Ezekiel 17:5

5 And he took of the seed of the land, and setted it in the land for seed, that it should make steadfast root on many waters (so that it would make a steadfast root by many waters); and he setted it in the higher part.

Ezekiel 17:5 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 17:5

He took also of the seed of the land
Of the land of Judea, a native of it, not a stranger; not one of another country, a Babylonian; not one of his own nobles or princes, did Nebuchadnezzar, the eagle, take and set upon the throne of Judea, but one of their own, even one of the king's seed, of the blood royal, as it is explained, ( Ezekiel 17:13 ) , Mattaniah, the uncle of Jeconiah, whom the king of Babylon called Zedekiah, and made him king in his room: and planted it in a fruitful field;
in the land of Judea, and in Jerusalem the royal city: he placed [it] by great waters;
many people, ( Revelation 17:15 ) ; over whom he ruled, and by whom he was supported in his royal dignity: [and] set it [as] a willow tree;
which loves moist places, and grows up thick: unless it should be rendered, "he set it with great circumspection" ^F19; took a great deal of care and caution in placing him upon the throne; he made a covenant with him, took an oath of him, and hostages for the performance of it, ( Ezekiel 17:13 ) . The Targum is,

``a planted vine he set it,''

to make it agree with what follows; but the word in the Chaldee and Arabic languages signifies a kind of willow, as we render it, as Ben Melech observes ^F20.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 (wmv hpupu) "circumspectissime posuit illud, Junins & Tremellius, Polanus; "cum magna circumspectione", Piscator; "circumspecte, Cocceius, Starckius.
F20 And so it does; see Castel, col. 3220, 3221. and in this way Jarchi and Kimchi interpret the word, in which they are followed by many; so R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 73. 1. nevertheless, the sense of it here is disapproved of by Castel, who observes, what has a willow to do with a vine? col. 3222. and commends the Greek version, which renders it, (epiblepomenon) , "conspicuous", to be seen; and so others translate it, "in superficie", V. L. Grotius; yet the "safsaf" of the Arabs is a tree by which they understood the "abeile" or poplar tree; see Shaw's Travels, p. 432. Ed. 2.

Ezekiel 17:5 In-Context

3 and thou shalt say, The Lord God saith these things. A great eagle of great wings, with long stretching out of members, full of feathers and of diversity, came to the Lebanon, and took away the marrow of the cedar.

4 He pulled away the highness of (the) boughs thereof, and bare it over into the land of Canaan, and setted it in the city of merchants. (He pulled away the highness of its branches, and carried it into the land of merchandising, and put it in the city of merchants.)

5 And he took of the seed of the land, and setted it in the land for seed, that it should make steadfast root on many waters (so that it would make a steadfast root by many waters); and he setted it in the higher part.

6 And when it had grown, it increased into a larger vinery, in low stature; for the boughs thereof beheld to that eagle, and the roots thereof were under that eagle; therefore it was made a vinery, and it made fruit into scions, and sent out boughs. (And when it had grown, it increased into a long spreading vine, on the ground; for its branches looked upward to that eagle, and its roots were under that eagle; and so it was made a vine, and it made its fruit among the leaves, and sent out its branches.)

7 And another great eagle was made, with great wings, and many feathers; and lo! this vinery as sending his roots to that eagle, stretched forth his scions to that eagle, that he should moist it (out) of the cornfloors of his seed. (And another great eagle was made, with great wings, and many feathers; and lo! this vine sending its roots toward that eagle, stretched forth its leaves toward that eagle, so that it could water itself from the threshing floors of its seed.)