The Lioness and Her Whelps. — Chapter 19
THIS chapter concludes the section we have been considering (chaps. 8-19), applying to the princes of Israel what in the previous chapter (18) had been urged upon the people as a whole.
It is a lamentation for the princes of Israel, whose responsibility as the leaders of the people was great. It is ever a serious thing for oneself to turn aside from the Lord, dishonoring, too, to Him; but how sad to think of the evil influence upon others of a careless and disobedient walk.
The lamentation is given in the form of an allegory, the understanding of which should have presented no difficulty, for the circumstances to which it referred had only just transpired. The young lion of verse 3 was Jehoahaz, king of Judah, also called Shallum. He was the son of Josiah, one of Judah’s good kings, who did what was right in the sight of the Lord. But the righteousness of the father did not avail for the son, who was brought bound with chains to the land of Egypt, where he died (verses 3, 4).
The second young lion (verses 5-9) was Jehoiakim, who, at the very time that Ezekiel was prophesying, was in captivity in Babylon.
How changed was everything in Israel (verses 10-14) from the days when Jehovah had brought her as a vine out of Egypt, and had planted her as His pleasant plant (see Ps. 80; Isa. 5). Then, indeed, she was “fruitful, and full of branches,” but now her fruit was dried up by the east wind of Jehovah’s chastisement. She was cast out of the fruitful hill of Zion, and planted in the wilderness of Chaldea. Her last king, Zedekiah, was about to be carried away to Babylon, as Jehoiachin had been before him, and the long dreary period of desolation was about to commence. “For the children shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince.... Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God,” &c. (Hos. 3:4, 5).
Six hundred years from the time of Zedekiah’s fall, Jehovah’s king, the true David, was presented to Israel in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass” (Zech. 9:9). But Israel would not have Him. “Not this man, but Barabbas,” was their cry. “I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek My face” (Hos. 5:5).