I will raise up to them a plantation for renown, and they will no more be consumed with famine in the land, and not bear the shame of the nations any more.
Parallel Translations
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I will raise up to them a plantation for renown, and they will no more be consumed with famine in the land, and not bear the shame of the nations any more.
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And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.
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And I will raise up unto them a plantation for renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the nations any more.
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 34:29 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ezekiel 36:29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you.
- Isaiah 4:2 In that day, Yahweh’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel.
- Ezekiel 34:26-27 I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing. I will cause the shower to come down in its season. There will be showers of blessing. The tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them.
- Ezekiel 36:15 “I won’t let you hear the shame of the nations any more. You won’t bear the reproach of the peoples any more, and you won’t cause your nation to stumble any more,” says the Lord Yahweh.’ ”
- Isaiah 49:9-10 saying to those who are bound, ‘Come out!’; to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’ “They shall feed along the paths, and their pasture shall be on all treeless heights. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them: for he who has mercy on them will lead them. He will guide them by springs of water.
- Ezekiel 36:3-6 therefore prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;” therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: The Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which have become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around; therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.” ’ Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains, the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations.”
- Psalms 72:17 His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
- Isaiah 9:6 For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
- Isaiah 53:2 For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
- Isaiah 60:21 Then your people will all be righteous. They will inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
- Isaiah 11:1-6 A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit. Yahweh’s Spirit will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh. His delight will be in the fear of Yahweh. He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears; but he will judge the poor with righteousness, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked. Righteousness will be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them.
- Isaiah 61:3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified.
- Jeremiah 23:5 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land.
- Jeremiah 33:15 “In those days and at that time, I will cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to David. He will execute justice and righteousness in the land.
- Zechariah 3:8 Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you; for they are men who are a sign: for, behold, I will bring out my servant, the Branch.
- Zechariah 6:12 and speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; and he shall build Yahweh’s temple;
- Revelation 7:16 They will never be hungry or thirsty any more. The sun won’t beat on them, nor any heat;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, the rod that shall come out of…
That is, the rod that shall come out of the root of Jesse, Isa. 11:1.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 34:29 And I will raise up for them…
Eze 34:29 And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.
Ver. 29. And I will raise up for them a plant of renown,] {a} i.e., Christ the true tree of life. Or the Church planted and rooted in Christ, and much renowned all the world over. Christ mystical is a vine covering the whole earth.
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And they shall be no more consumed with hunger.] They shall have enough of all good things, a sufficiency, though not a superfluity; a David’s sat habeo, because the Lord hath heard the voice of my supplications. {Psa 116:1}
Neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.] God will bring them in credit with those which formerly slighted and reproached them. God fashioneth men’s opinions, ruleth their tongues, promiseth to them who, by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life, where the saints shall shine as the sun in his strength. {Rom 2:7 Mat 13:43}
{a} Plantam pacis. - Sept.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Raise; establish and settle.
Raise; establish and settle.
A plant; or plantation, so the word, so the Chaldee paraphrast, and so it best suits new planters as they now were; however, as we read it, it is a promise of honour and fame to their posterity, as in the Maccabees’ time, and, which is more, it is a promise of the Messiah to be raised for them.
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With hunger in the land; by barrenness of a land cursed, or by wastes made by enemies, or by long siege, as formerly.
The shame of the heathen; who reproached them; cast away, rejected of God, and accursed, so that they were a taunt and proverb among the heathen.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thus shall they know that I the Lord their…
Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them,.... Granting them his gracious and powerful presence, by all the above instances of his goodness and favour to them:
and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God: and not utterly cast off, as they seemed to be; the divine Shechinah now being returned to them, which had departed from them; the "loammi" that was written on them being now wiped off from them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A plant - The Messiah. The shame - The…
A plant - The Messiah. The shame - The reproach.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 29. I will raise up - a plant…
Verse 29. I will raise up - a plant of renown] מטע לשם matta leshem, "a plantation to the name;" to the name of CHRIST. A Christian Church composed of men who are Christians, who have the spirit of Christ in them, and do not bear his name in vain. I believe the words might be applied to the Christian Church; but that Christ may be called a plant or plantation here, - as he is elsewhere called a branch and a rod, Isa 4:2; Isa 11:1; so Jer 23:5; Jer 35:15, - is most probable. He is the Person of name, leshem, JESUS; the Saviour, CHRIST; the Anointer, long spoken of before he was manifested in the flesh, and since the daily theme in the Church militant. It is he who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, no other name being given under heaven among men by which we can be saved; he who has a name above every name, and at whose name every knee shall bow; through whose name, by faith in his name, the diseased are healed; and in whose name all our prayers and supplications must be presented to God to make them acceptable. This is the Person of NAME!
