f>:\ '-N ' ' • I.' 7, ' Stom f ^e &i6rar)? of QSequeaf^e^ fig ^im fo f 3e fetfirarg of (prtnceton S^eofogtcaf ^emtnarj 1870 IP THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL HEBREW. COMMENTARY, CRITICAL, PHILOLOGICAL, AND EXEGETICAL. / B. E. HENDERSON, D.D. AUTHOR OF COMMENTARIES ON THE ROOK OF THE MINOR PKOPHBTS, JEBEMIAU AND LAMENTATIONS, ISAIAH, ETC. ^ WARREN F. DRAPER, PUBLISHER. MAIN STREET. 1870. "Absit a nobis iit Dcum faciamus 5i7\c<)ttoi', ant mnltiplices sensus affingaraus ipsius verbo, in quo potius, tamqnam in speculo limpidissimo sui autoris simplici- tatem contemplari debcmus, Ps. xii. 6 ; xix. 8. Unkus ergo sensus scripturae, nempe grammaticus, est admittendus, quibuscunque demum terminis, vel propriis vel tropicis et figuratis exprimatur." — Makesius. andover: printed by warren f. drapeb. PHEFACE. In preparing the following work for the press the author has been greatly encouraged by the kind reception given to his previous labors on the Prophets by theological readers both in this country and Amer- ica. It has been a satisfaction to him to find that the principles on which he has conducted his exegetical inquiries have been generally approved of by those most competent to judge. To these principles he still adheres; convinced that whatever there abounds of symbol, vision, enigma, and parable in the compositions of Ezekiel, there runs through them a vein of historical reality which serves as a safeguard against the vagaries of the mystical school of interpretation. "SVliile the Biblical student is ever to be careful not to allow the divine meaning of Scripture to evaporate into thin air, he is equally to be solicitous not to load the inspired text with the cumbrous lucubra- tions of his own imagination. In fixing upon the sense to be brought out, he is not at liberty to force into the sacred word any preconceived notions of human invention ; but, carefully weighing all the circum- stances of the context, to give that interpretation which best harmo- nizes with them, and brings them into view. All far-fetched and arbitrary constructions he is utterly to repudiate. The literal and the figurative are to be allowed their respective claims, but never to be confounded, mixed up together, or substituted the one for the other. It behoves the interpreter, with his mind open to receive the truth of God, to maintain the attitude of young Samuel, and earnestly to give utterance to the beautiful prayer : " Speak Lord ; for thy servant heareth." In prosecuting his expository task the author has endeavored to avoid indulging in the discursive — confining himself to the matter in hand ; making the text his leader ; and condensing, within as small VI PREFACE. a compass as was compatible with due regard to perspicuity, what he had to offer in elucidation of the subjects treated of by the sacred writer. "Warned by the palpable failure of others who have staked their lit- erary reputation on calculations relative to events still supjiosed to be future in the history of the church, he has not presumed to lift the veil which it hath jileased the Spirit of inspiration should be left to remain on certain portions of prophetic scripture. His province has not been to prophesy, but humbly and carefully to investigate the meaning of the prophecies dictated by the Holy Ghost, and recorded in the Divine word. The charge of obscurity brought against Ezekiel is nothing new. Nor can it be denied that there are portions of his book which, at first sight, seem hard to be understood. It may fairly be questioned, how- ever, whether the alleged want of perspicuity be not mainly attributa- ble to the mists of false interpretation in which he has been involved, rather than to any impenetrable veil thrown over the prophecies by his own hand. To understand his pictures they must be surveyed as wholes, without the mind being distracted by dwelling upon the minor and accessory features of which they are made up. Minute attention to these (especially in studying the description of the temple), apart from a grand view of the whole, is one of the principal causes of the difficulty accompanying its interpretation. While constrained to abide by the idea of a literal temple, the author sees no violation of the laws of sound exegesis in maintaining at the same time the symbolical import of the structure and its ordinances, just as we understand the typical character of the former temple erected by Solomon. Both adumbrated or shadowed forth the substantial blessings of the gospel dispensation ; serving as a-TOL^eLa, elements, or rudimental means of instruction, adapted to the then infantile state of the church, and leading the mind forward in anticipation of better things to come. See the Apostle's definition, Col. ii. 17 ; Heb. x. 1. INTRODUCTION. EzEKiEL first introduces himself to our notice on the banks of the Chebar, a river of upper Mesopotamia, whitlier he had been trans- ported, along with the more distinguished of his countrymen, when Jehoiachin, having surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar (b.c.:^,599}, was carried into exile in Babylon. He was in part contemporary with Jeremiah and Daniel, between the latter of whom and Ezekiel there are more points of resemblance than one, especially in the character of his visions and the grotesque cast of his images. Having, previously to his removal from Jerusalem, filled the sacerdotal office, he possessed an influence which must have been of great service to him in his intercourse with his fellow-captives, who were accustomed to assemble in his house at Tgl:aiiib to consult him in reference to their future prospects. Wliether he had been married before he arrived in Chaldea does not appear ; but while there he had the affliction to be suddenly de- prived of the object of his conjugal affection, a circumstance in refer- ence to which he was constituted a type of the calamity which was to befall the inhabitants of Jerusalem, xxiv. 15-25. His field of labor embraced not merely his countrymen from Judea, but also, in all probability, the descendants of _lhe_ten tribes, who had partly been located in the same region when removed from their native land by Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, 2.,Kings xviii. 9-12. In the remote province of Mesopotamia our prophet enjoyed a freedom of action, and consequently opportunities of visefulness, which might not have fallen to his lot if he had accompanied his captive sovereign to the metropolis of the empire. He was not only unmolested by the Chaldeans, but undisturbed by the plots and caballings to which his contemporary Jeremiah was exposed from the profligate courtiers of Judah. VIU INTEODUCTION. Nor, in discharging the duties of his office, is there reason to believe that his labors were confined to liis fellow exiles. Many of his dis- courses were addressed to the Jews who still remained in Jerusalem, with whom he might have held communication by letter or verbal messages. These, like most of those with whom he was brought into contact, were obstinately resolute in their determination to persist in their rebellious courses. Though suffering the punishment of their sins in a foreign country, the latter had too much idolatrous sympathy with their countrymen in Judea to lend a willing ear to the solemn calls to repentance and reformation tendered to them by the prophet. Still Ezekiel, strengthened with power from on high, pursued his course, unintimidated by their stubborn opposition, displaying through- out the utmost intrepidity and fidelity of character. We find him in- cessantly at work, exposing vice, urging to the observance of the divine commandments, and consoling the pious with the hopes of bet- ter times. While there is much in his book to arouse and alarm, and much that is calculated even to terrify, there are at the same time such aboundings of tender_compassion, as cannot but administer con- solation to the sorrowing spirit. Ezekiel was not only the denouncer of judgment : he was at the same time the publisher of glad tidings. While in the first part of his book his thoughts revolve round the calamitous circumstances of his ruined country, in the latter half he delights in holding out assurances that the Most High would receive back into favor and abundantly bless repentant Israel. Interspersed are gracious promises of the Messiah and the blessings of the dispensation which he should introduce. The Hebrews were not left to imagine that their return from Chaldea and the restoration of their civil and ecclesiastical polity were to exhaust the blessings which their covenant God had in store for them. Blessings of an infinitely higher order he teaches them to anticipate, and repeatedly gives them to under- stand that no failure on the part of the Divine Being should occasion the withdrawal of their enjoyment. He ever evinces a sacred regard to the best interests of those whom he addresses, which is admirably calculated to arrest the attention, and promote the edification of readers in every age. The ethical element pervades the whole ; and no one can peruse the book in a proper spirit without having his mind im- pressed with a sense of the majesty, holiness, rectitude, and compassion of the Divine Being, who had selected the prophet to be his messenger INTRODUCTION. IX to his guilty people. "T/ms saith the Lord Jehovah " reverberates on every page ; and hard must that lieart be which is not penetrated by the sound. It is worthy of notice that among the predictions which denounce judgments against the enemies of the covenant people we find none directed against Babylon. To what this is to be ascribed it is difficult to imagine, except it arose from a desire not to give unnecessary offence to the government under which the prophet lived. With respect to style, Ezekiel may be said to hold a middle place between the high poetic and the depressed prosaic. Without, on the one hand, rising to the more elevated heights of prophetical composition, he pursues, on the other, his easy flow of diction, occasionally break- ing out in passages that are rough and rugged in their aspect, in accor- dance with the nature of his theme. The lanOTasfe abounds more in the picturesque than any other biblical writing. The imagery is of the richest and boldest description. Allegory, symbol, and vision predominate. Without trenching upon the claims of our prophet as an inspired writer by attributing to his human powers what was supplied from a higher source, we may regard him as an instrument singularly qualified for executing the task devolved upon him. In this point of view he appears before us as possessing a rich and gorgeous imagination, to which he gives the freest course, working everything out in adapta- tion to his subject, and laying everything under contribution that was calculated to impart dignity to his theme, and to produce a deep and salutary impression upon his hearers. Some parts of his book are truly magnificent in their sublimity, and others are affectingly awaken- ing in their pointedness of appeal. He is most emphatic in his denunciations of the divine judgments. One of the peculiar characteristics of our prophet is a proneness to indulge in amplification which scorns to be arrested in its course, and branches out into image after image and repetition after repe- tition, till nothing is left untouched that might be expected to impress the reader. In his objurgations he returns to the charge again and again, unwilling to let his guilty countrymen escape from the shafts of conviction. To the same cause is to be ascribed the minuteness with which every subject is treated. Not content with exhibiting his pictures in broad outlines, he embodies his ideas in microscopic X INTRODUCTION. forms, omitting no feature that may render them perfect in their pre- sentation to view. Attempts have been made to reduce the composition of Ezekiel to strict symmetrical verse, such as marks the structure and turn of sentences in other prophetical writers ; but though there are parts of the book that may, after a fashion, be metrically disposed, such as the elegies on Tyre, chapters xxvii., xxviii., and those on Egypt, chapter xxix.-xxxi., yet as a whole the language is to be regarded as prose without rhythm or parallelism, only characterised by warmth of feeling such as became a writer deeply interested in the fates of his country- men and the glory of his God. In presenting the text, therefore, to my readers, I have retained the ordinary cast of prose throughout. It would appear from chapter xxix. 17, that the ministry of Ezekiel was continued till the twenty-seventh year of the exile ; at least this is the latest date which we meet with in liis book. According to tradition, he ended his days in Chaldea, having been put to death by one of the princes of his people, whom he had enraged by reproving him for having indulged in the worship of idols. SELECT LITERATUEE OP THE BOOK. The most imj^ortant of the Jewish commentaries on Ezekiel is that of David Kimchi, justly esteemed on account of its strictly grammatical character. It is found in Buxtorf 's Biblia Rabbinica (Amstelodami, 1724-1727, four volumes, folio). The best works of the Fathers on the prophet are those of Theo- doret and Jerome, who, for the most part, confine themselves to the literal interpretation of the text. What was designed to be a first-rate work on Ezekiel is that of two Spanish Jesuits, Pradus and Villapandus, which, however, especially that portion written by the latter, is rather to be regarded as an osten- tatious display of architectural learning, than as calculated to satisify any reader seriously endeavoring to ascertain the true meaning of the word of God. It was published at Rome, 1596, in three huge folio volumes, with numerous plates designed to ilustrate the buildings of the temple. It is a book of extreme rarity, being scarcely ever found in any private library. The earliest work of the Reformers on the prophet is that written by Oecolampadius (Basilejc, 1548, folio). Considering the age in which it was published, it is justly entitled to respect. It is to be regretted that Calvin did not carry his Commentary on Ezekiel further than the twentieth chapter, since from the exegetical tact which he has displayed it is manifest none was better qualified to do justice to the author. The German Translation of the Old Testament by J. D. Michaelis, with Notes for the unlearned. Part x. (Gottingen, 1781), and Arch- bishop Newcome's Attempt towards an Improved Version of Ezekiel (London, 1785, 4to.), both furnish not unimportant contributions to the elucidation of the prophet ; but neither of them scrupled to take unjustifiable liberties with the Hebrew text. Their labors in He- brew literature have been superseded by those of later critics. XII SELECT LITERATURE OF THE BOOK. The Scliolia in Vetus Testamentum, by the younger Rosenmuller (Leipzig, 1808-1810, 8vo.), will ever retain their value as a reper- torium of materials for Biblical interpretation. The Commentarius Criticus of Maurer (Leipzig, 1838, 8vo.) will be found exceedingly serviceable as a hand-book for the use of the exeget- ical student, if only he be on his guard lest he should occasionally be led astray by the rationalistic views of the author. The same caution is requsite in regard to studying the earlier editions of Rosemiiller. Heinrich Ewald, in the Notes to his Propheten Des Alten Bundes, introduces a series of criticisms such as might be expected from a Hebrew grammarian of acknowledged merit. Not unfrequently, how- ever, they will be found to fail in yielding satisfaction with respect to the true meaning of the text. Commentar Uber den Propheten Ezekiel by Havernick (Erlangen, 1843, 8vo). This work, together with that on Daniel, by the same author, formed quite an epoch in the theological literature of Germany. The author goes at great length into the exposition of the prophet, and is more fruitful and happy in philological investigation than any of his predecessors. He is characterized throughout by a spirit of earnest and warm-hearted piety. Der Prophet Ezekiel, by Dr. Ferdinand Hitzig (Leipzig, 1847). This work, which is appropriately characterized by Fairbairn as elastic, though containing acute and ingenious remarks, carries Biblical criti- cism to such excess that it may be regarded as a specimen of literary trifling, rather than a sober exposition of the oracles of divine truth. Umbreit's Praktischer Commentar iiber den Ezekiel (Hamburg, 1843) is chiefly valuable on account of his close and accurate trans- lation of the Hebrew text. The Notes, however, which are rather sparse, contain choice elucidations of particular passages. The latest English work on the prophet is from the pen of the Rev. Patrick Fairbairn (Edinburgh, 1851), who, in expounding the conclud- ing chapters, follows pretty much in the track of Havernick, for the most part merging the literal Israel and their institutes in what he regards as the higher Messianic element of the Christian church. EZEKIEL. CHAPTER I. The proTihet commences his book by detailing the circumstances connected with his call to the prophetic ofBce. After specifying the time and place in which he received his commission, 1-3, he proceeds to describe the wonderful phenomena which were pre- sented to his imagination in inspired <'ision, and which were designed to furnish him with an impressive symbolical representation of ihe formidable agencies by means of which Jehovah executes his purposes as the Ruler amon? the nations, 4-25; concludir? with a description of the vision which he had of the divine glory,, and the solemn effect which it produced upon his mind, 26-28. 1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was among the captives by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions 1. The formula "^tX^) with the copula, is not unusual at the commencement of the sacred books of the Old Testament. Sec Joshua Judges, Euth, Samuel, etc. It is designed to intimate the continua- tion of historicat or prophetic records. Considerable difficulty has been found in determining what particular date is in- tended by the thirtieth year here specified. Setting aside the opinion, that it may indicate the age of the prophet, as being unusual in prophetic computations, or that it designates the number of years that had elapsed since the reformation effected in the eighteenth year of Jo- siah, as being destitute of any sufficient ground, the probable supposition is that advanced by Scaliger in his work De Emend. Temporum ; according to which the date is taken from the commence- ment of the reign of Nabopolassar, which formed the era of the Babylonian empire, B.C. 625. As our prophet now lived untler that monarchy is was natural for him here to adopt the chronology of the country, which he otherwise uses inter- changeably with that of the captivity. Sec on chap. viii. 1. We find Daniel, and others of the prophets in like manner, employing the era of the people among whom they lived when out of their na- tive country. "12S , Chehar, the same as "linn , Hahor, whither the ten tribes had been transported by Tiglath-pilcser and Shalmanezcr, 2 Kings xvii. 6. It was a considerable river of Mesopotamia, formed by the confluence of a number of smaller streams, and known among the Greeks by the names of XaPiitpas and 'Afioppas, and among the Arabs by that of »fcjL^ 5 Khabour. It takes its rise near the ruins of Ras-el-Ain, which lie in a south-westerly direction from the town of Merdin, ana flows into the Eu- phrates at Carchemish or Circusium, about two hundi-ed miles to the north of Babylon. Layard describes it as flowing 14 EZEKIEL. [Chap. I. 2-4. 2 of God. On the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth 3 year of king Jehoiachin's captivity, the word of Jehovali came expressly to Ezekiel (the son of Buzi), tlie priest, in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chebar ; and the hand of Jehovah was upon him there. 4 And I looked, and behold a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a self-attracting fire, and a brightness round thronyh the richest pastures and mead- ows, its banks covered with flowers of every hue, and presenting the loveliest scene he had ever beheld. In this iTgion the king of Babylon had planted a colony of Jews, among whom was our prophet, as he states, ver. 3. GTt'^X mX1_^ , vis- ions of God, do not mean~repfgseTil:ations of Deity exliibited to the, bodily eyes of the prophe) — such an idea could only ~"..e oviginated in the theoretical spec- ulations of the Ilutchinsonian school ; but the sublime discoveries made to the mind of Ezekiel, and deposited in the present book. The phrase occurs again chaps, viii. 3 ; xl. 2. The revelations contained in tKem were such as had specially the glory of Jehovah for their object, including also such other objects as tended by .symbolical representations to set forth to view the divine government of the world and the church. 2,3. Camp. 2 Kings xxiv. 12; Jer. xxii. 24, 25 ; xxix. 2. Jerome is of opinion, that, as Jehoiachin voluntarily surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar, ri^bj is not, as in the LXX., to be rendered alxiJ-o,\waia, captivitas, but transmiffratlo. Ewald accounts for the change of person from the first to the third by the sup- position that the prophet, on revising his book, inserted these two verses for the purpose of introducing the computa- tion which dated from the commence- ment of the captivity, together with his own name, which occurs again only chap. xxiv. 24. This computation Ezekiel afterwards uses, chaps, viii. 1 ; xx. 1 ; xxiv. 1 ; xxvi. 1 ; xxxi. 1 ; xxxii. 1 ; xl. 1. The first person is immediately resumed, ver. 4, after the interruption of the narrative commenced ver. 1 . Ac- cording to Hebrew usage (see Zech. i. 1) the designation "y}^ , priest, is in apposi- / tion with Ezekiel and not with Buzi. 1 agree with iVia'\Yev in thinking that the double form fl^fl H'^n , in which the ideu of the vei"b is expressed twice over, is employed for the sake of intensity or emphasis, so that the infinitive is not redundant, as Rosenmiiller would make it. Our translators, therefore, properly add expressly. ?^ ■^Ij'^V"'- 5 '^'^ hand of Jehovah icas upon, is a formula frequently used to denote the exertion of supernat- ural and divine agency by which the . prophets were prepared to receive and deliver divine communications. Comp. 2 Kings iii. 15; Isaiah viii. 11 ; Ezek. xxxiii. 22 ; xxxvii. 1 ; xl. 1. Instead of "'"',? > "7'^" ^"™> eight MSS., primarily four more, and now one by correction, the LXX., Syr., and Arab, read "'^:?, upon me; but the variation has obviously arisen from the copyist not having ad- verted to the interruption occasioned by the change of person. 4. The formula ^sni ''"^V^"} , I Joohed , and behold, is peculiar to the prophets Jer- emiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah. JT^^'G n^"i , the whirlwind or tempest, so ^ called from the violence with which it rushes on, and agitates and scatters the objects with which it is brought into contact, was a fit emblem to represent the divine judgments. Comp. Isaiah xxix. G ; Jer. xxiii. 19 ; xxv. 32 ; Nahum i. 3. This tempest the prophet saw coming '|1Diifi}""i^ , from the north, by „,-> which is indicated, not the heathenish idea, that that was the quarter of tliG' heaven where the gods had their abode, Chap. I. 4, 5.] EZEKIEL. 15 about it, and from the midst of it as the appearance of polished brass from the midst of the fire. And from the midst of it was the resemblance of four living creatures, and this was their as Koscnmiillcr and Maurcr expound, but tlic fuuntrj' of Babylon, whence the Chaldeans, who were a northern people, should come to execute the divine in- dignation upon the Jews. Compare Jcr. i. 14 ; iv. 6 ; vi. 1, The direction is taken, not from the position of the prophet at the time of the vision, for Babylon lay to the south of that, but in relation to Judea, against which the hostile power would come by taking a northerly course and entering it from ■ that quarter. ?ilS "(2^ , a great cloud, is introduced into the scene in order to enhance its magnificence and sublimity. The participle "HisarTa , rendered In- foldincj itself, properly denotes reciprocal or reflexive action. The verb riJ^S, signifying to take, the Hithpacl conjuga- tion here used, conveys the idea of any thing taking hold of itself, or taking to itself; finisbnTS ds will, therefore, mean self-attractitiri jire, and, by implication, consuming what it thus attracts. LXX. TTvp i^aaTpanrov ', Sym. irvp evetKovfiei'Oi'; Aquil. avvava\a(xfiav6nevov ; Vulg. ignis involvens. The idea is that of a fire which lays hold on whatever surrounds it, draws it into itself, and devours it. A truly fearful object. The same form and mode of expression occurs Exod. ix. 24, in reference to the union of fire M-ith the hail. To enhance the idea of the fire, it is added, that " out of the midst of it " was as the appearance of p^wn , a term which occurs again ver. 27, and in the feminine, chap. viii. 2, and respecting which there has been no small diversity of opinion. The most ancient interpretation is that given by the LXX. TjXeKTpof ; Vulg. ehctruin, a metal compounded of gold and silver, and distinguished for its brilliancy. Compare x'^^foAiySayot', burnished metal, Rev. i. 15. To render the word by amber, as otir translators have done, is not so appropriate ; since this substance, though reckoned among the phosphori, fiom the circumstance that by friction it is made to yield light copiously in the dark, does not possess the brilliancy which tiic word in this part of the description would seem to require. Bochart and some of the older critics adopt the derivation mirna , brass, and the Chaldee ^^^"^ » gold; but the word is more probably compounded of f Ij? for H'^r''^? » brass, the 3 and the D being removed by aphie- resis, and ?3^ , softened into P'? by the elision of the final ^ , to be smooth, so that polished brass is most easily brought out as the signification. The idea of exces- sive splendor is evidently what it was intended to convey. See Gesenius in voc. and Stuart on Rev. i. 15, and com- pare ver. 7. Hitzig is of opinion that the word is composed of two Chaldee terms, in use in the country where Eze- kiel was living. "J"? does not signify color, as given in our common version after the Talmudic Hebrew, but^^c, and hence by metonj'my look, appearance, aspect, or the like. The repetition dxri ■ri'in"9 - MDinp is equivalent to from the midst of the f re. 5. The prophet now comes to describe the extraordinary compound figures which he saw in vision. In treating of this subject I shall first examine the several details of the description, and then attempt to ascertain Avhat the whole was designed to represent. In investi- gating the subject, it must all along be borne in mind, that the object described was purely ideal, and not anything ac- tually existing in rerum natura. f^'i'^'ji living creatures, as the word is properly rendered here by our translators; but the corresponding term (cia, which John borrows from the LXX., they have as improperly rendered beasts. Rev. iv. 6. From the circumstance that they are 16 EZEKIEL. [Chap. I. 5-9. G ' aspect, they had the appearance of a man. And every one had 7 four faces, and every one had four wings. And their feet were straight feet ; the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot : and they sparkled like the appearance of polished brass. 8 And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides, and they four had their faces and their wings. 9 Their wings were joined one to another ; they turned not when 10 they went ; they went every one straight forward. And as for emphatically called " the living crea- tures," it is manifest that the notion of life or vital energy must lie at the found- ation of the idea. It is true that most of the animals were irrational creatures, but as one represented a human being there is an incongruity in designating them all by the term beasts. Man being the noblest in creation, his form is se- lected as the pattern after which they ai-e represented. "^iJi? as feminine agrees with ni^in ; but, the objects not being real, the distinction of sex is not kept up — now the feminine, and now the masculine being employed. It is doubt- less owing to inattention to this well- established rule of Hebrew syntax, that such a gi'cat number of various readings are found in the MSS. The point of comparison between the form of the living creatures and that of man would seem to be the erect posture of their bodies. To the number yb»r our prophet appears to attach considerable impor- tance, since he employs it so frequently in his description. 6. The most striking peculiarity con- nected witli this cherubic representation is, that there were not only four distinct living creatures, but each of the four had four faces, the appearance of which is described at ver. 10. The aggregate, though not amounting to the number calculated by the Rabbins, amounted to not fewer than sixteen. 7. Since the soles of the feet resembled those of a calf, it is evident the feet could not have projected horizontally like human feet, but must have formed a continuation of the legs stretching down vertically. In Hebrew the term C'?^?'!' signifies, not the feet merely, but all the lower parts of the body. •"''^'•^'! > straight, therefore, must be intended to denote a perpendicular, and not a hori- zontal direction. The feet must have been two in number, like those of man ; otherwise the number four would have been expressed, as it is with respect to the faces and the wings. 3 jf? t^^!"? > polished brass. ?3|^ , from which the adjective is derived, must originally have had as one of its significations tosmoothe, polish, though this signification is now only found in the Pilpel conjugation. Comp. Dan. x. 6. 8. Instead of I'lJ"'" , the Keri and a great number of MSS., and among these the best Spanish, with the Brixian and Soncinian editions, read correctly "'t!'''!* The error of transcription has arisen from what has frequently taken place — the elongation of Yod into Vau. The hand is, in Hebrew, a very common symbol of power ; on the ground, that it is principally through that member of the body that power is exerted. It con- sequently denotes active energy. 9. The living creatures had no occa- sion to turn when changing the direction in which they proceeded, for being four in number they had a face looking towai'ds each of the four quarters of the heavens, and could move on without changing their posture. Hitzig regards .'nrinx-^N niix nnah as a gloss bor- rowed from ver. 1 1 , where the mention of the junction of the wings by pairs occurs most approjn'iately ; whereas here the impression left on the mind of the CiiAP. I. 9-13] EZEKIEL. 17 the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side ; and they four had the face of a bull on the left side ; they four also had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces, and their wings were parted upwards : two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. And they went every one straight for- ward ; whither the spirit was to go, they went : and they turned not when they went. 13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of lamps ; it went up and down among the living creatures ; and the fire was 11 12 reader is, that all the four wings were joined together, whieli is not otherwise borne out by the description. 10. Either we are to conchide that the face of the man was in front and that of the eagle behind, or that both that of the man and the lion were on the right side, as the position of the words in the text would seem to intimate, and thus Cas- talio and Lowth interpret ; but the two members of the first clause of the verse may be separated, and thus the former of these positions might be justified. In the Hebrew text this separation is ac- tually made by the great distinctive accent Segolta, which shows the con- struction adopted -by the Masoretes. Each of the other animals being the most distinguished of its kind, I have not scrupled to render 11^ by bull, as he is the strongest and most ferocious of the beevc kind. 1 1 . Two of the wings being designed for flying are represented as expanded upwards, and the other two were aj)- propriated, for the sake of decency, to the covGi-ing of the bodies of the living creatures. The redundant form of the pronominal affix nsri in ri2lnini'''ia is not peculiar to this place ; the prophet employs the masculine »lHfl in the same way, chap. xl. 16. 12. It has been matter of dispute, whether T\'T\T\ here is to be rendered the spirit or the wind. The term is suscep- tible of either rendering, according to 2* the circumstances of the context in which it occurs. In favor of the latter it has been urged, that, as special mention is made of H1"i , ivind, ver. 4, it is most natural to conchide that reference is here made to the same. On the other hand, from its being expressly stated, that the H1"l was that of the living creature, or living creatures, S^^ntl being taken as a collective noun, and from the motion of the compound figure being atti-ibuted to the will of the H^l"! (ver. 20) , I consider it more appropriate to regard the term as expressive of the impulsive principle by which they were moved according to the divine pleasure. Comp. ver. 21, and chap. x. 17. Some regard n^nn n^n as equivalent to 0"^*^ nn, the spirit of life, but the latter formula alone is used in this sense. 13. The apparent tautology at the commencement of this verse may be relieved by remarking, that while r^^'l expresses the general form or figure, '^'*';'? expresses the particular aspect or appearance of a thing. The conjecture of Cappellus, who, to render the text conformable to «V fieVoi rHv ^a>wu of the LXX., would substitute ~Wa for ni^l , cannot be approved. From the circum- stance that the LXX. have not translated N'^H , we are not to conclude that it did not originally stand in the text. It refers to ^"X , going before. i^53 indi- cates the splendor or brightness pro- duced by the fire which was rendered 18 EZEKIEL. [Chap. I. 13-21. 14 bright ; and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning. 15 And I beheld the living creatures, and behold there was one wheel 16 upon the earth by the living creatures, with its four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work, was the color of Tar- shish-stone ; and they four had one likeness ; and their appear- intensely hot by the coals with which it was fed. ITi"'?'^ is to be construed with '*5'r:?» though differing in gender, the idea of sex not being involved in the object. See on ver. 5. 14. Hitzig proposes to read XiS|] in- stead of i^'is^j as Gen. viii. 7, but ac- knowledges his inability to reconcile the idea of going and returning with the description verses 19-21. The current reading is more suitable, since the idea of velocity which it expresses is quite in keeping both with that part of the description and with the symbol of the eagle. 2idl XiS"!, the infinitive for the finite forms of the verbs, is not un- common in Hebrew syntax. The root NS'H , to run, which occurs nowhci'e else, is equivalent to the usual form ^1"l . The objection of Hitzig, that the idea of running and returning does not cor- respond with that of the equable motion of the wheels, is of no force, since the action predicated is not that of the living creatures, or of the wheels attached to them, but that of the fire shooting forth its flames. To cancel the whole verse, with this author, because it is omitted by the LXX., would be most unwarrant- able. Tlie conjectural change of PJ3 into p'^2 5 is equally unjustifiable. The latter word, which occurs at the end of the preceding verse, is a general term for Uglitning, the former is designed to express its coruscations or flashes. Comp. the Arab, i VvJ ? io throw out, send forth, to scatter, to sow. Parchon explains the word by p"lisn '{^"O, species fulguris. De Rossi's codices 60 and 637 have gallice K?'iiISC3? , I'elincelle, scintilla. 15-21. The prophet now proceeds to describe the wheels which conveyed the living creatures. They were four in number, and of the singular structure, that one wheel appeared transversely within another, so that the chariot might roll on without turning, to whichever quarter the four living creatures sup- porting it were to advance. Hitzig ac- knowledges a difficulty in '^''iSl , his/aces, and not finding any term corresponding to it in the LXX., at once cancels it. Eosenmullcr refers it to chariot undei'- stood, but not expressed, which Maurcr considers harsh ; and both he and Hav- ernick prefer the reference to CSSIX , the ivheels, the singular affix 1 , his, being nsed collectively ; which seems, on the whole, the true exegesis. The observa- tion that one of the wheels was j'"^-?? » in the earth, intimates that only one of the transverse wheels appeared in contact with the ground at the same time, i.e. viewing the cliariot from one of its sides, it being understood that the same was the case in regard to the corresponding wheel on the opposite side. "'n>t , one, is regarded in relation to the wheel within a wheel, and not to the entire number. By '^Ir)?'? » ihe work of the wheels, is meant the material of the workmanship, not the fabrication of it. f lO^n , gem or precious stone of Tar- shish ; Aquil. xp^'^oKiOov ; Sym. vukivOov ; the LXX. dapa-eis, which is merely the Hebrew name in Greek letters, on which the Scholiast remarks, rh Oapa-els XP"- ff6\i06v (pr)e of vision. In the sentence ^'3 rvEQ ^'zh rzhh n^i'^rt Da-n;ii-i'^ idx *"rr!^ '^^"'0 •> the latter part is not to be considered as a bare tautology, but is a repetition for the purpose of more forci- bly impressing the idea upon the mind. Dr53"3 , in correspondence, or conjunction, a/on// with them, vers. 20, 21. The adverb over iif/ainfit is less appropriate. By '^^l'^ '^'^'''7 J ihe spirit of the livin;/ creature (put collectively for creatures) being in the wheels, is meant the iniinilsive in- fluence by which they were ])ut and kept in motion. See on ver. 12, and comp. chap. X. 17. 22. ?? here is not to be rendered upon, as if the firmament rested on the heads of the clicrubim, but above, as distinct from them, and occupying an elevated position. See on vcr. 26. IT^j:; prima- rily signifies ice, and secondarily crural, from its resemblance to it. The combi- nation n^JStn N'^liij , the terrible cnjstal, expresses the effect produced u])on a spectator by the view of a large mass of ^ crystallization. It is so powerful when ', seen glistening in the sun, that the eye ) cannot sustain its lustre. Some have supposed that the diamond is meant, that 1 gem being remarkable for its brilliance J and hardness. 20 EZEKIEL. [Chap. I. 23-27. 23 And under the firmament their wings were straight, one towards another ; each had two Avhich covered on this side, and each had 24 two which covered on that side, their bodies. And I heard the sound of their wings, like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, when they went ; the sound of a tumult, as the sound of a host ; when they stood, they let down their wings. 25 And there was a sound from the expanse which was above their head when they stood and let down their wings. 26 And above the expanse that was over their head was the appear- ance of a sapphire-stone, the likeness of a throne : and upon the likeness of the throne, was the likeness as the appearance of a 27 man above upon it. And I saw as it were the appearance of 23. Between the representation here given iind that which we tind ver. 11, there is no positive contradiction. Al- thouj^h the two wings which were ex- panded upwards were specially designed for flying, yet till they reached the sum- mit of the figure and were parted from each other, they necessarily covered the upper part of the body, while the other two were specially intended to cover tho lower parts. 24. '''i!"^"''''P > the voice of the Almightji, means thunder. See Ps. xxix. Pip i^f ^"T! > occui-ring only here, and Jer. xi. 16, means the sound of a tumult, such as that of a multitude of warriors rushing on to the attack, as the prophet presently explains ?'?'^ does not occur as a root in Hebrew, but the corresponding Arab. J^^JO , continue pluit, lihere fluxit, sug- gests the idea of impetuosity, or violent rushing, as of a heavy rain. The LXX. according to the Alexandrian copy have (pwvT) rod \oyov, the voice of the Lor/os, which Jerome explains of the second person of the Trinity. They must have read n^53n bip , 2.5. As it would have been unbefitting in the living creatures to have continued moving on when the Almighty gave forth his voice, they are here represented as stopping in their course, and reverently letting their wings fall, while they listen in silence to the divine communication. 26. Ezekiel now advances to the high- est point in the vision. Having men- tioned the 2-'^p'1 , expanse, in relation to the figui'es underneath it, his eye catches a glance of the throne of the Almighty, occupying a place above it, and the Di- vine Being himself as there enthroned in human form. This divine manifesta- tion is one of the most remarkable The- ophanies of the Old Testament. "While, like other anthropomorphic appearances of the Deity, it was prelusive of the future incarnate state of the Logos, it distinctly and specially recognized the God-man Redeemer in his character as the inflicter of punishment upon his enemies. Comp. 2 Thess, i. 7-9 ; Rev. xix. 11-16. The throne is described as having the appearance of "i'^QD~"(2X , a sapphire-stone. By this is meant, not the lapis lazuli, as some have imagined, but the gem properly called sapphire; which is surpassed only by the diamond in hardness, lustre, and beauty. It is mostly of a blue color, but is of various shades, from the deepest azure to the purest white. In the description given of the vision of the God of Israel (Exod. xxiv. 10), he is said to have had under his feet as it were a transpan-nt uvrk of sapphire. 27. The description here given of the Son of God quite corresponds with that furnished, Dan. x. 5, 6 ; Rev. i. 14, 1.5. Eor ^^^'^^ see on ver. 4. a^DO i^V"pi3j^ Chap I. 27, 28.] EZEKIEL. 21 polished brass, the likeness of fire within it around, from the appearance of his loins and upwards, and from the appearance of his loins and downwards, I saw as it were the appearance of is fire, and it was surrounded with splendor. As the appearance of the bow which is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the surrounding splendor. This was the appear- ance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah. And when I saw, then I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake. within it around^io indicate the intrinsic cheering appearance ofjLglQriQiis_raLn- purity and terrible rectitude of the divine bmv is presentecl ' to the view of the judgments. The appearance of the Di- prophet, who had fallen prostrate under vine Man being wholly invested with an overwhelming sense of the majesty fire, lilvewisc denoted his readiness to and glory of manifested Deity. •^^'J^^ punish the wicked with awful destruc- ^S^^> lit. and I saw and I fell. The tion. force of the conjunctive particle in this 28. To intimate that however severe case, is simply to point out the relation should be the divine judgments, still of the two verbs to each other, the one they would be accompanied with dis- indicating the cause, and the other the plays of fiiithfuluess and mercy, the effect. Respecting the i mport of the chenibira described in Scripture, and more especially those supposed to be described in the visions of Ezekiel, there has been much specu- lation. Various attempts have been made to harmonize the different passages in which they are presented to view, and very different have been the hypotheses which have been constructed in elucidation of them. I sliall not, however, detain my readers with anything in the shape of a critical review of these hypotheses, adjusting their respective merits and demerits, or with any attempts to prove their inapplicability to the subject before us. I shall content myself with examining the various parts of the picture in their bearing upon^ the historical aspects of the times in which the prophet flourished, and The object which the Spirit of inspiration may be supposed to have had in view in suggesting the images to his mind. At one time it was fashionable to endeavor to obtain light from the aids of ety- mology; but all Hebraists of note now acquiesce in the opinion, that the search in this quarter is fruitless, there being no certain data on which to rest, either in the Hebrew or in any of the cognate dialects. The principal difficult}' which has pressed upon all who have made the vision the subject of investigation, has consisted in their having attempted to construct an hypothesis that should reconcile all the phenomena of the different passages of scrip- ture in which the cherubim are presented to view. Accordingly, though on some points their opinions might at fii-st sight appear to satisfy the claims of certain pas- sages, they are found more or less to clash with others ; as I am satisfied every hypothesis must which laj^s it down as a first principle that the cherubim, wherever they occur in scripture, are symbolical of the same identical objects. Of the form or appearance of those stationed at the gate of Paradise, and of those placed on the mercy-seat in the tabeniacle and the temple, we have no account; and all attempts to transfer to them any part or parts of the description in Ezeldel's vision proceed upon a gratuitous assumption. It must be obvious to every attentive reader of the Bible that the symbols were not fixed and uniform, but varied according to circumstances. Proceeding upon 22 EZEKIEL. [Chap. I. this as a generally admitted fact, I shall now, without stopping to examine the import of the symbols in other passages, proceed to place before my readers what appears to me to be the symbolical teaching of the living creatures as described by Ezekicl. Regarding it as a first_grincjpieJiL-henneneutics, that the statements of a writer are to be interpreted in accordance with his position, or the circumstances in which he is placed, and the scope and tenor of his work, it is necessary that we inquire wh at ,were th ose circumstanges-4Q-theJiiatorvUQf jjoir prophet or his times that may be supposed to thi-ow light upon the subject. A portion of the Jewish peo- ple had been transported to the banks of the Chebar. Their city and temple still stood; but the greater number of the inhabitants that had been left behind still indulged in the grossest id_olatrousjiracticcs. To punisl^^hem for, their daring-and obstinate-rebellion against tha God of their fathers, he had purposed_to_employ the po wer of th e Chaldeans, whose army should invade Judea, invest Jerusalem, burn the city andtEe temple, exercise the greatest cruelties upon the inhabitants, and carry away the principal of them into captivity in Babylon. Na\vit-Was, I conceive, toj;epresent syrnbolically this formidable J)Ostilcj)pw.er,tbat Ezekiel had presented to his view in sublime vision a colossal_compound^ object, consisting of the resem- blance oTfour living creatures, each of which had the face of a man, a lion, a bull, and an eagle. Add to which, wheels of tremendous size, and wings for flight, with hands for operation under their wings. Being all designated living creatures, and each of those specified being the most distinguished of his class, it is_evi dent tha t life or vital energy ji_itsjiighest visible creature forrajsjjitended-to^bij. represented,- The properties at once suggested by the symbols are those of intelligence, strengtli, s wift ness, andj'erocity. And the combination of them all in on^jfigure I regard as design'cd to set forth the truly appalling and destructive character of the agency to be employed for the punishment of the Jews. They are to be viewed noliosjlbstract qualities, but as concrete injhe. person of N^ebu^adnezzar as the head of the Baby- lonian empire. Though the elements of the vision are altogether unique in regard to their composite form, they are found either separately or partially combined, as sy mbols o f royalt^ ^^ljoth in scripture and in profane antiquity. " Throughout all Pagan mythology, the lion and the bull are the emblems, respectiyely, of royalty and of power, and these animals are consequently of frequent recurrence, either singly or in a form compounded of both animals, among almost all the ancient structures of Persia." — Vaux's Nineveh and Persepolis, p. 293. In numerous passages of the Bible animals are employed to symbolize monarcha or royal personages, as heads of nations or leaders of armies. Thus the lion, as the most daring and powerful of all the carnivorous animals, the monarch of the forest, was selected as the symbol of the tribe of Judah (Gen, xlix.9 ). in reference to which our Saviour, in his regal character, is styled "the lion of the tribe of Judah" (Rev. V. 5). This symbol was specially prominent in thejauxteen^liojlSJwhich supported and adoi'ned the throne of Solomon (1 Kings_x. 19,J21D.- Under the same symbol the king and royal family of Nineveh are represented (Nah. ii. 11). The ox or bull, the principal animal of the becve kind, distinguished for his Strength and ferocity, is similarly employed as a symbol of the prince of Shechem (Gen. xlix. 6). In the same light we are doubtless to regard the colossal bull discovered by Layard among the sculptured ruins of Nineveh, and now in the British Museum. To the formidable and ferocious character of this animal, reference is made Ps. xxii. 12. With respect to the eagle, renowned as the king of the birds of prey, and remarkable for his far- sightedness, velocity, and strength, he is employed as a symbol of the king of Baby- lon (Ezek. xvii. 3, 7), the swiftness of whose armies is compared to that of the eagle (Hab. i. 8). He is also spoken of as the most eminent of the birds of prey (Isa. xlvi. 11), to symbolize Cyrus, who was tlie first to use the figure of this bird on his military standard — a custom afterwards adopted by the Romans, and in Chap. 1.] EZEKIEL. 23 modern times by the Austrians, Russians, and other continental nations, all of whom regard tlic eaj^le as the bird of victory. " It is remarkable that in the earliest As- syrian monuments, one of the most frequently met with is the eagle-headed human figure. In other cases the head of the bird occurs, united with the body of a lion." — ^Yaux, ^it sup., p. 32. If all the properties thus symbolized are united with tho intelligence and skill of man, we have then one of the most territic objects that can be presented to the human imagination. While the symbols must have powerfully impressed the mind of Ezckiel, and urged him as a faithful watchman to give his guilty people warning of their impending danger, there was in the rainbow, as the mild sign of _t]ie covenant, an assurance that the judgment of~God's providence should be tempered with mercy, so that while the incorrigible should perish without remedy, Jehovah would treat the penitent with compassion, and make for them a way to escape. No introduction to his prophetic ministrj' could have been more appropriate. Recollecting that there were no fewer than four such compound symbolical forms, we are furnished with a most imposing picture of the rapid, resistless, ferocious, and all-subduing conquests of the king of Babylon, powerfully calculated to inspire the Jews with terror, and induce them by timely repentance and the abandonment of their idolatrous and other wicked courses to avert the severe judgments with which they were threatened. The idea of a vast military apparatus, with lofty wheels, bearing down upon them, full of eyes from whose glance there could be no possibility of escape, accompanied with images of skill, velocity, invincibility, and cruelty, must have greatly increased their terror; and it is only by taking into con- sideration their deep-rooted aversion to their covenant-God, and their fixed deter- mination to cleave to their idols, that we can account for their rejection of the prophetic messages which thus bore on their front such portentous intimations of approaching wrath. In contemplating this sublime vision, special attention must be paid to what is exhibited in its two separate compartments — the living creatures with all their appurtenances, as significant of the providential execution of the divine purposes on earth ; and the glory of Jehovah, enthroned in human form above the expanse. The former is represented as movable, — ready, without turning aside or back, to proceed withersoever it was the divine purpose it should go ; the latter as stationary and permanent, exhibiting the Supreme Ruler on the throne of the universe, directino- and controlling all things according to the pleasure of his own will; managing with perfect ease the vast concerns of his empire; making the wrath of man to praise him, and restraining the remainder of it. To intimate the future incarnate state of the Logos, in which were involved the all-important results of redemption, and with a view to which the covenant-people were to be preserved in spite of all the hostility that might be brought to bear upon them, the theophany exhibits humanity upon the throne, invested with all the glory of Deity. 24 EZEKIEL. [Chap. II. 1-3. CHAPTER II. Ezekiel now receives his prophetic commission, 1-5. He is instructed not to be intimidated by the formidable opposition he should meet with from his infidel countrymen, but faithfully to deliver his message, 6-8 ; which is emblematically represented as being of a very mournful character, 9, 10. 1 And he said to me, Son of man stand uj^on thy feet, and I will 2 s^Deak to thee. And the Spirit entered into me when he spake with me, and set me on my feet; then I heard him that spake 3 with me. And he said unto me. Son of man, I send thee to the 1. t:'l5<"'|3, son of man. This desig- nation, by which Ezekiel is addressed upwards of a hundred times, is given to no other prophet except Daniel, who receives it only once, chapter vjii.-'T7. Though Jerome, with whom Havemick agrees, accounts for the singularity by the supposition, that our prophet was thus addressed to prevent his being elated with pride by the sublime visions with which he .was favored, there does not appear to be more in the phrase than an Aramaic_idiom, in common use in the country in which Ezekiel M'as living. In the Syriac New Testament it is of frequent occurrence asjnerely_garallel wit!L'«an. Thus, however strange it may sound in our ears, we read 1 Cor. XV. 45, " Adam the first son of man ; " and again, ver. 47, " The first son of man was of the earth ; the second son of man was the Lord from heaven." Traces of the same idiom occur in Hebrew, in which D'7JJ , man, and D^X"'j3 , son of man, are perfectly parallel, I^mb. xxiii. 19; Job. XXV. 6; xxxv. 8; Ps. viii. 5. To encourage the prophet, he is com- manded to rise from the prostrate position into which he had fallen, and standing on his feet, to receive his commission, ^nit instead of "(PX , as frequently in Jeremiah. 2. It has been made a question whether by HI'l here we are to understand breqtii, the animal spirit, or the Holy Spirit of GocT as imparted f6r~Tnvigdrating the exhausted mind of the prophet. As the Queen of Sheba was so overcome by the sight of the splendor of Solomon's royal court, that it is said there was no more H"'l , spirit or breath, in her, 1 Kings x. 5, thus it has been maintained, Ezekiel was so completely overpowered by the tran- scendent splendor of the Lord's glory, presented to his view as narrated in the preceding chapter, that he had fallen exhausted to the earth, i. 28. The con- necting of the entering of this Ruach with the address that was given to the prophet, might seem to argue that the term is to be taken in this inferior ac- ceptation ; but the effect of its entering into him being represented as-4»afctn^ him to stand o n bis f eet^-decides^ the question in favor of the Spirit .oLGod' be ing In t ended. The speaker on this, as on other occasions, w. ns tbe ^ T.ofjos . who commissioned the prophets, and revealed to them the divine will. The Dagcsh forte in the Daleth of ^^/p^ , which the punctator appears to have placed, on the supposition that the word was the— f>a*ticiphi of Hithpacl, affords no sense. It should be pointed '^?'5'? the participle of Piel, and this punctua- tion we find in some oX the best Hebrew MSST'"'" 3. Ezekiel is reminded of the fact, of which he must have had abundant proofs before he left Jerusalem, that the people among whom he was to exercise his prophetic ministry had all along been % Chap. II. 3-7 ] E Z E K I E L . 25 children of Israel, to rebellious heathen, who have rebelled against me, they and their fathers have sinned against me, unto this very day. And as for the children, they are hard-faced and stout-hearted. I send thee to them, and thou shalt say unto them : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah. And as for them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall assuredly know that a prophet hath been among them. And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dwellest among scorpions ; be not afraid of their words, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear ; for they notorious for their rebellious disposition towards their covenant-God. Though, instead of D']'15 , nations, Gentiles, heathens, one of De Rossi's MSS., the Syr., and the Targum read '''^j^^j.^mtion, in the singular, yet the plural form seems to have been purposely chosen in order emphatically to express the heathenish character of the Jewish people, which they had acquired by adopting the idola- trous practices of the nations by whom they were surrounded. In like manner Xsaiah identifies the people in his day with the inhabitants of Sodom and Go- morralijjjjil. The position of ,lIitzig. that the plural, and not the singular, is employed, because the PIcbrcws, to whom the prophet was sent, were no longer a nation, but only separate portions of it, is by no means borne out by the signi- fication of C^iS , nations, Deut. xxviii. 12, to which he refers. 4. CpS'l » the children, is to be taken as a noun absolute, and is a resumption of r^'Sf]; J they, in the preceding verse. It places the living generation in more aggravating apposition with crii3S , their fathers. C"'|IS rtjp , hard-faced, im- pudent, shameless. Those whom the prophet had to address had put on a bold front, and were resolute in their determination to cleave to their abomi- nations. Their very countenance was* an index to their obstinacy of heart. 3 5. The form CX - GN , ;/— //; or wheth- er — whether, puts two snpposable, but uncertain cases. Were the former re- alized, there would be the exercise of pardoning mercy ; in case there should be a desisting to hear, or a rejection of the prophet's message, the consequent infliction of the threatened punishment would be an irrefragable proof of his divine commission. The copulative T, in ''-'"l^l is emphatic : thci/ shall cerlainlij know. G, 7. The repetition of X'nT]-^X , he not afraid, f^ives peculiar emphasis to the sentence, and is not to be exchanged in the second instance for nnn'bx , be not dismayed, as Hitzig proposes, to make the original correspond to chap. iii. 9, and to eKirr-ps of the LXX. The very circumstance that rinp-bx'! nHin"i>X occur together immediately after.renders it less probable that an error of tran- sci'iption is to be suspected in the present instance. There is no variation in the MSS. Ezekiel was not to allow himiself to be intimidated by the formidable op- position he should meet with from his countrymen. Because 3t!P in Chaldco signifies to be refractor//, rehellious, Ge- senius, Lee, and others, ascribe this signification to the Hebrew here, where the noun occurs as a a7ra| Ki-y. ; but from D'^3^0 occurrin;j:in immediate combina- tion with D'^pii'D , thorns, it appears 26 EZEKIEL. [Chap. II. 7-10. 10 are most rebellious. But thou, son of man, hear what I say to thee : be not thou rebellious like the rebellious house ; open thy mouth and eat that which I give thee. And I looked, and behold a hand was extended to me, and behold there was in it a roll of a book. And he spread it before me, and it was written on the face and the back ; and there was written on it. Lamen- tations AND MOURNING AND WOE. more natural to adopt the acceptation in which it is taken by the Eabliins, who render it by hrieis or nettles. Compare for tlie etymology v)jD , C]j'.y , 2"^^ , to hum, "iSIP > vetlle, as the Latin urtica from vro, to burn, in reference to the burning sensation occasioned by the stinging of the nettle. Iloubigant is of opinion that this signification of the term may be supported on the ground that it is parallel with scorpions, which occurs afterwards in the verse ; C^prD occurs again in the singular, "{"i^D , with the signification of thorn, chap, xxviii. 24. The noun is derived from 5^0 , to raise, elevate, hence used of the boughs and twigs of the palm-tree, and so of the thorns or prickles with which they arc covered. Thusthe Arab. sLLww , spinoe in pahnarum ramis. !2'^py , the scorpion, is a formidable insect, the body of which terminates abruptly in a jointed tail, armed at the extremity with an acute spike. It lives in places exposed to the sun, and, hiding under stones or in crevicp'?. :uns rapidly when disturbed, with its tail curved over its back. The larger ones in tropical climes are from five to eight inch es in length, and have a sting which is very much dreaded, as its poison frequently causes convulsions and death. In some places they are so numerous as to become a constant object of apprehension to the inhabitants. By the use of these metaphors, borrowed from the vegetable and animal kingdoms, Jehovah indicates to the proj^het the annoying and dangerous character of those to whom he was sent. Instead of '^'y^ , rebellion, in ver. 7, twenty MSS., the LXX., Syr., Arab., and Targ. read i"i"3 ri^2 , house of rebellion, or, taking ■^'^"2 adjectively, rebellious house. This reading, which is that in vers. 5, 6, and 8, and chap. iii. 26, 27, is also found in three of the earliest editions. The Chald. has C^ , people. On the ground, that ■a hstynpt no uns^_arc used to expres s in- tensify, our translators render "^^ By most rebellious. 8-10. There was so much in the com- munications which Ezekiel had to make that was calculated to stir up the enmity of the hearts of his people against him, that he must naturally have shrunk l>ack from the undertaking, or been tempted to modify or soften down the terms of his message. He is, therefore, warned not to imitate his coiuitrymen in their refractory and disobedient disposition, but fully to possess himself of that mes- sage, carefully to digest it in his mind, and faithfully to deliver it to his hearers. To express the former of these ideas, the metaplior of eating food is employed, just as Jer. xv. 10 ; Ezek. iii. 1 ; Rev. X. 9. 10 ; ^vliicJl__last•cite4--pa£sage_i3 exacdv_j2aranel_jWtli_tlicJaiig^ o \ir prop het. Of course the language is to be understood S3™bolically, and not of a real transaction ; just as when we speak of devourinc/ a book, the meaning is that we peruse it with the greatest avidity. Thus also the Latin, devorarc, deglutire, imbibere. The books of the ancients were in tlic^JiapeaiL-tolls, and were usually written on what would be the inside when rolled up. When, how- ever, the quantity of matter was too •great to admit of its being contained within this space, the remainder was Chap. III. 1-6.] EZEKIEL. 2T inscribed on the back. Hence the plirase of the present roll were, their import is "linxi D'^3Q > on the face, and the hack, summed up in the three emphatic words Tlic^rnAide is called the face, because "^Ht '^?\!t ^'"'^'Vli^cimentat ions a.ni\. mourn- when unrolled it is that which presents inrj and woe. "^H is formed, by apha;resis itself to view. Large as the contents of 3 , from "^H.? » a dMij or doleful song. CHAPTER III. This chapter begins with a resumption of the subject with which that preceding had con- cluded, somewhat amplifying it, and stating the prophet's compliance with the injunc- tion given him, 1-3. He has again placed before him the obstinate character of those to whom he was sent, 4-7; but he is assured that he shall be enabled to confront them, 8-10. He is next carried in vision to a colony of Jews in the neighborhood, 11-15; where, after a period of seven days, he receives a fresh charge, 16-21. Having been removed to some distance, he is favored with a repetition of the vision of the Shcchinah, that he might be further instructed how to proceed, and told what would bo the result of his mission, 22, 23. He is then commanded to retire to his house, where he is to be restrained for a season from public duty, and afterwards to go forth and announce to the people that it was at their option whether they would obey or not, 24-27. 1 And he said unto me, Son of man, eat that which thou findest, eat 2 this roll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel. Then I opened 3 my mouth, and he caused me to eat that rolh And'he saidimto me. Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll which I give thee. Then I ate it, and it was in my 4 mouth like honey for sweetness. And he said unto me, Son of man, come, go unto the house of Israel, and speak with my 5 words unto them. For thou art not sent unto a people deep of 1. Instead of 5N"^b'^ 1^"'?» house of Israel, the reading ^^^'^^'^ ""SS > children of Israel, is found in eigliteen of Kcnni- cott and Dc Eossi's MSS. ; it has origi- nally been in four more, is now in one by emendation, and a])pears in the printed text of the Soncinian edition. It has the suifrages of the Syr., Vulg., and Chakl. The present textual reading occurs ver. 4, Avithout any variation in the MSS. and versions. 3. The prophet is again charged, in more particular terms, to appropriate the contents of the roll. The language is of the same metaphorical stamp as before. The delightful sensation which he experienced, notwithstanding the doleful character of the roll, was pro- duced by the conviction, that the mes- sages which it contained were instiupt with g;lorimis~T?shibitiQiis of tlic divine holiness and the equity of the divine government — subjects which must ever afford refined pleasure to the renewed mind. Compare, as parallel in senti- ment and phraseology, Ecv. x. 8-11. 'Hitzig remarks, that the ^ in "^^ri*? > is raphe , on account of the distinctive accent. 5, 6. Till'V ""^13=1 ^?'t? ''i?'?? ' lit- (^^'^P of lip and heavy of tongue : phraseology formed with reference to a malformation of the organs of speech, by wliich the expression of ideas by articulate sounds is rendered difficult and iminteliigible. It was natural for the Hebrews to nse it 28 EZEKIEL. [Chap. HI. 5-13. 10 11 12 13 speech and heavy of tongue, but unto the house of Israel. Not to many peoples of deep speech and heavy of tongue, whose words thou shouldest not understand : surely if I had sent thee unto them, they would have listened unto thee. But tlie house of Israel will not listen unto thee, for tliey are not willing to listen unto me : for all the house of Israel are of impudent fore- head, and hard-hearted. Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their fore- heads. As an adamant, harder than flint, liave I made thy fore- liead ; be not afi'aid of them, neitlier be dismayed at their faces, though they are a rebellious house. He said further unto me, Son of man, all my words which I shall speak unto thee, receive in thy heart and hear with thine ears. And come, go to the captivity, to the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the sound of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of Jehovah from his place. Also when speaking of foi-eigncrs whose lan- guage they did not understand. To show more strikingly the unreasonable- ness of the Jewish people in rejecting the message of the prophet, he is told that i£Jae-lind^l)ecn_£eiU_to_any_of_the barbarous nation s with w hose language he ^Yi1p nT^jirqiinintPd^Jjipy wnnlfl xmxor- thcless__Imxc at least listened , and not turnedjudcaileai' to him. Konc of the ancient versions have expressed S5b after DX in ver. 6. The only waj^ of inter- preting the two particles as here com- bined is to regard them as expressing a strong asseveration or obtestation. Comp. Job i. iTf TiT^ST' xxii. 20 ; Isa. V. 9. They are therefore properly ren- dered surely in our Authorized Version ; and the rendering of Newcomc, who retains the negative sense, is to be re- jected. 7. The Jews labored under no physical incapacity to understand the prophet, but were morally disinclined to listen to the divine message by whomsoever it might be delivered. 8, 9. Ezekiel was not to be discouraged or intimidated by the shameless treat- ment he had to expect from his country- men. Strengthened by Him of whose message he was the bearer, he should be able to face them with all boldness, and unreseiwedly to make known to them the divine communications. 12, 13. By ni"i here we are not, with Hitz;g and others, to understand ia)it!, but the prophetic Spirit by whom Eze- kiel was impelled to proceed on his mis- sion. Comp. Acts viii. 39 : Uvevfia Kvpiov T^piroire rhv ^iAnrTrof. In neither case is a supernatural passage thi'ough the air to be imagined. The import of the sound of great rushing, wliich the prophet heard, was an ascription of praise to the divine glory which he had seen above the firmament, chap. i. 26-28. The manifestations of that glory had been at the temple of Jerusalem, but had now departed and been withdrawn to the immediate divine prcsencfi_Jji- Jie^iven. In connection with the display of that glory which Ezekiel had witnessed, he now hears the sound of the cherubic apparatus as already on its way towards Chat. III. 13-21.] EZEKIEL. 29 14 15 the sound of the wiugs of the living creatures touching each other, and tlie sound of the wheels over against them, even the sound of a great rusliing. And the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away. And I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit ; and the hand of Jehovah was strong upon me. And I came to the captives at Tel-abib, who dwelt on the river Chebar, and I beheld them sitting there, and I sat there seven days, aston- ished, among them. IG And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of 17 Jehovah came unto me, saying: Son of man, I have appointed thee a watchman to the house of Israel ; hear then the word from my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say to the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and thou warnest him not, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to make him live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood 18 Jerusalem. The Cip'3 f place of the di- vine glory, was that of its manifestation over the mercy-seat. As it indicated the peculiar presence of Jehovah, thither the special adoration of the Jews "was directed. The 50 prefixed is privative in signification, and expresses the remo- val of the Shechinah from the temple. See chap. ix. 3. 14. Partly alarmed by the sound, and partlj^ discouraged by anticiiDating the fruitless results of his mission, the proph- et proceeded with a heavy heart, but a powerful divine impulse urged him foi'- wards. 15. 3''3I5 ^O, I'el-ahih, an accusative absolute, the name of a place in the neighborhood, most probably the princi- pal location of the captive Jews. ?n signifies ai elevation, mound, or heap, and is still incorporated with the names of ruined cities in the East. Michaelis supposes the town to be the same that is called Thallaha an the map of D'An- ville, situated on the Chabour, between Kesein and Obeidia. If the name was given to the place by the Jewish captives, it may have been intended to express their hopes of future restoration, 2'^35J signifying the green ears of corn which ; appeared iu the month Nisan, the first 3* of the civil months of the Jewish year. To 2'43N1 , as occurring first in this verse in many of the best MSS., and three of the early editions, and which the Kcri, after the Chald., approves, "i^:>?l of the Textus Receptus is decidedly to be pre- ferred, since the other reading makes no sense. The root of "I'l^X is I^O, to look, behold, and the punctuation should be ndX, as Dp^X, 1 Kings iii. 21.' That il5an is to be taken in the oblique case, Hitzig justifies by a reference to Jer. xlvi. 5, nan Tj'^N'n ^^I'n^ , .ind removes the zakeph katon from the preceding word. When the prophet arrived at Tel-abib, instead of finding the Jews engaged with diffei'cnt occupations, he beheld them sitting on the banks of the river, no doubt in the attitude of grief on ac- count of their banishment from Jeru- salem. Comp. Ps. cxxxvii. 1. Partly from a kindred feeling, and partly to show his sympathy with them, Ims took his place among them in the same atti- tude, disconsolate, for the space of seven days. 16-21. It is well remarked by Fair- bairn, that Ezekiel alone of all the proph- ets is formally appointed to the office of watchman. In this interesting para- graph he is specially instructed respect- 30 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. III. 16-27. 19 will I require at thy hand.^ And tliou, wJien thou warnest the wicked, and he turneth not from his wickedness and from his wicked way, he shall die in his wickedness, but thou hast deliv- 20 ered thy soul. And when a righteous man turneth from his righteousness, and committeth wickedness, and I put a stum- bling-block before him he shall die ; because thou warnedst him not, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousnesses which he hath wrought shall not be remembered, but his blood I will 21 require at thy hand, v But thou, when thou warnest a righteous man not to sin, and the righteous man sinneth not, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and thou hast delivered 22 thy soul, / And the hand of Jehovah was there upon me, and he said unto me: Arise, go forth unto the valley, and there will 23 I speak unto thee. Then I arose, and went forth unto the valley, and behold, the glory of Jehovah was standing there, as the glory which I beheld by the river Chebar, and I fell upon 24 my face. Then the Spirit entered into me, and caused me to stand upon my feet, and he spake unto me, and said unto me : 25 Go, shut thyself up in the midst of thy house. But thou, son of man, behold, they will put cords upon thee, and bind thee 26 with them, and thou shalt not go forth among them. And I ing the duties of his office, and shown prophet, he receives an inspired charge the bearing of the discharge, or the neg- to repair to a valley or jilain in the lect of them, both on his own interests neigliborhood, that there, in a state of and on the interests of those to whom seclusion from his countrymen, he might he was sent. The awful responsibility obtain a fresh manifestation of the divine of the public teachers of religion is here glory, and receive further communica- strikingly depicted. tions from the Angel of the Covenant 20. ?Tw273 , a stumbling-block, or occa- The "^^TT? is not further described, but sion of moral falling. It is thus the it was in all probability, a cleft or tJalley passage is to be understood ; for we between two mountains, running in the cannot conceive of God's laying any- direction of the Chebar. As the vision thing in the way of a moral agent that here specified is restricted to the glory would necessarily cause him to sin. of the Lord, it is evident it did not in- There may be an adaptation in the elude that of the cherubim, object to call forth the sinful propensities 24-27. Having been again raised by of the human heart, but there is no com- the power of the Divine Spirit from the pulsory influence exerted in any way to ground, on which he iiad fallen, Ezekiel affect the free-agency of the individual, is charged to return and shut himself up For "inplS in the singular the Keri has in his house, with the intimation that 1'^ri'ip"Tl£ in the plural, to agree with he should be restrained for a time from 3";5jn . discharging the duties of his prophetic 22. Eor the purpose of producing a office, after which he was to announce deeper impression upon the mind of the to the people that they had to make their Chap. IV. 1, 2.] EZEKIEL. 31 will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover, for they 27 are a rebellious house. But when I speak unto thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : He that heareth, let him hear ; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear ; for they are a rebellious house. election, whether tliey would receive or reject the divine message. The binding of the prophet by the people is not to be understood literally, but is spoken alle- gorically of the influence which their rebellious conduct would exert upon his spirit, filling him with despondency, and thus disqualifying him from frankly and faithfully bearing his testimony against them. Nothing is more dispiriting- to a minister than to see his people indis- posed to profit by his labors. As a just judgment upon them, God threatens that he would render his servant incapa- ble of ministering among them, than which we cannot imagine a worse state in which a people can be left. CHAPTER IV. Under the symbol of a siege the prophet is commanded to portray the investment of Jeru- salem by the Chaldeans, 1-3; then to lie a certain number of days on his two sides alternately, as under a heavy burden, to serve as a type of the punishment to which the Hebrews of the two kingdoms wore to be subjected for their sins, 4-6. To represent the extremities to which they were to be exposed during the siege, he was to prepare food made up of diflerent kinds of grains, and bake it with the most nauseous fuel, and then from time to time to eat a small quantity, as well as to use a stinted quantity of water, 7-13. After being indulged with a modification in the article of fuel, he is fur- nished with a direct application of the symbol to the circumstances of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 14-17. 1 And thou, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and 2 portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem. And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and raise a mound against it, and 1. Hitzig fancifully concludes from the etymological signification of J^JSp that it was a limestone the prophet was commanded to take ; but brick was like- wise so called, from the white clay of which it was frequently made, and which was either burned in the kiln or dried in the sun. Some of the latter kind ac- quired a sufficient degree of compactness to admit of inscriptions or impressions of various objects being represented on them. Such bricks abound in the ruins of Babylon and the remains of other ancient cities in the vicinity of the region in which Ezekiel was. They are fre- quently of two feet in length by one in breadth ; consequently sufficiently large to allow of what is here described being portrayed upon them. 2. For p^"^ , specula, icatch-toiver, see on Jer. lii. 4. "i3 Hiivernick plausibly interprets from the etymology ("1^3, or '^'^? , signifying to dig or bore through), and renders the term by Durchbrecher. So far as the derivation is concerned he certainly is correct, since the word, as 32 EZEKIEL. [Chap. IV. 2-6. set camps against it, and place battering rams against it round about. And thou, take to thee a pan of iron, and make it a wall of iron between thee and the city, and direct thy face against it, and it shall be in a state of siege, and thou shalt besiege it : it is a sign to the house of Israel.