Ezekiel 19:8-10
The Voice
8 Then all the nations in the surrounding provinces came together to hunt the great lion.
They set traps for him, and they caught him.
9 With hooks they pulled him into a cage
and took him to the king of Babylon.
The great lion was put in a prison
so that his roar was no longer heard in the mountains of Israel.
Again God informs Ezekiel and the exiles of the coming destruction of Jerusalem. The lioness is Judah, the young lions are the nations surrounding Judah, and the cubs are her kings. This metaphor is appropriate since the Davidic monarchy comes from the tribe of Judah, characterized as a lion in Genesis 49:9. The first cub is Jehoahaz. This son of the great King Josiah ruled for only three months after his father died in 609 b.c.; he was quickly captured and deported to Egypt by Pharaoh Neco when Egypt made Judah a vassal state. The story of this cub is the historical precedent for what will happen to the second cub, Zedekiah. Prior to 586 b.c. Zedekiah fraternizes with leaders of other nations—represented by the other lions—until he will be imprisoned in Babylon by those other lions, specifically Nebuchadnezzar.
10 Eternal One: Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard,
planted near a rushing stream;
The vine grew healthy fruits and branches
because of the abundant supply of water.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
