g, the
figure is beautifully carried out. This vine takes deep root and fills
the land; the hills are covered with its shadow, and its boughs are like
the goodly cedar; it sends out its boughs to the sea, and its branches
to the river (ver. 9-11). Here we have one main incident, the _increase_
of the people in the land of Canaan. Then God breaks down its hedges, so
that every passer-by plucks it; the boar out of the wood wastes it, and
the wild beast of the field devours it (ver. 12, 13). This is another
main incident, the _withdrawal of God's protection_ from his people, and
their oppression by their heathen neighbors. The prayer that follows in
behalf of this vine (ver. 14-16) represents the _love_ which God's
people bear to his church. All these parts of the allegory have their
proper significance. The rest of the imagery--the hills overshadowed by
it, the boughs like the goodly cedar, the wild boar wasting it, etc.--is
but the drapery of the allegory; and an attempt to find a spiritual
meaning for each of these particulars--the boar out of the wood, for
example, and the beast of the field--would but mar its beauty and force.

We give from Ezekiel (chap. 17:3-10) another example of historic
allegory, in which the essential parts can be readily distinguished from
the luxuriant imagery of the prophet: "A great eagle with great wings,
long-winged, full of feathers, which had divers colors [Nebuchadnezzar],
came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar [Jehoiachin,
whom Nebuchadnezzar dethroned and carried to Babylon. The cedar of
Lebanon represents the royal family, and Jehoiachin, as the reigning
monarch, its highest branch]: he cropped off the top of his young twigs
[the same as: he took the highest branch of the cedar], and carried it
into a land of traffic [Chaldea]; he set it in a city of merchants
[Babylon]. He took also of the seed of the land [the king's seed,
meaning Zedekiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar made king in the place of
Jehoiachin], and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great
waters, and set it as a willow-tree [established Zedekiah on the throne,
and gave him the means of prosperity as his vassal]. And it grew, and
became a spreading vine of low stature [not a lofty cedar, but a low
vine; that is, a tributary king], whose branches turned towards him
[towards Nebuchadnezzar, as dependent upon him], and the roots thereof
were under him [under Nebuchadnezzar, as subject to his power]: