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Ezekiel Chapter
Seventeen
Ezekiel 17
Chapter Contents
A parable relative to the Jewish nation. (1-10) to which
an explanation is added. (11-21) A direct promise of the Messiah. (22-24)
Commentary on Ezekiel 17:1-10
(Read Ezekiel 17:1-10)
Mighty conquerors are aptly likened to birds or beasts of
prey, but their destructive passions are overruled to forward God's designs.
Those who depart from God, only vary their crimes by changing one carnal
confidence for another, and never will prosper.
Commentary on Ezekiel 17:11-21
(Read Ezekiel 17:11-21)
The parable is explained, and the particulars of the
history of the Jewish nation at that time may be traced. Zedekiah had been
ungrateful to his benefactor, which is a sin against God. In every solemn oath,
God is appealed to as a witness of the sincerity of him that swears. Truth is a
debt owing to all men. If the professors of the true religion deal
treacherously with those of a false religion, their profession makes their sin
the worse; and God will the more surely and severely punish it. The Lord will
not hold those guiltless who take his name in vain; and no man shall escape the
righteous judgment of God who dies under unrepented guilt.
Commentary on Ezekiel 17:22-24
(Read Ezekiel 17:22-24)
The unbelief of man shall not make the promise of God of
none effect. The parable of a tree, used in the threatening, is here presented
in the promise. It appears only applicable to Jesus, the Son of David, the
Messiah of God. The kingdom of Satan, which has borne so long, so large a sway,
shall be broken, and the kingdom of Christ, which was looked upon with
contempt, shall be established. Blessed be God, our Redeemer is seen even by
the ends of the earth. We may find refuge from the wrath to come, and from
every enemy and danger, under his shadow; and believers are fruitful in him.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Ezekiel》
Ezekiel 17
Verse 2
[2] Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto
the house of Israel;
A riddle — A dark saying.
The house of Israel — The remainders of the
house of Israel, whether of the ten, or of the two tribes.
Verse 3
[3] And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great
wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto
Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:
A great eagle — Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is
compared to a great eagle, the king of birds, swift, strong, rapacious.
Great wings — Mighty provinces on each side of
his kingdom.
Long winged — His kingdom was widely extended.
Full of feathers — And full of people.
Divers colours — Who were of divert nations,
languages and manners.
Lebanon — Jerusalem the chief city of the country where this
great, fruitful and pleasant hill was.
And took — Took, captive and carried away with him the king of
Judah, Jehoiachin.
The cedar — The nation.
Verse 4
[4] He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried
it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.
The top — Both the king of Judah, now eighteen years old, and
the nobles and chief of the land.
Into a land — Babylon, which was a city of
mighty trade.
Verse 5
[5] He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in
a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.
The seed — Mattaniah, whom he called Zedekiah.
Planted — Settled him on the throne of Judah.
As a willow — The prophet compares this new
made king to a willow, which grows no where so well as near great waters.
Verse 6
[6] And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature,
whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it
became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.
Of low stature — They grew and flourish, while
they owned their state tributary to Babylon.
Toward him — Nebuchadnezzar as their
protector, and sovereign lord.
The roots — All the firmness, fruitfulness,
and life of this state, was in subjection to him.
Verse 7
[7] There was also another great eagle with great wings and
many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot
forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her
plantation.
Another — The king of Egypt.
This vine — Zedekiah, his nobles and people.
Did bend — Sought his friendship.
Shot forth — Sent ambassadors, and trusted to
the power of Egypt.
Water it — That they might add to their greatness, as trees grow
by seasonable watering them.
By the furrows — Alluding to the manner of
watering used in Egypt, by furrows or trenches to convey the water from the
river Nile.
Verse 8
[8] It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it
might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a
goodly vine.
Was planted — By Nebuchadnezzar, in a very
hopeful condition, where it might have been fruitful, and flourished.
Verse 9
[9] Say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper?
shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it
wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great
power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.
Say — Tell them what will be the issue of all this, and tell
it to them in my name.
It prosper — Shall Zedekiah and his people
thrive by this?
Pull up — Utterly overthrow this kingdom.
Cut Off — Put to the sword the children of Zedekiah, and of the
nobles.
The leaves — All the promising hope they had
shall vanish.
Without great power — The king of Babylon
shall do this easily, when it is God that sends him. For God needs not great
power and many people, to effect his purposes. He can without any difficulty
overturn a sinful king and kingdom, and make no more of it than we do of
rooting up a tree that cumbers the ground.
