Even Though This Appears to Be a Lamentation of Ezekiel, It Is Really of the Lord

Like Leader Like Follower November 30, 2016

A Lamentation of the Lord

Ezekiel 19 Page 1

Even though this appears to be a lamentation of Ezekiel, it is really of the Lord.

We have discussed the personal responsibility of the people for their own sin.

The problem is the leadership of the Nation is the one who provided for the opportunity for the people to sin like they did by modeling the behavior.

The people copied those who led them.

This is the lamentation of the Lord, actually the lamentation of the same One who later wept over Jerusalem (Matt. 23:37–39). He is the One who is here weeping over the princes of Judah. The princes were a group of people in that land who had very few who were concerned about them. But God was concerned. Who shed tears over them? God did.

J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible Commentary, electronic ed., vol. 3 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997), 475.

The princes this will be about are from Jehoahaz to Zedekiah.

As leaders go, they were pitiful.

The people wound up getting the leadership that they desired, one which supported them in their sin and led them further into it.

Ezekiel 19:1–9

“As for you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel and say, ‘What was your mother? A lioness among lions! She lay down among young lions, She reared her cubs. When she brought up one of her cubs, He became a lion, And he learned to tear his prey; He devoured men. Then nations heard about him; He was captured in their pit, And they brought him with hooks To the land of Egypt. When she saw, as she waited, That her hope was lost, She took another of her cubs And made him a young lion. And he walked about among the lions; He became a young lion, He learned to tear his prey; He devoured men. He destroyed their fortified towers And laid waste their cities; And the land and its fullness were appalled Because of the sound of his roaring. Then nations set against him On every side from their provinces, And they spread their net over him; He was captured in their pit. They put him in a cage with hooks And brought him to the king of Babylon; They brought him in hunting nets So that his voice would be heard no more On the mountains of Israel.’ ” (NASB95)

The lamentation starts off with imagery that we need to be familiar with. The Scriptures are consistent with types and images, so when there is a reference to a lion, where does that come from and what does it mean?

We must go and look at a prophecy made by Jacob in Genesis 49 where he is providing prophetic information about each of his sons.

Genesis 49:9

“Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up?” (NASB95)

When Ezekiel speaks of a lion, he is talking about the Tribe of Judah.

When Balaam was paid to curse Israel, instead he blessed.

Numbers 23:22–24

“God brings them out of Egypt, He is for them like the horns of the wild ox. For there is no omen against Jacob, Nor is there any divination against Israel; At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob And to Israel, what God has done! Behold, a people rises like a lioness, And as a lion it lifts itself; It will not lie down until it devours the prey, And drinks the blood of the slain.” (NASB95)

Israel was compared to the lioness and Judah, the lion.

Solomon picked up on this when he had his throne built.

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1 Kings 10:18–20

Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold. There were six steps to the throne and a round top to the throne at its rear, and arms on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms. Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom.” (NASB95)

The highest development of this lion-nature, the true verification of Gen. 49:9, 10, first came to pass in the future, in the appearance of the Messiah, the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5). Before, however, this highest development could take place, the people must first sink so deep as to resemble a worm rather than a lion.

E. W. Hengstenberg, The Prophecies of the Prophet Ezekiel Elucidated, trans. A. C. Murphy and J. G. Murphy, Clark’s Foreign Theological Library (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: T&T Clark; Hamilton & Co.; John Robertson and Co., 1869), 163.

Revelation 5:2–7

And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.” And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. (NASB95)

So here in Ezekiel 19, we see the Nation of Israel, more specifically the Tribe of Judah, giving birth to two young cubs.

What is it that these kings to be learned as they grew up? What examples did they have?

This young lion, or incipient king learnt violence and wrong, instead of moderation and wisdom, in governing. His folly and wickedness brought an oppressive foreign taxation upon the people which ate up their substance. His unhappy subjects had to endure first his tyrannies, and then the tyrannies of an alien.

W. J. Shrewsbury, Notes on Ezekiel, Critical and Explanatory (London; Manchester: Hamilton, Adams & Co.; William Bremner & Co., 1863), 73.

2 Kings 23:29–33

In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. And King Josiah went to meet him, and when Pharaoh Neco saw him he killed him at Megiddo. His servants drove his body in a chariot from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father. Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. He did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a fine of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. (NASB95)

Josiah, a good king who had tried to lead his people into revival was killed in battle with Egypt.

Notice who selected the next King, the people did.

They wanted someone who would not try and change them, they wanted to stay in the path that Manasseh had laid out years before.

The surrounding nations assisted Pharaoh in dealing with the new King as he was captured and led off into Egypt as a prisoner.

