Ezekiel 19

Ezekiel 19:1-14 . 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 ), referring to her heathenish practices. Jerusalem was called Ariel (the lion of God) in a good sense ( Isaiah 29:1 ); and Judah "a lion's whelp . . . a lion . . . an old lion" ( Genesis 49:9 ), to which, as also to Numbers 23:24 , 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 ( 2 Kings 23:33 ).

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 2 Kings 23:30 ).
in their pit--image from the pitfalls used for catching wild beasts ( Jeremiah 22:11 Jeremiah 22:12 ).
chains--or hooks, which were fastened in the noses of wild beasts

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 ), 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 ).
catch . . . prey--to do evil, gratifying his lusts by oppression ( 2 Kings 23:37 ).

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 ( Isaiah 13:22 ). VATABLUS (whom FAIRBAIRN follows) explains it, "He knew (carnally) the widows of those whom he devoured" ( 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 ( 2 Kings 24:2 ).

9. in chains--( 2 Chronicles 36:6 , 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
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.