“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.

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.