NOTES for Иез 17:1-24
A grapevine grew from a shoot torn from a cedar tree. This does not happen in nature, but let us not insist critically on a literal reading of the parable; let us look instead at what it says.
The cedar is a beautiful and mighty tree, accustomed to growing freely and inseparably from wild, natural surroundings. The grapevine that comes from it is more fragile and requires constant care. The vine had all the care it needed to bear fruit and become a splendid vine. But the vine turned away from the eagle that had transplanted it and thereby rejected the one who tended it.
The kings of Israel and Judah who sought alliances with pagans hoped for earthly greatness attained apart from God. But such greatness is unattainable, and even efforts aimed at gaining earthly power sooner or later lead not to it, but to exhaustion and degeneration. Yet these very efforts also prove to be the consequence of spiritual betrayal, a refusal to commune with the One who provides everything necessary. An endless race around a closed circle begins, which can be broken only by a repentant return to God.