They shall be no more consumed with hunger] For this glorious plant of name is the Bread of life; and this is broken in all the assemblies of his people where his name is properly proclaimed.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Eze 34:29-30. And I will raise up for them…
Eze 34:29-30. And I will raise up for them a plant of renown — The Messiah, the branch from the root of David, so frequently foretold by the prophet. And they shall be no more consumed with hunger — But shall be blessed with plenty of all things. Spiritual blessings, the blessings peculiar to the Messiah’s kingdom, are chiefly intended. These his subjects shall possess in abundance, and shall be satisfied therewith, whatever their lot may be as to the things of this life. Neither shall they bear the shame of the heathen any more — By whom they were formerly reproached, as if their God had cast them off. Then shall they know — The very heathen shall be convinced by these many and great blessings bestowed upon my people; that I the Lord — I, Jehovah, who can perform what I promise; am with them — Am reconciled to them, and do bless and save them; and that they — Whom these heathen despised and injured, and formerly made slaves, even the house of Israel, are my people — My peculiar people, above all people in the world, and as such shall be taken care of by me.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain A bud of renown, (germen nominatum.) He speaks of…
A bud of renown, (germen nominatum.) He speaks of Christ, our Lord, the illustrious bud of the house of David, renowned over all the earth. See Jeremias xxxiii. 15. (Challoner) --- Septuagint, Syriac, "a plant of peace." Chaldean, "established." (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain plant of renown--Messiah, the "Rod" and "Branch" (Isa 11:1),…
plant of renown--Messiah, the "Rod" and "Branch" (Isa 11:1), the "righteous Branch" (Jer 23:5), who shall obtain for them "renown." FAIRBAIRN less probably translates, "A plantation for a name," that is, a flourishing condition, represented as a garden (alluding to Eden, Gen 2:8-11, with its various trees, good for food and pleasant to the sight), the planting of the Lord (Isa 60:21; Isa 61:3), and an object of "renown" among the heathen.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 29. a plant of renown] a plantation of renown,…
29. a plant of renown] a plantation of renown, lit. for a name, i.e. a plantation which shall be (or, so as to be) renowned; cf. for the phrase Eze_39:13; Isa_55:13. The ref. is not to the person of the Messiah, but to the luxuriant fertility and vegetation of the earth in the Messianic age. Comp. Psalms 67, Psa_72:16; Amo_9:13; Hos_2:21; Joe_2:23 seq. The land of Israel was subject to droughts and famine (Eze_36:15; Eze_36:30; 1 Kings 17 seq.; Jer_14:1-6; Jer_14:18; Joel 1). In the regeneration this reproach shall no more fall on it, ch. Eze_36:3; Eze_36:6; Eze_36:15.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (29) Will raise up for them a plant of…
(29) Will raise up for them a plant of renown.—Better, a plantation for renown. The same Hebrew word occurs in Eze_17:7; Eze_31:4, and means plantation. The thought is that God would provide Israel with such a fair and fruitful land as should make them famous for their blessings. The idea of the word is not that which seems to be implied by our version (with its marginal references to Isa_11:1; Jer_23:5), a plant or a branch, referring to the Messiah; a different word is used here, which occurs, besides the places named, only in Isa_60:21; Isa_61:3, and Mic_1:6, in all of which it is translated planting.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain A plant of renown. The words at first suggest…
A plant of renown. The words at first suggest the thought that Ezekiel was reproducing the ideal picture of the "branch," the "root," the "stem," the "plant." of Isa_11:1; Jer_23:5; Zec_6:12. Here, however, the word is collective, and is translated "plantation" Eze_17:7, "planting" in Mic_1:6; Isa_60:21 Isa_61:3. Itcan hardly be taken as speaking of more than the general fertility of the land. The rendering of the LXX, "a plant of peace," obviously implies a different reading (shalom instead of shem) and this Cornill has adopted in his text. So taken, the words naturally lead on to what follows the promise that men should no more be consumed with hunger.
A plantation of renown.
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Restored Israel is to be a plantation of renown. The Israel of God, the Church of Christ, may be considered as of the same character.
I THE CHURCH IS A DIVINE PLANTATION.
1. It is planted by God. A plantation is not a wild, primeval forest. It is a wood the trees of which have been carefully selected and set in the soil by the hands of men. God plants his people.
1. He originates the life of the soul.
2. He determines the position and sphere of individual activity.
3. He calls men into his Church.
2. It is a community. A plantation is not a single tree, nor is it the scattering of a few separate trees over the fields. It is a collection of plants. "God setteth the solitary in families". (Psa_68:6) He has ordained domestic and social life. Christ founded the Church. Brotherly fellowship is a Divine ordinance.
3. It is carefully tended. The woodman visits the plantation, removing dead boughs, keeping the soil clean, destroying dangerous parasitic growths, etc. God does not leave his people alone. They are not like the neglected tropical forest, in which the wreck of the hurricane lies undisturbed and dead, and living trees are matted together with gigantic creepers and tangled with undergrowth; they are like a well-trimmed plantation.
4. It is expected to grow. A plantation in poor soil on a bleak hillside may be slow to thrive, and one on a hot sandy plain may even perish in drought.
But healthy well-placed plants should grow from saplings till they become great trees.
II THE CHURCH IS A PLANTATION OF RENOWN.
1. There is renown in the planting of it. It is customary for a member of the royal family who visits a country place to be asked to plant a tree. If the request is complied with, the young tree is watched with peculiar care and ever after pointed out with interest. It is a plant of renown. Not only has the Church been planted by God; it has been planted at the cost of the sacrifice of Christ. This plantation has been watered with the blood of Christ. It has the renown of the great sacrifice of Divine love consummated on Calvary.
2. There is renown in the history of it. There are trees of historic interest. Such was the oak of Mature, sacred to the memory of Abraham. Englishmen have found a romantic interest in King Charles"s oak. Sherwood Forest is famous for Robin Hood and his merry men. The plantation of the Church has a very mixed history. The greatest trees are not always the most fruitful, and the greatest names in ecclesiastical history are not always those that deserve the highest honor. The public and official history of the Church is disgraced with many a deed of un-Christlike and worldly conduct. But the plantation as a whole, the general body of Christians, the quiet town and country congregations, have done a work of charity-enlightening, comforting, and saving in all ages of Christendom. Here, rather than in her calendar of saints, the true renown of the Church is to be found, and this renown is the glory of Christ, whose body she is; so that her members must exclaim, "Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy Name be the glory.
3. There is renown in the destiny of it. The Church has a great future before it. It goes forward to realize a grand idea. It has to win such a name as it dares not wear as yet. But even now, as the army shares the renown of its captain, the Church is honored in its Head, to whom God has given "a Name above every name."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I will raise up for them a Plant of…
Eze_34:29
I will raise up for them a Plant of renown.
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The eternal Plant
The symbolism of the Bible forms one of its most interesting and conspicuous features. As children are oft-times taught the alphabet by the assistance of pictures, so ancient Israel, living amid the dim shadows of patriarchal and mosaic times, were instructed in the A B C and rudimental principles of religious worship and godly knowledge and obedience by the help of types, prefigurements, symbols. Ezekiel every now and then swells out in organ strains of grand poetic utterance, calling into use the wealth of natures imagery to embody and symbol forth the wonderful creations of his inspired and sanctified genius. And strange, yet glorious to say, all this wealth of biblical imagery, either directly or indirectly, points to and finds its higher actualisation in the Christ, who is the Alpha and Omega of Scripture. We speak not here of Jesus the Rose or Jesus the Lily; of Jesus the Star or Jesus the Sun; of Jesus the King or Jesus the Servant; of Jesus the Foundation or of Jesus the Stone of Stumbling; of Jesus the Branch or of Jesus the Tree of Life; but of Jesus the Plant--the Eternal Plant, the Plant of Renown--of renown among men, angels, seraphs, God! In thought, memory, and love, let us gather around this Plant to meditate, admire, adore.
I. Jesus is an aromatic Plant. He outbreathes an aroma which fills heaven with ecstasy, and saves earth with its teeming population from moral putrefaction and death. Christ is an eternal perfume. Angels and archangelic ones drink it in as flowers drink in the solar ray. And whenever on human soil He is scented for the first time, it creates an insatiable desire in the soul to daily and hourly drink at this fountain of sweetest odours.
