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ezekiel 17:3-10

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Ezekiel 17:3-10

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”

— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

3. And 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: 4. He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants. 5. He 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. 6. And 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. 7. There 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. 8. It 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. 9. Say 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. 10. Yea, 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.

Ezekiel 17:3-10 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Ezekiel 17:3

Theological / Devotional

A great eagle. Literally, “the great eagle.” According to verse 12 the symbol represents “the king of Babylon” (cf. Jeremiah 48:40; 49:22).

Lebanon. Here poetically representing Judah. Perhaps the fact that one of Solomon’s palaces was called the “house of the forest of Lebanon” (1 Kings 7:2; 10:17, 21) suggested the symbolism here.

The highest branch. Hebrew sammereth, a word occurring in the Bible only here, in verse 22, and in Ezekiel 31:3, 10, 14. Its etymology is uncertain, but it presumably means the top of the tree. The reference is to Jehoiachin, whom Nebuchadnezzar took captive to Babylon (2 Kings 24:12).

By SdaBc