“Moreover,
A conjunction saying,
in addition to what was just said.
What was just said?
Judgement is coming.
Repent. I take no pleasure in death, turn and live. Ezekiel 18:30-32.
Moreover, Ezekiel, since they won’t repent, turn and
live...
take up a lamentation
Prepare a dirge, a
funeral march, a swan song, a lamentation...
for the princes of Israel,
Specifically, the
last kings of Judah, who were evil sons, and one grandson, of Godly King Josiah.
609 BC. Jehoahaz (aka
Shallum), king for three months.
609-597 BC. Jehoiakim,
king for eleven years.
597 Jehoiachin:
Jehoiakim’s son, Josiah’s grandson, king for three months.
597-586 BC Zedekiah,
king for eleven years.
1 Chronicles 3:15.
2 and say:
‘What is your mother? A lioness:
This refers to the
kingdom of Judah.
It comes from Genesis
49:8-11, when Jacob was blessing each of his sons. When he got to Judah, he
said this:
8 “Judah, you are he whom your
brothers shall praise;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father’s children shall bow down before you.
9 Judah is a lion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes;
And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
11 Binding his donkey to the vine,
And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
He washed his garments in wine,
And his clothes in the blood of grapes.
Remember verse ten.
It is a Messianic prophecy. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, means
a King’s reign from Judah shall have no end.
Remember verse eleven,
it is a foreshadowing of when The Lion, returns with a roar.
She lay down among the lions;
The kingdom of Judah
commits idolatry with surrounding pagan nations.
Among the young lions she nourished her cubs.
She raised her
children in the ways of the world.
3 She
brought up one of her cubs,
Jehoahaz, also known
as Shallum (1 Chronicles 3:15, Jer. 22:11-12).
And he became a young lion;
He became strong. He
became king at 23 when his Godly father Josiah died in battle.
He learned to catch prey,
He was violent.
And he devoured men
He was ruthless. He did
evil in the sight of the Lord. 2 Kings 23:32.
4 The
nations also heard of him;
Even the evil nations
thought he was evil.
He was trapped in their pit,
And they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt.
This is how we know
it is referring to Jehoahaz, because he is the king that was taken to Egypt.
2 Kings
23:31-34. Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he
reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the
daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. (NOTE: This in not Jeremiah the Prophet). 32 And he did evil in the sight
of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. (Fathers, not father, his father was Godly
Josiah, this refers to ungodly ancestors like great grandfather Manasseh and
grandfather, Amon). 33 Now Pharaoh Necho put him in prison at
Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he
imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of
gold. 34 Then Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in
place of his father Josiah, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh took
Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there.
Now, there’s an
eleven year gap between verses 4 and 5, while Jehoiakim reigned from 609 – 597
between Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin.
Jehoiakim is skipped
in the dirge, perhaps because he was exceedingly wicked and cursed, perhaps
because he’s the only one not taken captive, but probably because, he was an
illegitimate king, he was installed as a puppet by Pharaoh.
Here’s a snapshot
into the wicked life of Jehoiakim:
Jeremiah 22:19. He
shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and cast out beyond the
gates of Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 26:23,
Jehoiakim had the Lord's Prophet Urijah, killed
Jeremiah 36:23–24, as
the scroll of Jeremiah was read, declaring the invasion of Egypt and Babylon
was God's judgement on Judah due to their wickedness. Jehoiakim, cut off the
scroll and threw it into the fire. (Same evil as those trying to rewrite and
erase the Godly history of America).
Jeremiah 36:30. He
shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall
be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.
597 BC this prophecy
was fulfilled when, in the eleventh year of Jehoiakim’s reign, he stopped
paying tribute to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar responded by besieging Jerusalem.
According to Josephus, Jehoiakim was killed during the siege, and his body was
thrown over the city wall. LIKE GARBAGE
5 ‘When she
saw that she waited, that her hope was lost,
She took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.
Judah made Jehoiakim’s
eighteen year old son, Jehoiachin, their king. 2 Kings 24:8.
6 He roved
among the lions,
And became a young lion;
He learned to catch prey;
He devoured men.
7 He knew
their desolate places,
And laid waste their cities;
The land with its fullness was desolated
By the noise of his roaring.
Jehoiachin, the grandson of Godly Josiah, did evil in
the sight of the sight of the Lord. 2 Kings 24:9.
Just one generation from the strong Godly national
revival of Josiah to the corrupt, wretched, weakness of his sons and grandson.
“Freedom
is never more than one generation from extinction.” President Ronald Reagan.
8 Then the
nations set against him from the provinces on every side,
And spread their net over him;
He was trapped in their pit.
9 They put
him in a cage with chains,
And brought him to the king of Babylon;
They brought him in nets,
That his voice should no longer be heard on the mountains of
Israel.