^^And thou, lie upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it ; the number of the days which thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have appointed for thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of days, three hundred and ninety days ; and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast finished these, then thou shalt lie a a primitive noun, takes the signification of lamb, or the pastures where the lambs feed, and the transition from the idea of such a harmless creature to that of i-am would seem too violent to be tolerated. There cannot be a doubt that the word is here to be taken in the signification of arietes, a battering-ram, or long log of wood, so called because one of the ends was armed with a mass of heavy metal in the shape of a ram's head. Such machines, either carried by soldiers or suspended by ropes or chains, were driven with force against the walls of a fortified city, so as to make a breach in them, or batter them down. 3. The 'i^'^^P^ y /ri/ing-pan of iron, from the rust which it contracted, was a fit symbol of the city of Jerusalem, the accumulated guilt of which was now to be punished. The better to represent the city, this pan was to be surrounded with a raised edge of iron in the shape of a wall. ^i<'^b'] n-^a , house of Israel, as occurring in this verse, is to be dis- tinguished as to signification from the same phrase as used in the following verses. Here it is employed to denote the Hebrews generally ; there, in contra- distinction from rrn^iT] r''3 , house of Judah, to denote the ten tribes which separated in the time of Rehoboam. 4-6. The supposition, broached by Jarchi and adopted by Hitzig, that the left side was designed to be symbolical of the northern kingdom, and the right of the southern, because geographically the localities which they occupied lay in these directions, according to the Orien- tal mode of considering the east to be in front, is more fanciful than real. Lit- tle more tenable is the opinion of Gi"0tius, that the sides were pui-posely chosen to point out the dignity of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin as superior to those which formed the northern king- dom. I agree with the opinion of Steud- lin and Havernick, that no importance is to be attached to the selection. There are some chronological difficul- ties attaching to a literal or historical computation of the periods here specified. The most tenable seem the calculations of Eichhorn, Michaelis, Scholz, Eosen- miiller, Maurer, and others, who date, in the one case, from the separation of the ten tribes in the reign of Jeroboam, and in the other, from the reformation eft'eet- ed by Josiah, 390 and 40 being used as the nearest round numbers. It has in- deed been objected that the prophet is here treating, not of the time during which the sins were committed, but that during which the people were bearing the punishment inflicted on account of them ; but a designed correspondence between the term of punishment and the season of transgression is not infrequent in Scripture. See especially Numb. xiv. 34. As many years as the people had continued in idolatry, so many days the prophet was in symbolic action to bear Chap. IV. 6-9] EZEKIEL. second time upon thy right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah, forty days ; a day for a year have I appointed thee. And thou shalt direct thy face towards the siege of Jerusalem, and thou shalt uncover thine arm and prophesy against it. And, behold, I will lay cords upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, until thou hast finished the days of thy siege. And thou, take for thyself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread of them for the number of the days which thou shalt be lying upon thy side, three hundred and ninety their chastisement. The opinion recently adopted by Hitzig-, Ewald, and Fairbairn, and wliich was already entertained by the Rabbins iu the time of Jerome, that the periods are to be considered analogi- cally, as corresponding to the time in which the Israelitish people were absent from their own land, and suffered in Egypt and in the wilderness, is open to the objection that in order to make the periods tally, the number 40, which rep- resents the years of wandering in the desert, needs to be also reckoned along with the 390 to make up the 430 years, mentioned in Exod. xii. 40, 41 ; in addi- tion to which it must be remembered that a comparison of Gen. xv. 16, Exod. vi. 16-20, and Gal. iii. 17, leads to the idea that the 430 years so reckoned included the sojourn of the patriarchs in Canaan as well as the detention of their posterity in the house of bondage. The Hebrew phrase "(IS i\ov. 15. The concession made to relieve the feelings of the prophet indicated the divine disposition to mitigate the pun- ishment of the captive Hebrews. The ashes of animal excrements in which bread has been baked having been care- fully removed, and the external crust only having been brought into contact with them, the interior is left entirely free from everything disagreeable to the taste. Dr. Robinson, describing a scene on his journey to NSbulus, says : " The men were baking a large, round, flat cake of bread, in the embers of a fire of camel's and cow dung. Taking it out when done, they brushed off the ashes, and divided it among the party, offering us also a portion. I tasted it, and found it quite as good as the common bread of the country " (Researches, vol. iii. p. 76). The teaching of the passage is, that in wrath God remembers mercy; that those to whom afflictions are sanctified, and who turn to him with their whole heart, shall obtain mercy, and be deliv- ered out of all their troubles. 16, 17. The prophet is here furnished with a further illustration of the neces- sitous condition to which their sins should reduce his countrymen. CHAPTER V. Ezekiel is commanded to cut off the hair of his head and beard, 1; to bum a third part of it with fire, to cut another third ji^irt with a sword, and to scatter the remaining third ' to the winds of heaven, 2 ; of this last portion, however, he was to reserve a small quan- tity in his girdle, but even of it he was to cast part into the fire, 3, 4. Tlie import of these symbolical actions is next pointed out, and the reasons are assigned why the Jews were to be so severely dealt with, 5-11. A further explanation of the symbols is given, 12 ; together with a description of the heavy calamities of which they were significant, 13-17. 1 Moreover thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, a barber's razor let there be taken to thee, and cause it to pass upon thy 36 EZEKIEL. [Chap. V. 1-6. head, and upon thy beard, and take to thee weighing scales and 2 divide the hair. A third part thou shalt cause to pass through the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled : then thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a kniff , and a third part thou shalt scatter to the wind, and 3 I will draw out a sword after them. Thou shalt also take a 4 few of them in number, and bind them in thy skirts. Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fii'e, and bunt them in the fire ; from it shall fire go forth into all the 5 house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : This is Jeru- salem : I have placed her in the midst of the nations and of the 1. 3*fl is used in the Hebrew Scrip- tures not only to denote the sicord, but also any other sharp-edged instrument for cutting with, just as "1??) is used both of a penknife and a razor. Though with great propriety the latter is men- tioned in reference to the shaving of the hair, there is an equal propriety in cm- ploying the term sword in reference to the use of that weapon by the Chaldeans. That both are here identified, seems the most natural construction of the sense. To indicate the just discrimination to be employed by Jehovah in the imnishment of his rebellious people, the prophet is further commanded to weigh out the hair into several portions. The priests having been prohibited from shaving, (Lev. xxi. 5), the command given to Ezekiel on the present occasion must have appeared peculiarly severe ; but he was thereby taught, and the people through him, that the ceremonial must give place to the moral. That Ezekiel here represented the Hebrew people there cannot be a doubt, but Hitzig refines too much when he interj)rets his head of Jerusalem, as the caj)ital. The suffix in cnpsn refers to the hairs, understood. 2. When the prophet had completed the term of his symbolical siege he was to burn a third part of the hair which he had cut oiF, in the midst of the pan employed as a symbol of the siege. By this was intimated that a portion of the inhabitants should be destroyed by fire and famine during that awful calamity. Comp. ver. 12. Those who were cut off by the Chaldeans around the city are next described, and then the hopeless condition of the fugitives is depicted. 3, 4. Q^^p is used loosely for Ctia . The few here referred to were not re- served to be saved from punishment, as the words might at first sight seem to indicate, but to have that punishment inflicted upon them. They were to un- dergo a further fiery trial. The calamity was to be total. It was to extend to the whole posterity of Jacob. 5, 6. A definite application of the symbol. A more favorable situation as the centre of religious unity and moral influence could not have been selected than Jerusalem. Like a central sun, she was destined to radiate the light of true religion over three continents. But instead of being faithful to her vocation, she adopted the idolatrous practices of the surrounding nations, and thereby incurred the displeasure of her covenant God. "'^^^ is to be regarded as the future apocopated of iT^^ , to rehel. Compare "J?^^ , Judges xv. 4 ; "'3^1 , Ps. cv. 24. HN nn^ , to rebel against, affords a sense equally pregnant with that derived by Jarchi, De Wette, and others from "i^^ , to chantje. Compare ^'^'!^'', "^STiX rr^.-Q , to rebel against the command of Jehovah, 1 Sam. xii. 15. The preposition in ns'd'is indicates quality, state, or condition. The He- CiiAP. V. 6-10.] EZEKIEL. 37 10 countries round about her. But she hath wickedly rebelled against my judgments more than the heathen, and my statutes more than the countries which are around her ; for they have despised my judgments, and as for my statutes they have not walked in them. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Because ye have been more outrageous than the heathen which are round about you ; ye have not walked in my statutes, and my judgments ye have not practised, but have done according to the judgments of the heathen that are round about you : Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. And I will do in thee what I have not done, nor will I do the like any more, on account of all thine abominations. Therefore the fathers shall eat the children in the midst of thee, and the children shall eat their fathers, and brews had plunged themselves, by their rebellions against the laws of Jehovah, into cireumstances of wickedness more aggravated than those of their surround- ing neighbors in Syria, Egyjjt, or Baby- lon. The nominative to ^DN'2 and ispfl is not the heathen, spoken of im- mediately before, but the inhabitants of Jerusalem, understood. 7. c:;;wn is not, after Aquil., the Pcshito Syriac, and Ewald, to be read as if pointed C^:':!! , the Niphal of il5^ , to number — the meaning, because ye were numbered among the heathen, not being suitable to the connection ; but is to be taken as an anomalous form for DDiiari , the Infinitive in Kal of f^"^ » to tumul- tunfe, rage, be enraged, oufrageous. The word is here used in this last significa- tion, to denote the mad and unbridled riotousness with which the Jewish people ran after their idols. They set no bounds to the exorbitancies which they committed, and surpassed in crime the heathen around them. !!t5 , before Dr^bS , at the end of the verse is omitted in thirty of Kennicott and De Rossi's MSS., primarily in five more, in the Soncin. and Brixian editions, in the Syriac, and in twenty-four codices of the Vulg. ; and appears to have originated with some copyist who supposed that the negative expressed just before was to be repeated here. The retention of it would make the Lord declare what was contrary to fact and to what is ex- pressly declared chap. xi. 12. Suppos- ing, with Eosenmiiller and Havernick, the negative to have been the original reading, the only tolerable interpretation would be, that the Jews had not remained faithful to their covenant God as the pagans around them had been to their idols. 9. What is here threatened cannot be absolutely explained of the divine deal- ings with the Jews in the time of the prophet, since there is every reason to believe that the sufferings of the inhabi- tants of Jerusalem when besieged by Titus were still more dreadful than those inflicted by Nebuchadnezzar, but is to be interpreted of them as compared with other nations. They were treated with a severity such as no other people, either before or after, has experienced. As they had been unparalleled in wick- edness, so they should be in punishment. Havernick's attempt to combine both destructions is very unsatisfactory. 10. Compare Lev. xxvi. 29 ; Deut. xxviii. 53. To these passages in the 88 EZEKIEL. [Chap. V. 10-14. I will execute judgments in thee, and scatter the whole remnant 11 of thee to every wind. Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovali : Surely because thou hast polluted my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, there- fore I also will cut thee off, neither will mine eye spare, nor 12 will I have pity. A third part of thee shall die with the pesti- lence, and with the famine they shall be consumed in the midst of thee ; and a third part shall fall by the sword I'ound about thee ; and a third part I will scatter to every wind, and I will 13 draw out the sword after them. Thus shall mine anger be spent, and I will cause my fury to rest on them, and comfort myself; and they shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken in 14 my jealousy, when I have spent my fury on them. Moreover I will deliver thee over to desolation and reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of every one that 15 passeth by. And it shall be for a reproach and a reviling, an example and an astonishment to the nations that are round about thee, when I execute judgments in thee in anger and in Pentateuch there is here an obvious reference, with the aggravating addition of the sons eating their fathers. 11. "'3X~'^n, as I live, is a formula of swearing employed by Jehovah when about to introduce a declaration of pecu- liar solemnity or importance. It pledges the existence of the ever-living God for the certainty of the event. Than the life of God, which includes his necessary and eternal self-existence, it is impossible to conceive of a more sublime or power- fully influential idea. The culminating point of the daring wickedness of the Jews was their desecration of the holy habitation of Jehovah by introducing idolatrous worship into it. The idols which tlioy thus intJ-odueed are desig- nated D"^^"5Bb, detestable objects, from yiV^ J 'o be Jilthy, polluted, abominable^ and niayin , the same. Instead of 2-"^?^ > I will withdraw or diminish, the reading y^SX , / will cut down, cut off, is found in six MSS., it has originally been the reading of five more, and is that of one by correction. It is sup- ported by all the ancient versions, better suits the following connection, and has more emphasis. 12. God now declares in plain terms what was intended by the symbolical treatment of the hair. A third part of the inhabitants of Jerusalem were to perish by pestilence and famine during the siege, another third part were to be cut off by the Chaldean army in the surrounding country while attempting to escape, and the remaining third were to be scattered in every direction by the armed foe. Wherever they fled they should find their enemies in possession, and not be able to escape their sword. 13. The Jews should experience no relief or alleviation with respect to the punishments to be inflicted upon them. ^n-cn?!"! , for Tllinjrr! , in Hithpael. 14. nOi.nb^ ^^lO^ form an ono- matopcEia. The surrounding idolaters, whose practices they had adopted, instead of afibrding them any comfort or aid, would only exult at their calamities. For D''1i'? , to the nations, ver. 15, four- teen MSS., primarily flve more, and the Complutensian Text read C'lSa , among Chap. VI. 1-3.] EZEKIEL. 39 19 17 fury, even in furious rebukes ; I, Jehovah, have spoken it : When I shall send among them the evil arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, for famine I will accumulate upon you, and will break the staff of your bread : I will both send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee ; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee ; and I will bring the sword upon thee ; I, Jehovah, have spoken it. the nations, as in ver. 14, and thus the Vulg. and Arab. Instead of '"^"'0 ' ^^^ third person, at the lieginning of ver. 15, all the ancient versions have read ri"^!! , the second, which is required by the connection. "lO'l'S , properly an instruc- tive example, from "10^ , to chastise, correct, instruct hi/ punishment ; an example held out for the warning of others. 16. 2^'^ri "^ISn, arrows of famine, Gro- tius interprets of lightning, storms, lo- custs, etc., which are prejudicial to corn, and thus superinduce famine ; but the phrase seems rather to describe the famine itself, with reference to the acute pain occasioned by hunger. 17. A third repetition of the threaten- ing of famine, aggravated by the addition of other calamities usually consequent on war. That ni"l n*n , a collective for evil beasts, is to be taken literally, and not interpreted of the king of Baby- lon and his armies, would seem more suitable in the connection. ?3'4-*-"P''°P' erly means to be bereaved of children ; in Piel, as here, to destroy children, and thus render barren or desolate. In order more deeply to impress the minds of the Jews with alarming apprehensions of the divine judgments which v/erc to be inflicted upon them, the language is rcpetitiously and variously charged. CHAPTER VI. The prophet is directed to address himself to the inhabitants of the whole country, and denounce the destruction at onceof tlie idols and tlie idol-worsliippers, 1-7. A promise is then given for the comfort of tljose vvlio, in the midst of their calamities, sliould repent and turn from their idolatrous practices, 8-10. By most significant actions it is indi- cated that tlie threatened punishment would assuredly be inflicted to the utmost, 11-14. 1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : Son of man, set 2 thy face against the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against tS them, and say : Ye mountains of Israel, hear ye the word of the Lord Jehovah : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the mountains 1-3. By " the mountains of Israel," etc., we ai-e not to understand those of Ephraim exclusively, but those of the country of Palestine generally, in Avhich idolatry had abounded. They are per- sonified in order to give greater eifect to 4* the discourse. Although the Babylo- nians were themselves idolaters, and there was in many respects an affinity between their idol-worship and that of the Hebrews who had borrowed it from them, yet such should be the strength of 40 EZEKIEL. [Chap. VI. 1-9. y and to the hills, to the channels and to the valleys, Behold, I, even I, bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. And I will lay the carcases of the children of Israel before their idols, and Avill scatter your bones round about your altars. In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be laid waste and the high places shall be desolate, in order that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your dung-gods may be broken and cease, and your solar images may be cut down, and your works destroyed. And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. Yet will I reserve a remnant, that ye may have those who escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered in the countries. And those of you that escape shall remember me in the nations whither they shall be carried captives, when I break their whor- ish heart, which hath departed from me, and their eyes which hostile feeling by which the invading army would be actuated, and such their cupidity for the gold and silver with which the wooden idols were covered, that they would hew them down, and involve them and their worshippers in one common destruction. The C^p^SX were channels, running through and fertilizing the val- leys, which abounded in groves favorable for the worship of Astarte. The term is parallel with HIX'^J , and has pretty much the same signitication. The two terms correspond, just as the preceding fi'^'in and riiS'Zfi do. They are com- bined, as synonymes frequently are in Hebrew, for the sake of emphasis. The collocation i<''3^ "'pI* '^-^<^ is unusual. The proper form is N"'?^ ^33n■l, but K''2T2 ";x "^in is also admissible, 4. For C3"'352n , 7/our solar pillars, see on Isa. xvii. 8; and compare 2 Chron. xxxiv. 4, 7. To expose the filthy char- acter of the idols, and excite a loathing of them, they are called D'^blj-Si, dung gods. Compare the reading BeeA^e/SouA, Matt. xii. 24. The term is frequently used by Ezekiel, but it occurs also in the Pentateuch and other Historical Books. Havernick's rendering, stone-masses, is not sustained by his attempt to establish another derivation. 5. To express the futility of all idol- confidences, and the ruin in which they would involve those who cherished them, the bones of the idolaters are represented - as scattered around their altars. 6. The destruction that was to over- take the places of idol-worship was to be complete. The idols are here said to be the " works " of the Hebrews, because they were fabricated by their hands. 8-10. Those who might cscajie the destructive havoc effected by the invad- ing foe, and be preserved as captives among the nations, should there be brought to repentance and self-abhor- rence, when they reflected upon the way in which they had provoked their cove- nant God. 9. '^ri'iSil'i is not here passiv e, but reflexive in signification : whejLiJ«ive broken, or when I shall have broken for myselfj — when I have produced such a change in their idolatrous dispositions as shall induce them to renounce their idols and return to my worship and service. Though at first sight it may seem less appropriate to ^eak of break- Chap. VI. 0-14.] EZEKIEL. 41 have gone a whoring after their dung-gods, and th*y shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have 10 committed in all their abominations. And they shall know that I 'am Jehovah : it is not in vain I have said that I would inflict 11 this calamity upon them. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Smite with thj' hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say: Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall 12 by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, lie that is far off shall die of the pestilence, and he that is near shall fall by the sword, and he that is left and is besieged shall die by 13 the famine, and I will exhaust my fury on them. And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when their slain shall be in the midst of their dung-gods round about their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, in the place where they offered ing the " eyes " than of breaking the heart, yet when we consider the stubborn looks of the Hebrews, and that the same verb is applied to the destruction of pride (Lev. xxvi. 19), there is nothing incongruous in such construction. 'lUpS is, according to the jninctuation, the Niphal of ai;!? , as 1303 of 330 ; but as this root occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible, it is better to reject the Dagesh forte, and refer the verb to ^^p which is frequently used in the sense of loatluncj, or regarding anything with disgust. cri'iJSS is construed by some with Dni5?3a preceding, and the prophet is supposed to mean that the Jews should loathe themselves in the very presence of their idols ; but as the same form oc- curs chaps. XX. 43, xxxvi. 31, it is rather to be taken as designed to give force to the expression of self-abhorrence, the idea of which was conveyed by I31p • They should have a vivid perception of their M'ickcdncss ; the abhorrent image of themselves, as the perpetrators of it, should stare them in the very face. In the passages just quoted our translators, considering the jihrase to be equivalent to DD'^3'^S)2 render : in your own sight. m>nn-bf< 'is equivalent to ni:;^n-b? , on account of the evils. 10. "^"^"^ here, as frequently, signifies to know by experience. 11. It was not uncommon for the prophets to employ violent gesticulations while announcing alarming declarations of the divine will. i^X , ah! alas! an onomatopoetic, like the corresponding Arabic ^f , used by the Orientals to express deep emotions of grief. The projjhet, foreseeing the awful judgments which were coming upon his people in punishment of their atrocious wicked- ness, was thus to give expression to the keen feelings which were pent up in his breast, in order more powerfully to work upon the minds of his hearers. What he exhibited was emblematical of the light in which they were regarded by Jehovah. Compare xxi. 12, 14. 12. "nfllSSn-i "iXdsnn is descriptive of those Jews who were not carried away into captivity, or who had not made their escape into the country, but were left to suffer all the calainitics of the siege. For "illiS , in the sense oi' besieged, see my comment on Isa. i. 8. I cannot find, with Hiivcrnick, that the term de- rives any light from the ancient prover- bial expression ;, 3"'f:^"l "mSj? . 14. f^'S'^^l '^'t'?"'^' ^ beautiful paro- 42 EZEKIEL. [Chap. VII. 2-4. 14 sweet iucense to all their dung-gods. And I will stretch forth my hand against them, and will make the land more waste and desolate than the desert of Diblah in all their dwelling-places ; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. nomasia, from the same root B^'^ t to be laid waste. It is in frequent use by our prophet. I af;rec with Havcrnick and Maurer, that HrbaT , DiUathah, is not, with Kimchi, Michaelis, Gescnius, and Hitzig, to be exchanged for "^S^^^l > Hil>- lathak. Such conjecture is unsupported either by MS. authority or by that of any of the ancient versions. That the wil- dei'ness of Arabia Deserta, to the east and south of the Dead Sea, so well known, and so well fitted to be employed for comparison, is here intended, appears most probable, in which case we may suppose that i^^?^ ' •^'^^'^^'j is only an- other form for the Dual D'^.rsS'JT , Dibla- thaim, the name of a city in the country of Moab (Numb, xxxiii. 46 ; Jer. xlviii. 22). That Diblah should be a noun common, and not a proper name, seems less likely. I am surprised that Haver- nick should adopt the opposite view, and rendering the term by destruction, sup- pose Babylon to be meant. What idea could the Jews possibly attach to the words with such a reference ? The pre- jMsitive 'S in "iSl^atl I take to be com- parative, as it is properly rendered in our common version. CHAPTER VII. The prophet announces the speedy ruin of the Jewish state, 1-15 ; the penitent reformation of a remnant, lG-19; the destruction of tlie temple, whicli the Jews had polluted with their idols, 20-22. He is commanded to make a chain, thereby symbolizing the captiv- ity that>should follow the utter destruction of the city and the theocratic establishment, 23-27. In the former half of the chapter the language is marked by an abruptness and a repe- titiousness wiiich strongly indicate the suddenness and certainty of the approaching calamity. 1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me saying : And thou, son 2 of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah : There is an end to the land of Israel ; the end is come, upon the four corners of the 3 land. Now the end is upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and 4 will lay upon thee all thine abominations. And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity, but will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of 2, 3. yp^ is properly separated from article to the word [YPXl), to mark the what follows by Athnach. The prophet event as that which had been determined is first to express himself indefinitely in the divine counsel, and definitely pre- with respect to the termination of the dieted by the prophets. Jewish state, and then by pi-efixing the 4. ni2yin , abominations, by meton- CiiAP. VII. 4-10 ] EZEKIEL. 43 5 thee, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : A calamity, an only calamity ; behold, it is 6 come. An end is come, the end is come ; it waketh up against 7 thee ; behold it is come. The crown is come against thee, O inhabitant of the land ; the time is come ; the day of tumult is 8 come, and not the joyous shout of the mountains. Now speedily will I pour out my fury upon thee, and exhaust mine anger on thee, and judge thee according to thy ways ; yea, I will render 9 unto thee all thine abominations. And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity ; according to thy ways I will render unto thee ; and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah that smiteth. 10 Behold the day, behold, it is come, the crown is gone forth, the ymy of the cause for the effect, the pun- ishments inflicted on account of the abominable idolatries in which the Jews had indulged. In these punishments, the idolatries in all their hateful forms might be regarded as presenting them- selves to the view of those who had been guilty of them. 5. The threatened calamity is an- nounced as nnx , one, onlj, singular, the only one of its kind, because of its unex- ampled severity. Comp. Song vi. 9, and the Arab. 0^.^f«j'^«.j , the only day, a time distinguished on account of its un- usual calamity. "lIjJ? , after, though the reading of upwards of twenty-three MSS. and adopted in nine printed editions, is less entitled to regard. 6. A repetition of the language cm- ployed ver. 3. The addition of f^l^ , behold, in this and the preceding verse, gives emphasis to the announcements. 7. The prophet commences this verse with "^^^ J the verb with which he had concluded the last. Its frequent repeti- tion was calculated to strike terror into the minds of the Jews. Various inter- pretations have been given of HT^BS . Our translators appear to have adopted the idea of morninrj from the Syriac and Chaldee, and from the strikingly parallel passage Joel ii. 2, where, however, the Hebrew is ^n^^ . Gesenius, Maurer, and others : the circle comes to thee. ; meaning, it is now thy turn to be pun- ished. From the fact, that the same word, written without the Yod, occurs as parallel with '^^'? > sceptre, ver. 10, I regard the signification to be crown, i.e. the crowned one = Nebuchadnezzar. The powerful and victorious monarch had already come forth from his residence, and would speedily inflict the predicted judgments on the Jews. For this sig- nification of the term see my Comment, on Isa. xxviii. 5. The idea of conqueror inheres in the cognate Arab. \ o,p , vicit, superavit, victonam reportavit. DT"!! nTD'iiTS should, according to rule, have been n^jnnan m"i or simply M-a"!!^ Dii but the awful period of judgment was so prominently in the mind of the prophet that more emphatically to mark it, he places the article before the former of the two nouns, "in is a contracted form of T]!^ » which is otherwise used of the joyous shout of the vintagers, but hei'e of that of idolatrous feasts, celebrated on the mountains in honor of the false gods. Instead, nothing was to be heard but the sounds of tumult and confusion oc- casioned by the fury of the enemy. 8, 9. A repetition of verses 3 and 4. 10. Here, as observed on ver. 7, f^"?^ » crown, and "t^"? , 7vd or sceptre, are par- allel, and designate the king of Babylon. 44 EZEKIEL. [Chap. VII. 10-14. 11 sceptre flourisheth, pride hath budded. Violence hath risen up for a rod of wickedness ; there shall be none of them, neither of their multitude, nor of their substance ; neither shall there be any 12 wailing for them. The time is come, the day hath approached; let not the buyer rejoice, and let not the seller grieve, for fury 13 shall be to all her multitude. For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, though they were yet alive ; for the vision is for the whole multitude of her ; one shall not return, nor shall 14 any man strengthen his life by his iniquity. Blow ye with a blast, and make all ready ; yet none goeth to the battle, for my As tlie latter term signifies the rod or instrument of punishment, as well as the badge of royalty, it has singular force in this connection. Compai-e Isa. X. 5. The blossoming and budding are to be referred to the imposing and inso- lent bearing of the conqueror and his army. That "iTlJ , pride, is to be referred to the king of Babylon, compare Jcr. 1. 31, 32. This construction is more suit- able to the connection than that adopted by Jerome and others, which would refer the term to tlie pride of the Jews. 11. By "'r"i"in^'a is meant the rod for the punishment of wickedness, i.e. of the idolatry of the Jews. Compare Zech. V. 8. That rod was invested with irresistible power, and should come down upon them with awful violence. Con- siderable obscurity attaches to the follow- ing striking; jjaronomasia : Ksl. Cfl^a tv 7) Oeaipia, oAA' iv T(f oiKtf Ka6ri[J,evo$ fiera^v tSiv •Kpeafivrepoiv 'Iou5o ravrrjv airacrav r^v oTTTaaiay ecipa, Thcodoret. Transported in spirit to Jerusalem, the prophet was set down at the north gate, which was that facing the direction in which he is supposed to have been conducted from his residence on the Chebar. Within this gate, which opened into the outer court of the temple, was another, r"^p"^:En , the inner, leading to the court of the priests, in which stood the altar of burnt-offering, where the ordinary worship was presented. Here was the adl72 , pedestal, on which had stood the statue or image of Astarte, which Ma- nasseh had had the audacious effrontery to erect in the temple of Jehovah (2 Kings xxi. 7). This idol, arresting the atten- tion of all who came to worship in the temple just as they entered it, claimed, as the rival of Jehovah, their adoration, on which account it is called f^XIi3<^ 3^D the imafje of jealous)/. The worship of this idol, consecrated by the Syrians to Venus, was accompanied with licentioiis rites, and must have been jieculiarly offensive to the Holy One of Israel. See my Comment, on Isa. xvii. 8. 4. Great as had been the pi'ovocation given by the worship of this idol, Jeho- vah is represented as not yet having removed his presence from \he temple. The symbol of that presence — the glori- ous effulgence of Him M'ho dwelt between the cherubim — met the eye of the proph- et. See chap. x. 4. It is added that there was a correspondence between Chap. A^II. 4-12.] EZEKIEL. 49 10 Israel, as the appearance which I saw in the valley. And he said unto me : Son of man, lift up now thine eyes in the way towards the north. So I lifted up mine eyes in the way towards the north, and behold, on the north, at the gate of the altar, this image of jealousy at the entrance. And he said unto me : Son of man, seest thou what they are doing ? the great abomina- tions which the house of Israel are committing here, to cause me to go far off from my sanctuary ? but turn yet again, and thou shall see greater abominations. And he brought me to the door of the court, and I looked, and behold, a hole in the wall. Then he said unto me ; Son of man, dig now in the wall ; and I digged in the wall, and behold, a door. And he said unto me ; Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are commit- ting here. So I went in, and saw, and behold, every form of creeping things and abominable beasts, and all the dung-gods this display of the divine glory, and that which he had seen in the plain, chaps. i. 26-28 ; iii. 12, 22, 23. 5. Ezekiel is now supposed to be within the court of the priests ; and, facing the north, he has his attention specially directed to the idolatrous statue which had been placed beside the gate leading to the altar of burnt-offering. From what is here stated, it is to be inferred that the prophet saw the idol in vision, though it may actually have been removed by Josiah when he pui"i- fied the temple. The object of the vis- ion was to represent the different forms of idolatry in which the Jews had in- dulged within the precincts of the sacred edifice, and which drew down upon them the punishment of the captivity. 6. DtlO , a contracted form of on rna , as D2^^ forDDb'rTa, Isa. iii. 15. In '^l^'^'r ? > the n is paragogic and em- phatic. It has been questioned to whom this Infinitive is to be referred as its object, whether to Jehovah or to the Jews. In my opinion, it is more natural to refer it to the former, the removal of whose glory from the temple was the immediate precursor and signal of its being abandoned to destruction. 7-12. The framework of the temple 5 consisted of massive stone, wainscoted with cedar-wood. The hole in the wall marked the entrance which led into the chambers of imagery. It had, however, been blocked up in the time of the refor- mation effected by Josiah, and required to be re-opened in order to afibrd access. This operation the prophet is command- ed to perform, on which the door of the idolatrous adytum presented itself to his view. He now found himself sur rounded by monuments of Egyptian idolatry depicted on the walls of the chambers. That it was customary for the Egyptians to adorn their chambers with hieroglyphics, appears from the testimony of Diodorus Siculus, who states, (i. p. 59, ed. Wess.) that "round the room at Thebes, where the body of king Osymanduas was buried, a multi- tude of chambers was built, which had elegant paintings of the animals held sacred in Egypt." Thus also Ammianus Marcellinus (lib. xxii.): Sunt et Syringes subterranei quidam et flexuosi secessus, quos, ut fertur, periti rituum vetustorum penitus operosis digestos fodinis per loca divcrsa struxerunt, et excisis parietibus, volucrum ferarumque genera multa sculpserunt, quas hieroglyphicas literas appellarunt. The hieroglyphics, 50 EZEKIEL. [Chap. VIII. 7-U. of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. 11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, every man with his censer in his hand ; and a 12 thick cloud of incense was ascending. Then he said unto me : Seest thou, son of man, what the ancients of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery ? for they say : Jehovah seeth us not ; Jehovah hath forsaken the 13 earth. He said also unto me : Turn yet again ; thou shalt see which were pictured signs of outward objects, in general abounded in those of all kinds of animals, and were symbolical of the degrading objects of Egyptian worship : " The wildest images, unheard of, strange. That ever puzzled antiquarians' brains; Genii with heads of birds, hawks, ibes, drakes. Of lions, foxes, cats, fisli, frogs, and snakes. Bulls, rams, and monkeys; hippopotami With knife in paw, suspended from the sky; Gods germinating men, and men turned gods. Seated in honor, with gilt crooks and rods; Vast scarabsei, globes by hands upheld, From chaos springing, 'mid an endless field Of forms grotesque, the sphinx, the crocodile. And other reptiles from the slime of Nile." To these the Jews, insatiate with idolatry, had added pictured representa- tions of all the other fictitious deities to whose worship they were addicted. The chambers formed a complete Pantheon. To aggravate the evil, it is represented as committed by the members of the Sanhedrim, who, from their judicial character, were bound to suppress all acts of idolatry. Instead of fulfilling their duty in discountenancing whatever was opposed to the holy service of Jeho- vah, they were not only ringleaders in the scenes of wickedness, but went so far as to deny the omniscience and om- nipresence of the Most High. The sev- enty elders were originally a select body taken from the oldest and most judicious of the people (Numb. xi. 16, 17, 24,25). If the Shaphan here mentioned is to be conceived of as the scribe who read to Josiah the book of the law which was found in the temple, we cannot imagine that he would neglect to communicate to his family all that transpired on the oc- casion : the circumstance will enhance the guilt of his son Jaazaniah, who rendered himself conspicuously prominent in the act of idolatrous worship. When it is Baid each of the seventy had his censer in his hand, it is not implied that they were priests belonging to the temple, and that the censers were necessarily those which had been therein used, but simply that they were all engaged in burning incense before and in honor of the idols. If, indeed, they prostituted the sacred utensils for this purpose, their character must have appeared to Ezekiel in a still more odious light. Degrees of guilt are to be estimated according to the circumstances in which that guilt is contracted. 13, 14. The next scene to which the prophet is introduced, was one of Phoe- nician idolatry. " Thnmmuz came next behind, Whose annual wound in Lebanon oUured The Syrian damsels to lament his fate In amorous ditties all a summer's day: While smooth Adonis from his native rock Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love tale Infected Sion's daughters with like heat. Whose wanton passions, in the sacred porch, Ezekiel saw, when by the vision led. His eye surveyed the dark idolatries Of alienated Judah." The position occupied by the Jewish females here described, was just inside the outer court, or that of the women, on the north side of the temple. In- stead of bewailing their own sins, and those of their people, they are represented as celebrating the feast of Adonis, whose Chap. VIII. 13-16.] EZEKIEL. 51 14 greater abominations which they are doing. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the house of Jehovah, which was towards the north, and behold, there sat women weeping for 15 Tammuz. And he said unto me : Hast thou seen this, O son of man ? turn j'et again ; thou shalt see greater abominations 16 than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and behold, at the door of the temple of Jeho- vah, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men with their backs towards the temple of Jehovah, and their faces towards the east, and they were worshipping the sun tow- name the Vulgate here substitutes for Tammuz. This Adonis, according to the ancient mythology, was a beautiful youth, who lived in one of the most enchanting regions of Lebanon, where the river has its spring which is called by his name. Having, while engaged in a hunt, been killed by a wild boar, he was bitterly lamented by Venus, who had been enamored of him. Owing to her influence, as the myth goes, Proser- pina permitted him to spend one half of the 3'ear with Venus upon earth, but he was obliged to spend the other half in the lower world. Annually as the time of his death came round, a feast in honor of it was celebrated at Byblos, where the river Adonis, red with blood, descended into the sea, on which occa- sion the Syrian females, in frenzied grief, cut off their hair, or else yielded their bodies for prostitution, the money they earned by which being consecrated to Venus. This feast was succeeded by several days of rejoicing on account of the return of Adonis to the upper world. To the former feast the name of acpa- vi(Tfj.hs 'ASciyiBos, the disappearance of Adonis, was given, and to the latter evpecris 'ASanfiSos, the Jindinrj of Adonis. The same festival Avas celebrated in Egypt in honor of Osiris, with respect to whom the fabulous story somewhat varied. The worship is otherwise sup- posed to have been symbolical of the course of the sun and his influence on the earth. The celebration of this festi- val falling in our June or July, the name of Tammuz was given to this month in the Jewish calendar. Etymology may be said to have exhausted its powers in endeavoring to obtain a suitable deriva- tion for Tian . That proposed by Hav- ernick is as probable as any. He con- siders the root to have been t]^ , equiv- alent to 00*9 > to fail, melt, flow down, and the form to be contracted for IITSin , just as "i^nsn is derived from ^"y^ • The idea thus suggested will equally apply to the fabulous account of Adonis, to the river so called, and to the diminu- tion of the solar influence. The Article in Tiann appears to be used with refer- ence to the appellative signification of the term. Havernick aptly remarks, that the prophet could not have used the name Adonis, owing to the appro- priated use of '|1"'i< to Jehovah. The Jewish females are represented as sitting, which was the posture of mourners (Job ii. 13; Isa. iii. 26; xlvii. 1). 15, 16. The most aggravated form of idolatry here described as witnessed by Ezekiel was that commonly known by the name of the Persian, which we find recognized as existing so early as the time of Job (chap. xxxi. 26). It was afterwards reformed by Zoroaster, and consisted chiefly in the worship of the sun, which the ancient Persians consid- ered to be the eye of Ormuzd, their principal deity. Theheinousnessof the crime presented to the view of Ezekiel consisted in the contempt cast on the 52 EZEKIEL. [Chap. VIII. 15-17. 17 ards the east. Then he said unto me : Hast thou seen this, O son of man ? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they are committing here ? for they have filled the land with violence, and have turned back to provoke me to auger ; and behold, they put the branch to 18 their nose. Therefore I also will deal in fury ; mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, and though they may cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them. God of Israel, hy the woi'shippers turn- ing their backs upon him, as dwelling between the cherubim over the altar of burnt-oft'cring, directly in front of the eastern entrance of the temple ; and facing the east, paying their adorations to the rising sun. What added to the greatness of the crime was the relation in which the worshippers are supposed officially to have stood to Jehovah. That these worshippers were the priests, has justly been inferred, both from the place in which they appeared, which was that where the Jewish priests were ac- customed to perform the principal duties of their office, and from the circumstance that, as Lightfoot perceived, the number corresponds to that of the twenty-four prefects of the courses into which David had distributed the priests, with the high priest at their head, making the twenty- fifth. cn'^'inpl'^50 is so manifestly an error of the copyist, that it is surprising how Havernick and Fairbairn should have attempted to vindicate the position so uncritically adopted by Lightfoot, that the word was originally written in this corrupt form, and designedly em- ployed to indicate the corrupt worship which it describes. Di'inn'Jtl is the reading of eight MSS., and has been that of seven more originally. Among these codices are two Spanish, ancient and good. 17. The scene concludes with a pointed appeal in reference to the abominations which had been described ; and in the following verse with an announcement of Jehovah's inexorable threatening of condign punishment. CHpUJ Cifll CBX-bj< iTniT:.Tn-nj< , "And behold,' they put the branch to their nose." That by '^7'"^''- ^^^^^ ^^'^ sre to under- stand a twig or branch (compare for this signification chap. xv. 2), and not a song, seems best to agree with the context, and to have reference to a ceremony practised by the sun-worshippers, who, on the rising of that luminary in the eastern horizon, celebrate the event with a hymn, during the singing of which they hold before their face a bundle of branches, taken from the pomegranate tree, the tamarisk, or the pine. To this collection of branches they give the name of Barsom. Strabo thus describes the custom : Taj iiruiSas Troiovvrat iro\vy Xp6voi/ pafi^oov ixvpiKU'tiiv Xi-mSiv Se'ff^rjv KaT^xovres. Compare Hyde, Hist. Eelig. Vetcr. Persar. lib. i. cap. xxvii. and Klcuker's Zendavesta, vol. iii. p. 204. Havernick takes much pains to set aside this interpretation, and to establish a reference to lamentations for Adonis ; but in my opinion imsuccessfully. All the MSS. read DQX , their nose, none "iQN , v)y nose. The prophet was so much disgusted at the profanity which he had witnessed in the temple, that he could not close his description without adverting to this further indication of an idolatrous preference of the creaturo to the Creator. Chap. IX. 1-3.] EZEKIEL. 53 CHAPTER IX. The vision in this chapter embraces the instruments to be employed by Jehovah in taking vengeance on the guilty inhabitants of Jerusalem, 1, 2; his merciful regard to his true worsliippers, 3, 4; the unsparing punishment of the incorrigible, 5-7; and the refusal of the prophet's intercession on behalf of the city, 8-11. 1 Then he cried in mine ears with a loud voice, saying: Cause them that are in charge of the city to draw near quickly, even 2 every one with his weapon of destruction in his hand. And behold six men came from the way of the upper gate which faced the north, and every one with his deadly weapon in his hand, and one man among them clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side, and they went in and stood beside the 1. Ezekiel is still in a state of trance in the temple, where he hears the charge given to the executioners of the divine indignation to approach, prepared for the onslaught. These executioners are designated "i''"'7 ni'^IpQ , which may cither be taken as an elliptical form for nTnpS ■''^f?^ » men of the punishments of the city, i.e. the men appointed to inflict these punishments ; or, riT^pS may be regarded as a concrete feminine, such as is frequently used to designate persons in office. Seelsa. Ix. 17. The term will thus characterize those who were in charge of the city, not indeed its usual guardians, but those who were appointed to destroy it. These were now to draw near and commence their work of de- struction. 2"^p. as here used in Piel, is intensive, to intimate that their opera- tions were to begin speedily. 2. Some, after Jerome, have supposed that the six men were angels ; but I agree with those who think they were representatives of the Chaldean generals who led on the hostile army against Jerusalem. What confirms this view is the circumstance, that they are exhibited as coming from the north, the direction from which the attack would be made. V'^^^T} ^?'r5 'rj';?'^ , the way of the higher gate, i.e. the way leading to it. This gate was in all probability that of Eph- raim, situated much about where the present gate of Damascus is. "j'S^ "''S , a maul, icar-liammer, or club, consisting of a heavy piece of wood, effectively used as an oftensive weapon by the ancients. Root 'j'S3 , to dash in pieces. It is the same that is called n^n'i;^ i?3 , a des- troying loeapon, in the preceding verse. The man who appeared among the six military leaders, though classed along with them, had a very different office assigned him. He was a messenger of mercy, having been appointed to mark the pious, to prevent any punishment from being inflicted upon them. His being dressed in a linen garment implies that he was a priest, such being specially the sacerdotal attire (Exod. xxviii. 42) ; and, comparing the present passage with Dan. X. 5 ; xii. 6, we may infer that he was designed to represent the Angel of the Covenant, in his priestly character, mediating in behalf of his people. His having a writer's inkhorn by his side indicates his being prepared to perform the task devolved upon him at the time. He had his implements at hand, as the oriental scribes in the present day, who suspend their inkhorn in the girdle at their side. 3. The cherubic figure here mentioned 64 EZEKIEL. [Chap, IX. 3-4. brazen altar. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from above the cherub, over which he had been, to the threshold of the house. And he cried to the man who was clothed in linen, who had the writer's inkhorn by his side. And Jehovah said -unto him : Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that are sighing and crying on account of all the abomina- tions which are wrought in the midst of it. differed from the composite figure seen by Ezekiel at the Chebar, and was that which overshadowed the mercy-seat in the holy of holies. There the symbol of the divine presence had resided, (2 Sam. vi. 2 ; Ps. Ixxx. 1 ; but it had now de- parted in token of the abandonment of the tem])le to destruction. 4. cb^'-ll'] T\''^r^ , through the midst of Jerusalem, is added to "I'^Sn TjIPS , through the midst of the citij, for the pur- pose of emphatically marking it as the locality in which the divine judgments were to be inflicted. The priestly mes- senger was commissioned to distinguish, by a mark on their foreheads, those inhabitants of the city, who, deeply affected by the sight of abounding idol- atry, gave unequivocal signs of fidelity to Jehovah. D-^pJXSni Cnssin Ibrm a beautiful paronomasia, and express with great force the pungent feelings of holy grief of which the individuals were the subjects. They not only groaned inwardly (n3X) , but they were in such anguish that they almost choked them- selves by endeavoring to give utterance to their feelings (pix). These feelings were too intense to admit of their being embodied in articulate speech. Compare the arevayti.01 aKaXtfroi of the apostle, Kom. viii. 26. Because "^n, Tav, the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet, had originally, as may be seen on the Phoeni- cian monuments, the shape of a cross, or a post with a transverse beam, it has been maintained, that the mark which the messenger was to imprint on the foreheads of the pious was specifically that of the cross, and have consequently given it a Christian significance. Even Hitzig renders zeichne ein kreuz. But, though the Arabs give the name of —•J to a mark in the shape of a cross burnt into the neck or thighs of horses and camels, it cannot hence be inferred that the word employed in our prophet is to be so interpreted, or that there is any reference whatever to a letter of the alphabet. The Arabic here has iLoLLc , a mark or sign. The text is simply in n^inrt; LXX. Zhs arinuov; Syr. ^Afin oh )caj9 J viarkamark. The noun is derived from the verb, and takes the same general signification. This verb occurs only here in Hithpael, and but once besides in Piel (1 Sam. xxi. 13), where it is used in reference to the marks which David scrawled on the dooi's at Gath. It was customary with the ancients to impress a characteristic mai'k upon the foreheads of servants, and the worshippers of particular deities were in like manner thus distinguished. Compare Rev. vii. 3 ; xiii. 16 ; xiv. 1, 9, The object of the marking, in the present instance, was to insure the safety of those who remained faithful to Jehovah amidst the abounding abominations. The pious may ever count on the pro- tecting care of their heavenly Father, and feel assured, that how severe soever may be the trials through which they may have to pass, they shall work to- gether for their good (Ps. xxvii. 3-6 ; 2 Peter ii. 6-9; Isa. xliii. 2). No doubt provision was made for the escape of Chap. IX. 4-10.] EZEKIEL. 55 5 And to those he said in my ears : Go through the city after him, 6 and smite ; let not your eye spare, neither have pity. Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women, but come not near any man upon whom is the mark ; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient 7 men who were before the house. And he said unto them : Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain : go ye forth. 8 And they went forth, and slew in the city. And it came to pass as they were slaying them, that I was left, and I fell upon my face : and I cried and said : Ah, Lord Jehovah, wilt thou destroy all the remainder of Israel in thy pouring out of thy 9 fury upon Jerusalem? Then he said unto me: The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city is full of perverseness ; for they say ; " Jehovah hath forsaken the earth," and " Jehovah 10 seeth not." And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity ; I will recompense their way upon their head. these distinguished servants of God, compare Jer. xv. 11 ; xxxix. 11-18, just as afterwards, at the destruction of Jeru- salem by the Romans, the Christians made their escape to Pella, beyond Jordan. 5-7. It seems passing strange that Havernick shoukl attempt a defence of the reading 5? f which is so obviously an orthographical mistake for ?N « the pronunciation being the same. ?X is found in very many of Kennicott and De Rossi's MSS., and in several of the earlier printed editions. The pious hav- ing been placed in safety, the Chaldeans were let loose upon the city, and an indiscriminate slaughter ensued. The destruction was to commence where the greatest abominations had been com- mitted, and punishment inflicted upon those who had been ringleaders in idol- atry. Compare 1 Peter iv. 17, 18. The temple in which only the blood of sacri- ficial victims had been poured out, was now to be desecrated by the dead bodies of the slain. Having executed exem- plary punishment in the sanctuary upon those who had been the foremost in crime, the enemies were to go into the city and slay all whom they fell in with. 8-10. The anomalous form IX^S? has doubtless arisen, as Gesenius ob- serves, from the mingling of the parti- cipial form "IN'-D with that of the future -IX'^N . The reading of the MSS. varies, some omitting the i< , and others the 3 . Tlic emphatic addition of the pronoun ''?^. » -^, would seem to express the idea, that Ezekiel conceived himself to be a solitary exception to the universal slaughter in the temple. The introduc- tion of the prophet's intercession was designed to afford occasion for the further declaration of the divine abhorrence of the flagrant crimes of the Hebrew people. Though deeply convinced that they richly deserved the judgments that were inflicted upon them, Ezekiel could not witness the murderous scene which was being enacted, without feelings of com- miseration. The double form "iXpS ^S

/, very, exceedincjli/, ver. 9, is superlatively expressive ; LXX. a(p6Spa a^65pa. SeeGen. xvii. 2, 6 ; Ezek. xvi. 56 EZEKIEL, [Chap. X. 1-3. 11 And behold, the man clothed in linen, with the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying: I have done according as thou commandedst me. 13. flu^p, properly the participle of 11. The messenger, having accom- Hophal, from I'l^S , to stretch out, turn plishcd his task, is represented as re- away. Hence the phrase 13S\i:'?3 "^'^pj porting the fact, to intimate the certainty to turn aside, wrest justice, and here ^1312 , of the awful event, moral distortion, perverseness. CHAPTER X. Further to indicate the dreadful character of the approaching catastrophe to be effected by the Chaldean power, Ezekiel has a repetition of the vision described, chap. i. Some of the minor features vary, but the grand outlines are identical. His attention is first arrested by a luminous display of the divine throne, 1; when he hears an order given to the sacerdotal messenger described in the preceding chapter to inflict the judgments on the city, 2; after which he sees the visible symbol of the presence of Jehovah remove to the threshold of the temple, 3-7. Thence, to the end of the chapter, follows the de- scription of the cherubim. 1 Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared over them as it were a 2 sapphire-stone, as the appearance of the form of a throne. And he spake unto the man clothed in linen, and said : Go in between the wheels vmder the cherub, and fill thy hand with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. 1. The prophet has again presented to his view a manifestation of the glorious throne of Jehovah, to indicate that, whatever inferior agents might be em- ployed for the punishment of the Jews, they were under His supreme direction. See chap. i. 26. 2. The nominative to ■^^X'"^ is Jeho- vah, understodd. The messenger of mercy is now transformed into a mes- senger of judgment. He is commissioned to procure coals of fire from the cheru- bim, and scatter them over the city — not, as some contend, for the purpose of purifying, but as a symbol of destruction. Comp. Rev. viii. 5. The destructive energy of the Babylonian power was to be called into fearful operation. 51135, guigtil, the name here given to the wheels, derived from ?55j to roll, is, from its peculiar form, expressive of their quick circular motion, and thus differs from '(S''N , ophan, which merely conveys the idea of their revolving, from ')S5< , to turn. Compare chapters xxiii. 24 ; xxvi. 10. 2""i3 , clterub, is ixsed collectively for n'12^13, chenihim. Thus the LXX. Xipov^ifj.. The plural follows immedi- ately after in this and the following verse. 3. That the cherubim here referred to were those which Ezekiel had seen in the first vision, and not those which overshadowed the mercy-seat, is evident Chap. X. 3-13.] EZEKIEL. 57 3 And he went in in my sight. Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man weut in, and the cloud filled the inner court. 4 Then the glory of Jehovah went up above the cherub at the threshold of the house ; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of Jehovah's glory. 5 And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of Almighty God when he speaketh G And it came to pass, when he had commanded the man clothed in linen, saying : Take fire from between the wheel, from be- tween the cherubim ; then he entered and stood beside the 7 wheel. And the cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and he took it up, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed in 8 linen, who took it and went out. And there appeared in the 9 cherubim the form of a man's hand under their wings. I also saw, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and one wheel beside another cherub ; and the appearance of the wheels was as the color of Tarshish-stone. 10 And as for their appearance.s, they four had one likeness, as it 11 were a wheel within a wheel. When they went, they went upon their four sides ; they turned not when they went ; but to the place whither the head looked, thither they followed it ; they 12 turned not when they went ; even their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings : and as for the wheels, from their being stationed on the right symbol of the holy displeasure with side of the house, and not in the holy which God regarded the place where his of holies, as well as from their having worship had been performed, had wheels, which was not the case with 5. The rustling made by the wings of the latter. That the symbol of the the cherubim as they moved was loud, Chaldean power should be thus repre- like thunder, rcverl)erating in the outer sented as occupying a position on the court of the temple. All was prognostic right, which was the south side of the of the awful change which was to take temple, and not on the north, from place in Jerusalem, which direction it had come from Baby- 6-8. The going in and out has refer- lon, is to be accounted for by the circum- ence, not to the temple, but to the stance that by this time it is contemplated cherubic appearance here specified, as having so far done its work by filling When within, the messenger was en- the temple with the dead bodies of those closed by wheels on every side. Having who had been slain in it, and was now received the fire from the hand of one ready to destroy the city, which lay to of the living creatures, he immediately the south and west. came out to scatter it over the city. 4. The X-V ,c/o«rf, instead of the ^123, 9-12. See on chap. i. 16-21. gloi-y, now filled the inner court as a 13. With special reference to the 58 EZEKIEL. [Chap. X. 13-22. they were full of eyes round about ; to them four were their 13 wheels. To the wheels one was crying in mine ears : O wheel. 14 And there were four faces to each : the face of the one was the face of a cherub ; and the face of the second was the face of a man ; and the third was the face of a lion ; and the fourth the 15 face of an eagle. And the cherubim were lifted up ; it was the 16 living creature which I had seen by the river Chebar. And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them ; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the 17 earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them. "When they stood, these stood ; and when they were lifted up, these were lifted up also ; for the spirit of the living creature was in 18 them. And the glory of Jehovah went forth from off the thresh- 19 old of the house, and stood above the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight, when they went forth : and the wheels were beside them, and they stood at the door of the east gate of the house of Jehovah ; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them 20 above. It was the living creature which I had seen under the God of Israel at the river Chebar ; and I knew that they were 21 cherubim. To each one were four faces, and four wings to one, 22 and the form of a man's hand under their wings. And as to the form of their faces, they were the faces which I had seen by the river Chebar : their appearances and themselves, they went each straightforward. signification of '555 , tlie term used in creatures at tlie Chebar. His repeated application to the wheels, ver. 2, it is declaration to this eifect shows the im- addressed to them as possessing the portance that was to be attached to the force of an imperative, roll, roll, i.e. wrth visions, and was calculated to secure the utmost celerity, for the accomplish- deeper attention to the significance of ment of the divine decree. the symbols. 14. Compare chap. i. 10. As to the 16, 17. Compare chap. i. 21. use of S^'^Sj cherub, here, instead of 18, 19. The symbol of the divine "liUJ , hull, in the corresponding descrip- presence now entirely departed from the tion, we may adopt the language of temple ; and the cherubic figure pro- Maurer : ratio non est in promptu. cecded to execute the work of destriic- 15, 20, 22. Ezekiel distinctly recog- tion in the city. nized this cherubic vision as identical 21, 22. Compare chap i. 8, 9. with that which he had of the living Chap. XI. 1-3.] EZEKIEL. 59 CHAPTER XL This chapter contains a further vision of unbelieving presumption before the prophet left the precincts of the desecrated edifice, 1-3; the sin and judgment of the scoffers, 4-12; the intercession of tlie prophet, 13 ; a prediction of the recovery of the Uebrews from idolatry, and the ultimate destruction of the incorrigible, 14-21; and concludes with a final glimpse of the Divine glory, the cessation of the vision, and the return of the prophet in a trance to his captive countrymen in Chaldea, to whom he commumcates all the circumstances of the visions, 22-25. 1 Moreover the Spirit took me up, and brought me to the east gate of the house of Jehovah, that faceth the east ; and behold, in the door of the gate five and twenty men, and I beheld among them Jaazaniah the son of Aziir, and Pelatiah the son of Ben- 2 aiah, princes of the people. Then he said unto me : Son of man, these are the men that devise iniquity and counsel wicked- 3 ness in this city, that say : It is not near ; to the building of 1, 2. From the circumstance that the number of twenty-five coincides with that of the sun-worsliippers, chap. viii. IG, it has been supposed by Jarchi, Havernick, and Fairbairn, that the per- sons here described were the priests, whose idolatrous conduct is there repro- bated, and that the present vision is designed to teach that the sacerdotal order, of which they were the represent- atives, was henceforth to cease from ministering in the temple, and to suffer in the general calamity. However nat- ural this interpretation may at first sight appear, there is an insuperable objection to it in the designation, Bi^ti I'nb , princes of the people, a designation no- where given to the priests. When called princes in this acceptation, it is either in the form wTp '^'^/Ci , princes or rulers oj" the sanctnnri/, as Isa. xliii. 28, or in that of Dijr^bn ■'•niy, princes of the priests, as 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14. The conjecture of Fairbairn, that they are called princes of the people somewhat ironically, because they were their ring- leaders in wickedness, is not satisfactory. I rather take them to have been the civil officers elected by the suffrages of the people, who used their influence with Zedekiah, and persuaded him not to submit to the king of Babylon, in flat contradiction of the message which Je- hovah had commissioned Jeremiah to deliver to the king. See Jer. xxxviii. 4. They are characterized, ver. 2, as " the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel." The prophet sees them assembled outside the portico, or vestibule, commonly called Solomon's porch, at the east end of the temple, and forming the principal entrance into it. They are doubtless to be contemplated as met in counsel to devise the wicked advice which they gave to Zedekiah. 3. The force of their wicked counsel, which here assumes a proverbial aspect, appears to be this : "A long period will elapse before our city shall be taken ; we may therefore furnish ourselves with every accommodation, and shall receive no essential damage from the enemy, any more than the flesh that is being boiled does from the fire that is burning around the pot. Let the flames of war burn around us ; we arc perfectly secure; and should matters at last come to the worst, it will be time enough then to think about the measures to be'adoptcd for our safety." Q^na nija ai^ira ii? , Ge- go E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XI. 3-12. 4 houses ; it is the caldron, and we are the flesh. Therefore 5 prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man. And the Spirit of Jehovah fell upon me, and he said unto me : Speak, Thus saith Jehovah ; Thus ye have spoken, O house of Israel : for as for the things that come into your mind, I know each one of 6 them. Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and have filled 7 the streets thereof with slain. Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Your slain which ye have placed in the midst thereof, they are the flesh, and she is the caldron ; but as for you, get 6 you out of the midst of her. Of a sword ye have been afraid, and a sword I will bring upon you, saith the Lord Jehovah. 9 And I will cause you to go forth from the midst of her, and will deliver you into the hand of strangers, and execute judgments 10 upon you. By the sword ye shall fall ; at the boundary of Israel I will judge you, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. 11 It shall not be to you for a caldron, and ye shall not be in the midst of it for flesh : at the boundary of Israel I will judge you. 12 And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, in whose statutes ye have not walked, and whose judgments ye have not executed, but have * acted according to the judgments of the nations that were around you. senius and Ewald, after the LXX., ren- us in a state of captivity in Babylon, der interrogatively : " is it not near, the and advises us to prepare for a long resi- building of houses 1 " and interpi-et the dcnce in that land by building houses for words of the rebuilding of the houses our accommodation ; but we will make ruined in the seige. This construction, ourselves comfortable where we are ; it however, affoi-ds no appropriate sense, will be long enough before such captivity even were it conceded that xb stands for be realized." jibn , which Hitzig considers to be inad- 4. To give emphatic earnestness to missible. I prefer, therefore, to divide the command, i^'^-f] is repeated. the sentence, and to take ^h as an abso- 5. The Searcher of hearts asserts his lute negative. 21^p , near, is used of perfect knowledge of the secret machi- time — the period of destruction being nations of the princes, understood as prominently in the mind 6,7. They had advised those measures of the speakers. The objection of Man- which brought destruction upon the city rer to the rendering of CPS PIJS , let and its inhabitants, who, in allusion to us hulld houses, that it would require the their own figure, were to be regarded as Infinitive absolute, is grammaticallyjust; the flesh that had been killed and was but, if we take the construct form as ex- lying in the streets. As for themselves, pressing what the minds of the evil coun- they might escape destruction in the sellers were intensely fixed on — the build- city, but they should not escape punish- ing of houses, it will be sutficiently accu- ment from the Chaldeans, who should rate in a proverbial statement. There execute it upon them at the frontier, may be here an implied reference to Jer. See ver. 10. xxix. 5. "The prophet contemplates 8-12. An amplification of the predic- Chap. XI. 13-16.] EZEKIEL. 61 13 And it came to pass, as I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died ; then I fell upon my face and cried with a loud voice and said : Alas, O Lord Jehovah ! thou art making an end of the 14 remnant of Israel ! Then the word of Jehovah came unto me, 15 saying : Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren, the men of thy relationship, and the whole house of Israel, concerning whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem are saying: keep at a distance from 16 Jehovah; the land is given to us for an inheritance. Never- theless speak : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : though I have removed them far off among the nations, and though I have scattered them among the countries, yet I will be for a little a 17 sanctuary to them in the countries whither they come. AVhere- tion delivered in verses 7 and 8, accom- panied with a direct contradiction of their ])roverbial utterance with respect to safety. For N'^:iin , ver. 7, the finite form N'^^IX is found in thirty-nine MSS., in two early editions, and is so translated in all the ancient versions; but the reading of the received text ap- pears better to suit the connection. On ver. 12 compare chap. v. 6. 13. Scarcely had the doom of the wicked rulers been pronounced, when one of them was struck dead on the spot, as an earnest that the prophecy should assuredly be fulfilled. Regarding him as a representative of the people, the prophet breaks out in a pathetic exclamation, and asks whether Jehovah would effect a complete extermination of his people. 14, 15. The inhabitants of Jerusalem, full of arrogant self confidence, despised their brethren who had been carried into captivity, and contemptuously bade them be satisfied with their new abode, at a distance from the land of their fathers and the residence of their covenant God, for they had no longer any part or lot in the national theocracy. That establish- ment with all its advantages belonged now exclusively to those who had been left in the land. They alone were in possession, and would admit of no com- petitors. With those who were thus despised, and expelled not only by the 6 Chaldeans, but by their own fellow-citi- zens, Ezckiel was to consider himself as in the closest alliance. These, viewed as recovered from idolatory, he was to regard as, in a higher sense, his brethren and near relatives ; and not those only who had been carried away with him under Jehoiachin, but also the subjects of the former captivity. ~CTi^ ^"^^.^ is repeated to give force to the relation- ship. These whom he was thus specially to regard as his brethren, "i^^^? "^^t?^. > his kinsmen, and the whole house of Israel, are in apposition. They were all repu- diated by the proud Jews in Jerusalem. It does not appear that the persons here refen-ed to were related to Ezekiel as belonging to the priesthood, but are un- derstood in a Avider sense as his country- men, endeared to him the more by their sufferings, and their reformation in the land of captivity. >^^5 t^fy have made others to hope. This verb is not used in Kal, but in Piel, with a transitive and causative signification, as in Hiphil. 9. As a just judgment upon them for their presumption, they are threatened, not only with exclusion from all hope of ever occupying an honorable position in the government of the nation, but of having an existence under it as citizens. They should not even be ever after per- mitted to enter the land of their fathers. 110, a, council of judges and others, as- sembled to consult on the national affairs. 2r;? , a register, in whicli the names of the citizens were inscribed, and whicli was annually revised, when those who had died during the year had their names erased. Michaelis thinks the reference is rather to the genealogies ; and that the Chap. XIII. 9-17.] EZEKIEL. 69 10 Because, even because tliey have seduced my people saying, " Peace," and there is no peace, and one buildeth up a wall and 11 otiiers plaster it with falsehood: Say to them that plaster with falsehood : It shall fall : there shall be a pouring rain and ye, O 12 great hailstones, shall fall, and a storm-wind shall rend it. And behold, the wall shall fall. Shall it not be said unto you, Where 13 is the plaster with which j^e have plastered it ? Wherefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah : I will even rend it with a storm- wind in my fury, and there shall be a pouring rain in mine 14 anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it. And I will break down the wall which ye have plastered with falsehood, and I will bring it down to the ground, and its foundation shall be laid bare, and it shall fall, and ye shall perish in the midst of 15 it ; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. And I will spend my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have plastered it with falsehood, and will say unto you : The wall is no more, and 16 they that plastered it are no more, — the prophets of Israel, who prophesy to Jerusalem, and who see for her a vision of peace, threatening implies, that the persons against whom it is denounced, should have no descendants. 10. ">^3'' '""^ emphatically : because, even lecnuse. The pronoun tt;in is to be taken collectively of the class of persons spoken of in the immediately preceding context, and not without some tinge of contempt. Compare 2 Chron. xxviii. 22. Agreeably to this the pronominal suffix in CSn is to be similarly regarded as desig- nating others of the false prophets. They were not satisfied with individual effort, but co-operatod in their endeavors to delude the people. Alas ! how much of this has been reidized in the professing church of Christ, as well as in the an- cient church of Israel. While one party was busily engaged in building a wall, another was as busily occupied in whit- ening it with whitewash, in order to give it a i^leasing and imposing appearance. Compare Matt, xxiii. 29 ; Acts xxiii. 3. ''?1?5 lime, plaster, or ivhiteioash ; H'ltJ , to cover over with such material. 1 1-16. The wall, with its builders and plasterers, should be involved in one un- distingulshable mass of destruction. A severe hailstorm is one of the severest calamities with wliich Palestine is visited, and is employed figuratively to denote severe judgments Isa. xxviii. 2 ; xxx.30; Kcv. xvi. 21. ^"insbx is properly the Arab. iji*A^\j| , retaining the form of the Article : LXX. xiQovs impo^oXovs. T\^'~'J'0 Xyr\ , llt. a \vind of storms, a vio- lent, tempestuous wind, which bears down all before it. VjuJUJ D'^'5 , a poiir- incj, {inindalinr/ rain is equally destructive to buildings. While the hailstones break in pieces what they come in contact with, the rain, suddenly collected in rushing masses, washes away the foundations, and occasions the fall of the buildings. Tlicre is a singular force in personifying the hailstones, considering that some- times they fall in size larger than an inch, and with a velocity of seventy feet a second, or about fifty miles an hour, acquiring by this means a momentum which renders them a^vfully destructive. Compare Job xxxviii. 