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diff --git a/46975-8.txt b/46975-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f64f18d --- /dev/null +++ b/46975-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14834 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Ezekiel +by John Skinner + + + +This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license. If you are not located in the United +States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located +before using this ebook. + + + +Title: The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Ezekiel + +Author: John Skinner + +Release Date: September 27, 2014 [Ebook #46975] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO 8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE: THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL*** + + + + + + The Book of Ezekiel + + By + + The Rev. John Skinner, M.A. + + Professor of Old Testament Exegesis, Presbyterian College, London + + London + + Hodder And Stoughton + + 1895 + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Preface. +Part I. The Preparation And Call Of The Prophet. + Chapter I. Decline And Fall Of The Jewish State. + Chapter II. Jeremiah And Ezekiel. + Chapter III. The Vision Of The Glory Of God. Chapter i. + Chapter IV. Ezekiel's Prophetic Commission. Chapters ii., iii. +Part II. Prophecies Relating Mainly To The Destruction Of Jerusalem. + Chapter V. The End Foretold. Chapters iv.-vii. + Chapter VI. Your House Is Left Unto You Desolate. Chapters viii.-xi. + Chapter VII. The End Of The Monarchy. Chapters xii. 1-15, xvii., xix. + Chapter VIII. Prophecy And Its Abuses. Chapters xii. 21-xiv. 11. + Chapter IX. Jerusalem--An Ideal History. Chapter xvi. + Chapter X. The Religion Of The Individual. Chapter xviii. + Chapter XI. The Sword Unsheathed. Chapter xxi. + Chapter XII. Jehovah's Controversy With Israel. Chapter xx. + Chapter XIII. Ohola And Oholibah. Chapter xxiii. + Chapter XIV. Final Oracles Against Jerusalem. Chapters xxii., xxiv. +Part III. Prophecies Against Foreign Nations. + Chapter XV. Ammon, Moab, Edom, And Philistia. Chapter xxv. + Chapter XVI. Tyre. Chapters xxvi., xxix. 17-21. + Chapter XVII. Tyre (Continued): Sidon. Chapters xxvii., xxviii. + Chapter XVIII. Egypt. Chapters xxix.-xxxii. +Part IV. The Formation Of The New Israel. + Chapter XIX. The Prophet A Watchman. Chapter xxxiii. + Chapter XX. The Messianic Kingdom. Chapter xxxiv. + Chapter XXI. Jehovah's Land. Chapters xxxv., xxxvi. + Chapter XXII. Life From The Dead. Chapter xxxvii. + Chapter XXIII. The Conversion Of Israel. + Chapter XXIV. Jehovah's Final Victory. Chapters xxxviii., xxxix. +Part V. The Ideal Theocracy. + Chapter XXV. The Import Of The Vision. + Chapter XXVI. The Sanctuary. Chapters xl.-xliii. + Chapter XXVII. The Priesthood. Chapter xliv. + Chapter XXVIII. Prince And People. Chapters xliv.-xlvi. _passim_. + Chapter XXIX. The Ritual. Chapters xlv., xlvi. + Chapter XXX. Renewal And Allotment Of The Land. Chapters xlvii., + xlviii. +Footnotes + + + + + + + [Cover Art] + +[Transcriber's Note: The above cover image was produced by the submitter +at Distributed Proofreaders, and is being placed into the public domain.] + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In this volume I have endeavoured to present the substance of Ezekiel's +prophecies in a form intelligible to students of the English Bible. I have +tried to make the exposition a fairly adequate guide to the sense of the +text, and to supply such information as seemed necessary to elucidate the +historical importance of the prophet's teaching. Where I have departed +from the received text I have usually indicated in a note the nature of +the change introduced. Whilst I have sought to exercise an independent +judgment on all the questions touched upon, the book has no pretensions to +rank as a contribution to Old Testament scholarship. + +The works on Ezekiel to which I am chiefly indebted are: Ewald's +_Propheten des Alten Bundes_ (vol. ii.); Smend's _Der Prophet Ezechiel +erklärt_ (_Kurzgefasstes Exegetisches Handbuch zum A. T._); Cornill's _Das +Buch des Proph. Ezechiel_; and, above all, Dr. A. B. Davidson's commentary +in the _Cambridge Bible for Schools_, my obligations to which are almost +continuous. In a less degree I have been helped by the commentaries of +Hävernick and Orelli, by Valeton's _Viertal Voorlezingen_ (iii.), and by +Gautier's _La Mission du Prophète Ezechiel_. Amongst works of a more +general character special acknowledgment is due to _The Old Testament in +the Jewish Church_ and _The Religion of the Semites_ by the late Dr. +Robertson Smith. + +I wish also to express my gratitude to two friends--the Rev. A. Alexander, +Dundee, and the Rev. G. Steven, Edinburgh--who have read most of the work +in manuscript or in proof, and made many valuable suggestions. + + + + + +PART I. THE PREPARATION AND CALL OF THE PROPHET. + + + + +Chapter I. Decline And Fall Of The Jewish State. + + +Ezekiel is a prophet of the Exile. He was one of the priests who went into +captivity with King Jehoiachin in the year 597, and the whole of his +prophetic career falls after that event. Of his previous life and +circumstances we have no direct information, beyond the facts that he was +a priest and that his father's name was Buzi. One or two inferences, +however, may be regarded as reasonably certain. We know that that first +deportation of Judæans to Babylon was confined to the nobility, the men of +war, and the craftsmen (2 Kings xxiv. 14-16); and since Ezekiel was +neither a soldier nor an artisan, his place in the train of captives must +have been due to his social position. He must have belonged to the upper +ranks of the priesthood, who formed part of the aristocracy of Jerusalem. +He was thus a member of the house of Zadok; and his familiarity with the +details of the Temple ritual makes it probable that he had actually +officiated as a priest in the national sanctuary. Moreover, a careful +study of the book gives the impression that he was no longer a young man +at the time when he received his call to the prophetic office. He appears +as one whose views of life are already matured, who has outlived the +buoyancy and enthusiasm of youth, and learned to estimate the moral +possibilities of life with the sobriety that comes through experience. +This impression is confirmed by the fact that he was married and had a +house of his own from the commencement of his work, and probably at the +time of his captivity. But the most important fact of all is that Ezekiel +had lived through a period of unprecedented public calamity, and one +fraught with the most momentous consequences for the future of religion. +Moving in the highest circles of society, in the centre of the national +life, he must have been fully cognisant of the grave events in which no +thoughtful observer could fail to recognise the tokens of the approaching +dissolution of the Hebrew state. Amongst the influences that prepared him +for his prophetic mission, a leading place must therefore be assigned to +the teaching of history; and we cannot commence our study of his +prophecies better than by a brief survey of the course of events that led +up to the turning-point of his own career, and at the same time helped to +form his conception of God's providential dealings with His people Israel. + +At the time of the prophet's birth the kingdom of Judah was still a +nominal dependency of the great Assyrian empire. From about the middle of +the seventh century, however, the power of Nineveh had been on the wane. +Her energies had been exhausted in the suppression of a determined revolt +in Babylonia. Media and Egypt had recovered their independence, and there +were many signs that a new crisis in the affairs of nations was at hand. + +The first historic event which has left discernible traces in the writings +of Ezekiel is an irruption of Scythian barbarians, which took place in the +reign of Josiah (_c._ 626). Strangely enough, the historical books of the +Old Testament contain no record of this remarkable invasion, although its +effects on the political situation of Judah were important and far- +reaching. According to Herodotus, Assyria was already hard pressed by the +Medes, when suddenly the Scythians burst through the passes of the +Caucasus, defeated the Medes, and committed extensive ravages throughout +Western Asia for a period of twenty-eight years. They are said to have +contemplated the invasion of Egypt, and to have actually reached the +Philistine territory, when by some means they were induced to withdraw.(1) +Judah therefore was in imminent danger, and the terror inspired by these +destructive hordes is reflected in the prophecies of Zephaniah and +Jeremiah, who saw in the northern invaders the heralds of the great day of +Jehovah. The force of the storm, however, was probably spent before it +reached Palestine, and it seems to have swept past along the coast, +leaving the mountain land of Israel untouched. Although Ezekiel was not +old enough to have remembered the panic caused by these movements, the +report of them would be one of the earliest memories of his childhood, and +it made a lasting impression on his mind. One of his later prophecies, +that against Gog, is coloured by such reminiscences, the last judgment on +the heathen being represented under forms suggested by a Scythian invasion +(chs. xxxviii., xxxix.). We may note also that in ch. xxxii. the names of +Meshech and Tubal occur in the list of conquering nations who have already +gone down to the under-world. These northern peoples formed the kernel of +the army of Gog, and the only occasion on which they can be supposed to +have played the part of great conquerors in the past is in connection with +the Scythian devastations, in which they probably had a share. + +The withdrawal of the Scythians from the neighbourhood of Palestine was +followed by the great reformation which made the eighteenth year of Josiah +an epoch in the history of Israel. The conscience of the nation had been +quickened by its escape from so great a peril, and the time was favourable +for carrying out the changes which were necessary in order to bring the +religious practice of the country into conformity with the requirements of +the Law. The outstanding feature of the movement was the discovery of the +book of Deuteronomy in the Temple, and the ratification of a solemn league +and covenant, by which the king, princes, and people pledged themselves to +carry out its demands. This took place in the year 621, somewhere near the +time of Ezekiel's birth.(2) The prophet's youth was therefore spent in the +wake of the reformation; and although the first hopes cherished by its +promoters may have died away before he was able to appreciate its +tendencies, we may be sure that he received from it impulses which +continued with him to the end of his life. We may perhaps allow ourselves +to conjecture that his father belonged to that section of the priesthood +which, under Hilkiah its head, co-operated with the king in the task of +reform, and desired to see a pure worship established in the Temple. If +so, we can readily understand how the reforming spirit passed into the +very fibre of Ezekiel's mind. To how great an extent his thinking was +influenced by the ideas of Deuteronomy appears from almost every page of +his prophecies. + +There was yet another way in which the Scythian invasion influenced the +prospects of the Hebrew kingdom. Although the Scythians appear to have +rendered an immediate service to Assyria by saving Nineveh from the first +attack of the Medes, there is little doubt that their ravages throughout +the northern and western parts of the empire prepared the way for its +ultimate collapse, and weakened its hold on the outlying provinces. +Accordingly we find that Josiah, in pursuance of his scheme of +reformation, exercised a freedom of action beyond the boundaries of his +own land which would not have been tolerated if Assyria had retained her +old vigour. Patriotic visions of an independent Hebrew monarchy seem to +have combined with new-born zeal for a pure national religion to make the +latter part of Josiah's reign the short "Indian summer" of Israel's +national existence. + +The period of partial independence was brought to an end about 607 by the +fall of Nineveh before the united forces of the Medes and the Babylonians. +In itself this event was of less consequence to the history of Judah than +might be supposed. The Assyrian empire vanished from the earth with a +completeness which is one of the surprises of history; but its place was +taken by the new Babylonian empire, which inherited its policy, its +administration, and the best part of its provinces. The seat of empire was +transferred from Nineveh to Babylon; but any other change which was felt +at Jerusalem was due solely to the exceptional vigour and ability of its +first monarch, Nebuchadnezzar. + +The real turning-point in the destinies of Israel came a year or two +earlier with the defeat and death of Josiah at Megiddo. About the year +608, while the fate of Nineveh still hung in the balance, Pharaoh Necho +prepared an expedition to the Euphrates, with the object of securing +himself in the possession of Syria. It was assuredly no feeling of loyalty +to his Assyrian suzerain which prompted Josiah to throw himself across +Necho's path. He acted as an independent monarch, and his motives were no +doubt the loftiest that ever urged a king to a dangerous, not to say +foolhardy, enterprise. The zeal with which the crusade against idolatry +and false worship had been prosecuted seems to have begotten a confidence +on the part of the king's advisers that the hand of Jehovah was with them, +and that His help might be reckoned on in any undertaking entered upon in +His name. One would like to know what the prophet Jeremiah said about the +venture; but probably the defence of Jehovah's land seemed so obvious a +duty of the Davidic king that he was not even consulted. It was the +determination to maintain the inviolability of the land which was +Jehovah's sanctuary that encouraged Josiah in defiance of every prudential +consideration to endeavour by force to intercept the passage of the +Egyptian army. The disaster that followed gave the death-blow to this +illusion and the shallow optimism which sprang from it. There was an end +of idealism in politics; and the ruling class in Jerusalem fell back on +the old policy of vacillation between Egypt and her eastern rival which +had always been the snare of Jewish statesmanship. And with Josiah's +political ideal the faith on which it was based also gave way. It seemed +that the experiment of exclusive reliance on Jehovah as the guardian of +the nation's interests had been tried and had failed, and so the death of +the last good king of Judah was a signal for a great outburst of idolatry, +in which every divine power was invoked and every form of worship +sedulously practised in order to sustain the courage of men who were +resolved to fight to the death for their national existence. + +By the time of Josiah's death Ezekiel was able to take an intelligent +interest in public affairs. He lived through the troubled period that +ensued in the full consciousness of its disastrous import for the fortunes +of his people, and occasional references to it are to be found in his +writings. He remembers and commiserates the sad fate of Jehoahaz, the king +of the people's choice, who was dethroned and imprisoned by Pharaoh Necho +during the short interval of Egyptian supremacy. The next king, Jehoiakim, +received the throne as a vassal of Egypt, on the condition of paying a +heavy annual tribute. After the battle of Carchemish, in which Necho was +defeated by Nebuchadnezzar and driven out of Syria, Jehoiakim transferred +his allegiance to the Babylonian monarch; but after three years' service +he revolted, encouraged no doubt by the usual promises of support from +Egypt. The incursions of marauding bands of Chaldæans, Syrians, Moabites, +and Ammonites, instigated doubtless from Babylon, kept him in play until +Nebuchadnezzar was free to devote his attention to the western part of his +empire. Before that time arrived, however, Jehoiakim had died, and was +followed by his son Jehoiachin. This prince was hardly seated on the +throne, when a Babylonian army, with Nebuchadnezzar at its head, appeared +before the gates of Jerusalem. The siege ended in a capitulation, and the +king, the queen-mother, the army and nobility, a section of the priests +and the prophets, and all the skilled artisans were transported to +Babylonia (597). + +With this event the history of Ezekiel may be said to begin. But in order +to understand the conditions under which his ministry was exercised, we +must try to realise the situation created by this first removal of Judæan +captives. From this time to the final capture of Jerusalem, a period of +eleven years, the national life was broken into two streams, which ran in +parallel channels, one in Judah and the other in Babylon. The object of +the captivity was of course to deprive the nation of its natural leaders, +its head and its hands, and leave it incapable of organised resistance to +the Chaldæans. In this respect Nebuchadnezzar simply adopted the +traditional policy of the later Assyrian kings, only he applied it with +much less rigour than they were accustomed to display. Instead of making +nearly a clean sweep of the conquered population, and filling the gap by +colonists from a distant part of his empire, as had been done in the case +of Samaria, he contented himself with removing the more dangerous elements +of the state, and making a native prince responsible for the government of +the country. The result showed how greatly he had underrated the fierce +and fanatical determination which was already a part of the Jewish +character. Nothing in the whole story is more wonderful than the rapidity +with which the enfeebled remnant in Jerusalem recovered their military +efficiency, and prepared a more resolute defence than the unbroken nation +had been able to offer. + +The exiles, on the other hand, succeeded in preserving most of their +national peculiarities under the very eyes of their conquerors. Of their +temporal condition very little is known beyond the fact that they found +themselves in tolerably easy circumstances, with the opportunity to +acquire property and amass wealth. The advice which Jeremiah sent them +from Jerusalem, that they should identify themselves with the interests of +Babylon, and live settled and orderly lives in peaceful industry and +domestic happiness (Jer. xxix. 5-7), shows that they were not treated as +prisoners or as slaves. They appear to have been distributed in villages +in the fertile territory of Babylon, and to have formed themselves into +separate communities under the elders, who were the natural authorities in +a simple Semitic society. The colony in which Ezekiel lived was located in +Tel Abib, near the _Nahr_ (river or canal) Kebar, but neither the river +nor the settlement can now be identified. The Kebar, if not the name of an +arm of the Euphrates itself, was probably one of the numerous irrigating +canals which intersected in all parts the great alluvial plain of the +Euphrates and Tigris.(3) In this settlement the prophet had his own house, +where the people were free to visit him, and social life in all +probability differed little from that in a small provincial town in +Palestine. That, to be sure, was a great change for the quondam +aristocrats of Jerusalem, but it was not a change to which they could not +readily adapt themselves. + +Of much greater importance, however, is the state of mind which prevailed +amongst these exiles. And here again the remarkable thing is their intense +preoccupation with matters national and Israelitic. A lively intercourse +with the mother country was kept up, and the exiles were perfectly +informed of all that was going on in Jerusalem. There were, no doubt, +personal and selfish reasons for their keen interest in the doings of +their countrymen at home. The antipathy which existed between the two +branches of the Jewish people was extreme. The exiles had left their +children behind them (Ezek. xxiv. 21, 25) to suffer under the reproach of +their fathers' misfortunes. They appear also to have been compelled to +sell their estates hurriedly on the eve of their departure, and such +transactions, necessarily turning to the advantage of the purchasers, left +a deep grudge in the breasts of the sellers. Those who remained in the +land exulted in the calamity which had brought so much profit to +themselves, and thought themselves perfectly secure in so doing because +they regarded their brethren as men driven out for their sins from +Jehovah's heritage. The exiles on their part affected the utmost contempt +for the pretensions of the upstart plebeians who were carrying things with +a high hand in Jerusalem. Like the French _Émigrés_ in the time of the +Revolution, they no doubt felt that their country was being ruined for +want of proper guidance and experienced statesmanship. Nor was it +altogether patrician prejudice that gave them this feeling of their own +superiority. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel regard the exiles as the better +part of the nation, and the nucleus of the Messianic community of the +future. For the present, indeed, there does not seem to have been much to +choose, in point of religious belief and practice, between the two +sections of the people. In both places the majority were steeped in +idolatrous and superstitious notions; some appear even to have entertained +the purpose of assimilating themselves to the heathen around, and only a +small minority were steadfast in their allegiance to the national +religion. Yet the exiles could not, any more than the remnant in Judah, +abandon the hope that Jehovah would save His sanctuary from desecration. +The Temple was "the excellency of their strength, the desire of their +eyes, and that which their soul pitied" (Ezek. xxiv. 21). False prophets +appeared in Babylon to prophesy smooth things, and assure the exiles of a +speedy restoration to their place in the people of God. It was not till +Jerusalem was laid in ruins, and the Jewish state had disappeared from the +earth, that the Israelites were in a mood to understand the meaning of +God's judgment, or to learn the lessons which the prophecy of nearly two +centuries had vainly striven to inculcate. + +We have now reached the point at which the Book of Ezekiel opens, and what +remains to be told of the history of the time will be given in connection +with the prophecies on which it is fitted to throw light. But before +proceeding to consider his entrance on the prophetic office, it will be +useful to dwell for a little on what was probably the most fruitful +influence of Ezekiel's youth, the personal influence of his contemporary +and predecessor Jeremiah. This will form the subject of the next chapter. + + + + +Chapter II. Jeremiah And Ezekiel. + + +Each of the communities described in the last chapter was the theatre of +the activity of a great prophet. When Ezekiel began to prophesy at Tel +Abib, Jeremiah was approaching the end of his great and tragic career. For +five-and-thirty years he had been known as a prophet, and during the +latter part of that time had been the most prominent figure in Jerusalem. +For the next five years their ministries were contemporaneous, and it is +somewhat remarkable that they ignore each other in their writings so +completely as they do. We would give a good deal to have some reference by +Ezekiel to Jeremiah or by Jeremiah to Ezekiel, but we find none. Scripture +does not often favour us with those cross-lights which prove so +instructive in the hands of a modern historian. While Jeremiah knows of +the rise of false prophets in Babylonia, and Ezekiel denounces those he +had left behind in Jerusalem, neither of these great men betrays the +slightest consciousness of the existence of the other. This silence is +specially noticeable on Ezekiel's part, because his frequent descriptions +of the state of society in Jerusalem give him abundant opportunity to +express his sympathy with the position of Jeremiah. When we read in the +twenty-second chapter that there was not found a man to make up the fence +and stand in the breach before God, we might be tempted to conclude that +he really was not aware of Jeremiah's noble stand for righteousness in the +corrupt and doomed city. And yet the points of contact between the two +prophets are so numerous and so obvious that they cannot fairly be +explained by the common operation of the Spirit of God on the minds of +both. There is nothing in the nature of prophecy to forbid the view that +one prophet learned from another, and built on the foundation which his +predecessors had laid; and when we find a parallelism so close as that +between Jeremiah and Ezekiel we are driven to the conclusion that the +influence was unusually direct, and that the whole thinking of the younger +writer had been moulded by the teaching and example of the older. + +In what way this influence was communicated is a question on which some +difference of opinion may exist. Some writers, such as Kuenen, think that +the indebtedness of Ezekiel to Jeremiah was mainly literary. That is to +say, they hold that it must be accounted for by prolonged study on +Ezekiel's part of the written prophecies of him who was his teacher. +Kuenen surmises that this happened after the destruction of Jerusalem, +when some friends of Jeremiah arrived in Babylon, bringing with them the +completed volume of his prophecies. Before Ezekiel proceeded to write his +own prophecies, his mind is supposed to have been so saturated with the +ideas and language of Jeremiah that every part of his book bears the +impress and betrays the influence of his predecessor. In this fact, of +course, Kuenen finds an argument for the view that Ezekiel's prophecies +were written at a comparatively late period of his life. It is difficult +to speak with confidence on some of the points raised by this hypothesis. +That the influence of Jeremiah can be traced in all parts of the book of +Ezekiel is undoubtedly true; but it is not so clear that it can be +assigned equally to all periods of Jeremiah's activity. Many of the +prophecies of Jeremiah cannot be referred to a definite date; and we do +not know what means Ezekiel had of obtaining copies of those which belong +to the period after the two prophets were separated. We know, however, +that a great part of the book of Jeremiah was in writing several years +before Ezekiel was carried away to Babylon; and we may safely assume that +amongst the treasures which he took with him into exile was the roll +written by Baruch to the dictation of Jeremiah in the fourth year of +Jehoiakim (Jer. xxxvi.). Even later oracles may have reached Ezekiel +either before or during his prophetic career through the active +correspondence maintained between the exiles and Jerusalem. It is +possible, therefore, that even the literary dependence of Ezekiel on +Jeremiah may belong to a much earlier time than the final issue of the +book of Ezekiel; and if it should be found that ideas in the earlier part +of the book suggest acquaintance with a later utterance of Jeremiah, the +fact need not surprise us. It is certainly no sufficient reason for +concluding that the whole substance of Ezekiel's prophecy had been recast +under the influence of a late perusal of the work of Jeremiah. + +But, setting aside verbal coincidences and other phenomena which suggest +literary dependence, there remains an affinity of a much deeper kind +between the teaching of the two prophets, which can only be explained, if +it is to be explained at all, by the personal influence of the older upon +the younger. And it is these more fundamental resemblances which are of +most interest for our present purpose, because they may enable us to +understand something of the settled convictions with which Ezekiel entered +on the prophet's calling. Moreover, a comparison of the two prophets will +bring out more clearly than anything else certain aspects of the character +of Ezekiel which it is important to bear in mind. Both are men of strongly +marked individuality, and no conception of the age in which they lived can +safely be formed from the writings of either, taken alone. + +It has been already remarked that Jeremiah was the most conspicuous public +character of his day. If it be the case that he threw his spell over the +youthful mind of Ezekiel, the fact is the most striking tribute to his +influence that could be conceived. No two men could differ more widely in +natural temperament and character. Jeremiah is the prophet of a dying +nation, and the agony of Judah's prolonged death-struggle is reproduced +with tenfold intensity in the inward conflict which rends the heart of the +prophet. Inexorable in his prediction of the coming doom, he confesses +that this is because he is over-mastered by the Divine power which urges +him into a path from which his nature recoiled. He deplores the isolation +which is forced upon him, the alienation of friends and kinsmen, and the +constant strife of which he is the reluctant cause. He feels as if he +could gladly shake off the burden of prophetic responsibility and become a +man amongst common men. His human sympathies go forth towards his unhappy +country, and his heart bleeds for the misery which he sees hanging over +the misguided people, for whom he is forbidden even to pray. The tragic +conflict of his life reaches its height in those expostulations with +Jehovah which are amongst the most remarkable passages of the Old +Testament. They express the shrinking of a sensitive nature from the +inward necessity in which he was compelled to recognise the higher truth; +and the wrestling of an earnest spirit for the assurance of his personal +standing with God, when all the outward institutions of religion were +being dissolved. + +To such mental conflicts Ezekiel was a stranger, or if he ever passed +through them the traces of them have almost vanished from his written +words. He can hardly be said to be more severe than Jeremiah; but his +severity seems more a part of himself, and more in keeping with the bent +of his disposition. He is wholly on the side of the divine sovereignty; +there is no reaction of the human sympathies against the imperative +dictates of the prophetic inspiration; he is one in whom every thought +seems brought into captivity to the word of Jehovah. It is possible that +the completeness with which Ezekiel surrendered himself to the judicial +aspect of his message may be partly due to the fact that he had been +familiar with its leading conceptions from the teaching of Jeremiah; but +it must also be due to a certain austerity natural to him. Less emotional +than Jeremiah, his mind was more readily taken possession of by the +convictions that formed the substance of his prophetic message. He was +evidently a man of profoundly ethical habits of thought, stern and +uncompromising in his judgments, both on himself and other men, and gifted +with a strong sense of human responsibility. As his captivity cut him off +from living contact with the national life, and enabled him to survey his +country's condition with something of the dispassionate scrutiny of a +spectator, so his natural disposition enabled him to realise in his own +person that breach with the past which was essential to the purification +of religion. He had the qualities which marked him out for the prophet of +the new order that was to be, as clearly as Jeremiah had those which +fitted him to be the prophet of a nation's dissolution. In social +standing, also, and professional training, the men were far removed from +each other. Both were priests, but Ezekiel belonged to the house of Zadok, +who officiated in the central sanctuary, while Jeremiah's family may have +been attached to one of the provincial sanctuaries.(4) The interests of +the two classes of priests came into sharp collision as a consequence of +Josiah's reformation. The law provided that the rural priesthood should be +admitted to the service of the Temple on equal terms with their brethren +of the sons of Zadok; but we are expressly informed that the Temple +priests successfully resisted this encroachment on their peculiar +privileges. It has been adduced by several expositors as a proof of +Ezekiel's freedom from caste prejudice, that he was willing to learn from +a man who was socially his inferior, and who belonged to an order which he +himself was to declare unworthy of full priestly rights in the restored +theocracy. But it must be said that there was little in Jeremiah's public +work to call attention to the fact that he was by birth a priest. In the +profound spiritual sense of the Epistle to the Hebrews we may indeed say +that he was at heart a priest, "having compassion on the ignorant and them +that are out of the way, forasmuch as he himself was compassed with +infirmity." But this quality of spiritual sympathy sprang from his calling +as a prophet rather than from his priestly training. One of the contrasts +between him and Ezekiel lies just in the respective estimates of the worth +of ritual which underlie their teaching. Jeremiah is distinguished even +among the prophets by his indifference to the outward institutions and +symbols of religion which it is the priest's function to conserve. He +stands in the succession of Amos and Isaiah as an upholder of the purely +ethical character of the service of God. Ritual forms no essential element +of Jehovah's covenant with Israel, and it is doubtful if his prophecies of +the future contain any reference to a priestly class or priestly +ordinances.(5) In the present he repudiates the actual popular worship as +offensive to Jehovah, and, except in so far as he may have given his +support to Josiah's reforms, he does not concern himself to put anything +better in its place. To Ezekiel, on the contrary, a pure worship is a +primary condition of Israel's enjoyment of the fellowship of Jehovah. All +through his teaching we detect his deep sense of the religious value of +priestly ceremonies, and in the concluding vision that underlying thought +comes out clearly as a fundamental principle of the new religious +constitution. Here again we can see how each prophet was providentially +fitted for the special work assigned him to do. To Jeremiah it was given, +amidst the wreck of all the material embodiments in which faith had +clothed itself in the past, to realise the essential truth of religion as +personal communion with God, and so to rise to the conception of a purely +spiritual religion, in which the will of God should be written in the +heart of every believer. To Ezekiel was committed the different, but not +less necessary, task of organising the religion of the immediate future, +and providing the forms which were to enshrine the truths of revelation +until the coming of Christ. And that task could not, humanly speaking, +have been performed but by one whose training and inclination taught him +to appreciate the value of those rules of ceremonial sanctity which were +the tradition of the Hebrew priesthood. + +Very closely connected with this is the attitude of the two prophets to +what we may call the legal aspect of religion. Jeremiah seems to have +become convinced at a very early date of the insufficiency and shallowness +of the revival of religion which was expressed in the establishment of the +national covenant in the reign of Josiah. He seems also to have discerned +some of the evils which are inseparable from a religion of the letter, in +which the claims of God are presented in the form of external laws and +ordinances. And these convictions led him to the conception of a far +higher manifestation of God's redeeming grace to be realised in the +future, in the form of a new covenant, based on God's forgiving love, and +operative through a personal knowledge of God, and the law written on the +heart and mind of each member of the covenant people. That is to say, the +living principle of religion must be implanted in the heart of each true +Israelite, and his obedience must be what we call evangelical obedience, +springing from the free impulse of a nature renewed by the knowledge of +God. Ezekiel is also impressed by the failure of the Deuteronomic covenant +and the need of a new heart before Israel is able to comply with the high +requirements of the holy law of God. But he does not appear to have been +led to connect the failure of the past with the inherent imperfection of a +legal dispensation as such. Although his teaching is full of evangelical +truths, amongst which the doctrine of regeneration holds a conspicuous +place, we yet observe that with him a man's righteousness before God +consists in acts of obedience to the objective precepts of the divine law. +This of course does not mean that Ezekiel was concerned only about the +outward act and indifferent to the spirit in which the law was observed. +But it does mean that the end of God's dealings with His people was to +bring them into a condition for fulfilling His law, and that the great aim +of the new Israel was the faithful observance of the law which expressed +the conditions on which they could remain in communion with God. +Accordingly Ezekiel's final ideal is on a lower plane, and therefore more +immediately practicable, than that of Jeremiah. Instead of a purely +spiritual anticipation expressing the essential nature of the perfect +relation between God and man, Ezekiel presents us with a definite, clearly +conceived vision of a new theocracy--a state which is to be the outward +embodiment of Jehovah's will and in which life is minutely regulated by +His law. + +If in spite of such wide differences of temperament, of education, and of +religious experience, we find nevertheless a substantial agreement in the +teaching of the two prophets, we must certainly recognise in this a +striking evidence of the stability of that conception of God and His +providence which was in the main a product of Hebrew prophecy. It is not +necessary here to enumerate all the points of coincidence between Jeremiah +and Ezekiel; but it will be of advantage to indicate a few salient +features which they have in common. Of these one of the most important is +their conception of the prophetic office. It can hardly be doubted that on +this subject Ezekiel had learned much both from observation of Jeremiah's +career and from the study of his writings. He knew something of what it +meant to be a prophet to Israel before he himself received the prophet's +commission; and after he had received it his experience ran closely +parallel with that of his master. The idea of the prophet as a man +standing alone for God amidst a hostile world, surrounded on every side by +threats and opposition, was impressed on each of them from the outset of +his ministry. To be a true prophet one must know how to confront men with +an inflexibility equal to theirs, sustained only by a divine power which +assures him of ultimate victory. He is cut off, not only from the currents +of opinion which play around him, but from all share in common joys and +sorrows, living a solitary life in sympathy with a God justly alienated +from His people. This attitude of antagonism to the people, as Jeremiah +well knew, had been the common fate of all true prophets. What is +characteristic of him and Ezekiel is that they both enter on their work in +the full consciousness of the stern and hopeless nature of their task. +Isaiah knew from the day he became a prophet that the effect of his +teaching would be to harden the people in unbelief; but he says nothing of +personal enmity and persecution to be faced from the outset. But now the +crisis of the people's fate has arrived, and the relations between the +prophet and his age become more and more strained as the great controversy +approaches its decision. + +Another point of agreement which may be here mentioned is the estimate of +Israel's sin. Ezekiel goes further than Jeremiah in the way of +condemnation, regarding the whole history of Israel as an unbroken record +of apostasy and rebellion, while Jeremiah at least looks back to the +desert wandering as a time when the ideal relation between Israel and +Jehovah was maintained. But on the whole, and especially with respect to +the present state of the nation, their judgment is substantially one. The +source of all the religious and moral disorders of the nation is +infidelity to Jehovah, which is manifested in the worship of false gods +and reliance on the help of foreign nations. Specially noteworthy is the +frequent recurrence in Jeremiah and Ezekiel of the figure of "whoredom," +an idea introduced into prophecy by Hosea to describe these two sins. The +extension of the figure to the false worship of Jehovah by images and +other idolatrous emblems can also be traced to Hosea; and in Ezekiel it is +sometimes difficult to say which species of idolatry he has in view, +whether it be the actual worship of other gods or the unlawful worship of +the true God. His position is that an unspiritual worship implies an +unspiritual deity, and that such service as was performed at the ordinary +sanctuaries could by no possibility be regarded as rendered to the true +God who spoke through the prophets. From this fountain-head of a corrupted +religious sense proceed all those immoral practices which both prophets +stigmatise as "abominations" and as a defilement of the land of Jehovah. +Of these the most startling is the prevalent sacrifice of children to +which they both bear witness, although, as we shall afterwards see, with a +characteristic difference in their point of view. + +The whole picture, indeed, which Jeremiah and Ezekiel present of +contemporary society is appalling in the extreme. Making all allowance for +the practical motive of the prophetic invective, which always aims at +conviction of sin, we cannot doubt that the state of things was +sufficiently serious to mark Judah as ripe for judgment. The very +foundations of society were sapped by the spread of licence and high- +handed violence through all classes of the community. The restraints of +religion had been loosened by the feeling that Jehovah had forsaken the +land, and nobles, priests, and prophets plunged into a career of +wickedness and oppression which made salvation of the existing nation +impossible. The guilt of Jerusalem is symbolised to both prophets in the +innocent blood which stains her skirts and cries to heaven for vengeance. +The tendencies which are uppermost are the evil legacy of the days of +Manasseh, when, in the judgment of Jeremiah and the historian of the books +of Kings,(6) the nation sinned beyond hope of mercy. In painting his lurid +pictures of social degeneracy Ezekiel is no doubt drawing on his own +memory and information; nevertheless the forms in which his indictment is +cast show that even in this matter he has learned to look on things with +the eyes of his great teacher. + +It is scarcely necessary to add that both prophets anticipate a speedy +downfall of the state and its restoration in a more glorious form after a +short interval, fixed by Jeremiah at seventy years and by Ezekiel at forty +years. The restoration is regarded as final, and as embracing both +branches of the Hebrew nation, the kingdom of the ten tribes as well as +the house of Judah. The Messianic hope in Ezekiel appears in a form +similar to that in which it is presented by Jeremiah; in neither prophet +is the figure of the ideal King so prominent as in the prophecies of +Isaiah. The similarity between the two is all the more noteworthy as an +evidence of dependence, because Ezekiel's final outlook is towards a state +of things in which the Prince has a somewhat subordinate position assigned +to Him. Both prophets, again following Hosea, regard the spiritual renewal +of the people as the effect of chastisement in exile. Those parts of the +nation which go first into banishment are the first to be brought under +the salutary influences of God's providential discipline; and hence we +find that Jeremiah adopts a more hopeful tone in speaking of Samaria and +the captives of 597 than in his utterances to those who remained in the +land. This conviction was shared by Ezekiel, in spite of his daily contact +with abominations from which his whole nature revolted. It has been +supposed that Ezekiel lived long enough to see that no such spiritual +transformation was to be wrought by the mere fact of captivity, and that, +despairing of a general and spontaneous conversion, he put his hand to the +work of practical reform as if he would secure by legislation the results +which he had once expected as fruits of repentance. If the prophet had +ever expected that punishment of itself would work a change in the +religious condition of his countrymen, there might have been room for such +a disenchantment as is here assumed. But there is no evidence that he ever +looked for anything else than a regeneration of the people in captivity by +the supernatural working of the divine Spirit; and that the final vision +is meant to help out the divine plan by human policy is a suggestion +negatived by the whole scope of the book. It may be true that his +practical activity in the present was directed to preparing individual men +for the coming salvation; but that was no more than any spiritual teacher +must have done in a time recognised as a period of transition. The vision +of the restored theocracy presupposes a national resurrection and a +national repentance. And on the face of it it is such that man can take no +step towards its accomplishment until God has prepared the way by creating +the conditions of a perfect religious community, both the moral conditions +in the mind of the people and the outward conditions in the miraculous +transformation of the land in which they are to dwell. + +Most of the points here touched upon will have to be more fully treated in +the course of our exposition, and other affinities between the two great +prophets will have to be noticed as we proceed. Enough has perhaps been +said to show that Ezekiel's thinking has been profoundly influenced by +Jeremiah, that the influence extends not only to the form but also to the +substance of his teaching, and can therefore only be explained by early +impressions received by the younger prophet in the days before the word of +the Lord had come to him. + + + + +Chapter III. The Vision Of The Glory Of God. Chapter i. + + +It might be hazardous to attempt, from the general considerations advanced +in the last two chapters, to form a conception of Ezekiel's state of mind +during the first few years of his captivity. If, as we have found reason +to believe, he had already come under the influence of Jeremiah, he must +have been in some measure prepared for the blow which had descended on +him. Torn from the duties of the office which he loved, and driven in upon +himself, Ezekiel must no doubt have meditated deeply on the sin and the +prospects of his people. From the first he must have stood aloof from his +fellow-exiles, who, led by their false prophets, began to dream of the +fall of Babylon and a speedy return to their own land. He knew that the +calamity which had befallen them was but the first instalment of a +sweeping judgment before which the old Israel must utterly perish. Those +who remained in Jerusalem were reserved for a worse fate than those who +had been carried away; but so long as the latter remained impenitent there +was no hope even for them of an alleviation of the bitterness of their +lot. Such thoughts, working in a mind naturally severe in its judgments, +may have already produced that attitude of alienation from the whole life +of his companions in misfortune which dominates the first period of his +prophetic career. But these convictions did not make Ezekiel a prophet. He +had as yet no independent message from God, no sure perception of the +issue of events, or the path which Israel must follow in order to reach +the blessedness of the future. It was not till the fifth year of his +captivity(7) that the inward change took place which brought him into +Jehovah's counsel, and disclosed to him the outlines of all his future +work, and endowed him with the courage to stand forth amongst his people +as the spokesman of Jehovah. + +Like other great prophets whose personal experience is recorded, Ezekiel +became conscious of his prophetic vocation through a vision of God. The +form in which Jehovah first appeared to him is described with great +minuteness of detail in the first chapter of his book. It would seem that +in some hour of solitary meditation by the river Kebar his attention was +attracted to a storm-cloud forming in the north and advancing toward him +across the plain. The cloud may have been an actual phenomenon, the +natural basis of the theophany which follows. Falling into a state of +ecstasy, the prophet sees the cloud grow luminous with an unearthly +splendour. From the midst of it there shines a brightness which he +compares to the lustre of electron.(8) Looking more closely, he discerns +four living creatures, of strange composite form,--human in general +appearance, but winged; and each having four heads combining the highest +types of animal life--man, lion, ox, and eagle. These are afterwards +identified with the cherubim of the Temple symbolism (ch. x. 20); but some +features of the conception may have been suggested by the composite animal +figures of Babylonian art, with which the prophet must have been already +familiar. The interior space is occupied by a hearth of glowing coals, +from which lightning-flashes constantly dart to and fro between the +cherubim. Beside each cherub is a wheel, formed apparently of two wheels +intersecting each other at right angles. The appearance of the wheels is +like "chrysolite," and their rims are filled with eyes, denoting the +intelligence by which their motions are directed. The wheels and the +cherubim together embody the spontaneous energy by which the throne of God +is transported whither He wills; although there is no mechanical +connection between them, they are represented as animated by a common +spirit, directing all their motions in perfect harmony. Over the heads and +out-stretched wings of the cherubim is a rigid pavement or "firmament," +like crystal; and above this a sapphire stone(9) supporting the throne of +Jehovah. The divine Being is seen in the likeness of a man; and around +Him, as if to temper the fierceness of the light in which He dwells, is a +radiance like that of the rainbow. It will be noticed that while Ezekiel's +imagination dwells on what we must consider the accessories of the +vision--the fire, the cherubim, the wheels--he hardly dares to lift his eyes +to the person of Jehovah Himself. The full meaning of what he is passing +through only dawns on him when he realises that he is in the presence of +the Almighty. Then he falls on his face overpowered by the sense of his +own insignificance. + +There is no reason to doubt that what is thus described represents an +actual experience on the part of the prophet. It is not to be regarded +merely as a conscious clothing of spiritual truths in symbolic imagery. +The _description_ of a vision is of course a conscious exercise of +literary faculty; and in all such cases it must be difficult to +distinguish what a prophet actually saw and heard in the moment of +inspiration from the details which he was compelled to add in order to +convey an intelligible picture to the minds of his readers. It is probable +that in the case of Ezekiel the element of free invention has a larger +range than in the less elaborate descriptions which other prophets give of +their visions. But this does not detract from the force of the prophet's +own assertion that what he relates was based on a real and definite +experience when in a state of prophetic ecstasy. This is expressed by the +words "the hand of Jehovah was upon him" (ver. 3)--a phrase which is +invariably used throughout the book to denote the prophet's peculiar +mental condition when the communication of divine truth was accompanied by +experiences of a visionary order. Moreover, the account given of the state +in which this vision left him shows that his natural consciousness had +been overpowered by the pressure of super-sensible realities on his +spirit. He tells us that he went "in bitterness, in the heat of his +spirit, the hand of the Lord being heavy upon him; and came to the exiles +at Tel-abib, ... and sat there seven days stupefied in their midst" (ch. +iii. 14, 15). + +Now whatever be the ultimate nature of the prophetic vision, its +significance for us would appear to lie in the untrammelled working of the +prophet's imagination under the influence of spiritual perceptions which +are too profound to be expressed as abstract ideas. The prophet's +consciousness is not suspended, for he remembers his vision and reflects +on its meaning afterwards; but his intercourse with the outer world +through the senses is interrupted, so that his mind moves freely amongst +images stored in his memory, and new combinations are formed which embody +a truth not previously apprehended. The _tableau_ of the vision is +therefore always capable to some extent of a psychological explanation. +The elements of which it is composed must have been already present in the +mind of the prophet, and in so far as these can be traced to their sources +we are enabled to understand their symbolic import in the novel +combination in which they appear. But the real significance of the vision +lies in the immediate impression left on the mind of the prophet by the +divine realities which govern his life, and this is especially true of the +vision of God Himself which accompanies the call to the prophetic office. +Although no vision can express the whole of a prophet's conception of God, +yet it represents to the imagination certain fundamental aspects of the +divine nature and of God's relation to the world and to men; and through +all his subsequent career the prophet will be influenced by the form in +which he once beheld the great Being whose words come to him from time to +time. To his later reflection the vision becomes a symbol of certain +truths about God, although in the first instance the symbol was created +for him by a mysterious operation of the divine Spirit in a process over +which he had no control. In one respect Ezekiel's inaugural vision seems +to possess a greater importance for his theology than is the case with any +other prophet. With the other prophets the vision is a momentary +experience, of which the spiritual meaning passes into the thinking of the +prophet, but which does not recur again in the visionary form. With +Ezekiel, on the other hand, the vision becomes a fixed and permanent +symbol of Jehovah, appearing again and again in precisely the same form as +often as the reality of God's presence is impressed on his mind. + +The essential question, then, with regard to Ezekiel's vision is, What +revelation of God or what ideas respecting God did it serve to impress on +the mind of the prophet? It may help us to answer that question if we +begin by considering certain affinities which it presents to the great +vision which opened the ministry of Isaiah. It must be admitted that +Ezekiel's experience is much less intelligible as well as less impressive +than Isaiah's. In Isaiah's delineation we recognise the presence of +qualities which belong to genius of the highest order. The perfect balance +of form and idea, the reticence which suggests without exhausting the +significance of what is seen, the fine artistic sense which makes every +touch in the picture contribute to the rendering of the emotion which +fills the prophet's soul, combine to make the sixth chapter of Isaiah one +of the most sublime passages in literature. No sympathetic reader can fail +to catch the impression which the passage is intended to convey of the +awful majesty of the God of Israel, and the effect produced on a frail and +sinful mortal ushered into that holy Presence. We are made to feel how +inevitably such a vision gives birth to the prophetic impulse, and how +both vision and impulse inform the mind of the seer with the clear and +definite purpose which rules all his subsequent work. + +The point in which Ezekiel's vision differs most strikingly from Isaiah's +is the almost entire suppression of his subjectivity. This is so complete +that it becomes difficult to apprehend the meaning of the vision in +relation to his thought and activity. Spiritual realities are so overlaid +with symbolism that the narrative almost fails to reflect the mental state +in which he was consecrated for the work of his life. Isaiah's vision is a +drama, Ezekiel's is a spectacle; in the one religious truth is expressed +in a series of significant actions and words, in the other it is embodied +in forms and splendours that appeal only to the eye. One fact may be noted +in illustration of the diversity between the two representations. The +scenery of Isaiah's vision is interpreted and spiritualised by the medium +of language. The seraphs' hymn of adoration strikes the note which is the +central thought of the vision, and the exclamation which breaks from the +prophet's lips reveals the impact of that great truth on a human spirit. +The whole scene is thus lifted out of the region of mere symbolism into +that of pure religious ideas. Ezekiel's, on the other hand, is like a song +without words. His cherubim are speechless. While the rustling of their +wings and the thunder of the revolving wheels break on his ear like the +sound of mighty waters, no articulate voice bears home to the mind the +inner meaning of what he beholds. Probably he himself felt no need of it. +The pictorial character of his thinking appears in many features of his +work; and it is not surprising to find that the import of the revelation +is expressed mainly in visual images. + +Now these differences are in their own place very instructive, because +they show how intimately the vision is related to the individuality of him +who receives it, and how even in the most exalted moments of inspiration +the mind displays the same tendencies which characterise its ordinary +operations. Yet Ezekiel's vision represents a spiritual experience not +less real than Isaiah's. His mental endowments are of a different order, +of a lower order if you will, than those of Isaiah; but the essential fact +that he too saw the glory of God and in that vision obtained the insight +of the true prophet is not to be explained away by analysis of his +literary talent or of the sources from which his images are derived. It is +allowable to write worse Greek than Plato; and it is no disqualification +for a Hebrew prophet to lack the grandeur of imagination and the mastery +of style which are the notes of Isaiah's genius. + +In spite of their obvious dissimilarities the two visions have enough in +common to show that Ezekiel's thoughts concerning God had been largely +influenced by the study of Isaiah. Truths that had perhaps long been +latent in his mind now emerge into clear consciousness, clothed in forms +which bear the impress of the mind in which they were first conceived. The +fundamental idea is the same in each vision: the absolute and universal +sovereignty of God. "Mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts." +Jehovah appears in human form, seated on a throne and attended by +ministering creatures which serve to show forth some part of His glory. In +the one case they are seraphim, in the other cherubim; and the functions +imposed on them by the structure of the vision are very diverse in the two +cases. But the points in which they agree are more significant than those +in which they differ. They are the agents through whom Jehovah exercises +His sovereign authority, beings full of life and intelligence and moving +in swift response to His will. Although free from earthly imperfection +they cover themselves with their wings before His majesty, in token of the +reverence which is due from the creature in presence of the Creator. For +the rest they are symbolic figures embodying in themselves certain +attributes of the Deity, or certain aspects of His kingship. Nor can +Ezekiel any more than Isaiah think of Jehovah as the King apart from the +emblems associated with the worship of His earthly sanctuary. The cherubim +themselves are borrowed from the imagery of the Temple, although their +forms are different from those which stood in the Holy of holies. So again +the altar, which was naturally suggested to Isaiah by the scene of his +vision being laid in the Temple, appears in Ezekiel's vision in the form +of the hearth of glowing coals which is under the divine throne. It is +true that the fire symbolises destructive might rather than purifying +energy (see ch. x. 2), but it can hardly be doubted that the origin of the +symbol is the altar-hearth of the sanctuary and of Isaiah's vision. It is +as if the essence of the Temple and its worship were transferred to the +sphere of heavenly realities where Jehovah's glory is fully manifested. +All this, therefore, is nothing more than the embodiment of the +fundamental truth of the Old Testament religion--that Jehovah is the +almighty King of heaven and earth, that He executes His sovereign purposes +with irresistible power, and that it is the highest privilege of men on +earth to render to Him the homage and adoration which the sight of His +glory draws forth from heavenly beings. + +The idea of Jehovah's kingship, however, is presented in the Old Testament +under two aspects. On the one hand, it denotes the moral sovereignty of +God over the people whom He had chosen as His own and to whom His will was +continuously revealed as the guide of their national and social life. On +the other hand, it denotes God's absolute dominion over the forces of +nature and the events of history, in virtue of which all things are the +unconscious instruments of His purposes. These two truths can never be +separated, although the emphasis is laid sometimes on the one and +sometimes on the other. Thus in Isaiah's vision the emphasis lies perhaps +more on the doctrine of Jehovah's kingship over Israel. It is true that He +is at the same time represented as One whose glory is the "fulness of the +whole earth," and who therefore manifests His power and presence in every +part of His world-wide dominions. But the fact that Jehovah's palace is +the idealised Temple of Jerusalem suggests at once, what all the teaching +of the prophet confirms, that the nation of Israel is the special sphere +within which His kingly authority is to obtain practical recognition. +While no man had a firmer grasp of the truth that God wields all natural +forces and overrules the actions of men in carrying out His providential +designs, yet the leading ideas of His ministry are those which spring from +the thought of Jehovah's presence in the midst of His people and the +obligation that lies on Israel to recognise His sovereignty. He is, to use +Isaiah's own expression, the "Holy One of Israel." + +This aspect of the divine kingship is undoubtedly represented in the +vision of Ezekiel. We have remarked that the imagery of the vision is to +some extent moulded on the idea of the sanctuary as the seat of Jehovah's +government, and we shall find later on that the final resting-place of +this emblem of His presence is a restored sanctuary in the land of Canaan. +But the circumstances under which Ezekiel was called to be a prophet +required that prominence should be given to the complementary truth that +the kingship of Jehovah was independent of His special relation to Israel. +For the present the tie between Jehovah and His land was dissolved. Israel +had disowned her divine King, and was left to suffer the consequences of +her disloyalty. Hence it is that the vision appears, not from the +direction of Jerusalem, but "out of the north," in token that God has +departed from His Temple and abandoned it to its enemies. In this way the +vision granted to the exiled prophet on the plain of Babylonia embodied a +truth opposed to the religious prejudices of his time, but reassuring to +himself--that the fall of Israel leaves the essential sovereignty of +Jehovah untouched; that He still lives and reigns, although His people are +trodden underfoot by worshippers of other gods. But more than this, we can +see that on the whole the tendency of Ezekiel's vision, as distinguished +from that of Isaiah, is to emphasise the universality of Jehovah's +relations to the world of nature and of mankind. His throne rests here on +a sapphire stone, the symbol of heavenly purity, to signify that His true +dwelling-place is above the firmament, in the heavens, which are equally +near to every region of the earth. Moreover, it is mounted on a chariot, +by which it is moved from place to place with a velocity which suggests +ubiquity, and the chariot is borne by "living creatures" whose forms unite +all that is symbolical of power and dignity in the living world. Further, +the shape of the chariot, which is foursquare, and the disposition of the +wheels and cherubim, which is such that there is no before or behind, but +the same front presented to each of the four quarters of the globe, +indicate that all parts of the universe are alike accessible to the +presence of God. Finally, the wheels and the cherubim are covered with +eyes, to denote that all things are open to the view of Him who sits on +the throne. The attributes of God here symbolised are those which express +His relations to created existence as a whole--omnipresence, omnipotence, +omniscience. These ideas are obviously incapable of adequate +representation by any sensuous image--they can only be suggested to the +mind; and it is just the effort to suggest such transcendental attributes +that imparts to the vision the character of obscurity which attaches to so +many of its details. + +Another point of comparison between Isaiah and Ezekiel is suggested by the +name which the latter constantly uses for the appearance which he sees, or +rather perhaps for that part of it which represents the personal +appearance of God. He calls it the "glory of Jehovah," or "glory of the +God of Israel." The word for glory (_kabôd_) is used in a variety of +senses in the Old Testament. Etymologically it comes from a root +expressing the idea of heaviness. When used, as here, concretely, it +signifies that which is the outward manifestation of power or worth or +dignity. In human affairs it may be used of a man's wealth, or the pomp +and circumstance of military array, or the splendour and pageantry of a +royal court, those things which oppress the minds of common men with a +sense of magnificence. In like manner, when applied to God, it denotes +some reflection in the outer world of His majesty, something that at once +reveals and conceals His essential Godhead. Now we remember that the +second line of the seraphs' hymn conveyed to Isaiah's mind this thought, +that "that which fills the whole earth is His glory." What is this +"filling of the whole earth" in which the prophet sees the effulgence of +the divine glory? Is his feeling akin to Wordsworth's + + + "sense sublime + Of something far more deeply interfused, + Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, + And the round ocean, and the living air, + And the blue sky, and in the mind of man"? + + +At least the words must surely mean that all through nature Isaiah +recognised that which declares the glory of God, and therefore in some +sense reveals Him. Although they do not teach a doctrine of the divine +immanence, they contain all that is religiously valuable in that doctrine. +In Ezekiel, however, we find nothing that looks in this direction. It is +characteristic of his thoughts about God that the very word "glory" which +Isaiah uses of something diffused through the earth is here employed to +express the concentration of all divine qualities in a single image of +dazzling splendour, but belonging to heaven rather than to earth. Glory is +here equivalent to brightness, as in the ancient conception of the bright +cloud which led the people through the desert and that which filled the +Temple with overpowering light when Jehovah took possession of it (2 +Chron. vii. 1-3). In a striking passage of his last vision Ezekiel +describes how this scene will be repeated when Jehovah returns to take up +His abode amongst His people and the earth will be lighted up with His +glory (ch. xliii. 2). But meanwhile it may seem to us that earth is left +poorer by the loss of that aspect of nature in which Isaiah discovered a +revelation of the divine. + +Ezekiel is conscious that what he has seen is after all but an imperfect +semblance of the essential glory of God on which no mortal eye can gaze. +All that he describes is expressly said to be an "appearance" and a +"likeness." When he comes to speak of the divine form in which the whole +revelation culminates he can say no more than that it is the "appearance +of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah." The prophet appears to realise +his inability to penetrate behind the appearance to the reality which it +shadows forth. The clearest vision of God which the mind of man can +receive is an after-look like that which was vouchsafed to Moses when the +divine presence had passed by (Exod. xxxiii. 23). So it was with Ezekiel. +The true revelation that came to him was not in what he saw with his eyes +in the moment of his initiation, but in the intuitive knowledge of God +which from that hour he possessed, and which enabled him to interpret more +fully than he could have done at the time the significance of his first +memorable meeting with the God of Israel. What he retained in his waking +hours was first of all a vivid sense of the reality of God's being, and +then a mental picture suggesting those attributes which lay at the +foundation of his prophetic ministry. + +It is easy to see how this vision dominates all Ezekiel's thinking about +the divine nature. The God whom he saw was in the form of a man, and so +the God of his conscience is a moral person to whom he fearlessly ascribes +the parts and even the passions of humanity. He speaks through the prophet +in the language of royal authority, as a king who will brook no rival in +the affections of his people. As King of Israel He asserts His +determination to reign over them with a mighty hand, and by mingled +goodness and severity to break their stubborn heart and bend them to His +purpose. There are perhaps other and more subtle affinities between the +symbol of the vision and the prophet's inner consciousness of God. Just as +the vision gathers up all in nature that suggests divinity into one +resplendent image, so it is also with the moral action of God as conceived +by Ezekiel. His government of the world is self-centred; all the ends +which He pursues in His providence lie within Himself. His dealings with +the nations, and with Israel in particular, are dictated by regard for His +own glory, or, as Ezekiel expresses it, by pity for His great name. "Not +for your sake do I act, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which ye +have profaned among the heathen whither ye went" (ch. xxxvi. 22). The +relations into which He enters with men are all subordinate to the supreme +purpose of "sanctifying" Himself in the eyes of the world or manifesting +Himself as He truly is. It is no doubt possible to exaggerate this feature +of Ezekiel's theology in a way that would be unjust to the prophet. After +all, Jehovah's desire to be known as He is implies a regard for His +creatures which includes the ultimate intention to bless them. It is but +an extreme expression in the form necessary for that time of the truth to +which all the prophets bear witness, that the knowledge of God is the +indispensable condition of true blessedness to men. Still, the difference +is marked between the "not for your sake" of Ezekiel and the "human bands, +the cords of love" of which Hosea speaks, the yearning and compassionate +affection that binds Jehovah to His erring people. + +In another respect the symbolism of the vision may be taken as an emblem +of the Hebrew conception of the universe. The Bible has no scientific +theory of God's relation to the world; but it is full of the practical +conviction that all nature responds to His behests, that all occurrences +are indications of His mind, the whole realm of nature and history being +governed by one Will which works for moral ends. That conviction is as +deeply rooted in the thinking of Ezekiel as in that of any other prophet, +and, consciously or unconsciously, it is reflected in the structure of the +_merkaba_, or heavenly chariot, which has no mechanical connection between +its different parts, and yet is animated by one spirit and moves +altogether at the impulse of Jehovah's will. + +It will be seen that the general tendency of Ezekiel's conception of God +is what might be described in modern language as "transcendental." In +this, however, the prophet does not stand alone, and the difference +between him and earlier prophets is not so great as is sometimes +represented. Indeed, the contrast between transcendent and immanent is +hardly applicable in the Old Testament religion. If by transcendence it is +meant that God is a being distinct from the world, not losing Himself in +the life of nature, but ruling over it and controlling it as His +instrument, then all the inspired writers of the Old Testament are +transcendentalists. But this does not mean that God is separated from the +human spirit by a dead, mechanical universe which owes nothing to its +Creator but its initial impulse and its governing laws. The idea that a +world could come between man and God is one that would never have occurred +to a prophet. Just because God is above the world He can reveal Himself +directly to the spirit of man, speaking to His servants face to face as a +man speaketh to his friend. + +But frequently in the prophets the thought is expressed that Jehovah is +"far off" or "comes from far" in the crises of His people's history. "Am I +a God at hand, saith Jehovah, and not a God afar off?" is Jeremiah's +question to the false prophets of his day; and the answer is, "Do not I +fill heaven and earth? saith Jehovah." On this subject we may quote the +suggestive remarks of a recent commentator on Isaiah: "The local deities, +the gods of the tribal religions, are near; Jehovah is far, but at the +same time everywhere present. The remoteness of Jehovah in space +represented to the prophets better than our transcendental abstractions +Jehovah's absolute ascendency. This 'far off' is spoken with enthusiasm. +Everywhere and nowhere, Jehovah comes when His hour is come."(10) That is +the idea of Ezekiel's vision. God comes to him "from far," but He comes +very near. Our difficulty may be to realise the nearness of God. +Scientific discovery has so enlarged our view of the material universe +that we feel the need of every consideration that can bring home to us a +sense of the divine condescension and interest in man's earthly history +and his spiritual welfare. But the difficulty which beset the ordinary +Israelite even so late as the Exile was as nearly as possible the opposite +of ours. His temptation was to think of God as only a God "at hand," a +local deity, whose range of influence was limited to a particular spot, +and whose power was measured by the fortunes of His own people. Above all +things he needed to learn that God was "afar off," filling heaven and +earth, that His power was exerted everywhere, and that there was no place +where either a man could hide himself from God or God was hidden from man. +When we bear in mind these circumstances we can see how needful was the +revelation of the divine omnipresence as a step towards the perfect +knowledge of God which comes to us through Jesus Christ. + + + + +Chapter IV. Ezekiel's Prophetic Commission. Chapters ii., iii. + + +The call of a prophet and the vision of God which sometimes accompanied it +are the two sides of one complex experience. The man who has truly seen +God necessarily has a message to men. Not only are his spiritual +perceptions quickened and all the powers of his being stirred to the +highest activity, but there is laid on his conscience the burden of a +sacred duty and a lifelong vocation to the service of God and man. The +true prophet therefore is one who can say with Paul, "I was not +disobedient to the heavenly vision," for that cannot be a real vision of +God which does not demand obedience. And of the two elements the call is +the one that is indispensable to the idea of a prophet. We can conceive a +prophet without an ecstatic vision, but not without a consciousness of +being chosen by God for a special work or a sense of moral responsibility +for the faithful declaration of His truth. Whether, as with Isaiah and +Ezekiel, the call springs out of the vision of God, or whether, as with +Jeremiah, the call comes first and is supplemented by experiences of a +visionary kind, the essential fact in the prophet's initiation always is +the conviction that from a certain period in his life the word of Jehovah +came to him, and along with it the feeling of personal obligation to God +for the discharge of a mission entrusted to him. While the vision merely +serves to impress on the imagination by means of symbols a certain +conception of God's being, and may be dispensed with when symbols are no +longer the necessary vehicle of spiritual truth, the call, as conveying a +sense of one's true place in the kingdom of God, can never be wanting to +any man who has a prophetic work to do for God amongst his fellow-men. + +It has been already hinted that in the case of Ezekiel the connection +between the call and the vision is less obvious than in that of Isaiah. +The character of the narrative undergoes a change at the beginning of ch. +ii. The first part is moulded, as we have seen, very largely on the +inaugural vision of Isaiah; the second betrays with equal clearness the +influence of Jeremiah. The appearance of a break between the first chapter +and the second is partly due to the prophet's laborious manner of +describing what he had passed through. It is altogether unfair to +represent him as having first curiously inspected the mechanism of the +_merkaba_, and then bethought himself that it was a fitting thing to fall +on his face before it. The experience of an ecstasy is one thing, the +relating of it is another. In much less time than it takes us to master +the details of the picture, Ezekiel had seen and been overpowered by the +glory of Jehovah, and had become aware of the purpose for which it had +been revealed to him. He knew that God had come to him in order to send +him as a prophet to his fellow-exiles. And just as the description of the +vision draws out in detail those features which were significant of God's +nature and attributes, so in what follows he becomes conscious step by +step of certain aspects of the work to which he is called. In the form of +a series of addresses of the Almighty there are presented to his mind the +outlines of his prophetic career--its conditions, its hardships, its +encouragements, and above all its binding and peremptory obligation. Some +of the facts now set before him, such as the spiritual condition of his +audience, had long been familiar to his thoughts--others were new; but now +they all take their proper place in the scheme of his life; he is made to +know their bearing on his work, and what attitude he is to adopt in face +of them. All this takes place in the prophetic trance; but the ideas +remain with him as the sustaining principles of his subsequent work. + +1. Of the truths thus presented to the mind of Ezekiel the first, and the +one that directly arises out of the impression which the vision made on +him, is his personal insignificance. As he lies prostrate before the glory +of Jehovah he hears for the first time the name which ever afterwards +signalises his relation to the God who speaks through him. It hardly needs +to be said that the term "son of man" in the book of Ezekiel is no title +of honour or of distinction. It is precisely the opposite of this. It +denotes the absence of distinction in the person of the prophet. It +signifies no more than "member of the human race"; its sense might almost +be conveyed if we were to render it by the word "mortal." It expresses the +infinite contrast between the heavenly and the earthly, between the +glorious Being who speaks from the throne and the frail creature who needs +to be supernaturally strengthened before he can stand upright in the +attitude of service (ch. ii. 1). He felt that there was no reason in +himself for the choice which God made of him to be a prophet. He is +conscious only of the attributes which he has in common with the race--of +human weakness and insignificance; all that distinguishes him from other +men belongs to his office, and is conferred on him by God in the act of +his consecration. There is no trace of the generous impulse that prompted +Isaiah to offer himself as a servant of the great King as soon as he +realised that there was work to be done. He is equally a stranger to the +shrinking of Jeremiah's sensitive spirit from the responsibilities of the +prophet's charge. To Ezekiel the divine Presence is so overpowering, the +command is so definite and exacting, that no room is left for the play of +personal feeling; the hand of the Lord is heavy on him, and he can do +nothing but stand still and hear. + +2. The next thought that occupies the attention of the prophet is the +spiritual condition of those to whom he is sent. It is to be noted that +his mission presents itself to him from the outset in two aspects. In the +first place, he is a prophet to the whole house of Israel, including the +lost kingdom of the ten tribes, as well as the two sections of the kingdom +of Judah, those now in exile and those still remaining in their own land. +This is his ideal audience; the sweep of his prophecy is to embrace the +destinies of the nation as a whole, although but a small part be within +the reach of his spoken words. But in literal fact he is to be the prophet +of the exiles (ch. iii. 11); that is the sphere in which he has to make +proof of his ministry. These two audiences are for the most part not +distinguished in the mind of Ezekiel; he sees the ideal in the real, +regarding the little colony in which he lives as an epitome of the +national life. But in both aspects of his work the outlook is equally +dispiriting. If he looks forward to an active career amongst his fellow- +captives, he is given to know that "thorns and thistles" are with him and +that his dwelling is among scorpions (ch. ii. 6). Petty persecution and +rancorous opposition are the inevitable lot of a prophet there. And if he +extends his thoughts to the idealised nation he has to think of a people +whose character is revealed in a long history of rebellion and apostasy: +they are "the rebels who have rebelled against Me, they and their fathers +to this very day" (ch. ii. 3). The greatest difficulty he will have to +contend with is the impenetrability of the minds of his hearers to the +truths of his message. The barrier of a strange language suggests an +illustration of the impossibility of communicating spiritual ideas to such +men as he is sent to. But it is a far more hopeless barrier that separates +him from his people. "Not to a people of deep speech and heavy tongue art +thou sent; and not to many peoples whose language thou canst not +understand: if I had sent thee to _them_, _they_ would hear thee. But the +house of Israel will refuse to hear thee; for they refuse to hear Me: for +the whole house of Israel are hard of forehead and stout of heart" (ch. +iii. 5-7). The meaning is that the incapacity of the people is not +intellectual, but moral and spiritual. They can understand the prophet's +words, but they will not hear them because they dislike the truth which he +utters and have rebelled against the God who sent him. The hardening of +the national conscience which Isaiah foresaw as the inevitable result of +his own ministry is already accomplished, and Ezekiel traces it to its +source in a defect of the will, an aversion to the truths which express +the character of Jehovah. + +This fixed judgment on his contemporaries with which Ezekiel enters on his +work is condensed into one of those stereotyped expressions which abound +in his writings: "house of disobedience"(11)--a phrase which is afterwards +amplified in more than one elaborate review of the nation's past. It no +doubt sums up the result of much previous meditation on the state of +Israel and the possibility of a national reformation. If any hope had +hitherto lingered in Ezekiel's mind that the exiles might now respond to a +true word from Jehovah, it disappears in the clear insight which he +obtains into the state of their hearts. He sees that the time has not yet +come to win the people back to God by assurances of His compassion and the +nearness of His salvation. The breach between Jehovah and Israel has not +begun to be healed, and the prophet who stands on the side of God must +look for no sympathy from men. In the very act of his consecration his +mind is thus set in the attitude of uncompromising severity towards the +obdurate house of Israel: "Behold, I make thy face hard like their faces, +and thy forehead hard like theirs, like adamant harder than flint. Thou +shalt not fear them nor be dismayed at their countenance, for a +disobedient house are they" (ch. iii. 8, 9). + +3. The significance of the transaction in which he takes part is still +further impressed on the mind of the prophet by a symbolic act in which he +is made to signify his acceptance of the commission entrusted to him (chs. +ii. 8-iii. 3). He sees a hand extended to him holding the roll of a book, +and when the roll is spread out before him it is found to be written on +both sides with "lamentations and mourning and woe." In obedience to the +divine command he opens his mouth and eats the scroll, and finds to his +surprise that in spite of its contents its taste is "like honey for +sweetness." + +The meaning of this strange symbol appears to include two things. In the +first place it denotes the removal of the inward hindrance of which every +man must be conscious when he receives the call to be a prophet. Something +similar occurs in the inaugural vision of Isaiah and Jeremiah. The +impediment of which Isaiah was conscious was the uncleanness of his lips; +and this being removed by the touch of the hot coal from the altar, he is +filled with a new feeling of freedom and eagerness to engage in the +service of God. In the case of Jeremiah the hindrance was a sense of his +own weakness and unfitness for the arduous duties which were imposed on +him; and this again was taken away by the consecrating touch of Jehovah's +hand on his lips. The part of Ezekiel's experience with which we are +dealing is obviously parallel to these, although it is not possible to say +what feeling of incapacity was uppermost in his mind. Perhaps it was the +dread lest in him there should lurk something of that rebellious spirit +which was the characteristic of the race to which he belonged. He who had +been led to form so hard a judgment of his people could not but look with +a jealous eye on his own heart, and could not forget that he shared the +same sinful nature which made their rebellion possible. Accordingly the +book is presented to him in the first instance as a test of his obedience. +"But _thou_, son of man, hear what I say to thee; Be not disobedient like +the disobedient house: open thy mouth, and eat what I give thee" (ch. ii. +8). When the book proves sweet to his taste, he has the assurance that he +has been endowed with such sympathy with the thoughts of God that things +which to the natural mind are unwelcome become the source of a spiritual +satisfaction. Jeremiah had expressed the same strange delight in his work +in a striking passage which was doubtless familiar to Ezekiel: "When Thy +words were found I did eat them; and Thy word was to me the joy and +rejoicing of my heart: for I was called by Thy name, O Jehovah God of +hosts" (Jer. xv. 16). We have a still higher illustration of the same fact +in the life of our Lord, to whom it was meat and drink to do the will of +His Father, and who experienced a joy in the doing of it which was +peculiarly His own. It is the reward of the true service of God that +amidst all the hardships and discouragements which have to be endured the +heart is sustained by an inward joy springing from the consciousness of +working in fellowship with God. + +But in the second place the eating of the book undoubtedly signifies the +bestowal on the prophet of the gift of inspiration--that is, the power to +speak the words of Jehovah. "Son of man, eat this roll, and go speak to +the children of Israel.... Go, get thee to the house of Israel, and speak +with My words to them" (ch. iii. 1, 4). Now the call of a prophet does not +mean that his mind is charged with a certain body of doctrine, which he is +to deliver from time to time as circumstances require. All that can safely +be said about the prophetic inspiration is that it implies the faculty of +distinguishing the truth of God from the thoughts that naturally arise in +the prophet's own mind. Nor is there anything in Ezekiel's experience +which necessarily goes beyond this conception; although the incident of +the book has been interpreted in ways that burden him with a very crude +and mechanical theory of inspiration. Some critics have believed that the +book which he swallowed is the book he was afterwards to write, as if he +had reproduced in instalments what was delivered to him at this time. +Others, without going so far as this, find it at least significant that +one who was to be pre-eminently a literary prophet should conceive of the +word of the Lord as communicated to him in the form of a book. When one +writer speaks of "eigenthümliche Empfindungen im Schlunde"(12) as the +basis of the figure, he seems to come perilously near to resolving +inspiration into a nervous disease. All these representations go beyond a +fair construction of the prophet's meaning. The act is purely symbolic. +The book has nothing to do with the subject-matter of his prophecy, nor +does the eating of it mean anything more than the self-surrender of the +prophet to his vocation as a vehicle of the word of Jehovah. The idea that +the word of God becomes a living power in the inner being of the prophet +is also expressed by Jeremiah when he speaks of it as a "burning fire shut +up in his bones" (Jer. xx. 9); and Ezekiel's conception is similar. +Although he speaks as if he had once for all assimilated the word of God, +although he was conscious of a new power working within him, there is no +proof that he thought of the word of the Lord as dwelling in him otherwise +than as a spiritual impulse to utter the truth revealed to him from time +to time. That is the inspiration which all the prophets possess: "Jehovah +God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" (Amos iii. 8). + +4. It was not to be expected that a prophet so practical in his aims as +Ezekiel should be left altogether without some indication of the end to be +accomplished by his work. The ordinary incentives to an arduous public +career have indeed been denied to him. He knows that his mission contains +no promise of a striking or an immediate success, that he will be +misjudged and opposed by nearly all who hear him, and that he will have to +pursue his course without appreciation or sympathy. It has been impressed +on him that to declare God's message is an end in itself, a duty to be +discharged with no regard to its issues, "whether men hear or whether they +forbear." Like Paul he recognises that "necessity is laid upon him" to +preach the word of God. But there is one word which reveals to him the way +in which his ministry is to be made effective in the working out of +Jehovah's purpose with Israel. "Whether they hear or whether they forbear, +they shall know that a prophet hath been among them" (ii. 5). The +reference is mainly to the destruction of the nation which Ezekiel well +knew must form the chief burden of any true prophetic message delivered at +that time. He will be approved as a prophet, and recognised as what he is, +when his words are verified by the event. Does it seem a poor reward for +years of incessant contention with prejudice and unbelief? It was at all +events the only reward that was possible, but it was also to be the +beginning of better days. For these words have a wider significance than +their bearing on the prophet's personal position. + +It has been truly said that the preservation of the true religion after +the downfall of the nation depended on the fact that the event had been +clearly foretold. Two religions and two conceptions of God were then +struggling for the mastery in Israel. One was the religion of the +prophets, who set the moral holiness of Jehovah above every other +consideration, and affirmed that His righteousness must be vindicated even +at the cost of His people's destruction. The other was the popular +religion which clung to the belief that Jehovah could not for any reason +abandon His people without ceasing to be God. This conflict of principles +reached its climax in the time of Ezekiel, and it also found its solution. +The destruction of Jerusalem cleared the issues. It was then seen that the +teaching of the prophets afforded the only possible explanation of the +course of events. The Jehovah of the opposite religion was proved to be a +figment of the popular imagination; and there was no alternative between +accepting the prophetic interpretation of history and resigning all faith +in the destiny of Israel. Hence the recognition of Ezekiel, the last of +the old order of prophets, who had carried their threatenings on to the +eve of their accomplishment, was really a great crisis of religion. It +meant the triumph of the only conception of God on which the hope of a +better future could be built. Although the people might still be far from +the state of heart in which Jehovah could remove His chastening hand, the +first condition of national repentance was given as soon as it was +perceived that there had been prophets among them who had declared the +purpose of Jehovah. The foundation was also laid for a more fruitful +development of Ezekiel's activity. The word of the Lord had been in his +hands a power "to pluck up and to break down and to destroy" the old +Israel that would not know Jehovah; henceforward it was destined to "build +and plant" a new Israel inspired by a new ideal of holiness and a whole- +hearted repugnance to every form of idolatry. + +5. These then are the chief elements which enter into the remarkable +experience that made Ezekiel a prophet. Further disclosures of the nature +of his office were, however, necessary before he could translate his +vocation into a conscious plan of work. The departure of the theophany +appears to have left him in a state of mental prostration.(13) In +"bitterness and heat of spirit" he resumes his place amongst his fellow- +captives at Tel-abib, and sits among them like a man bewildered for seven +days. At the end of that time the effects of the ecstasy seem to pass +away, and more light breaks on him with regard to his mission. He realises +that it is to be largely a mission to individuals. He is appointed as a +watchman to the house of Israel, to warn the wicked from his way; and as +such he is held accountable for the fate of any soul that might miss the +way of life through failure of duty on his part. + +It has been supposed that this passage (ch. iii. 16-21) describes the +character of a short period of public activity, in which Ezekiel +endeavoured to act the part of a "reprover" (ver. 26) among the exiles. +This is considered to have been his first attempt to act on his +commission, and to have been continued until the prophet was convinced of +its hopelessness and in obedience to the divine command shut himself up in +his own house. But this view does not seem to be sufficiently borne out by +the terms of the narrative. The words rather represent a point of view +from which his whole ministry is surveyed, or an aspect of it which +possessed peculiar importance from the circumstances in which he was +placed. The idea of his position as a watchman responsible for individuals +may have been present to the prophet's mind from the time of his call; but +the practical development of that idea was not possible until the +destruction of Jerusalem had prepared men's minds to give heed to his +admonitions. Accordingly the second period of Ezekiel's work opens with a +fuller statement of the principles indicated in this section (ch. +xxxiii.). We shall therefore defer the consideration of these principles +till we reach the stage of the prophet's ministry at which their practical +significance emerges. + +6. The last six verses of the third chapter may be regarded either as +closing the account of Ezekiel's consecration or as the introduction to +the first part of his ministry, that which preceded the fall of Jerusalem. +They contain the description of a second trance, which appears to have +happened seven days after the first. The prophet seemed to himself to be +carried out in spirit to a certain plain near his residence in Tel-abib. +There the glory of Jehovah appears to him precisely as he had seen it in +his former vision by the river Kebar. He then receives the command to shut +himself up within his house. He is to be like a man bound with ropes, +unable to move about among his fellow-exiles. Moreover, the free use of +speech is to be interdicted; his tongue will be made to cleave to his +palate, so that he is as one "dumb." But as often as he receives a message +from Jehovah his mouth will be opened that he may declare it to the +rebellious house of Israel. + +Now if we compare ver. 26 with xxiv. 27 and xxxiii. 22, we find that this +state of intermittent dumbness continued till the day when the siege of +Jerusalem began, and was not finally removed till tidings were brought of +the capture of the city. The verses before us therefore throw light on the +prophet's demeanour during the first half of his ministry. What they +signify is his almost entire withdrawal from public life. Instead of being +like his great predecessors, a man living full in the public view, and +thrusting himself on men's notice when they least desired him, he is to +lead an isolated and a solitary life, a sign to the people rather than a +living voice.(14) From the sequel we gather that he excited sufficient +interest to induce the elders and others to visit him in his house to +inquire of Jehovah. We must also suppose that from time to time he emerged +from his retirement with a message for the whole community. It cannot, +indeed, be assumed that the chs. iv.-xxiv. contain an exact reproduction +of the addresses delivered on these occasions. Few of them profess to have +been uttered in public, and for the most part they give the impression of +having been intended for patient study on the written page rather than for +immediate oratorical effect. There is no reason to doubt that in the main +they embody the results of Ezekiel's prophetic experiences during the +period to which they are referred, although it may be impossible to +determine how far they were actually spoken at the time, and how far they +are merely written for the instruction of a wider audience. + +The strong figures used here to describe this state of seclusion appear to +reflect the prophet's consciousness of the restraints providentially +imposed on the exercise of his office. These restraints, however, were +moral, and not, as has sometimes been maintained, physical. The chief +element was the pronounced hostility and incredulity of the people. This, +combined with the sense of doom hanging over the nation, seems to have +weighed on the spirit of Ezekiel, and in the ecstatic state the incubus +lying upon him and paralysing his activity presents itself to his +imagination as if he were bound with ropes and afflicted with dumbness. +The representation finds a partial parallel in a later passage in the +prophet's history. From ch. xxix. 21 (which is the latest prophecy in the +whole book) we learn that the apparent non-fulfilment of his predictions +against Tyre had caused a similar hindrance to his public work, depriving +him of the boldness of speech characteristic of a prophet. And the opening +of the mouth given to him on that occasion by the vindication of his words +is clearly analogous to the removal of his silence by the news that +Jerusalem had fallen.(15) + + + + + +PART II. PROPHECIES RELATING MAINLY TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. + + + + +Chapter V. The End Foretold. Chapters iv.-vii. + + +With the fourth chapter we enter on the exposition of the first great +division of Ezekiel's prophecies. The chs. iv.-xxiv. cover a period of +about four and a half years, extending from the time of the prophet's call +to the commencement of the siege of Jerusalem. During this time Ezekiel's +thoughts revolved round one great theme--the approaching judgment on the +city and the nation. Through contemplation of this fact there was +disclosed to him the outline of a comprehensive theory of divine +providence, in which the destruction of Israel was seen to be the +necessary consequence of her past history and a necessary preliminary to +her future restoration. The prophecies may be classified roughly under +three heads. In the first class are those which exhibit the judgment +itself in ways fitted to impress the prophet and his hearers with a +conviction of its certainty; a second class is intended to demolish the +illusions and false ideals which possessed the minds of the Israelites and +made the announcement of disaster incredible; and a third and very +important class expounds the moral principles which were illustrated by +the judgment, and which show it to be a divine necessity. In the passage +which forms the subject of the present lecture the bare fact and certainty +of the judgment are set forth in word and symbol and with a minimum of +commentary, although even here the conception which Ezekiel had formed of +the moral situation is clearly discernible. + + + +I + + +The certainty of the national judgment seems to have been first impressed +on Ezekiel's mind in the form of a singular series of symbolic acts which +he conceived himself to be commanded to perform. The peculiarity of these +signs is that they represent simultaneously two distinct aspects of the +nation's fate--on the one hand the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem, and +on the other hand the state of exile which was to follow.(16) + +That the destruction of Jerusalem should occupy the first place in the +prophet's picture of national calamity requires no explanation. Jerusalem +was the heart and brain of the nation, the centre of its life and its +religion, and in the eyes of the prophets the fountain-head of its sin. +The strength of her natural situation, the patriotic and religious +associations which had gathered round her, and the smallness of her +subject province gave to Jerusalem a unique position among the mother- +cities of antiquity. And Ezekiel's hearers knew what he meant when he +employed the picture of a beleaguered city to set forth the judgment that +was to overtake them. That crowning horror of ancient warfare, the siege +of a fortified town, meant in this case something more appalling to the +imagination than the ravages of pestilence and famine and sword. The fate +of Jerusalem represented the disappearance of everything that had +constituted the glory and excellence of Israel's national existence. That +the light of Israel should be extinguished amidst the anguish and +bloodshed which must accompany an unsuccessful defence of the capital was +the most terrible element in Ezekiel's message, and here he sets it in the +forefront of his prophecy. + +The manner in which the prophet seeks to impress this fact on his +countrymen illustrates a peculiar vein of realism which runs through all +his thinking (ch. iv. 1-3). Being at a distance from Jerusalem, he seems +to feel the need of some visible emblem of the doomed city before he can +adequately represent the import of his prediction. He is commanded to take +a brick and portray upon it a walled city, surrounded by the towers, +mounds, and battering-rams which marked the usual operations of a +besieging army. Then he is to erect a plate of iron between him and the +city, and from behind this, with menacing gestures, he is as it were to +press on the siege. The meaning of the symbols is obvious. As the engines +of destruction appear on Ezekiel's diagram, at the bidding of Jehovah, so +in due time the Chaldæan army will be seen from the walls of Jerusalem, +led by the same unseen Power which now controls the acts of the prophet. +In the last act Ezekiel exhibits the attitude of Jehovah Himself, cut off +from His people by the iron wall of an inexorable purpose which no prayer +could penetrate. + +Thus far the prophet's actions, however strange they may appear to us, +have been simple and intelligible. But at this point a second sign is as +it were superimposed on the first, in order to symbolise an entirely +different set of facts--the hardship and duration of the Exile (vv. 4-8). +While still engaged in prosecuting the siege of the city, the prophet is +supposed to become at the same time the representative of the guilty +people and the victim of the divine judgment. He is to "bear their +iniquity"--that is, the punishment due to their sin. This is represented by +his lying bound on his left side for a number of days equal to the years +of Ephraim's banishment, and then on his right side for a time +proportionate to the captivity of Judah. Now the time of Judah's exile is +fixed at forty years, dating of course from the fall of the city. The +captivity of North Israel exceeds that of Judah by the interval between +the destruction of Samaria (722) and the fall of Jerusalem, a period which +actually measured about a hundred and thirty-five years. In the Hebrew +text, however, the length of Israel's captivity is given as three hundred +and ninety years--that is, it must have lasted for three hundred and fifty +years before that of Judah begins. This is obviously quite irreconcilable +with the facts of history, and also with the prophet's intention. He +cannot mean that the banishment of the northern tribes was to be +protracted for two centuries after that of Judah had come to an end, for +he uniformly speaks of the restoration of the two branches of the nation +as simultaneous. The text of the Greek translation helps us past this +difficulty. The Hebrew manuscript from which that version was made had the +reading a "hundred and ninety" instead of "three hundred and ninety" in +ver. 5. This alone yields a satisfactory sense, and the reading of the +Septuagint is now generally accepted as representing what Ezekiel actually +wrote. There is still a slight discrepancy between the hundred and thirty- +five years of the actual history and the hundred and fifty years expressed +by the symbol; but we must remember that Ezekiel is using round numbers +throughout, and moreover he has not as yet fixed the precise date of the +capture of Jerusalem when the last forty years are to commence.