597 BC. Jehoiachin,
was king for only three months, when Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, again,
and took him captive to Babylon, where he died. 2 Kings 24:11-12.
10 ‘Your mother was like a vine in your bloodline,
Planted by the waters,
Fruitful and full of branches
Because of many waters.
Oh, beautiful land of Judah, with purple mountain
majesty above the fruited plain, where God shed His grace on thee, and crowned
thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
11 She had strong branches for scepters of rulers.
She towered in stature above the thick branches,
And was seen in her height amid the dense foliage.
Oh, dear Judah, you have the blood of strong righteous
rulers in your veins.
Your founding fathers Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob,
and David and Solomon... (and George Washington, and John Adams, and Abraham
Lincoln...) rose and fought and stayed the course, and laid the foundation of a
Godly, prosperous, blessed nation.
For you to tend and keep and enjoy, life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness.
12 But she was plucked up in fury,
She was cast down to the ground,
And the east wind dried her fruit.
Her strong branches were broken and withered;
The
fire consumed them.
13 And now she is planted in the wilderness,
In a dry and thirsty land.
Instead of staying the course of your founding
fathers, your founding documents, your constitution... you rejected the Source
of your excellence and turned to false foreign gods.
Make no mistake. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man
sows that shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7.
You’ve sown to the wind and are reaping the whirlwind.
14 Fire has come out from a rod of her branches
And devoured her fruit,
So that she has no strong branch—a scepter for ruling.’ ”
This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.
THE END.
The swan song goes silent.
The lamentation breathes its last.
586 BC. Zedekiah deposed from the throne ended a lamentable,
wicked, rule, but more alarming, ended the royal dynasty of David.
Your very own rulers burn you to the ground.
Corruption, waste, fraud and abuse, from within, devour
you.
Godly leadership is replaced by godless foreign
interests.
The trajectory of the
nation is a death march to the grave.
But how could this
happen?
They had promises
from God.
2 Samuel 7:16
And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever
before you. Your throne shall be established forever.
Isaiah 9:7
Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon
the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish
it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The
zeal of the Lord will perform this.
But it was like the lights went out, all went black.
Psalm 11:3. If the foundations are
destroyed, what can the righteous do?
What do you do when all is lost, with no hope in sight?
The faith chapter opens answering that question:
Faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1.
The solution is no mystery. The plan is already made.
The path is clear to see. Follow the faith giants who through faith and
patience received the Promise. Hebrews 6:12.
The Lord through Jeremiah told them plainly, but they
refused:
Jeremiah
6:16
This is what the LORD says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for
the old, Godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for
your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’
Nevertheless, His Truth marches on, and in the
fullness of time, The Lion of Judah, came as a cub, but quickly grew
to be known as, The King.
Just to be sure, Pilate asked:
Are You The King of the Jews? (Matthew
27:11).
Pilate did not ask, “Are you a king... he asked are
You THE King. Definite article, “the”. Are You, The One and Only King?
Jesus said, “It is as you say.” In other Words: I
AM.
In the beginning, in the first book, in Genesis, the
precedent was set when Jacob prophesied about the scepter never departing from The
Lion of Judah.
In the middle the Lord told Ezekiel to write a lament
for the lions of Judah who failed.
But in the end, in the last book, in Revelation, John
is told, not to weep, not to lament, for the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of
David, has prevailed... Revelation 5:5.
The Lion King, is coming back to roar, as King of
kings and Lord of lords, Revelation 19:11-16.
Now
I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on
him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He
judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like
a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had
a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed
with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of
God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed
in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out
of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the
nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He
Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty
God. 16 And He has on His robe and
on His thigh a name written:
KING
OF KINGS AND
LORD OF LORDS.
Previously we said to
remember Genesis 49:11, it foreshadows when The Lion, returns with a
roar.
Genesis
49:11... He washed his garments in wine,
And his clothes in the blood of grapes.
Revelation
19: 13 He was clothed
with a robe dipped in blood... 15
...He Himself treads the winepress
The lions of Judah died in their iniquity, but The
Lion of Judah, died FOR our iniquity, and turned
death itself backwards.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, those kings had it made, until
they let their blessing become their god. The nation of Israel was blessed
beyond measure, until they rejected You.
We are not so different.
Please forgive US and help US to return to
You. Individually, and corporately. As a Church and nation, humbly honoring You.
It’s a big ask. Our internal corruption is akin to what we’ve just read. But,
Lord, You specialize in bringing Life from death. So, we Your people, humble
ourselves, seek Your face, turn from our wicked ways, and trust, You, will do,
what only You can do, and heal our land.
Now, this moment, and every moment from here
through Eternity, keep us busy, about Your business of being soul winners and
disciple makers.
Thank You.
We Love You, forever.
Amen.
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Kings, Ezekiel 19
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Kings, Ezekiel 19
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