서론
無標題
英文原文
The scope of this chapter is much the same with that of the 17th, to foretel and lament the ruin of the house of David, the royal family of Judah, in the calamitous exit of the four sons and grandsons of Josiah—Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, in whom that illustrious line of kings was cut off, which the prophet is here ordered to lament, Eze 19:1. And he does it by similitudes. I. The kingdom of Judah and house of David are here compared to a lioness, and those princes to lions, that were fierce and ravenous, but were hunted down and taken in nets, Eze 19:2-9. II. That kingdom and that house are here compared to a vine, and these princes to branches, which had been strong and flourishing, but were now broken off and burnt, Eze 19:10-14. This ruin of that monarchy was now in the doing, and this lamentation of it was intended to affect the people with it, that they might not flatter themselves with vain hopes of the lengthening out of their tranquility.
1-9
The Fall of the Royal Family; Fall of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim (593 BC)
王室的覆亡；約哈斯與約雅敬的傾覆（主前593年）
¹ 你當為以色列的王子作哀歌， ² 說：你的母親是甚麼？是個母獅子；牠臥在獅子中間，在少壯獅子中養育小獅子。 ³ 牠養大其中一個小獅子，成了少壯獅子，學會抓食而吃人。 ⁴ 列國聽見了牠，就把牠捉在他們的坑中，用鉤子拉牠到埃及地去。 ⁵ 母獅子見自己等候失了指望，就又取牠另一個小獅子，使牠成為少壯獅子。 ⁶ 牠在眾獅子中走來走去，成了少壯獅子，學會抓食而吃人。 ⁷ 牠知道他們的曠野（或作荒涼的宮殿），又使城邑變為荒涼；因牠咆哮的聲音，地和其中所充滿的都荒廢了。 ⁸ 於是四圍列國從各省來攻擊牠，在他們身上張開網羅；牠就被捉在他們的坑中。 ⁹ 他們用鉤子將牠放在籠內，帶到巴比倫王那裏；他們將牠帶入堡壘，使牠的聲音不再在以色列山上聽見。
這裏有：一、命令先知哀悼王室的覆亡。這王室藉着與大衛和他的後裔所立的王約，長久以來極顯尊榮；因此它的黯淡和熄滅，凡懂得看重我們神的聖約的人都理當哀悼。正如我們在詩89篇對那與大衛所立之約作了詳細論述之後（詩89:3,20等），又看見一篇為他家衰殘荒涼而作的哀歌（詩89:38,39）：但你已經丟棄、憎惡，你已經廢棄你僕人的約，褻瀆他的冠冕等等。猶大王在此被稱為以色列的王子；因為他們的榮耀已經減少，不過如王子一般；他們的純全也已喪失，變得像以色列王那樣敗壞、拜偶像——他們效法了那些人的道。先知必須為他們作哀歌；就是說，他必須描繪他們可悲的傾覆，如同自己將其銘刻於心，並盼望他所傳講、所寫信的對象也如此行。我們若自己不被感動，怎能指望別人被感動呢？傳道人在大膽預告之時，仍須痛切哀悼罪人的毀滅，如同未曾盼望那可憎之日的人。他沒有受命向以色列的王子進諫（這早已屢次徒然行過）；既判令已出，他必須為他們作哀歌。
