_Take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel_ The expression alludes to the mournful songs sung at funerals. Such a lamentation the prophet is directed to apply to the mournful condition of Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. _And say, What is thy mother?_ What resemblance shall I use... [ Continue Reading ]
_And she brought up one of her whelps_ This seems to be spoken of Jehoahaz, who, we are told, followed not the good example of his father Josiah, but the evil practices of the wicked kings his predecessors; and though we have no further account of his acts, yet, from this, there is sufficient reason... [ Continue Reading ]
_When she saw that she had waited_ This seems to signify that the Jews waited some time before they thought of setting another king over them, hoping, probably, that the king of Egypt would restore unto them Jehoahaz, whom he had taken prisoner; but when they saw their hopes disappointed in this, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy mother is like a vine_ Here another similitude is made use of, and the Jewish nation is compared, as it frequently is in other places, to a vine. _In thy blood_ So the Hebrew and Vulgate; but the LXX. read, ως ανθος εν ροα, _as a flower on a pomegranate-tree;_ and Bishop Newcome, who supposes t... [ Continue Reading ]