“All the trees of the field will know that I the LORD bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green and make the dry tree flourish. “ ‘I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.’””
~ Ezekiel 17:24
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you like to have stories read to you? If you like to have stories read to you, what are your favorite kinds of stories that you like read to you? Do you like read to you stories that are about animals or that are about adventures or that are about real people? Do you like make believe stories? Do you like allegories? Do you know what makes a story an allegory? An allegory is somewhat like a riddle. Do you like riddles? A riddle has an answer. An allegory will have different embedded words in it that describe one thing but will mean another thing. An allegory will state something specific that is in fact symbolic of something else. When God – as God the Spirit, breathed on guys the words that He had them write down in the books and letters that compose the Bible, God – as God the Spirit, at times would have one of the guys scribe an allegory. God the Spirit had Ezekiel scribe an allegory in what is now Ezekiel 17. Ezekiel lived on planet Earth about 2600 years ago. The allegory that God the Spirit breathed on Ezekiel to scribe is like a riddle as it has several symbolic things in it that say one thing but signify another thing. Ezekiel was God’s spokesman – as a prophet, to His specially chosen guys and gals who were living as exiles in Babylonia. God sent messages through Ezekiel to encourage His specially chosen guys and gals as they were living as exiles in Babylonia.
Why do you think that God used an allegory to send a message to His specially chosen guys and gals? Your grandpaa likes to ask a lot of questions when he writes one of these ‘letters’ to you. Your grandpaa wants to get your attention. Your grandpaa wants to get you to think about what your grandpaa has written. It seems to your grandpaa that God wanted to get the attention of His specially chosen guys and gals who were living as exiles in Babylonia. It seems to your grandpaa that God wanted His specially chosen guys and gals to unambiguously comprehend what He was saying through Ezequiel – His resident spokesman in Babylonia. It sometimes takes doing something different to finally get the attention of a guy, gal or kid. It sometimes takes doing something different to get a guy, gal or kid to finally listen to what is being said. It sometimes takes doing something different to finally get a guy, gal or kid to think about what is being said. God used a great eagle in the message that He sent as an allegory through Ezequiel to His specially chosen guys and gals. The great eagle had powerful wings, long feathers and varied colored plumage. After God had the great eagle break the top off a cedar tree, God had the great eagle carry the top of the cedar tree to a place where there were a lot of merchants where God had the great eagle plant the top of the cedar tree in the merchant’s city. God also used a seed in the message that He sent as an allegory through Ezequiel to His specially chosen guys and gals. God took a seed from the land that He had given to His specially chosen guys and gals to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . and He had the seed planted in fertile soil where the seed grew like a willow that was near water resulting in the seed becoming a sprawling vine. God used a second great eagle in the allegory that He sent through Ezequiel to His specially chosen guys and gals. God had the sprawling vine reach out to the second great eagle and . . . an allegory can seem awfully confusing until it is explained.
God – as God the Spirit, enabled Ezekiel to explain the allegory that He sent through Ezequiel to His specially chosen guys and gals who were exiles in Babylonia. The message that God sent as an allegory through Ezequiel to His specially chosen guys and gals was an overview of what had already taken place. The first great eagle that was in the allegory that God sent through Ezequiel to His specially chosen guys and gals signified Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar was Babylonia’s king. The top of a cedar tree signified Jerusalem while the land of the merchants signified Babylonia and the city of the merchants signified Babylon. The seed that was in the allegory that God sent through Ezequiel to His specially chosen guys and gals signified Zedekiah and God’s specially chosen guys and gals who Nebuchadnezzar had left in Jerusalem and in the land of Judah when he carried away to Babylonia – as exiles, a good number of God’s specially chosen guys and gals who had been living in Jerusalem and in the land of Judah. The second great eagle that was in the allegory that God sent through Ezequiel to His specially chosen guys and gals signified a Pharaoh. A Pharaoh was an Egyptian leader. This Egyptian Pharaoh probably was Psammetichus. Zedekiah had decided to go to the Egyptian Pharaoh for military help. In the allegory that God sent through Ezequiel to His specially chosen guys and gals, God sent a withering east wind to dry up the sprawling vine. The withering east wind was Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army taking away Zedekiah and another large group of God’s specially chosen guys and gals from Jerusalem and from the land of Judah after Zedekiah went to a Pharaoh for help. The allegory that God sent through Ezequiel to His specially chosen guys and gals says in verse 24 “All the trees of the field will know that I the LORD bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green and make the dry tree flourish. “ ‘I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.’ ”” God – as God the Father, used an allegory 2600 years ago to help His specially elected guys and gals today know that He is in control in every difficult circumstance that they will face. So – what kinds of difficult circumstance has your Father God had you experience to teach you that He is in control? God the Father already has had your grandmaa go through several difficult health experiences – such as having full blown typhoid, hepatitis, break bone dengue, hip replacement, etc.
Ezekiel 17 (285)