I. 1 13 11 A II Y III I II K Theological Seminary, PRINCETON, N. J. ( \fs, Division 'S'//< //' Sectio>n •. "■"'/■■ Ko...... CLAEK'S rOEEIGN THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY. FOURTH SERIES. VOL. L. SiiX on tl)t ^toplficUi of ffi^tbitl. VOL. II. EDINBURGH; T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. 187 6. riUNTED BY MURRAY AND GIBB, T. k T. CLARK, EDINBURGH. LONDON, . . . HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. DUBLIN, , . . ROBERTSON AND CO. NEW YORK, . . . SCRIBNER, WELFORD, AND ARMSTRONG. BIBLICAL COMMEK^TARY OX THE PROPHECIES OE EZEKIEL BY CARL FRIEDRTCH KEIL, D.D , DOCTOR AND PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY. ^raitslalcir ham the ^^rmait EEV. JAMES MARTIN, B.A VOL. IL EDINBURGH : T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. MDCCCLXXVL CONTENTS E X P S I T I ^—continued. PKEDICTIONS OF JUDGMENT UPON THE HEATHEN NATIONS continued (CHAP. XXIX. -XXXII.). PAGB I Against Egypt (Chap. xxix.-xxxii.), The Judgment upon Pharaoh and his People and Land (Chap xxix. 1-16), ...... Conquest and Plundering of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar (Chap xxix. 17-21), ....... 10 The Day of Judgment upon Egypt (Chap. xxx. 1-19), . . 15 Destruction of the Might of Pharaoh by Nebuchadnezzar (Chap. xxx. 20-26), 26 The Glory and Fall of Asshur a Type of Egypt (Chap, xxxi.), . 28 Lamentations over the Ruin of Pharaoh and his People (Chap. xxxii.), ....... 41 SECOND HALF.— THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF SALVATION. CHAP. XXXIII.-XLVIII. The Calling of the Prophet, and his Future Attitude towards the People (Chap, xxxiii.), . . . . .64 Calling of the Prophet for the Future (Vers. 1-20), . . 66 Preaching of Repentance after the Fall of Jerusalem (Vers. 23-33), 72 5 VI CONTENTS. The Restoration of Israel, and Destruction of Gog and Magog (Chap, xxxiv.-xxxix.), ...... 79 Deposition of the Bad Shepherds ; Collecting and Tending of the Flock ; and Appointment of the One Good Shepherd (Chap, xxxiv.), ....... 80 Devastation of Edom, and Restoration of the Land of Israel (Chap. XXXV. 1-xxxvi. 15), . . . . .94 The Salvation of Israel founded upon its Sanctification (Chap. xxxvi. 16-38), . . . . . . .100 Resurrection of Israel and Reunion as one Nation (Chap, xxxvii.), 114 Resurrection of Israel to new Life (Vers. 1-11), . .114 Reunion of Israel as one Nation under the future King David (Vers. 15-28), 129 Destruction of Gog with his great Army of Nations (Chap. xxxviii. and xxxix.), . . . . . .157 The New Kingdom of God (Chap, xl.-xlviii.), . . . 180 The New Temple (Chap, xl.-xliii. 12), . . . .182 Introduction (Chap. xl. 1-4), ..... 182 The Outer Court, with Boundary Wall, Gate-Buildings, and Cells (Vers. 5-27), 186 The Inner Court, with its Gates, Cells, and Slaughtering- Tables (Vers. 28-47), . . . . .209 The Temple-house, with the Porch, Side-storeys, and Back- building (Chap. xl. 48-xli. 26), .... 223 The Holy Cells in the Court, and the Extent of the Holy Domain around the Temple (Chap, xlii.), . . . 253 Entrance of the Glory of the Lord into the New Temple (Chap, xliii. 1-12), . . . . . . 273 The new Ordinances of Divine "Worship (Chap, xliii. 13-xlvi. 24), 283 Description and Consecration of the Altar of Burnt- Offering (Chap, xliii. 13-27), . . . . .284 Position of the different Classes of the People in relation to the New Sanctuary (Chap, xliv.), .... 298 CONTENTS. VU PAGE The Holy Heave of the Land and the Heave-offerings of the People (Chap. xlv. 1-17), . . . . .318 Instructions concerning the Festal and Daily Sacrifices (Chap. xlv. 18-xlvi. 15), . . . . . .332 Sacrifices for the Sabbath and New Moon, Freewill-Offerings, and Daily Sacrifices (Chap. xlvi. 1-15), . . . 339 Blessing of the Land of Canaan, and Distribution of it among the Tribes of Israel (Chap, xlvii. and xlviii.), . . . 350 The River of Water of Life (Chap, xlvii. 1-12), . . 351 Boundaries and Division of the Holy Land. Description of the City of God (Chap, xlvii. 13-xlviii. 35), . . .361 THE PEOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Chap. XXIX.-XXXIL— AGAINST EGYPT. I HE announcement of the judgment upon Egypt is proclaimed in seven "words of God." The first five are threats. The first (ch. xxix. 1-16) con- tains a threat of the judgment upon Pharaoh and his people and land, expressed in grand and general traits. The second (ch. xxix. 17-21) gives a special prediction of the conquest and plundering of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. The third (ch. xxx. 1-19) depicts the day of judgment which will break upon Egypt and its allies. The fourth (ch. xxx. 20-26) foretells the annihilation of the might of Pharaoh by the king of Babylon ; and the fifth (ch. xxxi.) holds up as a warning to the king and people of Egypt the glory and the overthrow of Assyria. The last two words of God in ch. xxxii. contain lamentations over the destruction of Pharaoh and his might, viz. ch. xxxii. 1-16, a lamentation over the king of Egypt; and ch. xxxii. 17-32, a second, lamentation over the destruc- tion of his imperial power. — Ezekiel's prophecy concerning Egypt assumes this elaborate form, because he regards the power of Pharaoh and Egypt as the embodiment of that phase of the imperial power which imagines in its ungodly self-deification that it is able to uphold the kingdom of God, and thus seduces the people of God to rely with false confidence upon the imperial power of this world. EZEK. II. A 2 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL CHAP. XXTX. 1-lG. THE JUDGMENT UPON PHATJAOH AND HIS PEOPLE AND LAND. Because Pharaoh looks upon himself as the creator of his kingdom and of his might, he is to be destroyed with his men of war (vers. 2-5a). In order that Israel may no longer put its trust in the fragile power of Egypt, the sword shall cut off from Egypt both man and beast, the land shall be turned into a barren wilderness, and the people shall be scattered over the lands (vers. 5^-12). But after the expiration of the time appointed for its punishment, both people and land shall be restored, though only to remain an insignificant kingdom (vers. 13-16). — According to ver. 1, this prophecy belongs to the tenth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin ; and as we may see by comparing it with the other oracles against Egypt of wdiich the dates are given, it was the first word of God uttered by Ezekiel concerning this imperial kingdom. The contents also harmonize with this, inasmuch as the threat which it con- tains merely announces in general terms the overthrow of the mi^ht of Egypt and its king, without naming the instrument employed to execute the judgment, and at the same time the future condition of Egypt is also disclosed. Vers. 1-12. Destruction of the might of Pharaoh, and devastation of Egypt. — Ver. 1. In the tenth year, in the tenth. (month)j on the twelfth of the month, the word of Jehovah came to jne, saying, Ver. 2. Son of man, direct thy face against Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and prophesy against Jiim and against all Egypt. Ver. 3. Speak and say. Thus saiih the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will deal icith thee, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, thou great dragon which lieth in its rivers, lohich saith, " Mine is the river, and I have made it for my self. ^^ Ver. 4. / will put a ring into thy jaws, and cause the fishes of thy rivers to hang npoii thy scales, and draw thee out of thy rivers, and all the fishes of thy rivers which hang upon thy scales; Ver. 5. And will cast thee into the desert, thee and all the fishes of thy rivers ; up>on the CHAP. XXIX. 1-12. 3 surface of the field wilt thou fall, thou wilt not he lifted up nor gathered together ; I give thee for food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the heaven, Ver. 6. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall learn that I am Jehovah, Because it is a reed-staff to the house of Israel, — Ver. 7. When they grasp thee by thy branches^ thou crackest and tearest open all their shoulder ; and tvhen they lean upon thee, thou breakest and causest all their loins to shake, — Ver. 8. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Beholdj I bring upon thee the sword, and ivill cut off^ from thee man and beast ; Ver. 9. And the land of Egypt will become a waste and desolation, and they shall learn that I am Jehovah, Because he saith : " The river is mine, and I have made it^'' Ver. 10. Therefore, behold, I will deal ivith thee and thy divers, and will make the land of Egypt into barren waste desolations from Migdol to Syene, even to the border of Cush, Ver. 11. The foot of man ivill not p)ass through it, and the foot of beast will not pass through it, and it ivill not be inhabited for forty years. Ver. 12. / make the land of Egypt a ivaste in the midst of devastated lands, and its cities shall be ivaste among desolate cities forty years ; and I scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them in the lands. — The date given, viz. " in the tenth year," is defended even by Hitzig as more correct than the reading of the LXX., iv ra: eret tm ScoSeKarcp ; and he supposes the Alexandrian reading to have originated in the fact that the last date mentioned in eh. xxvi. 1 had already brought down the account to the eleventh year. — Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, against whom the threat is first directed, is called " the great dragon " in ver. 3. ^''^^ (here and ch. xxxii. 2) is equivalent to psrij literally, the lengthened animal, the snake; here, the water-snake, the crocodile, the standing symbol of Egypt in the prophets (cf. Isa. li. 9, xxvii. 1 ; Ps. Ixxiv. 13), which is here transferred to Pharaoh, as the ruler of Egypt and representative of its power. By D''"]j^^. we are to understand the arms and canals of the Nile (vid, Isa. vii. 18). The predicate, " lying in the midst of his rivers," points at once 4 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. to the proud security in his own power to which Pharaoh gave himself up. As the crocodile lies quietly in the waters of the Nile, as though he were lord of the river ; so did Pharaoh regard himself as the omnipotent lord of Egypt. His words affirm this : ^' the river is mine, I have made it for myself." The suffix attached to '^^''^V, stands in the place of "'i', as ver. 9, where the suffix is wanting, clearly shows. There is an incorrectness in this use of tlie suffix, which evidently passed into the language of literature from the popular phraseology (cf. Evvald, § 31 5Z/). The rendering of the Vulgate, ego feci memeti'psum, is false. "•"iN^ is the expression used by him as a king who regards the land and its rivers as his own property; in connection with which we must bear in mind that Egypt is indebted to the Nile not only for its greatness, but for its actual existence. In this respect Pharaoh says emphatically v, it is mine, it belongs to me, because he regards himself as the creator. The words, *' I have made it for myself," simply explain the reason for the expression y, and affirm more than '' I have put myself in pos- session of this through my own power, or have acquired its blessings for myself " (Havernick) ; or, ^' I have put it into its present condition by constructing canals, dams, sluices, and buildings by the river-side " (Hitzig). Pharaoh calls himself the creator of the Nile, because he regards himself as the creator of the greatness of Egypt. This pride, in which he forgets God and attributes divine power to himself, is the cause of his sin, for which he will be overthrown by God. God will draw the crocodile Pharaoh out of his Nile with liooks, and cast him upon the dry land, where he and the fishes that have been drawn out along with him upon his scales will not be gathered u[), but devoured by the wild beasts and birds of prey. The fiiiure is derived from the manner in which even in ancient times the crocodile was caught with large hooks of a peculiar construction (compare Herod, ii. 70, and the testimonies of travellers in Oedmann's VermiscJiten Saminlungen, III. pp. 6 sqq., and Jomard in the Description de VEgypte, I. p. 27). The CHAP. XXIX. 1-12. 5 form D'^Mn with a double Yod is a copyist's error, probably occasioned by the double Yod occurring after n in 1\'n^?, which follows. A dual form for D^nn is unsuitable, and is not used anywhere else even by Ezekiel (cf. ch. xix. 4, 9, and more especially ch. xxxviii. 4). — The fishes which hang upon the scales of the monster, and are drawn along with it out of the Nile, are the inhabitants of Egypt, for the Nile represents the land. The casting of the beast into the wilderness, where it putrefies and is devoured by the beasts and birds of prey, must not be interpreted in the insipid manner proposed by Hitzig, namely, that Pharaoh would advance with his army into the desert of Arabia and be defeated there. The wilderness is the dry and barren land, in which animals that inhabit the water must perish ; and the thought is simply that the monster will be cast upon the desert land, w^here it will finally become the food of the beasts of prey. — In ver. 6 the construction is a sub- ject of dispute, inasmuch as many of the commentators follow the Hebrew division of the verse, takino; the second hemistich 'i:i"i D^l^^^ JV^ as dependent upon the first half of the verse, for which it assigns the reason, and then interpreting ver. 7 as a further development of ver. 6b, and commencing a new period w^ith ver. 8 (Hitzig, Kliefoth, and others). But it is decidedly wrong to connect together the two halves of the sixth verse, if only for the simple reason that the formula nin) '':^5 ""S lyn^l^ which occurs so frequently elsewhere in Ezekiel, invariably closes a train of thought, and is never followed by the addition of a further reason. Moreover, a sentence commencing with ]V] is just as invariably followed by an apodosis introduced by ]^?, of which we have an example just below in vers. 9b and 10«. For both these reasons it is absolutely necessary that we should regard '1^1 DHi'^n ]Vl as the beginning of a protasis, the apodosis to which commences with 1^^ in ver. 8. The cor- rectness of this construction is established beyond all doubt by the fact that from ver. 6b onwards it is no longer Pharaoh who is spoken of, as in vers. 3-5, but Egypt ; so that ]Vl introduces 6 THE PKOrHECIES OF EZEKIEL. a new train of thought. But ver. 7 is clearly shown, both by the contents and the form, to be an explanatory intermediate clause inserted as a parenthesis. And inasmuch as the protasis is removed in consequence to some distance from its apodosis, Ezekiel has introduced the formula ^' thus saith the Lord Jehovali " at the commencement of the apodosis, for the pur- pose of giving additional emphasis to the announcement of the punishment. Ver. 7 cannot in any case be regarded as the protasis, the apodosis to which commences with the |3^ in ver. 8, as Hiivernick maintains. The suffix attached to Cjni'n, to which Hitzig takes exception, because he has misunderstood the con- struction, and which he would conjecture away, refers to D^"!VP as a land or kingdom. Because the kingdom of Egypt was a reed-staff to the house of Israel (a figure drawn from the physical character of the banks of the Nile, with its thick growth of tall, thick rushes, and recalling to mind Isa. xxxvi. 6), the Lord would bring the sword upon it and cut off from it both man and beast. But before this apodosis the figure of the reed-staff is more clearly defined : *' when they (the Israel- ites) take thee by thy branches, thou breakest," etc. This explanation is not to be taken as referring to any particular facts either of the past or future, but indicates the deceptive nature of Egypt as the standing characteristic of that kingdom. At the same time, to give greater vivacity to the description, the words concerning Egypt are changed into a direct address to the Egyptians, i.e. not to Pharaoh, but to the Egyptian people regarded as a single individual. The expression ^s^n causes some difficulty, since the ordinary meaning of ^13 (hand) is apparently unsuitable, inasmuch as the verb piin, from r>*^, to break or crack (not to break in pieces, i.e. to break quite through), clearly shows that the figure of the reed is still continued. The Keri ^^^ is a bad emendation, based upon the rendering " to grasp with the hand," which is grammatically inadmissible. K'Sn with 2 does not mean to grasp with some- thing, but to seize upon something, to take hold of a person CHAP. XXIX 1-12. 7 (Isa. ili. 6; Deut. ix. 17), so that ^S3n can only be an explana- tory apposition to ^3. The meaning grip, or grasp of the hand, is also unsuitable and cannot be sustained, as the plural ni23 alone is used in this sense in Song of Sol. v. 5. The only meaning appropriate to the figure is that of branches, which is sustained, so far as the language is concerned, by the use of the plural riiS3 for palm-branches in Lev. xxiii. 40, and of the singular n23 for the collection of branches in Job xv. 32, and Isa. ix. 13, xix. 15 ; and this is apparently in perfect harmony with natural facts, since the tall reed of the Nile, more especially the papyrus, is furnished with hollow, sword- shaped leaves at the lower part of the stalk. When it cracks, the reed-staff pierces the shoulder of the man who has grasped it, and tears it ; and if a man lean upon it, it breaks in pieces and causes all the loins to tremble, ^^pvn cannot mean to cause to stand, or to set upright, still less to render stiff and rigid. The latter meaning cannot be established from the usage of the language, and would be unsuitable here. For if a stick on which a man leans should break and penetrate his loins, it would inflict such injury upon them as to cause him to fall, and not to remain stiff and rigid, noyn cannot have any other meaning than that of "ii^^'7, to cause to tremble or relax, as in Ps. Ixix. 24, to shake the firmness of the loins, so that the power to stand is impaired. — In the apodosis the thought of the land gives place to that of the people ; hence the use of the feminine suffixes "^yV and "H^^ in the place of the masculine suffixes ^3 and ^vV in ver. 7. Man and beast shall be cut off, and the land made into a desert waste by the sword, i.e, by war. This is carried out still further in vers. 9^-12; and once again in the protasis 9^ (cf. ver. 3^) the inordinate pride of the king is placed in the foreground as the reason for the devastation of his land and kingdom. The Lord will make of Egypt the most desolate wilderness, fii^nn is intensified into a superlative by the double genitive '"idd*^" nnh^ desolation of the wilderness. Throughout its whole extent from Migdol, i.e. 8 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Magclolo, according to the Itiner. Anton, p. 171 (ed. Wessel), twelve Roman miles from Pelusium ; in the Coptic Meshtol, Egyptian Maktr (Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr. I. pp. 2G1 seq.), the most northerly place in Egypt. n:'ip^ to Syene (for the con- struction see ch. xxx. 6 and xxi. 3), ^vtjvtj^ Sun in the inscrip- tions, according to Brugsch {Geogr. Inschr, 1. p. 155), probably the profane designation of the place (Coptic Souan), the most southerly border town of Egypt in the direction of Cash, i.e. Ethiopia, on the eastern bank of the Nile, some ruins of which -■05 are still to be seen in the modern Assvan (Assuan, i^\y^\) which is situated to the north-east of them (vid. Brugsch, Reiseher. aus Aegypten^ p. 247, and Leyrer in Herzog's Ency- clopaedia). The additional clause, *' and to the border of Cush," does not give a fresh terminal point, still further advanced, but simply defines with still greater clearness the boundary toward the south, viz. to Syene, where Egypt ter- minates and Ethiopia begins. In ver. lla the desolation is more fully depicted, ^m vb^ it will not dwell, poetical for "be inhabited," as in Joel iv. (iii.) 20, Isa. xiii. 20, etc. This devastation shall last for forty years, and so long shall the people of Egypt be scattered among the nations. But after the expiration of that time they shall be gathered together acjain (ver. 13). The number forty is neither a round number (Hltzig) nor a very long time (Ewald), but is a symbolical term denoting a period appointed by God for punishment and penitence (see the comm. on ch. iv. 6), which is not to be under- stood in a chronological sense, or capable of being calculated. Vers. 13-lG. Restoration of Egypt. — Ver. 13. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah^ At the end of forty years I ivill gather the Egyptians out of the nations^ whither they were scattered. Ver. 14, And I will turn the captivity of Egypt, and tvill bring them hack into the land of Fathros, into the land of their origin, and they shall be a lowly kingdom there. Ver. 15. Lowlier than the kingdoms shall it bcj and exalt itself no more over the nations ; and I will CHAP. XXIX. 13-16. 9 make iliem small, so that they shall rule no more over the nations. Ver. 16. And it shall he no more the confidence of the house of Israel^ bringing iniquity to remembrance when they incline towards it; and they shall learn that I am the Lord Jehovah. — The turn- ing of the period of Egypt's punishment is connected by ^3, which refers to the time indicated, viz. " forty years." For forty years shall Egypt be utterly laid waste ; for after the expira- tion of that period the Lord will gather the Egyptians attain from their dispersion among the nations, turn their captivity, i.e. put an end to their suffering (see the comm. on eh. xvi. 53), and lead them back into the land of their birth, i.e. of their origin (for nnon, see ch. xvi. 3), namely, to Pathros. DiiriQ^ the Egyptian Petores (naOovp-q^^ LXX. Jer. xliv. 1), or south land, i.e. Upper Egypt, the Thebais of the Greeks and Romans* The designation of Upper Egypt as the mother country of the Egyptians, or the land of their nativity, is confirmed not only by the accounts given by Herodotus (ii. 4 and 15) and Diodorus Sic. (i. 50), but also by the Egyptian mythology, according to which the first king who reigned after the gods, viz. Menes or Mena^ sprang from the city of Thinis (Thynis), Egypt. Tenj, in the neighbourhood of Abydos in Upper Egypt, and founded the city of Memphis in Lower Egypt, which became so celebrated in later times {vid. Brugsch, Histoire d''Egypte, 1. p. 16). But E^ypt shall not attain to its former power any more. It will be and continue a lowly kingdom, that it may not again become a ground of confidence to Israel, a power upon which Israel can rely, so as to fall into guilt and punishment. The subject to rTini ^\ is Egypt as a nation, notwithstanding the fact that it has pre- viously been construed in the feminine as a land or kingdom, and in Q']"'"]n^ the Egyptians are spoken of in the plural number. For it is out of the question to take \SV "i^STD as the subject to HNT N? in the sense of " no more shall one who calls guilt to remembrance inspire the house of Israel with confidence," as Kliefoth proposes, not only because of the arrangement of the words, but because the more precise definition of |iy "I'StD 10 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. as 'ns DniiSn clearly shows that Egypt is the subject of the sentence; whereas, in order to connect this definition in any way, Kliefoth is compelled to resort to the interpolation of the words, " which it committed." \\V "i^3tD is in apposition to ^122^2 ; makin£f Egypt the ground of confidence, brings into remembrance before God the guilt of Israel, which consists in the fact that the Israelites turn to the Egyptians and seek salvation from them, so that He is obliged to punish them (vid. ch. xxi. 28, 29). — The truth of the prediction in vers. 13-lG has been confirmed by history, inasmuch as Egypt never recovered its former power after the Chaldean period. — More- over, if we compare the Messianic promise for Egypt in Isa. xix. 18-25 with the prediction in vers. 13-15, we are struck at once with the peculiarity of Ezekiel, already referred to in the introductory remarks on ch. xxv.-xxxii., namely, that he leaves entirely out of sight the Messianic future of the heathen nations. CHAP. XXIX. 17-21. CONQUEST AND PLUNDEPJNG OF EGYPT BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR. Ver. 17. In the seven and twentieth year, in the first (inoon), on the first of the moonj the ivord of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 18. Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has made his army perform hard work at Tyre : every head is bald, and every shoulder grazed, and no ivages have been given to Mm and to his army from Tyre for the work which he performed against it. Ver. 19. Tlierefore thus saiih the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I give Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the land of Egypt, that he may carry away its possessioiis, and plunder its plunder, and make booty of its booty, and this may be the wages of his army. Ver. 20. As the pay for which he worked, I give Jam the land of Egypt, because they did it for me, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Ver. 21. In thai day will I cause a horn to sprout to the house of Israel, and I will open the mouth for thee in the midst of them ; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. — CHAP. XXIX. 17-21. 1 1 This brief prophecy concerning Egypt was uttered about seven- teen years after the preceding word of God, and was the latest of all the predictions of Ezekiel that are supplied with dates. But notwithstanding its brevity, it is not to be taken in connec- tion with the utterance which follows in ch. xxx. 1-19 so as to form one prophecy, as Hitzig supposes. This is at variance not only with the formula in ch. xxx. 1, which is the usual introduction to a new w^ord of God, but also with ver. 21 of the present chapter, wliich is obviously intended to bring the previous word of God to a close. This termination, which is analogous to the closing words of the prophecies against Tyre and Sldon in ch. xxviii. 25, 26, also shows that the present word of God contains the last of Ezekiel's prophecies against the Egyptian world-power, and that the only reason why the prophet did not place it at the end when collecting his pro- phecies — that is to say, after ch. xxxii. — was, that the promise in ver. 30, that the Lord would cause a horn to bud to the house of Israel, contained the correlate to the declaration that Egypt was henceforth to be but a lowly kingdom. Moreover, this threat of judgment, which is as brief as it is definite, was well fitted to prepare the way and to serve as an introduction for the more elaborate threats which follow. The contents of the prophecy, namely, the assurance that God would give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar as spoil in return for the hard labour which he and his army had performed at Tyre, point to the time immediately following the termination of the thirteen years' siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar. If we compare with this the date given in ver. 17, the siege was brought to a close in the twenty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, Le, B,C. 572, and must therefore have commenced in the year B.C. 586, or about two years after the destruction of Jerusalem, and with this the extract given by Josephus (c. A p. i. 21) from the Tyrian annals ao;rees.^ nnby l^r^yn to cause a work to be ^ For the purpose of furnishing the proof that the temple at Jerusalem lay in ruins for fifty years, from the time of its destruction till the com- 12 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. executed, or service to be rendered. This labour was so severe, that every head was bald and every shoulder grazed. These "words have been correctly interpreted by the commentators, even by Ewald, as referring to the heavy burdens that had to be carried in order to fill up the strait which separated Insular Tyre from the mainland. They confirm what we have said above, in the remarks on ch. xxvi. 10 and elsewhere, concerning the capture of Tyre. But neither he nor his army had received any recompense for their severe toil. This does not imply that Nebuchadnezzar had been unable to accomplish the work which he had undertaken, i.e. to execute his design and conquer the city, but simply that he had not received the recompense w^hich he expected after this severe labour ; in other words, had not found the booty he hoped for when the city was taken (see the introductory remarks on ch. xxvi.-xxviii.). To compensate him for this, the Lord will give him the land of Egypt with its possessions as booty, l^jton i\t'^\ that he may carry off the abun- dance of its possessions, its wealth ; not that he may lead away the multitude of its people (De Wette, Kliefoth, etc.), for " Sbo is not the appropriate expression for this" (Hitzig). lion, abundance of possessions, as in Isa. Ix. 5, Ps. xxxvii. IG, etc. n^I-'Qj the doing of a thing ; then that which is gained by working, the recompense for labour, as in Lev. xix. 13 and other passages, v Vu'V "^c•^5 is taken by Hitzig as referring to the Egyptians, and rendered, " in consequence of that which they have done to me." But although 1^"^5. may be taken in this sense (yid. Isa. Ixv. 18), the arguments employed by Hitzig in mencemcnt of its rebuilding, Joscphns gives in the passage referred to above the years of the several reigns of the kings and judges of Tyre from Ithobal to lllrom, in whose reign Cyrus took the kingdom ; from which it is apparent that fifty years elapsed from the commencement of the siege of Tyre to the fourteenth year of Hirom, in which Cyrus began to reign. At the same time, the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar is given by mistake instead of the seventeenth or nineteenth as the date of the beginning of the siege. (Compare on this point Movers, Phonizicr, II. 1, pp. 437 sqq. ; M. V. Niebuhr, Gesch. Assiirs ii. Bab. pp. 106 sqq. ; and M. Duncker, Gesck des Altert. I. p. 8il.) CHAP. XXIX. 17-21. 13 opposition to the ordlnniy rendering — "for they (Nebuchad- nezzar and his army) have done it for me," i.e. have performed their hard work at Tyre for me and by my commission — have no force whatever. This use of v nb'y is thoroughly established by Gen. xxx. 30; and the objection which he raises, namely, that ^^the assertion that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre in the service of Jehovah could only have been properly made by Ezekiel in the event of the city having been really conquered," is out of place, for this simple reason, that the assumption that the city was not taken is a mere conjecture ; and even if the conjecture could be sustained, the siege itself might still be a work undertaken in the service of Jehovah. And the principal argument, namely, " that we should necessarily expect nb'y (instead of 1-'^), inasmuch as with ^V every Hebrew reader would inevitably take 1^'^^. as referring to cn'irp^"' is altogether wide of the mark ; for Ql"!>'?? does not signify the Egyptians in this passage, but the land of Egypt alone is spoken of both in the verse before us and throui^hout the oracle, and for this V^y is quite unsuitable, whereas the context suggests in the most natural way the allusion to Nebuchadnezzar and his army. But what is absolutely decisive is the circumstance that the thought itself, "in consequence of what the Egyptians have done to me," i.e. what evil they have done, is foreign to, if not at variance with, all the prophecies of Ezekiel concerning J^gypt. For the guilt of Egypt and its Pharaoh mentioned by Ezekiel is not any crime against Jehovah, but simply Pharaoh's deifica- tion of himself, and the treacherous nature of the help which Egypt afforded to Israel. njn7=r^5? nb>y is not the appropriate expression for this, in support of which assertion we might point to V ^^^^ in cli. xxiii. 38. — Yer. 21. On that day, namely, when the judgment upon Egypt is executed by Nebuchadnezzar, the Lord will cause a horn to sprout or grow to the house (people) of Israel. The horn is a symbol of might and strength, by which the attacks of foreigners are warded off. By the overthrow of Judah the horn of Israel was cut off (Lara. ii. 3 ; 14 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. compare also Jer. xlviii. 25). In Hi^ n-DVS the promise coin- cides, so far as the words are concerned, with Ps. cxxxii. 17 ; but it also points back to the prophetic words of the godly Hannah in 1 Sam. ii. 1, " My horn is exalted in Jehovah, my mouth hath opened itself wide over my enemies," and is Mes- sianic in the broader sense of the word. The horn which the Lord will cause to sprout to the people of Israel is neither Zerubbabel nor the Messiah, but the Messianic salvation. The reason for connecting this promise of salvation for Israel with the overthrow of the power of Egypt, as Havernick has observed, is that '^ Egypt presented itself to the prophet as the power in which the idea of heathenism was embodied and circumscribed.'' In the might of Egypt the world-power is shattered, and the overthrow of the world-power is tiie dawn of the unfolding of the mif^ht of the kino;dom of God. Then also will the Lord give to His prophet an opening of the mouth in the midst of Israel. These words are unquestionably connected with the promise of God in ch. xxiv. 26, 27, that after the fall of Jeru- salem the mouth of Ezeklel should be opened, and also with the fulfilment of that promise in ch. xxxiii. 22 ; but they have a much more comprehensive meaning, namely, that with the dawn of salvation in Israel, i.e. in the church of the Lord, the word of prophecy would sound forth in the richest measure, inasmuch as, according to Joel (ch. ii.), a universal outpouring of the Spirit of God would then take place. In this light Theodoret is correct in his remark, that " through Ezekiel He signified the whole band of prophets." But Kliefoth has quite mistaken the meaning of tlie words when he discovers in them the thought that " God would then give the prophet a new word of God concerning both Egypt and Israel, and that this is contained in the oracle in ch. xxx. 1-19." Such a view as this is proved at once to be false, apart from other grounds, by the expression D3inn (in the midst of them), which cannot be taken as applying to Egypt and Israel, but can only refer to n''3 7tf*jb'^, the house of Israel. CHAP. XXX. 1-19. 15 CHAP. XXX. 1-19. THE DAY OF JUDGMENT UPON EGYPT. Commencing with a call to lamentation, the prophet announces that the Lord's day of judgment upon the nations is near at hand, and will burst upon Egypt, and the nations in alliance with it (vers. 2-5). He then depicts in three strophes, with the introductory words '""^ "i??5J nb^ the execution of this judg- ment, namely : (a) the destruction of the might of Egypt and the devastation of the land (vers. 6-9) ; (b) the enemy by whom the judgment will be accomplished (vers. 10-12) ; and (c) the extermination of the idols of Egypt, the conquest and demolition of its fortresses, the slaughter of its male population, and the captivity of the daughters of the land (vers. 13-19). The heading does not contain any chronological information ; and the contents furnish no definite criteria for determinlncp with precision the date of the prophecy. Jerome assigns this oracle to the same period as the prophecy in ch. xxix. 1-16, whilst others connect it more closely with ch. xxix. 17-21, and regard it as the latest of all Ezekiel's prophecies. The latter is the conclusion adopted by Rosenmiiller, Hiivernick, Hitzig, Kliefoth, and some others. The principal argument adduced for linking it on to ch. xxix. 1 7 sqq. is, that in ver. 3 the day of judgment upon Egypt is threatened as near at hand, and this did not apply to the tenth year (ch. xxix. 1), though it was perfectly applicable to the twenty-seventh (ch. xxix. 17), when the siege of Tyre was ended, and Nebuchadnezzar was on the point of attacking Egypt. But the expression, ^- the day of the Lord is near at hand," is so relative a chronological phrase, that nothing definite can be gathered from it as to the date at which an oracle was composed. Nor does the fact that our prophecy stands after the prophecy in ch. xxix. 17-21, which is furnished with a date, prove anything ; for the other pro- phecies which follow, and are furnished with dates, all belong to a much earlier period. It is very evident from this that ch. xxix. 17-21 is inserted without regard to chronological 16 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. sequence, and consequently ch. xxx. 1-19 may just as well belong to the period between the tenth month of the tenth year (ch. xxix. 1) and the first month of the eleventh year (ch. xxx. 20), as to the twenty-seventh year (ch. xxix. 17), since all the reasons assigned for the closer connection of our prophecy with the one immediately preceding (ch. xxix. 17-21), which is supposed to indicate similarity of date, are invalid ; whilst, on the other hand, the resemblance of vers. 6 and 17 to ch. xxix. 10 and 12 is not sufficient to warrant the assump- tion of a contemporaneous origin. Vers. 1-5. Announcement of the judgment upon Egypt and its allies. — Ver. 1. Aiid the word of Jeliovali came to me, sayingy Ver. 2. Son of maiiy j^ropAesy, and say^ Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Howl ye I Woe to the day I Ver. 3. For the day is near, the day of Jehovah near, a day of cloud, the time of the heathen will it be. Ver. 4. And the sword loill come upon Egypt, and there will he pangs in Ethiopia, when the slain fall in Egypt, and they take her possessions, and her foundations are destroyed. Ver. 5. Ethiopians and Libyans arid Lydians, and all the rabble, and Chub, and the sons of the covenant land, ivill fall by the sword with them. — In the announcement of the judgment in vers, lb and 3, Ezekiel rests upon Joel i. 13, 15, and ii. 2, where the designation already applied to the judgment upon the heathen world by Obadiah, viz. " the day of Jehovah " (Obad. ver. 15), is followed by such a picture of the nearness and terrible nature of that day, that even Isaiah (Isa. xiii. 6, 9) and Zephaniah (Zeph. i. 7, 14) appropriate the words of Joel. Ezekiel also does the same, with this exception, that he uses nn instead of !^nx, and adds to the force of the expression by the repetition of DV nn|5. In ver. 36, the words from Ijy i2V to T\''J}\ are not to be taken together as forming one sentence, '^ a day of cloud will the time of the nations be " (De Wette), be- cause the idea of a '' time of the nations " has not been men- tioned before, so as to prepare the way for a description of its real nature here. ]^V Di'' and 13^.^2 riv contain two co-ordinate CHAP. XXX. 1-5. 17 affirmations concerning the day of Jehovah. It will be a day of cloud, i.e. of great calamity (as in Joel ii. 2), and a time of the heathen, i.e. when heathen (D^ia without the article) are judged, when their might is to be shattered (cf. Isa. xlii. 22). This day is coming upon Egypt, which is to succumb to the sword. Ethiopia will be so terrified at this, that it will writhe convulsively with anguish (Sk^)^^ as in Nah. ii. 11 and Isa. xxi. 3). ^^^[}. Hi^P signifies the plundering and removal of the possessions of the land, like f^jbn j^b'j in ch. xxix. 19. The subject to ^npp is indefinite, " they," i.e. the enemy. The foundations of Egypt, which are to be destroyed, are not the foundations of its buildings, but may be understood in a figurative sense as relating to persons, after the analogy of Isa. xix. 10 ; but the notion that Cush, Phut, etc. (ver. 9), i.e. the mercenary troops obtained from those places, which are called the props of Egypt in ver. 6, are intended, as Hitzig assumes, is not only extremely improbable, but decidedly erroneous. The announcement in ver. 6, that Cush, Phut, etc., are to fall by the sword along with the Egyptians (2^^^), is sufficient of itself to show that these tribes, even if they were auxiliaries or mercenaries of Egypt, did not constitute the foundations of the Egyptian state and kingdom ; but that, on the contrary, Egypt possessed a military force composed of native troops, which was simply strengthened by auxiliaries and allies. We there interpret '7^^"''^^ after the analogy of Ps. xi. 3 and Ixxxii. 5, as referring to the real foundations of the state, the regulations and institutions on which the stability and prosperity of the kingdom rest. The neighbouring, friendly, and allied peoples will also be smitten by the judg- ment together with the Egyptians. Cush^ i.e. the Ethiopians, Phut and Ludj i.e. the Libyans and African Lydians (see the comm. on ch. xxvii. 10), are mentioned here primarily as auxiliaries of Egypt, because, according to Jer. xlvi. 9, they served in Necho's army. By T\VJ}~^'^^ the whole of the mixed crowd (see the comm. on 1 Kings x. 15, — TzavTe^ ol iTri/xiKroi, EZEK. II. B 18 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. LXX.), we are then to understand the mercenary soldiers in the Egyptian army, which were obtained from different nations (chiefly Greeks, lonians, and Carians, ol iirUovpoi^ as they are called by Herodotus, iii. 4, etc.). In addition to these, 3^3 (ttTT. \eut terror vpon the land of Egypt, Ver. 14. And I lay Pathros icaste, and bring fire into Zoan, and execute judgments upon No; Ver. 15. And I p> our out my fury upon Sin, the stronghold of Egypt, and cut off the multi- tude of No ; Ver. 16. And I put fire in Egypt ; Sin ivill writhe in pain, and No will be broken open, and Noph — enemies by day. Ver. 17. The men of On and Bahastus will fall by the sword, 22 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. and they themselves icill go into captivity. Ver. 18. At Tach- panches the day will he darkened ivhen I shatter the yokes of Egypt there, and an end ivill he put to its proud haughti- ness ; cloud ivill cover it, and its daughters will go into cap- tivity. Ver. 19. And thus I execute judgments upon Egypt, that they may know that I am Jehovah. — Egypt will lose its idols and its princes (cf. Jer. xlvi. 25). D^55^?3 and CivvX are synonymous, signifying not the images, but the deities ; the former being the ordinary epithet applied to false deities by Ezekiel (see the comm. on ch. vi. 4). the latter trace- able to the reading of Isa. xix. 1. ?]], contracted from ^io, J^fanoph or Meno2?h = ^D in Hos. ix. 6, is Memphis, the ancient capital of Lo^Yer Egypt, with the celebrated temple of Ptah, one of the principal seats of Egyptian idolatry (see the comni. on Hos. ix. 6 and Isa. xix. 13). In ver. loh '"i^*^ P.?^ belongs to ^^^'J, there shall be no more a prince from the land of Egypt, i.e. a native prince. HN"}^ jriDj to put fear upon (cf. ch. xxvi. 17h). From Lower Egypt Ezekiel passes in ver. 14 to Upper Egypt {Path^os, see the comm. on ch. xxix. 14), which is also to be laid waste, and then names several more of the principal cities of Lower Egypt along with the chief city of Upper Egypt. jV'v, Egypt. Zane, Copt. Jane, is the Tavi^j Tanis, of the Greeks and Romans, on the Tanitic arm of the Nile, an ancient city of Lower Egypt ; see the comm. on Num. xiii. 22 and Isa. xix. 11. N*J = p^N* NJ in Nah. iii. 8, probably '' abode of Anion," Egypt. P-amen, i.e. house of Amon, the sacred name of Thehes, the celebrated royal city of Upper Egypt, the Alo<^ ttoXl^ rj /jieydXr) of the Greeks (see the comm. on Nah. iii. 8). T? (literally, mire ; compare the Aram. i^P) is Hrfkovaiov, Pelusium, which derives its name from TTTjXo'; {oivo^aarai cltto tov irrfkov 7r7]\6<;, Strab. xvii. p. 802), because there were swamps all round. It was situated on the eastern arm of the Nile, to which it gave its name, at a distance of twenty stadia from the sea. The Egyptian name Pheromi also signifies dirty, or muddy. From this the Arabs have made CHAP. XXX. 13-19. 23 Elfarama ; and in the vicinity of the few ruins of the ancient Pelusium there is still a castle called ^UaL, Tineh (compare the Chaldee ^J"*!?, clay, in Dan. ii. 41). Ezekiel calls it the *• fortress or bulwark of Egypt," because, as Strabo (I.e.) observes, '' Egypt is difficult of access here from places in the East;" for which reason Hirtius {de hell. Al. c. 27) calls it *^the key of Egypt," and Suidas {s.v.) '' the key both of the entrance and exit of Egypt." On the history of this city, see Leyrer in Herzog's Encyclopaedia. In J^J |i?^n many of the commentators find a play upon the name of the god pOiJ (Jer. xlvi. 25), the chief deity of Thebes, which is possible, but not very probable, as we should not expect to find a god mentioned again here after ver. 13; and ^^"^^n would be inappropriate. — In ver. 16 Sin (= Pelusium) is mentioned again as the border fortress, No (= Thehes) as the chief city of Upper Egypt, and Nopli (= Memphis) as the capital of Upper Egypt, as all falling within the range of the judgment. The expression DDi'' n^* fib has caused some difficulty and given occasion to various conjectures, none of which, however, commend them- selves as either simple or natural explanations.^ As Hitzig has correctly observed, D'pi'' ^"li is the same as C]nn^3 Tib* in Jer. XV. 8, and is the opposite of np^p ^yi^ in Obad. ver. 5. The enemy who comes by day, not in the night, is the enemy who does not shun open attack. The connection with F]b is to be explained by the same rule as Jer. xxiv. 2, ^' the one basket — very good figs." Memphis will have enemies in broad daylight, ^ Ewald proposes to alter n^* into n^' (after the Aramaean), " rust," and renders it : " Memphis will be eternal rust." But to this Hitzig has very properly objected that in ch. xxiv. 6, 11, rust is called T\^T\ ; and that even in Ps. vi. 3 W0\^ does not mean perpetual or eternal. Havernick proposes to explain D"»iv, from the Aramaean |5», to rend or tear in pieces, '•'- Memphis shall become perpetual rents." To this also it maybe objected, that CIV in Hebrew has the standing meaning of oppressors ; and that D^i\ interdiu, is not equivalent to perpetual ; and still further, that the preposition p could not be omitted before nv- 24 Till' TROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. i.e. will be filled with them. IJN* = ps, |n*, in Gen. xli. 45, 50 (Egyptian An, or Aim), is the popular name of IleliopoUs in Lower Egypt (see the comm. on Gen. xli. 45) ; and the form i/X (a vain thing, or idol) is probably selected intentionally in the sense of an idol-city (see the comm. on Hos. iv. 15), because On- IleliopoUs (C^'b*^"ri"'3 in Jer. xliii. 13) was from time immemorial one of the principal seats of the Egyptian worship of the sun, and possessed a celebrated temple of the sun, with a numerous and learned priesthood (see the comm. on Gen. xli. 45, ed. 2). ^??"^3, i.e. Bov/Sacrro^ (LXX.) or Bov- l3aaTL\jj?, that it may become strong or sound, is subordinate to the preceding clause, and governs the infini- tive which follows. The fact that the further judgment which is to fall upon Pharaoh is introduced with |37 (therefore) here (ver. 22), notwithstanding the fact that it has not been preceded by any enumeration of the guilt which occasioned it, may be accounted for on the ground that the causal I^^ forms a link with the concluding clause of ver. 21 : the arm shall not be healed, so as to be able to grasp or hold the sword. Because Pharaoh is not to attain an}' more to victorious power, there- fore God will shatter both of his arms, the stronir, i.e, the sound one and the broken one, that is to say, will smite it so completely, that the sword will fall from his hand. The 28 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Egyptians are to be scattered among the nations, as is repeated in ver. 23 verbatim from ch. xxix. 12. God will give the sword into tlie hand of the king of Babylon, and equip and strengthen him to destroy the might of Pharaoh, that the latter may groan before him like one who is pierced with the sword. This thought is repeated in vers. 25 and 26 with an intimation of the purpose of this divine procedure. That purpose is: that men may come to recognise Jehovah as God the Lord. The subject to 'iV"!''! is indefinite ; and the rendering of the LXX. is a very good one, koI yvcoaovrab iravTe^. CHAP. XXXI. THE GLOKY AND FALL OF ASSHUR A TYPE OF EGYPT. In tw^o months minus six days from the time when the pre- ceding word of God was uttered, Ezekiel received another threatening word against the king and the people of Egypt, in wliich the former announcement of the destruction of the might of Egypt was confirmed by a comparison drawn between the power of Egypt and that of Asslmr. Ezekiel having opened his prophecy w^ith the question, whom does Pharaoh with his might resemble (ver. 2), proceeds to depict Asslmr as a mighty towering cedar (vers. 3-9) which has been felled and cast down by the prince of the nations on account of its height and pride (vers. 10-14), so that everything mourned over its fall, because many nations went down with it to hell (vers. 15-17). The question, whom Pharaoh resembles, is then repeated in ver. 18 ; and from the preceding comparison the conclusion is drawn, that he will perish like that lofty cedar. — The remi- niscence of the greatness of the Assyrian empire and of its destruction was well adapted to overthrow all reliance upon the might and greatness of Egypt. The fall of that great empire was still so fresh in the mind at the time, that the reminiscence could not fail to make a deep impression upon the prophet's hearers. CHAP. XXXI. 1-9. 29 Yers. 1-9. TliG miglit of Pliaraoh resembles the greatness and glory of Assluir. — Ver. 1- In the eleventh year, in the third (month), on the first of the month, the icord oj Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 2. Son of man, say to PJiaraoh the king of Egypt, and to his tumult. Whom art thou like in thy greatness ? Yer, 3. Behold, Asshur ivas a cedar-tree iipon Lebanon, beautiful in branches, a shadowing thicket, and its top was high in growth, and among the clouds. Yer. 4. Water brought him up, the flood made him high, its streams went round about its plantation, and it sent its channels to all the trees of the field. Yer. 5. There- fore its growth became higher than all the trees of the field, and its branches became great, and its boughs long from mam, waters in its shooting out. Yer. 6. In its branches all the birds of the heaven made their nests, and under its boughs all the beasts of the field brought forth, and in its shadow sat great nations of all kinds. Yer. 7. And he was beautiful in his •greatness, in the length of his shoots ; for his root was by many ivafers. Yer. 8. Cedars did not obscure him in the garden of God, cypresses did not resemble his brandies, and plane-trees were not like his boughs ; no tree in the garden of God resem- bled him in his beauty. Yer. 9. / had made him beautiful in the multitude of his shoots, and all the trees of Eden wldch were in the garden of God envied him. — The word of God is addressed to King Pharaoh and to ^^^^H, his tumult, i.e. whoever and whatever occasions noise and tumult in the land. We must not interpret this, however, as Hitzlg has done, as signifying the ruling classes and estates in contrast with the quiet in the land, for no such use of n?^n is anywhere to be found. Nor must we regard the word as applying to the mul- titude of people only, but to the people with their possessions, their riches, which gave rise to luxury and tumult, as in ch. XXX. 10. The inquiry, whom does Pharaoh with his tumult resemble in his greatness, is followed in the place of a reply by a description of Asshur as a glorious cedar (vers. 3-9). It is true that Ewald has followed the example of Meibom {vanarmn 30 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. ill Cod. Hehr. interprett. spec. III. p. 70) and J. D. Micliaelis, and endeavonrs to set aside the allusion to Asshur, by taking the word 11^^^ in an appellative sense, and understanding W^^ P^^ as signifying a particular kind of cedar, namely, the tallest species of all. But apart altogether from there being no foun- dation whatever for such an explanation in the usage of the language, there is nothing in the fact to justify it. For it is not anywhere affirmed that Pharaoh resembled this cedar ; on the contrary, the question, whom does he resemble? is asked again in ver. 18 (Hitzig). Moreover, Michaelis is wrong in the supposition that " from ver. 10 onwards it becomes perfectly obvious that it is not Assyria but Egypt itself which is meant by the cedar-tree previously described." Under the figure of the felling of a cedar there is depicted the overthrow of a king or monarchy, which has already taken place. Compare vers. 12 and 16, where the past is indicated quite as certainly as the future in ver. 18. And as ver. 18 plainly designates the over- throw of Pharaoh and his power as still in the future, the cedar, whose destruction is not only threatened in vers. 10-17, but declared to have already taken place, can only be Asshur, and not Egypt at all. The picture of the glory of this cedar recalls in several respects the similar figurative description in ch. xvii. Asshur is called a cedar upon Lebanon, because it was there that the most stately cedars grew. H*? ^"ip, a shade-giving thicket (?V^ is a Hiphil participle of fe), belongs to ^Ijy ^^\ as a further expansion of ^JV, corresponding to the further expansion of 7\d\> riD3 by " its top was among the clouds." If we bear this in mind, the reasons assigned by Hitzig for altering t^'"^^ into an adjective C^in, and taking -'^^ as a substantive formation after the analogy of 300^ lose all their force. Analogy would only require an adjective in the construct state in the event of the three statements 'V ns";^ 'o ^"^n^ and '\> ^33 being co-ordinate with one another. But what is decisive against the proposed conjecture is the fact that neither the noun i'V^ nor the ad- CHAP. XXXL 1-9. 31 jectlve t^'^in is ever met with, and that, in any case, i^V^ can- not signify fohage. The rendering of the Vulgate, ^'' frondihus nemorosus^^ is merely guessed at, whilst the Seventy have omitted the word as unintelligible to them. For 0^^^^^, thicket of clouds, see the comm. on ch. xix. 11 ; and for ^'^.'^V, that on ch. xvii. 3. The cedar grew to so large a size because it was richly watered (ver. 4). A flood poured its streams round about the place where the cedar was planted, and sent out brooks to all the trees of the field. The difficult words 'iJ^ iTn'-inrns are to be taken literally thus : as for its (the flood's) streams, it (the flood) was going round about its plantation, i.e. round about the plantation belonging to the flood or the place situated near it, where the cedar was planted. ri^J is not to be taken as a preposition, but as a sign of the accusative, and •'^''O'^Lir^^ as an accusative used for the more precise definition of the manner in which the flood surrounded the plantation. It is true that there still remains something striking in the masculine "rj^hj since Dinrij although of common gender, is construed throughout as a feminine, even in this very verse. But the difficulty remains even if we follow Ewald, and take Tj^n to be a defectively written or irregular form of the Hiphil tS"' ; a conjecture which is precluded by the use of tI'^H, to cause to run = to cause to flow away, in ch. xxxii. 14. nytsro, its (the flood's) plantation, i.e, the plantation for which the flood existed. Dinn is used here to signify the source or starting-point of a flood, as in Deut. viii. 7, where niD'nn are co-ordinate with r.iry. — While the place where the cedar was planted was surrounded by the streams of the flood, only the brooks and channels of this flood reached to the trees of the field. The cedar therefore surpassed all the trees of the field in height and luxuriance of growth (ver. 5). ^^n33j an Aramean mode of spelling for ^\}2l ; and riby-iD^ air. Xey., an Aramean formation with 1 inserted, for ^'^VOj branches. For n*iN*3, see the comm. on ch. xvii. 6. Sryp^2 cannot mean " since it (the stream) sent out the water " (Ewald) ; for although Dinri in ver. 4 is also construed as a 32 THE PROPnECIES OF EZEKIEL. masculine, the suffix cannot be taken as referring to ^S^n, for this is much too far off. And the explanation proposed by Rosenmiiller, Hiivernick, Kliefoth, and others, " as it (the tree) sent them (the branches) out," is open to this objection, that inpw'li would then contain a spiritless tautology ; since the stretching out of the branches is already contained in the fact of their becoming numerous and long. The tautology has no existence if the object is left indefinite, " in its spreading out," i.e. the spreading not only of the branches, but also of the roots, to which njip is sometimes applied (cf. Jer. xvii. 8). By the many waters which made the cedar great, we must not understand, either solely or especially, the numerous peoples which rendered Assyria great and mighty, as the Chaldee and many of the older commentators have done. It must rather be taken as embracing everything which contributed to the growth and greatness of Assyria. It is questionable whether the prophet, when describing the flood which watered the cedar plantation, had the description of the rivers of Paradise in Gen. ii. 10 sqq. floating before his mind. Ewald and Hiivernick think that he had ; but Ilitzig and Kliefoth take a decidedly opposite view. There is certainly no distinct indication of any such allusion. We meet with this for the first time from ver. 8 onwards. In vers. 6-9 the greatness and glory of Asshur are still further depicted. Upon and under the branches of the stately tree, all creatures, birds, beasts, and men, found shelter and protection for life and increase (ver. G; cf. ch. xvii. 23 and Dan. iv. 9). In n'r] Dir^3, all kinds of great nations, the fact glimmers through the figure. The tree was so beautiful (^''*1 from naj) in its greatness, that of all the trees in the garden of God not one was to be compared with it, and all envied it on that account ; that is to say, all the other nations and kino-doms in God's creation were far inferior to Asshur in greatness and glory. ^''>}^^. I? is the garden of Paradise ; and consequently T}V in vers. 9, 16, and 18 is also Paradise, as in ch. xxviii. 13. There is no ground for Kliefoth's objection. CHAP. XXXI. 10-14. 33 that if py be taken in tliis sense, the words " which are in the garden of God" will contain a superfluous pleonasm, a mere tautology. In Gen. ii. 8 a distinction is also made between H^ and the garden in Eden. It was not all Eden, but the garden planted by Jehovah in Eden, which formed the real paradisaical creation ; so that the words " which are in the garden of God " give intensity to the idea of the ^' trees of Eden." Moreover, as Havernick has correctly pointed out, there is a peculiar emphasis in the separation of Q'^^^:? |32i from D"'n5<5 in ver. 8 : " cedars . . . even such as were found in the garden of God." Not one even of the other and most glorious trees, viz. cypresses and planes, resembled the cedar Asshur, planted by God by many waters, in its boughs and branches. It is not stated in so many words in vers. 8 and 9 that the cedar Asshur stood in the garden of God ; but it by no means follows from this, that by the garden of God we are to understand simply the world and the earth as the creation of God, as Kliefoth imagines, and in support of which he argues that '• as all the nations and kingdoms of the world are regarded as trees planted by God, the world itself is quite consistently called a garden or plantation of God." The very fact that a distinction is made between trees of the field (vers. 4 and 5) and trees of Eden in the garden of God (vers. 8 and 9), shows that the trees are not all regarded here as being in the same sense planted by God. If the garden of God stood for the w^orld, wdiere should we then have to look for the field ('"T^Jf''!')? The thought of vers. 8 and 9 is not that *' not a single tree in all God's broad earth was to be compared to the cedar Asshur," but that even of the trees of Paradise, the garden in Eden, there was not one so beautiful and glorious as the cedar Asshur, planted by God by many waters. Vers. 10-14. The felling of this cedar, or the overthrow of Asshur on account of its pride. — Ver. 10. Therefore thus said the Lord Jehovah^ Because thou didst exalt thyself in height, and lie stretched his top to the midst of the clouds, and Ids heart exalted EZEK. II. C 34 THE PROrHECIES OF EZEKIEL. itself in its height^ Ver. 11. / ivill give him into the hand of the prince of the nations ; he shall deal with him : for his wickedness I rejected him. Ver. 12. And strangers cut him doion^ violent ones of the stations, and cast him away : upon the mountains and in all the valleys his shoots fell^ and his houghs toere broken in pieces into all the deep places of the earth ; and all the nations of the earth icithdrew from his shadow^ and let him lie, Ver. 13. Upon his fallen trunk all the birds of the heaven settle, and all the beasts of the field are over his branches : Ver. 14. That no trees by the loater may exalt themselves on account of their height, or stretch their top to the midst of the clouds, and no water-drinkers stand upon themselves in their exaltation: for they are all given up to death into hell, in the midst of the children of men, to those that go into the grave. — In the description of the cause of the overthrow of Asshur which commences with "i^i< \V\, the figurative language changes in the third clause into the literal fact, the towering of the cedar being interpreted as signifying the lifting up of the heart in his height, — that is to say, in his pride. In the first clause the tree itself is addressed ; but in the clauses which follow, it is spoken of in the third person. The direct address in the first clause is to be explained from the vivid manner in which the fact presented itself. The divine sentence in vers. 10 and 11 is not directed against Pharaoh, but against the Assyrian, who is depicted as a stately cedar ; whilst the address in ver. 10a, and the imperfect (future) in ver. lla, are both to be accounted for from the fact that the fall of Asshur is related in the form in which it was denounced on the part of Jehovah upon that imperial kingdom. The perfect "i^^J is therefore a preterite here : the Lord said . . . for His part : because Asshur has exalted itself in the pride of its greatness, I give it up. The form ^r^.^n^f! is not to be changed into il^.^n^J, but is defended against critical caprice by the imperfect ^^V)_ which -^ollows. That the penal sentence of God is not to be regarded as being first uttered in the time then present, but belongs to the past, — and therefore the words merely communicate what God had CHAP. XXXI. 10-14 do already spoken, — is clearly shown by the preterites commencing with in-'rii:^"!!!, the historical tenses innns^l and in^'t3*1, and tlie preterite vDJ^ which must not be turned into futures in violation of grammar, i^^^?^ nna does not mean, to be high in its height, which would be a tautology; but to exalt itself (be proud) in, or on account of, its height. And in the same way is nn also affirmed of the heart, in the sense of exultation from pride. For the fact itself, compare Isa. x. 5 sqq. D)ia ^^ does not mean God, but a powerful one of the nations, i.e, Nebuchad- nezzar. ^^ is a simple appellative from i^^S, the strong one ; and is neither a name of God nor a defective form for ?^^j the construct state of ^]^, a ram. For this defective form is only met w^ith once in the case of y^j a ram, namely, in Job xlii. 8, where we have the plural D v^*? and nowhere else ; whereas, in the case of ?J?, Qy^, in the sense of a strong one, the scriptio plena very frequently alternates with the defectiva. Compare, for example, Job xHi. 8, where both readings occur just as in this instance, where many MSS. have ^^ (vid. de Eossi, variae lectt. ad h. I.) ; also Ex. xv. 15 and Ezek. xvii. 13, v^^^ com- pared with ySi in Ezek. xxxii. 21, after the analogy of ^"}"'p., 2 Sam. xxii. 29, and Dn-a, 2 Chron. ii. 16. "h np: ib'y is not a relative clause, " who should treat him ill," nor is the \ relat. omitted on account of the preceding ^ti'V, as Hitzig imagines ; but it is an independent sentence, and HtJ'y^ is a forcible expres- sion for the imperative : he will deal with him, equivalent to^ "let him deal with him." ( nb'y^ to do anything to a person, used here as it frequently is in an evil sense; compare Ps. Ivi. 5. W13 — or ii't^'"i3j which Norzi and Abarbanel (in de Rossi, variae lectt. ad h. I.) uphold as the reading of many of the more exact manuscripts and editions — belongs to ''^"'rlt^''^a : for, or according to, his wickedness, I rejected him. In ver. 12 the figure of the tree is resumed; and the extinction of the Assyrian empire is described as the cutting down of the proud cedar. D^i3 ''5»nv Dnj as in ch. xxviii. 7 and xxx. 11, 12. tinc'D*^ : they cast him away and let him lie, as in ch. xxix. 5, 36 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. xxxll. 4 ; so that in the first sentence the idea of castinir away predominates, and in the second that of letting He. By the casting away, the tree became so shattered to atoms that its boughs and branches fell upon the mountains and on the low ground and valleys of the earth, and the nations which had sat under its shadow withdrew. HTl (they descended) is to be explained from the idea that the tree had grown upon a high mountain (namely Lebanon) ; and Hitzig is mistaken in his conjecture that ^T}*! was the original reading, as TiJ, to fly, is not an appropriate expression for ^^W. On the falling of the tree, the birds which had made their nests in its branches naturally flew away. If, then, in ver. 13, birds and beasts are said to settle upon the fallen trunk, as several of the commen- tators have correctly observed, the description is based upon the idea of a corpse, a TVBJp (Judg. xiv. 8), around which both birds and beasts of prey gather together to tear it in pieces (cf. ch. xxxii. 4 and Isa. xviii. 6). ^^ '1^7? to come towards or over any one, to be above it. The thought expressed is, that many nations took advantage of the fall of Asshur and rose into new life upon its ruins. — Ver. 14. This fate was prepared for Asshur in order that henceforth no tree should grow up to the sky any more, i.e. that no powerful one of this earth (no king or prince) should strive after superhuman greatness and might. "i^'^. iV^r is dependent upon in^ntinji in ver. 11 ; for vers. 12 and 13 are simply a further expansion of the thought expressed in that word. D'^ '^'^V are trees growling near the water, and therefore nourished by water. For 'iJl ^nsy iO^ see ver. 10. The words 'lil Dn^5?^ nrpr i6] are difficult. As DH^^X, with Tzere under t^, to which the Masora calls attention, cannot be the preposition ^^ with the suffix, many have taken DHvN to be a noun, in the sense of fortes, principes, or terehintld {vid. Isa. Ixi. 3), and have rendered the clause either iit non perstent tere- hintld eorum in altitudine sua, omnes {ceterae arhores) hihentes aquam (Vatabl., Starck, Maurer, and Kliefoth), or, that their princes may not lift themselves up in their pride, all the CUAP. XXXI. 10-14. 37 drinkers of water (Htivernick). But both renclerinrrs founder on the simple fact that they leave the suffix cn in nn'^bi^ either unnoticed or unexplained. As only the trees of the water have been spoken of previously, the suffix must be taken as referrinijj to them. But the water-trees have neither terebinths nor princes ; on the contrary, these are what they must either be, or signify. Terebinths, or princes of the water-trees, would bo senseless ideas. Ewald has therefore taken Q^vSI as the object, and rendered it thus : '^ and (that) no water-drinkers may con- tend with their gods in their pride." He has not proved, however, but has simply asserted, that ^W is to endure = to contend (!). The only remaining course is to follow the LXX., Targum, and many commentators, and to take DH^^x as a pronoun, and point it L:nvX. b^ iDy : to station oneself against, or upon = bv ^^V (ch. xxxiii. 26), in the sense of resting, or relying upon anything. The suffix is to be taken in a reflective sense, as in ch. xxxiv. 2, etc. (vid. Ewald, § 3146'), and precedes the noun to which it refers, as in Prov. xiv. 20 for example, ^'^^i'^j as in ver. 10, referring to pride. Q^p "'D'^"''^, the subject of the sentence, is really synonymous with Li]'0 ''^*y"?3, except that the figure of the tree falls into the background behind the fact portrayed. The rendering of the Berleburg Bible is very good: "and no trees abounding in w^ater stand upon themselves (rely upon themselves) on account of their height." The water-drinkers are princes of this earth who have attained to great power through rich resources. " As a tree grows through the moisture of water, so men are accus- tomed to become proud through their abundance, not reflectini'- that these waters have been supplied to them by God" (Starck). The reason for this warning against proud self-exaltation is given in ver. lib in the general statement, that all the proud great ones of this earth are delivered up to death. C^3, all of them, the water-drinkers or water-trees already named, by whom kings, earthly potentates, are intended, n^nnri p.N* = nrrinn nx (ch. xxvi. 20). sns ^p2 -jinn : in the midst of the 38 TUE PKOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. children of men, i.e. like all other men. " Thus the prophet teaches that princes must die as well as the people, that death and decomposition are common to both. Hence he takes all ground of proud boasting away" (Starck). Vers. 15-18. Impression made upon the nations by the fall of Asshur; and its application to Pharaoh. — Ver. 15. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, In the day that he loent down to hell I caused a mourning : covered the flood for his sake^ and stopj)ed its streams, and the great icaters ivere held back : I caused Lebanon to blacJcen itself for him, and all the trees of the Ji eld jnnedfor him. Ver. 16. I made the nations tremble at the noise of his fallj ichen I cast him doivn to hell to those who go into the grave : and ihey comforted themselves in the nether ivorld, even all the trees of Eden, the choice and most beautiful of Jjcbanon, all the ivater-drinhers. Ver. 17. Tliey also loent with him into hell, to those pierced ivith the siuordj ivho sat as his helpers in his shade among the nations. Ver. 18. Whom dost thou thus resemble in glory and greatness among the trees of Eden? So shalt thou be thrust down to the trees of Eden into the nether ivorld, and lie among uncircumcised ones ivith those pierced ivith the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his tumult, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. — In order that the overthrow of the Assyrian, i.e. the destruction of the Assyrian empire, may be placed in the clearest liglit, a picture is drawn of the impression which it made upon the whole creation. There is no necessity to under- stand "ip^5 nb in a past sense, as in ver. 10. What God did on the overthrow of Asshur He may even now, for the first time, make known through the prophet, for a warning to Pliaraoh and the people of Israel. That this is the way in which the words are to be interpreted, is evident from the use of the per- fect ''^^??). They comfort themselves because they have gone down with him into Sheol, so that he has no advantage over them. They come thither to those pierced with the sword, i.e. to the princes and peoples whom Asshur slew in wars to establish his imperial power, ii^^j^ might also belong to iTi^ as a second subject. In that case i?V? ^^fl should be taken in a relative sense : " and his arm," i.e. his resources, ^* which sat in his shadow among the nations." With this explanation iV'iT would be different from DHj and could only denote the army of the Assyrian. But this does not harmonize with the sitting in his shadow among the nations, for these words obviously point back to ver. 6 ; so that ii^'"iT is evidently meant to correspond to D'^n'] n^ir?3 (ver. 6), and is actually identical with Dn, i.e. with all the trees of Eden. We therefore agree with Osiander, Grotius, and others, in regarding the whole of the second hemistich as more precisely determining the subject, — in other words, as a declaration of the reason for their descending into hell along with the Assy- rians, — and render the passage thus : " for as his arm (as his CHAP. XXXII. 1-16. 41 might) tliey sat in his shadow among the nations ; " so that the cop. 1 is used in place of a causal particle. In any case, the conjecture which Ewald has adopted from the LXX. and tlie Syriac, viz. iyjp., and his seed, in support of which appeal might be made to Isa. xiv. 21, is unsuitable, for the simple reason that the statement, that it sat in his shadow among the nations, does not apply. — After this description of the greatness and the destruction of the imperial power of Assyria, Ezekiel repeats in ver. 18 the question already asked in ver. 3 : to whom is Pharaoh like? n3D^ so, i.e, under such circumstances, when the glorious cedar Asshur has been smitten by such a fate (Hitzig). The reply to this question is really contained in the description given already; so that it is immediately followed by the announcement, " and thou wilt be thrust down," etc. ^y^.V.j uncircumcised, equivalent to ungodly heathen 'd ^5^^, not *'* he is," as that would require t^^n ny-iQ ; but N^n is the predicate : this is {i.e. so does it happen to) Pharaoh. iiiDH, as in ver. 2. CHAP. XXXII. LAMENTATIOXS OYER THE RUIN OF PHArvAOII AND HIS PEOPLE. The chapter contains two lamentations composed at different times : the first, in vers. 1-1 6, relating to the fall of Pharaoh, w^hich rests upon the prophecy contained in ch. xxix. 1-16 and ch. XXX. 20-26; the second, in vers. 17-32, in which the pro- phecy concerning the casting down of this imperial power into hell (ch. xxxi. 14-17) is worked out in elegiac form. Vers. 1-16. Lamentation over the King of Egypt. — Pharaoh, a sea-monster, is drawn by the nations out of his waters with the net of God, and cast out upon the earth. His flesh is given to the birds and beasts of prey to devour, and the earth is saturated with his blood (vers. 2-6), At his destruction the lights of heaven lose their brightness, and all the nations 42 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. will be amazed thereat (vers. 7-10). The king of Babel will come upon Egypt, will destroy both man and beast, and will make the land a desert (vers. 11-16). — The date given in ver. 1 — " In the twelfth year, in the twelfth mouthy on the first of the vioiithy the luord of Jehovah came to me^ saying " — agrees entirely with the relation in which the substance of the ode itself stands to the prophecies belonging to the tenth and eleventh years in ch. xxix. 1-16 and ch. xxx. 20-26 ; whereas the different date found in the Septuagint cannot come into consideration for a moment. Vers. 2-6. The destruction of Pharaoh. — Ver. 2. Son of vian, oxdse a lamentation over Pharaoh the king of Egypt^ and say to hinij TJion wast compared to a young lion among the nations^ and yet ivast like a dragon in the sea ; thou didst hreah forth in thy streams^ and didst trouble the waters ivith thy feet, and didst tread their streams. Ver. 3. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Therefore ivill I spread out my net over thee in the midst of many nations, that thq/ may draw thee up in my yarn; Ver. 4. And tcill cast thee upon the land, hurl thee upon the surface of the field, and will cause all the birds of the heaven to settle upon thee, and the beasts of the whole earth to satisfy themselves ivith thee. Ver. 5. 77iy flesh ivill I put upon the mountains, and fill the valleys ivith thy funeral heap, Ver. 6. / will saturate the earth ivith thine outflow of thy blood even to the mountains, and the low places shall become full of thee. — This lamentation begins, like others, with a picture of the glory of the fallen king. Hitzig objects to the ordinary explanation of the w^ords Jn''p*]3 D^ia "i"'p3, \eovTL iOvcov Q)fjLoido67j^ (LXX.), leoni gentium assimilatus es (Vulg.), on the ground that the frequently recurring nm^ would only have this meaning in the present passage, and that ''^'^P, which would then be synonymous, is construed in three other ways, but not with the nominative. For these reasons he adopts the rendering, " lion of the nations, thou belongest to death." But it would be contrary to the analogy of all the nirp to commence the lamentation with such a threat; and Hitzig's objections to the ordinary rendering of the words will CHAP. XXXII. 2-6. 43 not bear examination. The circumstance that the Niphal njon; is only met with here in the sense of ofiotovaOat, proves nothing ; for HOT has this meaning in the Kalj Flel, and Hithpael, and the construction of the Niphal with the accusative (not nomi- native, as Hitzig says) may be derived without difficulty from the construction of the synonymous ^^''p? with 3. But what is decisive in favour of this rendering is the fact that the following clause is connected by means of the adversative nrixi (but thou), which shows that the comparison of Pharaoh to a Ci^an forms an antithesis to the clause in which he is compared to a young lion. If n^^ni '^ ■>"'23 contained a declaration of destruction, not only w^ould this antithesis be lost, but the words addressed to it as a lion of the nations would float in the air and be used without any intelligible meaning. The lion is a figurative representa- tion of a powerful and victorious ruler ; and D^^a "^''23 is really equivalent to D^ia asi in ch. xxxi. 11. Pharaoh was regarded as a mighty conqueror of the nations, " though he was rather to be compared to the crocodile, which stirs up the streams, the fresh waters, and life-giving springs of the nations most per- niciously with mouth and feet, and renders turbid all that is pure" (Ewald). D^^ri^ as in ch. xxix. 3. Ewald and Hitzig have taken offence at the words ^^{}'ina3 njn, " thou didst break forth in thy streams," and alter ^^nhnjiji into "^'ninj^j with thy nostrils (Job xli. 12) ; but they have not considered that nari would be quite out of place with such an alteration, as n^a in both the Kal and Hipliil (Judg. xx. 33) has only the intransi- tive meaning to break out. The thought is simply this: the crocodile lies in the sea, then breaks occasionally forth in its streams, and makes the w^aters and their streams turbid with its feet. Therefore shall Pharaoh also end like such a monster (vers. 3-6). The guilt of Pharaoh did not consist in the fact that he had assumed the position of a ruler among the nations (Kliefoth) ; but in his polluting the water-streams, stirring up and disturbino; the life-^iviufr streams of the nations. God will take him in His net by a gathering of nations, and cause him 44 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. to be drawn out of his element upon the dry land, where he shall become food to the birds and beasts of prey (cf. ch. xxix. 4, 5, xxxi. 12, 13). The words '"> D'^^y ^npa are not to be understood as referring to the nations, as spectators of the event (Iliivernick) ; but 3 denotes the instrument, or medium employed, here the persons by whom God causes the net to be thrown, as is evident from the ^W"]"! which follows. According to the parallelisimis membrorurrij the cltt, Xey. HIDT can only refer to the carcase of the beast, although the source from which this meaning of the word is derived has not yet been traced. There is no worth to be attached to the reading niJSl in some of the codices, as n?i)"i does not vield a suitable meaning either in jthe sense of reptile, or in that of putrefaction or decomposed bodies, which has been attributed to it from the Arabic. Under these circumstances we adhere to the derivation from Din, to be high, according to which H^^T may signify a height or a heap, which the context defines as a funeral-pile. nQy^ strictly speaking, a participle from ^1V, to flow, that which flows out, the outflow (Hitzig), is not to be taken in connection with H^, but is a second object to '•^''PV'n ; and the appended word ^P'^^ indicates the source whence the flowing takes place, and of what the outflow consists. ^^1<^[} ^^, to the mountains, i.e, up to the top of the mountains. The thought in these verses is probably simply this, that the fall of Pharaoh would bring destruction upon the whole of the land of Egypt, and that many nations would derive advantage from his fall. Vers. 7-10. His overthrow fills the whole world with mourn- ing and terror. — Ver. 7. When I extinguish thee, I ivill cover the shy and darken its stars ; I will cover the sun ivith cloudy and the moon ivill not cause its light to shine, Ver. 8. A U the shining lights in the shj do I darken because of thee, and I bring darkness over thy land, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Ver. 9. And I will trouble the heart of many nations when I bring out thine overthroia among the nations into lands which thou knowest not, Ver. 10. And 1 will make many nations amazed at thee, and their CHAP. XXXII. 7-10. 45 kings shall shudder at tliee when 1 hrandiah my sword before their face ; and they shall tremble every moment, every one for his life on the day of his fall. — The thought of vers. 7 and 8 is not exhausted by the paraphrase, " when thou art extinguished, all light will be extinguished, so far as Egypt is concerned," accompanied with the remark, that the darkness consequent thereupon is a figurative representation of utterly hopeless circumstances (Schmieder). The thought on wdiich the figure rests is that of the day of the Lord, the day of God's judgment, on which the lights of heaven lose their brightness (cf. ch. XXX. 3 and Joel ii. 10, etc.). This day bursts upon Egypt with the fall of Pharaoh, and on it the shining stars of heaven are darkened, so that the land of Pharaoh becomes dark. Egypt is a world-power represented by Pharaoh, which col- lapses with his fall. But the overthrow of this world-power is an omen and prelude of the overthrow of every ungodly world-power on the day of the last judgment, when the present heaven and the present earth will perish in the judgment-fire. Compare the remarks to be found in the commentary on Joel iii. 4 upon the connection between the phenomena of the heavens and great catastrophes on earth. The contents of both verses may be fully explained from the biblical idea of the day of the Lord and the accompanying phenomena ; and for the explanation of 1^1^^??, there is no necessity to assume, as Dereser and Hitzig have done, that the sea-dragon of Egypt is presented here under the constellation of a dragon ; for there is no connection between the comparison of Egypt to a tannim or sea-dragon, in ver. 2 and ch. xxix. 3 (=r2n'}, Isa. li. 9), and the constellation of the dragon (see the comm. on Isa. li. 9 and XXX. 7). In ^'7^323 Pharaoh is no doubt regarded as a star of the first magnitude in the sky ; but in this conception Ezekiel rests upon Isa. xiv. 12, where the king of Babylon is desig- nated as a bright morning-star. That this passage was in the prophet's mind, is evident at once from the fact that ver. 7 coincides almost verbatim with Isa. xiii. 10. — The extinction 46 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. and obscuration of the stars are not merely a figurative repre- sentation of the mourning occasioned by the fall of Pharaoh ; still less can vers. 9 and 10 be taken as an interpretation in literal phraseology of the figurative words in vers. 7 and 8. For vers. 9 and 10 do not relate to the mourning of the nations, but to anxiety and terror into v^hich they are plunged by God throucrh the fall of Pharaoh and his mifrht. ^? D'^V^n to afflict the heart, does not mean to make it sorrowful, but to fill it with anxiety, to deprive it of its peace and cheerfulness. '^ When I bring thy fall among the nations " is equivalent to " spread the report of thy fall." Consequently there is no need for either the arbitrary alteration of T^^c^'into ^*13b^, which Ewald proposes, with the imaginary rendering announcement or report ; nor for the marvellous assumption of Hiivernick, that '^']^p describes the prisoners scattered among the heathen as the ruins of the ancient glory of Egypt, in support of which he adduces the rendering of the LXX. al'^dkajalav gov, which is founded upon the change of Ti3^ into yi'^. For ver. 10a compare ch. xxvii. 35. ^P)V, to cause to fly, to brandish. The sword is brandished before their face when it falls time after time upon their brother the king of Egypt, whereby they are thrown into alarm for their own lives. DW?, by moments = every moment (see the comm. on Isa. xxvii. 3). Vers. 11-16. The judgment upon Egypt will be executed by the king of Babylon. — Ver. 11. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The sword of the king of Babylon luill come upon thee. Ver. 12. Bjj swords of heroes will I cause thy tumult to fall, violent ones of the nations are they all, and will lay ivasie the pride of Egypt, and all its tumult luill be destroyed, Ver. 13. And I will cut off all its cattle from the great ivaters, that no foot of man may disturb them any more, nor any hoof of cattle disturb them, Ver. 14. Then will I cause their ivaters to settle and their streams to flow like oil, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, Ver. 15. WJien I make the land of Egypt a desert, and the land is made desolate of its fulness, because I smite all the inhabitants therein, and they CHAP. XXXII. 11-16. 47 shall know that I am Jehovah, Ver. 16. A lamentation (mourn- ful ode) is thiSy and they will sing it mournfully ; the daughters of the nations will sing it mournfully^ over Egypt and over all its tumult ivill they sing it mournfully, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. — In this concluding strophe the figurative announce- ment of the preceding one is summed up briefly in literal terms ; and toward the close (ver. 14) there is a slight intimation of a better future. The destruction of the proud might of Egypt will be effected through the king of Babylon and his brave and violent hosts. D^i^ Tiy? as in ch. xxxi. 12 (see the comm. on ch. "xxviii. 7). P^n in vers. 12 and 13 must not be restricted to the' multitude of people. It signifies tumult, and embraces everything in Egypt by which noise and confusion were made (as in ch. xxxi. 2 and 18) ; although the idea of a multitude of people undoubtedly predominates in the use of li^n in ver. 12a. Dnvp jiN*3, the pride of Egypt, is not that of which Egypt is proud, but whatever is proud or exalts itself in Egypt. The utter devastation of Egypt includes the destruction of the cattle, l.e, of the numerous herds which fed on the grassy banks of the Nile and were driven to the Nile to drink (cf. Gen. xlvii. 6, xli. 2sqq.; Ex. ix. 3) ; and this is therefore specially mentioned in ver. 13, with an allusion to the consequence thereof, namely, that the waters of the Nile would not be disturbed anv more either by the foot of man or hoof of beast (compare ver. loh with ch. xxix. 11). The disturbing of the water is mentioned with evident reference to ver. 2, where Pharaoh is depicted as a sea-monster, which disturbs the streams of w^ater. The disturbance of the water is therefore a figurative representation of the wild driving of the imperial power of Egypt, by which the life-giving streams of the nations were stirred up. — Ver. 14. Then will God cause the waters of Egypt to sink. Hitzio- and Kliefoth understand this as signifying the diminution of the abundance of water in the Nile, which had previously over- flowed the land and rendered it fertile, but for which there was no further purpose now. According to this explanation, the 43 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. words would contain a continued picture of the devastation of the land. But this is evidently a mistake, for the simple reason that it is irreconcilable with the TS, by which the thought is introduced. TJJ, tunc, is more precisely defined by 'l^l ^^ns in ver. 15 as the time when the devastation has taken place; whereas Kliefoth takes the 15th verse, in opposition both to the words and the usage of the language, as the sequel to ver. 14, or in other words, regards W^ as synonymous with ^^n^V The verse contains a promise, as most of the commentators, led by the Chaldee and Jerome, have correctly assumed.^ i^^i?^'!'? to make the water sink, might no doubt signify in itself a dimi- nution of the abundance of water. But if we consider the context, in which reference is made to the disturbance of the water through its being trodden with the feet (ver. 13), j;"'pL'^i can only signify to settle, i.e. to become clear through the sinking to the bottom of the slime which had been stirred up (cf. ch. xxxiv. 18). The correctness of this explanation is confirmed by the parallel clause, to make their streams flow with oil. To understand this as signifying the slow and gentle flow of the diminished water, would introduce a figure of which there is no trace in Hebrew. Oil is used throughout the Scriptures as a figurative representation of the divine blessing, or the power of the divine Spirit. I^5?3, like oil, according to Hebrew phraseology, is equivalent to " like rivers of oil." And oil-rivers are not rivers which flow quietly like oil, but rivers which contain oil instead of water (cf. Job xxix. 6), and are symbolical of the rich blessing of God (cf. Deut. xxxii. 13). The figure is a very appropriate one for Egypt, as the land is indebted to the Nile for all its fertility. Whereas its water had been stirred up and rendered turbid by Pharaoh ; after the fall of Pharaoh the Lord will cause the waters of the stream, 1 The explanation of Jerome is the following: " Then will purest waters, which had been disturbed by the sway of the dragon, be restored not by another, but by the Lord Himself; so that their streams flow like oil, and are the nutriment of true light." CHAP. XXXII. 17-21. 49 which pours its blessing upon the land, to purify themselves, and will make its streams flow with oil. The clarified water and flowing oil are figures of the life-giving power of the word and Spirit of God. But this blessing will not flow to Egypt till its natural power is destroyed. Ewald has therefore given the following as the precise meaning of ver. 14 : " The Messianic times will then for the first time dawn on Egypt, when the waters no more become devastating and turbid, that is to say, through the true knowledge to which the chastisement leads." Ver. 16 " rounds off the passage by turning back to ver. 2 " (Hitzig). The daughters of the nations are mentioned as the singers, because mourning for the dead was for the most part the business of women (cf. Jer. ix. 16). The words do not contain a summons to the daughters of the nations to sing the lamen- tation, but the declaration that they will do it, in which the thought is implied that the predicted devastation of Egypt will certainly occur. Vers. 17-32. Funeral-dirge for the Destructiox of THE Might of Egypt. — This second lamentation or mourn- ing ode, according to the heading in ver. 17, belongs to the same year as the preceding, and to the 15th of the month, no doubt the 12th month; in which case it was composed only fourteen days after the first. The statement of tlie month is omitted here, as in ch. xxvi. 1 ; and the omission is, no doubt, to be attributed to a copyist in this instance also. In the ode, which Ewald aptly describes as a ^' dull, heavy lamentation," we have six regular strophes, preserving the uniform and monotonous character of the lamentations for the dead, in which the thought is worked out, that Egypt, like other great nations, is cast down to the nether world. Tiie whole of it is simply an elegiac expansion of tlie closing thought of the previous chapter (ch. xxxi.). Vers. 18-21. Introduction and first strophe. — Ver. 18. Son of man, lament over the tumult of Egypt, and hurl it doion, her, EZEK. II. D 50 THE PROrHECIES OF EZEKIEL. like the daitghiers of glorious nations, into the nether world, to those who go into the pit ! Ver. 19. Whom dost thou surpass in loveliness ? Go down and lay thyself with the uncircumcised. Ver. 20. Among those slain ivith the sicord ivill they fall ; the sivord is handed, draw her down and all her tiimidt. Ver. 21. The strong ones of the heroes say of it out of the midst of hell ivitli its helpers : they are gone doicn, they lie there, the unci')'' Gumcised, slain with the sword. — ^\]'\, utter a lamentation, and innnim, thrust it (the tumult of Egypt) down, are co-ordinate. With the lamentation, or by means thereof, is Ezekiel to thrust down the tumult of Egypt into hell. The lamentation is God's word ; and as such it has the power to accomplish what it utters, nnis is not intended as a repetition of the suffix 1^~, but resumes the principal idea contained in the object already named, viz. D^lp, Egypt, i.e. its population. nnis and the daughters of glorious nations are co-ordinate. ni33, as in the expression, daughter Tyre, daughter Babel, denotes the population of powerful heathen nations. The D^J3 D"i'n« can only be the nations enumerated in vers. 22, 24 sqq., which, according to these verses, are already in Sheol, not about to be thrust down, but thrust down already. Consequently the copula 1 before Hi^n is to be taken in the sense of a com- parison, as in 1 Sam. xii. 15 (cf. Ewald, § 340Z>). All these glorious nations have also been hurled down by the word of God ; and Egypt is to be associated with them. By thus placing Egypt on a level with all the fallen nations, the enumeration of which fills the middle strophes of the ode, the lamentation over Egypt is extended into a funeral-dirge on the fall of all the heathen powers of the world. For ni'nnri pi< and ">^2 'll^'', compare ch. xxvi. 20. The ode itself commences in ver. 19, by giving prominence to the glory of the falling kingdom. But this prominence consists in the brief inquiry npvj 'isp, before whom art thou lovely ? i.e. art thou more lovely than any one else? The words are addressed either to |i»n Dn^'P (ver. 18), or what is more probable, to Pharaoh with all CHAP. XXXII. 18-21. 51 his tumult (cf. ver. 32), i.e. to the world-power, Egypt, as em- bodied in the person of Pharaoh; and the meaning of the question is the following : — Thou, Egypt, art indeed lovely ; but thou art not better or more lovely than other mighty heathen nations ; therefore thou canst not expect any better fate than to go down into Sheol, and there lie with the uncircumcised. Dy^y, as in ch. xxxi. 18. This is carried out still further in ver. 20, and the ground thereof assigned. The subject to vb'' is the Egyptians, or Pharaoh and his tumult. They fall in the midst of those pierced with the sword. The sword is already handed to the executor of the judgment, the king of Babel (ch. xxxi. 11). Their destruction is so certain, that the words are addressed to the bearers of the sword : " Draw Egypt and all its tumult down into Sheol " (i3D'b is imperative for l3tJ^D in Ex. xii. 21), and, according to ver. 21, the heathen already in Sheol are speaking of his destruction, v IIB"]^. is rendered by many, " there speak to him, address him, greet him," with an allusion to Isa. xiv. 9 sqq., where the king of Babel, when descending into Sheol, is greeted with malicious pleasure by the kings already there. But however obvious the fact may be that Ezekiel has this passage in mind, there is no address in the verse before us as in Isa. xiv. 10, but simply a statement concerning the Egyptians, made in the third person. Moreover, ViT'yns could hardly be made to harmonize with \7 l"ili'l^, if sh signified ad eum. For it is not allowable to connect ^'''^I^'J^^ (taken in the sense of along with their helpers) with D^"iu;i ''7N as a noun in apposition, for the simple reason that the two are separated by i'ix*^ TjinD. Consequently VntyTiS can only belong to ^"I3T_ : they talk (of him) with his helpers. vnt'y, his (Pharaoh's) helpers are his allies, who have already gone down before him into hell (cf. ch. xxx. 8). The singular suffix, which has offended Hitzig, is quite in order as corre- sponding to Sb. The words, " they have gone down, lie there," etc., point once more to the fact that the same fate has hap- pened to the Egyptians as to all the rest of the rulers and 52 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. nations of the world whom God has judged. For Dni33 '•rx, strong ones of the heroes, compare the comm. on ch. xxxi. 11. P^XC^, hell = the nether world, the gathering-place of the dead; not the place of punishment for the damned, ^'jn ^p^n without the article is a predicate, and not in apposition to C^v^yn. On the application of this epithet to the Egyptians, Kliefoth has correctly observed that '* the question whether the Egyptians received circumcision is one that has no bearing upon this passage ; for in the sense in which Ezekiel understands circum- cision, the Egyptians were uncircumcised, even if they were accustomed to circumcise their flesh." In the four following strophes (vers. 22-30) a series of heathen nations is enumerated, whom the Egyptian finds already in hell, and with whom he will share the same fate. There are six of these — namely, Asshur, Elam, Meshech-Tubal, Edom, the princes of the north, and Sidon. The six are divisible into two classes — three great and remote world-powers, and three smaller neighbouring nations. In this no regard is paid to the time of destruction. With the empire of Asshur, which had already fallen, there are associated Elam and Meshech-Tubal, two nations, which only rose to the rank of world-powers in the more immediate and more remote future ; and among the neighbouring nations, the Sidonians and princes of the north, i.e, the Syrian kings, are grouped with Edom, although the Sidonians had long ago given up their supremacy to Tyre, and thp Aramean kings, who had once so grievously oppressed the kingdom of Israel, had already been swallowed up in the Assyrian and Chaldean empire. It may, indeed, be said that " in any case, at the time when Ezekiel prophesied, princes enough had already descended into Sheol both of the Assyrians and Elamites, etc., to welcome the Egyptians as soon as they came" (Kliefoth); but with the same justice may it also be said that many of the rulers and countrymen of Egypt had also descended into Sheol already, at the time when Pharaoh, reigning in Ezekiel's day, was to share the same fate. It is CHAP. XXXII. 22, 23. 