A Lament for Israel’s Princes – After the individual judgment/justi cation of chapter 18, we’re back to the political circumstances of Judah’s last days, picking up where chapter 17 left o . Lament and dirges are usually associated with death, like David’s lament over the death of Saul and Jonathan (2 Sam 1:17) or for King Josiah at his death (2 Chr 35:25). Typical lament is in 3:2 meter. Still, this lament doesn’t conform precisely (see chapters 26-32). They also follow a “once versus now” pattern, but also not here. It also resembles fables or parodies, especially as it laments a death that hasn’t yet happened. It functions like an extended metaphor or even allegory. The Allegory of the Lioness and Her Cubs (19:2-9) — In the Psalter, lions are usually emblems of a ferocious enemy (Pss. 7:2; 17:12). In prophecy, lions represent erce cruelty (Nahum 2:11-13). Lions are a common symbol of royalty in Egypt and Assyria, and the Near East. In Balaam’s oracles, the nation of Israel itself is compared with a lion (Num 23:24; 24:9). In Moses’ blessing, the gure of a lion is used of the tribe of Gad (Deut 33:20). But the main predecessor is Jacob’s blessing of Judah in Gen 49:8-12, sharing words for “lion,” “lion cub,” “prey,” “crouch,” and “lioness.” The lion is a sign of Judah’s rule, but that rule has miscarried and becomes a caricature of God’s intent (see Zeph 3:3). Not until Jesus Christ Himself appears will the blessing be ful lled in the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” (Rev 5:5). The entire Davidic line is the “mother” of all legitimate individual kings, not limited to Hamutal, the mother of Jehoahaz and Zedekiah. This approach is common to Jerusalem: “The Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all” (Gal 4:26). But the rst cub is Jehoahaz, the only scion exiled to Egypt. The second could be Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, or Zedekiah. Commentators are not in agreement. But Ezekiel’s purpose through gurative and generalized language is not to rehearse history details. Instead, he stresses that the entire Davidic line has substituted its purposes for God’s (except for Josiah [640-609 BC], who initiated the reform after discovering the Torah in the Temple.) Babylon is a symbol of death and the grave. The immanent overthrow of the royal house and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple were intended to…