Ezekiel employs a new method to get his message across, as God tells him a riddle to say to the people. A great eagle, a tree, a vine and a lesser eagle all play a part in this riddle. The meaning of the riddle will be discussed in 17b.

We conclude the parable of the unfaithful wife by learning the root cause of corruption and destruction. Arrogance is the the root of it all. This was the sin of Sodom, the sin of Samaria, and the sin which led to the destruction of Judah. God will remember His promise, even though we have not kept ours. The other nations will be redeemed as well, reminding us of our shame and reminding us that only with humility will any redemption occur.

Ezekiel describes how the people descended into the most awful forms of corruption and promiscuity. They looked everywhere for pleasure and satisfaction except not towards God.

Israel forgets the desperate and unfortunate cuircumstances of her birth, and uses all of her wealth, beauty and bounty to satisfy her own arrogance. In a chapter full of powerful sexual imagery, the prophet shows how arriogance can turn into a quest to satisfy one's own desires without regard to it's effects on anyone. Even to sacrifice one's own children, nothing will stop a person infected with his own arrogance and selfishness.

In the second in his series of parables, the prophet compares the people of Isael to an unfaithful wife. In this first portion, he describes how Israel was an abandoned child, full of blood and dirt and left to die. God brought us to adulthood, took care of us until we grew into a beautiful young woman, God took us under His wings, and gave them all that we needed to prosper.

Ezekiel begins a series of parables in a new attempt at getting his message across. This parable uses the familiar image of Israel as a grape vine, only now the grape vine produces no fruit. The wood of the vine is thus a useless twig, not suitable for any constructive purpose.

The people would like to know, will anyone be saved? Why destroy everything? God answers, sometimes the society ois so corrupt that it can no longer be saved. Even were there righteous individuals such as Noah, Daniel and Job, they can save themselves, but the society, even many innocent people, will suffer.

Don't come to seek the word of God if your heart is still dreaming of corruption and sin. If you do come, God will answer you according to what is in your heart. Mend your ways, then seek God. For those false prophets who pretend to speak My word, there will be no excuse, you are causing My people to stray.

God turns His wrath against the false prophets, magicians and sorcerers among the men and women of Israel. You will be lost, and your mempory will be lost. Any chance the people may have had to repent and mend their ways was ruined by your false assertions of hope and peace. Those of you who had no courage to tell the people of the consequences of their actions, will suffer the most from those same consequences.

God asks Ezekiel to perform another symbolic act, to enact the exile of the people of Jerusalem, and the ill-fated attempt of its' King to sneak off during the night. the people still don't listen, thinking that with time, the prophets and their prophecies will fade and die. God says no, the time is now, there is no more waiting. The proophecies are beung fulfilled at this very moment.