二、指示他當說甚麼。1. 他必須把猶大國比作一隻母獅子——它從前在列國中坐如王后，如今敗壞到何等地步（結19:2）。你的母親是甚麼？你的，王啊？（我們讀到所羅門的冠冕，他母親為他戴上，意即他的百姓為他戴上，歌3:11）；你的，猶大啊？王室對國而言如母，如乳養之母。她是一隻母獅子——兇猛、殘忍、貪婪。當他們離棄了神性，不久也喪失了人性；當他們不懼怕神，也就不敬重人。她臥在獅子中間。神曾說：這百姓必獨居，他們卻與列國相雜，並學習他們的作為。她在少壯獅子中養育小獅子——教導年幼的王子學暴君之道，這是東方專制君王所行的；趁早在他們頭腦中灌輸絕對專制權力的觀念，使他們深信自己有權奴役臣民，他們的自由和財產都在他一己之喜怒之下：這樣她在少壯獅子中養育小獅子。2. 他必須把猶大王比作獅子之崽（結19:3）。雅各曾把猶大，尤其是大衛家，比作小獅子，因它強盛、在仇敵面前可畏（創49:9，他是老獅子；誰敢惹他？）；他們若持守神的律法和應許，神必為他們存留獅子的力量、威嚴與統治，並在基督——猶大支派的獅子——裏如此行。但這些獅子之崽對自己的臣民卻如此——對他們殘忍壓迫，吞食他們的產業與自由；當他們因暴政使自己成為那些本當保護之人的恐怖時，神就公義地使那些他們本可制伏的人成為他們的恐怖。此處哀悼：（1）約哈斯的罪與傾覆——這母獅子的一隻崽。他成了少壯獅子（結19:3）；他被立為王，就以為被立乃為任意而行，遂自己的野心、貪婪與報復之願；於是他很快就精通一切暴政之術；他學會抓食而吃人。當他把權力握在手中，凡先前曾絲毫得罪他的，都要嘗他的報復，作他怒氣的祭牲。但結果如何呢？他並未在暴政中長久昌盛：列國聽見了他（結19:4）——聽見他初登王位時如何狂妄驅馳，如何踐踏一切公正神聖之物，如何違背一切承諾，於是把他看作危險的鄰舍，照樣追究他——如一群牧人被召出來攻擊咆哮撲食的獅子（賽31:4）。他像猛獸一樣被捉在他們的坑中。他的本國臣民不敢起來保衛自己的自由，但神興起外邦勢力，很快就終結了他的暴政，用鉤子把他拉到埃及地。約哈斯就是這樣被擄到埃及，再也無人聽見。 (2) 他的繼任者約雅敬類似的罪與傾覆。猶大國有一段時期指望約哈斯從埃及回來，但終於絕望，便取了那隻獅子的另一隻崽，使他成為少壯獅子（結19:5）。他非但不以兄弟的命運為鑑、以公平節制使用權力、尋求百姓的福祉，反倒追隨兄弟的腳蹤：他在眾獅子中走來走去（結19:6）。他與那些像自己一樣兇猛暴烈的人商議、交往，並從他們取策，正如羅波安聽取那些急躁魯莽的少年人的意見。不久他就學會抓食，吃人（結19:6）；他沒收臣民的產業，對他們處以罰款和監禁，以掠奪和不義、扣押和沒收、罰金和充公來充實府庫，吞滅一切阻擋他的人。他精通發現人們藏匿財物之術，知道他們藏寶之所；他知道他們荒涼的宮殿（結19:7）——他們藏金錢有時也藏自己之處；他知道在哪裏可以找到兩者；他藉着壓迫使他們的城邑變為荒涼，強迫居民遷家到安全之處，使人口減少。地變荒涼，鄉村被撇棄；雖有豐盛、各樣美物充足，人們卻因他咆哮的聲音而拋棄一切。他以使一切臣民懼怕他為榮，正如獅子使森林一切走獸發抖（摩3:8）；他藉着可怕的咆哮使他們驚慌，以致因懼怕而仆倒，無力逃脫，作了他的獵物——據說獅子就是如此。他虛張聲勢、威脅、誇口，欺凌人奪取他們的所有。他這樣以為可以穩固自己的權力，卻產生相反的效果，不過加速他自己的傾覆（結19:8）：列國四圍來攻擊他，為要遏制並削減他那過分的權力——他們為共同安全而結盟如此行；他們在他身上張開網羅，設計謀害他。神使亞蘭人、摩押人、亞捫人的軍兵，連同迦勒底人，前來攻擊約雅敬（王下24:2），他被捉在他們的坑中。尼布甲尼撒用銅鍊鎖着他，要帶到巴比倫去（代下36:6）。他們把這獅子關進鐵籠，用鉤子把他鎖住，帶到巴比倫王那裏（結19:9）。他結局如何我們不得而知；但他的聲音不再在任何地方於以色列山上咆哮。他的暴政終結了：他被埋葬好像驢駒被埋葬（耶22:19），雖然他如獅子一般，是活人之地強者中的恐怖。請注意，當那些曾恐嚇奴役別人的人自己被恐嚇奴役時，當那些把為建造而賜的權力濫用為毀滅、使自己成為野獸——咆哮的獅子和橫行的熊（所羅門說，惡人統治窮乏人就是如此，箴28:15）——的人被如此對待時，當那些像以實瑪利手要攻打人的人，最終人都要攻打他時，神的公義當受承認。自古以來就有人觀察到，嗜血的暴君少有善終，他們必得血喝，因為他們是配得的。
英文原文
The Fall of the Royal Family; Fall of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim (593 BC)
¹ Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
² And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she 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 she had waited, 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 waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.
