>Y^LE«¥]MlIVEIESflirY« ILUMR^IRlf

DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

CLARK'S

FOREIGN

THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY.

FOURTH SEEIES.
VOL. XXI.

Utettggteirbtrg'jS Commmtarj) on dEjekuI.

EDINBURGH:
T. AND T. CLARK, 38, GEORGE STREET.
MDCCCLXIX.

MURRAY AND GIBE, EDINBURGH,
PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.

THE PROPHECIES

OF

THE PROPHET EZEKIEL
ELUCIDATED.

BY

E. W. HENGSTENBERG, D.D.,
PROFESSOR OE THEOLO&Y, BERLIN.

CranSlateB ip
A. C. MUEPHY, A.M., and J. G. MUEPHY, LL.D.

EDINBUEGH:
T. & T. CLAEK, 38, GEOEGE STEEET.
LONDON : HAMILTON AND CO. DUBLIN : JOHN EOBEKTSON AND CO.
MDCCCLXIX.

ranrafe

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
jHERE are two kinds of commentaries on Holy Scrip
ture — those that are more adapted for perusal, and
those that are more suitable for reference. Both
are necessary, and it would not be desirable that
either should exclude the other. The present work belongs to
the former class. The progress in it is rapid, and the whole
is designed to give the reader a clear view of the reality of
Ezekiel, and in this grand prophetical figure to bring before
his mind at the same time the nature of prophecy in general.
The time is no longer distant when every pastor worthy of
his calling will make it a rule of life to read his chapter daily,
as in the original text of the New Testament, so also in that
of the Old Testament. The exposition of Scripture must meet
such a laudable custom, which is formed even in education.
There is a want of such expositions of the books of the Old
Testament, as truly correspond with the requirements of the
clerical office. The author has here earnestly aimed at this
object. How far he has succeeded it is not for him to judge,
but for those for whom he has written. It will depend very
much on this, whether he has succeeded in edifying without
going out of his proper sphere by the introduction of ascetic
considerations. The present work, however, is not designed solely for the
clergy. It will also meet the desire awakening among the
educated laity to penetrate more deeply into Scripture. There
are many who would rather take from the first than the
second hand, whom the annotated Bibles do not satisfy, the
authors of which cannot do otherwise than repeat in a con-

VI PREFACE.
venient form what others have said before them. The text is
here so arranged throughout, that it presents no difficulties or
hindrances to those who are not acquainted with the original
language of Scripture. Everything verbal is referred to the
notes, and even in these is treated only so far as the Lexicon
and Grammar do not suffice.
The author has throughout compared Luther's version with
his own. Though the time has not come for an improvement
of this imperishable work, yet it appears not unsuitable even
now to gather stones for a building fitted for better times, for
which much more may certainly be done by individual labour
than by commissions.
Ezekiel prophesied in a time of great decision, in a time of
the " iniquity of the end," in which sin was ripe, and with it
punishment. He is exactly the prophet for our times. Who
soever penetrates into him will be deeply stirred by his earnest
ness, and will feel himself impelled to exert all his powers, that
the crisis on which we have entered may be brought to a pros
perous issue. At the same time, however, if it should please
God to bring great sifting judgments upon us, to pull down
what He has built up, and to root out what He has planted, we
may gain from Him an immoveable confidence in the final
victory of the kingdom of God, who kills and makes alive,
wounds and heals, and who, after He has sent the darkest
cloud, at length remembers His covenant, and displays His
shining bow.
[It is only necessary to add to the Author's Preface, that
mere citations from Luther's version are omitted, as not neces
sary for the English reader, and that the two parts of the
original work are here combined, so that the reader has the
whole Commentary on Ezekiel, with the Appendix, in one
volume. The theologian may not agree with every opinion
advanced in this volume ; but he will find it one of the freshest
and most edifying productions of the esteemed author.  Tr.]

CONTENTS.

The First Cycle (Chap, i.-vii.), ....

PAGE 1

The Second Cycle (Chap, viii.-xix.),

. ' 68

The Third Cycle (Chap, xx.-xxiii.),

167

The Fourth Cycle (Chap, xxiv.), ....

207

Foreign Nations (Chap. xxv. -xxxii.) —

The Ammonites, .....

218

Moab, ......

220

Edom, ......

221

The Philistines, .....

222

Tyre and Sidon, .....

223

Egypt, . . .

250

Conclusion to Chap, i.-xxxii. (Chap, xxxiii. 1-20),

288^

Words of Comfort (Chap, xxxiii. 21-xxxix.),

292

Eestoration (Chap, xl.-xlviii.), ....

347

Retrospect, ......

493

APPENDIX.
The Cherubim, . . . . . . .499

THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
THE FIRST CYCLE.
CHAPTERS I.-VII.
jlHE first cycle of the predictions of the prophet
embraces ch. i.-vii. A sublime vision forms the
introduction. To this prophetic discourses are ap
pended which serve to explain the vision. At the
close in ch. vii. a song.
In ch. i. 1-3 the introduction. Ver. 1. And it came to
pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth
day, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, the
heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. 2. On the
fifth day of the month (in the said year), which was the fifth
year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, 3. The word of the Lord
came to Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of the
Chaldeans, by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord
was there upon" him.
The book begins with an and. This must necessarily con
nect it with an earlier book, as the book of Joshua, by a like
beginning, is connected with the Pentateuch, the book of
Judges with Joshua, the books of Samuel, as also the book
of Ruth, with that of Judges. In general, Ezekiel, by begin
ning with an and, presents itself as one link of a chain of
sacred books, as the book of Esther, beginning in the same
way, is joined only in general to the preceding sacred litera
ture; but in particular it is connected with Jeremiah, as
appears from the fact that throughout it is fastened par ex
cellence to this link of the prophetic chain. Shortly before
the appearance of Ezekiel, Jeremiah had addressed a missive
A

2 THE PEOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
to the exiles. This formed, as it were, the programme of the
agency which Ezekiel developed under him.
The " thirtieth year," in which the first appearance of the
prophet took place, can only be the year of the prophet's life.
This was just the year which was of peculiar significance to
the man of priestly family — the man who in every reference
presents himself as the priest among the prophets. The Levites'
time of service generally began, according to Num. viii. 24,
with the twenty-fifth year. According to Num. iv. 29, 30,
however, it was not till thirty that they entered on the per
formance of those services which required the full vigour of
manhood (the carrying of the sanctuary in the passage through
the wilderness) ; compare Beitrage, iii. p. 392 f. According to
the theological exposition of this passage, to which also the
entrance of the Baptist and of Christ upon office after the
completion of the thirtieth year points back, Ezekiel recognises
it as significant that he was called to the prophetical office
just in the thirtieth year (probably near the completion of it),
which made amends, as it were, for the service in the temple
of which he was deprived. As Ezekiel here at thirty sees
heaven opened by a river, so Jesus in Matt. iii. 16, compared
with Luke iii. 21. The general era is indicated in ver. 2, and
for this very reason the reference here can only be to the
year of the prophet's life. The fifth year of the captivity of
Jehoiachin was the most important objective mark of time for
those who were then led into captivity, among whom Ezekiel
had to labour. Another era running parallel to it must have
been indicated more exactly ; the prophet would not have left
his reader to conjecture here. There is no general era of
which every one must at once have thought. Of an era of
Nabopolassar there is otherwise no trace in Scripture. That
the month and day belong not to the year of the prophet's life,
but to that of the objective era, the captivity of Jehoiachin, is
shown by the repetition of the phrase " in the fifth month" in
ver. 2, which was necessary to remove any uncertainty in the
reference. The appearance of Ezekiel is fixed by definite relations of
time, and the knowledge of these relations forms the key to the
understanding of his prophecies. Ch. xxvii.-xxix. of Jeremiah
especially afford us insight into them. These chapters belong

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. I. 1-3. 3
to one another. They describe the reaction of Jeremiah against
the political agitation that was leading the people away from
their true objects, and which was called forth by the forma
tion of a great anti-Chaldaic coalition. In the conflict with
this enemy Eaekiel stepped to the side of Jeremiah : not
policy, but penitence, is the common watchword.
According to Jer. xxvii., ambassadors from the kings of
Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon had come to Jerusa
lem in the reign of Zedekiah to draw the king into a con
federacy against the Chaldeans. We have here five of the
seven nations whom Ezekiel in ch. xxv. f. threatens with de
struction by the Chaldeans, in opposition to the foolish hopes
which had just been reposed in them. The Egyptians also
are there named, who were evidently the mainstay of the whole
coalition; and the Philistines, who were connected with the
Egyptian race. That the hopes and intrigues extended them
selves still further, that the eye was fixed even upon the distant
Sheba or Meroe, which stood in close relation to Egypt, and
not less on the distant Asiatic Elam, from which, after the
lapse of the seventy years' Chaldean servitude fore-ordained by
God, the overthrow of Babylon undoubtedly proceeded, we
learn from Ezek. viii. and xxiii., — passages which place before
our eyes the wfiole magnitude of the political infatuation by
which Judah was seized, the whole fearfulness of her apostasy
from God, who had so clearly marked out other ways for her,
so that the coalition was directed no less against her than
against the king of Babylon. They wished to attain deliver
ance without God, yea, against God.
The twenty-seventh chapter of Jeremiah begins with the
words : " In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son
of Josiah." Ver. 3 shows that it is not the elder Jehoiakim
who is meant, but he who revives again in Zedekiah, who,
according to 2 Kings xxiv. 9, " did that which was evil in the
sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done."
This typical usage of speech, which is largely diffused through
the Scripture, the expositors could not comprehend. We have
the key to it in that very passage of the book of Kings.
In view of the political agitation called forth by the
embassy, Jeremiah exhorts to humiliation under the mighty
hand of God : " Hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your

4: THE PKOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your enchanters, nor to your
sorcerers, who speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the
king of Babylon. . . . Hearken not unto them : serve the king
of Babylon, and live ; wherefore should this city be laid waste ? "
According to Jer. xxviii., in the fourth year of Zedekiah,
in the fifth month — eleven months, therefore, before the appear
ance of Ezekiel — the "prophet" Hananiah announces to the
prophet Jeremiah, in the name of the Lord, that the yoke of
the king of Babylon shall be broken. After the lapse of two
years the Lord will bring back to Jerusalem all the vessels of
the temple that Nebuchadnezzar took away, and also King
Jehoiachin, and all the captives. Jeremiah answers in the
name of the Lord : " The wooden yoke I break, and make
instead thereof an iron yoke." By the popular intrigues their
position will only be rendered more difficult. Jeremiah an
nounces death to the false prophet ; and this follows in the
same year, in the seventh month, nine months before the
appearance of Ezekiel.
The twenty-ninth chapter enters still more closely into the
relations of Ezekiel. It contains a letter of Jeremiah to the
captives. He warns them in ver. 8 : " Let not your prophets
and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you ;
neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name : I have
not sent them, saith the Lord." " Which ye cause to be
dreamed:" the false prophets prophesied to order; they
flattered the then ruling humour of the people. Jeremiah
shows the captives that the unalterably fixed seventy years
of the Babylonian servitude, of which only eleven had then
elapsed, must first run their full course. He seeks to lead
them to repentance and to faith ; as this was the legitimate
course to pursue, in order to return home after patiently
awaiting the period of their punishment. So far from think
ing already of the return of the exiles to Jerusalem, the
heaviest judgments still stand over Jerusalem, and those who
remain there.
We learn from this chapter that the false prophets and the
true prophets in Jerusalem were in correspondence with the
exiles : bane and antidote proceeded from thence. It is no less
evident also from this, that those in exile sought to exercise

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. I. 1-3. 5
an influence upon the state of things in the fatherland. The
false prophet Shemaiah sends an accusation against Jeremiah to
the priest, who had the superintendence in the temple.
In ver. 21 Jeremiah announces that the false prophets of
the captivity, Ahab and Zedekiah, shall be given into the hand
of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and be slain by him.
From this we learn that the commotions among the exiles were
of a serious character. In vers. 24-32 he foretells destruction
to another false prophet, Shemaiah already mentioned, to whom
he gives the derisive surname of " Dreamer." 1
In ch. xxix. 23 the prophet compares the behaviour of the
false prophets among the exiles to adultery. " They commit
adultery," he says, " with their neighbours' wives." Graf
says, "They appear to have been guilty also of immoral con
duct in private life." But this is quite foreign to the present
connection. An abridged comparison is made. Spiritual
adultery appears under the phrases of corporeal.
It was high time for the Lord to raise up among the exiles
themselves a counterforce against such adulterous behaviour.
This was accomplished by the calling of Ezekiel.
Like all the names of the canonical prophets, that of
Ezekiel is not that which he had borne from his youth, but an
official title which he had received at the beginning of his
calling. It means not, " whom God strengthens," which
according to the form it cannot signify, but, " God is, or
becomes strong ; he in relation to whom God is strong." We
have the root of the name in Jer. xx. 7 : " Thou art stronger
than I, and hast prevailed." The explanation is here given
in ch. i. 3, " And the hand of the Lord was upon him ;" but
especially in iii. 14, " And the hand of the Lord was strong
upon me." It was God's becoming strong upon the prophet
that made him strong in the sight of an apostate and dis
obedient people, made his face hard against their face, and
his forehead against their forehead (iii. 8), — made his forehead
harder than flint, so that he had no fear of them.
The heavens are opened to the prophet, and he sees visions
1 The name is formed from the 1st plur. fut., like the name Nimrod,
which the tyrant of the olden time received from the watchword Rebellemus,
which he with his comrades employed. Nechalami means, a native of the
place where dreaming has become a watchword.

6 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
of God.1 Visions of God are, in the first place, visions which
proceed from God, as in the prophecy of Balaam (Num.
xxiv. 4) the vision of the Almighty is the vision which goes
forth from the Almighty. Divine visions stand opposed to
the visions of one's own heart, the vain fancies of false
prophets, who say, " I have dreamed, I have dreamed ; and
it is only the deceit of their own heart" (Jer. xxiii. 25, 26).
Visions which proceed from God are, however, as such, at the
same time visions which have God for their object ; there can
only be seen in them that which has been taken into connection
with God, which belongs to the sphere of Elohim, which em
braces all that is divine (1 Sam. xxviii. 13). In this respect,
so far as the language refers to heavenly images, the sight of
which is the result of the opening of heaven, we may compare
2 Kings vi. 1 7 : " And the Lord opened the eyes of the young
man ; and he saw : and, behold, the mountain was full of
horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha ; " and Matt.
iii. 16 : "And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he
saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove." The Spirit
of God in the form of a dove is in this respect an illustrative
example of the visions of God.
Ver. 4. And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out
of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a
brightness 3 was about it, and out of the midst of it was as the
colour of shining brass, out of the midst of the fire.
This verse points, in the first place, to that which forms
the principal feature in the visions of God — the appearance of
God in His angry majesty. This is followed by the descrip
tion of the cherubim and the wheels, which are also compre
hended among the visions of God. Vers. 27, 28 return to the
appearance of God, and carry out in reference to it what is
here only alluded to.
The storm represents a severe visitation of the people, to
whom the mission of all the prophets is directed, and of whom
we must therefore also here think, as we have before us the
consecration of a prophet to his office. The winds are in
1 n&OD, what is seen, Spotfta, is not essentially distinguished from
pin, view — what one views.
2 Luther's translation, " which shone everywhere around," assigns the
brightness to the fire, instead of the whole appearance.

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. I. 4. 7
Scripture the customary symbols of the judgments, the storms
of sufferings and trials decreed by God. Job, the type of the
Israelitish people, says of God in ch. ix. 17, " He breaketh me
with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause." In
the often falsely interpreted passage, 1 Kings xix. 11, "The
great and strong wind rending the mountains, and breaking
in pieces the rocks before the Lord," signifies the storm of
trials and calamities which went over the church and her repre
sentative the prophet. Jeremiah announces in ch. iv. 11, 12
that a strong wind shall come upon the people of God, and
explains it thus : " I will give sentence against them."
Storm ! With this one word the prophet places himself in
rugged opposition to the false prophets who proclaimed with
one mouth serene tranquillity — yaX^vrj fi&yator), Matt. viii. 26 —
and deals a great blow to the joyous hopes they had excited.
The storm comes out of the north. This is among the
prophets the region pregnant with fate, the quarter from which
the Asiatic world-powers — namely, the Chaldeans — were wont
to break into the holy land. "I will bring evil from the north,
and a great destruction," God says by Jeremiah (ch. iv. 6).
Exactly parallel to the storm out of the north here is the
seething-pot coming from the north, which the prophet (ch.
i. 13) sees likewise on his first calling. The seething-pot there
signifies the war-fire coming from the north. In the exposi
tion of the symbol given by the Lord, it is said (vers. 14, 15),
" Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the in
habitants of the land. For, lo, I will call all the families of
the kingdoms of the north ; and they shall come, and they shall
set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jeru
salem." According to the intimate relation between Jeremiah
and Ezekiel, this interpretation serves likewise for the latter.
Hitzig objects : " It is clear that passages like Jer. i. 14
do not apply here ; for it is Jehovah, not Nebuchadnezzar, that
appears, and the latter would have come from the south to the
scene of action." But Nebuchadnezzar, the servant of the
Lord, and Jehovah form no opposition ; much rather the word
holds here, " They come out of distant lands, the Lord and the
instruments of His wrath, to lay waste the whole earth ;" and
with the Asiatic world-kingdoms, when the inundation of the
holy land is in hand, it is not the site of the capital city that

8 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
is regarded, but the quarter out of which the invasion took
place. This proceeded from the north, from Syria, because
the eastern side of the holy land was covered by the vast,
trackless wilderness of Arabia Deserta.
The coalition which gave occasion, to the appearance of
Ezekiel was directed against the north. The storm out of the
north drives all the sanguine hopes which were founded on
this coalition like withered leaves before it.
Next to the storm comes a "great cloud." The clpuds
with which, or in the company of which, the Lord comes,
are in Scripture the adumbration of judgment ; comp. my
comm. on Eev. i. 7. Storm and cloud appear conjoined as
here in Nah. i. 3 : " The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind
and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet."
All was in expectation of the sun soon about to break forth
clearly in the political heavens, and of the healing under His
wings (Mai. iv. 2). The prophet cannot chime in with this
jubilee. He sees the heavens covered with black clouds as
with a pall.
The third symbol of wrath, the close infolding fire, is from
Ex. ix. 24. There it falls upon the Egyptians ; here it is
directed against the degenerate people of God. As they have
become conformed to the Egyptians in their practices, they
need not wonder if also the fate of the Egyptians befalls
them. They have not, in fact, desired otherwise. Or should
their God, like the false gods of the heathen, have a blind
love for His people ? In that case He could not be righteous
(Deut. xxxii. 4) (Luther, pious), i.e. so constituted as He should
be, as corresponds with the nature of the true God, who as
such recompenses to every one according to his works, without
regarding such wretched things as circumcision and ceremonies.
Deut. iv. 24 gives the interpretation of the symbol. There
" God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." The fire signi-
. fies the energy of His punitive justice. Of this, in its relation
to the degenerate covenant people, it is already said in Deut.
xxxii. 22 : " For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn
unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her
increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains."
The future appeared to the people to be full of light ; the
prophet bears down without remorse on these foolish hopes,

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. I. 4. 9
and sets before the view scorchins; flames which leave nothing
but a heap of ashes behind.
The prophet views first the storm, the cloud, the fire, then
the symbol of the glory of God. In existing circumstances,
it was not of so much import that God appeared in general,
as in what character He appeared ; and this character is repre
sented by storm, cloud, and fire. This was a powerful stroke
against the illusions, the dreams of a gracious God, and of an
immediately impending future of prosperity.
These illusions, however, are only the perversions of a deep
truth ; and to this truth the prophet assigns rightful place in
the words, " and a brightness was about it." These words
occur again in ver. 27. After this is the clear brightness
which surrounds the at first threatening appearance of God, the
emblem of that grace of God which stands in the background
of judgment, pointing to the times of refreshing that shall
come to the people of God, when judgment has first done its
work upon them. The contrast of the false prophets and of
the true is not that of deliverance and judgment, but that of
deliverance without punishment and without repentance, and
of the deliverance which after judgment falls to the lot of the
penitent people — of a bare gospel, crying, Peace, peace, when
there is no peace, and of the law and the gospel, each in its
own time. A prophet who proclaimed only punishment, would
be no less false than one who presents to view nothing but
peace. Law and gospel, each in its entire fulness — this is,
even to this very day, the token of the true servant of God.
The it refers to the whole of the appearance — storm, cloud,
fire.1 The brightness has first of all only a subordinate import.
To this points the pronoun in the phrase, " out of the midst of
it," going back at once to the more remote fire, which, as it
were, ignores the preceding clause, " and brightness was about
it." To remove every uncertainty and ambiguity, it is further
added at the close, " out of the midst of the fire." At first
1 The niasc. suff. is intentionally put (the masc. pron. in ver. 28 also
refers to the whole of the appearance) ; for if the femin. suff. had been
put, we should have held by the reference to the next ¦ preceding noun.
It would have been natural also to think of the brightness issuing from
the fire itself (comp. v. 13), whereas in fact the brightness is different from
the fire, and presents a contrast to it.

10 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
nothing stands in view but storm, cloud, fire. The brightness
gleams only out of the far distance. But here already reference
must be made to it. For it is necessary that it should be
known, if storm, cloud, fire, are to exercise their proper effect.
" Merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in good
ness and truth " (Ex. xxxiv. 6) : this must stand before our
eyes, if the sorrow called forth by sin is to bring with it the
healthful fruit of righteousness.
Out of the midst of the fire an appearance went forth, " to
look Upon like chasmal" shining brass. " To look upon :" this
indicates that it is not realities that are here spoken of, but
only the imperfect forms of realities. That he indicates this
so pointedly and continually, that he opposes so resolutely the
bare realism which refuses to know anything of the distinction
between thought and its dress, is one of the peculiarities of
Ezekiel. Expressions like these — the appearance, the likeness,
even the appearance of the likeness (ver. 28) — continually
recur, for the purpose of guarding against that bare realism
which, while it assumes the air of vindicating the interests of
faith against a " false spiritualism," is at the same time nothing
else than weakness in the exposition of Scripture. Chasmal,
with which in ch. viii. 2 "int, brightness, is joined by way of
explanation, which is used in Dan. xii. 3 of the brightness of
heaven, the LXX. render by electrum, a metal distinguished
for its brightness, consisting of gold mixed with a fifth part
of silver. It here portrays the kernel of the personality of
God — His holiness, that is, His absoluteness, His unconditioned
seclusion from all earthly, and in general creaturely nature —
His incomparable glory.1
After, therefore, the leading point in the appearance has
been brought forward first in outline, the prophet proceeds to
the description of that which still remained to be seen, to return
afterwards to the main subject. The impression which ver. 4
is fitted to make is indicated in the words of James, " Behold,
the Judge standeth before the door." From this the exhorta
tion naturally flows, "Repent, that the Judge may be gracious
to you, and that the sun may appear after the cloud."
Vers. 5-14. The Cherubim.- — God in Iiis wrath — this was
the real import of ver. 4. To increase the feeling of terror, it
1 Compare my comm. on Ps. xxii. 4, Rev. iv. 8.

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. I. 5-14. 11
is here made prominent that this God who appears for judg
ment is the Almighty, the God of the spirits of all flesh, whom
all that lives on earth serves, and who can bring it into the
field against His people, against whom all coalitions are impo
tent, who alone says with entire right, " There is none that
can deliver out of my hand."
The name of the cherubim appears later in Ezekiel for the
first time in ch. ix. 3. On independent grounds the description
should go side by side with that of the cherubim in the taber
nacle of testimony. It is only by degrees that we perceive that
the beings here described are identical with the cherubim there
spoken of.
What the beings which the prophet here portrays had to
signify, could not be doubtful to the intelligent mind. The
four living creatures with the faces, which denote the leading
classes of animals on earth, can only be the ideal combination
of all that lives on earth — " the living (creature) under the God
of Israel," as is said in ch. x. 20.
The appearance of the cherubim is not in itself terrible.
The thought that all that lives on the earth serves God, may,
in some circumstances, be very comforting. To Him who sits
upon the cherubim, who alone is God over all the kingdoms of
the earth, Hezekiah lifted up his eyes, according to Isa. xxxvii.
16, when he was oppressed by the power of Assyria. The
appearance here assumes the threatening aspect from its con
nection with that which precedes in ver. 4, and from the fact
that the living creatures go forth out of the fire, and are thus
destined for a mission of wrath. The reality corresponding to
the figure of the living creatures issuing out of the fire is the
invasion of tlie Chaldeans, connected with the dispersion of all
hopes founded on the anti-Chaldaic coalition.
Of the living creatures there are four, and they have each
four faces and four wings, because four is the signature of the
earth. The human form prevails among them, because man
takes absolutely the first place among the living. From man
they derive the face on the principal side — that turned towards
the east — the upright gait, and the hands. The three other
classes are represented each by one of the four faces. Then
from the cattle they have the likeness of the soles of their feet,
and from the birds their wings.

12 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Ver. 5. "And I saw out of the midst thereof (of the fire)
the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their
appearance ; they had the likeness of men. 6. And every one
had four faces, and every one of them had four wings. 7. And
their feet were straight feet ; and the sole of their feet was
like the sole of a calf's foot ; and they sparkled like the colour
of glowing brass. 8. And a man's hand was under their
wings on their four sides ; and they four had their faces and
their wings. 9. Their wings were joined one to another ; they
turned not when they went; they went every one straight
forward. 1 0. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had
the face of a man and the face of a lion on the right side ; and
they four had the face of a bull on the left side ; they four also
had the face of an eagle.1 11. And (such are) their faces:
and their wings were divided above;2 each had two joined
with one another, and two covered their bodies. 12. And
they went every one straight forward : whither the spirit was
to go they went ; they turned not when they went. 13. As
for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance
was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches :
the fire went along among the living creatures ; and the fire
was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 14. And
the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of
flashing fire."
The first part of the delineation, vers. 5-8, takes a general
survey of the appearance of the cherubim ; the second part,
vers. 9-14, describes more particularly the wings and faces
already brought forward in the survey. Ver. 86 turns from
the hands, which were last mentioned in the survey — where after
the upper parts, the faces and the wings, followed the lowest
part, the feet — back to the wings and faces. After the words,
"And they four had their faces and their wings," it might have
been expected that the closer description would have begun with
1 Luther's translation, " Their faces on the right side of the four were
like a man and a lion, but on the left side of the four their faces were like
an ox and an eagle," changes the four-sidedness of the appearance into a
two-sidedness, removes the front and back, and leaves only the right and
left. 2 Luther's translation, "And their faces and wings were divided above,"
refers to the faces what only suits the wings.

THE FIRST CYCLE— CHAP. I. 5-14. 13
the faces. It begins, however, with the wings, because in flying
these rose above the faces. Still they are only so far described
in ver. 9a as this holds good ; and the description then passes
over at once to the faces, the proper description of the wings
following only in ver. 11. In ver. 12 the kind and manner of
their movement are next described. In vers. 13 and 14 so
much is brought forward as belonged to the cherubim, not
generally, but only in relation to the matter in hand, in har
mony with the threatening character of the whole appearance.
Straight feet, without bending of the knee, are in ver. 7
attributed to the cherubim, as distinguished from the animal
foot.1 The sole of the foot like that of a calf, " round and like
itself all over, while the human foot is drawn out in length," is
explained by the design of giving a' part in the group to the
cattle represented in it through the cherubim. The placing of
the calf here shows that the ox in ver. 10 comes into considera
tion only as the representative of the cattle, and was all the
more necessary as the ox in the olden time was so often re
garded in other points of view ; for example, as the symbol of
the power of nature, which did not here come into considera
tion. The placing of the calf, with which these views were not
connected, is designed to remove all extraneous notions. The
case is similar where, in Rev. iv. 7, the eagle is described as a
flying one, to indicate that it is brought into view simply and
solely as the representative of the birds. The shining or scin
tillating is literally affirmed of the cherubim in general, not of
their feet in particular.2 Still, what is here affirmed of the
cherubim refers, in point of fact, to the feet in particular :
" And they were (there, on the soles of the feet) sparkling."
A general affirmative would not suit here. John thus con
ceived the words in the Apocalypse, ch. i. 15, where it is said
of Christ appearing for judgment, " And His feet like unto
shining brass (Germ, light-brass), as if they burned in a fur-
1 The living creatures are through the whole verse treated as masculine,
as also already in rjr6 at the close of ver. 6. This is explained by the fact
that the proper name Cherubim, standing in the background, is masculine,
and the whole appearance of the cherubim here is human. It is properly
said, " straight foot." The numerical plurahty is contracted into the ideal
unity of the foot.
2 The mascul. CSSJ can refer only to the cherubim, not to the feet.

14 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
nace." In Dan. x. 6 it is said of Michael, " And his arms and
his feet like in colour to shining brass." Shining brass is the
same as glowing brass.1 The sparkling or scintillating of the
feet like glowing brass has nothing whatever to do with the
nature of the cherubim, as little as the flaming sword in Gen.
iii. It refers to the special mission in hand, which is one of
wrath. It stands in like connection with the fire and lightning,
which in ver. 13 are attributed to the entire appearance of the
cherubim, with the element of fire in the appearance of the
Lord Himself in ver. 4 and ver. 27.
In ver. 8 it is said literally, " its human hand," or, " its
hand of a man." 2 The discourse is of its hand, not of their
hands, in consequence of the ideal comprehension of the qua-
ternity of the cherubim iii the unity of the cherub — the living
creature, which elsewhere also occurs along with the cherubim
(Ps. xviii. 11 ; Ezek. ix. 3, x. 4).
The words, "And they four had their faces and their
wings," only repeat, as has been remarked, what was already
said in ver. 6, to indicate the return from the feet and hands
to the upper parts, which are to be more exactly described.
As the wings in ver. 9 only come into consideration before
hand in so far as they rise above the face, so of the four wings
which each cherub possessed according to ver. 6, only the one
pair is regarded which was employed in flying ; from which it is
to be noted that the prophet, who describes only what is seen,
sees the living creatures in motion, according to ver. 14. This
pair of wings is stretched upwards, so that the one wing stands
over against the other, and is in so far " joined " to it. This
one pair of wings is immediately under the " vault " by which
heaven is imaged, in harmony with Gen. i. 20, according to
which the birds fly above the earth to the vault of heaven.
The second part turns from the wings to the faces. In
relation to these it is first noted, that as, according to ver. 6,
there were four of them, they did not need to turn in their
1 It is properly called light (adj.) brass. But this is the same as glowing
brass, because the hght is represented as lighter than the dark, as the
sharp is lighter than the blunt. Comp. my comm. on Rev. i. 15. CXXJ
does not mean shining, but sparkling — scintillantes. \
2 According to ch. x. 8, the singular IT is to be read. The Masoretic
alteration, the plural, arises, as usual, from misunderstanding.

THE FIRST CYCLE— CHAP. I. 5-14. 15
movement, inasmuch as, in whatever direction they went, one
face was always directed forwards. By this the thought is
expressed that the creature is in all directions ready for the ser
vice of God ; that He can very easily summon it to that place
where He wishes to employ it for blessing or for punishment.
In ver. 10 the faces are then individually named. That
the cherub is the representation of the living creation, appears
very clearly from this designation of the faces. The combina
tion of man, lion, ox, and eagle can only be explained in this
way ; as also the order of succession and the bearing towards
the east. At the head the man's face stands ; and this must
be on the east side, which as the principal side, and as. we
always turn to the east when it is intended to mark the
quarters of the heavens, needed no closer designation. The
eagle, as the representative of the birds, takes the hindmost
place. To the right, or southwards, Ps. lxxxix. 13 (Eng. 12),
is the lion, the representative of all wild animals, to which
the pre-eminence among the brute creation had been already
accorded, from the fact that the name of " living creature,"
by which the animate was distinguished from the inanimate
creation, is 'in Gen.'i. appropriated specially to them, in con
trast with those other classes in which the power of life was
less energetic. Not without reason is the lion held among all
nations as the king of beasts in general, not merely of wild
beasts. In Job xxviii. 8 the wild beasts are called sons of
haughtiness or of pride. To the left, or northwards, is the ox,
the representative of the cattle.
We have here the most exact correspondence with Gen. i.,
except that here, where the object was to bring forward the
living creation in great outlines, the fishes and the small land
animals are disregarded. The order is quite the same, except
that in the creation the progress is from the lower to the higher,
whereas here the reverse order holds. First, after the swarm
of the sea, the fowls come into existence. (That this is omitted
in the cherubim, goes hand in hand with the fact that it was
the lowest part of creation in Gen. i.) The wild beast holds in
Gen. i. also the pre-eminence above the cattle. In the decree
of God in ver. 24, the cattle stand foremost because of their
special usefulness to men, but in the execution of it the wild
beast is placed at the head. Man forms the crown of the whole.

16 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The phrase " and (such are) their faces" serves as the con
clusion to the subject of the faces, and forms the transition to
that which still remained after ver. 9 to be said of the wings.
Two wings, the same which were already named there, are
represented as divided, in contrast with the other two, which
were closed upon the body. The same two wings are also
represented as joined together, because they stand freely over
against one another, in contrast with the other two, which are
separated from one another by the body.
Wings are allotted to the cherubim in general, to suit the
class of birds represented in the group. But besides this, two
of these wings serve to exhibit the connection between the earth
and the heaven represented by the vault, — a connection which
is necessary, that heaven and earth may be presented as parts
of one whole, tho creation of God, over which He is enthroned,
and whose powers are all at His bidding, for blessing or for
punishment (Job xxxvii. 13). The wings are all the better
fitted to exhibit this connection, as the fowls represented by
them come into closest proximity with, heaven, on which account
they are also called "the fowls of heaven" (Ps. viii. 9). The
idea of a carrying of the vault upon the wings of the cherubim
must be entirely abandoned. Wings are not of themselves
fitted for this, and here all the less so, as they serve for flying,
and are occasionally lowered (ver. 24). The object is only to
give the medium of the connection, or a figuration of it.
" Divided" — namely, from the body. " Above," in contrast
with the wings that covered the body. "Each had two which
were joined with one (cherub)," two standing upright, which
reached forth to those of another cherub, whilst also the wings
of this one stretched upward.1 We must distinguish what is
here said from what is said in ver. 9. It was there said that
the upper wings were joined with one another.
What has been already said in the particular description of
ver. 9 is made prominent once more in ver. 12, with an im
portant additional statement, which assigns the cause of the
movement : " Whither the spirit was to go, they went."
Whither the impulse standing under God's direction was to go,
they went without any difficulty : no behind and no before ;
¦ 1 The second %»n as well as the first, and also the b»k in ver. 12 can
only refer to the cherub.

THE FIRST CYCLE— CHAP. I. 5-11. 17
every way stands open to them. Woe to him, therefore, against
whom God in His wrath directs them ; and this is, alas, the
first thought, as the mission here is one of wrath, but also weal
to him who is in favour with God.
The moving cause is the Spirit, the life-breath of God, who
dwells within the creature, and leads it, according to the laws
which He prescribes for it, to the ends which Pie places before
it. God is the " God of the spirits of all flesh" (Num. xvi. 22).
It is implied in this, that the creature in itself cannot and need
not be the object of love, of trust, and of fear. The Spirit
of God appears already in the history of the creation as the
animating power in the universe. The spirit here is the spirit
dwelling within the creatures. That the spirit is first of all
the spirit of the living, is shown in ver. 21. That this spirit
immanent in the creatures is, however, only an effluence of the
Spirit of God, and stands therefore under the unconditional
direction of Him who bends the hearts of kings like the water-
brooks, appears from vers. 20, 21, according to which the same
spirit is in the beasts and in the wheels, in the living creatures
and in the powers of nature.
Vers. 13 and 14 do not refer to the nature of the living
creature in itself, but to its present mission, whicli is one of
wrath. The fire, representing wrath and vengeance, appears
separated from the cherubim themselves ; it runs among the
cherubim ; they are, as it were, dipt in fire. " All things," re
marks Grotius, " pointed to vengeance after the long patience
of God" — omnia post longam patientiam Dei ad ultionem spec-
tabant. The fire here must be regarded in the same light as
the fire in ver. 4 and in ver. 7. In ver. 4 the fire goes hand in
hand with the other symbols of the wrath of God, the storm
and the cloud. In other circumstances, if the mission were
friendly, the cherubim would appear wholly enveloped in light ;
they would shine forth with the God enthroned above them
"(Ps. xciv. 1). In itself the fire might also be directed against
the enemies of the people of God, as formerly the fire in the
pillar of cloud (Ex. xiv. 24) ; it might indicate the vengeance
impending over them. But that it is here directed against the
covenant people, that God has turned Himself into a fierce
enemy against them (Job xxx. 21), appears from ver. 4, where
the fire conies out of the north, the home of the world-power,
B

18 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
not goes to the north. For now the watchword is : " Upon
those who are near me will I sanctify myself ;" " You only
do I know of all nations of the earth, therefore will I visit
upon you all your sins ;" " Judgment must begin at the house
of God." The living creature runs to and fro, showing the energy of
the impulse of wrath proceeding from God and filling them,
which cannot rest a moment, nor abide the time when they shall
be let loose. Woe to him on whom they then come ! Some
thing of this " flashing of lightning" Ezekiel might have already
perceived with the natural eye among the Chaldeans.
Vers. 15-21. The Wheels.— These wheels represent the
powers of nature. They do not bear the cherubim, but they
stand independently beside them, although they occupy the
lower place, the cherubim the upper. Not only do the wheels
move as in a chariot, but also the cherubim move, and in such
a way indeed that their movement is the primary "and original
one, while that of the wheels only goes along with it (vers.
14, 19). That they move simultaneously with the cherubim,
arises, according to ver. 21, from this, that the spirit of the
living creature is in the wheels. Externally, therefore, they are
not inseparably joined with the living creature, but both obey
one and the same impelling power. The local subordination
to the cherubim finds its explanation only in the fact that wheels
usually occupy the lowest place in a vehicle. If the powers
of nature, on account of tlieir weight, were thus viewed under
the figure of a wheel in motion, this place must here have been
allotted to the wheel. The whole was designed to make a single
impression, to represent a kind of vehicle, in which the Lord
occupied the place, of the charioteer, the living creature the
place of the chariot, under which are the powers of nature
represented by the wheels, which are really co-ordinate with the
living creature. The thought is this, that all powers as well as
beings of nature serve God when He appears for judgment.
This must fill men's hearts with fear and trembling before Him.
Among the powers of nature, fire comes here particularly into
consideration, just as man does among the living creatures.
"He burnt up their city" (Matt. xxii. 7). These words bring
out the idea. It is out of the wheels that the fire is taken in
ch. x. 2 for the destruction of Jerusalem. That the powers of

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. I. 15-21. 19
nature, however, serve God's purposes also in a wider extent,
appears, for example, from the hail with which the Egyptians,
and also the Canaanites, are visited, and from the lightning and
storm in the history of Job.
Ver. 15. And I saw the living creatures, and, behold, a wheel
upon the earth by the living creatures with their four faces.1
16. The appearance of the wheels and their work were like unto
the colour of the chrysolite : and they four had one likeness :
and their appearance and their work were as it were a wheel in
the midst of a wheel. 17. When they went, they went upon
their four sides ; they turned not when they went. 18. And
their felloes, they were high and terrible ; and their felloes were
full of eyes round about them four. 19. And when the living
creatures went, the wheels went beside them ; and when the
living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were
lifted up. 20. Whither the spirit willed to go, they went ; if
the spirit willed to go thither, then the wheels were lifted up
beside them : for the spirit of the living creature was in the
wheels. 21. When those went, they went; and when they
stood, they stood ; and when they were lifted up from the
earth, the wheels were lifted up by the side of them : for the
spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
The appearance of the wheels is, according to ver. 16, like
that of jasper or chrysolite. By this the glory of the powers
of nature is indicated, as it is exhibited, for example, in a con
flagration. In Ex. xxviii. 20 the jasper occurs among the
precious stones in the breastplate of the high priest. In Dan.
x. 6 the body of Michael is like jasper, his face like lightning,
his eyes like torches of fire. There also glory and grandeur
are signified by the jasper.
The wheels are not ordinary wheels, according to the second
half of ver. 16, but double wheels, one set into the other. On
what account it is so we learn from ver. 17, " that they might
go on all sides without turning round." It is not hereby in
tended to take into consideration the physical possibility, but
only to fix the eye upon the thought that the powers of nature,
1 Luther, " And it was to look upon as four wheels." He has been led
astray by the sing. suff. iu V33- This belongs to the cherub as collective,
so that there were thus of course four wheels. Comp. x. 9, where this is
expressly affirmed (1 Kings vii. 30).

