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21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.

22 And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee.

23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.

24 Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house.

25 But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them:

26 And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.

CHAP. JII.

[Jerusalem portrayed.

27 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house. (D)

CHAP. IV.

THOU also, son of man, take thee

a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusa» lem:

2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.

3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

4 Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of

EXPOSITION.

(D) Ezekiel eats the prophetic roll, and finds it sweet in taste, but is warned to expect bitter consequences.-The Prophet in this chapter receives more explicit instructions in his office. At first his views seem to have been raised to expect a ready reception of his message; but he is warned of the perverse character of the persons to whom he is sent to minister, and how ungratefully he would be requited. He is however ordered to persevere in his duty notwithstanding, and is promised all nes cessary support. He is then carried by the spirit to a neighbouring colony of his captive brethren, where he remains seven days overwhelmed with astonishment; but he is roused to the performance of his duty, as a spiritual watchman of the house of

Israel, by being informed, that if any perished through his default of warning, he would have to answer for the consequences. But how, it may be asked, is it consistent with the divine character, to lay stumbling blocks in the way of men, as is intimated (ver. 20.) that the Lord himself does? This may be elucidated in the case of the promised Messiah, who, though given as the foundation of our salvation, is expressly called a stone of stumbling (Isa. viii. 14, 15); because the unbelieving Jews, instead of building upon that foundation, stumbled thereon and fell, by taking offence at the doctrine of the cross. Thus not only occasions of sin may be found in the course of providence ; but even the best blessings of grace may be rendered stumbling blocks through man's unbelief.

NOTES.

Ver. 23. As the glory, &c.-See chap. i. 1, &c. Ver. 25. They shall put bands on thee that is, at thy command, thy domestics shall bind thee." Newcome.

Ver. 26. A reprover-Heb." A man of reproving."

CHAP. IV. A tile.-The bricks and tiles of the East, being generally only dried in the sun, are nearly white, and sometimes painted, though not glazed, a little similar to our Dutch tiles of the last century.

Babylonian bricks, with the cruciform (or wedgeJike) character, are in existence to the present day. See Orient. Lit. No. 1005. Also, Taylor's Calmet, Vol. iv. plate to Gen. ch. xi.

Ver. 3. An iron pan-Marg. "A flat plate of iron."' Probably such as cakes were baked on. This might represent the outer wall of the city, against which he was directed to set his face, as if he were an enemy, and to besiege it. See Newcome.

Ver. 4. Lie thou upon thy left side.-This lying

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Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.

5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.

7 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.

8 And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.

9 Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.

10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day from time to time shalt thou eat it.

CHAP. IV.

[signs and actions.

11 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.

12 And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.

13 And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.

14 Then said I, Ah Lord God! be• hold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.

15 Then he said unto me, Lo, Í have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.

16 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:

17 That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity. (E)

EXPOSITION.

(E) The sin of Jerusalem foretold by the type of a painted tile. “The Prophets taught

by actions as well as by words, thus Exekiel delineates Jerusalem [upon a large tile] and [in the same manner] lass

NOTES-Chap. IV. Con.

upon first one side and then the other, could not, we may naturally suppose, refer to his rest at night, for the house of Israel were not likely to witness this; but, as it was customary for all that could get the opportunity, to take rest in the middle of the day. especially during the hot season: if he thus retired under the shade of a tree, or a tent, many would be likely to notice it in him, as a public character. Say the punishment-that is," Declare that you thus represent the punishment." Newcome.

Ver. 5. Three hundred and ninety days-beginning, says a note in the margin of our public version, about 975, and ending 585 years before Christ.

Ver. 6. Each day for a year-Heb. "A day for a year, a day for a year."

Ver. 7 Thine arm uncovered -Mr. Harmer thinks this might be to show the bruises he had given himself, as emblems of the effects of war: but to "make bare the arm," in Scripture, implies rather the exer tion of strength; Isa lii 10. He was to prophesy, as it were, with all his might, and, as Bp. Chandler thinks, with his arm extended toward Jerusalem,

Ver. 8. I will lay hands-that is, I will order thee to be bound. See chap. iii. 25.

Ibid. From one side to another-or rather," the other;" Heb." From thy side to thy side," or, as we say." from side to side."

Ver. 9. Fitches-Marg. " Spelt," an inferior kind of grain all these ingredients were to form a coarse kind of bread.

Ver. 10. Twenty shekels-"Not ten ounces." Newcome."

Ver. 11. Water....the sixth part of an hin-little more than a pint and a half. These measures denote great scarcity.

Ver. 12. Thou shalt bake, &c.-Newcome," With dung, that cometh out of man, shalt thou bake it in their sight." The usual fuel in the East, is the dried dung of cattle and camels; but Mr. Sandys (the traveller) mentions that the lowest classes in Egypt use human dung to bake with. See Orient Lit. No. 1007, 1008.

Ver. 16. The staff of bread.-Bread is commonly called the staff of life.

Various prophetic]

AND

CHAP. V.

CHAP. V.

ND thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.

2 Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.

3 Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.

4 Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.

5 Thus saith the Lord Gon; This

[signs and action's.

is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.

6 And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.

7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GoD: because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;

8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.

