I the Lord have brought down— I the Lord bring down the high tree, and exalt the low; have dried up the green tree, but will make the dry tree flourish; I the Lord have spoken, and will do it. Many commentators suppose, that this alludes to the debasement of Zedekiah, and the elevation of Jechoniah: but it seems more agreeable to the preceding verses to understand it of the kingdom of Christ; which by degrees was to be exalted above all the kingdoms of the world, and at length put an end to them, itself continuing unto all eternity. See Daniel 2:35; Daniel 2:44; Daniel 7:27. Luke 1:33. 1 Corinthians 15:24.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, We have here,
1. The riddle and parable which Ezekiel is ordered to put forth to them; not that God would wrap up in obscure expressions their approaching doom; but that, engaged by this method of proposing it, they might pay greater attention to the warning.
2. The explication of the riddle to the rebellious house of Judah, that they might not plead ignorance, but be left without excuse.
[1.] The great eagle, is Nebuchadrezzar; his great and long wings represent his vast dominions; and his coming to Lebanon, his invasion of the land of Judaea. Jeconiah is the highest branch cropped by him; and the top of the young twigs the princes of the land, and the seed-royal, which he carried into captivity to a land of traffic, to Babylon, the great mart and seat of the empire. Zedekiah is the seed of the land, whom he set with great circumspection, as the word signifies, in the fruitful field of Judaea; having exacted from him an oath of allegiance, and thereupon appointed him king over much people, represented by great waters; having taken the mighty of the land as hostages for his fidelity; that, weakened by their loss, Zedekiah might be the less inclined or able to rebel; and that though the kingdom still remained, it might be base, reduced, and dependent upon the king of Babylon; and by keeping of his covenant it might stand, and flourish, though not in its former splendour, yet with comfort, peace, and dignity; as a vine, though of a low stature, whose branches turned towards Nebuchadnezzar, and the roots spread under him; safe and protected by his power, though subject to his disposal: and in this state it became a vine, and brought forth branches. The royal family increased, and for a while the people prospered under Zedekiah's government; and might have grown greater, could they have been content with their station. Note; When by the providence of God we are reduced, it is our wisdom, and will be our comfort, to submit, and make the best improvement of our present state; and then we shall find some good arising to us out of the evil.
[2.] The other great eagle, is the king of Egypt, with large and extensive dominions, though not equal to the king of Babylon. To him Zedekiah inclined; and though he was very flourishing in his present state under the dominion of Nebuchadnezzar, yet he could not bear his subjection, and turned his branches, sent his ambassadors to Egypt, in order to obtain infantry and cavalry to support him in the rebellion that he meditated; and to be watered by the furrows of her plantation, as Egypt was by the Nile, hoping to be enriched and made great by this alliance with the Egyptians. But they who are discontented with the state that Providence allots them, only plague themselves by fighting against God, and aggravate the miseries under which they are so impatient, as was Zedekiah's case. For,
[3.] God denounces his doom. So far from being watered by Egypt, the vine shall wither in the furrows where it was planted, as a tree blasted by the east wind. It shall be plucked up by the roots, and the fruit cut off; and this without great power or many people, any army being sufficient to destroy that nation which God hath devoted to ruin. How can a wretch so perfidious, a covenant-breaker, hope to escape? By an oath God pronounces sentence on the rebellious king, ungrateful to his benefactor who left him a prince, when he might have bound him as a prisoner: false to the oath of God, and faithless to his engagements, God will punish him for his perjury. His Egyptian allies shall help in vain; and instead of succouring Jerusalem, shall be beaten themselves. Zedekiah's own forces, as cowards, shall flee, unable to stand in the day of battle; part slain with the sword, and the shattered remains scattered to the four winds. Thus deserted and helpless, he shall be taken in God's snare, delivered a prisoner to the victorious king of Babylon, whose covenant he broke; and die in captive bands in the land of Chaldea, the righteous vengeance due to his crimes: and when this prediction should be fulfilled, then at least he should be made to know that the Lord had spoken it, Note; (1.) Oaths are sacred things: they who trifle with them shall bear their judgment. (2.) Sinners will not now believe the threatenings of God against them; but the time will come, when they will be terribly convinced of their truth by fatal experience.
2nd1y, In the midst of the threatened desolations we have a gracious promise to support the hopes of God's people, who might be ready to fear that the royal line of David would be extinct, and the promise of the Messiah, who was to descend from him, be disappointed.
1. God will raise the tabernacle of David from its ruins: out of the cedar, the Jewish nation, from the highest branch, the royal family of Judah, God will crop off a tender one, the Messiah, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent; in the mount of God in glory, whither the Saviour ascended after his resurrection; or in his church on earth, the spiritual mount Zion; and thence his boughs shall spread, fill the earth with fruit, and afford a safe shelter for fowl of every wing: penitent sinners of all nations shall fly to him, and dwell under his shadow with delight, protected from every evil, and singing among the branches, happy in the experience of his love and favour. Some apply this to Zerubbabel, in whom the house of David revived; but, whatever reference it might have to him, we may venture to affirm, that a greater than Zerubbabel is here.
2. God will be glorified in his work. All the trees of the field, the nations of the earth, converted by the preaching of the Gospel, 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; which some interpret of the destruction of the Chaldean monarchy, and the restoration of the Jewish people: others, of the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles, who seemed as a withered and dry tree, respecting all spiritual life: and others, more generally, of the destruction of the kingdom of Satan, and the exaltation of the kingdom of Christ, which shall in the latter day spread universally. I the Lord have spoken, and have done it; his word being as sure as if it were already accomplished. See the Critical Annotations.