Ezekiel 19

Eze 19:1-14.

ELEGY OVER THE

FALL OF

DAVID'S

HOUSE.

There is a tacit antithesis between this lamentation and that of the

Jews for their own miseries, into the causes of which, however, they did

not inquire.

1. princes of Israel--that is, Judah, whose "princes" alone were

recognized by prophecy; those of the ten tribes were, in respect to the

theocracy, usurpers.

2. thy mother--the mother of Jehoiachin, the representative of David's

line in exile with Ezekiel. The "mother" is Judea: "a lioness," as

being fierce in catching prey

(Eze 19:3),

referring to her heathenish practices. Jerusalem was called Ariel (the

lion of God) in a good sense

(Isa 29:1);

and Judah "a lion's whelp . . . a lion . . . an

old lion"

(Ge 49:9),

to which, as also to

Nu 23:24; 24:9,

this passage alludes.

nourished . . . among young lions--She herself had "lain" among lions,

that is, had intercourse with the corruptions of the surrounding heathen

and had brought up the royal young ones similarly: utterly degenerate

from the stock of Abraham.

Lay down--or "couched," is appropriate to the lion, the Arab name of

which means "the coucher."

3. young lion--Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, carried captive from Riblah to

Egypt by Pharaoh-necho

(2Ki 23:33).

4. The nations--Egypt, in the case of Jehoahaz, who probably provoked

Pharaoh by trying to avenge the death of his father by assailing the

bordering cities of Egypt

(2Ki 23:29, 30).

in their pit--image from the pitfalls used for catching wild beasts

(Jer 22:11, 12).

chains--or hooks, which were fastened in the noses of wild beasts

(see on

Eze 19:9).

5. saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost--that is, that her

long-waited-for hope was disappointed, Jehoahaz not being restored to

her from Egypt.

she took another of her whelps--Jehoiakim, brother of Jehoahaz, who

was placed on the throne by Pharaoh

(2Ki 23:34),

according to the wish of Judah.

6. went up and down among the lions--imitated the recklessness and

tyranny of the surrounding kings

(Jer 22:13-17).

catch . . . prey--to do evil, gratifying his lusts by oppression

(2Ki 23:37).

7. knew . . . desolate palaces--that is, claimed as his own their

palaces, which he then proceeded to "desolate." The Hebrew, literally

"widows"; hence widowed palaces

(Isa 13:22).

VATABLUS (whom FAIRBAIRN

follows) explains it, "He knew (carnally) the widows of those whom he

devoured"

(Eze 19:6).

But thus the metaphor and the literal reality would be blended: the

lion being represented as knowing widows. The reality,

however, often elsewhere thus breaks through the veil.

fulness thereof--all that it contained; its inhabitants.

8. the nations--the Chaldeans, Syrians, Moab, and Ammon

(2Ki 24:2).

9. in chains--

(2Ch 36:6;

Jer 22:18).

Margin, "hooks"; perhaps referring to the hook often passed

through the nose of beasts; so, too, through that of captives, as seen

in the Assyrian sculptures (see on

Eze 19:4).

voice--that is, his roaring.

no more be heard upon the mountains--carrying on the metaphor of the

lion, whose roaring on the mountains frightens all the other beasts. The

insolence of the prince, not at all abated though his kingdom was

impaired, was now to cease.

10. A new metaphor taken from the vine, the chief of the

fruit-bearing trees, as the lion is of the beasts of prey (see

Eze 17:6).

in thy blood--"planted when thou wast in thy blood," that is, in thy

very infancy; as in

Eze 16:6,

when thou hadst just come from the womb, and hadst not yet the blood

washed from thee. The Jews from the first were planted in Canaan to

take root there [CALVIN]. GROTIUS translates as the Margin, "in thy

quietness," that is, in the period when Judah had not yet fallen into

her present troubles. English Version is better. GLASSIUS explains it well, retaining the metaphor, which

CALVIN'S explanation breaks, "in the blood of thy

grapes," that is, in her full strength, as the red wine is the strength

of the grape.

Ge 49:11

is evidently alluded to.

many waters--the well-watered land of Canaan

(De 8:7-9).

11. strong rods--princes of the royal house of David. The vine shot

forth her branches like so many scepters, not creeping lowly on the

ground like many vines, but trained aloft on a tree or wall. The mention

of their former royal dignity, contrasting sadly with her present sunken

state, would remind the Jews of their sins whereby they had incurred

such judgments.

stature--

(Da 4:11).

among the thick branches--that is, the central stock or trunk of the

tree shot up highest "among its own branches" or offshoots, surrounding

it. Emblematic of the numbers and resources of the people.

HENGSTENBERG

translates, "among the clouds." But

Eze 31:3, 10, 14,

supports English Version.

12. plucked up--not gradually withered. The sudden

upturning of the state was designed to awaken the Jews out of their

torpor to see the hand of God in the national judgment.

east wind--(See on

Eze 17:10).

13. planted--that is, transplanted. Though already "dried up" in

regard to the nation generally, the vine is said to be "transplanted" as

regards God's mercy to the remnant in Babylon.

dry . . . ground--Chaldea was well-watered and fertile; but it is the

condition of the captive people, not that of the land, which is referred

to.

14. fire . . . out of a rod of her branches--The Jews'

disaster was to be ascribed, not so much to the Chaldeans as to

themselves; the "fire out of the rod" is God's wrath

kindled by the perjury of Zedekiah

(Eze 17:18).

"The anger of the Lord" against Judah is specified as the cause why

Zedekiah was permitted to rebel against Babylon

(2Ki 24:20;

compare

Jud 9:15),

thus bringing Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem.

no strong rod . . . sceptre to rule--No more kings of David's stock

are now to rule the nation. Not at least until "the Lord shall send the

rod of His strength ("Messiah,"

Ps 110:2;

Isa 11:1)

out of Zion," to reign first as a spiritual, then hereafter as a

literal king.

is . . . and shall be for a lamentation--Part of the lamentation (that

as to Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim) was matter of history as already

accomplished; part (as to Zedekiah) was yet to be fulfilled; or, this

prophecy both is a subject for lamentation, and shall be so to distant

posterity.