191 Take up now a song of grief for the ruler of Israel, and say, 2 What was your mother? Like a she-lion among lions, stretched out among the young lions she gave food to her little ones. 3 And one of her little ones came to growth under her care, and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat. 4 And the nations had news of him; he was taken in the hole they had made: and, pulling him with hooks, they took him into the land of Egypt. 5 Now when she saw that her hope was made foolish and gone, she took another of her little ones and made him into a young lion. 6 And he went up and down among the lions and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat. 7 And he sent destruction on their widows and made waste their towns; and the land and everything in it became waste because of the loud sound of his voice. 8 Then the nations came against him from the kingdoms round about: their net was stretched over him and he was taken in the hole they had made. 9 They made him a prisoner with hooks, and took him to the king of Babylon; they put him in the strong place so that his voice might be sounding no longer on the mountains of Israel.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 19:1-9
Commentary on Ezekiel 19:1-9
(Read Ezekiel 19:1-9)
Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have terrified and enslaved others, are themselves terrified and enslaved. When professors of religion form connexions with ungodly persons, their children usually grow up following after the maxims and fashions of a wicked world. Advancement to authority discovers the ambition and selfishness of men's hearts; and those who spend their lives in mischief, generally end them by violence.