Ezekiel 17:24
And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it. And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.
The verse belongs to a parable continuing the lesson of the apostasy of Judah and Israel, picturing Judah turning to Babylon and to Egypt instead of to God. That parable rebukes sin in its awful wickedness while God earnestly pleads with His children to turn to Him. It falls within the portion of the book that reveals God's overruling providence over the nations and His rule.
Its tree and forest imagery represents governments and the supremacy of Gentile rule, while its vine and fig-tree imagery represents government. The chapter is a prophecy relevant to the restoration of the Lord's people's national government. It gives an example from Israel's history of seeking help from earthly powers instead of seeking the Lord. That seeking serves as a prototype for the church's reliance on worldly rulers to promote counterfeit teaching.
The verse shows the Lord's power to bring down what is high and flourishing and to bring life and fruitfulness to what is dry and apparently useless. Even a dry post can be covered with blossoms when God guides the streams of life to it. It shows the final, complete restoration of man to the image of God. The bringing down of the high tree and exalting of the low tree, and the drying up of the green tree and making of the dry tree to flourish, pictures the gospel in grafting and the method by which it is accomplished. That picture sets forth the way the degenerate human plant is to be treated and what the results will be, so that believing it prepares a person to receive with meekness the engrafted Word able to save the soul, a work the Lord Himself speaks and does.