Ezekiel Chapters 16 and 17
—Outline and Notes
1 Context Overview
Chapters 16 and 17 of Ezekiel continue to record the messages that came to Ezekiel from the LORD God. God speaks of his love for Israel, his sorrow for their terrible sins, and their coming destruction at the hands of their enemies. But again God promises that whilst Israel is a tree cut down, a tender branch of it will be grown into a new tree and thrive.
The Chaldeans, under king Nebuchadnezzar, are tightening their grip on Jerusalem. Many Israelites have already been taken captive. The final assault will happen soon. Many will be killed, many will be scattered, and many will be among the captives —all this because they persisted in idolatry and all its abominations.
Ezekiel chapters 16 and 17 record a series of messages from God to Ezekiel concerning this situation.
Symbol and Parable
Chapter 16 is symbolic. Jerusalem is likened to God’s bride who became unfaithful and adulterous. There was probably much sexual immorality in Jerusalem. However God is referring to the idols that Jerusalem worshipped. She gave herself to other gods as her lovers, instead of being true to the God of Israel who was her husband.
Chapter 17 is also symbolic. It is in the form of a parable about two eagles, a cedar tree, and a vine that grew from a piece of the cedar. This looks forward to the restoration of Jerusalem when the remnant returned. It also looks to the more distant future when Messiah came and established the new Jerusalem, his church or kingdom (Hebrews 12:22).
2 Outline of Ezekiel 16 and 17
Jerusalem God’s Bride
- The pitiful origins of Jerusalem and how God pitied her at birth (Ezekiel 16:1-7).
- When Jerusalem came of age, God transformed her and took her as his bride (Ezekiel 16:8-14).
- Jerusalem trusted in her beauty. She was unfaithful to God and played the harlot (Ezekiel 16:15).
- She defiled God’s gift of beautiful garments (Ezekiel 16:16).
- She defiled God’s gift of jewels (Ezekiel 16:17).
- She defiled God’s gift of oil and incense (Ezekiel 16:18).
- She defiled God’s gift of bread and honey (Ezekiel 16:19).
- She slaughtered and sacrificed her children to false gods (Ezekiel 16:20-21).
- She forgot God’s kindness to her when she was young, when she was naked and bleeding and God rescued her (Ezekiel 16:22).
- She built lofty chambers in every street, and beckoned all who passed by to enter them (Ezekiel 16:23-25).
- She played the harlot with the Egyptians, her lustful neighbours (Ezekiel 16:26).
- God let the Phillistines punish her (Ezekiel 16:27).
- She played the harlot with the Assyrians and Chaldeans also (Ezekiel 16:28-29).
- Her sick heart drove her to become an adulterous wife, receiving strangers instead of her husband. Unlike a harlot who works for money and gifts, she was driven by her own lusts and paid her lovers with gifts instead of them paying her (Ezekiel 16:30-34).
- To punish her, God will turn all her lovers against her to destroy her (Ezekiel 16:35-37).
- God describes the terrible manner in which Jerusalem will be punished, to bring to a stop all her adulterous idolatry (Ezekiel 16:38-41).
- So God will turn her deeds upon her and satisfy his wrath (Ezekiel 16:42-43).
Jerusalem’s Wicked Family
- God calls Jerusalem’s neighbouring nations her mother and sisters (Ezekiel 16:44-46).
- Jerusalem was more corrupt than her sisters (Ezekiel 16:47).
- Sodom did not sin like Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16:48-50).
- Samaria and Jerusamem’s other sinful sisters are more righteous compared to her. She should be ashamed (Ezekiel 16:51-52).
- God will restore the fortunes of Jerusalem and surrounding nations (Ezekiel 16:53-55).
- In the midst of the nations, Jerusalem will bear her shame. (Ezekiel 16:56-58).
God Will Remember His Covenant
- God will punish Jerusalem for breaking his covenant, yet he will still remember his covenant and not forsake his oath (Ezekiel 16:59-60).
- God will atone for Jerusalem, and she will remember her shameful behaviour (Ezekiel 16:61-63).
Parable of Two Eagles and a Vine
- God tells Ezekiel to propound a riddle, in the form of a parable, to Israel (Ezekiel 17:1-2).
