Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition) (continued)
(Jod Encouragelh the Prophet,. EZEKIEL III. God Openelh and Shutleth his Mouth,
(2.1) fpeaks of standing upon his "watch," but it wa« only in order to be on the look-out for the manifestation of God's power (so Isaiah 52. 8; 62. 6); not as Ezekiei, to act as a watchman to others. 18. warning . . . speakest to warn—The repetition implies that it is not enough to warn once in passing, but that the warning is to be inculcated continually (2 Timothy 4. 2, " in season, out of season;" Acts 20. 31, "night and day with tears"), save Ch. 2. 5, had seemingly taken away all hope of salvation; but the reference there was to the mass of the people whose case was hopeless; a few individuals, however, were reclaimable. die in . . . Iniquity—(John 8. 21, 24.) Men are not to flatter themselves that their ignorance, owing to the negligence of their teachers, will save them (Koraans 2. 12, "As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law"). 19. wickedness . . . -wicked -way—^internal wickedness of heart, and external of the life, respectively, delivered thy soul—(Isaiah 49.
bodied form. 3. Jvoney for sweetness—Psalm 19. 10; 119.
103; Revelation 10.9, where, as here, v. 14, the "sweetness"
Is followed by " tfitterness."' The former being due to the painful nature of tlie message; the latter because it was the Lord's service which he was engaged in ; and his eating the roll, and rinding it sweet, implied that, divesting himself of carnal feeling, he made God's will his will, however painful tlie message that God might requite him to announce. The fact that God would be glorified was his greatest pleasure. 5. See Margin, Hebrew, "deep of lip and heavy of tongue," £. e., men speaking an obscure and unintelligible tongue. Even they would have listened to the prophet; but the Jews, though addressed in their own tongue, will not hear him. 6. many people
It would have increased the difficulty had he been sent, not merely to one, but to "many people" differing in tongues, so that the missionary would have needed to acquire a new tongue for addressing each. The after mission of the apostles to many peoples, and the gift of tongues for that end, are foreshadowed (cf. 1 Corinthians
4, 5 ; Acts 20. 'M.) 20. rigliteous . . . tui-n from . . righteousness—not one " righteous" as to the root and
1-1. 21 with Isaiali 2S. 11). liacl I sent tJiee to tliem, tliey would liave Uearliened — (Matthew 11.21,23.) 7. will not hearken niito tSiee : for . . . not . . . me—(John 15.
spirit of regenei-ation (Psalm 89. 33; 138. 8; Isaiah 26. 12; 27.
3; John 10. 28; Philippians 1. 6), but as to its outward apjjearance and performances. So the "righteous" (Proverbs IS. 17; Matthew 9. 13). As in v. 19, the minister is required to lead the wicked to good, so in v. 20, to confirm the well-disposed in their duty, commit iniquity—i. e., give himself up ivhoUi/ to it (1 John 3. 8, 9), for even the best often fall, but not wilfully and habitually. I lay a stumhling-hlock—not that God tempts to sin (James 1. 13,
20.) Take patiently their rejection of thee, for I thy Loi-d bear it along with thee. 8. Ezekiel means one "strengthened Ijy God." Such he was in godly firmness, in spite of his people's opposition, according to the Divine command to the priest tribe to which he belonged (Deuteronomy 33.9). 9. As . . . flint — So Messiah the antitype (Isaiah .50.7; cf. Jeremiah 1.8, 17). 10. receive in . . . heart . . . ears—Tlie transposition from the natural order, viz., first receiving with the ears, then in the heart,
14), but God gives men over to judicial blindness, and to their own corruptions (Psalm 9. 16, 17; 94. 23), when they " like not to retain God in their knowledge" (Romans 1.
24, 2G) ; just as, on tlie contrary, God makes " the way of the righteous plain" (Proverbs 4. 11, 12; 15. 19), so that they do " not stumble." Calvim refers " stumbling-block" not to the guilt, but to its punishment ; "I bring ruin on him." The former is best. Ahab, after a kind of righteousness is designed. The preparation of the heart for God's message sliould precede tiie reception of it with the ears (cf. Proverbs Hi. 1 ; Psalm 10. 17). 11. thy people—who ought
"to be better disposed to hearken to thee, their fellowcountryman, than hadst thou been a foreigner {v. 5, 6).
