Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “You, son of man, the Lord Yahweh says to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end has come on the four corners of the land. Now is the end on you, and I will send my anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations. My eye will not spare you, neither will I have pity; but I will bring your ways on you, and your abominations will be among you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’
“The Lord Yahweh says: ‘An evil! A unique evil! Behold, it comes. An end has come. The end has come! It awakes against you. Behold, it comes. Your doom has come to you, inhabitant of the land! The time has come! The day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting, on the mountains. Now I will shortly pour out my wrath on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations. My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways. Your abominations will be among you. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, strike.
“ ‘Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has gone out. The rod has blossomed. Pride has budded. Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them will remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth. There will be nothing of value among them. The time has come! The day draws near. Don’t let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is on all its multitude. For the seller won’t return to that which is sold, although they are still alive; for the vision concerns the whole multitude of it. None will return. None will strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready; but no one goes to the battle; for my wrath is on all its multitude.
“ ‘The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine within. He who is in the field will die by the sword. He who is in the city will be devoured by famine and pestilence. But those of those who escape, they will escape and will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, everyone in his iniquity. All hands will be feeble, and all knees will be weak as water. They will also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror will cover them. Shame will be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads. They will cast their silver in the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing. Their silver and their gold won’t be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath. They won’t satisfy their souls or fill their bellies; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity. As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things therein. Therefore I have made it to them as an unclean thing. I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a plunder; and they will profane it. I will also turn my face from them, and they will profane my secret place. Robbers will enter into it, and profane it.
“ ‘Make chains; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will possess their houses. I will also make the pride of the strong to cease. Their holy places will be profaned. Destruction comes! They will seek peace, and there will be none. Mischief will come on mischief, and rumor will be on rumor. They will seek a vision of the prophet; but the law will perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. The king will mourn, and the prince will be clothed with desolation. The hands of the people of the land will be troubled. I will do to them after their way, and according to their own judgments I will judge them. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 Ezekiel seems here too verbose; for he repeats the…
Ezekiel seems here too verbose; for he repeats the same sentiments almost in the same words. But the reason which I have brought forward must be marked, if God had only uttered his commands shortly, when the people were not only slow to believe but of a perverse disposition, his message had proved cold and ineffectual. With this design he uses, as we have seen, many words, and now repeats the same: he now changes his expression, because he ought by all means to stimulate that sloth, or rather sluggishness, under which the people labored. Another thing to be noted is, that he came not once only by God’s command to preach to the people, but. that he was often sent to stir up their minds. For if he had included in one context what God had enjoined, the Israelites might for the time have thought of God’s judgment, but a prophecy once uttered would have easily escaped them. Besides, when Ezekiel testifies that he was sent by God, and afterwards returns and affirms that he brings new commands, this was more effectual to influence their minds. Now we see the meaning of the phrase, the word was given by Jehovah For this prophecy is distinguished from the former, and yet the matter is the same, without any difference, as it seems to weave in with the same discourse: this, indeed, is true, but he ought to be sent twice, that the people may understand that not once only, but twice and perpetually, what he heard from God’s mouth was to be repeated: since it was sufficiently clear, that God was anxious for their safety, since he never ceased to exhort them. Thus, therefore, says the Lord Jehovah concerning the land of Israel: an end is coming, an end upon the four corners of the land Here God seems to regard the moderate punishments which he had already inflicted on the kingdom of Israel. For we know that they often felt God’s hand, but when some relaxation was afforded them, they thought themselves escaped, so they forgot their wickedness and went on in it so carelessly that it was very clear that they despised God, unless when he oppressed them with his dreadful power. This seems the meaning of the word end, and it is emphatically repeated: an end is coming, an end upon the four corners of the land He puts, indeed, wings, but intends it metaphorically for four different regions. God, therefore, reproves the Israelites for their obstinacy, because though often chastised they did not cease to transgress, through not supposing that any thing more grievous could happen. He puts therefore the word end, as if he said, hitherto I have treated you moderately. And surely God had displayed a remarkable specimen of clemency in punishing the Israelites so lightly when he might utterly have cut them off. Since, therefore, he had so refrained himself in punishing, the sluggishness of the people was on that account the less tolerable, since they thought all was over as soon as God had withdrawn his hand. An end, says he, an end is come, that is, after this you must not hope for any moderation. I see there is no hope of repentance in you, and so I shall utterly consume you; and he adds, on the four corners of the land, as he had just said, in all your dwellings. Again, therefore, he teaches, that no part of the earth should be free from the slaughter which he predicts. It follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 I will punish thee as thou hast deserved for…
I will punish thee as thou hast deserved for thine idolatry.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 Eze 7:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came…
Eze 7:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Ver. 1. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me.] Five or six years afore it happened. God loveth to foresignify, to forewarn, or ere he punish. Let us, upon whom the ends of the world are come, take warning, and think we hear the trump of God sounding as here, "An end is come, is come, is come; it watcheth for thee, behold it is come." {Eze 7:2-3; Eze 7:6}
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 On vv1–27 This introduceth a continuation and confirmation, with some illustration…
This introduceth a continuation and confirmation, with some illustration of what judgments were denounced in the former chapter.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 16, 23 We have here fair warning given of the destruction…
We have here fair warning given of the destruction of the land of Israel, which was now hastening on apace. God, by the prophet, not only sends notice of it, but will have it inculcated in the same expressions, to show that the thing is certain, that it is near, that the prophet is himself affected with it and desires they should be so too, but finds them deaf, and stupid, and unaffected. When the town is on fire men do no seek for fine words and quaint expressions in which to give an account of it, but cry about the streets, with a loud and lamentable voice, "Fire! fire!" So the prophet here proclaims, An end! an end! it has come, it has come; behold, it has come. He that hath ears to hear let him hear.
I. An end has come, the end has come (Eze 7:2), and again (Eze 7:3, Eze 7:6), Now has the end come upon thee - the end which all their wickedness had a tendency to, and which God had often told them it would come to at last, when by his prophets he had asked them, What will you do in the end hereof? - the end which all the foregoing judgments had been working towards, as means to bring it about (their ruin shall now be completed) - or the end, that is, the period of their state, the final destruction of their nation, as the deluge was the end of all flesh, Gen 6:13. They had flattered themselves with hopes that they should shortly see an end of their troubles. "Yea," says God, "An end has come, but a miserable one, not the expected end" (which is promised to the pious remnant among them, Jer 29:11); "it is the end, that end which you have been so often warned of, that last end which Moses wished you to consider (Deu 32:29), and which, because Jerusalem remembered not, therefore she came down wonderfully," Lam 1:9. This end was long in coming, but now it has come. Though the ruin of sinners comes slowly, it comes surely. "It has come; it watches for thee, ready to receive thee." This perhaps looks further, to the last destruction of that nation by the Romans, which that by the Chaldeans was an earnest of; and still further to the final destruction of the world of the ungodly. The end of all things is at hand; and Jerusalem's last end was a type of the end of the world, Mat 24:3. Oh that we could all see that end of time and days very near, and the end of our own time and days much nearer, that we may secure a happy lot at the end of the days! Dan 12:13. This end comes upon the four corners of the land. The ruin, as it shall be final, so it shall be total; no part of the land shall escape; no, not that which lies most remote. Such will the destruction of the world be; all these things shall be dissolved. Such will the destruction of sinners be; none can avoid it. Oh that the wickedness of the wicked might come to an end, before it bring them to an end!
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II. An evil, an only evil, behold, has come, Eze 7:5. Sin is an evil, an only evil, an evil that has no good in it; it is the worst of evils. But this is spoken of the evil of trouble; it is an evil, one evil, and that one shall suffice to affect and complete the ruin of the nation; there needs no more to do its business; this one shall make an utter end, affliction needs not rise up a second time, Nah 1:9. It is an evil without precedent or parallel, an evil that stands alone; you cannot produce such another instance. It is to the impenitent an evil, an only evil; it hardens their hearts and irritates their corruptions, whereas there were those to whom it was sanctified by the grace of God and made a means of much good; they were sent into Babylon for their good, Jer 24:5. The wicked have the dregs of that cup to drink which to the righteous is full of mixtures of mercy, Psa 75:8. The same affliction is to us either a half evil or an only evil according as we conduct ourselves under it and make use of it. But when an end, the end, has come upon the wicked world, then an evil, an only evil, comes upon it, and not till then. The sorest of temporal judgments have their allays, but the torments of the damned are an evil, an only evil.
III. The time has come, the set time, for the inflicting of this only evil and the making of this full end; for to all God's purposes there is a time, a proper time, and that prefixed, in which the purpose shall have its accomplishment; particularly the time of reckoning with wicked people, and rendering to them according to their desserts, is fixed, the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of god; and he sees, whether we see it or no, that his day is coming. This they are here told of again and again (Eze 7:10): Behold, the day that has lingered so long has come at last, behold, it has come. The time has come, the day draws near, the day of trouble is near, Eze 7:7, Eze 7:12. Though threatened judgments may be long deferred, yet they shall not be dropped; the time for executing them will come. Though God's patience may put them off, nothing but man's sincere repentance and reformation will put them by. The morning has come unto thee (Eze 7:7), and again (Eze 7:10), The morning has gone forth; the day of trouble dawns, the day of destruction is already begun. The morning discovers that which was hidden; they thought their secret sins would never come to light, but now they will be brought to light. They used to try and execute malefactors in the morning, and such a morning of judgment and execution is now coming upon them, a day of trouble to sinners, the year of their visitation. See how stupid these people were, that, though the day of their destruction was already begun, yet they were not aware of it, but must be thus told of it again and again. The day of trouble, real trouble, is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains, that is, not a mere echo or report of troubles, as they were willing to think it was, nothing but a groundless surmise; as if the men that came against them were but the shadow of the mountains (as Zebul suggested to Gaal, Jdg 9:36) and the intelligence they received were but an empty sound, reverberated from the mountains. No; the trouble is not a fancy, and so you will soon find.
IV. All this comes from God's wrath, not allayed, as sometimes it has been, with mixtures of mercy. This is the fountain from which all these calamities flow; and this is the wormwood and the gall in the affliction and the misery, which make it bitter indeed (Eze 7:3): I will send my anger upon thee. Observe, God is Lord of his anger; it does not break out but when he pleases, nor fasten upon any but as he directs it and gives it commission. The expression rises higher (Eze 7:8): Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee in full vials, and accomplish my anger, all the purposes and all the products of it, upon thee. This wrath does not single out here and there one to be made examples, but it is upon all the multitude thereof (Eze 7:12, Eze 7:14); the whole body of the nation has become a vessel of wrath, fitted for destruction. God does sometimes in wrath remember mercy, but now he says, My eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity, Eze 7:4 and again Eze 7:9. Those shall have judgment without mercy who made light of mercy when it was offered them.
V. All this is the just punishment of their sins, and it is what they have by their own folly brought upon themselves. This is much insisted on here, that they might be brought to justify God in all he had brought upon them. God never sends his anger but in wisdom and justice; and therefore it follows, "I will judge thee according to thy ways, Eze 7:3. I will examine what thy ways have been, compare them with the law, and then deal with thee according to the merit of them, and recompense them to thee," Eze 7:4. Note, In the heaviest judgments God inflicts upon sinners he does but recompense their own ways upon them; they are beaten with their own rod. And, when God comes to reckon with a sinful people, he will bring every provocation to account: "will recompense upon thee all thy abominations (Eze 7:3); and now thy iniquity shall be found to be hateful (Psa 36:2) and thy abominations shall be in the midst of thee" (Eze 7:4); that is, the secret wickedness shall now be brought to light, and that shall appear to have been in the midst of thee which before was not suspected; and thy sin shall now become an abomination to thyself. So the abomination of iniquity will be when it comes to be an abomination of desolation, Mat 24:15. Or, Thy abominations (that is, the punishments of them) shall be in the midst of thee; they shall reach to thy heart. See Jer 4:18. Or therefore God will not spare, nor have pity, because, even when he is recompensing their ways upon them, yet in their distress they trespass yet more; their abominations are still in the midst of them, indulged and harboured in their hearts. It is repeated again (Eze 7:8, Eze 7:9), I will judge thee, I will recompense thee. Two sins are particularly specified as provoking God to bring these judgments upon them - pride and oppression. 1. God will humble them by his judgments, for they have magnified themselves. The rod of affliction has blossomed, but it was pride that budded, Eze 7:10. What buds in sin will blossom in some judgment or other. The pride of Judah and Jerusalem appeared among all orders and degrees of men, as buds upon the tree in spring. 2. Their enemies shall deal hardly with them, for they have dealt hardly with one another (Eze 7:11): Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness; that is, their injuriousness to one another is protected and patronised by the power of the magistrate. The rod of government had become a rod of wickedness, to such a degree of impudence was violence risen up. I saw the place of judgment, that wickedness was there, Ecc 3:16; Isa 5:7. Whatever are the fruits of God's judgments, it is certain that our sin is the root of them.
VI. There is no escape from these judgments nor fence against them, for they shall be universal and shall bear down all before them, without remedy. 1. Death in its various shapes shall ride triumphantly, both in town and in country, both within the city and without it, Eze 7:15. Men shall be safe nowhere; for he that is in the field shall die by the sword (every field shall be to them a field of battle) and he that is in the city, though it be a holy city, yet it shall not be his protection, but famine and pestilence shall devour him. Sin had abounded both in city and country, Iliacos intra muros peccator et extra - Trojans and Greeks offend alike; and therefore among both desolations are made. 2. None of those that are marked for death shall escape: There shall none of them remain. None of those proud oppressors that did violence to their poor neighbours with the rod of wickedness, none of them shall be left, but they shall be all swept away by the desolation that is coming (Eze 7:11): None of their multitude, that is, of the rabble, whom they set on to do mischief, and to countenance them in doing it, to cry, "Crucify, crucify," when they were resolved on the destruction of any, none of them shall remain, nor any of theirs; their families shall all be destroyed, and neither root nor branch left them. This multitude, this mob, divine vengeance will in a particular manner fasten upon; for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof (Eze 7:12, Eze 7:14) and the vision was touching the whole multitude thereof (Eze 7:13), the bulk of the common people. The judgments coming shall carry them away by wholesale, and they shall neither secure themselves nor their masters whose creatures and tools they were. God's judgments, when they come with commission, cannot be overpowered by multitudes. Though hand join in hand, yet shall not the wicked go unpunished. 3. Those that fall shall not be lamented (Eze 7:11): There shall be no wailing for them, for there shall be none left to bewail them, but such as are hastening apace after them. And the times shall be so bad that men shall rather congratulate than lament the death of their friends, as reckoning those happy that are taken away from seeing these desolations and sharing in them, Jer 16:4, Jer 16:5. 4. They shall not be able to make any resistance. The decree has gone forth, and the vision concerning them shall not return, Eze 7:13. God will not reveal it, and they cannot defeat it; and therefore it shall not return re infecta - without having accomplished any thing, but shall accomplish that for which he sends it. God's word will take place, and then, (1.) Particular persons cannot make their part good against God: No man shall strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life; it will be to no purpose for sinners to set God and his judgments at defiance as they used to do. None ever hardened his heart against God and prospered. Those that strengthen themselves in their wickedness will be found not only to weaken, but to ruin, themselves, Psa 52:7. (2.) The multitude cannot resist the torrent of these judgments, nor make head against them (Eze 7:14): They have blown the trumpet, to call their soldiers together, and to animate and encourage those whom they have got together, and thus they think to make all ready; but all in vain; none enlist themselves, or those that do have not courage to face the enemy. Note, If God be against us, none can be for us to do us any service. 5. They shall have no hope of the return of their prosperity, with which to support themselves in their adversity; they shall have given up all for gone; and therefore, "Let not the buyer rejoice that he is increasing his estate and has become a purchaser; nor let the seller mourn that he is lessening his estate and has become a bankrupt," Eze 7:12. See the vanity of the things of this world, and how worthless they are - that in a time of trouble, when we have most need of them, we may perhaps make least account of them. Those that have sold are the more easy, having the less to lose, and those that have bought have but increased their own cares and fears. Because the fashion of this world passes away, let those that buy be as though they possessed not, because they know not how soon they may be dispossessed, Co1 7:29-31. It is added (Eze 7:13), "The seller shall not return, at the year of jubilee, to that which is sold, according to the law, though he should escape the sword and pestilence, and live till that year comes; for no inheritances shall be enjoyed here till the seventy years be accomplished, and then men shall return to their possessions, shall claim and have their own again." In the belief of this, Jeremiah, about this time, bought his uncle's field, yet, according to the charge, the buyer did not rejoice, but complain, Jer 32:25. 6. God will be glorified in all: "You shall know that I am the Lord (Eze 7:4), that I am the Lord that smiteth, Eze 7:9. You look at second causes, and think it is Nebuchadnezzar that smites you, but you shall be made to know he is but the staff: it is the hand of the Lord that smiteth you, and who knows the weight of his hand?" Those who would not know it was the Lord that did them goo shall be made to know it is the Lord that smiteth them; for, one way or other, he will be owned.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–26 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me,…
Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Or again, as the Arabic version; for this is a distinct prophecy from the former; though of the same kind with it; and was delivered out, either immediately upon the former; or, however, some time between that and the following in the next chapter, which has a date to it. The Targum calls it the word of prophecy from the Lord.
Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Or again, as the Arabic version; for this is a distinct prophecy from the former; though of the same kind with it; and was delivered out, either immediately upon the former; or, however, some time between that and the following in the next chapter, which has a date to it. The Targum calls it the word of prophecy from the Lord.
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Ezekiel 7:2
eze 7:2
eze 7:2
eze 7:2Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel,.... The inhabitants of it; not the ten tribes, who were already carried captive; but the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and those that were with them, who dwelt in the land. The mountains, hills, rivers, and valleys, were before addressed; now the land itself: what the Lord by the prophet said unto the land, or the people of it, follows:
an end: for here a colon is to be placed; that is, the end of God's patience and forbearance; he would bear with them no longer, at least but a very little while; the time of vengeance was coming upon them, and an utter consumption should be made of them; see Lam 4:18;
the end is come upon the four corners of the earth, or "land"; for not the whole world, and the end of that, as in Mat 24:3, are meant; but the land of Judea and the destruction of it, which should be general; upon the four wings of it, as in the Hebrew text; that is, in all parts of it, east, west, north, and south. The Targum is,
"the punishment of the end, or the punishment determined to come upon the four winds of the earth;''
see Rev 7:1; and this punishment was just going to be inflicted on them; for this prophecy was in the sixth year of King Zedekiah; and in the ninth year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem; and in the eleventh year took it, Kg2 25:1.
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 On vv1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27 In this chapter the prophet tells them, that a…
In this chapter the prophet tells them, that a final ruin is coming, ver. 1-6. A ruin just at the door, ver. 7-10. An unavoidable ruin, because of their sins, ver. 11-15. That their strength and wealth would be no fence against it, ver. 16-19. That the temple, which they trusted in, should itself be ruined, ver. 20- 22. That it should be an universal ruin, the sin that brought it being universal, ver, 23-27.
An end - An end of God's patience, and of the peace and welfare of the people.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 This chapter, which also forms a distinct prophecy, foretells
CHAPTER VII
This chapter, which also forms a distinct prophecy, foretells
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the dreadful destruction of the land of Israel, or Judah, (for
after the captivity of the ten tribes these terms are often
used indiscriminately for the Jews in general,) on account of
the heinous sins of its inhabitants, 1-15;
and the great distress of the small remnant that should escape,
16-19.
The temple itself, which they had polluted with idolatry, is
devoted to destruction, 20-22;
and the prophet is directed to make a chain, as a type of that
captivity, in which both king and people should be led in bonds
to Babylon, 23-27.
The whole chapter abounds in bold and beautiful figures, flowing
in an easy and forcible language.
NOTES ON CHAP. VII
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv2, 5, 10, 12, 16, 20, 23, 25 Eze 7:2-4. Thus saith the Lord unto the land…
Eze 7:2-4. Thus saith the Lord unto the land of Israel — Unto the inhabitants of the land. Israel is often put for Judah, after the captivity of the ten tribes; those that were left of these tribes joining themselves to the tribe of Judah. The whole country of Judea is here comprehended. An end — An end of God’s patience, of the peace and welfare of the people, and of the plenty, beauty, and desirableness of the land itself; is come — Or is near at hand; even that dreadful end threatened by Moses and the prophets, as the certain punishment of idolatry and other violations of God’s law: upon the four corners of the land — Upon all parts of it. Now is the end come upon thee — There shall be no more delays. I will judge thee according to thy ways — I will punish thee according to thy deserts. Thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee — The punishment of thy sins shall be upon thee everywhere throughout thy land.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24 A dirge. Supposing the date of the prophecy to…
A dirge. Supposing the date of the prophecy to be the same as that of the preceding, there were now but four, or perhaps three, years to the final overthrow of the kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 Israel, or Judea, in all its parts. (Worthington) ---…
Israel, or Judea, in all its parts. (Worthington) --- In five or six years’ time all shall be destroyed.
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 1, 2And the word of Jehovah came unto me,…
CHAPTER 7
1, 2And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: An end to the soil of Israel! the end comes 3upon the four corners [borders] of the land. Now [comes] the end upon thee, and I send Mine anger into thee, and judge thee as thy ways [are], and give upon thee all thine abominations. 4And Mine eye will not restrain itself from [have pity upon] thee, neither will I spare; for [but] thy ways will I give upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in thy midst; and ye know that I am Jehovah. 5Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, An evil, one evil, behold it cometh. 6An end cometh, there cometh the end; it awaketh for thee, behold, it 7cometh. The turn (?) cometh to thee, O inhabitant of the land; the time cometh; the day is near, tumult and not joyous shouting upon the mountains. 8Now will I shortly pour out My fury upon thee, and I accomplish Mine anger upon [in] thee, and judge thee as thy ways [are], and give upon thee all thine abominations. 9And Mine eye will not forbear, and I will not spare; as thy ways [are] will I give upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in thy midst; 10and ye know that it is I, Jehovah, that smiteth. Behold, the day, behold, it 11cometh: the turn (?) springeth up; the rod sprouts; pride blossoms. The violence riseth up into the rod of wickedness; not of them, nor of their multitude, nor of their pomp; neither is there anything glorious upon 12[in, among] them. The time comes, the day arrives; let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for heat [of anger] cometh upon the whole multitude thereof. 13For the seller shall not return to what is sold, even were their life still among the living; for the vision is upon [against] the whole multitude thereof; he shall not return, nor shall they—in his iniquity Isaiah 14 every one’s life—show themselves strong. They blow the horn, and make all ready, and there is none who goeth to the battle; for My heat of anger Isaiah 15 upon [against] their whole multitude. The sword without, and the pestilence and famine within! He that is in the field shall die by the sword; and he 16that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him. And if their escaped ones escape, they are upon the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them cooing, each one in his iniquity. 17All hands shall be slack, and all 18knees shall dissolve into water. And they gird sackcloth about them, and horror covers them; and upon all faces is shame, and baldness on all their 19heads. Their silver shall they cast upon the streets, and their gold shall be to them for repudiation. Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them on the day of the outpouring of the wrath of Jehovah: they shall not satisfy their soul, neither fill their bowels; for it was a stumbling-block 20of their iniquity. And the ornament of his decoration—for pride they placed it, and images of their abominations, of their [their accus.] detestable 21things, they made of it: therefore I give it to them for repudiation. And I give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of 22the earth for a spoil; and they profane her. And I turn away My face from them, and they profane My secret; and violent ones come into her, and profane 23her. Make the chain; for the land is full of blood-guiltiness, and the 24city is full of outrage. And I bring wicked ones of the [heathen] nations, and they take possession of their houses: and I make the pride of the strong to 25cease; and their holy places are profaned. Destruction cometh [came]; and 26they seek salvation [peace], and there is none. Destruction upon destruction shall come, and rumour shall be upon rumour; and they seek a vision from the prophet; and the law [instruction] shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. 27The king shall mourn, and the prince shall put on blank amazement, and the hands of the people in the land shall be slack: according to their way will I do unto them, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they know that I am Jehovah.
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Eze_7:2. Sept.: ... ταδε λεγει... τη γη τ. Ἱσρ. τερας ἡκει, το περας ἡκει ἐπι—(Anoth. read.: קץ בא בא הקץ.)
Eze_7:3. ... τ. κερας νυν, το περας προς σε.
Eze_7:4. Anoth. read.: כדרכיך.
Eze_7:5. Anoth. read.: אחר.
Eze_7:7. ... ἡ πλοκη … οὐ μετα θορυβων οὐδε μεπ̓ ὠδιγωγ—contritio super te … prope est dies occisionis, et non gloriæ montium. (Anoth. read.: אליך fem.)
Eze_7:10. Sept.: ... ἡμερα κυριου, ἰδου τ. περας ἡκει—
Eze_7:11. Κ. συνριψει στηριγμα ἀνομου, κ. οὐ μετα θορυβων οὐδε μετα σπουδης. Κ. οὐκ ἐξ αὐτων εἰσιν, οὐδε ὡραισμος ἰν αὐτοις. (Anoth. read.: ולא נח. Vulg.: et non erit requies in eis.)
Eze_7:13.... ὁ κτωμενος προς τον. πωλουντα... ὀτι ὁρασις... τ. πληθος αὐτης οὐκ ἀνακαμψει, κ. ἀνθρωπος ἰν ὀφθαλμω ζωης αὐτου οὐ κρατησε.
Eze_7:14. ... κρινατε τα συμπαντα—(Anoth. read.: תִקעו, Sept., Arab., Vulg.)
Eze_7:16. Ὡς περιστεραι μελετητικαι παντας ἀποκτενω, ἑκαστος—
Eze_7:22.... εἰσελευσονται εἰς αὐτα ἀφυλακτως—
Eze_7:23.... πληρης λαων—
Eze_7:24. ... κ. ἀποστρεψω το φρυαγμα τ. ἰσχυος αὐτων—(Anoth. read.: עזם, Arab.)
Eze_7:27. … Anoth. read.: וכמשפטיהם. Vulg.: et secundum judicia—
EXEGETICAL REMARKS
According to Hengst., the first cycle closes here, and, in fact, with a song (?). But the “lyric” element (Ew.) is rather a rhetorical one. Neither is there any “solemn close, which corresponds with the solemn introduction,” but simply a second prophetic discourse attached to the first in Ezekiel 6. The prophet has in his eye the time of the breaking forth of the divine judgment. (Hitzig from Eze_7:3 onwards works himself into the idea of two defective recensions of the original text, for which there is no valid ground. Neteler lays the Hebrew text as a basis, so far as it is confirmed by the Greek translation, in order to obtain a “piece of four parts carried through with complete symmetry.”)
Eze_7:1. Comp. Eze_6:1-2. ואתה, as so often, an address to the prophet in contradistinction from the people (Eze_2:8; Eze_3:25; Eze_4:1; Eze_5:1). The Sept. supplied אֶמֹר, A mark of exclamation is enough.—לאדמת, not “of” (Hengst.), nor, as Ew. maintains against the accents: “thus saith … to the fatherland of Israel.” אדמה is the soil of a country, for which afterwards הארץ; hence the total ruin. Comp. Eze_6:14. The preceding discourse is brought to a point in this, under the motto of the end.—Instead of אַרְבַּעַת the Qeri gives the more usual form אַרְבַּע.
Eze_7:3. בָּךְ, so that it finds its place in thee, where it can have vent.—Ways for walk. In accordance therewith will be the judgment. Their abominations come upon their own heads.
Eze_7:4. חוּס, “to restrain oneself,” hence “to spare” (Eze_5:11), to have compassion.—They are to see their abominations again in their midst, in their consequences, the divine punishments. Comp. besides, Eze_6:7.
Eze_7:5. רעה, what is destructive, injurious, here conceived of as being so evil, that it is spoken of as one standing alone, and not as a succession of evils. (Comp. Eze_5:9.) J. D. Mich.: “which makes an end at once, so that no second is necessary.”—The curt, abrupt character of the discourse portrays the sudden, violent nature of the judgment.—The Chald. read perhaps אחר.
Eze_7:6. הקץ הקיץ, a play upon words. After having apparently slept so long and so soundly, the end (not Jehovah) awakes, and therefore it comes.—אֵלָיךְ, fem., because Jerusalem is in the background, as in Eze_7:3 also. (“The repetition indicates the certainty, the greatness, and the swiftness.”—a L.)——בָּאָה (fem.) resumes the so strongly-emphasized רעה of Eze_7:5, or it stands impersonally (Häv., Keil), or it prepares for הַצְּפִירָה in Eze_7:7, which means “a crown” in Isa_28:5, a meaning which is not suitable here. It might be allowable to translate in our verse: “the turn comes to thee,” inasmuch as צפירה from צפר may be something “arranged in a row together” with something else, where one thing follows another. But this certainly hardly suits יצאה in Eze_7:10. The interpretation most in favour, viz. “destiny” (Hitz.: the goddess of fate, properly: vicissitude of fortune, catastrophe), gives a suitable although heathenish sense; we would be compelled to admit a borrowing on Ezekiel’s part from his Chaldaic surroundings, and yet the expression itself is not thereby explained. It is sought to be explained by the circle of fate, or its being shut up within itself. One might think of the return of the sin in the punishment, wherewith it finishes its course; comp. Eze_7:3-4. (צפר in Jdg_7:3 = to return circuitously.) Others hold fast by the meaning “crown,” and understand by it the kingdom of the Chaldeans, or the king of the Chaldeans. Häv., who combats this meaning, asserting that in Isaiah 28. it is a plait of hair that is meant, accepts a later Aramaism, צפרא=צפירה, “the dawn,” viz. of the evil day (Joe_2:1-2). Grot. with reference to הקיץ in Eze_7:6, inasmuch as it was customary for judgment to be administered in the morning. Others in other ways. Was it intended, perhaps, to indicate something equivalent to: what is marked with the graver (צפרן), what is determined, established, as in Jer_17:1?—אֵלֶיךָ, masc, because of what follows (Hos_9:7).—הַיוֹם, artic: dies ille.—Tumult, perhaps alarm of war, and in contrast therewith הֵד, i.e. הֵידָד (comp. Isa_16:9-10; Jer_48:33), cry of joy of the vine-dressers (?), or cry of victory, Isa_40:9 (J. D. Mich.), or festival-pomp) of the idolaters, Eze_6:3; Eze_6:13 (Rosenm.). Hengst.: “joyful shout of the mountains,” because the shout of joy is heard on them and called forth by them (Psa_89:13), in place of which will come the painful tumult of those who are seeking deliverance. Häv. takes הד for הוֹד, “brightness,” so that the dawn rises without mountain - brightness (?), without irradiating the mountains which are first to be irradiated (!).
Eze_7:8. עַתָּה; comp. Eze_7:3.—מקרוב, in Deu_32:17 of place, here of time (Job_20:5). Comp. besides, Eze_6:12; Eze_7:3-4.
Eze_7:9. Comp. Eze_7:4. The added expression smiteth does not announce what follows, but meets beforehand a false interpretation of the same (the sprouting rod). Eze_7:10. Comp. on Eze_7:7.—יצאה, because of what follows of the springing up, like a plant, from the soil of which the sinners are bragging.—The rod is for Israel, in order to punishment, in fact, the staff of the Chaldean ruler, Nebuchadnezzar’s sceptre. What a contrast to Num_17:2-3! To the “sprouting” of power, which can, corresponds the “blossoming” of pride, which will. (זוּד, to boil, to boil over.)
Eze_7:11. Thus the violence, the violent acting which takes place, rises into the rod of wickedness, i.e. which punishes the wickedness of Israel; into the staff, sceptre, of the Chaldean, wherewith Israel’s wickedness is smitten (Isa_10:5). Other expositors interpret ממה already in Eze_7:10 of the tribe of Judah (Grot.), its royal sceptre (Cocc.), and refer alike זדון there and חמם here to the complete sinful development of the kingdom (Ew.), so that the rod of wickedness would be that rod wherewith wickedness smites itself. Grot, takes ל adversative; the violent Chaldean rises up against the wicked tribe of Judah. Cocc.: Israel’s violent conduct (Gen_6:11) brings upon them instead of God the sceptre of the Chaldean dominion of wickedness. It would be natural to understand the immediately following not of them, etc., in such a way that this “rod of wickedness,” “of violence,” would now be pointed out more definitely, in as far as it is not to spring forth from Israel (לא־מהם), neither from their roaring (המון, Isa_5:13-14, the noisy, politically-roused multitude), nor from their humming (by paronomasia, equivalent to: pomp), consequently neither of democratic nor of aristocratic origin (comp. 1Ki_12:11). הָם or הָמֶה, plur. המים (only to be found here); מהמהם for מהמיהם, Ges.: of their possessions, Keil: the multitude of possessions. [Hengst.: “nor of them, and them (yet again),”—like הם הם in Isa_57:6,—however much they may hold up their heads; Jewish expositors resolve it into וְלֹא מֵהֶם אֲשֶׁר מֵהֶם, and understand it of their children (so the Chaldee); Häv.: cares, anxieties, these are as useless as the multitude of the people themselves!?] The penal judgment will come from outside themselves. Hengst.: “It is a throwing contempt on the ‘we,’ which they had continually in their mouth, and repeated with great emphasis: we, we shall do everything, etc. (Jer_30:21; Zec_10:4).”—וְלֹא־נֹהַּ בָּהֶם, Ges. from נוּהַּ, Keil, from נָוָהּ, “to be prominent;” something glorious. [Häv.; “and there is a want of beauty in them.” (The word is found only here.)—According to the Jewish expositors, נֹהּ for נֹהֶה, from נָהָה, loud lament. Hengst.: “that wailing will be forgotten in deep despair.” (Cocc. making it refer to the falling sceptre of David, they will be obliged to conceal their wailing on that account before the tyrant who conquers them!) Ew.: “Nothing will remain of the wicked, neither of their proud, haughtily blustering, luxurious conduct, in prosperity as hitherto, nor of their sighing or even their discontented grumbling and murmuring in adversity.” Similarly Calvin, of the root and branch destruction of them, their multitude, their possessions.] Accordingly ולא ולא לא are understood as short sentences descriptive of the result of the stroke of Eze_7:10 (Keil), the effect of the repetition being heightened by the omission of the verb, as if they were exclamations. As for the rest, Hitz. remarks excellently: “unannounced ὡς κλἐπτης the day will come, unexpectedly, and so much greater the shock of surprise.”
