Ezekiel 19:10 Komentář

The scope of this chapter is much the same with that of the 17th, to foretel and lament the ruin of the house of David, the royal family of Judah, in the calamitous exit of the four sons and grandsons of Josiah - Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, in whom that illustrious line of kings was cut off, which the prophet is here ordered to lament (Eze 19:1). And he does it by similitudes. I. The kingdom of Judah and house of David are here compared to a lioness, and those princes to lions, that were fierce and ravenous, but were hunted down and taken in nets (Eze 19:2-9). II. That kingdom and that house are here compared to a vine, and these princes to branches, which had been strong and flourishing, but were now broken off and burnt (Eze 19:10-14). This ruin of that monarchy was now in the doing, and this lamentation of it was intended to affect the people with it, that they might not flatter themselves with vain hopes of the lengthening out of their tranquility.

Jerusalem, the mother-city, is here represented by another similitude; she is a vine, and the princes are her branches. This comparison we had before, Eze 15:1. Jerusalem is as a vine; the Jewish nation is so: Like a vine in they blood (Eze 19:10), the blood-royal, like a vine set in blood and watered with blood, which contributes very much to the flourishing and fruitfulness of vines, as if the blood which had been shed had been designed for the fattening and improving of the soil, in such plenty was it shed; and for a time it seemed to have that effect, for she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of the waters, the many waters near which she was planted. Places of great wickedness may prosper for a while; and a vine set in blood may be full of branches. Jerusalem was full of able magistrates, men of sense, men of learning and experience, that were strong rods, branches of this vine of uncommon bulk and strength, or poles for the support of this vine, for such magistrates are. The boughs of this vine had grown to such maturity that they were fit to make white staves of for the sceptres of those that bore rule, Eze 19:11. And those are strong rods that are fit for sceptres, men of strong judgments and strong resolutions that are fit for magistrates. When the royal family of Judah was numerous, and the courts of justice were filled with men of sense and probity, then Jerusalem's stature was exalted among thick branches; when the government is in good able hands a nation is thereby made considerable Then she was not taken for a weak and lowly vine, but she appeared in her height, a distinguished city, with the multitude of her branches. Tanquam lenta solent inter viburna cupressi - Midst humble withies thus the cypress soars. "In thy quietness" (so some read that, Eze 19:10, which we translate in thy blood) "thou wast such a vine as this." When Zedekiah was quiet and easy under the king of Babylon's yoke his kingdom flourished thus. See how slow God is to anger, how he defers his judgments, and waits to be gracious. 2. This vine is now quite destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar, being highly provoked by Zedekiah's treachery, plucked it up in fury (Eze 19:12), ruined the city and kingdom, and cut off all the branches of the royal family that fell in his way. The vine was cut off close to the ground, though not plucked up by the roots. The east wind dried up the fruit that was blasted. The young people fell by the sword, or were carried into captivity. The aspect of it had nothing that was pleasing, the prospect nothing that was promising. Her strong rods were broken and withered; her great men were cut off, judges and magistrates deposed. The vine itself is planted in the wilderness, Eze 19:13. Babylon was as a wilderness to those of the people that were carried captives thither; the land of Judah was as a wilderness to Jerusalem, now that the whole country was ravaged and laid waste by the Chaldean army - a fruitful land turned into barrenness. "It is burnt with fire (Psa 80:16) and that fire has gone out of a rod of her branches (Eze 19:14); the king himself, by rebelling against the king of Babylon, has given occasion to all this mischief. She may thank herself for the fire that consumes her; she has by her wickedness made herself like tinder to the sparks of God's wrath, so that her own branches serve as fuel for her own consumption; in them the fire is kindled which devoured the fruit, the sins of the elder being the judgments which destroy the younger; her fruit is burned with her own branches, so that she has no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule, none to be found now that are fit for the government or dare take this ruin under their hand, as the complaint is (Isa 3:6, Isa 3:7), none of the house of David left that have a right to rule, no wise men, or men of sense, that are able to rule." It goes ill with any state, and is likely to go worse, when it is thus deprived of the blessings of government and has no strong rods for sceptres. Woe unto thee, O land! when thy king is a child, for it is as well to have no rod as not a strong rod. Those strong rods, we have reason to fear, had been instruments of oppression, assistant to the king in catching the prey and devouring men, and now they are destroyed with him. Tyranny is the inlet to anarchy; and, when the rod of government is turned into the serpent of oppression, it is just with God to say, "There shall be no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule; but let men be as are the fishes of the sea, where the greater devour the less." Note, This is a lamentation and shall be for a lamentation. The prophet was bidden (Eze 19:1) to take up a lamentation; and, having done so, he leaves it to be made use of by others. "It is a lamentation to us of this age, and, the desolations continuing long, it shall be for a lamentation to those that shall come after us; the child unborn will rue the destruction made of Judah and Jerusalem by the present judgments. They were a great while in coming; the bow was long in the drawing; but now that they have come they will continue, and the sad effects of them will be entailed upon posterity." Note, Those who fill up the measure of their fathers' sins are laying up in store for their children's sorrows and furnishing them with matter for lamentation; and nothing is more so than the overthrow of government.

