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The Lamentation of the Lions:
Ezekiel 19 is the collection of two laments, two sorrowful songs over the condition of Israel in Ezekiel’s day. It is a lamentation both by its poetic arrangement and by its subject matter. Ezekiel expressed the Lord’s sadness over the Judean leadership’s failure by chanting this elegy over her final rulers prior to their deaths. For the princes of Israel: This lamentation mainly concerns the later kings of Israel. Significantly, God here called them princes rather than kings, even though it refers to three of the later kings of Judah. It is also significant that God referred to them as princes of Israel, even though the northern kingdom was long before There came a day when God no longer blessed Israel and her kings. When they persistently rebelled against Him, she was cast down to the ground. As a result of God’s judgment, her strong branches were broken and withered, with the strong branchesrepresenting her later kings.
Now she is planted in the wilderness, in which God transplanted the vine and took it to an unpleasant place, Babylon. Babylon wasn’t a literal wilderness, but it was certainly one for God’s exiled kings and people.conquered and scattered. "Moreover take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, and say: ‘What is your mother? A lioness: She lay down among the lions; Among the young lions she nourished her cubs.She brought up one of her cubs, And he became a young lion; He learned to catch prey, And he devoured men. The nations also heard of him; He was trapped in their pit, And they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt" Ezekiel 19:1-4 (NKJV).
This lamentation for the princes of Israel was fitting considering how badly the last several kings ruled and the judgment that answered their wickedness. “His zeal for the Davidic covenant, however, did not allow him to see three of its inheritors disappear into exile without profound sorrow and emotion. This was no taunt-song. The lion of Judah’ was probably as proverbial a term in Ezekiel’s days as ‘the Russian bear’ or ‘the American eagle’ is in our own times.Ezekiel probably had in mind the most glorious years of Israel’s monarchy, the reigns of David and Solomon. In those years God lifted Israel up among the nations and she towered in stature. There came a day when God no longer blessed Israel and her kings. When they persistently rebelled against Him, she was cast down to the ground. As a result of God’s judgment, her strong branches were broken and withered, with the strong branchesrepresenting her later kings.
God transplanted the vine and took it to an unpleasant place, Babylon. Babylon wasn’t a literal wilderness, but it was certainly one for God’s exiled kings and people, since now Israel is planted in the wilderness. Nebuchadnezzar planted them in policy and for his advantage, they planted themselves out of necessity, and God planted them there in just correcting mercy, and will give them root, and make them thrive, and transplant them after seventy years, and set them on the mountains of Israel again. The worst damage to the vine came from one of her own branches. The corruption and destruction came from within. This particular rod of her branches represents Zedekiah, who was king at the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. "Your mother was like a vine in your bloodline, Planted by the waters, Fruitful and full of branches; Because of many waters. She had strong branches for scepters of rulers. She towered in stature above the thick branches, And was seen in her height amid the dense foliage. But she was plucked up in fury, She was cast down to the ground, And the east wind dried her fruit. Her strong branches were broken and withered; The fire consumed them. And now she is planted in the wilderness,
In a dry and thirsty land. Fire has come out from a rod of her branches; And devoured her fruit, So that she has no strong branch—a scepter for ruling" Ezekiel 19:10-14 (NKJV). These two parables described and prophesied the tragedy of the last few kings of Judah. When kings and leaders over the people of God are ungodly and become rightful targets of God’s judgment, there is truly reason for lamentation.
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