20 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
no less than the living creatures, promptly obey God whither
soever He sends them.
In ver. 18 the wheels are alternately treated as masculine
and feminine. The height and dreadfulness ascribed to the
felloes of the wheels correspond to their comparison with the
chrysolite. The fact that the felloes are full of eyes points
to this, that the power of nature is no blind force, that it is
employed in the service of God's providence, that all over it
the stamp of reason is impressed. It is this very thing which
makes the power of nature terrible to him whose enemy is
God. The eyes on the felloes of the wheels give them direc
tion, lead them onwards into the most secret lurking-places of
the enemies of God. The words in ver. 20, "For the spirit of
the living creature was in the wheels," account for the simul
taneous movement of the wheels and cherubim. Then only,
however, are they appropriate if the meaning be this : " One
and the same spirit worked in the living creatures and in the
wheels." The unity of the spiritus rector effected the harmony.1
The description begins neither from above, from him that
rsits upon the vehicle, nor from below, from the wheels, but in
the middle, with the living creatures, corresponding to the
chariot. This is explained by the fact that the living creatures
are peculiarly concerned in the present case. The writer is
treating of the Chaldean catastrophe, the inevitable approach
of which, to those who were seized with a political bewilder
ment, must be borne in mind. But the reference to Him who
guides the whole goes before (in ver. 4) the description of de
tails. That He is the Alpha and the Omega is brought to view
in this, that He forms the opening, and the close.
Vers. 22-25. The vault. — In the representation of Jehovah,
who draws near for judgment to His unfaithful people as the
God of the universe, whose hand no one can escape, heaven
must not be left out of account. It is this that appears all
through the Old Testament as the most illustrious proof of the
greatness of God ; it is presented in the language as the plural,
the heavens, in contrast with the poor earth standing in the
1 The explanation " breath of life," or " living soul," gives an improper
sense here and in ver. 21, as the writer treats of the ground of the simul-
taneousness of the movement. Also rvn cannot otherwise stand here than
in ver. 22, where it signifies the living — the living creatures.

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. I. 22-25. 21
singular; it is the heavens pre-eminently which, according
to Ps. xix., " declare the glory of God." God is frequently
called the God of heaven, to indicate His omnipotence. The
Almighty is still more frequently called the God of hosts, i.e.
the God whom the powers of heaven serve, than Pie who sits
enthroned upon the cherubim, which designates Him by the
proofs of His omnipotence in the earthly creatures. Heaven,
then, is here presented in the great panorama of the universe —
which, next to the vision of the new temple, is the noblest
ornament of the prophecies of Ezekiel — as a vault, the word
which in Gen. i. is consecrated to the description of heaver,
and is never otherwise used except for this (comp. Ps. xix. 1
and Dan. xii. 3). To the words, " as the colour of the terrible
crystal," correspond here the words in Daniel, " They shall
shine as the brightness of the vault," and in Ps. cl. 1 the
designation of the vault as the mighty. Beneath the vault are
the cherubim, the representatives of the earthly creation ; yet
not that which is beneath alone, but that which is above, is in
the vault here the same that is elsewhere in the heaven. The
latter appears always as the place of God's throne, as here the
throne of God stands upon the vault.
Ver. 22. And over the heads of the living creature was
the likeness of a vault, as the colour of the terrible crystal,
stretched forth over their heads above. 23. And under the
vault, their wings standing upright, the one toward the other :
every one of them had, besides, two which covered their bodies.
24. And when they went I heard the voice of their wings, like
the voice of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a
voice of roaring like the voice of a host : when they stood,
they let down their wings. 25. And there was a voice over
the vault which was above their head : when they stood, they
let down their wings.
Ex. xxiv. 10 forms the foundation of ver. 22 : " And they
saw the God of Israel ; and under His feet was there like a
work of shining sapphire, and like heaven itself in clearness."
There already we have in an appearance of God the same
image of heaven. The crystal is noted as terrible, because it
excites awe by its splendour, in which that of the Creator
is reflected. Dreadfulness had been already, in ver. 18, at
tributed to the wheels, the powers of nature. To the com-

22 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
parison of the latter with the chrysolite the comparison of
heaven here with crystal corresponds. Everywhere in the
creation the glory of the Creator shines forth upon us.
Heaven is represented as "stretched out"1 over above the
heads of the living creatures. We have here merely an
" over," not that the heads carried it. The heads are at no
time immediately under the firmament; for the wings rose
over the heads, according to vers. 19, 23.
Under the vault, according fo ver. 23, is the one pair of
wings standing upright. It is this which serves for flying, in
contrast with the other, which covers the body, because the
creaturely is not worthy to appear unveiled before the eyes of
tlie Thrice Holy. The tips of the wings reach upwards to the
vault. Carrying is not to be thought of. Wings are not
suited for this ; and here particularly carrying would be out
of place, because the wings, according to ver. 24, make a loud
noise, and are therefore in free motion ; further, because,
according to what follows, the wings are let down upon
occasion. They carry the heaven just as little as the wheels
the chariot. The local proximity serves here, as there, only
to indicate the connection between the several provinces of
creation — is meant to present the creation as a uniform whole.2
The wings, the noise of which, according to ver. 24, Ezekiel
hears, can naturally only be those standing upright, for it is
for the very purpose of flying that they stand upright. The
flapping of the wTings shows, in harmony with ver. 14, that the
living creatures long to fulfil their mission, that the time of
this fulfilment is thus drawing near. Light is thrown upon
the similes which are used to represent the loudness of the
sounding of their wings, if the cherubim be recognised as the
representation of the whole living creation upon earth. All
the sounding of the creatures upon earth appears here gathered
into one vast tone. The sounding was terrible to those who
1 Stretched out ; this is the standing expression in reference to the rela
tion of heaven to earth. Isa. xl. 22, "That stretcheth out the heaven as
a curtain ;" xiii. 5, xliv. 24; Jer. x. 12.
2 The repetition of the words, " one had two which covered it," is
meant to indicate that, besides the outstretched wings, each single cherub
had two which covered the body. "Without the repetition the sense might
be that each had orJy one. The word every one is therefore expressed.

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. I. 22-25. 23
recognised the import of the present mission of the cherubim.
The noise is first compared to the noise of many waters, to
which Isaiah in ch. xvii. 12, 13 compares the tumult of the
heathen world-power, Assyria, as it presses against Israel ;
then to the voice of the Almighty, the thunder. Comp. Rev.
xix. 6, where the voice of the church, included with the
cherubim, is likened to the voice of "mighty thunderings :"
" And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as
the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder
ings, saying, Alleluia ! for the Lord God, the Omnipotent,
reigneth." In Rev. xiv. 2, also, the voice of the church is
likened to the voice of many waters, and to the voice of
thunder. To the voice of roaring, like the voice of a host,1
here, corresponds the " voice of a great multitude " in Rev.
xix. 6. The distinction therefore is only this, that what forms
the end here is there removed to the beginning.
Ver. 25 passes over to Him who is enthroned above the
whole appearance, to whom everything in it is subjected, and
serves His purposes. A voice issues from the vault, which
still for a time checks the impetuosity of the instruments of
the divine vengeance. He from whom the voice proceeds is
then further described in vers. 26, 27. As to the connection
with the previous verse, the standing still of the cherubim, and
the letting down of their wings, which had been spoken of
there, is here carried back to its ground. In form the prophet
speaks in general: " When they stand, they let them down;"
but he draws the general out of the particular, which he just
now perceives ; so that these words stand in the background :
"Whilst they stood, they let them down." "The vault which
was over their head " leaves no doubt as to the signification of
the cherubim : the heaven arclies itself over the head of the
earthly creatures. Cocceius has already correctly given the
essential burden of the voice : " The sovereignty of God, by
which Pie restrains the nations and bids them be at peace."
Vers. 26-29. The highest Object in the Appearance. — The
end here falls back upon the beginning in ver. 4 ; what is
there indicated is here developed.
1 n^1Dn elsewhere only in Jer. xi. 16. There the " great tumult "'
represents the tumultus hellicus Chaldteorum, which even here also is mainly
signified by the appearance of the cherubim.

24 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Ver. 26. And above the vault that was over their head was
the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone ;
and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the
appearance of a man above upon it. 27. And I saw as the
colour of shining brass, as the appearance of fire which was
enfolded round about : from the appearance of his loins and
upward, and from the appearance of his loins and downward,
I saw as it were the appearance of fire ; and it had brightness
round about.1 28. As the appearance of the bow that is in the
cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the bright
ness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of
the glory of the Lord. And I saw, and fell upon my face, and
heard the voice of one that spake.
Here, at the very height of the appearance, are accumulated
indications of the fact that the forms which the prophet be
holds _are not adequate for their object, but are only meant
to bring it, as far as may be, home to the human under
standing. Had the prophet made this mistake, he would have
come in conflict with the Mosaic commandment, " Thou shalt
not make unto thee any image, nor any likeness," which is
directed against those representations of the Divine Being that
lay claim to be adequate to exhaust the fulness of their object,
and represent it, of which adoration, is then the immediate
sequel. That God should present Himself in human form (ver.
26) is explained by Gen. i., according to which, among all
created things which might supply the substratum for the
vision of the Eternal, if He is to be seen at all, man alone
bears the image of God, and is a type of the appearance of
God in the flesh. Dan. vii. 13 is parallel, where one " like a
son of man " appears in the clouds of heaven.
That the sapphire is brought forward on account of its
heaven-like colour is shown by Ex. xxiv. 10, where the whiteness,
or the clear shining of the sapphire, stands in connection with
the purity of heaven. The heaven-like colour of the throne
indicates the infinite eminence of God's dominion over the
earth, with its impotence, sin, and unrighteousness.
1 Luther, " From his loins, above them and below them, I saw as it
were fire shining round and round." Thereby chasmal, fire, and brightness,
which are entirely distinct from one another, are completely confounded.

THE FIRST CYCLE— CHAP. I. 26-29. 25
On chasmal, shining brass, in ver. 27, see ver. 4 ; according
to ch. viii. 2, it is to be explained thus: "From the appearance
of the loins upward " it looked like shining brass. This supple
mentary statement follows quite of itself, as in the sequel the
region from the loins downward is expressly connected with
the fire. At first it is said that He who sat upon the throne
presented a double appearance; then the regions of each of
these appearances are more exactly indicated.
The shining brass indicates the invariable character of
God's personality — His holiness in the scriptural sense, i.e. His
nature separated from everything creaturely — His absoluteness,
through which He has His measure in Himself alone, and
never can be meted by a human standard : " My thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," etc. (Isa.
Iv. 8, 9.) The lower parts are allotted to the fire, the avenging
wrath of God, because this bears only an accidental character
— is only made prominent in present circumstances ; in other
circumstances, other sides of the divine nature will appear.
The attribute of God indicated by the fire is derived from that
indicated by the shining brass : God's absoluteness must, when
it meets with daring opposition, go forth against it raging and
destroying. The attribute indicated by the fire receives also
from that indicated by the shining brass its exact determination :
the Holy, the Absolute One can never be angry like man, who
is determined by his lower passionate impulses. As soon as
repentance shows itself, compassion steps into the place of wrath :
"I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not
utterly destroy Ephraim ; for I am God, and not man, the
Holy One in the midst of thee, and I will not enter into the
city ; " I am not like the children of men, as they wander up
and down in the cities, who can be sorely offended once, but
can never be softened to reconciliation (Hos. xi. 9). It
certainly appears, on the other side, in the determination which
the wrath of God receives from His holiness, that He bears
the character of the most absolute energy, has in Him nothing
of human slackness, does not stop short even of the destruction
of that which opposes itself, when He meets with headstrong
obduracy, so that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God.
The fire is more closely described as " a house round about

26 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
it," as encompassed about, in order to indicate the extent of
its burning ; comp. Gen. xv. 17, where God appears to Abram
in the form of a fiery furnace : correspondent is the enfolded
fire of ver. 4. 2 Thess. i. 8, 9 is a New Testament parallel
passage : there Christ is revealed from heaven in flaming fire,
to take vengeance upon those who know not God, and obey
not the gospel. As the fire is there directed against those who
despise the gospel, so here against those who despise the law.
The " brightness round about " the appearance of God, of
which the close of ver. 27 speaks, is more exactly described in
ver. 28. Accordingly it signifies here, as in the outline of ver.
4, out of which the words are first transferred, to connect it
with the detailed statement of the following verse, the grace
that will follow the wrath, as formerly in the flood, where it
was represented by the shining of the rainbow.
The words, "as the appearance ... of the brightness round
about " (ver. 28), give the exacter description of the brightness
with allusion to Gen. ix. 13. The rainbow, according to its
proper institution, is not the symbol of grace in general, but of
grace returning after wrath. The wrath is here indicated by
DSJO, violent rain. In the fire and the rainbow we have the two
fundamental elements of the prophecy of Ezekiel, first judg
ment, and then grace. Grotius has given the idea here quite
correctly : " The divine judgments, however severe they may
be, shall not, however, obliterate the memory of the covenant
made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Fire and the rain
bow are here equally applied to the church. It is otherwise in
Rev. iv. 3, x. 1. There the fire of the divine wrath is directed
against the enemies of the church ; the rainbow round about
the throne (in ch. x. 1 about the head of Christ) points to this,
that judgment is to the church an act of grace. But here also
grace is hidden behind judgment. The fire has to convey its
precise import to the rainbow. The latter points not merely to
that which is to follow after judgment : it teaches us to recog
nise even in relentless judgment an act of grace to the church.
The words, " This is the appearance of the likeness of the
glory of the Lord," apply to the whole of the appearance of God,
as it was described in vers. 27 and 28, and conclude this descrip
tion. The words, " And I saw, and fell on my face," depict
next the impression which this appearance made upon the pro-

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. II. 1, 2. 27
phet : he falls down before the majesty of an angry God.
The address of God which follows gives the explanation of His
appearance, and the commentary upon it.
The vision places before" the eyes of the prophet the cha
racter of the proximate future of the people of God. It indi
cates that this people, who yielded themselves up to fond dreams
— who, like the ten tribes of old, in foolish blindness, and in
complete misapprehension of the signs of the times, said, " The
bricks are fallen down, and we will build with hewn stones ;
the sycamores are cut down, and we will change them into
cedars" (Isa. ix. 10)— are on the eve of a grievous judgment.
Plereby the general character of his mission was already indi
cated to the prophet. He was to dissipate illusions, to proclaim
judgment, to appear as a stern preacher of repentance. The
great hardships, also, which he had to endure lay already bound
up in the vision. The people who have incurred severe divine
judgment cannot be willing to receive the servant of God ; the
preaching of repentance must create exasperation among the
impenitent. What might have been already inferred from the
vision, will be now brought forward expressly in words.
First, a prefatory narrative. Ch. ii. 1 : " And he said unto
me, S'on of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto
thee. 2. And the Spirit entered into me when He spake unto
me, and set me upon my feet ; and I heard Him that spake
unto me."
" Son of man :" so he calls him, remarks Rashi, that his
spirit might not be puffed up by this vision. But such an
acceptation isolates this passage. " Son of man :" so the Lord
customarily addresses our prophet more than eighty times ; as
an address to the prophets it occurs elsewhere only in Dan. viii.
17 : and it is manifest that all these passages must be regarded
from one point of view. The difficulty of Ezekiel's commission
consisted in this, that he was sent as a child of man to the
children of men ; so that a multitude of weak objections were
raised: "What knowest thou that we do not know?" "Thou
boilest also with water," etc. The address as son of man ad
mits the difficulty ; but then we are referred to this, that behind
the son of man another stands who possesses all that is wanting
to the son of man, so that he dare not despair, nor dare any

28 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
one gainsay his word, or lay hands upon him. To the present
address, " Thou son of man," correspond the words of ver. 4,
" And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah."
When the designation is thus conceived, it necessarily connects
itself with the "Son of man" as self-designation of Christ,
which occurs especially in expressions that refer to His rejec
tion, humiliation, and sufferings. There is also admitted what
lies before the eyes, but at the same time there is a reference
to the divine background of his manifestation. In Dan. vii.
13 it is said of Christ, " And, behold, one like a son of man
came with the clouds of heaven," — a man, and yet not a man.
This word, " like a son of man," applies also in a certain sense
to Ezekiel. fie has not, like the Messiah, a divine nature along
with the human ; but yet there is in him, as in every true
servant of God, along with the human side of his existence, a
divine. He is an angel of the Lord of hosts (Hag. i. 13) : who
hears him, hears God ; and who is ashamed of him shall receive
the judgment of God.
The spirit who sets the prophet upon his feet is the same
spirit that was operative in the living creatures and in the
wheels (ch. i. 20, 21). It is not the " spiritual equipment of
the prophet" that is treated of, but only the spirit of life that
raises up again him who has fallen down " as dead " (Rev. i. 7).
1 Kings x. 5 is parallel, where the queen of Sheba was so struck
with astonishment at Solomon, that there was no more spirit in
her. Vers. 3—7. The prophet is armed against the contradiction
that was to be expected from the people. Ver. 3. And he said
unto me, Son of man, I send thee unto the children of Israel, to
heathen nations, to the rebellious, who have rebelled against me :
they and their fathers have transgressed against me even unto
this very day. 4. And they are children of hard face and stiff
heart : I send thee unto them ; and thou shalt say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah. 5. And they may hear or for
bear ; for they are a house of stubbornness, and they shall know
that there hath been a prophet among them. 6. And thou,
son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their
words, for rebels and thorns are with thee, and thou dwellest
among scorpions : be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed
at their looks, because they are a house of stubbornness. 7.

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. II. 3-7. 29
And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will
hear or forbear ; for they are stubbornness itself.
They to whom the prophet is sent are in ver. 3 described
first according to that which they ought to be — sons of Israel,
the man of faith, who wrestled in prayer with God and man
and prevailed ; then according to that which they in reality are,
— a microcosm, as it were, of the whole heathen world, whose
religion and manners are reflected in them. " To heathen
nations:" this goes beyond even Isa. i. 21, where degenerate
Israel is described as a heathen nation. " Of hard face and stiff
heart " (ver. 4) : this is in itself no fault ; it may be, in certain
cases, great praise (iii. 8, 9 ; Isa. 1. 7) ; it becomes blame only
through its connection with ver. 3. Accordingly we must
think of stedfastness and resolute bearing in rebellion against
God. To have a character for ungodliness, to be complete in
this, is the very worst reproach, as it is the highest praise to
have a character for the fear of God, and to be complete in
this. In ver. 5 we must supply out of ver. 4, " Thou shalt
announce to them the word of God." That this must be sup
plied, appears also from the definitive repetition of it in ver. 7.
The words " or forbear " are to be considered as accented.
That this latter case also is taken into view, is proved by the
words, " for they are a house of stubbornness," an obstinate
company. 'The words, "and they shall know" — that is, they
shall then know " that there hath been a prophet among them"
— bring into view what will befall them in the latter case. If
they do not give ear to the prophet — which, from the character
ascribed to them in ver. 4, is very much to be feared — they will
perceive his prophetic mission in the fulfilment of, his threats of
punishment; so that this will in no case be in vain: he will at
all events in the long-run receive his due from them. In ver.
6 tlie literal expression " rebels " comes first ; then follow two
figurative ones, thorns and scorpions. Such conjunction of
literal and figurative expressions is very common, e.g. Ps. xxvii.
1, " The Lord is my light and my salvation." The scorpions
are here a metaphorical designation for evil men ; in 1 Kings
xii. 11, for evil punishments. Prosaic expositors have there
substituted for them whips with stings in them. The words,
" for they are a house of stubbornness," do not give a reason for
fearlessness, but explain why he is exhorted to it. " They are

30 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
stubbornness" (ver. 7)': this is represented as incorporate in
them. " Stubbornness " is put emphatically here for the " house
of stubbornness " in ver. 6 ; comp. ver. 8, xliv. 6.
Ch. ii. 8 — iii. 3. The prophet swallows a book, the arche
type, as it were, of the book which is here presented, the seed
from which it springs, — related to it as the heavenly archetype
of the tabernacle, which Moses is shown upon the mount, to
the tabernacle itself. Jer. xv. 16 forms the groundwork : " I
found Thy words, and ate them ; and^Thy words were unto me
the joy and rejoicing of my heart : for Thy name was called
upon me, O Lord God of hosts." The idea there only hinted
at is here amplified into a symbolic act, in which we are not
indeed to think of any outward process of nature, and which
in this respect serves as a finger-post to the later symbolic
actions of the prophet. The fundamental thought is, that Eze
kiel is no prophet out of his own heart. He only publishes
what he has received from above. Is the burden peculiarly
sorrowful ? That is not to be ascribed to the son of man, but
it comes from Him who stands behind him. Instead of mur
muring against the poor instrument that has received so stern
a commission, let them repent. We have here an important
passage concerning the relation which the believer has to sus
tain to holy Scripture — a warning against all capricious treat
ment of it — an injunction that everything be received as it is
given, because what is despised descends on the head of the
despiser. As our passage rests upon Jeremiah, so the " book"
in Rev. v. 1, and the " little book " in Rev. x. 2, point back
to the book before us.
Ch. ii. 8. And thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee :
Be not thou rebellious like the house of rebellion : open thy
mouth, and eat what I give thee. 9. And I looked, and, behold,
a hand was sent unto me ; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein -,1
10. And he spread it out before me : and it was written before
and behind: and therein were written lamentations, and mourn
ing, and woe. Ch. iii. 1. And he said unto me, Son of man, eat
what thou findest ; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house
of Israel. 2. And I opened my mouth, and he caused me to
1 Luther, " which had a letter folded up." The suff. in 13 stands for
the neut. " therein." "p is always femin.

THE FIRST CYCLE— CHAP. II. S— III. 3. 31
eat that roll. 3. And he said unto me, Son of man, thou shalt
cause thy belly to eat this roll which I give thee, and fill thy
bowels with it. And I ate ; and it was in my mouth as honey
for sweetness.
The exhortation, " Be not rebellious," in ch. ii. 8 presup
poses that the contents of the book have something revolting
to the prophet. This finds place in a twofold way. In the
first place, he is one of his own people ; and the lamentations,
and mourning, and woe, in ver. 10, strike his own flesh, so that
on this account he has " great heaviness and continual sorrow
in his heart " (Rom. ix. 9). Ah, how sorely he wished that
the bitter cup might pass away from his people, that the Lord
might promise peace to his people ! Then, again, he must be
prepared for persecution, on account of the mournful burden
of his prophecy. The people desire such as cry, Peace, peace,
when there is no peace, and prophesy to them of wine and
strong drink. Just now they are lulled into fond dreams, and
will rise exasperated against him who frightens them out of
these, and places the naked reality before their eyes, more
especially as he has an inner ally in their conscience hardly
hushed to rest. The book is unfolded before the prophet,
according to ver. 10, before it is handed to him to swallow :
he must undertake his mission with a clear consciousness of
its difficulty. The roll of the book is written upon before and
behind. The fulness of the contents, which are immediately
afterwards described as very sorrowful, is so great, that the
front side, which was usually alone written upon, does not suffice.
" Eat what thou findest " : (ch. iii. 1) : what the Lord says to
His disciples with regard to their ordinary food, " Eat what
is set before you," holds good also with regard to the divine
revelation. This arbitrary disposition of mind, which instead
of the word " what I find " puts " what I may," is of evil.
The words point to this, that the prophet has arrived at his
prediction without his own motion, and that those who on this
account rebel against him, who must accept what is presented
to him, are on a false track. " And it was in my mouth as
honey for sweetness " (ver. 3) ; as the word of the living God,
which as such is sweet as honey and the honeycomb (Ps.
1 According to the fundamental passage in Jeremiah, we must not
interpret " attainest."

&

32 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
xix. 10), even when it is of the most painful import. That
this is mainly the ground of the sweetness, appears from the
fundamental passage, Jer. xv. 16 : "for Thy name is called
upon me, Jehovah, God of hosts." It is infinitely sweet and
lovely to be the organ and the spokesman of the Most High.
The nature of the words themselves, however, comes next into
consideration. Even the most grievous divine truths have to
the spiritually-minded man a joyous and refreshing aspect.
The proclamation of judgment, even when it falls upon our
selves, carries us into the depths of the divine righteousness,
and thus provides nourishment for our soul. Then also grace
is hidden behind judgment; athwart the cloud the rainbow
gleams. Better to be condemned by God than comforted by
the. world. For He who smites can also heal, and will heal, if
His proclamation of judgment, and the judgment itself, be met
by penitence ; while, on the other hand, the comfort of the
world is vain.
Vers. 4-9. God will endow His servant with unconquerable
courage in the face of the people's stubbornness. This is a
great comfort for one who had to stand alone against a rebel
lious people, not once only, but through a whole long life. He
who has to contend against public opinion is lost, if he have
not a fast hold upon Omnipotence ; and he is a fool who, with
out such support, undertakes this warfare, the costs of which
will certainly be required. He who has not God decidedly
upon his side, must of necessity make terms with the majority.
Ver. 4. And He said to me, Son of man, go, get thee to
the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
5. For thou art sent not to a people of deep speech, and heavy
tongue, unto the house of Israel. 6. Not to many peoples of
deep speech, and heavy tongue, Whose words thou understandest
not : surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened
unto thee. 7. And the house of Israel will not hearken unto
thee ; for they will not hearken unto me : for all the house of
Israel are stiff of neck and hard of heart. 8. Behold, I make
thy face strong against their face, and thy forehead strong
against their forehead. 9. As diamond, harder than flint, I
make thy forehead : thou shalt not fear them, nor be dismayed
before them, because they are a house of rebellion.

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. III. 4-0. 33
The ground for accepting the commission given in ver. 4
is not probably concluded in ver. 5, but goes on to the end of
the section : u for I will be with thee," although thy mission
is a very difficult one, far harder than if it were directed to
the heathen. " Unto the house of Israel," for " if thou art
sent to the house of Israel." The contrast is between the outer
hindrance which diversity of speech presents, and the inner
hindrance which arises from the opposition of the heart — from
this, that "they ivould not" (Matt, xxiii. 37). The outer
difficulties are overcome when the cordial desire for mutual
understanding exists on both sides. " Deep," in relation to the
lip or speech (the expression is derived from Isa. xxxiii. 19), and
" heavy," or difficult in relation to the tongue, are those whose
speech is hard to be understood. Along with difference of
speech goes difference in the circle of ideas, which among the
Jews presented the most manifold points of connection with
the activity of God's servants, while these were entirely want
ing among the Gentiles. What Havernick adduces, however,
is not to the purpose : " dulness of sense, want of spiritual
susceptibility for what is higher and divine." This lies on the
side of the Jews. When it is said in ver. 6, that the spiritual
susceptibility of the Gentiles would break through the outward
difficulties, in case the mission of the prophet were directed to
them,1 this is in harmony with the history of Naaman the
Syrian, and of Jonah, in the Old Testament; in the New
Testament, with the history of the Canaanitish woman, whom
Jesus seeks out, while He must conceal Plimself from the Jews,
and of the Gentile centurion (Matt. viii. 10-12). It certainly
follows from the susceptibility of the Gentiles here made pro
minent, that salvation shall be yet one day offered to them in
an effectual way, since God wills not the death of the sinner,
1 ih DN asseverates. " Had I sent thee to them " corresponds to
" does he reproach that panteth after me " (Ps. lvii. 3). The interpreta
tion, " But to them (namely, to Israel) I send thee, they will understand
thee, but the house of Israel will not want to understand thee," fails in
this respect, that to " hearken to " any one can never be said of the mere
outward understanding. It rather indicates assent. Against Hitzig's
interpretation, " But I send thee to those, those should hearken unto
thee," it is decisive that the words those and should are not precisely
indicated in the text. non is most naturally referred to those whohaye
been described in what goes immediately before.
C

34 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
but that he should repent and live. Just so, we expect, after
what is here said of the hard-heartedness of the Jews, that
in the lapse of time a great sifting and separating will take
place among them. "They will not hearken unto thee, for
they will not hearken unto me " (ver. 7) : we have here not
merely an as, but a because. Disobedience to the prophet
springs from disobedience to God. The New Testament
parallels are, Matt. x. 24, 25, John xv. 20, 21. In vers. 8
and 9 follows the peculiar thought of the passage, the promise
of God's sure support against the anticipated opposition. It
is not said, "Fear not, and be not dismayed," but, "Thou
shalt not fear." It is not an admonition, but a promise. The
strength of the Almighty passes over to the poor son of man.
Ch. iii. 10-15. The raising up is followed by the letting
down. The prophet has been in the spirit, and in this con
dition has seen visions of God. He now returns out of the
ecstasy into the condition of ordinary consciousness, and
remains therein seven days : so long did the relaxation last
which followed the extreme strain. It is said of Daniel in
ch. viii. 27, after he had seen a high vision : " And I Daniel
was sick several days : afterward I rose up, and did the king's
business." The same holds good of Ezekiel also, according to
ver. 16 ; only with this difference, that Ezekiel the prophet,
after recovering strength, has to execute the business of the
heavenly King, while Daniel the statesman attends to the
service of the earthly king. The local change took place only
in the region of the subjective. It was thus that the prophet
had been at the river Chebar (ch. i. 1, and especially iii. 23, x.
22), as Daniel in ch. viii. 2 was by the river of Ulai ; and in
another vision, according to ch. x. 4, at the great river Hiddekel,
tlie Tigris. The prophet is removed to the Chebar, because
there he is far from the mass of men, and is invited to great
thoughts by the rushing of the water. That he was there only
in a vision, is manifest from this, that " the Spirit took me
away" (vers. 12, 14). If it was the Spirit that bore him
away, it must have been the Spirit also that had borne him
thither. Compare ch. viii. 3, where the Spirit carries the
prophet to Jerusalem " in the visions of God ; " ch. xi. 1,
where the Spirit brings him to the east gate of the temple ;

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. III. 10-15. 35
ch. xi. 24, where the Spirit takes him up and brings him
back from Jerusalem to the land of the Chaldeans, and where
it is expressly added that this took place " in the vision, in the
Spirit of God." We must accustom ourselves to measure the
prophets, who are not for nothing called seers and spectators,
by their own rule.
Ver. 10. And he said to me, Son of man, all my words
which I shall speak to thee receive in thine heart, and hear
them with thine ears. 11. And go, get thee to the exiles, to
the children of thy people, and speak to them, and say, Thus
saith the Lord Jehovah, Let them now hear, or let them forbear.
12. And the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the
voice of a great rushing: Blessed be the glory of the Lord
from His place. 13. And the voice1 of the wings of the living
creatures which beat upon one another, and the voice of the
wheels beside them, and the noise of a great rushing. 14. And
the Spirit lifted me up, and took me, and I went bitterly, in the
glow of my spirit; and the hand of the Lord was strong upon
me. 15. And I came to the exiles at Tel-abib,2 who sit there
by the river Chebar, and there where they sit,3 and I sat there
astonished among them seven days.
Vers. 10 and 11 close the intercourse with the prophet,
and draw the conclusion ; in short. It is said, " which I sliall
speak," not " which I speak," for the prophet had not till now
received any special message for the people. " Receive them
in thine heart, and hear them with thine ears : " all fruitful
discourse must be first preceded by hearing. The ear is the
spiritual ear, by which alone God's words can be understood,
and thus not different from the heart— the hysteron proteron
only apparent : comp. the " uncircumcised in heart and ears "
1 Luther, " And there was a rushing," forgetting the dependence upon
" I heard " in ver. 12.
3 Luther, " where the sheaves stood in the month Abib." Tel-abib,
hill of corn-ears, was the dwelling-place of the prophet.
3 Luther, " and seated myself by them that sat there." He follows the
marginal reading, or Masoretic conjecture, atWl, " and I sat," which arises
from misapprehension. The authentic reading is ~\V>iX, with *?$ to be
supplied from the foregoing, " and there where they sat." The words
signify more exactly, that he came into the midst of them ; comp. " in
their midst," in contrast with the solitude of his cell, where he had seen
the vision.

36 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
(Acts vii. 5) ; and, " The heart of this people is waxed gross,
and their ears are dull of hearing" (Acts xxviii. 27). There also
the ear is the spiritual ear. That this is wanting to many who
have bodily ears, is indicated by the words, " Who hath ears to
hear, let him hear." The Spirit1 lifts the prophet up, in order
to restore him to his usual circumstances. We learn this from
ver. 14, where " the Spirit lifted me up " is repeated, after
mention has been made of a hearing which is imparted to the
prophet at the moment of his departure. The appearance of
God ensues solely on the prophet's account, to communicate to
him the mission which is shadowed forth by the character of
the appearance. It is therefore natural that, simultaneously
with the return of the prophet to his usual circumstances, the
" glory of God," the symbol of the divine presence, is with
drawn. Gen. xviii. 33 is typical of the present proceeding :
" And the Lord went Plis way, as soon as He had left com
muning with Abraham ; and Abraham returned to his place."
The prophet hears the voice of a great rushing behind him :
the face of the departing prophet is turned in the direction of
his journey. The "great rushing," the loud cry, "Blessed be
the glory of the Lord from His place," proceeds from the
living creatures, the cherubim, to whom elsewhere also such
laudations of God are attributed, because tlieir presence is a
real praise of God (Rev. iv. 9). Correspondingly in Ps. xix.
the declaration of God's glory is ascribed to the heavens, as it
has made itself known in them. " From His place " is equi
valent to " who now leaves his place." 2 The praise which is
presented to the Lord on His departure from the place points
to this, that the glory of the Lord is made known by His
presence in the place — that the appearance serves great and
holy purposes, important to the world of man. The wings of
the cherubim, in ver. 13, struck one another in flying. The
pair of wings is meant, which are described in ch. i. as standing
upright and connected, in distinction from the two wings cover-
1 That nil is spirit, appears from the parallel passage xi. 24, for it
is there explained by D*n?N Pin ; also from ch. viii. 3, where " hand " and
" wind" would not harmonize ; and ii. 2.
2 laipOD occurs nineteen times, and always stands for one who leaves
his place. The ss*, going forth (Isa. xxvi. 21 ; Mic. i. 3), is here left out
in poetic brevity ; comp. the nfc^DD, ch. xii. 19.

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. III. 10-15. 37
ing the body. The prophet betakes himself to his place, bitter,
and in the glow of his spirit. "Bitter" is used here not in
the sense of grief (" in the glow of my spirit " shows that sym
pathy with the people is not to be thought of), but in the
sense of holy irritation,1 called forth as it was by that which the
Lord had said about the hardness and rebelliousness of the,
people, and no less also by the punishment of them represented
in the vision, which presupposes the revolting magnitude of their
offence. This holy irritation is quite characteristic of Ezekiel,
in contrast with the prevailing elegiac turn of Jeremiah.
Compare, for example, the prophecy of the sword in ch. xxi. 8 f.,
which some expositors have represented as a " battle song."
" In the glow of my spirit," that is, inflamed with wrath. The
wrath is directed against the sins of the covenant people. The
inner glow has been kindled at the fire in which the whole
appearance of God is bathed. Comp. Jer. vi. 11 : " And I am
so full of the glow of the Lord, that I cannot endure it ; I
pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly
of the young men : man and also woman shall be fallen upon,
the aged and he that is full of days." Further (Jer. xv. 17) :
" And I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced :
because of Thy hand I sat alone ; for Thou hadst filled me
with indignation." The indignation there, corresponding to
the glow of spirit here, is directed against the apostasy of the
people. This indignation is not regarded as human weakness,
but rather is represented as the work of God's hand, derived
from His influence. The servant of God who does not feel it,
must suffer on that account. It is in harmony with Jeremiah
that the prophet here is indignant, and full of that glow of the
spirit which springs from this, that the hand of the Lord was
strong upon him, the divine influence mighty in him. Were
this not so, he would live and let live ; he would occupy a
friendly attitude towards the sin and the apostasy of his people.
The prophet, according to ver. 15, sits seven days astonished
in the midst of his companions. The subject of his astonish
ment is the threatening future of his people. The demeanour
of the prophet was a mute sermon. All marked that something
extraordinary must have occurred with him. Probably also
he permitted them to see him, while otherwise remaining in
1 Hab. i. 6 ; Judg. xviii. 25 ; 2 Sam. xvii. 8.