(17) + +In the third symbol (vv. 9-17) the two aspects of the judgment are again +presented in the closest possible combination. The prophet's food and +drink during the days when he is imagined to be lying on his side +represents on the one hand, by its being small in quantity and carefully +weighed and measured, the rigours of famine in Jerusalem during the +siege--"Behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they +shall eat bread by weight, and with anxiety; and drink water by measure, +and with horror" (ver. 16); on the other hand, by its mixed ingredients +and by the fuel used in its preparation, it typifies the unclean religious +condition of the people when in exile--"Even so shall the children of +Israel eat their food unclean among the heathen" (ver. 13). The meaning of +this threat is best explained by a passage in the book of Hosea. Speaking +of the Exile, Hosea says: "They shall not remain in the land of Jehovah; +but the children of Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and shall eat unclean +food in Assyria. They shall pour out no wine to Jehovah, nor shall they +lay out their sacrifices for Him: like the food of mourners shall their +food be; all that eat thereof shall be defiled: for their bread shall only +satisfy their hunger; it shall not come into the house of Jehovah" (Hos. +ix. 3, 4). The idea is that all food which has not been consecrated by +being presented to Jehovah in the sanctuary is necessarily unclean, and +those who eat of it contract ceremonial defilement. In the very act of +satisfying his natural appetite a man forfeits his religious standing. +This was the peculiar hardship of the state of exile, that a man must +become unclean, he must eat unconsecrated food unless he renounced his +religion and served the gods of the land in which he dwelt. Between the +time of Hosea and Ezekiel these ideas may have been somewhat modified by +the introduction of the Deuteronomic law, which expressly permits secular +slaughter at a distance from the sanctuary. But this did not lessen the +importance of a legal sanctuary for the common life of an Israelite. The +whole of a man's flocks and herds, the whole produce of his fields, had to +be sanctified by the presentation of firstlings and firstfruits at the +Temple before he could enjoy the reward of his industry with the sense of +standing in Jehovah's favour. Hence the destruction of the sanctuary or +the permanent exclusion of the worshippers from it reduced the whole life +of the people to a condition of uncleanness which was felt to be as great +a calamity as was a papal interdict in the Middle Ages. This is the fact +which is expressed in the part of Ezekiel's symbolism now before us. What +it meant for his fellow-exiles was that the religious disability under +which they laboured was to be continued for a generation. The whole life +of Israel was to become unclean until its inward state was made worthy of +the religious privileges now to be withdrawn. At the same time no one +could have felt the penalty more severely than Ezekiel himself, in whom +habits of ceremonial purity had become a second nature. The repugnance +which he feels at the loathsome manner in which he was at first directed +to prepare his food, and the profession of his own practice in exile, as +well as the concession made to his scrupulous sense of propriety (vv. +14-16), are all characteristic of one whose priestly training had made a +defect of ceremonial cleanness almost equivalent to a moral delinquency. + +The last of the symbols (ch. v. 1-4) represents the fate of the population +of Jerusalem when the city is taken. The shaving of the prophet's head and +beard is a figure for the depopulation of the city and country. By a +further series of acts, whose meaning is obvious, he shows how a third of +the inhabitants shall die of famine and pestilence during the siege, a +third shall be slain by the enemy when the city is captured, while the +remaining third shall be dispersed among the nations. Even these shall be +pursued by the sword of vengeance until but a few numbered individuals +survive, and of them again a part passes through the fire. The passage +reminds us of the last verse of the sixth chapter of Isaiah, which was +perhaps in Ezekiel's mind when he wrote: "And if a tenth still remain in +it [the land], it shall again pass through the fire: as a terebinth or an +oak whose stump is left at their felling: a holy seed shall be the stock +thereof" (Isa. vi. 13). At least the conception of a succession of sifting +judgments, leaving only a remnant to inherit the promise of the future, is +common to both prophets, and the symbol in Ezekiel is noteworthy as the +first expression of his steadfast conviction that further punishments were +in store for the exiles after the destruction of Jerusalem. + +It is clear that these signs could never have been enacted, either in view +of the people or in solitude, as they are here described. It may be +doubted whether the whole description is not purely ideal, representing a +process which passed through the prophet's mind, or was suggested to him +in the visionary state but never actually performed. That will always +remain a tenable view. An imaginary symbolic act is as legitimate a +literary device as an imaginary conversation. It is absurd to mix up the +question of the prophet's truthfulness with the question whether he did or +did not actually do what he conceives himself as doing. The attempt to +explain his action by catalepsy would take us but a little way, even if +the arguments adduced in favour of it were stronger than they are. Since +even a cataleptic patient could not have tied himself down on his side or +prepared and eaten his food in that posture, it is necessary in any case +to admit that there must be a considerable, though indeterminate, element +of literary imagination in the account given of the symbols. It is not +impossible that some symbolic representation of the siege of Jerusalem may +have actually been the first act in Ezekiel's ministry. In the +interpretation of the vision which immediately follows we shall find that +no notice is taken of the features which refer to exile, but only of those +which announce the siege of Jerusalem. It may therefore be the case that +Ezekiel did some such action as is here described, pointing to the fall of +Jerusalem, but that the whole was taken up afterwards in his imagination +and made into an ideal representation of the two great facts which formed +the burden of his earlier prophecy. + + + +II + + +It is a relief to turn from this somewhat fantastic, though for its own +purpose effective, exhibition of prophetic ideas to the impassioned +oracles in which the doom of the city and the nation is pronounced. The +first of these (ch. v. 5-17) is introduced here as the explanation of the +signs that have been described, in so far as they bear on the fate of +Jerusalem; but it has a unity of its own, and is a characteristic specimen +of Ezekiel's oratorical style. It consists of two parts: the first (vv. +5-10) deals chiefly with the reasons for the judgment on Jerusalem, and +the second (vv. 11-17) with the nature of the judgment itself. The chief +thought of the passage is the unexampled severity of the punishment which +is in store for Israel, as represented by the fate of the capital. A +calamity so unprecedented demands an explanation as unique as itself. +Ezekiel finds the ground of it in the signal honour conferred on Jerusalem +in her being set in the midst of the nations, in the possession of a +religion which expressed the will of the one God, and in the fact that she +had proved herself unworthy of her distinction and privileges and tried to +live as the nations around. "This is Jerusalem which I have set in the +midst of the nations, with the lands round about her. But she rebelled +against My judgments wickedly(18) more than the nations, and My statutes +more than [other] lands round about her: for they rejected My judgments, +and in My statutes they did not walk.... Therefore thus saith the Lord +Jehovah: Behold, even I am against you; and I will execute in thy midst +judgments before the nations, and will do in thy case what I have not done +[heretofore], and what I shall not do the like of any more, according to +all thy abominations" (vv. 5-9). The central position of Jerusalem is +evidently no figure of speech in the mouth of Ezekiel. It means that she +is so situated as to fulfil her destiny in the view of all the nations of +the world, who can read in her wonderful history the character of the God +who is above all gods. Nor can the prophet be fairly accused of +provincialism in thus speaking of Jerusalem's unrivalled physical and +moral advantages. The mountain ridge on which she stood lay almost across +the great highways of communication between the East and the West, between +the hoary seats of civilisation and the lands whither the course of empire +took its way. Ezekiel knew that Tyre was the centre of the old world's +commerce,(19) but he also knew that Jerusalem occupied a central situation +in the civilised world, and in that fact he rightly saw a providential +mark of the grandeur and universality of her religious mission. Her +calamities, too, were probably such as no other city experienced. The +terrible prediction of ver. 10, "Fathers shall eat sons in the midst of +thee, and sons shall eat fathers," seems to have been literally fulfilled. +"The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were +their meat in the destruction of the daughter of My people" (Lam. iv. 10). +It is likely enough that the annals of Assyrian conquest cover many a tale +of woe which in point of mere physical suffering paralleled the atrocities +of the siege of Jerusalem. But no other nation had a conscience so +sensitive as Israel, or lost so much by its political annihilation. The +humanising influences of a pure religion had made Israel susceptible of a +kind of anguish which ruder communities were spared. + +The sin of Jerusalem is represented after Ezekiel's manner as on the one +hand transgression of the divine commandments, and on the other defilement +of the Temple through false worship. These are ideas which we shall +frequently meet in the course of the book, and they need not detain us +here. The prophet proceeds (vv. 11-17) to describe in detail the +relentless punishment which the divine vengeance is to inflict on the +inhabitants and the city. The jealousy, the wrath, the indignation of +Jehovah, which are represented as "satisfied" by the complete destruction +of the people, belong to the limitations of the conception of God which +Ezekiel had. It was impossible at that time to interpret such an event as +the fall of Jerusalem in a religious sense otherwise than as a vehement +outburst of Jehovah's anger, expressing the reaction of His holy nature +against the sin of idolatry. There is indeed a great distance between the +attitude of Ezekiel towards the hapless city and the yearning pity of +Christ's lament over the sinful Jerusalem of His time. Yet the first was a +step towards the second. Ezekiel realised intensely that part of God's +character which it was needful to enforce in order to beget in his +countrymen the deep horror at the sin of idolatry which characterised the +later Judaism. The best commentary on the latter part of this chapter is +found in those parts of the book of Lamentations which speak of the state +of the city and the survivors after its overthrow. There we see how +quickly the stern judgment produced a more chastened and beautiful type of +piety than had ever been prevalent before. Those pathetic utterances, in +which patriotism and religion are so finely blended, are like the timid +and tentative advances of a child's heart towards a parent who has ceased +to punish but has not begun to caress. This and much else that is true and +ennobling in the later religion of Israel is rooted in the terrifying +sense of the divine anger against sin so powerfully represented in the +preaching of Ezekiel. + + + +III + + +The next two chapters may be regarded as pendants to the theme which is +dealt with in this opening section of the book of Ezekiel. In the fourth +and fifth chapters the prophet had mainly the city in his eye as the focus +of the nation's life; in the sixth he turns his eye to the land which had +shared the sin, and must suffer the punishment, of the capital. It is, in +its first part (vv. 2-10), an apostrophe to the mountain land of Israel, +which seems to stand out before the exile's mind with its mountains and +hills, its ravines and valleys, in contrast to the monotonous plain of +Babylonia which stretched around him. But these mountains were familiar to +the prophet as the seats of the rural idolatry in Israel. The word +_bamah_, which means properly "the height," had come to be used as the +name of an idolatrous sanctuary. These sanctuaries were probably +Canaanitish in origin; and although by Israel they had been consecrated to +the worship of Jehovah, yet He was worshipped there in ways which the +prophets pronounced hateful to Him. They had been destroyed by Josiah, but +must have been restored to their former use during the revival of +heathenism which followed his death. It is a lurid picture which rises +before the prophet's imagination as he contemplates the judgment of this +provincial idolatry: the altars laid waste, the "sun-pillars"(20) broken, +and the idols surrounded by the corpses of men who had fled to their +shrines for protection and perished at their feet. This demonstration of +the helplessness of the rustic divinities to save their sanctuaries and +their worshippers will be the means of breaking the rebellious heart and +the whorish eyes that had led Israel so far astray from her true Lord, and +will produce in exile the self-loathing which Ezekiel always regards as +the beginning of penitence. + +But the prophet's passion rises to a higher pitch, and he hears the +command "Clap thy hands, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Aha for the +abominations of the house of Israel!" These are gestures and exclamations, +not of indignation, but of contempt and triumphant scorn. The same feeling +and even the same gestures are ascribed to Jehovah Himself in another +passage of highly charged emotion (ch. xxi. 17). And it is only fair to +remember that it is the anticipation of the victory of Jehovah's cause +that fills the mind of the prophet at such moments and seems to deaden the +sense of human sympathy within him. At the same time the victory of +Jehovah was the victory of prophecy, and in so far Smend may be right in +regarding the words as throwing light on the intensity of the antagonism +in which prophecy and the popular religion then stood. The devastation of +the land is to be effected by the same instruments as were at work in the +destruction of the city: first the sword of the Chaldæans, then famine and +pestilence among those who escape, until the whole of Israel's ancient +territory lies desolate from the southern steppes to Riblah in the +north.(21) + +Ch. vii. is one of those singled out by Ewald as preserving most +faithfully the spirit and language of Ezekiel's earlier utterances. Both +in thought and expression it exhibits a freedom and animation seldom +attained in Ezekiel's writings, and it is evident that it must have been +composed under keen emotion. It is comparatively free from those +stereotyped phrases which are elsewhere so common, and the style falls at +times into the rhythm which is characteristic of Hebrew poetry. Ezekiel +hardly perhaps attains to perfect mastery of poetic form, and even here we +may be sensible of a lack of power to blend a series of impressions and +images into an artistic unity. The vehemence of his feeling hurries him +from one conception to another, without giving full expression to any, or +indicating clearly the connection that leads from one to the other. This +circumstance, and the corrupt condition of the text together, make the +chapter in some parts unintelligible, and as a whole one of the most +difficult in the book. In its present position it forms a fitting +conclusion to the opening section of the book. All the elements of the +judgment which have just been foretold are gathered up in one outburst of +emotion, producing a song of triumph in which the prophet seems to stand +in the uproar of the final catastrophe and exult amid the crash and wreck +of the old order which is passing away. + +The passage is divided into five stanzas, which may originally have been +approximately equal in length, although the first is now nearly twice as +long as any of the others.(22) + +i. Vv. 2-9.--The first verse strikes the keynote of the whole poem; it is +the inevitableness and the finality of the approaching dissolution. A +striking phrase of Amos(23) is first taken up and expanded in accordance +with the anticipations with which the previous chapters have now +familiarised us: "An end is come, the end is come on the four skirts of +the land." The poet already hears the tumult and confusion of the battle; +the vintage songs of the Judæan peasant are silenced, and with the din and +fury of war the day of the Lord draws near. + +ii. Vv. 10-13.--The prophet's thoughts here revert to the present, and he +notes the eager interest with which men both in Judah and Babylon are +pursuing the ordinary business of life and the vain dreams of political +greatness. "The diadem flourishes, the sceptre blossoms, arrogance shoots +up." These expressions must refer to the efforts of the new rulers of +Jerusalem to restore the fortunes of the nation and the glories of the old +kingdom which had been so greatly tarnished by the recent captivity. +Things are going bravely, they think; they are surprised at their own +success; they hope that the day of small things will grow into the day of +things greater than those which are past. The following verse is +untranslatable; probably the original words, if we could recover them, +would contain some pointed and scornful antithesis to these futile and +vain-glorious anticipations. The allusion to "buyers and sellers" (ver. +12) may possibly be quite general, referring only to the absorbing +interest which men continue to take in their possessions, heedless of the +impending judgment.(24) But the facts that the advantage is assumed to be +on the side of the buyer and that the seller expects to return to his +heritage make it probable that the prophet is thinking of the forced sales +by the expatriated nobles of their estates in Palestine, and to their +deeply cherished resolve to right themselves when the time of their exile +is over. All such ambitions, says the prophet, are vain--"the seller shall +not return to what he sold, and a man shall not by wrong preserve his +living." In any case Ezekiel evinces here, as elsewhere, a certain +sympathy with the exiled aristocracy, in opposition to the pretensions of +the new men who had succeeded to their honours. + +iii. Vv. 14-18.--The next scene that rises before the prophet's vision is +the collapse of Judah's military preparations in the hour of danger. Their +army exists but on paper. There is much blowing of trumpets and much +organising, but no men to go forth to battle. A blight rests on all their +efforts; their hands are paralysed and their hearts unnerved by the sense +that "wrath rests on all their pomp." Sword, famine, and pestilence, the +ministers of Jehovah's vengeance, shall devour the inhabitants of the city +and the country, until but a few survivors on the tops of the mountains +remain to mourn over the universal desolation. + +iv. Vv. 19-22.--At present the inhabitants of Jerusalem are proud of the +ill-gotten and ill-used wealth stored up within her, and doubtless the +exiles cast covetous eyes on the luxury which may still have prevailed +amongst the upper classes in the capital. But of what avail will all this +treasure be in the evil day now so near at hand? It will but add mockery +to their sufferings to be surrounded by gold and silver which can do +nothing to allay the pangs of hunger. It will be cast in the streets as +refuse, for it cannot save them in the day of Jehovah's anger. Nay, more, +it will become the prize of the most ruthless of the heathen (the +Chaldæans); and when in the eagerness of their lust for gold they ransack +the Temple treasury and so desecrate the Holy Place, Jehovah will avert +His face and suffer them to work their will. The curse of Jehovah rests on +the silver and gold of Jerusalem, which has been used for the making of +idolatrous images, and now is made to them an unclean thing. + +v. Vv. 23-27.--The closing strophe contains a powerful description of the +dismay and despair that will seize all classes in the state as the day of +wrath draws near. Calamity after calamity comes, rumour follows hard on +rumour, and the heads of the nation are distracted and cease to exercise +the functions of leadership. The recognised guides of the people--the +prophets, the priests, and the wise men--have no word of counsel or +direction to offer; the prophet's vision, the priest's traditional lore, +and the wise man's sagacity are alike at fault. So the king and the +grandees are filled with stupefaction; and the common people, deprived of +their natural leaders, sit down in helpless dejection. Thus shall +Jerusalem be recompensed according to her doings. "The land is full of +bloodshed, and the city of violence"; and in the correspondence between +desert and retribution men shall be made to acknowledge the operation of +the divine righteousness. "They shall know that I am Jehovah." + + + +IV + + +It may be useful at this point to note certain theological principles +which already begin to appear in this earliest of Ezekiel's prophecies. +Reflection on the nature and purpose of the divine dealings we have seen +to be a characteristic of his work; and even those passages which we have +considered, although chiefly devoted to an enforcement of the fact of +judgment, present some features of the conception of Israel's history +which had been formed in his mind. + +1. We observe in the first place that the prophet lays great stress on the +world-wide significance of the events which are to befall Israel. This +thought is not as yet developed, but it is clearly present. The relation +between Jehovah and Israel is so peculiar that He is known to the nations +in the first instance only as Israel's God, and thus His being and +character have to be learned from His dealings with His own people. And +since Jehovah is the only true God and must be worshipped as such +everywhere, the history of Israel has an interest for the world such as +that of no other nation has. She was placed in the centre of the nations +in order that the knowledge of God might radiate from her through all the +world; and now that she has proved unfaithful to her mission, Jehovah must +manifest His power and His character by an unexampled work of judgment. +Even the destruction of Israel is a demonstration to the universal +conscience of mankind of what true divinity is. + +2. But the judgment has of course a purpose and a meaning for Israel +herself, and both purposes are summed up in the recurring formula "Ye +[they] shall know that I am Jehovah," or "that I, Jehovah, have spoken." +These two phrases express precisely the same idea, although from slightly +different starting-points. It is assumed that Jehovah's personality is to +be identified by His word spoken through the prophets. He is known to men +through the revelation of Himself in the prophets' utterances. "Ye shall +know that I, Jehovah, have spoken" means therefore, Ye shall know that it +is I, the God of Israel and the Ruler of the universe, who speak these +things. In other words, the harmony between prophecy and providence +guarantees the source of the prophet's message. The shorter phrase "Ye +shall know that I am Jehovah" may mean Ye shall know that I who now speak +am truly Jehovah, the God of Israel. The prejudices of the people would +have led them to deny that the power which dictated Ezekiel's prophecy +could be their God; but this denial, together with the false idea of +Jehovah on which it rests, shall be destroyed for ever when the prophet's +words come true. + +There is of course no doubt that Ezekiel conceived Jehovah as endowed with +the plenitude of deity, or that in his view the name expressed all that we +mean by the word God. Nevertheless, historically the name Jehovah is a +proper name, denoting the God who is the God of Israel. Renan has ventured +on the assertion that a deity with a proper name is necessarily a false +god. The statement perhaps measures the difference between the God of +revealed religion and the god who is an abstraction, an expression of the +order of the universe, who exists only in the mind of the man who names +him. The God of revelation is a living person, with a character and will +of His own, capable of being known by man. It is the distinction of +revelation that it dares to regard God as an individual with an inner life +and nature of His own, independent of the conception men may form of Him. +Applied to such a Being, a personal name may be as true and significant as +the name which expresses the character and individuality of a man. Only +thus can we understand the historical process by which the God who was +first manifested as the deity of a particular nation preserves His +personal identity with the God who in Christ is at last revealed as the +God of the spirits of all flesh. The knowledge of Jehovah of which Ezekiel +speaks is therefore at once a knowledge of the character of the God whom +Israel professed to serve, and a knowledge of that which constitutes true +and essential divinity.(25) + +3. The prophet, in ch. vi. 8-10, proceeds one step further in delineating +the effect of the judgment on the minds of the survivors. The fascination +of idolatry for the Israelites is conceived as produced by that radical +perversion of the religious sense which the prophets call "whoredom"--a +sensuous delight in the blessings of nature, and an indifference to the +moral element which can alone preserve either religion or human love from +corruption. The spell shall at last be broken in the new knowledge of +Jehovah which is produced by calamity; and the heart of the people, +purified from its delusions, shall turn to Him who has smitten them, as +the only true God. "When your fugitives from the sword are among the +nations, when they are scattered through the lands, then shall your +fugitives remember Me amongst the nations whither they have been carried +captive, when I break their heart that goes awhoring from Me, and their +whorish eyes which went after their idols." When the idolatrous propensity +is thus eradicated, the conscience of Israel will turn inwards on itself, +and in the light of its new knowledge of God will for the first time read +its own history aright. The beginnings of a new spiritual life will be +made in the bitter self-condemnation which is one side of the national +repentance. "They shall loathe themselves for all the evil that they have +committed in all their abominations." + + + + +Chapter VI. Your House Is Left Unto You Desolate. Chapters viii.-xi. + + +One of the most instructive phases of religious belief among the +Israelites of the seventh century was the superstitious regard in which +the Temple at Jerusalem was held. Its prestige as the metropolitan +sanctuary had no doubt steadily increased from the time when it was built. +But it was in the crisis of the Assyrian invasion that the popular +sentiment in favour of its peculiar sanctity was transmuted into a +fanatical faith in its inherent inviolability. It is well known that +during the whole course of this invasion the prophet Isaiah had +consistently taught that the enemy should never set foot within the +precincts of the Holy City--that, on the contrary, the attempt to seize it +would prove to be the signal for his annihilation. The striking fulfilment +of this prediction in the sudden destruction of Sennacherib's army had an +immense effect on the religion of the time. It restored the faith in +Jehovah's omnipotence which was already giving way, and it granted a new +lease of life to the very errors which it ought to have extinguished. For +here, as in so many other cases, what was a spiritual faith in one +generation became a superstition in the next. Indifferent to the divine +truths which gave meaning to Isaiah's prophecy, the people changed his +sublime faith in the living God working in history into a crass confidence +in the material symbol which had been the means of expressing it to their +minds. Henceforth it became a fundamental tenet of the current creed that +the Temple and the city which guarded it could never fall into the hands +of an enemy; and any teaching which assailed that belief was felt to +undermine confidence in the national deity. In the time of Jeremiah and +Ezekiel this superstition existed in unabated vigour, and formed one of +the greatest hindrances to the acceptance of their teaching. "The Temple +of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are these!" +was the cry of the benighted worshippers as they thronged to its courts to +seek the favour of Jehovah (Jer. vii. 4). The same state of feeling must +have prevailed among Ezekiel's fellow-exiles. To the prophet himself, +attached as he was to the worship of the Temple, it may have been a +thought almost too hard to bear that Jehovah should abandon the only place +of His legitimate worship. Amongst the rest of the captives the faith in +its infallibility was one of the illusions which must be overthrown before +their minds could perceive the true drift of his teaching. In his first +prophecy the fact had just been touched on, but merely as an incident in +the fall of Jerusalem. About a year later, however, he received a new +revelation, in which he learned that the destruction of the Temple was no +mere incidental consequence of the capture of the city, but a main object +of the calamity. The time was come when judgment must begin at the house +of God. + +The weird vision in which this truth was conveyed to the prophet is said +to have occurred during a visit of the elders to Ezekiel in his own house. +In their presence he fell into a trance, in which the events now to be +considered passed before him; and after the trance was removed he +recounted the substance of the vision to the exiles. This statement has +been somewhat needlessly called in question, on the ground that after so +protracted an ecstasy the prophet would not be likely to find his visitors +still in their places. But this matter-of-fact criticism overreaches +itself. We have no means of determining how long it would take for this +series of events to be realised. If we may trust anything to the analogy +of dreams--and of all conditions to which ordinary men are subject the +dream is surely the closest analogy to the prophetic ecstasy--the whole may +have passed in an incredibly short space of time. If the statement were +untrue, it is difficult to see what Ezekiel would have gained by making +it. If the whole vision were a fiction, this must of course be fictitious +too; but even so it seems a very superfluous piece of invention. + +We prefer, therefore, to regard the vision as real, and the assigned +situation as historical; and the fact that it is recorded suggests that +there must be some connection between the object of the visit and the +burden of the revelation which was then communicated. It is not difficult +to imagine points of contact between them. Ewald has conjectured that the +occasion of the visit may have been some recent tidings from Jerusalem +which had opened the eyes of the "elders" to the real relation that +existed between them and their brethren at home. If they had ever +cherished any illusions on the point, they had certainly been disabused of +them before Ezekiel had this vision. They were aware, whether the +information was recent or not, that they were absolutely disowned by the +new authorities in Jerusalem, and that it was impossible that they should +ever come back peaceably to their old place in the state. This created a +problem which they could not solve, and the fact that Ezekiel had +announced the fall of Jerusalem may have formed a bond of sympathy between +him and his brethren in exile which drew them to him in their perplexity. +Some such hypothesis gives at all events a fuller significance to the +closing part of the vision, where the attitude of the men in Jerusalem is +described, and where the exiles are taught that the hope of Israel's +future lies with them. It is the first time that Ezekiel has distinguished +between the fates in store for the two sections of the people, and it +would almost appear as if the promotion of the exiles to the first place +in the true Israel was a new revelation to him. Twice during this vision +he is moved to intercede for the "remnant of Israel," as if the only hope +of a new people of God lay in sparing at least some of those who were left +in the land. But the burden of the message that now comes to him is that +in the spiritual sense the true remnant of Israel is not in Judæa, but +among the exiles in Babylon. It was there that the new Israel was to be +formed, and the land was to be the heritage, not of those who clung to it +and exulted in the misfortunes of their banished brethren, but of those +who under the discipline of exile were first prepared to use the land as +Jehovah's holiness demanded. + +The vision is interesting, in the first place, on account of the glimpse +it affords of the state of mind prevailing in influential circles in +Jerusalem at this time. There is no reason whatever to doubt that here in +the form of a vision we have reliable information regarding the actual +state of matters when Ezekiel wrote. It has been supposed by some critics +that the description of the idolatries in the Temple does not refer to +contemporary practices, but to abuses that had been rife in the days of +Manasseh and had been put a stop to by Josiah's reformation. But the +vision loses half its meaning if it is taken as merely an idealised +representation of all the sins that had polluted the Temple in the course +of its history. The names of those who are seen must be names of living +men known to Ezekiel and his contemporaries, and the sentiments put in +their mouth, especially in the latter part of the vision, are suitable +only to the age in which he lived. It is very probable that the +description in its general features would _also_ apply to the days of +Manasseh; but the revival of idolatry which followed the death of Josiah +would naturally take the form of a restoration of the illegal cults which +had flourished unchecked under his grandfather. Ezekiel's own experience +before his captivity, and the steady intercourse which had been maintained +since, would supply him with the material which in the ecstatic condition +is wrought up into this powerful picture. + +The thing that surprises us most is the prevailing conviction amongst the +ruling classes that "Jehovah had forsaken the land." These men seem to +have partly emancipated themselves, as politicians in Israel were apt to +do, from the restraints and narrowness of the popular religion. To them it +was a conceivable thing that Jehovah should abandon His people. And yet +life was worth living and fighting for apart from Jehovah. It was of +course a merely selfish life, not inspired by national ideals, but simply +a clinging to place and power. The wish was father to the thought; men who +so readily yielded to the belief in Jehovah's absence were very willing to +be persuaded of its truth. The religion of Jehovah had always imposed a +check on social and civic wrong, and men whose power rested on violence +and oppression could not but rejoice to be rid of it. So they seem to have +acquiesced readily enough in the conclusion to which so many circumstances +seemed to point, that Jehovah had ceased to interest Himself either for +good or evil in them and their affairs. Still, the wide acceptance of a +belief like this, so repugnant to all the religious ideas of the ancient +world, seems to require for its explanation some fact of contemporary +history. It has been thought that it arose from the disappearance of the +ark of Jehovah from the Temple. It seems from the third chapter of +Jeremiah that the ark was no longer in existence in Josiah's reign, and +that the want of it was felt as a grave religious loss. It is not +improbable that this circumstance, in connection with the disasters which +had marked the last days of the kingdom, led in many minds to the fear and +in some to the hope that along with His most venerable symbol Jehovah +Himself had vanished from their midst. + +It should be noticed that the feeling described was only one of several +currents that ran in the divided society of Jerusalem. It is quite a +different point of view that is presented in the taunt quoted in ch. xi. +15, that the exiles were far from Jehovah, and had therefore lost their +right to their possessions. But the religious despair is not only the most +startling fact that we have to look at; it is also the one that is made +most prominent in the vision. And the divine answer to it given through +Ezekiel is that the conviction is true; Jehovah _has_ forsaken the land. +But in the first place the cause of His departure is found in those very +practices for which it was made the excuse; and in the second, although He +has ceased to dwell in the midst of His people, He has lost neither the +power nor the will to punish their iniquities. To impress these truths +first on his fellow-exiles and then on the whole nation is the chief +object of the chapter before us. + +Now we find that the general sense of God-forsakenness expressed itself +principally in two directions. On the one hand it led to the +multiplication of false objects of worship to supply the place of Him who +was regarded as the proper tutelary Divinity of Israel; on the other hand +it produced a reckless, devil-may-care spirit of resistance against any +odds, such as was natural to men who had only material interests to fight +for, and nothing to trust in but their own right hand. Syncretism in +religion and fatalism in politics--these were the twin symptoms of the +decay of faith among the upper classes in Jerusalem. But these belong to +two different parts of the vision which we must now distinguish. + + + +I + + +The first part deals with the departure of Jehovah as caused by religious +offences perpetrated in the Temple, and with the return of Jehovah to +destroy the city on account of these offences. The prophet is transported +in "visions of God" to Jerusalem, and placed in the outer court near the +northern gate, outside of which was the site where the "image of Jealousy" +had stood in the time of Manasseh. Near him stands the appearance which he +had learned to recognise as the glory of Jehovah, signifying that Jehovah +has, for a purpose not yet disclosed, revisited His Temple. But first +Ezekiel must be made to see the state of things which exists in this +Temple which had once been the seat of God's presence. Looking through the +gate to the north, he discovers that the image of Jealousy(26) has been +restored to its old place. This is the first and apparently the least +heinous of the abominations that defiled the sanctuary. + +The second scene is the only one of the four which represents a secret +cult. Partly perhaps for that reason it strikes our minds as the most +repulsive of all; but that was obviously not Ezekiel's estimate of it. +There are greater abominations to follow. It is difficult to understand +the particulars of Ezekiel's description, especially in the Hebrew text +(the LXX. is simpler); but it seems impossible to escape the impression +that there was something obscene in a worship where idolatry appears as +ashamed of itself. The essential fact, however, is that the very highest +and most influential men in the land were addicted to a form of +heathenism, whose objects of worship were pictures of "horrid creeping +things, and cattle, and all the gods of the house of Israel." The name of +one of these men, the leader in this superstition, is given, and is +significant of the state of life in Jerusalem shortly before its fall. +Jaazaniah was the son of Shaphan, who is probably identical with the +chancellor of Josiah's reign whose sympathy with the prophetic teaching +was evinced by his zeal in the cause of reform. We read of other members +of the family who were faithful to the national religion, such as his son +Ahikam, also a zealous reformer, and his grandson Gedaliah, Jeremiah's +friend and patron, and the governor appointed over Judah by Nebuchadnezzar +after the taking of the city. The family was thus divided both in religion +and politics. While one branch was devoted to the worship of Jehovah and +favoured submission to the king of Babylon, Jaazaniah belonged to the +opposite party and was the ringleader in a peculiarly obnoxious form of +idolatry.(27) + +The third "abomination" is a form of idolatry widely diffused over Western +Asia--the annual mourning for Tammuz. Tammuz was originally a Babylonian +deity (Dumuzi), but his worship is specially identified with Phoenicia, +whence under the name Adonis it was introduced into Greece. The mourning +celebrates the death of the god, which is an emblem of the decay of the +earth's productive powers, whether due to the scorching heat of the sun or +to the cold of winter. It seems to have been a comparatively harmless rite +of nature-religion, and its popularity among the women of Jerusalem at +this time may be due to the prevailing mood of despondency which found +vent in the sympathetic contemplation of that aspect of nature which most +suggests decay and death. + +The last and greatest of the abominations practised in and near the Temple +is the worship of the sun. The peculiar enormity of this species of +idolatry can hardly lie in the object of adoration; it is to be sought +rather in the place where it was practised, and in the rank of those who +took part in it, who were probably priests. Standing between the porch and +the altar, with their backs to the Temple, these men unconsciously +expressed the deliberate rejection of Jehovah which was involved in their +idolatry. The worship of the heavenly bodies was probably imported into +Israel from Assyria and Babylon, and its prevalence in the later years of +the monarchy was due to political rather than religious influences. The +gods of these imperial nations were esteemed more potent than those of the +states which succumbed to their power, and hence men who were losing +confidence in their national deity naturally sought to imitate the +religions of the most powerful peoples known to them.(28) + +In the arrangement of the four specimens of the religious practices which +prevailed in Jerusalem, Ezekiel seems to proceed from the most familiar +and explicable to the more outlandish defections from the purity of the +national faith. At the same time his description shows how different +classes of society were implicated in the sin of idolatry--the elders, the +women, and the priests. During all this time the glory of Jehovah has +stood in the court, and there is something very impressive in the picture +of these infatuated men and women preoccupied with their unholy devotions +and all unconscious of the presence of Him whom they deemed to have +forsaken the land. To the open eye of the prophet the meaning of the +vision must be already clear, but the sentence comes from the mouth of +Jehovah Himself: "Hast thou seen, Son of man? Is it too small a thing for +the house of Judah to practise the abominations which they have here +practised, that they must also fill the land with violence, and [so] +provoke Me again to anger? So will I act towards them in anger: My eye +shall not pity, nor will I spare" (ch. viii. 17, 18). + + ------------------------------------- + +The last words introduce the account of the punishment of Jerusalem, which +is given of course in the symbolic form suggested by the scenery of the +vision. Jehovah has meanwhile risen from His throne near the cherubim, and +stands on the threshold of the Temple. There He summons to His side the +destroyers who are to execute His purpose--six angels, each with a weapon +of destruction in his hand. A seventh of higher rank clothed in linen +appears with the implements of a scribe in his girdle. These stand "beside +the brazen altar," and await the commands of Jehovah. The first act of the +judgment is a massacre of the inhabitants of the city, without distinction +of age or rank or sex. But, in accordance with his strict view of the +divine righteousness, Ezekiel is led to conceive of this last judgment as +discriminating carefully between the righteous and the wicked. All those +who have inwardly separated themselves from the guilt of the city by +hearty detestation of the iniquities perpetrated in its midst are +distinguished by a mark on their foreheads before the work of slaughter +begins. What became of this faithful remnant it does not belong to the +vision to declare. Beginning with the twenty men before the porch, the +destroying angels follow the man with the inkhorn through the streets of +the city, and slay all on whom he has not set his mark. When the +messengers have gone out on their dread errand, Ezekiel, realising the +full horror of a scene which he dare not describe, falls prostrate before +Jehovah, deprecating the outbreak of indignation which threatened to +extinguish "the remnant of Israel." He is reassured by the declaration +that the guilt of Judah and Israel demands no less a punishment than this, +because the notion that Jehovah had forsaken the land had opened the +floodgates of iniquity, and filled the land with bloodshed and the city +with oppression. Then the man in the linen robes returns and announces, +"It is done as Thou hast commanded." + +The second act of the judgment is the destruction of Jerusalem by fire. +This is symbolised by the scattering over the city of burning coals taken +from the altar-hearth under the throne of God. The man with the linen +garments is directed to step between the wheels and take out fire for this +purpose. The description of the execution of this order is again carried +no further than what actually takes place before the prophet's eyes: the +man took the fire and went out. In the place where we might have expected +to have an account of the destruction of the city, we have a second +description of the appearance and motions of the _merkaba_, the purpose of +which it is difficult to divine. Although it deviates slightly from the +account in ch. i., the differences appear to have no significance, and +indeed it is expressly said to be the same phenomenon. The whole passage +is certainly superfluous, and might be omitted but for the difficulty of +imagining any motive that would have tempted a scribe to insert it. We +must keep in mind the possibility that this part of the book had been +committed to writing before the final redaction of Ezekiel's prophecies, +and the description in vv. 8-17 may have served a purpose there which is +superseded by the fuller narrative which we now possess in ch. i. + +In this way Ezekiel penetrates more deeply into the inner meaning of the +judgment on city and people whose external form he had announced in his +earlier prophecy. It must be admitted that Jehovah's strange work bears to +our minds a more appalling aspect when thus presented in symbols than the +actual calamity would bear when effected through the agency of second +causes. Whether it had the same effect on the mind of a Hebrew, who hardly +believed in second causes, is another question. In any case it gives no +ground for the charge made against Ezekiel of dwelling with a malignant +satisfaction on the most repulsive features of a terrible picture. He is +indeed capable of a rigorous logic in exhibiting the incidence of the law +of retribution which was to him the necessary expression of the divine +righteousness. That it included the death of every sinner and the +overthrow of a city that had become a scene of violence and cruelty was to +him a self-evident truth, and more than this the vision does not teach. On +the contrary, it contains traits which tend to moderate the inevitable +harshness of the truth conveyed. With great reticence it allows the +execution of the judgment to take place behind the scenes, giving only +those details which were necessary to suggest its nature. Whilst it is +being carried out the attention of the reader is engaged in the presence +of Jehovah, or his mind is occupied with the principles which made the +punishment a moral necessity. The prophet's expostulations with Jehovah +show that he was not insensible to the miseries of his people, although he +saw them to be inevitable. Further, this vision shows as clearly as any +passage in his writings the injustice of the view which represents him as +more concerned for petty details of ceremonial than for the great moral +interests of a nation. If any feeling expressed in the vision is to be +regarded as Ezekiel's own, then indignation against outrages on human life +and liberty must be allowed to weigh more with him than offences against +ritual purity. And, finally, it is clearly one object of the vision to +show that in the destruction of Jerusalem no individual shall be involved +who is not also implicated in the guilt which calls down wrath upon her. + + + +II + + +The second part of the vision (ch. xi.) is but loosely connected with the +first. Here Jerusalem still exists, and men are alive who must certainly +have perished in the "visitation of the city" if the writer had still kept +himself within the limits of his previous conception. But in truth the two +have little in common, except the Temple, which is the scene of both, and +the cherubim, whose movements mark the transition from the one to the +other. The glory of Jehovah is already departing from the house when it is +stayed at the entrance of the east gate to give the prophet his special +message to the exiles. + +Here we are introduced to the more political aspect of the situation in +Jerusalem. The twenty-five men who are gathered in the east gate of the +Temple are clearly the leading statesmen in the city; and two of them, +whose names are given, are expressly designated as "princes of the +people." They are apparently met in conclave to deliberate on public +matters, and a word from Jehovah lays open to the prophet the nature of +their projects. "These are the men that plan ruin, and hold evil counsel +in this city." The evil counsel is undoubtedly the project of rebellion +against the king of Babylon which must have been hatched at this time and +which broke out into open revolt about three years later. The counsel was +evil because directly opposed to that which Jeremiah was giving at the +time in the name of Jehovah. But Ezekiel also throws invaluable light on +the mood of the men who were urging the king along the path which led to +ruin. "Are not the houses recently built?"(29) they say, congratulating +themselves on their success in repairing the damage done to the city in +the time of Jehoiachin. The image of the pot and the flesh is generally +taken to express the feeling of easy security in the fortifications of +Jerusalem with which these light-hearted politicians embarked on a contest +with Nebuchadnezzar. But their mood must be a gloomier one than that if +there is any appropriateness in the language they use. To stew in their +own juice, and over a fire of their own kindling, could hardly seem a +desirable policy to sane men, however strong the pot might be. These +councillors are well aware of the dangers they incur, and of the misery +which their purpose must necessarily bring on the people. But they are +determined to hazard everything and endure everything on the chance that +the city may prove strong enough to baffle the resources of the king of +Babylon. Once the fire is kindled, it will certainly be better to be in +the pot than in the fire; and so long as Jerusalem holds out they will +remain behind her walls. The answer which is put into the prophet's mouth +is that the issue will not be such as they hope for. The only "flesh" that +will be left in the city will be the dead bodies of those who have been +slain within her walls by the very men who hope that their lives will be +given them for a prey. They themselves shall be dragged forth to meet +their fate far away from Jerusalem on the "borders of Israel." It is not +unlikely that these conspirators kept their word. Although the king and +all the men of war fled from the city as soon as a breach was made, we +read of certain high officials who allowed themselves to be taken in the +city (Jer. lii. 7). Ezekiel's prophecy was in their case literally +fulfilled; for these men and many others were brought to the king of +Babylon at Riblah, "and he smote them and put them to death at Riblah in +the land of Hamath." + +While Ezekiel was uttering this prophecy one of the councillors, named +Pelatiah, suddenly fell down dead. Whether a man of this name had suddenly +died in Jerusalem under circumstances that had deeply impressed the +prophet's mind, or whether the death belongs to the vision, it is +impossible for us to tell. To Ezekiel the occurrence seemed an earnest of +the complete destruction of the remnant of Israel by the wrath of God, +and, as before, he fell on his face to intercede for them. It is then that +he receives the message which seems to form the divine answer to the +perplexities which haunted the minds of the exiles in Babylon. + +In their attitude towards the exiles the new leaders in Jerusalem took up +a position as highly privileged religious persons, quite at variance with +the scepticism which governed their conduct at home. When they were +following the bent of their natural inclinations by practising idolatry +and perpetrating judicial murders in the city, their cry was, "Jehovah +hath forsaken the land; Jehovah seeth it not." When they were eager to +justify their claim to the places and possessions left vacant by their +banished countrymen, they said, "They are far from Jehovah: to us the land +is given in possession." They were probably equally sincere and equally +insincere in both professions. They had simply learned the art which comes +easily to men of the world of using religion as a cloak for greed, and +throwing it off when greed could be best gratified without it. The idea +which lay under their religious attitude was that the exiles had gone into +captivity because their sins had incurred Jehovah's anger, and that now +His wrath was exhausted and the blessing of His favour would rest on those +who had been left in the land. There was sufficient plausibility in the +taunt to make it peculiarly galling to the mind of the exiles, who had +hoped to exercise some influence over the government in Jerusalem, and to +find their places kept for them when they should be permitted to return. +It may well have been the resentment produced by tidings of this hostility +towards them in Jerusalem that brought their elders to the house of +Ezekiel to see if he had not some message from Jehovah to reassure them. + +In the mind of Ezekiel, however, the problem took another form. To him a +return to the old Jerusalem had no meaning; neither buyer nor seller +should have cause to congratulate himself on his position. The possession +of the land of Israel belonged to those in whom Jehovah's ideal of the new +Israel was realised, and the only question of religious importance was, +Where is the germ of this new Israel to be found? Amongst those who +survive the judgment in the old land, or amongst those who have +experienced it in the form of banishment? On this point the prophet +receives an explicit revelation in answer to his intercession for "the +remnant of Israel." "Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren, thy fellow- +captives, and the whole house of Israel of whom the inhabitants of +Jerusalem have said, They are far from Jehovah: to us it is given--the land +for an inheritance!... Because I have removed them far among the nations, +and have scattered them among the lands, and have been to them but little +of a sanctuary in the lands where they have gone, therefore say, Thus +saith Jehovah, so will I gather you from the peoples, and bring you from +the lands where ye have been scattered, and will give you the land of +Israel." The difficult expression "I have been but little of a sanctuary" +refers to the curtailment of religious privileges and means of access to +Jehovah which was a necessary consequence of exile. It implies, however, +that Israel in banishment had learned in some measure to preserve that +separation from other peoples and that peculiar relation to Jehovah which +constituted its national holiness. Religion perhaps perishes sooner from +the overgrowth of ritual than from its deficiency. It is an historical +fact that the very meagreness of the religion which could be practised in +exile was the means of strengthening the more spiritual and permanent +elements which constitute the essence of religion. The observances which +could be maintained apart from the Temple acquired an importance which +they never afterwards lost; and although some of these, such as +circumcision, the Passover, the abstinence from forbidden food, were +purely ceremonial, others, such as prayer, reading of the Scriptures, and +the common worship of the synagogue, represent the purest and most +indispensable forms in which communion with God can find expression. That +Jehovah Himself became even in small measure what the word "sanctuary" +denotes indicates an enrichment of the religious consciousness of which +perhaps Ezekiel himself did not perceive the full import. + +The great lesson which Ezekiel's message seeks to impress on his hearers +is that the tenure of the land of Israel depends on religious conditions. +The land is Jehovah's, and He bestows it on those who are prepared to use +it as His holiness demands. A pure land inhabited by a pure people is the +ideal that underlies all Ezekiel's visions of the future. It is evident +that in such a conception of the relation between God and His people +ceremonial conditions must occupy a conspicuous place. The sanctity of the +land is necessarily of a ceremonial order, and so the sanctity of the +people must consist partly in a scrupulous regard for ceremonial +requirements. But after all the condition of the land with respect to +purity or uncleanness only reflects the character of the nation whose home +it is. The things that defile a land are such things as idols and other +emblems of heathenism, innocent blood unavenged, and unnatural crimes of +various kinds. These things derive their whole significance from the state +of mind and heart which they embody; they are the plain and palpable +emblems of human sin. It is conceivable that to some minds the outward +emblems may have seemed the true seat of evil, and their removal an end in +itself apart from the direction of the will by which it was brought about. +But it would be a mistake to charge Ezekiel with any such obliquity of +moral vision. Although he conceives sin as a defilement that leaves its +mark on the material world, he clearly teaches that its essence lies in +the opposition of the human will to the will of God. The ceremonial purity +required of every Israelite is only the expression of certain aspects of +Jehovah's holy nature, the bearing of which on man's spiritual life may +have been obscure to the prophet, and is still more obscure to us. And the +truly valuable element in compliance with such rules was the obedience to +Jehovah's expressed will which flowed from a nature in sympathy with His. +Hence in this chapter, while the first thing that the restored exiles have +to do is to cleanse the land of its abominations, this act will be the +expression of a nature radically changed, doing the will of God from the +heart. As the emblems of idolatry that defile the land were the outcome of +an irresistible national tendency to evil, so the new and sensitive +spirit, taking on the impress of Jehovah's holiness through the law, shall +lead to the purification of the land from those things that had provoked +the eyes of His glory. "They shall come thither, and remove thence all its +detestable things and all its abominations. And I will give them another +heart, and put a new spirit within them. I will take away the stony heart +from their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh: that they may walk in My +statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them: and so shall they be My +people, and I will be their God" (ch. xi. 18-20). + +Thus in the mind of the prophet Jerusalem and its Temple are already +virtually destroyed. He seemed to linger in the Temple court until he saw +the chariot of Jehovah withdrawn from the city as a token that the glory +had departed from Israel. Then the ecstasy passed away, and he found +himself in the presence of the men to whom the hope of the future had been +offered, but who were as yet unworthy to receive it. + + + + +Chapter VII. The End Of The Monarchy. Chapters xii. 1-15, xvii., xix. + + +In spite of the interest excited by Ezekiel's prophetic appearances, the +exiles still received his prediction of the fall of Jerusalem with the +most stolid incredulity. It proved to be an impossible task to disabuse +their minds of the prepossessions which made such an event absolutely +incredible. True to their character as a disobedient house, they had "eyes +to see, and saw not; and ears to hear, but heard not" (ch. xii. 2). They +were intensely interested in the strange signs he performed, and listened +with pleasure to his fervid oratory; but the inner meaning of it all never +sank into their minds. Ezekiel was well aware that the cause of this +obtuseness lay in the false ideals which nourished an overweening +confidence in the destiny of their nation. And these ideals were the more +difficult to destroy because they each contained an element of truth, so +interwoven with the falsehood that to the mind of the people the true and +the false stood and fell together. If the great vision of chs. viii.-xi. +had accomplished its purpose, it would doubtless have taken away the main +support of these delusive imaginations. But the belief in the +indestructibility of the Temple was only one of a number of roots through +which the vain confidence of the nation was fed; and so long as any of +these remained the people's sense of security was likely to remain. These +spurious ideals, therefore, Ezekiel sets himself with characteristic +thoroughness to demolish one after another. + +This appears to be in the main the purpose of the third subdivision of his +prophecies on which we now enter. It extends from ch. xii. to ch. xix.; +and in so far as it can be taken to represent a phase of his actual spoken +ministry, it must be assigned to the fifth year before the capture of +Jerusalem (August 591-August 590 B.C.). But since the passage is an +exposition of ideas more than a narrative of experiences we may expect to +find that chronological consistency has been even less observed than in +the earlier part of the book. Each idea is presented in the completeness +which it finally possessed in the prophet's mind, and his allusions may +anticipate a state of things which had not actually arisen till a somewhat +later date. Beginning with a description and interpretation of two +symbolic actions intended to impress more vividly on the people the +certainty of the impending catastrophe, the prophet proceeds in a series +of set discourses to expose the hollowness of the illusions which his +fellow-exiles cherished, such as disbelief in prophecies of evil, faith in +the destiny of Israel, veneration for the Davidic kingdom, and reliance on +the solidarity of the nation in sin and in judgment. These are the +principal topics which the course of exposition will bring before us, and +in dealing with them it will be convenient to depart from the order in +which they stand in the book and adopt an arrangement according to +subject. By so doing we run the risk of missing the order of the ideas as +it presented itself to the prophet's mind, and of ignoring the remarkable +skill with which the transition from one theme to another is frequently +effected. But if we have rightly understood the scope of the passage as a +whole, this will not prevent us from grasping the substance of his +teaching or its bearing on the final message which he had to deliver. In +the present chapter we shall accordingly group together three passages +which deal with the fate of the monarchy, and especially of Zedekiah, the +last king of Judah. + +That reverence for the royal house would form an obstacle to the +acceptance of such teaching as Ezekiel's was to be expected from all we +know of the popular feeling on this subject. The fact that the few royal +assassinations which stain the annals of Judah were sooner or later +avenged by the people shows that the monarchy was regarded as a pillar of +the state, and that great importance was attached to the possession of a +dynasty which perpetuated the glories of David's reign. And there is one +verse in the book of Lamentations which expresses the anguish which the +fall of the kingdom caused to godly men in Israel, although its +representative was so unworthy of his office as Zedekiah: "The breath of +our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was taken in their pits, of whom we +said, Under his shadow shall we live among the nations" (Lam. iv. 20). So +long therefore as a descendant of David sat on the throne of Jerusalem it +would seem the duty of every patriotic Israelite to remain true to him. +The continuance of the monarchy would seem to guarantee the existence of +the state; the prestige of Zedekiah's position as the anointed of Jehovah, +and the heir of David's covenant, would warrant the hope that even yet +Jehovah would intervene to save an institution of His own creating. +Indeed, we can see from Ezekiel's own pages that the historic monarchy in +Israel was to him an object of the highest veneration and regard. He +speaks of its dignity in terms whose very exaggeration shows how largely +the fact bulked in his imagination. He compares it to the noblest of the +wild beasts of the earth and the most lordly tree of the forest. But his +contention is that this monarchy no longer exists. Except in one doubtful +passage, he never applies the title king (_melek_) to Zedekiah. The +kingdom came to an end with the deportation of Jehoiachin, the last king +who ascended the throne in legitimate succession. The present holder of +the office is in no sense king by divine right; he is a creature and +vassal of Nebuchadnezzar, and has no rights against his suzerain.(30) His +very name had been changed by the caprice of his master. As a religious +symbol, therefore, the royal power is defunct; the glory has departed from +it as surely as from the Temple. The makeshift administration organised +under Zedekiah had a peaceful if inglorious future before it, if it were +content to recognise facts and adapt itself to its humble position. But if +it should attempt to raise its head and assert itself as an independent +kingdom, it would only seal its own doom. And for men in Chaldæa to +transfer to this shadow of kingly dignity the allegiance due to the heir +of David's house was a waste of devotion as little demanded by patriotism +as by prudence. + + + +I + + +The first of the passages in which the fate of the monarchy is foretold +requires little to be said by way of explanation. It is a symbolic action +of the kind with which we are now familiar, exhibiting the certainty of +the fate in store both for the people and the king. The prophet again +becomes a "sign" or portent to the people--this time in a character which +every one of his audience understood from recent experience. He is seen by +daylight collecting "articles of captivity"--_i.e._, such necessary +articles as a person going into exile would try to take with him--and +bringing them out to the door of his house. Then at dusk he breaks through +the wall with his goods on his shoulder; and, with face muffled, he +removes "to another place." In this sign we have again two different facts +indicated by a series of not entirely congruous actions. The mere act of +carrying out his most necessary furniture and removing from one place to +another suggests quite unambiguously the captivity that awaits the +inhabitants of Jerusalem. But the accessories of the action, such as +breaking through the wall, the muffling of the face, and the doing of all +this by night, point to quite a different event--viz., Zedekiah's attempt +to break through the Chaldæan lines by night, his capture, his blindness, +and his imprisonment in Babylon. The most remarkable thing in the sign is +the circumstantial manner in which the details of the king's flight and +capture are anticipated so long before the event. Zedekiah, as we read in +the second book of Kings, as soon as a breach was made in the walls by the +Chaldæans, broke out with a small party of horsemen, and succeeded in +reaching the plain of Jordan. There he was overtaken and caught, and sent +before Nebuchadnezzar's presence at Riblah. The Babylonian king punished +his perfidy with a cruelty common enough amongst the Assyrian kings: he +caused his eyes to be put out, and sent him thus to end his days in prison +at Babylon. All this is so clearly hinted at in the signs that the whole +representation is often set aside as a prophecy after the event. That is +hardly probable, because the sign does not bear the marks of having been +originally conceived with the view of exhibiting the details of Zedekiah's +punishment. But since we know that the book was written after the event, +it is a perfectly fair question whether in the interpretation of the +symbols Ezekiel may not have read into it a fuller meaning than was +present to his own mind at the time. Thus the covering of his head does +not necessarily suggest anything more than the king's attempt to disguise +his person.(31) Possibly this was all that Ezekiel originally meant by it. +When the event took place he perceived a further meaning in it as an +allusion to the blindness inflicted on the king, and introduced this into +the explanation given of the symbol. The point of it lies in the +degradation of the king through his being reduced to such an ignominious +method of securing his personal safety. "The prince that is among them +shall bear upon his shoulder in the darkness, and shall go forth: they +shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, +that he may not be seen by any eye, and he himself shall not see the +earth" (ch. xii. 12). + + + +II + + +In ch. xvii. the fate of the monarchy is dealt with at greater length +under the form of an allegory. The kingdom of Judah is represented as a +cedar in Lebanon--a comparison which shows how exalted were Ezekiel's +conceptions of the dignity of the old regime which had now passed away. +But the leading shoot of the tree has been cropped off by a great, broad- +winged, speckled eagle, the king of Babylon, and carried away to a "land +of traffic, a city of merchants."(32) The insignificance of Zedekiah's +government is indicated by a harsh contrast which almost breaks the +consistency of the figure. In place of the cedar which he has spoiled the +eagle plants a low vine trailing on the ground, such as may be seen in +Palestine at the present day. His intention was that "its branches should +extend towards him and its roots be under him"--_i.e._, that the new +principality should derive all its strength from Babylon and yield all its +produce to the power which nourished it. For a time all went well. The +vine answered the expectations of its owner, and prospered under the +favourable conditions which he had provided for it. But another great +eagle appeared on the scene, the king of Egypt, and the ungrateful vine +began to send out its roots and turn its branches in his direction. The +meaning is obvious: Zedekiah had sent presents to Egypt and sought its +help, and by so doing had violated the conditions of his tenure of royal +power. Such a policy could not prosper. "The bed where it was planted" was +in possession of Nebuchadnezzar, and he could not tolerate there a state, +however feeble, which employed the resources with which he had endowed it +to further the interests of his rival, Hophra, the king of Egypt. Its +destruction shall come from the quarter whence it derived its origin: +"when the east wind smites it, it shall wither in the furrow where it +grew." + +Throughout this passage Ezekiel shows that he possessed in full measure +that penetration and detachment from local prejudices which all the +prophets exhibit when dealing with political affairs. The interpretation +of the riddle contains a statement of Nebuchadnezzar's policy in his +dealings with Judah, whose impartial accuracy could not be improved on by +the most disinterested historian. The carrying away of the Judæan king and +aristocracy was a heavy blow to religious susceptibilities which Ezekiel +fully shared, and its severity was not mitigated by the arrogant +assumptions by which it was explained in Jerusalem. Yet here he shows +himself capable of contemplating it as a measure of Babylonian +statesmanship and of doing absolute justice to the motives by which it was +dictated. Nebuchadnezzar's purpose was to establish a petty state unable +to raise itself to independence, and one on whose fidelity to his empire +he could rely. Ezekiel lays great stress on the solemn formalities by +which the great king had bound his vassal to his allegiance: "He took of +the royal seed, and made a covenant with him, and brought him under a +curse; and the strong ones of the land he took away: that it might be a +lowly kingdom, not able to lift itself up, to keep his covenant that it +might stand" (vv. 13, 14). In all this Nebuchadnezzar is conceived as +acting within his rights; and here lay the difference between the clear +vision of the prophet and the infatuated policy of his contemporaries. The +politicians of Jerusalem were incapable of thus discerning the signs of +the times. They fell back on the time-honoured plan of checkmating Babylon +by means of an Egyptian alliance--a policy which had been disastrous when +attempted against the ruthless tyrants of Assyria, and which was doubly +imbecile when it brought down on them the wrath of a monarch who showed +every desire to deal fairly with his subject provinces. + +The period of intrigue with Egypt had already begun when this prophecy was +written. We have no means of knowing how long the negotiations went on +before the overt act of rebellion; and hence we cannot say with certainty +that the appearance of the chapter in this part of the book is an +anachronism. It is possible that Ezekiel may have known of a secret +mission which was not discovered by the spies of the Babylonian court; and +there is no difficulty in supposing that such a step may have been taken +as early as two and a half years before the outbreak of hostilities. At +whatever time it took place, Ezekiel saw that it sealed the doom of the +nation. He knew that Nebuchadnezzar could not overlook such flagrant +perfidy as Zedekiah and his councillors had been guilty of; he knew also +that Egypt could render no effectual help to Jerusalem in her death- +struggle. "Not with a strong army and a great host will Pharaoh act for +him in the war, when mounds are thrown up, and the towers are built, to +cut off many lives" (ver. 17). The writer of the Lamentations again shows +us how sadly the prophet's anticipation was verified: "As for us, our eyes +as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a +nation that could not save us" (Lam. iv. 17). + +But Ezekiel will not allow it to be supposed that the fate of Jerusalem is +merely the result of a mistaken forecast of political probabilities. Such +a mistake had been made by Zedekiah's advisers when they trusted to Egypt +to deliver them from Babylon, and ordinary prudence might have warned them +against it. But that was the most excusable part of their folly. The thing +that branded their policy as infamous and put them absolutely in the wrong +before God and man alike was their violation of the solemn oath by which +they had bound themselves to serve the king of Babylon. The prophet seizes +on this act of perjury as the determining fact of the situation, and +charges it home on the king as the cause of the ruin that is to overtake +him: "Thus saith Jehovah, As I live, surely _My_ oath which he hath +despised, and _My_ covenant which he has broken, I will return on his +head; and I will spread My net over him, and in My snare shall he be +taken, ... and ye shall know that I Jehovah have spoken it" (vv. 19-21). + +In the last three verses of the chapter the prophet returns to the +allegory with which he commenced, and completes his oracle with a +beautiful picture of the ideal monarchy of the future. The ideas on which +the picture is framed are few and simple; but they are those which +distinguish the Messianic hope as cherished by the prophets from the crude +form which it assumed in the popular imagination. In contrast to +Zedekiah's kingdom, which was a human institution without ideal +significance, that of the Messianic age will be a fresh creation of +Jehovah's power. A tender shoot shall be planted in the mountain land of +Israel, where it shall flourish and increase until it overshadow the whole +earth. Further, this shoot is taken from the "top of the cedar"--that is, +the section of the royal house which had been carried away to +Babylon--indicating that the hope of the future lay not with the king _de +facto_ Zedekiah, but with Jehoiachin and those who shared his banishment. +The passage leaves no doubt that Ezekiel conceived the Israel of the +future as a state with a monarch at its head, although it may be doubtful +whether the shoot refers to a personal Messiah or to the aristocracy, who, +along with the king, formed the governing body in an Eastern kingdom. This +question, however, can be better considered when we have to deal with +Ezekiel's Messianic conceptions in their fully developed form in ch. +xxxiv. + + + +III + + +Of the last four kings of Judah there were two whose melancholy fate seems +to have excited a profound feeling of pity amongst their countrymen. +Jehoahaz or Shallum, according to the Chronicler the youngest of Josiah's +sons, appears to have been even during his father's lifetime a popular +favourite. It was he who after the fatal day of Megiddo was raised to the +throne by the "people of the land" at the age of twenty-three years. He is +said by the historian of the books of Kings to have done "that which was +evil in the sight of the Lord"; but he had hardly time to display his +qualities as a ruler, when he was deposed and carried to Egypt by Pharaoh +Necho, having worn the crown for only three months (608 B.C.). The deep +attachment felt for him seems to have given rise to an expectation that he +would be restored to his kingdom, a delusion against which the prophet +Jeremiah found it necessary to protest (Jer. xxii. 10-12). He was +succeeded by his elder brother, Eliakim,(33) the headstrong and selfish +tyrant, whose character stands revealed in some passages of the books of +Jeremiah and Habakkuk. His reign of nine years gave little occasion to his +subjects to cherish a grateful memory of his administration. He died in +the crisis of the conflict he had provoked with the king of Babylon, +leaving his youthful son Jehoiachin to expiate the folly of his rebellion. +Jehoiachin is the second idol of the populace to whom we have referred. He +was only eighteen years old when he was called to the throne, and within +three months he was doomed to exile in Babylon. In his room Nebuchadnezzar +appointed a third son of Josiah--Mattaniah--whose name he changed to +Zedekiah. He was apparently a man of weak and vacillating character; but +he fell ultimately into the hands of the Egyptian and anti-prophetic +party, and so was the means of involving his country in the hopeless +struggle in which it perished. + +The fact that two of their native princes were languishing, perhaps +simultaneously, in foreign confinement, one in Egypt and the other in +Babylon, was fitted to evoke in Judah a sympathy with the misfortunes of +royalty something like the feeling embalmed in the Jacobite songs of +Scotland. It seems to be an echo of this sentiment that we find in the +first part of the lament with which Ezekiel closes his references to the +fall of the monarchy (ch. xix.). Many critics have indeed found it +impossible to suppose that Ezekiel should in any sense have yielded to +sympathy with the fate of two princes who are both branded in the +historical books as idolaters, and whose calamities on Ezekiel's own view +of individual retribution proved them to be sinners against Jehovah. Yet +it is certainly unnatural to read the dirge in any other sense than as an +expression of genuine pity for the woes that the nation suffered in the +fate of her two exiled kings. If Jeremiah, in pronouncing the doom of +Shallum or Jehoahaz, could say, "Weep ye sore for him that goeth away; for +he shall not return any more, nor see his native country," there is no +reason why Ezekiel should not have given lyrical expression to the +universal feeling of sadness which the blighted career of these two youths +naturally produced. The whole passage is highly poetical, and represents a +side of Ezekiel's nature which we have not hitherto been led to study. But +it is too much to expect of even the most logical of prophets that he +should experience no personal emotion but what fitted into his system, or +that his poetic gift should be chained to the wheels of his theological +convictions. The dirge expresses no moral judgment on the character or +deserts of the two kings to which it refers: it has but one theme--the +sorrow and disappointment of the "mother" who nurtured and lost them, that +is, the nation of Israel personified according to a usual Hebrew figure of +speech. All attempts to go beyond this and to find in the poem an +allegorical portrait of Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin are irrelevant. The mother +is a lioness, the princes are young lions and behave as stalwart young +lions do, but whether their exploits are praiseworthy or the reverse is a +question that was not present to the writer's mind. + +The chapter is entitled "A Dirge on the Princes of Israel," and embraces +not only the fate of Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin, but also of Zedekiah, with +whom the old monarchy expired. Strictly speaking, however, the name +_qînah_, or dirge, is applicable only to the first part of the chapter +(vv. 2-9), where the rhythm characteristic of the Hebrew elegy is clearly +traceable.(34) With a few slight changes of the text(35) the passage may +be translated thus:-- + + + i. _Jehoahaz._ + + How was thy mother a lioness!-- + Among the lions, + In the midst of young lions she couched-- + She reared her cubs; + And she brought up one of her cubs-- + A young lion he became, + And he learned to catch the prey-- + He ate men. + + And nations raised a cry against him-- + In their pit he was caught; + And they brought him with hooks-- + To the land of Egypt (vv. 2-4). + + ii. _Jehoiachin._ + + And when she saw that she was disappointed(36)-- + Her hope was lost. + She took another of her cubs-- + A young lion she made him; + And he walked in the midst of lions-- + A young lion he became; + And he learned to catch prey-- + He ate men. + + And he lurked in his lair-- + The forests he ravaged; + Till the land was laid waste and its fulness-- + With the noise of his roar. + + The nations arrayed themselves against him-- + From the countries around; + And spread over him their net-- + In their pit he was caught. + And they brought him with hooks-- + To the king of Babylon; + And he put him in a cage, ... + That his voice might no more be heard-- + On the mountains of Israel (vv. 5-9). + + +The poetry here is simple and sincere. The mournful cadence of the elegiac +measure, which is maintained throughout, is adapted to the tone of +melancholy which pervades the passage and culminates in the last beautiful +line. The dirge is a form of composition often employed in songs of +triumph over the calamities of enemies; but there is no reason to doubt +that here it is true to its original purpose, and expresses genuine sorrow +for the accumulated misfortunes of the royal house of Israel. + +The closing part of the "dirge" dealing with Zedekiah is of a somewhat +different character. The theme is similar, but the figure is abruptly +changed, and the elegiac rhythm is abandoned. The nation, the mother of +the monarchy, is here compared to a luxuriant vine planted beside great +waters; and the royal house is likened to a branch towering above the rest +and bearing rods which were kingly sceptres. But she has been plucked up +by the roots, withered, scorched by the fire, and finally planted in an +arid region where she cannot thrive. The application of the metaphor to +the ruin of the nation is very obvious. Israel, once a prosperous nation, +richly endowed with all the conditions of a vigorous national life, and +glorying in her race of native kings, is now humbled to the dust. +Misfortune after misfortune has destroyed her power and blighted her +prospects, till at last she has been removed from her own land to a place +where national life cannot be maintained. But the point of the passage +lies in the closing words: fire went out from one of her twigs and +consumed her branches, so that she has no longer a proud rod to be a +ruler's sceptre (ver. 14). The monarchy, once the glory and strength of +Israel, has in its last degenerate representative involved the nation in +ruin. + +Such is Ezekiel's final answer to those of his hearers who clung to the +old Davidic kingdom as their hope in the crisis of the people's fate. + + + + +Chapter VIII. Prophecy And Its Abuses. Chapters xii. 21-xiv. 11. + + +There is perhaps nothing more perplexing to the student of Old Testament +history than the complicated phenomena which may be classed under the +general name of "prophecy." In Israel, as in every ancient state, there +was a body of men who sought to influence public opinion by +prognostications of the future. As a rule the repute of all kinds of +divination declined with the advance of civilisation and general +intelligence, so that in the more enlightened communities matters of +importance came to be decided on broad grounds of reason and political +expediency. The peculiarity in the case of Israel was that the very +highest direction in politics, as well as religion and morals, was given +in a form capable of being confounded with superstitious practices which +flourished alongside of it. The true prophets were not merely profound +moral thinkers, who announced a certain issue as the probable result of a +certain line of conduct. In many cases their predictions are absolute, and +their political programme is an appeal to the nation to accept the +situation which they foresee, as the basis of its public action. For this +reason prophecy was readily brought into competition with practices with +which it had really nothing in common. The ordinary individual who cared +little for principles and only wished to know what was likely to happen +might readily think that one way of arriving at knowledge of the future +was as good as another, and when the spiritual prophet's anticipations +displeased him he was apt to try his luck with the sorcerer. It is not +improbable that in the last days of the monarchy spurious prophecy of +various kinds gained an additional vitality from its rivalry with the +great spiritual teachers who in the name of Jehovah foretold the ruin of +the state. + +This is not the place for an exhaustive account of the varied developments +in Israel of what may be broadly termed prophetic manifestations. For the +understanding of the section of Ezekiel now before us it will be enough to +distinguish three classes of phenomena. At the lowest end of the scale +there was a rank growth of pure magic or sorcery, the ruling idea of which +is the attempt to control or forecast the future by occult arts which are +believed to influence the supernatural powers which govern human destiny. +In the second place we have prophecy in a stricter sense--that is, the +supposed revelation of the will of the deity in dreams or "visions" or +half-articulate words uttered in a state of frenzy. Last of all there is +the true prophet, who, though subject to extraordinary mental experiences, +yet had always a clear and conscious grasp of moral principles, and +possessed an incommunicable certainty that what he spoke was not his own +word but the word of Jehovah. + +It is obvious that a people subjected to such influences as these was +exposed to temptations both intellectual and moral from which modern life +is exempt. One thing is certain--the existence of prophecy did not tend to +simplify the problems of national life or individual conduct. We are apt +to think of the great prophets as men so signally marked out by God as His +witnesses that it must have been impossible for any one with a shred of +sincerity to question their authority. In reality it was quite otherwise. +It was no more an easy thing then than now to distinguish between truth +and error, between the voice of God and the speculations of men. Then, as +now, divine truth had no available credentials at the moment of its +utterance except its self-evidencing power on hearts that were sincere in +their desire to know it. The fact that truth came in the guise of prophecy +only stimulated the growth of counterfeit prophecy, so that only those who +were "of the truth" could discern the spirits, whether they were of God. + +The passage which forms the subject of this chapter is one of the most +important passages of the Old Testament in its treatment of the errors and +abuses incident to a dispensation of prophecy. It consists of three parts: +the first deals with difficulties occasioned by the apparent failure of +prophecy (ch. xii. 21-28); the second with the character and doom of the +false prophets (ch. xiii.); and the third with the state of mind which +made a right use of prophecy impossible (ch. xiv. 1-11). + + + +I + + +It is one of Ezekiel's peculiarities that he pays close attention to the +proverbial sayings which indicated the drift of the national mind. Such +sayings were like straws, showing how the stream flowed, and had a special +significance for Ezekiel, inasmuch as he was not in the stream himself, +but only observed its motions from a distance. Here he quotes a current +proverb, giving expression to a sense of the futility of all prophetic +warnings: "The days are drawn out, and every vision faileth" (ch. xii. +22). It is difficult to say what the feeling is that lies behind it, +whether it is one of disappointment or of relief. If, as seems probable, +ver. 27 is the application of the general principle to the particular case +of Ezekiel, the proverb need not indicate absolute disbelief in the truth +of prophecy. "The vision which he sees is for many days, and remote times +does he prophesy"--that is to say, The prophet's words are no doubt +perfectly true, and come from God; but no man can ever tell when they are +to be fulfilled: all experience shows that they relate to a remote future +which we are not likely to see. For men whose concern was to find +direction in the present emergency, that was no doubt equivalent to a +renunciation of the guidance of prophecy. + +There are several things which may have tended to give currency to this +view and make it plausible. First of all, of course, the fact that many of +the "visions" that were published had nothing in them; they were false in +their origin, and were bound to fail. Accordingly one thing necessary to +rescue prophecy from the discredit into which it had fallen was the +removal of those who uttered false predictions in the name of Jehovah: +"There shall no more be any false vision or flattering divination in the +midst of the house of Israel" (ver. 24). But besides the prevalence of +false prophecy there were features of true prophecy which partly explained +the common misgiving as to its trustworthiness. Even in true prophecy +there is an element of idealism, the future being depicted in forms +derived from the prophet's circumstances, and represented as the immediate +continuation of the events of his own time. In support of the proverb it +might have been equally apt to instance the Messianic oracles of Isaiah, +or the confident predictions of Hananiah, the opponent of Jeremiah. +Further, there is a contingent element in prophecy: the fulfilment of a +threat or promise is conditional on the moral effect of the prophecy +itself on the people. These things were perfectly understood by thoughtful +men in Israel. The principle of contingency is clearly expounded in the +eighteenth chapter of Jeremiah, and it was acted on by the princes who on +a memorable occasion saved him from the doom of a false prophet (Jer. +xxvi.). Those who used prophecy to determine their practical attitude +towards Jehovah's purposes found it to be an unerring guide to right +thinking and action. But those who only took a curious interest in +questions of external fulfilment found much to disconcert them; and it is +hardly surprising that many of them became utterly sceptical of its divine +origin. It must have been to this turn of mind that the proverb with which +Ezekiel is dealing owed its origin. + +It is not on these lines, however, that Ezekiel vindicates the truth of +the prophetic word, but on lines adapted to the needs of his own +generation. After all, prophecy is not wholly contingent. The bent of the +popular character is one of the elements which it takes into account, and +it foresees an issue which is not dependent on anything that Israel might +do. The prophets rise to a point of view from which the destruction of the +sinful people and the establishment of a perfect kingdom of God are seen +to be facts unalterably decreed by Jehovah. And the point of Ezekiel's +answer to his contemporaries seems to be that a final demonstration of the +truth of prophecy was at hand. As the fulfilment drew near, prophecy would +increase in distinctness and precision, so that when the catastrophe came +it would be impossible for any man to deny the inspiration of those who +had announced it: "Thus saith Jehovah, I will suppress this proverb, and +it shall no more circulate in Israel; but say unto them, The days are +near, and the content [literally _word_ or _matter_] of every vision" +(ver. 23). After the extinction of every form of lying prophecy, Jehovah's +words shall still be heard, and the proclamation of them shall be +immediately followed by their accomplishment: "For I Jehovah will speak My +words; I will speak and perform, it shall not be deferred any more: in +your days, O house of rebellion, I will speak a word and perform it, saith +Jehovah" (ver. 25). The immediate reference is to the destruction of +Jerusalem which the prophet saw to be one of those events which were +unconditionally decreed, and an event which must bulk more and more +largely in the vision of the true prophet until it was accomplished. + + + +II + + +The thirteenth chapter deals with what was undoubtedly the greatest +obstacle to the influence of prophecy--viz., the existence of a division in +the ranks of the prophets themselves. That division had been of long +standing. The earliest indication of it is the story of the contest +between Micaiah and four hundred prophets of Jehovah, in presence of Ahab +and Jehoshaphat (1 Kings xxii. 5-28). All the canonical prophets show in +their writings that they had to contend against the mass of the prophetic +order--men who claimed an authority equal to theirs, but used it for +diametrically opposite interests. It is not, however, till we come to +Jeremiah and Ezekiel that we find a formal apologetic of true prophecy +against false. The problem was serious: where two sets of prophets +systematically and fundamentally contradicted each other, both might be +false, but both could not be true. The prophet who was convinced of the +truth of his own visions must be prepared to account for the rise of false +visions, and to lay down some criterion by which men might discriminate +between the one and the other. Jeremiah's treatment of the question is of +the two perhaps the more profound and interesting. It is thus summarised +by Professor Davidson: "In his encounters with the prophets of his day +Jeremiah opposes them in three spheres--that of policy, that of morals, and +that of personal experience. In policy the genuine prophets had some fixed +principles, all arising out of the idea that the kingdom of the Lord was +not a kingdom of this world. Hence they opposed military preparation, +riding on horses, and building of fenced cities, and counselled trust in +Jehovah.... The false prophets, on the other hand, desired their country +to be a military power among the powers around, they advocated alliance +with the eastern empires and with Egypt, and relied on their national +strength. Again, the true prophets had a stringent personal and state +morality. In their view the true cause of the destruction of the state was +its immoralities. But the false prophets had no such deep moral +convictions, and seeing nothing unwonted or alarming in the condition of +things prophesied of 'peace.' They were not necessarily irreligious men; +but their religion had no truer insight into the nature of the God of +Israel than that of the common people.... And finally Jeremiah expresses +his conviction that the prophets whom he opposed did not stand in the same +relation to the Lord as he did: they had not his experiences of the word +of the Lord, into whose counsel they had not been admitted; and they were +without that fellowship of mind with the mind of Jehovah which was the +true source of prophecy. Hence he satirises their pretended supernatural +'dreams,' and charges them from conscious want of any true prophetic word +with stealing words from one another."(37) + +The passages in Jeremiah on which this statement is mainly founded may +have been known to Ezekiel, who in this matter, as in so many others, +follows the lines laid down by the elder prophet. + +The first thing, then, that deserves attention in Ezekiel's judgment on +false prophecy is his assertion of its purely subjective or human origin. +In the opening sentence he pronounces a woe upon the prophets "who +prophesy _from their own mind_ without having seen"(38) (ver. 3). The +words put in italics sum up Ezekiel's theory of the genesis of false +prophecy. The visions these men see and the oracles they utter simply +reproduce the thoughts, the emotions, the aspirations, natural to their +own minds. That the ideas came to them in a peculiar form, which was +mistaken for the direct action of Jehovah, Ezekiel does not deny. He +admits that the men were sincere in their professions, for he describes +them as "waiting for the fulfilment of the word" (ver. 6). But in this +belief they were the victims of a delusion. Whatever there might be in +their prophetic experiences that resembled those of a true prophet, there +was nothing in their oracles that did not belong to the sphere of worldly +interests and human speculation. + +If we ask how Ezekiel knew this, the only possible answer is that he knew +it because he was sure of the source of his own inspiration. He possessed +an inward experience which certified to him the genuineness of the +communications which came to him, and he necessarily inferred that those +who held different beliefs about God must lack that experience. Thus far +his criticism of false prophecy is purely subjective. The true prophet +knew that he had that within him which authenticated his inspiration, but +the false prophet could not know that he wanted it. The difficulty is not +peculiar to prophecy, but arises in connection with religious belief as a +whole. It is an interesting question whether the assent to a truth is +accompanied by a feeling of certitude differing in quality from the +confidence which a man may have in giving his assent to a delusion. But it +is not possible to elevate this internal criterion to an objective test of +truth. A man who is awake may be quite sure he is not dreaming, but a man +in a dream may readily enough fancy himself awake. + +But there were other and more obvious tests which could be applied to the +professional prophets, and which at least showed them to be men of a +different spirit from the few who were "full of power by the spirit of the +Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Israel his sin" (Mic. +iii. 8). In two graphic figures Ezekiel sums up the character and policy +of these parasites who disgraced the order to which they belonged. In the +first place he compares them to jackals burrowing in ruins and undermining +the fabric which it was their professed function to uphold (vv. 4, 5). The +existence of such a class of men is at once a symptom of advanced social +degeneration and a cause of greater ruin to follow. A true prophet +fearlessly speaking the words of God is a defence to the state; he is like +a man who stands in the breach or builds a wall to ward off the danger +which he foresees. Such were all genuine prophets whose names were held in +honour in Israel--men of moral courage, never hesitating to incur personal +risk for the welfare of the nation they loved. If Israel now was like a +heap of ruins, the fault lay with the selfish crowd of hireling prophets +who had cared more to find a hole in which they could shelter themselves +than to build up a stable and righteous polity. + +The prophet's simile calls to mind the type of churchman represented by +Bishop Blougram in Browning's powerful satire. He is one who is content if +the corporation to which he belongs can provide him with a comfortable and +dignified position in which he can spend good days; he is triumphant if, +in addition to this, he can defy any one to prove him more of a fool or a +hypocrite than an average man of the world. Such utter abnegation of +intellectual sincerity may not be common in any Church; but the temptation +which leads to it is one to which ecclesiastics are exposed in every age +and every communion. The tendency to shirk difficult problems, to shut +one's eyes to grave evils, to acquiesce in things as they are, and +calculate that the ruin will last one's own time, is what Ezekiel calls +playing the jackal; and it hardly needs a prophet to tell us that there +could not be a more fatal symptom of the decay of religion than the +prevalence of such a spirit in its official representatives. + +The second image is equally suggestive. It exhibits the false prophets as +following where they pretended to lead, as aiding and abetting the men +into whose hands the reins of government had fallen. The people build a +wall and the prophets cover it with plaster (ver. 10)--that is to say, when +any project or scheme of policy is being promoted they stand by glozing it +over with fine words, flattering its promoters, and uttering profuse +assurances of its success. The uselessness of the whole activity of these +prophets could not be more vividly described. The white-washing of the +wall may hide its defects, but will not prevent its destruction; and when +the wall of Jerusalem's shaky prosperity tumbles down, those who did so +little to build and so much to deceive shall be overwhelmed with +confusion. "Behold, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said to them, +Where is the plaster which ye plastered?" (ver. 12). + +This will be the beginning of the judgment on false prophets in Israel. +The overthrow of their vaticinations, the collapse of the hopes they +fostered, and the demolition of the edifice in which they found a refuge +shall leave them no more a name or a place in the people of God. "I will +stretch out My hand against the prophets that see vanity and divine +falsely: in the council of My people they shall not be, and in the +register of the house of Israel they shall not be written, and into the +land of Israel they shall not come" (ver. 9). + +There was, however, a still more degraded type of prophecy, practised +chiefly by women, which must have been exceedingly prevalent in Ezekiel's +time. The prophets spoken of in the first sixteen verses were public +functionaries who exerted their evil influence in the arena of politics. +The prophetesses spoken of in the latter part of the chapter are private +fortune-tellers who practised on the credulity of individuals who +consulted them. Their art was evidently magical in the strict sense, a +trafficking with the dark powers which were supposed to enter into +alliance with men irrespective of moral considerations. Then, as now, such +courses were followed for gain, and doubtless proved a lucrative means of +livelihood. The "fillets" and "veils" mentioned in ver. 18 are either a +professional garb worn by the women, or else implements of divination +whose precise significance cannot now be ascertained. To the imagination +of the prophet they appear as the snares and weapons with which these +wretched creatures "hunted souls"; and the extent of the evil which he +attacks is indicated by his speaking of the whole people as being +entangled in their meshes. Ezekiel naturally bestows special attention on +a class of practitioners whose whole influence tended to efface moral +landmarks and to deal out to men weal or woe without regard to character. +"They slew souls that should not die, and saved alive souls that should +not live; they made sad the heart of the righteous, and strengthened the +hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way and be +saved alive" (ver. 22). That is to say, while Ezekiel and all true +prophets were exhorting men to live resolutely in the light of clear +ethical conceptions of providence, the votaries of occult superstitions +seduced the ignorant into making private compacts with the powers of +darkness in order to secure their personal safety. If the prevalence of +sorcery and witchcraft was at all times dangerous to the religion and +public order of the state, it was doubly so at a time when, as Ezekiel +perceived, everything depended on maintaining the strict rectitude of God +in His dealings with individual men. + + + +III + + +Having thus disposed of the external manifestations of false prophecy, +Ezekiel proceeds in the fourteenth chapter to deal with the state of mind +amongst the people at large which rendered such a condition of things +possible. The general import of the passage is clear, although the precise +connection of ideas is somewhat difficult to explain. The following +observations may suffice to bring out all that is essential to the +understanding of the section. + +The oracle was occasioned by a particular incident, undoubtedly +historical--namely, a visit, such as was perhaps now common, from the +elders to inquire of the Lord through Ezekiel. As they sit before him it +is revealed to the prophet that the minds of these men are preoccupied +with idolatry, and therefore it is not fitting that any answer should be +given to them by a prophet of Jehovah. Apparently no answer _was_ given by +Ezekiel to the particular question they had asked, whatever it may have +been. Generalising from the incident, however, he is led to enunciate a +principle regulating the intercourse between Jehovah and Israel through +the medium of a prophet: "Whatever man of the house of Israel sets his +thoughts upon his idols, and puts his guilty stumbling-block before him, +and comes to the prophet, I Jehovah will make Myself intelligible to +him;(39) that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because +they are all estranged from Me by their idols" (vv. 4, 5). It seems clear +that one part of the threat here uttered is that the very withholding of +the answer will unmask the hypocrisy of men who pretend to be worshippers +of Jehovah, but in heart are unfaithful to Him and servants of false gods. +The moral principle involved in the prophet's dictum is clear and of +lasting value. It is that for a false heart there can be no fellowship +with Jehovah, and therefore no true and sure knowledge of His will. The +prophet occupies the point of view of Jehovah, and when consulted by an +idolater he finds it impossible to enter into the point of view from which +the question is put, and therefore cannot answer it.(40) Ezekiel assumes +for the most part that the prophet consulted is a true prophet of Jehovah +like himself, who will give no answer to such questions as he has before +him. He must, however, allow for the possibility that men of this stamp +may receive answers in the name of Jehovah from those reputed to be His +true prophets. In that case, says Ezekiel, the prophet is "deceived" by +God; he is allowed to give a response which is not a true response at all, +but only confirms the people in their delusions and unbelief. But this +deception does not take place until the prophet has incurred the guilt of +deceiving himself in the first instance. It is his fault that he has not +perceived the bent of his questioners' minds, that he has accommodated +himself to their ways of thought, has consented to occupy their standpoint +in order to be able to say something coinciding with the drift of their +wishes. Prophet and inquirers are involved in a common guilt and share a +common fate, both being sentenced to exclusion from the commonwealth of +Israel. + +The purification of the institution of prophecy necessarily appeared to +Ezekiel as an indispensable feature in the restoration of the theocracy. +The ideal of Israel's relation to Jehovah is "that they may be My people, +and that I may be their God" (ver. 11). That implies that Jehovah shall be +the source of infallible guidance in all things needful for the religious +life of the individual and the guidance of the state. But it was +impossible for Jehovah to be to Israel all that a God should be, so long +as the regular channels of communication between Him and the nation were +choked by false conceptions in the minds of the people and false men in +the position of prophets. Hence the constitution of a new Israel demands +such special judgments on false prophecy and the false use of true +prophecy as have been denounced in these chapters. When these judgments +have been executed, the ideal will have become possible which is described +in the words of another prophet: "Thine eyes shall see thy teachers: and +thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye +in it" (Isa. xxx. 20, 21). + + + + +Chapter IX. Jerusalem--An Ideal History. Chapter xvi. + + +In order to understand the place which the sixteenth chapter occupies in +this section(41) of the book, we must remember that a chief source of the +antagonism between Ezekiel and his hearers was the proud national +consciousness which sustained the courage of the people through all their +humiliations. There were, perhaps, few nations of antiquity in which the +flame of patriotic feeling burned more brightly than in Israel. No people +with a past such as theirs could be indifferent to the many elements of +greatness embalmed in their history. The beauty and fertility of their +land, the martial exploits and signal deliverances of the nation, the +great kings and heroes she had reared, her prophets and lawgivers--these +and many other stirring memories were witnesses to Jehovah's peculiar love +for Israel and His power to exalt and bless His people. To cherish a deep +sense of the unique privileges which Jehovah had conferred on her in +giving her a distinct place among the nations of the earth was thus a +religious duty often insisted on in the Old Testament. But in order that +this sense might work for good it was necessary that it should take the +form of grateful recognition of Jehovah as the source of the nation's +greatness, and be accompanied by a true knowledge of His character. When +allied with false conceptions of Jehovah's nature, or entirely divorced +from religion, patriotism degenerated into racial prejudice and became a +serious moral and political danger. That this had actually taken place is +a common complaint of the prophets. They feel that national vanity is a +great obstacle to the acceptance of their message, and pour forth bitter +and scornful words intended to humble the pride of Israel to the dust. No +prophet addresses himself to the task so remorselessly as Ezekiel. The +utter worthlessness of Israel, both absolutely in the eyes of Jehovah and +relatively in comparison with other nations, is asserted by him with a +boldness and emphasis which at first startle us. From a different point of +view prophecy and its results might have been regarded as fruits of the +national life, under the divine education vouchsafed to that people. But +that is not Ezekiel's standpoint. He seizes on the fact that prophecy was +in opposition to the natural genius of the people, and was not to be +regarded as in any sense an expression of it. Accepting the final attitude +of Israel toward the word of Jehovah as the genuine outcome of her natural +proclivities, he reads her past as an unbroken record of ingratitude and +infidelity. All that was good in Israel was Jehovah's gift, freely +bestowed and justly withdrawn; all that was Israel's own was her weakness +and her sin. It was reserved for a later prophet to reconcile the +condemnation of Israel's actual history with the recognition of the divine +power working there and moulding a spiritual kernel of the nation into a +true "servant of the Lord" (Isa. xl. ff.). + +In chs. xv. and xvi., therefore, the prophet exposes the hollowness of +Israel's confidence in her national destiny. The first of these appears to +be directed against the vain hopes cherished in Jerusalem at the time. It +is not necessary to dwell on it at length. The image is simple and its +application to Jerusalem obvious. Earlier prophets had compared Israel to +a vine, partly to set forth the exceptional privileges she enjoyed, but +chiefly to emphasise the degeneration she had undergone, as shown by the +bad moral fruits which she had borne (cf. Isa. v. 1 ff.; Jer. ii. 21; Hos. +x. 1). The popular imagination had laid hold of the thought that Israel +was the vine of God's planting, ignoring the question of the fruit. But +Ezekiel reminds his hearers that apart from its fruit the vine is the most +worthless of trees. Even at the best its wood can be employed for no +useful purpose; it is fit only for fuel. Such was the people of Israel, +considered simply as a state among other states, without regard to its +religious vocation. Even in its pristine vigour, when the national +energies were fresh and unimpaired, it was but a weak nation, incapable of +attaining the dignity of a great power. But now the strength of the nation +has been worn away by a long succession of disasters, until only a shadow +of her former glory remains. Israel is no longer like a green and living +vine, but like a branch burned at both ends and charred in the middle, and +therefore doubly unfit for any worthy function in the affairs of the +world. By the help of this illustration men may read in the present state +of the nation the irrevocable sentence of rejection which Jehovah has +passed on His people. + +We now turn to the striking allegory of ch. xvi., where the same subject +is treated with far greater penetration and depth of feeling. There is no +passage in the book of Ezekiel at once so powerful and so full of +religious significance as the picture of Jerusalem, the foundling child, +the unfaithful spouse, and the abandoned prostitute, which is here +presented. The general conception is one that might have been presented in +a form as beautiful as it is spiritually true. But the features which +offend our sense of propriety are perhaps introduced with a stern purpose. +It is the deliberate intention of Ezekiel to present Jerusalem's +wickedness in the most repulsive light, in order that if possible he might +startle men into abhorrence of their national sin. In his own mind the +feelings of moral indignation and physical disgust were very close +together, and here he seems to work on the minds of his readers, so that +the feeling excited by the image may call forth the feeling appropriate to +the reality. + +The allegory is a highly idealised history of the city of Jerusalem from +its origin to its destruction, and then onward to its future restoration. +It falls naturally into four divisions:-- + +i. Vv. 1-14.--The first emergence of Jerusalem into civic life is compared +to a new-born female infant, exposed to perish, after a cruel custom which +is known to have prevailed among some Semitic tribes. None of the offices +customary on the birth of a child were performed in her case, whether +those necessary to preserve life or those which had a merely ceremonial +significance. Unblessed and unpitied she lay in the open field, weltering +in blood, exciting only repugnance in all who passed by, until Jehovah +Himself passed by, and pronounced over her the decree that she should +live. Thus saved from death, she grew up and reached maturity, but still +"naked and bare," destitute of wealth and the refinements of civilisation. +These were bestowed on her when a second time Jehovah passed by and spread +His skirt over her, and claimed her for His own. Not till then had she +been treated as a human being, with the possibilities of honourable life +before her. But now she becomes the bride of her protector, and is +provided for as a high-born maiden might be, with all the ornaments and +luxuries befitting her new rank. Lifted from the lowest depth of +degradation, she is now transcendently beautiful, and has "attained to +royal estate." The fame of her loveliness went abroad among the nations: +"for it was perfect through My glory, which I put upon thee, saith +Jehovah" (ver. 14). + +It will be seen that the points of contact with actual history are here +extremely few as well as vague. It is indeed doubtful whether the subject +of the allegory be the city of Jerusalem conceived as one through all its +changes of population, or the Hebrew nation of which Jerusalem ultimately +became the capital. The latter interpretation is certainly favoured by ch. +xxiii., where both Jerusalem and Samaria are represented as having spent +their youth in Egypt. That parallel may not be decisive as to the meaning +of ch. xvi.; and the statement "thy father was the Amorite and thy mother +an Hittite" may be thought to support the other alternative. Amorite and +Hittite are general names for the pre-Israelite population of Canaan, and +it is a well-known fact that Jerusalem was originally a Canaanitish city. +It is not necessary to suppose that the prophet has any information about +the early fortunes of Jerusalem when he describes the stages of the +process by which she was raised to royal magnificence. The chief question +is whether these details can be fairly applied to the history of the +nation before it had Jerusalem as its metropolis. It is usually held that +the first "passing by" of Jehovah refers to the preservation of the people +in the patriarchal period, and the second to the events of the Exodus and +the Sinaitic covenant. Against this it may be urged that Ezekiel would +hardly have presented the patriarchal period in a hateful light, although +he does go further in discrediting antiquity than any other prophet. +Besides, the description of Jerusalem's betrothal to Jehovah contains +points which are more naturally understood of the glories of the age of +David and Solomon than of the events of Sinai, which were not accompanied +by an access of material prosperity such as is suggested. It may be +necessary to leave the matter in the vagueness with which the prophet has +surrounded it, and accept as the teaching of the allegory the simple truth +that Jerusalem in herself was nothing, but had been preserved in existence +by Jehovah's will, and owed all her splendour to her association with His +cause and His kingdom. + +ii. Vv. 15-34.