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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Ezekiel XIX].</TITLE>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>E Z E K I E L.</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XIX.</FONT>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
</CENTER>
<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
The scope of this chapter is much the same with that of the 17th, to
foretel and lament the ruin of the house of David, the royal family of
Judah, in the calamitous exit of the four sons and grandsons of
Josiah--Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, in whom that
illustrious line of kings was cut off, which the prophet is here
ordered to lament,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:1">ver. 1</A>.
And he does it by similitudes.
I. The kingdom of Judah and house of David are here compared to a
lioness, and those princes to lions, that were fierce and ravenous, but
were hunted down and taken in nets,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:2-9">ver. 2-9</A>.
II. That kingdom and that house are here compared to a vine, and these
princes to branches, which had been strong and flourishing, but were
now broken off and burnt,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:10-14">ver. 10-14</A>.
This ruin of that monarchy was now in the doing, and this lamentation
of it was intended to affect the people with it, that they might not
flatter themselves with vain hopes of the lengthening out of their
tranquility.</P>
</FONT>
<A NAME="Eze19_1"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze19_2"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze19_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze19_4"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze19_5"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze19_6"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze19_7"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze19_8"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze19_9"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Fall of the Royal Family; Fall of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 593.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of
Israel,
&nbsp; 2 And say, What <I>is</I> thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among
lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
&nbsp; 3 And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion,
and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.
&nbsp; 4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and
they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
&nbsp; 5 Now when she saw that she had waited, <I>and</I> her hope was
lost, then she took another of her whelps, <I>and</I> made him a young
lion.
&nbsp; 6 And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young
lion, and learned to catch the prey, <I>and</I> devoured men.
&nbsp; 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.
&nbsp; 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.
&nbsp; 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.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
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 <I>covenant of our God,</I> as we find, after a very large
account of that covenant with David
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+89:3,20">
Ps. lxxxix. 3, 20</A>,
&c.), a sad lamentation for the decays and desolations of his family
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+89:38,39"><I>v.</I> 38, 39</A>):
<I>But thou hast cast off and abhorred, hast made void the covenant of
thy servant and profaned his crown,</I> &c. The kings of Judah are here
called <I>princes of Israel;</I> 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 <I>kings of Israel,</I> whose ways
they had learned. The prophet must <I>take up a lamentation</I> 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 <I>desired the woeful day.</I> 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 <I>take up a lamentation</I> for them.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. Instructions given him what to say.
1. He must compare the kingdom of Judah to a <I>lioness,</I> so
wretchedly degenerated was it from what it had been formerly, when it
sat as a queen among the nations,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
<I>What is thy mother?</I> thine, O king? (we read of Solomon's crown
wherewith his mother crowned him, that is, his people,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+3:11">Cant. iii. 11</A>),
thine, O Judah? The royal family is as a mother to the kingdom, a
nursing mother. She is a <I>lioness,</I> fierce, and cruel, and
ravenous. When they had left their divinity they soon lost their
humanity too; and, when they <I>feared not God,</I> neither did they
<I>regard man.</I> She <I>lay down among lions.</I> God had said,
<I>The people</I> shall dwell alone, but they <I>mingled with the
nations</I> and <I>learned their works.</I> She <I>nourished her whelps
among young lions,</I> 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
<I>she nourished her whelps among young lions.</I>
2. He must compare the kings of Judah to <I>lions' whelps,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
Jacob had compared Judah, and especially the house of David, to a
<I>lion's whelp,</I> for its being strong and formidable to its enemies
abroad
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+49:9">Gen. xlix. 9</A>,
<I>He is an old lion; who shall stir him up?</I>) 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 <I>Lion of the tribe of Judah.</I> But these <I>lions' whelps</I>
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 <I>became a young lion</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>);
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
<I>learned to catch the prey and devoured men.</I> 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: <I>The nations
heard of him</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
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, <I>as a multitude of shepherds is called
forth against a lion roaring on his prey,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+31:4">Isa. xxxi. 4</A>.
And <I>he was taken,</I> as a beast of prey, <I>in their pit.</I> 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
<I>brought him in chains to the land of Egypt.</I> Thither Jehoahaz was
carried captive, and never heard of more.