Verse 10
[10] Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it
not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the
furrows where it grew.
Yea — Suppose this vine were planted by the help of Egypt.
The east wind — When the king of Babylon, who
like the blasting wind comes from the north-east, shall but touch it, it shall
wither.
In the furrows — Even amidst its greatest helps,
to make it flourish.
Verse 15
[15] But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors
into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper?
shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be
delivered?
He — Zedekiah.
Shall he break — Can perjury be the way for
deliverance?
Verse 18
[18] Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant,
when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not
escape.
Given his hand — Solemnly confirming the oath.
Verse 20
[20] And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken
in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for
his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.
Plead — I will punish him.
Verse 21
[21] And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by
the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and ye
shall know that I the LORD have spoken it.
All — Not strictly, but the greatest part.
Verse 22
[22] Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest
branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his
young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent:
The highest branch — Of the royal seed; of
the highest branch that is heir to the throne; namely, the Messiah.
An high mountain — Upon mount Zion.
Eminent — Not for outward splendor, but for spiritual
advantages.
Verse 23
[23] In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it:
and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and
under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches
thereof shall they dwell.
In the mountain — In Jerusalem.
All fowl — All nations.
In the shadow — There they shall find peace and
safety.
Verse 24
[24] And all the trees of the field shall know that I the
LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up
the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken
and have done it.
The trees — The great ones on earth.
The high tree — The kingdom of Babylon, which was
brought low indeed, when overthrown by Darius and Cyrus.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Ezekiel》
17 Chapter 17
Verses 1-24
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house
of Israel.
Prophecy in parable
The word “riddle” may in this connection mean parable, picture,
symbol; whatever will excite and interest the imagination. If the zephyr has
not voice enough to arrest us, God will employ the thunder; if the little
silvery streamlet, hurrying through its green banks, has nothing to say to us,
the great floods shall lift up their voices and compel us to attend. Who will
say there is only one way of preaching, teaching, educating young men? There
are a thousand ways: what we want is that a young man shall say when his way is
not being adopted. This will suit a good many: God bless the teacher in this
effort; he is not now speaking to me, but to persons who can understand that
way alone; let heaven’s grace make hearts tender as he unravels his parable, as
he takes up his harp and discourses upon its sweet, mysterious music. When a
preacher is setting forth riddle and parable, the man who falsely thinks
himself a logician--for there can only be a logician once in a
generation--should pray that the parable may be blessed. When the preacher or
teacher is seeking by hard, strong argument to force home a truth, those who
live on wings should carry themselves as high as possible that they may bring
down a larger, riper blessing upon the teacher and his method. This is God’s
administration: this is the many-coloured robe of providence with which He
would clothe our naked shoulders. What has come to us--a riddle, a parable, a
dream, a process of logic, a historical induction? Take God’s gift, and through
it find the Giver. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Truth taught through the imagination
The imagination is the grand organ whereby truth can make
successful approaches to the mind. Some preachers deal much with the passions:
they attack the hopes and fears of men; but this is a very different thing from
the right use of the imagination, as the medium of impressing truth. Jesus
Christ has left perfect patterns of this way of managing men; but it is a
distinct talent, and a talent committed to very few. It is an easy thing to
move the passions: a rude, blunt, illiterate attack may do this; but to form
one new figure for the conveyance of truth to the mind is a difficult thing.
The world is under no small obligation to the man who forms such a figure . . .
The figure of Jesus Christ (the Parables) sink into the mind, and leave there
the indelible impress of the truth which they convey. (Cecil’s
Remains.)
Illustrating the truth
The subject matter of Christian teaching preeminently requires
illustration. The barrister has, in a new case, that which stimulates
attention, while the preacher has an oft-told tale to set before his people. (Andrew
Fuller.)
I will also take of the
highest branch of the high cedar.
Divine sovereignty
These verses have been
accepted by Jewish commentators and by Christian commentators alike as
referring to the Messiah, to be read and pondered and grasped as to their inner
meaning and effect. God winds up the whole parable and its application by some
marvellous words; He says, “And all the trees of the field shall know that I
the Lord have brought down the high tree,” etc. Then what mistakes we have to
correct! What a revelation there will be at last, what a different view, what a
correction of our misinterpretations of Providence: Everything has been of God.