22, 23. 17. Ezekiel is now commanded to 70 EZEKIEL. [Chap. Xm. 17-20. 17 and there is no peace, saith the Lord Jehovah. Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people who prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy against 18 them, and say : Thus saitli the Lord Jehovah : Woe to the women that sew pillows for all elbows, and make cushions for the head of every stature, to lie in wait eagerly for souls : Will ye lie in wait eagerly for the souls of my people ? and will ye 19 save alive the souls that come unto you ? And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley, and morsels of bread, to put to death the souls that should not die, and to pre- serve the souls that should not live, by your lying to my people 20 who hear lies ? Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I am against your cushions with which ye there eagerly lie in wait for the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from off your arms, and will set free the souls for which ye eagerly direct his oracular denunciation against the false prophetesses, who lent their aid in helping forward the delusions of the people. True female prophetesses were more rare among the Hebrews. The only instances in which they occur in the history of that people, are those of Mir- iam, Deborah, and Huldah. So impu- dent were these female pretenders to in- spiration, that Ezekiel was required to put on a stern countenance ('I'^iiS D^^')» while he denounced the pernicious in- fluence which they exerted over the people. 18. Pir&3 occurs only here and ver. 20, but there can be no doubt that it sig- nifies pillows, or cushions, covered with ornamental work, from "^03 > to cover. That these are intended, and not cover- lets, a]ii)ears from their being connected with C^l^ "^S"^^^ > arm-joints, or elbows. These, indeed, Gesenius interprets to mean knuckles ; but their being referred to the ryi^T , ai-ms, ver. 20, favors the opinion that joints higher up the arms arc meant. The LXX. supposing bol- sters for the head to be intended, render irpo Arab. <^Lo , to hint, catch, lay snares for taking wild animals. This conjuga- tion, being reduplicate in form, is ex- pressive of intensity, and thus indicates the eager and untiring efforts which the fi\lse prophetesses employed in endeavor- ing to effect their purpose. So far should they be from preserving those who list- ened to them, that they should be in- strumental in bringing about their des- truction. 19. The sordid, self-interested charac- tcrof these prophetesses is here distinctly set forth — a character by which fixlse teachers in every age have been distin- guished. 20. rin"iSP , to cause to fly, is bor- rowed from the practice of fowlers, who Chap. XIV. 1-3.] EZEKIEL. 71 21 22 23 lie in wait, the souls to make them fly. And I will tear your cushions and rescue my people from your hand, and they shall no more be in your hand for a prey ; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. Because with falsehood ye have made sad the heart of the righteous, which I have not made sad, and strength- ened the hands of the wicked, that he should not turn from his wicked way to be preserved alive : Therefore ye shall not see vanity nor divine divination any more ; for I will rescue my people from your hand ; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. disturb a covey of birds, not that they may fray them away, but that they may make them fly into the gins that they have set for them. LXX. fls SiaffKop- Trifffj.of. 21. "ir.*!"^? ) in your hand, i.e. in your power — exposed to your influence. 22. •^JJS signifies to be dejecied, have the mind filled with despondency, and is synonymous with S^5^ . To witness the alluring arts of false teachers, and listen to their seductive doctrine, cannot but be a source of grief to every pious mind. While such teachers rob the people of God of that consolation which he hath purposed they should enjoy, they confirm the wicked in their rebellious practices by holding out to them hopes of immu- nity from punishment. 23. The Divine judgments should overtake these impudent pretenders to revelation, and thus put an end to their nefarious artifices, and their bad influ- ence over the people. CHAPTER XIV. A company of oflBcial persons present themselves before Ezekiel under the hypocritical mask of religious inquirers, 1; their character is described and their punishment threat- ened, 2-5; they are called to repentance, and the sentence of their doom, if they should continue incorrigible, is repeated, 6-8 ; the punishment to be inflicted on the false proph- ets is described, 9, 10; and its result, the recovery of the Jews to tlie service of the true God, 11; the unavailing intercession of the most eminent saints of God on behalf of the impenitent is strongly and repeatedly asserted, 12-21 ; still a remnant should be left, who, recovered from idolatry, should testify to the rectitude of the Divine conduct, and experience the returning favor of their God, 22, 23. 1 And there came to me men of the elders of Israel, and they sat 1. The syntax of t^l^J^ in the singu- lar with C""^';** in the plural is not ab- horrent in Hebrew practice — the num- ber of the noun not necessarily having been determined, when the simple idea expressed by the verb first occurs to the mind. Some MS S., however, read ISta';^, which is the more correct orthography. PS'nO'] , Israel, is here and throughout the chapter to be taken, not as designat- ing the captivity of the ten tribes, but that of the Hebrews generally, with spe- cial reference to those Jews Avho were located on the Chebar. The D'^DJ^t, elders, were civil officers, who retained their ofiice though in a state of exile, — 72 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XIV. 2-6. 2 before me. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying: 3 Sou of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and they have placed the stumbling-block of their iniquity before 4 their flice : Should I at all be inquired of by them ? Wherefore address them, and say unto them : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Every man of the house of Israel who setteth up his idols in his heart, and who placeth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet, I, Jehovah, myself will answer him that cometh, according to the multitude of liis 5 idols : In order to take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all of them alienated from me through their the Jews still submitting to their author- ity. What they wished to learn from the prophet, we are not informed ; most probably it related to the duration of the captivity, or to the fate of Jerusalem. That they were not actuated by any purely religious motive is manifest from the following verses. 3. Whatever appearances these ciders might have assumed when they came to Ezekiel, he is divinely informed that they were purely hypocritical. Not only had tl)e love of idolatry not been eradicated from their hearts ; they had not so much as put away their idols from their pres- ence ; a striking type of their country- men who still remained in Judea. laTnXii , a form of the Infinitive Abso- lute, with the interrogative H adopted to avoid the cacophony that would have been occasioned by writing ^"''^Jv'^ > which would Imve been the regular from of the Infinite. 4. With such dissemblers Jehovah could have no fellowship, but, on the contrary, mvist spurn them from his presence with holy indignation. Com- pare Ps. Ixvi. 18. <^!?3 in Niphal dif- fers here little from the signification in Kal, excepting that it conveys the idea of the action being more immediately performed by God himself, and so far retaining the reflexive force of that con- jugation, as I imjself, or the like. Instead of furnishing an answer by his prophet, he would himself give one by the actual infliction of the merited punishment. For 1^3 some propose to point f^3 > and consider it to be anticipative of 3"i3 following, as is common in the Aramaic dialects ; but to tliis construction it is objected, that there is a want of agree- ment in gender, — y-\ being masculine whereas p3 is feminine. To obviate this objection, Hitzig unsatisfactorily pro- poses to point na in the masculine. I abide by the Keri which proposes ^3 , kim that cometh- This reading, adopted by our translators, is found in the text of nine Heb. MSS. and has originally been in seven more. The only difference lies in the exchange of n for x . The proposed reading 13 is without any au- thority. 5. The meaning is, that Jehovah would come upon them while indulging in the idolatries on which their hearts where set. 353 "C^Sri , to take in the heart, is otherwise an unusual mode of expression, but there seems no solid ground for the construction put upon it by Havcrnick, as if it referred to the working of a change in the dispositions of the Jews. All that it expresses is the certainty of the calam- ity overtaking them while they were going on in their trespasses. 6. The only way in which the Jews could expect the calamity to be averted or removed was by an entire renunciation of idols, and a sincere return to the ser- vice of the true God. In ^'S'^^rfil. in^lia there is a combination of the Ival and Chap. XIV. 6-11.] EZEKIEL. 10 idols. Wherefore say unto the house of Israel : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Turn ye thoroughly from your idols aud turn away your faces from all your abominations. For every man of the house of Israel, and of the stranger who sojourneth in Israel, and is alienated from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and placeth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet to inquire of me for himself, I, Jehovah, myself will answer him. And I will set my face, against that man, and will make him a sign and proverbs, and will cut him off from the midst of my people, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. And as for the prophet who alloweth himself to he deceived, and uttereth a speech, I, Jehovah, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch forth my hand against him, and destroy him from among my people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity ; according to the punishment of him that inquireth shall be the punishment of the Hiphil conjugations for the sake of em- phasis. Keturn unreservedly from your abominable idolatries. Be no longer estranged from me either in heart or practice. They were neither to hanker after in desire, nor look towards the accursed thing. 7. The same judgment should over- take the proselyte as the native Jew who indulged in idolatry, and hypocritically applied to a prophet for counsel. Com- pare vcr. 4. Strangers were only legally tolerated in the land of the Hebrews on the condition that they worshipped no god, but Jcliovah alone. Lev. xvii. 8, 9. ''S , at the end of the verse, is emphatic, hij myselj] and may be regarded as an ellipsis of ''^"Swp "'a , bij myself have I sicorn, as Gen. xxii. 16. The significa- tion, ohsecro, quceso, for which Gesenius contends, however it may suit other pas- sages, is not at all apt here. The occur- rence of "^3 in the phrase "'S W^'l , to inquire of me, in the preceding sen- tence, naturally leads to the construction which I have suggested. "13 refers to the applicant, not to S<"'r^ » the prophet : who comes to a prophet for himself, for his own satisfaction, to inquire of me. The ? marks here the Dat. commodi. 7 8. The signal jjunishment to be in- flicted, as denounced at the close of the previous verse. Instead of "fiTiiiadi^j , / will destroy him, which is the current reading of the printed text, I prefer sininW-^bni , / will set or place him, which is that of Bomberg's edition of 1525. It may be regarded, indeed, as a mere conjectural emendation, but it is supported by all the ancient versions, and is more suitable to Hebrew usage. 9. If matters should turn out differ- ently from what the prophet expected and foretold, I have so ordered them in the course of my providence as to issue in such a result. It is the prerogative of Deity to control the sinful operations of created minds, without interfering with free-agency. Oh roivvv ko-t ivepjuav — aWa Kara avyxcip'riciv (Theodoret). Sec on Jer. iv. 10. The prophet here referred to was a false, not a true prophet. 10. C2iy , their iniquity, i.e. the punish- ment of their iniquity, as chap. iv. 4-6. The term is properly so rendered here in our common version. 11. The result of such severe pun- ishment would be the recovery of the Israelites from their addictedness to idolatry, to be again a holy people to 74 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XIV. 12-19. 1 1 prophet ; That the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, and that they may no more defile themselves with all their transgressions, but may be my people and I may be their God, saith the Lord Jehovah. 12 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying: Son of man, when 13 a land hath sinned against me by commiting a grevious ti-ans- gression, and I stretch forth my hand against it, and break its staff' of bread, and send famine into it, and cut oiF man and beast 1 4 from it ; And though these three men were in the midst of it, Noah, Daniel, and Job, they should deliver their own souls by 15 their righteousness, saith the Lord Jehovah. Should I cause wild beasts to pass through a land, and it is bereaved and becomes desolate, so that no one passeth through it because of the wild 16 beasts; Though these three men were in the midst of it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters ; they alone should be delivered, but the land Jehovah, who would then renew his ancient rehitionship to them as their God. 12-21. bs'^"brrib, to trespass a tres- pass ; i.e. to commit an enormous tres- pass. With manifest reference to Jer. XV. 1, the prophet is repeatedly in- structed in these verses, that not only should the powerful intercessions of such eminent men as Moses and Samuel prove of no avail on behalf of the Jew- ish people, but that those of such right- eous men as Noah, Daniel, and Job should prove equally fruitless. Highly as the ])ersonal righteousness of these three illustrious individuals was held in estimation by the Most High, there was no merit in it transferable to any of the guilty inhabitants of the land. Even Noah, on account of whose righteous character his family were saved along with him in the ark, should not now, were he alive iipon the earth, be able to deliver either sons or daughters, if they were found to have joined the rebellious. Every one should be treated on the ground of his own individual character. The prophet multiplies instances in or- der to work a conviction in the minds of his countrymen of the enormity of their crimes. Daniel having been four- teen years in Babylon at the time here referred to, must have heen well known by fame to the Jews of the captivity. His historical existence, as well as that of Job, is taken for granted, and can with no show of argument be denied any more than that of Noah. The chrono- logical order of the names presents no difficulty. A similar inversion occurs Heb. xi. 32. Besides, as Havernick ob- serves, there is a climax in the introduc- tion of Job's name last, none of his sons or daughters having been saved for his sake, as appears so manifestly on the very face of the narrative, chaj). i. Four of the greatest calamities that can befal a people are hypothetically threatened — famine (ver. 13), wild beasts (ver. 15), war (ver. 17), and the plague (ver. 19), <^jn , icild beasts, is used collectively. 15. For i^ri=3'J two of Kennicott's MSS. read tiTl^Sd , in the first person. Thus also the LXX. Tiixaip-!](TOfxai avr-fiv. 16. CX , )y, an elliptical formula of swearing in HebrcAV, having all the force of a negative. Compare Ps. xcv, 11. 19. fia is not to he rendered rm ac- count of blood, as Rosenmiillcr proposes. Chap. XIV. 19-23.] E Z E K I E L, 75 17 should be desolate. Or if I should bring a sword against that land, and should say, Sword, go through the land, and I should 18 cut off man and beast from it ; And these three men were in the midst of it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they by themselves should be 1 9 delivered. Or if I send a pestilence against that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off" man and beast from it ; 20 And Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the midst of it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither son nor daughter ; they by their righteousness should deliver their own 21 souls. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah : How much more when I send against Jerusalem my four calamitous judgments, the sword, and the famine, and the wild beasts, and the pesti- 22 lence, to cut off" from her man and beast ! Yet behold, there shall be left in her those that escape, who shall be brought out, sons and daughters : behold, they shall go forth to you, and ye shall see their way and their doings, and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil which I have brought upon Jerusalem, all 23 that I have brought upon it. And they shall comfort you, when ye shall see their way and their doings ; and ye shall know that it is not for nothing that I have done all that I have done in it, saith the Lord Jehovah but in blood: the judgment was to con- were reformed Jews, upon whom the sist in the shedding of blood by war. capture of Jerusalem had produced a 21. "3 Tjii , qnnnto riiCKjis, is strongly beneficial moral effect. "Their ways affirmative of a proceeding on the part and their doings " were not those by of Jehovah, in accordance with the in- whicli they had provoked the Lord to stances cited in the preceding verses. punish the nation, but the fruits of 22, 23. C^Nri^arn, those icho shall be righteousness — the good works to the brought out, made to escape the entire practice of which they had been recov- destruction of the city. The participle ered by the severe discipline through is not to be read actively D'^N'^iJ'Hn , the course of which they had been as Houbigant proposes and Newcome brought. "While they justified God in adopts. I cannot find, with Calvin, all the calamities which he had inflicted Haverniek, and Fairbairn, that these upon them, their being spared was a verses contain a threatening, and not a proof of his great mercy, and a pledge promise. Whenever a remnant is spoken that, if their brethren in the captivity of as being left, in antithesis with what followed their example, by renouncing goes before, it is always in mercy, never idolatry, they also should be dealt with in judgment. The persons spoken of, in mercy. 76 EZEKIEL. Chap. XV. 1-8. CHAPTER XV. The object of this short chapter, which is evidently introductory to the following, is to set forth the worthlessuess and, by implication, the wickedness of the Jewish people. It consists of two parts, — the parable, 1-5 ; and its application, C-8. 1 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying : Son of man, what 2 is the wood of the vine more than any other wood ? the shoot 3 that is among the trees of the forest ? Shall wood of it be taken to make any work ? Will men take a peg of it to hang any 4 vessel on ? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel ; the fire devoureth both the ends of it, the midst of it also is burned. 5 Should it be fit for any work ? Behold, when it was whole it was not made into any work : how much less when fire hath devoured it, and it is burned, should it be made into any work ? 6 Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : As the wood of the vine is among the trees of the forest, which I have appointed to the fire for fuel, so have I appointed the inhabitants of Jeru- 7 salem. Yea, I have set my face against them : they shall go out of one fire, but another fire shall consume them ; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I set my face against them. 1-3. Teaching by similes drawn from nature, when judicioush' conducted, pos- sesses great beauty and force. The in- stance before us is eminently clear, sim- ple, and ap]iropriate. The point of comparison does not lie in the fruit, but simply in the wood of the vine. Al- though sometimes of considerable girth at the stem, yet generally the vine is small, and its branches consist of soft and brittle tendrils, carried along the face of a wall, or left to trail on the ground. They are, as here represented, totally unfit to be formed into any kind of instrument, or appropriated to useful purposes, as the wood of other trees maj'- be. iTil^C'ti'l is in apposition with yV • The question is understood to be re- peated : What is the shoot more than that of any other tree in the forest ? "ir^^ , a large wooden peg or pin, which the Orientals fix inside the walls of their houses for the purpose of hanging upon it household articles in constant use. See on Isa. xxii. 23-25. The fire nat- urally attacks the ends of a piece of wood first, and then advances to the middle, burning till the whole be con- sumed. If unfit for any purpose before it was cast into the fire, how much more so when consumed ? "'S C;X , quanta minus, here, in a negative proposition. It is questionable whether the two ends are to be pressed, and made to symbolize the extremities of the Hebrew people — the northern kingdom carried into cap- tivity by Tiglath-pilescr, and the south-, em by Nebuchadnezzar, — the middle marking out Jerusalem. 6-8. After a brief repetition of the comparison, the parable is directly ap- plied to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, or the Jewish state, represented by that city. yy3 is to be taken as a collective noun. Three MSS. read i^y3 , in the plural ; and thus all the ancient versions. Trxn'i ... CNh, the fire and the f re, is properly translated " one fire and another Chap. XVI. 2, 3.] EZEKIEL. 77 8 I will also make the land desolate, because they have committed a grievous transgression saith the Lord Jehovah. fire." The Jews having utterly failed to succession, till the dross of their idolatry answer the Divine purpose in selecting them to be witnesses for Jehovah in the midst of the heathen, they were to be completely broken up as a nation, and punished by severe and fiery trials in was purged away. When a professing people act unworthily of their calling, they arc only fit to be rejected. Compare Matt. iii. 10 ; v. 13. CHAPTER XVI. In an allegory of great length and minute detail, tlie prophet is commissioned to exhibit the positive side of the picture, which lie liad negatively lield up to view in the previous chapter. In a stril^ing poetical prosopoposia, Jerusalem is introduced as a new-born female exposed at lier birth, 1-5; but mercifully taken by Jehovah under his protection, and, when grown up to womanhood, joined to him by a matrimonial covenant, and pro- vided witli everything that might sot off lier beauty, and minister to her comfort, 6-14. She afterwards becomes an adultross, and indulges in the grossest pollutions, 15-34. Merited punishment is then denounced against her, 35-43; in aggravation of the mon- strous cliaracter of her lewdness, it is portrayed as Incomparably greater than that of any of lier neighbors, 44-59. The allegory concludes with a gracious promise of res- toration, 60-03. How abhorrent or indelicate soever certain parts of the imagery may be to our more refined feelings, they are admirably adapted to the subject, and quite in keeping with the greater freedom in modes of speech wiiich have always obtained among natives of the East. Tlie pious mind will instinctively recoil from dwelling upon any improper ideas which they may be supposed to suggest. 1 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying : Son of man, 2 cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, And say : Thus saith 3 the Lord Jehovah unto Jerusalem : Thy origin and thy nativity were of the land of the Canaanite ; thy father was an Amorite, 2, 3. Jerusalem is the symbolical rep- resentative of the .Jewish peoijle, or the kingdom of Judah. In order to prepare the minds of the Jews for the very humiliating picture about to be exhib- ited of their national degradation, they are first of all reminded of their Canaan- itish origin. It is, however, rather the character of the inhabitants of Canaan than the country itself that is meant. Compare Zeph. i. 11 ; Zech. xiv. 21. As neither Abraham nor Sarah was de- scended from the tribes here specified, but were Araniajans, it is evident the reference must be to Jerusalem as origi- 7* nally inhabited by the Jebusites,who were more or less mixed up with the neigh- boring Amorites and Hittites. Comp. Numb. xiii. 29. In idolatry they were one ; and in this respect furnished ap- propriate types of the Jewish inhabitants in after times, when they had apostatized from the worship of the true God. The iniquity of the Amorites is specially marked. Gen. xv. 16 ; and the family of Heth is likewise mentioned with disap- probation, chap, xxvii. 46. The diifer- encc between fT^^sp and V.'lhi'O is scarcely perceptible. They are merely synonymcs expressive of naticiUj or birth. 78 EZEKIEL, [Chap. XVI. 3-6. and thy mother a Hittite. And as for thy birth, in the day when thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed with water for purification, nor rubbed at all with salt, neither swaddled at all. No eye pitied thee to do any of these things unto thee, to compassionate thee, but thou wast cast out into the open field in the loathing of thy person on the day when The prefix "a is not necessarily indica- tive of locality, which is the idea adojtted by Gescniiis and some other Hebraists, but is a simple formative, as in ^'^"■3, nrn^ , hrcz-2 , and the like. The dis- tinction made by Ilavernick, who inter- prets 'T^'^^'? ''y Zeugimgsort, and n';;^172 by Gebiirfsort, is quite an unnecessary refinement. The plural form in both cases is against the interpretation. That the former noun, however, is derived from ^^3 5 to dig, seems the best established etymology. 4. Eevcrting to the earliest history of Jerusalem, the city being put for the inhabitants, the prophet exhibits her as a female infant cruell}^ neglected with respect to the performance of those offices which it requires on first cominjr into the world. TjI^IX '^'!]?.^'^ > the pas- sive is here, as usual, construed with the accusative. Comp. Gen. xl. 20 ; Hos. ii. 5. The historical circumstances allc- gorically alluded to arc those of the Hebrews in Egypt, where they were ex- posed to every species of cruelty. TeV- vrjdiv 5e airrrjs Ka\et r)]v «f kl-yvirrov e|o5ov (Theodoret). ^;a, the umbilical cord or na-\-el-string, which requires to be cut at the birth of the infant. Root "I'nO , to hind, twist, etc. This, with the other terms here employed, presujiposes some acquaintance with the obstetric art in the age of our prophet. The next circumstance adverted to is the washing with water, for the purpose of removing all impurities attaching to the surface of the body. ''?'9'?t' ' /"'' pu'ificulion. Comp. for derivation the Arab, ^-mi,^ V. conjug. removit a se noxam vel potius corporis inquinamentum, and the Syr. |.V A Vn « splendidumfuciens. TheLXX. must have understood the word in this light, since they have left it altogether untranslated, supposing that the idea was sufljcicntly expressed by e\ova-eT]s, by which they had rendered riSHTi . The Targum, as read by Abulwalid, ^7l?-'l^ : ' ""^ mundundum; by Jarchi, n-rin^jb , for brig/itness. This derivation seems preferable to that adopted by Gcscnius, who refers the word to the root nya , to look, view, and supposes the meaning to have respect to the presen- tation of a new-born infant,when washed, to the parents or others. This interpre- tation, however applicable to the circum- stances of the case, and however it may seem to relieve the etymological diffi- culty, is less natural than that above suggested. For the ibrm and punctua- tion, compare """^^p . That it was cus- tomary in ancient times to rub the bodies of new-born children with salt, for the purpose of hardening the skin, appears from Galen, De Sanit. i. 7 : Sale modico insperso cutis infantis densior solidiorque redditnr. 5. The infant is supposed to have been entirely neglected, and pitilessly thrown down in the open field, exposed to the elements or to wild beasts. The expo- sure of infants was a practice very com- mon in ancient times. T{4,P^ ^?^3» in the loathimj ofthg -person, is to be taken objectively, M'ith reference to the abhor- rent aspect of the infiint thus exposed to view. Such was the primitive condition of the Hebrew people when in Egypt. 6. Jehovah here represents himself as a traveller who, on passing by, discovers the unsightly and pitiable object which Chap. XVI. 6-8.] E Z E K I E L . 79 thou wast bora. Then I passed by thee, and saw thee sprawling in thy blood, and I said to thee in thy blood, Live ; yea I said to thee in thy blood, Live. I made thee to increase by thousands as the sproutings of the field, and thou didst increase and become great, and earnest with most splendid ornaments ; thy breasts Avere formed, and thy hair was grown, whereas thou hadst been naked and bare. And I passed by thee, and saw thee, and, be- hold, thy time was a time of love ; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness, and sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord Jehovah, and had just been described, and interposes for its rescue. Notwithstanding its pol- lution, he takes compassion upon it, and saves its life. rDD"3r^ may most ap- propriately be rendered by sprauiing, as expressive of the convulsive strujrgles and contortions of a child endeavoring to move from a disagreeable situation. The word is derived from 0"3 5 to tram- ple, stamp Avith the feet, hick. The form in Hithpael, is active and reflexive — not passive, as Gcsenius interprets. In this miserable and helpless condition Jehovah found the Hcbi'cws in the land of bondage. Extending the principle involved in the figure beyond the direct teaching of the text, it is strikingly descriptive of the condition of sinners previous to conversion. As Calvin ob- serves, till they feel this to be the state to which they are reduced, they will never appreciate the provisions of mercy. Houbigant rejects the last clause of the verse, on the ground of its having been omitted in the LXX., Syr., and Arab. ; but there is a singular force in the repe- tition, of which even Ililzig approves. 7. This verse describes the change which took place in consequence of the Divine interposition. Instead of being left to pine away and become extinct in Egypt, the Hebrews grew and increased in number, and were made to appear beauteous in their civil and religious polity. Instead of O']'?''^ , breasts, one of Kennicott's MSS. and another originally read T^llli? , thy breasts, and thus the LXX., the Peshito Syr., the Hexap. Syr., the Arab, and the Vulgate, "^^n"! , a mijriad, ten thousand ; often used for any great indefinite number. I made thee to increase by thousands, as the productions of the field. n"^:i is used as a collective. Root I^^^ > to s})rout, spring up. The metaphor is still continued, representing the infant growing up to womanhood, and exhibiting unmi stake- able signs of puberty. C^^? ""I??' taking tlie former of the two words col- lectively, ornaments of ornaments, i.e. as a superlative of intensity, most splendid ornaments. The constructions put upon "'l^' by Grotius, Havernick, and Hitzig are complete failures. The LXX. irSXets irdAeoov, as if they had read C"]"^^ ^^jJ . D Xia , to fame with anything. I can- not agree with Fairbairn that "^^.^!1 CIS), naked and bare, is to be regarded as con- temporaneous with the prosperous con- dition just described. Our translators very properly place the states in contrast, rendering t by " whereas." Compare Hos. ii. 3. In "^^"!"1 C"'? we have the abstract for the concrete, in order to give greater force to the language. "^^I? > though derived from the same root as ■^^"1? J yet here simply signifies nude, bare, whereas the latter has always the superadded idea of obscenity, or shame. It is not unusual for female children among the Bcdowins to grow up with- out wearing any clothing ; and, being common, it is not accompanied with any feeling of impropriety. 8. A resumption of the declaration made at the commencement of verse 6. 80 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XVI. 8-10. 10 11 thou becamest mine. Then I washed thee with water, and thoroughly cleansed thy blood from thee, and anointed thee with oil. And I clothed thee with embroidered cloth, and shod thee with shoes of seal-skin, and bound thee round with a turban of byssus, and covered thee with silk. And I made thee most beautiful, and put bracelets on thy arms, and a chain on thy neck, The same act is referred to. Unsightly and loathsome as the Hebrew people were in themselves, and thus calculated to excite disgust rather than to attract, they nevertheless were the objects of the Divine love, which regarded them as those whom it was the purpose of Jeho- vah to deliver, beautify and foster. Deut. iv. 37; vii. 9-13; x. 15; Hos. xi. 1. W'~n ns , a time of loves, i.e. not, when thou wast marriageable, as Eosenmiil'.er and Gesenius interpret, but, when thou wast an object of afl'cction. There was nothing in Israel that was lovely. It was all pure affection on the part of Je- hovah. The advance in the allegory is now to that of the espousals. To be- token this ^^^5 ?;3 J the spreading of the skirt or flap of tlie coverlet is introduced. That this is the meaning, with reference to matrimonial cohabitation, is evident from Ruth iii. 9. Similar phraseology with like reference occurs in the Greek classics, as quoted by Rosenmiiller. Thus Theocritus, Idyll, xviii. 19 : 7.av6s rot Ouydrrip virh Tctj/ filav Six^to XKcuvav. and Euripides : - "Orav vit' ai/Bphs xXa?*'oj' evyevovs "irearis. Reference to simple protection, alleging in proof Deut. xxxiii. 12, as some have done, is out of the question. All that the Orientals wear over them at night is a quilt or coverlet, or, when travelling, the cloak which they have worn during the day. Hence, in the language of the Hebrews, to uncover the nakedness of a person means to throw back such a cov- erlet with a view to unlawful or incestu- ous union. Lev. xviii. There is in this verse an obvious reference to the solemn transactions at Sinai, when Jehovah en- tered into covenant with the Hebrews, thereby contracting as it were a conjugal relation, by which he pledged himself to love, provide for, and protect them; while they came under an obligation to love, worship, and obey Him to the ex- clusion of every rival god. Hence, as it follows in the sequel, and so fi-equently in the Old Testament, idolatry is repre- sented as si)iritual adultery, the nation thereby being guilty of a breach of the marriage covenant. 9. There seems here to be reference to a custom prevalent in the East of wash- ing the bride in the bath, anointing her with oil, and adorning her with orna- ments, previous to the celebration of the marriage ceremony (Esthcrii. 9-12). The C"!^^ , blood, here mentioned is not that of the menstrual discharge, as Rosen- miiller interprets, but that mentioned verse 6. The Israelites underwent a thorough purification before they entered into the covenant, Exod. xix. 14. Com- pare Jer. ii. 2, 3. They were designed to be a holy people to the Lord. 10. n^p"!, embroidered cloth, compare m'-Siri, Ps. xlv. 15, and the Arab. |V9j 5 by which is meant cloth of versi- color, richly intersticed with threads of gold, ^'nn , a kind of skin, used by the Hebrews to make an over-covering to the tabernacle, Exod. xxvi. 14, and, as appears from the present verse, used also for shoes ; but of what particular ani- mal, has been disputed. The most prob- able opinion is, that the seal is intended. Sec Gesenius in voc, and Winer's Real- worterbuch, ii. 595. UJl^ , byssus, fine cotton cloth, such as was anciently pre- pared in Egypt. ''^^ , silk, garments prepared of this material. Chap. XVI. 11-15.] EZEKIEL. 81 12 13 14 15 and I put a ring in thy nose, and rings in thine ears, and a crown of beauty on thy liead. And thou wast adorned with gold and silver, and thy garments were of liyssus and silk and embroidery ; thou didst eat flour and honey and oil ; and thou wast exceedingly beautiful, and didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy fiinie went forth among the nations on account of thy beauty, for it was perfect through my splendor which I put upon thee, saith the Lord Jehovah. But thou trustedst in thy beauty, and didst commit lewdness through thy fame, and didst pour out thy lewdness to every one 11, 12. For most of these female orna- ments, see my Comment on Isa. iii. 18-23. It must appear strange that our translators should have rendered ~QX~?5 CTi , a jewel on thy forehead. 0.1? properly means a ring, and denotes cither such as was worn in the nose, which is still common in the East, or such as is worn in the ears. The addi- tion of ~Si< > tliy nose, shows that the former is meant in the present instance ; — the term, pX , though sometimes used lor the countenance or face in general, is never employed to denote the forehead, but is strictly and properly the nose. What has lead to the mistake, has been the too close adherence to the common signification of ?? i upon, whereas it also admits in certain instances of being ren- dered in. CP'^SS , rings, so called from their circular form, from ^jj-' , to turn round, be round (Numb. xxxi. 50). 13, 14. Tiirough the Divine goodness the Hebrew ])eople were most abundantly supplied with everything requisite both for use and ornament. Their riches and splendor far surpassed those of any other nation. As a kingdom theirs was dis- tinguishingly flourishing in the days of David and Solomon, the former of which monarchs greatly extended its boun- daries, and enriched it with the spoils of his victories. The theocracy then reached its highest point of gloiy, and was of great celebrity among the sur- rounding nations (1 lungs x). Still they are reminded that their prosperity and glory were not owing to any merit of their own. It was a "comeliness'* whicli Jehovah, their covenant God, had put upon them. To his unmerited bounty they owed all that they enjoyed. The Yod in "^Od and "'ObsX is redun- dant, and is therefore left unpointed. 15. Beauty often proves a snare to those who possess it. Listening to flat- tery, they are easily drawn into the trap that is laid for them. The Jews were proud of their endowments, and forget- ing Him by whom these had been be- stowed, they transferred their afibctions to other gods, and thus became guilty of conjugal infidelity. T|'2'^~>? > rendered by some after the Vulgate : contra nomen tunm, supposing the meaning to be, that as a wife is called by the name of her husband, and that as adultery is an act committed against him whose name she bears, so the idolatries of the Hebrews were to be viewed in reference to the sacred name of Jehovah their God. Since, however, n^3 is often used in the acceptation fame, renown, celebrity, it seems more natural to take it in this sense here, and to render ?? j propter, on account of; teaching, that the Jews had employed the renown which through the Divine goodness they had acquired, as a means of seducing neighboring nations to commit spiritual fornication The proposed rendering of IManger, "not- withstanding thy renown," is not to be approved. The term r^MH , lewdness, fornication, used of idol-worship, is pecu- 82 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XVI. 16-21. 16 tliat passed by ; his it was. And thou didst take of thy garments and make for thyself patched high places, and thou committedst lewdness upon them, such as never had been and never shall be. 17 Yea, thou didst take of thy beautiful jewels of my gold and my silver, which I had given thee, and didst make for thyself images 18 of men, and committedst lewdness with them. And didst take the garments of thine embroidery, and didst cover them ; and 19 my oil and my incense thou didst place before them. Yea, my meat which I gave thee, the flour and oil and honey with which I fed thee, thou didst place before them for a sweet odor : and 20 it took place, saith the Lord Jehovah. And thou didst take thy sons and thy daughters, which thou didst bear unto me, 21 and didst sacrifice them to them for food. Were thy lewdnesses a small matter, that thou didst sacrifice my children, and dehver 22 them up to cause them to pass through the fire to them ? And with all thine abominations and thy lewdnesses, thou remember- edst not the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, liar to Ezckicl. T^]^"^ > thy beauty, though somewhat distant, is unquestion- ably the nominative to "^•"l!!"'^'' ' ^'•s ^f was. 16. nixb:: 'n'i'C^, patched hi.jh places, spoken contemptuously of the temples erected in honor of Astarte, for adorn- ing which the Jewish females wove hang- ings, 2 Kings xxiii. 7. LXX. fWw\a Pa-Kri. M:ni ^^' !^1'5 membrum geni- tale maris, penis, veretrum, Kamoos. Not only the superfluities of luxury, but the productions of nature necessary for the sustenance of life, and the very children, were devoted to the idols. Such prac- tices, common in the pagan world, were equally in A'ogue among the Jews in the worst periods of their history. For the burning of children in honor of Moloch, see Deut. xviii. 10 ; Ps. cvi. 37 ; Jer. vii. 31 ; xix. 5. That the phrase '^'''^'r/\ CN3 , to cause to pass through the fire, ac- tually means to burn, and not, as the Rabbins Avould have it, that the Jews merely made the children to pass through the fire, uninjured, as an act of lustra- tion, sec Gesenius, Heb. Lex. Artie. ^32 , Hiph. 4. To such an extreme of cruelty will men, from a conscious- ness of guilt, proceed, with the view of propitiating the Deity. Comp. Micah vi. 7. The barbarous and most unnat- ural practice of sacrificing children tft Chap. XVI. 21-30.] EZEKIEL. 83 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 sprawling in thy blood. And it came to pass after all thy wick- edness — woe, woe to thee, saith the Lord Jehovah — Thou didst build a brothel and make for thyself a high place in every street. At the head of every road thou didst build thy high place, and cause thy beauty to be abhorred, and didst open thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiply thy lewdnesses. Thou didst also commit lewdness with the Egyptians thy neigh- bors, great of flesh, and multiply thy lewdness to provoke me to anger. And behold, I stretched my hand over thee, and withheld thine allowance, and delivered thee to the will of them that hated thee, the daughters of the Philistines who were ashamed at thy atrocious way. And thou didst commit lewd- ness with the sons of Assyria, because thou wast insatiable, yea, thou didst commit lewdness with them, but wast not satisfied. Thou didst also multiply thy lewdness with the land of Canaan, unto Chaldea, yet even with this thou wast not satisfied. How withered is thine heart, saith the Lord Jehovah, since thou doest idols was specially prcA'alent among the Pliooniciaris. The more afrgravated forms of idolatry are here charged upon the elect but apostate nation. 22-27. When the Jews knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, and in this respect re- sembled other idolaters (Rom. i. 21). Forgctfulness of God and his benefits is the source of all other sins. The Jews became most inox'dinatc in idolatrous in- dulgences. They set no bounds to their lust. -J (verse 24), LXX. o^/cTjua ivop- vik6u, a. fornix, vault, brotlicl, place of prostitution : used tropically for an idol-tcmplc. So shameless did they be- come that their beauty, instead of attract- ing paramours, filled them with disgust, fl^"^, an elevated place, equivalent to n?22 , so often used in reference to places of idolatrous worship. ^'^^ ''?.'}:'■ > (ver. 2G), an euphemism to express the enormity of Egyptian idolatry. The idolatries of the Egy])tians were of the grossest and most multifarious kinds. Compare chap, xxiii. 20. I cannot agree with Calvin and Fairbaim that political alliances, and not idolatries, are here intended. The connection is deci- dedly against such a construction. They were indeed much mixed up with each other, and the one naturally led to tlie other, but the grosser of the two evils is here specifically referred to. nisa Cnr^Q , damilitersof the Philistines, their descendants, or the inhabitants of the country of the Philistines, who were ever the indomitable enemies of the Jews. Even these, idolatrous though they were, could not endure the licentiousness of the Jewish nation. They were contented with their own idols, and not adopting, like the Jews, those of every other country, consequently despised that peo- ple for their exorbitancy. 28, 29. Not satisfied with adopting the idolatries of Egypt, the Jews prac- tised those of the more distant Assyr- ians and Babylonians. They were per- fectly insatiable in their lust. Their idolatry was an amalgamation of all the diflferent forms which obtained in the countries around them. 30. The influence of sin on the soul is to render it morally impotent. Though it may not deprive it of the powers which are requisite to constitute man a responsible agent, it weakens his princi- 84 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XVI. 30-43. 31 all these tilings — the work of a self-willed adultress. In that thou buiklcst thy brothel at the head of every road, and construct- est thy high place in every street, and wast not as a harlot, 32 scorning hire. An adultress under her husband, thou didst re- 33 ccive strangers. They give a present to all whores, but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them to come to thee 34 from every side to thy lewdnesses. And there was in thee the contrary of women in thy lewdnesses, in that none followed thee and in that thou gavest a present, and no present was given to thee : in this thou wast contrary. 35 Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah. Thus saith the 36 Lord Jehovah : Because thy copper is poured out, and thy naked- ness is discovered, through thy lewdnesses with thy lovers, and with all thine abominable idols, and through the blood of thy 37 children which thou didst give to them ; Therefore, behold, I will collect all thy lovers to whom thou hast been pleasant, and all them whom thou hast loved, in addition to all whom thou hatedst, I will even collect them round about thee, and expose thy nakedness to them, and they shall see all thy uaked- plcs of action, takes possession of those powers, and forms itself into habits which the individual a,llows to grow upon him, so that he becomes at last in- sensible to the operation of the strongest moral motives. '^^?^. > icithtrcd, the Pahul Participle in Kal ; more commonly the Pulal 't?^ is employed. There is no necessity, with Hitzig, to point, Tjrsb ""'^s^N <^9 , and render : what, hope is therefor thy clauf/hter ? ri^-j'^ , self- willed, domineering, imperious, impudent. Compare the Arab. &Ja.AA*u , fcmina clamosa. Theodor. irapprjata^oiu.iyrjs. 31. A repetition of verse 24. The idolatries of the Jews were not practised for the love of gain, but solely for the sake of the gratification which they found in them. To sin for the mere love of sin argues the highest degree of depravity. ^\^ > to scoff, deride, with reference to the custom of prostitutes, who pretend to despise what is offered them as the price of whoredom, in order that it nay be raised. Vulg. fastidio augens pretium. For an instance of bar- gaiiijjig in such cases, see Gen. xxxviii. 16. The b in 'o's^, is not to be con- nected with n"''^ri , but with HiiT im- mediately preceding. 32. ^''N rnn , to be under a man, as a married woman, in subjection to her husband. 33, 34. To aggravate the guilt of the Jews, they are forcibly represented as acting contrary to other prostitutes, by hiring their paramours, instead of being hired by them. In T(1~^3"ra, the pre- position 3 indicates purpose orintention. ""'1.3 , the word here used for gift, or the price of prostitution, occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. The 3 in the plural Ti'^37? following, is epenthetic. Eoot fii3 , '0 he liberal. Arab, fjo, dispersits, Uheralisfuit. Conjug. v. liber- alem monstravit se. iXJ , fern. XJ tXJ j mimificus. The conjunction 1 in ^H^.^ TJEn? ) is inferential. 35-43. Now follow denunciations of judgment against the Jews on account of their flagitious conduct. I see no Chap. XVI. 35-43 ] E Z E K I E L , 38 ness. And I will judge thee as those who commit adultery and shed blood are judged, and I will render to thee the blood of 39 anger and of jealousy. And I will deliver thee into their hand, and they shall demolish th)-^ brothel, and break down thy high places, and strip thee of thy garments, and take thy splendid 40 jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. And they shall bring up against thee a company, and stone thee with stones, and cut thee 41 in 2)ieces with their swords. And they shall burn thy houses with fire, and execute judgments in thee in the sight of many women, and cause thee to cease from whoredom, and thou also 42 shalt give no hire any more. And I will cause mine anger against thee to cease, and my jealousy shall turn away from thee, 43 and I will be at rest and not be angry any more. Because thou didst not remember the days of thy youth, but hast provoked me to anger with all these, therefore, behold I also will recompense thy way upon thine own head, saith the Lord Jehovah, and thou shalt not pi'actise this wickedness in adition to all thine abom- occasion to seek for any other signifi- cation of rili;n3 (verse so) than the or- dinary one of brass, or money consisting of brass or copper, in allusion to the lavish expenditure of gifts as the wages of idolatrous prostitution (verses 31, 33, 34) ; LXX. rbc xaA.K({i/ ; Vulg. aes. Our Translators appear to have obtained that of Jilthiness from the verdigris or green crust wliich it contracts. By those whom the Jews hated (ver. 37), are meant the Edomites, INIoabites, and Ammonites, between whom and them there existed an implacable enmity. It would seem, from the threatening to expose the naked- ness of the Jews, that an allusion is made to one of the modes of punishing ])rosti- tutes in ancient times. <^^n Cn Ti'^riJr?'' ilXpp?"! (ver. 38), and I ivill give thee ike blood of farjj and jealousy, i.e. I will furiously shed thy blood, as an enraged husband does that of his unfaithful wife when his jealousy is roused. In ver. 40, the two kinds of capital punishment authorized by the Mosaic law arc intro- duced ; stoning, and killing with the sword. Here, and in the following verse, the invasion and destruction of Jerusa- lem by the Chaldeans are predicted. 8 pri2 , in Piel pPl3 , a on-aj \iy. to hew or cut in pieces. Nt^, Chaldee (ver. 43), the same as the Ilcb. "j'"} , behold ! used once besides. Gen. xlvii. 23. The last clause of this verse is very obscure, but the idea which seems to be conveyed by it is, that, corrected and reformed by the judgments which were inflicted upon tiie Jews, they should not any more perpe- trate the atrocious wickedness described in the preceding part of the chapter. ViS I take in the acccj)tation of in addilion to. Moral evils of all kinds were prev- alent among them, but it was principally on account of idolatry — emphatically nKTn-rX (compare Zech. v. 8, TXt <^^"^"1'7 ) this is tuicJcrdness) — that they were punished. The Targum, Jarchi, Ivimchi, and Rosenmueller interpret nsIT , plati or purpose, in a good sense, and suppose the meaning to be, that the Jewish people did not form the design to repent of all their wickedness. It is true, i^ST , occuring simply by itself, may be taken in a good sense, as it ap- pears to be Job xvii. 11, but the phrase nat i^bS , here used, is never employed in any other sense than that of commit- ting flagrant wickedness. The inter- 86 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XVI. 43-46. 44 45 inations. Behold every one who gives utterance to proverbs shall utter a proverb against thee, saying : As is the mother, so is her daughter. Thou art the daughter of thy mother who loathed her husband and her children ; and thou art the sister of thy sisters who loathed their husbands and their children ; your pretation of Michaelis and Hiivcrnick, adopted by rairbairn, appears to me to be exceedingly forced : viz. that '^H'^OS is to be pointed "^ri/^b^ , and referred to Jehovah, on the supposition, that he dechires he would not act the part of the reckless parent who encouraged his daughter to prostitute herself (Lev. xix. 29). 43. Tl'X"!? is used clliptically for 7(^-"!5i'"3 , which is supplied in three MSS. at first hand, and by the LXX., Syriac, and Vulgate. Between this verse and that preceding there is no contradiction. There is merely a resumption of the threatened judgment, with a statement relative to its happy result. The Jews were no longer to add to their guilt by indulging in the crime of idolatry. 44. The Slashal, or derisive proverb, here introduced is the most sententious and expressive of any used in the Bible. In Hebrew it consists only of two short words, the former of which is a com- pound : <^^3 •"'3^? > as the mother, her daughter ; "3 , so, the corresponding par- ticle of comparison, is, as often, omitted for the sake of brevity. The meaning is, that Jerusalem had fully proved her- self to be of Canaanitish origin, as had been stated, verse 3. 45. 46. How Samaria and Sodom can be said to have loathed their husbaiuls and their children, does not clearly ap- pear. By the Sina'itic covenant Jehovah was the husband of Samaria — the rep- resentative of the ten tribes, just as much as he was of Jerusalem — the represent- ative of those of Judah and Benjamin ; but he never stood in any such relation to Sodom. Still, though we have no historical account of defection to idola- try on the part of the inhabitants of that city previous to its destruction, yet as that sin in all probability was indulged in by them, their abandonment of the worship of the true God might be re- garded as essentially analogous to that of the covenant people. It was a viola- tion of those sacred engagements which, as his professing worshippers, they had come under. Or, if we view Sodom and her daughter-towns as representatives of the Moabitcs and Ammonites on the east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, among whom a similar defection must have taken place, it will amount to the same thing. Connected as these peoples were by collateral descent with the father of the faithful, there can be little doubt that in the patriarchal age they were wor- shippers of the true God, though they afterwards apostatized to the worship of Baal-pcor, Chemosh, and Moloch. In the same sense we are to regard the Canaanites to whom the origin of Jeru- salem is traced. On the principle, now generally admitted, that monotheism was prior to polytheism, they must originally have been worshippers of the true God. Melchizcdck, king of Salem, was priest of the Most High God (Gen. xiv. 18). Jehovah, as entitled to their supreme love, had inalienable claims upon them, which they disowned when they fell away to idolatry. By abandoning his service, they obviously proved that they had re- jected him. 3^'3 signifies to abhor, cast off, reject with loathing. It argues the highest pitch of reckless depravity to abhor the character of the Infinitely pure. Compare Geoffrvyels, Eom. i. 30. The circumstance that the names of the fother and mother of Jerusalem occur here in the inverse order of that in which they are presented in ver. 3, is not to be pressed. 46. Samai'ia is called the greater Chap. XVI. 46-51.] EZEKIEL. 87 46 47 48 49 50 51 mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. And thy elder sister is Samaria, who dwellcth at thy left hand, she and her daughters ; and thy younger sister, who dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. Yet thou didst not walk in their ways, nor act according to their abominations ; it was only a small matter ; but thou hast acted more corruptly than they in all thy ways. As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom : pride, fulness of bread, and quiet security she and her daughters had, but she strengthened not the hand of the poor and needy ; But were haughty and committed abomination be- fore me ; therefore I removed them according as I saw. Neither had Samaria committed the half of thy sins, but thou hast mul- tiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy ilVilrin or elder sister of Jerusalem, not ■with respect to age, for Jerusalem ex- isted long prior to her ; but in regard to the worship of the two golden calves established by Jeroboam in that city. As, in determining the points of the heavens, or, as we should say, the com- pass, the Orientals regarded the East as the principal, they always spoke of it as being D"^"]!^ or ^"JP. , in front or before, consequently i>''N^b, the left, would designate the North, just as T^'?^ » the right, would designate the South, the direction in which Sodom had lain. This last-named city is said to have been •^^i^)3il , the smaller or younger sister of Jerusalem, principally in the same moral point of view : her guilt, great as it was, not being to be compared, in point of aggravation, with that contracted by Jerusalem. The kingdom, too, of which it Avas the capital, was small compared with that of Judah. The " daughters " of cities, is a term used idiomatically in Hebrew, to denote either their inhabit- ants, or smaller cities and villages con- nected with, or dependent upon them. ThusNum.xxi.25 ti-^p-'oa-bDa^ "P'^Jnn in Hcslihon and in all her daughters, ren- dered by our translators " in all her vil- lages." 47. Enormous as were the sins of those cities, they were not in point of guilt to be compared with those of Jerusalem, which were proportionally enhanced by the distinguished spiritual advantages that her inhabitants had enjoyed. In Jerusalem were the temple, the legal sac- rifices, the priests, and the law. Before it was polluted by idolatry Jehovah was worshipped there in the beauties of holi- ness. 12)^ ^?'?? > I adopt the significa- tion of only, as attaching to ^I^ , which was proposed by Schultens, after the Arab. Jai? , duntaxat. 48-50. The two representative cities are now taken up singly. First Sodom, depicted in such dark chai-actcrs in the O. T. history. Worldly prosperity often proves dangerous to the interests of vir- tue. It easily inflates its possessors with pride ; and, leading them to abandon active habits of life, superinduces indul- gence in those of idleness, than which universal experience proves that nothing can furnish greater occasions to the com- mission of sin. I3|ri^^fl ^1311' , careless idleness. The latter word is the Infini- tive in Hiphil used substantively. Eoot laj?!;? , to rest, recline, he inactive, idle. 51- '^?'l'?: ' more than they, i.e. the in- habitants of Samaria understood, as im- 88 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XVI. 51-57. 52 sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done. Do thou also bear thy reproach, which hast judged thy sisters in thy sins that thou hast committed more abominably than they : they are more righteous than thou : be asliamed then, also thou, and bear 53 thy re{)roach, in that thou hast justified thy sisters. And I will reverse their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the cap- 54 tivity of thy captivities in the midst of them : In order that thou mayest bear thy reproach, and be ashamed of all that thou hast 65 done, when thou comfortest them. And thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate ; and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate ; and thou 56 and thy daughters shall return to your former estate. And thy sister Sodom was not a report in thy mouth in the day of thy plied in the name of the city. Two MSS. read W53?D , titan she, the citij. In- stead of "ininx , ihj sisters, sixty-four MSS., among these many Spanish, ori- ginally three more, and six by correction, read "ninN , thi/ sister, which would ap- pear better to harmonize with the con- text. The Keri in many MSS., as well as not a few printed editions, reads the word in the plural, wliich has also the support of the ancient versions. " To justify the crimes of others " is a Hebrew mode of speech, denoting, to make them appear comparatively innocent by the side of others, accompanied with much more aggravating- circumstances. 53-55. Here a most unexpected change in the scene takes place. Instead of ex- patiating further on the calamities to be inflicted upon the guilty, all at once a gracious promise of restoration is intro- duced. fll30 i^TU , to reverse a captivity, signifies to restore captives and other sufferers to liberty and prosperity ; sec Job. xlii. 10. If the interpretation givea of the three cities, Jerusalem, Samaria, and Sodom, be correct, namely that they are to be viewed as symbolical of the surrounding people whose centre they formed, or with whom they stood con- nected, no difficulty will arise relative to the restoration of Sodom. If we regard her as the representative of the Ammon- ites and Moabites, the descendants of Lot, we shall here have only a parallel prediction to Jcr. xlviii. 47 ; xlix. 6. However obscure the lights of history relative either to the captivity or the restoration of the nations beyond the Dead Sea, there can be little doubt that they participated more or less in the fate of the Jews, to whose country they lay contiguous. It was a source of conso- lation to the other apostates that, their guilt not being so aggravated as that of Jerusalem, the piniishment inflicted upon them would not be so severe (verse 54). That most of the ten ti'ibes, of which Samaria had been the capital, were re- stored under Cyrus, is now generally admitted. The restoration of all the three classes of people is here predicted to take place at the same time. 56. So haughtily did the Jews carry themselves during the period of their national prosperity, that they did not deign even to mention the name of Sodom as a warning example. ns'iaTH , a report, anything heard, and supposed, from its importance, to be repeated by those who hear it. 57. By " the reproach " of the cities of Syria, was not meant anything derog- atory to the character of those cities Chap. XVI. .-JT-Gl.] EZEKIEL, 89 57 pride. Before thy wickedness was revealed, as at the time of the reproach of the daughteis of Aram and all that were round ahout her, the daughters of the Philistines that despised thee round ahout. 58 Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith 59 Jehovah. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah : I also will act towards thee as thou hast acted, because thou hast despised the 60 oath, breaking the covenant. Yet I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish for thee 61 an everlasting covenant. And thou slialt remember thy ways and be ashamed, when thou receivest thine elder sisters in addi- tion to those who were younger than thou ; and I will give them 62 to thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant. And I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou shalt know that I am nationally considered, but the indignity offered by the Syrians to the Jews, when, under Rezin, they invaded the land of Judah (2 Kings xv. 37 ; Isa. vii. 1-9). That this is the construction to be put upon the words is evident from the par- allelism, in the corresponding member of which the manner in which the Jews had been treated by the Philistines is mentioned. Compare for the insults offered by both Isa. ix. 11, 12. 58, 59. m'3s;n"; na: xbD, to hear lewdness and abominations, means to suflcr the punishment due to them. All the sufferings inflicted by the neighboring nations were rctributively imposed upon them on account of their violation of the saered engagements of the national cov- enant. Jehovah employed the nations as his instruments in punishing them. 60, 61. Though the Jews had acted most perfidiously towards their covenant God, and he might jvxstly have cast them off for ever, yet in remembrance of his ancient covenant with them, ratified at Sinai, when he solemnly pledged him- self to be their God, he promises still to have compassion upon them. They were again to be i-estorcd to their own land, but it was not so much that they might enjoy the temporal advantages of the old covenant, as that he might confer upon them the spiritual blessings of the new, to be ratified, while they were in that re- stored condition, by the death of Mes- siah. That this is the covenant else- where called " the everlasting covenant," see 2 Sam. xxiii. 5 ; Isa. Iv. 3 ; Ezek. xxxvii. 26, and which, as here, is con- trasted with the Sinauie (Jer. xxxi. 31-34). Those who were to share with Jerusalem the spiritual benefits of the new covenant were to be brought into relation to her — not in virtue of any princi]jles involved in that established at Sinai, but solely in virtue of those be- longing to the Messianic. T|\^'^13 » thy covenant, is the Genitive of object, the covenant made with thee, for thy bene- fit — the national covenant. The New Jerusalem was henceforth to be the mother of all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles (Gal. iv. 26) ; and the calling of the last-named division of the human family is virtually here included. I must demur to the statements of Calvin, adopted by Havernick and Fairbairn, who represent the old covenant to be the fountain-head of tlie new, and that they were well-nigh the same in sub- stance, though different in form. So far indeed as the tyj^ical aspects of the for- mer dispensation are concerned, they unquestionably had respect to the bless- 90 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XTII. 1, 2. 63 Jehovah. That thou mayest remember, and be ashamed, and there shall be no more to thee an opening of the mouth on ac- count of thy shame, when I am reconciled to thee in reference to all that thou hast done, saith the Lord Jehovah. ings of the gospel. But these aspects did not essentially belong to that cove- nant. They were merely a corollary or appendage, introduced into it for the purpose of illustrating the promise given in the Abrahamic covenant, which still remained, and ran parallel with the law, unaffected by its introduction four hun- di-ed and thirty years afterwards (Gal. iii. 17). The new dispensation, there- fore, had a more ancient origin than that of Moses, and was established on better promises. Along with the old cove- nant, the language of which was : " Do this, and thou shalt live," there existed another, the language of which, illus- trated by the legal sacrifices pointing forward to the all-perfect atonement of our Saviour, was : " Believe, and thou shalt be saved." It was this arrange- ment of mercy, distinct from, though incorporated with, the ancient economy, which secured the eternal happiness of be- lievers previous to the advent of Messiah. G3. Nothing can be conceived of more calculated to produce feelings of deep penitential shame and sorrow, than the supcrabounding mercy of the Most High manifested towards his rebellious and guilty creatures. Contrasting the base- ness of their conduct with His infinite compassion and love, their former self- boasting is cut off, and, lying low in the dust before Him, they can open their lips only in celebration of the riches of His grace. CHAPTER XVII. This chapter contains a parable of two eagles and a vine, 1-10; the explanation of the parable witli application to the Ijiiigs of Babylon and Egypt, and the fate of the Icing- dora of Judali in reference to them, 11-21; and concludes with a parabolic representa- tion of the Messiah, and of the origin, universality, and prosperity of liis kingdom, in language borrowed from the preceding, 22-24. " From the beauty of its images, the elegance of its composition, tlie perspicuity of its language, the rich variety of its matter, and the easy transition from one part of the subject to anotlier, this chapter forms one of the most beautiful and perfect pieces of its kind that can possibly be conceived in so small a compass." — Smith en the Prophets. The place in point of time assignable to this prophecy lies between the sixth month of the sixtli year of the reign of Zedekiah, and the fifth month of the seventh year after the carrying away of Jehoiachin to Babylon; consequently five years before the destruc- tion of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. 1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : Son of man, 2 projDose a riddle, and use a simile to the house of Israel ; 2. •T^"'!! ^^n, propose an cnitjma. Agreeably to this etymology, enigmas Comp. Judges xiv. 12, 13, 14; 1 Kings are sharp, pointed, and penetrating; they X. 1; Psalmxlix. 5; Ixxviii. 2 ; and the are powerfully calculated to excite atten- , , >*• . ^ . tion, whet the intellect of the hearer or Arab. Jl^ , acmt.acutus fuit ; 2a Com. ^„„,i„„ „„,i „ ^ i, ,> • ^"^^ : > y ' J reader, and more fixedly secure the m- cXjlXsXJ) acutum reddidit, exacuit. vestigation of the subject. They arc Chap. XVII. 2-4.] EZEKIEL. 91 And say : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : The great eagle, great of wings, long of pinion, full of feathers of various colors, came to Lebanon and took the foliage of the cedar. He broke off the topmost branch, and brought it to the land of merchants ; he artificial and obscure, and express things in a sense different from tliat whicli the words, talx^en in tlieir literal acceptation, would imply. Among other figures of speech by which they arc distinguished, prosopopccia predominates. They are likewise marked by ingeniousness of thought and aptitude of expression. The truths or facts to which they relate, lie not upon, but under the surface. Scrip- ture-enigmas differ from fable, inasmuch as they teach not fictions, but real facts. They are not, like ordinary riddles, designed to puzzle and perplex, but to instruct. In the instance before us, as likewise in Prov. i. 6 ; Ps. xlix. 5 ; Ixxviii. 2, n~"'n and ^'C^ are classed together as synonymous. The only shade of differ- ence in meaning between them is, that while the former has respect to the obscurity, the latter regards the figu- rative traits by which the composition is characterized, and theimpression which its diversified imagery is calculated to produce on the mind. 3, 4. The eagle was an apposite sym- bol of royalty — that bird being the king of all the feathered tribes, distinguished for its majestic size, its great perspi- cacity, its indomitable courage, the rapidity of its motion, and its resistless powers of attack. It had been employed by Jeremiah with reference to the king of Babylon, chaps, xlviii. 40 ; xlix. 22 ; and Daniel gives the wings of the eagle to the body of the lion when symboli- cally portraying the same power, chap. vii. 4. Compare Comment, on Ezek. i. From the predominance of the head and wings of the eagle as symbolical of kingly power in the Assyrian monu- ments lately discovered at Nineveh, it is evident the Jewish captives must have been familiar with the symbol ; and con- sidering the history of the times, they could have been at little loss to perceive to whom the symbol was designed specifi- cally to apply. The "Avings," described as " great and long," characterized the extent of monarchical power, including the army; and the "divers colors," the vai-ious nations, tribes, and languages over which that power was extended. The spread of the eagle's wings is sometimes not less than seven feet six inches. " Lebanon," being one of the most remarkable mountains of Palestine, is used symbolically to denote the whole country, and especially Jerusalem as the capital. The " cedar " for which that mountain has long been distinguished, was symbolical of kingly majesty, gran- deur, and power, (see on chap. xxxi. 3, and Dan. iv. 10-12). The "highest branch " betokens the royal or reigning family, and J^^Jsri , " the top of the young twigs," the youngest and most tender member of that family. f^~^"-l 5 is a word peculiar to Ezekiel, who, besides the present passage, employs it in ver. 22 ; and chap. xxxi. 3, 10, 14. It is derived from ^i^ , to cut off, as wool in sheep- shearing; hence it came to signify the fleece, and transferred to trees, the curly, fleecy, or woolly part of the branches. Jchoiachin, to whom reference is here symbolically made, Avas only eighteen years of age, when he assumed the reins of government (2 Kings xxiv. 8). Not only was the country of Babylon famous for its transport-traffic by means of the Euplirates, but the city itself was cele- brated for its manuiacturing and mer- cantile establishments. Prom the con- nection of Babylon with the Persian Gulf, the commerce carried on between that city and India must have been immense. The term k"? > is here to be understood according to the explanation 92 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XVII. 5-10. placed it in a trafficking city. And he took of the seed of the land, and set it in a field of seed ; he took it beside great waters, he set it as a willow. And it sprouted and became a spreading vine, of low stature ; its branches turned towards him, and its roots were under him ; and it became a vine, and produced branches, and shot forth beautiful twigs. And there was another great eagle with great wings and much plumage ; and behold, this vine bent her roots towards him, and shot forth her branches towards him from the terraces of her plantation, that he might water her. She was jDlanted in a good soil by great waters, that she might produce branches and bear fruit, to become a goodly vine. Say : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Shall she prosper ? Shall he not pluck up her roots, and cut off her fruit, that she may wither, that all her fresh foliage may wither ? yet not with great power, nor with much which follows of the country and metro- polis of the Babylonians. 5. ^'"^^f^ ^'^" ' '^'^ seed of the land, means what wc should call "a son of the soil," as distinguished from a foreigner. On the removal of Jchoiachin, the king of Babylon did not choose a Chaldean or other foreign general to succeed him as stadtholder, but his uncle Zedckiah of the royal Davidie family. HJ^ with Kamets to distinguish it from rif? , the Imperative, and abbreviated for nj^? , he took. nB:iS:i occurs only here, and is desginated by Winer : perobscurum. Judging from the form «^^H?n , derived from ?^n , it is most natural to refer the word to vj^i£ > to flow, overflow, and to regard it as designating some plant or tree noted for its fondness for water. The Rabbinical interpretation willow, derives confirmation from the Arabic oL«Ai.»fl 5 salix (seeKitto, Art. Tz apii- TZAPiiA. In poetic style ^ , like, is fre- quently omitted. The comparison of Zedekiah to a willow is anything but honorable to him. Though there were no D'^an d"i53 in Palestine to be compared with those of the Euphrates, yet the language may also be applied to that country in consideration of the abun- dance of water with which it was supplied. Compare Deut. viii. 7, and vSaTa ttoWo., John iii. 23. There is no departure from the propriety of the figure in repre- senting the vine as growing in low watery places. It is not uncommon in France and Italy to plant vines in sucli a situa- tion, in which they trail or creep along the surface of the ground, and of course quite contrast with those which grow up along walls or are supported by trees. The vine was also cultivated in Egypt in the low lands covered with the mud of the Nile. The subjection of Zedckiah to Nebuchadnezzar is significantly ex- pressed by his being turned towards him ; while he continued faithful as his vassal, though he never rose to any elevation, yet the affairs of the kingdom went on peaceably, and the subjects increased rather than diminished. 7. The other symbolical eagle, to whose description the parable now pro- ceeds, was Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He was also a monarch of great power, and ruled over many diflTcrent nations. Tired of subjection to the king of Babylon, Zedekiah applied to Pharaoh in the hope that he would send an army to establish the independence of his throne. 8-10. If Zedekiah had maintained his fidelity to Nebuchadnezzar, there was Chap. XVII. 10-15.] EZEKIEL. m 10 11 12 13 14 peo})le to carry her away from her roots. And, behold, being planted, shall she prosper ? Shall she not, when the east wind toucheth her, utterly wither ? in the terraces of her jilautation she shall wither. And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying: Say now to the rebellious house : Know ye not what these things mean ? Say : Behold, the king of Babylon came against Jeru- salem, and captured her king and her princes, and conveyed them to liimself to Babylon. And he took of the seed royal, and made a covenant with him, and caused him to enter into an oath ; and he took away the mighty men of the land, that the kingdom might become depressed, and not raise itself up, but nothing to threaten a reverse in the affairs of his government, but, on the contrary, the prosiiect of increasing- pros- perity. By his perfidy, however, the hopes of the nation were entirely blasted, and its destruction efibcted. Michaelis, supposing that the l^ing of Babylon must have brought a large army against Jeru- salem when he captured it in the tiine of Zedekiiih, suspects the nciiative 5<5 in the sentence ^7 Dyni nbilj i'i-iTa-xb) (vcr. 9), but finding his conjecture not substantiated by any MS. authority, he translates agreeably to the printed Hebrew text. Havernick appears to have stum- bled at the same dithculty, and endeavors to get over it by referring the agent to Pharaoh, and not to Nebuchadnezzar. To this construction, however, which is forced and unnatural, we are not necessi- tated, since there is nothing in the shape of historical evidence to show that any great military demonstration was made at the final taking of Jerusalem by the eastern conqueror. In all probability, a division of the ('haldean army which had raised the siege of Jerusalem, re- mained on the frontiers of Egypt to watch the movements of the Egyptian troops, while those who returned found it no difficult task to gain the victory over the disai)pointed and helpless in- habitants of the Jewish metropolis. Sv e Jer. xxxvii. niX»^'^3 , the Infinitive in Kal, with the performative ^ after the Chaldee manner, and m , agreeably to the ending of verbs fl?. The fj''"' D^"7)^ > test iciiul, proving noxious to veg- etation in Palestine, is here fitly employed as a symbol of the Chaldean army, which came from that quarter. It was only necessary to bring that army into contact with the Jewish state, in order to effect its ruin. The interrogatory repetition in ver. 10 of the declaration made in vcr. 9 is singularly forcible. 1 1 . The prophet is instructed to furnish an explanation of the preceding parable, that the refractory Jews might be without excuseif they persevered in their courseof disobedience against the clearly revealed will of Jehovah. 12-14. The Jews are here reminded of the plain matter of fact, that Nebuchad- nezzar, represented by the former of the two eagles, had taken away Jehoiachin and his princes captives to Babylon, and having made Zedekiah SM'car fealty to him, placed him as his vassal on the •Jewish throne, in the room of his nephew. He had thereby evinced how completely the Jews who remained in the land were in his power, but at the same time also his disposition to preserve their existence as a state, however humbled, if only they remained faithful to the contract (2 Chron. xxxvi. 10-13). 1.5 Though, as Scholz remarks, we have no account of this mission to the king of Egypt anywhere else in the Jew- ish records, we may rest satisfied with the testimony of Ezekiel, who was a con- 94 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XVII. 15-24. 