After a second emphasizing in Eze_7:12 of the leading thought of the proclamation—comp. Eze_7:7—הגיע ,בא, proph. preterites—the buyer and the seller are given as an exemplification from the dealings of ordinary life. The former is not to rejoice in the possession which he covets; he does not come into the enjoyment of it. The latter is not to mourn over the loss of a property he would fain retain, but which has been alienated from necessity; much else is at stake: for חרון, elsewhere חרון אף, comes upon כל־הְַמוֹנהּ (the suffix agreeing with לאדמח ישראל, or referring to Jerusalem), the whole of the people is consumed. Comp. Psa_39:6. Hengst.: the multitude which makes so much ado about nothing.—The general reason is followed in Eze_7:13 by a more special one (as Hengst.), or by what is merely a specializing of כי—ּחרון־ might also stand in the sense of: but certainly, i. e. the seller is not to mourn, but certainly he shall not return to his property that is sold; hence the possible return thereto must not be a motive for him not to mourn. That is to say, the seller would have,—and therefore is this specialty introduced, in order, at the same time, to mark the national ruin,—according to Leviticus 25, the prospect of the year of jubilee, the carrying out of which is thus attested here (Häv.), or at least presupposed in its idea, and therewith the return to what he had sold remained open. (Philipps. thinks of the right of the seller at any time to buy back again what was sold, either himself or through the nearest kinsman, for the selling price, Ruth 4; Jeremiah 32.) But although in other circumstances the man who has no possession, the vexed poor man, has a better chance of being left behind than the man who has a possession, the joyous rich man, in the case impending it will in general be otherwise, i.e. quite alike for the one and for the other. Individuals, indeed, will remain alive. ועוד־, a conditional circumstantial clause (Häv., Keil), so that the case is supposed, that their (viz. the sellers’) life is among the living, that they come out of it with their life. The seller, consequently, is used collectively for the individuals who as such come to be considered. The judgment applies to the persons—this is the leading thought—and not, as the expositors assert, to their possession. Hence כי־־אל־כל־המונה is repeated from Eze_7:12, but instead of חרון we have by paronomasia חזון, the glowing heat seen in the prophetic vision (Ezekiel 1.). חזון might perhaps confirm the interpretation of הצפירה in Eze_7:7 as what is fixed, determined. In like manner לא ישוב is resumed from the beginning of our verse, and that in the same sense, so that it is certainly not to be translated: “for the prophecy against the whole multitude shall not return” (Jer.), a thought which is too little in keeping with the exceptional earnestness of the context. Rather is the statement meant to be something additional as to the persons, appended to the special exemplification of the seller. Hence ואיש equivalent to: since every one has “his life in his iniquity,” and it is therefore very questionable whether (as was parenthetically supposed above) “their life” might be “still among the living.”—לא יתחזקו: they shall not show themselves strong, manifest strength, courage; the iniquity cripples their power of life, with which what follows agrees admirably. [Other expositions: Ewald: “But certainly they may become unfortunate or the reverse for a time: he who was compelled to sell his property may not even obtain it in the year of jubilee, or, on the other hand, the divine punishment may no longer light upon the rich brawlers, yet the former remain in their lust after a life of sense in the world, without coming to repentance through adversity (Psa_17:14), and the latter do not suffer themselves to be drawn out of their sins by prosperity; all are irresolute, cowardly people,” etc. Häv. explains the last clause also of the year of jubilee still, whose object is “to be strengthened in life” (חיתו, an accus. to be connected with the passive יתחזקו), so that one springs up into new life: there has been a restoration—a new birth. No one is to obtain a new strength of his vital powers by means of his sin; rather do those fearful Sabbatical years make their appearance, Lev_26:34 sq. The second לא ישוב has also been understood by some in the sense that no one “turns,” although the prophecy summons all to repentance, which agrees just as little with the context. ואיש־ is interpreted on the part of some by an omission of the relative: “every one whose life is in his iniquity,” while others take the first suffix pleonastically, in this way: “they shall not any of them strengthen themselves by means of (on account of) the iniquity of his life,” so as to be able to stand against their enemies. The plural with the collective איש. Hengst.: “The seller will in no case return to the property which he has sold, so that he should be obliged to regard it with pain, for the whole land is stripped of its inhabitants; but it may also happen that he loses his life, and he has to account it good fortune if this does not take place, so that the thing sold cannot be a source of pain to him: and many a one (ואיש) will not retain his life because of his misdeed.”] The LXX. read עין instead of עון.
Eze_7:14. The predicted feebleness is placed before our eyes in a picture all but ironical.—בַתָּקוֹעַ has nothing to do with Jer_6:1 (where Tekoa is a proper name). But an infin. absol., with preposition and article, is grammatically too bold. Neither are we to translate, as Hengst. does: “they blew with a loud blast,” but (as also the Sept.) as designating the instrument wherewith the blast is made. The infin. absol.הָכּין (הָכֵין)—comp. Nah_2:4 [3] (a military term)—shortly for the finite verb (Ew. Gram. § 351, c).—למלחמה, Hitzig acutely: to the battle, not: into the battle.—Comp. besides, Eze_7:17; Eze_7:12; Lev_26:17.
Eze_7:15. Comp. Eze_5:12; Eze_6:12; Lam_1:20. Comp. also Mar_13:15-16. Instead of acting offensively, not even on the defensive; without resistance they fall victims, partly to the sword of the enemy, which, according to Eze_5:7, is the sword of God, partly to the pestilence combined with the famine.
Eze_7:16. The fate of those of them who in any way escape is localized upon the mountains (אל for על, Eze_6:13),—having fled thither (Psa_11:1; Mar_13:14; Luk_21:21-22), they shall be there like, etc., their condition being compared to that of doves of the valleys, i.e. doves which, having lost their nests, are not like wild doves at home upon the mountains, and which, when frightened by birds of prey, make known their sorrow, their painful feeling.—כלם המות, rightly Keil: figure and reality mixed up together; in form belonging to the comparison, in reality to the things compared. The stronger expression המה, not without reference to המונה in Eze_7:13-14, and their tumult going before.—For איש בעונו, comp. Eze_7:13. As is their life, if they still save it, so is their expression of that life, and, in fact (by the individualization of the all, כלם), each one gives utterance to his sorrow in his iniquity, as a sorrow that is deserved, therefore as a penal sorrow. [The LXX. read perhaps המתי. But the text is not to be changed in accordance therewith, for certainly in what follows the farther description of these fugitives is given.] Hence Eze_7:17 is not to be understood of the whole people (Keil, Hengst.); it is rather the interpretation of the melancholy cooing in Eze_7:16. A picture of the repentance which is wrung from them. The hands refuse to perform their office, nay, even the knees refuse to stand and keep firm. The expression for the latter (Eze_21:7) is intended to portray the complete desolation of their strength; comp. Jos_7:5 (Isa_13:7; Exo_15:15). The LXX. too literally. (For חלכנה, comp. Joel 4:18.)
Eze_7:18. Along with such (negative) feebleness we have (as positive elements): mourning and horror, shame and grief. As the expression of the first, the cloth of coarse hair, which they girt about themselves with a cord (Isa_3:24). For the second, the strong expression כםתה פלצות (Psa_55:5): if mourning is their girdle, then horror is their covering. But as shame is upon (אל for על) all faces, so baldness is on the back part of the head of all, as the result of grief, or it must be supposed the custom in mourning (Job_1:20), or that they have plucked out their hair in their pain (Ezr_9:3). Comp. besides, Jer_48:37; Amo_8:10; and Deu_14:1.
Eze_7:19 speaks in the outset of the fugitives still, who cast from them everything that is burdensome. But what one casts away, that he also in a certain measure repudiates; hence נדה, “detestable thing,” “abomination.” The renewed mention together of the two principal means employed in sinning (silver and gold), in the next place, generalizes the circle of the persons involved, so as to embrace the people generally. Of idols of silver and gold (Isa_2:20), however, there is no need as yet to think. It is rather treasures of that sort that are spoken of, which hinder one during a flight, which only provoke the booty-loving enemy still more, nay, which, now that the saving of life is aimed at, appear like rubbish. For that life might be purchased therewith is no longer the case, since the day of the overflowing (עבר) wrath of the Eternal (Luk_21:22) is come (comp. Isa_13:17; Zep_1:18; 1Pe_1:18). They have, neither enjoyment (satisfaction) from it, nor even the filling of the bowels by means of it. Silver and gold are, alike for the taste and for necessaries (in a practical point of view, æsthetically and physically considered), without significance in this day of judgment; the element which comes in that case into consideration is the stumbling-block which they made of it, so that they fell into iniquity over it. In Eze_3:20 we have a stumbling-block which is given. Their riches and their trust in them made them satisfied, so that they needed nothing. As a punishment, these riches do not now satisfy them, do not even fill their belly; nothing can be bought with them so that they may live.
The giving of a reason for the punishment drawn from the guilt leads to a farther description of this guilt in Eze_7:20. The וְ is explanatory. Because the riches wherewith Israel was decked out, and might adorn herself like a bride, of course ἐν κυρίω, were, on the contrary, misused for self-exaltation and pride. Comp. Isaiah 2.—שָׂמָהוּ; the subject is the people, or: every one, or: one;—the suffix refers to the ornament of his decoration (Häv., Keil: elegant ornaments), by which others understand, not the gold and silver, but the temple. Hitz. reads שָׂמֻהוּ. From the self-exaltation resulted the will-worship, the diversified self-choice in divine worship.—שקוציהם, as frequently from Deu_29:17 onwards; omitted by the LXX.—בו, not: in the temple, but: of the silver and gold. Comp. Exodus 32; Hos_2:10 [8], Eze_8:4, Eze_13:2.—על־כן נתתיו; the idea of retribution here explains the לְנִדָּה in Eze_7:19.—But as God gives it to them as a thing to be cast away and rejected, so He gives it to their enemies in Eze_7:21, who are described as in Eze_7:24 (Psa_75:8), for a prey. The victory of the wicked is God’s penal victory.—הארץ is not Babylon, but we should rather say the wicked of the earth are the Babylonians. In defence of the Kethibh וְחִלְּלוּהָ, with fem, suffix (comp. Eze_7:12), where hitherto masculine, Ewald remarks: “a gradual transition from the masc. צבי to the holy city, which, strictly speaking, is meant, and even distinctly named in Eze_7:23.” The Qeri is וְהִלְּלוּהוּ, which Hitzig defends. According to Häv. (LXX., Vulg.), to be referred to the “elegant ornament;” according to others, to the objects of worship of gold and silver.
Eze_7:22. מהם from those at Jerusalem, so that the enemy can get the mastery over it. Others: I will not look what the enemy shall do, but let them act.—From the “profanation” of what is holy an explanation is got of the preceding characteristic title of the “strangers” as the “wicked of the earth.” צָפוּן is “something hidden,” something concealed; according to Häv., of the place: the sanctuary, the holy of holies, where Jehovah dwells in sacred darkness; according to others: the holy land in general; according to Hengst, of the matter in hand: the church-treasure, which is secularized. [The LXX. read perhaps פְּקֻדָּתִי. Ewald: the treasure of My guardianship, i.e. of My country or My people.] The suffixes of בּֽהּ and הִלְּלוּהָ belong to the city, Jerusalem, which always stands in the background. Others prefer a neuter construction; Keil: come “over it.” For violent ones, comp. Mat_11:12 (which passage is to be understood in accordance with this).
Eze_7:23. In form directed to the prophet, like the whole discourse; in substance equivalent to: pronounce the captivity to be ready. “As it were indignant at the profanation, Jehovah commands to put an end to the doings of the enemy by the deportation of those who were left behind” (Häv.). By means of the article, the putting in chains is declared to be no longer a thing to be doubted, but certain, quite fixed, just as things generally known have the article. Others collectively. “In reality the king was carried away in chains and cast into prison” (Buns.).—The plural דמים always means blood poured out; hence משפט דמים, a trial which is held with respect to such a case, a sentence which is pronounced upon it, a punishment which is decreed for it, all of which are unsuitable for the parallel חמס. Just as unsuitable here is: the right of blood-shedding. We are therefore to understand it of the case in law, the crime, the blood-guiltiness. Comp. Deu_19:6 (Gen_6:11). Häv. understands it of the judgment on blood-shedding (“hence: inexorable, relentless”), while he refers חמס to the violent enemies. Of course “blood-guiltiness” gives a reason for (כי) something more than putting in chains, viz. death; but perhaps captivity is thereby meant to be indicated as the least thing that can happen to them after guilt such as theirs.
Eze_7:24. “Wicked heathen”—(Eze_7:21) so that they fall, besides, into bad hands of men (2Sa_24:14). Comp. Ew. Gram. § 313, c; Hab_1:6 sqq.—גאון, either as in Eze_7:20 : pride (Häv.: everything of which the mighty are wont to boast), or: ornament, decoration, glory, of the temple (Eze_24:21).—They may be called strong, as well because of their real strength, when they preserved their fidelity to the Strong One who dwelt in their midst, as in accordance with their imagined strength (Lev_26:19). Ew. reads גאון עֻוָּם, “their proud splendour.”—נחלו cannot be the Piel of נחל, which would mean “to divide for a possession,” but is the Niphal of חלל.—מקדשׁיהם, according to Ew. (Gramm. § 215, a) from מִקְּדָּשׁ, with vowel pushed back. Rosenm. reads: מִקְדְּשֵׁיהֶם; Häv. מִקְדָּשֵׁיהֶם. Hengst.: “those who sanctify them,” hence partic. Piel without Dagesch forte of קרש, understanding the priests now no longer able to discharge their functions, whereby the means of reconciliation are withdrawn from Israel (Leviticus 16; Isa_43:26-27). [Others: of unworthy Levitical service, inasmuch as the Holy One of Israel is also his only true Sanctifier, Eze_37:28.] “Ezekiel points to the cloud only, Jeremiah in Ezekiel 33 opens the view to the sun hidden behind it.” By their sanctuaries are understood sometimes the buildings of the temple, but, as being no longer God’s, sometimes the self-chosen ones of the Jews.
Eze_7:25. קפדה only here (see Gesen. Lex.). According to Meier, not: destruction, but in accordance with the root-meaning (“to draw together”), as in the Syr., of the drawing together of the skin and hair from fright (horror). Exactly so Ew., Hengst.: contraction, in contrast with the expansion which is connected with all joyful prosperity, and which is founded in the nature of the people of God, Gen_28:14; Isa_54:3. [Häv.: the conclusion, the close (קץ. Eze_7:2; Eze_7:6).] For the gender and masc. verb comp. Ew. Gramm. § 173, h, 174, g. [Ros.: ה paragog.] בא, a proph. perf. (Keil).—“Peace” is too narrow for שלום, as also attempts at peace with money-offerings with Nebuchadnezzar, of which some think. The attempts at salvation which they make in vain are specified in what follows.
Eze_7:26. While the disasters are accumulating, and the rumours are multiplying (Mat_24:6), they seek, first of all, from the prophet (the generic idea). Comp. Jer_37:17; Jer_38:14. [Hengst. understands it of the false prophets, and compares for the priests Zep_3:4; Jer_2:8; Eze_22:26.] What they seek, viz. a vision, is mentioned, but it is not said that they find it. That they do not becomes clear alike from Eze_7:25, and from the circumstance that instruction perishes from the priest, and counsel from the elders. Comp. Jer_18:18 (Luk_21:25). To the threefold class in Eze_7:26 we have a corresponding parallel in Eze_7:27, the king—the prince of the tribe—the people in the land; and to the want of counsel corresponds the failure in action. It is a national ruin. (As to יתאבָּל, see Gesen. Gramm. § 53, Obs.) לבש, a well-known figurative mode of expression for being covered with and wrapt up in terror, just as in the case of the king it is a deep silent mourning that is meant (אבל). For וידי׳ comp,. Eze_7:17 (παρειμένας χεῖρας, Heb_12:12). Like their conduct will God’s dealing with them be, drawn from it, regulated in accordance with it. As to אותם, see Ew. Gramm. § 264, b. ובמשפטיהם, Hengst.: “with judgments which correspond to their deeds,” and so Ew. also and others. Better: according to what is right in reference to them. Instead of בְ there is also the reading בְ (Eze_7:3). With the well-known (Eze_6:14; Eze_5:15) refrain וידעו׳, the two discourses of rebuke in Ezekiel 6, 7 come to a close.
DOCTRINAL REFLECTIONS
1. We have before us in this chapter an Old Testament pattern for the awe-inspiring Dies irœ, dies illa, the so-called “gigantic hymn” (comp. Zep_1:14 sqq.). What Fr. 5 Meyer says of the latter may be uttered also of this chapter of our prophet: “With the man who is so insensible that he can read it without alarm and hear it without dread, I should not like to dwell under the same roof.”
2. The contents are the same, ever the same. The drops fall without intermission on the stone, the heart of Israel. Unbelief has just the characteristic either that it believes in no punishment at all (2Pe_3:3 sq.), or that its frivolous mind knows beforehand that what will come will certainly not be so severe nor last so long. And therefore God does not grudge to tell us over and over again our inevitable destiny, and also to push it ever nearer to us. The enduring meaning as well as application of our chapter may be expressed in this way, that the end of those things in which they place their trust, and in which they find their satisfaction, is to be held up before the false security of the men of this world on every side. Respice finem.
3. “Sin has an active and a passive history. When the latter begins, then what was formerly an object of pleasure becomes an object of dread” (Hengst.). “On the day of judgment the abominations stand in Israel’s midst not in their alluring, seductive form, but with all the woe which comes in their train” (Häv.).
