Ezekiel 17:5
He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.
He took also of the seed of the land,.... Of the land of Judea, a native of it, not a stranger; not one of another country, a Babylonian; not one of his own nobles or princes, did Nebuchadnezzar, the eagle, take and set upon the throne of Judea, but one of their own, even one of the king's seed, of the blood royal, as it is explained,
Ezekiel 17:13, Mattaniah, the uncle of Jeconiah, whom the king of Babylon called Zedekiah, and made him king in his room:
and planted it in a fruitful field; in the land of Judea, and in Jerusalem the royal city:
he placed it by great waters; many people, Revelation 17:15; over whom he ruled, and by whom he was supported in his royal dignity:
and set it as a willow tree; which loves moist places, and grows up thick: unless it should be rendered, "he set it with great circumspection" {s}; took a great deal of care and caution in placing him upon the throne; he made a covenant with him, took an oath of him, and hostages for the performance of it, Ezekiel 17:13. The Targum is,
"a planted vine he set it,''
to make it agree with what follows; but the word in the Chaldee and Arabic languages signifies a kind of willow, as we render it, as Ben Melech observes {t}.
{s} wmv hpupu "circumspectissime posuit illud, Junins & Tremellius, Polanus; "cum magna circumspectione", Piscator; "circumspecte, Cocceius, Starckius.
{t} And so it does; see Castel, col. 3220, 3221. and in this way Jarchi and Kimchi interpret the word, in which they are followed by many; so R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 73. 1. nevertheless, the sense of it here is disapproved of by Castel, who observes, what has a willow to do with a vine? col. 3222. and commends the Greek version, which renders it, epiblepomenon, "conspicuous", to be seen; and so others translate it, "in superficie", V. L. Grotius; yet the "safsaf" of the Arabs is a tree by which they understood the "abeile" or poplar tree; see Shaw's Travels, p. 432. Ed. 2.