15 that it might keep his covenant and stand. But he rebelled against him, and sent his ambassadors to Egypt, that they might grant him horses and much people. Shall he prosper ? shall he be delivered who doeth these things ? yea, shall the breaker of 16 a covenant be delivered? As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, surely in the place of the king who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, he shall die with him 17 in the midst of Babylon. Neither shall Pharaoh with his great army and great company act with him in the war, when the mounts are thrown up, and the towers built, to cut off many 18 persons : Because he desjiised the oath by breaking the cove- nant, though, behold, he had given his hand and done all these 19 things, he shall not escape. Therefore thus saith the Loi'd Jehovah : As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised and my covenant that he hath broken, even it I will recompense 20 upon his own head. And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken iu my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for liis trespass which he hath tres- 21 passed against me : And all his fugitives in all his wings shall fall by the sword, and those who remain shall be scattered to every quarter ; and ye shall know that I Jehovah have spoken it. temporary. Here again the use of the as it still is in the East, and among our- intciTogative gives force to the style of selves, a pledge of agreement or fidelity the prophet. Egypt was celebrated in (2 Kings x. I."); Ezra x. 19 ; Jer. 1. 1.5). ancient times for its breed of horses. Zedcliiah is charged with having proved According to Diod. Sic. (i. 45), the whole faithless to the oath and covenant of region from Thebes to Memjihis was Jehovah ; because in pledging his fealty filled with royal stalls, and such was the to the king of Babylon he did it by a abundance of horses, that no fewer than solcnm appeal to the God of the Jews twenty thousand chariots, each having (2 Chron. xxxvi. 13). The threatening two, could be furnished in time of war. denounced against him was fulfdled five It was, therefore, natural for Zcdckiah years afterwards by his being carried away to turn to that quarter for aid, and, captive to Babylon, where he died in considering the hostile attitude of the prison. Jer. lii. 8-11. Instead of "■n" 3^ two great empires, he might reasonably or 1''r:"2T2 , his fugitives, the Syr. and expect that his application would not be Chald. appear to have read 1'''^ri2'2 , /ds made in vain. clioire ones, i.e. his nobles or generals. 17. The Pharaoh here referred to was The accomplishment of this thrcaten- Pharaoh-IIophra, known to the Greeks ing would furnish an indubitable proof by the name of Apries or Vaphres, and of the divine authority of the j)rophet. supposed to be Psamatik III. of the 22-24. In striking contrast with the Egyptian monuments. He was the sue- Lord's dealing with Zedekiah in the way cessorof Pharaoh-Necho. See Comment, of judgment, which was calculated to on Jer. xliv. 30. sink the hopes of the church to the very 18-21. 1^ "iHS , to give the hand, was, lowest ebb, is here unexpectedly intro- CnAP. XVII. 22-24.] EZEKIEL. 95 22 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : I will also take of the highest branch of the lofty cedar, and will set it ; from the top of its young twigs I will cut off a tender one, and will plant it upon a moun- tain hidi and eminent ; In a lofty mountain of Israel will I plant it, and it shall produce boughs, and bear fruit, and become a magnificent cedar, and under it shall dwell every bird of every wing ; in the shadow of its branches shall they dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I Jehovah have laid low the high tree, have raised on high the low tree ; have dried up the green tree, and have made the di-y tree to flourish. I Jehovah have spoken, and will do it. 23 24 duced a parabolic prophecy relating to the ^Icssiah, and to the universality and prosperity of his kingdom. That this prophecy is strictly Messianic, Ilitzig, Ewald, and other irec-thinking expositors have been compelled to acknowledge. Indeed the language of the parable is so plain, that there was no necessity, as there was in regard to the preceding, to add any explanation. It is passing strange that Grotius should have adopted the idea advanced by some of the Rab- bins, that Zerubbabel is the person in- tended. He never reigned as king, but was merely the Persian stadtholder. Nor could the prophecy by any possibility apply to the Asmonean princes, for they were of the tribe of Levi, and not of the family of David, which is here recognized. The Rabbins, Jarehi, Abendana, and Abarbanel, expressly declare in favor of the Messianic interpretation. 22. By rt'S'nn nxn , the Iqftii cedar, is meant the Davidic family, which, how- ever treated with indignity, and tram- pled in the dust by Nebuchadnezzai;, occupied a high place in the divine counsels, and was destined to rise to greater dignity than any mere earthly power. As the highest branch was the furthest from the roots, the reference is to the remote descendants of the royal family, and the tvnder one beautifully sym- bolizes the Messiah as the ^1:^ , shoot, and the "1^3 , sproirf, predicted Isa. xi. 1. The " high and eminent mountain " was Zion, Ps. ii. 6. It is here described as the mountain of the height of Israel, as at chap. XX. 40, in reference to Jerusa- lem, which at the time of the Messiah's advent was to be what it had been, the centre of all the tribes, who, restored to their land, would go up again to the festivals, as they had done before the revolt. It derived its chief glory, how- ever, from its being destined to become the spot where the spiritual kingdom was to be established, and whence it was to extend its blessings throughout the whole world. The imagery in this parable is borrowed fi'om what the prophet had employed in reference to the cedar of Lebanon (ver.3). How despicable soever the kingdom of Christ may appear to a worldly mind, and however small it Avas at its commencement, it is truly prolific ; and, while all the glory of earthly king- doms fades and perishes, it affords refuge and nourishment to men of every color and eveiy clime. Universal history proves that it is Jehovah who ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he Avill, debasing the proud and exalting the humble, agreeably to the predictions uttered by his servants the prophets. Y'3 , tree, is used here, as in chap. xxi. 15, figuratively of a prince or ruler. 96 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XVIII. 1, 2. CHAPTER XVIII. This chapter contains a vindication of tlic rectitude of the divine government against an impious imputation to the contrary alleged by the unbelieving Jews. Jehovah begins ^ by quoting a proverbial maxim current among them, to the effect, that they were suffer- ing not on account of their own sins, but of those of their fathers, 1-4; the impartiality of the divine conduct is then illustrated by supposing a variety of instances : the first, that of a righteous father, 5-9; the second, that of a wicked son of a righteous father, 10-13; the third, that of a righteous son of a wicked father, 14-18; the fourth, that of a wicked son wlio repents, 19-23; and the fifth, that of a righteous man who deflects from a course of rectitude, 24. The chapter concludes witli a summing up of the argu- ment, 25-29, and an application of the whole to the case of the Jews individually — earnestly urging upon them the necessity of personal repentance as the only means of securing immunity from punishment, 30-32. The whole is a noble piece of just reasoning on a subject of immense importance in relation to God's moral government. 1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : Wherefore do 2 you use this proverb respecting the land of Israel, saying : The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are 1. Th's chapter connects intimately with the preceding. The happy state of things under the reign of Messiah had jnst been touched upon, and here it is convincingly shown that in punishing the Jewish nation Jehovah was acting on the strictest principles of rectitude, and that without individual repentance no hope could be entertained of partici- pating in the blessings of the new dis- pensation. 2. From this verse, and from chap. xii. 22, 23, it appears that in the days of the prophet the Jews were accus- tomed to wrap up their infidel objections in sententious sayings, which they ban- died about from one to another. The import of the proverb before us is, that the teeth of the fathers who ate the sour grapes should have been set on edge, and not those of their children who had not partaken of them ; in other words, that while the guilty had been suffered to escape, the punishment had fallen upon the innocent. There is, in fact, couched in the language, the same spirit of self- righteousness for which, notwithstanding their national and personal guilt, the Jews were ever distinguished, with the additional aggravation of impiously charging God with injustice in punish- ing them. There might have been some appear- ance of validity in the objection of those who made it, had they never been charge- able with idolatry and other sins there- with connected, or if they had repented of and forsaken their wicked courses ; but it was urged with the worst possible grace by those who were to the full as wicked as their ancestors, or even worse, as they are represented Jer. xvi. 11, 12. If they had listened to the warning voice of the. prophets, and abandoned the ser- vice of idols, they would have averted the calamities which they had brought upon the nation ; or if they had at all been sensible of the enormous evil of sin, as committed against a holy God, instead of criminating, they would have justified him in the judgments which he had inflicted upon them. Those who truly feared Jehovah, so far from bringing any charge of injustice against him, would have been forward to acknowledge tliat he had punished them less than their iniquities deserved (Ezra ix. 13). If the captivity did not take place in the days of their fathers, it was to be ascribed to the divine long-suffering, by Chap. XVIH. 2-9.] EZEKIEL. 9T 3 set on edge ? As ._ live, saith the Lord Jehovah, ye shall no 4 longer use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine ; as the soul of the father, so the soul of the son is mine : the soul 5 that sinneth, it shall die. When now a man shall be just, and 6 practise judgment and justice, Hath not eaten upon the moun- tains, nor lifted up liis eyes towards the idols of the house of Israel, nor defiled his neighbor's wife, nor approached a men- 7 struous woman. And hath not oppressed any, hath restored his pledge, hath not taken the spoil, hath given his bread to the 8 hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment ; Hath not lent on usury, nor taken interest, hath withholden his hand from wickedness, and hath executed the judgment of truth which time was afforded them for repent- ance. That it happened when it did, was a demonstration to the living gen- eration, that their sins conld not go un- punished, but that verily there was a God that judgeth in the earth. \Vc read frequently in the Old Testa- ment of God's visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, but it is always with jhe pi'oviso, expressed or understood, that the descendants perse- vered in the sins of their ancestors (Exod. XX. 5 ; Matt, xxiii. 30-32). 3. When Jerusalem was about to be destroyed, measures were adopted under the divine administration to secure the escape of the righteous, chap. ix. 1-4 ; and when the captivity in Babylon had worked out its intended result in recov- ering the Jews from their idolatrous practices, they were restored to circum- stances of prosperity in their native land. In the whole of Jehovah's conduct to them, he made it evident, that he did not act with partiality or capriciously, but that he dealt with every one accord- ing to his works. He here employs the most solemn oath to confirm this fact, and to silence the daring of the infidel. 4. In this verse God asserts his uni- versal propriety in his rational creation. riu3SSh"P3 , all the souls, i.e. persons — the noblest part of the constituent ele- ments of the human subject being put for the whole. He had created them all, 9 and having endowed them with those powers and faculties which are necessary to constitute them subjects of moral gov- ernment, he had a sovereign and indis- putable right to deal with them in equity according to their deserts. In punishing the guilty, he acts without respect of persons. The individual culprit is dealt with on the ground of his own personal deserts, n"'^ , to die, is here, as else- where, used in the enlarged sense of being subject to penal infliction ; to suffer the punishment due to transgres- sion ; to become the subject of misery as the effect of retributive justice. With- out any attempt at proof, Michaelis asserts that Ezekiel adopted this aece]> tation of the term from the language of the Chaldeans among whom he lived. 5. In illustration of the proposition so emphatically laid down, the prophet proceeds with an induction of particulai- cases, arising out of the different charac- ters, and relations of men. The first is that of an individual of irreproachable moral character. 6-9. Most of the vices here specified were expressly condemned in the law of Moses, and, having in all probability been rampant among the Jews in the days of Ezekiel, their enumeration furnished scope for the consciences of his contempo- raries to operate in the way of conviction. " Eating upon the mountains," connected as the language here is with the worship 98 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XVIII. 6-18. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 between man and man ; Hath walked in my statutes, and kept my judgments to practise truth ; he is righteous, he shall surely live, saith the Lord Jehovah. But if he beget a son who is a robber, a shedder of blood, and doeth the like of one of these things, But doeth none of those ; but hath eaten upon the mountains, and hath defiled his neighbor's wife : Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath taken away the spoil, hath not restored the pledge, and hath 'lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath wrought abomination ; Hath given upon usury, and taken interest : should he then live ? he shall not live : he hath done all these abominations ; he shall surely die ; his blood shall be upon him. And, behold, he begetteth a son, who seeth all the sins which his father hath committed, and feareth, and doeth not like them. Hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel ; nor defiled his neighbor's wife ; Hath oppressed none, hath not taken a pledge, nor taken the prey, hath given his bread to the hungry, and of idols, doubtless refers to idolatrous feasts celebrated in the "high places" where such worship was performed. That ?X is used for ?^" there can be little doubt. These prepositions are not infrequently interchanged in our prophet. For the sins of impurity here specified, see Lev. xx. 10, 18. So far was the individual referred to from being guilty of any acts of oppression, that he was distinguished for acts of benevolence. inbbn nin, lit. the debt of Ms pkdrje; the meaning is, what is pledged with him for the payment of a debt. The Jewish law had many wise and benevo- lent enactments on the subject of pledges, Exod. xxii. 26, 27 ; Deut. xxiv. 6, 10, 11. ?J'4?3i the term used for usury is very expressive. It literally signifies hitinfj, and must have originated in the practice of taking exorbitant interest. The law of Moses absolutely prohibited the Jews from taking any interest from their brethren, but permitted them to do so from a foreigner, Exod. xxii. 25 ; Dent, xxiii. 19, 20. fl'^S'in, increase, from nn'n , to multiply, increase wealth, is another term expressive of interest or usury, denoting riches obtained by lend- ing money at high interest, or by making exorbitant charges on the natural pro- ductions of the soil. The man who was blameless with respect to all the points here specified was accounted pi'n}J ,r>;jht- eous in the eye of the law, and was en- titled to enjoy the life which the law secured. 10-13. The second case instanced by the prophet is that of an impious son, who, instead of following the good example of his pious parent, adopts a course directly the reverse, and unscru- pulously indulges in crimes condemned by the law. Upon him an unmitigated sentence is pronounced. In the language of the Orientals the blood which a mur- derer has shed is said to be upon him, till it be avenged by his punishment. 14-18. The third case is likev/ise that of a son, not, like the former, of a right- eous man, but of the unrighteous person whose character had just been depicted. This son is supposed to be shocked at the sight of his father's depravity, and to be influenced by a due regard to the consequences, to avoid the sins which his parent had committed. It is expressly declared that he should not be punished Chap. XVIII. 14-24.1 EZEKIEL. 99 17 clothed the naked with a garment; Hath turned back his hand from the afflicted ; hath not taken usury, nor increase, hath executed my judgments, and walked in my statutes, he shall not die for the iniquity of his father ; he shall surely live. 18 His father, because he hath grievously oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and hath not done that which is good in the 19 midst of his people, behold, now he shall die in his iniquity. Yet ye say ; Why ? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father ? When the son hath done that which is just and right, hath kept 20 all my statutes, and done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die ; the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son : the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the 21 wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. And the wicked, when he shall turn from all his sins which he hath committed, and shall keep all my statutes, and do that which is just and 22 right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgres- sions which he hath committed, shall not be remembered against him ; in his righteousness which he hath done, he shall live. 23 Have I any jileasure at all that the wicked should die ? saith the Lord Jehovah, and not that he should turn from his ways and 24 live ? And when a righteous man turneth from his righteous- ness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations which the wicked man doeth, should he then live? All his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remem- bered ; in his trespass which he hath committed, and his sin in for the crimes of his father, but that the 19-24. Finding the unbelievers still fatheronly, being the guilty party, should disposed to indulge in their impudent suffer. Instead of t<'>"'1 taken by the criminations, notwithstanding the con- : Masoretes as a repetition of i<"i*^ immedi- vincing declarations to the contrary just ately preceding, and by them directed to alleged, Jehovah condescends to adduce be read '^X'T|''l , the full form of the two other instances which equally go to future of the same verb, the LXX. have prove the equity of his government, read ^<"•'^5,/faJ (po^riQfi, and was a/raid, The former is that of a repentant sinner, which is followed by the Vulg. and Arab, who is dealt with, not on the score of Considering that the difference does not his past transgressions, but on the ground amount to more than the change of a of his new obedience : the Most High vowel-point, and that it better suits the thereby testifying that he hath pleasure in connection, I have without hesitation rewarding right-doing rather than in adopted the latter reading. '^'^ ^"^'^H punishing sin. The latter instance is •'J^^ is to be imderstood in a good that of a righteous man who abandons sense — to turn back the hand, i.e. from the righteous course which he had been oppressing the poor. Comp. chap. xx. pui'suing, and indulges in sin. In his 22, to withdraw the hand from punishing, case, none of the righteous acts that he 100 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XVIII. 24-31. 25 which he hath sinned, he shall die in them. Nevertheless ye say : The -way of the Lord is not equal. Hearken now, O house of Israel : is not my way equal ? are not your ways unequal ? 26 When a righteous man turneth from his riijhteousness and com- mitteth iniquity, and dieth in them, for his iniquity that he hath 27 done, shall he die. And when a wicked man turneth from his wickedness which he hath done, and doeth that which is just and 28 right, he shall preserve his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth from all his sins which he hath committed, he shall 29 surely live ; he shall not die. Yet the houses of Israel saith : The way of the Lord is not equal. Are not my ways equal, house 30 of Israel ? are not your ways unequal ? Wherefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his own ways, saith the Lord Jehovah : turn ye, and return from all your transgressions, had performed should be taken into the account, but he should be punished for the sinful course which he had preferred to that of virtue (Heb. x. 38, 39; 2 Pet. ii. 20-22). Thus Jehovah equally evinced his abhorrence of sin, and his love of righteousness. 25. Jehovah here justly retorts the censure employed by the Jews, and appeals to their discriminative faculty for a judgment as to the impartiality of his proceedings, and of self-condemnation on themselves. 26-28. The two preceding instances reversed are again brought forward in justification of the divine conduct. 29. A repetition of the retort employed ver. 25, which pointedly throws back the objection upon the Jews themselves. 30. This verse contains a personal application of the argument, asserting Jehovah's determination to deal with the Jews individually according to their deserts, and calling upon them, in the prospect of his judgment, to sincere repentance and thorough reformation. If these did not ensue, they had nothing in prospect but utter destruction. ^310 13'^'^tll , turn ye and return. 31. Many persons who have perplexed themselves with metaphysical specula- tions relating to human inability, have sadly stumbled at the call here given to the Jews to make to themselves a new heart and a new spirit. Strictly speak- ing, however, it is nothing more than a declaration of the duty of sinners to be otherwise minded towards God and holi- ness than they are. It does not require them to create within themselves any new faculties — that were a physical im- possibility ; but to exercise in the right direction the faculties with which, as moral and responsible agents, their Maker has endowed them. These feculties are as capable of being exercised in reference to good as they are in reference to evil ; nay, they may be said to be more so, inasmuch as their original destination proceeded in that direction. Unhappily the mind of the unrenewed is under the influence of a corrupt bias and a disin- clination to choose the right and the good ; and while this is the ease, their natural reluctance to holiness will prove an eftectual barrier to their submission to the will of God. But, so to exhibit to their view the injurious consequences of a course of wrong-doing as to fill them with alarm, and induce them to give a patient hearing to the claims of rectitude, and finally effect their true conversion to God, is perfectly conceivable. The discovery of a superior good may prevail over their choice of evil so as to super- induce the contrary choice without in the Chap. XIX. 1.] EZEKIEL. 101 31 32 that iniquity may not be the cause of your ruin. Cast away from you all your sins in which ye have sinned, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit ; for why will ye die, O house of Israel ? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord Jehovah : turn ye, and live. least trenching on the freedom of moral agency. In this view of the case, there is ample room left for t!ie doctrine re- peatedly and clearly taught in Scrip- ture, that it is the divine prerogative to work a saving change in the hearts of sinners. 32, Completely to silence the cavils of unbelievers, what had been urged in- terrogatively, vcr. 23, is here unequiv- ocally declared, — that when Jeliovah punishes it is not from any delight which he takes in the infliction of jumishment. The very reverse is implied : hence the call to repent and live with which the chapter concludes. CHAPTER XIX. An elegy over the fall of the Davidic house and the Jewish state, set forth in the form of two parables: the former of the two, that of a lioness and her whelps, 1-9; and the latter, that of a fruitful vine, plucked up, and planted in a barren desert after its best branches had been burned with fire, 10-14. 1 And thou, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel ; 2 And say : What is thy mother ? A lioness : she lay down among the lions, 1. HS'^p , LXX. OpTjvos, a dirge, a lam- entation, elegy; a species of Hebrew poetry characteristic of the melancholy fate of those who are the subject of it, and the doleful feelings to which it gives utter- ance. Sometimes, as in that over Saul and Jonathan, it is exquisitely tender and pathetic. The royal personages here referred to, designated "'I^?'^^? PX'^i^'^ , princes of Israel, were in reality those of the kingdom of Judah. They are so called because they were the only legitimate rulers of the Hebrew people. Those who had reigned over the ten tribes were, so far as the theocracy is concerned, merely usurpers. The LXX., of whose reading Houbigant approves, have rhv Apx^fTCL in the singular ; but, as Rosonmiilller remarks, though the pronominal affix in 5^53X , thij mother, is in the singular number, with special 9* reference to Jehoahaz, then in captivity in Egypt, yet, there being more than one king referred to in the elegy, the plural expressed in the Hebrew text is sufficiently justified. ^'J3p , lioness, is certainly, as to form, masculine if pointed &<^35 , for which Bochart contends ; but the sense obviously required by the context justifies the Masoretic punctua- tion, which gives the feminine, however contrary to analogy according to that author, or savoring of grammatical artifice according to Gesenius. The latterotherwise approves of this construc- tion, pi'incipally on the ground that many names of female animals have masculine terminations. Arab. 5«.aJ, ijjj , leaena. The lion being a symbol of kingly power, the state, to which the monarch owed his birth and which nour- 102 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XIX. 1-9. in the midst of youug lions she nourished her whelps ; And she brought up one of her whelps, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey ; he devoured men. And the nations heard of him ; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him in chains into the land of Egypt. ]Jfow when she saw that de- layed, perished, was her hope, she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. And he went up and down among the lions ; he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey : he devoured men. And he destroyed their palaces, and laid waste their cities ; and the land was desolate, and the fulness ished and supported him, might appro- priately be represented as his mother. Comp. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 1. Theconchi- vey him captive to Babylon, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 10. The words fibniS "^3 X^iril inr^pn ■'^7?'$ have oecasioned some ding portion of the verse describes the diversity of interpretation ; but little position of the Jewish state in relation difficulty will remain, if we take their cities, imme- diately following. What has originated the idea of widoivs has been the use of the verb i'^^ > to know, which has been supposed to be used here in the euphem- istic sense of having carnal intercourse with. This, however, seems harsh, and I am inclined, with Houbigant, Dathe, Chap. XIX. 6-14.] EZEKIEL. 103 9 thereof by the noise of his roaring. Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him ; he was taken in their pit. And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon ; they brought him into holds, that his voice might no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel. 10 Thy mother was like a vine in thy quietude, planted by the waters ; she was fruitful, and full of branches, by reason of many waters; And she had strong rods for the sceptres of rulers, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches and she appeared in her height in the multitude of her branches. But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit ; her strong rods were broken and withered ; the fire consumed them. And now she is planted in the wilder- 11 12 13 and others, to suppose that the reading must oi'iginally have been 5-"^^1 , though all the Hebrew MSS. have 1 and not ^ • LXX. eVeVero; Targ. '''2:^i^), et cUruit, deriving the verb from the root "-^^ , to break in pieces. Jehoiachin was carried captive to Babylon, where, though a prisoner, he was treated with kindness by Evil-merodach, 2 Kings xxv. 27-30. 10. Now follows the second parabolic representation of the kingdom of Judah under the symbol of a vine. It is paral- lel in language and meaning with chap. xvii. 5-10. The same figure had been beautifully employed in Ps. Ixxx. 'ir7^ ' rendered by some in thij blood, affords no suitable sense. " In thy likeness," the rendering of Kimchi, taking D^ to be equivalent to n^a"! , resemblance, is like- wise without any appropriate meaning. The LXX. have ws &v6os iv poa, as if they had read l^'l? . The reading »j?"!3 , thi/ vineyard, which is found in one of Kcnnicott's and in one of De Rossi's MSS., and approved by Gesenius, who renders : ^P";? "f253 , HJce a vine ofthj vineyard, must also be con- sidered as insiilRciently supported. On the whole, I must acquiesce in the inter- pretation of Piscator, adopted by Haver- nick, in silentio tuo, from d'^ , Arab. [•i<^5 to he quiet, still, understanding thereby the period of the Jewish history previous to the troubles and disasters which that people had brouglit upon themselves in punishment of their idola- tries. At that time all was quiet and prosperous. Comp. Isa. xxxviii. 10. 11. T" nCJ'^, strong rods, i.e. princes of the royal house. In her jirosperous state, the Jewish kingdom so for from resembling one of those vines which creep upon the ground, was comparable to one trained up by the side of a wall, or supported by a tree. Some of these are carried to a great height, such as that mentioned by Schulz, the stem of which was a foot and a half in diameter, and about thirty feet high, while its branches formed a tent of upwards of fifty feet square. Sec Kitto, article Vine. "pS''? > a kind of compound adverb, the ?? expressing the elevated position of the vine, to which the affix 1 in iTiia'p is to be referred, though masculine in form, on the ground that no distinct recogni- tion of sex is imaginable. 12, 13. With the formerly prosperous condition of the Jewish people, the prophet here contrasts the deplorable cir- cumstances to which they were reduced in the captivity. 14. Havernick appropriately calls at- tention to the circumstance, that the fire is said to proceed from a rod of her 104 EZEKIEL, [Chap. XX. 1-4. 14 ness, in a dry and thirsty land. And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches ; it hath devoured her fruit ; and she hath no strong rod, a sceptre to rule. It is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. branches, Avliicli he properly interprets as symbolizing Zedekiali, which Cocceius had done ])eibre him. It was his revolt from Nebuchadnezzar which caused that monarch to march his army into Judca, take Jerusalem, and carry the Jcavs captive to Babylon. Thus an end was put to the vine and its branches — aeon- summation which every Jewish patriot must deejily have bewailed. Resuming the word •^^'^P? > a lament, with which lie had commenced the sec- tion, the prophet energetically concludes: ns-ipb-^nri;] X-^fl nrp , it is a lamenta- tion, and shall he for a lamentation. Part of the dirge had received its accomplish- ment, and was matter of history ; the concluding part, relating to Zcdekiah, belonged still to unfulfilled prophecy. As the former had been fulfilled in the melancholy experience of the nation, so the latter should be, within a brief period. CHAPTER XX. Certain of the elders of Israel having come to tlie prophet to consult him respecting the issue of events, 1, he is instructed not to give them any direct answer, but to cxliibit to their view the guilt which, as a people, tliey had contracted in Egypt, 2-9, and after- wards in tlie wilderness, 10-26, and in tlie land of Canaan, 27-S2. Jehovah then promises that after lie shall have punished them in Babylon, and thereby purged away their idolatrous impurities, he will restore them to their ancient inheritance, 43-34. 1 And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, that certain men of the elders of Israel came 2 to consult Jehovah, and they sat before me. And the word of Jehovah came unto me saying ; Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them : Thus speaketh the Lord Jehovah : Are ye come to consult me ? As I live, I Avill not be consulted 1 . The epoch from which the compu- tation is here made is that of the deportation of Jechoniah to Babylon (chap. i. 2; viii. 1.) We arc not told what was the subject on which the elders came to obtain information, but there can be no doubt that it had respect to the termination of the captivity which had recently commenced. A similar deputation had on a former occasion, as now, taken their position before the prophet (chap. xiv. 1). 2-4. Instead of holding out any hopes to them at the outset, the prophet is charged to j)ronounce upon the people the judgments which their rebellious conduct had merited. Jehovah declares, in the most solemn manner, that he will not hearken to the application made by the ciders, which sufficiently shows that their sufferings had not yet effected any real reformation in their conduct. Comp. Ps. Ixvi. 1 8. Instead of "^.rpt"^^ > ver. 3, upwards of thirty MSS. read ''}X:\ ^.» which reading is also found in an early printed Heb. Bible. The f^^ in the dupli- Chap. XX. 2-9.] E Z E K I E L . IQo 4 by you, saith the Lord Jeliovali. Wilt thou judge them, wilt thou judge ; O son of man ? Cause them to know the abomina- 5 tions of their fathers. And say to them : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In the day when I chose Israel, then I lifted up my hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and I made myself known to them in the land of Egypt ; yea, I lifted up my hand 6 to tliem, saying : I, Jehovah, am your God In the day that I lifted up my hand to them to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land which I had searched out for them, flowing 7 witli milk and honey ; it was the glory of all lands : Then I said to them : Cast ye away each one the detestable objects of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt : I, 8 Jehovah, am your God. But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken to me ; they cast not away each one the detestable objects of his eyes, and did not forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I threatened to pour out my wrath upon them, to exhaust mine anger upon them, in the midst of the land of Egypt. 9 Nevertheless, I wrought for my name's sake, not to profane it in the eyes of the nations in whose midst they were, to whom I made myself known in their sight by bringing them out of the cate form of the question vcr. 4, strongly account of the practice of idohatry by implies the affirmative. It was what the the Hebrews while in Egypt, yet it is prophet could not but do. The case was cxprc&sly stated, Josh. xxiv. 14; and so self-cvidcntly flaj;rant, that he must indeed, it is scarcely conceivable that at once have been prompted to execute they could have escaped the contagion, his commission. In holding up to the surrounded as they were on everj' hand view of the living generation the rebel- with idols and idol worship, and as yet lious conduct of their fathers, he would but im])crfectly acquainted with the char- furnish them with a j-ortraiture of their acter and will of the only living and own. uS'^ signifies not merely to /i/r/r/e, true God. It is also implied in the but also frequently, as here, to conduct history of the golden calf, Exod. xxxii. a cause before a tribunal by adducing or that tliey had still in their hearts a hearing such evidence as bears upon it, hankering after the gods of Egypt. See and shall lead to the delivery of a right- also ver. 24 of the present chapter, eons sentence. □"^SJi^a and D^S'pO are two of the 5, 6. The threefold repetition of the strongest words in the Hebrew language lifting of the hand is designed to prove by which to express the abhorcnt charac- the earnestness of the gracious purpose ter of idols. The idea of polluted, Jiltky, of God to effect the deliverance of his is inherent in them. Not only tiie mis- people from Egyptian bondage. Such erable circumstances of their external an action, accompanying the taking of condition, but still more the state of an oath, betokened a solemn appeal to spiritual degradation into which the the Deity, and is here used anthropo- Hebi-cws had sunk, infinitely magnified morphically in reference to God. the divine mercy which interposed for 7-9. Though Moses gives us no their deliverance. "Where sin abounded, 106 EZEKIEL. ■ [Chap. XX. 9-24. 10 land of Egypt. And I led them out of the land of Egypt, and 11 brought them into the desert. And I gave them my statutes, and made known to them my judgments, which if a man do, he 12 shall live by them. I also gave them my sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I, Jehovah, am 13 their sanctifier. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the desert; they walked not in my statutes, but loathed my judgments, which if a man do he shall live by them, and they pro- faned my sabbaths exceedingly : then I threatened to pour out 14 my wrath upon them in the desert to consume them. Never- theless, I wrought for my name's sake, not to pollute it in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brovight them forth. 15 And I also lifted up my hand unto them in the desert, not to bring them into the land which I had granted, flowing with milk 16 and honey ; it was the glory of all lands : Because they loathed my judgments and did not walk in my statues, but profaned my 17 sabbaths ; for their heart walked after their idols. But mine eyes took pity upon them not to destroy them ; and I did not 18 consume them in the desert. And I said to their children in the desert : "Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols. grace did much more abound." The Hebrew people, and which, as enjoined glory of this, as well as of tlie other attri- upon them, was specially designed to butes of Jehovah, was tlie ultimate end keep up the i-emembrance of their deliv- which he had in view in bringing them erance from Egypt, Exod. xxxi. 13-17 ; forth from the house of bondage. This Deut. v. 15. Though instituted at the is described, ver. 9, as his t'J , name, i.e. creation of the world, and consequently the sum-total of his known perfections, binding upon all mankind, the day of SeeRom. ix. 17; 2Sam. vii. 23; Isa.lxiii. rest was enforced with fresh obligations 12. The preservation of that name from upon the Hebrews. Its observance or desecration is repeatedly spoken of in desecration will alwaj-s be a demonstra- this chapter; see verses 14, 22, 39. tion of the state of religion among any 10, 11. Having rescued the Hebrews people. The practical result of its from the tryanny of Pharaoh, and led sanctification will be an experimental them into the wilderness of Sinai, the acquaintance with the holy character of Lord delivered to them the law by the God, whose immediate object in enjoin- hand of Moses. Obedience to the law ing it is to promote the holiness and would secure happiness. happiness of his creatures. The seventh- 12. It would appear from this verse, day Sabbath was such by way of as well as from the wording of the fourth eminence, and its enactment formed part commandment, that the rest of the of the moral code. The other Jewish Sabbath had been intermitted in Egypt, festivals, so called, were more ceremonial nx signifies a sign, token, memorial, hci-e in their character. a proof or demonstration of the relation 13-24. Here the contrast between the subsisting between Jehovah and the divine character and that of the Israel- Chap. XX. 24-26.] EZEKIEL. 107 19 I, Jehovah, am your God; walk in my statutes and observe my 20 judgments and do them : And ye shall sanctify my sabbaths, that they may be a sign between me and you, that ye may know 21 that I, Jehovah, am your God. But the children rebelled against me ; they walked not in my statutes, and observed not my judgments to do them, which if a man do he shall even live by them ; they profaned my sabbaths ; then I threatened to pour out my wrath upon them, to exhaust mine anger on them in the 22 desert. But I held back my hand, and wrought for my name's sake, not to profane it in the sight of the nations in whose sight 23 I had brought them out. I also lifted up my hand to them in the desert to scatter them among the nations, and to disperse 24 them among the countries : Because they did not execute my judgments, but loathed my statutes and polluted my sabbaths, 25 and their eyes were towards the idols of their fathers: Where- fore also I gave them statutes that were not good, and judg- 26 ments by which they should not live. And I polluted them in their own gifts, in their causing to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might destroy them, that they ites in the wilderness stands out most prominently. Though so recently deliv- ered from Eg-yjitian slavery, and with the prospect of the pi'omised land before them, they nevertheless proved refractory and rebellious. Had it not been for the divine lon^suftering, they must have perLihed in the wilderness. 25. Various attempts have been made to get rid of the ajiparent incongruity of the language here employed hj the Divine Being. Taken absolutely it would be flatly contradictory of the purity and rectitude of his character, as well as of that of the laws which he actually gave to the Israelites. See Deut. iv. 8; Neli. i.x. 1.3 ; Rom. vii. 12. The solution of the difficulty proposed by Manasseh Ben-Israel, that the words should be read interrogatively, is alto- gether unsupported by the structure of the sentence, and is otherwise not borne out by Hebrew usage. I agree with those interpreters who are of opinion, that the reference is to the idolatrous enactments of the- heathen, and that the language may be best illustrated by com- parison with Ps.Jxxxi. 12; Hos. viii. 11 ; Acts vii. 42; Eom. i. 24 ; 2 Thess. ii. 11. Because the Hebrews cherished a pro- pensity to indulge in idolatrous practices, God, in his holy providence, brought them into circumstances in which this pro- pensity might be fully gratified, without his in any way imposing upon them the statutes of the Pagan ritual. On the contrary, he did all that was calculated in the way of moral influence to deter tiiem from idolatry. Preferring, however, the rites and ceremonies of the heathen to his holy and righteous ordinances, they experienced not only that they were not good, but as tlie language, by mei- osis, imports, that they were most per- nicious. 2G. The language of this verse is quite in accordance with that of the preceding. The Holy One did not actually pollute the jjcople ; he only permitted them to pollute themselves, and pronounced them polluted when they had rendered them- selves such. In the language of the Hebrews, and of the Orientals in general, God is fi'equently said to do that which 108 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XX. 26-30. 27 28 29 30 might know that I am Jehovah. Therefore, speak to the house of Israel, O son of man, and say to them : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Thus further did your fathers dishonour me, in that they grievously trespassed against me. When I brought them into the land, which I had lifted up my hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and there they oiFered their sacrifices, and there they presented the provo- cation of their offering, and there they placed their sweet odors, and there they poured out their drink-offerings. Then I said to them : What is the high place to which ye come ? And they called its name Bamah {high place) unto this day. Wherefore speak to the house of Israel ; Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers ? and. Do ye he permits to be done. Comp. Storrii Observatt. ad. Analog, et Syn tax. Hebr. p. 25, etc., and Hackspan in Nott. Phil- ologico-Thcolog. in varia SS. loca, P. ii. p. 897, etc. "T'^S'n ellipticallyfor "I'^SrV'j TyN3 , to cause to pass tlirough the fire, i.e. as sacrifices to Moloch, Deut. xviii. 10; 2 Kings xvi. 3; xxiii. 10; Ezek. XX. .31. In this case, the sin was signally its own punishment ; for what could have been more harrowing to the feelings of a parent's heart than thus to put his first-born infant-oifspring to exquisite torture in honor of a grim idol 1 ^^'^ i to fail in duty, contract guilt, sitffer punish- ment. LXX. acpaviC'^. 27-32. After once more adducing the rebellious conduct of their fathers, even after they had been introduced into the land of Canaan, the prophet roundly charges the Jews of his own time with having committed the same sins, and therefore shows that they had no reason to expect exemption from deserved punishment. 27. ^125 ,_ye^,s?i7/, is emphatic. Instead of being moved by a sense of gratitude for the divine goodness manifested in the fulfilment of the solemn promises which God had made to the Hebrews, to induce them to return to his service from that of idols, the ancient Israelites per- sisted in the practice of idolatry. In ri52tj , just as there is in iTS find '^'?? • There is no reason to believe that the ancient Hebrews attached any other etymological idea to n^^ than their descendants who applied it to places of idolatrous worship erected on mountains or other eminences. Root ri^3, to be high; equivalent to '^^'7 • LXX. Tj iariv a^afid. Owing to the idolatrous purposes to which the heathen prostituted such high places, Moses in- terdicted the use of them even for the worship of the true God, Deut. xii. 1-5. The exceptions, which we meet with in the Jewish history, of David and other pious men sacrificing on eminences, took place under peculiar circumstances, mostly before the altar was set up on Moriah. 30. The interrogations in this verse strongly imply the affirmative. The Chap. XX. .31-37.] E Z E K I E L . 109 31 commit whoredom after their abominations ? For when ye offer your gifts in causing your children to pass through the fire ye pollute yourselves with all your idols unto this day : and should I be consulted by you, O house of Israel ? As I live, saith the 32 Lord Jehovah, I will not be consulted by you. And that which Cometh up in your mind shall by no means happen, which ye say : We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries 33 to serve wood and stone. As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, surely with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and 34 with fury poured out, I will rule over you. And I will bring you out from the peoples, and gather you from the countries in which ye have been scattered, with a strong hand, and with an 35 outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the desert of the peoples, and contend with you there 36 face to face. As I contended with your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt so will I contend with you, saith the Lord 37 Jehovah. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and 38 will cause you to enter into the bond of the covenant. And I will separate from among you the rebellious, and those who sin against me ; I will cause them to go forth from the land of their sojournings, but they shall not come into the land of Israel, Jews addrcScSed were equally guilty with partly with reference to the vast tracts their fathers. of desert country which lay between 31. Between such characters and the Judea and Babylon and in other parts of holy God of Israel, there could be no that empire, and partly as parallel with communion. The application, therefore, the wilderness of Arabia, to direct the referred to, ver. 3, was utterly fruitless, thoughts of the Jews back to the punish- 32. The Jews flattered themselves that ments which were there inflicted upon none of the heavy judgments with which their fathers. Jehovah thi'catens to deal the prophets had threatened them would with them as in open court, by clearing come upon them, and that they should those who had repented of their wicked- be allowed unmolested to indulge their ness, and punishing the obstinate, as he idolatrous propensities. had done their fathers of old. 33. This verse and those which follow 37. All attem])ts to derive f^'?!^^ in strongly contrast with that which goes the phrase n'^^^^J ^^^'9 ' *^^'^ ^"^"^ of the before. The Jews had imagined that covenant, from any other root than 10S , their dispersion would not extend beyond to hind, have proved unsatisfactory. The the neighboring coxmtries ; but Jehovah Jews should be brought, by means of declares that he would punish them the severe discipline which they should severely, luitil he had thoroughly cor- undergo, to a due sense of their obliga- rected the evils which had prevailed tions to obey the divine law. By the among them, and then he would restore ancient covenant they should again be them to Jerusalem. bound to the service of Jehovah. See 35-39. n^JaSTi "i?"!^ , the desert of the for the accomplishment of the prophecy, peoples, a phrase apparently selected, Neh. ix., x. 10 110 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XX. 38-44 39 40 41 42 43 and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. And ye, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and afterwards, since ye will not hearken unto me, profane not my holy name any more with your gifts and with your idols. For upon my holy mountain, upon the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah, there shall all the house of Israel serve me, all of them in the land ; there will I be favorable to them, and there will I require your heave- offerings, and the first-fruits of your oblations in all your holy things. With a sweet savor I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples, and gather you from the countries in which I scattered you, and I will be sanctified among you in the sight of the nations. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I bring you into the land of Israel, to the land which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers. And ye shall remember there your ways, and all your doings by which ye are polluted, and ye shall be loathsome in your own sight for all 38. The lanjj-uage here implies that the great bod}' of the nation shouUl be recovered from idolatr}', and retnrn to their native hind, and that only a portion would continue in a state of rebel- lion against Jehovah, and consequently remain in exile. "^''*'? has been sug- gested by n^~i3 , with which the preced- ing verse concludes, and with it forms a paronomasia. ^"^3 is here to be taken, not in the sense of morally cleansing the persons spoken of, but in that of separat- ing them from regenerated Israel, as dross is from purified metal. 39. Jehovah here utterly disowns all relationship with the rebels. He would have idolatrous worship severed from all connection with his name. The tone in which they are addressed is one of the keenest irony. Comp. Rev. xxii. 11. It is as much as to say : Well, since you will not listen to me and return to my seiwice, you may take your own course, we henceforth part company, "inx"), and aflericards, is intended to give emphasis to the address, and anticipates the continued apostasy of the rebels. 40. By " the mountain of the height of Israel " we are to understand mount Moriah. In the preceding verse the rebellious portion of the people are called " the house of Israel," because they re- tained the character by which that people had been notoriously distinguished. In this verse the designation is given to the nation in a good sense, as restored to the practice of true religion. They should no longer repair with their offer- ings to the high places throughout the land, but should all congregate at the appointed festivals, as of old, at Jerusa- lem and there jjresent acceptable worship to their covenant God. 41, 42. The restoration of the Hebrews from the captivity, and the re-establish- ment of their religious services, would have the double effect of procuring honor to Jehovah from the surrounding nations, and attesting in their own ex- perience the happiness springing out of the true knowledge of the divine char- acter. 43, 44. Contrasting their renewed condition with thcirformer abominations, they would be filled with self-abhorrence on account of all their wicked ways Genuine and deep contrition always aecoinpanics true conversion. SeeNeh. CiiAP. XXI. 2.] EZEKIEL. HI 44 your evils which ye have committed. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I deal with you for my name's sake ; not according to your wicked Avays, and according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah. ix. Nothing tends so mnch to deepen mercy of God, who, when he might have this contrition as the view which is justly inllicted unmitigated wrath, re- obtained of the forbearing and forgiving members unmerited mercy. Here the chapter properly concludes in the Hebrew Bible, and in several of the versions. The following five verses so evidently belong to the following chapter, that they ought never to liave been separated. CHAPTER XXI. This chapter, to which the five conchuling verses of that preceding are introductory, relates to the conquest of Jiidea and Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; aud was delivered about live years before that event. The prophet begins by delivering a parable of a forest on fire, 1-5 (chap. xx. 45^9). He then changes the figure employed in the parable to that of an unsheathed sword drawn against the guilty land of Israel, 6-10; and, to denote the greatness of the catastrophe, uses signs of vehement grief, 11-12. He next resumes the figure of the drawn sword, and enlarges upon it, in order more forcibly to set forth the calamities of the war, 1-3-22; after which the Icing of Babylon is introduced into the scene, divining by arrows in order to determine which of tlie two capitals he should attack first, Eabbah or Jerusalem, 23-29. Zedekiah, the last king of the Jews, is now pointedly addressed; and, after a prediction of the total overtlirow of the Jewish affairs, the advent of the Messiah is promised, S0-.32. The last five verses form a distinct prophecy against the Ammonites, 8.3-37. Most interpreters have grievously complained of the obscurity which rests over this section of our prophet, and the unsettled state of the text, to which, in part, it is attributable. Still, with all the difliculties, the general import may easily be determined. In some portions the language is smooth and easy ; in others, it is abrupt and rugged, resembling, as Havernick suggests, the struggle of a war-song, and is thus in perfect keeping with the subject to which it refers. 1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : Son of man, 2 set thy face towards the south, and drop thy word towards the south, and prophesy towards the forest of the field of the south, 2. There are three words in the Hebrew prophet, and once in the Pentateuch, is text of this verse to express soulh : "I'^'^O , found only in Job and Ecclesiastes. The mi'll , and 35.5 . They are merely use instead of 3 55^ j as it stands ver. 3. The Article occupies its present position, contrary to rule, by attraction to the preceding "iSj^ , which it was designed to render specially definite. By " the forest " is meant the densely populated country of Judca, trees being understood figurativel}'- to denote the inhabitants. ^J^f^ > drop, a term bor- rowed from the falling of rain, or the dropping of honey, and generally em- ployed to denote gentle, flowing, and pleasing discourse ; but here used of what the prophet was sternly to deliver in the way of commination. It is often used of prophesj'ing. 3. The forest, apostrophised, is here declared to be set on fire by Jehovah, and consumed by an universal conflagra- tion. In ^^f^^''^ '^tO- i^ ^ paronoma- sia. To express the fearful character of the confl.agration, the prophet employs this peculiar phrase, compounded of two forms of the same word, the latter of which is taken from the Shaphel cojiju- gatici in Aramaic. Their common root is an^ , Arab. ^_^ , Eth. AUA to burn, inflame. ^'liJ , Arab. i^jwO , per- cttssif, piinxit, to scorch, burn. From the use of lil'2"b3 , ver. 9, it is evident, that CJS'PS is to be taken in the sense of all faces or pfr.ions, and not extended so as to denote all parts of the country — the whole superficcs — as Rosenmiiller, Mau- rer, and Hitzig interpret. 5. Desirous of shifting off" the applica- tion of the projdiecy to themselves, the Jews pretend not to understand it. They accuse Ezekiel of employing a high parabolic style. 6, 7. The prophet is now instructed to address himself directly against the city which had been specially consecrated to Jehovah, but which the Jews had polluted with their idolatries. d"'Tt''np:Q , sanctuaries, include not only the temple with its holy places, but also the other edifices appropriated in purer times to divine worship, and afterwards called synagogues. Ps. Ixxiii. 17. Instead of of C^-lpTS however, three MSS. read ^"'rj'^p? 5 their sanctuary, which reading is supported by the Syr., but the LXX., Vulg., and Arab, exhibit the plural. 8. The symbol of fire is here exchanged for that of sword, which aftcnvards, with much force, occupies so prominent a place in the chapter. The Jews were not yet to be told in plain language what was to befall them. What bad Chap. XXI. 8-14.] EZEKIEL. 113 9 eous and the wicked. Because I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore my sword shall go forth out 10 of its scabbard against all flesh from the south to the north. And all flesh shall know that I, Jehovah, have drawn my sword out 11 of its scabbard : it shall not return any more. And thou, son of man, groan with the breaking of thy loins, and with bitterness 12 groan in their sight. And it shall be when they shall say unto thee : Why groanest thou ? then thou shalt say : For the report, because it cometh : and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall flow as water ; behold, it cometh, and shall take effect, saith the Lord Jehovah. 13 Again the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying: Son of man, 14 prophesy and say : Thus saith Jehovah : Say, a sword ! a sword! been told them was intelligible enough to those wlio were inclined to receive instruction. Tanchum interprets P"'^?? riyhtfous, of those who regarded them- selves as such, though they were not such in reality. The term would rather seem to be here used antithetically with "'^7 ' «t'/cZ.W, for the purpose of indica- ting the universality of the destruction which was coming upon the country. It is as much as to say, that all should be in- volved in the common calamity. "What is thus declared is quite in accordance with what we daily witness in the history of our race. Afflictions are the common lot of all. In national calamities, so far as suffering viewed simply in itself is concerned, no outward distinction is made between the good and the bad. Both appear to be treated substantially alike. There is no real contradiction, however, between the doctrine taught in this passage, and that vindicated chap, xviii. Though removed from their native land along with the wicked, inas- much as they were nationally connected with them, yet the righteous were to be regarded only as the subjects of corrective discipline, whereas to the idolatrous Jews the sufferings were unmitigated punish- ment. The LXX., unable to reconcile the text with their conceptions of the 10* Divine government have rendered P*''^? i'O'l'l by &vofi.ov KoX aSiKov, the lawless mid unrighteous. 'pS^ ^Sip , ver. 9, wants the local i^ at the end of the latter word, which is expressed "^^'S^ ^^S'? > ver. 3. " From south to north," takes in the whole extent of the country. 11. The more deeply to affect his countrymen with a sense of the dire calamities which were soon to overtake them, the prophet is commanded openly to assume the appearance of a person in deep distress ; clasping his loins with his hands, as sadly bruised, and giving utterance to piteous groans in the bit- terness of his spirit, he was to present himself before them. 12. The import of the prophetic signs is here expressly declared. As they saw the prophet, so should it be universally throughout the land. 14. The prophet now proceeds to enlarge upon the symbol of the sword, which he had introduced, ver. 8. All is now ready for the onslaught. The repe- tition in 3'nri S"]t^ , a sword, a sword, is not without effect — definitely pointing to the destructive weapon to be employed in the war. To augment the terror which the announcement was calculated to inspire, the sword is desc "bed as Jn^n^n , sharpened, prepared to do exe- 114 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXI. 14-18. 15 both sharpened and polished ! It is sharpened, that slaying, it may slay ; it is polished, that it may glitter : should we make 16 mirth ? the rod of my son contemneth every tree. And he gave it to be polished, that it might be handled ; it is a sharpened sword, and it is polished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. 17 Cry out and howl, O son of man, for it shall be against my people, against all the princes of Israel, they are delivered to the sword together with my people, therefore smite upon thy 18 thigh. Surely it is tried ; and what, if indeed the rod despise ! cntion, and also llia^^p , polished. Root 13"^^ , to smoothe, polish, particularly the head by plucking out the hair : liere transferred to the sword. ilLi'1^ , the Pahul participle of Kal ; nis'i^, in the following verses, a contracted form of ilDnri'2 , the participle of Pual. The Dagcsh is euphonic, but is omitted in several MSS. Thcglitteringof abrightly polished sword, wielded in the sun, is truly terrific. Comp. Deut. xxxii. 41 ; Job XX. 25. 15. The sword was one of the deadliest weapons of ancient warfare ; hence the frequent reference to it, when wars, of which it is considered as the appropriate symbol, are spoken of in the Old Test. lyOi iX is abruptly introduced, and has much perplexed interpreters. The best sense appears to be that brought out in our common version, in which 'O'^'O'^ is taken as the first person plural of the future in Kal of the root 'd^'O or 'O'^'^i , to rejoice, be fjlad, merry, or the like. There is thus no occasion for any conjectural emenda- tion. The only difficulty, with such construction, lies in the particle "iX , which I consider to be used simply as an in- terrogative conjunction. Reproving his countrymen for their indulgence in levity and mirth, when such dire calamity was staring them in the face, he asks : should we make mirth ? — implying that nothing could be worse-timed under such cir- cumstances. Compare for the sentiment Isa. V. 11, 12; Amos vi. 5. The sword of Nebuchadnezzar would no more spare Judah than any other nation. It is represented as setting at nought the Jew- ish power equally Avith that of every other people. None had been able to withstand the universal conqueror. MSTIJ , rod, is here used of the instrument of correction or punishment, and the Geni- tive in "'IS ^r?"4? > the rod of my son, is that of object : i.e. the instrument em- ployed in punishing my son, as OOn TiTlX , tlie inoletice of thy brother, means, the violence done to thy brother. "^33 , my son, designates the Jewish people, as in Hos. xi. 1. ^^^^2 is the regular feminine participle of DS"2 , to despise, connected with B2d an epicoene noun. Y'?. » tree, is used figuratively to denote a prince or ruler, as in chap. xvii. 24. 16. 1^1*1 , And he hath given, used im- personally for and it is fjiven, according to an idiom common in Hebrew. The instrument of destruction Avas quite pre- pared, and only required to be employed by Jehovah against his apostate people. 17. The object of the Chaldean expe- dition is here definitely pointed out. The Jews were not to delude themselves with the idea that it was Egypt, or any other neighboring nation, that was to be attacked. The punishment was to be inflicted indiscriminately upon them- selves. The prophet is on this account again charged to exhibit tokens of ex- treme sorrow. ''5??"rN n'nn bx ^y^^n, delivered up to the sword together with my people. 18. "^3 is here used, not as a particle marking cause or reason, but, as fre- quently at the beginning of sentences, expressing certainty. '|H3 is the Pual of 'l^l? 5 to try, prove. Comp. 'jHS "|3i< , Isa. Chap. XXI. lS-22.] EZEKIEL. 115 19 20 21 22 it shall not be, saitli the Lord Jehovah. And thou, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled a third time, the sword of the slain ; it is the sword of the great slaughter, which besiegeth them. That the heart may- melt, and the fallen be numerous in all their gates, I have made bare the sword ; alas ! it is made to glitter, it is drawn to slay. Be united, strike on the right, attach on the left, whither thy face is appointed. And I also will smite my hands together, and xxviii. 16. The nominative is I23"ilJ , the rod, i.e. of chastisement, the Babylonian power. C3 gives emphasis to it, and may here be rendered, indeed. If Nebuchad- nezzar shoukl really despise the resistance made by the Jewish state, which he did (comp. ver. 15), what was to be expected as the consequence ? That state must necessarily come to an end. '^^'7'^. ^'' ' it shall not he. Such I regard as the meaning- of this most difficult verse. 19. The words i^n'J-^V^ ^'^n '^SSr") , however apparently obscure, arc properly susceptible of no other rendering than that given in. the common version : ajid let the sword be doubled a third time. They seem designed to express the tre- mendous size and power of the sword to be employed. It was no ordinary foe that was to attack the Jews. All hopes of escape were vain. It was a sword that had been well tried ; and proved successful in many abattle. C"?^n 3"in , the sword of the slain. Numerous were the victims who had perished by it. ??n I take to be a noun signifying slaughter. Comp. ^'•^■'9 from ^l^'^ , and "i2b from ^2b . b^nr.n h\r\ n-in , the sword of the great slaughter. There may be a inference to the great battle at Charchemish, in which the king of Babylon had been vic- torious over his powerful rival, ri'i'tnf] ^n? > which beseiges them, encircles them. with reference to an army of swordsmen I surrounding a city in a state of siege. 20, 21. 2';in"nnaN , the naked sword, I being spoken of in connection with the gates of the city, confirms the interpre- ation given of Ti'^'in in the preceding erse in regard to the besieging of a city. Numerous derivations have been pro- posed for J^f^S^, but give little satisfac- tion. That of Schnurrcr, from the Arabic _^Lj apertum, in omnium conspectu positum esse, seems preferable to any other. The nakedness of a sword iovanalced sword. nii""3 , Arab. JoJUO , viii. Jajtx*' , and SsJuo , eduxit e vagina gladium. Not only w^as the sword made bright, and thus ready for use, but, further, it was drawn, and just about to be used. Nebu- chadnezzar had gone forth from Babylon, and was on the point of invading Judea. By a bold apostrophe, the sword in its threefold character, is summoned to unite its powers "'^'Tl^r'? > find advance to the onslaught. The Chaldean army, in one collected body, was to proceed onward to Judea, taking whatever route came first, whether the southern or the northern. It was not to turn in any other direction than that in which it was appointed to move, nill^"^ , the Fem. plur. participle in Pual of "i^"^ , to fix, set, appoint. 22. By a strong anthropopathy Jeho- vah declares he will do what he had com- manded the prophet to do, ver. 19. tiS r|3"55< , hand to hand, is expressive of the act of clasping the hands together as an indication of violent grief. By causing the divine fury to rest, is meant, not the forbearing to pour it out in judgment, but the full and permanent infliction of it. In whatever obscurity this remarkable prophecy may be involved, the glittering sword flashes vividly through the whole. 116 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXI. 24-26. 23 24 25 26 cause my fury to rest, I Jehovah have spoken it. And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : And thou, son of man, ap- point thee two ways, for the sword of the king of Babylon to come ; from one land they shall both go forth ; and cut a hand at the head of the way, cut a city. Thou shalt appoint a way for the sword to come : Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Judah in Jerusalem, the fortified city. For the king of Babylon shall stand at the mother of the way, at the head of the two ways, to practise divination ; he shall shake arrows, he shall consult 24. The " one land " whence the two ways proceeded was that of Babylon, and the ways ran in a westerly direction ; the more northerly by Rililah in Syria ; and the more southerly by Tadmor, or Pal- myra, in the desert. The former was that usually taken from Babylon to Jerusa- lem ; the latter from the same city to Rabbah on the east of the Jordan. The prophet is directed to cut out a hand ("1^), or a sign, pointing to the direction in which the Chaldean army was to ])ro- ceed. This he was to place ""^i'l^'^^^a , at the head or commencement of the way where the two roads separated, each taking its own course ; while we are necessarily to understand its being made to point toward that which the king of Babylon was to select, as we are taught in ver. 26. 5<'^3 and i^'^2 signify to cut, or fashion by cutting into any sliape or form whatever. "^"5 ' the cognate verb, also signifies to cut, and then, as a sec- ondary signification, to choose, sdcct. This last idea our authorized translators have adopted. That the hand is not supposed to have been formed by sculp- ture, would appear from the circumstance that, in case it had been so, the verb •^i^'^ or Pi^'7 would have been employed. It may have been made of wood, just like our finger-posts, with the representation of a city cut in it. The word ii^i , city, is purposely indefinite, the Article being left to be supplied by the consciences of those whom the prophet addressed. 25. It may at first siglit appear in- appropriate, that Eabbah, the metropolis of the country of the Ammonites, should be mentioned before Jemsalem, the guilty city against which the prophet was spec- ially commissioned to denounce the divine judgments ; but, considering to what an extent the Jews had adopted the idols of the Ammonites, there was a singular propriety in first taking up the heathen city, to intimate that as the Jews had participated in its crimes so they might expect to share in its punish- ment. ■|i53r-':a r?"^ , Rabbah of the ch il- dren of Amvion, so called to distinguish it from a city of the name of nS'^^ in the tribe of Judah. It was built on the banks of the river Moiet-Amman, which empties itself into the Jabbok. See more respecting this city, on chap. xxv. 1-7. Instead of simply expressing the name of Jerusalem, the other metropolis, that of the inhabitants is prefixed, to mark them as the guilty objects of the divine indignation. The reason why Jerusalem is here said to be n^il^Sl , dftnccd-^'owH seem to be, to intimate the vain confi- dence which the Jews reposed in their fortifications. 26. Nebuchadnezzar is supposed to have marched his army to a certain point to the west of Babylon, where the road branched off into the two referred to, ver. 24. Tj'^'ljr] CX , the mothei- of the way, so called, not as is generally supposed, because there the road divided, for that is immediately afterwards described, as fi"'=';i~ ''.?^ 1^^"' J the head of the two ways, but because it was the principal road. Comp. the Arab. lajJoJl |*( , via viagna regia. Here the monarch :•( Chap. XXI. 26-28.] EZEKIEL, 117 27 28 bis family-gods, he shall inspect the liver. In his right hand shall be the divination of Jerusalem, to place the battering rams, to open the mouth with the war-cry, to raise the voice with shouting, to place battering-rams at the gates, to throw up walls, to erect a watch-tower. Yet it is to them as a vain divination in their sight ; they are under the most solemn oaths, but he will cause the perfidy to be remembered, that they may be taken. represented as having been at a loss to determine wliicli of the routes he should take ; and, in order to decide, as having recourse to divination. Of this as prac- tised by the ancients there were different kinds, some of which are here mentioned. f^arja ^P^P , he shook the an-oics, i.e. the helmet, quiver, or whatever else they were put into, ^i;?!? > the Pilpel of P'J^ , to be light, swift. Arab. JuLo , Eth. /l 7 I d\ T A '^ommovit, concussit. It is most probable that he caused the name Jerusalem to be inscribed on one arrow, and Radbaii on another, and mix- ing them with others, determined to march against the city whose name was first drawn out. This mode of divining by arrows was practised by the Arabs till the time of Mohammed, who strictly pro- hibited it in the Koran, Sur. iii. 39 ; v. 4, 94. The art, as practised by the Geeks, was known by the name of ^iXojxavTiia. Another species of divination to which the king of Babylon had recourse, was that of looking into the liver or the entrails of a newly-killed sacrifice, and judging that any undertaking would be prosperous or otherwise according as they were found in a healthy or unhealthy state. This art was called by the Greeks UpoffKoiria, Hicroscopy, and is mentioned by Diodorus (chap. ii. 29) as practised among the Chaldeans. Not satisfied with the use of these two species of divi- nation Nebuchadnezzar consulted the fi'^S'^Fl , Teraphim, which appear to have been penates or family gods, from whom it was thought possible to obtain informa- tion relative to future events. See Gen. xxxi. 19, 34; Judges xvii. 5; xviii. 14. 27. The arrow with Jkrusalem upon it was, on being drawn, held by the king in his right hand, and exhibited to ani- mate his army to prosecute its march agaiTist that city. Now follows the adoption of the measures requisite for besieging the city. H^l) and tn^'^in are parallel with each other. Connected as the former term here is with the opening of the month, it cannot well be taken in its usual signification of murder, but must be understood, as Gesenius explains, as an outbreak of the voice : both terms thus energetically expressing the horible war-shout of the Chaldean soldiers when commencing the attack. For fi'^'^3 and Pl^'^ sec on chap iv. 2. 2S. Dlpp'. The Van is marked by the Masoretesas "l^P"' , redundant. The pro- phet now represents the light in which the Jews were disposed to view the indications of the advance of the Chaldean army. Though prone themselves to be- lieve in divination, they affect to despise it when it tells against them. That the Jews and not the Babylonians are intended, the connection convincingly shows. To the Jews, moreover, the second Cil3 , to them, may be understood to refer, as the Jews had come under solemn engagements to be subject to the Babylonians, but those engagements they had violated; and for this, as well as their other sins, they were now to be punished. nS'3'I3 '^'S'Z'O , oaths of oaths, meaning the most solemn oaths. The construction proposed by Ewald, "weeks upon weeks," is less suitable. There is nothing corresponding to the words, either in the version of the LXX. or the Syr. The oaths were those the Jews 118 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXI. 28-32. 29 Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Because ye are put in remembrance of your iniquity, in your rebellions being revealed, in the manifestation of your sins in all your doings ; because ye are put in remembrance, with the hand ye shall be taken. 30 And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, at 31 the time of the iniquity of the end : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Remove the tiara, and take away the crown ; this shall not be this ; exalt him that is low, and lay low him that is 32 high. Subversion, subversion, subversion, I will make it ; this also shall not be, till he come whose is the right, and I will give had taken to the king of Babylon. i<'«^ , he, refers to Nebuchadnezzar, to whom the Jews had proved faithless, and who now should recall to their mind the crime of perjury, of which they had been guilty. 29. The Jews are now directly ad- dressed by the prophet, who expressly teaches them, that the judgment to be inflicted upon them was to be regarded, not merely as a punishment of their infidelity to the king of Babylon, but of all the sins which they had committed, in connection with idolatry, against their covenant God. Their acts of disobe- dience were so notorious, and they had become so universally depraved in their conduct, that no course was left but for punishment to be inflicted upon them. 30. The prophet nowpointedly singles out Zedekiah. Though Hiiverniek and Fairbairn contend for " pierced through" as the signification of -'jn here, as atvcr. 19, I rather agree with the rendering of our common version, profane, which is supported by the LXX., Vulg., and Sjt., and approved by Winer, Gesenius, and Lee. That ?f.n signifies not merely to pierce through, slay with the sword, but also to make common, or profane, to pol- lute, defile, is so fully admitted as to require no proof. That monarch, by his wickedness, had desecrated his character as the Lord's anointed, and the period of his punishment had now arrived. His reign and wickedness were to terminate together. By y^^ )'i}\ , the iniquiti) of the end, is meant the treachery of Zedekiah towards Nebuchadnezzar, by which he brought destruction upon the Jewish state. Corap. vcr. 34 and chap. xxxv. 5. 31,32. Since rSSSi: is frequently used in the Pentateuch of the turban or ttara of the high priest, it has been supposed by some, after the Targum : NlnS::^^ "^l^I? S<35"3 n^j:;"iii?D , that the same applica- tion of the term is intended in the present case, and that the design of the prophecy is to show that from this time forth both the sacerdotal and regal ofiices were to cease till the advent of Messiah, in whose mediatorial undertaking they should be restored and united. As, however, it is the king, and not the high priest, that is here expressly addressed and as t'pr^ > a derivative from same root with rSj^ip , is used of the head-dress both of the one dignitary and the other, Isa. Ixii. 3 ; Zech. iii. 5, the latter term may without violence be regarded as applicable to the royal diadem of Zedekiah. Winer, Gesenius, and Lee concur in this view of the passage. The use of the two terms, to express nearly the same thing, forms no objection, since it was no doubt the object of the projjhet most emphati- cally to foretell the fact of the complete cessation of the royal rule in Judah. The words ri which some improperly refer to ?^3 , signifying to be able, is simply the infinitive in Hiphil of 53 X , to devour, the N quiescing in Kamets. See Gesenius's Lehrgebaiide, p. 333. P'72 yjp^ is to be connected with Hull's in sense. The '^Q'^~ > reproach, with which the Ammonites are here charged, was their opprobrious and insulting treatment of the Hcbrcvi's at different periods of their history, and especially when Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldeans. See on chap. xxv. 3, G ; Amos i. 13-15. 