A Lament Over Israel’s Princes
Ezekiel 19
“Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel and say: ‘What a lioness was your mother among the lions! She lay down among them 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 became a man-eater. The nations heard about him, and he was trapped in their pit. They led him with hooks to the land of Egypt’” (Ezekiel 19:1-4).
A lament was a type of prayer or song written or sung in response to a sorrowful experience, grief, judgment or death. David wrote a lament after the deaths of King Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:19-27). Jewish and Christian traditions credit Jeremiah with writing the laments found within the Book of Lamentations due to the sorrow he felt with the fall of Jerusalem and Judah. Laments were also common in the ancient Near East as a sendoff for a deceased person. Therefore, when the Lord told Ezekiel to take up a lament over the leaders of Israel, this was not a celebratory experience.
The lioness is the nation of Judah, and her cubs are the nation’s various kings. After the death of King Josiah, one of his sons, Jehoahaz, succeeded him as king for a bried three months but was dethroned and carried off to Egypt by Pharaoh Neco (2 Kings 23:33-34). Jehoiakim was the next king and reigned for eleven years. However, he was also dethroned and killed during King Nebuchadnezzar’s first seige.
Continued in Print Version...TBA
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