--The dainties and rich attire enjoyed by the highly favoured +bride become a snare to her. These represent blessings of a material order +bestowed by Jehovah on Jerusalem. Throughout the chapter nothing is said +of the imparting of spiritual privileges, or of a moral change wrought in +the heart of Jerusalem. The gifts of Jehovah are conferred on one +incapable of responding to the care and affection that had been lavished +on her. The inborn taint of her nature, the hereditary immorality of her +heathen ancestors, breaks out in a career of licentiousness in which all +the advantages of her proud position are prostituted to the vilest ends. +"As is the mother, so is her daughter" (ver. 44); and Jerusalem betrayed +her true origin by the readiness with which she took to evil courses as +soon as she had the opportunity. The "whoredom" in which the prophet sums +up his indictment against his people is chiefly the sin of idolatry. The +figure may have been suggested by the fact that actual lewdness of the +most flagrant kind was a conspicuous element in the form of idolatry to +which Israel first succumbed--the worship of the Canaanite Baals. But in +the hands of the prophets it has a deeper and more spiritual import than +this. It signified the violation of all the sacred moral obligations which +are enshrined in human marriage, or, in other words, the abandonment of an +ethical religion for one in which the powers of nature were regarded as +the highest revelation of the divine. To the mind of the prophet it made +no difference whether the object of worship was called by the name of +Jehovah or of Baal: the character of the worship determined the quality of +the religion; and in the one case, as in the other, it was idolatry, or +"whoredom." + +Two stages in the idolatry of Israel appear to be distinguished in this +part of the chapter. The first is the naïve, half-conscious heathenism +which crept in insensibly through contact with Phoenician and Canaanite +neighbours (vv. 15-25). The tokens of Jerusalem's implication in this sin +were everywhere. The "high places" with their tents and clothed images +(ver. 17), and the offerings set forth before these objects of adoration, +were undoubtedly of Canaanitish origin, and their preservation to the fall +of the kingdom was a standing witness to the source to which Israel owed +her earliest and dearest "abominations." We learn that this phase of +idolatry culminated in the atrocious rite of human sacrifice (vv. 20, 21). +The immolation of children to Baal or Molech was a common practice amongst +the nations surrounding Israel, and when introduced there seems to have +been regarded as part of the worship of Jehovah.(42) What Ezekiel here +asserts is that the practice came through Israel's illicit commerce with +the gods of Canaan, and there is no question that this is historically +true. The allegory exhibits the sin in its unnatural heinousness. The +idealised city is the mother of her citizens, the children are Jehovah's +children and her own, yet she has taken them and offered them up to the +false lovers she so madly pursued. Such was her feverish passion for +idolatry that the dearest and most sacred ties of nature were ruthlessly +severed at the bidding of a perverted religious sense. + +The second form of idolatry in Israel was of a more deliberate and politic +kind (vv. 23-34). It consisted in the introduction of the deities and +religious practices of the great world-powers--Egypt, Assyria, and Chaldæa. +The attraction of these foreign rites did not lie in the fascination of a +sensuous type of religion, but rather in the impression of power produced +by the gods of the conquering peoples. The foreign gods came in mostly in +consequence of a political alliance with the nations whose patrons they +were; in other cases a god was worshipped simply because he had shown +himself able to do great things for his servants. Jerusalem as Ezekiel +knew it was full of monuments of this comparatively recent type of +idolatry. In every street and at the head of every way there were +erections (here called "arches" or "heights") which, from the connection +in which they are mentioned, must have been shrines devoted to the strange +gods from abroad. It is characteristic of the political idolatry here +referred to that its monuments were found in the capital, while the more +ancient and rustic worship was typified by the "high places" throughout +the provinces. It is probable that the description applies mainly to the +later period of the monarchy, when Israel, and especially Judah, began to +lean for support on one or other of the great empires on either side of +her. At the same time it must be remembered that Ezekiel elsewhere teaches +distinctly that the influence of Egyptian religion had been continuous +from the days of the Exodus (ch. xxiii.). There may, however, have been a +revival of Egyptian influence, due to the political exigencies which arose +in the eighth century. + +Thus Jerusalem has "played the harlot"; nay, she has done worse--"she has +been as a wife that committeth adultery, who though under her husband +taketh strangers."(43) And the result has been simply the impoverishment +of the land. The heavy exactions levied on the country by Egypt and +Assyria were the hire she had paid to her lovers to come to her. If false +religion had resulted in an increase of wealth or material prosperity, +there might have been some excuse for the eagerness with which she plunged +into it. But certainly Israel's history bore the lesson that false +religion means waste and ruin. Strangers had devoured her strength from +her youth, yet she never would heed the voice of her prophets when they +sought to guide her into the ways of peace. Her infatuation was unnatural; +it goes almost beyond the bounds of the allegory to exhibit it: "The +contrary is in thee from other women, in that thou committest whoredoms, +and none goeth awhoring after thee: and in that thou givest hire, and no +hire is given to thee, therefore thou art contrary" (ver. 34). + +iii. Vv. 35-58.--Having thus made Jerusalem to "know her abominations" +(ver. 2), the prophet proceeds to announce the doom which must inevitably +follow such a career of wickedness. The figures under which the judgment +is set forth appear to be taken from the punishment meted out to +profligate women in ancient Israel. The public exposure of the adulteress +and her death by stoning in the presence of "many women" supply images +terribly appropriate of the fate in store for Jerusalem.(44) Her +punishment is to be a warning to all surrounding nations, and an +exhibition of the jealous wrath of Jehovah against her infidelity. These +nations, some of them hereditary enemies, others old allies, are +represented as assembled to witness and to execute the judgment of the +city. The remorseless realism of the prophet spares no detail which could +enhance the horror of the situation. Abandoned to the ruthless violence of +her former lovers, Jerusalem is stripped of her royal attire, the emblems +of her idolatry are destroyed, and so, left naked to her enemies, she +suffers the ignominious death of a city that has been false to her +religion. The root of her sin had been the forgetfulness of what she owed +to the goodness of Jehovah, and the essence of her punishment lies in the +withdrawal of the gifts He had lavished upon her and the protection which +amid all her apostasies she had never ceased to expect. + +At this point (ver. 44 ff.) the allegory takes a new turn through the +introduction of the sister cities of Samaria and Sodom. Samaria, although +as a city much younger than Jerusalem, is considered the elder sister +because she had once been the centre of a greater political power than +Jerusalem, and Sodom, which was probably older than either, is treated as +the youngest because of her relative insignificance. The order, however, +is of no importance. The point of the comparison is that all three had +manifested in different degrees the same hereditary tendency to immorality +(ver. 45). All three were of heathen origin--their mother a Hittite and +their father an Amorite--a description which it is even more difficult to +understand in the case of Samaria than in that of Jerusalem. But Ezekiel +is not concerned about history. What is prominent in his mind is the +family likeness observed in their characters, which gave point to the +proverb "Like mother, like daughter" when applied to Jerusalem. The +prophet affirms that the wickedness of Jerusalem had so far exceeded that +of Samaria and Sodom that she had "justified" her sisters--_i.e._, she had +made their moral condition appear pardonable by comparison with hers. He +knows that he is saying a bold thing in ranking the iniquity of Jerusalem +as greater than that of Sodom, and so he explains his judgment on Sodom by +an analysis of the cause of her notorious corruptness. The name of Sodom +lived in tradition as that of the foulest city of the old world, a _ne +plus ultra_ of wickedness. Yet Ezekiel dares to raise the question, What +_was_ the sin of Sodom? "This was the sin of Sodom thy sister, pride, +superabundance of food, and careless ease was the lot of her and her +daughters, but they did not succour the poor and needy. But they became +proud, and committed abominations before Me: therefore I took them away as +thou hast seen" (vv. 49, 50). The meaning seems to be that the corruptions +of Sodom were the natural outcome of the evil principle in the Canaanitish +nature, favoured by easy circumstances and unchecked by the saving +influences of a pure religion. Ezekiel's judgment is like an anticipation +of the more solemn sentence uttered by One who knew what was in man when +He said, "If the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in +Sodom and Gomorrha, they would have remained until this day." + +It is remarkable to observe how some of the profoundest ideas in this +chapter attach themselves to the strange conception of these two vanished +cities as still capable of being restored to their place in the world. In +the ideal future of the prophet's vision Sodom and Samaria shall rise from +their ruins through the same power which restores Jerusalem to her ancient +glory. The promise of a renewed existence to Sodom and Samaria is perhaps +connected with the fact that they lay within the sacred territory of which +Jerusalem is the centre. Hence Sodom and Samaria are no longer sisters, +but daughters of Jerusalem, receiving through her the blessings of the +true religion. And it is her relation to these her sisters that opens the +eyes of Jerusalem to the true nature of her own relation to Jehovah. +Formerly she had been proud and self-sufficient, and counted her +exceptional prerogatives the natural reward of some excellence to which +she could lay claim. The name of Sodom, the disgraced sister of the +family, was not heard in her mouth in the days of her pride, when her +wickedness had not been disclosed as it is now (ver. 57). But when she +realises that her conduct has justified and comforted her sister, and when +she has to take guilty Sodom to her heart as a daughter, she will +understand that she owes all her greatness to the same sovereign grace of +Jehovah which is manifested in the restoration of the most abandoned +community known to history. And out of this new consciousness of grace +will spring the chastened and penitent temper of mind which makes possible +the continuance of the bond which unites her to Jehovah. + +iv. Vv. 59-63.--The way is thus prepared for the final promise of +forgiveness with which the chapter closes. The reconciliation between +Jehovah and Jerusalem will be effected by an act of recollection on both +sides: "_I_ will remember My covenant with thee.... _Thou_ shalt remember +thy ways" (vv. 60, 61). The mind of Jehovah and the mind of Jerusalem both +go back on the past; but while Jehovah thinks only of the purpose of love +which he had entertained towards Jerusalem in the days of her youth and +the indissoluble bond between them, Jerusalem retains the memory of her +own sinful history, and finds in the remembrance the source of abiding +contrition and shame. It does not fall within the scope of the prophet's +purpose to set forth in this place the blessed consequences which flow +from this renewal of loving intercourse between Israel and her God. He has +accomplished his object when he has shown how the electing love of Jehovah +reaches its end in spite of human sin and rebellion, and how through the +crushing power of divine grace the failures and transgressions of the past +are made to issue in a relation of perfect harmony between Jehovah and His +people. The permanence of that relation is expressed by an idea borrowed +from Jeremiah--the idea of an everlasting covenant, which cannot be broken +because based on the forgiveness of sin and a renewal of heart. The +prophet knows that when once the power of evil has been broken by a full +disclosure of redeeming love it cannot resume its old ascendency in human +life. So he leaves us on the threshold of the new dispensation with the +picture of Jerusalem humbled and bearing her shame, yet in the abjectness +of her self-accusation realising the end towards which the love of Jehovah +had guided her from the beginning: "I will establish My covenant with +thee; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah: that thou mayest remember, +and be ashamed, and not open thy mouth any more for very shame, when I +expiate for thee all that thou hast done, saith the Lord Jehovah" (vv. 62, +63). + +Throughout this chapter we see that the prophet moves in the region of +national religious ideas which are distinctive of the Old Testament. Of +the influences that formed his conceptions that of Hosea is perhaps most +discernible. The fundamental thoughts embodied in the allegory are the +same as those by which the older prophet learned to interpret the nature +of God and the sin of Israel through the bitter experiences of his family +life. These thoughts are developed by Ezekiel with a fertility of +imagination and a grasp of theological principles which were adapted to +the more complex situation with which he had to deal. But the conception +of Israel as the unfaithful wife of Jehovah, of the false gods and the +world-powers as her lovers, of her conversion through affliction, and her +final restoration by a new betrothal which is eternal, are all expressed +in the first three chapters of Hosea. And the freedom with which Ezekiel +handles and expands these conceptions shows how thoroughly he was at home +in that national view of religion which he did much to break through. In +the next lecture we shall have occasion to examine his treatment of the +problem of the individual's relation to God, and we cannot fail to be +struck by the contrast. The analysis of individual religion may seem +meagre by the side of this most profound and suggestive chapter. This +arises from the fact that the full meaning of religion could not then be +expressed as an experience of the individual soul. The subject of religion +being the nation of Israel, the human side of it could only be unfolded in +terms of what we should call the national consciousness. The time was not +yet come when the great truths which the prophets and psalmists saw +embodied in the history of their people could be translated in terms of +individual fellowship with God. Yet the God who spake to the fathers by +the prophets is the same who has spoken to us in His Son; and when from +the standpoint of a higher revelation we turn back to the Old Testament, +it is to find in the form of a nation's history the very same truths which +we realise as matters of personal experience. + +From this point of view the chapter we have considered is one of the most +evangelical passages in the writings of Ezekiel. The prophet's conception +of sin, for example, is singularly profound and true. He has been charged +with a somewhat superficial conception of sin, as if he saw nothing more +in it than the transgression of a law arbitrarily imposed by divine +authority. There are aspects of Ezekiel's teaching which give some +plausibility to that charge, especially those which deal with the duties +of the individual. But we see that to Ezekiel the real nature of sin could +not possibly be manifested except as a factor in the national life. Now in +this allegory it is obvious that he sees something far deeper in it than +the mere transgression of positive commandments. Behind all the outward +offences of which Israel had been guilty there plainly lies the spiritual +fact of national selfishness, unfaithfulness to Jehovah, insensibility to +His love, and ingratitude for His benefits. Moreover, the prophet, like +Jeremiah before him, has a strong sense of sin as a tendency in human +life, a power which is ineradicable save by the mingled severity and +goodness of God. Through the whole history of Israel it is one evil +disposition which he sees asserting itself, breaking out now in one form +and then in another, but continually gaining strength, until at last the +spirit of repentance is created by the experience of God's forgiveness. It +is not the case, therefore, that Ezekiel failed to comprehend the nature +of sin, or that in this respect he falls below the most spiritual of the +prophets who had gone before him. + +In order that this tendency to sin may be destroyed, Ezekiel sees that the +consciousness of guilt must take its place. In the same way the apostle +Paul teaches that "every mouth must be stopped, and all the world become +guilty before God." Whether the subject be a nation or an individual, the +dominion of sin is not broken till the sinner has taken home to himself +the full responsibility for his acts and felt himself to be "without +excuse." But the most striking thing in Ezekiel's representation of the +process of conversion is the thought that this saving sense of sin is +produced less by judgment than by free and undeserved forgiveness. +Punishment he conceives to be necessary, being demanded alike by the +righteousness of God and the good of the sinful people. But the heart of +Jerusalem is not changed till she finds herself restored to her former +relation to God, with all the sin of her past blotted out and a new life +before her. It is through the grace of forgiveness that she is overwhelmed +with shame and sorrow for sin, and learns the humility which is the germ +of a new hope towards God. Here the prophet strikes one of the deepest +notes of evangelical doctrine. All experience confirms the lesson that +true repentance is not produced by the terrors of the law, but by the view +of God's love in Christ going forth to meet the sinner and bring him back +to the Father's heart and home. + +Another question of great interest and difficulty is the attitude towards +the heathen world assumed by Ezekiel. The prophecy of the restoration of +Sodom is certainly one of the most remarkable things in the book. It is +true that Ezekiel as a rule concerns himself very little with the +religious state of the outlying world under the Messianic dispensation. +Where he speaks of foreign nations it is only to announce the +manifestation of Jehovah's glory in the judgments He executes upon them. +The effect of these judgments is that "they shall know that I am Jehovah"; +but how much is included in the expression as applied to the heathen it is +impossible to say. This, however, may be due to the peculiar limitation of +view which leads him to concentrate his attention on the Holy Land in his +visions of the perfect kingdom of God. We can hardly suppose that he +conceived all the rest of the world as a blank or filled with a seething +mass of humanity outside the government of the true God. It is rather to +be supposed that Canaan itself appeared to his mind as an epitome of the +world such as it must be when the latter-day glory was ushered in. And in +Canaan he finds room for Sodom, but Sodom turned to the knowledge of the +true God and sharing in the blessings bestowed on Jerusalem. It is surely +allowable to see in this the symptom of a more hopeful view of the future +of the world at large than we should gather from the rest of the prophecy. +If Ezekiel could think of Sodom as raised from the dead and sharing the +glories of the people of God, the idea of the conversion of heathen +nations could not have been altogether foreign to his mind. It is at all +events significant that when he meditates most profoundly on the nature of +sin and God's method of dealing with it, he is led to the thought of a +divine mercy which embraces in its sweep those communities which had +reached the lowest depths of moral corruption. + + + + +Chapter X. The Religion Of The Individual. Chapter xviii. + + +In the sixteenth chapter, as we have seen, Ezekiel has asserted in the +most unqualified terms the validity of the principle of national +retribution. The nation is dealt with as a moral unity, and the +catastrophe which closes its history is the punishment for the accumulated +guilt incurred by the past generations. In the eighteenth chapter he +teaches still more explicitly the freedom and the independent +responsibility of each individual before God. No attempt is made to +reconcile the two principles as methods of the divine government; from the +prophet's standpoint they do not require to be reconciled. They belong to +different dispensations. So long as the Jewish state existed the principle +of solidarity remained in force. Men suffered for the sins of their +ancestors; individuals shared the punishment incurred by the nation as a +whole. But as soon as the nation is dead, when the bonds that unite men in +the organism of national life are dissolved, then the idea of individual +responsibility comes into immediate operation. Each Israelite stands +isolated before Jehovah, the burden of hereditary guilt falls away from +him, and he is free to determine his own relation to God. He need not fear +that the iniquity of his fathers will be reckoned against him; he is held +accountable only for his own sins, and these can be forgiven on the +condition of his own repentance. + +The doctrine of this chapter is generally regarded as Ezekiel's most +characteristic contribution to theology. It might be nearer the truth to +say that he is dealing with one of the great religious problems of the age +in which he lived. The difficulty was perceived by Jeremiah, and treated +in a manner which shows that his thoughts were being led in the same +direction as those of Ezekiel (Jer. xxxi. 29, 30). If in any respect the +teaching of Ezekiel makes an advance on that of Jeremiah, it is in his +application of the new truth to the duty of the present: and even here the +difference is more apparent than real. Jeremiah postpones the introduction +of personal religion to the future, regarding it as an ideal to be +realised in the Messianic age. His own life and that of his contemporaries +was bound up with the old dispensation which was passing away, and he knew +that he was destined to share the fate of his people. Ezekiel, on the +other hand, lives already under the powers of the world to come. The one +hindrance to the perfect manifestation of Jehovah's righteousness has been +removed by the destruction of Jerusalem, and henceforward it will be made +apparent in the correspondence between the desert and the fate of each +individual. The new Israel must be organised on the basis of personal +religion, and the time has already come when the task of preparing the +religious community of the future must be earnestly taken up. Hence the +doctrine of individual responsibility has a peculiar and practical +importance in the mission of Ezekiel. The call to repentance, which is the +keynote of his ministry, is addressed to individual men, and in order that +it may take effect their minds must be disabused of all fatalistic +preconceptions which would induce paralysis of the moral faculties. It was +necessary to affirm in all their breadth and fulness the two fundamental +truths of personal religion--the absolute righteousness of God's dealings +with individual men, and His readiness to welcome and pardon the penitent. + +The eighteenth chapter falls accordingly into two divisions. In the first +the prophet sets the individual's immediate relation to God against the +idea that guilt is transmitted from father to children (vv. 2-20). In the +second he tries to dispel the notion that a man's fate is so determined by +his own past life as to make a change of moral condition impossible (vv. +21-32). + + + +I + + +It is noteworthy that both Jeremiah and Ezekiel, in dealing with the +question of retribution, start from a popular proverb which had gained +currency in the later years of the kingdom of Judah: "The fathers have +eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." In whatever +spirit this saying may have been first coined, there is no doubt that it +had come to be used as a witticism at the expense of Providence. It +indicates that influences were at work besides the word of prophecy which +tended to undermine men's faith in the current conception of the divine +government. The doctrine of transmitted guilt was accepted as a fact of +experience, but it no longer satisfied the deeper moral instincts of men. +In early Israel it was otherwise. There the idea that the son should bear +the iniquity of the father was received without challenge and applied +without misgiving in judicial procedure. The whole family of Achan +perished for the sin of their father; the sons of Saul expiated their +father's crime long after he was dead. These are indeed but isolated +facts, yet they are sufficient to prove the ascendency of the antique +conception of the tribe or family as a unity whose individual members are +involved in the guilt of the head. With the spread of purer ethical ideas +among the people there came a deeper sense of the value of the individual +life, and at a later time the principle of vicarious punishment was +banished from the administration of human justice (cf. 2 Kings xiv. 6 with +Deut. xxiv. 16). Within that sphere the principle was firmly established +that each man shall be put to death for his own sin. But the motives which +made this change intelligible and necessary in purely human relations +could not be brought to bear immediately on the question of divine +retribution. The righteousness of God was thought to act on different +lines from the righteousness of man. The experience of the last generation +of the state seemed to furnish fresh evidence of the operation of a law of +providence by which men were made to inherit the iniquity of their +fathers. The literature of the period is filled with the conviction that +it was the sins of Manasseh that had sealed the doom of the nation. These +sins had never been adequately punished, and subsequent events showed that +they were not forgiven. The reforming zeal of Josiah had postponed for a +time the final visitation of Jehovah's anger; but no reformation and no +repentance could avail to roll back the flood of judgment that had been +set in motion by the crimes of the reign of Manasseh. "Notwithstanding +Jehovah turned not from the fierceness of His great wrath, wherewith His +anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that +Manasseh had provoked Him withal" (2 Kings xxiii. 26). + +The proverb about the sour grapes shows the effect of this interpretation +of providence on a large section of the people. It means no doubt that +there is an irrational element in God's method of dealing with men, +something not in harmony with natural laws. In the natural sphere if a man +eats sour grapes his own teeth are blunted or set on edge; the +consequences are immediate, and they are transitory. But in the moral +sphere a man may eat sour grapes all his life and suffer no evil +consequences whatever; the consequences, however, appear in his children +who have committed no such indiscretion. There is nothing there which +answers to the ordinary sense of justice. Yet the proverb appears to be +less an arraignment of the divine righteousness than a mode of self- +exculpation on the part of the people. It expresses the fatalism and +despair which settled down on the minds of that generation when they +realised the full extent of the calamity that had overtaken them: "If our +transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how then +should we live?" (ch. xxxiii. 10). So the exiles reasoned in Babylon, +where they were in no mood for quoting facetious proverbs about the ways +of Providence; but they accurately expressed the sense of the adage that +had been current in Jerusalem before its fall. The sins for which they +suffered were not their own, and the judgment that lay on them was no +summons to repentance, for it was caused by sins of which they were not +guilty and for which they could not in any real sense repent. + +Ezekiel attacks this popular theory of retribution at what must have been +regarded as its strongest point--the relation between the father and son. +"Why should the son _not_ bear the iniquity of his father?" the people +asked in astonishment (ver. 19). "It is good traditional theology, and it +has been confirmed by our own experience." Now Ezekiel would probably not +have admitted that in any circumstances a son suffers because his father +has sinned. With that notion he appears to have absolutely broken. He did +not deny that the Exile was the punishment for all the sins of the past as +well as for those of the present; but that was because the nation was +treated as a moral unity, and not because of any law of heredity which +bound up the fate of the child with that of the father. It was essential +to his purpose to show that the principle of social guilt or collective +retribution came to an end with the fall of the state; whereas in the form +in which the people held to it, it could never come to an end so long as +there are parents to sin and children to suffer. But the important point +in the prophet's teaching is that whether in one form or in another the +principle of solidarity is now superseded. God will no longer deal with +men in the mass, but as individuals; and facts which gave plausibility and +a relative justification to cynical views of God's providence shall no +more occur. There will be no more occasion to use that objectionable +proverb in Israel. On the contrary, it will be manifest in the case of +each separate individual that God's righteousness is discriminating, and +that each man's destiny corresponds with his own character. And the new +principle is embodied in words which may be called the charter of the +individual soul--words whose significance is fully revealed only in +Christianity: "All souls are Mine.... The soul that sinneth, it shall +die." + +What is here asserted is of course not a distinction between the soul or +spiritual part of man's being and another part of his being which is +subject to physical necessity, but one between the individual and his +moral environment. The former distinction is real, and it may be necessary +for us in our day to insist on it, but it was certainly not thought of by +Ezekiel or perhaps by any other Old Testament writer. The word "soul" +denotes simply the principle of individual life. "All persons are Mine" +expresses the whole meaning which Ezekiel meant to convey. Consequently +the death threatened to the sinner is not what we call spiritual death, +but death in the literal sense--the death of the individual. The truth +taught is the independence and freedom of the individual, or his moral +personality. And that truth involves two things. First, each individual +belongs to God, stands in immediate personal relation to Him. In the old +economy the individual belonged to the nation or the family, and was +related to God only as a member of a larger whole. Now he has to deal with +God directly--possesses independent personal worth in the eye of God. +Secondly, as a result of this, each man is responsible for his own acts, +and for these alone. So long as his religious relations are determined by +circumstances outside of his own life his personality is incomplete. The +ideal relation to God must be one in which the destiny of every man +depends on his own free actions. These are the fundamental postulates of +personal religion as formulated by Ezekiel. + +The first part of the chapter is nothing more than an illustration of the +second of these truths in a sufficient number of instances to show both +sides of its operation. There is first the case of a man perfectly +righteous, who as a matter of course lives by his righteousness, the state +of his father not being taken into account. Then this good man is supposed +to bear a son who is in all respects the opposite of his father, who +answers none of the tests of a righteous man; he must die for his own +sins, and his father's righteousness avails him nothing. Lastly, if the +son of this wicked man takes warning by his father's fate and leads a good +life, he lives just as the first man did because of his own righteousness, +and suffers no diminution of his reward because his father was a sinner. +In all this argument there is a tacit appeal to the conscience of the +hearers, as if the case only required to be put clearly before them to +command their assent. This is what shall be, the prophet says; and it is +what ought to be. It is contrary to the idea of perfect justice to +conceive of Jehovah as acting otherwise than as here represented. To cling +to the idea of collective retribution as a permanent truth of religion, as +the exiles were disposed to do, destroys belief in the divine +righteousness by making it different from the righteousness which +expresses itself in the moral judgments of men. + +Before we pass from this part of the chapter we may take note of some +characteristics of the moral ideal by which Ezekiel tests the conduct of +the individual man. It is given in the form of a catalogue of virtues, the +presence or absence of which determines a man's fitness or unfitness to +enter the future kingdom of God. Most of these virtues are defined +negatively; the code specifies sins to be avoided rather than duties to be +performed or graces to be cultivated. Nevertheless they are such as to +cover a large section of human life, and the arrangement of them embodies +distinctions of permanent ethical significance. They may be classed under +the three heads of piety, chastity, and beneficence. Under the first head, +that of directly religious duties, two offences are mentioned which are +closely connected with each other, although to our minds they may seem to +involve different degrees of guilt (ver. 6). One is the acknowledgment of +other gods than Jehovah, and the other is participation in ceremonies +which denoted fellowship with idols.(45) To us who "know that an idol is +nothing in the world" the mere act of eating with the blood has no +religious significance. But in Ezekiel's time it was impossible to divest +it of heathen associations, and the man who performed it stood convicted +of a sin against Jehovah. Similarly the idea of sexual purity is +illustrated by two outstanding and prevalent offences (ver. 6). The third +head, which includes by far the greater number of particulars, deals with +the duties which we regard as moral in a stricter sense. They are +embodiments of the love which "worketh no ill to his neighbour," and is +therefore "the fulfilling of the law." It is manifest that the list is not +meant to be an exhaustive enumeration of all the virtues that a good man +must practise, or all the vices he must shun. The prophet has before his +mind two broad classes of men--those who feared God, and those who did not; +and what he does is to lay down outward marks which were practically +sufficient to discriminate between the one class and the other. + +The supreme moral category is Righteousness, and this includes the two +ideas of right character and a right relation to God. The distinction +between an active righteousness manifested in the life and a +"righteousness which is by faith" is not explicitly drawn in the Old +Testament. Hence the passage contains no teaching on the question whether +a man's relation to God is determined by his good works, or whether good +works are the fruit and outcome of a right relation to God. The essence of +morality, according to the Old Testament, is loyalty to God, expressed by +obedience to His will; and from that point of view it is self-evident that +the man who is loyal to Jehovah stands accepted in His sight. In other +connections Ezekiel makes it abundantly clear that the state of grace does +not depend on any merit which man can have towards God. + +The fact that Ezekiel defines righteousness in terms of outward conduct +has led to his being accused of the error of legalism in his moral +conceptions. He has been charged with resolving righteousness into "a sum +of separate _tzedaqôth_," or virtues. But this view strains his language +unduly, and seems moreover to be negatived by the presuppositions of his +argument. As a man must either live or die at the day of judgment, so he +must at any moment be either righteous or wicked. The problematic case of +a man who should conscientiously observe some of these requirements and +deliberately violate others would have been dismissed by Ezekiel as an +idle speculation: "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in +one point, he is guilty of all" (James ii. 10). The very fact that former +good deeds are not remembered to a man in the day when he turns from his +righteousness shows that the state of righteousness is something different +from an average struck from the statistics of his moral career. The bent +of the character towards or away from goodness is no doubt spoken of as +subject to sudden fluctuations, but for the time being each man is +conceived as dominated by the one tendency or the other; and it is the +bent of the whole nature towards the good that constitutes the +righteousness by which a man shall live. It is at all events a mistake to +suppose that the prophet is concerned only about the external act and +indifferent to the state of heart from which it proceeds. It is true that +he does not attempt to penetrate beneath the surface of the outward life. +He does not analyse motives. But this is because he assumes that if a man +keeps God's law he does it from a sincere desire to please God and with a +sense of the rightness of the law to which he subjects his life. When we +recognise this the charge of externalism amounts to very little. We can +never get behind the principle that "he that doeth righteousness is +righteous" (1 John iii. 7), and that principle covers all that Ezekiel +really teaches. Compared with the more spiritual teaching of the New +Testament his moral ideal is no doubt defective in many directions, but +his insistence on action as a test of character is hardly one of them. We +must remember that the New Testament itself contains as many warnings +against a false spirituality as it does against the opposite error of +reliance on good works. + + + +II + + +The second great truth of personal religion is the moral freedom of the +individual to determine his own destiny in the day of judgment. This is +illustrated in the latter part of the chapter by the two opposite cases of +a wicked man turning from his wickedness (vv. 21, 22) and a righteous man +turning from his righteousness (ver. 24). And the teaching of the passage +is that the effect of such a change of mind, as regards a man's relation +to God, is absolute. The good life subsequent to conversion is not weighed +against the sins of past years; it is the index of a new state of heart in +which the guilt of former transgressions is entirely blotted out: "All his +transgressions that he hath committed shall not be remembered in regard to +him; in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live." But in like +manner the act of apostasy effaces the remembrance of good deeds done in +an earlier period of the man's life. The standing of each soul before God, +its righteousness or its wickedness, is thus wholly determined by its +final choice of good or evil, and is revealed by the conduct which follows +that great moral decision. There can be no doubt that Ezekiel regards +these two possibilities as equally real, falling away from righteousness +being as much a fact of experience as repentance. In the light of the New +Testament we should perhaps interpret both cases somewhat differently. In +genuine conversion we must recognise the imparting of a new spiritual +principle which is ineradicable, containing the pledge of perseverance in +the state of grace to the end. In the case of final apostasy we are +compelled to judge that the righteousness which is renounced was only +apparent, that it was no true indication of the man's character or of his +condition in the sight of God. But these are not the questions with which +the prophet is directly dealing. The essential truth which he inculcates +is the emancipation of the individual, through repentance, from his own +past. In virtue of his immediate personal relation to God each man has the +power to accept the offer of salvation, to break away from his sinful life +and escape the doom which hangs over the impenitent. To this one point the +whole argument of the chapter tends. It is a demonstration of the +possibility and efficacy of individual repentance, culminating in the +declaration which lies at the very foundation of evangelical religion, +that God has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but will have all +men to repent and live (ver. 32). + +It is not easy for us to conceive the effect of this revelation on the +minds of people so utterly unprepared for it as the generation in which +Ezekiel lived. Accustomed as they were to think of their individual fate +as bound up in that of their nation, they could not at once adjust +themselves to a doctrine which had never previously been enunciated with +such incisive clearness. And it is not surprising that one effect of +Ezekiel's teaching was to create fresh doubts of the rectitude of the +divine government. "The way of the Lord is not equal," it was said (vv. +25, 29). So long as it was admitted that men suffered for the sins of +their ancestors or that God dealt with them in the mass, there was at +least an appearance of consistency in the methods of Providence. The +justice of God might not be visible in the life of the individual, but it +could be roughly traced in the history of the nation as a whole. But when +that principle was discarded, then the question of the divine +righteousness was raised in the case of each separate Israelite, and there +immediately appeared all those perplexities about the lot of the +individual which so sorely exercised the faith of Old Testament believers. +Experience did not show that correspondence between a man's attitude +towards God and his earthly fortunes which the doctrine of individual +freedom seemed to imply; and even in Ezekiel's time it must have been +evident that the calamities which overtook the state fell indiscriminately +on the righteous and the wicked. The prophet's purpose, however, is a +practical one, and he does not attempt to offer a theoretical solution of +the difficulties which thus arose. There were several considerations in +his mind which turned aside the edge of the people's complaint against the +righteousness of Jehovah. One was the imminence of the final judgment, in +which the absolute rectitude of the divine procedure would be clearly +manifested. Another seems to be the irresolute and unstable attitude of +the people themselves towards the great moral issues which were set before +them. While they professed to be more righteous than their fathers, they +showed no settled purpose of amendment in their lives. A man might be +apparently righteous to-day and a sinner to-morrow; the "inequality" of +which they complained was in their own ways, and not in the way of the +Lord (vv. 25, 29). But the most important element in the case was the +prophet's conception of the character of God as one who, though strictly +just, yet desired that men should live. The Lord is longsuffering, not +willing that any should perish; and He postpones the day of decision that +His goodness may lead men to repentance. "Have I any pleasure in the death +of the wicked? saith the Lord: and not that he should turn from his ways, +and live?" (ver. 23). And all these considerations lead up to the urgent +call to repentance with which the chapter closes. + +The importance of the questions dealt with in this eighteenth chapter is +shown clearly enough by the hold which they have over the minds of men in +the present day. The very same difficulties which Ezekiel had to encounter +in his time confront us still in a somewhat altered form, and are often +keenly felt as obstacles to faith in God. The scientific doctrine of +heredity, for example, seems to be but a more precise modern rendering of +the old proverb about the eating of sour grapes. The biological +controversy over the possibility of the transmission of acquired +characteristics scarcely touches the moral problem. In whatever way that +controversy may be ultimately settled, it is certain that in all cases a +man's life is affected both for good and evil by influences which descend +upon him from his ancestry. Similarly within the sphere of the individual +life the law of habit seems to exclude the possibility of complete +emancipation from the penalty due to past transgressions. Hardly anything, +in short, is better established by experience than that the consequences +of past actions persist through all changes of spiritual condition, and, +further, that children do suffer from the consequences of their parents' +sin. + +Do not these facts, it may be asked, amount practically to a vindication +of the theory of retribution against which the prophet's argument is +directed? How can we reconcile them with the great principles enunciated +in this chapter? Dictates of morality, fundamental truths of religion, +these may be; but can we say in the face of experience that they are true? + +It must be admitted that a complete answer to these questions is not given +in the chapter before us, nor perhaps anywhere in the Old Testament. So +long as God dealt with men mainly by temporal rewards and punishments, it +was impossible to realise fully the separateness of the soul in its +spiritual relations to God; the fate of the individual is necessarily +merged in that of the community, and Ezekiel's doctrine remains a prophecy +of better things to be revealed. This indeed is the light in which he +himself teaches us to regard it; although he applies it in all its +strictness to the men of his own generation, it is nevertheless +essentially a feature of the ideal kingdom of God, and is to be exhibited +in the judgment by which that kingdom is introduced. The great value of +his teaching therefore lies in his having formulated with unrivalled +clearness principles which are eternally true of the spiritual life, +although the perfect manifestation of these principles in the experience +of believers was reserved for the final revelation of salvation in Christ. + +The solution of the contradiction referred to lies in the separation +between the natural and the penal consequences of sin. There is a sphere +within which natural laws have their course, modified, it may be, but not +wholly suspended by the law of the spirit of life in Christ. The physical +effects of vicious indulgence are not turned aside by repentance, and a +man may carry the scars of sin upon him to the grave. But there is also a +sphere into which natural law does not enter. In his immediate personal +relation to God a believer is raised above the evil consequences which +flow from his past life, so that they have no power to separate him from +the love of God. And within that sphere his moral freedom and independence +are as much matter of experience as is his subjection to law in another +sphere. He knows that all things work together for his good, and that +tribulation itself is a means of bringing him nearer to God. Amongst those +tribulations which work out his salvation there may be the evil conditions +imposed on him by the sin of others, or even the natural consequences of +his own former transgressions. But tribulations no longer bear the aspect +of penalty, and are no longer a token of the wrath of God. They are +transformed into chastisements by which the Father of spirits makes His +children perfect in holiness. The hardest cross to bear will always be +that which is the result of one's own sin; but He who has borne the guilt +of it can strengthen us to bear even this and follow Him.(46) + + + + +Chapter XI. The Sword Unsheathed. Chapter xxi. + + +The date at the beginning of ch. xx. introduces the fourth and last +section of the prophecies delivered before the destruction of Jerusalem. +It also divides the first period of Ezekiel's ministry into two equal +parts. The time is the month of August, 590 B.C., two years after his +prophetic inauguration and two years before the investment of Jerusalem. +It follows that if the book of Ezekiel presents anything like a faithful +picture of his actual work, by far his most productive year was that which +had just closed. It embraces the long and varied series of discourses from +ch. viii. to ch. xix.; whereas five chapters are all that remain as a +record of his activity during the next two years. This result is not so +improbable as at first sight it might appear. From the character of +Ezekiel's prophecy, which consists largely of homiletic amplifications of +one great theme, it is quite intelligible that the main lines of his +teaching should have taken shape in his mind at an early period of his +ministry. The discourses in the earlier part of the book may have been +expanded in the act of committing them to writing; but there is no reason +to doubt that the ideas they contain were present to the prophet's mind +and were actually delivered by him within the period to which they are +assigned. We may therefore suppose that Ezekiel's public exhortations +became less frequent during the two years that preceded the siege, just as +we know that for two years after that event they were altogether +discontinued. + +In this last division of the prophecies relating to the destruction of +Jerusalem we can easily distinguish two different classes of oracles. On +the one hand we have two chapters dealing with contemporary incidents--the +march of Nebuchadnezzar's army against Jerusalem (ch. xxi.), and the +commencement of the siege of the city (ch. xxiv.). In spite of the +confident opinion of some critics that these prophecies could not have +been composed till after the fall of Jerusalem, they seem to me to bear +the marks of having been written under the immediate influence of the +events they describe. It is difficult otherwise to account for the +excitement under which the prophet labours, especially in ch. xxi., which +stands by the side of ch. vii. as the most agitated utterance in the whole +book. On the other hand we have three discourses of the nature of formal +indictments--one directed against the exiles (ch. xx.), one against +Jerusalem (ch. xxii.), and one against the whole nation of Israel (ch. +xxiii.). It is impossible in these chapters to discover any advance in +thought upon similar passages that have already been before us. Two of +them (chs. xx. and xxiii.) are historical retrospects after the manner of +ch. xvi., and there is no obvious reason why they should be placed in a +different section of the book. The key to the unity of the section must +therefore be sought in the two historical prophecies and in the situation +created by the events they describe.(47) It will therefore help to clear +the ground if we commence with the oracle which throws most light on the +historical background of this group of prophecies--the oracle of Jehovah's +sword against Jerusalem in ch. xxi.(48) + +The long-projected rebellion has at length broken out. Zedekiah has +renounced his allegiance to the king of Babylon, and the army of the +Chaldæans is on its way to suppress the insurrection. The precise date of +these events is not known. For some reason the conspiracy of the +Palestinian states had hung fire; many years had been allowed to slip away +since the time when their envoys had met in Jerusalem to concert measures +of united resistance (Jer. xxvii.). This procrastination was, as usual, a +sure presage of disaster. In the interval the league had dissolved. Some +of its members had made terms with Nebuchadnezzar; and it would appear +that only Tyre, Judah, and Ammon ventured on open defiance of his power. +The hope was cherished in Jerusalem, and probably also among the Jews in +Babylon, that the first assault of the Chaldæans would be directed against +the Ammonites, and that time would thus be gained to complete the defences +of Jerusalem. To dispel this illusion is one obvious purpose of the +prophecy before us. The movements of Nebuchadnezzar's army are directed by +a wisdom higher than his own; he is the unconscious instrument by which +Jehovah is executing His own purpose. The real object of his expedition is +not to punish a few refractory tribes for an act of disloyalty, but to +vindicate the righteousness of Jehovah in the destruction of the city +which had profaned His holiness. No human calculations will be allowed +even for a moment to turn aside the blow which is aimed directly at +Jerusalem's sins, or to obscure the lesson taught by its sure and unerring +aim. + +We can imagine the restless suspense and anxiety with which the final +struggle for the national cause was watched by the exiles in Babylon. In +imagination they would follow the long march of the Chaldæan hosts by the +Euphrates and their descent by the valleys of the Orontes and Leontes upon +the city. Eagerly would they wait for some tidings of a reverse which +would revive their drooping hope of a speedy collapse of the great world- +empire and a restoration of Israel to its ancient freedom. And when at +length they heard that Jerusalem was enclosed in the iron grip of these +victorious legions, from which no human deliverance was possible, their +mood would harden into one in which fanatical hope and sullen despair +contended for the mastery. Into an atmosphere charged with such excitement +Ezekiel hurls the series of predictions comprised in chs. xxi. and xxiv. +With far other feelings than his fellows, but with as keen an interest as +theirs, he follows the development of what he knows to be the last act in +the long controversy between Jehovah and Israel. It is his duty to repeat +once more the irrevocable decree--the divine _delenda est_ against the +guilty Jerusalem. But he does so in this instance in language whose +vehemence betrays the agitation of his mind, and perhaps also the +restlessness of the society in which he lived. The twenty-first chapter is +a series of rhapsodies, the product of a state bordering on ecstasy, where +different aspects of the impending judgment are set forth by the help of +vivid images which pass in quick succession through the prophet's mind. + + + +I + + +The first vision which the prophet sees of the approaching catastrophe +(vv. 1-4) is that of a forest conflagration, an occurrence which must have +been as frequent in Palestine as a prairie fire in America. He sees a fire +break out in the "forest of the south," and rage with such fierceness that +"every green tree and every dry tree" is burned up; the faces of all who +are near it are scorched, and all men are convinced that so terrible a +calamity must be the work of Jehovah Himself. This we may suppose to have +been the form in which the truth first laid hold of Ezekiel's imagination; +but he appears to have hesitated to proclaim his message in this form. His +figurative manner of speech had become notorious among the exiles (ver. +5), and he was conscious that a "parable" so vague and general as this +would be dismissed as an ingenious riddle which might mean anything or +nothing. What follows (vv. 7-10) gives the key to the original vision. +Although it is in form an independent oracle, it is closely parallel to +the preceding and elucidates each feature in detail. The "forest of the +south" is explained to mean the land of Israel; and the mention of the +sword of Jehovah instead of the fire intimates less obscurely that the +instrument of the threatened calamity is the Babylonian army. It is +interesting to observe that Ezekiel expressly admits that there were +righteous men even in the doomed Israel. Contrary to his conception of the +normal methods of the divine righteousness, he conceives of _this_ +judgment as one which involves righteous and wicked in a common ruin. Not +that God is less than righteous in this crowning act of vengeance, but His +justice is not brought to bear on the fate of individuals. He is dealing +with the nation as a whole, and in the exterminating judgment of the +nation good men will no more be spared than the green tree of the forest +escapes the fate of the dry. It was the fact that righteous men perished +in the fall of Jerusalem; and Ezekiel does not shut his eyes to it, firmly +as he believed that the time was come when God would reward every man +according to his own character. The indiscriminateness of the judgment in +its bearing on different classes of persons is obviously a feature which +Ezekiel here seeks to emphasise. + +But the idea of the sword of Jehovah drawn from its scabbard, to return no +more till it has accomplished its mission, is the one that has fixed +itself most deeply in the prophet's imagination, and forms the connecting +link between this vision and the other amplifications of the same theme +which follow. + + + +II + + +Passing over the symbolic action of vv. 11-13, representing the horror and +astonishment with which the dire tidings of Jerusalem's fall will be +received, we come to the point where the prophet breaks into the wild +strain of dithyrambic poetry, which has been called the "Song of the +Sword" (vv. 14-22). The following translation, although necessarily +imperfect and in some places uncertain, may convey some idea both of the +structure and the rugged vigour of the original. It will be seen that +there is a clear division into four stanzas:(49)-- + +(i) Vv. 14-16. + +A sword, a sword! It is sharpened and burnished withal. +For a work of slaughter is it sharpened! +To gleam like lightning burnished! + + ------------------------------------- + +And 'twas given to be smoothed for the grip of the hand, +--Sharpened is it, and furbished-- +To put in the hand of the slayer. + +(ii) Vv. 17, 18. + +Cry and howl, son of man! +For it has come among my people; +Come among all the princes of Israel! +Victims of the sword are they, they and my people; +Therefore smite upon thy thigh! + + ------------------------------------- + +It shall not be, saith Jehovah the Lord. + +(iii) Vv. 19, 20. + +But, thou son of man, prophesy, and smite hand on hand; +Let the sword be doubled and tripled (?). +A sword of the slain is it, the great sword of the slain whirling around + them,-- +That hearts may fail, and many be the fallen in all their gates. + + ------------------------------------- + +It is made like lightning, furbished for slaughter! + +(iv) Vv. 21, 22. + +Gather thee together! Smite to the right, to the left, +Whithersoever thine edge is appointed! +And I also will smite hand on hand, +And appease My wrath: +I Jehovah have spoken it. + +In spite of its obscurity, its abrupt transitions, and its strange +blending of the divine with the human personality, the ode exhibits a +definite poetic form and a real progress of thought from the beginning to +the close. Throughout the passage we observe that the prophet's gaze is +fascinated by the glittering sword which symbolised the instrument of +Jehovah's vengeance. In the opening stanza (i) he describes the +_preparation_ of the sword; he notes the keenness of its edge and its +glittering sheen with an awful presentiment that an implement so +elaborately fashioned is destined for some terrible day of slaughter. Then +(ii) he announces the _purpose_ for which the sword is prepared, and +breaks into loud lamentation as he realises that its doomed victims are +his own people and the princes of Israel. In the next stanza (iii) he sees +the sword _in action_; wielded by an invisible hand, it flashes hither and +thither, circling round its hapless victims as if two or three swords were +at work instead of one. All hearts are paralysed with fear, but the sword +does not cease its ravages until it has filled the ground with slain. Then +at length the sword is _at rest_ (iv), having accomplished its work. The +divine Speaker calls on it in a closing apostrophe "to gather itself +together" as if for a final sweep to right and left, indicating the +thoroughness with which the judgment has been executed. In the last verse +the vision of the sword fades away, and the poem closes with an +announcement, in the usual prophetic manner, of Jehovah's fixed purpose to +"assuage" His wrath against Israel by the crowning act of retribution. + + + +III + + +If any doubt still remained as to what the sword of Jehovah meant, it is +removed in the next section (vv. 23-32), where the prophet indicates the +way by which the sword is to come on the kingdom of Judah. The Chaldæan +monarch is represented as pausing on his march, perhaps at Riblah or some +place to the north of Palestine, and deliberating whether he shall advance +first against Judah or the Ammonites. He stands at the parting of the +ways--on the left hand is the road to Rabbath-ammon, on the right that to +Jerusalem. In his perplexity he invokes supernatural guidance, resorting +to various expedients then in use for ascertaining the will of the gods +and the path of good fortune. He "rattles the arrows" (two of them in some +kind of vessel, one for Jerusalem and the other for Riblah); he consults +the teraphim and inspects the entrails of a sacrificial victim. This +consulting of the omens was no doubt an invariable preliminary to every +campaign, and was resorted to whenever an important military decision had +to be made. It might seem a matter of indifference to a powerful monarch +like Nebuchadnezzar which of two petty opponents he determined to crush +first. But the kings of Babylon were religious men in their way, and never +doubted that success depended on their following the indications that were +given by the higher powers. In this case Nebuchadnezzar gets a true +answer, but not from the deities whose aid he had invoked. In his right +hand he finds the arrow marked "Jerusalem." The die is cast, his +resolution is taken, but it is Jehovah's sentence sealing the fate of +Jerusalem that has been uttered. + +Such is the situation which Ezekiel in Babylon is directed to represent +through a piece of obvious symbolism. A road diverging into two is drawn +on the ground, and at the meeting-point a sign-post is erected indicating +that the one leads to Ammon and the other to Judah. It is of course not +necessary to suppose that the incident so graphically described actually +occurred. The divination scene may only be imaginary, although it is +certainly a true reflection of Babylonian ideas and customs. The truth +conveyed is that the Babylonian army is moving under the immediate +guidance of Jehovah, and that not only the political projects of the king, +but his secret thoughts and even his superstitious reliance on signs and +omens, are all overruled for the furtherance of the one purpose for which +Jehovah has raised him up. + +Meanwhile Ezekiel is well aware that in Jerusalem a very different +interpretation is put on the course of events. When the news of the great +king's decision reaches the men at the head of affairs they are not +dismayed. They view the decision as the result of "false divination"; they +laugh to scorn the superstitious rites which have determined the course of +the campaign,--not that they suppose the king will not act on his omens, +but they do not believe they are an augury of success. They had hoped for +a short breathing space while Nebuchadnezzar was engaged on the east of +the Jordan, but they will not shrink from the conflict whether it be to- +day or to-morrow. Addressing himself to this state of mind, Ezekiel once +more(50) reminds those who hear him that these men are fighting against +the moral laws of the universe. The existing kingdom of Judah occupies a +false position before God and in the eyes of just men. It has no religious +foundation; for the hope of the Messiah does not lie with that wearer of a +dishonoured crown, the king Zedekiah, but with the legitimate heir of +David now in exile. The state has no right to be except as part of the +Chaldæan empire, and this right it has forfeited by renouncing its +allegiance to its earthly superior. These men forget that in this quarrel +the just cause is that of Nebuchadnezzar, whose enterprise only seems to +"call to mind their iniquity" (ver. 28)--_i.e._, their political crime. In +provoking this conflict, therefore, they have put themselves in the wrong; +they shall be caught in the toils of their own villainy. + +The heaviest censure is reserved for Zedekiah, the "wicked one, the prince +of Israel, whose day is coming in the time of final retribution." This +part of the prophecy has a close resemblance to the latter part of ch. +xvii. The prophet's sympathies are still with the exiled king, or at least +with that branch of the royal family which he represents. And the sentence +of rejection on Zedekiah is again accompanied by a promise of the +restoration of the kingdom in the person of the Messiah. The crown which +has been dishonoured by the last king of Judah shall be taken from his +head; that which is low shall be exalted (the exiled branch of the Davidic +house), and that which is high shall be abased (the reigning king); the +whole existing order of things shall be overturned "until _He_ comes who +has the right."(51) + + + +IV + + +The last oracle is directed against the children of Ammon. By +Nebuchadnezzar's decision to subdue Jerusalem first the Ammonites had +gained a short respite. They even exulted in the humiliation of their +former ally, and had apparently drawn the sword in order to seize part of +the land of Judah. Misled by false diviners, they had dared to seek their +own advantage in the calamities which Jehovah had brought on His own +people. The prophet threatens the complete annihilation of Ammon, even in +its own land, and the blotting out of its remembrance among the nations. +That is the substance of the prophecy; but its form presents several +points of difficulty. It begins with what appears to be an echo of the +"Song of the Sword" in the earlier part of the chapter:-- + +A sword! a sword! +It is drawn for slaughter; it is furbished to shine like lightning (ver. + 33). + +But as we proceed we find that it is the sword of the Ammonites that is +meant, and they are ordered to return it to its sheath. If this be so, the +tone of the passage must be ironical. It is in mockery that the prophet +uses such magnificent language of the puny pretensions of Ammon to take a +share in the work for which Jehovah has fashioned the mighty weapon of the +Chaldæan army. There are other reminiscences of the earlier part of the +chapter, such as the "lying divination" of ver. 34, and the "time of final +retribution" in the same verse. The allusion to the "reproach" of Ammon +and its aggressive attitude seems to point to the time after the +destruction of Jerusalem and the withdrawal of the army of Nebuchadnezzar. +Whether the Ammonites had previously made their submission or not we +cannot tell; but the fortieth and forty-first chapters of Jeremiah show +that Ammon was still a hotbed of conspiracy against the Babylonian +interest in the days after the fall of Jerusalem. These appearances make +it probable that this part of the chapter is an appendix, added at a later +time, and dealing with a situation which was developed after the +destruction of the city. Its insertion in its present place is easily +accounted for by the circumstance that the fate of Ammon had been linked +with that of Jerusalem in the previous part of the chapter. The vindictive +little nationality had used its respite to gratify its hereditary hatred +of Israel, and now the judgment, suspended for a time, shall return with +redoubled fury and sweep it from the earth. + +Looking back over this series of prophecies, there seems reason to believe +that, with the exception of the last, they are really contemporaneous with +the events they deal with. It is true that they do not illuminate the +historical situation to the same degree as those in which Isaiah depicts +the advance of another invader and the development of another crisis in +the people's history. This is due partly to the bent of Ezekiel's genius, +but partly also to the very peculiar circumstances in which he was placed. +The events which form the theme of his prophecy were transacted on a +distant stage; neither he nor his immediate hearers were actors in the +drama. He addresses himself to an audience wrought to the highest pitch of +excitement, but swayed by hopes and rumours and vague surmises as to the +probable issue of events. It was inevitable in these circumstances that +his prophecy, even in those passages which deal with contemporary facts, +should present but a pale reflection of the actual situation. In the case +before us the one historical event which stands out clearly is the +departure of Nebuchadnezzar with his army to Jerusalem. But what we read +is genuine prophecy; not the artifice of a man using prophetic speech as a +literary form, but the utterance of one who discerns the finger of God in +the present, and interprets His purpose beforehand to the men of his day. + + + + +Chapter XII. Jehovah's Controversy With Israel. Chapter xx. + + +By far the hardest trial of Ezekiel's faith must have been the conduct of +his fellow-exiles. It was amongst them that he looked for the great +spiritual change which must precede the establishment of the kingdom of +God; and he had already addressed to them words of consolation based on +the knowledge that the hope of the future was theirs (ch. xi. 18). Yet the +time passed on without bringing any indications that the promise was about +to be fulfilled. There were no symptoms of national repentance; there was +nothing even to show that the lessons of the Exile as interpreted by the +prophet were beginning to be laid to heart. For these men, among whom he +lived, were still inveterately addicted to idolatry. Strange as it must +seem to us, the very men who cherished a fanatical faith in Jehovah's +power to save His people were assiduously practising the worship of other +gods. It is too readily assumed by some writers that the idolatry of the +exiles was of the ambiguous kind which had prevailed so long in the land +of Israel, that it was the worship of Jehovah under the form of images--a +breach of the second commandment, but not of the first. The people who +carried Jeremiah down to Egypt were as eager as Ezekiel's companions to +hear a word from Jehovah; yet they were devoted to the worship of the +"Queen of Heaven," and dated all their misfortunes from the time when +their women had ceased to pay court to her. There is no reason to believe +that the Jews in Babylon were less catholic in their superstitions than +those of Judæa; and indeed the whole drift of Ezekiel's expostulations +goes to show that he has the worship of false gods in view. The ancient +belief that the worship of Jehovah was specially associated with the land +of Canaan is not likely to have been without influence on the minds of +those who felt the fascination of idolatry, and must have strengthened the +tendency to seek the aid of foreign gods in a foreign land. + +The twentieth chapter deals with this matter of idolatry; and the fact +that this important discourse was called forth by a visit from the elders +of Israel shows how heavily the subject weighed on the prophet's mind. +Whatever the purpose of the deputation may have been (and of that we have +no information), it was certainly not to consult Ezekiel about the +propriety of worshipping false gods. It is only because this great +question dominates all his thoughts concerning them and their destiny that +he connects the warning against idolatry with a casual inquiry addressed +to him by the elders. The circumstances are so similar to those of ch. +xiv. that Ewald was led to conjecture that both oracles originated in one +and the same incident, and were separated from each other in writing +because of the difference of their subjects. Ch. xiv. on that view +justifies the refusal of an answer from a consideration of the true +function of prophecy, while ch. xx. expands the admonition of the sixth +verse of ch. xiv. into an elaborate review of the religious history of +Israel. But there is really no good reason for identifying the two +incidents. In neither passage does the prophet think it worth while to +record the object of the inquiry addressed to him, and therefore +conjecture is useless. + +But the very fact that a definite date is given for this visit leads us to +consider whether it had not some peculiar significance to lodge it so +firmly in Ezekiel's mind. Now the most suggestive hint which the chapter +affords is the idea put into the lips of the exiles in ver. 32: "And as +for the thought which arises in your mind, it shall not be, in that ye are +thinking, We will become like the heathen, like the families of the lands, +in worshipping wood and stone." These words contain the key to the whole +discourse. It is difficult, no doubt, to decide how much exactly is +implied in them. They may mean no more than the determination to keep up +the external conformity to heathen customs which already existed in +matters of worship--as, for example, in the use of images. But the form of +expression used, "that which is coming up in your mind," almost suggests +that the prophet was face to face with an incipient tendency among the +exiles, a deliberate resolve to apostatise and assimilate themselves for +all religious purposes to the surrounding heathen. It is by no means +improbable that, amidst the many conflicting tendencies that distracted +the exiled community, this idea of a complete abandonment of the national +religion should have crystallised into a settled purpose in the event of +their last hope being disappointed. If this was the situation with which +Ezekiel had to deal, we should be able to understand how his denunciation +takes the precise form which it assumes in this chapter. + +For what is, in the main, the purport of the chapter? Briefly stated the +argument is as follows. The religion of Jehovah had never been the true +expression of the national genius of Israel. Not now for the first time +has the purpose of Israel come into conflict with the immutable purpose of +Jehovah; but from the very beginning the history had been one long +struggle between the natural inclinations of the people and the destiny +which was forced on it by the will of God. The love of idols had been the +distinguishing feature of the national character from the beginning; and +if it had been suffered to prevail, Israel would never have been known as +Jehovah's people. Why had it not been suffered to prevail? Because of +Jehovah's regard for the honour of His name; because in the eyes of the +heathen His glory was identified with the fortunes of this particular +people, to whom He had once revealed Himself. And as it has been in the +past, so it will be in the future. The time has come for the age-long +controversy to be brought to an issue, and it cannot be doubtful what the +issue will be. "That which comes up in their mind"--this new resolve to +live like the heathen--cannot turn aside the purpose of Jehovah to make of +Israel a people for His own glory. Whatever further judgments may be +necessary for that end, the land of Israel shall yet be the seat of a pure +and acceptable worship of the true God, and the people shall recognise +with shame and contrition that the goal of all its history has been +accomplished in spite of its perversity by the "irresistible grace" of its +divine King. + + + +I + + +THE LESSON OF HISTORY (vv. 5-29).--It is a magnificent conception of +national election which the prophet here unfolds. It takes the form of a +parallel between two desert scenes, one at the beginning and the other at +the close of Israel's history. The first part of the chapter deals with +the religious significance of the transactions in the wilderness of Sinai +and the events in Egypt which were introductory to them. It starts from +Jehovah's free choice of the people while they were still living as +idolaters in Egypt. Jehovah there revealed Himself to them as their God, +and entered into a covenant(52) with them; and the covenant included on +the one hand the promise of the land of Canaan, and on the other hand a +requirement that the people should separate themselves from all forms of +idolatry whether native or Egyptian. "In the day that I chose Israel, ... +and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, ... saying, I am +Jehovah your God; in that day I lifted up My hand to them, to bring them +out of the land of Egypt, into a land which I had sought out for them. And +I said to them, Cast away each man the abomination of his eyes, and defile +not yourselves with the block-gods of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God" (vv. +5-7). The point which Ezekiel specially emphasises is that this vocation +to be the people of the true God was thrust on Israel without its consent, +and that the revelation of Jehovah's purpose evoked no response in the +heart of the people. By persistence in idolatry they had virtually +renounced the kingship of Jehovah and forfeited their right to the +fulfilment of the promise He had given them. And only from regard to His +name, that it might not be profaned in the sight of the nations, before +whose eyes He had made Himself known to them, did He turn from the purpose +He had formed to destroy them in the land of Egypt. + +In several respects this account of the occurrences in Egypt goes beyond +what we learn from any other source. The historical books contain no +reference to the prevalence of specifically Egyptian forms of idolatry +among the Hebrews, nor do they mention any threat to exterminate the +people for their rebellion. It is not to be supposed, however, that +Ezekiel possessed other records of the period before the Exodus than those +preserved in the Pentateuch. The fundamental conceptions are those +attested by the history, that God first revealed Himself to Israel by the +name Jehovah through Moses, and that the revelation was accompanied by a +promise of deliverance from Egypt. That the people in spite of this +revelation continued to worship idols is an inference from the whole of +their subsequent history. And the conflict in the mind of Jehovah between +anger against the people's sin and jealousy for His own name is not a +matter of history at all, but is an inspired interpretation of the history +in the light of the divine holiness, which embraces both these elements. + +In the wilderness Israel entered on the second and decisive stage of its +probation which falls into two acts, and whose determining factor was the +legislation. To the generation of the Exodus Jehovah made known the way of +life in a code of law which on its own intrinsic merits ought to have +commended itself to their moral sense. The statutes and judgments that +were then given were such that "if a man do them he shall live by them" +(ver. 11). This thought of the essential goodness of the law as originally +given reveals Ezekiel's view of God's relation to men. It derives its +significance no doubt from the contrast with legislation of an opposite +character afterwards mentioned. Yet even that contrast expresses a +conviction in the prophet's mind that morality is not constituted by +arbitrary enactments on the part of God, but that there are eternal +conditions of ethical fellowship between God and man, and that the law +first offered for Israel's acceptance was the embodiment of those ethical +relations which flow from the nature of Jehovah. It is probable that +Ezekiel has in view the moral precepts of the Decalogue. If so, it is +instructive to notice that the Sabbath law is separately mentioned, not as +one of the laws by which a man lives, but as a sign of the covenant +between Jehovah and Israel. The divine purpose was again defeated by the +idolatrous proclivities of the people: "They despised My judgments, and +they did not walk in My statutes, and they profaned My Sabbaths, _because_ +their heart went after their idols" (ver. 16). + +To the second generation in the wilderness the offer of the covenant was +renewed, with the same result (vv. 18-24). It should be observed that in +both cases the disobedience of the people is answered by two distinct +utterances of Jehovah's wrath. The first is a threat of immediate +extermination, which is expressed as a momentary purpose of Jehovah, no +sooner formed than withdrawn for the sake of His honour (vv. 14, 21). The +other is a judgment of a more limited character, uttered in the form of an +oath, and in the first case at least actually carried out. For the threat +of exclusion from the Promised Land (ver. 15) was enforced so far as the +first generation was concerned. Now the parallelism between the two +sections leads us to expect that the similar threat of dispersion in ver. +23 is meant to be understood of a judgment actually inflicted. We may +conclude, therefore, that ver. 23 refers to the Babylonian exile and the +dispersion among the nations, which hung like a doom over the nation +during its whole history in Canaan, and is represented as a direct +consequence of their transgressions in the wilderness. There seems reason +to believe that the particular allusion is to the twenty-eighth chapter of +Deuteronomy, where the threat of a dispersion among the nations concludes +the long list of curses which will follow disobedience to the law (Deut. +xxviii. 64-68). It is true that in that chapter the threat is only +conditional; but in the time of Ezekiel it had already been fulfilled, and +it is in accordance with his whole conception of the history to read the +final issue back into the early period when the national character was +determined. + +But in addition to this, as if effectually to "conclude them under sin," +Jehovah met the hardness of their hearts by imposing on them laws of an +opposite character to those first given, and laws which accorded only too +well with their baser inclinations: "And I also gave them statutes that +were not good, and judgments by which they should not live; and I rendered +them unclean in their offerings, by making over all that opened the womb, +that I might horrify them" (vv. 25, 26). + +This division of the wilderness legislation into two kinds, one good and +life-giving and the other not good, presents difficulties both moral and +critical which cannot perhaps be altogether removed. The general direction +in which the solution must be sought is indeed tolerably clear. The +reference is to the law which required the consecration of the firstborn +of all animals to Jehovah. This was interpreted in the most rigorous sense +as dedication in sacrifice; and then the principle was extended to the +case of human beings. The divine purpose in appearing to sanction this +atrocious practice was to "horrify" the people--that is to say, the +punishment of their idolatry consisted in the shock to their natural +instincts and affections caused by the worst development of the idolatrous +spirit to which they were delivered. We are not to infer from this that +human sacrifice was an element of the original Hebrew religion, and that +it was actually based on legislative enactment. The truth appears to be +that the sacrifice of children was originally a feature of Canaanitish +worship, particularly of the god Melek or Molech, and was only introduced +into the religion of Israel in the evil days which preceded the fall of +the state.(53) The idea took hold of men's minds that this terrible rite +alone revealed the full potency of the sacrificial act; and when the +ordinary means of propitiation seemed to fail, it was resorted to as the +last desperate expedient for appeasing an offended deity. All that +Ezekiel's words warrant us in assuming is that when once the practice was +established it was defended by an appeal to the ancient law of the +firstborn, the principle of which was held to cover the case of human +sacrifices. These laws, relating to the consecration of firstborn animals, +are therefore the statutes referred to by Ezekiel; and their defect lies +in their being open to such an immoral misinterpretation. This view is in +accordance with the probabilities of the case. When we consider the +tendency of the Old Testament writers to refer all actual events +immediately to the will of God, we can partly understand the form in which +Ezekiel expresses the facts; and this is perhaps all that can be said on +the moral aspect of the difficulty. It is but an application of the +principle that sin is punished by moral obliquity, and precepts which are +accommodated to the hardness of men's hearts are by that same hardness +perverted to fatal issues. It cannot even be said that there is a radical +divergence of view between Ezekiel and Jeremiah on this subject. For when +the older prophet, speaking of child-sacrifice, says that Jehovah +"commanded it not, neither came it into His mind" (ch. vii. 31 and ch. +xix. 5), he must have in view men who justified the custom by an appeal to +ancient legislation. And although Jeremiah indignantly repudiates the +suggestion that such horrors were contemplated by the law of Jehovah, he +hardly in this goes beyond Ezekiel, who declares that the ordinance in +question does not represent the true mind of Jehovah, but belongs to a +part of the law which was intended to punish sin by delusion.(54) + +In consequence of these transactions in the desert Israel entered the land +of Canaan under the threat of eventual exile and under the curse of a +polluted worship. The subsequent history has little significance from the +point of view occupied throughout this discourse; and accordingly Ezekiel +disposes of it in three verses (27-29). The entrance on the Promised Land, +he says, furnished the opportunity for a new manifestation of disloyalty +to Jehovah. He refers to the multiplication of heathen or semi-heathen +sanctuaries throughout the land. Wherever they saw a high hill or a leafy +tree, they made it a place of sacrifice, and there they practised the +impure rites which were the outcome of their false conception of the +Deity. To the mind of Ezekiel the unity of Jehovah and the unity of the +sanctuary were inseparable ideas: the offence here alluded to is therefore +of the same kind as the abominations practised in Egypt and the desert; it +is a violation of the holiness of Jehovah. The prophet condenses his scorn +for the whole system of religion which led to a multiplication of +sanctuaries into a play on the etymology of the word _bamah_ (high +places), the point of which, however, is obscure.(55) + + + +II + + +THE APPLICATION (vv. 30-44).--Having thus described the origin of idolatry +in Israel, and having shown that the destiny of the nation had been +determined neither by its deserts nor by its inclinations, but by +Jehovah's consistent regard for the honour of His name, the prophet +proceeds to bring the lesson of the history to bear on his contemporaries. +The Captivity has as yet produced no change in their spiritual condition; +in Babylon they still defile themselves with the same abominations as +their ancestors, even to the crowning atrocity of child-sacrifice. Their +idolatry is if anything more conscious than before, for it takes the shape +of a deliberate intention to be as other nations, worshipping wood and +stone. It is necessary therefore that once for all Jehovah should assert +His sovereignty over Israel, and bend their stubborn will to the +accomplishment of His purpose. "As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, surely +with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and wrath poured out, +will I be king over you" (ver. 33). But how was this to be done? A heavier +chastisement than that which had been inflicted on the exiles could hardly +be conceived, yet it had effected nothing for the regeneration of Israel. +Surely the time is come when the divine method must be changed, when those +who have hardened themselves against the severity of God must be won by +His goodness? Such, however, is not the thought expressed in Ezekiel's +delineation of the future. It is possible that the description which +follows (vv. 34-38) may only be meant as an ideal picture of spiritual +processes to be effected by ordinary providential agencies. But certain it +is that what Ezekiel is chiefly convinced of is the necessity for further +acts of judgment--judgment which shall be decisive, because discriminating, +and issuing in the annihilation of all who cling to the evil traditions of +the past. This idea, indeed, of further chastisement in store for the +exiles is a fixed element of Ezekiel's prophecy. It appears in his +earliest public utterance (ch. v.), although it is perhaps only in this +chapter that we perceive its full significance. + +The scene of God's final dealings with Israel's sin is to be the "desert +of the nations." That great barren plateau which stretches between the +Jordan and the Euphrates valley, round which lay the nations chiefly +concerned in Israel's history, occupies a place in the restoration +analogous to that of the wilderness of Sinai (here called the "wilderness +of Egypt") at the time of the Exodus. Into that vast solitude Jehovah will +gather His people from the lands of their exile, and there He will once +more judge them face to face. This judgment will be conducted on the +principle laid down in ch. xviii. Each individual shall be dealt with +according to his own character as a righteous man or a wicked. They shall +be made to "pass under the rod," like sheep when they are counted by the +shepherd.(56) The rebels and transgressors shall perish in the wilderness; +for "out of the land of their sojournings will I bring them, and into the +land of Israel they shall not come" (ver. 38). Those that emerge from the +trial are the righteous remnant, who are to be brought into the land by +number:(57) these constitute the new Israel, for whom is reserved the +glory of the latter days. + +The idea that the spiritual transformation of Israel was to be effected +_during a second sojourn in the wilderness_, although a very striking one, +occurs only here in the book of Ezekiel, and it can hardly be considered +as one of the cardinal ideas of his eschatology. It is in all probability +derived from the prophecies of Hosea, although it is modified in +accordance with the very different estimate of the nation's history +represented by Ezekiel. It is instructive to compare the teaching of these +two prophets on this point. To Hosea the idea of a return to the desert +presents itself naturally as an element of the process by which Israel is +to be brought back to its allegiance to Jehovah. The return to the desert +restores the conditions under which the nation had first known and +followed Jehovah. He looks back to the sojourn in the wilderness of Sinai +as the time of uninterrupted communion between Jehovah and Israel--a time +of youthful innocence, when the sinful tendencies which may have been +latent in the nation had not developed into actual infidelity. The decay +of religion and morality dates from the possession of the land of Canaan, +and is traced to the corrupting influence of Canaanitish idolatry and +civilisation. It was at Baal-peor that they first succumbed to the +attractions of a false religion and became contaminated with the spirit of +heathenism. Then the rich produce of the land came to be regarded as the +gift of the deities who were worshipped at the local sanctuaries, and this +worship with its sensuous accompaniments was the means of estranging the +people more and more from the knowledge of Jehovah. Hence the first step +towards a renewal of the relation between God and Israel is the withdrawal +of the gifts of nature, the suppression of religious ordinances and +political institutions; and this is represented as effected by a return to +the primitive life of the desert. Then in her desolation and affliction +the heart of Israel shall respond once more to the love of Jehovah, who +has never ceased to yearn after His unfaithful people. "I will allure her, +and bring her into the wilderness, and speak to her heart: ... and she +shall make answer there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day +when she came up out of the land of Egypt" (Hos. ii. 14, 15). Here there +may be a doubt whether the wilderness is to be taken literally or as a +figure for exile, but in either case the image naturally arises out of +Hosea's profoundly simple conception of religion. + +To Ezekiel, on the other hand, the "wilderness" is a synonym for +contention and judgment. It is the scene where the meanness and perversity +of man stand out in unrelieved contrast with the majesty and purity of +God. He recognises no glad springtime of promise and hope in the history +of Israel, no "kindness of her youth" or "love of her espousals" when she +went after Jehovah in the land that was not sown (Jer. ii. 2). The +difference between Hosea's conception and Ezekiel's is that in the view of +the exilic prophet there never has been any true response on the part of +Israel to the call of God. Hence a return to the desert can only mean a +repetition of the judgments that had marked the first sojourn of the +people in the wilderness of Sinai, and the carrying of them to the point +of a final decision between the claims of Jehovah and the stubbornness of +His people. + +If it be asked which of these representations of the past is the true one, +the only answer possible is that from the standpoint from which the +prophets viewed history both are true. Israel did follow Jehovah through +the wilderness, and took possession of the land of Canaan animated by an +ardent faith in His power. It is equally true that the religious condition +of the people had its dark side, and that they were far from understanding +the nature of the God whose name they bore. And a prophet might emphasise +the one truth or the other according to the idea of God which it was given +him to teach. Hosea, reading the religious symptoms of his own time, sees +in it a contrast to the happier period when life was simple and religion +comparatively pure, and finds in the desert sojourn an image of the +purifying process by which the national life must be renewed. Ezekiel had +to do with a more difficult problem. He saw that there was a power of evil +which could not be eradicated merely by banishment from the land of +Israel--a hard bed-rock of unbelief and superstition in the national +character which had never yielded to the influence of revelation; and he +dwells on all the manifestations of this which he read in the past. His +hope for the future of the cause of God rests no longer on the moral +influence of the divine love on the heart of man, but on the power of +Jehovah to accomplish His purpose in spite of the resistance of human sin. +That was not the whole truth about God's relation to Israel, but it was +the truth that needed to be impressed on the generation of the Exile. + +Of the final issue at all events Ezekiel is not doubtful. He is a man who +is "very sure of God" and sure of nothing else. In man he finds nothing to +inspire him with confidence in the ultimate victory of the true religion +over polytheism and superstition. His own generation has shown itself fit +only to perpetuate the evils of the past--the love of sensuous worship, the +insensibility to the claims and nature of Jehovah, which had marked the +whole history of Israel. He is compelled for the present to abandon them +to their corrupt inclinations,(58) expecting no signs of amendment until +his appeal is enforced by signal acts of judgment. + +But all this does not shake his sublime faith in the fulfilment of +Israel's destiny. Despairing of men, he falls back on what St. Paul calls +the "purpose of God according to election" (Rom. ix. 11). And with an +insight akin to that of the apostle of the Gentiles, he discerns through +all Jehovah's dealings with Israel a principle and an ideal which must in +the end prevail over the sin of men. The goal to which the history points +stands out clear before the mind of the prophet; and already he sees in +vision the restored Israel--a holy people in a renovated land--rendering +acceptable worship to the one God of heaven and earth. "For in My holy +mountain, in the mountain heights of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah, +_there_ shall serve Me the whole house of Israel: there will I be gracious +to them, and there will I require your oblations, and the firstfruits of +your offerings, in all your holy things" (ver. 40). + +There we have the thought which is expanded in the vision of the purified +theocracy which occupies the closing chapters of the book. And it is +important to notice this indication that the idea of that vision was +present to Ezekiel during the earlier part of his ministry. + + + + +Chapter XIII. Ohola And Oholibah. Chapter xxiii. + + +The allegory of ch. xxiii. adds hardly any new thought to those which have +already been expounded in connection with ch. xvi. and ch. xx. The ideas +which enter into it are all such as we are now familiar with. They are: +the idolatry of Israel, learned in Egypt and persisted in to the end of +her history; her fondness for alliances with the great Oriental empires, +which was the occasion of new developments of idolatry; the corruption of +religion by the introduction of human sacrifice into the service of +Jehovah; and, finally, the destruction of Israel by the hands of the +nations whose friendship she had so eagerly courted. The figure under +which these facts are presented is the same as in ch. xvi., and many of +the details of the earlier prophecy are reproduced here with little +variation. But along with these resemblances we find certain +characteristic features in this chapter which require attention, and +perhaps some explanation. + +In its treatment of the history this passage is distinguished from the +other two by the recognition of the separate existence of the northern and +southern kingdoms. In the previous retrospects Israel has either been +treated as a unity (as in ch. xx.), or attention has been wholly +concentrated on the fortunes of Judah, Samaria being regarded as on a +level with a purely heathen city like Sodom (ch. xvi.). Ezekiel may have +felt that he has not yet done justice to the truth that the history of +Israel ran in two parallel lines, and that the full significance of God's +dealings with the nation can only be understood when the fate of Samaria +is placed alongside of that of Jerusalem. He did not forget that he was +sent as a prophet to the "whole house of Israel," and indeed all the great +pre-exilic prophets realised that their message concerned "the whole +family which Jehovah had brought up out of Egypt" (Amos iii. 1). Besides +this the chapter affords in many ways an interesting illustration of the +workings of the prophet's mind in the effort to realise vividly the nature +of his people's sin and the meaning of its fate. In this respect it is +perhaps the most finished and comprehensive product of his imagination, +although it may not reveal the depth of religious insight exhibited in the +sixteenth chapter. + +The main idea of the allegory is no doubt borrowed from a prophecy of +Jeremiah belonging to the earlier part of his ministry (Jer. iii. 6-13). +The fall of Samaria was even then a somewhat distant memory, but the use +which Jeremiah makes of it seems to show that the lesson of it had not +altogether ceased to impress the mind of the southern kingdom. In the +third chapter he reproaches Judah the "treacherous" for not having taken +warning from the fate of her sister the "apostate" Israel, who has long +since received the reward of her infidelities. The same lesson is implied +in the representation of Ezekiel (ver. 11); but as is usual with our +prophet, the simple image suggested by Jeremiah is drawn out in an +elaborate allegory, into which as many details are crowded as it will +bear. In place of the epithets by which Jeremiah characterises the moral +condition of Israel and Judah, Ezekiel coins two new and somewhat obscure +names--_Ohola_ for Samaria, and _Oholibah_ for Jerusalem.(59) + +These women are children of one mother, and afterwards become wives of one +husband--Jehovah. This need occasion no surprise in an allegorical +representation, although it is contrary to a law which Ezekiel doubtless +knew (Lev. xviii. 18). Nor is it strange, considering the freedom with +which he handles the facts of history, that the division between Israel +and Judah is carried back to the time of the oppression in Egypt. We have +indeed no certainty that this view is not historical. The cleavage between +the north and the south did not originate with the revolt of Jeroboam. +That great schism only brought out elements of antagonism which were +latent in the relations of the tribe of Judah to the northern tribes. Of +this there are many indications in the earlier history, and for what we +know the separation might have existed among the Hebrews in Goshen. Still, +it is not probable that Ezekiel was thinking of any such thing. He is +bound by the limits of his allegory; and there was no other way by which +he could combine the presentation of the two essential elements of his +conception--that Samaria and Jerusalem were branches of the one people of +Jehovah, and that the idolatry which marked their history had been learned +in the youth of the nation in the land of Egypt. + +That neither Israel nor Judah ever shook off the spell of their adulterous +connection with Egypt, but returned to it again and again down to the +close of their history, is certainly one point which the prophet means to +impress on the minds of his readers (vv. 8, 19, 27). With this exception +the earlier part of the chapter (to ver. 35) deals exclusively with the +later developments of idolatry from the eighth century and onwards. And +one of the most remarkable things in it is the description of the manner +in which first Israel and then Judah was entangled in political relations +with the Oriental empires. There seems to be a vein of sarcasm in the +sketch of the gallant Assyrian officers who turned the heads of the giddy +and frivolous sisters and seduced them from their allegiance to Jehovah: +"Ohola doted on her lovers, on the Assyrian warriors(60) clad in purple, +governors and satraps, charming youths all of them, horsemen riding on +horses; and she lavished on them her fornications, the _élite_ of the sons +of Asshur all of them, and with all the idols of all on whom she doted she +defiled herself" (vv. 6, 7). The first intimate contact of North Israel +with Assyria was in the reign of Menahem (2 Kings xv. 19), and the +explanation of it given in these words of Ezekiel must be historically +true. It was the magnificent equipment of the Assyrian armies, the +imposing display of military power which their appearance suggested, that +impressed the politicians of Samaria with a sense of the value of their +alliance. The passage therefore throws light on what Ezekiel and the +prophets generally mean by the figure of "whoredom." What he chiefly +deplores is the introduction of Assyrian idolatry, which was the +inevitable sequel to a political union. But that was a secondary +consideration in the intention of those who were responsible for the +alliance. The real motive of their policy was undoubtedly the desire of +one party in the state to secure the powerful aid of the king of Assyria +against the rival party. None the less it was an act of infidelity and +rebellion against Jehovah. + +Still more striking is the account of the first approaches of the southern +kingdom to Babylon. After Samaria had been destroyed by the lovers whom +she had gathered to her side, Jerusalem still kept up the illicit +connection with the Assyrian empire. After Assyria had vanished from the +stage of history, she eagerly sought an opportunity to enter into friendly +relations with the new Babylonian empire. She did not even wait till she +had made their acquaintance, but "when she saw men portrayed on the wall, +pictures of Chaldæans portrayed in vermilion, girt with waist-cloths on +their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them champions to +look upon, the likeness of the sons of Babel whose native land is +Chaldæa--then she doted upon them when she saw them with her eyes, and sent +messengers to them to Chaldæa" (vv. 14-16). The brilliant pictures +referred to are those with which Ezekiel must have been familiar on the +walls of the temples and palaces of Babylon. The representation, however, +cannot be understood literally, since the Jews could have had no +opportunity of even seeing the Babylonian pictures "on the wall" until +they had sent ambassadors there.(61) + +The meaning of the prophet is clear. The mere report of the greatness of +Babylon was sufficient to excite the passions of Oholibah, and she began +with blind infatuation to court the advances of the distant strangers who +were to be her ruin. The exact historic reference, however, is uncertain. +It cannot be to the compact between Merodach-baladan and Hezekiah, since +at that time the initiative seems to have been taken by the rebel prince, +whose sovereignty over Babylon proved to be of short duration. It may +rather be some transaction about the time of the battle of Carchemish +(604) that Ezekiel is thinking of; but we have not as yet sufficient +knowledge of the circumstances to clear up the allusion. + +Before the end came the soul of Jerusalem was alienated from her latest +lovers--another touch of fidelity to the historical situation. But it was +now too late. The soul of Jehovah is alienated from Oholibah (vv. 17, 18), +and she is already handed over to the fate which had overtaken her less +guilty sister Ohola. The principal agents of her punishment are the +Babylonians and all the Chaldæans; but under their banner marches a host +of other nations--Pekod and Shoa and Koa,(62) and, somewhat strangely, the +sons of Asshur. In the pomp and circumstance of war which had formerly +fascinated her imagination, they shall come against her, and after their +cruel manner execute upon her the judgment meted out to adulterous women: +"Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister, and I will put her cup into +thy hand. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The cup of thy sister shalt thou +drink,--deep and wide, and of large content,--filled with drunkenness and +anguish--the cup of horror and desolation, the cup of thy sister Samaria. +And thou shalt drink it and drain it out,(63) ... for I have spoken it, +saith the Lord Jehovah" (vv. 31-34). + +Up to this point the allegory has closely followed the actual history of +the two kingdoms. The remainder of the chapter (vv. 36-49) forms a pendant +to the principal picture, and works out the central theme from a different +point of view. Here Samaria and Jerusalem are regarded as still existent, +and judgment is pronounced on both as if it were still future. This is +thoroughly in keeping with Ezekiel's ideal delineations. The limitations +of space and time are alike transcended. The image, once clearly +conceived, fixes itself in the writer's mind, and must be allowed to +exhaust its meaning before it is finally dismissed. The distinctions of +far and near, of past and present and future, are apt to disappear in the +intensity of his reverie. It is so here. The figures of Ohola and Oholibah +are so real to the prophet that they are summoned once more to the +tribunal to hear the recital of their "abominations" and receive the +sentence which has in fact been already partly executed. Whether he is +thinking at all of the ten tribes then in exile and awaiting further +punishment it would be difficult to say. We see, however, that the picture +is enriched with many features for which there was no room in the more +historic form of the allegory, and perhaps the desire for completeness was +the chief motive for thus amplifying the figure. The description of the +conduct of the two harlots (vv. 40-44) is exceedingly graphic,(64) and is +no doubt a piece of realism drawn from life. Otherwise the section +contains nothing that calls for elucidation. The ideas are those which we +have already met with in other connections, and even the setting in which +they are placed presents no element of novelty. + +Thus with words of judgment, and without a ray of hope to lighten the +darkness of the picture, the prophet closes this last survey of his +people's history. + + + + +Chapter XIV. Final Oracles Against Jerusalem. Chapters xxii., xxiv. + + +The close of the first period of Ezekiel's work was marked by two dramatic +incidents, which made the day memorable both in the private life of the +prophet and in the history of the nation. In the first place it coincided +exactly with the commencement of the siege of Jerusalem. The prophet's +mysterious knowledge of what was happening at a distance was duly +recorded, in order that its subsequent confirmation through the ordinary +channels of intelligence might prove the divine origin of his message (ch. +xxiv. 1, 2). That Ezekiel actually did this we have no reason to doubt. +Then the sudden death of his wife on the evening of the same day, and his +unusual behaviour under the bereavement, caused a sensation among the +exiles which the prophet was instructed to utilise as a means of driving +home the appeal just made to them. These transactions must have had a +profound effect on Ezekiel's fellow-captives. They made his personality +the centre of absorbing interest to the Jews in Babylon; and the two years +of silence on his part which ensued were to them years of anxious +foreboding about the result of the siege. + +At this juncture the prophet's thoughts naturally are occupied with the +subject which hitherto formed the principal burden of his prophecy. The +first part of his career accordingly closes, as it had begun, with a +symbol of the fall of Jerusalem. Before this, however, he had drawn out +the solemn indictment against Jerusalem which is given in ch. xxii., +although the finishing touches were probably added after the destruction +of the city. The substance of that chapter is so closely related to the +symbolic representation in the first part of ch. xxiv. that it will be +convenient to consider it here as an introduction to the concluding +oracles addressed more directly to the exiles of Tel-abib. + + + +I + + +The purpose of this arraignment--the most stately of Ezekiel's orations--is +to exhibit Jerusalem in her true character as a city whose social +condition is incurably corrupt. It begins with an enumeration of the +prevalent sins of the capital (vv. 2-16); it ends with a denunciation of +the various classes into which society was divided (vv. 23-31); while the +short intervening passage is a figurative description of the judgment +which is now inevitable (vv. 17-22). + +1. The first part of the chapter, then, is a catalogue of the +"abominations" which called down the vengeance of Heaven upon the city of +Jerusalem. The offences enumerated are nearly the same as those mentioned +in the definitions of personal righteousness and wickedness given in ch. +xviii. It is not necessary to repeat what was there said about the +characteristics of the moral ideal which had been formed in the mind of +Ezekiel. Although he is dealing now with a society, his point of view is +quite different from that represented by purely allegorical passages like +chs. xvi. and xxiii. The city is not idealised and treated as a moral +individual, whose relations to Jehovah have to be set forth in symbolic +and figurative language. It is conceived as an aggregate of individuals +bound together in social relations; and the sins charged against it are +the actual transgressions of the men who are members of the community. +Hence the standard of public morality is precisely the same as that which +is elsewhere applied to the individual in his personal relation to God; +and the sins enumerated are attributed to the city merely because they are +tolerated and encouraged in individuals by laxity of public opinion and +the force of evil example. Jerusalem is a community in which these +different crimes are perpetrated: "Father and mother are despised _in +thee_; the stranger is oppressed _in the midst of thee_; orphan and widow +are wronged _in thee_; slanderous men seeking blood have been _in thee_; +flesh with the blood is eaten _in thee_; lewdness is committed _in the +midst of thee_; the father's shame is uncovered _in thee_; she that was +unclean in her separation hath been humbled _in thee_." So the grave and +measured indictment runs on. It is because of these things that Jerusalem +as a whole is "guilty" and "unclean" and has brought near her day of +retribution (ver. 4). Such a conception of corporate guilt undoubtedly +appeals more directly to our ordinary conscience of public morality than +the more poetic representations where Jerusalem is compared to a faithless +and treacherous woman. We have no difficulty in judging of any modern city +in the very same way as Ezekiel here judges Jerusalem; and in this respect +it is interesting to notice the social evils which he regards as marking +out that city as ripe for destruction. + +There are three features of the state of things in Jerusalem in which the +prophet recognises the symptoms of an incurable social condition. The +first is the loss of a true conception of God. In ancient Israel this +defect necessarily assumed the form of idolatry. Hence the multiplication +of idols appropriately finds a place among the marks of the "uncleanness" +which made Jerusalem hateful in the eyes of Jehovah (ver. 3). But the root +of idolatry in Israel was the incapacity or the unwillingness of the +people to live up to the lofty conception of the divine nature which was +taught by the prophets. Throughout the ancient world religion was felt to +be the indispensable bond of society, and the gods that were worshipped +reflected more or less fully the ideals that swayed the life of the +community. To Israel the religion of Jehovah represented the highest +social ideal that was then known on earth. It meant righteousness, and +purity, and brotherhood, and compassion for the poor and distressed. When +these virtues decayed she forgot Jehovah (ver. 12)--forgot His character +even if she remembered His name--and the service of false gods was the +natural and obvious expression of the fact. There is therefore a profound +truth in Ezekiel's mind when he numbers the idols of Jerusalem amongst the +indications of a degenerate society. They were the evidence that she had +lost the sense of God as a holy and righteous spiritual presence in her +midst, and that loss was at once the source and the symptom of widespread +moral declension. It is one of the chief lessons of the Old Testament that +a religion which was neither the product of national genius nor the +embodiment of national aspiration, but was based on supernatural +revelation, proved itself in the history of Israel to be the only possible +safeguard against the tendencies which made for social disintegration. + +A second mark of depravity which Ezekiel discovers in the capital is the +perversion of certain moral instincts which are just as essential to the +preservation of society as a true conception of God. For if society rests +at one end on religion, it rests at the other on instinct. The closest and +most fundamental of human relations depend on innate perceptions which may +be easily destroyed, but which when destroyed can scarcely be recovered. +The sanctities of marriage and the family will hardly bear the coarse +scrutiny of utilitarian ethics; yet they are the foundation on which the +whole social fabric is built. And there is no part of Ezekiel's indictment +of Jerusalem which conveys to our minds a more vivid sense of utter +corruption than where he speaks of the loss of filial piety and revolting +forms of sexual impurity as prevalent sins in the city. Here at least he +carries the conviction of every moralist with him. He instances no offence +of this kind which would not be branded as unnatural by any system of +ethics as heartily as it is by the Old Testament. It is possible, on the +other hand, that he ranks on the same level with these sins ceremonial +impurities appealing to feelings of a different order, to which no +permanent moral value can be attached. When, for example, he instances +eating with the blood(65) as an "abomination," he appeals to a law which +is no longer binding on us. But even that regulation was not so worthless, +from a moral point of view, at that time as we are apt to suppose. The +abhorrence of eating blood was connected with certain sacrificial ideas +which attributed a mystic significance to the blood as the seat of animal +life. So long as these ideas existed no man could commit this offence +without injuring his moral nature and loosening the divine sanctions of +morality as a whole. It is a false illuminism which seeks to disparage the +moral insight of the prophet on the ground that he did not teach an +abstract system of ethics in which ceremonial precepts were sharply +distinguished from duties which we consider moral.