NOTES for Eze 17:1-24
Chapter 17 of the book of the prophet Ezekiel is devoted to well-known political events from the beginning of the exile, and the word of God devoted to them uses those events as a starting point in order to reveal very important things in the plan of God to the prophet and his hearers. But before that, the Lord subjects the events themselves to analysis. The language of the parable in which God speaks is unfamiliar to us, since it differs from our way of expressing ourselves, but the meaning of the word of God is nevertheless completely clear.
First of all, it is important that the Lord gives political events a moral and spiritual evaluation. We are used to avoiding this, because too much in our political life would have to be evaluated sharply negatively from a moral point of view. This example is therefore all the more important for us. The rulers of Jerusalem, appointed by Nebuchadnezzar in place of the king Zedekiah who had been led away into captivity, violated their oath to the king of Babylon and began seeking a military alliance with Egypt in order to get rid of Babylonian dependence. The Lord says that nothing will come of this, and He gives two reasons for it. First, nothing can be built on deception. Psalm 14 calls blameless the one who "swears even to his own hurt and does not change." The significance of a promise does not lie in how good the one to whom we promise something is, but in our own faithfulness. Second, the will of God was for Jerusalem to "surrender into the hands of the king of Babylon," as He had said through the prophet Jeremiah. Therefore the treacherous policy of the Judean leaders was not only false but also contrary to the clearly expressed will of the Almighty.
But, as in other cases, this is only an introduction to the main point. At the end of the chapter the Lord reveals to the prophet that He will appoint a different Head for His people. The cedar, the mightiest and longest-living plant of the Middle East, becomes a symbol and prototype of Christ, who will be king from the line of David. Nor should one neglect in interpretation the visual contrast between grapevines creeping along the ground and, on the other hand, the tall cedar stretching toward Heaven.