Reading for March 7th

Read Ezekiel 17.1-24 The allegory of the eagles, the vine, and the cedar.
The allegory describes Jehoiachin's exile to Babylon, the installation of Zedikiah as king, and Zedikiah's demise when he revolted against Babylon.
In verses 1-2 God instructs Ezekiel to speak a riddle and an allegory.
In verses 3-10 the allegory proceeds in three stages.
 the first describes an eagle, later identified as Nebuchadnezzar, who breaks off the top shoot of the cedar and carries it to a land of trade and a city of merchants.
Lebanon was known for "the cedars of Lebanon" (Ps 104.16), but the Davidic palace in Jerusalem since it was built with cedar, is called the "House of the Forest of Lebanon" (1 Kings 7.2; Isa 22.9).
The topmost shoot therefore symbolizes the Davidic monarch Jehoiachin (Isa 11.1); and the land of trade is Babylon (16.29).
The seed that becomes a vine is Zedekiah.
The great eagle is the Egyptian Pharaoh Psammetichus 11, to whom Zedikiah turned for support in his revolt against Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 27).
The rhetorical questions portray the destruction of the vine.
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