191 And thou, take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2 and say, What was thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps in the midst of the young lions. 3 And she brought up one of her whelps; it became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men. 4 And the nations heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with nose-rings into the land of Egypt. 5 And when she saw that she had waited [and] her hope was lost, she took another of her whelps, [and] made him a young lion. 6 And he went up and down among the lions; he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey; he devoured men. 7 And he knew their [desolate] palaces, and he laid waste their cities, so that the land was desolate, and all it contained, by the noise of his roaring. 8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit. 9 And they put him in a cage with nose-rings, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard upon 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.