53 evident, therefore, that '' any such reflection upon chronological relations is out of place in connection with our text, the inten- tion of which is merely to furnish an exemplification" (Kliefoth), and that Ezekiel looks upon Egypt more in the light of a world- power, discerning in its fall the overthrow of all the heathen power of the world, and predicting it under the prophetic picture, that Pharaoh and his tumult are expected and welcomed by the princes and nations that have already descended into Sheol, as coming to share their fate with them. Vers. 22, 23. Second strophe. — Ver. 22. There is AssJiur and all its multitude, round about it their graves, all of them slain, fallen by the sword. Ver. 23. Whose graves are made in the deepest 'pit, and its midtitude is roundabout its grave;' all slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living. — The enumeration commences with Asshur, the world- power, which had already been overthrown by the Chaldeans. It is important to notice here, that "iVu^X, like DJ^P in ver. 24, and CT T|J'D in ver. 2Q, is construed as a feminine, as njlDH which follows in every case plainly shows. It is obvious, therefore, that the predominant idea is not that of the king or people, but that of the kingdom or world-power. It is true that in the suffixes attached to Vn*i3)5 vnu"'ap in ver. 22, and vnin''3p in vers. 25 and 26, the masculine alternates with the feminine, and Hitzig therefore proposes to erase these words; but the alternation may be very simply explained, on the ground that the ideas of the kingdom and its king are not kept strictly separate, but that the words oscillate from one idea to the other. It is affirmed of Asshur, that as a world-power it lies in Sheol, and the graves of its countrymen are round about the graves of its ruler. They all lie there as those who have fallen by the sword, i.e, wdio have been swept away by a judg- ment of God. To this is added in ver. 23 the declaration that the graves of Asshur lie in the utmost sides, i.e, the utmost or deepest extremity of Sheol ; whereas so long as this power together with its people was in the land of the living, i.e. so 54 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. long as they ruled on eartli, they spread terror all around them by their violent deeds. From the loftiest height of earthly might and greatness, they are hurled down to the lowest hell. The higher on earth, the deeper in the nether world. Haver- nick has entirely misunderstood the words '' round about Asshur are its graves" (ver. 22), and "its n:iultitude is round about its grave " (the grave of this world-power), when he finds therein the thought that the graves and corpses are to be regarded as separated, so that the dead are waiting near their graves in deepest sorrow, looking for the honour of burial, but looking in vain. There is not a word of this in the text, but simply that the graves of the people lie round about the grave of their ruler. Vers. 24 and 25. Third strophe. — Ver. 24. There is Elam, and all its multitude o'ound about its grave ; all of them slain^ fallen hy the sword^ who vjent down uncircurncised into the nether ivorldy ivho spread tei^ror before them in the land of the living^ and bear their shame with those who went into the pit. Ver. 25. In the midst of the slain have they made it a bed with all its multitude^ round about it are their graves; all of them U7icircumcisedj pierced luith the sword; because terror was spread before them in the land of the living, they bear their shame ivith those who have gone into the pit. In the midst of slain ones is he laid. — Asshur is followed by dWj Elam, the warlike people of Elymais, i.e. Susiana, the modern Chusistan, whose archers served in the Assyrian army (Isa. xxii. 6), and which is men- tioned along with the Medes as one of the conquerors of Babylon (Isa. xxi. 2), whereas Jeremiah prophesied its destruc- tion at the commencement of Zedekiah's reign (Jer. xlix. 34 sqq.). Ezekiel says just the same of Elam as he has already said of Asshur, and almost in the same words. The only difference is, that his description is more copious, and that he expresses more distinctly the thought of shameful destruction which is implied in the fact of lying in Sheol among the slain, and repeats it a second time, and that he also sets the bearing of shame CHAP. XXXII. 26-28. 55 into Sheol in contrast with the terror which Elam had spread around it during; its hfe on earth. riQPD i toou ireirTcoKOTcav dir aldovo^, possibly thinking of the gihhorim of Gen. vi. 4. Dathe and Hitzig propose to alter the text to this ; and even Havernick imagines that the prophet may possibly have had such passages as Gen. vi. 4 and x. 9 sqq. floating before his mind. But there is not sufficient ground to warrant an alteration of the text ; and if Ezekiel had had Gen, vi. 4 in his mind, he would no doubt have written Dnisan. The clause DHiiiJ^. '•nril is re- garded by the more recent commentators as a continuation of the preceding 'iJl i^ri^l, wliich is a very natural conclusion, if we simply take notice of the construction. But if we consider the sense of the words, this combination can hardly be sus- tained. The words, ^^ and so were their iniquities upon their bones " (or they came upon them), can well be understood as an explanation of the reason for their descending into Sheol with their weapons, and lying upon their swords. We must there- fore regard DHiiii; ^r\v\\ as a continuation of l^SK'^, so that their not resting with those who were buried with their weapons of war furnishes the proof that their guilt lay upon their bones. The words, therefore, have no other meaning than the phrase Dn^/D ^Sb'^ in vers. 24 and 30. Sin comes upon the bones when the punishment consequent upon it falls upon the bones of the sinner. In the last clause we connect D^li3a with ^••011, terror of the heroes, i.e, terrible even to heroes on account of their savage and cruel nature. In ver. 28 we cannot take nni^ as referring to Meshech-Tubal, as many of the commen- tators propose. A direct address to that people would be at variance with the whole plan of the ode. Moreover, the declaration contained in the verse would contradict what pre- imcircumcised, had met with a glorious death, i.e. they will be more wretched than these ; for the latter went down to the shades with glory, but they with ignominy, as if conquered and slain.*' 58 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. cedes. As Mesliech-Tubal is already lying in Slieol among the slain, according to ver. 26, the announcement cannot be made to it for the first time here, that it is to be dashed in pieces and laid with those who are slain with the sword. It is the Egyptian who is addressed, and he is told that this fate will also fall upon him. And through this announcement, occurring in the midst of the list of peoples that have already gone down to Sheol, the design of that list is once more called to mind. Vers. 29 and 30. Fifth strophe.— Ver. 29. There are Edom, its kings and all its princes, who in spite of their bravery are associated ivith those that are pierced with the sivord ; they lie with the uncircumcised and with those that have gone dovm into the pit, Ver. 30. TJiere are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians who leave gone down to the slain, been put to shame in spite of the dread of them because of their bravery ; they lie there as uncircumcised, and bear their shame with those who have gone into the pit. — In this strophe Ezekiel groups together the rest of the heathen nations in the neighbourhood of Israel ; and in doing so, he changes the ^f of the preceding list for njjC'j thither. This might be taken prophetically : thither will they come, " to these do they also belong " (Ilavernick), only such nations being mentioned here as are still awaiting their destruction. But, in the first place, the perfects l^HJ "i'J^^^ ^'^'\l "^^'^.1 in vers. 29, 30, do not favour this explanation, inas- much as they are used as preterites in vers. 22, 24, 25, 26, 27 ; and, secondly, even in the previous strophes, not only are such peoples mentioned as have already perished, but some, like Elam and Meshech-Tubal, which did not rise into historical importance, or exert any influence upon the development of the kini^dom of God till after Ezekiel's time, whereas the Edomites and Sidonians were already approaching destruction. We therefore regard n^^" as simply a variation of expression in the sense of " thither have they come," without discovering any allusion to the future. — In the case of Edom, kings and ^^{^''t^^, i.e. tribe-princes, are mentioned. The allusion is to the ^allu- CHAP. XXXII. 31, 32. 59 pMm or phylarclis, literally chiliarchs, the heads of the leading families (Gen. xxxvi. 15 sqq.), in whose hands the government of the people lay, inasmuch as the kings were elective, and were probably chosen by the phylarchs (see the comm. on Gen. xxxvi. 31 sqq.). Dmu^Ii, in, or with their bravery, i.e. in spite of it. There is something remarkable in the allusion to princes of the north (''^''D^j lit. persons enfeoffed, vassal- princes ; see the comm. on Josh. xiii. 21 .and !Mic. v. 4) in connection with the Sidonians, and after Meshech-Tubal the representative of the northern nations. The association with the Sidonians renders the conjecture a very natural one, that allusion is made to the north of Palestine, and more especially to the Aram of Scrip- ture, with its many separate states and princes (Htivernick) ; although Jer. xxv. 26, "the kings of the north, both far and near," does not furnish a conclusive proof of this. So much, at any rate, is certain, that the princes of the north are not to be identified with the Sidonians. For, as Kliefoth has cor- rectly observed, " there are six heathen nations mentioned, viz. Asshur, Elam, Meshech-Tubal, Edom, the princes of the north, and Sidon ; and if we add Egypt to the list, we shall have seven, which would be thoroughly adapted, as it was eminently intended, to depict the fate of universal heathenism." A principle is also clearly discernible in the mode in which they are grouped. Asshur, Elam, and Meshech-Tubal repre- sent the greater and more distant world-powers; Edom the princes of the north, and Sidon the neighbouring nations of Israel on both south and north. Dri"i^3aD Dn^rinSj literally, in dread of them, (which proceeded) from their bravery, i.e. which their bravery inspired. 'li1 '^'^'^% as in ver. 24, Vers. 31 and 32. Sixth and last strophe. — Ver. 31. Pharaoh icill see theniy and comfort himself over all his multitude, Pharaoh and all his army are slain loith the sword, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, Ver. 32. For I caused him to spread terror in the land of the living, therefore is he laid in the midst of uncir- cumcisedj those slain ivith the sword^ Pharaoh and all his multi- 60 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL tilde, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah — In tliese verses the application to Egypt follows. Pharaoh will see in the nether world all the greater and smaller heathen nations with their rulers ; and when he sees them all given up to the judgment of death, he will comfort himself over the fate which has fallen upon himself and his army, as he will perceive that he could not expect any better lot than that of the other rulers of the world, bv Dn3j to comfort oneself, as in ch. xxxi. 16 and xiv. 22. Hitzig's assertion, that ^V Dn3 never signifies to comfort oneself, is incorrect (see the comm. on ch. xiv. 22). in^nrrnx '•nnj, I have given terror of him, i.e. I have made him an instrument of terror. The Keri '•ri^^n arose from a mis- understanding. The Chetih Is confirmed by vers. 24 and 26. In ver. 326 the ode is brought to a close by returning even in expression to vers. 19 and 20a. If, now, we close with a review of the whole of the contents of the words of God directed against Egypt, in all of them is the destruction of the might of Pharaoh and Egypt as a world- power foretold. And this prophecy has been completely fulfilled. As Kliefoth has most truly observed, " one only needs to enter the pyramids of Egypt and its catacombs to see that the glory of the Pharaohs has gone down into Sheol. And it is equally certain that this destruction of the glory of ancient Egypt dates from the times of the Babylonio-Persian empire. Moreover, this destruction was so thorough, that even to the New Egypt of the Ptolemies the character of the Old Egypt was a perfect enigma, a thing forgotten and incompre- hensible." But if Ezekiel repeatedly speaks of Nebuchad- nezzar the king of Babylon as executing this judgment upon Egypt, we must bear in mind that here, as in the case of Tyre (see the comm. on ch. xxviii. 1-19), Ezekiel regards Nebuchad- nezzar as the instrument of the righteous punishment of God in general, and discerns in what he accomplishes the sum of all that in the course of ages has been gradually fulfilling itself in history. At the same time, it is equally certain that this CHAP. XXXII. 31, 32. 61 view of the prophet would have no foundation in truth unless Nebuchadnezzar really did conquer Egypt and lay it waste, and the might and glory of this ancient empire were so shattered thereby, that it never could recover its former greatness, but even after the turning of its captivity, i.e, after its recovery from the deadly wounds which the imperial monarchy of Babylonia and afterwards of Persia inflicted upon it, still remained a lowly kingdom, which could " no more rule over the nations" (ch. xxix. 13-16). Volney, however, in his Reclierch. nouv, sur Vhist, anc. (III. pp. 151 sqq.), and Hitzig {Ezeh p. 231), dispute the conquest and devastation of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, because the Greek historians, with Hero- dotus (ii. 161 sqq.) at their head, make no allusion whatever to an invasion of Egypt ; and their statements are even opposed to such an occurrence. But the silence of Greek historians, especially of Herodotus, is a most " miserable " argument. The same historians do not say a word about the defeat of Necho by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish ; and yet even Hitzig accepts this as an indisputable fact. Herodotus and his successors derived their accounts of Egypt from the communications of Egyptian priests, who suppressed everything that was humili- ating to the pride of Egypt, and endeavoured to cover it up with their accounts of glorious deeds which the Pharaohs had performed. But Hitzig has by no means proved that the statements of the Greeks are at variance with the assumption of a Chaldean invasion of Egypt, whilst he has simply rejected but not refuted the attempts of Perizonius, Vitringa, Haver- nick, and others, to reconcile the biblical narrative of the con- quest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar with the accounts given by Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and other Greeks, concerning the mighty feats of Necho, and his being slain by Amasis. The remark that, in the description given by Herodotus, Amasis appears as an independent king by the side of Cambyses, only less powerful than the Persian monarch, proves nothing more, even assuming the correctness of the fact, than that Amasis Q2 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL had made Egypt once more independent of Babylonia on the sudden overthrow of the Chaldean monarchy. The conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, after the atti- tude which Pharaoh Necho assumed towards the Babylonian empire, and even attempted to maintain in the time of Zede- kiah by sending an army to the relief of Jerusalem when besieged by the Chaldeans, is not only extremely probable in itself, but confirmed by testimony outside the Bible. Even if no great importance can be attached to the notice of Megas- thenes, handed down by Strabo (xv. 1. 6) and Josephus {c. Ap, i. 20) : " he says that he (Nebuchadnezzar) conquered the greater part of Libya and Iberia;" Josephus not only quotes from Berosus (/.c. i. 19) to the effect that " the Baby- lonian got possession of Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia, Arabia," but, on the ground of such statements, relates the complete fulfil- ment of the prophecies of Scripture, saying, in Antt. x. 9. 7, with reference to Nebuchadnezzar, " he fell upon Egypt to conquer it. And the reigning king he slew ; and having appointed another in his place, made those Jews prisoners who had hitherto resided there, and led them into Babylon." And even if Josephus does not give his authority in this case, the assertion that he gathered this from the prophecies of Jeremiah is untrue ; because, immediately before the words we have quoted, he says that what Jeremiah had prophesied (Jer. xliii. and xliv.) had thus come to pass; making a distinction, therefore, between prophecy and history. And suspicion is not to be cast upon this testimony by such objections as that Josephus does not mention the name of the Egyptian king, or state precisely the time when Egypt was conquered, but merely affirms in general terms that it was after the war with the Ammonites and Moabites. SECOND HALF THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF SALVATION CHAR XXXIII.-XLVIIT. j'N the first half of his book, Ezekiel has predicted severe judgments, both to the covenant nation and to the heathen nations. But to the people of Israel he has also promised the turning of its captivity, after the judgment of the destruction of the kingdom and the dispersion of the refractory generation in the heathen lands ; not merely their restoration to their own land, but the settino* up of the covenant made with the fathers, and the renewinor of the restored nation by the Spirit of God, so that it will serve the Lord upon His holy mountain with offerings acceptable to Him (compare ch. xi. 16-21, xvi. 60, and xx. 40 sqq.). On the other hand, he has threatened the heathenish peoples and kingdoms of the world with devastation and everlasting destruc- tion, so that they wnll be remembered no more (compare ch. xxi. 36, 37, XXV. 7, 10, 16, xxvi. 21, xxvii. 36, and xxviii. 19), or rather with the lasting humiliation and overthrow of their glory in the nether world (compare ch. xxix. 13 sqq., xxxi. 15 sqq., and xxxii. 17 sqq.); whilst God will create a glorious thing in the land of the living, gather Israel from its dispersion, cause it to dwell safely and happily in the land given to His servant Jacob, and a horn to grow thereto (cli. xxvi. 20, xxviii. 25 sqq., and xxix. 21). — This announcement is carried out still further in the second half of the book, where first of 63 64 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL all the pardon, blessing, and glorification promised to the covenant nation, after its sifting by the judgment of exile, are unfolded according to their leading features, and the destruc- tion of its foes is foretold (ch. xxxiv.-xxxix.) ; and then, secondly, there is depicted the establishment of the renovated kingdom of God for everlasting continuance (ch. xl.-xlviii.). The prophet's mouth was opened to make the announcement when a fugitive brought the tidings of the destruction both of Jerusalem and of the kingdom to the captives by the Chaboras; and this constitutes the second half of the prophetic ministry of Ezekiel. Tiie introduction to this is contained in ch. xxxiii., whilst the announcement itself is divisible into two parts, according to its contents, as just indicated, — namely, first, the promise of the restoration and glorification of Israel (ch. xxxiv.-xxxix.) ; and secondly, the apocalyptic picture of the new constitution of the kingdom of God (ch. xl.-xlviii.). CHAP. XXXIII. THE CALLING OF THE PROPHET, AND HIS FUTURE ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE PEOPLE. This chapter is divided into two words of God of an intro- ductory character, which are separated by the historical state- ment in vers. 21 and 22, though substantially they are one. The first (vers. 1-20) exhibits the calling of the prophet for the time to come ; the second (vers. 23-33) sets before him his own attitude towards the people, and the attitude of the people towards his further announcement. The first precedes the arrival of the messenger, who brought to the prophet and the exiles the tidings of the conquest and destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans (ver. 21). The second was uttered after- wards. The fall of the holy city formed a turning-point in the prophetic work of Ezekiel. Previous to this catastrophe, God had appointed him to be a watchman over Israel : to show the people their sins, and to proclaim the consequent punishment, namely, the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah, together with CHAP. XXXIII. 65 the dispersion of the people among the heathen. But after the city had fallen, and the judgment predicted by him had taken place, the object to be aimed at was to inspire those who were desponding and despairing of salvation with confidence and consolation, by predicting the restoration of the fallen kingdom of God in a new and glorious form, to show them the way to new life, and to open the door for their entrance into the new kingdom of God. The two divisions of our chapter correspond to this, which was to be henceforth the task imposed upon the prophet. In the first (vers. 1-20), his calling to be the spiritual watchman over the house of Israel is renewed (vers. 2-9), with special instructions to announce to the people, who are inclined to despair under the burden of their sins, that the Lord has no pleasure in the death of the sinner, but will give life to him who turns from his iniquity (vers. 10-20). The kernel and central point of this word of God are found in the lamentation of the people : " Our transgressions and sins lie upon us, and we are pining away through them; liow then can we live?" (ver. 10), together with the reply given by the Lord : '^ By my life, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked . . . turn ye, turn yourselves; why do ye wish to die?" (ver. 11). The way is prepared for this by vers. 2-9, whilst vers. 12-20 carry out this promise of God still further, and assign the reason for it. — The thoughts with which the promise of the Lord, thus presented as an antidote to despair, is introduced and explained are not new, however, but repetitions of earlier words of God. The preparatory introduction in vers. 2-9 is essentially a return to the word in ch. iii. 17-21, with which the Lord closes the prophet's call by pointing out to him the duty and responsi- bility connected with his vocation. And the reason assigned in vers. 12-20, together with the divine promise in ver. 11, is taken from ch. xviii., where the prophet unfolds the worklnf^- of tiie righteousness of God ; and more precisely from vers. 20-32 of that chapter, where the thought is more fully expanded, that the judgments of God can be averted by repentance and con- EZEK. II. E 66 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. version. From all this it is indisputably evident that the first section of this chapter contains an introduction to the second half of the prophecies of Ezekiel ; and this also explains the absence of any date at the head of the section, or the " remark- able" fact that the date (vers. 21 and 22) is not given till the middle of the chapter, where it stands between the first and second of the v^^ords of God contained therein. — The word of God in vers. 23 sqq. was no doubt addressed to the prophet after the fugitive had arrived with the tidiness of the fall of Jerusalem ; whereas the word by which the prophet was pre- pared for his further labours (vers. 1-20) preceded that event, and coincided in point of time with the working of God upon the prophet on the evening preceding the arrival of the fugi- tive, through which his mouth was opened for further speaking (ver. 22) ; and it is placed before this historical statement because it was a renewal of his call.^ Vers. 1-20. Calling of the Propltet for the Future, Vers. 1-9. The prophet's office of watchman. — Ver. 1. And the word of Jehovah came to me^ saying, Ver. 2. Son of man, speak to the sons of thy people, and say to them, When I bring the sword npon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their company and set him for a watchman, Ver. 3. And^ lie seeth the sword come vpon the land, and hloweth the trumpet, and warneth the people; Ver. 4. If, then, one should hear the blast of the trumpet and not take learning, so that the sword ^ It is incomprehensible how Kliefoth could find " no sign of introduc- tory thoughts " in this section, or could connect it with the preceding oracles against the foreign nations, for no other reason than to secure fourteen words of God for that portion of the book which contains the prophecies against the foreign nations. For there is no force in the other arguments which he adduces in support of this combination ; and the assertion that " the section, ch. xxxiii. 1-20, speaks of threatenings and warnings, and of the faithfulness with which Ezekiel is to utter them, and of the manner in which Israel is to receive them," simply shows that he has neither correctly nor perfectly understood the contents of this section and its train of thought. CHAP. XXXIII. 1-9. 67 should come and take him away, his blood looidd come upon his own head. Ver. 5. He heard the blast of the trumpet, and took not learning ; his blood luill come upon him : luhereas, if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul. Yer. 6. But if the loatchman seeih the sword come, and bloweth not the trumpet, and the people is not warned ; and the sword should come and take away a soul from them, lie is taken away through his guilt ; but his blood will I demand from the watchman s hand. Ver. 7. Thou, then, son of man, I have set thee for the icatchman to the house of Israel ; thou shalt hear the ivord from my 7nouth, and ivarn them for me. Ver. 8. If I say to the sinner, Sinner, thou wilt die the death ; and thou speakest not to ivarn the sinner from, his way, he, the sinner, will die for his iniquity, and his blood I ivill demand from thy hand. Ver. 9. But if thou hast loarned the sinner from his way, to turn from it, and he does not turn from his loay, he will die for his iniquity ; but thou hast delivered thy soul. — Vers. 7-9, with the exception of slight deviations which have httle influence upon the sense, are repeated verbatim from eh. iii. 17-19. The repetition of the duty binding upon the prophet, and of the responsibility connected therewith, is introduced, however, in vers. 2-6, by an example taken from life, and made so plain that every one who heard the words must see that Ezekiel was obliged to call the attention of the people to the -judgment awaiting them, and to warn them of the threatening danger, and that this obligation rested upon him still. In this respect the expansion, which is wanting in ch. iii., serves to connect the following prophecies of Ezekiel with the threats of judgment contained in the first part. The meaning of it is the following : As it is the duty of the appointed watchman of a land to announce to the people the approach of the enemy, and if he fail to do this he is deserving of death ; so Ezekiel also, as the watchman of Israel appointed by God, not only is bound to warn the people of the approach- ing judgment, in order to fulfil his duty, but has already warned them of it, so that whoever has not taken warning has 68 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. been overtaken by the sword because of his sin. As, then, Ezekiel has only discharged his duty and obligation by so doing, so has he the same duty still further to perform. — In ver. 2 )*7.5^ is placed at the head in an absolute form ; and ')}) X^2^5 ''3^ " if I bring the sword upon a land," is to be under- stood with this restriction : " so that the enemy is on the way and an attack may be expected" (Hitzig). C^n^vpn^ from the end of the people of the land, i.e. one taken from the whole body of the people, as in Gen. xlvii. 2 (see the comm. on Gen. xix. 4). Blowing the trumpet is a signal of alarm on the approach of an enemy (compare Amos iii. G ; Jer. iv. 5). *inTJ in ver. 5^ is a participle ; on the other hand, both before and afterwards it is a perfect, pointed with Kametz on account of the tone. For vers. 7-9, see the exposition of ch. iii. 17-10. Vers. 10-20. As watchman over Israel, Ezekiel is to announce to those who are despairing of the mercy of God, that the Lord will preserve from destruction those who turn from their sin, and lead them into life. — Ver. 10. Tlioii then, son of man^ say to the house of Israel, Ye rightly say, Our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and in them ive vanish away ; how, the?!, can we live? Ver. 11. Say to them, As truly as I live, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, I have no 'pleasure in the death of the sinner ; hut ivhen the sinner turneth from his way, he shall lice. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways I for why ivill ye die, house of Israel? Ver. 12. And thou, son of man, say to the sons of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous man ivill not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and the sinner luill not fall through, his sin in the day that he turneth from his sin, and the righteous man will not he able to live thereby in the day that he sinneth. Ver. 13. If I say to the righteous man that he shall live, and he relies upon Ids righteousness and does wrong, all his rigldeousnesses ivill not he remembered ; and for his ivrong that he has done, he will die. Ver. 14. If I say to the sinner, Thou shalt die^ and he turns from his sin^ and does justice and righteous- CHAP. XXXIII. 10-20. GO iiess, Ver. 15. So that the ivicked oriurns the p/^cf(/5, restores ivhat has been robbed, ivalks in the statutes of life without doing lorong^ he ivill live, not die. Ver. 16. All his sins which he has committed shall not be remembered against him; he has done justice and righteousness, he ivill live. Yer. 17. And the sons of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not rigid ; but they — their icay is not right. Ver. 18. If the righteous man turneth from his righteousness and doeth wrong, he shall die thereby ; Ver. 19. But if the luicked man turneth from his ivickedness and doeth right and righteousness, he ivill live thereby. Ver. 20. And yet ye say, The icay of the Lord is not right. I will judge you every one according to his ivays, house of Israel. — In vers. 1 and 11 the prophet's calling for the future is set before him, inasmuch as God instructs him to announce to those who are in despair on account of their sins the gracious will of the Lord. The threat contained in the law (Lev. xxvi. 39), ^P^^. DjiV3, of which Ezekiel had repeatedly reminded the people with w^arning, and, last of all, when predicting the conquest and destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans (compare ch. iv. 17 and xxiv. 23), had pressed heavily upon their heart, when the threatened judgment took place, so that they quote the words, not " in self-defence," as Havernick erroneously supposes, but in despair of any deliverance. Ezekiel is to meet this despair of little faith by the announcement that the Lord has no pleasure in the death of the sinner, but desires his con- version and his life. Ezekiel had already set this word of grace before the people in ch. xviii. 23, 32, accompanied with the summons to salvation for them to lay to heart: there, it was done to overthrow the delusion that the present generation had to atone for the sins of the fathers ; but here, to lift up tlie hearts of those who were despairing of salvation ; and for this reason it is accompanied with the asseveration (wanting in ch. xviii. 23 and 32) : " as truly as I live, saith the Lord," and with the urgent appeal to repent and turn. But in order to preclude the abuse of this word of consolation by making it a 70 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. ground of false confidence in their own righteousness, Ezeklel repeats in vers. 12-20 the principal thoughts contained in that announcement (ch. xviii. 20-32) — namely, first of all, in vers. 12-1 G, the thought that the righteousness of the righteous is of no avail to him if he gives himself up to the unrighteous- ness, and that the sinner will not perish on account of his sin if he turns from his wickedness and strives after righteousness (nn 7u*3';, ver. 12, as in Hos. v. 5, Jer. vi. 15 ; compare ch. xviii. 24, 25, and xxi., xxii. ; and for vers. 14 and 15, more especially ch. xviii. 5 and 7) ; and then, secondly, in vers. 17-20, the reproof of those who find fault with the way of the Lord (compare ch. xviii. 25, 27, 29, 30). Vers. 21 and 22. Tidings of the fall of Jerusalem, and the consequences with regard to the prophet. — Ver. 21. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the tenth (month)^ on the fifth of the month after our being tahen captive, there came to me a fugitive from Jerusalem, and said, The city is smitten. Ver. 22. And the hand of Jehovah had come upon me in the evening before the arrival of the fugitive, and He opened my mouth, till he came to me in the morning ; and so ivas my mouth opened, and I tvas silent no more. — In these verses the fulfil- ment of the promise made by God to the prophet in ch. xxiv. 25-27, after the prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem, is recorded. The chronological datum, as to the precise time at which the messenger arrived with the account of the destruction of Jerusalem, serves to mark with precision the point of time at which the obstacle was removed, and the prophet was able to speak and prophesy without restraint. — The fact that the tidings of the destruction of Jerusalem, which took place in the fifth month of the eleventh year, are said to have only reached the exiles in the tenth month of the twelfth year, that is to say, nearly a year and a half after it occurred, does not warrant our following the Syriac, as Doederlein and Ilitzig have done, calling in question the correctness of the text and substituting the eleventh year for the twelfth. With the dis- CHAP. XXXIII. 21, 22. 71 tance at which Ezekiel was living, namely, in northern Meso- potamia, and with the fearful confusion which followed the catastrophe, a year and a half might very easily pass hy before a fugitive arrived with the information. But Hitzig's assertion, that Ezekiel would contradict himself, inasmuch as, according to ch. xxvi. 1, 2, he received intelligence of the affair in the eleventh year, is founded upon a misinterpretation of the pas- sage quoted. It is not stated there that Ezekiel received this information through a fugitive or any man whatever, but simply that God had revealed to him the fall of Jerusalem even before it occurred. ^i^rivP^ after our being led away (ver. 21 andch. xl. 1), coincides with T^i^ -j^^n n^^J^ in ch. i. 2. nnan, smitten, i.e. conquered and destroyed, exterminated. In the clause 'iJI f^p\ l^l., the verb nn^n is a pluperfect, and vSl stands for '•^V, according to the later usage. The formula indicates the translation of the prophet into an ecstatic state (see the comm. on ch. i. 3), in which his mouth was opened to speak, that is to say, the silence imposed upon him was taken away. The words, ^' till he came to me in the morning," etc., are not to be understood as signifying that the prophet's mouth had only been opened for the time from evening till morning; for this would be opposed to the following sentence. They simply affirm that the opening of the mouth took place before the arrival of the fugitive, the night before the morning of his arrival. ""S nn2*l, which follows, is an emphatic repetition, in- troduced as a link with which to connect the practically impor- tant statement that from that time forward he was not speechless any more. — It was in all probability shortly afterwards that Ezekiel was inspired with the word of God which follows in vers. 23-33, as we may infer from the contents of the word itself, which laid the foundation for the prophet's further pro- phesying. But nothing can be gathered from ver. 22 with regard to the time when this and the following words of God (as far as ch. xxxix.), of which no chronological data are given, were communicated to the prophet and uttered by him. His 72 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL being " silent no more " by no means involves immediate or continuous speaking, but simply recalls the command to be speechless. There is no ground for the assumption that all these words of God were communicated to him in one night (Hiivernick, Ilengstenberg, and others), either in ver. 22 or in the contents of these divine revelations. Vers. 23-33. Preaching of Repentance ajtcv ilic Fall cf Jerusalem. The first word of God, which Ezekiel received after the arrival of the fuiiitive with the intelligence of the destruction of Jerusalem, was not of a consolatory, but of a rebuking nature, and directed against those who, while boasting in an impenitent state of mind of the promise given to the patriarchs of the everlasting possession of the Holy Land, fancied that they could still remain in possession of the promised land even after the destruction of Jerusalem and of the kingdom of Judah. This delusion the prophet overthrows by the announce- ment that the unrighteous are to have no share in the posses- sion of the land of Israel, but are to perish miserably, and that the land is to be utterly waste and without inhabitants (vers. 23-29). The Lord then shows him that his countrymen will indeed come to him and listen to his words, but will only do that which is pleasant to themselves ; that they will still seek after gain, and not do his words; and that it will not be till after his words have been fulfilled that they will come to the knowledge of the fact that he really was a prophet (vers. 30-33). We perceive from these last verses that the threat uttered in vers. 24-29 was to form the basis for Ezekiel's further pro- phecies, so that the whole of this word of God has only the force of an introduction to his further labours. But however the two halves of this word of God may appear to differ, so far as their contents are concerned, they are nevertheless closely connected. The state of heart disclosed in the first half, with reference to the judgment that has already fallen upon the CHAP. XSXIII. 23-29. 73 land and kingdom, is to preclude the illusion, that the fact of the people's coming to the prophet to hear his words is a sign of penitential humiliation under the punishing hand of God, and to bring out the truth, that the salvation which he is about to foretell to the people is only to be enjoyed by those who turn with sincerity to the Lord. Vers. 23-29. False reliance upon God's promises. — Ver. 23. And the icord of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 24. Son of man, the inhabitants of these ruins in the land of Israel speak thus: Abraham luas one, and received the land for a possession ; but ive are many, the land is given to its for a possession. Ver. 25. Therefore say to them. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Ye eat upon the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood, and icould ye possess the land'^ Ver. 26. Ye rely upon your sword, do abomination, and one defileth another s wife, and ivould ye possess the land? Ver. 27. Speak thus to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, By my life, those ivho are in the ruins shall fall by the sword, and ivhoever is in the open field him do 1 give to the beasts to devour, and those ivho are in the fortresses and caves shall die of the pestilence. Ver. 28. And I make the land devastation and ivaste, and its proud might shall have an end, and the mountains of Israel shall be ivaste, so that no one passeth through. Ver. 29. And they shall know that I am Jehovah, ivhen I make the land devastation and ivaste because of all the abominations ivhich they have done. — This threat is directed against the people who remained behind in the land of Judah after the destruction of Jerusalem, niinnn ^yy'' are the Israelites who dwelt amidst the ruins of the Holy Land, the remnant of the people left behind in the land. For it is so evident as to need no proof that Kliefoth is wrong in asserting that by HUinn we are to understand the district borderinor on J tt: V O the Chaboras, which was not properly cultivated ; and by the inhabitants thereof, the exiles who surrounded Ezekiel. It is only by confounding "i»^ and "i^T that Kliefoth is able to set aside the more precise definition of the inhabitants of these 74 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. ruins contained in the words p^1'^'\ ^'?1^ ^^j and to connect 'b"* 'ns 7y with D^IP^^, " they speak concerning the land of Isriiel;" and in ver. 27 it is only in a forced manner that he can generalize ^^^in^", and take it as referring to the waste places both in the Holy Land and on the Chaboras. Tlie fact, moreover, that vers. 30-33 treat of the Israelites by the Chaboras, is no proof whatever that they must also be referred to in vers. 24-29. For the relation in which the two halves of this word of God stand to one another is not that " vers. 30-33 depict the impression made upon the hearers by the words contained in vers. 24-29," so that " the persons alluded to in vers. 30-33 must necessarily be the hearers of vers. 24-29." Vers. 30-33 treat in quite a general manner of the attitude which the prophet's countrymen would assume towards his words — that is to say, not merely to his threats, but also to his predictions of salvation ; they would only attend to that which had a pleasant sound to them, but they would not do his words (vers. 31, 32). It is quite in harmony with this, that in vers. 23-29 these people should be told of the state of heart of those who had remained behind on the ruins of the Holy Land, and that it should be announced to them tliat the fixed belief in the permanent possession of the Holy Land, on which those who remained behind in the land relied, was a delusion, and that those who were victims of this delusion should be destroyed by sword and pestilence. Just as in the first part of this book Ezekiel uttered the threatened prophecies concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah in the presence of his countrymen by the Chaboras, and addressed them to these, because they stood in the same internal relation to the Lord as their brethren in Jerusalem and Judah ; so here does he hold up this delusion before them as a warning, in order that he may disclose to them the worthlessness of such vain hope, and preach repentance and conversion as the only way to life. The meaning of the words spoken by these people, ^' Abraham was one," etc., is, that if Abraham, as one solitary individual, CHAP. XXXIII. 23-2D. 75 received the land of Canaan for a possession by the promise of God, the same God could not take this possession away from them, the many sons of Abraham. The antithesis of the ^' one " and the '* many " derived its significance, in relation to their argument, from the descent of the many from the one, which is taken for granted, and also from the fact, which is assumed to be well known from the book of Genesis, that the land was not promised and given to the patriarch for his own possession, but for his seed or descendants to possess. They relied, like the Jews of the time of Christ (John viii. 33, 39), upon their corporeal descent from Abraham (compare the similar words in ch. xi. 15). Ezekiel, on the other hand, simply reminds them of their own sinful conduct (vers. 25, 26), for the purpose of showing them that they have thereby incurred the loss of this possession. Eating upon the blood, is eating flesh in which the blood is still lying, which has not been cleansed from blood, as in Lev. xix. 26 and 1 Sam. xiv. 32, 33 ; an act the prohibition of which was first addressed to Noah (Gen. ix. 4), and is repeatedly urged in the law (cf. Lev. vii. 26, 27). This is also the case with the prohibition of idolatry, lifting up the eyes to idols (cf. ch. xviii. 6), and the shedding of blood (cf. ch. xviii. 10, xxii. 3, etc.). ^2"]n hv I^V, to support oneself, or rely (^^y, used as in ch. xxxi. 14) upon the sword, i.e. to put confidence in violence and bloodshed. In this connection we are not to think of the use of the sword in war. To work abomination, as in ch. xviii. 12. 1^''^'^ is not a feminine, "ye women," but | is written in the place of D on account of the D which follows, after the analogy of jins) for Di^Q (Hitzig). On the defiling of a neighbour's wife, see the comm. on ch. xviii. 6. Such daring sinners the Lord would destroy wherever they might be. In ver. 37 the punishment is individualized (cf. ch. xiv. 21). Those in the niinn shall fall by the 3nn (the play upon the word is very obvious) ; those in the open country shall perish by wild beasts (compare 2 Kings xvii. 25; Ex. xxiii. 19; Lev. xxvi. 22) ; those who are in mountain fastnesses and caves, 76 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. where they are safe from the sword and ravenous beasts, shall perish by plague and pestilence. This threat is not to be restricted to the acts of the Chaldeans in the land after the destruction of Jerusalem, but applies to all succeeding times. Even the devastation and utter depopulation of the land, threatened in ver. 28, are not to be taken as referring merely to the time of the Babylonian captivity, but embrace the devastation which accompanied and followed the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. For njy pNS, see the comm. on ch. vii. 24. For ver. 29, compare ch. vi. 14. Vers. 30-33. Behaviour of the people towards the prophet. — Ver. 30. A7id tJiou, son of man, the sons of thy people converse about thee by the toalls and in the house-doors; one talketh to another^ every one to his brother, saying, Come and let us hear what kind of word goeth out from Jehovah Ver. 31. And they will come to thee, like an assembly of the people, and sit before thee as my people, and will hear thy words, but not do them ; but that ivhich is pleasant in their mouth they do ; their heart goeth after their gain. Ver. 32. And, behold, thou art unto them like a p)leasant singer, beautiful in voice and j^lcying well ; they loill hear thy words, but they will not do them. Ver. 33. But luhen it cometh — behold, it cometh — they will know that a prophet was in the midst of them. — This addition to the preceding word of God, which is addressed to Ezekiel personally, applies to the whole of the second half of his ministry, and stands in obvious con- nection with the instructions given to the prophet on the occasion of his first call (ch. iii. 16 sqq.), and repeated, so far as their substance is concerned, in vers. 7--9, as Kliefoth himself acknowledges, in opposition to his assumption that vers. 1—20 of this chapter belong to the prophecies directed against the foreign nations. As God had directed the prophet's attention, on the occasion of his call, to the difficulties connected with the discharge of the duties of a watchman with which he was entrusted, by setting before him the object and the respon- sibility of his vocation, and had warned him not to allow himself CHAP. XXXIII. 30-33. 77 to be turned aside by tlie opposition of the people ; so here in vers. 30—33, at the commencement of the second section of his ministry, another word is addressed to him personally, in order that he may not be influenced in the further prosecution of his calling by either the pleasure or displeasure of men. — His former utterances had already induced the elders of the people to come to him to hear the word of God (cf. ch. xiv. 1 and XX. 1). But now that his prophecies concerning Jerusalem had been fulfilled, the exiles could not fail to be still more attentive to his words, so that they talked of him both secretly and openly, and encouraged one another to come and listen to his discourses. God foretells this to him, but announces to him at the same time that this disposition on the part of his countrymen to listen to him is even now no sign of genuine conversion to the \vord of God, in order that he may not be mistaken in his expectations concerning the people. Kliefotli has thus correctly explained the contents, design, and connec- tion of these verses as a whole. In ver. 30 the article before the participle ^'''isni takes the place of the relative "iK^'J^, and the words are in apposition to "^tpv "';i3, the sons of thy people who converse about thee, "i^nj is reciprocal, as in Mai. iii. 13, 16, and Ps. cxix. 23. But 2 is to be understood, not in a hostile sense, as in the passage cited from the Psalms, but in the sense of concerning, like 3 i?"n in 1 Sam. xix. 3 as contrasted with 2 I2"n in Num. xxi. 7, to speak against a person. The participle is continued by the finite l^ll, and the verb belonging to ^ny ''3 follows, in the 1^3^^ of ver. 31, in the form of an apodosis. There is something monstrous in Hitzig's assumption, that the whole passage from ver. 30 to ver. 33 forms but one clause, and that the predicate to ^py ''pB does not occur till the iy"i;i of ver. 33. — nn^jpn p^*«^ by the side of the walls, i.e. sitting against the walls, equivalent to secretly ; and in the doors of the houses, in other words publicly, one neighbour conversing with another. "Jn, Aramean for ^^^^ and tJ'''N by the side of ^^^^, every one ; not merely one here or there, but every man to his neighbour. 78 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL, Dy"t{U03j lit. as the coming of a people, i.e. as when a crowd of men flock together in crowds or troops. ''W is a predicate, as my people, i.e. as if they wished, like my people, to hear my word from thee. But they do not think of doing thy words, i.e. what thou dost announce to them as my word. D''3jy are things for which one cherishes an eager desire, pleasant things in their mouth, i.e. according to their taste (cf. Gen. xxv. 28). Hiivernick is wToncj in takinor D'^nuy to mean illicit love. The word Dil''?r^ is quite inapplicable to such a meaning. The rendering, they do it with their mouth, is opposed both to the construction and the sense. ^^V?, their gain, the source from which they promise themselves advantage or gain. In ver. 32 a clearer explanation is given of the reason why they come to the prophet, notwithstanding the fact that they do not wish to do his words. *^ Thou art to them Ci"'33y "i"'*^'3 ;" this cannot mean like a pleasant song, but, as 123 3tp^3 (one who can play well) clearly shows, like a singer of pleasant songs. The abstract "^^^ stands for the concrete "i^, a singer, a man of song (Hitzig). In ver. 32^, " they hear thy words, but do them not," is repeated with emphasis, for the purpose of attaching the threat in ver. 33. But when it cometh, — namely, what thou sayest, or prophesiest, — behold, it cometh, i.e. it will come as surely as thy prophecies concerning the destruction of Jeru- salem ; then will they know that a prophet was among them (cf. ch. ii. 5), that is to say, that he proclaimed God's word to them. Therefore Ezekiel is not to be prevented, by the misuse which will be made of his words, from preaching the truth. — This conclusion of the word of God, which points back to ch. ii. 5, also shows that it forms the introduction to the pro- phecies which follow. CHAP. XXXI V -XXXIX. 79 Chap. XXXIY.-XXXIX.— THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL, AND DESTRUCTION OF GOG AND MAGOG. The promise of the salvation, which is to blossom for the covenant nation after the judgment, commences with the announcement that the Lord will deliver Israel out of the hand of its evil shepherds, who only feed themselves and de- stroy the flock, and will take care of His own flock, gather them together, feed and tend them on a good meadow, protect the weak sheep against the strong, and through His servant David bring security and blessing to the whole of the flock (ch. xxxiv.). This comprehensive promise is carried out still further in the following chapters in various phases. Because Edom cherishes perpetual enmity against the sons of Israel, and has sought to take possession of their land, in which Jehovah w^as, the mountains of Seir shall become a perpetual desert (ch. xxxv.) ; whereas the devastated land of Israel shall be rebuilt, and sown once more, bear fruit, and be filled w^ith man and beast (ch. xxxvi. 1-15). The Lord will do this for His holy name's sake, wdll cleanse His people from their sins, when gathered out of the nations, by sprinkling them with pure water, and renew them by His Spirit in heart and mind, that they may walk in His commandments, and multiply greatly in their land, when it has been glorified into a garden of God (ch. xxxvi. 16-38). The house of Israel, which has been slain with the sword, and has become like a field full of dry bones of the dead, the Lord will awaken to new life, and bring in peace into the land of Israel (ch. xxxvii. 1-14) ; the two divided peoples and kingdoms of Israel He will unite into one people and kingdom, will liberate them from their sins, cause them to dwell in the land given to His servant Jacob under the sove- reignty of His servant David, will make with them a covenant of peace for ever, and dwell above them as their God for ever in the sanctuary, which He will establish in the midst of them (ch. xxxvii. 15-28). And, finally, in the last time, when Israel 80' THE TROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. is dwell in cr in its own land in security and peace, the Lord will bring Gog from the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, with a powerful army of numerous peoples, into the land that has been restored from the sword ; but when he has come to plunder and prey, the Lord will destroy him with all his army, and by this judgment display His glory among the nations, and so have compassion upon the whole house of Israel, and because He has poured out His Spirit upon it, will hide His face from it no more (ch. xxxviii. and xxxix.). — From this general survey it is evident that the words of God contained in ch. xxxiv.-xxxvii. announce the restoration and exaltation of Israel to be the sanctified people of God, and ch. xxxviii. and xxxix. the lasting establishment of this salva- tion, through the extermination of those enemies who rise up afjainst the restored people of God. CIIAr. XXXIV. DEPOSITION OF THE BAD SHEPHEKDS ; COL- LECTING AND TENDING OF THE FLOCK; AND APPOINT- MENT OF THE ONE GOOD SHEPHERD. The shepherds, who have fed themselves and neglected the flock, so that it has been scattered and has become a prey to wild beasts, will be deprived by the Lord of their office of shepherd (vers. 1—10). And He will take charge of His own flock, gather it together from its dispersion in the lands, feed and tend it on good pasture in the land of Israel, and sift it by the extermination of the fat and violent ones (vers. 11-22). He will appoint His servant David shepherd over His flock, make a covenant of peace with His people, and bless the land with fruitfulness, so that Israel may dwell there in security, and no more be carried off either as booty for the nations or by famine, and may acknowledge Jehovah as its God (vers. 23-31). This word of God is a repetition and further expansion of the short prophecy of Jeremiah in Jer. xxili. 1-8. The threat against the bad shepherds simply forms the foil for the promise. CHAP. XXXIV. 81 that the flock, which has been plunged into misery by bad shepherds, shall be gathered and tended by the Lord and His servant David, w^hom Jehovah will appoint prince over His people, so that it is essentially a prophecy of salvation for Israel. — The question in dispute among the commentators, whether we are to understand by the shepherds, out of whose hand and tyranny the Lord will rescue Israel Plis flock, the priests and kings (Ephr., Syr., and Theodoret), or the false prophets and false teachers of the people (Glass and others), or simply the kings (Hengst., Hav., and others), or all those who, by reason of their office, were leaders of the people, rulers, priests, and prophets, " the whole body of official persons charged with the direction of the nation " (Kliefoth), may be settled by the simple conclusion, that only the rulers of the nation are intended. This is proved not only by the biblical idea of the shepherd generally, which (probably in distinction from the idea of the bell-wether) is everywhere employed to denote rulers alone, but more particularly by the primary passage already referred to (Jer. xxlii. 1-8), where we are to understand by the shepherds, kings and princes, to the exclu- sion of priests and prophets, against whom Jeremiah first prophesies from ver. 9 onwards ; and, lastly, by the antithesis to the good shepherd, David, who is to feed the flock of Jehovah as prince (^^'^J), and not as priest or prophet (vers. 23, 24). Only we must not take the term rulers as applying to the kings alone, but must understand thereby all the persons entrusted with the government of the nation, or the whole body of the civil authorities of Israel, among whom priests and prophets come into consideration, not on account of their spiritual calling and rank, but only so far as they held magis- terial offices. And apart from other grounds, we are not warranted in restricting the idea of shepherds to the kings alone; for the simple reason that our prophecy, which dates from the time succeeding the destruction of Jerusalem, does not apply to the former rulers only, ue. the kings who had EZEK. II. F '82 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL, fallen along with the kingdom of Judah, but although treating of shepherds, who had scattered Israel among the nations, assumes that the rule of these shepherds is still continuing, and announces their removal, or the deliverance of the flock out of their hand, as something to be effected in the future (cf. vers. 8-10) ; so that it also refers to the civil rulers who governed Israel after the overthrow of the monarchy, and even after the captivity until the coming of the Messiah, the promised Prince of David. Vers. 1-10. Woe to the bad shepherds. — Ver. 1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 2. Son of man, pro- phesy concerning the shepherds of Israel ; prophesy, and say to them, to the shepherds. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who fed themselves ; should not the shepherds feed the flock ? Ver. 3. Ye eat the fat, and clothe yourselves with the wool ; ye slay the fattened ; the flock ye do not feed, Ver. 4. The weak ones ye do not strengthen, and that which is sick ye do not cure, the ivounded one ye bind not up, the scattered ye bring not back, and the lost one ye do not seek ; and ye rule over them loith violence and ivith severity. Ver. 5. Therefore they were scattered, because without shepherd, and became food to all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. Ver. 6. My sheep wander about on all the mountains, and on every high hill ; and over all the land have my sheep been scattered, and there is no one ivho asks for them, and no one who seeks them. Ver. 7. There- fore, ye shepherds, hear ye the word of Jehovah : Ver. 8. As I live, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, because my sheep become a prey, and my sheep become food to all the beasts of the field, because there is no shepherd, and my shepherds do not inquire after my sheep, and the shepherds feed themselves, but do not feed the sheep, Ver. 9. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear ye the word of Jehovah, Ver. 10. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will deal with the shepherds, and will demand my sheep from their hand, and cause them to cease to feed my flock, that they may feed themselves no more ; and I will deliver my sheep from CHAP. XXXIV. 1-10. 83 their mouth, that they may he food to them no more. — In ver. 2 C)''J?'"i7 is an explanatory apposition to ^H^^.i and is not to be taken in connection with '"''' "i??^ ^'^^ in opposition to the constant nse of this formula, as Kliefoth maintains. The reason for the woe pronounced is given in the apposition, who fed themselves, whereas they ought to have fed the flock ; and the charge that they only care for themselves is still further explained by a de- scription of their conduct (vers. 3 and 4), and of the dispersion of the flock occasioned thereby (vers. 5 and 6). Observe the periphrastic preterite Ci'^yh vn, they were feeding, which shows that the woe had relation chiefly to the former shepherds or rulers of the nation. Dnix is reflective, se ipsos (cf. Gesen § 124. lb). The disgracefulness of their feeding themselves is brought out by the question, ^' Ought not the shepherds to feed the flock ? " Ver. 3 shows how they fed themselves, and ver. 4 how they neglected the flock, n^n, the fat, which Bochart and Hitzig propose to alter into ^5C5> ^^® milk, after the Septuagint and Vulgate, is not open to any objection. The fat, as the best portion of tlie flesh, which was laid upon the altar, for example, in the case of the sacrifices, as being the flower of all the flesh, is mentioned here as pars melior pro toto, Havernick has very properly pointed, in vindication of the reading in the text, to Zech. xi. 16, where the two clauses, ye eat the fat, and slay the fattened, are joined together in the one clause, " the flesh of the fattened one will he eat." There is no force in the objection raised by Hitzig, that " the slaughtering of the fat beasts, which ought to be mentioned first, is not introduced till afterwards;" for this clause contains a heio-htenint: of the thought that they use the flock to feed themselves : they do not even kill the leaner beasts, but those that are well fattened ; and it follows very suitably after the general statement, that they make use of both the flesh and the wool of the sheep for their own advantage. They care nothing for the wellbeing of the flock : this is stated in the last clause of ver. 3, which is explained in detail in ver. 4. nil?m is the Niphal participle of 84 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. n^n, and is a contracted form of ni^n^, like n^n^ In Isa. xvli. 11. The distinction between nii^m and n^in is determined by the respective predicates p?n and t^S"). According to these, rhm signifies that which is weak in consequence of sickness, and n^^n that which is weak in itself. ^"J^'f^, literally, that which is broken, an animal with a leg or some other member injured. n"n3, scattered, as in Deut. xxii. 1. In the last clause of ver. 4, the neglect of the flock is summed up in the posi- tive expression, to rule over them with violence and severity. 1]1D3 nnn is taken from Lev. xxv. 43, 46 ; but there as well as here it points back to Ex. i. 13, 14, where TI^O^^ is applied to the tyrannical measures adopted by Pharaoh for the oppression of the Israelites. The result of this (vers. 5, 6) was, that the sheep were scattered, and became food to the beasts of prey. vSD ny'i, on account of there not being a shepherd, i.e. because there was no shepherd worthy of the name. This took place when Israel was carried away into exile, where it became a prey to the heathen nations. When we find this mournful fate of the people described as brought about by the bad shepherds, and attributable to faults of theirs, we must not regard the words as applying merely to the mistaken policy of the kings with regard to external affairs (Hitzig) ; for this was in itself simply a con- sequence of their neglect of their theocratic calling, and of their falling away from the Lord into idolatry. It is true that the people had also made themselves guilty of this sin, so that it was obliged to atone not only for the sins of its shepherds, but for its own sin also ; but this is passed by here, in accordance with the design of this prophecy. And it could very properly be kept out of sight, inasmuch as the rulers had also occasioned the idolatry of the people, partly by their neglect of their duty, and partly by their bad example. n^^'>'^srn_ is repeated with emphasis at the close of ver. 5 ; and the thought is still further expanded in ver. 6. The wandering upon all the mountains and hills must not be understood as signifying the straying of the people to the worship on high places, as Theodoret and CHAP. XXXIV. 1-10. 85 Kliefotli suppose. The fallacy of this explanation is clearly- shown by the passage on which this figurative description rests (1 Kings xxii. 17), where the people are represented as scat- tered upon the mountains in consequence of the fall of the king in battle, like a flock that had no shepherd. The words in the next clause, corresponding to the mountains and hills, are p.^n "'jS"p3, the whole face of the land, not " of the earth " (Kliefoth). For although the dispersion of the flock actually consisted in the carrying away of the people into heathen lands, the actual meaning of the figure is kept in the back- ground here, as is evident from the fact that Ezekiel constantly uses the expression nlvnsn (plural) when speaking of the dis- persion among the heathen (cf. ver. 13). The distinction between ^^l and t^'i^S is, that c^'n signifies rather to ask, inquire for a thing, to trouble oneself about it, whereas K'pn means to seek for that which has strayed or is lost. In vers. 7-10, the punishment for their unfaithfulness is announced to the shep- herds themselves ; but at the same time, as is constantly the case with Ezekiel, their guilt is once more recapitulated as an explanation of the threatening of punishment, and the earnest appeal to listen is repeated in ver. 9. The Lord will demand His sheep of them ; and because sheep have been lost through their fault, He will depose them from the office of shepherd, and so deliver the poor flock from their violence. If we com- pare with this Jer. xxiii. 2 : *' Behold, I will visit upon you the wickedness of your doings," the threat in Ezekiel has a much milder sound. There is nothing said about the punishment of the shepherd, but simply that the task of keeping the sheep shall be taken from them, so that they shall feed themselves no more. This distinction is to be explained from the design of our prophecy, which is not so much to foretell the punishment of the shepherds, as the deliverance from destruction of the sheep that have been plunged into misery. The repetition of ^^XV, mi/ flock (vers. 8 and 10, as before in ver. 6), is also connected with this. The rescue of the sheep out of the hand of the bad 66 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. slieplierds had already commenced with the overthrow of the monarchy on the destruction of Jerusalem. If, then, it is here described as only to take place in the future, justice is not done to these words by explaining them, as Hitzig does, as signifying that what has already actually taken place is now to be made final, and not to be reversed. For although this is implied, the words clearly affirm that the deliverance of the sheep out of the hand of the shepherds has not yet taken place, but still remains to be effected, so that the people are regarded as being at the time in the power of bad shepherds, and their rescue is predicted as still in the future. How and when it will be accomplished, by the removal of the bad shepherds, is shown in the announcement, commencing with ver. 11, of what the Lord will do for His flock. Vers. 11-22. Jehovah Himself will seek His flock, gather it together from the dispersion, lead it to good pasture, and sift it by the destruction of the bad sheep. — Ver. 11. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold^ I myself^ I icill inquire after my jlocky and take charge thereof, Ver. 12. As a shepherd taketh charge of his flock in the day when he is in the 7nidst of his scattered sheep^ so will I take charge of my flock, and deliver them out of all the places whither they have been scattered in the day of cloud and cloudy night. Ver. 13. And I ivill bring them out from the nations, and gather them together out of the lands, and bring them into their land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel, in the valleys, and in all the dwelling-places of the land. Ver. 14. / luill feed them in a good pasture, and on the high ononntains of Israel ivill their 2'>asture-ground be : there shall they lie down in a good pasture-groimd, and have fat pasture on the mountains of Israel. Ver. 15. / will feed my flock, and I ivill cause them to lie down, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Ver. 16. That which is lost will I seek, and that which is driven away will I bring back ; that which is wounded will I bind up, and that which is sick ivill 1 strengthen : but that which is fat and strong will I destroy, and feed them according to justice. CHAP. XXXIV. 11-22. 87 Ver. 17. A>id you, my sheep, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will judge between sheep and sheep, and the rams and the he-goats. Ver. 18. Is it too little for you, that ye eat up the good pasture, and ivhat remains of your pasture ye tread down with your feet ? and the clear water ye drink, and render muddy icliat remains with your feet^ Ver. 19. And are my sheep to have for food that which is trodden down hy your feet, and to drink that which is made muddy by your feet ? Ver. 20. There- fore thus saith the Lord Jehovah to them. Behold I, I will judge between fat sheep and lean, Ver. 21. Because ye press with side and shoulder, and thrust all the weak with your horns, till ye have driven them out ; Ver. 22. / will help my sheep, so that they shall no more become a prey ; and ivill judge between sheep and sheep, — All that the Lord will do for His flock is summed up in ver. 11, in the words D'iji^i^n^ ^iN^iTiX ^T\my\^ which stand in obvious antithesis to '1^1 t^'^i'^ psi in ver. 6, — an antithesis sharply accentuated by the emphatic ""^ij ^'^}J), which stands at the head in an absolute form. The fuller explanation is given in the verses which follow, from ver. 12 onwards. Observe here that "1153 is substituted for ti'ipB. "li^n^ to seek and examine minutely, involves the idea of taking affectionate charge. What the Lord does for His people is compared in ver. 12a to the care which a shepherd who deserves the name manifests towards sheep when they are scattered (nv^'"^S^ without the article is connected with i3N\* in the form of apposition) ; and in ver. 126 it is still more particularly explained. In the first place, He will gather them from all the places to which they liave been scattered. ^^Sfn implies that in their dispersion they have fallen into a state of oppression and bondage among the nations (cf. Ex. vi. 6). ^^y^\ iJV ^^""^ belongs to the relative clause : whither they have been scattered. The circumstance that these words are taken from Joel ii. 2 does not compel us to take them in connection with the principal clause, as Hitzig and Kliefoth propose, and to understand them as relating to the time when God will hold His judgment of the heathen world. The 88 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIE L. notion that the words in Joel signify " God's day of judgment upon all the heathen " (Kliefoth), is quite erroneous ; and even Kitzig does not derive this meaning from Joel ii. 2, hut from the combination of our verse with Ezek. xxx. 3 and xxix. 21. The deliverance of the sheep out of the places to which they have been scattered, consists in the gathering together of Israel out of the nations, and their restoration to their own land, and their feeding upon the mountains and all the dwelHng-places of the land (2^'^^, a place suitable for settlement), and that in good and fat pasture (ver. 14) ; and lastly, in the fact that Jehovah bestows the necessary care upon the sheep, strengthens and heals the weak and sick (vers. 15 and 16), — that is to say, does just what the bad shepherds have omitted (ver. 4), — and destroys the fat and strong. In this last clause another side is shown of the pastoral fidelity of Jehovah. I^^^'i^ has been changed by the LXX., Syr., and Vulg. into "i^^^')?, ^vXd^co ; and Luther has followed them in his rendering, " I will watch over them." But this is evidently a mistake, as it fails to harmonize with t^Q^'Dl i^??^"-^. The fat and strong sheep are characterized in vers. 18 and 19 as those which spoil the food and water of the others. The allusion, therefore, is to the rich and strong ones of the nation, who oppress the humble and poor, and treat them with severity. The destruction of these oppressors shows that the loving care of the Lord is associated with righteousness — that He feeds the flock ^S^p^. This thought is carried out still further in vers. 17—21, the sheep themselves being directly addressed, and the Lord assuring them that He will judge between sheep and sheep, and put an end to the oppressive conduct of the fat sheep and the strong. r\b? nb^ ps : between the one sheep and the other. HK'? is extended in the apposition, " the rams and he-goats," which must not be rendered, ^' with regard to the rams and he-goats," as it has been by Kliefoth. The thought is not that Jehovah will divide the rams and he-goats from the sheep, as some have explained it, from an inappropriate comparison with Matt. CHAP. XXXIV. 23-Cl. 89 XXV. 32 ; but the division is to be effected in such a manner that sheep will be separated from sheep, the fat sheep being placed on one side with the rams and he-goats, and kept apart from the lean ('^p^j ver. 20) and the sickly sheep (Hi^n^, ver. 21). It is to the last-named sheep, rams, and he-goats that vers. 18 and 19 are addressed. With regard to the charge brought against them, that they eat up the pasture and tread down the remainder with their feet, etc., Bochart has already correctly observed, that " if the words are not quite applicable to actual sheep, they are perfectly appropriate to the mystical sheep intended here, i.e. to the Israelites, among whom many of the rich, after enjoying an abundant harvest and vintage, grudged the poor their gleaning in either one or the other." VPJr^D^ a substantive formation, like DO"ip, literally, precipitation of the water, i.e. the water purified by precipitation ; for Vi^fj to sink, is the opposite of t^2"J, to stir up or render muddy by treading with the feet (compare ch. xxxii. 14 and 2). nnn^ ver. 20 = nx"|3 or nj")3. Ver. 22 brings to a close the description of the manner in which God will deliver His flock, and feed it with righteousness. W'ti'ini points back to '"^pSfni. in ver. 12, and ^riDSfh to t^a^bn nsyix in ver. 16.— To this there is appended in vers. 23 sqq. a new train of thought, describing how God will still further display to His people His pastoral fidelity. Vers. 23-31. Appointment of David as shepherd, and bless- ing of the people. — Ver. 23. And I will raise up one shepherd over them, ivho shall feed them, my servant David ; he ivill feed them, and he will he to them a shepherd. Ver. 24. And I, Jehovah, luill be God to them, and my servant David prince in the midst of them : I, Jehovah, have spoken it. Ver. 25. And I will make a covenant of peace with them, and destroy the evil beasts out of the land, so that they will dwell safely in the desert and steep in the forests. Ver. 26. A7id I will make them and the places round my Mil a blessing, and cause the rain to fall in its season .* shotvers of blessing shall there be. Ver. 27. The tree of the field will give its fruity and the land loill give its produce, and 90 THE PPwOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. they will he safe in their landj and ivill know that I am Jehovah, when I break their yoke-bars in pieces^ and deliver them out of the hand of those loho made them servants. Ver. 28. They will be no more a prey to the nations^ and the tuild beasts will not devour them ; but they luill dwell safely^ and no one ivill terrify them. Ver. 29. And I vnll raise up for them a plantation for a name, so that they will no more be sivept aivay by famine in the land, and shall no longer bear the disgrace of the heathen nations. Ver. 30. And they shall knoiu that I, Jehovah, their God, am with them, and they are my people, the house of Israel, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Ver. 31. And ye are my sheep, the flock of my pasture ; ye are men, I am your God, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. — God will cause to stand up, raise up, one single shepherd over His flock, ^''i?'!}, the standing expression for the rising up of a person in history through the interposition of God (cf. Deut. xviii. 15, 2 Sam. vii. 12, and other passages). '^^^^ ^Vpi, not unicus, singularis, a shepherd unique in his kind, but one shepherd, in contrast not only with the many bad shepherds, but with the former division of the people into two kingdoms, each with its own separate king. Compare ch. xxxvii. 24 with Jer. xxiii. 6, where it is expressly said that the David to be raised up is to feed Israel and Judah, the two peoples that had been divided before. "My servant David:" Jehovah calls him ^'^^V, not merely with reference to the obedience rendered (Havernick), but also with regard to his election (Isa. xlii. 1 ; Hengstenberg). There is no necessity to refute the assertion of Ilitzig, David Strauss, and others, that Ezekiel expected the former King David to be raised from the dead. The reference is to the sprout of David (Jer. xxiii. 5), already called simpjy David in IIos. iii. 5 and Jer. xxx. 9. In ver. 24 the relation of Jehovah to this David is more precisely defined : Jehovah will then be God to His people, and David be prince in the midst of them. The last words point back to 2 Sam. vii. 8/a Through the government of David, Jehovah will become in CHAP. XXXIV. 23-31. 91 truth God of His people Israel ; for David will feed the people in perfect unity with Jehovah, — will merely carry out the will of Jehovah, and not place himself in opposition to God, like the bad shepherds, because, as is therewith presupposed, he is con- nected with God by unity of nature. — In vers. 25 sqq. the thought is carried out still further, — how God will become God to His people, and prove Himself to be its covenant God through the pastoral fidelity of the future David. God will fully accomplish the covenant mercies promised to Israel. The making of the covenant of peace need not be restricted, in accordance with Hos. ii. 20 (18), to a covenant which God would make with the beasts in favour of His people. The thought is a more comprehensive one here, and, according to Lev. xxvi. 4-6, the passage which Ezekiel had in his mind involves all the salvation which God had included in His promises to His people : viz. (1) the extermination of every- thing that could injure Israel, of all the wild beasts, so that they would be able to sleep securely in the deserts and the forests (ver. 25; compare Lev. xxvi. 6); (2) the pouring out of an abundant rain, so that the field and land would yield rich pro- duce (vers. 2f, 27; cf. Lev. xxvi. 4, 5). *'I make them, the Israelites, and the surroundings of my hill, a blessing." ''^i'23, the hill of Jehovah, is, according to Isa. xxxi. 4, Mount Zion, the temple-mountain, including the city of Jerusalem. The surroundings of this hill are the land of Israel, that lay around it. But Zion, with the land around, is not mentioned in the place of the inhabitants ; and still less are we to understand by the surroundinfTS of the hill the heathen nations, as Hencrsten- berg does, in opposition both to the context and the usage of the language. The thought is simply that the Lord will make both the people and the land a blessing (Havernick, Kliefoth). nsnii, a blessing, is stronger than "blessed" (cf. Gen. xii. 2) The blessing is brought by the rain in its season, which fertilizes the earth. This will take place when the Lord breaks the yokes laid upon His people. These words are from Lev. 92 THE PROrHECIES OF EZEKIEL, XX vi. 13, where they refer to the deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt ; and they are transferred by Ezekiel to the future redemption of Israel from the bondage of the heathen. For Dnn Dnny, compare Ex. i. 14. Tliis thought is carried out still further in ver. 28 ; and then, in ver. 29, all that has been said is summed up in the thoughts, " I raise up for them a plantation for a name," etc. V^^, a plantation, as in ch. xvii. 7 ; not a land for planting (Hitzig). DK^p, for a name, i.e. not for the glory of God (De Wette) ; but the plantation, which the Lord will cause to grow by pouring down showers of blessing (ver. 26), is to bring renown to the Israelites, namely, among the heathen, who wdll see from this that Israel is a people blessed by its God. This explanation of the words is supplied by the following clause : they shall no more be swept away by famine in the land, and no more bear the dis- grace of the heathen, i.e. the disgrace which the heathen heaped upon Israel when in distress (compare Zeph. iii. 19; Jer. xiii. 11 ; and the primary passage, Deut. xxvi. 29). From this blessing they will learn that Jehovah their God is with them, and Israel is His people. The promise concludes in ver. 31 with these words, which set a seal upon the whole: "Ye are my flock, the flock of my pasture (lit. my pasture-flock ; n^Vyp |N^, Jer. xxiii. 1, the flock fed by God Himself) ; men are ye, I am your God." That these last words do not serve merely as an explanation of the figurative expression " flock," is a fact of which no proof is needed. The figure of a flock was intellimble to everv one. The words " call attention to the depth and greatness of the divine condescension, and meet the objection of men of weak faith, that man, who is taken from the earth •^^'J^'J, and returns to it again, is incapable of so intimate a connection with God " (Hengstenberg). If we take another survey, in conclusion, of the contents of our prophecy, the following are the three features of the sal- vation promised to the people of Israel: — (1) The Lord will liberate His people from the hand of the bad shepherds, and CHAP. XXXIV. 23-Sl. 93 He Himself will feed it as His flock ; (2) He will gather it together from its dispersion, bring it back to the land of Israel and feed it there, will take charge of the sheep in need of help, and destroy the fat and strong sheep by which the w^eak ones are oppressed ; (3) He will raise up the future David for a shepherd, and under his care He will bestow upon His people the promised covenant blessings in richest measure. These saving acts of God for Plis people, however, are not depicted according to their several details and historical peculiarities, as Kliefoth has correctly observed, nor are they narrated in the chronological order in which they would follow one another in history ; but they are grouped together according to their general design and character, and their essential features. If, then, we seek for the fulfilment, the Lord raised up His servant David as a shepherd to Israel, by sending Jesus Christ, who came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke xix. 10 ; Matt, xviii. 11), and who calls Himself the Good Shepherd with obvious reference to this and other prophetic declarations of a similar kind (John x. 11 sqq.). But the sending of Christ was preceded by the gathering of Israel out of the Babylonian exile, by which God had already taken charge of His flock. Yet, inasmuch as only a small portion of Israel received the Messiah, who appeared In Jesus, as its shepherd, there fell upon the unbelieving Israel a new judgment of dispersion among all nations, which continues still, so that a gathering together still awaits the people of Israel at some future time. No distinction is made in the prophecy before us between these two judgments of dispersion, which are associated with the twofold gathering of Israel ; but they are grouped together as one, so that although their fulfilment commenced with the deliverance of Israel from the Babylonian captivity and the coming of Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd of the family of David, it was only realized In that portion of Israel, numerically the smallest portion, which was willing to be gathered and fed by Jesus Christ, and the full realization will only be effected 94 THE PROPnEciES of ezekiel. when that conversion of Israel shall take place, wliicli the Apostle Paul foretells in Rom. xi. 25 sqq. — For further remarks on the ultimate fulfllmentj we refer the reader to a later page. CHAP. XXXV. 1-XXXVI. 15. DEVASTATION OF EDOM, AND RESTORATION OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL. The two sections, ch. xxxv. 1-15 and eh. xxxvl. 1-15, form a connected prophecy. This is apparent not only from their formal arrangement, both of them being placed together under the introductory formula, " And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying," but also from their contents, the promise in rela- tion to the mountains of Israel being so opposed to the threat against the mountains of Seir (ch. xxxv. 1-15) as to form the obverse and completion of the latter ; whilst allusion is evi- dently made to it in the form of expression employed (com- pare ch. xxxvi. 4, 6, with ch. xxxv. 8 ; and ch. xxxvi. 5a with ch. xxxv. 15^*). The contents are the following: The moun- tains of Seir shall be laid waste (ch. xxxv. 1-4), because Edom cherishes eternal enmity and bloody hatred towards Israel (vers. 5-9), and because it has coveted the land of Israel and blasphemed Jehovah (vers. 10-15). On the other hand, the mountain-land of Israel, which the heathen have despised on account of its devastation, and have appropriated to themselves as booty (ch. xxxvi. 1-7), shall be inhabited by Israel again, and shall be cultivated and no longer bear the disjrrace of the heathen (vers. 8-15). This closing thought (ver. 15) points back to ch. xxxiv. 29, and shows that our prophecy is intended as a further expansion of that conclusion ; and at the same time, tliat in the devastation of Edom the overthrow of the heathen world as a whole, with its enmity against God, is predicted, and in the restoration of the land of Israel the re-erection of the fallen kingdom of God. Chap. xxxv. The Devastation of Edom. — Ver. 1. And CHAP. XXXV. 1-15. 95 the ivord of Jehovah came to me, saying^ Ver. 2. Son of man, set thy face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, Ver. 3. And say to it, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will deal with thee, Mount Seir, and loill stretch out my hand against thee, and make thee waste and devastation, Ver. 4. Thy cities will I make into ruins, and thou wilt become a waste, and shalt know that I am Jehovah, Ver. 5. Because thou cherishest eternal enmity, and gavest up the sons of Israel to the sword at the time of their distress, at the time of the final transgression, Ver. G. Therefore, as truly as I live, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, 1 will make thee blood, and blood shall pursue thee ; since thou hast not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue thee. Ver. 7. Twill make Mount Seir devastation and waste, and cut off there- from him that goeth aivay and him that returneth, Ver. 8. Aiid fill his mountains with his slain ; upon thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy low p>laces, those pierced with the sword shall fall. Ver. 9. I will make thee eternal wastes, and thy cities shall not be inhabited ; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah, Ver. 10. Because thou sayest. The two nations and the two lands they shall be mine, and ive will take possession of it, lohen Jehovah was there ; Ver. 11. Therefore, as truly as I live, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, 1 ivill do according to thy ivrath and thine envy, as thou hast done because of thy hatred, andtvill make my- self knoiun among them, as I shall judge thee. Ver. 12. And thou shalt know that I, Jehovah, have heard all thy reproaches ivhich tliou hast uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying, ^' they are laid waste, they are given to us for food^ Ver. 13. Ye have magnified against me with your mouth, and heaped vp your sayings against me ; I have heard it. Ver. 14. Thus saith fJie Lord Jehovah, When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will prepare devastation for thee. Ver. 15. As thou hadst thy delight in the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was laid ivaste, so will I do to thee ; thou shalt become a ivaste, Mount Seir and all Edom together ; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. The theme of this prophecy, viz. '' Edom and its cities are 96 THE PRoniECiEs of ezekiel. to become a desert" (vers. 2-4), is vindicated and earnestly elaborated in two strophes, commencing with '^J"! \Vl (vers. 5 and 10), and closing, like the announcement of the theme itself (ver. Ah), with '""• ^^i:? '3 (i^T^^) ^^VT\ by a distinct statement of the sins of Edom. — Already, in ch. xxv., Edom has been named among the hostile border nations which are threatened with destruction (vers. 12-14). The earlier prophecy applied to the Edomites, according to their historical relation to the people of Israel and the kingdom of Judah. In the present word of God, on the contrary, Edom comes into consideration, on the ground of its hostile attitude towards the covenant people, as the representative of the world and of mankind in its hostility to the people and kingdom of God, as in Isa. xxxiv. and Ixiii. 1-0. This is apparent from the fact that devastation is to be prepared for Edom, when the whole earth rejoices (ver. 14), which does not apply to Edom as a small and solitary nation, and still more clearly from the circumstance that, in the pro- mise of salvation in ch. xxxvi., not all Edom alone (ver. 5), but tlie remnant of the heathen nations generally (ch. xxxvi. 3-7 and 15), are mentioned as the enemies from whose disgrace and oppression Israel is to be delivered. For ver. 2, compare ch. xiii. 17. '^'^V'^ "in is the name given to the mountainous district inhabited by the Edomites, between the Dead Sea and the Elanitic Gulf (see the comm. on Gen. xxxvi. 9). The prophecy is directed against the land ; but it also applies to the nation, which brings upon itself the desolation of its land by its hostility to Israel. For ver. 3, compare ch. vi. 14, etc. »^?1'^, destruction. The sin of Edom mentioned in ver. 5 is eternal enmity toward Israel, which has also been imputed to the Philistines in ch. xxv. 15, but which struck deeper root, in the case of Edom, in the hostile attitude of Esau toward Jacob (Gen. xxv. 22 sqq. and xxvii. 37), and was manifested, as Amos (i. 11) has already said, in the constant retention of its malignity toward the covenant nation, so that Edom embraced every opportunity to effect its destruction, and according to the charge CHAP XXXV. 1-15. 97 brought against it by Ezekiel, gave up the sons of Israel to the sword when the kingdom of Judah fell, nnn n^_ bv "i"'an, lit. to pour upon ( — into) the hands of the sword, i.e. to deliver up to the power of the sword (cf. Ps. Ixiii. 11 ; Jer. xviii. 21). m^x nvs recalls to mind DT'N* Di^a in Obad. 13 ; but here it is more precisely defined by ^i?. VV. ^?/|j and limited to the time of the overthrow of the Israelites, when Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by the Chaldeans. TP. t^P. ^V.^y as in ch. xxi. 30. On account of this display of its hostility, the Lord will make Edom blood (ver. 6). This expression is probably chosen for the play upon the words D^ and CiiN*. Edom shall become what its name suggests. Making it blood does not mean merely filling it with bloodshed, or reddening the soil with blood (Hitzig) ; but, as in ch. xvi. 38, turning it as it were into blood, or causing it to vanish therein. Blood shall pursue thee, " as blood-guiltiness invariably pursues a murderer, cries for vengeance, and so delivers him up to punishment " (Havernick). ^^ DX cannot be the particle employed in swear- ing, and dependent upon ^^^'^^, since this particle introduces an affirmative declaration, which would be unsuitable here, inas- much as D"! in this connection cannot possibly signify blood- relationship. Nv DK means " if not," in which the conditional meaning of Q^5 coincides with the causal, " if " being equivalent to ^^ since." The unusual separation of the i6 from the verb is occasioned by the fact that D"=J is placed before the verb to avoid collision with D'JV To hate blood is the same as to have a horror of bloodshed or murder. This threat is carried out still further in vers. 7 and 8. The land of Edom is to become a complete and perpetual devastation ; its inhabitants are to be exterminated by war. The form n^^'J' stands for ^^^^\ and is not to be changed into '^^I^♦b. Considering the frequency w^ith which n^'J'b occurs, the supposition that we have here a copyist's error is by no means a probable one, and still less probable is the perpetuation of such an error. n'J'j nn'y, as in Zech. vii. 14. For ver. 8 compare ch. xxxii. 5, 6 and ch. EZEK. II. G 98 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. xxxi. 12. The Chetih nj^u-'-n is scriptio plena for "^J^ti'ri, the imperfect Kal of y^\ in the intransitive sense to be inhabited. The Keri ^J?"^'?, from nVk^^, is a needless and unsuitable correc- tion, since nVu' does not mean restitui. In the second strophe, vers. 10-15, the additional reason assigned for the desolation of Edom is its longing for the pos- session of Israel and its land, of which it desired to take forcible possession, although it knew that they belonged to Jehovah, whereby the hatred of Edom toward Israel became contempt of Jehovah. The two peoples and the two lands are Israel and Judah with their lands, and therefore the whole of the holy people and land. riNt is the sign of the accusative : as for the two peoples, they are mine. The suffix appended to n5i3t^*T is neuter, and is to be taken as referring generally to what has gone before. ^^J} ^^ njn^i is a circumstantial clause, through which the desire of Edom is placed in the right light, and characterized as an attack upon Jehovah Himself. Jehovah was there — namely, in the land of which Edom wished to take possession. Kliefoth's rendering, " and yet Jehovah i5 there," is opposed to Hebrew usage, by changing the preterite ^\^ into a present ; and the objection which he offers to the only render- ing that is grammatically admissible, viz. " when Jehovah was there," to the effect " that it attributes to Ezekiel the thought that the Holy Land had once been the land and dwelling-place of God, but was so no longer," calls in question the actual historical condition of things without the slightest reason. For .Tehovah. had really forsaken His dwelling-place in Canaan before the destruction of the temple, but without thereby re- nouncing His right to the land ; since it was only for the sins of Israel that He had given up the temple, city, and land to be laid waste by the heathen. *^ But Edom had acted as if Israel existed among the nations without God, and Jehovah had departed from it for ever " (Havernick) ; or rather as if Jehovah were a powerless and useless Deity, who had not been able to defend His people against the might of the heathen nations. CHAP. XXXV. 1-15. 99 The Lord will requite Edom for this, in a manner answering to its anger and envy, which had both sprung from hatred. 03 W'liJ, " I will make myself known among them (the Israel- ites) when I judge thee;" i.e.^ by the fact that He punishes Edom for its sin, He will prove to Israel that He is a God who does not suffer His people and His possession to be attacked with impunity. From this shall Edom learn that He is Jehovah, the omniscient God, who has heard the revilings of His enemies (vers. 12, 13), and the almighty God, who rewards those who utter such proud sayings according to their deeds (vers. 14 and 15). rii^'SJ has retained the Kametz on account of the guttural in the first tone, in contrast with riiVXJ in Neh. ix. 18, 26 (cf. Ewald, § 69Z>). — The expression " mountains of Israel," for the land of Israel, in ver. 12 and ch. xxxvi. 1, is occa- sioned by the antithesis " mountain (mountain-range) of Seir." The Chetih n'O^]^ is to be pronounced ^'J^^', and to be retained in spite of the Keri. The singular of the neuter gender is used with emphasis in a broken and emotional address, and is to be taken as referring ad sensum to the land. nD2 r^)^^ to magnify or boast with the mouth, i.e. to utter proud sayings against God, in other words, actually to deride God (compare na p'^'n^n in Obad. 12, which has a kindred meaning). "'^^;i;n^ used here according to Aramean usage for "i^^^J!^, to multiply, or heap up. In nbc'3, in ver. 14, 3 is a particle of time, as it frequently is before infinitives {e.g. Josh. vi. 20), when all the earth rejoices, not ^^ over thy desolation " (Hitzig), which does not yield any rational thought, but when joy is prepared for all the world, I will prepare devastation for thee. Through this anti- thesis n^?"''? is limited to the world, with the exception of Edom, i.e. to that portion of the human race which stood in a different relation to God and His people from that of Edom ; in other words, which acknowledged the Lord as the true God. It follows from this, that Edom represents the world at enmity against God. In "^rinD^a (ver. 15) D is a particle of compari- son ; and the meaning of ver. 15 is; as thou didst rejoice over 100 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. the desolation of the inheritance of the house of Israel, so will I cause others to rejoice over thy desolation. In ver. 15b we agree with the LXX., Vulgate, Syrlac, and others, in taking n'nn as the second person, not as the third. I^a'3 Di"iS"73 serves to strengthen '^•''VJ^'""!'!' (compare ch. xl. 15 and xxxvL 10). Chap, xxxvi. 1-15. The Kestoration and Blessing of Israel. — Ver. 1. Atid thoiCj son of man, prophesy to the moun- tains of Israel, and say^ Mountains of Israel, hear the word of Jehovah : Ver. 2. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because the enemy saith concerning you, Aha! the everlasting heights have become ours for a possession : Ver. 3. Therefore prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because, even because they lay you waste, and pant for you round about, so that ye have become a possession to the remnant of the nations, and have come to the talk of the tongue and gossip of the people : Ver. 4. Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the ivord of the Lord Jehovah : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and hills, to the low places and valleys, and to the ivaste ruins and the forsaken cities, which have become a prey and derision to the remnant of the nations 7'ound about ; Ver. 5. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Truly in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the remnant of the nations, and against Edom altogether, which have made my land a possession for themselves in all joy of heart, in contempt of soid, to empty it out for booty. Ver. 6. Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, to the low places and valleys^ Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, in my jealousy and fury have I spoken, because ye have borne the disgrace of the nations, Ver. 7. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I, I have lifted up my hand ; truly the nations round about you, they shall bear their disgrace. Ver. 8. But ye, ye mountains of Israel, shall put forth your branches, and bear your fruit to my p)eople Israel ; for they will soon come. Ver. 9. For, behold, I will deal loith you, and turn toward youj and ye shall be tilled and sown. Ver. 10. CHAP. XXXVI. 1-1.5. 101 / luill midtiphj men upon yoitj all the house of Israel at once ; and the cities shall he inhabited, and the ruins built. Ver. 11. And I icill multiply upon you man and beast; they shall multiply and be fruitful : and I will make you inhabited as in your former time, and do more good to you than in your earlier days ; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah, Ver. 12. / ivill cause men, my p)eople Israel, to walk upon you ; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt he an inheritance to them, and make them childless no more. Ver. 13. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because they say to you, ^^ Thou art a devour er of men, and hast made thy people childless ;" Ver. 14. Therefore thou shalt no more devour men^ and no more cause thy people to stumble, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Ver. 15. And I will no more cause thee to hear the scoffing of the nations, and the disgrace of the nations thou shalt bear no more, and shalt no more cause thy people to stumble, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. This prophecy is uttered concerning the land of Israel, as is plainly declared in ver. 6; whereas in vers. 1 and 4 the mountains of Israel are mentioned instead of the land, in antithesis to the mountains of Seir (ch. xxxv. ; see the comm. on ch. xxxv. 12). The promise takes throughout the form of antithesis to the threat against Edom in ch. xxxv. Because Edom rejoices that the Holy Land, which has been laid waste, has fallen to it for a possession, therefore shall the devastated land be cultivated and sown again, and be inhabited by Israel as in the former time. The heathen nations round about shall, on the other hand, bear their disgrace; Edom, as we have already observed, being expanded, so far as the idea is con- cerned, into all the heathen nations surrounding Israel (vers. 3-7). In ver. 2, ^.^j^^-^, the enemy, is mentioned in quite a general manner; and what has already been stated concerning Edom in ch. xxxv. 5 and 10, is here predicted of the enemy. In vers. 3 and 4 this enemy is designated as a remnant of the heathen nations ; and it is not till ver. 5 that it is more pre- cisely defined by the clause, " and all Edom altogether." The 102 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Di3 round about (2''?2^ "iC'n*, ver. 4, compared with ver. 3) are the heathen nations which are threatened with destruction in ch. XXV. and xxvi., on account of their malicious rejoicing at the devastation of Jerusalem and Judah. This serves to explain the fact that these nations are designated as D'isn nn^'J', the rest, or remnant of the heathen nations, which presupposes that the judgment has fallen upon them, and that only a remnant of them is left, which remnant desires to take possession of the devastated land of Israel. The epithet applied to this land, a?