Is the high tree down? God felled it. Is the low tree exalted? God lifted it
upwards to the blue heavens. Is the green tree dry, withered, utterly
desiccated? God hath sucked its juice, and left it a barren, blighted thing in
the meadow. Is the dry tree flourishing? Is the tree that men thought dead
beginning to show signs of vitality? Are there spring buds upon it? Are the
birds looking at it curiously, as if by and by, mayhap, they may build even
there? The Lord hath made the dry tree to flourish. This is Divine sovereignty.
The God of the riddle and the God who works His will among the trees must be
regarded as the same God. What is true in this verse is true to all human life.
Is one man successful? God made him so, in the degree in which his success was
legitimate, healthy, righteous. Is a man vainly, viciously successful? The
green tree shall be dried up. Is a man humbled, laid low in the dust? God may
have done that for the man’s salvation; after a day or two who can tell what
may happen, if the overthrow has been accepted in the right spirit, and if,
instead of being turned in the direction of despair, it has been turned in the
direction of self-examination and self-accusation and penitence and
broken-heartedness? Is the nation suffering from singular visitation? Is trade
going away? God is looking on, and He will know when to send the ships back to
the ports, and when to revive commerce, and when to make the desert blossom as
the rose. Is an enemy hard upon me? It is not the enemy, it is God: I have been
doing wrong; when I have opposition to encounter I must ask myself serious
questions; as for any man that can assail me, who is he? what faculty has he?
what can he do? Have no fear of enemies, but interpret their enmity aright. If
a man’s ways please the Lord He will make even his enemies to be at peace with
him; if a man shall try to be right and good, virtuous, generous, and to live a
Divine life, no weapon that is formed against him shall prosper; it shall be
forged, it shall be whetted, it shall be lifted up, but it shall never come
down upon the head of him for whom it was intended. How joyous would be our
life if we could live in this strong conviction! (J. Parker, D. D.)
God’s overrule among the
kingdoms of the earth
The attempts of the king
of Babylon to set up a kingdom in Israel miscarried; He who set up the kingdom
took it away. The shoot planted by him was smitten by the east wind, and
withered. But Jehovah Himself will plant a shoot of the high cedar, the Davidic
house, on a high mountain, that all nations may see it (Isaiah 2:2; Isaiah 11:10), even on the height of the mountain land of Israel, and it shall
become a great cedar, so that all the fowls of heaven shall lodge in the
branches of it. This kingdom shall be imposing and universal, and all peoples
shall find protection under it. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
The reign of the Son of
God
I. The beautiful
and appropriate symbol by which the Son of God is here represented. “The
highest branch of the high cedar.”
1. Because it was the remotest from the root.
2. Because the loftiest of all. He was at once the mightiest and the
meanest: rooted in the earth, yet elevated to the skies.
II. The place where
this was to be planted. “In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant
it.”
1. The truth of the promises God had made.
2. A striking evidence of the almighty power of God. This is the
triumph of wisdom over folly--of holiness over sin--of the goodness of God over
the malice of men. Its being planted at Jerusalem may be regarded--
3. As the last expression of unrequited kindness and love.
4. As an evident demonstration of the truth and power of the Gospel.
III. The rapid
growth of this plant. There are few things more delightful and instructive than
to observe the commencement of that which has risen to eminence. As the
traveller in America steps over a stream which he may almost dry up with his
foot, he is struck with astonishment to know that it is the same fountain, fed
by tributary streams, which becomes a mighty river and rolls on to empty itself
into the sea. Here is the planting of the tree that is to fill the world.
Though Christ is now enthroned in glory, filling heaven with a splendour
surpassing that of ten thousand suns, He was once a babe in Bethlehem’s manger.
Tertullian could say, within a short time after the introduction of
Christianity, “Your towns, your cities, your camps, your palaces, your courts,
your army, your senate, your forum--all swarm with Christians.”
IV. The
productiveness of this tree. It was to “bring forth boughs, and to bear fruit.”
1. This fruit is varied in its character, etc. Are you ignorant? Here
are truths to instruct, wisdom that makes wise unto salvation. Are you guilty?
Hero is pardon full, free, and everlasting. Are you forlorn? Are you dying, and
recoiling from the prospect of futurity? Behold, “the gift of God is
everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
2. It is satisfying in its enjoyment. As Christ united the glories of
the Godhead with humanity, in the sacrifice He made, it must prove all-sufficient
to supply the wants of the soul for which He made it. His grace can reach and
heal all the maladies of the soul, and save it forever.
