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The Parables of Ezekiel:
A parable is a story told to illustrate a truth. Jesus’ parables were teaching aids and can be thought of as extended analogies, comparing two things or ideas. A common description of a parable is that it is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Jesus told many parable, at least for a time in His ministry, Jesus relied heavily on story-telling:(Mark 4:34).The prophet Ezekiel used ‘parables’ – stories with a deeper spiritual meaning – in the same way that Jesus frequently used parables to explain the truths about the kingdom of God some six hundred years later. In Chapter 16, Ezekiel used the story of a faithless woman as a parable for the unfaithfulness of Jerusalem. The message of the story was made quite clear: the people of Jerusalem had rejected God just as the unfaithful woman in the story had rejected her husband.
Ezekiel told a parable about two eagles building nests. One used branches from a well-watered, tall Lebanese cedar, while the other built its nest in a low spreading vine in the dry hill-country of Judah, dried out by a strong wind from the east. Ezekiel, like Jesus, then explained the meaning of the parable. The first eagle represented the successful years of prosperous trading with surrounding nations such as Tyre, when the Temple and the royal palace were built by King Solomon and lined with expensive cedars from Lebanon. The second eagle represented the fate of Jerusalem in Ezekiel’s day. The royal line of Judah would be broken by a strong power from the east (Babylon), and punished for breaking its treaty and conspiring with Egypt, just as the second eagle had easily snapped the fragile branches off the dried-out vine.
Three Parables Concerning Israel’s Judgment: First, The parable of the useless vine. Ezekiel 15:1-8 Israel is likened to the wood of the grape vine which is useless for anything but producing fruit. [15:1-5] God asked three questions about the wood of the vine: (1) How does the wood from the grape vine compare to wood from the trees of the forest? (2) Can the wood of the vine be used to make any usable woodwork? (3) Can one even make a peg from it to hang things on? Grape vines produce a crop of fine grapes, apart from that they are useless! If the vine does not produce fruit it might as well be dug up and burned in the fire. Second, the parable of the spiritual adultery of Israel. Ezekiel 16:1-14 In this parable Israel is likened to an unfaithful wife who though nurtured and loved from birth, (16:1-14) spurned her covenant of marriage and played the harlot. (vv.15-34) “Therefore,” God will gather her lovers, and judge her as a women who commits adultery. He will give her into the hands of her lovers who ultimately will stone her, and burn her house. (vv. 35-47). Third, the parable of two eagles and a vine Ezekiel 17:1-24 This parable reveals that the ways of the kings and their people are in the hands of God.The first part of the chapter gives the parable, the last portion the meaning of the parable. Ezekiel says that God will reward any person who turns away from evil – and a righteous son will not be punished for the sins of his father. Ezekiel describes his vision as an elaborate and complex image that symbolizes the majesty of Gid and proclaims God's sovereignty over all the nations of the earth. Ezekiel is then handed a scroll, on which is written "words of lament and mourning and woe." Told to eat the scroll, when he does so he finds that it tastes as sweet as honey. Evidently, Ezekiel knows that the message he is to proclaim portends impending disaster, yet he thoroughly enjoys the task given to him. Ezekiel 18:1-32 (NKJV).
Counts of the parables in the Bible differ because categorizing various teaching tools is a subjective undertaking. Some parables in the Bible are clearly labeled as such. Others are not specified as parables, but they clearly match any reasonable definition of the word. If we define parable loosely enough to include all parabolic instruction (such as Proverbs 25:11), the number of “parables” naturally rises. Some count about 100 parables in the Bible; others see over 250. There are over 30 parables of Jesus recorded in the Synoptic Gospels (the Gospel of John has none). All parables are short, but some are quite brief.
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