\V J^i^^^ everlasting, i.e. primeval heights, points back to the D^iV Hiy^a of Gen. xlix. 26 and Deut. xxxiii. 15, and is chosen for the purpose of representing the land as a possession secured to the people of Israel by primeval promises, in consequence of which the attempt of the enemy to seize upon this land has become a sin against the Lord God. The indignation at such a sin is expressed in the emotional character of the address. As Ewald has aptly observed, '' Ezekiel is seized with unusual fire, so that after the brief statement in ver. 2 ' therefore ' is repeated five times, the charo'es brought ae^ainst these foes forcing themselves in a^ain and again, before the prophecy settles calmly upon the moun- tains of Israel, to which it was really intended to apply." For ir.? ly^j see the comm. on ch. xiii. 10. T)S^^ is an infinitive Kal, formed after the analogy of the verbs n'b (cf. Ewald, § 238e), from Ci^'f , to be waste, to devastate, as in Dan. viii. 13, ix. 27, xli. 11, and is not to be taken in the sense of QC^'j, after Isa. xlii. 14, as Hitzig supposes. ^^^, to pant for a thing; here it is equivalent to snapping at anything. This is required by a comparison with ver. 46, where T3p r]^^r] corresponds to C]xcn ni?3C>, and ^V^^ to 'l^il ri2b> hv ^m. In the connection JiC'*^ nsii^, nsb^ signifies the lip as an organ of speech, or, more precisely, the words spoken ; and liC^'J', the tongue, is personified, and stands for p^'^ t^'^^? (Ps. cxl. 12), a tongue-man, i.e. a talker. In ver. 4 the idea expressed in " the mountains of Israel " is expanded into mountains, hills, lowlands, and valleys (cf. ch. CHAP. XXXVI. 1-15. 103 xxxi. 12, xxxii. 5, G) ; and this periphrastic descriptioii of the land is more minutely defined by the additional clause, " waste ruins and forsaken cities." N/ Di^ in ver. 5 is the particle used in oaths (cf. ch. v. 11, etc.); and the perfect "'^"]?1 is not merely prophetic, but also a preterite. God has already uttered a threatening word concerning the nations round about in ch. XXV., xxvi., and xxxv. ; and here He once more declares that they shall bear their disgrace, ^^^3|p C'NI is the fiery jealousy of wrath. &^?3 is an Aramean form for r^^s (ch. xxxv. 15). For ^'^i ^^f^, see ch. xxv. 6. In the expression ^^1^0 \v^h Dp, which has been rendered in various ways, we agree with Gesenius and others in regarding ^^J^ as an Aramean form of the infinitive of C^"]2, with the meaning to empty out, which is confirmed by the Syriac ; for ^ly'O cannot be a substantive, on account of the \V^)> ; and Hitzig's conjecture, that fJ? should be pointed w, and the clause rendered " to plunder its produce," is precluded by the fact that the separation of the preposition f l>'^f, by the insertion of a word between, is unexampled, to say nothing of the fact that ^1^^ does not mean produce at all. The thought expressed in vers. 6 and 7 is the following: because Israel has hitherto borne the contempt of the heathen, the heathen shall now bear their own contempt. The lifting of the hand is a gesture employed in taking an oath, as in ch. XX. 6, etc. But the land of Israel is to receive a blessing. This blessing is described in ver. 8 in general terms, as the bearing of fruit by the mountains, i.e. by the land of Israel ; and its speedy commencement is predicted. It is then depicted in detail in vers. 9 sqq. In the clause t^\). is the continuation of the participle D''a*^^ ; and the participle is expressive of the condition in the past, as we may see from the words 'l^l "^^^w. The simile in ver. 176 is an explanatory, circumstantial clause. For ver. 18, compare ch. vii. 8, and for 'l^l D'nn b^^ ch. xxii. 3, 6. The last clause, " and through their idols they have defiled it," is loosely appended ; but it really contains a second reason for the pouring out of the wrath of God upon the people. For ver. 19, compare ch. xxii. 15. 5")^^"n^3 ; but there is no necessity to read 51X2*1 on that account. It is perfectly arbitrary to supply the subject proposed by Kliefoth, viz. *^ the report of what had happened to Israel" came to the heathen, which is quite foreign to the connection ; for it was not the report concerning Israel, but Israel itself, which came to the heathen, and profaned the sacred name of God. This is not only plainly expressed in ver. 2lb, but has been already stated in ver. 20. 108 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. The fact that the words of the heathen, by which the name of God was profaned, are quoted here, does not prove that it is the heathen nations who are to be regarded as those who pro- faned the name of God, as Kliefoth imagines. The words, " these are Jehovah's people, and have come out of His (Jehovah's) land," could only contain a profanation of the holy name of God, if their coming out was regarded as in- voluntary, Le, as an exile enforced by the power of the heathen ; or, on the other hand, if the Israelites themselves had denied the holiness of the people of God through their behaviour among the heathen. Most of the commentators have decided in favour of the former view. Vatablus, for example, gives this explanation : " if their God whom they preach had been omnipotent. He would not have allowed them to be expelled from His land." And we must decide in favour of this exposi- tion, not only because of the parallel passages, such as Num. xiv. 16 and Jer. xxxiii. 24, which support this view ; but chiefly on account of the verses which follow, according to which the sanctification of the name of God amon£p the nations consists in the fact that God gathers Israel out of its dispersion among the nations, and leads them back into His own land (vid. vers. 23 and 24). Consequently the profanation of His name can only have consisted in the fact that Israel was carried away out of its own land, and scattered in the heathen lands. For, since the heathen acknowledged only national gods, and regarded Jehovah as nothing more than such a national god of Israel, they did not look upon the destruction of the kingdom of Judah and the carrying away of the people as a judgment of the almighty and holy God upon His people, but concluded that that catastrophe was a sign of the inability of Jehovah to defend His land and save His people. The only way in which God could destroy this delusion was by manifesting Himself to the heathen as the almighty God and Lord of the whole world through the redemption and glorification of His people. bbriNij 'p UV^'pV : so I had pity, compassion upon my holy name. The CHAP. XXXVI. 22-28. 109 preterite is prophetic, inasmuch as the compassion consists in the gathering of Israel out of the nations, which is announced in vers. 22 sqq. as still in the future. The rendering, " I spared (them) for my holy name's sake" (LXX., Havernick), is false ; for fen is construed with pVj governing the person or the thing toward w^iich the compassion is shown (vicL ch. xvi. 5 and 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15, 17). Vers. 22-28. For His holy name's sake the Lord will bring Israel back from its dispersion into His own land, purify it from its sins, and sanctify it by His Spirit to be His own people. — Ver. 22. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I do it not for your sakes, house of Israel, but for my holy name^s sake, ichich ye have profaned among the nations whither ye have come, Ver. 23. / will sanctify my great name, which is profaned among the nations, ichich ye have profaned in the midst of them, so that the nations shall knoio that I am Jehovah, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, when I prove myself holy upon you before their eyes, Ver. 24. I will take you out of the nations, and gather you out of all lands, and bring you into your land, Ver. 25. And ivill sprinkle clean water iqjon you, that ye may become clean ; from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols will I cleanse you, Ver. 26. And I ivill give you a new heart, and give a new spirit within you ; I luill take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and give yoio a heart of flesh, Ver. 27. / ivill put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and keep my rights, and do them. Ver. 28. And ye shall divell in the land which I have given to your fathers, and shall become my people, and I ivill be your God. — These verses show in what way the Lord will have compassion upon His holy name, and how He will put an end to the scoffing thereat, and vindicate His honour in the sight of the heathen. <^ Not for your sake," i.e. not because you have any claim to deliverance on account of your behaviour (cf. Isa. xlviii. 11 and Deut. ix. 6), but for my holy name's sake, i.e. to mauifest as holy 110 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. the name which has been profaned among the heathen, I do it, namely, what follows from ver. 23 onwards. The Lord will sanctify His name, i.e. show it to be holy by proving Him- self to be holy upon Israel, t^*■^p is not equivalent to glorify, although the holiness of God involves the idea of glory. Sanctifying is the removing or expunging of the blots and blemishes which adhere to anything. The giving up of His people was regarded by the heathen as a sign of the weakness of Jehovah. This blot through which His omnipotence and glory were dishonoured, God would remove by gathering Israel out of the heathen, and glorifying it. Instead of tD3\J''y^, the ancient versions have rendered D^^W?. This reading is also found in many of the codices and the earliest editions, and is confirmed by the great Masora, and also commended by the parallel passages, ch. xx. 41 and xxviii. 25, so that it no doubt deserves the preference, although D^^D^yi' can also be justified. For inasmuch as Israelites had despaired in the midst of their wretchedness through unbelief, it was necessary that Jehovah should sanctify His great name in their sight as well. The creat name of Jehovah is His almighty exaltation above all gods (cf. Mai. i. 11, 12). The first thing that Jehovah does for the sanctification of His name is to bring back Israel from its dispersion into its own land (ver. 24, compare ch. xi. 17 and XX. 41, 42) ; and then follows the purifying of Israel from its sins. The figurative expression, " to sprinkle with clean water," is taken from the lustrations prescribed by the law, more particularly the purifying from defilement from the dead by sprinkling with the water prepared from the ashes of a red heifer (Num. xix. 17-19 ; compare Ps. li. 9). Cleansing from sins, which corresponds to justification, and is not to be con- founded with sanctification (Schmieder), is follow^ed by renewal with the Holy Spirit, which takes away the old heart of stone and puts within a new heart of flesh, so that the man can fulfil the commandments of God, and walk in newness of life (vers. 2G-28 ; compare ch. xi. 18_20, where this promise has already CHAP. XXXVI. 29-38. Ill occurred, and the necessary remarks concerning its fulfilment have been made). — With regard to the construction nx nbv '):) "1C^*^?^ to make or effect your walking, compare Ewald, § 3375. Vers. 29-38. The Lord will richly bless, multiply, and glorify His people, when thus renewed and sanctified. — Ver. 29. And Iiuill save you from all your uncleannesses, and will call the coruj and multiply it, and no more bring famine upon you; Yer. 30. But I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the fieldj so that ye will no more hear the reproach of famine among the nations. Ver. 31. But ye will remember your evil ways, and your deeds ivhich ivere not good, and ivill loathe yourselves on account of your iniquities and your abominations. Ver. 32. Not for your sake do I this, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah^ be this known to you ; be ye ashamed and blush for your ways, house of Israel ! Ver. 33. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, In the day when I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities, I ivill make the cities inhabited, and the ruins shall be built, Ver. 34. A nd the devastated land shall be tilled instead of being a desert before the eyes of every one who passed by. Ver. 35. And men ivill say, This land, which ivas laid ivasfe, has become like the garden of Eden, and the desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited. Ver. 36. And the 7iations, ivhich have been left round about you, shall know that 1 Jehovah build up that ivhich is destroyed, and plant that which is laid loaste. I, Jehovah, have said it, and do it. Ver. 37. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, 1 vjill still let myself be sought by the house of Israel in this, to do it for them ; I will multiply them, like a flock, in men ; Ver. 38. Like a flock of holy sacrifices, like the flock of Jeru- salem on its feast-days, so sJiall the desolate cities be full of flocks of men ; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. — The words 'l^V W^^i'i, I help or save you from all your uncleannesses, cannot be understood as relating to their purification from the former uncleannesses ; for they have already been cleansed from these, accordmg to ver. 25. The nix^D can only be such defilements 112 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. as are still possible even after the renewing of the people ; and Vi?*in^ to help, means to guard them against any further recur- rence of such defilements (cf. ch. xxxvii. 23), and not to deliver them from the consequences of their former pollutions. But if God preserves His people from these, there is no longer any occasion for a fresh suspension of judgments over them, and God can bestow His blessing upon the sanctified nation without reserve. It is in this way that the further promises are ap- pended ; and, first of all, in vers. 296 and 30, a promise that He will bless them with an abundant crop of fruits, both of the orchard and the field. *' I call to the corn," Le, I cause it to come or grow, so that famine will occur no more (for the fact, com- pare ch. xxxiv. 29). In consequence of this blessing, Israel will blush with shame at the thought of its former sins, and will loathe itself for those abominations (ver. 31) ; compare ch. XX. 43, where the same thought has already occurred. To this, after repeating what has been said before in ver. 22, namely, that God is not doing all this for the sake of the Israelites themselves, the prophet appends the admonition to be ashamed of their conduct, i.e. to repent, which is so far inserted appro- priately in the promise, that the promise itself is meant to entice Israel to repent and return to God. Then^ secondly, in two strophes introduced with '''^ "1J?5J nb, the promise is still further expanded. In vers. 33-36, the prophet shows how the de- vastated land is to be restored and rebuilt, and to become a paradise ; and in vers. 37 and 38, how the people are to be blessed through a large increase in their numbers. Both of these strophes are simply a further elaboration of the promise contained in vers. 9-12. H^t^'in, causative of 3C';, to cause to be inhabited, to populate, as in Isa. liv. 3. "'?^V"i'3 ^^^Pj as in ch. V. 14. The subject to ^'^^^\ in ver. 35 is, '^ those who pass by." For the comparison to the garden of Eden, see ch. xxxi. 9. rinivn is a circumstantial word belonging to ^2fl ; they shall be inhabited as fortified cities, that is to say, shall afford to their inhabitants the security of fortresses, from CHAP. XXXVI. 29-38. 113 which there is no fear of their being expelled. In ver. 36 the expression, " the heathen nations which shall be left round about you," presupposes that at the time of Israel's redemption the judgment will have fallen upon the heathen (compare ch. XXX. 3 with ch. xxix. 21), so that only a remnant of them will be still in existence; and this remnant will recognise the work of Jehovah in the restoration of Israel. This recognition, however, does not involve the conversion of the heathen to Jehovah, but is simply preparatory to it. For the fact itself, compare ch. xvii. 24. ^'^r', to let oneself be asked or entreated, as in ch. xiv. 3. nxT, with regard to this, is explained by 2?^ ^^j^& What God will do follows in 'i:il nniN*. God will multiply His people to such an extent, that they will resemble the flock of lambs, sheep, and goats brought to Jerusalem to sacrifice upon the feast days. Compare 2 Chron. xxxv. 7, where Josiah is said to have given to the people thirty thousand lambs and goats for the feast of the passover. DIS |N5:3 does not mean, like a flock of men. D'liJ cannot be a genitive dependent upon Jt^i, on account of the article in lNi*3j but belongs to nn"ix, either as a supplementary apposition to C^^^^, or as a second object, so that "^^l^? would be construed with a double accusative, after the analogy of verbs of plenty, to multiply them in men. Kliefoth's rendering, " I will multiply them, so that they shall be the flock of men " (of mankind), is grammatically untenable, '^'''^'^i^, l^% a flock of holy beasts, i.e. of sacrificial lambs. The flock of Jerusalem is the flock brought to Jerusalem at the yearly feasts, when the male population of the land came to the sanctuary (Deut. xvi. 16) : So shall the desolate cities be filled again with flocks of men (compare Mic. ii. 12). EZEK. IT. lU THE PROrHECII'S OF EZEKIEL. CHAP. XXXVII. RESUKKECTION OF ISRAEL AND REUNION AS ONE NATION. This chapter contains two revelations from God (vers. 1-14 and vers. 15-28). In the first, the prophet is shown in a vision the resurrection of Israel to a new life. In the second, he is commanded to exhibit, by means of a symbolical act, the reunion of the divided kingdoms into a single nation under one king. Both of these he is to announce to the children of Israel. The substantial connection between these two prophecies will be seen from the exposition. Vers. 1—14. JResurrection of Israel to new Life. Ver. 1. There came upon me the hand of Jehovah^ and Jehovah led me out in the spintj and set me down in the midst of the valley ; this was full of hones. Ver. 2. And He led me past them round about; aiidj behold^ there were very many on the surface of the valley^ and, hehold^ they ivere very dry. Ver. 3. And He said to me, Son of man, will these hones come to life ? and I saidj Lord, Jehovah^ thou kncwest. Ver. 4. Then He said to me, Prophesy over these hones, and say to them, Ye dry hones, hear ye the ivord of Jehovah. Ver. 5. Thus saiih the Lord Jehovah to these hones, Behold, I hring hreath into you, that ye may come to life. Ver. 6. / will create sinews upon you, and cause flesh to grow upon you, and cover you with skin, and hring hreath into you, so that ye shall live and know that I am Jehovah. Ver. 7. And I prophesied as I luas commanded ; and there tvas a noise as I prophesied, and hehold a rumbling, and the hones came together, hone to hone. Ver. 8. And I saw, and hehold sinews came over them, and flesh greiv, arid skin drew over it above ; hut there was no hreath in them. Ver. 9. Then He said to me, Prophesy to the hreath, proiphesy, son of man, and say to the hreath, Thus saith the I^ord Jehovah, Come from the four winds, thou hreath, and blow upon these slain, that they may come to life. Ver. 10. And I prophesied as I was commanded; CHAP. XXXVII. 1-11. 115 then the breath came into them, and they came to life, and stood upon their feet, a very, very gi^eat army. Ver. 11. And He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the tvhole house of Israel ; behold, they say, our bones are dried, and our hope has perished; ice are destroyed! Ver. 12. Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I ivill open your graves, and cause you to come out of your graves, my people, and bring you into the land of Israel. Ver. 13. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I open your graves, and cause you to come out of your graves, my people. Ver. 14. A nd I luill p)ut my Spirit into you, and will place you in your land, and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken and do it, is the saying of Jehovah. — This revelation divides itself into two sections. Vers. 1—10 contain the vision, and vers. 11-14 give the interpretation. There are no particular difficulties in the description of the vision, so far as the meaning of the words is concerned. By a supernatural intervention on the part of God, Ezekiel is taken from his own home in a state of spiritual ecstasy into a valley which was full of dead men's bones. For the expression ^n^^ '^^ "^l V?, see the comm. on ch. i. 3. In the second clause of ver. 1 njn^ is the subject, and is not to be taken as a genitive in connection with n^i?, as it has been by the Vulgate and Hitzig in opposition to the accents. n'i"i3 stands for 2^"?"^^ m")3 (ch. xi. 24), and D^n^^. is omitted simply because T\\t\\ follows imme- diately afterwards, n^in^ to set down, here and ch. xl. 2 ; whereas in other cases the form n'sn is usually employed in this sense. The article prefixed to nvpsn appears to point back to ch. iii. 22, to the valley where Ezekiel received the first revelation concerning the fate of Jerusalem and its inhabitants. That Q''^5*V ^^6 dead men's bones is evident from what follows. ^\f?^, ^T^^'^V.J)^ i^ot " He led me over them round about," but past them, in order that Ezekiel might have a clear view of them, and see whether it were possible for them to come to life again. They were lying upon the surface of the valley, Le. not under, but upon the ground, and not piled up in a heap, but scattered 11 G THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. over tlie valley, and they were very dry. The question asked by God, whether these bones could live, or come to life again, prepares the way for the miracle ; and Ezekiel's answer, " Lord, Thou knowest" (cf. Rev. vii. 14), implies that, according to human judgment, it was inconceivable that they could come to life any more, and nothing but the omnipotence of God could effect this. — After this introduction there follows in vers. 4 sqq. the miracle of the raising to life of these very dry bones, accomplished through the medium of the word of God, which the prophet addresses to them, to show to the people that the power to realize itself is inherent in the word of Jehovah pro- claimed by Ezekiel ; in other words, that Jehovah possesses the power to accomplish whatever He promises to His people. The word in ver. 5, '' Behold, I bring breath into you, that ye may come to life," announces in general terms the raising of them to life, whilst the process itself is more minutely described in ver. 6. God will put on them (clothe them with) sinews, flesh, and skin, and then put nn in them, n^"' is the animating spirit or breath =:D^*n nn (Gen. vi. 17, vii. 17). ti"])^, air. \ey. in Syriac incrustare, ohdiicere. When Ezekiel prophesied there arose or followed a sound (^ip), and then a shaking (t^Vl), and the bones approached one another, every bone to its own bone. Different explanations have been given of the words b\\> and ^T\. ^ip signifies a sound or voice, and C^'Vl a trembling, an earthquake, and also a rumbling or a loud noise (compare ch. iii. 12 and Isa. ix. 4). The relation between the two words as they stand here is certainly not that the sound (i^ip) passes at once into a loud noise, or is continued in that form ; whilst C^'ifl denotes the rattling or rustling of bones in motion. The fact that the moving of the bones toward one another is repre- sented by I^IP^l (with Vav consec), as the sequel to K^VI, is decisive against this. Yet we cannot agree with Kliefoth, that by S^ip we are to understand the trumpet-blast, or voice of God, that wakes the dead from their graves, according to those passages of the New Testament which treat of the resurrection, CHAP. XXXVII. 1-U. 117 and by t^♦y'^ the earthquake which opens the graves. This explanation is precluded, not only by the philological difficulty that b)\) without any further definition does not signify either the blast of a trumpet or the voice of God, but also by the circumstance that the ?)p is the result of the prophesying of Ezekiel ; and we cannot suppose that God would make His almighty call dependent upon a prophet's prophesying. And even in the case of t^•y'^, the reference to ch. xxxviii. 19 does not prove that the word must mean earthquake in this passage also, since Ezekiel uses the word in a different sense in ch. xii. 18 and iii. 12. We therefore take ?)p in the general sense of a loud noise, and C'Vl in the sense of shaking (sc, of the bones), which was occasioned by the loud noise, and produced, or was followed by, the movement of the bones to approach one another. The cominrj too-ether of the bones was followed by their being clothed with sinews, flesh, and skin ; but there was not yet any breath in them (ver. 8). To give them this the prophet is to prophesy again, and that to the breath, that it come from the four winds or quarters of the world and breathe into these slain (ver. 9). Then, when he prophesied, the breath came into them, so that they received life, and stood upright upon their feet. In vers. 9 and 10 nn is rendered by some ^* wind," by others "spirit;" but neither of these is in con- formity with what precedes it. nn does not mean anything else than the breath of life, which has indeed a substratum in the wind, perceptible to the senses, but is not identical with it. The wind itself brings no life into dead bodies. If, therefore, the dead bodies become living, receive life through the blowing of the n'li into them, what enters into them by the blowing cannot be a symbol of the breath of life, but must be the breath of life itself — namely, that divine breath of life which pervades all nature, giving and sustaining the life of all creatures (cf. Ps. civ. 29, 30). The expression D^^^ina ^nS) points back to Gen. ii. 7. The representation of the bringing of the dead bones to life in two acts may also be explained from the fact 118 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. that it is based upon the history of the creation of man in Gen. ii., as Theodoret^ has observed, and serves plainly to depict the creative revivification here, like the first creation there, as a work of the almighty God. For a correct under- standing of the vision, it is also necessary to observe that in ver. 9 the dead bones, clothed with sinews, flesh, and skin, are called Q''^1''l|, slain, killed, and not merely dead. It is apparent at once from this that our vision is not intended to symbolize the resurrection of all the dead, but simply the raising up of the nation of Israel, which has been slain. This is borne out by the explanation of the vision which God gives to the prophet in vers. 11—14, and directs him to repeat to the people. The dead bones are the " whole house of Israel " that has been given up to death; in other w^ords, Judah and Ephraim. " These bones" in ver. 11 are the same as in vers. 3 and 5, and not the bodies brought to life in ver. 10 ; though Hitzig main- tains that they are the latter, and then draws the erroneous conclusion that vers. 11-14 do not interpret the vision of the first ten verses, but that the bones in the valley are simply explained in these verses as signifying the dead of Israel. It is true that the further explanation in ver. 12 sqq. of what is described in vers. 5-10 as happening to the dead bones is not given in the form of an exposition of the separate details of that occurrence, but is summed up in the announcement that God will open their graves, bring them out of their graves, and transport them to their own land. But it does not follow from tliis that the announcement is merely an application of the vision to the restoration of Israel to new life, and therefore that something different is represented from what is announced in vers. 12-14. Such a view is at variance with the words, " these bones are the whole house of Israel." Even if these words are not to be taken so literally as that we are to under- ^ " For as the body of our forefather Adam was first moulded, and then the soul was thus breathed into it ; so here also both combined in fitting harmony." — Theodoret. cnAP. XXXVII. 1-1 1. 119 stand that tlie prophet was shown in the vision the bones of the slain and deceased Israelites, but simply mean: these dead bones represent the house of Israel, depict the nation of Israel in its state of death, — they express so much in the clearest terms concerning the relation in which the explanation in vers. 12-14 stands to the visionary occurrence in vers. 4-10, namely, that God has shown to Ezekiel in the vision what He commands him to announce concerning Israel in vers. 12-14; in other words, that the bringing of the dead bones to life shown to him in the vision was intended to place visibly before him the raising of the whole nation of Israel to new life out of the death into which it had fallen. This is obvious enough from the words : these bones are the whole house of Israel. n"'n";3 p^'^V] points forward to the reunion of the tribes of Israel that are severed into two nations, as foretold in vers. 15sqq. It is they who speak in ver. lib. The subject to D'''iDN is neither the bones nor the dead of Israel (Hitzig), but the ^^?';'^l ^''?"^2 already named, which is also addressed in ver. 12. All Israel says : our bones are dried, i.e. our vital force is gone. The bones are the seat of the vital force, as in Ps. xxxii. 3 ; and ^^j to dry up, applied to the marrow, or vital sap of the bones, is substantially the same as n73 in the psalm (I.e.). Our hope has perished (cf. ch. xix. 5). t^]\^ii!i is here the hope of rising into a nation once more, i^^ 13"]]^3 ; literally, we are cut off for ourselves, sc. from the sphere of the living (cf. Lam. iii. 54 ; Isa. liii. 8), equivalent to " it is all over with us." To the people speaking thus, Ezekiel is to announce that the Lord will open their graves, bring them out of them, put His breath of life into them, and lead them into their own land.^ If we observe the relation in which vers. 12 and 13 stand to ver. 14, namely, that the two halves of the 14th verse are parallel to the two verses 12 and 13, the clause ''•'' '':^? "3 nrivy] in ver. 145 to the similar clause in ver. 13, there can be no doubt that the contents of ver. 14a also correspond to those of ver. 12— that is to say, that the words, "I put my breath 120 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. (Spirit) into yon, that ye may live, and place you in your own land" (bring you to rest therein), affirm essentially the same as the words, " I bring you out of your graves, and lead you into the land of Israel ;" with this simple difference, that the bringing out of the graves is explained and rendered more emphatic by the more definite idea of causing them to live through the breath or Spirit of God put into them, and the N''3n by n^^in^ the leading into the land by the transporting and bringing tliem to rest therein. Consequently we are not to understand by ^^nj DD3 Tin either a divine act differing from the raising of the dead to life, or the communication of the Holy Spirit as dis- tinguished from the imparting of the breath of life, ''nn, the Spirit of Jehovah, is identical with the nn^ wdiich comes, according to vers. 9 and 10, into the bones of the dead when clothed with sinews, flesh, and skin, i.e. is breathed into them. This spirit or breath of life is the creative principle both of the physical and of the ethical or spiritual life. Consequently there are not three things announced in these verses, but only two: (1) The raising to life from a state of death, by bringing out of the graves, and communicating the divine Spirit of life ; (2) the leading back to their own land to rest quietly therein. AVhen, therefore, Kliefoth explains these verses as signifying that for the consolation of Israel, which is mourning hopelessly in its existing state of death, " God directs the prophet to say — (1) That at some future time it will experience a resurrection in the literal sense, that its graves will be opened, and that all its dead, those deceased with those still alive, will be raised up oat of their graves; (2) that God will place them in their own land ; and (3) that when He has so placed them in their land, He will put His Spirit within them that they may live : in the first point the idea of the future resurrection, both of those deceased and of those still living, is interpolated into the text ; and in the third point, placing them in their land before they are brought to life by the Spirit of God, would be at variance with the text, according to which the giving of the Spirit CHAP. XXXVII. 1-14. 121 precedes the removal to their own land. The repetition of ^^>V in vers. 12 and 13 is also worthy of notice : you who are my people, which bases the comforting promise upon the fact that Israel is the people of Jehovah. If, therefore, our vision does not set forth the resurrection of the dead in general, but simply the raising to life of the nation of Israel which is given up to death, it is only right that, in order still further to establish this view, we should briefly examine the other explanations that have been given. — The Fathers and most of the orthodox commentators, both of ancient and modern times, have found in vers. 1-10 a locus classicus for the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and that quite correctly. But their views differ widely as to the strict meaninfij and desitrn of the vision itself ; inasmuch as some regard the vision as a direct and immediate prophecy of the general resurrection of the dead at the last day, whilst others take the raising of the dead to life shown to the prophet in the vision to be merely a figure or type of the waking up to new life of the Israel which is nov/ dead in its captivity. The first view is mentioned by Jerome ; but in later times it has been more especially defended by Calov, and last of all most decidedly by Kliefoth. Yet the supporters of this view acknowledge that vers. 11-14 predict the raising to life of the nation of Israel. The question arises, therefore, how this prediction is to be brought into harmony with such an explanation of the vision. The persons noticed by Jerome, who supported the view that in vers. 4-10 it is the general resurrection that is spoken of, sought to remove the difiiculties to which this explanation is exposed, by taking the words, ^' these bones are the whole house of Israel," as referring to the resurrection of the saints, and connecting them with the first resurrection in Eev. xx. 5, and by interpreting the leading of Israel back to their own land as equivalent to the inheriting of the earth mentioned in Matt. V. 5. Calov, on the other hand, gives the following explanation of the relation in which vers. 11-14 stand to vers. 1-10: " In 122 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. this striking vision there was shown by the Lord to the prophet the resurrection of the dead ; but the occasion^ the cause^ and the scope of this vision were the resurrection of the Israelitish people, not so much into its earlier political form, as for the restoration of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the establishment of the worship of God, both of which were indeed restored in the time of Zerubbabel, but were first brought to perfection at the coming of Jesus Christ." He also assumes that the raising of the dead is represented in the vision, "because God would have this representation exhibited for a figure and confirmation of the restitution of the people." And lastly, according to Kliefoth, vers. 11-14 do not furnish a literal exposition of the vision, but simply make an application of it to the bringing of Israel to life. — We cannot regard either of these views as correct, because neither of them does justice to the words of the text. The idea of the Fathers, that vers. 11-14 treat of the resurrection of the saints (believers), cannot be reconciled either with the words or with the context of our prophecy, and has evidently originated in perplexity. And the assump- tion of Calov and Kliefoth, that vers. 11-14 contain simply an application of the general resurrection of the dead exhibited in vers. 1—10 to the resurrection of Israel, by no means exhausts the meaning of the words, " these bones are the whole house of Israel," as we have already observed in our remarks on ver. 11. Moreover, in the vision itself there are certain features to be found which do not apply to the general resurrection of the dead. In proof of this, we will not lay any stress upon the circumstance that Ezekiel sees the resurrection of the dead within certain limits ; that it is only the dead men's bones lying about in one particular valley, and not the dead of the whole earth, though a very great army, that he sees come to life again ; but, on the other hand, we must press the fact that in ver. 9 those who are to be raised to life are called CJ'^J^nri^ a word which does not signify the dead of all kinds, but simply those who have been slain, or have perished by the sword, by CHAP. XXXVII. 1-U. 123 famine, or by other violent deaths, and which indisputably proves that Ezekiel was not shown the resurrection of all the dead, but simply the raising to life of Israel, which had been swept away by a violent death. Kliefoth would account for this restriction from the purpose for which the vision was shown to the prophet. Because the design of the vision was to com- fort Israel concerninof the wretchedness of its existins condition, and that wretchedness consisted for the most part in the fact that the greater portion of Israel had perished by sword, famine, and pestilence, he was shown the resurrection of the dead generally and universally, as it would take place not in the case of the Israelites alone, but in that of all the dead, though here confined within the limits of one particular field of dead ; and stress is laid upon the circumstance that the dead which Ezekiel saw raised to life instar omnium, were such as had met with a violent death. This explanation would be admissible, if only it had been indicated or expressed in any way whatever, that the bones of the dead which Ezekiel saw lying about in the T\V\>2 represented all the dead of the whole earth. But we find no such indication; and because in the whole vision there is not a single feature contained which would warrant any such generalization of the field of the dead which Ezekiel saw, we are constrained to affirm that the dead men's bones seen by Ezekiel in the valley represent the whole house of Israel alone, and not the deceased and slain of all mankind ; and that the vision does not set forth the resurrection of all the dead, but only the raising to life of the nation of Israel which had been given up to death. Consequently we can only regard the figurative view of the vision as the correct one, though this also has been adopted in very different ways. When Jerome says that Ezekiel " is pro- phesying of the restoration of Israel through the parable of the resurrection," and in order to defend himself from the charge of denying the dogma of the resurrection of the dead, adds that '' the similitude of a resurrection would never have been 124 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. employed to exhibit the restoration of the Israelitish people, if that resurrection had been a delusion, and it had not been believed that it would really take place ; because no one con- firms uncertain things by means of things which have no existence ;" — Hiivernick very justly replies, that the resurrection of the dead is not to be so absolutely regarded as a dogma already completed and defined, or as one universally known and having its roots in the national belief; though Hiivernick is wrong in affirming in support of this that the despair of tlie people described in ver. 11 plainly shows that so general a belief cannot possibly be presupposed. For we find just the same despair at times when faith in the resurrection of the dead was a universally accepted dogma. The principal error connected with this view is the assumption that the vision was merely a parable formed by Ezekiel in accordance with the dogma of the resurrection of the dead. If, on the contrary, the vision was a spiritual intuition produced by God in the soul of the prophet, it might set forth the resurrection of the dead, even if the belief in this dogma had no existence as yet in the consciousness of the people, or at all events was not yet a living faith ; and God might have shown to the prophet the raising of Israel to life under this figure, for the purpose of awakening this belief in Israel.^ In that case, however, the vision was not merely a parable, but a symbolical representation of a real fact, which was to serve as a pledge to the nation of ^ No conclusive evidence can be adduced that the doctrine of the resur- rection of the dead was not only known to Ezekiel, but was regarded by the people as indisputably sure, as both Hengstenberg {Christology^ vol. III. p. 51, transl.) and Pareau {Comment, de immortal, p. 109) assume. Such passages as Isa. xxv. 8 and xxvi. 19, even if Ezekiel referred to them, merely prove that the belief or hope of the resurrection of the dead could not be altogether unknown to the believers of Israel, because Isaiah had already declared it. But the obvious announcement of this dogma in Dan. xii. 2 belongs to a later period than our vision ; and even Daniel does not speak of it as a belief that prevailed throughout the nation, but simply communicates it as a consolation offered by the angel of the Lord in anticipation of the times of severe calamity awaiting the people of God. CHAP. XXXVII. 1-14. 125 its restoration to life. Theodoret comes much nearer to the truth when he gives the following as his explanation of the vision: that '^ on account of the unbelief of the Jews in exile, who were despairing of their restoration, the almighty God makes known His might ; and the resurrection of the dead bodies, which was much more difficult than their restoration, is shown to the prophet, in order that all the nation may be taught thereby that everything is easy to His will ;" ^ and when, accordingly, he calls what occurs in the vision '^ a type not of the calling to life of the Jews only, but also of the resurrection of all men." The only defect in this is, that Theodoret regards the dead bones which are brought to life too much as a figura- tive representation of any dead whatever, and thereby does justice neither to the words, " these bones are the whole house of Israel," which he paraphrases by tutto? tov ^IcrpaifK ravra, nor to the designation applied to them as D^^?^"!'!!, though it may fairly be pleaded as a valid excuse so far as D^Jnn is concerned, that the force of this word has been completely neutralized in the Septuagint, upon which he was commenting, by the rendering Tou? v6Kpov<; TouTov^. — Hiivemick has interpreted the vision in a much more abstract manner, and evaporated it into the general idea of a symbolizing of the creative, life-giving power of God, which can raise even the bones of the dead to life again. His exposition is the following : '* There is no express prediction of the resurrection in these words, whether of a general resurrection or of the particular resurrection of Israel ; but this is only thought of here, inasmuch as it rests upon the creative activity of God, to which even such a conquest of death as this is possible." ^ ^ His words are these : i-aovi yxp o;' yji/ Ivoaow dTrtaTioiu roi; xp^l'^Toripxs d'TTTfiyopivjacv i'hTri'hoe.g oi Ik rv^g ^lov^xtag ui-^c^uuTKazui yvjouivoi^ tyju oixiiotv ociiroi; 6 ray oT^av Qsog STTiZstKuvai ^vyu/niv, xott rviv Tro'kT^oi r^g oivxK7^v;aia; iKsivyjg ov(TKo7\.ar£px'j ranf uiKpuv aaf^uTUv duaarxaiu STrt^siKuvai ru Tryso^^jri; Kcci B/' iKSiuov TrxvTX ZiQccaKSi rov Xotou, ug 'jtocj-x ccvtSi pccOix fiovT^oyAvw. 2 The view expressed by Hofmann (Schriftbeweis, II. 2, pp. 507 sqq.) is a kindred one, namely, tbat it is not the future resurrection of the dead, or 126 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. The calling to life of the thoroughly dried dead bones shown to the prophet in the vision, is a figure or visible representation of that which the Lord announces to him in vers. 11—14, namely, that He will bring Israel out of its graves, give it life with His breath, and bring it into its own land ; and conse- quently a figure of the raising of Israel to life from its existing state of death. The opening of the graves is also a figure ; for those whom the Lord will bring out of their graves are they who say, " Our bones are dried," etc. (ver. 11), and therefore not those who are deceased, nor even the spiritually dead, but those who have lost all hope of life. We are not, how^ever, to understand by this merely mors civilis and vita civilis, as Grotius has done. For Israel was destroyed, not only politi- cally as a nation, but spiritually as a church of the Lord, through the destruction of its two kingdoms and its dispersion among the heathen ; and in a very large number of its members it had also been given up to the power of physical death and sunk into the grave. Even then, if we keep out of sight those who were deceased, Israel, as the people of God, was slain (Jiin), without any hope of coming to life again, or a resurrec- tion to new life. But the Lord now shows the prophet this resurrection under the figure of the raising to life of the very dry bones that lie scattered all around. This is fulfilled through the restoration of Israel as the people of Jehovah, to which the leading of the people back into the land of Israel essentially belongs. The way was opened and prepared for this fulfilment by the return of a portion of the people from the Babylonian captivity under Zerubbabel and Ezra, which was the resurrection of the deceased Israelites, which is indicated in the vision, and that it does not even set forth to view the unconditioned power of God over death, or an idea which is intended as a pledge of the resurrection of the dead ; but that by the revelation made manifest to the prophet in the state of ecstasy, the completeness of that state of death out of which Israel is to be restored is exhibited, and thus the truth is set before his eyes that the word of prophecy has the inherent power to ensure its own fulfilment, even when Israel is in a condition which bears precisely the same resem- blance to a nation as the state of death to a human being. CHAP. XXXVII. 1-14. 127 brought to pass by the Lord, by the rebuilding of the cities of Judah and the temple which had been destroyed, and by the restoration of political order. But all this was nothing more than a pledge of the future and complete restoration of Israel. For although the Lord still raised up prophets for those who had returned and furthered the building of His house, His glory did not enter the newly erected temple, and the people never attained to independence again, — that is to say, not to permanent independence, — but continued in subjection to the imperial power of the heathen. And even if, according to Ezra, very many more of the exiles may have returned to their native land, by wdiom, for example, Galilee was repopulated and brought into cultivation again, the greater portion of the nation remained dispersed among the heathen. The true restoration of Israel as the people of the Lord commenced with the found- ing of the new kingdom of God, the " kingdom of heaven," through the appearing of Christ upon the earth. But inas- much as the Jewish nation as such, or in its entirety, did not acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Messiah foretold by the pro- phets and sent by God, but rejected its Saviour, there burst afresh upon Jerusalem and the Jewish nation the judgment of dispersion among the heathen ; whereas the kingdom of God founded by Christ spread over the earth, through the entrance of believers from among the Gentiles. This judgment upon the Jewish people, which is hardened in unbelief, still con- tinues, and will continue until the time when the full number of the Gentiles has entered into the kingdom of God, and Israel as a people shall also be converted to Christ, acknowledge the crucified One as its Saviour, and bow the knee before Him (Eom. xi. 25, 26). Then will " all Israel" be raised up out of its graves, the graves of its political and spiritual death, and brought back into its own land, which will extend as far as the Israel of God inhabits the earth. Then also w^ill the hour come in which all the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and come forth out of their graves to the resurrection (Dan. 128 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. xii. 2; John v. 25-29) ; when the Lord shall appear in His glory, and descend from heaven with the trump of God (1 Thess. iv. 16), to call all the dead to life, and through the judgment upon all the nations to perfect His kingdom in glory, and bring the righteous into the Canaan of the new earth, into the heavenly Jerusalem, to the imperishable life of everlasting blessedness. All these several factors in the restoration of Israel, which has been given up to the death of exile on account of its sins, though far removed from one another, so far as the time of their occurrence is concerned, are grouped together as one in the vision of the coming to life of the dead bones of the whole house of Israel. The two features which are kept distinct in the visionary description — namely, (1) the coming together of the dry bones, and their being clothed with sinews, flesh, and skin ; and (2) the bringing to life of the bones, which have now the form of corpses, through the divine breath of life — are not to be distinguished in the manner proposed by Heng- stenberg, namely, that the first may be taken as referring to the restoration of the civil condition — the external restitutio in integrum; the second, to the giving of new life through the outpouring of the Spirit of God. — Even according to our view, the vision contains a prophecy of the resurrection of the dead, only not in this sense, that the doctrine of the general resurrec- tion of the dead is the premiss, or the design, or the direct meaning of the vision ; but that the figurative meaning consti- tutes the foreground, and the full, literal meaning of the words the background of the prophetic vision, and that the fulfilment advances from the figurative to the literal meaning, — the raising up of the people of Israel out of the civil and spiritual death of exile being completed in the raising up of the dead out of their graves to everlasting life at the last day. CHAP. XXXVa 15-28. 129 Vers. 15-28. Reunion of Israel as one Nation under the future King David. This word of God directs the prophet to represent by a sign the reunion of the tribes of Israel, which have been divided into two kingdoms (vers. 15-17), and to explain this sign to the people (vers. 18-21), and predict its sanctification and blessedness under the reign of the future David (vers. 22-28). What is new in this word of God is the express prediction, embodied in a symbolical action, of the reunion of the divided tribes of Israel into one single people of God, which has been already hinted at in the promise of the raising to life of *^ the whole house of Israel" (ver. 11). This brief indication is here plainly expressed and more fully developed. Ver. 15. Aiid the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 16. And thou, son of man, take to thyself a piece of ivoody and write upon it : Of Judah, and the sons of Israel, his asso- ciates ; and take another piece of wood, and write upon it : Of Joseph, the wood of Ephraim, and the whole house of Israel, his associates ; Ver. 17. And put them together, one to the other, into one piece of wood to thee, that they may be united in thy ha7id. Ver. 18. And when the sons of thy people say to thee. Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by this f Ver. 19. Say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I ivill take the wood of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his associates, which I put thereon, with the ivood of Judah, and will make them into one stick, that they may be one in my hand, Ver. 20. And the pieces of ivood upon which thou hast written shall be in thy hand before their eyes, Ver. 21. And say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I icill take the sons of Israel out of the nations among whom they loalk, and will gather them from round about, and lead them into their land. Ver. 22. / will make them into one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king over them all ; and it shall not become two nations any more, and they shall EZEK. IT. I 130 THE FROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. not henceforth he divided into two kingdoms any more; Ver. 23. And shall not defile themselves hy their idols and their abomina- tions, and hy all their transgressions ; hut I will help them from all their dwelling-places^ in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them ; so that they shall he my people^ and I ivill he their God, Ver. 24. And my servant David ivill he king over them, and he a shepherd for them all ; and they ivill walk in my rights^ and keep my statutes and do them, Ver, 25. And they will dwell in the land ivhich I gave to my servant Jacoh^ in which their fathers dwelt; there will they dwell, and. their children's children for ever ; and my servant David will he a p)rince to them for ever, Ver. 26. And I make a covenant of peace with them for ever, an everlasting covenant shall he with them ; and I will place them, and multiply them^ and put my sanctuary in the midst of them, for ever. Ver. 27. And my dwelling will he over them; I ivill he their Godj and they will he my people. Ver. 28. And the nation shall know that I am Jehovah, ivho sanctifieth Israel, ivhen my sanctuary shall he in the midst of them for ever. The symbolical action commanded in vers. 16 and 17, which the prophet no doubt performed in all its external reality (cf. vers. 19 and 20), is easily understood, and expresses the thing to be represented in the clearest manner. The writing of the names of the tribes composing the two kingdoms recalls to mind the similar act on the part of Moses (Num. xvii. 17 sqq.). But the act itself is a different one here, and neither the passage referred to nor Ezek. xxi. 15 furnishes any proof that rv signifies a staff or rod. Ezekiel would undoubtedly have used niso for a staff. Nor have we even to think of flat boards, but simply of pieces of wood upon which a few words could be written, and which could be held in on-e hand. The f before the names to be written upon each piece of wood is the sign of the genitive, indicating to whom it belongs, as in the case of the heading to David's psalms pl^r'). This is evident from the fact that in D^"]2K yv the construct state is used instead. The name is to indicate that the piece of wood belongs to Judah or CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28. 131 Ephraim, and represents it. The command to Ezekiel to write upon one piece of wood, not only Judali, but ^' the sons of Israel, his associates," arose from the circumstance that the kingdom of Judah included, in addition to the tribe of Judah, the greater portion of Benjamin and Simeon, the tribe of Levi and those pious Israelites who emigrated at different times from the kingdom of the ten tribes into that of Judah, who either were or became associates of Judah (2 Chron. xi. 12 sqq., XV. 9, XXX. 11, 18, xxxi. 1). In the writing upon the second piece of wood, D^."]SS yV is an explanatory apposition to ^p^7, and an accusative governed by 3113. But the command is not to be understood as signifying that Ezekiel was to write the words Dnsx y^j upon the piece of wood ; all that he was to write was, ^'Joseph and the whole house of Israel, his asso- ciates." The name of Joseph is chosen, in all probability, not as the more honourable name, as Havernick supposes, but because the house of Joseph, consisting of the two powerful tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, formed the trunk of the kingdom of the ten tribes (Kliefoth). The " whole house of Israel, his associates," are the rest of the tribes belonging to that kingdom. The two pieces of wood, with these inscrip- tions upon them, Ezekiel is to put together, and hold in his hand bound together in one. ^? n^ti'nD^ what these (two pieces of wood) are to thee, is equivalent to, what thou meanest to indicate by them. For the rest, compare ch. xxiv. 19. In the word of God explaining the action (ver. 19), the wood of Joseph is not the piece of wood with Joseph's name written upon it, but the kingdom represented by this piece of wood which was in Ephraim's hand, inasmuch as the hegemony was with the tribe of Ephraim. Instead of the wood, therefore, the tribes (not staffs) of Israel, i.e. the Israelites who consti- tuted these tribes, are mentioned as his associates. God will put these upon the wood of Joseph (l^^y), i.e. will join them together, and then place them with the wood of Judah, i.e. the kingdom of Judah, and unite them into one wood (or nation). 132 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL nninj K^'ris, tlie construction of which has been misunderstood by Hitzig, is neither in apposition to ivj;^ nor governed by ^nn: : " and will put them thereupon, upon the wood of Judah" (Hitzig and Kliefoth), or, '' I add them to it, (namely) with the wood of Judah" (De Wette) ; but it is dependent upon ^Ppy " I take the wood of Joseph . . . and the tribes of Israel, liis associates, which I put thereon, along with the wood of Juda]], and make them into one wood." The construction is rendered obscure simply by the fact that the relative clause, "which I put thereon," is attached to the principal clause ')y\ npp ^:k by Vav consec. In '''i^B, " they shall be one in 7ny liand^^ there is probably an antithesis to D^"]2S Tzi, those who have come into Ephraim's hand, the tribes severed by Ephraim from the kingdom of God, will God once more bring together with Judah, and hold in His hand as an undivided nation. — In ver. 20 the description of the sign is completed by the addi- tional statement, that the pieces of wood on which the prophet has written are to be in his hand before their eyes, and conse- quently that the prophet is to perform the act in such a way that his countrymen may see it ; from which it follows that he performed it in its outward reality. The fulfilment of the instructions is not specially mentioned, as being self-evident; but in vers. 21-28 the further explanation of the symbolical action is given at once ; and the interpretation goes beyond the symbol, inasmuch as it not only describes the manner in which God will effect the union of the divided tribes, but also what He will do for the preservation of the unity of the reunited people, and for the promotion of their blessedness. This explanation is arranged in two strophes through the repetition of the concluding thought; "they will be my people," etc., in vers. 23 and 27. Each of these strophes contains a twofold promise. The first (vers. 21-23) promises (a) the gathering of the Israelites out of their dispersion, their restoration to their own land, and their union as one nation under the rule of David (vers. 21, 22) ; {h) their purification from all sins, and CHAF. XXXVII. 15-28. 133 sanctification as the true people of the Lord (ver. 23). The second strophe (vers. 24-27) promises (a) their undisturbed eternal abode in the land, under David their prince (ver. 25); (b) the blessedness conferred upon them through the conclusion of an everlasting covenant of peace (vers. 26 and 27). This second promise, therefore, constitutes the completion of the first, securing to the nation of Israel its restoration and sanctifi- cation for all time. The whole promise, however, is merely a repetition of that contained in ch. xxxiv. 11-31 and xxxvi. 22-30. — The three factors — the gathering out of the nations, restora- tion to the land of Israel, and reunion as one people — form the first act of divine grace. The union of the Israelites, when brought back to their land, is accomplished by God giving them in David a king who will so rule the reunited people that they will not be divided any more into two peoples and two king- doms. The Clietib n'n^ \^ not to be altered into the plural ^-^■^^, as in the Keri ; but ""ia is to be supplied in thought, from the preceding clause, as the subject to the verb. The division of the nation into two kingdoms had its roots, no doubt, in the ancient jealousy existing between the two tribes Ephraim and Judah ; but it was primarily brought to pass through the falling away of Solomon from the Lord. Consequently it could only be completely and for ever terminated through the righteous government of the second David, and the purification of the people from their sins. This is the way in which ver. 23 is attached to ver. 22. For ver. 23a compare ch. xiv. 11 and xxxvi. 25. Different interpretations have been given of the words, " I help them from all their dwelling-places, in which they have sinned." They recall to mind ch. xxxvi. 29, "I help them from all their uncleannesses." As iP V^S'Sn signifies, in that case, " to preserve therefrom," so in the present instance the thought can only be, " God will preserve them from all the dwelling-places in which they have sinned." Hengstenberg is of opinion that the redemption from the dwelling-places does not take place locally, but spiritually, through the cleansing 134 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL away of all traces of sin, first from the liearts, and then, in consequence, from all around. In this way is the land changed, through the power of the Lord, into another land, from a sinful to a holy one ; just as before it had been changed from a holy to a sinful one through the guilt of the people. But if this were the only thought which the words contained, Ezekiel would certainly have placed the onij^ wntpi before 'li^ '•ny^'im. As the words read, the deliverance of the people from their sinful dwelling-places is to precede their purification, to prepare tlie way for it and bring it to pass, and not to follow after it. Tlie dwelling-places, at or in which they have sinned, cannot be the settlements in foreign lands, as Hitzig supposes, but only the dwelling-places in Canaan, to which the Lord would bring them after gathering them from their dispersion. Tt^'in does not signify, " leading out from these dwelling-places," which is the explanation given by Kliefoth, who consequently thinks that we must understand the words as denoting the leading over of Israel from the present Canaan, or the Canaan of this life, to which its sins adhere, to the glorified, new, and eternal Canaan. This view is utterly irreconcilable both with the words themselves and also with the context. Even if T^in meant to lead out, it would not be allowable to transform the " leading out" from the sinful Canaan into a " leading in" to the glorified and heavenly Canaan. Moreover, the further development of this promise in ver. 25 also shows that it is not in the glorified, eternal Canaan that Israel is to dwell, but in the earthly Canaan in which its fathers dwelt. It is obvious from this, that in all the promise here given there is no allusion to a transformation and glorification of Canaan itself. The helping or saving from all dwelling-places in which they have sinned would rather consist in the fact, therefore, that God would remove from their dwelling-places everything that could offer them an inducement to sin. For althoufrh sin has its seat, not in the things without us, but in the heart, the external circumstances of a man do offer various inducements to sin. CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28. 135 Before the captivity, Canaan offered such an inducement to the Israelites through the idolatry and moral corruption of the Canaanites who were left in the land. And with reference to this the Lord promises that in future, when His people are brought back to Canaan, He will preserve them from the sinful influence of their dwelling-places. But this preservation will only be effected with complete success when God purifies Israel itself, and, by means of its renovation, eradicates all sinful desire from the heart (cf. ch. xxxvi. 26, 27). In this way ''^■jntpi is appended in the most fitting way to 'lJl '•rir^m. — Through the removal of all sinful influences from around them, and the purifying of the heart, Israel will then become in truth the people of God, and Jehovah the God of Israel (ver. 23). — Israel, when thus renewed, will walk in the rights of the Lord and fulfil His commandments, under the protection of its one shepherd David, i.e. of the Messiah (ver. 24, cf. ch. xxxvi. 27, and xxxiv. 23) ; and its children and children's children will dwell for ever in its own land, David being its prince for ever (ver. 25, cf. ch. xxxvi. 28 and xxxiv. 24). What is new in this promise, which is repeated from ch. xxxiv. and xxxvi., is contained in Q^^Vp, which is to be taken in the strict sense of the word. Neither the dwelling of Israel in Canaan, nor the government of the David-Messiah, will ever have an end. o?Sv? is therefore repeated in ver. 26 in the promise of the covenant which the Lord will make with His people. The thought itself has already been expressed in ch. xxxiv. 25 j and UVf nnn is to be understood, both here and there, as compre- hending all the saving good which the Lord will bestow upon His sanctified people. There are only two factors of this salva- tion mentioned here in vers. 26b and 27, namely, the multipli- cation of the people, as the earthly side of the divine blessing, and the establishing of His eternal sanctuary in the midst of them as the spiritual side. These two points refer back to the former acts of God, and hold up to view the certain and full realization in the future of what has hitherto been neither per- 13G THE rROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. fectly nor permanently accomplished on account of the sins of the people. 0'^^??% in ver. 26, is not to be taken in connection with cn^x 'n^nini, so as to form one idea in the sense of daho COS mxdtiplicatos (Venema and Hengstenberg), for we have no analo£iies of such a mode of combination ; but Ci^^ri3, I make, or place them, is to be taken by itself, and completed from the context, " I make them into a nation, and I multiply them (cf. cli. XXX vi. 10, 11, 37). Ezekiel has here Lev. xxvi. 9 and 11 ill his mind, as we may see from the fact that the words, ^^ I give my sanctuary in the midst of them for ever," are obviously formed after Lev. xxvi. 11, "I give my dwelling in the midst of them ; " in such a manner, however, that by the substitution of ''"^'"^p^ for ''^3'J'p, and the addition of C:7iyp, the promise is both deepened and strengthened. In the change of ''PJ^p into ^'j^n|50y he may indeed have had the words of Ex. xxv. 8 floating before his mind, " they shall make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them ; " nevertheless he deliberately selected the expression *' my sanctuary," to indicate that the Lord would dwell in the midst of Israel as the Holy One, and the Sanctifier of His people. Moreover, the words are not, ^' my dwelling will be in the midst of them, or among them" (D3in!i), but Ci??i^, over them. This expression is transferred from the site of the temple, towering above the city (Ps. Ixviii. 30), to the dwelling of God among His people, to give prominence to the protective power and saving grace of the God who rules in Israel (cf. Hengstenberg on Ps. Ixviii. 30). The sanctuary which Jehovah will give in Israel for ever, i.e. will found and cause to endure, that He may dwell in the midst of it to shelter and bless, is the temple, but not the temple built by Zerub- babel. As an objection to this Jewish interpretation, Jerome has justly said: " but how could it be said to stand 'for ever^ when that temple which was built in the time of Zerubbabel, and afterwards restored by many others, was consumed by Roman fire ? All these things are to be taken as referring to the church in the time of the Saviour, when His tabernacle CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28. 137 was placed in the church." There is no reference whatever here to the rebuilding of the temple by Zerubbabel; not because that temple did not stand for ever and was destroyed by the Romans, but chiefly because God did not make it His abode, or fill this temple with His gracious presence (Shechinah). The sanctuary which God will place for ever among His people is the sanctuary seen by Ezekiel in ch. xl. sqq. ; and this is merely a figurative representation of the " dwelling of God in the midst of His people through His Son and Holy Spirit" (cf. Vitringa, Observv, I. p. 161), which began to be reahzed in the incarnation of the Logos, who is set forth in John i. 14 as the true I?*f P, in the words iaKrjvcocrev iv r]fuv, and is continued in the spiritual dwelling of God in the heart of believers (1 Cor. iii. 16, vi. 19), and will be completed at the second coming of our Lord in the " tabernacle (a-Krjvrj) of God with men " of the new Jerusalem, of Avhich the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple, since Israel will then first have become in truth the people of God, and Jehovah (God with them) their God (Rev. xxi. 3, 22). — The promise concludes in ver. 28 with an allusion to the impression which these acts of God in Israel will make upon the heathen (cf. ch. xxxvi. 36). From the fact that Jehovah erects His sanctuary in the midst of Israel for ever, they will learn that it is He who sanctifieth Israel, ^"^p., to sanctify, means, " to remove from all connec- tion either with sin or with its consequences. Here the refer- ence is to the latter, because these alone strike the eyes of the heathen ; but the former is presupposed as the necessary foun- dation" (Hengstenberg). The words rest upon the promises of the Pentateuch, where God describes Himself as He who will and does sanctify Israel (compare Ex. xxxi. 13; Lev. xxii. 31-33). This promise, which has hitherto been only imperfectly fulfilled on account of Israel's guilt, will be per- fectly realized in the future, when Israel will walk in the ways of the Lord, renewed by the Spirit of God. Thus does this prophecy of Ezekiel span the whole future of 138 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. the people of God even to eternity. But the promise in which it culminates, namely, that the Lord will erect His sanctuary in the midst of His restored people, and there take up His abode above them for ever (ch. xxxvii. 26 sqq.), is of importance as helping to decide the question, how we are to understand the fulfilment of the restoration to Canaan into the land given to the fathers, which is promised to all Israel ; whether, in a literal manner, by the restoration of the Israelites to Palestine ; or spiritually, by the gathering together of the Israelites converted to the Lord their God and Saviour, and their introduction into the kingdom of God founded by Christ, in which case Canaan, as the site of the Old Testament kingdom of God, would be a symbolical or typical designation of the earthly soil of the heavenly kingdom, which has appeared in the Christian church. — These two different views have stood opposed to one another from time immemorial, inasmuch as the Jews expect from the Messiah, for whose advent they still hope, not only their restora- tion to Palestine, but the erection of the kingdom of David and the rebuilding of the temple upon Mount Zion, together with the sacrificial worship of the Levitical law ; whereas in the Christian church, on the ground of the New Testament doc- trine, that the old covenant has been abolished along with the Levitical temple-worship through the perfect fulfilment of the law by Christ and the perpetual efficacy of His atoning sacri- fice, the view has prevailed that, with the abolition of the Old Testament form of the kingdom of God, even Palestine has ceased to be the chosen land of the revelation of the savins grace of God, and under the new covenant Canaan extends as far as the Israel of the new covenant, the church of Jesus Christ, is spread abroad over the earth, and that Zion or Jeru- salem is to be sought wherever Christendom worships God in spirit and in trutli, wherever Christ is with His people, and dwells in the hearts of believers through the Holy Spirit. It was by J. A. Bengel and C. F. Oetinger that the so-called " realistic " interpretation of the Messianic prophecies of the CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28. 139 Old Testament — according to which, after the future conver- sion to Christ of the Jewish people who are hardened still, the establishment of the kingdom of God in Palestine and its capital Jerusalem is to be expected — has been revived and made into one of the leading articles of Christian hope. By means of this " realistic " exposition of the prophetic word the chihastic dogma of the establishment of a kingdom of glory- before the last judgment and the end of the world is then de- duced from the twentieth chapter of the Apocalypse ; and many of the theologians of our day regard this as the certain resultant of a deeper study of the Scriptures. In the more precise definition of the dogma itself, the several supporters diverge very widely from one another ; but they all agree in this, that they base the doctrine chiefly upon the prophetic announce- ment of the eventual conversion and glorification of all Israel. — As Ezekiel then stands out among all the prophets as the one who gives the most elaborate prediction of the restoration of Israel under the government of the Messiah, and he not only draws in ch. xl.-xlviii. a detailed picture of the new form of the kingdom of God, but also in ch. xxxviii. and xxxix., in the prophecy concerning Gog and Magog, foretells an attack on the part of the heathen world upon the restored kingdom of God, which appears, according to Rev. xx. 7-9, to constitute the close of the thousand years' reign ; we must look somewhat more closely at this view, and by examining the arguments pro and C072, endeavour to decide the question as to the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the future of Israel. In doing this, however, we shall fix our attention exclusively upon the exegetical arguments adduced in support of the chiliastic view by its latest supporters.^ ^ These are, C. A. Auberlen, " The Prophet Daniel and the Revelation of John ; " also in a treatise on the Messianic Prophecies of the Mosaic times, in the Jahrhb. f. deutsche 7'heologie, IV. pp. 778 sqq. ; J. C. K. Hofmann, in his Weissagung und Erfiillung im A. u. N. Testaviente, and in the Schriftbeweisj vol. II. p. 2 ; Mich. Baumgarten, article " Ezekiel" in Herzog's 140 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. The prophetic announcement, that the Lord will one day gatlier together again the people of Israel, which has been thrust out among the heathen for its unfaithfulness, will bring it back into the land given to the fathers, and there bless and greatly multiply it, has its roots in the promises of the law. If the stiff-necked transgressors of the commandments of God — these are the words of Lev. xxvi. 40-45 — bear the punishment of their iniquity in the land of their enemies, and confess their sins, and their uncircumcised heart is humbled, then will the Lord remember His covenant with the patriarchs, and not cast tliem off even in the land of their enemies, to destroy them, and to break His covenant with them ; but will remember the covenant which He made with their ancestors, when He brought them out of Egypt before the eyes of the nations to be their God. He will, as this is more precisely defined in Deut. XXX. 3 sqq., gather them together again out of the heathen, nations, lead them back into the land which their fathers pos- sessed, and multiply Israel more than its fathers. On the ground of this promise, of which Moses gives a still further pledge to the people in his dying song (Deut. xxxii. 36—43), all the prophets announce the restoration and ultimate glorification of Israel. This song, which closes with the promise, " Rejoice, ye nations, over His people ; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and repay vengeance to His adversaries, and expiate His land, His people," continues to resound — to use the words of Hof- mann (Schriftbeiveis, II. 2, pp. 89, 90)—" through all the Old Testament prophecy. Not only when Obadiah (ver. 17) and Joed (ch. iii. 5) promise good to their nation do they call Mount Zion and the city of Jerusalem the place where there is protection from the judgment upon the nations of the world ; but Micali also, who foretells the destruction of the temple and Cyrlopaedia, and licrc and there in his commentary on the Old Testament ; C. E. Luthardt, lite Doctrine of the Last T lungs hi Treatises and Expositions of Scripture (1851) ; and Dr. Volck, in the Dorpater Zeitsclirift filr Theo- lofjie und Kirche, IX. pp. 1-12 sqq. ; and others. CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28. 141 the carrying away of his people to Babylon, beholds Mount Zion exalted at last above all the seats of worldly power, and his people brought back to the land of their fathers (ch. iv. 1, vii. 14). The same Isaiah, who was sent to harden his people with the word of his prophecy, is nevertheless certain that at last a holy nation will dwell in Jerusalem, a remnant of Israel (Isa. iv. 3, X. 21) ; and the holy mountain of Jehovah, to which His scattered people return from all the ends of the world, is that abode of peace where even wild beasts do no more harm under the rule of the second David (Isa. xi. 9, 11). After all the calamities which it was the mournful lot of Jeremiah to foretell and also to witness, Jehovah showed this prophet the days when He would restore His people, and bring them back to the land which He gave to their fathers (Jer. xxx. 3). . . . And the same promise is adhered to even after the return. In every way is the assurance given by Zechariah, that Judali shall be God's holy possession in God's holy land." ^ This re- storation of Israel Ezekiel describes, in harmony with Jer. xxxi., 1 Compare with this the words of Auberlen {der Prophet Daniel^ p. 399, ed. 2) : " The doctrine of the glorious restoration of Israel to Canaan, after severe chastisement and humiliation, is so essential and fundamental a thought of all prophecy, that the difficulty is not so much to find passages to support it, as to make a selection from them. By way of example, let us notice Isa. ii. 2-4, iv. 2-6, ix. 1-6, xi. and xii. ; more especially xi. 11 sqq., xxiv. sqq., Ix. sqq. ; Jer. xxx.-xxxiii. ; Ezek. xxxiv. 23-31, xxxvi., xxxvii. ; Hos. ii. 16-25, iii. 4, 5, xi. 8-11, xiv. 2 sqq. ; Joel iii. 1-5, iv. 16-21 : Amos ix. 8-15 ; Obad. vers. 17-21 ; Mic. il 12, 13, iv., v., vii. 11-20; Zeph. iii. 14-20; Zech. ii. 4 sqq., viii. 7 sqq., ix. 9 sqq., x. 8-12, xii. 2-xiii. 6, xiv. 8 sqq." Auberlen (pp. 400 sq.) then gives the following as the substance of these prophetic descriptions; "Israel having been brought back to its own land, will be the people of God in a much higher and deeper sense than before ; inasmuch as sin will be averted, the know- ledge of God will fill the land, and the Lord will dwell again in the midst of His people at Jerusalem. A new period of revelation is thus com- menced, the Spirit of God is richly poured out, and with this a plenitude of such gifts of grace as were possessed in a typical manner by the apostolic church. And this rich spiritual life has also its perfect external manifes- tation both in a priestly and a regal form. The priesthood of Israel was more especially seen by Ezekiel, the son of a priest, in his mysterious vision in ch. xl.-xlviii. ; the monarchy by Daniel, the statesman ; while 142 THE TROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. tliouirli in a much more detailed picture, in the following way : — '' The condition of things in the future will differ from that in the past, simply in the fact that Israel will then have a heart converted to fidelity and obedience by the Spirit of God (ch. xi. 19, xxxvi. 27), and will live in good peace and pro- sperity under the shelter of its God, who is known and acknow- ledged by all the world (ch. xxxvi. 23). The land to which it is restored, a land most decidedly represented by Ezekiel as the same as that in which its fathers lived (ch. xxxvii. 25), appears throughout merely as a happy earthly dwelling-place, and the promise of its possession as an assurance given to a nation continuing to propagate itself in peace" (Hofmann, p. 576). This manner of depicting the condition of the Israel restored and glorified by the Messiah, as a peaceful settlement and a happy life in the land of the fathers, a life rich in earthly possessions, is not confined, however, to Jeremiah and Ezekiel, but stands out more or less conspicuously in the Messianic pictures of all the prophets. What follows, then, from this in Jeremiah, for example, unites the two (ch. xxxiii. 17-22). What took place only in an outward way, i.e. in the letter, during the Old Testament times, and withdrew, on the other hand, into the inward and hidden spirit- life during the time of the Christian church, will then manifest itself out- wardly also, and assume an external though pneumatic form. In the Old Testament the whole of the national life of Israel in its several forms of manifestation, domestic and political life, labour and art, literature and culture, was regulated by religion, though only at first in an outward and legal way. The church, on the other hand, has, above all, to urge a renewal of the heart, and must give freedom to the outward forms which life assumes, enjoining upon the conscience of individual men, in these also to glorify Christ. In the thousand years' reign all these departments of life will be truly Christianized, and that from within. Looked at in this light, there will be nothing left to give offence, if we bear in mind that the ceremonial law of Moses corresponds to the priesthood of Israel, and the civil law to the monarchy. The Gentile church has only been able to adopt the moral law, however certainly it has been directed merely to the inwardly working means of the word, or of the prophetic office. But when once the priesthood and the kingly office have been restored, then, without doing violence to the Epistle to the Hebrews, the ceremonial and civil law of Moses will unfold its spiritual depths in the worship and constitution of the thousand years' reign." CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28. 143 relation to the mode in which these prophecies are to be fulfilled? Is it that the form assumed by the life of the people of Israel when restored will be only a heightened repetition of the condi- tions of its former life in Palestine, undisturbed by sin ? By no means. On the contrary, it follows from this that the prophets have depicted the glorious restoration of Israel by the ]\Iessiah by means of figures borrowed from the past and present of the national life of Israel, and therefore that their picture is not to be taken literally, but symbolically or typically, and that we are not to expect it to be literally fulfilled. We are forced to this conclusion by the fact that, through the coming of Christ, and the kingdom of heaven which began with Him, the idea of the people of God has been so expanded, that henceforth not the lineal descendants of Abraham, or the Jewish nation merely, but the church of confessors of Jesus Christ, gathered together out of Israel and the Gentiles, has become the people of God, and the economy of the Old Testa- ment has ceased to constitute the divinely appointed form of the church of God. If, therefore, the Jewish people, who have rejected the Saviour, who appeared in Jesus Christ, and have hardened themselves against the grace and truth revealed in Him, are not cast off for ever, but, according to the promises of the Old Testament and the teaching of the Apostle Paul (Kom. xi.), will eventually repent, and as a people turn to the crucified One, and then also realize the fulfilment of the pro- mises of God ; there is still lacking, with the typical character of the prophetic announcement, any clear and unambiguous biblical evidence that all Israel, whose salvation is to be looked for in the future, will be brought back to Palestine, when eventually converted to Christ the crucified One, and continue there as a people separated from the rest of Christendom, and form the earthly centre of the church of the Lord gathered out of all nations and tongues. For, however w^ell founded the remark of Hofmann (ut sup. p. 8S) may be, that " holy people and holy land are demanded by one another;" this proves Ui THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. nothing more than that the holy people, gathered out of all the families of the earth through the believing reception of the gospel, ^\\\\ also have a holy land for its dwelling-place; in other words, that, with the spread of the church of the Lord over all the quarters of the globe, the earth will become holy laud or Canaan, so far as it is inhabited by the followers of Christ. The Apostle Paul teaches this in the same Epistle in which he foretells to Israel, hardened in unbelief, its eventual restoration and blessedness; when he explains in Horn. iv. 9-13 that to Abraham or his seed the promise that he was to be the heir of the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness of the faith, which Abraham had when still uncircumcised, that he might become a father of all those who believe, though they be not circumcised, and a father of the circumcision, not merely of those who are of the circumcision, but of those also who walk in the footsteps of his faith. As the apostle, when developing this thought, interprets the promise given to the patriarch in Gen. xli. 7 and xv. 18 : " to thy seed will I give this land" (i.e, the land of Canaan), by K\.r]povofielv Koa^ov (inheriting the world), he regards Canaan as a type of tlie world or of the earth, which would be occupied by the children born of faith to the patriarch. This typical interpretation of the promise, given in the Old Testament to the seed of Abraham, of the everlasting possession of the land of Canaan, which is thus taught by the Apostle Paul, and has been adopted by the church on his authority, corresponds also to the spirit and meaning of the Old Testa- ment word of God. This is evident from Gen. xvii., where the Lord God, when instituting the covenant of circumcision, gives not to Abraham only, but expressly to Sarah also, the promise to make them into peoples (D^^^^), that kings of nations (^''PV 'rr?) shall come from them through the son, wdiom they are to receive (vers. 6 and 16), and at the same time promises to give to the seed of Abraham, thus greatly to be multiplied, the land of his pilgrimage, the whole land of Canaan, for an CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28. 145 everlasting possession (ver. 8). This promise the Lord, as the *' ahiiighty God," has not carried into effect by making Abraham and Sarah into nations through the lineal posterity of Isaac, but only through the spiritual seed of Abraham, believers out of all nations, who have become, and still will become, chil- dren of Abraham in Christ. It Avas only through these that Abraham became the father of a multitude of nations (jion nxp U\)tij ver. 5). For although two peoples sprang from Isaac, the Israelites through Jacob, and the Edomites through Esau, and Abraham also became the ancestor of several tribes through Ishmael and the sons of Keturah, the divine promise in question refers to the people of Israel alone, because Esau was separated from the seed of the promise by God Himself, and the other sons of Abraham were excluded by the fact that they were not born of Sarah. The twelve tribes, however, formed but one people; and although Ezekiel calls them two peoples (ch. XXXV. 10 and xxxvii. 22), having in view their division into two kingdoms, they are never designated or described in the Old or New Testament as D^i3 jiDH. To this one people God did indeed give the land of Canaan for a possession, according to the boundaries described in Num. xxxiv., so that it dwelt therein until it was driven out and scattered among the heathen for its persistent unfaithfulness. But inasmuch as that portion of the promise which referred to the multiplication of the seed of Abraham into peoples was only to receive its complete fulfilment in Christ, according to the counsel and will of God, through the grafting of the believing Gentile nations into the family of Abraham, and has so received it, we are not at liberty to restrict the other portion of this promise, relating to the possession of the land of Canaan, to the lineal posterity of the patriarch, or the people of Israel by lineal descent, but must assume that in the promise of the land to be given to the seed of Abraham God even then spoke of Canaan as a type of the land which was to be possessed by the posterity of Abraham multiplied into nations. EZEK. II. K 146 THE PKOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. This typical plirascology runs through all the prophetical writings of the Old Testament, and that both with regard to tlie promised seed, which Abraham received through Isaac (Gen. xxi. 12) in the people of Israel, and also with reference to the land promised to this seed for an inheritance, although, while the old covenant established at Sinai lasted, Israel according to the flesh was the people of God, and the earthly Canaan between the Euphrates and the river of Egypt was the dwelling-place of this people. For inasmuch as Abraham received the promise at the very time of his call, that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed, and the germs of the universal destination of the people and kingdom of God were deposited, according to Gen. xvii., in the subse- quent patriarchal promises, the prophets continued to employ the names of Israel and Canaan more and more in their Mes- sianic prophecies as symbolical terms for the two ideas of the people and kingdom of God. And from the time when the fortress of Jerusalem upon Mount Zion was exalted by David into the capital of his kingdom and the seat of his government over Israel, and was also made the site of the dwelling of Jehovah in the midst of His people, by the removal of the ark of the covenant to Zion, and the building of the temple which was planned by David, though only carried into execution by Solomon his son, they employed Zion and Jerusalem in the same typical manner as the seat and centre of the kingdom of God ; so til at, in the Messianic psalms and the writings of the ])rophets, Zion or Jerusalem is generally mentioned as the place from which the king (David-Messiah), anointed by Jehovah as j)rince over His people, extends His dominion over all the earth, and whither the nations pour to hear the law of the Lord, and to be instructed as to His w\ays and their walking in His paths. Consequently neither the prominence expressly given to the land in the promises contained in Lev. xxvi. 42 and Deut. xxxii. 43, upon which such stress is laid by Auberlen {die CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28. 147 messiamsche Weissagimgen, pp. 827 and 833), nor the fact that Mount Zion or the city of Jerusalem is named as the place of judgment upon the world of nations and the completion of the kingdom of God, to which both Hofmann and Auberlen appeal in the passages already quoted, furnishes any valid evidence that the Jewish people, on its eventual conversion to Christ, will be brought back to Palestine, and that the Lord, at His second comincr, will establish the millennial kingdom in the earthly Jerusalem, and take up His abode on the material Mount Zion, in a temple built by human hands. Even the supporters of the literal interpretation of the Mes- sianic prophecies cannot deny the symbohco-typical character of the Old Testament revelation. Thus Auberlen, for example, observes (die mess. Weiss, p. 821) that, '' in their typical cha- racter, the sacrifices furnish us with an example of the true sio-nification of all the institutions of the Old Testament kinfrdom of God, while the latter exhibit to us in external symbol and t^^pe the truly holy people and the Messianic kingdom in its perfection, just as the former set forth the sacrifice of the Messiah." But among these institutions the Israelitish sanc- tuary (tabernacle or temple) undoubtedly occupied a leading place as a symbolico-typical embodiment of the kingdom of God established in Israel, as is now acknowledged by nearly all the expositors of Scripture who have any belief in revelation. It is not merely the institutions of the old covenant, however, which have a symbolico-typical signification, but this is also the case with the history of the covenant nation of the Old Testament, and the soil in which this history developed itself. This is so obvious, that Auberlen himself (tit sup. p. 827) has said that " it is quite a common thing with the prophets to represent the approaching dispersion and enslaving of Israel among the heathen as a renewal of their condition in Egypt, and the eventual restoration of both the people and kingdom as a new exodus from Egypt and entrance into Canaan (Hos. ii. 1, 2 and 16, 17, ix. 3 and 6, xi. 5, 11; Mic. ii. 12, 13, 14S THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. vii. 15, IG; Tsa. x. 24, 26, xi. 11; Jer. xvi. 14, 15, and other passages)." And even Hofmann, who sets aside tliis typical phraseology of tlie propliets in Isa. xi. 11—15, where the restoration of Israel from its dispersion throughout all the world is depicted as a repetition of its deliverance from Egypt through tlie miraculous division of the Red Sea, with the simple remark, " that the names of the peoples mentioned in the 14tli as well as in the 11th verse, and the obstacles described in the 15th verse, merely serve to elaborate the. thought" (Schriftbeiveis, II. 2, p. 548), cannot help admitting (at p. 561) " that in Isa. xxxiv. 5 ^^'^^. is not to be understood as a special prophecy against the Edomitish people, but as a symbolical designation of the world of mankind in its enmity against God." But if Edo)7i is a type of the human race in its hostility to God in this threatening of judgment, " the ransomed of Jehovah" mentioned in the corresponding announcement of salvation in Isa. xxxv., who are to ** return to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads," cannot be the rescued remnant of the Jewish people, or the Israel of the twelve tribes who will ultimately attain to blessedness, nor can the Zion to wliich they return be the capital of Palestine. If Edom in this eschatological prophecy denotes the world in its enmity against God, the ransomed of Jehovah who return to Zion are the people of God gathered from both Gentiles and Jews, who enter into the blessedness of the heavenly Jerusalem. By adopting this view of Edom, Hofmann has admitted the typical use of the ideas, both of the people of Jehovah (Israel) and of Zion, by the prophets, and has thereby withdrawn all firm foundation from his explanation of similar ^lessianic prophecies when the Jewish nation is concerned. The same rule which applies to Edom and Zion in Isa. xxxiv. and xxxv. must also be applicable in Isa. xl.-lxvi. The prophecy concerning Edom in Isa. xxxv. has its side-piece in Isa. Ixiii. 1-6 ; and, as Dehtzsch has said, the announcement of the return of the ransomed of Jehovah to Zion in ch. xxxvi., " as a whole and in every CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28. 149 particular, botli In thought and language, is a prelude of this book of consolation for the exiles (i.e. the one which follows in Isa. xl.-lxvi)." Ezekiel uses Edom in the same way, in the prediction of the everlasting devastation of Edom and the restoration of the devastated land of Israel, to be a lasting blessing for its inhabitants. As Edom in tliis case also repre- sents the world in its hostility to God (see the comm. on cli. XXXV. 1-xxxvi. 15), the land of Israel also is not Palestine, but the kingdom of the Messiah, the boundaries of which extend from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the world (Ps. Ixxii. 8 and Zech. ix. 10). It "is true that in the case of our prophet there is no express mention made of the spread of the kingdom of God over the lands, inasmuch as he is watch- man over the house of Israel, and therefore, for the most part, principally speaks of the restoration of Israel ; but it is also obvious that this prophetic truth was not unknown to him, from the fact that, according to ch. xlvii. 22, 23, in the fresh division of the land among the tribes by lot, the foreigners as well as the natives are to be reckoned among the children of Israel, and to receive their portion of the land as well, which plainly abolishes the difference in lineal descent existinix under the old covenant. Still more clearly does he announce the reception of the heathen nations into the kingdom of God in ch. xvi. 53 sqq., where he predicts the eventual turning of the captivity, not of Jerusalem only, but also of Samaria and Sodom, as the goal of the ways of God with His people. If, therefore, in His pictures of the restoration and glorification of the kingdom of God, he speaks of the land of Israel alone, the reason for this mode of description is probably also to be sought in the fact that he goes back to the fundamental prophecies of the Pen- tateuch more than other prophets do ; and as, on the one hand, he unfolds the fulfilment of the threats in Lev. xxvi. and Deut. xxviii.-xxxii. in his threatenings of judgments, so, on the other hand, does he display the fulfilment of the promises of the law in his predictions of salvation. If we bear this in mind, we 150 THE PKOPIIECIES OF EZEKIEL. must not take his prophecy of the very numerous multiplication of Israel and of the eternal possession of Canaan and its blessings in any other sense than in that of the divine promise in Gen. xvii. ; that is to say, we must not restrict the numerous multiplication of Israel to the literal multiplication of the remnant of the twelve tribes, but must also understand thereby the multiplication of the seed of Abraham into peoples in the manner explained above, and interpret in the same way the restoration of Israel to tlie land promised to the fathers. This view of the Old Testament prophecy concerning the eventual restoration of Israel on its conversion to Christ is confirmed as to its correctness by the New Testament also ; if, for example, we consider the plain utterances of Christ and His apostles concerning the relation of the Israel according to the flesh, i.e. of the Jewish nation, to Christ and His kingdom, and do not adhere in a one-sided manner to the literal inter- pretation of the eschatological pictures contained in the language of the Old Testament prophecy. For since, as Hofmann has correctly observed in his Schriftbeweis (II. 2, pp. 667, 668), '^ the apostolical doctrine of the end of the present condition of things, namely, of the reappearance of Christ, of the glorifica- tion of His church, and the resurrection of its dead, or even of the general resurrection of the dead, of the glorification of the material world, the destruction of the present and the creation of a new one, stands in this relation to the Old Testament prophecy of the end of things, that it is merely a repetition of it under the new point of view, which accompanied the appear- ing and glorification of Jesus and the establishment of His church of Jews and Gentiles;" these eschatological pictures are also clothed in the symbolico-typical form peculiar to the Old Testament prophecy, the doctrinal import of which can only be determined in accordance with the unambiguous doc- trinal passages of the New Testament. Of these doctrinal passages the first which presents itself is Kom. xi., where the Apostle Paul tells the Christians at Kome as a ixvan^piov^ that CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28. 