Introduction
This chapter is a lamentation (verse 1) that Ezekiel is to take up. With this he expresses God’s sorrow for Jerusalem. The lamentation has two parts. In the first part (verses 2-9) the mother of the princes of Judah is compared to a lioness. It is about the fate of the last kings of Judah. In the second part (verses 10-14), the princes of Israel are represented in the familiar picture of a vine. In it we hear the lamentation over the fall of those princes.
1 - 9 The Lioness
1 “As for you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel
2 and say,
‘What was your mother?
A lioness among lions!
She lay down among young lions,
She reared her cubs.
3 ‘When she brought up one of her cubs,
He became a lion,
And he learned to tear [his] prey;
He devoured men.
4 ‘Then nations heard about him;
He was captured in their pit,
And they brought him with hooks
To the land of Egypt.
5 ‘When she saw, as she waited,
[That] her hope was lost,
She took another of her cubs
And made him a young lion.
6 ‘And he walked about among the lions;
He became a young lion,
He learned to tear [his] prey;
He devoured men.
7 ‘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.
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.
9 ‘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.
The lamentation is to be taken up “for the princes of Israel” by which is meant the kings Jehoahaz and Zedekiah (verse 1). They are indeed kings of Judah, but since Judah alone is left – and people from Israel also went to Judah over time – their kingship applies to all Israel.
The “mother”, the “lioness” (verse 2), represents the royal tribe of Judah. The Lord Jesus is “the Lion from the tribe of Judah” (Rev 5:5). In a direct sense, it is about Hamutal, the mother of Jehoahaz and Zedekiah (2Kgs 23:31; 24:18; Jer 13:18). “The lions” between which the “mother” lies are the nations surrounding Israel. “The young lions” are the princes of those nations. “Her cubs” are her sons Jehoahaz and Zedekiah. “One of her cubs” (verse 3) whom she reared and who becomes a young lion is Jehoahaz. His short reign is wicked (2Kgs 23:30-32). He is a bloodthirsty king, one who is guilty of violence. He exploits the people, he devours them.
The surrounding nations hear about him (verse 4). Following the imagery of how one catches lions – in pits camouflaged with branches – Pharaoh Neco captures Jehoahaz. Neco brings Jehoahaz as an exile to Egypt, where he dies (2Kgs 23:33-34; Jer 22:10-12).
“She”, the mother, Hamutal, takes Zedekiah, “another of her cubs”, and makes him king (verse 5). She does this after the capture and taking away of Jehoahaz. Zedekiah may have been made king by Nebuchadnezzar, but it may have been done through the intercession of Hamutal. She puts all her hope in him. It is a great evil when we put our hope in something or someone other than the Lord. This chapter is the chapter of false hope.
This Zedekiah goes around proudly among the surrounding peoples (verse 6). He, the young lion, let not himself to be impressed by the other young lions. The same testimony sounds of him as of Jehoahaz (verse 3).
Zedekiah is also a morally reprehensible man who has sexual intercourse with widows (verse 7). His life bears the character of violence and destruction. His reign of terror, which is compared to the roar of a lion, paralyzes the land. Led by the king of Babylon, the surrounding nations come to him and take him captive (verse 8). Like Jehoahaz, he is imprisoned (verse 9). Jehoahaz goes into exile in Egypt and Zedekiah goes into exile in Babylon. Thus his voice, the roar of the lion Zedekiah, comes to an end.
10 - 14 The Withered Vine
10 ‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard,
Planted by the waters;
It was fruitful and full of branches
Because of abundant waters.
11 ‘And it had strong branches [fit] for scepters of rulers,
And its height was raised above the clouds
So that it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches.
12 ‘But it was plucked up in fury;
It was cast down to the ground;
And the east wind dried up its fruit.
Its strong branch was torn off
So that it withered;
The fire consumed it.
13 ‘And now it is planted in the wilderness,
In a dry and thirsty land.
14 ‘And fire has gone out from [its] branch;
It has consumed its shoots [and] fruit,
So that there is not in it a strong branch,
A scepter to rule.’”
This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.
In the second parable, Israel, “your mother”, is compared to a vine (verse 10; Jer 2:21). It is a lush vine. The “strong branches” recall mighty rulers who have reigned on the throne of David (verse 11). Zedekiah is the branch that rises up among the many branches. He is raised to the position of king above the princes of the house of David who surround him and shines in the midst of them. He seems to have a future because of the sons born to him, “the mass of his branches”.
However, the anger of the LORD kindles against him because of his wickedness (verse 12). Therefore, he is taken away with wrath from kingship. This is done by “the east wind”, which is the Babylonians, who are the instrument of the wrath of God. That “east wind” causes all the fruit of the vine to dry up, that is, all the prosperity of the land to disappear.
The remnant of Israel is “planted in the wilderness”, that is, it is taken away to Babylon, “a dry and thirsty land” (verse 13). Babylon is a fertile land at that time, but for the Israelite it is figuratively a land without fruit.
The fire that goes out from the branch (verse 14) is an allusion to Zedekiah’s rebellion. That fire, however, consumes himself and those under his influence, “its shoots [and] fruit”. The result is that it is over and done with the reign of the house of David: there is “not … a strong branch” left in it.
Ezekiel sings this lamentation when judgment has not yet come upon Zedekiah. However, he sees in faith this end of the kingship and has deeply lamented over it. The course of events confirms his prophetic outlook and makes this lamentation in faith – “this is a lamentation” – become a lamentation about reality – “and has become a lamentation”.