9 And I will do in thee that which

EXPOSITION.

siege to it, as a type of the manner in which the Chaldean army should surround that city. The number of days which the Prophet was to lie on his side, probably during part of each day, denoted-First, The number of years which God bore with the idolatrous practices of the ten tribes; there being just 390 years from the time of Jeroboam's setting up the calves in Dan and Bethel, to the migration of the last gleanings of those tribes in the captivity of Zedekiah. 2dly, The number of years he bore with the excessive sins of Judah, under the forty years of Manasseh's evil reign, or the forty years from the solemn league [or covenant] of Josiah, to the destruction of Jerusalem. And 3dly, The duration of the siege, which was to last a day for every year they had sinned. It appears, indeed, (from 2 Kings xxv. 1-4.) that there were seventeen mouths from the beginning to the end of the siege; but as

it was raised for some time, in order to intercept the forces of the Egyptians (Jer. xxxvii. 5), this intermission probably reduced it to thirteen months, or 390 days.Thus God takes account of all our sins, and thus he numbers all our days.-According to Jerome, both the 390 and the 40 days were typical of the duration of the captivities of Israel and Judah.

"The scanty provision allowed the Prophet during his symbolical siege (being only about ten ounces of bread,) consisting chiefly of the worst kinds of grain: and that ill prepared, all tended to denote the scarcity of provision, fuel, and every necessary of life, which the Jews should experience during the siege of Jerusalem.-The scarcity of fuel in the East is often supplied by the dung of animals dried, which is used even in preparing victuals."

NOTES.

CHAP. V. Ver. 1. A sharp knife - Newcome, "Tool, or instrument."

Ver. 2. I will drow out a sword after them.-This may refer to those who fled into Egypt. See Jer. xii. 16; xliii. 11; xliv. 12, 27.

Ver. 3. Skirts - Heb. "Wings;" namely, the borders of his outer garment.

Ver. 5. Set it-Newcome," Her," to correspond with ver. 6-Changed my judgments-that is, the Pagans adhered more closely to their superstitions than the Jews to their religion.

Vet. 7. Because ye multiplied — Newcome reads,

Dr. J. Smith.

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Judah's dreadful]

EZEKIEL..

I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.

10 Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.

11 Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy de'testable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, nei ther will I have any pity.

12 A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.

CHAP. V.

[calamities predicted.

14 Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.

15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonish ment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judg ments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.

16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:

17 So will I 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 the LORD have spoken it. (F)

CHAP. VI.

AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,

EXPOSITION.

(F) Under the type of hair clipped and burned, is further shewn the awful judgments of Jerusalem. The city' (ver. 2) in tends the portraiture he had drawn of it on a tile (chap. iv. 1); the balance was an emblem of the divine justice; the razor or knife, and the fire, signified the divine wrath. The hairs which the prophet cut off from his head and beard represented the Jews; and the dividing of the hair the fate or punishment of individuals: the hair scattered by the wind prefigure those who fled into Egypt: the few bound up in the skirt of his garment intend the small remnant that should be left in the land; and those which he burnt (ver. 4) allude to the fate of these few, after the murder

of Gedaliah. The type or allegory is then dropped, and God is introduced declaring, in express terms, the awful judgments which he was about to bring on this nation, which had proved so unworthy of the many mercies by which it had hitherto been distinguished. The most transient view of the calamities inflicted on the Jewish nation, first by the Chaideans, and afterwards by the Romans, and the miseries and dispersions consequent on both, may show how fully those predictions have had their accomplishment." Ask every wind of heaven, ask every nation of the earth, and they will shew their scattered monuments; preserved, as it were, ou purpose to evince the fulfilling of these awful prophecies."

NOTES-Chap. V. Con.

omitted in 22 MSS. four Editions, and the Syrine. Abp. Newcome therefore reads, "but have done," &c. as in chap. xi. 12. So Boothroyd.

Ver. 10. The fathers shall eat the sons, &c.-See vit. xxvi. 33, Deut. xxviii. 53; 2 Kings vi. 28, 29; xix. 9; Lam. iv. 10.

er. 11. I will diminish. — Six or seven MSS.

read, "Cut off;" but the present text may be repdered "Cut short," or close. It is applied to clipping the beard in token of mourning, Isa. XV. 2; and to making small the drops of rain, Job xxxvi. S. Ver. 12. I will draw, &c.-See ver. 2. Ver. 17. Evil beasts-that is, wild beasts,

.

Judgments against Israel]

CHAP. VI.

3 And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the vallies; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.

1

4 And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.

5 And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.

6 In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.

7 And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

8 Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.

9 And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me;

CHAP. VI.

[for their idolatry.

and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.

10 And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain, that I would do this evil unto them.

11 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

12 He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.

13 Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.

14 So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD. (G)

EXPOSITION.

(G) The destruction of the nation with the exception of a remnant.-In this chapter, which forms a distinct section, the Prophet denounces the judgments of God + against the Jews for their idolatry. It is promised, however, that a remnant should be preserved and brought to a proper sense of their transgressions by their severe afflictions. It is with great propriety and elegance that the Prophet, in the beginning

of this chapter, directs his speech to the mountains of Judea, in order to upbraid the stupidity of his countrymen, from whom he seems to expect less attention than even from the inanimate creation. Stupid, however, as they were, he assures them that God would awfully make himself known to them by his judgments. A severe denunciation, often repeated by the Prophet, as an epiphonema, or conclusion to his threatenings.

We may here also remark, the earnest

NOTES.

CHAP. VI. Ver. 4. Images Margin, "Sunimages." So ver. 6. Cyrus, just before his death, offered sacrifices to Jupiter, the sun, &c. Ver. 5. I will lay-Heb." Give."

Ver. 8. That ye may have, &c.-Heb. "In that there shall be unto you escapers from the sword."

Ver. 9. Whorish heart. This term evidently means idolatrous, as appears by the next clause. Ver. 13. Sweet savour---Heb. "A savour of rest." N. B. Abp. Newcome renders these first six chapters in prose: so Boothroyd. The next chapter is in measured lines: then all is prose again to chap. xviii,

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