151 hardness in part has happened to Israel, till the 2^^sro77ia of the Gentiles has entered into the kingdom of God, and so (i.e. after this has taken place) all Israel will be rescued or saved (vers. 25, 2G). He then supports this by a scriptural quotation formed from Isa. lix. 20 and xxvii. 9 (LXX.), \Yith an evident allusion to Jer. xxxi. 34 (? 33) also : *' there shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob," etc. ; whilst he has already shown how, as the fall of Israel, or its aTrojSoXrjy is the riches of the Gentiles and reconciliation of the world, the irp6cr\7]'^L^ will be nothing else than life from the dead {^w-q e/c veKpoov, vers. 11-15). The apostle evidently teaches here that the partial hardening of Israel, in consequence of which the people rejected the Saviour, who appeared in Jesus, and were excluded from the salvation in Christ, is not an utter rejection of the old covenant nation ; but that the hardening of Israel will cease after the entrance of the pleroma of the Gentiles into the kingdom of God, and so all Israel (Tra? ^lo-par/X in contrast with i/c /juepov^;, i.e. the people of Israel as a wdiole) will attain to salvation, although this does not teach the salvation of every individual Jew.^ But Auberlen (die mess. Weissagungeiij pp. 801 sqq.) puts too much into these words of the apostle when he combines them with Ex. xix. 5, 6, and from the fact that Israel in the earlier ages of the Old Testa- ^ "All Israel," says Plnlippi in the od ed. of his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (p. 537), " as contrasted with Ik ^ioov; (in part) in ver. 25, and also in the connection in which it stands with the train of thought in ch. ix.— xi., which, as the chapter before us more especially shows, has only to do with the bringing of the nations as a whole to the Messianic salvation, cannot be understood in any other sense than as signi- fying the people of Israel as a w^hole (see also vers. 28-32). The explanation of the words as denoting the spiritual Israel, the ' Israel of God ' (Gal. vi. 16), according to which all the true children of Abraham and of God are to be saved through the entrance of the chosen Gentiles, and at the same time also of the U?^oy'/j of the Israel that has not been hardened, is just as arbitrary as it is to take ' all Israel ' as referring merely to the believing portion of the Jews, the portion chosen by God, who have belonged in all ages to the >.uf/,[/.u. Ka.r v/.'hoy'h yyxpiroiy But in tlie appendix to the third edition he has not only given full expression to the opposite view, 152 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. ment was once a people and kingdom, but not really a holy and priestly one, and that in the first ages of the New Testament it was once holy and priestly, though not as a people and kingdom, draws the conclusion, not only that the Jewish nation must once more become holy as a people and kingdom, but also that the apostle of the Gentiles here declares *^ that the promise i^iven to the people of Israel, that it is to be a holy people, will still be fulfilled in its experience, and that in connection with this, after the present period of the kingdom of God, there is a new period in prospect, when the converted and sanctified Israel, being called once for all to be a priestly kingdom, w^ill become the channel of the blessing of fellowship with God to the nations in a totally different and far more glorious manner than before." For if the apostle had intended to teach the eventual accomplishment of this promise in the case of the Israel according to the flesh, he would certainly have quoted it, or at all events have plainly hinted at it, and not merely have spoken of the crco^eaOaL of the Israel which was hardened then. There is nothing to show, even in the remotest way, that Israel will eventually be exalted into the holy and priestly people and kingdom for the nations, either in the assurance that " all Israel shall be saved," or in the declaration that the "receiving" {TrpoG-Xrj^L^) of Israel will work, or be followed which Besser in his Blhebtunden has supported in the most decided man- ner, after the example of Luther and many of the Lutheran expositors, but is inclined to give the preference, even above the view which he previously upheld, to the idea that " all Israel is the whole of the Israel intended by the prophetic word, and included in the divine word of promise, to which alone the name of Israel truly and justly belongs according to the correct understanding of the Old Testament word of God — that is to say, those lineal sons of Abraham who walk in the footsteps of his faith (ch. iv. 12), those Jews who are so not merely outwardly in the flesh, but also inwaydly in the spirit, through circumcision of heart (ch. ii. 28, 29) ;" and also to the following exposition which Calovius gives of the whole passage, namely, that " it docs not relate to a simultaneous or universal conversion of the Israelites, or to the conversion of a great multitude, which is to take place at the last times of the world, and is to be looked forward to still, but rather to successive conversions continuing even to the end of the world." CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28. 153 by, "life from tlie dead" (ver. 15); and the proposition from which Paul infers the future deliverance of the people of Israel — viz., " if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy ; and if the root be holy, so are the branches" (ver. 16) — shows plainly that it never entered the apostle's mind to predict for the branches that were broken off the olive tree for a time an exaltation to even greater holiness than that possessed by the root and begin- ning of Israel when they should be grafted in again. Thel:'e is also another way in which Hofmann (Schnftheiceis, 11. 2, pp. 96 and 668) makes insertions in the words of the apostle, — namely, when he draws the conclusion from the prophetic quotation in vers. 25, 26, that the apostle takes the thought from the prophetic writings, that Ziou and Israel are the place where the final revelation of salvation will be made, and then argues in support of this geographical exposition of the words, " shall come out of Zion," on the ground that in these words we have not to think of the first coming of the Saviour alone, but the apostle extends to the second coming with perfect pro- priety what the Old Testament prophecy generally affirms with regard to the coming of Christ, and what had already been verified at His first coming. This argument is extremely weak. Even if one would or could insist upon the fact that, when rendering the words /^ia fi^Y? ^? (there will come for Zion a Kedeemer), in Isa. lix. 20, by ^'fet i/c Sicov 6 pvojievo^ (the Eedeemer will come out of Zion), the apostle designedly adopted the expression etc Iltcov, it would by no means follow ^' that he meant the material Zion or earthly Jerusalem to be regarded as the final site of the New Testament revelation." For if the apostle used the expression ^^ come out of Zion," with reference to the second coming of the Lord, because it had been verified at the first comino; of Jesus, althouf^h Jesus did not then come out of Zion, but out of Bethlehem, accord- ing to the prophecy of Mic. v. 1 (cf. Matt. i. 5, 6), he cannot have meant the material Mount Zion by e/c ^ccoVf but must have taken Zion in the prophetico-typical sense of the central 154 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. seat of the kingdom of God; a meaning which it also has in such passages in the Psalms as Ps. xiv. 7, liii. 7, and ex. 2, which he appears to have had floating before his mind. It was only by taking tliis view of Zion that Paul could use Ik Xl(i}v for the P'Vr of Isaiah, w^ithout altering the meaning of tlie prophecy, that the promised Redeemer would come for Zion, i.e. for the citizens of Zion, the Israelites. The apostle, when making this quotation from the prophets, had no more intention of giving any information concerning the place where Christ would appear to the now hardened Israel, and prove Himself to be the Redeemer, than concerning the land in which the Israel scattered among the nations would be found at the second coming of our Lord. And there is nothing whatever in the New Testament to the effect that "• the Lord will not appear again till He has prepared both Israel and Zion for the scene of His reappearing" (Hofmann, p. 97). All that Christ says is, that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a witness concerning all nations, and then will the end come (Matt. xxiv. 14). And if, in addition to this, on His departing for ever from the temple, He exclaimed to the Jews who rejected Him, '' Your house will be left unto you desolate ; for I say unto you, Ye will not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matt, xxiii. 38, 39), all that He means is, that He will not appear to them or come to them before they receive Him with faith, ^' greet Him as the object of their longing expecta- tion ;" and by no means that He will not come till they have been brought back from their dispersion to Palestine and Jerusalem. Even Matt, xxvli. 53 and Rev. xi. 2, wdiere Jerusalem is called the holy city, do not furnish any tenable proof of this, because it is so called, not with regard to any glorification to be looked for in the future, but as the city in which the holiest events in the world's history had taken place ; just as Peter (2 Pet. i. 18) designates the Mount of Transfiguration the holy mount, with CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28. 155 reference to that event, and not with any anticipation of a future glorification of the mountain ; and in 1 Kings xix. 8 Horeb is called the Mount of God, because in the olden time God revealed Himself there. *^ The old Jerusalem is even now the holy city still to those who have directed their hopeful eyes to the new Jerusalem alone" (Hengstenberg). This also applies to the designation of the temple as the ^' holy place " in Matt. xxiv. 15, by which Hofmann (p. 91) would also, though erroneously, understand Jerusalem. And the words of Christ in Luke xxi. 24, that Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, a%pt irXijpcoOcocnv Katpol eOvwv, cannot be used as furnishing a proof that the earthly Jerusalem will be occupied by the converted Jews before or at the second coming of the Lord. For if stress be laid upon the omission of the article, and the appointed period be understood in such a manner as to lead to the following rendering, viz. : " till Gentile periods shall be fulfilled," i.e. " till certain periods which have been appointed to Gentile nations for the accomplishment of this judgment of wrath from God shall have elapsed" (Meyer), w^e may assume, with Hengstenberg {die Juden und die christl. KircJie, 3 art.), that these times come to an end when the overthrow of the might of the Gentiles is effected through the judgment of God, and the Christian church takes their place ; and we may still further say wdth him, that " the treading down of Jerusalem by the heathen, among whom, according to the Christian view, the Mahometans also are to be reckoned, has ceased twice already, — namely, in the reign of Constantine, and in the time of the Crusades, when a Christian kingdom existed in Jerusalem. And what then happened, though only in a transient way, will eventually take place again, and that definitively, on the ground of this declaration of the Lord. Jerusalem will become the posses- sion of the Israel of the Christian church." If, on the other hand, we adopt Hofmann's view (pp. 642, 643), that by Kaipol iOvoiv we are to understand the times of the nations, when the 156 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. world belongs to them, in accordance with Dan. viii. 14, in support of which Rev. xi. 2 may also be adduced, these times " come to an end when the people of God obtain the supre- macy ; " and, according to this explanation, it is affirmed " that this treading down of the holy city will not come to an end till the filling up of the time, during which the world belongs to the nations, and therefore not till the end of the present course of this world." But if the treading down of Jerusalem by the Gentiles lasts till then, even the converted Jews cannot recover possession of it at that time ; for at the end of the present course of this world the new creation of the heaven and earth will take place, and the perfected church of Christ, gathered out of Israel and the Gentile nations, will dwell in the heavenly Jerusalem that has come down upon the new earth. — However, therefore, we may interpret these w^ords of the Lord, w^e are not taught in Luke xxi. 24 any more than in Matt. xxiv. 15 and xxvii. 53, or Rom. xi. 26, that the earthly Jerusalem will come into the possession of the converted Jews after its libera- tion from the power of the Gentiles, that it will hold a central position in the world, or that the temple will be erected there airain. o And lastly, a decisive objection to these Jewish, millenarian hopes, and at the same time to the literal interpretation of the prophetic announcements of the restoration of Israel, is to be found in the fact that the New Testament says nothing what- ever concerning a rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple and a restoration of the Levitical worship ; but that, on the contrary, it teaches in the most decided manner, that, with the completion of the reconciliation of men with God through the sacrifice of Christ upon Golgotha, the sacrificial and temple service of the Levitical law was fulfilled and abolished (Ileb. vii.-x.), on the ground of the declaration of Christ, that the hour cometh, and now is, when men shall worship neither upon Gerizim nor at Jerusalem ; but the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth (John iv. 21-24), in accordance with the CHAP. XXXVIII, XXXIX. 157 direction given by the apostle in Rom. xii. 1. But the prophets of the Old Testament do not merely predict the return of the Israelites to their own land, and their everlasting abode in that land under the rule of the Messiah ; but this prediction of theirs culminates in the promise that Jehovah will establish His sanctuary, i.e. His temple, in the midst of His redeemed people, and dwell there with them and above them for ever (Ezek. xxxvii. 27, 28), and that all nations will come to this sanctuary of the Lord upon Zion year by year, to w^orship before the King Jehovah of hosts, and keep the Feast of tabernacles (Zech. xiv. 16; cf. Isa. Ixvi. 23). If, then, the Jewish people should receive Palestine again for its possession either at or after its conversion to Christ, in accordance with the promise of God, the temple with the Levitical sacrificial worship would of necessity be also restored in Jerusalem. But if such a supposition is at variance w^ith the teaching of Christ and the apostles, so that this essential feature in the prophetic picture of the future of the kingdom of God is not to be understood literally, but spiritually or typically, it is an unjustifiable in- consistency to adhere to the literal interpretation of the pro- phecy concerning the return of Israel to Canaan, and to look for the return of the Jewish people to Palestine, when it has come to believe in Jesus Christ. CHAP. XXXVIII. AXD XXXIX. DESTEUCTIOX OF GOG WITH HIS GREAT ARMY OF NATIONS. Gog, in the land of Magog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, will invade the restored land of Israel from the far distant northern land by the appointment of God in the last times, and with a powerful army of numerous nations (ch. xxxviii. 1-9), with the intention of plundering Israel, now dwelling in security, that the Lord may sanctify Himself upon him before all the w^orld (vers. 10-16). But when Gog, of whom earlier prophets have already prophesied, shall fall upon lo8 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Israel, lio Is to be destroyed by a wrathful judgment from the Lord, tliat tlie nations may know that God is the Lord (vers, 17-23). On tlie mountains of Israel will Gog with all his hosts and nations succumb to the judgment of God (ch. xxxix. 1-8). The inhabitants of the cities of Israel will spend seven years in burning the weapons of the fallen foe, and seven months in burying the corpses in a valley, which will receive its name from this, so as to purify the land (vers. 9-16) ; whilst in the meantime all the birds and wild beasts will satiate them- selves with the flesh and blood of the fallen (vers. 17-20). By this judgment will all the nations as well as Israel know that it was on account of its sins that the Lord formerly gave up Israel into the power of the heathen, but that now He will no more forsake His redeemed people, because He has poured out Ills Spirit upon it (vers. 21-29). Vers. 1-9. Introduction. Preparation of Gog and his army for the invasion of the restored land of Israel. — Ver. 1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 2. Son of man, set thy face toward Gog in the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Mesliech, and Tubal, and prophe.'^y against him, Ver. 3. And say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I loill deal with thee Gog, thou prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, Ver. 4. And will mislead thee, and will put rings in thy jaws, and lead thee out, and all thine army, horses, and riders, all clothed in perfect beauty, a great assembly, icith buckler and shield, all loielding swords ; Ver. 5. Persian, Ethiopian, and Libyan with them, all of them ivith shield and helmet ; Ver. 6. Gomer and all his hosts, the house of Togarmah in the uttermost north with all his hosts ; many peoples with thee. Ver. 7. Be prepared and make ready, thou and all thine assembly, who have assembled together to thee, and be thou their guard, Ver. 8. After many days shall thou be visited, at the end of the years shall thou come into the land, which is brought back from the sicord, gathered out of many peoples, upon tlie mountains of Israel, ivhich were constantly laid icaste, but now it is brought out of the nations, and they dwell CHAP. XXXVIII. 1-9. 159 together in safety ; Ver. 9. And tJion shalt come zip, come like a storm, like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy hosts and many peoples ivifh thee. — Vers. 1 and 2. Command to prophesy against Gog. Ji3, Gog, the name of the prince against whom the prophecy is directed, is probably a name which Ezekiel has arbitrarily formed from the name of the country, Magog ; although Gog does occur in 1 Chron. v. 4 as the name of a Reubenite, of whom nothing further is known. The construction iiJ^ p? ^^3, Gog of the land of Magog, is an abbreviated expression for "■ Gog from the land of Magog ; " and 'i^ p.^ is not to be taken in connection with ^\^3 O'b*^ as the local object (" toward Gog, to the land of Magog"), as Ewald and Havernick would render it ; since it would be very difficult in that case to explain the fact that Jia is afterwards resumed in the apposition '131 fc<''i^'J. JiJ^^ Magog, is the name of a people mentioned in Gen. x. 2 as descended from Japhet, according to the early Jewish and traditional explanation, the great Scythian people ; and here also it is the name of a people, and is written with the article (^^^'Jl'), to mark the people as one well known from the time of Genesis, and therefore pro- perly the land of the Magog (-people). Gog is still further described as the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. It is true that Ewald follows Aquila, the Targum, and Jerome, and connects :^'Nh with ^5''b'3 as an appellative in the sense of princeps capitis, chief prince. But the argument used in support of this explanation, namely, that there is no people of the name of Bosh mentioned either in the Old Testament or by Josephus, is a very weak one ; whilst, on the other hand, the appellative rendering, though possible, no doubt, after the analogy of insn CNT in 1 Chron xxvii. 5, is by no means probable, for the simple reason that the t^\S'l X^bo occurs again in ver. 3 and ch. xxxix. 1, and in such repetitions circumstantial titles are generally abbreviated. The Byzantine and Arabic writers frequently mention a people called 'Pm, ^^jj. Pais, dwelling in the country of the Taurus, and reckoned among the Scythian tribes ICO THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. (for the passages, see Gcs. Thesaurus^ p. 1253), so that there is no reason to question the existence of a people known by the name of liosh ; even though the attempt of Bochart to find a trace of such a people in the 'Pco^aXdvoo (Ptol. iii. 5) and Roxalani (Plin. h. n, iv. 12), by explaining this name as formed from a combination of Rlios (Rhox) and Alani, is just as doubtful as the conjecture, founded upon the investigations of Friihn (Ibn Foszlan, u. a. Araher Berichte ilher die Russen (ilterer Zeit^ St. Petersburg 1823), that the name of the Kus- sians is connected with this 'Pw<;y {j^t^jt and our D'{^"i. Meshech and Tubal (as in ch. xxvii. 13 and xxxii. 26), the Mosclii and Tibareni of classical writers (see the comm. on Gen. x. 2), dwelt, according to the passage before us, in the neighbourhood of Magog. There were also found in the army of Gog, accord- ing to ver. 5, Pharas (Persians), Cush^ and Phut (Ethiopians and Libyans, see the comm. on ch. xxx. 5 and xxvii. 10), and, according to ver. 6, Gomer and the house of Togarmah, From a comparison of this list with Gen. x. 2, Kliefoth draws the conclusion that Ezekiel omits all the peoples mentioned in Gen. X. 2 as belonging to the family of Japhet, who had come into historical notice in his time, or have done so since, namely, the Ikledes, Greeks, and Thracians ; whilst, on the other hand, he mentions all the peoples enumerated, who have never yet appeared upon the stage of history. But this remark is out of place, for the simple reason that Ezekiel also omits the Japhetic tribes of Ashkenaz and Riphath (Gen. x. 3), and still more from the fact that he notices not only the D"!3, or Persians, who were probably related to the '''1», but also the Hamitic peoples Cush and Phut, two African families. Consequently the army of Gog consisted not only of wild Japhetic tribes, who had not yet attained historical importance, but of Plamitic tribes also, that is to say, of peoples living at the extreme north (P2V -nsT, ver. 6) and east (Persians) and south (Ethiopians), Le. on the borders of the then known world. These are all summoned by Gog, and gathered together for an CHAP. XXXVIII. 1-9. IGl attack upon the people of God. This points to a time when their former foes, Ammon, Moab, Edom, PhiHstines, and Syrians, and the old imperial powers, Egypt, Asshur, Babel, Javan, will all have passed away from the stage of history, and the people of God will stand in the centre of the historical life of the world, and will have spread so widely over the earth, that its foes will only be found on the borders of the civilised world (compare Kev. xx. 8). Vers. 3-9 contain in general terms the determinate counsel of God concerning Gog. — Vers. 3-6. Jehovah is about to mislead Gog to a crusade against His people Israel, and sum- mons him to prepare for the invasion of the restored land of Israel. The announcement of the purpose for which Jehovah will make use of Gog and his army, and the summons addressed to him to make ready, form two strophes, which are clearly marked by the similarity of the conclusion in vers. 6 and 9. — Ver. 3. God will deal with Gog, to sanctify Himself upon him by means of judgment (cf. ver. 10). He therefore misleads him to an attack upon the people of Israel. ^?ii^, an intensive form from nvj', may signify, as vox media, to cause to return (ch. xxxix. 27), and to cause to turn away, to lead away from tiie right road or goal, to lead astray (Isa. xlvii. 10). Here and in ch. xxxix. 2 it means to lead or bring away from his previous attitude, Le. to mislead or seduce, in the sense of enticing to a dangerous enterprise ; according to which the Chaldee has rendered it correctly, so far as the actual sense is concerned, Tjspi^'t?, alliciam te. In the words, " I place rings in thy jaws " (cf. ch. xxix. 4), Gog is represented as an un- manageable beast, which is compelled to follow its leader (cf. Isa. xxxvii. 29) ; and the thought is thereby expressed, that Gog is compelled to obey the power of God against his Avill. ^^V^'^, to lead him away from his land, or natural soil. Tlie passage in Rev. xx. 8, " to deceive the nations (ifkavrjaai ra eOprj), Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle," corresponds to these words so far as the material sense is concerned ; with EZEK. ir. L 162 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. tills exception, that Satan is mentioned as the seducer of the nations in the Apocalypse, whereas Ezekiel gives prominence to the leadinr^ of God, which controls the manifestations even of evil, " so that these two passages stand in the same relation to one another as 2 Sam. xxiv. 1 and 1 Chron. xxi. 1" (Hiiv.). In vers. 4^-6 the army is depicted as one splendidly equipped and very numerous. For ^^^^^ ''^iPy seethe comm. onch. xxiii. 12, where the Assyrian satraps are so described, y^ brip^^ as in ch. xvii. 17. The words buckler and shield are loosely appended in the heat of the discourse, without any logical sub- ordination to what precedes. Besides the defensive arms, the greater and smaller shield, they carried swords as weapons of offence. In the case of the nations in ver. 5, only the shield and helmet are mentioned as their equipment, for the sake of variation, as in ch. xxvii. 10; and in ver. 6 two other nations of the extreme north with their hosts are added. Gomer : the Cimmerians ; and the house of Togarmah : the Armenians (see the comm. on ch. xxvii. 14). For Q"*?^^., see the comm. on ch. xii. 14. The description is finally rounded off with D^Jsy -nx D^n"}. In ver. 7, the infin. ahs. Niphal lisn^ which occurs nowhere else except in Amos iv. 12, is used emphatically in the place of the imperative. The repetition of the same verb, though in the imperative Hiphil, equip, i.e. make ready, sc. everything necessary (cf. ch. vii. 14), also serves to strengthen the thought. Be thou to them ip'^^r? for heed, or watch, i.e. as aJjstr. pro concr.^ one who gives heed to them, keeps watch over them (cf. Job vii. 12 and Neh. iv. 3, 16), in actual fact their leader. Vers. 8 and 9 indicate for what Gog was to hold himself ready. The first clause reminds so strongly of ^iPSl Q^??; ^^"^^ in Isa. xxiv. 22, that the play upon this passage cannot possibly be mistaken ; so that Ezekiel uses the words in the same sense as Isaiah, though Iliivernick is wrong in supposing that ^psn is used in the sense of being missed or wanting, i.e. of perishing. The word never has the latter meanin^r; and to be missed does not suit the context either here or in Isaiah, where "Ips^. means CHAP. XXXVIII. 1-9. 163 to be visited, i.e. brought to punishment. And here also this meaning, visitari (Vulg.), is to be retained, and that in the sense of a penal visitation. The objection raised, namely, that there is no reference to punishment here, but that this is first mentioned in ver. 16 or 18, loses all its force if we bear in mind that visiting is a more general idea than punishing ; and the visitation consisted in the fact of God's leading Gog to invade the land of Israel, that He might sanctify Himself upon him by judgment. This might very fittingly be here announced, and it also applies to the parallel clause which follows : thou wilt come into the land, etc., with which the explanation commences of the way in which God would visit him. The only other meaning which could also answer to the parallelism of the clauses, viz. to be commanded, to receive command (Hitzig and Kliefoth), is neither sustained by the usage of the language, nor in accordance with the context. In the passages quoted in support of this, viz. Neh. vii. 1 and xii. 44, "li^S: merely signifies to be charged with the oversight of a thing; and it never means only to receive command to do anything. Moreover, Gog has already been appointed leader of the army in ver. 7, and there- fore is not ^' to be placed in the supreme command " for the first time after many days. D^^l Q^^JP, after many days, i.e. after a long time (cf. Josh, xxiii. 1), is not indeed equivalent in itself to Q^^^O ^^"lll^^j but signifies merely the lapse of a lengthened period ; yet this is defined here as occurring in the Q'^f n nnn«. — D^Jt^'n nnnx, equivalent to D"'p;n nn^^{ (ver. 16), is the end of days, the last time, not the future generally, but the final future, the Messianic time of the completing of the kingdom of God (see the comm. on Gen. xlix. 1). This meaning is also applicable here. For Gog is to come up to the mountains of Israel, which have been laid waste *^^^^, continually, i.e. for a long time, but are now inhabited again. Although, for example, "^T^ signifies a period of time relatively long, it evidently indi- cates a longer period than the seventy or fifty years' desolation of the land during the Babylonian captivity ; more especially lG-4 THE rnoPHECiKS of ezekiel. if we take it in connection with the precedinir and following statements, to the effect that Gog will come into the land, which has been brought back from the sword and gathered out of many peoples. These predicates show that in T^? the idea of the population of the land is the predominant one ; for this alone could be gathered out of many nations, and also brought back from the sword, i.e. not from the consequences of the calamity of war, viz. exile (Rosenmuller), but restored from being slain and exiled by the sword of the enemy, nnnic'^, passive participle of the Pilel ^nic^'^ to restore (cf. Isa. Iviii. 12) ; not turned away from the sword, i.e. in no expectation of war (Hitzig), which does not answer to the parallel clause, and can- not be sustained by Mic. ii. 8. D^^l ^^'?yp, gathered out of )nani/ peoples, points also beyond the Babylonian captivity to the dispersion of Israel in all the world, which did not take place till the second destruction of Jerusalem, and shows that ^^p^ denotes a much longer devastation of the land than the Chaldean devastation was. i^^"?"! introduces a circumstantial clause ; and ^^^^ points back to p.^j «'•€• to the inhabitants of the land. These are now brought out of the nations, i.e. at the time when Gog invades the land, and are dwelling in their own land upon tlie mountains of Israel in untroubled security. T^7V siirnifies the advance of an enemv, as in Isa. vii. 1, etc. nsic'j a tempest, as in Prov. i. 27, from ^^^, to roar. The comparison to a cloud is limited to the covering ; but this does not alter the signification of the cloud as a figurative representa- tion of severe calamity. Vers. 10-16. Account of the motive by which Gog was induced to undertake his warlike expedition, and incurred guilt, notwithstanding the fact that he was led by God, and in conse- quence of which he brought upon himself the judgment of destruction that was about to fall upon him. — Ver. 10. Thus eaith the Lord Jehovah^ It shall come to j:>a5S in that day^ that things will come vp in tliy heart, and thou wilt devise an evil design, Ver. 11. And say, I ivill go up into the open country, I CHAP. XXXVIII. 10-lG. 165 tvill come upon the peaceful ojies, who are all dwelling in safety^ who dwell ivithout icalls, and have not bars and gates, Ver. 12. To take plunder and to gather spoil, to bring back thy hand against the ruins that are inhabited again, and against a people gathered out of the nations^ carrying on trade and commerce, icho dioell on the navel of the earth. Yer. 13. Sabaea and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, and all her young lions, tvill say to thee, Dost thou come to fake plunder f Hast thou gathered thy multitude of people to take spoil ? Is it to carry away gold and silver, to take possession and gain, to plunder a great spoil ? Yer. 14. Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Is it not so ? On that day, ivhen my people Israel dwelleth in security, thou wilt observe it, Yer. 15. And come from thy place from the extreme north, thou and many peoples with thee, all riding upon horses, a great crowd and a numerous army, Yer. 16. And ivilt march against my people Israel, to cover the land like a cloud; at the end of the days it luill take place; then shall I lead thee against my land, that the nations may know me, ivhcn I sanctify myself upon thee before their eyes, Gog. — In ver. 10 Dnm are not words, but things which come into his mind. What things these are, we learn from vers. 11 and 12 ; but first of all, these things are described as evil thoughts or de- signs. Gog resolves to fall upon Israel, now living in peace and security, and dwelling in open unfortified places, and to rob and plunder it. nina )^"]&5j literally, land of plains, z.e. a land which has no fortified towns, but only places lying quite exposed (see the comm. on Zech. ii. 8); because its inhabitants are living in undisturbed peace and safe repose, and therefore dwell in places that have no walls with gates and bars (cf. Judg. xviii, 7 ; Jer. xlix. 31). This description of Israel's mode of life also points beyond the times succeeding the Babylonian captivity to the Messianic days, when the Lord will have destroyed the horses and war-chariots and fortresses (Mic. v. 9), and Jeru- salem will be inhabited as an open country because of the 1G6 THE PKOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. multitucle of the men and cattle, and the Lord will be a wall of fire round about her (Zech. ii. 8, 9). For ver. 12a, compare Isa. X. G. 1"!; ^'V'*'?;' is not dependent upon "^.^J^.?, like the preceding infinitives, but is subordinate to '1^1 npyx ri"i^5< : '' thou sayest, I will go up ... to turn thy hand." ^'t^'n^ to brini^ back, is to be explained from the fact that the heathen had already at an earlier period turned their hand against the towns of Israel, and plundered their possessions and goods. ni^w'iJ ^^^"jn i'^ ^^^is connection are desolate places which are inhabited again, and therefore have been rebuilt (cf. ch. xii. 20, xxvi. 19). '"ijipD and IJ^p are synonyms; and n:ip?p does not mean flocks or herds, but gain, possession (cf. Gen. xxxvi. 6, xxxi. 18, xxxiv. 23). One motive of Gog for making the attack was to be found in the possessions of Israel ; a second is given in the words : wdio dwell upon the navel of the earth. This fiixurative expression is to be explained from ch. v. 5 : " Jerusalem in the midst of the nations." The navel is not a fi<^ure denotins^ the lush, land, but sicfnifies the land situated in the middle of the earth, and therefore the land most glorious and most richly blessed ; so that they who dwell there occupy the most exalted position among the nations. A covetous desire for the possessions of the people of God, and envy at his exalted position in the centre of the world, are therefore the motives by which Gog is impelled to enter upon his predatory expedi- tion against the people living in the depth of peace. This covetousness is so great, that even the rich trading populations of Sabaea, Dedan, and Tarshish (cf. ch. xxvli. 22, 20, and 12) ]>erceive it, and declare that it is this alone which has determined Gog to undertake his expedition. The words of these peoples (ver. 13) are not to be taken as expressing their sympathies (Klicfoth), but serve to give prominence to the obvious thirst for booty which characterizes the multitude led by Gog. '7!!^?3, their young lions, are the rapacious rulers of these trading communities, according to ch. xix. 3 and xxxii. 2. — Ver. 14 introduces the announcement of the punishment, which consists CHAP. XXXVIII. 17-23. 1G7 of another summary account of the daring enterprise of Gog and his hosts (cf. vers. 14, 15, and 16a with vers. 4-9), and a clear statement of the design of God in leading him against His people and land. V1^ (ver. 14, close), of which different ren- derings have been given, does not mean, thou wilt experience, or be aware of, the punishment ; but the object is to be taken from the context : thou wilt know, or perceive, sc. that Israel dwells securely, not expecting any hostile invasion. The rendering of the LXX. {iyepO/ja-rj) does not furnish any satis- factory ground for altering V^i^ into liM = "iii;ri (Ewald, Hitzig). With the words '"Un^O^^'r^Lil (ver. 166) the opening thought of the whole picture (ver. 4a) is resumed and defined w^ith greater precision, for the purpose of attaching to it the declaration of the design of the Lord in bringing Gog, namely, to sanctify Himself upon him before the eyes of the nations (cf. ver. 23 and ch. xxxvi. 23). Vers. 17-23. Announcement of the wrathful judgment upon Gog, as a proof of the holiness of the Lord. — Yer. 17. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah^ Art thou he of icltom I spoke in the former days through my servants the pi'ophets of Israel, icho 2?rophesied for years in those days, that I would hring thee over them? Ver. 18. Audit cometh to joass in that day, in the day luhen Gog cometh into the land of Israel, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, that my ivrath ivill ascend into my 7iose. Ver. 19. And in my jealousy, in the fire of my conger, have I spoken, Truly in that day will a great trembling come over the land of Israel ; Ver. 20. The fishes of the sea, and the birds of heaven, and the beasts of the field, and every creeping thing that creepeth ttpon the ground, and cdl the men that are upon the ground, loill tremble before me; and the mountcdns will be destroyed, and the rocky heights f cdl, and every ivcdl luill fall to the ground. Ver. 21. / will ccdl the sword against him to all my holy mountains, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah : the sword of the one will be against the other. Ver. 22. And I will strive with him by pestilence and by blood, and overflowing rain-torrents and hailstones; fire 163 THE TROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL and brimstone will I rain upon liim and all his Jwsts, and upon the manii peoples that are icith him; Ver. 23. And loill prove my- self great and holy, and ivill make myself known before the eyes of many jiations, that they may know that I am Jehovah. — The announcement of the way in which the Lord will sanctify Himself upon Gog (ver. 16) commences with the statement in ver. 17, that Gog is he of whom God has already spoken by the earlier prophets. This assertion is clothed in the form of a question : ^J^^^, not nns N*7n, which is the interrogative form used for an emphatic assurance ; whereas nnxn does not set down the point in question as indisputably certain, but suggests the inquiry for the purpose of giving a definite answer. The affirmative reply to the question asked is contained in the last clause of the verse : ^* to bring thee upon them ; " so that t^^n nnNin really means, thou art truly he. The statement, that Gog is he of whom God had already spoken by the earlier pro- phets, does not mean that those prophets had actually men- tioned Gog, but simply that Gog was the enemy of whose rising up against the people of God the prophets of the former time had prophesied, as well as of his destruction by a wrathful judgment of the Lord. D^"^ (for years, or years long) is an accusative of measure, not asyndeton to D^^*?, as the LXX. and many of the commentators down to Htivernick have taken it to be. The design of this remark is not to accredit the pro- phecy by referring to the utterances of earlier prophets, but to show that the attack of the peoples gathered together by Gog, upon the land and people of the Lord, is not an unexpected event, or one at variance with the promise of the restoration of Israel as a kingdom of peace. To what utterances of the older prophets these words refer is a question difficult to answer. Zechariah (xii. 2, 3, xiv. 2, 3) is of course not to be thought of, as Zechariah himself did not prophesy till after the captivity, and therefore not till after Ezekiel. But we may recall Joel iv. 2 and 11 sqq. ; Isa. xxv. 5, 10 sqq., xxvi. 21 ; Jer. XXX. 23 and 25 ; and, in fact, all the earlier prophets who CHAP. XXXVIII. 17-23. 169 prophesied of Jehovah's day of judgment upon all the heathen.^ — Vers. 18 and 19 do not contain words which Jehovah spoke through tlie ancient prophets, and which Ezekiel now transfers to Gog and the time of his appearing (Hitzig and Khefoth). The perfect "'^■]?1 in ver. 19 by no means warrants such an assumption ; for this is purely prophetic, expressing the cer- tainty of the divine determination as a thing clearly proved. Still less can 'lJ^ Di<^ in ver. 18 be taken as a preterite, as KHefoth supposes; nor can vers. 18 and 19 be regarded as a thing long predicted, and so be separated from vers. 20-23 as a word of God which is now for the first time uttered. For the anthropopathetic expression, " my wrath ascends in my nose," compare Ps. xviii. 9, ^' smoke ascends in His nose." Tiie outburst of wrath shows itself in the vehement breath which the wrathful man inhales and exhales through his nose (see the comm. on the Psalm, I.e.). The bursting out of the wrath of God is literally explained in ver. 19. In the jealousy of His wrath God has spoken, i.e. determined, to inflict a great trembling upon the land of Israel, ''^^53pn (cf. ch. v. 13) is strengthened by "n^ny C^'ns (cf. ch. xxi. 36, xxii. 21). The trembling which will come upon the land of Israel, so that all creatures in the sea, in the air, and upon the ground, tremble before Jehovah 0^?9)j who appears to judgment, will rise in nature into an actual earthquake, wdiich overthrows mountains, hills, and walls, ^i^"]"!^ are steep heights, which can only be ascended by steps (Song of Sol. ii. 14). This picture of the trembling of the whole world, with all the creatures, before the Lord who is coming to judgment, both here and in Joel iv. 16, ^ Aug. Kueper (Jeremias lihrr. sacrr. interpr. atque vindex^ p. 82) has correctly observed concerning tMs verse, that "it is evident enough that there is no reference here to prophecies concerning Gog and Magog, which have been lost ; but those general prophecies, which are met with on every hand directed against the enemies of the church, are here referred to Gog." And before him, J. F. Starck had already said- " In my opinion, we are to understand all those passages in the prophets which treat of the enemies of the church and its persecutions . . . these afflictions were pre- ludes and shadows of the bloody persecution of Gog." 170 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Zech. xlv. 4, 5, rests upon the fact which actually occurred in connection with the revelation of God upon Sinai, when the whole mountain was made to quake (Ex. xix. 16 sqq.). The inhabitants of the land of Israel tremble at the terrible pheno- mena attending the revelation of the wrath of God, although the wratliful judgment does not apply to them, but to their enemies, Gog and his hosts. The Lord calls the sword against Gog, that his hosts may wound and slay one another. This feature of the destruction of the enemy by wounds inflicted by itself, which we meet with again in Zech. xiv. 13, has its typical exemplar in the defeat of the Midlanites in the time of Gideon (Judg. vii. 22), and also in that of the enemy invading Judah in the reign of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xx. 23). In ••"in'p^p the ? is not distributive, but indicates the direction : '' to all my mountains." The overthrow of the enemy is intensi- fied by marvellous plagues inflicted by God — pestilence and blood (cf. ch. xxviii. 23), torrents of rain and hailstones (cf. ch. xiii. 11), and the raining of fire and brimstone upon Gog, as formerly upon Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. xix. 24). — Thus will Jehovah prove Himself to be the almighty God by judgment upon His enemies, and sanctify Himself before all the nations (ver. 23, compare ver. 16 and ch. xxxvi. 23). Ch. xxxix. 1-20. Further description of the judgment to fall upon Gog and his hosts. — Vers. 1-8. General announce- ment of his destruction. — Yer. 1. And tJiou, son of man, pj'ophesij against Gog^ and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I ivill deal with thee, Gog, thou prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. Ver. 2. / will mislead thee, and conduct thee, and cause thee to come up from the uttermost north, and bring thee to the mountains of Israel ; Ver. 3. And tvill smite thy bow from thy hft hand, and cause thine arroics to fall from thy right hand, Ver. 4. Upon the mountains of Israel wilt thou fall, thou and all thy hosts, and the peoples which are with thee : I give thee for food to the birds of prey of every plumage, and to the beasts of the fidd. Ver. 5. Upon the open field shalt thou fall, for I CHAP. XXXIX. 1-8. 171 have spoken it, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, Ver. 6. And I will send fire in Magog, and among those who dwell in security upon the islands, that they may know that I am Jehovah. Ver. 7. / loill make knoivn my holy name in the midst of my people Israel^ and ivill not let my holy name he profaned any more^ that the nations may know that I am Jehovah, holy in Israel. Yer. 8. Behold, it comes and happens, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah; this is the day of which I spoke. — The further description of the judgment with which Gog and his hosts are threatened in ch. xxxviii. 21—23, commences with a repetition of the command to the prophet to prophesy against Gog (ver. 1, cf. ch. xxxviii. 2, 3). The principal contents of ch. xxxviii. 4-15 are then briefly summed up in ver. 2. '^^"ii33^ as in ch. xxxviii. 4, is strengthened by ^''O^'^- ^*^'*^j drra^ Xe7., is not connected with K^iJ^ in the sense of " I leave a sixth part of thee remaining," or afflict thee with six punishments; but in the Ethiopic it signifies to proceed, or to climb, and here, accordingly, it is used in the sense of leading on (LXX. Kado- BTjyjjaco ae, or, according to another reading, Kard^co; Vulg. educam). For ver. 2h, compare ch. xxxviii. 15 and 8. In the land of Israel, God will strike his weapons out of his hands, i.e. make him incapable of figliting (for the fact itself, compare the similar figures in Ps. xxxvii. 15, xlvi. 10), and give him up with all his army as a prey to death. ^''V, a beast of prey, is more precisely defined by "i^^Vj and still further strengthened by the genitive ^J?"''^ : birds of prey of every kind. The judgment will not be confined to the destruction of the army of Gog, which has invaded the land of Israel, but (ver. 6) will also extend to the land of Gog, and to all the heathen nations that are dwelling in security. ^'^, fire, primarily the fire of war; then, in a further sense, a figure denoting destruction inflicted directly by God, as in ch. xxxviii. 22, wdiich is there- fore represented in Rev. xx. 9 as fire falling from heaven. Magog is the population of the land of Magog (ch. xxxviii. 2). With this the inhabitants of the distant coastlands of the west 172 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. (the C1^*X) are associated, as representatives of the remotest heathen nations. Vers. 7, 8. By this judgment the Lord will make known His holy name in Israel, and show the heathen that He will not let it be blasphemed by them any more. For the fact itself, compare ch xxxvi. 20 For ver. 8, compare ch. xxi. 12 , and for ovn, see ch. xxxviii. 18, 19. Vers. 9-20 Total destruction of Gog and his hosts. — Ver. 9. Then ivill the inhabitants of the cities of Israel go fort h, and hum and heat ivith armour and shield and target^ loith boiu and arrows and hand-staves and spears^ andiuill burn fire ivith them for seven years ; Ver. 10 And ivill not fetch ivood from the field, nor cut ivood out of the forests^ but ivill burn fire vnth the armour, and will spoil those ivho spoiled them, and plunder those loho plundered tliem, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah ^ Ver. 11. And it ivill come to 2^(-iss in that day, that I ivill give Gog a place ivhere his grave m Israel shall be, the valley of the travellers on the front of the sea ; and it will stop the way to the travellers, and there will they bury Gog and all his midtitude, and will call it the valley of GogU multitude. Ver 12 They of the house of Israel ivill bury them, to purify the land for seven months, Ver. 13. And all the p)eople of the land will bury, and it will he to them for a name on the day luhen I glorify myself, is the sayijig of the Lord. Jehovah, Ver. 14. And they will set apart constant men, such as rove about in the land, and such as bury ivith them that rove about those who remain upon the surface of the ground, to cleanse it, after the lapse of seven months ivill they search it through. Ver. 15. And those ivho rove about will pass through the land; and if one sees a mans bone, he will set up a sign by it, till the buriers of the dead bury it in the valley of the multitude of Gog. Ver. 16. The name of a city shall also be called Ilamonah (multitude). And thus will they cleanse the land. Ver 17. And thou, son of man. thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Say to the birds of every jylumage, and to all the beasts of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come , gather together from round about to my sacrifice, vjhich 1 slaughter for you, to a great sacrifice upon the mountains of CHAP. XXXIX. 9-20 173 Israel^ and eat flesh and drink blood, Ver. 18 Flesh of heroes shall ye eat, and drink blood of princes of the earth; rams, lanibsj and he-goats, bullocks, all fattened in Bashan, Ver. 9. And ye shall eat fat to satiety^ and drink blood to intoxication, of my sacrifice which I have slaughtered for you, Ver 20. And ye shall satiate yourselves at my table with horses and riders, heroes and all kinds of men of tvar, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. — To show how terrible the judgment upon Gog will be, Ezekiel depicts in three special ways the total destruction of his powerful forces. In the first place, the burning of all the weapons of the fallen foe will furnish the inhabitants of the land of Israel with wood for flrinfj for seven years, so that there will be no necessity for them to fetch fuel from the field or from the forest (vers 9 and 10). But Havernick is wrong in supposing that the reason for burning the weapons is that, according to Isa. ix. 5, weapons of war are irreconcilable with the character of the Messianic times of peace. This is not referred to here; but the motive is the complete annihilation of the enemy, the removal of every trace of him. The prophet therefore crowds the words together for the purpose of enumerating every kind of weapon that was combustible, even to the hand-staves wliich men were accus- tomed to carry (cf. Num. xxii. 27). The quantity of the weapons will be so great, that they will supply the Israelites with all the fuel they need for seven years. The number seven in the seven years as well as in the seven months of burvinix (ver. 11) is symbolical, stamping the overthrow as a punishment inflicted by God, the completion of a divine judgment. — With the gathering of the weapons for burning there is associated the plundering of the fallen foe (ver. 105), by which the Israelites do to the enemy what he intended to do to them (ch. xxxviii. 12), and the people of God obtain possession of the wealth of their foes (cf. Jer. xxx. 16). In the second place, God will assign a large burying-place for the army of Gog in a valley of Israel, wliich is to be named in consequence " the 174 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. mnltitnde of Gog;" just as a city in that region will also bo called Ilamonah from this event. The Israelites will bury the fallen of Go<]^ there for seven months long, and after the expiration of that time they will have the land explored by men specially appointed for the purpose, and bones that may still have been left unburied will be sought out, and they will have them interred by buriers of the dead, that the land may be thoroughly cleansed (vers. 11-16). "i^i^ ^^ ^^P^, a place where there was a grave in Israel, i.e. a spot in which he might be buried in Israel. There are different opinions as to both the desicfnation and the situation of this place. There is no foundation for the supposition that D^lfvn ^3 derives its name from the mountains of Aharim in Num. xxvii. 12 and Deut. xxxii. 49 (Michaelis, Eichhorn), or that it signifies valley of the haughty ones (Ewald), or that there is an allusion to the valley mentioned in Zech. xiv. 4 (Hitzig), or the valley of Jehoshaphat (Kliefoth). The valley cannot even have derived its name (Dn^yn) from the Q''1?y, who passed through the land to search out the bones of the dead that still remained unburied, and have them interred (vers. 14, 15). For Q^l^'yn cannot have any other meaning here than that which it has in the circum- stantial clause which follow-s, where those who explored the land cannot possibly be intended, although even this clause is also obscure. The only other passage in wdiich Don occurs is Deut. XXV. 4, where it signifies a muzzle, and in the Arabic it means to obstruct, or cut off ; and hence, in the passage before us, pro- bably, to stop the w^ay. ^^'''l^V'^ are not the Scythians (Hitzig), for the word I3y is never applied to their invasion of the land, but generally the travellers who pass through the land, or more especially those who cross from Peraea to Canaan. The valley of Q^I^Vn is no doubt the valley of the Jordan above the Dead Sea. The definition indicates this, viz. Djn T\'01J>^ on the front of the sea ; not to the east of the sea, as it is generally rendered, for rioip never has this meaning (see the comm. on Gen.ii. 14). By D-n we cannot understand " the Mediterranean," as the CHAP. XXXIX. 9-20. 175 majority of the commentators have done, as there would then be no meaning in the words, since the whole of the land of Israel was situated to the east of the Mediterranean Sea. D*n is the Dead Sea, generally called ''^i'^li^n Djn (ch. xlvii. 18) ; and njn n^np^ " on the front side of the (Dead) Sea," as looked at from Jerusalem, the central point of the land, Is probably the valley of the Jordan, the principal crossing place from Gilead into Canaan proper, and the broadest part of the Jordan-valley, which was therefore well adapted to be the burial-place for the multitude of slaughtered foes. But in consequence of the army of Gog having there found its grave, this valley will in future block up the way to the travellers who desire to pass to and fro. This appears to be the meaning of the circumstantial clause. — From the fact that Gog's multitude Is buried there, the valley itself will receive the name of Hamon-Gog. The Israelites will occupy seven months in burying them, so enor- mously great will be the number of the dead to be buried (ver. 12), and this labour will be for a name, i.e. for renown, to the whole nation. This does not mean, of course, " that it will be a source of honour to them to assist in this w^ork;" nor is the renown to be sought in the fact, that as a privileo-ed people, protected by God, they can possess the grave of Gog in their land (Hitzig), — a thought which is altogether remote, and perfectly foreign to Israelitish views ; but the burying of Go't's multitude of troops w^ill be for a name to the people of Israel, inasmuch as they thereby cleanse the land and manifest their zeal to show themselves a holy people by sweeping all unclean- ness away. Dr is an accusative of time : on the day when I glorify myself. — Vers. 14, 15. The effort made to cleanse the land perfectly from the uncleanness arising from the bones of the dead will be so great, that after the great mass of the slain have been buried in seven months, there wall be men specially appointed to bury the bones of the dead that still lie scattered here and there about the land, ^'^n ^'s^^^ are people who have a permanent duty to discharge. The participles L)''i;iy and 17G THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Dnzpp are co-ordinate, and are written together aspidetos, men who go about the land, and men who bury with those who go about. That the words are to be understood in this sense is evident from ver 15, according to which those who go about do not perform the task of burying, but simply search for bones that have been left, and put up a sign for the buriers of the dead. •^^'J, with the subject indefinite; if one sees a human bone, he builds (erects) a i^*V, or stone, by the side of it (cf. 2 Kini^s xxiii. 17). — Ver 16. A city shall also receive the name of IJamonahj i.e. multitude or tumult To "I'^'DC^* we may easily supply •^.''.n^ from the context, since this puts in the future the statement, ^' the name of the city is" for which no verb was required in Hebrew. In the last words, n?\) ^'^'^P\ t^^® ™^i" thought is finally repeated and the picture brought to a close. — Vers. 17-20. In the third place, God will provide the birds of prey and beasts of prey with an abundant meal from this slaughter. This cannot be understood as signifying that only what remain of the corpses, and have not been cleared away in the manner depicted in vers. 11-16, will become the prey of wild beasts ; but the beasts of prey will make their meal of the corpses before it is possible to bury them, since the burying cannot be effected immediately or all at once. — The several features in the picture, of the manner in which the enemies are to be destroyed till the last trace of them is gone, are not arranged in chronological order, but according to the subject- matter; and the thouijht that the slauirhtered foes are to become the prey of wild beasts is mentioned last as being the more striking, because it is in this that their ignominious destruction culminates. To give due prominence to this thought, the birds and beasts of prey are summoned by God to gather together to the meal prepared for them. The picture given of it as a sacrificial meal is based upon Isa. xxxiv. 6 and Jer. xlvi. 10. In harmony with this picture the slaughtered foes are designated as fattened sacrificial beasts, rams, lambs, he-goats, bullocks ; on which Grotius has correctly remarked, CUAP. XXXIX. 21-29. 177 that " these names of animals, which were generally employed in the sacrifices, are to be understood as signifying different orders of men, chiefs, generals, soldiers, as the Chaldee also observes." Vers. 21-29. The result of this judgment, and the concluding promise. — Ver. 21. Then will I display my glory among the nationsy and all nations shall see my judgment ivhich I shall execute, and my hand ivhich I shall lay upon them. Ver. 22. And the hoiise of Israel shall know that I am Jehovah their God from this day and forward. Ver. 23. And the nations shall know that because of their wickedness the house of Israel loent into cap- tivity ; because they have been unfaithful toward me^ I hid my face from them^ and gave them into the hand of their oppressors, so that they all fell by the sword. Ver. 24. According to their uncleanness, and according to their transgressions, I dealt with them, and hid my face from them. Ver. 25. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Now loill I bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have pity upon all the house of Israel, and be jealous for my holy name. Ver. 26. Then ivill they bear their reproach and all their faithlessness which they have committed toward me when they dwell in their land in security, and no one alarms them ; Ver. 27. When I bring them back out of the nations, and gather them out of the lands of their enemies, and sanctify myself upon them before the eyes of the many nations. Ver. 28. And they will know that I, Jehovah, am their God, when I have driven them out to the nations, and then bring them together again into their land, and leave none of them there any more. Ver. 29. Aiid I will not hide my face from them any more, because I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. — The terrible judgment upon Gog will have this twofold effect as a revelation of the glory of God — first, Israel will know that the Lord is, and will always continue to be, its God (ver. 22) ; secondly^ the heathen will know that He gave Israel into their power, and thrust it out of its own land, not from weakness, but to punish it for its faithless EZEK. II. 21 178 THE rr.orHECiEs of ezekiel. apostasy (vers. 23 and 24 ; compare ch. xxxvi. 17 sqq.) nl"y cnx (ver. 24), as in cb. vii. 27, etc. But because this was the purpose of the Lord with His judgments, He will now bring back the captives of Israel, and have compassion upon all His people. Tiiis turn of the prophecy in ver. 25 serves to intro- duce the promise to Israel with which the prophecy concerning Gog and the whole series of prophecies, contained in ch.xxxv. 1 onwards, are brought to a close (vers. 25-29). This promise reverts in 'l^l y^'^ nriy to the prophet's own time, to which Ezekiel had already gone back by mentioning the carrying away of Israel in vers. 23 and 24. The restoration of the captives of Jacob commences with the liberation of Israel from the Babylonian exile, but is not to be restricted to this. It embraces all the deliverances which Israel will experience from the termination of the Babylonian exile till its final gathering out of the nations on the conversion of the remnant which is still hardened and scattered. 1??, therefore, sc. because God will prove Himself to be holy in the sight of the heathen nations by means of the judgment, and will make known to them that He has punished Israel solely on account of its sins, and therefore will He restore His people and renew it by His Spirit (ver. 29). — In what the jealousy of God for His holy name consists is evident from ver. 7, and still more plainly from ch, xxxvi. 22, 23, namely, in the fact that by means of the judgment He manifests Himself as the holy God. ^bO^_ is not to be altered into 1i^'Jl, ^' they will forget," as Dathe and Ilitzig propose, but is a defective spelling for ^^<^J1 (like vD for nSpD in ch. xxviii. IG) : they will bear their reproach. The thoufiht is the same as in ch. xvi. 54 and 61, where the bearini^ of reproach is explained as signifying their being ashamed of their sins and their consequences, and feeUng disgust thereat. They will feel this shame when the Lord grants them lasting peace in their own land. Kaschi has correctly explained it thus : " When I shall have done them good, and not rewarded them as their iniquity deserved, they will be filled with shame, so that CHAP. XXXIX. 21-29. 179 tliey will not dare to lift up their face." — Ver. 27 is only a further expansion of ver. 2Qb. For the fact itself, compare eh. xxxvi. 23, 24, xx. 41, etc. And not only ^Yill Israel then be ashamed of its sins, but (vers. 28, 29) it will also know that Jehovah is its God from henceforth and forever, as was affirmed in ver. 22, when He shall fully restore to their own land the people that was thrust into exile, and withdraw His favour from it no more, because He has poured out His Spirit upon it, and thereby perfectly sanctified it as His own people (cf. ch. xxxvi. 27). The promise with which the prophecy concerning the destruc- tion of Gog is brought to a close, namely, that in this judgment all nations shall see the glory of God, and all Israel shall know that henceforth Jehovah will be their God, and will no more hide His face from them, serves to confirm the substance of the threat of punishment; inasmuch as it also teaches that, in the destruction of Gog and his gathering of peoples, the last attack of the heathen world-power upon the kingdom of God w^ill be judged and overthrown, so that from that time forth the people of God will no more have to fear a foe who can disturb its peace and its blessedness in the everlasting possession of the inheritance given to it by the Lord. Gog is not only depicted as the last foe, whom the Lord Himself entices for the purpose of destroying him by miracles of His almighty power (ch. xxxviii. 3, 4, 19-22), by the fact that his appearance is assigned to the end of the times, wdien all Israel is gathered out of the nations and brought back out of the lands, and dwells in secure repose in the open and unfortified towns of its own land (ch. xxxviii. 8, 11, 12) ; but this may also be inferred from the fact that the gathering of peoples led by Gog against Israel belongs to the heathen nations living on the borders of the known world, since this points to a time when not only w^ill the ancient foes of the kingdom of Gog, whose destruction was predicted in ch. xxv.-xxxii., have departed from the stage of history and perished, but the boundaries of Israel will also ISO THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. stretch far beyond the Hmlts of Palestine, to the vicinity of these hordes of peoples at the remotest extremities on the north, the east, and the south of the globe. — So much may be gathered from tlie contents of our prophecy in relation to its historical fulfilment. But in order to determine with greater precision what is the heathen power thus rising up in Gog of Mao-oo- ao-ainst the kino;dom of God, we must take into con- sideration the passage in the Apocalypse (Eev. xx. 8 and 9), where our prophecy is resumed. Into this, however, we will not further enter till after the exposition of ch. xl.-xlviii., when we shall take up the question as to the historical realization of the new temple and kingdom of God which Ezekiel saw. Chap. XL.-XLVIIT.— THE NEW KINGDOM OF GOD. The last nine chapters of Ezekiel contain a magnificent vision, in which the prophet, being transported in an ecstatic state into the land of Israel, is shown the new temple and the new organization of the service of God, together with the new division of Canaan among the tribes of Israel, who have been broufrht back from amon^ the nations. This last section of our book, which is perfectly rounded off in itself, is indeed sharply distinguished by its form from the preceding pro- phecies; but it is closely connected with them so far as the contents are concerned, and forms the second half of the entire book, in which the announcement of salvation for Israel is brought to its full completion, and a panoramic vision displays the realization of the salvation promised. This announcement (ch. xxxiv.-xxxvii.) commenced with the promise that the Lord would bring back all Israel from its dispersion into the land of Canaan given to the fathers, and would cause it to dwell there as a people renewed by His Spirit and walking in His com- CHAP. XL.-XLVIII. 181 raandments ; and closed with the assurance that He would make an eternal covenant of peace with His restored people, place His sanctuary in the midst of them, and there dwell above them as their God for ever (ch. xxxvii. 26-28). The picture shown to the prophet in the chapters before us, of the realization of this promise, commences with the description and measuring of the new sanctuary (ch. xl.-xlii.), into w^hich the glory of the Lord enters with the assurance, "This is the place of my throne, where I shall dwell for ever among the sons of Israel " (ch. xliii. 1-12) ; and concludes with the defini- tion of the boundaries and the division of Canaan amoncr the twelve tribes, as w^ell as of the extent and building of the new Jerusalem (ch. xlvii. 13-xlviii. 35). The central portion of this picture is occupied by the new organization of the service of God, by observing which all Israel is to prove itself to be a holy people of the Lord (ch. xliii. 13-xlvi. 24), so as to partici- pate in the blessing which flows like a river from the threshold of the temple and spreads itself over the land (ch. xlvii. 1-12). From this brief sketch of these nine chapters, it is evident that this vision does not merely treat of the new temple and the new order of the temple-worship, although these points are described in the most elaborate manner ; but that it presents a picture of the new form assumed by the wdiole of the kingdom of God, and in this picture exhibits to the eye the realization of the restoration and the blessedness of Israel. The whole of it may therefore be divided into three sections : viz. (a) the description of the new temple (ch. xl.-xliii. 12) ; (b) the new organization of the worship of God (ch. xliii. 13-xlvi. 24) ; (c) the blessing of the land of Canaan, and the partition of it among the tribes of Israel (ch. xlvii. 1— xlviii. 35) ; although this division is not strictly adhered to, inasmuch as in the central section not only are several points relating to the temple — such as the description of the altar of burnt-offering (ch. xliii. 13-17), and the kitchens for the sacrifices (ch. xlvi. 1 9-24) — repeated, but the therumah to be set apart as holy on 182 THE rROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL the division of the land, and the prince's domain, are also mentioned and defined (ch. xlv. 1-8). CIIAr. XL.-XLIII. 12. THE KEW TEMPLE. After a short introduction announcing the time, place, and design of the vision (ch. xl. 1—4), the picture of the temple sliown to the prophet commences with a" description of the courts, with their gates and cells (ch. xl. 5-47). It then turns to the description of the temple -house, with the porch and side- building, of the erection upon the separate place (ch. xl. 48-xli. 26), and also of the cells in the outer court set apart for the sacrificial meals of the priests, and for the custody of their ofl^icial robes ; and proceeds to define the extent of the outer circumference of the temple (ch. xlii.). It closes with the consecration of the temple, as the place of the throne of God, by the entrance into it of the glory of the Lord (ch. xliii. 1-12).^ Chap. xl. 1-4. Introduction. Ver. 1. In the five and tiventietli year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth ^ For the exposition of this section, compare the thorough, though critically one - sided, work of Jul. Fr. Bottcher {Exegetisch kritisclier Versuch iiber die ideate Beschreilung der Tanpelgebdude Ezecli. ch. xl.-xlii., xlvi. 19-24) in the Prohen alttestamentUcher SchrifterUdrung^ Lpz. 183o, pp. 218-365, with two plates of illustrations. — On the other hand, the earlier monographs upon these chapters : Jo. Bapt. Villalpando, de pos- trema Ezechielis visione, Pars II. of Pradi et VillaJpandi in Ezech. explanatt.^ Rom. 1G04 ; ^Matth. Hafcnrcffer, Templum Ezechielis s. in IX. postr. pro- phetiae capita, Tiib. 1G13 ; Leonh. Cph. Sturm, Sciagraphia templi IlierosoL . . . praesertim ex vislone Ezech., Lips. 1G94 ; and other writings mentioned in Kosenmiiller's Scholia ad Ez. XL., by no means meet the scientific demands of our age. This also applies to the work of Dr. J. J. Balmer- liinck, with its typographical beauty, Des Propheten Ezechiel Ansicht vom Tempel, mil 5 Taj'ela rind 1 Karte, Ludwigsb. 1858, and to the description and engraving of EzekieVs temple in Gust. Unruh's das alle Jerusalem und seine Bauwerke^ Laugensalza 1861. CHAP. XL. 1-4. 183 year after the city was smitten, on this same day the hand of JeliiOvah came upon me, and He brought me thither, Ver. 2. In visions of God He brought me into the land of Israel, and set me doiun upon a very high mountain ; and upon it there was like a city-edifice toward the south. Ver. 3. And lie brought me thither, and behold there was a man, his appearance like the appearance of brass, and a flaxen cord in his hand, and the measuring-rod ; and he stood by the gate. Ver. 4. And the man spake to me : Son of man, see ivith thine eyes, and hear luith thine ears, and set thy heart upon all that I show thee ; for thou art brought hither to show it thee. Tell all that thou seest to the house of Israel. — The twofold announcement of the time when the prophet was shown the vision of the new temple and the new kingdom of God points back to ch. i. 1 and xxxiii. 21, and places this divine revelation concerning the new building of the kingdom of God in a definite relation, not only to the appearance of God by which Ezekiel was called to be a prophet (ch. i. 1, 3), but also to the vision in ch. viii.-xi., in which he was shown the destruction of the ancient, sinful Jerusalem, together with its temple. The twenty-fifth year of the captivity, and the fourteenth year after the city was smitten, i.e. taken and reduced to ashes, are the year 575 before Christ. There is a difference of opinion as to the correct explanation of ^^J^^ t/*Ni3, at the beginning of the year; but it is certainly incorrect to take the expression as denoting the beginning of the economical or so-called civil year, the seventh month (Tishri). For, in the first place, the custom of beginning the year with the month Tishri was introduced long after the captivity, and was probably connected with the adoption of the era of the Seleucidae ; and, secondly, it is hardly conceivable that Ezekiel should have deviated from the view laid down in the Zbm/i in so important a point as this. The only thing that could render this at all probable would be the assumption proposed by Hitzig, that the year 575 B.C. was a year of Jubilee, since the year of jubilee did commence with the day of atonement on the tenth of the ISi THE rnoPHEciES of ezekiel. seventh month. But the supposition that a jubilee year fell in tlie twenty-fifth year of the captivity cannot be raised into a probabilitv. We therefore agree with Havernick and Kliefoth in adherinf^ to the view of the older commentators, that i:^X-i t'i:^'^ is a contracted repetition of the definition contained in Ex. xii. 2, nrc'ri ''Cnrh li^'S"} Q^'^'^n c\S"i, and signifies the opening month of the year, i.e. the month Abib {Nisan). The tenth day of this month was the day on which the preparations for the Passover, the feast of the elevation of Israel into the people of God, were to commence, and therefore w^as well adapted for the revelation of the new constitution of the kingdom of God. On that day was Ezekiel transported, in an ecstatic state, to the site of the smitten Jerusalem. For '''"' ^l vy nn^rij compare ch. xxxvii. 1 and i. 3. >^^'^ evidently points back to "I'^yn in ver. 2b : thither, where the city was smitten. ^'''P^. ^^^"^^j as in ch. i. 1. '^ "^lI ^^ ^^^^^\' he set me down upon (not by) a very high mountain Q^ for ^V, as in many other instances ; e.g. ch. xviii. 6 and xxxi. 12). The very high mountain is Mount Zion, which is exalted above the tops of all the mountains (Mic. iv. 1 ; Isa. ii. 2), — the mountain upon which, according to what follows, the new temple seen in the vision stood, and which has already been designated as the lofty mountain of Israel in ch. xvii. 22, 23.^ Upon this mountain Ezekiel saw something like a city-edifice toward the south (lit. from the south hither), "i^^ nnJp is not the building of the new Jeru- salem (Hiivernick, Kliefoth, etc.). For even if what was to be seen as a city-edifice really could be one, although no tenable proof can be adduced of this use of D simil.j nothing is said about the city till ch. xlv. 6 and xlviii. 15 and 30 sqq., and even there it is only in combination with the measuring and dividing of the land ; so that Hiivernick's remark, that " the ^ J. H. Michaelis has already explained it correctly, viz. : " The highest mountain., such as Isaiah (ii. 2) had also predicted that Mount Zion would be, not physically, but in the eminence of gospel dignity and glory ; cf. Kev. xxi. 10." CHAP. XL. 1-4. 185 revelation has reference to the sanctuary and the city ; these two principal objects announce themselves at once as such in the form of vision," is neither correct nor conclusive. The revelation has reference to the temple and the whole of the holy land, including the city; and the city itself does not come at all into such prominence as to warrant us in assuming that there is already a reference made to it here in the intro- duction. If we look at the context, the man with the measure, whom Ezekiel saw at the place to which he was transported, was standing at the gate (ver. 3). This gate in the wall round about the building was, according to vers. 5, 6, a temple gate. Consequently what Ezekiel saw as a city-edifice can only be the building of the new temple, with its surrounding wall and its manifold court buildings. The expressions vby and naap can both be brought into harmony with this. Ivy refers to the very high mountain mentioned immediately before, to the summit of which the prophet had been transported, and upon which the temple-edifice is measured before his eyes. But 3J3P does not imply, that as Ezekiel looked from the mountain he saw in the distance, toward the south, a magnifi- cent building like a city-edifice; but simply that, looking from his standing-place in a southerly direction, or southwards, he saw this building upon the mountain, — that is to say, as he had been transported from Chaldea, i.e. from the north, into tlie land of Israel, he really saw it before him towards the south ; so that the rendering of 3J3p by airevavn in the Septuagint is substantially correct, though without furnishing any warrant to alter 3J|D into njjp. In ver. 3a, n^^ ^niN* X-'ajl is repeated from the end of ver. 1, for the purpose of attaching the following description of what is seen, in the sense of, " when He brought me thither, behold, there (was) a man." His appearance was like the appearance of brass, i.e. of shining brass (according to the correct gloss of the LXX. 'XoXkov arlX^ovTo^ = ?^?^ ^*^'"'^, ch. i. 7). This figure suggests a heavenly being, an angel, and as he is called Jehovah in ch. xliv. 2, 5, the angel of Jehovah. 186 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Kliefoth's opinion, that in cli. xliv. 2, 5, it is not the man who is speaking, but tliat the prophet is there addressed directly by the apparition of God (ch. xliii. 2 sqq.), is proved to be unten- able by the simple fact that the speaker (in ch. xliv.) admonishes the ])rophet in ver. 5 to attend, to see, and to hear, in the same words as the man in ver. 4 of the chapter before us. This places the identity of the two beyond the reach of doubt. He had in his hand a flaxen cord for measuring, and the measuring rod, — that is to say, two measures, because he had to measure many and various things, smaller and larger spaces, for the former of which he had the measuring rod, for the latter the measuring line. The gate at which this man stood (ver. 3) is not more precisely defined, but according to ver. 5 it is to be sought for in the wall surrounding the building; and since he went to the east gate first, according to ver. 6, it was not the east gate, but probably the north gate, as it was from the north that Ezekiel had come. Vers. 5-27. The Outer Court, with Boundary Wall, Gate- Buildings, and Cells. Ver. 5.— The Surrounding Wall. — And, behold, a wall (ran) on the outside round the house; and in the man^s hand icas the measuring rod of six cubits, each a cubit and a hand- breadth ; and he measured the breadth of the building a rod, and the height a rod, — The description of the temple (for, accord- ing to what follows, n^?n is the house of Jehovah) (cf. ch. xliii. 7) commences with the surrounding wall of the outer court, whose breadth {i.e. thickness) and height are measured (see the illustration, Plate I. a a a a), the length of the measur- ing rod having first been given by way of parenthesis. This was six cubits {so. measured) by the cubit and handbreadth — that is to say, six cubits, each of which was of the length of a (common) cubit and a handbreadth (cf. ch. xliii. 13) ; in all, therefore, six cubits and six handbreadths. The ordinary or common cubit, judging from the statement in 2 Chron. iii. 3, CHAP. XL. 6-16. 187 that the measure of Solomon's temple was reiTulated accordlnfr to the earlier measure, had become shorter in the course of time than the old Mosaic or sacred cubit. For the new temple, there- fore, the measure is regulated according to a longer cubit, in all probability according to the old sacred cubit of the Mosaic law, which was a handbreadth longer than the common cubit accord- ing to the passage before us, or seven handbreadths of the ordi- nary cubit. i;33n^ the masonry, is the building of the wall, which was one rod broad, i.e. thick, and the same in height. The length of this wall is not given, and can only be learned from the further description of the whole wall (see the comm. on ch. xl. 27). Vers. 0-16. The Buildings of the East Gate.— (See Plate II. 1). — Yer. 6. And he went to the gate, the direction of ivhich was toward the east, and ascended the steps thereof, and measured the threshold of the gate one rod hroad, namely ^ the first threshold one rod bread, Ver. 7. Aiid the guard-room one rod long and one rod broad, and between the guard-rooms five cubits, and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate from the temple hither one rod. Ver. 8. And he measured the -porch of the gate from the temple hither one rod. Ver. 9. And he measured the porch of the gate eight cubits, and its pillars two cubits ; and the porch of the gate ivas from the temple hither. Ver. 10. Arid of the guard-rooms of the gate toward the east there icere three on this side and three on that side ; all three had. one measure, and the pillars also one measure on this side and on that. Ver. 11. And he measured the breadth of the opening of the gate ten cubits, the length of the gate thirteen cubits. Ver. 12. And there ivas a boundary fence before the guard-rooms of one cubity and a cubit ivas the boundary fence on that side, and the guard- rooms ivere six cubits on this side and six cubits on that side. Ver. 13. And he measured the gate from the roof of the guard- rooms to the roof of them five and twenty cubits broad, door against door. Ver. 14. And he fixed the pillars at sixty cubits, and the court round about the gate reached to the pillars. Ver. 15. 183 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. And the front of the eiitrance gate to the front of the porch of the inner gate was fifty cubits. Ver. 16. And there were closed ivin- doics in the guard-rooms, and in their pillars on the inner side of the aate round ahoutj and so also in the projections of the walls ; there were icindows round about on the inner sidcj and palms on the itillars. — T^ ^^ ^^^*!! is not to be rendered, ^' lie went in at the cate." For although this would be grammatically admis- sible, it is not in harmony with what follows, according to which the man first of all ascended the steps, and then com- menced the measuring of the gate-buildings with the threshold of the gate. The steps (B in the illustration) are not to be thouMit of as in the surrounding wall, but as being outside in front of them ; but in the description which follows they are not included in the length of the gate-buildings. The number of steps is not given here, but they have no doubt been fixed correctly by the LXX. at seven, as that is the number given in vers. 22 and 26 in connection with both the northern and southern gates. From the steps the man came to the threshold (C), and measured it. "The actual description of the first buildings that of the eastern gate, commences in the inside ; first of all, the entire length is traversed (vers. 6-9), and the principal divisions are measured on the one side; then (vers. 10-12) the inner portions on both sides are given more defi- nitely as to their character, number, and measure ; in vers. 13-15 the relations and measurement of the whole building are noticed; and finally (rer. 16), the wall-decorations observed round about the inside. The exit from the gate is first men- tioned in ver. 17; consequently all that is given in vers. 6-16 must have been visible within the building, just as in the case of the other gates the measurements and descriptions are always to be regarded as given from within" (Bottcher). The threshold (C) wa-s a rod in breadth, — that is to say, measuring from the outside to the inside, — and was therefore just as broad as the wall was thick (ver. 5). But this threshold was the one, or first threshold, which had to be crossed by any one who CHAP. XL. 6-lG. 189 entered the gate from the outside, for the gate-building had a second threshold at the exit into the court, which is mentioned in ver. 7. Hence the more precise definition ^^^ ^D i^^\ *^ and that the one, i.e. first threshold," in connection with which the breadth is given a second time. HX is neither nota nominativij nor is it used in the sense of DNT ; but it is nota acciis., and is also governed by 'i^*^ And 'int^ is not to be taken in a O »/ T T- TV pregnant sense, *^ only one, i.e. not broken up, or composed of several" (Bottcher, Havernick), but is employed, as it frequently is in enumeration, for the ordinal number : one for the first (yid. e.g. Gen. i. 5, 7). The length of the threshold, i.e. its measure between the two door-posts (from north to south), is not given ; but from the breadth of the entrance door mentioned in ver. 11, we can infer that it was ten cubits. Proceeding from the threshold, we have next the measurement of the guard-room (G), mentioned in ver. 7. According to 1 Kings xiv. 28, ^^ is a room constructed in the gate, for the use of the guard keeping watch at the gate. This was a rod in length, and the same in breadth. A space of five cubits is then men- tioned as intervening between the guard-rooms. It is evident from this that there were several guard-rooms in succession ; according to ver. 10, three on each side of the doorway, but that instead of their immediately joining one another, they were separated by intervening spaces {H) of five cubits each. This required two spaces on each side. These spaces between the guard-rooms, of which we have no further description, must not be thought of as open or unenclosed, for in that case there would have been so many entrances into the court, and the gateway would not be closed ; but we must assume *' that they were closed by side walls, which connected the guard-rooms with one another" (Kliefoth). — After the guard-rooms there follows, thirdly, the threshold of the gate on the side of, or near the porch of, the gate " in the direction from the house," i.e. the second threshold, which was at the western exit from the gate-buildings near the porch (D) ; in other words, which 190 THE PROPHECIES OF EZKKIEL. Stood as you entered immediately in front of the porch leading out into the court (C C), and was also a cubit in breadth, like the first threshold at the eastern entrance into the gate. n^?np, *' in the direction from the house," or, transposing it into our mode of viewing and describing directions, "going toward the temple-house." This is added to ")i'^n ^^^ to indicate clearly the position of this porch as being by the inner passage of the gate-buildings leading into the court, so as to guard against our thinkino- of a porch erected on the outside in front of the entrance gate. Bottcher, Hitzig, and others are wrong in identifying or interchanging H^nnt) with H^stp, inwardly, intvin- secus (ch. vii. 15; 1 Kings vi. 15), and taking it as referring to ^?, as if the intention were to designate this threshold as the inner one lying within the gate-buildings, in contrast to the first threshold mentioned in ver. 6. In vers. 8 and 9 two different measures of this court-porch (Z>) are given, viz. first, one rod = six cubits (ver. 8), and then eight cubits (ver. 9). The ancient translators stumbled at this difference, and still more at the fact that the definition of the measurement is repeated in the same words ; so that, with the exception of the Targumists, they have all omitted the eighth verse; and in consequence of this, modern critics, such as Houbigant, Ewald, Bottcher, and Hitzig, have expunged it from the text as a gloss. But however strange the repetition of the measurement of the porch with a difference in the numbers may appear at the first glance, and however naturally it may suggest the thought of a gloss which has crept into the text through the oversight of a copyist, it is very difficult to understand how such a gloss could have been perpetuated ; and this cannot be explained by the groundless assumption that there was an unwiHinrrness to erase what had once been erro- o neously written. To tliis must be added the difference in the terms employed to describe the dimensions, viz. first, a rod, and then eight cubits, as well as the circumstance that in ver. 9, in addition to the measure of the porch, that of the pillars adjoin- CHAP. XL. 6-16. 191 ing the porch is given immediately afterwards. The attempts of the earlier commentators to explain the two measm'ements of the porch have altogether failed ; and Kliefoth was the first to solve the difficulty correctly, by explaining that in ver. 8 the measurement of the porch is given in the clear, i.e, according to the length within, or the depth (from east to west), whilst in ver. 9 the external length of the southern (or northern) wall of the porch (from east to west) is given. Both of these were necessary, the former to give a correct idea of the inner space of the porch, as in the case of the guard-rooms in ver. 7 ; the latter, to supply the necessary data for the entire length of the gate-buildings, and to make it possible to append to this the dimensions of the pillars adjoining the western porch-wall. As a portion of the gate-entrance or gateway, this porch was open to the east and west ; and toward the west, i.e. toward the court, it was closed by the gate built against it. Kliefoth therefore assumes that the porch-walls on the southern and northern sides projected two cubits toward the west beyond the inner space of the porch, which lay between the threshold and the gate that could be closed, and was six cubits long, and that the two gate-pillars, with their thickness of two cubits each, were attached to this prolongation of the side walls. But by this supposition we do not gain a porch (D7i<),but a simple extension of the intervening wall between the third guard-room and the western gate. If the continuation of the side walls, which joined the masonry bounding the western threshold on the south and north, was to have the character of a porch, the hinder wall (to the east) could not be entirely wanting ; but even if there were a large opening in it for the doorway, it must stand out in some way so as to strike the eye, whether by projections of the wall at the north-east and south-east corners, or what may be more probable, by the fact that the southern and northern side walls receded at least a cubit in the inside, if not more, so that the masonry of the walls of the porch was weaker (thinner) than that at the side of the threshold and by 192 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. the pillars, and the porch in the clear from north to soutli was broader than the doorway. The suffix attached to "h^^ is pro- bably to be taken as referring to "iVtJ'n n^H^ and not merely to ^V^\ and the word itself to be construed as a plural (ly''^) : the pillars of the gate-porch (E) were two cubits thick, or strong. This measurement is not to be divided between the two pillars, as the earlier commentators supposed, so that each pillar would be but one cubit thick, but applies to each of them. As the pillars were sixty cubits high (according to ver. 14), they must have had the strength of at least two cubits of thickness to secure the requisite firmness. At the close of the ninth verse, the statement that the gate-porch was directed towards the temple-house is made for the third time, because it was this peculiarity in the situation which distinguished the gate-build- ings of the outer court from those of the inner ; inasmuch as in the case of the latter, although in other respects its construction resembled that of the gate-buildings of the outer court, the situa- tion was reversed, and the gate-porch was at the side turned away from the temple toward the outer court, as is also emphatically stated three times in vers. 31, 34, and 37 (Kliefoth). On reaching the gate-porch and its pillars, the measurer had gone through the entire length of the gate-buildings, and de- termined the measure of all its component parts, so far as the length was concerned. Having arrived at the inner extremity or exit, the describer returns, in order to supply certain import- ant particulars with regard to the situation and character of the whole structure. He first of all observes (in ver. 10), with reference to the number and relative position of the guard-houses (G), that there were three of them on each side opposite to one another, that all six were of the same measure, i.e. one rod in length and one in breadth (ver. 7) ; and then, that the pillars mentioned in ver. 9, the measurement of which was determined (E), standing at the gate-porch on either side, were of the same size. Many of the commentators have erroneously imagined that by Dp'N7 we are to understand the walls between the guard- CHAP. XL. 6-16. 193 rooms or pillars in the guard-rooms. The connecting walls could not be called ^Y^ ; and if pillars belonging to the guard- rooms were intended, we should expect to find Iv'^p. — la ver. 11 there follow the measurements of the breadth and length of the doorway. The breadth of the opening, i.e. the width of the doorway, was ten cubits. '' By this we are naturally to understand the breadth of the whole doorway in its full extent, just as the length of the two thresholds and the seven steps, which was not given in vers. 6 and 7, is also fixed at ten cubits" (Kliefoth). — The measurement which follows, viz. '' the length of the gate, thirteen cubits," is difficult to ex- plain, and has been interpreted in very different ways. The supposition of Lyra, Kliefoth, and others, that by the length of the gate we are to understand the height of the trellised gate, w^iich could be opened and shut, cannot possibly be correct. "^1^^, length, never stands for n^ip heiirht; and ^y"t:*n in this con- nection cannot mean the gate that was opened and shut, "i^^n, as distinguished from "^V*^*] nnQ^ can only signify either the "whole of the gate-building (as in ver. 6), or, in a more limited sense, that portion of the building which bore the character of a gate in a conspicuous way; primarily, therefore, the masonry enclosing the threshold on the two sides, together with its roof ; and then, generally, the covered doorway, or that portion of the gate-building which was roofed over, in distinction from the un- covered portion of the building between the two gates (Bottcher, Hitzig, and Havernick) ; inasmuch as it cannot be supposed that a gate-building of fifty cubits long was entirely roofed in. Now, as there are two thresholds mentioned in vers. 6 and 7, and the distinction in ver. 15 between the (outer) entrance-gate and the porch of the inner gate implies that the gate-building had two gates, like the gate-building of the city of Mahanaini (2 Sam. xviii. 24), one might be disposed to distribute the thirteen cubits' length of the gate between the two gates, be- cause each threshold had simply a measurement of six cubits. But such a supposition as this, which is not very probable in EZEK. II. N 194 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. itself, Is proved to be untenable, by tbe fact that tlirougliout the whole description we never find the measurements of two or more separate portions added together, so that no other course is open than to assume, as Bcittcher, Hitzig, and Hiivernick have done, that the lenij^thof thirteen cubits refers to one covered doorway, and that, according to the analogy of the measurements of the rjuard-rooms given in vcr. 7, it applies to the second gateway also ; in which case, out of the forty cubits wdiich constituted the whole length of the gate-building (without the front porch), about two-thirds (twenty-six cubits) would be covered gateway [b b)y and the fourteen cubits between would form an uncovered court-yard (c c) enclosed on all sides by the gate-buildings. Consequently tlie roofing of the gate extended from the eastern and western side over the guard-room, which immediately adjoined the threshold of the gate, and a cubit beyond that, over the wall which intervened between the guard-rooms, so that only the central guard-room on either side, together with a portion of the walls which bounded it, stood in the uncovered portion or court of the gate-building. — According to ver. 12, there was a ^^23, or boundary, in front of the guard-rooms, i.e. a boundary fence of a cubit in breadth, along the whole of the :-:b b'j as dlstinfTuished from ^^Q 75^, the direction toward the terminal point is shown, so that there is no necessity to alter ^V into "ly, since ?V, when used of the direction in which the object aimed at lies, frequently touches the ordinary meaning of ^V (cf. cnivp ijy, Ps. xix. 7, and nn^biri hv, Isa. x. 25) ; whilst here the direction is rendered perfectly plain by the h (in V.??)- The Chetib pnxvi, a misspelling for pn'^NH, w^e agree with Gesenius and others in reo;ardin^ as a substantive : *' entrance." The entrance irate CHAP. XL. 6-16. 197 is the outer gate, at the flight of steps leading into the gate- building. Opposite to this was the ''inner gate" at the end of the gate-building, by the porch leading into the court. The length from the outer to the inner gate was fifty cubits, which is the resultant obtained from the measurements of the several por- tions of the gate-building, as given in vers. 6-10; namely, six cubits the breadth of tlie first threshold, 3x6 = 18 cubits that of the three guard-rooms, 2 x 5=r 10 cubits that of the spaces intervening between the guard-rooms, 6 cubits that of tlie inner threshold, 8 cubits that of the gate-porch, and 2 cubits that of the gate-pillars (6 + 18 + 10 + 6 + 8 + 2 = 50). Lastly, in ver. 16, the windows and decorations of the gate- buildings are mentioned. HIDDX ni:i?nj closed windows, is, no doubt, a contracted expression for i3*ppx Ci^ap*^' *pi^n (1 Kings vi. 4), windows of closed bars, i.e. windows, the lattice-work of which was made so fast, that they could not be opened at pleasure like the windows of dwelling-houses. But it is difficult to deter- mine the situation of these windows. Accordinsf to the words of the text, they were in the guard-rooms and in •'i':?!!'^?^ and also ni'2?i?^, and that "li^t^p *^^''^P? into the interior of the gate- building, i.e. going into the inner side of the gateway ^20 2^3Dj round about, i.e, surrounding the gateway on all sides. To understand these statements, we must endeavour, first of all, to £xet a clear idea of the meaninf]f of the words Dv^^^ and nirsPX. The first occurs in the singular ^]i^, not only in vers. 14, 16, and ch. xli. 3, but also in 1 Kings vi. 31 ; in the plural only in this chapter and in ch. xli. 1. The second o?^i^ or C?S is met v/Itli only in this chapter, and always in the plural, in the form nisps only in vers. 16 and 30, in other cases always ^^^^P^^i^, or with a suffix VEp\s*, after the analogy of nii^n in ver. 12 by the side of 2''^^ in vers. 7 and 16, ''Nri in ver. 10, and Vxn or ixn in vers. 21, 29, 33, 36, from which it is apparent that the difference in the formation of the plural (nioij^x and D^dS'^j^) has no influence upon the meaning of the word. On the other hand, it is evident from our verse (ver. 16), and still 19S THE rnoniECiES of ezekiel. more so from the expression '\^^^^] Y^, wliicli is repeated ia vers. 21, 24, 29, 33, and 3(3 (cf. vers. 26, 31, and 34), that D^^^^t and C'?3^X must signify different things, and are not to be identified, as Bottcher and others suppose. The word b^^?, as an architectural term, never occurs except in connection with doors or gates. It is used in this connection as early as 1 Kings vi. 31, in the description of tlie door of tlie most holy place in Solomon's temple, where ^^NH signifies the projection on the door-posts, i.e, the projecting portion of the wall in Avliich the door-posts were fixed. Ezekiid uses nriiin Ti< in ch. xli. 3 in the same sense in relation to the door of the most lioly place, and in an analogous manner applies the term Dy'^? to the pillars which rose np to a colossal height at or by the gates of the courts (vers. 9, 10, 14, 21, 24, etc.), and also of the pillars at the entrance into the holy place (ch. xli. 1). The same meaning may also be retained inver. 16, where pillars (or posts) are attributed to the guard-rooms, since the suffix in •^'^nvX can only be taken as referring to Q^i^^i}. As these guard-rooms had dt)ors, the doors may also have had their posts. And just as in ver. 14 ^]^'^i< points back to the Q^x previously men- tioned, and the singular is used in a collective sense ; so may the ?'N* ^5^ in ver. 16 be taken collectively, and referred to the pillars mentioned before. — There is more difficulty in determining the meaning of C^^« (plural ^'^k^ or ^^?