Commentary on Ezekiel Chapters 1-20 John Calvin
EZEKIEL
men; but when their wickedness was so gross among themselves, that they did not spare the wretched, but cruelly afflicted them, he says that the city was filled with the slain He now adds, when the city was full of flesh there was no more place for them, and he now shows that although Jeremiah had predicted that they should be cooked with the fire of the Chaldeans, yet they had advanced so far in wickedness, that they were unworthy of being cooked within the city. Hence, says he, a greater vengeance from God awaits you, since ye proceed to provoke his anger more and more. It follows ---
Ezekiel 11:8-11
8. Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord
GOD.
8. Gladium timuistis, et gladium adducam super vos, dicit Dominator lehovah.
9. And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.
9. Et ejiciam vos e medio ejus, et tradam vos in manum extraneorum, et exercebo in vos judicia.
10. Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
10. Et gladio cadetis: ad terminum Israel judicabo vos, et scietis quod ego sim
Iehovah.
11. This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel:
11. Ipsa non erit vobis in ollam: et vos non eritis 235 in medio ejus in carnem: in termino Israel judicabo vos.
We ought to join these verses together, because the Prophet treats the same thing in many words. First he denounces that they should perish by the sword since they feared the sword By these words he admonishes them, that even if God should draw them out of the city, yet Jeremiah's prophecy would prove true, since the Chaldeans would consume them as if the pot was boiling on the fire. Lastly, he shows how frivolous was their cavil when they said, ``if we are flesh, we shall remain in the caldron.'' But the Prophet shows that they must not cavil like children with God, because when he showed the caldron to his servant Jeremiah, he meant nothing else than that the Jews should perish, since the Chaldeans would come to consume them. But they had purposely perverted the Prophet's sense, and thought themselves clever and shrewd when they corrupted the heavenly doctrine. First of all the Prophet says, ye have feared the sword, and ye shall fall by the sword: he afterwards adds the manner: I, says he, will bring the sword upon you, which ye feared: he says, I will draw you out from the midst of it. He declares the manner: namely, that he will bring them into an open plain, that he may more easily slay them there.
If any should object, that this was not seething them in the city, the answer is easy: that God did not restrict his wroth to one kind of punishment, when he thus spoke by Jeremiah. For we know that the Prophets set before us God's judgments in various ways, and thus use various figures. Since therefore the Prophets do not always teach
235The negative must be understood. — Calvin.