38 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
deep silence. Ezra ix. 3, 4 may serve as commentary to
the " astonished : " " And when I heard this word I rent my
clothes, and tore the hair from my head and beard, and sat
down astonished. Then were assembled to me all that trembled
at the words of the God of Israel, and the' transgression of the
captives ; arid I sat astonished till the evening sacrifice."
Ch. iii. 16-21. At the end of the seven days the divine reve
lations begin again. First of all here Ezekiel is a watchman
appointed by God ; he is not a prophet after his own heart,
but he must speak ; he has a high duty, and woe to him if he
do not. discharge it. Everything aims at this, that he place the
dignity of his call before the people's eyes. He is to rebuke
the wicked, that they may repent, and so be delivered from the
judgments of God ; to warn the righteous, that they may not
through apostasy incur the judgments of God. Let each one,
then, take heed how he hears. He has to do not with the mere
son of man, but in the son of man with God, who is omnipotent
to destroy and to save.
Ver. 16. And it came to pass at the end of seven days,
that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 17. Son of
man, I gave thee as a watchman to the house of Israel : and
thou shalt hear a word out of my mouth, and warn them from
me. 18. When I say to the wicked, Thou shalt die ; and thou
warnest him not, and speakest not to warn the wicked of his
wicked way, so as to save his life ; then shall he, the wicked,
die because of his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thy
hand. 19. But if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from
his wickedness and from his wicked way, he shall die because
of his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 20. And
when the righteous turns from his righteousness, and does un-
righteousness, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall
die : if thou hast not warned him, because of his sin shall he
die, and all his righteousness which he hath done shall not be
regarded ; but his blood will I require at thy hand. 21. And
if thou hast warned him, the righteous, that the righteous
sin not, and he does not sin, then he sliall live, for he has been
warned ; and thou hast delivered thy soul.
Ezekiel is placed, according to ver. 17, as a watchman over
the people. Already in Isa. lvi. 10 the leading personages

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAr. III. 16-21. 39
appear under the figure of watchmen, who, stationed on a lofty
tower, give the signal of alarm when danger approaches : " His
watchmen are blind : they are all ignorant." So in Jer. vi.
17 : "And I set' watchmen over you, 'Attend the sound of the
trumpet ; ' and they say, ' We will not attend.' " The wicked
in ver. 18, as also the righteous in the following passage, is not
a single individual, but an ideal person — the species personified.
In those immoral times the extent of the wicked almost coin
cided with that of the people. The righteous formed only a
little company, and they had also many interests in common with
the wicked : through the prevalence of unrighteousness their
love had grown cold. Public preaching is meant, not the par
ticular cure of souls, with which the prophet was not entrusted,
• as his mission was to the whole of the people. The prophecies
of Ezekiel have a national import throughout. He has never to
do with individuals as such. If the prophet neglects his duty,
that does not help the wicked; he dies because of his iniquity;
he has Moses verily. Where the public ministry does not do
its duty, holy Scripture is still at hand, and it is each one's
fault if he be not called to repentance by the voice of this.
But in such a case Gen. ix. 5 is fulfilled upon the unfaithful
servant of God, according to which God will require the soul
of the man from him who sheddeth blood. Who sheddeth
blood : this is not merely restricted to ordinary murderers. It
covers all those who in any way, by act or neglect, trifle with
the life of their neighbours, especially those who are not faith
ful in the discharge of the divine office of the ministry appointed
for life and salvation. Thou art every moment in danger of
becoming a murderer, and undergoing the judgment of the
murderer : this is an effectual spur to every one who is entrusted
with the office of the public ministry. The righteous in ver.
20 does not necessarily form a personal contrast to the wicked
in ver. 18. The same person may be described as wicked in
regard to his present state, and as righteous in regard to his
destiny and his better past. The people to wdiom the mission
of the prophet was directed were at the same time wicked and
righteous, as Isaiah comprehends both in the words, " How is
the faithful city, full of right, become an harlot ! righteousness
dwelt in her, and now murderers." It belongs, however, to
the nature of the covenant people that the character of right-

40: THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
eousness was never wholly lost to them, even regarded in their
present state, so that they might be described by the name of
the upright (Num. xxiii. 21). There is always among them an
election in which this character is prominently presented ; and
also the entire national life, as long as the covenant endures,
is interwoven with elements which do not appear in the national,
life of the heathen. Even in the greatest decline there is
always to be found in this case (Matt, xxiii. 38) a background
of righteousness. To lay a stumbling-block before any one is
equivalent to exposing him to danger, according to Jer. vi. 21.
The stumbling-block in the time of the prophet was the im
pending danger of destruction from the Chaldeans. " All his
righteousness," properly his acts of righteousness. These are
the good works of pious forefathers, from Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob down, and particularly those of the time of David, as-
being the proper golden age (Ps. cxxxii. 1).
Ch. iii. 22-27. We have here the explanation of the word
Nabi, prophet, which signifies one who has divine communica
tions ; also the explanation of the name Ezekiel, which indi
cates a man who is under the absolute influence of God. The
prophet is not a prophet out of his own heart, nor after the
will of the people ; but speaks only when, and because, the'
Lord opens his mouth. Woe, then, to him (this is the practi
cal point of view) who will not hear him when he speaks : he
neglects it at his own peril.
Ver. 22. And the hand of the Lord was there upon me;
and he said to me, Arise, go forth into the valley, and I will
there talk with thee. 23. And I arose, and went forth into
the valley : and, behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, as
the glory which I saw by the river Chebar : and I fell on my
face. 24. And the Spirit came upon me, and set me on my feet;
and he spoke to me, and said to me, Go, shut thyself within
thy house. 25. And thou, son of man, behold, they lay bands
upon thee, and bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out.
among them. 26. And I will make thy tongue cleave to thy
mouth, and thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a
reprover; for they are a house of rebellion. 27. And when I
speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say to
them,, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Whoso heareth, let him

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. III. 22-27. 41
hear ; and whoso forbeareth, let him forbear : for they are a
house of rebellion.
The valley in ver. 22, in contrast with the hill of corn, the
city set upon an hill, as the name Tel-abib already shows, is
the plain beside the river Chebar. The reason why the pro
phet is to go thither is, as previously when he was at Chebar,
the solitude which is better suited for the divine appearance
and communication. But that here also it was in the spirit
that he betook himself to the valley, we conclude from his pre
vious presence at Chebar, which upon ascertained grounds can
only have belonged to the region of the spirit, but especially
from this, that we have here to do with a paroxysm which pre
supposes inwardness. The universal rule is, that isolation is
the condition of the receipt of divine communications. God
makes Himself known to the mind only when it has been
entirely withdrawn from worldly influences. We must be in
the Valley ; but we may be in the bustling town, and yet in the
valley. In ver. 23 the glory of the Lord is mentioned, to indi
cate that the Lord revealed Plimself afresh to the prophet in
the full majesty of Plis nature, accompanied with the cherubim,
etc. This new appearance is to give to the prophet and to
the people a new impression of the dignity of his mission. It
served very well to form a counterpoise to the poor son of
man, who presented so agreeable a pretext for ungodliness.
The words, " And they were offended in Him " (Matt. xiii. 57),
passed over from the prophet to Christ the Son of man. How
the ungodly loved to separate between God and the men whom
He chose for His instruments, and to set aside the latter under
the pretext that they, too, were men like all the rest, we learn
from Isa. vii. 13, where the prophet upbraids the godless Ahaz,
after he had declined the proffered sign, with having now in
sulted not merely man, but also God, who had just offered to
show manifestly that He Himself stood behind the man.
The prophet is to shut himself within his house (ver. 24),
in contrast with the in publicum prodire, the public appearance
as preacher. The naked thought is in ver. 25 : Let them do
what they will with- thee ; thou shalt not appear as preacher,
unless thou hast received a special commission from me. The
case, which is indeed merely supposititious, is brought forward
in the form of one actually occurring, or in regard to the -vision

42 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
it is actual. The last words, « but thou shalt not go out to
them," show the object of the binding with bands. , They
break into the closed house, and bind the recusant, to bring
him into their assembly, in the expectation that he will there
speak; but he is to offer the utmost resistance, and God will
not suffer him to speak. Those who think the binding is to
hinder the prophet in speaking, do manifest violence to the
words. The words, " for they are a house of rebellion," in
ver. 26, point, in passing, and out of connection with the lead
ing thought, to this, that the people are unworthy of any
preacher of repentance, since they have already set at nought
so many warnings.
Ch. iv. — Ch. ii. and iii. are intended to place before the
eyes of the people in manifold forms the dignity of the mission
of Ezekiel, to fill them with a sense of the responsibility which
sprang out of this mission to them. They have to do not with
a mere son of man — they have to do with God in the prophet ;
and woe to them if they do not obey His voice. Upon the accre-
ditino- of the messenger follows then the first communication of
the message. The sore judgment which is to discharge itself upon
Jerusalem is announced, in harmony with the appearance in ch.
i., which already portrays the approach of God for judgment.
The prophets are throughout "counsellors;" they announce
the future everywhere only in the interest of the soul's salva
tion. The moral is this : Renounce utterly your sanguine hopes,
your political illusions; the only way to salvation is through
repentance, which can no longer indeed avert judgment from
all, though it may cause the individual to find a gracious God,
and also God's grace after judgment again to return to the
people. Worthy of note is the unbounded confidence of the
prophet in the announcement of the disaster, whilst the political
aspects were still so favourable, and the most sagacious politi
cians so full of hopes for the future. This confidence, con
firmed by all that followed, can only be derived from a divine
principle; and he who rightly weighs this fact will not be
tempted to criticise the predictions of the prophet in detail, or
to doubt whether he had not afterwards given them a precision
derived from the issue, such as they did not originally possess, —
a doubt which is at the same time an offence against the honesty

THE FIRST CYCLE— CHAP. IV. 1-3. 43
and integrity which everywhere bears witness for itself in the
prophet, and can only proceed from such as measure the man
of God by the standard of their own want of trustworthiness.
The line of thought, viewed apart from its symbolic form,
is this : The prophet announces the close siege of the city (vers.
1-3, and ver. 7) ; shows that this is the merited punishment for
an apostasy of the people of 390 years, and especially culmi
nating in the last 40 years (vers. 4-6) ; describes their condition
during the siege as one of famine and trouble (vers. 8-11, and
vers. 16, 17) ; and shows that the siege will end in exile (vers.
12-15). In vers. 1-3 the prophet receives the command to portray
the siege of the city. Ver. 1. " And thou, son of man, take
thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it a city,
Jerusalem. 2. And lay siege against it, and build towers
against it, and raise a rampart against it, and set the camp
against it, and place battering-rams against it round about.
3. And take thee an iron pan, and make it for an iron wall
between thee and between the city ; and set thy face against it,
and let it be besieged, and thou shalt press hard upon it. This
is a sign for the house of Israel."
In ver. 1 the prophet at first receives only the charge to
portray a city. The more exact direction comes afterwards.
Jerusalem, the last of all the cities of the earth to be thought
of, if it is to be besieged by the Lord ! After Jerusalem, we
are to suppose, as it were, a note of exclamation. How far
must it have gone, how completely must it have degenerated,
when the Lord proposes to deal thus with it ! To the title
belongs merely the picture of the city. That which is men
tioned in ver. 2 is not figured on the tile, but is applied to the
city represented by it. " And lay siege1 against it " (ver. 2) :
how the prophet is to give or lay siege against " it," Jerusalem,
which was represented by the tile, is shown by what follows,
which stands related to this as the special to the general.2
1 "I1SO, siege ; comp. ver. 7.
2 pn denotes the besieging tower. The word, occurring in the time of
the exile, is no doubt taken from the Aramaic, and is probably the Chal
daic term, techn. For this Isaiah in ch. xxiii. 13 has D'OTD- The word
occurs always in the sing., and denotes not the single tower, but the whole
of the besieging towers, to which the "round about" in 'Jer. Iii. 4 leads,

44 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Here it is already clear that the symbolic action belongs to the
subjective; by which it is also explained that the prophet re
ports only the divine command, without mentioning the execu
tion. Externally taken, the action would have made a very
feeble impression, as the corresponding means of representation
were wanting to the prophet, and the arrangements for besieg
ing a city represented on a single tile must have appeared very
insignificant. It is not to be forgotten that the prophet in
Tel-abib, a small obscure place, had only a handful of exiles
around him ; whereas his mission, like that of all prophets, was
to the whole of Israel, including the great mass still residing
in their native land. Whence it follows that with him literary
activity was the. thing of chief importance; quite otherwise
than with Jeremiah, who prophesied at the centre of the
nation. For the purpose of literary activity, however, it was
of no consequence whether the symbolic action was external or
not. In what follows, invincible difficulties stand in the way of
the external exhibition. The symbolic actions of Ezekiel are
only vividly drawn pictures, intended to make an indelible im
pression on the imagination. The prophets, according to the
two aspects of their calling, as mediators between God and the
people, alternately represent God and the people in their sym
bolic actions. In ver. 3 the prophet takes the place of God.
This we learn from the fact that he is to besiege the city. But
the besieger can be no other than the Lord, whose instrument
the Chaldeans are. The pan, which the prophet i's to place as
an iron wall between himself and the city, is the embodiment
of the utterance, Isa. lix. 2, " Your iniquities have separated
between you and your God;" and the passage must remain
unintelligible if we do not refer to this key. In the pan, the
only thing to be observed is that it is iron, and not the dark
colour, which must have been noted, if the eye was to be fixed
upon it. The pan here has nothing to do with the iron pot of
Jeremiah in ch. i. 13. The "practical secondary object" also'
of the pan to prepare hot cakes (ver. 12), is only an invention
of the expositors, whose fancy has been excessively busy in this
chapter. " Against it :" this refers to the city, not to the pan.
In the first part of the verse is the refusal of divine aid, which
could not fail the city— which Isaiah (ch. xxix. 1) designates
as " Ariel, the lion of God, the city where David dwelt "—if it

THE FIRST. CYCLE — CHAP. IV. 4-6. 45
had not by its sins driven Him away from it who was formerly
known in its palaces as a refuge (Ps. xlviii. 3) ; in the second
part it is said that God Himself is the assailant.
In vers. 4-6, the guilt by which Jerusalem brought this
visitation on itself. Ver. 4. " And thou, lie upon thy left side,
and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it : during the
number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt take
their iniquity on thee. 5. And I have given thee the years of
their iniquity, according to the number of days, three hundred
and ninety days ; and thou shalt take on thee the iniquity of the
house of Israel. 6. And when thou hast accomplished these,
thou shalt next lie on thy right side, and take on thee the
iniquity of the house of Judah forty days : a day for each year
have I given thee."
In this new turn of the symbolic action the prophet takes
the place of Israel. He lies 390 days on his left side, and
thus represents the punishment which Israel has to bear for
his guilt of 390 years. To take iniquity upon him (not bear :
this the word never means), means always to answer for it,
to suffer punishment for it. The substitution is here, how
ever, purely symbolic, not real, as in the servant of the Lord,
Isa. liii. That the prophet takes the iniquity upon himself,
is here only a representation of the punishment falling upon
Israel. The left side comes in here as the less noble. The
right side is reserved for the symbolic representation of the
heaviest guilt — the wicked opposition of the people to the last
attempt for their deliverance. That an external symbolic action
is not here intended, is as clear as day. Those who assert the
contrary may make the trial to lie 390 days unmoved on the
left side, and in this situation also act as besieger (ver. 7),
prepare bread (ver. 9), and bake cakes (ver. 12). And what
would have come out of this certainly enormous effort ! The
situation would have had a laughable effect, and the prophet
would soon have become a sport for children. Its purely in
ternal, nature is also proved by ver. 9, according to which the
whole time amounts to 390 days. The 40 days of lying on the
right side must thus have been included in the 390 days of
lying on the left, which is impossible in an external exhibition.
Three hundred and ninety days on the left side, 40 days on the
riglit, and yet only 390 in all : this is the riddle, the solution of

46 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
which is only possible if the purely internal nature of the pro
cess be acknowledged. Figures of thought are tractable and
not exclusive, as bodily actions are. The coincidence of the 40
days With the close of the 390 is also demanded by the case
itself, as 'the 390 years extend to the time of the siege of
Jerusalem, and thus no space remains after them for the 40
years. The lying of the prophet is a figure of the wretched con
dition of the people during the time of the siege described
vers. 1-3. As the siege of Jerusalem is to be represented, the
ten tribes come into account only so far as they are part of
collective Israel, which in the time of the prophet only con
tinued to exist in Judah, which must bear the punishment for
the common guilt ; comp. on ch. xxiii. 45, where the same view
is presented. Judah answers not for foreign guilt, but on it
comes to maturity the common guilt of the two houses, of
the whole house of Israel, which is now represented by Judah
alone. For the ten tribes were at that- time, so far as they
were carried into exile (those who remained in the land were
included in Judah), branches cut off, that could only again
come into account if they were grafted anew into the vine.
The starting-point for the 390 years we have in 2 Chron.
xii. 1, compared with 2 Chron. xi. 17. In the first three years
of Rehoboam a fresh theocratic zeal awoke in Judah, to which
the God-fearing from ,the ten tribes had attached themselves :
" They walked in the way of David and Solomon three years."
But at the end of these three years, in the great mass of the
people, thjs zeal that had arisen from opposition to the revolt
of the ten tribes appeared as a fire of straw : " And it came to
pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had
strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all
Israel with him.'" This is the fatal year of falling into sin for
the whole nation. In the ten tribes this fall coincided with the
beginning of Jeroboam's reign. But all Israel first became re
bellious three years later. Thenceforth the corruption forms a
continuous whole, that suffers only partial and imperfect inter
ruptions. This long period of revolt must now be requited, —
requited first by the hard and tedious siege of the capital, on
which the punishment must concentrate itself, as the sin had
concentrated itself in it.

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. IV. 4-6. 47
The computation of the 390 years is very simple. " All
the years of the kings of Judah," says Vitringa,1 " from the
foundation of the temple, or the fourth year of Solomon, to the
destruction of the state under Zedekiah the last king, com
puted according to the numbers in the books of Kings, give
the sum of 430 years and six months. This number of years
agrees remarkably with the 390 days of Ezekiel, during which
he is to bear the iniquity of Israel (ch. iv. 9). For these days
stand symbolically for so many years, during which the Jews
renounced the true worship, beginning with the fourth year of
Rehoboam, in which Judah and Israel began to revolt from
God. If from the 430 years be taken the 37 years of Solo
mon, after the foundation of the temple, and the three years of
Rehoboam, there remain 390."
The 390 days corresponding to the 390 years refer only to
the duration of the guilt of Israel : they are not to indicate the
proper duration of the siege, but only in general to point to
this, that it will be tedious. This is clear from the 40 days
for the 40 years in ver. 6, which can only be referred to the
guilt. The siege also lasted longer than 390 days. It began on
the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah,
and lasted till the ninth day of the second month in the eleventh
year. The contrast of the house of Judah in ver. 6, to the house
of Israel in ver. 4, is not that of Judah and the ten tribes, but
of Judah and the whole people : the house of Israel is indeed
immediately before (ver. 3) employed to designate the whole of
the people that was represented by Judah in the time of the
prophet. There are three hundred and ninety years of the
common guilt, then 40 years (of these 390) of special guilt ;
the despising of the grace of God in the awakening of Josiah
the king, of whom it is said, " Like unto him was there no
king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart,
and with all his soul, and with all his might" (2 Kings xxiii.
25), and the failure of the last attempt, which was made by
Jeremiah. The beginning of the 40 years is the thirteenth
year of Josiah, in which Jeremiah, shortly after the beginning
of the reformation of Josiah (2 Chron. xxxiv. 3), first appeared
1 In the admirable and hitherto unexcelled hypotyposis historic et chronol.
sacrx, that well deserves a republication, p. 31.

48 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
as prophet. Forty years : so long the activity of Jeremiah
lasted, until the destruction of the city.1
In ver. 7, the prophet again takes the same position as in
ver. 3. Standing in the place of Jehovah, he besieges Jerusa
lem. " And thou shalt set thy face to the siege of Jerusalem,
and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy
against it." The uncovered, outstretched arm, not resting in
the bosom, belongs to the bold combatant. The prophecy is
made by this very gesture, which announces the siege begun.
The recumbent posture is not suited to action, and we have
here an irreconcilable contradiction, if the symbolic action be
regarded as external. The verse is the mere resumption of
vers. 1-3, to indicate that the activity of the prophet there pre
sented is not removed by what is related in vers. 4-6. After
this object has been attained, the prophet in ver. 8 f. again
connects with ver. 6 and further developes what the people
have to suffer in the siege. The two parts which the prophet
has to represent are related as action and passion.
In vers. 8-11 we have the terrors of the siege. Ver. 8.
'¦' And, behold, I lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn
thee from the one side to the other, till thou hast ended the
days of thy siege. 9. And thou, take thee wheat, and barley,
and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and spelt, and put them in
a vessel, and make thee bread of it for the number of the days
that thou shalt lie upon thy side ; three hundred and ninety days
shalt thou eat it. 10. And thy meat which thou shalt eat, shalt
thou eat by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt
thou eat it. 11. And water by measure thou shalt drink, the
sixth part of an hin : from time to time shalt thou drink it."
The prophet in ver. 8 again represents the people. The
bands which the Lord lays on him are to restrain him from
every movement. This represents the restraint of the besieged,
the futility of all attempts to attain to a freer movement. That
the prophet here plays a passive part, that the days of the siege
are the days in which he is besieged, appears from the mention
of the side, which comes into consideration, according to vers.
4-6, only in representing the suffering of the people. The co
ordinate action of lying on the right side is here, as in ver. 9,
abstracted ; or rather, the distinction of right and left is en-
1 Michaelis, bibl Hebr. prxf. ad Jer. § 4.

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. IV. 12-15. 49
tirely abandoned. In ver. 9 the idea is, that the inhabitants
of Jerusalem are put on short allowance. The articles of food
are considered in themselves quite good. The point of im
portance is, that they are put into one vessel. This shows that
they have only a little of each, that they must take all together.
Not the quality of the food, but the small quantity, is contem
plated in ver. IO.1 To eat bread by weight and not be satis
fied, is among the punishments of the rebellious people (Lev.
xxvi. 26). From time to time, not at the call of hunger, but
at stated times, that are to be measured, that the life may
scarcely be preserved.
In vers. 12-15 is a new condition. In the foregoing the
scarcity of the food, here the impurity. The first refers to the
siege, the second to the condition after the siege — the sojourn
of the exiles in the heathen land. We must not rest in the
external Levitical impurity, but also ascend to that which is
thereby signified. The moral impurity of the heathen world
was in its gross form hard to bear, even for those who in their
native land had sat very loose to the commands of God. Ver.
12. And the barley cakes which thou shalt eat, these shalt
thou bake with man's dung before their eyes. 13. And the
Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their
bread unclean among the heathen, whither I will drive them.
14. And I said, Ah Lord Jehovah ! behold, my soul has not
been polluted ; and carrion, or that which is torn, I have not
eaten from my youth up until now; and loathsome flesh has
not come into my mouth. 15. And he said unto me, Lo, I
have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt
prepare thy bread thereon.
That the man's dung (ver. 12), which appears in Deut.
xxiii. 13-15 as in the highest degree unclean, is not to be
mingled with the food, but to serve for fuel, is evident from
the expression thereon in ver. 15. The barley cakes here have
nothing whatever to do with the pot in ver. 9. This is gone.
Vers. 13 and 14 serve to enhance the horror of the approaching
condition. The concession only sets the disagreeableness of the
condition in a clearer light.
1 pon with the Chaldaic ending only here : in barley and lentiles we
have the Hebrew plural. The explanation probably lies in this, that wheat
was the usual fare among the exiles. Hence the Chaldaic form appears.
D

50 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
In vers. 16 and 17 the conclusion returns to the main
thought— that which they have to suffer in the siege itself.
Ver. 16. And he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will
break the staff of bread in Jerusalem : and they shall eat
bread by weight, and in trouble ; and they shall drink water
by measure, and with astonishment : 17. That they may want
bread and water, and be astonished one with another, and pine
away in their iniquity.
Allusion is here made to Lev. xxvi. 26, "When I have
broken for you the staff of bread;" and ver. 39, "And they
that are left of you shall pine away in tlieir iniquity." The
trouble concerns itself chiefly with the question, What shall we
eat ? what shall we drink ? The astonishment has the state of
despair for its object.
Ch. v. The prophet predicts first the destruction of Jeru
salem by a new symbolic action, vers. 1-4 ; and then de
scribes it in vers. 5-17 in the usual prophetic style, which,
according to ver. 12, is to be regarded- as the interpretation of
the symbolic action. The action rests on Isa. vii. 20 : " In
that day shall the Lord shave with a razor hired beyond the
Euphrates, with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of
the feet ; and also the beard will Pie take away." The body
represents here the people ; the hair denotes the men ; the
beard, the princes with the king at their head — the beard being
regarded in the East as the ornament of man. The place
which the king of Assyria has there, the king of Babylon takes
here : the present possessor of the world-monarchy beyond the
river, he is to carry into complete fulfilment the prophecy of
Isaiah that is here only repeated. This prophecy, occasioned
by the inconsiderate alliance which Ahab wished to form with
the trans-Euphratean world-power, places before the eyes the
whole of the sufferings which this power will inflict on Judah.
That the king of Assyria represents the whole of this world-
power is expressly said in it, as he is first named after the men
tion of the trans-Euphratean power. Isaiah never expects a
catastrophe of so vast importance from Assyria in its historical
isolation. He is rather opposed to those who were afraid of
this power. In him it is always Babylon that completes the
work for which Assyria only prepares. Comp. ch. xxxix.

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. V. 1-4. 51
External execution has here also its difficulties. To shave
himself with a sword on head and beard, so that not a hair
remains, is certainly a very difficult task, especially for a man
of great abstraction, who is not wont to be clever at such mani
pulations. And then in the external execution it would slide
into the laughable, and prevent any serious impression. That
we have here only a vividly expressed figure before us, is obvious
also from ver. 2. There the reality behind the figure protrudes
itself : the language refers to the days of the siege, the cir
cumstances of Jerusalem. In an external representation, figure
and reality would be quite at variance.
Ver. 1. And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp sword,
take thee a barber's razor, and let it pass over thy head and
thy chin : and take thee a balance of weight, and divide the
hair. 2. A third part thou shalt burn in the flame within the
city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled ; and thou shalt
take a third part, and smite about it (Jerusalem) with the
sword ; and a third part thou shalt scatter to the wind : and I
will draw out a sword after them. 3. And thou shalt take
thence a few in number, and bind them in thy skirt. 4. And
thou shalt take of them again, and cast them into the midst of
the fire, and burn them in the fire : therefrom shall a fire come
forth unto all the house of Israel.
The sword in ver. 1 must be taken in the proper sense,
since it is added that it is to do the work of a razor, and thus
cannot be itself a razor ;_ and immediately in ver. 2 stands the
sword in the proper sense. The sword represents here, first
of all, the avenging sword of God (Deut. xxxii. 41), the punish
ment to be awarded by Plim. The sword of Nebuchadnezzar
comes here into view only as the visible form of the sword of
God, as it is also said in the fundamental passage of Isaiah,
"The Lord will shave." The prophet depicts throughout in
his symbolic actions only the doing of God, or the doing and
suffering of the people. In ch. iv. also, where the prophet
besieges Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar comes into view only in
the second place. It is God who says in ver. 2, " I will draw
out the sword after them." The balance of weight is a balance
provided with weights. The balance has already appeared in
Isa. xxviii. 17 as a symbol of the divine righteousness measuring
the punishment. Ever according to the result of the weighing

52 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
are the hairs assigned to their respective destinies. Chr. B.
Michaelis says briefly and well : " The. razor is the divine ven
geance, the balance its equity; the hairs are the Jews, the
parting the punishment assigned to each." It is the common
fate of all (ver. 2) to be separated from the body politic, but the
modes of separation are various. The flame,1 according to the
words, "When the days of the siege are fulfilled," 2 can only
be the fire of Jerusalem burned by the enemy. Ver. 12, where
the first third consists of those who perish within the city by
pestilence and famine during the siege, is reconciled with our
passage by the assumption that the flame consumes the dead
bodies, so that the two passages are to be completed from one
another. The flame belongs to the symbol, because this only,
not pestilence or famine, suits the figure of the hair ; but the com
pletion must be carried out in the usual prophetical style, other
wise misunderstanding is likely to arise. Plague and famine
play also elsewhere too important a part in the threatenings of
the prophet against Jerusalem to be here practically neglected.
That the flame consumes only the corpses of those who had
formerly died, follows besides from this, that the first place is
assigned to this third. The second third consists of those who
fall around the city in the sallies in search for food, and in the
attempts to escape. The sword, as distinguished from the
flame and the wind, denotes here the death decreed of God by
the hand of the foe, and so is taken more strictly than in ver. 1,
where it is the general symbol for the divine vengeance. As
the first third is given to the flame, the second to the Word,
so is the third given to the wind : it consists of the fugitives,
especially the captives, who are scattered to the four winds.
With the dispersion, however, the business is not yet finished.
God's sword— His vengeance — follows them even in the dis
persion. The fundamental passage here is Lev. xxvi. 33 :
" And I will scatter you among the heathen, and draw out the
sword after you." " Thence " (ver. 3), from the last third.
" A few in number," those who are spared by the sword at the
end of ver. 2. The binding of the few remaining hairs in the
skirt denotes the tender care that the Lord takes of the rem-
1 "lis, flame, not fire, distinguished from fire, Isa. 1. 11.
2 That it can only be explained thus, appears from Jer. xxv. 12 : " And
it shall come to pass, when seventy years are full," that is, are finished.

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. V. 1-4. 53
nant of His people, and that Pie will gather them from their
dispersion, and restore them to their home. " And thou shalt
take of them again, and cast them into the fire " (ver. 4) : this
presupposes that even among the remnant that at first, as God's
care shows, were come to a better mind, corruption will after
wards break out, so that God's vengeance will once more mani
fest itself in a fearful manner. But this vengeance does not
affect the whole remnant : " of them," it is said. This pre
supposes that, along with these objects of the divine judgment,
there is an election that does not fall under the divine judgment.
This election, however, is numerically inconsiderable — a mere
minority, a " little flock." This is shown by the' words, " There
from (that is, from them ; the numerical majority is combined
into an ideal unity with reference to the uniting bond of the evil
disposition by which they are connected) shall a fire come forth
into all the house of Israel." The party is so numerous, that the
vengeance which falls upon them overtakes the people as such.
We have here the announcement of a second annihilating
judgment which, after the Chaldean, will fall upon the people
restored by the grace of God, — the outline of that which, after
the infliction of the Chaldean judgment, Zechariah in ch. v.,
and especially in ch. xi. — the strictly classical passage — further
expands, whom Malachi also after the exile follows ; and, at
the same time, the intimation of a little flock which is not
affected by this new national judgment, — an intimation which
likewise finds its expression in Zechariah. In this announce
ment Ezekiel has been preceded by Isaiah, the central prophet,
in whom all sides of the announcement of the future are either
unfolded or exhibited in germ. He says, in the remarkable
outline of the fate of God's people in ch. vi., after he has pre
dicted the first great catastrophe, as it took effect in the destruc
tion of the city by the Chaldeans and the removal of the people :
"And yet in the land shall be a tenth, but it again shall be
consumed, like the terebinth and the oak, in the falling of
which a shoot remains of it, and its shoot is a holy seed."
These are predictions at which we must fold our hands. They
contain the doom of the attempt of Hitzig to release himself
from the troublesome predictions of Ezekiel, the fulfilment of
which falls in his lifetime, by the assumption that the prophet
has a copy of the history ascribed to him as prophecy.

51 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The fire is here not merely a symbol of the divine wrath :
it indicates that in this catastrophe, as in the first, the divine
wrath will appear also in material fire, as actually took place in
the Roman conquest. We need not separate the fire here from
the flame in ver. 2.
With ver. 5 begins the further development in plain lan
guage of the thought contained in the description of the sym-
bolic action, or rather in the communication of the command
(for the execution is here also not described, because the action
belongs to the sphere of thought, in which there is no differ
ence between command and execution). Their punishment
and their guilt are placed before the eyes of the people.
Ver. 5. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, This is Jerusalem :
in the midst of the nations I placed her, and round about her
the countries. 6. And she opposed my judgments worse than
the heathen, and my statutes than the countries that are round
about her; for they have refused my judgments, and in my
statutes they have not walked. 7. Therefore thus saith the
Lord Jehovah, Because ye raged more than the heathen who
are round about you, ye walked not in my statutes, and did
not after the judgments of the heathen that are round about
you. 8. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold I,
even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the
midst of thee in the eyes of the heathen. 9. And I will do in
thee that which I have not done, and the like of which I will
no more do, because of all thine abominations. 10. Therefore
the fathers shall eat the sons in thy midst, and the sons the
fathers : and I will execute judgments in thee, and will scatter
the whole remnant of thee to all the winds. 11. Therefore,
as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, Surely, because thou hast de
filed my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all
thy abominations, I will also diminish thee ; and my eye shall
not spare, and I also will not pity. 12. A third part of thee
shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they perish
in thy midst ; and a third part shall fall by the sword round
about thee ; and a third part I will scatter to all the winds ; and
I will draw out a sword after them. 13. And my anger shall
be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them,
and I will be comforted : and they shall know that I the Lord
have spoken in my zeal, when I accomplish my fury in them.

THE FIRST CYCLE— CHAP. V. 5-17. 55
14. And I will give thee for desolation, and for reproach among
the heathen that are round about thee, in the eyes of all that
pass by. 15. And she shall be a reproach and a taunt, a warn
ing and an astonishment, to the heathen that are round about
thee, when I execute judgments upon thee in anger and in
fury, and in furious rebukes. I the Lord have spoken it. 16.
When I send the evil arrows of famine upon them, which are
for destruction, which I will send to destroy you : and I will
increase the famine upon you, and break your staff of bread.
17. And I will send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they
shall bereave thee ; and pestilence and blood shall pass over
thee ; and I will bring a sword upon thee. I the Loed have
spoken it.
Jerusalem is the central point of the nations and countries :
not geographically — this never occurs in Scripture, and would
not come into account for the purpose of the prophet — but
theologically. It is the model people prepared of God by His
revelation, the community of the "righteous" founded by Him,
Jeshurun, that it might shed its light on the surrounding-
heathen darkness, redound to the glory of its God, and attract
men to Him. Moses says (Deut. iv. 5, 6) to Israel, " Behold,
I have taught you statutes and judgments, as the Lord my
God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land into
which ye will come. Keep therefore, and do them : for this is
your wisdom and understanding among all nations, when they
shall hear all these statutes, that they must say, Ah, what a
wise and understanding people is this, and a glorious nation ! "
In Isa. xiii. 19 they appear as the messenger whom the Lord
sends — His mission amid the heathen world. Corresponding
with this is that which Christ says of the community of the
New Testament, the legitimate successor of Jerusalem : " Ye
are the light of the world. A city cannot be hid that is set
on a hill " (Matt. v. 14). So also Peter says, " That ye should
show forth the virtues of Him who has called you out of dark
ness into His marvellous light." With ver. 6, where Jerusalem
is upbraided because things are worse with her than among the
heathen, is to be compared 1 Cor. v. 1 : "It is reported that
there is fornication among you, such as the heathen cannot
name." The words in ver. 7, " because ye raged more than
the heathen," refer to the beginning of the second Psalm, where

56 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the raging of the heathen against the Lord, their fierce rebellion,
is described. In ch. xi. 12 they are thus upbraided : " and have
done after the judgments of the heathen that are round about
you." Here the reproach is different : they are degraded in
their manners far below the heathen ; compare ver. 6, accord
ing to which they are worse than the heathen. This verse
confirms the negation. The passage is important, because it
sets out from the view that the heathen have a law written in
the heart, from which laudable judgments proceed (Rom. ii.
14, 15). " In the eyes of the heathen " (ver. 8), among whom
the name of the true God is disgraced by the bad conduct of
its confessors (Rom. ii. 24) ; so that He must vindicate His
honour by exemplary punishment. The words in ver. 9, " and
the like of which I will no more do," yield no comfort for
degenerate Christianity. The divine righteousness remains
always equally energetic. Like guilt must draw like punish
ment after it; and the responsibility is still weightier under
the New Testament. Only this is said, that the judgment on
degenerate Israel will present peculiarities which will not be
found elsewhere : it will be unique in its kind, unparalleled in
the world's history. All great judgments and all great graces
have peculiarities in which they are unique. " I will also
diminish thee" (ver. 11): the fundamental passage is Deut.
iv. 2 (xiii. 1), " Ye shall not add to this word which I command
you, and ye shall not diminish from it." They have diminished,
they have taken His own from God by the transgression of His
commandments ; so will God also take from them that which
He has promised to give them. The diminishing on the part
of Israel has shown itself chiefly in this, that against the most
emphatic injunctions and threatenings of God they have de
filed His sanctuary by idols. It is not merely of the idols
we have to think, which were actually found in the temple.
According to the Old Testament view — as it appears, for
example, in Lev. xvi. — the temple is the ideal dwelling-place of
Israel, and all sins, wheresoever committed, take place there :
comp. on ch. viii. The anger is fulfilled (ver. 13) when it dis
plays itself in its fullest power. Thereby is the bearer of it com
forted : he receives his satisfaction in the vengeance, because
he destroys the violator of his honour, and thereby vindicates
his rights against him. Vengeance, unlawful in the finite, is

THE FIRST CYCLE— CHAP. VI. 1-10. 57
legitimate in the absolute personality. A god who does not
avenge himself is an idol. We have here a combination of
the Chaldean and the Roman catastrophe in one form of terror.
The warrant for this assumption lies in vers. 3, 4. It would
be absurd to speak here of " a Jewish idea." Plistory has long
shown that it refers to a terrible reality. It would be no less
absurd to wish to talk of a difference between the O. and
' N. T. For the terrors depicted by Ezekiel extend to the times
of the N. T., and Jesus announces equally fearful judgments
on Jerusalem. " And they shall know that I the Lord have
spoken it." What the son of man has spoken in the name of
God, and for which he has become a mockery and a song in
the streets, this is proved to be the word of God by the coinci
dence of the event with the announcement. The mocking of
the son of man comes on the head of the ungodly. In ver. 15
there is a sudden turn from the simple description to the
address as it appears in ver. 14. " Round about thee " — about
them. The sentence, " I the Lord have spoken it," at the
close, calls upon us anew to turn away the eye from the son of
man. The arrows in ver. 16 are taken from Deut. xxxii. 23, 42.
In ver. 17, besides famine, pestilence, and blood, " evil beasts"
also are threatened, in allusion to Lev. xxvi. 22, " I will send
wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children."
The wild beasts threatened by the law here present themselves
in human form ; wild beasts, in the ordinary sense, could have
no place in the capital. We may compare Isa. lvi. 9, Jer.
xii. 9, where the wild beasts are undeniably the heathen. The
designation of brutalized men, who have no breath from God,
as beasts, is deeply rooted in Scripture.
Ch. vi. We have here the continuation of ch. v., the further
elucidation of the two symbolic actions in ch. iv. and ch. v. 1-4.
The chapter falls into two sections. First, vers. 1-10 :—
Ver. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, set thy face towards the mountains of Israel,
and prophesy to them, 3. And say, Ye mountains of Israel,
hear the word of the Lord Jehovah ; Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to
the valleys, Behold, I, even I, bring a sword upon you, and
destroy your high places. 4. And your altars shall be wasted,

58 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
and your sun-pillars broken ; and I will cast down your slain
men before your abominations. 5. And I will lay the corpses
of the children of Israel before their abominations, and scatter
your bones around your altars. 6. In all your dwelling-places
the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places desolated ;
that your altars may be laid waste and become guilty, and your
abominations broken and laid aside, and your sun-pillars cut
down, and your works abolished. 7. And the slain shall fall
in the midst of you; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
8. And I will leave you a remnant, so that ye shall have some
that have escaped from the sword among the heathen, when ye
are scattered in the countries. 9. And they that escape of you
shall remember me among the heathen whither they are carried
captive, when I have broken their whorish heart, which has
departed from me, and their eyes, which go a whoring after
their detestable things : and they shall loathe themselves in
their own eyes, for the evils which they have done in all their
abominations. 10. And they shall know that I am the Lord ;
not in vain have I said that I would do this evil unto them.
The mountains of Israel (ver. 2) denote the whole land,
the characteristic of which is to be mountainous (Deut. xi. 12).
The mountains, generally the prominent points, in the high
land of Canaan, come necessarily into the foreground. The
valleys appear as an appendage to these. The prophet before
had a special view to Jerusalem, now to the whole land. On
ver. 3 compare Lev. xxvi. 30, " And I will destroy your high
places, and cut down your sun-pillars, and cast your carcases
upon the carcases of your idols.'' " Before your abominations"
(ver. 4), your idols, properly your filthy things, your idols that
are as worthless as the filth, your dirt-gods. " The cities and
the high places" (ver. 6) are in themselves innocent. That
which takes place in them is only intended to destroy the
offences that exist in these regions, the idol altars, and so on.
The altars are guilty, because, by the destruction to which they
are doomed, they are convicted of the false pretension to be
true places of divine worship. " Your works " include that
which is narrated in detail. In the idols and so on are the
products of the sinful action of God's people destroyed, which
they have erected in scorn of Him. Ver. 7 reverts to vers. 4,
5, to connect therewith the thought that the event will serve to

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. VI. 11-14. 59
prove the sole Godhead of Jehovah, against whom the idols are
not able to protect their worshippers. The slain embraces the
multitude of the slain in one ideal person. Vers. 8-10 are not
intended to mitigate the judgment, which in this connection
would be unsuitable. They serve rather to place in a clear
light the heavy guilt of the people. When, the intoxication
over, the punishment has come on, the remnant will themselves,
with deep shame and bitter pain, confess the sins of the people,
and the sole deity of Plim who announced to them by the pro
phets their downfall on account of these sins. The words " And
I will leave a remnant" (ver. 8; comp. Rom. ix. 27, xi. 5)
have no independent meaning, but lead on to what follows — to
the thought that the eyes of the people themselves will here
after be opened to their own heavy evils. When once, in the
course of events, the bandage falls off with which their eyes are
now covered, they will perceive with astonishment whither they
have been going.1 To loathe their face (ver. 9) is to be a
loathing to themselves. The face stands often for the person
which it represents. " Not in vain " (ver. 10) : the Lord
would have spoken in vain, or to no purpose, if the event had
not corresponded with the utterance. By the correspondence
of utterance and event, they know that He who has spoken by
the son of man is Jehovah — is God in the fullest sense.
Ver. 11. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Smite with thy
hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil
abominations of the house of Israel ! which will fall by the
sword, by famine, and by pestilence. 12. He that is far off
shall die of the pestilence ; and he that is near shall fall by tlie
sword ; and he that remains and is preserved shall die by the
famine : and I will accomplish my fury upon them. 13. And
ye shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain are among
their detestable things round about their altars, upon every
1 TnDB'J m ver. 9 means properly, " I was broken." This stands for
" I have broken for myself." The passivity goes over from those whose
heart is broken, as it were, to him by whom and in whose interest it has
been broken. Allusion is made to the broken heart of David after his
adultery with Bathsheba (Ps. li. 12), the rather because here also mention
is made of the whorish heart and eyes (2 Sam. xi. 2). Analogous are hiit'l,
properly "be entreated," then "obtain by prayer," sueh an entreaty as
attains its object (1 Sam. xx. 6) ; ITjyj, properly " receive answer," then
" give answer " (ch. xiv. 4, 7).

to

60 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every
green tree, and under every thick oak, there where they offered
sweet savour to all their detestable idols. 14. And I will
stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land a waste
and a desert more than the wilderness of Diblathah, in all
their dwelling-places ; and they shall know that I am the
Lord.
" Smite with thy hand" (ver. 11): to be compared is Num.
xxiv. 10, "And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam,
and he smote his hands together." The clapping of hands, in
general a gesture of highly excited emotion, which may be of
various kinds, is there, according to the existing circumstances,
a symbolic "Away with you." "Flee thee" gives the real
import in ver. 11. Jer. xv. 1 serves for elucidation : " Though
Moses and Samuel stood before me, I could have no heart to
this people : cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth."
" Stamp with thy footj" a gesture of the impatience that cannot
wait for the time when it will be otherwise, when the sinful
action will be followed by the suffering that is inseparably con
nected with it. To be compared is ch. xxv. 6, where, as here,
the smiting with the hand and the stamping with the foot are
connected. " He that is far off" from the foe, separated from
him by the walls of the city. " He that remains" from the
pestilence, and is "preserved" from the sword, which cannot
reach him on account of the protecting walls. " More than
the wilderness of Diblathah" (ver. 14). Diblathah, or Dibla-
thaim, the Moabitish city, whose desolation is announced by
Jeremiah (ch. xlviii. 22), lay on the border of the great wilder
ness of Arabia Deserta, which is here named after it.1
Ch. vii. We have here the close of the whole cycle, which
rises as such to a lyrical grandeur ; as also the second cycle, in
ch. xix., terminates in a song. This solemn close corresponds
with the solemn introduction in ch. i. The subject is here
also the destruction which will come upon the sinful covenant
people. Heavy blows are here dealt against the hopes placed
in the anti-Chaldaic coalition.
Ver. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2. And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah of the
1 Compare Graf on Jeremiah at the place quoted.

