Ezekiel 19 Study Notes

19:1 Sad songs of the type found in chap. 19 are known in Hebrew by the name qinah, which means “funeral dirge” or “funerary lament.” They have a unique meter, and their content is similar to modern eulogies (2Sm 1:19-27). The switch of subjects from Ezk 18 seems to indicate that the emphasis on individual responsibility also applies to the monarchy of Judah. This chapter would therefore indicate that the house of David fell not because of the sins of past kings (Josiah was righteous), but because of the sins of the kings immediately leading up to the exile. The pronouncement of this rejection in the form of the funeral lament suggests that the house of David had been overwhelmed by the powers of death.

19:2 The mother in this allegory is the nation of Israel, who had produced the kings of the nation.

19:3 Genesis 49:9 seems to be the background for Judah, the royal line, being compared to a lion. In the Balaam oracles, the nation itself is compared to a lion (Nm 23:24; 24:9). The first cub-king represents Jehoahaz, son of Josiah. He was crowned by the people after Josiah’s death but was almost immediately deposed by Pharaoh Neco. He was then taken to Egypt in fetters after reigning only three months (2Kg 23:30-34).

19:4 The expression they led him away with hooks is also found in an Assyrian inscription that describes captives being led away during the reign of King Ashurbanipal.

19:5-9 This lion displayed greater power than the first by tearing down strongholds and devastating towns. The nations trapped him also, leading him with hooks to the land of Babylon. This second lion appears to refer to Jehoiachin. After a reign of only three months and ten days (2Ch 36:9), Jehoiachin was imprisoned in Babylon for thirty-seven years until the Babylonian king Evil-merodach released him. Jehoiakim died in Jerusalem, so he was not included in this lament (2Kg 25:27-30; Jr 52:31-34).

19:10-11 Ezekiel used the vine metaphor in 15:1-8 and 17:5-10 with reference to the decline and fall of Judah (Is 24:7; Jr 2:21; 6:9). But this imagery of the vine typifies the nation of Israel as a whole (Ps 80:8-16; Is 5:1-7; 27:2-6). The combination of lion and vine may be derived from Gn 49:9-11.

19:12 The east wind represents Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his army. The image refers to the capture and death of King Zedekiah and the destruction of Jerusalem in the siege of 586 BC.

19:13 Zedekiah was captured in the desert (wilderness) near Jericho, blinded, bound in chains, and taken to Babylon (2Kg 25; Jr 52).

19:14 Fire destroying the fruit of the vine recalls the image of Jotham’s fable, in which the worthless bramble caused a fire that consumed the cedars of Lebanon (Jdg 9:20). The Davidic dynasty and the Israelite monarchy appear to come to a sudden end in Zedekiah. Fire is alternatively a symbol for annihilation or ongoing punishment (Gn 19:24; Is 66:24; Jr 50:32; Am 1:4,7,10,12,14; 2:2,5; 7:4; Mt 25:41; Rv 20:14). The scepter will be temporarily removed from Judah as a punishment for sins. In the person of Christ, however, God’s promise that the scepter will not depart from the line of Judah (Gn 49:10) will be ultimately fulfilled.