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 19 The subject matter of this chapter is a lamentation for the princes and people of the Jews, on account of what had already befallen them, and what was yet to come, Eze 19:1. The mother of the princes is compared to a lioness, and they to lions; who, one after another, were taken and carried captive, Eze 19:2; again, their mother is compared to a vine, and they to branches and rods for sceptres, destroyed by an east wind, and consumed by fire, Eze 19:10.

Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood,.... Another simile is here made use of, relating to the same persons; the same that were compared to a lioness are here compared to a vine, as the people of the Jews frequently are, Psa 80:8; the same person is here addressed, the then reigning prince, Zedekiah, whose mother, the Jewish people, from whence he sprung, had been in times past, and still was, like a vine; and especially with respect to his blood, the royal family from, chore he descended: the allusion is to the use of blood laid to the roots of vines, by which they became more fruitful. It may have regard; as Calvin thinks, to the original of the Jewish nation, who, when in their blood, or as soon as they were born, that is, as soon as they became a nation, were at first like a flourishing vine. Some render the words, "in thy likeness"; so Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech; to which the Targum agrees, "the congregation of Israel, when it did according to the law, was like to a vine, &c.'' planted by the waters; for in those hot countries vines required water, and thrived the better for bring near to them, or for being in watery places; this may denote the many privileges, blessings, laws, and ordinances, which were for the advantage of the Jewish people; both in their civil and ecclesiastical state: she was fruitful and full of branches, by reason of many waters; grew populous, rich, and wealthy.

