Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition) (continued)
The Rejeciion of Jerusalem. EZEKIEL XV, XYI. Her Ori'jinal Siate Described,
CHAPTER XVI.
combined are justly to visit tlie land for sin, shall these tliiee righteous men not lieliver it. 19. In blood—not lit-
Ver. ]-t;3. Detailed Api-lication of the Parabolical Delineation of Cii.\i>. 15. to Jerusalem peimouIFIED AS A Daughter. 1. Taken up by (iod's gratuitous favour from iiifaiic.v (t: 1-7); 2. and, when grown up, joined to Him in spiritual marriage (u. 8-H) ; 3. her unfaithfulness, her sin {v. 15-31); 4. tliejudgment (v. 3.5-52); 5. her unlopked-for restoration (u. 53 to the close). 3. cause Jerusalem to know—Men often are so blind as uot to perceive their guilt which is patent to all. "Jerusalem" represents enilly. In Hebrew, "blood" expresses every premature kind of deatli. ai. How much more—lit., "Burely shall U be so now, when I send," &o. If none could avert tlie one on!// jailgmmt incurred, snrely >ww, wlien all four are Incurred by sin, tnucJi more impossible it will be to deliver tlie land. 3^. Yet ... a remnant—not of rigliteous persons, but some of the guilty who should "come forth" from the destruction of Jerusalem to Babylon, to. lead a life of hopeless exile tliere. Tlie reference here is to judgment, not mercy, as v. 23 sliows. ye shall see tliclr . . . doliigsi tlie whole kingdom of .ludah. 3. birth . . . nativity thy origin anil liirtli ; lit., tliij digginys (cf. Isaiali 51. 1) and thy briitginy.t forth, of , . . Canaan—in whieli Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, sojourned before going to Egypt, and from which thou didst derive far more of thy innate cliaracteristics tliaii from tlie virtues of those tliy progenitors and . . . he coiixfovtenl—ye, the exiles at tlie Chebar, who now iiuirnuir at God s judgment about to be inflicted on Jerusa lem as liai-sli, when ye shall see the wicked " ways" and cliaraoter of tlie escaped remnant, sliall acknowledge tiiat both Jerusalem and its inhabitants deserved their
(cli. 21.30). an iVmorite . . . an Ilittite—these being the most iiowerful tribes stand for tlie whole of the Canaanite nations (cf. Joshua 1. 4; Amos 2. 9), whicli wei'e so abomiualjly corrupt as to have been doomed to utter extermination by God (Leviticus LS. 24,2.5, 28; Deuteronomy 18. 12).
fide; his recognition of the righteousness of the judgment will reconcile you to it, and so ye shall be "comforted" under it, [Cai.vin.] Then would follow mercy to tlie elect remnant, tliough i/uit is not referred to here, but in oil. 20. i'i. 'i'i. they «StaIl comfort yon—not in words, liut by your recognizing in their manifest guilt, that God had uot been unjustly severe to them and the city.
Translate rather, "the Aiiiorite ... the Canaanite," i. e., these two tribes personified : their wicked characteristics, respectively, were concentrated in the parentage of Israel (Gmiesis 15.10). "The Ilittite" is made their "mother;" alluding to Esau's wives, daughters of Heth, whose ways vexed llebekah (Genesis 26.31,3.5; 27.46), but pleased the degenerate descendants of Jacob, so that these are called. In respect of morals, children of the Hittite (cf. v. 4o). 4c. Israel's lielple.ssne.ss in her first struggling into national existence, under the image of an infant (Ho.sea2. 3) cast
CHAPTER XV.
Ver. 1-S. The Worthlessnkss of the Vine as Wood, KSPECIALLY WHEN BtlKNl', IS THE IMAGE OF THE WOKTULEssxEss AND Guilt of the Jews, who shall pass ruoai ONE Fire to anotiibk. This chapter represents, in the way of a brief introduction, what eh. 16. details minutely.
fortli wilhout receiving the commonest acts of jiarental regard. Its verv life was a miracle (Exodus 1. 15-22). itavel . . . not out—wi Lliout proper attention to the navel string, the infant ju.-it bom is liable to die. neither . . , washed in water to supple thee i. e., to make the skin
3, 3. What h.is tlie vine-wood to make it pre-eminent above other forest-jyo&d.'' Nothing. Nay, the reverse. Other trees yield useful timber, but vine-wood is soft, brittle, crooked, and seldom large; not so much as a "pin" (the large wooden peg used inside houses in the East to hang household articles on, Isaiah 22. 23-25) can be made of it. Its sole e.tcelleucy is that it should bear fruit; wlien it does not bear fruit it is uot only uot better, but Inferior to other trees: so if God's people lose their distinctive excellency by not bearing fruits of righteousness, they are more unprofitable than the worldly (Deuteronomy 32. .32), for they are the vine; the sole end of their being is to bear fruit to His glory (Psalm 80. 8, 9; Isaiah 5.
