Ezekiel 17

1–6

(Chapter 17, Verse 1 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, propose a riddle, tell a parable to the house of Israel, and say: Thus says the Lord God: A great eagle with large wings, long feathers, full of plumage and variety, came to Lebanon and took the topmost branch of a cedar. It plucked off the highest of its young twigs and carried it to the land of Canaan, and set it in a city of merchants. And he took of the seed of the land, and planted it in the ground for seed so that it would establish roots over many waters; he set it on the surface. And when it sprouted, it grew into a vine of wide spread with low stature: its branches turned toward it and its roots were under it. Thus the vineyard was made and it bore fruit in the form of tendrils and it sent out shoots. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, tell a story and speak a parable to the house of Israel, and say: This is what the Lord God says: A great eagle with great wings, full of long feathers, with long wings and full of talons, came and took from among the choice cedars. He uprooted the tops of its tender shoots and brought them to the land of Chanaan. He put it in a walled city and took it from the seed of the land and planted it in a field over many waters, so that it would be seen. He planted it and it grew into a weak and small vine, so that only its branches could be seen beneath it, and its roots were underneath it. And it became a great vine and produced branches and extended its branches. When it is said of the prophets: Present an enigma, tell a parable, or as the Septuagint translated: tell a narration, it is shown that what is said is obscure. For there is no doubt that to present an enigma and a parable is to express something in words and hold something in meaning. And indeed the Savior spoke to the people in parables, which he explained in secret to the apostles. Therefore, we must understand enigma and parable in such a way that enigma and parable are Two enigmas and parables are presented in the prophecy of Ezekiel at present by Aquila. Now we must first speak: we will discuss the other in the following. And in the meantime, let us enjoy a simple story. The great eagle, with large wings, long feathers, and full of variety, or as the Septuagint translates it, full of claws, is King Nebuchadnezzar of the Chaldeans, about whom Hosea also speaks: Like an eagle over the house of God (Hosea 8:1). He who reigns over many nations and is surrounded by an innumerable army comes over the house of God, undoubtedly referring to the temple, or as Scripture says now, over Lebanon, about which Zechariah speaks: Open, Lebanon, your gates, and let fire consume your cedars. Howl, O fir tree, for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled:(Zach. XI, 12). And often the temple, which was famous and lofty, is called Lebanon in the holy Scriptures. And he took the pith of the cedar, and the top of its branches he plucked off, and brought it to the land of Chanaan, and placed it in the city of the merchants. For the merchants, or for the merchandise, the seventy translated it. Now it signifies Jehoiachin, the king of Juda, whom Nebuchadnezzar, with his mother and the princes of the people, took captive, and all the treasures of Jerusalem and the vessels of the temple; and he carried them into Babylon, which is in the land of Chanaan, and there he grew old. Afterwards, the Lord and our Savior was born through Salathiel and Zorobabel, as the Scripture of the Evangelist Matthew testifies (Matthew 1). He brought forth from the seed of the same land, that is, from the royal lineage, Matthan, uncle of Jechoniah, whose name he changed and called him Zedekiah, and he set him as king in Jerusalem, and he ruled over many peoples. And yet he set him on the surface and did not establish the power of his high empire with a deep root. But he set him there to be looked upon, and he was under the power of Babylon, or of low stature, with his branches looking towards it, so that he would indeed govern the people of Judah, but look to the command of the Babylonians. For this is what Scripture says: 'He will be lowly in stature, his branches will turn towards her, and he will be overshadowed by an eagle.' This is more clearly translated by the Septuagint, 'What had been planted grew up and became a weak and small vineyard, so that only its branches were visible, and it seemed to have a kingdom of its own, but its kingdom was lowly and weak, ruled by the authority of the Babylonian prince.' This is the interpretation of the present chapter, to which we will append the rest.

Commentary on Ezekiel

To no one is there any doubt that the prophet makes known one thing in words as an allegory and a parable but means something else, for even the Savior spoke to the people in parables, which he explained in secret to the apostles. Therefore we must understand the allegory and the parable for what they are. There are two eagles that are placed before us in this part of the prophecy of Ezekiel.

Commentary on Ezekiel 5:17.1-6

He came to that Lebanon, which is the church, where the offerings of God and the incense of his prayers are celebrated, that great true evil, Nebuchadnezzar, that is, the devil, and he sees it.

Homilies on Ezekiel 11:5

As long as it was on holy ground, the vine was huge; but when it was taken to the land of sinners, it was made infirm and small.

Homilies on Ezekiel 11:4

[Ezekiel] calls the city of Jerusalem a vine; but in saying that it stretched out its branches towards the eagle and that its roots were under him, he refers to the treaties and alliances made with him and that it cast itself on him.

