Some laments sound like cooing doves. Some seem to roar like wounded lionesses.
The Hebrew word ‘Kina’ ‘Lament’ or ‘litany’ appears 18 times in the Hebrew Bible - 10 of them in the Book of Ezekiel. In today's chapter he laments the lioness of Judah - the roar of rage and loss is heard throughout the land.
Who is this lioness he is depicting?
She may be a symbol for the House of David and the Kingdom of Judah, often portrayed with its totem - the Lion of Judah. Or he might be referring to an actual queen - the last royal mother of Jerusalem. Scholars debate his intention - inside today’s parable but the powerful message is heard either way -- the last lioness of Jerusalem is a haunting symbol of wounded pride and immense loss, her roar still audible:
וְאַתָּה֙ שָׂ֣א קִינָ֔ה אֶל־נְשִׂיאֵ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
וְאָמַרְתָּ֗ מָ֤ה אִמְּךָ֙ לְבִיָּ֔א בֵּ֥ין אֲרָי֖וֹת רָבָ֑צָה בְּת֥וֹךְ כְּפִרִ֖ים רִבְּתָ֥ה גוּרֶֽיהָ׃
And you are to lament - intone a dirge over the princes of Israel,and say:
What a lioness was your mother
Among the lions!
Crouching among the great beasts,
She reared her cubs.
Ezekiel 19:1-2
Ezekiel goes on describing how the lioness rears her cubs to hunt and defend their family from humans, and though they grow mighty and fearsome -- first one and then the second are caught, chained and caged - one sent off to Egypt and the second to Babylon.
It’s fairly obvious that Ezekiel makes historical references to the two sons of Josiah, the last of the great kings of Judah -- Jehoahaz, who was only king for three months before being deposed and deported to Egypt, and Zedekiah, the final king - exiled to Babylon, blinded and chained, as a punishment for his rebellion.
Both kings shared a mother - the last Queen Mother of Judah.
Queen Hamutal is mentioned in several of the biblical accounts, though little is known about her. She was the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, became the consort of Josiah, king of Judah from 639 to 609 BCE, and was the mother of two of the last three Judean kings, Jehoahaz and Zedekiah. It appears that she did not accompany her son Jehoahaz when he was exiled by Necho of Egypt, because she was still around a few years later when her son Zedekiah was made puppet king by the Babylonians. Just like in the parable - both kings ended up in chains and exile.
The Queen Mother’s fate, however, is not known.
In the early 20th century, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, one of the early pioneers of the return to Zion on religious grounds, an important mystic and poet, penned a poem dedicated to the story of the chain's lions, possibly echoing today’s chapter. He describes a family of lions living in a cage. The young cubs, born behind bars, enjoy their lives while an older lion, sits depressed. The young ones cannot comprehend their elder’s sadness – don’t they have enough food and freedom of movement? The poem then gives voice to the elder lion - or lioness, and transforms the lions’ lives. It resonates and troubles, stirs thought and questions - still today:
“There is a world full of light,
Where freedom and liberty prevail.
There is a vast forest tall with trees
And stately with mighty cedars.
The fragrance is refreshing
And free animals abound.
When I was your age, my children,
I ruled the forest with pride and might
And all bowed before me.
If not for my pursuers
who broke my bones,
and this cramped cage—
I would still rule the forest,
And you too would be free and proud.
The words of the Old One
strengthened the cubs’ heart,
and with the might of lions
they began to break down the cramped cage.
With claws and jaws and the roar of lions
they frightened away their smug captors.
With a mighty spirit
imbued with the delight of the forest
they shattered the walls of the cramped cage.
The Old One was suddenly alive,
his broken bones healed with joy.
Rebuking his enemies, he and his cubs returned
and established the kingdom of the forest.”
(translation by Rabbi Bezalel Naor)
Can you hear her roar, like a lament, still searing the pained land?
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