“Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.” — Ezekiel 19:1-2

When I was in sixth grade, my creative writing class did a unit on figurative language. I learned that an allegory is a narrative in which a character, place, or event is used to teach a lesson about life, or to deliver a broader message about actual issues and occurrences. 

One example we studied was the children’s book titled The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss. In it, a boy learns how an imaginary creature, the Lorax, lived in a beautiful valley filled with Truffula trees until a Thneed factory took over and killed all the trees. Written in the late 1960s at the beginning of the environmental movement, the book picturesquely expressed Dr. Seuss’ view on pollution, anti-consumerism, and the impact on society when natural resources are wasted.

It was interesting to review some of my favorite books and identify those that were allegorical or symbolic in nature. Many see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis as a religious allegory. In it, Aslan the lion represents Christ, and the White Witch represents evil. Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan is another famous spiritual allegory. It tells the story of a man’s journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, representative of a Christian’s journey to Heaven.

Ezekiel used more symbolism and allegory than any other Old Testament prophet, but the viewpoints he expressed were not his own. They were divinely given messages from God. In today’s text, there is a dual allegory, in which the lioness and the vine symbolize the nation of Israel. These allegories are presented as “lamentations” — songs of mourning for the royal leadership during Judah’s final tragic days.

In the prophet’s account of two lions, the lioness represented Israel or Jerusalem in the community of nations. Her whelps, or cubs, were the princes mentioned in verse 1 — the final kings of Judah. Though the lioness mother had attempted to raise strong offspring, Ezekiel’s lamentation revealed that her enemies would prevail and the cubs would be taken captive. In this brief allegory, the prophet made it clear that because these two kings of Judah had ignored God’s commandments, He would cut them down after brief reigns.

Next, Ezekiel depicted Judah as a great vine that was destroyed in various ways: it was plucked up and cast down (representing armed conflict), dried up by an eastern wind (siege warfare and famine), stripped of fruit (death, attrition), consumed by fire (conquered), and transplanted (exiled). The complete collapse and end of the nation was soon to come.

Ezekiel’s task was to shatter illusions of safety with his hard-hitting words of doom. God’s coming judgment was certain, and these vivid word pictures were another effort to arrest the attention of the exiles in Babylon and make it impossible for them to ignore what was coming. 

How tragic it is when a person’s wrong choices prevent him from becoming what he could have been! That was the case with the rulers of Israel, and Ezekiel lamented how these rulers had forfeited their potential. Their resulting destruction should be a warning to us. Let us think soberly and clearly about where our choices are leading us, and do our best to ensure that our decisions align with God’s desire for our lives.

BACKGROUND

In this chapter, Ezekiel mourned for the House of David’s pending ruin and exile from the land. A lamentation, referenced in verse 1, was a type of poem sung at funerals that recognized the life and behaviors of the deceased. Delivered through similitudes, Ezekiel’s poem provided justification for God’s coming judgment against Judea and Jerusalem, and was a finale to the preceding prophecies. 

Lions were a prominent icon of that era, and in verses 1-9, the prophet used a lioness to symbolize the nation of Judah. The lions that she laid down among were the surrounding Gentile nations. The first cub, mentioned in verses 3-4, likely was a reference to Jehoahaz, Josiah’s youngest son, who was taken prisoner to Egypt by Pharaoh Necho. In verse 5, the phrase “When she saw that she had waited” implies the waiting was in vain. This may refer to a period during which the people anticipated Jehoahaz would return from Egypt, but he did not.

Scholars indicate the second cub in verses 5-9 is more difficult to identify. Several kings followed Jehoahaz — Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. It is possible that the second cub represents all these kings, illustrating how they lost their authority and power to Nebuchadnezzar.

Verse 10 is the beginning of another simile, in which Ezekiel used the figure of a vine to represent Judah; the phrase “in thy blood” denotes a bloodline or ancestry. Together with the reference to “waters,” this indicates Israel’s fruitful and privileged state in the past; this was particularly true during the reigns of David and Solomon. From this “mother,” there arose powerful native kings, which were exalted beyond what the size or wealth of the country justified. The phrase “appeared in her height” in verse 11 indicates the nation’s ascendancy was observable from afar. However, the nation’s end would come when the “rods” (rulers) would be plucked up, broken, withered, and consumed by fire. The people were transplanted into the “wilderness” — to places outside of Israel’s borders where Jewish life could not thrive. Verse 14 states that a fire went out from her own rods, indicating that the royal house itself, ending with Zedekiah, brought this destruction upon the nation. 

AMPLIFIED OUTLINE

II.     The condemnation of Judah and Jerusalem

        C.     The cause of Judah’s destruction

                 5.     The lamentation of Ezekiel (19:1-14)

                          a.     For the princes (19:1-9)

                                 (1)     For Jehoahaz in Egypt (19:1-4)

                                 (2)     For Jehoiachin in Babylon (19:5-9)

                          b.     For the land (19:10-14)

                                 (1)     The reign of Zedekiah (19:10-11)

                                 (2)     The ruin of Zedekiah (19:12-14)

A CLOSER LOOK

1. Who and what was Ezekiel lamenting in this chapter?
2. What is implied by the description in verse 7?
3. Verse 10 specifies that Israel had been “planted by the waters.” In what ways could that be said of you, and what responsibility does it indicate?

CONCLUSION

Ezekiel’s allegories mourned the fact that there would be no escape from the coming judgment. They challenge us to be sure our choices align with God’s will and purpose for our lives.