A Prophetic Riddle Fulfilled
A RIDDLE stimulates thinking and reflection. It can make a far deeper impression on the mind than a mere stating of facts. Evidently, therefore, with a view to having his prophetic word about the royal house of David stand out in the minds of the hearers, the Most High conveyed it through Ezekiel in the form of a riddle.
This riddle is found in Ezekiel chapter 17. We read: “The great eagle, having great wings, with long pinions, full of plumage, which had color variety, came to Lebanon and proceeded to take the treetop of the cedar. He plucked off the very top of its young shoots and came bringing it to the land of Canaan; in a city of traders he placed it. Furthermore, he took some of the seed of the land and put it in a field for seed. As a willow by vast waters, as a willow tree he placed it. And it began to sprout and gradually became a luxuriantly growing vine low in height, inclined to turn its foliage inward; and as for its roots, they gradually came to be under it. And it finally became a vine and produced shoots and sent forth branches.
“And there came to be another great eagle, having great wings, and having large pinions, and, look! this very vine stretched its roots hungrily toward him. And its foliage it thrust out to him in order for him to irrigate it, away from the garden beds where it was planted. Into a good field, by vast waters, it was already transplanted, in order to produce boughs and to bear fruit, to become a majestic vine.”—Ezek. 17:3-8.
Thereafter the following questions are raised about this vine: “Will it have success? Will not someone tear out its very roots and make its very fruit scaly? And must not all its freshly plucked sprouts become dry?” The answer: “It will become dry. Neither by a great arm nor by a multitudinous people will it have to be lifted up from its roots.” Then more questions are brought up and thereafter answered: “And, look! although transplanted, will it have success? Will it not dry up completely, even as when the east wind touches it? In the garden beds of its sprout it will dry up.”—Ezek. 17:9, 10.
Just what did the riddle mean? How was it fulfilled? And of what benefit is this to us today? These are questions that merit an answer.
We are not left to guess about the meaning of the riddle. The inspired explanation is also recorded in the Scriptures. Identifying the “great eagle” that came to “Lebanon,” Ezekiel 17:12 says: “The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and proceeded to take its king and its princes and bring them to himself at Babylon.”
The “king of Babylon,” Nebuchadnezzar, was like a “great eagle” under whose large wings came many subject peoples. This “great eagle” came to “Lebanon,” that is, Jerusalem. On account of its lofty location and buildings of extensive cedarwood construction, Jerusalem could appropriately be referred to as “Lebanon.” Furthermore, the government in the hands of a ruler of the royal line of David at Jerusalem was like a tall cedar. The topmost part of this cedar—representing King Jehoiachin and his princes—Nebuchadnezzar plucked off, taking it into Babylonian exile. In the riddle the taking of it into Babylonian exile is spoken of as a ‘bringing of it to the land of Canaan, a placing of it in a city of traders.’ This is so because centuries earlier the expression “Canaanite” had come to mean “tradesman” or “merchant.” (Compare Job 41:6, where “Canaanites” is rendered “tradesmen.”) As a great commercial center, Babylon was indeed “a city of traders.”
Regarding what Nebuchadnezzar did with “some of the seed,” the explanation continues: “He took one of the royal seed: [Zedekiah, the uncle of King Jehoiachin] and concluded a covenant with him and brought him into an oath; and the foremost men of the land he took away, in order that the kingdom might become low, unable to lift itself up, that by keeping his covenant it might stand.”—Ezek. 17:13.
Thus Nebuchadnezzar planted Zedekiah as a “willow,” making him a vassal king. As such Zedekiah was to be just a local sovereign dependent on Babylon. In the former territory of the kingdom of Judah willows grow as shrubs or small trees. The position of Zedekiah was like such a willow, as compared to the lofty position once occupied by kings of the royal line of David.
Zedekiah was not satisfied with this position. He began looking to another “great eagle” to help him to break free from the Babylonian yoke. Who was this “great eagle”? We are told: “He [Zedekiah] finally rebelled against him [Nebuchadnezzar] in sending his messengers to Egypt, for it to give him horses and a multitudinous people.”—Ezek. 17:15.
As long as Zedekiah remained submissive to Nebuchadnezzar, his kingship was secure. His position was like that of a low-growing luxuriant vine, abundantly supplied with water. But the situation was to change. In turning to another “great eagle,” Egyptian Pharaoh Hophra, Zedekiah was courting disaster. He would incur the rage of the more powerful eagle, King Nebuchadnezzar. Like a searing east wind, the Babylonian forces would come against him, and he would dry up as a vine under the intense heat.
Explaining what was to happen to Zedekiah for his rebellion, the prophetic word says: “In the midst of Babylon he will die. And by a great military force and by a multitudinous congregation Pharaoh will not make him effective in the war.”—Ezek. 17:16, 17.
All that the prophetic riddle indicated befell Zedekiah. In the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign, the Babylonian armies broke through the walls of Jerusalem. By night Zedekiah and the men of war fled. A Chaldean military force caught up with them in the desert plains of Jericho. Zedekiah was captured and brought before Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. There Zedekiah’s sons were slain before his eyes, after which he was blinded, bound with copper fetters and taken to Babylon, where he died in the house of custody.—2 Ki. 25:2-7; Jer. 52:6-11.
We should not make the mistake of viewing the fulfillment of the prophetic riddle merely as dead history. It was in connection with this riddle that another feature was introduced, one that can be a great blessing for us. We read: “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: ‘I myself will also take and put some of the lofty treetop of the cedar; from the top of its twigs I shall pluck off a tender one and I will myself transplant it upon a high and lofty mountain . . . and it will certainly bear boughs and produce fruit and become a majestic cedar.’”—Ezek. 17:22, 23.
This pointed to the time when an heir of the royal house of David, the Messiah or Christ, Jesus, would rule as king. This one would become like a lofty cedar, exercising worldwide rulership. With prophetic reference to his rule, Psalm 72:7, 8 states: “In his days the righteous one will sprout, and the abundance of peace until the moon is no more. And he will have subjects from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
We can choose Christ’s rulership even now by heeding his invitation to become his disciples: “Come to me, all you who are toiling and loaded down, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and become my disciples, for I am mild-tempered and lowly in heart.” (Matt. 11:28, 29) Have you acted on that invitation? Doing so is the only way to avoid courting disaster as did King Zedekiah of old.