Jerusalem's Unfaithfulness, Judgment on Jerusalem, Covenant Remembered

[WalterandDebbie]

Wednesday 7-22-20 Av 1, 5780 4th. day of the weekly cycle, 32nd. Summer day

Jerusalem's Unfaithfulness, Judgment on Jerusalem, Covenant Remembered

Ezekiel Sixteen:1-63

◄ Ezekiel Seventeen ►
King James Bible Par ▾

The Parable of Two Eagles and a Vine

1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel; 3And 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: 4He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants. 5He 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. 6And 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.

7There 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. 8It 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. 9Say 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. 10Yea, 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.

The Parable Explained

11Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 12Say 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; 13And 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: 14That the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand. 15But 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? 16As 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. 17Neither 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: 18Seeing 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. 19Therefore 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. 20And 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. 21And 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.

22Thus 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: 23In 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. 24And 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.

Love always, Walter and Debbie

 

[Jay Ross]

Walter, if we make two changes to the translation in the passage 17:22-24 we get a very different understanding of what is being said in the passage: -

Israel Exalted at Last
(cf. Ezek 31:1-9)

22 Thus says the Lord God: "I will take also one of the highest branches of the high cedar and set it out. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one and will plant it Myself on a high and prominent mountain. 23 On the mountain height/high mountain of Israel I will plant; and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. Under it will dwell birds of every sort; in the shadow of its branches they will dwell. 24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; I, the Lord, have spoken and have done it."​

We have to understand the significance of the words "prominent mountain" and "the High mountain of Israel."

The reference to a mountain is linked to Daniel's prophecy in Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45: -

Daniel 2:34-35: - 34 You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Daniel 2:44-45: - 44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold — the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this.​

What is the stone that grows into a great mountain? It is the foundational truth that "Jesus, i.e. Israel, is the Son of God," upon which the Religion, i.e. the high mountain, is based on Israel, i.e. Christ.

So in the above passage we need to understand the metaphorical language of "mountain" means "religion" and "Israel" means "Christ."

Also, the other change that I have made in the above passage, is in verse 22, where I removed the word "it" from the translation and added the untranslated Hebrew word " אָ֔נִי ", " ’ā·nî ", which I translated as "myself."

This change in how three verses should be understood brings about a very significant change in our understanding of what God is seting out to do in our near future.

Shalom.

 

[farouk]

The passage is a salutary warning against unfaithfulness. At the same time, in the middle of the passage there seems to be a heartening picture of imputed righteousness: 'perfect through my comeliness which I had put on thee'.

 

[Jay Ross]

The passage is a salutary warning against unfaithfulness. At the same time, in the middle of the passage there seems to be a heartening picture of imputed righteousness: 'perfect through my comeliness which I had put on thee'.

You may be right, but I was focusing on the Hope that God was saying He would bring about.