THE FIRST CYCLE— CHAP. VII. 1-11. 61
land of Israel, An end, the end is come upon the four borders
of the land. 3. Now is the end upon thee, and I will send my
anger upon thee, and judge thee according to thy ways, and lay
on thee all thine abominations. 4. And my eye shall not spare
thee, nor will I pity : I will lay thy ways upon thee, and thy
abominations shall be in the midst of thee ; and ye shall know
that I am the Lord.
" Thy abominations shall be in the midst of thee" (ver. 4),
— namely, in their punishment. Sin has an active and a pas
sive history. When the latter begins, that which was before
the object of gratification becomes the object of terror.
Ver. 5. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, A grievous evil,
behold, it comes. 6. An end is come, the end is come : it
awakes against thee ; behold, it is come.1 7. The lot is come
unto thee,2 who dwellest in the land : the time is come, the day
is near, tumult, and not the shout3 of the mountains. 8. Now
shortly will I pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish my
anger upon thee, and judge thee according to thy ways, and lay
on thee all thy abominations. 9. And my eye shall not spare,
nor will I pity : according to thy ways will I lay upon thee, and
thy abominations shall be in the midst of thee ; and ye shall
know that I, the Lord, do smite. 10. Behold the day, behold,
it is come ; the lot is gone forth ; the rod hath blossomed ;
pride hath budded. 11. Violence is risen into a rod of wicked
ness : not of them, nor of their tumult, nor of them and them ;
nor is there wailing among them.
"An evil" (ver. 5), so bad that they have enough of it.
The character of the terrible lies not in the unity, but in this,
that the one evil is so bad. There is something sarcastic in the
one. " Tumult, and not joyful shout of the mountains " (ver.
7). The shout of joy is ascribed to the mountains, because it is
mostly heard on them, and indeed not accidentally, but because
it is called forth through them. It is said in Ps. lxxxix. 13,
" Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name " — over it, over
1 nX3 refers to the grievous evil identical with the end in ver. 5.
2 Luther, "It rises already, and therefore breaks over thee." nTStf,
properly " ring," then " crown," here used of the lot as completed in itself,
probably an expression which Ezekiel took from his Chaldaic circumstances,
by which he denoted the ineluctabile fatum.
8 in="lT,n, " joyful cry," as of the vintager or the conqueror.

62 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the deeds of thy glory that are done in them. This mute glad
ness of the mountains themselves comes to its expression in the
acclaim of men. In the place of such joyful acclaim will come
the tumult— the piercing cry of those who, struck by grievous
misfortune, seek deliverance. The blossoming rod in ver. 10
is that of the Chaldean supremacy. The figure is borrowed
from Num. xvii. 2, 3, where the prosperity of the priestly
office is indicated by the budding and blossoming rod of Aaron.
Hence also is the budding. The pride belongs also to the
Chaldeans. Its budding signifies that a favourable issue is
secured to it. The rod of wickedness in ver. 11 is the Chal
dean despotism. " Not of them nor of their tumult or noise,"
forms the counterpart to the political frenzy which had at pre
sent seized the Jews, and in which they expected to have the
reins in their hands, and make some figure in the history of
the world. The poor fools ! In place of action, the suffering
will come too soon. They will simply have to suffer whatever
comes upon them, without being able to exercise any indepen
dent influence on the progress of events, however loudly they
may now cry or strenuously endeavour. " Nor of them and
them," that is, of them, how much soever they may hold up
their heads.1 It throws contempt on the we which they had
continually in their mouths, and repeated with great emphasis :
We, we shall do everything ; I am a Jew. It is said, Jer. xxx.
21, "And their mighty (collective) shall be of themselves, and
their governor shall proceed from their midst." And in Zech.
x. 4, " Out of him the corner, out of him the nail, out of him
the battle-bow, out of him will go forth every governor together."
This is no doubt guaranteed to the people of God, and im
parted to them in due time. But the rebellious generation of
the present have lost the privilege of the people of God ; they
must leave the initiative to the world, and are reduced to mere
passivity. The expansion of " nor is their wailing among
them"2 we have in ch. xxiv. 15 f. The calamity will be so
terrible, stroke will so come upon stroke, that lamentation will
be forgotten in deep despair. It is the highest degree of pain,
when the capacity to complain expires.
Ver. 12. The time is come, the day draweth nigh : let not
1 Comp. an Dn, "they, and once more they," Isa. lvii. 6.
2 Comp. Mic. ii. 4.

THE FIRST CYCLE — CHAP. VII. 12-18. 63
the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn ; for wrath is upon all
the tumult thereof. 13. For the seller shall not return to that
which is sold, and their life is still among the living : for the
vision is touching the whole tumult thereof ; it shall not return ;
and many a one in his iniquity will not preserve his life. 14.
They blow the trumpet, and make all ready; but none goeth
to the battle : for my wrath is upon all the tumult thereof.
15. The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine
within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and
him that is in the city famine and pestilence shall devour. 16.
And they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on tho
mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning,
every one for his iniquity. 17. All hands shall be feeble, and
all knees shall go into water. 18. And they shall gird on
sackcloth, and horror sliall cover them ; and shame, shall be
upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
The buyer gains nothing (ver. 12), and whosoever is com
pelled to sell loses nothing, for all comes into the enemy's hand.
" Their tumult," their multitude, that makes so much noise for
nothing ; an allusion to Ps. xxxix. 7, " Only in vain they make
a noise ; they gather, and know not who shall seize it." Ver.
13 gives at once the reason of the words, " Wrath is upon all
their tumult." As the catastrophe is national, it is a matter of
indifference to the seller that he has sold : he will in no case
return to that which he has sold, so that he should regard it
with pain, for the whole land is stripped of its inhabitants. It
may, however, happen that he shall lose his life, and he has to
count it good fortune if this does not take place, so that the
tiling sold cannot under any circumstances be a source of pain
to him.1 Instead of the wrath in the foregoing verse, stands
here the vision in a like sense, for the vision has the wrath for
its object. None goeth to the battle (ver. 14), because all are
either already carried, off, or seized with deadly fear ; all hands
weak, and all knees trembling (ver. 17), many powerless from
famine and sickness (ver. 16). The mountains in ver. 16
come into account as the place of refuge for the fugitive (Ps.
xi. 1; Matt. xxiv. 16) ; the cloves only on account of their plain-
1 B"X, not " every one ;" this would not suit the foregoing — universal
slaughter is also never announced by Ezekiel ; but " one." It implies that
this case also occurs along with the other, that one remains in life.

64 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
tive tones, their melancholy cooing; doves of the valleys, in
whose cliffs they build their nests. The water is, in ver. 17,
a figure of dissolution going on everywhere ; the knees are so
relaxed that they are become as water.1 On all their heads is
baldness (ver. 18), because they have plucked off the hair in
their deep grief (Ezra ix. 3).
Ver. 19. They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their
gold shall be for uncleanness : their silver and their gold shall
not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the
Lord ; they shall not satisfy their souls, nor fill their bowels,
because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity. 20. And
his glorious ornament he has set for pride ; and they made the
images of their abominations and detestable idols of it: there-
fore have I laid it on them for uncleanness. 21. And I will
give it into the hand of strangers for a prey, and to the wicked
of the earth for a spoil ; and they shall pollute her. 22. And
my face will I turn from them, and they shall pollute my
secret ; and the violent shall enter into her, and defile her.
" They shall cast their silver and gold on the streets" (ver.
19), to give to the rapacity of the enemy no point of attraction
by which to endanger their persons ; for rapacity goes hand in
hand with bloodthirstiness. That this is the cause of their
casting it away, is obvious; from the following : " Their gold
shall be for uncleanness," detested as an unclean thing, because
life is endangered by it. The gold and silver cannot deliver
them, because the cruel foes whom the Lord sends against
them, aim at their lives (Isa. xiii. 17) ; it cannot at all be the
means of satisfying their hunger, because there is nothing to
buy — the gold has lost all its value. The ground of this curse
that rests on their gold and silver, of this practical exhibition
of their worthlessness, is found in the words, " because it is the
stumbling-block of their iniquity." Stumbling-block is occasion
for stumbling.. The addition "of their iniquity" (comp. ver.
14) shows that a spiritual stumbling is here spoken of ; that is,
the possession of gold and silver gave them occasion for stum
bling, or for sinning— tempted them to commit iniquity. How
far, is shown in ver. 20. Israel has perverted his glorious
1 rpn with the accusative of that which anything becomes, to become
anything; comp. Joel iii. 18, "The hiUs shall go into milk " for "they
shall turn into milk."

THE FIRST CYCLE— CHAP. VII. 23-27. 65
ornament, the gold and silver wherewith his God has furnished
and adorned him, in the interest of his pride (ver. 20). From
this proceeds, in fact, his tendency to idolatry, which in Isa.
ii. 8, 9, 20-22, is regarded in the light of pride. Idolatry pro
ceeds from the principle of independence in religious matters.
Israel will have the initiative in matters of religion, make gods
for himself, not submit himself in humility to the God of
revelation, not serve Him as He is, and as He has made Him
self known to him, and in the way prescribed by Plim. All
idolatry is at bottom egoism, the apotheosis of self, that sets up
its god out of itself — first makes and then adores. They shall
pollute her (ver. 21) — Zion or Jerusalem. Israel is profaned,
secularized in his very centre, with all his shamefully abused
possessions, because he has separated himself from his God, on
whom his holiness depended. He is become profane in his
conduct, and now is profaned also in his' experience ; he has
spiritually rent asunder the partition between him and the
strangers, and now in punishment this partition is also mate
rially destroyed. " My secret " (ver. 22) : according to the
connection, this can refer only to his treasures. These are, so
long as the people remain true to their God, placed under his
protection and guarantee. All the means of Israel, as long as
he is worthy of his name, are, as it were, the treasure of the
Lord. Now that he has fallen from his God, this higher con
secration of his means is taken away ; it is secularized.1
Ver. 23. Make the chain ; for the land is full of bloody
crimes, and the city is full of violence. 24. And I will bring
the worst of the heathen, and they shall seize their houses :
and I will make the pride of the strong to cease ; and they
who consecrate them shall be defiled. 25. Destruction cometh ;
and they shall seek peace, and it shall not be. 26. Mischief
shall come upon mischief, message shall be upon message ; and
they shall seek a vision from the prophet : and the law shall
perish from the priest, and counsels from the elders. 27. The
king shall mourn, and the prince shall clothe himself with
astonishment, and the hands of the people of the land shall be
1 Even in reference to the glory of Tyre occurs, in Isa. xxiii. 9, the S^n,
because, so long as its iniquity was not yet full, it was, as it were, a sanc
tuary. The suffix ih DnD refers to the Israelites ; the subject of l^n is
the enemy ; the suffixes in ro and Tfbbn refer to the city.
E

66 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
troubled : I will do unto them according to their ways, and
judge them according to their judgments ; and they shall know
that I am the Lord.
The chain which the prophet is to make (ver. 23) (an un
deniable example of a purely internal symbolic action ; or will
they make the prophet a smith, as they made him a cook in
ch. xxiv. ?) points to this, that Israel the transgressor is to be
instantly cast into chains and bands, and thus prefigures the
misery of the future; comp. vers. 10-16, like to which is
-Ps. cvii., composed after the return from the exile, where
Israel appears in his misery under the figure of a people fettered
in dark prisons, of an incarcerated company. " I will make
the pride of the strong to cease " (ver. 24) : the fundamental
passage is Lev. xxvi. 19, where, in the threatening against
the rebellious people, it is said, " I will break the pride of your
power." " And they who consecrate them shall be defiled : "
to be compared is Isa. xliii. 26, 27, " Thy first father (the
high priest) hath sinned, and thy intercessors have transgressed
against me. Therefore will I profane the princes of the sanc
tuary, and give Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproach."
With the approaching destruction of the sanctuary are the
priests also, who can no longer officiate, desecrated, and thus
the means of expiation are withdrawn from Israel. Jeremiah,
in ch. xxxiii., meets with the word of promise a deep trouble of
the people, that which must have been called forth here by the
threatening of the prophet : the temple, changed into a' den of
robbers by the guilt of the people, was to be destroyed. On the
existence of the temple depended that of the Levitical priest
hood ; and if this went to the ground because an unsubstantial
shadow, where would then be the forgiveness of sins, which
in the law. (for ex. Lev. xvi.) was connected with the media
tion of the Levitical priesthood ? Ezekiel points only to the
cloud; Jeremiah opens the view to the sun concealed behind
the cloud. "Destruction cometh" (ver. 25); properly contrac
tion, in contrast with the expansion which is connected with
all joyful prosperity. Such expansion is founded in the nature
of the people of God : comp. Gen. xxviii. 14 ; Isa. liv. 3, " Thou
shalt break forth right and left, and thy seed shall inherit the
heathen ;" and where the expansion gives place to the contrac
tion, the state of restriction and diminution, it is a mournful

THE FISRT CYCLE — CHAP. VII. 23-27. 67
anomaly, which can have its ground only in this, that the
people of God have degenerated, and become unfaithful to
their call. "They shall seek a vision from the prophet" (ver.
26) : from their prophets, who hitherto have presented the
future to them in rosy colours, and to whom the heavens have
been full of music. Now they make a lamentable figure ; they
are stricken on the mouth by the event. " The law shall
perish from the priest." The law comes into consideration in
this connection in a peculiar respect. The priests before the
catastrophe had so explained the law, that the people were
lulled into a false security. They had given a one-sided pro
minence to the election of the people, and the lofty promises
made to them, without referring to the conditions on which the
election depended, or the severe threatenings in case of infi
delity. Now they no longer venture to come forth with such
interpretations of the law that turned the grace of God into
lasciviousness. Events compel them no further to do violence
to the law, as Zephaniah reproacheg the priests, ch. iii. 4 (comp.
Jer. ii. 8; Ezek. xxii. 26). "Judge them according to their
judgments " (ver. 27) — corresponding to their deeds. " And
they shall know that I am the Lord:" this knowledge, which
they despised, is now forced upon them. In their downfall
they must acknowledge it. With these words recurring in
Ezekiel like a refrain, the first cycle of his prophecies closes.

THE SECOND CYCLE.
CHAPTERS VIII.-XIX.
HE second cycle (ch. viii.-xix.) is separated from the
first by an interval of a year and two months. The
date is here the sixth year after the captivity of
Jehoiachin, the sixth month, the fifth day, about
five years before the destruction of Jerusalem. A vision here
also forms the introduction, a song the close in ch. xix., in the
midst of prophetic discourses that elucidate the vision, obviate
objections, and form a bridge between it and the mind. The
historical starting-point andthe tendency also are similar. The
prophet here also strives against the political dreams, repre
sents the destruction as inevitable, and points to repentance as
the only way of safety.
The vision is here far more comprehensive than in the first
cycle. It occupies four whole chapters. It gives a complete
representation of the sins of the people ; and here accordingly
is unfolded what in the first vision is only indicated concern
ing the punishment. Common to both visions is the delineation
of the theophany itself, and in particular the description of
the cherubim. The former delineation is supplemented by that
here given only in details.
Ch. viii. contains the exposition of the guilt — the delineation
of the four abominations of Jerusalem ; ch. ix., the first punish
ment — Jerusalem filled with dead bodies ; ch. x., the second
punishment — Jerusalem burnt ; ch. xi. 1-12, the third — God's
vengeance follows the survivors of the catastrophe. The close
consists of comfort for the captives, who are already in exile with
Ezekiel, and on whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem proudly
look down ; of these will God Himself take care, after the total
disappointment of all human hopes (vers. 13-21). The prophet
then sees still (vers. 22, 23) how the glory of the Lord leaves
the temple ; and then the ecstasy comes to an end (vers. 24, 25).
68

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. VIII. 1-fi. 139
Ch. viii. 1. And it came to pass in the sixth year, the sixth
month, on the fifth day, I sat in my house, and the elders of
Judah sat before me, and the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell
there upon me. 2. And I beheld, and lo a form to look upon
as fire : from the loins downward, to look upon as fire ; and
from the loins upward, to look upon as brightness, as the look
of shining brass. 3. And he stretched out the form of a hand,
and took me by a lock of my head ; and the Spirit lifted me
up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me to
Jerusalem, in the visions of God, to the door of the gate of the
inner court1 that looketh towards the north ; where was the seat
of the image of jealousy which provoketh to jealousy. 4. And,
behold, there was the glory of the God of Israel, like the vision
that I sawr in the valley. 5. And he said to me, Son of man,
lift up thine eyes toward the north. And I lifted my eyes
toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the
altar this image of jealousy at the entrance. 6. And he said
unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do ? The great
abomination, that the house of Israel here committeth, that
they should go far off from my sanctuary % And thou shalt
yet again see great abominations.
• The elders of Judah sit before the prophet (ver. 1). An
exciting political report is current, perhaps that of the coalition
formed between Elam and Media (ch. viii. 15-17) ;2 and the
elders come to the prophet in the hope of receiving from him,
under this change of affairs, a reversal of the former threaten
ings against Jerusalem, and a confirmation of their pleasing
dreams, which they cannot well enjoy, so long as they have
the prophet against them (comp. on ch. xx. 1). The fire in
ver. 2 first draws the attention of the prophet to it, because this
stood in connection with present circumstances, whereas the
brightness depicts the essence of God, which is ever the same.
The fire was antecedently destructive of all the fond hopes of
the people (comp. on ch. i. 4, 27). " And He stretched out : "
the subject can only be the same who is spoken of in ver. 2 —
1 Luther, " to the inner gate." But Michaelis rightly remarks : rVD'OSn,
femininum, neque cum Petach neque cum Schaar mascul, sed cum subintellecto
"IXPI, quod commune est, convenit. In ver. 16 "ivn is added. It is characteristic
of Ezekiel the priest, that he says " the inner " briefly for " the inner court."
1 M. Niebuhr, History of Assyria and Babylon, p. 212.

70 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the Lord, to whom the hand already belongs in ver. 1. If the
hand be the hand of God, ruach can only denote Spirit, power,
not wind. For the wind suits not the hand of God, but the
Spirit perfectly, which is active even through the hand, as also in
ver. 1 the Spirit of God acts on the prophet through the hand.
In fact, the hand is only a symbol of the energetic Spirit. The
addition, " in the visions of God " (comp. ch. i. 1), prevents the
thing from being carried into the sphere of the external. "Where
was the seat of the image of jealousy which provoketh to
jealousy." The latter words indicate in what sense the prophet
speaks of the image of jealousy, inasmuch as it provokes to
jealousy the jealous, the energetic God, who as such gives not
His honour to another, and calls forth His reaction against the
wrong done to His honour. That the. words only serve for
explanation appears from ver. 5, where, after the explanation
here given, the image of jealousy stands alone. From the
north the punishment was to come (ch. i. 4). Thus the image
of jealousy had its right place there. It was an actual summons
to the north to send forth its avenging hosts. This leads us at
once to see, that we here find ourselves on a purely ideal ground,
— that the realistic interpretation of that which the prophet
observes in the temple, and the attempt to draw therefrom
historical conclusions concerning the then state of the temple,
are altogether perverse. Several other grounds also speak for
the ideality : for ex., the phrase " every one in his chamber "
(ver. 12), where the reality suddenly breaks forth ; further, the
expression " in the dark " itself, thus not in a public place ;
the circumstance that Ezekiel must first break a door for him
self (ver. 8) ; the 70 men in ver. 11, and the 25 in ver. 16,— a
formal representation of the people, that in so official a manner,
though certainly not at that time, did homage to idols in the
temple ; and so on. Even beforehand it cannot be imagined
that the vision was a simple copy of the reality. This would
contradict its very nature throughout. It is intended to present
the thing in its deeper reality, as it cannot be seen with the
eye of flesh. The temple was the ideal dwelling-place of the
people. This is an idea that is widely spread through the Old
Testament.1 In Lev. xvi. all the sins of the people appear to
1 Comp. Christol Part ii. p. 599 f. ; further, my comm. on Ps. xxiii. 6,
xxvii. 4, lxxxiv. 5, and on John ii. 19.

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. VIII. 1-6. 71
be committed in the temple, the " tent of meeting," in which the
sinners dwelt with the holy God. It is there said, in ver. 16 :
" And he (the high priest) shall expiate the sanctuary from the
impurities of the children of Israel, and from their transgres
sions in all their sins : and so shall he do for the tent of meet
ing, that dwelleth among them in the midst of their impurities."
Because in a spiritual sense all the children of Israel dwell in
the sanctuary, this will be polluted by every sin. In Amos
ix. 1 the altar in Jerusalem appears as the place of transgres
sion ; there the prophet sees all the abominations of Israel and
Judah laid down. The altar was the place where the people
of the two kingdoms wTere to lay down the embodied expres
sion of their pious feelings. There lay, in point of fact, the
fruits of the counterpart of these feelings ; there was heaped up
the unexpiated iniquity of the whole people. In the place of
transgression appears the Lord to glorify Himself in the down
fall of those who had not glorified Him by tlieir life. So,
then, here also, all that was extant in the land of an idolatrous
character is united in a single figure, and placed in the temple,
to cry thence to God and call forth His vengeance. This being
so, we must in the further investigation rise above the image
of jealousy. It is an ideal concentration of all superstitious
dealing in Israel — a confluence of all the several forms of idols,
the gods of the nations of the earth, that are the work of man,
which are in 2 Chron. xxxii. 19 set over against the God of
Israel. In the great importance which is attached to politics
in the prophecies of Ezekiel, we must besides pay less regard
to an idolatry that sprang from a confusion of the religious
impulse, than to a homage which was offered to the world-
powers, in order to attain to safety by their aid without God,
or even against God. This homage went back at length to
the heathen gods, because these were the ruling powers in the
popular life. The comparison of ch. xxiii. will leave no doubt
in reference to the correctness of this remark. It is possible
that the image of jealousy has a still more special political
import: — that the northward direction refers not merely to the
punishment to be expected, but also to the sin already com
mitted. Then would the image of jealousy refer to the political
adulteries of Jerusalem with the northern power of Babylon,
against which they alternately conspired, and then again sought

72 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
to gain it over ; as Zedekiah, in the same year in which he
had treated with the kings of Edom, Moab, and others, con
cerning a common undertaking against Babel, suddenly made
off again to Babylon (Jer. li. 59).1 That the seat of the image
of jealousy was in the north, is here mentioned by anticipation,
to give the reason why the prophet is transported thither. The
proper description of the image of jealousy follows only in ver.
5. " The image of jealousy that provoketh to jealousy " points
to Deut. xxxii. 16, " They moved Him to jealousy with strange
gods, with abominations they provoked Him." To the position
towards the north, so far as it refers to the punishment to be
expected, corresponds there the sentence, " And I will provoke
them to jealousy by not a people " (ver. 21). " The gate of the
altar " (ver. 5) : it is so called because it led from the outer to
the inner court, in which the altar stood. The prophet stands
in the outer court, immediately at the door of the inner, and
of course the northern one. At hand in the outer court, in
the direction of the north, stands the image of jealousy. The
removal in ver. 6 can only refer to those who were mentioned
immediately before : to be removed can only mean, " that they
be removed." The right interpretation would not have been
missed, had the import of the temple, as the place where the
people dwell spiritually with the Lord, been duly recognised.
By their idolatry, their adulterous intercourse with the world-
powers, they have made themselves unworthy of dwelling with
the Lord. They must be cast out of the sanctuary, the place
of blessing and of grace, as formerly Adam, in consequence of
his fall, was driven out of Paradise. The idea is the dissolution
of the covenant, the abandonment to the world.
Ver. 7. And he brought me to the door of the court ; and
I looked, and behold a hole in the wall. 8. And he said unto
me, Son of man, break through the wall ; and I broke through
the wall, and behold a door. 9. And he said unto me, Go in,
and see the wicked abominations that they do here. 10. And
I went in and saw ; and, behold, every form of moving thing,
and abominable beasts, and all the detestable things of the
house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. 11. And
seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah
son of Shaphan, standing in their midst, stood before them, and
1 Niebuhr, p. 211.

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. VIII. 7-18. 73
every man had his censer in his hand ; and the prayer of the
cloud of incense went up. 12. And he said unto me, Seest
thou, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel do in
the dark, every man in his image-chambers ? for they say, The
Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the land. 13. And
he said unto me, Still further shalt thou see great abominations
that they do.
The door of the court (ver. 7) is the chief door, the eastern.
Thither is the prophet transported from the northern one (ver.
3). The hole which the prophet here sees is identical with
that which he is to dig (ver. 8). Pie sees here, as it were, the
model. The idea which lies at the base of the symbolic repre
sentation comes out in ver. 12. It is, that superstition, as a
work of darkness, was driven into secret places. Just here it
appears quite clear that the transportation to the temple has a
purely ideal meaning. It is equally plain, however, that the
superstition here spoken of has a political character — that the
question is about political combinations. For then only does
the secret movement explain itself : they do not wish yet to
break openly with Babylon. A purely religious aberration
would not have needed to hide itself in darkness : it had
nothing to fear at that time. The wall, according to ver. 8,
must first be broken through to reach the door. We see
clearly from this that we are not in the region of reality. If
the wall was before the door, how, then, did the idolaters
enter? If there was an entrance for these, why must the
prophet break open an entrance for himself? Our passage
shows that under Zedekiah the temple itself was free from
superstitious abominations. "The same appears also from ch.
xxiii. 38. There the prophet reproaches the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, because they, after sullying themselves with idolatry
outside the temple, visited the temple, as if nothing had hap
pened. The animal-worship to which, according to ver. 10,
the rulers of the people devoted themselves, is peculiar in all
antiquity to Egypt only, and so characteristic of it that the men
tion of it is equivalent to the express naming of Egypt. We
must antecedently expect a certain participation in Egyptian
idolatry in the Jews of that day, according to the political rela
tions of the past. With the political fraternizations the religious
went hand in hand. Religion was a power so far governing

74 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the whole life, that, for ex., an embassy sent to Egypt could
not avoid participating in the idolatry of the day. Dan. iii.
brings to our view the close relationship of politics and religion.
But Egypt appears in ch. xxiii. 19-21, 27, as the chief power
by which Judah sought aid against the Chaldeans. It is there
also expressly said, that with the political dependence was also
connected the participation in the worship (vers. 7, 30, 37). But
even the political dependence on Egypt itself, the seeking of
help in it, may be regarded in the light of a participation in its
superstition, inasmuch as its gods were the powers governing
the life. He that trusted in Egypt trusted in its gods — which
are already in the Pentateuch placed in inseparable connection
with it (Ex. xii. 12) — and substituted for the honour of the
eternal God the figure of an ox that eateth grass. This is
certainly the chief point. The more rarely occurring external
participation in Egyptian idolatry is only a single consequence
of this whole unnatural relation. "Moving thing" is all that
moves on the earth ; comp. Gen. ix. 3, " every moving thing
that liveth." The limitation to the smaller animals lies, where
it finds place, not in the word itself, but in this, that the greater
animals are specially named along with it. So here also the
moving thing is the generic name. Along with this are the
cattle named as the most prominent species in the genus. The
animal-worship must, according to its principle, have been
specially directed to the most useful animals. " Abomina
tion " stands in apposition to cattle, and forms with it a kind
of compound — abomination cattle. The cattle become an
abomination, because the honour belonging to the Creator is
assigned to them (Rom. i. 23). Everything created, however
good it may be in itself, becomes an abomination as soon as it
stands with man beside, or quite above, God. " All the detest
able things of the house of Israel : " this means especially the
idols, which belong to the same category with those expressly
named. Only the land animals are here expressly named,
whereas in the prohibition of the Egyptian animal-worship in
Deut. iv. 17, 18, mention is made also of fowls and aquatic
animals. But at all events only the Egyptain gods come into
account. The detestable, properly the filthy, stercorei, a desig
nation of idols particularly natural to Ezekiel, refers every
where to Lev. xxvi. 30. The filthy is a designation peculiarly

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. VIII. 7-13. 75
suitable to animal-gods, the filthy ones of Egypt (Ex. xxiv. 7).
" The filthy " also occurs especially of the Egyptian gods in
Deut. xxix. 17, the only place in the books of Moses where
the word is found, except Ex. xxvi. 30. "Portrayed upon
the wall:" Moses in Deut. iv. 17, 18 speaks of artificial
representations of animals as the object of worship. "The
seventy of the elders of Israel" (ver. 11) are from Ex. xxiv.
1, 9, Num. xi. 16, 24. As they there, as a chosen part, repre
sent the whole of the elders, the men in authority, so also here.
In ver. 12 the elders of the house of Israel are spoken of in
general. The idea is, that the leaning to Egyptian customs,
the trust in the shadow of Egypt (Isa. xxx. 22), is in the strict
sense a national sin. If the state as such had abandoned
itself to dependence on Egypt, and thereby committed a
felony, it renounced the God of the spirits of all flesh, and
called down Plis vengeance upon itself. " And Jaazaniah
son of Shaphan standing in their midst : " Shaphan occurs
in 2 Kings xxii. 3, 10 as chancellor under Josiah. His son,
who is probably invested with the same office, was no doubt
the soul of the negotiations with Egypt. The prophet intro
duces the historical personality into this ideal company partly
on this account, partly on account of his ominous name, The
Lord hears, who was to come down on the head of these
worshippers of beasts, and who pronounced judgment on their
whole procedure. " Before them "¦ — the pictures of animals.
" And the prayer 1 of the cloud of incense went up." The
cloud of incense is called prayer, because it was an embodied
prayer ; comp. on Ps. cxli. 2, Rev. v. 8, viii. 3, 4, where we
have the interpretation of the symbol, " The incense is the
prayers of saints." They say by the incense before those
miserable figures, " Deliver me, for thou art my god " (Isa.
xliv. 17). Here it is obvious that the prophet has before him
not merely the direct participation in Egyptian idolatry. This
was certainly not so general. Already Cocceius perceived the
right meaning. He thus gives the real import : " The people
of Israel relied at that time on the aid of the Egyptians, and
looked to them as to their Saviour." The words, " in the dark,
every man in his image-chamber " (ver. 12), point to this, that
1 inj?, not incense, scent, — a meaning that rests on no, ground what
ever.

76 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
revolt from Babylon, undertaken in concert with Egypt, was
not at that time officially proclaimed— that it was still a secret,
though a public one. Their inner apartments appear as image-
chambers, because they deceive themselves in their inmost hearts
with Egyptian fancies, which here find their external represen
tation in the Egyptian figures on the walls. In ch. xxiii. ,L4 the
earlier Chaldean sympathies appear also in the objective form
of pictures. They point to their justification of their shameless
course in the words, " The Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath
forsaken Plis land." By these words they wish to refer the
guilt to God. As He does nothing for them; they must help
themselves as well as they can. Where punishment coincides
with a defective sense of sin, revolt from God is the necessary
consequence. Ver. 14. And he brought me to the door of the gate of the
Lord's house, which was toward the north ; and, behold, the
women sat there weeping for Tammuz. 15. And he said
unto me, Seest thou, son of man ? Still further shalt thou
see greater abominations than these.
That the prophet is led to the north gate points to this,
that the worship which is here treated of springs from the
north. This suits Adonis, already recognised by Jerome in
Tammuz, whose worship had its chief seat in Byblos, a city
of northern Phcenicia, between Tripolis and Berytus, to which
also the very characteristic mark of the weeping women leads.
The real import is the seeking of political aid among the
Phoenicians, who, according to the discussions on ch. i., belonged
to the anti-Chaldaic coalition. "Abominations greater than
these" (ver. 15): in the previous passages it was merely,
" Thou shalt still further see great abominations." The gra
dation leads us to understand that the prophet here comes to the
sin which stood at present in its full bloom. It was probably
the project of a league with Medo-Persia which filled their
minds with new hopes, and had called forth the new inquiry of
the elders. The excitement was so much the greater, because
the exiles were the appropriate agents for this alliance, as in
general the Diaspora afforded a proper instrument for effecting
the then far-reaching political combinations. We have only
to think of the connection which even now subsists among the
Jews of all countries.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. VIII. 16-18. 77
Ver. 16. And he brought me into the inner court of the
Lord's house ; and, behold, at the door of the temple of the
Lord, between the porch and the altar, about five and twenty
men, whose backs were toward the temple of the Lord, and
their faces towards the east; and they worshipped the sun
toward the east. 17. And he said unto me, Hast thou seen,
O son of man ? Is it too little for the house of Judah to do
the abominations which they have here done ? that they have
filled the land with violence, that they now still further pro
voke me to anger ; and, lo, they put the vine-branch to their
nose. 18. Therefore will I also deal in fury : my eye shall
not spare, nor will I pity ; and they shall cry in my ears with
a loud voice, and I will not hear them.
The five and twenty in ver. 16 are, according to ch. xi. 1,
princes of the people. We have here, as in the seventy, an
ideal representation of the ruling powers, so composed that for
every one of the twelve tribes of which Israel ideally consisted,
two men were counted, and one over as president. It is here
said about twenty-five, in contradistinction to the seventy with
out the about in ver. 11. There the number had a definite
basis in the Mosaic books ; here this is wanting. This very
about decides against the assumption that the twenty-five were
the chiefs of the twenty-four classes of priests, with the high
priest at their head. In this case the number would be sharply
defined. Against the priests speaks also the political character
of the whole scene, which becomes particularly evident by
comparison with ch. xxiii., and by reference to the historical
starting-point of the prophecies of Ezekiel, a great insurrection
against the Chaldean monarchy. Moreover, it had never been
really a fact that the whole priesthood, as one man, had given
themselves over to idolatry. To this is added the impossibility
of separating the twenty-five here from the twenty-five in
ch. xi. We have here the transgression, there the punishment.
In ch. ix. the latter was represented only in regard to the
seventy. The place between the porch and the altar, imme
diately at the entrance of the court of the priests, on which
especially the interpretation of the twenty-five by the priests
was based, was also the appropriate one for the civic represen
tatives in solemn supplications. As the priests stand there,
according to Joel ii. 17, to be in close proximity with the

78 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
people in whose name they appear, so here the highest office
bearers of the people come as near the altar as was lawful
for them, to show their contempt for the God of Israel. The
Jews think they have behaved unbecomingly toward the altar.
This is not ill devised, and goes further in the direction indi
cated by Ezekiel. The prophet has in view a new aspect of
the political superstition of the people. It was a national sin ;
and so, along with the former representation of the people,
consisting of seventy elders, a new one is here formed consist
ing of twenty-five princes. We learn more exactly the nature
of this political superstition from the mention of the sun as the
object of worship, and especially from the close of ver. 17, where
a rite of the Medo-Persian religion is undeniably spoken of. If
any one turned attention to the confederates against the Chal
deans, he must have thought above all of those whom Isaiah had
already named as the destroyers of the in his time only dawning
Chaldean empire, the Medo-Persians. " As the power," it was
remarked in the Christology. " which will subvert the Babylo
nian monarchy, appear the Medes in Isa. xiii. 17. In ch. xxi. 2
Elam is named along with Madai, by which, in the usage of
Isaiah, Persia is designated. This power, and at its head
the conqueror from the east, Koresh, will, according to the
announcement of Isaiah, bring salvation to Judah ; through
it will he gain a restoration to his native land'." The revolt
might here shelter itself under the appearance of piety: the
word of God itself seemed to point to alliance with the Persians,
and to invite to the same. As Babylon, according to Isa. xxxix.,
Ezek. xvi. and xxiii., and other accounts, conspired against
Assyria a long time before it was able to overthrow it, so it is
to be supposed that the Medo-Persian power first attained its
object after many previous unsuccessful attempts. But we
are distinctly assured of this by Ezekiel in ch. xxxii. 24, 25.
There appear the Elamites, " who caused their terror in the
land of the living," among the nations who were discomfited
by the Chaldeans, without doubt in consequence of the coali
tion, which we here see in the act of formation. In Jeremiah,
ch. xxv. 25, the kings of Media and Elam are named in the
first year of Nebuchadnezzar among those who are to drink
the cup of wrath. In the face of the fulfilment of this former
prophecy, Jeremiah threatens, in the beginning of the reign of

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. VUI. 1C-18. 79
Zedekiah (ch. xlix. 34 f.), that the Lord will break the bow of
Elam, without doubt in reference to the political hopes which
were at this time placed in Elam. Graf says on this passage :
" Elam's power also is broken ; the enemies, the instruments
of the divine anger, surprise it, and before their terrible
annihilating sword it flees to all nations : its land becomes
subject to a foreign power. But yet once more is Elam
restored." Jeremiah plays no empty trick. He must have
had a real cause for threatening destruction to Elam. The
predictions of the prophets are " counsels " (Isa. xli. 28).
After a full historical investigation, M. Niebuhr says in the
History of Assyria and Babylon, p. 212 : " A successful war of
Nebuchadnezzar with Elam, between the ninth and twentieth
years of his reign, is certain." The twenty-five stand not in
the inner court, but at the door of it. That they appear in
the temple of Jehovah, implies that they wish to maintain
externally their relation to the Lord. But that they turn
their back to the sanctuary of the Lord and their face to the
sun, shows that in their political course they count the Lord
for nothing ; and, on the contrary, place their hope in the
worshippers of the sun. The worship of the stars and the
elements was, as Herodotus testified, peculiar to the Medo-
Persian religion. They had no gods of wood and stone, no
image-worship like the Egyptians. The chief object of their
veneration was, along with fire, the sun. Hyde, De Beligione
Persarum, p. 305, gives from the ruins of Persepolis a copy of
a scene — the king of Persia as he stands worshipping before the
fire and the sun. The sun is here to be regarded more exactly
as the rising sun. We have a reference to the Persian worship
of the rising sun in Isa. xli. 2, " who awakened from the sun
rise;" and xlvi. 11, "who calls from the sunrise an eagle." The
name Koresh itself, according to the Greek writers, signifies
the sun. The Persian king was regarded as an incarnation of
the sun-god. In that sculpture in Persepolis, the spirit of the
king moves before the sun, from which it proceeds and to
which it returns.1 In ver. 17 it is said that Judah is already
1 We must beware of misunderstanding the anomalous form DIV'inriB'a
as it occurs directly in Ezekiel, of whom the abnormal is a character
istic pecuharity. The form is a quid pro quo, but so is the practice
signified by it. Lightfoot says, vox miro modo formata, ad miram abo-

80 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
sufficiently burdened with " the abominations which they have
done, that they have filled the land with violence," so that it is
really not the time to provoke God further by these new abo
minations. Here: this refers to sins with which they, the house
of Judah, and especially their princes (for the violence points to
these), have already filled the land, which have thus been com
mitted abroad outside the temple. But yet they were, as the
here shows, committed in the temple. For the temple is, in a
spiritual sense, the dwelling of the Israelites, and all that they
did took place there. In what the new transgression consists,
by which they provoke God, is intimated in the words, " They
put the vine-branch to the nose." That it belongs to the
religious department, in contrast with the former sins, which
moved in the moral region, appears from the phrase " to pro
voke me" in its reference to Deut. xxxii. 16, " They vex Him
with strange gods, with abominations they provoke Him." The
vine-branch 1 held before corresponds here with the worship of
the sun in ver. 16. The vine-stock is the pre-eminent product
of the sun, and so to the sun-worshippers the chief object of
thanksgiving and prayer, the most suitable representative of
all for which thanks are due to the sun. The Persian sun-
worshipper, according to Strabo and others, held in his hand a
bunch of shoots, called Barsom, when praying to the sun, and
minationem efficacius expiimendam. The regular form would be the par
ticiple QiinriCO- But- the prophet, by inserting n, gives a criticism of
their proceeding. To be compared is Ex. xxiv. 1, "And he said unto
Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou and Aaron, and seventy of the elders
of Israel ; and worship ye afar off." Further, Deut. xi. 16, " Take heed
that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and serve other gods,
and worship them, and the Lord's wrath be kindled against you." The
last passage is especially to the point. The n serves the purpose of a
quotation, that is, they worship ; whereas it is said in the law of God, Ye
shall not worship. You may declare this to be a mere play; but this does
not at all alter the fact.
1 miBT means only vine- stock, nothing else, and so occurs in ch. xv. 2.
Every other explanation is thus to be rejected as arbitrary. The word
never means shoot in general. Even according to its derivation, it suits
only the vine-stock, to which alone it applies in use. The verb is used of
the pruning of the vineyard. The noun, properly pruning, points to the
care which the vine needs, if it is to thrive and bear fruit — the xuQxtpu of
John xv. 2. Of the requital, which is brought in here by an arbitrary inter
pretation of mi»r, mention is first made in ver. 18.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. IX. 1-11. 81
applied it to the mouth when uttering prayer. This quite
agrees with the rite here. For the vine-branch here needs not
be a single rod, and the nose is derisively mentioned in place
of the mouth, according to the leaning to irony and sarcasm
which appears so often in the prophets when they oppose and
chastise superstitious folly.
Ch. ix. From the sin the prophet turns to the punishment.
The announcement of this begins in this section with the
slaying of the sinful inhabitants of the city, and then in the
following chapter we have the destruction of the city itself.
The scene is the following : At the command of the Lord,
who will punish the revolt of His people, appear the ministers
of His righteousness, six in number, and in their midst " a
man clothed in linen," the former with weapons of destruction,
the latter with an inkhorn. They come (the scene is the
temple) near the brazen altar : thence the glory of the Lord
went towards them from the most holy place to the threshold
of the temple. It gives to the man clothed in linen the order
to protect the pious, to the others the order to destroy the
ungodly without mercy. These orders are executed.
Ver. 1. And he called in my ears with a loud voice,
saying, The visitations of the city draw near,1 and let every
man have his destroying weapon in his hand. 2. And,
behold, six men came by the way of the upper gate, which
lies toward the north, and each had his breaking weapon
in his hand; and one man was in their midst clothed in
linen, and an inkhorn upon his loins : and they came and
stood beside the brazen altar. 3. And the glory of the God
of Israel went up from the cherub, on which it was, to the
threshold of the house ; and he called to the man clothed in
linen, who had the inkhorn at his loins. 4. And the Lord
said unto him, Pass through the midst of the city, through
Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that
sigh and that groan for all the abominations that are done in tho
midst of it. 5. And to those he said in my ears, Pass through
1 Luther, " cause to come near." But U"lp is usually the perfect in
Kal, and occurs in ch. xii. 23, xiii. 14. As imperative it is found only
once, Isa. xli. 25. For treating it as the perfect, the fundamental passage
Hos. ix. 7 speaks, " The days of visitation are come."
F

