Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Ezekiel 19:7

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Mourning for Judah’s kings (19:1-14)

Although the prophet realized that God’s judgment on the sinful people of Judah was fitting, he felt sorry for those Judean kings who fell victim to the foreign invaders (19:1). Judah was like a mother lion whose young lions became kings to rule over nations. However, when Egypt in 609 BC gained control of the region, Judah’s king Jehoahaz was captured, bound and taken to Egypt, where he later died (2-4; see 2 Kings 23:31-34).

The next ‘lion’ had all the fierce and aggressive characteristics of Judah’s next king, Jehoiakim (5-8; see 2 Kings 23:36-37; 2 Kings 24:1; Jeremiah 22:13-19). Unlike the kings before and after him, Jehoiakim died not in a foreign country but in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 22:19). His son and successor, Jehoiachin, was captured and taken prisoner to Babylon. Although Jehoiachin reigned only three months, he showed he had the same evil characteristics as his father (9; see 2 Kings 24:8-15).

Judah is pictured also as a strong healthy vine, and her kings as fruitful branches of that vine. But the ‘vine’ withered and was taken, along with its last rightful king, Jehoiachin, into the dry and thirsty land of Babylon (10-13). Back in Jerusalem the king appointed by Babylon proved to be a ‘fire’ who destroyed the little that remained of the vine. Through Zedekiah both the nation and the Davidic line of kings came to an end (14; see 2 Kings 24:20-21).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"And he knew their palaces and laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the ruiness 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."

"He knew their palaces" The Revised Standard Version renders this, "He ravaged their strongholds," which is in agreement with the parallel phrase that follows. Apparently, none of this had time to happen in his three months' reign; but his character was such that such deeds of cruelty and tyranny would most surely have happened if he had been permitted to continue as king. In actuality, "the noise of his roaring" was all that came of it!

"They put him in a cage" This probably happened literally to Jehoiachin, as it was the custom of ancient kings to display their captive kings, princes, and mighty men as caged captives in their ostentatious victory parades. "After his three months' reign, Jehoiachin was taken by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon in 597 B.C. (2 Kings 24:8-16)."G. R. Beasley-Murray in the New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 674.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

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

Their desolate palaces - Rather, his palaces, built upon the ground, from where he had ejected the former owners.

Ezekiel 19:8

The nations - are here the Chaldaeans: see the marginal references.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

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 53^rd chapter of Isaiah, where Christ is said to be bruised for our grieves, cannot be better explained, (Isaiah 53:3.) Some translate, that he experienced sorrows, or knew them, or was acquainted with them, in the passive signification. But those who say that he saw sorrows, or experienced them, do not consider how it suits the passage; and those who say that he was cognizant of grieves, meaning his own, also distort the Prophet’s words. I doubt not, therefore, that in this passage it means to afflict. Respecting the noun, I suppose the letter, ל (l) taken for ר (r); and in Isaiah (Isaiah 13:22) this word is used for palaces: wild beasts shall howl, says the Prophet, באלמנותיו, bal-meno-thiv, that is, in her palaces. The word cannot here mean widows, and all are agreed to take it for palaces; and when the Prophet adds, that he destroyed cities, the subject shows us that in the former clause the palaces were afflicted, and then the cities destroyed: the Prophet asserts this simply, and without a figure, though he soon returns to the simile, that the land was reduced to a desert by the voice of roaring. Again, he compares King Jehoiakim to a lion; whence it follows, as I said, that the Prophet’s language is mixed. Elsewhere, also, the prophets reprove the pride of their king. (Jeremiah 22:15; Jeremiah 36:30.) For although he was contemptible, yet he raised himself above other kings; hence he is derided, since he was not content with the condition and moderation of his father, who ate and drank, — that is, lived like mankind, — but he desired to raise himself above the race of men. For this cause the Prophet now says, that cities were destroyed by him, and palaces afflicted by him. There is a change of number in the pronouns, because the singular number is put in the word “palaces,” and the plural in cities. But we know how frequently this change occurs in the Hebrew Language; while as to the sense there is no obscurity, for King Jehoiakim was like a fierce and cruel beast, because he destroyed cities and pulled down palaces. But afterwards he adds, the land was laid waste and made solitary by the voice of his roaring. Here the Prophet enlarges upon the atrocity of that king, since by his roaring alone he had reduced the land to a desert. He does not speak of claws or teeth, but says that they were all so frightened at the sound of his roaring that the land was waste and solitary. He adds, the fullness of the land, by which expression Scripture usually denotes the ornaments of a country. The word comprehends trees, and fruits, and animals, as well as inhabitants; for a land is empty and bare without that clothing; that is, if trees and fruits are taken away as well as men and animals, the face of the land is deserted and deformed, and its state displays its emptiness. It afterwards follow: —

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 19

Moreover, take thou up a lamentation ( Ezekiel 19:1 )

So this is a lamentation. Notice at the beginning he says a lamentation and then at the end he said, "This is a lamentation and shall be a lamentation." Now if I were a Bible critic, I would tell you why this wasn't a lamentation. If I were in the school of higher criticism, one of those biblical scholars.

