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Ezekiel 19
1“As for you, take up a lament for the princes of Israel
2and say: ‘What was your mother? A lioness among the lions! She lay down among the young lions; she reared her cubs.
3She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a young lion. After learning to tear his prey, he devoured men.
4When the nations heard of him, he was trapped in their pit. With hooks they led him away to the land of Egypt.
5When she saw that she had waited in vain, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.
6He prowled among the lions, and became a young lion. After learning to tear his prey, he devoured men.
7He broke down their strongholds and devastated their cities. The land and everything in it shuddered at the sound of his roaring.
8Then the nations set out against him from the provinces on every side. They spread their net over him; he was trapped in their pit.
9With hooks they caged him and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into captivity so that his roar was heard no longer on the mountains of Israel.
10Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant waters.
11It had strong branches, fit for a ruler’s scepter. It towered high above the thick branches, conspicuous for its height and for its dense foliage.
12But it was uprooted in fury, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped off and they withered; the fire consumed them.
13Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.
14Fire has gone out from its main branch and devoured its fruit; on it no strong branch remains fit for a ruler’s scepter.’ This is a lament and shall be used as a lament.”
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Babylon: Empire of Prophecies of Conquests By Ezekiel 19:1
“As for you, take up a lament for the princes of Israel
Ezekiel: Other Parables Ezekiel 19:1
“As for you, take up a lament for the princes of Israel
Grape: Parables of the Vine Ezekiel 19:10–14
Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant waters. / It had strong branches, fit for a ruler’s scepter. It towered high above the thick branches, conspicuous for its height and for its dense foliage. / But it was uprooted in fury, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped off and they withered; the fire consumed them.
Lamentations of Ezekiel Ezekiel 19:1
“As for you, take up a lament for the princes of Israel
Lion: Parable of Ezekiel 19:1–9
“As for you, take up a lament for the princes of Israel / and say: ‘What was your mother? A lioness among the lions! She lay down among the young lions; she reared her cubs. / She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a young lion. After learning to tear his prey, he devoured men.
Palaces: Often As Punishment: Desolate Ezekiel 19:7
He broke down their strongholds and devastated their cities. The land and everything in it shuddered at the sound of his roaring.
Parables of Lions' Cubs Ezekiel 19:1–9
“As for you, take up a lament for the princes of Israel / and say: ‘What was your mother? A lioness among the lions! She lay down among the young lions; she reared her cubs. / She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a young lion. After learning to tear his prey, he devoured men.
Parables of the Vine Ezekiel 19:10–14
Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant waters. / It had strong branches, fit for a ruler’s scepter. It towered high above the thick branches, conspicuous for its height and for its dense foliage. / But it was uprooted in fury, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped off and they withered; the fire consumed them.
Prisons: Persons Confined in Often Bound with Fetters Ezekiel 19:9
With hooks they caged him and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into captivity so that his roar was heard no longer on the mountains of Israel.
Prophecies Concerning Israel: Prophecies Concerning of War and Other Judgments Ezekiel 19:1
“As for you, take up a lament for the princes of Israel
Symbols and Similitudes: A Vine Ezekiel 19:10–14
Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant waters. / It had strong branches, fit for a ruler’s scepter. It towered high above the thick branches, conspicuous for its height and for its dense foliage. / But it was uprooted in fury, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped off and they withered; the fire consumed them.
Vine: Parables of Ezekiel 19:10–14
Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant waters. / It had strong branches, fit for a ruler’s scepter. It towered high above the thick branches, conspicuous for its height and for its dense foliage. / But it was uprooted in fury, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped off and they withered; the fire consumed them.
Wind: East in the Valley of the Euphrates River Ezekiel 19:12
But it was uprooted in fury, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped off and they withered; the fire consumed them.