82 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the city after him, and smite ; let not your eyes1 spare, nor have
ye pity. 6. Old and young, and maiden and child, and women,
slay to destruction ; and any man upon whom is the mark touch
not ; and begin at my sanctuary. And they began at the old
men that were before the house. 7. And he said unto them,
Defile the house, and fill the -courts with the slain: go ye forth.
And they went forth, and slew in the city. 8. And it came
to pass, when they had slain them, and I was left, then fell I
on my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord Jehovah ! wilt thou
destroy all the remnant of Israel, when thou pourest out thy
fury upon Jerusalem ? 9. And he said unto me, The iniquity
of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the
land is filled with blood, and the city filled with perversity :
for they say, The Lord hath forsaken the land, and the Lord
seeth not. 10. And I also, my eye shall not spare, nor will
I pity ; their way I have laid upon their own head. 11. And,
behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn at his
loins, returned word, saying, I have done as thou hast com
manded me.
" He called" (ver. 1) — He who had formerly spoken — the
Lord (comp. ver. 4). The loud voice corresponds to the greatness
of the abominations that cry to God. God speaks to the mini
sters of His vengeance, and announces to them that now it is
time to go to work. The visitation in itself may also be used in
a good sense : that it is here penal, lies in the connection with
the foregoing, according to which Jerusalem can only be the
object of the divine anger, and also in the summons, founded
on the actual state of things, to the ministers of God to pro
vide themselves with destructive weapons. The six men in
ver. 2 can only be angels in human form, which they must
assume to be visible to the prophet. For only thus do they
suit as the retinue of the man clothed in linen, who on sure
grounds can be no other than the angel of the Lord, and
whom we never see accompanied with any other retinue than
that of the lower angels ; comp. for ex. Zech. i. 11 f. and Josh.
v. 14, where the angel of the Lord designates himself as the
1 py stands for ^x- Tlie reading attested by manuscripts is DS^y,
for which the marginal reading gives the singular. It is to be rejected
as explanatory. The eyes are combined into an ideal unity, and so the
verb may stand in the singular. The MasoTetes could not understand this.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. IX. 1-11. 83
Prince of the host of the Lord. The men come from the
north, because the earthly foes were to come thence, whom the
proper factors, the heavenly powers, employ as their instruments
(comp. ch. i. 4 ; Jer. i. 14). That the man clothed in linen is
the angel of the Lord, appears from Dan. x. 5, xii. 6, 7, where
Michael, the angel of the Lord (comp. Beitrdge, i. p. 166, and
the comm. on ch. xii. of Revelation), is designated in the same
way, — a remarkable coincidence between the two prophets of
the exile. But the thing itself shows that the man clothed in
linen is no other than the angel of the Lord. The clothing
is that of the earthly high priest. All the different pieces of
raiment of the earthly high priest are, according to Lev. xvi.
4, 23, of linen : hence is explained also the plural, linen gar
ments. The earthly high priest cannot be here intended.
But the Antitype of the same, the heavenly High Priest and
Intercessor, is the Angel of the Lord, the Angel of the cove
nant (Mai. iii. 1), who in Zech. i. 12 makes intercession for
the covenant people, and to whom the Lord answers with good
and comfortable words. The high priest appears in Zech.
iii. as a type of Christ, and a figure of the angel of the
Lord (comp. the Christol. on the passage). But we have to
regard the man clothed in linen not alone as appointed to the
work of delivering the pious — not as standing in opposition to
the six ministers of righteousness. The protection of the pious
is his privilege ; but the work of vengeance also stands under
his control. The six are to be regarded as absolutely subordi
nate to him, executing the work of destruction only by his
order and under his authority. We must regard this as ante
cedently probable, because the angel of the Lord is elsewhere
represented as the leading personage in the great judgments
of God, which are executed in the interest of the kingdom of
God. It was he, for ex., who, as the " destroying angel,"
smote the first-born of Egypt (Ex. xii. 23, compared with vers.
12, 13). Especially here the number seven leads to the intimate
connection of the man clothed in linen with the six. The
former also appears at the altar, so that he thus belongs to the
eagles, who gather where the carcase is, comes in the midst of
the rest, who follow after him. In ch. x. 2, 7, the man clothed
in linen is expressly declared to be he who executes the judg
ments of the Lord : the burning of the city proceeds from

84 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
him, and this is inseparably connected with the slaying of the
guilty inhabitants. According to ver. 5 here, " pass through
the city after him," the angels in the work of destruction are
the retinue of the angel. In ver. 11, after the completion of
the work of destruction, the man clothed in linen says, " I have
done as Thou hast commanded me." Accordingly, the order
for destruction is especially addressed to him. The man
clothed in linen has an inkhorn on his loins : the Orientals to
this day often carry the inkhorn in the girdle at the side. Tlie
use to be made of the inkhorn we learn from ver. 4. It serves
to mark the foreheads of the elect. It is a question whether it
is intended at the same time for inscribing them in the book of
life, which is first mentioned in Ex. xxxii. 32 (comp. Ps. lxix. 28,
and on Rev. xx. 12). This is indeed probable, especially on
account of the fundamental passage, Isa. iv. 3, " Every one
that is written for life in Jerusalem." Accordingly the inscrip
tion in the book of life is to be regarded as the original act, the
marking on the forehead as the consequence. The ministers of
vengeance " came and stood by the brazen altar." The brazen
altar is the altar of burnt-offering. This is the place of trans
gression. There lies accumulated the unexpiated iniquity of
the whole people, instead of the rich treasure of faith and love
that should lie there embodied in offering. The ministers of
God appear in the place of transgression, • to glorify Him in
the fall of those who would not glorify Him by their life. In
the one or the other way He must necessarily come to Plis right
and to His honour in them. The delineation of sin also, in
ch. viii., involves the principle that, ideally taken, all the sins
of the people are committed in the temple.' The fundamental
passage is Amos ix. The Lord appears on the point of punish
ing the sins of Israel upon the altar, on which they are heaped
up. The angels stand beside the desecrated altar, awaiting
the beck and command of God. He whose spiritual eye was
opened to see them standing there, could only look with deep
horror on the people, filled with joyful hopes of the future.
According to ver. 3, the glory of God moves from the most
holy place, where it sat over the cherub, the ideal unity of the
cherubim, to the gate of the sanctuary, near which the altar
stood, to give orders to His ministers standing at the altar.
First in ver. 4, the order is issued to the man clothed in linen,

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. IX. 1-11. 85
to make a sign on the forehead of the men who are the
objects of sparing mercy, because they have kept themselves
free from the community of corruption. By the sign one is
separated from the mass. This may be done according to
circumstances, either for honour or dishonour, for salvation or
for destruction. In Ps. lxxviii. 41 the marking is dishonour
ing. To mark, stands there as the Latin nolare, for to dis
honour : here, where the mass is devoted to destruction, the
marking is one that honours and saves. The marking takes
place on the forehead, the place where the sign is most easily
seen. The sign on the forehead here, the symbolic expression
of the truth that God in great judgments holds the sheltering
hand of His grace over His own, that He " knoweth how to
deliver the godly out of temptations" (2 Pet. ii. 9), corresponds
to the sprinkling with blood of the door-posts of those who are
to be spared in the judgment upon Egypt in Ex. xii., where
Grotius justly remarks, " He marks the foreheads, not the
door-posts, as formerly in Egypt, because the act of deliverance
was to be wrought, not for whole families, but for individuals,
and indeed the elect." At that time stood house against house,
people against people ; now the great separation is to be among
the people themselves. We have here the fundamental passage
for the sealing of the elect on their foreheads in Rev. vii. 2, 3.
The marking secures not against any share in the divine judg
ments ; this would not correspond with the nature of the divine
righteousness, as even the elect are in many ways affected with
the prevailing corruption (comp. Isa. vi. 5) : it secures only
against being swept away with the wicked (Ps. xxviii. 3), against
an evil death, and all that would stand in contradiction with
the rule that " all things work together for good to them that
love God" (Rom. viii. 28). We have an example of the fulfil
ment of this symbolic prophecy in Jeremiah, whose life was
preserved in the taking of the city. A personal application of
the general truth here expressed we have in that which the
Lord by Jeremiah says to the God-fearing Ebed-melech (ch.
xxxix. 16-18), " Behold, I will bring my words upon this city
for evil, and not for good ; and they shall be before thee in
that day. But I will deliver thee in that day ; . . . and thou
shalt have thy life for a prey, because thou hast trusted in
me." So also is it said to Baruch in Jer. xiv. 5, " Behold, I

83 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
will bring evil upon all flesh ; but thy soul will I give unto
thee for a prey, in all places whither thou goest." The " old
men" in ver. 6, which forms the fundamental passage for 1 Pet.
iv. 17, " Judgment must begin at the house of God," are the
seventy elders in ch. viii. 11. The sanctuary, often elsewhere
the dwelling-place of the whole people, appears here specially
as the dwelling-place of their representatives : on the other
hand, the mass of the people is assigned to the city, which,
however, forms no counterpart to the temple, but is, as it were,
a chapel of ease to it. In ver. 7, in the words, " Defile the
house, and fill the courts with the slain," that which has
already taken place is approved in the form of an order, to
connect it with the actual order, " Go ye" forth." The ex
pression has the air of military abruptness. The uncleanness
of the human corpse is, according to the law, especially great
(Num. xix. 11), much greater than that of the animal carcase
(Lev. xi. 24). It is here peculiarly great, as it concerns those
who perish amidst their sins. The house is defiled by the
corpses, which are heaped in its courts. Nothing is said, either
here or in ver. 6, of any being slain in the house. The prophet,
in ver. 8, does not express his own feeling, but speaks from the
soul of those upon whom the judgment of God has fallen, and
appears as tlieir representative : only on this supposition, for
which there is abundance of analogy, is his speech conceivable.
The remnant is the remnant in full that was left, after the
Assyrian and the former Chaldean visitation. The small
election, consisting of those marked, is overlooked. But the
exiles come not into account, according to the view of those
whom the prophet represents. The inhabitants of Jerusalem
regarded themselves as the whole of Israel, and the exiles as a
cut off and rejected branch of the vine (ch. xi. 15).1 In the
divine answer in ver. 9, which turns away the complaint by
reference to the greatness of the people's guilt, Israel is the
whole, Judah tlie part, in which the whole at that time alone
continued to exist. For the ten tribes, as branches cut off,
come not into account : they could attain again to significance
only by renewed connection with the vine, which was prepared
by the exile of Judah, and partly accomplished. The fearful
1 "INB>N3 is the 3 perf., with x inserted, which here takes the place of
a noun : a he-remained-over.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. X. 1, 2. 87
extent of the moral declension is referred to this, that they say,
" The Lord hath forsaken the land, and the Lord seeth not."
On this Michaelis remarks : " The source of all transgression
is the denial of the providence of God." To this denial they
have attained, inasmuch as, from defect in the acknowledgment
of their sins, they can discover no reason in their misfortunes ;
rather must they see in them, as they are, witnesses against the
power and good-will of their God. The man clothed in linen
says, in ver. 11, "I have done as Thou hast commanded me" —
in both respects, the destruction and the preservation. The
first comes pre-eminently into account. For only destruction
is mentioned in the immediate context. We have here the
transition from the slaying of the citizens to the destruction of
the city, of 'which the following chapter treats. Our verse
forms the close of the former work.
Ch. x. The following is the arrangement of this chapter,
which exhibits the second act of the divine righteousness. He
that sits on the throne commands the man clothed in linen to
take fire out of the midst of the wheels of the cherubim, and
scatter it over the city (vers. 1, 2). In vers. 3-5 it is paren
thetically related concerning the position which the cherubim
and the glory of -the Lord then took, that the latter then pre
figured the approaching departure from the temple, and the
cherubim already prepared themselves for this. In vers. 6, 7
is the partial execution of the command : the man in linen
places himself by the wheels, and a cherub takes fire from the
midst, and hands it to him : he takes it, and goes out. In vers.
8-14, the observations which the prophet made on this occasion
in regard to the cherubim and the wheels. In vers. 15-19, the
advance of the glory of the Lord with the cherubim and the
wheels, the removal of which is the preliminary condition of
the scattering of the fire ovei* the city, to the passage out of the
temple. In vers, 20-22, the remark that the cherubim which
the prophet here saw in the temple, present themselves as
identical in every respect with " the living creature" which he
had seen before at the river Chebar.
Ver. 1. And I looked, and, behold, in the vault which was
above the head of the cherubim appeared something like a
sapphire-stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne

88 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
above them. 2. And he said unto the man clothed in linen as
follows, Go in between the whirl under the cherub, and fill
thy hollow hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim,
and scatter them over the city. And he went in before my
eyes. The glory of the Lord is in ver. 1 again over the cherubim,
from which it had separated itself. As this separation served
only a quite definite purpose, it was unnecessary to remark that
it ceased as soon as this purpose was effected. That it retired
to its original place is even here indirectly affirmed. First,
in ver. 4, the glory of the Lord raises itself anew from the
cherubim (comp. ver. 18). Concerning the vault, see on i. 22,
25; the throne, i. 26.1 " He said" (ver. 2),— namely, He that
sitteth on the throne (comp. i. 26). Maius observes : "God the
Father sitting on the throne to the Son, to whom He has given
full power to execute judgment" (John v. 27). The repeated
" And he said," which we have given by " as follows," is de
signed to turn the attention to the important statement. The
fire is here not a symbolic designation of the anger of God, but
elementary fire, for the firing and burning of the city are to
be represented. The ivheels are a symbol of the powers of
nature, among which fire holds a prominent place. The ulti
mate cause of the burning of the city (this is the fundamental
idea) is not earthly, but heavenly, and hence the folly of hoping
and working for its preservation. The command proceeds
from Him who sits on the throne to His angel : the fire is
only the instrumental means in the hand of the latter, who
takes it, and scatters it over the city. Four potencies are
engaged in the destruction of the city, — He who sits on the
throne, the man clothed in linen, the fire, and the cherub who
hands it to the angel. The former two are absolutely ruling,
the latter two absolutely ministering. It might at first sight
appear that the man clothed in linen does not here come into
account in the aspect which is figured by his raiment.- He
wears this as the heavenly high priest, the representative of the
church with God. Thus it appears that the designation is
only suitable in such acts as are for the safety of the church ;
whereas the present act is an annihilating judgment. But on
a profounder view the destruction serves for safety, as it is the
1 ha for pjj, as not unfrequently in Ezekiel (ii. 10, xi. 11).

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. X. 8-5. 89
necessary prerequisite of it. The Lord must first in judgment
wash away the defilement of the daughter of Zion (Isa. iv. 4),
before He can draw nigh to her in salvation. The removal of
the dross is also placed in the light of grace in Isa. i. 25, 26;
also in Mai. iii. 2, 3. By the whirl are the wheels designated
on account of the weight of their movement, according to ver.
13. The words " from between the cherubim " imply that the
cherubim also have their part in the wheels. The city was
indeed to be burned by men, who are included under the
cherubim. According to ver. 7, the cherub presents the fire
to the man clothed in linen.1
Vers. 3-5 interrupt the connection, as they refer to the
position which the glory of the Lord with the cherubim at that
time took, and to the remarkable phenomena which accom
panied both. Ver. 3. And the cherubim stood on the right
side of the house when the man went in ; and the cloud filled
the inner court. 4. And the glory of the Lord was lifted from
the cherub upon the threshold of the house ; and the house
was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the bright
ness of the Lord's glory. 5. And the sound of the cherubim's
wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the
Almighty God when he speaketh.
" Right side of the house" (ver. 3) : on the south side of
it. The cloud belongs to the divine glory throned above the
cherubim. It is the companion of the fire. Its coming out so
strongly, pressing forth from the temple in the inner court, and
filling it, indicate that God will soon manifest Himself in His
character of a consuming fire, a jealous God (Deut. iv. 24).
The heavenly fire manifests itself in face of the preparation
for kindling the material fire, which is only a reflection of the
heavenly. The movement of the glory of the Lord from the
cherub to the threshold of the house (ver. 4) indicates that Pie
will soon leave the house altogether, and corresponds with the
preparations for kindling the material fire, which may then
first break forth when the glory of the Lord has wholly left
1 N13 is here and in ver. 3 not " come," but " go." We have here a
very striking parallel to Dan. i. 1, where the expedition of Nebuchadnezzar
begins in the third year of Jehoiakim, on which in the fourth year the
taking of Jerusalem follows, with which the seven years of the Baby
lonish servitude begin in Jeremiah.

90 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the house. The glory of the Lord in ver. 18 again unites
itself with the cherub, but only to carry out the purpose here
already figuratively indicated. Cloud and brightness are in
separably connected. The brightness is that of the fire, which
signifies the absolute energy of God, here especially the energy
of His punitive justice ; and the cloud is either the thunder
cloud, from which the brightness or the fire proceeds, or is
formed by the smoke of the fire (comp. Isa. iv. 5). We need
not therefore assign the cloud specially to the temple, and the
brightness to the court ; but both cloud and brightness belong
first to the temple, and pass over thence into the court. The
very decided manifestation of the fire-nature of God is a pre
sage with respect to the material fire which will consume the
rebellious city. Already in Isa. vi. 4 the filling of the house
with smoke prefigures the destructive judgment breaking in
upon the backsliding covenant people ; see further on Rev. xv.
8. The cherubim also make ready (ver. 5) for departure, the
near approach of which they know from this, that the glory of
the Lord, of which they are the inseparable companions, moves
in preparation to the threshold of the house, and then from
this, that the fiery nature of God makes itself so decidedly
manifest. "The voice of the Almighty God when Pie speaks"
is the thunder. That the sound of the wing-stroke of the
cherubim may be compared with this on account of its violence,
is evidence of itself ; if the cherub is the concentration of all
created life on earth, then its sound is the concentration of all
sound on earth.
Ver. 6. And it came to pass, when he commanded the man
clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the whirl,
from between the cherubim, then he went in, and stood beside
the wheel. 7. And the cherub stretched forth his hand from
between the cherubim unto the fire that was between the
cherubim, and took and gave it into the hands of him who was
clothed in linen ; and he took it, and went out.
The prophet here returns to the narrative begun in vers.
1 and 2, which was interrupted by the account of an appear
ance running parallel with that described there. " Beside the
wheel " (ver. 6) : the wheel is the ideal combination of the
wheels, as the cherub stands collectively for the cherubim.
The cherub hands the fire (ver. 6) ; the earth serves as an in-

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. X. 8-14. 91
strument for heaven. Those who burned the city were imme
diately the Chaldeans, who are included under the cherubim ;
but behind them stood another. The burning is no further
delineated : it lies beyond xi. 23, where first the glory of the
Lord wholly departs from the city ; and the prophet could not
describe it, as he was, according to ver. 24, at this time removed
from Jerusalem.
The action proceeding from the cherubim along with the
wheels leads the prophet to enter more fully into the descrip
tion of them. Ver. 8. And there appeared in the cherubim the
form of a man's hand under their wings. 9. And I looked,
and, behold, four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel by the
one cherub, and one wheel by the one cherub ; and the appear
ance of the wheels was like a chrysolite. 10. And their
appearance, all four were of one likeness, as if the wheel were
in the midst of the wheel. 11. When they went, they went
upon their four sides ; they turned not as they went, for
whither the head turned they went after it; they turned not as
they went. 12. And their whole flesh, and their backs, and
their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes
round about ; all four had their wheels. 13. The wheels were
called the whirl in my ears. 14. And every one had four
faces : the face of the one the face of a cherub, and the face
of the second the face of a man, and the third the face of a
lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
First in ver. 8 it is said of the cherubim that they had hands,
because the hand was brought into action in ver. 7. Then
follows in vers. 9-13 the description of the wheels, because the
fire is taken from them. The description of the wheel agrees
in the main with ch. i. The most essential additions are pre
sented in ver. 12, where, to the former statement that the
wheels were full of eyes, it is added that the cherubim also
were covered with eyes ; and in ver. 13, which gives the inter
pretation of the symbol of the wheels. The head in ver. 11
can only be the head among the wheels. A reference to the
cherubim must have been more distinctly marked. Head
stands also frequently in impersonal things for the upmost,
highest, or most excellent ; and thus here it can only be the
wheel which had the direction for the time, and which the
others should follow. If, for ex., the mission goes to the

92 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
south, the wheel facing that way carries the others with it,
without requiring to make any turn. The wheels were so
arranged that they could follow in all directions, without turn
ing, the primus motor, the directing wheel. Ver. 12 also refers
to the wheels ; only here, to the statement that the wheels were
full of eyes (i. 18), it is premised, that the signature of the
divine providence was impressed on the cherubim also. It did
not need to be more particularly mentioned that at the be
ginning the cherubim, and not the wheels, were spoken of, as
the expression " tlieir flesh " applies only to the cherubim, and
not to the wheels. "The whirl :" so are the wheels, and the"
powers of nature expressed by them, designated in ver. 13, on
account of the great momentum residing in them. As the
cherubs, the representatives of living beings, come here into
view chiefly on the human side, so the wheels, the symbols
of the powers of nature, in the fire. After the description of
that which came specially into view in the cherubim with its
appendage for the present occasion, follow now in ver. 14 the
faces of the cherubim, because these served to disclose their
nature, as in the wheels the name whirl applied to them in ver.
13. Of the four faces of each, only that is precisely described
which formed the front and presented itself first to the beholder.
As in the cherubim a predominating significance of the ox
nowhere appears, neither in reference to the form nor the
idea, the ground of the face of the ox (ch. i. 10), being here
designated as the face of the cherub, can only lie in this, that
this face was presented to the prophet's eye in the position in
which he stood. The ground will lie in ch. x. 8, compared
with ch. viii. 3 and i. 10.
The cherubim move, and this gives occasion to the prophet
to describe in general the way and manner of their movement;.
Ver. 15. And the cherubim were lifted up. This is the living
creature that I saw at the river Chebar. 16. And when the
cherubim went, the wheels went by them ; and when the
cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth,
the wheels also turned not away from them. 17. When thev
stand, these stand ; and when they lift themselves up, these
lift themselves up with them, for the spirit of the living crea
ture is in them. 18. And the glory of the Loed went away
from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. X. 15-22. 93
1 9. And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up
from the earth before my eyes ; when they went out, and the
wheels beside them, and stood1 at the door of the east gate of
the house of the Lord, and the glory of the God of Israel was
over them above.
The statement, "The cherubim lifted themselves up," in ver.
15 — comp. the preparation for this in ver. 5 — is again taken
up in ver. 19, after it has been described in the interval how
the cherubim usually moved. " This is the living creature
that I saw at the river Chebar :" there it was also the instru
ment by which he was lifted up. On ver. 17, "for the spirit
of the living creature was in them," comp. i. 20. The pre
requisite of the departure of the cherubim is the return of the
glory of the Lord (ver. 18), which had betaken itself, according
to ver. 4, to the threshold of the house, as it were pointing out
the way in which it was presently to go. That the glory of
the Lord retires from the temple in several stages (xi. 23, the
glory of the Lord with the cherubim wholly leaves the temple
and city), should teach us, according to Grotius, " that the
temple will be wholly deprived of the divine protection."
Parallel in sentiment is Hos. v. 15, "I will go and return to
my place, till they become guilty and seek my face : in their
need they will seek me early."
At the close is now again expressed the relation of the
cherubim to "the living creature" in ch. i. Ver. 20. This is
the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel at the
river Chebar, and I knew that they were cherubim. 21.
Every one had four faces, and every one four wings, and the
similitude of a man's hands under their wings. 22. And the
likeness of their faces, these are the faces which I saw at the
river Chebar, their appearance and themselves : they went
every one according to his face.
" The living creature under the God of Israel" (ver. 20) :
this designation of the cherubim leaves no doubt that they are
a representation of living creatures on the earth. " And I
knew that they were cherubim." Mich, says : " Those living
creatures signify the same as the cherubim in the temple and
1 The' subject of "royi is the whole of the appearance, cherub and
wheels with the Lord enthroned above them. The singular points to the
unity in the multiplicity.

94 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
over the ark." The name of the cherubim was not employed
in the first description. Only in the second is prominence
given to the identity of the living creatures, making at first an
independent appearance with the well-known cherubim. Ver.
21 is not an idle repetition, but gives prominence to the fact
that, in proof of the identity of the cherubim here with theJiving
creatures in ch. i., the number four was common to the faces,
etc., of both; comp. ver. 22, where the comparison is carried
out. The words " their appearance and themselves " in ver. 22
are dependent on " I saw," to wit, at that time I saw their
appearance and themselves : they were wholly the same, not
merely in their external appearance, but also in their essence.
Ch. xi. In vers. 1-12, the third element of the punishment
of ungodly Jerusalem, — the vengeance which follows those who
save their lives in the taking of the city, especially the ungodly
nobles, who by their corrupt counsels had hastened its fall. In
vers. 13-21, the comfort in face of the threatening destruction,
in the background of which stands the admonition not to make
common cause with those devoted to inevitable destruction,
and thereby involve themselves in their fate. If the present
Zion be thus doomed to perish, if all plans are futile which
are directed to its preservation, yet is not Zion therefore lost.
The Israel of God continues among the exiles. Among them
even in their banishment will God's presence be made known ;
and in His time He will bring them back to the holy land,
restore the sanctuary, and give them, instead of a stony heart,
a heart of flesh. In vers. 22-25, the close of the vision.
Ver. 1. And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto
the front gate of the Loed's house, which looketh eastward :
and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men ; and
I saw in their midst Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah
the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. 2. And he said
unto me, Son of man, these are the men who devise mischief,
and give wicked counsel in this city ; 3. Who say, It is not
near to build houses : they are the caldron, and we are the
flesh. 4. Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, son of
man. 5. And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said
unto me, Say ; Thus saith the Lord, Thus have ye said, O
house of Israel ; and that which riseth up in your mind I

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XI. 1-12. 95
know. 6. Ye have multiplied your slain in the city, and filled
its streets with the slain. 7. Therefore thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they
are the flesh, and it is the caldron ; and one shall bring you
forth1 out of the midst of it. 8. Ye have feared a sword ; and
a sword will I bring upon you, saith the Lord Jehovah. 9.
And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and give you into
the hand of strangers, and execute judgments among you. 10.
By the sword ye shall fall, in the border of Israel will I judge
you; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 11. This shall
not be the caldron for you, and ye shall not be the flesh in the
midst of it ; in the border of Israel will I judge you. 12. And
ye shall know that I am the Lord, who have not walked in
my statutes, nor executed my judgments ; and ye have done
after the judgments of the heathen that are round about you.
The five and twenty in ch. viii. 16 here return ; there the
transgression, here the punishment. The latter was carried out
in ch. ix. only in reference to the seventy of ch. viii. 11. An
essential element was wanting also in regard to the punishment.
The divine vengeance was to come out not merely in the death
of the sinful inhabitants within the city, and in the burning of
the city ; it was to display itself also in those who escaped with
life in the taking of the city : comp. ch. v. 2, where it is said,
in reference to those who are preserved alive in the catastrophe
of the city, " The sword will I draw out after them." As the
representatives of those who suffer punishment in this way
appear here the same five and twenty nobles whom the prophet
causes to symbolize the sin of the people in ch. viii., the de
signation of two among the five and twenty, and so indirectly
of the whole, as princes of the people in ver. 1, shows clearly
that priests are not meant, but only respectable citizens. In
what follows also they appear as mere statesmen. And the
fate which is here predicted for them corresponds exactly with
that which, according to history, befell the nobles of the people,
the most distinguished officers of Zedekiah. From the east,
the region to which they turned in adoration, and whence they
had sought help (ch. viii. 16),, shall the avenging power come.
Hence the double designation of the gate — the " front," and
" which looketh eastward." In the names of the men them-
1 • SOXin, either infinitive or 3 perf., " one shall bring forth."

96 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
selves, and their fathers, we have the concentration of these
thoughts : all is full of music with them. God-hears, the son
of the helper, and God-helps, the son of God-builds— these are
fit names for men who promise salvation without repentance,
the direct opposite of that which the name of Jeremiah, God-
casts-down, presents. They were probably real nobles of that
time, whose counsels had weight with the king ; but on account
of their significance he gives their names precisely, whereas he
might otherwise have named others as well. Jaazaniah is here,
by the name of his father, distinguished from him of ch. viii.
11. The more threatening the contraction of the political sky,
the stronger would be the tendency, by the choice of a name
promising salvation for their children, to repel anxiety and
soothe the conscience, which presented to view the opposite of
this name. " He said " (ver. 2) : he who stands so constantly
before the eyes of the prophets, that they often introduce him
speaking without any previous notice. " The men who devise
mischief or evil : " their plans of resistance, formed in perverse
opposition to the will of God, so repeatedly and emphatically
announced by Jeremiah; their political intrigues, where re
pentance ought to have been exhibited, bring incalculable death
and destruction (ver. 6). " It is not time to build houses" (ver.
3) : Jeremiah had written to the exiles excited by political hopes
(ch. xxix. 5), " Build ye houses, and dwell in them ; and plant
vineyards, and eat." This, they think, cannot at all events
apply to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They first negative the
building of houses which exile implies, and then affirm that
they will maintain themselves in their present possession. The
words may also be taken interrogatively ; and then the princes,
in the face of the destruction threatened by the men of God,
would say, Is it not nigh to build houses ? the time soon comes
when Jerusalem shall be extended beyond its present boundary ;
comp. Isa. ix.- 10, where the inhabitants of Samaria, after
suffering heavy losses, say, "The bricks are fallen, but we
will build with hewn stones." But it is not the most natural
way to view it as a question, and hence the note of interroga
tion should not in that case have been wanting. The name
Benaiah would certainly in that case suit still better. " It is
the caldron, and we are the flesh : " this denotes their insepa
rable connection with the city, from which no man shall sever

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XI. 1-12. 97
them, nothing remove them. The interpretation, We shall soon
be baked by the fire of war, is refuted by ver. 7, according to
which the sense can only be, that they expect to remain in the
city. Son of man : this comes in ver. 4 with a certain irony.
The concealed elevation of the prophet is not recognised by the
many above his apparent lowliness, but it appears afterwards
above the head of these. The pierced, in ver. 6, are those
about to be slain by the Chaldeans, or, according to the point
of view assumed, already slain. They are, by their evil counsels
(ver. 2), the authors of their own death. Their word, " It is
the caldron, and we are the flesh," is, according to ver. 7, to
receive by the sequel a certain but a terrible confirmation.
" Your slain, whom ye have laid in the midst of it : " they
were the real murderers, because by tlieir impious devices they
brought in the Chaldeans. " One shall bring you forth : " this
is, in the first place, opposed to their hope of remaining in the
city ; they shall rather be brought forth. Then in the follow
ing words it is added, that this bringing forth takes place not
in a friendly sense, but only to prolong their suffering. God's
avenging sword pursues the exiles. Ver. 8. From fear of the
sword (of the king of Babylon), they had kindled the fire of
rebellion, and pushed their resistance to the utmost, when he
advanced to punish this rebellion ; but the very effort they
make for fear of the sword will bring the sword upon them,
which they would have escaped by humble submission under
the mighty hand of God, as Jeremiah had predicted. The
king of Egypt will not deliver them, with the whole confederacy
that has gathered around him as its centre. On vers. 10, 11
we may comp. 2 Kings xxv. 18-21. After the capture of the
city the most distinguished officers and notables were brought
to Riblah on the Orontes, at the north end of Ccelesyria, before
Nebuchadnezzar, and there put to death by his command. The
king of Babylon, it is said (Jer. xxxix. 6, Hi. 10), slew all the
princes of Judah at Riblah. Behind the king of Babylon the
Lord is concealed, whose servant Jeremiah declares Nebuchad
nezzar to be (ch. xxv. 9). The prophecy cannot be framed
after the event : Ezekiel laid his book before his contempo
raries, who had the power to control him. And the guarantee
fc-r the predictions, which were fulfilled in the lifetime of the
prophet, lies in those which were fulfilled long after his death.
G

98 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
But the confidence with which Ezekiel predicts the downfall of
the confederacy is a sufficient proof that there is a supernatural
element in his prophecy ; and if this must be admitted, we can
make no further objection to the details. To pronounce these
to be afterwards introduced by the prophet, is to degrade him
into a deceiver. " And ye shall know that I am the Lord "
(ver. 12) : they know from the fate that befalls them, that He
who is called Jehovah is Jehovah in reality, the possessor of
true Godhead, because He has announced this fate to them
beforehand by His prophets. Had the confederacy, taken
effect, which was impossible, they would have concluded with
justice, that the God in whose name the true prophets spoke,
merely arrogated to Himself the Godhead. It is lamentable
if we must gain the knowledge of God by our own destruc
tion, — if He in whom we live, and move, and are, is first
recognised by the strokes which break our own head. The
knowledge has here, moreover, no moral import. It is a mere
passive knowledge, forced upon the ungodly, unconnected with
repentance. Ver. 13. And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that
Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died : and I fell upon my face,
and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord Jehovah ! dost
thou make an end of the remnant of Israel? 14. And the
word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 15. Son of man, thy
brethren, thy brethren are the men of thy ransom, and all the
house of Israel, all of them to whom the inhabitants of Jeru
salem have said, Get ye far from the Lord ; unto us is this land
given for a possession.1 16. Therefore say, Thus saith the
Lord Jehovah, Though I have cast them far off among the
heathen, and scattered them among the countries, yet I will be
to them a sanctuary for a little in the countries whither they
come. 17. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, And
I will gather you from the nations, and assemble you out of
the countries where ye were scattered, and give you the land
of Israel. 18. And they shall come thither, and remove all
its detestable things, and all its abominations, from it. 19.
1 Luther, " Thou son of man, thy brothers and near friends, and the
whole house of Israel, who still dwell in Jerusalem, say to one another,
Those have fled far from the Lord, but we have the land in possession."
The sense of the whole verse is missed.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XI. 13-21. 99
And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within
you ; and I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh, and
give them a heart of flesh ; 20. That they may walk in my
statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them : and they shall
be my people, and I will be tlieir God. 21. And when their
heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and
abominations, I will lay their way upon their own heads, saith
the Lord Jehovah.1
The event of ver. 13 belongs to the world not of reality, but
of vision, and affords the measure for judging of many other
events occurring in Ezekiel; for ex., the death of his wife.
What was hitherto predicted as future, this now suddenly
appears in the form of a fact entering into the present. The
transition is the easier, when we reflect that the previous an
nouncement of the future as future does not spring from a
subjective foreboding, but rests upon inspiration, and thus
bears with it an absolute assurance. That out of the number of
the five and twenty men collectively devoted to death, precisely
Pelatiah the son of Benaiah must die, to prefigure the fate
awaiting all, is explained by his name, according to which with
him, as it were, all salvation for Judah fell to the ground. In
Pelatiah perished, as the lamentation of the prophet shows, as
it were, the remnant of Israel, if, according to the view of the
inhabitants, the capital was deemed the proper seat of Israel,
and the exiles were regarded as cast-off and withered branches.
That this view was false, however, the prophet will teach in
the sequel. The prophet, when he falls down and cries, " Ah,
Lord, dost Thou make an end of the remnant of Israel?" does
not give expression merely to his personal feelings, but changes
his place in a strange way (compare a series of similar cases
in the prophets; Christol. i. p. 490 f.), and appears as the
representative of the current view, to give occasion for its
rectification. He himself could not possibly, according to Jer.
xxiv., be involved in the view which he here brings to light.
He plays the part of the inhabitant of Jerusalem. The
brethren of the prophets (ver. 15), true brethren, who are so
not merely in the flesh, but also in the spirit, represent the
Israelites already carried into exile, whom Jeremiah in ch.
xxiv. had characterized as the better part of the people — as
1 A fuller elucidation of this section in the Christol. ii. p. 534 f.

100 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
those to whom the future of the kingdom of God belongs;
while he announces that those who remained in Jerusalem,
notwithstanding their high pretensions, are doomed to destruc
tion. The contrast is naturally such in every particular. If
this were not acknowledged, Jeremiah would be no true
Israelite. According to ch. ix., even in Jerusalem there is an
election, which is the object of the Lord's sheltering protection,
although they cannot prevent the downfall of the corrupt city.
And according to ch. xiv. there is also much refuse among the
exiles. The difference, so far as it exists, is explained by this,
that the Chaldeans, who were well acquainted with the internal
state of the Jews, had, in the captivity under Jehoiachin,
removed chiefly the holders of the Israelitish principle, because
they saw in them the national strength of the people. More
over, the godly met death willingly and joyfully, as it was,
according to the announcement of Jeremiah, the portal of life ;
whereas the ungodly did their utmost to remain in their country,
in the hope that things would soon take a turn for the better.
" The men of thy ransom " — those whom thou art bound to
ransom. This alludes to Lev. xxv. 25, where to the relative of
an impoverished man the right is given to redeem in his favour
his estate that has been sold. In point of fact, the men of his
ransom are those for whom the prophet has to be answerable —
whom he has to represent with' God. The ground on which
he is to interest himself only in them is added in the words,
" and (they are) all the house of Israel," from which that re
bellious mass in Jerusalem, according to the word of the Mosaic
law, " that soul is cut off from his people," is, notwithstanding
its high claims, excluded. We have here the parallel to Ps.
lxxiii. 1, " God is only good to Israel, to such as are clean of
heart," in. opposition to a merely seeming Israel, — the funda
mental passage, for John i. 47, where Jesus speaks of those
who are Israelites indeed, and thus, as Luther says, " divides
the people into two parts;" and also for Rom. ii. 28, 29, and
ix. 6. In the distinction of appearance and reality among
God's people, Jeremiah was before Ezekiel, since in ch. vii. 4
he addresses the people in Jerusalem thus : " Trust ye not in
lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple' of the
Lord, the temple of the Lord are these " — the inhabitants of
Jerusalem. The temple of the Lord, which comes into account

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XI. 13-21. 101
not as an external building, but as the community of the living
God (1 Tim. iii. 15; 1 Cor. iii. 9), corresponds to Israel here.
It is a false pretension of the inhabitant of Jerusalem to be
the temple of the Lord : the necessary requisite is wanting in
them, the circumcision of the heart, its purification from un
godly movements, which is the indispensable condition of the
dwelling of God among His people. The words, " unto whom
the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get ye far from the
Lord, unto us is this land given for a possession," refer to a
strange delusion by which the inhabitants of Jerusalem are
held captive. Even those excluded from Israel dispute with
the true Israelites every claim to be Israel. This they do,
because they estimate the grace of God according to the ex
ternal event of the moment. The exiles, they think, are con
demned of God ; but on tlieir way God has impressed His seal,
inasmuch as He has left them in tlieir native land, where they
expect soon to reach the summit. Thereby they show how
inexperienced they are in the ways of God, how far they are
from having the, heart of true Israelites, how little they deserve
that the prophet should take an interest in them. Can they
prosper who have severed themselves so decidedly from the
brotherhood of the pious? In opposition'to this exclusive judg
ment of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Lord promises the
exiles first, that He will Himself be tlieir sanctuary during the
comparatively short period of their banishment.1 The essence
of the sanctuary is the presence of the Lord among His people.
This is evident even from the name which the external sanc
tuary bore in its oldest form, " the tent of meeting," the place
where God met with His people. See other proofs on Ps. Ixxiii.
17, John ii. 19. This essence remains also to the exiles, while
the citizens of the capital possess only the empty shell of the
external sanctuary, to which is wanting the proper substance,
the real presence of the Lord, " with His help and grace." The
sanctuary stands in Isa. viii. 14, as here, in a purely spiritual
sense. There Jehovah is for a sanctuary to the God-fearing ;
He gladdens them by His presence in the midst of them. The
Lord made Himself known to the exiles as the sanctuary,
by furnishing our prophet, for example, with His spirit and
1 As BHpD is the stftt. absol., DJJD can only be an adverb. It stands,
" often of time, a little, a short time."

