Good day People of God in Christ. You are all welcome to another episode of our daily study of the Word of God. We thank God for the gift of life.
In our today’s episode 554 of studying and understanding the Bible, we shall be looking into the book of Ezekiel Chapter 17 titled:
What You Should Know About The Parable Of Two Eagles
Below is the break down of the chapter.
Verses 1-10 contains the parable of the two eagles.
Verses 11-21 contains the interpretations
Verses 22-24 contains the promise of hope – The intervention of the Messiah
When God told Ezekiel to put forth a riddle in verse 2, it means that he should speak in parable that needs to be examined by who ever that would read it or listen to him.
When examining it, it must be properly analyzed to bring out the substance of the message.
That’s exactly how to study the Bible especially the Old Testament books that are full of parables and figurative expressions. They must be properly investigated and interpreted in the light of the Epistles breathed upon by the Holy Spirit.
What’s this riddle or parable all about?
Verse 3 gives us a clue and called it a parable of a great eagle which means the king of Babylon called Nebuchadnezzar.
You will see this also mentioned in Jer 48:40; Jeremiah 49:22; Daniel 7:4 and also in Daniel 7:12.
The Bible says this Eagle has great and long wings. What does it mean?
It means king Nebuchadnezzar has great Kingdom or empire and when he attacks any nation, he does that swiftly and successfully.
This great eagle also has many feathers which represents having a lot of people serving him and obeying his command.
This chapter also talks about the eagle having many different colours meaning that King Nebuchadnezzar has been able to capture many different nations.
The highest branch and the cedar mentioned refereed to King Jehoiachin and the Jews that Nebuchadnezzar took to Babylon.
According to verse 4, the Bible says this great eagle (I.e King Nebuchadnezzar), cropped off the top of the young twigs of that cedar tree, and carried it into a land of traffick (I.e trade meaning captivity); he set it in a city of merchants.
If the cedar refers to the king, definitely, its branches and twigs at the top refer to the princes in Jerusalem.
Verse 5 is talking about the seed of the land that King Nebuchadnezzar planted in a fertile field, the prophet was referring to Zedekiah who was Jehoiachin’s brother.
Remember in our previous study that King Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin to Babylon and made Zedekiah, his brother king in his place.
In verse 6, after planting the seed (making Zedekiah king), the seed became a spreading vine of low stature.
It means Zedekiah was made to become a Vassal King answerable to King Nebuchadnezzar and became dependent on him to help him sustain that royal power.
Now, here comes another eagle in verse 7 similar in description to that of Nebuchadnezzar.
This eagle was no other person than Pharaoh of Egypt.
Remember the people of Judah also sought for help from Egypt when they were planning to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar. And Pharaoh and his army were ready to help but they could not match the forces of the Chaldeans (Babylonians).
That’s the meaning of bending her root…i.e looking for help.
There was a question raised in verse 9 saying:
Shall it prosper?
It means will king Zedekiah succeed in his quest for total freedom from the subjugation of Nebuchadnezzar.
Hope his plan to rebel will not backfire? That’s the meaning of “shall he not pull up the roots and cut off the fruit?”
It means hope Nebu will not dethrone him and kill his children?
The leaves means all the elders ruling with him.
According to the statement in verse 10, it actually happened. And that’s what ended the reign of King Zedekiah.
From verse 12 till verse 21, we begin to see the full interpretation of the parables as I have earlier explained.
That’s why Prophet Ezekiah was asked:
“Know ye not what these things mean?”
Then in the final verses 22, 23 and 24, we can see how Prophet Ezekiel Metaporically predicts the coming of the Messiah, he talks about the eternal security that He came to offer and how His Kingdom is going to spread all over the whole world and produce spiritual fruits meaning that many souls will be converted and many ministers of the Gospel will be birthed. That’s the meaning of boughs.
The reason we are studying these old Testament books is for us to understand how far human beings have been rebelling against God and how many kings, leaders in one way or the other have failed to lead the people back to God until the Messiah, the only One capable of doing the job came and perfected the Salvation of humanity using His precious blood.
It therefore means that the Old Covenant failed to offer Salvation and then came the New Covenant.
That’s why the writer of Hebrews says in Heb. 8:7
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
To be continued…stay tuned and stay blessed.
Let us pray:
I declare by the authority in the name of Jesus, you will soar on wings like the eagles, breaking every barrier and obstacles before you and reaching your maximum potential in Christ, in Jesus name.
That help you need from God in order for you to become a helper to others in need, I declare, receive that help right now, in Jesus name.
Bible Readings For Today: Jeremiah Chapters 19, 20 & 21 with Isaiah Chapter 17
I call you blessed now and always.
Saturday October 3, 2020 (DDMI)