Albert Barnes Commentary Ezekiel 19
Albert Barnes Commentary
Ezekiel 19
Albert Barnes Commentary
Ezekiel 19
"Moreover, take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel," — Ezekiel 19:1 (ASV)
Princes of Israel - Israel is the whole nation over which the king of Judah was the rightful sovereign. Compare Ezekiel 2:3; Ezekiel 3:1, Ezekiel 3:7.
"and say, What was thy mother? A lioness: she couched among lions, in the midst of the young lions she nourished her whelps." — Ezekiel 19:2 (ASV)
Your mother - The people represented by Judah. Compare (Genesis 49:9) and (Numbers 23:24).
"And she brought up one of her whelps: he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men." — Ezekiel 19:3 (ASV)
Compare the marginal reference. The short reign of Jehoahaz was marked by violence and idolatry, and was closed by Pharaoh-Necho’s carrying him captive into Egypt.
"The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks 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 he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men. And he knew their palaces, and laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, because of the noise of his roaring. Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces; and they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit. And they put him in a cage with hooks, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel." — Ezekiel 19:4-9 (ASV)
Chains - See the marginal rendering to Ezekiel 19:9 and Isaiah 27:9, note.
Another - (Ezekiel 19:5) Jehoiachin, who soon showed himself no less unworthy than Jehoahaz. The “waiting” of the people was during the absence of their rightful lord Jehoahaz, a captive in Egypt while Jehoiakim, whom they deemed an usurper, was on the throne. It was not until Jehoiachin succeeded that they seemed to themselves to have a monarch of their own (2 Kings 24:6).
Their desolate palaces - (Ezekiel 19:7) Rather, his palaces, built upon the ground from where he had ejected the former owners.
The nations - (Ezekiel 19:8) are here the Chaldaeans: see the marginal references.
"Thy mother was like a vine, in thy blood, planted by the waters: it was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters." — Ezekiel 19:10 (ASV)
Your mother - Judah or Jerusalem. Jehoiachin is still addressed.
In your blood - Blood is equivalent to “life” (Genesis 9:4). The clause is equivalent to Your mother is a vine, living in your blood, that is, in the life of you and of your children. The excellency of a vine is in her fruitful branches; the glory of a mother in her noble children. Jeremiah was to write Jehoiachin childless (see the note at Jeremiah 22:30); Ezekiel here takes a general view of the king and princes of the blood royal.
Jump to: