Connect Ezekiel 17:4 with God's covenant promises in the Old Testament. Setting the Scene: A Parable of Eagles and a Cedar Ezekiel 17 tells a story about two great eagles and a lofty cedar. The first eagle (Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon) comes to Lebanon, snaps off the cedar’s highest shoot, and transplants it to “a land of merchants.” This picture-language explains why Judah’s king and nobles were exiled to Babylon. Zooming In on Ezekiel 17:4 “He plucked off the topmost shoot, carried it away to a land of merchants, and planted it in a city of traders.” (Ezekiel 17:4) That “topmost shoot” was King Jehoiachin, the direct heir of David (2 Kings 24:8–15). Though deported, the royal line remained intact, because the covenant promises of God cannot fail. Linking Ezekiel 17:4 to Covenant History The single act of plucking off a shoot touches every major covenant God had already spoken: • Abrahamic Covenant – protection of the chosen line • Mosaic Covenant – exile as the consequence of covenant disobedience • Davidic Covenant – preservation of the royal seed for an everlasting throne • Promise of a New Covenant – a future, Spirit‐empowered restoration The Abrahamic Covenant: Seed Guarded in a Foreign Land “Go from your country … and I will make you into a great nation … and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3) • God promised Abraham a “seed.” • Even when that seed sits in Babylonian captivity, the promise stands. • The exile scenes in Ezekiel reveal not abandonment but God’s determination to keep Abraham’s family line alive so the Messiah could come. The Mosaic Covenant: Covenant Sanctions in Action “The LORD will bring you and the king you appoint over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers.” (Deuteronomy 28:36) • Israel’s disobedience triggered the curses of Deuteronomy 28. • Ezekiel 17:4 visually enacts this specific curse: the king himself is hauled away. • Yet the same Mosaic Law anticipated eventual mercy (Deuteronomy 30:1-3). The Davidic Covenant: Royal Promise Under Pressure “I will raise up your descendant after you … and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” (2 Samuel 7:12-13) • Jehoiachin’s deportation looked like the end of David’s dynasty. • God, however, kept the line intact in Babylon (cf. 2 Kings 25:27-30). • Matthew 1 traces Jesus’ genealogy through this very exiled king, proving the covenant’s permanence. The Sprig of Hope: Glimpses of a New Covenant “This is what the Lord GOD says: I will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and plant it … it will become a majestic cedar.” (Ezekiel 17:22-23) “Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.” (Isaiah 11:1) • God Himself will do what the first eagle could not: plant the true, final King. • Ezekiel’s “sprig” and Isaiah’s “shoot” converge in Christ, who inaugurates the promised New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Luke 22:20). • The exile, therefore, is simultaneously judgment and setup for redemption. Why This Matters • God’s faithfulness is bigger than human failure; every covenant promise threads through history with unbreakable continuity. • Ezekiel 17:4 is not a dead‐end verse but a living signpost pointing from Abraham to Christ. • The same God who preserved a single “shoot” in Babylon still secures every detail of His saving plan today. |