And say, thus saith the Lord God
The riddle is not the prophet's, nor the parable his, but the
Lord God's; and exceeding beautiful and apt it is, to signify the
things designed by it; the wisdom of God is greatly displayed in
it: a great eagle;
which is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, as it is explained, (
Ezekiel
17:12 ) ; who is compared to an eagle for his power and
authority, that being the king of birds, and for his swiftness
and voracity in conquering and subduing kingdoms; see ( Jeremiah
48:40 ) ; with great wings;
so the Babylonish monarchy is signified by a lion with eagle's
wings, ( Daniel
7:4 ) ; and the two parts of the Roman empire, into which it
was divided at the death of Theodosius, are called two wings of a
great eagle, ( Revelation
12:14 ) ; and so here it may denote the large kingdoms and
provinces which belonged to the Babylonian monarchy; see (
Esther 1:1 ) ;
longwinged;
or having a "long member" F13; meaning the body of the
wing, which was long; and so, as the wings spread, may signify
the breadth of his dominion, this the length of them, and both
their extensiveness: full of feathers;
of cities, towns, people, armies, wealth, and riches: which
had divers colours;
or an "embroidery" F14; like that of the weaver, only
needle work, consisting of various colours; and so it alludes to
such eagles as are called the golden eagle, and "asterias", from
their golden colour, and their being spotted like stars, and
which are said to be of the largest size, as Bochart, from
Aelianus F15, observes; and may signify people
of divers languages, customs, manners, and circumstances, subject
to the government of the king of Babylon: came unto
Lebanon;
the northern border of the land of Judea, and invaded it; where
were the mountain and forest of Lebanon, famous for the cedars
that grew there, from whence the whole land may here take its
name, as being more apt for the allegory used: or the city of
Jerusalem, where were the temple built of the cedars of Lebanon,
as many of its palaces and houses also were; whither the king of
Babylon came, and took it, and who came northward, as Babylon
was: and took the highest branch of the cedar;
by the "cedar" is meant, either the nation in general, or the
royal family in particular; and by the "highest branch" the then
reigning king, Jeconiah with the princes and nobles of the land,
who were taken and carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar; see (
2
Kings 24:14-16 ) .