Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 19:1-9
Here are, I. Orders given to the prophet to bewail the fall of the royal family, which had long made so great a figure by virtue of a covenant of royalty made with David and his seed, so that the eclipsing and extinguishing of it are justly lamented by all who know what value to put upon the covenant of our God, as we find, after a very large account of that covenant with David (Psa 89:3, Psa 89:20, etc.), a sad lamentation for the decays and desolations of his family (v. 38, 39): But thou hast cast off and abhorred, hast made void the covenant of thy servant and profaned his crown, etc. The kings of Judah are here called princes of Israel; for their glory was diminished and they had become…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 19:7
knew . . . desolate palaces--that is, claimed as his own their palaces, which he then proceeded to "desolate." The Hebrew, literally "widows"; hence widowed palaces (Isa 13:22). VATABLUS (whom FAIRBAIRN follows) explains it, "He knew (carnally) the widows of those whom he devoured" (Eze 19:6). But thus the metaphor and the literal reality would be blended: the lion being represented as knowing widows. The reality, however, often elsewhere thus breaks through the veil.
fulness thereof--all that it contained; its inhabitants.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 19:6
And he went up and down among the lions - He became a perfect heathen, and made Judea as idolatrous as any of the surrounding nations. He reigned eleven years, a monster of iniquity, Kg2 23:30, etc.
John Gill on Ezekiel 19:7
And he knew their desolate palaces,.... He took notice of the palaces or seats of the richest men of the nation, and pillaged them of their treasure and wealth, and so they became desolate: it may be rendered, he "knew their widows" (x): or, "his own widows"; whom he made so; he slew the men to get their substance into his hands, and then defiled their widows:
and he laid waste their cities; by putting the inhabitants to death; or obliging them to leave them, and retire elsewhere, not being able to pay the taxes he imposed upon them, partly to support his own grandeur and luxury, and partly to pay the tribute to the king of Egypt:
and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the…