34. niT^i and ^0(7 are historical Infini- tives. The Ammonites also had those who pr.actised divination, and flattered them with assurances of safety ; but Ezekiel declares that they should prove fallacious. The feminine afBxcs in Tj' and T^rnK refer to "j'^X , the country of the Ammonites, which is to be understood of its inhabitants. They were to be added to the number of the slain Jews whose wickedness had finally, in the providence of God, brought the Chaldean aiTny from Babylon. Both were to share the same fate. Schnurrer remarks that the phrase : D'^^^n "^ jN^.:i , the necks of the slain, is used poetically for the slain themselves, whose headless trunks are represented ^s stretched on the ground. 35-37. These verses are by some referred to the Chaldeans, but I am rather inclined to regard them as a con- tinuation of the threatening against the Ammonites. They were not to be carried away captives, like the Jews to Babylon, Lut were to perish in their own land. While the Jews were to be restored after the captivity had cured them of idolatry, the Ammonitish kingdom was to cease for ever. The prophecy was fulfilled five years after the destruction of Jerusalem. t"'"i"3 , brutish, not in the sense of stupid, unintelligent, but ferocious. LXX. Pap- ^dpcDv. The question, Whether Gcd should cause the hostile operations of the- Chaldeans to cease when they had destroyed the Jewish polity, is to be answered in the negative ; as it in effect is in the following denouncement of judgment upon the children of Ammon. Chap. XXII. 2-6.] E Z E K I E L . 121 CHAPTER XXII. The prophet, having in the preceding chapter exhausted what has not improperly been called the prophecy of the sword, resumes the subject of the enormous guilt of the Jewish nation, on which he had historically expatiated in chapter twentieth. He begins by reciting the enormous crimes of which the inhabitants of Jerusalem were guilty, 1-12. He then, in an episode, predicts the punishment which was about to be inflicted upon them, partly in plain terms, and partly in imagery borrowed from met;!llurgy, 13-22. The third section of the chapter comprises a review of their moral corruption, as pervading the dill'erent orders of society, and bringing down upon the nation the righteous indignation of Jehovah, 2.3-31. 1 Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : And thou, 2 son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city ? 3 cause her then to know all her abominations. And say : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : The city sheddeth blood in the midst of her that her time may come, and maketh idols within her to 4 defile her. Through thy blood which thou hast shed, thou art guilty, and through thine idols which thou hast made, thou art polluted ; therefore thou causest thy days to approach, and art come to thy years : therefore have I rendered thee a reproach to 5 the nations, and a scorn to all lands. Those that are near, and those that are distant from thee, shall mock thee, thou polluted 6 of name, and very tumultuous ! Behold, the princes of Israel, each according to his power, were in thee that they might shed 2, 3. Compare chap. xx. 4. On ac- and the latter of the captivity in Baby- count of the murders committed in Ion. For Ni^H we should have expected Jerusalem, and the offering of children "^NiDn in the feminine to agree with "T^^* , in sacrifice to Moloch, she might well be but regarding D? ^ people, as understood, denominated 0"'^'^?!! "i"^?, the citi/ of the discrepancy in point of gender is bloods, or the bloody city, comp. vers. 3, 4, removed. 6, 9; xxiv. 6, 9. In this respect she 5. Cljjri ITii.'C'J , lit. the polluted o/naiiie, rivalled Nineveh, Nah. iii. 1, and might not inaptly rendered in our common justly anticipate the same doom. ? in version, infamous. LXX. a.K arm, metaphorically rum concubitu abstinent, inter se nihil power, strength. illicitura." (Hist. lib. v. cap. 5). The 7-12. An enumeration of sins ex- crowning sin with which the Jews are pressly forbidden in the law of Moses, charged, and that which is strictly speak- which were rampant in Jerusalem, ing the source of all sin, is forgetfulness idpN , ^■'S'l , lit. men of traffic, ver. 9, of God, ver. 12. It is only as God is those who went about for purposes of kept out of view as the omnipresent, trade, pedlars ; and, as such generally omniscient, holy, and righteous Gov- propagated reports, the phrase came to ernor of the world that sin can be in- beusedin thcsenseof tafe-6e«rers. Those dulged in. here referred to appear to have been what 13. "Smiting with the hand " was a in the present day we call ' iuformers. gesture expi'essive of displeasure and PX^p , iT^ii^ 5 ver. 10; the rendering grief. oi \h& common \Qr&\ox\, set apart for pol- 14. However sinners may brave the lution, suggests the idea of a female divine threatenings, their courage and devoted to prostitution, whereas all that imaginary strength must fail when God the Hebrew expresses is one that is un- cxceuteth his judgments upon them. clean by reason of the menstrual dis- l.'S, 16. The object to be attained by charge. The character of the Jews, as the dispersion of the Jews was their heredescribed, is aptly given by Tacitus: recovery from idolatry and from the Chap. XXII. 17-25.] EZEKIEL. 123 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Son of man, the house of Israel are become dross to me ; all of them are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace ; they are dross of silver. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Because ye are all become dross, therefore, behold, I will collect you into the midst of Jerusalem. As men collect silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, in the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it to melt it, so will I col- lect you in mine anger and in my fury, and will leave you, and melt you ; I will even gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of mine indignation, and melt you in the midst thereof. As the melting of silver in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof, and ye shall know that I Jehovah have poured out my fury upon you. And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : Son of man, say to her. Thou art a land not cleared, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her, as a roaring lion tearing the prey ; they devour souls, they take away treasure and precious things ; her widows they multiplied polluting influences which followed in its train. 7(2 ^-rlrl- The only trans- lation of these words, which suits the connection, is that given in the margin of the common version : a7id thou shall be profantd in thijsc/f. The verh is the regular Niphal form of --^n » '" pierce, mahe common, profane, pollute; and the meaning appears to be : thou shalt be inwardly conscious of thy polluted con- dition, and shalt loathe thyself on account of thy sins. There, among the heathen, thou shalt learn to appreciate my charac- ter as a God of holiness, righteousness, and truth. 18-22. In imagery borrowed from the art of smelting metals, the inhabitants of Judea are represented as a mass of the baser metals intermixed with the impure residue of silver. They had altogether become a compound of wicked- ness, and were to be gathered together in Jerusalem, as into a furnace, and there smolten in the fire of the divine indignation. Compare Jer. vi. 29, .30. nnS , ver. 20, is the infinitive of n£3 , to blow. 23. The prophet, having given a re- cital of the sins which prevailed in Judah, and described the punishment to be inflicted on account of them, is now charged to expose to view the wicked- ness of those who held office iu the land, but who, instead of setting a good example to the people, were ringleaders in sin. 24. The early and latter rain having been withheld, the land had become un- productive, and the fields not having been cleared or cultivated, all was a scene of wildness and desolation — a fit emblem of the moral state of the nation. 25. For this and the two following verses, compare Zeph. iii. 3, 4. The false prophets are first singled out, on account of the greater influence which they exerted in seducing the people by their impious teachings. Not satisfied with each propagating error within his own sphere, they had formed a complot to oppose the messages of the servants of the Lord. Thus forming a powerful body, they resembled a roaring lion, tearing in pieces his prey. Unconcerned 124 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXII. 25-29, 26 in the midst of her. Her priests did violence to my law, and profaned my sanctuaries ; they made no distinction between the holy and the imclean ; and they distinguished not the unclean from the pure, and hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I was 27 polluted in their midst. Her princes in her midst were as wolves tearing the pi"ey, shedding blood, destroying souls for the 28 sake of unjust gain. And her prophets plaster them over with lime, seeing falsehood, and divining for them a lie, saying : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah ; and Jehovah hath not spoken. 29 As for the people of the land, they exercise violence, and indulge in rapine : they maltreat the poor and the needy, and 30 oppress the stranger with injustice. And I sought of them a man to build up the wall, and to stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, that I might not destroy it ; but none did about the welfare of the souls of whom they professedly had the cure, and intent only upon their own gain, they had occa- sioned the death of those who perished in the war with the Chaldeans, and thus increased the nuiiibcr of widows. 26. The priests, whose lips should have kept knowledge, Mai. ii. 7, lOpPl , did violence to the law by wresting its words from their natural signification and putting a false construction upon the doctrines taught in it. They like- wise profaned the ordinances of the Lord's house by admitting persons indiscrim- inately to participate in the observance of them, and made no distinction between the Sabbath and other days of the week, giving license to sinful indulgences on that saci'cd day. How deteriorating such conduct must have been in its influence upon the morality and piety of a nation, may easily be conceived. 27. The D"'f'7 > princes, instead of em- ploying the influence which their elevated position supplied, for promoting the welfare of the people, had nothing in view but the gratification of their own avarice, which they sought to obtain in the most unscrupulous manner, not sticking at murder and fraud. The wolf is an animal noted for its fierceness, cruelty, and rapacity. 28. The false prophets, by flatly con- tradicting the messages sent by Jehovah, and assuring the princes that the king of Babylon would not take Jerusalem, flattered their prejudices, and encouraged them in their resolution not to submit. Comp. chap. xiii. 10 ; Jer. xxiii. 16, 17 ; xxvii. 9, 10. 29. Byy'ixn ^'li the people of the land, as placed here immediately after the classification of persons holding office, we are to understand the inhabitants generally, without distinction of rank or offic*. Corruption had spread down- wards through the whole mass of the community (Jer. v. 1-4). The words are to be taken as the nominativs absolute, and not, with some, as the accusative. ■^S , the stranger, is rendered by the LXX. irpoaiiKvTov. So far from encouraging, by their kindness and their holy example, those foreigners who sojourned among them to devote themselves in spirit and truth to the service of Jehovah, the Jews did everything that was calculated to alienate them from his worship. As all oppression is unjust, it may at first sight strike a reader as strange, that the prophet should add 123-73 X53 , unjusthj; but the phrase is used merely for the sake of enhancing the aggravation of the crime. Chap. XXIII. 2-4.] EZEKIEL. 125 31 I find. Therefore will I pour mine indignation upon them ; in the fire of my wrath I will consume them ; I will render their way upon their own head, saith the Lord Jehovah. 30, 31. This is strong language, to express the universality of the defection from Jeliovah. CHAPTER XXIII. Under the allegory of two sisters, the cities of Samaria and Jerusalem are presented to view for the purpose of reprobating the idolatries of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah; each being the metropolis of its respective kingdom. The same strong metaphorical language is employed as in chapter xvi., for the purpose of more powerfully exciting feelings of disgust at foreign alliances and the abominations of idolatry. 1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying: Son of 2 man, there were two women, daughters of one mother : 3 And they committed lewdness in Egypt : they were lewd in their youth : there men joressed their breasts, and there they 4 pressed the paps of their virginity. And their names were: Aholah, the elder, and Aholibah, her sister : and they were mine, and they begat sons and daughters ; and their names 2. These two cities had a common mother — the Hebrew people ; regard being had to what they liad become in the possession of that people. 3. The object of the representation in this verse is not to teach that the two kingdoms existed as such in the time of the sojourn in Egypt, but to trace back the idolatry of those who afterwards composed them to that early period in the history of the Hebrews. Compare chap. XX. 6, 7, 8. T)?^ » Arab. i^XjUO , fricuit, here press, compress. The Egyp- tians are understood as the nominative to 'IviJjJ the corresponding verb in tlie parallelism. Mby occurs in Picl only here and in verse 8, and is expressive of the acting of eager or intense desire. The last clause of the verse is rendered in the LXX. e'/ce? oieTtapd^VivQriffav. 4. The force of the distinctive use of the two names •^^'^.ij , Aholah, and •^^'^r!^:? ' Aholibah, lies in the circum- stance, that the former, signifying her or her own tent, intimates that the worship celebrated at Samaria was self-invented ; it had never received the sanction of Jehovah, but, on the contrary, had always been marked as an object of his abhorrence; whereas the latter sig- nifying my tent is in her, is expressive of the appropriation of Jerusalem and the temple-worship by Jehovah, as hav- ing his divine and gracious warrant. ""f '^?^^n'?^ 1 and they were mine. Pre- vious to the apostasy under Jeroboam, Samaria, equally with Jerusalem, wor- shipped the true God. Their inhabitants were sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. He never renounced his right to the Israelites as subjects of the theocracy, but sent prophets to declare his will to them and warn them against idolatry. The northern kingdom was the splierc of the special labors of Elijah and Elisha. Thus "'nnri , ver. 5, under me, i.e. when subject to me as their law- ful husband. Samaria is said to be the elder, or the greater, nbi^arj, not in 126 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXIII. 5-11. 9 10 were, — Samaria, Aholab ; and Jerusalem, Aliolibah. And Aholah committed lewdness under me, and indulged in lust with her lovers, with the Assyrians, her neighbors. Clothed in pur- 13le, governers and captains, desirable young men, all of them, cavaliers riding on horses. And she bestowe-d her lewdness upon them, all of them the choicest sons of Assyria, and she was defiled with all with whom she indulged in lust and with all their idols. Neither did she abandon her lewdnesses from the Egyptians : for they lay with her in her youth ; they also pressed the paps of her virginity, and poured their lewdness upon her. Wherefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians upon whom she doted. These uncovered her nakedness ; they took away her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword, and she became a name point of age, for Jerusalem had the priority in this respect, but witli respect to defection from the pure worship of Jehovah. 5. From this verse to the tentli the subject treated of is Samaria, or the kiflgdom of the ten tribes. The adul- terous connection of the Israelites with the Assyrians is metaphorically descrip- tive of the alliance which Mcnahem their king formed with Pul the king of Assyria, whose favor he purchased with a large sum of monej' (2 Kings xv. 19, 20). Not only, however, did this transaction involve a transfer of the confidence they had placed in Jehovah as the king of Israel, but opened the door for the entrance of idolatry. -?^ is a verb of rare occurrence, being found only once in Jeremiah, and six times in Ezekicl, and the punctuation 3i«"n is altogether unique ; but its signification is well established by the passages in which it is used as well as by that of the cognate Arabic v,.^£\^ j miratus, admiratione affectusfuit. The preposition ?? follow- ing the verb, adds to the force of the signification. The Assyrians might be called n"^31~ip , 7ieii/hbors of the Israelites, because their country bordered on that of the latter, which at the time here referred to extended as far eastwai'd as the Euphrates. 6. The only difference of signification between ninS and C32ip seems to be that the former denoted civil, and the latter military governors of provinces. See Jer. li. 57, where n"':50 and C-^naa are closely connected ; LXX. r,yovnevovs Koi a-Tpa.Tr\yois. Their gorgeous, splen- did ajiparel and youthful appearance attracted the libidinous Israelites. 7. From the reference to idols at the end of this verse, it is manifest that the alliances with the Assyrians were not merely of a political nature. 8. The Egyptian idolatries here re- ferred to were the worship of the idol- calves, to which the Hebrews had been addicted while resident in that country, and which Jeroboam established among the ten tribes. 9. 10. The northern kingdom was punished for its idolatry by being invaded by Shalmaneser, who took Samaria, and carried the Israelites captive into Assyria, Media, and the adjacent countries of the East. Q-'Crb cd-^nni, and she became a name to women, she was rendered as notorious by her punishment as she had been by her crimes. She was made an example to which an appeal could be made by other states. 1 1 . The pi'ophet now turns to Aholibah, or Jerusalem, as the metropolis and representative of the southern kingdom. Though her inhabitants witnessed the Chap. XXIII. 11-16.] EZEKIEL 127 11 to women, and they executed judgments upon her. And her sister Aholibah saw it, and acted more corruptly in lust than she, and her lewdnesses were grosser than those of her sister, 12 To the sons of Assyria she extended her lust, governors and cajitains, her neighbors, clothed in perfection, cavaliers riding 13 on horses, all of them desirable young men. And I saw that 14 she was defiled ; there was one way to them both. And she added to her lewdnesses, Avhen she saw men portrayed upon 15 the wall, images of Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, Girded with girdles on their loins, and dyed tiaras upon their heads, all of them in appearance military commanders, like the sons of 16 Babylon, whose native country was Chaldea. And she indulged in lust with them when she saw them, and sent messengers destruction of the kinfrdom of Israel, instead of taking warning from it, they not only persisted in idolatrous practices, but carried their indulgence in tliem to still greater lengths. 12. The reference here, as Jarchi rightly interprets, is to the application made by Ahaz to Tiglatli-pileser for liis assistance against the Syrians and Israelites, recorded 2 Kings xvi. 7-9, which led to the idolatrous transaction at Damascus, and the introduction of the Syrian idolatry into Jerusalem, ibid. 10-16; 2 Chron. xxviii. 16-25. '''Ojzh pibD^ some consider to mean, clad in complete armor — the latter term being considered as equivalent to TravoTr\la. Regarding it, however, as designed to qualify the dress of the military leaders, it seems better to retain the idea of perfec- tion, which it, as well as ''^^^j expresses, and interpret it of the splendidness or gorgeous appearance of their apparel. The costume of the Assyrian cavalry may be seen in the sculptures brought by Layard from Nineveh, which display all the magnificence of Oriental finery. 13. "inx T^^v! , 07ie iccuj. Both alike renounced their confidence in their cov- enant God, and adopted the idolatrous practices of the heathen. 14-16. It has been questioned where the Jews could have seen the pictures here described. That they were in Jeru- salem would appear from what is stated ver. 16, that when they saw them they sent to Chaldea for the oi-iginals. In all probability these images had been imported along with the objects of idol- atrous worship, Avhich were pictured on the inside of the walls of the temple. See chap. viii. 10. Tiie language f^i'n^ "'"'iT'j"'" 1 portrat/ed vpon the icall, is common to both passages. For ^^|1^ , vermilion, see on Jer. xxii. 14. Struck with the gallant appearance of these military leaders, the Jews could not rest satisfied without entering into an alli- ance with the Chaldean power, then established at Babylon. On what oc- casion the embassy here referred to took place, does not appear from the page of sacred history, but most probably it was when apprehensions were entertained of an attack on the part of Egypt. For the Chaldeans, see on Isa. xxiii. 13. Though now possessors of Babylon, the land of their nativity lay between the Black and Caspian seas. D"'?^ab3 , djed turbans. That these were of a large size, appears from the nse of D'^n"'^p put in the construct "'H'llp , from the root fi'^D , to be ample, redundant, He- rodotus describes the Babylonians as having ras Kei2^ and ^'i^5 employed in this and the following verse, Arab. «j)« , cecidit, sese obtulit, signify to rend away, turn from : here, to be alienated from another in affection, and implies the disgust which follows in consequence. LXX. koI kire- CTT) i; '^vxh CLVTrts ott' avrSiv. 18-21. When the divine displeasure was manifested against Judah by the first invasion on the part of Nebuchad- nezzar, instead of rejecting her false confidences, abandoning her idolatries, and returning to the worship and service of her covenant God, she indulged the gratification of her lustful propensities in the most open and shameless manner — having recourse anew to the grossest idolatries of the Egyptians which she had cherished at the earliest period of her history. "iSt.^) caUinrj to renienihrunce, I would refer to Jerusalem, the subject of discourse, and not, with some, to Jehovah. The use of D^dJ^Q in the masculine is singular, occuring only in this place. The word has been supposed by some to have been of Greek derivation, from Tra\A.a| ; but it is just as probable that the Greek was derived from the Hebrew, or some other of the Semitic dialects. The pronominal affix Df^, their, in C)fiiu;5^Q , refers to the Egyp- tians. '''JirSPl , Jerusalem may be said to have visited her early lewdness when she renewed her intercourse with the idols of Egypt, conciliating the political favor of the Egyptians by conforming to their religion. The ^ pi-efixed in D7'n:J53ri , Manrer takes to be the 1^ partitive ; but I agree with Havernick, that it is to be regarded as marking the agents by whom the actions were per- formed, niyy is here used in Kal in the same sense as it was in Picl, ver. 3 and 8. 22, 23. Jehovah here threatens to ex- cite against the Jews the Babylonians of whom they had formerly been enam- ored, but who were now become the objects of their disgust. The instru- Chap. XXIII. 23-27.] E Z E K I E L . 129 23 against thee i-ound about. The sons of Babylon and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, all sons of Assyria, choice young men, governors and commanders, military officers. 24 and celebrated riders on horses, all of them : They shall even come against thee, strong in chariots and wagons and a multi- tude of peoples : buckler and shield and helmet they shall place against thee round about ; and I will set judgment before them, 25 and they shall judge thee with their judgments. And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal with thee in fury ; they shall remove thy nose and thine ears, and thy remnant shall fall by the sword. They shall take away thy sons and thy daughters, and thy remnant shall be devoured with fire. 26 And they shall strip thee of thy garments, and take away thy 27 splendid jewels. And I will make thy wickedness to cease from thee, and thy lewdness from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt not lift up thine eyes to them, and thou shalt remember Egypt ments of their sin were now to be made the instruments of their chastisement. The force of the Babylonian empire was to be brought to bear upon them in punishment of their sins. From the circumstance, that the words ?Vi1 "lipS Sip"! , Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, occnr in immediate connection with the Baby- lonians, the Chaldeans, and Ass3-rians, and further, that TipS , Pekod, is used by Jeremiah, chap. 1. 21, as a descriptive name of Babylon, it may be infeiTed that all three are to be so interpreted in this place. No such geographical names as Shoa and Koa occur cither in sacred or profane writers. The former, however, signifying icealth, or opulence, and the latter, 7Jn'?!ce/y, noble, are aptly descriptive of the state of Babylon in the days of her prosperity, as TipS > Pekod, is of her anticipated punishment. C'^X1"lp , called, celebrated, renowned as warriors, and therefore, aS might be expected, well fitted to execute the task devolved upon them. 24. ? , with, is understood before the words 'bj^?"! 33'^ "riH. Of the first of these terms the signification strong is that best supported, and which best suits the connection. The I^■^^5b^ , wheels of oriental wagons being unusually high, and consequently very conspicuous, there was a propriety in introducing them here. Comp. chap. i. 16-20. Not only should the most select military men, armed with all the necessary implements of war, come against Jerusalem, but a multitude of people should accompany them to render them all the assistance they might require. When it is said that the Chaldeans were to judge the Jews, ^r!''^?"^^? ) with their judgments, it is im- plied that from such a barbarous people they had nothing to expect but the most severe punishments, as it follows in the next verse. 25, 26. Punishment by cutting off the nose and ears was inflicted for adultery, not only among the Chaldeans, but also among the Egyptians, Greeks, and Ro- mans. It was therefore most appi-o- priate, to represent that which adulterous Judah was to suffer under the image of such ignominious and cruel treatment. They were also to be stripped of what lewd females set most value upon — their rich dresses and costly jewels, by which they attract the notice of their paramours (chap. xvi. 39). 27. TheefFectofthe punishment which 130 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXIII. 27-36. 28 no more. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I will deliver thee unto the hand of those whom thou hatest, unto the 29 hand of those from whom thy soul is alienated. And they deal with thee hatefully, and take away thy earnings, and leave thee naked and bare, so that the shame of thy lewdnesses and 30 wickedness and whoredoms may aj^pear. I Avill do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the nations, because thou hast defiled thyself with their abominations. 31 Thou walkedst in the way of thy sister, and 1 have given her 32 cup into thine hand. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Thou shalt drink of the cup of thy sister, deep and large ; thou shalt be an 33 object of scorn and derision ; it containeth much. Thou shalt be full of drunkenness and sorrow : a cup of desolation and 34 astonishment is the cup of thy sister Samaria. And thou shalt drink it, and suck it to the dregs, and craunch the shreds of it, and cut off thy breasts ; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord 35 Jehovah. Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Because thou hast forgotten me and didst cast me behind thy back, thei'e- fore thou also shalt bear thji- wickedness and thine adulteries. 36 And Jehovah spake unto me. Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah ? show them, then, their abominations. 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands ; yea, they have committed adultery with their idols, and have even caused their children which they bore unto me to pass the Chaldeans woukl inflict should he had been, only more severely in pro- the entire cessation of idolatry amon?? > the verb signifying gratification the offerings which belonged to commit adultery, occurs in the chap- to Jehovah. ter. 42. Instead of receiving the warnings 38, 39. So callous and daring were given them by the prophets, and hum- the Jews in their idolatry, that on the bling themselves on account of their very day on which they had burned their idolatries, the inhabitants of Jerusalem children to Moloch in the valley of indulged in rioting and drunkenness — Gehenna, they hypocritically presented bringing even the vulgar Arabs from the themselves as worshippers in the temple desert to keep them company. D'^N^'iO , of Jehovah. Comp. Jcr. vii. 9, 10. dninlards, and not D'^^^O which the 40. Comp.ver. 16. Fl^HB , a an-a| Aey. Keri exhibits, would .seem to be the I ^ preferable reading, since the Sabfeans Arab. JlSVj , illevitcollyrio, pec. stibio . -n,, • ■ , \ , u ^'^^ ' J 'i' in Ethiopia do not appear ever to have oculos sites. Ercytag ; to spread fine been confederate with the Jews. To paint of a black color on the eyelids mark these drunkards with disgrace, the so as to produce a black margin, and feminine pronominal affixesareemployed thus make the white of the eye look in ir]"'!"! and "|n"i'JN"n. That bracelets more beautiful and seducing. It is a were worn by males as well as females, custom still practised by Oriental females, sec the authorities in Rosenmiiller. See Kitto, Art. Eye. Jerusalem is rep- 43, 44. Disgusting as was her char- resented as so doing to entice her lovers, acter as au old adultress, Jerusalem 132 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXIV. 1-2. 46 47 48 49 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah : I will bring up a company against them, and deliver them to oppression and spoil. And a multitude shall stone them with stones, and cut them with their swords ; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, aud burn up their houses with fire. And I will cause profligacy to cease from the laud, and all wives shall receive instruction and shall not do according to your profligacy. And they shall lay your profligacy upon you, and the sins of your idols ye shall bear, and ye shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah. found those who encouraged her in her wickedness. The two sisters arc again presented together to view, thoiigh Aho- libah is specially singled out, being the more guilty of the two. 45. The Clialdeans are here called D^pi'n^J d"it3X, righteous men, not be- cause they were so in comparison of the apostate subjects of the theocracy, but because in punishing them they were the executioners of the righteous judg- ments of God. 46-49. The Chaldeans should effect a complete termination of idolatry in the land of Judea, by the capture and destruction of Jerusalem. Though the use of stones in battle was customary, yet there may, in ver. 47, be a special reference to the fact, that stoning was a punishment inflicted for adultery among the Jews, John viii. 5. ^T^D^i , ver. 48, is construed by Gesenius as a rare in- stance of a Nithpael Conjugation. CHAPTER XXrV. Efeekiel is charged to announce to his countryraen on the Chebar, that the investment of Jerusalem had actually commenced, 1, 2. To illustrate this fact, he was to propound the allegory of a caldron which he was to set ou the Are, and, having put water into it, to boil in it choice pieces of meat, 3-5. Then follows the application of the allegory to Jerusalem, showing the awful and irrevocable character of her doom, 6-14. The prophet is next apprised of the sudden death cf his wife, for whom he is commanded not to exhibit any signs of mourning, 15-18: it being intimated thereby that such should be the deplorable circumstances of the Jews in Jerusalem, when deprived of the objects most dear to them. In this respect he was a prophetic sign to them, 19-27. 1 Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of 2 the month, the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : Son of man, write thee the name of the day, this very day ; the king 1. The date, as usual, is taken from the commencement of Jehoiachin's cap- tivity. 2. The prophet is specially charged to write down the particular day on which he delivered his message, and to announce it as that on which Nebuchad- nezzar had commenced his attack on Jerusalem. As he was at the time at the distance of more than three hundred miles from that city, it was not to be supposed that the intelligence could have reached him by any human means. When, therefore, the captives afterwards received the information, they had, on comparing the dates, an infallible proof Chap. XXIV. 2-12.] EZEKIEL. 133 10 of Babylon lays seige against Jerusalem this very day. And propound a parable to the rebellious house, and say unto them : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Put on the caldron ; put it on, and put also water into it : Gather the pieces thereof into it, every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder ; fill it with the best bones. Take the choice of the flock, and lay also the pile of bones under it, make it boil well ; let them also boil the bones thereof in the midst of it. Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Woe to the bloody city, the caldron in which is the rust thereof, and from which its rust hath not removed ; bring it out piece by piece ; let no lot be cast upon it. For her blood is in the midst of her ; she laid it on the sunny rock ; she did not pour it out upon the ground, to cover it with dust ; That it might cause fury to come up, to take vengeance, I have laid her blood on a sunny rock, that it may not be covered. Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Woe to the bloody city : I will enlarge the pile : Heap on the wood, kindle the fire, make ready of the divine inspiration of the prophet. For 2'r2 read 3^3 "^-^D , to lean or lie against ani/thing, to bear hard upon it, to invest a city with an army ; Syr. V ■f ^ rr7 J innixusfuit, discubuit, accubuit. 3-5. The prophet was typically to perform the actions here commanded. They were prophetical transactions, the import of which is presently explained. il^nr? , its pieces, do not mean pieces of the caldron, as if it had been broken, but of the meat that was to be put into it to be boiled. " The choice of the flock " mean persons most distinguished for rank, office, or wealth in the Jewish state. 'I'l'^, and n^*np , ver. 9, signify the round pile of fuel, from "''1'^ , to be round. The bones that had been stripped of their flesh were to be used for fuel : those to which it still adhered were to be thrown into the pot, that it might be boiled. 6. Here the prophet gives the ex- planation of the parable. The Jews, indeed, could be at little loss to know what was intended by it. They had already themselves bandied the metaphor about as a taunt, boasting that they 12 should dwell securely in Jerusalem (chap, xi. 3). By "^«i a stroke, i.e. in so sudden and be carried on, but justice was to effect striking a manner as to show, that it its purpose at once. was an immediate visitation of God. 13, 14. The impurity of the inhabi- Distressing, however, as this event would tants of Jerusalem was of the most be, the prophet is commanded to exhibit atrocious character. '"TST , crime, delibe- no tokens of grief on the occasion, rate wickedness, is a term employed to Instead of D'^H^ ^5? > the construction denote a criminal act perpetrated on set is -'^X C^r^ , giving special prominence purpose. Root C^T , to thinJc, devise, to " the dead " which is expressed in purpose, mostly used in a bad sense, the plural with ultimate reference to Jehovah had used a variety of means, those who should perish during the siege both physical and moral, to I'estore them of Jerusalem, though irt: , /us own dead, to purity, but they had produced no was the immediate subject of discourse, effect. It remained now only for the He was interdicted the use of such signs Chaldeans to do their work. The de- of mourning as were usually manifested. cree was irrevocable, and the execution Though the High Priest was inter- inevitable, dieted mourning for any person what- Chap. XXIV. 17-23.] EZEKIEL. 135 19 20 21 22 23 commanded. And the people said unto me : "Wilt thou not tell us what these things which thou doest are to us ? And I said unto them: The word of Jeliovah came unto me, saying: Say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I will desecrate my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes, the desire of your soul ; and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword. And ye shall do as I have done ; ye shall not cover the lip, neither shall ye eat the bread of men ; But your turbans shall be on your heads, and your sandals on your feet ; ye shall not lament nor weep, but ye shall pine away in your iniquities, and mourn, a man to his ever, Lev. xxi. 10, the ordinary priests were permitted to mourn for near rela- tives, ibid. vers. 2, 3. Ezckiel, therefore, thougli of jiriestly descent, would have been under no restriction in this respect. He was, however, on the presentoccasion, though of the most trying nature, to appear as usual, not laying aside his turban and, instead of it, casting ashes on his head, nor going barefooted, nor covering the upper lip together with its moustachio (C3'9) ' <^omp. Lev. xiii. 45. Neither was he to partake of the food which it was customary for friends to bring in token of their sympathy with the mourners. This in the original is called d"ilp2N CHP , bread of men, i.e. what men usually furnish on such oc- casions. Havernick aptly compares for the idiom, ^"^^X IJ'^n, a vian's pen, Isa. viii. l,and fxirpov avOpdirov, Rev. xxi. 17, api6fj.hs avQpdnrov, Rev. xiii. 18. The etymology of C^-?^. is not to be pressed, nor the woi'd rendered, with Newcome, wretched men. 18. The event soon followed the com- munication to the people of the sorrowful event which had been pre-announced to the prophet. 19. The pepple perceived evidently that the strange conduct of Ezekicl under the circumstances of the case was symbolical, and asked to be informed, what bearing the symbol had upon their condition. 21. The prophet is instructed to point them to the sacred temple at Jerusalem, as the antitype of his wife. It had been the proud object of their confidence ( Jer. vii. 10), and which they had regarded with feelings of delightful admiration. For the phrase 0?-^?^ V"^? » comp. Lev. xxvi. 19. In l^'n-b and ^'Sn"? is a paronomasia. They had profaned that temple with their idolatrous worship, and Jehovah would now profane it by means of the Chaldeans, who would pillage and burn it to the ground. As Hitzig observes, many parents might, when they were carried away from Jerusalem, have been under the necessity of leaving their children of tender age behind them. These the Chaldeans should mercilessly put to the sword. 23. It is predicted at the close of this verse, that while, like the prophet, the Jews should not mourn on account of the loss of their temple or their dearly beloved relatives, they should be bi'ought to bewail their personal guilt, which had been the procuring cause of it. Dnp";!! is expressive of inward melting of spirit, the effect of vexation and grief when the mind cannot sustain its in- firmities, but gives way to the pressure of calamity, and in the hopelessness of despair, gives up all for lost. The words •."inx-bx d-iX Ori'sns are strongly ex- pressive of the sense of national guilt which the Jewish captives should feel they had contracted, and the share which they individually had in it. Though 136 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXIV. 23-27. 24 25 26 27 brother. And Ezekiel shall be to you for a sign ; according to all that he does, ye shall do : and when it comes to jiass, ye shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah. And thou, son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their fortress, the joy of their glory, the delight of their eyes, the desire of their soul, their sons and their daughters ? In that day shall he who has escaped come to thee to communicate the report. In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him that has escaped ; and thou shalt speak, and no longer be dumb ; and thou shalt be to them for a sign, and they shall know that I am Jehovah. prevented, by the circumstances in which they were placed in the hind of their con- querors, from making any public mani- festation of their sorrow, they would privately (l^H'? - ^^"'^ ' ^^^ '" another) give expression to their feelings of grief. Fairbairn justly reprobates the opinion of Eichhorn, Ewald, and Hitzig, that a state of feeling the very reverse of this is intended by the language of the prophet. 24. It is not an unexampled thing for the sacred writers to introduce their own names into their productions. See Exod. ii. 11 ; Numb. xii. 3 ; Isa. xx. 3 ; Dan. viii. 27. Ezekiel was rS112 , a sign or significant typical representation, fore- shadowing what was to take place in the experience of his countrymen. PTN123 , in its coming to pass ; when the thing signified should happen, it would be an indubitable proof that Jehovah had revealed the event beforehand to his servant. 25-27. D'*3 , i7i the daij, as occurring in verses 25 and 26, refers to that in which the temple was destroyed and the fugitive had made his escape : in ver. 27 it refers to that on which he arrived at the Chebar with the melancholy news. From the occurrence of the former event until the latter should take place, the prophet ceased from his public labors, meanwhile leaving his predictions to produce their natural effect ; but then he was again to stand forth, and pointedly to appeal to the issue in proof of his divine commission. AVe may easily conceive of the impression which such an appeal was calculated to make on the minds of the Jews. Compare chap, xxxiii. 21, 22. Chap. XXV. 3-5.] EZEKIEL. 137 CHAPTER XXV. Chapters xxr. -xxxii. inclusive, contain prophecies relating to foreign nations. The prophet in this chapter first directs his denunciatory discourse against tlio Ammonites, 1,2; whose destruction ho liad anticipated, chap xxi. 25 and 32. They were specially to be punished on account of their malicious exultation at the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the Jews, 3-7. IIo then proceeds to denounce similar jmnishment against the Moabites, 8-11, the Edomites, 12-14, and the I'hilistines, 15-17. These proph- ecies were, for the most part, fullilled by Nebuchadnezzar five years after the destruction of Jerusalem. See Joseph. Antiqq. lib. x. cap. 9. § 7. 1 AxD the word of Jehovah canie unto me, saying: Son of man, 2 set thy face towards the sons of Amraon, and prophesy against 3 them. And thou shalt say to the sons of Amnion : Hear ye the word of the Lord Jehovah : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Because thou sayest, Aha ! to my sanctuary, for it is desecrated, and to the land of Israel, for it is desolate, and to the house of 4 Judah, for it is gone into captivity ; Therefore, behold, I will deliver thee to the sons of the east for a possession ; and they shall erect their villages in thee, and fix in thee their dwellings ; 5 they shall eat thy fruit and they shall drink thy milk. And I will make Rabbah a habitation of camels, and the children of Ammon a resting-place for sheep, and ye shall know that I am 3. "p'S^ '^53 , the Ammonites were the descendants of Lot, and occupied the territory to the east of the Jordan, beyond that pertaining to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. It was bounded on the south by the land of Moab, from which it was separated by the river Arnon ; and on the north by the river Jabbok, which separated it from the country of the Amorites. They formed one of the most powerful of the minor neighboring states, and were frequently at war with the Hebrews. They were gross idolaters, and had for their national god Moloch or Milcom. On the fall of Jerusalem, to which as auxiliaries they contributed, and the transportation of the inhabitants of Judea to Babylon, they insolently triumphed over them, on which account the present threatening is denounced against them. The Femi- nine suffix in T)"^ Y^ refers to the country. 4. Solomon Jarchi, Grotius, and others 12* suppose that by C"]|7 "'IJa , sons of the east, here, the Chaldeans are meant ; but this is contradicted by the uniform usage of the sacred writers, wiio employ this phrase rsstrictively to designate the in- habitants of Arabia Deserta, to the east of the territories immediately bordering on the Jordan and the Dead Sea. On the destruction of the Jewish state by Nebuchadnezzar, the country was to be taken possession of by the nomadic tribes, who should there form their en- campments and dwell in their tents, leading the same pastoral life to which they had been accustomed. m"l'^li, vil- lages, or nomadic encampments surrounded by mud-walls, as is common in the East. The word nowhere signities palacts. The nomades had no palaces. 5. 1^3^ 1 Rabbah, literally the great, was the metropolis of the Ammonites, elsewhere called Ti^? r2"n , Rabbah of Ammon, and, in full, "jia? i|a na^ , 138 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXV. 5-9. 6 Jehovah, For thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Because thou didst smite with the hand, and stamp with the foot and rejoice with 7 all the despite of thy soul against the land of Israel, Therefore, behold I will stretch out my hand against thee, and give thee for a spoil to the nations, and I will cut thee off from the peoples and destroy thee from the lands ; I will destroy thee, and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah. 8 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Because Moab and Seir say, 9 Behold, the house of Judah are like all the heathen ! There- fore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities, from the exti'emity thereof, the glory of the laud, Rahhah of the sons of Amman, to distin- guish it from <^3^ , a city of that name in the tribe of Judah. When afterwards restored by Ptolemy Pliiladelphus, it received the name of Philadelphia, and formed one of the cities of the Decapolis. By a slight corruption of the second syllable it is called ,.jUo| , Amman, at the present day, as it was in that of Abulfcda. Tab. Syr. p. 91. Its ruins have been visited by the modern travel- lers, Scetzen, Burckhardt, and Irby and Mangles, who found them about nine- teen English miles S.E. by E. from tlie town of Szalt, and situated along the banks of a stream called Moiet Amman, which flows into the Zerka or Jabbok, called according to Seetzen, Nahhi- Amman. They exhibit remains of a palace, a mausoleum, an amphitheatre, a temple, a church, and a castle; but not a single inhabited dwelling is to be seen. See Scetzen in Zach's Mo- natliche Correspondenz, xviii. pp. 428, 429. 7. This desolate state of Rabbah must be referi'cd to the three hundred years which intervened between the destruction of Jerusalem and the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, after which it became cel- ebrated among the Greeks and Ponums, by whom, no doubt, the splendid build- ings, the ruins of which still remain, were erected. 53 occiu's nowhere be- sides in Hebrew, except in the compound •*?^,? > where it seems to be used in the sense of the Pers. sLs, cihns, — -Ljj vectigul. Such significations, however, ill suit the present connection ; and there cannot, I should think, be a doubt that the reading is a corruption of T3 , spoil, which is that of the Keri, of a great number of MSS. in the text, and is supported by that of the Complut. Bible and all the ancient versions. The letters T and i might easily be exchanged for one another by a copyist. Compare ilj for fl.J , chap, xlvii. 1.3. 8. Proceeding in a southerly direction, a similar threatening is denounced against Moab and Seir. These countries are here classed together, most probably on account of their close proximity to and their joint hostility against the Jews. 9. 1''3fb , Seir, was properly a moun- tainous country, called by Josephus and others who wrote in Greek Vd^aKa, Te^aK^vil, Fo^aAa, and at the present day the Arabs still give it the name of jjLiv^ , Jclial. See Dr. Rol)inson's Palestine, vol. ii. p. .552. The opening up of this mountainous region from the cities of Moab expresses the clearing of the passes by which the enemy might easily enter and take possession. These were otherwise closed and fortified. The names of the cities specified are in apposition with }^'^N "^3^ i ihe fjlori/ of the countrij, so that this is to be taken as descriptive of them, and not of "^^i^ » the frontier or extremity of Moab. They Chap. XXV. 10-14.J EZEKIEL. 139 10 Beth-yeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim. I will give her for a possession to the sons of the east, against the sons of Ammon, that the sons of Ammon may not be remembered among 11 the nations. And I will execnte judgments in Moab, and they shall know that I am Jehovah. 12 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because Edom acted revengefully towards the house of Judah, and contracted guilt by avenging 13 himself upon them, Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I will also stretch forth my hand against Edom, and cut oiF from it man and beast, and will make it desolate from Teman, 14 and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword. And I will inflict my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they shall execute upon Edom according to mine anger, and according to my fury, and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord Jehovah. 15 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Because the Philistines have acted revengefully, and have revenged themselves with despite of soul are most probably so called because of their having been stronf,^ly fortifii'd. From the significance of the name r"*? r'i^^uJ^tj , Beth-haijesliimoth , the house of desolations, the first would appear to have sustained a siege at some previous period of its liistor^^ but from the effects of which it had afterwards recovered. It was situated on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. "l""? ^?3 , Baal-Meon, in full ")i"'2 ^:^"a r^il, Bdh-Dnal-Mion (Josh. xiii. 17), and simply 1^"'? ^""S > Btth-Meon (Jer. xlviii. 23), lay farther inland, to the east of Mount Ncbo, and appears from the name to have been celebrated on account of the worship of Baal. D"ri"";.p3 , Kiriathaim, the doable city, is supposed by Burckhardt to be the present a-uS (J| , El-Teyim, half- an-hour's journey to the southwest of Medeba. It was most probably on ac- count of the strength of these cities that Moab cherished the pride so emphatically ascribed to her (Isa. xvi. 6 ; Jer. xlviii. 29; Zeph. ii. 8-10). 12-14. Though Seir, which strictly is the northern part of Idumca, is coupled with IMoab, ver. 8, yet considering the enmity which the Edomites had uni- formly manifested against the Hebrews, it was proper that they should specially share in the judgments to be executed upon the foes of the covenant people. The country of C11S , Edom, properly so called, stretches from the southeast corner of the Dead Sea to Elath or Akabah on the Elanitic Gulf of the l\cd Sea. The two cities or districts, 'I'^'^n , Teman, and "I'^f •, Dedan, being placed in antithesis, embrace the whole length of the country from north to soutii. They are placed in the same order (Jer. xlix. 7, 8). The former is placed by Jerome in his Onomasticon at the distance of five miles from Petra, but where the latter lay is xmcertain. It is scarcely to bo supposed that the trading city of this name in the bosom of the Persian Gulf can be meant. "What- ever the Idumeans may have suffered from the passage of Chaldean troops through the country, it was reserved for the Jews themselves to execute the divine vengeance upon them. This was specially done at an after period by Judas Maccabeus, and they were finally conquered and incorporated with the 140 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXVI. 1. IG to destroy in the old enmity, Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will stretch forth my hand against the Philistines, and cut off the Crethites, and I will destroy the 17 remnant on the sea-coast. And I will execute upon them great aveugings in punishments of fury ; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I inflict my vengeance upon them. Jewish state by John Hyrcanus. See erence to d3l3 nn"'X , the ancient hatred. on Isa. xxxi\\ 5. Mark the paronomasia in Tl'^rln and 15-17. Having taken its course through D'^r'^S. The Philistines were called the countries to the east and south of Cherethim, or Cretans (LXX. tovs Kpfj- the Dead Sea, the threatening now raj), because they came originally from crosses over along the south of Judea the island of Crete, elsewhere called to the country of the Philistines, situated ^PIS? j Caphtor. The army of Ncbu- along the coast of the Mediterranean, chadnezzar overran and destroyed the The inhabitants of this region, being cities on the sea-coast on his way to the near neigiibors of the Jews, had been Egypt, after the siege of Tyre. See on their indomitable enemies from the time Jer. xlvii. they entered Canaan. Hence the rcf- CHAPTER XXVI. This and the two following chapters are directed against the rhoenicians, whose country- lay next in order along the coast, to the north of Phillstia. It consisted of a small slip of country, not exceeding twelve miles in width, but extending about one hundred in length from north to south, between Jlount Lebanon and the sea. Its iuliabitanls were the celebrated merchants and able navigators of antiquity, and resided in numer- ous cities with which the country was studdec^ the cliief of wliicli were Tyre and Sidon ; and against tliese especially the prophecies before us are prouovuiced. In the present chapter Tyre is introduced exulting at the downfall of Jerusalem, and con- gratulating herself on the accession to her commerce which she anticipated would re- sult from that event, 1, 2. Hereupon, Jehovah declares in general terms that he wou!d effect her destruction, and that of the lesser cities dependent upon her, S-6. Then follows a more special prediction, descriptive of Kebuchadnezzar as the instrument divinely appointed to falfil the purjiose of the Most High ; the formidable military array which that monarch should employ in the attack; his total annihilation of that cele- brated city, and the capture of all her commercial treasures. 7-14. The effect produced by the intelligence of her fall on the merchant-princes of the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean is next most graphically set forth, and a funereal dirge is introduced which, in the posture and attire of mourners, they are supposed to chant, 15-18; and the prophecy winds up with a declaration on the part of Jehovah, that the desolate condition to which Tyre should be reduced would be complete and jjerpetual, 19-21. 1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first of the month 2 that the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : Son of man. Because Tyre saith concerning Jerusalem, Aha ! the gates of the people are broken, it is turned unto me, I shall be filled, she 1. Contrary to his usual practice, the month. Some interpreters suppose it prophet omits to specify the date of the was the fourth, others the fifth, etc., Chap. XXVI. 2.] 3 EZEKIEL. 141 is laid waste. Tlierefore tlius saith the Loi'd Jeliovali : Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre ! and I will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth its waves to come up. but nothing beyond conjecture has been advanced, nor is it a matter of much importance. 2. "11^ , a form differing little from ■^^^ , wliich si;inifies a Rock ; on Plia'ni- cian monuments "i^ without tlie Van, as also on Tyrian coins "i^^ , DM ^S5 Dl^S ; Arab. jj-O j Greek Tvpos. This city was the most opulent and powerful emporium in the ancient world, carrying on her commerce not only in fleets down the Mediterranean as far as the western coasts of Spain and Britain and round into the Baltic, mooring them in every accessible port ; but likewise in large caravans into Central and Eastern Asia. She was of high :mti(iuity. According to Justin (Urbem ante annum Troianae cladis condiderunt) it must have been founded B.C. 1 155. Yet it was originally only a colony of Zidon, which boasted a still higher antiquity. See on chap, xxviii. 21. Properly speaking there was a double Tyre — that proper, on the continent, called Palajtyrus, ?; iraKai Tvpos, supposed to have been "niS "i^?^ "l"^? > the fortress- city of Tyre, mentioned Josh. xix. 29 ; 2 Sam. xxiv. 7 ; and the insular Tyre, built upon a rock in the sea, at the distance, according to Pliny, of seven hundred paces from the shore, which in all probability served as an out])ort or station for warehouses wherein were deposited the principal articles of Phoe- nician traffic. According to Strabo, old Tyre lay thirty stadia south of the insular city, near the present ..waju! i>«lj? Ras-elain, or ' fountain-head,' which sup- ])lied the aqueducts with water. Mera Se T^j/ Tvpov 7) XlaKaiTvpos iv TpiaKovra ffradiois. Lib. xvi. cap. 2. It was ob- viously this city that the army of Neb- uchadnezzar first attacked, for it is said, ver. 11, that with the hoofs of his horses he should tread down all her streets. It has been maintained indeed by some that the two parts of the city were con- nected by an artificial isthmus ; but such an idea, suggested no doubt by the fact that Alexander afterwards constructed a passage from the one to the other, would ill accord with what we may conceive to have been the sagacity of the Tyrian merchants, who, for the security of their goods, would leave the island approachable only by water. See this subject ably discussed byVitringaon Isa. xxiii. and Prideaux's Connections. The siege lasted thirteen years, and, though we have no positive testimony from profane authors to prove that it was successful, yet there remains no ground for reasonable doubt on the sub- ject. When it is said, chap. xxix. 18, that the king of Babylon and his army had no wages for the service they had performed, the meaning is, they had no adequate remuneration for the hardships and losses which they had sustained, and the immense expense to which he had been put on the occasion. That no mention is made by the profane authors of Greece and Rome of the successfid result of the siege is rather an argument in its favor than the contrary-; for we can hardly suppose it possible for them not to have adverted to so i-emarkable a circumstance as that the mighty king of Babylon should have been baffled in his attempt, if such had actually been the fact. Nor must it be forgotten that Jerome expressly declares that he had read in Assyrian histories of the success- ful conquest of the city by Nebuchad- nezzar. See Havernick's Commentary, pp. 427-442, in which the objections of Gcsenius, Von Heeren, Dahlmann, Hitzig, and other modern writers are sat- isfactorily refuted, and compare Hengs- tenberg, De Rebus Tyriorum, p. 31 and 142 EZEKIEL, [Chap. XXVI. 2-5. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and raze her towers, and I will sweep away her dust from her, and I will make her a dry rock. She shall be a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea : surely I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah ; and she shall become a spoil for the nations. And her daugh- ters Avhich are in the field shall be slain with the sword ; and following. HSn , heach, aha ! an inter- jection strongly expressive of exultation over a fallen enemy. See Ps. xxxv. 21, 25. As an exception to the general grammatical rule, and an instance of coiistr actio ad sdisiim, rT]i2C3 the jircdi- cate in the singular agrees with T'ir^'l the subject in the plural. "^205 should be pointed 5^205. The nominative to this verb is not Jerusalem, understood, as our translators have taken it, bat what is most easily supplied by the con- nection, and that on whicli the minds of the Tyrians were most set, their merchandize, or mercantile gain. Tlie rendering, therefore, should be " it," and not she, " is turned unto me." ^'i^?'^ C^yri , the doors or gates of the peoples. Jerusalem was so called not only on account of her having been the great place of concourse to the Hebrews when they went up to the sacred feasts, but because it lay in the routes which the caravans with merchandize took that proceeded to Tyre from Petra, Ezion- geber. Palmyra, and other places in the East, and consequently must have inter- cepted many of the articles of traffic before they reached their destination. On this account she must have been an object of great jealousy to the Tyrians, who now exult at the removal of this monopoly, and congratulate themselves on the commercial advantages which they would derive from her fall. 3, 4. In striking contrast with the self-congratulatory language of Tyre, Jehovah here announces her destruction. The comparison of crowds of people to the tumultuous waves of the sea is common in Scripture. It is peculiarly appropriate here, in consideration of the maritime position of Tyre. As the Mediterranean dashed against her shores with resistless fary, so should the troops of the king of Babylon, collected from the many different nations subject to his swaj', attack and destroy her strongholds. ? prefixed to l"^?" is the sign of the accusative, according to Aramaic usage, as 'l!^;'?^.? ' (J"-- xl. 2). That Tyre was strongly fortified is borne out by the testimony of Dius, as quoted by Joscphus, Antiqq. viii. .5, who says that Hiram king of Tyre iireiS)] eiipa to, T 'lepoaoKvjxwv TiixVt Ttvpyoiv irpos aacpa- Xeiav Seo/j-eya ical rrjS aWrjs oxupdrTjTos, trphs yap rh a^ico^a Tijs Tr6\60is ■IjyelTO Serj/ Kal Tohs irepi^oKovs eJfui, toCtk re TTpoaeTreaKsva^e koI irvpyois avTo, fjnyaKois ■Kpoire^ripev. Comp. Isa. xxiii. 4, 11, 13. Hitzig indeed contends that the language of Dius only applies to Jerusalem, but it appears obvious to me that the passage concludes with a statement of what Hiram did to his own city in imitation of what he had witnessed at the capital of Judea. 'inri'C: and "Tl^np form a paronomasia. i^"S>", her Just. The destruction here referred to was that of the towers, walls, and other edifices, destroyed by the besiegers. Not a ves- tige was to remain. In place of splendid edifices and impregnable bulwarks noth- ing was to be seen but bare rocks, fit only for fishermen to spread their nets on. 5. D^fl ~ir^3 , in the midst of the sea, may, without straining, be applied to Continental Tyre, though the greater part of the city lay not within the sea- mark, but back in the plain in the direction of the rocky hill, ^V « \'> » ' ' , El-Mashuk, Avhich probably formed its "^^r^? ) castle or fortress. See Robinson, iii. 390, Chap. XXVI. 6-9.1 EZEKIEL. 143 9 10 they shall know that I am Jehovah. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I will bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, from the north, a king of kings, with horses and chariot, and with horsemen, and an assembly of much people. Thy daughters in the field he shall slay with the sword ; and he shall construct a circumvallation around thee, and pour out a mound against thee, and raise the buckler against thee. The stroke of his battering-ram he will direct against thy walls ; and thy towers he will cut down with his hatchets. The multi- tude of his horses shall cover thee with their dust ; by the noise of horsemen, and wheels, and chariots, thy walls shall shake, when he entereth into thy gates, as into the entrances of a city daughters which icere in the open coitntri/, i.e. the towns and villages dependent upon her, and lying back from and along the coast. These were to be involved in the same catastrophe with the mother- city; their fate was bound np in hers. 7. "pS^^ 1 from the Nortli, the qnartcr from which the Chaldeans originally came from their native monntains, and that which is always specified when their entering Palestine is referred to, be- cause they took the route by Riblah and Hamath on the Orontes in preference to that across the desert to the southwest of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar is dignified with the title C'^?^"? ~r^' king of KINGS, Chaldean '<'?r''? Ti-P > Arabic ^^%-AJal ^iXXjQ 7 because he had con- quered many kingdoms, and had under him a number of royal personages gov- erning, as satraps and viceroys, the different countries that were subject to his sway. Thus the Turks have their jJ.aJ2 jLw ^jLLsAaa/ 5 Suitani sulatin ; the Persians their sLCwiAjviOLcu, Sha- hin-shah, and the Ethiopians their "^aUU "il^^, of the same import. See for more, Gesen. Thesaur. p. 794. P.'^'^ > the tower, which, as cm- ployed in a siege, was moveable, and pushed forward against the city. These were stored with instruments ,of attack, and contained a considerable number of men. "^^pOj the cvjger or mound of earth raised before a besieged city. T(3'^ is appropriately used to express the formation of it from the emptying or pouring out of the earth conveyed in baskets. r!| j£ , the buckler, here obviously denotes the testado, or vaulted roof of large united shields employed by an attacking enemy for protection in siege- operations. 9. By P3p '^n'j is meant the battering- ram, which was employed in making breaches in the walls ; and which, in the absence of artillery, must have proved a very effective instrument of attack. Winer renders the words, percussio oppo- sitionis, i.e. the hostile stroke or blow given by the instrument, "'np is de- rived from '^n'? ' '" strike, or smite, 32? from ^5p , to be over against, opposite to. Compare the Arab. — X& J^Ai j in the hostile sense of irruit in aliqnem, aggressus est rem ; Chal. ■'nif'SS , tormenta be/lica. Among other warlike instruments de- scribed as employed in the destruction ofTyrem-^n are specified. As swords, which is the common acceptation of the term, however, appropriate when a battle is spoken of, is unsuitable when applied as here to the cutting down of towers, it is now generally allowed that it is used with the signification of axes or hatchets. The assertion of Havernick, 144 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXVI. 9-14. 11 12 13 14 15 broken in upon. With the hoofs of his horses he shall tread down all thy streets ; he shall slay thy people with the sword ; the monuments of thy strength shall come down to the ground. And they shall spoil thy riches, and plunder thy merchandise, and raze thy walls, and break down thy pleasure-houses, and shall place thy stones and thy wood and thy dust in the midst of the waters. And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease, and the sound of thy lyres shall no more be heard. And I will make thee a dry rock ; tliou shalt be a place for the spreading of nets ; thou shalt never be built any more : for I Jehovah have spoken, saith the Lord Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah concerning Tyre : Shall not the islands shake at the sound of thy fall when the wounded groan, when the slaughter that 3"1H never signifies anything else than sword, is indefensible ; for it also signifies a hufc (Josh. v. 2, 3) ; a razor, (Ezek. V. 1) ; and is to be translated according as the exigency of the passage may i-equire. 10, II, A graphic description of the tremendous character of the siege. The dust, raised by the horses, filling the air, the noise made by their prancing, the rattling of the chariots, the quaking of the walls, the shrieks of the wounded, the fall of the idolatrous objects of con- fidence — all must have combined to inspire the inhabitants with terror and dismay. Tj.^? m2ST3 , Vulg. statucc tuce nobiles, obelisks or statues, erected in honor of their idol-gods. Comp. rn2SS"5 T;j?3d~n'^2 , the obelisks of the temple oftlie sun, Jer. xliii. 13. When the idols of the heathen are taken or destroyed in war, the courage of their votaries totally fails. The great god of the Phoenicians was Melccarte, whose fabulous history in the main agrees with that of the Grecian Hercules. He claimed as his birth-place Thebes, a Phoenician colony ; and had his temple in Palaityrus, to which Alexander was referred by the Insular Tyrians, when he wished to sacrifice to him : Esse templum Herculis extra urbem, in eam sedem quam Pala;- tyron ipsi vocant : ibi regem Deo sacrum rite facturum. — Q. Curtius, iv. 2. (4.) TjiTS? ni2S^ in the plural agrees with "I"]?] in the singular, on the principle, that the former is taken distributively. 12. That the riches here specified must have been those found in Palcetyrus and not those stored up on the island, would appear from what is stated, chap, xxix., that " neither he nor his army had wages from Tyre for the service which he had served against it." See on that passage. The throwing of the ruins of Tyre into the midst of the sea, will apply to the continental city, and is descriptive of its consignment to utter destruction. 13. In strikingcontrast with the former joyousness of the merchant-city, a death- like silence was to ensue. The prophet in this and the following verse reaches the climax of his description, concluding with an almost verbal repetition of verses 4 and 5. 14. Tiy tVi^r^^ xb, thou shalt he built 710 more. This was literally fulfilled with respect to the continental city. That part which lay on the island recovered itself after the lapse of seventy years, as predicted by the prophet Isaiah, chap, xxiii. 17, 18, and was in a very flourish- ing condition in the time of Alexander, by whom a causeway was constructed between the shore and it, by means of which he reached the city, and took it by storm after a siege of seven months. Chap. XXVI. 15-20.] EZEKIEL. 145 16 slayeth in the midst of thee? And all the princes of the sea shall descend from their thrones, and lay aside their mantles, and put off their embroidered garments ; they shall be clothed with trembling ; they shall sit on the ground, and tremble every 17 moment, and be confounded on account of thee. And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and shall say to thee : How art thou destroyed, that didst dwell by the seas, the celebrated city which was strong at sea, she and her inhabitants, who inspired 18 all its inhabitants with their terror. Now shall the islands tremble in the day of thy fall ; the islands which are in the sea 19 shall be troubled at thy departure. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah : When I make thee a desolate city, as the cities which are not inhabited, by bringing up the deep upon thee, and the 20 mighty waters shall cover thee ; Then I will bring thee down with those who go down to the pit, to the ancient people, and will make thee dwell in the land of the lowest regions, in the desolations which have been of old, with those who go down to the pit, that thou mayest not be inhabited ; but I will set glory 15-18. The effects of the siege of Tyre were not to be confined to her inhabitants, but were to extend to her colonics. Of these she had many along the coasts and on the islands of the Mediterranean, in Greece, Italy, and Spain, of which the principal were Utica, Carthage, and Tartessus. Like her they were rich and powerful, and for a time were dependent upon her as the mother city. These maritime colonies are represented as struck with consternation on hearing what had befallen her ; their chief mag- istrates, here called Q^f^ ''!!?^^'? > princes of the sea, are said to have come down from their thrones ; and, exchanging their princely robes for those of mourn- ing, to have sat down on the ground, trembling with amazement. Comp. Isa. xxiii. 8, 9. To express the greatness of their distress, they are said to have " clothed themselves with trembling " ; Heb. niT^n , iremblinfjs, i.e. great trem- bling. For C:*X, ver. 18, the Chaldee for 0*^*5^ 1 islands or sea-coasts, which reading is found in several MSS., the Vulg. has naves, as if the original were ni'SX , ships. Some would make a dis- 13 tinction between the two forms as here used, supposing that by "j^X , islands properly so called are meant, and by D^5< , maritime coasts; but the distinction is altogether imaginary. The same locali- ties are intended in both members of the parallelism. The feature of the descrip- tion D^3 '^1?!'^ ' strong in the sea, must be referred to the insular part of the city, which had, been strongly fortified as the port for the protection of the warehouses and the shipping. The concluding clause of ver. 17 is descriptive of the despotic rule which the merchant-princes of Tyre exercised over the inhabitants, whether regular citizens or those who were there temporarily on business. f^*^? » the departure of Tyre, signifies her disap- pearance as a celebrated emporium. 19. The "deep," and the "great (or many) waters," metaphors borrowed from the relative position of Tyre, figura- tively describe the army of the king of Babylon. 20. The disappearance of Tyre is compared to that of the dead, who, placed in their sepulchre, are no more seen among the living. While this was 146 EZEKIEL, [Chap. XXVII. 2, 3. 21 in the land of the living ; I will fill thee with terrors, and thou shalt not be ; and thou shalt be sought for, but shalt not be found any more for ever, saith the Lord Jehovah. to be the fate of that renowned city, Jehovah promises to set "'^^j glory in the land of the living. . This Grotius and others refer to the restoration of the Jewish polity, which, considering the frequent application of this term to the land of Judea, may seem a not unnatural interpretation, and, if meant to include the Messiah and his spiritual kingdom, for whose introduction that restoration was designed to be preparatory, may readily be admitted. Comp. Isa. iv. 2 : " And the Branch of Jehovah shall be ''SSb." Thus interpreted, the passage may be considered as Messianic. Nor is it an unusual thing with the Hebrew prophets thus abruptly to introduce a reference to the Redeemer. I cannot admit the propriety of supplying NP before "^Pf^J j or carrying forward the force of that negative as Havernick, after the LXX. and Syr., has done, and so rendering, "I will not set glory in the land of the living," i.e. I will not restore thee to thy former splendor. The con- struction thus brought out is tame and unnatural. 21. The desolation of Tyre was to be so complete that it should be an object of terror to all who approached the spot where it had stood. Not a vestige of it was to remain : a pi'ophccy which was literally fulfilled, for though insular Tvre afterwards rose into notice, the ancient continental city never recovered from her ruin. CHAPTER XXVII. The prophet proceeds in this chapter to give a detailed specification of the splendor, riches, and commerce of Tyre in the days of her prosperity, 1-11 ; the principal nations witli which she traded, and the articles of merchandise which they respectively furnished, 12-25; thence to the end we have a beautiful allegorical description of her downfall. 1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying; And thou, son 2 of man, take up a lamentation concerning Tyre : and say to 3 Tyre : O thou that dwellest beside the entrances of the sea, thou trader of the peoples to many sea-coasts, thus saith the Lord Jehovah ; O Tyre ! thou sayest, I am perfect in beauty. 2. The prophet is commanded to com- mence «^3''P > a funereal dirge over Tyre, consisting, agreeably to the nature of such ditties, of an eulogium in praise of her splendid qualities. 3. Instead of "^nad'll the Keri omits the Yod, and exhibits the regular form of the participle na'^^n. ci^ pisiari , entrances of the sea. The plural may have been adopted with reference to the double port of Tyre, at which vessels entered round the northern and southern ends of the island. These ports or harbors are thus described by Strabo, (lib. xvi. cap. 2) : Svo 5' ex^t Xi/xfvas, tJ);/ iui€v KKiurrhv, rhv 5' aveififvoy, hv Pilyvirriov KaKovffiv. t3"'33J*fl TPDI , the emporium of the peoples, LXX. to? (fjLiropia> Twv \awf, i.e. the great emporium to which the merchants of various nations Chap. XXVII. 3-8.] E Z E K I E L . 147 4 In the midst of the seas were thy borders ; those who built thee 5 perfected thy beauty. With cyi^resses from Senir they built for thee all thy boards ; they took cedar from Lebanon to make 6 masts for thee. Of oaks of Bashan they made thine oars. Thy deck they made of ivory inlaid in cedars, from the isles of 7 Chittim. Thy sails were of fine cotton with embroidered work from Egypt. Purple and blue from the coasts of Elishah were 8 thy awning. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy rowers ; thy wise men, O Tyre, were in the midst of thee ; they resorted, and where they bartered or bought and sold their wares. To it were brought, in heavily laden caravans, the rich productions of India and other countries of the East, which passed through it on their way to Europe. Tyre was likewise celebrated for the commerce which she carried on with foreign parts by means of her fleets and colonies. As affluence and magnificence naturally engender pride, she is here represented as boasting of her splendor. 4. Nothing could more admirably or more apjjropriately have set forth the magnificence of this maritime city than the figure of a gallant shij) constructed with the best materials, and manned with the most skilful mariners of the age. This exquisitely beautiful figure here introduced is broken in upon at verse 9, where the prophet resumes his description of the emporium, and pro- ceeds with great minuteness to specify the principal articles in which she traded, and the difiiarent countries with which her commerce was carried on. It is, however, very fitly again taken up, ver. 26, when the prophet would describe the Avreck to which the city should be reduced. For T^^}^ j l/ii/ builders, some few of De Rossi's MSS. read rp.?^ , % sons, which reading the LXX. have adopted : viol aov : but the former, which has the suffrages of the Chaldean and Jerome, better suits the connection. 5-8. ■i'^?^5 ) Senir, a name given by the Amorites to Hcrmon or the high southern point of Anti-Libanus, Deut. iii. 9. Like the rest of those mountain- ranges it abounded with a variety of choice and stately trees. B'^.t^Hb , boards, decks, which appear to have been con- structed double. Tabulataduplicia: Sic vocat propheta naves quod duo habeant latera aut duas extremitates, puppim et pro ram. (Munster.) Bashan was cele- brated for its oaks, as Lebanon was for its cedars. Of the words D"'n'^ii<-n3 it is impossible to make any tolerable sense. I therefore pi'cfer joining them together as one word. We thus read D'^T.'JXriia in one of De Rossi's MSS., whicli is approved of by Solomon Jarchi, Boehart, and Celsius. In this case Cinit'XPl will simply be the plural of "i^^'Nri , a species of cedar called by the Arabs, ^^yj^yjjf Sherhin ; ivory inlaid in cedars, would thus be descriptive of the costly materials of which the ^""^p j deck, was composed. That liJ^S'? designates the sail, seems most naturally suggested by the etymol- ogy — l^jS J the root, signifying to s/jrearf out, expand. The Egyptians went to great expense in decorating the sails of their vessels with all kinds of embroidery. Witness the splendid barge of Cleopatra, in which she went to meet Anthony. ti533'2 denotes the coverinfj or awning. nO"'bs , Elishah, is so called, according to Gesenius, from Elis, a district of the Peloponnesus, and so put for the whole of Greece. Michaelis prefers Hellas, with a like extended signification. V^''^ > Zidon, see on chap, xxviii. 