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Taken in their pit. The allusion is to the mode of catching lions and other beasts of prey, by digging pits, and slightly covering them over with reeds, or slender branches. The circumvented beasts are forced upon the centres of narrowing circles, where the pits are prepared, and they fall in and are “taken.” W. J. Shrewsbury, Notes on Ezekiel, Critical and Explanatory (London; Manchester: Hamilton, Adams & Co.; William Bremner & Co., 1863), 73.

2 Kings 23:34–37

Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away and brought him to Egypt, and he died there. So Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land in order to give the money at the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, each according to his valuation, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. He did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.” (NASB95)

Both of these princes are sons of Josiah.

Both had different mothers.

One was chosen by the people.

The other was chosen by a foreign king to enforce his will and collect tribute to be paid to Egypt of 100 talents per year.

The Scriptures tell us that Jehoiakim became a tyrant in order to pay the tribute to Egypt.

Ezekiel 19:6–7

“‘And he walked about among the lions; He became a young lion, He learned to tear his prey; He devoured men. He destroyed their fortified towers And laid waste their cities; And the land and its fullness were appalled Because of the sound of his roaring.’” (NASB95)

Ezekiel 19:6–7

“He prowled around among the lions, became a strong, young lion, and learned to become a hunter-prowler— to eat human beings. He raped the women, devastating their towns. The land was made desolate, and all the while the land was filled with the sound of his roaring.” (ISV)

In the middle of his reign, Pharaoh Neco is killed by the King of Babylon.

This was not a surprise as Jeremiah had begun his ministry and he prophesied against Pharoah Neco.

His defeat at Carchemish was a judgment of God.

Jeremiah 46:2–12

To Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “Line up the shield and buckler, And draw near for the battle! Harness the horses, And mount the steeds, And take your stand with helmets on! Polish the spears, Put on the scale-armor! Why have I seen it? They are terrified, They are drawing back, And their mighty men are defeated And have taken refuge in flight, Without facing back; Terror is on every side! Declares the LORD. Let not the swift man flee, Nor the mighty man escape; In the north beside the river Euphrates They have stumbled and fallen. Who is this that rises like the Nile, Like the rivers whose waters surge about? Egypt rises like the Nile, Even like the rivers whose waters surge about; And He has said, “I will rise and cover that land; I will surely destroy the city and its inhabitants.” Go up, you horses, and drive madly, you chariots, That the mighty men may march forward: Ethiopia and Put, that handle the shield, And the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow. For that day belongs to the Lord GOD of hosts, A day of vengeance, so as to avenge Himself on His foes; And the sword will devour and be satiated And drink its fill of their blood; For there will be a slaughter for the Lord GOD of hosts, In the land of the north by the river Euphrates. Go up to Gilead and obtain balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain have you multiplied remedies; There is no healing for you. The nations have heard of your shame, And the earth is full of your cry of distress; For one warrior has stumbled over another, And both of them have fallen down together.” (NASB95)

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Jehoiakim (to use the name Pharaoh-necho gave him), impoverished the nobles, and sacked the cities, as if he were a besieging foe.

W. J. Shrewsbury, Notes on Ezekiel, Critical and Explanatory (London; Manchester: Hamilton, Adams & Co.; William Bremner & Co., 1863), 74.

In v. 7, the figurative language passes into a literal description of the ungodly course pursued by the king. He knew, i.e., dishonoured, its (Israel’s, the nation’s) widows. The Targum…renders it accordingly, “he destroyed its palaces;” and Ewald has adopted the same rendering. But רעע, to break, or smash in pieces, e.g., a vessel (Ps. 2:9), is never used for the destruction of buildings; and אַלְמָנֹות does not mean palaces (אַרְמָנֹות), but windows. There is nothing in the use of the word in Isa. 13:22 to support the meaning “palaces,” because the palaces are simply called ’almânōth (widows) there, with a sarcastic side glance at their desolate and widowed condition. Other conjectures are still more inadmissible. The thought is as follows: Jehoiachin went much further than Jehoahaz. He not only devoured men, but laid hands on defenceless widows, and laid the cities waste to such an extent that the land with its inhabitants became perfectly desolate through his rapacity. The description is no doubt equally applicable to his father Jehoiakim, in whose footsteps Jehoiachin walked, since Jehoiakim is described in Jer. 22:13ff. as a grievous despot and tyrant.

Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 9 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 150.

The fullness of commercial trade ended. Why sell and barter when whatever you make is going to be taken by the King.

This is the same situation we see today in places where the tax reaches levels that actually encourage people not to work.

Apparently, after the death of Pharaoh Neco, Jehoiakim continued to operate in the same mode and that was not acceptable to the new leadership, Nebuchadnezzar.

Ezekiel 19:8

“Then nations set against him On every side from their provinces, And they spread their net over him; He was captured in their pit.” (NASB95)