191 And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2 and say: What a lioness was your mother among lions! She couched in the midst of young lions, rearing her whelps. 3 And she brought up one of her whelps; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men. 4 The nations sounded an alarm against him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt. 5 When she saw that she was baffled, that her hope was lost, she took another of her whelps and made him a young lion. 6 He prowled among the lions; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men. 7 And he ravaged their strongholds, and laid waste their cities; and the land was appalled and all who were in it at the sound of his roaring. 8 Then the nations set against him snares on every side; they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit. 9 With hooks they put him in a cage, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into custody, 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.