[sentence of captivity neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways MOREOVER, the word of the and thine abominations that are in LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. 3 Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations. 4 And mine eyes shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 5 Thus saith the Lord Gon; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come. 6 An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come. 7 The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. 8 Now I will shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. 9 And mine eye shall not spare, the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth. 10 Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded. 11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's: neither shall there be wailing for them. 12 The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. 13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. 14 They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. 15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him. 16 But they that escape of them EXPOSITION-Chap. VI. Continued. ness with which the prophet is commanded (ver. 11) to smite with his hand and stamp with his foot in warning them of their danger: for though sin may seem but a trifle to men who are indulging in its forbidden pleasures; those who are awakened to a just sense of its nature and consequences know, that it is "an evil thing and bitter to forsake the Lord," or turn our back upon his precepts. NOTES. CHAP. VII. Ver.3. Recompence--Heb. "Give." Ver. 5. An evil, an only evil. - Newcome reads, "Evil after evil," upon the authority of 27 MSS, and three Editions. The difference is only part of a letter in the original. Ver. 6. It watcheth for thee-Heb. "Awaketh against thee." Ver. 7. The day of trouble - Newcome, "Tumult." See Isaiah xxii. 5. The sounding aguin (Marg. "echo") of the mountains-that is, in joyful acclamations. Newcome and Michaelis, "Joyful shoutings." Ver. 10. The rod (i. e. of oppression) hath blossomed → meaning, a wanton display of arbitrary power. See the next verse, - Ver. 11. Nor of their multitude - Marg. "Te mult, or tumultuous persons:" Boothroyd, following Jarchi, understands this of the rabble and their leaders. Ver. 13. Shall not return-namely, in the year of jubilee, (See Levit. xxv. 10.) although they were yet alive. Heb. "Though their life were yet among the living." -The whole multitude-đ perhaps, all the turbulent shall not retorn." Com pare Note on chap. v. 7.—In the iniquity — Heb. His iniquity of his life." Ver. 16. They that escape-Heb. "The escapert of them;" i. e. according to Newcome, They that are to escape, shall escape."On the mountainsthat is, moaning among the clids. shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity. 17 All hands shall be feeble and all knees shall be weak as water. 18 They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. 19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity. 20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them. 21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it. CHAP. VII. - [irreversible. 22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it. 23 Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. 24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled. 25 Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none. 26 Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients. 27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD. (H) EXPOSITION. (H) The desolation of the country and defilement the sanctuary. This chapter, which forms another distinct prophecy, foretells the final desolation of the land of Israel or Judah, (for after the captivity of the teu tribes these terms are often used for the Jews in general,) on account of the heinous sins of its inhabitants, and the great distress of the small remnant that should eventually escape. The temple itself, which they had polluted with idolatry, is devoted to destruction, and the Prophet is directed to make a chain, as a type of their being led, both king and peo ple, in bonds of captivity to Babylon. The whole chapter abounds in bold and beautiful figures, flowing in an easy and forcible stream of poetical language. The higher classes of the Jews, as appears by the prophetic writings, were generally the most criminal. Their gold and silver became their snare; partly by fostering their pride, and partly by supporting their idolatry. Thus riches become "the stumbling block of their iniquity." Our punishment often arises out of our pride; and those things in which men place their confidence and their glory, are sometimes made to them objects of horror and detestation. Ver. 20. As for the beauty of his ornamentNewcome," Of their ornaments." He set it in pride-Newcome, "They turned it to pride."— Therein rather, "thereof." The sense appeara to be, that their ornaments were abused to the end's of pride and idolatry.—I set it far from thêmMarg. "As an unclean thing." Ver. 23. Make a chain—that is, to lead them into captivity. Bloody crimes— Heb." Judgment of bloods." Ver. 24. The worst of the heathen.-Newcome, "Cruel nations." See chap. xxx. 24. Ver. 25. Destruction-Heb. "Cutting off." See Note ch. v. 11. Ver. 27. According to their deserts-Heb, “ With their judgments will I judge them." ་ The image] CHAP. VIII. EZEKIEL. AND it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me. 2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire: and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber. 3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. 4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain. 5 Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. 6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the [of jealousy. house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. 7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. 8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. 9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. 10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed 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, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. 12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth. 13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. 14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. NOTES. CHAP. VIII. Ver. 2. As the appearance of fire. For ash," fire," the LXX read ish, (or aish) * a man," which makes this verse nearly synonymous with chap. i. 26, 27. Secker, Newcome, Boothroyd, &c. consider this the true reading, and it seems implied in the following sentence, "From the appearance of his loins, &c. Ver. 4. According to the vision, &c.-See chap. i. 28; iii. 22, 23. Ver. 5. At the gate of the altar-"Probably so called from the time of Ahaz." 2 Kings xvi. 14, 15. Ver. 6. That I should go-that is, to provoke me to go; so Vulgate and Chaldee: or, that they should go," (or be driven) from my sanctuary, LXX and Syriac. See chap. ix. 3. Ver. 7. A hole in the wall.