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 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.
Here are, I. Orders given to the prophet to bewail the fall of the royal family, which had long made so great a figure by virtue of a covenant of royalty made with David and his seed, so that the eclipsing and extinguishing of it are justly lamented by all who know what value to put upon the covenant of our God, as we find, after a very large account of that covenant with David (Ps 89:3,20, etc.), a sad lamentation for the decays and desolations of his family (Isa 89:38,39): But thou hast cast off and abhorred, hast made void the covenant of thy servant and profaned his crown, etc. The kings of Judah are here called princes of Israel; for their glory was diminished and they had become but as princes, and their purity was lost; they had become corrupt and idolatrous as the kings of Israel, whose ways they had learned. The prophet must take up a lamentation for them; that is, he must describe their lamentable fall as one that did himself lay it to heart, and desired that those he preached and wrote to might do so to. And how can we expect that others should be affected with that which we ourselves are not affected with? Ministers, when they boldly foretel, must yet bitterly lament the destruction of sinners, as those that have not desired the woeful day. He is not directed to give advice to the princes of Israel (that had been long and often done in vain), but, the decree having gone forth, he must take up a lamentation for them.
II. Instructions given him what to say. 1. He must compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness, so wretchedly degenerated was it from what it had been formerly, when it sat as a queen among the nations, Eze 19:2. What is thy mother? thine, O king? (we read of Solomon's crown wherewith his mother crowned him, that is, his people, So 3:11), thine, O Judah? The royal family is as a mother to the kingdom, a nursing mother. She is a lioness, fierce, and cruel, and ravenous. When they had left their divinity they soon lost their humanity too; and, when they feared not God, neither did they regard man. She lay down among lions. God had said, The people shall dwell alone, but they mingled with the nations and learned their works. She nourished her whelps among young lions, taught the young princes the way of tyrants, which was then used by the arbitrary kings of the east, filled their heads betimes with notions of their absolute despotic power, and possessed them with a belief that they had a right to enslave their subjects, that their liberty and property lay at their mercy: thus she nourished her whelps among young lions. 2. He must compare the kings of Judah to lions' whelps, Eze 19:3. Jacob had compared Judah, and especially the house of David, to a lion's whelp, for its being strong and formidable to its enemies abroad (Ge 49:9, He is an old lion; who shall stir him up?) and, if they had adhered to the divine law and promise, God would have preserved to them the might, and majesty, and dominion of a lion, and does it in Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. But these lions' whelps were so to their own subjects, were cruel and oppressive to them, preyed upon their estates and liberties; and, when they thus by their tyranny made themselves a terror to those whom they ought to have protected, it was just with God to make those a terror to them whom