Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 19:2
And say, What [is] thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
Thy mother – The people represented by Judah. Compare Gen 49:9; Num 23:24.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. What is thy mother? A lioness] Judea may here be the mother; the lioness, Jerusalem. Her lying down among lions, her having confederacy with the neighbouring kings; for lion here means king.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
What resemblance shall I use to set out the nature, deportment, and state of the mother of these princes? an unhappy mother of unhappy children! Or, Alas! thy mother, &c.
Thy; one of these was upon the throne at once, and therefore the prophet speaks to one at a time, in the singular number. Mother; the land of Judea and Jerusalem, the chief city of it, the royal family of David.
A lioness; though chosen of God to execute justice, defend the poor, to be his vicegerents, and to delight in mercy; yet once advanced, they soon degenerated into the fierce and ravening nature of the lioness, and as violently seized the prey.
She lay down; associated, couched, and grew familiar with, by leagues, commerce, and intermixture of marriages with neighbour kings, called here lions: thou didst learn their manners, and grewest fierce and bloody, as they.
She nourished: the Hebrew includes both her bringing forth many, and her advancing them to greatness: the royal family of flat nation had many kings, and some very great, but the time the prophet points now at in particular was after Josiah, whose character, given Jer 22:16, is, that he judged the poor and needy, but his successors were of another temper, as Jer 22:13-15,17.
Her whelps, i.e. her sons, successors to the crown, which could be called nothing else, to keep the decorum of the parable.
Among young lions; either foreign princes and kings, or else some of the fiercer, unjuster, aspiring, and tyrannizing princes at home; for such there were in these, as well as in Rehoboams times, who would have the sons finger thicker than the fathers loins.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. thy motherthe mother ofJehoiachin, the representative of David’s line in exile with Ezekiel.The “mother” is Judea: “a lioness,” as beingfierce in catching prey (Eze 19:3),referring to her heathenish practices. Jerusalem was called Ariel(the lion of God) in a good sense (Isa29:1); and Judah “a lion’s whelp . . . a lion . . . an oldlion” (Ge 49:9), to which,as also to Num 23:24; Num 24:9,this passage alludes.
nourished . . . among younglionsShe herself had “lain” among lions, that is,had intercourse with the corruptions of the surrounding heathen andhad brought up the royal young ones similarly: utterly degeneratefrom the stock of Abraham.
Lay downor “couched,”is appropriate to the lion, the Arab name of which means “thecoucher.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And say, what [is] thy mother?…. That is, say so to the then reigning prince, Zedekiah, what is thy mother like? to what is she to be compared? by whom is meant, not the royal family of David only, or Jerusalem the metropolis of the nation, but the whole body of the people; and so the Targum interprets it of the congregation of Israel. The answer to the question is,
a lioness; she is like to one, not for her strength and glory, but for her cruelty and rapine; for her want of humanity, mercy, and justice:
she lay down among lions; that is, kings, as the Targum interprets it Heathen princes, the kings of the nations about them, as of Egypt and Babylon, Jer 50:17; so called for their despotic and arbitrary power, tyranny, and cruelty: now this lioness, the people of the Jews, lay down among them, joined with them in leagues and marriages, and learned their manners, and became of the same temper and disposition:
she nourisheth her whelps among young lions; princes, as the Targum explains it; either the princes of Judah, who were become like young lions, fierce and cruel; or the princes of other nations, among whom the children of the royal family were brought up; or, however, they were trained up in the principles of such, even of arbitrary and despotic power, and were taught to oppress their subjects, and not execute justice and mercy among them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He says next, that their mother lay down among lions, alluding to the people’s origin from lions, as we said before, when the Prophet calls Judea the descendant of Canaan, and the sister of Sodom and Samaria. When he now says, their mother lay down among lions, he means that they were shamefully mixed with the corruption of the Gentiles, so that they did not differ from them. But God had chosen them as his peculiar people on the very condition of being separate from all the filth of the Gentiles. There was, therefore, a certain withdrawing of God’s favor when the mother of the people lay down among the lions, that is, when they all promiscuously gave themselves up to the perverse morals and superstitions of the Gentiles. He says, that she brought up whelps, or young lions, which she produced to these lions; since their origin was impure, being all Abraham’s children, but, as I have said, a degenerate race. He afterwards adds, that the lion’s whelp, or young lion, grew up till it became a lion: then it learnt to seize prey, says he, and to devour men. He refers to King Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, (2Kg 23:30 🙂 but he had before asserted that the whole people had a lion’s disposition, and that the princes, who were more exalted, were like whelps. As only one lion is here brought forward, it ought to be referred to the violence by which that wicked king manifested his real disposition. But if it be asked whence the lion went forth, the reply is, from amidst his brethren, for they were all lions’ whelps, or young lions. They could not administer the government either together or singly, but each devoured his brother, and was devoted to robbery and rapine. The king only, because freed from all fear, could surpass the rest in rapine and robbery with impunity. We see, then, that not only the king was here condemned, but that he becomes the type of the whole nation; because, since no one could restrain his passions, he could rob and devour mankind with unbridled freedom.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) Thy mother.Mother stands for the whole national communitythe theocracy, as is plain from Eze. 19:10. This was represented, since the captivity of the ten tribes, by Judah; and her princes, of the line of David, were the legitimate kings of the whole nation. The figure of the lion is a common one in Scripture (see Gen. 49:9; Num. 23:24; Num. 24:9), and was also familiar in Babylonia.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“What was your mother? – a lioness,
In the midst of the lions she couched – rearing her whelps,
And she brought up one of her whelps – he became a young lion,
And he learned to catch the prey – he devoured men.
