Ezekiel 19:7

And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring. HE KNEW THEIR DESOLATE PALACES - i:e., claimed as his own their palaces, which he then proceeded to "desolate." The Hebrew literally means widows; hence, widowed palaces (, "desolate houses and ... pleasant palaces"). Vatablus (whom Fairbairn follows) explains it, 'He knew (carnally) the widows of those whom he devoured' (). 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 vail. THE LAND WAS DESOLATE, AND THE FULLNESS THEREOF - all that it contained: its inhabitants....

He again confirms what he said of the cruelty of King Jehoiakim: but the phrase is mixed, since he retains but a part of the simile, and then speaks without a figure of palaces and cities. Although interpreters incline to a different opinion, and translate — and took notice of his widows: and if the remaining words had suited, this reading would have been better; but I do not see how things so different can be united, as destroying cities and noticing widows. First, those who adopt this comment are obliged to adopt the notion that Jehoiakim destroyed the men and deflowered their widows, since he could not possess them in freedom till they were widows. Every one will admit that this is far-fetched. But the word “afflict” suits tolerably well. And truly the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, where Christ is said to be bruised for our grieves, cannot be better explained, (Isaiah 53:3.) Some translate,...

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....

CHAINS - See the marginal rendering to Ezekiel 19:9 and Isaiah 27:9, note. Ezekiel 19:5 ANOTHER - 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. Ezekiel 19:7...

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 ...

AND HE KNEW THEIR DESOLATE PALACES,.... He took notice of the palaces or seats of the richest men of the nation, and pillaged them of their treasure and wealth, and so they became desolate: it may be rendered, he "knew their widows" x: or, "his own widows"; whom he made so; he slew the men to get their substance into his hands, and then defiled their widows: AND HE LAID WASTE THEIR CITIES; by putting the inhabitants to death; or obliging them to leave them, and retire elsewhere, not being able to pay the taxes he imposed upon them, partly to support his own grandeur and luxury, and partly to pay the tribute to the king of Egypt: AND THE LAND WAS DESOLATE, AND THE FULNESS THEREOF, BY THE NOISE OF HIS ROARING; by his menaces and threatenings, edicts and exactions, he so terrified the inhabitants of the land, that though it was full of men and riches, it became in a great measure destitut...

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

KNEW THEIR DESOLATE PALACES. Aramaean and Septuagint read "injured or defiled his widows". KNEW. knew carnally. See 2 Chronicles 36:8....

Jehoiachin carried captive to Babylon The second young lion is Jehoiachin. The intermediate prince Jehoiakim could not be included in an elegy, because he died in peace. It is the princes of Israel whom foreign nations captured that are lamented. What is touched upon is more the humiliation and sorrow of Israel, the mother lioness, in her young lions being captured, than the fate of the two _persons_. The elegy is a national one, cf. on Ezekiel 19:1. 5. And she saw that she had waited her hope was lost; And she took another of her whelps she made him a young lion. 6. And he walked among the lions he grew a young lion, And he learned to catch the prey he devoured men. 7. And he broke down their palaces he wasted their cities; And the land and its fulness was desolate at the noise of his roaring. 8. Then the natio

AND HE KNEW THEIR DESOLATE PALACES— _And he destroyed their palaces._ Houbigant, with the Chaldee and LXX....