otherwise they might have subdued. Here is lamented, (1.) The sin and fall of Jehoahaz, one of the whelps of this lioness. He became a young lion (Eze 19:3); he was made king, and thought he was made so that he might do what he pleased, and gratify his own ambition, covetousness, and revenge, as he had a mind; and so he was soon master of all the arts of tyranny; he learned to catch the prey and devoured men. When he got power into his hand, all that had before in any thing disobliged him were made to feel his resentments and become a sacrifice to his rage. But what came of it? He did not prosper long in his tyranny: The nations heard of him (Eze 19:4), heard how furiously he drove at his first coming to the crown, how he trampled upon all that is just and sacred, and violated all his engagements, so that they looked upon him as a dangerous neighbour, and prosecuted him accordingly, as a multitude of shepherds is called forth against a lion roaring on his prey, Isa 31:4. And he was taken, as a beast of prey, in their pit. His own subjects durst not stand up in defence of their liberties, but God raised up a foreign power that soon put an end to his tyranny, and brought him in chains to the land of Egypt. Thither Jehoahaz was carried captive, and never heard of more. (2.) The like sin and fall of his successor Jehoiakim. The kingdom of Judah for some time expected the return of Jehoahaz out of Egypt, but at length despaired of it, and then took another of the lion's whelps, and made him a young lion, Eze 19:5. And he, instead of taking warning by his brother's fate to use his power with equity and moderation, and to seek the good of his people, trod in his brother's steps: He went up and down among the lions, Eze 19:6. He consulted and conversed with those that were fierce and furious like himself, and took his measures from them, as Rehoboam took the advice of the rash and hot-headed young men. And he soon learned to catch the prey, and he devoured men (Eze 19:6); he seized his subjects' estates, fined and imprisoned them, filled his treasury by rapine and injustice, sequestrations and confiscations, fines and forfeitures, and swallowed up all that stood in his way. He had got the art of discovering what effects men had that lay concealed, and where the treasures were which they had hoarded up; he knew their desolate places (Eze 19:7), where they hid their money and sometimes hid themselves; he knew where to find both out; and by his oppression he laid waste their cities, depopulated them by forcing the inhabitants to remove their families to some place of safety. The land was desolate, and the country villages were deserted; and though there was great plenty, and a fulness of all good things, yet people quitted it all for fear of the noise of his roaring. He took a pride in making all his subjects afraid of him, as the lion makes all the beasts of the forest to tremble (Am 3:8), and by his terrible roaring so astonished them that they fell down for fear, and, having not spirit to make their escape, became an easy prey to him, as they say the lions do. He hectored, and threatened, and talked big, and bullied people out of what they had. Thus he thought to establish his own power, but it had a contrary effect, it did but hasten his own ruin (Eze 19:8): The nations set against him on every side, to restrain and reduce his exorbitant power, which they joined in confederacy to do for their common safety; and