4. “God does indeed punish the sinner from moment to moment in his conscience, but, so far as outward experience is concerned, He causes him to learn the error of his way at first only in omens of the most gently threatening character, so to speak, by means of passing, dimly visible angels of warning. In this way He gives him great scope for freely bethinking himself and for returning of his own free-will, or else for completing of his own free-will his experience of the ruin which lies on his path of bondage. But in this way the divine long-suffering is revealed, which gives the sinner time for repentance. The picture of this long-suffering of God is furnished by the three years of Christ’s ministry. Then at the end of its lingering the long-suffering steps into the background behind the divine wrath” (Lange).
5. The love of God and its ultimate aim in redemption is resisted in particular by the folly of the sinner, which pursues as its object deliverance from misery, and that the misery which at any time happens to be present, and in self-righteousness sets itself against deliverance from sin, sometimes by disputing the causal nexus of sin and misery as punishment, sometimes by the denial of sin altogether. The redeeming love of God, therefore, cannot make itself known, in opposition to man’s vain imagination, in any way more practical and concrete than, first of all, by means of the zeal of divine wrath. In view of the aim, viz. redemption, and as being divine, this zeal of wrath is not merely a thing of the O. T., but not less expressly belongs to the N. T. It is redemptive inasmuch as, through retributive visitation by means of punishment, not only does God, who has vanished from the consciousness of the self-righteous man—self-righteous although both a sinner and a debtor—reveal Himself, but man also by this means is to become free from the hurtful delusion of “envious gods,” of a “blind fate,” of an arbitrary “necessity of nature.” Judgments like that on Judah and Jerusalem are therefore, besides being divine, of a redemptive character. There is an effort after salvation in such crises, and at all events in the biblical wrath of God there is more of the wisdom of love than in the common assertion that a God who is angry is a God who does not love.
6. The tragic truth of the history of the world, and especially of the history of the kingdom of God, celebrates in those epoch-making catastrophes, which are the emblems of the last judgment, the truth of the idea of God’s zeal in wrath, of this fatal curse of sin.
7. Where God is seen angry in Holy Scripture, there we have no mere personification of divine righteousness, but the personality of the Holy and Just One revealing itself; there there can be no reference to human passion; there, in fact, we have divine compassion. The form of sinfulness is just as little an essential and necessary element in wrath as in love.
8. However anthropomorphic the Stamp it may wear, God’s wrath is no less truly a part of His nature, by means of which the absolute antagonism of His spirit and will to sin is expressed from the innermost energy of His holiness. It is not the ebullition of an impure love for unrighteousness, as is the case with the wrath of man, but it is the necessary (unless God chooses to deny Himself) reaction and opposition of His holy love for righteousness. In the operations of divine wrath, therefore, the holy will of God is revealed in its character of righteousness by means of righteous judgment, which recompenses the sinner according to his own works.
9. The continuance of a nation depends not only on the usual material conditions, but on ideal powers of life, which, when despised, show themselves to be powers of death.
HOMILETIC HINTS
Eze_7:2 sqq. God’s grace has indeed no end, is an everlasting grace, but its manifestation and our consciousness of it may come to an end, which at the same time announces a perfecting in what is evil.—“What had begun in the ten tribes was completed in the tribe of Judah” (B. B.).—“What is long hidden is not remitted. The longer God delays with punishment, the heavier it is” (W.).—“The end as respects God’s long-suffering; then, in respect of the land, with which it had not yet come to the end; lastly, the completion of the punishments” (Cocc.).—The end: a universal end (not only of Israel, but as of Israel, so of every man and of the whole world); a fearful end (if under the wrath of God according to our abominations); an inevitable end (however safe we seem, however thoughtlessly we think and speak).—“God has his Now (Luk_19:42), which is, of course, hid from our eyes and ruinous, if we have not regarded the Now of our merciful visitation” (Stck.).—“So also in respect of antichristianity, which has spread among the people of the New Testament, its end is fixed, when God will lay upon it all its abominations, and will pour out His vials of wrath” (B. B.).—He that is secure says: Soul, take thine ease; but God says: This night thy soul shall be required of thee (Luk_12:19-20).—What an awakening call for every sinner! The end comes, alike of pleasure and of life.—“If the sinner will not awake, then the punishment must awake” (B. B.).
Eze_7:9. “It was not strokes of fate or the like they were to perceive therein, but God’s hand and smiting” (Cocc.).—Every one must know the Lord in the end, if not as one that calls, allures, blesses, then as one that smites, is angry, punishes.—“Let the sinner know that he binds for himself the rod which will smite him” (a L.).
Eze_7:11. “Tyrants are God’s scourges” (O.).
Eze_7:12 sq. “As for the pious an hour of help is promised, so for the transgressor an hour of destruction strikes” (Stck.).—God’s judgments sometimes remove the distinction arising from prosperity and possession, and make men alike.
Eze_7:14. “What avails the trumpet, and of what use all weapons and every preparation, if the Lord departs from a people, from a city, from an army?”—“Courage is also God’s gift, as we see in the case of Gideon, Samson, David, and others.”—“Where God’s terrors are at work, there neither counsel, nor call, nor deed gives help” (Stck.).—“In vain do men blow the trumpet, if that of the Supreme Judge makes itself heard” (Umbr.).
Eze_7:15. War, pestilence, famine, these three remain down even to the end, and are bound up with one another.—“The sinner would fain flee or hide himself” (Stck.).—“God can find thee everywhere” (B. B.).
Eze_7:16. “Reflect that thou also must one day leave everything, and see to it that thou keep a good conscience” (Stck.).—“So, many kinds of sighs are heard in the world. But the best are the unutterable ones, wherewith God’s Spirit Himself makes intercession for believers, Rom_8:26” (B. B.).—“Late repentance is seldom true repentance” (Stck.).
Eze_7:17. “The hands and knees of believers also do indeed sometimes become weary, but they know where to strengthen them” (St.).
Eze_7:18. If the inward return is wanting, God knows well how to enforce the outward; and that even as far as to bring about the public confession of the fault, as may be seen, surely, in the case of Judas.
Eze_7:19. How can one have such eager desire after what he will at another time cast from him in such cold blood?—“God is the only true and abiding treasure which is to be sought” (Stck.).—“Oh, if one were only betimes to cast it out of his heart, that it might not make him unjust, covetous, and ungodly!” (B. B.).—“Would that this were written on the doors, yea, in the hearts of all the avaricious, and the rich, and those eagerly desirous of riches, that gold and silver will not be able to save in the day of wrath, and in the hour of death, and at the day of judgment! What has been sought after with so great pains, scraped together with much injustice, guarded with the greatest care, that leaves its possessor comfortless and helpless when he most needs help, and leaves him lying on his sick-bed in his pains, and can rescue him neither from the enemy, nor from the sick-bed, nor from death, much less make him blessed” (B. B.).
Eze_7:19-20. The danger of riches: in the false estimate of them, in the abuse of them.—The final judgment on riches: how it will take place (by means of the rich themselves, and before God and men); by what means it is incurred (through pride and idolatry).—“How many would have been happy in this world, and blessed in the world to come, if they had not been rich!”
Eze_7:20. What adorns is also easily soiled.—What ought to humble man for the most part makes him so much the more proud.—Self-seeking the source of all abuse of earthly blessings, as well as of the neglect and contempt of heavenly blessings.—“This is ingratitude, to misuse such gifts of God for pride, for extravagance, for mere finery, and for idolatry” (H. H.).
Eze_7:21. “Our worldly possessions are not ours, but God’s, who can do with them how and what He will.”—“God employs for the carrying out of His judgments heretics and ungodly men, in order that those whom He punishes by this means may be the more pained that they had falsely boasted of the true religion” (St.).
Eze_7:22. The face of God the consecration of our life: our free upward look to it, its gracious look on us.—These are the critical turnings in the life of the individual and of whole nations, the turnings of the divine face.—The profanation by the enemy is, alas! always preceded by the profanation on the part of the friends.—God protects Himself against His friends by means of His enemies.—What a sign the profanation of Jerusalem and of the temple for all high-churchism, still so splendid and ostentatious!
Eze_7:23. God makes various chains; even that of Paul had been made by Him.—“First transgression is linked to transgression; then comes the chain of the wrath of God; at last come the chains of darkness” (Stck.).
Eze_7:24. Pride comes before a fall, and after the fall come the sufferings.—Woe be to us when our sanctuaries are nothing but our sanctuaries!
Eze_7:25. “Men often delay so long till death comes, before they trouble themselves about their spiritual peace. Oh, how easily it may come about, that they are snatched away by death before they obtain that peace!” (St.).—The danger of the death-bed.—In order that we may be able to seek it early, God’s salvation is there for us even before our birth.
Eze_7:26-27. “On God depends the weal and woe of states” (Stck.).—“Famine as regards the word of God is at such a time the heaviest punishment of all” (Cr.).—“That is the most terrible judgment, when God does not permit the light of His word any longer to shine, and allows us to sink into the darkness of ignorance, because it is a strong comfort, even in the greatest suffering, when the Lord sheds light upon us with His word” (H. H.).—“Therefore David prays: See if I be on any wicked way, Psalms 139.” (Stck.).—In the end, out of all the ways of men, and in accordance with their own desert, God’s truth and righteousness come to light.—“This is life eternal, to know God and Jesus Christ, Joh_17:3” (Stck.).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 thine abominations--the punishment of thine abominations.
thine abominations--the punishment of thine abominations.
shall be in the midst of thee--shall be manifest to all. They and thou shall recognize the fact of thine abominations by thy punishment which shall everywhere befall thee, and that manifestly.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27 2, 3. The time for repentance is quickly passing…
2, 3. The time for repentance is quickly passing or is already past. The end is at hand. Jehovah’s righteous anger will be followed quickly with judgment, and the sins of the people will be their rod of punishment; “I will put upon thee all thine abominations.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 1–4. The end is come upon the whole land,…
1–4. The end is come upon the whole land, unsparing destruction from the Lord
This destruction is the fruit of the abominations of the people, their idolatries and crimes (Eze_7:23). They shall know when it overtakes them that he who inflicts it is Jehovah, God alone.
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 On vv2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 (2) The four corners.—A frequent Scriptural phrase for every…
(2) The four corners.—A frequent Scriptural phrase for every part. (Comp. Isa_11:12; Rev_7:1.) The origin of the expression is to be sought, not in any supposed popular belief that the earth was square, but in the fact that so many common things had just four sides or four corners (see Exo_25:12; Exo_27:2; Job_1:19; Act_10:11, &c), that the phrase came naturally to be a common expression of universality. “An end, the end,” is a repetition for the sake of emphasis. It occurs again in Eze_7:6, and, in varied words, also in Eze_7:10; Eze_7:12; Eze_7:26.
Eze_7:3-4 are repeated almost exactly in Eze_7:8-9. The frequent repetitions of this chapter are designed, and give great force to the denunciation of woe. “Thine abominations are in the midst of thee,” in the sense of calling down punishment upon them, as appears from the parallel in Eze_7:9.
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 On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 The absence of any fresh date, and the fact…
The absence of any fresh date, and the fact that it is simply tacked on to the previous chapter by the copulative conjunction, shows that what follows belongs to the same group. The use of the phrase, the word of the Lord came unto me, shows, however, that there was an interval of silence, perhaps of meditation, followed by a fresh influx of inspiration; and, so far as we may judge from the more lyrical character of the chapter, a more intense emotion.
HOMILIES BY J.D. DAVIES Vers. 1-15. The hand of the dock on the hour of doom.
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The bulk of men persist in thinking of God as if he were such a One as themselves. Rejecting the revelation of God"s nature contained in Scripture, they conceive of him as a man greatly magnified the infirmities of man magnified, as well as his virtues. They know the proneness of man to threaten and not to perform; hence they conclude that the judgments of God, because delayed, will evaporate in empty words. God will not be hastened. Proportionate to his immeasurable power is his immeasurable patience. Nevertheless, equitable justice will be meted out. The wrath accumulates as in a thundercloud, until it is overburdened, and the storm all the more violently breaks forth. Never yet in the history of men has God failed to vindicate his righteousness. Never yet has the transgressor escaped, and never will he. As surely as the sun shines, vengeance wilt come.
I RETRIBUTION, THOUGH APPARENTLY TARDY, HAS ITS OWN SET TIME. For the most part it is not according to human expectation.
seeth not as man seeth." A thousand things enter into God"s calculation which do not enter into man"s reckoning. The clock of heaven does not measure days and years; it measures events and necessities. The well being of other races has to be pondered beside the race of men. Very often the doom of the ungodly is a fixed and irreversible fact long before that doom is felt and endured. From that moment gracious help is withdrawn, and the doomed man becomes the victim of his folly. To God"s eye, the end is seen long before it is seen by man. While he is yet promising himself much delight, lo! by an invisible thread the sword is suspended over his head.
II RETRIBUTION IS NOT A HAPHAZARD ACCIDENT. It is the outcome of infallible wisdom and righteous deliberation. The Supreme Ruler of heaven says, "I send." As nothing is too great for his management, so nothing is too minute to engage his notice. He who nourishes myriads of myriads of blades of grass, and clothes the hills with majestic forests, counts every hair of our heads. Too often men are so stunned with the blow of retribution that they count themselves only the victims of a great catastrophe, and look on every side for sympathy. But when conscience awakes, and connects the calamity with previous sin, then at length too late to avert the crushing evil they confess that it is "the Lord that smiteth." "God is not mocked." The seed we sow today will bear its proper fruit tomorrow.
III RETRIBUTION FROM GOD IS MOST EQUITABLE. There are no scales so delicately true as those in the bands of God. The judgment is precisely" according to thy ways." It is exact "recompense for all thine abominations." Often men are so blinded by the deceitfulness of sin that they do not perceive this. But when the transient pleasure of sin has ceased, men awake to the fact that the retribution is well deserved. This will be the keenest sting of the suffering that it is a just desert. If men could only persuade themselves that they were unjustly treated, it would be an alleviation of the woe it would be a sweet consolation in their misery. But such alleviation is denied them. Their own consciences will confirm the sentence, and out of the dark abyss the cry will rise, "Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
IV RETRIBUTION, IS CLEARLY FORESEEN BY THE RIGHTEOUS. The unbeliever has no eye with which to see the kingdom of God. The organ of vision he has first blinded, then destroyed. So, too, he is blind to the significance of passing events. He does not perceive the moral aspect of things does not see that God"s hand is behind the smoke and din of war. But the man of God has learnt to see God in everything. In all the sunshine of life he sees God, whose presence gives a brighter lustre to all earthly joy. And in all the adversities of life he learns to see the rod and the hand that wields it. Standing by the side of God, and in full sympathy with him, Ezekiel saw clearly every minute detail of the retribution that was preparing, and, until the latest moment, implored them to escape. But he foresaw also that they would delude themselves to the very last would buoy themselves with false hopes.
V RETRIBUTION, WHEN IT COMES, IS MOST COMPLETE. On every side there is bitter disappointment. The earthly props on which men were wont to rely, fail them. All the bonds of society relax and dissolve. To resist invasion the summoning trumpet is blown; but, alas! none respond. Anarchy is everywhere. The day itself becomes night, and every fount of joy is poisoned. Amid previous corrections and afflictions there were many forms of gracious compensation silver linings on the black cloud. But no relief comes now. There is defeat and disaster on every side. Weeping endures through a long night, without any prospect of joy in the morning. It is darkness without a beam of light, despair without a vestige of hope. Not even shall there be the sweet relief of tears; for the hearts of men have been rendered insensible by the cursed power of sin. They are at length "past feeling incapable of repentance. "Neither shall there be any wailing for them." it is abasement the most profound. The first has become the last.
VI THIS RETRIBUTION IS THE NATURAL FRUITAGE OF SIN. Our wise and gracious God has constructed his universe on this principle, that every form of rebellion shall bear in itself the seed of penalty. The pivot on which everything turns is righteousness. There is no occasion for God to issue any code of penalties commensurate with acts of transgression. Sin and punishment are one and the selfsame thing. Retribution is simply full-grown sin. It is often sweet in the bud, but the ripened fruit is bitterness absolute. As gunpowder is, in its nature, explosive, so that it is madness to set alight to it and expect it not to explode; so sin is, in its very nature, destructive, and can lead to nothing else than destruction. Love cements and unites; transgression dissolves and separates. And separation from God is ruin. Where God is, there is life; where God is not, there is death. Where God is, there is heaven; where God is not, there is blackest hell. D.
HOMILIES BY W. JONES Vers. 1-4. The punishment of the wicked.
the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come," etc. "This chapter," says Dr. Currey, "is a dirge rather than a prophecy. The prophet laments over the near approach of the day wherein the final blow shall be struck, and the city be made the prey of the Chaldean invader. Supposing the date of the prophecy to be the same as that of the preceding, there were now but four, or perhaps Three, years to the final overthrow of the kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar" ("Speaker"s Commentary"). Our text leads us to observe
I THAT THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED, THOUGH LONG DELAYED, IS CERTAIN, UNLESS IT BE AVERTED BY THEIR REPENTANCE. "Thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. Now is the end come upon thee." The land is looked upon as a garment, and by the end coming upon the four corners thereof the prophet indicates the fact that the approaching judgment will cover the entire country. The punishment of their sins had been repeatedly and solemnly announced to the Israelites; and they had disregarded the announcement, and persisted in their sinful ways; and now "the end" was at hand. They would not consider that end while there was hope for them; and now the execution of the Divine judgment cast its dark shadow across their path (cf. Lam_1:9) The delay in the infliction of the punishment of sin is sometimes construed as an assurance that it will never be inflicted. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Perilous and, if persisted in, fatal mistake! If in the time during which punishment is held back the wicked do not truly repent, that punishment will be all the more terrible when it comes (cf. Rom_2:4-11) The holiness of God arrays him in resolute antagonism against sin.
