands a riddle and a parable together. Henry notes the form matches the moment, Zedekiah's court needed a story it could not dismiss before it heard the charge at verse 12. Fairbairn reads the double command as the chapter's structure in miniature, riddle first, then the Lord's interpretation.
Ezekiel 17:1
“When it is said of the prophets: Present an enigma, tell a parable, or as the Septuagint translated: tell a narration, it is shown that what is said is obscure. For there is no doubt that to present an enigma and a parable is to express something in words and hold something in meaning. And indeed the Savior spoke to the people in parables, which he explained in secret to the apostles. Therefore, we must understand enigma and parable in such a way that... Two enigmas and parables are presented in the prophecy of Ezekiel at present.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ezekielpatristic
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Ezekiel 17:1
“Ezekiel, after describing by a figure the circumstances and conditions of the Jews and Zedekiah, the vassal of the Assyrian monarch, warns them of the delusive character of their hopes of help from Egypt, protests against the perfidy which must accompany such alliance, and points out that the restoration of the people of God will be effected by a very different son of David. The close of this chapter is a striking prediction of the kingdom of the Messiah.”
pose a riddle: Clarke links the English word riddle to a sieve. A riddle and a parable both hold a meaning the house of Israel had to sift out. Calvin reads the chapter as a word against the hope that the king and the kingdom in Jerusalem would stand.
Ezekiel 17:2
“Son of man, put forth a riddle - Riddle, Anglo-Saxon, from to divine; a thing that must be curiously investigated and sifted, to find out the meaning; and hence, riddle, a sort of coarse sieve to clean corn, to separate coarse chaff and straws from the pure grain. An instrument formerly used for divination. This is not far removed from the Hebrew חידה chidah, from חד chad, to penetrate; not that which penetrates the mind, but which we must penetrate to find out the sense.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 17:2
“At the end of the chapter he promises indeed the restoration of the Church, and heralds the kingdom of Christ: but the principal part of the chapter is consumed with this teaching, that the Jews were utterly foolish in promising themselves safety for the city, the temple, and their kingdom: for, as it now appeared, they had violated the covenant of God and he had rejected them.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
Ezekiel 17:3-6
The first eagle, Nebuchadnezzar, takes the highest branch of Lebanon's cedar, Jehoiachin, and carries it to Babylon. The seed of the land, Zedekiah, is planted low, a vine rather than a cedar. Keil reads the vine's low stature as the historical fact plainly stated in 2 Kings 24:17.
Ezekiel 17:3
“A great eagle ... - Probably the golden eagle, whose plumage has the variety of color here depicted. The eagle (the king of birds) is a natural representative of monarchs (compare, Jer 48:40), and was an Assyrian emblem. With great wings, Iongwinged - literally, “great of wing, long of pinion,” because he has swept victoriously over widely distant lands - of divers colors, because his subjects are of various races and tongues. Jerusalem is here called “Lebanon” because Lebanon is the proper home of the cedar.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 17:3
"The mountain of the Lord's house" (Isa 2:2). Jerusalem, however, is chiefly meant, the chief seat of civil honor, as Lebanon was of external elevation. took the highest branch--King Jeconiah, then but eighteen years old, and many of the chiefs and people with him (2Ki 24:8, 12-16). The Hebrew for "highest branch" is, properly, the fleece-like tuft at the top of the tree.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the land of merchants: Clarke names the land of merchants Chaldea and the city of traders Babylon, set between the Tigris and the Euphrates, the market of the east. The topmost shoot is the young king Jehoiachin with the princes of Judah. Ezekiel went into exile with them.
Ezekiel 17:4
“The top of his young twigs - The princes of Judah. A land of traffic - Chaldea. A city of merchants - Babylon; for which this city was the most celebrated of all the cities of the east. Its situation procured it innumerable advantages; its two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, and the Persian Gulf, gave it communication with the richest and the most distant nations.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
set it out like a willow: The seed of the land is Zedekiah, the uncle of Jehoiachin, whom Nebuchadnezzar made king in his place at 2 Kings 24:17. Henry notes that a willow grows quickly and best in moist ground, and Clarke reads the abundant waters as the protection of Babylon. The planting was generous.
