John Gill Commentary Ezekiel 17

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying .
] After the prophet had been sent to charge the Jews with breaking the covenant with God, he is sent to rebuke and threaten them for breaking covenant with men, even with the king of Babylon; by whom they were in part carried into captivity, and another part remained in the land, as will be hereafter seen.

Son of man, put forth a riddle
A dark saying, but a smart one: "whet a whetting" ^F11 , as in the Hebrew; something at first sight difficult to be understood, yet amusing and entertaining; and, when solved, very useful and instructive: and speak a parable to the house of Israel ;
or, "concerning the house of Israel" ^F12 ; as the Targum and Syriac version; something relating to them, and what would aptly describe and represent their case; for the prophet was bid to take such a method, not to hide things from them, but rather the more strongly to represent them to them; seeing hereby their attention would be excited, and things would be more fixed in their memories, and they would be put upon studying the meaning of them; and when explained to them, and understood, which was quickly done, they might be the more affected with them.

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: (hdyx dwx) , Heb. "acue acumen", Piscator.
• F12: (larvy tyb la) "de domo Israelis", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus.

And say, thus says the Lord God
The riddle is not the prophet's, nor the parable his, but the Lord God's; and exceeding beautiful and apt it is, to signify the things designed by it; the wisdom of God is greatly displayed in it: a great eagle; which is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, as it is explained, (Ezekiel 17:12); who is compared to an eagle for his power and authority, that being the king of birds, and for his swiftness and voracity in conquering and subduing kingdoms; see (Jeremiah 48:40).

with great wings; so the Babylonish monarchy is signified by a lion with eagle's wings, (Daniel 7:4); and the two parts of the Roman empire, into which it was divided at the death of Theodosius, are called two wings of a great eagle, (Revelation 12:14); and so here it may denote the large kingdoms and provinces which belonged to the Babylonian monarchy; see (Esther 1:1); longwinged; or having a "long member" ^F13; meaning the body of the wing, which was long; and so, as the wings spread, may signify the breadth of his dominion, this the length of them, and both their extensiveness.

full of feathers; of cities, towns, people, armies, wealth, and riches: which had divers colours; or an "embroidery" ^F14; like that of the weaver, only needle work, consisting of various colours; and so it alludes to such eagles as are called the golden eagle, and "asterias", from their golden colour, and their being spotted like stars, and which are said to be of the largest size, as Bochart, from Aelianus ^F15, observes; and may signify people of divers languages, customs, manners, and circumstances, subject to the government of the king of Babylon.

came unto Lebanon; the northern border of the land of Judea, and invaded it; where were the mountain and forest of Lebanon, famous for the cedars that grew there, from whence the whole land may here take its name, as being more apt for the allegory used: or the city of Jerusalem, where were the temple built of the cedars of Lebanon, as many of its palaces and houses also were; whither the king of Babylon came, and took it, and who came northward, as Babylon was: and took the highest branch of the cedar; by the "cedar" is meant, either the nation in general, or the royal family in particular; and by the "highest branch" the then reigning king, Jeconiah with the princes and nobles of the land, who were taken and carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar; see (2 Kings 24:14–16).

FOOTNOTES:

• F13: (rbah Kra) "longa corpore", Castalio; "longa membris", Munster, Grotius; "longo membororum ductu", Pradus.
• F14: (hmqrh wl rva) , Heb; "opus phrygionicum", Piscator.
• F15: Aelian. Hist. Animal. l. 2. c. 39.

He cropped off the top of his young twigs
By which are meant the princes of the land, or the several branches of the royal family; the top of which was King Jeconiah, who was but young and tender, being but eighteen years of age when he began his reign, and this was within three months after; and who was no more able to withstand the force of the king of Babylon, than a tender twig so ravenous a bird as an eagle, (2 Kings 24:8) ; whose superior power and strength is signified by the cropping off of a tender twig:

and carried it into a land of traffic ;
not into the land of Canaan, as the Septuagint, and some other versions, literally render it; but into Babylon, which was become a place of great merchandise, through the great concourse of people to it, and the large additions made to the empire:

he set it in a city of merchants ;
meaning the city of Babylon, perhaps in particular, as distinct from the country before mentioned: the word for "merchants" signifies "apothecaries" or "druggists" ^F16 ; and may design such merchants as traded in sweet spices and aromatic drugs. The words may be rendered, "and brought it out of the land of Canaan" ^F17 ; out of which Jeconiah and his nobles were carried by the king of Babylon; so the particle (la) sometimes signifies "from", or "out of", as in (1 Kings 8:30) ; and others ^F18 , "and in a city of merchants he set it"; in Babylon, famous for merchants; whom the Jews, being captives, were obliged to attend in a servile manner.

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: (Mylkwr) "aromatariorum", Junius & Tremellius, Polinus. So Stockius, p. 1017.
• F17: (Nenk Ura la) "tetra Chanaan", Texelius, Phoenix, l. 3. c. 4. sect. 6. p. 205.
• F18: Vid. Noldii Concord. Part. Ebr. p. 56.

He took also of the seed of the land Of the land of Judea, a native of it, not a stranger; not one of another country, a Babylonian; not one of his own nobles or princes, did Nebuchadnezzar, the eagle, take and set upon the throne of Judea, but one of their own, even one of the king's seed, of the blood royal, as it is explained, (Ezekiel 17:13) , Mattaniah, the uncle of Jeconiah, whom the king of Babylon called Zedekiah, and made him king in his room:

and planted it in a fruitful field ; in the land of Judea, and in Jerusalem the royal city:

he placed [it] by great waters ; many people, (Revelation 17:15) ; over whom he ruled, and by whom he was supported in his royal dignity:

[and] set it [as] a willow tree ; which loves moist places, and grows up thick: unless it should be rendered, "he set it with great circumspection" ^F19 ; took a great deal of care and caution in placing him upon the throne; he made a covenant with him, took an oath of him, and hostages for the performance of it, (Ezekiel 17:13) . The Targum is,``a planted vine he set it,'' to make it agree with what follows; but the word in the Chaldee and Arabic languages signifies a kind of willow, as we render it, as Ben Melech observes ^F20 .

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: (wmv hpupu) "circumspectissime posuit illud, Junins & Tremellius, Polanus; "cum magna circumspectione", Piscator; "circumspecte, Cocceius, Starckius.
  
• F20: And so it does; see Castel, col. 3220, 3221. and in this way Jarchi and Kimchi interpret the word, in which they are followed by many; so R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 73. 1. nevertheless, the sense of it here is disapproved of by Castel, who observes, what has a willow to do with a vine? col. 3222. and commends the Greek version, which renders it, (epiblepomenon) , "conspicuous", to be seen; and so others translate it, "in superficie", V. L. Grotius; yet the "safsaf" of the Arabs is a tree by which they understood the "abeile" or poplar tree; see Shaw's Travels, p. 432. Ed. 2.