---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Ezekiel 19"
description: "CHAPTER 19   :-. ELEGY OVER THE
FALL OF DAVID"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/ezekiel/19"
---

CHAPTER 19

. ELEGY OVER THE
FALL OF DAVID'S
HOUSE.
There is a tacit antithesis
between this lamentation and that of the Jews for their own miseries,
into the causes of which, however, they did not inquire.

**1. princes of Israel**—that is,
Judah, whose "princes" alone were recognized by prophecy;
those of the ten tribes were, in respect to the theocracy, usurpers.

**2. thy mother**—the mother of
Jehoiachin, the representative of David's line in exile with Ezekiel.
The "mother" is Judea: "a lioness," as being
fierce in catching prey ([Ezekiel 19:3](../../../kjv/ezekiel/19/3)),
referring to her heathenish practices. Jerusalem was called Ariel
(the lion of God) in a good sense ([Ezekiel 19:3](../../../kjv/ezekiel/19/3)); and Judah "a lion's whelp . . . a lion . . . an old
lion" ([Genesis 49:9](../../../kjv/genesis/49/9)), to which,
as also to [Numbers 23:24](../../../kjv/numbers/23/24); [Numbers 24:9](../../../kjv/numbers/24/9),
this passage alludes.
**nourished . . . among young
lions**—She herself had "lain" among lions, that is,
had intercourse with the corruptions of the surrounding heathen and
had brought up the royal young ones similarly: utterly degenerate
from the stock of Abraham.
**Lay down**—or "couched,"
is appropriate to the lion, the Arab name of which means "the
coucher."

**3. young lion**—Jehoahaz, son of
Josiah, carried captive from Riblah to Egypt by Pharaoh-necho ().

**4. The nations**—Egypt, in the
case of Jehoahaz, who probably provoked Pharaoh by trying to avenge
the death of his father by assailing the bordering cities of Egypt
([2 Kings 23:29](../../../kjv/2-kings/23/29); [2 Kings 23:30](../../../kjv/2-kings/23/30)).
**in their pit**—image from
the *pitfalls* used for catching wild beasts ([Jeremiah 22:11](../../../kjv/jeremiah/22/11);
[Jeremiah 22:12](../../../kjv/jeremiah/22/12)).
**chains**—or hooks, which
were fastened in the noses of wild beasts (see on [Jeremiah 22:12](../../../kjv/jeremiah/22/12)).

**5. saw that she had waited, and her
hope was lost**—that is, that her long-waited-for hope was
disappointed, Jehoahaz not being restored to her from Egypt.
**she took another of her
whelps**—Jehoiakim, brother of Jehoahaz, who was placed on the
throne by Pharaoh ([2 Kings 23:34](../../../kjv/2-kings/23/34)),
according to the wish of Judah.

**6. went up and down among the
lions**—imitated the recklessness and tyranny of the surrounding
kings ([Jeremiah 22:13-17](../../../kjv/jeremiah/22/13-17)).
**catch . . . prey**—to do
evil, gratifying his lusts by oppression ([Jeremiah 22:13-24](../../../kjv/jeremiah/22/13-24)).

**7. knew . . . desolate palaces**—that
is, *claimed as his own* their palaces, which he then proceeded
to "desolate." The *Hebrew,* literally "widows";
hence *widowed palaces* (). VATABLUS (whom
FAIRBAIRN follows)
explains it, "He knew (carnally) the widows of those whom he
devoured" ([Ezekiel 19:6](../../../kjv/ezekiel/19/6)). 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 veil.
**fulness thereof**—all
that it contained; its inhabitants.

**8. the nations**—the Chaldeans,
Syrians, Moab, and Ammon ().

**9. in chains**— ([2 Chronicles 36:6](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/36/6);
[Jeremiah 22:18](../../../kjv/jeremiah/22/18)). *Margin,*
"hooks"; perhaps referring to the hook often passed through
the nose of beasts; so, too, through that of captives, as seen in the
Assyrian sculptures (see on [Jeremiah 22:18](../../../kjv/jeremiah/22/18)).
**voice**—that is, his
roaring.
**no more be heard upon the
mountains**—carrying on the metaphor of the lion, whose roaring
on the mountains frightens all the other beasts. The insolence of the
prince, not at all abated though his kingdom was impaired, was now to
cease.

**10.** A new metaphor taken from
the *vine,* the chief of the fruit-bearing trees, as the *lion*
is of the beasts of prey (see ).
**in thy blood**—"planted
when thou wast in thy blood," that is, in thy very infancy; as
in [Ezekiel 16:6](../../../kjv/ezekiel/16/6), when thou hadst
just come from the womb, and hadst not yet the blood washed from
thee. The Jews from the first were planted in Canaan to take root
there [CALVIN]. GROTIUS
translates as the *Margin,* "in thy quietness," that
is, in the period when Judah had not yet fallen into her present
troubles. *English Version* is better. GLASSIUS
explains it well, retaining the metaphor, which CALVIN'S
explanation breaks, "in the blood of thy grapes," that is,
in her full strength, as the red wine is the strength of the grape.
[Genesis 49:11](../../../kjv/genesis/49/11) is evidently alluded
to.
**many waters**—the
well-watered land of Canaan ([Genesis 49:11](../../../kjv/genesis/49/11)).

**11. strong rods**—princes of the
royal house of David. The vine shot forth her branches like so many
scepters, not creeping lowly on the ground like many vines, but
trained aloft on a tree or wall. The mention of their former royal
dignity, contrasting sadly with her present sunken state, would
remind the Jews of their sins whereby they had incurred such
judgments.
**stature**— ().
**among the thick branches**—that
is, the central stock or trunk of the tree shot up highest "among
its own branches" or offshoots, surrounding it. Emblematic of
the numbers and resources of the people. HENGSTENBERG
translates, "among the clouds." But [Ezekiel 31:3](../../../kjv/ezekiel/31/3);
[Ezekiel 31:10](../../../kjv/ezekiel/31/10); [Ezekiel 31:14](../../../kjv/ezekiel/31/14),
supports *English Version.*

**12. plucked up**—not *gradually*
withered. The *sudden* upturning of the state was designed to
awaken the Jews out of their torpor to see the hand of God in the
national judgment.
**east wind**—(See on ).

**13. planted**—that is,
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.
**dry . . . 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.

**14. fire . . . out of a rod of her
branches**—The Jews' disaster was to be ascribed, not so much to
the Chaldeans as to *themselves;* the "fire out of the rod"
is *God's wrath* kindled by the perjury of Zedekiah (). "The anger of the Lord" against Judah is
specified as the cause why Zedekiah was permitted to rebel against
Babylon ([2 Kings 24:20](../../../kjv/2-kings/24/20); compare
[Judges 9:15](../../../kjv/judges/9/15)), thus bringing
Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem.
**no strong rod . . . sceptre
to rule**—No more kings of David's stock are now to rule the
nation. Not at least until "the Lord shall send the rod of His
strength ("Messiah," [Psalms 110:2](../../../kjv/psalms/110/2);
[Isaiah 11:1](../../../kjv/isaiah/11/1)) out of Zion," to
reign first as a spiritual, then hereafter as a literal king.
**is . . . and shall be for a
lamentation**—Part of the lamentation (that as to Jehoahaz and
Jehoiakim) was matter of history as already accomplished; part (as to
Zedekiah) was yet to be fulfilled; or, this prophecy both is a
subject for lamentation, and shall be so to distant posterity.

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