191 "Moreover take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2 and say: 'What is your mother? A lioness: She lay down among the lions; Among the young lions she nourished her cubs. 3 She brought up one of her cubs, And he became a young lion; He learned to catch prey, And he devoured men. 4 The nations also heard of him; He was trapped in their pit, And they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt. 5 'When she saw that she waited, that her hope was lost, She took another of her cubs and made him a young lion. 6 He roved among the lions, And became a young lion; He learned to catch prey; He devoured men. 7 He knew their desolate places, And laid waste their cities; The land with its fullness was desolated By the noise of his roaring. 8 Then the nations set against him from the provinces on every side, And spread their net over him; He was trapped in their pit. 9 They put him in a cage with chains, And brought him to the king of Babylon; They brought him in nets, That his voice should no longer be heard 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.