mh_parser/vol_split/26 - Ezekiel/Chapter 19.xml

<div2 id="Ez.xx" n="xx" next="Ez.xxi" prev="Ez.xix" progress="57.15%" title="Chapter XIX">
<h2 id="Ez.xx-p0.1">E Z E K I E L.</h2>
<h3 id="Ez.xx-p0.2">CHAP. XIX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ez.xx-p1" shownumber="no">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, <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.1" parsed="|Ezek|19|1|0|0" passage="Eze 19:1">ver. 1</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.2-Ezek.19.9" parsed="|Ezek|19|2|19|9" passage="Eze 19:2-9">ver.
2-9</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.10-Ezek.19.14" parsed="|Ezek|19|10|19|14" passage="Eze 19:10-14">ver. 10-14</scripRef>. 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>
<scripCom id="Ez.xx-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19" parsed="|Ezek|19|0|0|0" passage="Eze 19" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ez.xx-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.1-Ezek.19.9" parsed="|Ezek|19|1|19|9" passage="Eze 19:1-9" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Ez.xx-p1.6">
<h4 id="Ez.xx-p1.7">The Fall of the Royal Family; Fall of
Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xx-p1.8">b. c.</span> 593.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ez.xx-p2" shownumber="no">1 Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the
princes of Israel,   2 And say, What <i>is</i> 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, <i>and</i> her hope
was lost, then she took another of her whelps, <i>and</i> 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, <i>and</i>
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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xx-p3" shownumber="no">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 ( <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.3 Bible:Ps.89.20" parsed="|Ps|89|3|0|0;|Ps|89|20|0|0" passage="Ps 89:3,20">Ps. lxxxix. 3,
20</scripRef>, &amp;c.), a sad lamentation for the decays and
desolations of his family (<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.89.38-Isa.89.39" parsed="|Isa|89|38|89|39" passage="Isa 89:38,39"><i>v.</i> 38, 39</scripRef>): <i>But thou hast cast
off and abhorred, hast made void the covenant of thy servant and
profaned his crown,</i> &amp;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 class="indent" id="Ez.xx-p4" shownumber="no">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, <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.2" parsed="|Ezek|19|2|0|0" passage="Eze 19:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. <i>What is thy mother?</i>
thine, O king? (we read of Solomon's crown wherewith his mother
crowned him, that is, his people, <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Song.3.11" parsed="|Song|3|11|0|0" passage="So 3:11">Cant.
iii. 11</scripRef>), 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> <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.3" parsed="|Ezek|19|3|0|0" passage="Eze 19:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.9" parsed="|Gen|49|9|0|0" passage="Ge 49:9">Gen.
xlix. 9</scripRef>, <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> (<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.3" parsed="|Ezek|19|3|0|0" passage="Eze 19:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>); 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> (<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.6" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.4" parsed="|Ezek|19|4|0|0" passage="Eze 19:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), 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> <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.31.4" parsed="|Isa|31|4|0|0" passage="Isa 31:4">Isa.
xxxi. 4</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.8" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.5" parsed="|Ezek|19|5|0|0" passage="Eze 19:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.9" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.6" parsed="|Ezek|19|6|0|0" passage="Eze 19:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>. 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> (<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.10" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.6" parsed="|Ezek|19|6|0|0" passage="Eze 19:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>); 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> (<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.11" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.7" parsed="|Ezek|19|7|0|0" passage="Eze 19:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), where they hid <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 (<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.12" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.8" parsed="|Amos|3|8|0|0" passage="Am 3:8">Amos iii. 8</scripRef>), 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 (<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.13" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.8" parsed="|Ezek|19|8|0|0" passage="Eze 19:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>): <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 (<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.14" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.24.2" parsed="|2Kgs|24|2|0|0" passage="2Ki 24:2">2 Kings xxiv. 2</scripRef>),
and he was <i>taken in their pit. Nebuchadnezzar bound him in
fetters to carry him to Babylon,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.15" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.36.6" parsed="|2Chr|36|6|0|0" passage="2Ch 36:6">2
Chron. xxxvi. 6</scripRef>. They put this lion within grates, bound
him <i>in chains,</i> and <i>brought him to the king of
Babylon,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.16" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.9" parsed="|Ezek|19|9|0|0" passage="Eze 19:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>.
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>
(<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.17" osisRef="Bible:Jer.22.19" parsed="|Jer|22|19|0|0" passage="Jer 22:19">Jer. xxii. 19</scripRef>), 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> <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p4.18" osisRef="Bible:Prov.28.15" parsed="|Prov|28|15|0|0" passage="Pr 28:15">Prov. xxviii.
15</scripRef>), 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>
<verse id="Ez.xx-p4.19" type="stanza">
<l class="t1" id="Ez.xx-p4.20">Ad generum Cereris sine cæde et sanguine pauci</l>
<l class="t1" id="Ez.xx-p4.21">Descendunt reges et sicca morte tyranni—</l>
<l class="t1" id="Ez.xx-p4.22"/>
<l class="t1" id="Ez.xx-p4.23">How few of all the boastful men that reign</l>
<l class="t1" id="Ez.xx-p4.24">Descend in peace to Pluto's dark domain!</l>
</verse>
<attr id="Ez.xx-p4.25"><span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xx-p4.26">Juvenal</span>.</attr>
</div><scripCom id="Ez.xx-p4.27" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.10-Ezek.19.14" parsed="|Ezek|19|10|19|14" passage="Eze 19:10-14" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Ez.xx-p4.28">
<h4 id="Ez.xx-p4.29">The Fall of the Royal
Family. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xx-p4.30">b. c.</span> 593.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ez.xx-p5" shownumber="no">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.   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.   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.   13 And now she <i>is</i> planted in the
wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.   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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xx-p6" shownumber="no">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, <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.15.1" parsed="|Ezek|15|1|0|0" passage="Eze 15:1"><i>ch.</i> xv. 1</scripRef>. Jerusalem is as <i>a
vine;</i> the Jewish nation is so: <i>Like a vine in thy blood</i>
(<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.10" parsed="|Ezek|19|10|0|0" passage="Eze 19:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), 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> <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.11" parsed="|Ezek|19|11|0|0" passage="Eze 19:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>.
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, <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.10" parsed="|Ezek|19|10|0|0" passage="Eze 19:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>, 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> (<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.12" parsed="|Ezek|19|12|0|0" passage="Eze 19:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), 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> <scripRef id="Ez.xx-p6.6" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.13" parsed="|Ezek|19|13|0|0" passage="Eze 19:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>. 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> (<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p6.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.80.16" parsed="|Ps|80|16|0|0" passage="Ps 80:16">Ps. lxxx. 16</scripRef>) and that fire has <i>gone out
of a rod of her branches</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p6.8" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.14" parsed="|Ezek|19|14|0|0" passage="Eze 19:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>); 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
(<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p6.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.3.6-Isa.3.7" parsed="|Isa|3|6|3|7" passage="Isa 3:6,7">Isa. iii. 6, 7</scripRef>), 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 (<scripRef id="Ez.xx-p6.10" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.19.1" parsed="|Ezek|19|1|0|0" passage="Eze 19:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>) <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>
</div></div2>