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Ezekiel 19 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
In this elegy, Ezekiel mourns the lion cubs (kings of Judah) who were brought up by the lioness (nation of Judah). An elegy is a poem of serious reflection that is typically a lament for the dead. Specifically, this elegy was referring to the captivity of Jehoahaz (609 BC), Jehoiachin (597 BC), and the destruction of the Davidic dynasty with Zedekiah (586 BC).
Again using the metaphor of a vine, Ezekiel mourns for Judah which was plucked by God and planted in the wilderness of a dry and thirsty land. It was a shameful ending for the house of David. Though there would no longer be a king, the lineage of Christ continued in exile until the Messiah was born to the virgin Mary.
It is interesting to trace the roots of both Mary (Luke 3) and Joseph (Matthew 1) in order to find that both families go all the way back to the sons of David (Solomon and Nathan). In this way, God kept His promise of bringing a Savior through the line of David even though the nation itself suffered in exile.
In fact, the exile itself blinded the nation’s eyes to God’s Son in the flesh. For years, the Jews anticipated a return to the Davidic dynasty. It would never come. Just like the people of Ezekiel’s time preferred to align themselves with Egypt in hopes of deliverance, the people of Jesus’ time preferred Caesar and the Romans to God’s Son. And yet, in due time, they would rebel against the Roman authorities and experience the turmoil of their decisions as Jesus’ own words against the temple and Jerusalem would come true.
And while some were talking about the temple, that it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts, He said, 6 “As for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down.”
Luke 21:5-6 NASB
And this is where I want to land with some interesting thoughts…
Where have we become fixated on our plans for our lives? Where have we taken the promises of God and stretched them to fit our perception and circumstances? We are not much different from the people of Judah. They irrationally believed that their plans would be blessed when their actions did not line up with God’s desires. They were living in rebellion and twisting truth to satisfy their own dreams. The most shocking part of this story is that even though God knew their hearts, He still followed through with His part of the plan by sending Jesus to conquer sin and death for stubborn people like us. It’s incomprehensible.