(Verse 10 and following) Your mother is like a vine planted over the water, your blood. Its fruits and branches grew abundantly from many waters. And solid rods became scepters of rulers for it, and its stature was elevated in its branches. And it saw its height in the multitude of its palm trees. And in anger, it was uprooted and thrown to the ground, and a scorching wind dried up its fruit. Its strong rods withered and dried up, and fire consumed it. And now she has been transplanted into a desert in an impassable land and thirsty. And fire went out from the rod of its branches, which consumed its fruit, and there was no strong branch in it, the scepter of rulers. It lamented, and it will be mourned. Your mother is like a vineyard, like a flower in a pomegranate tree planted in water. Its fruit and offspring came from much water. And a branch of strength was made for it among the tribes of leaders: and it was exalted in its greatness among its branches. And he saw his greatness in the multitude of his palm trees, and it was broken in fury: it was thrown to the ground, and a burning wind dried up its chosen ones. They were avenged, and the rod of his strength was dried up. Fire consumed it, and now they have planted it in a desert, in a land without water, and fire has come out from the rod of its chosen ones, and devoured it, and there was no rod of strength in it. It is a lamentation in three parts, and it will be a mourning. In different speeches, the same thing is said. And just as in previous readings we read that Jerusalem is compared to a beautiful woman, and again a lioness who nursed lions in her lair, now the vine or vineyard is compared to the most beautiful one, which was planted over the waters and therefore the branches, nourished by the moisture, have grown so much that one branch, which Scripture calls a very strong or mighty rod, has become the ruler's scepter. In order to translate the Septuagint into the language of the three leaders, so that kings would be made from it. But the vineyard itself was of such beauty that the splendor of its strength was equal to the flowers of the pomegranate, which in Hebrew is called a vineyard in your blood, compared to the redness of the flowers. Therefore, the lofty and upright vineyard was exalted. For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). It was uprooted in the anger of the Lord and thrown down to the ground, so that the ruins of Jerusalem would preserve the elegant translation of the vine. However beautiful the vineyard may be, and however far its branches extend, if you take away the poles and stakes, joined to the earth, it withers from the heat, especially if the burning wind, which the Greeks call καύσωμα, dries up its fruit, so that it withers and is consumed as if by the heat of fire. As for the addition in the Septuagint: They have been avenged, instead of what is written in Hebrew, they have withered, I cannot determine what significance it may have. Therefore, how is that vineyard of such fertility and abundance, and of such beauty, now transplanted into a desert, into a rough and thirsty land? However, it signifies the land of Babylon to which they were transplanted, or Egypt to which they fled, or the land of Judah itself, in which a few poor remained, of whom Godolias (also called Gotholias) was appointed governor to gather and govern the remnants of the people (2 Kings 25). Against whom he rose up from the royal stock, and from the branch of the vineyard of Ishmael, who slew him in Maspha (also called Masepha), and ate up all the fruit of the vineyard, and from thence was no strong rod to be left, nor a sceptre of great power (Jeremiah 40 and 41). For no king remained that might govern the people, but they all fled with Johanan the son of Careah into Egypt. Therefore bewail we and lament that the royal race which in Judea hath ceased no more till he come that is to be laid upon it: and he shall be the desire of nations (Genesis 49:10). From this it is clear, both from the previous passage, in which it is said: Why did your mother, a lioness, lie down among lions? and from this passage, in which it is written: Your mother, like a vine planted by the water, belonged to Jerusalem, which lost its lions and its branches, and the rod that would rise among the tribes or the scepter of those in power did not remain in it. For it begins with mourning and ends in mourning. Assume mourning over the leaders of Israel. This is, in the beginning and now at the end, a lamentation; and with lamentation and mourning, the royal line is to be pursued like a parable. Furthermore, according to the allegory, which others refer to heavenly Jerusalem, they say that from it many have fallen into this valley of tears, and kings have ceased to be, and the once beautiful vine has been dried up by the burning wind, so that no green shoots remain in it, which later Jeremiah laments under the form of the city; we understand (Matthew 24) this concerning the Church, because in the last times, with multiplied iniquity, the love of many will grow cold, so that even the chosen ones of God may be tested, and its princes may be caught in the snares of the devil, who is not content with capturing only one king, but hastens to capture kings and princes daily, according to what is written: His chosen food (Habakkuk 1:16). The branches of the Church, which not long ago were equal to flowers and the redness of blood, are now withered by the wind. This interpretation also corresponds to the parable of the Gospel, in which, when the sun rises, what had sprouted withers and dries up suddenly (Mk 4). So that hardly any of the branches remain that can rise up as a rod and become a worthy leader of the people. In other words, this is what Amos speaks of: 'I will send a famine upon the land: not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of God' (Amos 8:11). Where should we mourn and lament over the princes of Israel, through whose fault and pride Judaea was deserted and Jerusalem captured.

This chapter contains two beautiful examples of the parabolic kind of writing; the one lamenting the sad catastrophe of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim, Eze 19:1-9, and the other describing the desolation and captivity of the whole people, Eze 19:10-14. In the first parable, the lioness is Jerusalem. The first of the young lions is Jehoahaz, deposed by the king of Egypt; and the second lion is Jehoiakim, whose rebellion drew on himself the vengeance of the king of Babylon. In the second parable the vine is the Jewish nation, which long prospered, its land being fertile, its princes powerful, and its people flourishing; but the judgments of God, in consequence of their guilt, had now destroyed a great part of the people, and doomed the rest to captivity.

Thy mother (Jerusalem) is like a vine in thy blood - Of this expression I know not what to make. Some think the meaning is "A vine planted by the waters to produce the blood of the grape." See Deu 32:14. Others, for בדמך bedamecha, in thy blood, would read ברמון berimmon, in or at a pomegranate; like a vine planted by or beside a pomegranate-tree, by which it was to be supported. And so the Septuagint and Arabic appear to have read. Calmet reads כרמך carmecha, thy vineyard, instead of בדמך bedamecha, in thy blood. Here is no change but a ר resh for a ד daleth. This reading is supported by one of Kennicott's and one of De Rossi's MSS.: "Thy mother is like a vine in thy vineyard, planted by the waters." Though this is rather an unusual construction yet it seems the best emendation. Of the textual reading no sense can be made. There is a corruption somewhere. Full on branches - Many princes. See next verse.

ELEGY OVER THE FALL OF DAVID'S HOUSE. (Eze 19:1-14) princes of Israel--that is, Judah, whose "princes" alone were recognized by prophecy; those of the ten tribes were, in respect to the theocracy, usurpers.

