Thus 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:
I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it. When the state of Israel shall seem past recovery, Messiah, Yahweh Him. self will unexpectedly appear on the scene as Redeemer of His people (Isaiah 63:5).
I ... also. God opposes Himself to Nebuchadnezzar: 'He took of the seed of the land, and planted it (Ezekiel 17:3; Ezekiel 17:5): so will I, but with better success than he had. The branch he plucked (Zedekiah) and planted flourished but for a time, to perish at last; I will plant a scion of the same tree, the house of David, to whom the kingdom belongs by an everlasting covenant, and it shall be the shelter of the whole world, and shall be forever.'
Branch - the special title of Messiah (Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12, "my servant ... the man whose name is the BRANCH;" Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 4:2; Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15, "the Branch of righteousness").
I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one. Zerubbabel never reigned as a universal (Ezekiel 17:23) king, nor could the great things mentioned here be said of him, except as a type of Messiah. Messiah alone can be meant: originally "a tender plant, and root out of a dry ground" (Isaiah 53:2); the beginning of His kingdom being humble, His reputed parents in lowly rank, though King David's lineal representative; yet, even then, God here calls him, in respect to His everlasting purpose, "the highest ... of the high" (Psalms 89:27).
And will plant it upon an high mountain - Zion, destined to be the moral center and eminence of grace and glory shining forth to the world, out-topping all mundane elevation. The kingdom, typically begun at the return from Babylon, and rebuilding of the temple, fully began with Christ's appearing, and shall have its highest manifestation at His reappearing to reign on Zion, and thence over the whole earth (Psalms 2:6; Psalms 2:8; Isaiah 2:2-3; Jeremiah 3:17).