Chapter xix.

This chapter ends that section of the book which began with the twelfth chapter. And it is a fitting conclusion, this great lamentation over the Princes of Israel, and over the land of Judah. The English translation does not do justice to the original Hebrew; the outburst of lamentation is written in a poetic form, some kind of an elegy. The lamentation has two sections.

I. The Lamentations over the Princes of Israel.

Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel. And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men. The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt. Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men. And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring. Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit. And they put him in ward in 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 (verses 1-9).

The lamentation is not the lamentation of Ezekiel, as so many expositors state, but it is the lamentation of Jehovah, the same who later wept over the same city and lamented over her coming fate. The words of divine lament were put into the mouth of the Prophet.

The Princes are Jehoahaz and Jehoachin. King Jehoahaz and his fate, being carried away captive into Egypt (2 Kings xxiii:33) is lamented in verses 1-4. King Jehoiachin who was taken as a captive to Babylon is lamented in verses 5-9. In Ezekiel, however, the word King is not used; the Kings are always called princes. The second verse may be rendered as follows:

"Thy mother was like a lioness, among lions. She couched amid the young lions, she reared the whelps."

The mother is Judah. Of this Jacob had spoken in his prophecy. "Judah is a lion's whelp" (Gen. xlix:9). And Balaam in his prophetic utterances speaks in the same tones of the nation. "Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion" (Num. xxiv:14). This prophecy will be fulfilled in the future when He appears in power and glory to receive the Kingdom, for He is called "the lion of the tribe of Judah" (Rev. v:5). And the people will then be as a converted and restored people the same, what the lion is among the animals, the Kingly nation. In Isaiah xxix:1 Jerusalem is called "Ariel," which means "Lion of God." The whelps, the nations heard of, are the sons of the House of David. And Jehoahaz "devoured men" and did evil in the sight of the Lord and was carried away by Pharaoh Necho as a captive into Egypt. Some expositors think that the lioness is the wife of Josiah the mother of Jehoahaz, because she was a woman of much importance and great influence (Jer. xiii:18; 2 Kings ii:9; xxiv:12).

The other one of her whelps mentioned in verse 5, whom the lioness, Judah, made a young lion, that is a King, was Jehoiachin. Jehoiachin was made King, when all hope of a return of Jehoahaz was lost, and the new King also "devoured men," did evil in the sight of the Lord. "And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done" (2 Kings xxiv:90). In verse 7 the word "palaces" should be changed to "widows." The verse describes the cruelties and wicked deeds of the King. Then judgment overtook him. Under him the first deportation to Babylon took place, in which the Prophet Ezekiel was included. "And he (Nebuchadnezzar) carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the King's mother, and the King's wife, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon" (2 Kings xxiv:14). The correct rendering of the next part of verse 9 is: "And they put him in a cage with hooks and brought him to the King of Babylon." Both Kings deserved their fate. God had warned, and as they continued in wickedness judgment fell upon them. And it was a warning to Zedekiah who was soon to share the same fate. In view of the violence which is on the earth now, the wickedness which is seen on all sides, these judgments of the past may well be remembered. God is the same to-day as He was of old. He must deal in judgment with sin; in many parts of the holy Scriptures we read of the time when God will keep not silence, but deal with conditions on the earth according to His righteousness.

II. The Lamentation over the Land of Judah.

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. And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches. But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit; her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them. And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. 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 sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation (verses 10-14).

Judah typified by a vine is not a new figure in Ezekiel. See chapters xv:1-5; xvii:6-10. The statement here reminds us also of Psalm lxxx:8-11. Many were the blessings Judah enjoyed, like a vine planted by the waters, fruitful and full of branches. The eleventh verse describes the period of Judah's greatest prosperity under David and Solomon. Then the judgment which comes upon the land, the east wind is typical of the Chaldeans which swept from the East and spoiled the vine. The fire of divine wrath burned in their midst. Her exilic judgment is pictured in the next verse: "And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land." And the fire of judgment came out of a rod of her branches, that is, the judgment came upon them on account of their wicked Kings. Thus ends the sorrowful lamentation over the princes and the land of Judah. But there is a better future in store for the land and the people, a future which can only be realized in Him, who said, "I am the true vine." Israel still is under the rod, but in God's own time the curse will give way to the promised blessing, for God's gifts and calling are without repentance.

FURTHER AND FINAL PREDICTIONS CONCERNING THE JUDGMENT OF JERUSALEM.