Ezekiel 19:1-14: a reflection

1“Moreover, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2and say, ‘What was your mother? A lioness. She couched among lions, in the middle of the young lions she nourished her cubs. 3She brought up one of her cubs. He became a young lion. He learned to catch the prey. He devoured men. 4The nations also heard of him. He was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt. 5“‘Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her cubs, and made him a young lion. 6He went up and down among the lions. He became a young lion. He learned to catch the prey. He devoured men. 7He knew their palaces, and laid waste their cities. The land was desolate with its fullness, because of the noise of his roaring. 8Then the nations attacked him on every side from the provinces. They spread their net over him. He was taken in their pit. 9They put him in a cage with hooks, and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into strongholds, so that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israel. 10“‘Your mother was like a vine in your blood, planted by the waters. It was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. 11It had strong branches for the scepters of those who ruled. Their stature was exalted among the thick boughs. They were seen in their height with the multitude of their branches. 12But it was plucked up in fury. It was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were broken off and withered. The fire consumed them. 13Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. 14Fire has gone out of its branches. It has devoured its fruit, so that there is in it no strong branch to be a scepter to rule.’ This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.”

God gives Ezekiel a lament to raise over the princes of Israel, a song of grief. He pictures them first as lions' cubs, raised to strength, who then are trapped and carried away captive; and then he pictures the royal line as a vine, once fruitful and full of branches, planted by abundant waters, its branches strong enough for a ruler's scepter, but now plucked up in fury, cast down, dried by the east wind, its strong branches broken and burned. And the passage ends: This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

Notice that this word of judgment takes the form of a lament, a song of grief. God does not gloat over the fall of the princes and the withering of the vine; he mourns it. Even where the fall was deserved, the loss of what was once fruitful and full of promise is met with grief, not glee. There is a proper sorrow over ruin, even ruin brought on by sin, and God gives voice to it.

That is worth learning from. When we see the fall of others, even those who have brought it on themselves by their own pride or sin, our response is not to be one of satisfaction or scorn, but of grief, as God's is. The loss of what might have flourished, the wasting of promise, the ruin of a life, is a thing to mourn, not to gloat over. And this lament also warns us: the vine that grew proud and was plucked up shows how fruitfulness and strength, when they turn to pride, can be lost. Grieve over ruin as God does, rather than gloating; and guard your own fruitfulness from the pride that withered the vine.

Lord, you gave Ezekiel a lament over the princes of Israel, grieving the fall of the strong and the withering of the once-fruitful vine, even where the fall was deserved. Teach me to grieve as you grieve. When I see the fall of others, even those who have brought it on themselves, keep me from satisfaction or scorn, and give me instead your grief over the loss of what might have flourished, the wasting of promise, the ruin of a life. Let me mourn ruin rather than gloat over it. And let this lament warn me: the vine that grew proud was plucked up. Guard my own fruitfulness and strength from the pride that withered the vine. Give me a heart that grieves over ruin as yours does, and that stays humble before you, lest what has flourished be lost.