FM454

vs1, vs2, vs3, vs4, vs5, vs6, vs7, vs8, vs9, vs10, vs11, vs12, vs13, vs14

Ezekiel 19:1. Moreover, take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel. – Chapter 19 has the form of a dirge. It represents in antitype the downfall, in the Time of Trouble, of ecclesiasticism pictured first, as two roaring lions which are taken captive; and secondly, as a vine destroyed by fire of internal origin. The princes of Israel are the clergy.

Ezekiel 19:2. And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. – As the father and the mother of Isaac were Abraham and Sarah, and the spiritual father and mother of the true Church are Jehovah and His Covenant of Grace (Gal. 4:22-28), so the spiritual father and mother of ecclesiasticism, priestcraft, are the Devil and his covenant with death. (Gen. 3:4; Isa. 28:18.) "The Devil goeth about like a roaring lion." (1 Pet. 5:8.) Their nourishment has been "doctrines of devils."

Ezekiel 19:3. And she brought up one of her whelps; it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men. – Ecclesiasticism divided into two classes; one higher, richer, more educated than the other – "one of her whelps." They learned to devour men, make them their prey.

Ezekiel 19:4. The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt. – The unbelieving peoples heard them; they, the clergy, were taken in the pit of corrupt doctrine; they were captivated, taken captive, into worldliness, the wisdom of this world, of "Egypt."

Ezekiel 19:5. Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. – Another class of ecclesiasticism was developed, under the same false covenant with death, into a full-fledged lion,an embodiment and child of the eternal torment, trinity, inherent-immortality teachings.

Ezekiel 19:6. And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men. – This was the popular evangelist well trained in catching men and shekels.

Ezekiel 19:7. And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring. – The revivalists caught men by thousands, and "the fulness thereof," great contributions for a few weeks of noisy evangelism. FM455

Ezekiel 19:8. Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit. – Then the "unconvertible" people, anarchists, Socialists, etc., spread the net of their teachings. The people, indignant at their sufferings from wars and high cost of living, declined further support.

Ezekiel 19:9. And they put in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel. – Revolution and anarchy will place a complete restraint upon the revivalists, and bring them to their end.

Ezekiel 19:10. Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. – The false covenant-mother of ecclesiasticism is a system of thought, in the very blood; it is part and parcel of the existence of ecclesiasticism. It is "the vine of the earth," of Rev. 14:19. This system of error was once fruitful in gaining adherents.

Ezekiel 19:11. And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches. – The vine had seeming strong authority for the rulership "of them that bare rule," the clergy, "lords over God's heritage." (1 Pet. 5:3.) To a mighty and lofty height did the vine of the earth grow.

Ezekiel 19:12. But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them. – But in the fury of the world-wide war she will be "cast down to the ground." The truths arising from the presence of the dawning Sun of Righteousness will dry up the support of her fruit (church members). Her authority – rod – will be broken, withered, and destroyed in anarchy.

Ezekiel 19:13. And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. – In a world or hostile doctrines of Socialism and anarchy, in a worldwide drought of the water of the Word of God, the old system of sophistries will soon be in the wilderness condition, in a state of complete ostracism.

Ezekiel 19:14. And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. – The savage application in the world-wide war of the rod of the Divine authority of rulers will cause revolt, revolution and anarchy to spring up, like a fire, which will bring to an utter end the denominational clusters, the fruit of the vine of the earth.