I Acts 8. o9.) Enekiel's abode heretofore had not been the most suitable for his work. He, therefore, is guided
(1 Kings 21. 27-29), relapsed, and consulted lying spirits in false prophets ; so God permitted one of these to be his "stumbling-block," both to sin and its corresponding punishment (1 Kings 22. 21-23). Itis blood will I require—(Hebrews 13. 17.) 23. hand of tlie Iiord-(Ch.
l)y the Spirit to Tel-abib, the chief town of the Jewish colony of captives: there he sat on the ground, "the throne of the miserable" (Ezra 9. 3; Lamentations 1. 1-3), Beven days, the usual period for manifesting deep grief (Job 2. 13; see Psalm 137. 1), thus winning their confidence
1. 3.) go . . . into the plain—in order that he might there, in a place secluded from unbelieving men, receive a fresh manifestation of the Divine glory, to inlay sympatiiy in their sorrow. He is accompanied Ijy the cherubim which had been manifested at Chebar (ch. 1. 3, -1)^ after their departure from Jerusalem. They now are heard moving witli the "voice of a great rushing (cf. Acts 2.2), sayspirit him f<5r his trying work. 23. glo»-y of the Loixl—
(Ch. 1. 28.) 24. set me upon my feet-—having been previously prostrate and unable to rise until raised by the Divine power, shut thyself within . . . house—implying. Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place," i. e., moving from tlie place in which it had been at Chebar, to accompany E/,ekjel to his new destination (ch. 9. 3); or, " from liis place ing, that in the work he had to do, he must look for no sympatiiy from man, but must be often alone with God. and draw his stre ngth from Him. [Fairbairn.] "Do not go out of thy house till I reveal the future to thee by signs and words," which God does In the following chapters, down to the eleventh. Thus a representation was given of the city shut up by siege. [Grotius.] Thereby God proved the obedience of His servant, and Ezekiel showed the reality of His call by proceeding, not through rash impulse, but by the directions of God. [Calvin.] 25. put ll>nnds upon thee—n'ot literally, but spiritually, the binding, depressing influence which their rebellious conduct would exert on his spirit. Their perversity, like bands, would repress his freedom in preaching. As in 2 Corinthians G. 12, Saint Paul calls himself " straitened," because his teaching djd not find easy access to them. Or
' may rather mean, in His place and manifested "from" it. Though God may .seem to have forsaken His temple. He is still in it, and will restore His people to
It. His glory is " blessed," in opposition to those Jews who spoke evil of Him, as if He had been unjustly rigorous towards their nation. [Calvin.] 13. touched— //<., kissed, i.e., closely eml)raced. noise of a great rushing —typical of great disasters iinpendingover tlie Jews.
bitterness—sadness on account of the impending calamities of wliich 1 was required to be the unwelcome meseenger. Uul tlie "hand," or powerful imjuilse of Jehovah, urged me forward. 1~>. Tel-abih— nn'ans an "elevation." It is identified liy Miciiaeils witli Thallaba. on tin; Cliabour. Perhaps the name expressed the Jews' hopes of restoration, or else the fertility of tlie region. Aljib means tin; green ears of corn which appeare{l in the month Nisan, tlic pledge of the liarvest. I Ditt, &o.—Tills is tlie Hebrew Margin leading. The text else, it is said to console the prophet for being shut up; If thou wert now at once to announce God's message, they ivould rush on thee and bind thee with "bands." [Calvin.] 2G. I will make my tongue . . . dumb—Israel had rejected the prophets; therefore God deprives Israel of the propliets and of His word—God's sorest judgment is ratiicr, "I beheld tiieiii sitting there" [Gk.skniusJ; or, "And tliose that wcre settled there," viz., the older
(1 Samuel 7. 2; Amos S. 11, 12). 37. wlien I speak . . . 1 will open thy mouth—opposed to the silence imposed on the prophet, to punish the people (r. 20). After the Interval of silence has awakened their attent ion to thtM)»use of it, viz., tlieirsiiis, tliey may tlien hearken to the prophecies which they would not do before, he that hearetli, settlers, as distinguished from the more recent ones alluded to in the previous clause. The ten tribes had been long since settled on the (Jhabor or Habor (2 Kings
17. 6). [Havehnu'K.] 17. watcliiuau — Ezekiel alone, among the propliets, is called a " watchman," not merely to sympathize, but to give timely warning of danger let lilm liear . . . forbear—i. e., thou hast done thy part.
