We have next the divine interpretation and application of this parable. After the statement that the great eagle, the King of Babylon, had come to Jerusalem and taken the King and the princes captive, Zedekiah is mentioned. Nebuchadnezzar had made him King and had made a covenant with him and had taken an oath of him. Nebuchadnezzar had made him swear by God (2 Chron. xxxvi:13). Nebuchadnezzar had entered into a solemn covenant with Zedekiah and the name of God was used to make that covenant binding. Then Zedekiah, who had less regard for the name of God than Nebuchadnezzar, rebelled. Ambassadors from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon, came to Jerusalem to see King Zedekiah (Jere. xxvii:1-2). A combined revolution was evidently contemplated. He also sent ambassadors to Egypt. He expected great help from Pharaoh, who was a grandson of Necho, named Hophra. He advanced through Phoenicia and obliged the Chaldean army to abandon the siege of Jerusalem (Jere. xxxvii: 5-7). The joy over this event in Jerusalem was great, for the wicked, treacherous King Zedekiah expected that the Egyptian army would be the deliverer. But the relief was of a short duration. The Egyptian army had to retire and the Chaldeans resumed the siege. His great sin was that he had despised the oath and broken the covenant. Ezekiel announced therefore in the name of Jehovah his coming doom. "Therefore thus saith the Lord God; as I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head. And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me." He tried to escape from Jerusalem, but he and his household were taken captives and carried to the headquarters of Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. Zedekiah was arraigned and sentenced. His daughters were set free, while his sons were slain before him. This was the last thing the oath-despising, covenant-breaking Zedekiah saw. His eyes were put out and he was bound with double fetters of brass and carried to Babylon, where he died a prisoner (Jere. lii:11). He had despised the name of Jehovah and brought dishonor upon the name by violating the covenant with Nebuchadnezzar. The Gentile King had a higher esteem of that Name than the Jewish King. And then Jehovah in His righteous dealings used the Gentile to mete out the well-deserved retribution upon Zedekiah. Thus the Gentile King was used in punishing a faithless Jew. It foreshadows the judgment which came upon the whole nation when they despised and rejected more than a covenant. Ever since they rejected their own Messiah and King, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Gentiles have trodden down Jerusalem and the nation is blinded. III. The Promise of the Future.