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Ezekiel 19. Dirge Over the Kings.— From a chapter which has the ring almost of dogmatic theology, we pass to one of pure elegiac poetry, in which Ezekiel deals a death-blow to the vain hopes reposed in the monarchy ( cf. Ezekiel 12:1-Ezra :, Ezekiel 17).

Ezekiel 19:1-1 Samuel : . Judah the Lioness.— Mother Judah is compared to a lioness, and the kings are her whelps. Ezekiel 19:1-1 Samuel : celebrates the sorrowful fate of Jehoahaz ( Ezekiel 19:2-Numbers :) and Jehoiachin ( Ezekiel 19:5-1 Samuel :), each of whom was carried into exile after a reign of only three months— Jehoahaz to Egypt in 608, Jehoiachin to Babylon in 597 B.C. The might of Judah and her kings is idealised in this “ lament,” and the fate of the monarchs is described in terms appropriate to the capture of a lion ( Ezekiel 19:4, Ezekiel 8 f.)— dangerous beasts were sometimes trapped in pits. (In Ezekiel 19:4 “ heard of” should be “ clamoured against,” in Ezekiel 19:5 “ waited” practically = waited in vain, but the word is quite uncertain. In Ezekiel 19:7 “ knew” should perhaps be “ ravaged.” ) The melancholy cadence of the last sentence is very fine—

“ That his voice should be heard no more

On the mountains of Israel.”

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