(2.) The like sin and fall of his successor Jehoiakim. The <I>kingdom
of Judah</I> for some time expected the return of Jehoahaz out of
Egypt, but at length despaired of it, and then <I>took another</I> of
the <I>lion's</I> whelps, and <I>made him a young lion,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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: <I>He went up and down among the
lions,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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 <I>catch
the prey,</I> and he <I>devoured men</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>);
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 <I>knew
their desolate places</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
where they his <I>their money</I> and sometimes hid <I>themselves;</I>
he knew where to find both out; and by his oppression he <I>laid waste
their cities,</I> depopulated them by forcing the inhabitants to remove
their families to some place of safety. <I>The land was desolate,</I>
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 <I>the noise of his roaring.</I> He took a pride in making all
his subjects afraid of him, as the lion makes all the beasts of the
forest to tremble
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+3:8">Amos iii. 8</A>),
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
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
<I>The nations set against him on every side,</I> to restrain and
reduce his exorbitant power, which they joined in confederacy to do for
their common safety; and <I>they spread their net over him,</I> formed
designs against him. God brought against Jehoiakim bands of the
Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites, with the Chaldees
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+24:2">2 Kings xxiv. 2</A>),
and he was <I>taken in their pit. Nebuchadnezzar bound him in fetters
to carry him to Babylon,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+36:6">2 Chron. xxxvi. 6</A>.
They put this lion within grates, bound him <I>in chains,</I> and
<I>brought him to the king of Babylon,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
What became of him we know not; but <I>his voice was nowhere heard</I>
roaring <I>upon the mountains of Israel.</I> There was an end of his
tyranny: he was <I>buried with the burial of an ass</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+22:19">Jer. xxii. 19</A>),
though he had been as a lion, <I>the terror of the mighty in the land
of the living.</I> 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 <I>roaring lions and ranging bears</I> (for such,
Solomon says, <I>wicked rulers</I> are <I>over the poor people,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+28:15">Prov. xxviii. 15</A>),
are treated as such--when those who, like Ishmael, have their <I>hand
against every man,</I> come at last to have <I>every man's hand against
them.</I> It was long since observed that bloody tyrants seldom die in
peace, but have blood given them to drink, for they are worthy.</P>
<CENTER>
<TABLE BORDER=0>
<TR><TD>Ad generum Cereris sine c&aelig;de et sanguine pauci
<BR>Descendunt reges et sicca morte tyranni--
<BR>
<BR>How few of all the boastful men that reign
<BR>Descend in peace to Pluto's dark domain!</TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN=RIGHT>J<FONT SIZE=-1>UVENAL</FONT>.</TD></TR>
</TABLE><BR>
</CENTER>
<A NAME="Eze19_10"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze19_11"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze19_12"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze19_13"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze19_14"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Fall of the Royal Family.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 593.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>10 Thy mother <I>is</I> like a vine in thy blood, planted by the
waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many
waters.
&nbsp; 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.
&nbsp; 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.
&nbsp; 13 And now she <I>is</I> planted in the wilderness, in a dry and
thirsty ground.
&nbsp; 14 And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, <I>which</I> hath
devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod <I>to be</I> a
sceptre to rule. This <I>is</I> a lamentation, and shall be for a
lamentation.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Jerusalem, the mother-city, is here represented by another similitude;
she is a vine, and the princes are her branches. This comparison we had
before,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+15:1"><I>ch.</I> xv. 1</A>.