(66) + +The third feature of Jerusalem's guilty condition is lawless violation of +human rights. Neither life nor property was secure. Judicial murders were +frequent in the city, and minor forms of oppression, such as usury, +spoliation of the unprotected, and robbery, were of daily occurrence. The +administration of justice was corrupted by systematic bribery and perjury, +and the lives of innocent men were ruthlessly sacrificed under the forms +of law. This after all is the aspect of things which bulks most largely in +the prophet's indictment. Jerusalem is addressed as a "city shedding blood +in her midst," and throughout the accusation the charge of bloodshed is +that which constantly recurs. Misgovernment and party strife, and perhaps +religious persecution, had converted the city into a vast human shambles, +and the blood of the innocent slain cried aloud to heaven for vengeance. +"Of what avail," asks the prophet, "are the stores of wealth piled up in +the hands of a few against this damning witness of blood? Jehovah smites +His hand [in derision] against her gains that she has made, and against +her blood which is in her midst. How can her heart stand or her hands be +strong in the days when He deals with her?" (vv. 13, 14). Drained of her +best blood, given over to internecine strife, and stricken with the +cowardice of conscious guilt, Jerusalem, already disgraced among the +nations, must fall an easy victim to the Chaldæan invaders, who are the +agents of Jehovah's judgments. + +2. But the most serious aspect of the situation is that which is dealt +with in the peroration of the chapter (vv. 23-31). Outbursts of vice and +lawlessness such as has been described may occur in any society, but they +are not necessarily fatal to a community so long as it possesses a +conscience which can be roused to effective protest against them. Now the +worst thing about Jerusalem was that she lacked this indispensable +condition of recovery. No voice was raised on the side of righteousness, +no man dared to stem the tide of wickedness that swept through her +streets. Not merely that she harboured within her walls men guilty of +incest and robbery and murder, but that her leading classes were +demoralised, that public spirit had decayed among her citizens, marked her +as incapable of reformation. She was "a land not watered,"(67) "and not +rained upon in a day of indignation" (ver. 24); the springs of her civic +virtue were dried up, and a blight spread through all sections of her +population.(68) Ezekiel's impeachment of different classes of society +brings out this fact with great force. First of all the ancient +institutions of social order, government, priesthood, and prophecy were in +the hands of men who had lost the spirit of their office and abused their +position for the advancement of private interests. Her princes(69) have +been, instead of humane rulers and examples of noble living, cruel and +rapacious tyrants, enriching themselves at the cost of their subjects +(ver. 25). The priests, whose function was to maintain the outward +ordinances of religion and foster the spirit of reverence, have done their +utmost, by falsification of the _Torah_, to bring religion into contempt +and obliterate the distinction between the holy and the profane (ver. 26). +The nobles had been a pack of ravening wolves, imitating the rapacity of +the court, and hunting down prey which the royal lion would have disdained +to touch (ver. 27). As for the professional prophets--those degenerate +representatives of the old champions of truth and mercy--we have already +seen what they were worth (ch. xiii.). They who should have been foremost +to denounce civil wrong are fit for nothing but to stand by and bolster up +with lying oracles in the name of Jehovah a constitution which sheltered +crimes like these (ver. 28). + +From the ruling classes the prophet's glance turns for a moment to the +"people of the land," the dim common population, where virtue might have +been expected to find its last retreat. It is characteristic of the age of +Ezekiel that the prophets begin to deal more particularly with the sins of +the masses as distinct from the classes. This was due partly perhaps to a +real increase of ungodliness in the body of the people, but partly also to +a deeper sense of the importance of the individual apart from his position +in the state. These prophets seem to feel that if there had been anywhere +among rich or poor an honest response to the will of Jehovah it would have +been a token that God had not altogether rejected Israel. Jeremiah puts +this view very strongly when in the fifth chapter he says that if one man +could be found in Jerusalem who did justice and sought truth the Lord +would pardon her; and his vain search for that man begins among the poor. +It is this same motive that leads Ezekiel to include the humble citizen in +his survey of the moral condition of Jerusalem. It is little wonder that +under such leaders they had cast off the restraints of humanity, and +oppressed those who were still more defenceless than themselves. But it +showed nevertheless that real religion had no longer a foothold in the +city. It proved that the greed of gain had eaten into the very heart of +the people and destroyed the ties of kindred and mutual sympathy, through +which alone the will of Jehovah could be realised. No matter although they +were obscure householders, without political power or responsibility; if +they had been good men in their private relations, Jerusalem would have +been a better place to live in. Ezekiel indeed does not go so far as to +say that a single good life would have saved the city. He expects of a +good man that he be a man in the full sense--a man who speaks boldly on +behalf of righteousness and resists the prevalent evils with all his +strength: "I sought among them a man to build up a fence, and to stand in +the breach before Me on behalf of the land, that it might not be +destroyed; and I found none. So I poured out My indignation upon them; +with the fire of My wrath I consumed them: I have returned their way upon +their head, saith the Lord Jehovah" (vv. 30, 31). + +3. But we should misunderstand Ezekiel's position if we supposed that his +prediction of the speedy destruction of Jerusalem was merely an inference +from his clear insight into the necessary conditions of social welfare +which were being violated by her rulers and her citizens. That is one part +of his message, but it could not stand alone. The purpose of the +indictment we have considered is simply to explain the moral +reasonableness of Jehovah's action in the great act of judgment which the +prophet knows to be approaching. It is no doubt a general law of history +that moribund communities are not allowed to die a natural death. Their +usual fate is to perish in the struggle for existence before some other +and sounder nation. But no human sagacity can foresee how that law will be +verified in any particular case. It may seem clear to us now that Israel +must have fallen sooner or later before the advance of the great Eastern +empires, but an ordinary observer could not have foretold with the +confidence and precision which mark the predictions of Ezekiel in what +manner and within what time the end would come. Of that aspect of the +prophet's mind no explanation can be given save that God revealed His +secret to His servants the prophets. + +Now this element of the prophecy seems to be brought out by the image of +Jerusalem's fate which occupies the middle verses of the chapter (vv. +17-22). The city is compared to the crucible in which all the refuse of +Israel's national life is to undergo its final trial by fire. The prophet +sees in imagination the terror-stricken provincial population swept into +the capital before the approach of the Chaldæans; and he says, "Thus does +Jehovah cast His ore into the furnace--the silver, the brass, the iron, the +lead, and the tin; and He will kindle the fire with His anger, and blow +upon it till He have consumed the impurities of the land." The image of +the smelting-pot had been used by Isaiah as an emblem of purifying +judgment, the object of which was the removal of injustice and the +restoration of the state to its former splendour: "I will again bring My +hand upon thee, smelting out thy dross with lye and taking away all thine +alloy; and I will make thy judges to be again as aforetime, and thy +counsellors as at the beginning: thereafter thou shalt be called the city +of righteousness, the faithful city" (Isa. i. 25, 26). Ezekiel, however, +can hardly have contemplated such a happy result of the operation. The +whole house of Israel has become dross, from which no precious metal can +be extracted; and the object of the smelting is only the demonstration of +the utter worthlessness of the people for the ends of God's kingdom. The +more refractory the material to be dealt with the fiercer must be the fire +that tests it; and the severity of the exterminating judgment is the only +thing symbolised by the metaphor as used by Ezekiel. In this he follows +Jeremiah, who applies the figure in precisely the same sense: "The bellows +snort, the lead is consumed of the fire; in vain he smelts and smelts: but +the wicked are not taken away. Refuse silver shall men call them, for the +Lord hath rejected them" (Jer. vi. 29, 30). In this way the section +supplements the teaching of the rest of the chapter. Jerusalem is full of +dross--that has been proved by the enumeration of her crimes and the +estimate of her social condition. But the fire which consumes the dross +represents a special providential intervention bringing the history of the +state to a summary and decisive conclusion. And the Refiner who +superintends the process is Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, whose +righteous will is executed by the march of conquering hosts, and revealed +to men in His dealings with the people whom He had known of all the +families of the earth. + + + +II + + +The chapter we have just studied was evidently not composed with a view to +immediate publication. It records the view of Jerusalem's guilt and +punishment which was borne in upon the mind of the prophet in the solitude +of his chamber, but it was not destined to see the light until the whole +of his teaching could be submitted in its final form to a wider and more +receptive audience. It is equally obvious that the scenes described in ch. +xxiv. were really enacted in the full view of the exiled community. We +have reached the crisis of Ezekiel's ministry. For the last time until his +warnings of doom shall be fulfilled he emerges from his partial seclusion, +and in symbolism whose vivid force could not have failed to impress the +most listless hearer he announces once more the destruction of the Hebrew +nation. The burden of his message is that that day--the tenth day of the +tenth month of the ninth year--marked the beginning of the end. "On that +very day"--a day to be commemorated for seventy long years by a national +fast (Zech. viii. 19; cf. vii. 5)--Nebuchadnezzar was drawing his lines +round Jerusalem. The bare announcement to men who knew what a Chaldæan +siege meant must have sent a thrill of consternation through their minds. +If this vision of what was happening in a distant land should prove true, +they must have felt that all hope of deliverance was now cut off. +Sceptical as they may have been of the moral principles that lay behind +Ezekiel's prediction, they could not deny that the issue he foresaw was +only the natural sequel to the fact he so confidently announced. + +The image here used of the fate of Jerusalem would recall to the minds of +the exiles the ill-omened saying which expressed the reckless spirit +prevalent in the city: "This city is the pot, and we are the flesh" (ch. +xi. 3). It was well understood in Babylon that these men were playing a +desperate game, and did not shrink from the horrors of a siege. "Set on +the pot," then, cries the prophet to his listeners, "set it on, and pour +in water also, and gather the pieces into it, every good joint, leg and +shoulder; fill it with the choicest bones. Take them from the best of the +flock, and then pile up the wood(70) under it; let its pieces be boiled +and its bones cooked within it" (vv. 3-5). This part of the parable +required no explanation; it simply represents the terrible miseries +endured by the population of Jerusalem during the siege now commencing. +But then by a sudden transition the speaker turns the thoughts of his +hearers to another aspect of the judgment (vv. 6-8). The city itself is +like a rusty caldron, unfit for any useful purpose until by some means it +has been cleansed from its impurity. It is as if the crimes that had been +perpetrated in Jerusalem had stained her very stones with blood. She had +not even taken steps to conceal the traces of her wickedness; they lie +like blood on the bare rock, an open witness to her guilt. Often Jehovah +had sought to purify her by more measured chastisements, but it has now +been proved that "her much rust will not go from her except by fire"(71) +(ver. 12). Hence the end of the siege will be twofold. First of all the +contents of the caldron will be indiscriminately thrown out--a figure for +the dispersion and captivity of the inhabitants; and then the pot must be +set empty on the glowing coals till its rust is thoroughly burned out--a +symbol of the burning of the city and its subsequent desolation (ver. 11). +The idea that the material world may contract defilement through the sins +of those who live in it is one that is hard for us to realise, but it is +in keeping with the view of sin presented by Ezekiel, and indeed by the +Old Testament generally. There are certain natural emblems of sin, such as +uncleanness or disease or uncovered blood, etc., which had to be largely +used in order to educate men's moral perceptions. Partly these rest on the +analogy between physical defect and moral evil; but partly, as here, they +result from a strong sense of association between human deeds and their +effects or circumstances. Jerusalem is unclean as a place where wicked +deeds have been done, and even the destruction of the sinners cannot in +the mind of Ezekiel clear her from the unhallowed associations of her +history. She must lie empty and dreary for a generation, swept by the +winds of heaven before devout Israelites can again twine their affections +round the hope of her glorious future.(72) + +Even while delivering this message of doom to the people the prophet's +heart was burdened by the presentiment of a great personal sorrow. He had +received an intimation that his wife was to be taken from him by a sudden +stroke, and along with the intimation a command to refrain from all the +usual signs of mourning. "So I spake to the people" (as recorded in vv. +1-14) "in the morning, and my wife died in the evening" (ver. 18). Just +one touch of tenderness escapes him in relating this mysterious +occurrence. She was the "delight of his eyes": that phrase alone reveals +that there was a fountain of tears sealed up within the breast of this +stern preacher. How the course of his life may have been influenced by a +bereavement so strangely coincident with a change in his whole attitude to +his people we cannot even surmise. Nor is it possible to say how far he +merely used the incident to convey a lesson to the exiles, or how far his +private grief was really swallowed up in concern for the calamity of his +country. All we are told is that "in the morning he did as he was +commanded." He neither uttered loud lamentations, nor disarranged his +raiment, nor covered his head, nor ate the "bread of men,"(73) nor adopted +any of the customary signs of mourning for the dead. When the astonished +neighbours inquire the meaning of his strange demeanour, he assures them +that his conduct _now_ is a sign of what theirs will be when his words +have come true. When the tidings reach them that Jerusalem has actually +fallen, when they realise how many interests dear to them have +perished--the desolation of the sanctuary, the loss of their own sons and +daughters--they will experience a sense of calamity which will +instinctively discard all the conventional and even the natural +expressions of grief. They shall neither mourn nor weep, but sit in dumb +bewilderment, haunted by a dull consciousness of guilt which yet is far +removed from genuine contrition of heart. They shall pine away in their +iniquities. For while their sorrow will be too deep for words, it will not +yet be the godly sorrow that worketh repentance. It will be the sullen +despair and apathy of men disenchanted of the illusions on which their +national life was based, of men left without hope and without God in the +world. + +Here the curtain falls on the first act of Ezekiel's ministry. He appears +to have retired for the space of two years into complete privacy, ceasing +entirely his public appeals to the people, and waiting for the time of his +vindication as a prophet. The sense of restraint under which he has +hitherto exercised the function of a public teacher cannot be removed +until the tidings have reached Babylon that the city has fallen. +Meanwhile, with the delivery of this message, his contest with the +unbelief of his fellow-captives comes to an end. But when that day arrives +"his mouth shall be open, and he shall be no more dumb." A new career will +open out before him, in which he can devote all his powers of mind and +heart to the inspiring work of reviving faith in the promises of God, and +so building up a new Israel out of the ruins of the old. + + + + + +PART III. PROPHECIES AGAINST FOREIGN NATIONS. + + + + +Chapter XV. Ammon, Moab, Edom, And Philistia. Chapter xxv. + + +The next eight chapters (xxv.-xxxii.) form an intermezzo in the book of +Ezekiel. They are inserted in this place with the obvious intention of +separating the two sharply contrasted situations in which our prophet +found himself before and after the siege of Jerusalem. The subject with +which they deal is indeed an essential part of the prophet's message to +his time, but it is separate from the central interest of the narrative, +which lies in the conflict between the word of Jehovah in the hands of +Ezekiel and the unbelief of the exiles among whom he lived. The perusal of +this group of chapters is intended to prepare the reader for the +completely altered conditions under which Ezekiel was to resume his public +ministrations. The cycle of prophecies on foreign peoples is thus a sort +of literary analogue of the period of suspense which interrupted the +continuity of Ezekiel's work in the way we have seen. It marks the +shifting of the scenes behind the curtain before the principal actors +again step on the stage. + +It is natural enough to suppose that the prophet's mind was really +occupied during this time with the fate of Israel's heathen neighbours; +but that alone does not account for the grouping of the oracles before us +in this particular section of the book. Not only do some of the +chronological notices carry us far past the limit of the time of silence +referred to, but it will be found that nearly all these prophecies assume +that the fall of Jerusalem is already known to the nations addressed. It +is therefore a mistaken view which holds that in these chapters we have +simply the result of Ezekiel's meditations during his period of enforced +seclusion from public duty. Whatever the nature of his activity at this +time may have been, the principle of arrangement here is not +chronological, but literary; and no better motive for it can be suggested +than the writer's sense of dramatic propriety in unfolding the +significance of his prophetic life. + +In uttering a series of oracles against heathen nations, Ezekiel follows +the example set by some of his greatest predecessors. The book of Amos, +for example, opens with an impressive chapter of judgments on the peoples +lying immediately round the borders of Palestine. The thundercloud of +Jehovah's anger is represented as moving over the petty states of Syria +before it finally breaks in all its fury over the two kingdoms of Judah +and Israel. Similarly the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah contain continuous +sections dealing with various heathen powers, while the book of Nahum is +wholly occupied with a prediction of the ruin of the Assyrian empire. And +these are but a few of the more striking instances of a phenomenon which +is apt to cause perplexity to close and earnest students of the Old +Testament. We have here to do, therefore, with a standing theme of Hebrew +prophecy; and it may help us better to understand the attitude of Ezekiel +if we consider for a moment some of the principles involved in this +constant preoccupation of the prophets with the affairs of the outer +world. + +At the outset it must be understood that prophecies of this kind form part +of Jehovah's message to Israel. Although they are usually cast in the form +of direct address to foreign peoples, this must not lead us to imagine +that they were intended for actual publication in the countries to which +they refer. A prophet's real audience always consisted of his own +countrymen, whether his discourse was about themselves or about their +neighbours. And it is easy to see that it was impossible to declare the +purpose of God concerning Israel in words that came home to men's business +and bosoms, without taking account of the state and the destiny of other +nations. Just as it would not be possible nowadays to forecast the future +of Egypt without alluding to the fate of the Ottoman empire, so it was not +possible then to describe the future of Israel in the concrete manner +characteristic of the prophets without indicating the place reserved for +those peoples with whom it had close intercourse. Besides this, a large +part of the national consciousness of Israel was made up of interests, +friendly or the reverse, in neighbouring states. The Hebrews had a keen +eye for national idiosyncrasies, and the simple international relations of +those days were almost as vivid and personal as of neighbours living in +the same village. To be an Israelite was to be something +characteristically different from a Moabite, and that again from an +Edomite or a Philistine, and every patriotic Israelite had a shrewd sense +of what the difference was. We cannot read the utterances of the prophets +with regard to any of these nationalities without seeing that they often +appeal to perceptions deeply lodged in the popular mind, which could be +utilised to convey the spiritual lessons which the prophets desired to +teach. + +It must not be supposed, however, that such prophecies are in any degree +the expression of national vanity or jealousy. What the prophets aim at is +to elevate the thoughts of Israel to the sphere of eternal truths of the +kingdom of God; and it is only in so far as these can be made to touch the +conscience of the nation at this point that they appeal to what we may +call its international sentiments. Now the question we have to ask is, +What spiritual purpose for Israel is served by the announcements of the +destiny of the outlying heathen populations? There are of course special +interests attaching to each particular prophecy which it would be +difficult to classify. But, speaking generally, prophecies of this class +had a moral value for two reasons. In the first place they re-echo and +confirm the sentence of judgment passed on Israel herself. They do this in +two ways: they illustrate the principle on which Jehovah deals with His +own people, and His character as the righteous judge of men. Israel was to +be destroyed for her national sins, her contempt of Jehovah, and her +breaches of the moral law. But other nations, though more excusable, were +not less guilty than Israel. The same spirit of ungodliness, in different +forms, was manifested by Tyre, by Egypt, by Assyria, and by the petty +states of Syria. Hence, if Jehovah was really the righteous ruler of the +world, He must visit upon these nations their iniquities. Wherever a +"sinful kingdom" was found, whether in Israel or elsewhere, that kingdom +must be removed from its place among the nations. This appears most +clearly in the book of Amos, who, though he enunciates the paradoxical +truth that Israel's sin must be punished just because it was the only +people that Jehovah had known, nevertheless, as we have seen, thundered +forth similar judgments on other nations for their flagrant violation of +the universal law written in the human heart. In this way therefore the +prophets enforced on their contemporaries the fundamental lesson of their +teaching that the disasters which were coming on them were not the result +of the caprice or impotence of their Deity, but the execution of His moral +purpose, to which all men everywhere are subject. But again, not only was +the principle of the judgment emphasised, but the manner in which it was +to be carried out was more clearly exhibited. In all cases the pre-exilic +prophets announce that the overthrow of the Hebrew states was to be +effected either by the Assyrians or the Babylonians. These great world- +powers were in succession the instruments fashioned and used by Jehovah +for the performance of His great work in the earth. Now it was manifest +that if this anticipation was well founded it involved the overthrow of +all the nations in immediate contact with Israel. The policy of the +Mesopotamian monarchs was well understood; and if their wonderful +successes were the revelation of the divine purpose, then Israel would not +be judged alone. Accordingly we find in most instances that the +chastisement of the heathen is either ascribed directly to the invaders or +else to other agencies set in motion by their approach. The people of +Israel or Judah were thus taught to look on their fate as involved in a +great scheme of divine providence, overturning all the existing relations +which gave them a place among the nations of the world and preparing for a +new development of the purpose of Jehovah in the future. + +When we turn to that ideal future we find a second and more suggestive +aspect of these prophecies against the heathen. All the prophets teach +that the destiny of Israel is inseparably bound up with the future of +God's kingdom on earth. The Old Testament never wholly shakes off the idea +that the preservation and ultimate victory of the true religion demands +the continued existence of the one people to whom the revelation of the +true God had been committed. The indestructibility of Israel's national +life depends on its unique position in relation to the purposes of +Jehovah, and it is for this reason that the prophets look forward with +unwavering confidence to a time when the knowledge of Jehovah shall go +forth from Israel to all the nations of mankind. And this point of view we +must try to enter into if we are to understand the meaning of their +declarations concerning the fate of the surrounding nations. If we ask +whether an independent future is reserved in the new dispensation for the +peoples with whom Israel had dealings in the past, we find that different +and sometimes conflicting answers are given. Thus Isaiah predicts a +restoration of Tyre after the lapse of seventy years, while Ezekiel +announces its complete and final destruction. It is only when we consider +these utterances in the light of the prophets' general conception of the +kingdom of God that we discern the spiritual truth that gives them an +abiding significance for the instruction of all ages. It was not a matter +of supreme religious importance to know whether Phoenicia or Egypt or +Assyria would retain their old place in the world, and share indirectly in +the blessings of the Messianic age. What men needed to be taught then, and +what we need to remember still, is that each nation holds its position in +subordination to the ends of God's government, that no power or wisdom or +refinement will save a state from destruction when it ceases to serve the +interests of His kingdom. The foreign peoples that come under the survey +of the prophets are as yet strangers to the true God, and are therefore +destitute of that which could secure them a place in the reconstruction of +political relationships of which Israel is to be the religious centre. +Sometimes they are represented as having by their hostility to Israel or +their pride of heart so encroached on the sovereignty of Jehovah that +their doom is already sealed. At other times they are conceived as +converted to the knowledge of the true God, and as gladly accepting the +place assigned to them in the humanity of the future by consecrating their +wealth and power to the service of His people Israel. In all cases it is +their attitude to Israel and the God of Israel that determines their +destiny: that is the great truth which the prophets design to impress on +their countrymen. So long as the cause of religion was identified with the +fortunes of the people of Israel no higher conception of the redemption of +mankind could be formed than that of a willing subjection of the nations +of the earth to the word of Jehovah which went forth from Jerusalem (cf. +Isa. ii. 2-4). And whether any particular nation should survive to +participate in the glories of that latter day depends on the view taken of +its present condition and its fitness for incorporation in the universal +empire of Jehovah soon to be established. + +We now know that this was not the form in which Jehovah's purpose of +salvation was destined to be realised in the history of the world. Since +the coming of Christ the people of Israel has lost its distinctive and +central position as the bearer of the hopes and promises of the true +religion. In its place we have a spiritual kingdom of men united by faith +in Jesus Christ, and in the worship of one Father in spirit and in truth--a +kingdom which from its very nature can have no local centre or political +organisation. Hence the conversion of the heathen can no longer be +conceived as national homage paid to the seat of Jehovah's sovereignty on +Zion; nor is the unfolding of the divine plan of universal salvation bound +up with the extinction of the nationalities which once symbolised the +hostility of the world to the kingdom of God. This fact has an important +bearing on the question of the fulfilment of the foreign prophecies of the +Old Testament. Literal fulfilment is not to be looked for in this case any +more than in the delineations of Israel's future, which are after all the +predominant element of Messianic prediction. It is true that the nations +passed under review have now vanished from history, and in so far as their +fall was brought about by causes operating in the world in which the +prophets moved, it must be recognised as a partial but real vindication of +the truth of their words. But the details of the prophecies have not been +historically verified. All attempts to trace their accomplishment in +events that took place long afterwards and in circumstances which the +prophets themselves never contemplated only lead us astray from the real +interest which belongs to them. As concrete embodiments of the eternal +principles exhibited in the rise and fall of nations they have an abiding +significance for the Church in all ages; but the actual working out of +these principles in history could not in the nature of things be complete +within the limits of the world known to the inhabitants of Judæa. If we +are to look for their ideal fulfilment, we shall only find it in the +progressive victory of Christianity over all forms of error and +superstition, and in the dedication of all the resources of human +civilisation--its wealth, its commercial enterprise, its political power--to +the advancement of the kingdom of our God and His Christ. + + ------------------------------------- + +It was natural from the special circumstances in which he wrote, as well +as from the general character of his teaching, that Ezekiel, in his +oracles against the heathen powers, should present only the dark side of +God's providence. Except in the case of Egypt, the nations addressed are +threatened with annihilation, and even Egypt is to be reduced to a +condition of utter impotence and humiliation. Very characteristic also is +his representation of the purpose which comes to light in this series of +judgments. It is to be a great demonstration to all the earth of the +absolute sovereignty of Jehovah. "Ye shall know that I am Jehovah" is the +formula that sums up the lesson of each nation's fall. We observe that the +prophet starts from the situation created by the fall of Jerusalem. That +great calamity bore in the first instance the appearance of a triumph of +heathenism over Jehovah the God of Israel. It was, as the prophet +elsewhere expresses it, a profanation of His holy name in the eyes of the +nations. And in this light it was undoubtedly regarded by the petty +principalities around Palestine, and perhaps also by the more distant and +powerful spectators, such as Tyre and Egypt. From the standpoint of +heathenism the downfall of Israel meant the defeat of its tutelary Deity; +and the neighbouring nations, in exulting over the tidings of Jerusalem's +fate, had in their minds the idea of the prostrate Jehovah unable to save +His people in their hour of need. It is not necessary to suppose that +Ezekiel attributes to them any consciousness of Jehovah's claim to be the +only living and true God. It is the paradox of revelation that He who is +the Eternal and Infinite first revealed Himself to the world as the God of +Israel; and all the misconceptions that sprang out of that fact had to be +cleared away by His self-manifestation in historical acts that appealed to +the world at large. Amongst these acts the judgment of the heathen nations +holds the first place in the mind of Ezekiel. A crisis has been reached at +which it becomes necessary for Jehovah to vindicate His divinity by the +destruction of those who have exalted themselves against Him. The world +must learn once for all that Jehovah is no mere tribal god, but the +omnipotent ruler of the universe. And this is the preparation for the +final disclosure of His power and Godhead in the restoration of Israel to +its own land, which will speedily follow the overthrow of its ancient +foes. This series of prophecies forms thus an appropriate introduction to +the third division of the book, which deals with the formation of the new +people of Jehovah. + +It is somewhat remarkable that Ezekiel's survey of the heathen nations is +restricted to those in the immediate vicinity of the land of Canaan. +Although he had unrivalled opportunities of becoming acquainted with the +remote countries of the East, he confines his attention to the +Mediterranean states which had long played a part in Hebrew history. The +peoples dealt with are seven in number--Ammon, Moab, Edom, the Philistines, +Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt. The order of the enumeration is geographical: +first the inner circle of Israel's immediate neighbours, from Ammon on the +east round to Sidon in the extreme north; then outside the circle the +preponderating world-power of Egypt. It is not altogether an accidental +circumstance that five of these nations are named in the twenty-seventh +chapter of Jeremiah as concerned in the project of rebellion against +Nebuchadnezzar in the early part of Zedekiah's reign. Egypt and Philistia +are not mentioned there, but we may surmise at least that Egyptian +diplomacy was secretly at work pulling the wires which set the puppets in +motion. This fact, together with the omission of Babylon from the list of +threatened nations, shows that Ezekiel regards the judgment as falling +within the period of Chaldæan supremacy, which he appears to have +estimated at forty years. What is to be the fate of Babylon itself he +nowhere intimates, a conflict between that great world-power and Jehovah's +purpose being no part of his system. That Nebuchadnezzar is to be the +agent of the overthrow of Tyre and the humiliation of Egypt is expressly +stated; and although the crushing of the smaller states is ascribed to +other agencies, we can hardly doubt that these were conceived as indirect +consequences of the upheaval caused by the Babylonian invasion. + + ------------------------------------- + +Ch. xxv., then, consists of four brief prophecies addressed respectively +to Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines. A few words on the fate +prefigured for each of these countries will suffice for the explanation of +the chapter. + +1. AMMON (vv. 2-7) lay on the edge of the desert, between the upper waters +of the Jabbok and the Arnon, separated from the Jordan by a strip of +Israelitish territory from twenty to thirty miles wide. Its capital, +Rabbah, mentioned here (ver. 5), was situated on a southern tributary of +the Jabbok, and its ruins still bear amongst the Arabs the ancient +national name _Ammân_. Although their country was pastoral (milk is +referred to in ver. 4 as one of its chief products), the Ammonites seem to +have made some progress in civilisation. Jeremiah (ch. xlix. 4) speaks of +them as trusting in their treasures; and in this chapter Ezekiel announces +that they shall be for a spoil to the nations (ver. 7). After the +deportation of the transjordanic tribes by Tiglath-pileser, Ammon seized +the country that had belonged to the tribe of Gad, its nearest neighbour +on the west. This encroachment is denounced by the prophet Jeremiah in the +opening words of his oracle against Ammon: "Hath Israel no children? or +has he no heir? why doth Milcom [the national deity of the Ammonites] +inherit Gad, why hath his [Milcom's] folk settled in his [Gad's] cities" +(Jer. xlix. 1). We have already seen (ch. xxi.) that the Ammonites took +part in the rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar, and stood out after the +other members of the league had gone back from their purpose. But this +temporary union with Jerusalem did nothing to abate the old national +animosity, and the disaster of Judah was the signal for an exhibition of +malignant satisfaction on the part of Ammon. "Because thou hast said, Aha, +against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and the land of Israel when it +was laid waste, and the house of Judah when it went into captivity," etc. +(ver. 3)--for this crowning offence against the majesty of Jehovah, Ezekiel +denounces an exterminating judgment on Ammon. The land shall be given up +to the "children of the East"--_i.e._, the Bedouin Arabs--who shall pitch +their tent encampments in it, eating its fruits and drinking its milk, and +turning the "great city" Rabbah itself into a resting-place for camels +(vv. 4, 5). It is not quite clear (though it is commonly assumed) that the +children of the East are regarded as the actual conquerors of Ammon. Their +possession of the country may be the consequence rather than the cause of +the destruction of civilisation, the encroachment of the nomads being as +inevitable under these circumstances as the extension of the desert itself +where water fails. + +2. MOAB(74) (vv. 8-11) comes next in order. Its proper territory, since +the settlement of Israel in Canaan, was the elevated tableland south of +the Arnon, along the lower part of the Dead Sea. But the tribe of Reuben, +which bordered it on the north, was never able to hold its ground against +the superior strength of Moab, and hence the latter nation is found in +possession of the lower and more fertile district stretching northwards +from the Arnon, now called the Belka. All the cities, indeed, which are +mentioned in this chapter as belonging to Moab--Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, +and Kirjathaim--were situated in this northern and properly Israelite +region. These were the "glory of the land," which were now to be taken +away from Moab (ver. 9). In Israel Moab appears to have been regarded as +the incarnation of a peculiarly offensive form of national pride,(75) of +which we happen to have a monument in the famous Moabite Stone, which was +erected by Mesha in the ninth century B.C. to commemorate the victories of +Chemosh over Jehovah and Israel. The inscription shows, moreover, that in +the arts of civilised life Moab was at that early time no unworthy rival +of Israel itself. It is for a special manifestation of this haughty and +arrogant spirit in the day of Jerusalem's calamity that Ezekiel pronounces +Jehovah's judgment on Moab: "Because Moab hath said, Behold, the house of +Judah is like all the nations" (ver. 8). These words no doubt reflect +accurately the sentiment of Moab towards Israel, and they presuppose a +consciousness on the part of Moab of some unique distinction pertaining to +Israel in spite of all the humiliations it had undergone since the time of +David. And the thought of Moab may have been more widely disseminated +among the nations than we are apt to suppose: "The kings of the earth +believed not, neither all the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary +and the enemy should enter into the gates of Jerusalem" (Lam. iv. 12). The +Moabites at all events breathed a sigh of relief when Israel's pretensions +to religious ascendency seemed to be confuted, and thereby they sealed +their own doom. They share the fate of the Ammonites, their land being +handed over for a possession to the sons of the East (ver. 10). + +Both these nations, Ammon and Moab, were absorbed by the Arabs, as Ezekiel +had foretold; but Ammon at least preserved its separate name and +nationality through many changes of fortune down to the second century +after Christ. + +3. EDOM (vv. 12-14), famous in the Old Testament for its wisdom (Jer. +xlix. 7; Obad. 8), occupied the country to the south of Moab from the Dead +Sea to the head of the Gulf of Akaba. In Old Testament times the centre of +its power was in the region to the east of the Arabah Valley, a position +of great commercial importance, as commanding the caravan route from the +Red Sea port of Elath to Northern Syria. From this district the Edomites +were afterwards driven (about 300 B.C.) by the Arabian tribe of the +Nabatæans, when they took up their abode in the south of Judah. None of +the surrounding nations were so closely akin to Israel as Edom, and with +none were its relations more embittered and hostile. The Edomites had been +subjugated and nearly exterminated by David, had been again subdued by +Amaziah and Uzziah, but finally recovered their independence during the +attack of the Syrians and Ephraimites on Judah in the reign of Ahaz. The +memory of this long struggle produced in Edom a "perpetual enmity," an +undying hereditary hatred towards the kingdom of Judah. But that which +made the name of Edom to be execrated by the later Jews was its conduct +after the fall of Jerusalem. The prophet Obadiah represents it as sharing +in the spoil of Jerusalem (ver. 10), and as "standing in the crossway to +cut off those that escaped" (ver. 14). Ezekiel also alludes to this in the +thirty-fifth chapter (ver. 5), and tells us further that in the time of +the captivity the Edomites seized part of the territory of Israel (vv. +10-12), from which indeed the Jews were never able altogether to dislodge +them. For the guilt they thus incurred by taking advantage of the +humiliation of Jehovah's people, Ezekiel here threatens them with +extinction; and the execution of the divine vengeance is in their case +entrusted to the children of Israel themselves (vv. 13, 14). They were, in +fact, finally subdued by John Hyrcanus in 126 B.C., and compelled to adopt +the Jewish religion. But long before then they had lost their prestige and +influence, their ancient seats having passed under the dominion of the +Arabs in common with all the neighbouring countries. + +4. The PHILISTINES (vv. 15-17)--the "immigrants" who had settled along the +Mediterranean coast, and who were destined to leave their name to the +whole country--had evidently played a part very similar to the Edomites at +the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; but of this nothing is known +beyond what is here said by Ezekiel. They were at this time a mere +"remnant" (ver. 16), having been exhausted by the Assyrian and Egyptian +wars. Their fate is not precisely indicated in the prophecy. They were in +point of fact gradually extinguished by the revival of Jewish domination +under the Asmonean dynasty. + +One other remark may here be made, as showing the discrimination which +Ezekiel brought to bear in estimating the characteristics of each separate +nation. He does not ascribe to the greater powers, Tyre and Sidon and +Egypt, the same petty and vindictive jealousy of Israel which actuated the +diminutive nationalities dealt with in this chapter. These great heathen +states, which played so imposing a part in ancient civilisation, had a +wide outlook over the affairs of the world; and the injuries they +inflicted on Israel were due less to the blind instinct of national hatred +than to the pursuit of far-reaching schemes of selfish interest and +aggrandisement. If Tyre rejoices over the fall of Jerusalem, it is because +of the removal of an obstacle to the expansion of her commercial +enterprise. When Egypt is described as having been an occasion of sin to +the people of God, what is meant is that she had drawn Israel into the net +of her ambitious foreign policy, and led her away from the path of safety +pointed out by Jehovah's will through the prophets. Ezekiel pays a tribute +to the grandeur of their position by the care he bestows on the +description of their fate. The smaller nations embodying nothing of +permanent value for the advancement of humanity, he dismisses each with a +short and pregnant oracle announcing its doom. But when he comes to the +fall of Tyre and of Egypt his imagination is evidently impressed; he +lingers over all the details of the picture, he returns to it again and +again, as if he would penetrate the secret of their greatness and +understand the potent fascination which their names exercised throughout +the world. It would be entirely erroneous to suppose that he sympathises +with them in their calamity, but certainly he is conscious of the blank +which will be caused by their disappearance from history; he feels that +something will have vanished from the earth whose loss will be mourned by +the nations far and near. This is most apparent in the prophecy on Tyre, +to which we now proceed. + + + + +Chapter XVI. Tyre. Chapters xxvi., xxix. 17-21. + + +In the time of Ezekiel Tyre was still at the height of her commercial +prosperity. Although not the oldest of the Phoenician cities, she held a +supremacy among them which dated from the thirteenth century B.C.,(76) and +she had long been regarded as the typical embodiment of the genius of the +remarkable race to which she belonged. The Phoenicians were renowned in +antiquity for a combination of all the qualities on which commercial +greatness depends. Their absorbing devotion to the material interests of +civilisation, their amazing industry and perseverance, their +resourcefulness in assimilating and improving the inventions of other +peoples, the technical skill of their artists and craftsmen, but above all +their adventurous and daring seamanship, conspired to give them a position +in the old world such as has never been quite rivalled by any other nation +of ancient or modern times. In the grey dawn of European history we find +them acting as pioneers of art and culture along the shores of the +Mediterranean, although even then they had been displaced from their +earliest settlements in the Ægean and the coast of Asia Minor by the +rising commerce of Greece. Matthew Arnold has drawn a brilliant +imaginative picture of this collision between the two races, and the +effect it had on the dauntless and enterprising spirit of Phoenicia:-- + + + As some grave Tyrian trader, from the sea, + Descried at sunrise an emerging prow + Lifting the cool-hair'd creepers stealthily, + The fringes of a southward-facing brow + Among the Ægæan isles; + And saw the merry Grecian coaster come, + Freighted with amber grapes, and Chian wine, + Green, bursting figs, and tunnies steep'd in brine-- + And knew the intruders on his ancient home, + The young light-hearted masters of the waves-- + And snatch'd his rudder and shook out more sail; + And day and night held on indignantly + O'er the blue Midland waters with the gale, + Betwixt the Syrtes and soft Sicily, + To where the Atlantic raves + Outside the western straits; and unbent sails + There, where down cloudy cliffs, through sheets of foam, + Shy traffickers, the dark Iberians, come; + And on the beach undid his corded bales.(77) + + +It is that spirit of masterful and untiring ambition kept up for so many +centuries that throws a halo of romance round the story of Tyre. + +In the oldest Greek literature, however, Tyre is not mentioned, the place +which she afterwards held being then occupied by Sidon. But after the +decay of Sidon the rich harvest of her labours fell into the lap of Tyre, +which thenceforth stands out as the foremost city of Phoenicia. She owed +her pre-eminence partly to the wisdom and energy with which her affairs +were administered, but partly also to the strength of her natural +situation. The city was built both on the mainland and on a row of islets +about half a mile from the shore. This latter portion contained the +principal buildings (temples and palaces), the open place where business +was transacted, and the two harbours. It was no doubt from it that the +city derived its name ({~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW POINT HOLAM~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} = Rock); and it always was looked on as the +central part of Tyre. There was something in the appearance of the island +city--the Venice of antiquity, rising from mid-ocean with her "tiara of +proud towers"--which seemed to mark her out as destined to be mistress of +the sea. It also made a siege of Tyre an arduous and a tedious +undertaking, as many a conqueror found to his cost. Favoured then by these +advantages, Tyre speedily gathered the traffic of Phoenicia into her own +hands, and her wealth and luxury were the wonder of the nations. She was +known as "the crowning city, whose merchants were princes, and her +traffickers the honourable of the earth" (Isa. xxiii. 8). She became the +great commercial emporium of the world. Her colonies were planted all over +the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean, and the one most frequently +mentioned in the Bible, Tarshish, was in Spain, beyond Gibraltar. Her +seamen had ventured beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and undertook distant +Atlantic voyages to the Canary Islands on the south and the coasts of +Britain on the north. The most barbarous and inhospitable regions were +ransacked for the metals and other products needed to supply the +requirements of civilisation, and everywhere she found a market for her +own wares and manufactures. The carrying trade of the Mediterranean was +almost entirely conducted in her ships, while her richly laden caravans +traversed all the great routes that led into the heart of Asia and Africa. + +It so happens that the twenty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel is one of the +best sources of information we possess as to the varied and extensive +commercial relations of Tyre in the sixth century B.C.(78) It will +therefore be better to glance shortly at its contents here rather than in +its proper connection in the development of the prophet's thought. It will +easily be seen that the description is somewhat idealised; no details are +given of the commodities which Tyre _sold_ to the nations--only as an +afterthought (ver. 33) is it intimated that by sending forth her wares she +has enriched and satisfied many nations. So the goods which she _bought_ +of them are not represented as given in exchange for anything else; Tyre +is poetically conceived as an empress ruling the peoples by the potent +spell of her influence, compelling them to drudge for her and bring to her +feet the gains they have acquired by their heavy labour. Nor can the list +of nations(79) or their gifts be meant as exhaustive; it only includes +such things as served to exhibit the immense variety of useful and costly +articles which ministered to the wealth and luxury of Tyre. But making +allowance for this, and for the numerous difficulties which the text +presents, the passage has evidently been compiled with great care; it +shows a minuteness of detail and fulness of knowledge which could not have +been got from books, but displays a lively personal interest in the +affairs of the world which is surprising in a man like Ezekiel. + +The order followed in the enumeration of nations is not quite clear, but +is on the whole geographical. Starting from Tarshish in the extreme west +(ver. 12), the prophet mentions in succession Javan (Ionia), Tubal, and +Meshech (two tribes to the south-east of the Black Sea), and Togarmah +(usually identified with Armenia) (vv. 13, 14). These represent the +northern limit of the Phoenician markets. The reference in the next verse +(v. 15) is doubtful, on account of a difference between the Septuagint and +the Hebrew text. If with the former we read "Rhodes" instead of "Dedan," +it embraces the nearer coasts and islands of the Mediterranean, and this +is perhaps on the whole the more natural sense. In this case it is +possible that up to this point the description has been confined to the +sea trade of Phoenicia, if we may suppose that the products of Armenia +reached Tyre by way of the Black Sea. At all events the overland traffic +occupies a space in the list out of proportion to its actual importance, a +fact which is easily explained from the prophet's standpoint. First, in a +line from south to north, we have the nearer neighbours of Phoenicia--Edom, +Judah, Israel, and Damascus (vv. 16-18). Then the remoter tribes and +districts of Arabia--Uzal(80) (the chief city of Yemen), Dedan (on the +eastern side of the Gulf of Akaba), Arabia and Kedar (nomads of the +eastern desert), Havilah,(81) Sheba, and Raamah (in the extreme south of +the Arabian peninsula) (vv. 19-22). Finally the countries tapped by the +eastern caravan route--Haran (the great trade centre in Mesopotamia), +Canneh (? Calneh, unknown), Eden (differently spelt from the garden of +Eden, also unknown), Assyria, and Chilmad (unknown) (ver. 23). These were +the "merchants" and "traders" of Tyre, who are represented as thronging +her market-place with the produce of their respective countries. + +The imports, so far as we can follow the prophet's enumeration, are in +nearly all cases characteristic products of the regions to which they are +assigned. Spain is known to have furnished all the metals here +mentioned--silver, iron, lead, and tin. Greece and Asia Minor were centres +of the slave traffic (one of the darkest blots on the commerce of +Phoenicia), and also supplied hardware. Armenia was famous as a horse- +breeding country, and thence Tyre procured her supply of horses and mules. +The ebony and tusks of ivory must have come from Africa; and if the +Septuagint is right in reading "Rhodes" in ver. 15, these articles can +only have been collected there for shipment to Tyre.(82) Through Edom come +pearls and precious stones.(83) Judah and Israel furnish Tyre with +agricultural and natural produce, as they had done from the days of David +and Solomon--wheat and oil, wax and honey, balm and spices. Damascus yields +the famous "wine of Helbon"--said to be the only vintage that the Persian +kings would drink--perhaps also other choice wines.(84) A rich variety of +miscellaneous articles, both natural and manufactured, is contributed by +Arabia,--wrought iron (perhaps sword-blades) from Yemen; saddle-cloths from +Dedan; sheep and goats from the Bedouin tribes; gold, precious stones, and +aromatic spices from the caravans of Sheba. Lastly, the Mesopotamian +countries provide the costly textile fabrics from the looms of Babylon so +highly prized in antiquity--"costly garments, mantles of blue, purple, and +broidered work," "many-coloured carpets," and "cords twisted and +durable."(85) + +This survey of the ramifications of Tyrian commerce will have served its +purpose if it enables us to realise in some measure the conception which +Ezekiel had formed of the power and prestige of the maritime city, whose +destruction he so confidently announced. He knew, as did Isaiah before +him, how deeply Tyre had struck her roots in the life of the old world, +how indispensable her existence seemed to be to the whole fabric of +civilisation as then constituted. Both prophets represent the nations as +lamenting the downfall of the city which had so long ministered to their +material welfare. The overthrow of Tyre would be felt as a world-wide +calamity; it could hardly be contemplated except as part of a radical +subversion of the established order of things. This is what Ezekiel has in +view, and his attitude towards Tyre is governed by his expectation of a +great shaking of the nations which is to usher in the perfect kingdom of +God. In the new world to which he looks forward no place will be found for +Tyre, not even the subordinate position of a handmaid to the people of God +which Isaiah's vision of the future had assigned to her. Beneath all her +opulence and refinement the prophet's eye detected that which was opposed +to the mind of Jehovah--the irreligious spirit which is the temptation of a +mercantile community, manifesting itself in overweening pride and self- +exaltation, and in sordid devotion to gain as the highest end of a +nation's existence. + +The twenty-sixth chapter is in the main a literal prediction of the siege +and destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar. It is dated from the year in +which Jerusalem was captured, and was certainly written after that event. +The number of the month has accidentally dropped out of the text, so that +we cannot tell whether at the time of writing the prophet had received +actual intelligence of the fall of the city. At all events it is assumed +that the fate of Jerusalem is already known in Tyre, and the manner in +which the tidings were sure to have been received there is the immediate +occasion of the prophecy. Like many other peoples, Tyre had rejoiced over +the disaster which had befallen the Jewish state; but her exultation had a +peculiar note of selfish calculation, which did not escape the notice of +the prophet. Ever mindful of her own interest, she sees that a barrier to +the free development of her commerce has been removed, and she +congratulates herself on the fortunate turn which events have taken: "Aha! +the door of the peoples is broken, it is turned towards me; she that was +full hath been laid waste!"(86) (ver. 2). Although the relations of the +two countries had often been friendly and sometimes highly advantageous to +Tyre, she had evidently felt herself hampered by the existence of an +independent state on the mountain ridge of Palestine. The kingdom of +Judah, especially in days when it was strong enough to hold Edom in +subjection, commanded the caravan routes to the Red Sea, and doubtless +prevented the Phoenician merchants from reaping the full profit of their +ventures in that direction. It is probable that at all times a certain +proportion of the revenue of the kings of Judah was derived from toll +levied on the Tyrian merchandise that passed through their territory; and +what they thus gained represented so much loss to Tyre. It was, to be +sure, a small item in the mass of business transacted on the exchange of +Tyre. But nothing is too trivial to enter into the calculations of a +community given over to the pursuit of gain; and the satisfaction with +which the fall of Jerusalem was regarded in Tyre showed how completely she +was debased by her selfish commercial policy, how oblivious she was to the +spiritual interests bound up with the future of Israel. + +Having thus exposed the sinful cupidity and insensibility of Tyre, the +prophet proceeds to describe in general terms the punishment that is to +overtake her. Many nations shall be brought up against her, irresistible +as the sea when it comes up with its waves; her walls and fortifications +shall be rased; the very dust shall be scraped from her site, so that she +is left "a naked rock" rising out of the sea, a place where fishermen +spread their nets to dry, as in the days before the city was built. + +Then follows (vv. 7-14) a specific announcement of the manner in which +judgment shall be executed on Tyre. The recent political attitude of the +city left no doubt as to the quarter from which immediate danger was to be +apprehended. The Phoenician states had been the most powerful members of +the confederacy that was formed about 596 to throw off the yoke of the +Chaldæans, and they were in open revolt at the time when Ezekiel wrote. +They had apparently thrown in their lot with Egypt, and a conflict with +Nebuchadnezzar was therefore to be expected. Tyre had every reason to +avoid a war with a first-rate power, which could not fail to be disastrous +to her commercial interests. But her inhabitants were not destitute of +martial spirit; they trusted in the strength of their position and their +command of the sea, and they were in the mood to risk everything rather +than again renounce their independence and their freedom. But all this +avails nothing against the purpose which Jehovah has purposed concerning +Tyre. It is He who brings Nebuchadnezzar, the king of kings, from the +north with his army and his siege-train, and Tyre shall fall before his +assault, as Jerusalem has already fallen. First of all, the Phoenician +cities on the mainland shall be ravaged and laid waste, and then +operations commence against the mother-city herself. The description of +the siege and capture of the island fortress is given with an abundance of +graphic details, although, strangely enough, without calling attention to +the peculiar method of attack that was necessary for the reduction of +Tyre. The great feature of the siege would be the construction of a huge +mole between the shore and the island; once the wall was reached the +attack would proceed precisely as in the case of an inland town, in the +manner depicted on Assyrian monuments. When the breach is made in the +fortifications the whole army pours into the city, and for the first time +in her history the walls of Tyre shake with the rumbling of chariots in +her streets. The conquered city is then given up to slaughter and pillage, +her songs and her music are stilled for ever, her stones and timber and +dust are cast into the sea, and not a trace remains of the proud mistress +of the waves. + +In the third strophe (vv. 15-21) the prophet describes the dismay which +will be caused when the crash of the destruction of Tyre resounds along +the coasts of the sea. All the "princes of the sea" (perhaps the rulers of +the Phoenician colonies in the Mediterranean) are represented as rising +from their thrones, and putting off their stately raiment, and sitting in +the dust bewailing the fate of the city. The dirge in which they lift up +their voices (vv. 17, 18) is given by the Septuagint in a form which +preserves more nearly than the Hebrew the structure as well as the beauty +which we should expect in the original:-- + + + How is perished from the sea-- + The city renowned! + She that laid her terror-- + On all its inhabitants! + [Now] are the isles affrighted-- + In the day of thy falling! + + +But this beautiful image is not strong enough to express the prophet's +sense of the irretrievable ruin that hangs over Tyre. By a bold flight of +imagination he turns from the mourners on earth to follow in thought the +descent of the city into the under-world (vv. 19-21). The idea that Tyre +might rise from her ruins after a temporary eclipse and recover her old +place in the world was one that would readily suggest itself to any one +who understood the real secret of her greatness. To the mind of Ezekiel +the impossibility of her restoration lies in the fixed purpose of Jehovah, +which includes, not only her destruction, but her perpetual desolation. +"When I make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; +when I bring up against thee the deep, and the great waters cover thee; +then I will bring thee down with them that go down to the pit, with the +people of old time, and I will make thee dwell in the lowest parts of the +earth, like the immemorial waste places, with them that go down to the +pit, that thou be not inhabited nor establish thyself in the land of the +living." The whole passage is steeped in weird poetic imagery. The +"deep"(87) suggests something more than the blue waters of the +Mediterranean: it is the name of the great primeval Ocean, out of which +the habitable world was fashioned, and which is used as an emblem of the +irresistible judgments of God.(88) The "pit" is the realm of the dead, +Sheôl, conceived as situated under the earth, where the shades of the +departed drag out a feeble existence from which there is no deliverance. +The idea of Sheôl is a frequent subject of poetical embellishment in the +later books of the Old Testament; and of this we have an example here when +the prophet represents the once populous and thriving city as now a +denizen of that dreary place. But the essential meaning he wishes to +convey is that Tyre is numbered among the things that were. She "shall be +sought, and shall not be found any more for ever," because she has entered +the dismal abode of the dead, whence there is no return to the joys and +activities of the upper world. + +Such then is the anticipation which Ezekiel in the year 586 had formed of +the fate of Tyre. No candid reader will suppose that the prophecy is +anything but what it professes to be--a _bonâ-fide_ prediction of the total +destruction of the city in the immediate future and by the hands of +Nebuchadnezzar. When Ezekiel wrote, the siege of Tyre had not begun; and +however clear it may have been to observant men that the next stage in the +campaign would be the reduction of the Phoenician cities, the prophet is at +least free from the suspicion of having prophesied after the event. The +remarkable absence of characteristic and special details from the account +of the siege is the best proof that he is dealing with the future from the +true prophetic standpoint and clothing a divinely imparted conviction in +images supplied by a definite historical situation. Nor is there any +reason to doubt that in some form the prophecy was actually published +among his fellow-exiles at the date to which it is assigned. On these +points critical opinion is fairly unanimous. But when we come to the +question of the fulfilment of the prediction we find ourselves in the +region of controversy, and, it must be admitted, of uncertainty. Some +expositors, determined at all hazards to vindicate Ezekiel's prophetic +authority, maintain that Tyre was actually devastated by Nebuchadnezzar in +the manner described by the prophet, and seek for confirmations of their +view in the few historical notices we possess of this period of +Nebuchadnezzar's reign. Others, reading the history differently, arrive at +the conclusion that Ezekiel's calculations were entirely at fault, that +Tyre was not captured by the Babylonians at all, and that his oracle +against Tyre must be reckoned amongst the unfulfilled prophecies of the +Old Testament. Others again seek to reconcile an impartial historical +judgment with a high conception of the function of prophecy, and find in +the undoubted course of events a real though not an exact verification of +the words uttered by Ezekiel. It is indeed almost by accident that we have +any independent corroboration of Ezekiel's anticipation with regard to the +immediate future of Tyre. Oriental discoveries have as yet brought to +light no important historical monuments of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar; +and outside of the book of Ezekiel itself we have nothing to guide us +except the statement of Josephus, based on Phoenician and Greek +authorities,(89) that Tyre underwent a thirteen years' siege by the +Babylonian conqueror. There is no reason whatever to call in question the +reliability of this important information, although the accompanying +statement that the siege began in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar is +certainly erroneous. But unfortunately we are not told how the siege +ended. Whether it was successful or unsuccessful, whether Tyre was reduced +or capitulated, or was evacuated or beat off her assailants, is nowhere +indicated. To argue from the silence of the historians is impossible; for +if one man argues that a catastrophe that took place "before the eyes of +all Asia" would not have passed unrecorded in historical books, another +might urge with equal force that a repulse of Nebuchadnezzar was too +uncommon an event to be ignored in the Phoenician annals.(90) On the whole +the most reasonable hypothesis is perhaps that after the thirteen years +the city surrendered on not unfavourable terms; but this conclusion is +based on other considerations than the data or the silence of Josephus. + +The chief reason for believing that Nebuchadnezzar was not altogether +successful in his attack on Tyre is found in a supplementary prophecy of +Ezekiel's, given in the end of the twenty-ninth chapter (vv. 17-21). It +was evidently written after the siege of Tyre was concluded, and so far as +it goes it confirms the accuracy of Josephus' sources. It is dated from +the year 570, sixteen years after the fall of Jerusalem; and it is, in +fact, the latest oracle in the whole book. The siege of Tyre therefore, +which had not commenced in 586, when ch. xxvi. was written, was finished +before 570; and between these terminal dates there is just room for the +thirteen years of Josephus. The invasion of Phoenicia must have been the +next great enterprise of the Babylonian army in Western Asia after the +destruction of Judah, and it was only the extraordinary strength of Tyre +that enabled it to protract the struggle so long. Now what light does +Ezekiel throw on the issue of the siege? His words are: "Nebuchadnezzar, +king of Babylon, has made his army to serve a great service against Tyre; +every head made bald and every shoulder peeled, yet _he and his army got +no wages out of Tyre_ for the service which he served against her." The +prophet then goes on to announce that the spoils of Egypt should be the +recompense to the army for their unrequited labour against Tyre, inasmuch +as it was work done for Jehovah. Here then, we have evidence first of all +that the long siege of Tyre had taxed the resources of the besiegers to +the utmost. The "peeled shoulders" and the "heads made bald" is a graphic +detail which alludes not obscurely to the monotonous navvy work of +carrying loads of stones and earth to fill up the narrow channel between +the mainland and the island,(91) so as to allow the engines to be brought +up to the walls. Ezekiel was well aware of the arduous nature of the +undertaking, the expenditure of human effort and life which was involved, +in the struggle with natural obstacles; and his striking conception of +these obscure and toiling soldiers as unconscious servants of the Almighty +shows how steadfast was his faith in the word he proclaimed against Tyre. +But the important point is that they obtained from Tyre no reward--at least +no adequate reward--for their herculean labours. The expression used is no +doubt capable of various interpretations. It might mean that the siege had +to be abandoned, or that the city was able to make extremely easy terms of +capitulation, or, as Jerome suggests, that the Tyrians had carried off +their treasures by sea and escaped to one of their colonies. In any case +it shows that the historical event was not in accordance with the details +of the earlier prophecy. That the wealth of Tyre would fall to the +conquerors is there assumed as a natural consequence of the capture of the +city. But whether the city was actually captured or not, the victors were +somehow disappointed in their expectation of plunder. The rich spoil of +Tyre, which was the legitimate reward of their exhausting toil, had +slipped from their eager grasp; to this extent at least the reality fell +short of the prediction, and Nebuchadnezzar had to be compensated for his +losses at Tyre by the promise of an easy conquest of Egypt. + +But if this had been all it is not probable that Ezekiel would have deemed +it necessary to supplement his earlier prediction in the way we have seen +after an interval of sixteen years. The mere circumstance that the sack of +Tyre had failed to yield the booty that the besiegers counted on was not +of a nature to attract attention amongst the prophet's auditors, or to +throw doubt on the genuineness of his inspiration. And we know that there +was a much more serious difference between the prophecy and the event than +this. It is from what has just been said extremely doubtful whether +Nebuchadnezzar actually destroyed Tyre, but even if he did she very +quickly recovered much of her former prosperity and glory. That her +commerce was seriously crippled during the struggle with Babylonia we may +well believe, and it is possible that she never again was what she had +been before this humiliation came upon her. But for all that the +enterprise and prosperity of Tyre continued for many ages to excite the +admiration of the most enlightened nations of antiquity. The destruction +of the city, therefore, if it took place, had not the finality which +Ezekiel had anticipated. Not till after the lapse of eighteen centuries +could it be said with approximate truth that she was like "a bare rock in +the midst of the sea." + +The most instructive fact for us, however, is that Ezekiel reissued his +original prophecy, knowing that it had not been literally fulfilled. In +the minds of his hearers the apparent falsification of his predictions had +revived old prejudices against him which interfered with the prosecution +of his work. They reasoned that a prophecy so much out of joint with the +reality was sufficient to discredit his claim to be an authoritative +exponent of the mind of Jehovah; and so the prophet found himself +embarrassed by a recurrence of the old unbelieving attitude which had +hindered his public activity before the destruction of Jerusalem. He has +not for the present "an open mouth" amongst them, and he feels that his +words will not be fully received until they are verified by the +restoration of Israel to its own land. But it is evident that he himself +did not share the view of his audience, otherwise he would certainly have +suppressed a prophecy which lacked the mark of authenticity. On the +contrary he published it for the perusal of a wider circle of readers, in +the conviction that what he had spoken was a true word of God, and that +its essential truth did not depend on its exact correspondence with the +facts of history. In other words, he believed in it as a true reading of +the principles revealed in God's moral government of the world--a reading +which had received a partial verification in the blow which had been dealt +at the pride of Tyre, and which would receive a still more signal +fulfilment in the final convulsions which were to introduce the day of +Israel's restoration and glory. Only we must remember that the prophet's +horizon was necessarily limited; and as he did not contemplate the slow +development and extension of the kingdom of God through long ages, so he +could not have taken into account the secular operation of historic causes +which eventually brought about the ruin of Tyre. + + + + +Chapter XVII. Tyre (Continued): Sidon. Chapters xxvii., xxviii. + + +The remaining oracles on Tyre (chs. xxvii., xxviii. 1-19) are somewhat +different both in subject and mode of treatment from the chapter we have +just finished. Ch. xxvi. is in the main a direct announcement of the fall +of Tyre, delivered in the oratorical style which is the usual vehicle of +prophetic address. She is regarded as a state occupying a definite place +among the other states of the world, and sharing the fate of other peoples +who by their conduct towards Israel or their ungodliness and arrogance +have incurred the anger of Jehovah. The two great odes which follow are +purely ideal delineations of what Tyre is in herself; her destruction is +assumed as certain rather than directly predicted, and the prophet gives +free play to his imagination in the effort to set forth the conception of +the city which was impressed on his mind. In ch. xxvii. he dwells on the +external greatness and magnificence of Tyre, her architectural splendour, +her political and military power, and above all her amazing commercial +enterprise. Ch. xxviii., on the other hand, is a meditation on the +peculiar genius of Tyre, her inner spirit of pride and self-sufficiency, +as embodied in the person of her king. From a literary point of view the +two chapters are amongst the most beautiful in the whole book. In the +twenty-seventh chapter the fiery indignation of the prophet almost +disappears, giving place to the play of poetic fancy, and a flow of lyric +emotion more perfectly rendered than in any other part of Ezekiel's +writings. The distinctive feature of each passage is the elegy pronounced +over the fall of Tyre; and although the elegy seems just on the point of +passing into the taunt-song, yet the accent of triumph is never suffered +to overwhelm the note of sadness to which these poems owe their special +charm. + + + +I + + +Ch. xxvii. is described as a dirge over Tyre. In the previous chapter the +nations were represented as bewailing her fall, but here the prophet +himself takes up a lamentation for her; and, as may have been usual in +real funereal dirges, he commences by celebrating the might and riches of +the doomed city. The fine image which is maintained throughout the chapter +was probably suggested to Ezekiel by the picturesque situation of Tyre on +her sea-girt rock at "the entries of the sea." He compares her to a +stately vessel riding at anchor(92) near the shore, taking on board her +cargo of precious merchandise, and ready to start on the perilous voyage +from which she is destined never to return. Meanwhile the gallant ship +sits proudly in the water, tight and seaworthy and sumptuously furnished; +and the prophet's eye runs rapidly over the chief points of her elaborate +construction and equipment (vv. 3-11). Her timbers are fashioned of +cypress from Hermon,(93) her mast is a cedar of Lebanon, her oars are made +of the oak of Bashan, her deck of sherbîn-wood(94) (a variety of cedar) +inlaid with ivory imported from Cyprus. Her canvas fittings are still more +exquisite and costly. The sail is of Egyptian byssus with embroidered +work, and the awning over the deck was of cloth resplendent in the two +purple dyes procured from the coasts of Elishah.(95) The ship is fitted up +for pleasure and luxury as well as for traffic, the fact symbolised being +obviously the architectural and other splendours which justified the +city's boast that she was "the perfection of beauty." + +But Tyre was wise and powerful as well as beautiful; and so the prophet, +still keeping up the metaphor, proceeds to describe how the great ship is +manned. Her steersmen are the experienced statesmen whom she herself has +bred and raised to power; her rowers are the men of Sidon and Aradus, who +spend their strength in her service. The elders and wise men of Gebal are +her shipwrights (literally "stoppers of leaks"); and so great is her +influence that all the naval resources of the world are subject to her +control. Besides this Tyre employs an army of mercenaries drawn from the +remotest quarters of the earth--from Persia and North Africa, as well as +the subordinate towns of Phoenicia; and these, represented as hanging their +shields and helmets on her sides, make her beauty complete.(96) In these +verses the prophet pays a tribute of admiration to the astuteness with +which the rulers of Tyre used their resources to strengthen her position +as the head of the Phoenician confederacy. Three of the cities +mentioned--Sidon, Aradus, and Gebal or Byblus--were the most important in +Phoenicia; two of them at least had a longer history than herself, yet they +are here truly represented as performing the rough menial labour which +brought wealth and renown to Tyre. It required no ordinary statecraft to +preserve the balance of so many complex and conflicting interests, and +make them all co-operate for the advancement of the glory of Tyre; but +hitherto her "wise men" had proved equal to the task. + +The second strophe (vv. 12-25) contains the survey of Tyrian commerce, +which has already been analysed in another connection.(97) At first sight +it appears as if the allegory were here abandoned, and the impression is +partly correct. In reality the city, although personified, is regarded as +the emporium of the world's commerce, to which all the nations stream with +their produce. But at the end it appears that the various commodities +enumerated represent the cargo with which the ship is laden. Ships of +Tarshish--_i.e._, the largest class of merchant vessels then afloat, used +for the long Atlantic voyage--wait upon her, and fill her with all sorts of +precious things (ver. 25). Then in the last strophe (vv. 26-36), which +speaks of the destruction of Tyre, the figure of the ship is boldly +resumed. The heavily freighted vessel is rowed into the open sea; there +she is struck by an east wind and founders in deep water. The image +suggests two ideas, which must not be pressed, although they may have an +element of historic truth in them: one is that Tyre perished under the +weight of her own commercial greatness, and the other that her ruin was +hastened through the folly of her rulers. But the main idea is that the +destruction of the city was wrought by the power of God, which suddenly +overwhelmed her at the height of her prosperity and activity. As the waves +close over the doomed vessel the cry of anguish that goes up from the +drowning mariners and passengers strikes terror into the hearts of all +seafaring men. They forsake their ships, and having reached the safety of +the shore abandon themselves to frantic demonstrations of grief, joining +their voices in a lamentation over the fate of the goodly ship which +symbolised the mistress of the sea (vv. 32-36)(98):-- + + + Who was like Tyre [so glorious]-- + In the midst of the sea? + When thy wares went forth from the seas-- + Thou filledst the peoples; + With thy wealth and thy merchandise-- + Thou enrichedst the earth. + Now art thou broken from the seas-- + In depths of the waters; + Thy merchandise and all thy multitude-- + Are fallen therein. + All the inhabitants of the islands-- + Are shocked at thee, + And their kings shudder greatly-- + With tearful countenances. + They that trade among the peoples ...-- + Hiss over thee; + Thou art become a terror-- + And art no more for ever. + + +Such is the end of Tyre. She has vanished utterly from the earth; the +imposing fabric of her greatness is like an unsubstantial pageant faded; +and nothing remains to tell of her former glory but the mourning of the +nations who were once enriched by her commerce. + + + +II + + +Ch. xxviii. 1-19.--Here the prophet turns to the prince of Tyre, who is +addressed throughout as the impersonation of the consciousness of a great +commercial community. We happen to know from Josephus that the name of the +reigning king at this time was Ithobaal or Ethbaal II. But it is manifest +that the terms of Ezekiel's message have no reference to the individuality +of this or any other prince of Tyre. It is not likely that the king could +have exercised any great political influence in a city "whose merchants +were all princes"; indeed, we learn from Josephus that the monarchy was +abolished in favour of some sort of elective constitution not long after +the death of Ithobaal. Nor is there any reason to suppose that Ezekiel has +in view any special manifestation of arrogance on the part of the royal +house, such as a pretension to be descended from the gods. The king here +is simply the representative of the genius of the community, the sins of +heart charged against him are the expression of the sinful principle which +the prophet detected beneath the refinement and luxury of Tyre, and his +shameful death only symbolises the downfall of the city. The prophecy +consists of two parts: first, an accusation against the prince of Tyre, +ending with a threat of destruction (vv. 2-10); and second, a lament over +his fall (vv. 11-19). The point of view is very different in these two +sections. In the first the prince is still conceived as a man; and the +language put into his mouth, although extravagant, does not exceed the +limits of purely human arrogance. In the second, however, the king appears +as an angelic being, an inhabitant of Eden and a companion of the cherub, +sinless at first, and falling from his high estate through his own +transgression. It almost seems as if the prophet had in his mind the idea +of a tutelary spirit or genius of Tyre, like the angelic princes in the +book of Daniel who preside over the destinies of different nations.(99) +But in spite of its enhanced idealism, the passage only clothes in forms +drawn from Babylonian mythology the boundless self-glorification of Tyre; +and the expulsion of the prince from paradise is merely the ideal +counterpart of the overthrow of the city which is his earthly abode. + +The sin of Tyre is an overweening pride, which culminated in an attitude +of self-deification on the part of its king. Surrounded on every hand by +the evidences of man's mastery over the world, by the achievements of +human art and industry and enterprise, the king feels as if his throne on +the sea-girt island were a veritable seat of the gods, and as if he +himself were a being truly divine. His heart is lifted up; and, forgetful +of the limits of his mortality, he "sets his mind like the mind of a god." +The godlike quality on which he specially prides himself is the superhuman +wisdom evinced by the extraordinary prosperity of the city with which he +identifies himself. Wiser than Daniel! the prophet ironically exclaims; +"no secret thing is too dark for thee!" "By thy wisdom and thine insight +thou hast gotten thee wealth, and hast gathered gold and silver into thy +treasuries: by thy great wisdom in thy commerce thou hast multiplied thy +wealth, and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches." The prince sees +in the vast accumulation of material resources in Tyre nothing but the +reflection of the genius of her inhabitants; and being himself the +incarnation of the spirit of the city, he takes the glory of it to himself +and esteems himself a god. Such impious self-exaltation must inevitably +call down the vengeance of Him who is the only living God; and Ezekiel +proceeds to announce the humiliation of the prince by the "most ruthless +of the nations"--_i.e._, the Chaldæans. He shall then know how much of +divinity doth hedge a king. In face of them that seek his life he shall +learn that he is man and not God, and that there are forces in the world +against which the vaunted wisdom of Tyre is of no avail. An ignominious +death(100) at the hand of strangers is the fate reserved for the mortal +who so proudly exalted himself against all that is called God. + +The thought thus expressed, when disengaged from its peculiar setting, is +one of permanent importance. To Ezekiel, as to the prophets generally, +Tyre is the representative of commercial greatness, and the truth which he +here seeks to illustrate is that the abnormal development of the +mercantile spirit had in her case destroyed the capacity of faith in that +which is truly divine. Tyre no doubt, like every other ancient state, +still maintained a public religion of the type common to Semitic paganism. +She was the sacred seat of a special cult, and the temple of Melkarth was +considered the chief glory of the city. But the public and perfunctory +worship which was there celebrated had long ceased to express the highest +consciousness of the community. The real god of Tyre was not Baal nor +Melkarth, but the king, or any other object that might serve as a symbol +of her civic greatness. Her religion was one that embodied itself in no +outward ritual; it was the enthusiasm which was kindled in the heart of +every citizen of Tyre by the magnificence of the imperial city to which he +belonged. The state of mind which Ezekiel regards as characteristic of +Tyre was perhaps the inevitable outcome of a high civilisation informed by +no loftier religious conceptions than those common to heathenism. It is +the idea which afterwards found expression in the deification of the Roman +emperors--the idea that the state is the only power higher than the +individual to which he can look for the furtherance of his material and +spiritual interests, the only power, therefore, which rightly claims his +homage and his reverence. None the less it is a state of mind which is +destructive of all that is essential to living religion; and Tyre in her +proud self-sufficiency was perhaps further from a true knowledge of God +than the barbarous tribes who in all sincerity worshipped the rude idols +which represented the invisible power that ruled their destinies. And in +exposing the irreligious spirit which lay at the heart of the Tyrian +civilisation the prophet lays his finger on the spiritual danger which +attends the successful pursuit of the finite interests of human life. The +thought of God, the sense of an immediate relation of the spirit of man to +the Eternal and the Infinite, are easily displaced from men's minds by +undue admiration for the achievements of a culture based on material +progress, and supplying every need of human nature except the very +deepest, the need of God. "For that is truly a man's religion, the object +of which fills and holds captive his soul and heart and mind, in which he +trusts above all things, which above all things he longs for and hopes +for."(101) The commercial spirit is indeed but one of the forms in which +men devote themselves to the service of this present world; but in any +community where it reigns supreme we may confidently look for the same +signs of religious decay which Ezekiel detected in Tyre in his own day. At +all events his message is not superfluous in an age and country where +energies are well-nigh exhausted in the accumulation of the means of +living, and whose social problems all run up into the great question of +the distribution of wealth. It is essentially the same truth which Ruskin, +with something of the power and insight of a Hebrew prophet, has so +eloquently enforced on the men who make modern England--that the true +religion of a community does not live in the venerable institutions to +which it yields a formal and conventional deference, but in the objects +which inspire its most eager ambitions, the ideals which govern its +standard of worth, in those things wherein it finds the ultimate ground of +its confidence and the reward of its work.(102) + +The lamentation over the fall of the prince of Tyre (vv. 11-19) reiterates +the same lesson with a boldness and freedom of imagination not usual with +this prophet. The passage is full of obscurities and difficulties which +cannot be adequately discussed here, but the main lines of the conception +are easily grasped. It describes the original state of the prince as a +semi-divine being, and his fall from that state on account of sin that was +found in him. The picture is no doubt ironical; Ezekiel actually means +nothing more than that the soaring pride of Tyre enthroned its king or its +presiding genius in the seat of the gods, and endowed him with attributes +more than mortal. The prophet accepts the idea, and shows that there was +sin in Tyre enough to hurl the most radiant of celestial creatures from +heaven to hell. The passage presents certain obvious affinities with the +account of the Fall in the second and third chapters of Genesis; but it +also contains reminiscences of a mythology the key to which is now lost. +It can hardly be supposed that the vivid details of the imagery, such as +the "mountain of God," the "stones of fire," "the precious gems," are +altogether due to the prophet's imagination. The mountain of the gods is +now known to have been a prominent idea of the Babylonian religion; and +there appears to have been a widespread notion that in the abode of the +gods were treasures of gold and precious stones, jealously guarded by +griffins, of which small quantities found their way into the possession of +men. It is possible that fragments of these mythical notions may have +reached the knowledge of Ezekiel during his sojourn in Babylon and been +used by him to fill up his picture of the glories which surrounded the +first estate of the king of Tyre. It should be observed, however, that the +prince is not to be identified with the cherub or one of the cherubim. The +words "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so" +(ver. 14) may be translated "With the ... cherub I set thee"; and +similarly the words of ver. 16, "I will destroy thee, O covering cherub," +should probably be rendered "And the cherub hath destroyed thee." The +whole conception is greatly simplified by these changes, and the principal +features of it, so far as they can be made out with clearness, are as +follows: The cherub is the warden of the "holy mountain of God," and no +doubt also (as in ch. i.) the symbol and bearer of the divine glory. When +it is said that the prince of Tyre was placed with the cherub, the meaning +is that he had his place in the abode of God, or was admitted to the +presence of God, so long as he preserved the perfection in which he was +created (ver. 15). The other allusions to his original glory, such as the +"covering" of precious stones and the "walking amidst fiery stones," +cannot be explained with any degree of certainty.(103) When iniquity is +found in him so that he must be banished from the presence of God, the +cherub is said to destroy him from the midst of the stones of fire--_i.e._, +is the agent of the divine judgment which descends on the prince. It is +thus doubtful whether the prince is conceived as a perfect human being, +like Adam before his fall, or as an angelic, superhuman creature; but the +point is of little importance in an ideal delineation such as we have +here. It will be seen that even on the first supposition there is no very +close correspondence with the story of Eden in the book of Genesis, for +there the cherubim are placed to guard the way of the tree of life only +after man has been expelled from the garden. + +But what is the sin that tarnished the sanctity of this exalted personage +and cost him his place among the immortals? Ideally, it was an access of +pride that caused his ruin, a spiritual sin, such as might originate in +the heart of an angelic being. + + + By that sin fell the angels: how can man, then, + The image of his Maker, hope to win by it? + + +His heart was lifted up because of his beauty, and he forfeited his +godlike wisdom over his brilliance (ver. 17). But really, this change +passing over the spirit of the prince in the seat of God is only the +reflection of what is done on earth in Tyre. As her commerce increased, +the proofs of her unjust and unscrupulous use of wealth were accumulated +against her, and her midst was filled with violence (ver. 16). This is the +only allusion in the three chapters to the wrong and oppression and the +outrages on humanity which were the inevitable accompaniments of that +greed of gain which had taken possession of the Tyrian community. And +these sins are regarded as a demoralisation taking place in the nature of +the prince who is the representative of the city; by the "iniquity of his +traffic he has profaned his holiness," and is cast down from his lofty +seat to the earth, a spectacle of abject humiliation for kings to gloat +over. By a sudden change of metaphor the destruction of the city is also +represented as a fire breaking out in the vitals of the prince and +reducing his body to ashes--a conception which has not unnaturally +suggested to some commentators the fable of the phoenix which was supposed +periodically to immolate herself in a fire of her own kindling. + + + +III + + +A short oracle on Sidon completes the series of prophecies dealing with +the future of Israel's immediate neighbours (vv. 20-23). Sidon lay about +twenty miles farther north than Tyre, and was, as we have seen, at this +time subject to the authority of the younger and more vigorous city. From +the book of Jeremiah,(104) however, we see that Sidon was an autonomous +state, and preserved a measure of independence even in matters of foreign +policy. There is therefore nothing arbitrary in assigning a separate +oracle to this most northerly of the states in immediate contact with the +people of Israel, although it must be admitted that Ezekiel has nothing +distinctive to say of Sidon. Phoenicia was in truth so overshadowed by Tyre +that all the characteristics of the people have been amply illustrated in +the chapters that have dealt with the latter city. The prophecy is +accordingly delivered in the most general terms, and indicates rather the +purpose and effect of the judgment than the manner in which it is to come +or the character of the people against whom it is directed. It passes +insensibly into a prediction of the glorious future of Israel, which is +important as revealing the underlying motive of all the preceding +utterances against the heathen nations. The restoration of Israel and the +destruction of her old neighbours are both parts of one comprehensive +scheme of divine providence, the ultimate object of which is a +demonstration before the eyes of the world of the holiness of Jehovah. +That men might know that He is Jehovah, God alone, is the end alike of His +dealings with the heathen and with His own people. And the two parts of +God's plan are in the mind of Ezekiel intimately related to each other; +the one is merely a condition of the realisation of the other. The +crowning proof of Jehovah's holiness will be seen in His faithfulness to +the promise made to the patriarchs of the possession of the land of +Canaan, and in the security and prosperity enjoyed by Israel when brought +back to their land a purified nation. Now in the past Israel had been +constantly interfered with, crippled, humiliated, and seduced by the petty +heathen powers around her borders. These had been a pricking brier and a +stinging thorn (ver. 24), constantly annoying and harassing her and +impeding the free development of her national life. Hence the judgments +here denounced against them are no doubt in the first instance a +punishment for what they had been and done in the past; but they are also +a clearing of the stage that Israel might be isolated from the rest of the +world, and be free to mould her national life and her religious +institutions in accordance with the will of her God. That is the substance +of the last three verses of the chapter; and while they exhibit the +peculiar limitations of the prophet's thinking, they enable us at the same +time to do justice to the singular unity and consistency of aim which +guided him in his great forecast of the future of the kingdom of God. +There remains now the case of Egypt to be dealt with; but Egypt's +relations to Israel and her position in the world were so unique that +Ezekiel reserves consideration of her future for a separate group of +oracles longer than those on all the other nations put together. + + + + +Chapter XVIII. Egypt. Chapters xxix.-xxxii. + + +Egypt figures in the prophecies of Ezekiel as a great world-power +cherishing projects of universal dominion. Once more, as in the age of +Isaiah, the ruling factor in Asiatic politics was the duel for the mastery +of the world between the rival empires of the Nile and the Euphrates. The +influence of Egypt was perhaps even greater in the beginning of the sixth +century than it had been in the end of the eighth, although in the +interval it had suffered a signal eclipse. Isaiah (ch. xix.) had predicted +a subjugation of Egypt by the Assyrians, and this prophecy had been +fulfilled in the year 672, when Esarhaddon invaded the country and +incorporated it in the Assyrian empire. He divided its territory into +twenty petty principalities governed by Assyrian or native rulers, and +this state of things had lasted with little change for a generation. +During the reign of Asshurbanipal Egypt was frequently overrun by Assyrian +armies, and the repeated attempts of the Ethiopian monarchs, aided by +revolts among the native princes, to reassert their sovereignty over the +Nile Valley were all foiled by the energy of the Assyrian king or the +vigilance of his generals. At last, however, a new era of prosperity +dawned for Egypt about the year 645. Psammetichus, the ruler of Saïs, with +the help of foreign mercenaries, succeeded in uniting the whole land under +his sway; he expelled the Assyrian garrison, and became the founder of the +brilliant twenty-sixth (Saïte) dynasty. From this time Egypt possessed in +a strong central administration the one indispensable condition of her +material prosperity. Her power was consolidated by a succession of +vigorous rulers, and she immediately began to play a leading part in the +affairs of Asia. The most distinguished king of the dynasty was Necho II., +the son and successor of Psammetichus. Two striking facts mentioned by +Herodotus are worthy of mention, as showing the originality and vigour +with which the Egyptian administration was at this time conducted. One is +the project of cutting a canal between the Nile and the Red Sea, an +undertaking which was abandoned by Necho in consequence of an oracle +warning him that he was only working for the advantage of +foreigners--meaning no doubt the Phoenicians. Necho, however, knew how to +turn the Phoenician seamanship to good account, as is proved by the other +great stroke of genius with which he is credited--the circumnavigation of +Africa. It was a Phoenician fleet, despatched from Suez by his orders, +which first rounded the Cape of Good Hope, returning to Egypt by the +Straits of Gibraltar after a three years' voyage. And if Necho was less +successful in war than in the arts of peace, it was not from want of +activity. He was the Pharaoh who defeated Josiah in the plain of Megiddo, +and afterwards contested the lordship of Syria with Nebuchadnezzar. His +defeat at Carchemish in 604 compelled him to retire to his own land; but +the power of Egypt was still unbroken, and the Chaldæan king knew that he +would yet have to reckon with her in his schemes for the conquest of +Palestine. + +At the time to which these prophecies belong the king of Egypt was Pharaoh +Hophra (in Greek, Apries), the grandson of Necho II. Ascending the throne +in 588 B.C., he found it necessary for the protection of his own interests +to take an active part in the politics of Syria. He is said to have +attacked Phoenicia by sea and land, capturing Sidon and defeating a Tyrian +fleet in a naval engagement. His object must have been to secure the +ascendency of the Egyptian party in the Phoenician cities; and the stubborn +resistance which Nebuchadnezzar encountered from Tyre was no doubt the +result of the political arrangements made by Hophra after his victory. No +armed intervention was needed to ensure a spirited defence of Jerusalem; +and it was only after the Babylonians were encamped around the city that +Hophra sent an Egyptian army to its relief. He was unable, however, to +effect more than a temporary suspension of the siege, and returned to +Egypt, leaving Judah to its fate, apparently without venturing on a battle +(Jer. xxxvii. 5-7). No further hostilities between Egypt and Babylon are +recorded during the lifetime of Hophra. He continued to reign with vigour +and success till 571, when he was dethroned by Amasis, one of his own +generals. + +These circumstances show a remarkable parallel to the political situation +with which Isaiah had to deal at the time of Sennacherib's invasion. Judah +was again in the position of the "earthen pipkin between two iron pots." +It is certain that neither Jehoiakim nor Zedekiah, any more than the +advisers of Hezekiah in the earlier period, would have embarked on a +conflict with the Mesopotamian empire but for delusive promises of +Egyptian support. There was the same vacillation and division of counsels +in Jerusalem, the same dilatoriness on the part of Egypt, and the same +futile effort to retrieve a desperate situation after the favourable +moment had been allowed to slip. In both cases the conflict was +precipitated by the triumph of an Egyptian party in the Judæan court; and +it is probable that in both cases the king was coerced into a policy of +which his judgment did not approve. And the prophets of the later period, +Jeremiah and Ezekiel, adhere closely to the lines laid down by Isaiah in +the time of Sennacherib, warning the people against putting their trust in +the vain help of Egypt, and counselling passive submission to the course +of events which expressed the unalterable judgment of the Almighty. +Ezekiel indeed borrows an image that had been current in the days of +Isaiah in order to set forth the utter untrustworthiness and dishonesty of +Egypt towards the nations who were induced to rely on her power. He +compares her to a staff of reed, which breaks when one grasps it, piercing +the hand and making the loins to totter when it is leant upon.(105) Such +had Egypt been to Israel through all her history, and such she will again +prove herself to be in her last attempt to use Israel as the tool of her +selfish designs. The great difference between Ezekiel and Isaiah is that, +whereas Isaiah had access to the councils of Hezekiah and could bring his +influence to bear on the inception of schemes of state, not without hope +of averting what he saw to be a disastrous decision, Ezekiel could only +watch the development of events from afar, and throw his warnings into the +form of predictions of the fate in store for Egypt. + +The oracles against Egypt are seven in number: (i) ch. xxix. 1-16; (ii) +17-21; (iii) xxx. 1-19; (iv) 20-26; (v) xxxi.; (vi) xxxii. 1-16; (vii) +17-32. They are all variations of one theme, the annihilation of the power +of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, and little progress of thought can be traced +from the first to the last. Excluding the supplementary prophecy of ch. +xxix. 17-21, which is a later addition, the order appears to be strictly +chronological.(106) The series begins seven months before the capture of +Jerusalem (ch. xxix. 1), and ends about eight months after that +event.