Глава 19

Ezek.19:1. And you take lamentation against the prince of Israel. Ezek.19:2. And you say: why is your mother a lioness? that is, by what you mourn, foretell what will happen to the king of Israel. By the king of Israel he means one who had a throne not in Samaria (the kingdom of Samaria had long since ended), but in Jerusalem, for then the king of Judah reigned over all the remaining Israelites, and this is revealed to us by the fourth book of Kings and the second Chronicles. The Prophet named Jerusalem the mother of the king, because kings came from there. She calls her a lioness not only because of the royal dignity of the city, but also because of the audacity of her character. that is, she was jealous of the morals of the surrounding kings. in the midst of the lions, multiply your lionesses. This means what happened after Josiah, because in a short time four kings ruled Jerusalem - Johaz, Joachim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. Ezek.19:3–4. And one jumped off from her lionesses, and became a lion, and learned to admire admiration, people were eaten. And the nations heard of him, and they were corrupted, and they brought him in a bridle into the land of Egypt. The prophet means Jehoahaz, who, having become the successor to his father Josiah, was wicked before God and acted lawlessly with his subjects, but the Egyptian king, Pharaoh Necho, took him captive, took him bound to Egypt, and there he suffered punishment for his lawlessness. And this is what the Prophet meant by saying: “there will be corruption” of him. Then he adds: Ezek.19:5–7. And she saw that she was quickly taken away from her, and her aspirations perished: and he took another from his lionesses, and made him a lion, and living in the midst of lions, he became a lion, and learned to delight in admiration: people were devoured, and grazing in their cruelty, and set up their cities desolate, and destroyed the earth, and its fulfillment with the voice of his roaring. This depicted the Prophet Jeconiah, the son of Joachim, because he is talking about those who became captives and accepted the end of their lives on a foreign side, which is why in this case he did not mention Joachim, who was killed in Jerusalem. - So, I briefly expressed myself about the iniquity of Jeconiah, who, having reigned for three months with a few days, filled the city with unjust murders. And what is meant here is not Joachim, but Jehoiachin, is evidenced by the addition. For it is said: Ezek.19:8–9. And the nations lay down around the countries, and cleared away their lands, and they were destroyed. And he put him in a bridle and in a cage, and brought him to the king of Babylon, and threw him into prison, so that his voice might not be heard on the mountains of Israel. Joachim was not taken into captivity, but was killed in Jerusalem, but Jeconiah suffered everything that was said before. It is not without reason that the Prophet called the attack on him by the army, as if on a lion, “strings”, and the bonds imposed on him – “a bridle and a cage”, for, just as he called himself a lion in a figurative sense, so, in accordance with this, he depicts what happened to him allegorically; For a lion, a cage and a cage are appropriate. Having described this thus, he moves on to a parable of another kind and says: Ezek.19:10–11. Thy mother is a grape, like a flower planted on the water, its fruit and its branches were abundant from the water. And he received a rod of strength over the tribe of elders, and he was exalted in his majesty in the midst of the Loziyas: and he saw his majesty in the multitude of his Loziyas, that is, your mother was like a vine and a pomegranate tree, which was planted on the shore near the water, and because of the humidity there, it became green, adorned with flowers, and bears abundant fruit. It should be noted that the Prophet did not call the fruit good. By water he meant various gifts of God; He called royal power itself the rod of fortress, because the rod serves to admonish. The Prophet added: “over the tribe of elders,” because Jerusalem did not rule over all of Israel, but only over the government tribe of Judah. What is said: “and the sight of his majesty in the multitude of his loziya” means the arrogance of the city, inspired by its prosperity. Why does the Prophet add: Ezek.19:12. And it broke off in rage, and was quickly thrown to the ground, and the scorching wind dried up its fruits: its chosen ones: the rods of its strength were thrown away and desolate: fire dried it up, fire consumed it. Everything is said in a figurative sense and in a trivial sense, as about a grapevine and a pomegranate tree. The Prophet called the invasion of enemies “a scorching wind,” and “fire” the punishment that befell them due to God’s wrath. The prophet said that the rods of the fortress withered, because the kingdom also faded away. Then the Prophet again announces what disasters will befall Zedekiah after his captivity. Ezek.19:13. And now you will plant it in the desert, in a land without water and thirsty. After the burning of the city and the divine church, when all the leaders were partly killed and partly taken into captivity, Nebuzaradan installed Gedaliah as prince over the poor inhabitants who remained in Judea; Then the city was completely deserted, or better yet, all of Judea was deserted, because the walls were destroyed, the houses were burned and most of the inhabitants were killed and taken into captivity. Why does the Prophet say: “and now you will plant it in the desert,” but even in this situation, the Prophet continues, it will not last long, and the very remnant will perish. For it is said: Ezek.19:14. Fire went out from the rod of his chosen ones, and consuming them, and the rod of his strength was not in him: the tribe of the parable of mourning is, and there will be mourning. Ishmael, being of a royal family, envied Gedaliah and took advantage of the feigned friendship towards him, secretly plots against him, kills him and most of those with him, but being afraid of what he had done, he fled. All the others, fearing the wrath of the Chaldeans, went to Egypt with the Prophet Jeremiah. The Prophet expressed this, saying: “fire came out from the rod of his chosen ones, and he ate it, and there would not be in it the rod of the strength of the tribe, the scepter of dominion is a parable of lamentation, and it will be a parable of lamentation.” It is clear that the Prophet understands what happened before the return from captivity. For then Jerusalem was mourned by our own, but for strangers it became a byword of lamentation; It is the custom of people to say about those who have fallen into great disasters: so that I may not suffer the disasters that such and such endured. This is what the Prophet called “the parable of lamentation.” He added that “there is no rod of strength in him,” no tribe, no scepter, because before the return from captivity there was no prince or such a society that could form a tribe; upon returning from captivity, Jerusalem again acquired its former celebrity. Having thus foreshadowed this, the Prophet inserts a short story into his prophecy, and immediately combines the prophecy with this story.