102 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
His power, so that he could officiate as a true priest, notwith
standing his local separation from the external sanctuary:
then by that which took place in and through' Daniel, by the
circumcision of their heart, etc. But even the inferior privilege
of which they are deprived, to which " for a little " points, is
not removal for ever: in the near future will they receive
again the form in addition to the essence of the sanctuary.
The new speech of the Lord in ver. 17 begins with and, to
represent it as the continuation of the former, to which it would
have been immediately -annexed, had not this portion of the
comforting announcement to be introduced by a new assevera
tion, which is here the more necessary, as it treats of matters
which, estimated by a human standard, were impossible. Ver.
19 promises, instead of the stony heart, a heart of flesh, soft
and susceptible of the impressions of divine grace. The promise
is essentially Messianic, although a beginning of its fulfilment
is already to be recognised in the period immediately after the
return from the exile. With the promise goes (ver. 21) a
threatening hand in hand, and in this the whole terminates
in a remarkable way; but woe to the hypocrites and rebels
among them ! Even among the new covenant people is a
gloomy declension, a new carcase, which summons again the
eagles. Their heart walks after the heart of their idols : the
idols are in themselves dead, the mere reflexes and images of
the popular spirit ; yet even as such they exercise an enormous
power over individuals. What power has mammon now as a
Jewish national god over Jewish minds, although he is in him
self a mere shadow !
Ver. 22. And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and the
wheels beside them ; and the glory of the God of Israel was
over them above. 23. And the glory of the Lord went up
from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which
is on the east of the city. 24. And a spirit took me up, and
brought me to the Chaldeans, to the captivity in vision by the
Spirit of God : and the vision that I had seen went up from
me. 25. And I spake to the captivity all the words of the
Lord which he showed me. — In vers. 22, 23, the departure of
the glory of the Lord from the temple and the city, that are
doomed to ruin. This could only come down upon it when
God had withdrawn His presence (Hos. v. 15, "I will go and

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XII. 1-7. 103
return to my place"). Here the glory of the Lord does not
immediately betake itself to its place : it stands first on the
Mount of Olives, to conduct the approaching siege of Jeru
salem, and preside over its destruction. In Zech. xiv. 4 also
the Mount of Olives appears as a military post, which the Lord
as general assumes. On the Mount of Olives the Saviour
announces the destruction of Jerusalem (Matt. xxiv. 3). The
Mount of Olives, 2556 feet high, 175 feet higher than Zion,
416 feet higher than the valley of the Kidron, is the master-
point in reference to Jerusalem, which is overlooked from it
in its whole extent. The vision goes up (ver. 24) ; it returns,
as it were, to Him who gave it : comp. Acts x. 16, where the
vessel that had presented itself in the vision of Peter is again
received up into heaven.
Ch. xii. Now begin the amplifications, the marginal notes, so
to speak, on the great text in ch. viii.-xi., which extend to ch.
xix., and there terminate, in a song, corresponding to the song
in the first group in ch. vii. The approaching catastrophe of
Jerusalem forms the central point throughout. The prophet is
inexhaustible in the announcement of this, as the false patriot
ism was inexhaustible in its announcements of salvation.
In ch. xii. 1-16, the lamentable fate which will overtake the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the king at their head ; in vers.
17-20, the desolation of the land ; in vers. 21-28, the imme
diate fulfilment of the threat of punishment. Vers. 1-16 are,
by the repeated sentence, " And the word of the Lord came
unto me," divided into two parts, in the first of which we have
the order for the symbolic action and its execution ; in the
second, ver. 8 f., the interpretation.
Ver. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious
house ; who have eyes to see, and see not ; they have ears to
hear, and hear not : for they are a rebellious house. 3. And
thou, son of man, make thee baggage of the emigrant, and
remove by day before their eyes, and thou shalt remove from
thy place to another place before their eyes ; it may be they
will consider, for they are a house of rebellion. 4. And thou
shalt bring forth thy baggage, as baggage of the emigrant, by
day in their eyes ; and thou shalt depart at even in their sight,

104 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
like the removals of the emigrant. 5. In their sight dig for
thee through the wall, and carry out the baggage thereby.
6. In their eyes shalt thou bear upon thy shoulder, in the dark
shalt thou carry it forth : thou shalt cover thy face, and thou
shalt not see the land ; for I have set thee for a sign to the
house of Israel. 7. And I did so, as I was commanded : I
brought forth my baggage by day, as baggage of the emigrant,
and in the evening I digged through the wall with my hand :
I brought it forth in the dark ; I bare on my shoulder in their
eyes. The people, according to vers. 2, 3, are blinded by their
political passions : the word of Moses (Deut. xxix. 3), " And
the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to
see, and ears to hear " (Michaelis : " God gave not, because ye
would not" (Matt, xxiii. 37)), has been verified anew in them.
Therefore must the truth be set before their eyes in rough,
palpable, overpowering reality, if it is to find entrance to their
minds, and succeed in emancipating them from those dreams
of the future which are preventing their repentance. The
central figure among these is the king at Jerusalem, with
whom, therefore, the palpable exhibition of the real future has
chiefly to do. The repeated " before their eyes," in ver. 3,
stands in relation with the sentence, " who have eyes, and see
not," in ver. 2. The greater the weakness of their eyes, the
more conspicuous must be the exhibition of the truth. " For
they are a rebellious house :" so that the most powerful means
of conviction are needed. The people proved themselves to be
a rebellious house by this, that they could dream of salvation
for Jerusalem, although their sins, calling down the divine
vengeance, according to the infallible law of God, lay open
to the day, and the Holy Spirit of God had announced by
Jeremiah this vengeance in the most emphatic and persistent
manner. To be compared is the word of Stephen to the
Jews in Acts vii. 51, " Ye stiffnecked, ye do always resist the
Holy Ghost." The symbolic action belongs here also, no
doubt, to the department of the internal. The presumption
is in favour of this in Ezekiel still more than in the other
prophets (comp. on ch. iv.). In the small circle of his imme
diate auditory, the chief thing was at all events the written
description, and for this it was of no consequence whether the

t $ $ $

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. XII. 1-7. 105
action were external or not. The remark, that " a sign that
was not performed would have had no meaning," does not
apply, as the plastic visibility to which alone it refers remains
even in the internal conception : the design is to throw into the
imagination a reality instead of an empty figure of the future.
For the internal speaks the analogy of the symbolic action in
vers. 16-20, which was scarcely to be exhibited in an outward
form. Of importance is, further, ver. 7. If we assume an
external procedure, the wall there can only be the city wall of
Tel-abib. Even if this place had a wall, yet it was certainly
so built, that a single individual could not at once break a hole
of the size of a man. The difficulty is increased by this, that
the prophet accomplished the thing with the bare hand, without
tools, to avoid a disturbance, which might call the attention of
the enemy. Exile in particular is set forth in the symbolic
threat of punishment to Jerusalem, because it is designed to
reconcile the exiles with their condition, who, as we learn from
Jer. xxix., envied their brethren remaining at home, and were
excited by hopes of an early return, and plans for its accom
plishment. If the exile of Jerusalem is at hand, the envy
ceases, the occasion for political intrigues vanishes : they will be
contented with their lot, and direct their whole effort to be
reconciled with God. The prophet represents, in the symbolic
action, first in general the destiny of the people in Jerusalem —
the exile of all those who were not already swept away by the
sword, famine, or pestilence (vers. 11, 16) ; then specially the
destiny of the king, who will endeavour to escape by night from
Jerusalem (ver. 12). This double-sidedness of the symbolic
action can only be learned from the interpretation, beginning
with ver. 8, which moreover, in the same manner as the inter
pretation of the parables of the Lord in the New Testament is
at the same time a reconstruction, imparts several details wdiich
did not appear in the symbolic action, as the frustration of
the king's flight, his capture, his being blinded, and carried to
Babylon. " The baggage of the emigrant" x is the equipment
which is made by one who enters on a journey never to return.
With the baggage the prophet, according to ver. 4, departs by
day, and brings it to the wall, for so far all might be public.
What took place within the city the enemy saw not : when the
1 r6lJ, the emigrant, is the ideal unification of the emigrants.

106 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
darkness comes on, he breaks a hole through the wall, and
carries the baggage through it. " Like the removals of the
emigrant :" in the costume and with the manner of emigrants.
Kimchi, " with a bag on the shoulder and a staff in the hand;"
others, " sad and with drooping head." Both are to be combined.
By the wall, in ver. 5, can only be understood the wall of the
city, not that of the house. The prophet has already left the
house with the baggage : he breaks through the city wall only
in the evening, because the enemy are beyond it, whose prying
eyes he can only escape in the dark. The wall in ver. 12 means
the city wall. According to ver. 6, the prophet is to cover his
face. The face is covered either not to be seen (2 Sam. xv. 30;
Jer. xiv. 3), or not to see, to avoid a painful sight, here that of
the beloved native land. The latter holds here and in ver. 12,
where this end comes out still more clearly. To the expression,
" Thou shalt cover thy face, and shalt not see the land" — that
is, that thou mayest not see the land — corresponds Jer. ix. 19,
" We are greatly confounded, for we have forsaken the land."
" I have set thee for a wonder to the house of Israel :" that
which was extraordinary, exciting wonder in the conduct of the
prophet, which could not be explained from his personal rela
tions, led them to seek the key in the relations of the people.
The wonder is, as such, at the same time a sign.
The interpretation now follows in the second paragraph.
Ver. 8. And in the morning came the word of the Lord unto
me, saying, 9. Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the
rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou? 10. Say
unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The prince is this
burden on Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are
among them. 11. Say, I am your wonder : as I have done,
so shall it be done unto them ; as exiles they shall go into
captivity. 12. And the prince who is among them shall bear
upon the shoulder in the dark, and shall go out:1 they shall
break through the wall to carry out (the baggage) thereby :
he shall cover his face, that he see not the land with his eye.
1 3. And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken
in my snare ; and I will bring him to Babylon, to the land of
the Chaldeans, and he shall not see it, and there he shall die.
14. And all his help round about him, and all his squadrons, I
1 The 1 in kx,|1 serves to give prominence to the dark moment.

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. XII. S-1G. 107
will scatter to every wind, and a sword I will draw out after
them. 15. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when
I scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them in the
countries. 16. And of them I will leave men of number (few)
from the sword, from the famine and from the pestilence, that
they may declare all their abominations among the heathen
whither they come ; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
The symbolic action announcing misfortune applies, accord
ing to ver. 10, first to the prince in Jerusalem, and then to the
inhabitants, and prefigures the conduct and the fortune of both.
Burden : this is a prophetical expression, especially consecrated
by Isaiah in his ten burdens (ch. xiii.— xxiii.), to express a
threatening message, and the misfortune itself announced
therein. The prince in Jerusalem is himself the burden :
prince and burden, as it were, coincide ; because the burden
is of a crushing character, the prince wholly falls into misfor
tune, which leaves nothing of him remaining. The Hebrew
name of the prince signifies one on whom something is laid, who
is burdened. The burden is the government, which he bears, as
it were, on his shoulder (Isa. vi. 6). Plere the prince, instead
of the usual burden, receives another far more oppressive : he
is burdened with the load of misfortune. Along with the king
is named, as bearer of the burden, " all the house of Israel that
are among them."1 This addition was necessary, inasmuch as
there was another house of Israel still (ch. xi. 15). Here the
house of Israel came into account only in so far as it existed
among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Ver. 11 carries out first
the second part of ver. 10 — unfolds the prophetic import of the
symbol in reference to the whole people. Ver. 12 then returns
to the chief object, the prince. The latter will be still in a third
sense one burdened ; he will bear his baggage in the night.
And shall any hope be placed on such a poor baggage-bearer !
His own land he may not (ver. 13) see in the grief of departure,
and the heathen land he cannot see although he comes to it.
The latter is a riddle, which history was the first to solve.
Zedekiah was blinded before he reached Babylon. The his
torical commentary on the announcement, so far as Zedekiah
is concerned, we have in 2 Kings xxv., Jer. xxxix. 1 f. and
1 Instead of " which is therein," it properly is, " who are in the midst
of them." The suffix refers to Jerusalem or its inhabitants.

108 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Iii. Zedekiah fled by night from the city (Jer. xxxix. 4, Iii. 7),
but was caught by the Chaldeans in the neighbourhood of
Jericho, brought to Riblah before the king of Babylon, there
blinded and sent in chains to Babylon, where he died in prison.
The announcement in ver. 16 takes place not so much by
words as rather by the event, as in Ps. xix. 1 mention is made
of a practical announcement. It is made by the heavy suffer
ings which they have to bear, and the misery of their whole
condition ; thus in the same way in which the Jews, after the
betrayal of Jesus, have announced the sins of their fathers
among the heathen. Only in this view is the sentence, " and
they shall know that I am the Lord," apposite, which refers
also to their destiny. Ver. 15 shows that those who shall
know this are not the heathen, but the Jews. The reference
to the agents themselves is also the only one suitable to the
conclusion. In regard to the Jews, these words recur as a
refrain in Ezekiel.
Ver. 17-20. A close siege will be followed by the deso
lation of the country. The prophet pours cold water on the
heated fancies of the exiles, who expected an approaching
miraculous renewal of their native land, in contrast with the
desolation of the land of the Chaldeans, which they thought
was approaching. Ver. 17. And the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, 18. Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking,
and drink thy water with trembling and with care. 19. And
thou shalt say to the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah of the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the land of Israel,
They shall eat their bread with care, and drink their water
with astonishment, that her land may be astonished from the
fulness thereof, for the violence of all who dwell in it. 20.
And the inhabited cities shall be laid waste, and the land shall
be desolate, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
The prophet represents in ver. 18 the condition of the inhabit
ants of Jerusalem in the approaching siege. This second sym
bolic action can scarcely be reduced to outward exhibition. If
such were intended, it must have been stated how often, or how
long, or under what precise circumstances, or in what position
the prophet should so act. That a single act is not intended, is
manifest from the phrase, thy bread, thy water. The people
of the land in ver. 19 are those dwelling in Chaldea, in oppo-

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. XII. 21-28. 109
sition to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. " Her land" — the land
of Jerusalem. "May be astonished :" the astonishment of the
inhabitants goes before the astonishment or desolation of the
land, and has this for its object. " From the fulness thereof ;"
so that it loses its fulness of men, animals, fruits, etc., and
nothing is left but the bare ground — a tohu vabohu.
Vers. 21-28. The incredulous doubt of the fulfilment of his
threatening prophecy, the prophet opposes by the announcement
made in the name of God that it will certainly be fulfilled, and
that in the immediate future. The same thought is treated in
two paragraphs, vers. 21-25 and vers. 26-28.
Ver. 21. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
22. Son of man, what is that proverb ye have in the land of
Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?
23. Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I
will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it
in Israel ; but speak unto them, The days are at hand, and the
word of every vision. 24. For there shall be no more any
vain vision or smooth divination within the house of Israel. 25.
For I the Lord will speak the word that I shall speak ; and it
shall be done, it shall be no more prolonged : for in your days,
O rebellious house, will I speak a word, and do it, saith the
Lord Jehovah. 26. And the word of the Lord came unto me,
saying, 27. Son of man, behold, the house of Israel say, The
vision that he seeth is for many days, and he prophesieth of
the times that are far off. 28. Therefore say unto them, Thus
saith the Lord Jehovah, none of my words shall be prolonged
any more : for I will speak a word, and it shall be done, saith
the Lord Jehovah.
The prophet in ver. 22 opposes an opinion which had been
formed in the land of Israel, and thence had penetrated to the
exiles. It had been expressed in a pointed sentence, a proverb
in a wider sense, according to which it embraces everything
that has a poetical character, and straightway became popular
as a watchword, which was taken up on every occasion against
the true prophet, a parole of the ungodly. The announcement
of the fall of the city and temple given long ago by Jeremiah
had, as it appears, given occasion to this saying. As the fulfil
ment crept on so slowly, it was concluded that the prediction
of the true prophets would come to nothing. That the expres-

110 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
sion, the days are prolonged, goes further than the words imply
— conveys, in fact, a doubt of the fulfilment— appears from the
parallel sentence, " and every vision faileth." There is yet a
long time to the fulfilment : this is a jeering expression for its
total failure. An end is made to the proverb by the force of
facts (ver. 23). When the fulfilment of the predictions comes
upon their head, the jeer will stick in their throat. "And
the word of every vision " — the contents of every prediction.
According to the connection with vers. 1-20, the visions are
meant which represent destruction and downfall. The prophet
therefore finds it unnecessary to be more definite, because only
visions of this sort are real visions, in contrast with the false
visions in ver. 24. " Word of every vision " implies that all
that the true prophets have predicted will be completely ful
filled, in contrast with a mere partial fulfilment ; contrary to
the opinion that it will not be quite so bad, that the prophets
have exaggerated, that some abatement of their words may be
made. In ver. '24 the true predictions pass into fulfilment;
for false prophecy or smooth divination,1 flattering and fair-
speaking, which is even as such unworthy of the name of pro
phecy — prophecy and roughness, these go hand in hand among
a sinful people — is so confounded by the event, that no one
any longer ventures to come forward with it. In ver. 25 the
false predictions are confounded because the true are fulfilled.
Ver. 27 is distinguished from the foregoing only by this, that
it treats of the announcements of Ezekiel in particular, whereas
the foregoing treated of true prophecy in general. The doubt
also here refers to any fulfilment whatever, although in form
it is only deferred to a remote period. The address " son of
man" shows that it was at that time popular to degrade pro
phecy quite rationalistically into the region of the subjective.
It admits what lies before the eyes ; but then a mighty
counterpoise is given in ver. 28 by the word, " Thus saith the
Lord." The announcement of the prophet has passed into
fulfilment in a terrible manner. Scarcely five years elapsed
when Jerusalem with its temple lay in ruins ; and those who
had filled their belly with the east wind of their proud hopes of
1 Literally, "divination of the smooth," that has the character of
smoothness, corresponding to deceit in the vision of falsehood in ch. xiii.
6,7.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XIII. 1-1G. Ill
the future, were either lost or envied the dead. Humanly
taken, these were certainly in a sense much more prudent and
sharpwitted than the true prophets ; but the Spirit of God
made the eyes of the latter clear.
Ch. xiii. In the endeavour to remove the hindrances which
opposed the reception of the important contents of the vision
in ch. viii. 11 into the minds of the people, the prophet here
comes to the false prophets, who in Jerusalem and among the
exiles (comp. Jer. xxix.) announced salvation witliout repent
ance, grace without judgment. He describes them in the first
section as bad daubers, in the second (ver. 17 f.) as women on
account of their feebleness. The introduction to this rebuke
of the false prophets is already found in ch. xii. 24, where the
prophet announces that all deceitful vision and flattering divina
tion will be overturned by the events of the future. In another
respect also this chapter stands in connection with the foregoing
section. To the recommendation there of the true prophecy,
corresponds here the warning against the false. We have here
the parallel to the classical passage of Jeremiah against the
false prophets (ch. xxiii. 9 f.). The false prophecy, against
which the prophet contends, continues substantially to exist in
the church of the New Testament. There, through all ages,
along with the true theology, descends a false theology, which
in varying forms divests God of the energy of His righteous
ness, and presents to view salvation without genuine renewal
of heart, without washing away the defilement of the daughter
of Zion by the sternness of judgments.
Ver. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, prophesy unto the prophets of Israel, who
prophesy, and say unto the prophets out of their own hearts,
Hear ye the word of the Lord. 3. Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, Woe unto the foolish prophets, that walk after their
own spirit, and after that which they see not ! 4. Like foxes
in the ruins are thy prophets, O Israel. 5. Ye have not gone
up into the breaches, nor built up a wall round the house of
Israel, to stand in the war in the day of the Lord. 6. They
behold deceit and lying divination, who say, Thus saith the
Lord, though the Lord hath not sent them, and expect the
confirmation of the word. 7. Plave ye not seen a deceitful

112 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
vision, and spoken a lying divination, when ye say, Thus saith
the Lord, although I have not spoken? 8. Therefore thus
saith the Lord Jehovah, Because ye speak deceit, and see a lie,
therefore, behold, I am upon you, saith the Lord Jehovah.
9. And my hand shall be upon the prophets that see deceit,
and divine a lie : they shall not be in the community of my
people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house
of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel ; and
ye shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah. 10. Because,
even because they have led my people astray, saying, Peace,
and there is no peace ; and*one builds a wall, and, lo, they
daub it with absurdity. 11. Say unto those who daub with
absurdity, that it shall fall : there shall be an overflowing
shower, and ye hailstones shall fall ; and a stormy wind thou
shalt rend. 12. Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be
said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye . have
daubed? 13. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, And
I will send a stormy wind in my fury, and there sliall be an
overflowing shower in my wrath, and hailstones in fury to
consume. 14. And I will break down the wall that ye have
daubed with absurdity, and cast it to the earth, and the foun
dation thereof shall be discovered, and it (Jerusalem1) shall
fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof ; and ye
shall know that I am the Lord. 15. And I will accomplish
my fury upon the wall, and upon those who daub it with
absurdity ; and will say to you, The wall is not, neither are
they who daub it. 16. The prophets of Israel, who prophesy
concerning Jerusalem, and see for it a vision of peace, and
there is no peace, saith the Lord Jehovah.
The prophet is first commanded, in ver. 1, to prophesy
against the " prophets of Israel." This is explained by the
fact that the false prophets had at that time absolutely the
upper hand, and demeaned themselves simply as the prophets.
Jeremiah in Jerusalem, and Ezekiel among the exiles, stood as
individuals over against a great multitude ; and not only so,
but the false prophets alone had public recognition as " pro
phets of Israel," at least in the capital ; while the true prophets
were regarded as peculiar, and had the government and the
1 Luther, " and it shall fall," referred to the wall, to which, however,
the following words, " in the midst thereof," do not suit.

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. XIII. 1-16. 113
spirit of the age and the people absolutely against them. "Who
prophesy :" this points back to the word " prophesy." Pro
phecy against " prophecy" — the prophecy from above against
the " prophecy" from beneath : this is the perpetual order in
the kingdom of God. When the powers of falsehood puff
themselves up, then the truth must enter the lists. The
prophets of Israel are then more exactly designated as prophets
out of their own hearts — those who follow the inclinations of
their hearts, and give these out as divine revelations. To these
the prophet shall announce the true word of God, that proves
itself to be such by its harmony with the eternal law of God,
and the conscience corresponding thereto. What Jesus says,
" If any man will do His will," etc., holds also in reference
to the true prophets. The foxes come into regard in ver. 4,
as " the dangerous foes and destroyers of the coverts," as a
zoologist calls them. Thus they stand already in ch. ii. 15 of
the Song of Songs ; and in Luke xiii. 31, 32, the Lord calls
Herod a fox, as the destroyer of God's people. The foxes
nowhere come into regard for their craft, as in heathen anti
quity. The foxes here correspond to the ravening wolves in
Matt. vii. 15, and the grievous wolves in Acts xx. 29, repre
senting false teachers. " Ruins" are a favourite resort of
foxes. So also the spiritual foxes : the false teachers flourish
the better, the more degraded the condition of the people. At
no time were the false prophets rifer than in the last days of
the Jewish state. The " breach" in ver. 5 is the sinful con
dition of the people, which withdraws from them the grace of
God, and opens the way to all hostile powers. To enter the
breach, and withal draw a wall round the people of God, is to
preach repentance, which alone can give security against the
wrath to come. To walk in the spirit of repentance, which
must take its beginning from the preacher of repentance him
self — this is to stand or be stedfast in the war in the day of the
Lord. The day of the Lord is the time of decision, the crisis,
the arrival of the judgment. The hostile power is sin. When
this gains the upper hand, the crisis has a fatal issue. From
the proposed combat against this destructive power, the false
prophets withdrew themselves as miserable deserters ; nay, as
traitors, they lent a helping hand to the enemy, and looked
upon it as the proper business of their lives to counteract the
H

114 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
true warriors. The question in ver. 7 is a question of con
science. If there be any shred of truth still in the false
prophets, they must answer in the affirmative. The false pro
phets, according to ver. 9, shall not come into the land of Israel,
either because they shall perish in the downfall of Jerusalem,
or they shall be smitten by the avenging hand of God in
exile. "And ye shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah :" the
knowledge is such as even the ungodly cannot shake off, being
forced upon them by the event. On the downfall of the false
prophets, over whom the avenging hand of God prevails, it
will be known that He who speaks by Ezekiel is God in the
fullest sense. The strong expression of causality by " because,
even because," in ver. 10, is taken from Lev. xxvi. 43. The
building of the wall by the people denotes the political activity
whereby they sought to raise themselves up — the effort made
by the coalition. The false prophets daubed this wall ; they
gave to the impious and ungodly movement of the people, that
was condemned by the word of the true prophets, the appear
ance of a higher sanction, and confirmed them in it. The wall
is a spiritual one ; and so the absurdity suits it as a spiritual
mortar. The attempt to put, instead of the spiritual, a material
mortar, has arisen only from the so often observable want of
capacity in expositors to understand the interchange of figure
and reality. Nothing can be more absurd than to announce
safety to a people living in sin, and to promise success to
counsels that are in open contradiction to the revealed counsels
of God.1 Ver. 11 forms the ground for the close of the sermon
on the mount (Matt. vii. 25, 27). " Thou wilt rend" is, in
accordance with the address to the hailstones, an address to
God, as ver 13 shows. " To rend asunder something hitherto
closed, is the same as to open, that the enclosed may burst
forth." Shower, hail, stormy wind, denote the Chaldean
catastrophe, the approach of which the people, by their political
1 The meaning " absurd, unreasonable," is ascertained for ^an, and
there is no reason to exchange it for the not sufficiently ascertained
meaning " lime," especially as pari and rODD occur in the sense of
absurdity in Lam. ii. 14 and Jer. xxiii. 13, expressly in reference to the
false prophets. Lime also would scarcely suit, as a designation of the bad
quality of the mortar must be expected, as even Luther acknowledged,
who translates " loose lime.'' The absurdity is here the mortar, exactly
as in Isa. v. 18 the deceit is the cord.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XIII. 17-23. 115
intrigues, instead of preventing, only invite. In the falling of
the wall (ver. 12) God Himself appears as theologian ; and
those miserable false theologians, who have misused His name,
come into deep disgrace. The foundation of the wall is dis
covered (ver. 14) ; it is overturned to the very ground. " It
falls" — that is, Jerusalem. With the political intrigues desig
nated by the wall, which were intended to stand between the
city and its foes as a partition wall (Eph. ii. 14), falls also the
city ; and with the city go down also the false prophets, who
madly impressed the seal of God on their bad measures. "And
will say unto you" (ver. 15) : we have here the triumphant
contempt which God heaps upon the false prophets who have
misused His name, and made it a covert for their wickedness.
And shall a man hearken at present to those whose disgrace
will so soon be manifest? Ver. 16 is in apposition with the
closing words of ver. 15.
In vers. 17-23 we have the effeminate movement of the
false prophets. Ver. 17. And thou, son of man, set thy face
against the daughters of thy people, who prophesy out of their
own heart ; and prophesy thou against them, 18. And say,
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe to those who sew cushions
to all joints of my hands,1 and make kerchiefs upon the head
of every rank, to hunt souls ! Ye hunt souls among my people,
and ye make souls alive for you. 19. And ye profane me among
my people for handfuls of barley, and for pieces of bread, that
ye may slay souls that should not die, and make souls alive
that should not live, by your lying to my people that hearken
to a lie. 20. Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold,
I am against your cushions, where ye hunt the souls as birds ;
and I will tear them from your arms, and let the souls free,
where ye hunt the souls as birds. 21. And I will tear your
kerchiefs, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they
shall be no more in your hand for a prey ; and ye shall know
that I am the Lord. 22. Because ye trouble the heart of
the righteous with falsehood, whom I have not troubled, and
strengthen the hands of the wicked, that he should not return
from his wicked way and be kept in life ; 23. Therefore ye
shall no more see deceit, nor divine divination : and I will
1 Luther, " under the arms of the people," whereas the text speaks of
the hands of God.

116 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
deliver my people out of your hand ; and ye shall know that I
am the Lord.
It is one of the many occidentalisms and prosaisms of our
exegesis, if we refer to ordinary women what is here said of
the effeminate nature and movement of the " prophets." The
masculine pronouns designedly interspersed point the other
way, of which no less than three occur in vers. 19 and 20. By
this the prophet all but expressly says that he has to do with
women in men's clothes. Further, only three or four real pro
phetesses occur in all the Old Testament — Miriam, Deborah,
Huldah, and perhaps also the wife of Isaiah ; but a false pro
phetess is nowhere mentioned. But even if one such had
appeared here and there, so serious a punishment would have
ibeen out of place. The prophet is directed to fix his eye upon
the properly national wickedness. What the prophet here
ascribes to the prophesying women as characteristic, belonged
also to the false prophets, whose whole endeavour was to ingra
tiate themselves with the people, and flatter the spirit of the
age (Mic. iii. 5) ; and to them Micah opposes himself as a man
(ch. iii. 8, " But I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord,
and of judgment, and of manhood, to declare unto Jacob his
transgression, and to Israel his sin "). Effeminate is all accom
modation theology. In Rev. ii. 20 the false teaching which
would blend heathenism with the church, instead of meeting
it with a manful resistance, appears as the woman Jezebel.
" All joints of my hands " (ver. 18) ; so that my, that is, the
Lord's hands, cannot sharply grasp any one. It is the nature
of all accommodation theology to set aside, as in general all
that is inconvenient to the old Adam and gives him pain, so
especially the energy of the requiring and punishing divine
righteousness — the severity of God (Rom. xi. 22). Where
Ezekiel puts the cushions, there we put perhaps the icy glove.
Besides the cushions for the hands of the Lord, which in their
natural state touch many very ungently, as surely as our God
is a jealous God, a consuming fire, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation,
they make also for the same purpose kerchiefs for the heads
of their penitents, that the hand of God may not touch them
ungently; and indeed for heads or people (persons are repre
sented by the head, as the part that comes in the way of the

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XIII. 17-23. 117
descending hand must before all be secured, especially as the
stroke, when it smites here, has fatal effect) of every rank,
always according to the greatness of the reward to be expected
— the greatest for the king. The higher any one is placed,
more zealously do they endeavour to clear his conscience, as
Jesuits before the Jesuits, differing from their successors in
this, that the latter had in view the interest and maintenance
of the church, while the former only served their own appe
tites. Souls must perish by such false theology, which brings
ruin on the land and the people, as God, notwithstanding these
endeavours to conceal His true form, remains what He is.
Yet this troubles them not : they make their own souls alive
by the destructive deadly hurt; they procure for themselves
earthly fortune and well-being. Certainly they also at last
come to an end with terror, as truly as God lives, who is a
revenger of blood, and cannot let those go unpunished who
misuse His name. The words, " The souls ye hunt among my
people, and souls for you ye make alive," besides the explana
tion given, admit of another : they make the souls for them
selves, living for their own interest,1 and even thereby hand
them over to death. They profane God among the people
(ver. 19), inasmuch as they assign Plim a friendly position to
wards sin ; and this they do for filthy lucre (Tit. i. 11), and to
fill their own belly (Rom. xvi. 18). While they thus lead the
people away from repentance, they cause the death of those
who, according to the will of God, should return and live, and
provide for themselves a pleasant life at their cost, as it were,
for the price of their blood. The souls who should not live
are, according to the explanation of ver. 18 given in the first
place, those of these public betrayers. According to others,
the killing and making alive refer to the prophetic announce
ment of death and life. The false prophets set death before
the pious — for ex. a Jeremiah (comp. Jer. xxix., xxvi. 7) — and
life before the ungodly. With the words, " While ye lie to
my people, that hearken to a lie," is to be compared Mic. ii.
11, "If a man walking with wind and falsehood lie, 'I will
prophesy unto thee of wine and strong drink,' he would be the
prophet of this people." This delight of the people in false
hood lessens not the guilt of the false prophets, but at the same
1 Tremellius : quum utile vobis futurum sit, eis pronunciate vitam.

118 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
time demonstrates the ruin of the people to be deserved. The
cushions in ver. 20 denote the effeminate doctrines concerning
God that strip Him of His righteousness. God destroys the
cushions by the events, the great impending facts, in which
the energy of His righteousness displays itself. " Where ye
hunt the souls:" the cushions are, as it were, the ground on
which the hunt takes place. "As birds:" the hunters are
more precisely defined as fowlers ; comp. Ps. cxxiv. 7, " Our
soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler ; the
snare is broken, and we are escaped." " And I will tear them
from your arms : " the arms are those of the fowlers, from
whose power the poor souls are torn, after their miserable
theology has been annihilated by facts. They hunt the souls
as birds ; but God at length makes an end of this shameful
hunt (Hab. i. 15), when He actually appears in His true form
and lets the souls free. " Because ye trouble the heart of the
righteous" (ver. 22): an example of such a righteous one is
Jeremiah, against whom the false prophets kindled the fire of
persecution. Ch. xiv. 1-11. Without repentance there is no salvation for
the exiles, in whom also the evil spirit is still active, nor for the
whole people. Let us not make demands on the true prophets
which they cannot fulfil, with an appeal to the false prophets.
These shall perish along with the sinful people who are led
astray by their responses. Only by punishment is a faithful
people of God raised up, on whom His grace may unfold
itself. This word of God is occasioned by the visits of the elders
of the people to the prophet. The object of their visit we
learn partly from the answer here, partly from ch. xx. 1. They
wish to make an experiment, whether they cannot obtain a
more favourable answer through the prophet, whose fearfully
threatening announcement they have heard not without shud
dering. They ask, " Has the Lord, then, forgotten to be
gracious? Has He in wrath shut up His tender mercy?" Of
repentance there was not a word. They appealed to grace,
although they were the children of wrath. The inquirers are
not to be regarded as representatives of the whole of the
exiles, but, as the nature of the thing and the answer show,

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. XIV. 1-11. 119
representatives of those who only outwardly fear God, but
inwardly serve the spirit of the world and the age. The truly
God-fearing community humbled themselves under the mighty
hand of God, and submitted to the order prescribed by the
prophet. The answer goes only as far as ver. 11. Beyond
this there is found no more reference to the proposal of the
elders. That no great importance is to be attached to this, we
learn even from the significant brevity with which the visit is
mentioned. Ver. 1. Then came men of the elders of Israel unto me,
and sat before me. 2. And the word of the Lord came unto
me, saying, 3. Son of man, these men have set up their
abominations in their heart, and put the stumbling-block of
their iniquity before their face : should I be inquired of at all
by them ?1 4. Therefore speak with them, and say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Every man of the house of
Israel that setteth up his abominations in his heart, and putteth
the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh
to the prophet, should I the Lord answer him thereby, after
the multitude of his abominations ?2 5. That I may take the
house of Israel in their own heart, who are estranged from me
through all their abominations. 6. Therefore say unto the
house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Repent, and
turn from your abominations, and from all your detestable
idols turn away your faces. 7. For every man of the house of
Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, who sepa-
rateth himself from me, and setteth up his abominations in his
heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before
his face, and cometh to the prophet to inquire of him in me,
should I the Lord answer him in myself? 8. And I will set
my face against that man, and destroy him, for a sign and for
proverbs, and will cut him off from the midst of my people ;
and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 9. And if the prophet
1 The foregoing infinitive, tjrfiN, gives a sharp emphasis to the ques
tion. The sharper the inspection, the more its impossibility comes to the
light. 2 Luther, " So will I the Lord answer the same, as he hath deserved
by his gross idolatry ;" contrary to ver. 3, where every answer is refused
(the external notation of the question there makes it here unnecessary) ;
comp. also ver. 9.

120 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
be deceived and speak a word, I the Lord have deceived- that
prophet ; and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will
destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 10. And they
shall take upon them their iniquity : as the iniquity of the
inquirer, so shall the iniquity of the prophet be ; 11. That the
house of Israel may go no more astray from me, nor be polluted
any more by all their transgressions ; and they shall be my
people, and I will be their God, saith the Lord Jehovah.
" The stumbling-block of their iniquity" (ver. 3) : the idols
which bring them to ruin, involve them in iniquity and its
punishment. "Thereby"1 (ver. 4) — as it is with him. The
more precise explanation follows, " after the multitude of their
abominations." The question in ver. 4 is in the sense of a
negative — I will not answer ; and this negative has its ground
in ver. 5. God leaves sinners without answer or help, that
they may come to a knowledge of their sin. " To take in the
heart," is to touch the conscience. " Turn" (ver. 6) — the sense
and heart (ver. 3). " To inquire of him in me" (ver. 7) : the
question goes only in the first instance to the prophet, who is
simply the medium : He to whom it is really addressed is
Jehovah ; and therefore the meaning is, to inquire of me
through him. " Should I the Lord answer him in myself?"
so that the answer actually comes from me. Whosoever
acknowledges that Jehovah is the background of prophecy —
that the prophets give no reply of themselves, but as they are
moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. i. 20, 21) — he will not expect
this. " In :" this designates the department in which the
question and answer move. " For a sign and for a proverb"
(ver. 8) : an exemplary punishment. Ver. 9 meets the objec
tion that the other prophets besides Jeremiah and Ezekiel
announce salvation, and that these take up a doubtful and
singular position over against the great chorus of their col
leagues, who have also the Spirit of God. The deception
proceeds originally from indwelling sin (Jas. i. 14), otherwise
it could not be the object of punishment ; but in the develop
ment of sin God has no inactive part : He knows how to
regulate things, that sin attains to its full development and
maturity, and brings punishment along with it (Rom. i. 26).
1 The marginal reading so, that comes, has only arisen from a mis
understanding.