(107) How far the dates refer to actual occurrences coming to the +knowledge of the prophet it is impossible for us to say. It is clear that +his interest is centred on the fate of Jerusalem then hanging in the +balance; and it is possible that the first oracles (chs. xxix. 1-16, xxx. +1-19) may be called forth by the appearance of Hophra's army on the scene, +while the next (ch. xxx. 20-26) plainly alludes to the repulse of the +Egyptians by the Chaldæans. But no attempt can be made to connect the +prophecies with incidents of the campaign; the prophet's thoughts are +wholly occupied with the moral and religious issues involved in the +contest, the vindication of Jehovah's holiness in the overthrow of the +great world-power which sought to thwart His purposes. + + ------------------------------------- + +Ch. xxix. 1-16 is an introduction to all that follows, presenting a +general outline of the prophet's conceptions of the fate of Egypt. It +describes the sin of which she has been guilty, and indicates the nature +of the judgment that is to overtake her and her future place among the +nations of the world. The Pharaoh is compared to a "great dragon," +wallowing in his native waters, and deeming himself secure from +molestation in his reedy haunts. The crocodile was a natural symbol of +Egypt, and the image conveys accurately the impression of sluggish and +unwieldy strength which Egypt in the days of Ezekiel had long produced on +shrewd observers of her policy. Pharaoh is the incarnate genius of the +country; and as the Nile was the strength and glory of Egypt, he is here +represented as arrogating to himself the ownership and even the creation +of the wonderful river. "My river is mine, and I have made it" is the +proud and blasphemous thought which expresses his consciousness of a power +that owns no superior in earth or heaven. That the Nile was worshipped by +the Egyptians with divine honours did not alter the fact that beneath all +their ostentatious religious observances there was an immoral sense of +irresponsible power in the use of the natural resources to which the land +owed its prosperity. For this spirit of ungodly self-exaltation the king +and people of Egypt are to be visited with a signal judgment, from which +they shall learn who it is that is God over all. The monster of the Nile +shall be drawn from his waters with hooks, with all his fishes sticking to +his scales, and left to perish ignominiously on the desert sands. The rest +of the prophecy (vv. 8-16) gives the explanation of the allegory in +literal, though still general, terms. The meaning is that Egypt shall be +laid waste by the sword, its teeming population led into captivity, and +the land shall lie desolate, untrodden by the foot of man or beast for the +space of forty years. "From Migdol to Syene"(108)--the extreme limits of +the country--the rich valley of the Nile shall be uncultivated and +uninhabited for that period of time. + +The most interesting feature of the prophecy is the view which is given of +the final condition of the Egyptian empire (vv. 13-16). In all cases the +prophetic delineations of the future of different nations are coloured by +the present circumstances of those nations as known to the writers. +Ezekiel knew that the fertile soil of Egypt would always be capable of +supporting an industrious peasantry, and that her existence did not depend +on her continuing to play the _rôle_ of a great power. Tyre depended on +her commerce, and apart from that which was the root of her sin could +never be anything but the resort of poor fishermen, who would not even +make their dwelling on the barren rock in the midst of the sea. But Egypt +could still be a country, though shorn of the glory and power which had +made her a snare to the people of God. On the other hand the geographical +isolation of the land made it impossible that she should lose her +individuality amongst the nations of the world. Unlike the small states, +such as Edom and Ammon, which were obviously doomed to be swallowed up by +the surrounding population as soon as their power was broken, Egypt would +retain her distinct and characteristic life as long as the physical +condition of the world remained what it was. Accordingly the prophet does +not contemplate an utter annihilation of Egypt, but only a temporary +chastisement succeeded by her permanent degradation to the lowest rank +among the kingdoms. The forty years of her desolation represent in round +numbers the period of Chaldæan supremacy during which Jerusalem lies in +ruins. Ezekiel at this time expected the invasion of Egypt to follow soon +after the capture of Jerusalem, so that the restoration of the two peoples +would be simultaneous. At the end of forty years the whole world will be +reorganised on a new basis, Israel occupying the central position as the +people of God, and in that new world Egypt shall have a separate but +subordinate place. Jehovah will bring back the Egyptians from their +captivity, and cause them to return to "Pathros,(109) the land of their +origin," and there make them a "lowly state," no longer an imperial power, +but humbler than the surrounding kingdoms. The righteousness of Jehovah +and the interest of Israel alike demand that Egypt should be thus reduced +from her former greatness. In the old days her vast and imposing power had +been a constant temptation to the Israelites, "a confidence, a reminder of +iniquity," leading them to put their trust in human power and luring them +into paths of danger by deceitful promises (vv. 6-7). In the final +dispensation of history this shall no longer be the case: Israel shall +then know Jehovah, and no form of human power shall be suffered to lead +their hearts astray from Him who is the rock of their salvation. + + ------------------------------------- + +Ch. xxx. 1-19.--The judgment on Egypt spreads terror and dismay among all +the neighbouring nations. It signalises the advent of the great day of +Jehovah, the day of His final reckoning with the powers of evil +everywhere. It is the "time of the heathen" that has come (ver. 3). Egypt +being the chief embodiment of secular power on the basis of pagan +religion, the sudden collapse of her might is equivalent to a judgment on +heathenism in general, and the moral effect of it conveys to the world a +demonstration of the omnipotence of the one true God whom she had ignored +and defied. The nations immediately involved in the fall of Egypt are the +allies and mercenaries whom she has called to her aid in the time of her +calamity. Ethiopians, and Lydians, and Libyans, and Arabs, and +Cretans,(110) the "helpers of Egypt," who have furnished contingents to +her motley army, fall by the sword along with her, and their countries +share the desolation that overtakes the land of Egypt. Swift messengers +are then seen speeding up the Nile in ships to convey to the careless +Ethiopians the alarming tidings of the overthrow of Egypt (ver. 9). From +this point the prophet confines his attention to the fate of Egypt, which +he describes with a fulness of detail that implies a certain acquaintance +both with the topography and the social circumstances of the country. In +ver. 10 Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldæans are for the first time mentioned +by name as the human instruments employed by Jehovah to execute His +judgment on Egypt. After the slaughter of the inhabitants, the next +consequence of the invasion is the destruction of the canals and +reservoirs and the decay of the system of irrigation on which the +productiveness of the country depended. "The rivers [canals] are dried up, +and the land is made waste, and the fulness thereof, by the hand of +strangers" (ver. 12). And with the material fabric of her prosperity the +complicated system of religious and civil institutions which was entwined +with the hoary civilisation of Egypt vanishes for ever. "The idols are +destroyed; the potentates(111) are made to cease from Memphis, and princes +from the land of Egypt, so that they shall be no more" (ver. 13). Faith in +the native gods shall be extinguished, and a trembling fear of Jehovah +shall fill the whole land. The passage ends with an enumeration of various +centres of the national life, which formed as it were the sensitive +ganglia where the universal calamity was most acutely felt. On these +cities,(112) each of which was identified with the worship of a particular +deity, Jehovah executes the judgments in which He makes known to the +Egyptians His sole divinity and destroys their confidence in false gods. +They also possessed some special military or political importance, so that +with their destruction the sceptres of Egypt were broken and the pride of +her strength was laid low (ver. 18). + + ------------------------------------- + +Ch. xxx. 20-26.--A new oracle, dated three months later than the preceding. +Pharaoh is represented as a combatant, already disabled in one arm and +sore pressed by his powerful antagonist the king of Babylon. Jehovah +announces that the wounded arm cannot be healed, although he has retired +from the contest for that purpose. On the contrary, both his arms shall be +broken and the sword struck from his grasp, while the arms of +Nebuchadnezzar are strengthened by Jehovah, who puts His own sword into +his hand. The land of Egypt, thus rendered defenceless, falls an easy prey +to the Chaldæans, and its people are dispersed among the nations. The +occasion of the prophecy is the repulse of Hophra's expedition for the +relief of Jerusalem, which is referred to as a past event. The date may +either mark the actual time of the occurrence (as in ch. xxiv. 1), or the +time when it came to the knowledge of Ezekiel. The prophet at all events +accepts this reverse to the Egyptian arms as an earnest of the speedy +realisation of his predictions in the total submission of the proud empire +of the Nile. + + ------------------------------------- + +Ch. xxxi. occupies the same position in the prophecies against Egypt as +the allegory of the richly laden ship in those against Tyre (ch. xxvii.). +The incomparable majesty and overshadowing power of Egypt are set forth +under the image of a lordly cedar in Lebanon, whose top reaches to the +clouds and whose branches afford shelter to all the beasts of the earth. +The exact force of the allegory is somewhat obscured by a slight error of +the text, which must have crept in at a very early period. As it stands in +the Hebrew and in all the ancient versions the whole chapter is a +description of the greatness not of Egypt but of Assyria. "To whom art +thou like in thy greatness?" asks the prophet (ver. 2); and the answer is, +"Assyria was great as thou art, yet Assyria fell and is no more." There is +thus a double comparison: Assyria is compared to a cedar, and then Egypt +is tacitly compared to Assyria. This interpretation may not be altogether +indefensible. That the fate of Assyria contained a warning against the +pride of Pharaoh is a thought in itself intelligible, and such as Ezekiel +might very well have expressed. But if he had wished to express it, he +would not have done it so awkwardly as this interpretation supposes. When +we follow the connection of ideas we cannot fail to see that Assyria is +not in the prophet's thoughts at all. The image is consistently pursued +without a break to the end of the chapter, and then we learn that the +subject of the description is "Pharaoh and all his multitude" (ver. 18). +But if the writer is thinking of Egypt at the end, he must have been +thinking of it from the beginning, and the mention of Assyria is out of +place and misleading. The confusion has been caused by the substitution of +the word _Asshur_ (in ver. 3) for _T'asshur_, the name of the sherbîn +tree, itself a species of cedar. We should therefore read, "Behold a +T'asshur, a cedar in Lebanon," etc.;(113) and the answer to the question +of ver. 2 is that the position of Egypt is as unrivalled among the +kingdoms of the world as this stately tree among the trees of the forest. + +With this alteration the course of thought is perfectly clear, although +incongruous elements are combined in the representation. The towering +height of the cedar with its top in the clouds symbolises the imposing +might of Egypt and its ungodly pride (cf. vv. 10, 14). The waters of the +flood which nourish its roots are those of the Nile, the source of Egypt's +wealth and greatness. The birds that build their nests in its branches and +the beasts that bring forth their young under its shadow are the smaller +nations that looked to Egypt for protection and support. Finally, the +trees in the garden of God who envy the luxuriant pride of this monarch of +the forest represent the other great empires of the earth who vainly +aspired to emulate the prosperity and magnificence of Egypt (vv. 3-9). + +In the next strophe (vv. 10-14) we see the great trunk lying prone across +mountain and valley, while its branches lie broken in all the water- +courses. A "mighty one of the nations" (Nebuchadnezzar) has gone up +against it, and felled it to the earth. The nations have been scared from +under its shadow; and the tree which "but yesterday might have stood +against the world" now lies prostrate and dishonoured--"none so poor as do +it reverence." And the fall of the cedar reveals a moral principle and +conveys a moral lesson to all other proud and stately trees. Its purpose +is to remind the other great empires that they too are mortal, and to warn +them against the soaring ambition and lifting up of the heart which had +brought about the humiliation of Egypt: "that none of the trees by the +water should exalt themselves in stature or shoot their tops between the +clouds, and that their mighty ones should not stand proudly in their +loftiness (all who are fed by water); for they are all delivered to death, +to the under-world with the children of men, to those that go down to the +pit." In reality there is no more impressive intimation of the vanity of +earthly glory than the decay of those mighty empires and civilisations +which once stood in the van of human progress; nor is there a fitter +emblem of their fate than the sudden crash of some great forest tree +before the woodman's axe. + +The development of the prophet's thought, however, here reaches a point +where it breaks through the allegory, which has been hitherto consistently +maintained. All nature shudders in sympathy with the fallen cedar: the +deep mourns and withholds her streams from the earth; Lebanon is clothed +with blackness, and all the trees languish. Egypt was so much a part of +the established order that the world does not know itself when she has +vanished. While this takes place on earth, the cedar itself has gone down +to Sheôl, where the other shades of vanished dynasties are comforted +because this mightiest of them all has become like to the rest. This is +the answer to the question that introduced the allegory. To whom art thou +like? None is fit to be compared to thee; yet "thou shalt be brought down +with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth, thou shalt lie in +the midst of the uncircumcised, with them that are slain of the sword." It +is needless to enlarge on this idea, which is out of keeping here, and is +more adequately treated in the next chapter. + + ------------------------------------- + +Ch. xxxii. consists of two lamentations to be chanted over the fall of +Egypt by the prophet and the daughters of the nations (vv. 16, 18). The +first (vv. 1-16) describes the destruction of Pharaoh, and the effect +which is produced on earth; while the second (vv. 17-32) follows his shade +into the abode of the dead, and expatiates on the welcome that awaits him +there. Both express the spirit of exultation over a fallen foe, which was +one of the uses to which elegiac poetry was turned amongst the Hebrews. +The first passage, however, can hardly be considered a dirge in any proper +sense of the word. It is essential to a true elegy that the subject of it +should be conceived as dead, and that whether serious or ironical it +should celebrate a glory that has passed away. In this case the elegiac +note (of the elegiac _measure_ there is hardly a trace) is just struck in +the opening line: "O young lion of the nations! [How] art thou undone!" +But this is not sustained: the passage immediately falls into the style of +direct prediction and threatening, and is indeed closely parallel to the +opening prophecy of the series (ch. xxix.). The fundamental image is the +same: that of a great Nile monster spouting from his nostrils and fouling +the waters with his feet (ver. 2). His capture by many nations and his +lingering death on the open field are described with the realistic and +ghastly details naturally suggested by the figure (vv. 3-6). The image is +then abruptly changed in order to set forth the effect of so great a +calamity on the world of nature and of mankind. Pharaoh is compared to a +brilliant luminary, whose sudden extinction is followed by a darkening of +all the lights of heaven and by consternation amongst the nations and +kings of earth (vv. 7-10). It is thought by some that the violence of the +transition is to be explained by the idea of the heavenly constellation of +the dragon, answering to the dragon of the Nile, to which Egypt had just +been likened.(114) Finally all metaphors are abandoned, and the desolation +of Egypt is announced in literal terms as accomplished by the sword of the +king of Babylon and the "most terrible of the nations" (vv. 11-16). + +But all the foregoing oracles are surpassed in grandeur of conception by +the remarkable Vision of Hades which concludes the series--"one of the most +weird passages in literature" (Davidson). In form it is a dirge supposed +to be sung at the burial of Pharaoh and his host by the prophet along with +the daughters of famous nations (ver. 18). But the theme, as has been +already observed, is the entrance of the deceased warriors into the under- +world, and their reception by the shades that have gone down thither +before them. In order to understand it we must bear in mind some features +of the conception of the under-world, which it is difficult for the modern +mind to realise distinctly. First of all, Sheôl or the "pit," the realm of +the dead, is pictured to the imagination as an adumbration of the grave or +sepulchre, in which the body finds its last resting-place; or rather it is +the aggregate of all the burying-grounds scattered over the earth's +surface. There the shades are grouped according to their clans and +nationalities, just as on earth the members of the same family would +usually be interred in one burying-place. The grave of the chief or king, +the representative of the nation, is surrounded by those of his vassals +and subjects, earthly distinctions being thus far preserved. The condition +of the dead appears to be one of rest or sleep; yet they retain some +consciousness of their state, and are visited at least by transient gleams +of human emotion, as when in this chapter the heroes rouse themselves to +address the Pharaoh when he comes among them. The most material point is +that the state of the soul in Hades reflects the fate of the body after +death. Those who have received the honour of decent burial on earth enjoy +a corresponding honour among the shades below. They have as it were a +definite status and individuality in their eternal abode, whilst the +spirits of the unburied slain are laid in the lowest recesses of the pit, +in the limbo of the uncircumcised. On this distinction the whole +significance of the passage before us seems to depend. The dead are +divided into two great classes: on the one hand the "mighty ones," who lie +in state with their weapons of war around them; and on the other hand the +multitude of "the uncircumcised,(115) slain by the sword"--_i.e._, those +who have perished on the field of battle and been buried promiscuously +without due funereal rites.(116) There is, however, no moral distinction +between the two classes. The heroes are not in a state of blessedness; nor +is the condition of the uncircumcised one of acute suffering. The whole of +existence in Sheôl is essentially of one character; it is on the whole a +pitiable existence, destitute of joy and of all that makes up the fulness +of life on earth. Only there is "within that deep a lower deep," and it is +reserved for those who in the manner of their death have experienced the +penalty of great wickedness. The moral truth of Ezekiel's representation +lies here. The real judgment of Egypt was enacted in the historical scene +of its final overthrow; and it is the consciousness of this tremendous +visitation of divine justice, perpetuated amongst the shades to all +eternity, that gives ethical significance to the lot assigned to the +nation in the other world. At the same time it should not be overlooked +that the passage is in the highest degree poetical, and cannot be taken as +an exact statement of what was known or believed about the state after +death in Old Testament times. It deals only with the fate of armies and +nationalities and great warriors who filled the earth with their renown. +These, having vanished from history, preserve through all time in the +under-world the memory of Jehovah's mighty acts of judgment; but it is +impossible to determine whether this sublime vision implies a real belief +in the persistence of national identities in the region of the dead. + +These, then, are the principal ideas on which the ode is based, and the +course of thought is as follows. Ver. 18 briefly announces the occasion +for which the dirge is composed; it is to celebrate the passage of Pharaoh +and his host to the lower world, and consign him to his appointed place +there. Then follows a scene which has a certain resemblance to a well- +known representation in the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah (vv. 9-11). The +heroes who occupy the place of honour among the dead are supposed to rouse +themselves at the approach of this great multitude, and hailing them from +the midst of Sheôl, direct them to their proper place amongst the +dishonoured slain. "The mighty ones speak to him: 'Be thou in the recesses +of the pit: whom dost thou excel in beauty? Go down and be laid to rest +with the uncircumcised, in the midst of them that are slain with the +sword.' "(117) Thither Pharaoh has been preceded by other great conquerors +who once set their terror in the earth, but now bear their shame amongst +those that go down to the pit. For there is Asshur and all his company: +there too are Elam and Meshech and Tubal, each occupying its own allotment +amongst nations that have perished by the sword (vv. 22-26). Not theirs is +the enviable lot of the heroes of old time(118) who went down to Sheôl in +their panoply of war, and rest with their swords under their heads and +their shields(119) covering their bones. And so Egypt, which has perished +like these other nations, must be banished with them into the bottom of +the pit (vv. 27, 28). The enumeration of the nations of the uncircumcised +is then resumed; Israel's immediate neighbours are amongst them--Edom and +the dynasties of the north (the Syrians), and the Phoenicians, inferior +states which played no great part as conquerors, but nevertheless perished +in battle and bear their humiliation along with the others (vv. 29, 30). +These are to be Pharaoh's companions in his last resting-place, and at the +sight of them he will lay aside his presumptuous thoughts and comfort +himself over the loss of his mighty army (vv. 31 f.). + + ------------------------------------- + +It is necessary to say a few words in conclusion about the historical +evidence for the fulfilment of these prophecies on Egypt. The +supplementary oracle of ch. xxix. 17-21 shows us that the threatened +invasion by Nebuchadnezzar had not taken place sixteen years after the +fall of Jerusalem. Did it ever take place at all? Ezekiel was at that time +confident that his words were on the point of being fulfilled, and indeed +he seems to stake his credit with his hearers on their verification. Can +we suppose that he was entirely mistaken? Is it likely that the remarkably +definite predictions uttered both by him and Jeremiah(120) failed of even +the partial fulfilment which that on Tyre received? A number of critics +have strongly maintained that we are shut up by the historical evidence to +this conclusion. They rely chiefly on the silence of Herodotus, and on the +unsatisfactory character of the statement of Josephus. The latter writer +is indeed sufficiently explicit in his affirmations. He tells us(121) that +five years after the capture of Jerusalem Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt, +put to death the reigning king, appointed another in his stead, and +carried the Jewish refugees in Egypt captive to Babylon. But it is pointed +out that the date is impossible, being inconsistent with Ezekiel's own +testimony, that the account of the death of Hophra is contradicted by what +we know of the matter from other sources (Herodotus and Diodorus), and +that the whole passage bears the appearance of a translation into history +of the prophecies of Jeremiah which it professes to substantiate. That is +vigorous criticism, but the vigour is perhaps not altogether +unwarrantable, especially as Josephus does not mention any authority. +Other allusions by secular writers hardly count for much, and the state of +the question is such that historians would probably have been content to +confess their ignorance if the credit of a prophet had not been mixed up +with it. + +Within the last seventeen years, however, a new turn has been given to the +discussion through the discovery of monumental evidence which was thought +to have an important bearing on the point in dispute. In the same volume +of an Egyptological magazine(122) Wiedemann directed the attention of +scholars to two inscriptions, one in the Louvre and the other in the +British Museum, both of which he considered to furnish proof of an +occupation of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. The first was an Egyptian +inscription of the reign of Hophra. It was written by an official of the +highest rank, named _Nes-hor_, to whom was entrusted the responsible task +of defending Egypt on its southern or Ethiopian frontier. According to +Wiedemann's translation, it relates among other things an irruption of +Asiatic bands (Syrians, people of the north, Asiatics), which penetrated +as far as the first cataract, and did some damage to the temple of Chnum +in Elephantine. There they were checked by Nes-hor, and afterwards they +were crushed or expelled by Hophra himself. Now the most natural +explanation of this incident, in connection with the circumstances of the +time, would seem to be that Nebuchadnezzar, finding himself fully occupied +for the present with the siege of Tyre, incited roving bands of Arabs and +Syrians to plunder Egypt, and that they succeeded so far as to penetrate +to the extreme south of the country. But a more recent examination of the +text, by Maspero and Brugsch,(123) reduces the incident to much smaller +dimensions. They find that it refers to a mutiny of Egyptian mercenaries +(Syrians, Ionians, and Bedouins) stationed on the southern frontier. The +governor, Nes-hor, congratulates himself on a successful stratagem by +which he got the rebels into a position where they were cut down by the +king's troops. In any case it is evident that it falls very far short of a +confirmation of Ezekiel's prophecy. Not only is there no mention of +Nebuchadnezzar or a regular Babylonian army, but the invaders or mutineers +are actually said to have been annihilated by Hophra. It may be said, no +doubt, that an Egyptian governor was likely to be silent about an event +which cast discredit on his country's arms, and would be tempted to +magnify some temporary success into a decisive victory. But still the +inscription must be taken for what it is worth, and the story it tells is +certainly not the story of a Chaldæan supremacy in the valley of the Nile. +The only thing that suggests a connection between the two is the general +probability that a campaign against Egypt must have been contemplated by +Nebuchadnezzar about that time. + +The second and more important document is a cuneiform fragment of the +annals of Nebuchadnezzar. It is unfortunately in a very mutilated +condition, and all that the Assyriologists have made out is that in the +thirty-seventh year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar fought a battle with the +king of Egypt. As the words of the inscription are those of Nebuchadnezzar +himself, we may presume that the battle ended in a victory for him, and a +few disconnected words in the later part are thought to refer to the +tribute or booty which he acquired.(124) The thirty-seventh year of +Nebuchadnezzar is the year 568 B.C., about two years after the date of +Ezekiel's last utterance against Egypt. The Egyptian king at this time was +Amasis, whose name (only the last syllable of which is legible) is +supposed to be that mentioned in the inscription.(125) What the ulterior +consequences of this victory were on Egyptian history, or how long the +Babylonian domination lasted, we cannot at present say. These are +questions on which we may reasonably look for further light from the +researches of Assyriology. In the meantime it appears to be established +beyond reasonable doubt that Nebuchadnezzar did attack Egypt, and the +probable issue of his expedition was in accordance with Ezekiel's latest +prediction: "Behold, I give to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the land +of Egypt; and he shall spoil her spoil, and plunder her plunder, and it +shall be the wages for his army" (ch. xxix. 19). There can of course be no +question of a fulfilment of the earlier prophecies in their literal terms. +History knows nothing of a total captivity of the population of Egypt or a +blank of forty years in her annals when her land was untrodden by the foot +of man or of beast. These are details belonging to the dramatic form in +which the prophet clothed the spiritual lesson which it was necessary to +impress on his countrymen--the inherent weakness of the Egyptian empire as +a power based on material resources and rearing itself in opposition to +the great ends of God's kingdom. And it may well have been that for the +illustration of that truth the humiliation that Egypt endured at the hands +of Nebuchadnezzar was as effective as her total destruction would have +been. + + + + + +PART IV. THE FORMATION OF THE NEW ISRAEL. + + + + +Chapter XIX. The Prophet A Watchman. Chapter xxxiii. + + +One day in January of the year 586 the tidings circulated through the +Jewish colony at Tel-abib that "the city was smitten." The rapidity with +which in the East intelligence is transmitted through secret channels has +often excited the surprise of European observers. In this case there is no +extraordinary rapidity to note, for the fate of Jerusalem had been decided +nearly six months before it was known in Babylon.(126) But it is +remarkable that the first intimation of the issue of the siege was brought +to the exiles by one of their own countrymen, who had escaped at the +capture of the city. It is probable that the messenger did not set out at +once, but waited until he could bring some information as to how matters +were settling down after the war. Or he may have been a captive who had +trudged the weary road to Babylon in chains under the escort of +Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard,(127) and afterwards succeeded in making +his escape to the older settlement where Ezekiel lived. All we know is +that his message was not delivered with the despatch which would have been +possible if his journey had been unimpeded, and that in the meantime the +official intelligence which must have already reached Babylon had not +transpired among the exiles who were waiting so anxiously for tidings of +the fate of Jerusalem.(128) + +The immediate effect of the announcement on the mind of the exiles is not +recorded. It was doubtless received with all the signs of public mourning +which Ezekiel had anticipated and foretold.(129) They would require some +time to adjust themselves to a situation for which, in spite of all the +warnings that had been sent them, they were utterly unprepared; and it +must have been uncertain at first what direction their thoughts would +take. Would they carry out their half-formed intention of abandoning their +national faith and assimilating themselves to the surrounding heathenism? +Would they sink into the lethargy of despair, and pine away under a +confused consciousness of guilt? Or would they repent of their unbelief, +and turn to embrace the hope which God's mercy held out to them in the +teaching of the prophet whom they had despised? All this was for the +moment uncertain; but one thing was certain--they could no more return to +the attitude of complacent indifference and incredulity in which they had +hitherto resisted the word of Jehovah. The day on which the tidings of the +city's destruction fell like a thunderbolt in the community of Tel-abib +was the turning-point of Ezekiel's ministry. In the arrival of the +"fugitive" he recognises the sign which was to break the spell of silence +which had lain so long upon him, and set him free for the ministry of +consolation and upbuilding which was henceforth to be his chief vocation. +A presentiment of what was coming had visited him the evening before his +interview with the messenger, and from that time "his mouth was opened, +and he was no more dumb" (ver. 22). Hitherto he had preached to deaf ears, +and the echo of his ineffectual appeals had come back in a deadening sense +of failure which had paralysed his activity. But now in one moment the +veil of prejudice and vain self-confidence is torn from the heart of his +hearers, and gradually but surely the whole burden of his message must +disclose itself to their intelligence. The time has come to work for the +formation of a new Israel, and a new spirit of hopefulness stimulates the +prophet to throw himself eagerly into the career which is thus opened up +before him. + +It may be well at this point to try to realise the state of mind which +emerged amongst Ezekiel's hearers after the first shock of consternation +had passed away. The seven chapters (xxxiii.-xxxix.) with which we are to +be occupied in this section all belong to the second period of the +prophet's work, and in all probability to the earlier part of that period. +It is obvious, however, that they were not written under the first impulse +of the tidings of the fall of Jerusalem. They contain allusions to certain +changes which must have occupied some time; and simultaneously a change +took place in the temper of the people resulting ultimately in a definite +spiritual situation to which the prophet had to address himself. It is +this situation which we have to try to understand. It supplies the +external conditions of Ezekiel's ministry, and unless we can in some +measure interpret it we shall lose the full meaning of his teaching in +this important period of his ministry. + +At the outset we may glance at the state of those who were left in the +land of Israel, who in a sense formed part of Ezekiel's audience. The very +first oracle uttered by him after he had received his emancipation was a +threat of judgment against these survivors of the nation's calamity (vv. +23-29). The fact that this is recorded in connection with the interview +with the "fugitive" may mean that the information on which it is based was +obtained from that somewhat shadowy personage. Whether in this way or +through some later channel, Ezekiel had apparently some knowledge of the +disastrous feuds which had followed the destruction of Jerusalem. These +events are minutely described in the end of the book of Jeremiah (chs. +xl.-xliv.). With a clemency which in the circumstances is surprising the +king of Babylon had allowed a small remnant of the people to settle in the +land, and had appointed over them a native governor, Gedaliah, the son of +Ahikam, who fixed his residence at Mizpah. The prophet Jeremiah elected to +throw in his lot with this remnant, and for a time it seemed as if through +peaceful submission to the Chaldæan supremacy all might go well with the +survivors. The chiefs who had conducted the guerilla warfare in the open +against the Babylonian army came in and placed themselves under the +protection of Gedaliah, and there was every prospect that by refraining +from projects of rebellion they might be left to enjoy the fruits of the +land without disturbance. But this was not to be. Certain turbulent +spirits under Ishmael, a member of the royal family, entered into a +conspiracy with the king of Ammon to destroy this last refuge of peace- +loving Israelites. Gedaliah was treacherously murdered; and although the +murder was partially avenged, Ishmael succeeded in making his escape to +the Ammonites, while the remains of the party of order, dreading the +vengeance of Nebuchadnezzar, took their departure for Egypt and carried +Jeremiah forcibly with them. What happened after this we do not know; but +it is not improbable that Ishmael and his followers may have held +possession of the land by force for some years. We read of a fresh +deportation of Judæan captives to Babylon five years after the capture of +Jerusalem (Jer. lii. 30); and this may have been the result of an +expedition to suppress the depredations of the robber band that Ishmael +had gathered round him. How much of this story had reached the ears of +Ezekiel we do not know; but there is one allusion in his oracle which +makes it probable that he had at least heard of the assassination of +Gedaliah. Those he addresses are men who "stand upon their sword"--that is +to say, they hold that might is right, and glory in deeds of blood and +violence that gratify their passionate desire for revenge. Such language +could hardly be used of any section of the remaining population of Judæa +except the lawless banditti that enrolled themselves under the banner of +Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah. + +What Ezekiel is mainly concerned with, however, is the moral and religious +condition of those to whom he speaks. Strange to say, they were animated +by a species of religious fanaticism, which led them to regard themselves +as the legitimate heirs to whom the reversion of the land of Israel +belonged. "Abraham was one," so reasoned these desperadoes, "and yet he +inherited the land: but we are many; to us the land is given for a +possession" (ver. 24). Their meaning is that the smallness of their number +is no argument against the validity of their claim to the heritage of the +land. They are still many in comparison with the solitary patriarch to +whom it was first promised; and if he was multiplied so as to take +possession of it, why should they hesitate to claim the mastery of it? +This thought of the wonderful multiplication of Abraham's seed after he +had received the promise seems to have laid fast hold of the men of that +generation. It is applied by the great teacher who stands next to Ezekiel +in the prophetic succession to comfort the little flock who followed after +righteousness and could hardly believe that it was God's good pleasure to +give them the kingdom. "Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that +bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him" +(Isa. li. 2). The words of the infatuated men who exulted in the havoc +they were making on the mountains of Judæa may sound to us like a +blasphemous travesty of this argument; but they were no doubt seriously +meant. They afford one more instance of the boundless capacity of the +Jewish race for religious self-delusion, and their no less remarkable +insensibility to that in which the essence of religion lay. The men who +uttered this proud boast were the precursors of those who in the days of +the Baptist thought to say within themselves, "We have Abraham to our +father," not understanding that God was able "of these stones to raise up +children to Abraham" (Matt. iii. 9). All the while they were perpetuating +the evils for which the judgment of God had descended on the city and the +Hebrew state. Idolatry, ceremonial impurity, bloodshed, and adultery were +rife amongst them (vv. 25, 26); and no misgiving seems to have entered +their minds that because of these things the wrath of God comes on the +children of disobedience. And therefore the prophet repudiates their +pretensions with indignation. "Shall ye possess the land?" Their conduct +simply showed that judgment had not had its perfect work, and that +Jehovah's purpose would not be accomplished until "the land was laid waste +and desolate, and the pomp of her strength should cease, and the mountains +of Israel be desolate, so that none passed through" (ver. 28). We have +seen that in all likelihood this prediction was fulfilled by a punitive +expedition from Babylonia in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar. + +But we knew before that Ezekiel expected no good thing to come of the +survivors of the judgment in Judæa. His hope was in those who had passed +through the fires of banishment, the men amongst whom his own work lay, +and amongst whom he looked for the first signs of the outpouring of the +divine Spirit. We must now return to the inner circle of Ezekiel's +immediate hearers, and consider the change which the calamity had produced +on them. The chapter now before us yields two glimpses into the inner life +of the people which help us to realise the kind of men with whom the +prophet had to do. + +In the first place it is interesting to learn that in his more frequent +public appearances the prophet rapidly acquired a considerable reputation +as a popular preacher (vv. 30-33). It is true that the interest which he +excited was not of the most wholesome kind. It became a favourite +amusement of the people hanging about the walls and doors to come and +listen to the fervid oratory of their one remaining prophet as he declared +to them "the word that came forth from Jehovah." It is to be feared that +the substance of his message counted for little in their appreciative and +critical listening. He was to them "as a very lovely song of one that hath +a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument": "they heard his +words, but did them not." It was pleasant to subject oneself now and then +to the influence of this powerful and heart-searching preacher; but +somehow the heart was never searched, the conscience was never stirred, +and the hearing never ripened into serious conviction and settled purpose +of amendment. The people were thoroughly respectful in their demeanour and +apparently devout, coming in crowds and sitting before him as God's people +should. But they were preoccupied: "their heart went after their gain" +(ver. 31) or their advantage. Self-interest prevented them from receiving +the word of God in honest and good hearts, and no change was visible in +their conduct. Hence the prophet is not disposed to regard the evidences +of his newly acquired popularity with much satisfaction. It presents +itself to his mind as a danger against which he has to be on his guard. He +has been tried by opposition and apparent failure; now he is exposed to +the more insidious temptation of a flattering reception and superficial +success. It is a tribute to his power, and an opportunity such as he had +never before enjoyed. Whatever may have been the case heretofore, he is +now sure of an audience, and his position has suddenly become one of great +influence in the community. But the same resolute confidence in the truth +of his message which sustained Ezekiel amidst the discouragements of his +earlier career saves him now from the fatal attractions of popularity to +which many men in similar circumstances have yielded. He is not deceived +by the favourable disposition of the people towards himself, nor is he +tempted to cultivate his oratorical gifts with a view to sustaining their +admiration. His one concern is to utter the word that shall come to pass, +and so to declare the counsel of God that men shall be compelled in the +end to acknowledge that he has been "a prophet among them" (ver. 33). We +may be thankful to the prophet for this little glimpse from a vanished +past--one of those touches of nature that make the whole world kin. But we +ought not to miss its obvious moral. Ezekiel is the prototype of all +popular preachers, and he knew their peculiar trials. He was perhaps the +first man who ministered regularly to an attached congregation, who came +to hear him because they liked it and because they had nothing better to +do. If he passed unscathed through the dangers of the position, it was +through his overpowering sense of the reality of divine things and the +importance of men's spiritual destiny; and also we may add through his +fidelity in a department of ministerial duty which popular preachers are +sometimes apt to neglect--the duty of close personal dealing with +individual men about their sins and their state before God. To this +subject we shall revert by-and-by. + +This passage reveals to us the people in their lighter moods, when they +were able to cast off the awful burden of life and destiny and take +advantage of such sources of enjoyment as their circumstances afforded. +Mental dejection in a community, from whatever cause it originates, is +rarely continuous. The natural elasticity of the mind asserts itself in +the most depressing circumstances; and the tension of almost unendurable +sorrow is relieved by outbursts of unnatural gaiety. Hence we need not be +surprised to find that beneath the surface levity of these exiles there +lurked the feeling of despair expressed in the words of ver. 10 and more +fully in those of ch. xxxvii. 11: "Our transgressions and our sins are +upon us, and we waste away in them: how should we then live?" "Our bones +are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off." These accents of +despondency reflect the new mood into which the more serious-minded +portion of the community had been plunged by the calamities that had +befallen them. The bitterness of unavailing remorse, the consciousness of +national death, had laid fast hold of their spirits and deprived them of +the power of hope. In sober truth the nation was dead beyond apparent hope +of revival; and to an Israelite, whose spiritual interests were all +identified with those of his nation, religion had no power of consolation +apart from a national future. The people therefore abandoned themselves to +despair, and hardened themselves against the appeals which the prophet +addressed to them in the name of Jehovah. They looked on themselves as the +victims of an inexorable fate, and were disposed perhaps to resent the +call to repentance as a trifling with the misery of the unfortunate. + +And yet, although this state of mind was as far removed as possible from +the godly sorrow that worketh repentance, it was a step towards the +accomplishment of the promise of redemption. For the present, indeed, it +rendered the people more impenetrable than ever to the word of God. But it +meant that they had accepted in principle the prophetic interpretation of +their history. It was no longer possible to deny that Jehovah the God of +Israel had revealed His secret to His servants the prophets. He was not +such a Being as the popular imagination had figured. Israel had not known +Him; only the prophets had spoken of Him the thing that was right. Thus +for the first time a general conviction of sin, a sense of being in the +wrong, was produced in Israel. That this conviction should at first lead +to the verge of despair was perhaps inevitable. The people were not +familiar with the idea of the divine righteousness, and could not at once +perceive that anger against sin was consistent in God with pity for the +sinner and mercy towards the contrite. The chief task that now lay before +the prophet was to transform their attitude of sullen impenitence into one +of submission and hope by teaching them the efficacy of repentance. They +have learned the meaning of judgment; they have now to learn the +possibility and the conditions of forgiveness. And this can only be taught +to them through a revelation of the free and infinite grace of God, who +has "no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked should +turn from his way and live" (ver. 11). Only thus can the hard and stony +heart be taken away from their flesh and a heart of flesh given to them. + +We can now understand the significance of the striking passage which +stands as the introduction to this whole section of the book (ch. xxxiii. +1-20). At this juncture of his ministry Ezekiel's thoughts went back on an +aspect of his prophetic vocation which had hitherto been in abeyance. From +the first he had been conscious of a certain responsibility for the fate +of each individual within reach of his words (ch. iii. 16-21). This truth +had been one of the keynotes of his ministry; but the practical +developments which it suggested had been hindered by the solidarity of the +opposition which he had encountered. As long as Jerusalem stood the exiles +had been swayed by one common current of feeling--their thoughts were +wholly occupied by the expectation of an issue that would annul the gloomy +predictions of Ezekiel; and no man dared to break away from the general +sentiment and range himself on the side of God's prophet. In these +circumstances anything of the nature of pastoral activity was obviously +out of the question. But now that this great obstacle to faith was removed +there was a prospect that the solidity of popular opinion would be broken +up, so that the word of God might find an entrance here and there into +susceptible hearts. The time was come to call for personal decisions, to +appeal to each man to embrace for himself the offer of pardon and +salvation. Its watchword might have been found in words uttered in another +great crisis of religious destiny: "The kingdom of heaven suffereth +violence, and the violent take it by force." Out of such "violent men" who +act for themselves and have the courage of their convictions the new +people of God must be formed; and the mission of the prophet is to gather +round him all those who are warned by his words to "flee from the wrath to +come." + +Let us look a little more closely at the teaching of these verses. We find +that Ezekiel restates in the most emphatic manner the theological +principles which underlie this new development of his prophetic duties +(vv. 10-20). These principles have been considered already in the +exposition of ch. xviii.; and it is not necessary to do more than refer to +them here. They are such as these: the exact and absolute righteousness of +God in His dealings with individuals; His unwillingness that any should +perish, and His desire that all should be saved and live; the necessity of +personal repentance; the freedom and independence of the individual soul +through its immediate relation to God. On this closely connected body of +evangelical doctrine Ezekiel bases the appeal which he now makes to his +hearers. What we are specially concerned with here, however, is the +direction which they imparted to his activity. We may study in the light +of Ezekiel's example the manner in which these fundamental truths of +personal religion are to be made effective in the ministry of the gospel +for the building up of the Church of Christ. + +The general conception is clearly set forth in the figure of the watchman, +with which the chapter opens (vv. 1-9). The duties of the watchman are +simple, but responsible. He is set apart in a time of public danger to +warn the city of the approach of an enemy. The citizens trust him and go +about their ordinary occupations in security so long as the trumpet is not +sounded. Should he sleep at his post or neglect to give the signal, men +are caught unprepared and lives are lost through his fault. Their blood is +required at the watchman's hand. If, on the other hand, he gives the alarm +as soon as he sees the sword coming, and any man disregards the warning +and is cut down in his iniquity, his blood is upon his own head. Nothing +could be clearer than this. Office always involves responsibility, and no +responsibility could be greater than that of a watchman in time of +invasion. Those who suffer are in either case the citizens whom the sword +cuts off; but it makes all the difference in the world whether the blame +of their death rests on themselves for their foolhardiness or on the +watchman for his unfaithfulness. Such then, as Ezekiel goes on to explain, +is his own position as a prophet. The prophet is one who sees further into +the spiritual issues of things than other men, and discovers the coming +calamity which is to them invisible. We must notice that a background of +danger is presupposed. In what form it was to come is not indicated; but +Ezekiel knows that judgment follows hard at the heels of sin, and seeing +sin in his fellow-men he knows that their state is one of spiritual peril. +The prophet's course therefore is clear. His business is to announce as in +trumpet tones the doom that hangs over every man who persists in his +wickedness, to re-echo the divine sentence which he alone may have heard, +"O wicked man, thou shalt surely die." And again the main question is one +of responsibility. The watchman cannot ensure the safety of every citizen, +because any man may refuse to take the warning he gives. No more can the +prophet ensure the salvation of all his hearers, for each one is free to +accept or despise the message. But whether men hear or whether they +forbear, it is of the utmost moment for himself that that warning should +be faithfully proclaimed and that he should thus "deliver his soul." +Ezekiel seems to feel that it is only by frankly accepting the +responsibility which thus devolves on himself that he can hope to impress +on his hearers the responsibility that rests on them for the use they make +of his message. + +These thoughts appear to have occupied the mind of Ezekiel on the eve of +his emancipation, and must have influenced his subsequent action to an +extent which we can but vaguely estimate. It is generally considered that +this description of the prophet's functions covers a whole department of +work of which no express account is given. Ezekiel writes no "Pastor's +Sketches," and records no instances of individual conversion through his +ministry. The unwritten history of the Babylonian captivity must have been +rich in such incidents of spiritual experience, and nothing could have +been more instructive to us than the study of a few typical cases had it +been possible. One of the most interesting features of the early history +of Mohammedanism is found in the narratives of personal adhesion to the +new religion; and the formation of the new Israel in the age of the Exile +is a process of infinitely greater importance for humanity at large than +the genesis of Islam. But neither in this book nor elsewhere are we +permitted to follow that process in its details. Ezekiel may have +witnessed the beginnings of it, but he was not called upon to be its +historian. Still, the inference is probably correct that a conception of +the prophet's office which holds him accountable to God for the fate of +individuals led to something more than mere general exhortations to +repentance. The preacher must have taken a personal interest in his +hearers; he must have watched for the first signs of a response to his +message, and been ready to advise and encourage those who turned to him +for guidance in their perplexities. And since the sphere of his influence +and responsibility included the whole Hebrew community in which he lived, +he must have been eager to seize every opportunity to warn individual +sinners of the error of their ways, lest their blood should be required at +his hand. To this extent we may say that Ezekiel held a position amongst +the exiles somewhat analogous to that of a spiritual director in the +Catholic Church or the pastor of a Protestant congregation. But the +analogy must not be pressed too far. The nurture of the spiritual life of +individuals could not have presented itself to him as the chief end of his +ministrations. His business was first to lay down the conditions of +entrance into the new kingdom of God, and then out of the ruins of the old +Israel to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Perhaps the nearest +parallel to this department of his work which history affords is the +mission of the Baptist. The keynote of Ezekiel's preaching was the same as +that of John: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Both +prophets were alike animated by a sense of crisis and urgency, based on +the conviction that the impending Messianic age would be ushered in by a +searching judgment in which the chaff would be separated from the wheat. +Both laboured for the same end--the formation of a new circle of religious +fellowship, in anticipation of the advent of the Messianic kingdom. And as +John, by an inevitable spiritual selection, gathered round him a band of +disciples, amongst whom our Lord found some of His most devoted followers, +so we may believe that Ezekiel, by a similar process, became the +acknowledged leader of those whom he taught to wait for the hope of +Israel's restoration. + +There is nothing in Ezekiel's ministry that appeals more directly to the +Christian conscience than the serious and profound sense of pastoral +responsibility to which this passage bears witness. It is a feeling which +would seem to be inseparable from the right discharge of the ministerial +office. In this, as in many other respects, Ezekiel's experience is +repeated, on a higher level, in that of the apostle of the Gentiles, who +could take his hearers to record that he was "pure from the blood of all +men," inasmuch as he had "taught them publicly and from house to house," +and "ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears" (Acts xx. +17-35). That does not mean, of course, that a preacher is to occupy +himself with nothing else than the personal salvation of his hearers. St. +Paul would have been the last to agree to such a limitation of the range +of his teaching. But it does mean that the salvation of men and women is +the supreme end which the minister of Christ is to set before him, and +that to which all other instruction is subordinated. And unless a man +realises that the truth he utters is of tremendous importance on the +destiny of those to whom he speaks, he can hardly hope to approve himself +as an ambassador for Christ. There are doubtless temptations, not in +themselves ignoble, to use the pulpit for other purposes than this. The +desire for public influence may be one of them, or the desire to utter +one's mind on burning questions of the day. To say that these are +temptations is not to say that matters of public interest are to be +rigorously excluded from treatment in the pulpit. There are many questions +of this kind on which the will of God is as clear and imperative as it can +possibly be on any point of private conduct; and even in matters as to +which there is legitimate difference of opinion amongst Christian men +there are underlying principles of righteousness which may need to be +fearlessly enunciated at the risk of obloquy and misunderstanding. +Nevertheless it remains true that the great end of the gospel ministry is +to reconcile men to God and to cultivate in individual lives the fruits of +the Spirit, so as at the last to present every man perfect in Christ. And +the preacher who may be most safely entrusted with the handling of all +other questions is he who is most intent on the formation of Christian +character and most deeply conscious of his responsibility for the effect +of his teaching on the eternal destiny of those to whom he ministers. What +is called preaching to the age may certainly become a very poor and empty +thing if it is forgotten that the age is made up of individuals each of +whom has a soul to save or lose. What shall it profit a man if the +preacher teaches him how to win the whole world and lose his own life? It +is fashionable to hold up the prophets of Israel as models of all that a +Christian minister ought to be. If that is true, prophecy must at least be +allowed to speak its whole lesson; and amongst other elements Ezekiel's +consciousness of responsibility for the individual life must receive due +recognition. + + + + +Chapter XX. The Messianic Kingdom. Chapter xxxiv. + + +The term "Messianic" as commonly applied to Old Testament prophecy bears +two different senses, a wider and a narrower. In its wider use it is +almost equivalent to the modern word "eschatological." It denotes that +unquenchable hope of a glorious future for Israel and the world which is +an all but omnipresent feature of the prophetic writings, and includes all +predictions of the kingdom of God in its final and perfect manifestation. +In its stricter sense it is applied only to the promise of the ideal king +of the house of David, which, although a very conspicuous element of +prophecy, is by no means universal, and perhaps does not bulk quite so +largely in the Old Testament as is generally supposed. The later Jews were +guided by a true instinct when they seized on this figure of the ideal +ruler as the centre of the nation's hope; and to them we owe this special +application of the name "Messiah," the "Anointed," which is never used of +the Son of David in the Old Testament itself. To a certain extent we +follow in their steps when we enlarge the meaning of the word "Messianic" +so as to embrace the whole prophetic delineation of the future glories of +the kingdom of God. + +This distinction may be illustrated from the prophecies of Ezekiel. If we +take the word in its more general sense, we may say that all the chapters +from the thirty-fourth to the end of the book are Messianic in character. +That is to say, they describe under various aspects the final condition of +things which is introduced by the restoration of Israel to its own land. +Let us glance for a moment at the elements which enter into this general +conception of the last things as they are set forth in the section of the +book with which we are now dealing. We exclude from view for the present +the last nine chapters, because there the prophet's point of view is +somewhat different, and it is better to reserve them for separate +treatment. + +The chapters from the thirty-fourth to the thirty-seventh are the +necessary complement of the call to repentance in the first part of ch. +xxxiii. Ezekiel has enunciated the conditions of entrance to the new +kingdom of God, and has urged his hearers to prepare for its appearing. He +now proceeds to unfold the nature of that kingdom, and the process by +which Jehovah is to bring it to pass. As has been said, the central fact +is the restoration of Israel to the land of Canaan. Here the prophet found +a point of contact with the natural aspirations of his fellow-exiles. +There was no prospect to which they had clung with more eager longing than +that of a return to national independence in their own land; and the +feeling that this was no longer possible was the source of the abject +despair from which the prophet sought to rouse them. How was this to be +done? Not simply by asserting in the face of all human probability that +the restoration would take place, but by presenting it to their minds in +its religious aspects as an object worthy of the exercise of almighty +power, and an object in which Jehovah was interested for the glory of His +great name. Only by being brought round to Ezekiel's faith in God could +the exiles recover their lost hope in the future of the nation. Thus the +return to which Ezekiel looks forward has a Messianic significance; it is +the establishment of the kingdom of God, a symbol of the final and perfect +union between Jehovah and Israel. + +Now in the chapters before us this general conception is exhibited in +three separate pictures of the Restoration, the leading ideas being the +Monarchy (ch. xxxiv.), the Land (chs. xxxv., xxxvi.), and the Nation (ch. +xxxvii.). The order in which they are arranged is not that which might +seem most natural. We should have expected the prophet to deal first with +the revival of the nation, then with its settlement on the soil of +Palestine, and last of all with its political organisation under a Davidic +king. Ezekiel follows the reverse order. He begins with the kingdom, as +the most complete embodiment of the Messianic salvation, and then falls +back on its two presuppositions--the recovery and purification of the land +on the one hand, and the restitution of the nation on the other. It is +doubtful, indeed, whether any logical connection between the three +pictures is intended. It is perhaps better to regard them as expressing +three distinct and collateral aspects of the idea of redemption, to each +of which a certain permanent religious significance is attached. They are +at all events the outstanding elements of Ezekiel's eschatology so far as +it is expounded in this section of his prophecies. + +We thus see that the promise of the perfect king--the Messianic idea in its +more restricted signification--holds a distinct but not a supreme place in +Ezekiel's vision of the future. It appears for the first time in ch. xvii. +at the end of an oracle denouncing the perfidy of Zedekiah and foretelling +the overthrow of his kingdom; and again, in a similar connection, in an +obscure verse of ch. xxi.(130) Both these prophecies belong to the time +before the fall of the state, when the prophet's thoughts were not +continuously occupied with the hope of the future. The former is +remarkable, nevertheless, for the glowing terms in which the greatness of +the future kingdom is depicted. From the top of the lofty cedar which the +great eagle had carried away to Babylon Jehovah will take a tender shoot +and plant it in the mountain height of Israel. There it will strike root +and grow up into a lordly cedar, under whose branches all the birds of the +air find refuge. The terms of the allegory have been explained in the +proper place.(131) The great cedar is the house of David; the topmost +bough which was taken to Babylon is the family of Jehoiachin, the direct +heirs to the throne. The planting of the tender shoot in the land of +Israel represents the founding of the Messiah's kingdom, which is thus +proclaimed to be of transcendent earthly magnificence, overshadowing all +the other kingdoms of the world, and convincing the nations that its +foundation is the work of Jehovah Himself. In this short passage we have +the Messianic idea in its simplest and most characteristic expression. The +hope of the future is bound up with the destiny of the house of David; and +the re-establishment of the kingdom in more than its ancient splendour is +the great divine act to which all the blessings of the final dispensation +are attached. + +But it is in the thirty-fourth chapter that we find the most comprehensive +exposition of Ezekiel's teaching on the subject of the monarchy and the +Messianic kingdom. It is perhaps the most political of all his prophecies. +It is pervaded by a spirit of genuine sympathy with the sufferings of the +common people, and indignation against the tyranny practised and tolerated +by the ruling classes. The disasters that have befallen the nation down to +its final dispersion among the heathen are all traced to the misgovernment +and anarchy for which the monarchy was primarily responsible. In like +manner the blessings of the coming age are summed up in the promise of a +perfect king, ruling in the name of Jehovah and maintaining order and +righteousness throughout his realm. Nowhere else does Ezekiel approach so +nearly to the political ideal foreshadowed by the statesman-prophet Isaiah +of a "king reigning in righteousness and princes ruling in judgment" (Isa. +xxxii. 1), securing the enjoyment of universal prosperity and peace to the +redeemed people of God. It must be remembered of course that this is only +a partial expression of Ezekiel's conception both of the past condition of +the nation and of its future salvation. We have had abundant evidence(132) +to show that he considered all classes of the community to be corrupt, and +the people as a whole implicated in the guilt of rebellion against +Jehovah. The statement that the kings have brought about the dispersion of +the nation must not therefore be pressed to the conclusion that civic +injustice was the sole cause of Israel's calamities. Similarly we shall +find that the redemption of the people depends on other and more +fundamental conditions than the establishment of good government under a +righteous king. But that is no reason for minimising the significance of +the passage before us as an utterance of Ezekiel's profound interest in +social order and the welfare of the poor. It shows moreover that the +prophet at this time attached real importance to the promise of the +Messiah as the organ of Jehovah's rule over His people. If civil wrongs +and legalised tyranny were not the only sins which had brought about the +destruction of the state, they were at least serious evils, which could +not be tolerated in the new Israel; and the chief safeguard against their +recurrence is found in the character of the ideal ruler whom Jehovah will +raise up from the seed of David. How far this high conception of the +functions of the monarchy was modified in Ezekiel's subsequent teaching we +shall see when we come to consider the position assigned to the prince in +the great vision at the end of the book.(133) + +In the meantime let us examine somewhat more closely the contents of ch. +xxxiv. Its leading ideas seem to have been suggested by a Messianic +prophecy of Jeremiah's with which Ezekiel was no doubt acquainted: "Woe to +the shepherds that destroy and scatter the flock of My pasture! saith +Jehovah. Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, against the +shepherds that tend My people, Ye have scattered My flock, and dispersed +them, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of +your doings, saith Jehovah. And I will gather the remnant of My flock from +all the lands whither I have dispersed them, and will restore them to +their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply. And I will set +shepherds over them who shall feed them: and they shall not fear any more, +nor be frightened, nor be lacking, saith Jehovah" (Jer. xxiii. 1-4). Here +we have the simple image of the flock and its shepherds, which Ezekiel, as +his manner is, expands into an allegory of the past history and future +prospects of the nation. How closely he follows the guidance of his +predecessor will be seen from the analysis of the chapter. It may be +divided into four parts. + +i. The first ten verses are a strongly worded denunciation of the +misgovernment to which the people of Jehovah had been subjected in the +past. The prophet goes straight to the root of the evil when he +indignantly asks, "Should not the shepherds feed the flock?" (ver. 2). The +first principle of all true government is that it must be in the interest +of the governed. But the universal vice of Oriental despotism, as we see +in the case of the Turkish empire at the present day, or Egypt before the +English occupation, is that the rulers rule for their own advantage, and +treat the people as their lawful spoil. So it had been in Israel: the +shepherds had fed themselves, and not the flock. Instead of carefully +tending the sick and the maimed, and searching out the strayed and the +lost, they had been concerned only to eat the milk(134) and clothe +themselves with the wool and slaughter the fat; they had ruled with +"violence and rigour." That is to say, instead of healing the sores of the +body politic, they had sought to enrich themselves at the expense of the +people. Such misconduct in the name of government always brings its own +penalty; it kills the goose that lays the golden eggs. The flock which is +spoiled by its own shepherds is scattered on the mountains and becomes the +prey of wild beasts; and so the nation that is weakened by internal +misrule loses its powers of defence and succumbs to the attacks of some +foreign invader. But the shepherds of Israel have to reckon with Him who +is the owner of the flock, whose affection still watches over them, and +whose compassion is stirred by the hapless condition of His people. +"Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah; ... Behold, I am +against the shepherds; and I will require My flock at their hand; and I +will make them to cease from feeding [My] flock, that they who feed +themselves may no longer shepherd them; and I will deliver My flock from +their mouth, that they be not food for them" (vv. 9, 10). + +ii. But Jehovah not only removes the unworthy shepherds; He Himself takes +on Him the office of shepherd to the flock that has been so mishandled +(vv. 11-16). As the shepherd goes out after the thunderstorm to call in +his frightened sheep, so will Jehovah after the storm of judgment is over +go forth to "gather together the outcasts of Israel" (Psalm cxlvii. 2). He +will seek them out and deliver them from all places whither they were +scattered in the day of clouds and darkness; then He will lead them back +to the mountain height of Israel, where they shall enjoy abundant +prosperity and security under His just and beneficent rule. By what +agencies this deliverance is to be accomplished is nowhere indicated. It +is the unanimous teaching of the prophets that the final salvation of +Israel will be effected in a "day of Jehovah"--_i.e._, a day in which +Jehovah's own power will be specially manifested. Hence there is no need +to describe the process by which the Almighty works out His purpose of +salvation; it is indescribable: the results are certain, but the +intermediate agencies are supernatural, and the precise method of +Jehovah's intervention is as a rule left indefinite. It is particularly to +be noted that the Messiah plays no part in the actual work of deliverance. +He is not the hero of a national struggle for independence, but comes on +the scene and assumes the reins of government after Jehovah has gotten the +victory and restored peace to Israel.(135) + +iii. The next six verses (17-22) add a feature to the allegory which is +not found in the corresponding passage in Jeremiah. Jehovah will judge +between one sheep and another, especially between the rams and he-goats on +the one hand and the weaker animals on the other. The strong cattle had +monopolised the fat meadows and clear settled waters, and as if this were +not enough, they had trampled down the residue of the pastures and fouled +the waters with their feet. Those addressed are the wealthy and powerful +upper class, whose luxury and wanton extravagance had consumed the +resources of the country, and left no sustenance for the poorer members of +the community. Allusions to this kind of selfish tyranny are frequent in +the older prophets. Amos speaks of the nobles as panting after the dust on +the head of the poor, and of the luxurious dames of Samaria as oppressing +the poor and crushing the needy, and saying to their lords, "Bring us to +drink" (Amos ii. 7, iv. 1). Micah says of the same class in the southern +kingdom that they cast out the women of Jehovah's people from their +pleasant houses, and robbed their children of His glory for ever (Micah +ii. 9). And Isaiah, to take one other example, denounces those who "take +away the right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, +and that they may rob the orphans" (Isa. x. 2). Under the corrupt +administration of justice which the kings had tolerated for their own +convenience litigation had been a farce; the rich man had always the ear +of the judge, and the poor found no redress. But in Israel the true +fountain of justice could not be polluted; it was only its channels that +were obstructed. For Jehovah Himself was the supreme judge of His people; +and in the restored commonwealth to which Ezekiel looks forward all civil +relations will be regulated by a regard to His righteous will. He will +"save His flock that they be no more a prey, and will judge between cattle +and cattle." + +iv. Then follows in the last section (vv. 23-31) the promise of the +Messianic king, and a description of the blessings that accompany his +reign: "I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them--My +servant David: he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I +Jehovah will be their God, and My servant David shall be a prince in their +midst: I Jehovah have spoken it." There are one or two difficulties +connected with the interpretation of this passage, the consideration of +which may be postponed till we have finished our analysis of the chapter. +It is sufficient in the meantime to notice that a Davidic kingdom in some +sense is to be the foundation of social order in the new Israel. A prince +will arise, endowed with the spirit of his exalted office, to discharge +perfectly the royal functions in which the former kings had so lamentably +failed. Through him the divine government of Israel will become a reality +in the national life. The Godhead of Jehovah and the kingship of the +Messiah will be inseparably associated in the faith of the people: +"Jehovah their God, and David their king" (Hosea iii. 5) is the expression +of the ground of Israel's confidence in the latter days. And this kingdom +is the pledge of the fulness of divine blessing descending on the land and +the people. The people shall dwell in safety, none making them afraid, +because of the covenant of peace which Jehovah will make for them, +securing them against the assaults of other nations.(136) The heavens +shall pour forth fertilising "showers of blessing"; and the land shall be +clothed with a luxuriant vegetation which shall be the admiration of the +whole earth.(137) Thus happily situated Israel shall shake off the +reproach of the heathen, which they had formerly to endure because of the +poverty of their land and their unfortunate history. In the plenitude of +material prosperity they shall recognise that Jehovah their God is with +them, and they shall know what it is to be His people and the flock of His +pasture.(138) + +We have now before us the salient features of the Messianic hope, as it is +presented in the pages of Ezekiel. We see that the idea is developed in +contrast with the abuses that had characterised the historic monarchy in +Israel. It represents the ideal of the kingdom as it exists in the mind of +Jehovah, an ideal which no actual king had fully realised, and which most +of them had shamefully violated. The Messiah is the vicegerent of Jehovah +on earth, and the representative of His kingly authority and righteous +government over Israel. We see further that the promise is based on the +"sure mercies of David," the covenant which secured the throne to David's +descendants for ever. Messianic prophecy is legitimist, the ideal king +being regarded as standing in the direct line of succession to the crown. +And to these features we may add another, which is explicitly developed in +ch. xxxvii. 22-26, although it is implied in the expression "one shepherd" +in the passage with which we have been dealing. The Messianic kingdom +represents the unity of all Israel, and particularly the reunion of the +two kingdoms under one sceptre. The prophets attach great importance to +this idea.(139) The existence of two rival monarchies, divided in interest +and often at war with each other, although it had never effaced the +consciousness of the original unity of the nation, was felt by the +prophets to be an anomalous state of things, and seriously detrimental to +the national religion. The ideal relation of Jehovah to Israel was as +incompatible with two kingdoms as the ideal of marriage is incompatible +with two wives to one husband. Hence in the glorious future of the +Messianic age the schism must be healed, and the Davidic dynasty restored +to its original position at the head of an undivided empire. The +prominence given to this thought in the teaching of Hosea shows that even +in the northern kingdom devout Israelites cherished the hope of reunion +with their brethren under the house of David as the only form in which the +redemption of the nation could be achieved. And although, long before +Ezekiel's day, the kingdom of Samaria had disappeared from history, he too +looks forward to a restoration of the ten tribes as an essential element +of the Messianic salvation. + +In these respects the teaching of Ezekiel reflects the general tenor of +the Messianic prophecy of the Old Testament. There are just two questions +on which some obscurity and uncertainty must be felt to rest. In the first +place, what is the precise meaning of the expression "My servant David"? +It will not be supposed that the prophet expected David, the founder of +the Hebrew monarchy, to reappear in person and inaugurate the new +dispensation. Such an interpretation would be utterly false to Eastern +modes of thought and expression, besides being opposed to every indication +we have of the prophetic conception of the Messiah. Even in popular +language the name of David was current, after he had been long dead, as +the name of the dynasty which he had founded. When the ten tribes revolted +from Rehoboam they said, exactly as they had said in David's lifetime, +"What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of +Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David."(140) +If the name of David could thus be invoked in popular speech at a time of +great political excitement, we need not be surprised to find it used in a +similar sense in the figurative style of the prophets. All that the word +means is that the Messiah will be one who comes in the spirit and power of +David, a representative of the ancient family who carries to completion +the work so nobly begun by his great ancestor. + +The real difficulty is whether the title "David" denotes a unique +individual or a line of Davidic kings. To that question it is hardly +possible to return a decided answer. That the idea of a succession of +sovereigns is a possible form of the Messianic hope is shown by a passage +in the thirty-third chapter of Jeremiah. There the promise of the +righteous sprout of the house of David is supplemented by the assurance +that David shall never want a man to sit on the throne of Israel;(141) the +allusion therefore appears to be to the dynasty, and not to a single +person. And this view finds some support in the case of Ezekiel from the +fact that in the later vision of chs. xl.-xlviii. the prophet undoubtedly +anticipates a perpetuation of the dynasty through successive +generations.(142) On the other hand it is difficult to reconcile this view +with the expressions used in this and the thirty-seventh chapters. When we +read that "My servant David shall be their prince for ever,"(143) we can +scarcely escape the impression that the prophet is thinking of a personal +Messiah reigning eternally. If it were necessary to decide between these +two alternatives, it might be safest to adhere to the idea of a personal +Messiah, as conveying the fullest rendering of the prophet's thought. +There is reason to think that in the interval between this prophecy and +his final vision Ezekiel's conception of the Messiah underwent a certain +modification, and therefore the teaching of the later passage cannot be +used to control the explanation of this. But the obscurity is of such a +nature that we cannot hope to remove it. In the prophets' delineations of +the future there are many points on which the light of revelation had not +been fully cast; for they, like the Christian apostle, "knew in part and +prophesied in part." And the question of the way in which the Messiah's +office is to be prolonged is precisely one of those which did not greatly +occupy the mind of the prophets. There is no perspective in Messianic +prophecy: the future kingdom of God is seen, as it were, in one plane, and +how it is to be transmitted from one age to another is never thought of. +Thus it may become difficult to say whether a particular prophet, in +speaking of the Messiah, has a single individual in view or whether he is +thinking of a dynasty or a succession. To Ezekiel the Messiah was a +divinely revealed ideal, which was to be fulfilled in a person; whether +the prophet himself distinctly understood this is a matter of inferior +importance. + +The second question is one that perhaps would not readily occur to a plain +man. It relates to the meaning of the word "prince" as applied to the +Messiah. It has been thought by some critics that Ezekiel had a special +reason for avoiding the title "king"; and from this supposed reason a +somewhat sweeping conclusion has been deduced. We are asked to believe +that Ezekiel had in principle abandoned the Messianic hope of his earlier +prophecies--_i.e._, the hope of a restoration of the Davidic kingdom in its +ancient splendour. What he really contemplates is the abolition of the +Hebrew monarchy, and the institution of a new political system entirely +different from anything that had existed in the past. Although the Davidic +prince will hold the first place in the restored community, his dignity +will be less than royal; he will only be a titular monarch, his power +being overshadowed by the presence of Jehovah, the true king of Israel. +Now so far as this view is suggested by the use of the word "prince" +(literally "leader" or "president") in preference to "king,"(144) it is +sufficiently answered by pointing to the Messianic passage in ch. xxxvii., +where the name "king" is used three times and in a peculiarly emphatic +manner of the Messianic prince.(145) There is no reason to suppose that +Ezekiel drew a distinction between "princely" and "kingly" rank, and +deliberately withheld the higher dignity from the Messiah. Whatever may be +the exact relation of the Messiah to Jehovah, there is no doubt that he is +conceived as a king in the full sense of the term, possessed of all regal +qualities, and shepherding his people with the authority which belonged to +a true son of David. + +But there is another consideration which weighs more seriously with the +writers referred to. There is reason to believe that Ezekiel's conception +of the final kingdom of God underwent a change which might not unfairly be +described as an abandonment of the Messianic expectation in its more +restricted sense. In his latest vision the functions of the prince are +defined in such a way that his position is shorn of the ideal significance +which properly invests the office of the Messiah. The change does not +indeed affect his merely political status. He is still son of David and +king of Israel, and all that is here said about his duty towards his +subjects is there presupposed. But his character seems to be no longer +regarded as thoroughly reliable, or equal to all the temptations that +arise wherever absolute power is lodged in human hands. The possibility +that the king may abuse his authority for his private advantage is +distinctly contemplated, and provision is made against it in the statutory +constitution to which the king himself is subject. Such precautions are +obviously inconsistent with the ideal of the Messianic kingdom which we +find, for example, in the prophecy of Isaiah. The important question +therefore comes to be, whether this lower view of the monarchy is +anticipated in the thirty-fourth and thirty-seventh chapters. This does +not appear to be the case. The prophet still occupies the same standpoint +as in ch. xvii., regarding the Davidic monarchy as the central religious +institution of the restored state. The Messiah of these chapters is a +perfect king, endowed with the Spirit of God for the discharge of his +great office, one whose personal character affords an absolute security +for the maintenance of public righteousness, and who is the medium of +communication between God and the nation. In other words, what we have to +do with is a Messianic prediction in the fullest sense of the term. + +In concluding our study of Ezekiel's Messianic teaching, we may make one +remark bearing on its typological interpretation. The attempt is sometimes +made to trace a gradual development and enrichment of the Messianic idea +in the hands of successive prophets. From that point of view Ezekiel's +contribution to the doctrine of the Messiah must be felt to be +disappointing. No one can imagine that his portrait of the coming king +possesses anything like the suggestiveness and religious meaning conveyed +by the ideal which stands out so clearly from the pages of Isaiah. And, +indeed, no subsequent prophet excels or even equals Isaiah in the +clearness and profundity of his directly Messianic conceptions. This fact +shows us that the endeavour to find in the Old Testament a regular +progress along one particular line proceeds on too narrow a view of the +scope of prophecy. The truth is that the figure of the king is only one of +many types of the Christian dispensation which the religious institutions +of Israel supplied to the prophets. It is the most perfect of all types, +partly because it is personal, and partly because the idea of kingship is +the most comprehensive of the offices which Christ executes as our +Redeemer. But, after all, it expresses only one aspect of the glorious +future of the kingdom of God towards which prophecy steadily points. We +must remember also that the order in which these types emerge is +determined not altogether by their intrinsic importance, but partly by +their adaptation to the needs of the age in which the prophet lived. The +main function of prophecy was to furnish present and practical direction +to the people of God; and the form under which the ideal was presented to +any particular generation was always that best fitted to help it onwards, +one stage nearer to the great consummation. Thus while Isaiah idealises +the figure of the king, Jeremiah grasps the conception of a new religion +under the form of a covenant, the second Isaiah unfolds the idea of the +prophetic servant of Jehovah, Zechariah and the writer of the 110th Psalm +idealise the priesthood. All these are Messianic prophecies, if we take +the word in its widest acceptation; but they are not all cast in one +mould, and the attempt to arrange them in a single series is obviously +misleading. So with regard to Ezekiel we may say that his chief Messianic +ideal (still using the expression in a general sense) is the sanctuary, +the symbol of Jehovah's presence in the midst of His people. At the end of +ch. xxxvii. the kingdom and the sanctuary are mentioned together as +pledges of the glory of the latter days. But while the idea of the +Messianic monarchy was a legacy inherited from his prophetic precursors, +the Temple was an institution whose typical significance Ezekiel was the +first to unfold. It was moreover the one that met the religious +requirements of the age in which Ezekiel lived. Ultimately the hope of the +personal Messiah loses the importance which it still has in the present +section of the book; and the prophet's vision of the future concentrates +itself on the sanctuary as the centre of the restored theocracy, and the +source from which the regenerating influences of the divine grace flow +forth to Israel and the world. + + + + +Chapter XXI. Jehovah's Land. Chapters xxxv., xxxvi. + + +The teaching of this important passage turns on certain ideas regarding +the land of Canaan which enter very deeply into the religion of Israel. +These ideas are no doubt familiar in a general way to all thoughtful +readers of the Old Testament; but their full import is scarcely realised +until we understand that they are not peculiar to the Bible, but form part +of the stock of religious conceptions common to Israel and its heathen +neighbours.(146) In the more advanced Semitic religions of antiquity each +nation had its own god as well as its own land, and the bond between the +god and the land was supposed to be quite as strong as that between the +god and the nation. The god, the land, and the people formed a triad of +religious relationship, and so closely were these three elements +associated that the expulsion of a people from its land was held to +dissolve the bond between it and the god. Thus while in practice the land +of a god was coextensive with the territory inhabited by his worshippers, +yet in theory the relation of the god to his land is independent of his +relation to the inhabitants; it was _his_ land whether the people in it +were his worshippers or not. The peculiar confusion of ideas that arose +when the people of one god came to reside permanently in the territory of +another is well illustrated by the case of the heathen colony which the +king of Assyria planted in Samaria after the exile of the ten tribes. +These settlers brought their own gods with them; but when some of them +were slain by lions, they perceived that they were making a mistake in +ignoring the rights of the god of the land. They sent accordingly for a +priest to instruct them in the religion of the god of the land; and the +result was that they "feared Jehovah and served their own gods" (2 Kings +xvii. 24-41). It was expected no doubt that in course of time the foreign +deities would be acclimatised. + +In the Old Testament we find many traces of the influence of this +conception on the Hebrew religion. Canaan was the land of Jehovah (Hosea +ix. 3) apart altogether from its possession by Israel, the people of +Jehovah. It was Jehovah's land before Israel entered it, the inheritance +which He had selected for His people out of all the countries of the +world, the Land of Promise, given to the patriarchs while as yet they were +but strangers and sojourners in it. Although the Israelites took +possession of it as a nation of conquerors, they did so in the +consciousness that they were expelling from Jehovah's dwelling-place a +population which had polluted it by their abominations. From that time +onwards the tenure of the soil of Palestine was regarded as an essential +factor of the national religion. The idea that Jehovah could not be +rightly worshipped outside of Hebrew territory was firmly rooted in the +mind of the people, and was accepted by the prophets as a principle +involved in the special relations that Jehovah maintained with the people +of Israel.(147) Hence no threat could be more terrible in the ears of the +Israelites than that of expatriation from their native soil; for it meant +nothing less than the dissolution of the tie that subsisted between them +and their God. When that threat was actually fulfilled there was no +reproach harder to bear than the taunt which Ezekiel here puts into the +mouth of the heathen: "These are Jehovah's people--and yet they are gone +forth out of His land" (ch. xxxvi. 20). They felt all that was implied in +that utterance of malicious satisfaction over the collapse of a religion +and the downfall of a deity. + +There is another way in which the thought of Canaan as Jehovah's land +enters into the religious conceptions of the Old Testament, and very +markedly into those of Ezekiel. As the God of the land Jehovah is the +source of its productiveness and the author of all the natural blessings +enjoyed by its inhabitants. It is He who gives the rain in its season or +else withholds it in token of His displeasure; it is He who multiplies or +diminishes the flocks and herds which feed on its pastures, as well as the +human population sustained by its produce. This view of things was a +primary factor in the religious education of an agricultural people, as +the ancient Hebrews mainly were. They felt their dependence on God most +directly in the influences of their uncertain climate on the fertility of +their land, with its great possibilities of abundant provision for man and +beast, and on the other hand its extreme risk of famine and all the +hardships that follow in its train. In the changeful aspects of nature +they thus read instinctively the disposition of Jehovah towards +themselves. Fruitful seasons and golden harvests, diffusing comfort and +affluence through the community, were regarded as proofs that all was well +between them and their God; while times of barrenness and scarcity brought +home to them the conviction that Jehovah was alienated. From the allusions +in the prophets to droughts and famines, to blastings and mildew, to the +scourge of locusts, we seem to gather that on the whole the later history +of Israel had been marked by agricultural distress. The impression is +confirmed by a hint of Ezekiel's in the passage now before us. The land of +Canaan had apparently acquired an unenviable reputation for barrenness. +The reproach of the heathen lay upon it as a land that "devoured men and +bereaved its population."(148) The reference may be partly (as Smend +thinks) to the ravages of war, to which Palestine was peculiarly exposed +on account of its important strategic situation. But the "reproach of +famine"(149) was certainly one point in its ill fame among the surrounding +nations, and it is quite sufficient to explain the strong language in +which they expressed their contempt. Now this state of things was plainly +inconsistent with amicable relations between the nation and its God. It +was evidence that the land lay under the blight of Jehovah's displeasure, +and the ground of that displeasure lay in the sin of the people. Where the +land counted for so much as an index to the mind of God, it was a +postulate of faith that in the ideal future when God and Israel were +perfectly reconciled the physical condition of Canaan should be worthy of +Him whose land it was. And we have already seen that amongst the glories +of the Messianic age the preternatural fertility of the Holy Land holds a +prominent place. + +This conception of Canaan as the land of Jehovah undoubtedly has its +natural affinities with religious notions of a somewhat primitive kind. It +belongs to the stage of thought at which the power of a god is habitually +regarded as subject to local limitations, and in which accordingly a +particular territory is assigned to every deity as the sphere of his +influence. It is probable that the great mass of the Hebrew people had +never risen above this idea, but continued to think of their country as +Jehovah's land in precisely the same way as Assyria was Asshur's land and +Moab the land of Chemosh. The monotheism of the Old Testament revelation +breaks through this system of ideas, and interprets Jehovah's relation to +the land in an entirely different sense. It is not as the exclusive sphere +of His influence that Canaan is peculiarly associated with Jehovah's +presence, but mainly because it is the scene of His historical +manifestation of Himself, and the stage on which events were transacted +which revealed His Godhead to all the world. No prophet has a clearer +perception of the universal sweep of the divine government than Ezekiel, +and yet no prophet insists more strongly than he on the possession of the +land of Canaan as an indispensable symbol of communion between God and His +people. He has met with God in the "unclean land" of his exile, and he +knows that the moral government of the universe is not suspended by the +departure of Jehovah from His earthly sanctuary. Nevertheless he cannot +think of this separation as other than temporary. The final reconciliation +must take place on the soil of Palestine. The kingdom of God can only be +established by the return both of Israel and Jehovah to their own land; +and their joint possession of that land is the seal of the everlasting +covenant of peace that subsists between them. + +We must now proceed to study the way in which these conceptions influenced +the Messianic expectations of Ezekiel at this period of his life. The +passage we are to consider consists of three sections. The thirty-fifth +chapter is a prophecy of judgment on Edom. The first fifteen verses of ch. +xxxvi. contain a promise of the restoration of the land of Israel to its +rightful owner. And the remainder of that chapter presents a comprehensive +view of the divine necessity for the restoration and the power by which +the redemption of the people is to be accomplished. + + + +I + + +At the time when these prophecies were written the land of Israel was in +the possession of the Edomites. By what means they had succeeded in +effecting a lodgment in the country we do not know. It is not unlikely +that Nebuchadnezzar may have granted them this extension of their +territory as a reward for their services to his army during the last siege +of Jerusalem. At all events their presence there was an accomplished fact, +and it appeals to the mind of the prophet in two aspects. In the first +place it was an outrage on the majesty of Jehovah which filled the cup of +Edom's iniquity to the brim. In the second place it was an obstacle to the +restoration of Israel which had to be removed by the direct intervention +of the Almighty. These are the two themes which occupy the thoughts of +Ezekiel, the one in ch. xxxv. and the other in ch. xxxvi. Hitherto he has +spoken of the return to the land of Canaan as a matter of course, as a +thing necessary and self-evident and not needing to be discussed in +detail. But as the time draws near he is led to think more clearly of the +historical circumstances of the return, and especially of the hindrances +arising from the actual situation of affairs. + +But besides this one cannot fail to be struck by the effective contrast +which the two pictures--one of the mountain land of Israel, and the other +of the mountain land of Seir--present to the imagination. It is like a +prophetic amplification of the blessing and curse which Isaac pronounced +on the progenitors of these two nations. Of the one it is said:-- + + + God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the + earth, + And abundance of corn and wine. + + +And of the other:-- + + + Surely far from the fatness of the earth shall thy dwelling be, + And far from the dew of heaven from above.(150) + + +In that forecast of the destiny of the two brothers the actual +characteristics of their respective countries are tersely and accurately +expressed. But now, when the history of both nations is about to be +brought to an issue, the contrast is emphasised and perpetuated. The +blessing of Jacob is confirmed and expanded into a promise of unimagined +felicity, and the equivocal blessing on Esau is changed into an +unqualified and permanent curse. Thus, when the mountains of Israel break +forth into singing, and are clothed with all the luxuriance of vegetation +in which the Oriental imagination revels, and cultivated by a happy and +contented people, those of Seir are doomed to perpetual sterility and +become a horror and desolation to all that pass by. + +Confining ourselves, however, to the thirty-fifth chapter, what we have +first to notice is the sins by which the Edomites had incurred this +judgment. These may be summed up under three heads: first, their +unrelenting hatred of Israel, which in the day of Judah's calamity had +broken out in savage acts of revenge (ver. 5); second, their rejoicing +over the misfortunes of Israel and the desolation of its land (ver. 15); +and third, their eagerness to seize the land as soon as it was vacant +(ver. 10). The first and second of these have been already spoken of under +the prophecies on foreign nations; it is only the last that is of special +interest in the present connection. Of course the motive that prompted +Edom was natural, and it may be difficult to say how far real moral guilt +was involved in it. The annexation of vacant territory, as the land of +Israel practically was at this time, would be regarded according to modern +ideas as not only justifiable but praiseworthy. Edom had the excuse of +seeking to better its condition by the possession of a more fertile +country than its own, and perhaps also the still stronger plea of pressure +by the Arabs from behind. But in the consciousness of an ancient people +there was always another thought present; and it is here if anywhere that +the sin of Edom lies. The invasion of Israel did not cease to be an act of +aggression because there were no human defenders to bar the way. It was +still Jehovah's land, although it was unoccupied; and to intrude upon it +was a conscious defiance of His power. The arguments by which the Edomites +justified their seizure of it were none of those which a modern state +might use in similar circumstances, but were based on the religious ideas +which were common to all the world in those days. They were aware that by +the unwritten law which then prevailed the step they meditated was +sacrilege; and the spirit that animated them was arrogant exultation over +what was esteemed the humiliation of Israel's national deity: "The two +nations and the two countries shall be mine, and I will possess them, +although Jehovah was there" (ver. 10: cf. vv. 12, 13). That is to say, the +defeat and captivity of Israel have proved the impotence of Jehovah to +guard His land; His power is broken, and the two countries called by His +name lie open to the invasion of any people that dares to trample +religious scruples underfoot. This was the way in which the action of Edom +would be interpreted by universal consent; and the prophet is only +reflecting the general sense of the age when he charges them with this +impiety. Now it is true that the Edomites could not be expected to +understand all that was involved in a defiance of the God of Israel. To +them He was only one among many national gods, and their religion did not +teach them to reverence the gods of a foreign state. But though they were +not fully conscious of the degree of guilt they incurred, they +nevertheless sinned against the light they had; and the consequences of +transgression are never measured by the sinner's own estimate of his +culpability. There was enough in the history of Israel to have impressed +the neighbouring peoples with a sense of the superiority of its religion +and the difference in character between Jehovah and all other gods. If the +Edomites had utterly failed to learn that lesson, they were themselves +partly to blame; and the spiritual insensibility and dulness of conscience +which everywhere suppressed the knowledge of Jehovah's name is the very +thing which in the view of Ezekiel needs to be removed by signal and +exemplary acts of judgment. + +It is not necessary to enter minutely into the details of the judgment +threatened against Edom. We may simply note that it corresponds point for +point with the demeanour exhibited by the Edomites in the time of Israel's +final retribution. The "perpetual hatred" is rewarded by perpetual +desolation (ver. 9); their seizure of Jehovah's land is punished by their +annihilation in the land that was their own (vv. 6-8); and their malicious +satisfaction over the depopulation of Palestine recoils on their own heads +when their mountain land is made desolate "to the rejoicing of the whole +earth" (vv. 14, 15). And the lesson that will be taught to the world by +the contrast between the renewed Israel and the barren mountain of Seir +will be the power and holiness of the one true God: "they shall know that +I am Jehovah." + + + +II + + +The prophet's mind is still occupied with the sin of Edom as he turns in +the thirty-sixth chapter to depict the future of the land of Israel. The +opening verses of the chapter (vv. 1-7) betray an intensity of patriotic +feeling not often expressed by Ezekiel. The utterance of the single idea +which he wishes to express seems to be impeded by the multitude of +reflections that throng upon him as he apostrophises "the mountains and +the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, the desolate ruins and +deserted cities" of his native country (ver. 4). The land is conceived as +conscious of the shame and reproach that rest upon it; and all the +elements that might be supposed to make up the consciousness of the +land--its naked desolation, the tread of alien feet, the ravages of war, +and the derisive talk of the surrounding heathen (Edom being specially in +view)--present themselves to the mind of the prophet before he can utter +the message with which he is charged: "Thus saith the Lord Jehovah; +Behold, I speak in My jealousy and My anger, because ye have borne the +shame of the heathen: therefore ... I lift up My hand, Surely the nations +that are round about you--even they shall bear their shame" (vv. 6, 7). + +The jealousy of Jehovah is here His holy resentment against indignities +done to Himself, and this attribute of the divine nature is now enlisted +on the side of Israel because of the despite which the heathen had heaped +on His land. But it is noteworthy that it is through the land and not the +people that this feeling is first called into operation. Israel is still +sinful and alienated from God; but the honour of Jehovah is bound up with +the land not less than with the nation, and it is in reference to it that +the necessity of vindicating His holy name first becomes apparent. There +is what we might almost venture to call a divine patriotism, which is +stirred into activity by the desolate condition of the land where the +worship of the true God should be celebrated. On this feature of Jehovah's +character Ezekiel builds the assurance of his people's redemption. The +idea expressed by the verses is simply the certainty that Canaan shall be +recovered from the heathen dominion for the purposes of the kingdom of +God. + +The following verses (8-15) speak of the positive aspects of the +approaching deliverance. Continuing his apostrophe to the mountains of +Israel, the prophet describes the transformation which is to pass over +them in view of the return of the exiled nation, which is now on the eve +of accomplishment (ver. 8). It might almost seem as if the return of the +inhabitants were here treated as a mere incident of the rehabilitation of +the land. That of course is only an appearance, caused by the peculiar +standpoint assumed throughout these chapters. Ezekiel was not one who +could look on complacently + + + Where wealth accumulates and men decay; + + +nor was he indifferent to the social welfare of his people. On the +contrary we have seen from ch. xxxiv. that he regards that as a supreme +interest in the future kingdom of God. And even in this passage he does +not make the interests of humanity subservient to those of nature. His +leading idea is a reunion of land and people under happier auspices than +had obtained of old. Formerly the land, in mysterious sympathy with the +mind of Jehovah, had seemed to be animated by a hostile disposition +towards its inhabitants. The reluctant and niggardly subsistence that had +been wrung from the soil justified the evil report which the spies had +brought up of it at the first as a "land that eateth up the inhabitants +thereof."(151) Its inhospitable character was known among the heathen, so +that it bore the reproach of being a land that "devoured men and bereaved +its nation." But in the glorious future all this will be changed in +harmony with Jehovah's altered relations with His people. In the language +of a later prophet,(152) the land shall be "married" to Jehovah, and +endowed with exuberant fertility. Yielding its fruits freely and +generously, it will wipe off the reproach of the heathen; its cities shall +be inhabited, its ruins rebuilt, and man and beast multiplied on its +surface, so that its last state shall be better than its first (ver. 11). +And those who till it and enjoy the benefits of its wonderful +transformation shall be none other than the house of Israel, for whose +sins it had borne the reproach of barrenness in the past (vv. 12-15). + + + +III + + +The next passage (vv. 16-38) deals more with the renewal of the nation +than with that of the land; and thus forms a link of connection between +the main theme of this chapter and that of ch. xxxvii. It contains the +clearest and most comprehensive statement of the process of redemption to +be found in the whole book, exhibiting as it does in logical order all the +elements which enter into the divine scheme of salvation. The fact that it +is inserted just at this point affords a fresh illustration of the +importance attached by the prophet to the religious associations which +gathered round the Holy Land. The land indeed is still the pivot on which +his thoughts turn; he starts from it in his short review of God's past +judgments on His people, and finally returns to it in summing up the +world-wide effects of His gracious dealings with them in the immediate +future. Although the connection of ideas is singularly clear, the passage +throws so much light on the deepest theological conceptions of Ezekiel +that it will be well to recapitulate the principal steps of the argument. + +We need not linger on the cause of the rejection of Israel, for here the +prophet only repeats the main lesson which we have found so often enforced +in the first part of his book. Israel went into exile because its manner +of life as a nation had been abhorrent to Jehovah, and it had defiled the +land which was Jehovah's house. As in ch. xxii. and elsewhere bloodshed +and idols are the chief emblems of the people's sinful condition; these +constitute a real physical defilement of the land, which must be punished +by the eviction of its inhabitants: "So I poured out My wrath upon them +[on account of the blood which they had shed upon the land, and the idols +wherewith they had polluted it]: and I scattered them among the nations, +and they were dispersed through the countries."(153) + +Thus the Exile was necessary for the vindication of Jehovah's holiness as +reflected in the sanctity of His land. But the effect of the dispersion on +other nations was such as to compromise the honour of Israel's God in +another direction. Knowing Jehovah only as a tribal god, the heathen +naturally concluded that He had been too feeble to protect His land from +invasion and His people from captivity. They could not penetrate to the +moral reasons which rendered the chastisement inevitable; they only saw +that these were Jehovah's people, and yet they were gone forth out of His +land (ver. 20), and drew the natural inference. The impression thus +produced by the presence of Israelites amongst the heathen was derogatory +to the majesty of Jehovah, and obscured the knowledge of the true +principles of His government which was destined to extend to all the +earth. This is all that seems to be meant by the expression "profaned My +holy name."(154) It is not implied that the exiles scandalised the heathen +by their vicious lives, and so brought disgrace on "that glorious name by +which they were called,"(155) although that idea is implied in ch. xii. +16. The profanation spoken of here was caused directly not by the sin but +by the calamities of Israel. Yet it was their sins which brought down +judgment upon them, and so indirectly gave occasion to the enemies of the +Lord to blaspheme. There were probably already some of Ezekiel's +compatriots who realised the bitterness of the thought that their fate was +the means of bringing discredit on their God. Their experience would be +similar to that of the lonely exile who composed the forty-second psalm:-- + + + As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; + While they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?