Major Prophets · Chapter 19 of 48

Ezekiel 19

Ezekiel raises a lament for the princes of Israel. Their mother, a lioness, reared cubs among the lions; one became a young lion but was trapped and taken to Egypt, another was captured and brought to Babylon. Then the mother is pictured as a fruitful vine, plucked up in fury, dried by the east wind, her strong rods burned. No strong rod remains for a ruler's scepter. It is a lamentation.

What happens in Ezekiel 19

God tells Ezekiel to take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel. He portrays their mother as a lioness rearing her cubs. One cub became a young lion that learned to catch prey and devour men; the nations trapped him in their pit and led him with chains to Egypt. When the lioness saw her hope was lost, she raised another cub who also devoured men and laid waste cities; but the nations again took him in their pit and brought him in chains to the king of Babylon, so his roaring was heard no more.

The image then shifts: the mother is like a fruitful vine by the waters, full of strong branches fit for rulers' scepters. But she was plucked up in fury, cast to the ground, dried by the east wind, her strong rods broken and burned. No strong rod remains to be a scepter. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

Ezekiel 19 in context

This funeral dirge mourns the collapse of the Davidic monarchy in its final kings. The first captured cub taken to Egypt likely represents Jehoahaz, deposed by Pharaoh Neco (2 Kings 23:31-34); the second, taken to Babylon, Jehoiachin or Zedekiah.

The lioness-mother is the royal house or nation. The shift to a vine recalls Israel's earlier vine imagery. The lament genre itself signals that the monarchy's ruin is a cause for grief, not gloating.

Main themes of Ezekiel 19

Ezekiel 19 (KJV)

1Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. 3And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men. 4The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt. 5Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. 6And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men. 7And 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. 8Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit. 9And 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. 10Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. 11And 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. 12But 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. 13And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. 14And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

Verses to carry from Ezekiel 19

“Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,”Ezekiel 19:1

“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.”Ezekiel 19:9

“And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.”Ezekiel 19:14

Reflection

Sometimes life ends a chapter with no strong rod, a hope apparently burned to ashes. Ezekiel's lament refuses to pretend otherwise, yet it is not the last word. Where you see only a charred stump, God has a way of raising a Branch. Bring your griefs honestly to Him, and wait for the King who reigns beyond every ruin.

A prayer from Ezekiel 19