^S^), which has been identified sometimes with o^'^^, sometimes with Cv^X. Although etymologically connected with these two words, it is not only clearly distinguished from 2 v'^*, as we have already observed, but it is also distinguished from chx by the fact that, apart from ch. xli. 15, where the plural VS^^i^ signifies the front porches in all the gate-buildings of the court, D^^N* only occurs in the singular, because every gate-building had only one front porch, whereas the plural is always used in the case of D^'^pN*. So far as the form is concerned, D75< is derived from *"i'i 7^^ (see Plate I. C). The dispute whether b^ signifies b>/ or tq:>07i the pave- (nent has no bearing upon the fact itself. As Ezekiel frequently uses ^Ni for pV. and vice versa, the rendering upon can be defended ; but it cannot be established, as Hitzig sup- poses, by referring to 2 Kings xvi. 17. If we retain the literal meaning of b^^ at or againsty we cannot picture to our- CHAP. XL. 17-19. 203 selves tlie position of the cells as projecting from the inner edge of the pavement into the unpaved portion of the court ; for in that case, to a person crossing the court, they would have stood in front of (V.??) the pavement rather than against the pavement. The prep. ^^, against^ rather suggests the fact that the cells were built near the surrounding wall, so that the pavement ran along the front of them, which faced the inner court in an unbroken line. In this case it made no difference to the view whether the cells were erected upon the pavement, or the space occupied by the cells was left unpaved, and the pavement simply joined the lower edge of the walls of the cells all round. The text contains no account of the manner in which they were distributed on the three sides of the court. But it is obvious from the use of the plural riilJ'J'^j that the reference is not to thirty entire buildings, but simply to thirty rooms, as nzi'^p does not signify a building consisting of several rooms, but always a single room or cell in a building. Thus in 1 Sam. ix. 22 it stands for a room appointed for holding the sacrificial meals, and that by no means a small room, but one which could accommodate about thirty persons. In Jer. xxxvi. 12 it is applied to a room in the king's palace, used as the chancery. Elsewhere '^3p'r' is the term constantly employed for the rooms in the court-buildings and side-buildings of the temple, which served partly as a residence for the officiating priests and Levites, and partly for the storing of the temple dues collected in the form of tithes, fruits, and money (vid. 2 Kings xxiii. 11 ; Jer, xxxv. 4, xxxvi. 10 ; 1 Chron. ix. 26 ; Neh. x. 38-40). Consequently we must not think of thirty separate buildings, but have to distribute the thirty cells on the three sides of the court in such a manner that there would be ten on each side, and for the sake of symmetry five in every building, standing both right and left between the gate-building and the corner kitchens. — In ver. 19 the size or compass of the outer court is determined. The breadth from the front of the lower gate to the front of the inner court was 100 cubits. 204 THE rROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. n:innnn "lyi-'n^ tlie ct^te of the lower court, i.e. tlie outer gate, which was lower than the inner, njinnnn is not an adjective aizreelnir with "^VV', for apart from Isa. xiv. 31 "^W is never construed as a feminine ; but it is used as a substantive for l>;n n;^nnnn, the lower court, see the comm. on ch. viii. 3. ''ps?^ de- notes the point from which the measuring started, and ^?Sp "ivnn the direction in which it proceeded, including also the terminus : ^' to before the inner court," equivalent to *' up to the front of the inner court." The terminal point is more pre- cisely defined by T^^'Pj fi'om without, which Hitzig proposes to erase as needless and unusual, but without any reason. For, inasmuch as the gateways of the inner court were built into the outer court, as is evident from what follows, pno simply affirms that the measuring only extended to the point where the inner court commenced within the outer, namely, to the front of the porch of the gate, not to the boundary wall of the inner court, as this wall stood at a greater distance from the porch of the outer court-gate by the whole length of the court- gate, that is to say, as much as fifty cubits. From this more precise definition of the terminal point it follows still further, that the starting-point was not the boundary-wall, but the porch of the gate of the outer court ; in other words, that the hundred cubits measured by the man did not include the fifty cubits' length of the gate-building, but this is expressly ex- cluded. This is placed beyond all doubt by vers. 23 and 27, where the distance of the inner court-gate from the gate (of the outer court) is said to have been a hundred cubits. — The closing words '\^^'^^] ^^li^'? have been very properly separated by the Masoretes from what precedes, by means of the Athnach^ for they are not to be taken in close connection with ^^Jl ; nor are they to be rendered, " he measured . . . toward the east and toward the north," for this would be at variance with the state- ment, " to the front of the inner court." They are rather meant to supply a further appositional definition to the whole of the preceding clause : " he measured from ... a hundred CHAP. XL. 20-23. 205 cuLlts," relating to the east side and tlie north side of the court, and affirm that the measuring took place from gate to gate both on the eastern and on the northern side ; in other words, that the measure given, a hundred cubits, applied to the eastern side as well as the northern ; and tiius they prepare the way for the description of the north gate, which follows from ver. 20 onwards. Vers. 20-27. The North Gate and the South Gate OF THE Outer Court (1 Plate I. A). — The description of these two gate-buildings is very brief, only the principal por- tions being mentioned, coupled with the remark that they resembled those of the east gate. The following is the descrip- tion of the north gate. — Ver. 20. And the gate, ichose direction was toward the north, touching the outer court, he measured its length and its breadth, Ver. 21. And its guard-rooms, three on this side and three on that, and its j^iUars and its iv all-projections. It was according to the measure of the first gate, fifty cubits its length, and the breadth five and twenty cubits. Ver. 22. And its luindows and its wall- projections and its palms ivere according to the measure of the gate, ichose direction was toward the east; and by seven steps they icent up, and its wall -pro- jections loere in front of it. Ver. 23. And a gate to the inner court ivas opposite the gate to the north and to the east; and he measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits. — With the measuring of the breadth of the court the measuring man had reached the north gate, which he also proceeded to measure now. In ver. 20 the words '^W^\ to njiv^nn are written absolutely; and in ver. 21 the verb ^\^ does not belong to the objects previously enumerated, viz. guard-rooms, pillars, etc., but these objects are governed by "i^Jl, and 'Tn points back to the principal subject of the two verses, li?U^n : it (the gate) was according to the measure . . . (cf. vers. 15 and 13). For the use of 3 in definitions of measurement, " 25 n^xn" {by the cubit, sc. measured), as in Ex. xxvii. 18, etc., see Gesenius, § 120. 4, 200 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Anm. 2. Tlic '• first gate" is the east gate, the one first mea- sured and described. In ver. 236 the number of steps is given which the fliglit leading into the gateway had; and this of course applies to the flight of steps of the east gate also (ver. 6). In ver. 22, ri^D3 is not to be regarded as doubtful, as Hitzig sup- poses, or changed into 3 ; for even if the windows of the east gate were not measured, they had at all events a definite mea- surement, so that it might be affirmed with regard to the windows of the north gate that their dimensions were the same. Tliis also applies to the palm-decorations. With regard to the ^^W^A (ver. 21), however, it is simply stated that they were measured; but the measurement is not given. C!^\^Sp (ver. 22, end) is not to be altered in an arbitrary and ungrammatical way into "^'J^^^r? as Bottcher proposes. The suffix on refers to the steps. Before the steps there were the D^???^^ of the gate-building. This " before," however, is not equivalent to ^'outside the flight of steps," as Bottcher imagines ; for the measuring man did not go out of the inside of the gate, or go down the steps into the court, but came from the court and ascended the steps, and as he was going up he saw in front (vis-a-vis) of the steps the O^ipT^ of the gate, i.e. the wall -projections on both sides of the threshold of the gate. In ver. 23 it is observed for the first time that there was a gate to the inner court opposite to the northern and the eastern gate of the outer court already described, so that the gates of the outer and inner court stood vis-a-vis. The distance between these outer and inner gates is then measured, viz. 100 cubits, in harmony with ver. 196. In vers. 24-27 the south gate is described with the same brevity. Ver. 24. And he led me toward the south, and behold there was a gate toward the south, and he measured its pillars and its vjall-projections according to the same measures. Ver. 25. And there were windoios in it and its ic all -projections round about like those windoics ; fifty cubits was the length, and the breadth five and twenty cubits. Ver. 26. And seven steps were its ascent and its tvall- projections in the front of them^ CHAP. XL. 24-27. 207 and it had pahn-worl'^ one upon this side and one vpon that on its pillars. Ver. 27. And there was a gate to the inner court toioard the south, and he measured from gate to gate toward the south a hundred cubits. — This gate also was built exactly like the two others. The description simply differs in form, and not in substance, from the description of the gate immediately preceding. "^.^^"^ ni'il^l)^ " like those measures," is a concise expression for '' like the measures of tlie pillars already described at the north and east gates." For ver. 25, compare vers. 16 and 2\h ; and for ver. 2Ga, vid. ver. 22^. Ver. 26Z> is clearly explained from ver. 16Z>, as compared with ver. 9^. And lastly, ver. 27 answers to the 23d verse, and completes the measuring of the breadth of the court, which was also a hundred cubits upon the south side, from the outer gate to the inner gate standing opposite, as was the case according to ver. 19 upon the eastern side. Hiivernick has given a different explanation of ver. 27, and would take the measurement of a hundred cubits as referrino- to the distance between the gates of the inner court which stood opposite to each other, because in ver. 27 we have "li^t^p in the text, and not "lyti^n |p ; so that we should have to render the passage thus, " he measured from a gate to the gate toward the south a hundred cubits," and not " from the gate (already described) of the outer court," but from another gate, which according to the context of the verse must also be a gate of the inner court. But it is precisely the context which speaks decidedly against this explanation. For since, according to ver. 18, the measuring man did not take the prophet into the inner court, for the purpose of measuring it before his eyes, till after he had measured from (a) gate to the south gate of the inner court, the distance which he had previously measured and found to be a hundred cubits is not to be sought for within the inner court, and therefore cannot give the distance between the gates of the inner court, which stood opposite to one another, but must be that from the south gate of the outer 208 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. court to the south gate of the inner. This is the case not only here, but also in ver. 23, ^vhere the north gate is mentioned. We may see how little importance is to be attached to the omis- sion of the article in "ir^-'^p from the expression "^V^ ^x ^rJ'p in ver. 23, where neither the one gate nor the other is defined, because the context showed which gates were meant. Iliiver- nick's explanation is therefore untenable, notwithstanding the fact that, according to ver. 47, the size of the inner court was a hundred cubits both in breadth and length. — From the distance between the gates of the outer court and the corre- sponding gates of the inner, as given in vers. 27, 23, and 19, we find that the outer court covered a space of two hundred cubits on every side, — namely, fifty cubits the distance which the outer court building projected into the court, and fifty cubits for the projection of the gate-building of the inner court into the outer court, and a hundred cubits from one gate-porch to the opposite one (50 + 50 -[- 100 = 200). Consequently the full size of the building enclosed by the wall (ch. xl. 5), i.e, of the temple with its two courts, may also be calculated, as it has been by many of the expositors. If we proceed, fcr example, from the outer north gate to the outer south gate upon the ground plan (Plate I.), we have, to quote the words of Kliefoth, " first the northern breadth of the outer court (D) with its two hundred cubits ; then the inner court, which measured a hundred cubits square according to ch. xl. 47 (E), with its hundred cubits ; and lastly, the south side of the outer court with two hundred cubits more (D) ; so that the sanctuary was five hundred cubits broad from north to south. And if we start from the entrance of the east gate of the court (yl), we have first of all the eastern breadth of the outer court, viz. two hundred cubits ; then the inner court (E) with its hundred cubits ; after that the temple-buildings, which also covered a space of a hundred cubits square according to ch. xli. 13, 14, including the open space around them (G), with another hundred cubits ; and lastly, the i^^} (J), which was CHAP. XL. 28-37. :209 situated to the west of the temple-buildings, and also covered a space of a hundred cubits square according to ch. xli. 13, 14, with another hundred cubits ; so that the sanctuary was also five hundred cubits long from east to west, or, in other words, formed a square of five hundred cubits." Vers. 28-47. The Inner Court, ivith its Gates, Cells, and Slaughtering- Tables. Vers. 28-37. The Gates of the Inner Court. — (Vid. Plate I. B and Plate II. II.)_Ver. 28. And he brought me into the inner court through the south gate, and measured the south gate according to the same measures; Ver. 29. And its guard-rooms, and its pillars, and its wall-projections, according to the same measures ; and there loere windows in it and in its wall-projections round about: ffty cubits vjas the length, and the breadth Jive and tiuenty cubits. Ver. 30. Aiid wall-projections were round about, the length Jive and ticenty cubits, and the breadth Jive cubits. Ver. 31. And its wall-projections were toward the outer court ; and there were palms on its pillars, and eight steps its ascendings. Ver. 32. And he led me into the inner court toivard the east, and measured the gate according to the same measures ; Ver. 33. And its guard-rooms, and its pillars, and its wall -projections, according to the same measures ; and there luere icindoius in it and its wall-projections round about : the length was Jijty cubits, and the breadth Jive and twenty cubits, Ver. 34. And its wall-projections were toward the outer court ; and there were palms on its pillars on this side arid on that side, and eight steps its ascent. Ver. 35. And he brought me to the north gate, and measured it according to the same measures ; Ver. 3(3. Its guard-rooms, its pillars, and its wall-projections ; and there luere windoios in it round about: the length was JiJty cubits, and the breadth Jive and twenty cubits. Ver. 37. And its pillars stood toivard the outer court ; and palms were upon its p)illars on this side and on that; and its ascent ivas eight steps. — In ver. 27 the measuring man had measured the -distance from EZEK. II. O 210 THIC PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. tlie south ^ate of tlie outer court to the south gate of the inner court, which stood opposite to it. He then took the prophet throu^rli the hitter (ver. 28) into the inner court, and measured it as he went through, and found the same measurements as he liad found in the gates of the outer court. This was also the case with the measurements of tlie guard-rooms, pillars, and wall-projections, and with the position of the windows, and the lenrrth and breadth of the whole of the gate-building (ver. 29); from which it follows, as a matter of course, that this gate resembled the outer gate in construction, constituent parts, and dimensions. This also applied to both the east gate and north gate, the description of which in vers. 32-37 corresponds exactly to that of the south gate, with the exception of slight variations of expression. It is true that the porch is not mentioned in the case of either of these gates ; but it is evident that this was not wanting, and is simply passed over in the description, as we may see from ver. 39, where the tables for the sacrifices are described as being in the porch (DblN3). There are only two points of difference mentioned in vers. 31, 34, and 37, by which these inner gates were distinguished from the outer. In the first place, that the flights of steps to the entrances to these gates had eight steps according to the closing words of the verses just cited, whereas those of the outer gates had only seven (cf. vers. 22 and 26) ; whilst the expression also varies, "i^yo being constantly used here instead of iriipy (ver. 26). ni^y, from n^Vj the ascending, are literally ascents, i.e, places of mounting, for a flight of steps or staircase, 'kvp, the plural of ni'^D, the ascent (not a singular, as Hitzig supposes), has the same meaning. The second difference, which we find in the first clause of the verses mentioned, is of a more important character. It is contained in the words, " and its ^^^k^ (the projecting portions of the inner side-walls of the gateway) were directed toward the outer court" (aS and i> indicating the direction). The interpretation of this somewhat obscure state- ment is facilitated bv the fact that in ver. 37 '0^^ stands in the CHAP. XL. 28-37. 211 place of "its^'X (vers. 31 and 34). i^'^it are the two lofty gate- pillars by the porch of the gate, which formed the termination of the gate-building tow^ards the inner court in the case of the outer gates. If, then, in the case of the inner gates, these pillars stood toward the outer court, the arrangement of these gates must have taken the reverse direction to that of the outer gates ; so that a person entering the gate would not go from the flight of steps across the threshold to the guard-rooms, and then across the second threshold to the porch, but would first of all enter the porch by the pillars in front, and then go across the threshold to the guard-rooms, and, lastly, proceed across the second threshold, and so enter the inner court. But if this gate-building, when looked at from without, commenced w^ith the porch-pillars and the front porch, this porch at any rate must have been situated outside the dividincr wall of the two courts, that is to say, must have been within the limits of the outer court. And further, if the D'^P^t?, or wall-projections between the guard-rooms and by the thresholds, were also directed tow-ard the outer court, the whole of the gate-building must have been built within the limits of that court. This is affirmed by the first clauses of vers. 31, 34, and 37, which have been so greatly misunderstood ; and there is no necessity to alter l^^t^l in ver. 37 into I^Jr^l, in accordance with vers. 31 and 34. For what is stated in vers. 31 and 34 concerning the position or direction of the 0"??^'''^?, also applies to the Dv^Nl ; and they are probably mentioned in ver. 37 because of the intention to describe still further in ver. 38 what stood near the ^Y^. Kliefoth very properly finds it incomprehensible, ^' that not a few of the commentators have been able, in spite of these definite statements in vers. 31, 34, and 37, to adopt the conclusion that the gate-buildings of the inner gates were situated within the inner court, just as the gate-buildings of the outer gates were situated within the outer court. As the inner court measured only a hundred cubits square, if the inner gates had stood within the inner court, the north and south gates of 212 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. the inner court would have met in the middle, and the porch of the east ffate of the inner court would have stood close ao;ainst the porches of the other two gates. It was self-evident that the gate-buildings of the inner gates stood wdthin the more spacious outer court, like those of the outer gates. Neverthe- less, the reason why the situation of the inner gates is so ex- pressly mentioned in the text is evidently, that this made the position of the inner gates the reverse of that of the outer gates. In the case of the outer gates, the first threshold was in the surrounding w^all of the outer court, and the steps stood in front of the wall ; and thus the gate-building stretched into the outer court. In that of the inner gates, on the contrary, the second threshold lay between the surrounding walls of the inner court, and the gate-building stretched thence into the outer court, and its steps stood in front of the porch of the gate, ^loreover, in the case of the east gates, for example, the porch of the outer gate stood toward the west, and the porch of the inner gate toward the east, so that the two porches stood opposite to each other in the outer court, as described in vers. 23 and 27." In ver. 30 further particulars respecting the U^t^h^^ are given, which are apparently unsuitable ; and for this reason the verse has been omitted by the LXX., while J. D. Michaelis, Bottcher, Evvald, Hitzig, and Maurer, regard it as an untenable gloss. Havernick has defended its genuineness; but inasmuch as he regards ^Vr'"'^ as synonymous with C]7^i<, he has explained it in a most marvellous and decidedly erroneous manner, as Kliefoth has already proved. The expression ^''^D rno, and the length and breadth of the T\\tJ?^ here given, both appear strange. Neither the length of twenty-five cubits nor the breadth of five cubits seems to tally with the other measures of the gate- building. So much may be regarded as certain, that the twenty-five cubits' length and the five cubits' breadth of the r\\wi^ cannot be in addition to the total length of the gate- building, namely fifty cubits, or its total breadth of twenty-five cubits, but must be included in them. For the riii^pj^ were CHAP. XL. 28-37. 213 simply separate portions of the side-enclosure of the gateway, since this enclosure of fifty cubits long consisted of wall-projec- tions (ni?3^X), three open guard-rooms, and a porch with pillars. The open space of the guard-rooms was 3X6 = 18 cubits, and the porch was six cubits broad in the clear (vers. 7 and 8), and the pillars two cubits thick. If we deduct these 18 + 6+2 = 26 cubits from the fifty cubits of the entire length, there remain twenty-four cubits for the walls by the side of the thresholds and between the guard-rooms, namely, 2 X 5 = 10 cubits for the walls between the three guard-rooms, 2X6 = 12 cubits for the walls of the threshold, and 2 cubits for the walls of the porch ; in all, therefore, twenty-four cubits for the Hirspt^ ; so that only one cubit is wanting to give us the measurement stated, viz. twenty-five cubits. We obtain this missing cubit if we assume that the front of the wall-projections by the guard- rooms and thresholds was a handbreadth and a half, or six inches wider than the thickness of the walls, that is to say, that it projected three inches on each side in the form of a moulding. — The breadth of the rii?27S in question, namely five cubits, was the thickness of their wall-work, however, or the dimension of the intervening wall from the inside to the outside on either side of the gateway. That the intervening walls should be of such a thickness will not appear strange, if we consider that the surrounding wall of the court was six cubits thick, with a height of only six cubits (ver. 5). And even the striking expression l^no n^no becomes intellicrible if we take into consideration the • T • T O fact that the projecting walls bounded not only the entrance to the gate, and the passage through it on the two sides, but also the inner spaces of the gate-building (the guard-rooms and porch) on all sides, and, together with the gates, enclosed the gateway on every side. Consequently ver. 30 not only has a suitable meaning, but furnishes a definite measurement of no little value for the completion of the picture of the gate-build- ings. The fact that this definite measure was not given in connection with the gates of the outer court, but was only 214 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. supplemented In tlie case of the south gate of the inner court, cannot furnish any ground for suspecting its genuineness, as several particulars are supplemented in the same manner in this description. Thus, for example, the number of steps in front of the outer gates is first given in ver. 22, where the north gate is described. Still less is there to surprise us in the fact that these particulars are not repeated in the case of the following gates, in which some writers have also discovered a ground for suspecting the genuineness of the verse. From the south gate the measuring man led the prophet (ver. 32) into the inner court toward the east, to measure for him the inner east gate, the description of which (vers. 33 and 34) corresponds exactly to that of the south gate. Lastly, he led him (ver. 35) to the inner north gate for the same purpose ; and this is also found to correspond to those pre- viously mentioned, and is described in the same manner. The difficulty which Ilitzig finds in D'^ni^n Tin-i "-p^^sn '^^nn-^^ m ver. 32, and which drives him into various conjectures, with the assistance of the LXX., vanishes, if instead of taking Q'^^i^n Tji-i alonir ^vith ^0"'^3n nvnn as a further definition of the latter, we connect it with V^''?^"' as an indication of the direction taken : he led me into the inner court, the way (or direction) toward the east, and measured the gate (situated there). The words, when taken in this sense, do not warrant the conclusion that he had gone out at the south gate again. — ^1^1 in ver. 35 is an Aramaic form for "i^t- ^^ vers. 32 and 28. Vers. 38-47. The Cells and Arrangements for the Sacrificial Worship by and in the Inner Court. — Ver. 38. And a cell ivith its door was hy the pillars at the gates ; there theij had to vjash the burnt-offering. Ver. 39. And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side and two tables o?i (hat, to slay thereon the burnt- offering, the sin-offering, and the trespass- offering. Ver. 40. And at the shoulder outside, to one going up to the opening of the gate toward the north, stood CHAP. XL. 38-47. 215 tioo tables ; and at the other shoulder^ by the porch of the gate, two tables. Ver. 41. Four tables on this side and four tables on that sidej at the shoulder of the gate ; eight tables on which they were to slaughter. Ver. 42. And four tables by the steps, hewn stonej a cubit and a half long^ and a cubit and a half broadj and a cubit high; upon these they luere to lay the instruments with which they slaughtered the burnt- offerings and oilier sacrifices. Ver. 43. And the double pegs, a span long, were fastened round about the house ; but the flesh of the sacrifice was placed upon the tables. Ver. 44. And outside the inner gate were two cells in the inner court, one at the shoulder of the north gate, with its front side toivard the south ; one at the shoulder of the south gate, with the front toward the north. Ver. 45. And he said to mCy This cell, whose front is toward the south, is for the priests ivho attend to the keeping of the house ; Ver. 46. A nd the cell whose front is toward the nortli is for the priests who attend to the keeping of the altar. They are the sons of Zadok, who draw near to Jehovah of the sons of Levi, to serve Ilim. Ver. 47. And he measured the court, the length a hundred cubits, and the breadth a hundred cubits in the square, and the altar stood before the house. — The opinions of modern commentators differ greatly as to the situation of the cells mentioned in ver. 38, since Bottcher and Hitzig have adjusted a text to suit their own liking, founded upon the Septuagint and upon decidedly erroneous suppositions. The dispute, whether C)''^''X3 is to be rendered in or by the Dy^*, may be easily set at rest by the simple consideration that the Dv^i? in front of the porch of the gate were pillars of two cubits long and the same broad (ver. 9), in which it was impossible that a room could be constructed. Hence the niK^ could only be by (near) the pillars of the gate. To Ci''^'Nn there is also added ^''lyE'n (by the gates) in loose co- ordination {vid. Ewald, § 293e), not for the purpose of describ- ing the position of the pillars more minutely, which would be quite superfluous after ver. 9, but to explain the plural D^i^'S, and extend it to the pillars cf all the three inner gates, so that 21 G THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. we have to assume tliat tliere was a ^"^f? by the pillars of all these ffates (Plate I. 0). This is also demanded by the purpose of these cells, viz. " for the cleansing or washing of the burnt- offering." As the sacrifices were not taken through one gate alone, but through all the gates, the Sabbath-offering of the prince being carried, according to ch. xlvi. 1, 2, through the east gate, which was closed during the w^eek, and only opened on the Sabbath, there must have been a cell, not by the north gate alone (Bottcher, Havernick), or by the east gate only (Ewald, Hitzig), but by every gate, for the cleansing of the burnt-offering. Hiivernick, Hitzig, and others are wrong in supposing that HPiyn is a synecdochical designation applied to every kind of animal sacrifice. This is precluded not only by the express mention of the burnt-offerings, sin-offerings, and trespass-offerings (ver. 39), and by the use of the word I^np in this sense in ver. 43, but chiefly by the circumstance that neither the Old Testament nor the Talmud makes any allusion to the washing of every kind of flesh offered in sacrifice, but that they merely speak of the washing of the entrails and legs of the animals sacrificed as burnt-offerings (Lev. i. 9), for which purpose the basins upon the mecJionoth in Solomon's temple were used (2 Chron. iv. 6, where the term )*n"| used in Lev. i. 9 is interpreted by the apposition D2 ^nn^^ nSii;n nbi;D-nt?). A room at every gate (not by every pillar) was sufficient for this purpose. If there had been a *^^f^ of this kind on each side of the gate, as many have assumed on symmetrical grounds, this would have been mentioned, just as in the case of the slaughter- ing-tables (vers. 39-42). The text furnishes no information as to the side of the doorway on wdiich it stood, whether by the right or the left pillar. On the ground plan we have placed the one at the east gate, on the right side, and those by the north and south gates on the western side (Plate 1. 0). Moreover, according to vers. 39-41, there were twice two tables on each side, eight therefore in all, which served for slaughtering. Two pairs stood " in the porch of the gate," Le. CHAP, XL. 38-47. 217 in the inner space of the porch, one pair on this side, the other pair on that, i.e. on the right and left sides to a person entering the porch, probably near the wall (see Plate II. 11.//). The expression D[•7^? ^^'^Vr? to slaughter at the tables (vers. 39 and 40), stands for ^' to use when slaughtering " — that is, for the purpose of laying the slaughtered flesh upon. This is apparent from the fact itself in ver. 39. For the slaughtering was not performed within the front porch, but outside, and somewhere near it. The front porch of the gate-building was not a slaughter-house, but the place where those who entered the gate could assemble. The only purpose, therefore, for which the tables standing here could be used was to place the sacrificial flesh upon when it was prepared for the altar, that the priests might take it thence and lay it upon the altar. "ii"t^'n D^^H is to be understood as signifying the inner space of the porch ; this is required by the antithesis in ver. 40, where two pair of tables outside the porch are mentioned. Two of these stood " by the shoulder outside to one going up to the gate opening, the northern " (Plate II. II. d d). The meaning of these not very intelligible words is apparent from the second half of the verse, which adds the correlative statement as to the two opposite tables. When it is said of these tables that they stood by the other shoulder (^T!C^'>''^ ^^^l""^?) which the porch of the gate had, not only is "irt^*n nnsp of the first hemistich more pre- cisely defined hereby as the gate -porch, but T\i\^)^r\ is also rendered intelligible, namely, that as it corresponds to ri"inN*ri it is an adjective belonging to ^nsn b^^ <' at the northern shoulder outside to a person going up the steps to the opening of the gate " (!^>*^n^j the outer side, in contrast to the inside of the porch, ^^^, ver. 39). The shoulder of the gate, or rather of the porch of the gate, is the side of it, and that the outer side. Consequently these four tables stood by the outer sides of the porch, two by the right wall and two by the left. In ver. 41, what has already been stated concerning the position of the tables mentioned in vers. 39 and 40 is summed up : Four 218' THE PROPHECIES OF EZKKIEL. tables stood on each side of the porch, two inside, and two against the outer wall, eight tables in all, which were used for slaughtering purposes. There is notliing strange in "lyt^'H ^ny? as an abbreviated expression for '^V^V ^\^? "^^"'^ ^"?: ^'^ ^^^'- ^^) as want of clearness was not to be feared after ver. 40. In addition to these there were four other tables (ny^iNl^ and four, ver. 42) of stone, from which it may be inferred that the four already mentioned were of wood. The four stone tables stood n^^vi', i.e. at (near) the flight of steps (cf . r)"i|^ ^Dp, at the entrance to the city, Prov. viii. 3), and were of hewn square stones, as no doubt the steps also were (see Plate II. II. e e). It yields no sense whatever to render '^;:W " for the burnt-offering" (LXX. and others); and the expression r\)h']3 in ver. 2Q thoroughly warrants our translating npiy^ a flight of steps or staircase). These stone tables served as flesh - benches, on which the slaughtering tools were laid, in^ri D^v^? belong together, the T being inserted " as if at the commencement of a new sentence after a pause in the thought" (cf. Prov. xxiii. 24, xxx. 28; Gen. xl. 9, Bottcher). It is not expressly stated, indeed, that these four tables were distributed on the two sides of the steps ; but this may be inferred with certainty from the position of the other tables. Moreover, the twelve tables mentioned were not merely to be found at one of the gate-porches, but by all three of the inner gates, as was the case with the washing-cells (ver. 38), for sacrificial animals were taken to the altar and slaughtered at every gate ; so that what is stated in vers. 39-42 with reference to one porch, namely, the porch of the east gate, to judge from n:iD^n in ver. 40, is applicable to the porches of the south and north gates also. In ver. 43 another provision for the slaughtering of the sacrificial animals is mentioned, concerning which the opinions of the older translators and commentators are greatly divided. But the only explanation that can be sustained, so far as both the usage of the language and the facts are concerned, is that adopted by the Chaldee, viz. ""^l^^P ]T?P ^D ^?^? Vi^P^. r)>P^V) CHAP. XL. 38-47. 219 fc<*n2tpp n''2j et uncini egrediebantur {longitudine) unius palmi dejixi in columnis domus macelli, to which not only Bottcher, but Roediger (Ges. Thes. p. 1470) and Dietrich (^Lex.) have given their adhesion. For ^]^Pf, from nsD', to set or stand (act.), signifies stakes or pegs (in Ps. Ixviii. 14, the folds constructed of stakes), here pegs a span long on the wall, into which they were inserted, and from which they projected to the length of a span. In the dual it stands for double pegs, forked pegs, upon which the carcases of the beasts were hung for the purpose of flaying, as Dav. Kimchi has interpreted the words of the Chaldee. The article indicates the kind, viz. the pegs required for the process of slaughtering. This explanation is also in harmony wdth the verb Q''?5^^) Hophal of pD, fastened, which by no means suits the rendering originated by the LXX., viz. ledges round the edge or the rim of the table. The only remaining difficulty is the word ri^.??, which Bottcher interprets as signifying " in the interior of the gate-porch and pillars " (Roediger, in interiore parte^ nempe in ea atrii parte, ubi hosiiae mactandae essent), on the just ground that the interior of the front porch could not be the place for slaughtering, but that this could only be done outside, either in front of or near the porch. But even in interiore parte atrii is not really suitable, and at all events is too indefinite for D^JS^O. It would therefore be probably more correct to render it " fastened against the house," i.e. to the outer walls of the gate-porch buildings, so that n^3 would stand for buildings in the sense of n^^3, although I cannot cite any passage as a certain proof of the correctness of this rendering. But this does not render the explanation itself a doubtful one, as it would be still more difficult to interpet n^sn if D)ri2'^ were explained in any other way. 2"'2D y20 refers to the three outer sides of the porch. The description of the slaughtering appa- ratus closes in ver. 435 with the words, " and upon the tables (mentioned in vers. 39-42) came the flesh of the offering." i^"li^, the general word for sacrificial offerings, as in Lev. i. 2 sqq. In vers. 44-46 we have a description of cells for the officiating 220 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. priests, and in vers. 45 and 46 two such cells are plainly men- tioned according to their situation and purpose (vid. Plate I. F F). But it is impossible to bring the Masoretic text of ver. 44 into harmony with this, without explaining it in an arbitrary manner. For, in the first place, the reference there is to cnu* niDu'l?, cells of the singers ; whereas these cells, ac- cording to vers. 45 and 46, were intended for the priests who performed the service in the temple-house and at the altar of burnt-offering. The attempt of both the earlier and the more recent supporters of the Masoretic text to set aside this discre- pancy, by arguing that the priests who had to attend to the service in the temple and at the altar, according to vers. 45 and 46, were singers, is overturned by the fact that in the Old Testament worship a sharp distinction is made between the Levitical singers and the priests, i.e. the Aaronites who administered the priesthood ; and Ezekiel does not abolish this distinction in the vision of the temple, but sharpens it still further by the command, that none but the sons of Zadok are to attend to the priestly service at the sanctuary, while the other descendants of Aaron, i.e. the Aaronites who sprang from Itliamar, are only to be employed in watching at the gate of the house, and other non-priestly occupations (ch. xliv. 10 sqq.). Consequently Ezekiel could not identify the priests with tiie singers, or call the cells intended for the officiating priests singers' cells. Moreover, only two cells, or cell-buildings, are mentioned in vers. 45 and 46, and their position is described in the same words as that of the cells mentioned in ver. 44, so that there can be no doubt as to the identity of the former and the altter cells. In ver. 44 the supposed singers' cells are placed at the north gate, with the front toward the south, which only applies, according to ver. 45, to the one cell intended for the priests who attended to the service in the holy place ; and again, in ver. 44, another cell is mentioned at the east gate, with the front toward the north, which was set apart, according to ver. 46, for the priests who attended to the altar service. Conse- CHAP. XL. 38-47. 221 quently, according to our Masoretic text of the 44tli verse, there would be first singers' cells (in the plural), and then one cell, at least three cells therefore ; whereas, according to vers. 45 and 46, there were only two. And lastly, the "insi in ver. 446 can only be understood by our taking it in the sense of '^ another," in opposition to the usage of the language. For these reasons we are compelled to alter D''"!^ into ^]'D^j and "l^^5 into ^l^^*, after the LXX., and probably also D^i^n into ^'^'^'^i^, and in consequence of this to adopt the pointing ^lbL^'pJ and to read iTJQ instead of njn^pSi, Further alterations are not requisite or indicated by the LXX., as the rest of the deviations in their text are to be explained from their free handling of the original. According to the text with these alterations, even in ver. 44 there are only two cells mentioned. They were situated " out- side the inner gate." This definition is ambiguous, for you are outside the inner gate not only before entering the gate, i,e, while in the outer court, but also after having passed through it and entered the inner court. Hence there follows the more precise definition, " in the inner court." If, then, we read nnt< for "^^^.j there follows, in perfect accordance with the fact, a more precise statement as to the situation of both the one and the other of these cells, nrii^ and "in^^ corresponding to one another. The second ^^^5, instead of nnx, which is grammati- cally the more correct, is to be attributed to a constructio ad sensiimj as the rii2tj6 were not separate rooms, but buildings with several chambers. One cell stood by the shoulder (side) of the north gate, with the front (p^^^) toward the south ; the other at the shoulder of the south gate, with the front toward the north. They stood opposite to one another, therefore, with their fronts facing each other. Instead of the south gate, how- ever, the Masoretic text has ^^^.\^^ Tw^, the east gate ; and ver. 46 contains nothing that would be expressly at variance with this, so that onr^L! could be defended in case of need. But only in case of need — that is to say, if we follow Kliefoth in assum- ing that it stood on the left of the gateway to persons entering 222 THE rROPIIECIES OF EZEKIEL. throuMi the cast gate, and explaining tlie fact that its front turned toward tlie north, on the ground that the priests who resided in it Nvcre charged with the duty of inspecting the sacrifices brought througli the east gate, or watching the bringing in of tlie sacrifices, so that this cell was simply a watchman's cell after all. But this assumption is founded upon a misinterpretation of the formula HZiTTsn n^DC'p "10*J', to keep the keeping of the altar. This formula does not mean to watch and see that nothing unlawful was taken to the altar, but refers to the altar service itself, the observance of everything devolving upon the servants of the altar in the performance of the sacrificial worship, or the offering of the sacrifices upon the altar according to the precepts of the law. If, then, this duty was binding upon the priests who resided in this cell, it would have been very unsuitable for the front of the cell to be turned toward the north, in which case it would have been absolutely impossible to see the altar from the front of the cell. This unsuitability can only be removed by the supposition that the cell was built at the south gate, with the front toward the north, i.e. looking directly toward the altar. For this reason we must also regard Ci'''i|"5n as a corruption of ^i">'^L', and look for this second cell at the south gate, so that it stood opposite to the one built at the north gate. — All that remains doubtful is, whether these two cells were on the east or the west side of the south and north gates, a point concerning which we have no information given in the text. In our sketch we have placed them on the west side (vid. Plate I. F), so that they stood in front of the altar and the porch-steps. The concluding words of ver. 4G, in which ^'^[} refers to the priests mentioned in vers. 45 and 46, state that in the new sanctuary only priests of the sons of Zadok were to take charfje of the service at the altar and in the holy place; and this is still further expanded in ch. xliv. 10 .<^qq. — Finally, in ver. 47 the description of the courts is concluded with the account of the measure of the inner court, a hundred cubits long and the same in breadth, CHAP. XL. 48, 49. 223 according to wlilch it formed a perfect square surrounded by a wall, according to cb. xlii. 10. The only otber observation made is, that it was within this space that the altar of burnt- offering stood, the description of which is given afterwards in ch. xliii. 13sqq. (see Plate I. H). Chap. xl. 48-xH. 26. TJie TempMiouse, with the Porch, Side-storeysy and Back-building, Chap. xl. 48, 49. The Temple-porch (See Plate III. A). — The measuring angel conducts the prophet still farther to the porch of the temple, and measures its breadth and length. — Yer. 48. And he led me to the porch of the house, and measured the pillar of the porch, five cubits on this side and five cubits on that side; and the breadth of the gate, three cubits on this side and three cubits on that side. Yer. 49. The length of the porch was twenty cidnts, and the breadth eleven cubits, and that by the steps by which one went up ; and columns icere by the pillars, one on this side and one on that side. — T\\2T\ is the temple in the more restricted sense of the w^ord, the temple-house, as in 1 Kings vi. 2, etc. ; and Db^5, the porch before the entrance into the holy place (cf. 1 Kings vi. 3). The measurements in vers. 48 and 49, which are apparently irreconcilable with one another, led the LXX. to the adoption of arbitrary interpolations and conjectures in ver. 49,^ In accord- ance with which Bottcher, Hltzig, and others have made correc- tions in the text, which have a plausible justification in the many artificial and for the most part mistaken interpretations that have been given of the text. The measures in ver. 49a are perfectly plain, namely, the length of the porch twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits ; and there is no question ^ The text of the LXX. reads thus : . . , xcti lis/xsTpms ro x'l'h rov xl'Kxy, 'T^YiXOiV ~iUTS TO 'K'h.O.XOC, iV^SU KOCl TTyi^^OJU TTiUTS ivdill^ KOCl TO SVpo; TOV 6vpuf/,eX,- rog '7rn)coJU ^iKccTiaaocpuu^ x.ul s7ra/ictosg ryjg Svpccg rov cclXccf.c 'rrriy^cdy rpiuu iudiv Kcci TTYi^av rpiZu hdiu. Ket/ rd f^^KOq rov ul'Koif^ Trnx^v UKOat kccI to ivpos 7:y))c&)u ZaZiKOi' x.ui tTrl OiKX dvoclixdy^uu dsfi/ioitvov 1% uino k.t.'K. 22-4 THE PKOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. tliat these measurements are to be understood in the clear, that is to sav, as referring to the internal space, excluding the side- walls, as in the case of the holy place, the most holy place, and the inner court. Tlie only question is whether the length signifies the dimension from east to west, i.e. the distance which had to be traversed on entering the temple, and therefore the breadth, the extent from north to south ; or whether we are to understand by the length the larger dimension, and by the breadth the smaller, in which case the measurement from north to south, which formed the breadth of the house, would be designated the length of the porch, and that from east to west the breadth. Nearly all the commentators have decided in favour of the latter view, because, in the porch of Solomon's temple, the length of twenty cubits was measured according to the breadth of the house. But the fact has been overlooked, that in 1 Kings vi. 3 the length given is more precisely defined by the clause, " in front of the breadth of the house." There is no such definition here, and the analogy of the building of Solomon's temple is not sufficient in itself to warrant our regarding the construction of the porch in the temple seen by Ezekiel as being precisely the same ; since it was only in the essential portions, the form of which was of symbolical signifi- cance (the holy place and the most holy), that this picture of a temple resembled the temple of Solomon, whereas in those which were less essential it differed from that temple in various ways. At the very outset, therefore, the more probable assump- tion appears to be, that just as in the case of the holy place and the holy of holies, so also in that of the porch, we are to understand by the length, the distance to be traversed (from east to west), and by the breadth, the extension on either side (i.e. from south to north). If, then, we understand the measurements in ver. 49 in this way, the measures given in ver. 48 may also be explained without any alterations in the text. The measuring of the pillar of the porch on either side, and of the gate on this side and that (ver. 48), is sufficient of CHAP. XL. 48, 49. 225 itself to lead to the conclasion that the front turned toward a person entering is the breadth from south to north. This breadth presented to the eye a pillar on this side and one on that, — two pillars, therefore, each five cubits broad (c c), and a breadth of gate of three cubits on this side and three on that, six cubits in all (^), that is to say, a total breadth {k — k) of 54-3-l"3 + 5=16 cubits. The only thing that can surprise one here is the manner in which the breadth of the gate is defined : three cubits on this side and that, instead of simply six cubits. But the only reason in all probability is, that the pillars on either side are mentioned just before, and the gate of six cubits' breadth consisted of two halves, which had their hinges fastened to the adjoining pillars, so that each half was measured by itself from the pillar to which it was attached. The breadth of front mentioned, viz. sixteen cubits, agrees very well with the breadth of the porch inside, i.e. eleven cubits (m — m), for it allows a thickness of two cubits and a half for each side wall (a), and this was sufficient for the walls of a porch. The pillars, which were five cubits broad on the outer face, were therefore only half that breadth (21 cubits) in the inner side within the porch, the other two cubits and a half forming the side wall. All the particulars given in ver. 48 may be explained in this w^ay without any artifice, and yield a result the proportions of which are in harmony with those of the entire building. For the porch, with an external breadth of sixteen cubits, was half as broad as the house, which had a breadth of twenty cubits in the clear, and side walls of six cubits in thickness (ch. xli. 5), so that when measured on the outside it was 6 + 20 i" 6 = 32 cubits broad. The breadth of the interior also is apparently perfectly appropriate, as the porch was not intended either for the reception of vessels or for the abode of individuals, but was a simple erection in front of the entrance into the holy place, the door of which {d) was ten cubits broad (ch. xli. 2), that is to say, half a cubit narrower on either side than the porch-way leading to it. And lastly, the EZEK. II. P 226 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. lencTtli of the pmcli was also in good proportion to the holy pLice, which foHowed tlie porch ; the porch being twenty cubits long, and tlie lioly place forty cubits. If we add to this the front wall, with a thickness of two cubits and a half, corre- sponding to that of the side walls, we obtain an external length (.f twenty-two cubits and a half for the porch. In front were the steps by which one went up to the porch (/). It is generally supposed that there were ten steps, the 1^'5< after ni^pn being chano-ed into "»t^'y (ten) after the example of the LXX. But however this alteration may commend itself when the facts of the case are considered, ten steps in front of the porch answer- ing very well to the eight steps before the gateway of the inner court, and to the seven steps in front of the gateway of the outer court, it is not absolutely necessary, and in all probability is merely a conjecture of the Seventy, who did not know what to do with iti's, and possibly it is not even correct (see at ch. xli. 8). The words ^f^. r\)hv'^2^ can be attached without diffi- culty to the preceding account of the breadth : " the breadth was eleven cubits, and that at the steps by which they went up to it," i.e. when measured on the side on which the flight of steps stood. If the words are taken in this way, they serve to remove all doubt as to the side which is designated as the breadth, with special reference to the fact that the porch of Solomon's temple was constructed in a different manner. The number of steps, therefore, is not given, as was also the case with the east gate of the outer court (ch. xl. 6), because it was of no essential importance in relation to the entire building. The last statement, "and there w^ere columns by the pillars on this side and on that," is free from difficulty, although there is also a difference of opinion among the commentators as to the position of these columns. ^Y^^ points back to ^^^ a^ (ver. 48). The preposition ^i< does not imply that the columns stood close to the pillars, and had the form of half-columns, but simply that they stood near the pillars (see Plate III. /f), like the columns Jachin and Boaz in Solomon's temple, to which they correspond. CHAP. XLI. 1-4. 227 Chap. xll. 1-4. The Inner Space of the Temple (see Plate III. B and C). — Ver. 1. And he led me into the temple^ and measured the pillars, six cubits breadth en this side and six cubits breadth on that side, with regard to the breadth of the tent, Ver. 2. And the breadth of the door ivas ten cubits ; and the shoulders of the door, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that : and he measured its lengthy foi'ty cubits ; and the breadth, twenty cubits. Ver. 3. And he ivent within and measured the pillar of the door, two cubits ; and the door, six cubits ; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits. Ver. 4. And he measured its length, twenty cubits ; and the breadth, twenty cubits, toward the temple ; and said to me, This is the holy of holies. — Vers. 1 and 2 give the measurements of the holy place. ?3\'i is used here in the more restricted sense for the nave of the temple, the holy place {B), without the porch and the holy of holies (cf. 1 Kings vi. 17). The measuring commences with the front (eastern) wall, in which there was the entrance door. This wall had pillars (e e) of six cubits breadth on either side (on the right hand and the left), and between the pillars a door {d) ten cubits broad, with door-shoulders {e e) of five cubits on this side and that (ver. 2a). These measurements (6 + 6 + 10 + 5 4-5) yield for the front wall a total breadth of thirty-two cubits. This agrees with the measurements which follow : twenty cubits, the (internal) breadth of the holy place, and six cubits the thickness of the wall (e) on either side (ver. 5). The only remaining difficulty is in the very obscure words appended, pnxn nnh, in which Ewald and Hitzig propose to alter brii^r] into p]^[}, because the LXX. have substituted roO al\d/x, but without making any improvement, as ^^^ is still more inexpli- cable. Kliefoth, after examining the various attempts to explain these words, comes to the conclusion that no other course is left than to take ^[}i^^ as signifying the inner space of Ezekiel's temple, consisting of the holy place and the holy of holies, which was the same in the entire building as the taber- nacle had been, — viz. the tent of God's meeting with His 228 THE PROniECIES OF EZEKIEL. people, and which is designated as ?\}ii to show the substantial identity of this space and the tabernacle. The clause ^[}ii^ 3n'i is thus attached to the preceding double nbo (^.g. to the measure- ment of tlie two pillars bounding the holy space), in an elliptical manner, in the following sense : " he measured the breadth of the pillars, on this side and that, which marked off the breadth of the tent, on the outside, that is to say, of the inner space of the holy place which resembled the tabernacle;" so that this clause formed a loose apposition, meaning, " with regard to the breath of the tent." nnsn nisns are the walls on both sides of the door (e e), between the door and the boundary pillars. — The internal length and breadth of the holy place are the same as in the holy place of Solomon's temple (1 Kings vi. 2, 17). — Vers. 3 and 4 refer to the holy of holies (c). <' He went within." We have i] is to be taken as the subject ; but the verbs are to be regarded as impersonal : " there spread out and surrounded," i.e. a widening and a surrounding took place. The double '17^07 has been correctly explained by Bochart, viz. " by continued ascending," i.e. the higher one went the more extension and compass did one find, with regard to, i.e. accord- ing to the measure of, the side-rooms or side-storeys. ^^VpVr belongs to ^bv???, and is added for the purpose of defining more precisely how the widening took place, not gradually, but at each storey ; for " these T\)V^)i are the three rooms standing one above another, spoken of in ver. 6" (Kliefoth). This statement is explained, and the reason assigned, in the clause introduced with ^3, the meaning of which depends upon the explanation of the word ^DID. This word may mean a way round, and a surrounding. The Rabbins, whom Havernick follows, under- stand by ^D^J^ ^ winding staircase, the Dyv mentioned in 1 Kings vi. 8, which led from the lower storey to the upper ones. This is decidedly wrong; for apart from the question whether this meaning can be grammatically sustained, it is im- possible to attach any rational meaning to the words, " a winding staircase of the house was upwards more and more round about the house," since a winding staircase could never run round about a building seventy cubits long and forty cubits broad, but could only ascend at one spot, which would really give it the character of a winding staircase. Bottcher's explanation is equally untenable : " for the winding round of the interior was upwards more and more round and round inwards." For, in the first place, r\]2n does not mean the interior, and n^iip does not mean inwards; and secondly, ^'winding round" is not equivalent to an alteration of form in the shape of the rooms, through which those in the bottom storey were oblongs running lengthwise, those in the central storey squares, and those in the third oblonfirs runnincr inwards, which Bottcher imagines to 234 THE TROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. liave been tlie ca^e. It would be much easier to adopt the explanation of Kliefoth and others, who take 20^^ in the sense of a way round, and regard it as signifying a passage running round the house in the form of a gallery, by which one could walk all round the house, and so reach the rooms in the upper storeys. This, as Kliefoth still further remarks, was the reason why the surrounding of (circuit round) the house was greater the higher one ascended, and also the reason why it became wider up above in the upper storeys, as the words, " therefore the breadth of the house increased upwards," affirm. In these words Kliefoth finds a distinct assertion " that there is no foundation for the assumption that the widening upwards was occasioned by the receding of the temple walls ; but that the widening of the building, which took place above, arose from the passages round that were attached to the second and third storeys, and that these passages ran round the building, and consequently were attached to the outside in the form of galleries." But we are unable to see how this can be distinctly asserted in the words Hpy^p n)3p 3ni. Even if ri^2ri^ in con- nection with 29^^, signified the side-building, including the temple house, the only thought contained in the words would be, that the side-building became broader at each storey as you ascended, i.e. that the breadth of the side-building increased with each storey. But even then it would not be stated in what manner the increase in breadth arose ; whether in con- sequence of the receding of the temple wall at each storey, or from the fact that the side-rooms were built so as to project farther out, or that the side-storeys were widened by the addi- tion of a passage in the form of a gallery. And the decision in favour of one or other of these possibilities could only be obtained from the preceding clause, where it is stated that ^D^Q n^2n went round about the side-building, and that in favour of the last. But, in the first place, the assumption that T\)'^T\ and ri*3^ denote the side-building, to the exclusion of the temple house, is extremely harsh, as throughout the whole section H^nn CHAP. XLI. 5-11. 235 signifies the temple house ; and in ver. 6 T)]2? is used again in this sense. If we understand, however, by ri^2n noiD a passage or a surrounding all round the temple house, the words by no means imply that there were outer galleries running round the side-rooms. In the second place, it is extremely harsh to take 3D1D in the sense of a passage round, if the preceding >^^^^ is to signify surrounded. As 3D^0 takes up the word nno^ again, and " precisely the same thing is signified by the two verbs •^JPJ] 'l^Hl as by the substantives 3ni and :iD^O afterwards," we cannot render n3D3 by surrounded, and aoiD by a passage round. If, therefore, 3D^iD signified a passage, a gallery running round the building, this would necessarily be expressed in the verb i^?!??? which must be rendered, '^ there went round," i.e. there was a passage round, more and more upwards, according to the measure of the storeys. But this would imply that the passage round existed in the case of the bottom storey also, and merely increased in breadth in the central and upper storeys. Now a gallery round the bottom storey is shown to be out of the question by the measurements which follow. From this we may see that the supposition that there were galleries on the outside round the second and third storeys is not required by the text, and possibly is irreconcil- able with it ; and there is not even a necessity to adduce the further argument, that Kliefoth's idea, that the entire building of three storeys was simply upheld by the outer wall, with- out any support to the beams from the wall of the temple, is most improbable, as such a building would have been very in- secure, and useless for the reception of any things of importance. We therefore take ^oz and 3p^0 in the sense of surrounded and surrounding. In this case, ver. 7 simply affirms that the sur- rounding of the house, i.e. the side-building round about the temple house, became broader toward the top, increasing (more and more) according to the measure of the storeys; for it increased the more in proportion to the height against the temple house, so that the house became broader as you ascended. 23G THE rnoPHECiES of ezekiel. To this there is appended by means of \^] the last statement of the verse : '' and so the lower ascended to the upper after the measure of tlie central one." This clause is taken by the majoritv of the commentators to mean : thus they ascended from the lower to the upper after the central one. But many have observed tlie folly of an arrangement by which they ascended a staircase on the outside from the lower storey to the upper, and went from that into the central one, and have therefore followed the LXX. in changing pi into jp^ and njiD''rip into n^i2''n2y ^' and from the lower (they ascended) to the upper through the central one." But there is no apparent necessity for these alterations of the text, as the reading in the text yields a good sense, if we take njinnnn as the subject to ni?r : and thus the lower storey ascended to the upper after the measure of the central one, — a rendering to which no decisive objection can be urged on the ground of the difference of gender (the masc. ^^.V]). |31. afHrms that the ascent took place according to the mode of widening already mentioned. In the 8th verse w^e have a further statement concerning the side-rooms, as we may see from the middle clause; but it has also been explained in various ways. Bottcher, for example, renders tiie first clause thus : *' and I saw what the height round about was in an inwardly direction ; " but this is both grammatically false and senseless, as n^?^ does not mean inwardly, and " in an inwardly direction " yields no conceivable sense. Kliefoth adopts the rendering : " I fixed my eyes upon the height round about to the house ; " but this is also untenable, as nxi does not mean to fix the eyes upon, in the sense of measuring with the eyes, and in this case also the article could hardly be omitted in the case of njb. The words run simply thus : " I saw in the house a height" = an elevation round about. What this means is shown in the following words : the side-rooms had foundations a full rod, i.e. the foundation of the rooms was a full rod (six cubits) high. nilD^JD is not a substantive ^i^P^'?, but a participle Paal TiSlB^p ; and the Keri is substantially CHAP. XLI. 5-11. 237 correct, though an unnecessary correction ; i?^ for i^Sp^ (com- pare ch. xxviii. 16, v?^ for ^^^^). The side-building did not stand on level ground, therefore, but had a foundation six cubits high. This is in harmony with the statement in ch. xl. 49, that they ascended by steps to the temple porch, so that the temple house with its front porch was raised above the inner court. As this elevation was a full rod or six cubits, not merely for the side-building, but also for the temple porch, we may assume that there were twelve steps, and not ten after the LXX. of ch. xl. 49, as half a cubit of Ezekiel's measurement was a considerable height for steps. — The expression which follows, "six cubits >^^"'2ft>," is obscure, on account of the various ways in which n^^:;x may be understood. So much, however, is beyond all doubt, that the words cannot contain merely an explanation of the length of the rod measure : " six cubits (measured) to the wrist," because the length of the rod has already been fixed in ch. xl. 5, and therefore a fresh definition would be superfluous, and the one given here would contradict that of ch. xl. 5. p^'^^ signifies connection or joint, and when applied to a building can hardly mean anything else than the point at which one portion of the building joins on to the other. Ilavernick and Kliefoth therefore understand by ^'i*^ the point at which one storey ends and another begins, the connecting line of the rooms standing one above another ; and Havernick takes the clause to be a more precise definition of 'vn DHD^D, under- standing by nino^D the foundations of the rooms, i.e, the floors. Kliefoth, on the other hand, regards the clause as containing fresh information, namely, concerning the height of the storeys, so that according to the statement in this verse the side-build- ing had a foundation of six cubits in height, and each of the storeys had also a height of six cubits, and consequently the whole building was twenty-four cubits high, reckoning from the ground. So much is clear, that ^i'l?'''? does not signify the floors of the rooms, so that Havernick's explanation falls to the ground. And Kliefoth's view is also open to this objection, that 238 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. if the words gave the height of the storeys, and therefore sup- pHed a second measurement, the copula 1 could hardly fail to stand before them. The absence of this copula evidently leads to the conclusion that the '' six cubits" ^^^"^^ are merely intended to furnish a further substantial explanation as to the foundation, which was a full rod high, the meaning of which has not yet been satisfactorily cleared up, as all the explana- tions given elsewhere are still further from the mark. In ver. 9 there follow two further particulars with reference to the side-building. The wall of it without, i.e. on the out- side (/), was five cubits thick or broad, and therefore one cubit thinner than the temple wall. The njc in the side-building was just the same breadth. In the clause beginning with "^^^55 the measure (five cubits) given in the first clause is to be repeated, so that we may render 1 by '' ajid also,'^ and must take the words in the sense of " just as broad." n3D, the IlopJial participle of ^\^'^, to let alone, in the case of a building, is that portion of the building space which is not built upon like the rest ; and in ver. 11, where it is used as a substantive, it signifies the space left open by the sides of the building (Plate I. i). The Chaldee rendering is P"'^"^ "^rii?., locus relictus. niy?>* n^ji is an adverbial or locative accusative : against the house of side-chambers, or all along it; and ri^sp i^^^ is an appositional explanation: "which was to the temple," i.e. be- longed to it, was built round about it. — Consequently there is no necessity for any alteration of the text, not even for changing ri^? into r? in order to connect together ver. % and ver. 10 as one clause, as Bottcher and Hitzig propose ; though all that they gain thereby is the discrepancy that in vers. 96 and 10 the space left open between the side - rooms against the temple house and between the cells against the wall of the court is s;iid to have been twenty cubits broad, whereas in ver. 12 the breadth of this munndch is set down as five cubits. — There follows next in ver. 10 the account of the breadth between the temple-building and the cells against the wall of the inner CHAP. XLI. 5-11. 239 court, and then in ver. 11 we have further particulars concern- ing the side-building and the space left open. ni^C^pn (ver. 10) are the cell buildings, more fully described in ch. xlii. 1 sqq., which stood alonff the wall dividinir the inner court from the outer on the west of the north and south gates of the inner court, and therefore opposite to the temple house (Plate I. L L), To the expression, " and between the cells there was a breadth," there has to be supplied the correlative term from the context, namely, the space between the n^p and the nbcv had a breadth of twenty cubits round about the house, i.e. on the north, west, and south sides of the temple house. — The descrip- tion of this space closes in ver. 11 with an account of the entrances to the side-building. It had a door toward the space left open, i.e. leading out into this space, one to the north and one to the south (Plate III. i i), and the space left open was five cubits broad round about, i.e. on the north, west, and south sides of the temple - building, narsn Dipp^ the place of that which remained open, i.e. the space left open. If, then, in conclusion, we gather together all the measure- ments of the temple house and its immediate surroundings, we obtain (as is shown in Plate I.) a square of a hundred cubits in breadth and a hundred cubits in length, exclusive of the porch. The temple (G) was twenty cubits broad in the inside (ver. 2) ; the wall surrounding the sanctuary was six cubits (ver. 5), or (for the two walls) 2x6 = 12 cubits. The side-buildings being four cubits broad in the clear on each side (ver. 5), make 2x4 = 8 cubits. The outside walls of these buildings, five cubits on each side (ver. 9), make 2 X 5 = 10 cubits. The nap (i), five cubits round about (ver. 11), makes 2 X 5 = 10 cubits. And the space between this and the cells standing by the wall of the court (e-g-li-f), twenty cubits round about (ver. 10), makes 2 X 20 = 40 cubits. The sum total therefore is 20 + 12 + 8 + 10 + 10 + 40 = 100 cubits, in per- fect harmony with the breadth of the inner court given in ch. xl. 47. The length was as follows : forty cubits the holy 2 40 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. place, and twenty cubits the Iioly of holies (vers. 2 and 4); the western wall, six cubits ; the side-rooms on the west, four cubits ; and their wall, five cubits; the n3D, on the west, five cubits; and the space to the cells, twenty cubits ; in all, 40+20+6 + 4 _l_ 5 j_ 5 _|_ 20 = 100 cubits, as stated in ver. 13. The porch and the thickness both of the party-wall between the holy place and the most holy, and also of the front (eastern) wall of the holy place, are not taken into calculation here. The porch is not included, because the ground which it covered belonged to the space of the inner court into which it projected. The party- wall is not reckoned, because it was merely a thin wooden partition, and therefore occupied no space worth notice. But it is difficult to say why the front wall of the holy place is not included. As there was no room for it in the square of a hundred cubits, Kliefoth assumes that there was no wall what- ever on the eastern side of the holy place, and supposes that the back wall (i.e. the western wall) of the porch supplied its place. But this is inadmissible, for the simple reason that the porch was certainly not of the same height as the holy place, and according to ch. xl. 48 it had only sixteen cubits of external breadth ; so that there would not only have been an open space left in the upper portion of the front, but also an open space of two cubits in breadth on either side, if the holy place had had no wall of its own. Moreover, the measurement both of the pillars on both sides of the front of the ^'^^n (ver. 1), and of the shoulders on both sides of the door (ver. 2), presupposes a wall or partition on the eastern side of the holy place, which cannot be supposed to have been thinner than the side-walls, that is to say, not less than six cubits in thickness. We are shut up, therefore, to the conjecture that the forty cubits' length of the holy place was measured from the door-line, which was ten cubits broad, and that the thickness of the door-shoulders on the two sides is included in these forty cubits, or, what is the same thing, that they were not taken into account in the measurement. The objection raised to this, namely, that the CHAP. XLI. 12-14. 241 space within the holy place would thereby have lost a consider- able portion of its significant length of forty cubits, cannot have much weight, as the door-shoulders, the thickness of which is not reckoned, were only five cubits broad on each side, and for the central portion of the holy place, which was occu- pied by the door, and was ten cubits broad, the length of forty cubits suffered no perceptible diminution. Just as the pillars of the door of the holy of holies with the party -wall are reckoned in the 40 + 20 cubits' length of the sanctuary, and are not taken into consideration ; so may this also have been the case with the thickness of wall of the door-shoulders of the holy place. The measurements of the space occupied by the holy place and holy of holies, which have a symbolical signi- ficance, cannot be measured with mathematical scrupulosity. Vers. 12-14. The Separate Place, and the External Dimensions of the Temple. — Ver. 12. And the building at the front of the separate place was seventy cubits broad on the side turned toward the west^ and the wall of the building five cubits broad round about, and its length ninety cubits. Ver. 13. And he measured the {temple) house : the length a hundred cubits; and the separate placCj and its building, and its walls : the length a hundred cubits, Ver. 14. And the breadth of the face of the {temple) house, and of the separate place toioard the east, a hundred cubits. — The explanation of these verses depends upon the meaning of the word nnra. According to its derivation from "i.TJ, to cut, to separate, nnra means that which is cut off, or separated. Thus i^^^l^ p.? is the land cut off, the desert, which is not connected by roads with the inhabited country. In the passage before us, nnta signifies a place on the western side of the temple, i.e. behind the temple, which was separated from the sanctuary (Plate I. J), and on which a building stood, but concerning the purpose of which nothing more definite is stated than we are able to gather, partly from the name and situation of the place in question, and partly from such passages as EZEK. II. Q 242 THE TROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. 1 Cliion. xxvi. 18 and 2 Kings xxiii. 11, according to which, even in Solomon's temple, there was a similar space at the back of the temple house with buildings upon it, which had a separate way out, the gate riD^C^, namely, that " this space, with its buildings, was to be used for the reception of all refuse, sweepint^s, all kinds of rubbish, — in brief, of everything that was separated or rejected when the holy service was performed in the temple, — and that this was the reason why it received the name of the separate place" (Kliefoth). The building upon this space was situated nnT3n-\JS"PS, in the front of the gizrah (that is to say, as one approached it from the temple) ; and that D*'!)""^"!'^ nSQj on the side of the way to the sea, i.e. on the western side, sc, of the temple, and had a breadth of seventy cubits (from north to south), with a w^all round about, which was five cubits broad (thick), and a length of ninety cubits. As the thickness of the wall is specially mentioned in connec- tion with the breadth, we must add it both to the breadth and to the length of the building as given here ; so that, when looked at from the outside, the building was eighty cubits broad and a hundred cubits long. In ver. 136 this length is expressly attributed to the separate place, and {i.e, along with) its building, and the walls thereof. But the length of the temple house has also been previously stated as a hundred cubits. In ver. 14 the breadth of both is also stated to have been a hundred cubits, — namely, the breadth of the outer front, or front face of the temple, w^as a hundred cubits ; and the breadth of the separate place ^li^p toward the east, i.e. the breadth which it showed to the person measuring on the eastern side, was the same. If, then, the building on the separate place was only eighty cubits broad, according to ver. 12, including the walls, whilst the separate place itself was a hundred cubits broad, there remains a space of twenty cubits in breadth not covered by the building ; that is to say, as we need not hesitate to put the building in the centre, open spaces of ten cubits each on the northern and southern sides were left as approaches CHAP. XLI. 15-26. 243 to the building on both sides (K), whereas the entire length of the separate place (from east to west) was covered by the building. — All these measurements are in perfect harmony. As the inner court formed a square of a hundred cubits in length (ch. xl. 47), the temple house, which joined it on the westj extended with its appurtenances to a similar length ; and the separate place behind the temple also covered a space of equal size. These three squares, therefore, had a length from east to west of three hundred cubits. If we add to this the length of the buildings of the east gates of the inner and outer courts, namely fifty cubits for each (ch. xl. 15, 21, 25, 29, 33^ 36), and the length of the outer court from gate to gate a hundred cubits (ch. xl. 19, 23, 27), we obtain for the whole of the temple building the length of five hundred cubits. If, again, we add to the breadth of the inner court or temple house, which was one hundred cubits, the breadths of the outer court, with the outer and inner gate-buildings, viz. two hundred cubits on both the north and south sides, we obtain a total breadth of 100 + 200 + 200 = 500 (say five hundred) cubits ; so that the whole building covered a space of five hun- dred cubits square, in harmony with the calculation already made (at ch. xl. 24-27) of the size of the surrounding wall. Vers. 15-26. Summary Account of the Measurement, THE Character, and the significant Ornaments of the PROJECTING Portions of the Temple Building. — Ver. 15. And thus he measured the length of the building in the front of the separate place tvhich was at the hack thereof and its galleries on this side and that side, a hundred cubits, and. the inner sanc- tuary^ and the 2'>orches of the court; Ver. 16. The thresholds, and the closed ivindows, and the galleries round about all three — opposite to the thresholds was zvainscoting laood round about, and the ground up to the loindows ; but the icindoios ivere covered — Ver. 17. {The space) above the doors, both to the inner temple and outside, and on all the ivall round about, luithin and without, 244 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Jiad its measures. Ver. 18. And cherubs and palms ivere made^ a palm between every two cherubs ; and the cherub had two faces; Ver. \^. A mans face toward the palm on this side^ and a lion^s face toward the palm on that side : thus was it made round about the tvhole house. Ver. 20. From the floor to above the doors vjere the cherubs and palms made, and that on the wall of the sanctuaru. Ver. 21. I'he sanctuary had square door-posts, and the front of the holy of holies had the same form, Ver. 22. The altar luas of ivood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits ; and it had its corner-pieces and its stand, and its walls were of wood: and he said to me, This is the table ivhich stands before Jehovah. Ver. 23. And the holy place and the holy /)/ holies had two doors. Ver. 24. And the doors had two icings, two turning leaves; the one door two, and the other two leaves. Ver. 25. And there were made upon them, upon the doors of the sanctuary, cherubs and palms, as they were made upon the walls; and a moulding of wood was on the front of the porcli outside. Ver. 26. And there ivere closed windoivs and palms on this side and on that, on the side-walls of the porch, and the side-rooms of the house, and the beams. — Ver. 15 is the commencement of a comprehensive enumeration of particular features in the building, the greater part of which have not been mentioned before ; so that Tl^l (for TJJl) is to be rendered, " and thus he measured." The circumstance that another measurement follows in ver. 15a, whereas no further numbers are given from ver. 156 onwards, does not warrant us in assuming that ver. 15a is to be joined on to ver. 14, and ver. Ibb to be taken in connection with ver. 16. The absence of the cop. 1 before D^SDn in ver. 16a is sufficient to preclude the latter, showing as it does that D^2Dri commences a fresh statement; and the words 'l^l ^^'pni in ver. Idb are still governed by the verb Tl^^ in ver. 15a. The contents of ver. 15 are also decisive against the separation mentioned. If, for instance, we connect ver. 15a with ver. 14, the first clause contains a pure tautology, as the length of the building has . CHAP. XLI. 15-26. 245 been already measured, and the result is given in ver. 13. The tautology does not exist, if the summary statements of the measurement of different portions of the whole temple building commence with ver. 15 ; and in connection with these a supplementary account is given of various details not mentioned before. The contents of the second clause, namely, what is stated concerning the 0^!?''^^:?, belong directly to the latter. The building in front of the separate place, which was measured by the man, is more precisely defined, so far as its situation is con- cerned, by the w^ords n''"'.n^'''y "l^^^. The feminine suffix in nnn^^ points back to nnisn ; consequently 15^^^. can only refer to l^inn : <■'■ the building . . . which was at the back of the gizrahP This is not at variance with the situation indicated in V.?"''^ rrjian, but serves as a more exact definition of this statement, showing that the building which stood at the front of the gizrah occupied the hinder part of it, i.e. extended in length from the front of the gizrah to the back. — The meaning of D^p^DN or D^i?^^^>, here {Keri) and in ver. 1 6, ch. xlii. 3 and 5, the only other passages in which it occurs, is involved in obscurity. Even Raschi confesses that he does not know what it means, and the older translators have simply resorted to vague con- jectures for their renderings; the LXX. here, airoXoiira^ in ch. xlii. 3 and 5 TrepiaTvXov and crroat; the Vulgate, here, ethecas (the Hebrew word Latinized), in ch. xlii. porticus ; Targum, in the London Polyglot, ver. 15, ^5^n;Vh ver. 16, ^^^m ; ch. xlii. 3, \\r ; and xlii. 5, ^^TN There is no root pnx in Hebrew ; and the derivation of the word from pny is not only uncertain, but furnishes us with nothing that can be used for tracing the architectural signification of the word. Even the context in vers. 15 and 16 of this chapter supplies nothing, for in both verses the meaning of the clauses in which D^TDi^ stands is a matter of dispute. It is only in ch. xlii. 3 and 5 that we find any clue. According to ch. xlii. 3, in the three- storied cell- building there was \>^^^ \^?"^^? P'^^? on the third storey ; and according to ver. 5 the cells of the upper storey in 246 THE PROPHECIES OF EZ^KIEL. tills biiildlnrr were shorter than those of the lower and central o storey, because D^7'nx took space away from them ; and the reason for this, again, was, that the three- storied cells had no piUars. From this we may infer with certainty that the D^p'^riN were rralleries or passages running along the outer walls of the building, which were not supported by pillars, and therefore necessarily rested upon ledges obtained by the receding of the rooms of the upper storey. This meaning also suits the present chapter. The suffix in N^^■^WNI (an Aramaic form for •^'i?."'^^) points back, not to i;^3, but to '\^^3n in ver. 13 ; for the words, " and its galleries on this side and on that," i.e. on the north and south sides of the building, are not dependent upon ^"ix i)J2n, in the sense of " the length of the building, with its galleries on this side and on that," as Nn^plDXl is too widely separated from '^n 'H'J.^^ for this. t?.^, is the holy of holies, which ver. 23 places beyond all doubt (for this use of t^']p!?, see Lev. xvi. 2, 3, 16). ^P0"\^?, the face of the holy of holies, the front which met the eye of a person entering the holy place. nxn?2n ns"i^3 is the predicate, which is attached as loosely as in the first hemistich. The front of the holy of holies had the appearance like the appearance (just described), i.e. like the appearance of the ^^^^ ; in fact, it had also a doorway with four- cornered posts. J. F. Starck has already given this explana- tion of the words : Eadem fades et asjiecius erat iitrmsque portae CHAP. XLI. 15-26. 251 templi et adyti^ iitraque quadrata et quadratis postihus conspicua erat. The proposal of Ewald, on the other hand, to connect hnidd with the following word D?!^*], " in front of the holy of holies there was something to be seen like the shape of the altar" (LXX., Syr.), has the article in HNnr^n against it (Bottcher). Ver. 22. The Altar of Burnt-Offering in the holy place (see Plate III. n). " The abrupt style of writing is still con- tinued." The altar wood for the altar was of wood three cubits high ; its length, i.e. the expanse of the wall from one corner to the other, was two cubits ; the breadth (thickness), which is not expressly mentioned, was the same, because the square form is presupposed from the shape of this altar in the tabernacle and Solomon's temple. Under the term vniyVipp, its corner-pieces, the horns projecting at the corners, or the horn-shaped points, are probably included, as the simple mention of the corners appears superfluous, and the horns, which were symbolically significant features in the altar, w^ould certainly not have been wantincp. There is somethinor strange in the occurrence of ^31^^1 before and along with niT'pj as the length is already included in the ^Yalls, and it could not be appropriately said of the length that it was of wood. i3"lij is therefore certainly a copyist's error for ii^^^J 7) jBdcn^ avrov (LXX.), its stand or pedestal. The angel describes this altar as the '^ table which stands before Jehovah" — in perfect harmony with the epithet already applied to the sacrifices in the Pentateuch, the " bread (DH?) of God," though not " because the altar table was in- tended to combine the old table of shewbread and the altar of incense " (Bottcher). The table of shewbread is not mentioned any more than the candlestick and other portions of the temple furniture. — The altar of burnt-offering stood before Jehovah, i.e, before the entrance into the holy of holies. This leads in vers. 23 sqq. to the notice of the doors of the sanctuary, the character of which is also described as simply openings (^^S), since the doorway had been mentioned before, ri?"n signifies a 252 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. moveable door, and the plural riinpi^ doors, whether they consist of one leaf or two, i.e. whether they are single or folding doors. Here the T]Srhi in vers. 23 and 24 (nin^nb) are folding doors ; on the other hand, the first n^nPT in ver. 24 and rijT ihid, are used for the wings of the door, and ninb'i ninoiD for the swinging portions (leaves) of the separate wings. The mean- ing is this : the holy place (•'?^l') and the holy of holies (c^7pn) had two folding doors (i.e. each of these rooms had one). These doors had two wings, and each of these wings, In the one door and in the other, had two reversible door-leaves, so that when going in and out there was no necessity to throw open on every occasion the whole of the wing, which was at least three or four cubits broad. There is no foundation for the objection raised by Kliefoth to the interpretation of -'^'''l? C^'lppi as signifying the holy place and the holy of holies; since he cannot deny that the two words are so used, byT} in 1 Kings vi. 5, 17, 31, 33, and ^y in Lev. xvi. 2, 3, etc. And the artificial explanation, *' to the temple space, and indeed to the holy place," not only passes without notice the agreement between our verses and 1 Kings vi. 31-34, but gains nothing further than a side door, which does violence to the dignity of the sanctuary, a passage from the side chambers into the holy place, with which Bottcher has presented Solomon's temple. — These doors were ornamented, like the walls, with figures of cherubim and palms. — Other remarks are added in vers. 25b and 26 concerning the porch in front of the holy place. The first is, that on the front of the porch outside there was TV 3y. The only other passage in which the word ^V occurs in a similar connection is 1 Kings vii. 6, where it refers to wood-work in front of the Ulam of Solomon's porch of pillars ; and it cannot be determined whether it signifies threshold, or moulding, or threshold-mouldings. On the shoulders, i.e. on the right and left side walls of the front porch, there were closed windows and figures of palms. The cherubim were omitted here. — The last words of ver. 26 are very obscure, n^sn ^^J^r'V'! niay be CHAP. XLII. 1-14. 253 taken in connection with the preceding clause, ^' and on the side-rooms of the temple," as there is no necessity to repeat the preposition in the case of closely continuous clauses (vid. Ewald, § o51a) ; and the side-rooms not only must have had windows, but might also be ornamented with figures of palms. But if the words be taken in this sense, the D''3y must also signify something which presented, like the walls of the porch and of the side chambers, a considerable extent of surface capable of receivincT a similar decoration : althou^ih nothing definite has hitherto been ascertained with regard to the meaning of the word, and our rendering " beams" makes no pretension to correctness. Chap. xlii. The Holy Cells in the Courts and the Extent of the Holy Domain around the Temple, Vers. 1-14. The Cell-Buildings in the Outer Court FOR Holy Use. — Ver. 1. And he brought me out into the outer court by the ivay toivard the north, and brought me to the cell- building, vjldch was opposite to the separate place, and opposite to the building toiuard the north, Ver. 2. Before the long side of a hundred cubits, loith the door toiuard the north, and the breadth fifty cubits, Ver. 3. Opp)osite to the twenty of the inner court and opposite to the stone pavement of the outer court; gallery against gallery loas in, the third storey. Ver. 4. And before the cells a walk, ten cubits broad ; to the inner a way of a hundred cubits ; and their doors ivent to the north, Ver. 5. And the upper cells luere shortened, because the galleries took away space from them, in comparison with the loiver and the central ones in the building, Ver. 6. For they were three-storied, and had no columns, like the columns of the courts ; therefore a deduction xcas made from the lower and from the central ones from the ground. Ver. 7. And a wall outside parallel icith the cells ran toward the outer court in front of the cells ; its length fifty cubits, Ver. 8. For the length of the cells of the outer court was fifty cubits, and, behold^ against the sanctuary it luas a hundred cubits. Ver. 9. A?id out 251 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. from underneatli it rose yp these cells ; the entrance was from the east, xchen one iceut to them from the outer court. Ver. 10. Li the breadth of the court icall toiuard the south, before the separate place and before the building, there ivere cells, Ver. 11. With a way before them, like the cells, which stood toward the north, as according to their length so according to their breadth, and accord- ing to all their exits as according to all their arrangements. And as their doorways, Ver. 12. So were also the doorivays of the cells, which icere toiuard the south, an entrance at the head of the tvay^ of the way opposite to the corresponding lOall, of the way from the east when one came to them. Ver. 13. And he said to me, The cells in the norths the cells iifthe south, luhich stood in front of the separate place, are the holy cells where the priests, who draw near to Jehovah, shall eat the most holy thing ; there they shall place the most holy thing, both the meat-offering and the sin- offering and the trespass-offering ; for the place is holy. Ver. 14. When they go in, the priests, they shall not go out of the holy place into the outer court; but there shall they place their clothes, in ivhich they perform the service, for they are holy ; they shall put on other clothes, and so draw near to what belongs to the people. It is evident from vers. 13 and 14, which furnish particulars concerning the cells already described, that the description itself refers to two cell-buildings only, one on the north side and the other on the south side of the separate place (see Plate I. L). Of these the one situated on the north is described in a more circumstantial manner (vers. 1-9) ; that on the south, on the contrary, is merely stated in the briefest manner to have resembled the other in the main (vers. 10-12). That these two cell-buildings are not identical either with those mentioned in ch. xl. 44 sqq. or with those of ch. xl. 17, as Htivernick supposes, but are distinct from both, is so obvious that it is im- possible to understand how they could ever have been identified. The difference in the description is sufficient to show that they are not the same as those in ch. xl. 44 sqq. The cells men- CHAP. XLII. 1-14. 255 tioned In ch. xl. 44 were set apart as dwelling-places for the priests during their administration of the service in the holy place and at the altar ; whereas these serve as places for de- positing the most holy sacrificial gifts and the official dresses of the priests. To this may be added the difference of situation, which distinguishes those mentioned here both from those of ch. xl. 44 seq., and also from those of ch. xl. 17. Those in ch. xl. 44 were in the inner court, ours in the outer. It is true that those mentioned in ch. xl. 17 were also in the latter, but in entirely different situations, as the description of the position of those noticed in the chapter before us indisputably proves. Ezekiel is led out of the inner court into the outer, by the way in the direction toward the north, to '"is^pHj the cell-building (that 'l3K>pn is used here in a collective sense is evident from the plural T\)y^>7 in vers. 4, 5). This stood opposite to the gizraJi^ i.e. the separate space behind the temple house (ch. xli. 12 sqq.), and opposite to the IJ^B, i.e. neither the outer court wall, which is designated as l^^^i in ch. xl. 5, but cannot be intended here, where there is no further definition, nor the temple house, as Kliefoth imagines, for this is invariably called n^3n. We have rather to understand by i;^2n the build- ing upon the gizrah described in ch. xli. 12 sqq., to which no valid objection can be offered on the ground of the repetition of the relative ""^'^l, as it is omitted in ver. 10, and in general simply serves to give greater prominence to the second defini- tion in the sense of ^^ and, indeed, opposite to the building (sc. of the separate place) toward the north." As |^£^*^■7^? belongs to ''•^^. as a more precise definition of the direction indicated by "1^3^ the '^ \^.S"Pi< which follows in ver. 2 depends upon ^^^''^'l^, and is co-ordinate with ns^pn^px^ defining the side of the cell-building to which Ezekiel was taken : " to the face of the length," i.e. to the long side of the building, which extended to a hundred cubits. The article in ^'^'^'^ requires that the words should be connected in this manner, as it could not be used if the words were intended to mean '^ on the sur- 256 THE rr.oPHECiEs of ezekiel. face of a lengtli of a hundred cubits." Since, then, the separate ])lace was also a hundred cubits, that is to say, of the same lengtli as the cell-building opposite to it, we might be disposed to assume that as the separate place reached to the outer court wall on the west, the cell-building also extended to the latter witli its western narrow side. But this would be at variance with the fact that, according to ch. xlvi. 19, 20, the sacrificial kitchens for the priests stood at the western end of this portion of the court, and therefore behind the cell-building. The size of these kitchens is not given ; but judging from the size of the sacrificial kitchens for the people (ch. xlvi. 22), we must reserve a space of forty cubits in length ; and consequently the cell-building, which was a hundred cubits long, if built close ai^ainst the kitchens, would reach the line of the back wall of tlie temple house with its front (or eastern) narrow side, since, according to the calculation given in the comm. on ch. xli. 1-11, this wall was forty cubits from the front of the separate place, so that there was no prominent building standing opposite to the true sanctuary on the northern or southern side, by which any portion of it could have been concealed. And not only is there no reason for leaving a vacant space between the sacri- ficial kitchens and the cell-buildings, but this is precluded by the fact that if the kitchens had been separated from the cell building by an intervening space, it would have been necessary to carry the holy sacrificial flesh from the kitchen to the cell in which it was eaten, after being cooked, across a portion of the outer court. It is not stated here how far this cell-building was from the northern boundary of the gizrah^ and the open space C^J^) surrounding the temple house; but this may be inferred from ch. xli. 10, according to which the intervening space between the munnach and the cells was twenty cubits. For the cells mentioned there can only be those of our cell- building, as there were no other cells opposite to the northern and southern sides of the temple house. But if the distance of the southern longer side of the cell-building, so far as it CHAP. XLII. 1-14. 