3. It is free in its gift.
V. The ultimate
blessings which this tree is designed to diffuse through the world. “It shall
be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell,” etc. Have we not numerous
indications of this in our day? Never since that sun, which is now setting,
began its course--never since he first lightened this earth--have there been
such proofs of the increase of the glory of the Gospel as in the day in which
we live. (T. Adkins.)
The goodly cedar and the
birds of every wing
A glorious prophecy of the
Messiah concludes this chapter! Recurring to the cedar of Lebanon, as the type
of the people of God, in its noble growth and far-extending shade, Ezekiel
foretells how God would take a stem or branch from that tall cedar, which
should be “the root of David,” that, planted by the Divine Hand, it should grow
up a goodly cedar tree, and under its boughs the birds “of every wing should
dwell.” So was the Saviour, as to His lineage, of the ancient people, and a
branch taken from the noble cedar tree, which typified the Hebrew race. He was
born in humility, and cradled in the rude manger of Bethlehem, but from this
lowly origin He becomes like the mighty cedar tree of the prophecy, the very
perfection of our humanity, in righteousness and nobility of character! Then,
as He invited weary souls to come unto Him, we read how they drew nigh and
found peace, and “dwelt under His shadow.” The words of this prophecy also
apply to the Church, which is the visible representative of Jesus upon earth!
It, like a little plant or cutting, began in weakness. The number of the names,
it is written, was but one hundred and twenty. But soon, under the influence of
the Holy Ghost, the microscopic organisation developed and grew into the mighty
cedar, under which dwelt the “fowl of every wing,” and found refuge under “the
shadows of its branches.” That the cedar was to be planted “on the mountain of
Israel” foretold that the later, the Christian Church, should grow out of, and
be a development from, the older dispensation! But how remarkable to find that
the prophet anticipates the admission of the Gentiles. “The fowl of every wing”
are to find a shelter under the boughs of the Gospel cedar. Now, that which was
prophecy is being fulfilled. The birds of brightest plumage, the feathered
songsters of sweetest voices, the noblest intellects, the most melodious souls
that earth has produced, have found in the religion of Jesus peace and
satisfaction, and have dwelt restfully under its shadow! The Church must take
up her missionary work. Whether it be the ease of our own countrymen, “for
whose souls no man cares,” or the heathen, who abide where overhead flutters
the flag of England--the duty lies at our door! (J. W. Hardman, LL.
D.)
Refuge for all in Christ
Christ is the cedar, and
all kinds of people seek rest in Him, as birds of every wing. Young and old,
rich and poor; men high-soaring as the eagle, fierce as the raven, gentle as
the dove. The young, just learning to try their wings; the old, weary, and
lonely; those who have kept all the commandments from their youth, and those
who have broken them all. It does not matter with what wing we come to Jesus,
so long as we come. The practised eye can easily recognise the birds by their
flight; each bird has its own wing; so every soul has its own disposition and
temperament--one feverish, the other languid and lethargic; one impetuous, the
other dilatory; one affectionate and warm, the other cool and shy. But the Lord
Jesus knows our frame, and understands us afar off. He does not chide the dove
because it cannot breast the storm and face the sun like the eagle. He does not
expect the sustained flight of the seagull from the sparrow; or the song of the
nightingale from the chaffinch. Do not imitate another: be yourself. Do not go
about the world counting that you are useless and a failure, because you cannot
do what is done by others. Learn how to be abased, and how to abound. Only rest
in Christ. Out of the windy storm and tempest, make for your roosting place
under the shelter of His wing. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Verse 24
And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have
brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree.
The trees of the field and their appointed destiny
“The field” seems to set forth the visible Church of God; and “the
trees of the field” seem to set forth all the professors of Divine truth,
whether they are possessors or not. All these “trees of the field” shall know a
certain truth. Now, what is tiffs certain truth? That the Lord will do a
certain work in characters, which He Himself has delineated; and that it shall
be visible to the Church of God what He does to those characters.
1. The first character of which the Lord speaks is “the high tree”;
which “high tree” is to be “brought down.” That expression--“a high
tree”--seems to bear two significations.