(156) + + +Now in this fact the prophet recognises an absolute ground of confidence +in Israel's restoration. Jehovah cannot endure that His name should thus +be held up to derision before the eyes of mankind. To allow this would be +to frustrate the end of His government of the world, which is to manifest +His Godhead in such a way that all men shall be brought to acknowledge it. +Although He is known as yet only as the national God of a particular +people, He must be disclosed to the world as all that the inspired +teachers of Israel know Him to be--the one Being worthy of the homage of +the human heart. There must be some way by which His name can be +sanctified before the heathen, some means of reconciling the partial +revelation of His holiness in Israel's dispersion with the complete +manifestation of His power to the world at large. And this reconciliation +can only be effected through the redemption of Israel. God cannot disown +His ancient people, for that would be to stultify the whole past +revelation of His character and leave the name by which He had made +Himself known to contempt. That is divinely impossible; and therefore +Jehovah must carry through His purpose by sanctifying Himself in the +salvation of Israel. The outward token of salvation will be their +restoration to their own land (ver. 24); but the inward reality of it will +be a change in the national character which will make their dwelling in +the land consistent with the revelation of Jehovah's holiness already +given by their banishment from it. + +At this point accordingly (ver. 25) Ezekiel passes to speak of the +spiritual process of regeneration by which Israel is to be transformed +into a true people of God. This is a necessary part of the sanctification +of the divine name before the world. The new life of the people will +reveal the character of the God whom they serve, and the change will +explain the calamities that had befallen them in the past. The world will +thus see "that the house of Israel went into captivity for their +iniquity,"(157) and will understand the holiness which the true God +requires in His worshippers. But for the present the prophet's thoughts +are concentrated on the operations of the divine grace by which the +renewal is effected. His analysis of the process of conversion is +profoundly instructive, and anticipates to a remarkable degree the +teaching of the New Testament. We shall content ourselves at present with +merely enumerating the different parts of the process. The first step is +the removal of the impurities contracted by past transgressions. This is +represented under the figure of sprinkling with clean water, suggested by +the ablutions or lustrations which are so common a feature of the +Levitical ritual (ver. 25). The truth symbolised is the forgiveness of +sins, the act of grace which takes away the effect of moral uncleanness as +a barrier to fellowship with God. The second point is what is properly +called regeneration, the giving of a new heart and spirit (ver. 26). The +stony heart of the old nation, whose obduracy had dismayed so many +prophets, making them feel that they had spent their labour for nought and +in vain, shall be taken away, and instead of it they shall receive a heart +of flesh, sensitive to spiritual influences and responsive to the divine +will. And to this is added in the third place the promise of the Spirit of +God to be in them as the ruling principle of a new life of obedience to +the law of God (ver. 27). The law, both moral and ceremonial, is the +expression of Jehovah's holy nature, and both the will and the power to +keep it perfectly must proceed from the indwelling of His holy Spirit in +the people.(158) It is thus Jehovah Himself who "saves" the people "out of +all their uncleannesses" (ver. 29), caused by the depravity and infirmity +of their natural hearts. When these conditions are realised the harmony +between Jehovah and Israel will be completely restored: He will be their +God, and they shall be His people. They shall dwell for ever in the land +promised to their fathers; and the blessing of God resting on land and +people will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, +so that they receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations (vv. +28-30). + +Having thus described the process of salvation as from first to last the +work of Jehovah, the prophet proceeds to consider the impression which it +will produce first on Israel and then on the surrounding nations (vv. +31-36). On Israel the effect of the goodness of God will be to lead them +to repentance. Remembering what their past history has been, and +contrasting it with the blessedness they now enjoy, they shall be filled +with shame and self-contempt, loathing themselves for their iniquities and +their abominations. It is not meant that all feelings of joy and gratitude +will be swallowed up in the consciousness of unworthiness; but this is the +feeling that will be called forth by the memory of their past +transgressions. Their horror of sin will be such that they cannot think of +what they have been without the deepest compunction and self-abasement. +And this sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, reacting on their +consciousness of themselves, will be the best moral guarantee against +their relapse into the uncleanness from which they have been delivered. + +To the heathen, on the other hand, the state of Israel will be a +convincing demonstration of the power and godhead of Jehovah. Men will +say, "Yonder land, which was desolate, has become like the garden of Eden; +and the cities that were ruined and waste and destroyed are fenced and +inhabited" (ver. 35). They will know that it is Jehovah's doing, and it +will be marvellous in their eyes. + +The last two verses seem to be an appendix. They deal with a special +feature of the restoration, about which the minds of the exiles may have +been exercised in thinking of the possibility of their deliverance. Where +was the population of the new Israel to come from? The population of Judah +must have been terribly reduced by the disastrous wars that had desolated +the country since the time of Hezekiah. How was it possible, with a few +thousands in exile, and a miserable remnant left in the land, to build up +a strong and prosperous nation? This thought of theirs is met by the +announcement of a great increase of the inhabitants of the land. Jehovah +is ready to meet the questionings of human anxiety on this point: He will +"let Himself be inquired of" for this.(159) The remembrance of the +sacrificial flocks that used to throng the streets leading to the Temple +at the time of the great festivals supplies Ezekiel with an image of the +teeming population that shall be in all the cities of Canaan when this +prophecy is fulfilled. + +Such is in outline the scheme of redemption which Ezekiel presents to the +minds of his readers. We shall reserve a fuller consideration of its more +important doctrines for a separate chapter.(160) One general application +of its teaching, however, may be pointed out before leaving the subject. +We see that for Ezekiel the mysteries and perplexities of the divine +government find their solution in the idea of redemption. He is aware of +the false impression necessarily produced on the heathen mind by God's +dealings with His people, as long as the process is incomplete. On account +of Israel's sin the revelation of God in providence is gradual and +fragmentary, and seems even for a time to defeat its own end. The +omnipotence of God was obscured by the very act of vindicating His +holiness; and what was in itself a great step towards the complete +revelation of His character came on the world in the first instance as an +evidence of His impotence. But the prophet, looking beyond this to the +final effect of God's work upon the world, sees that Jehovah can be truly +known only in the manifestation of His redeeming grace. All the enigmas +and contradictions that arise from imperfect comprehension of His purpose +find their answer in this truth, that God will yet redeem Israel from its +iniquities. God is His own interpreter, and when His work of salvation is +finished the result will be a conclusive demonstration of that lofty +conception of God to which the prophet had attained. + +Now this argument of Ezekiel's illustrates a principle of wide +application. Many objections that are advanced against the theistic view +of the universe seem to proceed on the assumption that the actual state of +the world adequately represents the mind of its Creator. The heathen of +Ezekiel's day have their modern representatives amongst dispassionate +critics of Providence like J. S. Mill, who prove to their own satisfaction +that the world cannot be the work of a being answering to the Christian +idea of God. Do what you will, they say, to minimise the evils of +existence, there is still an amount of undeniable pain and misery in the +world which is fatal to your doctrine of an all-powerful and perfectly +good Creator. Omnipotence could, and benevolence would, find a remedy; the +Author of the universe, therefore, cannot possess both. God, in short, if +there be a God, may be benevolent, or He may be omnipotent; but if +benevolent He is not omnipotent, and if omnipotent He cannot be +benevolent. How very convincing this is--from the standpoint of the +neutral, non-Christian observer! And how poor a defence is sometimes made +by the optimism which tries to make out that most evils are blessings in +disguise, and the rest not worth minding! The Christian religion rises +superior to such criticism, mainly in virtue of its living faith in +redemption. It does not explain away evil, nor does it profess to account +for its origin. It speaks of the whole creation groaning and travailing in +pain together even until now. But it also describes the creation as +waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. It teaches us to +discover in history the unfolding of a purpose of redemption, the end of +which will be the deliverance of mankind from the dominion of sin and +their eternal blessedness in the kingdom of our God and His Christ. What +Ezekiel foresaw in the form of a national restoration will be accomplished +in a world-wide salvation, in a new heavens and a new earth, where there +shall be no more curse. But meanwhile to judge of God from what is, apart +from what is yet to be revealed, is to repeat the mistake of those who +judged Jehovah to be an effete tribal deity because He had suffered His +people to go forth out of their land. Those who have been brought into +sympathy with the divine purpose, and have experienced the power of the +Spirit of God in subduing the evil of their own hearts, can hold with +unwavering confidence the hope of a universal victory of good over evil; +and in the light of that hope the mysteries that surround the moral +government of God cease to disturb their faith in the eternal Love which +labours patiently and unceasingly for the redemption of man. + + + + +Chapter XXII. Life From The Dead. Chapter xxxvii. + + +The most formidable obstacle to faith on the part of the exiles in the +possibility of a national redemption was the complete disintegration of +the ancient people of Israel. Hard as it was to realise that Jehovah still +lived and reigned in spite of the cessation of His worship, and hard to +hope for a recovery of the land of Canaan from the dominion of the +heathen, these things were still conceivable. What almost surpassed +conception was the restoration of national life to the feeble and +demoralised remnant who had survived the fall of the state. It was no mere +figure of speech that these exiles employed when they thought of their +nation as dead. Cast off by its God, driven from its land, dismembered and +deprived of its political organisation, Israel as a people had ceased to +exist. Not only were the outward symbols of national unity destroyed, but +the national spirit was extinct. Just as the destruction of the bodily +organism implies the death of each separate member and organ and cell, so +the individual Israelites felt themselves to be as dead men, dragging out +an aimless existence without hope in the world. While Israel was alive +they had lived in her and for her; all the best part of their life, +religion, duty, liberty, and loyalty had been bound up with the +consciousness of belonging to a nation with a proud history behind them +and a brilliant future for their posterity. Now that Israel had perished +all spiritual and ideal significance had gone out of their lives; there +remained but a selfish and sordid struggle for existence, and this they +felt was not life, but death in life. And thus a promise of deliverance +which appealed to them as members of a nation seemed to them a mockery, +because they felt in themselves that the bond of national life was +irrevocably broken. + +The hardest part of Ezekiel's task at this time was therefore to revive +the national sentiment, so as to meet the obvious objection that even if +Jehovah were able to drive the heathen from His land there was still no +people of Israel to whom He could give it. If only the exiles could be +brought to believe that Israel had a future, that although now dead it +could be raised from the dead, the spiritual meaning of their life would +be given back to them in the form of hope, and faith in God would be +possible. Accordingly the prophet's thoughts are now directed to the idea +of the nation as the third factor of the Messianic hope. He has spoken of +the kingdom and the land, and each of these ideals has led him on to the +contemplation of the final condition of the world, in which Jehovah's +purpose is fully manifested. So in this chapter he finds in the idea of +the nation a new point of departure, from which he proceeds to delineate +once more the Messianic salvation in its completeness. + + + +I + + +The vision of the valley of dry bones described in the first part of the +chapter contains the answer to the desponding thoughts of the exiles, and +seems indeed to be directly suggested by the figure in which the popular +feeling was currently expressed: "Our bones are dried; our hope is lost: +we feel ourselves cut off" (ver. 11). The fact that the answer came to the +prophet in a state of trance may perhaps indicate that his mind had +brooded over these words of the people for some time before the moment of +inspiration. Recognising how faithfully they represented the actual +situation, he was yet unable to suggest an adequate solution of the +difficulty by means of the prophetic conceptions hitherto revealed to him. +Such a vision as this seems to presuppose a period of intense mental +activity on the part of Ezekiel, during which the despairing utterance of +his compatriots sounded in his ears; and the image of the dried bones of +the house of Israel so fixed itself in his mind that he could not escape +its gloomy associations except by a direct communication from above. When +at last the hand of the Lord came upon him, the revelation clothed itself +in a form corresponding to his previous meditations; the emblem of death +and despair is transformed into a symbol of assured hope through the +astounding vision which unfolds itself before his inner eye. + +In the ecstasy he feels himself led out in spirit to the plain which had +been the scene of former appearances of God to His prophet. But on this +occasion he sees it covered with bones--"very many on the surface of the +valley, and very dry." He is made to pass round about them, in order that +the full impression of this spectacle of desolation might sink into his +mind. His attention is engrossed by two facts--their exceeding great +number, and their parched appearance, as if they had lain there long. In +other circumstances the question might have suggested itself, How came +these bones there? What countless host has perished here, leaving its +unburied bones to bleach and wither on the open plain? But the prophet has +no need to think of this. They are the bones which had been familiar to +his waking thoughts, the dry bones of the house of Israel. The question he +hears addressed to him is not, Whence are these bones? but, Can these +bones live? It is the problem which had exercised his faith in thinking of +a national restoration which thus comes back to him in vision, to receive +its final solution from Him who alone can give it. + +The prophet's hesitating answer probably reveals the struggle between +faith and sight, between hope and fear, which was latent in his mind. He +dare not say No, for that would be to limit the power of Him whom he knows +to be omnipotent, and also to shut out the last gleam of hope from his own +mind. Yet in presence of that appalling scene of hopeless decay and death +he cannot of his own initiative assert the possibility of resurrection. In +the abstract all things are possible with God; but whether this particular +thing, so inconceivable to men, is within the active purpose of God, is a +question which none can answer save God Himself. Ezekiel does what man +must always do in such a case--he throws himself back on God, and +reverently awaits the disclosure of His will, saying, "O Jehovah God, Thou +knowest." + +It is instructive to notice that the divine answer comes through the +consciousness of a duty. Ezekiel is commanded first of all to prophesy +over these dry bones; and in the words given him to utter the solution of +his own inward perplexity is wrapped up. "Say unto them, O ye dry bones, +hear the word of Jehovah.... Behold, I will cause breath to enter into +you, and ye shall live" (vv. 4, 5). In this way he is not only taught that +the agency by which Jehovah will effect His purpose is the prophetic word, +but he is also reminded that the truth now revealed to him is to be the +guide of his practical ministry, and that only in the steadfast discharge +of his prophetic duty can he hold fast the hope of Israel's resurrection. +The problem that has exercised him is not one that can be settled in +retirement and inaction. What he receives is not a mere answer, but a +message, and the delivery of the message is the only way in which he can +realise the truth of it, his activity as a prophet being indeed a +necessary element in the fulfilment of his words. Let him preach the word +of God to these dry bones, and he will know that they can live; but if he +fails to do this, he will sink back into the unbelief to which all things +are impossible. Faith comes in the act of prophesying. + +Ezekiel did as he was commanded; he prophesied over the dry bones, and +immediately he was sensible of the effect of his words. He heard a +rustling, and looking he saw that the bones were coming together, bone to +his bone. He does not need to tell us how his heart rejoiced at this first +sign of life returning to these dead bones, and as he watched the whole +process by which they were built up into the semblance of men. It is +described in minute detail, so that no feature of the impression produced +by the stupendous miracle may be lost. It is divided into two stages, the +restoration of the bodily frame and the imparting of the principle of +life. + +This division cannot have any special significance when applied to the +actual nation, such as that the outward order of the state must be first +established, and then the national consciousness renewed. It belongs to +the imagery of the vision, and follows the order observed in the original +creation of man as described in the second chapter of Genesis. God first +formed man of the dust of the ground, and afterwards breathed into his +nostrils the breath of life, so that he became a living soul. So here we +have first a description of the process by which the bodies were built up, +the skeletons being formed from the scattered bones, and then clothed +successively with sinews and flesh and skin. The reanimation of these +still lifeless bodies is a separate act of creative energy, in which, +however, the agency is still the word of God in the mouth of the prophet. +He is bidden call for the breath to "come from the four winds of heaven, +and breathe upon these slain that they may live." In Hebrew the words for +wind, breath, and spirit are identical; and thus the wind becomes a symbol +of the universal divine Spirit which is the source of all life, while the +breath is a symbol of that Spirit as so to speak specialised in the +individual man, or in other words of his personal life. In the case of the +first man Jehovah breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the +idea here is precisely the same. The wind from the four quarters of heaven +which becomes the breath of this vast assemblage of men is conceived as +the breath of God, and symbolises the life-giving Spirit which makes each +of them a living person. The resurrection is complete. The men live, and +stand up upon their feet an exceeding great army. + +This is the simplest, as well as the most suggestive, of Ezekiel's +visions, and carries its interpretation on the face of it. The single idea +which it expresses is the restoration of the Hebrew nationality through +the quickening influence of the Spirit of Jehovah on the surviving members +of the old house of Israel. It is not a prophecy of the resurrection of +individual Israelites who have perished. The bones are "the whole house of +Israel" now in exile; they are alive as individuals, but as members of a +nation they are dead and hopeless of revival. This is made clear by the +explanation of the vision given in vv. 11-14. It is addressed to those who +think of themselves as cut off from the higher interests and activities of +the national life. By a slight change of figure they are conceived as dead +and buried; and the resurrection is represented as an opening of their +graves. But the grave is no more to be understood literally than the dry +bones of the vision itself; both are symbols of the gloomy and despairing +view which the exiles take of their own condition. The substance of the +prophet's message is that the God who raises the dead and calls the things +that are not as though they were is able to bring together the scattered +members of the house of Israel and form them into a new people through the +operation of His life-giving Spirit. + +It has often been supposed that, although the passage may not directly +teach the resurrection of the body, it nevertheless implies a certain +familiarity with that doctrine on the part of Ezekiel, if not of his +hearers likewise. If the raising of dead men to life could be used as an +analogy of a national restoration, the former conception must have been at +least more obvious than the latter, otherwise the prophet would be +explaining _obscurum per obscurius_. This argument, however, has only a +superficial plausibility. It confounds two things which are distinct--the +mere conception of resurrection, which is all that was necessary to make +the vision intelligible, and settled faith in it as an element of the +Messianic expectation. That God by a miracle could restore the dead to +life no devout Israelite ever doubted.(161) But it is to be noted that the +recorded instances of such miracles are all of those recently dead; and +there is no evidence of a general belief in the possibility of +resurrection for those whose bones were scattered and dry. It is this very +impossibility, indeed, that gives point to the metaphor under which the +people here express their sense of hopelessness. Moreover, if the prophet +had presupposed the doctrine of individual resurrection, he could hardly +have used it as an illustration in the way he does. The mere prospect of a +resuscitation of the multitudes of Israelites who had perished would of +itself have been a sufficient answer to the despondency of the exiles; and +it would have been an anti-climax to use it as an argument for something +much less wonderful. We must also bear in mind that while the resurrection +of a nation may be to us little more than a figure of speech, to the +Hebrew mind it was an object of thought more real and tangible than the +idea of personal immortality. + +It would appear therefore that in the order of revelation the hope of the +resurrection is first presented in the promise of a resurrection of the +dead nation of Israel, and only in the second instance as the resurrection +of individual Israelites who should have passed away without sharing in +the glory of the latter days. Like the early converts to Christianity, the +Old Testament believers sorrowed for those who fell asleep when the +Messiah's kingdom was supposed to be just at hand, until they found +consolation in the blessed hope of a resurrection with which Paul +comforted the Church at Thessalonica.(162) In Ezekiel we find that +doctrine as yet only in its more general form of a national resurrection; +but it can hardly be doubted that the form in which he expressed it +prepared the way for the fuller revelation of a resurrection of the +individual. In two later passages of the prophetic Scriptures we seem to +find clear indications of progress in this direction. One is a difficult +verse in the twenty-sixth chapter of Isaiah--part of a prophecy usually +assigned to a period later than Ezekiel--where the writer, after a +lamentation over the disappointments and wasted efforts of the present, +suddenly breaks into a rapture of hope as he thinks of a time when +departed Israelites shall be restored to life to join the ranks of the +ransomed people of God: "Let thy dead live again! Let my dead bodies +arise! Awake and rejoice, ye that dwell in the dust, for thy dew is a dew +of light, and the earth shall yield up [her] shades."(163) There does not +seem to be any doubt that what is here predicted is the actual +resurrection of individual members of the people of Israel to share in the +blessings of the kingdom of God. The other passage referred to is in the +book of Daniel, where we have the first explicit prediction of a +resurrection both of the just and the unjust. In the time of trouble when +the people is delivered "many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth +shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting +contempt."(164) + +These remarks are made merely to show in what sense Ezekiel's vision may +be regarded as a contribution to the Old Testament doctrine of personal +immortality. It is so not by its direct teaching, nor yet by its +presuppositions, but by the suggestiveness of its imagery, opening out a +line of thought which under the guidance of the Spirit of truth led to a +fuller disclosure of the care of God for the individual life, and His +purpose to redeem from the power of the grave those who had departed this +life in His faith and fear. + +But this line of inquiry lies somewhat apart from the main teaching of the +passage before us as a message for the Church in all ages. The passage +teaches with striking clearness the continuity of God's redeeming work in +the world, in spite of hindrances which to human eyes seem insurmountable. +The gravest hindrance, both in appearance and in reality, is the decay of +faith and vital religion in the Church itself. There are times when +earnest men are tempted to say that the Church's hope is lost and her +bones are dried--when laxity of life and lukewarmness in devotion pervade +all her members, and she ceases to influence the world for good. And yet +when we consider that the whole history of God's cause is one long process +of raising dead souls to spiritual life and building up a kingdom of God +out of fallen humanity, we see that the true hope of the Church can never +be lost. It lies in the life-giving, regenerating power of the divine +Spirit, and the promise that the word of God does not return to Him void +but prospers in the thing whereto He sends it. That is the great lesson of +Ezekiel's vision, and although its immediate application may be limited to +the occasion that called it forth, yet the analogy on which it is founded +is taken up by our Lord Himself and extended to the proclamation of His +truth to the world at large: "The hour is coming, and now is, when the +dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall +live."(165) We perhaps too readily empty these strong terms of their +meaning. The Spirit of God is apt to become a mere expression for the +religious and moral influences lodged in a Christian society, and we come +to rely on these agencies for the dissemination of Christian principles +and the formation of Christian character. We forget that behind all this +there is something which is compared to the imparting of life where there +was none, something which is the work of the Spirit of which we cannot +tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. But in times of low +spirituality, when the love of many waxes cold, and there are few signs of +zeal and activity in the service of Christ, men learn to fall back in +faith on the invisible power of God to make His word effectual for the +revival of His cause among men. And this happens constantly in narrow +spheres which may never attract the notice of the world. There are +positions in the Church still where Christ's servants are called to labour +in the faith of Ezekiel, with appearances all against them, and nothing to +inspire them but the conviction that the word they preach is the power of +God and able even to bring life to the dead. + + + +II + + +The second half of the chapter speaks of a special feature of the national +restoration, the reunion of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel under one +sceptre. This is represented first of all by a symbolic action. The +prophet is directed to take two pieces of wood, apparently in the form of +sceptres, and to write upon them inscriptions dedicating them respectively +to Judah and Joseph, the heads of the two confederacies out of which the +rival monarchies were formed. The "companions" (ver. 16)--_i.e._, allies--of +Judah are the two tribes of Benjamin and Simeon; those of Joseph are all +the other tribes, who stood under the hegemony of Ephraim. If the second +inscription is rather more complicated than the first, it is because of +the fact that there was no actual tribe of Joseph. It therefore runs thus: +"For Joseph, the staff of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel his +confederates." These two staves then he is to put together so that they +become one sceptre in his hand. It is a little difficult to decide whether +this was a sign that was actually performed before the people, or one that +is only imagined. It depends partly on what we take to be meant by the +joining of the two pieces. If Ezekiel merely took two sticks, put them end +to end, and made them look like one, then no doubt he did this in public, +for otherwise there would be no use in mentioning the circumstance at all. +But if the meaning is, as seems more probable, that when the rods are put +together they miraculously grow into one, then we see that such a sign has +a value for the prophet's own mind as a symbol of the truth revealed to +him, and it is no longer necessary to assume that the action was really +performed. The purpose of the sign is not merely to suggest the idea of +political unity, which is too simple to require any such illustration, but +rather to indicate the completeness of the union and the divine force +needed to bring it about. The difficulty of conceiving a perfect fusion of +the two parts of the nation was really very great, the cleavage between +Judah and the North being much older than the monarchy, and having been +accentuated by centuries of political separation and rivalry. + +To us the most noteworthy fact is the steadfastness with which the +prophets of this period cling to the hope of a restoration of the northern +tribes, although nearly a century and a half had now elapsed since +"Ephraim was broken from being a people."(166) Ezekiel, like Jeremiah, is +unable to think of an Israel which does not include the representatives of +the ten northern tribes. Whether any communication was kept up with the +colonies of Israelites that had been transported from Samaria to Assyria +we do not know, but they are regarded as still existing, and still +remembered by Jehovah. The resurrection of the nation which Ezekiel has +just predicted is expressly said to apply to the whole house of Israel, +and now he goes on to announce that this "exceeding great army" shall +march to its land not under two banners, but under one. + +We have touched already, in speaking of the Messianic idea, on the reasons +which lead the prophets to put so much emphasis on this union. They felt +as strongly on the point as a High Churchman does about the sin of schism, +and it would not be difficult for the latter to show that his point of +view and his ideals closely resemble those of the prophets. The rending of +the body of Christ which is supposed to be involved in a breach of +external unity is paralleled by the disruption of the Hebrew state, which +violates the unity of the one people of Jehovah. The idea of the Church as +the bride of Christ, is the same idea under which Hosea expresses the +relations between Jehovah and Israel, and it necessarily carries with it +the unity of the people of Israel in the one case and of the Church in the +other. It must be admitted also that the evils resulting from the division +between Judah and Israel have been reproduced, with consequences a +thousand times more disastrous to religion, in the strife and +uncharitableness, the party spirit and jealousies and animosities, which +different denominations of Christians have invariably exhibited towards +each other when they were close enough for mutual interest. But granting +all this, and granting that what is called schism is essentially the same +thing that the prophets desired to see removed, it does not at once follow +that dissent is in itself sinful, and still less that the sin is +necessarily on the side of the Dissenter. The question is whether the +national standpoint of the prophets is altogether applicable to the +communion of saints in Christ, whether the body of Christ is really torn +asunder by differences in organisation and opinion, whether, in short, +anything is necessary to avoid the guilt of schism beyond keeping the +unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The Old Testament dealt with men +in the mass, as members of a nation, and its standards can hardly be +adequate to the polity of a religion which has to provide for the freedom +of the individual conscience before God. At the worst the Dissenter may +point out that the Old Testament schism was necessary as a protest against +tyranny and despotism, that in this aspect it was sanctioned by the +inspired prophets of the age, that its undoubted evils were partly +compensated by a freer expansion of religious life, and finally that even +the prophets did not expect it to be healed before the millennium. + +From the idea of the reunited nation Ezekiel returns easily to the promise +of the Davidic king and the blessings of the Messianic dispensation. The +one people implies one shepherd, and also one land, and one spirit to walk +in Jehovah's judgments and to observe His statutes to do them. The various +elements which enter into the conception of national salvation are thus +gathered up and combined in one picture of the people's everlasting +felicity. And the whole is crowned by the promise of Jehovah's presence +with the people, sanctifying and protecting them from His sanctuary. This +final condition of things is permanent and eternal. The sources of +internal dispeace are removed by the washing away of Israel's iniquities, +and the impossibility of any disturbance from without is illustrated by +the onslaught of the heathen nations described in the following chapters. + + + + +Chapter XXIII. The Conversion Of Israel. + + +In an early chapter of this volume(167) we had occasion to notice some +theological principles which appear to have guided the prophet's thinking +from the first. It was evident even then that these principles pointed +towards a definite theory of the conversion of Israel and the process by +which it was to be effected. In subsequent prophecies we have seen how +constantly Ezekiel's thoughts revert to this theme, as now one aspect of +it and then another is disclosed to him. We have also glanced at one +passage(168) which seemed to be a connected statement of the divine +procedure as bearing on the restoration of Israel. But we have now reached +a stage in the exposition where all this lies behind us. In the chapters +that remain to be considered the regeneration of the people is assumed to +have taken place; their religion and their morality are regarded as +established on a stable and permanent basis, and all that has to be done +is to describe the institutions by which the benefits of salvation may be +conserved and handed down from age to age of the Messianic dispensation. +The present is therefore a fitting opportunity for an attempt to describe +Ezekiel's doctrine of conversion as a whole. It is all the more desirable +that the attempt should be made because the national salvation is the +central interest of the whole book; and if we can understand the prophet's +teaching on this subject, we shall have the key to his whole system of +theology. + +1. The first point to be noticed, and the one most characteristic of +Ezekiel, is the divine motive for the redemption of Israel--Jehovah's +regard for His own name. This thought finds expression in many parts of +the book, but nowhere more clearly than in the twenty-second verse of the +thirty-sixth chapter: "Not for your sakes do I act, O house of Israel, but +for My holy name, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye +went." Similarly in the thirty-second verse: "Not for your sakes do I act, +saith the Lord Jehovah, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded +for your own ways, O house of Israel." There is an apparent harshness in +these declarations which makes it easy to present them in a repellent +light. They have been taken to mean that Jehovah is absolutely indifferent +to the weal or woe of the people except in so far as it reflects on His +own credit with the world; that He accepts the relationship between Him +and Israel, but does so in the spirit of a selfish parent who exerts +himself to save his child from disgrace merely in order to prevent his own +name from being dragged in the mire. It would be difficult to explain how +such a Being should be at all concerned about what men think of Him. If +Jehovah has no interest in Israel, it is hard to see why He should be +sensitive to the opinion of the rest of mankind. That is an idea of God +which no man can seriously hold, and we may be certain that it is a +perversion of Ezekiel's meaning. Everything depends on how much is +included in the "name" of Jehovah. If it denotes mere arbitrary power, +delighting in its own exercise and the awe which it excites, then we might +conceive of the divine action as ruled by a boundless egoism, to which all +human interests are alike indifferent. But that is not the conception of +God which Ezekiel has. He is a moral Being, one who has compassion on +other things besides His own name,(169) one who has no pleasure in the +death of the wicked, but that he should turn from his way and live.(170) +But when this aspect of His character is included in the name of God, we +see that regard for His name cannot mean mere regard for His own +interests, as if these were opposed to the interests of His creatures; but +means the desire to be known as He is, as a God of mercy and righteousness +as well as of infinite power. + +The name of God is that by which He is known amongst men. It is more than +His honour or reputation, although that is included in it according to +Hebrew idiom; it is the expression of His character or His personality. To +act for His name's sake, therefore, is to act so that His true character +may be more fully revealed, and so that men's thoughts of Him may more +truly correspond to that which in Himself He is. There is plainly nothing +in this inconsistent with the deepest interest in men's spiritual well- +being. Jehovah is the God of salvation, and desires to reveal Himself as +such; and whether we say that He saves men in order that He may be known +as a Saviour, or that He makes Himself known in order to save them, does +not make any real difference. Revelation and redemption are one thing. And +when Ezekiel says that regard for His own name is the supreme motive of +Jehovah's action, he does not teach that Jehovah is uninfluenced by care +for man; if the question had been put to him, he would have said that care +for man is one of the attributes included in the Name which Jehovah is +concerned to reveal. + +The real meaning of Ezekiel's doctrine will perhaps be best understood +from its negative statement. What is meant to be excluded by the +expression "not for your sakes"? It _might_ no doubt mean, "not because I +care at all for you"; but that we have seen to be inconsistent with other +aspects of Ezekiel's teaching about the divine character. All that it +necessarily implies is "not for any good that I find in you." It is a +protest against the idea of Pharisaic self-righteousness that a man may +have a legal claim upon God through his own merits. It is true that that +was not a prevalent notion amongst the people in the time of Ezekiel. But +their state of mind was one in which such a thought might easily arise. +They were convinced of having been entirely in the wrong in their +conceptions of the relation between them and Jehovah. The pagan notion +that the people is indispensable to the god on account of a physical bond +between them had broken down in the recent experience of Israel, and with +it had vanished every natural ground for the hope of salvation. In such +circumstances the promise of deliverance would naturally raise the thought +that there must after all be something in Israel that was pleasing to +Jehovah, and that the prophet's denunciations of their past sins were +overdone. In order to guard against that error Ezekiel explicitly asserts, +what was involved in the whole of his teaching, that the mercy of God was +not called forth by any good in Israel, but that nevertheless there are +immutable reasons in the divine nature on which the certainty of Israel's +redemption may be built. + +The truth here taught is therefore, in theological language, the +sovereignty of the divine grace. Ezekiel's statement of it is liable to +all the distortions and misrepresentations to which that doctrine has been +subjected at the hands both of its friends and its enemies; but when +fairly treated it is no more objectionable than any other expression of +the same truth to be found in Scripture. In Ezekiel's case it was the +result of a penetrating analysis of the moral condition of his people +which led him to see that there was nothing in them to suggest the +possibility of their being restored. It is only when he falls back on the +thought of what God is, on the divine necessity of vindicating His +holiness in the salvation of His people, that his faith in Israel's future +finds a sure point of support. And so in general a profound sense of human +sinfulness will always throw the mind back on the idea of God as the one +immovable ground of confidence in the ultimate redemption of the +individual and the world. When the doctrine is pressed to the conclusion +that God saves men in spite of themselves, and merely to display His power +over them, it becomes false and pernicious, and indeed self-contradictory. +But so long as we hold fast to the truth that God is love, and that the +glory of God is the manifestation of His love, the doctrine of the divine +sovereignty only expresses the unchangeableness of that love and its final +victory over the sin of the world. + +2. The intellectual side of the conversion of Israel is the acceptance of +that idea of God which to the prophet is summed up in the name of Jehovah. +This is expressed in the standing formula which denotes the effect of all +God's dealings with men, "They shall know that I am Jehovah." We need not, +however, repeat what has been already said as to the meaning of these +words.(171) Nor shall we dwell on the effect of the national judgment as a +means towards producing a right impression of Jehovah's nature. It is +possible that as time went on Ezekiel came to see that chastisement alone +would not effect the moral change in the exiles which was necessary to +bring them into sympathy with the divine purposes. In the early prophecy +of ch. vi. the knowledge of Jehovah and the self-condemnation which +accompanies it are spoken of as the direct result of His judgment on +sin,(172) and this undoubtedly was one element in the conversion of the +people to right thoughts about God. But in all other passages this feeling +of self-loathing is not the beginning but the end of conversion; it is +caused by the experience of pardon and redemption following upon +punishment.(173) There is also another aspect of judgment which may be +mentioned in passing for the sake of completeness. It is that which is +expounded in the end of the twentieth chapter. There the judgment which +still stands between the exiles and the return to their own land is +represented as a sifting process, in which those who have undergone a +spiritual change are finally separated from those who perish in their +impenitence. This idea does not occur in the prophecies subsequent to the +fall of Jerusalem, and it may be doubtful how it fits into the scheme of +redemption there unfolded. The prophet here regards conversion as a +process wholly carried through by the operation of Jehovah on the mind of +the people; and what we have next to consider is the steps by which this +great end is accomplished. They are these two--forgiveness and +regeneration. + +3. The forgiveness of sins is denoted in the thirty-sixth chapter, as we +have already seen, by the symbol of sprinkling with clean water. But it +must not be supposed that this isolated figure is the only form in which +the doctrine appears in Ezekiel's exposition of the process of salvation. +On the contrary forgiveness is the fundamental assumption of the whole +argument, and is present in every promise of future blessedness to the +people. For the Old Testament idea of forgiveness is extremely simple, +resting as it does on the analogy of forgiveness in human life. The +spiritual fact which constitutes the essence of forgiveness is the change +in Jehovah's disposition towards His people which is manifested by the +renewal of those indispensable conditions of national well-being which in +His anger He had taken away. The restoration of Israel to its own land is +thus not simply a token of forgiveness, but the act of forgiveness itself, +and the only form in which the fact could be realised in the experience of +the nation. In this sense the whole of Ezekiel's predictions of the +Messianic deliverance and the glories that follow it are one continuous +promise of forgiveness, setting forth the truth that Jehovah's love to His +people persists in spite of their sin, and works victoriously for their +redemption and restoration to the full enjoyment of His favour. There is +perhaps one point in which we discover a difference between Ezekiel's +conception and that of his predecessors. According to the common prophetic +doctrine penitence, including amendment, is the moral effect of Jehovah's +chastisement, and is the necessary condition of pardon. We have seen that +there is some doubt whether Ezekiel regarded repentance as the result of +judgment, and the same doubt exists as to whether in the order of +salvation repentance is a preliminary or a consequence of forgiveness. The +truth is that the prophet appears to combine both conceptions. In urging +individuals to prepare for the coming of the kingdom of God he makes +repentance a necessary condition of entering it; but in describing the +whole process of salvation as the work of God he makes contrition for sin +the result of reflection on the goodness of Jehovah already experienced in +the peaceful occupation of the land of Canaan. + +4. The idea of regeneration is very prominent in Ezekiel's teaching. The +need for a radical change in the national character was impressed on him +by the spectacle which he witnessed daily of evil tendencies and practices +persisted in, in spite of the clearest demonstration that they were +hateful to Jehovah and had been the cause of the nation's calamities. And +he does not ascribe this state of things merely to the influence of +tradition and public opinion and evil example, but traces it to its source +in the hardness and corruption of the individual nature. It was evident +that no mere change of intellectual conviction would avail to alter the +currents of life among the exiles; the heart must be renewed, out of which +are the issues both of personal and national life. Hence the promise of +regeneration is expressed as a taking away of the stony, unimpressible +heart that was in them, and putting within them a heart of flesh, a new +heart and a new spirit. In exhorting individuals to repentance Ezekiel +calls on them to make themselves a new heart and a new spirit,(174) +meaning that their repentance must be genuine, extending to the inner +motives and springs of action, and not be confined to outward signs of +mourning.(175) But in other connections the new heart and spirit is +represented as a gift, the result of the operation of the divine +grace.(176) + +Closely connected with this, perhaps only the same truth in another form, +is the promise of the outpouring of the Spirit of God.(177) The general +expectation of a new supernatural power infused into the national life in +the latter days is common in the prophets. It appears in Hosea under the +beautiful image of the dew,(178) and in Isaiah it is expressed in the +consciousness that the desolation of the land must continue "until spirit +be poured upon us from on high."(179) But no earlier prophet presents the +idea of the Spirit as a principle of regeneration with the precision and +clearness which the doctrine assumes in the hands of Ezekiel. What in +Hosea and Isaiah may be only a divine influence, quickening and developing +the flagging spiritual energies of the people, is here revealed as a +creative power, the source of a new life, and the beginning of all that +possesses moral or spiritual worth in the people of God. + +5. It only remains for us now to note the twofold effect of these +operations of Jehovah's grace in the religious and moral condition of the +nation. There will be produced, in the first place, a new readiness and +power of obedience to the divine commandments.(180) Like the apostle, they +will not only "consent unto the law that it is good";(181) but in virtue +of the new "Spirit of life" given to them, they will be in a real sense +"free from the law,"(182) because the inward impulse of their own +regenerate nature will lead them to fulfil it perfectly. The inefficiency +of law as a mere external authority acting on men by hope of reward and +fear of punishment was perceived both by Jeremiah and Ezekiel almost as +clearly as by Paul, although this conviction on the part of the prophets +was based on observation of national depravity rather than on their +personal experience. It led Jeremiah to the conception of a new covenant +under which Jehovah will write His law on men's hearts;(183) and Ezekiel +expresses the same truth in the promise of a new Spirit inclining the +people to walk in Jehovah's statutes and to keep His judgments. + +The second inward result of salvation is shame and self-loathing on +account of past transgressions.(184) It seems strange that the prophet +should dwell so much on this as a mark of Israel's saved condition. His +strong protest against the doctrine of inherited guilt in the eighteenth +chapter would have led us to expect that the members of the new Israel +would not be conscious of any responsibility for the sins of the old. But +here, as in other instances, the conception of the personified nation +proves itself a better vehicle of religious truth from the Old Testament +standpoint than the religious relations of the individual. The continuity +of the national consciousness sustains that profound sense of unworthiness +which is an essential element of true reconciliation to God, although each +individual Israelite in the kingdom of God knows that he is not +accountable for the iniquity of his fathers. + + ------------------------------------- + +This outline of the prophet's conception of salvation illustrates the +truth of the remark that Ezekiel is the first dogmatic theologian. In so +far as it is the business of a theologian to exhibit the logical +connection of the ideas which express man's relation to God, Ezekiel more +than any other prophet may claim the title. Truths which are the +presuppositions of all prophecy are to him objects of conscious +reflection, and emerge from his hands in the shape of clearly formulated +doctrines. There is probably no single element of his teaching which may +not be traced in the writings of his predecessors, but there is none which +has not gained from him a more distinct intellectual expression. And what +is specially remarkable is the manner in which the doctrines are bound +together in the unity of a system. In grounding the necessity of +redemption in the divine nature, Ezekiel may be said to foreshadow the +theology which is often called Calvinistic or Augustinian, but which might +more truly be called Pauline. Although the final remedy for the sin of the +world had not yet been revealed, the scheme of redemption disclosed to +Ezekiel agrees with much of the teaching of the New Testament regarding +the effects of the work of Christ on the individual. Speaking of the +passage ch. xxxvi. 16-38 Dr. Davidson writes as follows:-- + +"Probably no passage in the Old Testament of the same extent offers so +complete a parallel to New Testament doctrine, particularly to that of St. +Paul. It is doubtful if the apostle quotes Ezekiel anywhere, but his line +of thought entirely coincides with his. The same conceptions and in the +same order belong to both,--forgiveness (ver. 25); regeneration, a new +heart and spirit (ver. 26); the Spirit of God as the ruling power in the +new life (ver. 27); the issue of this, the keeping of the requirements of +God's law (ver. 27; Rom. viii. 4); the effect of being 'under grace' in +softening the human heart and leading to obedience (ver. 31; Rom. vi., +vii.); and the organic connection of Israel's history with Jehovah's +revelation of Himself to the nations (vv. 33-36; Rom. xi.)." + + + + +Chapter XXIV. Jehovah's Final Victory. Chapters xxxviii., xxxix. + + +These chapters give the impression of having been intended to stand at the +close of the book of Ezekiel. Their present position is best explained on +the supposition that the original collection of Ezekiel's prophecies +actually ended here, and that the remaining chapters (xl.-xlviii.) form an +appendix, added at a later period without disturbing the plan on which the +book had been arranged. In chronological order, at all events, the oracle +on Gog comes after the vision of the last nine chapters. It marks the +utmost limit of Ezekiel's vision of the future of the kingdom of God. It +represents the _dénouement_ of the great drama of Jehovah's self- +manifestation to the nations of the world. It describes an event which is +to take place in the far-distant future, long after the Messianic age has +begun and after Israel has long been settled peacefully in its own land. +Certain considerations, which we shall notice at the end of this lecture, +brought home to the prophet's mind the conviction that the lessons of +Israel's restoration did not afford a sufficient illustration of Jehovah's +glory or of the meaning of His past dealings with His people. The +conclusive demonstration of this is therefore to be furnished by the +destruction of Gog and his myrmidons when in the latter days they make an +onslaught on the Holy Land. + +The idea of a great world-catastrophe, following after a long interval the +establishment of the kingdom of God, is peculiar to Ezekiel amongst the +prophets of the Old Testament. According to other prophets the judgment of +the nations takes place in a "day of Jehovah" which is the crisis of +history; and the Messianic era which follows is a period of undisturbed +tranquillity in which the knowledge of the true God penetrates to the +remotest regions of the earth. In Ezekiel, on the other hand, the judgment +of the world is divided into two acts. The nearer nations which have +played a part in the history of Israel in the past form a group by +themselves; their punishment is a preliminary to the restoration of +Israel, and the impression produced by that restoration is for them a +signal, though not perhaps a complete,(185) vindication of the Godhead of +Jehovah. But the outlying barbarians, who hover on the outskirts of +civilisation, are not touched by this revelation of the divine power and +goodness; they seem to be represented as utterly ignorant of the +marvellous course of events by which Israel has been brought to dwell +securely in the midst of the nations.(186) These, accordingly, are +reserved for a final reckoning, in which the power of Jehovah will be +displayed with the terrible physical convulsions which mark the great day +of the Lord.(187) Only then will the full meaning of Israel's history be +disclosed to the world; in particular it will be seen that it was for +their sin that they had fallen under the power of the heathen, and not +because of Jehovah's inability to protect them.(188) + +These are some general features of the prophecy which at once attract +attention. We shall now examine the details of the picture, and then +proceed to consider its significance in relation to other elements of +Ezekiel's teaching. + + + +I + + +The thirty-eighth chapter may be divided into three sections of seven +verses each. + +i. Vv. 3-9.--The prophet having been commanded to direct his face towards +Gog in the land of Magog, is commissioned to announce the fate that is in +store for him and his hosts in the latter days. The name of this +mysterious and formidable personage was evidently familiar to the Jewish +world of Ezekiel's time, although to us its origin is altogether obscure. +The most plausible suggestion, on the whole, is perhaps that which +identifies it with the name of the Lydian monarch Gyges, which appears on +the Assyrian monuments in the form _Gugu_, corresponding as closely as is +possible to the Hebrew Gog.(189) But in the mind of Ezekiel Gog is hardly +an historical figure. He is but the impersonation of the dreaded power of +the northern barbarians, already recognised as a serious danger to the +peace of the world. His designation as prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal +points to the region east of the Black Sea as the seat of his power.(190) +He is the captain of a vast multitude of horsemen, gorgeously arrayed, and +armed with shield, helmet, and sword. But although Gog himself belongs to +the "uttermost north," he gathers under his banner all the most distant +nations both of the north and the south. Not only northern peoples like +the Cimmerians and Armenians,(191) but Persians and Africans,(192) all of +them with shield and helmet, swell the ranks of his motley army. The name +of Gog is thus on the way to become a symbol of the implacable enmity of +this world to the kingdom of God; as in the book of the Revelation it +appears as the designation of the ungodly world-power which perishes in +conflict with the saints of God (Rev. xx. 7 ff.). + +Gog therefore is summoned to hold himself in readiness, as Jehovah's +reserve,(193) against the last days, when the purpose for which he has +been raised up will be made manifest. After many days he shall receive his +marching orders; Jehovah Himself will lead forth his squadrons and the +innumerable hosts of nations that follow in his train,(194) and bring them +up against the mountains of Israel, now reclaimed from desolation, and +against a nation gathered from among many peoples, dwelling in peace and +security. The advance of these destructive hordes is likened to a tempest, +and their innumerable multitude is pictured as a cloud covering all the +land (ver. 9). + +ii. Vv. 10-16.--But like the Assyrian in the time of Isaiah, Gog "meaneth +not so"; he is not aware that he is Jehovah's instrument, his purpose +being to "destroy and cut off nations not a few."(195) Hence the prophet +proceeds to a new description of the enterprise of Gog, laying stress on +the "evil thought" that will arise in his heart and lure him to his doom. +What urges him on is the lust of plunder. The report of the people of +Israel as a people that has amassed wealth and substance, and is at the +same time defenceless, dwelling in a land without walls or bolts or gates, +will have reached him. These two verses (11, 12) are interesting as giving +a picture of Ezekiel's conception of the final state of the people of God. +They dwell in the "navel of the world"; they are rich and prosperous, so +that the fame of them has gone forth through all lands; they are destitute +of military resources, yet are unmolested in the enjoyment of their +favoured lot because of the moral effect of Jehovah's name on all nations +that know their history. To Gog, however, who knows nothing of Jehovah, +they will seem an easy conquest, and he will come up confident of victory +to seize spoil and take booty and lay his hand on waste places reinhabited +and a people gathered out of the heathen. The news of the great expedition +and the certainty of its success will rouse the cupidity of the trading +communities from all the ends of the earth, and they will attach +themselves as camp-followers to the army of Gog. In historic times this +_rôle_ would naturally have fallen to the Phoenicians, who had a keen eye +for business of this description.(196) But Ezekiel is thinking of a time +when Tyre shall be no more; and its place is taken by the mercantile +tribes of Arabia and the ancient Phoenician colony of Tarshish. The whole +world will then resound with the fame of Gog's expedition, and the most +distant nations will await its issue with eager expectation. This then is +the meaning of Gog's destiny. In the time when Israel dwells peacefully he +will be restless and eager for spoil;(197) his multitudes will be set in +motion, and throw themselves on the land, covering it like a cloud. But +this is Jehovah's doing, and the purpose of it is that the nations may +know Him and that He may be sanctified in Gog before their eyes. + +iii. Vv. 17-23.--These verses are in the main a description of the +annihilation of Gog's host by the fierce wrath of Jehovah; but this is +introduced by a reference to unfulfilled prophecies which are to receive +their accomplishment in this great catastrophe. It is difficult to say +what particular prophecies are meant. Those which most readily suggest +themselves are perhaps the fourth chapter of Joel and the twelfth and +fourteenth of Zechariah; but these probably belong to a later date than +Ezekiel. The prophecies of Zephaniah and Jeremiah, called forth by the +Scythian invasion,(198) have also been thought of, although the point of +view there is different from that of Ezekiel. In Jeremiah and Zephaniah +the Scythians are the scourge of God, appointed for the chastisement of +the sinful nation; whereas Gog is brought up against a holy people, and +for the express purpose of having judgment executed on himself. On the +supposition that Ezekiel's vision was coloured by his recollection of the +Scythians, this view has no doubt the greatest likelihood. It is possible, +however, that the allusion is not to any particular group of prophecies, +but to a general idea which pervades prophecy--the expectation of a great +conflict in which the power of the world shall be arrayed against Jehovah +and Israel, and the issue of which shall exhibit the sole sovereignty of +the true God to all mankind.(199) It is of course unnecessary to suppose +that any prophet had mentioned Gog by name in a prediction of the future. +All that is meant is that Gog is the person in whom the substance of +previous oracles is to be accomplished. + +The question of ver. 17 leads thus to the announcement of the outpouring +of Jehovah's indignation on the violators of His territory. As soon as Gog +sets foot on the soil of Israel, Jehovah's wrath is kindled against him. A +mighty earthquake shall shatter the mountains and level every wall to the +ground and strike terror into the hearts of all creatures. The host of Gog +shall be panic-stricken,(200) each man turning his sword against his +fellow; while Jehovah completes the slaughter by pestilence and blood, +rain and hailstones, fire and brimstone. The deliverance of Israel is +effected without the help of any human arm; it is the doing of Jehovah, +who thus magnifies and sanctifies Himself and makes Himself known before +the eyes of many peoples, so that they may know Him to be Jehovah. + +iv. Ch. xxxix. 1-8.--Commencing afresh with a new apostrophe to Gog, +Ezekiel here recapitulates the substance of the previous chapter--the +bringing up of Gog from the farthest north, his destruction on the +mountains of Israel, and the effect of this on the surrounding nations. +Mention is expressly made of the bow and arrows which were the distinctive +weapons of the Scythian horsemen.(201) These are struck from the grasp of +Gog, and the mighty host falls on the open field to be devoured by wild +beasts and by ravenous birds of every feather. But the judgment is +universal in its extent; it reaches to Magog, the distant abode of Gog, +and all the remote lands whence his auxiliaries were drawn. This is the +day whereof Jehovah has spoken by His servants the prophets of Israel, the +day which finally manifests His glory to all the ends of the earth. + +v. Vv. 9-16.--Here the prophet falls into a more prosaic strain, as he +proceeds to describe with characteristic fulness of detail the sequel of +the great invasion. As the English story of the Invincible Armada would be +incomplete without a reference to the treasures cast ashore from the +wrecked galleons on the Orkneys and the Hebrides, so the fate of Gog's +ill-starred enterprise is vividly set forth by the minute description of +the traces it left behind in the peaceful life of Israel. The irony of the +situation is unmistakable, and perhaps a touch of conscious exaggeration +is permissible in such a picture. In the first place the weapons of the +slain warriors furnish wood enough to serve for fuel to the Israelites for +the space of seven years. Then follows a picture of the process of +cleansing the land from the corpses of the fallen enemy. A burying-place +is assigned to them in the valley of Abarim(202) on the eastern side of +the Dead Sea, outside of the sacred territory. The whole people of Israel +will be engaged for seven months in the operation of burying them; after +this the mouth of the valley will be sealed,(203) and it will be known +ever afterwards as the Valley of the Host of Gog. But even after the seven +months have expired the scrupulous care of the people for the purity of +their land will be shown by the precautions they take against its +continued defilement by any fragment of a skeleton that may have been +overlooked. They will appoint permanent officials, whose business will be +to search for and remove relics of the dead bodies, that the land may be +restored to its purity. Whenever any passer-by lights on a bone he will +set up a mark beside it to attract the attention of the buriers. "Thus [in +course of time] they shall cleanse the land." + +vi. Vv. 17-24.--The overwhelming magnitude of the catastrophe is once more +set forth under the image of a sacrificial feast, to which Jehovah summons +all the birds of the air and every beast of the field (vv. 17-20). The +feast is represented as a sacrifice not in any religious sense, but simply +in accordance with ancient usage, in which the slaughtering of animals was +invariably a sacrificial act. The only idea expressed by the figure is +that Jehovah has decreed this slaughter of Gog and his host, and that it +will be so great that all ravenous beasts and birds will eat flesh to the +full and drink the blood of princes of the earth to intoxication. But we +turn with relief from these images of carnage and death to the moral +purpose which they conceal (vv. 21-24). This is stated more distinctly +here than in earlier passages of this prophecy. It will teach Israel that +Jehovah is indeed their God; the lingering sense of insecurity caused by +the remembrance of their former rejection will be finally taken away by +this signal deliverance. And through Israel it will teach a lesson to the +heathen. They will learn something of the principles on which Jehovah has +dealt with His people when they contrast this great salvation with His +former desertion of them. It will then fully appear that it was for their +sins that they went into captivity; and so the knowledge of God's holiness +and His displeasure against sin will be extended to the nations of the +world. + +vii. Vv. 25-29.--The closing verses do not strictly belong to the oracle on +Gog. The prophet returns to the standpoint of the present, and predicts +once more the restoration of Israel, which has heretofore been assumed as +an accomplished fact. The connection with what precedes is, however, very +close. The divine attributes, whose final manifestation to the world is +reserved for the far-off day of Gog's defeat, are already about to be +revealed to Israel. Jehovah's compassion for His people and His jealousy +for His own name will speedily be shown in "turning the fortunes" of +Israel, bringing them back from the peoples, and gathering them from the +land of their enemies. The consequences of this upon the nation itself are +described in more gracious terms than in any other passage. They shall +forget their shame and all their trespasses when they dwell securely in +their own land, none making them afraid.(204) The saving knowledge of +Jehovah as their God, who led them into captivity and brought them back +again, will as far as Israel is concerned be complete; and the gracious +relation thus established shall no more be interrupted, because of the +divine Spirit which has been poured out on the house of Israel. + + + +II + + +It will be seen from this summary of the contents of the prophecy that, +while it presents many features peculiar to itself, it also contains much +in common with the general drift of the prophet's thinking. We must now +try to form an estimate of its significance as an episode in the great +drama of Providence which unfolded itself before his inspired imagination. + +The ideas peculiar to the passage are for the most part such as might have +been suggested to the mind of Ezekiel by the remembrance of the great +Scythian invasion in the reign of Josiah. Although it is not likely that +he had himself lived through that time of terror, he must have grown up +whilst it was still fresh in the public recollection, and the rumour of it +had apparently left upon him impressions never afterwards effaced. Several +circumstances, none of them perhaps decisive by itself, conspire to show +that at least in its imagery the oracle on Gog is based on the conception +of an irruption of Scythian barbarians. The name of Gog may be too obscure +to serve as an indication; but his location in the extreme north, the +description of his army as composed mainly of cavalry armed with bow and +arrows, their innumerable multitude, and the love of pillage and +destruction by which they are animated, all point to the Scythians as the +originals from whom the picture of Gog's host is drawn. Besides the light +which it casts on the genesis of the prophecy, this fact has a certain +biographical interest for the reader of Ezekiel. That the prophet's +furthest vista into the future should be a reflection of his earliest +memory reminds us of a common human experience. "The thoughts of youth are +long, long thoughts," reaching far into manhood and old age; and the mind +as it turns back upon them may often discover in them that which carries +it furthest in reading the divine mysteries of life and destiny. + + + Thus while the Sun sinks down to rest + Far in the regions of the west, + Though to the vale no parting beam + Be given, not one memorial gleam, + A lingering light he fondly throws + On the dear hills where first he rose. + + +For it is not merely the imagery of the prophecy that reveals the +influence of these early associations; the thoughts which it embodies are +themselves partly the result of the prophet's meditation on questions +suggested by the invasion. His youthful impressions of the descent of the +northern hordes were afterwards illuminated, as we see from his own words, +by the study of contemporary prophecies of Jeremiah and Zephaniah called +forth by the event. From these and other predictions he learned that +Jehovah had a purpose with regard to the remotest nations of the earth +which yet awaited its accomplishment. That purpose, in accordance with his +general conception of the ends of the divine government, could be nothing +else than the manifestation of Jehovah's glory before the eyes of the +world. That this involved an act of judgment was only too certain from the +universal hostility of the heathen to the kingdom of God. Hence the +prophet's reflections would lead directly to the expectation of a final +onslaught of the powers of this world on the people of Israel, which would +give occasion for a display of Jehovah's might on a grander scale than had +yet been seen. And this presentiment of an impending conflict between +Jehovah and the pagan world headed by the Scythian barbarians forms the +kernel of the oracle against Gog. + +But we must further observe that this idea, from Ezekiel's point of view, +necessarily presupposes the restoration of Israel to its own land. The +peoples assembled under the standard of Gog are those which have never as +yet come in contact with the true God, and consequently have had no +opportunity of manifesting their disposition towards Him. They have not +sinned as Edom and Tyre, as Egypt and Assyria have sinned, by injuries +done to Jehovah through His people. Even the Scythians themselves, +although they had approached the confines of the sacred territory, do not +seem to have invaded it. Nor could the opportunity present itself so long +as Israel was in Exile. While Jehovah was without an earthly sanctuary or +a visible emblem of His government, there was no possibility of such an +infringement of His holiness on the part of the heathen as would arrest +the attention of the world. The judgment of Gog, therefore, could not be +conceived as a preliminary to the restoration of Israel, like that on +Egypt and the nations immediately surrounding Palestine. It could only +take place under a state of things in which Israel was once more "holiness +to the Lord, and the firstfruits of His increase," so that "all that +devoured him were counted guilty" (Jer. ii. 3). This enables us partly to +understand what appears to us the most singular feature of the prophecy, +the projection of the final manifestation of Jehovah into the remote +future, when Israel is already in possession of all the blessings of the +Messianic dispensation. It is a consequence of the extension of the +prophetic horizon, so as to embrace the distant peoples that had hitherto +been beyond the pale of civilisation. + +There are other aspects of Ezekiel's teaching on which light is thrown by +this anticipation of a world-judgment as the final scene of history. The +prophet was evidently conscious of a certain inconclusiveness and want of +finality in the prospect of the restoration as a justification of the ways +of God to men. Although all the forces of the world's salvation were +wrapped up in it, its effects were still limited and measurable, both as +to their range of influence and their inherent significance. Not only did +it fail to impress the more distant nations, but its own lessons were +incompletely taught. He felt that it had not been made clear to the dull +perceptions of the heathen why the God of Israel had ever suffered His +land to be desecrated and His people to be led into captivity. Even Israel +itself will not fully know all that is meant by having Jehovah for its God +until the history of revelation is finished. Only in the summing up of the +ages, and in the light of the last judgment, will men truly realise all +that is implied in the terms God and sin and redemption. The end is needed +to interpret the process; and all religious conceptions await their +fulfilment in the light of eternity which is yet to break on the issues of +human history. + + + + + +PART V. THE IDEAL THEOCRACY. + + + + +Chapter XXV. The Import Of The Vision. + + +We have now reached the last and in every way the most important section +of the book of Ezekiel. The nine concluding chapters record what was +evidently the crowning experience of the prophet's life. His ministry +began with a vision of God; it culminates in a vision of the people of +God, or rather of God in the midst of His people, reconciled to them, +ruling over them, and imparting the blessings and glories of the final +dispensation. Into that vision are thrown the ideals which had been +gradually matured through twenty years of strenuous action and intense +meditation. We have traced some of the steps by which the prophet was led +towards this consummation of his work. We have seen how, under the idea of +God which had been revealed to him, he was constrained to announce the +destruction of that which called itself the people of Jehovah, but was in +reality the means of obscuring His character and profaning His holiness +(chs. iv.-xxiv.). We have seen further how the same fundamental conception +led him on in his prophecies against foreign nations to predict a great +clearing of the stage of history for the manifestation of Jehovah (chs. +xxv.-xxxii.). And we have seen from the preceding section what are the +processes by which the divine Spirit breathes new life into a dead nation +and creates out of its scattered members a people worthy of the God whom +the prophet has seen. + +But there is still something more to accomplish before his task is +finished. All through, Ezekiel holds fast the truth that Jehovah and +Israel are necessarily related to each other, and that Israel is to be the +medium through which alone the nature of Jehovah can be fully disclosed to +mankind. It remains, therefore, to sketch the outline of a perfect +theocracy--in other words, to describe the permanent forms and institutions +which shall express the ideal relation between God and men. To this task +the prophet addresses himself in the chapters now before us. That great +New Year's Vision may be regarded as the ripe fruit of all God's training +of His prophet, as it is also the part of Ezekiel's work which most +directly influenced the subsequent development of religion in Israel. + +It cannot be doubted, then, that these chapters are an integral part of +the book, considered as a record of Ezekiel's work. But it is certainly a +significant circumstance that they are separated from the body of the +prophecies by an interval of thirteen years. For the greater part of that +time Ezekiel's literary activity was suspended. It is probable, at all +events, that the first thirty-nine chapters had been committed to writing +soon after the latest date they mention, and that the oracle on Gog, which +marks the extreme limit of Ezekiel's prophetic vision, was really the +conclusion of an earlier form of the book. And we may be certain that, +since the eventful period that followed the arrival of the fugitive from +Jerusalem, no new divine communication had visited the prophet's mind. But +at last, in the twenty-fifth year of the captivity, and on the first day +of a new year,(205) he falls into a trance more prolonged than any he had +yet passed through, and he emerged from it with a new message for his +people. + +In what direction were the prophet's thoughts moving as Israel passed into +the midnight of her exile? That they have moved in the interval--that his +standpoint is no longer quite identical with that represented in his +earlier prophecies--seems to be shown by one slight modification of his +previous conceptions, which has been already mentioned.(206) I refer to +the position of the prince in the theocratic state. We find that the king +is still the civil head of the commonwealth, but that his position is +hardly reconcilable with the exalted functions assigned to the Messianic +king in ch. xxxiv. The inference seems irresistible that Ezekiel's point +of view has somewhat changed, so that the objects in his picture present +themselves in a different perspective. + +It is true that this change was effected by a vision, and it may be said +that that fact forbids our regarding it as indicating a progress in +Ezekiel's thoughts. But the vision of a prophet is never out of relation +to his previous thinking. The prophet is always prepared for his vision; +it comes to him as the answer to questions, as the solution of +difficulties, whose force he has felt, and apart from which it would +convey no revelation of God to his mind. It marks the point at which +reflection gives place to inspiration, where the incommunicable certainty +of the divine word lifts the soul into the region of spiritual and eternal +truth. And hence it may help us, from our human point of view, to +understand the true import of this vision, if from the answer we try to +discover the questions which were of pressing interest to Ezekiel in the +later part of his career. + +Speaking generally, we may say that the problem that occupied the mind of +Ezekiel at this time was the problem of a religious constitution. How to +secure for religion its true place in public life, how to embody it in +institutions which shall conserve its essential ideas and transmit them +from one generation to another, how a people may best express its national +responsibility to God--these and many kindred questions are real and vital +to-day amongst the nations of Christendom, and they were far more vital in +the age of Ezekiel. The conception of religion as an inward spiritual +power, moulding the life of the nation and of each individual member, was +at least as strong in him as in any other prophet; and it had been +adequately expressed in the section of his book dealing with the formation +of the new Israel. But he saw that this was not for that time sufficient. +The mass of the community were dependent on the educative influence of the +institutions under which they lived, and there was no way of impressing on +a whole people the character of Jehovah except through a system of laws +and observances which should constantly exhibit it to their minds. The +time was not yet come when religion could be trusted to work as a hidden +leaven, transforming life from within and bringing in the kingdom of God +silently by the operation of spiritual forces. Thus, while the last +section insists on the moral change that must pass over Israel, and the +need of a direct influence from God on the heart of the people, that which +now lies before us is devoted to the religious and political arrangements +by which the sanctity of the nation must be preserved. + +Starting from this general notion of what the prophet sought, we can see, +in the next place, that his attention must be mainly concentrated on +matters belonging to public worship and ritual. Worship is the direct +expression in word and act of man's attitude to God, and no public +religion can maintain a higher level of spirituality than the symbolism +which gives it a place in the life of the people. That fact had been +abundantly illustrated by the experience of centuries before the Exile. +The popular worship had always been a stronghold of false religion in +Israel. The high places were the nurseries of all the corruptions against +which the prophets had to contend, not simply because of the immoral +elements that mingled with their worship, but because the worship itself +was regulated by conceptions of the deity which were opposed to the +religion of revelation. Now the idea of using ritual as a vehicle of the +highest spiritual truth is certainly not peculiar to Ezekiel's vision. But +it is there carried through with a thoroughness which has no parallel +elsewhere except in the priestly legislation of the Pentateuch. And this +bears witness to a clear perception on the part of the prophet of the +value of that whole side of things for the future development of religion +in Israel. No one was more deeply impressed with the evils that had flowed +from a corrupt ritual in the past, and he conceives the final form of the +kingdom of God to be one in which the blessings of salvation are +safeguarded by a carefully regulated system of religious ordinances. It +will become manifest as we proceed that he regards the Temple ritual as +the very centre of theocratic life, and the highest function of the +community of the true religion. + +But Ezekiel was prepared for the reception of this vision, not only by the +practical reforming bent of his mind, but also by a combination in his own +experience of the two elements which must always enter into a conception +of this nature. If we may employ philosophical language to express a very +obvious distinction, we have to recognise in the vision a material and a +formal element. The matter of the vision is derived from the ancient +religious and political constitution of the Hebrew state. All true and +lasting reformations are conservative at heart; their object never is to +make a clean sweep of the past, but so to modify what is traditional as to +adapt it to the needs of a new era. Now Ezekiel was a priest, and +possessed all a priest's reverence for antiquity, as well as a priest's +professional knowledge of ceremonial and of consuetudinary law. No man +could have been better fitted than he to secure the continuity of Israel's +religious life along the particular line on which it was destined to move. +Accordingly we find that the new theocracy is modelled from beginning to +end after the pattern of the ancient institutions which had been destroyed +by the Exile. If we ask, for example, what is the meaning of some detail +of the Temple building, such as the cells surrounding the main sanctuary, +the obvious and sufficient answer is that these things existed in +Solomon's Temple, and there was no reason for altering them. On the other +hand, whenever we find the vision departing from what had been +traditionally established, we may be sure that there is a reason for it, +and in most cases we can see what that reason was. In such departures we +recognise the working of what we have called the formal element of the +vision, the moulding influence of the ideas which the system was intended +to express. What these ideas were we shall consider in subsequent +chapters; here it is enough to say that they were the fundamental ideas +which had been communicated to Ezekiel in the course of his prophetic +work, and which have found expression in various forms in other parts of +his writings. That they are not peculiar to Ezekiel, but are shared by +other prophets, is true, just as it is true on the other hand that the +priestly conceptions which occupy so large a place in his mind were an +inheritance from the whole past history of the nation. Nor was this the +first time when an alliance between the ceremonialism of the priesthood +and the more ethical and spiritual teaching of prophecy had proved of the +utmost advantage to the religious life of Israel.(207) The unique +importance of Ezekiel's vision lies in the fact that the great development +of prophecy was now almost complete, and that the time was come for its +results to be embodied in institutions which were in the main of a +priestly character. And it was fitting that this new era of religion +should be inaugurated through the agency of one who combined in his own +person the conservative instincts of the priest with the originality and +the spiritual intuition of the prophet. + +It is not suggested for a moment that these considerations account for the +inception of the vision in the prophet's mind. We are not to regard it as +merely the brilliant device of an ingenious man, who was exceptionally +qualified to read the signs of the times, and to discover a solution for a +pressing religious problem. In order that it might accomplish the end in +view, it was absolutely necessary that it should be invested with a +supernatural sanction and bear the stamp of divine authority. Ezekiel +himself was well aware of this, and would never have ventured to publish +his vision if he had thought it all out for himself. He had to wait for +the time when "the hand of the Lord was upon him," and he saw in vision +the new Temple and the river of life proceeding from it, and the renovated +land, and the glory of God taking up its everlasting abode in the midst of +His people. Until that moment arrived he was without a message as to the +form which the life of the restored Israel must assume. Nevertheless the +psychological conditions of the vision were contained in those parts of +the prophet's experience which have just been indicated. Processes of +thought which had long occupied his mind suddenly crystallised at the +touch of the divine hand, and the result was the marvellous conception of +a theocratic state which was Ezekiel's greatest legacy to the faith and +hopes of his countrymen. + +That this vision of Ezekiel's profoundly influenced the development of +post-exilic Judaism may be inferred from the fact that all the best +tendencies of the restoration period were towards the realisation of the +ideals which the vision sets forth with surpassing clearness. It is +impossible, indeed, to say precisely how far Ezekiel's influence extended, +or how far the returning exiles consciously aimed at carrying out the +ideas contained in his sketch of a theocratic constitution. That they did +so to some extent is inferred from a consideration of some of the +arrangements established in Jerusalem soon after the return from +Babylon.(208) But it is certain that from the nature of the case the +actual institutions of the restored community must have differed very +widely in many points from those described in the last nine chapters of +Ezekiel. When we look more closely at the composition of this vision, we +see that it contains features which neither then nor at any subsequent +time have been historically fulfilled. The most remarkable thing about it +is that it unites in one picture two characteristics which seem at first +sight difficult to combine. On the one hand it bears the aspect of a rigid +legislative system intended to regulate human conduct in all matters of +vital moment to the religious standing of the community; on the other hand +it assumes a miraculous transformation of the physical aspect of the +country, a restoration of all the twelve tribes of Israel under a native +king, and a return of Jehovah in visible glory to dwell in the midst of +the children of Israel for ever. Now these supernatural conditions of the +perfect theocracy could not be realised by any effort on the part of the +people, and as a matter of fact were never literally fulfilled at all. It +must have been plain to the leaders of the Return that for this reason +alone the details of Ezekiel's legislation were not binding for them in +the actual circumstances in which they were placed. Even in matters +clearly within the province of human administration we know that they +considered themselves free to modify his regulations in accordance with +the requirements of the situation in which they found themselves. It does +not follow from this, however, that they were ignorant of the book of +Ezekiel, or that it gave them no help in the difficult task to which they +addressed themselves. It furnished them with an ideal of national +holiness, and the general outline of a constitution in which that ideal +should be embodied; and this outline they seem to have striven to fill up +in the way best adapted to the straitened and discouraging circumstances +of the time. + +But this throws us back on some questions of fundamental importance for +the right understanding of Ezekiel's vision. Taking the vision as a whole, +we have to ask whether a fulfilment of the kind just indicated was the +fulfilment that the prophet himself anticipated. Did he lay stress on the +legislative or the supernatural aspect of the vision--on man's agency or on +God's? In other words, does he issue it as a programme to be carried out +by the people as soon as the opportunity is presented by their return to +the land of Canaan? or does he mean that Jehovah Himself must take the +initiative by miraculously preparing the land for their reception, and +taking up His abode in the finished Temple, the "place of His throne, and +the place of the soles of His feet"? The answer to these questions is not +difficult, if only we are careful to look at things from the prophet's +point of view, and disregard the historical events in which his +predictions were partly realised. It is frequently assumed that the +elaborate description of the Temple buildings in chs. xl.-xlii. is +intended as a guide to the builders of the second Temple, who are to make +it after the fashion of that which the prophet saw on the mount. It is +quite probable that in some degree it may have served that purpose; but it +seems to me that this view is not in keeping with the fundamental idea of +the vision. The Temple that Ezekiel saw, and the only one of which he +speaks, is a house not made with hands; it is as much a part of the +supernatural preparation for the future theocracy as the "very high +mountain" on which it stands, or the river that flows from it to sweeten +the waters of the Dead Sea. In the important passage where the prophet is +commanded to exhibit the plan of the house to the children of Israel (ch. +xliii. 10, 11), there is unfortunately a discrepancy between the Hebrew +and Greek texts which throws some obscurity on this particular point. +According to the Hebrew there can hardly be a doubt that a sketch is shown +to them which is to be used as a builder's plan at the time of the +Restoration.(209) But in the Septuagint, which seems on the whole to give +a more correct text, the passage runs thus: "And, thou son of man, +describe the house to the house of Israel (and let them be ashamed of +their iniquities), and its form, and its construction: and they shall be +ashamed of all that they have done. And do thou sketch the house, and its +exits, and its outline; and all its ordinances and all its laws make known +to them; and write it before them, that they may keep all its commandments +and all its ordinances, and do them." There is nothing here to suggest +that the construction of the Temple was left for human workmanship. The +outline of it is shown to the people only that they may be ashamed of all +their iniquities. When the arrangements of the ideal Temple are explained +to them, they will see how far those of the first Temple transgressed the +requirements of Jehovah's holiness, and this knowledge will produce a +sense of shame for the dulness of heart which tolerated so many abuses in +connection with His worship. No doubt that impression sank deep into the +minds of Ezekiel's hearers, and led to certain important modifications in +the structure of the Temple when it had to be built; but that is not what +the prophet is thinking of. At the same time we see clearly that he is +very much in earnest with the legislative part of his vision. Its laws are +real laws, and are given that they may be obeyed--only they do not come +into force until all the institutions of the theocracy, natural and +supernatural alike, are in full working order. And apart from the doubtful +question as to the erection of the Temple, that general conclusion holds +good for the vision as a whole. Whilst it is pervaded throughout by the +legislative spirit, the miraculous features are after all its central and +essential elements. When these conditions are realised, it will be the +duty of Israel to guard her sacred institutions by the most scrupulous and +devoted obedience; but till then there is no kingdom of God established on +earth, and therefore no system of laws to conserve a state of salvation, +which can only be brought about by the direct and visible interposition of +the Almighty in the sphere of nature and history. + +This blending of seemingly incongruous elements reveals to us the true +character of the vision with which we have to deal. It is in the strictest +sense a Messianic prophecy--that is, a picture of the kingdom of God in its +final state as the prophet was led to conceive it. It is common to all +such representations that the human authors of them have no idea of a long +historical development gradually leading up to the perfect manifestation +of God's purpose with the world. The impending crisis in the affairs of +the people of Israel is always regarded as the consummation of human +history and the establishment of God's kingdom in the plenitude of its +power and glory. In the time of Ezekiel the next step in the unfolding of +the divine plan of redemption was the restoration of Israel to its own +land; and in so far as his vision is a prophecy of that event, it was +realised in the return of the exiles with Zerubbabel in the first year of +Cyrus. But to the mind of Ezekiel this did not present itself as a mere +step towards something immeasurably higher in the remote future. It is to +include everything necessary for the complete and final inbringing of the +Messianic dispensation, and all the powers of the world to come are to be +displayed in the acts by which Jehovah brings back the scattered members +of Israel to the enjoyment of blessedness in His own presence. + +The thing that misleads us as to the real nature of the vision is the +emphasis laid on matters which seem to us of merely temporal and earthly +significance. We are apt to think that what we have before us can be +nothing else than a legislative scheme to be carried out more or less +fully in the new state that should arise after the Exile. The miraculous +features in the vision are apt to be dismissed as mere symbolisms to which +no great significance attaches. Legislating for the millennium seems to us +a strange occupation for a prophet, and we are hardly prepared to credit +even Ezekiel with so bold a conception. But that depends entirely on his +idea of what the millennium will be. If it is to be a state of things in +which religious institutions are of vital importance for the maintenance +of the spiritual interests of the community of the people of God, then +legislation is the natural expression for the ideals which are to be +realised in it. And we must remember, too, that what we have to do with is +a vision. Ezekiel is not the ultimate source of this legislation, however +much it may bear the impress of his individual experience. He has seen the +city of God, and all the minute and elaborate regulations with which these +nine chapters are filled are but the exposition of principles that +determine the character of a people amongst whom Jehovah can dwell. + +At the same time we see that a separation of different aspects of the +vision was inevitably effected by the teaching of history. The return from +Babylon was accomplished without any of those supernatural adjuncts with +which it had been invested in the rapt imagination of the prophet. No +transformation of the land preceded it; no visible presence of Jehovah +welcomed the exiles back to their ancient abode. They found Jerusalem in +ruins, the holy and beautiful house a desolation, the land occupied by +aliens, the seasons unproductive as of old. Yet in the hearts of these men +there was a vision even more impressive than that of Ezekiel in his +solitude. To lay the foundations of a theocratic state in the dreary, +discouraging daylight of the present was an act of faith as heroic as has +ever been performed in the history of religion. The building of the Temple +was undertaken amidst many difficulties, the ritual was organised, the +rudiments of a religious constitution appeared, and in all this we see the +influence of those principles of national holiness that had been +formulated by Ezekiel. But the crowning manifestation of Jehovah's glory +was deferred. Prophet after prophet appeared to keep alive the hope that +this Temple, poor in outward appearance as it was, would yet be the centre +of a new world, and the dwelling-place of the Eternal. Centuries rolled +past, and still Jehovah did not come to His Temple, and the eschatological +features which had bulked so largely in Ezekiel's vision remained an +unfulfilled aspiration. And when at length in the fulness of time the +complete revelation of God was given, it was in a form that superseded the +old economy entirely, and transformed its most stable and cherished +institutions into adumbrations of a spiritual kingdom which knew no +earthly Temple and had need of none. + + ------------------------------------- + +This brings us to the most difficult and most important of all the +questions arising in connection with Ezekiel's vision--What is its relation +to the Pentateuchal Legislation? It is obvious at once that the +significance of this section of the book of Ezekiel is immensely enhanced +if we accept the conclusion to which the critical study of the Old +Testament has been steadily driven, that in the chapters before us we have +the first outline of that great conception of a theocratic constitution +which attained its finished expression in the priestly regulations of the +middle books of the Pentateuch. The discussion of this subject is so +intricate, so far-reaching in its consequences, and ranges over so wide an +historical field, that one is tempted to leave it in the hands of those +who have addressed themselves to its special treatment, and to try to get +on as best one may without assuming a definite attitude on one side or the +other. But the student of Ezekiel cannot altogether evade it. Again and +again the question will force itself on him as he seeks to ascertain the +meaning of the various details of Ezekiel's legislation, How does this +stand related to corresponding requirements in the Mosaic law? It is +necessary, therefore, in justice to the reader of the following pages, +that an attempt should be made, however imperfectly, to indicate the +position which the present phase of criticism assigns to Ezekiel in the +history of the Old Testament legislation. + +We may begin by pointing out the kind of difficulty that is felt to arise +on the supposition that Ezekiel had before him the entire body of laws +contained in our present Pentateuch. We should expect in that case that +the prophet would contemplate a restoration of the divine institutions +established under Moses, and that his vision would reproduce with +substantial fidelity the minute provisions of the law by which these +institutions were to be maintained. But this is very far from being the +case. It is found that while Ezekiel deals to a large extent with the +subjects for which provision is made by the law, there is in no instance +perfect correspondence between the enactments of the vision and those of +the Pentateuch, while on some points they differ very materially from one +another. How are we to account for these numerous and, on the supposition, +evidently designed divergencies? It has been suggested that the law was +found to be in some respects unsuitable to the state of things that would +arise after the Exile, and that Ezekiel in the exercise of his prophetic +authority undertook to adapt it to the conditions of a late age. The +suggestion is in itself plausible, but it is not confirmed by the history. +For it is agreed on all hands that the law as a whole had never been put +in force for any considerable period of Israel's history previous to the +Exile. On the other hand, if we suppose that Ezekiel judged its provisions +unsuitable for the circumstances that would emerge after the Exile, we are +confronted by the fact that where Ezekiel's legislation differs from that +of the Pentateuch it is the latter and not the former that regulated the +practice of the post-exilic community. So far was the law from being out +of date in the age of Ezekiel that the time was only approaching when the +first effort would be made to accept it in all its length and breadth as +the authoritative basis of an actual theocratic polity. Unless, therefore, +we are to hold that the legislation of the vision is entirely in the air, +and that it takes no account whatever of practical considerations, we must +feel that a certain difficulty is presented by its unexplained deviations +from the carefully drawn ordinances of the Pentateuch. + +But this is not all. The Pentateuch itself is not a unity. It consists of +different strata of legislation which, while irreconcilable in details, +are held to exhibit a continuous progress towards a clearer definition of +the duties that devolve on different classes in the community, and a +fuller exposition of the principles that underlay the system from the +beginning. The analysis of the Mosaic writings into different legislative +codes has resulted in a scheme which in its main outlines is now accepted +by critics of all shades of opinion. The three great codes which we have +to distinguish are: (1) the so-called Book of the Covenant (Exod. xx. +24-xxiii., with which may be classed the closely allied code of Exod. +xxxiv. 10-28); (2) the Book of Deuteronomy; and (3) the Priestly Code +(found in Exod. xxv.-xxxi., xxxv.-xl., the whole book of Leviticus, and +nearly the whole of the book of Numbers).(210) Now of course the mere +separation of these different documents tells us nothing, or not much, as +to their relative priority or antiquity. But we possess at least a certain +amount of historical and independent evidence as to the times when some of +them became operative in the actual life of the nation. We know, for +example, that the Book of Deuteronomy attained the force of statute law +under the most solemn circumstances by a national covenant in the +eighteenth year of Josiah. The distinctive feature of that book is its +impressive enforcement of the principle that there is but one sanctuary at +which Jehovah can be legitimately worshipped. When we compare the list of +reforms carried out by Josiah, as given in the twenty-third chapter of 2 +Kings, with the provisions of Deuteronomy, we see that it must have been +that book and it alone that had been found in the Temple and that governed +the reforming policy of the king. Before that time the law of the one +sanctuary, if it was known at all, was certainly more honoured in the +breach than the observance. Sacrifices were freely offered at local altars +throughout the country, not merely by the ignorant common people and +idolatrous kings, but by men who were the inspired religious leaders and +teachers of the nation. Not only so, but this practice is sanctioned by +the Book of the Covenant, which permits the erection of an altar in every +place where Jehovah causes His name to be remembered, and only lays down +injunctions as to the kind of altar that might be used (Exod. xx. 24-26). +The evidence is thus very strong that the Book of Deuteronomy, at whatever +time it may have been written, had not the force of public law until the +year 621 B.C., and that down to that time the accepted and authoritative +expression of the divine will for Israel was the law embraced in the Book +of the Covenant. + +To find similar evidence of the practical adoption of the Priestly Code we +have to come down to a much later period. It is not till the year 444 +B.C., in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, that we read of the people +pledging themselves by a solemn covenant to the observance of regulations +which are clearly those of the finished system of Pentateuchal law (Neh. +viii.-x.). It is there expressly stated that this law had not been +observed in Israel up to that time (Neh. ix. 34), and in particular that +the great Feast of Tabernacles had not been celebrated in accordance with +the requirements of the law since the days of Joshua (Neh. viii. 17). This +is quite conclusive as to actual practice in Israel; and the fact that the +observance of the law was thus introduced by instalments and on occasions +of epoch-making importance in the history of the community raises a strong +presumption against the hypothesis that the Pentateuch was an inseparable +literary unity which must be known in its entirety where it was known at +all. + +Now the date of Ezekiel's vision (572) lies between these two historic +transactions--the inauguration of the law of Deuteronomy in 621, and that +of the Priestly Code in 444; and in spite of the ideal character which +belongs to the vision as a whole, it contains a system of legislation +which admits of being compared point by point with the provisions of the +other two codes on a variety of subjects common to all three. Some of the +results of this comparison will appear as we proceed with the exposition +of the chapters before us. But it will be convenient to state here the +important conclusion to which a number of critics have been led by +discussion of this question. It is held that Ezekiel's legislation +represents on the whole a transition from the law of Deuteronomy to the +more complex system of the Priestly document. The three codes exhibit a +regular progression, the determining factor of which is a growing sense of +the importance of the Temple worship and of the necessity for a careful +regulation of the acts which express the religious standing and privileges +of the community. On such matters as the feasts, the sacrifices, the +distinction between priests and Levites, the Temple dues, and the +provision for the maintenance of ordinances, it is found that Ezekiel lays +down enactments which go beyond those of Deuteronomy and anticipate a +further development in the same direction in the Levitical +legislation.(211) The legislation of Ezekiel is accordingly regarded as a +first step towards the codification of the ritual laws which regulated the +usage of the first Temple. It is not of material consequence to know how +far these laws had been already committed to writing, or how far they had +been transmitted by oral tradition. The important point is that down to +the time of Ezekiel the great body of ritual law had been the possession +of the priests, who communicated it to the people in the shape of +particular decisions as occasion demanded. Even the book of Deuteronomy, +except on one or two points, such as the law of leprosy and of clean and +unclean animals, does not encroach on matters of ritual, which it was the +special province of the priesthood to administer. But now that the time +was drawing near when the Temple and its worship were to be the very +centre of the religious life of the nation, it was necessary that the +essential elements of the ceremonial law should be systematised and +published in a form understood of the people. The last nine chapters of +Ezekiel, then, contain the first draft of such a scheme, drawn from an +ancient priestly tradition which in its origin went back to the time of +Moses. It is true that this was not the precise form in which the law was +destined to be put in practice in the post-exilic community. But Ezekiel's +legislation served its purpose when it laid down clearly, with the +authority of a prophet, the fundamental ideas that underlie the conception +of ritual as an aid to spiritual religion. And these ideas were not lost +sight of, though it was reserved for others, working under the impulse +supplied by Ezekiel, to perfect the details of the system, and to adopt +the principles of the vision to the actual circumstances of the second +Temple. Through what subsequent stages the work was carried we can hardly +hope to determine with exactitude; but it was finished in all essential +respects before the great covenant of Ezra and Nehemiah in the year +444.(212) + +Let us now consider the bearing of this theory on the interpretation of +Ezekiel's vision. It enables us to do justice to the unmistakable +practical purpose which pervades its legislation. It frees us from the +grave difficulties involved in the assumption that Ezekiel wrote with the +finished Pentateuch before him. It vindicates the prophet from the +suspicion of arbitrary deviations from a standard of venerable antiquity +and of divine authority which was afterwards proved by experience to be +suited to the requirements of that restored Israel in whose interest +Ezekiel legislated. And in doing so it gives a new meaning to his claim to +speak as a prophet ordaining a new system of laws with divine authority. +Whilst perfectly consistent with the inspiration of the Mosaic books, it +places that of Ezekiel on a surer footing than does the supposition that +the whole Pentateuch was of Mosaic authorship. It involves, no doubt, that +the details of the Priestly law were in a more or less fluid condition +down to the time of the Exile; but it explains the otherwise unaccountable +fact that the several parts of the law became operative at different times +in Israel's history, and explains it in a manner that reveals the working +of a divine purpose through all the ages of the national existence. It +becomes possible to see that Ezekiel's legislation and that of the +Levitical books are in their essence alike Mosaic, as being founded on the +institutions and principles established by Moses at the beginning of the +nation's history. And an altogether new interest is imparted to the former +when we learn to regard it as an epoch-making contribution to the task +which laid the foundation of the post-exilic theocracy--the task of +codifying and consolidating the laws which expressed the character of the +new nation as a holy people consecrated to the service of Jehovah, the +Holy One of Israel. + + + + +Chapter XXVI. The Sanctuary. Chapters xl.