to his peojilc where uouu was suspected, Habakkuk 670
T!ie Type oj a Se!ge. EZEKIEL IV, V. The Hardness of the Famine, whetlier they hear or forbear. He who shall forbear to the meaning was far from lying on the surface, was Intended to arouse to a less superficial mode yf thinking, just as the partial veiling of truth in Jesus' parables was designed to stimulate inquiry; also to remind men that God's dealings in the past are a key to the future, for Ho moves on the same everlasting /(ri Hcijto, the forms alone being tt'ansitory. 7. arm . . . uncov«-rcd—to be read.y for action, wliich the long Oriental garment usually covering it would prevent (Isaiah 52. 10). tlioH sltalt proplicsy against it—this gesture of thine will be a tacit prophecy against It. 8. bands—(Ch. 3. 25.) not turn from . . . side—to imply the impossibility of their being able to shake off their punishment. O. wheat . . . barley, &c. —instead of simple flour used for delicate cakes (Genesis hear, It ihall be at liis own peril ; he who hears, it sluUl be to his own eternal good (of. Kevelulioii 2i 11).
CHAPTER IV.
Ver. 1-17. Symbolical Vision of the Sikge and the Iniquity-eeauing. 1. tile—a suii-driecl brick, such as are found in Babylon, covered with cuneiforui inscriptions, ollen two feet long, one broad, a. fort—rather, a walch-toirer (Jeremiah 4) wherein the besiegers could watch the movemenls of the besieged. [Gesenius.] A wall of circunivallatioii. [LXX. and Kosenmuller.] A kind of battering-ram. [ilAUKEK.] The first view is best, a mouut—wlierewith tlie Chaldeans could be defended from missiles, bntftring-rams— through-
18. 6), the Jews should have a coarse mixture of six different kinds of grain, such as the poorest alone would eat, litches —spelt or dhourra. three hundred nnd ninety the forty days are omitted, since these latter tyiiify the wilderness period when Israel stood separate from tlie Genborers. In ch. 21. 22 the same Hebrew is translated, "captains." ii-cm pan—the Divine decree as to the Chaldean army invi-sliug the city. 3. set it for a \vnll of iron bctwrtn tlit-e Hiul tUe til} — l^^zeiiiel, in the person of God, represents the wall of separation between him and the people as one of iron: and the Chaldean investing army. His instrument of separating thcni frojn liini, as one impossible to burst tlirouih. set . . . face «^nin»t it inexorably (Psalm .'!!. hi). Tlie exiles envied their brethren remaining in Jerusalem, but exile is better than the straitness of a siege. 4. Anotlier symbolical act performed at the same lime as the former, in vision, not in external action, wherein it would have been only puerile: narrated as a thing ideally done, it would make a vivid impression. The second action is supplementary to the tiles and their pollutions, thoughpartially chastened by stint of bread and water (v. 16), whereas the eating of the polluted bread in the 390 days implies a forced residence "among the Gentiles" who were polluted with idolatry (i;,
13). This last is said of " Israel" primarily, as being the most debased (v. 9-15); they had spiritually sunk to a level with the heathen, therefore God will make tlieii' condition outwardly to correspond. Judali and Jerusalem fare less hardly, being less guilty: they are to "eat bread by weight and with care," i. e., have a stinted supply, and be chastened with the milder discipline of the wilderness period. But Judah also is secondarily refened to in the first, to bring out more fully the same prophetic idea,
390 days, as having fallen, like Israel, into Cientile defilements; if, tlien, the Jews are to escape from the exile among Gentiles, which is their just punishment, they must submit again to the wilderness-probation (v. 10), 10. twenty she Uels—i. e., little more than ten ounces. A scant measure to sustain life (Jeremiah 52. G). But it applies not only to the siege, but to their whole subsequent state. 11. sixth . . . of . . . hin—about a pint and a half. 13. dung—as fuel; so tire Arabs use beasts' dung, wood-fuel being scarce. But to use human dung so implies the most cruel necessity. It was in violation of the law (Deuteronomy 14. 3; 23. 12-14); it must therefore have been done only in. vision. 13. Implying that Israel's peculiar distinction was to be abolished, and that they were to be outwardly blended with the idolatrous heathen (Deuteronomy 28. 