Are You Placing Your Hope in the Wrong Savior?
Ezekiel 17 provides a really cool parable for the exiles in Babylon awaiting news from God regarding the fate of Jerusalem. Babylon had already besieged Jerusalem and taken away the king, Jehoiachin, as well as many of the princes, nobility, and craftsman into captivity. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, left Zedekiah (uncle of Jehoiachin) in charge of the people left in Jerusalem as a vassal king to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar expected Zedekiah to remain loyal to Babylon. So, the Jews that were taken into captivity were wanting to know when they would return to Jerusalem because they didn’t think that God would ever allow Jerusalem and His temple to be destroyed. That is why they came to Ezekiel, a prophet among the exiles.
To answer their question, Ezekiel provides a parable to describe the current situation in Jerusalem and what will become of Zedekiah and Jerusalem. I will summarize the parable here but the whole passage can be found in Ezekiel 17:1-10.
A great eagle flies to Lebanon and plucks off the top of the young twigs off the highest branch of a cedar tree. He takes this twigs and places them in a merchant city. This eagle also took some seed from Lebanon and planted it in good soil with access to a lot of water. The seed grew to a vine whose branches and roots reached toward the eagle. The vine prospered. Then another eagle comes and the vine now shifts its branches and roots toward this second eagle hoping that it would sustain the vine.
Now God asks this question. What will happen to the vine? It was planted in a good spot, with water and good soil. But now, it has chosen to get its sustenance from another eagle, so now will it wither? Will the 1st eagle pluck it up by the roots?
Ezekiel next provides a very clear interpretation of the parable. The 1st eagle is the king of Babylon. The cedar in Lebanon is the people of Judah with the young twigs from the highest branches representing the king of Judah and the princes that were taken captive by Babylon. The seed planted in good soil was Zedekiah (a relative of the king) who was placed as a vassal king to Babylon in Jerusalem. The 2nd eagle represented Egypt who Zedekiah seeks an alliance with against Babylon. Zedekiah hoped that Egypt would destroy Babylon freeing Jerusalem. God prophecies that Egypt would not save Jerusalem and, because he broke the covenant he had with Babylon, Zedekiah will be taken to Babylon. Jerusalem would be invaded with many killed and others taken captive.
History tells us that Zedekiah does form an alliance with Egypt and rebels against Babylon despite warnings from the prophet Jeremiah (and Ezekiel) not to do so. Egypt could not help Jerusalem, however, and Babylon takes vengeance by besieging Jerusalem a final time where many Jews are killed or taken captive. Zedekiah is caught, blinded, taken to Babylon, and killed.
While this parable was designed to answer the captive’s questions regarding their return to Jerusalem, this parable also serves as a lesson to us today!
Zedekiah placed his trust in Egypt and not God. That mistake led to the full destruction of Jerusalem. Instead of repenting and obeying God for protection/redemption, he chose to place his hope in Egypt to save him. Check out this passage from Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 27:8-11
“And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophecy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.”
Jeremiah says this when he comes before Zedekiah and the ambassadors from the neighboring nations who were considering forming an alliance against Babylon. Unfortunately, false prophets also testify before Zedekiah promising that Babylon would fall within 2 years time which would cause all the exiles to return to Jerusalem. Zedekiah chose to listen to the false prophets. Jeremiah confirms that God, in punishing Judah for their sin, would force them to submit to Babylon for a time. But, instead of accepting the consequences of their sin and repenting, Zedekiah chose to find another answer to the problem of Babylon and that was Egypt. But this answer was an empty one.
I think we can all see this same scenario in our own lives. We have a problem. Instead of turning to God for relief or the answer, we turn to something else. When we look for any savior other than God, the result is always bad. Only God can save us. Only God can give the answers to our prayers that we want.
Let’s look at an interesting example. This is something my husband brings up often and I think it relates well to this lesson. We spend a lot of money, time, and energy fighting cancer (or insert any other disease here). We form organizations that fight cancer. We turn to the medical community to solve the answer for cancer. We wear ribbons for cancer. Cancer rates are only increasing! When do we turn to God to fight cancer? Maybe we need to get on our knees and repent. Death is a result of sin. It is a consequence of sin that we must accept. One day, death will be completely defeated, but for now, it is a reality for us. I am not saying we can’t get medical assistance as God can certainly use medicine to help us. But, are we putting our trust in the medical community more than the Almighty God? When was the last time you prayed in repentance for God to cure cancer? Have we lost our faith that God can actually cure diseases?
That is just one example but I am sure you can come up with a bunch! Egypt couldn’t save Judah, only God could. Whatever your problem, place it in God’s hands! Repent and turn to God!