Ezekiel chapter 17

I would have started Ezekiel 17 yesterday, but there was a blackout! Which is good really, because I needed the sleep in.

vs 1

Indeed.

vs 2

The KJV and NASB use the word 'riddle', so we'll see if it's a riddle or an allegory when we get there. No doubt the word for 'allegory' in ancient Hebrew is fairly similar to 'riddle', seeing as it's an ancient language that was based primarily on a spoken form.

vs 3

Okay, picture one in our story is an eagle with various colours, that flies into Lebanon and grabs the top of a tree - even if you have no idea what cedar trees are, if you read enough of the Bible you learn pretty quick that Lebanon is famous for them.

vs 4

The eagle takes this topshoot of the tree, breaks it off, and plants it in another land, a land of merchants and traders... where is this? Perhaps we'll get more hints.

vs 5

Because, you know, eagles are masters of horticulture. The point being that the seed is being well planted in a good spot.

vs 6

It's not a tree, but hey, it is an allegory. A spreading vine that sounds pretty healthy, well rooted, and has lots of leaves and... vines.

vs 7

Okay, we have a second great eagle, also rather splendid, and the vine seems to be growing out towards this new eagle, looking for water. The vine had already grown out towards the first eagle (I'm not sure why vines would grow towards people - er, eagles - that sounds very triffidy to me. I must admit when plants start doing things like growing towards people, it makes me think of kudzu or something. I doubt this is the effect that Ezekiel is going for.

vs 8

This verse is retelling the earlier point - is it showing that the vine is making the wrong decision growing towards the new eagle, since it should just look to its planted position for everything it needs, given to it by the first eagle?

vs 9

Damn you, Ezekiel, and your rhetorical questions! The thing is of course that by now we know that the rhetorical questions are pretty much always answered the same way. There is usually an obvious negative, followed by a few positives. So in this case, will the vine thrive? The answer is no, it will wither. The reason is because it will be uprooted, because it is easily uprooted.

The question for us is, why? Is it because it was reaching out for water in a place it shouldn't have been? That seems to be the picture of Israel that I expect, anyway.

vs 10

Because of the way the vine grew, it will whither - not because of where it was planted, or because of who planted it. i think that's the lesson.

vs 11

More word.

vs 12

OH! Snap, so we're talking about the first exile to Babylon here. Oh, this is going to be good. I'm looking forward to reading more of this. Tomorrow, we learn what this parable/riddle/allegory means.