20. "'^'l^? > Arvad, a small island near the coast of Phcenicia, now called Riiad. It oc- cupied a very high rocky situation, and 148 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XXVII. 8-12. 10 11 12 were thy mariners. The elders of Gebal and her wise men were in thee thy caulkers ; all ships of the sea and their sailors were in thee to exchange thy barter. Persia and Lud and Put were in thy force, thy men of war ; the shield and helmet they hung up in thee. They furnished thy splendor. The sons of Arvad and thy force were upon thy walls around, and the Gammadim were in thy towers. They hung up their shields upon thy walls around ; they perfected thy beauty. Tar- shish was thy trader because of the abundance of all wealth ; in silver, in iron, in tin, and lead they supplied thy markets. was about two hundred paces from the continent. Its inhabitants are still noted for their seafaring habits. Upoff- fOeffav 5e T17 fVTvx'i<} Tainrt, koI Tvp6voiav, KoL (piKoiroviav irphs t}]u OaKaTTOvpyiav. (Strabo.) In our prophet they are classed with those of Zidon as furnishing mariners to Tyre. 9. bsa , Gehal, the nameof al^icsnician city situated on a rising ground near the sea, between Beirut and Tripolis, and inhabited by ship-builders, who, according to Strabo, were originally fugitives from Zidon. It was called Byblos by the Greeks, who celebrated it as the birthplace of Adonis. "^iT'^iri'D ^)?ia , literally : the repairers of thy breaches, which our translators, suppos- ing the repairing of ships to be meant, have rendered, thy caulkers, and their translation seems perfectly justifiable from the connection. The word is else- where used of the breaches or chinks in a building (2 Kings xii. 6). ^I'^i to mix, intermix, as in trade : hence 21?5 'T^a'iy'S , lit. to mix thy mixing, to carry on trade with thee; to exchange com- modities. 10. 013, Persia, i.e. the Persians: I^P , Lud, the Lydians of Mauritania m Africa, a people expert as archers ; and l:*Q , Put, the Putians, a people whose land was conterminous with that of Libya in the same direction west of Egypt. Warriors from the distant east, and likewise from the distant west, are rep- resented as forming the military prowess of Tyi-e. The former might have been engaged by Tyrian colonists on the Persian Gulf where they had settlements ; and the latter at Carthage and other sea- ports in Africa, to which the Phcenicians resorted. See my Commentary on Jer. xlvi. 9 ; Nail. iii. 9. Ancient warriors were in the habit of hanging their ac- coutrements on the walls, not only for the sake of convenience, but also for display as ornaments. 1 1 . The Tyrians employed the inhabi- tants of Arvad both in their naval service (ver. 8), and in the defence of their city, which was surrounded by walls and ramparts. Who the C^IH? ? Gammadim were, who were employed for the same purpose, it is dithcult to determine. Various conjectures, both ethnographical and philological, have been advanced; but most of them are unsatisfoctory ; especially that of Michaelis, who, after the Rabbins, supposing the word to be allied to "'P.i', Gomed, which signifies a cubit, imagined that it denoted men, who from their elevated position on the towers appeared like dwarfs to the people below. I should rather be disposed to consider the term as allied to the Arabic {_V n'*^ J duro animo ac immiti fait, war- riors of a fierce, intrepid, and cruel chai-acter, not improbably from Chaldea, who were hired by the Tyrians to serve in their army. Comp. Hab. i. 6. 12-25. The prophet now enters upon an enumeration of the different nations that traded with Tyre, beginning and ending with TlJ'^O'nr) , Tarshisli,Ta.xtGS?,\xs, Chap. XXVII. 13-15.] EZEKIEL. 149 13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy traders in persons of men, and implements of copper they supplied in thy market. 14 From the house of Togarmah, horses and horsemen and mules 15 they supplied in thy market. The sons of Dedan were thy traders : many coasts were the merchandise of thy hand ; horns 16 of ivory and ebony they returned as thy present. Edom was thy trader for the multitude of thy works ; with carbuncle, pur- ple, and embroidery, and cotton, and corals, and ruby, they the celebrated Phoenician emporium in the west of Spain. From the extreme west, he returns by the countries border- ing on Asia Minor to the regions on the Persian Gulf in the distant east, and thence back through Palestine to Tyre. 12. Spain has long been celebrated for the exuberant riches of the mineral kingdom. It is to be noticed, howevei", as a fact, that while she abounded in most of the metals, especially in silver, gold mines appear to have been only partially wrought, and they have long ceased to attract notice. Mines of iron and lead abounded, as they still do, in that country; but '"^^^t sfa7vuun, tiu, was a foreign article, conveyed from the tin-mines in Cornwall to Tartessus by the Phoenicians, and thence to Tyre and other parts of the east. 13. 'ij^ , Javan, a general term com- prehending the whole of Greece, with which Tyre had much maritime inter- course. That there should here be ref- erence to a place of that name in Arabia Felix, which Gesenius thinks probable, is not borne out by the position of the name in Ezekiel, who first introduces Arabia at ver. 21. ^'■^'O'] b?!in , Tubal and Meshech, occur in the same connec- tion with "ij!^ , Javan, in the ethnograph- ical table Gen. x. 2, and again offer themselves to our view, chaps, xxxii. 2G ; xxxviii. 2, 3 ; xxxix. 1, which see. They are now almost universally allowed to designate peoples known to Greek writers under the names of Moschi and Tibareni, who inhabited the mountainous regions between the Black and Caspian seas. They were, according to our prophet, 13* addicted to the slave-trade ; and it is worthy of remark, that till very lately the Turkish harems have been supplied with slaves imported from Circassia and Georgia, the females of which are cele- brated for their beauty. By "^53 are meant not merely vessels for containing articles, but instruments of all kinds, among others, weapons of war, arms, etc. These are still manufactured in abundance, and of excellent quality, by the inhabitants of Derbend and other parts of the Caucasus. Their swords are celebrated as ecjual, if not superior, to those of Damascus. 14. n^'^ain , Togarmah, the northern Armenians, who call themselves the house of Torgom, and claim Torgom or Togarmah, the son of Gomer, as their founder. Compare Gen. x. 3 ; 1 Chron, i. 6. They inhabit the rough moun- tainous regions on the south side of the Caucasus. The country was celebrated for its breed of horses, which were in great request with the Persian kings : OvToi S* i(n\v liriro^iros ffcpSSpa ?; X'^P'*> Strabo, lib. xi. Q'^'>^'^S , steeds, horses used for riding, as distinguished from C^OID , chariot-horses. 15. "(^'7 , Dedan, an island or commer- cial town in the Persian Gulf, established by the Tyrians to secure the trade ot India. ")0 , tooth, that of the elephant, i.e. ivory, with which India abounded. The tusks resembling horns will account for the term f^lS'ii^ , horns, being here employed. That by CrSt^ we are to understand ebony scarcely admits of a doubt. The name is retained in the Greek efifyos and the Latin ebenum. 150 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXVU. 15-20. 17 furnished thy markets. As for Judah and the land of Israel, they were thy traders ; with wheat of Minnith and Pannag, 18 and honey and oil and balsam, they furnished thy mart. Da- mascus was thy trader in the multitude of thy works, because of the multitude of all wealth, in wine of Helbon and white 19 wool. Vedan and Javau, from Uzal, furnished in thy mar- kets polished steel, cassia, and calamus : they were in thy 20 market. Dedan was thy trader in tapestry for riding. Arabia Gesenius thinks the reason why it occurs in the plural is, that it was obtained only in planks split into pieces for transportation. Its great hardness made it an article of value. 16. From the circumstances that vSyria may be viewed as included under Da- mascus in verse 18, and that no mention is made in the enumeration of Idumca, whose capital Petra formed a centre of traffic in ancient times, I am inclined to adopt the reading cnx , Edom, which is found in fifteen codices, has been in eleven more originally, and is confirmed by the reading D'lX of the LXX., the Hexaplar-Syriac and Arabic versions. The gems here specified are rather to be referred to the Indian Ocean, than to any places in connection \vith Syria. ^^arTO a "lb here, and ver. 18, is not to be understood of articles made or manufactured in Tyre, but of articles conveyed thither for traffic. LXX. 'Awb TrKi\6ovs rov avfx^iKTOv aov. Ti^S the LXX., in other places, render "AvQpai, ; but here omit it. It was one of the precious stones in the breastplate of the Jewish high-priest, but of what kind cannot absolutely be determined, though it is generally supposed to have been the emerald, "l-"^? , the ruhij. riiTDS"! , though here reckoned among gems, was in all probability, as asserted by the Rabbins, the red coral, from its red, shining appearance. 17. n'^i^ , Minnith, is mentioned as a city of the Ammonites, Judges xi. 33. Of 53S , Pannag, nothing is known, but from the connection we should suppose it to be the name of a jjlaee. 18. "jisbr] , Helbon, Aleppo, the wines of which were held in such high estima- tion that the Persian monarchs would drink no other. Thv XaKv^diviov, Strabo, lib. XV. 19. Besides the fact that no other word in the enumeration of places in this chapter commences with the copu- lative 1 , the name of Dan would seem to be so entirely out of place here, that there is certainly room for the conjecture that the Van in ")'^'l , Vedan, is not to be read as a conjunction, but forms an integral part of the word. Whether it may still be traced in Aden, a place famous for trade near the straits of Babelmandeb, may be queried. That ?T^X , Uzal, probably so called from a descendant of Joktan (Gen. x. 27), was the original name of Sanaa, the ancient metropolis of Arabia Felix, was ascer- tained by Niebuhr when he visited that country. It was famous for its sword blades, to which no doubt, as made from the 'TI.S 1 iron or steel here mentioned, reference is had. It is probable that the Javan here mentioned along with it, and described as having its origin from it, was founded by Greek colonists who had settled there. Instead of ^T^IX^ thirteen codices read i'J'IS*^ with a dif- ferent pointing of the preposition. tT^l? » cassia, an aromatic shrub resembling cinnamon, but less fragrant and valuable. By i^5|5 is meant calamus aromaticus, sweet cane or flag, growing in marshy ground, and used in the East for per- fumes. It abounds in Arabia and Af- rica. 20. The Dedan here mentioned is to Chap. XXVII. 20-24.] EZEKIEL. 151 21 22 23 24 and all the princes of Kedar, they were thy traders in lambs, and rams, and he-goats ; in them they were thy traders. The merchants of Sheba and Ramah, they were thy traders ; with the chief of all spices and with all precious stones and gold they furnished thy markets. Haran, and Calneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, Chilmad, were thy traders. Thev were thy traders in splendid articles, in mantles, purple cloths, and embroidery, and damask stuffs bound together with cords, be distinguished from that which occurs ver. 15, and lay in northern Arabia. The inhabitants were descended from Keturah (Gen. xxv. 3), and were cele- brated for their pastoral habits. Hence the articles with which they are de- scribed as supplying Tyre, were such as their nomadic country and habits fur- nished. ' 21. T\1'^ ''']'OPf thy merchants: ^^ de- noting ])ossession, or occupation. 22. JTSj'tiT i<:i^ , 'Sheba and Raemah, countries in Aratiia abounding in spices, gold, and precious stones. These arti- cles the inhabitants obtained in part from India, and transported them in caravans to Tyi'c. \i.■^{"l3 , with the chief or best spices. Comp. Deut. xxxiii. 15. It was from that region that the queen came to behold the magnificence of Solomon. T(12'13'!3' , tht/ deliverinr/s, i.e. in trathc, one party handing over to another. The word is also used to denote the profits or gains obtained by trading. 23. ')-iri,LXX.Xa^^a,Arab. ^j!^, a city of Mesopotamia, once the dwelling- place of Abraham, and afterwards cele- brated for the defeat of Crassus. f^SS , Canneh, otherwise spelt Calneh, an Assy- rian city situated on the eastern bank of the Tigris, opposite Seleucia, and identical with Ctesiphon of the Greeks. , y?.^. > Eden, was the name of a beautiful valley near Damascus, but occurring here in connection with Haran and Calneh, is in this case to be referred to the same country with them. Whether it is to be identified with the original abode of our first parents may be ques- tioned. We are not authorized by the simple circumstance that the merchants of Sheba are here coupled with those of Haran, Canneh and Eden, to conclude with some expositors that a country in southern Arabia is intended ; since, if we consider the term as including Arabia Deserta, they will be brought into a conterminous position in reference to those countries, and I'egarded as, jointly with the inhabitants of those lands, carrying on trade with Tyre. '^VJX , Assyria, as denoting the countries to the east of the Tigris, comes into its proper place. '^P;? still remains in obscurity. The LXX. Xapixdv. Seholz thinks it was probably the northern part of Media bordering on the Caspian sea; but the name would seem to have been retained in the Kap;tiai/5r/ of Xenophon, which he describes as lying beyond the Eujjhrates, a large and flourishing city ■!r6\is ev5alij.a)v Kal /ueyaAr/. The con- nection of the name with that of Assyria favoi's this conjecture. 24. From these eastern quarters Tyre derived supplies of all kinds of costly and beautiful garments. D'^??3^ , per- fections, the most exquisite articles of finery. D'^aisj , mantles, wide, hanging garments, pallia. Compare the Greek XKafxvi. Koot, 05? 5 to wrap or fold. C'tJii , LXX. Qt)(Tavpovs eK\fKTovs. The word is originally Persic, and signifies treasures, or chests in which they are deposited (Esth. iii. 9). From the con- nection we should infer that precious cloths are here meant. tD''^i'n3 , damask stuffs, consisting of threads of various 152 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXVII. 24-36. 25 and cedars, in thy market. Ships of Tarsliish were thy walls, thy trade : thou wast replenished, thou wast greatly honored, in the heart of the seas. 26 Thy rowers brought thee into great waters : the east wind broke 27 thee in pieces in the heart of the seas. Thy riches and thy markets, thy exchange, thy mariners and thy pilots, thy caulkers, and those who bartered thy barter, and all thy warriors who were in thee, even with all thy collected multitude which was in the midst of thee, shall fall in the heart of the seas in the day 28 of thy fall. At the sound of the cry of thy pilots the suburbs 29 shall shake. And all who handle the oar, seamen, and all the the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships ; they 30 shall stand on the land. And cause their voice to be heard respecting thee, and shall cry bitterly, and throw dust upon 31 their heads, and wallow in ashes. And make themselves bald for thee with great baldness, and gird on sackcloth, and weep for 32 thee in bitterness of soul, with bitter mourning ; And take up a lamentation for thee in their wailing, and lament for thee : Who was like Tyre, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea? 33 When thy wares went forth from the seas, thou didst glut many peoples ; with the multitude of thy riches and thy merchandise thou 34 didst enrich the kings of the earth. Now thyself art broken by the seas in the depths of the waters ; thy merchandise and all thy 35 company are fallen in the midst of thee. All the inhabitants of the coasts shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall colors woven together in figures. Arab. England. They were the glory and S -"' . , ^, ^ , defence of the merchant-city. e,_jjO . vestis ex ittroqiie filo contexta. . „ „ •, , r^ . yr° ' ' -^ 26. All of a sudden Tyre is metaphor- 2.5. The prophet now returns from ically introduced as a ship foundered his enumeration of the various articles at sea. The instrument employed in of commerce with which Tyre enriched effecting her destruction was 0'^'i|3fl H^"i, herself, and the various countries with the east wind, which blowing in a violent which she traded, to commemorate her storm from Lebanon, is the most vehe- fall. But just before entering upon that mcntof all in the Mediterranean. Comp.. part of his subject, he stops for a Ps. xlviii. 8. Of course the reference is moment to advert to her navy, by to Nebuchadnezzar, who is represented which her wares were conveyed to Spain under this figure. and other coasts of the Mediterranean. 27. This specification has the finest Ui'^^'in ni^SX , ships of Tarshish, were effect. The destruction was to be utter comparatively speaking what our India- and irrecoverable. men are in the present day. They are 28-36. Nothing can be more graphic called ni^iy , the ivalls of Tyre, for the than the description here given of the same reason that we speak of our ships universal consternation and mourning of war as the wooden Avails of Old produced by the fall of Tyre. Chap. XXVIII. 1-6.] EZEKIEL. 153 36 greatly shudder at thee, their faces shall tremble. The mer- chants among the peoples shall hiss at thee : thou shalt be au object of extreme terror, and shalt not be any more forever. CHAPTER XXVIII. In this chapter we have a sublime tlirenody on the prince of Tyre, couched in language of tiiekeenest iron) . Ilis fall is tirstof all traced to his insuli'erable pride, wliich is described in the most glowing terms, verses 2-G. His merited punishment is next announced, 7-10. The prophet, in obedience to the divine command, then proceeds to deliver the funeral dirge, exaggerating the dignity and magnilicence of the fallen monarch, with which he contrasts his utter degradation, 11-19. Then follows a prediction announcing the fall of the mother-city, Zidon, 20-23. And the chapter concludes with promises of deliverance to the Jews, and their restoration to prosperity in their own land, 24-26. 1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : Son of man, say 2 to the prince of Tyre : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Forasmuch as thy heart was lifted up, and thou hast said : I am a god ; I sit in the throne of God, in the heart of the seas : (whereas thou art a man, and no god), and hast set thy heart as the heart 3 of God : Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel, nothing secret is 4 hid from thee. By thy wisdom and thine understanding thou hast procured for thyself wealth, and hast gotten gold and silver 5 in thy treasuries. By the greatness of thy wisdom and thy merchandise thou hast increased thy riches, and thy heart was 6 lifted up because of thy riches. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Because thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God, 1. The monarch of Tyre, at the time the state and dignity of Oriental empires, when Ezekiel delivered his prophecy, having not only petty or subordinate was Ithbaal II., whose name has been kings, but one supreme monarch, in preserved in the Phoenician annals, whom concentrated the administration Josephus, contra Apion, § 21, calls him of the affairs of state. The king is, in *166l3a\os. The name is of frequent oc- the present instance, in language of the currcnce in compound proper names of keenest irony, represented as impiously Phoenician and Carthaginian men, and arrogating to himself equality with the indicates that the prince was specially Deity ; as did the king of Babylon addicted to the worship of Baal, the (Isa. xiv. 1.3). The contrast DTX nriXI tutelary god of the Tyrians. He is here PS'Nal. , but thou art a man, and not God, designated T'SJ , prince, for which name is inimitable. Thus was the pride of we have '^^^ , kinri (ver. 12). Consid- his heart checked. ering the vast extent of riches possessed 3-6. Ezekiel ironically ascribes to by the Phoenici.an merchants, it is not Ithbaal a higher degree of wisdom than surprising that they should have emulated that displayed by Daniel, whose fame 154 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXVIII. 6-13. 10 11 12 13 Therefore, behold, I will bring against thee barbarians, the terrible of the nations, and they shall unsheathe their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and shall obscure thy sjilen- dor. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of the slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou still say, I am God, before him that slayeth thee ? seeing thou art a man, and no god, in the hand of him that smiteth thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of barbarians ; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jeliovah. And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying: Son of man, take up a lamentation for the kin* of Tyre, and say to him : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Thou model seal, full of wisdom and of perfect beauty : Thou wast in Eden, the garden of God ; every precious stone was thy covering ; the sardius, the topaz, and the onyx, the chrysolite, the sardonyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the carbuncle, and the smaragd, and gold : the work of thy tabrets and thy pipes was in thee ; they were prepared in had reached the Tyriaii court. Instead of acknowledging him in whose hand is the power to get wealth, he arrogated his vast prosperity entirely to himself, and thereby provoked the indignation of the Most High. 7. D-iia "^S-i-)^ fii-it , foreigners, barba- rians, the terrible ones of the nations, i.e. the Chaldeans, noted for their barbarity. Comp. Isa. i. 7 ; xxv. 2 ; Ezek. xxx. 11; xxxi. 12. 8, 9. Ithbaal should be reduced to a state of the deepest degradation and infamy : his utter helplessness is strongly asserted. CHiTlp , deaths, a peculiar form of the plural, to indicate emphati- cally the most violent death. The death of the king of Tyre is compared to that of those slain in a sea-engagement, and cast into the deep. 10. The uncircumcised are uniformly spoken of by the Jews as objects of contempt and abhorrence : hence the force of the threatening here emjdoyed. 12. For the explanation of ^}'^p. » see the custom referred to in ray Comment. on Jer. ix. 16; Amos v. 16. Such a doleful ditty the prophet was now to pronounce over the king of Tyre. As it was customary on such occasions to reckon up the qualities for which the deceased was distinguished, in order thereby to enhance the greatness of the loss sustained, so Ezokicl begins by lav- ishing his praise of the kingly state of the Tyrian monarch as one of une(juallcd magnificence. f"i"'3rri DH'TI nriX , thou art the seal of perfection. I prefer the pointing Drn , a seal or signet, which is that of some codices and printed editions. We have thus the sul)stantive instead of the participle. LXX. dTro- arcppdyia /xa. Seals were used for the purpose of authenticating or securing anything. When it is said, therefore, that the king was the seal of perfection, the meaning is that he could not be sur- passed in riches, splendor, or power. The sum-total of all that was illustrious concentrated in him. He vindicated to himself all that mortal could pretend to. 1?^ signifies to measure, take an accurate and perfect account of anything ; hence the noun came to signify, in the highest sense, absolute perfection. 13. Not content with a simple declara- Chap. XXVIII. 13-17.] EZEKIEL. 155 14 the day when thou wast created. Thou wast an anointed cherub which coveredst ; and I placed thee on the sacred mount of God : there thou wast ; in the midst of the stones of fire thou 15 walkedst. Thou wast j^erfect in thy ways from the day in which thou wast created until wickedness was found in thee. 16 By the greatness of thy merchandise they filled thy midst with violence, and thou didst sin ; then, from the mount of God, I treated thee as profane, yea, I destroyed thee from the midst of 17 the stones of fire, O cherub which coveredst. Thy heart lifted itself up in thy beauty, thou spoiledst thy wisdom by reason of thy splendor ; I threw thee down on the earth, I placed thee tion to this effect, tlie prophet enters into particulars, and commences by placing the monarch in the primitive abode of man, with which was associated every idea of pleasure and delight. It is quite a lowering of the subject to suggest with Michaclis that he might have had a summer residence in the beautiful valley of the cedars of Lebanon, whither he retired during the hot season of the year. Eden was called tlie garden of God, because it was of his plantation, and formed the delightful scene of his divine manifestations to the first pair. To have been there, conveys the idea of the most distinguished honor and felicity. Taking occasion from his reference to Eden, with which the Bible history connects the existence of bdellium and onyx-stones, Ezekiel, with his usual minuteness, gives a detailed account of the precious gems which adorned the regal state. The nine precious stones here specified correspond to those with the same names in the description of the high priest's breastplate (Exod. xxxix. 10-13). Those composing the third row are omitted in the Hebrew text, which Michaclis ascribes to an error of the copyist ; but they are expressed in that of the LXX. The day of the creation of the king was that of his accession to the throne. It was celebrated, as such occasions usually are, with outbursts of popular rejoicing. 14. The fact of Ezekiel's mind having been led to dwell upon the scene in the Jewish temple, furnishes the key to the words ti51SJl S^l'^S , the cherub that cov- ereth. As the cherubim overshadowed the mercy-seat with their outspread wings, so the king of Tyre is represented as extending his protection to the city and all its interests. His regal position Jehovah vindicates *o himself. Comp. Prov. viii. 16 ; Eom. xiii. 1. He was consecrated to this dignity, as everything connected with the temple was, and was so bespangled with gems that he might be said to walk in the midst of them. ^"^"1'^ ^t!P '^^! 1 the lioltj mountain of God. To this his illimitable ambition aspired. In imagination he occupied Mount Zion, the dwelling-place of the Most High 15-17. The rectitude with which the monarch commenced his reign may be illustrated by a reference to the history of Hiram (1 Kings v. 7) ; but having in process of time become corrupt through the uninterrupted commercial prosperity of the Tyrian state, he indulged in un- scrupulous acts of injustice and cruelty, on account of which merited punishment is here denounced. There is a palpable paronomasia in ?jP2J5^ and "t!!?^- Both roots from which the verbs are derived have the signification in common, to be bright, shine, etc. Pride of heart arising from a consciousness of beauty has a strong tendency to corrupt the under- standing. The royal personage was to loG EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXVIII. 17-23. 18 before kings that they might look at thee. By reason of the multitude of thine iniquities, through the wickedness of thy merchandise thou hast profaned thy sanctuaries ; therefore I will cause fire to come forth out of thy midst, which shall con- sume thee ; and I will reduce thee to ashes upon the ground in 19 the sight of all who behold thee. All who knew thee among the peoples shall be astounded on thine account ; thou shalt be an object of extreme terror, and shalt not be any more forever. 20 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : Son of man, set 21 thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against her, and say: 22 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon, and I will be glorified in the midst of thee, and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I execute judgments in her, and 23 am sanctified in her. And I will send on her pestilence, and blood in her streets, and the slain shall fall in the midst of her by the sword against her round about, and they shall know that be hurled from the summit of his eleva- tion, from which he had looked down with disdain on others, and to be made an example to the great ones of the earth of the nothingness of all earthly grandeur, and the guilt contracted by violence and oppression. For '^^5<'!!? read with one of Kennicott's codices 1 8. Instead of ^^•^'^p^ , thy sanctuaries, forty of Kennicott's and De Rossi's codices read ']'4-!'^p^ > thy sanctuary, in the singular. The sanctuaries of Tyre were the temples erected for the worship of the gods severally acknowledged by the different nations whose merchants frequented her port, and especially Her- cules, the celebrated hero of Grecian mythology. 20-23. The prophet is now commanded to turn for a moment from Tyre, and denounce the divine judgments against the neighboring city of Zidon. Having entered with so much particularity into his description of the fall of the former city, in which that of Zidon might be regarded as virtually implied, it was not necessary to do more than generally to predict the certainty of the divine inflictions. "JIT^^, Zidon, was a very ancient Phoenician city, otherwise famous for its iishery (hence its name from '1^i£ « to hunt Jjsh, etc.), and afterwards for its extcu'ded and flourishing commerce both by sea and land. It became so noted for the manufacture of glass and other articles of luxury, that the ci)ithet Sidonia ars was used by the ancients to denote whatever was elegant or magnificent. According to Strabo, the Zidonians were celebrated for their skill in astronomy, philosophy, navigation, and all the lib- eral arts. Zidon was founded by the first-born of Canaan (Gen. x. 15) ; and was situated, according to Strabo, two hundred stadia to the north of Tyre. Favored by its position on the coast of the Mediterranean, it early became celebrated for its commerce. In the time of Jacob, it is mentioned in connection with shipping (Gen. xlix. 13); and in that of Joshua, it is celebrated as a "great" city, (Josh. xi. 8; xix. 28). It lay within the boundary of the land assigned to the tribe of Asher ; but was never conquered by the Israelites, (Judg. i. 31 ). Its proximity to Lebanon procured it many advantages. At the present day, the town of Saida, Ic\-a.O , a little to the west, occupies its site. It Chap. XXIX. 3.] EZEKIEL. 157 24 I am Jehovah. And there shall no more be a pricking thorn or a nettle occasioning pain to the house of Israel of all who are around them, who treated them with despite, and they shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jeho- 25 vah : AVlien I collect the house of Israel from the peo25les among whom I have scattered them, and am sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, and they shall dwell in their own land 26 which I did give to my servant Jacob : Then shall they dwell in it securely, and build houses, and plant vineyards ; and dwell securely, when I execute judgments upon all who treated them with despite around them ; and they shall know that I am Je- hovah their God. has a fine old ruined tower projecting Niphal, adopted for the purpose of more far into the sea, with a bridge of many forcibly expressing the completeness of arches that was built to reach it. See the destruction which should overtake Robinson's Palestine, iii. 41.5-428. In the Zidonians. Some trace of a paro- Matt. xi. 22, Tyre and Zidon are coupled nomasia may be detected in ^^^ ''^?? • together. 24-26. These cities, which had been We have no authentic historical infor- a constant source of annoyance to their mation relative to the destruction of neighbors, and to none more than to Zidon, but there can be little doubt that the Jews, being rendered powerless, the it was effected by the same Chaldean people of God, restored from Babylon to power which overthrew Tyre. In fact, their own land, should enjoy all their as we have just observed, the destruction ancient pi'ivileges, and all around them be of the one virtually involved that of compelled to ascribe to Jehovah, as their the other. ?^S3 » an emphatic form of covenant God, the glory due to his name. CHAPTER XXIX. This forms the first of four chapters directed against Egj-pt. Pharaoh, a monarch with whom the Hebrews were frequently in contact, is represented as vaunting in the security of his position, when the prophet is commissioned to announce the divine interposition to effect the desolation of his country througliout its whole extent, 1-12. Though after the lapse of forty years the Egyptian people were to be restored to their country, the kingdom was never to emerge from that state of degradation to which it should be reduced, 13-16. The following verses 17-20, distinctly announce the conquest of the country by Kebucbadnezzar ; and the chapter concludes with a promise of future pros- perity to the Jews, 21. 1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the 2 month, the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying: Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, yea, prophesy 3 against him, and against all Egypt. Speak, and say : Thus saith 3, i^S'^Q , Pharaoh, was a general time of the Persian conquest. A more name of the kings of Egypt down to the appropriate emblem of these kings could U 158 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXIX. 3-13 . the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I am against thee, O Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great sea-monster that croucheth in the midst of his rivers, who saith : My river is mine, and I made it for my- 4 self. But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and will cause the fish of thy rivers to cleave to thy scales, and will bring thee up from the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall cleave 5 to thy scales ; And I will thrust thee forth into the desert, both thee and all the fish of thy rivers ; upon the surface of the field thou shalt fall, thou shalt not be gathered up nor collected; I have given thee to the wild beast of the earth and to the birds 6 of heaven for food. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am Jehovah, because they were a staft of reed to 7 lean upon to the house of Israel. When they laid hold of thee by thy hand, thou wast broken, and thou didst cleave for them the entire shoulder ; and when they leaned upon thee, thou wast 8 broken, and all their loins were put out of joint. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I will bring a sword 9 upon thee, and will cut oiF from thee man and beast. And the land of Egypt shall become desolate and waste ; and they shall know that I am Jehovah ; because he said : the river is mine, 10 and I made it. Therefore, behold, I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt most desolate and waste from Migdol unto Syene, and unto the border of Cush. 11 No foot of man shall pass through her, neither shall foot of beast pass through her, and she shall not be dwelt in for forty 12 years. And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of desolate countries ; and her cities in the midst of deso- late cities ; they shall be desolate forty years. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them 13 among the countries. Yet thus saith the Lord Jehovah : At the end of forty years, I will gather the Egyptians from the not have been selected than that of 0*^20 , of the crocodile, resembling as they do by which we are to understand the croc- the plates of a coat of mail. Continuing odile, the terrible sea-monster inhabiting his emblematical allusion, the prophet the Nile, whose usual size is about represents Jehovah as dragging up the eighteen or twenty feet in length, l)ut monster with a hook, while attendant sometimes from thirty to forty. This shoals adhere to his scales for shelter, animal occurs on Koman coins as cm- 6, 7. All the alliances which the Jews blematical of Egypt. The D'^^I^'^. > i-ivcrs, formed with Egypt proved fruitless and were the branches into which the Nile noxious. Comp. Isa. xxx. 1-5 ; 2 Kings was divided, and to which the countr}' xviii. 21. was indebted for its fertility. D'^'^p'i^p 8-13. The sword which God threatens are appropriately descriptive of the scales to bring upon the king of Egypt was CnAP. XXIX. 13-20.1 EZEKIEL, 159 14 peoples whither they were scattered. And I will reverse the captivity of the Egyptians, and restore them to the laud of Pathros, to the land of their nativity ; and they shall be there a 15 base kingdom. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms, and shall not exalt itself any more over the nations. And I will diminish 16 them, that they may not have dominion among the nations. And they shall no more be an object of confidence to the house of Israel, causing iniquity to be remembered, while they turn after them; and they shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah. 17 And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, on the first of the mouth, that the word of Jehovah that of Nebuchadnezzar. Comp. verses 1 8-20. ^i'n?T3 , Miridul, and ^ID" D , Scvene, Strabo 'Zvr,vr], were cities at the two extremities of Egypt ; the former a few miles to the north of Suez in Lower Egypt; and the Litter near the modern city of Asevan, towards Nubia, celebrated for its ruins of temples and palaces. The period of forty years is supposed to include that from the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar till she shook off the Babylonian yoke in the time of Cyrus. Some interpreters are of opinion that the years are not to be taken literally, but consider the language as hyperbolical. Fairbairn thinks that the prophecy is to be taken in a historico- ideal sense, and illustrates it by reference to the explanation he gives of chap. iv. Whatever thei-e may be in this argument, or in the absence of strict chronological data in support of a simply literal sense, there is nothing in the circumstances of the case to warrant our absolute rejection of the latter. History so nearly quad- rates with the language of the prophet, that little account is to be made of a few years more or less. 14, 15. Far Pathros see Comment, on Isa. xi. 11. On the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, the Egyptians who with others were captives in that country, were set at liberty. The prediction that Egypt was to be the basest of kingdoms is not to be pressed so as to make it clash with the present condition of that country. It was sufficiently fullillcd in its con- tinuance for so many centuries in such depressed circumstances as not to entitle it to be ranked with the ancient mon- archies of the earth. It was never again to become a basis of confidence to the Jews. They should no longer hanker after protection from it, and thereby enhance the guilt anciently contracted by their fathers. Under Amasis, it was greatly reduced. It was still more humbled under Cambyses, by whom it was conquered ; and none of its attempts to recover itself under the Persian mon- archy succeeded. Nor has it, amid all the changes to which its affairs have since been subject, ever acquired any- thing in the shape of supremacy over otiier nations of the earth. Even in the present day, notwithstanding all that has been done for it by the Pashas, it still retains marks of inferiority. A period of nearly seventeen years intervened between the delivery of the preceding prophecy and that which fol- lows, but they are thrown together in the canon as relating to the same subject. 17-20. It is not to be inferred from these verses that Nebuchadnezzar was unsuccessful in his attack upon Tyre. All that can fairly be inferred from them is, that the spoils which he gained on that occasion were considered a very inadequate remuneration to him and his army for the vast expenditure of time and strength which it had cost him. 160 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XXX. 1-4. 18 came unto me, saying : Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, caused his army to serve with great service against Tyre : every head was bald, and every shoulder made bare, while there was no pay to him and his army from Tyre, for the 19 service which he served against her. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I will give to Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, the land of Egypt ; and he shall take away her multi- tude, and her spoil, and her prey, and she shall be pay for his 20 army. As his wages for what he served against her, I have given him the land of Egypt, because they wrought for me, 21 saith the Lord Jehovah. In that day I will cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud ; and I will give thee an opening of the mouth in the midst of them ; end they shall know that I am Jehovah. Jehovah, whose work he had performed, rule, the Jews were to be restored to here promises to recompense him M'ith tlieir own hind, and full liberty was to the conquest of Egypt. On breaking be given to the prophet to exercise his up from Tyre he proceeded to that ministry among them. Sacred history country, which he found so distracted is silent relative to the last days of by internal commotions, that he easily Ezekiel, but there is nothing that mili- devastated and made himself master of tates against the supposition that he the whole land. returned with his fellow-countrymen 21. While Egypt was subject to eastern from Babylon. CHAPTER XXX. A second prophecy against Egypt, consisting of two parts, the first, verses 1-19, containing detailed predictions relative to the desolations which should overtake different parts of the country. The second part, 20-26, contains a repetition of the prophetic announce- ments of the coming judgments in more general terms. 1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying: Son of man, 2 prophesy and say : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Howl ye ! 3 alas, for the day ! For the day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near, a day of clouds : it shall be the time of the nations. 4 For the sword shall come against Egypt, and great pangs shall be in Cush, when the slain fall in Egypt, and they take away 1-3. The judgments to be inflicted were to overtake all the enemies of God should be so tremendous in their char- and of his people. acter, that they were calculated to 4. rtnpH is rendered doubly em- produce feelings of the greatest alarm, phatic by the repetition of the syllable, not in the minds of the Egyptians only, The word is derived from 310 , which but in other heathen nations. They signifies to be in pangs as in childbirth. Chaf. XXX. 5-10.] EZEKIEL. 161 10 11 12 her multitude, and her foundations are torn up. Cush, and Put, and Lud, and all the mixed people, and Chub, and the sons of the land of the covenant, with them they shall fall by the sword. Thus saith Jehovah : The supports of Egypt shall fall, and the pride of her strength shall come down ; from Migdol unto Syene they shall fall in her by the sword, saith the Lord Jehovah. And they shall be desolate, in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and its cities shall be in the midst of wasted cities. And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I set a fire in Egyj^t, and all her helpers are destroyed. At that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to terrify secure Cush, and great pain shall be upon them, as in the day of Egypt ; for, behold, it cometh. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Then I will make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon. He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land ; and they shall unsheathe their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with slain. And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the country into the hand of the wicked, and wall make desolate the land and her fulness by the hand of barbarians : I 5. For IIJIS , Cush, see Comment, on Isa.xi. 11. For U^S ,P«t, on Jer.xlvi.9. For I^P , LycUa, on Isa. Ixvi. 19. By 2"!!? we are to understand a mixed mass of foreigners, most probably from the interior of Africa, who served in the Egyptian army. Comp. Exod. xii. 38 ; Jer. XXV. 20, 24. Where S^lS , Chub, Lay, has been much disputed. It appears to have been unknown to the translators of the LXX., for they have nothing cor- responding to the word in their version. Michaelis is of opinion, that the name is to be found in Kuhe, a mercantile city on the Indian Ocean, described by ancient geographers as lying on the eighth degree of north latitude. The Arabic version reads iS>^ykj\ JjO? , the inhabitants of Nubia, which has been thought to be supported by 3123 , the primary reading of one of De Rossi's MSS. ; but Nubia is always expressed in Hebrew by 013 , Cush. ■{'"IX "^i^ T\'^'^2^ , the sons of the land of the cove- 14* nant, cannot well be otherwise ex- plained than as signifying the Jews, who carried Jeremiah the prophet into Egypt, and who had taken up their abode there. Even they were not to escape. 6-8. Egypt was to share the fate of the other countries that had been con- quered by Nebuchadnezzar. She and her auxiliaries were to be involved in one common destruction. 9. The Ethiopians, lying beyond the cataracts of the Nile, might deem them- selves secure from the attack of the invader, but they also should not escape. Messengers were to be despatched by skiffs on the Nile as far as navigable, to announce the irruption of the Chaldeans. Comp. Isa. xviii. 2. 01 j^? Q'^"'2J > as the day of Egypt. A similar judgment should overtake the Ethiopians to that which was to be inflicted on the Egyp- tians. 10. The multitude, refers to the then existing population, which, according to 162 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XXX. 12-18. 13 Jehovah have spoken it. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : I will also destroy the idols, and cause the gods of nought to cease from Noph, and there shall be no more a prince of the land of 14 Egypt ; and I will set fear in the land of Egypt. And I will devastate Pathros, and set fire in Zoan, and will execute judg- 15 ments in No. And I will pour out my fury upon Sin, the 16 fortress of Egypt, and cut off Ilaman No. And when I set fire in Egypt, Sin shall be in great pain, and No shall be broken in 17 upon, and Noph shall be in daily distress. The youths of Aven and Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword, and the women shall go 18 into captivity. And in Tahpenhes the day shall become dark, when I break there the sceptres of Egypt ; and the pride of her strength shall cease in her ; as for herself a cloud shall cover 19 her, and her daughters shall go into captivity. And I will exe- cute my judgments on Egypt, and they shall know that I am Jehovah. 20 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh of the month, that the word of Jehovah came unto 21 me, saying : Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt ; and, behold, it shall not be bound up by giving medicines, laying on a bandage to bind it and strengthen it, that it may handle the sword. all the accounts of the ancients, must was regarcled as the key to the country. have been very great. 16. woi^ "'t^?' enemies daily, i.e. day 12. Comp. Isa. xix. 5-10. The drying after day, perpetually, till the city, how- up of the canals of the Nile would ever obstinate might be her resistance, greatly facilitate the conquest of the should be taken. country by the invading army. 17. 'j.']^ > Aven, On, or IleliopoUs, cele- 13. C|3 ,iVo/j/i, i.e. Memphis, the ancient bratcd for its temple of the sun, hence capital of Middle Egypt, and the chief called Bethshemesh by the Hebrews, city of her gods. See Comment, on Comp. Jer. xliii. 13. It lay a few miles Isa. xix. 13. north of Memphis on the eastern bank 14,15. "ji'lS ,Zban, one of the principal of the Nile. nD3""'Q , Pi-beseth, the cities of Lower Egypt, and a royal resi- pi-incipal city of the region of Bubastis, dence of the Pharaohs. See Comment, whose temple attracted vast numbers of on Isa. xix. 11. It would be one of the people to its festivals. Though entirely first places attacked by Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed, the fine granite stones which 6*3 ,A^o,Diospolis, or Thebes, the ancient mark its site confirm the account given metropolis of Upper Egypt, the splendid by Herodotus of its ancient magnificence, ruins of which, as exhibited by Wilkin- 18. DnpSHri , Tahpenhes, a strongly son, are such as to excite the greatest fortified frontier-city, near Pelusium. astonishment. T'P » Sin, i.e. Pelusium, See Comment, on Isa. xxx. 4 ; Jer. ii. 16. situated on the north-eastern frontier LXX.Ta^^rj, Daphne. niJ^, if pointed of Egypt, which having been strongly Ti'ili'O , will signify sceptres; if PltJa, fortified, and surrounded by marshes, yokes. Either meaning will well suit Chap. XXXI. 2.] E Z E K I E L . 163 22 Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jelrovah: Behold, I am against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and I will break his arms, the strong one, and the broken one, and will cause the sword to fall out of 23 his hand. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, 24 and disperse them through the countries : And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword into his hand ; and I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he shall groan before him with the groauings of one who is deadly wounded. 25 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall ; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I give my sword into the hand of the king of 26 Babylon, and he shall stretch it over the land of Egypt. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them in the countries, that they may know that I am Jehovah. the connection, hut the former would Euphrates were taken from the Egyp- seem the preferable. tians, his strength was now to be com- 22-26, III addition to the victories pletcly broken. His armies were to be gained by Nebuchadnezzar over Pharaoh- so totally annihilated as to be unable to Necho, by which the conquests of the engage any more in war against the latter from the river of Egypt to the conqueror. CHAPTER XXXI. In this chapter, which was delivered two months later than the prophecy contained in the coucluding part of that which precedes, we have one of the most finished and beautiful specimens of Ezekiel's composition. In order to furnish a palpable exhibition of the awful catastrophe which awaited the Eg-yptian monarchy, the prophet gives a striking parabolic description of the Assyrian empire in its most flourishing state, comparing it to one of the majestic trees of Lebanon, on the glory of which he expatiates with the richest luxuriance, 1-9. He then by a sudden transition depicts the precipitation of the king of Nineveh from the proud position which he had held among the monarchs of the earth, and thereby foreshadows the fate of Pharaoh, who was to be delivered into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, 10-18. 1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first of the month, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, 2 saying: Son of man, say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to his 2. The prophet was to commence with throughout of Egypt, but snch an opinion a direct address to Pharaoh, which he is not in keeping with the tenor of the accordingly does by introducing his parable. It is mei'cly a momentary beautiful parable. From the circum- divarication indicative of the application stance that the address is changed at on which it was to be made to tell, the tenth verse into the second person, That by f^N , ver. 3, we are to under- some have concluded that Ezekiel speaks stand the cedar, and not the pine or tho 154 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXXI. 2-1 0. 3 multitude : Wliom art thou like in thy greatness ? Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, of beautiful branches, and giving thick shade, and lofty of stature, and his top was amoiig 4 thick boughs. The waters made him great, the abyss made him high, flowing with its streams around his jilantation, and 5 sent forth its rivulets to all the trees of the field. Therefore his height was greater than all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because 6 of the many waters which he sent forth. In his boughs all the fowls of heaven made their nests, and under his branches all the beasts of the field brought forth their young, and in his shadow 7 dwelt all great nations. And he was beautiful in his greatness, in the length of his branches, because his root was towards 8 many waters. The cedars in the garden of God did not hide him, the cypresses were not comparable to his boughs, and the plane-trees were not as his branches ; no tree in the garden of 9 God was comparable to him in his beauty. I made him beauti- ful in the largeness of his branches, and all the trees of Eden 10 envied him, which were in the garden of God. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Because thou wast so high in stature, and he set his top among the thick boughs, and his heart was juniper, the nature of the case before us the Tigris with its branches and canals, absolutely requires. No tree is more which irrigated the Assyrian empire, remark.nble for the magnificence of its They are parabolically represented as appearance, and no object could have supplying nourishment to its roots, since been more appropriately selected to set they afforded protection to all the sur- forth the surpassing glory of the king of rounding countries. Assyria, than the cedar of Lebanon. It 8, 9. As in his portraiture of Tyre, is generally from fifty to eighty feet high, the prophet had recourse to the garden and the diameter of the space covered of Eden, than which nothing surpassing by its branches is much greater than its was to be conceived, so he represents height. No tree equals it in tallness, the monarch of Nineveh as so greatly symmetry, and bulk. Such had been excelling the goodliest of its trees, that the mighty monarch of the Assyrian they might be said to have envied him. empire, that none of the great ones of The irony here is the keenest imagin- the earth could for a moment compare able. with him. 10. Ezekiel would seem here to have 3-7. The reference being to Assyria, fallen out of his parable, and by antici- there is no necessity, with Michaelis, to pation to have applied it to the king of cast about in search of rivers on mount Egypt ; bixt the change of person may Lebanon corresponding to the description be accounted for by his having mentioned here given. Assuredly there is nothing him at verse 2, and his keeping him deserving the name of fiiinn , abijss, to prominently in his eye, though the direct be found there. The language is ap- application of the parable was reserved propriately descriptive of the waters of for verse 18. Chap. XXXI. 11-18.] EZEKIEL. 165 11 lifted up in his height: Therefore I have delivered him into the hand of a mighty one of the nations ; he shall assuredly deal 12 with him; according to his wickedness I drove him out: And strangers, the terrible ones of the nations, shall cut him off, and thrust him forth ; on the mountains and in all the valleys his branches shall fall, and his boughs shall be broken in all the channels of the earth ; and all the peoples of the earth shall 13 come down from his shadow, when they thrust him forth. On his fallen mass all the fowls of heaven shall dwell, and upon his 14 branches shall be all the beasts of the field. In order that none of all the trees by the waters may exalt themselves in their growth, nor shoot up their top among the thick boughs, and that none that drink water may remain beside them in their height, for all of them are delivered over to death beneath the earth, among the sons of men who have gone down to the pit. 15 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : On the day of his descent into Sheol, I will cause mourning : on his account, I will cover the abyss, and withhold its rivers, and great waters shall be re- strained ; and I will cause Lebanon to mourn for him, and all 16 the trees of the field shall be covered with darkness. At the sound of his fall I made the nations to shake, when I brought him down into Sheol, with them that go down to the pit, and all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, all that drink water shall console themselves in the nether parts of the 17 earth. They also shall descend with him into Sheol, to the slain with the sword ; and his arm that dwelt in his shadow in 18 the midst of the nations. Whom art thou thus like in glory, and in greatness, among the trees of Eden ? yet shalt thou be 11-17. It makes no difference as to the fall of Nineveh is I'cpresentecl as so the sense, whether we read 5X or P'^H : tremendous that the nations shook to both signify a mighti/ or strong one. For their centre ; and all the chief princes '13'Tl.""i2l upwards of fifty-eight codices of the earth that had been her auxiliaries, and several of the older and many other together with those in inferior stations editions read 12>'i!'^3 , which has the who had enjoyed her protection, are support of the Syriac and Vulgate ver- presented to our view as descending into sions. The Assyrian monarch, whose Hades, the common receptacle of the fall is here so graphically described, was dead. Comp. Isa. xiv. 9-11. Sardanapalus. The subversion of his 18. Ezekiel now directly applies his mighty empire Avas so complete, that it sublime parable, showing that though the might well be appealed to as an example figurative description set forth the mag- from which all other nations might take nificence and ruin of the king of Assyria, warning. It should occasion universal the prophet had in his eye the Egyptian lamentation. The crash produced by monarch, whom a similar fate awaited. 166 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XXXII. 2-8. brought down with the trees of Eden to the nether parts of the earth : in tlie midst of the uncircumcised thou shalt lie with the slain by the sword : this is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord Jehovah. CHAPTER XXXII. The prophet, not satisfied with depicting in language of surpassing force and elegance the pride and downfall of Egypt, as shadowed forth by those of the Assyrian empire, now presents the same subject in a different form. The chapter consists of two parts : the first, comprising verses 1-16, contains another prophetic ode, in which, under the bold images of a lion and a crocodile tliat had committed awful devastation among the nations, but which had been taken and slain, the prowess and downfall of the monarch of the Nile are strikingly exhibited. In the remainder of the chapter, verses 17-82, Pharaoh and the mighty heads of the nations that had fallen in war are presented to view in the unseen world, each in his gloomy mansion, all combining to augment the terror which the fate of Pharaoh was calculated to inspire. 1 And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, 2 saying: Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and say to him : Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and as a sea-monster in the seas, and thou didst break forth in thy rivers, and puddle the waters with thy feet, and 3 trample their rivers. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : I will spread my net over thee in the collection of many peoples, and 4 they sliall draw thee up in my net. And I will dash thee on the ground, and cast thee headlong in the open field, and will make all the fowls of heaven to settle ujion thee, and will 5 satiate the wild beasts of the whole earth with thee. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with 6 thy height. And I will saturate the land to the mountains with the inundation of thy blood, and they shall fill the channels 7 with thee. And in extinguishing thee I will cover the heavens, and make the ^tars thereof dark ; I will cover the sun with a 2. It was usual Avith the Orientals to of Ejjj^pt by the Chaldeans. Compare compare a king to the lion ; in addition chap. xxix. 3, 4. fi^^'^ is properly ren- to which, Pharaoh is here compared to dercd hehjht in the common version, and the crocodile, the most formidable marine is descriptive of the immense size of the monster in tlie Nile. crocodile, viewed as reaching up the 3-6. The scene of the capture of the sides of the valleys, crocodile, by a multitude of people as- 7, 8. Here the imageiy is borrowed semblcd on the bank of the river, graph- from the extinguishing of the luminaries ically represents the seizure of the king of heaven. 1^33 signifies to go out or be Chap. XXXII. 8-20.] E Z E K I E L . 167 8 cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. All the shining lights of the heavens I will clothe with blackness, on thy account, 9 and make it dark over thy land, saith the Lord Jehovah. And I will trouble the heart of many peoples when I bring thy breach among the nations in lands which thou knewest not. 10 And I will cause many people to be amazed at thee, and their kings shall be violently agitated at thee, when I brandish my sword in their sight, and they shall tremble every moment, each 11 for his own life in the day of thy fall. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah ; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon 12 thee. By the swords of heroes I will cause thy multitude to fall, all of them the terrible of the nations ; and they shall destroy the pride of Egypt, and all her multitude shall be 13 destroyed. And I will destroy all her cattle from the many waters, and the foot of man shall not puddle them any more, 14 neither shall the hoofs of cattle puddle them. Then I will cause their waters to subside, and make their rivers to flow like oil, 15 saith the Lord Jehovah. When I make the land of Egypt desolate, and the land is laid waste of her fulness, when I smite all the inhabitants therein, then they shall know that I am 16 Jehovah. It is a lamentation, and the daughters of the nations shall utter it, they shall utter it, for Egypt and all her multitude they shall utter it, saith the Lord Jehovah. 17 And it came to pass in the twelfth month, on the fifteenth of the 18 month, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying: Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cause her and the daughters of splendid nations to descend to the nether parts of 19 the earth, with those who go down to the pit. By whom wast thou surpassed in beauty? descend, and lie with the uncir- 20 cumcised. In the midst of the slain with the sword they shall fall : she is delivered to the sword : drag her along and all her queixched. The consequence of the dis- entirely cease, so that there would be appearanceof Pharaoh from the political nothing to disturb the peaceful flow of horizon would be universal gloom. the Nile. 9, 10. The report carried among the 16. Females were distinguished as nations by the scattered Egyptians would mourners among the Egyptians, as they be productive of the greatest constcrna- still arc in the East. To this custom tion. the prophet has been here supposed to 12. The magnificent ruins of the eel- allude ; but by ni33 , damjhters, I should ebrated temples and cities of Egypt rather suppose he means cities, as PS testify to this day to the fulfilment of ^^^, dan i/hter of Babel, 't'^'i^'^ r^,daugh- the prophecy. ter of Zklon. 13,14. Commerce and pasturing should 17-20. The number of the month is 168 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XXXII. 20-32. 21 multitudes. The strongest of hei'oes shall speak with him from the midst of Sheol, with those who helped him ; they shall descend, they shall lie down, the uncircumcised, slain with the 22 sword. There is Assyria and all her company ; round about him are his graves ; all of them slain, the fallen by the sword ; 23 Who have placed their graves in the sides of the pit, and her company is round her grave, all of them slain, follen by the 24 sword, who caused their terror in the land of the living. There is Elam and all her multitude around her grave, all of them slain who had fallen by the sword, that have descended uncir- cumcised to the lowest parts of the earth, that caused their terror in the land of the living ; and bear their reproach with 25 those who go down to the pit. In the midst of the slain have they placed a bed for her, with all her multitude ; her graves are round about him ; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword ; though they caused their terror in the land of the living, they also bear their reproach with those who go down to the 26 pit; they are placed in the midst of the slain. There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude, her graves are round about him ; all of them uncircumcised, pierced by the sword, though they 27 caused their terror in the laud of the living. Shall they not lie with heroes that have fallen, of the uncircumcised who have gone down to Sheol, with their weapons of war ? and their swoi'ds were laid under their heads ; and their iniquities on their bones, though they were the terror of heroes in the land here omitted, but it is generally allowed 21-32. The change in the gender of to have been the twelfth, and that the the pronouns, in these and some other command was given fourteen days after parts of the prophecy, has been satis- the preceding vision. Ezekiel is here factorily accounted for on the principle charged to compose a funereal dirge, to that now the prophet has the monarch be sung at the interment of Egypt, which in his ej-c, and now the nation, — a cir- in common with the most celebrated cumstance which is not without its nations of antiquity was to be laid low parallels in Hebrew composition. To in Sheol. The prophet is commanded aggravate the condition of Pharaoh in to do what he was to predict should be Sheol, the representatives of the prin- done, ver. 18. How cutting the ironical cipal nations of antiquity with which interrogation : " By whom wast thou the Jews were brought into contact are surpassed in beauty?" The humiliation enumerated as each occupying his ap- should be complete. " Down into the propriate niche, but principally Assyria region of the shades ! There thou wilt surrounded by the slain of his people, find befitting companions who will ad- For him is allotted the remotest comer dress thee, not in the language of com- of the dark abode. Elam, which formed _ miseration, but in that of taunt." Comp. partoftheancientPersian empire, follows Isa. xiv. 9, 10. next iu succession, that people having Chap. XXXII. 26-32.] EZEKIEL. 169 28 of the living. Thou also shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and thou shalt lie Avith the slain by the sword. 29 There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, who notwith- standing their might are laid with the slain by the sword : they lie with the uncircumcised and with those who descend to the 30 pit. There are the anointed of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, who have descended with tlie slain notwithstand- ing their terror, ashamed of their might ; they also shall lie uncircumcised with the slain by the sword ; and they shall bear 31 their reproach with those who go down to the pit. Then shall Pharaoh behold ; he shall be comforted for all his multitvide, slain with the sword, Pharaoh and all his host, saith the Lord Jehovah. 32 Surely I set my terror in the land of the living, and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised, with the slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord Jehovah. been mighty warriors, and specially distinguished as bowmen, Isa. xxii. 6. Their destruction by Nebuchadnezzar was predicted by Jeremiah, xlix. 34-38. 26, 28. The northern Asiatic nations are introduced, to show that they were not to be exempted from the general destruction. With Hiivernick and Fair- bairn I understand the negative at the beginning of ver. 27, interrogatively — " shall they not lie ? " otherwise there would be no consistency between this and the following verses. There is here an allusion to the custom of the ancients, whereby they interred along with dis- tinguished warriors, the armor they had worn (Diod. Sic. lib. 18). Though honored in Sheol with their swords under their heads, it told to their disgrace, because of the terror which they had spread by their savage incursions into more southern regions. 29. Idumea was governed not only by kings, but also by C^X"'b3 , princes, who exercised a subordinate authority in separate provinces. They were the indomitable enemies of the Jews. For specific prophecies against that country, see Isa. xxxiv. 5, 10-17 ; Jer. xlix. 13-18. Dr'n*1355 , notirithstandlnfj their might. 3 , nonobstantr'. See Isa. xlvii. 9. ' 30. The liS:j ^3"'03 , princes of the 15 north, as distinguished from the other potentates, and occurring as they here do in connection with the Zidonians, must be taken as signifying those of Damascus, Syria, Ilamath, etc. (•Lwj Shain, the name by which Syria is still known among the Arabs, properly sig- nifies the country on the left hand, or the north, as Yemen does the south. These were also to be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, previous to his conquest of Egypt. The prophet beholds them in Sheol, ashamed of their heroism which had spread terror among their con- temporaries. 31, 32. Finally, Pharaoh himself is introduced into the scene as consoling himself over his own destruction and that of his vast populatiom with the thought, that they were not the only sufferers, but had merely shared the fate of many other kings and nations. This of course is the language of irony. He should experience, that however great might have been the terror inspired by their murderous deeds of war, that which was to be expected from the inflictions of Jehovah would far exceed it. For in'^nn , his terror, the Keri has the reading, '^n'^nn , nvj terror, which better suits the connection. 270 EZEKIEL. fCHAP. XXXIII. 1-20. CHAPTER XXXIII. Ezekiel, having reviewed the hostile nations around and predicted their downfall, returns now to his own people. The first nine versos contain little else than a repetition of chap. iii. 17-21. They set forth in solemn and awful language the duty of a watchman, and are highly deserving of the serious and constant consideration of all Christian teachers. Tlio prophet is then instructed what reply to give to the impious cavils of his unhelieving countrymen, and how to vindicate the impartiality cf the divine conduct in punishing them, 10-20. This he gives in language for the most part parallel to that employed chap, xviii., where the same subject is treated of. The jirophot, having re- ceived information of the destruction of Jerusalem, proceeds to announce that the whole country of Israel should be involved in the calamity, 21-29. Before closing he is charged to deliver a solemn message to such Jev.'s as professedly took delight in listening to his words, but refused to comply with their requirements, 30-33. 1 Again the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : Son of man, 2 speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them : When I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a 3 man of their coasts, and appoint him for their watchman ; And he seeth the sword coming against the land, and bloweth the 4 trumpet, and warneth the people : Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning, and the sword shall come and take him away, his blood shall be on his own 5 head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but took not warn- ing ; his blood shall be upon him ; but he that taketh warning 6 delivereth his soul. But the watchman who shall see the sword come, and shall not blow the trumpet, and the people is not warned, and the sword shall come and shall take away a person from them, he shall be taken away in his iniquity ; but his blood 7 will I require at the watchman's hand. So thou, Son of man, I have set thee a watchman to the house of Israel ; hear therefore 8 the word from my mouth and warn them from me. When I say to the wicked : O wicked man, thou shalt surely die ; and thou speakest not to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked one shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thy 9 hand. And thou, when thou warnest the wicked of his way to turn him from it, and he turneth not from his way, he shall die 1-6. It was customary to have a 2. Dfl'^Sp. This form is only ap- watchman stationed on a tower or a parcntly plural, there being no such mountain, whence he could command an absolute as D"^^i5 to which to refer the extensive view, so that, when the country word. was threatened with invasion, he might 7-20. An application of the reference by blowing a trumpet or lighting a to the watchman to the prophet's own beacon give timely warning. Compare case. His appointment, however, was Isa. xxi. 6-10; Hab. ii. 1. much more solemn, since it had not Chap. XXXIII. 20-21 .] E Z E K I E L . 171 10 in his iniquity, but thou hast deUvered thy soul. And thou, sou of man, speak to the house of Israel : Thus ye speak, saying : Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we pine 11 away in them : how then should we live ? Say unto them : As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live ; turn ye, turn ye from your wicked ways, for why will ye 12 die, O house of Israel? And thou, son of man, say unto the children of thy people : The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his sin ; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it in the day of his turning from his wickedness ; and as for the righteous, he shall not be 13 able to live by it in the day when he sinneth. When I say unto the righteous, he shall surely live, and he trusteth in his right- eousness, and committeth iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered, but he shall die for his iniquity which he hath 14 committed. And when I say to the wicked. Thou shalt surely die, and he turneth from his sin, and doeth that which is just 15 and right : If the wicked restore the pledge, make good that which he hath robbed, walk in the statutes of life without com- 16 mitting iniquity, he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of all his sins whicli he hath committed shall be mentioned against him : he hath done that which is just and right ; he shall surely 17 live. Yet the children of thy people say : The way of the Lord 18 is not equal ; but as for them, their way is not equal. When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, 19 he shall die thereby. And when the wicked turneth from his wickedness, and doeth that which is just and right, he shall live 20 thereby. Yet ye say : The way of the Lord is not equal : I will judge you, every man according to his ways, O house of Israel ! 21 And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, that one who had escaped been derived from the people, but from takcnplace(comp. Jcr.xxxix. 2; lii.5,G), God. To him he was responsible for it must be remembered that the person the fidelity with which he discharged who conveyed it, may not have been the duties of his prophetical office. specially delegated for that purpose, or 21. Strange as it may at first sight he may have tarried at different places appear, that the intelligence relative to on the road, afraid to advance into the the capture of Jerusalem should not enemy's country. If, with eight codices, have reached the banks of the Chebar and the Syriac, we read '^'!?'9? ''k!'^^^ i till a year and a half after the event had in the eleventh, the communication would 172 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XXXIH. 21-29. 22 from Jerusalem came to me, saying : The city is smitten. And the hand of Jehovah was upon me in the evening before he that had escaped came ; and he opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning ; yea, he opened my mouth, and I was no no longer dumb. 23 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : Son of man, the 24 inhabitants of those wastes of the land of Israel speak, saying: Abraham was one, and he inherited the land, but we are many, 25 the land is given to us for an inheritance. Wherefore speak unto them : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood ; and 26 ye would inherit the land ! Ye stand upon your sword, ye commit abomination, and each defileth the wife of his neighbor ; 27 yet ye would inherit the land ! Thus shalt thou say unto them : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : As I live, those who fall by the sword in the wastes, and those who are in the open field, I will give to the wild beast for food, and those who are in the strong- 28 holds and in the caves shall die of pestilence. And I will make the land desolate and waste, and the pride of her strength shall cease, and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate without any 29 one passing through. And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I make the land desolate and waste for all the abominations have reached Ezckiel in less than six inheritance in virtue of their relation months after the event happened. This to Abraham. They maintain that the change in the text, however, may have grant was not made for his sole use, but originated in a desire to lessen the dif- for that of his numerous posterity, and ficulty. At all events we may notice, that therefore they, as left behind in that we have no recorded prophecy of the countr}^, had a right to the enjoyment Ezekiel dating at any period within the of it. year and a half intervening between the 25-29. On the ground of their wicked end of the siege and the period assigned character, Ezekiel utterly rcjnidiatcs the in the common version for the announce- legitimacyof their claim. Cll^'bsJ ?3N , ment of it to the exiles. to eat with the blood, means to eat flesh 22. The prophet is particular in speci- that had not been separated from the fying the time when he received the blood, which was contrary to the law following communication, thereby inti- (Levit. xix. 26). The preposition has mating that he was not indebted for it here the idea of accompaniment, as to the arrival of him who had escaped D"'5a"?y BX , the mother with the children, from Jerusalem, but that it had been (Gen.xxxii. 12). Michaelis is of opinion made to him directly from heaven, that there is here a reference to the ^"'c^D marks definitely the individual drinking of blood as an act of idolatrous who had brought the intelligence. worship, a custom very common in Asia. 23, 24. The Israelites who had been The construction put upon the phrase left amid the desolations of the land, are by Spencer (De Legg. Heb. ii. 11), introduced as laying claim to it as their making it to refer to the eating of the Chap. XXXIII. 26-33.] EZEKIEL. 173 30 they have committed. But thou, son of man, the children of thy people are talking of thee by the walls and in the porches of the houses, and speak one to another, and each to his brother, saying: Come now, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from 31 Jehovah. Yea, they come to thee as the people come, and sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but will not do them ; for they make loves with their mouth, but their heart 32 goeth after their covetousness. And, behold, thou art to them as a song of loves of one who has a sweet voice, and playeth well upon an instrument. But they hear thy words, but do 33 them not. And when it cometh, behold it cometh, then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them. blood of animals slain in connection with magical rites, is entirely groundless. 