Bible Commentaries

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).