Ezekiel 17:3-6

In this riddle, a powerful and impressive eagle came to Lebanon, cropped off the top of one of its famous cedar trees, and carried these twigs to a land of merchants and a city of traders. This eagle also took some of the seed from Lebanon and planted it in fertile soil near a body of water so it would flourish, like a willow tree (cf. Isaiah 44:4). This seed sprouted and became a low, spreading vine (cf. Ezekiel 15:1-8) that sent out branches upward toward the eagle and roots downward.

Lebanon was an alternative name for the land of Canaan that emphasized its great beauty and fruitfulness (cf. Joshua 1:4; 2 Kings 14:9). The Lord evidently used it here because He wanted to develop the idea of a bird plucking the top off a tree, and this was more typical in Lebanon than in Israel because of Lebanon’s many cedar trees.