-xliii. + + +The fundamental idea of the theocracy as conceived by Ezekiel is the +literal dwelling of Jehovah in the midst of His people. The Temple is in +the first instance Jehovah's palace, where He manifests His gracious +presence by receiving the gifts and homage of His subjects. But the +enjoyment of this privilege of access to the presence of God depends on +the fulfilment of certain conditions which, in the prophet's view, had +been systematically violated in the arrangements that prevailed under the +first Temple. Hence the vision of Ezekiel is essentially the vision of a +Temple corresponding in all respects to the requirements of Jehovah's +holiness, and then of Jehovah's entrance into the house so prepared for +His reception. And the first step towards the realisation of the great +hope of the future was to lay before the exiles a full description of this +building, so that they might understand the conditions on which alone +Israel could be restored to its own land. + +To this task the prophet addresses himself in the first four of the +chapters before us, and he executes it in a manner which, considering the +great technical difficulties to be surmounted, must excite our admiration. +He tells us first in a brief introduction how he was transported in +prophetic ecstasy to the land of Israel, and there on the site of the old +Temple, now elevated into a "very high mountain," he sees before him an +imposing pile of buildings like the building of a city (ver. 2). It is the +future Temple, the city itself having been removed nearly two miles to the +south. At the east gate he is met by an angel, who conducts him from point +to point of the buildings, calling his attention to significant structural +details, and measuring each part as he goes along with a measuring-line +which he carries in his hand. It is probable that the whole description +would be perfectly intelligible but for the state of the text, which is +defective throughout and in some places hopelessly corrupt. This is hardly +surprising when we consider the technical and unfamiliar nature of the +terms employed; but it has been suspected that some parts have been +deliberately tampered with in order to bring them into harmony with the +actual construction of the second Temple. Whether that is so or not, the +description as a whole remains in its way a masterpiece of literary +exposition, and a remarkable proof of the versatility of Ezekiel's +accomplishments. When it is necessary to turn himself into an +architectural draughtsman he discharges the duty to perfection. No one can +study the detailed measurements of the buildings without being convinced +that the prophet is working from a ground plan which he has himself +prepared; indeed his own words leave no doubt that this was the case (see +ch. xliii. 10, 11). And it is a convincing demonstration of his +descriptive powers that we are able, after the labours of many generations +of scholars, to reproduce this plan with a certainty which, except with +regard to a few minor features, leaves little to be desired. It has been +remarked as a curious fact that of the three temples mentioned in the Old +Testament the only one of whose construction we can form a clear +conception is the one that was never built;(213) and certainly the +knowledge we have of Solomon's Temple from the first book of Kings is very +incomplete compared with what we know of the Temple which Ezekiel saw only +in vision. + +It is impossible in this chapter to enter into all the minutiæ of the +description, or even to discuss all the difficulties of interpretation +which arise in connection with different parts. Full information on these +points will be found in short compass in Dr. Davidson's commentary on the +passage. All that can be attempted here is to convey a general idea of the +arrangements of the various buildings and courts of the sanctuary, and the +extreme care with which they have been thought out by the prophet. After +this has been done we shall try to discover the meaning of these +arrangements in so far as they differ from the model supplied by the first +Temple. + + + +I + + +Let the reader, then, after the manner of Euclid, draw a straight line A +B, and describe thereon a square A B C D. Let him divide two adjacent +sides of the square (say A B and A D) into ten equal parts, and let lines +be drawn from the points of section parallel to the sides of the square in +both directions. Let a side of the small squares represent a length of +fifty cubits, and the whole consequently a square of five hundred +cubits.(214) It will now be found that the bounding lines of Ezekiel's +plan run throughout on the lines of this diagram;(215) and this fact gives +a better idea than anything else of the symmetrical structure of the +Temple and of the absolute accuracy of the measurements. + +The sides of the large square represent of course the outer boundary of +the enclosure, which is formed by a wall six cubits thick and six +high.(216) Its sides are directed to the four points of the compass, and +at the middle of the north, east and south sides the wall is pierced by +the three gates, each with an ascent of seven steps outside. The gates, +however, are not mere openings in the wall furnished with doors, but +covered gateways similar to those that penetrate the thick wall of a +fortified town. In this case they are large separate buildings projecting +into the court to a distance of fifty cubits, and twenty-five cubits +broad, exactly half the size of the Temple proper. On either side of the +passage are three recesses in the wall six cubits square, which were to be +used as guard-rooms by the Temple police. Each gateway terminates towards +the court in a large hall called "the porch," eight cubits broad (along +the line of entry) by twenty long (across): the porch of the east gate was +reserved for the use of the prince; the purpose of the other two is +nowhere specified. + +Passing through the eastern gateway, the prophet stands in the outer court +of the Temple, the place where the people assembled for worship. It seems +to have been entirely destitute of buildings, with the exception of a row +of thirty cells along the three walls in which the gates were. The outer +margin of the court was paved with stone up to the line of the inside of +the gateways (_i.e._, fifty cubits, less the thickness of the outer wall); +and on this pavement stood the cells, the dimensions of which, however, +are not given. There were, moreover, in the four corners of the court +rectangular enclosures forty cubits by thirty, where the Levites were to +cook the sacrifices of the people (ch. xlvi. 21-24). The purpose of the +cells is nowhere specified; but there is little doubt that they were +intended for those sacrificial feasts of a semi-private character which +had always been a prominent feature of the Temple worship. From the edge +of the pavement to the inner court was a distance of a hundred cubits; but +this space was free only on three sides, the western side being occupied +by buildings to be afterwards described. + +The inner court was a terrace standing probably about five feet above the +level of the outer, and approached by flights of eight steps at the three +gates. It was reserved for the exclusive use of the priests. It had three +gateways in a line with those of the outer court, and precisely similar to +them, with the single exception that the porches were not, as we might +have expected, towards the inside, but at the ends next to the outer +court. The free space of the inner court, within the line of the gateways, +was a square of a hundred cubits, corresponding to the four middle squares +of the diagram. Right in the middle, so that it could be seen through the +gates, was the great altar of burnt-offering, a huge stone structure +rising in three terraces to a height apparently of twelve cubits, and +having a breadth and length of eighteen cubits at the base. That this, +rather than the Temple, should be the centre of the sanctuary, corresponds +to a consciousness in Israel that the altar was the one indispensable +requisite for the performance of sacrificial worship acceptable to +Jehovah. Accordingly, when the first exiles returned to Jerusalem, before +they were in a position to set about the erection of the Temple, they +reared the altar in its place, and at once instituted the daily sacrifice +and the stated order of the festivals. And even in Ezekiel's vision we +shall find that the sacrificial consecration of the altar is considered as +equivalent to the dedication of the whole sanctuary to the chief purpose +for which it was erected. Besides the altar there were in the inner court +certain other objects of special significance for the priestly and +sacrificial service. By the side of the north and south gates were two +cells or chambers opening towards the middle space. The purpose for which +these cells were intended clearly points to a division of the priesthood +(which, however, may have been temporary and not permanent) into two +classes--one of which was entrusted with the service of the Temple, and the +other with the service of the altar. The cell on the north, we are told, +was for the priests engaged in the service of the house, and that on the +south for those who officiated at the altar (ch. xl. 45, 46). There is +mention also of tables on which different classes of sacrificial victims +were slaughtered, and of a chamber in which the burnt-offering was washed +(ch. xl. 38-43); but so obscure is the text of this passage that it cannot +even be certainly determined whether these appliances were situated at the +east gate or the north gate, or at each of the three gates. + +The four small squares immediately adjoining the inner court on the west +are occupied by the Temple proper and its adjuncts. The Temple itself +stands on a solid basement six cubits above the level of the inner court, +and is reached by a flight of ten steps. The breadth of the basement +(north to south) is sixty cubits: this leaves a free space of twenty +cubits on either side, which is really a continuation of the inner court, +although it bears the special name of the _gizra_ ("separate place"). In +length the basement measures a hundred and five cubits, projecting, as we +immediately see, five cubits into the inner court in front.(217) The inner +space of the Temple was divided, as in Solomon's Temple, into three +compartments, communicating with each other by folding-doors in the middle +of the partitions that separated them. Entering by the outer door on the +east, we come first to the vestibule, which is twenty cubits broad (north +to south) by twelve cubits east to west. Next to this is the hall or +"palace" (_hêkal_), twenty cubits by forty. Beyond this again is the +innermost shrine of the Temple, the Most Holy Place, where the glory of +the God of Israel is to take the place occupied by the ark and cherubim of +the first Temple. It is a square of twenty cubits; but Ezekiel, although +himself a priest, is not allowed to enter this sacred space; the angel +goes in alone, and announces the measurements to the prophet, who waits +without in the great hall of the Temple. The only piece of furniture +mentioned in the Temple is an altar or table in the hall, immediately in +front of the Most Holy Place (ch. xli. 22). The reference is no doubt to +the table on which the shewbread was laid out before Jehovah (cf. Exod. +xxv. 23-30). Some details are also given of the wood-carving with which +the interior was decorated (ch. xli. 16-20, 25), consisting apparently of +cherubs and palm trees in alternate panels. This appears to be simply a +reminiscence of the ornamentation of the old Temple, and to have no direct +religious significance in the mind of the prophet. + +The Temple was enclosed first by a wall six cubits thick, and then on each +side except the east by an outer wall of five cubits, separated from the +inner by an interval of four cubits. This intervening space was divided +into three ranges of small cells rising in three stories one over another. +The second and third stories were somewhat broader than the lowest, the +inner wall of the house being contracted so as to allow the beams to be +laid upon it without breaking into its surface. We must further suppose +that the inner wall rose above the cells and the outer wall, so as to +leave a clear space for the windows of the Temple. The entire length of +the Temple on the outside is a hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty +cubits. This leaves room for a passage of five cubits broad round the edge +of the elevated platform on which the main building stood. The two doors +which gave access to the cells opened on this passage, and were placed in +the north and south sides of the outer wall. There was obviously no need +to continue the passage round the west side of the house, and this does +not appear to be contemplated. + +It will be seen that there still remains a square of a hundred cubits +behind the Temple, between it and the west wall. The greater part of this +was taken up by a structure vaguely designated as the "building" (_binya_ +or _binyan_), which is commonly supposed to have been a sort of lumber- +room, although its function is not indicated. Nor does it appear whether +it stood on the level of the inner court or of the outer. But while this +building fills the whole breadth of the square from north to south (a +hundred cubits), the other dimension (east to west) is curtailed by a +space of twenty cubits left free between it and the Temple, the _gizra_ +(see p. 410) being thus continuous round three sides of the house. + +The most troublesome part of the description is that of two blocks of +cells(218) situated north and south of the Temple building (ch. xlii. +1-14). It seems clear that they occupied the oblong spaces between the +_gizra_ north and south of the Temple and the walls of the inner court. +Their length is said to be a hundred cubits, and their breadth fifty +cubits. But room has to be found for a passage ten cubits broad and a +hundred long, so that the measurements do not exhibit in this case +Ezekiel's usual accuracy. Moreover, we are told that while their length +facing the Temple was a hundred cubits, the length facing the outer court +was only fifty cubits. It is extremely difficult to gain a clear idea of +what the prophet meant. Smend and Davidson suppose that each block was +divided longitudinally into two sections, and that the passage of ten +cubits ran between them from east to west. The inner section would then be +a hundred cubits in length and twenty in breadth. But the other section +towards the outer court would have only half this length, the remaining +fifty cubits along the edge of the inner court being protected by a wall. +This is perhaps the best solution that has been proposed, but one can +hardly help thinking that if Ezekiel had had such an arrangement in view +he would have expressed himself more clearly. The one thing that is +perfectly unambiguous is the purpose for which these cells were to be +used. Certain sacrifices to which a high degree of sanctity attached were +consumed by the priests, and being "most holy" things they had to be eaten +in a holy place. These chambers, then, standing within the sacred +enclosure of the inner court, were assigned to the priests for this +purpose.(219) In them also the priests were to deposit the sacred garments +in which they ministered, before leaving the inner court to mingle with +the people. + + + +II + + +Such, then, are the leading features presented by Ezekiel's description of +an ideal sanctuary. What are the chief impressions suggested to the mind +by its perusal? The fact no doubt that surprises us most is that our +attention is almost exclusively directed to the ground-plan of the +buildings. It is evident that the prophet is indifferent to what seems to +us the noblest element of ecclesiastical architecture, the effect of lofty +spaces on the imagination of the worshipper. It is no part of his purpose +to inspire devotional feeling by the aid of purely æsthetic impressions. +"The height, the span, the gloom, the glory" of some venerable Gothic +cathedral do not enter into his conception of a place of worship. The +impressions he wishes to convey, although religious, are intellectual +rather than æsthetic, and are such as could be expressed by the sharp +outlines and mathematical precision of a ground-plan. Now of course the +sanctuary was, to begin with, a place of sacrifice, and to a large extent +its arrangements were necessarily dictated by a regard for practical +convenience and utility. But leaving this on one side, it is obvious +enough that the design is influenced by certain ruling principles, of +which the most conspicuous are these three: separation, gradation, and +symmetry. And these again symbolise three aspects of the one great idea of +holiness, which the prophet desired to see embodied in the whole +constitution of the Hebrew state as the guarantee of lasting fellowship +between Jehovah and Israel. + +In Ezekiel's teaching on the subject of holiness there is nothing that is +absolutely new or peculiar to himself. That Jehovah is the one truly holy +Being is the common doctrine of the prophets, and it means that He alone +unites in Himself all the attributes of true Godhead. The Hebrew language +does not admit of the formation of an adjective from the name for God like +our word "divine," or an abstract noun corresponding to "divinity." What +we denote by these terms the Hebrews expressed by the words _qadôsh_ , +"holy," and _qodesh_, "holiness." All that constitutes true divinity is +therefore summed up in the Old Testament idea of the holiness of God. The +fundamental thought expressed by the word when applied to God appears to +be the separation or contrast between the divine and the human--that in God +which inspires awe and reverence on the part of man, and forbids approach +to Him save under restrictions which flow from the nature of the Deity. In +the light of the New Testament revelation we see that the only barrier to +communion with God is sin; and hence to us holiness, both in God and man, +is a purely ethical idea denoting moral purity and perfectness. But under +the Old Testament access to God was hindered not only by sin, but also by +natural disabilities to which no moral guilt attaches. The idea of +holiness is therefore partly ethical and partly ceremonial, physical +uncleanness being as really a violation of the divine holiness, as +offences against the moral law. The consequences of this view appear +nowhere more clearly than in the legislation of Ezekiel. His mind was +penetrated with the prophetic idea of the unique divinity or holiness of +Jehovah, and no one can doubt that the moral attributes of God occupied +the supreme place in his conception of what true Godhead is. But along +with this he has a profound sense of what the nature of Jehovah demands in +the way of ceremonial purity. The divine holiness, in fact, contains a +physical as well as an ethical element; and to guard against the intrusion +of anything unclean into the sphere of Jehovah's worship is the chief +design of the elaborate system of ritual laws laid down in the closing +chapters of Ezekiel. Ultimately no doubt the whole system served a moral +purpose by furnishing a safeguard against the introduction of heathen +practices into the worship of Israel. But its immediate effect was to give +prominence to that aspect of the idea of holiness which seems to us of +least value, although it could not be dispensed with so long as the +worship of God took the form of material offerings at a local sanctuary. + +Now in reducing this idea to practice it is obvious that everything +depends on the strict enforcement of the principle of separation that lies +at the root of the Hebrew conception of holiness. The thought that +underlies Ezekiel's legislation is that the holiness of Jehovah is +communicated in different degrees to everything connected with His +worship, and in the first instance to the Temple, which is sanctified by +His presence. The sanctity of the place is of course not fully +intelligible apart from the ceremonial rules which regulate the conduct of +those who are permitted to enter it. Throughout the ancient world we find +evidence of the existence of sacred enclosures which could only be entered +by those who fulfilled certain conditions of physical purity. The +conditions might be extremely simple, as when Moses was commanded to take +his shoes off his feet as he stood within the holy ground on Mount Sinai. +But obviously the first essential of a permanently sacred place was that +it should be definitely marked off from common ground, as the sphere +within which superior requirements of holiness became binding. A holy +place is necessarily a place "cut off," separated from ordinary use and +guarded from intrusion by supernatural sanctions. The idea of the +sanctuary as a separate place was therefore perfectly familiar to the +Israelites long before the time of Ezekiel, and had been exhibited in a +lax and imperfect way in the construction of the first Temple. But what +Ezekiel did was to carry out the idea with a thoroughness never before +attempted, and in such a way as to make the whole arrangements of the +sanctuary an impressive object lesson on the holiness of Jehovah. + +How important this notion of separateness was to Ezekiel's conception of +the sanctuary is best seen from the emphatic condemnation of the +arrangement of the old Temple pronounced by Jehovah Himself on His +entrance into the house: "Son of man, [hast thou seen](220) the place of +My throne, and the place of the soles of My feet, where I shall dwell in +the midst of the children of Israel for ever? No longer shall the house of +Israel defile My holy name, they and their kings, by their whoredom +[idolatry], and by the corpses of their kings in their death; by placing +their threshold alongside of My threshold, and their post beside My post, +with only the wall between Me and them, and defiling My holy name by their +abominations which they committed; so that I consumed them in My anger. +But now they must remove their whoredom and the corpses of their kings +from Me, and I will dwell amongst them for ever" (ch. xliii. 7-9). There +is here a clear allusion to defects in the structure of the Temple which +were inconsistent with a due recognition of the necessary separation +between the holy and the profane (ch. xlii. 20). It appears that the first +Temple had only one court, corresponding to the inner court of Ezekiel's +vision. What answered to the outer court was simply an enclosure +surrounding, not only the Temple, but also the royal palace and the other +buildings of state. Immediately adjoining the Temple area on the south was +the court in which the palace stood, so that the only division between the +dwelling-place of Jehovah and the residence of the kings of Judah was the +single wall separating the two courts. This of itself was derogatory to +the sanctity of the Temple, according to the enhanced idea of holiness +which it was Ezekiel's mission to enforce. But the prophet touches on a +still more flagrant transgression of the law of holiness when he speaks of +the dead bodies of the kings as being interred in the neighbourhood of the +Temple. Contact with a dead body produced under all circumstances the +highest degree of ceremonial uncleanness, and nothing could have been more +abhorrent to Ezekiel's priestly sense of propriety than the close +proximity of dead men's bones to the house in which Jehovah was to dwell. +In order to guard against the recurrence of these abuses in the future it +was necessary that all secular buildings should be removed to a safe +distance from the Temple precincts. The "law of the house" is that "upon +the top of the mountain it shall stand, and all its precincts round about +shall be most holy" (ch. xliii. 12). And it is characteristic of Ezekiel +that the separation is effected, not by changing the situation of the +Temple, but by transporting the city bodily to the southward; so that the +new sanctuary stood on the site of the old, but isolated from the contact +of that in human life which was common and unclean.(221) + +The effect of this teaching, however, is immensely enhanced by the +principle of gradation, which is the second feature exhibited in Ezekiel's +description of the sanctuary. Holiness, as a predicate of persons or +things, is after all a relative idea. That which is "most holy" in +relation to the profane every-day life of men may be less holy in +comparison with something still more closely associated with the presence +of God. Thus the whole land of Israel was holy in contrast with the world +lying outside. But it was impossible to maintain the whole land in a state +of ceremonial purity corresponding to the sanctity of Jehovah. The full +compass of the idea could only be illustrated by a carefully graded series +of sacred spaces, each of which entailed provisions of sanctity peculiar +to itself. First of all an "oblation" is set apart in the middle of the +tribes; and of this the central portion is assigned for the residence of +the priestly families. In the midst of this, again, stands the sanctuary +with its wall and precinct, dividing the holy from the profane (ch. xlii. +20). Within the wall are the two courts, of which the outer could only be +trodden by circumcised Israelites and the inner only by the priests. +Behind the inner court stands the Temple house, cut off from the adjoining +buildings by a "separate place," and elevated on a platform, which still +further guards its sanctity from profane contact. And finally the interior +of the house is divided into three compartments, increasing in holiness in +the order of entrance--first the porch, then the main hall, and then the +Most Holy Place, where Jehovah Himself dwells. It is impossible to mistake +the meaning of all this. The practical object is to secure the presence of +Jehovah against the possibility of contact with those sources of impurity +which are inseparably bound up with the incidents of man's natural +existence on earth.(222) + +Before we pass on let us return for a moment to the primary notion of +separation in space as an emblem of the Old Testament conception of +holiness. What is the permanent religious truth underlying this +representation? We may find it in the idea conveyed by the familiar phrase +"draw near to God." What we have just seen reminds us that there was a +stage in the history of religion when these words could be used in the +most literal sense of every act of complete worship. The worshipper +actually came to the place where God was; it was impossible to realise His +presence in any other way. To us the expression has only a metaphorical +value; yet the metaphor is one that we cannot dispense with, for it covers +a fact of spiritual experience. It may be true that with God there is no +far or near, that He is omnipresent, that His eyes are in every place +beholding the evil and the good. But what does that mean? Not surely that +all men everywhere and at all times are equally under the influence of the +divine Spirit? No; but only that God _may_ be found in any place by the +soul that is open to receive His grace and truth, that place has nothing +to do with the conditions of true fellowship with Him. Translated into +terms of the spiritual life, drawing near to God denotes the act of faith +or prayer or consecration, through which we seek the manifestation of His +love in our experience. Religion knows nothing of "action at a distance"; +God is near in every place to the soul that knows Him, and distant in +every place from the heart that loves darkness rather than light. + +Now when the idea of access to God is thus spiritualised the conception of +holiness is necessarily transformed, but it is not superseded. At every +stage of revelation holiness is that "without which no man shall see the +Lord."(223) In other words, it expresses the conditions that regulate all +true fellowship with God. So long as worship was confined to an earthly +sanctuary these conditions were so to speak materialised. They resolved +themselves into a series of "carnal ordinances"--gifts and sacrifices, +meats, drinks, and divers washings--that could never make the worshipper +perfect as touching the conscience. These things were "imposed until a +time of reformation," the "Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into +the holy place had not been made manifest while as the first tabernacle +was yet standing."(224) And yet when we consider what it was that gave +such vitality to that persistent sense of distance from God, of His +unapproachableness, of danger in contact with Him, what it was that +inspired such constant attention to ceremonial purity in all ancient +religions, we cannot but see that it was the obscure workings of the +conscience, the haunting sense of moral defect cleaving to a man's common +life and all his common actions. In heathenism this feeling took an +entirely wrong direction; in Israel it was gradually liberated from its +material associations and stood forth as an ethical fact. And when at last +Christ came to reveal God as He is, He taught men to call nothing common +or unclean. But He taught them at the same time that true holiness can +only be attained through His atoning sacrifice, and by the indwelling of +that Spirit which is the source of moral purity and perfection in all His +people. These are the abiding conditions of fellowship with the Father of +our spirits; and under the influence of these great Christian facts it is +our duty to perfect holiness in the fear of God. + + + +III + + +No sooner has the prophet completed his tour of inspection of the sacred +buildings than he is conducted to the eastern gate to witness the +theophany by which the Temple is consecrated to the service of the true +God. "He (the angel) led me to the gate that looks eastward, and, lo, the +glory of the God of Israel came from the east; its sound was as the sound +of many waters, and the earth shone with its glory. The appearance which I +saw was like that which I had seen when He came to destroy the city, and +like the appearance which I saw by the river Kebar, and I fell on my face. +And the glory of Jehovah entered the house by the gate that looks towards +the east. The Spirit caught me up, and brought me to the inner court; and, +behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house. Then I heard a voice from +the house speaking to me--the man was standing beside me--and saying, Son of +man, hast thou seen the place of My throne, and the place of the soles of +My feet, where I shall dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for +ever?" (ch. xliii. 1-7). + +This great scene, so simply described, is really the culmination of +Ezekiel's prophecy. Its spiritual meaning is suggested by the prophet +himself when he recalls the terrible act of judgment which he had seen in +vision on that very spot some twenty years before (chs. ix.-xi.). The two +episodes stand in clear and conscious parallelism with each other. They +represent in dramatic form the sum of Ezekiel's teaching in the two +periods into which his ministry was divided. On the former occasion he had +witnessed the exit of Jehovah from a Temple polluted by heathen +abominations and profaned by the presence of men who had disowned the +knowledge of the Holy One of Israel. The prophet had read in this the +death sentence of the old Hebrew state, and the truth of his vision had +been established in the tale of horror and disaster which the subsequent +years had unfolded. Now he has been privileged to see the return of +Jehovah to a new Temple, corresponding in all respects to the requirements +of His holiness; and he recognises it as the pledge of restoration and +peace and all the blessings of the Messianic age. The future worshippers +are still in exile bearing the chastisement of their former iniquities; +but "the Lord is in His holy Temple," and the dispersed of Israel shall +yet be gathered home to enter His courts with praise and thanksgiving. + +To us this part of the vision symbolises, under forms derived from the Old +Testament economy, the central truth of the Christian dispensation. We do +no injustice to the historic import of Ezekiel's mission when we say that +the dwelling of Jehovah in the midst of His people is an emblem of +reconciliation between God and man, and that his elaborate system of +ritual observances points towards the sanctification of human life in all +its relations through spiritual communion with the Father revealed in our +Lord Jesus Christ. Christian interpreters have differed widely as to the +manner in which the vision is to be realised in the history of the Church; +but on one point at least they are agreed, that through the veil of legal +institutions the prophet saw the day of Christ. And although Ezekiel +himself does not distinguish between the symbol and the reality, it is +nevertheless possible for us to see, in the essential ideas of his vision, +a prophecy of that eternal union between God and man which is brought to +pass by the work of Christ. + + + + +Chapter XXVII. The Priesthood. Chapter xliv. + + +In the last chapter we saw how the principle of holiness through +separation was exhibited in the plan of a new Temple, round which the +Theocracy of the future was to be constituted. We have now to consider the +application of the same principle to the _personnel_ of the Sanctuary, the +priests and others who are to officiate within its courts. The connection +between the two is obvious. As has been already remarked, the sanctity of +the Temple is not intelligible apart from the ceremonial purity required +of the persons who are permitted to enter it. The degrees of holiness +pertaining to its different areas imply an ascending scale of restrictions +on access to the more sacred parts. We may expect to find that in the +observance of these conditions the usage of the first Temple left much to +be desired from the point of view represented by Ezekiel's ideal. Where +the very construction of the sanctuary involved so many departures from +the strict idea of holiness it was inevitable that a corresponding laxity +should prevail in the discharge of sacred functions. Temple and priesthood +in fact are so related that a reform of the one implies of necessity a +reform of the other. It is therefore not in itself surprising that +Ezekiel's legislation should include a scheme for the reorganisation of +the Temple priesthood. But these general considerations hardly prepare us +for the sweeping and drastic changes contemplated in the forty-fourth +chapter of the book. It requires an effort of imagination to realise the +situation with which the prophet has to deal. The abuses for which he +seeks a remedy and the measures which he adopts to counteract them are +alike contrary to preconceived notions of the order of worship in an +Israelite sanctuary. Yet there is no part of the prophet's programme which +shows the character of the earnest practical reformer more clearly than +this. If we might regard Ezekiel as a mere legislator we should say that +the boldest task to which he set his hand was a reformation of the Temple +ministry, involving the degradation of an influential class from the +priestly status and privileges to which they aspired. + + + +I + + +The first and most noteworthy feature of the new scheme is the distinction +between priests and Levites. The passage in which this instruction is +given is so important that it may be quoted here at length. It is an +oracle communicated to the prophet in a peculiarly impressive manner. He +has been brought into the inner court in front of the Temple, and there, +in full view of the glory of God, he falls on his face, when Jehovah +speaks to him as follows:-- + +"Son of man, give heed and see with thine eyes and hear with thine ears +all that I speak to thee concerning all the ordinances and all the laws of +Jehovah's house. Mark well the [rule of] entrance into the house, and all +the outgoings in the sanctuary. And say to the house of rebellion, the +house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, It is high time to desist +from all your abominations, O house of Israel, in that ye bring in aliens +uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh to be in My sanctuary, +profaning it, while ye offer My bread, the fat and the blood; thus ye have +broken My covenant, in addition to all your [other] abominations; and ye +have not kept the charge of My holy things, but have appointed them as +keepers of My charge in My sanctuary. Therefore thus saith the Lord +Jehovah, No alien uncircumcised in heart and flesh shall enter into My +sanctuary, of all the foreigners who are amongst the Israelites. But the +Levites who departed from Me when Israel went astray from Me after their +idols, _they_ shall bear their guilt, and shall minister in My sanctuary +in charge at the gates of the house and as ministers of the house; they +shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and stand +before them to minister to them. Because they ministered to them before +their idols, and were to the house of Israel an occasion of guilt, +therefore I lift My hand against them, saith the Lord Jehovah, and they +shall bear their guilt, and shall not draw near to Me to act as priests to +Me or to touch any of My holy things, the most holy things, but shall bear +their shame and the abominations which they have committed. I will make +them keepers of the charge of the house, for all its servile work and all +that has to be done in it. But the priest-Levites, the sons of Zadok, who +kept the charge of My sanctuary when the Israelites strayed from Me--they +shall draw near to Me to minister to Me, and shall stand before Me to +present to Me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord Jehovah. They shall +enter into My sanctuary, and they shall draw near to My table to minister +to Me, and shall keep My charge" (xliv. 5-16). + +Now the first thing to be noticed here is that the new law of the +priesthood is aimed directly against a particular abuse in the practice of +the first Temple. It appears that down to the time of the Exile +uncircumcised aliens were not only admitted to the Temple, but were +entrusted with certain important functions in maintaining order in the +sanctuary (ver. 8). It is not expressly stated that they took any part in +the performance of the worship, although this is suggested by the fact +that the Levites who are installed in their place had to slay the +sacrifices for the people and render other necessary services to the +worshippers (ver. 11). In any case the mere presence of foreigners while +sacrifice was being offered (ver. 7) was a profanation of the sanctity of +the Temple which was intolerable to a strict conception of Jehovah's +holiness. It is therefore of some consequence to discover who these aliens +were, and how they came to be engaged in the Temple. + +For a partial answer to this question, we may turn first to the memorable +scene of the coronation of the young king Joash as described in the +eleventh chapter of the second book of Kings (_c._ B.C. 837). The moving +spirit in that transaction was the chief priest Jehoiada, a man who was +honourably distinguished by his zeal for the purity of the national +religion. But although the priest's motives were pure he could only +accomplish his object by a palace revolution, carried out with the +assistance of the captains of the royal bodyguard. Now from the time of +David the royal guard had contained a corps of foreign mercenaries +recruited from the Philistine country; and on the occasion with which we +are dealing we find mention of a body of Carians, showing that the custom +was kept up in the end of the ninth century. During the coronation +ceremony these guards were drawn up in the most sacred part of the inner +court, the space between the Temple and the altar, with the new king in +their midst (ver. 11). Moreover we learn incidentally that keeping watch +in the Temple was part of the regular duty of the king's bodyguard, just +as much as the custody of the palace (vv. 5-7). In order to understand the +full significance of this arrangement, it must be borne in mind that the +Temple was in the first instance the royal sanctuary, maintained at the +king's expense and subject to his authority. Hence the duty of keeping +order in the Temple courts naturally devolved on the troops that attended +the king's person and acted as the palace guard. So at an earlier period +of the history we read that as often as the king went into the house of +Jehovah, he was accompanied by the guard that kept the door of the king's +house (1 Kings xiv. 27, 28). + +Here, then, we have historical evidence of the admission to the sanctuary +of a class of foreigners answering in all respects to the uncircumcised +aliens of Ezekiel's legislation. That the practice of enlisting foreign +mercenaries for the guard continued till the reign of Josiah seems to be +indicated by an allusion in the book of Zephaniah, where the prophet +denounces a body of men in the service of the king who observed the +Philistine custom of "leaping over the threshold" (Zeph. i. 9: cf. 1 Sam. +v. 5). We have only to suppose that this usage, along with the +subordination of the Temple to the royal authority, persisted to the close +of the monarchy, in order to explain fully the abuse which excited the +indignation of our prophet. It is possible no doubt that he had in view +other uncircumcised persons as well, such as the Gibeonites (Josh. ix. +27), who were employed in the menial service of the sanctuary. But we have +seen enough to show at all events that pre-exilic usage tolerated a +freedom of access to the sanctuary and a looseness of administration +within it which would have been sacrilegious under the law of the second +Temple. It need not be supposed that Ezekiel was the only one who felt +this state of things to be a scandal and an injury to religion. We may +believe that in this respect he only expressed the higher conscience of +his order. Amongst the more devout circles of the Temple priesthood there +was probably a growing conviction similar to that which animated the early +Tractarian party in the Church of England, a conviction that the whole +ecclesiastical system with which their spiritual interests were bound up +fell short of the ideal of sanctity essential to it as a divine +institution. But no scheme of reform had any chance of success so long as +the palace of the kings stood hard by the Temple, with only a wall between +them. The opportunity for reconstruction came with the Exile, and one of +the leading principles of the reformed Temple is that here enunciated by +Ezekiel, that no "alien uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh" +shall henceforth enter the sanctuary. + +In order to prevent a recurrence of these abuses Ezekiel ordains that for +the future the functions of the Temple guard and other menial offices +shall be discharged by the Levites who had hitherto acted as priests of +the idolatrous shrines throughout the kingdom (vv. 11-14). This singular +enactment becomes at once intelligible when we understand the peculiar +circumstances brought about by the enforcement of the Deuteronomic Law in +the reformation of the year 621. Let us once more recall the fact that the +chief object of that reformation was to do away with all the provincial +sanctuaries and to concentrate the worship of the nation in the Temple at +Jerusalem. It is obvious that by this measure the priests of the local +sanctuaries were deprived of their means of livelihood. The rule that they +who serve the altar shall live by the altar applied equally to the priests +of the high places and to those in the Temple at Jerusalem. All the +priests indeed throughout the country were members of a landless caste or +tribe; the Levites had no portion or inheritance like the other tribes, +but subsisted on the offerings of the worshippers at the various shrines +where they ministered. Now the law of Deuteronomy recognises the principle +of compensation for the vested interests that were thus abolished. Two +alternatives were offered to the Levites of the high places: they might +either remain in the villages or townships where they were known, or they +might proceed to the central sanctuary and obtain admission to the ranks +of the priesthood there. In the former case, the Lawgiver commends them +earnestly, along with other destitute members of the community, to the +charity of their well-to-do fellow-townsmen and neighbours. If, on the +other hand, they elected to try their fortunes in the Temple at Jerusalem, +he secures their full priestly status and equal rights with their brethren +who regularly officiated there. On this point the legislation is quite +explicit. Any Levite from any district of Israel who came of his own free +will to the place which Jehovah had chosen might minister in the name of +Jehovah his God, as all his brethren the Levites did who stood there +before Jehovah, and have like portions to eat (Deut. xviii. 6-8). In this +matter, however, the humane intention of the law was partly frustrated by +the exclusiveness of the priests who were already in possession of the +sacred offices in the Temple. The Levites who were brought up from the +provinces to Jerusalem were allowed their proper share of the priestly +dues, but were not permitted to officiate at the altar.(225) It is not +probable that a large number of the provincial Levites availed themselves +of this grudging provision for their maintenance. In the idolatrous +reaction which set in after the death of Josiah the worship of the high +places was revived, and the great body of the Levites would naturally be +favourable to the re-establishment of the old order of things with which +their professional interests were identified. Still, there would be a +certain number who for conscientious motives attached themselves to the +movement for a purer and stricter conception of the worship of Jehovah, +and were willing to submit to the irksome conditions which this movement +imposed on them. They might hope for a time when the generous provisions +of the Deuteronomic Code would be applied to them; but their position in +the meantime was both precarious and humiliating. They had to bear the +doom pronounced long ago on the sinful house of Eli: "Every one that is +left in thine house shall come and bow down to him (the high priest of the +line of Zadok) for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say, +Thrust me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a +morsel of bread."(226) + +We see thus that Ezekiel's legislation on the subject of the Levites +starts from a state of things created by Josiah's reformation, and, let us +remember, a state of things with which the prophet was familiar in his +earlier days when he was himself a priest in the Temple. On the whole he +justifies the exclusive attitude of the Temple priesthood towards the new- +comers, and carries forward the application of the idea of sanctity from +the point where it had been left by the law of Deuteronomy. That law +recognises no sacerdotal distinctions within the ranks of the priesthood. +Its regular designation of the priests of the Temple is "the priests, the +Levites"; that of the provincial priests is simply "the Levites." All +priests are brethren, all belong to the same tribe of Levi; and it is +assumed, as we have seen, that any Levite, whatever his antecedents, is +qualified for the full privileges of the priesthood in the central +sanctuary if he choose to claim them. But we have also seen that the +distinction emerged as a consequence of the enforcement of the fundamental +law of the single sanctuary. There came to be a class of Levites in the +Temple whose position was at first indeterminate. They themselves claimed +the full standing of the priesthood, and they could appeal in support of +their claim to the authority of the Deuteronomic legislation. But the +claim was never conceded in practice, the influence of the legitimate +Temple priests being strong enough to exclude them from the supreme +privilege of ministering at the altar. This state of things could not +continue. Either the disparity of the two orders must be effaced by the +admission of the Levites to a footing of equality with the other priests, +or else it must be emphasised and based on some higher principle than the +jealousy of a close corporation for its traditional rights. Now such a +principle is supplied by the section of Ezekiel's vision with which we are +dealing. The permanent exclusion of the Levites from the priesthood is +founded on the unassailable moral ground that they had forfeited their +rights by their unfaithfulness to the fundamental truths of the national +religion. They had been a "stumbling-block of iniquity" to the house of +Israel through their disloyalty to Jehovah's cause during the long period +of national apostasy, when they lent themselves to the popular inclination +towards impure and idolatrous worship. For this great betrayal of their +trust they must bear the guilt and shame in their degradation to the +lowest offices in the service of the new sanctuary. They are to fill the +place formerly occupied by uncircumcised foreigners, as keepers of the +gates and servants of the house and the worshipping congregation; but they +may not draw near to Jehovah in the exercise of priestly prerogatives, nor +put their hands to the most holy things. The priesthood of the new Temple +is finally vested in the "sons of Zadok"--_i.e._, the body of Levitical +priests who had ministered in the Temple since its foundation by Solomon. +Whatever the faults of these Zadokites had been--and Ezekiel certainly does +not judge them leniently(227)--they had at least steadfastly maintained the +ideal of a central sanctuary, and in comparison with the rural clergy they +were doubtless a purer and better-disciplined body. The judgment is only a +relative one, as all class judgments necessarily are. There must have been +individual Zadokites worse than an ordinary Levite from the country, as +well as individual Levites who were superior to the average Temple priest. +But if it was necessary that in the future the interests of religion +should be mainly confided to a priesthood, there could be no question that +as a class the old priestly aristocracy of the central sanctuary were +those best qualified for spiritual leadership. + +In Ezekiel's vision we thus seem to find the beginning of a statutory and +official distinction between priests and Levites. This fact forms one of +the arguments chiefly relied on by those who hold that the book of Ezekiel +precedes the introduction of the Priestly Code of the Pentateuch. Two +things, indeed, appear to be clearly established. In the first place the +tendency and significance of Ezekiel's legislation is adequately explained +by the historical situation that existed in the generation immediately +preceding the Exile. In the second place the Mosaic books, apart from +Deuteronomy, had no influence on the scheme propounded in the vision. It +is felt that these results are difficult to reconcile with the view that +the middle books of the Pentateuch were known to the prophet as part of a +divinely ordained constitution for the Israelite theocracy. We should have +expected in that case that the prophet would simply have fallen back on +the provisions of the earlier legislation, where the division between +priests and Levites is formulated with perfect clearness and precision. +Or, looking at the matter from the divine point of view, we should have +expected that the revelation given to Ezekiel would endorse the principles +of the revelation that had already been given. It is equally hard to +suppose that any existing law should have been unknown to Ezekiel, or to +suggest a reason for his ignoring it if it was known. The facts that have +come before us seem thus, so far as they go, to be in favour of the theory +that Ezekiel stands midway between Deuteronomy and the Priestly Code, and +that the final codification and promulgation of the latter took place +after his time. + +It is nearer our purpose, however, to note the probable effect of these +regulations on the _personnel_ of the second Temple. In the book of Ezra +we are told that in the first colony of returning exiles there were four +thousand two hundred and eighty-nine priests and only seventy-four +Levites.(228) One man in every ten was a priest, and the total number was +probably in excess of the requirements of a fully equipped Temple. The +number of Levites, on the other hand, would have been quite insufficient +for the duties required of them under the new arrangements, had there not +been a contingent of nearly four hundred of the old Temple servants to +supply their lack of service.(229) Again, when Ezra came up from Babylon +in the year 458, we find that not a single Levite volunteered to accompany +him. It was only after some negotiations that about forty Levites were +induced to go up with him to Jerusalem; and again they were far +outnumbered by the Nethinim or Temple slaves.(230) These figures cannot +possibly represent the proportionate strength of the tribe of Levi under +the old monarchy. They indicate unmistakably that there was a great +reluctance on the part of the Levites to share the perils and glory of the +founding of the new Jerusalem. Is it not probable that the new conditions +laid down by Ezekiel's legislation were the cause of this reluctance? +That, in short, the prospect of being servants in a Temple where they had +once claimed to be priests was not sufficiently attractive to the majority +to lead them to break up their comfortable homes in exile, and take their +proper place in the ranks of those who were forming the new community of +Israel? And ought we not to spare a moment's admiration even at this +distance of time for the public-spirited few who in self-sacrificing +devotion to the cause of God willingly accepted a position which was +scorned by the great mass of their tribesmen? If this was their spirit, +they had their reward. Although the position of a Levite was at first a +symbol of inferiority and degradation, it ultimately became one of very +great honour. When the Temple service was fully organised, the Levites +were a large and important order, second in dignity in the community only +to the priests. Their ranks were swelled by the incorporation of the +Temple musicians, as well as other functionaries; and thus the Levites are +for ever associated in our minds with the magnificent service of praise +which was the chief glory of the second Temple. + + + +II + + +The remainder of the forty-fourth chapter lays down the rules of +ceremonial holiness to be observed by the priests, the duties they have to +perform towards the community, and the provision to be made for their +maintenance. A few words must here suffice on each of these topics. + +1. The sanctity of the priests is denoted, first of all, by the obligation +to wear special linen garments when they enter the inner court, which is +the sphere of their peculiar ministrations. Vestries were provided, as we +have seen from the description of the Temple, between the inner and outer +courts, where these garments were to be put on and off as the priests +passed to and from the discharge of their sacred duties. The general idea +underlying this regulation is too obvious to require explanation. It is +but an application of the fundamental principle that approach to the +Deity, or entrance into a place sanctified by His presence, demands a +condition of ceremonial purity which cannot be maintained and must not be +imitated by persons of a lower degree of religious privilege. A strange +but very suggestive extension of the principle is found in the injunction +to put off the garments before going into the outer court, lest the +ordinary worshipper should be sanctified by chance contact with them. That +both holiness and uncleanness are propagated by contagion is of the very +essence of the ancient idea of sanctity; but the remarkable thing is that +in some circumstances communicated holiness is as much to be dreaded as +communicated uncleanness. It is not said what would be the fate of an +Israelite who should by chance touch the sacred vestments, but evidently +he must be disqualified for participation in worship until he had purged +himself of his illegitimate sanctity.(231) + +In the next place the priests are under certain permanent obligations with +regard to signs of mourning, marriage, and contact with death, which again +are the mark of the peculiar sanctity of their caste. The rules as to +mourning--prohibition of shaving the head and letting the hair flow +dishevelled(232)--have been thought to be directed against heathen customs +arising out of the worship of the dead. In marriage the priest may only +take a virgin of the house of Israel or the widow of a priest. And only in +the case of his nearest relatives--parent, child, brother, and unmarried +sister--may he defile himself by rendering the last offices to the +departed, and even these exceptions involve exclusion from the sacred +office for seven days.(233) + +The relations of these requirements to the corresponding parts of the +Levitical law are somewhat complicated. The great point of difference is +that Ezekiel knows nothing of the unique privileges and sanctity of the +high priest. It might seem at first sight as if this implied a deliberate +departure from the known usage of the first Temple. It is certain that +there were high priests under the monarchy, and indeed we can discover the +rudiments of a hierarchy in a distribution of authority between the high +priest, second priest, keepers of the threshold, and chief officers of the +house.(234) But the silence of Ezekiel does not necessarily mean that he +contemplated any innovation on the established order of things. The +historical books afford no ground for supposing that the high priest in +the old Temple had a religious standing distinguished from that of his +colleagues. He was _primus __ inter pares_, the president of the priestly +college and the supreme authority in the internal administration of the +Temple affairs, but probably nothing more. Such an office was almost +necessary in the interest of order and authority, and there is nothing in +Ezekiel's regulations inconsistent with its continuance.(235) On the other +hand it must be admitted that his silence would be strange if he had in +view the position assigned to the high priest under the law. For there the +high priest is as far elevated above his colleagues as these are above the +Levites. He is the concentration of all that is holy in Israel, and the +sole mediator of the nearest approach to God which the symbolism of Temple +worship permitted. He is bound by the strictest conditions of ceremonial +sanctity, and any transgression on his part has to be atoned for by a rite +similar to that required for a transgression of the whole +congregation.(236) The omission of this striking figure from the pages of +Ezekiel makes a comparison between his enactments concerning the +priesthood and those of the law difficult and in some degree uncertain. +Nevertheless there are points both of likeness and contrast which cannot +escape observation. Thus the laws of this chapter on defilement by a dead +body are identical with those enjoined in Lev. xxi. 1-3 (the "Law of +Holiness") for ordinary priests; while the high priest is there forbidden +to touch any dead body whatsoever. On the other hand Ezekiel's regulations +as to priestly marriages seem as it were to strike an average between the +restrictions imposed in the law on ordinary priests and those binding on +the high priest. The former may marry any woman that is not violated or a +harlot or a divorced wife; but the high priest is forbidden to marry any +one but a virgin of his own people. Again, the priestly garments, +according to Exod. xxviii. 39-42, xxxix. 27, are made partly of linen and +partly of byssus (? cotton), which certainly looks like a refinement on +the simpler attire prescribed by Ezekiel. But it is impossible to pursue +this subject further here. + +2. The duties of the priests towards the people are few, but exceedingly +important. In the first place they have to instruct the people in the +distinctions between the holy and the profane and between the clean and +the unclean. It will not be supposed that this instruction took the form +of set lectures or homilies on the principles of ceremonial religion. The +verb translated "teach" in ver. 23 means to give an authoritative decision +in a special case; and this had always been the form of priestly +instruction in Israel. The subject of the teaching was of the utmost +importance for a community whose whole life was regulated by the idea of +holiness in the ceremonial sense. To preserve the land in a state of +purity befitting the dwelling-place of Jehovah required the most +scrupulous care on the part of all its inhabitants; and in practice +difficult questions would constantly occur which could only be settled by +an appeal to the superior knowledge of the priest. Hence Ezekiel +contemplates a perpetuation of the old ritual Torah or direction of the +priests even in the ideal state of things to which his vision looks +forward. Although the people are assumed to be all righteous in heart and +responsive to the will of Jehovah, yet they could not all have the +professional knowledge of ritual laws which was necessary to guide them on +all occasions, and errors of inadvertence were unavoidable. Jeremiah could +look forward to a time when none should teach his neighbour or his +brother, saying, Know Jehovah, because the religion which consists in +spiritual emotions and affections becomes the independent possession of +every one who is the subject of saving grace. But Ezekiel, from his point +of view, could not anticipate a time when all the Lord's people should be +priests; for ritual is essentially an affair of tradition and technique, +and can only be maintained by a class of experts specially trained for +their office. Ritualism and sacerdotalism are natural allies; and it is +not wholly accidental that the great ritualistic Churches of Christendom +are those organised on the sacerdotal principle. + +But, secondly, the priests have to act as judges or arbitrators in cases +of disagreement between man and man (ver. 24). This again was an important +department of priestly Torah in ancient Israel, the origin of which went +back to the personal legislation of Moses in the wilderness.(237) Cases +too hard for human judgment were referred to the decision of God at the +sanctuary, and the judgment was conveyed through the agency of the priest. +It is impossible to over-estimate the service thus rendered by the +priesthood to the cause of religion in Israel; and Hosea bitterly +complains of the defection of the priests from the Torah of their God as +the source of the widespread moral corruption of his time.(238) In the +book of Deuteronomy the Levitical priests of the central sanctuary are +associated with the civil magistrate as a court of ultimate appeal in +matters of controversy that arise within the community; and this is by no +means a tribute to the superior legal acumen of the clerical mind, but a +reassertion of the old principle that the priest is the mouthpiece of +Jehovah's judgment.(239) That the priests should be the sole judges in +Ezekiel's ideal polity was to be expected from the high position assigned +to the order generally; but there is another reason for it. We have once +more to keep in mind that we are dealing with the Messianic community, +when the people are anxious to do the right when they know it, and only +cases of honest perplexity require to be resolved. The priests' decision +had never been backed up by executive authority, and in the kingdom of God +no such sanction will be necessary. By this simple judicial arrangement +the ethical demands of Jehovah's holiness will be made effective in the +ordinary life of the community. + +Finally, the priests have complete control of public worship, and are +responsible for the due observance of the festivals and for the +sanctification of the Sabbath (ver. 24). + +3. With regard to the provisions for the support of the priesthood, the +old law continues in force that the priests can hold no landed property +and have no possession like the other tribes of Israel (ver. 28). It is +true that a strip of land, measuring about twenty-seven square miles, was +set apart for their residence;(240) but this was probably not to be +cultivated, and at all events it is not reckoned as a possession yielding +revenue for their maintenance. The priests' inheritance is Jehovah +Himself, which means that they are to live on the offerings of the +community presented to Jehovah at the sanctuary. In the practice of the +first Temple this ancient rule appears to have been interpreted in a broad +and liberal spirit, greatly to the advantage of the Zadokite priests. The +Temple dues consisted partly of money payments by the worshippers; and at +least the fines for ceremonial trespasses which took the place of the sin- +and guilt-offerings were counted the lawful perquisites of the +priests.(241) Ezekiel knows nothing of this system; and if it remained in +force down to his time, he undoubtedly meant to abolish it. The tribute of +the sanctuary is to be paid wholly in kind, and out of this the priests +are to receive a stated allowance. In the first place those sacrifices +which are wholly made over to the Deity, and yet are not consumed on the +altar, have to be eaten by the priests in a holy place. These are the +meal-offering, the sin-offering, and the guilt-offering; of which more +hereafter. For precisely the same reason all that is _herem_--_i.e._, +"devoted" irrevocably to Jehovah--becomes the possession of the priests, +His representatives, except in the cases where it had to be absolutely +destroyed. Besides this they have a claim to the best (an indefinite +portion) of the firstfruits and "oblations" (_terûmah_) brought to the +sanctuary in accordance with ancient custom to be consumed by the +worshipper and his friends.(242) + +These regulations are undoubtedly based on pre-exilic usages, and +consequently leave much to be supplied from the people's knowledge of use +and wont. They do not differ very greatly from the enumeration of the +priestly dues in the eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy. There, as in +Ezekiel, we find that the two great sources from which the priests derive +their maintenance are the sacrifices and the firstfruits. The Deuteronomic +Code, however, knows nothing of the special class of sacrifices called +sin- and guilt-offerings, but simply assigns to the priest certain +portions of each victim,(243) except of course the burnt-offerings, which +were consumed entire on the altar. The priest's share of natural produce +is the "best" of corn, new wine, oil, and wool,(244) and would be selected +as a matter of course from the tithe and _terûmah_ brought to the +sanctuary; so that on this point there is practically complete agreement +between Ezekiel and Deuteronomy. On the other hand the differences of the +Levitical legislation are considerable, and all in the direction of a +fuller provision for the Temple establishment. Such an increased provision +was called for by the peculiar circumstances of the second Temple. The +revenue of the sanctuary obviously depended on the size and prosperity of +the constituency to which it ministered. The stipulations of Deut. xviii. +were no doubt sufficient for the maintenance of the priesthood in the old +kingdom of Judah; and similarly those of Ezekiel's legislation would amply +suffice in the ideal condition of the people and land presupposed by the +vision. But neither could have been adequate for the support of a costly +ritual in a small community like that which returned from Babylon where +one man in ten was a priest. Accordingly we find that the arrangements +made under Nehemiah for the endowment of the Temple ministry are conformed +to the extended provisions of the Priestly Code (Neh. x. 32-39).(245) + + + +III + + +In conclusion, let us briefly consider the significance of this great +institution of the priesthood in Ezekiel's scheme of an ideal theocracy. +It would of course be an utter mistake to suppose that the prophet is +merely legislating in the interests of the sacerdotal order to which he +himself belonged. It was necessary for him to insist on the peculiar +sanctity and privileges of the priests, and to draw a sharp line of +division between them and ordinary members of the community. But he does +this, not in the interest of a privileged caste within the nation, but in +the interest of a religious ideal which embraced priests and people alike +and had to be realised in the life of the nation as a whole. That ideal is +expressed by the word "holiness," and we have already seen how the idea of +holiness demanded ceremonial conditions of immediate access to Jehovah's +presence which the ordinary Israelite could not observe. But "exclusion" +could not possibly be the last word of a religion which seeks to bring men +into fellowship with God. Access to God might be hedged about by +restrictions and conditions of the most onerous kind, but access there +must be if worship was to have any meaning and value for the nation or the +individual. Although the worshipper might not himself lay his victim on +the altar, he must at least be permitted to offer his gift and receive the +assurance that it was accepted. If the priest stood between him and God, +it was not merely to separate but also to mediate between them, and +through the fulfilment of superior conditions of holiness to establish a +communication between him and the holy Being whose face he sought. Hence +the great function of the priesthood in the theocracy is to maintain the +intercourse between Jehovah and Israel which was exhibited in the Temple +ritual by acts of sacrificial worship. + +Now it is manifest that this system of ideas rests on the representative +character of the priestly office. If the principal idea symbolised in the +sanctuary is that of holiness through separation, the fundamental idea of +priesthood is holiness through representation. It is the holiness of +Israel concentrated in the priesthood which qualifies the latter for +entrance within the inner circle of the divine presence. Or perhaps it +would be more correct to say that the presence of Jehovah first sanctifies +the priests in an eminent degree, and then through them, though in a less +degree, the whole body of the people. The idea of national solidarity was +too deeply rooted in the Hebrew consciousness to admit of any other +interpretation of the priesthood than this. The Israelite did not need to +be told that his standing before God was secured by his membership in the +religious community on whose behalf the priests ministered at the altar +and before the Temple. It would not occur to him to think of his personal +exclusion from the most sacred offices as a religious disability; it was +enough for him to know that the nation to which he belonged was admitted +to the presence of Jehovah in the persons of its representatives, and that +he as an individual shared in the blessings which accrued to Israel +through the privileged ministry of the priests. Thus to a Temple poet of a +later age than Ezekiel's the figure of the high priest supplies a striking +image of the communion of saints and the blessing of Jehovah resting on +the whole people:-- + + + Behold, how good and how pleasant it is + That they who are brethren should also dwell together! + Like the precious oil on the head, + That flows down on the beard, + The beard of Aaron, + That flows down on the hem of his garments-- + Like the Hermon-dew that descends on the hills of Zion; + For there hath Jehovah ordained the blessing, + Life for evermore.(246) + + + + +Chapter XXVIII. Prince And People. Chapters xliv.-xlvi. _passim_. + + +It was remarked in a previous lecture that the "prince" of the closing +vision appears to occupy a less exalted position than the Messianic king +of ch. xxxiv. or ch. xxxvii. The grounds on which this impression rests +require, however, to be carefully considered, if we are not to carry away +a thoroughly false conception of the theocratic state foreshadowed by +Ezekiel. It must not be supposed that the prince is a personage of less +than royal rank, or that his authority is overshadowed by that of a +priestly caste. He is undoubtedly the civil head of the nation, owing no +allegiance within his own province to any earthly superior. Nor is there +any reason to doubt that he is the heir of the Davidic house and holds his +office in virtue of the divine promise which secured the throne to David's +descendants. It would therefore be a mistake to imagine that we have here +an anticipation of the Romish theory of the subordination of the secular +to the spiritual power. It may be true that in the state of things +presupposed by the vision very little is left for the king to do, whilst a +variety of important duties falls to the priesthood; but at all events the +king is there and is supreme in his own sphere. Ezekiel does not show the +road to Canossa. If the king is overshadowed, it is by the personal +presence of Jehovah in the midst of His people; and that which limits his +prerogative is not the sacerdotal power, but the divine constitution of +the theocracy as revealed in the vision itself, under which both king and +priests have their functions defined and regulated with a view to the +religious ends for which the community as a whole exists. + +Our purpose in the present chapter is to put together the scattered +references to the duties of the prince which occur in chs. xliv.-xlvi., so +as to gain as clear a picture as possible of the position of the monarchy +in the theocratic state. It must be remembered, however, that the picture +will necessarily be incomplete. National life in its secular aspects, with +which the king is chiefly concerned, is hardly touched on in the vision. +Everything being looked upon from the point of view of the Temple and its +worship, there are but few allusions in which we can detect anything of +the nature of a civil constitution. And these few are introduced +incidentally, not for their own sake, but to explain some arrangement for +securing the sanctity of the land or the community. This fact must never +be lost sight of in judging of Ezekiel's conception of the monarchy. From +all that appears in these pages we might conclude that the prince is a +mere ornamental figurehead of the constitution, and that the few real +duties assigned to him could have been equally well performed by a +committee of priests or laymen elected for the purpose. But this is to +forget that outside the range of subjects here touched upon there is a +whole world of secular interests, of political and social action, where +the king has his part to play in accordance with the precedents furnished +by the best days of the ancient monarchy. + +Let us glance first of all at Ezekiel's institutes of the kingdom in its +more political relations. The notices here are all in the form of +constitutional checks and safeguards against an arbitrary and oppressive +exercise of the royal authority. They are instructive, not only as showing +the interest which the prophet had in good government and his care for the +rights of the subject, but also for the light they cast on certain +administrative methods in force previous to the Exile. + +The first point that calls for attention is the provision made for the +maintenance of the prince and his court. It would seem that the revenue of +the prince was to be derived mainly, if not wholly, from a portion of +territory reserved as his exclusive property in the division of the +country among the tribes.(247) These crown lands are situated on either +side of the sacred "oblation" around the sanctuary, set apart for the use +of the priests and Levites; and they extend to the sea on the west and to +the Jordan Valley on the east. Out of these he is at liberty to assign a +possession to his sons in perpetuity, but any estate bestowed on his +courtiers reverts to the prince in the "year of liberty."(248) The object +of this last regulation apparently is to prevent the formation of a new +hereditary aristocracy between the royal family and the peasantry. A life +peerage, so to speak, or something less, is deemed a sufficient reward for +the most devoted service to the king or the state. And no doubt the +certainty of a revision of all royal grants every seventh year would tend +to keep some persons mindful of their duty. The whole system of royal +demesnes which the king might dispose of as appanages for his younger +children or his faithful retainers presents a curious resemblance to a +well-known feature of feudalism in the Middle Ages; but it was never +practically enforced in Israel. Before the Exile it was evidently unknown, +and after the Exile there was no king to provide for. But why does the +prophet bestow so much care on a mere detail of a political system in +which, as a whole, he takes so little interest? It is because of his +concern for the rights of the common people against the high-handed +tyranny of the king and his nobles. He recalls the bad times of the old +monarchy when any man was liable to be ejected from his land for the +benefit of some court favourite, or to provide a portion for a younger son +of the king. The cruel evictions of the poorer peasant proprietors, which +all the early prophets denounce as an outrage against humanity, and of +which the story of Naboth furnished a typical example, must be rendered +impossible in the new Israel; and as the king had no doubt been the +principal offender in the past, the rule is firmly laid down in his case +that on no pretext must he take the people's inheritance. And this, be it +observed, is an application of the religious principle which underlies the +constitution of the theocracy. The land is Jehovah's, and all interference +with the ancient landmarks which guard the rights of private ownership is +an offence against the holiness of the true divine King who has His abode +amongst the tribes of Israel. This suggests developments of the idea of +holiness which reach to the very foundations of social well-being. A +conception of holiness which secures each man in the possession of his own +vine and fig tree is at all events not open to the charge of ignoring the +practical interests of common life for the sake of an unprofitable +ceremonialism. + +In the next place, we come across a much more startling revelation of the +injustice habitually practised by the Hebrew monarchs. Just as later +sovereigns were wont to meet their deficits by debasing the currency, so +the kings of Judah had learned to augment their revenue by a systematic +falsification of weights and measures. We know from the prophet Amos(249) +that this was a common trick of the wealthy landowners who sold grain at +exorbitant prices to the poor whom they had driven from their possessions. +They "made the ephah small and the shekel great, and dealt falsely with +balances of deceit." But it was left for Ezekiel to tell us that the same +fraud was a regular part of the fiscal system of the Judæan kingdom. There +is no mistaking the meaning of his accusation: "Have done, O princes of +Israel, with your violent and oppressive rule; execute judgment and +justice, and take away your exactions from My people, saith Jehovah God. +_Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath._"(250) +That is to say, the taxes were surreptitiously increased by the use of a +large shekel (for weighing out money payments) and a large bath and ephah +(for measuring tribute paid in kind). And if it was impossible for the +poor to protect themselves against the rapacity of private dealers, poor +and rich alike were helpless when the fraud was openly practised in the +king's name. This Ezekiel had seen with his own eyes, and the shameful +injustice of it was so branded on his spirit that even in a vision of the +last days it comes back to him as an evil to be sedulously guarded +against. It was eminently a case for legislation. If there was to be such +a thing as fair dealing and commercial probity in the community, the +system of weights and measurement must be fixed beyond the power of the +royal caprice to alter it. It was as sacred as any principle of the +constitution. Accordingly he finds a place in his legislation for a +corrected scale of weights and measures, restored no doubt to their +original values. The ephah for dry measure and the bath for liquid measure +are each fixed at the tenth part of a homer. "The shekel shall be twenty +geras:(251) five shekels shall be five, and ten shekels shall be ten, and +fifty shekels shall be your maneh."(252) + +These regulations extend far beyond the immediate object for which they +are introduced, and have both a moral and a religious bearing. They +express a truth often insisted on in the Old Testament, that commercial +morality is a matter in which the holiness of Jehovah is involved: "A +false balance is an abomination to Jehovah, but a just weight is His +delight."(253) In the Law of Holiness an ordinance very similar to +Ezekiel's occurs amongst the conditions by which the precept is to be +fulfilled: "Be ye holy, for I am holy."(254) It is evident that the +Israelites had learned to regard with a religious abhorrence all tampering +with the fixed standards of value on which the purity of commercial life +depended. To overreach by lying words was a sin; but to cheat by the use +of a false balance was a species of profanity comparable to a false oath +in the name of Jehovah. + +These rules about weights and measures required, however, to be +supplemented by a fixed tariff, regulating the taxes which the prince +might impose on the people.(255) It is not quite clear whether any part of +the prince's own income was to be derived from taxation. The tribute is +called an "oblation," and there is no doubt that it was intended +principally for the support of the Temple ritual, which in any case must +have been the heaviest charge on the royal exchequer. But the oblation was +rendered to the prince in the first instance; and the prophet's anxiety to +prevent unjust exactions springs from a fear that the king might make the +Temple tax a pretext for increasing his own revenue. At all events the +people's duty to contribute to the support of public ordinances according +to their ability is here explicitly recognised. Compared with the +provision of the Levitical law the scale of charges here proposed must be +pronounced extremely moderate. The contribution of each householder varies +from one-sixtieth to one-twohundredth of his income and is wholly paid in +kind.(256) The proper equivalent under the second Temple of Ezekiel's +"oblation" was a poll-tax of one-third of a shekel, voluntarily undertaken +at the time of Nehemiah's covenant "for the service of the house of our +God; for the shewbread and for the continual meal-offering, and for the +continual burnt-offering, of the Sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set +feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin-offerings to make +atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God."(257) +In the Priestly Code this tax is fixed at half a shekel for each man.(258) +But in addition to this money payment the law required a tenth of all +produce of the soil and the flock to be given to the priests and Levites. +In Ezekiel's legislation the tithes and firstfruits are still left for the +use of the owner, who is expected to consume them in sacrificial feasts at +the sanctuary. The only charge, therefore, of the nature of a fixed +tribute for religious purposes is the oblation here required for the +regular sacrifices which represent the stated worship rendered on behalf +of the community as a whole. + +This brings us now to the more important aspect of the kingly office--its +religious privileges and duties. Here there are three points which require +to be noticed. + +1. In the first place it is the duty of the prince to supply the material +of the public sacrifices offered in the name of the people.(259) Out of +the tribute levied on the people for this purpose he has to furnish the +altar with the stated number of victims for the daily service, the +Sabbaths, and new moons, and the great yearly festivals. It is clear that +some one must be charged with the responsibility of this important part of +the worship, and it is significant of Ezekiel's relations to the past that +the duty does not yet devolve directly on the priests. They seem to +exercise no authority outside of the Temple, the king standing between +them and the community as a sort of patron of the sanctuary. But the +position of the prince is not simply that of an official receiver, +collecting the tribute, and then handing it over to the Temple as it was +required. He is the representative of the religious unity of the nation, +and in this capacity he presents in person the regular sacrifices offered +on behalf of the community. Thus on the day of the Passover he presents a +sin-offering for himself and the people,(260) as the high priest does in +the ceremonial of the Great Day of Atonement.(261) And so all the +sacrifices of the stated ritual are his sacrifices, officiating as the +head of the nation in its acts of common worship. In this respect the +prince succeeds to the rights exercised by the kings of Judah in the +ritual of the first Temple, although on a different footing. Before the +Exile the king had a proprietary interest in the central sanctuary, and +the expense of the stated service was defrayed as a matter of course out +of the royal revenues. Part of this revenue, as we see in the case of +Joash, was raised by a system of Temple dues paid by the worshippers and +expended on the repairs of the house; but at a much later date than this +we find Ahaz assuming absolute control over the daily sacrifices,(262) +which were doubtless maintained at his expense. + +Now the tendency of Ezekiel's legislation is to bring the whole community +into a closer and more personal connection with the worship of the +sanctuary, and to leave no part of it subject to the arbitrary will of the +prince. But still the idea is preserved that the prince is the religious +as well as the civil representative of the nation; and although he is +deprived of all control over the performance of the ritual, he is still +required to provide the public sacrifices and to offer them in the name of +his people. + +2. In virtue of his representative character the prince possesses certain +privileges in his approaches to God in the sanctuary not accorded to +ordinary worshippers. In this connection it is necessary to explain some +details regulating the use of the sanctuary by the people. The outer court +might be entered by prince or people either through the north or south +gate, but not from the east. The eastern gate was that by which Jehovah +had entered His dwelling-place, and the doors of it are for ever closed. +No foot might cross its threshold. But the prince--and this is one of his +peculiar rights--might enter the gateway from the court to eat his +sacrificial meals.(263) It seems therefore to have served the same purpose +for the prince as the thirty cells along the wall did for common +worshippers. The east gate of the inner court was also shut as a rule, and +was probably never used as a passage even by the priests. But on the +Sabbaths and new moons it was thrown open to receive the sacrifices which +the prince had to bring on these days, and it remained open till the +evening. On days when the gate was open the worshipping congregation +assembled at its door, while the prince entered as far as the threshold +and looked on while the priests presented his offering; then he went out +by the way he had entered. If on any other occasion he presented a +voluntary sacrifice in his private capacity, the east gate was opened for +him as before, but was shut as soon as the ceremony was over. On those +occasions when the eastern gate was not opened, as at the great annual +festivals, the people probably gathered round the north and south gates, +from which they could see the altar; and at these seasons the prince +enters and departs in the common throng of worshippers. A very peculiar +regulation, for which no obvious reason appears, is that each man must +leave the Temple by the gate opposite to that at which he entered; if he +entered by the north, he must leave by the south, and _vice versâ_.(264) + +Many of these arrangements were no doubt suggested by Ezekiel's +acquaintance with the practice in the first Temple, and their precise +object is lost to us. But one or two facts stand out clearly enough, and +are very instructive as to the whole conception of Temple worship. The +chief thing to be noticed is that the principal sacrifices are +representative. The people are merely spectators of a transaction with God +on their behalf, the efficacy of which in no way depends on their co- +operation. Standing at the gates of the inner court, they see the priests +performing the sacred ministrations; they bow themselves in humble +reverence before the presence of the Most High; and these acts of devotion +may have been of the utmost importance for the religious life of the +individual Israelite. But the congregation takes no real part in the +worship; it is done for them, but not by them; it is an _opus operatum_ +performed by the prince and the priests for the good of the community, and +is equally necessary and equally valid whether there is a congregation +present to witness it or not. Those who attend are themselves but +representatives of the nation of Israel, in whose interest the ritual is +kept up. But the supreme representative of the people is the king, and we +note how everything is done to emphasise his peculiar dignity within the +sanctuary. It was necessary perhaps to do something to compensate for the +loss of distinction caused by the exclusion of the royal body-guard from +the Temple. The prince is still the one conspicuous figure in the outer +court. Even his private sacrificial meals are eaten in solitary state, in +the eastern gateway, which is used for no other purpose. And in the great +functions where the prince appears in his representative character he +approaches nearer to the altar than is permitted to any other layman. He +ascends the steps of the eastern gateway in the sight of the people, and +passing through he presents his offerings on the verge of the inner court +which none but the priests may enter. His whole position is thus one of +great importance in the celebration of public ordinances. In detail his +functions are no doubt determined by ancient prescriptive usages not known +to us, but modified in accordance with the stricter ideal of holiness +which Ezekiel's vision was intended to enforce. + +3. Finally, we have to observe that the prince is rigorously excluded from +properly priestly offices. It is true that in some respects his position +is analogous to that of the high priest under the law. But the analogy +extends only to that aspect of the high priest's functions in which he +appears as the head and representative of the religious community, and +ceases the moment he enters upon priestly duties. So far as the special +degree of sanctity which characterises the priesthood is concerned, the +prince is a layman, and as such he is jealously debarred from approaching +the altar, and even from intruding into the sacred inner court where the +priests minister. Now this fact has perhaps a deeper historical importance +than we are apt to imagine. There is good reason to believe that in the +old Temple the kings of Judah frequently officiated in person at the +altar. At the time when the monarchy was established it was the rule that +any man might sacrifice for himself and his household, and that the king +as the representative of the nation should sacrifice on its behalf was an +extension of the principle too obvious to require express sanction. +Accordingly we find that both Saul and David on public occasions built +altars and offered sacrifice to Jehovah. The older theory indeed seems to +have been that priestly rights were inherent in the kingly office, and +that the acting priests were the ministers to whom the king delegated the +greater part of his priestly functions. Although the king might not +appoint any one to this duty without respect to the Levitical +qualification, he exercised within certain limits the right of deposing +one family and installing another in the priesthood of the royal +sanctuary. The house of Zadok itself owed its position to such an act of +ecclesiastical authority on the part of David and Solomon. + +The last occasion on which we read of a king of Judah officiating in +person in the Temple is at the dedication of the new altar of Ahaz, when +the king not only himself sacrificed, but gave directions to the priests +as to the future observance of the ritual. The occasion was no doubt +unusual, but there is not a word in the narrative to indicate that the +king was committing an irregular action or exceeding the recognised +prerogatives of his position. It would be unsafe, however, to conclude +that this state of things continued unchanged till the close of the +monarchy. After the time of Isaiah the Temple rose greatly in the +religious estimation of the people, and a very probable result of this +would be an increasing sense of the importance of the ministration of the +official priesthood. The silence of the historical books and of +Deuteronomy may not count for much in an argument on this question; but +Ezekiel's own decisions lack the emphasis and solemnity with which he +introduces an absolute innovation like the separation between priests and +Levites in ch. xliv. It is at least possible that the later kings had +gradually ceased to exercise the right of sacrifice, so that the privilege +had lapsed through desuetude. Nevertheless it was a great step to have the +principle affirmed as a fundamental law of the theocracy; and this Ezekiel +undoubtedly does. If no other practical object were gained, it served at +least to illustrate in the most emphatic way the idea of holiness, which +demanded the exclusion of every layman from unhallowed contact with the +most sacred emblems of Jehovah's presence. + + ------------------------------------- + +It will be seen from all that has been said that the real interest of +Ezekiel's treatment of the monarchy lies far apart from modern problems +which might seem to have a superficial affinity with it. No lessons can +fairly be deduced from it on the relations between Church and State, or +the propriety of endowing and establishing the Christian religion, or the +duty of rulers to maintain ordinances for the benefit of their subjects. +Its importance lies in another direction. It shows the transition in +Israel from a state of things in which the king is both _de jure_ and _de +facto_ the source of power and the representative of the nation and where +his religious status is the natural consequence of his civic dignity, to a +very different state of things, where the forms of the ancient +constitution are retained although the power has largely vanished from +them. The prince now requires to have his religious duties imposed on him +by an abstract political system whose sole sanction is the authority of +the Deity. It is a transition which has no precise parallel anywhere else, +although resemblances more or less instructive might doubtless be +instanced from the history of Catholicism. Nowhere does Ezekiel's idealism +appear more wonderfully blended with his equally characteristic +conservatism than here. There is no real trace of the tendency attributed +to the prophet to exalt the priesthood at the expense of the monarchy. The +prince is after all a much more imposing personage even in the ceremonial +worship than any priest. Although he lacks the priestly quality of +holiness, his duties are quite as important as those of the priests, while +his dignity is far greater than theirs. The considerations that enter in +to limit his power and importance come from another quarter. They are such +as these: first, the loss of military leadership, which is at least to be +presumed in the circumstances of the Messianic kingdom; second, the +welfare of the people at large; and third, the principle of holiness, +whose supremacy has to be vindicated in the person of the king no less +than in that of his meanest subject. + +Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that the transition referred to was +not actually accomplished even in the history of Israel itself. It was +only in a vision that the monarchy was ever to be represented in the form +which it bears here. From the time of Ezekiel no native king was ever to +rule over Israel again save the priest-princes of the Asmonean dynasty, +whose constitutional position was defined by their high-priestly dignity. +Ezekiel's vision is therefore a preparation for the kingless state of +post-exilic Judaism. The foreign potentates to whom the Jews were subject +did in some instances provide materials for the Temple worship, but their +local representatives were of course unqualified to fill the position +assigned to the prince by the great prophet of the Exile. The community +had to get along as best it could without a king, and the task was not +difficult. The Temple dues were paid directly to the priests and Levites, +and the function of representing the community before the altar was +assigned to the High Priest. It was then indeed that the High Priesthood +came to the front and blossomed out into all the magnificence of its legal +position. It was not only the religious part of the prince's duties that +fell to it, but a considerable share of his political importance as well. +As the only hereditary institution that had survived the Exile, it +naturally became the chief centre of social order in the community. By +degrees the Persian and Greek kings found it expedient to deal with the +Jews through the High Priest, whose authority they were bound to respect, +and thus to leave him a free hand in the internal affairs of the +commonwealth. The High Priesthood, in fact, was a civil as well as a +priestly dignity. We can see that this great revolution would have broken +the continuity of Hebrew history far more violently than it did, but for +the stepping-stone furnished by the ideal "prince" of Ezekiel's vision. + + + + +Chapter XXIX. The Ritual. Chapters xlv., xlvi. + + +It is difficult to go back in imagination to a time when sacrifice was the +sole and sufficient form of every complete act of worship.(265) That the +slaughter of an animal, or at least the presentation of a material +offering of some sort, should ever have been considered of the essence of +intercourse with the Deity may seem to us incredible in the light of the +idea of God which we now possess. Yet there can be no doubt that there was +a stage of religious development which recognised no true approach to God +except as consummated in a sacrificial action. The word "sacrifice" itself +preserves a memorial of this crude and early type of religious service. +Etymologically it denotes nothing more than a sacred act. But amongst the +Romans, as amongst ourselves, it was regularly applied to the offerings at +the altar, which were thus marked out as _the_ sacred actions _par +excellence_ of ancient religion. It would be impossible to explain the +extraordinary persistence and vitality of the institution amongst races +that had attained a relatively high degree of civilisation, unless we +understand that the ideas connected with it go back to a time when +sacrifice was the typical and fundamental form of primitive worship. + +By the time of Ezekiel, however, the age of sacrifice in this strict and +absolute sense may be said to have passed away, at least in principle. +Devout Jews who had lived through the captivity in Babylon and found that +Jehovah was there to them "a little of a sanctuary,"(266) could not +possibly fall back into the belief that their God was only to be +approached and found through the ritual of the altar. And long before the +Exile, the ethical teaching of the prophets had led Israel to appreciate +the external rites of sacrifice at their true value. + + + Wherewithal shall I come before Jehovah + Or bow myself before God on high? + Shall I come before Him with burnt-offerings, + With calves of a year old? + Is Jehovah pleased with thousands of rams, + With myriads of rivers of oil? + Shall I give my firstborn as an atonement for me, + The fruit of my body as a sin-offering for my life? + He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; + And what does Jehovah require of thee, + But to do justice and to love mercy, + And to walk humbly with thy God?(267) + + +This great word of spiritual religion had been uttered long before +Ezekiel, as a protest against the senseless multiplication of sacrifices +which came in in the reign of Manasseh. Nor can we suppose that Ezekiel, +with all his engrossment in matters of ritual, was insensible to the lofty +teaching of his predecessors, or that his conception of God was less +spiritual than theirs. As a matter of fact the worship of Israel was never +afterwards wholly absorbed in the routine of the Temple ceremonies. The +institution of the synagogue with its purely devotional exercises of +prayer and reading of the Scriptures must have been nearly coeval with the +second Temple, and prepared the way far more than the latter for the +spiritual worship of the New Testament. But even the Temple worship was +spiritualised by the service of praise and the marvellous development of +devotional poetry which it called forth. "The emotion with which the +worshipper approaches the second Temple, as recorded in the Psalter, has +little to do with sacrifice, but rests rather on the fact that the whole +wondrous history of Jehovah's grace to Israel is vividly and personally +realised as he stands amidst the festal crowd at the ancient seat of God's +throne, and adds his voice to the swelling song of praise."(268) + +How then, it may be asked, are we to account for the fact that the prophet +shows such intense interest in the details of a system which was already +losing its religious significance? If sacrifice was no longer of the +essence of worship, why should he be so careful to legislate for a scheme +of ritual in which sacrifice is the prominent feature, and say nothing of +the inward state of heart which alone is an acceptable offering to God? +The chief reason no doubt is that the ritual elements of religion were the +only matters, apart from moral duties, which admitted of being reduced to +a legal system, and that the formation of such a system was demanded by +the circumstances with which the prophet had to deal. The time was not yet +come when the principle of a central national sanctuary could be +abandoned, and if such a sanctuary was to be maintained without danger to +the highest interests of religion it was necessary that its service should +be regulated with a view to preserve the deposit of revealed truth that +had been committed to the nation through the prophets. The essential +features of the sacrificial institutions were charged with a deep +religious significance, and there existed in the popular mind a great mass +of sound religious impression and sentiment clustering around that central +rite. To dispense with the institution of sacrifice would have rendered +worship entirely impossible for the great body of the people, while to +leave it unregulated was to invite a recurrence of the abuses which had +been so fruitful a source of corruption in the past. Hence the object of +the ritual ordinances which we are about to consider is twofold: in the +first place to provide an authorised code of ritual free from everything +that savoured of pagan usages, and in the second to utilise the public +worship as a means of deepening and purifying the religious conceptions of +those who could be influenced in no other way. Ezekiel's legislation has a +special regard for the wants of the "common rude man" whose religious life +needs all the help it can get from external observances. Such persons form +the majority of every religious society; and to train their minds to a +deeper sense of sin and a more vivid apprehension of the divine holiness +proved to be the only way in which the spiritual teaching of the prophets +could be made a practical power in the community at large. It is true that +the highest spiritual needs were not satisfied by the legal ritual. But +the irrepressible longings of the soul for nearer fellowship with God +cannot be dealt with by rigid formal enactments. Ezekiel is content to +leave them to the guidance of that Spirit whose saving operations will +have changed the heart of Israel and made it a true people of God. The +system of external observances which he foreshadows in his vision was not +meant to be the life of religion, but it was, so to speak, the trellis- +work which was necessary to support the delicate tendrils of spiritual +piety until the time when the spirit of filial worship should be the +possession of every true member of the Church of God. + +Bearing these facts in mind, we may now proceed to examine the scheme of +sacrificial worship contained in chapters xlv. and xlvi. Only its leading +features can here be noticed, and the points most deserving of attention +may be grouped under three heads: the Festivals, the Representative +Service, and the Idea of Atonement. + +I. THE YEARLY FEASTS.--The most striking thing in Ezekiel's festal +calendar(269) is the division of the ecclesiastical year into two +precisely similar parts. Each half of the year commences with an atoning +sacrifice for the purification of the sanctuary from defilement contracted +during the previous half.(270) Each contains a great festival--in the one +case the Passover, beginning on the fourteenth day of the first month and +lasting seven days, and in the other the Feast of Tabernacles (simply +called the Feast), beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and +also lasting for seven days.(271) The passage is chiefly devoted to a +minute regulation of the public sacrifices to be offered on these +occasions, other and more characteristic features of the celebration being +assumed as well known from tradition. + +It is difficult to see what is the precise meaning of the proposed +rearrangement of the feasts in two parallel series. It may be due simply +to the prophet's love of symmetry in all departments of public life, or it +may have been suggested by the fact that at this time the Babylonian +calendar, according to which the year begins in spring, was superimposed +on the old Hebrew year commencing in the autumn.(272) At all events it +involved a breach with pre-exilic tradition, and was never carried out in +practice. The earlier legislation of the Pentateuch recognises a cycle of +three festivals--Passover and Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Harvest or of +Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Ingathering or of Tabernacles.(273) In +order to carry through his symmetrical division of the sacred year Ezekiel +has to ignore one of these, the Feast of Pentecost, which seems to have +always been counted the least important of the three. It is not to be +supposed that he contemplated its abolition, for he is careful not to +alter in any particular the positive regulations of Deuteronomy; only it +did not fall into his scheme, and so he does not think it of sufficient +importance to prescribe regular public sacrifices for it. After the Exile, +however, Jewish practice was regulated by the canons of the Priestly Code, +in which, along with other festivals, the ancient threefold cycle is +continued, and stated sacrifices are prescribed for Pentecost, just as for +the other two.(274) Similarly, the two atoning ceremonies in the beginning +of the first and seventh months,(275) which are not mentioned in the older +legislation, are replaced in the Priests' Code by the single Day of +Atonement on the tenth day of the seventh month, whilst the beginning of +the year is celebrated by the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the +same month.(276) + +But although the details of Ezekiel's system thus proved to be +impracticable in the circumstances of the restored Jewish community, it +succeeded in the far more important object of infusing a new spirit into +the celebration of the feasts, and impressing on them a different +character. The ancient Hebrew festivals were all associated with joyous +incidents of the agricultural year. The Feast of Unleavened Bread marked +the beginning of harvest, when "the sickle was first put into the +corn."(277) At this time also the firstlings of the flock and herd were +sacrificed. The seven weeks which elapse till Pentecost are the season of +the cereal harvest, which is then brought to a close by the Feast of +Harvest, when the goodness of Jehovah is acknowledged by the presentation +of part of the produce at the sanctuary. Finally the Feast of Tabernacles +celebrates the most joyous occasion of the year, the storing of the +produce of the winepress and the threshing-floor.(278) The nature of the +festivals is easily seen from the events with which they are thus +associated. They are occasions of social mirth and festivity, and the +religious rites observed are the expressions of the nation's heart-felt +gratitude to Jehovah for the blessing that has rested on the labours of +husbandman and shepherd throughout the year. The Passover with its +memories of anxiety and escape was no doubt of a more sombre character +than the others, but the joyous and festive nature of Pentecost and +Tabernacles is strongly insisted on in the book of Deuteronomy. By these +institutions religion was closely intertwined with the great interests of +every-day life, and the fact that the sacred seasons of the Israelites' +year were the occasions on which the natural joy of life was at its +fullest, bears witness to the simple-minded piety which was fostered by +the old Hebrew worship. There was, however, a danger that in such a state +of things religion should be altogether lost sight of in the exuberance of +natural hilarity and expressions of social good-will. And indeed no great +height of spirituality could be nourished by a type of worship in which +devotional feeling was concentrated on the expression of gratitude to God +for the bountiful gifts of His providence. It was good for the childhood +of the nation, but when the nation became a man it must put away childish +things. + +The tendency of the post-exilic ritual was to detach the sacred seasons +more and more from the secular associations which had once been their +chief significance. This was done partly by the addition of new festivals +which had no such natural occasion, and partly by a change in the point of +view from which the older celebrations were regarded. No attempt was made +to obliterate the traces of the affinity with events of common life which +endeared them to the hearts of the people, but increasing importance was +attached to their historic significance as memorials of Jehovah's gracious +dealings with the nation in the period of the Exodus. At the same time +they take on more and more the character of religious symbols of the +permanent relations between Jehovah and His people. The beginnings of this +process can be clearly discerned in the legislation of Ezekiel. Not indeed +in the direction of a historic interpretation of the feasts, for this is +ignored even in the case of the Passover, where it was already firmly +established in the national consciousness. But the institution of a +special series of public sacrifices, which was the same for the Passover +and the Feast of Tabernacles, and particularly the prominence given to the +sin-offering, obviously tended to draw the mind of the people away from +the passing interest of the occasion, and fix it on those standing +obligations imposed by the holiness of Jehovah on which the continuance of +all His bounties depended. We cannot be mistaken in thinking that one +design of the new ritual was to correct the excesses of unrestrained +animal enjoyment by deepening the sense of guilt and the fear of possible +offences against the sanctity of the divine presence. For it was at these +festivals that the prince was required to offer the atoning sacrifice for +himself and the people.(279) Thus the effect of the whole system was to +foster the sensitive and tremulous tone of piety which was characteristic +of Judaism, in contrast to the hearty, if undisciplined, religion of the +ancient Hebrew feasts. + +II. THE STATED SERVICE.