Commentary on Prov Ecc SoS Isa Jer Lam Eze Dan, Ezekiel · Chapter 19
CHAP. XIX.
Ver. 1. MOreover take thou up a lamentation] A Threnodia, a doleful ditty. In all ages things joyful and ſorrowful, were made up in ſongs, and ballads for popular uſe.
For the Princes of Iſrael] Thoſe four laſt Kings (Princes rather then Kings, becauſe vaſſals to Egypt and Babylon) who by moving unneceſſay wars, wrought their own and their Countries ruine.
Ver. 2. What is thy mother?] Whereby is meant thy City of Jeruſalem and people of the Jewes, who toke theſe four for their Kings, and ſoon had enough of them.
A Lioneſſe] So called for her nobleneſſe, courage and cruelty.
She lay down among lions] Alludit ad coitum: it ſignifieth that this State, by converſing with other Heathen Princes, had been corrupted by them, and conformed unto them.
She nouriſhed her whelps among young Lions] From whom they took in but few good Principles for young Princes. Wickedneſſe is ſoon learned. Of a certain Prince of Germany it was ſaid, Eſſet alius ſi eſſet apud alios, his company undid him: ſo it did Julian the Apoſtate.
Ver. 3. And ſhe brought up one of her whelps] This was Jehoahaz.
It became a young Lyon] Cunning, and cruel, and having never a good property, though the ſon of good Joſiah: who might better have ſaid then that Pope did of his wicked ſon, Caeſar Bergia, Haec vitia me non commonſtratore dedicit, He never learned it of his father.
It devoured men] He was a very Cannibal to his ſubjects, and made no more conſcience to undoe a poor man, to ſeek and ſuck his blood, then to eat a meals-meat when hungry, Pſal. 14.4.
Ver. 4. The nations alſo heard of him] His Lion-like diſpoſition and practiſes were ſoon noiſed and noticed.
He was taken in their pit] As Lions are taken by their hunters.Ex condicto omnes conveniunt ut cam capiant. Tyrants hold not their own long: thoſe beaſts are made to be taken and deſtroyed; as Nero, whom the Senate judged to death as an enemy to man-kind; and as Commodus who was, ſaith Oroſius, cunctis incommodus, a miſchief to mankind.
Ver. 5. Now when ſhe ſaw that ſhe had waited, and her hope was loſt] She looked for Jehoahaz his return out of Egypt, as Siſera's mother did for his ſafe and victorious return from the battle; but all in vain. The hope of the Hypocrite ſhall periſh.
Then ſhe took another of her whelps] A brat of the ſame breed, and of no better condition, Judea changed her Lords oft, but not her miſeries: ſo did Rome in the times betwixt Auguſtus and Conſtantine the Great: the names of thoſe few of them that were good, might be written within the compaſſe of a ſignet, as One ſaid. Scarce any of them dyed a natural death, unleſſe it were Veſpatian, Tack.qui ſolus Imperatorum mutatus in melius, who alſo was the only Emperour that became better by his preferment.
Ver. 6. He went up and down &c.] Of whom he learned to King it, and to lionize it: See ver. 2, 3.
Learned to catch the prey] To pull his Subjects, and to make havock, as our Henry the third did, who was therefore called Regni dilapidator.
And devoured men] As ver. 3. See Jer. 20.17.
Ver. 7. And he knew their deſolate places] He had made them deſolate and bereft them of their right owners whom he had devoured, and then ſeized them for himſelf. Some read and render it, He knew their deſolate widowes, i. e. He firſt kild up their husbands, and then lay with the widows: the men he devoured, the women he defloured: ſuch work this wicked Prince made, till God took him in hand; as he did alſo the other three here lamented, of whom may be ſaid, as Plutarch doth of Galba, Otho & Vitellius Emperours, that they were like Kings in a tragedy, which laſt no longer then the time that they are repreſented on the ſtage.
Ver. 8. Then the Nations ſet againſt him on every ſide] Nebuchadnezzar, with the neighbour Nations his auxiliaries.
They ſpred their net over him] As they did alſo over the two laſt Kings (though not here ſpecified) Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, becauſe they choſe rather to run the hazzard of ruine by rebellion, then to continue ſafely with ſlavery.
Leones maxime foveis capiuntur. In clauſtrum.He was taken in their pit] See ver. 4. an ordinary way of taking lions, as Pliny telleth us.
Ver. 9. And they put him inward in chaines] Or hookes. As lyons are not looked upon, but through a gate. God knows how to hamper the moſt truculent tyrants, as he did alſo Bajazet.
They brought him into holds] Into ſome ſtrong tower or rock where he dyed; and his body was afterwards thrown out upon a dunghil, Jer. 22.18.
Ver. 10. Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood] The ſame lamentation is here continued, though under another parable, viz. of a waſted vine. Jeruſalem was once a generous fruitful ſpreading vine. It began to be ſo again in ſome ſort under Zedekiah, if he could have been contented. See on chap. 17.5, 8.
Ver. 11. And ſhe had ſtrong rods for ſcepters] So firm were the branches of this vine, ſo many and likely to ſucceed him in the Kingdom were Zedekiah's children; his Nobles alſo were men of great parts, and fit for greater employments.
And ſhe appeared in her height] High ſhe grew, and withall highminded, and ſo ripe for ruine.
Ver. 12. But ſhe was pluckt up in fury] And ſo thrown, with a force, to the ground, as a man doth a dry or barren plant.
The Eaſt wind dryed up her fruit] See chap. 17.10. It is ventus urens & exſiccans, this was Nebuchadnezzar and his Army.
Herodot. l. 1. cap. 193. Plin. l. 6. c. 26.Ver. 13. And now ſhe is planted in a wilderneſſe] Babylon was no wilderneſſe, but fruitful beyond credulity; But the poor captive Jews had little joy of it, for ſome time at leaſt.
In a dry and thirſty ground] In terra ſicca & ſiticuloſa: ſo it was to them (though never ſo well watered) becauſe they wanted there the waters of the Sanctuary, and many other comforts of their own country. See Pſal. 137.
Ver. 14. And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches] i. e. Zedekiah by his perjury and rebellion hath ruined all; ſet all on a light fire.
So that ſhe hath no ſtrong rod, &c.] None to ſpeak of till Shiloh come. Rulers indeed they had after this and Governours, Hag. 2.21. but no Kings of their own Nation.
This is a lamentation] See on ver. 1.
And ſhall be for a lamentation] Jeruſalem plangitur & plangetur. The nation of the Jews ſhall never want matter of mourning.