Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 17:15

"But 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? shall he break the covenant, and yet escape?" — Ezekiel 17:15 (ASV)

Shall he escape that doeth such things?— The faithlessness of Zedekiah and his court to his own sworn covenant was an act, in addition to all his other wickedness, especially abominable to God. The sanctity of an oath had always been most strongly insisted upon in Israelite history.

It must be remembered that even when, as in the case of the Gibeonites (Joshua 9), the oath had been obtained by fraud, and centuries had passed since it was given, God still sorely punished the land for its violation (2 Samuel 21:1–2); and in this case the king had been more than once Divinely warned through the prophet Jeremiah of the danger of his treachery. As Zedekiah’s intrigues with Egypt were at that time underway, it was particularly important that they should be exposed, and their result foretold to the captives who were still trusting in the safety of Jerusalem.