Here Ezekiel writes a funeral dirge for Israel.
Ezekiel 19:1-4, A proud lioness and her cub
"Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel and say:
"`What a lioness was your mother among the lions!
She lay down among the young lions and reared her cubs.
She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a strong lion.
He learned to tear the prey and he devoured men.
The nations heard about him, and he was trapped in their pit.
They led him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
The Old Testament "lament" is a sad funeral song. A classic example of such a lament is that composed by David in 2 Samuel 1:17-27. There David sung about the death of Saul and Jonathan. Here Ezekiel takes up, as a funeral dirge, a story about the loss of Israel's power. A lioness (Judah) has powerful cubs. One grows to be a powerful lion yet he is trapped and carried off to Egypt, as was Jehoahaz of Judah (2 Kings 23:31-35.)
The Shema seal, dating from the reign of Jeroboam II, in the eighth century BC, portrayed Israel as a lion. The lion metaphor shows up in the New Testament, in Revelation 5:1-5. There the lion is the "root of David", the Messiah Yeshuah.
Ezekiel 19:5-9, A new male lion
"`When she saw her hope unfulfilled, her expectation gone,
she took another of her cubs and made him a strong lion.
He prowled among the lions, for he was now a strong lion.
He learned to tear the prey and he devoured men.
He broke down their strongholds and devastated their towns.
The land and all who were in it were terrified by his roaring.
Then the nations came against him, those from regions round about.
They spread their net for him, and he was trapped in their pit.
With hooks they pulled him into a cage and brought him to the king of Babylon.
They put him in prison, so his roar was heard no longer on the mountains of Israel.
So the lioness raises another cub to adulthood. This male (Jehoiachin/Jeconiah? Zedekiah?) also becomes strong and terrifies others. Just like the first lion, "He learned to tear the prey and he devoured men." Yet the other nations work together and so too bring this lion down. He too is carried off to Babylon (2 Kings 24:8-17.)
Ezekiel 19:10-14, Uprooted and burned
"`Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard planted by the water;
it was fruitful and full of branches because of abundant water.
Its branches were strong, fit for a ruler's scepter.
It towered high above the thick foliage,
conspicuous for its height and for its many branches.
But it was uprooted in fury and thrown to the ground.
The east wind made it shrivel,
it was stripped of its fruit;
its strong branches withered
and fire consumed them.
Now it is planted in the desert, in a dry and thirsty land.
Fire spread from one of its main branches and consumed its fruit.
No strong branch is left on it fit for a ruler's scepter.'
This is a lament and is to be used as a lament."
In another story, Judah is a fruitful vine in a vineyard. (Earlier we saw the vine as a representation for Judah in chapters 15 and 17.) This vine, planted in good soil, grows large and strong. Yet ultimately it is uprooted in anger and thrown down on the ground. There it dries up and is eventually burned. Nothing is left.
The chapter ends with a reminder that this song is a lament, used in a funeral for Judah.
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