PREVIOUS CHAPTER - NEXT CHAPTER - HELP - GR VIDEOS - GR YOUTUBE - TWITTER - SD1 YOUTUBE CHAPTER 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.
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).
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.
6. went up and down among the lions--imitated the recklessness and
tyranny of the surrounding kings
(Jer 22:13-17).
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.
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).
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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