The Parable of Two Eagles and a Vine
This chapter uses a riddle, a form of...
This chapter uses a riddle, a form of metaphorical speech that both conceals and reveals. It is also a fable, a story that communicates a moral message about humans by transposing it into the world of plants and animals. The imaginative context creates a distance between the story and the reality and thus disarms the hearer’s defenses against an unpalatable message.
1Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, pose a riddle; speak a parable to the house of Israel
Babylon was the city filled with merchants (see...
Babylon was the city filled with merchants (see 16:29).
3and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says:
‘A great eagle with great wings and long pinions,†full of feathers of many colors,came to Lebanonand took away the top of the cedar.4He plucked off its topmost shoot,carried it to the land of merchants,and planted it in a city of traders.5He took some of the seed of the landand planted it in fertile soil;†he placed it by abundant watersand set it out like a willow.6It sprouted and became a spreading vine,low in height, with branches turned toward him;yet its roots remained where it stood.So it became a vine and yielded branchesand sent out shoots.
There was a second great eagle like the...
- There was a second great eagle like the first, although not quite so glorious.
- The fate of the vine was predictable. In seeking to gain more, it would lose what it already had. The second eagle would not do anything for it, and the anger of the first eagle would be justly aroused.
9So you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says:
‘Will it flourish?Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruitso that it shrivels?All its foliage will wither!It will not take a strong arm or many peopleto pull it up by its roots.10Even if it is transplanted,will it flourish?Will it not completely wither when the east wind strikes?It will wither on the bed where it sprouted.’”The Parable Explained
The first eagle was Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon....
- The first eagle was Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. The cedar sprig was Jehoiachin, who was carried off to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. The replacement that grew into a low vine was Zedekiah, and the second eagle was Egypt, from whom Zedekiah was seeking help in his bid to break free of the Babylonians. The hot east wind of judgment blew from Babylon, uprooting and withering Jerusalem.
- The image of the eagle that spared no effort in providing for the vine seems to describe God’s care for Israel more than Nebuchadnezzar’s concern for Zedekiah. These connections point us to a fundamental analogy between Zedekiah’s rebellion against his overlord, Nebuchadnezzar, and Israel’s rebellion against the Lord. Zedekiah’s rebellion against the might of the Babylonians was foolish to the point of being suicidal. Even more foolish was Israel’s rebellion against the Lord, the God of heaven and earth.
11Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 12“Now say to this rebellious house: ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’
Tell them, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, carried off its king and officials, and brought them back with him to Babylon. 13He took a member of the royal family† and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath. Then he carried away the leading men of the land, 14so that the kingdom would be brought low, unable to lift itself up, surviving only by keeping his covenant.
15But this king rebelled against Babylon by sending his envoys to Egypt to ask for horses and a large army. Will he flourish? Will the one who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and yet escape?’
16‘As surely as I live,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘he will die in Babylon, in the land of the king who enthroned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke. 17Pharaoh with his mighty army and vast horde will not help him in battle, when ramps are built and siege walls constructed to destroy many lives. 18He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Seeing that he gave his hand in pledge yet did all these things, he will not escape!’
God would punish Israel’s king for breaking his...
- God would punish Israel’s king for breaking his covenant with treason against the Lord who had planted him in the land of promise.
- I will bring him to Babylon and put him on trial: See 2 Kgs 25:5–7.
19Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘As surely as I live, I will bring down upon his head My oath that he despised and My covenant that he broke. 20I will spread My net over him and catch him in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment upon him there for the treason he committed against Me. 21All his choice troops† will fall by the sword, and those who survive will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken.’
The last part of the chapter turns the...
- The last part of the chapter turns the fable around. Now the Lord would take a branch from the . . . cedar tree and plant it on . . . Israel’s highest mountain. As elsewhere in the Old Testament, tree imagery stands for the royal line, with a new shoot representing a fresh start (cp. Isa 11:1). The judgment upon the vine would not end the monarchy after all. God would plant a fresh branch that would grow into a more majestic cedar than the first cedar had ever been. Although the present dynasty of kings had reached a dead end in Zedekiah, a new beginning was not only possible but inevitable in God’s time (see Hag 2:21–23; Matt 1:11–16; 2:1–11).
- God cuts the tall tree down, makes the short tree grow tall, and gives the dead tree new life, enabling birds of every sort (representing the nations) to find shelter and shade under its branches. God’s promise of an eternal throne for David would not ultimately be thwarted by the failures of David’s descendants, the kings of Judah. One day, the dynasty of David—in the person of Jesus—would once again be raised up as the source of blessing for all nations.
22This is what the Lord GOD says:
‘I will take a shoot from the lofty top of the cedar,and I will set it out.I will pluck a tender sprig from its topmost shoots,and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.23I will plant it on the mountain heights of Israelso that it will bear branches;it will yield fruitand become a majestic cedar.Birds of every kind will nest under it,taking shelter in the shade of its branches.24Then all the trees of the field will knowthat I am the LORD.I bring the tall tree downand make the low tree tall.I dry up the green treeand make the withered tree flourish.I, the LORD, have spoken,and I have done it.’”