II THAT THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED PROCEEDS FROM THE LORD GOD. "I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways," etc. The Chaldeans were as a weapon in the hand of the Almighty for inflicting deserved punishment upon Israel. (We have noticed this point in our homily on Eze_5:5-17) When the stroke had fallen it was looked upon as having come from the hand of the Most High. (cf. Lam_1:14, 15 2:1-9, 17) All persons and all powers are at God"s disposal, and can be employed by him for the execution of his judgments. Very impressively is this illustrated in the plagues and calamities with which he visited Egypt by the hand of Moses.
III THAT THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED BEARS EXACT RELATIONS TO THEIR SINS.
1. Their sins are the cause of their punishment. "I will judge thee according to thy ways." They had brought upon themselves the severe impending judgments. They could not truthfully charge the Lord with injustice or harshness in thus visiting them, for their punishment was the just consequence of their sins. "Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?" With frequent reiteration Ezekiel declares that their sins have evoked their sufferings. With pathetic sorrow Jeremiah acknowledges the same truth. (Lam_1:8, Lam_1:9, 18 3:42 4:13, 14) And it is ever true that the sins of men are the reasons of the judgments of God.
2. Their sins are the measure of their punishment. "I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations." Their sins were persistent, and were aggravated by many advantages and privileges conferred upon them; therefore their punishment was terrible in its severity. In the distribution of the Divine judgments a strict proportion is observed between the guilt and the penalty of sin. God inflicts his judgments equitably (cf. Luk_12:47, Luk_12:48)
3. Their sins determine the character of their punishment. "I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee," i.e. in their dire consequences.
According to the order which God has established, the punishment grows out of the sin. Punishment is "ripened sin." "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," etc. Sin, says Hengstenberg, "has an active and a passive history. When the latter begins, that which was before the object of gratification becomes the object of terror." "Let the sinner know that he binds for himself the rod which will smite him." "His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
IV THAT THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED WILL BE INFLEXIBLY EXECUTED. "And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity." The holy Scriptures magnify the mercy of God its infinity, its perpetuity, its tenderness, and his delight in it. And sometimes the wicked have drawn from these representations the unwarrantable conclusion that he is so merciful as to be devoid of justice, so gentle as to be incapable of anger. But "our God is a consuming Fire." He will be as firm in the punishment of the persistently wicked as he is gracious in pardoning the penitent.. He who mercifully spared repentant Nineveh ruthlessly destroyed incorrigible Sodom and Gomorrah.
V THAT THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED WITNESSES TO THE DIVINE EXISTENCE AND SUPREMACY. "And ye shall know that I am the Lord." (We have dealt with these words as they occur in ch. 6:7, 10.) "Every one must know the Lord in the end, if not as One that calls, allures, blesses, then as One that smites, is angry, punishes" (Schroder). Be it ours to know him as the God of all grace, and to obey and serve him with loyal hearts and devoted lives. W.J.
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 On vv10, 13, 23, 25, 26 The rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.
Eze_7:10
The rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.
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Sin in blossom
I. Beauty may be associated with evil. Well would it be for men to remember they may be thus connected in fact as well as figure. For there may be beauty of countenance and form that covers and quickens the corrupt, for in all Israel there were none to be so much praised as Absalom for beauty. And is not the genius of poetry often the brilliance of the fires of passion: and eloquence the engine of error, and art the bribe of superstition? Do not magnificent mansions and picturesque acres often stand chiefly as the symbols of the careful selfishness, the cold self-containedness of their owners? Yes, other evils than pride seem to have the blossoms that make the world exclaim beautiful, splendid, great! Such is the love of display, that there is many a man who for the spangles wears the funeral pall.
II. Success is no test of moral right or wrong. Pride blossoms, so does envy, so does selfishness, so sometimes does every bough on the upas tree of sin. Lowliness often seems sterile, so does love, so does prayer, so, indeed, often in the winter of our soul seems every branch on the tree of life. The Babylonians besieged Jerusalem, and had success. Judas betrayed Jesus, and had success. What then? We dare not test our life work and the work of others by the standard of success or failure.
III. The forces of retribution are ever at work. Just as the circulation of the sap through all the vessels of the tree, the influences of sunlight and air, and all the forces working out the mystery of growth are gradually and silently (though probably not silently, if our ears were keener) preparing for the hour of bud and blossom, all actions are ever setting at work retributive results. These results gradually, and sometimes silently, but ever surely, are tending to the crises that are days of judgment, and to the great crisis that is the day of judgment. (U. R. Thomas.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 5. LAMENTATION OVER THE DESOLATED LAND (Chap. 7)
5. LAMENTATION OVER THE DESOLATED LAND (Chap. 7)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—In this chapter we have not so much an additional prophecy as a re-statement of principles and denunciations which had been already formulated. It affords abundant illustration of the tendency of Ezekiel to repeat his messages, and to use even the same forms of expression. But some of the repetition here must be, moreover, accounted for by the highly excited emotions under whose influence he wrote. That these emotions should take poetical modes—abrupt utterances, rhythmical combinations, refrains, and demand again and again an avowal, these are matters which may receive many confirmations from ancient and modern, from biblical and secular literatures. Especially might a prophet, who was abiding under the shadow of God and was suffering in the sufferings of His people, give forth the signs of strong feeling in his words, and they with appropriateness present hints of the mighty power which constrained him—of the divine voice which sounded in the chambers of his heart. We shall miss one purport of the message if we do not find it apprising us of visions suggesting the nature of the living and revealing Lord.
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Eze_7:1-4. The imminence of the land’s doom.
Eze_7:2. “Thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel, An end.” It seems preferable to read, “Thus saith the Lord God. Unto the country of Israel an end.” By this reading it is more apparent that the prophet was not to address the country, but give a message respecting its impending downfall as a territory. This end was to be no minor end, but one in which many a past penalty culminated: “the end is come upon the four corners of the land.” Events in our own generation have shown that invading armies give birth to outrages on persons, waste of stores of food, outbreaks of pestilent diseases. The unearthed Assyrian sculptures may be taken as proofs that all such calamities were still more hideously evolved by the armies of Chaldea. Once and again that “bitter and hasty nation” had launched its hordes across the land of Israel. They would not spare age or sex; they would burn up crops and destroy grain which they could not carry away; they would leave behind them, where they did leave any, a depressed, impoverished population, amongst whom pestilence would find a wide field for its ravages. Every quarter of the region of Israel would have, as it were, come to its end when the Chaldean soldiers had made their last inroad, and there would be nothing more of a monarchy filled by the house of David.
Eze_7:3. “Now the end is upon thee;” it is just at hand, and the harvest for which that and preceding generations has been sowing will be immediately reaped. Iniquity was full, and no more space for confessions and promises of amendment would be given. The end would come through the operations of the Lord: “I will send”—“I will judge” … “I will recompense”—give, or lay, &c.; but His operations would be instigated by the “ways” and “abominations” of the people.
Eze_7:4. The three chief clauses have been stated before. The first agrees with chap. Eze_5:11; the second with Eze_7:3, except that the threatenings here intimate a closer connection between the painful consequences to the people and their doings; “I will lay upon thee thy ways,” is put for judging them according to their ways; and instead of laying on them all their abominations, as a burden external to them, “thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee,” affecting from within as well as from without. The third clause is another repetition of the purpose with which this terrible end as well as other moral punishments was carried out, “Ye shall know that I am the Lord.”
HOMILETICS
SOME ASPECTS OF GOD’S GOVERNMENT OVER MEN
Ezekiel, like the Hebrew prophets in general, saw the working of other than material forces among the inhabitants of the world, and that with a clearness which cannot be paralleled in any nation’s records. In this short paragraph the traces of such insight are perceived to be set in no ambiguous phraseology.
I. There is progressive spiritual development in human history. The whole Bible, when rightly considered, is a witness to this. Each part of it is laid as an organic accretion on that part which went before. Nor is this conclusion to be referred only to events: it is as certain in regard to principles and truths. Moral and religious ideas and practices contained in the doctrine of Christ are seen to be vaguely and inadequately appreciated before they are clearly and more fully perceived. And not a thing of His is stationary. It will, doubtless, take new forms in the mind of every believer as he passes through the normal stages of growth. He is first a babe using milk, and he has to go on unto the stature of a perfect man. As it is with individuals, so is it with a nation and with the race. They will learn the evil of sin and the obligation of holiness, not by a sudden catastrophe and revelation, but by slowly evolving processes of loss and pain, of yearning and hope. The development may seem very often retarded, “the divine event,” in which the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, may be far off, nevertheless the end shall come, for which other ends have been arrived at—the end at which all things shall be seen subjected to Him who is all in all.
II. There is a signal doom for progressive phases of wrongdoing. The Israelites had been again and again afflicted “very sore” because of their iniquities, but they had continued to possess something like a national life throughout those calamities. Their chastisement had produced no true amendment, however, and that judgment which should include in its operation the consequences of all their unrighteousness would entirely alter the aspects of the chosen people. They had been moving on to this catastrophe, and Ezekiel was enlightened to see its near approach. He understood the signs of his times; he interpreted their meaning, and pressed upon the understanding and consciences of the people the awful guilt in which they were involved, by the sins of their fathers as by their own sins. He declared that there would be no suspension now; the end of Israel as a society, organised according to forces which had been existing for generations, was reached. Whatever may be its influence in the world hereafter, it will be exerted under different conditions from that of its past. The lines over which its future will move must be projected into new scenery. In signifying this fact the prophet may be held to propose two principles—
1. All calamities are bound up in preceding events and tendencies. An effect is nothing but the sequence of causes. However different it appears from them, not one thing is in it which is not the product of that which has gone before. There was no weight pressing the Jewish people into the dust which they had not lifted upon themselves; there was no stripe inflicted but was drawn down by a disobedience. The punishment was only another form of the abomination indulged in, as the slag is but another form of ingredients in metals which have been exposed to fire. We are what we are, we suffer what we suffer, not by any chance, but by reason of what has already happened to us. There is judgment and mercy in this. We learn what our disposition and conduct lead to. We shall bear our own burden, whatever it be, because we have first put our shoulder under the yoke which makes that burden.
2. Calamities are specially painful in the last stage of critical changes. Israel had grossly belied its God, had practised debasing superstitions, had walked amid the festering swamps of what was lowest and vilest. There was no remedy unless it might come through a judgment which would fill them with terror and anguish. By sword, famine, pestilence, the land would be harried. Yet the terribleness of the inflicted evil was but the incoming of wicked ways and defiling abominations to roost.
“The wise gods seal our eyes
In our own filth, drop our clear judgments, make us
Adore our errors, laugh at us as we strut
To our confusion.”
The effort to turn unfair privileges into fairness for all, or to make bad laws into good, is never easy. The discomfiture of interests which are hurtful to the moral welfare of a people cannot be brought about without serious conflict and losses. The attempt to promulgate new land laws for Ireland, the struggle with the slave-power in the United States, the shattering of the ancien regime of France, the perilous turmoil of the Reformation, the destruction of feudalism throughout Europe, are witnesses that no revolution of thought or practice is painless. In a sense it is sin finding out the sinners, as in this end of Israel.
Such an end, however, introduces a new process. The old passes away never to reappear. The suffering which characterises the transition prepares for another condition in which trouble and pain may still be, but which is the foretoken of richer blessings in coming days.
III. There is a divine will shaping events. Natural or social forces cannot, when regarded simply as natural agents, light upon the persons who have done wickedly. They are weapons held in the hands of the righteous Lord. They strike where He directs them to, and with the weight which He chooses to employ. It is the tendency of our modern thinking to set forth the external phenomena as all that requires attention—as if we were to be concerned with the powder which exploded, and not with the person who had laid it and lighted the match. But it is the living Ruler who, in the operation of moral laws, gives to them their power to punish and to improve. Individuals and nations are not atoms vibrating under unconscious forces and sequences; they are sinners judged for their sins, and judged if so be they will learn righteousness and turn to Him who smites them. When He destroys one house it is that He may build another. When He buries the worm-pierced shell, it is that by its decomposition a more fertile soil may be formed.
It is thus throughout all generations. The Eternal God manifests no change in His judgments on right and wrong. All events convey indications of His judgment and of the winding up of earth’s chequered story on the last day; and they also convey indications of His gracious purpose to make “the knowledge of the Lord cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.” How the judgment and the mercy will be worked into the changing thoughts of the world is too deep a problem for us to solve. But nevertheless we may hold unwaveringly to the principle that “the counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations.”
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Eze_7:5-9. No necessity exists for supposing that the text of this strophe, on account of its close resemblance to the preceding verses, is corrupt. A better interpretation would make us believe that the deep feeling of the prophet’s Lord seeks again to utter itself through the feeling of the prophet. It is natural to repeat a cry of anguish or a complaint under the pressure of that which distresses us.
Eze_7:5. “An evil,” which is placed in a specially distinct light by the epithet added, “an only evil, behold, is come.” The calamity about to befall Israel would be of a singular kind, for which no parallel could be found (chap. Eze_5:9). “The Lord will make an utter end; trouble shall not rise up the second time” (Nah_1:9).
Eze_7:6. This unique evil would be folded up in “an end” of Israel’s state, which, now inevitable, “is come.” It had been slumbering, but “the end watcheth for thee.” It is wakeful and observant. It is, as a pent-up flood, held back by a sole remaining obstacle, and that also showing signs of giving way. The measure of iniquity is full and the condemnation will no more linger. “Behold, it is come,” and includes in itself the completion of all that is embraced in the divine, righteous judgments.
Eze_7:7. “The morning.” The Hebrew word thus translated is of uncertain import. Besides here and Eze_7:10, the only other place in which it occurs is Isa_28:5, and there it is translated by diadem. That meaning cannot be accepted for this chapter. A prophetical morning is generally applied to the breaking forth of light, deliverance, &c., yet an explanation seems requisite that is not in accordance with such an idea. The most favoured conclusion is that which connects the word with an allied root indicating that the word here means something which makes a round or circle, and is metaphorically interpreted of that which the revolution of time promotes: the turn, the fate, that which is destined “is come unto thee … the day of trouble is near.” The laws of Hebrew parallelism suggest that the word translated trouble is in a relation of contrast to the next clause of the verse, “and not the sounding again of the mountains.” This, as it stands, is somewhat unmeaning. To say that the phrase alludes to the joyous shoutings at vintage-time, and to understand it as intimating that there would be no more the exuberant joy of harvest upon the mountains, appears to be rather farfetched. More probable is it that the allusion is to idolatrous festivities upon the mountains of Israel, as was illustrated by the prophets of Baal when, sacrificing to their god upon Mount Carmel, they made loud and prolonged sounds. We prefer to translate thus: The day is near; a tumult—as in a panic of fugitives from the sword and famine (cf. Eze_6:4-6)—and not shouts of idolaters when worshipping upon the mountains. The silence of death would fall upon the scenes where dishonour was done to the living God.
Eze_7:8. The end cannot be retarded. “Now will I shortly”—immediately—“pour out my fury upon thee.” His judgment will not linger any more. The course of evil will take Israel into the woes and horrors produced by their own sins. The following clauses have been already presented, with slight verbal differences, in Eze_7:3, and Eze_7:9 is a similar repetition of Eze_7:4. “The abominations stand in Israel’s midst not in their alluring, seductive form, but with all the woe which comes in their train” (Haev). The point of definiteness which is to be recognised is the unchanging purpose of all the Lord’s dealings. “Ye shall know that I the Lord smite.” The people were to realise that it was really not the Chaldeans, but their Eternal Holy King who was inflicting the punishment and claiming recognition and submission. The Lord “the life-giver, who would die to preserve His children, but would rather slay them than they should live the servants of evil.”
HOMILETICS
TROUBLE ON TROUBLE FOR SIN (Eze_7:5-9)
Human experiences have caused the formulating of such proverbs as “It never rains but it pours,” “Misfortunes never come alone.” If many who use such words make no reference, when another weight of suffering is laid upon one already imposed, to the primal power which maintains this course of affairs, there was no omission in respect to that power among the statements of Hebrew prophets. They discerned the shadowy movements of a righteous Ruler, producing not only an isolated trouble, but also clusters of troubles. They were well aware that truth, if unpalatable, required to be enforced again and again, and that a true lesson, which might not be learned under the infliction of one pain, might be learned when pain was followed by pain. The same method was observed in Him who “spake as never man spake.” The stern repetition of “woe unto you,” which Jesus deemed it fitting to emit, must have made the ears of scribes and Pharisees to tingle; even to-day the awe and dread survive when they are read. It seems established as a principle of divine procedure that transgressors may learn righteousness by reiterated judgments. We may receive directions as to a becoming way of regarding repeated trials from our prophet. He suggests—
I. That sufferings for sins will be completed. An evil first comes, and afterwards an evil which will make a singularly deep impression,—“an only evil.” The end which utterly condemns the sin is not brought about at once. Stages of progress towards it are taken. Some of the sinners may repent, or may die before the last point is reached, but they who do arrive there have passed other stages previously. The suffering may be so slight that the individuals or nations affected can afford to make light of it and go on their usual way. It may be so serious that they stand for days or months in a sort of fear of doing wrong, then their goodness, like the morning cloud or early dew, vanishes away. The end of inflicting the various sufferings will, nevertheless, come. The house whose foundation has been laid in sand will be touched in successive years by casual floods, but not till the fatal year, when a dire flood will descend, shall the house be overthrown. A nation may continue for one century or more to indulge in luxurious living and to practise ungodly conduct; but the blows of truth and right will be repeated until the old evil state falls down. “Their feet will slide in due time.” They will reap what they have sown and the end of justice will be attained.