Moreover, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, and say, What is thy mother? She's a lioness: she laid down among the lions, and she nourished her whelps among the lions ( Ezekiel 19:1-2 ).

These are the princes now. Your mother is a lioness. She laid down among the lions.

And she brought up one of her whelps: and it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; and it devoured men. And the nations also heard of him; and he was taken in their pit [caught in their trap], and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt ( Ezekiel 19:3-4 ).

That would be the prince, or the king Jehoahaz.

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 ( Ezekiel 19:5 ).

This would be Jehoiachin.

And he went up and down among the lions, and he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men. And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fullness thereof, by the noise of his roaring. Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit. And they put him in a ward in chains, and they brought him to the king of Babylon: and they brought him unto [the prisons] the holds, and his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel ( Ezekiel 19:6-9 ).

Jehoiachin was carried away captive to Babylon.

And thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches. But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them. And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be a lamentation ( Ezekiel 19:10-14 ).

It, of course, speaks of the end of the kings of Israel because of their being conquered. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The lion and her cubs 19:1-9

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

With the death of this cub the lioness took another of her offspring and made him dominant. He gained his position among the other rulers of the area and also became violent and destructive, like the first cub. He so devastated his own land that the people in it despaired. His neighbors also trapped this lion and took him captive to Babylon thus ending his reign.

This describes the career of King Jehoiachin, who also ruled over Judah for only three months (in 598-597 B.C.). Probably the writer omitted referring to King Jehoiakim, the intervening king, because he was not taken into exile like Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin. Other interpreters believe King Jehoiakim is the person in view. [Note: E.g., Chisholm, Handbook on . . ., p. 256; and Block, The Book . . ., pp. 604-7.] The Babylonians captured Jehoiachin and took him into exile in 597 B.C. Later he enjoyed a measure of freedom, but he never returned to rule over Judah (2 Kings 24:8-17; 2 Kings 25:27-30; 2 Chronicles 36:8-10).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

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 destitute of both; the people left their houses, both in city and country, and fled elsewhere with the remainder of their substance that had not fallen into his hands: his menacing demands being signified by roaring agrees with his character as a lion, to which he is compared, Proverbs 19:12.

x וידע אלמנותיו "et cognovit viduas ejus", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius; "viduas eorum", Vatablus, Starckius; so R. Joseph Kimchi. Which sense is approved by Gussetius, Ebr. Comment. p. 312. R. Jonah interprets it, "he broke their palaces"; so Calvin, and some in Vatablus, and R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 96. 1.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,   2 And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.   3 And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.   4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.   5 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.   6 And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.   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.   8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.   9 And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

      Here are, I. Orders given to the prophet to bewail the fall of the royal family, which had long made so great a figure by virtue of a covenant of royalty made with David and his seed, so that the eclipsing and extinguishing of it are justly lamented by all who know what value to put upon the covenant of our God, as we find, after a very large account of that covenant with David ( Psalms 89:3; Psalms 89:20, c.), a sad lamentation for the decays and desolations of his family (Isaiah 89:38; Isaiah 89:39): But thou hast cast off and abhorred, hast made void the covenant of thy servant and profaned his crown, c. The kings of Judah are here called princes of Israel for their glory was diminished and they had become but as princes, and their purity was lost; they had become corrupt and idolatrous as the kings of Israel, whose ways they had learned. The prophet must take up a lamentation for them; that is, he must describe their lamentable fall as one that did himself lay it to heart, and desired that those he preached and wrote to might do so to. And how can we expect that others should be affected with that which we ourselves are not affected with? Ministers, when they boldly foretel, must yet bitterly lament the destruction of sinners, as those that have not desired the woeful day. He is not directed to give advice to the princes of Israel (that had been long and often done in vain), but, the decree having gone forth, he must take up a lamentation for them.