Homilies Concerning the Statues 19:9

Whoever has been under the wings of this sun [of justice and healing] who has said in the Gospel: how often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you would not! shall be safe from the devil hawk, safe under the great wings of that mighty eagle in Ezekiel, and all the wounds of his sins shall be healed.

Homily 94 (on Easter Sunday)

Another crowd was taken by him, and it became a vine, less vigorous than it was when it was in the vineyard of God and on holy ground, where the sacrifices of God are celebrated, but it was transferred to Babylon as a weak vine.

Homilies on Ezekiel 11:2

7–10

(Verse 7 and following) And another great eagle appeared, with large wings and many feathers. And behold, this vineyard sent out its roots toward it, extending its branches toward it, in order to be irrigated by the streams of its sap. It was planted in good soil, above abundant waters, in order to produce leaves and bear fruit, and to become a great vineyard. Say: Thus says the Lord God: Will it succeed? Will it not uproot its roots and squeeze its fruit, causing all its branches to wither and dry up, so that it will not be strong in a mighty arm or among many people, in order to uproot it completely? Behold, it is planted, so will it prosper? When the burning wind touches it, will it not wither and dry up, and its shoots wither in its own beds? LXX: And another great eagle was made, with many wings and many claws. And behold, this vineyard was entangled with it, and its roots were attached to it, and its branches extended to it, in order to irrigate it with the soil of its plantation. In a good field, it was fattened over much water, so that it would produce shoots and bring forth fruit, and be a great vineyard. Therefore say: Thus says the Lord God: If it shall be exalted? Shall not its roots be tender, and its fruit wither, and all the things that have sprung from it wither, and it be pulled up even from its roots? And behold, it is fattened. Shall it be exalted? Shall it not, when the burning wind touches it, wither, and dry up with aridity? When the soil of its germination withers, the second eagle, that is, the other, also great, full of feathers, with many talons, because of its rapaciousness and the devastation of many nations, the king of Egypt is Pharaoh. And behold, this vineyard signifies King Zedekiah, who had been appointed by Nebuchadnezzar in Jerusalem, began, he says, to send his branches to it, that is, to send ambassadors to the king of the Egyptians, and to ask for help from him against the king to whom he was subject. For this is what the Scripture says now, that he may water it with the streams of his planting. Which had been planted in good soil by Nebuchadnezzar, in order to produce leaves and bear fruit, and to grow into a wider vineyard: therefore the prophet is commanded to speak to the vine, which had been planted by Nebuchadnezzar, and had sent its branches to the Egyptian eagle: will it prosper because she has tried to do this, and will not all her branches and shoots wither immediately? And did he not, he says, flee to a great army and not to a numerous people? For, while fleeing, Zedekiah was deserted by the help of the king of Egypt, and he was captured by the generals of Nebuchadnezzar in the deserts of Jericho. And all his allies were scattered here and there, as it is written in the books of Kings, Chronicles, and Jeremiah.

Commentary on Ezekiel

One who was condemned by God does not escape his sentence and does not want to change the will of he who judges him, but he will bear it with all patience until God frees the one who he has condemned.

Homilies on Ezekiel 11:2

When the association of such different natures is made in faith in Christ, the lion will no longer be impure, and all the animals called impure in the law of God will receive the purity of their former condition.

Homilies on Ezekiel 11:3

11–18

(Verse 11 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Say to the rebellious house: Do you not know what these things mean? Say: Behold, the king of Babylon is coming to Jerusalem. He will take the king and his princes and bring them to Babylon. And he will take one of the royal offspring, make a covenant with him, and take an oath from him. He will also take away the mighty of the land, so that the kingdom will be humble and not exalted, but will keep his covenant and obey it. When he departs from there, he sends messengers to Egypt, to give him horses and a great population. Will he prosper? Will he escape the one who does these things? Can anyone who breaks a covenant escape? As I live, declares the Lord God, surely in the place where the king who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant with him he broke, in Babylon he shall die. Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not help him in war, when mounds are cast up and siege walls built to cut off many lives. For he despised the oath to break the covenant. And behold, he stretched out his hand, and when he has done all these things, he shall not escape. This is the riddle, this is the parable, which the Scripture showed under the two eagles and the vine, the two kings of Babylon and Egypt; and King Zedekiah, who, against his oath, abandoned the friendship of Nebuchadnezzar and transferred himself to the king of Egypt. He shall strike a covenant with him, and he shall take an oath to him, to keep his pact and observe it. He who breaks a covenant, it is said, will not escape. From this we learn that even amongst enemies, faith must be kept, and it is not important to whom you swore, but through whom. For he who believed in you because of the name of God, and was deceived by you, who, taking advantage of the divine majesty, plotted against your enemy, or rather your friend, has proven to be much more faithful. For, as it is said, in the place of the king who made him king, whose oath he made void, and broke the covenant he had with him, he will die in the midst of Babylon. For we read that Sedecias was captured, brought to Reblatha, and there his sons were killed and he was blinded like a wild animal enclosed in a cage, and then taken to Babylon (4 Kings 25). Therefore, Scripture, although it may seem contradictory to itself, is nonetheless very true in both instances. For it had been said to Sedecias: 'And thou shalt enter into Babylon, and thou shalt not see it' (Jeremiah 34:4). He entered indeed, for he was brought to Babylon, but he did not see it because he was blind. But what follows is understood in two ways: either the Egyptian king coming against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon will not be able to fight or resist with a small army against such a great multitude, or King Zedekiah will be conquered by Pharaoh, from whom he hoped for help. Not that Pharaoh himself conquered him, or that Scripture testifies to this anywhere, but rather that the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar was opportune for the Egyptian king. And it was not the one who was besieging Jerusalem who appeared to conquer it, but the one in whom Zedekiah had vainly hoped. Behold, he said, he gave his hand to the king of Egypt and sold himself; and he committed perjury and sacrilege against God. Will it benefit him, he said? And when he has done all these things, he will not escape.