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Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
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Ezekiel 19:1-9 Ezek. 19:1-9
Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have terrified and enslaved others, are themselves terrified and enslaved. When professors of religion form connexions with ungodly persons, their children usually grow up following after the maxims and fashions of a wicked world. Advancement to authority discovers the ambition and selfishness of men's hearts; and those who spend their lives in mischief, generally end them by violence.
Ezekiel 19:1-999 Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek. 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek. 19:10-14)
Ezekiel 19:10-14 Ezek. 19:10-14
Jerusalem was a vine, flourishing and fruitful. This vine is now destroyed, though not plucked up by the roots. She has by wickedness made herself like tinder to the sparks of God's wrath, so that her own branches serve as fuel to burn her. Blessed be God, one Branch of the vine here alluded to, is not only become a strong rod for the sceptre of those that rule, but is Himself the true and living Vine. This shall be for a rejoicing to all the chosen people of God throughout all generations.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary
Historical, contextual, and verse-level study notes for deeper biblical exploration.
Ezekiel 19:1 Elegy over the Fall of David's House.
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.
Ezekiel 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.
Ezekiel 19:2 Elegy over the Fall of David's House.
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."
Ezekiel 19:3 Elegy over the Fall of David's House.
young lion--Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, carried captive from Riblah to Egypt by Pharaoh-necho (2Ki 23:33).
Ezekiel 19:4 Elegy over the Fall of David's House.
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).
Ezekiel 19:5 Elegy over the Fall of David's House.
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.
Ezekiel 19:6 Elegy over the Fall of David's House.
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).
Ezekiel 19:7 Elegy over the Fall of David's House.
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.
Ezekiel 19:8 Elegy over the Fall of David's House.
the nations--the Chaldeans, Syrians, Moab, and Ammon (2Ki 24:2).
Ezekiel 19:9 Elegy over the Fall of David's House.
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). voice--that is, his roaring. no more be heard upon the mountains--carrying on the metaphor of the lion, whose roaring on the mountains frightens all the other beasts. The insolence of the prince, not at all abated though his kingdom was impaired, was now to cease.
Ezekiel 19:10 Elegy over the Fall of David's House.
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). in thy blood--"planted when thou wast in thy blood," that is, in thy very infancy; as in Eze 16:6, when thou hadst just come from the womb, and hadst not yet the blood washed from thee. The Jews from the first were planted in Canaan to take root there [Calvin]. Grotius translates as the Margin, "in thy quietness," that is, in the period when Judah had not yet fallen into her present troubles. English Version is better. Glassius explains it well, retaining the metaphor, which Calvin's explanation breaks, "in the blood of thy grapes," that is, in her full strength, as the red wine is the strength of the grape. Ge 49:11 is evidently alluded to. many waters--the well-watered land of Canaan (De 8:7-9).
Ezekiel 19:11 Elegy over the Fall of David's House.
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. stature--(Da 4:11). among the thick branches--that is, the central stock or trunk of the tree shot up highest "among its own branches" or offshoots, surrounding it. Emblematic of the numbers and resources of the people. Hengstenberg translates, "among the clouds." But Eze 31:3, 10, 14, supports English Version.
Ezekiel 19:12 Elegy over the Fall of David's House.
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. east wind--(See on Eze 17:10).
Ezekiel 19:13 Elegy over the Fall of David's House.
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. dry ... ground--Chaldea was well-watered and fertile; but it is the condition of the captive people, not that of the land, which is referred to.
Ezekiel 19:14 Elegy over the Fall of David's House.
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. no strong rod ... sceptre to rule--No more kings of David's stock are now to rule the nation. Not at least until "the Lord shall send the rod of His strength ("Messiah," Ps 110:2; Isa 11:1) out of Zion," to reign first as a spiritual, then hereafter as a literal king. is ... and shall be for a lamentation--Part of the lamentation (that as to Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim) was matter of history as already accomplished; part (as to Zedekiah) was yet to be fulfilled; or, this prophecy both is a subject for lamentation, and shall be so to distant posterity.