II. That sufferings for sins are of varying degrees. Similar sins may be chargeable against different individuals, but similar sufferings are not endured in consequence. It is a perplexity in modern days, as it was in the days of Job, and as insoluble to us as it was to him and his friends. The messages of Ezekiel threw a streak of light into our perplexity. They indicate that the utmost suffering—that which will be recognised as greater than any other—comes as a result of loosening the ties which should hold men to God. Let there be disregard to divine rights, and sooner or later there will be disregard to human rights. And when both God and our brethren are sinned against, the penalty for the misdeeds may well be felt as singular in its intensity, and evoke comments in marts of business as well as in meetings for religious objects. Thus the observant eye is trained to see striking differences in the inflictions befalling men who go in wrong courses.
III. That sufferings for sin may be rapidly accelerated in their final stage. The Babylonian army kept hovering over Judea and now and then swooping down upon it; but at length, when that watchful foe came in aggravated wrath, the ruin of Jerusalem was speedily consummated, and the Jewish nationality was crumpled up as by a sudden blight. The Babylonian Empire in its turn, after resisting various shocks, fell to pieces as in a moment: “In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain, and Darius the Mede took the kingdom” (Dan_5:30-31). Our generation has seen, in the war between France and Germany, how the Empire which had been raised by “gunpowder and glory” collapsed with startling abruptness. This event need not be taken to mean that the French Empire was deluding and wicked beyond all other governments; yet at least it may be taken to mean that “a short work on the earth” may be made with communities which allow themselves to be misled by interested and pretentious designs. They will not use time to repent till confusion seizes them. Whether that confusion will become ruinous, as was the case with Babylonia, or whether it will prepare for new conditions of national existence, as was the case with Israel, cannot be foretold by merely human perspicacity. Any way the contingency is instructive in showing that it is not wise to make light of troubles which are regarded as inconsiderable. The moans of the forest-trees presage an approaching hurricane: slight pains prognosticate the attack of a virulent fever; and the temporal and mental sufferings which come in consequence of sins should ever be taken as warning of an end that may be destruction. What though you can bear the uneasiness or disregard it, yet remind yourselves that that brings no pledge of safety from a sad and fearful aggravation of trouble some day. “How are they brought into a desolation as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.”
1. It becomes peoples and persons to be earnest in learning the lessons which are given by repeated disappointments, checks, pains, sorrows, lest evil come upon them from which they shall not escape.
2. It becomes them to stand in awe of the Invisible Worker whose varying processes manifest His will to restrain and to deliver from sin.
RENEWED ASSERTION OF THE APPROACH OF THE CALAMITY (Eze_7:10-18)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Eze_7:10. “Behold the day, behold it is come.” It is remarkable with what unity the various prophets speak of the troubles which they threatened as culminating in a day. It seems as if they saw in calamities an ever-recurring omen of that day in which earth’s story would be judged of as a whole. If that final judgment could not distinctly loom before their gaze, it cast its dark and troubled shadows across the scene in respect to which they had to utter the burden of the Lord. To us, as to them, all sufferings for wickedness are fore-tokens of the last great day, when the fire shall try every man’s work and consume all that is not fit to abide in a renovated world wherein dwelleth righteousness. Those recurring days and their phenomena were already determined. “The [morning] destiny goes forth, the rod blossoms, pride buddeth.” The reference of these words is not to an evil which germinated within the territory of Israel, but to an evil external to it, which was springing up and would become an instrument of execution. The rod is the rod of the Lord’s anger—the rod of the oppressor, represented in the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar. Like a shoot his power was growing, giving signs of vigorous vitality, rapidly taking the form which would render it fit to strike hard, and to do so with a will energised by boasting pride.
Eze_7:11. “Violence rises into a rod for wickedness.” The cruelty and outrages of the Chaldeans, against which the prophets Habakkuk and Jeremiah deal out strong invectives, would be methods for punishing the wicked doings of Israel. At the sight Ezekiel becomes too deeply affected to fill up with verbs the four following brief sentences, and he merely prefixes to each a negative. We might render them literally, in terms of the English version, “not from them, and not from their multitude, and not from them of them, and not wailing in them.” The compression and uncertain allusions make the sense somewhat doubtful. Besides, the meanings assigned to the several words are not generally accepted, as marginal readings testify. The interpretation given in the Speaker’s Commentary is: “The furious Chaldean has become an instrument of God’s wrath, endued with power emanating not from the Jews, or from the multitude of the Jews, or from any of their children or people; nay, the destruction shall be so complete that none shall be left to make lamentation over them.” Though this comment scarcely satisfies the demands of linguistic accuracy, it sufficiently shows the bearing of the prophet’s utterances. The catastrophe would be such that no one would be left to resist. “Stroke will so come upon stroke that lamentation will be forgotten in despair. It is the highest degree of pain when the capacity to complain expires” (Heng.) The weight of scholarship, however, as to the last clause, gives for its translation, and there is no attractiveness in them; all that beauty of the Lord their God which had been upon them shall be consumed away and utterly disappear.
Eze_7:12. In that state of affairs, property, upon which such high value is set, would produce no comfort. “Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn.” “It is natural for the buyer to rejoice and for the seller to lament,” but no ground of joy should be found in that which might seem to be a good purchase, because it will turn out to be a source of trouble and pain. There would be as little ground for grief in parting with property. The enemy would seize it all, taking goods, cattle, houses, land, without distinction of persons. “When slavery and captivity stare you in the face, rejoicing and mourning are equally absurd” (Jerome). And no one should be passed by, “because wrath is upon all its multitude;” upon all who dwell in the territory of Israel whose “end” is pronounced.
Eze_7:13 is to be regarded as a development of what was just said concerning the universality of wrath. “The seller” is not to mourn, for he “shall not return to that which is sold.” He may have become an exile; the fall in the value of property may have made it burdensome to hold; there may have been forced sales of substance which had been prized by the seller—he need not allow one regret. He will never find an opportunity to get back what he had thus let go: not “although they were yet alive,” i.e., whoever of the sellers might be counted among the living were not to cherish any hope that in time they should recover the property which they had sold. As parts of the surviving remnant they would be in a captive state from which they would have no restoration, or the waves of Chaldean rapine would so beat upon the whole territory as to obliterate every trace of former arrangements. Life would not bring back again past enjoyments. Again Ezekiel emphasises the indiscriminateness of the punishment: “for the vision” which he has described as shadowing forth the imminent evil “is upon,” has reference to, “all its multitude.” In the words which immediately follow, the prophet does not intimate a possible event happening to the multitude, but repeats that which had been already said of the seller—“he shall not return.” Yet should any one suppose that, by fraud, violence, or other immoral way, he would be able to reassert his title to the possessions he once had, he must disabuse his mind of the folly, “neither shall any strengthen themselves in the iniquity of his life;” or, to put it literally, and a man in the iniquity of his life—they shall not strengthen themselves. The same movement, viz., from a single representative to all the individuals, which we see in the first half of the verse, is repeated in this last clause, and scope is given for variety of translation. Keil’s is, and no one will strengthen himself as to his life through his iniquity. But whatever order the words may be put into, the meaning is conveyed that no one whosoever, so long as he is alive, will have any ease by his iniquity; he will be weak and crippled still, unable to escape the doom of wrath.
Many commentators find in these two verses distinct references to the continued vigorous usages of the law for the jubilee year, according to which land and houses reverted to their original owners. It is, to say the least, doubtful if this idea can be sustained. That the phrases of the prophet are moulded by principles inherent in the law of jubilee is not at all unlikely, but that his popular phraseology should be held to intimate that the processes incident to that law were validly maintained is more than can be granted. It is very questionable whether the law was observed at all in the later periods of Jewish history, if in the earlier. The remarkable omission of any satisfactory indication of its operation, of course, cannot be pleaded as a proof that the enactment had become altogether obsolete; but it may be taken to show that, like the community of goods in the primitive Jerusalem Church, the plan became unworkable in a society fermenting with the elements of social changes. With the exception of a very few indecisive expressions in Isaiah and Jeremiah, as well as this one here, not a single prophet has condemned neglect of jubilee enactments or acknowledged their fulfilment. Perhaps it should be regarded as a collateral proof of the law of jubilee being in abeyance, that that section of the law, which required Hebrew bond-servants to be set free in the jubilee year, was certainly disregarded in practice. Jeremiah (chap. 34) shows that there had been a momentary reaction towards obedience to the aforesaid section; but that unbrotherliness and greed had soon brought a return of the prohibited oppression. Man’s failure to carry out such a law is not a sign that its principles are unsound or its practice impossible in human societies. Both it and the having all things common in Christian Churches have these characterising features, that God’s authority is placed over all things, and that all men are brethren. We look for an age in which these shall be supremely prominent—the good time coming, when love shall reign over all the earth. Ezekiel mentions the development of the slighted principles of those old decrees as sure to appear in that new theocracy, whose details he will afterwards set forth (chap. Eze_46:16-18).
Eze_7:14-15. A more disastrous result than the depreciation and abandonment of property would be evident in the unhinged and demoralised spirit of the people. The biblical history of the Jews goes to prove that on the whole they were brave and courageous, ready both to defend themselves and attack others. This characteristic would be lost in the grievous period of the end so close at hand. “They have blown the trumpet, and,” with the view “to make all ready”—a call to all capable of bearing arms is sounded, and they are summoned to stand equipped in every particular for meeting the foe. It is in vain; there is no martial response. It is not for want of men, money, weapons. Besides country, property, religion, life are at stake, “but none goeth forth to the battle.” The consciousness of lying under divine punishment unmans them: “for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.” This would be shown in the fatal sufferings which they would endure. They would be cut down in the open by the sword of the enemy. They would perish in pent-up streets or closed houses by hunger and disease. “The issues of death” would fatally work upon them.
Eze_7:16. Yet the door of mercy will not be utterly walled up; some fugitives will reach safety through it, though they may be few. For them it is provided, and they “shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys.” Those survivors will seek refuge in elevated, retired districts, acting on the idea which was enunciated at a later day by Jesus of Nazareth, “Let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains.” In such a condition of hardship they will keep together—be like flocks of pigeons which have been disturbed in their resorts on the lower ground, and maintain a continual cooing among the rocky heights up to which they have flown for safety—“all of them mourning.” Similar expressions used by other prophets indicate that the sound natural to doves was regarded by the Hebrews as suggestive of sorrow. Ewald says, “The Arabian poets still find in cooing the sounds of lamentation, as if the bird’s notes came from a feeling of pain.” In English poetry we find—
“The stockdove only through the forest coos, Mournfully hoarse.”
This mourning, on the part of all those who had escaped from the terrors of death, would be aggravated by an element for which there was no alleviating counteractive in earthly means; “every one for his iniquity.” Each sees not only that sin had been no defence, but also that it brings bitter regrets, and he could complain of its deceitfulness. This recoil from iniquity was not an unusual course for the Israelites. Successive eras of their national history furnish illustration of those words of Isaiah, “In trouble have they visited Thee; they poured out a prayer when Thy chastening was upon them.” They could perceive, in the evils which befell them, tokens of the wrongs they had been guilty of, as no other people contemporary with them, and perhaps no people of any period whatever, could do. The rights of God over them were again and again brought into distinctness after seasons of effacement. They then recognised that relief was to be sought nowhere save in God alone, and they afflicted their souls before Him. Too often, with the majority, it was not with godly sorrow, but with the sorrow of the world. They grieved over the hard consequences of sin rather than over its dishonouring of the Father. They longed for the removal of its punishment rather than for deliverance from its power and guilt.
Eze_7:17-18. The weakness and general helplessness of the fugitives are depicted in strong figurative terms, “All hands, all knees,” as inadequate for their functions as if their strength had wholly slipped away—a repetition of the scene in the wilderness, when the children of Israel were smitten by the men of Ai and “the hearts of the people melted and became as water” (Jos_7:5). In addition to this, demonstrative expressions of defencelessness would be displayed. The conspicuous parts of their bodies would be visibly made to show their utter abandonment to fear and grief. “Sackcloth” would “gird” them; “trembling” would “cover” them; the “shame” of vexation and punishment would suffuse itself over their countenances, and “BALDNESS” overrun their “HEADS.” The baldness might be self-inflicted in the manner narrated by Ezra. (Eze_9:3), when he was overwhelmed with horror for the transgression of his people. It has been often said that such baldness was prohibited to Israel, but the reference usually made for that statement (Deu_14:1) does not prove it. That verse speaks of taking hair from a certain part of the head only. At any rate, allusions in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Micah signify that depriving the head of its hair was not an uncommon procedure in seasons of deep grief.
HOMILETICS
HOW MAN’S DESTINY IS BROUGHT ABOUT
“The destiny goes forth, the rod blossoms, pride buddeth, violence rises into a rod for wickedness” (Eze_7:10-11).
These words allude to the Babylonian monarchy as growing in power, and having in it the destiny to shatter the Jewish state for its persistent wrong courses towards its covenanted Lord. We read them and see how, “to the sprouting of power which can, corresponds the blossoming of pride which will,” be a terror and destruction. We are furnished with a representation in outline of the methods by which straying souls are recompensed according to their ways and abominations.
I. Their destiny is not a fortuitous event. It is a growth—a product of, it may be, hidden and manifold causes. Generally, we cannot tell how we had become liable to a cold, a fever, a face-ache or heart-palpitation; but our inability to trace the movements which culminated in the attack does not make us hesitate to say that we had come under influences sufficient to produce the indisposition. It was not a random blow. We have reason to take the same position in reference to all personal, to all national fears, losses, defeats. There is no such thing as accident, chance in human affairs. If we have to pass through fire and through water, they were in our way. If men ride over our heads, they were mounted on horses spurred to do so.
II. Destiny is not from the mere fiat of God. He works by law. He begins to act because of righteousness and truth. He continues to act for righteousness and truth. The nature of things moves towards the punishing of evil by operations which may be said to be outside of God, that is, by using forces which the Almighty One has called into existence. Every decree of His is therefore adapted to antecedent conditions. Violence rises up into a rod by no arbitrary will. The moral government of God may tend to an inevitable fate, but it is a reasonable one.
III. Destiny is accomplished by fitting instruments. I said, in agreement with the phraseology of the prophet, that destiny is a growth. Each kind of tree in growing appropriates those elements in the atmosphere and soil which are suited to its nature. The bread-fruit tree prepares to support the life of man, and the upas-tree to poison him. And in the moral realm the elaboration of good things to save man and of evil things to destroy him is always proceeding. When the time is ripe they arrive at their suitableness for use, and are capable of carrying out the destined event. But “the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous.” Pride will smite pride, violent dealing will be crushed by violence. When men sin they set briers and thorns against the Lord who is in conflict with them; but it is only to see that He goes through them, that He burns them up together. He never stands perplexed because He has no instrument at hand to execute His holy law.
IV. Destiny is the summing up of previous actions. We say that violets are gathered for their sweet perfume and wheat for its nutritious qualities, and we mean that the different lots which befall them is due to those antecedent chemical operations which form their properties. We should say the same of every individual and every nation on whom scares, and pains, and loss, and ruin spread their blight. They took a course in which they gathered up certain materials. Whether those materials were drawn from the external or the internal world, both sorts became the means of bruising, tearing, killing those who had gathered them. “Hast thou not procured this unto thyself?… Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy backslidings shall reprove thee” (Jer_2:17; Jer_2:19). It is foolish to speak of an evil destiny except as a consequence of foregoing faults.
1. Punishment for sin comes slowly. It is not the result of a force which appears suddenly on the stage of life. It is no hasty stroke for which there was not sufficient justification, and the incidence of which might cause valid regrets. It is a growth. The evil-doers may escape for a season, but in due season, sooner or later, according to the nature of the sin, they shall receive the just award on their deeds. Let not your hearts be set towards evil because the sentence against it is not executed speedily. Use the space given for repentance.
2. Punishment for sin comes surely. Human strength, wisdom, sympathy cannot stay the reproductive powers of nature, and they cannot annihilate the accumulating energies of moral evil. The cotton which will form the shroud for some of you who are enjoying good health is to be plucked off sun-lit fields. The weather which will bring famine to you, prodigals, has begun its action upon the scenery begirding you. The disease which will render offensive the debauchee is finding nourishment in him for its germs. The death which will destroy those who are ungodly is on their foot-tracks, and will not miss its aim. Inevitable is the woe which will fall upon the head of the wicked. Nothing can interfere; nothing can save—nothing except a change of mind; nothing except submission to the love and power of God manifested in Jesus Christ our Lord!