26. ?? ^"OV , to stand upon, is a phrase signifying here to depend upon the sword as a means of defence. It is declared in the following verse, that the very object of their confidence should become the instrument of their destruc- tion. 30-33. Instead of seriously laying to heart the words of the Lord, delivered by his servant the prophet, the Jews on the Chebar made him the object of merriment and derision. While pi'e- tending to be deeply affected by his messages, and encouraging each other to listen to them, their hearts were as completely as ever estranged from their covenant God. 3 "i?"! , signifies here to 15* speak concerning, and not against, as it is rendered in the common version. "T^TU C'SJ?. J a song of loves, i.e. as Gcsenius rightly interprets, an erotic song, pleas- ing to the people. They professed to be highly delighted with the prophetic dis- courses both as to matter and delivery, but it was all hypocrisy. 2."3^ , to know, ver. 33, means here to know experimen- tally. Ezekiel finally assures the Jews, that the event would fully prove the legitimacy of his prophetic claims. His predictions should be realized in their woful experience. When the fugitive arrived the following morning with the intelligence that Jerusalem had been taken, there remained no hope of the escape of the captive Jews from the power of the conqueror. 174 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XXXIV. 1-10. CHAPTER XXXIY. This chapter contains a severe reprehension of the rulers of Israel, to whose selfish and cruel conduct the destruction of the state was ultimately to be traced, 1-10; a promise of divine interposition in behalf of the people, 11-19; the rejection and punishment of their oppressors, 20-22 ; a renevral of the promise cf the Messiah, and the happy security of the subjects of his reign, 23-31. 1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : Son of man, 2 prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them : For the shepherds, thus saith the Lord Jehovah. AVoe to the shepherds of Israel, who are feeding themselves. 3 Should not the shepherds feed the sheep ? Ye partake of the milk, and ye put on the wool ; ye kill the fatlings ; ye feed not 4 the sheep : The weak ye have not strengthened, neither have ye healed the sick, nor bound up that which was broken, and that which wag driven away ye have not brought back, and that which was lost ye have not sought for ; but with harshness and 5 with rigor ye have ruled them. And they have been scattered without a shepherd, and have become food for all the wild 6 beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep have wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill ; yea, my sheep were scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one sought them or searched them out. 7 Wherefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah. As I live, 8 saith the Lord Jehovah, surely because my sheep have become 2. i^?"! » properly denotes a shepherd, 1 " ^ . A\ A -r\ ^ , , 1. :^ 1 •, r u- ^^JLa., Eth. Ill/i.'l 1) Both read- one who guards and provides lor his w**'— » i flock, and tropically a prince or Jci»(j. inus arc appropriate; but the latter seems The language here is not, therefore, to preferable. LXX., rh yd\a. Compare be interpreted of ecclesiastical rulers 1 Cor. ix. 7. or teachers, but of the civil governors 4. Careful shepherds treat with ten- of the Jewish state, who, regardless of derness the sickly and diseased of their the welfare and prosperity of their people, flock, but these Jewish rulers treated only acted from respect to their own their subjects with neglect and cruelty. selfish interests, forming alliances with nvriitl , a plural feminine participle in foreign powers, or provoking their ire, Nijihal, from f^'n , to he sick, wounded. according as they were prompted by Comp. Isa. xvii. 11, and the synonyme ambitious or mercenary motives. Comp. nsinri , in the text before us. 2 Sam. V. 2 ; Isa. xliv. 28 ; Jer. ii. 8 ; iii. 5, G. These verses describe the miser- 15; X. 21; xxiii.1,2. Xenopli. Cyropa;d. able condition of the Jews under their viii. 2, 13. wicked kings previous to the captivity. 3. "^H!l , ;/ie /a?, for which some would 7-10. However these kings might point ^^'7'^ ' ^''^ miJlc, as more suitable flatter themselves that their misdeeds to the connection. Compare the Arab, might pass with impunity, Jehovah here Chap. XXXIV. 10-17] E Z E K I E L . 175 a prey and my sheep have become food to every wild beast of the field, without a shepherd, and my shepherds inquire not after my sheep, but the shepherds feed themselves, and feed not 9 my sheep : Therefore hear, O ye shepherds, the word of Jeho- 10 vah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I am against the shepherds, and will require my sheep at their liand, and will make them to cease from feeding the sheep ; and the shepherds shall not feed themselves any more, for I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, and they shall not become food for them. 11 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold I, even I, will both 12 search for my sheeji and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day when he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and deliver them from all places whither they have been scattered in the cloudy and 13 dark day. And will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and bring them unto their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Lsrael, by the brooks, 14 and in all the inhabited places of the land. In a good pasture I will feed them, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall be their fold, there shall they lie down in a good fold, and shall 15 feed in a fat pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord 16 Jehovah. I will search out that which is lost, and I will bring back that which is driven away, and will bind up that which is broken, and will strengthen that which is weak ; but the fat and the strong I will destroy, and will feed them with judgment. 17 And as for you, O my sheep, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will judge between sheep and sheep, between the 18 rams and the he-goats. Is it a small matter unto you, that ye have eaten w-p the good pasture, but ye must tread under your feet what remained of your pastures ? and that ye have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must trample what remains with declares that ho would call them to breed. The same construction is adopted account for their wickedness. The by Ncwcome ; but it does not suit the judgments denounced against them took connection so well as the textual reading. full effect when Jerusalem was captured. The clause is obviously adversative, con- 16. For "I'^p'ijX , / loill (Icstroij, two of taining a declaration of tlie punishment DeRossi'sMSS.,theLXX., Syr., Arab., to be inflicted on the harsh and selfish and Vulg., read "ilO'i'X , I ivill preserve, rulers of the Jews. which Luther has adopted in his German 17. Hbb nb"'"'3 , between sheep and version, and Michaclis explains to mean, sheep, means between one class of citizens for the purpose of securing an excellent and another. KS^^ , to judge, here is to 176 E Z E K I E L , [Chap. XXXIV. 18-31. 19 your feet ? And my sheep eat that which ye have trodden with your feet, and have drunk that which ye have trodden with your 20 feet. "Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto them: Behold I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean 21 sheep. Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and have pushed with your horns all the diseased, till you have 22 scattered them abroad : Therefore I will save my sheep, and they shall no more be for a prey, and I will judge between 23 sheep and sheep. And I will set one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, my servant David : he shall feed them, and 24 he shall be their shepherd. And I Jehovah will be their God, and my servant David shall be a prince among them, I Jehovah 25 have spoken. And I will make for them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beast to cease from the land, and they shall dwell in the wilderness securely, and sleej? in the woods. 26 And I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing; and will cause the shower to come down in its season ; there discriminate and punish according to desert. 18, 19. Not content with consuming the best of the possessions of their subjects, the wicked rulers wantonly spoiled what might have been of use to them, and left them only the refuse. 22. The salvation of the better part of the Jewish nation was primarily to be effected by the sifting process to which they were to be subjected in Babylon. At their restoration, they should be delivered at once from the power of the heathen, and from the tyrannical rule of their own kings. 23, 24. 1"'1.7 ^'^'^'J rx , 7j}y servant David. This can be no other than the often-promised Messiah. Compare Ps. Ixxxix. 3 ; Isa. Iv. 3 ; Jer. xxx. 9 ; Hos. iii. 5. The idea adopted by Grotius, that Zerubbabel is intended, cannot be entertained for a moment. That prince was merely a stadtholder of the king of Persia, who did not even rule alone, but had Joshua the high-priest at his side. Neither can any of the later Jewish kings be meant, for they were not of the family of David. The shepherd here promised was to be T7i< f^^"l> one shepherd, sin- gularly and distinguishingly one; the only one of his kind. Comp. the Arab. ^V~^ I - unicus et incomparahilis ; one whose person and character should stand out in broad distinction from all others. There cannot be a doubt that our Lord had this prophecy in his eye, John x. 14 : / am the good shepherd. X'^i^3 , in the language of Ezekicl, is equivalent to Icing. See chap xxxii. 29. The Messiah was tp>in , set rip, constituted king by divine appointment (Ps.ii.6; Acts ii. 36); and had the Jews received him, and submitted to his laws, their civil polity would have been preserved, and they would have enjoj-ed every necessary blessing under his gracious protection and care. Rejecting him, they forfeited all title to the promises here made to them. 25-31 . An amplification of the prom- ises just made, under the images of outward prosperity, exemption from all annoyance from the heathen, and from wild beasts, and the rich enjoyment of every blessing in their own land, of which Mount Zion was the capital and centre. The Jews as thus restored are Chap. XXXIV. 25-31.] EZEKIEL. 177 27 shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase ; and they shall be secure in their land, and shall know that I am Jehovah, when I break the bands of their yoke, and deliver them from 28 the hand of those who serve themselves of them. And they shall no more be a prey to the nations, neither shall the wild beast of the land devour them ; but they shall dwell securely, 29 and none shall make them afraid. And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, neither shall they any more bear the 30 reproach of the nations. And they shall know that I, Jehovah their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are 31 my people, saith the Lord Jehovah. And ye my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men ; I am your God, saith the Lord Jehovah. represented as enjoying the blessings connected witli and flowing from the sacred spot, but which were not to be confined to that locality, but were to be extended to other parts of the land. Comp. verses 13, 14. 29. Ddb y^'^, a plant of renown. This passage has generally been interpreted of the Messiah, and viewed as parallel to those in which he is promised under the image of a branch ; and to this in- terpretation I adhere, notwithstanding all that Rosenmiiller, Havernick, Ewald, and Fairbairn have alleged to the con- trary. If the Jews themselves were to be the plant or plantation, there would be no propriety in the promise that it should be raised up for them. 31. These words contain an explana- tion of the figurative language employed in reference to the Jewish people and their rulers. It was not to be understood literally of shepherds and their flock, but of the people of Israel and those who exercised authority over them. Jehovah vindicates to himself his right of propriety in them, and renews the declaration of his gracious relation to them as their covenant God. The strong conti'ast asserted was designed to convey the idea, that, weak as the Israelites were in themselves, and utterly inade- quate to the task of effecting their own deliverance, they were warranted to exercise strong faith in the Most High. 178 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXXV. 2-6. CHAPTER XXXV. This chapter contains an episode relative to tlie Edomites, naturally arising out of the preceding promises of blessings to the Israelites. The Idumeans had been the inveterate foes of the covenant people, and had exulted with fiendish malignity at the breaking up of their polity by the Chaldeans. Jehovah had already declared by the prophet, chap. XXV. 12-14, that he would execute vengeance upon the neighboring people. This threatening he here repeats at greater length, declaring that he would utterly destroy them, and thus disappoint them of their anticipated possession of the land of Israel. 1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : Son of man, set 2 thy face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, And say 3 to it : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I am against thee, Mount Seir ! and I will stretch out my hand against thee, 4 and I will make thee desolate and waste. I will make thy cities a desolation, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt 5 know that I am Jehovah. Because thou hast the old enmity, and didst deliver over the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the day of their calamity, in the time of the iniquity 6 of the end ; Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, surely 1 will turn thee to blood, and blood shall pursue thee ; since 7 thou didst not hate blood, therefore blood shall pursue thee. I will even make Mount Seir desolate and waste, and will cut off 2. "i^y^J J Seir, the country of the jnrcd them in every possible way. Ps. Edomites ; according to the etymolopry, cxxxvii. 7 ; Amos i. 11 ; Obad. 10-16. the Shaijfjii, from the rough and bristling For |'J5 "ilS , the iniquity of the end, com- character of its mountains and forests, pare chap. xxi. 30. The northern division of the country is 6. There is singular force in the „ , ..i . i» T^ T rr.1 repetition of the term D'n , f/n?n, 6/ooJ, in stdl called 51 v^iJI ,£^ss/ic'"ai. The cap- .\ ^. . ' . .. .„ y ' ^ this verse, taken m connection with the ital was S^O , Sela, the Eock, Petra, the fact of its relation in sound to ClX , remarkable ruins of which have been Edom, the name of the country. It visited and described by several modern forms a paronomasia which it is impos- travcllers. See especially Dr. Robinson sible to imitate in our language. In the in his Biblical Eesearches, vol. ii. pp. second and fourth instances, the word 514-538. is used in the sense of Mood-shedding. 3. The stretching forth of the hand Since the Edomites had not hated shed- indicates, in such connection, threaten- ding the blood of others, but on the ing and punishment. n^'^'O^l fT^^"^ contrary aiFected it, the guilt thereof an emphatic paronomasia : lit. desolation should be avenged in the shedding oi and desolateness ; i.e. completely desolate, their own blood. The position of Np 4. The country was to become an before M gives greater force to the arid waste. sentence. The supposition of some that 5. The enmity of the Edomites to the blood is here to be taken in the sense Jews dated from the earliest period of of consanguinity, is utterly to be rejected, their history. They harassed and in- as unwarranted by Hebrew usage. Chap. XXXV. 7-15.] E Z E K I E L . 179 8 from it him that passeth, and him that returneth, And I will fill his mountains with his slain, thy high places and thy valleys ; and as for all thy channels, the slain by the sword shall fall in 9 them. I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not be inhabited ; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. 10 Because thou saidst: The two nations and the two countries shall be mine, and we shall possess them ; whereas Jehovah is 11 there : Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I will act according to thine anger and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them ; and I will be 12 known among them, when I have judged thee. And thou shalt know that I Jehovah have heard all thy contempt which thou hast uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying : They are 13 laid waste, they are given to us for consumption. And ye have spoken proudly against me with your mouth, and multiplied 14 your words against me : I have heard them. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : "When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make 15 thee desolate. As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so will I do to thee : thou shalt be desolate, O Mount Seir, and the whole of Edom ; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. 7-9. The country of the Edomites that Jehovah still claimed his propriety was to be depopulated and laid entirely in it. He was still there. The Chaldeans waste, a prediction which has been could not remove him, as they did the literallyfulfilled, as even infidel travellers idols of the nations, have borne testimony. See Savary's 11-15. They did not confine their Letters. contumely and hatred to the Jewish 10. The Idumeans are here abruptly people, but treated their covenant God introduced as exulting at the thought in the same manner. They represented of possessing the land of Canaan, which him as not having been sufficiently the Jews and Israelites had vacated, but powerful to protect the people whom he are suddenly checked by the declaration, had adopted as peculiarly his own. 180 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXXVI. 1-12. CHAPTER XXXVI. In this chapter Ezekiel is charged to personify the mountains of Israel, and to assure them that, notwitlistanding the proud boastings of the Idumeans, they should be restored to their pristine prosperity, 1-15. The causes of their desolation are then specifically set forth, 16-20. And the rest of the chapter comprehends gracious promises of the restora- tion of the captive people, and their participation in the blessings of the new covenant, 21-38. 1 And thou, son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and 2 say : Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of Jehovah : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Because the enemy hath said concern- ing you, Aha ! behold, the ancient h.eights are become our 3 possession : Therefore prophesy and say : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Because, even because they have made you desolate, and have swallowed you up round about, that ye might become an inheritance to the residue of the nations, and ye are taken up on the lips of talkers, and are a reproach to the people. 4 Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear ye the word of the Lord Jehovah : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the mountains, and to the hills, to the streams, and to the valleys, and to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are deserted, which had become a prey and a derision to the residue of the nations 5 which are round about. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Surely I have spoken in the fire of my jealousy against the residue of the nations, and against the whole of Edom, which have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, that its pasture might 1, 2. Mountains being the most con- reduplication: '?^? "J?^ , which is equir- spicuous part of a country, Canaan is alent to the same with the copula : thus inti-oduced to view, the object of "i?^?!! 'ji'^ , because, even because, or yea, avaricious hope on the part of the because. Jehovah here singles out the Idumeans as expressed in the foregoing cupidity and haughty conduct of the chapter, and of iiappy anticipation on the enemies of his people as the objects of part of their lawful inheritors. These his righteous displeasure. They had are denominated DS'lJ' rTi733 , ancient slandered the Jews because of their con- heiqhts, in reference to the remote an- ncction with Jehovah. rsb~b5> nPS'tl tiquity from which their fertility had '> \^^^ , lit. to cause to (jo up tipon the lip of been celebrated. See Gen. xlix. 26; a ^o^f/ue, i.e. as Gesenius explains, of the Deut. xxxiii. 1.5. The term Israel is slanderer. here used irresjicctive of the division of 4-12. In retribution for all the evils the two kingdoms, and includes the to which they bad been subjected on the whole of the tribes that returned from part of the neighboring nations, espe- captivity. cially the Edomites, Jehovah promises 3. There is much emphasis in the to restore the prosperity of his people to Chap. XXXVI. 10-20.] E Z E K I E L . 181 6 become a prey. Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the channels and to the valleys : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have 7 borne the reproach of the nations. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah : I have lifted up my hand ; assuredly the nations 8 that are round about you, they shall bear their reproach. But as for you, O ye mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and bear your fruit to my people Israel ; for they are 9 near to come. For, behold, I am for you, and will turn unto 10 you, and ye shall be tilled and sown. And I will multiply men upon you, the whole house of Israel, all of it ; and the cities 11 shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be builded. And I will multiply upon you man and beast ; and they shall increase and be fruitful, and I will cause you to dwell according to your former circumstances, and will do you good more than at your 12 beginnings ; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. And I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel ; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be to them for an inheritance, 13 and thou shalt no more bereave them. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Because they say to you : Thou wast a devourer of 14 men, and hast bereaved thy nations. Therefore thou shalt no more devour men, neither shalt thou bereave thy nations any more, 15 saith the Lord Jehovah. And I will not cause thee to hear the reproach of the nations any more, neither shalt thou bear the insult of the nations any more, and thou shalt not bereave thy 16 nations any more, saith the Lord Jehovah. And the word of 17 Jehovah came unto me, saying : Son, of man, the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, but they defiled it by their way, and by their doings : their way was before me as the uncleanness of a higher degree than had ever before aremorcinaccordance with the exigency been experienced. All the localities are of the passage. specified which could suggest the ideas 13-15. The heathen reproached the of convenience and enjoyment. Instead Israelites because of their rejection by of the country being any longer bereaved their God, whom they represented as of its inhabitants in punishment of their unable to deliver them. This reproach wickedness, it should again be filled should cease on the restoration of the with a flourishing population. covenant people. Eor "'S'^psn , upwards of twenty -eight 16-20. The prophet here depicts the codices read with the Keri, two ancient abominable character of his countrymen, editions, theLXX., Arab., Syr., andTarg. which was the cause of their removah •ipS'il'Pl . A similar transposition occurs Even among the heathen at first their in the following verse, both of which practices were so far from conciliating 16 182 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XXXVI. 21-27. 18 a removed woman. And I poured out my fury upon tliem, because of the blood which they had shed in the land, and be- 19 cause of their idolatries with which they had defiled it. And I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries : according 'o their way, and according to 20 their doings I judged them. And when they came to the nations whither they went, then they profaned my holy name by saying of them : These are the people of Jehovah, and are 21 gone forth out of his land. But I had pity for my holy name which the house of Israel had defiled among the nations whither 22 they had come. Therefore say unto the house of Israel : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Not for your sakes do I it, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which ye have profaned among 23 the nations whither ye are come. And I Avill sanctify my great name which hath been profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them ; and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, saith the Lord Jehovah, when I am sancti- 24 fied in you in their sight. Then I will take you from the nations, and collect you from all the countries, and will bring 25 you into your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean : from all your filthiness, and from 26 all your idols will I cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new sjjii-it will I put within you, and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and will give you a 27 heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and make that ye shall walk in my statutes, and observe my judgments their good opinion, that they tended they should have -vvi-ought in them a rather to prejudice them. complete change of moral character. 21-24. There was nothing in Israel Such a change God here promises to to induce Jehovah to interpose on their effect in their experience. In the fullest behalf. They richly merited the punish- sense the promise was fulfilled in the mcnt inflicted upon them. It was, there- blessed experience of all who were truly fore, to be impressed upon them that converted to God, and returned in a their restoration would be owing to his spiritually regenerated state to Canaan, own free grace, and his determination to just as it is still in that of all who are recover for his glorious character that the subjects of the saving influences of lustre which they had obscured in the thelloly Spirit, whether Jews or Gentiles, sight of the heathen. He is represented It would be too much, however, to sup- as moved with sympathy for the glory pose that the great bulk of the nation of his name. expei-icnced any such total change ; as 25-27. Compare on chap. xi. 18-20. the accounts which we have in their To qualify the Hebrews for the enjoy- subsequent history too abundantly show, ment oi the blessings connected with Still, by the divine blessing on the their rajtoration, it was necessary that means employed in Babylon for recover- Chap. XXXVI. 27-36.] EZEKIEL. 183 28 and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land which I gave unto your fathers ; and ye shall be my j^ieople, and I will be 29 your God. And I will save you from all your uncleannesses, and will call for the corn, and increase it, and lay no famine 30 upon you. And I will increase the fruit of the tree and the growth of the field, that ye may no more receive the reproach 31 of famine among the heathen. And ye shall remember your wicked ways, and your treacherous doings which were not good, and ye shall be disgusted with yourselves because of your 32 iniquities and because of your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord Jehovah, be it known to you : 33 blush and be ashamed of your ways, O house of Israel ! Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : In the day when I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also cause your cities to be inhabited, 34 and your wastes to be rebuilt. And the land which had been desolate shall be cultivated, instead of its being desolate in the 35 sight of all that passed by. And they shall say: This land which had been desolate is as the garden of Eden ; and the cities that had been desolate, and the waste places, and .the ing them from idolatry, they appear to have been thorouglily cured of that evil, and returned, outwardly at least, to the pure worship of Jehovah, the God of their fathers. Instead of the hard and obstinate heart which had led them to reject all the divine counsels, and persist in a course of disobedience, they were to have imparted to them a heart easily impressible by the truth of God, a dis- position to love him, and walk in his ways. This is ascribed to the inhabita- tion and operations of the Holy Spirit, the author of all that is good in man. The whole is represented symbolically under the idea of purification — an idea borrowed from the lustrations of the Mosaic law, b^' which the Jews were cleansed from any ])ollutions which they might have contracted, csi)ccial!y the ceremonies connected with the water of separation made of tiic ashes of a red heifer (Numb. xix.). A remarkable ful- filment of this in'0))hecy in the out- ])Ouring of the Sjjirit, is recorded Ezra chapters ix. x. The people generally made a great mourning, confessed their sins, renewed their covenant with God, and set themselves in right earnest to observe the law. The sacred historian observes, that they kept the feast of tabernacles in such a manner as it had not been observed since the days of Joshua the son of Nun. The Jews sep- arated themselves from all strangers, and reformed many abuses which had crept in among them. 28-32. It is manifest from the whole tenor of the language employed by the jn'ophct, that temporal and spiritual blessings are beautifully intermixed with each other. The Israelites are again reminded that it was not for any good thing in them meriting the divine favor, that such blessings were to be conferred upon them. Looking back on their rebellious conduct, they should discover nothing but Avhat was calculated to fill tlicm with shame and confusion of face. Jlerit, therefore, was entirely out of the question. 33-36. So great should be the change 184 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXXIIV. 1-6. 36 ruins are fortified and inhabited. And the nations that are left around you shall know that I Jehovah build up the ruined places, and plant that which had been desolate : I Jehovah 37 have said it, and will do it. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Yet for this will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do 38 it for them ; I will increase them with men as a flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her festivals, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men ; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. that would take place in their outward Such application would show that it circufnstances, that it could not fail to was fit and proper in God to accomplish attract the attention of by-passers. The his promises in their happy experience, transformation could only be compared 38. Multitudinous as were the as- to such a change as must take place semblages of animals for sacrifice at were the land to be converted into the Jerusalem on occasion of the annual garden of Eden. festivals, when all the males in the 37. However absolute the gracious nation were required to appear before promises made to Israel, they were not the Lord, they were only a fit emblem of to be realized independently of apjjlica- the restored people in all parts of the tion on their part for their fulfilment, country ; so great was to be their number. CHAPTER XXXVII. This chapter contains a parabolic vision in wliicli was represented to the prophet the res- toration of his liopelessly depressed countrymen, under the emblem of the resurrection of a multitude of dry bones which are suddenly invested with life, flesh, and beauty, 1-10. This is followed by a brief exposition of the parable, 11-14; and then, to show that the restoration was to embrace the ten tribes, as well as the two tribes and a half, two united sticks are emblematically employed, the one representing the southern or Jewish kingdom, and the other the northern or Israelitish, 15-22. The chapter concludes with renewed promises of Messiah and his kingdom, 23-28. 1 The hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he carried me forth in the Spirit of Jehovah, and set me down in the midst of the 2 valley, and it was full of bones. And caused me to pass by them round about ; and, behold, they were very many, in the 3 face of the valley ; and, behold, they were very dry. And he said unto me : Son of man, can these bones live ? and I said, 1, 2. That the matters narrated in was, as he must in that case have had this chapter were transacted in vision, literally presented to his vicAV his captive we are here expressly told. Whether countrymen in their condition of utter the f^^'pS , valley, specified was that in hopelessness. which Ezekiel had already had visions 3-6. To excite his attention and put by the river Chebar, chaps, i. 1 ; iii. 22-24, his faith to the test, he is asked: Can we are not informed : but it most likely these bones live ? The only answer he Chap. XXXVII. 3-11.] EZEKIEL. 185 4 O Lord Jehovah, thou knowest. And he said unto me, Proph- esy over these bones, and say unto them : O ye dry bones, hear 5 ye the word of Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto these bones : Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and 6 ye shall live. And I will put sinews upon you, and bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and I will put breath into you, and ye shall live ; and ye shall know that I am Je- 7 hovah. And I prophesied as I was commanded ; and there was a voice as I prophesied ; and, behold, a noise ! and the bones 8 came together, bone to its bone. And I looked ; and, behold, there were sinews upon them ; and flesh came up, and skin covered them from above ; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said unto me : Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, 10 that they may live. And I prophesied as I was commanded, and the spirit came into them, and they lived, and stood upon 11 their feet, an exceeding great army. And he said unto me: Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel : behold, they are saying: Our bones are dried up, and our hope hath 12 perished ; we are altogether cut off. Therefore prophesy, and say unto them : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I will open your graves, and will cause you to come up from your graves, my people ! and will bring you to the land of Israel. could give, was an appeal to divine reviviscence, the breath was commanded omniscience. Upon this, he received a to come from all quarters of the heavens, charge to prophesy to them, commanding The scene closes with a resurrection of them to listen to the word of Jehovah, the bones in the shape of living men. which was followed by assurances that However striking the analogy between God would take the process of restoration this scene and that which will be pre- into his own hand. sented to view in the general resurrection 7-10. As Ezekiel fulfilled his com- at the last day, there is no reason to mission, a commotion took place among believe that the doctrine of the latter the bones. They cohered each to its was intended distinctly to be taught by fellow in regular order ; but all con- it, any more than that it was intended tinued in a state of inanimation, mere to adumbrate the quickening of the motionless skeletons. The next step in spiritually dead by means of the gospel, the process was that of covering them The passage may be used in illustration with sinews, skin, and flesh. Their of both, but further than this we are not hideous appearance now assumed one of warranted to go in our interpretation, beauty; but still they were without life. 11-14. We are here expressly informed On this the prophet was charged to what was the object of tlic allegory : invoke the wind to breathe into them ; viz. to set forth the restoration of the and, to convey the idea of complete Jewish state. The captives had given 16* 186 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXXVII. 21-29. 13 And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I open your graves, and cause you to come vip from your graves, O my 14 people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and ye shall live, and I will place you in your own laud ; and ye shall know that I Jehovah have spoken it, and will do it, saith Jehovah. 15 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying: Moreover, thou 16 son of man, take to thee one stick and write upon it: For Judah, and for the house of Israel, his companions : then take another stick, and write upon it : For Joseph, the stick of 17 Ephraim, and all the house of Israel, his companions. And join them one to another, one stick for thee, and they shall 18 become one in thine hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, wilt thou not show us 19 what these are to thee ? Say unto them : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions, and will put them with the house of Judah, and make them one 20 stick, and they shall be one in my hand. And the sticks on 21 which thou writest shall be in thy hand in their sight. And say unto them : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations whither they have gone, and gather them from every side, and bring them 22 into their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel ; and one king shall be king to them all : and they shall no more be two nations, neither 23 shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more. And they shall no more defile themselves with their idols, and with their abominations, and with all their transgressions ; for I will save them out of all their dwellings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them, and they shall be my people, and I will be up all for lost. They arc by this allegory separate kingdoms, Samaria being the taught that there is nothing impossible capital of the one, and Jerusalem that with God ; and that, thci-cforc, how des- of the other. This division, which had perate their circumstances in Chaldea been productive of many evils, especially might appear, there was hope for them that of the maintenance of idolatry, was iu their.covenant God. They were to not to exist on their return to their be restored to a state of political indc- own land. They were to be united in pendence in their own land. 'tS? , ver. one corporate body, the jealousy between 11, rendered in the common version /or them ceasing, and all joining in the our parts, is the reflexive dative, and is worship of the true God. Compare my equivalent to so far as we are concerned. notes on Jeremiah xxxi. This happy 15-22. From the time of Jeroboam the state of things Ezekiel was commanded Hebrew people had been divided into two to exhibit by a striking symbolical action, Chap. XXXVn. 22-28.] EZEKIEL. 187 24 their God, And my servant David shall be king over them, and there shall be one shepherd to them all ; and they shall walk in my judgments, and keep my statutes, and do them. 25 And they shall dwell in the land which I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your fathers dwelt : they shall even dwell in it, they and their children, and their children's children forever ; 26 and David my servant shall be a prince to them forever. And I will make for them a covenant of peace ; an everlasting covenant shall be to them : and I will i^lace them, and increase 27 them, and set my sanctuary in the midst of them forever. And my tabernacle shall be over them, and I will be their God, and 28 they shall be my people. And they shall know that I am Jehovah, the Sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is in the midst of them forever. highly calculated to excite the curiosity of his countrymen. This prophecy was fulfilled in tiic reign of Cyrus ; for not only did the Jews return and take pos- session of the southern parts of the countiy, but the Israelites also were restored to their ancient possessions. 23-2.5. In this state of restored har- mony, and purification from all their idolatries and other sins of which they had been guilty before the captivity, they should live in conformity to the theocratic laws under the rule of Messiah. To this rule he was predestined, and if they failed to enjoy as a people the benefits of his government in the bless- ings of the new covenant, it was because they rejected his great salvation. The reign here and elsewhere predicted was not to be earthly and temporal, but spiritual, on the throne of David in the spiritual world. Compare 2 Sam. vii. 1 6 ; Ps. ex. 1 ; Acts iii. 21 (where &xpi is to be rendered not until, but during) v. 31 ; John xviii. 36. cnipbdlT: , their dwell- ings, ver. 23, should, according to some, be read DH^PSllUp , their defections ; but it is without any authority from Hebrew MSS. One of De Rossi's codices has Dfl'^y'^Q , their sitis. 26-28. The covenant promised to be made with recovered Israel was the new and better dispensation ( Isa. Iv. 3 ; Jer. x.xxi. 31-34), established in the media- tion of Messiah (Heb. viii. 7-13). If they had complied with the conditions of this covenant, they should have re- mained in their land, and not been again dispersed among the nations. Their temple should have no more been de- stroyed, but should have been appro- priated for the purposes of Christian worship. CHAPTERS XXXYIII. XXXIX. There cannot, I think, be a donbt that the whole subject of these chapters is to be viewed as an allcgor}'. Under names of persons and countries, then but little known, or known only on account of their barbarous and all-conquering propen- sities, Antiochus Epiphanes and his armies are represented as invading Palestine, and spreading universal terror and devastation through the country. 188 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XXXVIH. 2, 3. The materials for the history of that cruel persecutor are indeed scanty, the writings which treat of his period having heen all lost except what Porphyry has intro- duced in his fifteenth boolc against the Christians, of which fragments have been preserved by Jerome in his Commentary on Daniel. This much, however, may be gathered from these, from Josephus, and from the First Book of Maccabees, — that the persecutions whicli Antiochus carried on in Palestine were the most severe of any that the inhabitants experienced during the period which intervened between the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and that effected by the Romans. Receiving information that the Jews were rejoicing at the report of his supposed death in Egypt, Antiochus returned hastily to Palestine, took Jerusalem by storm, plundered the city, slew eighty thousand persons, men, women, and chil- dren, took forty thousand prisoners, and sold as many into slavery. And, as if this were not enough, he went, under the guidance of the wicked high priest Menelaus, into the temple, profaned it by uttering blasphemous language, and removed thence all the gold he could lay his hand on, amounting to eighteen hundred talents, besides quantities of silver, all of which he carried away. To crown this wickedness, he sacrificed swine upon the altar of Jehovah, boiled pieces of the flesh, and sprinkled the whole temple with the broth. Two years afterwards, being disappointed in his designs against Egypt, and return- ing from that country in disgrace, he sent Apollonius his chief collector of tribute with a division of twenty-two thousand men, with orders to cut down all the men whom he met with, and to make slaves of the women and children. The consequence was that the streets of Jerusalem flowed with blood, the houses were plundered and demolished, the city walls were thrown down, and the public services of religion ceased. In place of the altar of Jehovah, he caused an altar to be raised to be used in sacrilicing to Jupiter Olympius. Every attempt to observe the law of Moses was made a capital offence; and the most cruel pun- ishments were inflicted on such of the inhabitants as remained, and refused to complj' with the impious commands of the infuriated monarch. In fact the Jews had never before been subject to such fui'ious persecution. Compare Dan. viii. 10-26; xi. 21-45; xii. 1; and see Jahn's Hebrew Commonwealth, xciv., xcv. This allegorical description of the apparently desperate case of the Jews is the pro- totype which John had in his eye when predicting the overthrow of the final antichristian confederacy, Rev. xx. 7-9. CHAPTER XXXVIII. To set forth a formidable attack that would be made upon the Jews after their re-settlement in Canaan, the prophet introduces an assemblage of savage people under a distinguish- ingly formidable leader, who should leave no method untried by which he might hope to cflect their utter extermination, 1-13- Hereupon it is predicted, that by a signal interposition of Divine Providence, this enemy should be completely overthrown ; that a long time should be occupied in burying the dead bodies of his army; and that their weapons should long be used as fuel by the Jews, 14-23 and chapter xxxix. 1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying : Son of man, set 2 thy face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, 2, 3. The only other parts of Scripture xxxii. 26 ; Rev. xx. 8. The first of in which these names occur are Gen. x. 2; these passages is important to our present 1 Chron. i. 5 j v. 4 ; Ezek, xxvii. 13 ; inquiry, as pointing us to the direction Chap. XXXVIII. 2, 3.] EZEKIEL. 189 3 Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him ; and say : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, in which to look for the people and countries here specified. It is generally admitted that the descendants of Japhet arc to be sought for in the west of Europe and the north of Asia. Tracing them back to their original abodes, we discover them about the Black and Caspian Seas, the regions of theCaucasus, part of Armenia, Asia Minor, Parthia, Persia, and the countries beyond. They were generally known to the Greeks under the name of Scythians, with which was associated the idea of whatever was rude, uncivilized, and barbarous ; just as, in after times, the same idea was attached to the Tatars and other northern nations. Owing to their inroads into Southern Asia, they were partially known by the reports of their numbers and ferocity, and tlie devastations which they spread wherever they came. Gog, the first name here occurring, is said to be .liSSri ynx , of the land of Magog, thereby intimating, not that the king belonged to it iis his origin, but that it was the country over which he reigned, and most probably that this was the common title of the kings of the country, just as Pharaoh was of those of Egypt. There has been much speculation relative to the etymology of this name, and few have bestowed more pains upon it than the learned Bochart, in his Phaleg. lib. i. cap. ii. p. 13 ; lib. iii. cap. xiii. p. 212, seqq. : to which add Michaelis, Supplementa ad Lexx. Hebraica, Nos. 341, 1352. The only probable conclusion, in which most modern interpreters seem inclined to rest, is, that the term is merely a con- traction of . .tLi'L^ ; Chakan, a name generally given by the northern Asiatics to their king, and retained by the Turks as one of the titles of the Grand Sultan to this day. It may be remarked, how- ever, that Bochart advances too preca- rious a position when he would derive the word Caucasus from "(OnSIS , Gog-hasan, thefortressofGog. That the ^ in Magog is local, and denotes the country, is allowed on all sides. The Asiatic nations, which have retained the Hebrew name, designate thereby the regions of the remote north, which were for the most part immersed in Cimmerian darkness. Jerome, in his Commentary on Ezekiel, says : Magog esse gentes Scythicas, immanes et innumcrabiles, qui trans Caucasum monteni et Mteotidem palu- dem et prope Caspiura marc ad Indiam usque tendantur. For Gog and Magog, the Arabs employ the kindred terms g^ySs^\jC^ —^L, YajujwaMajuj, justasasimilarform^j.A£^Uo« ^^A^*., chin wa matchin, is used of China. It has been matter of dispute whether lyx"! , Rosh is to be considered as an appellative or as a proper name. The LXX. take the latter view, and render, riiy, &pxovTa 'Pais, Meaox, xal @o0f\, Gog, prince of Ros, Mesoch, and Thobel. Jerome, indeed, not finding any such name in Genesis or elsewhere in Scrip- ture, rashly concluded that it must necessarily be an appellative, not advert- ing to the fact, that there are other names of nations mentioned by Ezekiel for which no authority can be found either in Moses or any other Old Testa- ment writer. That the Tauri inhabiting the Crimea were a Scythian people known by the name of Ros, is remarked by the Greek Grammarian, John Tzetzes, Chiliad ii. Hist. 393 ; and the same name has been traced by Ibn Fozzlan, an Arabian writer of the same period, to the Russians as dwellingon the river Volga. Constantin. Porphyr., in his work De Administr. Imper, p. ii. c. 13, refers to them in like manner : Etre Xa^dpoi, efre TovpKoi, eiVe Kol 'Pws, ^ krepov to tQvos ruv Bopelwv 190 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXXVIII. 3-7. 4 prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. And I will cause thee to turn back, and jiut hooks in thy jaws, and cause thee to go out, thee and all thy host, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in perfection, a great company with shield and buckler, all of 5 them handling swords. Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all 6 of them with buckler and helmet. Gomer and all his armies ; the house of Togarmah from the furthest north, and all his 7 armies ; many people with thee. Be fully prepared, thou and all thy company that are collected to thee, and be to them for a Koi IiKvQikSiv : and Bochart places them in the vicinity of the river Araxes, in which word, as pronounced by the Arabians, he finds the etymology of the term. That ^2 Wl Ti';;^ , Meshech and Thubal, whatever affinity in sound there may be between the words, have any reference to Moscorij and Tobolsk, is contested with much show of reason by Michaclis, who observes that the name of the Russians is not of any antiquity in history with application to the present occupants of the empire ; the ancient name of that people being Slavi or Wends. That of Moscovites is still more recent, and was given to the people because the Czars chose Moscow as their place of residence. That city was first built in the twelfth century, and takes its name from the river Moscow on which it lies. Tobolsk is of still more recent date. Nothing would therefore be more pi-ecarious than to found any theory on the present prophecy of Ezekiel relative to some future attack of the Russians upon the Jews in Palestine. The opinion is now genei'ally acqui- esced in, that, by Meshech and Tubal, we are to understand the Moschi and Tibareni, who occupied regions about the Caucasus in the neighborhood of the Araxes. 4, 5. The simple meaning of ?]^ri;3 ^^ is, / will cause thee to turn back, and would seem to be here used simply in reference to inducing the power spoken of to change his position, and return to some point which he had left. Compare 2 Kings xix. 28. It is not expressive of any judgment to be infiicted upon him, but simply of the influence exerted in the providence of God in order to prompt him to action. According to our hypothesis it will describe the means employed to induce Antiochus to return from Egypt to Palestine. The putting a hook in his jaws conveys the idea that it was as easy for God to control the movements of that monarch, as it is for fishermen to curb the impetuosity of a marine animal. The description of his army which follows shows that it would be of the most formidable char- acter. It was to consist of troops col- lected from the most distant parts, and accoutred in the most complete manner. Auxiliaries from all quarters should swell its ranks. 6. "l^a , the ancestor of the Cimme- rians or Celts who originally settled in the Crimea, whence they spread them- selves across the regions to -the north and east of the Taurian Chersonesus, and crossing over the Bosphorus took possession of Phrygia and Galatia. •^^pl^lJ^'fi^S , the house, i.e. the descend- ants of Togarmah (Gen. x. 3). These were the Armenians of the Caucasus south of Iberia ; see on chap, xxvii. 14. They are here mentioned along with the Cimmerians because they were only separated from them by the Euxine. 7. 'irjil'l *|3n , a variety of form for the sake of emphasis, he prepared and prepare, i.e. be fully prepared. The commander is ironically charged to take special care of his troops, that they might be fit Chap. XXXVIII. 7-11.] EZEKIEL. 191 10 11 12 guard. After many days thou wilt make thy attack, in the last of the years thou wilt enter the land that is brought back from the sword, collected from many people, on the mountains of Israel which had been continually desolate ; which hath been brought out from the peoples, and dwell all of them securely. And thou wilt go up ; as a storm thou wilt come ; as a cloud to cover the land thou shalt be, thou and all thy armies, and many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : It shall also come to pass in that day, that things shall come into thy mind, and thou wilt devise a wicked device : And thou wilt say : I will go up to the land of villages, I will invade those who are at ease, that dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and to whom are neither bars nor doors : To take spoil and to seize booty, to turn thy hand against the inhabited wastes, and against a people gathered from the na- tions, acquiring cattle and substance, dwelling in the height of for action, and disposable in whatever quarters he might see fit to employ them. 8. 1||;Sn , thou shalt make ihj attach. Various interpretations have been given of this word ; but all that are founded on the strictly passive signification of the verb have fiiiled to give satisfaction. I consider it to be taken in a reflexive sense, referring the action back to the agent, and thereby rendering him more prominent. The period of the attack is first speci- fied very indefinitely : D"'2'l D"'^*^ , aflcr many days, which may be either longer or shorter, according to circumstances. Thus in Hos. iii. 4, the phrase denotes the period of upwards of eighteen cen- turies that have elapsed since the present dispersion of the Jews ; but in 1 Kings ii. 38, 39, it is limited to a period not exceeding three years. The specification in our prophet, however, is rendered more definite by the following statement that the attack was to be made r'^'inNS D'^SlSil , in the last of the years, which, in prophetic designations of time, denotes that which immediately preceded the coming of the Messiah. This again is equivalent to Q'''?*«l rii^nX3, the last of the days, ver. 16. A period of upwards of three hundred years elapsed after the return of the Jews to their own land, during which they enjoyed uninterrupted tranquillity, before they were persecuted by Antiochus ; which is quite sufficient to meet the claims of the prophecy. The mountains of Israel are said to have been T^^Jp > ahcays, i.e. continuously waste, in reference to the protracted period of the captivity, during which they had been stripped of their inhabi- tants. 9. The invasion by Gog and his armies is compared to a storm, to express the impetuosity, noise, and confusion by which it should be marked. The im- mense number of his troops is aptly compared to a cloud sweeping over the land, and involving it in darkness — a figure of common occurrence in ancient writers. See tiie Iliad, xvi. 243. II. nifiQ y^^ii , a land of villages, i.e. mere villages. Our translators have added unwulled, but quite unnecessarily, since this idea is sufficiently expressed afterwards in the verse. The word '^)'^S properly signifies oj)en country, in contra- distinction to towns and cities. Com- pare Esther ix. 19. The unsuspecting 192 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXXVIII. 11-17. 13 the land. Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, and all her young lions, shall say to thee : Art thou come to take spoil ? hast thou collected an assembly to seize booty ? to carry away silver and gold ? to take cattle and substance ? to 14 gain much spoil ? Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say unto Gog : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Shalt thou not know 15 it in the day when my people Israel dwell securely ? And thou wilt come from thy place, from the most distant north, thou and many people with thee ; riders on horses, all of them, 16 a great company and a great army. And thou wilt come up against my j^eople Israel, as a cloud to cover the land ; in the last of the days it shall be ; and I will bring thee against my land that the nations may know me, when I am sanctified in 17 thee, O Gog, in their sight. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Art thou he of which I spake in ancient days by the hand of my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those 18 days, years ago, to bring thee against them ? And it shall be in that day, in the day of the coming of Gog against the land of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah, my fury shall come up confidence of the restored Hebrews is here graphically described. What is stated may have literally been the case, or the language may be expressive of the contempt with which Antiochus regarded them, conceiving that they would fall an easy prey into his hands. 12. A forcible description of the in- satiable rapacity of the invader. The Hebrews are represented as dwelling in the most elevated parts of the country, ynxn ^sa-J , the height of the land. The idea of 7iavel, which signification "I'lS^Ii has in the Talmud, and which the Vulgate expresses by umbilicus, is not biblical, but is derived from the Greeks, who regarded Parnassus as the highest part of their country — oficpaXhs rrjs yrjs. The same word occurs Judges ix. 37, where it is used in the same acceptation, and not in that of middle, as rendered in the common version. Ewald, however, renders Nabel, and Hitzig attempts to defend it. m'3di5 niS'^n , Rosenmiiller renders : ruinosa prius et nunc recedijicata. 13. The object of the address here made to the invader seems to have been to enter into negotiations with him for the disposal of the prey. Jahn states that more than one thousand merchants joined the army, having come for the pur- pose of purchasing such Jews as might be taken prisoners, p. 272. G'^")'^D3, young lions, i.e. taking the tenn as used tropically, robust princes or warriors. Compare xix. 3 ; xxxii. 2. 14-16. The object of Jehovah in bringing Gog into Palestine was signally to illustrate his own divine power in his destruction. It should be made manifest to the nations that there was still a God in Israel able to interpose and save. For D'^'?^'!! f^'^l'!!!* see on verse 8. 17. Newcome supposes reference to be made here to unrecorded prophecies, but there appears no good ground for such supposition. Though no prophecy may be found in which Gog is specified by name, yet there are many which depict signal enemies of the church of God who should be subdued and de- stroyed. See Numb. xxiv. 17-19; Ps. Ixxii. 4 ; Ixxxix. 23 ; Isa. xiv. 29-32 ; lix. 19 ; Joel ii. 2. C?'^ , years, is to be Chap. XXXVIII. 17-23.] EZEKIEL. 193 19 20 22 23 into my nose. And in my jealousy, in the fire of my indigna- tion, I speak ; Surely in that day there shall be a great quaking in the land of Israel. And the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of heaven, and the beast of the field, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the ground, and all men that are upon the face of the earth, shall tremble at my presence ; and the moun- tains shall be thrown down, and the precipices shall fall, and all walls shall fall to the ground. And I will call against him to all my mountains a sword, saith the Lord Jehovah ; the sword of each man shall be against his brother. And I will punish him with pestilence and with blood, and I will rain upon him and upon his armies, and upon the many people that are with him, heavy overflowing showers, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone. And I will magnify myself and sanctify myself, and become known in the sight of many nations, and they shall know that I am Jehovah. connected with C^NSSf^ , who prophesied years ago. 18-20. Earthquakes, which have been of frequent occurrence in Palestine, are employed by the prophets as symbols of political revolutions, in which everything is shaken and convulsed. Compare Rev. xvi. 18. Such should be the tremendous force of the concussion which should accompany the invasion of Gog, that universal nature is represented as aifccted by it. By a strong anthropopathy, Jehovah declares his holy displeasure with the expedition. 20. f^^SI^"!'?'^ 1 the precipices or steep terraces which were raised on the sides of the mountains, to prevent the earth from being washed down by the rains, and on which the vines were cultivated. The root is preserved in the Arabic .i^yto ascend by steps. &' 21-2.3. The slaughter of the army of Gog should be immense. His military should be so desperate, that they should cut right and left, irrespective of friend or foe. Fairbairn is mistaken in sup- posing that the language is not expressive of mutual slaughter. His interpretation, that God would meet sword with sword in tlie hand of his people, however ingenious, is not borne out by Hebrew usage; whereas '^'^H'^? ^"^"^ is a common phrase for one another. Jehovah is rep- resented as overthrowing the enemy by the most fearful combination of the elements. ti'^3aPX , kail, stones of ice. Arab. ijiA:i.| . Compare Rev. xvi. 21. The language being figurative, it is not so evident as Rosenmiiller would have it (clarissime patet) that the reference cannot be to Antiochus Epiphanes. 17 194 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXXIX. 2-7. CHAPTER XXXIX. A continuation of the prophecy against Gog. The awful judgments of God are further denounced against the furious enemy of his people, 1-7. So complete would be his overthrow, that the weapons left in the field should long supply the Israelites with fuel, 8-10; and a long period should be required for burying the dead bodies of the slain, 11-16. An invitation is then given to the birds of prey and the wild beasts to come and partake of the sacriticial feast prepared for tlicm by the slaugliter of the enemy, 17-22. The chapter concludes with promises of future good to chastised and repentant Israel, 23-29. 1 Akd thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Behokl, I am against thee, O Gog, 2 prince of Rosh, Meshecli, and Tubal : And will turn thee back, and lead thee about, and cause thee to come up from the farthest 3 north, and bring thee against the mountains of Israel. And I will smite thy bow from thy left hand, and make thine arrows 4 to fall out of thy right hand. Upon the mountains of Israel thou shalt fall, thovt and all thy armies, and the people that are with thee ; I will give thee for food to the bird of prey of 5 every wing, and to the beast of the field. Thou shalt fall in the open field, for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah. 6 And I will send fire on Magog, and on those dwelling securely 7 in the isles, and they shall know that I am Jehovah. And I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will profane my holy name no more; and the nations shall know that I Jehovah am the Holy One of Israel. 2. ^(■'ni^airi'l. Seeonchap.xxxviii.4. \^^ sa, instigatur ; Turkish UijLwLw, rj-^nxiad , a ottoI Ae7. Whatever ap- sasat, asimim vocare ad potum. The dec- parent connection there may at first laration bears that Jehovah would induce 6ight appear to be between this verb, Qog to leave his position, and undertake and the numeral a'J;J , six, the significa- his expedition against Palestine. tion thus suggested affords nothing suit- 3. Tf]^'^ , tJnj boiv. The Scythians able to the context. I do not scruple, .^vere renowned as archers, therefore, to adopt the derivation pro- 4 5. gee on verses 17-20. posed by Ludovic de Dieu, from the 6. By the inhabitants Qi*N joX-^Aeisfes, Ethiopic hci>ri© , to go about, with ''^^'^ "^^^"^ t^o^'^ dwelling in Greece and the coasts of the Euxinc, who took part the Picl signification, to cause to ivander. w-ith Gog, and helped to swell his armies. This derivation is approved by Gesenius, They were to be involved in intestine Winer, and Rosenmiiller, and is sup- wars, and thus destroyed. War is fre- ported by the LXX. Ka6o57iyfiaw (re, or qucntly compared to fire, on account of as the Complutensian reading has it its all-devouring action. icaTo|co 5"'ij , the valley of the multitude of Gog. 12-14. Seven months are again used 196 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XXXIX. 14-18. 14 15 16 17 18 Jehovah. And they shall select men of continuance who shall go through the land, burying, with those who pass through, them, that remain upon the face of the land, to purify it : at the end of seven months they shall search. And the passengers passing through the land, when one seeth the bone of a man, he shall set up a sign beside it, until those who are burying bury it in the valley of the multitude of Gog. And the name of the city shall be Hamonah ; and they shall purify the land. And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Say unto birds of every wing, and to every beast of the field : Assemble your- selves and come, gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice which I sacrifice for you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, and eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of heroes, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of he-goats, of bullocks, all of them failings hypertolically for a long time, to denote that the number of dead bodies would be sueh that a considerable length of time would be required for burying them. Not only would the atmosphere be polluted with the stench, but the land was to bo regarded as morally defiled, so that the most prompt and eflfbctive measures were adopted to have the very skeletons removed. T^^n "^^'f^i men of continiiaiice : i.e. men whose con- stant employment it should be to collect and bury whatever remains they might find. The meaning of verse 14, at which some interpreters have greatly stumbled, seems to be simply this, that those who were uninterruptedly occupied with the removal of the dead corpses were to be assisted by such as were occasionally passing through the country, that by their united exertions a speedy riddance might be effected. All the inhabitants were to combine their efforts for this object. The computation of Fairbairn, that a million of men would be daily eraploj'cd, exclusive of the Sabbaths, and that if each buried but two a day, we should have an aggregate of three hundred and sixty million corpses, is merely conjured up as a bugbear to frighten the reader out of all disposition to admit the literal interpretation. 15. Should any one accidentally dis- cover a bone, he was not to touch it, lest he should be defiled, but was to set a mark by it, that it might be removed by the proper person appointed for the purpose. 16. Some city in the neighborhood was to receive the name nsiafl "PS' , the city of Ilamonah, i.e. of the multitude, to perpetuate the memory of the signal defeat which the enemy had sustained. 17-22. Not satisfied with having described the burial of the Gogites, the prophet takes a view of them as still lying on the battle-field, and invites the birds of prey and the wild beasts to come to a sacrificial repast on their dead bodies. To enhance the description, the guests are represented as being filled not only with the flesh of tlic victims in general, but with that of the horses and the charioteers. ^5*1 , a rider or char- ioteer. See on Isa. xxi. 7, 9. The am- plification which follows is quite in the style of Ezekiel. The entire passage is strikingly parallel with Rev. xix. 17-19. Compare Isa. xviii. 6 ; xxxiv. 6, 8 ; which are evidently founded on the ancient custom of feasting on sacrifices. 18. Though d-i-.Q, 6m//s, which Hou- bigant and Newcome adopt after the LXX. and Arabic versions, may seem Chap. XXXIX. 2G-29.] E Z E K I E L . 197 19 of Bashan. And ye shall eat fat to satiety, and drink blood to 20 inebriation, of my sacrifice which I sacrifice for you. And ye shall satiate yourselves at my table with horses and charioteers, 21 heroes and all the men of war, saith the Lord Jehovah. And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgments which I have executed, and my hand 22 which I have laid upon them. And the house of Israel shall know that 1 Jehovah am their God from that day and forward. 23 And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity through their iniquity, because they rebelled against me, and I hid my face from them, and delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword. 24 According to their impurity and according to their sins have I 25 done unto them, and I hid my face from them. Nevertheless, thus saith the Lord Jeliovah : Now I will reverse the captivity of Jacob, and will have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, 26 and will be jealous for my holy name : After they shall have borne their shame and all their iniquity by which they have rebelled against me, when they dwelt securely in their own 27 land and none made them afraid. When I have brought them back from the people, and gathered them from the countries of their enemies, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many 28 nations : Tlien they shall know that I Jehovah am their God, in that I caused them to be taken into captivity among the heathen, but have gathered them into their own land, and have 29 left none of them there any more. And I will no more hide my face from them, when I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah. more appropriate in such connection tradictory of such passages as xliii. 10, than nins, /amis, yet it in all probability 11; xxxvi. 31. The meaning is, that originated in the want of attention to when tlie Hebrews had suffered sutficient the fact that Oi";Q occurs immediately punishment for all their acts of rebellion, after. The guests were to be amply Jehovah would restore them to the en- supplied. Nothing should be wanting joyment of their ancient privileges, and that could enhance the sumptuousness prove himself to be their covenant God. of the banquet. The crowning mercy of all would be the 26-29. ^'^}^.' There is no necessity outpouring of his Holy Spirit, by which for changing the punctuation into 'l^S". they would be prepared to serve him ac- Indced it would introduce an idea con- ceptably and devotedly for the future. The deliverance of the Hebrews was wrought out in a most remarkable manner. Mattathias, raising the standard of patriotism, called around him the pious portion of his countrymen. His party increased rapidly, till they became a considerable 17* 198 EZEKIEL. [Chaps. XL. - XLVin. army. He appointed his third and bravest son, Judas, military commander, by whom the Syrian generals that were sent against him were defeated. In battle after battle he proved victorious. Even the army which Lysias sent into Judea could not stand before him. Though composed of forty thousand foot and seven thousand cavalry, and increased by auxiliaries from the provinces, it proved power- less before him. Putting the enemy to flight, he secured immense booty. The like success attended him the following yeai", when he defeated an army of sixty thousand men, made himself master of several strong cities ; and, retaking Jerusalem, purified the temple and restored its solemn services. His brothers Simon and Jonathan proved themselves worthy successors of this devoted patriot ; the independence of the Jews was finally secured, and the royal dignity vested in the Asmonsean family, in which it continued till the time of Herod the Great. CHAPTERS XL.-XLVIII. The last nine chapters of this Book contain a remarkable vision, in which Ezekiel was furnished with an ideal representation of the Jewish state as about to be restored after the captivity. The principal subjects connected with that state having been the temple and the teniplc-worship, the prophet presents these to view with all the minuteness and circumstantiality of detail which fonn so marked a characteristic of his style. That it was the restoration of the material temple, then in ruins, that the prophet had in his eye, is the only liypothesis wliich fully meets the exigency of the case; the hopes of such a restoration liaving been rendered prominent in the minds of his captive coimtrymen by the preceding prophecies which he had delivered to them. It supersedes the necessity of having recourse to fanciful and arbitrary interpretations, removes all contrariety between the delineation in the vision relating to the priests, sacrifices, etc., and the doctrine of the New Testament respecting the complete abolition of the Levitical worship by the institution of the priesthood and sacrifice of Christ; and renders nugatory all expectations of a literal i'ulfilment in the yet distant future. What was wanted was a sanctuary that should be serviceable during what might still remain of the period destined for the existence of the old economy. When that economy slioukl wax old and vanish away, there was to be an end of all merely external circumstances. Temple-worship, priesthood, and sacrifices should cease; and a spiritual temple, a spiritual priesthood, and spiritual sacrifices were alone to be acceptable to the Most High (John iv. 21-24; 1 Cor. vi. 19; 1 Pet. ii. 5). The import of the vision, in the main, is this : that God would in due time accomplish the restoration of his exiled people to the land of their fathers; effect the recon- struction of their ruined temple, and the reorganization of its religious services; and bless them with manifest tokens of his favor. At the time it was granted, the Hebrews were in a state of the lowest depression in Babylon. Fourteen years had elapsed since the destruction of their sacred edifice : and nothing could have been better calculated to revive their drooping hopes, re-invigorate their confi- dence in their covenant God, and encourage them to return to Palestine when the hour of their liberation should arrive, than tlie brilliant prospect of the resto- ration of their ci\il and religious privileges which the prophet here holds out to their view. Chaps. XL- XL Vm. EZEKIEL. 199 The circumstance that in many points the city, temple, and services do not exactly accord with the state of tilings as existing before the captivity, forms no valid objection against the literal interpretation. The differences may have been intended to a certain extent to wean the Jews from the idea of the immutability of their ancient constitution, and thus prepare them for the complete change that was to be effected by the introduction of the new dispensation which was speedily to follow. The statement made by Iliivernick, that the post-exilian temple and its ordi- nances were not restored according to the pattern furnished by Ezekiel, ia altogether a gratuitous assumption. It is a point on which we have no positive historical data to enable us to decide. The discrepancies, however, that have been detected between the ancient temple and that described by Ezekiel, are non-essential ; all the leading points connected with the sacred theocracy being carefully preserved and prominently brought out. The vision is not to be regarded as merely a description of what the prophet re- membered of Solomon's temple ; nor are the discrepancies existing between the two editiccs to be attributed to defectiveness of memory on his part. It was altogether a disclosure to his view of something new, symbolizing, as it waa eminentl.v calculated to do, the renovated condition of the Jewish state. The Holy Spirit doubtless availed himself of the reminiscences of Ezekiel, whicb must have been very vivid in their character, for the purpose of furnishing an ideal model of the new temple, and imparted to him such additional particulars as were necessary to render it complete. His imagination was so controlled and regulated in its creative and combining operations by the superintending Spirit of inspiration, that he should present no ideas but those which it was the will of God should be exhibited to the people. The sacred associations which the prophet had carried with him into the land of hia captivity would be especially dear to him, from the interest which he must have taken in them when, as a priest, he ministered in his official capacity in the temple. What more natural than that he should have spoken of the different objects as if he had seen them but yesterday? They must have continually floated in his mind's ej'c during his absence from Jerusalem, so that when he was mentally transported thither they could not but rush into his mind with all the freshness of pre-existing realit}'. With what enthusiasm may we conceive him to have caught the first glance of the magnificent structure presented in vision to his view! With what interest he must have entered the eastern porch, and recognized the altar and other parts of the sacred building! How familiar to him must have been every object that met his mental eye! With what atten- tion he must have listened to the communications made by his celestial conductor while detaUing to him the various particulars relating to the measures, the parts, and the ordinances of the temple! Let now any reader of ordinary intelligence turn up the description of the vision, and let him be asked what is the impression which it naturally makes upon him, and which he finds it impossible to dismiss from his mind, and he will candidly own that it is that of a literal temple. The more he studies it, and the more he enters into the minutiae, with the greater force does the conviction rivet itself in his mind. Talk to him about spiritual and mystical meanings, j^ou puzzle and bewilder him. He may admire your ingenuity, and be brought to be half-in- clined to embrace your theory, but he cannot, after all, rid himself of the notion of a material building and literal ordinances. Turn the subject in which way soever he may, it always comes back upon him in this shape. A temple the Jews had possessed. It had been the glory of Jertxsalem. A restoration of it had been promised. It was what was wanted to re-constitute their polity, which 200 E Z E K I E L . [Chaps. XL. - XLVIII. had been interruptecl, but not abrogated. The essential parts of that polity are all minutely delineated. Could they have been intended to remain purely ideal? Were the captives on their return not to set about attempting to realize them in the outward world? Would they have been justified if they had not? And is it not a fact that on their return to their metropolis, they did, with the divine approval, adopt such measures as lay in their power for carrying the design into effect? See Ezra iii. That they carried oat the plan here furnished them to its full extent, is a point which, as already stated, we have no means of positively determining. If they failed in doing so, it may have been attributable to cir- cumstances over which they had no control. In neither case does the circum- stance affect the divine authority of the prophet. So far, then, as the temple and its ordinances arc concerned, the vision is to be interpreted literallj". With respect to the waters, etc. (chap, xlvii.), it is altogether different. Here there was nothing left for the Jews to do in bringing about the realization of the vision. Having left the temple, the seat of the divine resi- dence and the source whence blessings were to flow to the restored Hebrew nation, the prophet is carried in vision southward into the regions of the Dead Sea, which had been noted for everything that was forbidden and noxious in its aspect — the very embodiment of barrenness and desolation. These were now to be converted into fertility and beauty. As in their previous condition they were strikingly symbolical of the spiritually unproductive and abhorrent char- acter of idolatrous Israel, so they M'cre now to serve as images of the renewed state of things when God should bring back his people, and, according to his promises, bless them by conferring upon them abundantly the rich tokens of his regard. Instead of a barren wilderness, they should now become as the garden of Eden. B}' the copious effusions of the influences of his Holy Spirit, he would restore his church to spiritual life, and render her instrumental in diffusing blessings to the world around. The chapter thus contains, in the garb of the usual figurative language of prophecy, representations in exact keeping with what we read, Isa. xii. .5; xliii. 