Ezekiel 17:5
“The seed of the land - Zedekiah, brother of Jehoiachin. Planted it in a fruitful field - Made him king of Judea in place of his brother. Placed it by great waters - Put him under the protection of Babylon, situated on the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. And set it as a willow tree - Made him dependent on this city of great waters, as the willow is on humidity.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 17:5
“This was one of the seed of the land, a native, not a foreigner, not one of his Babylonian princes; he was planted in a fruitful field, for so Jerusalem as yet was; he placed it by great waters, where it would be likely to grow, like a willow-tree, which grows quickly, and grows best in moist ground, but is never designed nor expected to be a stately tree.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
a spreading vine, low in height: A low vine could still bear fruit. Henry judged a spreading vine better than a tall cedar of no use. Under the king of Babylon, Judah kept its land, its king and its fruit.
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. Those 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.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 17:6
“This plant grew, and though it was set as a willow-tree, and little account was made of it, yet it became a spreading vine of low stature, a great blessing to his own country, and his fruits made glad their hearts; and it is better to be a spreading vine of low stature than a lofty cedar of no use.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 17:7-8
A second eagle appears, Egypt under Pharaoh Hophra, and the vine bends its roots toward this new power. Gill reads the picture as Zedekiah's actual embassy to Egypt, confirmed at Jeremiah 37:5-7. The soil and water were already good, Clarke notes, the turn to Egypt answered no real need.
Ezekiel 17:7
“Another great eagle - This is the king of Egypt, mighty indeed but not like the first. By the furrows of her plantation - From the beds, where it was planted to bring forth fruit for another, it shot forth its roots to him that he might water it. Zedekiah was courting the favor of Egypt while he owed his very position to the bounty of Assyria.”
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 17:7
“Those two great potentates, the kings of Babylon and Egypt, were but two great eagles, birds of prey. This great eagle of Egypt is said to have great wings, but not to be long-winged as the king of Babylon, because, though the kingdom of Egypt was strong, yet it was not of such a vast extent as that of Babylon was.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 17:7
“Rather, "by" or "out of the furrows." It refers to the waters of Egypt, the Nile being made to water the fields by means of small canals or "furrows"; these waters are the figure of the auxiliary forces wherewith Egypt tried to help Judah. See the same figure, Isa 8:7.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
planted in good soil: Babylon had given the vine good soil and water, everything a vine needs to bear fruit. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown trace the king's revolt to ambition, pride and ingratitude. Want had no part in it.
Ezekiel 17:8
“It was planted in a good soil - Though he depended on Babylon, he lived and reigned as Nebuchadnezzar’s vicegerent in the land of Judea.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 17:8
“It was planted in a good soil--It was not want of the necessaries of life, nor oppression on the port of Nebuchadnezzar, which caused Zedekiah to revolt: it was gratuitous ambition, pride, and ingratitude.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 17:9-10
The riddle answers its own question: a vine that abandons the root that planted it will not prosper, and the east wind withers it. Henry reads the double rhetorical question as building the verdict into the puzzle, so that Zedekiah's own court would have to pronounce its own sentence.
Ezekiel 17:9
"It," that is, the vine. he . . . pull up--that is, the first eagle, or Nebuchadnezzar. in all . . . leaves of her spring--that is, all its springing (sprouting) leaves. without great power or many--It shall not need all the forces of Babylon to destroy it; a small division of the army will suffice because God will deliver it into Nebuchadnezzar's hand (Jer 37:10).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 17:9
“He needs not great power and many people to effect his purposes; a handful will serve if he pleases. He can without any difficulty ruin a sinful king and kingdom, and make no more of it than we do of rooting up a tree that cumbers the ground. In the explanation of the parable the sentence is very largely recorded: Shall be prosper?”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 17:9
“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.”
when the east wind strikes?: Clarke reads the withering as the end of the monarchy itself. Zedekiah would be the last king of Judah, and after the fall no son of David would sit on its throne in the prophet's day. The bed where it sprouted is Judah's own soil.