soft. Rather, "for puritication ;" from an Arabic root. [Maurer.J Gesenivs translates as Margin, "that tliou mightest (.be presented to thy parents to) be looked upon," as is customary on the Ijirth of a child, salted—anciently they rubbed infants with salt to make the skin dense and firm. 5. ca.st . . . iu . . . open field—the exposure of infants was common in ancient times, to the loathing of tliy person—referring to the unsightly aspect of the.expased infant. Fairbaiun Z/'rtni7,aie.s, " With contempt (or disdainful Inditrerence) of thy life." tt. when I pni9.sed by —as if a traveller, polluted in . . . blood—but Piscator, "ready to be trodden on." I said—iu contrast to Israel's helplessness stands God's omnipotent word of grace which bid the outcast little one " live." in tliy blood tliougli tliou wast foul Willi blood, I said "Live." [GkoTius.j "Live in thy blood,'' i. e.. Live, but live a life exposed to many deaths, as was the ca.se in the beginnings of Israel's national existence, in order to magnify the grace of God. [Calvin.] The former view is preferable. Spiritually, till the sinner is made sensible of his abject helplessness, he will not appreciate the provisions of God's grace. 7, catised ... to multiply lit., I . , . made thee a myriad, bud . . . of field—the produce of the Held. In 250 years tiiey increased from seventy-five persons to eiglit hundred thousand (Acts 7. 14). [Calvin.] But see Exodus 12. 37, 3S. excellent ornaments l;ii., "ornament of ornaments." naked . . . bare—(Hosea 2. 3.) Lit., "nakedness . . . bareness" itself; more emphatio. 8. thy time ... of love lit., loves (cf. .Song of Solomon 2. 10-13;. Thou wast of marriageable age, but none was willing to marry thee, naked as thou wast. I then regarded thee with a look of grace wlien the full time of thy deliverance was come (Genesis 1.5. 13, 14 ; Acts 7. 0, 7). It is not she that makes the advance to God, but God to her; slie has nothing to entitle her to such notice, yet He regards her not with mere benevolence, but with toue, sucli as one cherishes to tlie person of his wife (Song of Solomon 1. 3-6; Jeremiah 31.3; Malachi 1.2). 8. spread my skirt over thee—the mode of espousals (Ruth 3. 9). I betrotlied thee (Deuteronomy 4,37; 10. 15; Hosea 11. 1). The cloak is ofteu
I, &c. ; Jeremiah 2. 21 ; Hosea 10. 1 ; Matthew 21. 33). In all respects, except in their being planted by God, the Jews were inferior to other nations, as Egypt, Babylon, &c., c. (J., in antiquity, extent of territory, resources, military power, attainments in arts and sciences, or than a branch — rather, in apposition with "the vine tree." Omit or than. Wliat sujjeriority has the vine (/ U be but a branch among the trees of the forest, i. e., if, as having no fruii, it lies cut down among other woods of trees? 4.
Into . . . fire—(John 15. 6.) both the ends—the north kingdom having been already overturned by Assyria under Tiglath-pileser; tlie south being pressed on by Egypt (2 Kings Zi. 29-35). midst of it is burned—rather, " is on flame;" viz., Jerusalem, which had now caught the flame by the attack of Nebuchadnezzar. Is It meet for Bny work—"It," i. e., the scorched part still remaining. 5. If usekjss before, much more so wlien almost wholly burnt. G. So will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as being utterly unprofitable (Matthew 21. 3:}-41 ; 2.5. 30; Mark
II. 12-H; Luke 13. G-9) in answering God's design that they Bhould Ix; witnesses for Jehovah before the heathen (Matthew 3. 10 ; 5. 13). 7. from one fire . . . another—(Cf. Isaiah
21. 18.) " Fire" means here every kind of calamity (Psalm
66. 12). The Jewish fugitives shall escape from the ruin of Jerusalem, only to fall into some other calamity. 8. trespasii—rather, " tliey have perversely fallen into perverse rebellion." The Jews were not merely sinners as the other nations, but revolters and apostates. It is one thing to neglect what we know not, but quite another thing to despise wliat we profess to worship [JeeomeJ, as tii£ Jovvs did towards Cod and the law.
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