10-30). U is noticeo.ble tha.t the princes "pala~es" differ in a single letter only, an,! oro clcscribed o.s being of Israel. The there may have been an error in transcri p- LXX. gives the singulo.r, "the prince," tion. On the whole, I adhere to the Autho- and Hitzig o.nd Ewo.ltl ndopt this reading, rized Version and Revised Version (text).. applying it to Zedekiah. Currey explains, "He knew (i.~. eyed with Ver. 2.-Whe.tisthymothert etc.; better, satisfaction) hie palace~," from which ho with the Vulgate, LXX., and Keil, Why had ejected their former owners, as hi a did thy mother, a lioness, lie down among father Jehoiakim had doue (Jer. xxii. 15, 16). Zio11esaes? The image may have been sug- Ewald follows the Targum in a various gested by Gen. xlix. 9 and Numb. xxiii. 24, reading of the verb, and gets the meaning, or perhpe a.lso by Nab. ii. 11, 12. The "he de~troyed its palaces." Interpreting U1e lioness is Israel, the kingdom idealized and parable, we have Jehoiachin describe,! as personified. The lionesses among whom alarming Nebuchadnezzar and the neigh- she ho.d lain down are the heathen king- bouring nations by his activity, and there- doms. The question o.eks why she ho.d fore carried off to Babylon as Jehoo.haz had become as one of them and adopted their been to Egypt. The young lion was to roar cruelty and ferocity. in chains, not on the " mountains ef Israel." Ver. 31-The whelp, as ver. 4 shows, is Ver. 10.-Anolher parable comes close Jehoo.haz, also known as Shallum (Jer. upon the heels of the first. Thy mother ; :xxii. 11), who "did evil" in the sight of sc. Jndah or Jerusalem, as the mother of the Lord (2 Kings xxiii. 32), the words Jehoiachin, who is still in Ezekiel's thoughts, that follow pointing to cruelty and oppres- and is addressed by him. In thy blood. sion like that of Zedekiah. The po.ssage (For the comparison of the vine, see eh. finds a somewhat striking parallel in xvii. 6.) No satisfactory meaning can be lEechylus, • Agam.,' 695-715. got out of the words, the nearest being "in Ver. 4.-The nations also heard of him, etc. thy life, thy freshneas," the sap of the vine The fact that lies under the parable is that being thought of as its blootl; and critics Egypt and its allies began to be alarmed os have been driven to conjectural readings or they watched the aggressive policy of Jeho- renderings. The Jewish interpreters, Tar- ahaz, as men are alarmed when they hear gum, Rashi, Kimchi, and margin of Revised that a young lion is in the neighbourhood, Version, give, " in thy likeness," sc. "like and proceed to la.y snares for him. In thee;" Keil, "in thy repose," sc. in the pe- ohe.ins, etc.; literally, nose-rings, such a.a riod of quiet prosperity. Hitzig boldly adopts were put into the nostrils of brutes or men a reading which gives, "a vine climbing ( eh. xxxviii. 4; 2 Kings xi.x. 28 ; Isa.. xxxvii. on the pomegranate; " but (/). The many 29). The mention of Egypt points to the waters reproduce the imagery of eh. xvii. 5. deportation of Jehoe.ha.:t by Pharaoh-Necho Ver. 11.-The verse describes generally (2 ;Klngs xxiii. 84; Jer. xxii. 11). the apparent strength of the kingly line of Ver. 5.-The second lion-whelp is identi- David. The word for thiok branches, which fied by ver. 9 with Jehoia.ohin. For some occurs again in eh. xxxi. 3, 10, 14, is taken reason or other, probably because he, as by Keil and Fiirat as meaning" thick clouds," having "slept with his fathers," we.a not so as describing the height to wllich the tree conspicuous an instance of retribution, Eze- grew. So the Revised Version (margin). kiel passes over Jehoiakim (B.c. 607-599). Ver. 12.-The parable, like that of eh. Ver. 7.-He knew their desolate palaces; xvii. I 0, describes the sudden downfall of literally, widows; but the word is used Jerusalem and the kingly house. The" dry figuratively in Isa. xiii. 22, in the sense of ground" is Bij,bylon, and the new" planting" "desolate houses" (comp. Isa. xlvii. 8). So indicates the deportation of Jehoiachin and the Vulgate gives didicit viduaa facere; the chief men of Judah. and Keil adopts that meaning hero, "he Ver. 14.-Fire is gone out. The words knew, i.e. outraged, the widows of Israel." o.re an eoho of Judg. ix. 15. Zedekio.h's The Revised Verdion admits it in the mar- reign was to work destruction for his people, gin. The two words for "widows" and as that of Abimeleoh had done.
HOMILETICS. Ver. 1.-" A lamentaUon for the princes of Israel." Ezekiel follows up his predic- tions of approaching judgment and his exhortations to repentance with an elegy on the distresses of the princes of Israel. I. THE FATE OF THE PRINCES STIRRED DEEP ~·EELINGS. It became the inspiration of an ode. True poetry has its fountains in deep emotion. Thus a living religion naturally finds expression in song, and the spiritual experience of men is utternl ill 346 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [on. xrx. 1-14,