Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Ezekiel 19:1 - 19:9

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Ezekiel 19:1 - 19:9


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Over The Kings

v. 1. Moreover, take thou up a lamentation, an elegy, for the princes of Israel, evidently the kings then living, namely, Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin,

v. 2. and say, What is thy mother?
the address here referring to the house of David in general, specifically to Jerusalem, as capital of the nation. A lioness, royal, powerful, with the nature of a lion; she lay down among lions, as the equal of all the mighty nations round about; she nourished her whelps among young lions, instilling into them all the cruelty of a beast of prey.

v. 3. And she brought up one of her whelps,
namely, Jehoahaz, son of Josiah; it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men, having developed in kingly power until he abused it to the detriment of his people.

v. 4. The nations also heard of him,
their attention being called to him by his increasing daring and by his depredations; he was taken in their pit, in this case in that of Egypt, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt, for Pharaoh deposed him and led him into captivity in Egypt, where he died. Cf 2Ki_23:33-34.

v. 5. Now, when she saw that she had waited and her hope was lost,
that is, "while she waited, her hope had perished," so far as this one whelp was concerned, then she took another of her whelps and made him a young lion, in this instance Jehoiachin, for Jehoiakim hardly comes into consideration.

v. 6. And he went up and down among the lions,
trying to imitate the recklessness and the tyranny of the surrounding kings; he became a young lion and learned to catch the prey and devoured men, thus following in the footsteps of other rulers of Judah who chose their own way.

v. 7. And he knew their desolate palaces,
or, "he defiled their widows," taking advantage of their helplessness, and he laid waste their cities, so that his tyrannical behavior ruined his own country; and the land was desolate and the fullness thereof, that is, all it contained, by the noise of his roaring, as he pursued his cruel course.

v. 8. Then the nations set against him on every side,
chiefly the Chaldeans, Syrians, Moab, and Ammon, 2Ki_24:2, from the provinces, marching tip against Judah with their armies, and spread their net over him, like a hunter capturing an animal; he was taken in their pit.

v. 9. And they put him in ward in chains,
2Ch_36:10, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into holds, into one of the fortresses or strongholds of the country, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel, so that he could not continue his insolent and cruel tactics. The Lord has ways by which He curbs the pride of man's heart, if necessary, by measures of the most strenuous kind.