Ezekiel 17:10
“Shall - utterly whither - The regal government shall be no more restored. Zedekiah shall be the last king, and the monarchy shall finally terminate with him.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The oath sworn to Babylon's king, then broken
Ezekiel 17:11-14
The king of Babylon made a covenant with the king's own seed, Zedekiah, and bound him by oath. Barnes reads the covenant language as treaty vocabulary, an oath sworn presumably in the Lord's own name. Wesley notes the stated purpose, that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.
this rebellious house: Ezekiel first heard Israel called a rebellious house at 2:5. The question tests whether the house had grasped what the riddle of the eagle and the cedar meant. Henry recalls that the king of Babylon carried off Jehoiachin at eighteen, after a reign of three months.
Ezekiel 17:12
“Let us now see what the matter of this message is. Nebuchadnezzar had some time ago carried off Jehoiachin, the same that was called Jeconiah, when he was but eighteen years of age and had reigned in Jerusalem but three months, him and his princes and great men, and had brought them captives to Babylon, 2 Kings xxiv.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
putting him under oath: Gill ties the member of the royal family to the seed of the land, so the riddle and its meaning match point for point. Second Chronicles 36:13 records that Nebuchadnezzar made Zedekiah swear by God. The leading men went into exile as well.
so that the kingdom would be brought low: The king of Babylon kept the kingdom low so that it could survive without rising against him. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that his terms were moderate and openly stated, and Henry that a kingdom may stand safely without standing high. The covenant was its life.
Ezekiel 17:14
“That the kingdom might be base--that is, low as to national elevation by being Nebuchadnezzar's dependent; but, at the same time, safe and prosperous, if faithful to the "oath." Nebuchadnezzar dealt sincerely and openly in proposing conditions, and these moderate ones; therefore Zedekiah's treachery was the baser and was a counterpart to their treachery towards God.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 17:14
“That the kingdom might be base - Have no political consequence, and at last sink into a miserable government under Gedaliah.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zedekiah's rebellion is named as sending to Egypt, the embassy 2 Kings 24:20 and Jeremiah confirm, and the riddle's own question returns, shall he prosper? shall he escape? Fairbairn reads the repeated question as the chapter's method, letting the political fact answer the theological charge without needing to argue it.
Ezekiel 17:15
“God promised that they should be a numerous people, as the sand of the sea; yet now, if their king had occasion for much people, he must send to Egypt for them, they being for sin diminished and brought low, Ps. cvii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 17:15
“Sending his ambassadors into Egypt - Zedekiah must have sent his ambassadors into Egypt, between the sixth month of his sixth year, and the fifth month of his seventh year. Compare Eze 8:1, with Eze 20:1. - See Newcome.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 17:16-18
The Lord swears by his own life that Zedekiah will die in Babylon, and that Pharaoh's army will not save him. Keil notes an oath sworn in the Lord's name makes the Lord himself a party wronged by its breaking. History bore this out exactly at 2 Kings 25:6-7.
Ezekiel 17:16
“Note, As God's promises are confirmed with an oath, for comfort to the saints, so are his threatenings, for terror to the wicked. As sure as God lives and is happy (I may add, and as long), so sure, so long, shall impenitent sinners die and be miserable. It is justified by the heinousness of the crime he had been guilty of.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
when ramps are built: Barnes points out that ramps and siege walls are the work of a besieging army, here the army of Babylon around Jerusalem. Pharaoh's mighty army stays away. Jeremiah 37:7 foretold that the Egyptian force marching out to help would go back to its own land.
Ezekiel 17:17
“To cast up mounts and build forts - was the business not of the relieving but of the besieging army. Translate it: when men cast up mounts and build forts to destroy many persons.”
he gave his hand in pledge: To give the hand sealed an agreement. Gill reads the repeated charge that he despised the oath and broke the covenant as a measure of the sin. Clarke notes that Zedekiah swore his oath before the LORD and broke the covenant at the first opportunity.
