Context No. 3208 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Ezekiel 17:7-15: in context

7“‘“There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. Behold, this vine bent its roots toward him, and shot out its branches toward him, from the ground where it was planted, that he might water it. 8It was planted in a good soil by many waters, that it might produce branches and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a good vine.”’ 9“Say, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Will it prosper? Won’t he pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, that it may wither, that all its fresh springing leaves may wither? It can’t be raised from its roots by a strong arm or many people. 10Yes, behold, being planted, will it prosper? Won’t it utterly wither when the east wind touches it? It will wither in the ground where it grew.”’” 11Moreover the LORD’s word came to me, saying, 12“Say now to the rebellious house, ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took its king, and its princes, and brought them to him to Babylon. 13He took one of the royal offspring, and made a covenant with him. He also brought him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land, 14that the kingdom might be brought low, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. 15But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the covenant, and still escape?

Ezekiel tells a parable of two great eagles and a vine. The vine, planted by the first eagle in good soil, bends its roots and branches instead toward a second eagle. God asks: will it prosper? Then he interprets it: the king of Babylon set up a king in Jerusalem under a sworn covenant, but that king rebelled, sending to Egypt for horses and help. Will he break the covenant and yet escape?

The parable exposes King Zedekiah's treachery. Made king by Babylon under a solemn oath, he broke his word and turned to Egypt for military help, betraying the agreement. And God's question is pointed: will he break the covenant and yet escape? The issue God highlights is the broken oath, a covenant sworn, even to a foreign king, and then betrayed. God takes oaths seriously, even those made to pagan powers; Zedekiah's faithlessness in breaking his word is itself an offense against the God who keeps covenants. Keeping our word, honoring our commitments, matters to him.

Do I keep the commitments and oaths I have made, honoring my word as something God takes seriously, or do I break faith when it seems advantageous?

Sources

Ezekiel 17:15: "Will he break the covenant, and still escape?"
Ezekiel 17:19: "My oath that he has despised, and my covenant that he has broken, I will even bring it on his own head."
Psalm 15:4: "He who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and doesn't change."