257 stood opposite to the temple house, was only twenty cubits, the southern wall of the cell-building coincided with the boundary wall of the inner court, so that it could be regarded as a continuation of that wall. — The further definition |i2^*n nna, door to the north, is to be taken as subordinate to the preceding clause, in the sense of " with the door to the north," because it would otherwise come in between the accounts of the length and breadth of the building, so as to disturb the connection. The breadth of the building corresponds to the breadth of the gate-buildings of the inner court. The meaning of the third verse is a subject of dispute. " D'lb'^n," says Bottcher, ^' is difficult on account of the article as well as the number, inasmuch as, with the exception of the twenty cubits left open in the temple ground (ch. xli. 10), there are no D^y^'y mentioned as belonmncr to the actual 'J2n ivn, and the numeral does not stand with sufficient appropriateness by the side of the following ns^n." But there is not sufficient weight in the last objection to render the reference to the twenty cubits a doubtful one, since the " twenty cubits " is simply a contracted form of expression for *^ the space of twenty cubits," and this space forms a fitting antithesis to the pavement (ns^n), i.e, the paved portion of the court. More- over, it is most natural to supply the missing substantive to the "twenty" from the riisx mentioned just before, — much more natural certainly than to supply ^i^tjy, as there is no allusion either before or afterwards to any other cells than those whose situation is intended to be defined according to the twenty We therefore agree with J. H. Michaelis, Rosenmiiller, Hiiver- nick, and Hitzig, that the only admissible course is to supply nisj^l ; for the description of the priests' cells in ch. xl. 44, to which Kliefoth imagines that Q^T-^5^'7 refers, is far too distant for us to be able to take the word ni3'^p thence and supply it to D''"iti^j;n. And again, the situation of these priests' cells to the east of the cell-building referred to here does not harmonize with the ^.JJ, as the second definition introduced by the correlative EZEK. II. R 258 THE rROPHECiES of ezekiel. 1-.^1 points to the stone pavement on the north. East and north do not form sucli a vis-a-vis as the double "1^3 requires. — Our view of the Dnb'vn is also in harmony with the explanatory relative clause, '-which were to the inner court," i.e. belonged to it. For the open space of twenty cubits' breadth, which ran by the long side of the temple house between the munnach belonging to the temple and the wall of the inner court, formed tlie continuation of the inner court which surrounded the temple house on the north, west, and south.^ If, therefore, this first definition of the 'ij^ refers to what was opposite to the cell-building on the south, the second 1.^3 defines what stood opposite to it on the northern side. There the portion of the outer court which was paved with stones ran along the inner side of the surrounding wall. This serves to define as clearly as possible the position of the broad side of the cell-building. For Kliefoth and Hitzicr are riirht in connecting these definitions with ver. 26, and taking the words from P''^^^ onwards as intro- ducing a fresh statement. Even the expression itself \^3'''^^ P'rii^ does not properly harmonize with the combination of the two halves of the third verse as one sentence, as Bottcher proposes, thus : " against the twenty cubits of the inner court and against the pavement of the outer court there ran gallery in front of gallery threefold." For if the galleries of the building were opposite to the pavement on the north, and to the space in front of the temple on the south of the building, they must of necessity have run along the northern and southern walls of the building in a parallel direction, and ^}^''^^. is not the correct expression for this. ''^.?"''»^, to the front — that is to say, one gallery to the front of the other, or up to the other. This could only be the case if the galleries surrounded the ^ The statement of Kliefoth, that " this space of twenty cubits in breadth did not belong to the inner court at all," cannot be established from ch. xl. 47, where the size of the inner court is given as a hundred cubits in length and tlie same in breadth. For this measurement simply refers to the space in front of the temple. CHAP. XLII. 1-14, 259 building on all four sides, or at any rate on three ; for with the latter arrangement, the gallery upon the eastern side would terminate acjainst those on the southern and northern sides. Again, the rendering " threefold," or into the threefold, cannot be defended either from the usage of the language or from the facts. The only other passage in which the plural W^'^y^ occurs is Gen. vi. 16, where it signifies chambers, or rooms of the third storey, and the singular ""t^OC^ means the third. Conse- quently D''^?f ? is " in the third row of chambers or rooms," i.e, in the third storey. And so far as the fact is concerned, it does not follow from the allusion to upper, central, and lower cells (vers. 5 and 6), that there were galleries round every one of the three storeys. Ver. 4. '^ Before the cells there was a walk of ten cubits' breadth" (ni). In what sense w^e are to understand ''^^^, "before," whether running along the northern longer side of the building, or in front of the eastern wall, depends upon the explanation of the words which follow^, and chiefly of the words rinx n^t? •qi'n^ by which alone the sense in which ri"'D^:sn~?i^ is to be under- stood can also be determined. Havernick and Kliefoth take nns r\t^^ Tin'n, " a way of one cubit," in the sense of " the ap- proaches (entrances into the rooms) were a cubit broad." But the words cannot possibly have this meaning ; not only because the collective use of 'n'^'J after the preceding ^^l!^, which is not collective, and with the plural CDn^nnsi following, is extremely improbable, if not impossible ; but principally because "H"]^., a way, is not synonymous with ^^^9, an entrance, or nnss, a doorway. Moreover, an entrance, if only a cubit in breadth, to a large building would be much too narrow, and bear no proportion whatever to the walk of ten cubits in breadth. It is impossible to get any suitable meaning from the words as they stand, " a way of one cubit;" and no other course remains than to alter nDfc< nnj^ into nbx nxip^ after the eVt 7rr}')(ei2V for ^^^^^"'j in an architectural sense, to take away from). How far this took place is shown in the first two clauses of the sixth verse, the first of which explains the reference to upper, low^er, and middle cells, while the second gives the reason for the shortening of the upper in comparison with the lower and the central ones. As the three rows of cells built one above another had no columns on which the galleries of the upper row could rest, it was necessary, in order to get a foundation for the gallery of the third storey, that the cells should be thrown back from the outer wall, or built as far inwards as the breadth of the gallery required. This is expressly stated in the last clause, 'i:i1 ^)iii: \^'^V' ^'^^}i with an indefinite subject : there was de- ducted from the lower and the middle cells from the ground, sc. which these rooms covered. H?;"? is added for the purpose of elucidation. From the allusion to the columns of the courts we may see that the courts had colonnades, like the courts in the Herodian temple, and probably also in that of Solomon, though their character is nowhere described, and no allusion is made to them in the description of the courts. The further statements concerninfr this cell-buildiiiej in vers. 7-9 are obscure. "i^S is a wall serving to enclose courtyards, vineyards, and the like. The predicate to '^'IJI follows in VQ"i'»< nb^?n : a boundary wall ran along the front of the cells (''PS'''^ stands for ^pS'i'i^, as the corresponding i'J^nn ''pS"^>^ in ver. 8 shows). The course of this wall (n) is more precisely defined by the relative clause, " wdiich ran outwards parallel with the cells in the direction of the outer court," i.e, toward the outer court. The length of this wall was fifty cubits. It is evident from this that the wall did not run alonsj the north side of the 262 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL buildlncr, — for in that case it must have been a hundred cubits in length, — but along the narrow side, the length of which was fifty cubits. Whether it was on the western or eastern side cannot be determined with certainty from ver. 7, although ?^ ':3 favours the eastern, i.e. the front side, rather than the western side, or back. And what follows is decisive in favour of the eastern narrow side. In explanation of the reason why this wall was fifty cubits long, it is stated in ver. 8 that '* the lentrth of the cells, which were to the outer court, was fifty cubits; but, behold, toward the temple front a hundred cubits."' Consequently '^ the cells which the outer court had" can only be the cells whose windows were toward the outer court — that is to say, those on the eastern narrow side of the building ; for the sacrificial kitchens were on the western narrow side (ch.xlvi. 19, 20). The second statement in ver. 8, which is introduced by n^M as an indication of something important, is intended to preclude any misinterpretation of 't^vH "qni^j as though by length we must necessarily understand the extension of the building from east to west, as in ver. 2 and most of the other measure- ments. The use of "H"!.^ for the extension of the narrow side of tlie building is also suggested by the ^3■)^5^ " length of the wall," in ver. 7, where 3nh would have been inadmissible, because 2ry-\^ the breadth of a wall, would have been taken to mean its thickness. ^^^'^'^ ''P.? is the outer side of the temple house which faced the north. — A further confirmation of the fact that the boundary wall was situated on the eastern narrow side of the building is given in the first clause of the ninth verse, in which, however, the reading fluctuates. The Chetib gives nbc^p nnnrio^ the Keri r.i3w'?n nnriD, But as we generally find, the /^m is an alteration for the worse, occasioned by the objection felt by the Masoretes, partly to the unusual circumstance that the singular form of the suflfix is attached to nnri, whereas it usually takes the suffixes in the plural form, and partly to the omission of the article from niDr^ by the side of the demonstrative ^)!^^j which is defined by the article. But these two deviations from CHAP. XLii. i-ii. 263 the ordinary rule do not warrant any alterations, as there are analogies in favour of both, nnn has a singular suffix not only in nannri (Gen. ii. 21) and ^:rinn (2 Sam. xxii. 37, 40, and 48), instead of ''rinri (Ps. xviii. 37, 40, 48), which may undoubtedly be explained on the ground that the direction whither is thought of (Ges. § 103. 1, Anm. 3), but also in Dnnri, which occurs more frequently than DH'^rinn, and that without any difference in the meaning (compare, for example, Deut. ii. 12, 21, 22, 23, Josh. v. 7, Job xxxiv. 24, and xl. 12, with 1 Kings XX. 24, 1 Chron. v. 22, 2 Chron. xii. 10). And n^j^n r\)3^^ is analogous to p'^'^^^ ">n in Zech. iv. 7, and many other com- binations, in which the force of the definition (by means of the article) is only placed in the middle for the sake of convenience (vid. Ewald, § 293rt). If, therefore, the Chetih is to be taken without reserve as the orimnal reading, the suffix in nnnn can only refer to "1^3, which is of common gender: from under- neath the wall were these cells, i.e. the cells turned toward the outer court ; and the meaning is the following : toward the bottom these cells were covered by the wall, which ran in front of them, so that, w^hen a person coming toward them from the east fixed his eyes upon these cells, they appeared to rise out of the wall. Kliefoth, therefore, who was the first to perceive the true meaning of this clause, has given expression to the conjecture that the design of the wall was to hide the windows of the lower row of cells which looked toward the east, so that, when the priests were putting on their official clothes, they micrht not be seen from the outside. — sursn commences a fresh statement. To connect these words with the preceding clause ("underneath these cells was the entrance from the east"), as Bottcher has done, yields no meaning with which a rational idea can possibly be associated, unless the jp in nnnrip be alto- gether ignored. The LXX. have therefore changed nnnn^pi, which was unintelligible to them, into koX al 6vpat (TinDl), and Hitzig has followed them in doing so. No such conjecture is necessary if nnnnpii be rightly interpreted, for in that case 2G4 THE Pr.OPHEClES OF EZEKIEL. SiT^n must be the commencement of a new sentence. Nin^n (by the side of which the senseless reading of the Keri &<^?^n cannot be fallen into consideration for a moment) is the ap- proacli, or the way wliich led to the cells. This was from the east, from the outer court, not from the inner court, against the northern boundary of which the building stood, nyvnn "ivnnp is not to be taken in connection with T\^'rb iNbs, but is co-ordinate with D^li'^np, of which it is an explanatory apposition. In vers. 10-12 the cell-building on the south of the separate place is described, though very briefly ; all tliat is said in addi- tion to the notice of its situation being, that it resembled the northern one in its entire construction. But there are several difficulties connected with the explanation of these verses, which are occasioned, partly by an error in the text, partly by the unmeaning way in which the Masoretes have divided the text, and finally, in part by the brevity of the mode of expression. In the first clause of ver. 10, ^^"li^n is a copyist's error for Dn'nrty which has arisen from the fact that it is preceded by ^^*?Pl'^ (ver. 9). For there is an irreconcilable discrepancy between D^i^n tjit and niTan "pQ-i'X, which follows. The build- ing stood against, or upon, the broad side (^Di) of the wall of the court, i.e. the wall which separated the inner court from the outer, opposite to the separate place and the building upon it C^p 7Xj from the outer side hither, is practically equivalent to "153 in ver. 1 ; and ij^sn is to be taken in the same sense here and there). The relation in which this cell-building stands to the separate place tallies exactly with the description given of the former one in ver. 2. If, then, according to ver. 2, the other stood to the north of the separate place, this must neces- sarily have stood to the south of it, — that is to say, upon the broad side of the wall of the court, not in the direction toward the cast (D^li^n Tj^i)^ ]^^^ jj^ ^1^^^^ toward the south (Dii^n ^in-n)^ as is expressly stated in vers. 12 and 13 also. Kliefoth has affirmed, it is true, in opposition to this, that " the breadth of the wall enclosing the inner court must, as a matter of course, CHAP. XLII. 1-U. 265 have been the eastern side of the inner court ; " but on the eastern side of the wall of the inner court. there was not room for a cell-building of a hundred cubits in length, as the wall was only thirty-seven cubits and a half long (broad) on each side of the gate-building. If, however, one were disposed so to dilute the meaning of 'nn "inii nnhn as to make it affirm nothing more than that the building stood upon, or against, the breadth of the wall of the court to the extent of ten or twenty cubits, and with the other eighty or ninety cubits stood out into the outer court, as Kliefoth has drawn it upon his " ground plan ;" it could not possibly be described as standing ''P.^"i'^? •"'7-.'^5 because it was not opposite to (in face of) the gizrah, but was so far removed from it, that only the north-west corner would be slightly visible from the south-east corner of the gizrah. And if we consider, in addition to this, that in vers. 13 and 14, where the intention of the cell-buildings described in vers. 1-12 is given, only cells on the north and on the south are mentioned as standincj mran ^3Q'7i<, there can be no doubt that by 3n*i we are to understand the broad side of the wall wdnch bounded the inner court on the south side from east to west, and that D'^i^n •j^'n should be altered into ^S'^'^J} ^1'5[.— In ver. 11 the true meaning has been obscured by the fact that the Masoretic verses are so divided as to destroy the sense. The words D^'^^sp T]"]'!'! belong to Hb'^p in ver. 10 : *^ cells and a way before them," i.e. cells with a way in front. X}1^. corresponds to the ^^n^ in ver. 4. — •^^?^'?7, like the appearance =r appearing, or constructed like, does not belong to ^"i"! in the sense of made to conform to the way in front of the cells, but to nn^'i'j cells with a way in front, conforming to the cells toward the north. The further clauses from |3^X3 to f'TDa^ro::^ are con- nected together, and contain two statements, loosely subordi- nated to the preceding notices, concerning the points in wdiich the cells upon the southern side were made to conform to those upon the northern ; so that they really depend upon HNnos, and to render them intelligible in German (English tr.) must 2QQ THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL be attached by means of a preposition : " with regard to," or ^' according to " {secundum). Moreover, the four words contain two co-ordinated comparisons; the first expressed by 1? ... 3, tlie second simply indicated by the particle 3 before in^DQlJ'b (cf. Ewald, § 3G0a). The suffixes of all four words refer to the cells in the north, which those in the south were seen to resemble in the points referred to. The meaning is this : the cells in the south were like the cells in the north to look at, as according to their length so according to their breadth, and according to all their exits as according to their arrangements (D^p2*J*P, lit. the design answering to their purpose, i.e. the manner of their arrangement and their general character : for this meaning, compare Ex. xxvi. 30 ; 2 Kings i. 7). The last word of the verse, (iTnnM^j belongs to ver. 12, viz. to 't^6^ '•nnM^, the comparison being expressed by 3—3^, as in Josh. xiv. 11 ; Dan. xi. 29 ; 1 Sam. xxx. 24 (cf. Ewald, I.e.). Another con- struction also commences with jiTTinM. |n^nriDp^ is a nominative: and like their doors (those of the northern cells), so also were the doors of the cells situated toward the south. Consequently there is no necessity either to expunge T'^S^^ arbitrarily as a gloss, for which procedure even the LXX. could not be appealed to, or to assent to the far-fetched explanation by whicli Kliefoth imagines that he has discovered an allusion to a third cell-building in these words. — Light is thrown upon the further statements in ver. 12 by the description of the northern cells. " A door was at the head," i.e. at the bemnninir of the way. Tj-jT corresponds to the way of a hundred cubits in ver. 4, and T]^"! C'Ni is the point where this way, which ran to the southern gate-building of the inner court, commenced — that is to say, where it met the walk in front of the cells (ver. 4). The further statement concerning this way is not quite clear to us, because the meaning of the air. Xey. nj-jn is uncertain. In the Chaldee and Rabbinical WTitings the word signifies decens, conveniens. If we take it in this sense, n^^^^n rni}r\ is the wall corresponding (to these cells), i.e. the wall which ran in front CHAP. XLII. 1-14. 267 of the eastern narrow side of the building parallel to the cells, the wall of fifty cubits in length described in ver. 7 in connection with the northern building (for the omission of the article before "^J^JQ after the substantive which it defines, com- pare ch. xxxix. 27 ; Jer. ii. 21, etc.). ^?S3, in conspectu, which is not perfectly synonymous with ''^Sp, also harmonizes with this. For the way referred to was exactly opposite to this wall at its upper end, inasmuch as the wall joined the way at right angles. The last words of ver. 12 are an abbreviated repetition of ver. % ; D'li^n V/J, is equivalent to D'li^nn i^U^n, the way from the east on coming to them, i.e. as one went to these cells. According to vers. 13 and 14, these two^ cell-buildings were set apart as holy cells, in which the officiating priests were to deposit the most holy sacrifices, and to eat them, and to put on and off the sacred official clothes in which they drew near to the Lord. Ci^i^'lipn ''^y'lp were that portion of the meat-offering which was not burned upon the altar (Lev. ii. 3, 10, vi. 9-11, x. 12 ; see my Bibl. Archdologie, L § 52), and the flesh of all the sin- and trespass-offerings, with the exception of the sin-offerings offered for the high priest and all the congregation, the flesh of which was to be burned outside the camp (cf. Lev. vi. 19-23, vii. 6). All these portions of the sacrifices w^ere called most holy, because the priests were to eat them as the representatives of Jehovah, to the exclusion not only of all the laity, but also of their own families (women and children ; see my ArchdoL I. §§ 45 and 47). The depositing (^n^2^.) is distinguished from the eating (^•'p^^) of the most holy portions of the sacrifices ; because neither the meal of the meat-offering, which was mixed with oil, nor the flesh of the sin- and trespass-offerings, could be eaten by the priests immediately after the offering of the sacri- ^ For no further proof is needed after what has been observed above, that the relative clause, " which were in front of the separate place," belongs to the two subjects : cells of the north and cells of the south, and does not refer to a third cell-building against the eastern wall, as Kliefoth supposes. 2G8 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. fice ; but the former liaci first of all to be baked, and the latter to be boiled, and it was not allowable to deposit them wherever thev liked previous to their being so prepared. The putting on and off, and also the custody of the sacred official clothes, were to be restricted to a sacred place. tJNbzi, on their coming, sc. to the altar, or into the holy place, for the performance of service. Their not going out of the holy place into the outer court applies to their going into the court among the people assembled there ; for in order to pass from the altar to the sacred cells, they were obliged to pass through the inner gate and go thither by the way which led to these cells (Plate I. I). Vers. 15-20. Extent of the Holy Domain around the Temple. — Ver. 15. And when he had finished the measure- ments of the inner house^ he brought me out by the umy of the gate^ ichich is directed toward the east, and measured there round about. Ver. 16. He measured the eastern side ivith the measuring rod five hundred rods by the measuring rod round about ; Ver. 17. He measured the northern side five hundred rods by the measur- ing rod roundabout; Ver. 18. The southern side he measured five hundred rods by the measuring rod; Ver. 19. He turned round to the western side, measured five hundred rods by the measuring rod. Ver. 20. To the four winds he measured it. It had a ivall round about ; the length zcas five hundred and the breadth five hundred^ to divide between the holy and the common. — There has been a division of opinion from time immemorial concern- ing the area, the measuring of which is related in these verses, and the length and breadth of which are stated in ver. 20 to have been five hundred; as the Seventy, and after them J. D. Michaelis, Bijttcher, Maurer, Ewald, and Hitzig, understand by tiiis the space occupied by the temple with its two courts. But as that space was five hundred cubits long and five hundred broad, according to the sum of the measurements given in ch. xl.-xlii. 15, the LXX. have omitted the word ti'':^) m vers. 16, 18, and 19, whilst they have changed it into ir/j'^ei'; CHAP. XLII. 15-20. 269 in ver. 17, and have also attached this word to the numbers in ver. 20. According to this, only the outer circumference of the temple area would be measured in our verses, and the wall which was five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits broad (ver. 20) would be the surrounding wall of the outer court mentioned in ch. xl. 5. Ver. 15 could certainly be made to harmonize with this view. For even if we understood by the " inner house " not merely the temple house, which the expression primarily indicates, but the whole of the inner building, i.e. all the buildings found in the inner and outer court, and by the east gate the eastern gate of the outer court ; the expression 'd 2^3p iino, " he measured it round about," merely affirms that he measured something round about outside this gate. The suffix in Sll^ is indefinite, and cannot be taken as referring to any of the objects mentioned before, either to lyi^n or to ^^""psn n^?^. The inner house he had already measured ; and the measurements which follow are not applicable to the gate. Nor can the suffix be taken as referring to n^an, Ulam sc. aedem (Ros.) ; or at any rate, there is nothing in ver. 20 to sustain such a reference. Nevertheless, we might think of a measuring of the outer sides of the whole building compre- hended under the idea of the inner house, and regard the wall mentioned in ver. 20 as that which had been measured round about on the outer side both in length and breadth. But it is difficult to reconcile this view even with ver. 20 ; and with the measurements given in vers. 16-19 it is perfectly irreconcilable. Even if we were disposed to expunge D"'^i5 as a gloss in vers. 16, 17, 18, and 19, the words, " he measured the east side with the measuring rod, five hundred by the measuring rod," are equiva- lent to five hundred rods, according to the well-knoAvn Hebrew usage ; just as indisputably as nEN2 nXD, a hundred by the cubit, is equivalent to a hundred cubits (see the comm. on ch. xl. 21 at the close). The rejection of D^j;^ as an imaginary gloss is therefore not only arbitrary, but also useless ; as the appended words Tn^r\ n:i^3, even without Q'^iJ, affirm that the 270 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. five hundred were not cubits, but rods/ The 3^3D in vers. 16 and 17 Is not to be understood as signifying that on the east and north sides he measured a square on each side of five lumdred rods in length and breadth, but simply indicates that he measured on all sides, as is obvious from ver. 20. For ac- cordini^ to this, the space which was measured toward every quarter at five hundred rods had a boundary wall, which was five hundred rods long on every side. This gives an area of 2oO,000 square rods ; whereas the temple, with the inner and outer courts, covered only a square of five hundred cubits in length and breadth, or 250,000 square cubits. It is evident from this that the measuring related in vers. 15-20 does not refer to the space occupied by the temple and its courts, and therefore that the wall which the measured space had around it (ver. 20) cannot be the wall of the outer court mentioned in ch. xl. 5, the sides of which were not more than five hundred cubits long. The meaning is rather, that around tliis wall, which enclosed the temple and its courts, a further space of five hundred rods in length and breadth was measured off " to separate between the holy and profane," i.e. a space which was intended to form a separating domain between the sanctuary and the com.mon land. The purpose thus assigned for the space, which was measured off on all four sides of the " inner house," leaves no doubt remaining that it was not the leni]:th of the surroundin<:» wall of the outer court that was ^ The niOX l^lC^n for ni^5?D C'bn in ver. 16 is utterly useless as a proof that cu})its and not rods are intended ; as it is obviously a copyist's error, a fact which even the Masoretes admit. Habbi ben-Asher's view of this writing is an interesting one. Prof. Dr. Delitzsch has sent me the follow- ing, taken from a fragment in his possession copied from a codex of the Royal Library at Copenhagen, R. ben-Asher reckons m^X among the "iniNJDI DIpID, i-c- words written vanpou Tponpov^ of which there are forty- seven in the whole of the Old Testament, the following being quoted by ben-Asher {I.e.) by way of example : p^j'a, Josh. xx. 8, xxi. 27 ; \Thp'^\ 2 Sam. XX. 14 ; nhnVB, 2 Sam. xv. 28 ; '^iC♦^^•^^, Judg. xvi. 20 ; njXhm, 1 Sam. xiv. 27. CHAP. XLII. 15-20. 271 measured, but a space outside this wall. The following clause yiD Sb noin^ " a wall was round about it," is irreconcilable with the idea that the suffix in iT]^ (vers. 20 and 15) refers to this wall, inasmuch as the X? can only refer to the object indi- cated by the suffix attached to i'TJ^* '^^^'^^ object, i.e. the space which was five hundred rods long and the same broad round about, i.e. on every one of the four sides, had a wall enclosing it on the outside, and forming the partition between the holy and the common. t^"!PD is therefore ''P^^Bn ^l?"?, " the inner house ;" but this is not the temple house with its side-building, but the sanctuary of the temple with its two courts and their buildings, which was measured in ch. xl. 5-xlii. 12. The arguments which have been adduced in opposition to this explanation of our verses, — the only one in harmony with the words of the text, — and in vindication of the alterations made in the text by the LXX., are without any force. Ac- cording to Bottcher (p. 355), Hitzig, and others, C)''?i^ is likely to be a false gloss, (1) " because H'^Tsn np^, stands close to it ; and while this is quite needless after D^Jp, it may also have occasioned the gloss." But this tells rather against the suspicion that D^^i^ is a gloss, since, as we have already ob- served, according to the Hebrew mode of expression, the "five hundred " would be defined as rods by '^'^^'^ npipn^ even without D^^i^. Ezekiel, however, had added nitsn mps for the purpose of expressing in the clearest manner the fact that the reference here is not to cubits, but to a new measurement of an extra- ordinary kind, to which nothing corresponding could be shown in the earlier temple. And the Seventy, by retaining this clause, iv KoXa/jicp tov fjuerpov, have pronounced sentence upon their own change of the rods into cubits ; and it is no answer to this that the Talmud {Midd. c. ii. note 5) also gives only five hundred cubits to the ri)|in -in^ since this Talmudic description is treating of the historical temple and not of Ezekiel's prophetic picture of a temple, although the Rabbins have transferred various statements from the latter to the former. The second 272 THE rnoriiECiES of ezekiel. anJ third reasons are weaker still — viz. " because there is no other instance in which the measurement is expressed by rods in the plural ; and, on the other hand, n^S is frequently omitted as beino- the ordinary measurement, and therefore taken for granted." For the first assertion is proved to be erroneous, not only by our verses, but also by ch. xlv. 1 sqq. and xlviii. 16 sqq., whilst there is no force whatever in the second. The last arf^ument employed is a more plausible one — namely, that *' the five hundred rods are not in keeping with the sanctuary, because the edifice with the courts and gates would look but a little pile according to the previous measurements in the wide expanse of 20,000 (?) rods." But although the space measured off around the temple-building for the separation between the holy and the profane was five times as long and five times as broad, according to the Hebrew text, or twenty-five times as large as the whole extent of the temple and its courts,^ the appearance of the temple with its courts is not diminished in consequence, because the surrounding space was not covered with buildings ; on the contrary, the fact that it was separated from the common by so large a surrounding space, would rather add to the importance of the temple with its courts. This broad separation is peculiar to Ezekiel's temple, and serves, like many other arrangements in the new sanctuary and worship, to symbolize the inviolable holiness of that sanctuary. (a) Area of the temple •witli the two courts, 500 cubits square. (6) Surrounding space, five hun- c dred rods = 3000 cubits square. (c) Circuit of fifty cubits in breadth around the surrounding space. — Ch. xlv. 2. CHAP. XLIII. 1-12. 273 The earlier sanctuary had nothing answering to this; and Kliefoth is wrong in supposing that the outer court served the same purpose in the tabernacle and Solomon's temple, whereas in the temple of Ezekiel this had also become part of the sanctuary, and was itself holy. The tabernacle had no outer court at all, and in Solomon's temple the outer court did form a component part of the sanctuary. The people might enter it, no doubt, when they desired to draw near to the Lord with sacrifices and gifts ; but this continued to be the case in Ezekiel's temple, though with certain restrictions (cf. ch. xlvi. 9 and 10). Only, in the case of Solomon's temple, the outer court bordered directly upon the common soil of the city and the land, so that the defilement of the land produced by tiie sin of the people could penetrate directly even into the holy space of the courts. In the sanctuary of the future, a safeguard was to be placed against this by the surrounding space which separated the holy from the common. It is true that the surface of Moriah supplied no room for this space of five hundred rods square ; but the new temple was not to be built upon the real Moriah, but upon a very high mountain, which the Lord would exalt and make ready for the purpose when the temple was erected. Moreover, the circumstance that Moriah was much too small for the extent of the new temple and its surroundings, cannot furnish any argument against the correctness of our view of the verses in question, for the simple reason that in ch. xlv. and xlviii. there follow still further statements concerning the separation of the sanctuary from the rest of the land, which are in perfect harmony with this, and show most indisputably that the temple seen by Ezekiel was not to have its seat in the ancient Jerusalem. Chap, xliii. 1-12. Entrance of the Glory of the Lord into the New Temple. Yer. 1. And he led me to the gate, the gate ivhich looked toward the east : Ver. 2. And behold the glory of the God of EZEK. TI. S 274 THE PKOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Israel came from the east, and its sound icas like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone ivith His glory. Ver. 3. And the appearance which 1 saic, ivas to look at like the appearance tchich I saw when I came to destroy the city ; and {there were) appearances like the appearance which 1 had seen hy the river Chehar ; and I fell down vpon my face. Ver. 4. And the glory of Jehovah came into the house hy the way of the gate, the direc- tion of icliich is toward the east, Ver. 5. And wind lifted me np and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house. Ver. 6. And I heard one speaking to me from the house, and there was a man standing by me. Ver. 7. And he said to me, Son of man, the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, ivhere I shall dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel for ever ; and the house of Israel will no mo-re defile my holy name, they and their kings, through their whoredom and through the corpses of their kings, their high places, Ver. 8. When they set their threshold by my threshold, and their door-posts by my door-2yosts, and there ivas only the wall between me and them, and they defiled my holy name by their abominations ivhich they did, so that I destroyed them in my wrath. Ver. 9. A^oiv ivill they rernove their ichoredom and the corpses of their kings from me, and I shall dwell in the midst of them for ever. Ver. 10. Thou, son of man, show to the house of Israel this house, that they may he ashamed of their iniquities, and may measure the iv ell-measured building. Ver. 11. And ichen they are ashamed of all that they have done, shoiu them the picture of the house and its arrangement, and its goings out and in, and all its forms and all its statutes, and all its forms and all its laws ; and write it before their eyes, that they may keep all its form and all its statutes and do them. Ver. 12. This is the law of the house : Upon the top of the mountain all its territory round about is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. — The angel had shown the prophet the new sanctuary as already completed, and had measured it in his presence according to its several parts. But this building only became the house of God CHAP. XLIII. 1-12. 275 wlien Jehovah as the God of Israel consecrated it, to be the dwelhng-place of His divine and gracious presence in the midst of His people, by the entrance of His divine glory into the hoiise.-^ The description of the new temple closes, therefore, Avith this act of consecration. That the prophet might see this act of divine grace with his own eyes, the measuring man led him from the ground surrounding the temple (ch. xlii. 15-20) back again to the east gate (ver. 1). The allusion is to the eastern gate of the outer court ; for it is not till ver. 5 that Ezekiel is taken into the inner court, and, according to ch. xliv. 1, he was brought hack to the east gate of the outer court. Standing in front of this gate, he sees the glory of the God of Israel come by the way from the east with a great noise, and lighting up the earth with its splendour. Tlie coming of the theophany from the east points back to ch. x. 19, xi. 1 and 23, where the Shechinah, when leaving the ancient temple, went out at the east gate and ascended to the summit of the mountain, which was situated on the east of Jerusalem. It was from the east, therefore, that it returned to enter the new temple. This fact is sufficient of itself to show that the present entrance of the divine glory into the new temple did not lay the foundation for a new and more exalted bond of grace, but was simply intended to restore the relation which had existed before the removal of Israel into captivity. The tabernacle and Solomon's temple had both been consecrated by Jehovah in the same manner as the seat of His throne of grace in Israel (compare Ex. xl. 34, 35; 1 Kings viii. 10, 11; and 2 Chron. v. 13, 14, and vii. 1-3, from which the expres- sion njn) n^?"^^> nin^-nu3 Np? in ver. 5 has been borrowed). It is true that Hiivernick, Kliefoth, and others find, along w^ith this agreement, a difference in the fact that the glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud in both the tabernacle and 1 *' The Lord appears, and fills the house with His own glory ; showing that the house will not only be built, but will be filled with the power of God " (Theodoret). 276 THE PRorHECiKS of ezekiel. Solomon's temple ; ^vllereas here, on the contrary, it appeared in that peculiar form which Ezekiel had already repeatedly seen. Tmt it does not follow that there was really a difference, because the cloud is not mentioned in the verses before us; for it is evident that the cloud was not wanting, even in the mani- festation of the glory of God seen by Ezekiel, from the words found in Ezek. x. 3: "The cloud filled the inner court, and the i^lory of Jehovah had risen up from the cherubim to the threshold of the house, and the house tvas filled ivith the cloud, and the court was full of the splendour of the glory of .fehovah." If, therefore, it is expressly attested in ver. 3, as even Kliefoth admits, that the appearance of God which entered the temple was like the appearance which Ezekiel saw by the Chaboras and before the destruction of the temple, and in connection with the last-mentioned appearance the cloud was visible along with the brilliant splendour of the divine doxa, the cloud will certainly not have been wanting when it entered the new temple ; and the only reason why it is not expressly mentioned must be, that it did not present a contrast to the brilliant splendour, or tend to obscure the light of the glory of God, but as a shining cloud was simply the atmospheric clothing of the theophany. If, then, the cloud did not present a contrast to the brilliancy of the divine glory, it cannot be inferred from the words, ^' and the earth shone with His glory," that there was any difference between this and the earlier manifestations of the divine glory at the consecration of the tabernacle and Solomon's temple ; more especially as these words do not affirm that it became light on earth, but simply that the earth shone with the glory of God, — that is to say, that it threw a bright light upon the earth as it passed along, — so that this remark simply serves to indicate the intensity of the brightness of this theophany. The words 'lil bip3 i?ip are not to be understood, as we may learn from ch. i. 24, as referring to a voice of the coming God, but describe the loud noise made by the moving of the theophany on account of the CHAP. XLIII. 1-12. 277 rustling of the wings of the cherubim. This resembled the roaring of mighty waves. In ver. 3, the expression n^naa • • • '^^I'I'l' i^^"}^?^ is somewhat heavy in style, but is correct Hebrew ; and the remark with which Hitzig seeks to justify his alteration of nxiDDI into nN"iD1, — namely, that r\ir\722 " would signify ' so the appearance,' whereas Ezekiel intends to explain the present appearance from the well-known earlier one," — is false so far as the usage of the language is concerned. When the Hebrew uses two 3 in cases of comparison, which we are accustomed to express in German by 50 . . . ivie (so . . . as), he always commences with the thing to which he compares another, and lets the thing which is to be compared follow^ afterwards. Thus, for example, in Gen. xviii. 25, P^'n^*^ n\"ii j;^3 does not affirm that it happens as to the righteous so to the wicked, but vice versa, that it happens to the righteous as to the wicked ; and in Gen. xliv. 18, 'ipss ^idd ""s does not mean, for like thee so is Pharaoh, but "for thou art like Pharaoh." According to this genuine Hebrew expression, the present appearance of the divine glory is mentioned first in the verse before us, and then in the earlier one which the present resembled. And even the apparent pleonasm nN~i?3n nxnr) vanishes if we render nNl"iD by " look," — the look of tlie apparition which I saw was just like the apparition, etc. "'5<33 '1:1 T\rw> refers to the ecstatic transportation of the prophet to Jerusalem (ch. viii.-xi.), to witness the destruction of the city (see more particularly ch. viii. 4, ix. 1 sqq.). '^The prophet destroyed the city ideally by his prophecy, of which tlie fulfilment simply forms the objective reverse side " (Hitzig). ni^inp^ is appended in loose apposition, — there w^ere appearances, visions, — and the plural is to be taken as in ^'^^, nii^iD in ch. i. 1, xl. 2. For what follows, compare ch. iii. 23, x. 15. For ver. 5(2, compare ch. iii. 14, xi. 24. In vers. 6 and 7 the question arises, who it is who is speaking to the prophet; wdiether it is Jehovah, who has entered the temple, or the man who is standing by Ezekiel in the inner court ? 278 THE ruornECiES of ezekiel There can be no doubt that '^^ '^^'^^ is Jehovah here, as in ch. ii. 2 ; thou Mi the commentators are divided in opinion whether Jehovah spoke directly to the prophet, or through the meduim of the man who stood by his side. Hiivernick presses the Jlithpacl I?"]?, ami imagines that Ezekiel heard God con- versin'^n is not to be altered into n?35^ Hf^'^n^ as Ewald proposes, nor is nsxn to be changed into n72N3 (Hitzig) ; but Hiivernick's explanation is to be adopted : '^ and a bosom (was there) the cubit," i.e. of the height of the cubit just described. 3111^ breadth, is the extent to which the bosom projected beyond the next enclosure (q) on every side, and formed a support, the circumference of which was a cubit more than the lower cube of the altar on every side. This is shown by the measurements in vers. 16 and 17. The P^n had a -"133 on its ns'^ of a span (half a cubit) in height (o). nSB^, lip, is the rim (1 Kings vii. 26; Gen. xxii. 17); and 7^23, the bordering on the rim, is a moulding. The feminine 280 THE rnoPHECiES of ezekiel. suffixes attached to nh23 and J^n?^ refer to P'[}, which is of the masculine rrcnder, no doubt, when used in its literal sense of bosom or lap, but is construed as a feminine in the tropical sense of an inanimate object. The ground-framework, with its mouldinir, formed the 33 of the altar. 33, the arched, then a liuinp or back, signifies here the support of the altar. Upon this support the altar rose in a cubical enclosure or frame, which diminished in circumference by ledges or steps. The enclosure resting upon the support, and therefore the lowest enclosure (g), is mentioned in ver. lAa ; and the one which followed (r) in ver. lib. The word nnjy, which has probably sprung from ^vy by the softening of V into T, signifies enclosure, surround- in if, and is mostly used for the outer court of the temple ; here it is applied to the altar, and signifies the enclosure or frame- work of the kernel of the altar, consisting of earth. As the altar rose in steps, a distinction is made between the lower or smaller, and the (upper or) greater nnjj;. The identity of the lower n"jiy and the smaller one (nstpf^ri) is so evident from the course of the description, that it is universally admitted by modern expositors. The lower one (q) is called the small one, in comparison with the large one which stood above it, from the fact that its height was smaller, as it was only two cubits high, whereas the upper one (r) was four. When, therefore, the measurement of the greater one is given in this way in ver. 14:b : " from the small enclosure to the great enclosure, four cubits," this statement cannot be understood in any other way than as meaning, that this enclosure or frame had a height of four cubits from the lower to the upper end, — that is to say, in other words, that the lower ledge was four cubits from the upper. Consequently the statement in ver. l-ia, " from the ground-framework of earth to the lower enclosure, two cubits," can also have no other meaninij than that the lower enclosure, from the lower edge by the moulding to the upper edge, at which the second enclosure commenced, was two cubits high. This height is reckoned from the upper edge of the P'^n^ or from CHAP. XLIII. 13-17. 287 the first (lowest) ledge. The height of these three portions taken together, therefore, was (1+2+4) seven cubits. To this the mount of God (s), which was four cubits (ver. 15), has to be added, making in all eleven cubits. In ver. 14 P^n is followed by p.^"? ' the P^n consisting of earth, or filled with earth. But the P^n^ with its moulding, is designated 33^ the back or support of the altar, and is thereby distinguished from the altar itself; so that, for the height of the altar, we have only to reckon the two enclosures, with the mount of God, which amount to ten cubits. Upon the basis of the P^[}, with its moulding, and the two enclosures (mTy), there rose the true altar, with its hearth, and the horns at the four corners, noticed in ver. 15. A distinction is here made between ^^"^J], i.e. mount of God, and ^^?^■)^5. ; and they are not to be identified, as they have been by many of the commentators, down to Hitzig, after the example of the LXX. ''5^^'!^. (as the word is to be written according to the Keri) does not mean " lion of God," but '' hearth of God" 0"!«, from nnjj, to burn), as in Isa. xxix. 1, 2. The hearth of God is the surface of the altar, its fire-hearth (t); whereas ^^"^p, mount of God (.s), was the basis or foundation of the hearth. This was four cubits high, whereas no height is mentioned in connection with the hearth of God; but it is simply stated that four horns went upward from it, namely, at the four corners. With the horns of the altar, the size and height of which are not given, and which cannot be reckoned at three cubits, the description of all the parts, from the bottom to the top, is given ; and all that remains to complete the measure- ments, is to describe the circumference of the several parts which rose one above another in the form of steps. This follows in vers. 16 and 17. The hearth of God is twelve cubits long and twelve cubits broad, and is therefore V^^'], square, of the same length and breadth on its four sides. Goincr downwards, there follow in ver. 17rt the lenrrth and breadth of the rrjjy, with fourteen cubits, as it was a cubit broader on every side according to ver. 14. It is very strange, •2SS TIIC PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. however, tliat tlie lengtli and breadth of only one n^jy are given here, as there are two of different heights mentioned in ver. 14. Many of tlie commentators have therefore identified the mount of God witli the great n^Ti;, and attribute only a lieight of seven cubits to the altar ; whereas Kliefoth regards botli tlie '■;*i^ of ver. 17 and the -'^^a and ?'[} of ver. 15 as different from the parts mentioned by the same name in vers. 13 and 14, and takes them as referring to an enclosure and a barrier of the mount of God. One is as arbitrary as the other, as the words of the text do not require either of these assumptions. The difficulty, that only one nnjj; is mentioned in ver. 17, is easily solved, if we consider that in ver. 15 only the height of the mount of God is given, and no breadth is mentioned as in the case of the nnjy in ver. 14. We may see from this that the mount of God had the same breadth or the same circumference as the upper nnjy (see r and s in the illus- tration). In that case the length and breadth of all the parts of the altar were given, when, in addition to the length and breadth of the hearth of God (^), those of one nnjy, and that the lower, were given, as this alone was longer and broader than tlie hearth of God and the mount of God ; whereas the length and breadth of the upper ^^yv, were identical with those of the circumference of the mount of God. The altar, therefore, upon the upper surface, the hearth of God, was a square, of twelve cubits in length and breadth. The mount of God and the upper enclosure had the same length and breadth. The lower enclosure, on the other hand, was fourteen cubits long and broad ; and the support, finally, without tlie moulding, was sixteen cubits in length and breadth. The height of the altar was as follows : the support, with the moulding, a cubit and a half; the lower enclosure, tw^o cubits; the upper, four ; and the mount of God, with the hearth, also four cubits in height; whereas the altar in Solomon's temple was ten cubits high, and at its lower basis twenty cubits long and broad (2 Chron. iv. 1).— The description closes in ver. 176 CHAP. XLIII. 18-27. 289 with an allusion to steps, which the altar of Ezekiel had upon the eastern side ; whereas, in the case of the tabernacle, steps were not allowed to be placed by the altar (Ex. xx. 23). The form rii:i3 is taken by Kimchi as a noun. Others regard it as an infin. nominasc. ; whilst Hitzig proposes to point it as a participle ni:3. Vers. 18-27. Consecration of the Altar. — Ver. 18. And he said to me, Son of man, Tims saith the Lord Jehovah, These are the statutes of the altar in the day wJien it is erected, to offer burnt-offerings upon it, and to sprinkle blood thereon. Ver. 19. Thou shalt give to the priests of the tribe of Levi vjho are of the seed of Zadok, who draw near to me, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, a bullock, a young ox, for a sin-off^ering. Ver. 20. And thou shalt take of its blood, and put it upon its four horns, and upon the four corners of the enclosure, and upon the moulding round about ; and so absolve and expiate it. Ver. 2 1 . And thou shalt take the bullock of the sin-offering, and burn it at the appointed place of the house, outside the sanctuary. Ver. 22. And on the second day thou shalt offer a faultless lie-goat for a sin-offering, that they may absolve the altar, as they absolved it with the bullock. Ver. 23. When thou hast completed the abso- lution, thou shalt offer a bullock, a young ox, without fault, and a faultless ram of the flock ; Ver. 24. And shalt bring them before Jehovah, and the priests shall throw salt upon them, and sacrifice them as burnt- off'ering to Jehovah. Ver. 25. Seven days shalt thou offer a sin-off^ering goat daily and a bullock, a young ox, and a ram of the flock without fault shall they prepare. Ver. 26. Seven days shall they expiate the altar, and cleanse it, and fill its hand. Ver. 27. And when they have completed these days, it shall come to pass on the eighth day and henceforward, that the priests place your burnt-offerings and your peace-offerings upon the altar, and I will accept you with delight, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. As the altar of the tabernacle and that of Solomon's temple EZEK. TI. T 200 THE PROrilECIES OF EZEKIKL. were cor.sccrated before they were used (Lev. viii. 11, 15, 19, 33; 1 Kings viii. 02-60; 2 Chron. vii. 4-10), and God cominanded and rcirulated this consecration of the altar of the tabernacle (Ex. xxix. 10 sqq.), so also is the altar of burnt- ofFerini: in tlie new sanctuary to be consecrated before it is used. This command is given to Ezekiel, and the consecration enjoined upon him, not as the representative of the nation, but as a prophet, upon whom, as is frequently the case in the pro- jihetical narratives, those things are said to be enjoined, which are to be set in operation through his proclamation. This commission is given to him, however, for the day (the time) wlien the altar will be made or restored, from which alone we may see that the execution of the command belongs to the future, in which the temple shown him in the spirit is to be erected, and that it will take place in a manner corresponding to the realization of the temple ; so that we cannot infer from this command alone that the reference is to the building of a temple and altar of stone, metal, and wood. HMn Dipn are not the regulations prescribed for the altar service generally, but simply those relating to its consecration. If we compare these with the account of the consecration of the altars of the earlier sanctuaries, we find that no detailed description is given of the consecration of the altar of Solomon's temple, but that it is simply stated that it lasted seven days (2 Chron. vii. 9). The consecration of the altar of the tabernacle lasted just the same time (Ex. xxix. 37 ; Lev. viii. 33). And the same period is appointed here (ver. 26). But the consecration of the altar of the tabernacle was associated with the consecration of the juicsts. Here, on tlie contrary, the existence of the priesthood is pre3Uj)posed, and only the altar is consecrated. The conse- cration of the ^losaic altar commenced with the anointing of the altar and all its utensils, by the sprinkling of it seven times by Closes with the holy anointing oil, for the purpose of sanctifying it (Lev. viii. 11). Here, on the other hand, nothing is said about the anointing of the altar ; only the CHAP. XLlir. 18-27. 291 absolving of it by sacrifice is mentioned, which followed the anointing in the case of the Mosaic altar. At the altar in the tabernacle Moses performed the whole act of consecration, as the mediator of the covenant, the anointing as well as the pre- paration of the sacrifices. Here, however, the priests already consecrated for their service are to complete the sacrificial ceremony. It is true that the expressions used in ver. 20, '' take of its blood," etc., and in ver. 21, " take the bullock of the sin-offering," etc., apparently indicate that the prophet was ta perform the sprinkling of the blood and the burning of the sin-offering. But it is obvious that this is only to be under- stood as signifying that he was to do it through the medium of the priests, i.e. was to enjoin the performance of it upon them, from the use of the plural ^Nisn in ver. 22^ ; "they shall absolve the altar, as they have absolved it with the bullock." It is not all the priests of the tribe of Levi, however, who are to perform this service, but simply those of the family of Zadok, who alone are selected in the new temple for specifically priestly service (cf. ch. xl.- 46 and xliv. 15 sqq.). — The sacred ceremony commences with the offering of a young ox as a sin-offerincr; vers. 19, 20, as in Lev. viii. 14, compared with Ex. xxix. 1, 10. The blood of the ox is to be put upon the four horns and the four corners of the enclosure, and upon the moulding below it round about ; and the flesh is to be burned at an appointed place outside the sanctuary. For the article in nxi^nn nsn (ver. 21), see Ew^ald, § 2906. The pouring out of the blood — that was not used for smearing the places indicated — at the foot of the altar is not mentioned, nor the burning of the fat portions of the sacrifice upon the altar. We cannot infer, from the omission of the latter circumstance, that the fat was not consumed upon the altar, but was burned, with the flesh, skin, and bones of the animal, outside the sanctuary, as Kliefoth supposes. AVithout the burning of certain definite portions of the victim upon the altar, the slaughtering of the animal would not have been a complete sacrifice at all ; the smearing of tlije 292 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. blood upon the altar would not have sufficed for this. And the fact that in ver. 21 the command is given, "take the bullock and burn it," does not prove that the animal was to be burned alon<7 with those fat portions which w^ere to be con- sumed upon the altar in the case of every sin-offering. In Lev. viii. 17 also, "iSi^'^X stands in the place of I2n "i^n-JIK, Ex. xxix. 14. Ezekiel generally presupposes that the sacrificial ritual is well known, and therefore mentions only those points in which deviations from the ordinary ritual took place in con- nection with this sacrifice, such as the sprinkling of the blood, because the blood was to be smeared on particular parts of the altar, and the burning of the flesh, on account of the place where this was to be done. In the case of the burnt-offering in ver. 23, no directions are given concerning the ceremonial ; because this was to be in conformity with the standing ritual, with the exception of the sprinkling with salt, which was not to be performed in the same manner as in the ordinary sacri- fices. The burning is to take place n^sn nf^S^^, outside the sanctuary. ^i^S^D is a place commanded or appointed ; and n^3n n[p2^ is a place in the temple set apart for that purpose. It follows from this that the place in question, since it belonged to the house, i.e, to the temple, is to be sought for within the square of five hundred cubits in extent, which was covered by the temple and its courts ; and at the same time that it was outside the tJnpD, i.e, upon a spot which did not form part of the sanctuary in the stricter sense of the word. Kliefoth therefore thinks of a spot within the gizrah (ch. xli. 12), the name of which implies that the space which it covered did not belong to the true ^*^i?^. This view is the most probable one ; whereas Ewald's conjecture, that the place intended is the locality of the sacrificial kitchens of the priests described in ch. xlvi. 19, is decidedly erroneous, as these kitchens, which were set apart for the cooking of the holy sacrificial flesh to be eaten by the priests alone, were certainly reckoned as forming part of the cnp^.— Ver. 22. On the second day, a he-goat CHAP. XLIII. 18-27. 293 was to be brought for a sin-offerincp and the altar was to be cleansed from sin with this just as with the bullock on the first day; which implies that the same ceremonial was to be observed with this sacrifice as with that of the sin-offering. After the completion of the expiation a burnt-offering was to be presented to the Lord of a bullock and a ram (vers. 23 and 24). There is a difference of opinion as to the meaning of ^ni?33 NtsriD in these verses. Hitzig and Kliefoth suppose that the expiation was only completed on the second day, with the offering of the he-goat as a sin-offering. They both of them lay stress upon the fact that, on the one hand, in vers. 23 and 24 the offerinfy of the burnt-offerincp is mentioned on the second day, and not on the first day also ; and, on the other hand, in ver. 25, for the seven days of consecration, only the prepara- tion of a he-goat for the sin-offering and the preparation of the two animals appointed for the burnt-offering are mentioned. Hitzig also adduces the fact that in ver. 26 there is no further reference to Nisn, but simply to "iSD and "iriD, and draws the conclusion from this, that the sin attaching to the altar was removed with two sin-offerings on two days, and then througli seven days further by means of burnt-offerings the anger of God which followed the sin w^as appeased (123), and the un- cleanness or profane character of the altar was expunged ("iHD), so that the seven days of ver. 25 are not to be dated from ver. 19 onwards. According to this view, the consecration of the altar lasted nine days, and not seven, and the eighth day mentioned in ver. 27 would really be the tenth day, reckoning from the commencement of the consecration. To carry out this view, Hitzig is obliged to erase not only the ^nrinMl of ver. 20, but also the first half of ver. 25 as glosses ; a fact which carries its condemnation with it, as even the Septuagint furnishes no warrant for the erasure of ver. 25a. Moreover, the distinction which Hitzig draws between i^tsn on the one hand, and "^23 and "inip on the other, is quite erroneous. Puri- fication ("inio) is never mentioned in the law as the effect pro- 291 Tin: prophecies of ezekiel (Iiiced by a burnt-offering. A sin-offering followed by a burnt- offerinf' \s invariably prescribed for the removal of uncleanness ; for " reconciliation and purification take place through the absolution effected by the sin-offering; and to such a sin- offerin<' and its purifying operation the burnt-offering is then added to secure the good pleasure of God for that which has been already cleansed" (Kliefoth). — But we cannot regard even Kliefoth's view as well founded, namely, that on the lirst dav a sin-offering alone was presented, and it was only from the second day onwards that a sin-offering and burnt-offering were presented, and this lasted for seven days, so that the con- secration of the altar continued fully eight days, and on the ninth day (not the eighth, as stated in ver. 27) the regular use of the altar commenced. Kliefoth bases this conclusion prin- cipally upon the fact that vers. 19-21 attribute only the sin- offering of a bullock to the first day; and that^ on the other hand, vers. 25 and 26 extend in all its details to seven days the very same ceremony as vers. 22-24 assign to the second day, whereas they do not contain a syllable to the effect that the sin-offering of the bullock was to be repeated every day, or that the sacrifices described in vers. 22-24 were also to be offered on the first day. The sinew of this demonstration consists ill silentioy therefore ; and this precarious basis of argument crumbles here, as in most other cases, as is evident from the words of ver. 26 : " seven days shall ye reconcile the altar, and purify it." This perfectly general statement, which is not connected with ver. 25 by any Vav copuL, or placed in subordination to it, affirms in the clearest manner that the con- secration of the altar was to last seven days, neither more nor less; so that if these seven days are to be reckoned from the second day, the sin-offering of the bullock upon the first day must be deprived of its reconciling and purifying worth, in direct contradiction not only to ver. 20, according to which the altar was to be absolved and reconciled through the sin-offering of the bullock to be offered on the first day, but also to ver. 22, CHAP. XLIII. 18-27. 295 according to which they were to absolve the altar by the sin- offering of the he-goat, in just the same manner as they had absolved it by the sin-offering of the bullock (on the first day). To take the "123 and intp in ver. 26 merely as the effect pro- duced by tlie sacrifices mentioned in ver. 25^ renders the ^V^^ Q''PJ standing at the head of ver. 26 an impossibility. Unless, therefore, we woukl impose upon the words of the prophet a gross contradiction, we must lay no stress either upon the fact that in ver. 23 the offerincr of the burnt-offerinor is not men- tioned till after the direction concerning the sin-offering to be presented on the second day, or upon the circumstance that in ver. 25 the he-goat is mentioned as a sin-offering for all the seven days, and no allusion is made to the fact that the sin- offering of the first day was a bullock. The former (the refer- ence to the burnt-offerincf after the sin-offerinfr of the second day) may be explained very simply, on the ground that the sin-offerings of the first two days are mentioned one after the other, because different animals were prescribed for the purpose, and then, first, the burnt-offerings, which were the same for every day. And it is obvious that the explanation is to be sought for in this formal arrangement, and not in the fact that only a sin-offering without a burnt-offering was to be pre- sented on the first day, and consequently that the expression " on the second day " refers solely to the sin-offering of that day, from the words t^i?nD ^ni?D3 in ver. 23; since Ntano cannot be understood in a different sense from that which it bears in ver. 22^, the clause immediately precedinij, i.e. must not be restricted to the sin-offering of the second day, but must be taken as referring to the sin-offerings of both the first and second days. The meaning of the words is therefore this : when the absolution by means of the sin-offering on the first and on the second day is ended, then shalt thou bring a burnt- offering. But if this is the meaning of the words, the offering of the burnt-offering prescribed in ver. 23 does not fall so exclusively under the definition of time contained in the words 29G THE rROI'HECIES OF EZEKIEL. *' on the second day," as to warrant our assigning it to the second day alone, and concluding that no such offering was presented on the first day. There was no necessity for Ezekiel to express himself more clearly on this point, as there was no fear of anv misunderstanding on the part of those who were acquainted with the law ; since every Israelite who had been instructed in the law knew full well that no sin-offering could ever be presented without being followed by a burnt-offering, tliat in fact the burnt-offering was indispensable to the accom- plishment of the '"I")??, for which the sin-offering was presented. And in ver. 25 also, Ezekiel had no occasion to fear that the somewhat loose expression, "seven days shalt thou prepare a he-<^oat sin-offering for the day," would be misunderstood ; as he had already stated that a bullock was to be taken for the sin-offering of the first day, and the period of seven days was so universally prescribed in the law for every act of consecra- tion which lasted more than one day, that he would have in- dicated in a clearer manner any deviation from this rule. We therefore regard the change of the seven days devoted to the consecration of the altar into eight as being just as groundless as that into nine, and adhere to the traditional explanation of these verses, namely, that the consecration of the altar lasted only seven days, and that on every one of these days a sin- offering and a burnt-offering were to be presented, the sin- offering on the first day being a bullock, and on the other days a he-goat, whilst the burnt-offerings were to consist on all seven days of a young ox and a ram. — With regard to the burnt- offering, the direction given, that the priests are to throw or pour (T?'^''?), and not merely to strew or sprinkle, salt upon it, is to be regarded as significant. According to Lev. ii. 13, salt was to be added to every i^ni^ (bloody or bloodless) sacrifice. The express allusion to the suiting of these consecrating burnt-offerings, and also the choice of the verb ^ v^''"?, point to a copious strewing with salt for the purpose of giving greater intensity to the force of these sacrifices. On the significance of salt in relation to CHAP. XLIII. 18-27. 297 the sacrifices, sec the comm. on Lev. il. 13. The 1 attached to the Chetih 11Q3"! in ver. 26 is to be explained from the fact that the definition of the time D'^n* nj?3tr is placed at the head absolutely. There is something bold in the application of the expression ^l ^)]^ to the altar ; since this expression arose from the ceremony peculiar to the consecrating sacrifice of the priests, namely, that the fat and fleshy portions of this sacrifice, which were intended partly for consumption upon the altar, and partly as a heave-offering for Jehovah, were to be given into the hands of the priests to be consecrated for the purpose of investing them symbolically with the gifts, which they were to offer in part to the Lord in the altar fire in the fulfilment of their official duties, and to receive in part for their service (see the comm. on Lev. viii. 25-29). Filling the hand of the altar, therefore, is equivalent to providing it with sacrificial gifts, so that it should never be without them. In this sense the symbolical act was connected with the completion of its consecration as a place of sacrifice. The Keri n^ is incorrect, and n^ the proper reading ; inasmuch as even at the con- secration of the priests, when the sacrificial portions were placed in the hands of the priests, T i^pp only is used, and not on; (cf. Ex. xxix. 9 ; Lev. xxi. 10, etc.). If we compare the directions given in the section before us concerning the consecration of the altar, with the consecra- tion which was prescribed in Ex. xxix. for the altar of burnt- offering in the tabernacle, and was fully carried out according to Lev. viii., we find the following points of difference : — (1) the anointing of the altar is wanting here ; (2) at the consecra- tion of the Mosaic altar a bullock (young ox) was prescribed as the sin-offering for all the seven days (Ex. xxix. 36), in Ezekiel for the first day only, and a he-goat for the rest ; (3) the blood of this sin-offering is smeared upon the horns of the altar in the former consecration (Ex. xxix. 12 ; Lev. viii. 15), in the latter upon the horns and the corners of the walls, and upon the lower moulding round about ; (4) the burnt-offering 293 Tiir: prophecies of ezekiel. there consists in a ram every clay, here in a bullock and a ram daily ; (5) on the other hand, the ram offered as a sacrifice of consecration in the Mosaic ceremony, which was specially con- nected with the institution of the priests in their office, is omitted liL're, as the priests were already holding their office ; so tliat the sacrifice of consecration might be said to be here absorbed into the burnt-offering. All essential differences therefore reduce themselves to the fact that in Ezekiel the anointing of the altar is wanting, and the sin-offering of the last six days is diminished by the selection of an inferior animal, in place of which the burnt-offering is considerably intensified by the demand of a bullock and a ram for this, the same thing being also indicated by the copious pouring of salt thereon. — For the symbolical meaning of these sacrifices, com- pare the commentary on Lev. viii. — The consecration of the altar was completed in seven days ; and from the eighth day onwards the priests were to offer the regular sacrifices upon it (ver. 27) ; whereas at the Mosaic consecration of the altar and priests, the constant altar service of the priests was still further inaugurated by a solemn sacrifice on the eighth day (Lev. ix.). Burnt-offerings and peace-offerings are mentioned in ver. 27 instar omnium as being the principal and most frequent sacri- fices, whilst sin-offerings and meat-offerings are implied therein. Chap. xliv. Position of the different Classes of the People in relation to the New Sanctuary, With the consecration of the altar of burnt-offerinff the way is opened for the congregation of Israel to appear in the sanctuary before the Lord, to serve Him with sacrifices. If, however, the use of the new house of God was to be in har- mony with the holiness of the God who dwelt therein, it was requisite that still further directions should be given concerning the entering of the people into it, and the character of the servants of both tlie altar and the sanctuary. These directions CHAP. xLiv. 1-3. 299 follow in the chapter before us, — first, as to the place which the prince was to occupy at the service in the temple (vers. 1-3) ; secondly, as to the admission of foreigners and tlie appointment of Levites and priests fortlie service (vers. 4—16) ; and lastly, as to the conditions requisite for the administration of the priest's office, and the duties and privileges of that office (vers. 17-31). Vers. 1-3. The Place of the Prince in tfie Sanctuary. — Ver. 1. And he brought me hack hy the way to the outer gate of the sanctuary^ which looked toward the east ; and it was shut. Ver. 2. And Jehovah said to me, This gate shall he shut, shall not he opened, and no one shall enter therehy ; hecause Jehovah, the God of Israel, has entered hy it, it shall be shut. Ver. 3. As for the prince, as prince he shall sit therein, to eat bread before Jehovah; from the ivay to the porch of the gate shall he go in, and from its icay shall h^ go out. — From the inner court where Ezekiel had received the measure- ments of the altar of burnt-offering and the instructions con- cerning its consecration (ch. xliii. 5 sqq.), he is taken back to the east gate of the outer court, and finds this gate, which formed the principal entrance to the temple, closed. Jehovah explains this fact to him through the angel (nin^ "i^^^**! is to be understood according to ch. xliii. 6 and 7) thus : " this gate is to be shut, because Jehovah, the God of Israel, has entered into the temple thereby," as we have already learned from ch. xliii. 2. Only the prince, as prince, was allowed to sit in it for the purpose of holding sacrificial meals there. So far the meaning of the words is clear and indisputable. For there can be no doubt whatever that ver. 3 introduces a more precise statement concerning the closing of the gate ; in other words, that the right of sitting in the gate to eat bread before Jehovah, which is conceded to the priest, is intended as an explanation, resp, modification and limitation, of the statement "^l^D n\ni (ver. 2). On the other hand, the more precise definition of 300 THE PROPIIECIF.S OF EZEKIEL. the prerogative granted to the pruice in ver. 3 Is not quite clear, and therefore open to dispute. Such a prerogative is already indicated in the prominence expressly given to the prince, consisting partly in the fact that t^V^n-ntJ is written first in an absolute form, and partly in the expression 5<^n fc^^bj, which is repeated in the form of a circumstantial clause, '^ prince is lie," equivalent to " because he is prince, he is to sit there." {eared before Jehovah, the prince was to go into the temple in the midst of the people through the north or the south gate to worship, whereas on the Sabbaths and new moons, on which the people were not required to appear before the Lord, so that the prince alone had to bring the offerings for himself and the people, he was to enter by the w^ay of the porch of the east gate, and to go out again by the same, and during the ceremony of offerino- the sacrifice was to stand upon the threshold of the inner east gate, it is obvious that the going in and out by the way of the porch of the gate was to take place by a different way from that through the north or the south gate. This other way could only be through the east gate, as no fourth gate existed. — The conclusion to which this brings us, so far as the passage before us is concerned, is that the shutting of the east gate of the outer court was to be the rule, but that there were certain exceptions which are not fully explained till ch. xlvi., thou^li they are hinted at in the chapter before us in the directions given there, that the prince was to hold the sacrificial meal in this gate. — The outer east gate, which was probably the one chiefly used by the people when appearing before the Lord in the earlier temple, both for going in and coming out, is to be shut in the new temple, and not to be made use of by the people for either entrance or exit, because the glory of the Lord entered into the temple thereby. This reason is of course not to be understood in the way suggested by the Kabbins, namely, that the departure of the Shechinah from the temple was to be pre- vented by the closing of the gate ; but the thought is this : 304 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. because this gateway had been rendered holy through the entrance of tlie Shechlnah into tlie temple thereby, it was not to remain open to the people, so as to be desecrated, but was to be kept perpetually holy. This keeping holy was not preju- diced in any way by the fact that the prince held the sacrificial meal in the gate, and also entered the court through this gate- way for the purpose of offering his sacrifice, which was made ready by the priests before the inner gate, and then was present at the offering of the sacrifice upon the altar, standing upon the threshold of the inner gate -building. Dhi< T)"]"! lyipn is therefore the way which led from the outer flight of steps across the thresliold past the guard-rooms to the gate porch at the inner end of the gate-building. By this way the priest was to go into the gate opened for him, and hold the sacrificial meal therein, namely, in the porch of this gate. That the offering of the sacrifice necessarily preceded the meal is assumed as self-evident, and the law of sacrifice in ch. xlvi. first prescribes the manner in which the prince was to behave when offering the sacrifice, and how near to the altar he was to be allowed to go. Vers. 4-16. The Position of Foreigners, Levites, and Priests in relation to the Temple and the Temple Service. — The further precepts concerning the approach to the sanctuary, and the worship to be presented there, are intro- duced with a fresh exhortation to observe with exactness all the statutes and laws, in order that the desecration of the sanctuary which had formerly taken place might not be repeated, and are delivered to the prophet at the north gate in front of the mani- festation of the glory of God (vers. 4-8). — Ver. 4. And he brought me by the loay of tlie north gate to the front of the house ; and I looked, and behold the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovahy and I fell down upon my face. Ver. 5. And Jehovah f^aid to me, Son of man, direct thy heart and see ivith thine eyes and hear with thine ears all that I say to thee with regard to CHAP. XLIV. 4-8. 305 ull the statutes of the house of Jehovah and all its laivSj and direct thy heart to the entering into the house through all the exits of the house, Ver. 6. And say to the rebellious one, to the family of Israelj Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Let it he sufficient for you, of all your abominations^ house of Israel^ Ver. 7. In that ye brought in foreigners^ uncircunicised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to desecrate it, my house, when ye offered my food, fat and blood, and so they broke my covenant to all your abominations, Ver. 8. And so ye did not keep the charge of my holy things, but made them keepers of my charge for you in 7ny sanctuary, — From the outer gate to which Ezekiel had been taken, simply that he might be instructed concerning the entering thereby, he is once more conducted, after this has been done, by the way of the north gate to the front of the temple house, to receive the further directions there for the performance of the worship of God in the new sanctuary. The question, whether we are to understand by the north gate that of the outer or that of the inner court, cannot be answered with certainty. Hitzig has decided in favour of the latter, Kliefoth in favour of the former. The place to which he is conducted is Ti\2n ^p.S~7Xj adfaciem domus, before the temple house, so that he had it before his eyes, i.e. was able to see it. As the gate- way of the inner court was eight' steps, about four cubits, higher than the outer court gate, this was hardly possible if he stood at or within the latter, ri^^n^ ix, the temple house, could only be distinctly seen from the inner north gate. And the remark that it is more natural to think of the outer north gate, because the next thing said to the prophet has reference to the question who is to go into and out of the sanctuary, has not much force, as the instructions do not refer to the going in and out alone, but chiefly to the charge of Jehovah, i.e. to the maintenance of divine worship. — At the fresh standing-place the glory of the Lord, which filled the temple, met the sight of the prophet again, so that he fell down and worshipped once more (cf, ch. xliii. 3, 5). This remark is not intended '' to indicate that EZEK. II. U 306 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. now, after the preliminary observations in cli. xliil. 13-xliv. 3, the true thorah commences" (Kliefoth), but to show the un- approacliable i^lorv and holiness of the new temple. For ver. 5 see cli. xl. 4, xliii. 11, 12. In ver. 6 'I'J'^tf is placed at the head in a substantive form for the sake of emphasis, and i^Xib'^'n-a is appended in the form of an apposition. For the fact itself, see ch. ii. 8. ^??"^1 followed by IP, a sufficiency of anythinir, as in Ex. ix. 28, 1 Kings xii. 28, is equivalent to -' there is enough for you to desist from it." The ninyin, from which they are to desist, are more precisely defined in ver. 6. They consisted in the fact that the Israelites admitted foreigners, heathen, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, into the sanctuary, to desecrate it during the offering of sacrifice. It is not expressly stated, indeed, that they admitted uncircumcised heathen to the offering of sacrifice, but this is implied in what is affirmed. The offering of sacrifice in the temple of Jehovah is not only permitted in the Mosaic law to foreigners living in Israel, but to some extent prescribed (Lev. xvii. 10, 12 ; Num. XV. 13 sqq.). It was only in the paschal meal that no '"13J |3 was allowed to participate (Ex. xii. 43). To do this, he must first of all be cu'cumcised (ver. 44). Solomon accordingly pravs to the Lord in his temple- prayer that He will also hearken to the prayer of the foreigner, who may come from a distant land for the Lord's name sake to worship in His house (1 Kings viii. 41 sqq.). The reproof in the verse before us is apparently at variance with this. Kaschi would therefore understand by "i:3;3"''pB, Israelites who had fallen into heathen idolatry. Rosenmliller, on the other hand, is of opinion that the Israelites were blamed because they had accepted victimas et llhainina from the heathen, and offered them in the temple, which had been prohibited in Lev. xxv. 22. Hiivernick under- stands by the sons of the foreigner, Levites who had become apostates from Jehovah, and were therefore placed by Ezekiel on a par with the idolatrous sons of the foreigner. And lastly, Ilitzig imagines that they were foreign traders, who had been CHAP. XLIV. 9-16. 307 admitted within the sacred precincts as sellers of sacrificial animals, incense, and so forth. All these are alike arbitrary and erroneous. The apparent discrepancy vanishes, if we con- sider the more precise definition of "ijr! ^P.r, viz. " uncircumcised in heart and flesh." Their being uncircumcised in heart is placed first, for the purpose of characterizing the foreigners as godless heathen, who were destitute not only of the uncircumcision of their flesh, but also of that of the heart, i.e. of piety of heart, which Solomon mentions in his prayer as the motive for the coming of distant strangers to the temple. By the admission of such foreigners as these, who had no fear of God at all, into the temple during the sacrificial worship, Israel had defiled the sanctuary. "'n"'3"nx is in apposition to the suffix to i^^^n. The food of Jehovah C^^p) is sacrifice, according to Lev. ill. 11, xxi. 6, etc., and is therefore explained by *' fat and blood." ^12^*1, which the LXX. changed in an arbitrary manner into the second person, refers to the " foreigners," the heathen. By their treading the temple in their ungodliness they broke the covenant of the Lord with His people, who allowed this dese- cration of His sanctuary. 'rii:iyiD"73 pN^ in addition to all your abominations. How grievous a sin was involved in this is stated in ver. 8. The people of Israel, by their unrighteous admission of godless heathen into the temple, not only failed to show the proper reverence for the holy things of the Lord, but even made these hoathen, so to speak, servants of God for them- selves in His sanctuary. These last words are not to be under- stood literally, but spiritually. Allowing them to tread the temple is regarded as equivalent to appointing them to take charge of the worship in the temple. For ^^^^^O '^^f, see Lev. xviii. 30, xxii. 9, and the commentary on Lev. viii. 35. The Lord would guard against such desecration of His sanctuary in the future. To this end the following precepts concerning the worship in the new temple are given. — Ver. 9. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircwncised in flesh, shall come into my sanctuary, 308 THE PKOPDECIES OF EZEKIEL. of all the foreigners that are in the midst of the sons of Israel; Yer. 10. But even the Levites, ivho have gone aioay from me in the icandering of Israel, which ivandered away from me after its idolsj they shall hear their guilt, Ver. 11. They shall he se7'va?its in my sanctuary, as guards at the gates of the house and serving in the house ; they shall slay the hurnt-offering and the slaiiL-offering for the people, and shall stand hefore it to serve them. Ver. 12. Because they served them hefore their idols, and hecame to the house of Israel a stumhling-hlock to guilty therefore I have lifted my hand against them, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, that they should hear their guilt. Yer. 13. They shall not draw near to me to serve me as priests, and to draw near to all my holy things, to the most holy, hut shall hear their disgrace and all their ahominaiions which they have done. Ver. 14. A7id so will I make them guards of the charge of the house ivith regard to all its service, and to all that is performed therein. Ver. 15. But tJie priests of the tribe of Levi, the sons of Zadok, ivho have kept the charge of my sanctuary on the icandering of the S0718 of Israel from me, they shall draiu near to me to serve me, and stand hefore me, offer to me fat and hlood, is the saying of the Lord Jeliovah. Ver. 16. They shall come into my sanctuary, and they draw near to my tahle to serve me, and shall keep my charge. — In order that all desecration may be kept at a distance from the new sanctuary, foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh are not to be admitted into it; and even of the Levites appointed for the service of the sanctuary according to the Mosaic law, all who took part in the falling away of the people into idolatry are to be excluded from investiture with the priests' office as a punishment for their departure from the Lord, and only to be allowed to perform subordinate duties in connection with the worship of God. On the other hand, the descendants of Zadok, who kept themselves free from all stray- ing into idolatry, are to perform the specifically priestly service at the altar and in the sanctuary, and they alone. The meaning and design of tlie command, to shut out the foreigners un- CHAP. XLIV. 9-16. 309 circumcised in heart from all access to the sanctuary, are not that the intermediate position and class of foreigners living in Israel should henceforth be abolished (Kliefoth) ; for this would be at variance with ch. xlvii. 22 and 23, according to which the foreigners (0^1?.) were to receive a possession of their own in the fresh distribution of the land, which not only pre- supposes their continuance within the congregation of Israel, but also secures it for the time to come. The meaning is rather this : No heathen uncircumcised in heart, i.e. estranged in life from God, shall have access to the altar in the new- sanctuary. The emphasis of the prohibition lies here, as in ver. 7, upon their being uncircumcised in heart ; and the reason for the exclusion of foreigners consists not so much in the foreskin of the flesh as in the spiritual foreskin, so that not only the uncircumcised heathen, but also Israelites who were circumcised in flesh, were to keep at a distance from the sanctuary if they failed to possess circumcision of heart. The ? before 'j I|'''3 serves the purpose of comprehension, as in Gen. ix. 10, Lev. xi. 42, etc. (compare Eivald, § 310«). Not only are foreigners who are estranged from God to be prevented from coming into the sanctuary, but even the Levites, who fell into idolatry at the time of the apostasy of the Israelites, are to bear their guilt, i.e. are to be punished for it by exclusion from the rights of the priesthood. This is the connection between the tenth verse and the ninth, indicated by DJ< ^3^ which derives its meaning, truly (inio), yea even, from this connection, as in Isa. xxxiii. 21. D*vn are not the Levites here as distinguished from the priests (Aaronites), but all the descendants of Levi, including the Aaronites chosen for the priests' office, to whom what is to be said concerning the Levites chiefly apphes. The division of the Levites into such as are excluded from the service and office of priests (in?, ver. 13) on account of their former straying into idolatry, and the sons of Zadok, who kept aloof from that wandering, and therefore are to be the only persons allowed to administer the 310 THE PRoruFxiES of ezekiel priests' ofiicc for tlic future, sliows very clearly that the threat *' they shall bear their guilt" does not apply to the common Levites, but to the Levitical priests. They are to be degraded to the performance of the inferior duties in the temple and at divine worship. The guilt with which they are charged is that they forsook Jehovah when the people strayed into idolatry. Forsaking Jehovah involves both passive and active participa- tion in idolatry (cf. Jer. ii. 5). This wandering of the Israelites from Jehovah took place during the whole time that the tabernacle and Solomon's temple were in existence, though at different periods and with varying force and extent. Bearing the guilt is more minutely defined in vers. 11-13. The Levitical priests who have forsaken the Lord are to lose the dignity and rights of the priesthood ; they are not, indeed, to , be entirely deprived of the prerogative conferred upon the tribe of Levi by virtue of its election to the service of the sanctuary in the place of the first-born of the whole nation, but henceforth they are merely to be employed in the per- formance of the lower duties, as guards at the gates of the temple, and as servants of the people at the sacrificial worship, when they are to slaughter the animals for the people, which every one who offered sacrifice was also able to do for himself. Because they have already served the people before their idols, i.e. have helped them in their idolatry, they shall also serve the people in time to come in the worship of God, though not as priests, but simpl}^ in non-priestly occupations. The words 'i:i 'npV! ^^\} are taken from Num. xvi. 9, and the suffixes in Dn>;Li) and Dn^t;'^ refer to Dy. |iy bS^'^^j as in ch. vii. 19, xlv. 3, xviii. 30. "ij Kw'J, not to raise the arm to smite, but to lift \]\) the hand to swear, as in ch. xx. 5, 6, etc. "'^'"JP."''? ^V ^*^5o to draw near to all my holy things. C''^*']!^. are not the rooms in the sanctuary, but those portions of the sacrifices which were sacred to the Lord. They are not to touch these, i.e, neither to sprinkle blood nor to burn the portions of fat upon the altar, or pciform anything connected therewith. Tliis CHAP. XLIV. 9-16. 311 explanation is roquiicd by the apposition QV'li^.'^ '''^i^'i'Xj which (in the plural) does not mean the most holy place at the hinder part of the temple, but the most holy sacrificial gifts (cf. ch. xlii. 13). n^b Ni-J, as in ch. xvi. 52. In ver. 14 it is once more stated in a comprehensive manner in what the bearing of the guilt and shame was to consist: God would make them keepers of the temple with regard to the inferior acts of service. The general expression ri^zn rin^'j'p i^pu^^ which signifies the temple service universally, receives its restriction to the inferior acts of service from 'l^l trilby 72?^ which is used in Num. iii. 26, iv. 23, 30, 32, 39, 47, for the heavy duties performed by the Merarites and Gershonites, in distinction from the '^y^^V of the Kohathites, which consisted in rinOL'^p "ip'^ t^^i5^ (Num. iii. 28) and ^m ^nx3 n^x^o nib'y (Num. iv. 3). The priestly service at the altar and in the sanctuary, on the other hand, was to be performed by the sons of Zadok alone, because when the people went astray they kept the charge of the sanctuary, i.e. performed the duties of the priestly office Avith fidelity. Zadok was the son of Ahitub, of the line of Eleazar (1 Chron. v. 34, vi. 37, 38), who remained faithful to King David at the rebellion of Absalom (2 Sam. xv. 24 sqq.), and also anointed Solomon as king in opposition to Adonijah the pretender (1 Kings i. 32 sqq.) ; whereas the high priest Abiathar, of the line of Ithamar, took part with Adonijah (1 Kings i. 7, 25), and was deposed from his ofhce by Solomon in consequence, so that now the high-priesthood was in the sole possession of Zadok and his descendants (1 Kings ii. 26, 27, and 35). From this attitude of Zadok toward David, the prince given by the Lord to His people, it may be seen at once that he not only kept aloof from the wandering of the people, but offered a decided opposition thereto, and attended to his office in a manner that was well-pleasing to God. As he received the high -priesthood from Solomon in the place of Abiathar for this fidelity of his, so shall his descendants only be invested with the priestly office in the new temple. For 312 THE rROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. the correct explanation of the words in these verses, however, we must pay particular regard to the clause, '^ who have kept the charge of my sanctuary." This implies, for example, that lineal descent from Zadok alone w^as not sufficient, but that fidelity in tlie service of the Lord must also be added as an indispensable requisite. In vers. 156 and 16 the priestly service is described according to its principal functions at the altar of burnt-offering, and in the holy place at the altar of incense. ''?'^^*^' is the altar of incense (see ch. xli. 22). Vers. 17-31. Eequtsites for the Administration of THE Priests' Office, and the Obligations and Privi- leges OF THAT Office. — Ver. 17. And it shall come to pass, vjhen they go to the gates of the inner court^ they shall j^ut on linen clothes, and no wool shall lie upon thetn, ivhen they serve in the gates of the inner court and serve toiuard the house. Ver. 18. Linen turbans shall he upon their head, and linen drav'ers upon their hips: they shall not gird themselves in sweat. Ver. 19. And ivhen they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall take off their clothes in which they have ministered, and p)ut them in the holy cells, and put on other clothes, that they may not sanctify the people with their clothes. Ver. 20. And they shall not shave their head bald, nor let their hair grow freely ; they shall cut the hair of their head. Ver. 21. And they shall not drink luine, no priest, when they go into the inner court. Ver. 22. And a loidow and a divorced woman they shall not take as wives, but virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, and the icidow icho has become the luidoiv of a priest they may take. Ver. 23. And they shall teach my people, make knou'n to them the difference between holy and common, and betv:een unclean and clean. Ver. 24. And they shall stand to judge concealing disjjutes ; and they shall observe my laivs and my statutes at all my feasts, and sanctify my Sabbaths. Ver. 25. And one shall not go to any corpse of a man to defile himself ; only for father and mother, for son and daughter, for brother, CHAP. XLIV. 17-31. 313 for sister luJio had no husband, may they defile themselves. Ver. 26. And after his purification shall they reckon seven days more to him ; Ver. 27. And on the day ivhen he comes to the holy place, into the inner court, to serve in the holy place, he shall offer his sin-offering, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. — Yer. 28. And so shall it be with their inheritance, that I am their inheritance, ye shall not give them a possession in Israel : I am their possession, Ver. 29. The meat-offering, and the sin- offering, and the trespass-offering, these shall they eat, and every- thing banned in Israel shall belong to them, Ver. 30. And the firstlings of all the first-fruits of everything^ and every heave- offering of everything, of all your heave-offerings, shall belong to the -priests ; and the firstlings of all your ground meal shall ye give to the priest, that a blessing may come down upon thy house. Ver. 31. No carrion nor anything torn in pieces of fowl and of beast shall the priests eat. — To the directions, who are to perforin the service in the new temple, there are appended corresponding instructions concerning the bodily condition in which this service is to be performed, as the bodily condition shadows forth the state of the soul, or the spiritual constitution of the servants of God. The dress prescribed in Ex. xxviii. for the priests to wear during the holy service had this signification. The same rule is here pre- supposed as still in force ; and it is simply renewed and partially emphasized by the enumeration of some of the leading points. At the service at the altar and in the holy place the priests are to wear linen clothes, and, after the performance of the service, they are to take them off again when they go into the outer court (vers. 17-19). In the Mosaic law, ^^*, white byssus, or 13, white linen, is mentioned as the material used for the priests' clothing (Ex. xxviii. 39, 42) ; here the material is more distinctly designated as Q"'^^'3, flax linen; and "i?OV, animal wool, is expressly forbidden, the motive being assigned for this regu- lation, namely, that the priest is not to cause himself to sweat by wearing woollen clothing. Sweat produces uncleanness ; and the priest, by keeping his body clean, is to show even out- 314 THE TROrHECIES OF EZEKIEL. wartlly tliat lie is clean and blameless. With regard to the puttinfT on aiul off of the official clothes, the new iJiorah accords with the Mosaic. For we cannot agree with Kliefoth, who detects a deviation in the fact that, according to Ex. xxviii. 43, the priests were to wear the official clothes only when they entered the tabernacle and when approaching the altar, and, accordinn" to Lev. vi. 4, xvi. 23, were to take them off when the service was ended; whereas, according to ver. 17 of the chapter before us, they were to put them on as soon as they entered the inner court, and were never to come before the people in the official costume. If, according to the ^Mosaic law, the priests were to go before the altar of burnt-offering in the court in their holy official dress, and not otherwise, they must have put on this dress on entering the court ; for they could not wait till they were in front of the altar before they changed their clothes. For the expression ^V\} p^ riN); does not imply that, according to Ezekiel, they were never to appear in the presence of the people in their official costume, as it does not mean '• come before the people," but ^^ go out to the people," or '' walk among the people ; " nor is this involved in the words 'lil ^-"^i?" ^^\ they shall not sanctify the people in their clothes (by their clothes). The latter by no means affirms that they are to sanctify the people by intercourse with them, but are not to do this in official costume ; the meaning is simply that they are not to move among the people in the outer court while wearing their official clothes, that they may not sanctify them by their holy clothes. This sanctification cannot be understood in any other way than as analogous to the rule laid down in the law, that touching most holy sacrificial flesh would sanctify (Lev. vi. 11, 20), which Ezekiel repeats in ch. xlvi. 20, and which does not stand in anything like an isolated position in the law, but is also affirmed in Ex. xxix. 37 and XXX. 21) of the altar of burnt-offering and the vessels of the sanctuary. The same thing which applied to these vessels — namely, that their holiness passed from them to any one CHAP. XLIV. 17-31. 