God was a very creative communicator in the Old Testament. Like Jesus in the New Testament, God the Father used stories about familiar things to explain things that were hard to grasp.

In today’s reading the Lord told Ezekiel a story about eagles and trees, water and deserts. This allegory was intriguing and it must have made people want more information from the prophet. If straight prophetic pronouncements didn’t reach them, perhaps stories would.

Two Eagles

In the first story a powerful eagle came to Lebanon, broke off the top of a cedar tree and carried it to the land of merchants where he planted it in the city of traders. He took one of the seedlings from the branch and planted it in fertile soil beside water, where it grew into a vine whose branches spread toward the eagle, but whose roots grew straight down under it.

Another great eagle arrived and the vine turned toward it with both its roots and its branches. The question was whether the vine would survive spreading in this new direction — or would it be uprooted and become withered?

To understand this allegory we have to learn what its parts represent.

The Allegory Explained

The first eagle was King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. Lebanon represents Jerusalem in the story, and the branch that was broken off represents the exiles who were carried off to Babylon and planted in that city of traders.

The seedling was Zedekiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar made king of Jerusalem in Jehoiachin’s place. Zedekiah made treaty with Nebuchadnezzar, and Jerusalem was kept under his protection, like a vine planted beside abundant water with its branches reaching toward Babylon. Babylon profited from Jerusalem’s fruit through the tributes it paid.

The second eagle is Egypt who came and offered an alliance with Jerusalem. Jerusalem turned toward Egypt, stretching its roots and branches in that direction – but this incurred the wrath of Babylon.

God asked, “Will it thrive? Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruit so that it withers? . . . It has been planted, but . . . will it not wither completely when the east wind strikes it – wither away in the plot where it grew?” Ezekiel 17:9-10

God had sent a conqueror who was willing to preserve the people of Judah and the city of Jerusalem. Jeremiah told them that if they surrendered to Babylon it would go well with them, but King Zedekiah chose to rebel. He made an oath to serve Babylon, but then he broke it. He thought he could break away from Nebuchadnezzar if Egypt helped him.

“As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, [Zedekiah] shall die in Babylon, in the land of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose treaty he broke. Pharaoh with his mighty army and great horde will be of no help to him in war, when ramps are built and siege works erected to destroy many lives.” Ezekiel 17:16-17

God’s Righteous Justice

The people of Israel had a saying, “The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” Ezekiel 18:1

They quoted this proverb as they complained about the exile. It seemed to them that they were being punished for their parents’ sins, while they themselves were blameless. This made God appear unjust.

“As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child – both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die.” Ezekiel 18:3-4

The Lord gave a series of examples of fathers and sons who each chose whether to practice sin in their own generation. He never punished a son for his father’s sins, nor would he punish a father for the sins of his son.

“The one who sins will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged to them.” Ezekiel 18:20

A wicked person who repented would be completely forgiven. A righteous person who became wicked would pay for his wickedness. Each individual chose his own course through life and received the blessings or consequences that went with that choice.

“Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to you own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord . . . Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!” Ezekiel 18:30-32

A Lament for Israel and Her Princes

Ezekiel wrote a lament for the final three kings of Israel, and mourned over his nation’s fall from the heights of power and glory to its ruin by Babylon. His poetry is rich with symbolism and scholars believe the pattern of sounds may imitate the drumbeat of a funeral dirge.

First Ezekiel portrays Israel as a lioness raising her cubs. The first cub was Jehoahaz, son of Josiah. The Egyptian king Necho killed Josiah and when Jehoahaz succeeded him, Necho captured Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt. (Ezekiel 19:1-4)

The lioness’s second cub in this lament is Jehoiachin. He made a big noise, but his tenure on the throne was only three months before King Nebuchadnezzar carried him off to Babylon and he never came home again. (Ezekiel 19:5-9)

Ezekiel mourns for the beautiful, fruitful vine Israel once was. She rose high under the reigns of King David and King Solomon, but then she was thrown to the ground, uprooted and planted in the desert of exile. (Ezekiel 19:10-13)

The single branch remaining in David’s line was Zedekiah who brought fire down on Jerusalem when he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. Now there were no more kings from David’s line to sit on the throne of Israel. The northern tribes of Israel had perished and the southern tribes in Judah were taken from the Promised Land into exile. (Ezekiel 19:14)

Ezekiel added a note to his dirge to remind the reader that this was a true lament and should be recited that way, with sorrow and regret.

Sad Endings

It feels like it takes a long time to read through the fall of Jerusalem. There are so many long passages with warnings and explanations that it feels sad and tedious to us, but for God it was absolute heartbreak. He couldn’t let Israel go easily. If they had listened to him, Jerusalem might never have fallen.

Nebuchadnezzar would have kept the city intact under its own king, if Zedekiah had been willing to honor the treaty they signed. Perhaps the people of Israel would have come back from exile to a preserved city, with the temple still standing. We will never know — because Zedekiah rebelled and Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in retaliation.

But we do know that God loved Israel like a husband who is in love with his bride. He tended her like a prized, fruitful vine and he saw her as a lioness among the nations. She was his precious possession, the jewel among all the people of earth. He dwelt with her, blessed her with his glory and made her the place where everyone in the world could come to meet him.

God shared his thoughts with Israel through the Law, the prophets, and the books of wisdom and poetry. He held nothing back from them, he let Israel know him.

What to us is just a tragic tale is to God the story of his family. It’s good to take it slowly and read it carefully because, as Ezekiel said, “This is a lament and is to be used as a lament.” Ezekiel 19:14