CHAPTER 19

(594 B.C.)

LAMENTATION FOR THE PRINCES OF ISRAEL; JEHOAHAZ

¹Moreover take you up a lamentation for the princes of Israel (the word lamentation is used referring to the woe upon the nation of Judah by the ungodly action of two of its kings, Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. The mourner is Immanuel),

²And say, What is your mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. (The question, What is your mother?, refers to Jerusalem as the great lion, and in a good sense [Isa. 29:1]. She lay down among lions, refers to the surrounding heathen nations, which she was supposed to lead to God, but she was instead led astray herself! She adopted their cruelty and ferocity, thereby losing the Glory of God.

The phrase, She nourished her whelps among young lions, refers to Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim taking the cue from the young lions, i.e., kings of the surrounding nations, rather than from the Lord.)

³And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men. (One of her whelps, points to Jehoahaz, who became like the heathen princes in the surrounding countries.)

⁴The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt. (Jehoahaz was taken prisoner by Pharaoh-Necho and brought in chains to Egypt.)

JEHOIAKIM

⁵Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. (This relates to Jehoiakim, who reigned eleven years and was made king in the place of his brother, Jehoahaz.)

⁶And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men. (And he went up and down among the lions, refers to him associating with the heathen nations, exactly as did his brother, Jehoahaz. Josephus, the Jewish Historian, says: He was unjust and wicked by nature, and was neither reverent toward God nor kind to man.)

⁷And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fullness thereof, by the noise of his roaring. (And he knew their desolate palaces, means that he plundered the nation in order to pay Egypt and to build his costly edifices. And the fullness thereof, by the noise of his roaring, refers to his violent nature in imposing his will upon Judah.)

⁸Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit. (In this dallying with Egypt, he angered the Babylonians, and they set against him on every side.)

⁹And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel. (And brought him to the king of Babylon, does not mean that he was taken to Babylon, but that he was taken before Nebuchadnezzar. Even though the Scripture does not say how he died, it is believed that he died on the way to Babylon, drawn and cast forth and unburied. He was 36 years old when he died, without God and unlamented!)

ZEDEKIAH

¹⁰Your mother is like a vine in your blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. (Your mother is like a vine, is referred to in 17:6, and refers to Judah as a Vine. The phrase, She was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters, refers to the Blessings of God given unto her, which made her the envy of the nations.)

¹¹And she had strong rods for the scepters of them who bore rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches. (And she had strong rods for the scepters of them who bore rule, refers to the kingly line of David, which was God-appointed, and thereby blessed, actually becoming the greatest among nations.)

¹²But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them. (But she was plucked up in fury, refers to the Judgment of God which came upon her because of her great sin. The Judgment was not light, but did come in stages.)

¹³And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. (Whereas she had once been planted by the waters, i.e., the Blessings of God, now she is in a dry and thirsty ground, i.e., with no spiritual sustenance whatsoever, because of her rebellion against the Lord.)

¹⁴And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which has devoured her fruit, so that she has no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. (And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, refers to the evil capacity of her kings after Josiah, and the Judgment of God which was swiftly coming upon them. As such, all the glory described in Verses 10 and 11 is now gone, and sin has devoured her fruit.

And shall be for a lamentation, refers to Zedekiah, whose doom was still future at the time that this lament was given by the Spirit to the Prophet.)