The transition is a bold one, from the figure of the lioness's whelps to that of the vine with its pride of growth and its clusters of fruit, and anon as withered and. scorched and ready to perish. Little is there of tenderness or of sympathy in the prophet's view of the degenerate scions of the royal house of Judah. But when he comes to speak of Jerusalem, a sweeter similitude rises before his vision; it is the vine that grew and flourished on the sunny slopes of Judah, in all its fairness and fruitfulness, now, alas! to be plucked up, cast down, broken, withered, and consumed with fire.

I. JERUSALEM IN HER GLORY.

1. The city was well placed upon her hills; as the vine by the waters that nourish and cheer the noble plant in the heat and drought of summer.

2. The city was noble of aspect; even as the vine of exalted stature, as she appears in her height with the multitude of her branches.

3. The city was strong in her sway; as the vine with her vigorous and pliant rods "for the sceptics of them that bear rule."

4. The city was fruitful in great men and great thinkers and great deeds; even as the vine that beat's abundant clusters of rich grapes. There is fondness and pride in these references to the sacred and beloved metropolis.

II. JERUSALEM IN HER DESOLATION. It would seem that Ezekiel, foreseeing what is about to come to pass, speaks of the ruin of the city as if already accomplished. The vine in its wealth of foliage and of fruit is the picture of the memory; the vine in its destruction is the sad vision of the immediate future, and the foreboding seems a fact.

1. The city itself is besieged, taken, and dismantled.

2. The chief inhabitants are either slain or led away into banishment.

3. The princes are deprived of their power.

4. The city's prosperity and pride, wealth and prowess, are all at an end.

III. JERUSALEM LAMENTED. The spectacle of a famous metropolis, the seat of historic government and of a consecrated temple, reduced to helplessness and disgrace, is a spectacle not to be beheld without emotion. We are reminded of the language in which an English poet represents the Roman conqueror, centuries afterwards, lamenting the sad but inevitable fate of Jerusalem: -

"It moves me, Romans;
Confounds the counsel of my firm philosophy,
That Ruin's merciless ploughshare should pass o'er
And barren salt be sown on you proud city!"

APPLICATION.

1. The transitoriness and mutability of earthly greatness are very impressively brought before us in this passage. Sic transit gloria mundi.

2. Eminence and privilege are no security against the operation of righteous law.

3. Repentance and obedience are the only means by which it may be hoped that advantages will be retained, and further opportunities of useful service afforded. - T.

1. States and kingdoms broken to pieces, ruined in times of war and trouble, do flourish again in times of quiet and silence. Peace after war is like spring after a sharp winter, which revives, causeth growth and greenness; yet know that states ruined by tyranny of princes, by wars, do not suddenly recover themselves, or attain to their former greatness and splendour: though Jerusalem became a vine after the roaring and spoil of Jehoiakim, yet she was a "vine of a low stature."

2. It is through the mercy, goodness, and blessing of God that wasted kingdoms do become as vines, and flourish again.

3. When mercies are multiplied, men are apt to abuse them, and swell with the enjoyment of them. Prosperity is a dangerous thing, and hath hazarded many (Isaiah 47:5, 7). After Hezekiah had received many mercies, "his heart was lifted up" (2 Chronicles 32:23-25). Rehoboam, when he was strengthened in the kingdom, "forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him"; here was a sad effect of prosperity (2 Chronicles 12:1).

(W. Greenhill, M. A.)