The Branch
Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent: Ezekiel 17:22–24
Where the Babylonian eagle carried off a twig of David's royal line, the LORD promises to plant His own tender twig from that line on His holy mountain, and it will grow into a great tree sheltering every kind of bird. This is the promised Messiah from David's house, Jesus Christ, whose kingdom shelters all nations; He came as a lowly, tender plant and was exalted.
A readingProphecy or typeA prophecy of Him
- alludes to Isaiah 11:1 — A rod out of the stem of Jesse and a Branch out of his roots.
- alludes to Isaiah 53:2 — He shall grow up before him as a tender plant.
- the same title in Jeremiah 23:5 — The LORD will raise unto David a righteous Branch, a King.
- alluded to by Matthew 13:31-32 — The kingdom grows from the least of seeds into a tree where the birds lodge in its branches.