Ezekiel 19:1

Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, There is a tacit antithesis between this lamentation and that of the Jews for their own miseries, the causes of which, however, they did not inquire. TAKE ... UP A LAMENTATION FOR THE PRINCES OF ISRAEL - i:e., of Judah, whose "princes" alone were recognized by prophecy; those of the ten tribes were, in respect to the theocracy, usurpers....

Here the Prophet, under the image of a lion, informs us that whatever evils happened to the Israelites could not be imputed to others. We must understand then his intention: it is not surprising that the Spirit of God insists on a matter not very obscure, since nothing is more obstinate than the pride of men, especially when God chastises them, although they pretend to humility and modesty, yet they swell with pride and are full of bitterness, and, lastly, they can scarcely be induced to confess God to be just, and that they deserve chastisement at his hand. For this reason, therefore, Ezekiel confirms what we formerly saw, that the Jews were not afflicted without deserving it. But he uses, as I have said, a simile taken from lions. He calls _the nation itself a lioness_: for when he treats of the mother of the people, we know that the offspring is considered. He says, therefore, that th...

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....

CHAPTER XIX _This chapter contains two beautiful examples of the parabolic_ _kind of writing; the one lamenting the sad catastrophe of_ _Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim_, 1-9, _and the other describing the desolation and captivity of the_ _whole people_, 10-14. _In the first parable, the lioness is Jerusalem. The first of_ _the young lions is Jehoahaz, deposed by the king of Egypt; and_ _the second lion is Jehoiakim, whose rebellion drew on himself_ _the vengeance of the king of Babylon. In the second parable the_ vine is the Jewish n

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....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 19:1 The two sections of this chapter—Ezekiel 19:1, Ezekiel 19:10 -are respectively two parables of the same type as that of Ezekiel 2:10. The former telling nearly the same story under a different imagery, the latter a reproduction of the same imagery, with a slightly different application. Lamentation. The same word as that used in Ezekiel 2:10. The whole chapter finds a parallel in Jeremiah's review of Josiah's successors ...

MOREOVER, TAKE THOU UP A LAMENTATION,.... These words are directed to the Prophet Ezekiel, to compose a doleful ditty, a mournful song, such as was used at funerals; and by it represent the lamentable state of the nation of the Jews and their governors, in order to affect them with it, with what was past, and present, and yet to come: FOR THE PRINCES OF ISRAEL; or, "concerning them" s; the princes meant are Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, who were kings, though called princes, these words being synonymous; or, if so called by way of diminution, the reason might be, because they were tributary, either to the king of Egypt, or king of Babylon. s אל נשיאי ישראל "de principibus Israel", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus, Starckius so Ben Melech....

EZEKIEL 19. DIRGE OVER THE KINGS. From a chapter which has the ring almost of dogmatic theology, we pass to one of pure elegiac poetry, in which Ezekiel deals a death-blow to the vain hopes reposed in the monarchy (_cf. Ezekiel 12:1_, Ezekiel 17). EZEKIEL 19:1. JUDAH THE LIONESS. Mother Judah is compared to a lioness, and the kings are her whelps. Ezekiel 19:1 celebrates the sorrowful fate of Jehoahaz (Ezekiel 19:2) and Jehoiachin (Ezekiel 19:5), each of whom was carried into exile after a reign of only three months Jehoahaz to E

PRINCES. Septuagint reads"prince"(singular) Here refers to Zedekiah. ISRAEL. Put _here_ for Judah. See note on 1 Kings 12:17....

Captivity of Jehoahaz in Egypt 2. How was thy mother a lioness! among the lions; In the midst of young lions she couched she reared her whelps. 3. And she brought up one of her whelps he grew a young lion; And he learned to catch the prey he devoured men. 4. And the nations heard regarding him he was taken in their pit; And they brought him with hooks unto the land of Egypt. 1. _princes of Israel_ Probably with LXX. _prince_, as required by the pron. _thy_mother (Ezekiel 19:2). The "prince" is a general term for the king, applicable to one king after another. The lamentation is for the "king" of Judah, represented by one person after another. On "lament" cf. Jeremiah 7:29. 2. _What_is _thy mother?_ Rat