315 who touched them — is here predicated of the holy dresses of the priests ; and the moving of the priests among the people in their holy clothes is forbidden, because such holiness, acquired by contact with holy objects, imposed upon the person to whom it had passed the obligation to guard against all defilement (Lev. xxi. 1-8), which the people could not avoid in the ordinary relations of life, and thus a weakening or abolition of the distinction between things holy and common would in- evitably have ensued, t^lpn riiDj'p are the holy cell-buildings described in ch. xlii. 1-14. — To the clothing there is simply appended in ver. 20 the direction concerning the hair of the head, the natural covering of the head, in relation to which excess on either side is prohibited, either shaving the head bald or wearincr the hair uncut. Both of these were forbidden to the priests in the law : shaving in Lev. xxi. 5, and letting the hair grow freely in Lev. x. 6 ; and the latter was simply imposed upon the Nazarites for the period of their vow (Num. vi. 5). DDZ) only occurs here ; but its meaning, to cut the hair, is obvious from the context. — Ver. 21. The prohibition of the drinking of wine when performing service agrees with Lev. X. 9 ; on the other hand, the instructions concerning the choice of wives are sharpened in ver. 22, as that which only applied to the high priest in the law is here extended to all the priests. In fact, Ezekiel throughout makes no distinction between the high priest and the common priests. In Lev. xxi. 14, marrying a widow is only forbidden to the high priest, who was to marry a virgin of his own people, whereas no such restriction is laid down for the ordinary priests. Here, on the other hand, marrying a widow is forbidden to all the priests, marriage with the widow of a priest being the only one allowed. 1^*39 belongs to '"^J^- ^ '^™? ^^'1^0 bas become the widow of a priest.^ ^ The Rabbins (Targ. Talm. and Masor. according to their accentuation) have endeavoured to obliterate this distinction, by applying tlie first hemistich to the high priest alone, and explaining the second thus: "The widow, who is really a widow, the priest may take," interpreting jnbp by 316 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. In vers. 23 and 24 the general official duties of the priests are mentioned, viz. to teach the people, and to instruct them concerning the difference between the holy and the unholy, the clean and the unclean, as in Lev. x. 10 (cf. Deut. xxxiii. 10 and Ezck. xxil. 2G) ; also to administer justice in questions in dispute according to the rights of God, — a duty v^^hich had already been committed to the priests in its highest form in Deut. xvii. 8 sqq., xix. 17, and xxl. 5. ^"'1 ^V, concerning, in the case of, matters in dispute, tob^p "T??y, to stand to judge, i.e. to appear or act as judge (compare D^LDDb^ TJpvn, to appoint or institute judges, in 2 Cliron. xix. 5). The Keri t^WU? is a needless emendation after 2 Chron. xix. 8. The Chetih V\\2^'p]^ on the other hand, is a copyist's error for int?D^\ Lastly, at all the feasts they are to observe the laws and statutes of Jehovah, that is to say, to perform all the priestly duties binding upon them at the feasts, and to sanctify the Sabbaths, not merely by offering the Sabbath sacrifices, but also by maintaining the Sabbath rest (cf. Lev. xxiii. 3). — In vers. 25-27 there follow regulations concerning defilement from the dead, and its removal. Ver. 25. is a simple repetition of Lev. xxi. 1—3. But the instructions concerning purification from defilement from the dead are sharpened, inasmuch as not only is the purification prescribed by the law (Num. xix. 1 sqq.), and w hich lasted seven days, required (this is meant by i^'JJIf?)? ^^^ a further period of seven days is appointed after these, at the expiration of which the presentation of a sin-offering is demanded before the service in the sanctuary can be resumed. By this demand for a heightened purification, the approach to a corpse permitted to the priests, which was prohibited to the high priest in the Mosaic law, even in the case of father and mother (Lev. xxi. 11), is tolerably equalized. (/iii'lam sacerdotum^ or aliqid ex ordine sacerdotali, or ceteri sacerdotes. But this is contrary to the usage of the language, as pb^ cannot possibly be understood in a partitive sense in this passage, where the priests generally are spoken of, and the plural !inp^ follows. CHAP. XLIV. 17-31. 317 For these duties and obligations of service the priests are to receive corresponding emoluments. These are treated of in vers. 28-31. They are not, indeed, to receive any share of the land as their property in time to come any more than in former times ; but in the place of this Jehovah will be their property and possession, and give them the necessary room for their dwellings from His own property in the land (ch. xlv. 4), and let them draw their maintenance from His altar (vers. 29 and 30). The promise that Jehovah will be the n^nj and njnx of the priests is a simple repetition of the regulation in the law (Num. xviii. 20 ; Deut. xviii. 1, x. 9). So far as the construc- tion in ver. 28a is concerned, the words cn^n: ''JS are really the subject to 'J? on? nn\i"ij which we are obliged to render obliquely, " the inheritance for them shall be, I am their inheritance." For the proposal of Hitzig to take the words from Dri7m ^JS to the close of the verse as a parenthesis, and to regard 'lJ1 '^'7?^'? in ver. 29a as the subject to '1J^ •^??v'1, is untenable, not only on account of the great harshness which such a parenthesis would involve, but principally because these portions of the sacrifices and heave-offerings which belonged to the priest were not a npnj, and are never designated as n^n^^ inheritance, i,e. property in land. Ver. 28 treats of the property in land, which God assigned to the Levites and priests under the Mosaic economy, by appoint- ing them towns to dwell in, with meadows for the feeding of their cattle, within the territory of the other tribes, but would assign to them in future from the heave-offering set apart from the land for the sanctuary (ch. xlv. 4). It is not till vers. 29 and 30 that the means of support for the priests are spoken of. They are to be supported from the sacrifices and the tithes and first-fruits which Israel has to pay to Jehovah as the lord of the land, and which He transfers to His servants the priests. For the priests' share of the meat-offering, sin-offering, and trespass- offering, see Lev. ii. 3, vi. 9, 11, 19, vii. 6, 7 ; for that which is put under the ban. Lev. xxvii. 21 ; for the first-fruits, Ex. xxiii. 19, xxxiv. 26, Deut. xviii. 4, Num. xviii. 13; for the 318 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. nionn, Num. xv. 19, xvlii. 19; for tlie nionj; nyj:!, Num. xv. 20,21. Ill '"1^1 O'^'^r', "to cause a blessing to rest upon thy house," the individual Israelite is addressed. For the fact itself, see Mai. iii. 10. — To the enumeration of the means of support there is appended in ver. 31 an emphatic repetition of the command in Lev. xxii. 8, not to eat of any dead thing (i.e. anything tiiat has died a natural death), or anything torn to pieces, either of birds or beasts, on account of its defiling (Lev. xvii. 15). Chap. xlv. 1-17. The Holy Heave of the Land and the IJeave-ojfe rings of the People. The determination of the means of support for the priesthood is followed still further by an explanation of the manner in which Jehovah will be their inheritance and possession ; in other words, assign to the priests and Levites that portion of the land which was requisite for their abode. This is to be done by His causing a definite tract of land to be set apart for Himself, for the sanctuary, and for His servants, and for the capital, when the country is distributed among the tribes of Israel (vers. 1-8). On both sides of this domain the prince is also to receive a possession in land, to guard against all exaction on the part of the princes in time to come. And everywhere unrighteousness is to cease, just weight and measure are to be observed (vers. 9-12), and the people are to pay certain heave- offerings to provide for the sacrifices binding upon the prince (vers. U-ll). Vers. 1-8. The Holy Heave from the Land. — Ver. 1. And when ye divide the land by lot for an inheritance, ye shall lift a heave for Jehovah as a holy {portion) from the land; five and twenty thousand the lengthy and the breadth ten (? twenty) thousand. It shall be holy in all its circumference round about, Ver. 2. Of this five hundred shall belong to the Holy by five hundred square round about, and fifty cubits open space thereto CHAP. XLV. 1-8. 319 round about, Ver. 3. And from this measured f^pace thou shalt measure a length of Jive and twenty thousand^ and a breadth of ten thousand^ and in this shall be the sanctuary^ a holy of holies. Ver. 4. A holy {portion) of the land shall this be; to the priests, the servants of the sanctuary, shall it belong who draio near to serve Jehovah, and it shall be to them the place for houses and a sanc- tuary for the sanctuary, Yer. 5. And Jive and twenty thousand in le)igth and ten tliousand in breadth shall belong to the Levites, the servants of the house, for a possession to them as gates to dwell in. Yer. 6. And as a possession for the city, ye shall give Jive thousand in breadth and Jive and twenty thousand in length, parallel to the holy heave ; it shall belong to the whole house oj Israel. Yer. 7. And to the prince (ye shall give) on both sides of the holy heave and of the possession of the city, along the holy heave and along the possession of the city, on the west side west- wards and on the east side eastwards, and in length parallel to one of the tribe-portions, from the western border to the eastern border. Yer. 8. It shall belong to him as land, as a possession in Israel ; and my princes shall no more oppress my people, but shall leave the land to the house of Israel according to its tribes. — The domain to be first of all set apart from the land at the time of its distribution among the tribes is called nf^iin, heave, not in the general sense of the lifting or taking of a portion from the whole, but as a portion lifted or taken by a person from his property as an offering for God ; for T\'cr\T\ comes from D''")^, which signifies in the case of the minchah the lifting of a portion which was burned upon the altar as nnsTX for Jehovah (see the comm. on Lev. ii. 9). Consequently everything that was offered by the Israelites, either voluntarily or in consequence of a precept from the Lord for the erection and maintenance of the sanc- tuary and its servants, was called n^™ (see Ex. xxv. 2 sqq., XXX. 15; Lev. vii. 14; Num. xv. 19, etc.). Only the principal instructions concerning the heave from the land are given here, and these are repeated in ch. xlviii. 8-22, in the section con- cerning the division of the land, and to some extent expanded 320 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. there. The introductory words, " when ye divide the land by lot for an inheritance," point to this. (See the map on Plate IV.) h'Erjj sc. ^l'^^ (Prov. i. 14), to cast the lot, to divide by lot, as in Josh. xiii. 6. Then shall ye lift, set apart, a heave for Jeliovah as a holy (portion) from the land, pijn |p is to be closely connected with sr'JP, as shown by ver. 4. In the numbers mentioned the measure to be employed is not given. But it is obvious that cubits are not meant, as Bottcher, Hitzig, and others assume, but rods ; partly from a comparison of ver. 2 with ch. xlii. IG, where the space of the sanctuary, which is given here as 500 by 500 square, is described as five hundred rods on every side ; and partly also from the fact that the open space around the sanctuary is fixed at fifty cubits, and in this case n?2S is added, because rods are not to be understood there as in connection with the other numbers. The correctness of this view, which we meet with in Jerome and Raschi, cannot be overthrown by appealing to the excessive magnitude of a re/iei'o? of twenty-five thousand rods in length and ten thousand rods in breadth ; for it will be seen in ch. xlviii. that the mea- surements given answer to the circumstances in rods, but not in cubits. The T!^ before and after the number is pleonastic : " as for the length, twenty-five thousand rods in length." Length here is the measurement from east to west, and breadth from north to south, as we may clearly see from ch. xlviii. 10. No regard, therefore, is paid to the natural length and breadth of the land; and the greater extent of the portions to be measured is designated as length, the smaller as breadth. The expression ^2^ nnb^j; is a remarkable one, as C3"'D7^? nib^y is con- stantly used, not only in vers. 3 and 5, but also in ch. xlviii. 9, 10, 13, 18. The LXX. have eUocn '^^^bkiaha^y twenty thousand breadth. This reading appears more correct than the Masoretic, as it is demanded by vers. 3 and 5. For according to ver. 3, of the portion measured in ver. 1 twenty-five thousand rods in length and ten thousand in breadth were to be measured for the sanctuary and for the priests' land; and according to ver. 5, CHAP. XLV. 1-8. 321 the Levites were also to receive twenty- five thousand rods in length and ten thousand in breadth for a possession. The first clause of ver. 3 is unintelligible if the breadth of the holy terumah is given in ver. 1 as only ten thousand rods, inasmuch as one cannot measure off from an area of twenty-five thousand rods in length and ten thousand rods in breadth another space of the same length and breadth. Moreover, ver. 1 requires the reading ^^^? ^''I'f |^, as the " holy terumah " is not only the portion set apart for the sanctuary and the priests' land, but also that w^hich was set apart for the Levites. According to ch. xlviii. 14, this was also "holy to Jehovah;" whereas the portion measured off for the city was " common" (ch. xlviii. 15). This is borne out by the fact that in the chapter before us the domain appointed for the city is distinguished from the land of the priests and Levites by the verb ^^^^ (ver. 6), whilst the description of the size of the Levites' land in ver. 5 is closely connected with that of the land of the priests ; and further, that in ver. 7, in the description of the land of the prince, reference is made only to the holy terumah and the possession of the city, from which it also follows that the land of the Levites is included in the holy terumah. Consequently ver. 1 treats of the whole of the ^'^'p rio^in, i.e. the land of the priests and Levites, which was twenty-five thousand rods long and twenty thousand rods broad. This is designated in the last clause of the verse as a holy (portion) in its entire circumference, and then divided into two domains in vers. 2 and 3. — Ver. 2. Of this (TO, of the area measured in ver. 1) there shall come, or belong, to the holy, i.e. to the holy temple domain, five hundred rods square, namely, the domain measured in ch. xlii. 15-20 round about the temple, for a separation between holy and common ; and round this domain there is to be a t^'^'^P, i.e. an open space of fifty cubits on every side, that the dwellings of the priests may not be built too near to the holy square of the temple building. — Ver. 3. nNin ^'^tpT^, this measure {i.e. this measured piece of land), also points back to ver. 1, and IP can- EZEK. II. X 322 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEU not be taken in any other sense than in njp (ver. 2). From the whole tract of land measured in ver. 1 a portion is to be measured off twenty-five thousand rods in length and ten thousand rods in breadth, in which the sanctuary, i.e. the temple with its courts, is to stand as a holy of holies. This domain, in the midst of which is the temple, is to belong to the priests, as the sanctified portion of the land, as the place or space for their houses, and is to be a sanctuary for the sanctuary, i.e. for the temple. Ver. 5. A portion equally large is to be measured off to the Levites, as the temple servants, for their possession. The Keri ^]'^\ is formed after the n^m of ver. 4, and the Chetih n'H^ is indisputably correct. There is great difficulty in the last words of this verse, ribt^p D^■)t^'y, " for a possession to them twenty cells;" for which the LXX. give avTOL<; et? Kardcr'^eaiv 7ro\et9 Tov KarotKelv, and which they have therefore read, or for which they have substituted by conjecture, ^^^^ Ci''iy. We cannot, in fact, obtain from the Hb^'p 2^*?^'^ of the Masoretic text any meaning that will harmonize with the context, even if we render the words, as Rosenmiiller does, in opposition to the grammar, cum viginti cuhicidis, and understand by ribe^p capacious cell-buildings. For we neither expect to find in this connection a description of the number and character of the buildings in which the Levites lived, nor can any reason be imagined why the Levites, with a domain of twenty-five thou- sand rods in length and ten thousand rods in breadth assigned to them, should live together in twenty cell-buildings. Still less can we think of the " twenty cells" as having any connec- tion with the thirty cells in the outer court near to the gate- buildings (ch. xl. 17, 18), as these temple cells, even though they were appointed for the Levites during their service in the temple, were not connected in any way with the holy terumah spoken of here. Iliivernick's remark, that ^' the prophet has in his eye the priests' cells in the sanctuary, — and the dwellings of the Levites during their service, which were only on the outside of the sanctuary, were to correspond to these," is not indicated CHAP. XLV. 1-8, 323 in the slightest degree by the words, but is a mere conjecture. There is no other course open, therefore, than to acknowledge a corruption of the text, and either to alter r\:i\yh onby into r\2^^ ^''^Vf', as Hitzig proposes (cf. Num. xxxv. 2, 3 ; Josh. xxi. 2), or to take D''"ib*y as a mistake for ^^'IT^* : " for a posses- sion to them as gates to dwell in," according to the frequent use of D^")Vy*, gates, for D^")y, cities, e.g. in what was almost a standing plirase, "the Levite who is in thy gates" ( = cities; Deut. xii. 18, xlv. 27, xvi. 11 ; cf. Ex. xx. 10 ; Dent. v. 14, etc.). In that case the faulty reading would have arisen from tlie transposition of C^y into VS:^, and the change of 3 into d. Beside the holy terumah for sanctuary, priests, and Levites, they are also (ver. 6) to give a tract of twenty-five thousand rods in length and five thousand rods in breadth as the pro- perty of the city (i.e. of the capital). n^Vp : parallel to the holy heave, i.e. running by the longer side of it. This portion of land, which was set apart for the city, was to belong to all Israel, and not to any single tribe. The more precise direc- tions concerning this, and concerninoj the situation of the whole terumah in the land, are not given till ch. xlviii. 8-22. Here, in the present chapter, this heave is simply mentioned in con- nection with the privileges which the servants of the Lord and of His sanctuary were to enjoy. These included, in a certain sense, also the property assigned to the prince in ver. 7 as the head of the nation, on whom the provision of the sacrifices for the nation devolved, and who, apart from this, also needed for his subsistence a portion of the land, which should be peculiarly his own, in accordance with his rank. They were to give him as his property (the verb 'JJrin is to be supplied to ^<^^3p from ver. 6) the land on this side and that side of the holy terumah and of the city-possession, and that in front (V.?'-'?) of these two tracts of land, that is to say, adjoining them, extending to their boundaries, 'li1 DJ HNSip, " from " (z.^., according to our view, " upon ") the west side westward, and from (upon) the east side eastward; in other words, the land which remained on o24 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. tlie eastern and western boundary of the holy terwnah and of the city domain, both toward the west as far as the Mediter- ranean Sea, and toward the east as far as the Jordan, the two boundaries of the future Canaan. The further definition '•.:i nitry^ •i")N1 is not quite clear; but the meaning of the words is, that ^^ the lengtli of the portions of land to be given to the prince on the east and west side of the terwnah shall be equal to the length of one of the tribe-portions," and not that the j)ortions of land belonging to the prince are to be just as long from north to south as the lencrth of one of the twelve tribe- o possessions. "Length" throughout this section is the extent from east to west. It is so in the case of all the tribe-territories (cf. ch. xlviii. 8), and must be taken in this sense in connection with the portion of land belonging to the prince also. The meaning is therefore this ; in length (from east to west) these portions shall be parallel to the inheritance of one of the twelve tribes from the w^estern boundary to the eastern. Two things are stated here : first, that the prince's portion is to extend on the eastern and western sides of the terumah as far as the boundary of the land allotted to the tribes, i.e, on the east to the Jordan, and on the west to the Mediterranean (cf. ch. xlviii. 8) ; and secondly, that on the east and west it is to run parallel (HiDi^p) to the length of the separate tribe- territories, i.e. not to reach farther toward either north or south than the terumah lying between, but to be bounded by the long sides of the tribe-territories which bound the terumah on the north and south. T]ix is the accusative of direction ; Tji<^ some one (cf. Judg. xvi. 7 ; Ps. Ixxxii. 7).— In ver. 8, P.^^J^ with the article is to be retained, contrary to Ilitzig's conjecture p.^r* : " to the land belonging to him as a possession shall it (the portion marked off in ver. 7) be to him." pN*, as in 1 Kings xi. 18, of ])roperty in land. In ver. 8^, the motive for these instructions is given. The former kin^, having acquired the name of shekel in the course of time, as the most widely- spread silver coin of the larger size. A hundred such shekels or bekas made only fifty ^losaic shekels, which amounted to one mina; while sixty minas also formed one talent (see my Blbl. ArchdoL II. pp. 135, 136). — But the words of the second half of the verse before us cannot be brought into harmony with this proportion, take them how we will. If, for example, we add the three numbers together, 20 + 25 + 15 shekels shall the mina be to you, Ezekiel would fix the mina at sixty shekels. But no reason whatever can be found for such an alteration of the proportion between the mina and the talent on the one hand, or the shekel on the other, if the shekel and talent were to remain unchanged. And even apart from this, the division of the sixty into twenty, twenty-five, and fifteen still remains 328 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. incxpllcaLlc, and can liardly be satisfactorily accounted for in the manner proposed by the Rabbins, namely, that there were pieces of monev in circulation of the respective weights of twenty twentv-five, and fifteen shekels, for the simple reason that no historical trace of the existence of any such pieces can be found, apart from the passage before us.^ And the other attempts that have been made to explain the difficult words are not satisfactory. The explanation given by Cocceius and J. D. ^lichaelis (Supplem. ad lex. p. 1521), that three different minas are mentioned, — a smaller one of fifteen Mosaic shekels, a medium size of twenty shekels, and a large one of twenty- fjve, — is open to the objection justly pointed out by Bertheau, that in an exact definition of the true weight of anything we do not expect three magnitudes, and the purely arbitrary assumption of three different minas is an obvious subterfuge. The same thing applies to Hitzig's explanation, that the triple division, twenty, twenty-five, and fifteen shekels, has reference to the three kinds of metal used for coinage, viz. gold, silver, ' It is true tliat Const. I'Empereur has observed, in the Discursus ad Lectnrem prefixed to the Paraphras'is Joseph. Jackiadae in Danielem, that '* as God desired that justice should be pieserv^ed in all things, He noticed the various coins, and commanded that they should have their just weight. One coin, according to Jewish testimony, was of twenty shekels, a second of twenty-five, and a third of fifteen shekels ; and as these together made one mina, according to the command of God, in order that it might be Tnanifc'st that each had its proper quantity, He directed that they shou]n, that which is fixed or established, i.e. the proper quantity, ^^^tf'n nzin is in apposition to ip^n (for the article, see the comm. on cli. xliii. 21), the fixed quantity of oil, namely of the bath of oil, — i.e. the measure of that which is to be contributed from the oil, and that from the bath of oil, — shall be the tenth part of the bath from the cor, i.e. the hundredth part of the year's crop, as the cor contained ten buths. The cor is not mentioned in the preceding words CHAP. XLV. 13-17. 331 (ver. 11), nor does it occur in the Mosaic law. It is another name for the homer, which is met with for tlie first time in the writings of the captivity (1 Kings v. 2, 25 ; 2 Chron. ii. 9, xxvii. 5). For this reason its capacity is explained by the words which are appended to lisp : 'iJI D'^rinn nnb'j;, from the cor (namely) of ten baths, one homer; and the latter definition is still further explained by the clause, ^' for ten baths are one homer." — Ver. 15. ^i;)L^•D?pJ from the watered soil (cf. Gen. xiii. 10), that is to say, not a lean beast, but a fat one, which has been fed upon good pasture. ^[}^)!V. ""r??? indicates the general purpose of the sacrifices (yid. Lev. i. 4). — Ver. 16. The article in oyn^ as in nzin in ver. 14. 7i^ ^^^^ to be, i.e. to belong, to anything — in other words, to be held to it, under obligation to do it ; pV HM (ver. 17), on the other hand, to be upon a person, i.e. to devolve upon him. In nj;iD"PDZi the feast and days of festival, which have been previously men- tioned separately, are all grouped together. 'iJl HX^^nn ns ntv, to furnish the sin-offering, etc., i.e. to supply the materials for them. So far as the fact is concerned, the Mosaic law makes no mention of any contributions to the sanctuary, with the ex- ception of the first-born, the first-fruits and the tithes, which could be redeemed with money, however. Besides these, it was only on extraordinary occasions — e.g. the building of the tabernacle — that the people were called upon for freewill heave-offerings. But the Mosaic law contains no regulation as to the sources from which the priests were to meet the demands for the festal sacrifices. So far, the instructions in the verses before us are new. What had formerly been given for this object as a gift of spontaneous love, is to become in the future a regular and established duty, to guard against that arbitrary and fitful feeling from which the worship of God might suffer injury. — To these instructions there are appended, from ver. lii onwards, the regulations concerning the sacrifices to be offered at the different festivals. 332 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Chap. xlv. 18-xlvi. 15. Instructions concerning the Festal and Daily Sacrifices. The series commences with the sin-offerings in the first month (ch. xlv. 18-20). Then follow the sacrifices at the Passover and feast of tabernacles (vers. 21-25), in connection with which a way and a standing-place in the temple are assigned to the prince and the people during the offering of these sacrifices (ch. xlvi. 1-3). After these we have the burnt- offerings on the Sabbaths and new moons (ch. xlvi. 4-7), and once more a direction with regard to their entrance and exit wiicn the prince and the people come to the temple at the yearly festivals (vers. 8—10) ; also the meat-offerings at the feasts (ver. 11), to which there is appended a direction with regard to the freewill-offerings of the prince (ver. 12); and, finally, the instructions concerning the daily burnt-offering and meat-offering (vers. 13-15). Vers. 18-20. The Sin-offertngs in the First Month. — Ver. 18. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah^ In the first (month), on the first of the month, thou shalt take a bullock, a young ox ivitliout blemish, and absolve the sanctuary. Ver. 19. And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin-ofering, and put it upon the door-posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the enclosure of the altar, and upon the door-posts at the gate of the inner court. Ver. 20. And so shalt thou do on the seventh of the month, for the sake of erring men and of folly, that so ye may make atonement for the house. — Tiie Mosaic law had prescribed for the new moons generally the sin-offering of a he-goat, in addition to the burnt-offerings and meat-offerings (Num. xxviii. 15) ; and, besides this, had also distinguished the new-moon's day of the seventh month by a special feast-offering to be added to the regular new -moon's sacrifices, and consisting of a sin-offering of a he-goat, and burnt-offerings and meat-offerings (Num. xxix. 2-6). This CHAP. XLV. 18-20. 333 distinguishing of the seventh month by a special new-moon's sacrifice is omitted in Ezekiel ; but in the place of it the first month is distinguished by a sin-offering to be presented on the first and seventh days. Nothing is said in vers. 18-20 about burnt-offerings for these days ; but as the burnt-offering is appointed in ch. xlvi. 6, 7 for the new-moon's day without any limitation, and the regulations as to the connection between the meat-offering and the burnt-offerings are repeated in ch. xlvi. 11 for the holy days and feast days (DnyiD^ D^an) generally, and the new-moon's day is also reckoned among the on^^i^, there is evidently good ground for the assumption that the burnt- offering and meat-offering prescribed for the new moon in ch. xlvi. 6, 7 were also to be offered at the new moon of the first month. On the other hand, no special burnt-offering or meat-offering is mentioned for the seventh day of the first month ; so that in all probability only the daily burnt-offering and meat-offering were added upon that day (ch. xlvi. 13 sqq.) to the sin-offering appointed for it. Moreover, the sin-offerings prescribed for the first and seventh days of the first month are distinguished from the sin-offerings of the Mosaic law, partly by the animal selected (a young bullock), and partly by the disposal of the blood. According to the Mosaic law, the sin- offering for the new moons, as well as for all the feast days of the year, the Passover, Pentecost, day of trumpets, day of atonement, and feast of tabernacles (all eight days), was to be a he-goat (Num. xxviii. 15, xxii. 30, xxix. 5, 11, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, 38). Even the sin-offering for the congrega- tion of Israel on the great day of atonement simply consisted in a he-goat (or two he-goats. Lev. xvi. 5) ; and it was only for the sin-offering for the high priest, whether on that day (Lev. xvi. 3), or when he had sinned so as to bring guilt upon the nation (Lev. iv. 3), or when the whole congregation had sinned (Lev. iv. 14), that a bullock was required. On the other hand, according to Ezekiel, the sin-offering both on the first and seventh days of the first month, and also the one to 334 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. be broiifjlit by the prince on tlie fourteenth day of that month, i.e. on the day of the feast of Passover (ch. xlv. 22), for himself and for all the people, were to consist of a bullock, and only the sin-offering on the seven days of the feasts of Passover and tabernacles of a he-goat (ch. xlv. 23, 25). The Mosaic law contains no express instructions concerning the sprinkling of the blood of the sin-offering at the new moons and feasts (with the exception of the great atoning sacrifice on the day of atonement), because it was probably the same as in the case of the sin-offerings for the high priest and the whole congregation, when the blood was first of all to be sprinkled seven times against the curtain in front of the capporeth, and then to be applied to the horns of the altar of incense, and the remainder to be poured out at the foot of the altar of burnt-offering (Lev. iv. 6, 7, 17, 18) ; whereas, in the case of the great atoning sacrifice on the day of atonement, some of the blood was first of all to be sprinkled at or upon the front side of the capporeth and seven times upon the ground, and after that it was to be applied to the horns of the altar of incense and of the altar of burnt-offering (Lev. xvi. 15-17). But according to Ezekiel, some of the blood of the sin-offerings on the first and seventh days of the first month, and certainly also on the same days of the feasts of Passover and tabernacles, was to be smeared upon the posts of the house — that is to say, the posts mentioned in ch. xli. 21, not merely those of the ^5^n, the door into the holy place, but also those of the t^'lP, the door leading into the most holy place, upon the horns and the four corners of the enclosure of the altar of burnt-offering (ch. xliii. 20), and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court. It is a point in dispute here whether "^>*nn "iVt;^ is only one door, and in that case whether the east gate of the inner court is to be understood as in ch. xlvi. 2 (WC" ^I^TD), as Hitzig and others suppose, or whether "ly*^ is to be taken in a collective sense as signifying the three gates of the inner court (Kliefoth and others). The latter view is favoured by the collective use of CHAP. XLV. 21-25. 335 the word ^V^^^ by itself, and also by the circumstance that if only one of the three gates were intended, the statement which of the three would hardly have been omitted (cf. ch. xlvi. 1, xliv. 1, etc.). — According to ver. 18, these sin-offerings were to serve for the absolving of the sanctuary ; and according to ver. 20, to make atonement for the temple on account of error or folly. Both directions mean the same thing. The recon- ciliation of the temple was effected by its absolution or purifi- cation from the sins that had come upon it through the error and folly of the people. Sins njjti^3 are sins occasioned by the weakness of flesh and blood, for which expiation could be made by sin-offerings (see the comm. on Lev. iv. 2 and Num. XV. 22 sqq.). n^b^ ^^^^, lit. away from the erring man, i.e. to release him from his sin. This expression is strengthened by ^^?Pj away from simplicity or folly ; here, as in Prov. vii. 7, as ahstractum pro concreto, the simple man. — The great expiatory sacrifice on the day of atonement answered the same purpose, the absolution of the sanctuary from the sins of the people committed 'IJJ^'? (Lev. xvi. 16 sqq.). Vers. 21-25. Sacrifices at the Passover and Feast OF Tabernacles. — Ver. 21. In the first (month), on the four- teenth day of the month, ye shall keep the Passover, a feast of a full week; unleavened shall be eaten. Ver. 22. Arid the prince shall prepare on that day for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock as a sin-offering. Ver. 23. And for the seven days of the feast he shall prepare as a burnt-offering for Jehovah seven bullocks and seven rams ivithout blemish daily, the seven days, and as a sin-offering a he-goat daily. Ver. 24. And as a meat-offering, he shall prepare an ephah for the bullock^ and an ephah for the ram, and a hin of oil for the ephah. Ver. 25. In the seventh {montli), on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast he shall do the same for seven days with regard to the sin-offering, as also the burnt- offering, and the meat-offering, as also the oil. — In the words, " shall the 336 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Passover be to you,*' there lies tlie thought that the Passover is to be celebrated in the manner appointed in Ex. xii., with the paschal meal in the evening of the 14th Ablb. — There is con- siderable difficulty connected with the following words, Jn D^rp" niy^'J*, which all the older translators Jiave rendered " a feast of seven days." r\)]}2^ signifies periods of seven days or weeks. A feast of heptads of days, or weeks of days, cannot possibly mean a feast which lasted only seven days, or a week. nivp'J' 3n is used elsewhere for the feast of weeks (Ex. xxxiv. 22 ; Deut. xvi. 10), because they were to reckon seven weeks from the second day of the Passover, the day of the sheaf of first- fruits, and then to keep the feast of the loaves of first-fruits, or the feast of harvest (Deut. xvi. 9). Kliefotli retains this well- established meaning of the words in this passage also, and gives the following explanation : If the words T))V2f Jn stood alone without 2"''^;, it would mean that in future the Passover was to be kept like the feast of seven weeks, as the feast of the loaves of first-fruits. But the addition of D^pj, which is to be taken in the same sense as in Dan. x. 2, 3, Gen. xxix.' 14, etc., gives this turn to the thought, that in future the Passover is to be kept as a feast of seven weeks long, " a feast lasting seven weeks." According to this explanation, the meaning of the regulation is, " that in future not only the seven days of sweet loaves, but the whole of the seven weeks intervening between the feast of the wave-sheaf and the feast of the wave-loaves^ was to be kept as a Passover, that the whole of the quinqua- gesima should be one Easter ^n^ and the feast of weeks be one with the Passover." To this there is appended the further regulation, that unleavened bread is to be eaten, not merely for the seven days therefore, but for the whole of the seven weeks, till the feast of the loaves of first-fruits. This explanation is a very sagacious one, and answers to the Christian view of the Easter-tide. But it is open to objections which render it untenable. In the first place, that D^p;, when used in the sense of lasting for days, is not usually connected with the preceding CHAP. XLV. 21-25. noun in the construct state, but is attaclied as an adverbial accusative ; compare lI^^I ^^^y^ n'j'rj^ in Dan. x. 2, 3, and D^p; D^nj^ in Gen. xli.l, Jer. xxviii. 3, 11, etc. But a still more important objection is the circumstance that the words ^^[} '^1 ^}^^^ in ver. 23 unquestionably point back to nSvy^ Jn Q''p;, as there is no other way in which the article in Jnn can be explained, just as i^^^^ D^*3 in ver. 22 points back to the four- teenth day mentioned in ver. 21 as the time of the pesach feast. It follows from this, however, that D'?3^ niync^ can only sio-nify a seven days' feast. It is true that the plural niyn*^ appears irreconcilable with this ; for Kimchi's opinion, that niy3*j^ is a singular, written with Cholem instead of Fatach, is purely a result of perplexity, and the explanation given by Gussetius, that Ezekiel speaks in the plural of weeks, because the refer- ence is " to the institution of the Passover as an annual festival to be celebrated many times in the series of times and ages," is no better. The plural niya^ must rather be taken as a plural of genus, as in ^yj, Gen. xiii. 12 and Judg. xii. 7; ins, Gen, xix. 29 ; or D'^ii, Gen. xxi. 7, Isa. xxxvii. 3 ; so that Ezekiel speaks indefinitely of heptads of days, because he assumes that the fact is well known that the feast only lasted one heptad of days, as he expressly states in ver. 23. If this explanation of the plural does not commend itself, we must take Hlyrc' as a copyist's error for ^V^C^^ feast of a heptad of days, i.e. a feast lasting a full week, and attribute the origin of this copyist's error to the fact that ^VT^^ in naturally suggested the thoutrht of niyn'w' :n, feast of weeks, or Pentecost, not merely because the feast of Pentecost is always mentioned in the Pentateuch along with the feasts of Passover and tabernacles, but also because the only singular form of T\)^2\y that we meet with elsewhere is H^u* (Dan. ix. 27), or in the construct state V2y (Gen. xxix. 27), not ^V^f and ri>'3i>*. — The word npan is used here as in Deut. xvi. 1, 2, so that it includes the seven days' feast of unleavened bread. The Niphal ''3X'' is construed with the accusative in the olden style : mazzotJt shall men eat. — In EZEK. II. Y 338 inn rnoniECiES of ezekiel. vers. 22 and 2?) there follow tlie regulations concerning tlie sacrifices of tliis festival, and first of all concerning the sin- offering to be presented on the fourteenth day, on the evening of which the paschal lamb was slaughtered and the paschal meal was held (ver. 22). The Mosaic legislation makes no allusion to tliis, but simply speaks of festal sacrifices for the seven davs of niazzoth, the 15th to the 21st Abib (Lev. xxiii. 5-8; Xum. xxviii. l(i-25), with regard to which fresh regula- tions are also given here. The Mosaic law prescribes for each of these seven days as burnt-offerings two bullocks, a ram, and seven yearling lambs, as a meat-offering; three-tenths of an ephah of meal mixed with oil for each bullock, two-tenths for the ram, and one-tenth for each lamb, and a he-goat for the sin-offering (Num. xxviii. 19-22). The new law for the feasts, on the other hand, also requires, it is true, only one he-goat daily for a sin-offering on the seven feast days, but for the dailv burnt-offerings seven bullocks and seven rams each ; and for the meat-offering, an ephah of meal and a hin of oil for every bullock and for every ram. In the new ihorah, therefore, the burnt-offerings and meat-offerings are much richer and more copious, and the latter in far greater measure than the former. — Ver. 25. The same number of sacrifices is to be offered throughout the feast of seven days falling upon the fifteenth day of the seventh month. This feast is the feast of tabernacles, but the name is not mentioned, doubtless because the practice of living in tabernacles (booths) would be dropped in the time to come. And even with regard to the sacrifices of this feast, the new tJiorah differs greatly from the old. Accord- ing to the Mosaic law, there were to be offered, in addition to the daily sin-offering of a he-goat, seventy bullocks in all as burnt-offerings for the seven days ; and these were to be so distributed that on the first day thirteen were to be offered, and the number was to be reduced by one on each of the following days, so that there would be only seven bullocks upon the seventh day; moreover, every day two rams and CHAF. XLVI. 1-7. 339 fourteen yearling lambs were to be offered, together with the requisite quantity of meal and oil for a meat-offering ac- cording to the number of the animals (Num. xxix. 12-34). According to Ezekiel, on the other hand, the quantity of provision made for the sacrifices remained the same as that appointed for the feast of Passover ; so that the whole cost of the burnt-offerings and meat-offerings did not reach the amount required by the Mosaic law. In addition to all this, there was an eighth day observed as a closing festival in the Mosaic feast of tabernacles, with special sacrifices; and this also is w^anting in Ezekiel. — But the followinfr is still more important than the points of difference just mentioned: Ezekiel only mentions the two yearly feasts of seven days in the first and seventh months, and omits not only the Pentecost, or feast of weeks, but also the day of trumpets, on the first of the seventh month, and the day of atonement on the tenth ; from which we must infer that the Israel of the future would keep only the two first named of all the yearly feasts. The correctness of this conclusion Is placed beyond the reach of doubt by the fact that he practically transfers the feasts of the day of trumpets and of the day of atonement, which were preparatory to the feast of tabernacles, to the first month, by the appointment of special sin-offerings for the first and seventh days of that month (vers. 18-20), and of a sin-offering on the day of the paschal meal (ver. 22). This essentially transforms the idea which lies at the foundation of the cycle of Mosaic feasts, as we intend subsequently to show, when discussing the meaning and signi- ficance of the whole picture of the new kingdom of God, as shown in ch. xl.-xlviii. Chap. xlvi. 1-15. Sacrifices for the Sahhath and New Moon^ Freewill- Offerings^ and Daily Sacrifices. Vers. 1-7. Sacrifices for the Sabbath and New ^Ioon. — As, according to ch. xlv. 17, It devolved upon the prince to provide and bring the sacrifices for himself and the house of 340 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Israel ; after tlie appointment of the sacrifices to be offered at the yearly feasts (cli. xlv. 18-25), and before the regulation of tiie sacrifices for the Sabbath and new moon (ch. xlvi. 4-7), directions are given as to the conduct of the prince at the offering of these sacrifices (ch. xlvi. 1-3). For although the slau'Thtcrini; and preparation of the sacrifices for the altar devolved upon the priests, the prince was to be present at the offering of the sacrifices to be provided by him, whereas the ])eople were under no obligation to appear before the Lord in the temple except at the yearly feasts. Ver. 1. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The gate of the inner court, which looks toward the east, shall he shut the six working daysy and on the Sahhath it shall he opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall he opened. Ver. 2. And the prince shall come hy the xcay to the porch of the gate from icithout, and stand at the posts of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his hurnt- offering and his peace-offerings, and he shall worship on the threshold of the gate and then go out ; hut the gate shall not he shut till the evening. Ver. 3. And the people of the land si tall iv or ship at the entrance of that gate on the Sabhaths and on the new moons hefore Jehovah. Ver. 4. And the hurnt-offering which the prince shall offer to Jehovah shall consist on the Sabbath-day of six lambs without blemish and a ram icithout blemish ; Ver. 5. And as a meat-offering, an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs as a meat- offering that ivhich his hand may give, and of oil a hi?! to the epltah {of meal). Ver. G. And on the day of the new moon there shall he a bullock, a young ox icithout blemish, and six lambs and a ram without blemish ; Ver. 7. And lie shallput an ephah for the bullock and an ephah for the ram for the meat-offering^ and for the lambs as much as his hand affords, and of oil a hin for the ephah. — Vers. 1-3 supply and explain the instructions given in ch. xhv. 1-3 concerninix the outer eastern c-ate. As the east gate of the outer court (ch. xliv. 1), so also the east gate of the inner court was to remain closed durinir the six work- ing days, and only to be opened on the Sabbaths and new CHAP. XLVI. 1-7. 341 moons, when it was to remain open till the evening. The prince was to enter this inner east gate, and to stand there and worship upon the threshokl while his sacrifice was being pre- pared and offered. '^V^[} ^^^^ 'HT!'!] ^^^ is to be taken as in ch. xliv. 3 ; but K^np, which is appended, is not to be referred to the entrance into the inner court, as the statement would be quite superfluous so far as this is concerned, since any one who was not already in the inner court must enter the gate-building of the inner court from without, or from the outer court. The meaning of pnp is rather that the prince w^as to enter, or to go to, the gate porch of the inner court through the outer east gate. There he was to stand at the posts of the gate and worship on the threshold of the gate during the sacrificial ceremony ; and when this was over he was to go out again, namely, by the same way by which he entered (ch. xliv. 3). But the people who came to the temple on the Sabbaths and new moons were to worship nri3j i.e. at the entrance of this gate, outside the threshold of the gate. Kliefoth is wrong in taking nns) in the sense of through the doorway, as signifying that the people were to remain in front of the outer east gate, and to worship looking at the temple through this gate and through the open gate between. For ^^^^^ nVu^n, this gate, can only be the gate of the inner court, which has been already mentioned. There is no force in the consideration which has led Kliefoth to overlook ^inn, and think of the outer gate, namely, that " it would be unnatural to suppose that the people were to come into the outer court through the outer north and south gates, whilst the outer east gate remained shut (or perhaps more correctly, was opened for the prince), and so stand in front of the inner court," as it is impossible to see what there is that is unnatural in such a supposition. On the other hand, it is unnatural to assume that the people, who, according to ver. 9, were to come through the north and south gates into the outer court at all the DnyiD to appear before Jehovah, were not allowed to enter the court upon the Sabbaths and new moons if they should wish to 342 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. worship before Jehovah upon these days also, but were to stand outside before the gate of the outer court. The difference between the princes and the people, with regard to visiting the temple upon the Sabbaths and new moons, consisted chiefly in this, that the prince could enter by the outer east gate and proceed as far as the posts of the middle gate, and there wor- ship upon the threshold of the gate, whereas the people were only allowed to come into the outer court through the outer north and south gates, and could only proceed to the front of the middle gate. — Vers. 4 sqq. The burnt-offering for the Sabbath is considerably increased when compared with that appointed in the Mosaic law. The law requires two yearling lambs with the corresponding meat-offering (Num. xxviii. 9) ; Ezekiel, six lambs and one ram, and in addition to these a meat- offering for the ram according to the proportion already laid down in ch. xlv. 24 for the festal sacrifices ; and for the lambs, )T nn^j a gift, a present of his hand, — that is to say, not a hand- ful of meal, but, according to the formula used in alternation with it in ver. 7, as much as his hand can afford. For "l^^?? ^''I ^'^'^, see Lev. xiv. 30, xxv. 26. — It is different with the sacrifices of the new moon in vers. 6 and 7. The law of Moses prescribed two bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs, with the corresponding meat-offering, and a he-goat for a sin-offering (Num. xxviii. 11-15) ; the thorah of Ezekiel, on the contrary, omits the sin-offerinj]', and reduces the burnt-offerinc^ to one bullock, one ram, and six lambs, together with a meat-offering, according to the proportion already mentioned, which is peculiar to his law. The first D''0''pn in ver. 6 is a copyist's error for Vers. 8-12. On the Opening of the Te3iple for the People, and for the Voluntary Offerings of the Prince. — Ver. 8. And when the prince cometh^ he shall go in Inj the way to the porch of the gate, and hy its way shall he go out. Ver. 9. And ichen the p)eople of the land come before CHAP. XLVI. 8-12. 343 Jehovah on the feast days, he luho enters through the north gate to worship shall go out through the south gate ; and he icho enters through the south gate shall go out through the nortJi gate: they shall not return through the gate through which they entered, hut go out straight forioard, Ver. 10. And the 'prince shall enter in the midst of them, ivhen they enter ; and wlien they go out, they shall go out (together). Ver. 11. And at the feast days and holy days the meat-offering shall he an ephah for the hullock, aiL ephah for the ram, and for the lamhs tvhat his hand may give, and of oil a hin for the ephah. Ver. 12. And lulien the prince prepares a voluntary hurnt-offering or voluntary peace-offerings to Jehovah, they shall open the gate that looks to the east, and he shallprepare his hurnt-offering s and his peace-offering as he does on the Sahhath day ; and tvhen he has gone out they shall shut the gate after his going out. — The coming of the people to worship before Jehovah has been ah^eady mentioned in ver. 3, but only casually, with refer- ence to the position which they were to take behind the prince in case any individuals should come on the Sabbaths or new moons, on which they were not bound to appear. At the high festivals, on the other hand, every one was to come (Deut. xvi. 16) ; and for this there follow the necessary directions in vers. 9 and 10, to prevent crowding and confusion. For the purpose of linking these directions to what comes before, the rule already laid down in ver. 2 concerning the entrance and exit of the prince is repeated in ver. 8. Cjnyio is supposed by the commentators to refer to the high festivals of the first and seventh months (ch. xlv. 21 and 25); but ^^^V)^ does not apply to the same feasts as those which are called D'^n in ver. 11, as we may see from the combination of D^an and DHTO. D^iiri is the term applied to the greater annual feasts, as distin- guished from the Sabbaths, new moons, and the day of atone- ment. The Ci^^yi?^, on the contrary, are all the times and days sanctified to the Lord, including even the Sabbath (see the comm. on Lev. xxiii. 2). It is in this sense that Cini'iro is used here in ver. 9, and not D'^^n • because what is laid down con- 341: THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. corning the entrance and exit of tlie people, when visiting the temple, is not merely intended to apply to the high festivals, on which the people were bound to appear before Jehovah, but also to such feast days as the Sabbaths and new moons, when- ever individuals from among the people were desirous of their own free-will to worship before the Lord. The latter cases were not to be excluded, although, as ver. 10 clearly shows, the great feasts were principally kept in mind. For the entrance and exit of the prince in the midst of the people (ver. 10) ajiply to the great yearly feasts alone. The Chetib 1^5)f.^ in ver. 1) is to be preferred to the easier /im i^>'l, and is not merely the more difficult reading, but the more correct reading also, as two kinds of people are mentioned, — those who entered by the north gate and those who entered by the south. Both are to go out walking straight forward ; and neither of them is to turn in the court for the purpose of going out by the gate through which he entered. Even in ver. 10 ^i<>'.'! is not to be altered, as Hitzig supposes, but to be taken as referring to the prince and the people. — In ver. 11, the instructions given in ch. xlv. 24, xlvi. 5, 7, concerning the quantities composing the meat- offering for the different feasts, are repeated here as rules applicable to all festal times. D^iyvoni D^an^i has been correctly explained as follows : " at the feasts, and generally at all regular (more correctly, established) seasons," cf. ch. xlv. 17. Only the daily sacrifices are excepted from this rule, other regulations being laid down for them in ver. 14. — Ver. 12. The freewill-offerings could be presented on any week-day. And the rules laid down in vers. 1 and 2 for the Sabbath-offerings of the prince are extended to cases of this kind, with one modification, namely, that the east gate, which had been opened for the occasion, should be closed again as soon as the sacrificial ceremony was over, and not left open till the evening, as on the Sabbath and new moon, nnn^ is a substantive : the freewill- offering, which could be either a burnt-offering or a peace- offering. CHAP. XLVI. 13-15. 345 Vers. 13-15. The Daily Sacrifice. — Ver. 13. And a yearling lamb icithout blemish shall thou prepare as a burnt- offering daily for Jehovah : every morning shall thou j^^^pare it. Yer. 14. And a meal-offering shall thou add to it every morning, a sixth of an ephah, and oil a third of a hin, to moisten the wheaten flour, as a meat-offering for Jehovah : let these be ever- lasting statutes, perpetually enduring. Ver. 15. And prepare the lamb, and the meat-offering, and the oil, every morning as a per- petual burnt- offering. — The preparation of the daily sacrifice is not imposed upon the prince, in harmony with ch. xlv. 17 ; it is the duty of the congregation, which the priests have to super- intend. Every morning a yearhng lamb is to be brouuht as a burnt-offering. The Mosaic law required such a lamb botli morning and evening (Num. xxviii. 3, 4). The new thorah omits the evening sacrifice, but increases the meat-offerino- to the sixth of an ephah of meal and the third of a hin of oil, against the tenth of an ephah of meal and the fourth of a hin of oil prescribed by the Mosaic law (Num. xxviii. 5). Dh, from DD-), air. Xey., to moisten (cf. D'?'D"|, Song of Sol. v. 2). The plural riipn refers to the burnt -offerintr and meat-offerino-. 'i^^^ is added to give greater force, and, according to the correct remark of Hitzig, appears to be intended as a substi- tute for Cfnhn^ in Lev. xxiii. 14, 21, 31. The repeated emphasizing of "^pinn 1^23 shows that the silence as to the evening sacrifice is not a mere oversight of the matter, but that in the new order of worship the evening sacrifice is to be omitted. The Chetib ^^'V) is to be retained, in opposition to the Keri lb'i?\ This brings to an end the new order of worship. The verses which follow in the chapter before us introduce two supplementary notices, — namely, a regulation pointing back to ch. xlv. 7-9, concerning the right of the prince to hand down or give away his landed property (vers. 16-18) ; and a brief description of the sacrificial kitchens for priests and people (vers. 19-21). 3-46 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Vers. 10-18. On the Right of the Prince to dispose OF Ills Landed PKorERTY. — Ver. 16. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, If the prince gives a present to one of his sons, it is his inheritance, shall belong to his sons ; it is their possession, in an hereditary way. Ver. 17. But if he gives a present from his in- Jieritance to one of his servants, it shall belong to him till the year of liberty, and then return to the prince ; to his sons alone shall his inheritance remain. Ver. 18. And the prince shall not take from the inheritance of the people, so as to thrust them out of their possession; from his own possession he shall transmit to his .sons, that no one of my p)eople be scattered from his possession. —According to ch. xlv. 7, 8, at the future division of the land among the tribes, a possession was to be given to the prince on both sides of the holy heave and of the city domain, that he might not seize upon a possession by force, as the former princes had done. The prince might give away portions of this royal property, but only within such limits that the design with which a regal possession had been granted might not be frustrated. To his sons, as his heirs, he might make gifts therefrom, which would remain their own property ; but if he presented to any one of his servants a portion of his hereditary property, it was to revert to the prince in the year of liberty ; just as, according to the Mosaic law, the hereditary field of an IsraeHte, which had been alienated, was to revert to its heredi- tary owner (Lev. xxvii. 24, compared with xxv. 10-13). The suffix in iri?n3 (ver. 16) is not to be taken as referring to the prince, and connected with the preceding words in opposition to the accents, but refers to VjnD ^'i^. What the prince gives to one of his sons from his landed property shall be his "^^H^, ^.e. his hereditary possession. This is expressed still more generally in the next clause : to his (the prince's) sons shall it (the land presented) belong as their '"i^H^, i.e. after the manner of an hereditary possession. On the other hand, what the prince presents to one of his servants shall not become hereditary in his case, but shall revert to the prince in the year of liberty, or CHAP. XLVI. 19-24. 347 the year of jubilee. The second half of ver. 17 reads verbally thus : " only his inheritance is it ; as for his sons, it shall belong to them." — And as the prince was not to break up his regal possession by presents made to servants, so was he (ver. 18) also not to put any one out of his possession by force, for the purpose, say, of procuring property for his own sons ; but was to give his sons their inheritance from his own property alone. For njin^ compare ch. xlv. 8, and such passages as 1 Sam. viii. 14, xxii. 7. We shall return by and by to the question, how this regulation stands related to the view that the prince is the Messiah. Vers. 19-24. The Sacrificial Kitchens for the Priests and for the People. — Ver. 19. And he brought me up the entrance by the shoulder of the gate to the holy cells for the priests^ ivhich looked to the north ; and behold there was a place on the outermost side toioard the west, Ver. 20. And he said to me, This is the place luhere the priests boil the trespass^ offering and the sin-offering, where they bake the meat-offering tha,t they may not need to carry it out into the outer court, to sanctify the people, Ver. 21. And he led me out into the outer court, and caused me to pass by the four corner's of the court ; and behold, in every corner of the court there was again a court. Ver. 22. In the four corners of the court were closed courts of forty cubits in length and thirty cubits in breadth; all four corner spaces had one measure. Ver. 23. And a row of stands vjas round about therein in all four, and boiling hearths icere under the rows made round about. Ver. 24. And he said to me. These are the kitchen-house, where the ser- vants of the house boil the slain - offering of the people. — In the list and description of the subordinate buildings of the temple, the sacrificial kitchens are passed over ; and they are therefore referred to here again in a supplementary manner. Ewald has shifted vers. 19-24, and placed them after ch. xlii. 14, which would certainly have been the most suitable 348 Tin: rnornECiES of ezekiel. })lnce for mentioning tlic sacrificial kitchens for tlie priests. But it is evident that they stood here originally, and not there ; not only from the fact tiiat in ver. 19rt the passage to the holy cells (ch. xHi. 1 sqq.) is circumstantially described, which would liave been unnecessary if the description of the kitchens had originally followed immediately after ch. xlii. 14, as Ezekiel was then standing by the cells ; but also, and still more clearly, from the words that serve as an introduction to what follows, ^' he led me back to the door of the house " (ch. xlvii. 1), which are unintelligible unless he had changed his standing- place between ch. xlvi. 18 and xlvii. 1, as is related in ch. xlvi. 19 and 21, since Ezekiel had received the sacrificial tliorah (ch. xliv. 5-xlvi. 18) in front of the house (ch. xliv. 4). If vers. 19-24 had originally stood elsewhere, so that ch. xlvii. 1 was immediately connected with ch. xlvi. 18, the transition- formula in ch. xlvii. la would necessarily have read very differently. — But with this section the right of the preceding one, vers. lG-18, which Ewald has arbitrarily interpolated in ch. xlv. between vers. 8 and 9, to hold its present place in the chapter before us as an appendix, is fully vindicated. — The holy cells (ver. 19) are those of the northern cell-building (ch- xlii. 1-10) described in ch. xlii. 1-14 (see Plate I. L). NUm is the approach or way mentioned in ch. xlii. 9, which led from the northern inner gate to these cells (see Plate I. I) ; not the place to which Ezekiel was brought (Kliefoth), but the passage along which he was led. The spot to which he was conducted follows in rib'^'^n i?N» (the article before the construct state, as in ch. xliii. 21, etc.). D^pnbn bs* is appended to this in the form of an apposition ; and here ni:Dc6 is to be repeated in thought : to those for the priests, 'v T\S^hr\ belongs to niDuI'^n. There, i.e. by the cells, was a space set apart at the outermost (hinder- most) sides toward the west (Plate I. il/), for the boiling of the flesh of the trespass-offering and sin-offering, and the baking of the rnmchah, — that is to say, of those portions of the sacrifices which the priests were to eat in their official capacity (see the CHAP. XLVr. 19-24. 349 comm. on ch. xlli. 13). For the motive assigned in ver. 206 for the provision of special kitchens for this object, see the exposition of ch. xliv. 19. — In addition to these, kitchens were required for the preparation of the sacrificial meals, which were connected with the offering of the shelamim, and were held by those who presented them. These sacrificial kitchens for the people are treated of in vers. 20-21:. They were situated in the four corners of the outer court (Plate I. N). To show them to the prophet, the angel leads him into the outer court. The holy cells (ver. 19) and the sacrificial kitchens for the priests (ver. 20) were also situated by the outside wall of the inner court ; and for this reason Ezeklel had already been led out of the inner court, where he had received the sacrificial thorahy through the northern gate of the court by the way which led to the holy cells, that he might be shown the sacri- ficial kitchens. When, therefore, it is stated in ver. 21 that ^' he led me out into the outer court," ^^w^'^^'i'' can only be explained on the supposition that the space from the surround- ing wall of the inner court to the way which led from the gate porch of that court to the holy cells, and to the passage which continued this way in front of the cells (Plate I. / and m), was regarded as an appurtenance of the inner court. In every one of the four corners of the outer court there was a (small) courtyard in the court. The repetition of 'nn yVppa "r^n has a distributive force. The small courtyards in the four corners of the court were nh^p^ i.e. not " uncovered," as this would be unmeaning, since all courts or courtyards were uncovered ; nor " contracted " (Bijttcher), for "i£?i^ has no such meaning ; nor '^ famum ea:]ialantla,^' as the Talmudists suppose; nor " bridged over" (Hitzig), which there is also nothing in the language to sustain ; but in all probability atria clausa, i. e. muris cincta et januis clausa (Ges. TJies.)^ from "I'^i? ; in Aram, ligavit ; in Ethiop. clausit, ohseravit januam. The word riiyyipno is marked with puncta extraordinaria by the Masoretes as a suspicious word, and is also omitted in the Septuagint and Vulgate. 350 THE rnoPHECiES of ezekiel. Bottchcr and Ilitzig have therefore expunged it as a gloss. But even Hitzig admits that tliis does not explain how it found its way into the text. The word is a Ilophal participle of VVi^, in the sense of cornered off, cut off into corners, and is in apposition to the suffix to D^"^J^?")5^r', — literally, one measure was to all four, the spaces or courtyards cut off in the corners. For this appositional use of the participle, compare 1 Kings xiv. 6. There is also a difference of opinion as to the meaning of the word n^t:, which only occurs here and in Ex. xxviii. 17 sqq. and xxxix. 10, where it signifies " row," and not "enclosure" (Kliefoth). niTLJ, which follows, is evidently merely the femi- nine plural, from "ilLD, as HTp is also derived from n^D, in the sense of "to encircle" (see the comm. on Ps. Ixix. 26). Con- sequently "i^D does not mean a covering or boundary wall, but a row or shelf of brickwork which had several separate shelves, under which the cooking hearths were placed. T\\7\^yo^ not kitchens, but cooking hearths; strictly speaking 3. partic. Piel, thinrrs which cause to boil. — D^PE^nrsn n''3 kitchen house. ^^^l" ^^"!'^'P) the temple servants, as distinguished from the servants of Jehovah (ch. xliv. 15, 16), are the Levites (ch. xliv. 11, 12). '^t'}} is construed as in ch. xl. 17 and xli. 18, 19. AND DISTRIBUTION OF IT AMONG THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL. After Ezekiel had seen the entrance of the glory of the Lord into the new temple, which was measured before his eyes, and liad received the new tJiorah to be announced to the people concerning the service which Israel was to render to its God in the new sanctuary, a stream of living water was shown to him, proceeding from the threshold of the temple, flowing to the Arabah, and emptying itself into the Dead Sea, to fertilize the barren soil, and fill the salt water of the Dead Sea with vital power (ch. xlvii. 1-12) ; and finally, the command of the Lord is communicated to him concerning the boundaries of the CHAP. XLVir. 1-12. 351 holy land, Its distribution among the twelve tribes of Israel, and the building of the holy city (ch. xlvii. 13-xlviii. 35). Chap, xlvii. 1-12. Tlie River of Water of Life. When Jehovah shall have judged all the heathen in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and shall dwell as King of His people upon Zion His holy mountain, then will the mountains trickle with new wine, and the hills run with milk, and all the brooks of Judah flow with water ; and a spring will proceed from the house of Jehovah, and water the Acacia valley. With these figures Joel (ch. iv. 18) has already described the river of salvation, which the Lord would cause to flow to His cono-reo-a- tion in the time when the kingdom of God shall be perfected. This picture of the Messianic salvation shapes itself in the case of our prophet into the magnificent vision contained in the section before us.^ — Ver. 1. And he led me hack to the door of the house, and, behold, water flowed out from under the threshold of the house toward the eastj for the front side of the house ivas toward the east ; and the water flowed down from below, from the right shoulder of the house on the south of the altar. Ver. 2. And he led me out by the way of the north gate, and caused me to go round about on the outside, to the outer gate of the way to the {gate), looking toward the east ; and, behold, icaters rippled for the tight shoulder of the gate. Ver. 3. When the man went out toward the east, he had a rneasuring line in his hand, and he measured a thousand cubits, and caused me to go through the water — icater to the ankles, Ver. 4. And he measured a thousand, and caused me to go through the water — water to the knees ; and he measured a thousand, and caused me to go through — icater to the hips. Ver. 5. And he measured a thousand — a river through which I could not walk, for the water ivas high, water to swim in, a river which could not be forded. Ver. 6. And he said to me, Hast thou seen it, son of man? and he led me ^ Compare "W. Neumann, Die Wasser des Lebens. An exegctical study on Ezek. xlvii. 1-12. Berlin, 1848. 352 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. hack again hij the hank of the ricer. Ver. 7. When I returned, hehohl, there stood on the hank of the Quiver very many trees on this side and on thai. Ver. 8. And he said to me, This water flows ont i)ifo the eastern circle, and runs down into the plain, and reaches the sea ; into the sea is it carried out, that the waters may hecome xoholesome. Ver. 9. And it ivill come to pass, every licinq thiim 2cith which it swarms everywhere, whither the douhle river comes, will lice, and there ivill he very many fishes ; for when this icater conies thither they ivill hecome ivholesome, and everything ivill live whither the river comes. Ver. 10. And fuhennen will stand hy it, from Engedi to Eneglaim they will spread out nets ; after their kind ivill there he fishes therein, like the fishes of the great sea, very many. Ver. 11. Its marshes and its swamps, they will not hecome wliolesome, they will he given up to salt. Ver. 12. And hy the river will all kinds of trees of edihle fruit grow on its hank, on this side and on that ; their leaves will not wither, and their fruits will not fail; every moon they will hear ripe fruit, for its vmter flows out of its sanctuary. And their fruits ivill serve as food, and their leaves as medicine. From tlie outer court, where Ezekiel had been shown the sacrificial kitchens for the people (ch. xlvi. 21 sqq.), he is taken back to the front of the door of the temple house, to be shown a spring of water, flowing out from under the threshold of the temple, which has swollen in the short course of four thousand cubits from its source into a deep river in which men can swim, and which flows down to the Jordan valley, to empty itself into the Dead Sea. In vers. 1 and 2, the origin and course of this water are described ; in vers. 3 and 5, its marvellous increase ; in ver. G, the growth of trees on its banks ; in vers. 7-12, its emptying itself into the Arabah and into the Dead Sea, with the life-giving power of its water. — Ver. 1. The door of the house is the entrance into the holy place of the temple, and {J^isp n'3n the threshold of this door. •"'9''1i^> "^^ " ^^ the east" (llitzig), for the following sentence explaining the reason does not require this meaning; but "toward the east" of the Ground rian of theHolvPlaces R^-^^^"^^ ^ - ^^ i ^ D M m^f,^ I i Plate I. N •§-^ £] D IX.'.'amcr^S.ii' CHAP. XLVII. 1-12. 353 threshold, which lay toward the east, for the front of the temple was in the east. rinriD is not to be connected with ^^30, but to be taken by itself, only not in the sense of down- wards (Hitzig), but from beneath, namely, down from the right shoulder of the house, n^;, to flow down, because the temple stood on higher ground than the inner court. The right shoulder is the part of the eastern wall of the holy place between the door and the pillars, the breadth of which was five cubits (ch. xli. 1). The water therefore issued from the corner formed by the southern wall of the porch and the eastern wall of the holy place (see the sketch on Plate I.), and flowed past the altar of burnt-offering on the south side, and crossed the court in an easterly direction, passing under its surrounding" wall. It then flowed across the outer court and under the pavement and the eastern wall into the open country, where the prophet, on the outside in front of the gate, saw it rippling forth from the right shoulder of that gate. That he minht do this, he was led out through the north gate, because the east gate was shut (ch. xliv. 1), and round by the outside wall to the eastern outer gate, pn Tj^T is more minutely defined by nnn ir^-^si, and this, again, by Cli'J njian -ji^, « by the way to the (gate) looking eastwards." The air. Xey. Q''2SD, Piel of n3Q, related to n^B^ most probably signifies to ripple, not to trickle. D^O has no article, because it is evident from the context that the water was the same as that which Ezekiel had seen in the inner court, issuing from the threshold of the temple. The right shoulder is that portion of the eastern wall wdiich joined the south side of the gate. — Vers. 3-5. The miraculous increase in the depth of the water. A thousand cubits from the wall, as one walked through, it reached to the ankles; a thousand cubits further, to the knees; a thousand cubits further, to the hips ; and after going another thousand cubits it was impossible to wade through, one could only swim therein. The words D^.DQi^ ^D are a brief expression for " there was water which reached to the ankles." CSX is equivalent to EZEK. II. Z 35 i THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. DQ, an ankle, not tlie sole of the foot. In 1 Chron. xi. 13, on tlie other hand, we have D^??"^ DQ for D^DT D2X. The strikinn" expression CD^^n^ D^p for D;3nn '•n may possibly have been chosen because D^?"'? ''^P bad the same meaning as ''^'^ D'^31 in Isa. xxxvi. 12 (Keri). The measuring man directed the prophet's attention (ver. 6) to this extraordinary increase in the stream of water, because the miraculous nature of the stream was exhibited therein. A natural river could not increase to such an extent within such short distances, unless, indeed, other streams emptied themselves into it on all sides, which was not the case here. He then directed him to go back aorain r^sb^ ?V, along the bank, not '^ to the bank," as he had never left it. The purpose for which he had been led along the bank was accomplished after he had gone four thousand cubits. From the increase in the water, as measured up to this point, he could infer what depth it would reach in its further course. He is therefore now to return along the bank to see how it is covered with trees. ''^^^tJ^^i cannot be explained in any other way than as an incorrect form for ""^-'ki^^, though there are no corresponding analogies to be found. In vers. 8-12 he gives him a still further explanation of the course of the river and the effect of its waters. The river flows out into n:irD"ij5n nW^n^ the eastern circle, which is identical with '{^yj} J^^-'V?, the circle of the Jordan (Josh. xxii. 10, 11), the region above the Dead Sea, where the Jordan valley (Ghor) widens out into a broad, deep basin. '^^'^VJ^ is the deep valley of the Jordan, now called the Ghor (see the comm. on Dent. i. 1), of winch Robinson says that the greater part remains a desolate wilderness. It was so described in ancient times (see Joseph. Bell. Jud. iii. 10. 7, iv. 8. 2), and we find it so to-day (compare v. Raunicr, Pal. p. 58). ^^l^ is the Dead Sea, called Djn ^2iD*i|5n in ver. 18, and the sea of the Arabah in Deut. iii. 17, iv. 49. We ao;ree with HeniistenberfT in takincj the words D^{<^*^?3n nD-n"?^ as an emphatic summing up of the previous statement concerning the outflow of the water, to which the CHAP. XLVII. 1-12. 355 explanation concerning its effect upon the Dead Sea is attached and supply 1i<3 from the clause immediately precedino-: ''the waters of the river that have been brought out (come) to the sea, and the waters of the Dead Sea are healed." There is no need, therefore, for the emendation proposed by Hitzig, namelv, D-XV^O DH Djn b^. So much, however, is beyond all doubt, that HQ^n is no other than the Dead Sea already mentioned. The supposition that it is the Mediterranean Sea (Chald., Ros., Ewald, and others) cannot be reconciled with the words, and has only been transferred to this passage from Zech. xlv. 8. Nanj signifies, as in 2 Kings ii. 22, the healing or rendering wholesome of water that is injurious or destructive to life. The character of the Dead Sea, with which the ancients were also well acquainted, and of which Tacitus writes as follows : Lacus immenso ainhitu, specie maris sapore corruptior, gravitate odoris accolis p>estifer, neque vento impellitur neqiie pisces aut suetas aguis voliicres p)atitur (Hist. v. c. 6), — a statement confirmed by all modern travellers (cf. v. Raumer, Pal. pp. 61 sqq., and Robinson, Physical Geograpliy of the Holy Land), — is regarded as a disease of the water, which is healed or turned into whole- some water in which fishes can live, by the water of the river proceeding from the sanctuary. The healing and life-giving effect of this river upon the Dead Sea is described in vers. 9 and 10. Whithersoever the waters of the river come, all animated beings will come to life and flourish. In ver. 9 the dual ^^rT!^ occasions some diflficulty. It is not likely that the dual should have been used merely for the sake of its re- semblance to D^^, as Maurer imagines ; and still less probable is it that there is any allusion to a junction of the river proceed- ing from the temple at some point in its course with the Kedron, which also flows into the Dead Sea (Havernick), as the Kedron is not mentioned either before or afterwards. According to Kliefoth, the dual is intended to indicate a division wliich takes place in the waters of the river, that have hitherto flowed on together, as soon as they enter the sea. But this would certainly 356 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. have been expressed more clearly. Ilengstenberg takes the expression " double river " to mean a river with a strong cur- rent, and refers to Jer. 1. 21 in support of this. This is pro- bably the best explanation ; for nothing is gained by altering the text into Q^n: (Ewald) or Dvnj (Ilitzig), as ?^^ does not require definition by means of a suffix, nor does the plural answer to the context. 'iJI 1?^'^."''? ^^ is to be taken in con- nection with py'! ""ff*^. ' " wherewith it swarms whithersoever the river comes;" though ?^ does not stand for ^V after Gen. vii. 21, as Plitzig supposes, but is to be explained from a species of attraction, as in Gen. xx. 13. n^n^. is a pregnant expression, to revive, to come to life. The words are not to be understood, however, as meaning that there were living creatures in the Dead Sea before the health-giving water flowed into it ; the thought is simply, that whithersoever the waters of the river come, there come into existence living creatures in the Dead Sea, so that it swarms with them. In addition to the p.*^', the quantity of fish is specially mentioned; and in the second hemistich the reason is assic^ned for the number of livinix creatures that come into existence by a second allusion to the health-giving power of the water of the river. The subject to ^^^T-^ "^^^* ^^^^ waters of the Dead Sea, is to be supplied fromi the context. The great abundance of fish in the Dead Sea produced by the river is still further depicted in ver. 10. Fishermen will spread their nets along its coast from Engedi to Eneglaim ; and as for their kind, there will be as many kinds of fish there as are to be found in the great or Mediterranean Sea. ^"73 py, i.e. Goat's spring, now Ain-Jidi, a spring in the middle of the west coast of the Dead Sea, with ruins of several ancient buildings (see the comm. on Josh. xv. 62, and v. Raumer, Pal. p. 188). D^^iy ]^y has not yet been discovered, though, from the statement of Jerome, " Engallim is at the beginning of the Dead Sea, where the Jordan enters it," it has been conjectured that it is to be found in Ain el-FeshJchah, a spring at the northern end of the west coast, where there are CHAP. XLVIL 1-12. 357 also ruins of a small square tower and other buildings to be seen {yid. Kobinson's Palestine^ II. pp. 491, 492), as none of the other springs on the west coast, of which there are but few, answer so well as this. n^"'Dp is pointed without Mappik, pro- bably because the Masoretes did not regard the n as a suffix, as the noun to which it alludes does not follow till afterwards. — Ver. 11 introduces an exception, namely, that notwithstanding this the Dead Sea will still retain marshes or pools and swamps, which will not be made wholesome (nNSfn for ^^5:11^ pools). An allusion to the natural character of the Dead Sea underlies the words. " In the rainy season, when the sea is full, its waters Overspread many low tracts of marsh land, which remain after the receding of the water in the form of moist pools or basins ; and as the water in these pools evaporates rapidly, the ground becomes covered with a thick crust of salt" (Robinson's Physical Geography^ p. 215). ^^J^? ^?Prj they are given up to salt, i.e. destined to remain salt, because the waters of the river do not reach them. The light in which the salt is regarded here is not that of its seasoning properties, but, in the words of Heng- stenberg, ^' as the foe to all fruitfulness, all life and prosperity, as Pliny has said (Hist, Nat. xxxi. c. 7 : Omnis locus, in quo reperitur sal^ sterilis est nihilque gignit ") (cf. Deut. xxix. 22 ; Jer. xvii. 6 ; Zeph. ii. 9 ; Ps. cvii. 34). — In ver. 12 the effect of the water of the river upon the vegetation of the ground, already mentioned in ver. 7, is still further described. On its coast grow all kinds of trees with edible fruits (^'^XD yv^ as in Lev. xix. 23), whose leaves do not wither, and whose fruits do not fail, but ripen every month p?3, to produce first-fruits, i.e. fresh fruits ; and ^''t^^'in? distributive, as in Isa. xlvii. 13), be- cause the waters which moisten the soil proceed from the sanctuary, i.e. " directly and immediately from the dwelling- place of Him who is the author of all vital power and fruitful- ness" (Hitzig). The leaves and fruits of these trees therefore possess supernatural powers. The fruits serve as food, i.e. for the maintenance of the life produced by the river of water; 358 THE PROPHECIES OF EZETCIEL. tlie leaves as medicine (njnn from ^1^"' = ^?'^, healing), i.e. for the heaUng of the sick and corrupt (et? OepaTrelau, Rev. xxii. 2). In the effect of tlie water proceeding from the sanctuary upon the Dead Sea and the land on its shores, as described in vers. 8-12, the significance of this stream of water in relation to the new kingdom of God is implied. If, then, the question be asked, what we are to understand by this w^ater, whether we are to take it in a literal sense as the temple spring, or in a spiritual and symbolical sense, the complete answer can only be given in connection with the interpretation of the whole of the temple vision (ch. xl.-xlviii.). Even if we assume for the moment, however, that the description of the new temple, with the wor- ship appointed for it, and the fresh division of Canaan, is to be understood literally, and therefore that the building of an earthly temple upon a high mountain in the most holy terumak of the land set apart for Jehovah, and a renewal of the bleeding sacrifices in this temple by the twelve tribes of Israel, when restored to Palestine from the heathen lands, are to be taken for granted, it would be difficult to combine with this a literal interpretation of what is said concerning the effect of the temple spring. It is true that in Volck's opinion " we are to think of a glorification of nature;" but even this does not remove the difficulties which stand in the way of a literal inter- pretation of the temple spring. According to ver. 12, its waters possess the life-giving and healing power ascribed to them because they issue from the sanctuary. But how does the possession by the water of the power to effect the glorification of nature harmonize with its issuing from a temple in which bullocks, rams, calves, and goats are slaughtered and sacrificed? — Volck is still further of opinion that, with the spiritual inter- pretation of the temple spring, " nothing at all could be made of the fishermen ;" because, for example, he cannot conceive of the spiritual interpretation in any other way than as an alle- gorical translation of all the separate features of the prophetic picture into spiritual things. But he has failed to consider CHAP. XLVII. 1-12. 359 that the fishermen with their nets on the shore of the sea, once dead, but now swarming with fish, are irreconcilably opposed to the assumption of a glorification of nature in the holy land, just because the inhabitants of the globe or holy land, in its paradisaically glorified state, will no more eat fish or other flesh, according to the teaching of Scripture, than the first men in Paradise. When once the w^olf shall feed with the lamb, the leopard with the kid, the cow with the bear, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, under the sceptre of the sprout from the stem of Jesse, then will men also cease their fishing, and no longer slaughter and eat either oxen or goats. To this the Israelites will form no exception in their glorified land of Canaan. — x4.nd if even these features in the vision before us decidedly favour the figurative or spiritual view of the temple spring, the necessity for this explanation is placed beyond the reach of doubt by a comparison of our picture with the parallel passages. According to Joel iv. 18, at the time when a spring issues from the house of Jehovah and the vale of Shittim is watered, the mountains trickle with new wine, and the hills run with milk. If, then, in this case we understand what is affirmed of the temple spring literally, the trickling of the mountains with new wine and the flowing of the hills with milk must be taken literally as well. But w^e are unable to attain to the belief that in the glorified land of Israel the mountains will be turned into springs of new wine, and the hills into fountains of milk; and in the words of the whole verse we can discern nothing but a figurative description of the abundant streams of blessing which will then pour over the entire land. And just as in Joel the context points indisputably to a non-literal or ficfurative explanation, so also does the free manner in which Zechariah uses this prophecy of his predecessors, speaking only of living waters which issue from Jerusalem, and flow half into the eastern (i.e. the Dead) sea, and half into the western (i.e. the Mediterranean) sea (Zech. xiv. 8), show that he was not thinking of an actual spring with earthly water. And here 360 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. we are still provisionally passing by the application made of this feature in the prophetic descriptions of the glory of the new kini^dom of God in the picture of the heavenly Jerusalem (Kev. xxii. 1 and 2). The fin™ is an adjective formation derived from nn^in, with the significa- tion of an abstract : that which is lifted (the lifting) from the heave, as it were '^ a terumah in the second potency " (for these formations, see Ewald, §§ 164 and 165). This terumii/ah is called most holy, in contrast with the Levites' portion of the tei'umah, which was cnp (ver. 14). The priests' portion is to be beside the territory of the Levites, whether on the southern or northern side cannot be gathered from these words any more than from the definition in ver. 13; "and the Levites beside (parallel with) the territory of the priests." Both statements simply affirm that the portions of the priests and Levites were to lie side by side, and not to be separated by the town possession. — Vers. 13 and 14 treat of the Levites' portion : ver. 13, of its situation and extent; ver. 14, of its law of tenure. The seemingly tautological repetition of the measure- ment of the length and breadth, as "all the length and the breadth," is occasioned by the fact ^Hhat Ezekiel intends to express himself more briefly here, and not, as in ver. 10, to take all the four points of the compass singly; in ^ all the length' he embraces the two long sides of the oblong, and in ^ (all) the breadth ' the two broad sides, and affirms that * all the lencfth ' i.e. of both the north and south sides, is to be twenty-five thousand rods, and *all the breadth,' i.e. of both the east and west sides, is to be ten thousand rods" (Kliefoth). Hitzig has mis.sed the sense, and therefore proposes to alter the text. AVitli regard to the possession of the Levites, the in- structions iiiven in Lev. xxv. 34 for the field of the Levites' cities — namely, that none of it was to be sold — are extended to the whole of the territory of the Levites : no part of it is CHAP. XLVIII. 1-29. 375 to be alienated by sale or barter. And the character of the possession is assigned as the reason : the first-fruit of the land, i.e. the land lifted off (separated) as first-fruit, is not to pass into the possession of others, because as such it is holy to the Lord. The Chetih "li^J!^ is the correct reading : to pass over, sc. to others, to non-Levites. Vers. 15-18 treat of the city possession. As the terumaJi was twenty -five thousand rods in breadth (ver. 8), after measuring off ten thousand rods in breadth for the priests and ten thousand rods in breadth for the Levites from the entire breadth, there still remain five thousand rods ''p.Si ^y, in front of, i.e. along, the long side, which was twenty-five thousand rods. This remnant was to be hhy i.e. common (not holy) land for the city (Jerusalem), ^'f i?^?, for dwelling-places, i.e. for build- ing dwelling-houses upon ; and t^^^^P?, for open space, the precinct around the city. The city was to stand in the centre of this oblong. Ver. 16 gives the size of the city: on each of the four sides, four thousand five hundred rods (the C'bn, designated by the Masoretes as np j^i^i n'n3, has crept into the text through a copyist's error) ; and ver. 17, the extent of the open space surrounding it : on each side two hundred and fifty rods. This gives for the city, together with the open space, a square of five thousand rods on every side ; so that the city with its precinct filled the entire breadth of the space left for it, and there only remained on the east and west an open space of ten thousand rods in length and five thousand rods in breadth along the holy terumah. This is noticed in ver. 18 ; its produce was to serve for bread, i.e. for maintenance, for the labourers of the city (the masculine sufiix in niixi2n refers grammatically to "^riian). By "»^Vn nn'y Hitzig would under- stand the inhabitants of the city, because one cultivates a piece of land even by dwelling on it. But this use of ^^V cannot be established. Nor are "i"'V'J ""Ir^^ the workmen employed in building the city, as Gesenius, Kavernick, and others suppose; for the city was not perpetually being built, so that there 376 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. should be any necessity for setting apart a particular piece of land for tlie builders ; but they are the working men of the city, the labouring class living in the city. They are not to be without possession in the future Jerusalem, but are to receive a possession in land for their maintenance. We are told in ver. 19 who these workmen are. Here ^3yn is used collectively: as for the labouring class of the city, people out of all the tribes of Israel shall work upon the land belonging to the city. The suffix in ^nnny^ points back to "iriian. The transitive explana- tion, to employ a person in work, has nothing in the language to confirm it. The fact itself is in harmony with the statement in ch. xlv. 6, that the city was to belong to all Israel. Lastly, in ver. 20 the dimensions of the whole terumah, and the relation of the city possession to the holy terumah, are given. nOTriri"73 is the whole heave, so far as it has hitherto been described, embracing the property of the priests, of the Levites, and of the city. In this extent it is twenty-five thousand rods long and the same broad. If, however, we add the property of the prince, which is not treated of till vers. 21-23, it is con- siderably longer, and reaches, as has been stated in ver. 8, to the boundaries of the land both on the east and west, the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, as the several tribe- territories do. But if we omit the prince's land, the space set apart for the city possession occupied the fourth part of the holy terumah, i.e, of the portion of the priests and Levites. This is the meaninsr of the second half of ver. 20, which literally reads thus : " to a fourth shall ye lift off the holy terumah for the city possession." This is not to be under- stood as meaning that a fourth was to be taken from the holy terumah for the city possession ; for that would yield an in- correct proportion, as the twenty thousand rods in breadth would be reduced to fifteen thousand rods by the subtraction of the fourth part, which would be opposed to vers. 9 and 15. The meaning is rather the following : from the whole terumah the fourth part of the area of the holy terumah is to be taken CHAP. XLVllI. 1-29. 377 off for the city possession, i.e, five thousand rods for twenty thousand. According to ver. 15, this was the size of the domain set apart for the city. In vers. 21-23 the situation and extent of the prince's pos- session are described. For ver. 21, vid. ch. xlv. 7. "'^'^12'!', the rest of the terumah, as it has been defined in ver. 8, reaching in length from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. As the holy terumah and the city possession were only twenty-five thousand rods in length, and did not reach to the Jordan on the east, or to the sea on the west, there still remained an area on either side whose length or extent toward the east and west is not given In rods, but may be calculated from the proportion which the intervening terumah bore to the length of the land (from east to west). ^3 vS and "'pS"?V, in front of, or alont^-, the front of the twenty-five thousand rods, refer to the eastern and western boundaries of the terumaJij which was twentv-five thousand rods in length. In ver. 21b the statement is repeated, that the holy terumah and the sanctuary were to lie In the centre of it, i.e. between the portions of land appointed for the prince on either side ; and lastly, in ver. 22 it is still further stated, with regard to the prince's land on both sides of the terumah, that it was to lie between the adjoining tribe-territories of Judah (to the north) and Benjamin (to the south), so that it was to be bounded by these two. But this is expressed in a heavy and therefore obscure manner. The words it^'X "ijinn r\']r}\ 5<''b2Pj " in the centre of that which belongs to the prince," belong to "^''^n . . . ^^p^^P'i, and form together with the latter the subject, which is written absolutely ; so that 1^ is not used in a partitive, but in a local sense (from), and the whole is to be rendered thus : And as for that which lies on the side of the possession of the Levltes, and of the possession of the city in the centre of what belongs to the prince, (that which lies) between the territory of Judah and the territory of Benjamin shall belong to the prince. Hitzig's explanation — what remains between Judah and Benjamin, from the city territory to the 378 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. priests' domain, both inclusive, shall belong to the prince — is arbitrary, and perverts the sense. The periplirastic designation of the terumah bounded off between the prince's land by the two portions named together without a copula, viz. " possession of the Levites and possession of the city," is worthy of notice. This periphrasis of the whole by two portions, shows that the portions named formed the boundaries of the whole, that the third portion, which is not mentioned, was enclosed within the two, so that the priests' portion with the sanctuary lay between them. — In vers. 23-27 the rest of the tribes located to the south of the terumah are mentioned in order ; and in vers. 28 and 29 the account of the division of the land is brought to a close with a repetition of the statement as to the southern boundary (cf. ch. xlvii. 19), and a comprehensive concluding formula. If now we attempt, in order to form a clear idea of the relation in which this prophetic division of the land stands to the actual size of Canaan according to the boundaries described in ch. xlvii. 15 sqq., to determine the length and breadth of the terumah given here by their geographical dimensions, tw^enty- five thousand rods, according to the metrological calculations of Boeckh and Bertheau, \vould be 10*70 geographical miles, or, according to the estimate of the Hebrew cubit by Thenius, only 9*75 geographical miles.^ The extent of Canaan from Beersheba, or Kadesh, up to a line running across from Eas esh-Shukah to the spring El Lebweh, is 3^ degrees, i.e. fifty geographical miles, ten of which are occupied by the terumah^ and forty remain for the twelve tribe-territories, so that each 1 According to Boeckh, one sacred cubit was equal to 234^ Paris lines = 528-62 millimetres; according to Thenius = 214^ P. 1. =481-62 millim. Now as one geographical mile, the 5400th part of the circum- ference of the globe, which is 40,000,000 metres, is equivalent to 7407'398 metres = 22,803'290 old Paris feet, the geographical mile according to Boeckh is 14,01 2^^^ cubits = 2335^ rods (sacred measure) ; according to Thenius, 15,380^ cubits = 2563^ rods (s. m.), froni which the numbers given in the text may easily be calculated. CHAP. XLVIII. 1-29. 