THE closing chapter of the section of Ezekiel’s prophies, which began with chapter 8, views the last years of the history of Israel (here Judah, the remnant of Israel) before the removal of the last of the people into captivity. The closing verse expresses the theme of the chapter, “This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.”
The mother, a lioness (verse 2) refers to Israel in the place which God had given. His people, when under David and Solon the kingdom rose to a pinnacle of glory,—shortly lost, it is true, because of idolatry; but for nearly four hundred years after Solomon’s death the house of David was permitted to reign at Jerusalem.
The young lion of verse 3 is unmistakably Jehoahaz, first of the godly Josiah’s sons to take the throne after their father’s death, in battle (2 Chronicles 35, 36). Short though his reign was (only 3 months) this young man did evil in the sight of Jehovah according to all that his fathers had dune (2 Kings 23). Pharaohnecho imprisoned him and afterward carried him to Egypt, and there he died.
The, history of Jehoiakim, second of Josiah’s sons to reign over Judah is omitted from chapter 19; his wickedness exceeded that of his brother (2 Kings 23:37-24:537And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 1In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. 2And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servants the prophets. 3Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did; 4And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would not pardon. 5Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? (2 Kings 23:37‑24:5); Jer. 22:13-1913Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work; 14That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. 15Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? 16He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the Lord. 17But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. 18Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! 19He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. (Jeremiah 22:13‑19)), and at his death he was not even given proper burial. If there were no other reason, this alone would explain the omission of Jehoiakim’s reign from our chapter.
Verse 5 introduces the son of Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, whose three months’ reign was ended when the king of Babylon took him a prisoner to his city, to remain such for 37 years, until Nebuchadnezzar’s death (2 Kings 35:27-30). After Jehoiachin’s removal, his uncle Zedekiah was given the throne, becoming Judah’s last king of the royal line of David, until the birth of One in Bethlehem of Judea troubled the Edomite then sitting on the throne, and all Jerusalem with him (Matt. 2).
Zedekiah’s reign had yet a few years remaining when Ezekiel’s prophecy was uttered, and he is not distinctly referred to in our chapter, though his and his nephew’s records may be combined, being similar in character, in the reference to Jechoniah (verses 5 to 9).
Verse 10 returns to the nation of Israel as God had established it: like a fruitful vine planted by the waters and full of branches. There was fitness then for rule, but God will not allow His name to be linked with idolatry and the kindred evils practiced by the degraded worshipers of false gods, and verse 12 declares what had happened to that luxuriant vine.
Now the vine is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground, and a fire is gone out of a rod of its branches. What fruit there was for God had been destroyed by the wickedness of the king. His real power was little now, for he was a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar, who permitted him to reign over the few left in the land of Israel, spared from the captivity.
The cause of Israel’s decline is not named here; it has been fully shown on the pages of Old Testament history and prophecy. A single word is enough to explain the ruin of God’s earthly people: SIN.
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