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This prophecy shows that there were no more rulers left in Judah who could restore the nation to its former glory. Evidently the exiles hoped that some Davidic descendant would prove successful in overcoming the Babylonians and restoring Israel's sovereignty. This was their last hope, and it is the last prophecy in this section of the book that shows that such a hope was futile.
The prophecy contains two parts. The first part (vv. 1-9) uses the figure of a lion and her cubs to describe the Davidic line and two of its kings. The second part (vv. 10-14) uses the figure of a vine to describe Israel including its final strong branch or king.
19:1 Ezekiel was to lament (Heb. qinah) for the princes of Israel.270
"A dirge was normally sung. or chanted, by professional mourners after the death of the deceased and during his funeral. Ezekiel expressed the Lord's sadness over the Judean leadership's failure by chanting this elegy over her final rulers prior to their deaths . . ."271
Ezekiel used the term "princes"to describe Judah's kings (7:27; 12:10, 19; et al.).
19:2 The prophet compared the former Davidic kings of Judah to a lioness. This was a common symbol of rulers in the ancient Near East, and the Israelites used the figure for the Davidic kings (Gen. 49:9; Num. 23:24; 1 Kings 10:19-20; Mic. 5:8; cf. Rev. 5:5).272This lioness was responsible for producing and nurturing young lion cubs, the kings that followed in the Davidic line.
19:3-4 One particular ruler in the Davidic line became lion-like. He tore his prey and devoured people. When his neighbors heard about him, someone captured him and brought him as a prisoner to Egypt.
This describes the character and fate of King Jehoahaz who did evil in the Lord's sight by devouring people in his own kingdom by oppression and injustice (2 Kings 24:8-15). Even though his reign lasted only three months (in 609 B.C.) it was a violent and brutal period in Israel's history. The Judeans placed Jehoahaz on Judah's throne after Pharaoh Neco killed his father, Josiah, at Megiddo thereby gaining sovereignty over Judah. However, Jehoahaz proved to be unmanageable, so Pharaoh took him to Egypt where he finally died (2 Kings 31-34; 2 Chron. 36:1-4; Jer. 22:10-12). The Judeans had hoped that Jehoahaz would return from Egypt and rule again in Judah, but that was not to be the case (cf. Jer. 22:10-12).
19:5-9 With the death of this cub the lioness took another of her offspring and made him dominant. He gained his position among the other rulers of the area and also became violent and destructive, like the first cub. He so devastated his own land that the people in it despaired. His neighbors also trapped this lion and took him captive to Babylon thus ending his reign.
This describes the career of King Jehoiachin, who also ruled over Judah for only three months (in 598-597 B.C.).273The Babylonians captured him and took him into exile in 597 B.C. Later he enjoyed a measure of freedom, but he never returned to rule over Judah (2 Kings 24:8-17; 25:27-30; 2 Chron. 36:8-11).
19:10-11 Ezekiel changed the figure of the Davidic rulers to that of the nation of Israel as a fruitful vine in the vineyard. This vine was fruitful and it flourished because it enjoyed abundant resources. Israel was like a fruitful vine among the other nations because God blessed it (15:1-6; 17:1-10; Deut. 8:7-8; Ps. 80:8-16; Isa. 5:1-7; 24:7; 27:2-6; Jer. 2:21; 6:9; cf. Matt. 21:33-41; John 15:1-8). Its branches were so strong that they proved usable as scepters for rulers. The vine became exceedingly large in the season of its greatest glory, the days of David and Solomon.
19:12-14 However, others uprooted this vine in their fury, trod it underfoot, and cut off its fruitfulness as with a hot east wind (from Babylon; cf. 17:6-10, 15; Ps. 89:30-37). Its strong branch, King Zedekiah, was cut off so it withered and burned up. This was a prediction of Zedekiah's future.274He went into captivity in 586 B.C. King Zedekiah had been responsible for much of the destruction that had overtaken Judah.275The vine was now in the wilderness, a place of limited resources. It had burned up so there were no more strong shoots or fruit left in it.276No scepter was in it now; there was no Davidic king who could rule over Israel. The vine was not completely destroyed, but it languished having been transplanted to a hostile environment.
The writer identified this piece again as a lamentation, a funeral dirge or elegy that the Jews used to describe their sorrow over the fate of the Davidic rulers of their nation.
It is appropriate that this last section in the part of the book that consists of Yahweh's reply to the invalid hopes of the Israelites (chs. 12-19) should be a lament. Judah's doom was certain, so a funeral dirge was fitting. All the exiles could do was mourn the divine judgment on their nation that was to reach its climax very soon.
"Jerusalem's fall was so certain that Ezekiel considered it inevitable. . . . The dirge was not over one individual; it was being sung for the Davidic dynasty and the death' of its rule."277
Not until Jesus Christ returns to the earth to reign will a strong branch and the ruler's scepter arise in the line of David again.