18-21; xliv. 3, 4; Joel iii. 18; Zcch. xiv. 8. The abundance and beneficial qualities of the waters are strongly marked, and form the most prominent feature in the picture. The only apparently plausiijle objection tliat can be taken to the literal interpretation of the temple, is founded on the dimensions assigned to it (chap. xlii. 16-20). It remains, however, to be settled whether 7'eeds be the measure there intended; and whether, supposing this to be the case, the language be not susceptible of another construction. (See note on the passage. ) Nor is there an_y inconsistency in interpreting one part of the vision literally and the other symbolicallj'. The cases are perfectly different. In the one, a literal temple was required to meet the circumstances of the exiled Hebrews; in the other, though outwardly restored, the temple and temple-worship woidd still have left them in a state of spiritual destitution, if they had not received the blessing from on high. The rich and abundant communication of this blessing we conceive to be beautifully set forth under the image of a river issuing forth from the divine presence in the new temple; and, increasing as it flows in the direction of the Dead Sea, spreading life and fertility wherever it comes. (See on chapter xlvii.) Chap. XL. 1, 2.] EZEKIEL. 201 CHAPTER XL. Ezekiel, conducted in vision within sight of Jerusalem, then lying in ruins, is to be con- ceived of as set down on the north side of Moriah, whence he has exhibited to his view the structure of a city on the south, with its temple, gates, porches, chambers, windows, arches, tables, etc. I do not deem it necessary to occupy the time of my readers by entering minutely into matters of architectural detail ; for whatever interest they might have for those who study this portion of the sacred writings merely for professional purposes, they would contribute but little to the edification cf the general reader. Nor, for the same rea- son, shall I dwell ujion the etymological import of all the terms which occur in these chapters. The curious in such matters I refer to Botcher's Proben Alt-Testamentlicher Schrifterkla.rung, Leipzig, 1833. 1 In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tentli of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city had been smitten, on that very day the hand of 2 Jeliovah was upon me, and he brought me thither. In visions of God lie brought me into tlie land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, and upon it was, as it were, the frame of 1. Some difficulty has been found in determining wliat is meant by ^Si"^ •^^^•1 » the herjinninrj of the year, in which the vision was {^ranted. In all proba- bility, however, it was that of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, the first of the month Nisan, or Abib. Ewald and Fairbairn very rationally conclude that the term rssny , thither, originated in the thoughts and feelings of the prophet being directed towards Jerusalem as their centre. See the epexegesis vcr. 3. By i^^iT^. 1^ , the hand of Jehovah, we are to understand the impulse by which the prophet was mentally transported from the Chcbar to the land of his fathers. Compare chap. iii. 14. 2. For, D-^npX niii'^a, visions of God, compare chapters viii. 3 ; xliii. 3. Both these substantives are strictly plural, comprehending the various parts of the scenic representation, and are not to be interpreted of a plural of excellency, sublimity, or the like, as proposed by some. The objects were presented to the mental view of Ezekiel in a waking state, and arc thus distinguishable from those which were communicated in dreams. The images exhibited possessed all the vividness and distinctness of out- ward objects. Gesenius renders, visions from God, but this is unnecessary, since it must at once be obvious that the word is designed to express, not visions of which God was the object, but those of which he was the author. ^Jt^ f^jDS "tt^ , an exceeding high mountain. Compare for the phraseology 6pos v^7]Xhu xiav, Matt. iv. 8. Miehaelis and some other commentators consider the term moun- tain to be here used metaphorically, as in Isa. ii. 2, to denote the superiority of Jerusalem in a moral ])oiut of view. The specification of the heightof the mountain is not to be pressed, otiierwise we cannot suppose the prophet to have been mentally located at Jerusalem. Neither Mount Zion, Mount Moriah, nor even Mount Olivet can lay claim to such a distinction. Mayer observes that, in comparison with the mountains of Switzerland, Moriah would be regarded as an inconsiderable height. Still its altitude is more than two thousand feet above the level of the 202 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XL. 2-4. a city southward. And he brought me thither, and behold, a mau whose appearance was as tlie appearance of brass, with a a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed ; and he stood in the gate. And the man spake unto me : Sou of man, see with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thy heart to all that I will show thee ; for in order that I might show it to thee art thou brought hither : declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel. And, behold, a wall without the house round about, and in the hand of the man a measuring reed, six cubits by a cubit and a handbreadth ; and he measured the breadth of Mediterranean, and must have appeai'ed very high to the prophet, situated as he had been on the plains of Babylon. 7iJ occasions no difficulty, and requires no conjectural emendation into '-?. The preposition is sometimes used in a less accurate sense, to denote proximity in refei'ence to any place, without defining whether the subject was on, at, or by it. It is thei-efore to be rendered as best suits the tenor of the discourse. Here the idea of on or upon would seem the most suitable. Looking southward from Moriah, Ezekiel discovered the structure of a city, which he immediately proceeds to describe as a temple — that being the most prominent object in the vision — with all its diflcrcnt buildings and com- partments. Precisely in this direction must the former city and temple have appeared to one who a])proaclied them from the north. Strictly speaking, the ^"^2? or citadel of Zion lay to the west of the temple on IMoriah ; but viewed from the north, they both lay in a southerly direction. The description gives no countenance whatever to the notion entertained by some, that a space stretch- ing altogether to the south of Jerusalem was intended by the locality here specified. 3. Who this 0^5< , man, was, we are not infoi-med. Nor is it necessary to conjecture. Suffice it that he was pre- pared to execute the task committed to him of taking the dimensions of the temple, and holding converse with the prophet relative to its several appurte- nances. To convey the idea of his celestial commission, the splendor of his appearance is compared to that of brightly polished metal. The messenger had in his hand two measuring instru- ments : the one dri'wS 3^nS , a tape or line made of flax, used in taking the longer measurements ; the other, HDi^ , the reed, rod, or cane employed in taking that of houses. Considerable ditiiculty has been found in exactly determining the length of the Hebrew measures. Michaelis enters at much length into the subject in his German Xotes, v.-hich I would recommend to the perusal of the reader. Suffice it here to say, that measures of length were for the most part taken from the human body. Thus nax , ulna, a cubit, so called from its signifying that part of the arm which extends from the elbow to the extremity of the middle finger. To this was given the name of tlie greater cubit. It is described by Ezekiel as consisting of an ordinary cubit and an hand-breadth, xliii. 13, compared with xl. 1, 5. The smaller cubit reached from the elbow to the wrist or root of the hand. The '^?^ 1 or palm, was the space occupied by the full breadth of the palm or hand. 4. Compare chapter xliv. .5. The prophet is charged to contemplate with the utmost attention and exactitude the objects presented to his view, that he might give a true representation of them to his countrymen, by whom they might Chap. XL. 4-16.] EZEKIEL. 203 6 the building, one reed ; and the height, one reed. And he came to the gate whose face was towards the east, and went up by its steps ; and he measured the threshold of the gate, one 7 reed broad, and there was another threshold one reed broad. And the chamber was one reed long, and one reed broad ; and between the chambers were five cubits, and the threshold of the gate beside the porch of the gate within, one reed. 8 And he measured the porch of the gate within, one reed. And 9 he measured the porch of the gate, eight cubits ; and the posts thereof, two cubits ; and the porch of the gate Avas inwards. 10 And the chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side ; to them three was one measure ; and 11 the posts had one measure on this side and on that side. And he measured the breadth of the opening of the gate, ten cubits ; 12 and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits. And the boundary before the chambers, one cubit ; and one cubit the boundary on that side, and the chambers were six cubits on this side, and six 13 cubits on that side. And he measured the gate from the roof of the one chamber to the roof of another : the breadth five-and- 14 twenty cubits, opening against opening. And he made the posts, sixty cubits, even unto the post of the court round about the 15 gate. And before the gate of the entrance, before the porch of 16 the inner gate, fifty cubits. And latticed windows to the cham- bers, and to their posts within the gate round about ; and so to be available in constructing anew the 8. This verse is omitted in sixteen house of the Lord on their return from Hebrew MSS., has originally been want- Babylon, ing in seven, as it is in the Soncin. and 6. The mountains on which the temple Brixian editions, the LXX., Syr., and had been and was again to be built not Vulg. Newcome conjectures that the being level, access to it was by steps, porch of the inner gate may possibly be nibs'TO , or stair^, of which according to meant here. ob^lX , LXX., irpdvaos, the the LXX. there were seven {ktrra ava- large vestibule or porch before the gate 0a9ixo7s), which is confirmed by verses of the temple. Derivation, ?*X , to be 25 and 26. Jirst, i.e. in point of position, presenting 7. aT) , a 7'oom or chamber. This word, itself to view as persons were about to of infrequent occurrence, is derived enter the sacred edifice. from MTO , to dwell. Lee, comparing the 9. ^''.^- This word, which the LXX., Arabic ^y^ , substkit divertitgue, takes the Targnm, and the Syriac version leave ^-' untranslated, is an architectural term, the same view of its meaning. These supposed by Gesenius to denote a pro- rooms appear to have been for the use of jection in the form of a pilaster or the Levites who kept watch at the gates column which served at once for orna- of the temple, and for depositing uten- ment, and as a bulwark for security, sils, musical instruments, and the like. 16. The ancients not having glass. 204 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XL. 16-18. the porches ; and windows were round about inward ; and upon 17 the posts were palm-trees. And he brought me into the outer court; and, behold, cells and a tesselated pavement made for 18 the court round about ; thirty cells upon the pavement. And the pavement at the side of the gates, along the length of the 19 gates, was the lower pavement. And he measured the breadth from before the lower gate before the inner court without, an 20 hundred cubits, on the east and on the north. And as to the gate of the outward court which looketh towards the north, 21 he measured its length and its breadth. And its chambers, three on the one side, and three on the other side ; and the posts thereof and the porches thereof were according to the measurement of the former gate ; fifty cubits the length thereof, 22 and its breadth five-and-twenty cubits. And its windows and its porches and its palm-trees, according to the measure of the gate which was before it, towards the east ; and by seven stairs 23 they went up into it, and its porches were before them. And the gate of the inner court was over against the gate to the north and to the east ; and he measured from gate to gate an 24 hundred cubits. And he brought me by the way of the south ; and, behold, a gate by the way of the south ; and he measured its 25 posts, and its porches, according to these measures. And tbere were windows to it, and to its porches round about, according to these windows, fifty cubits in length, and the breadth five-and- 26 twenty cubits. And there were seven steps to go up by ; and its 23orches were before them; and it had palm-trees, one on the 27 one side, and one on the other side, upon its posts. And there was a gate to the inner court towards the south ; and he measured from gate to gate towards the south, a hundred cubits. 28 And he brought me to the inner court in the gate of the south ; and he measured the gate of the south according to these 29 measures. And its chambers, and its porches, and posts, were their windows were ri^DX , latticed. The m- wb , cells or chambers, were for They were let into the walls, widening containing the tithes of salt, wine, and as they receded from them. That the oil, and served also as lodgings for the D">?"]i< were partly for ornament would priests while they ■were on duty in the appear from the statement that they had temple. representations of D'^'^SR ,pa/m6ra«c/ies, 18. There were two pavements, a attached to them. higher and a lower, the former of which 17. The pavement, '^Q^'^ , in the East was level with the entrance at the gate : is generally made of mosaic. Root CiS"! , the latter on either side of the entrance to inlay or tesselate. Comp. Esther i. 6. thus formed. Chap. XL.] EZEKIEL. 205 according to these measures ; and there were windows to it, and to its posts round about, fifty cubits in length, and the 30 breadth twenty-five cubits. And the columns thereof round 31 about were twenty-five cubits long, and five cubits broad. And its columns were towards the outer court ; and palm-trees were upon the posts thereof; and its ascent consisted of eight steps. 32 And he brought me into the inner court toward the east ; and 33 he measured the gate according to these measures. And its chambers, and its posts, and its columns, were according to these measures ; and it, and its columns, had windows round 34 about, fifty cubits long, and five-aud-twenty cubits broad. And its columns were towards the outer court ; and palm-trees were upon its posts, on the one side and on the other ; and its ascent 35 consisted of eight steps. And he brought me to the north gate. 36 and measured according to these measures. The chambers thereof, and its columns, and its windows round about, fifty 37 cubits long, and five-and-twenty cubits wide. And the posts thereof were towards the outer court ; and palm-trees were upon its posts, on this side, and on that side ; and its ascent 38 consisted of eight steps. And the cells, and their entrances, were by the columns of the gates, where they should wash the 39 burnt-offering. And in the vestibule of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, on which to slay the burnt-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offlering. 40 And on the side without, by the ascent of the entrance of the gate northward, were two tables ; and by the other side which 41 was in the vestibule of the gate, w^e two tables. Four tables on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the 42 gate ; eight tables, on which they should slay. And four tables for the burnt-offering, of hewa stones, the length one cubit and a half, and the breadth one cubit and a half, and the height one cubit, on which they should lay the instruments with which 43 they should slay the burnt-offering and the sacrifice. And the double stalls, one hand-breadth, fixed within round about ; and 44 upon the tables the flesh of the offering. And without the inner gate were cells for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate ; and their prospect was toward the south ; one at the side of the east gate, having the 45 prospect toward the north. And he said unto me : This cell, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the ^•)riests, the keepers 46 of the charge of the house. And the cell whose prospect is 18 206 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XLI. towards the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar ; they are the sons of Zadok ; who, of the sons of 47 Levi, approach to Jehovah to serve him. So he measured tlie court, a liundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits broad, four 48 square ; and the altar was before the house. And he brought me to the porch of the house ; and he measured the porch, five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side ; and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on the one side, and 49 three cubits on the other side. The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits ; and there were steps by which they went up to it ; and there were pillars in the vestibule, one on the one side, and one on the other side. 46. Zadokwas lineally descended from in consequence of the part which Abiathar Aaron, and had the high priesthood had taken in the rebellion of Absalom, conferred upon him by Solomon, who 1 Kings ii. 26, 27. had set aside the family of Ithamar CHAPTER XLI. The conductor now introduces Ezekiel into tlie sacred edifice, wliich is specially distin- guislied by the name of ^9'^'^'^ > "'^ palace or residence of Jeliovah, whicli is described with its divisions, galleries, posts, doors, windows, cherubim, ornamental palm-trees, etc. 1 He then brought me to the temple, and measured the vestibules, six cubits broad on this side, and six cubits broad on that side, 2 the breadth of the tabernacle. And the breadth of the door was ten cubits ; and the sides of the door were five cubits on the one side, and fiv^ cubits on the other side ; and he measured the length thereof forty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. 3 Then he went inward, and measured the post of the door, two cubits ; and the door, six cubits ; and the breadth of the door, 4 seven cubits. And he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits, before the temple ; and he said 5 unto me : This is the holy of holies. He then measured the wall of the house, six cubits ; and the breadth of the side, four cubits ; 6 round about the house on every side. And the side-chambers side to side were three-and-thirty measures ; and they entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side-chambers round about, that they might be fastened ; but they were not 7 fastened in the wall of the house. And there was an enlarging, and it winded still upward, to the side-chambers ; for the wind- ing about of the house was still upward I'ound about the house ; Chap. XLI. 20.] EZEKIEL. 207 therefore the breadth of the house was still upward, and so the 8 lowest went up to the highest by the middle. And I saw the height of the house round about ; the foundations of the side- chambers were a full reed, six cubits to the root of the hand. 9 The breadth of the wall which was for the side-chamber without, was five cubits ; and what was allotted for the house was for 10 the side-chambers belonging to the house. And between the cells was a width of twenty cubits al'out the house all around. 11 And the doors of the side-chambers were towards the allotted space, one door towards the north, and another door towards the south ; and the breadth of the allotted space was five cubits 12 round about. And the building which was before the separate place on the west side was seventy cubits broad ; and the wall of the building was five cubits broad round about, and its length 13 was ninety cubits. So he measured the house, the length a hundred cubits ; and the separate place, and the building toward 14 the east, a hundred cubits. And the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, a hundred 15 cubits. And he measured the length of the building over against the separate place which was behind it, and the galleries thereof from one side to another, one hundred cubits, with the inner 16 temple and the porches of the court ; the door-posts, and the latticed windows, and the galleries round about on their three sides, opposite to the door-posts, boarded with wood round about ; and from the ground up to the windows, and the windows 17 were covered ; Over above the door, even to the inner house, and without, and to all the wall round about, within and without 18 the house, by measures. And there were made cherubim and palm-trees ; and there was a palm-tree between each cherub ; 19 and the cherub had two faces. And the face of a man was toward the palm-tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm-tree on the other side ; it was made 20 through all the house round about. From the ground to up above the door the cherubim and the palm-trees were made in 21 the wall of the temple. As for the temple, the door-posts were square, and before the holy place ; the appearance of the one 22 was as the appearance of the other. The altar of wood was three cubits high, and its length two cubits, and its corners and 20. PS^flH. This word, which is Masoretes have marked with extraordi- repcated at the beginning of the i'ollow- nary points, to indicate that they did ing verse, is one of fifteen which the not belong to the original text. 208 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XLH. its length and its walls were of wood. And he said unto me : 23 This is the table which is before Jehovah. And the temple and 24 the sanctuary had two doors. Aiid the doors had two leaves, two turning leaves, two for the one door, and two leaves for the 25 other. And there were made for them, for the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm-trees, as had been made for the walls ; and there was a thick plank-work before the porch from 26 without. And latticed windows and palm-trees, on the one side and on the other side, at the sides of the porch ; and on the side-chambers of the house, and the thick planks. CHAPTER XLII. Having surveyed the sanctuary, our propliet has his attention drawn to the chambers for the use of the priests, which are described in succession. Certain regulations are tlien prescribed, relating to tlie table of the priests, and their official dress; and the chapter concludes with a specification of the measurements of the sacred building. 1 And he brought me out into the outer court, the way toward the north, and brought me into the cell that was opposite the separate place, and which was opposite the building toward the 2 north. Before the length of an hundred cubits was the north 3 door, and the breadth was fifty cubits. Opposite the twenty cubits which were for the inner court, and opposite the pave- ment which was for the outer court, was one terrace before 4 another in three stories. And before the cells was a walk of ten cubits breadth inward, a way of one cubit ; and their doors 5 were toward the north. And the upper chambers were shorter, for the galleries contained more than these, more than the 6 lower and the middlemost of the building. For they were in three stories, but they had no pillars as the pillars of the courts, therefore it was contracted from the lower and from the middle- 7 most from the ground. And the wall which was without over against the cells by the way of the outer court before the cells 8 was as to its length fifty cubits. For the length of the cells which belonged to the outer court was fifty cubits ; and, behold, 9 before the temple were an hundred cubits. And below these cells was the entrance from the east, as one went into them 10 from the outer court. In the breadth of the wall of the court towards the east before the separate place, and before the build- Chap. XLII. 16-20.] EZEKIEL. 209 11 ing, were cells. And there was a way before them, like the ajDpearance of the cells which were toward the north, as long as they, and as broad as they ; and all their outgoings, according 12 to their fashions, and according to their doors. And according to the doors of the cells which were toward the south, a door at the beginning of the way, the way before the separate place, 13 by the way of the east, to the entrance into the same. And he said unto me, The cells toward the north, and the cells toward the south, which are before the separate place, are cells of the holy place, where the priests who draw near to Jehovah shall eat the most holy things ; there they shall place the most holy things, both the meat-offering, and the sin-offering, and the tres- 14 pass offering, for the place is holy. When the priests enter in, they shall not go forth from the holy place into the outer court, but they shall leave there their garments in which they have ofBciated, for they are holy, and put on other garments, and shall approach the place that belougeth to the people. 15 And he finished the measurements of the inner house, and brought me out by way of the gate which looketh toward the east, and 16 measured it round about. He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed 16-20. The prophet, having specified transposing the order of the letters from the different measurements of the sacred ri^SX into ^lIX^ , prescribes that fivt edifice, here sums up in a gross estimate lauidred is to be regarded as the true the extent of the whole. The reading reading ; and this is adopted here in a D'lpJ? , reeds, in these verses, has been great number of Heb. MSS. ; in the much disputed. From the circumstance Soncin. and Brixian editions, and is that almost throughout the descrij)tion supported by the ancient versions, of the temple, ri"53S< , cubits, are used as The LXX., omitting the number en- the measure, it has been inferred that tirely ver. 16, simply read koX Ste/jL€Tpr]crf Ezekiel must have meant the same here ; -nfvTaicocrLovs, and measured Jive hundred ; and because the plural form D^3|5 is but in verses 17 and 20 they supply elsewhere in Hebrew usage employed ir^^f "> cubits. In this they are followed only to designate the branches of the by Capellus, J. D. Michaelis, Newcome, candlestick, it has been maintained that Ewald, Hitzig, and other moderns, who it cannot be taken in the sense of a unceremoniously strike D"^?!^ out of the measure. But this reasoning is alto- Hebrew text, in violation of one of the gether fallacious, for it does not appear, first principles of Hebrew criticism, since if it was necessary to express the plural the word is found in all the MSS. that at all, why it should not be emploj'cd to have yet been collated, convey the idea of measure as well as The ol^jcction urged by Lightfoot, and of anything else. repeated by Fairbairn, that the number The textual reading of verse 16, liJ^H would furnish a compass of ground mSX , Jive cubits, being altogether un- incomparably larger than that of Mount suitable to the connection, the Keri, Moriah several times over, may be ob- 18* 210 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XLni. 1-5. 17 round about. He measured the north side five hundred reeds, 18 with the measuring reed round about. He measured the south 19 side five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed. Turning to the west side, he measured five hundred reeds with the measur- 20 ing reed. He measured it by its four sides ; it had a wall round about, five hundred long, and five hundred broad, to make a division between the holy place and the profane. viated by supposing that the prophet of tlie river, to express that of great here employs an architectural hyperbole abundance, (chap. xlii. 1-5). Viewed with the view of conveying the idea of in this light, the notion of a natural sufficient amplitude, just as he specifics impossibility vanishes, and leaves the four thousand cubits as the gross length literal interpretation intact. CHAPTER XLIII. This chapter contains a vision of the return of the visible symbol of the divine presence to the temple, which had been withdrawn, when Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldeans, 1-3; a resumption of his throne by Jehovah, as King of the Jews, 4-6; the sacredness of the temple contrasted with its former desecration, 7-12; together with a particular specification of the measures of the altar, and of the propitiatory sacrifices that were to be offered upon it, 13-27. 1 And he conducted me to the gate, the gate which faceth the east. 2 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and the sound thereof was as the sound of many 3 waters, and the earth shined with his glory. And the ap- pearance was as the appearance which I saw, as the appearance which I saw when I came to destroy the city, and appearances as the appearance which I saw by the river Chebar ; and I fell 4 upon my face. And the glory of Jehovah entered the house by 5 the way of the gate whose aspect is towards the east. And the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the house was filled with the glory of Jehovah. 1-5. What is here described took those things in which the second temple place in vision, just as we are to under- was deficient. What we are taught in stand Avhat is said of the removal of the the passage is, that Jehovah would visible symbol of the divine presence, renew the manifestation of his favor (chap. xi. 23). It is not necessary there- to the covenant people, which he did fore to suppose that this token was pre-eminently when he dwelt among actually restored ; and indeed the Jews them in the person of his incarnate themselves allow that it was one of Son. Chap. XLin. 7-12. EZEKIEL. 211 6 And I heard one speaking to me from the house, and a man stood 7 beside me. And he said unto me, Son of man, this is the place of my thi'one, even the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the children of Israel forever ; and the chil- dren of Israel shall not defile my holy name any more, they, nor their kings, with their whoredoms, and with the carcasses of 8 their kings on their death : While they set their threshold beside my threshold, and their door-post beside my door-post, and the wall betwixt me and them, they even denied my holy name with their abominations which they committed, wherefore 9 I consumed them in mine anger. Now let them remove their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings far from me ; and I will dwell in the midst of them forever. 10 Thou, O son of man, show the house of Israel the house, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the 11 pattern. And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form of the house, and the pattern thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the statutes thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof; and write it in their sight, that they may observe all the forms thereof, and all the ordi- 12 nances thereof, and do them. This is the law of the house upon the summit of the mount ; the whole boundary thereof round about shall be most holy ; behold, this is the law of the 7-9. The particle f^i< here possesses of proximity with the temple by burying a peculiarly demonstrative and empiiatic the dead bodies of their kings within its power, and requires the substantive verb sacred precincts, the idolatrous princes is, or as Maurer gives it, be/iold to be built altars to idols in the temple itself, supplied. The whole of the precincts doing the utmost despite to its glorious of the temple being considered sacred, inhabitant (2 Kings xxi. 4-7; xxiii. 12). it was a profonation to inter the dead 10-12. By exhibiting to the view of bodies even of the kings in any part the Hebrews an exact pattern of the of them. '^'^'^ -? » with fifteen of De temple and its ordinances, they were to Eossi's MSS. and the Soncin. edition, be reminded of what they bad forfeited I would point Dt^i^a , and render icheri by their apostasy, and thus to be led to thei/ are dead. Ewald : die Leichen ikrer repentance and deep humiliation before verstorhene Konir/e. See my Comment, their God, who, notwithstanding, was on Isa. liii. p. 385. The construction willing to receive them back again into put upon this verse by Hiivernick and favor. It seems scarcely possible to Fairbairn, that by their kings we arc to conceive of the propriety of the language understand their Molochs or idol gods, here employed on any other principle I cannot but consider forced and inept, than that of admitting its reference to Not content with bringing their abomi- a material temple and its ordinances, nations into immediate contact in point The repetitious forms convey the idea 212 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XLIII. 1 2-27. 13 house. And these are the measurements of the altar by cubits : the cubit is a cubit and a palm : and the hollow a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof to the edge thereof round about shall be a span ; and this is the back of the altar. 14 And from the hollow of the ground to the lower settle two cubits, and the breadth a cubit ; and from the smaller settle to 15 the greater settle four cubits, and the breadth a cubit. And the altar shall be four cubits ; and from the altar and upward, shall 16 be four horns. And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, by 17 twelve broad, square on the four sides thereof. And the settle shall be fourteen cubits long, and fourteen broad, square on the four sides thereof; and the border round it shall be half a cubit, and the settle thereof one cubit round about ; and the ascent to it shall face the east. 18 And he said unto me : Son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah : These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it to offer burnt-offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood 19 thereon. And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites, who are of the seed of Zadok, who draw near unto me, saith the Lord Jehovah, to serve me, a young bullock for a sin-offering. 20 And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it upon the four horns of the altar, and upon the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about : thus shalt thou cleanse it, 21 and expiate it. And thou shalt take the bullock of the sin- offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the 22 house, without the sanctuary. And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin-offering ; and they shall expiate the altar, as they expiated it with the of intensity, indicating the care which thereby denoting the invincible strength was to be taken tliat everything was of Jerusalem ; but even wlien occurring effected with the utmost exactitude, there, the word much more appropriately The whole was to be stamped with the characterizes that city as the centre of character of peculiar sanctity. The the Jewish worship, of which the ofFer- temple and the whole of its precincts ing of burnt sacrifices formed so promi- were to be D'^lJ"i|5 u;~p , holy of holies, nent a part. See my note on that pas- i.e. most holy, a phrase which in this sage. The idea of altar, therefore, is superlative form is used exclusively of that distinctly conveyed, the adytum (Exod. xxvi. 34), was now 18-27. Here the sacrificial ordinances to characterize the entire edifice and its of the Levitical law are distinctly recog- precincts. nized, a clear proof that respect is had 13. In elucidation of the term PN'i'iJt , to a time when these ordinances were Arid, some refer to PX'^'iN , Isa. xxix. 1, still in force. Yet upon this portion of viewed as signifying lion of God, and the vision has been constructed the Chap. XLIV.] EZEKIEL. 213 23 bullock. When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of 24 the flock without blemish. And thou shalt offer them before Jehovah : and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and offer 25 them up for a burnt-offering to Jehovah. Seven days thou shalt prepare, each day, a goat for a sin-offering, and a young 2G bullock, and a ram out of the flock without blemish. Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it, and fill their 27 hands. And when the days are expired, it shall be upon the eighth day and forward, that the priests shall prepare your burnt-offerings and your peace-offerings upon the altar, and I will accept you, saith the Lord Jehovah. h3'pothcsis of commcmoriitive sacrifices under the Christian dispensation, whicli is nothing better than a pure invention, unsupported by any autliority in the New Testament. The only rite com- memorative of the death of Christ sanctioned by divine authority is the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. Tiie rc-institution of literal sacrifices would be to fly directly in the face of the doctrine expressly taught, Heb. x. 1-18. It would imply that sin was still un- atoned for, and consequently that the guiltof believers remained untakcn away. That the sacrifices described by Ezekiel were strictly piacular or propitiatory, and not merely commemorative and eucharistical, is evident from the terms employed in describing them. They were to be C^ riblj? , hlooJij sacrifices, specifically offered "1Q3 , to make expiation, to placate, or remove contracted guilt. The bullock and the kid of the goats were to be offered nXIinb , far a sin- offering, which conveys the same idea. To fill the hand, ver. 26, implies to fill it with oflPerings, to take a full supply of them. The reference is to the mode of sacerdotal consecration, Exod. xxix. 24, 35. CHAPTER XLIV. We have here regulations relating to the prince or civil ruler of the Hebrews when he drew near to worship before the Lord, 1-3; together with reproofs of the people, and especially of the Levites, who, for their breacli of the divine covenant, were to be excluded from the priesthood, 4-14. This high ofEce was now to be restricted to the sons of Zadok, in reward of their fidelity during the general defection, 15-31. (Comp. chap, xl. 43). 1 Then he brought me back by the way of the gate of the outer 2 sanctuary which faceth the east ; and it was shut. Then said Jehovah unto me : This gate shall be shut : it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because Jehovah the 214 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XLIV. 3. 3 God of Israel hath entered in by it: it shall be shut. The prince, indeed, the prince shall sit in it to eat bread before Je- hovah ; by the way of the porch of the gate he shall enter in, 4 and he shall go out by the way of the same. And he brought me by the way of the north gate before the house ; and I looked ; and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah ; 5 and I fell upon my face. And Jehovah said unto me : Son of man, set thy heart, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of Jehovah, and concerning all the laws thereof; and set thine heart to the entrance of the house with all the goings 6 out of the sanctuary. And thou shalt say to the rebellious house of Israel : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Let it suffice you for 7 all your abominations, O house of Israel, In that you have brought strangers into my sanctuary, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute my house, when ye ofier my bread, the fat and the blood ; and they have broken my covenant, because of all your abominations. 8 And ye have not kept the charge of my holy things, but have 9 set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of 10 any stranger that is among the children of Israel. And the Levites, who departed away from me when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, even they shall bear 11 their iniquity. Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house ; they shall kill the burnt-offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to serve them. 12 Because they served them before their idols, .and were a stumbling-block of iniquity to the children of Israel, therefore I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord Jehovah, and 13 they shall bear their iniquity. And they shall not come near to me to do the office of priest unto me, to come near to any of my holy things in the most holy place, but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. 3. It cannot but appear strange that identified, sinee the simple fact of his any should suppose that the prince here offering animal saci'ificcs for himself referred to is any other than the civil (chap. xlvi. 4) would in such case flatly ruler, for the time being, of the Jewish contradict what we are taught, Heb. x. state. With our Saviour he cannot be 18. See on chap, xliii. 18-27. Chap. XLIV.] EZEKIEL. 215 14 Yet I will make tliem keepers of the charge of the house, and all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein. 15 But the priests, the sons of Zadok, the Levites Avho have kept the charge of my sanctuary, when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near unto me to serve me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, 16 saith the Lord Jehovah. They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near unto my table to serve me, and they 17 shall keep my charge. And it shall be when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, that they shall be clothed with linen garments ; and wool shall not come upon them while they 18 serve in the gates of the inner court, and within. They shall have linen bonnets on their heads, and they shall have linen drawers upon their loins : they shall not gird themselves with 19 anything that causeth sweat. And when they go out into the outer court, even into the outer court unto the people, they shall put off their garments in which they have ministered, and lay them in the holy cells, and put on other garments ; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments. Neither shall they shave their heads, nor allow their hair to grow long ; they 21 shall only poll their heads. Neither shall any priest drink wine, 22 when they go in to the inner court. Neither shall they take for them for wives a widow, or her that hath been put away, but maidens of the seed of the house of Israel ; but they may 23 take a widow who hath been the widow of a ^Driest. And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the 24: clean. And in matter of litigation they shall stand in judgment ; they shall judge it according to my judgments, and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies ;"and they 25 shall hallow my Sabbaths. And they shall not go in to a dead man to defile themselves ; but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister who hath had no 26 husband, they may defile themselves. And after he is cleansed, 27 they shall reckon unto him seven days. And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin-offering, saith the Lord 28 Jehovah. And it shall be to them for an inheritance : I am their inheritance ; and ye shall give them no possession in Israel : 29 I am their possession. They shall eat the meat-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; and every devoted 216 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XL V. 1. 30 thing in Israel shall be theirs. And the first of all the firstlings of all, and every oblation, every one of all your oblations, shall be the priests' ; and ye shall give unto the priest the first of 31 your dough, to cause a blessing to rest upon your house. The priests shall not cat anything that hath died of itself, or is torn, whether it be of fowl or of beast. CHAPTER XLV. Ererything connected with the temple having been settled, the division of the land is naturally next adverted to, with special reference to the provision for the sacred services, , and for the city, the priests, and the prince ; and particular instructions are given bearing against oppression and acts of injustice. The special territorial division of the country among the tribes is reserved for chap, xlviii. ; only the portion devoted to the Lord is here subdivided into three parts; that which was to be specially appointed fi,r the uses of the sanctuary, 2, 3; a portion fur the priests who were attached to the service of the temple, 4 ; and a separate portion for the Levites to occupy as dwellings while discharging the functions of their office, 5. (Comp. chap/ xlviii. 8-13). 1 And when ye divide the land by lot for inheritance, ye shall heave a heave-oftering unto Jehovah, a holy portion of the land ; the length shall be the length of five-and-twcnty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand : it shall be holy in all the border 2 thereof round about. Of this shall be for the sanctuary five hundred by five hundred, square round about ; and fifty cubits 3 an open place for it round about. And of this measure thou shalt measure the length of five-and-twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand : and in it shall be the sanctuary, the 4 holy of holies. The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the ministers of the sanctuary, who draw near to serve Jehovah ; and it shall be to them a place for houses, and a holy 1. A portion of the land of Canaan, by Hiivcrnick and Fairbairn ; but I called the n^1"iri , Tenimah or Oblation, think inconsistently with the natural was to be reserved for Jehovah, as pro- import of the statement, ver. 3, for prietor of the soil. It is so called, be- rX-TH rr^J^il , this measure, can be no cause ustially when anything was offered other than that of cubits just specified to the Lord, the action was accompanied in the preceding verse. It is quite un- by lifting up the hand ; root D"''in , to necessary to assume the larger measure, raise. The dimensions specified in this since the dimensions according to cubits chapter have been much disputed. Heeds must have been amply suflicient to meet have been introduced in italics into the the demands of the different parties here text by our translators, and arc defended referred to. Chap. XL V. 12.] EZEKIEL. 217 5 place for the sanctuary. And the five-and-twenty thousand iu length, and the ten thousand in breadth, shall be for the Levites serving the house, for themselves, for a possession, twenty cells. 6 And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five-and-twenty thousand long, over against the holy 7 oblation ; it shall be for the whole house of Israel. And for the prince shall be on one side and the other of the oblation of the holy place, and of the possession of the city, before the oblation of the holy place, and before the possession of the city, on the west side westward, and on the east side eastward, and the length over against one of the portions from the west border unto the 8 east border. As to the land, it shall be to him for a possession in Israel ; and my princes shall no more oppress my i^eople ; and the rest of the land they shall give to the house of Israel 9 according to their tribes. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Let it suffice you, ye princes of Israel ; remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice ; take away your exactions 10 from my people, saith the Lord Jehovah. Ye shall have just 11 balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth joart of an 12 homer ; the measure thereof shall be after the homer. And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs ; twenty shekels, five-and-twenty 13 shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh. This is the oblation that ye shall offer, the sixth part of an ephah of au homer of wheat ; and ye shall give a sixth part of an ephah of 14 an homer of barley. And as for the appointed quantity of oil, the bath of oil, the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is 15 an homer of ten baths : for ten baths are an homer. And one lamb out of the flock, out of two hundred, from the well-watered pastures of Israel, for a meat-oifering, and for a burnt-offering, and for peace-offerings, to make atonement for them, saith the 16 Lord Jehovah. All the people of the land shall give this 17 oblation for the prince in Israel. And it shall be for the prince to give the burnt-offerings, and the meat-offerings, and the drink-offerings, on the festivals, and on the new moons, and on 12. The standard weights and measures shekel here referred to were probably having perished when t!ie temple was coins differing in value. Ko importance destroyed by the Chaldeans, it was is to be attached to the order in which necessary there should be a fresh speci- they occur, twenty, twenty-five, fifteeen, fication of them. The three orders of instead of fifteen, twenty, twenty-five. 19 218 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XLVI. the Sabbaths, on all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel : he shall prepare the sin-offering, and the meat-offering, and the burnt-offering, and the peace-offerings, to make an atonement 18 for the house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : In the first month, on the first of the month, thou shalt take a young 19 bullock without blemish, and cleanse the sanctuary. And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin-offering and put it upon the posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the settle of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court. 20 And thus shalt thou do on the seventh of the month for every one that erreth, and for him that is simple ; and ye shall make 21 atonement for the house. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, the feast of seven 22 days ; unleavened bread shall be eaten. And the prince shall on the same day prepare for himself, and for all the people of 23 the land, a bullock as a sin-offering. And on the seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt-offering for Jehovah, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily, the seven days ; 24 and for a sin-offering, a kid of the goats, daily. And he shall prepare a meat-offering of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah 25 for a ram. and a hin of oil for an ephah. In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, he shall prepare on the festival, as on these seven days, according to the sin-offering, according to the burnt-offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil. CHAPTER XLVI. A continuation of ordinances relating to the worsliip performed by the prince, 1-8, and likewise by the people, 9-15, at their annual festivals, as well as in relation to the daily ministrations. 1 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : The gate of the inner court that looketh towards the east shall be shut the six work-days, but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the new 2 moon it shall be opened. And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall jirepare his burnt-offering, and his jieace-offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate ; and he shall go forth ; and the gate shall not be Chap. XL VI. 4.] EZEKIEL. 219 3 shut until the evening. And the peoj^le of the land shall worship at the door of this gate on the Sabbaths, and on the 4 new moons, before Jehovah. And the burnt-offering, which the prince shall bring near to Jehovah on the Sabbath, shall be 5 six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish : And a meat-offering, an cphah for a ram, and a meat-offering for the lambs, according as his hand shall attain to, and a hin of oil to 6 an ephah. And on the day of the new moon, a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram ; without blemish 7 they shall be. And he shall prepare a meat-offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according 8 as his hand shall attain to, and a hin of oil to an ephah. And when the prince entereth, he shall enter by the way of the porch 9 of the gate, and by the way thereof he shall go forth. And when the jDeojile of the land enter before Jehovah in the ap- pointed feasts, he that entereth by the way of the north gate to worship, shall go out by the way of the south gate ; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go out by the way of the north gate ; he shall not return by the way of the gate 10 by which he entered, but shall go out over against it. And the prince shall be among them ; when they enter in, he shall enter 11 in ; and when they go out, he shall go out. And on the festivals, and in the solemn assemblies, shall be the meat-offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs as much as his hand shall attain to, and of oil a hin to the ephah. 12 And when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt-offering, or voluntary peace-offerings unto Jehovah, they shall open to him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt-offering and his peace-offerings, according as he pre- pareth on the Sabbath-day ; and he shall go forth, and the door 13 shall be shut after he hath gone forth. And thou shalt prepare daily a burnt-offering unto Jehovah, a lamb of a year old without 14 blemish ; every morning thou shalt prepare it. And thou shalt prepare for it a meat-offering every morning, the sixth part of 4. It is noticeable that six lambs are of the people in general, but in the other here speciticd as the number to be offered to those of the prince in particular ; on the Sabbath, whereas only tiro are and that in consequence of the liberal prescribed by the Mosaic law, (Numb, provision made for the establishment of xxviii. 9). The difference may be ac- the latter, it was assumed that he would counted for on the ground, that in the set a proportionately bountiful example one case respect is had to the offerings to the people. 220 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XL VI. 17. an ephah, and the third part of a hin of oil with which to moisten the fine flour, a meat-offering to Jehovah, continually by a 15 perpetual statute. And they shall prepare the lamb, and the meat-offering, and the oil, every morning, a continual burnt- offering. 16 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Wlien the prince shall give a gift to any of his sons, the inheritance of it shall be for his sons ; 17 it shall be their possession by inheritance. But when he shall give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty ; then shall it return to the prince ; 18 but his inheritance shall be for his sons. And the prince shall not take of the inheritance of the people to thrust them out of their inheritance by oppression ; he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession, that my peojile may not be scattered every one from his possession. 19 Then he brought me through the entrance, which Avas by the side of the gate, into the holy cells of the priests which looked toward the north ; and, behold, there was a place at the two ends toward 20 the west. And he said unto me : This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass-offering and the sin-offering, where they shall bake the meat-offering, that they may not bring them 21 out into the outer court to sanctify the people. Then he brought me forth into the outer court, and caused me to pass over to the four corners of the court ; and, behold, there was a court in 22 every corner of the court. In the four corners of the court were smaller courts, of forty in length, and thirty in breadth, one 23 measure to the four corners. And there was a row round about in them, round about them four, and boiling places were made 24 underneath the rows round about. And he said unto me : These are the place for boiling, where the servants of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people. 17. The mention in this verse of the during the continuance of the Mosaic jubilee year, or year of release, as that economy. That the Sabbatic year was when alienated land should revert to its restored after the captivity is sufficiently original occupier, is a strong confirma- proved by the testimony of Josephus, tion that the prophet intended a literal Antiqq. xiv. 10, 6. See also 1 Mace, reference to events that were to transpire vi. 49. CuAP. XLVIL] EZEKIEL. 221 CHAPTER XLVII. This chapter contains a sublime prophetical vision, emblematical of the rich abundance of blessings whicli Jehovah was prepared to confer upon his restored people. The imagery is taken from the scenery about the south of Judea, and forcibly depicts the contrasted condition of the Jews as apostate under the curse, and as restored to their privileges as the people of God, together with the abundant communication of divine blessings both to them and to the Gentile world. The vision bears on the very face of it sucli palpable incongruities if taken literally, that no room is left to doubt of its symbolical import. The localities specified are to be regarded as the sources whence the imagery is borrowed; but, in explaining them, care must be taken not to strain the language so as to obscure the more sublime objects which they were intended t j adumbrate. The vision, though connected with, is to be regarded as distinct from, that of the temple. It naturally springs out of the view given in the previous chapter of the worship to be performed by the prince and the people, under the superintendence of the priests. While that worship should be acceptable to God, if offered in a proper spirit, the manifestations of his loving-kindness were not to be confined to the sacred lucallty, but were to extend to the whole land, and ultimately to the whole world. To set forth this extension of the divine blessing, a series of beautiful images is introduced into the scene. From under the eastern wall of the temple, the prophet is shown a collection of waters which gush forth, and, increasing as they flow towards the Dead Sea, convey viridity, life, and beauty, wherever they come. The existence of fountains and aqueducts in the vicinity of Moriah has long been known, and they are particularly described by Dr. Eobinson and other travellers in the Easr ; but they throw little or no light upon the passage betbre us. The waters here described are represented as flowing in an easterly direction, "^^"'li^ j consequently towards the Kedron, having reached which they mu.st be supposed to have taken their course in the direction of the Jordan, and so down the Ghor towards the Dead Sea. The main point in the picture is the rapid augmentation of the river, not by the influx of any side streams, but by its own self-supply from the sacred source in the temple. It is evidently not to be explained on any principles of natural philosophy, but is to be resolved into the miraculous, so undeniably held forth to our view in the text. 1 Then he conducted me back unto the door of the house ; and, behold, waters issued from under the threshold of the house eastward ; for the front of the house was toward the east ; and the waters flowed down from under the right side of the house, 2 at the south side of the altar. And he conducted me by the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without to the outer gate by the way which looketh eastward; and, 3 behold, waters ran out from the right side. When the man that had the line in his hand went forth on the east, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters ; the 4 waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters ; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through ; the 5 waters were unto the loins. Then he measured a thousand, a river which I could not pass over ; for the waters were high, 19* ' 222 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XLVTI. 7-10. 10 waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. Then he said unto me : Son of man, hast thou seen this ? then he brought me and caused me to return to the bank of the river. "When I turned, behold, on the bank of the river very much wood on the one side, and on the other. Then he said unto me : These waters issue forth into the east circuit, and flow down into the desert, and go into the sea. And being brought out into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass that every living being that moveth, whithersoever the river shall come, shall live ; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither ; and they shall be healed, and shall live wheresoevel* the river shall come. And it shall be that fishers shall stand beside it from En-gedi to En-eglaim ; there shall be a spreading of nets ; their fish shall be according to their kind, as the fish of the great sea, 7. The numerous trees on the banks of the river are symbolical of the greatest prosperity. What had previously pre- sented only a scene of barrenness was now to be remarkable for the abundance of fruit wliieh it yielded. 8. The LXX., Targ.,and Syriac have preposterously rendered '"^^^n by Galilee, taking the river to the north from Jeru- salem instead of along the course of the Jordan southward, tl^'irrr , the Arabah, or great valley of the Jordan, still so called in the present day, stretching from Tiberias to the Red Sea. There is an emphasis in the repetition 'T3*'l j into the sea, i.e. the sea so remarkable for historic fiicts. The waters that re- quired to be healed were those of the lake, whose deadly character has long given the name to it, and has been fully established by the testimony of modern travellers. See Dr. Robinson, vol. ii. p. 222. " According," he says, " to the testimony of all antiquity, and of most modern travellers, there exists within the waters of the Dead Sea no living thing — no trace, indeed, of animal or vegetable life. Our own experience, as far as we had an opportunity to observe, goes toconfirm the truth of this testimony. We perceived no sign of life within the waters." Compare De Saulcy, vol. i. p. 168, who testifies to the same effect. 9. So complete should be the moral change which the prophet has in his eye, that it could only be fitly symbolized by the conversion of the Asphaltitic lake into a collection of waters abounding in all kinds of fish, for supplying the in- hal)itants of the neighboring country. ^'!.'!!5 is a dual, signifying the two rivers, but as only one river is mentioned at the end of the verse, I have no hesitation in adopting the division of the word into D^ --nS , the rirer of the sea, i.e. the Jordan, which flows into that sea, to which it is evident reference is had, and not, as Jarehi supposes, to the Mediter- ranean. 10. '"'^STT'?. f En-rjedi, ^5^^ (J-iV^ 5 originally called Hazezon-Tamar, was discovered in modern times by Scetzen, and is desciubed by Dr. Robinson and De Saulcy as situated close to a perpen- dicular cliff of more than fifteen hundred feet above the Dead Sea, on its western side. Where D"]"?? "p^: j En-eglaim, was situated, cannot with certainty be de- termined; but on comparing D'^.i?? » Etj- laim, (Isa. xv. 8), it would seem probable that it lay on the confines of Moab, over against Engedi, and near the entrance Chap. XL VII 10-23.] E Z E K I E L . 223 11 exceeding many. But the miry places thereof, and the pools 12 thereof, shall not be healed ; they are given for salt. And by the river, there shall come up on the bank thereof, on one side and on the other, all trees for food, whose leaves shall not fiide, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed ; they shall produce new fruit according to the months thereof, because the waters thereof issued forth from the sanctuary ; and the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaves thereof for medicine. 13 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: This is the border, according to which ye shall divide the land for an inheritance to the twelve of the Jordan into the sea : " Engallim in principio est maris mortui ubi Jor- dancs ingreditur." (Jerome.) 11. This verse has generally been viewed as a drawback upon the promise of good so forcibly and repeatedly made in the preceding verses, and the expres- sion, to give or devote to salt, if applied to land, and not to water as in the present instance, would unquestionably convey this idea. See Deut. xxix. 23 ; Ps. cvii. 34 (Heb.) ; Zeph. ii. 9; but as it is the water of the Dead Sea that is the subject spoken of, the proper inter- pretation is that founded on the circum- stance, that, owing to the great evapora- tion which takes place, especially during the heat of summer, large quantities of salt are deposited on the shores, or collected by the Arabs in pits, from which they obtain abundant supplies for the use of their families and flocks. No language could more forcibly repre-- sent than the whole passage the salutary influences of the Holy Spirit in healing the corruptions of human nature, and converting what befoi'c was poisonous and destructive into elements of vitality, utility, and enjoyment. Compare Isa. XXXV. 1, 2, 6, 7 ; xli. 18, 19 ; xliii. 19, 20 ; John vii. 38. 12. The prophet here sums up what he had to deliver relative to the happy change which was to take place in the condition of the church, in a picture only surpassed by that of the paradise of Eden. Instead of the vine of Sodom and the grapes of Gomorrah (Deut. xxxii. 32), which were nauseous and revolting, trees of righteousness should produce fruit to the jiraise and glory of God. Compare Rev. xxii. 2, where the language is copied almost verbatim, and made to serve as descriptive of the state of heavenly blessedness. 13-23. The remainder of the chapter, and the greater portion of that following, are occupied with the arrangements made for the territorial division of Palestine among the tribes. It is quite evident that 1^3 » which affords no sense, must be a corrupt reading for l^.1 , the Zain having been mistaken by some copyist for Gimel, a letter similar in shape. LXX. ravra to, opta. According to Kitto that country may be regarded as em- bracing an areaof almost eleven thousand square miles ; but being for the most part hilly, the sides of the mountains and the slopes of the hills greatly enlarge the available extent of the superficies. There cannot therefore be a doubt that the population might have been in- creased to an extent comprehending all who remained behind in the East, if they had chosen to return. All would have found ample accommodation in the land of their fathers. The literal Canaan, and the literal tribes here named, alone meet the demand of the unbiassed expositor, just as in the case of the temple, which requires to be treated literally. By the geographical marks given by Ezekiel it may easily be ascer- tained that the same country is intended which the Hebrews had in possession 224 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XLVII. 13-23. 14 tribes of Israel : Joseph shall have two portions. And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another, which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you for an 15 inheritance. And this shall be the boundary of the land on the north side, from the great sea by the way of Chethlon to the entering in of Zedad : Hamath, Berothah, Sebaraim, which are between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath ; 17 Hazor-hatticou, which is on the border of Hauran. And the border from the sea shall be Hazor-ainon, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath ; and this 18 shall be the north side. And the east side shall be from between Hauran and Damascus and Gilead, and from between the land of Israel on the Jordan ; from the boundary by the eastern sea 19 ye shall measure ; and this shall be the side eastward. And the south side southward from Tamar unto the waters of Meriboth- Kadesh, the river to the great soa ; this shall be the south side 20 southward. And the west side shall be the great sea, from the border over against the entrance of Hamath : this shall be the west side. 21 And ye shall divide this land to yourselves for the tribes of Israel. 22 And it shall come to pass that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance to yourselves and to the strangers who sojourn among you, who have begotten children among you, and they shall be to you as a native among the children of Israel : they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. before the captivity, exclusive of that thins^s, but was graciously to have re- beyond Jordan, which did not properly stored to it the double portion which belong to the paternal territory (Gen. Jacob bestowed on Joseph, and which xiii. 14-18). The boundaries differ little was inherited by his two sons, Ephraim from those fixed by Moses (Numbers and Manasseh, instead of Reuben who xxxiv.), only the latter commences with had forfeited his birthright. See Gen. the south, the former with the north, xlviii. 5. There was now no distinction for what reason it is impossible to con- to be made that might seem to savor jecture, except it was designed, with of partiality, but all were to have a other changes, to prepare the minds of sufticient share allotted to them, the Jews for the greater change which 22, 23. A joint participation in the was to be effected by the introduction inheritance of the land between the of the new economy to be established Hebrews and such foreigners as might by the Messiah. sojourn among them, was something 13. Joseph, as representative of the altogether new in the history of the tribe of Ephraim, is here placed in the covenant people. Its object seems to foreground, to intimate, that though have been gradually to wean them from that tribe had been the ringleader both that exclusiveness of spirit which natu- in the civil revolt and in idolatry, it was rally marked their character, and thus not to be neglected in the new state of to pave the way for the introduction of Chap. XLVIII. 8.] E Z E K I E L . 225 23 And it shall come to pass that in what tribe soever the stranger sqjourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord Jehovah. the gospel dispensation, which, as it before God, and excludes none who respects spiritual blessings, considers all submit to its terms from the enjoyment men, without distinction, as upon a level of the privileges of the divine kingdom. CHAPTER XLVIII. Having finished his description of tlie boundaries of the land of Canaan generally, the propliet now takes up the several allotments of the tribes in particular, with special reference to Jerusalem, as the common centre, 1-7, 23-28. According to the locations here laid down, seven of the tribes were to have their portions in the northern division of the country, and the remaining Ave were to occupy the smaller division in the south. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin were to be specially honored: having their portions assigned to them in immediate contiguity to the sacred area ajipropriated to the temple and its officiants. The reason is obvious: they had remained faithful to the house of David amid the general defection ; and would again be prepared by their military spirit to resist any attack that might be attempted upon the sacred enclosure. 1 Now these are the names of the tribes : from the north end to the coast of the way of Chethlon, to the entering in of Hamath, Hazar-ainon, the border of Damascus northward to the coast of Hamath ; and these are the sides thereof east and west : 2 Dan, one. And by the border of Dan, from the east side to 3 the west side : Asher, one. And by the border of Asher, from 4 the east side even to the west side : Naphtali, one. And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side: 5 Manasseh, one. And by the border of Manasseh, from the 6 east side to the west side : Ephraim, one. And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even to the west side : Reuben, 7 one. And by the border of Reuben, from the east side to the 8 west side : Judah, one. And by the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the oblation which ye shall offer, five-and-twenty thousand in breadth, and in length as one of the parts from the east side to the west side ; and the sanc- 9 tuary shall be in the midst of it. The oblation which ye shall offer to Jehovah shall be five-and-twenty thousand in length, 8. The measures here and afterwards reeds, as given in our common version, specified I take to be cubits, and not See on chapter xlv. 1 . 226 E Z E K I E L . [Chap. XL^TH. 15. 10 and ten thousand in breadth. And for these, for the priests, the oblation shall be ; toward the north, five-and-twenty tliousand, and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south five-and- twenty thousand in length ; and the sanctuary of Jehovah shall 11 be in the midst thereof. It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept my charge, who went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the 12 Levites went astray. And the oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a most holy thing, by the border of 13 the Levites. And over against the border of the priests, the Levites shall have five-and-twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth : all the length five-and-twenty thousand, 14 and the breadth ten thousand. And they shall not sell of it, nor exchange, nor alienate the first-fruits of the land, for it is 15 holy to Jehovah. And the five thousand that are left in the breadth over against the five-and-twenty thousand shall be a profane place for the city, and for dwelling, and for an open 16 place ; and the city shall be in the midst of it. And these shall be the measures thereof: the north side four thousand and five hundred ; and the south side four thousand and five hundred ; and the east side four thousand and five hundred ; and the west 17 side four thousand and five hundred. And the open space for the city northward, two hundred and fifty ; and toward the south, two hundred and fifty ; and toward the east, two hundred and 18 fifty ; and toward the west, two hundred and fifty. And the residue in length over against the oblation of the holy portion shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward; and it shall be over against the oblation of the holy portion ; and the increase thereof shall be for bread for them that serve 19 the city. And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all 20 the tribes of Israel. All the oblation shall be five-and-twenty thousand by five-and-twenty thousand : ye shall offer the holy 21 oblation four square with the possession of the city. And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other side of the holy oblation, and the possession of the city, before 15. When it is said that the five thou- that they were to be regarded and treated Band cubits here spoken of were to be as common, not being appropriated by ?H , profane, it is not meant that they any particular individuals. They were were to have any positive impurity cither to be free to the use of "all. legal or moral attached to them, but Chap. XL VIII. 28-35.] E Z E K I E L . 227 the five-and-twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward before the five-and-twenty tliousand toward the west border, over against the portions for tlie prince ; and it shall be the holy oblation ; and the sanctuary of the house 22 shall be in the midst thereof. Moreover from the possession of the Levites, from the possession of the city, in the midst of that which belongs to the prince, between the border of Judah, 23 and the border of Benjamin, shall be for the prince. And as to the rest of the tribes ; from the east side to the west side : 24 Benjamin, one. And by the border of Benjamin, from the east 25 side to the west side : Simeon, one. And by the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west side : Issachar, one. 26 And by the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west 27 side : Zebulon, one. And by the border of Zebulon, from the 28 east side to the west side : Gad, one. And by the border of Gad, on the south side southward, the border shall be from Tamar, the waters of Meriboth-Kadesh, and to the river toward 29 the great sea. This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance ; and these are their 30 portions, saith the Lord Jehovah. And these are the goings forth of the city ; on the north side four thousand and five 31 hundred measures. And the gates of the city shall be according to the names of the tribes of Israel : three gates northward, one 32 gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi. And on the east side, four thousand and five hundred ; and three gates, even one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan. 33 And on the south side four thousand and five hundred measures ; and three gates, one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one 28. The "^^ri , Tamar, here mentioned 35. As there was to be a new city, it is not Jerieho, as the Targumist ex- was befitting that it should have a new pounds, but a locality situated at the name. The import of that here given : distance of a day's journey to the south '"'^'^ '^)''^'^ > Jeliovah-shammah , indicates of Hebron, and a little to the west of the that it was to be specially honored Dead Sea. Both, however, take their with the divine presence and protection, namefrom the ;)n/mf?Yes abounding in the fH'IJ is not in this place to be taken neighborhood. By '"i^i'?! C'ri"3S" n?ra, strictly as an adverb of direction, as if ihe river hy the great sea, we are to un- meant to express the idea that Jehovah derstand the Rhinocorura or the Wadi would be specially propensc towards el-Arish, on the confines of Palestine and Jerusalem, but is simply equivalent to Egypt, elsewhere called, on this account, the local signification there. Compare ti''^^'^ "^n , the river of E(fi/pt. The ^ Gen. xxiii. 13; Isa. xxxiv. 15; Ps. in •^^na is simply the postpositive adverb, cxxii. 5 ; and as to meaning, Ps. xlviii. indicating direction towards a place. 1-3. 228 EZEKIEL. [Chap. XLVin. 34 gate of Zebulun. And on the west side, four thousand and five hundred, with their three gates ; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali. 35 Round about eighteen thousand measures ; and the name of the city from that day shall be : Jehovah is there. Here endeth this remarkable vision, wliich, though greatly mystified by many of the attempts that have been made to explain it, stands forth to view on the sacred page as a noble specimen of divine wisdom, admirably calculated to inspire the captive exiles in Babylonia with the cheering hope of their re-settlement in their own land, and the restoration of their beloved metropolis and temple. In contemplating it, the truly spiritually-minded Christian, with his thoughts raised above all earthly localities, will not, as the Germans express it, perplex himself with Griibeleien, subtle and trifling inquiries, but will grasp the grand ideas which the vision suggests, and anticipate for himself in a future world a realization of what was only dimly shadowed forth by that which is here described. May it be the happiness of the writer and each of his readers to be raised to dwell in the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ! / / Date Due Aiinovj ilHniiiM'i'^ N O 5 ' s:^ HilHib^ifiH' ^^00*0*^' j A *» e 9 'oe — iw jMHrryry"*^- 00071 5716 i,vyi';,v^