WEAK POINTS IN HUMAN LIFE (Eze_7:11-18)
Nature in its various forms—in himself and in what is external to himself—occupies man’s interest and efforts. He is disposed to rest in its use. He does not “look through nature up to nature’s God.” But nature is from God, and man must be taught that in every one of its characteristics it is subjected to the authority of God’s laws. If used according to His will, it is glorified: if contrary to His will, it must be made to appear weak as a prop for life on earth. Observe this weakness—
I. In the common fate of men. There is no abiding. We must needs die. The place that knows us now shall soon know us no more. Our beauty will consume away. Where is “populous No”? What has become of the Israelites of all generations? Whatever be the power of the forces which hold the activities of a single life, or whatever be the forces which go to constitute the life of a puissant nation, in either case the power is helpless to safeguard its subjects when they do wickedly. Iniquity, that is the poison which destroys strength, that the traitor which opens to the rod which brings death. The nature of man succumbs before the righteous fiat of God.
II. In the precariousness of property. Men make gold their hope, which is digged out of nature’s reservoirs. They pride themselves when their goods are increased. They call their lands by their own names. Many are willing to sacrifice truth, honesty, peace, so as to get unrighteous gain in buying and selling. But no products of nature, however largely estimated and depended on as a security, can be retained in use. A time comes when they may be counted a burden and sorrow, and buyers and sellers be equally conscious that the possession of them is untenable, that they are too evanescent to give help in danger, and must take rank with the weak things of the world.
III. In the failure of courage. Human nature can furnish proofs of courage which dignify it, but fears of injury or death can cause the stoutest to lose their presence of mind, and panics fall upon individuals and bodies of men. Appeals to honour and patriotism and care for property are vain. The stirring notes of the trumpet are altogether powerless to incite to conflict. “None goeth to the battle.” Before the wrath of God the multitude has no spirit left in it.
IV. In the insecurity of a retreat. The fugitive Israelites who had escaped sought a safe hiding-place, and that brought experiences which were almost worse than death. Our bodily nature cannot be hardened or protected against increasing troubles, nor does one kind of calamity guarantee us freedom from every other kind. Life may be preserved from extinction by sword or famine or pestilence, but the circumstances into which it is thrown may be full of fear and grief and torment. Ah! if men could only get away from all tribulation by fleeing from one form of it, how different would our natural life appear! But the pains which follow sin are not voided by any temporary punishment. Our wrongdoing may be seen and regretted; that does not avert sure penalty. Youth spent in sensual pleasures may be deeply and sincerely lamented, but the “wild oats” then sown leave seeds on the heart’s soil which are not eradicated even after many a ploughing and harrowing. A ticket-of-leave convict finds his crime, however he may stand clear from it now, will prevent any confidential employment. And when God rises up to punish, “mourning, sackcloth, horror, shame,” go to show that the stripes needed, therefore just and suitable, will be inflicted “to the utmost lash.” None can hide so as that God will be deceived.
What repentings should be kindled when we see the helpless character of the things we are so prone to trust! What fear lest God should be neglected and disobeyed!
It may be doubted whether the next verse should be connected with the preceding or the following verses. Though the casting away of all valuables would be a natural act in those who were fleeing for their lives, yet it is as natural in those who were exposed to death by famine in the siege. However, as reference is made hereafter to other precious things which had been employed as instruments of evil, it is preferable to consider that a change occurs here in the line of the prophet’s thought. If the change seems abrupt, that is far from being out of harmony with the features of this chapter.
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Eze_7:19. Valuable things will be rejected. “They shall cast their silver in the streets.” Retaining it in their houses would present inducements to the greed and cruelty of the foemen, and expose their persons to outrage: it will be put away: “and their gold shall be discarded, treated as an uncleanness and not to be touched—more precious than silver, it will be more vilely cast away. It is probable that their idols are included in this rejection if we take an illustration from Isaiah: “Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold; thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence” (Eze_30:22). This utter repudiation of things so highly prized is grounded on the fact that no amount or form of the precious metals will help to safety, or protect from pain, fears, destruction: “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.” Neither mental ease nor sufficient food would be attainable in those closing days of tribulation—“because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity.” They so applied the substantial wealth entrusted to them as to gratify their lusts; they made it into a means of sin, and fell over it into fearful woes.
It is questionable whether the words “silver and gold,” when associated in this manner, are ever applied in the Old Testament to money only. We must not read into its usage a modern idea. It refers them to money, and also to plate, ornaments, idol-images. And this is an indication that Ezekiel must refer to some other object than the precious metals in the following verse.
Eze_7:20. Another feature of their guilt comes into view, “As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it for pride.” We do not see in these expressions anything but the signs of wealth made into a matter for boasting. That people boast themselves in the multitude of riches is true; but if the Jews had some special glory, it is far more likely that they would pride themselves in that. And they had. If Canaan was “the glory of all lands,” assuredly the Temple at Jerusalem was the summit of that glory. Ezekiel himself might be quoted to establish this application of the words, “I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength” (Eze_24:21). The thing which was the most glorious feature in Israel had been made into a thing for mere brag! “and the images of their abominations, of their detestable things they made therein.” Examples of this degradation and abjuration of their most eminent privilege are found in the next chapter, “therefore I give it to them as an unclean thing,” the glory of their ornament is changed into that which is repulsive and unfit for the Lord.
Eze_7:21. “And I give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, &c., and they shall profane it.” The heathen shall take possession of the city, the outward tokens of God’s special dwelling with Israel be desecrated, and its glory be obliterated.
Eze_7:22. “And I turn away my face from them”—from the people of Jerusalem probably, though reference may be to the foreigners, for whose doings He would seem not to care,—“and they profane my secret.” It is unnecessary to supply place to the last word, whose meaning must be that which had been guarded by the Lord as His and fenced against all intruders. Hengstenberg understands it of their treasures, “the means of Israel, which are, as it were, the treasure of the Lord;” but it is, surely, more appropriately to be understood of the Temple with its Holy of Holies: “and” this shall be brought about when “the robbers,” lit. those making breaches, “enter into it”—the city—“and profane it.” The repeated references to the profanation of what had been holy to the Lord signify how completely Israel had been estranged from Him, and how all places, even the holiest, would be open to the unhallowed presence of the ungodly nations.
Eze_7:23. Ezekiel is addressed. The Lord, as it were, “indignant at the profanation, commands him to put an end to the doings of the enemy by the deportation of those who were left behind” (Haev.) “Make the chain,” that which was the badge of subjugation and with which the exiled Jews were fettered. Jeremiah records how he was let go by Nebuzar-adan from “being bound in chains among all that were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah” (Eze_40:1). City and land had brought the evil upon themselves, “for the land is full of deeds of blood,” not applied to acts of murder only, but to all acts which were counted as mortal sins, “and the city is full of violence.” The prophet Micah had declared that Zion should be ploughed as a field because the Lord withdrew His presence, and among the causes of that desolation he puts, “They build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity” (Eze_3:10).
Eze_7:24. “And I will cause the evil ones of the nations to come,” the worst of the heathen, those who were most notorious among surrounding peoples for their evil tempers and ways. The expression is similar to that in Eze_7:21, “the wicked of the earth,” and gives an indication of the strong and bitter feelings engendered amongst the Hebrews towards the Chaldeans, instances of which are found in other prophetical books also. Ewald regards such expressions as signifying that at this time the Babylonian Empire contained in it an element of rude, rough, and uncultivated warriors, while, at the same time, there must have been a highly civilised population long settled in Nineveh or Babylon; “and they shall possess their houses,” a justification of the counsels given in Eze_7:12-13; “and I make the pride of the strong to cease.” If it is felt that it would hardly do to regard the Jews as meriting this description “the strong,” the reading of the Septuagint, which finds a confirmation in chap. Eze_33:28, suggests an explanation, the pride of their strength. This is neither to be transmuted into strong pride nor into proud splendour, but to be taken as intimating that there was that belonging to them which they esteemed their special strength as a people. That that was their relation to the Lord God is confirmed by such phrases as these: “Thou art the glory of their strength;” “The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion.” That men may take pride in Him whom they do not obey is testified by the words of Jesus, “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Their pride in that would fail, “and their holy places shall be profaned;” their, as if He would not acknowledge them as His even nominally.
“In these verses a threefold example is given of the divine lex taliouis.… The people have abused their wealth by making idols of gold and silver, and all manner of ornaments for vainglorious display, so that it has become “the stumbling-block of their iniquity;” now it was to be seized as a spoil by the enemy, and, in respect to their deliverance, should be found worthless as the mire of the streets. They have carried their abominations into God’s sanctuary and defiled the secret place of the Most High; now the whole is to be laid open to the unhallowed feet of the stranger, and robbers are to be sent to walk at liberty where saints only should have been permitted to enter. They, by their daring wickedness, have made the land full of violence and blood, therefore shall they themselves be bound with a chain by the ungodly heathen, and their best possessions be turned into the prey of the lawless and the profane. ‘Their holy places shall be defiled,’ as they have already defiled mine.”—Fairbairn.
Eze_7:25. On the existence of the Temple depended that of the Levitical priesthood, and when the former was desecrated, the means of expiation, which by that was connected with the priesthood, were withdrawn from Israel. So we read “destruction comes,” lit. a cutting off comes. We might translate, with Fairbairn, a close comes, or with Hengstenberg, who says, “properly contraction, in contrast with the expansion that is connected with all joyful prosperity—the state of restriction and diminution:” “and they shall seek peace, and it is not.” Peace—hardly with Nebuchadnezzar, but that which could be attained by the methods referred to in the next verses.
Eze_7:26. The condition will be one of constant uncertainty and disappointment. “Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour.” “Stroke upon stroke does the ruin come, and it is intensified by reports, alarming accounts, which crowd together and increase the terror” (Keil); “and they shall seek a vision from the prophet.” They are at their wits’ end; they do not wait on the Lord, but endeavour to make solace or encouragement come from prophets such as had spoken to them visions out of their own heart; but the prophets are either dumb, or, if they were told “Speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits,” they failed to present the visions that were sought for: “and the law shall perish from the priest.” The prophet Malachi makes it appear as an understood thing that the people “should seek the law at the priest’s mouth.” It is an inadequate interpretation which would confine “the law” which was sought from the priest simply to his reading out of that of Moses. He was to have reference made to him for his judgments on the rules which were given to be guides to right conduct and worship. Thus Deu_17:10, “Thou shalt do according to the sentence which they shall declare unto thee from that place which the Lord shall choose.” The priests gave decisions, by oracle or otherwise, in the sanctuary as to what was intended by the law. However, that function of the priesthood would altogether pass from it: “and counsel from the elders” shall also perish; wisdom and experience would not avail for giving suitable advice.
Eze_7:27. All the population in its three classes would be dealt with in judgment. “The king shall mourn, and the prince”—the chiefs of the tribes and heads of families—“shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land,” i.e., the commonalty as distinguished from the rulers, “shall be troubled. I will do to them after their way,” lit. from their way, i.e., the Lord will take the cue for what He will do from what they have done; “and with their judgments I will judge them, and they shall know that I am the Lord.” By sufferings which flow from their own decisions they will be forced to acknowledge Him as Lord. “With these words, recurring in Ezekiel like a refrain, the first cycle of his prophecies closes.”—Hengstenberg.
HOMILETICS
THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE LORD’S PRESENCE
To walk with God is man’s highest privilege, to be forsaken by God is man’s deepest woe; his history furnishes abundant evidence that he has been the subject of both contingencies. Yet a people professing to serve the living God should not allow it to be doubtful what kind of answer must be returned to the questions, Is the Lord among us or not? Are we conducting ourselves so that He lifts up the light of His countenance upon us, or so that He hides His face from us? For the response does not relate merely to our comfort or the reverse; it relates to the feelings of God and the rights due to God from every faculty and condition of men. A help to indicate the position at which a true answer may be received is suggested by these closing sentences of Ezekiel’s dirge upon downfallen Israel.
I. We learn what provokes the withdrawal of God’s presence.
1. It is not any arbitrariness on His part. Deep experiences in spiritual things—experiences which it is to be feared are not so common now as then—led former generations of God’s servants to coin this phrase, “The sovreign withdrawal of God’s countenance.” It has been handed on to us among the traditions received from our fathers, but it is a phrase we should be very loath to employ. They indeed explained it with provisos which sometimes shaded its objectionable features, but they left enough of it in view to make us feel that it cannot depict a true idea of God’s action. To say that there are occasions when we cannot surmise the reasons why He should make us walk in darkness and have no light, is a very different statement from that which intimates that there is no call in our proceedings for His righteousness and love to rise up against us. “Thou art clear when thou judgest.” In ourselves, in the conditions of His kingdom, will always be the latent if not obvious causes for the hiding of His face—never in any divine waywardness.
2. It is incited by unholy demeanour. There were iniquities among the Israelites of Ezekiel’s time of no insignificant character. We might be disposed to ask, How could they fancy that, while doing such things, they would still be in the light of God? The answer comes to us from the true Judge of human ways, “They come not to the light lest their deeds should be reproved.” But we do not need to inquire of Ezekiel’s people respecting this inconsistency. Similar facts are manifest among our own people.
(1.) There is excessive appreciation of wealth. Before it the truth and purity of many promising young persons go down into darkness. The honourableness and the attachment to Christian causes of maturer age have been discarded. Reports of proceedings in law-courts, less public reports of dealings in offices, warehouses, shops, go to prove that silver and gold, in some of their forms of value, lead into not a few “pernicious ways.” When Mammon is loved and held to, what must be done with God?
(2.) There is immorality. Sins which are liable to capital punishment, sins which seduce others, sins which stir up wearied hearts to cry to the Lord God of Sabaoth, “Do me justice on my adversary,” are narrated day by day in our newspapers. How many more never find a record in earthly pages! When deeds of violence are rife they prove that the whole condition of a people is demoralised. When they may not be rife, but when the guiltless do not condemn unequivocally such as do take place, do not wage continual war against them, lest they should get themselves into trouble or soil their hands by the pitch of wickedness, then too is the condition unwholesome and the words come true, “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you” (Isa_59:2).
3. It is brought about by trifling with religious belief.
(1.) For people to set it as a matter for pride is to trifle with it. They treat it as a thing which adds to their importance or self-conceit; they do not humble themselves to it as to their master; they drive it from its rightful position, however beautiful they esteem it to be as an ornament. Hear the numbers who boast that they are Christian and not heathen, Roman Catholics and not Protestants, Church of England and not Nonconformists, Church-goers and not Sunday-excursionists, and their boast carries with it this undertone, “We do not understand the rights of God.” The lonely glory of His service—presenting aspects which make it excel all other objects of thought—is veiled and made comparatively trivial when regarded as a matter for self-glorification.
(2.) To adopt unauthorised observances is to trifle with it. The Israelites did not turn the Lord out of His Temple. They did abandon acknowledgment of Him as their God above all. “They served the Lord and Baai.” They made images of abominations and detestable things in the Lord’s house. Such a course betokened that they could not seriously accept that which was their distinguishing knowledge, that the Lord was the only God. They ignored the truth, that to pay the semblance of worship to idols was rebellion against His claims which He could not condone by His presence remaining among them. Isaiah represents His decision thus, “When ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers I will not hear” (Eze_1:15). He did not want “vain oblations” then, and He does not want them now. If we use prayers, sacraments, special rites and services which private or churchly judgments institute as an indispensable addition to the faith on which we act for acceptance with God, we may not erect an idol-shrine in church or chamber, but we ascribe to the created a seat of honour along with the Creator, we show that we do not desire really to know what is His due, and our wilfulness becomes an offence which impels His withdrawal. In our days, as in former years, His Spirit is grieved, vexed, quenched by the provoking of those sons and daughters, “who have a name to live and they are dead,” who have “a form of godliness and deny the power thereof.” Truly they are triflers with what is most sacred and walk in darkness.
II. We learn what follows the withdrawal of God’s presence. Ezekiel depicts the consequences as developed in body, temple, minds. They cannot be literally applied to other and Christian people, but they hint sufficiently at results which are likely to happen.
1. Temporal distress. Because God has turned away His face, money may be felt as a burden, houses be lost, prostration of physical health or courage unman us. He is the Lord of the body; He is the ruler of weather, germs, gases, trade, and certainly amongst us, as amongst men of old, temporal sufferings are made a means of showing that we have offended Him. Not that all such troubles are signs that He has withdrawn from us—Paul’s thorn in the flesh is a proof of something else—but a painful experience of the first Church in Corinth had its source in trifling with God’s presence. “For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep.” “Thou didst hide Thy face and I was troubled.” What the weight and the extension of the distress may be time only will manifest; but the fact that Israel was shaken by panics, obliterated as a nation, the survivors bound with chains and taken into a strange land, is a solemn warning as to the dire consequences which come from a withdrawal of God’s gracious presence.
2. Religious degradations.
(1.) The worshippers will be counted unworthy to come before the Lord. The sense of His presence being deadened, their hearts must become disqualified for His holy service. They may still give thanks at meals, they may still enter into a place for worship, they may still name themselves by the name of Christ, but they have lost faith, love, joy, peace, if ever they had one or other. The duty which might have been pervaded with the holiness of God is nothing but an engagement carried out really for the doers alone—theirs now, if formerly His. And what can be a man’s religion when God is left out of it? What but “a delusion and a snare to men—what but a grief and offence to Him? Peace, they may say, but there is none. Woe be to us when our sanctuaries are nothing but our sanctuaries!”