379 tribe-lot would be oj geographical miles in breadth. If, now, we reckon three geographical miles as the breadth of each of the five tribe-lots to the south of the terumah, and as the land becomes broader toward the south a breadth of oy geogra- phical miles for the seven tribe-lots to the north, the terumali set apart in the centre of the land would extend from the site of Jerusalem to Dothan or Jenln. If, however, w^e take into consideration the breadth of the land from east to west in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, or where the Jordan enters the Dead Sea, Canaan is eleven geographical miles in breadth, whereas at Jenln it is hardly ten geographical miles broad. If, therefore, the length of the terumali (from east to west) w^as fully ten geographical miles, there would only remain a piece of land of half a mile in breadth on the east and west at the southern boundary, and nothing at all at the northern, for prince's land. We have therefore given to the terumali upon the map (Plate IV.) the length and breadth of eight geo- graphical miles, which leaves a tract of two miles on the average for the prince's land, so that it w^ould occupy a fifth of the area of the holy terumali, whereas the city possession covered a fourth. No doubt the breadth of the terumali from south to north is also diminished thereby, so that it cannot have reached quite down to Jerusalem or quite up to Jenln. — If, now, we consider that the distances of places, and therefore also the measurements of a land in length and breadth, are greater in reality than those given upon the map, on account partly of the mountains and valleys and partly of the windings of the roads, and, still further, that our calculations of the Hebrew cubit are not quite certain, and that even the smaller estimates of Thenlus are possibly still too high, the measure- ments of the terumali given by Ezekiel correspond as exactly to the actual size of the land of Canaan as could be expected with a knowledge of its extent obtained not by trigonometrical measurement, but from a simple calculation of the length of the roads. — But this furnishes a confirmation by no means 380 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. slight of our assumption, that the lengths and breadths indi- cated here are measured by rods and not by cubits. Reckoned by cubits, the terumah would be only a mile and a half or a mile and two-thirds in length and breadth, and the city pos- session would be only a third of a mile broad ; whereas the prince's land would be more than six times as large as the whole of the terumah, — i.e. of the territory of the Levites, the priests, and the city, — thirteen times as large as the priests' land, and from thirty to thirty-two times as large as the city possession = proportions the improbability of which is at once apparent. Vers. 30-35. Size, Gates, and Name of the City. — To complete the whole picture of the future land of Israel, wdiat has been stated in vers. 15 and 16 concernlncr the size of the lioly city is still further expanded here. — Ver. 30. And these are the outgoings of the citij from the nortli side, four thousand and five hundred {rods) measurement. Yer. 31. And the gates of the city according to the names of the tribes of Israel : three gates toward the north ; the gate of Reuben one, the gate of Judah one, the gate of Levi one. Ver. 32. And on the east side four thousand five hundred (rods) : and three gates ; namely, the gate of Joseph one, the gate of Benjamin one, the gate of Dan one. Ver. 33. And to the south side, four thousand five hundred measurement : and three gates ; the gate of Simeon one, the gate of Issachar one, the gate of Zebulon one. Ver. 34. To the west side, four thousand five hundred — their gates three ; the gate of Gad one, the gate of Asher one, the gate of Najoldali one. Ver. 35. Hound about, eighteen thousand (rods) ; and the name of the city : from henceforth Jehovah there. — The situation of the city of God within the terumah and its external dimensions have already been generally indicated in vers. 15, 16. Here the measurement of the several sides is specified with a notice of their gates, and this is preceded by the heading, ^* the outlets of the city." nXiin^ the outgoings CHAP. XLVIII. 30-35. 381 (not extensions, for tlie word never lias this meaning) are the furthest extremities in which a city or a tract of land termi- nates ; not outlets or gates, which are expressly distinguished from them, but outgoing sides ; hence the definition of the extent or length of the several sides is appended immediately afterwards. Tlie enumeration commences, as above in the case of the land, with the north side. Each side has three gates, so that the whole city has twelve, which bear tlie names of the twelve tribes, like the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem in Rev. xxi. 12, because it will be the city of the true people of God. Levi is included here, and consequently Ephraini and Manasseh are united in the one tribe of Joseph. The three sons of Leah commence the series with the northern gates. They also stand first in the blessing of Moses in Deut. xxxiii. 6-S : the first- born in age, the first-born by virtue of the patriarchal blessing, and the one chosen by Jehovah for His own service in the place of the first-born. Then follow, for the eastern gates, the two sons of Rachel, according to their age (thus deviating from Deut. xxxiii. 12 and 13), and, along with them, the elder son of Rachel's maid ; for the southern gates, the three other sons of Leah ; and lastly, for the western gates, the three other sons of the maids. Being thus indicated by the names of its gates as the city of all Israel, the city itself receives a name, which exalts it into the city of God (Jehovah). But different explanations have been given of the words in ver. 35 which refer to this name. The allusion in Di'» and the meaninir of n'B^ are both disputed points. It is true that the latter literally means " thither ; " but Ezekiel also uses it as synonymous with D*f , " there," in ch. xxiii. 3 and xxxii. 29, 30, so that the asser- tion that nsf^* never means ^' there" is incorrect. ^^^^, from day forward, equivalent to henceforward ; but not henceforth and for ever, though this may be implied in the context. Whether Di*^ be taken in connection with the preceding words, ** the name of the city will henceforward be," or with those w^hich follow, the name of the city will be, '^ henceforward 382 THE rROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Jehovah there," makes no material difference so far as the thought is concerned, as the city can only bear the name from the time when Jehovah is "^^y^, and can only bear it so long as Jehovah is n^'J'. But so far as the question is concerned, whether ^t'y signifies thither or there in this passage, Hiiver- nick is of opinion, indeed, that the whole of Ezekiel's vision does not harmonize with the meaning " there," inasmuch as he separates temple and city, so that Jehovah docs not properly dwell in Jerusalem, but, in the strictest and highest sense, in His sanctuary, and turns thence to Jerusalem with the fulness of His grace and love. But if Jehovah does not merely direct His love toward the city from afar off, but, as Havernick still further says, turns it fully toward it, causes His good pleasure to rest upon it, then He also rules and is in the city with His love, so that it can bear the name " Jehovah thither (there)." In any case, the interpretation, ^' Jehovah will from henceforth proceed thither, to restore it, to make it a holy city " (Kliefoth), is untenable ; for the name is not given to JerasaLem when lying waste, but to the city already restored and fully built, which Ezekiel sees in the spirit. He has therefore before this turned His favour once more to Jerusalem, which was laid waste ; and the name n^^ njn^^ given to the new Jerusalem, can only affirm that henceforward it is to be a city of Jehovah, i.e. that from this time forth Jehovah will be and rule in her. The renderinor "Jehovah thither*' does not answer to this, but only the rendering, " Jehovah will be there." Compare Isa. Ix. 14, where Jerusalem is called the city of Jehovah, Zion of the Holy One in Israel, because the glory of Jeliovah has risen over her as a brilliant light. Having now completed our exposition In detail, if we take a survey of the substance of the entire vision in cli. xl.-xlviii., on comparing it with the preceding prophecies of the restoration CHAP. XL.-XLVIII. 383 of Israel (cli. xxxiv.-xxxvli.), we obtain the following picture of the new constitution of the kingdom of God ; — When the Lord shall gather the sons of Israel from their banishment among the heathen, and bring them back to Canaan, so that they shall dwell therein as a united people under the rule of His servant David, then shall they, on the fresh distribution of the land according to the full extent to which God promised it to the patriarchs, and indicated the boundaries thereof through Moses (ch. xlvii. 15-20), set apart the central portion of it as a heave for the sanctuary and His servants, the priests and Levites, as well as for the capital and its labourers, and also give to the prince a possession of his own on both sides of this heave. In the central point of the heave, which occupies a square space of twenty- five thousand rods in length and breadth, the temple is to stand upon a high mountain, and cover, with its courts, a space of five hundred cubits square ; and round about it a space of five hundred rods on every side is to form a boundary between the holy and the common. The glory of Jehovah will enter into the temple and dwell therein for ever; and the temple, in its whole extent, will be most holy (ch. xliii. 1-12). Kound about this the priests receive a tract of land of twenty-five thousand rods in length and ten thousand in breadth to dwell in as a sanctuary for the sanctuary; and by their side, toward the north, the Levites receive an area of similar size for dwelling-places ; but toward the south, a tract of land of twenty-five thousand rods in length and five thousand rods in breadth is to be the property of the city ; and in the centre of this area, the city, wuth its open space, is to cover a square of five thousand rods m length and breadth ; and the rest of the land on both sides is to be given to the labourers of the city out of all Israel for their maintenance. The land lying on the eastern and western* sides of the heave, as far as the Jordan and the Mediterranean, is to be the pro- perty of the prince, and to remain the hereditary possession of his sons (ch. xlv. 1-8, xlvi. 16-18, xlviii. 8-22), After the 384 THE PKOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. separation of this heave, wliich, ^Ylth tlie prince's possession, covers about the fifth part of the whole extent of Canaan, the rest of the land on the north and south of the heave is to be divided into equal parts and distributed among the twelve tribes, so that every tribe-territory shall stretch from the Jordan to the Mediterranean, — seven tribes receiving their hereditary portions on the north of the heave and five on the south, whilst the foreigners having their permanent homes among the different tribes are to receive hereditary possessions like the native Israelites (ch. xlvii. 21-xlviii. 7, and xlviii. 23-29). Israel, thus placed once more in possession of the promised land, is to appear with its prince before the Lord in the temple at the yearly feasts, to worship and to offer sacrifices, the pro- vision of which is to devolve upon the prince at all festal seasons, for which purpose the people are to pay to him the sixtieth part of the corn, the hundredth part of the oil, and the two hundredth head front the flock every year as a heave- offering. The sacrificial service at the altar and in the holy place is to be performed by none but priests of the family of Zadok, who kept the charge of the Lord faithfully when the people wandered into idolatry. All the other descendants of Levi are simply to discharge the inferior duties of the temple service, whilst uncircumcised heathen are not to be admitted into the temple any more, that it may not be defiled by them (ch. xliii. 13-xliv. 31, xlv. 8-xlvi. 15, and 19-24). When Israel shall thus serve the Lord its God, and walk in His commandments and statutes, it will enjoy the richest blessing from God. A spring of living water will issue from the threshold of the temple house, and, swelling after a short course into a mighty river, will flow down to the Jordan valley, empty itself into the Dead Sea, and make the water of that sea so wholesome that it will swarm with living creatures and fishes of every kind ; and on the banks of the river fruit-trees will grow with never-withering leaves, which will bear ripe fruit for The Temple Plate in. CHAP. XL.-XLVIII. 885 food every month, whilst the leaves will serve as medicine (ch. xlvii. 1-12). As to the Messianic character of the substance of this whole vision, Jewish and Christian commentators are generally agreed; and the opinion which, according to Jerome, many of the Jews entertained, and which has been supported by the rationalistic expositors (Dathe, Eichhorn, Herder, Bottcher, and others), after the example of Grotius, — namely, that Ezekiel describes the temple of Solomon destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar as a model for the rebuildinor of it after the return of the Jews from the captivity, — has not found much favour, inasmuch as, apart from all other objections to which it is exposed, it is upset by the fact that not only are its supporters unable to make any- thing of the description of the spring which issues from the threshold of the temple, flows through the land, and makes the waters of the Dead Sea sound, but they are also unable to explain the separation of the temple from the city of Jeru- salem ; as it would never have occurred to any Jewish patriot, apart from divine revelation, much less to a priest like Ezekiel, w^ho claims such important prerogatives for the prince of the family of David in relation to the temple, to remove the house of Jehovah from Mount Zion, the seat of the royal house of David, and out of the bounds and territory of the city of Jerusalem. But even if we lay aside this view, and the one related to it, — viz. that the whole vision contains nothing more than ideal hopes and desires of better things belonging to that age, with regard to the future restoration of the destroyed temple and kingdom, as Ewald and others represent the matter, — as being irreconcilable with the biblical view of prophecy, the commentators, who acknowledge the divine origin of prophecy and the Messianic character of the vision in these chapters, differ very widely from one another with reference to the question how the vision is to be interpreted ; some declaring themselves quite as decidedly in favour of the literal explana- tion of the whole picture as others in favour of the figurative EZEK. 11. 2 B 386 THE rnopiiECiES of ezekiel. or symbol Ico-typical view, which they regard as the only correct and scriptural one. — The latter view gained the upper hand at a very early period in the Christian church, so that we find it adopted by Ephraem Syrus, Theodoret, and Jerome ;^ and it prevailed so generally, that Lud. Cappellus, for example, in his Trisagion s. templi Hierosol. tripl. delin. (in the apparat. hihl, of Walton, in the first part of the London Polyglot, p. 3), says ; '•• In this passage God designs to show by the prophet that lie no more delights in that carnal and legal worship which they liave hitherto presented to Ilim ; but that He demands from them another kind of worship very different from that, and more pleasing to Him (a spiritual worship, of which they have a type in the picture and all the rites of this temple, which differ greatly from those of Closes), and that He will establish it amoni]^ them when He shall have called them to Himself through the Messiah. And that this spiritual worship is set before them in shadows and figures, there is not a Christian who denies ; nor any Jew, unless prejudiced and very obdurate, ' Ephraem Syrus, on cli. xli., not only interprets the windows of the temple and even the measuring rod allegorically, but says expressly : " It is evident that the rest of the things shown to the prophet in the building of the new temple pertain to the church of Christ, so that we must hold that the priests of that house were types of the ajDOsiles, and the calves slain therein prefigured the sacrifice of Christ." — Theod. indeed restricts himself throughout to a brief paraphrase of the words, without explaining every particular in a spiritual manner ; but he nevertheless says expressly (at eh. xliii.) that we must ascend from the type to the truth, as God will not dwell for ever in the type ; and therefore he repeatedly opposes the Judaco-literal interpretation of Apollinaris, although he himself appears to take ch. xlviii. as simply referring to the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple in the time of Zerubbabel. — This explanation is expressly opposed by Jerome, as the opinion of ignorant Jews ; and he observes, on the other hand, that " this temple which is now described, with the order of the priesthood and division of the land and its fertility, is much superior to that which Solomon built ; whereas the one which was built under Zerubbabel was so small, and so unworthy of comparison with the earlier one, that they who had seen the first temple, and now looked on this, wept," etc. Under the type of the restoration of the city destroyed by the Babylonians, there is predicted /?(iM7'ae aedi/icatiunls Veritas. cnAP. xL-XLViii. 887 who ventures to cleny, seeing that there are so many thino-s in this description of Ezeklel which not even tlie most shameless Jew has dared to argue that we are to interpret according to the letter," etc. — The literal interpretation remained for a long time peculiar to the Jews, who expect from the Messiah not only their own restoration to the earthly Canaan, but the re- building of the temple and the renew^al of the Levitical worship in the manner described by Ezekiel, and the establishment of a political kingdom generally ; whereas Christians have founded the expectation of an earthly kingdom of glory in the form of the millennium, more upon the Apocalypse than upon Ezekiel's prophecy. It has only been in the most recent time that certain scientific defenders of chiliasm have not shrunk from carrying out their views so far as to teach not only the restora- tion of the Jews to Palestine on their conversion to Christ, but, according to their literal explanation of our prophecy, the re- building of the temple in Jerusalem and the renewal of the Levitical worship in the millennial kingdom. Auberlen has only hinted at this, so that from his words quoted already, *' when once priesthood and monarchy are revived, then, with- out impairing the Epistle to the Hebrews, the ceremonial and civil law of Moses will unfold its spiritual depths in the worship and in the constitution of the millennial kino^dom," we cannot see how far he assumes that there will be a literal fulfilment of Ezekiel's prophecy. M. Baumgarten (art. "Ezekiel" in Herzoo-'s Cyclopaedia) says, more plainly, that '' the restoration of all the outward reality, which Ezekiel saw in vision, will be not so much a repetition of what went before, as a glorification of the outward, which had perished and been condemned," since this ^'glorification " will simply consist in "extensions and intensi- fications" of the earlier precepts of the law "For," he adds, in support of this opinion, " when Israel as a nation turns to God, how can, how should it manifest its faith and its obedi- ence in any other way than in the forms and ordinances which Jehovah gave to that people ? And is it not obvious (! ?) that 388 THE rnopiiECiES of ezekiel. the whole law, in all its sections and portions, will not receive, till after this conversion, that fulfilment which in all ages it has hitherto sought in vain ? And how should temple, priesthood, sacrificial service, Sabhath, and new moon, in themselves be opposed to faith in the perfect and eternal revelation of God in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ?" In con- sistency with this, Baumgarten is therefore of opinion that eventually even the Gentile community will enter again into the congregation of Israel, and find its national ors^anization in the law of Israel according to the will of God. — Ilofmann, on the contrary (^Schriftbeiveis, II. 2, pp. 577 sqq.), finds only so much established with certainty in the revelation of Ezekiel, viz. that Israel will serve God again in its own land, and Jehovah will dwell in the midst of it aojain. He therefore would have the several parts interpreted in relation to the whole ; so that what Hengstenberg calls the ideal interpretation of this prophecy remains. But he does not say precisely what his view is concerning the temple, and the Levitical rite of sacrifice to be performed therein. He simply infers, from the fact that a stream of water issuing from the temple-mountain makes the Dead Sea sound and the lower Kedron-valley fruitful, that the land will be different from what it was before; and this altera- tion Volck calls a glorification of Palestine. In our discussion of the question concerning the restoration of Israel to Canaan, we have already declared ourselves as opposed to the literal interpretation of the prophecy, and have given the general grounds on which the symbolico-typical view appears to be demanded — namely, because the assumption of a restoration of the temple and the Levitical, i.e. bloody, sacrificial worship is opposed to the teaching of Christ and His apostles. AVe have now to assign further reasons for this. If, then, in the first place, we fix our attention upon the vision in ch. xl.— xlviii., we cannot find any conclusive argument against the literal and in favour of the figurative interpretation of the vision in question, either in the fact that Ezekiel does not give CHAP. xL.-XLViir. 389 any building-plan for the temple, but simply ground arrange- ments and ground measurements, and does not say that a temple is ever to be built according to his plan, or give any instructions for the restoration of the Israelitisli ^vorship, or in the fact that the division of the land, the boundincr off of the terumah and the arranging of the city, cannot be practically realized. The omission of any command to build the temple might be simply accounted for, from the design to let the prophet merely see the restoration of the destroyed temple in a more perfect form, and cause this to be predicted to the people through him, without at present giving any command to build, as that was only to be carried out in the remote future. The absence of elevations and precise directions concernincp the construction of the several buildings might be explained from the fact that in these respects the building was to resemble the former temple. And with regard to the distribution of the land among the tribes, and the setting apart of the terumah, it cannot truly be said that " they bear on the face of them their purposelessness and impracticability." The description of a portion of land of definite size for priests, Levites, city, and prince, which was to reach from the eastern boundary of Canaan to the western, and to be bounded off in a straifrht line by the tribe-territories immediately adjoining, contains nothing impracticable, provided that we do not think of the boundary line as a straight line upon a chess-board. But w^e may infer from the IMosaic instructions concerning the districts, which were to be given to the Levites as pasture grounds for their cattle round about the cities assigned to them to dwell in, that the words of the text do not warrant any such idea. They are described as perfect squares of a thousand cubits on every side (Num. xxxv. 2-5). If, then, these Mosaic instructions could be carried out, the same must be true of those of Ezekiel concerning the terumah^ as its dimensions are in harmony with the actual size of the land. And so also the separation, of the city from the temple, and the square form of the city 390 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. with three gates on every side, cannot be regarded In general as either purposeless or impracticable. And, finally, in the statements concerninfj the territories to be distributed amonsj the tweh^e tribes, viz. that they were to lie side by side, that they were all to stretch from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, and that they were to be of equal size, there is no ground for supposing that the land was to be cut up with the measuring rod into abstract oblongs of equal measurements, with an entire disregard of all the actual conditions. The only thing which causes any surprise here is the assumption on which the regu- lation, that one tribe is to receive as much as another, is founded, namely, that all the tribes of Israel will be equal in the number of families they contain. This hypothesis can hardly be reconciled with the assumption that an actual dis- tribution of Palestine among the twelve tribes of Israel return- mar)T?L. ) CHAP. XL.-XLVIII. 401 who have come to God through death." Nevertheless, we must support Christian! in his opposition to the assumption, that at the parusia of Christ only Jewish Christians will be living on earth iu Jerusalem or upon Mount Zion, and that all the believing Gentile Christians will have perished from the globe ; because such a view is irreconcilably opposed not only to Rev. iii. 12, but also to all the teaching of the New Testament, especially to the declarations of our Lord concerning His second coming. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, consisting of Gentile and Jewish Christians, eV \6ja) Kvplov : " we who live and remain to the coming of the Lord shall not anticipate those who sleep" (1 Thess. iv. 15 sqq.), and when he announced as a ixva-rrjpiov to the church at Corinth, which was also a mixed church, consisting for the most part of Gentile Christians: " we shall not all sleep, but w^e shall all be changed" (1 Cor. xv. 51), he held the conviction, based upon a word of the Lord, that at the time of Christ's coming there would still be believing Gentile Christians living upon the earth. And when the Lord Himself tells His disciples : '^ the Son of man will come in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory, and will send His angels with sounding trumpets, and they will gather His elect from the four winds from omi end of heaven to the other" (Matt. xxiv. 30, 31), He treats it as an indisputable fact that there will be e'/cXe/crot, believing Christians, in all the countries of the earth, and that the church existing at His coming will not be limited to the Israel which has become believing in Jerusalem and Palestine. If, therefore, the Apocalypse is not to stand in direct con- tradiction to the teaching of Christ and the Apostle Paul in one of the principal articles of the truths of salvation, the exposition in question of Rev. vii. and xiv. cannot be correct. On the contrary, we are firmly convinced that in the hundred and forty-four thousand who are sealed, the whole body of believing Christians living at the parusia of our Lord is represented ; and notwithstanding the fact that they are described as the EZEK, II. 2 C 402 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. servants of God '' out of all the tribes of the children of Israel," and are distributed by twelve thousands among the twelve tribes of Israel, and that in ch. xiv. 1 they stand with the Lamb upon Mount Zion, we can only regard them, not as Jewish Christians, but as the Israel of God (Gal. vi. 16), i.e. the church of believers in the last days gathered from both Gentiles and Jews. If the description of the sealed as children of Israel out of all the twelve tribes, and the enumeration of these tribes by name, prove that only Jewish Christians are intended, and preclude our taking the words as referring to believers from both Gentiles and Jews, we must also regard the heavenly Jerusalem of the new earth as a Jewish Christian city, because it has the names of the twelve tribes of the chil- dren of Israel wTitten upon its gates (Rev. xxi. 12), like the Jerusalem of Ezekiel (ch. xlviii. 31) ; and as this holy city is called the bride of the Lamb (Eev. xxi. 9, 10), we must assume that only Jewish Christians will take part in the marriage of the Lamb. Moreover, the !Mount Zion upon which John sees Lamb and the hundred and forty-four thousand standing (ch. xiv. 1), cannot be the earthly Mount Zion, as Bengel, Hengstenberg, and others have correctly shown, because those who are standing there hear and learn the song sounding from heaven, which is sung before the throne and the four living creatures and the elders (Rev. xiv. 3). The Mount Zion in this instance, as in Heb. xii. 22, belongs to the heavenly Jeru- salem. There is no foundation for the assertion that this view is at variance with the connection of this group, and is also opposed to the context (Christiani, p. 194, Luther, and others). The excellent remarks of Diisterdieck, with regard to the con- nection, are a sufficient refutation of the first, which is asserted without any proof: " Just as in ch. vii. 9 sqq. an inspiring look at the heavenly glory was granted to such believers as should remain faithful in the great tribulation which had yet to come, before the tribulation itself was displayed ; so also in the first part of ch. xiv. (vers. 1-5) a scene is exhibited, which shows CHAP. XL.-XLVIII. 40o the glorious reward of the conquerors (cf. ch. ii. 11, ill. 12, 21) in a certain group of blessed believers (ver. 1 : ' a hundred and forty-four thousand;' ver. 4: Uhe first-fruits'), who appear with the Lamb upon Mount Zion, and are described as those who have kept themselves pure from all the defilement of the world during their earthly life." And this assumption would only be opposed to the context if vers. 2-5 formed an antithesis to ver. 1, i.e. if those in heaven mentioned in vers. 2, 3 were dis- tinguished from the hundred and forty-four thousand as being still on earth. But if those who sing the new song are really distinguished from the hundred and forty-four thousand, and are " angelic choirs," which is still questionable, it by no means follows from this that the hundred and forty-four thousand are upon the earthly Mount Zion, but simply that they have reached the Zion of the heavenly Jerusalem, and stand with the Lamb by the throne of God, serving Him as His attendants, seeing His face, and bearing His name upon their foreheads (Rev. xxii. 1, 3, 4), and that they learn the new song sung before the throne. Still less can we understand by the holy city of Rev. xi. the earthly Jerusalem, and by the woman clothed with the sun in Rev. xii. the Israelitish church of God, i.e. the Israel of the last days converted to Christ. The Jerusalem of Rev. xi. is spiritually a Sodom and Egypt. The Lord is obliged to endow the two witnesses anointed with His Spirit, whom He causes to appear there, with the miraculous power of Elias and Moses, to defend them from their adversaries. And when eventually they are slain by the beast from the abyss, and all the w^orld, seeing their dead bodies lying in the streets of the spiritual Sodom and Egypt, rejoices at their death, He brings them to life again after three days and a half, and causes them to ascend visibly into heaven, and the same hour He destroys the tenth part of the city by an earthquake, through which seven thousand men are slain, so that the rest are alarmed and give glory to the God of heaven. Jerusalem is introduced here in quite as degenerate a state as in the last times before its 404 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. destruction by the Romans. Nevertheless we cannot think of this ancient Jerusalem, because if John meant this, his prophecy would be at variance with Christ's prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. *' For, according to the Revelation, there is neither a destruction of the temple in prospect, nor does the church of Jesus flee from the city devoted to destruc- tion " (Hofmann, p. 684). The temple with the altar of burnt- ofPering is measured and defended, and only the outer court with the city is given up to the nations to be trodden down ; and lastly, only the tenth part of the city is laid in ruins. For this reason, according to Hofmann and Luther, the Jerusalem of the last days, inhabited by the Israel converted to Christ, is intended. But the difficulty which presses upon this explanation is to be found not so much in the fact that Jerusalem is restored in the period intervening between the conversion of Israel as a nation to Christ and the establishment of the millennial kingdom, and possesses a Jewish temple, as in the fact that the Israel thus converted to Christ, whose restora- tion, according to the teaching of the Apostle Paul in Rom. xi. 25, will be "life from the dead" to all Christendom, should again become a spiritual Sodom and Egypt, so that the Lord has to defend His temple with the believers who worship there from being trampled down by means of witnesses endowed with miraculous power, and to destroy the godless city partially by an earthquake for the purpose of terrifying the rest of the inhabitants, so that they may give glory to Ilim. Such an apostasy of the people of Israel after their final conversion to Christ is thoroughly opposed to the hope expressed by the Apostle Paul of the result of the restoration of Israel after the entrance of the j^^^^'oina of the Gentiles into the kingdom of God. Hofmann and Luther are therefore of opinion that the Israelitish-Christian Jerusalem of the last times is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, because the old Jewish Jerusalem had formerly sunk into a Sodom and Egypt, and that the Christian city is punished by the destruction of its tenth part CHAP. XL.-XLVIII. 405 and the slaying of seven thousand men "as a judgment upon the hostile nationality;" as if God could act so un- justly in the government of Jerusalem as to give up to the heathen the city that had been faithful to Him, and to destroy the tenth part thereof. This realistic Jewish inter- pretation becomes utterly impossible when ch. xii. is added. According to Hofmann, the woman in the sun is that Israel of which Paul says, ^' God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew" (Rom. xi. 2), i.e. the Israelitish church of the saved. Before the birth of the boy who will rule the nations with a sceptre of iron, this church is opposed by the dragon ; and after the child born by her has been caught up into heaven, she is hidden by God from the persecution of the dragon in a place in the wilderness for twelve hundred and sixty days, or three times and a half, i.e. during the forty-two months in which Jerusalem as a spiritual Sodom is trodden down of the heathen, and only the temple with those who worship there is protected by God. But even if we overlook the contradiction involved in the supposition that the Israel believing in Christ of ch. xi. has sunk so deep that Jerusalem has to be trodden down by the heathen, and only a small portion of the worshippers of God are protected in the temple, we must nevertheless inquire how it is possible that the Israelitish church of believers in Christ should at the same time be defended in the temple at Jerusalem, and, having fled from Canaan into the wilderness, be concealed " in a place of distress and tribulation." The Jerusalem of the last times does not stand in the w^ilderness, and the temple protected by God is not a place of distress and tribulation. And how can the Israelitish church of God, which has given birth to Christ, be concealed in the wilderness after the catching up of Christ into heaven, or His ascension, seeing that the believing portion of Israel entered the Christian church, whilst the unbelieving mass at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem were in part destroyed by sw^ord, famine, and pestilence, and in part thrust 406 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. out amonfT the Gentiles over all the world ? From the destruc- tion of Jerusalem onwards, there is no longer any Israelitish congregation of God outside the Christian church. The branches broken off from the ohve tree because of their unbelief, are not a church of God. And Auberlen's objection to this interpretation — namely, that from the birth of Christ in ver. G it makes all at once a violent leap into the antichristian times — still retains its force, inasmuch as this leap not only has nothing in the text to indicate it, but is irreconcilable with vers. 5 and 6, according to which the flight of the woman into the wilderness takes place directly after the catching away of the child. Auberlen and Christian! have therefore clearly seen the impossibility of carrying out the realistic Jewish interpretation of these chapters. The latter, indeed, would take the holy city in ch. xi. in a literal sense, i.e. as signifying the material Jerusalem ; whilst he interprets the temple " allegorically " as representing the Christian church, without observing the difficulty in which he thereby entangles himself, inasmuch as if the holy city were the material Jerusalem, the wdiole of believing Christendom out of all lands would have fled thither for refuge. In the exposition of ch. xii. he follows Auberlen (JDaniel, p. 460), who has correctly interpreted the woman clothed with the sun as signifying primarily the Israelitish church of God, and then passing afterwards into the believing church of Christ, which rises on the foundation of the Israelitish church as its continuation, other branches from the wild olive tree being grafted on in the place of the branches of the good olive that have been broken off (Rom. xi. 17 sqq.). — In Rev. xiii. and xv.-xix. there is no further allusion to Judali and Jerusalem. If, then, we draw the conclusion from the foregoing discus- sion, the result at which we have arrived is, that even Rev. i.-xix. furnishes no confirmation of the assumption that the Israel which has come to believe in Christ will dwell in the earthly Jerusalem, and have a temple with bleeding sacrifices. CHAP. XL.-XLVIII. 407 And this takes away all historical ground for the assumption that by the beloved city in Rev. xx. 9, against which Satan leads Gog and Magog to war with the heathen from the four corners of the earth, we can only understand the earthly Jerusalem of the last times. If, however, we look more closely at Rev. xx., there are three events described in vers. 1-10, — viz. (1) the binding of Satan and his confinement in the abyss for a thousand years (vers. 1-3) ; (2) the resurrection of the believers, and their reigning with Christ for a thousand years, called the " first resurrection " (vers. 4-6) ; (3) after the termination of the thousand years, the releasing of Satan from his prison, his going out to lead the heathen with Gog and Magog to war against " the camp of the saints and the beloved city," the destruction of this army by fire from heaven, and the casting of Satan into the lake of fire, where the beast and the false prophet already are (vers. 7-10). According to the millenarian exposition of the Apocalypse, these three events will none of them take place till after the fall of Babylon and the casting of the beast into the lake of fire ; not merely the final casting of Satan into the lake of fire, but even the binding of Satan and the confining of him in the abyss. The latter is not stated in the text, however, but is merely an inference drawn from the fact that all three events are seen by John and related in his Apocalypse after the fall of Babylon, etc., — an inference for which there is just the same warrant as for the conclusion drawn, for example, by the traditional exposition of the Old Testament by the Jews, that because the death of Terah is related in Gen. xi., and the call and migration of Abram to Canaan in Gen. xii., therefore Terah died before the migration of Abraham, in opposition to the chronological data of Genesis. All that is stated in the text of the Apocalypse is, that Satan is cast into the lake of fire, where the beast and the false prophet are (ver. 10), so that the final overthrow of Satan will not take place till after the fall of Babylon and the overthrow of the beast and the false prophet. That this is not 408 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEI^ to happen till a thousand years later, cannot be inferred from the position of ch. xx. 10 after cli. xix. 20, 21, but must be gathered from some other source if it is to be determined at all. The assumption that the contents of Rev. xx. are chrono- logically posterior to ch. xviii. and xix., which the millenarian interpretation of the Apocalypse has adopted from the earlier orthodox exposition, is at variance with the plan of the whole book. It is now admitted by all scientific expositors of the Apocalypse, that the visions contained therein do not form such a continuous series as to present the leading features of the conflict between the powers at enmity against God and the kingdom of God in chronological order, but rather that they are arranged in groups, each rounded off within itself, every one of which reaches to the end or closes with the last judg- ment, while those which follow go back again and expand more fully the several events which prepare the way for and introduce the last judgment; so that, for example, after the last judgment upon the living and the dead has been announced in ch. xi. 15 sqq. by the seventh trumpet, the conflict between Satan and the kingdom of God on the birth and ascension of Christ is not shown to the seer till the following chapter (ch. xii.). And the events set forth in the last group com- mencing with ch. xix. must be interpreted in a manner analogous to this. The contents of this group have been correctly explained by Hofmann (II. 2, p. 720) as follows: '^The whole series of visions, from ch. xix. 11 onwards, is merely intended to exhibit the victory of Christ over His foes. There is first a victory over Satan, through which the army of the enemies of His people by which he is served is destroyed ; secondly, a victory over Satan, by which the possibility of leading the nations astray any more to fight against His church is taken from him ; thirdly, a victory over Satan, by which he is deprived of the power to keep those who have died with faith in their Saviour in death any longer ; and, fourthly, a victory over Satan, by which his last attack upon the saints of CHAP. XL.-XLVIir. 409 God issues in his final destruction." That the second and third victories are not to be separated from each other in point of time, is indicated by the sameness in the period assigned to each, viz. " a thousand years." But the time when these thousand years commence, cannot be determined from the Apocalypse itself ; it must be gathered from the teaching of the rest of the New Testament concerninir the first resurrec- tion. According to the statements made by the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor. XV., every one will be raised " in his own order : Christ the first-fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at His coming;" then the end, i.e. the resurrection of all the dead, the last judgment, the destruction of the world, and the new creation of heaven and earth. Consequently the first resurrection takes place along with the coming of Christ. But, according to the teaching of the New Testament, the parusia of Christ is not to be deferred till the last day of the present world, but commences, as the Lord Himself has said, not long after His ascension, so that some of His own contemporaries will not taste of death till they see the Son of man come in His kingdom (Matt. xvi. 28). The Lord repeats this in Matt. xxiv. 34, in the elaborate discourse concerning His parusia to judgment, with the solemn asseveration : *' Yerily I say unto you, this generation (J] jevea avrrj) will not pass till all these tilings be fulfilled." And, as Hofmann has correctly observed (p. 640), the idea that '^ this generation " signifies the church of Christ, does not deserve refutation. We therefore under- stand that the contemporaries of Christ would live to see the things of which He says, "that they will be the heraldinor tokens of His second appearance;" and, still further (p. 641) : "We have already seen, from Matt. xvi. 28, that the Lord has solemnly affirmed that His own contemporaries will live to see His royal coming." ^ Concerning this royal coming of the Son 1 Luthardt also says just the same (pp. 94, 95) : " Undoubtedly the age of which the Lord is speaking is not the whole of the present era, nor the nation of Israel, but the generation then existing. And yet the Lord's 410 THE PROrHECIES OF EZEKIEL. of man in the glory of His Father with His angels, which some of His contemporaries live to see (Matt. xvi. 27 and 28), Paul writes, in 1 Thess. iv. 15, 16: "We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not anticipate them which are asleep ; for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, etc., and the dead in Christ will rise first," etc. Consequently the New Testament teaches quite clearly that the first resurrection commences ^\nth the coming of Christ, which began with the judgment executed through the Romans upon the ancient Jerusalem. This was preceded only by the resurrection of Christ as " the first-fruits," and the resurrection of the '^ many bodies of the saints which slept," that arose from the graves at the resurrection of Christ, and appeared to many in the holy city (Matt, xxvii. 52, 53), as a practical testimony that through the resurrection of Christ death is deprived of its power, and a resurrection from the grave secured for all believers. — According to this distinct teaching of Christ and the apostles, the popular opinion, that the resurrection of the dead as a whole will not take place till the last day of this world, must be rectified. The New Testament does not teach anywhere that all the dead, even those who have fallen asleep in Christ, will remain in the grave, or in Hades, till the last judgment immediately before the destruction of heaven and earth, and that the souls which have entered heaven at their death will be with Christ till then unclothed and without the body. This traditional view merely rests upon the unscriptural idea of the coming of Christ as not taking place till the end of the era, and as an act restricted to a single day of twenty-four hours. According to the Scriptures, theprtr?/5{a takes place on the day of the Lord, nin^ Di"*, rj r]fjLepa Tov Kvplov. But this day is not an earthly day of twelve or twenty-four hours ; but, as Peter says (2 Pet. iii. 8), " one prophecy goes to the very end, and reaches far beyond the destruction of Jerusalem. . . . The existing generation was to live to see the beginning of the end, and did live to see it." CHAP. XL-XL VIII. 411 day IS with the Lord as a tliousand years, and a tliousand years as one day" (cf. Ps. xc. 4). The day on which the Son of man comes in His glory commences with the appearing of the Lord to the judgment upon the hardened Israel at the destruc- tion of Jerusalem by the Romans; continues till His appearing to the last judgment, w^hich is still future and will be visible to all nations; and closes with the day of God, on which the heavens will be dissolved with fire, and the elements will melt with heat, and the new heaven and new earth will be created, for which we wait according to His promise (2 Pet. iii. 12, 13). To show how incorrect is the popular idea of the resurrection of the dead, we may adduce not only the fact of the resurrec- tion of many saints immediately after the resurrection of Christ (Alatt. xxvii. b2y 53), but also the solemn declaration of the Lord : ^' Verily, verily, I say unto you. The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live," — the hour " in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, etc." (John v. 25, 28) ; and again the repeated word of Christ, that whosoever believeth on Him hath everlasting life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed from death unto life (John V. 24, vi. 40, 47, iii. 16, 18, 36) ; and lastly, what was seen by the sacred seer on the opening of the fifth seal (Rev. vi. 9-11), namely, that white robes were given to the souls that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held, and that were crying for the avenging of their blood, inasmuch as the putting on of the white robe involves or presupposes the clothing of the soul with the new body, so that this vision teaches that the deceased martyrs are translated into the state of those who have risen from the dead before the judgment upon Babylon. The word y^rv^ai^ which is used to designate them, does not prove that disembodied souls are intended (compare, as evidence to the contrary, the oKTcb ylrv^al of 1 Pet. iii. 20). 412 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. But as Rev. xx. 1-10 furnishes no information concerning the time of the first resurrection, so also this passage does not teach that they who are exalted to reign with Christ by the first resurrection will live and reign with Christ in the earthly Jerusalem, whether it be glorified or not. The place where the thrones stand, upon which they are seated, is not mentioned either in vers. 4-6 or vers. 1-3. The opinion that this will be in Jerusalem merely rests upon the twofold assumption, for which no evidence can be adduced, viz. (1) that, according to the prophetic utterances of the Old Testament, Jerusalem or the holy land is the site for the appearance of the Lord to the judgment upon the world of nations (Hofmann, pp. 637, 638) ; and (2) that the beloved city which the heathen, under Gog and Magog, will besiege, according to Eev. xx. 8, 9, is the earthly Jerusalem, from which it is still further inferred, that the saints besieged in the beloved city cannot be any others than those placed upon thrones through the first resurrection. But the inconceivable nature, not to say the absurdity, of such an assumption as that of a w^ar between earthly men and those who have been raised from the dead and are glorified with spiritual bodies, precludes the identification, which is not ex- pressed in the text, of the saints in Jerusalem with those sitting upon thrones and reigning with Christ, who have obtained eternal life through the resurrection. And as they are reigning with Christ, the Son of God, who has returned to the glory of His heavenly Father, would also be besieged along with them by the hosts of Gog and Magog. But where do the Scriptures teach anything of the kind ? The fact that, according to the prophecy of the Old Testament, the Lord comes from Zion to judge the nations furnishes no proof of this, inasmuch as this Zion of the prophets is not the earthly and material, but the heavenly Jerusalem. The angels who come at the ascension of Christ to comfort His disciples with regard to the departure of their Master to the Father, merely say : " This Jesus, who has gone up from you to heaven, will so come in like manner as ye CHAP. XL.-XLVIII. 413 have seen Him go to heaven" (Acts i. 11); but they do not say at what place He will come again. And though the Apostle Paul says in 1 Thess. iv. 16, '' the Lord will descend from heaven," he also says, they that are living then will be caught up together with those that have risen in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so be ever with the Lord. And as here the being caught up in the clouds into the air is not to be understood literally, but simply expresses the thought that tliose who are glorified will hasten with those who have risen from the dead to meet the Lord, to welcome Him and to be united with Him, and does not assume a permanent abiding in the air ; so the expression, '^ descend from heaven," does not involve a coming to Jerusalem and remaining upon earth. The words are meant to be understood spiritually, like the rending of the heaven and coming down in Isa. Ixiv. 1. Paul therefore uses the words airoKaXvy^i^ air ovpavov, revelation from heaven, in 2 Thess. i. 7, with reference to the same event. The Lord has already descended from heaven to judgment upon the ancient Jerusalem, to take vengeance with flaming fire upon those who would not know God and obey the gospel (2 Thess. i. 8). Every manifestation of God which produces an actual effect upon the earth is a coming down from heaven, which does not involve a local abiding of the Lord upon the earth. As the coming of Christ to the judgment upon Jerusalem does not affect His sitting at the right hand of the Father, so we must not picture to ourselves the resurrection of those who have fallen asleep in the Lord, which commences with this coming, in any other way than that those who rise are received into heaven, and, as the church of the first-born, who are written in heaven, i.e. who have become citizens of heaven (Heb. xii. 23), sit on seats around the throne of God and reign with Christ. — Even the first resurrection is not to be thoufrht of as an act occurrinc^ once and ending there ; but as the coming of the Lord, which commenced with the judgment of the destruction of Jerusalem, is continued in the long series of judgments through which one 414 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. hostile power after another is overthrown, until the destruction of the last enemy, so may we also assume, in analogy with this, that the resurrection of those who have fallen asleep in Christ, commencing with that parusia, is continued through the course of centuries ; so that they who die in living faith in their Saviour are raised from the dead at the hour appointed by God according to His wisdom, and the souls received into heaven at death, together with those sown as seed-corn in the earth and ripened from corruption to incorruptibility, will be clothed with spiritual bodies, to reign with Christ. The thousand years are not to be reckoned chronologically, but commence with the coming of Christ to the judgment upon Jerusalem, and extend to the final casting of the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire, perhaps still further. When they will end w^e cannot tell ; for it is not for us to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath reserved in His own power (Acts I. 7). The chaining and imprisonment of Satan in the abyss during the thousand years can also be brought into harmony with this view of the millennium, provided that the words are not taken in a grossly materialistic sense, and we bear in mind that nearly all the pictures of the Apocalypse are of a very drastic character. The key to the interpretation of Rev. xx. 1-3 and 7-10 is to be found in the words of Christ in John xii. 31, when just before His passion He is about to bring His addresses to the people to a close, for the purpose of completing the work of the world's redemption by His death and resurrection. When the Lord says, just at this moment, " now is the judg- ment passing over the world ; now will the prince of this world be cast out," namely, out of the sphere of his dominion, He designates the completion of the work of redemption by His death as a judgment upon the world, through which the rule of Satan in the world is brought to nought, or the kingdom of the devil destroyed. This casting out of the prince of this world, which is accomplished in the establishment and spread of the kingdom of Christ on earth, is shown to the sacred seer in CHAP. XL-XLVIII. 415 Patmos in the visions of the conflict of Michael with the dracron, which ends in the casting out of Satan into the earth (Rev. xii. 7 sqq.), and of the chaining and imprisonment of Satan in the abyss for a thousand years (Rev. xx. 1 sqq.). The conflict of Michael with the dragon, which is called the Devil and SatanaSj commences when the dragon begins to persecute the woman clothed with the sun after the birth of her child, and its being caught up into heaven, i.e. after the work of Christ on earth has terminated with His ascension to heaven. John receives an explanation of the way in which the victory of Michael, through which Satan is cast out of heaven upon the earth, is to be interpreted, from the voice, which says in heaven, "Now is come the salvation, and the strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accused us day and night before God" (ver. 10). With the casting of Satan outof heaven, the kingdom of God and the power of His anointed are estab- lished, and Satan is thereby deprived of the power to rule any longer as the prince of the world. It is true that when he sees himself cast from heaven to earth, i.e. hurled from his throne, he persecutes the woman ; but the woman receives eagles' wings, so that she flies into the wilderness to the place prepared for her by God, and is there nourished for three times and a half, away from the face of the serpent (Rev. xii. 8, 13, 14). After the castinfT out of Satan from heaven, there follow the chainino- and shutting up in the abyss, or in hell ; so that during this time he is no more able to seduce the heathen to make war upon the camp of the saints (Rev. xx. 1-3 and 8). All in- fluence upon earth is not thereby taken from him ; he is simply deprived of the power to rule on the earth as apxcov among the heathen, and to restore the i^ovcrla wrested from him.^ We 1 Hofmann (ScJiriftheweis, II. 2, p. 722) understands the binding of Satan in a similar manner, and writes as follows on the subject : " That which is rendered impossible to Satan, through his being bound and imprisoned in the nether world, and therefore through his exclusion from the upper 416 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. may therefore say that the binding of Satan began with the fall of heathenism as the religion of the world, through the elevation of Christianity to be the state-religion of the Iloman empire, and that it will last so long as Christianity continues to be the state-relifrion of the kinf^doms which rule the world. It is impossible, therefore, to prove from Rev. xx. that there will be a kingdom of glory in the eartlily Jerusalem before the last judgment ; and the New Testament generally neither teaches the return of the people of Israel to Palestine on their conversion to Christ, — which will take place according to Rom. XI 25 sqq., — nor the rebuilding of the temple and restoration of Levitical sacrifices. But if this be the case, then Ezekiel's vision of the new temple and sacrificial worship, and the new division of the land of Canaan, cannot be understood literally, but only in a symbolico-typical sense. The following question, therefore, is the only one that remains to be answered : — III. How are we to understand the vision of the new kingdom of God in Ezek. xl.-xlviii ? — In other words, What opinion are we to form concerning the fulfilment of this prophetic picture? The first reply to be given to this is, that this vision does not depict the coming into existence, or the successive stages in the rise and development, of the new kingdom of God. For Ezekiel sees the temple as a finished building, the component parts of which are so measured before his eyes that he is led about within the building. He sees the glory of Jehovah enter into the temple, and hears the voice of the Lord, wlio declares world, -where the history of mankind is proceeding, is siivjly that kind of activity which exerts a determining influence upon the course of history." And Fhicius, in his Glossa to the New Testament, gives this explanation : " But Satan is not then so bound or shut up in hell that he cannot do anything, or cause any injury, more especially disobedience in his children ; but simply that he cannot act any more either so powerfully or with such success as before." He also reckons the thousand years " from the resur- rection and ascension of the Lord, when Christ began in the most powerful manner to triumph over devils and ungodly men throughout the world," etc. CHAP. XL -XL VI II. 417 this house to be the seat of His throne in the midst of His people ; and commands the prophet to make known to the people the form of the house, and its arrangement and ordi- nances, that they may consider the building, and be ashamed of their evil deeds (ch. xliii. 4—12). Tlie new order of worship also (ch. xliii. 13-xlvi. 15) does not refer to the building of the temple, but to the service which Israel is to render to God, who is enthroned in this temple. Only the directions concerning the boundaries and the division of the land presuppose that Israel has still to take possession of Canaan, though it has already been brought back out of the heathen lands, and is about to divide it by lot and take possession of it as its own inheritance, to dwell there, and to sustain and delight itself with the fulness of its blessings. It follows from this that the prophetic picture does not furnish a typical exhibition of the church of Christ in its gradual development, but sets forth the kingdom of God established by Christ in its perfect form, and is partly to be regarded as the Old Testament outline of the New Testament picture of the heavenly Jerusalem in Rev. xxi. and xxii. For the river of the water of life is common to botii visions. According to Ezekiel, it springs from the threshold of the temple, in which the Lord has ascended His throne, flows through the land to the Arabah, and pours into the Dead Sea, to make the water thereof sound ; and according to Rev. xxii. 1 sqq., it proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb, and flows through the midst of the street of the New Jerusalem. According to Ezek. xlvii. 7, 12, as well as Rev. xxii. 2, there are trees growing upon its banks which bear edible fruits every month, that is to say, twelve times a year, and the leaves of which serve for the healing of the nations. But Ezekiel's picture of the new kingdom of God comes short of the picture of the New Jerusalem in this respect, that in Ezekiel the city and temple are separated, although the temple stands upon a high mountain in the centre of the holy terutnah in the midst of the land of Canaan, and the city of Jerusalem reaches to the EZEK. II. 2 D 418 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. holy termiiah with tlie northern side of Its territory ; whereas the new heavenly Jerusalem has no temple, and, in its perfect cubic form of equal length, breadth, and height, has itself become the holy of holies, in which there stands the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev. xxi. 16, xxii. 4). Eze^iel could not rise to such an eminence of vision as this. The kinfrdom of God seen by him has a preponderatingly Old Testament stamp, and is a perfect Israelitish Canaan, answering to the idea of the Old Covenant, in the midst of which Jehovah dwells in His temple, and the water of life flows down from His throne and pours over all the land, to give prosperity to His people. The temple of Ezekiel is simply a new Solomon's temple, built in perfect accordance with the holiness of the house of God, in the courts of which Israel appears before Jehovah to offer burnt-offerings and slain-offerings, and to worship ; and although the city of Jerusalem does indeed form a perfect square, with three gates on every side bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, like the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, it has not yet the form of a cube as the stamp of the holy of holies, in which Jehovah the almighty God is enthroned, though its name is, ^' henceforth Jehovah thither." Still less does the attack of Gog with his peoples, gathered together from the ends of the earth, apply to the heavenly Jerusalem. It is true that, according to the formal arrange- ment of our prophet's book, it stands before the vision of the new kingdom of God ; but chronologically its proper place is within it, and it does not even fall at the commencement of it, but at the end of the years, after Israel has been gathered out of the nations and brought back into its own land, and has dwelt there for a long time in security (ch. xxxviii. 8, 16), This attack on the part of the heathen nations is only conceiv- able as directed against the people of God still dwelling in the earthly Canaan. How then are we to remove the discrepancy, that on the one hand the river of the water of life proceeding from the temple CHAP. XL.-XLVIII. 419 indicates a glorification of Canaan, and on the other hand the land and people appear to be still unglorified, and the latter are living in circumstances which conform to the earlier condition of Israel ? Does not this picture suggest a state of earthly glory on the part of the nation of Israel in its own land, which has passed through a paradisaical transformation before the new creation of the heaven and the earth ? Isaiah also predicts a new time, in which the patriarchal length of life of the primeval era shall return, when death shall no more sweep men prematurely away, and not only shall war cease among men, but mutual destruction in the animal world shall also come to an end (Isa. Ixv. 19—23 compared with ch. xi. 6-9). When shall this take place ? Delitzsch, who asks this question (Isa. vol. II. p. 492, transl.), gives the following reply : " Certainly not in the blessed life beyond the grave, to which it would be both impossible and absurd to refer these promises, since they presuppose a continued mixture of sinners with the righteous, and merely a limitation of the power of death, not its destruc- tion." From this he then draws the conclusion that the description is only applicable to the state of the millennium. But the creation of a new heaven and a new earth precedes this description (ch. Ixv. 17, 18). Does not this point to the heavenly Jerusalem of the new earth ? To this Delitzsch replies that ^' the Old Testament prophet was not yet able to distinfTuish from one another the thincrs which the author of the Apocalypse separates into distinct periods. From the Old Testament point of view generally, nothing was known of a state of blessedness beyond the grave. — In the Old Testament prophecy, the idea of the new cosmos is blended with the mil- lennium. It is only in the New Testament that the new creation intervenes as a party wall between this life and the life beyond ; whereas the Old Testament prophecy brings the new creation itself into the present life, and knows nothing of any Jerusalem of the blessed life to come, as distinct from the new Jerusalem of the millennium." But even if there were a 420 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. better foundation for the chlllastic idea of the millennium (Rev. XX.) tlian tliere is according to our discussion of the question above, the passage just quoted would not suffice to remove the difficulty before us. For if Isaiah is describing the Jerusalem of the millennium in ch. Ixv. 19-23, he has not merely brought the new creation of heaven and earth into the present life, but he has also transferred the so-called millennium to the new earth, i.e. to the other side of the new creation of heaven and earth. Delitzsch himself acknowledges this on page 517 (transl.), where he observes in his commentary on Isa. Jxvi. 22-24 that ^' the object of the prophecy" (namely, that from new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh will come to worship before Jehovah, and they will go out to look at the corpses of the men that have rebelled against Plim, whose worm will not die, nor their fire be quenched) ^^ is no other than the new Jerusalem of the world to come, and the eternal torment of the damned." Isaiah " is speaking of tlie other side, but he speaks of it as on this side." But if Isaiah is speaking of the other side as on this side in ch. Ixvi., he has done the same in ch. Ixv. 19-23 ; and the Jerusalem depicted in ch. Ixv. cannot be the Jerusalem of the millennium on this side, but can only be the New Jerusalem of the other side coming down from heaven, as the description is the same in both chap- ters, and therefore must refer to one and the same object. The description in Isa. Ixv., like that in ch. Ixvi., can be perfectly comprehended from the fact that the prophet is speaking of that which is on the other side as on this side, without there being any necessity for the hypothesis of a thousand years' earthly kingdom of glory. It is quite correct that the Old Testament knows nothing whatever of a blessed state beyond the grave, or rather merely teaches nothing with regard to it, and that the Old Testament prophecy transfers the state beyond to this side, in other words, depicts the eternal life after the last judgment in colours taken from the happiness of the Israelitish life in Canaan. And this is also correct, " that the Old Testa- CHAP. xL.-XLViir. 421 ment depicts both this life and the life to come as an endless extension of this Hfe ; whilst the New Testament depicts it as a continuous line in two halves, the last point in this present finite state being the first point of the infinite state beyond; that the Old Testament preserves the continuity of this life and the life to come, by transferring the outer side, the form, the appearance of this life, to the life to come ; the New Testament by making the inner side, the nature, the reality of the life to come, the BvvdfjL€L<; fjLeXX.ovTo<; aiwvo^, immanent in this life." But it is only to the doctrinal writings of the New Testament that this absolutely applies. Of the prophetical pictures of the New Testament, on the other hand, and especially the Apo- calypse, it can only be affirmed with considerable limitations. Not only is the New Jerusalem of Isaiah, which has a new heaven above it and a new earth beneath, simply the old earthly Jerusalem, which has attained to the highest glory and happi- ness; but in the Apocalypse also, the Jerusalem which has come down from heaven is an earthly city with great walls of jasper and pure gold, founded upon twelve precious stones, with twelve gates consisting of pearls, that are not shut by day, in order that the kings of the earth may bring their glory into the city, into which nothing common and no abomination enter. The whole picture rests upon those of Isaiah and Ezekiel, and merely rises above these Old Testament types by the fact that the most costly minerals of the earth are selected, to indicate the exceeding glory of the heavenly nature of this city of God. What, then, is the heavenly Jerusalem of the new earth ? Is it actually a city of the new world, or the capital of the kingdom of heaven ? Is it not rather a picture of the many mansions in the Father's house in heaven, which Jesus entered at His ascension to heaven, to prepare a place for us (John xiv. 2) ? Is it not a picture of the heavenly kingdom (2 Tim. iv. 18), into which all the blessed in that world enter whose names are written in the book of life % And its brilliant glory, is it not a picture of the unspeakable glory of the eternal life, which no 422 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. eye has seen, no ear has heard, and which has not entered Into the heart of any man (1 Cor. ii. 9) ? And if the state beyond the grave is transferred to this side, i.e. depicted in colours and imagery drawn from this side, not only in the Old Testament prophecy, but in that of the New- Testament also, we must not seek the reason for this prophetic mode of describino; the circumstances of the everlastintr life, or the world to come, in the fact that the Old Testament knows nothing of a blessed state beyond the grave, is ignorant of a heaven with men that are saved. The reason is rather to be found in the fact, that heavenly things and circumstances lie beyond our idea and comprehension ; so that we can only repre- sent to ourselves the kingdom of God after the analogy of earthly circumstances and conditions, just as we are unable to form any other conception of eternal blessedness than as a life without end in heavenly glory and joy, set free from all the imperfections and evils of this earthly world. So long as we are walking here below by faith and not by sight, we must be content with those pictures of the future blessings of eternal life with the Lord in His heavenly kingdom which the Scrip- tures have borrowed from the divinely ordered form of the Israelitish theocracy, presenting Jerusalem with its temple, and Canaan the abode of the covenant people of the Old Testament as types of the kingdom of heaven, and picturing the glory of the world to come as a city of God coming down from heaven upon the new earth, built of gold, precious stones, and pearls, and illumined with the light of the glory of the Lord. — To this there must no doubt be added, in the case of the Old Testament prophets, the fact that the division of the king- dom of the Messiah into a period of development on this side, and one of full completion on the othei', had not yet been so clearly revealed to them as it has been to us by Christ in the New Testament ; so that Isaiah is the only prophet who prophesies of the destruction of the present world and the crea- tion of a new heaven and new earth. If we leave out of CHAP. xL-XLViii. 423 sight tliis culminating point of the Old Testament prophecy, all the prophets depict the glorification and completion of the kingdom of God established in Israel by the Messiah, on the one hand, as a continuous extension of His dominion on Zion from Jerusalem outwards over all the earth, through the execution of the judgment upon the heathen nations of the world ; and, on the other hand, as a bursting of the land of Canaan into miraculous fruitfulness for the increase of His people's pro- sperity, and as a glorification of Jerusalem, to which all nations will go on pilgrimage to the house of the Lord on Zion, to worship the Lord and present their treasures to Him as offer- ings. Thus also in Ezekiel the bringing back of the people of Israel, who have been scattered by the Lord among the heathen on account of their apostasy, to the promised land, the restora- tion of eJerusalem and the temple, which have been destroyed, and the future blessing of Israel with the most abundant sup- ply of earthly good from the land which has been glorified into paradisaical fruitfulness, form a continuity, in which the small beginnings of the return of the people from Babylon and the deliverance and blessing which are still in the future, lie folded in one another, and the present state and that beyond are blended together. And accordingly he depicts the glory and completion of the restored and renovated kingdom of God under the figure of a new division of Canaan among the twelve tribes of all Israel, united under the sceptre of the second David for ever, and forming one single nation, by which all the incon- gruities of the former times are removed, and also of a new sanctuary built upon a very high mountain in the centre of Canaan, in which the people walking in the commandments and rights of their God offer sacrifice, and come to worship- before the Lord in His courts on the Sabbaths, new moons, and yearly feasts. This blessedness of Israel also is not permanentlv disturbed through the invasion of the restored land by Go£r and his hordes, but rather perfected and everlastingly estab- lished by the fact that the Lord God destroys this last enemy, 424 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. and causes him to perish by self-immolation. But however strongly the Old Testament drapery of the ^lessianic prophecy stands out even in Ezekiel, there are traits to be met with even in this form, by which we may recognise the fact that the Israel- itish theocratical form simply constitutes the clothing in which the New Testament constitution of the kingdom of God is veiled.^ Among these traits we reckon not only the description given in ch. xl.-xlviii., which can only be interpreted in a typical sense, but also the vision of the raising to life of the dry bones in ch. xxxvii. 1-14, the ultimate fulfilment of which will not take place till the general resurrection, and more especially the prophecy of the restoration not only of Jerusalem, but also of Samaria and Sodom, to their original condition (ch. xvi. 53 sqq.), which, as we have already shown, will not be perfectly fulfilled till the iraXiyyeveala, i.e. the general renovation of the world after the last judgment. From this last-named 1 Of all such pictures it may certainly be said that we " cannot see how an Old Testament prophet, when speaking of Canaan, Jerusalem, Zion, and their future glorification, can have thought of anything else than the earthly sites of the Old Testament kingdom of God " (Volck) ; but this objection proves nothing against their typical explanation, as we know that the prophets of the Old Testament, who prophesied of the grace that was to come to us, inquired and searched diligently what, and what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ that was in them did signify (1 Pet. i. 10, 11). Even, therefore, if the prophets in their uninspired meditation upon that which they had prophesied, when moved by the Holy Ghost, did not discern the typical meaning of their own utterances, we, who are living in the times of the fulfilment, and are acquainted not only with the commence- ment of the fulfilment in the coming of our Lord, in His life, sufferings, and death, and His resurrection and ascension to heaven, as well as iu His utterances concerning His second coming, but also with a long course of fulfilment in the extension for eighteen hundred years of the kingdom of heaven established by Him on earth, have not so much to inquire what the Old Testament prophets thought in their searching into the prophecies which they were inspired to utter by the Spirit of Christ, even if it were possible to discover what their thoughts really were, but rather, in the light of the fulfilment that has already taken place, to inquire what the Spirit of Christ, which enabled the prophets to see and to predict the coming of His kingdom in pictures drawn from the Old Testament kingdom of God, has foretold and revealed to us through the medium of these figures. CHAP. xL.-XLViir. 425 prophecy, to which tlie healing of the waters of the Dead Sea in ch. xlvii. 9 sqq. supplies a parallel, pointing as it does to the renewal of the earth after the destruction of the present world, it clearly follows that the tribes of Israel which receive Canaan for a perpetual possession are not the Jewish people converted to Christ, but the Israel of God, i.e. the people of God of the new covenant gathered from among both Jews and Gentiles ; and that Canaan, in which they are to dwell, is not the earthly Canaan or Palestine between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, but the New Testament Canaan, i.e. the territory of the kingdom of God, whose boundaries reach from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. And the temple upon a very high mountain in the midst of this Canaan, in which the Lord is enthroned, and causes the river of the water of life to flow down from His throne over His kingdom, so that the earth produces the tree of life with leaves as medicine for men, and the Dead Sea is filled with fishes and living creatures, is a figurative representation and type of the gracious presence of the Lord in His church, which is realized in the present period of the earthly development of the kino-dom of heaven in the form of the Christian church in a spiritual and invisible manner in the indwelling of the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers, and in a spiritual and invisible operation in the church, but which will eventually manifest itself when our Lord shall appear in the glory of the Father, to translate His church into the kingdom of glory, in such a manner that we shall see the almighty God and the Lamb with the eyes of our glorified body, and worship before His throne. This worship is described in our vision (ch. xliii. 13-xlvi. 21) as the offerincr of sacrifice accordincr to the Israelitish form of divine worship under the Old Testament; and in accordance with the mode peculiar to Ezekiel of carrying out all the pictures in detail, the leading instructions concerning the Levi- tical sacrifices are repeated and modified in harmony with the 426 THE rROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. new circumstances. As the Mosaic worship after the building of the tabernacle commenced with the consecration of the altar, so Ezekiel's description of the new worship commences with the consecration of the altar of burnt-offering, and then spreads over the entering into and exit from the temple, the things requisite for the service at the altar, the duties and rights of the worshippers at the altar, and the quantity and quality of the sacrifices to be offered on the Sabbaths, new moons, and yearly feasts, as well as every day. From a comparison of the new sacrificial tliorah with that of Moses in our exposition of these chapters, we have observed various distinctions which essentially modified the character of the whole service, viz. a thorouMi alteration in the order and celebration of the feasts, and a complete change in the proportion between the material of the meat-offerino; and the animal sacrifices. So far as the first distinction is concerned, the daily sacrifice is reduced to a burnt- and m eat-off erinix, and the eveninir sacrifice of morn 1 no; 'to? the Mosaic law is abolished ; on the other hand, the Sabbath offering is more than tripled in quantity ; again, in the case of the new-moon offerings, the sin-offering is omitted and the burnt-offering diminished ; in the yearly feasts, the offerings prescribed for the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread and of the feast of tabernacles are equalized in quantity and quality, and the daily burnt- and meat-offerings of the feast of unleavened bread are considerably increased ; on the other hand, the daily sacrifices of the feast of tabernacles are dimi- nished in proportion to those proscribed by the Mosaic law. Moreover, the feast of weeks, or harvest-feast, and in the seventh month the day of trumpets and the feast of atonement, with its great atoning sacrifices, are dropt. In the place of these, copious sin-offerings are appointed for the first, seventh, and fourteenth days of the first month. To do justice to the meaning of these changes, we must keep in mind the idea of the Mosaic cycle of feasts. (For this, see my Bihl. Arclidol. I. § 76 sqq.) The ceremonial worship prescribed by the Mosaic law, in CHAP. XL.-xLviir. 427 addition to the daily sacrifice, consisted of a cycle of feast days and festal seasons regulated according to the number seven, which had its root in the Sabbath, and was organized in accordance with the division of time, based upon the creation, into weeks, months, and years. As the Lord God created the world in six days, and ended the creation on the seventh day by blessing and sanctifying that day through resting from His works, so also were His people to sanctify every seventh day of the week to Him by resting from all work, and by a special burnt- and meat-offering. And, like the seventh day of the week, so also was the seventh month of the year to be sanctified by the keeping of the new moon with sabbatical rest and special sacrifices, and every seventh year to be a sabbatical year. Into this cycle of holy days, arranged according to the number seven, the yearly feasts consecrated to the remembrance of the mighty acts of the Lord for the establishment, preservation, and blessing of His people, were so dovetailed that the number of these yearly feasts amounted to seven, — the Passover, feast of unleavened bread, feast of weeks, day of trumpets, day of atonement, feast of tabernacles, and conclusion of this feast, — of which the feasts of unleavened bread and tabernacles w^ere kept for seven days each. These seven feasts formed two festal circles, the first of which with three feasts referred to the raising of Israel into the people of God and to its earthly subsistence ; whilst the second, which fell in the seventh month, and was introduced by the day of trumpets, had for its object the preservation of Israel in a state of grace, and its happiness in the full enjoyment of the blessings of salvation, and com- menced with the day of atonement, culminated in the feast of tabernacles, and ended with the octave of that feast. In the festal thorah of Ezekiel, on the other hand, the weekly Sabbath did indeed form the foundation of all the festal seasons, and the keeping of the new moon as the monthly Sabbath corresponds to this ; but the number of yearly feasts is reduced to the Pass- over, the seven days' feast of unleavened bread, and the seven 428 THE rnoPHECiES of ezekiel. days' feast of tlie seventli month (the feast of tabernacles). The feast of weeks and the presentation of the sheaf of first- fruits on the second day of the feast of unleavened bread are omitted ; and tlms tlie allusion in these two feasts to the harvest, or to their earthly maintenance, is abolished. Of still greater importance are the abolition both of the day of trumpets and of the day of atonement, and the octave of the feast of tabernacles, and the institution of three irreat sin-offerini]^s in the first month, by which the seventh month is divested of the sabbatical character which it had in the Mosaic thorah. Ac- cording to the Mosaic order of feasts, Israel was to consecrate its life to the Lord and to His service, by keeping the feast of Passover and the seven days' feast of unleavened bread every year in the month of its deliverance from Egypt as the first month of the year, in commemoration of this act of divine mercy, — by appropriating to itself afresh the sparing of its first- born, and its reception into the covenant with the Lord, in the sacrifice of the paschal lamb and in the paschal meal, — and by- renewing its transportation from the old condition in Egypt into the new life of divine grace in the feast of unleavened bread, — then by its receiving every month absolution for the sins of weakness committed in the previous month, by means of a sin-oifering presented on the new moon, — and by keeping the seventh month of the year in a sabbatical manner, by observing the new moon with sabbatical rest and the tenth day as a day of atonement, on which it received forgiveness of all the sins that had remained without expiation during the course of the year through the blood of the great sin-offering, and the puri- fication of its sanctuary from all the uncleanness of those who approached it, so that, on the feast of tabernacles which fol- lowed, they could not only thank the Lord their God for their gracious preservation in the way through the wilderness, and their introduction into the Canaan so abounding in blessings, but could also taste the happiness of vital fellowship with their God. The yearly feasts of Israel, which commenced with the CHAP. XL.-XLViir. ' 429 celeLration of the memorial of their reception Into tlie Lord's covenant of grace, cuhninated in tlie two high feasts of the seventh month, the great day of atonement, and the joyous feast of tabernacles, to indicate that the people living under the law needed, in addition to the expiation required from month to month, another great and comprehensive expiation in the seventh month of the year, in order to be able to enjoy the blessing consequent upon its introduction into Canaan, the blessedness of the sonship of God. According to Ezekiel's order of feasts and sacrifices, on the other hand, Israel was to begin every new year of its life with a great sin-offering on the first, seventh, and fourteenth days of the first month, and through the blood of these sin-offerings procure for itself for- giveness of all sins, and the removal of all the uncleanness of its sanctuary, before it renewed the covenant of grace with the Lord in the paschal meal, and its transposition into the new life of grace in the days of unleavened bread, and throughout the year consecrated its life to the Lord in the daily burnt- offering, through increased Sabbath-offerings and the regular sacrifices of the new moon; and lastly, through the feast in commemoration of its entrance into Canaan, in order to live before Him a blameless, righteous, and happy life. In the Mosaic order of the feasts and sacrifices the most comprehensive act of expiation, and the most perfect reconciliation of the people to God which the old covenant could offer, lay in the seventh month, the Sabbath month of the year, by which it was indicated that the Sinaitic covenant led the people toward reconciliation, and only offered it to them in the middle of the year; whereas Ezekiel's new order of worship offers to Israel, now returning to its God, reconciliation through the forgiveness of its sins and purification from its uncleannesses at the begin- ning of the year, so that it can walk before God in righteousness in the strength of the blood of the atonincj sacrifice throuirhout the year, and rejoice in the blessings of His grace. Now, inas- much as the great atoning sacrifice of the day of atonement 430 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. pointed typically to the eternally availing atoning sacrifice which Christ was to offer in the midst of the years of the world through His death upon the cross on Golgotha, the trans- position of the chief atoning sacrifices to the commencement of the year by Ezekiel indicates that, for the Israel of the new covenant, this eternally-availing atoning sacrifice would form the foundation for all its acts of worship and keeping of feasts, as w^ell as for the whole course of its life. It is in this that we find the Messianic feature of Ezekiel's order of sacrifices and feasts, by which it acquires a character more in accordance with the New Testament completion of the sacrificial service, which also presents itself to us in the other and still more deeply penetrating modifications of the Mosaic tliorali of sacrifice on the part of Ezekiel, both in the fact that the daily sacrifice is reduced to a morning sacrifice, and also in the fact that the quantities are tripled in the Sabbath-offerings and those of the feast of unleavened bread as compared with the Mosaic institutes, and more especially in the change in the relative proportion of the quantity of the meat-offering to that of the burnt-offering. For example, as the burnt-offering shadows forth the reconciliation and surrender to the Lord of the person offering the sacrifice, whilst the meat-offering shadows forth the fruit of this surrender, the sanctification of the life in good works, the increase in the quantity of the meat- offering connected with the burnt-offering, indicates that the people offering these sacrifices will bring forth more of the fruit of sanctification in good works upon the ground of the reconciliation which it has received. We do not venture to carry out to any greater length the interpretation of the differ- ences between the Mosaic law of sacrifice and that of Ezekiel, or to point out any Messianic allusions either in the number of victims prescribed for the several feast days, or in the fact that a different quantity is prescribed for the meat-offering con- nected with the daily burnt-offering from that enjoined for the festal sacrifices, or in any other things of a similar nature. CHAP. XL.-XLVIII. 431 These points of detail apparently belong merely to the indi- vidualizing of the matter. And so also, in the fact that the provision of the people's sacrifices for the Sabbath, new moon, and feasts devolves upon the prince, and in the appointment of the place where the prince is to stand and worship in the temple, and to hold the sacrificial meal, we are unable to detect any Messianic elements, for the simple reason that the position which David and Solomon assumed in relation to the temple and its ritual furnished Ezekiel with a model for these reiiula- tions. And, in a similar manner, the precept concerning the hereditary property of the prince and its transmission to his sons (ch. xlvi. 16 sqq.) is to be explained from the fact that the future David is thought of as a king, like the son of Jesse, who will be the prince of Israel for ever, not in his own person, but in his family. The only thing that still appears worthy of consideration is the circumstance that throughout the whole of Ezekiel's order of worship no allusion is made to the high priest, but the same holiness is demanded of all the priests which was required of the high priest in the Mosaic law. This points to the fact that the Israel of the future will answer to its calling to be a holy people of the Lord in a more perfect manner than in past times. In this respect the new temple will also differ from the old temple of Solomon. The very elaborate description of the gates and courts, with their build- ings, in the new temple has no other object than to show how the future sanctuary will answer in all its parts to the holiness of the Lord's house, and will be so arranged that no person uncircumcised in heart and flesh will be able to enter it. — But all these things belong to the " shadow of things to come,' which were to pass away when " the body of Christ " appeared (Col. ii. 17 ; Heb. x. 1). AVhen, therefore, M. Baumgarten, Auberlen, and other millenarians, express the opinion that this shadow-work will be restored after the eventual conversion of Israel to Christ, in support of which Baumgarten even appeals to the authority of the apostle of the Gentiles, they have 432 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. altogether disregarded the warning of this very apostle : " Be- ware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after tlie tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (CoL ii. 8, 16, 20, 21). Lastly, with regard to the prophecy concerning Gog, the prince of Magog, and his expedition against the restored land and people of Israel (Ezek. xxxviii. and xxxix.), and its relation to the new conformation of the kingdom of God depicted in ch. xl.-xlviii., the assumption of Hengstenberg (on Kev. xx. 7), " that Gog and Magog represent generally all the future enemies of the kingdom of God, and that we have here em- braced in one large picture all that has been developing itself in a long series of events, so that the explanations which take them as referring to the Syrian kings, the Goths and Vandals, or the Turks, are all alike true, and only false in their exclu- siveness," — is not in harmony with the contents of this prophecy, and cannot be reconciled with the position which it occupies in Ezekiel and in the Apocalypse. For the prophecy concerning Gog, though it Is indeed essentially different from those which concern themselves with the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and other smaller or larger nations of the world, has nothing " Utopian" about it, which indicates *' a thoroughly ideal and comprehensive character." Even if the name Gog be formed by Ezekiel in the freest manner from Magog, and however remote the peoples led by Gog from the ends of the earth to make war upon Israel, when restored and living in the deepest peace, may be ; yet Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Pharaz, Gush, and Phut are not Utopian nations, but the names of historical tribes of whose existence there is no doubt, although their settlements lie outside the known civilised world. Whether there be any foundation for the old Jewish interpretation of the name Magog as referring to a great Scythian tribe, or not, we leave undecided ; but so much is certain, that Magog was a people" settled in the extreme north of the world known to the ancients. Nor will we attempt to decide whether the invasion of Hither Asia by CHAP. XL.-XLViir. 433 the Scythians iorms the historical starting-point or connecting link for Ezekiel's prophecy concerning Gog; but there can be no doubt that this prophecy does not refer to an invasion on tlie part of the Scythians, but foretells a last great conflict, in which the heathen dwelling on the borders of the globe will enojaore aejainst the kingdom of God, after the kingdom of the world in its organized national forms, as Asshur, Babel, Javan, shall have been destroyed, and the kingdom of Christ shall have spread over the whole of the civilised world. Gog of Magog is the last hostile phase of the world-power opposed to God, which will warje war on earth ao;ainst the kingdom of God, and that the rude force of the uncivilised heathen world, which will not rise up and attack the church of Christ till after the fall of the world-power bearing the name of Babylon in the Apocalypse, i.e. till towards the end of the present course of the world, when it will attempt to lay it waste and destroy it, but will be itself annihilated by the Lord by miracles of His almighty power. In the " conglomerate of nations," which Gog leads against the people of Israel at the end of the years, there is a combination of all that is ungodly in the heathen world, and that has be- come ripe for casting into the great wine-press of tlie wrath of God, to be destroyed by the storms of divine judgment (ch. xxxviii. 21, 22, xxxix. 6). But, as Baumgarten has correctly- observed (in Herzog's (7yc/opae^irt), '' inasmuch as the undis- guised and final malice of the world of nations against the kingdom of God is exhibited here, Ezekiel could truly say that the prophets of the former times had already prophesied of this enemy (ch. xxxviii. 17), and that the day of vengeance upon Gog and Magog is that of which Jehovah has already spoken (ch. xxxix. 8), — that is to say, all that has been stated concerning hostility on the part of the heathen towards the kingdom of Jehovah, and the judgment upon this hostility, finds its ultimate fulfilment in this the last and extremest op- position of all." This is in harmony not only with the assump- tion of this prophecy in Kev. xx., but also with the declaration EZEK. II. 2 E 434 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. of the Apocalypse, that it is the Satan released from his prison who leads the heathen to battle against the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and that fire from God out of heaven consumes these enemies, and the devil who has seduced them is cast into the lake of fire to be tormented for ever and ever. — According to all this, the appearing of Gog is still in the future, and the day alone can clearly show what form it will assume. THE END. MURRAY AND GIBB, EDINBUROH, PRINTEIW TO HER MAJE.STlf'S STA.TIONKRY OFFICK T. and T. Clark's Publications. Just puhli'ihed, in demy 8vo, price 9s., St. John the Author of the Fourth Gospel. By Professor C. E. Luthardt, Author of ' Fundamental Truths of Christi- anity,' etc. Translated and the Literature enlarged by C. R. Gregory, Leipzig. 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FIRST YEAR— THE 'CITY OF GOD,' Two Volumes; WRITINGS IN CON- NECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY, in One Volume; THE ANTI-PELAGIAN WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTINE, Volume I. SECOND YEAR— 'LETTERS,' Volume L ; TREATISES AGAINST FAUSTUS THE MANICHiEAN, One Volume; THE HARMONY OF THE EVANGELISTS, AND THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT, One Volume; ON THE TRINITY, One Volume. THIRD YEAK^COMMENTARY ON JOHN, Two Volumes; ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, ENCHIRIDION, ON CATECHIZING, and ON FAITH AND THE CREED, One Volume; THE ANTI-PELAGIAN WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTINE, Volume IL FOURTH YEAR— 'LETTERS,' Volume IL ; 'CONFESSIONS,' with Copious Notes by Rev. J. G. Pilkington ; ANTI-PELAGIAN WRITINGS, Volume IIL, in 187G ; LIFE BY PRINCIPAL RAINY, in 1876. The Series will be completed in the above Sixteen Volumes. Subscription price, Four Guineas. Each Volume is sold separately, at Ten Shillings and Sixpence. FOREIGN THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY. Annual Subscription — One Guinea (payable in advance) for Four Volumes, Demy 8vo. When not paid in advance, the Retail Bookseller is entitled to charge 24s. N.B. — Any two Years in this Scries can be had at Subscription Price. A single Years Books (except in the case of the current Year) cannot be supplied separately. Non- subscribers, price 10s. 6d. each volume, with exceptions marked. ' 1876— FIRST ISSUE— KEIVS COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL, Two Volumes. For full details of the above Subscription Ser'ics, see Classified Catalogue. Date Due n f.' ' '■■ »^»Cl^.« 1 1 *.; TilAiitlirnitfi'*'^^ --****'*'*^ f