--In the course of this chapter we have had occasion +more than once to touch on the prominence given in Ezekiel's vision to +sacrifices offered in accordance with a fixed rubric in the name of the +whole community. The significance of this fact may best be seen from a +comparison with the sacrificial regulations of the book of Deuteronomy. +These are not numerous, but they deal exclusively with private sacrifices. +The person addressed is the individual householder, and the sacrifices +which he is enjoined to render are for himself and his family. There is no +explicit allusion in the whole book to the official sacrifices which were +offered by the regular priesthood and maintained at the king's expense. In +Ezekiel's scheme of Temple worship the case is exactly the reverse. Here +there is no mention of private sacrifice except in the incidental notices +as to the free-will offerings and the sacrificial meal of the prince,(280) +while on the other hand great attention is paid to the maintenance of the +regular offerings provided by the prince for the congregation. This of +course does not mean that there were no statutory sacrifices in the old +Temple, or that Ezekiel contemplated the cessation of private sacrifice in +the new. Deuteronomy passes over the public sacrifices because they were +under the jurisdiction of the king, and the people at large were not +directly responsible for them; and similarly Ezekiel is silent as to +private offerings because their observance was assured by all the +traditions of the sanctuary. Still it is a noteworthy fact that of two +codes of Temple worship, separated by only half a century, each legislates +exclusively for that element of the ritual which is taken for granted by +the other. + +What it indicates is nothing less than a change in the ruling conception +of public worship. Before the Exile the idea that Jehovah could desert His +sanctuary hardly entered into the mind of the people, and certainly did +not in the least affect the confidence with which they availed themselves +of the privileges of worship. The Temple was there and God was present +within it, and all that was necessary was that the spontaneous devotion of +the worshippers should be regulated by the essential conditions of +ceremonial propriety. But the destruction of the Temple had proved that +the mere existence of a sanctuary was no guarantee of the favour and +protection of the God who was supposed to dwell within it. Jehovah might +be driven from His Temple by the presence of sin among the people, or even +by a neglect of the ceremonial precautions which were necessary to guard +against the profanation of His holiness. On this idea the whole edifice of +the later ritual is built up, and here as in other respects Ezekiel has +shown the way. In his view the validity and efficiency of the whole Temple +service hangs on the due performance of the public rites which preserve +the nation in a condition of sanctity and continually represent it as a +holy people before God. Under cover of this representative service the +individual may draw near with confidence to seek the face of his God in +acts of private homage, but apart from the regular official ceremonial his +worship has no reality, because he can have no assurance that Jehovah will +accept his offering. His right of access to God springs from his +fellowship with the religious community of Israel, and hence the +indispensable presupposition of every act of worship is that the standing +of the community before Jehovah be preserved intact by the rites appointed +for that purpose. And, as has been already said, these rites are +representative in character. Being performed on behalf of the nation, the +obligation of presenting them rests with the prince in his representative +capacity, and the share of the people in them is indicated by the tribute +which the prince is empowered to levy for this end. In this way the ideal +unity of the nation finds continual expression in the worship of the +sanctuary, and the supreme interest of religion is transferred from the +mere act of personal homage to the abiding conditions of acceptance with +God symbolised by the stated service. + +Let us now look at some details of the scheme in which this important idea +is embodied. The foundation of the whole system is the daily burnt- +offering--the _tamîd_. Under the first Temple the daily offering seems to +have been a burnt-offering in the morning and a meal-offering (_minhah_) +in the evening,(281) and this practice seems to have continued down to the +time of Ezra.(282) According to the Levitical law it consists of a lamb +morning and evening, accompanied on each occasion by a minhah and a +libation of wine.(283) Ezekiel's ordinance occupies a middle position +between these two. Here the tamîd is a lamb for a burnt-offering in the +morning, along with a minhah of flour mingled with oil; and there is no +provision for an evening sacrifice.(284) The presentation of this +sacrifice on the altar in the morning, as the basis on which all other +offerings through the day were laid, may be taken to symbolise the truth +that the acceptance of all ordinary acts of worship depended on the +representation of the community before God in the regular service. To the +spiritual perception of a Psalmist it may have suggested the duty of +commencing each day's work with an act of devotion:-- + + + Jehovah, in the morning shalt Thou hear my voice; + In the morning will I set [my prayer] in order before Thee, and + will look out.(285) + + +The offerings for the Sabbaths and new moons may be considered as +amplifications of the daily sacrifice. They consist exclusively of burnt- +offerings. On the Sabbath six lambs are presented, perhaps one for each +working day of the week, together with a ram for the Sabbath itself +(Smend). At the new moon feast this offering is repeated with the addition +of a bullock. It may be noted here once for all that each burnt sacrifice +is accompanied by a corresponding minhah, according to a fixed scale. For +sin-offerings, on the other hand, no minhah seems to be appointed. + +At the annual (or rather half-yearly) celebrations the sin-offering +appears for the first time among the stated sacrifices. The sacrifice for +the cleansing of the sanctuary at the beginning of each half of the year +consists of a young bullock for a sin-offering, in addition of course to +the burnt-offerings which were prescribed for the first day of the month. +For the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles the daily offering is a he- +goat for a sin-offering, and seven bullocks and seven rams for a burnt- +offering during the week covered by these festivals. Besides this, at +Passover, and probably also at Tabernacles, the prince presents a bullock +as a sin-offering for himself and the people. We have now to consider more +particularly the place which this class of sacrifices occupies in the +ritual. + +III. ATONING SACRIFICES.--It is evident, even from this short survey, that +the idea of atonement holds a conspicuous place in the symbolism of +Ezekiel's Temple. He is, indeed, the earliest writer (setting aside the +Levitical Code) who mentions the special class of sacrifices known as sin- +and guilt-offerings. Under the first Temple ceremonial offences were +regularly atoned for at one time by money payments to the priests, and +these fines are called by the names afterwards applied to the expiatory +sacrifices.(286) It does not follow, of course, that such sacrifices were +unknown before the time of Ezekiel, nor is such a conclusion probable in +itself. The manner in which the prophet alludes to them rather shows that +the idea was perfectly familiar to his contemporaries. But the prominence +of the sin-offering in the public ritual may be safely set down as a new +departure in the Temple service, as it is one of the most striking +symptoms of the change that passed over the spirit of Israel's religion at +the time of the Exile. + +Of the elements that contributed to this change the most important was the +deepened consciousness of sin that had been produced by the teaching of +the prophets as verified in the terrible calamity of the Exile. We have +seen how frequently Ezekiel insists on this effect of the divine judgment; +how, even in the time of her pardon and restoration, he represents Israel +as ashamed and confounded, not opening her mouth any more for the +remembrance of all that she had done. We are therefore prepared to find +that full provision is made for the expression of this abiding sense of +guilt in the revised scheme of worship. This was done not by new rites +invented for the purpose, but by seizing on those elements of the old +ritual which represented the wiping out of iniquity, and by so remodelling +the whole sacrificial system as to place these prominently in the +foreground. Such elements were found chiefly in the sin-offering and +guilt-offering, which occupied a subsidiary position in the old Temple, +but are elevated to a place of commanding importance in the new. The +precise distinction between these two kinds of sacrifice is an obscure +point of the Levitical ritual which has never been perfectly cleared up. +In the system of Ezekiel, however, we observe that the guilt-offering +plays no part in the stated service, and must therefore have been reserved +for private transgressions of the law of holiness. And in general it may +be remarked that the atoning sacrifices differ from others, not in their +material, but in certain features of the sacred actions to be observed +with regard to them. We cannot here enter upon the details of the +symbolism, but the most important fact is that the flesh of the victims is +neither offered on the altar as in the burnt-offering, nor eaten by the +worshippers as in the peace-offering, but belongs to the category of most +holy things, and must be consumed by the priests in a holy place. In +certain extreme cases, however, it has to be burned without the +sanctuary.(287) + +Now in the chapters before us the idea of sacrificial atonement is chiefly +developed in connection with the material fabric of the sanctuary. The +sanctuary may contract defilement by involuntary lapses from the stringent +rules of ceremonial purity on the part of those who use it, whether +priests or laymen. Such errors of inadvertence were almost unavoidable +under the complicated set of formal regulations into which the fundamental +idea of holiness branched out, yet they are regarded as endangering the +sanctity of the Temple, and require to be carefully atoned for from time +to time, lest by their accumulation the worship should be invalidated and +Jehovah driven from His dwelling-place. But besides this the Temple (or at +least the altar) is unfit for its sacred functions until it has undergone +an initial process of purification. The principle involved still survives +in the consecration of ecclesiastical buildings in Christendom, although +its application had doubtless a much more serious import under the old +dispensation than it can possibly have under the new. + +A full account of this initial ceremony of purification is given in the +end of the forty-third chapter, and a glance at the details of the ritual +may be enough to impress on us the conceptions that underlie the process. +It is a protracted operation, extending apparently over eight days.(288) +The first and fundamental act is the offering of a sin-offering of the +highest degree of sanctity, the victim being a bullock and the flesh being +burned outside the sanctuary. The blood alone is sprinkled on the four +horns of the altar, the four corners of the "settle," and the "border": +this is the first stage in the dedication of the altar. Then for seven +days a he-goat is offered for a sin-offering, the same rites being +observed, and after it a burnt-offering consisting of a bullock and a ram. +These sacrifices are intended only for the purification of the altar, and +only on the day after their completion is the altar ready to receive +ordinary public or private gifts--burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. Now +four expressions are used to denote the effect of these ceremonies on the +altar. The most general is "consecrate," literally "fill its hand"(289)--a +phrase used originally of the installation of a priest into his office, +and then applied metaphorically to consecration or initiation in general. +The others are "purify,"(290) "unsin,"(291) (the special effect of the +_sin-offering_) and "expiate."(292) Of these the last is the most +important. It is the technical priestly term for atonement for sin, the +reference being of course generally to persons. As to the fundamental +meaning of the word, there has been a great deal of discussion, which has +not yet led to a decisive result. The choice seems to lie between two +radical ideas, either to "wipe out" or to "cover," and so render +inoperative.(293) But either etymology enables us to understand the use of +the word in legal terminology. It means to undo the effect of a +transgression on the religious status of the offender, or, as in the case +before us, to remove natural or contracted impurity from a material +object. And whether this is conceived as a covering up of the fault so as +to conceal it from view, or a wiping out of it, amounts in the end to the +same thing. The significant fact is that the same word is applied both to +persons and things. It furnishes another illustration of the intimate way +in which the ideas of moral guilt and physical defect are blended in the +ceremonial of the Old Testament. + +The meaning of the two atoning services appointed for the beginning of the +first and the seventh month is now clear. They are intended to renew +periodically the holiness of the sanctuary established by the initiatory +rites just described. For it is evident that no indelible character can +attach to the kind of sanctity with which we are here dealing. It is apt +to be lost, if not by mere lapse of time, at least by the repeated contact +of frail men who with the best intentions are not always able to fulfil +the conditions of a right use of sacred things. Every failure and mistake +detracts from the holiness of the Temple, and even unnoticed and +altogether unconscious offences would in course of time profane it if not +purged away. Hence "for every one that erreth and for him that is +simple"(294) atonement has to be made for the house twice a year. The +ritual to be observed on these occasions bears a general resemblance to +that of the inaugural ceremony, but is simpler, only a single bullock +being presented for a sin-offering. On the other hand, it expressly +symbolises a purification of the Temple as well as of the altar. The blood +is sprinkled not only on the "settle" of the altar, but also on the +doorposts of the house, and the posts of the eastern gate of the inner +court. + +We may now pass on to the second application made by Ezekiel of the idea +of sacrificial atonement. These purifications of the sanctuary, which bulk +so largely in his system, have their counterpart in atonements made +directly for the faults of the people. For this purpose, as we have +already seen, a sin-offering was to be presented at each of the great +annual festivals by the prince, for himself and the nation which he +represented. But it is important to observe that the idea of atonement is +not confined to one particular class of sacrifices. It lies at the +foundation of the whole system of the stated service, the purpose of which +is expressly said to be "to make atonement for the house of Israel."(295) +Thus while the half-yearly sin-offering afforded a special opportunity for +confession of sin on the part of the people, we are to understand that the +holiness of the nation was secured by the observance of every part of the +prescribed ritual which regulated its intercourse with God. And since the +nation is in itself imperfectly holy and stands in constant need of +forgiveness, the maintenance of its sanctity by sacrificial rites was +equivalent to a perpetual act of atonement. Special offences of +individuals had of course to be expiated by special sacrifices, but +beneath all particular transgressions lay the broad fact of human impurity +and infirmity; and in the constant "covering up" of this by a divinely +instituted system of religious ordinances we recognise an atoning element +in the regular Temple service. + +The sacrificial ritual may therefore be regarded as a barrier interposed +between the natural uncleanness of the people and the awful holiness of +Jehovah seated in His Temple. That men should be permitted to approach Him +at all is an unspeakable privilege conferred on Israel in virtue of its +covenant relation to God. But that the approach is surrounded by so many +precautions and restrictions is a perpetual witness to the truth that God +is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and one with whom evil cannot +dwell. If these precautions could have been always perfectly observed, it +is probable that no periodical purification of the sanctuary would have +been enjoined. The ordinary ritual would have sufficed to maintain the +nation in a state of holiness corresponding with the requirements of +Jehovah's nature. But this was impossible on account of the slowness of +men's minds and their liability to err in their most sacred duties. Sin is +so subtle and pervasive that it is conceived as penetrating the network of +ordinances destined to intercept it, and reaching even to the dwelling- +place of Jehovah Himself. It is to remove such accidental, though +inevitable, violations of the majesty of God that the ritual edifice is +crowned by ceremonies for the purification of the sanctuary. They are, so +to speak, atonements in the second degree. Their object is to compensate +for defects in the ordinary routine of worship, and to remove the arrears +of guilt which had accumulated through neglect of some part of the +ceremonial scheme. This idea appears quite clearly in Ezekiel's +legislation, but it is far more impressively exhibited in the Levitical +law, where different elements of Ezekiel's ritual are gathered up into one +celebration in the Great Day of Atonement, the most solemn and imposing of +the whole year. + +Hence we see that the whole system of sacrificial worship is firmly knit +together, being pervaded from end to end by the one principle of +expiation, behind which lay the assurance of pardon and acceptance to all +who approached God in the use of the appointed means of grace. Herein lay +the chief value of the Temple ritual for the religious life of Israel. It +served to impress on the mind of the people the great realities of sin and +forgiveness, and so to create that profound consciousness of sin which has +passed over, spiritualised but not weakened, into Christian experience. +Thus the law proved itself a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ, in whose +atoning death the evil of sin and the eternal conditions of forgiveness +are once for all and perfectly revealed. + +The positive truths taught or suggested by the ritual of atonement are too +numerous to be considered here. It is a remarkable fact that neither in +Ezekiel nor in any other part of the Old Testament is an authoritative +interpretation given of the most essential features of the ritual. The +people seem to have been left to explain the symbolism as best they could, +and many points which are obscure and uncertain to us must have been +perfectly intelligible to the least instructed amongst them. For us the +only safe rule is to follow the guidance of the New Testament writers in +their use of sacrificial institutions as types of the death of Christ. The +investigation is too large and intricate to be attempted in this place. +But it may be well in conclusion to point out one or two general +principles, which ought never to be overlooked in the typical +interpretation of the expiatory sacrifices of the Old Testament. + +In the first place atonement is provided only for sins committed in +ignorance; and moral and ceremonial offences stand precisely on the same +footing in the eye of the law. In Ezekiel's system, indeed, it was only +sins of inadvertence that needed to be considered. He has in view the +final state of things in which the people, though not perfect nor exempt +from liability to error, are wholly inclined to obey the law of Jehovah so +far as their knowledge and ability extend. But even in the Levitical +legislation there is no legal dispensation for guilt incurred through +wanton and deliberate defiance of the law of Jehovah. To sin thus is to +sin "with a high hand,"(296) and such offences have to be expiated by the +death of the sinner, or at least his exclusion from the religious +community. And whether the precept belong to what we call the ceremonial +or to the moral side of the law, the same principle holds good, although +of course its application is one-sided, strictly moral transgressions +being for the most part voluntary, while ritual offences may be either +voluntary or inadvertent. But for wilful and high-handed departure from +any precept, whether ethical or ceremonial, no atonement is provided by +the law; the guilty person "falls into the hands of the living God," and +forgiveness is possible only in the sphere of personal relations between +man and God, into which the law does not enter. + +This leads to a second consideration. Atoning sacrifices do not purchase +forgiveness. That is to say, they are never regarded as exercising any +influence on God, moving Him to mercy towards the sinner. They are simply +the forms to which, by Jehovah's own appointment, the promise of +forgiveness is attached. Hence sacrifice has not the fundamental +significance in Old Testament religion that the death of Christ has in the +New. The whole sacrificial system, as we see quite clearly from Ezekiel's +prophecy, presupposes redemption; the people are already restored to their +land and sanctified by Jehovah's presence amongst them before these +institutions come into operation. The only purpose that they serve in the +system of religion to which they belong is to secure that the blessings of +salvation shall not be lost. Both in this vision and throughout the Old +Testament the ultimate ground of confidence in God lies in historic acts +of redemption in which Jehovah's sovereign grace and love to Israel are +revealed. Through the sacrifices the individual was enabled to assure +himself of his interest in the covenant blessings promised to his nation. +They were the sacraments of his personal acceptance with Jehovah, and as +such were of the highest importance for his normal religious life. But +they were not and could not be the basis of the forgiveness of sins, nor +did later Judaism ever fall into the error of seeking to appease the Deity +by a multiplication of sacrificial gifts. When the insufficiency of the +ritual system to give true peace of conscience or to bring back the +outward tokens of God's favour is dwelt upon, the ancient Church falls +back on the spiritual conditions of forgiveness already enunciated by the +prophets. + + + Thou desirest not sacrifice that I should give it, + Thou delightest not in burnt-offering. + The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: + A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.(297) + + +Finally, we have learned from Ezekiel that the idea of atonement is not +lodged in any particular rite, but pervades the sacrificial system as a +whole. Suggestive as the ritual of the sin-offering is to the Christian +conscience, it must not be isolated from other developments of the +sacrificial idea or taken to embody the whole permanent meaning of the +institution. There are at least two other aspects of sacrifice which are +clearly expressed in the ritual legislation of the Old Testament--that of +homage, chiefly symbolised by the burnt-offering, and that of communion, +symbolised by the peace-offering and the sacrificial feast observed in +connection with it. And although, both in Ezekiel and the Levitical law, +these two elements are thrown into the shade by the idea of expiation, yet +there are subtle links of affinity between all three, which will have to +be traced out before we are in a position to understand the first +principles of sacrificial worship. The brilliant and learned researches of +the late Professor Robertson Smith have thrown a flood of light on the +original rite of sacrifice and the important place which it occupies in +ancient religion.(298) He has sought to explain the intricate system of +the Levitical legislation as an unfolding, under varied historical +influences, of different aspects of the idea of communion between God and +men, which is the essence of primitive sacrifice. In particular he has +shown how special atoning sacrifices arise through emphasising by +appropriate symbolism the element of reconciliation which is implicitly +contained in every act of religious communion with God. This at least +enables us to understand how the atoning ritual with all its distinctive +features yet resembles so closely that which is common to all types of +sacrifice, and how the idea of expiation, although concentrated in a +particular class of sacrifices, is nevertheless spread over the whole +surface of the sacrificial ritual. It would be premature as well as +presumptuous to attempt here to estimate the consequences of this theory +for Christian theology. But it certainly seems to open up the prospect of +a wider and deeper apprehension of the religious truths which are +differentiated and specialised in the Old Testament dispensation, to be +reunited in that great Atoning Sacrifice, in which the blood of the new +covenant has been shed for many for the remission of sins. + + + + +Chapter XXX. Renewal And Allotment Of The Land. Chapters xlvii., xlviii. + + +In the first part of the forty-seventh chapter the visionary form of the +revelation, which had been interrupted by the important series of +communications on which we have been so long engaged, is again resumed. +The prophet, once more under the direction of his angelic guide, sees a +stream of water issuing from the Temple buildings and flowing eastward +into the Dead Sea.(299) Afterwards he receives another series of +directions relating to the boundaries of the land and its division among +the twelve tribes.(300) With this the vision and the book find their +appropriate close. + + + +I + + +The Temple stream, to which Ezekiel's attention is now for the first time +directed, is a symbol of the miraculous transformation which the land of +Canaan is to undergo in order to fit it for the habitation of Jehovah's +ransomed people. Anticipations of a renewal of the face of nature are a +common feature of Messianic prophecy. They have their roots in the +religious interpretation of the possession of the land as the chief token +of the divine blessing on the nation. In the vicissitudes of agricultural +or pastoral life the Israelite read the reflection of Jehovah's attitude +towards Himself and His people: fertile seasons and luxuriant harvests +were the sign of His favour; drought and famine were the proof that He was +offended. Even at the best of times, however, the condition of Palestine +left much to be desired from the husbandman's point of view, especially in +the kingdom of Judah. Nature was often stern and unpropitious, the +cultivation of the soil was always attended with hardship and uncertainty, +large tracts of the country were given over to irreclaimable barrenness. +There was always a vision of better things possible, and in the last days +the prophets cherished the expectation that that vision would be realised. +When all causes of offence are removed from Israel and Jehovah smiles on +His people, the land will blossom into supernatural fertility, the +ploughman overtaking the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth +seed, the mountains dropping new wine and the hills melting.(301) Such +idyllic pictures of universal plenty and comfort abound in the writings of +the prophets, and are not wanting in the pages of Ezekiel. We have already +had one in the description of the blessings of the Messianic kingdom;(302) +and we shall see that in this closing vision a complete remodelling of the +land is presupposed, rendering it all alike suitable for the habitation of +the tribes of Israel. + +The river of life is the most striking presentation of this general +conception of Messianic felicity. It is one of those vivid images from +Eastern life which, through the Apocalypse, have passed into the symbolism +of Christian eschatology. "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, +clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In +the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there +the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her +fruits every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the +nations."(303) So writes the seer of Patmos, in words whose music charms +the ear even of those to whom running water means much less than it did to +a native of thirsty Palestine. But John had read of the mystic river in +the pages of his favourite prophet before he saw it in vision. The close +resemblance between the two pictures leaves no doubt that the origin of +the conception is to be sought in Ezekiel's vision. The underlying +religious truth is the same in both representations, that the presence of +God is the source from which the influences flow forth that renew and +purify human existence. The tree of life on each bank of the river, which +yields its fruit every month and whose leaves are for healing, is a detail +transferred directly from Ezekiel's imagery to fill out the description of +the glorious city of God into which the nations of them that are saved are +gathered. + +But with all its idealism, Ezekiel's conception presents many points of +contact with the actual physiography of Palestine; it is less universal +and abstract in its significance than that of the Apocalypse. The first +thing that might have suggested the idea to the prophet is that the Temple +mount had at least one small stream, whose "soft-flowing" waters were +already regarded as a symbol of the silent and unobtrusive influence of +the divine presence in Israel.(304) The waters of this stream flowed +eastward, but they were too scanty to have any appreciable effect on the +fertility of the region through which they passed. Further, to the south- +east of Jerusalem, between it and the Dead Sea, stretched the great +wilderness of Judah, the most desolate and inhospitable tract in the whole +country. There the steep declivity of the limestone range refuses to +detain sufficient moisture to nourish the most meagre vegetation, although +the few spots where wells are found, as at Engedi, are clothed with almost +tropical luxuriance. To reclaim these barren slopes and render them fit +for human industry, the Temple waters are sent eastward, making the desert +to blossom as the rose. Lastly, there was the Dead Sea itself, in whose +bitter waters no living thing can exist, the natural emblem of resistance +to the purposes of Him who is the God of life. These different elements of +the physical reality were familiar to Ezekiel, and come back to mind as he +follows the course of the new Temple river, and observes the wonderful +transformation which it is destined to effect. He first sees it breaking +forth from the wall of the Temple at the right-hand side of the entrance, +and flowing eastward through the courts by the south side of the altar. +Then at the outer wall he meets it rushing from the south side of the +eastern gate, and still pursuing its easterly course. At a thousand cubits +from the sanctuary it is only ankle deep, but at successive distances of a +thousand cubits it reaches to the knees, to the loins, and becomes finally +an impassable river. The stream is of course miraculous from source to +mouth. Earthly rivers do not thus broaden and deepen as they flow, except +by the accession of tributaries, and tributaries are out of the question +here. Thus it flows on, with its swelling volume of water, through "the +eastern circuit," "down to the Arabah" (the trough of the Jordan and the +Dead Sea), and reaching the sea it sweetens its waters so that they teem +with fishes of all kinds like those of the Mediterranean. Its uninviting +shores become the scene of a busy and thriving industry; fishermen ply +their craft from Engedi to Eneglaim,(305) and the food supply of the +country is materially increased. The prophet may not have been greatly +concerned about this, but one characteristic detail illustrates his +careful forethought in matters of practical utility. It is from the Dead +Sea that Jerusalem has always obtained its supply of salt. The +purification of this lake might have its drawbacks if the production of +this indispensable commodity should be interfered with. Salt, besides its +culinary uses, played an important part in the Temple ritual, and Ezekiel +was not likely to forget it. Hence the strange but eminently practical +provision that the shallows and marshes at the south end of the lake shall +be exempted from the influence of the healing waters. "They are given for +salt."(306) + +We may venture to draw one lesson for our own instruction from this +beautiful prophetic image of the blessings that flow from a pure religion. +The river of God has its source high up in the mount where Jehovah dwells +in inaccessible holiness, and where the white-robed priests minister +ceaselessly before Him; but in its descent it seeks out the most desolate +and unpromising region in the country, and turns it into a garden of the +Lord. While the whole land of Israel is to be renewed and made to minister +to the good of man in fellowship with God, the main stream of fertility is +expended in the apparently hopeless task of reclaiming the Judæan desert +and purifying the Dead Sea. It is an emblem of the earthly ministry of Him +who made Himself the friend of publicans and sinners, and lavished the +resources of His grace and the wealth of His affection on those who were +deemed beyond ordinary possibility of salvation. It is to be feared, +however, that the practice of most Churches has been too much the reverse +of this. They have been tempted to confine the water of life within fairly +respectable channels, amongst the prosperous and contented, the occupants +of happy homes, where the advantages of religion are most likely to be +appreciated. That seems to have been found the line of least resistance, +and in times when spiritual life has run low it has been counted enough to +keep the old ruts filled and leave the waste places and stagnant waters of +our civilisation ill provided with the means of grace. Nowadays we are +sometimes reminded that the Dead Sea must be drained before the gospel can +have a fair chance of influencing human lives, and there may be much +wisdom in the suggestion. A vast deal of social drainage may have to be +accomplished before the word of God has free course. Unhealthy and impure +conditions of life may be mitigated by wise legislation, temptations to +vice may be removed, and vested interests that thrive on the degradation +of human lives may be crushed by the strong arm of the community. But the +true spirit of Christianity can neither be confined to the watercourses of +religious habit, nor wait for the schemes of the social reformer. Nor will +it display its powers of social salvation until it carries the energies of +the Church into the lowest haunts of vice and misery with an earnest +desire to seek and to save that which is lost. Ezekiel had his vision, and +he believed in it. He believed in the reality of God's presence in the +sanctuary and in the stream of blessings that flowed from His throne, and +he believed in the possibility of reclaiming the waste places of his +country for the kingdom of God. When Christians are united in like faith +in the power of Christ and the abiding presence of His Spirit, we may +expect to see times of refreshing from the presence of God and the whole +earth filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. + + + +II + + +Ezekiel's map of Palestine is marked by something of the same mathematical +regularity which was exhibited in his plan of the Temple. His boundaries +are like those we sometimes see on the map of a newly settled country like +America or Australia--that is to say, they largely follow the meridian +lines and parallels of latitude, but take advantage here and there of +natural frontiers supplied by rivers and mountain ranges. This is +absolutely true of the internal divisions of the land between the tribes. +Here the northern and southern boundaries are straight lines running east +and west over hill and dale, and terminating at the Mediterranean Sea and +the Jordan Valley, which form of course the western and eastern limits. As +to the external delimitation of the country it is unfortunately not +possible to speak with certainty. The eastern frontier is fixed by the +Jordan and the Dead Sea so far as they go, and the western is the sea. But +on the north and south the lines of demarcation cannot be traced, the +places mentioned being nearly all unknown. The north frontier extends from +the sea to a place called Hazar-enon, said to lie on the border of Hauran. +It passes the "entrance to Hamath," and has to the north not only Hamath, +but also the territory of Damascus. But none of the towns through which it +passes--Hethlon, Berotha, Sibraim--can be identified, and even its general +direction is altogether uncertain.(307) + +From Hazar-enon the eastern border stretches southward till it reaches the +Jordan, and is prolonged south of the Dead Sea to a place called Tamar, +also unknown. From this we proceed westwards by Kadesh till we strike the +river of Egypt, the Wady el-Arish, which carries the boundary to the sea. +It will be seen that Ezekiel, for reasons on which it is idle to +speculate, excludes the transjordanic territory from the Holy Land. +Speaking broadly, we may say that he treats Palestine as a rectangular +strip of country, which he divides into transverse sections of +indeterminate breadth, and then proceeds to parcel out these amongst the +twelve tribes. + +A similar obscurity rests on the motives which determined the disposition +of the different tribes within the sacred territory. We can understand, +indeed, why seven tribes are placed to the north and only five to the +south of the capital and the sanctuary. Jerusalem lay much nearer the +south of the land, and in the original distribution all the tribes had +their settlements to the north of it except Judah and Simeon. Ezekiel's +arrangement seems thus to combine a desire for symmetry with a recognition +of the claims of historical and geographic reality. We can also see that +to a certain extent the relative positions of the tribes correspond with +those they held before the Exile, although of course the system requires +that they shall lie in a regular series from north to south. Dan, Asher, +and Naphtali are left in the extreme north, Manasseh and Ephraim to the +south of them, while Simeon lies as of old in the south with one tribe +between it and the capital. But we cannot tell why Benjamin should be +placed to the south and Judah to the north of Jerusalem, why Issachar and +Zebulun are transferred from the far north to the south, or why Reuben and +Gad are taken from the east of the Jordan to be settled one to the north +and the other to the south of the city. Some principle of arrangement +there must have been in the mind of the prophet, and several have been +suggested; but it is perhaps better to confess that we have lost the key +to his meaning.(308) + +The prophet's interest is centred on the strip of land reserved for the +sanctuary and public purposes, which is subdivided and measured out with +the utmost precision. It is twenty-five thousand cubits (about 8-1/3 +miles) broad, and extends right across the country. The two extremities +east and west are the crown lands assigned to the prince for the purposes +we have already seen. In the middle a square of twenty-five thousand +cubits is marked off; this is the "oblation" or sacred offering of land, +in the middle of which the Temple stands. This again is subdivided into +three parallel sections, as shown in the accompanying diagram. The most +northerly, ten thousand cubits in breadth, is assigned to the Levites; the +central portion, including the sanctuary, to the priests; and the +remaining five thousand cubits is a "profane place" for the city and its +common lands. The city itself is a square of four thousand five hundred +cubits, situated in the middle of this southmost section of the oblation. +With its free space of two hundred and fifty cubits in width belting the +wall it fills the entire breadth of the section; the communal possessions +flanking it on either hand, just as the prince's domain does the +"oblation" as a whole. The produce of these lands is "for food to them +that 'serve' [_i.e._, inhabit] the city."(309) Residence in the capital, +it appears, is to be regarded as a public service. The maintenance of the +civic life of Jerusalem was an object in which the whole nation was +interested, a truth symbolised by naming its twelve gates after the twelve +sons of Jacob.(310) Hence, also, its population is to be representative of +all the tribes of Israel, and whoever comes to dwell there is to have a +share in the land belonging to the city.(311) But evidently the +legislation on this point is incomplete. How were the inhabitants of the +capital to be chosen out of all the tribes? Would its citizenship be +regarded as a privilege or as an onerous responsibility? Would it be +necessary to make a selection out of a host of applications, or would +special inducements have to be offered to procure a sufficient population? +To these questions the vision furnishes no answer, and there is nothing to +show whether Ezekiel contemplated the possibility that residence in the +new city might present few attractions and many disadvantages to an +agricultural community such as he had in view. It is a curious incident of +the return from the Exile that the problem of peopling Jerusalem emerged +in a more serious form than Ezekiel from his ideal point of view could +have foreseen. We read that "the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem: +the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in +Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine parts in [other] cities. And the people +blessed all the men that willingly offered themselves to dwell at +Jerusalem."(312) There may have been causes for this general reluctance +which are unknown to us, but the principal reason was doubtless the one +which has been hinted at, that the new colony lived mainly by agriculture, +and the district in the immediate vicinity of the capital was not +sufficiently fertile to support a large agricultural population. The new +Jerusalem was at first a somewhat artificial foundation, and a city too +largely developed for the resources of the community of which it was the +centre. Its existence was necessary more for the protection and support of +the Temple than for the ordinary ends of civilisation; and hence to dwell +in it was for the majority an act of self-sacrifice by which a man was +felt to deserve well of his country. And the only important difference +between the actual reality and Ezekiel's ideal is that in the latter the +supernatural fertility of the land and the reign of universal peace +obviate the difficulties which the founders of the post-exilic theocracy +had to encounter. + +This seeming indifference of the prophet to the secular interests +represented by the metropolis strikes us as a singular feature in his +programme. It is strange that the man who was so thoughtful about the +salt-pans of the Dead Sea should pass so lightly over the details of the +reconstruction of a city. But we have had several intimations that this is +not the department of things in which Ezekiel's hold on reality is most +conspicuous. We have already remarked on the boldness of the conception +which changes the site of the capital in order to guard the sanctity of +the Temple. And now, when its situation and form are accurately defined, +we have no sketch of municipal institutions, no hint of the purposes for +which the city exists, and no glimpse of the busy and varied activities +which we naturally connect with the name. If Ezekiel thought of it at all, +except as existing on paper, he was probably interested in it as +furnishing the representative congregation on minor occasions of public +worship, such as the Sabbaths and new moons, when the whole people could +not be expected to assemble. The truth is that the idea of the city in the +vision is simply an abstract religious symbol, a sort of epitome and +concentration of theocratic life. Like the figure of the prince in earlier +chapters, it is taken from the national institutions which perished at the +Exile; the outline is retained, the typical significance is enhanced, but +the form is shadowy and indistinct, the colour and variety of concrete +reality are absent. It was perhaps a stage through which political +conceptions had to pass before their religious meaning could be +apprehended. And yet the fact that the symbol of the Holy City is +preserved is deeply suggestive and indeed scarcely less important in its +own way than the retention of the type of the king. Ezekiel can no more +think of the land without a capital than of the state without a prince. +The word "city"--synonym of the fullest and most intense form of life, of +life regulated by law and elevated by devotion to a common ideal, in which +every worthy faculty of human nature is quickened by the close and varied +intercourse of men with each other--has definitely taken its place in the +vocabulary of religion. It is there, not to be superseded, but to be +refined and spiritualised, until the city of God, glorified in the praises +of Israel, becomes the inspiration of the loftiest thought and the most +ardent longing of Christendom. And even for the perplexing problems that +the Church has to face at this day there is hardly a more profitable +exercise of the Christian imagination than to dream with practical intent +of the consecration of civic life through the subjection of all its +influences to the ends of the Redeemer's kingdom. + +On the other hand we must surely recognise that this vision of a Temple +and a city separated from each other--where religious and secular interests +are as it were concentrated at different points, so that the one may be +more effectually subordinated to the other--is not the final and perfect +vision of the kingdom of God. That ideal has played a leading and +influential part in the history of Christianity. It is essentially the +ideal formulated in Augustine's great work on the city of God, which ruled +the ecclesiastical polity of the mediæval Church. The State is an unholy +institution; it is an embodiment of the power of this present evil world: +the true city of God is the visible Catholic Church, and only by +subjection to the Church can the State be redeemed from itself and be made +a means of blessing. That theory served a providential purpose in +preserving the traditions of Christianity through dark and troubled ages, +and training the rude nations of Europe in purity and righteousness and +reverence for that by which God makes Himself known. But the Reformation +was, amongst other things, a protest against this conception of the +relation of Church to State, of the sacred to the secular. By asserting +the right of each believer to deal with Christ directly without the +mediation of Church or priest it broke down the middle wall of partition +between religion and every-day duty; it sanctified common life by showing +how a man may serve God as a citizen in the family or the workshop better +than in the cloister or at the altar. It made the kingdom of God to be a +present power wherever there are lives transformed by love to Christ and +serving their fellow-men for His sake. And if Catholicism may find some +plausible support for its theory in Ezekiel and the Old Testament +theocracy in general, Protestants may perhaps with better right appeal to +the grander ideal represented by the new Jerusalem of the Apocalypse--the +city that needs no Temple, because the Lord Himself is in her midst. + +"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of +heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great +voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and +He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself +shall be with them, and be their God.... And I saw no temple therein: for +the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had +no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of +God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."(313) + +It may be difficult for us amid the entanglements of the present to read +that vision aright--difficult to say whether it is on earth or in heaven +that we are to look for the city in which there is no Temple. Worship is +an essential function of the Church of Christ; and so long as we are in +our earthly abode worship will require external symbols and a visible +organisation. But this at least we know, that the will of God must be done +on earth as it is in heaven. The true kingdom of God is within us; and His +presence with men is realised, not in special religious services which +stand apart from our common life, but in the constant influence of His +Spirit, forming our characters after the image of Christ, and permeating +all the channels of social intercourse and public action, until everything +done on earth is to the glory of our Father which is in heaven. That is +the ideal set forth by the coming of the holy city of God, and only in +this way can we look for the fulfilment of the promise embodied in the new +name of Ezekiel's city, Jehovah-shammah,-- + +THE LORD IS THERE. + + + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + + 1 Herodotus, i. 103-106. + + 2 If the "thirtieth year" of ch. i. 1 could refer to the prophet's age + at the time of his call, his birth would fall in the very year in + which the Law Book was found. Although that interpretation is + extremely improbable, he can hardly have been much more, or less, + than thirty years old at the time. + + 3 The opinion, once prevalent, that it was the Chaboras in Northern + Mesopotamia, where colonies of Northern Israelites had been settled + a century and a half before, has nothing to justify it, and is now + universally abandoned. + + 4 This, however, is not certain. Although Jeremiah's property and + residence were in Anathoth, his official connection may have been + with the Temple in Jerusalem. + + 5 The passage xxxiii. 14-26 is wanting in the LXX., and may possibly + be a later insertion. Even if genuine it would hardly alter the + general estimate of the prophet's teaching expressed above. + + 6 Jer. xv. 4; 2 Kings xxiii. 26. + + 7 In the superscription of the book (ch. i. 1-3) a double date is + given for this occurrence. In ver. 1 it is said to have taken place + "in the thirtieth year"; but this expression has never been + satisfactorily explained. The principal suggestions are: (1) that it + is the year of Ezekiel's life; (2) that the reckoning is from the + year of Josiah's reformation; and (3) that it is according to some + Babylonian era. But none of these has much probability, unless, with + Klostermann, we go further and assume that the explanation was given + in an earlier part of the prophet's autobiography now lost--a view + which is supported by no evidence and is contrary to all analogy. + Cornill proposes to omit ver. 1 entirely, chiefly on the ground that + the use of the first person before the writer's name has been + mentioned is unnatural. That the superscription does not read + smoothly as it stands has been felt by many critics; but the + rejection of the verse is perhaps a too facile solution. + + 8 Not "amber," but a natural alloy of silver and gold, highly esteemed + in antiquity. + + 9 Cf. Exod. xxiv. 10: "like the very heavens for pureness." + + 10 Duhm on Isa. xxx. 27. + + 11 _Bêth meri_, or simply _merî_, occurring about fifteen times in the + first half of the book, but only once after ch. xxiv. + + 12 Klostermann. + + 13 In ch. iii. 12 read "As the glory of Jehovah arose from its place" + instead of "Blessed be the glory," etc. ({~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} for {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF~}). + + 14 A somewhat similar episode seems to have occurred in the life of + Isaiah. See the commentaries on Isa. viii. 16-18. + + 15 These verses (ch. iii. 22-27) furnish one of the chief supports of + Klostermann's peculiar theory of Ezekiel's condition during the + first period of his career. Taking the word "dumb" in its literal + sense, he considers that the prophet was afflicted with the malady + known as _alalia_, that this was intermittent down to the date of + ch. xxiv., and then became chronic till the fugitive arrived from + Jerusalem (ch. xxxiii. 21), when it finally disappeared. This is + connected with the remarkable series of symbolic actions related in + ch. iv., which are regarded as exhibiting all the symptoms of + catalepsy and hemiplegia. These facts, together with the prophet's + liability to ecstatic visions, justify, in Klostermann's view, the + hypothesis that for seven years Ezekiel laboured under serious + nervous disorders. The partiality shown by a few writers to this + view probably springs from a desire to maintain the literal accuracy + of the prophet's descriptions. But in that aspect the theory breaks + down. Even Klostermann admits that the binding with ropes had no + existence save in Ezekiel's imagination. But if we are obliged to + take into account what _seemed_ to the prophet, it is better to + explain the whole phenomena on the same principle. There can be no + good grounds for taking the dumbness as real and the ropes as + imaginary. Besides, it is surely a questionable expedient to + vindicate a prophet's literalism at the expense of his sanity. In + the hands of Klostermann and Orelli the hypothesis assumes a + stupendous miracle; but it is obvious that a critic of another + school might readily "wear his rue with a difference," and treat the + whole of Ezekiel's prophetic experiences as hallucinations of a + deranged intellect. + + 16 An ingenious attempt has been made by Professor Cornill to rearrange + the verses so as to bring out two separate series of actions, one + referring exclusively to the exile and the other to the siege. But + the proposed reading requires a somewhat violent handling of the + text, and does not seem to have met with much acceptance. The + blending of diverse elements in a single image appears also in ch. + xii. 3-16. + + 17 The correspondence would be almost exact if we date the commencement + of the northern captivity from 734, when Tiglath-pileser carried + away the inhabitants of the northern and eastern parts of the + country. This is a possible view, although hardly necessary. + + 18 Or, with a different pointing, "She changed My judgments to + wickedness." + + 19 See ch. xxvii. + + 20 _Hammânim_--a word of doubtful meaning, however. The word for idols, + _gillûlîm_, is all but peculiar to Ezekiel. It is variously + explained as _block-gods_ or _dung-gods_--in any case an epithet of + contempt. The _asherah_, or sacred pole, is never referred to by + Ezekiel. + + 21 In ver. 14 the true sense has been lost by the corruption of the + word Riblah into Diblah. + + 22 The reason may be that two different recensions of the text have + been combined and mixed up. So Hitzig and Cornill. + + 23 Amos viii. 2. + + 24 Cf. Luke xvii. 26-30. + + 25 Ezekiel's use of the divine names would hardly be satisfactory to + Renan. Outside of the prophecies addressed to heathen nations the + generic name {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} is never used absolutely, except in the phrases + "visions of God" (three times) and "spirit of God" (once, in ch. xi. + 24, where the text may be doubtful). Elsewhere it is used only of + God in His relation to men, as, _e.g._, in the expression "be to you + for a God." {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~} {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~} occurs once (ch. x. 5) and {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~} alone three times + in ch. xxviii. (addressed to the prince of Tyre). The prophet's + word, when he wishes to express absolute divinity, is just the + "proper" name {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, in accordance no doubt with the interpretation + given in Exod. iii. 13, 14. + + 26 Of what nature this idolatrous symbol was we cannot certainly + determine. The word used for "image" (_semel_) occurs in only two + other passages. The writer of the books of Chronicles uses it of the + _asherah_ which was set up by Manasseh in the Temple, and it is + possible that he means thus to identify that object with what + Ezekiel saw (cf. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 7, and 2 Kings xxi. 7). This + interpretation is as satisfactory as any that has been proposed. + + 27 The nature of the cults is best explained by Professor Robertson + Smith, who supposes that they are a survival of aboriginal + totemistic superstitions which had been preserved in secret circles + till now, but suddenly assumed a new importance with the collapse of + the national religion and the belief that Jehovah had left the land. + Others, however, have thought that it is Egyptian rites which are + referred to. This view might best explain its prevalence among the + elders, but it has little positive support. + + 28 It has been supposed, however, that the sun-worship referred to here + is of Persian origin, chiefly because of the obscure expression in + ver. 17: "Behold they put the twig to their nose." This has been + explained by a Persian custom of holding up a branch before the + face, lest the breath of the worshipper should contaminate the + purity of the deity. But Persia had not yet played any great part in + history, and it is hardly credible that a distinctively Persian + custom should have found its way into the ritual of Jerusalem. + Moreover, the words do not occur in the description of the sun- + worshippers, nor do they refer particularly to them. + + 29 Following the LXX. + + 30 It is noteworthy that in the dirge of ch. xix. Ezekiel ignores the + reign of Jehoiakim. Is this because he too owed his elevation to the + intervention of a foreign power? + + 31 Especially if we read ver. 12, as in LXX., "That he may not be seen + by any eye, and he shall not see the earth." + + 32 By this name for Chaldæa Ezekiel seems to express his contempt for + the commercial activity which formed so large an element in the + greatness of Babylon (ch. xvi. 29 R.V.), perhaps also his sense of + the uncongenial environment in which the disinherited king and the + nobility of Judah now found themselves. + + 33 Jehoiakim. + + 34 The long line is divided into two unequal parts by a cæsura over the + end. + + 35 Mostly adopted from Cornill. The English reader may refer to Dr. + Davidson's commentary. + + 36 This word is uncertain. + + 37 _Ezekiel_, p. 85. + + 38 Translating with LXX. + + 39 The exact force of the reflexive form used (_na' anêthi_, niphal) is + doubtful. The translation given is that of Cornill, which is + certainly forcible. + + 40 The same rule is applied to direct communion with God in prayer in + Psalm lxvi. 18: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not + hear." + + 41 See above, p. 97 f. + + 42 See below, pp. 179 f. + + 43 Ver. 33 may, however, be an interpolation (Cornill). + + 44 In ver. 41 the Syriac Version reads, with a slight alteration of the + text, "they shall burn thee in the midst of the fire." The reading + has something to recommend it. Death by burning was an ancient + punishment of harlotry (Gen. xxxviii. 24), although it is not likely + that it was still inflicted in the time of Ezekiel. + + 45 "To eat upon the mountains" (if that reading can be retained) must + mean to take part in the sacrificial feasts which were held on the + high places in honour of idols. But if with W. R. Smith and others + we substitute the phrase "eat with the blood," assimilating the + reading to that of ch. xxxiii. 25, the offence is still of the same + nature. In the time of Ezekiel to eat with the blood probably meant + not merely to eat that which had not been sacrificed to Jehovah, but + to engage in a rite of distinctly heathenish character. Cf. Lev. + xix. 20, and see the note in Smith's _Kinship and Marriage in Early + Arabia_, p. 310. + + 46 In the striking passage ch. xiv. 12-23 the application of the + doctrine of individual retribution to the destruction of Jerusalem + is discussed. It is treated as "an exception to the rule" + (Smend)--perhaps the exception which proves the rule. The rule is + that in a national judgment the most eminent saints save neither son + nor daughter by their righteousness, but only their own lives (vv. + 13-20). At the fall of Jerusalem, however, a remnant escapes and + goes into captivity with sons and daughters, in order that their + corrupt lives may prove to the earlier exiles how necessary the + destruction of the city was (vv. 21-23). The argument is an + admission that the judgment on Israel was not carried out in + accordance with the strict principle laid down in ch. xviii. It is + difficult, indeed, to reconcile the various utterances of Ezekiel on + this subject. In ch. xxi. 3, 4 he expressly announces that in the + downfall of the state righteous and wicked shall perish together. In + the vision of ch. ix., on the other hand, the righteous are marked + for exemption from the fate of the city. The truth appears to be + that the prophet is conscious of standing between two dispensations, + and does not hold a consistent view regarding the time when the law + proper to the perfect dispensation comes into operation. The point + on which there is no ambiguity is that in the final judgment which + ushers in the Messianic age the principle of individual retribution + shall be fully manifested. + + 47 This is true whether (as some expositors think) the date in ch. xx. + is merely an external mark introducing a new division of the book, + or whether (as seems more natural) it is due to the fact that here + Ezekiel recognised a turning-point of his ministry. Such visits of + the elders as that here recorded must have been of frequent + occurrence. Two others are mentioned, and of these one is undated + (ch. xiv. 1); the other at least admits the supposition that it was + connected with a very definite change of opinion among the exiles + (ch. viii. 1: see above, p. 80). We may therefore reasonably suppose + that the precise note of time here introduced marks this particular + incident as having possessed a peculiar significance in the + relations between the prophet and his fellow-exiles. What its + significance may have been we shall consider in the next lecture, + see p. 174. + + 48 The verses xx. 45-49 of the English Version really belong to ch. + xxi., and are so placed in the Hebrew. In what follows the verses + will be numbered according to the Hebrew text. + + 49 At three places the meaning is entirely lost, through corruption of + the text. + + 50 Cf. ch. xvii. + + 51 The reference is to the Messiah, and seems to be based on the + ancient prophecy of Gen. xlix. 10, reading there {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW POINT SHIN DOT~}{~HEBREW POINT SEGOL~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW POINT DAGESH OR MAPIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} instead of + {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW POINT SHIN DOT~}{~HEBREW POINT HIRIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}. + + 52 The word "covenant" is not here used. + + 53 Apart from the case of Jephthah, which is entirely exceptional, the + first historical instance is that of Ahaz (2 Kings xvi. 3). + + 54 There still remain the critical difficulties. What are the ambiguous + laws to which the prophet refers? It is of course not to be assumed + as certain that they are to be found in the Pentateuch, at least in + the exact form which Ezekiel has in view. There may have been at + that time a considerable amount of uncodified legislative material + which passed vaguely as the law of Jehovah. The "lying pen of the + scribes" seems to have been busy in the multiplication of such + enactments (Jer. viii. 8). Still, it is a legitimate inquiry whether + any of the extant laws of the Pentateuch are open to the + interpretation which Ezekiel seems to have in view. The parts of the + Pentateuch in which the regulation about the dedication of the + firstborn occurs are the so-called Book of the Covenant (Exod. xxii. + 29, 30), the short code of Exod. xxxiv. 17-26 (vv. 19 f.), the + enactment connected with the institution of the Passover (Exod. + xiii. 12 f.), and the priestly ordinance (Numb. xviii. 15). Now, in + three of these four passages, the inference to which Ezekiel refers + is expressly excluded by the provision that the firstborn of men + shall be redeemed. The only one which bears the appearance of + ambiguity is that in the Book of the Covenant, where we read: "The + firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto Me; likewise shalt thou + do with thine oxen and thy sheep: seven days it shall be with its + dam, on the eighth day thou shalt give it to Me." Here the firstborn + children and the firstlings of animals are put on a level; and if + any passage in our present Pentateuch would lend itself to the false + construction which the later Israelites favoured, it would be this. + On the other hand this passage does not contain the particular + technical word (_he'ebîr_) used by Ezekiel. The word probably means + simply "dedicate," although this was understood in the sense of + dedication by sacrifice. The only passage of the four where the verb + occurs is Exod. xiii. 12; and this accordingly is the one generally + fixed on by critics as having sanctioned the abuse in question. But + apart from its express exemption of firstborn children from the + rule, the passage fails in another respect to meet the requirements + of the case. The prophet appears to speak here of legislation + addressed to the second generation in the wilderness, and this could + not refer to the Passover ordinance in its present setting. On the + whole we seem to be driven to the conclusion that Ezekiel is not + thinking of any part of our present Pentateuch, but to some other + law similar in its terms to that of Exod. xiii. 12 f., although + equivocal in the same way as Exod. xxii. 29 f. + + In the text above I have given what appears to me the most natural + interpretation of the passage, without referring to the numerous + other views which have been put forward. Van Hoonacker, in _Le + Museon_ (1893), subjects the various theories to a searching + criticism, and arrives himself at the nebulous conclusion that the + "statutes which were not good" are not statutes at all, but + providential chastisements. That cuts the knot, it does not untie + it. + + 55 None of the interpretations of ver. 29 gives a satisfactory sense. + Cornill rejects it as "absonderlich und aus dem Tenor des ganzen + Cap. herausfallend." + + 56 See Dillmann's note on Lev. xxvii. 32, quoted by Davidson. + + 57 Reading {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} for {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER SAMEKH~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} with the LXX. + + 58 The transition ver. 39 is, however, very difficult. As it stands in + the Hebrew text it contains an ironical concession (a good-natured + one, Smend thinks) to the persistent advocates of idolatry, the only + tolerable translation being, "So serve ye every man his idols, but + hereafter ye shall surely hearken to Me, and My holy name ye shall + no longer profane with your gifts and your idols." But this sense is + not in itself very natural, and the Hebrew construction by which it + is expressed would be somewhat strained. The most satisfactory + rendering is perhaps that given in the Syriac Version, where two + clauses of our Hebrew text are transposed: "But as for you, O house + of Israel, if ye will not hearken to Me, go serve every man his + idols! Yet hereafter ye shall no more profane My holy name in you," + etc. + + 59 It is not certain what is the exact meaning wrapped up in these + designations. A very slight change in the pointing of the Hebrew + would give the sense "_her_ tent" for Ohola and "_my_ tent in her" + for Oholibah. This is the interpretation adopted by most + commentators, the idea being that while the tent or temple of + Jehovah was in Judah, Samaria's "tent" (religious system) was of her + own making. It is not likely, however, that Ezekiel has any such + sharp contrast in his mind, since the whole of the argument proceeds + on the similarity of the course pursued by the two kingdoms. It is + simpler to take the word Ohola as meaning "tent," and Oholibah as + "tent in her," the signification of the names being practically + identical. The allusion is supposed to be to the tents of the high + places which formed a marked feature of the idolatrous worship + practised in both divisions of the country (cf. ch. xvi. 16). This + is better, though not entirely convincing, since it does not explain + how Ezekiel came to fix on this particular emblem as a mark of the + religious condition of Israel. It may be worth noting that the word + {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} contains the same number of consonants as {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW POINT SIN DOT~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~} (= Samaria, + although the word is always written {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW POINT SIN DOT~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~} in the Old Testament), + and {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} the same number as {~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}. The Eastern custom of giving + similar names to children of the same family (like Hasan and Husein) + is aptly instanced by Smend and Davidson. + + 60 This word is of doubtful meaning. + + 61 Smend thinks that the illustration is explained by the secluded life + of females in the East, which makes it quite intelligible that a + woman might be captivated by the picture of a man she had never + seen, and try to induce him to visit her. + + 62 On these names of nations see Davidson's Commentary, p. 168, and the + reference there to Delitzsch. + + 63 The words rendered in E.V., "thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had + in derision" (ver. 32), "and pluck off thy own breasts" (ver. 34), + are wanting in the LXX. The passage gains in force by the omission. + The words translated "break the sherds thereof" (ver. 34) are + unintelligible. + + 64 Although the text in parts of vv. 42, 43 is very imperfect. + + 65 On the reading here see above, p. 150. + + 66 The eighth verse, referring to the Sabbath and the sanctuary, is + rejected by Cornill on internal grounds, but for that there is no + justification. If the verse is retained, it will be seen that the + enumeration of sins corresponds pretty closely in substance, though + not in arrangement, with the precepts of the Decalogue. + + 67 Read with the LXX. {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER TET~}{~HEBREW POINT DAGESH OR MAPIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, instead of {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER TET~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, "purified." + + 68 This appears to be the meaning of the simile in ver. 24; the + judgment is conceived as a parching drought, and the point of the + comparison is that its severity is not tempered by the fertilising + streams which should have descended on the people in the shape of + sound political and religious guidance. + + 69 Following the LXX. we should read "whose princes" ({~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}) for + "the conspiracy of her prophets" ({~HEBREW LETTER QOF~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}) in ver. 25. + + 70 Read {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, "wood," instead of {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, "bones" (Boettcher and others). + + 71 The words "except by fire" represent an emendation proposed by + Cornill, which may be somewhat bold, but certainly expresses an idea + in the passage. + + 72 Cf. Jer. xiii. 27: "Thou shalt not be pronounced clean, for how long + a time yet!" + + 73 _I.e._, as generally explained, bread brought by sympathising + friends, to be shared with the mourning household: cf. Jer. xvi. 7; + 2 Sam. iii. 35. Wellhausen, however, proposes to read "bread of + mourners" ({~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW POINT HATAF PATAH~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW POINT HIRIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW POINT SHIN DOT~}{~HEBREW POINT QUBUTS~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} for {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW POINT HATAF PATAH~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW POINT QAMATS~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW POINT SHIN DOT~}{~HEBREW POINT HIRIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}). + + 74 The words "and Seir" in ver. 8 are wanting in the true text of the + LXX., and should probably be omitted. + + 75 Isa. xvi. 6, xxv. 11; Jer. xlviii. 29, 42. + + 76 Rawlinson, _History of Phoenicia_. + + 77 Closing stanzas of _The Scholar Gipsy_. + + 78 Both Movers and Rawlinson make it the basis of their survey of + Tyrian commerce. + + 79 Babylon and Egypt are probably omitted because of the peculiar point + of view assumed by the prophet. They were too powerful to be + represented as slaves of Tyre, even in poetry. + + 80 E.V., "going to and fro." + + 81 So Cornill, {~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} for {~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~} ( = merchants). + + 82 See ch. xxvii. 6, where ivory is said to come from Chittim or + Cyprus. + + 83 The Hebrew text adds "purple, embroidered work, and byssus"; but + most of these things are omitted in the LXX. + + 84 The text of vv. 18, 19 is in confusion, and Cornill, from a + comparison with a contemporary wine-list of Nebuchadnezzar, and also + an Assyrian one from the library of Asshurbanipal, makes it read + thus: "Wine of Helbon and Zimin and Arnaban they furnished in thy + markets. From Uzal," etc. Both lists are quoted in Schrader's + _Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament_, under this verse. + + 85 The latter half of this verse, however, is of very uncertain + interpretation. For full explanation of the archæological details in + this chapter it will be necessary to consult the commentaries and + the lexicon. See also Rawlinson's _History of Phoenicia_, pp. 285 ff. + + 86 With a change of one letter in the Hebrew text, {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} for {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, as + in the LXX. and Targum. + + 87 Hebrew, _Tehôm_; Babylonian, _Tiamat_. + + 88 Psalm xxxvi. 6: cf. Gen. vii, 11. + + 89 _Contra Ap._, I. 21; _Ant._, X. xi. 1. + + 90 Cf. Hävernick against Hitzig and Winer, _Ezekiel_, pp. 436 f. + + 91 The same engineering feat was accomplished by Alexander the Great in + seven months, but the Greek general probably adopted more scientific + methods (such as pile-driving) than the Babylonians; and, besides, + it is possible that the remains of Nebuchadnezzar's embankment may + have facilitated the operation. + + 92 For the word {~HEBREW LETTER GIMEL~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF~}, rendered "thy borders," Cornill proposes to + read {~HEBREW LETTER ZAYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL KAF~}, which he thinks might mean "thine anchorage." The + translation is doubtful, but the sense is certainly appropriate. + + 93 Senir was the Amorite name of Mount Hermon, the Phoenician name being + Sirion (Deut. iii. 9). Senir, however, occurs on the Assyrian + monuments, and was probably widely known. + + 94 _Teasshur_ (read {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW POINT DAGESH OR MAPIQ~}{~HEBREW POINT HIRIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER HET~}{~HEBREW POINT SHEVA~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW POINT PATAH~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW POINT SHIN DOT~}{~HEBREW POINT QUBUTS~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW POINT HIRIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} instead of {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW POINT DAGESH OR MAPIQ~}{~HEBREW POINT PATAH~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}-{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW POINT PATAH~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW POINT SHIN DOT~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW POINT DAGESH OR MAPIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW POINT HIRIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}), a kind + of tree mentioned several times in the Old Testament, is generally + identified with the sherbîn tree. + + 95 Elishah is one of the sons of Javan (Ionia) (Gen. x. 4), and must + have been some part of the Mediterranean coast, subject to the + influence of Greece. Italy, Sicily, and the Peloponnesus have been + suggested. + + 96 The details of the description are nearly all illustrated in + pictures of Phoenician war-galleys found on Assyrian monuments. They + show the single mast with its square sail, the double row of oars, + the fighting men on the deck, and the row of shields along the + bulwarks. In an Egyptian picture we have a representation of the + embroidered _sail_ (ancient ships are said not to have carried a + _flag_). The canvas is richly ornamented with various devices over + its whole surface, and beneath the sail we see the cabin or awning + of coloured stuff mentioned in the text. + + 97 See above, pp. 232 ff. + + 98 It is not clear whether the dirge is continued to the end of the + chapter, or whether vv. 33 ff. are spoken by the prophet in + explanation of the distress of the nations. The proper elegiac + measure cannot be made out without some alteration of the text. + + 99 Dan. x. 20, 21, xii. 1. + + 100 "The death of the uncircumcised"--_i.e._, a death which involves + exclusion from the rites of honourable burial; like burial in + unconsecrated ground among Christian nations. + + 101 Dean Church, _Cathedral and University Sermons_, p. 150. + + 102 "We have, indeed, a nominal religion, to which we pay tithes of + property and sevenths of time; but we have also a practical and + earnest religion, to which we devote nine-tenths of our property, + and six-sevenths of our time. And we dispute a great deal about the + nominal religion: but we are all unanimous about this practical one; + of which I think you will admit that the ruling goddess may be best + generally described as the 'Goddess of Getting-on,' or 'Britannia of + the Market.' The Athenians had an 'Athena Agoraia,' or Athena of the + Market; but she was a subordinate type of their goddess, while our + Britannia Agoraia is the principal type of ours. And all your great + architectural works are, of course, built to her. It is long since + you built a great cathedral; and how you would laugh at me if I + proposed building a cathedral on the top of one of these hills of + yours, to make it an Acropolis! But your railroad mounds, vaster + than the walls of Babylon; your railroad stations, vaster than the + temple of Ephesus, and innumerable; your chimneys, how much more + mighty and costly than cathedral spires! your harbour-piers; your + warehouses; your exchanges!--all these are built to your great + Goddess of 'Getting-on;' and she has formed, and will continue to + form, your architecture, as long as you worship her; and it is quite + vain to ask me to tell you how to build to _her_; you know far + better than I."--_The Crown of Wild Olive._ + + 103 The "fiery stones" may represent the thunderbolts, which were + harmless to the prince in virtue of his innocence. It may be noted + that the "precious stones" that were his covering (ver. 13) + correspond with nine out of the twelve jewels that covered the high- + priestly breastplate (Exod. xxviii. 17-19), the stones of the third + row being those not here represented. This suggests that the + allusion is rather to bejewelled garments than to the plumage of the + wings of the cherub with whom the prince has been wrongly + identified. + + 104 Jer. xxv. 22, xxvii. 3. + + 105 Ezek. xxix. 6, 7: cf. Isa. xxxvi. 6 (the words of Rabshakeh). In + ver. 7 read {~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL PE~}, "hand," for {~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL PE~}, "shoulder," and {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, "madest to + totter," for {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER DALET~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, "madest to stand." + + 106 This is probable according to the Hebrew text, which, however, omits + the number of the _month_ in ch. xxxii. 17. The Septuagint reads "in + the _first_ month"; if this is accepted, it would be better to read + the _eleventh_ year instead of the twelfth in ch. xxxii. 1, as is + done by some ancient versions and Hebrew codices. The change + involves a difference of only one letter in Hebrew. + + 107 Ch. xxxii. 17, following the LXX. reading. + + 108 Migdol was on the north-east border of Egypt, twelve miles south of + Pelusium (Sin), at the mouth of the eastern arm of the Nile. Syene + is the modern Assouan, at the first cataract of the Nile, and has + always been the boundary between Egypt proper and Ethiopia. + + 109 Pathros is the name of Upper Egypt, the narrow valley of the Nile + above the Delta. In the Egyptian tradition it was regarded as the + original home of the nation and the seat of the oldest dynasties. + Whether Ezekiel means that the Egyptians shall recover only Pathros, + while the Delta is allowed to remain uncultivated, is a question + that must be left undecided. + + 110 Hebrew, "Cush, and Put, and Lud, and all the mixed multitude, and + Chub, and the sons of the land of the covenant." Cornill reads, + "Cush, and Put, and Lud, and Lub, and all Arabia, and the sons of + Crete." The emendations are partly based on somewhat intricate + reasoning from the text of the Greek and Ethiopic versions; but they + have the advantage of yielding a series of proper names, as the + context seems to demand. Put and Lud are tribes lying to the west of + Egypt, and so also is Lub, which may be safely substituted for the + otherwise unknown Chub of the Hebrew text. + + 111 Reading {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, "strong ones," instead of {~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER YOD~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, "not-gods," as in + the LXX. The latter term is common in Isaiah, but does not occur + elsewhere in Ezekiel, although he had constant occasion to use it. + + 112 The cities are not mentioned in any geographical order. Memphis + (Noph) and Thebes (No) are the ancient and populous capitals of + Lower and Upper Egypt respectively; Tanis (Zoan) was the city of the + Hyksos, and subsequently a royal seat; Pelusium (Sin), "the bulwark + of Egypt," and Daphne (Tahpanhes) guarded the approach to the Delta + from the East; Heliopolis (On, wrongly pointed Aven) was the famous + centre of Egyptian wisdom, and the chief seat of the worship of the + sun-god Ra; and Bubastis (Pi-beseth), besides being a celebrated + religious centre, was one of the possessions of the Egyptian + military caste. + + 113 It is only fair to say that the construction "a T'asshur, a cedar," + or, still more, "a T'asshur of a cedar," is somewhat harsh. It is + not unlikely that the word "cedar" may have been added after the + reading "Assyrian" had been established, in order to complete the + sense. + + 114 See Smend on the passage. Dr. Davidson, however, doubts the + possibility of this: see his commentary. + + 115 This use of the word "uncircumcised" is peculiar. The idea seems to + be that circumcision, among nations which like the Israelites + practised the rite, was an indispensable mark of membership in the + community; and those who lacked this mark were treated as social + outcasts, not entitled to honourable sepulture. Hence the word could + be used, as here, in the sense of unhallowed. + + 116 Cf. Isa. xiv. 18-20: "All of the kings of the nations, all of them, + sleep in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast forth + away from thy sepulchre, like an abominable branch, clothed with the + slain, that are thrust through with the sword, that go down to the + stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden underfoot. Thou shalt not be + joined with them in burial," etc. + + 117 The text of these verses (19-21) is in some confusion. The above is + a translation of the reading proposed by Cornill, who in the main + follows the LXX. + + 118 LXX. {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} for {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} = "of the uncircumcised." + + 119 "Shields," a conjecture of Cornill, seems to be demanded by the + parallelism. + + 120 Jer. xliii. 8-13; xliv. 12-14, 27-30; xlvi. 13-26. + + 121 _Ant._, X. ix. 7. + + 122 _Zeitschrift für Aegyptische Sprache_, 1878, pp. 2 ff. and pp. 87 + ff. + + 123 _Ibid._, 1884, pp. 87 ff., 93 ff. + + 124 See Schrader, _Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek_, III. ii., pp. 140 f. + + 125 The hypothesis of a joint reign of Hophra and Amasis from 570 to 564 + (Wiedemann) may or may not be necessary to establish a connection + between the Babylonian inscription and that of Nes-hor; it is + certain that Amasis began to reign in 570, and that Hophra is _not_ + the Pharaoh mentioned by Nebuchadnezzar. + + 126 Jerusalem was taken in the fourth month of the eleventh year of + Zedekiah or of Ezekiel's captivity. The announcement reached + Ezekiel, according to the reading of the Hebrew text, in the tenth + month of the twelfth year (ch. xxxiii. 21)--that is, about eighteen + months after the event. It is hardly credible that the transmission + of the news should have been delayed so long as this; and therefore + the reading "eleventh year," found in some manuscripts and in the + Syriac Version, is now generally regarded as correct. + + 127 Jer. xxxix. 9. + + 128 It is possible, however, that the word _happalît_, "the fugitive," + may be used in a collective sense, of the whole body of captives + carried away after the destruction of the city. + + 129 Ch. xxiv. 21-24. + + 130 Chs. xvii. 22-24, xxi. 26, 27. + + 131 See pp. 102 ff. + + 132 Cf. especially ch. xxii. + + 133 See below, pp. 318 f., and ch. xxviii. + + 134 Pointing the Hebrew text in accordance with the rendering of the + LXX. + + 135 This seems to me to be the clear meaning of Isaiah's prophecy of the + Messiah in the beginning of the ninth chapter, although the contrary + is often asserted. Micah v. 1-6 may, however, be an exception to the + rule stated above. + + 136 Ver. 25. The idea is based on Hosea ii. 18, where God promises to + make a covenant for Israel "with the beasts of the field, and the + birds of heaven, and the creeping things of the ground." This is to + be understood quite literally: it means immunity from the ravages of + wild beasts and other noxious creatures. Ezekiel's promise, however, + is probably to be explained in accordance with the terms of the + allegory: the "evil beasts" are the foreign nations from whom Israel + had suffered so severely in the past. + + 137 This is the sense of the expression {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER TET~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~} {~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW POINT SIN DOT~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~} in ver. 29 (literally + "a plantation for a name"). The LXX., however, read {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW LETTER TET~}{~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~} {~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW POINT SHIN DOT~}{~HEBREW LETTER LAMED~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM~}, which + may be translated "a perfect vegetation." At all events the phrase + is not a title of the Messiah. + + 138 The word "men" in ver. 31 should be omitted, as in the LXX. + + 139 Cf. Amos ix. 11 f.; Hosea ii. 2, iii. 5; Isa. xi. 13; Micah ii. 12 + f., v. 3. + + 140 1 Kings xii. 16 (cf. 2 Sam. xx. 1). It should be mentioned, however, + that the last clause in the LXX. is replaced by a more prosaic + sentence: "for this man is not fit to be a ruler nor a prince." + + 141 Jer. xxxiii. 15-17. + + 142 Cf. ch. xliii. 7, xlv. 8, xlvi. 16 ff. + + 143 Ch. xxxvii. 25. + + 144 "Das Königthum wird diese [the Davidic] Familie nicht wieder + erhalten, denn Ezechiel fährt fort: 'Ich Iahwe werde ihnen Gott sein + und mein Knecht David wird _nâsî_ d. h. Fürst in ihrer Mitte sein.' + Also _nur ein Fürstenthum_ wird der Familie Davids in der besseren + Zukunft Israel's zu Theil."--STADE, _Geschichte des Volkes Israel_, + vol. ii., p. 39. + + 145 Ch. xxxvii. 22-24. + + 146 On the whole subject of the relation of the gods to the land see + Robertson Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, pp. 91 ff. + + 147 Josh. xxii. 19; 1 Sam. xxvi. 19; Hosea ix. 3-5. + + 148 Ch. xxxvi. 13. + + 149 Ch. xxxvi. 30: cf. xxxiv. 29. + + 150 Gen. xxvii. 28, 39. + + 151 Numb. xiii. 32. + + 152 Isa. lxii. 4. + + 153 Vv. 18, 19. The words in brackets are wanting in the LXX. + + 154 Vv. 20, 22, 23. + + 155 James ii. 7. + + 156 Psalm xlii. 10. + + 157 Ch. xxxix. 23. + + 158 The phrase "cause you to walk" (ver. 27) is very strong in the + Hebrew, almost "I will bring it about that ye walk." + + 159 The thirty-seventh verse hardly bears the sense which is sometimes + put upon it: "I am ready to do this for the house of Israel, yet I + will not do it until they have learned to pray for it." That is true + of spiritual blessings generally; but Ezekiel's idea is simpler. The + particle "yet" is not adversative but temporal, and the "this" + refers to what follows, and not to what precedes. The meaning is, + "The time shall come when I will answer the prayer of the house of + Israel," etc. + + 160 Chapter XXIII. below. + + 161 Cf. 1 Kings xvii.; 2 Kings iv. 13 ff., xiii. 21. + + 162 1 Thess. iv. 13 ff. + + 163 Isa. xxvi. 19. + + 164 Dan. xii. 2. + + 165 John v. 25: cf. vv. 28, 29. + + 166 Isa. vii. 8. + + 167 Chapter V., above. + + 168 Ch. xxxvi. 16-38. + + 169 Ch. xxxvi. 21. + + 170 Chs. xviii. 23, xxxiii. 11. + + 171 See pp. 75 f. above. + + 172 Ch. vi. 8-10. + + 173 Chs. xvi. 61-63, xx. 43, 44, xxxvi. 31, 32. + + 174 Ch. xviii. 31. + + 175 Cf. Joel's "Rend your heart, and not your garments" (Joel ii. 13). + + 176 Chs. xi. 19, xxxvi. 26, 27. + + 177 Chs. xxxvi. 27, xxxvii. 14. + + 178 Hosea xiv. 5. + + 179 Isa. xxxii. 15. + + 180 Chs. xi. 20, xxxvi. 27. + + 181 Rom. vii. 16. + + 182 Rom. viii. 2. + + 183 Jer. xxxi. 33. + + 184 Chs. vi. 9, xvi. 63, xx. 43, xxxvi. 31, 32. + + 185 Cf. ch. xxxix. 23. + + 186 See ch. xxxviii. 11, 12. + + 187 Ch. xxxviii. 19-23. + + 188 Ch. xxxix. 23. + + 189 See E. Meyer, _Geschichte des Alterthums_, p. 558; Schrader, + _Cuneiform Inscriptions_, etc., on this passage. + + 190 Meshech and Tubal are the Moschi and Tibareni of the Greek + geographers, lying south-east of the Black Sea. A country or tribe + Rosh has not been found. + + 191 Gomer (according to others, however, Cappadocia) and Togarmah (ver. + 6). + + 192 Cush and Put (ver. 5). + + 193 Ver. 7. The LXX. reads "for me" instead of "unto them," giving to + the word _mishmar_ the sense of "reserve force." + + 194 The words of ver. 4, "I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy + jaws," are wanting in the best manuscripts of the LXX., and are + perhaps better omitted. Gog does not need to be dragged forth with + hooks; he comes up willingly enough, as soon as the opportunity + presents itself (vv. 11, 12). + + 195 Isa. x. 7. + + 196 An actual parallel is furnished by the crowds of slave-dealers who + followed the army of Antiochus Epiphanes when it set out to crush + the Maccabæan insurrection in 166 B.C. + + 197 In ver. 14 the LXX. has "he stirred up" instead of "know," and gives + a more forcible sense. + + 198 Zeph. i.-iii. 8; Jer. iv.-vi. + + 199 Cf. besides the passages already cited, Isa. x. 5-34, xvii. 12-14; + Micah iv. 11-13. + + 200 Ver. 21. LXX.: "I will summon against him every terror." + + 201 {~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} (mounted archers) is the term applied to them by + Herodotus (iv. 46). + + 202 This translation, which is given by Hitzig and Cornill, is obtained + by a change in the punctuation of the word rendered "passengers" in + ver. 11: cf. the "mountains of Abarim," Numb. xxxiii. 47, 48; Deut. + xxxii. 49. + + 203 "It shall stop the noses of the passengers" (ver. 11) gives no + sense; and the text, as it stands, is almost untranslatable. The + LXX. reads, "and they shall seal up the valley," which gives a good + enough meaning, so far as it goes. + + 204 Ver. 26. The choice between the rendering "forget" and that of the + English Version, "bear," depends on the position of a single dot in + the Hebrew. In the former case "shame" must be taken in the sense of + reproach (_schande_); in the latter it means the inward feeling of + self-abasement (_schaam_). The forgetting of past trespasses, if + that is the right reading, can only mean that they are entirely + broken off and dismissed from mind; there is nothing inconsistent + with passages like ch. xxxvi. 31. It must be understood that in any + event the reference is to the future; "_after that_ they have borne" + is altogether wrong. + + 205 The beginning of the year is that referred to in Lev. xxv. 9, the + tenth day of the seventh month (September-October). From the Exile + downwards two calendars were in use, the beginning of the sacred + year falling in the seventh month of the civil year. It was not + necessary for Ezekiel to mention the number of the month. + + 206 See pp. 318 f. + + 207 Cf. Davidson, _Ezekiel_, pp. liv. f. + + 208 See Prof. W. R. Smith, _The Old Testament in the Jewish Church_, pp. + 442 f. + + 209 See ver. 10, "let them measure the pattern"; ver. 11, "that they may + keep the whole form thereof." + + 210 This last group is considered to be composed of several layers of + legislation, and one of its sections is of particular interest for + us because of its numerous affinities with the book of Ezekiel. It + is the short code contained in Lev. xvii.-xxvi., now generally known + as the Law of Holiness. + + 211 This argument is most fully worked out by Wellhausen in the first + division of his _Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels_: I., + "Geschichte des Cultus." + + 212 It should perhaps be stated, even in so incomplete a sketch as this, + that there is still some difference of opinion among critics as to + Ezekiel's relation to the so-called "Law of Holiness" in Lev. + xvii.-xxvi. It is agreed that this short but extremely interesting + code is the earliest complete, or nearly complete, document that has + been incorporated in the body of the Levitical legislation. Its + affinities with Ezekiel both in thought and style are so striking + that Colenso and others have maintained the theory that the author + of the Law of Holiness was no other than the prophet himself. This + view is now seen to be untenable; but whether the code is older or + more recent than the vision of Ezekiel is still a subject of + discussion among scholars. Some consider that it is an advance upon + Ezekiel in the direction of the Priests' Code; while others think + that the book of Ezekiel furnishes evidence that the prophet was + acquainted with the Law of Holiness, and had it before him as he + wrote. That he was acquainted with its _laws_ seems certain; the + question is whether he had them before him in their present written + form. For fuller information on this and other points touched on in + the above pages, the reader may consult Driver's _Introduction_ and + Robertson Smith's _Old Testament in the Jewish Church_. + + 213 Gautier, _La Mission du Prophète Ezekiel_, p. 118. + + 214 The cubit which is the unit of measurement is said to be a + handbreadth longer than the cubit in common use (ver. 5). The length + of the larger cubit is variously estimated at from eighteen to + twenty-two inches. If we adopt the smaller estimate, we have only to + take the half of Ezekiel's dimensions to get the measurement in + English yards. The other, however, is more probable. Both the + Egyptians and Babylonians had a larger and a smaller cubit, their + respective lengths being approximately as follows:-- + + Common cubit: Egypt 17.8 in., Babylon 19.5 in. + Royal cubit: Egypt 20.7 in., Babylon 21.9 in. + + In Egypt the royal cubit exceeded the common by a handbreadth, just + as in Ezekiel. It is probable in any case that the large cubit used + by the angel was of the same order of magnitude as the royal cubit + of Egypt and Babylon--_i.e._, was between twenty and a half and + twenty-two inches long. Cf. Benzinger, _Hebräische Archäologie_, pp. + 178 ff. + + 215 See the plan in Benzinger, _Archäologie_, p. 394. + + 216 The outer court, however, is some feet higher than the level of the + ground, being entered by an ascent of seven steps; the height of the + wall inside must therefore be less by this amount than the six + cubits, which is no doubt an outside measurement. + + 217 Smend and Stade assume that it was a hundred and ten cubits long, + and extended five cubits to the west beyond the line of the square + to which it belongs. This was not necessary, and it would imply that + the _binya_ behind the Temple, to be afterwards described, was + without a wall on its eastern side, which is extremely improbable. + (So Davidson.) + + 218 According to the Septuagint they were either five or fifteen in + number in each block. + + 219 From a later passage (ch. xlvi. 19, 20) we learn that in some recess + to the west of the northern block of cells there was a place where + these sacrifices (the sin-, guilt-, and meal-offerings) were cooked, + so that the people in the outer court might not run any risk of + being brought in contact with them. + + 220 So in the LXX. + + 221 The actual building of the second Temple had of course to be carried + out irrespective of the bold idealism of Ezekiel's vision. The + miraculous transformation of the land had not taken place, and it + was altogether impossible to build a new metropolis in the region + marked out for it by the vision. The Temple had to be erected on its + old site, and in the immediate neighbourhood of the city. To a + certain extent, however, the requirements of the ideal sanctuary + could be complied with. Since the new community had no use for royal + buildings, the whole of the old Temple plateau was available for the + sanctuary, and was actually devoted to this purpose. The new Temple + accordingly had two courts, set apart for sacred uses; and in all + probability these were laid out in a manner closely corresponding to + the plan prepared by Ezekiel. + + 222 It is not necessary to dwell on the third feature of the Temple + plan, its symmetry. Although this has not the same direct religious + significance as the other two, it is nevertheless a point to which + considerable importance is attached even in matters of minute + detail. Solomon's Temple had, for example, only one door to the side + chambers, in the wall facing the south, and this was sufficient for + all practical purposes. But Ezekiel's plan provides for two such + doors, one in the south and the other in the north, for no + assignable reason but to make the two sides of the house exactly + alike. There are just two slight deviations from a strictly + symmetrical arrangement that can be discerned; one is the washing- + chamber by the side of one of the gates of the inner court, and the + other the space for cooking the most holy class of sacrifices near + the block of cells on the north side of the Temple. With these + insignificant exceptions, all the parts of the sanctuary are + disposed with mathematical regularity; nothing is left to chance, + regard for convenience is everywhere subordinated to the sense of + proportion which expresses the ideal order and perfection of the + whole. + + 223 Heb. xii. 14. + + 224 Heb. ix. 8-10. + + 225 2 Kings xxiii. 9. The sense of the passage is undoubtedly that given + above; but the expression "unleavened bread" as a general name for + the priests' portion is peculiar. It has been proposed to read, with + a change merely of the punctuation, instead of {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW POINT PATAH~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW POINT DAGESH OR MAPIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW POINT HOLAM~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~}, {~HEBREW LETTER MEM~}{~HEBREW POINT HIRIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW POINT SHEVA~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW POINT HOLAM~}{~HEBREW LETTER TAV~} = + "statutory portions," as in Neh. xiii. 5. + + 226 1 Sam. ii. 36. + + 227 Cf. ch. xxii. 26. + + 228 Ezra ii. 36-40. + + 229 Ezra ii. 58. + + 230 Ezra viii. 15-20. + + 231 On this peculiar affinity between holiness and uncleanness see the + interesting argument in Robertson Smith's _Religion of the Semites_, + pp. 427 ff. The passage Hag. ii. 12-14 does not appear to be + inconsistent with what is there said. The meaning is that "very + indirect contact with the holy does not make holy, but very direct + contact with the unclean makes unclean" (Wellhausen, _Die Kleinen + Propheten_, p. 170). + + 232 Cf. ch. xxiv. 17; Lev. x. 6, xxi. 5, 10. + + 233 It is remarkable that neither here nor in Leviticus (ch. xxi. 1-3) + is the priest's wife mentioned as one for whom he may defile himself + at her death. + + 234 Cf. 2 Kings xii. 11, xxiii. 14, xxv. 18; Jer. xx. 1. + + 235 Hence it does not seem to me that any argument can be based on the + fact that a high priest was at the head of the returning exiles + either for or against the existence of the Priestly Code at that + date. + + 236 Lev. iv. 3, 13: cf. Lev. xvi. 6. + + 237 Exod. xviii. 25 ff. + + 238 Hosea iv. 6. + + 239 Cf. Deut. i. 17: "judgment is God's." + + 240 See below, p. 493. + + 241 2 Kings xii. 4-16. + + 242 They also receive the best of the _arîsoth_, a word of uncertain + meaning, probably either dough or coarse meal. This offering is said + to bring a blessing on the household. + + 243 Deut. xviii. 3. + + 244 Deut. xviii. 4. + + 245 The regulations of the Priests' Code with regard to the revenues of + the Temple clergy are most comprehensively given in Numb. xviii. + 8-32. The first thing that strikes us there is the distinction + between the due of the priests and that of the Levites. The absence + of any express provision for the latter is a somewhat remarkable + feature in Ezekiel's legislation, when we consider the care with + which he has defined the status and duties of the order. It is + evident, however, that no complete arrangements could be made for + the Temple service without some law on this point such as is + contained in the passage Num. xviii. and referred to in Neh. x. + 37-39; and this is closely connected with a disposition of the + tithes and firstlings different from the directions of Deuteronomy, + and probably also from the tacit assumption of Ezekiel. The book of + Deuteronomy leaves no doubt that both the tithes of natural produce + and the firstlings of the flock and herd were intended to furnish + the material for sacrificial feasts at the sanctuary (cf. chs. xii. + 6, 7, 11, 12, xiv. 22-27). The priest received the usual portions of + the firstlings (ch. xviii. 3), and also a share of the tithe; but + the rest was eaten by the worshipper and his guests. In Numb. + xviii., on the other hand, all the firstlings are the property of + the priest (ver. 15), and the whole of the tithes is assigned to the + Levites, who in turn are required to hand over a tenth of the tithe + to the priests (vv. 24-32). The portion of the priests consists of + the following items: (1) The meal-offering, sin-offering, and guilt- + offering (as in Ezekiel); (2) the best of oil, new wine, and corn + (as in Deuteronomy) (ver. 12); (3) all the firstfruits (an advance + on Ezekiel) (ver. 13); (4) every devoted thing (Ezekiel) (ver. 14); + (5) all the firstlings (vv. 15-18); (6) the breast and right thigh + of all ordinary private sacrifices (ver. 18: cf. Lev. vii. 31-34) + (like Deuteronomy, but choicer portions); (7) the tenth of the + Levites' tithe. It will be seen from this enumeration that the + Temple tariff of the Priestly law includes, with some slight + modification, all the requirements of Deuteronomy and Ezekiel, + besides the two important additions referred to above. + + 246 Psalm cxxxiii. + + 247 Chs. xlv. 7, 8, xlviii. 21, 22. + + 248 _I.e._, either the seventh year, as in Jer. xxxiv. 14, or the year + of Jubilee, the fiftieth year (Lev. xxv. 10); more probably the + former. + + 249 Amos viii. 5. + + 250 Ezek. xlv. 9, 10. In the translation of ver. 9 I have followed an + emendation proposed by Cornill. The sense is not affected, but the + grammatical construction seems to demand some alteration on the + Massoretic text. + + 251 In Exod. xxx. 13, Lev. xxvii. 25, Numb. iii. 47 (Priests' Code) the + shekel of twenty geras is described as the "shekel of the + sanctuary," or "sacred shekel," clearly implying that another shekel + was in common use. + + 252 Ezek. xlv. 12, according to the LXX. + + 253 Prov. xi. 1. + + 254 Lev. xix. 35, 36. + + 255 Ezek. xlv. 13-16. + + 256 The exact figures are, one part in sixty of cereal produce (wheat + and barley), one share in a hundred of oil, and one animal out of + every two hundred from the flock (ch. xlv. 13-15). + + 257 Neh. x. 32, 33: cf. Ezek. xlv. 15. + + 258 Exod. xxx. 11-16. Whether the third of a shekel in the book of + Nehemiah is a concession to the poverty of the people, or whether + the law represents an increased charge found necessary for the full + Temple service, is a question that need not be discussed here. + + 259 Ch. xlv. 17. + + 260 Ch. xlv. 22. + + 261 Lev. xvi. 11, 15. + + 262 2 Kings xvi. 15, 16. + + 263 Ch. xliv. 1-3. + + 264 See ch. xlvi. 1-12. The Syriac Version indeed makes an exception to + this rule in the case of the prince. Ver. 10 reads: "But the prince + in their midst shall go out by the gate by which he entered." But + why the prince more than any other body should go back by the road + he came, or what particular honour there was in that, is a mystery; + and it is probable that the reading is an error originating in + repetition of ver. 8. The real meaning of the verse seems to be that + the prince must go in and out without the retinue of foreigners who + used to give _éclat_ to royal visits to the sanctuary. + + 265 Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, pp. 196 f. + + 266 Ch. xi. 16. + + 267 Micah vi. 6-8. + + 268 Smith, _Old Testament in Jewish Church_, p. 379. + + 269 Ch. xlv. 18-25. + + 270 Vv. 18-20. In ver. 20 we should read with the LXX. "in the seventh + month, on the first day of the month," etc. + + 271 Vv. 21-25. Some critics, as Smend and Cornill, think that in ver. 14 + we should read fifteenth instead of fourteenth, to perfect the + symmetry of the two halves of the year. There is no MS. authority + for the proposed change. + + 272 Smend. + + 273 Exod. xxiii. 14-17 (Book of the Covenant, with which the other + code--Exod. xxxiv. 18-22--agrees); Deut. xvi. 1-17. + + 274 Cf. Lev. xxiii. 4-44 (Law of Holiness); Numb. xxviii., xxix. + + 275 It is usual to speak of these ceremonies in Ezekiel as festivals. + But this seems to go beyond the prophet's meaning. Only a single + sacrifice, a sin-offering, is mentioned; and there is no hint of any + public assemblage of the people on these days. It was the priests' + business to see that the sanctuary was purified, and there was no + occasion for the people to be present at the ceremony. The + congregation would be the ordinary congregation at the new moon + feast, which of course did not represent the whole population of the + country. No doubt, as we see from the references below, the ceremony + developed into a special feast after the Exile. + + 276 Cf. Lev. xxiii. 23-32; Numb. xxix. 1-11. + + 277 Cf. Deut. xvi. 9, with Lev. xxiii. 10 f., 15 t. In the one case the + seven weeks to Pentecost are reckoned from the putting of the sickle + into the corn, in the other from the presentation of a first sheaf + of ripe corn in the Temple, which falls within the Passover week. + The latter can only be regarded as a more precise determination of + the former, and thus Unleavened Bread must have coincided with the + beginning of barley harvest. + + 278 Deut. xvi. 13. + + 279 Ch. xlv. 22. + + 280 Ch. xlvi. 12: cf. xliv. 3. + + 281 2 Kings xvi. 15: cf. 1 Kings xviii. 29, 36. + + 282 Ezra ix. 5. + + 283 Numb. xxviii. 3-8; Exod. xxix. 38-42. + + 284 Ch. xlvi. 13-15. + + 285 Psalm v. 3, probably used at the presentation of the morning tamîd. + A more distinct recognition of the spiritual significance of the + _evening_ sacrifice is found in Psalm cxli. 2. + + 286 2 Kings xii. 17. + + 287 Cf. ch. xliii. 21. + + 288 Another explanation, however, is possible, and is adopted by Smend + and Davidson. Assuming that a burnt-offering was offered on the + first day, and holding the whole description to be somewhat + elliptical, they bring the entire process within the limits of the + week. This certainly looks more satisfactory in itself. But would + Ezekiel be likely to admit an ellipsis in describing so important a + function? I have taken for granted above that the seven days of the + double sacrifice are counted from the "second day" of ver. 22. + + 289 Ver. 26. + + 290 {~HEBREW LETTER TET~}{~HEBREW POINT HIRIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW POINT TSERE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} (ver. 20). + + 291 {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW POINT HIRIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER TET~}{~HEBREW POINT DAGESH OR MAPIQ~}{~HEBREW POINT TSERE~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~} a denominative form from {~HEBREW LETTER HE~}{~HEBREW POINT TSERE~}{~HEBREW LETTER TET~}{~HEBREW POINT SHEVA~}{~HEBREW LETTER ALEF~} = sin (ver. 22). + + 292 {~HEBREW LETTER KAF~}{~HEBREW POINT DAGESH OR MAPIQ~}{~HEBREW POINT HIRIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER PE~}{~HEBREW POINT DAGESH OR MAPIQ~}{~HEBREW POINT TSERE~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~} (ver. 26). + + 293 See Smith, _Old Testament in Jewish Church_, p. 381. + + 294 Ch. xlv. 20. + + 295 Ch. xlv. 15, 17. + + 296 As distinguished from sins, {~HEBREW LETTER BET~}{~HEBREW POINT DAGESH OR MAPIQ~}{~HEBREW POINT HIRIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER SHIN~}{~HEBREW POINT SHIN DOT~}{~HEBREW POINT HIRIQ~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW POINT QAMATS~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW POINT QAMATS~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~}, or through inadvertence. + See Numb. xv. 30, 31. + + 297 Psalm li. 16, 17. + + 298 See his Burnet Lectures on the _Religion of the Semites_, to which, + as well as to his _Old Testament in the Jewish Church_, the present + chapter is largely indebted. + + 299 Ch. xlvii. 1-12. + + 300 Chs. xlvii. 13-xlviii. 35. + + 301 Amos ix. 13. + + 302 Ch. xxxiv. 25-29. + + 303 Rev. xxii. 1, 2. + + 304 Isa. viii. 6. + + 305 Engedi, "well of the kid," is at the middle of the western shore; + Eneglaim, "well of two calves," is unknown, but probably lay at the + north end. The eastern side is left to the Arabian nomads. + + 306 Ver. 11. + + 307 I do not myself see much objection to supposing that it leaves the + sea near Tyre and proceeds about due east to Hazar-enon, which may + be near the foot of Hermon, where Robinson located it. In this case + the "entrance to Hamath" would be the south end of the _Beka'_, + where one strikes north to go to Hamath. This would correspond + nearly to the extent of the country actually occupied by the Hebrews + under the judges and the monarchy. The statement that the territory + of Damascus lies to the north presents some difficulty on any + theory. It may be added that Hazar-hattikon in ver. 16 is the same + as Hazar-enon; it is probably, as Cornill suggests, a scribe's error + for {~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER TSADI~}{~HEBREW LETTER RESH~}{~HEBREW LETTER HE~} {~HEBREW LETTER AYIN~}{~HEBREW LETTER NUN~}{~HEBREW LETTER VAV~}{~HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN~} (the locative ending being mistaken for the article). + + 308 Smend, for example, points out that if we count the Levites' portion + as a tribal inheritance, and include Manasseh and Ephraim under the + house of Joseph (as is done in the naming of the gates of the city), + we have the sons of Rachel and Leah evenly distributed on either + side of the "oblation." Then at the farthest distance from the + Temple are the sons of Jacob's handmaids, Gad in the extreme south, + and Dan, Asher, and Naphtali in the north. This is ingenious, but + not in the least convincing. + + 309 Ver. 18. + + 310 Vv. 31-34. It is difficult to trace a clear connection between the + positions of the gates and the geographical distribution of the + tribes in the country. The fact that here Levi is counted as a tribe + and Ephraim and Manasseh are united under the name of Joseph + indicates perhaps that none was intended. + + 311 Ver. 19. + + 312 Neh. xi. 1, 2. + + 313 Rev. xxi. 2, 3, 22, 23. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE: THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL*** + + + +CREDITS + + +September 27, 2014 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by Charlene Taylor, Colin Bell, David King, and the + Online Distributed Proofreading Team at + <http://www.pgdp.net/>. 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