Commentary on Ezekiel

I am inclined to think that by the good quality of their conduct they increase yet more the agreeableness of the words of God, mixing the sweetness of the life with the sweet savor of the word.

Homilies on Ezekiel 12:1

If we who appear to stand over the church have sinned and given place to the devil against the teaching of Paul when he says “do not give any place to the devil,” in the same way the faults committed at Jerusalem mean that we provide Nebuchadnezzar with the chance to enter into the holy city and to take away those whom he chooses.

Homilies on Ezekiel 12:2

If you have the covenant with us in a blessing, Nebuchadnezzar cannot make a covenant with you.

Homilies on Ezekiel 12:3

God makes covenant with us in a blessing; Nebuchadnezzar establishes his covenant in abuse.

Homilies on Ezekiel 12:3

As holy Scripture tells us, God intends that the covenant with Israel is an abuse against Nebuchadnezzar.

Homilies on Ezekiel 12:3

19–21

(Vers. 19 seq.) Therefore thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely I will bring upon his head the oath he has despised and the covenant he has broken. I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and there I will execute judgment on him for the unfaithfulness with which he has despised me. And all his fugitives, with all his troops, will fall by the sword, and the survivors will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I am the Lord, I have spoken. The sentence is secular.

Deception or virtue, who seeks in an enemy? They often oppose us, those who say that enemies are to be deceived by fraud. To whom should we agree, Sedecias did much worse: he did not deceive an enemy, but a friend, with whom he had been joined by the covenant of the Lord. Therefore, as long as you do not swear and do not enter into a pact in the name of the Lord, it is a matter of prudence and strength to deceive or overcome the adversary in whatever way you can. However, when you have bound yourself by an oath, the one who trusted you is not an adversary, but a friend: and under the pretext of the oath, that is, the invocation of God, he was deceived. Therefore the Scripture now says: I will set upon his head the oath that he despised and the covenant that he broke. And lest we should think that the oath and the covenant and the agreement belonged to the Babylonian king, or to Zedekiah who made it, it follows: In the transgression in which he despised Me. Therefore, the one who despises the oath, despises the one by whom he swore; and he does wrong to the one whose name he believed as an adversary. For this reason, I will spread My net over him, says the Lord, and he will be captured in My snare, and I will bring him to Babylon and will judge him there. Therefore, whatever Nabuchodonosor did against Sedecias, he did not do it by his own power, but by the wrath of God, in whose name he had sworn falsely. According to another interpretation, although it may seem violent, it should be known that just as all other animals are usually referred to in both a good and a bad sense, so it is with the eagle and the lion. In a good sense, it is said: 'The lion's whelp of Juda' (Genesis 49:9). In a contrary sense: 'Our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about' (1 Peter 5:8). And in the psalm it is said: He lieth in wait secretly, as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor (Ps. IX, 9). It is said in a positive sense of the eagle that the righteous, when he becomes wealthy, makes wings for himself like an eagle, so that he can return to the house of his predecessor. And it is written in Isaiah that the righteous bring forth wings like eagles (Isa. XL): they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. But rightly does he who said, By strength will I do it, and by wisdom will I remove the boundaries of the nations, and I will plunder their strength; and I will stir up the cities that are inhabited, and I will seize the whole world in my hand, as a nest: and as eggs that are laid (Ibid., X, 13, 14), now describe it in the persona of an eagle: because it does not want to lash out at the small and humble twigs, which are interpreted as whiteness and are related to incense, but at the tops of the cedars, and the princes, and the royal stock, according to that of Habakkuk: His prey shall be choice (Abac. I, 16). And he makes a covenant, that those whom he has captured should submit their necks to the Babylonian king, and fulfill that which the Apostle speaks of: Those whom I have delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme (I Tim. 1:20). And in another place: Those whom I have delivered, he says, to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved (I Cor. 5). Therefore, if perhaps we are expelled from the congregation of brothers and from the house of God because of some sin, we should not resist, but bear the sentence that has been passed on us with a calm mind, and say with the Prophet (Micah 7:9): I will endure the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He justifies my cause, and so on. And it often happens that we, subjects under one another, turn to another who promises us his assistance; and he does not make us remain in our former opinion. This must be avoided by all means, so that our branches do not wither and our shoots dry up: and so that we are not believed to act against God's covenant.

