The King Is Dead, Long Live the King

Series on Ezekiel

I. The Fall of Jerusalem

J. Funeral Dirge, Text 19: 1-14

Title: The King Is Dead, Long Live the King

Introduction

We are told explicitly in verse 14 that this chapter is a lament and is to be used as a lament. We might call it a funeral dirge. In Israel it was called a qinah and this is a specific form of literature which may include a summons to mourn, a direct address to the departed, an elegy expressing sorrow, and a eulogy praising the departed. All of these elements are present in this chapter. The lament is over the deceased kings of Judah, and more than that, it portrays the demise of the throne, the kingdom, and the office of king. We will consider two things: the lament for the kingdom and the longing for the king.

I The Lament for the Kingdom

There are three songs to be considered here.

A First Song

The first song in verses 1-4 The lioness is Judah. You remember the lion is the symbol of Judah, Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah. This lion cub represents Jehoahaz II who ruled in 609 B.C. for only 3 months. He was dethroned by Pharaoh Neccho of Egypt and replaced by a puppet king, Jehoiakim who reigned for 11 years. Only Jehoahaz is mentioned because he was later carried off to Babylon as we read in verse 4, The nations heard about him, and he was trapped in their pit. They led him with hooks to the land of Egypt.

B Second Song

This song in verses 5-9 is about the lioness putting another young lion on the throne hoping he would succeed. This was Jehoiachin , who also reigned for only three months in 598 B.C. and then according to II Kings 24, was also carried off to Babylon. He was raised to be a strong lion we are told, but his fate is in verse 9, With hooks they pulled him into a cage and brought him to the king of Babylon. They put him in prison, so his roar was heard no longer on the mountains of Israel. In his place the Babylonians put a puppet king, Zedekiah who betrayed not only his people and his God, but also the Babylonians as we learned in Chapter 17. He was blinded and killed. This is the swan song of the only remaining monarchy in Judah. The irony is obvious. In Genesis 49, Jacob calls Judah a lion. The descendant of Judah on the throne, David, was a lion. Now the lion is whipped. Worse than that it appears that God’s promise to David in II Samuel 7 that his descendants would reign on his throne forever is incapable of fulfillment. It remained that way until one far off night in Bethlehem when a descendant of the house of David was born. In Jesus of Nazareth all the promises to Abraham and David are fulfilled. He is the anointed one, the Son of God and human heir to the throne who will reign forever and ever . That is why John describes Him in his vision in Revelation 5:4-7, I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. This is the scroll of history, the scroll of our redemption, and it is all centered in and summed up in Jesus.

C The Third Song

This song speaks of the situation in Ezekiel’s time. Zedekiah is on the throne. Israel, which is now only Judah, was like a strong vine. It was so sturdy that we are told in verse 11, Its branches were strong, fit for a ruler’s scepter. But then we are told in verses 12-14, But it was uprooted in fury and thrown to the ground. The east wind made it shrivel, it was stripped of its fruit; its strong branches withered and fire consumed them. Now it is planted in the desert, in a dry and thirsty land. Fire spread from one of its main branches and consumed its fruit. No strong branch is left on it fit for a ruler’s scepter. This means that the throne is destroyed. Zedekiah is the main branch that ignited the whole vine and burned it up. He is the ultimate disgrace to the throne. This then is the lament for the kingdom. The King and his kingdom are dead.

II Longing for the King

Verse 14 also introduces us to the prophetic longing for the true king with the words, No strong branch is left on it fit for a ruler’s scepter. The branch is the king and this theme of the kings as branches is frequently used in the Old Testament. It is evident in several prophecies concerning the coming king, Jesus Christ, the rightful heir to the throne of Judah. Isaiah 53 speaks of the Servant of the Lord, the Messiah and begins the the words in verse 2, He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. The dry ground is the family and dynasty of David which is ignominiously ended but out of the seemingly dead comes the king of kings. Then in Isaiah 11:1 we come to the branch, A shoot will come up from the stem of Jesse (David’s Father) from his roots a branch will bear fruit. Then after we are told that the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, we read in verse 10, In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. There can be no doubt that Isaiah 11 describes the future glory of the kingdom of David’s greater son, Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of the nations. Then in Jeremiah 23: 5 and 6 God says, The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous branch, a king who will reign wisely…This is the name by which he will be called, the LORD our righteousness. After the captivity, the true king will come and his name, “the LORD our righteousness,” clearly identifies him as Jesus of whom Paul says in II Corinthians 5:21, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God. Through the prophet Zechariah, who prophesies the coming kingdom, God says in 3:8 to the returned exiles, Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come; I am going to bring my servant the Branch. And we already have looked at the words of Ezekiel to the captive Israelites in 17:22-24, This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will take a shoot from thew very top of a cedar and plant it…on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountains of Israel I will plant it; it will…become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it. Thus all the prophets attest to the little humble sprout, Jesus of Nazareth, becoming the great and exalted King and Savior. The Old Testament is filled with this longing for the true scion of David to sit on the throne.

Conclusion

We have read here a funeral dirge and a lament. It has been said that Jesus broke up every funeral he attended. He came upon the scene and bid the wailing mourners to be silent. In this passage the ancient people of God are defeated, the monarchy is dead and the kings vanished. But there is hope. Another king is coming, a root out of dry ground. The message to them and to us is that of Revelation 5: 4 and 5, I wept and wept because no lone was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”