1. The Bible would have no fragrance were it not for Christ. It would be mouldy and mildewed, antiquated and repulsive, without the aroma of this Plant.
2. Preaching would have no refreshing and soul-saving odour without this Plant. It might have persuasive rhetoric, and convincing logic, and charming elocution, and faultless learning, and elegant diction--yea, all the graces and glories of finished composition; nevertheless, devoid of the aromatic odours of the Lamb of God--the one Mediator for and only Saviour of a fallen world--it would be nothing more than a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal, or a message surcharged with the savour of death unto death!
3. Prayer, too, would have no effect without the perfume of this Plant. There might be fluency of utterance, beauty of sentence, multiplicity of words, glowing creations of thought, minute descriptions of want, and oratorical outbursts of desire and request; but unless fragrant with the incense of Jesus blood, and death, and intercession, it will be but a bundle of vain repetitions, or a jingle of unmeaning terms, unacceptable to God, and unbenefiting to us.
4. Heaven would have no fragrance but for Christ. Fie is the all of heaven! The music of its songs, the brightness of its skies, the health of its atmosphere, the splendour of its sceneries, the vitality, and glory, and wonder of its inhabitants--ay, the nectar of its unwithering flowers, the eternal perfume of its homage, worship, service, adoration!
II. Christ is a medicinal Plant. His leaves are for the healing of the nations. He is the balm of Gilead, the balm for every wound, the cordial for every fear. A wonderful variety of medicinal virtues is characteristic of this unique Plant. While as a grand specific for the worlds sin it is one; yet, for the Churchs manifold ailments it is a repository of all that is needed, suited, effectual. If you suffer morally from had appetite and indigestion, so that you do not relish the means of grace or the ordinances of the Church, and loathe the food with which Gods servants try to feed you, through its not being dainty enough, or too much spiced, or not cooked to your taste--make application to Christ and He will speedily effect a cure. Or if you suffer from soul dyspepsia, which makes you peevish, discontented, morose, and querulous in the church and in the family and in the business, so that you are an unwholesome sample to the world of our glorious Christianity--come to Christ and tell Him all and He will send you healthy and happy away.
III. Jesus is an unwithering Plant. Not only evergreen, ever-verdant, ever-fresh, but eternally enduring. The frosts of time cannot nip it; the roll of centuries cannot fade it; the heat of a myriad persecution--suns cannot scorch it; the blasts of all storms, and the blights of all winters, and the changes of all seasons, and the sweep and swing of all eternities, cannot sear, shrivel, wither it! In two of its ingredients--qualities--it stands in sublime and unapproachable isolation, namely, immutability and eternity. It is immutable, because eternal from necessity, and eternal from necessity because uncaused and infinite.
IV. Jesus Christ is a universal Plant. In other words, a Plant in every place, being omnipresent; and a Plant for every sinners appropriation, being suitable and sufficient. None can monopolise it, any more than they can monopolise the sunlight, the rain, the dew. It is the property of all in general, but of everyone who believes in particular. He is the Saviour of the world. He is for the healing of the nations. All men are to be blessed in Him. As the old sun shines on every shore, so this Plant shall cast its healing shadow over every land, and drop its sovereign balm in every receptive heart, and be renowned by all languages and peoples. (J. O. Keen, D. D.)
The plant of renown
I. Its nature. There never was such another. The plant has two perfectly distinct natures. In the language of the Song of Solomon it is both white and ruddy. Each of those two natures is complete in all its attributes. Christ was perfect God, and at the same time perfect man.
II. Its beauty. Every believer will acknowledge this. Feeling how exactly suitable the Lord Jesus is to meet your every want, you admire all that concerns Him.
III. Its fruitfulness. The Lord God, who in the beginning gave to man every tree for meat, has given us Christ for the same purpose. Other trees have only one species of fruit, but this produces twelve manners of fruits: fruits for every season: fruits for prosperity; fruits for adversity; fruits for every occasion that can possibly arise; fruits for newborn converts; fruits for those of riper experience; fruits for fathers and mothers in Israel; fruits suited to every individual whom the Holy Spirit leads to Christ.
IV. Its permanency. Its branches will be ever stretching forth, the glory of Paradise. Its leaves will never lose their healing virtues. Its fruits will be as delicious ten thousand ages hence, as they will be in the very commencement of your future eternity. No one that takes shelter beneath its branches will ever be compelled to flee from under it.
V. Its fragrancy. In whatever sanctuary He is preached, how fragrant is He there! In whatever book He is set forth, how fragrant is He there! The leaves of that book all smell of myrrh, aloes, cassia, and all manner of sweet spices. How fragrant, too, is any house which is the abode of even one of the Lords redeemed people! How fragrant is any parish, any country, where believers are multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost!
VI. Its shadow. There will come seasons when you will find the hot winds of severe afflictions beating so vehemently upon your heads, that, without Christs supporting grace, you will be brought to your wits end, and will be at the point to die. Oh, that you would see how sad is your condition compared with that of Christs people in their trials and difficulties!
VII. Its celebrity. In one respect this plant resembled others. In its origin it was tittle accounted of. In His incarnation, humiliation, and death, He was comparatively despised and rejected; but springing up, in His resurrection, ascension and heavenly glory, He has become greatly renowned, and is daily made more so by the spreading of His Gospel throughout all nations. I conclude by a two-fold admonition.
1. Feed upon this plant yourselves.
2. Make it known to others. (C. Clayton, M. A.)
Christ the Plant of renown
I. Some plants are renowned for their rareness. Anything that is rarely to be met with in this world is all the more valued, because it is uncommon. If it be really valuable in itself, it is prized not merely because of its intrinsic excellence, but doubly prized because it is rare. Now, in this respect, Christ may well be called the Plant of renown. He is the only-begotten and well-beloved Son of God. In every view Christ is rare and precious. To be convinced of this, think not merely of His original glory, nor of His mysterious person; but think also of what He is and has done for His people. Truly we must say, He is the unspeakable gift of God--a gift that stands out prominently from all the other gifts of our heavenly Father--a gift with which no other can be compared--yea, with whose infinite value the united value of all other gifts together is not to be put into the balance. As to His love, if we try to speak of it, we must close by saying, that it passeth knowledge. As to His sufferings, if we try to describe them, we must admit that they exceed all our conceptions, and that there never was any sorrow like unto His sorrow. As to His riches, if we try to reckon them, we must end with the confession that they are unsearchable riches. As to His excellence, both in Himself and as the Saviour of His people, if we try to speak of it, we must admit, after all illustrations and comparisons, that it is unparalleled and inconceivably great.
