Ezekiel 19:1-14

19:1-9 | Ezekiel performs this lamentation (funeral dirge) even before the final sack of Jerusalem and the destruction of its corrupt leaders. Once again he puts it in the form of a story; lions were a common symbol for rulers in the ancient Near East. The lioness in this parable may represent the Davidic dynasty.

19:10-14 | In the second half of his funeral dirge, Ezekiel changes his imagery to that of a vine; the OT commonly used the figure of a grapevine to symbolize the nation of Israel (Ps. 80:8-16; Isa. 5:1-7; 27:2-6). God would soon uproot the nation from the Promised Land and send it into the dry and thirsty land of Babylonia; the current ruler, Zedekiah, the strong branch, broken and withered, would be powerless to avoid the destruction of the nation he had so godlessly ruled.