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.

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.