Ezekiel 19

Ezekiel 19:1-9

This chapter is a lamentation over the ruin of Judah and her kings of the illustrious house of Daniel, vers. 1. [1.] The kingdom of Judah is here compared to a lioness, and the princes to him, that Vol. II.

were fierce and ravenous, but blunted down and taken in acts, var. 2—9. [2.] The kingdom is compared to a vine, and the princes to branches, that had been strong and flourishing, but were now broken off and burnt, ver. 10—14.

1. Moreover, take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2. And say, What is thy mother? a lioness is the lay down among lions, the nourished her whelps among young lions. 3. And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey, it devoured men. 4. The nations also heard of him, he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt. 5. Now when she saw that the had wasted, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. 6. And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men. 7. And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waft their cities, and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof by the noise of his roving. 8. Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit. 9. And they put him in ward in g chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

We have here,

1. The prophet commanded to take up a lamentation over the princes of Israel, Jehoahaz, Jehoakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, whose mournful story would afford abundant matter for his grief. Note, We should not only weep with those that weep, but over those also who never shed a tear for themselves.

2. The Lord directs him what to say. Under the figure of a lioness and her whelps he describes the kingdom and princes. The lioness, the mother, is the tribe of Judah, ravening, fierce, full of rapture and injustice; the lay down among lions, joined in affinity with the neighbouring nations, and contracted alliances with them. She sacrificed her whelps among young lions, brought up the young princes in principles of arbitrary power and oppression. Jehoahaz, one of them, became a young lion, grown up, and seated on the throne of his father Judah, learned to catch the prey, and devoured men, exercising the most tyrannical sway, and sparing neither the properties nor lives of his subjects, as his covetousness, his rage, or his captive governed him. The nations also heard of him, what oppression he used towards his people, and what designs he was forming to salutes his neighbours; and hereupon the Egyptians fell upon him, vanquished and led him away a prisoner into Egypt, where he died.

Defeating of his return, the Jewish people advanced Jehoakim to the throne, with the consent of Pharaoh, and he trod in the wicked days of his predecessor, alike ravenous, arbitrary, and oppressive. He learned to catch the prey, he devoured men, plundering his subjects and sacrificing their lives to his resentment. Had he knew their desolate palaces, rarificating them to discover the treasures concealed therein; or he knew their widows, when he had slain the husband he defend their widows; and by his tyranny he drove his subjects from their cities, and made the land desolate through his roaring, neither their lives nor properties being any longer safe. The nations hereupon collected under Neuchadnezzar, surrounded him as a beast with toils, and he was taken prisoner as a lion in a pit; they bound him in chains and cast him into prison, where probably he quickly died, and was thrown on a dunghill, for Jer. xxii. 18, 19. and his roaring silenced, no more the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

10. ¶ Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters, she was fruitful, and full of branches by reason of many waters. 11. And she had strong rods, for the keepers of them that bear rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches. 12. But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the cast-wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered, the fire consumed them. 13. And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thrifty ground. 14. And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a keeper to rule: this is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

Ezekiel 19:10-14

The same persons, compared before to a lioness and her whelps, are here likened to a vine and its branches.

1. Thy mother, the Jewish nation, is like a vine in thy blood, which, 3 II

1 Chap. xxii. 2. The quarts, as idolat- 3. Chap. xxii. 4. The quarts, as idolat- 5. Chap. xxii. 6. The quarts, as idolat- 7. Chap. xxii. 8. The quarts, as idolat- 9. Chap. xxii. 10. The quarts, as idolat- 11. The quarts, as idolat- 12. The quarts, as idolat- 13. The quarts, as idolat- 14. The quarts, as idolat- 15. The quarts, as idolat- 16. The quarts, as idolat- 17. The quarts, as idolat- 18. The quarts, as idolat- 19. The quarts, as idolat- 20. The quarts, as idolat- 21. The quarts, as idolat- 22. The quarts, as idolat- 23. The quarts, as idolat- 24. The quarts, as idolat- 25. The quarts, as idolat- 26. The quarts, as idolat- 27. The quarts, as idolat- 28. The quarts, as idolat- 29. The quarts, as idolat- 30. The quarts, as idolat- 31. The quarts, as idolat- 32. The quarts, as idolat- 33. The quarts, as idolat- 34. The quarts, as idolat- 35. The quarts, as idolat- 36. The quarts, as idolat- 37. The quarts, as idolat- 38. The quarts, as idolat- 39. The quarts, as idolat- 40. The quarts, as idolat- 41. The quarts, as idolat- 42. The quarts, as idolat- 43. The quarts, as idolat- 44. The quarts, as idolat- 45. The quarts, as idolat- 46. The quarts, as idolat- 47. The quarts, as idolat- 48. The quarts, as idolat- 49. The quarts, as idolat- 50. The quarts, as idolat- 51. The quarts, as idolat- 52. The quarts, as idolat- 53. The quarts, as idolat- 54. The quarts, as idolat- 55. The quarts, as idolat- 56. The quarts, as idolat- 57. The quarts, as idolat- 58. The quarts, as idolat- 59. The quarts, as idolat- 60. The quarts, as idolat-

which, laid at the root, is said to contribute to its fertility; planted by the waters, enjoying the greatest advantages and privileges; she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters, grew rich and populous; and she had strong rods for the fixators of them that bear rule, many princes sprung from her, whose dignity was great; or the royal family was numerous, either of Josiah or Zedekiah, to whom it may be referred; and her fathers was excited among the thick branches, the nation of the Jews was eminent and distinguished; and appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches, particularly in the glorious days of David and Solomon, when they were the admiration of the nations around them. But,

2. This vine was plucked up in fury. Having long provoked God by their son, and Zedekiah by his rebellion filling up the measure of their iniquities, by the Chaldean army the country was utterly laid waft; the strong rods broken, withered, burnt; the king, princes, magistrates, slain or made captives. And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thrifty ground, carried to Babylon, where they suffered hard servitude: or this respects the remnant left in Judea, that by the ravages of the Chaldean army had been turned into a defect. And a fire is gone out of a rod of her branches: the rod is Zedekiah, and his rebellion the fire, which hath devoured her fruit; the people perishing by the throne, pedilitres, and sword, during the siege of Jerusalem; so that she hath no strong rod to be a fixator to rule, Zedekiah being the last king of the house of David till the Messiah came. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation: the past defoliations were grievous; but, instead of coming to an end, forconding generations would have freth cause to bemoan their miseries.