Jerusalem is as <I>a vine;</I> the Jewish nation is so: <I>Like a vine
in they blood</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>),
the blood-royal, like a vine set in blood and watered with blood, which
contributes very much to the flourishing and fruitfulness of vines, as
if the blood which had been shed had been designed for the fattening
and improving of the soil, in such plenty was it shed; and for a time
it seemed to have that effect, for she was <I>fruitful and full of
branches</I> by reason of the waters, the <I>many waters</I> near which
she was <I>planted.</I> Places of great wickedness may prosper for a
while; and a vine set in blood may be full of branches. Jerusalem was
full of able magistrates, men of sense, men of learning and experience,
that were <I>strong rods,</I> branches of this vine of uncommon bulk
and strength, or poles for the support of this vine, for such
magistrates are. The boughs of this vine had grown to such maturity
that they were fit to make white staves of for <I>the sceptres of those
that bore rule,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
And those are <I>strong rods</I> that are fit for <I>sceptres,</I> men
of strong judgments and strong resolutions that are fit for
magistrates. When the royal family of Judah was numerous, and the
courts of justice were filled with men of sense and probity, then
<I>Jerusalem's stature was exalted among thick branches;</I> when the
government is in good able hands a nation is thereby made considerable
Then she was not taken for a weak and lowly vine, but <I>she appeared
in her height,</I> a distinguished city, <I>with the multitude of her
branches. Tanquam lenta solent inter viburna cupressi--Midst humble
withies thus the cypress soars. "In thy quietness</I>" (so some read
that,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>,
which we translate <I>in thy blood</I>) "thou wast such a vine as
this." When Zedekiah was quiet and easy under the king of Babylon's
yoke his kingdom flourished thus. See how slow God is to anger, how he
defers his judgments, and waits to be gracious.
2. This vine is now quite destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar, being highly
provoked by Zedekiah's treachery, <I>plucked it up in fury</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
ruined the city and kingdom, and cut off all the branches of the royal
family that fell in his way. The vine was <I>cut off close to the
ground,</I> though not plucked up by the roots. The <I>east wind dried
up the fruit</I> that was blasted. The young people fell by the sword,
or were carried into captivity. The aspect of it had nothing that was
pleasing, the prospect nothing that was promising. Her <I>strong rods
were broken and withered;</I> her great men were cut off, judges and
magistrates deposed. <I>The vine itself is planted in the
wilderness,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
Babylon was as a wilderness to those of the people that were carried
captives thither; the land of Judah was as a wilderness to Jerusalem,
now that the whole country was ravaged and laid waste by the Chaldean
army--a <I>fruitful land turned into barrenness.</I> "It is <I>burnt
with fire</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+80:16">Ps. lxxx. 16</A>)
and that fire has <I>gone out of a rod of her branches</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>);
the king himself, by rebelling against the king of Babylon, has given
occasion to all this mischief. She may thank herself for the fire that
consumes her; she has by her wickedness made herself like tinder to the
sparks of God's wrath, so that her own branches serve as fuel for her
own consumption; in them the fire is kindled which <I>devoured the
fruit,</I> the sins of the elder being the judgments which destroy the
younger; her <I>fruit</I> is burned with her own branches, so that she
<I>has no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule,</I> none to be found now
that are fit for the government or dare take <I>this ruin under their
hand,</I> as the complaint is
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+3:6,7">Isa. iii. 6, 7</A>),
none of the house of David left that have a right to rule, no wise men,
or men of sense, that are able to rule." It goes ill with any state,
and is likely to go worse, when it is thus deprived of the blessings of
government and has <I>no strong rods for sceptres. Woe unto thee, O
land! when thy king is a child,</I> for it is as well to have no rod as
not a strong rod. Those strong rods, we have reason to fear, had been
instruments of oppression, assistant to the king in <I>catching the
prey and devouring men,</I> and now they are destroyed with him.
Tyranny is the inlet to anarchy; and, when the rod of government is
turned into the serpent of oppression, it is just with God to say,
"There shall be no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule; but let men be
as <I>are the fishes of the sea,</I> where the greater devour the
less." Note, <I>This is a lamentation and shall be for a
lamentation.</I> The prophet was bidden
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+19:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>)
<I>to take up a lamentation;</I> and, having done so, he leaves it to
be made use of by others. "<I>It is a lamentation</I> to us of this
age, and, the desolations continuing long, it <I>shall be for a
lamentation</I> to those that shall come after us; the child unborn
will rue the destruction made of Judah and Jerusalem by the present
judgments. They were a great while in coming; the bow was long in the
drawing; but now that they have come they will continue, and the sad
effects of them will be entailed upon posterity." Note, Those who fill
up the measure of their fathers' sins are laying up in store for their
children's sorrows and furnishing them with matter for lamentation; and
nothing is more so than the overthrow of government.</P>
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