II. Some plants are renowned for their beauty. Some for the gorgeous richness of their colour; others for the delicate paleness of their hue--some for the elegant, form and loveliness of their flower; others for the stately and majestic appearance of the plant itself. And most assuredly Christ may in this respect be called the Plant of renown. In Him we see every variety of colour and shade, which, combined, constitute the perfection of beauty. The most lovely sight which this world ever saw was the character of Jesus. Everything which pure and holy beings can admire, is to be seen in Jesus. View the graces separately, and you see each of them perfect in Christ--humility in His becoming a man--meekness in bearing insults--gentleness in administering reproofs--patience in enduring sufferings--devotedness to His Fathers will, which made Him say, that in the doing of it He had meat to eat which the world knew not of--devotion, which wearied not of whole nights spent in prayer--benevolence, which knew no bounds in the bestowment of blessings--heavenly-mindedness, which made Him, though in the world, not of it. These graces shine each of them gloriously in the character of Jesus, and all of them combined constitute that perfect excellence which saints and angels shall admire forever.
III. Some plants are renowned for their fragrance. Sweet smelling flowers and fragrant plants are felt even here to be most delightful and refreshing; but in the East, there are plants of such rich fragrance, as we can have no conception of at all in these northern climes. To pass a garden of aromatic herbs, when the gentle breeze causes the sweet spices to flow forth, is perfectly delightful to the weary traveller. And in this respect, too, Christ may be called the Plant of renown. What a sweet savour there is about all the graces and excellencies of Christ! You cannot come to the contemplation of His character without feeling that you are breathing a pure and holy atmosphere, grateful as the spicy breezes of the East to those who are faint and weary. The death of Christ is an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet smelling savour, and the Lord is well pleased for His righteousness sake, seeing He hath magnified the law and made it honourable. And anxious souls feel that it has a delightful fragrance, when their hearts are cheered, and revived, and comforted, as they behold the Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world. Never was weary traveller, when like to faint under the burning rays of an eastern sun, so revived and refreshed by the spicy breezes, as poor souls, ready to faint under a burden of sin, and amid the trials of the world, are refreshed and cheered by the sweet savour that there is in Christ.
IV. Some plants are renowned for their healing virtue. It is a proof of the goodness and benevolence of God that, while this world, in consequence of the Fall, is filled with disease and pain, there are medicinal plants whose application has a healing efficacy. And in this respect, as well as those already mentioned, Christ may be called the Plant of renown. From the Saviour on the Cross there flows a healing virtue to cure all the diseases of our souls. The blood and grace of Jesus are the precious balm. It is balm extracted from the wounded Tree of Life--from the pierced side of Immanuel; and it is effectual in curing the envenomed bite of the old serpent, the devil in mortifying the wounds which the arrows of conviction have made in our souls, and in completely healing the loathsome disease of sin.
V. Some plants are renowned for the shelter they afford from the scorching rays of the sun. Even in our own climate it is often most refreshing, when oppressed with heat, to recline under the shade of a spreading tree. And how much more delightful for an eastern traveller to come to a shady tree, under whose wide-spreading branches he may lie down upon the cool ground and rest himself! Flow delightful for the eastern shepherds, when they have conducted their flocks to the place of rest at noon, to lie down and rest themselves in the shade! But, oh, how infinitely more delightful for the poor sinner to sit down under the shadow of the Plant of renown! The branches of the trees of Paradise were no covering to guilty Adam, but under the shadow of the Tree of Life the awakened sinner may lie down and take quiet rest, assured that the wrath of God will never reach him any more.
VI. Some plants are renowned for the excellent fruits which they bear. This is a quality for which the plant here spoken of is renowned; for the consequence of its being raised up to Gods people is, that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land. If it be delightful to a weary traveller to lie down at noon under the cool shade of a spreading tree, it is especially so when the tree is laden with mellow and delicious fruit, which the traveller may pluck and eat for the quenching of his thirst. In this respect, every believer finds Christ to be the Plant of renown, and it is while he feeds upon Christ by faith that he is no more consumed with hunger in this batten land. (John Laird.)
Christ as a Plant of renown
.--
I. He is renowned in His stately beauty. He towers high above all the trees of the great forests of the world, and His branches, adorned with lovely foliage, spread out in all directions over all. Christ is the incarnation of the highest moral beauty; He is altogether lovely.
II. He is renowned for His wonderful fruitfulness. He is the Tree of Life, His fruits are for the healing of the nations. His fruits are sufficient to feed and bless all hungry souls. Who of all the children of men ever accomplished one-thousandth part of the good that Christ has accomplished?
III. He is renowned for His remedial virtues. He has a sovereign balm for every wound, He binds up the broken-hearted, He is the Great Physician. He is a cure for guilt, for fear, for remorse, and for all the disorders of the mind.
IV. He is renowned for His great durability. All human plants wither, decay, and pass away; but He continues unchanged through the centuries. (Homilist.)
Jesus, a Plant of renown
The Creator has implanted love for the beautiful in our hearts for very wise and beneficent purposes; not that we may be like the briar, creeping along the ground, nor like thorns or nettles, pricking and stinging those who are brave enough to touch us; nor like the poppy, very showy and vain, but very empty and weak; and certainly not like the thistle, full of ill-will to everybody that shall take hold upon us. I think God wanted to show us of His great love to us; for if He had not loved us, He would never have thrown, in their variety, fragrance, and beauty, such proofs of His love all around us. And further, He intended to teach us to imitate the flowers, to try and be beautiful and fragrant, kind and pleasing, and not to live so much for ourselves as to impart joy to others. To an attentive listener, the flowers and plants are quite eloquent as they preach to us the graces and virtues of religion. The flowers are ever speaking to us of Jesus. Isaiah prophesied of the coming of A root of Jesse; Solomon called the Lord Jesus The lily of the valley and the rose of Sharon. So theft if when we next go into a garden we will only think, we shall meet with things to lift up our minds and affections to Jesus.