-Mr. Maurice considers this as the description of a cavern temple, with its mystic cells; such as are to be found in the mountains of Chusistan to this day. Indian Antiq. vol. ii. p. 212. Ver. 10. Abominable beasts. - Diodorus Siculas relates, that "round the room where the body of King Osymanduas seemed to be baried, a multitude of chambers was built, which had elegant paintings of all the beasts sacred in Egypt. Secker in Newcome. Round about-Heb. About, about." Ver. 11. Jaazaniah- one of the princes of the people. Chap. xi. 1. Ver. 12. Do in the dark- The love-tale Infected Sion's daughters with like heat, L 15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. 1 1 16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. CHAP. VIII. [idolatry. 17 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 commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. 18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. (I) EXPOSITION. (1) Ezekiel shown the image of Jealousy -the chambers of imagery, &c. Here begins a section of prophecy extending to chap. xii. In this chapter the Prophet is conveyed by the spirit to Jerusalem, and there shown the idolatries committed by the rulers of the Jews, even within the temple. In the beginning of the vision, Idolatry itself is personified as an idol, the resemblance probably of Baal or Moloch, and the image sublimely called, from the provocation it gave to the God of Israel, the Image of Jealousy. (ver. 5.) The Prophet then proceeds to describe the three chief idolatries of the times: the Egyptian, the Phoenician and the Persian; giving the principal features of each; and concluding with declaring the abhorrence with which they were all viewed by the eye of God. 1. The sacred rites, or mysteries of the Egyptian idolatry, above referred to, were performed by the most ancient and honourable of the people, who alone were admitted to be present; and who offered incense in a mystic cell or subterraneous vault, called by the Prophet a hole or chamber in the wall, on which were pourtrayed the creeping things and abominable beasts they worshipped: such as serpents, dogs, cats, &c. with Apis, (the sacred bull,) and, as Mr. Faber thinks, a variety of monstrous forms borrowed from the symbols of astronomy: such as have been described by M. Belzoni, and other modern travellers. Bp. Warburton understands the description from ver. 6 to 13, as relating to the rites of Isis and Osiris, under the form of a male and female calf, which rites were celebrated and attended only by princes and persons of the first rank and consequence. 2. Among the Phoenicians, the god whom they supposed to preside over the fruits of the earth, was believed to suffer when those fruits were cut down; and therefore, in sympathy with him, the women mourned for several days every year, at the end of harvest. "To this rite of Phoenician idolatry, (says Dr. J. Smith,) the Prophet alludes when he speaks of the women mourning for Tammuz: a rite well known in the mythological fables of the Greeks and Romans, under the title of Venus weeping for the death of Adonis."-3. The Persian worship, as performed by the priests or Magi, consisted chiefly in adorations to the sun, with the faces of the worshippers directed to the East, as described by the Prophet. This also was adopted by the Jewish leaders, and in so doing, of course they turned their backs upon the temple, which was behind them. It has been a matter of debate among commentators, whether these scenes were presented to Ezekiel in vision only, or whether he was really transported from Babylon to Jerusalem. That the prophets were sometimes locally removed is certain from the instance of Elijah, who was wont to be thus removed: (See 1 Kings xviii. 12.; 2 Kings ii. 16:) as was also Philip the evangelist, under the New Dispensation. (See Acts viii. 39.) So we have understood the removal of Ezekiel to Tel-abib; (ch.iii. 14, 15;) and not only does there seem nothing absurd in a literal exposition of the passage now before us, but the text itself (ver. 3) appears to us to lead to such an interpretation. Was not the hand which raised him by the hair, one of the hands of the man in glory? And does not his being borne up "between the earth and the heaven," NOTES. Ver. 16. Between the porch and the altar.- See Joel ii. 17. About five and twenty men" Probably the priests and Levites of the weekly service, with the high priest at their head." Faber, quoted in Townsend ii. 543. Ver. 17. They put the branch to their nose.-The Persians, in their worship, held in their left hand a bunch of twigs of different trees, called the barsom. Rosenmuiler. See Orient. Lit. No. 1013, Israel's] CHAP. VII. MOREOVER, the word EZEKIEL. of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GoD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. 3 Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations. 4 And mine eyes shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 5 Thus saith the Lord Gon; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come. 6 An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come. 7 The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. 8 Now I will shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. 9 And mine eye shall not spare, [sentence of captivity neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth. 10 Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded. 11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's: neither shall there be wailing for them. 12 The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. 13' For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. 14 They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. 15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him. 16 But they that escape of them EXPOSITION-Chap. VI. Continued. ness with which the prophet is commanded (ver. 11) to smite with his hand and stamp with his foot in warning them of their danger: for though sin may seem but a trifle to men who are indulging in its forbidden pleasures; those who are awakened to a just sense of its nature and consequences know, that it is "an evil thing and bitter to forsake the Lord," or turn our back upon his precepts. NOTES. CHAP. VII. Ver.3. Recompence--Heb. "Give." Ver. 5. An evil, an only evil. Newcome reads, "Evil after evil," upon the authority of 27 MSS, and three Editions. The difference is only part of a letter in the original. - Heb. "Awaketh Ver. 6. It watcheth for theeagainst thee." Ver. 7. The day of trouble- Newcome, "Tumult." See Isaiah xxii. 5. The sounding again (Marg. "echo") of the mountains-that is, in joyful acclamations, Newcome and Michaelis, "Joiful shoutings." Ver. 10. The rod (i. e. of oppression) hath blossomed meaning, a wauton display of arbitrary power. See the next verse, Ver. 11. Nor of their multitude - Marg. "Tamult, or tumultuous persons:" Boothroyd, following Jarchi, understands this of the rabble and their leaders. -- Ver. 13. Shall not return—namely, in the year of jubilee, (See Levit. xxv. 10.) although they wort yet alive. Heb. Though their life were yel among the living." The whole multitude - đơ perhaps, all the turbulent shall not return." Copare Note on chap. v. 7.In the iniquity - Heb. Ris iniquity of his life." Ver. 16. They that escape-Heb. "The escapers of them;" i. e. according to Newcome, They that are to escape, shall escape."--On the mountainsthat is, moaning among the clifs. |