(2.) Corrupting and destructive influences will dominate them. “The wicked of the earth, the robbers enter in and profane” the place where His honour dwelt. “The profanation by the enemy is, alas! always preceded by the profanation on the part of the friends.” And so has it happened in the Christian centuries. Churches abounded in Western Asia—enemies possess their heritage. Old creeds for whose truth men were once content to suffer and die are sneered at and neglected. “An unknown God” is not dignified with an altar, but coolly relegated to an unapproachable cloudland. Men who wear the uniform of Christ’s service decline to place themselves on the hill where His standard waves, and even supply ammunition to the opposing host. Thus do “those who make breaches” pass into the domain where God had professedly reigned. His ostensible religion is discredited and covered with shame. Holy things are profaned because He is displeased and hides His face.
3. Collapse of social helpfulness. Secular and spiritual persons will be useless to one another. We naturally betake ourselves to those persons whom we consider superior when we are in perplexity, sorrow, pain, accumulating difficulties. Such resort will be in vain if “the glory of God in the face of Jesus” is not beheld. Then religious intuition will fail to grasp any inspiration; theologians be unable to communicate real instruction, and men of experience suffer a stagnation of thought. Preachers, teachers, and tried believers are weak in themselves and powerless upon others so far as relates to the growth of the divine kingdom when they do not walk in the light. So it comes to pass that that which should be the religion of God is trodden under foot of men.
(1.) We should be impressed with fear of the withdrawal of the Lord. When Jesus is not with His professed people they are in dreary scenery. It is a dry and thirsty land where no water is. It is the desert in which rest may be sought for but cannot be found by those who have had deliverance from some unclean spirit, and out of which place they come to take up with seven other evil spirits, and so the last state becometh worse than the first. There is cause for fear.
(2.) We should become very watchful. If we perceive little or nothing of the anguish of our Shepherd as He prays for the lost sheep; if we are so cold or lukewarm in our affections as hardly ever sacrificing for Christ an earthly pleasure, or an hour of business, or a sum of money, then it is time for us to listen to the tender and poignant rebuke, “What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.”
WEALTH UNSERVICEABLE (Eze_7:19)
I. The creatures which promise the most help and raise expectations highest, in times of trouble can do little or nothing for us. Judas’s thirty pieces of silver could not still one throb of his conscience. Herod’s royal robes, sceptre, crown, greatness could not protect him from the teeth of a few feeble worms. Not all your wealth can keep the plague out of the city, or secure your lives when it is come.
II. Men tainted with covetousness lay up for they know not whom—for their enemies. The Jews had vexed their heads, hearts, and hands to get houses and vineyards, silver and gold, and now strangers, men their souls hated, must possess their treasures. This misery is upon all accumulators, that they may spend twenty or thirty years in gathering that which a Babylonian, a bitter enemy to God and His people, may possess in an hour.
III. Abuse of our estates defiles them and brings the wrath of God upon them. When silver and gold maintain pride, lusts, and other ends than God hath appointed them, they are wronged and imbondaged, and are as an unclean thing. Therefore is the curse brought upon all.—Greenhill.
INCREASE OF EVIL REALISED (Eze_7:26)
I. When a people is under divine displeasure there is a succession of evils for them. Saul and Pharaoh were so treated, and the misery of the wicked is that they shall perish rather a hundred times over than go unpunished.
II. God proceeds by degrees and steps to severity of judgments. First come drops, then some little streams, after that the strength. “He did not stir up all His wrath;” but if sin grow God’s anger grows. He begins with a little finger, if that do good He will stop; if not, you shall feel His hand, His arm, and weight of His loins.
III. Truths are not confined to any sort of men. Truths are not the inheritance of priests, prophets, popes, councils. The Lord is not tied to any rank, but is free to be where He pleases, to impart truth to whom He pleases, and to as few as He pleases. Ubi tres sunt, ecclesia est, said Tertullian, and they may have truth among them and more given to them.
IV. God gives and takes away vision, law, counsel. He creates light and darkness. If you spurn at any light, any truths of God, you may lose them all. He sends “strong delusions,” but He says also, “Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.”
V. Those who will not do what they know shall not know what to do. Adam, Saul, and others. Jeremiah bade Zedekiah and the rest go forth and yield themselves, but they did it not, and quickly after no vision, no law, no counsel, and they knew not which way to turn.
VI. They that will not know God in the way of His mercies shall know Him in the way of His judgments.—Greenhill.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Section 6 (Eze 7:1-27).
Section 6 (Eze 7:1-27).
The limit of forbearance reached.
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The final word is now addressed through the prophet to the land of Israel, the very soil itself, to which the end is come, in all the four corners of it. Thus, clearly, there is no hope of anything more. There is no soil to produce fruit. The limit of forbearance is reached, and there is no limit to the wrath, save only that there are those in whom grace manifests its power still, as there always will be. Otherwise the end was upon the whole land, an end in God’s anger, the condition of things in it being the manifest proof of all the abominations of its inhabitants. The earth at large, as we well know, suffers everywhere because of the sin of man, both by the desolations which sin itself naturally produces, and by the judgments which are upon it from God. Thus the places of highest privilege may become necessarily the places of most marked desolation. God’s own pitiful eye can spare no more. "I will bring thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee:" that is, there is no deliverance, no ability to roll off the burden. The unchangeableness of Jehovah Himself certifies and assures the continuation of the punishment.
Thus He declares that that which has come is evil, and only evil. It is unmixed calamity. The "turn" -that is, the revolution of the wheel -is come to the dweller in the land. Much difficulty has been made of an expression which is very simple in view of what forms so large a part of Ezekiel’s vision -those wheels that are so high as to be terrible, that do a terrible though needful work in the abasement of man, and even in view of final restoration. The privileged people of God thus become subject to the mutability which is the law of all things merely human. They could claim no exemption; and even the higher they had been lifted, the more terrible would be the fall. The time had come for this -not the day which in false hope they had been prophesying for themselves, but of consternation and confusion; the battle lost, not won; no joyful tidings of victory to announce from the mountain-tops, as there will be even yet in the future for them (Isa 40:9); for the wrath of God was now to be poured out wholly, and His anger consummated, although it would be no more than just the fruit of their ways, the equal demonstration of divine righteousness in their case; taken, as they were, with the evidences of their guilt in their midst, in all the idolatry which polluted them and which we shall soon have exhibited in full detail.
It is a solemn thing to realize that God permits full consummation of human iniquity before the judgment falls. As it was in Israel, so it will be in Christendom. God does not come in to judge in a day of reformation, even partial as this may be. If He sees even an Ahab putting on sackcloth and walking softly before Him. He refrains from judgment (1Ki 21:27-29). With Ahab it was mere fear, of course -nothing that God could really accept; and yet it was enough to avert, for the moment, the imminent wrath; and thus the abominations that are everywhere under the surface in Christendom must be allowed to come out openly before the full judgment comes. The Church must be removed, and the indwelling Spirit of God that hinders the full development of things according to their nature. The restraint removed, there will be manifested, in the man of sin, the iniquity which has been working in mystery through the ages past. This has to be brought out of its concealment, and the delusion which man seeks must be permitted to him. Then, as the issue, there will be that open defiance of God in every way in which He has revealed Himself, which will necessitate the full display of long-lingering judgment. He who is to come will come, and "will smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips destroy the wicked one" (Isa 11:4).
But the time of wrath upon Christendom can only come after there has been the full revelation of God, and time given for the effect of it to be fully manifest. Almost 2,000 years have passed since the revelation has been completed, and now he that will may see that the end is at hand.
The judgment upon Israel here is only a partial anticipation of the wrath in that day. Nevertheless, the rooting of Israel out of their land, and the desolation of the house which God had among men, marked a distinct crisis, the day of which had come. The turn of the wheel, as Ezekiel repeats, had come to them. The rod for the punishment of their iniquity was blossoming, even as the pride which provoked the judgment was indeed full blown. Violence among them had thus risen up into a rod to smite them: in itself a rod of wickedness, no doubt for not on account of righteousness in the enemy did God permit their triumph over His people yet comparatively even these were clean. They had not trampled God’s gifts under their feet as Israel had done. And thus they had themselves invited the scourge which was now to sweep through the land, leaving nothing remaining, neither of their multitude, nor of their wealth, nor even any to wail for the absence of these. The time was already come, the day was at hand the buyer need no more rejoice in that which he had acquired, nor the seller either mourn for that which he had lost: for the wrath upon all was without distinction. No day of jubilee would return with its gracious provision to him who had had to give up his patrimony through poverty and if even his life were yet permitted to him there would be no land for him to return to. "The vision," says the Lord, "is touching the whole multitude thereof. It shall not be revoked, and none shall through his iniquity assure his life." Strange indeed that man under the very judgment of God could think to secure himself by means of the very iniquity which was bringing down the judgment; yet man is capable of just such thoughts.
The prophet sees only utter desolation. Were the trumpet blown, there was none to go to battle. Sword, pestilence and famine had already done their work, and if there were but a few that escaped, they would be like scared and scattered doves of the valleys driven to the mountains -all of them with their mournful plaint, and every one for his own iniquity. Horror would cover them, shame be upon their faces, and baldness upon their heads. The very silver and gold, so precious to man, would be cast away in bitterness as worthless, utterly unable to accomplish anything for them neither to satisfy their souls, nor fill their belly; for indeed it was the very stumbling-block of their iniquity. God had enriched them with that which was much more than the riches so much valued by man: He had set the beautiful ornament of His own house in their midst, and they had put therein the images of their abominations so that God had Himself to treat His holy house as an unclean thing, and give it up to the hands of strangers to be a spoil for the wicked of the earth.
Thus the prophet is bidden now to "make the chain" which indeed they had forged for themselves, as the crimes that filled their land attested. No sanctuary could be maintained in the midst of a people such as they were, and the glory of God required the removal of that which now only dishonored Him by its existence. Thus all, in fact, was gone. The prophet who was alone their hope, in days when every other link was broken, would have a vision from God no more, as the law would perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. From prince to people they would alike now receive their judgment and thus they would know (how terrible to know it thus, and how constant the repetition of this!) that their God was Jehovah.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Desolation of the Land of Israel
The Desolation of the Land of Israel
This is a final message of doom upon the whole land (Eze_7:2). God's wrath against Israel's sin is relentless, and the judgment is inevitable and close at hand. Social relations will be broken up (Eze_7:12); preparations for defence will be unavailing (Eze_7:14); wealth, which has been an occasion of sin and an instrument of idolatry, will not avert calamity, but will become the spoil of the heathen (Eze_7:19-21); priests and prophets, king and nobles, will be helpless to deliver (Eze_7:26, Eze_7:17); the Temple will be profaned (Eze_7:22); the remnant will be overwhelmed with sorrow (Eze_7:16). Eze_7:5-7, Eze_7:10-12 are in the poetic metre commonly used for laments or dirges.
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7, 10. The morning is come] RV 'Thy doom is come.'
7. Not the sounding again of the mountains] RV 'not of joyful shouting upon the mountains.' The shouting of harvest or vintage is meant: see Isa_16:9-10; Jer_48:33.
9. Ye shall know, etc.] another aspect of the result of God's judgment. He would be recognised as the God who punishes sin.
10, 11. The meaning here is rather obscure. If the rod in Eze_7:10 is that of chastisement, pride will mean the same thing. Babylon is called 'Pride' in Jer_50:31 (RM). But the violence in Eze_7:11 seems to be that of Israel, and the rod of wickedness to be a figure for its developed form. Possibly 'the rod' and 'pride' in Eze_7:10 may also refer to Israel's sin.
12. The same kind of social confusion as in Isa_24:2.
13. The seller, etc.] This may mean, either that those of Ezekiel's fellow-exiles of the first captivity who had sold their possessions before leaving Jerusalem would not return to regain them, or that land which ought to have come back to its seller at the year of Jubilee would not do so, since the destruction of the city would obliterate this and all other social institutions. The vision is touching, etc.] A more probable reading is, 'wrath is upon,' etc., as in Eze_7:12, Eze_7:14.
15. No safety either in Jerusalem or out of it: see Eze_6:12.
18. Baldness] a sign of mourning.
19. Removed] RV 'as an unclean thing.' Similarly in Eze_7:20.
20. 21. The rendering in AV and RV means that the Temple, profaned already by Israel's idolatry, would be further polluted by the heathen conquerors. Most scholars, however, take the beauty of his (the people's) ornament to refer to the silver and gold of Eze_7:19, and render as in RM, 'they turned it to pride and they made the images.. thereof.' The wealth which had been turned to idolatrous uses would be defiled by passing into heathen hands.
22. Secret place] RM 'secret treasure.' Not the Holy of Holies specially, but Jerusalern and the Temple viewed as God's precious possession.
23. A chain] a figure for captivity. Violence must be punished by forcible restraint.
26. Prophets] were consulted for oracles as to God's will, priests for authoritative decisions as to the law, elders or ancients for general advice: see Jer_18:18.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Eze 7:1-27. This chapter closes the first great message…
Eze 7:1-27. This chapter closes the first great message of Ezekiel. This great judgment message is written in beautiful language, which, in the Authorized Version, is marred by numerous incorrect renderings. The reader will find a reliable metrical translation in our larger commentary on Ezekiel.
First, the end is announced to come upon the entire land; it could no longer be averted.
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There is another day coming in which the Lord will deal in fearful judgments with this earth. Now is the day of salvation in which God speaks in love through His Son, When wickedness and apostasy has reached its climax, the day of salvation will end and “the day of vengeance of our God” will begin. Then He will speak in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure Psa 2:5. Then will they say to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Rev 6:16-17. God’s judgments for the future are as sure as were His judgments in the past. There is a set time, the day of the Lord, when He, to whom the Father has given all judgments, will tread “the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty” Rev 19:15.
Then follows a solemn description of the doom of Jerusalem and the reasons why such a judgment is executed.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 10 The Approaching Ruin
The Approaching Ruin
v. 1. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
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v. 2. Also, thou son of man, the direct address distinguishing this communication from those intended for the people in general, thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel, the home of the covenant people, An end, that which terminates the long-suffering of God toward the whole of Judea, the end, that now definitely fixed, is come upon the four corners of the land, to its extreme boundaries, throughout its borders.
v. 3. Now is the end come upon thee, the entire land of the covenant nation, and I will send Mine anger upon thee and will judge thee according to thy ways, the manner of conduct in all its forms, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations, so that they would be duly repaid upon their heads.
v. 4. And Mine eye shall not spare thee, in any form of compassion, neither will I have pity, such as an indulgent father might have been tempted to show; but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee, manifest to all in their consequences, the divine punishments; and ye shall know, as the punishment struck them in strict accordance with the Lord’s prophecy, that I am the Lord, the evidence offered being sufficient and conclusive.
v. 5. Thus saith the Lord God, An evil, an only evil, behold, is come, a peculiar calamity such as had never been heard of before, unparalleled in the history of the world.
v. 6. An end is come, the end is come, literally, "An end cometh, there cometh the end," its absolute certainty thus being brought out; it watcheth for thee, awaking from its slumber, as it were, to pounce upon its victim; behold, it is come.
v. 7. The morning is come unto thee, the turn of events, the destiny, the fate allotted them, O thou that dwellest in the land, all its inhabitants. The time is come, the period which completes the time set by God; the day of trouble is near and not the sounding again of the mountains, literally, "tumult and not joyous shouting on the mountains," such as was the rule when the harvest was gathered in the vineyards. The time of such untroubled happiness was past.
v. 8. Now will I shortly pour out My fury upon thee, as from an overturned vessel, and accomplish Mine anger upon thee, in the fierceness of His punishment; and I will judge thee according to thy ways and will recompense thee for all thine abominations, the repetition of this statement making it the more emphatic.
v. 9. And mine eye shall not spare, 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. The true God is a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the sinners upon them with a sharp reckoning.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26 General Information:
General Information:
This starts God's prophecy of judgment on Israel.
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The word of Yahweh came
This is an idiom that is used to introduce something that God told his prophets or his people. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 3:16. AT: "Yahweh spoke this message" or "Yahweh spoke these words" (See: Idiom)
You, son of man
"Son of a human being" or "Son of humanity." God calls Ezekiel this to emphasize that Ezekiel is only a human being. God is eternal and powerful, but humans are not. AT: "Mortal person" or "Human"
son of man
"son of a human being" or "son of humanity." God calls Ezekiel this to emphasize that Ezekiel is only a human being. God is eternal and powerful, but humans are not. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 2:1. AT: "mortal person" or "human"
the Lord Yahweh says this
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to remind Ezekiel and the people that what he is saying is important. AT: "I, the Lord Yahweh, say this" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
Lord Yahweh
See how you translated this in Ezekiel 2:4.
to the land of Israel
The word "land" is a metonym for the people who live on the land. AT: "to the people of Israel" (See: Metonymy)
An end!
"The end has come!"
the four borders of the land
"the entire land" The "four borders" are to the north, east, south, and west.
translationWords
Yahweh
Son of Man
Lord Yahweh
Israel
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 10, 11, 12, 14, 19, 20, 23 7:1-27 Ezekiel 7 contains three messages of doom (7:3-4,…
7:1-27 Ezekiel 7 contains three messages of doom (7:3-4, 5-9, 10-27). They reminded Judah that their forthcoming destruction was not a random twist of fate but an act of the Lord’s judgment.
7:1-2 As the prophet unfolded his message, the scope of the threatened judgment kept increasing, like ripples spreading outward from a stone dropped into a pond. Now the judgment he announced was not just for Israel, as in ch 6, but against the whole land, east, west, north, or south. This global judgment upon God’s people would be tantamount to the end of the world. Judgment was no longer imminent, as in the previous oracles; it had arrived.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.