2. And now we come to the “exalting the low tree.” Here we have a
striking contrast. “The low tree is one who has always the lowest, meanest
thoughts concerning himself; who can find in his heart nothing spiritually
good; who is continually afraid of presumption; who starts back from every
appearance of being more than he really is. Now, “this low tree” the Lord has
promised to exalt. But He will never “exalt the low tree” in self. The wise man
shall not “glory in his wisdom, the strong man shall not glory in his
strength”; but “he that glorieth” shall “glory in this, that he knoweth the
Lord.” “In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall
glory.” “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” When “the low tree,”
therefore, is “exalted,” it is by some sweet manifestation of the blood and
love of Jesus to his soul; it is by lifting him up out of the mire, and out of
the dunghill, and “setting him among princes,” and making him “inherit the
throne of glory”; it is by Jesus sweetly coming into his heart and conscience,
sprinkling it with His atoning blood, bedewing it with the drops of His favour,
discovering His glorious righteousness, and binding up every bleeding wound.
3. But consider another tree of which the Lord speaks, and another
work which the Lord here promises to do. “I the Lord have brought down the high
tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree.” Now, just in
the same way as “the high tree” seems to shadow forth two characters (that is,
the presumptuous professor, and a child of God drawn aside by Satan’s subtlety
into presumption), so “the green tree” seems to set forth both a professor of
religion and also a child of God in the warmth of youthful zeal.
4. Oh! what a state it is in which to stand before God--a “dry tree”!
To feel as though there was not a single particle of spiritual sap or heavenly
moisture in us; to feel as though we had no religion worth the name; to feel as
though we had no real work of the Spirit upon our soul, and no real grace in
our heart given by God Himself! Now, to this “dry tree” the Lord has given a
promise. He says this dry tree shall be “made to flourish.” How He frustrates
and disappoints all the expectations of nature! What! to “dry up a green tree,”
and to “make a dry tree to flourish”! Would not nature say, “Oh! the ‘green
tree,’ make it greener still: oh! the ‘dry tree,’ cut it down, and cast it into
the fire!” But the Lord’s “ways are not our ways,” neither are the Lord’s
“thoughts our thoughts”; but “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
His ways higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts.” Cut it
down! No; “make it to flourish”! Then the Lord’s work is made manifest, as much
in “drying up the green tree” as in “making the dry tree to flourish.” And how
does He “make the dry tree to flourish”? Why, by dropping in His own blessed
dew into it; by shedding his own Divine favour into the barren and parched
heart; by dropping in some testimony from His own blessed and gracious lips, so
as to cause the soul to “revive as the vine,” and to flourish as the herb; by
causing “showers of blessing” to fall upon the wilderness, and turn it into a
standing pool, and so make the rose of Sharon sweetly and blessedly to blossom
and flourish therein. (J. C. Philpot.)
To the rescue
Methinks I see a great forest which reaches for many a league. The
trees are of divers growths, and of various ages. Some are very lofty. Here a
towering cedar, and yonder the storks have made their nests among the tall fir
trees. Stout oaks there are that laugh at storms, and elms that will not be
twisted with the tempest. See how they rival each other! And there are lowlier
trees; some bearing fruit, though scarcely seen, others, like the vine,
creeping upon the ground--so obscure they can hardly be observed.
I. “Thus saith the
Lord, the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the
high tree.” Look over history, and you will see that everything gigantic in
stature and colossal in dimensions; whatsoever has been great to human
apprehension, grasping at earthly fame, has become an Object for God’s
penetrating arrows, and a subject for His withering blight. The Lord of hosts
always cuts down the high tree, humiliates the creature that exalts itself, and
suffers no flesh to glory in His presence. That is the Law of His government.
The question arises, How does it concern us? Doubtless it opens a sad prospect
to those who are lifted up with pride, or inflated with self-opinion. Among the
seven abominations your order ranks highest. No liar or murderer can claim a
preeminence over you in vice so long as the Proverbs stand. Ere long the heel
of the Almighty shall be lifted higher than thy haughty head. He will cast thee
down, be thy look never so proud; for the Lord hath purposed it to stain the
pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the excellency of the earth.
There is, again, an arrogance of mind, of judgment, of opinion, just as
ignorant--if not quite so grotesque--as his who dreams that his birth is of
higher caste and his blood of richer hue than other men. Humanity in the bulk
is the idol of some people; and yonder I see the man who quotes himself as an
illustrious specimen. He does not believe in the total depravity of human
nature. The Lord will abase thee, whosoever thou mayest be; He will shame thee:
the axe is ready to be laid at thy root even now. Thy goodness is not God’s
goodness, and thy righteousness is not Christ’s righteousness; therefore shall
the moth consume it, and it shall be eaten away. Or shall it fare better with
another class? There is our friend who says, “Well, well, I do not believe in
forms and ceremonies; but, mark you, I always judge and weigh everything.” He
estimates himself as all independent thinker; he is bound by no precedents,
fettered by no creeds, and considers that he is amenable to no judgment but his
own. Strong in his self-assertion, he makes light of the Word of God, and the
will of God, while he holds prophets and apostles in little esteem. Ah, well, brother!