A new metaphor taken from the vine, the chief of the fruit-bearing trees, as the lion is of the beasts of prey (see Eze 17:6). in thy blood--"planted when thou wast in thy blood," that is, in thy very infancy; as in Eze 16:6, when thou hadst just come from the womb, and hadst not yet the blood washed from thee. The Jews from the first were planted in Canaan to take root there [CALVIN]. GROTIUS translates as the Margin, "in thy quietness," that is, in the period when Judah had not yet fallen into her present troubles. English Version is better. GLASSIUS explains it well, retaining the metaphor, which CALVIN'S explanation breaks, "in the blood of thy grapes," that is, in her full strength, as the red wine is the strength of the grape. Gen 49:11 is evidently alluded to. many waters--the well-watered land of Canaan (Deu 8:7-9).

Destruction of the Kingdom, and Banishment of the People Eze 19:10. Thy mother was like a vine, planted by the water in thy repose; it became a fruitful and rich in tendrils from many waters. Eze 19:11. And it had strong shoots for rulers' sceptres; and its growth ascended among the clouds, and was visible in its height in the multitude of its branches. Eze 19:12. Then it was torn up in fury, cast to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit; its strong shoots were broken off, and withered; fire devoured them. Eze 19:13. And now it is planted in the desert, in a dry and thirsty land. Eze 19:14. There goeth out fire from the shoot of its branches, devoureth its fruit, so that there is no more a strong shoot upon it, a sceptre for ruling. - A lamentation it is, and it will be for lamentation. - From the lamentable fate of the princes transported to Egypt and Babylon, the ode passes to a description of the fate, which the lion-like rapacity of the princes is preparing for the kingdom and people. Israel resembled a vine planted by the water. The difficult word בּדמך we agree with Hvernick and Kliefoth in tracing to the verb דּמה, to rest (Jer 14:17), and regard it as synonymous with בּדמי in Isa 38:10 : "in thy repose," i.e., in the time of peaceful, undisturbed prosperity. For neither of the other renderings, "in thy blood" and "in thy likeness," yields a suitable meaning. The latter explanation, which originated with Raschi and Kimchi, is precluded by the fact that Ezekiel always uses the word דּמוּת to express the idea of resemblance. - For the figure of the vine, compare Psa 80:9. This vine sent out strong shoots for rulers' sceptres; that is to say, it brought forth powerful kings, and grew up to a great height, even into the clouds. עבתים signifies "cloud," lit., thicket of clouds, not only here, but in Eze 31:3, Eze 31:10,Eze 31:14. The rendering "branches" or "thicket of foliage" is not suitable in any of these passages. The form of the word is not to be taken as that of a new plural of עבות, the plural of עב, which occurs in Sa2 23:4 and Psa 77:18; but is the plural of עבות, an interlacing or thicket of foliage, and is simply transferred to the interlacing or piling up of the clouds. The clause 'ויּרא וגו, and it appeared, was seen, or became visible, simply serves to depict still further the glorious and vigorous growth, and needs no such alteration as Hitzig proposes. This picture is followed in Eze 19:12., without any particle of transition, by a description of the destruction of this vine. It was torn up in fury by the wrath of God, cast down to the ground, so that its fruit withered (compare the similar figures in Eze 17:10). מטּה עזּהּ is used collectively, as equivalent to מטּות עז (Eze 19:11); and the suffix in אכלתהוּ is written in the singular on account of this collective use of מטּה. The uprooting ends in the transplanting of the vine into a waste, dry, unwatered land, - in other words, in the transplanting of the people, Israel, into exile. The dry land is Babylon, so described as being a barren soil in which the kingdom of God could not flourish. According to Eze 19:14, this catastrophe is occasioned by the princes. The fire, which devours the fruit of the vine so that it cannot send out any more branches, emanates ממּטּה בדּיה, from the shoot of its branches, i.e., from its branches, which are so prolific in shoots. מטּה is the shoot which grew into rulers' sceptres, i.e., the royal family of the nation. The reference is to Zedekiah, whose treacherous breach of covenant (Eze 17:15) led to the overthrow of the kingdom and of the earthly monarchy. The picture from Eze 19:12 onwards is prophetic. The tearing up of the vine, and its transplantation into a dry land, had already commenced with the carrying away of Jeconiah; but it was not completed till the destruction of Jerusalem and the carrying away of Zedekiah, which were still in the future at the time when these words were uttered. - The clause 'קינה היא does not contain a concluding historical notice, as Hהvernick supposes, but simply the finale of the lamentation, indicating the credibility of the prediction which it contains. ותּהי is prophetic, like the perfects from ותּתּשׁ in Eze 19:12 onwards; and the meaning is this: A lamentation forms the substance of the whole chapter; and it will lead to lamentation, when it is fulfilled.