Reflections on a broken promise

Sermon on Ezekiel 17:1-24

Let’s do a survey at the start of this sharing. How many of you have broken a promise before? How many of you think that breaking a promise is fine as long as you have a good reason? I make promises all the time. I would say “I’m going to settle this by this week”; “I will clean that up tomorrow”; “I will lose some weight”. But unfortunately, I also break many of them. My wife will probably testify to that. Let me be clear, I do have somewhat legitimate reasons for not keeping my word: “I was busy”. That’s a common excuse. Sometimes, “I forgot”. Other times, things go beyond my control: “it wasn’t my fault”. Whichever the case, it seems I always feel justified when I had to break a promise. Today’s passage is also about a broken promise. Allow me to tell the story from the beginning.

There was a powerful empire known as the Babylonian empire, with a king equally famous, King Nebuchadnezzar II. In the year 597BC, Nebuchadnezzar conquered the little kingdom of Judah, exiled her king Jehoiachin to Babylon, and then installed a puppet king Zedekiah to rule the vassal state. The rules of the relationship were simple. Zedekiah swore an oath of fealty, a pledge of allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah would have to give regular tributes to his overlord, and in return Nebuchadnezzar would allow him to be king and not destroy him. However, four years later in 593BC, Zedekiah began to have other ideas. Five neighbouring kingdoms, Edom, Moab, Ammon, Sidon and Tyre, conspired with Judah to rebel against Babylon. When Nabuchadnezzar retailiated, Zedekiah went personally to Babylon to pacify him. In 591BC, The Egyptian Pharaoh Psammetichus II launched an expedition into Palestine to foment a general Levantine revolt against the Babylonians. That must had been an influential visit because Zedekiah again rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar in 589BC. He thought he could use the Egyptian forces to fight against the Babylonian forces. So Nebuchadnezzar responded to his betrayal by laying siege on Jerusalem for 30 months. The Egyptians, under a new Pharaoh called Hophra, did dispatch a force to Jerusalem to protect it from the Babylonians in 588BC. But his forces were quickly crushed and Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587BC. Zedekiah watched all his sons killed, before his eyes were gouged out. He was exiled to Babylon and never heard from ever again.

In today’s passage, Ezekiel’s interpretation of the events was simple: God was judging Zedekiah because he had broken his promise to Nebuchadnezzar. 16 “‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, he shall die in Babylon, in the land of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose treaty he broke. 18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Because he had given his hand in pledge and yet did all these things, he shall not escape.” Let us understand something more about this oath that Zedekiah made, because his “fate is attributed to his failure to honour his oath or treaty obligations. Treaties between nations typically contained a list of curses that will be inflicted on the party that violates the covenant between them. These treaties were signed under oath to respective deities. (Zedekiah to YHWH, Nebuchadnezzar to his god). This way, if the treaties were violated, it would become the responsibility of the country’s own god(s) to punish the oath-breaker.”[i] This is why in verse 19 it says, 19 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: As surely as I live, I will repay him for despising my oath and breaking my covenant. 20 I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment on him there because he was unfaithful to me.” In breaking his oath with Nabuchadnezzar, Zedekiah was also breaking his oath with God, because his oath was made in the name of God.

Such a situation was spelled out clearly in 2 Chronicles 36: 11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. 12 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the LORD. 13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath in God’s name. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the LORD, the God of Israel. 14 Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the LORD, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

According to Ezekiel, Zedekiah was judged because he had broken the promise he made in God’s name. But perhaps we may fail to comprehend what the big deal is. God is doing all these just because of a broken promise? What’s the big deal? This puzzlement is even stronger after reading the 2 Chronicles passage. Zedekiah was evil in his ways. He was proud and unfaithful to God. His leaders and people were also unfaithful and idolatrous. All these were already deserving of judgment. Yet, among all these serious offences, why did Ezekiel focus on the Zedekiah’s promise to Nebuchadnezzar in today’s passage? Breaking a promise seems minor in comparison.[ii] So why was Zedekiah’s breaking of the promise such a big deal to Ezekiel?[iii]

I believe the answer lies in the fable of the 2 eagles and the vine. Ezekiel could have chosen to skip the fable and directly speak his prophecy about Zedekiah. Content-wise, the fable adds nothing to his prophecy. Actually, it is kind of a weird story since these are eagles that like gardening and a vine with a mind of its own. As a story-writer, Ezekiel is certainly no J.K. Rowling. However, the purpose of the fable is important because Ezekiel wanted to illicit an emotional response from his audience before he pronounced his prophecy on Zedekiah. It was a response of outrage and contempt that Ezekiel wanted. The story was about a vine that was planted by a magnificent eagle. It was placed on fertile soil. It was given abundant water such that it could grow well. It could have borne fruits and become a splendid vine. Yet when another eagle came along, the vine turned its attention. It wanted water from the other eagle instead.