I. Why Jesus is the Plant of renown.
1. His great beauty. It is impossible for us to say what Jesus was personally, that is, His physical appearance; nor can such a subject concern us much. Many who show little or no physical beauty reveal high intellectual and spiritual worth, and if we look at Jesus through this channel, we shall soon find that He was the most beautiful plant that eyes of man ever looked upon. No one ever said such beautiful things as Jesus. Whether He was on the sea or on a mountain apart, whether at a marriage feast or at a funeral, whether surrounded only by His beloved disciples or by the inquisitive eager multitudes, whether at home with His parents, in the house of Martha and Mary, on the Mount of Olives, or even hanging on the Cross, no one ever uttered such beautiful sayings as He. He was, for beauty, the Plant of renown, if we look at the character Fie possessed. No passion marred it, no sin spotted it, no darkness eclipsed it, no sorrow dimmed it, nor did any combination of forces impair or weaken it,. Then His worthiness to be called the Plant of renown is seen if we call to mind the beautiful deeds He accomplished. It was a beautiful thing for Jesus to leave His home and glory in heaven, and to come to suffer and bleed and die for us. And how full was that life of beautiful acts! Nazareth and Capernaum, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, Bethany and the Mount of Olives, all say His life was crowded with deeds most beautiful; and therefore Ezekiel was quite right when he said that Jesus was a Plant of renown.
2. If we examine His marvellous strength we shall find another right, or title, to the figure. There are some things exceedingly beautiful, but they are so weak that we are afraid of damaging if we only touch them. Had not Jesus been as remarkable for His strength as for His beauty, He would have been destroyed by the rough elements that surged around, and wasted their strength upon Him. The world put forth its energy to destroy this Plant; its prejudice, its envy, its malice, its hate, its unbelief, its authority, and its allurements were all brought forward to destroy Jesus; but His strength was superior to all, and so He said, I have overcome the world. Satan, he who overcame the first Adam, and who since the victory then won has weakened, broken, defaced, and destroyed many and many beautiful plants,--Satan brought his great power to bear upon Jesus, the Plant of renown; but here he was foiled and defeated. So strong was Jesus that he overcame the devil And what for strength this Plant of renown was, it still remains. Not the roll of nineteen hundred years has at all impaired it; neither in root, nor leaf, nor flower has it suffered any decay. This Plant is a strength-giving Plant. Jesus has power to comfort the sorrowful, to help the helpless, to guide the perplexed, to release the prisoner, to make bold the diffident, and to cause the barren to be fruitful. Yes, He is mighty to save, and He travels in the greatness of His strength.
3. His healing properties. I cant think there are many people who would refuse to have in their possession a plant which could cure all their maladies, or turn their maladies into blessings. Certain I am that if any gardener could exhibit such a plant for sale, he could have almost any price for it, and then be utterly unable to meet all demands. Now, Ezekiels Plant of renown is a plant of this character. And yet--oh, marvellous to relate!--men, women, and even young people, are seldom eager to possess it.
4. Jesus is the Plant of renown because of the fruit He bears. Perhaps if you were to search very minutely and very long, you might meet with a boy who does not care for plants because of their beauty, or with a girl who thinks little of them because of any healing virtue they may have; but I dont think any searching would find boy or girl who would care nothing about any fruit you might mention as produced by plants. The possessors of this Plant have Christ formed in their hearts, and they bring forth fruit unto holiness,--they grow in grace, and are pure in heart. No plant, then, for beauty, strength, healing power, and fruit, can compare with Ezekiels Plant of renown.
II. Where Jesus is this Plant of renown. Everything in its place, is a capital maxim. There are places where we might as well search for sunshine at midnight as for this Plant of renown. I shall not ask you to look for this Plant in the writings of infidelity, for if it could be found there, it would only be that it might be insulted and, if possible, destroyed. I shall not ask you to search for it in the multitudinous volumes of light, fictitious literature with which we are almost deluged; such a soft has neither depth nor richness sufficient for this Plant.
1. Jesus is a Plant of renown in the Bible. I want to compare the Bible to a conservatory; and I think we shall find it the very best conservatory the world has ever seen. Let us go inside, for our fathers many years ago opened wide the door, and now we are quite welcome to enter. How beautifully it is fitted up, and what an assemblage of colour and fragrance, what unspeakably rare plants are here; and all preserved in excellent order. But now just listen; what can it be these plants are all saying? We have no root of ourselves, no beauty underived, no fragrance our own, no fruit naturally, no life independent; for all these things we are dependent, and dependent only, upon Ezekiels Plant of renown.
2. Jesus is a Plant of renown in all the intercourse held between man and God. Who has not heard of the missing link? Jesus is the only missing link of union between God and us. Gods character is one of holiness, justice, truth, and love; mans character is one of sin, injustice, falsehood, and hate. Oh, what can bring the two together? Heaven and earth combined, proclaim, Jesus of Nazareth, the Plant of renown.
3. Jesus is a Plant of renown in the hearts of Gods people. The moment Jesus enters the soul, all sickness and darkness, all parchedness and blight, entirely disappear, and, with the Plant of renown right in the centre, the heart becomes like the garden of the Lord.
4. Jesus is a Plant of renown in the history of the entire world. What a great deal that history will have to say about His coming into and His growth in our world; about the influence of Jesus in all cottages and palaces, in all courts and camps, and in all counsels, whether of Churches or of States. How that history will show, in characters of living light, His value as Redeemer, Saviour, Friend, and King. How it will ascribe to Him preeminence in all things--in virtue, truth, goodness, grace, sanctity, glory, and everything else that is lovely and of good report; ever presenting to Him the homage and love of a glorified and saved Church, out of all nations, and peoples, and tongues under heaven.
5. Jesus will be the Plant of renown in heaven. Gabriel, Michael, the whole company of the angelic world, cherubim and seraphim, are all like so many plants of rare excellence; but no plant in heaven like Jesus. Think, too, of the plants that have gone from our garden plots here, from our homes, and from our hearts. All gone: we see them not, we hear them not: the Master hath called them. But whilst they were here they were plants of the Lords right hand planting, trees of righteousness. Then what, after years of holy culture and constant growth, must such be in heaven? Who now shall estimate their beauty or worth? But high above and far beyond all others in heaven, will be the Lord Jesus, the Plant of renown.
(1) He will be renowned for having once left its glory, its society, and its song, in order that He might become a poor man, to suffer, bleed, and die.
(2) He will be renowned for having thrown wide open to the sons of Adam its pearly gates, its everlasting privileges, and its undying glory; and for having by His attractiveness drawn into that holy place millions of the race of man; as the great and only Conqueror of death and sin, of hell and the devil. (J. Goodachre.)
