Ezekiel 17:23
On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Ezekiel 17:22-24 and Colossians 3:1-17
The prophet Ezekiel was one of the 10,000 Jews taken into exile by Nebuchadnezzar when Babylon seized Jerusalem. Ezekiel was a priest who was about 25 years old when Jerusalem was seized. Jeremiah’s ministry began a few years before Ezekiel was born so Ezekiel would have been very familiar with the message and the prophecies of Jeremiah.
While in captivity, Ezekiel was given his first vision when he was about 30 years old and these visions would continue for about 20+ years. His entire ministry was spent in captivity in Babylon under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar. Recall also that Daniel was slave under Nebuchadnezzar and rose to a high position in his government through his accurate interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams.
Ezekiel records one of his visions in chapter 17. God gives Ezekiel a parable to tell the Israelites and then interprets most of it for him. The parable is about two eagles representing Babylon and Egypt and a cedar tree representing Israel. There is also a vine that represents the vassal king of Judah (King Zedekiah) that Nebuchadnezzar installs after removing King Jehoiachin.
The gist of the parable is that King Zedekiah, despite swearing allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar, will look to Egypt for help to form an alliance against Babylon. His hope is that Egypt will send an army to Jerusalem to overthrow Babylon. God tells Ezekiel that this will not succeed and that in the end Nebuchadnezzar will kill Zedekiah, conquer the rest of Judah and burn the city of Jerusalem.
God was looking for Zedekiah to turn to Him for rescue but Zedekiah trusted in Egypt instead. So God executed His judgment on Zedekiah. However, God continues his parable to remind us yet again that this captivity will not be the end of Judah. He will restore it and it will become great again:
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the forest will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it’” (Ez 17:22-24).
God uses a lot of horticulture in this prophecy. This is consistent with many other prophecies that describe the Messiah:
“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit” (Isa 11:1)
“‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord,
‘when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
and do what is just and right in the land’” (Jer 23:5).
“In those days and at that time
I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
he will do what is just and right in the land.
In those days Judah will be saved
and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called:
The Lord Our Righteous Savior” (Jer 33:15-16).
“He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isa 53:2).
Looking at our prophecy in verse 22, the Lord will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar. The cedar is Israel and the top of the tree represents the royalty or the king. Thus the Messiah will come from the royalty of Israel, aka the line of David. God will plant the Messiah on the mountain heights of Israel so that the whole world will see him. His ministry will grow into a splendid cedar and bear much fruit.
Birds of every kind will nest in it. Earlier in our parable, the birds represented the nations of Babylon and Egypt. Here we see birds of every kind will come to the Messiah because he will draw all nations to him. They will find shelter in the shade of his branches. Jesus told a parable that sounds very similar:
“Again he said, ‘What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade’” (Mark 4:30-32).
The message in all of this to me is that the Messiah has come. His kingdom is here and he offers us shade from the scorching heat of the sun if we choose to follow him. We aren’t taken out of the heat of the sun or the storms of life, but there is shade from the sun and a peace in the midst of the storm when we walk with Jesus. When life gets hard, will we turn to the Lord or to Egypt? Will we turn to Jesus or to earthly things?
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col 3:1-4).
Christ in the Old Testament 
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