Hesekiel 17:22

The Planting of the True Twig of the Stem of David Eze 17:22. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, And I will take from the top of the high cedar, and will set it; from the topmost of its shoots will I pluck off a tender one, and will plant it upon a high and exalted mountain. Eze 17:23. On the high mountain of Israel will I plant it, and it will put forth branches, and bear fruit, and become a splendid cedar, so that all the birds of every plumage will dwell under it. In the shade of its branches will they dwell. Eze 17:24. And all the trees of the field will learn that I Jehovah have lowered the lofty tree, lifted up the low tree, made the green tree wither, and the withered tree become green. I Jehovah have said it, and have done it. - Although the sprout of David, whom Nebuchadnezzar had made king, would lose the sovereignty because of his breach of faith, and bring about the destruction of the kingdom of Judah, the Lord would not let His kingdom be destroyed, but would fulfil the promise which He had given to the seed of David. The announcement of this fulfilment takes its form from the preceding parable. As Nebuchadnezzar broke off a twig from the top of the cedar and brought it to Babel (Eze 17:13), so will Jehovah Himself also pluck off a shoot from the top of the high cedar, and plant it upon a high mountain. The Vav before לקחתּי is the Vav consec., and אני is appended to the verb for the sake of emphasis; but in antithesis to the acting of the eagle, as described in Eze 17:3, it is placed after it. The cedar, which it designated by the epithet râmâh, as rising above the other trees, is the royal house of David, and the tender shoot which Jehovah breaks off and plants is not the Messianic kingdom or sovereignty, so that Zerubbabel could be included, but the Messiah…

When the royal family of Judah was brought to desolation by the captivity of Jehoiachin and Zedekiah it might be asked, "What has now become of the covenant of royalty made with David, that his children should sit upon his throne for evermore? Do the sure mercies of David prove thus unsure?" To this it is sufficient for the silencing of the objectors to answer that the promise was conditional. If they will keep my covenant, then they shall continue, Psa 132:12. But David's posterity broke the condition, and so forfeited the promise. But the unbelief of man shall not invalidate the promise of God. He will find out another seed of David in which it shall be accomplished; and that is promised in these verses. I. The house of David shall again be magnified, and out of its ashes another phoenix shall arise. The metaphor of a tree, which was made us of in the threatening, is here presented in the promise, Eze 17:22, Eze 17:23. This promise had its accomplishment in part when Zerubbabel, a branch of the house of David, was raised up to head the Jews in their return out of captivity, and to rebuild the city and temple and re-establish their church and state; but it was to have its full accomplishment in the kingdom of the Messiah, who was a root out of a dry ground, and to whom God, according to promise, gave the throne of his father David, Luk 1:32. 1. God himself undertakes the reviving and restoring of the house of David. Nebuchadnezzar was the great eagle that had attempted the re-establishing of the house of David in a dependence upon him, Eze 17:5. But the attempt miscarried; his plantation withered and was plucked up. "Well," says God, "the next shall be of my planting: I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar and I will set it." Note, As men have their d…

17:22-24 The last part of the chapter turns the fable around. Now the Lord would take a branch from the . . . cedar tree and plant it on . . . Israel’s highest mountain. As elsewhere in the Old Testament, tree imagery stands for the royal line, with a new shoot representing a fresh start (cp. Isa 11:1). The judgment upon the vine would not end the monarchy after all. God would plant a fresh branch that would grow into a more majestic cedar than the first cedar had ever been. Although the present dynasty of kings had reached a dead end in Zedekiah, a new beginning was not only possible but inevitable in God’s time (see Hag 2:21-23; Matt 1:11-16; 2:1-11). • God cuts the tall tree down, makes the short tree grow tall, and gives the dead tree new life, enabling birds of every sort (representing the nations) to find shelter and shade under its branches. God’s promise of an eternal throne for David would not ultimately be thwarted by the failures of David’s descendants, the kings of Judah. One day, the dynasty of David—in the person of Jesus—would once again be raised up as the source of blessing for all nations.