The Plant of renown
I. The glory of the Saviour, as intimated by the metaphorical designation here given to Him--a Plant of renown.
1. The glory that surrounded Him, even amidst the greatest depth of His humiliation.
2. His triumphant resurrection from the grave, and His exaltation to honour and glory at His Fathers right hand.
3. The triumphs of His Gospel, from the earliest period of its proclamation to the present day.
4. The Divine predictions of His millennial glory on earth, and His perpetual reign in heaven.
II. The agency of God the Father in securing all this glory to the Saviour. Jehovah is the Speaker; and He says, I will raise up a Plant of renown (verse 23).
1. God the Father called the Saviour, and set Him apart to His work.
2. God the Father sent our Saviour into our world clothed in our nature.
3. God the Father qualified Him for His work, and assisted Him in it.
4. God the Father, as a proof of His love, and as the reward of His services, gave Him all that renown which He had acquired.
III. The blessedness of Christs people, in consequence of His elevation to glory, or renown for their sakes.
1. In consequence of the work and exaltation of Him who is here denominated a Plant of renown, His people shall be at once freed from want, and blessed with abundance.
2. In consequence of the work and exaltation of Christ, His people shall be at once freed from shame, and loaded with honour.
Application--
1. Give glory to God for raising up for you a Plant of renown.
2. Live constantly by the faith of Him who was once greatly humbled, but is now highly exalted for your sakes.
3. Days of darkness and distress will to believers be succeeded by days of joy and triumph.
4. Use the means of making the Redeemer more renowned.
5. All must be exposed to want and eternal ruin who have no connexion with Christ as the Plant of renown. (A. Thomson, D. D.)
The Plant of renown
I. Premise a few things concerning this blessed Plant.
1. What is here ascribed to Christ, is not to be understood absolutely of Him as God, but officially--as He is Mediator and Redeemer.
2. This Plant is but small and little in the eyes of a blind world.
3. However contemptible this Plant of renown is in the eyes of a blind world, yet He is the tallest plant in all Gods Lebanon.
4. This blessed Plant of renown was cut down in His death, and sprung up gloriously in His resurrection.
5. All the little plants in the garden are ingrafted in this Plant of renown.
II. He is a renowned Plant. He is renowned in heaven, and He is renowned on earth, and will be so (Psa_72:17).
1. He is renowned for His antiquity.
2. He is renowned for His beauty. The glory of a God is in Him Is there any glory in His eternal Father? Why, that glory shines in our Immanuel in the very brightness of it (Heb_1:3).
3. He is renowned for His verdure, for His perpetual greenness. Other plants are fading.
4. He is renowned for His virtue. We read in Rev_22:1-21, That the leaves of the tree of life were for the healing of the nations,--that tree of life is the very same with this Plant of renown; the leaves of this Plant are for the healing of the nations; and we that are ministers are come this day to scatter the leaves of this tree of life, of this Plant of renown; try if you can get a leaf of it applied and set home upon your souls; depend upon it, there is virtue in every word of His.
5. He is renowned for His fertility: He is not a barren Plant; He would not be renowned if He were barren; He brings forth all manner of fruit every month; yea, I may add, every day, every moment. There is the fruit of His incarnation; there is the fruit of His death; there is the fruit of His resurrection; there is the fruit of His ascension; there is the fruit of His intercession, and sitting at the right hand of God; there is the fruit of His prophetic office; there is the fruit of His priestly office; there is the fruit of His kingly office; there is the fruit of His appearing within the vail; there is the fruit of what He did without the vail, and without the camp. Oh, what fruit is here!
6. He is renowned for His scent, and pleasant savour (Son_1:2). The believer finds a scent about Him, he draws a savour from Him. What is the design of us ministers but to cast abroad His scent; and it is by this we win souls.
7. He is renowned for His shadow (Son_2:3). Oh, sit down under His shadow, and you will find shelter there against all deadly; whatever blasts come, you will find safety there; would you be shadowed from the king of terrors, death is a terror to many. Oh, if you would be shadowed against the awful terrors of death and Gods vengeance, get in under this shadow, and you are safe.
8. This Plant is renowned for His stature; He is a high Plant, He is a tall Plant. You see the heavens above you, but they are but creeping things in comparison of Him; but this glorious Plant, He is the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity, you can never see His height.
9. This Plant is renowned for His extent, not only for His stature, but He is a broad Plant. He was planted in the first promise in Paradise, He spread through the Old Testament Church, He came the length of filling the land of Judaea, but at length this Plant has spread among us, and oh, that I could spread Him among you!
III. The raising or upbringing of this Plant.
1. He was raised up in the counsel of Gods peace from eternity.
2. He was raised up in the first promise to Adam and Eve.
3. His actual manifestation in the flesh, when, in the fulness of time, He appeared.
4. This Plant was raised up, even in His death.
5. This Plant was raised up in His resurrection from the dead. For in His resurrection from the dead He was declared to be the Son of God with power, by the Spirit of holiness.
6. This Plant of renown was raised up higher in His ascension into heaven, when He was set down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, after He had, by Himself, purged our sins.
7. He is raised up likewise in the revelation of the everlasting Gospel.
8. This Plant of renown is raised up in the day of the Churchs reformation.
9. This Plant of renown will be raised up at His second coming.
10. This Plant of renown will be raised up in the songs of the redeemed through endless eternity.
IV. For whom is it that this Plant is raised up? He is raised up for mankind sinners, not for angel-kind sinners, and every mankind sinner that hears tell of Him should lay claim to Him (Isa_9:6). As the firmament is for you, if you will open your eyes, so the Sun of Righteousness is for you, if you will open your hearts to Him: for the Lords sake do not refuse Him, or else it will not be telling you; you will rue it to eternity.
V. Why is He raised up?
1. He is raised up as a Redeemer to set the captives of the mighty at liberty.
2. He is raised up as a Mediator of the new covenant, to make peace between an offended God, and offending rebellious man, He makes reconciliation for iniquity (Dan_9:24).
3. He is raised up as a Surety, to pay the debt of a company of broken divers, and to bind Himself under a bond to satisfy justice for their crimes, and that He should reduce them to obedience to their offended Lord. Hence He is called (Heb_7:25).
4. He is raised up as a renowned Healer, a non-such Physician. He has opened up a medicinal well (Zec_13:1) that washes from sin and uncleanness, and, whatever be your malady, we invite you to come to this well, and wash and be clean.
5. He is raised up as a Witness to tell the truth, or as a Prophet to reveal it.
6. He is raised up as Leader unto the people, to show us the path of life, and to lead us into it, and, by His leading, He causes the wayfaring man to walk without erring,--I will bring the blind by a way they know not, etc.