Ezekiel 17:18
“Seeing he despised the oath, by breaking the covenant,.... This is repeated again, to show the heinousness of the sin Zedekiah had been guilty of, and what was the cause of his ruin: when, lo, he had given his hand; to the king of Babylon, to testify his hearty agreement with him, and that he might depend upon the oath and covenant being sacredly observed by him.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 17:18
“Seeing he despised the oath - This God particularly resents. He had bound himself by oath, in the presence of Jehovah, to be faithful to the covenant that he made with Nebuchadnezzar, and he took the first opportunity to break it; therefore he shall not escape.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 17:19-21
The Lord claims the broken covenant as his matter to recompense, mine oath, my covenant, language that reframes Zedekiah's treaty violation as sin against God. The net and snare picture the siege and capture. The recognition formula closes the section, ye shall know that I the Lord have spoken it.
spread My net over him: Zedekiah fled and was overtaken on the plains of Jericho, as 2 Kings 25:4 to 7 records. The net and the snare are the LORD's own. Henry adds the king of Babylon gave Zedekiah his life under that oath, and the oath bound him though a conqueror had forced it.
Ezekiel 17:20
“God has a net for those who deal perfidiously and think to escape his righteous judgments, in which those shall be taken and held who would not be held by the bond of an oath and covenant. Zedekiah dreaded Babylon: "Thither I will bring him," says God, "and plead with him there. " Men will justly be forced upon that calamity which they endeavour by sin to flee from.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
All his choice troops: Second Kings 25:5 records that Zedekiah's army scattered from him when the Chaldeans overtook him. The survivors went out to every wind, the scattering already foretold at 5:10 and 12:14. Henry reads the section as turning next to the promise of verse 22.
Ezekiel 17:21
“All his fugitives - All who attempted to escape with him, and all that ran to Egypt, etc., shall fall by the sword.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 17:21
“Do the sure mercies of David prove thus unsure?" To this it is sufficient for the silencing of the objectors to answer that the promise was conditional. If they will keep my covenant, then they shall continue, Ps. cxxxii. But David's posterity broke the condition, and so forfeited the promise.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
A tender twig planted on a high mountain
Ezekiel 17:22-24
The Lord takes a tender twig from the highest branch and plants it on the mountain height of Israel. The image answers the vine planted low at verse 5. Henry and Fairbairn read the tender twig as the Messianic branch promised in the prophets, compare Isaiah 11:1 and Jeremiah 23:5.
Ezekiel 17:22
“I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar - I will raise up another monarchy, which shall come in the line of David, namely, the Messiah; who shall appear as a tender plant, as to his incarnation; but he shall be high and eminent; his Church, the royal city, the highest and purest ever seen on the face of the earth.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 17:22
“The highest branch - Of the royal seed; of the highest branch that is heir to the throne; namely, the Messiah. An high mountain - Upon Mount Zion. Eminent - Not for outward splendour, but for spiritual advantages.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
ConnectionsEzekiel 31:3
the mountain heights of Israel: Barnes ties this mountain to 20:40, where all Israel serves the LORD, and reads it as the seat of the throne of the Anointed. Henry compares the sprig to the mustard seed. Jesus used the same birds nesting in its branches at Matthew 13:32.
Ezekiel 17:23
“Some interpret it differently, as the exalted humbled and the humble exalted, referring to the passion of the Lord Savior. Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God: but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant (Philippians 2:6-7); and after the resurrection, the same tree was exalted, which was first green, dried up by death, and then revived, regaining its original greenness.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ezekielpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 17:23
“The Christian church was at first like a grain of mustard-seed, but became, like this tender branch, a great tree, its beginning small, but its latter end increasing to admiration.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
all the trees of the field: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the green tree as the empires and the dry tree as the kingdom of the Messiah, compare Daniel 2:44. Clarke reads the tall and low trees as Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. Mary sings the same reversal at Luke 1:52.
Ezekiel 17:24
“All the trees of the field shall know - All the people of Israel and of Chaldea. I the Lord have brought down the high tree - Have dethroned Jehoiachin. Have exalted the low tree - Put Zedekiah, brother of Jehoiachin, in his place. Have dried up the green tree - Zedekiah, who had numerous children, but who were all slain before his eyes at Riblah. And have made the dry tree to flourish - Have raised up a rod out of the stem of Jesse, the family of David being then apparently dried up and extinct.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 17:24
“All the empires of the world, represented by Babylon, once flourishing ("green"), shall be brought low before the once depressed ("dry"), but then exalted, kingdom of Messiah and His people, the head of whom shall be Israel (Da 2:44).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.