God is against you, He will make a fool of you one of these days, if you are so
wise as to exalt yourself above His revelation. The world shall see your folly.
I tell thee, captious questioner, that the Lord will bring thee down.
II. Furthermore the
Lord says, “I will exalt the low tree.” Here is a word of comfort to some who
specially need it. The low trees are those poor in spirit who think others
better than they are themselves; who, instead of carving their names high, are
willing to have them written low, because they feel they have nothing whereof
to glory, nought wherein to boast. The low trees are the penitents, those who
take their stand afar off with the publican, and say, “God be merciful to me, a
sinner”; you that feel your own weakness to do anything aright. You that feel
your ignorance, and are willing to be instructed; you that are modest as
children, and ready to sit at the feet of Jesus; you that have been broken in
pieces till you feel that a crumb of mercy would be more than you deserve, and
are willing to take any dole He is pleased to give--you are the low trees. And
you that are despised, who walk in darkness and see no light; slandered for
Christ’s sake, reproached with crimes you never committed; you of whom the
world is not worthy, though the world accounts you to be unworthy of its
esteem--you are the low trees, and God shall exalt you.
III. The Lord has
also declared that He will dry up the green tree. Whether that green tree be
high or low it does not matter; if it be green in itself, He will cut it down.
Mark you, a man may be as high as heaven; if it is God that makes him high, he
will stand; but if he be high in creature strength, and creature merits, and
creature glory, he shall be brought down; and a man may be low without merit,
if he is merely mean and meagre, paltry and pitiable, not worth a straw. That
is not the spirit of lowliness that God blesses. In like manner a man may be
green because he is planted by the rivers of God’s living waters, that is
healthy enough; but those that are like the green bay tree of the Psalmist,
trees growing in their own soil, never transplanted by grace, green in the
verdure of worldly prosperity, and taking all their delight in earthly
things--those are the trees God will dry up.
IV. Lastly, the
Lord makes the dry tree to flourish. How many of God’s people may be fitly
compared to a dry tree! They have little joy; they have not got to full
assurance. They are afraid to say, “My beloved is mine, and I am His.” They
think they are of no use to the Church; they are half inclined to suspect it
was a mistake for them to be baptized, and they were to blame for uniting
themselves with the people of God. They come to the assembly of believers, and
though they do sing with their lips, the heart cannot sing as it would. There
are times, too, when walking home they say, “I go where others go, but I get no
comfort; if I were really the Lord’s, should I be thus; if I did trust Christ,
should I ever be so languid?” If it is of your own bringing about that you are
thus dry, I do not offer you any comfort; but if the Holy Spirit has led you to
see your weakness, your nothingness, your deadness, then I am glad you have
been brought to this pass, for God will cause the dry tree to flourish. When we
are weak, then are we strong. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The advantage of the kingdom of Christ
I. In the carrying
on the interest of Christ and the Gospel, God will work wonderful providential
alterations. There are three principal seasons of the Lord’s eminent appearance
to carry on the kingdom of Christ and the Gospel, and all attended with
dreadful providential alterations; and unto one of these heads may all
particular actings be reduced.
1. The first is, the promulgation of the Gospel among the Jews by the
Lord Christ Himself and His apostles: what this was attended withal is
graphically described (Matthew 24:6-7).
2. The second is, in the further carrying on of the Gospel, after the
destruction of Jerusalem, throughout the world of the Gentiles, subject then in
a great proportion to the Roman Empire.
3. The most signal is, the coming of the Lord Christ to recover His
people from antichristian idolatry and oppression; which of all others is and
shall be attended with the most astonishing alterations and desolations,
pulling down of high trees, and exalting them that are low: thence is that war,
described Revelation 17:14, and that mighty
vengeance poured out by the Lord Christ on the nations, their kings and
captains, chap. 19:11 to the end. Now the reasons of this are--
(i) He hath great revenges to take.
(ii) He hath great deliverances to work.
(iii) He hath great discoveries to make.