7. He is raised up as a Commander unto the people, as the Captain of salvation, to fight our battles for us, and to head the armies of Gods Israel in their way to glory. And, by His skill and conduct, He makes them all conquerors, yea, more than conquerors, etc.
VI. Application. Is it so that Christ is a Plant of renown, raised up by Jehovah? Then--
1. See hence the iniquity and wickedness of these men who study to derogate from the glory of this renowned Plant.
2. See hence how to know a true and faithful minister of Christ. He will have a smell of the Plant of renown about him, whether he be in the pulpit or out of it.
3. See hence whence it is that believers flock to Gospel ordinances, where they can get them dispensed by those that bear Christs commission to dispense them. It is the smell of the Plant of renown that draws them thither.
4. See hence why God the Father is called a Husbandman. He is so called with reference unto His raising up this Plant of renown (Joh_15:1).
5. See hence the regard that God hath for His Church upon earth, as His own garden. Why, He plants this Tree of Life in her, by which she became a new paradise:
6. See hence the excellency of Christ, in His Person, nature, offices, and appearances.
7. See what makes a land or a church pleasant, a Hephzibah or a Beulah unto the Lord. If the Plant of renown and His interest be thriving in a land or Church, it makes her beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, etc.
8. See when it is that a Church loses her beauty and glory, and makes defection. It is when Christ loses His Savour among her ministers and professors.
9. See hence how a person may know whether matters be right or wrong, whether he be thriving and prospering in grace, or if he be decaying and going backward. Is the Plant of renown rising or going back with you? If He be rising, then--
(1) He will be raised up in your esteem (Psa_73:25; Php_3:8-9).
(2) In your affection and love, Whom having not seen, we love, etc.
(3) In your meditation; every thought will be a captive to His obedience.
(4) In your talk and walk, they will have a savour of the Plant of renown, and the chat and common talk of the world will be tasteless, like the white of an egg, to you.
(5) In your religious worship, both public and private; when you go to prayer, when you go to hear the word, or when you go to a communion table, nothing will please but Christ Himself.
(6) In your wishes and endeavours for the advancement of His kingdom and glory, in as far as your power can go.
10. If Christ be the Plant of renown, raised up by His eternal Father, may it not be for matter of lamentation that the Plant of renown is in so little request among us at this day, and that there is such a plucking away of the glory of this blessed Plant?
11. Is it so that Christ is a Plant of renown raised up by Jehovah? Then let all that bear the name of Chris, especially you who have been entertained at His table, and tasted of His special love and goodness, study to answer Gods design, in raising up for us this Plant of renown.
(1) Sit down, and rest your weary souls, under the shadow of this renowned Plant, after the example of the spouse (Son_2:1-17).
(2) Come and behold the glory and beauty of the Plant of renown: O look unto Him, and be saved, all ye ends of the earth.
(3) Come and feed upon the fruit of this Plant of renown: For His flesh is meat indeed, and His blood is drink indeed.
(4) Whenever you find yourselves wounded by temptation, or corruption, or the world, come to the Plant of renown. (E. Erskine.)
The Plant of renown
Christ is frequently spoken of as a tree, a branch, a root, a stem, a rod, a lily, a rose. But the word plant has a signification somewhat different. What we plant we cultivate, sow the seed maybe, watch the growth, and tend in its maturity. And the plant here spoken of would refer to the human work and human nature of our Lord, arranged and developed by Divine wisdom.
I. The seed was sown in the eternal counsels of God. We know that the purpose existed before the world was formed. There was the sowing of the plant.
II. The growing. The plant started above the soil when man fell. Its green leaves showed themselves when the promise was given as to the seed of the woman which was to bruise the serpents head.
III. The developing. In teaching, symbol, ritual, prophecy, the light gradually dawned.
IV. The blossoming. When Christ came visibly into the world, He blossomed like a rose. His words were as fragrance. His acts of mercy and love beautified the earth, and filled all nations with their beauty.
V. The fruit bearing. The plant flowered, and apparently withered when Christ was put to death. But out of that very fact we see the result of ripened seed--The flower abideth alone, except it die, and Christs death caused the seed to be scattered abroad, which should cause the whole world to bloom. The seed of life, joy, hope.
VI. The honour giving eternal glory. A Plant of renown. It is not a mere passing, fading, temporary, useless growth. It is renowned for its beauty--the essence of the Fathers glory; for its usefulness--the covert and shelter of all people; for its continuance--it shall never fade; for its fruitfulness--it shall nourish all mankind. Happy is the man who finds shelter and rest in Him. (Homilist.)
The Messianic conception in the prophets
The attempt is sometimes made to trace a gradual development and enrichment of the Messianic idea in the hands of successive prophets. From that point of view Ezekiels contribution to the doctrine of the Messiah must be felt to be disappointing. No one can imagine that his portrait of the coming King possesses anything like the suggestiveness and religious meaning conveyed by the ideal which stands out so clearly from the pages of Isaiah. And, indeed, no subsequent prophet excels or even equals Isaiah in the clearness and profundity of his directly Messianic conceptions. This fact shows us that the endeavour to find in the Old Testament a regular progress along one particular line proceeds on too narrow a view of the scope of prophecy. The truth is that the figure of the King is only one of the many types of the Christian dispensation which the religious institutions of Israel supplied to the prophets. It is the most perfect of all types, partly because it is personal, and partly because the idea of kingship is the most comprehensive of the offices which Christ executes as our Redeemer. But, after all, it expresses only one aspect of the glorious future of the kingdom of God towards which prophecy steadily points. We must remember also that the order in which these types emerge is determined not altogether by their intrinsic importance, but partly by their adaptation to the needs of the age in which the prophet lived. The main function of prophecy was to furnish present and practical direction to the people of God; and the form under which the ideal was presented to any particular generation was always that best fitted to help it onwards, one stage nearer to the great consummation. Thus while Isaiah idealises the figure of the king, Jeremiah grasps the conception of a new religion under the form of a covenant, the second Isaiah unfolds the idea of the prophetic servant of Jehovah, Zechariah and the writer of the 110th Psalm idealise the priesthood. All these are Messianic prophecies, if we take the word in its widest acceptation; but they are not all cast in one mould, and the attempt to arrange them in a single series is obviously misleading. So with regard to Ezekiel we may say that his chief Messianic ideal (still using the expression in a general sense) is the sanctuary, the symbol of Jehovahs presence in the midst of His people. At the end of chap. 37, the kingdom and the sanctuary are mentioned together as pledges of the glory of the latter days. But while the idea of the Messianic monarchy was a legacy inherited from his prophetic precursors, the Temple was an institution whose typical significance Ezekiel was the first to unfold. It was, moreover, the one that met the religious requirements of the age in which Ezekiel lived. Ultimately the hope of the personal Messiah loses the importance which it still has in the present section of the book; and the prophets vision of the future concentrates itself on the sanctuary as the centre of the restored theocracy, and the source from which the regenerating influences of the Divine grace flow forth to Israel and the world. (John Skinnier, M. A.)