- A richly coloured great eagle flew to Lebanon’s Cedar forests. He took hold of the top of a high cedar, plucked a shoot and carried it away to a city of merchants. There he planted it as you would a willow (Ezekiel 17:1-5).
- The twig sprouted and grew into a low spreading vine (Ezekiel 17:6).
- A second great eagle appeared, graced with great wings and much plumage. The vine grew toward him so he could water it. The vine hoped to branch out, bear fruit, and become a noble vine (Ezekiel 17:7-8).
- The riddle is: Will the vine thrive or die? (Ezekiel 17:9-10).
- The meaning of the parable is told. The king of Babylon [Nebuchadnezzar the first eagle] came to Jerusalem and took her king and his officials [Jehoiachin the shoot from the Cedar] to Babylon (Ezekiel 17:11-12).
- The king of Babylon made a covenant with [Mattaniah/Zedekiah] a relative of the king to rule and preserve Judah, but keep it lowly and subservient [a low vine, not a tall cedar] (Ezekiel 17:13-14).
- But he broke the covenant sending ambassadors to the king of Egypt [the second eagle], asking for horses and a large army. Now will he thrive? (Ezekiel 17:15).
- No, he will not thrive. He will die in Babylon, the land of the king [Nebuchadnezzar] who put him on the throne in Jerusalem. The Egyptians cannot help him in the war and siege that will destroy Jerusalem (Ezekiel 17:16-21).
- But that is not the end. God himself will pluck a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it on the mountain heights of Israel. It will thrive, growing into a splendid and fruitful tree. All kinds of birds [the Gentiles] will nest in its branches (Ezekiel 17:22-24).
References: (2Kings 24, 2Chronicles 36, Jeremiah 52).
3 Ezekiel is Shown the Future
The looming destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of king Nebuchadnezzar was prophesied by Ezekiel at a time when any discerning person could have seen it coming. That is not to say Ezekiel’s strenuous efforts were unnecessary. The Israelites were blind to the obvious, so, under God’s direction, Ezekiel tried to wake them up.
But beyond that, there are elements of Ezekiel’s prophecy that look beyond Jerusalem’s destruction into the more distant future that only a prophet could forsee.
The immediate future is black. But the more distant future is bright. Ezekiel is able to see that distant light.
The Return and Rebuilding
There are statements in Ezekiel that the scattered Israelites would return to Judah, and Jerusalem will be rebuilt. We know that this indeed happened in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.
For example, in the early chapters of Ezekiel we find the following...
- Ezekiel heard God’s promise in clear and literal terms: "I will leave a remnant, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the nations and throughout the lands">" (Ezekiel 6:8).
- In vision, God tells the executioners to follow the man with the inkhorn, and slaughter everyone, man, woman, and child, but not to touch those with the mark from the inkhorn. Here is hope for Israel’s future (Ezekiel 9:5-7).
- The man with the inkhorn returns and says, "I have done what you commanded". This means some of the people have been marked with ink and so a remnant will be spared by the executioners (Ezekiel 9:11).
- God states the aim of the imminent punishment: "that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me, nor be profaned anymore with all their transgressions, but instead be my people and I their God" (Ezekiel 14:11). This implies that, after all, there will remain an Israel to follow God.
- In all of the gloom, God gives hope. He repeats his promise that a remnant of righteous people, marked for deliverance by their righteousness, will restore Israel. And God promises that there is a good purpose in his punishments. He has done nothing without cause (Ezekiel 14:21-23).
- God will restore the fortunes of Jerusalem and surrounding nations (Ezekiel 16:53-55).
The Advent of the Messiah
Furthermore, the visions God gave to Ezekiel also glimpse the coming of Messiah and his glorious kingdom even further in the future.
- In vision, Ezekiel saw, above the firmament, "the likeness of a throne", and seated on it "the likeness of a man" (Ezekiel 1:26-28). This is the Messiah or Christ who rules over all.
- So the destruction of Jerusalem is not the end of Israel. God himself will pluck a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it on the mountain heights of Israel. It will thrive, growing into a splendid and fruitful tree. All kinds of birds [the Gentiles] will nest in its branches (Ezekiel 17:22-24).This is a figure of Israel’s future transformation.