1. Of His own, that they may be purged.
2. Of hypocrites, that they may be discovered.
Use 1.
To discover where dwells that spirit that actuates all the great
alterations that have been in these nations.
Use 2.--To magnify the
goodness of God, who unto us hath sweetened and seasoned all His dreadful
dispensations, and all the alterations in those nations, with this His gracious
design running through them all; this is that which puts all their beauty and
lustre on them, being outwardly dreadful and horrible.
II. The actings of
God’s providence, in carrying on the interest of Christ, are and shall be
exceedingly unsuited to the reasonings and expectations of the most of men.
Some reasons of this may be given; and--
1. The first is taken from the corruptions of the hearts of men
squaring the works of God to their fleshly reasonings, corrupt interests, and
principles. They are bold with the wisdom of God, and conclude, thus and thus
things ought to be, ordering their thoughts for the most part according to
their corrupt and carnal advantages.
2. God chooseth thus to do things above and besides the expectations
of men, that His presence, and the presence of the Lord Christ, may be the more
conspicuous in the world.
3. God will do it for the hardening of many false empty professors,
and others in the world, that the judgments appointed may come upon them to the
uttermost. Use.--It serves, then, to discover the vanity of those men who,
because the works of God have not been carried on in ways suitable to their reasonings
and expectations, do utterly reject them, disown them, and oppose Him in them.
Can these men give any one instance, of any one eminent work of God, that He
hath brought about by such ways and means as men would rationally allot
thereunto, especially in things that are in immediate subserviency to the
kingdom of the Lord Christ? (J. Owen, D. D.)
The proud abased and the lowly exalted
Consider the text as exemplified--
I. In the history
of God’s providence.
1. The Antediluvians and Noah. They were the high and green
trees,--Noah and family, the low and the dry.
2. Pharaoh and the Israelites.
3. Goliath and David.
4. Haman and Mordecai.
II. In the history
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jews expected the high green tree,--earthly
magnificence, worldly power and authority. But Christ fulfilled the sayings of
the prophets (Isaiah 53:1, etc.) In all things He was
the opposite of their desires, etc. Hence they killed Him. Yet Christ, the low
tree, etc., did God exalt, etc. He hath made Him to flourish, etc. His name
shall endure as long as the sun, etc.
III. In the triumphs
of the apostolic labours. Look at the persons of the apostles,--plain,
illiterate, poor men. Not the high green tree. Not learned, affluent, or
influential. Hearken to their message. What is it? Christ crucified. Not a
religion of metaphysical subtleties. Not elaborate doctrines or profound dogmas
of philosophy. Not a splendid system of pompous ceremony. But the lowly
doctrines of the cross. Humility, self-denial, spirituality, etc. And what is
the result? The high tree of paganism is brought down. The green tree of
Judaism is dried up. The low tree of Christianity is exalted and flourishes,
and blesses every known civilised land, etc. (1 Corinthians 1:21-29).
IV. In the
experience of the haughty, and of the penitential sinner. The man of proud
heart, exalted self-esteem, etc. “God, I thank thee,” etc. The poor publican
self-convicted, self-abhorred. He is the dry tree, nothing to trust in, or to
plead. “God be merciful,” etc. Mark the result. God rejects the high tree; He
despises his work,--He brings him low. He beholds with approbation the low
tree, etc. He goes down to his house justified.
V. In the lives of
the high-minded and of the lowly Christian. Pride and self-sufficiency are the
great temptations of the human heart. To be something. To do something. To he
thought something. To exalt ourselves. How prone we are to this. Well, what, is
the result? God knows it will ruin us if not eradicated. We must be brought low
in mercy or judgment. He blights the worldly prospects. He reverses the
dazzling scene. He sends repeated disappointments. Troops of crosses and
troubles. Perhaps keen bereavements. And thus brings down the high tree, dries
up the green tree, etc. But behold the low tree, the dry tree. The lowly
Christian says, “I am nothing.” He lives by faith on the Son of God, etc. He
abases Himself, etc. He glories in the cross, etc. He makes mention of Christ’s
righteousness, etc. He dwells in the dust. God exalts, blesses, makes fruitful,
etc., lifts them up forever. Application--
1. Learn the evil of self-exaltation. Avoid it. Watch against it.
Pray against it.
2. Be clothed with humility. What peace, safety, and honour are here.
3. God must have all the glory. See the text; also Daniel 6:34. (Anon.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》