Can the forest fire be eventually a blessing of new life? How can tragic events open up a shred of hope for better futures?
Ezekiel turns off the porn talk in this chapter - to return to a familiar theme - the vineyard, representing Israel, depicted here along with other rich symbolic images - the cedar tree, and two mighty eagles. Another riddle-parable, yet this one is no mystery - he includes the prosaic intentions, built in.
The Double-Headed Eagle is a symbolic motif of royal power that goes back to the Bronze age, familiar to Phoenicians and Hittites, and likely popular enough in Babylonian culture to be referenced by Ezekiel. But what he’s really focusing on in today’s parable is not the power of the mighty eagle but the resilience of the lowly grapevine - back again for another role in yet another riddle.
The parable begins with a mighty cedar tree that is approached by a magnificent eagle, first residing in the tree top and then removing the tree top to a faraway exile in the city of merchants. The eagle then somehow takes a sapling from the tree, turns it into a grapevine, which quickly takes root, grows and spreads its branches up towards the sun and the eagle that nurtured it.
But then comes the second eagle - and the grapevine, ungrateful, turns to this one instead. And that’s the big mistake.
What are we talking about here and what’s the ultimate message of this riddle?
The cedar tree is King Jehoiachin of Judah, ruling over the Davidic empire, but attacked by the mighty eagle, representing Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who removed the top of the tree - and exiled the king and the court to Babylon. A seedling of the tree is taken by the eagle to take root - and that is the next and last king of Jerusalem - Zedekiah, sprouting to become a vine with gratitude to its benefactor. But not for long. Another eagle, representing Egypt, comes along and the new vine is attracted to this majestic presence now gaining its allegiance, just as Zedekiah betrayed Babylon by siding with Egypt. Scholars can point the exact time of this prophetic parable - the year in which a conclave of local allies gathered in Jerusalem, with Egyptian patronage, to plot rebellion against Babylon.
But from his vantage point of safety under the first eagle, Babylon - Ezekiel continues Jeremiah’s policy - stick with Babylon, not Egypt, and do not risk retribution. Neither prophets managed to turn the tide.
In the Anchor Bible, Moshe Greenberg comments on this parable:
“Duality pervades the prophecy: fable and interpretation, two eagles, two plants, two modes of punishment, two planes of agency (earthly and divine), doom and consolation. This duality agrees with the double command with which the oracle opens: “Pose a riddle and tell a fable”—an indication that more is here than meets the eye.”
But the dire prophecy ends with a glimmer of hope. The parable that began with a mighty cedar tree ends with the new life that will emerge from the forest fire:
וְֽיָדְע֞וּ כׇּל־עֲצֵ֣י הַשָּׂדֶ֗ה כִּ֣י אֲנִ֤י יְהֹוָה֙ הִשְׁפַּ֣לְתִּי ׀ עֵ֣ץ גָּבֹ֗הַּ הִגְבַּ֙הְתִּי֙ עֵ֣ץ שָׁפָ֔ל הוֹבַ֙שְׁתִּי֙ עֵ֣ץ לָ֔ח וְהִפְרַ֖חְתִּי עֵ֣ץ יָבֵ֑שׁ אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה דִּבַּ֥רְתִּי וְעָשִֽׂיתִי׃
Then shall all the trees of the field know that it is I, YHWH, who have abased the lofty tree and exalted the lowly tree, who have dried up the green tree and made the withered tree bud. I, YHWH, have spoken, and I will act.
Ezekiel 17:24
Beyond political mistakes and war crimes, beyond prophetic gloom and parables, there are the trees, there is the life force, there is a yearning for rebirth and for repair. Today, mid war, we need few riddles to respond to the horror, but we do need every bit of hopeful metaphor to remind us that beyond the terror - better days will come and from the ashes a new tree of life will grow.
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Yes, to hopeful metaphors...and the reach for a deeper faith, the patience to endure this time of darkness and fire, the capacity to tolerate the complexity, and the aspiration to take good enough care of ourselves that we can hold the pain and fear of others...dear Amichai, you carry a lantern. One chapter at a time.