14 And fire H784 is gone out H3318 of a rod H4294 of her branches, H905 which hath devoured H398 her fruit, H6529 so that she hath no strong H5797 rod H4294 to be a sceptre H7626 to rule. H4910 This is a lamentation, H7015 and shall be for a lamentation. H7015
And she had strong H5797 rods H4294 for the sceptres H7626 of them that bare rule, H4910 and her stature H6967 was exalted H1361 among the thick branches, H5688 and she appeared H7200 in her height H1363 with the multitude H7230 of her branches. H1808
Moreover take thou up H5375 a lamentation H7015 for the princes H5387 of Israel, H3478
Seeing he despised H959 the oath H423 by breaking H6565 the covenant, H1285 when, lo, he had given H5414 his hand, H3027 and hath done H6213 all these things, he shall not escape. H4422 Therefore thus saith H559 the Lord H136 GOD; H3069 As I live, H2416 surely mine oath H423 that he hath despised, H959 and my covenant H1285 that he hath broken, H6331 even it will I recompense H5414 upon his own head. H7218 And I will spread H6566 my net H7568 upon him, and he shall be taken H8610 in my snare, H4686 and I will bring H935 him to Babylon, H894 and will plead H8199 with him there for his trespass H4603 that he hath trespassed H4604 against me.
That G3754 I G3427 have G2076 great G3173 heaviness G3077 and G2532 continual G88 sorrow in G3601 my G3450 heart. G2588 For G1063 I G1473 could wish G2172 that myself G846 were G1511 accursed G331 from G575 Christ G5547 for G5228 my G3450 brethren, G80 my G3450 kinsmen G4773 according G2596 to the flesh: G4561 Who G3748 are G1526 Israelites; G2475 to whom G3739 pertaineth the adoption, G5206 and G2532 the glory, G1391 and G2532 the covenants, G1242 and G2532 the giving of the law, G3548 and G2532 the service G2999 of God, and G2532 the promises; G1860
And G2532 when G5613 he was come near, G1448 he beheld G1492 the city, G4172 and wept G2799 over G1909 it, G846
For the children H1121 of Israel H3478 shall abide H3427 many H7227 days H3117 without a king, H4428 and without a prince, H8269 and without a sacrifice, H2077 and without an image, H4676 and without an ephod, H646 and without teraphim: H8655
And thou, profane H2491 wicked H7563 prince H5387 of Israel, H3478 whose day H3117 is come, H935 when H6256 iniquity H5771 shall have an end, H7093 Thus saith H559 the Lord H136 GOD; H3069 Remove H5493 the diadem, H4701 and take off H7311 the crown: H5850 this shall not be the same: H2063 exalt H1361 him that is low, H8217 and abase H8213 him that is high. H1364 I will overturn, H5754 overturn, H5754 overturn, H5754 it: and it shall be H7760 no more, until he come H935 whose right H4941 it is; and I will give H5414 it him.
And say H559 to the forest H3293 of the south, H5045 Hear H8085 the word H1697 of the LORD; H3068 Thus saith H559 the Lord H136 GOD; H3069 Behold, I will kindle H3341 a fire H784 in thee, and it shall devour H398 every green H3892 tree H6086 in thee, and every dry H3002 tree: H6086 the flaming H3852 flame H7957 shall not be quenched, H3518 and all faces H6440 from the south H5045 to the north H6828 shall be burned H6866 therein.
The sceptre H7626 shall not depart H5493 from Judah, H3063 nor a lawgiver H2710 from between his feet, H7272 until H3588 Shiloh H7886 come; H935 and unto him shall the gathering H3349 of the people H5971 be.
For through H5921 the anger H639 of the LORD H3068 it came to pass in Jerusalem H3389 and Judah, H3063 till he had cast them out H7993 from his presence, H6440 that Zedekiah H6667 rebelled H4775 against the king H4428 of Babylon. H894
So they shall bring out H3318 all thy wives H802 and thy children H1121 to the Chaldeans: H3778 and thou shalt not escape out H4422 of their hand, H3027 but shalt be taken H8610 by the hand H3027 of the king H4428 of Babylon: H894 and thou shalt cause this city H5892 to be burned H8313 with fire. H784
For wickedness H7564 burneth H1197 as the fire: H784 it shall devour H398 the briers H8068 and thorns, H7898 and shall kindle H3341 in the thickets H5442 of the forest, H3293 and they shall mount up H55 like the lifting up H1348 of smoke. H6227 Through the wrath H5678 of the LORD H3068 of hosts H6635 is the land H776 darkened, H6272 and the people H5971 shall be as the fuel H3980 of the fire: H784 no man H376 shall spare H2550 his brother. H251
And the vineyard H3657 H3661 which thy right hand H3225 hath planted, H5193 and the branch H1121 that thou madest strong H553 for thyself. It is burned H8313 with fire, H784 it is cut down: H3683 they perish H6 at the rebuke H1606 of thy countenance. H6440
For they have devoured H398 Jacob, H3290 and laid waste H8074 his dwelling place. H5116
And he also rebelled H4775 against king H4428 Nebuchadnezzar, H5019 who had made him swear H7650 by God: H430 but he stiffened H7185 his neck, H6203 and hardened H553 his heart H3824 from turning H7725 unto the LORD H3068 God H430 of Israel. H3478
And the bramble H329 said H559 unto the trees, H6086 If in truth H571 ye anoint H4886 me king H4428 over you, then come H935 and put your trust H2620 in my shadow: H6738 and if not, let fire H784 come out H3318 of the bramble, H329 and devour H398 the cedars H730 of Lebanon. H3844
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 19
Commentary on Ezekiel 19 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 19
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).
9. 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.
10. 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).
11. 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.
12. 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).
13. 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.
14. 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.