      II. Instructions given him what to say. 1. He must compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness, so wretchedly degenerated was it from what it had been formerly, when it sat as a queen among the nations, Ezekiel 19:2; Ezekiel 19:2. What is thy mother? thine, O king? (we read of Solomon's crown wherewith his mother crowned him, that is, his people, Song of Solomon 3:11), thine, O Judah? The royal family is as a mother to the kingdom, a nursing mother. She is a lioness, fierce, and cruel, and ravenous. When they had left their divinity they soon lost their humanity too; and, when they feared not God, neither did they regard man. She lay down among lions. God had said, The people shall dwell alone, but they mingled with the nations and learned their works. She nourished her whelps among young lions, taught the young princes the way of tyrants, which was then used by the arbitrary kings of the east, filled their heads betimes with notions of their absolute despotic power, and possessed them with a belief that they had a right to enslave their subjects, that their liberty and property lay at their mercy: thus she nourished her whelps among young lions. 2. He must compare the kings of Judah to lions' whelps,Ezekiel 19:3; Ezekiel 19:3. Jacob had compared Judah, and especially the house of David, to a lion's whelp, for its being strong and formidable to its enemies abroad (Genesis 49:9, He is an old lion; who shall stir him up?) and, if they had adhered to the divine law and promise, God would have preserved to them the might, and majesty, and dominion of a lion, and does it in Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. But these lions' whelps were so to their own subjects, were cruel and oppressive to them, preyed upon their estates and liberties; and, when they thus by their tyranny made themselves a terror to those whom they ought to have protected, it was just with God to make those a terror to them whom otherwise they might have subdued. Here is lamented, (1.) The sin and fall of Jehoahaz, one of the whelps of this lioness. He became a young lion (Ezekiel 19:3; Ezekiel 19:3); he was made king, and thought he was made so that he might do what he pleased, and gratify his own ambition, covetousness, and revenge, as he had a mind; and so he was soon master of all the arts of tyranny; he learned to catch the prey and devoured men. When he got power into his hand, all that had before in any thing disobliged him were made to feel his resentments and become a sacrifice to his rage. But what came of it? He did not prosper long in his tyranny: The nations heard of him (Ezekiel 19:4; Ezekiel 19:4), heard how furiously he drove at his first coming to the crown, how he trampled upon all that is just and sacred, and violated all his engagements, so that they looked upon him as a dangerous neighbour, and prosecuted him accordingly, as a multitude of shepherds is called forth against a lion roaring on his prey,Isaiah 31:4. And he was taken, as a beast of prey, in their pit. His own subjects durst not stand up in defence of their liberties, but God raised up a foreign power that soon put an end to his tyranny, and brought him in chains to the land of Egypt. Thither Jehoahaz was carried captive, and never heard of more. (2.) The like sin and fall of his successor Jehoiakim. The kingdom of Judah for some time expected the return of Jehoahaz out of Egypt, but at length despaired of it, and then took another of the lion's whelps, and made him a young lion,Ezekiel 19:5; Ezekiel 19:5. And he, instead of taking warning by his brother's fate to use his power with equity and moderation, and to seek the good of his people, trod in his brother's steps: He went up and down among the lions,Ezekiel 19:6; Ezekiel 19:6. He consulted and conversed with those that were fierce and furious like himself, and took his measures from them, as Rehoboam took the advice of the rash and hot-headed young men. And he soon learned to catch the prey, and he devoured men (Ezekiel 19:6; Ezekiel 19:6); he seized his subjects' estates, fined and imprisoned them, filled his treasury by rapine and injustice, sequestrations and confiscations, fines and forfeitures, and swallowed up all that stood in his way. He had got the art of discovering what effects men had that lay concealed, and where the treasures were which they had hoarded up; he knew their desolate places (Ezekiel 19:7; Ezekiel 19:7), where they his their money and sometimes hid themselves; he knew where to find both out; and by his oppression he laid waste their cities, depopulated them by forcing the inhabitants to remove their families to some place of safety. The land was desolate, and the country villages were deserted; and though there was great plenty, and a fulness of all good things, yet people quitted it all for fear of the noise of his roaring. He took a pride in making all his subjects afraid of him, as the lion makes all the beasts of the forest to tremble (Amos 3:8), and by his terrible roaring so astonished them that they fell down for fear, and, having not spirit to make their escape, became an easy prey to him, as they say the lions do. He hectored, and threatened, and talked big, and bullied people out of what they had. Thus he thought to establish his own power, but it had a contrary effect, it did but hasten his own ruin (Ezekiel 19:8; Ezekiel 19:8): The nations set against him on every side, to restrain and reduce his exorbitant power, which they joined in confederacy to do for their common safety; and they spread their net over him, formed designs against him. God brought against Jehoiakim bands of the Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites, with the Chaldees (2 Kings 24:2), and he was taken in their pit. Nebuchadnezzar bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon,2 Chronicles 36:6. They put this lion within grates, bound him in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon,Ezekiel 19:9; Ezekiel 19:9. What became of him we know not; but his voice was nowhere heard roaring upon the mountains of Israel. There was an end of his tyranny: he was buried with the burial of an ass (Jeremiah 22:19), though he had been as a lion, the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. Note, The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged when those who have terrified and enslaved others are themselves terrified and enslaved, when those who by the abuse of their power to destruction which was given them for edification make themselves as wild beasts, as roaring lions and ranging bears (for such, Solomon says, wicked rulers are over the poor people,Proverbs 28:15), are treated as such--when those who, like Ishmael, have their hand against every man, come at last to have every man's hand against them. It was long since observed that bloody tyrants seldom die in peace, but have blood given them to drink, for they are worthy.