191 "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 .
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.