Commentary on Ezekiel

There is one who dishonors the judgment of God; there is another who honors it.

Homilies on Ezekiel 12:4

To the one who has transgressed and has dishonored the judgment of God, Pharaoh cannot come to the rescue; he will die in the center of Babylon for his transgressions.

Homilies on Ezekiel 12:4

22–24

(Ver. 22 seq.) Thus says the Lord (God says in the Vulgate): And I will take from the top of the cedar’s highest branch, and I will set it; I will break off a tender one from the crown of its branches, and I will plant it on a high and elevated mountain: upon the lofty mountain of Israel I will plant it. And it shall spring forth into a shoot, and it shall bear fruit, and it shall become a mighty cedar, and all the birds of the air shall dwell under it; every bird shall make its nest under the shade of its branches. And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, and exalted the low tree; and have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to bud: I the Lord have spoken and have done it. LXX: For thus says the Lord God: I will take away from the top of the choice cedar tree and will give from the head of its branches, and from the heart of it I will take away, and I will plant it on a high mountain, in the lofty mountain of Israel, and I will set it, and it will bring forth branches, and it will bear fruit, and it will become a majestic cedar, and all birds of every kind will rest under it, and all flying creatures will rest in its shade. And its branches will sprout again, and all the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord who humbles the lofty tree and exalts the lowly tree, who dries up the green tree and causes the dry tree to flourish. I am the Lord who speaks and acts. This is what is read in the Septuagint: 'And I will take from the top of its branches,' which is added in Theodotion's edition. And what follows: 'And its branches will be restored,' should be noted with an obelus, because it is not found in the Hebrew. True Nebuchadnezzar therefore takes from the top of the lofty cedar, from the top of its branches, so that his kingdom may be humble and not exalted. But the Lord God Almighty, who spoke to Ezekiel, takes from the royal stock and from the house of David; and he plants on a high and lofty mountain, which speaks in the psalm: 'I, however, have been appointed king by him over his holy mountain Zion' (Psalm 2:6). For the prince of Judah had failed, and the leader of Israel, until he came who was to be laid up: and he shall be the expectation of the Gentiles. This one burst forth into a shoot, and produced fruit, and surpassed all the cedars with his greatness, so that all the birds of the sky may dwell under him, and all his creatures may be protected by his shade. Of whom Habakkuk says: Horns are in his hands, there his strength is hidden; and he who desires to gather his chicks under his wings, like a hen (Matthew 23): so that all the trees of the region may know that he is the Lord. Speaking tropologically about the believers: This is he who once humbled the prideful Israel and exalted the humble people of the nations, who dried up the green wood of the Jews, flourishing and bearing fruit in the Law and the Prophets; and made the dry wood of the nations sprout: so that he might fulfill with his actions what he always spoke. The same thing is represented by the words of Simeon in the Gospel, saying: Behold, this child is set for the fall, and rising again of many (Luke 2:34). And the grain of mustard seed, though it is the smallest of all seeds, when it grows, it becomes a dwelling place for birds (Matthew 13:32). Some interpret it differently, as the exalted humbled and the humble exalted, referring to the passion of the Lord Savior. Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God: but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant (Philippians 2:6-7); and after the resurrection, the same tree was exalted, which was first green, dried up by death, and then revived, regaining its original greenness. Others explain both [adventus] in the context of Israel: that first he will come in humility and be rejected, and second he will be restored to his original state, after the fulfillment of what the Apostle Paul says: When the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel will be saved (Deuteronomy 5:9-10).

Commentary on Ezekiel

Consider the sublime grandeur of the church of Christ, to understand that according to the promise of God the word has been realized.… It will become a noble cedar; and under it will dwell all kinds of beasts; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest.

Homilies on Ezekiel 12:5

Take the wings of the word of God, and you will be able to repose under this tree that has been planted over a high mountain.

Homilies on Ezekiel 12:5

The high tree humbled and the humble tree exalted refer to the passion of the Lord and Savior, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a theme to be grasped, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant,” and after the resurrection, this very wood was afterwards raised high, which was fair and strong, and then made dry in death, and after reviving, received back its original strength.

Commentary on Ezekiel 5:17.22-24

He says, know that it is easy for me both to humble what is lofty and to raise up what is lowly; to make dry what is wet and to manifest what is dry to be in flower.

Commentary on Ezekiel 6