Ezekiel 19:13

And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. NOW SHE IS PLANTED IN THE WILDERNESS. "Planted" - i:e., 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. IN A DRY AND THIRSTY 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....

The Prophet seems here inconsistent with himself, since these two clauses are openly at variance, that the vine was not, only withered, but burnt up, and yet planted in a desert place; for if it was withered, it could not take root again; but the burning removed the slightest hope; for when the twigs were reduced to ashes, who ever saw a vine spring up and grow from its ashes? But when the Prophet says that the vine was _withered and burnt up, _he refers to the conclusion which men must arrive at by their own senses when the city was utterly ruined; for that was in truth a horrible spectacle, when the people were made tributary after their king was taken, the temple, plundered, the city ruined, and their safety dependent on the lust of their conqueror. Since, therefore, neither the royal name and dignity, nor freedom and security, remained, and especially when they were led to the slaugh...

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....

Verse Ezekiel 19:13. _AND NOW SHE_ IS _PLANTED IN THE WILDERNESS_] In the land of _Chaldea_, whither the people have been carried captives; and which, compared with their own land, was to them a _dreary_ _wilderness_....

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 ...

AND NOW SHE [IS] PLANTED IN THE WILDERNESS,.... In the land of Babylon, which though a very fruitful country, yet, because of the hardships and miseries which the Jews were exposed unto in it, was a wilderness to them: IN A DRY AND THIRSTY GROUND; which is a periphrasis or description of a wilderness, Psalms 63:1; and designs the same place as before; where the Jews were deprived of their liberties, and had not the opportunities of divine worship, the word and ordinances; and were destitute of the comforts both of civil and religious life. Unless this is to be understood of the land of Judea, which by the devastation made in it by the king of Babylon, and the multitudes that were carried captive by him out of it, it became like a desert, a dry and thirsty land; and so the vine planted in it signifies the remainder of the people left in it, alter this great destruction; when

JUDAH THE VINE. The figure changes, as in Genesis 49:8, from lion to vine, and the king whose destiny is foreshadowed is this time Zedekiah. Judah is described as a fruitful vine, one of whose mighty branches (Zedekiah) became a royal sceptre (Ezekiel 19:11). But the vine was violently uprooted, hurled to the ground, withered by the fury of the scorching east wind a plain allusion to the destruction of Judah by Babylon. It is to be noted, however, that the fire which consumed her issued from one of her own branches a pointed allusion to the treachery of Zedekiah, at which Ezekiel has already expressed his horror (Ezekiel 17:19). Thus no more than his predecessors will Zedekiah save the state: he and it will perish.

NOW, &c. Referring to Jeconiah and Ezekiel's own days (1, 3; and 2 Kings 24:12)....

The fate of Zedekiah and his country, on which he has brought ruin Israel was once a spreading vine by great waters; her branches rose into the clouds, and her rods were rulers" sceptres a powerful race of kings rose out of her. Now she is torn up and thrown down, carried into the wilderness, and planted in a dry and barren soil. A fire also has gone out from one of her strong rods which has consumed her. Her last prince, Zedekiah, has finally broken the state to pieces (cf. ch. 17)....

AND NOW SHE IS PLANTED IN THE WILDERNESS— Or in Judaea itself, which is made a wilderness. Houbigant. Other commentators suppose, that the prophet by this expression marks out the state of the Jewish captivity in Babylon. He uses, as is frequent with the prophets, the present tense for the future, to denote the certain accomplishment of the event....