08 ; Hosea 9. 3). 14. Ezekiel, as a priest, had been accustomed to the strictest abstinence from everything legally impure. Peter felt the same scruple at a similar command (Acts 10. 14; cf. Isaiah 65. 4). I'osileft siilc—referring to the position, of the ten tribes, the northirn kingdom, as Jutlali, the muthern, answers to "the riglit side" (V. 6). The Orientals, facing the east in their mode, had the north on tlieir left, and the south on their (ch. Ki. 4(1). Also the right was more honourable than the left: so Judah, as being the seat of the temple, was more .so than Israel. Ijear their iniquity—iniquity being regarded as a burrlr'n; so it means, " bear the punishynent of their iniciuity" (Numbers 14. 34). A type of Him who was the great sin-hearer, not in mimic show as Ezekiel, but in reality (Isaiah iy.i. 4, ti, 12). 5. tliree Iiundred ai»d niuety days—the u90 years of punishment appointed for Israel, and forty lor Judah, cannot refer to the siege of Jerusalem. That siege is referred to v. 1-3, not in a .sense restricted to the literal siege, but comprehending tlie whole train of punishment to be inflicted for theirsin; therefore we read here merely of its .sore pressure, not of its result. The sum of '6'M and 4U years is 430, a period famous in the history of the covenant people, being that of their sojourn in Egypt (Exodus 12.40,41; Galatians 3.17). The forty alludes to the forty years in the wilderness. Elsewhere (Ueuieronomy 2S. OS ; Hosea 9. 3), God threatened to bring them back to Egypt, which must mean, not Egypt literally, but a bondage as bad as tJiat one in Egypt. So now God will reduce them to a kind of new Egyptian bondage to the world : Israel, the greater transgressor, for a longer period than Judah (cf. ch. 20. 35-38). Not the whole of the 430 years ot t he Egypt state is appointed to Israel; but this shortened by the forty years of the wilderness sojourn, to imply, that a way is open to their return to life by their having the Egypt state merged into that of the wilderness, i. e., by ceasing from idolatry, and seeking in their sifting and sore troubles, through God's covenant, a restoration to rigliteousness and peace, [Faiubaikn.J The 390, in reference to the sin of Israel, was al.so literally true, being tlie years from the setting Up of the calves by Jeroboam (1 Kings 12. 20-33), i. e., from tive precepts, being dependent on a particular command can be set aside at the will of the Divine ruler; but mora.
jsreccp/s are everlasting in their obligation, because God cannot be inconsistent with His unchanging moral na ture. abominable flcslk lit., fiesh that stank from putridity. Flesh of animals three days killed was prohibited (Leviticus 7. 17, 18 ; 19. 6, 7). 15. cow's dung—a mitigation of the former order (t). 12); no longer " the dung of man;" still the bread so baked is "defiled," to imply that, whatever partial abatement there might be for the prophet's sake, the main decree of God, as to the pollution of Israel by exile among Gentiles, is unalterable. 16. staff of bread—bread by which life is supported, as a man's weight is by the stair he leans on (Leviticus 20. 20; Psalm
105. 16; Isaiah 3. 1). by weiglit, and with care— in scant measure (v. 10). 17. astonied one with anotlier—mutually regard one another with astonishment: the stupefied look of despairing want.
CHAPTER V.
975 to 58.5 B. c. ; about the year of the Babylonian captivity; and perhaps the 40 of Judah refers to that part of Manasseh's flfty-flve years' reign in which he had not repented, and which, we are expressly told, was the cause of God's removal of .Tudah, notwithstanding Josiah's reformation
Ver. 1-17. Vision of Cutting the Hairs, and the Calamities foreshadowedthekeby. 1. knife . . . razor —the sword of the foe (cf. Isaiah 7.20). This vision implies even severer judgments than the Egyptian afllictions foreshadowed in the former, for their guilt was greater than that of their forefathers, thine head—as representative of the Jews. The whole hair being snaven off was slg571
(1 Kings 21. 10-16; 23. 20. 27). 6. eacli day for a year-iiY., a day /or a year, a day for a year. Twice repeated, to mark more distinctly the reference to Numbers 14. 34. The plclarlaK of the future under the image of the past, wherein