11nd exalted position ancl power 11re grievously ahused, and princes oppress their people, the wise and good do mourn. National sins and calamities should awaken the sorrow of nil lovers of their God and country.-W. J. Vers. 10-14.-National prosperity and national ruin. "Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters," etc. '!'his paragraph completes the lamentation for the princes of;Israel. 'l'he figure is changed from the lione~s and the young lions to the vine and its branches and fruit. '!'his similitude is frequently used in the sacred Scriptures to represent the people of Israel (eh. xv.; xvii. 5-10; Ps. lxxx. 8-16; Isa. v. 1-7; Jer. ii. 21). Tho parable before us presents two pictures. I. A PIOTURE OF NA'l'lONAL PROSPERITY. (Vers. 10, 11.) 1. Some features of national prospe:rity. (1) Favourable circumstances. "A vine planted by the waters." Palestine, the land of the chosen people, was very favourably situated in many respects. It was almost completely surrounded by natural fortifications. On their northern frontier were the ranges of Lebanon; from their southern frontier "stretched that • great and terrible wilderness,' which rolled like a sea between the valley of the Nile and the valley of the Jordan." On the east they were guarded by the Pastern desert and by "the vast fissure of the Jordan valley;" and on the west by the Mediterranean, which, "when Israel first settled in Palestine, was not yet the thorouishfare-it wa~ rather the boundary and the terror of the Eastern nations." And to the Western wor Id the coast of Palestine opposed an inhospitable front. 1 Moreover, the land in which this vine was planted was remarkable for its fertility (cf. Numb. xiii. 27; Deut. viii. 7-9). Palestine, says Dean Stanley," not merely by its situation, but by its com- parative fertility, might well be considered the prize of the Eastern world, the possession of which was the mark of God's peculiar favour; the spot for which the nations would contend; as on a smaller scale the Bedouin tribes for some • diamond of the desert,' some 'palm-grove islanded amid the waste.' And a land of which the blessings were 110 evidently the gift of God, not as in I Egypt of man's labour; which also, by reason of its narrow extent, was so constantly within reach and sight of the neighbouring desert, was eminently calculated to raise the thoughts of the nation to the Supreme Giver of all these blessings, and to bind it by the dearest ties to the land which he had so manifestly favoured." (2) Efficient rulers. "She had strong rods for the sceptre of them that bare rule." "There grew up in Jerusalem.Judah strong shoots of David, able to rule (Gen. xlix. 10)." All her kings were not eminent either for capability or character; hut some of them certainly were ; e.g. David, Solomon, Asa., Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Hezekiah, Josiah. (3) Manifest progress. "She was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters . . . . Her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches." In the time of David and Solomon great was the prosperity of the nation (cf. 1 Chron. xiv. 17; nix. 26-28; 2 Chron. ix.). Even under Zedekiah (as we pointed out on eh. xvii. 5, 6) an encouraging measure of progress and prosperity might have been attained if he had remained faithful to his engagements with the King of Babylon. 2. The great source of national prosperity. " She was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters." "The many waters," says Hengstenberg, "signify the Divine blessing which ruled over Israel, the rich influx: of grace." The Israelites in a special sense owed their national existence and power and prosperity to Jehovah their God. And in all times and places true and lasting national prosperity can only be attained by compliance with the Law of God and realization of his blessing. "Righteousness exalteth a nation," etc. ; " The throne is established by righteousness ; " "The God of Israel, he giveth strength and power unto his people." He also " bringeth princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity." II. A PICTURE OF NATIONAL RUIN. (Vers. 12-14.) Schroder calls attention to the sudden transition from the description of the prosperity of this vine to the declara- tion of its destruction. " Without the intervention of anything further, there follows its splendid growth, like a lightnin~-flash from _the clear hea~ens, the complet~ over- throw of the vine i.e. of Jerusalem-Judah, the birthplace of km?:s, and therewith the 1>avidic kino-dom:" 1. Some features of this ruin. (1) Favourable circumstances are txclmnaed 0 f;r adverse ones. Formerly sho was" planted by the waters;'' and now sh& 1 Dr. Stanley's ' Siiini and l'akati.Ile,' oh. ii.
2 A 354 'l'HE BOOK O1~ THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [on. xx, 1-49.