No more consumed with hunger in the land.
Education true and false
What a tempting thing it is to try to put right some of the evils of the world by short and easy methods! To check some of the waste of natural wealth which keeps falling away. To take drastic measures for supplying the wants of the starving, and to cut, off occasion from those who misuse the privilege of plenty! To drain off vice into channels of virtue; to make the weary to lie down, the sufferer to rejoice, the ignorant to know, the oppressed to go free! We are tempted to think that it is, after all, only the involved complications of a novel, which a word of explanation and a mere handful of advice can rectify at once. And so, from time to time, people have descended, and do descend, into the arena of the world, whether sent by God directly, or by the prompting of their own heart. Reformers, statesmen, theorists, philanthropists, each with their schemes of regeneration, amelioration, or progress. But, alas! a great number in the end find that they must retire, baffled by the almost superhuman wrong-headedness of mankind; and perhaps feel that an interference, well meant, has only complicated a problem which was sufficiently difficult before. Now, one of the most imposing panaceas for regenerating society (and rightly so) is education. Education means, I suppose, a drawing forth of the human powers by instruction, by training, by discipline, by rewards, by punishments, by fostering care; education, says the popular voice of utilitarian England, means furnishing a child with useful knowledge. See the waste of material going on in the world, teach him how to use the advantages which come in his path; see the evils of intemperance and vice, show him the beauty of morality; see the political errors of former years, educate our masters in the thin principles of political history; see the squalor and penury and extravagance which is all around us, teach them thrift. And what about religion? Here we are told that there are so many hundred religious sects, and so much disputing, that it is a question which can be approached only with difficulty. It is one of the darkest blots in the religious world in England at the present day, that whereas the Church, the true mother yearning for all her children, is yet willing to give up the child to the mother that claims it, rather than that the child should be taught undenominationalism or no religion at all; there are found those who are not ashamed to betray their lack of true motherly feeling for the little ones of Christs flock, by crying out in all the bitterness of sectarian partisanship, Let the child be neither mine nor thine, divide it. Let it be taught no religion at all, let it be brought up on that desiccated, sterile, lifeless inanity known as undenominational religion--a supposed residuum of Christianity left from the contentious controversies of the sects, to which no one has any particular objection, except the few who are allowed a separate treatment of unusual favour, and the Roman Catholics who are far too wise to be taken in by the offer of a stone which has not even the appearance of bread. The blasts of sectarian controversy ought to be kept away from the education question altogether. In the first place, is it right, is it fair, either to secular or to religious education, practically to divorce them, and to allow the child to see and draw his own conclusions from the fact that the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge are planted by different hands? The State ought not to be willing to part with religious teaching, and the Church ought not to be willing to part with secular teaching. They form one sacred responsibility. Again, is it fair that Sunday, the day of religious worship and real recreation, should be made a day of slavery to the child already overpowered by a burden of ever-increasing educational requirements? The question which we are being called upon to decide is really the question as between religious and irreligious education in the long run; between education and that which can only lay claim by sufferance to that name. It has its promise. It, too, says, I will raise up unto you a plant of renown. A great future is in store for an instructed nation. Ye shall no more be consumed with hunger; material progress, intellectual progress, lie at the feet of an enlightened people; ye shall not bear the shame of the heathen any more; ye shall be emancipated from the swaddling bands of an effete superstition. Yes, but the response is inadequate; the uneducated passions rise up in rebellion against the educated reason. There are certain powers within which do not bow to reason. Vice in its rebellious fury, dishonesty, greed, idleness, these are not to be tied down with the two ropes of a mere intellectual education. God puts before the children in our schools a plant of renown--something higher than the example of a successful tradesman, or a provident saver, or a moral improver, or an example of self-help. God puts before each of our children--high and low, rich and poor--a plant of renown, a high and holy example of One who grew up before Him as a tender plant; who knew the sorrows and needs and joys of childhood, the trials and griefs of opening boyhood, the hardships and the triumphs of manhood, and the mystery of death Can you suppose for an instant the perfect man, Jesus Christ, dividing off His life into the sharp division of the religious and useful? His work was religious, and religion ran up into His work. It is an immense thing for children to have an enthusiasm, to read the lives of heroes, of inventors, of philanthropists, of self-elevated men. But of how far greater importance is it to have a life always put before them, in all its supernatural bearing, a life to which they may cling in prayer and praise, a life which shines through the pages of the Bible, as the sun through some painted window, mere lead and glass without it. There is a time when mere useful knowledge ceases to satisfy; there is a hunger for a comforter, for peace, for truth, for a Saviour, for a very present help in trouble. There is a hunger for God. Ah, how sad to think of our great philosopher, with his keen, magnificent intellect--no Atheist, as he himself has told us, because he had never been taught to believe in God, and therefore could not reject Him. With natural affections apparently stamped out of him, with a life written by his own hand, which has in it no mention of a mothers love; yet, strange to say, humanly speaking, sacrifices his life and health at the grave of one whom he loved with an affection which had satisfied his longing, only to leave the pang of a separation behind it, and leave him beating against the bars of death unillumined by a glimpse of eternity. Are we to send our children into the world where there is the famine of uncertainty and doubt and the shadow of death, with the hunger for peace and comfort and pardon unsatisfied; without showing them where alone the food can be found which will still the craving? If we part with our children, we are parting with the young blood of the Church. The Spartans were asked in a day of humiliation to hand over fifty children to be hostages to the enemy, and the answer was, We would rather give you a hundred of our best men. They may succeed where we have failed, they may conquer where we have been beaten, and live to retrieve our honour. So I would say, we would pinch and starve, if necessary, other things which seem almost necessary to the well-being of our parishes--our very beauty of worship itself,--but we will keep our children in our hands. When they are ours we know what to do with them. When we part with them, we part with them to that which is at the best a doubtful future, and then we are parting with the young blood of the Church. The teaching of the Church is something definite. Undenominational teaching, we fear, cannot grapple with the reproach, the famine, and the sin which leaps upon a fallen world. (Canon Newbolt.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.