The nations also heard of him – he was taken in their pits,
And they brought him with hooks into the land of Egypt.”
Israel (Judah) is likened to a lioness, strong and powerful, rearing her cubs. This was how she saw herself. And she was proud of her kings, and their warlike abilities, and looked to them to keep her safe.
Lions were a familiar feature of life in Palestine throughout the Old Testament and beyond. They were seen as fierce and noble beasts and were used to symbolise powerful control and rule (Gen 49:9; Mic 5:8; Num 23:24; Num 24:9 compare 1Ki 10:19-20). A royal lion was found on the seal of Shema from Megiddo.
So here Jehoahaz is likened to a lion descended from the lioness of Israel (Judah). Ezekiel is bringing out how Israel saw herself and her kings, in contrast with what happened to them. But Israel was wrong. He only reigned for three months before being carried off to Egypt by Pharaoh Necho (2Ki 23:31-33) where he eventually died (Jer 22:10-12), but the description is not of his reign but of how he was trained in warlike qualities. It explains that he was a warlike man, but that in spite of that he was made a captive. Why? Because he had forsaken Yahweh.
‘He was taken in their pits, and they brought him with hooks into the land of Egypt.’ His defeat and capture is described in terms of the ancient lion hunt.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 19:2. What is thy mother? a lioness Hereby is meant Jerusalem; the lions with which she was familiar, are the kings of the nations; the young lions which she produced, are the princes the successors of king Josiah, whose life and disgraces the prophet here points out.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 19:2 And say, What [is] thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
Ver. 2. What is thy mother? ] Whereby is meant thy city of Jerusalem and people of the Jews, who took these four for their kings, and soon had enough of them.
A lioness.
She lay down among lions.
She nourished her whelps among young lions.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
thy mother. Probably Hamutal, one of the wives of Josiah, the mother of Shallum (or Jehoahaz) and Zedekiah (2Ki 23:31 and Eze 24:18). The other son of Josiah (Jehoiakim) had a different mother (Zebudah). See 2Ki 23:36.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
A lioness: Judea, which possessed strength, courage, and sovereignty. Nah 2:11, Nah 2:12, Zep 3:1-4
she lay: Had confederacy with the neighbouring kings, and learned their manners.
her whelps: The sons of Josiah, who learned to be oppressive tyrants from the surrounding princes.
young lions: Job 4:11, Psa 58:6, Isa 5:29, Isa 11:6-9, Zec 11:3
Reciprocal: Psa 104:21 – The young Jer 13:18 – unto Eze 19:10 – mother Eze 24:3 – utter Eze 32:2 – Thou art like Mat 14:11 – and given Mar 6:24 – said Jam 5:1 – weep
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 19:2. The lamentation was to be in the form of a parable, using the lion species of animal for the comparison. Tiie mother was the nation of Judah that was considered a lion-ess among lions or other kingdoms. The princes or chief men of the nation of Judah would be referred to as whelps in the figurative language of the parable.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
19:2 And say, What [is] thy {b} mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
(b) That is Jehoahaz’s mother, or Jerusalem.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The prophet compared the former Davidic kings of Judah to a lioness. This was a common symbol of rulers in the ancient Near East, and the Israelites used the figure for the Davidic kings (Gen 49:9; Num 23:24; 1Ki 10:19-20; Mic 5:8; cf. Rev 5:5). [Note: See Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near . . ., p. 300; and ibid., ed., The Ancient . . ., plate 447.] This lioness was responsible for producing and nurturing young lion cubs, the kings that followed in the Davidic line.