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Ezekiel Chapter
Nineteen
Ezekiel 19
Chapter Contents
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim.
(1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (10-14)
Commentary on Ezekiel 19:1-9
(Read Ezekiel 19:1-9)
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.
Commentary on Ezekiel 19:10-14
(Read Ezekiel 19:10-14)
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.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Ezekiel》
Ezekiel 19
Verse 1
[1] Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of
Israel,
For the princes — Jehoahaz, Jehoiachim, Jehoiachin,
and Zedekiah.
Verse 2
[2] And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down
among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
What — What resemblance shall I use to set out the nature,
deportment, and state of the mother of these princes? Thy - One of whom was
upon the throne at once, and therefore the prophet speaks to one at a time.
Mother — The land of Judea, and Jerusalem, the chief city of
it, the royal family of David.
Lioness — Tho' chosen of God to execute justice; yet they soon
degenerated into the fierce and ravening nature of the lioness.
Lay down — Associated, and grew familiar with neighbour kings,
called here lions; fierce and bloody.
Her whelps — Her sons, successors to the
crown.
Young lions — Either foreign princes and kings,
or some of the fierce, unjust, tyrannizing princes at home.
Verse 3
[3] And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young
lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.
Brought up — Advanced, caused him to take the
throne after the slaughter of Josiah.
One — Jehoahaz the second son of Josiah.
Became — Soon shewed his fierce, cruel, and bloody disposition.
Verse 4
[4] The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their
pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
The nations — The Egyptians heard what he did.
Verse 5
[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.
Made him — King, and infused the lion-like maxims into him.
Verse 6
[6] And he went up and down among the lions, he became a
young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.
He — Jehoiachim.
Went up — He continued eleven years on the throne; whereas Jehoahaz
was taken as soon as he first ventured out.
The lions — Heathen kings, with whom he
entered into leagues.
He became — Fierce, ravenous, unsatiable.
Verse 7
[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 — By taking them, he came to know their places, which
are here called, what he made them, desolate.
Roaring — By the perpetual violent threats of this cruel king.
Verse 8
[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.
The nations — Which were tributary to
Nebuchadnezzar.
Set against — By order of the king of Babylon.
The provinces — Which belonged to the Babylonish
kingdom.
Verse 10
[10] 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.
Thy mother — O thou prince of Israel.
By the waters — In a very fruitful soil.
Full of branches — Full of children;
when Josiah died, he left four behind him, beside other branches of the royal
line.
Verse 11
[11] 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.
Strong rods — Many excellent persons endowed
with qualifications befitting kings, that they might sway the scepter.
Exalted — Above the ordinary majesty of other kingdoms.
Thick branches — This kingdom equalled, if not
excelled, the greatest neighbour-kingdoms, and her kings exceeded all their
neighbouring kings, in riches and power.
Verse 12
[12] 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.
The east wind — God raised up the king of Babylon
to pull up this sinful kingdom.
Dried up — Blasted all her fruit, deposed her king, captivated
him, his family, and the whole kingdom.
Strong rods — All the choice men.
Verse 13
[13] And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and
thirsty ground.
She — A few of the branches of the last pruning.
In the wilderness — Tho' Babylon was in a
very fruitful place, yet the cruelty of the Babylonians, made it to the Jews as
terrible as a wilderness.
Verse 14
[14] 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 for a lamentation.
Fire — The fire of rebellion, kindled by Zedekiah, who is of
the blood-royal.
No strong rod — The regal dignity is ceased.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Ezekiel》
19 Chapter 19
Verses 1-14
Verse 11-12
And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule.
The renewal of ruined nations
1. States and kingdoms broken to pieces, ruined in times of war and
trouble, do flourish again in times of quiet and silence. Peace after war is
like spring after a sharp winter, which revives, causeth growth and greenness;
yet know that states ruined by tyranny of princes, by wars, do not suddenly
recover themselves, or attain to their former greatness and splendour: though
Jerusalem became a vine after the roaring and spoil of Jehoiakim, yet she was a
“vine of a low stature.”
2. It is through the mercy, goodness, and blessing of God that wasted
kingdoms do become as vines, and flourish again.
3. When mercies are multiplied, men are apt to abuse them, and swell
with the enjoyment of them. Prosperity is a dangerous thing, and hath hazarded
many (Isaiah 47:5; Isaiah 47:7). After Hezekiah had received
many mercies, “his heart was lifted up” (2 Chronicles 32:23-25). Rehoboam,
when he was strengthened in the kingdom, “forsook the law of the Lord, and all
Israel with him”; here was a sad effect of prosperity (2 Chronicles 12:1). (W.
Greenhill, M. A.)
Verse 12
Her strong rods were broken and withered.
God’s judgment in breaking the strong rods of a community
I. What
qualifications of those who are in public authority may properly give them the
denomination of strong rods.
1. Great ability for the management of public affairs. This is the
case when they are men of largeness of understanding, especially when they have
a natural genius for government.
2. Largeness of heart and a greatness and nobleness of disposition.
It is peculiarly unbecoming them to be capable of little intrigues.
3. The spirit of government. They must have a peculiar aptitude for
using their knowledge, and a spirit of resolution and activity.
4. Stability. A strong rod must be immovable in the execution of
justice and judgment.
5. It contributes to the strength of a rod when he is in such
circumstances as give him advantage for the exercise of his strength.
II. When such
strong rods are broken and withered by death, it is a judgment of God upon the
people who are deprived of them.
1. By reason of the many positive benefits and blessings to a people
that such men are the instruments of (Psalms 82:5; Psalms 11:3). Their influence has a
tendency to promote wealth and virtue (Ecclesiastes 10:17). Solomon was a
remarkable illustration of this truth. (See 1 Kings 4:25; 1 Kings 10:27).
2. On account of the great calamities they are a defence from.
Government is necessary to defend communities from miseries from within
themselves; they are the heads of union without which nothing is to be expected
but remediless and endless broils. We see the need of government in societies,
by what is visible in families,--those lesser societies of which all public
societies are constituted,--and as government is absolutely necessary, so there
is a necessity of strong rods in order to it: the business being such as
requires persons so qualified.
3. They are no less necessary to defend the community from foreign
enemies. As they are like the pillars of a building, so they are like the
bulwarks of a city; they are under God a people’s main strength in time of war
(Lamentations 4:20; Nehemiah 9:27). On these accounts, when a
nation is strong, rods are broken; it is a judgment worthy of such lamentation
as that which followed the death of King Josiah, who is one of those doubtless
referred to in the text (2 Chronicles 35:24-25). (Jonathan
Edwards.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》