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP, XIV. 12-23. 121
He takes care that there can be no standing still, no halting at
an intermediate stage : He makes the occasions and removes
the hindrances. There is scarcely a notable fall into sin, in
which this activity of God does not display itself in a terrible
manner. Those miserable men, who themselves lie under the
destiny of God, are led by Him whither they will not, and
hasten to meet the judgment, cannot possibly exchange one
staff for another. Whosoever will cite them as authority
against the true prophets, or make demands from these on the
ground of their utterances, is a poor fool. " The speaking of
the word" receives a precise definition, from the petition which
is offered for a. favourable answer. To take iniquity upon one's
self (ver. 10) is to repent. Grotius says, " Both shall equally
suffer punishment, those who buy prophecies and those who
sell." Both suffer deserved punishment, because they are not
concerned in their hearts to learn the truth, but only follow
their own hearts' lusts, and endeavour to make God serviceable
to these. The answer to this deep humiliation of God is given
to them by their own humiliation. In ver. 11 the object of
punishment extends over the deceiver and the deceived. It
serves to purify the people of God. For the particular sinful
generation, it flows from the principle of retribution ; but for
the whole of the community of God, a purpose of mercy lies
at the ground of the exercise of this retribution. The prophet
here clearly opens up the view to the light which shines behind
the darkness.
Ch. xiv. 12-23. The deep corruption of Jerusalem inevi
tably draws on its destruction. The righteous in Jerusalem
are so few, that exemption cannot be claimed on their account
(vers. 12-21). How great is the debasement of its inhabitants,
we may see even in their remnant (vers. 22, 23). The prophet
encounters a thought which Abraham uttered in view of the
determined destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. xviii.),
and thus destroys a false ground of security, a hindrance to
the full effect of the great vision in ch. viii.-xi., for which all
that is in ch. xii.-xix. serves to prepare the way. The corrup
tion of Jerusalem was so great, that God could not grant it
exemption on account of the few righteous. No reference to
the visit of the elders in ver. 1 is here to be discovered. And

122 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the significant way in which this visit is mentioned shows that
even for that section it was not of paramount importance, and
only gave the outward impulse to the discussion of a point, the
mention of which serves the purpose which the prophet has
throughout before him in ch. xii.-xix.
Ver. 12. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
13. Son of man, if a land sin against me to commit a trespass,
and I stretch out my hand upon it, and break for it the staff
of bread, and send upon it famine, and cut off from it man and
beast : 14. And there He these three men in the midst of it,
Noah, Daniel, and Job, they shall deliver their own souls by
their righteousness, saith the Lord Jehovah. 15. If I cause
evil beasts to pass through the land, and they bereave it, and
it become desolate, without any one passing through because
of the beasts : 16. Were these three men in the midst of it, as
I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they shall deliver neither sons
nor daughters : they alone shall be delivered, but the land shall
be desolate. 1 7. Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and
say, A sword shall go through the land, and I cut off from it
man and beast: 18. And these three men are in the midst of
it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they shall deliver neither
sons nor daughters ; for they alone shall be delivered. 19. Or
if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury
upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast ; 20. And
Noah, Daniel, and Job are in the midst of it, as I live, saith
the Lord Jehovah, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter ;
they shall by their righteousness deliver their own soul. 21.
For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, How much more shall I
send my four sore judgments, sword, and famine, and evil
beasts, and pestilence upon Jerusalem, to cut off from it man
and beast. 22. And, behold, therein shall be left a remnant
escaped that are brought forth, sons and daughters ; behold,
they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way
and their doings,1 and shall be comforted concerning the evil
that I have brought upon Jerusalem, all that I have brought
upon it. 23. And they sliall comfort you, when ye see their
way and their doings : and ye shall know that I have not
1 Luther, " that ye shall see how it goes with them," contrary to what
is added, " their doings," according to which the way is to be taken in the
sense of the walk, not the lot.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XIV. 12-23. 123
done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord
Jehovah. Instead of the three mentioned in ver. 14 stand Moses and
Samuel in the fundamental passage, Jer. xv. 1, who, along
with their personal righteousness, come into consideration there
on account of their effectual intercession. The relations in
which Job appears in the book named after him are throughout
those of the patriarchal time. Daniel is designedly placed in
the middle of the two primeval personages to glorify him, as
it were to canonize him, just as he appears in ch. xxviii. 3, by
an apparently undesigned accident, as the pinnacle of human
wisdom, to bring out his eminence in this respect in the com
munity of God. What is intended here, appears from the
character of those by whom he is enclosed on both sides. Of
Noah it is said at the head of the narrative relating to him in
Gen. vi. 9, " Noah was a just man, and blameless among his
contemporaries : Noah walked with God." And of Job it is
likewise said at the head of ch. i., " There was a man in the
land of Uz, whose name was Job ; and that man was blameless
and upright, and fearing God, and far from evil." Thus the
righteousness and the walking with God must be what are
regarded also in Daniel. The connection also leads us to the
same result. Only the walking with God and the righteousness
could possibly suspend a judgment which followed on account
of ungodliness and unrighteousness. The reference to Gen.
xviii. also leads to the same result. It is the righteous, who
may be in Sodom, that awaken the consideration of Abraham
in reference to its decreed destruction. Our announcement
belongs, according to ch. viii. 1, compared with ch. xx., to the
sixth year after the captivity of Jehoiachin. About fourteen
years before, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, Daniel as a
youth was carried into exile. The fervour of his righteousness
and piety was already observed, according to Dan. i., during
the three years of his preparation for the royal service. Imme
diately after the end of this period of preparation, Daniel gave
a conspicuous proof of his walking with God in the interpreta
tion of Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Dan. ii. 1). The occurrence
also in ch. iii., in which Daniel made confession to God at the
risk of his life, and received testimony from God in his mira
culous deliverance, belonged probably to the earlier period of

124 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Nebuchadnezzar : the golden image which he set up was a
monument of the lofty flight which the Chaldean power had
taken in the beginning of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, from
the first to the eighth year of his reign,1 before the formation
of the great coalition, which brought all again into peril.
Such clear proofs of the righteousness and piety of Daniel-
proofs that were not confined to the narrow limits of a private
circle, but displayed themselves on the theatre of the world,
must have been historically extant in the time of our prophecy.
For Ezekiel would otherwise have made himself and Daniel
ridiculous by placing him beside the grand figures of Noah
and Job. We have here a solid basis for the historical cha
racter of the book of Daniel. It is of importance also to put
our passage in connection with ch. xxviii. 3. The connection
of eminent piety and righteousness with eminent wisdom is
exactly the characteristic of the personality of Daniel, as it
appears in his book. The coincidence is so much the greater,
as the wisdom of Daniel appears in ch. xxviii. to be such as to
deal with sacred things, to understand all mysteries. " Evil
beasts" (ver. 15), in the usual sense or in human form (v. 17).
The expression "with blood" (ver. 19) points, as in ch. v. 17,
to this, that the pestilence is to be placed in the like point of
view as the sword in ver. 17 — namely, that of punishment.
The four visitations of God, which are here introduced each
with an if, should actually come, as had been repeatedly pre
dicted, unitedly upon the degenerate covenant people, upon the
desecrated land of the Lord. The prophet, however, treats the
matter first in general, without regard to the existing relations,
that the emotion called forth by the sight of the latter may
not have a disturbing influence. The transition from the
merely hypothetical to the actual follows in ver. 21. The for
at the beginning points to the ground of the discussion insti
tuted, shows that it is no mere idle commonplace. "How
much more" must the general standard of the divine judg
ments manifest itself before all in the servant, who knows his
master's will, and yet does what is worthy of stripes ! " You
only have I known of all the families of the earth ; therefore
I will visit upon you all your iniquities," says Amos. In the
same relation with the people of the Old Testament stand here
1 Niebuhr, History of Asshur and Babel, pp. 206-11.

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. XV. 1-8. 125
the Christian nations, only that in them the responsibility
appears enhanced. The evil beasts must stand here in the
figurative sense, as the lions in ch. xix. 2 ; for only wild beasts
in human form can be employed against Jerusalem, the walled
city, and were employed against it. The comfort in ver. 22
lies in the justification of the ways of God. The central part
of the pain was, that they were gone astray from their God.
Should not the Judge of all the earth do right ? Should He
slay the righteous with the wicked, so that it fared with the
righteous as with the wicked (Gen. xviii. 25) ? Knowledge of
the greatness and depth of sin — this forms the chief foundation
of the theodicy. This knowledge they shall gain here in the
pitiful figures of those who, after the destruction of Jerusalem,
shall find their way to them, as the surviving monuments of
its shame. These miserable men shall be a living apologetic,
and as such comfort the exiles, inasmuch as they put to silence
the most painful of all lamentations — namely, " Where is our
God?" Ch. xv. Israel the vine of the Lord — this was an occasion
of false security, a shield which was held up against the pro
phet's threat of punishment, with an appeal probably to Ps. Ixxx.,
the classic passage, where Israel appears under the developed
image of the vine.1 The contradiction runs thus : Israel by
his guilt is no longer a true vine ; he is become mere wood,
and the barren wood must be burned.
Ver. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, what is the wood of the vine more than any
tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest ?
3. Shall wood be taken thereof to make any work ? Or will a
man take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon ? 4. Behold, it
is cast into the fire for fuel ; both its ends the fire consumes,
and its middle is scorched. Is it fit for any work? 5. Be
hold, when it was whole, it was not made into any work;
much less, when the fire hath consumed it, and it is scorched,
shall it be made into any work. 6. Therefore thus saith the
Lord Jehovah, As the wood of the vine among the trees of
the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I
1 Compare, in reference to the other passages of the 0. T., my comm.
on Isa. xv. 1.

126 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 7. And I will set my face
against them ; they came out of the fire, and the fire shall
consume them : and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when
I set my face against them. 8. And I will make the land a
desolation, because they have committed a trespass, saith the
Lord Jehovah.
" What is the wood of the vine more than any tree? " (ver.
2 ;) what advantage has it over any other tree ? The vine is
nobler than the other trees, because it yields the most precious
fruit. If it, however, degenerate, bear either no fruit or bad
grapes (Isa. v. 2), and thus come into account merely for its
wood, it has no advantage at all over the other trees. " The
vine-shoot, which is1 among the trees of the wood," is the vine
which corresponds with the forest-trees in barrenness, as it is
mere wood. It is not the wild vine that is meant.2 This
would not suit here. As the degenerate vine denotes Israel,
so the trees of the wood the remaining nations, and the heathen
nations, as there is none else besides Israel. In ver. 2 the
dead vine is no better than the trees of the forest ; in ver. 3 it
is even worse. One can make nothing of it, while the wood of
the other trees serves for many uses. The application is this :
a people or an individual, to whom God makes Himself known,
and who turns His grace into lasciviousness, sinks far beneath
those who have not known God (Heb. vi. 4-8). A heathen nation
may have still much good and a future; degenerate Israel,
that dwells at present in Jerusalem (this limitation is given by
ver. 6 and by the nature of the thing), is utterly miserable, and
must perish without remedy. The vine is Israel from the first,
as the vineyard in Isa. v. and Matt. xxi. 33 ; and the relation
of vers. 1-5 to vers. 6-8 would be understood incorrectly, if it
were thus defined : first the relation of the unfruitful natural
vine to the other trees, then the application to Israel. The
correct relation is this : in vers. 6-8 it is expressly said that
vers. 1-5 is a parable, and that by the vine Israel is there
1 piti ; the masculine is used, because the vine, according to the fore
going, comes into account only for its wood. It does not bear fruit. The
masc. also in vers. 3-5 refers to the wood of the vine.
2 The wild vine, which never occurs in Scripture, cannot be denoted by
milSt- The name itself, from IDT, to cleanse (Lev. xxv. 3, 4), points to
the vine as a cultivated plant (comp. Isa. xv. 2).

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. XVI. 127
to be understood. That this relation- is to be so understood,
appears very clearly from ver. 4, in which is presented that
which does not suit the natural vine. The phrase " it is cast "
leads us to a historical situation. The process of burning has
already begun in the withered vine of Israel. Only a little of
its ancient glory remains. Plow could anything come of such
a people ? How could it have a future ? What has already
taken place in the beginning of the end ? The wrath of God
already entered into activity will not rest until it has completed
its work. Hitherto, as has been remarked, there has been an
interchange of figure and reality : Israel appeared under the
form of a degenerate vine. In ver. 6 figure and reality are
separated. " Which I give to the fire for fuel :" the Lord of
nature has so constituted the vine, that, when it withers, it is
fit for nothing but to be burned. " Out of the fire are they
come" (ver. 7) : the fire of the divine wrath has already
wrought great desolations under Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin.
Ch. xvi. We have here one of the grandest prophecies of
Ezekiel, to which ch. xxiii. forms the parallel. The prophet
surveys in the Spirit of God the whole of the development of
Israel, the past and the future. First, vers. 1-34, the sin of
Israel. The inserted description of the benefits of God only
sets this sin in its true light, as in Deut. xxxii. " Let us love
Him, because He has first loved us : " whosoever disregards
this, must be fundamentally bad. In the very second verse it
is said, " Cause Jerusalem to know her sins ;" and ver. 3 points
to this, that the people in their very first beginnings bore a
root of sin in themselves. In the previous section Israel
appeared as an unfruitful vine. What was then presupposed
is here proved. In the second part, vers. 35-52, follows
Israel's punishment; in the third, vers. 53-63, his forgiveness.
Grotius says, the whole chapter has a wonderful emphasis,
while it admirably carries out the similitude of adultery. The
figure of adultery is the special physiognomy of the section.
What otherwise distinguishes it, the thought that salvation
comes to us of grace and pure love, stands in close connection
with this figure. The professed adulteress is, by her conduct,
completely excluded from salvation. Whosoever took in the
import of this section, all his political hopes were burned to a

128 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
heap of ashes. Jerusalem presented herself to him as a detest
able adulteress, that cannot escape the punishment so richly
deserved, as surely as a righteous God exists, who can bestow
salvation not in the way of political intrigue, but only after
punishment by the grace of the merciful God ; and that may
no longer haughtily look down upon the heathen, but must be
content if she only receive mercy along with them.
The first part (vers. 1-34) falls into three divisions : first,
Israel's misery, in a moral sense (ver. 3), in respect of his con
dition (vers. 4, 5); then God's compassionate love, whereby
He is concerned for the miserable (vers. 6-14) ; finally, Israel's
shameful ingratitude (vers. 15-34). Vers. 3-5 iovmsjthe in
troduction to the description of God's benefits; they/were a
people of sinful tendency (ver. 3), fallen into deep misery (vers.
4, 5). And yet God was concerned for them. What an in
centive to true returning love, and what culpability if the love
was repaid with ingratitude !
Ver. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
3. And say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto Jerusalem,
Thy descent and birth is of the land of the Canaanite ; thy
father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite. 4. And thy
birth, in the day when thou wast born thy navel was not cut,
nor wast thou washed with water for purification : thou wast
not rubbed with salt nor rolled in swaddling-bands. 5. No eye
pitied thee, to do any of these things for thee to have com
passion on thee ; and thou wast cast out on the open field in
loathing of thy soul in the day when thou wast born.
Although descended from the patriarchs, Israel from his
first beginning, according to ver. 3, has rather the nature of
his heathenish native land than that of his pious ancestors.
There is here an abridged comparison : thou art not otherwise
constituted than if thou wert descended from the Canaanites.
The passages of the Old Testament in which the degenerate
community of God are designated as heathen, uncircumcised,
or specially as Canaanites or some other heathen people, are
discussed in the Christology on Zech. xiv. 2. The naming of
the Canaanites here was the more natural, as Israel in ancient
times was in many ways under the direct influence of this
corrupt heathen people. The Amorites and the Plittites are

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XVI. 1-5. 129
two chief Canaanitish tribes, that elsewhere also often repre
sent the whole of the Canaanites ; the Amorites already, in
Gen. xv. 16, where they specially represent the Canaanitish
people in their sinfulness. The proof of the evil disposition
dwelling in the people from their first origin, lies in the miser
able condition into which they fell in Egypt, which, according
to the Old Testament doctrine of retributive divine justice, can
only be regarded in the light of punishment, and must be so
regarded, according to the scattered indications of the books of
Moses concerning the deep corruption of the Israelites before
Moses, and their participation in the idolatry of Egypt. A
distinct intimation that the suffering in Egypt is to be regarded
in the light of a judgment, is found in Gen. xv. 13, 14 : " And
they shall serve them, and these shall oppress them four hun
dred years ; and also the people whom they shall serve will I
judge.'' The time of Israel's birth, in ver. 4, is when in Egypt
they passed from a family to a nation, and thereby drew the
envy and persecution of the Egyptians upon them. We have
here also an abridged comparison : the beginnings were as
miserable as those of a child, etc. Rubbings with salt were
practised in ancient times with infants, according to Galen, to
make the skin tighter and firmer. According to that which
follows, all refers to the external condition of Israel, the period
of suffering in Egypt, not to their moral state. There is a
connection with ver. 3, so far as the misery was, as it were, the
reflection of the moral state there described. Precisely because
this was so, is the mercy of God brought more prominently into
view, who delivered His people from their deserved suffering.
The real subject of ver. 5 is the relentless cruelty of the
Egyptians. " With contempt (or loathing) of thy soul :" the
soul of Israel is his life : the existence of Israel as a people was
the object of loathing to the Egyptians, who endeavoured to
annihilate them, not otherwise than as one casts a helpless
infant on the open field. The figure of the child is so much
the more suitable, as Moses, the type of his people, was actually
exposed, and by the providence of God delivered from threat
ening death. We may not explain : " with contempt of thy
life, as it is all the same to the people whether thou perish or
not." The direct aim was the downfall, the destruction of the
national existence at its very birth. i

130 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
It is now explained how God's grace was concerned for this
sinful and miserable people. Ver. 6. And I passed by thee,
and saw thee trampled^ in thy blood, and said unto thee in thy
blood, Live; and said unto thee in thy blood, Live. 7. I
made thee myriads,1 like the bud of the field ; and thou didst
increase, and wax great, and earnest to complete ornament : the
breasts were fashioned, and thy hair was grown, but thou wast
naked and bare. 8. And I passed by thee, and saw thee, and,
behold, thy time was the time of love ; and I spread my skirt
over thee, and covered thy nakedness ; and I sware unto thee,
and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord Jehovah,
and thou becamest mine. 9. And I washed thee with water,
and cleansed away thy blood from thee, and anointed thee with
oil. 10. And I clothed thee with broidered work, and shod
thee with badger's skin, and bound thee with fine linen, and
covered thee with silki-2 11. And I decked thee with ornament,
and put bracelets on thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.-
12. And I put a ring on thy nose,3 and drops in thine ears, and
a beautiful crown upon thy head. 13. And thou wast decked
with gold and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen, and
silk, and broidered work : fine flour, and honey and oil, thou
didst eat ; and wast exceedingly fair, and didst prosper into a
kingdom. 14. And thy name went forth among the heathen
for thy beauty, because it was perfect through my ornature
which I put upon thee, saith the Lord Jehovah.
" Trampled," in ver. 6, is not merely exposed to trampling,
but actually trampled upon ; as surely as Israel in Egypt was
actually a trampled people, upon whom the Egyptians trod.
This child was able to survive such trampling. The words,
" And I said unto thee in thy blood, Live," are repeated, to fix
the attention of the ungrateful people, and impress them on
their conscience. Ver. 7 does not abandon the allegory, but it
1 rDXl is not one myriad, but the myriad denotes the numerical
measure. It is an ideal unity, which includes in itself a multitude of actual
myriads. 2 Luther, " I gave thee fine linen clothes and silken veils." But the
binding refers to the head ; and ver. 13 shows that silken clothes are to he
understood, along with the party-coloured.
3 Luther, " and gave thee a hair-band on thy forehead." He could
not understand the nose-ring, or he has intentionally set it aside, as foreign
to German customs.

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. XVI. 16-22. 131
refers to an ideal child, that comes to view in a multiplicity of
single existences. The words, " myriads — wax great," refer
to Ex. i. 12, " And as they afflicted them, so they multiplied
and broke forth." " And earnest to complete ornament :" the
beauty is figuratively designated as an ornament : the people
were adorned with beauty. " And thou wast naked and bare."
Grotius, " This signifies the misery of the people in Egypt."
The blessing of God going forth under the cross caused the
vigorous growth and prosperity of the people ; but tlieir exter
nal condition was still miserable, and all external conditions of
national existence were wanting. In ver. 8 is the closing of the
covenant with the people, as it began with the calling of Moses
at Sinai, and 'attained to its conclusion during the sojourn of
the people there. The covering with the skirt of the mantle is
the figurative designation for taking under protection (Ruth
iii. 9). In connection with this stands here the covering of the
nakedness, which indicates the want of protection and help.
" Saith the Lord Jehovah :" What graoe, when the Holy and
Almighty One condescends to enter into covenant with so
sinful and miserable a people ! The washing with water and
anointing with oil (ver. 9) signify the translation from the low
and miserable Egyptian condition to a higher and better.
Spiritual benefits are not to be thought of. As the blood
formerly signified the external misery of the people in Egypt,
so also, by the washing with water, can only be understood the
removal of the external misery. The prophet adheres to the
palpable benefits of God, which even the ungodly, whose con
science he wishes to reach, must have recognised as such.
Ver. 10 f. refer specially to the flourishing period of the people
under David and Solomon. The " beautiful crown" in ver.
12 belongs, according to ver. 13, to the kingdom of Israel.
The royal splendour passed from David and Solomon over to
the whole people. These bore the beautiful crown, as repre
sentatives of the people.
Next follows in two paragraphs the way in which Israel
repaid the great grace of God. Ver. 15. And thou didst trust
in thy beauty,- and didst play the harlot on thy name, and
pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by : his
be it. 16. And thou tookest of thy garments, and deckedst thy
high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot with

132 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
them:1 the like shall not come nor happen.2 17. And thou
tookest thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver which I had
given thee, and madest for thee images of men, and playedst
the harlot with them. 18. And thou tookest thy broidered
garments, and coveredst them ; and didst set my oil and my
incense before them. 19. And my bread which I gave thee,
fine flour, and oil, and honey, I gave thee to eat, and thou didst
set it before them for a sweet savour : and thus it was, saith
the Lord Jehovah. 20. And thou tookest thy sons and thy
daughters, whom thou hadst borne to me, and didst offer them
to them to devour. Were thy whoredoms too little ? 21. And
thou didst slay my sons, and gavest them to pass them through
(the fire) for them. 22. And in all thy abominations and thy
whoredoms thou didst not remember the days of thy youth,
when thou wast naked and bare, and wast trampled in thy blood.
" Thou didst trust in thy beauty " (ver. 15) — thoughtest to
be allowed to do everything on this account. Hand in hand
with this goes, " Thou whoredst on thy name : " the name is,
as it were, the foundation of the whoredom ; in reliance on thy
renown acquired by thy beauty (ver. 14), which thou acknow-
ledgedst not to be a divine endowment, and regardedst as a
licence for ungoverned wantonness. The divine gifts, as soon
as they cease to be regarded as such, inevitably become a
snare. The heart, which they have rendered haughty, becomes
the sport of all lusts and passions. " His be it " are the words
of the adulteress ; that is, to him will I yield myself. " High
places with divers colours," fitted up with garments (ver. 16),
can only be idol-temples, as they are fitted up for domestic use.
The words " shall not cOme nor happen " denote an unpre
cedented shamelessness. Everything that exceeds the usual
measure has in it aspects in which it is unique in its kind.
"Images of men" (ver. 17): so are the idols designated, in
accordance with the representation of Israel as an adulteress.
"My oil and my incense :" what God has given remains His
1 Luther, "and playedst thine harlotry thereon.'" But the masculine
suffix is rather to be referred to the paramours, ver. 15, who are the object
of the whoredom. ">j? as i?K in vers. 26, 28.
2 Luther, " as never happened, nor will happen." But 1YIX3 always
denotes the future. It is here plural of the fern, standing for the neut.
In rpfP the neut. is denoted by the masc.

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. XVI. 23-34. 133
even after He has given it, and may not be alienated. " Were
thy whoredoms too little?" (ver. 20), so that thou must add
murderous to thy adulterous practices.1 The sacrifice of chil
dren appears in Ezekiel as a new aggravated crime in addition
to idolatry (xxiii. 37, xx. 26). " Pass through" (ver. 21), that
is, to pass through the fire (xx. 31). That the consequence of
this passing through was death, appears from the foregoing
words, " Thou didst slay them," and also from the phrase " to
devour" in ver. 20. The passing through was the mode of
slaying, and the devouring was the consequence of it. The
idols were thought to be present in the fire.2
In the second part of the representation of the ingratitude
the aggravation of the apostasy is described, as it coincided
with the times of national misfortune, of oppression under the
world-powers. Thenceforward the apostasy was truly national.
Misfortune always makes worse, if not better. Merely formal
is the distinction, that formerly the paramours were pre-emi
nently the idols themselves, now the idolatrous nations, in whom
Israel seeks the help that was denied of God in righteous judg
ment. Ver. 23. And it came to pass, after all thy wickedness ;
Woe, woe unto thee, saith the Lord Jehovah. 24. And thou
didst build for thee a vault, and madest for thee high places
in every street. 25. At every crossway thou didst build thy
high place, and didst abhor thy beauty,3 and didst spread out
thy feet to every passer-by, and didst multiply thy whoredoms.
26. And thou didst whore with the sons of Egypt, thy neigh
bours, great of flesh, and multiply thy whoredoms to provoke
me. 27. And, behold, I stretched out my hand over thee,
and diminished thy statute, and delivered thee to the soul of
thy haters, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed
of thy lewd way. 28. And thou didst whore with the sons of
A sshur, because thou wast not satisfied ; and though thou didst
whore with them, thou wast not satisfied. 29. And thou
multipliedst thy whoredoms unto the land of Canaan toward
Chaldea, and yet with this thou wast not satisfied. 30. How
1 0])a with JD always means too little ; properly, little from some per
son or thing.
2 The suffix in Dn5», vers. 20, 21, refers to the idols.
3 Luther, "madest a thing only to be abhorred." The verb means in
Piel always to abhor, never to make to be abhorred.

134 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
withered is thy heart, saith tHe Lord Jehovah, when thou
doest all these things, the work of a whorish imperious woman.
31. When thou didst build thy vault at every crossway, and
madest thy high place in every street, thou wast not like the
harlot, since thou scornedst hire. 32. The woman that com-
mitteth adultery under her husband receiveth strangers. 33.
They give gifts to all whores, and thou givest thy gifts to all
thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on
every side for thy whoredoms. 34. And there is in thee the
contrary of the women in thy whoredoms, and after thee they
follow not for whoredom, and thou givest a hire, and no hire is
given unto thee, and so thou art the contrary.
The "vault" in ver. 24 is a place raised by art for the
practice of idolatry. The natural heights are too far from the
people hungering after idols. They wish to plant idolatry in
the city thoroughfare, and so build for themselves artificial
heights. We must distinguish between the thought and its
clothing. The thought is, that the objects of idolatry became
the prime impulse of the popular life, by which is to be under
stood much less religious than political adultery, though both
went hand in hand. " Thou abhorrest thy beauty " (ver. 25) :
whosoever abandons it to another must esteem it very little,
— must, as it were, conceive a hatred against it. The beauty
is the national honour, a noble boon bestowed by God, which
not to esteem but to prostitute is a sign of deep degeneracy and
alienation from God. This is a disgrace which, as the Jews,
so also the Germans formerly, brought upon themselves in
large measure, and into which they will soon enough sink
back, if they do not gain a firm hold on God, and a clear
and certain view of the boon bestowed upon them by Him.
" Every passer-by : " at an earlier period Israel stood, by the
situation of their country, which admitted no isolation, in mani
fold intercourse with the world (ver. 15) ; but in the time
which the prophet has in view they lay in the middle of the
contending world-powers, the Asiatic and the African, and
were thus in their intervening territory tempted by the force
of circumstances to adultery with powerful neighbours, if they
did not wish honestly to turn to the Almighty God, the only one
who could deliver them from this dire necessity, and did deliver
them when they, as under Hezekiah, were disposed to do so.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XVI. 23-3-1. 135
" Great of flesh" (ver. 25) : this it was that provoked their
adulteiious desires. In reality, great of flesh means great of
power. Here it is very clear that the immediate object of
adultery is not the idols in the usual sense, but the world-powers
— that the adultery bears essentially a political character : the
idols only stand in the second place, in so far as he that pays
homage to a people is constrained at the same time to do rever
ence to their national gods, as we may plainly see from Dan. iii.
As here this self-interested political alliance, so in Isa. xxiii.
17, 18, the commercial alliance is designated as adultery. " I
diminished thy statute" (ver. 27): this is that which comes
to the woman of right, whom the husband must nourish and
clothe, according to the determination of the law. This means
all the benefits which the Lord has promised in the law to His
people in case of fidelity, and according to ver. 9, so richly
secured in their later times. These are here diminished as a
punishment ; the people sink lower and lower in consequence
of their adultery with the world-power, as we may follow out
through their history from Ahaz onward, who first entered into
this adulterous connection with the world-powers (2 Kings
xvi. 7). The Philistines, who were always at hand when Israel
had to suffer from the great world-powers, are specially named,
because it was a great disgrace to be compelled to suffer from
this petty neighbouring people, and not to be a match for their
power. The daughters of the Philistines are the Philistine
cities or small states. They are presented as daughters or
wives, because Judah also appears as a wife. That the Philis
tines were, as it were in heart, ashamed of Israel on account of
their moral degradation, is the key to the fact that this heathen
nation, not knowing the living God or His revealed word, should
have gained the supremacy over Israel. If the political adul
tery with the African world-power procures not the desired
result — security against the Asiatic — if Egypt proves a broken
reed, they make the attempt with the Asiatic world-power, with
the Assyrians themselves (ver. 28). The words, "and thou
wast not satisfied," introduce that which follows. As they turn
to the Assyrians, because the adulterous connection with Egypt
yields not the desired result, they turn on the same ground
from the Assyrians to the Babylonians — to the aid which Asia
itself appears to present against Asia. How the Jews, through

136 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
connection with Babylon before it had attained the world-
sovereignty, sought to deliver themselves from the danger
threatening from Assyria, ch. xxxix. of Isaiah gives some
hints, which are completed by his predictions directed against
Babylon ; and we find a more definite disclosure on the sub
ject in ch. xxiii. For the understanding of the disputed pre
dictions of Isaiah the declarations of Ezekiel concerning the
relation of Judah to Babylon during the time of the Assyrian
dominion are of the greatest importance. The starting-point
of the attack is the want of insight into the historical relations
existing in the time of Isaiah. The doubts lie here, as in the
Scripture generally, only on the surface. But even by this
new adultery Judah was not satisfied (ver. 29), as appears
from this, that they had returned even now, in the time when
Ezekiel prophesied, to their old lovers the Egyptians. They
had, as Isaiah so emphatically predicted, to suffer still more
heavily from their old friends the Chaldeans than from the
Assyrians, against whom they sought their aid. Chaldea is
designated as a land of Canaan, because it was a second
Canaan, a land of shopkeepers, a political Canaan, like that
commonly so called, — a mercantile people, regarding its own
interest alone, whose friendship was only a disguised selfishness.
To the land of Canaan here corresponds the designation of
Babylon as a " city of merchants " in ch. xvii. 4. He is a fool
who seeks real love in such a people, and founds the hope of
his safety on connection with them. A withered heart (ver.
30) that has lost sap and power (Ps. xxxii. 4) is the heritage of
those who seek in the world what God alone can secure. Hope
always disappointed is the enemy of life.1 "Imperious:" to
be ungovernable is a disgrace for a wife, who from God and
by right is " under the husband," and the sure forerunner of
the ruin which is now meeting all those who boast of the " free
spirit." The word means properly potent ; but to be potent in
relation to God is the highest impotence, as surely as freedom
consists in this only, to serve God. That in which Israel is
unlike ordinary harlots, is that, whereas they prostitute them
selves for hire, she despises the harlot's hire (ver. 31). The
thought is, that Israel casts herself at the feet of the world-
1 The form ru5>, not otherwise occurring, stands intentionally in the
singular — an effeminate heart.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XVI. 85-C2. 137
powers, without any political advantage being secured or even
claimed by her, content if she can even secure bare existence.
This thought is again carried out in vers. 32-34. Ver. 32
forms only the introduction to this amplification. The wife is
Israel. " Under her husband" — while she stands under her
husband, and is, bound to be devoted to him.
In vers. 35-52, the punishment. Ver. 35. Wherefore, O
harlot, hear the word of the Lord. 36. Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, Because thy brass was wasted, and thy nakedness
uncovered by thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all thy
horrible abominations, and for the blood1 of thy sons, whom
thou hast given unto them ; 37. Therefore, behold, I will
gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast been pleased,2 and
all whom thou lovedst, with all whom thou hatedst ; and I will
gatlier them against thee round about, and will discover thy
nakedness unto them, and they shall see all thy nakedness.
38. And I will judge thee with the judgments of adulteresses,
and of those who shed blood ; and I will give thee blood of fury
and jealousy. 39. And I will give thee into their hand, and
they shall throw down thy vault, and break down thy high
places : and they shall strip thee of thy clothes, and take away
thy costly jewels, and leave thee sitting naked and bare. 40.
^.nd they shall bring up a company against thee, and cast at
thee with stones, and hew thee with their swords. 41. And
they shall burn thy houses with fire, and execute judgments
upon thee in the sight of many women ; and I will make thee
rest from being a harlot, and thou shalt not give a hire any
more. 42. And I will make my fury against thee rest, and my
jealousy shall depart from thee; and I will be quiet, and no more
be angry. 43. Because thou didst not remember the days of
thy youth, and didst rage against me in all this,3 I also give
thee thy way upon thy head, saith the Lord Jehovah ; and thou
shalt not commit this lewdness above all thy abominations.'
1 Properly " as the blood," corresponding to it, in righteous retribution
for the shedding of it.
2 Luther, " with whom thou hast taken pleasure," commixta es, without
warrant from the text.
3 Luther, " but provoked me with all this," which \y\ with $> cannot
possibly signify.
4 Luther, " although I have not therewith done after the vice in thy

138 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
44. Behold, every part shall sing over thee, saying, As is the
mother, so is her daughter. 45. Thou art thy mother's daughter,
that loathes her Husband and her children ; and thou art the
sister of thy sisters,1 who loathed their husbands and their chil
dren : your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.
46. And thy elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters,
that dwell at thy left ; and thy sister younger than thou, that
dwelleth at thy right, is Sodom and her daughters. 47. And
thou hast not walked after their ways, nor done after their
abominations : it wanted a little, and thou behavedst more
corruptly than they in ail thy ways. 48. As I live, saith the
Lord Jehovah, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she or her
daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. 49.
Behold, this was the iniquity of Sodom thy sister : pride and
abundance of everything, and quiet security, were to her and
her daughters ; and the hand of the wretched and the needy
she did not take. 50. And they were haughty, and committed
abomination before me ; and I took them away when I saw it.
51 . And Samaria hath not committed half of thy sins ; and thou
didst multiply thy abominations more than they, and didst
justify thy sisters by all thy abominations which thou didst.
52. Thou also take thy shame, who didst judge thy sisters ; by
thy sins, wherein thou hast behaved more abominably than
they, they are become more righteous than thou ; and also he
thou confounded, and take thy shame upon thee, because thou
hast justified thy sisters.
The brass (ver. 36) represents metal in general, namely,
coined metal. Brass here stands as the metal usually employed
for money, as in Isa. xlvi. 6, where it is said of the idolaters,
" They lavish gold out of the bag" — gold, as the most precious.
That the Jews, at least those in exile, as well as classic anti
quity, had copper money, follows even from our passage, and
is confirmed by Matt. x. 9, Mark xii. 41, where brass occurs
abominations." TWJJ is, however, an unusual form of the 2 fem., for
which the Masoretes here, as in vyiDTi substitute the usual one.
1 It is literally ' ' of thy sister ; " but the sister is an ideal person, the
sisterhood, that is here presented in two sisters. Thus the singular stands
also in ver. 51, where the Masoretes wish to substitute in place of the
singular the plural, the vowels of which stand under the text. The
assumption of an unusual plural forrn is to be rejected. The plural, signi
fying the real multiplicity, appears in place of the ideal unity in ver. 22.

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. XVI. 35-52. 139
directly for money. The paramours are, according to what
follows, pre-eminently the world-powers themselves. Along
with them are named, in the second place, the heathen gods,
whose worship was a consequence of political dependence.
The penal uncovering of the nakedness (ver. 37) is the right
eous retribution for licentiousness. The latter denotes the
shameful prostitution and self-degradation of the people of
God, who went a-begging in the world ; the former the shame
ful external misery into which they fell through the world-
powers, to whom they had devoted themselves. The lovers are,
according to the foregoing, Assyria and Babylon. The haters
are the surrounding nations, who were always lying in wait for
the occasion. " With the judgments of adulteresses and mur
derers" (ver. 38) : adultery and murder are, according to the
law, punished with death, and must thus also occasion death in
the immediate exercise of the divine judgment. Israel had
made himself guilty of murder by the worship of Moloch.
The blood of fury and jealousy is that which is shed in fury
and jealousy. Into this blood Jerusalem went, as it were,
wholly : she was wholly transformed into blood. The blood of
fury is the punishment for the murder that in human relations
calls forth fierce revenge : the blood of jealousy is the retri
bution for adultery that in human relations awakens the spirit
of jealousy. " They leave thee naked and bare" (ver. 39), as
thou wast before the Lord had mercy on thee (ver. 7). The
unfaithful use of the gifts of God inevitably brings on their
loss. God cannot be mocked. Ver. 40. As the local com
munity is called together against the ordinary adulteress, to
execute upon her the penalty of stoning (comp. Deut. xxii. 24,
where this punishment is expressly prescribed in reference to
the betrothed maiden who has broken her troth ; whereas in
the case of married women the law speaks only of the punish
ment of death in general), so there assemble against adulterous
Israel, as it were, an assembly of nations, and execute upon it
the penalty of stoning with slinging engines. As murderers are
usually executed by the sword, so is murderous Israel hewn
down by the enemy with the sword. These are the judgments
of the adulteresses and murderers (ver. 38). " And execute
judgments upon thee in the sight of many women" (ver. 41) :
the many women are the many nations. There is an allusion

140 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
to Deut. xiii. 16, according to which a city in Israel that serves
other gods shall be burned with fire, after its inhabitants had
been extirpated by the sword. This command closes a predic
tion of the fate which should befall Israel in case of its apostasy.
" Thou shalt not give a hire any more" (vers. 33, 34), because
thou wilt have no more lovers ; wilt, on the whole, after the
dissolution of thy national independence, be no more in a
condition which admits of impure intercourse with the world-
powers. The jealousy ceases (ver. 42), because it has found
its satisfaction in their punishment, and exhausted itself therein,
as the fire ceases when it has consumed its fuel. " And didst
rage against me in all these" (ver. 43) — notwithstanding all the
benefits which thou didst receive from me. The starting-point
of adultery with the world and its gods was anger against the
true God, who had diminished His benefits to Israel (ver. 27).
Instead of recognising therein a deserved punishment, Israel
sees an unjust neglect, " falls into anger, and curses his God
and his king" (Isa. viii. 21), and seeks in others what he
refuses. The visitation which, instead of leading to repent
ance, brings on a complete apostasy, has for its consequence
the completion of the judgment. " Thou shalt not commit
this lewdness above all thy abominations." Lewdness and
abomination are not in themselves different : the thought is,
that the measure of the lewdness and abomination is now full —
that it is time for punishment to enter into the place of sin.
" As the mother, so the 'daughter," runs the poetic sentence,
according to ver. 44. As Israel became like the original inhabit
ants of Canaan in her manners, so also in her fate, which had
already been realized when this sentence was composed. That
the mother is the people of Canaan, into whose footsteps Israel
had entered, appears from a reference to ver. 3, and as ex
pressly affirmed in ver. 45. The spiritual mother of Israel, the
daughter of Canaan, abhorred her husband, the one true God,
who according to Gen. i. 26 created all men after His image,
gives to all life, and breath, and all things (Acts xvii. 25), in
whom all men live, and move, and have their being (ver. 28),
and who even on this account has a claim on the devoted love
of all men ; whereas she preferred to Him other gods, the work
of men's hands, and abhorred her children, inasmuch as she
sacrificed them to the gods in the fire (ver. 20; comp. Lev.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XVI. 35-62. 141
xviii. 21, 24, where it is expressly said that the sacrifice of
children offered to Moloch was a native custom among the
nations, whom the Lord drove out before Israel (Deut. xii. 30,
31)). The sisters, to whom, along with the mother, Israel, now
perpetuated only in Judah, has become like in transgression,
and shall be like in punishment, are, according to ver. 46,
Samaria and Sodom. These in particular are selected out of
the mass of nations, because Sodom was notorious before all
others as the greatest sinner, and Samaria stood nearest to
Jerusalem. It is said, " who loathed their husbands," because
the one true God, who is the lawful husband to the sisters as
to the mother, was another in relation to Sodom and in relation
to Samaria: there Elohim, the Godhead; here Jehovah, the his
torically revealed, the covenant God. Samaria is called in ver.
46 the elder sister of Judah, because the northern kingdom
embracing the ten tribes was the greater ; Sodom the younger,
because her territory was smaller than that of Judah. Tlie
daughters denote the daughter-cities, and point to this, that
Samaria and Sodom come into regard not as single cities, but
as centres of a great whole. That Sodom was the chief city
of the Jordan valley, appears from the whole account in Gen.
xviii. and xix., especially from this, that there the trial was in
stituted, and also from ch. xiv. 21, where the king of Sodom
alone treats with Abraham concerning the spoil. Wherever
the cities of the Jordan valley are enumerated, Sodom stands
at the head. Jerusalem has, according to ver. 47, not been
contented with walking in the ways of Sodom and Gomorrah :
she has pursued a course that was still worse. The prefixed
almost1 serves for modification, points to this, that the sentence
has only a partial truth. This truth rests on the statement,
Luke xii. 48 : " Unto whomsoever much is given, of him
shall much be required ; and unto whom much is committed, of
him they will ask the more." Judah trespassed against God,
who was revealed in her midst in manifold ways. Judah was
worse than Sodom : this thought recurs also in the N. T.
(Matt. xi. 24). The deepest gulfs of evil open up first in those
to whom God has made Himself known, and who have hard
ened their heart against Iiis revelation. The sin of Sodom
1 DJJD3, only a little, wanted a little. Dp according to the Arab.
only.