they spread their net over him, formed designs against him. God brought against Jehoiakim bands of the Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites, with the Chaldees (2Ki 24:2), and he was taken in their pit. Nebuchadnezzar bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon, 2Ch 36:6. They put this lion within grates, bound him in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon, Eze 19:9. What became of him we know not; but his voice was nowhere heard roaring upon the mountains of Israel. There was an end of his tyranny: he was buried with the burial of an ass (Jer 22:19), though he had been as a lion, the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. Note, The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged when those who have terrified and enslaved others are themselves terrified and enslaved, when those who by the abuse of their power to destruction which was given them for edification make themselves as wild beasts, as roaring lions and ranging bears (for such, Solomon says, wicked rulers are over the poor people, Pr 28:15), are treated as such—when those who, like Ishmael, have their hand against every man, come at last to have every man's hand against them. It was long since observed that bloody tyrants seldom die in peace, but have blood given them to drink, for they are worthy.
10-14
The Fall of the Royal Family (593 BC)
王室的覆亡（主前593年）
¹⁰ 你的母親先前如葡萄樹，在你的血中茂盛，栽於水旁；因為多水就枝條繁多、結果子。 ¹¹ 它有堅固的枝子可作掌權者的權杖；它的高度在稠密的樹枝中間，因枝條繁多就顯為高大茂盛。 ¹² 但如今在烈怒中被拔出摔在地上；東風使它的果子枯乾；堅固的枝子折斷枯乾，火將其燒燬。 ¹³ 如今栽於曠野、乾旱無水之地。 ¹⁴ 火從它一根枝子發出，燒燬它的果子，以致沒有堅固的枝子可作掌權的權杖。這是哀歌，也必作為哀歌。
耶路撒冷這母城在此以另一個比喻來描繪；她是葡萄樹，眾王子是她的枝子。這個比較我們前面已有（結15:1）。耶路撒冷如葡萄樹；猶太國也是如此：如葡萄樹在你的血中（結19:10）——王族之血，如栽於血中、以血澆灌的葡萄樹，這對葡萄的茂盛結果大有貢獻，彷彿所流的血是專為肥沃並改良土壤而設，因為所流的血如此豐盛；有一段時間它似乎產生了這效果，因她因水——就是所栽之處附近的許多水而枝條繁多、結果子。極邪惡之地或可興盛一時；栽於血中的葡萄樹可以枝條繁多。耶路撒冷滿了能幹的官長——有見識、有學問、有經驗的人——他們是堅固的枝子，是這葡萄樹中體積和力量超常的枝子，或是支撐這葡萄樹的柱子，因為官長就是如此。這葡萄樹的枝子長到如此成熟，可以作掌權者的權杖——潔白的杖（結19:11）。適合作權杖的才是堅固的枝子——判斷力堅強、意志堅決的人才適合作官長。當猶大王室人數眾多、法庭充滿有見識正直的人之時，耶路撒冷的高度就在稠密的樹枝中間被高舉；當政府在良好能幹的手中，一個國家便因此成為可觀。那時她不被當作軟弱低矮的葡萄樹，她因枝條繁多而在高度上顯為傑出的城。Tanquam lenta solent inter viburna cupressi——柔韌的白楊樹叢中挺立的柏樹，也是如此。「在你的安靜中」（有人如此讀我們譯作在你的血中的那句，結19:10）你是這樣的葡萄樹。當西底家在巴比倫王的軛下安靜安逸之時，他的國就如此繁盛。請看神發怒何等遲緩，他如何遲延審判、等候施恩。2. 這葡萄樹如今完全被毀。尼布甲尼撒因西底家的背信大被激怒，在烈怒中把它拔出（結19:12），毀滅了城和國，剪除了落在他手中的王室一切枝子。葡萄樹被貼地砍斷，雖未連根拔起。東風使被毀的果子枯乾。年輕人倒在刀下，或被擄去。它的外貌毫無可悅之處，前景毫無可望之處。她的堅固的枝子折斷枯乾；她的偉人被剪除，士師官長被廢。葡萄樹本身被栽於曠野（結19:13）。巴比倫之於被擄到那裏的百姓如曠野；猶大地之於耶路撒冷如今也如曠野——因全國被迦勒底軍隊蹂躪荒廢——肥沃之地變為荒涼。「它被火焚燒（詩80:16），那火從它一根枝子發出（結19:14）；王自己因背叛巴比倫王，給這一切災禍提供了機會。她要為焚燒她的火感謝自己；她因自己的惡行使自己如同神烈怒火花的火絨，以致自己的枝子作了自我焚燒的燃料；在其中點起的火燒燬了果子——長者的罪成了毀滅幼者的審判；她的果子與自己的枝子一同被燒，以致她沒有堅固的枝子可作掌權的權杖——如今再無人適合治理或敢於治理，正如那抱怨所說（賽3:6,7），大衛家中再無人有權統治，也無智慧人或能幹人能治理。」任何國家處於這種光景——被剝奪了政府的福分、沒有堅固的枝子作權杖——景況就不好，且可能更壞。禍哉！那邦！你的王是個孩童，因為沒有堅固的枝子與沒有枝子一樣。我們有理由恐怕那些堅固的枝子曾是欺壓的工具，協助王抓取獵物、吞吃人，如今它們與他一同被毀。暴政是無政府的入口；當政府的杖變成欺壓的蛇，神就公義地說：「再無堅固的枝子可作權杖；任憑人如海中的魚，大的吞吃小的。」請注意，這是哀歌，也必作為哀歌。先知受命（結19:1）作哀歌；他既作了，便留給別人使用。「在我們這世代它是哀歌，荒涼既長久持續，它也必作為我們之後之人的哀歌；未出生的孩子必為現今審判對猶大和耶路撒冷所行的毀滅而悲痛。審判遲遲未到；弓長久張着；但如今既已來到，就必持續，其悲慘的果效要傳於後代。」請注意，那些填滿列祖罪惡之量的人，正為自己兒女的憂愁積蓄，為他們提供哀歌的題材；沒有甚麼比政府的傾覆更如此了。
英文原文
The Fall of the Royal Family (593 BC)
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 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.
¹² 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.
¹³ And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty 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 sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.