Upon hearing this, Ezekiel’s audience must have been outraged and filled with contempt towards this vine. This vine was unfaithful toward its benefactor, the first eagle. It was ungrateful. It deserved to be punished. And so Ezekiel asked them, 9 “Will it thrive? (Expected reply: No!) Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruit so that it withers? (Expected reply: Yes, it should be!) 10 It has been planted, but will it thrive? (No!) Will it not wither completely when the east wind strikes it—wither away in the plot where it grew? (Yes, it should be!) Only after eliciting the judgment from his audience towards the vine that Ezekiel explains that the vine actually refers to Zedekiah. If they were outraged by the story about the vine, they should be equally judgmental about Zedekiah’s actions. Zedekiah will not thrive. He should be uprooted and to wither and die. That is the purpose of the fable.

Before I continue, I want to return to the survey I started at the beginning of my sermon. Once again: How many of you have broken a promise before? How many of you think that breaking a promise is fine as long as you have a good reason? Now I’ll like to add a third question: How many of you have been hurt by a broken promise? Maybe we can take some time to reflect on how you feel after answering the third question. We often feel justified when we had to break a promise or a vow. We had our reasons. But somehow it feels different when we are in the shoes of a victim of a broken promise. Those reasons don’t seem so justified anymore.

Zedekiah had very good reasons to break his promise to Nebuchadnezzar. He wanted more independence from Babylon. I guess he could say that he was doing it for the good of his people because he could stop paying tributes. He could rely on his neighbours and Egypt for help. Why submit to a foreign power? Furthermore, his promise was made under duress. He was only a puppet king. He could now become a real king. I’m sure many of his fellow countrymen would agree with him. Rebelling against Babylonian rule was the patriotic thing to do.

But Ezekiel used the fable to show us the true picture. Zedekiah’s actions demonstrated his ingratitude and unfaithfulness. The people of Jerusalem were spared because Jehoiachin was willing to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah could continue his rule because of his promise to him. All these were based on his oath made in God’s name. Yet Zedekiah wanted more. He was unwilling to be submissive to Babylon when he had the backing of Egypt. To break covenants and treaties when the situation favours you – that is the mark of a mercenary and treacherous person.

Therefore I have 2 responses to today's passage. The first is a theological response. Keeping a covenant is important to God because God relates to us in a covenantal relationship. At the conclusion of today’s passage, God declares that he is the true glorious gardener, even more glorious than the 2 eagles in the story. He declared “24 All the trees of the forest will know that I the LORD bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.” He is in control of every vine, every tree and every cedar. The strength of his covenant is based on his divine word, “I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.” Therefore, we are all living by God's grace. Our fortunes are fully dependent on him. Our theological response must be to live in gratitute to God's grace. We continue to trust in his providence and his guidance. Yet, having made our oaths to be God's people, how many of us are actually living our own lives? Be careful about breaking your covenant with God. There are many temptations out there that may promise you favors and security, but our promise is to God. We have received his grace. We should keep to our word.

My second response is a practical response. Many aspects of our lives are based on promises. We have to be extra careful about the promises that are made in God's name. Breaking those promises are as good as breaking a promise to God. A betrayal of a promise in God's name is a betrayal to God. This can come in the form of wedding vows. How many of you are aware of the sanctity of vows before God when we raise our hands at a wedding? We also make pledges together, such as during the recent church retreat. Have we broken a promise to God when we broke the rules that we pledged to obey? Lastly, I am reminded of the oaths in court. You put your hand on the bible, and then you declare, “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God." If you get caught lying, you could go to jail under perjury for lying under oath. But the more serious consequence for Christians is that you have broken your covenant with God. The same goes for Christian politicians who are sworn into office. It is a covenant with the country, but it is based on their covenant with God. Let us remember the lesson to Zedekiah. Honor our promises and let our words be godly.

i The IVP background commentary: OT, pg.704
ii See also Jeremiah 34: 8 The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves. 9 Everyone was to free their Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to hold a fellow Hebrew in bondage. 10 So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free. 11 But afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.
iii The oath wasn’t even mentioned in other books about Zedekiah. In 2 Kings 24: 19 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done. 20 It was because of the LORD’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence. (The same verses are also found in Jeremiah 52:2-3.) Unlike 2 Chronicles, in 2 Kings and Jeremiah, there is no mention of the oath to Nebuchadnezzar made in God’s name.