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.

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.”