Jerusalem, the mother-city, is here represented by another similitude; she is a vine, and the princes are her branches. This comparison we had before, Eze 15:1. Jerusalem is as a vine; the Jewish nation is so: Like a vine in thy blood (Eze 19:10), the blood-royal, like a vine set in blood and watered with blood, which contributes very much to the flourishing and fruitfulness of vines, as if the blood which had been shed had been designed for the fattening and improving of the soil, in such plenty was it shed; and for a time it seemed to have that effect, for she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of the waters, the many waters near which she was planted. Places of great wickedness may prosper for a while; and a vine set in blood may be full of branches. Jerusalem was full of able magistrates, men of sense, men of learning and experience, that were strong rods, branches of this vine of uncommon bulk and strength, or poles for the support of this vine, for such magistrates are. The boughs of this vine had grown to such maturity that they were fit to make white staves of for the sceptres of those that bore rule, Eze 19:11. And those are strong rods that are fit for sceptres, men of strong judgments and strong resolutions that are fit for magistrates. When the royal family of Judah was numerous, and the courts of justice were filled with men of sense and probity, then Jerusalem's stature was exalted among thick branches; when the government is in good able hands a nation is thereby made considerable Then she was not taken for a weak and lowly vine, but she appeared in her height, a distinguished city, with the multitude of her branches. Tanquam lenta solent inter viburna cupressi—Midst humble withies thus the cypress soars. "In thy quietness" (so some read that, Eze 19:10, which we translate in thy blood) "thou wast such a vine as this." When Zedekiah was quiet and easy under the king of Babylon's yoke his kingdom flourished thus. See how slow God is to anger, how he defers his judgments, and waits to be gracious. 2. This vine is now quite destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar, being highly provoked by Zedekiah's treachery, plucked it up in fury (Eze 19:12), ruined the city and kingdom, and cut off all the branches of the royal family that fell in his way. The vine was cut off close to the ground, though not plucked up by the roots. The east wind dried up the fruit that was blasted. The young people fell by the sword, or were carried into captivity. The aspect of it had nothing that was pleasing, the prospect nothing that was promising. Her strong rods were broken and withered; her great men were cut off, judges and magistrates deposed. The vine itself is planted in the wilderness, Eze 19:13. Babylon was as a wilderness to those of the people that were carried captives thither; the land of Judah was as a wilderness to Jerusalem, now that the whole country was ravaged and laid waste by the Chaldean army—a fruitful land turned into barrenness. "It is burnt with fire (Ps 80:16) and that fire has gone out of a rod of her branches (Eze 19:14); the king himself, by rebelling against the king of Babylon, has given occasion to all this mischief. She may thank herself for the fire that consumes her; she has by her wickedness made herself like tinder to the sparks of God's wrath, so that her own branches serve as fuel for her own consumption; in them the fire is kindled which devoured the fruit, the sins of the elder being the judgments which destroy the younger; her fruit is burned with her own branches, so that she has no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule, none to be found now that are fit for the government or dare take this ruin under their hand, as the complaint is (Isa 3:6,7), none of the house of David left that have a right to rule, no wise men, or men of sense, that are able to rule." It goes ill with any state, and is likely to go worse, when it is thus deprived of the blessings of government and has no strong rods for sceptres. Woe unto thee, O land! when thy king is a child, for it is as well to have no rod as not a strong rod. Those strong rods, we have reason to fear, had been instruments of oppression, assistant to the king in catching the prey and devouring men, and now they are destroyed with him. Tyranny is the inlet to anarchy; and, when the rod of government is turned into the serpent of oppression, it is just with God to say, "There shall be no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule; but let men be as are the fishes of the sea, where the greater devour the less." Note, This is a lamentation and shall be for a lamentation. The prophet was bidden (Eze 19:1) to take up a lamentation; and, having done so, he leaves it to be made use of by others. "It is a lamentation to us of this age, and, the desolations continuing long, it shall be for a lamentation to those that shall come after us; the child unborn will rue the destruction made of Judah and Jerusalem by the present judgments. They were a great while in coming; the bow was long in the drawing; but now that they have come they will continue, and the sad effects of them will be entailed upon posterity." Note, Those who fill up the measure of their fathers' sins are laying up in store for their children's sorrows and furnishing them with matter for lamentation; and nothing is more so than the overthrow of government.
本章的主旨與第十七章大致相同——預言並哀悼大衛家、猶大王朝的覆亡,即在約西亞四個兒孫——約哈斯、約雅敬、耶哥尼雅、西底家——悲慘的結局之中,那條顯赫的王系被剪除;先知在此受命要為他們作哀歌(結十九1)。他乃是用比喻來作的。一、猶大國與大衛家在此被比作一頭母獅,那些君王被比作獅子——他們本是凶猛貪婪的,卻被人追捕,陷入網羅之中(結十九2-9)。二、那國與那家在此被比作一棵葡萄樹,這些君王被比作枝條——他們曾經堅壯茂盛,如今卻被折斷焚燒(結十九10-14)。這王朝的傾覆當時正在進行,而這首哀歌的目的,是要使百姓因此受感,免得他們再用虛妄的指望來自欺,以為可以延長他們的太平。