The parable of the two eagles.
I. THE FIRST EAGLE AND THE CEDAR. The eagle is the King of Babylon. The cedar is the house of David. Nebuchadnezzar cut off the topmost twigs of this tree when he deported Jehoiakim and his court to Babylon.
1. God uses powerful instruments. The eagle is the king of birds. The one here described is of exceptional splendour, with variegated plumage (Ezekiel 17:3). Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful monarch of his age, and he carried with him the glory of conquest over various nations, together with those resources which he drew from them which added to the sweep of his mighty wings of victory. Yet this awful tyrant was a puppet in the hands of the King of kings, who used him to work out deep designs of providence.
2. Earthly greatness is no security against ruin. The house of David was great, ancient, and glorious, like a cedar of Lebanon among the trees of the forest. No cattle of the field could pluck the topmost twigs that waved proudly in the wind. But the eagle swooped down upon them, tore them off, and bore them away to his distant eyrie, with greater ease than if they had been obscure boughs of lowly shrubs. The greatness of the house of David did not protect Jehoiakim against Nebuchadnezzar when the Babylonian monarch seized that wretched king and carried him captive to Chaldea. There is an earthly exaltation which springs from the favour of Heaven. Yet when that favour is lost, all its former glory will not save it. Let no one boast in his privileges and attainments; they are flimsy shields before the fiery darts of judgment.
II. THE SECOND EAGLE AND THE VINE. This eagle is Pharaoh of Egypt. The vine is Zedekiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar set up as king in Jerusalem in place of Jehoiachin.
1. It is better to be fruitful than famous. If Zedekiah had acted wisely he might have had a sale, though a humble, reign. He could no longer rule in pride, like Jehoiakim before him, as the top twig of a glorious cedar; but as a lowly young vine, feeble and small, he might bear good fruit. A humble, useful life is better than one of proud pretensions, and safer too; for the vine would not have attracted the destroying eagle if it had grown in quiet.
2. The feeble are tempted to seek inefficient help. The vine appealed to a second eagle. Zedekiah sought an alliance with Pharaoh. This was bad policy, for it was certain to provoke the vengeance of Babylon, and then even the might of the ancient empire of Egypt would be unequal to cope with the enraged power from the Euphrates, even if Pharaoh proved true to his alliance in the hour of need. But Zedekiah was more than politically foolish. He had lost faith in God, the one sure Protector of Israel. Men trust to policy, money, friendship, etc. But no earthly alliance will save in the hour of greatest need.
3. Confidence in a worthless defence will lead to ruin. The vine had better never have appealed to the second eagle. Zedekiah suffered grievously through leaning on Egypt. If we turn from our true Refuge to any earthly supports, we shall not only find them fail us; we shall also provoke wrath and judgment. Deceitful cunning will only aggravate the fate of the sinner. Zedekiah's treachery made his doom the more certain.