142 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
and its punishment are laid down in vers. 49, 50, that Israel
may set herself right as to what she is, and what she has to
expect. The prosperity and comfort of existence are connected
with pride, in so far as in the mind, like the rich man in the
Gospel, she entered wholly into these conditions, so that they
became marks of character in her, and ceased to be external
and accessory. " When I saw it : " this points to Gen. xviii.
21. God conducts the inspection by His angels. Judah jus
tifies her sisters (ver. 51), inasmuch as they in reference to her
appear as innocent. Her sins weigh heavier than even those
of Samaria, because much richer means of grace were bestowed
on her. She had before her the temple and the pure worship
of God, the sovereignty of the family of David, from which
pious kings might and often did descend, the legitimate priest
hood, a greater wealth of prophetic gifts, and a longer time for
repentance. "Who didst judge thy sisters"1 (ver. 52) : Judah
had concurred from the heart in the divine judgment on Sodom
and Samaria, and exalted herself above them on this account,
as the Pharisee in the Gospel. In the condemnation of her
sisters she had condemned herself (Rom. ii. 1). Jerusalem
has " justified " her sisters, inasmuch as she has behaved worse
than they, and so retributive punishment must overtake her
also. Vers. 53- 63.2 We have here the forgiveness. This is im
parted to Jerusalem not for herself alone, but in common with
those whom she resembled, both in her sin and her punishment.
If Judah is destitute no less than they of any glory before
God, if she can obtain redemption only through grace, it is
natural that the redemption is not Hmited to her, but that God,
who has mercy upon all His works, extends it also to the
others. As righteousness from works goes hand in hand with
the limitation to the Jews, so righteousness from above with
an extension far beyond these limits (Rom. xi. 32).
Ver. 53. And I shall turn back to their captivity, to the
captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and to the captivity of
Samaria and her daughters, and to thy most miserable cap-
1 "We are not to explain, " which (the shame) thou didst award to thy
sisters." The verb does not occur elsewhere in this sense, and "iky shame "
then makes a difficulty.
2 Comp. on this section, Christology, ii. p. 547 f.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XVI. 63-G3. 143
tivity in the midst of them. 54. That thou mayest take on
thee thy disgrace, and be ashamed of all that thou hast done,
when thou comfortest them. 55. And thy sisters, Sodom and
her daughters, shall return to their former state, and Samaria
and her daughters shall return to their former state, and thou
with thy daughters shalt return to thy former state. 56. And
was not thy sister Sodom slandered by thy mouth in the day
of thy pride ? 57. Before thy wickedness was discovered, as
(was the case) in the time of the disgrace of the daughters of
Aram and all who were round about her, the daughters of the
Philistines, who despise thee round about. 58. Thy lewdness
and thy abominations thou hast taken upon thee, saith the
Lord. 59. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, And I will do
with thee as thou hast done, who hast despised the oath to
break the covenant. 60. And I will remember my covenant
with thee in the days of thy youth, and will establish unto thee
an everlasting covenant. 61. And thou shalt remember thy
ways and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters,
those greater than thyself, and those less than thyself ; and I
shall give them unto thee for daughters, and not by thy cove
nant. 62. And I will establish my covenant with thee; and
thou shalt know that I am the Lord : 63. That thou mayest
remember, and be ashamed, and no more open thy mouth be
cause of thy shame, when I cover for thee all that thou hast
done, saith the Lord Jehovah.
To return to the captivity (ver. 53), is to have compassion
on the miserable.1 The captivity cannot be taken in a strict
sense, as Sodom and the other cities of the Jordan valley were
not carried away captive, but utterly destroyed. The word
misery itself is taken from another land, the genus being
named after the chief species. Sodom represents the collec
tive heathen world standing in like relations with her. That
1 Comp. my comm. on Ps. xiv. 7 ; Contributions to the Introd. to the
0. T., ii. p. 104 f. niia> 2B> is to be distinguished from riUS> ZWn, to
restore the captivity (Jer. xlix. 6). This is the consequence of returning
to the captivity, or the miserable. That 31E> may also signify to bring
back or restore, it has been sought to prove from Nah. ii. 3, but incorrectly.
The Lord there turns back to the loftiness of Jacob, which gives the
ground of his return. Jacob is at the same time Israel, and as such en
dowed with a higher dignity, that of the church of God, which may be
obscured by its sin, but never destroyed. rWK* and HUB* signify in this

144 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
great crushing judgments will fall upon the whole heathen
world no less'than on Sodom itself, is the uniform announce
ment of the prophets, also of Ezekiel, in ch. xxv. and xxvi. ;
so that the remark, that " Sodom is not the type of heathen
dom on this account, because heathendom does not need to be
restored," is not to the point. The representative character of
Sodom lies in the nature of the thing. If God pities the most
notorious sinners among the heathen, how should He not pity
all? And it is confirmed by ch. xlvii. 18, where the sea intro
duced in place of Sodom is a symbol of the world dead in sins.
Sodom also stands frequently elsewhere in the O. T. as a
representative of deep corruption (Deut. xxxii. 32 ; Isa. i. 10 ;
Jer. xxiii. 14). But all doubt is excluded by ver. 61. There
the representative character of Sodom is expressly affirmed.
Yet we may not exclude even Sodom itself from salvation. The
special references to it are too strong for this (comp. especially
vers. 49, 50). Ch. B. Michaelis says, " As Samaria and Jeru
salem, so must Sodom also, it appears, be taken literally." As
a restoration of the city is not to be thought of, its inhabitants
swept away by the judgment can only be the object of salva
tion ; and we have here an allusion to a continuance of the
arrangements of grace after death for those for whom on earth
salvation did not attain to its highest completion, the Old Testa
ment basis for 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21, iv. 6, especially for the latter
passage ; also for Matt. xii. 41, 42, a passage that indeed only
indirectly leads to the same result. " And to thy most miserable
captivity in the midst of them :" Jerusalem has behaved worse
than Sodom and Samaria ; therefore must she suffer more
severely than they. She experiences for the same reason also
not a separate forgiveness, placing her above her sisters, but is
only favoured among her sisters with an equal participation in
the same redemption. There is here no difference ; all have
sinned and come short of glory before God, and are justified
phrase always the captivity as a state, and not the multitude of the cap
tives. The fundamental passage is Deut. xxx. 3, " And the Loed thy
God will return to thy captivity." That the allusion to this passage may
be as literal as possible, Ezekiel puts first the there occurring form JTOB>,
and afterwards that which was current in his own time, TY\2W- The assi
milating Masoretes have removed this distinction : Thy misery's misery,
that is, thy highest misery, a captivity of the captivity, such as displays
itself amidst the captivity as a captivity.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XVI. 53-G3. 145
freely by His grace (Rom. iii. 23) : God has in like manner
included all among the disobedient, that He might have mercy
on all. Parallel is Isa. xix. 23, 24. There, in the Messianic
times, Egypt with Assyria serves the Lord, and Israel is the
third in their covenant — " a blessing in the midst of the land."
Both there and here, in vers. 54, 61, Israel appears as the point
from which the blessing passes over to the other nations, who
were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel. It is, however,
not accidental, that Israel here, as in Isaiah, takes only the
third place. There lies in this a hint that the heathen world
will sooner attain to salvation, and a preparation for Rom. xi.
25. This hint, however, in reference to the precedence of the
heathen in realizing salvation, receives a limitation and restric
tion in vers. 54, 61. According to this, salvation comes first
from an election out of the Jews to the Gentiles, and then
returns from the Gentiles to the Jews. This process of the
proclamation and acceptance of salvation Isaiah has already
presented in sharper definiteness in the closing chapter of his
predictions. Ver. 54 is to be explained by ver. 61. Accord
ingly, the comfort (Isa. xl. 1) consists in the announcement of
the gospel, the comforting truth, to the sisters : The Lord
returns to thy captivity. To receive this mission to the hea
then is a high honour ; and this office she fulfils with deep
shame, on account of her former apostasy, for which she de
served something far different from this distinction. The
prophet, in ver. 55, clings to the thought of restoration to her
former better position (Acts iii. 21). But the restoration is
here, as in Job, at the same time elevation to a stage of exist
ence far surpassing the former. Ver. 61 shows that the salva
tion of Sodom and Samaria consists in admission into the
kingdom of God, and participation in all the blessings of this
kingdom. " Was not Sodom a talk1 in thy mouth ? " so that
thou couldst not cease to spread the report of her shameful
deeds and her terrible downfall, but ever again didst revert to
this record out of the foretime. This her former haughty pride
Israel will remember with deep shame, when she becomes like
Sodom in sin and punishment, and a partaker with Sodom of
the same undeserved mercy. The wickedness of Jerusalem was
discovered (ver. 57) by her punishment. By that which she
1 nyiDt? is knowledge, nothing more.
K

146 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
suffered she learned what she had done, and the delusions of
her pride vanished : she no longer spoke of Sodom with a " God,
I thank thee," but laid her hand upon her own heart. The
daughters of Aram are the Aramaic cities and tribes. These
come not into regard as the destroying powers — were the in
struments of the divine vengeance to be named, Assyria and
Babylon would rather be cited — but as borderers mocking at
the calamity coming from another quarter. The genus to this
species are " all who were round about her," that is, about thee
(comp. v. 5, 6; Dan. ix. 16; Mic. v. 6). As a second species
of this genus, are then named the daughters of the Philistines,
who were especially distinguished among the mockers around
by their hatred. This disgrace, which came upon Israel in the
time of her calamity, was the just recompense for the arro
gance with which she looked down upon Sodom in the time of
her prosperity. " Thy lewdness and thy abominations thou
hast taken upon thee" (ver. 58) : this point of transition to
salvation cannot be allowed to thee more than to Sodom and
Samaria. " For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, And I will do"
(ver. 59) : first attention is drawn anew to this, that not the son
of man as such speaks, but the Lord, who is concealed behind
him, that thus threatening and the preaching of salvation may
Have the most solid ground. Then, by beginning with and, it
is intimated that this is a continuation of what goes before.
The oath is the swearing to the covenant on the part of God
(Deut. xxix. 11, 12). After the announcement of punishment
to the rebellious people in Lev. xxvi. 42, God had promised
that He would be mindful of His covenant. Deep shame
takes hold on Israel (ver. 61), that notwithstanding her deep
sinfulness, she was deemed worthy to enter into a motherly
relation to the heathen world, to receive them to herself into
the kingdom of God, which was the highest honour that could
be put upon her. That this honour is not imparted to the
whole people, but only to the election (especially represented
by the apostolate), is said not here, but elsewhere in the O. T.,
and even by Ezekiel himself, in the most emphatic manner
(comp. for ex. ch. iv. 4). It was here intimated in ver. 53.
In regard to the greater and lesser sisters, Cocceius aptly
remarks : " The plural shows that what was said of Samaria
and Sodom, refers not to them alone, but to all nations, great

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. XVI. 53-G3. 147
and small." The heathen nations that were to be received by
her intervention into the kingdom of God appear as daughters
of Jerusalem already in the Song of Songs, on which our
chapter is manifestly dependent (comp. my comm. on ch. i. 5).
Jerusalem receives the heathen nations, takes possession of them
as her property, belonging to her, and Jehovah gives them to
her as daughters. Sisters they were before ; and even on this
it depends that they are given to her for daughters. Accord
ing to Gen. i., which teaches the descent of all men from one
pair, the whole human race forms a great family. Accordingly,
the kingdom of God can only for a time be limited to a single
people, and the limiting must be the means of unlimiting. All
Christian nations are in fact daughters of Jerusalem, as surely
as they are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets (Eph. ii. 20). Parallel in import is Isa. ii. 3, where,
in the day of salvation, many peoples go to the mountain of the
Lord that is established on the top of the mountains, and say,
" Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the
house of the God of Jacob ; and Pie will teach us of His ways,
and we will walk in His paths : for out of Zion shall go forth
the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." The
short hint conveyed in the words, " and not by thy covenant,"
receives light from ver. 59. It means, accordingly, not by thy
keeping of covenant, not because the fulfilment of thy covenant
obligations gave thee any claim. The covenant may, so far as
Israel's obligation is concerned, be called his covenant ; so far
as Jehovah's promise is contemplated, it is God's covenant. It
is expressly said in ver. 60, that on the divine side the new
blessing is rooted in the old covenant relation, so that we can
not say, " Thy covenant means the former reciprocal one."
The covenant that is to be established (ver. 62), can only be
the so-called new covenant of Jer. xxxi. 31, the more intimate
relation into which God is about to enter with Zion, the su
premely intimate nature of which is evinced by this among
other things, that it draws the heathen more powerfully to it.
The knowing is here practical. As formerly by punishment, so
now by grace, Zion knows that her God is in the fullest sense
God. The higher the benefit, the deeper is the shame (ver. 63)
that she has fallen so disgracefully from a God so essentially
good.

148 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Ch. xvii. The predominant practical tendency of this chap
ter, is to strike down the vain hopes that were founded on the
alliance of Zedekiah with Egypt, that the people may attain to
salvation by the way of repentance. The prophet, however,
does not stop with the annihilation of earthly hopes. At the
close he points to the glorious exaltation of the kingdom of
David, which the Lord will bring to pass at the end of days.
Whosoever laid up this promise in his heart, would thereby be
delivered from the region of vain political hopes and intrigues.
The saying of Augustine applies here : " That which thou
seekest is ; but it is not where thou seekest it." The central
point of the hope's of the future was the person of the king.
God, they thought, cannot let him fall, without reversing the
glorious promises that He had made to the House of David. To
all outward appearance, the hopes of the house of David are
Huried with Zedekiah. The prophet, on the contrary, teaches
that Zedekiah will find what his deeds deserve, and yet God
will at length, when all seems to be lost, gloriously fulfil His
promise to the house of David. The prophecy falls into three
paragraphs : the parahle representing the emptiness of all
earthly hopes of the future ; its exposition, ver. 11 f. ; the sal
vation from above, ver. 22 f.
Ver. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto
the house of Israel ; 3. And say, Thus' saith the Lord Jehovah,
The great eagle, with great wings, with long quills, full of
feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and
took the leafy crown of the cedar. 4. The top of its young
twigs he plucked off, and brought it to the land of Canaan ; in
a city of merchants he set it. 5. And He took of the seed of
the land, and put it in a seed field : he took it to many waters,
and set it as a willow tree. 6. And it sprouted, and became
a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches should turn
towards him, and its roots be under him : and it became a vine,
and sent out branches and shot forth sprigs. 7. And there
was a great eagle, with great wings and many feathers ; and,
behold, this vine hungered in its roots after him, and sent forth
its branches towards him, that he might water it from the
beds where it was planted. 8. In a good field by many waters
was it planted, that it might send out leaves- and bear fruit,

TnE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XVII. 1-10. 149
and become a goodly vine. 9. Say thou, Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, Shall it prosper? Shall he not pull up the roots
thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither ? In all
the verdure of its shoots it shall wither ; and not by a great
arm or many people will it be taken away with its roots. 10.
And, behold, it is planted : shall it prosper? Shall it not utterly
wither when the east wind toucheth it ? It shall wither on the
beds of its shoots.
The great eagle (ver. 3) is the king of Babylon, who is
among the kings what the eagle is among the birds : in the
composition of the cherubim, the eagle represents the whole
class of birds. The greatness of the wings and of the quills
denotes the extension of his dominion : comp. Isa. viii. 8, where
the outstretched wings of the king of Assyria cover the entire
holy land. The thickness of the feathers denotes the great
multitude of his subjects ; the divers colours, the multiplicity of
the nations. In the carrying out of this symbol, the mountain
chain which on the north separated the heathen country from
the abode of God's people, is employed now as a figure of the
native kingdom (comp. Christol. on Zech. xi. 1), now as a figure
of the heathen monarchy (comp. my comm. on ch. iv. 8 of the
Song of Songs), — a double meaning, which was yielded by the
intervening position of Lebanon. The cedar on Lebanon is
the house of David : comp. Dan. iv. 8, 9, where Nebuchad
nezzar appears as a great and strong tree, and Ezek. xxxi. 3 f.,
where Assyria is designated as a cedar on Lebanon. The leafy
crown1 of the cedar is the then royal court, which was carried
away by Nebuchadnezzar, and whose constituent parts are
described in 2 Kings xxiv. 14. To the leafy crown here cor
responds, in the exposition, ver. 12, the king of Jerusalem with
her princes. The top of the young twigs of the cedar, in ver. 4,
is different from the leafy crown in ver. 3. While the latter
designates the whole court, the former refers to him who is
specially concerned, king Jehoiachin, who is the more aptly
compared with a twig, as he was a youth when carried captive.
The country of the Chaldeans cannot here be called Canaan,
that is, a merchant's land ; nor can Babylon be called a city of
traders, in the usual sense. This would be a designation that,
1 IYIDXi properly the wool of the tree, the top, where the foliage is
rankest.

1 50 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
irrespective of its being not at all characteristic, would not meet
the case in point. That which is intended is rather the Chal
dean diplomacy, the policy of the interests that were thus pur
sued, just as we speak of political negotiations and international
intrigues. From this policy originated the removal of Jehoiachin
to Babylon. Self-interest is the point of comparison between
politics and trade. This community of principle also explains
how both politics and trade are represented in Scripture under
the figure of adultery, the self-seeking, that conceals itself
under the appearance of love (comp. my comm. on Rev. xiv.
8, xvii. 2) ; the self-seeking policy, Nah. iii. 4 ; the trade, Isa.
xxiii. 15 f. It was, as it were, a profitable stroke of business,
that Jehoiachin, who was favourable to Egypt, should be
removed to Babylon, and a creature of the king of Babylon
set up in his stead, whose fidelity he might count upon, because
he had the legitimate sovereign in his custody, and could make
use of him according to circumstances. The king of Babylon
" took of the seed of the land" (ver. 5), in opposition to the
appointment of a foreign regent ; Zedekiah, whom the Chal
deans appointed, was of the old native royal family (2 Kings
xxiv. 17 ; here ver. 13). The Chaldean policy preferred such
a one, in order to secure the sympathies of the people. The
" field of seed" in which the new king was planted, is a fertile
soil, in opposition to a barren region. It refers, besides the
fertility, to the advantageous situation of the promised land in
a commercial aspect, on the highway of the world's commerce
by land and by water, to which the blessing of Jacob had
pointed (Gen. xlix. 13) ; and likewise the blessing of Moses
(Deut. xxxiii. 19).1 " He took it to many waters." Waters,
in the symbolic style of Scripture, signify the sources of
nourishment (comp. on Ps. cvii. 33 ; Rev. xvii. 1, 2). " Set
it as a willow :" set the new king, so that in a spiritual sense
he was a willow, resembled this in fresh bloom (comp. the
figure of the tree planted by the water-brooks in Ps. i.). The
following figure of the vine is not here in contradiction with
that of the willow. The two figures present different aspects.
The subject in ver. 6 is not the willow tree, but the king. The
new king (ver. 6) is a vine, not a cedar, as the earlier inde-
1 np is abbreviated from np7- The abbreviation is intended to point
to the previous np11!, and to resume this. Mich, accepit inquam.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XVII. 1-10. 151
pendent family of David. " Spreading," so that it grew
luxuriantly indeed, but in breadth, not in height, which is
still more definitely shown by the addition " of low stature."
Its (Zedekiah's) roots should be under him — should not be
withdrawn from dependence on the king of Babylon. The
words, " And it (the vine in spe) became a vine, and sent out
branches and shot forth sprigs," prepare for what follows.
From the prosperity of the new kingdom arose the arrogance
which led to the attempt to shake off the yoke of Babylon.
The second great eagle (ver. 7) is the king of Egypt, the
African world-power. It also has great wings, an extended
dominion, and is rich in feathers — has a numerous population
under it ; but the other is the great, this only a great eagle ;
and it wants the " divers colours,'' the multitude of nations
united under its sway. This kingdom is not a composite one,
extending over a wide surface of nations, like the Asiatic,
whose sovereign called himself king of kings, but a homoge
neous one. The vine, the kingdom of Judah, " hungers'' or
longs after the second eagle, or the king of Egypt ; and this
hunger belongs especially to its roots,1 which particularly need
strengthening, and in which the defect of the new kingdom
displayed itself. The watering appears to allude to the Nile,
the symbol of Egypt and its king, which waters Egypt, led by
the trenches into the fields (comp. Jer. ii. 18). The words
" from its beds," the bed where it was planted, belong to the
phrase, " it hungered and sent out." The planting bed is
Canaan, where the king is planted by the Chaldeans, and is
thereby bound to obey him, — a thought which is carried out
further in ver. 8. In ver. 8 we have the good design of the
king of Babylon, and of God, who makes use of him as His
instrument. Only from mischievous ingratitude could Zede
kiah seek to attach himself to the king of Egypt. Hitherto
the motive to judgment ; in ver. 9 the judgment itself, — a
judgment pronounced not by the son of man, but by Him
who speaks and it is done. In the words, " Shall he not
pull up the roots thereof?" the subject is the king of Baby
lon. The roots signify the national existence ; the fruit the
produce of the land, or the collective gain. The vine becomes
1 These stand in the so-called relative accusative, which limits more
strictly the sphere.

152 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
dry1 in all its sprouting leaves: these signify all that by which a,
prosperous national life is displayed. " Not by a great arm or
many people will it be taken away with its roots." According
to Jer. xxxiv., Nebuchadnezzar led a numerous army to Jeru
salem ; but there was no need of so great preparations. If a.
nation have God for its enemy, one can chase a thousand of
them, and two can put ten thousand to flight (Deut. xxxii. 30 ;
comp. Lev. xxvi. 8). The Egyptians were quite passive (comp.
ver. 17). The taking away with the roots2 signifies the total
abolition of the national existence. The destructive east wind,
in ver. 10, signifies the king of Babylon.
Then follows, in vers. 11-21, the exposition of the parable.
Ver. 11. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
12. Say now to the house of rebellion, Know ye not what this
is? Say, Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem,
and took its king, and its princes, and brought them to him to
Babylon. 13. And he took of the king's seed, and made a
covenant with him, and took an oath of him ; and he took the
mighty of the land : 14. That it might be a base kingdom,
that it might not lift itself up, that his covenant might be kept
and might stand. 15. And he rebelled against him in sending
his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses
and much people. Shall he prosper ? shall he escape that
doeth such things ? and should he break the covenant, and
escape? 16. As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, in the place
of the king that made him king, whose oath he despised, and
whose covenant he brake, he shall die with him in the midst of
Babylon. 17. Neither shall Pharaoh with mighty army and
great company act with him in war, by casting up a mount,
and building a fort, to cut off many souls. 18. And he has
despised the oath, to break the covenant, and, behold, he gave
his hand, and all this he did, he shall not escape. 19. There
fore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, As I live, mine oath that
he despised, and my covenant that he broke, this will I lay
upon his head. 20. And I will spread my net over him, and
he shall be taken in my snare ; and I will bring him to Babylon,
and plead with him there for his trespass which he hath com-
1 t£OT) refers to the vine, as in ver. 10.
2 Job xxviii. 9, ix, ptZZiv ; .Mark xi. 20 ; comp. Matt. iii. 10, Luke iii.
0, where the axe lies at the root of the trees.

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. XVII, 22-21. 153
mitted against me. 21. And all his fugitives1 with all his
squadrons shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall
be scattered towards all winds : and ye shall know that I the
Lord have spoken it.
" The house of rebellion " (ver. 12), the rebellious company,
should have been led by the parable and its exposition to sub
mission to the destiny of God. " He took the mighty of the
land " (ver. 13) : the noblest of the land were, according to
2 Kings xxiv. 15, carried away with Jehoiachin to Babel.
Nebuchadnezzar retained them as hostages for the fidelity of
Zedekiah, but especially to weaken the power of the vassal-
kingdom (ver. 14). " With him " (ver. 17) : this is most
simply referred to the rebel king. Pharaoh will not render
him the expected powerful aid against the Chaldeans ; he will
leave his protege' in the lurch, when he is hard pressed by his
enemies. That the Chaldeans need no great military force
against Jerusalem, is manifest here from this, that the Egyptians,
against whom alone it could be necessary, come not to its aid
with any force. Egypt was already at that time worm-eaten ;
which the Spirit of God showed to His prophets, while the
world went no further than the surface.
In vers. 22-24, the promise.2 Ver. 22. Thus saith the
Lord Jehovah, And I will take of the leafy crown of the high
cedar, and set it ; I will crop off from the top of his young
twigs a tender one, and plant it on a mountain high and
eminent. 23. On the high mountain of Israel will I plant it ;
and it sliall put forth branches, and bear fruit, and become a
goodly cedar : and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing ; a
in the shadow of its branches shall they dwell. 24. And
all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have
brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have
dried up the green tree, and made the dry tree to flourish ; I
the Lord have spoken and done it.
The beginning of the discourse of God with and — " And I
will take " — points out that this procedure of God is the con-
1 An allusion to VrTDD, his elect, quid pro quo.
2 Christol ii. p. 475 f.
3 That we must explain "fowl of every wing" by as many as have
wings, is obvious from the parallel passage, xxxix. 4, 17, and the funda
mental passage, Gen. vii. 14.

154 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
tinuation of a former one— His destructive interposition against
the house of David, according to the saying, " I kill, and I
Heal." The doubled emphasis on / points out that the pro
cedure here announced has the warrant of success in the person
of the speaker. This / is of powerful import, as the speaker is
no other than " the Lord Jehovah," the Almighty, the purely
absolute Being, whom no created thing can resist. This /
forms the counterpart to the present weak and barren attempt
to maintain the house of David in its dignity. When all these
political intrigues are shattered, the Lord takes the matter in
hand — the same who defeated these human schemes of deliver
ance. Tlie cedar is here, as before, the house of David. The
tenderness of the twig points to this, that the branch of David
will present itself at first small and obscure, in accordance with
the announcement of the earlier prophets, that the Messiah will
appear in the time of the deepest humiliation of the house of
David, rise from the fallen tabernacle of David (Amosix. 11),
a rod out of the stem of Jesse (Isa. xi. 1), a root out of a dry
ground (Isa. liii. 2). The mountain high and eminent, on
which the tender twig is planted, is the symbol of a mighty
kingdom. The high mountain of Israel, in ver. 23, forms the
more exact description of the mountain high and eminent.
It means, according to ch. xx. 40, Mount Zion, which is here,
however, viewed not according to its natural height, in respect
to which it stands far behind Lebanon, which appeared in
ver. 3 as the symbol of the kingdom of God, but according
to its spiritual height, which already existed in the times of
the O. T., according to Ps. xlviii. 3, " Beautiful for its height,
the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, the city of the great
King" (Ps. lxviii. 17), but first attains to its full import in the
Messianic times ; comp. Mic. iv. 1, Isa. ii. 2, according to
which in that time, " at the end of days," the mountain of the
Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains,
and exalted above the hills.1 In point of fact, Mount Zion
signifies the kingdom to be raised to the supremacy over the
world-kingdoms. Yet we must expect that, when the fulfil
ment of our prophecy begins, the kingdom of God will have
1 Cocceius : qui ut altior erat omnibus montibus in toto mundo, quia domus
Dei tantum in illo erat, ita longe altior futurus erat, quum Rex regum in eo
manifestaretur.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XVII. 22-21. 155
its seat on the natural Zion ; and so in fact it happened. The
branches, which the shoot puts forth, signify the extension of
the sovereignty of that great descendant of David ; the fruits
which it bears (comp. Isa. xi. 1, " a branch out of its roots shall
bear fruit"), signify the saving operations that come from Him.
The words, " and become a goodly cedar," show that the cedar
with its leafy crown, in ver. 22, existed only in an ideal sense,
and had entirely disappeared from the common reality. With
the new shoot it entered again into this with imposing effect.
To represent powerful ruling families under the form of an
overshadowing tree, is a figure particularly acceptable in the
Chaldean period, and probably borrowed from the Chaldees
(xxxi. 3 f. ; Dan. iv. 7, 8). Matt. xiii. 32 rests on our passage.
The trees of the field (ver. 24) are, in the symbolic style of
Scripture, the princes and the mighty ones of the earth (in
Rev. vii. 1). The high tree is the worldly dominion. The
humiliation of this is implied in the exaltation of the house
of David, announced in the previous verse : when all the
fowls dwell under that cedar, there remains no more room
for the worldly dominion. The low tree is David, or the
family of David, that attains to its exaltation in the Messiah.
With the fact of the exaltation is given its accomplishment
by Jehovah, as surely as the family of David stands under
the protection of Jehovah. The green tree is the world-
monarchy that flourished luxuriantly at the time when this
prophecy was published ; comp. Dan. iv. 8, 9, where it is
said in the description of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, " The
tree was great and strong, and its height reached unto heaven,
and the sight thereof to the end of the whole earth ; its leaf
was fair, and its fruit much," etc. In the exposition (ver.
19) it is said, " Thou art the tree, O king ; " while the tree of
David's race was already almost dried up, and according to
the announcement of the prophet, should soon be altogether
dried up.
The exposition of the symbol is not added here, for the same
reason that a prediction against Babylon is wanting in Ezekiel,
whereas the whole of the predictions of Jeremiah culminate
in this. The prophet spoke in the country of the Chaldees ;
and that they kept an observant eye on the predictions in
Israel, is plain, among other passages, from Jer. xxix. 21, 22.

156 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Caution in regard to the surrounding heathen is also observable
in the whole book of Ecclesiastes.
The words,- "I the Lord speak and do," oppose to the
visible, in which the promise is devoid of all ground, the
person of the promisor. Experience has shown that this power
concealed behind the visible is of infinitely more importance
than the visible, that is so imposing. Babylon, and with it
the whole series of the old world-powers, are dried up ; David
flourishes and bears fruit, and under the shadow of his offshoot
the fowls of the heaven dwell.
Ch. xviii. A hindrance to the salutary effect of the an
nouncement of judgment in ch. viii.-xi., a shield which was
held up against the implied demand for a radical conversion,
lay in the fancy that the Lord visits the sins of the fathers
upon the present generation. Accordingly, repentance was
represented as fruitless. This fancy, resting on the misin
terpretation of Ex. xx. 5, xxxiv. 7, has its proper starting-
point in a mistake about personal sinfulness : instead of this
true cause of the divine judgments, a false one is substituted.
The prophet, on the contrary, follows out the principle, that
every one receives what his own deeds deserve ; that not foreign
sins involve in the judgments of God, not even personal ones,
if they be penitently abandoned (vers. 21—29). Therefore let
a man return to God (vers. 30-32). The repeated enumeration
of the actions in which the essence of righteousness consists,
shows how the people came to refer the guilt to the fathers,
and murmur against God, who punished them for guilt not
their own, rather than against their own sin. The human heart
is prone to place righteousness in external forms and ceremonies.
In these they were exact. While the prophet holds up before
them the mirror of true righteousness, he shows them that
there is a simple solution of the problem, in which the guilt
falls not on the side of God, but on their own head, and in
which repentance is represented not as fruitless, but as salutary,
and absolutely necessary.
First, in vers. 1-3, the ungodly proverb, and the declaration
that it shall be no more heard in Israel ; then, in ver. '4, the
thesis by which, while it establishes personal accountability,
the misunderstanding must be destroyed. After this, the carry-

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XVIII. 1-4 157
ing out into details. Ver. 1. And the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, 2. What is for you, that ye use this proverb
in the land of Israel, saying, The fathers ate sour grapes, and
the children's teeth are set on edge ? 3. As I live, saith the
Lord Jehovah, ye shall not use this proverb any more in Israel.
4. Behold, all souls are mine ; as the soul of the father, so
also the soul of the son is mine : the soul that sinneth, it shall
die. The dictum of the people mentioned in ver. 2 occurs before
in Jer. xxxi. 29. It has been shown in my' Contributions
{Beitrage), iii. p. 544 f., that the passages of the law that lie
at the foundation of this dictum contain no such doctrine ; that,
according to the uniform doctrine of the Holy Scripture, no
man is punished but for his own guilt ; that only the ungodly
son is involved in the punishment of the fathers ; that Ezekiel
comes forward here simply as the expositor, not the amender,
of the law. The Lord asserts, in ver. 3, that such a proverb
shall no more be heard in Israel. He does not forbid it, but
He declares that He Himself will expel it from them ; comp.
the passage cited from Jeremiah. The cause of its cessation is
the severity of the divine judgments. When these come on,
the fig-leaves fall off, the slumbering conscience awakens, and
cries out, It is I and my sins. There is a multitude of philoso-
phemes and theological dogmas that are only possible in certain
times, and sneak away in confusion when the thunders of the
divine judgment begin to roll. In ver. 4, the antithesis to the
thesis of the people. " The souls are mine " — belong to me.
God would surrender His property, if He permitted souls,
whether individuals or whole generations, to suffer punishment
for the guilt of others. In the likeness of God, on which the
sentence " All souls are mine " rests, lies the principle that
souls cannot be degraded into servile instruments — that each
can only be treated according to his works. " The soul of the
son as that of the father : " in reference to the proverb, son
and father represent at the same time the earlier and the later
generation. Now follows the carrying out into detail. First (vers. 5-9),
true righteousness — which exhibits itself in the fulfilment of
the, commandments of God — and salvation are inseparably con
nected. In the more exact designation of righteousness — which

158 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
was necessary, because so many gave themselves over in this
respect to false imaginations, from which the fancy that men
suffer for the extraneous sins of their fathers originated— such
sins are especially made prominent as were at that time in vogue.
Ver. 5. And if a man be just, and do judgment and right
eousness, 6. And eat not upon the mountains, nor lift up his
eyes to the abominations of the house of Israel, nor defile his
neighbour's wife, nor come near to a menstruous woman, 7.
And do not oppress any, restore his pledge for debt,1 do not
commit robbery, give his bread to the hungry, and cover the
naked with a garment ; 8. If he give not on usury, nor take
increase, turn his hand from iniquity, execute true judgment
between man and man, 9. Walk in my statutes, and keep my
judgments, to do the truth ; he is just, he shall surely live,
saith the Lord Jehovah.
In ver. 6, out of the first table the command, Thou shalt
have no other gods before me — the mountains as the places of
the idolatrous nature-worship ; out of the second, Thou shalt
not commit adultery. The prohibition of impurities in the
married state is included in the latter, which is directed against
unbridled lust, that bows not to the ordinance of God. The
pledge, in ver. 7, is more exactly defined by reference to the
legal decisions in Ex. xxii. 25, Deut. xxiv. 6, 10 f., as some
thing which is necessary to the existence of the poor man.
The truth, in ver. 9, is the real righteousness in opposition to
the show of it, with which so many deceive themselves and
others. Vers. 10-13. On the contrary, if a righteous man have an
unrighteous son, he will come short of salvation, and his father's
righteousness will not avail him.
Ver. 10. And if he beget a violent son, who sheds blood,
and doeth to his brother2 any of those things, 11. And he
1 31D is the accusative of restriction.
2 PIN, in regard to his brother, in relation to him. That nN must have
the usual meaning of brother, is shown by ver. 18. Among the charac
teristics of the son in the first member, the violations of the command
ments of the second table are specially regarded. Fellow-men, and
especially fellow-Israelites, are expressly designated in the law as friends
and brothers, to show that the violation of love towards them is unnatural
and penal. "inNO, one or other, as Lev. iv. 2. Luther, "or does this
thing once,'' omitting the brother.

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XVIII. 14-20. 159
doeth not all those things, for he eateth upon the mountains,
and defileth his neighbour's wife, 12. He oppresseth the poor
and needy, committeth robbery, restoreth not the pledge, and
lifteth up his eyes to the abominations, and practiseth that
which is detestable, 13. Giveth forth on usury, and taketh
increase, should he live ? He shall not live : he hath done all
these abominations ; he shall be put to death ; his blood shall
be upon him.
" Of these things" (ver. 10) — the things that are charac
terized as ungodly in the previous verses. " And he doeth not
all those things" that are enumerated in vers. 6-9 as necessary
qualifications of the righteous, and are practised by his father.
" His blood shall be upon him" (ver. 13) : he is the author of
his own misfortune ; he must ascribe it to himself.
Vers. 14-20. Again, if this unrighteous man have a right
eous son, the unrighteousness of his father will not injure him,
and salvation will return to him. Ver. 14. And, lo, he hath
begotten a son, and he seeth all his father's sins which he hath
done, and seeth them,1 and doeth not the like ; 15. He eateth
not upon the mountains, nor lifteth up his eyes to the abomi
nations of the house of Israel, and defileth not his neighbour's
wife ; 16. And oppresseth no one, taketh no pledge, and
committeth no robbery ; giveth his bread to the hungry, and
covereth the naked with a garment ; 17. Turneth away his
hand from the poor, taketh not usury or increase, executeth
my judgments, walketh in my statutes : he shall not die for the
iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. 18. Plis father,
because he cruelly oppressed, committed robbery on his brother,
and did that which is not good among his people, lo, he died in
his iniquity. 19. And ye say, Why doth not the son partake
in the iniquity of the father ? And the son hath clone judg
ment and righteousness, hath kept my statutes and done them :
he shall surely live. 20. The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
The son shall not partake in the iniquity of the father, and the
father shall not partake in the iniquity of the son ; the right
eousness of the righteous shall be upon Him, and the wicked
ness of the wicked shall be upon him.
1 Luther, " and feareth." The reading is to be pointed as before.
The Masoretes wish to read nK"V1, thinking that the full form suits the
emphasis.

160 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
" And seeth them :" this is in ver. 14 emphatically re
peated, to show that the seeing of the sins of his father in their
terrible odiousness, and of the punishments inseparably con
nected with them, serves as a warning to him. Vers. 19 and
20 refer the special to the general, the individual case to the
rule. It is a mere variation, if the question as to the " why"
is put in the mouth of the people. The thought is thus only
introduced in a more animated way, as much as to say, And
will ye know why the son takes not upon him the iniquity of
the' father, as I say ? The close of the amplification returns to
the general thesis of ver. 4. " And the father shall not take
upon him the iniquity of the son," no more than the father
suffers for the iniquity of the son.
Vers. 21-29. So far from the sins of his fathers excluding
from salvation, not even his own do this, if they be penitently
forsaken. Ver. 21. And the wicked, if he turn from all his
sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do
judgment and righteousness, he shall surely Hve, he shall not
die. 22. All his transgressions that He hath committed shall
not be mentioned unto him : in his righteousness that he hath
done he shall live. 23. Have I any pleasure at all in the death
of the wicked ? saith the Lord Jehovah : if he return from his
way,1 should he not live? 24. And when the righteous turneth
away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and
doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked doeth,
should he live ? All his righteousness that he hath done shall
not be mentioned : in his perfidy that he hath practised, and in
his sin that he hath sinned, therein he shall die. 25. And ye
say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, 0 house
of Israel, Should not my way be equal ? Are not your ways
unequal? 26. When the righteous turneth away from his
righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth therein, for
his iniquity that he hath done he dieth. 27. And if the wicked
turn away from His wickedness that he hath committed, and do
judgment and righteousness, he shall save his soul alive. 28.
And he seeth and turneth away from all his transgressions that
he hath committed, he shall surely live, He shall not die. 29.
And the house of Israel saith, The way of the Lord is not
1 Luther, " and not rather that he turn from his nature, and live."
" From his way :" for this the Masoretes read, " from his ways."

THE SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XIX. 161
equal. Are not my ways equal, O house of Israel ? Are not
your ways unequal ?J
They asserted (ver. 25) that the ways of God were not
right — properly, not weighed in the balance of righteousness
(Job xxxi. 6) — but regulated by caprice. This assertion pro
ceeded from defective consciousness of sin, that could find no
other key to suffering than this, that it was decreed unright
eously, on account of the sins of the fathers. The prophet
points to this, that the guilt lies on their side. If they only
sincerely return to God, they will no more have cause to com
plain of Him.
In vers. 30-32 the practical result : Turn ye, so shall ye
attain to salvation. Ver. 30. Therefore will I judge you, O
house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the
Lord Jehovah. Return ye, and turn from all your trans
gressions, and let not iniquity be your ruin. 31. Cast away
from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed,
and make you a new heart and a new spirit ; and why will ye
die, O house of Israel ? 32. For I have no pleasure in the
death of the dead, saith the Lord Jehovah ; turn ye, then, and
live. " And turn" (ver. 30) — heart and senses (comp. xiv. 6).
" And let not iniquity be your ruin :" provide that iniquity
involve you not in the judgment of God, and occasion your
fall. " Make you a new heart" (ver. 31) : only God can do
this, which the O. T. teaches no less emphatically than the N.
(Ps. li. ; Ezek. xi. 19.) But it does not come, unless the human
will move to meet it ; comp. Matt, xxiii. 37, " And ye would
not." Hence the act is ascribed to man also. " The dead,"
in ver. 32, is one given over to certain death, who is already as
good as dead.
Ch. xix. A song here forms the close of the whole cycle
from ch. viii., as in ch. vii. at the close of that beginning with
ch. i. The song first laments the miserable fate that awaits
the kingdom (vers. 1-9) ; then the sad lot of the people, who
sink back into the state in which they were formerly in the
journey through the wilderness.
1 The singular, pn*, at the close, is explained by this, that the actual
plurality of the way is compressed into the ideal unity of the wal'..
L

162 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The lament concerning the princes goes at once to the facts,
that were matter of history at the time when these words
were spoken, — the carrying away of Jehoahaz into Egypt
(vers. 1-4), and that of Jehoiachin to Babylon (vers. 5-9).
But as prophecy deals not with the purely past, and the
parallel lamentation concerning the people refers to the future,
we must assume that the prophet regards those facts of the
past as types of that which will befall the present Zedekiah ;
so that we have to suppose a break after ver. 9, or a " Whoso
readeth, let him understand ;" " Who hath ears to hear, let
him hear." Quite analogous is ch. xxxi., where the fall of the
king of Assyria is presented as a type of that of the king of
Egypt : there also the history is a concealed prophecy. Only
in this way also is explained the strange circumstance, that
Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin are arranged one immediately after
the other ; and Jehoiakim, standing historically between them,
is omitted. Though he was a more important personage than
either, and reigned much longer, and though his reign pre
sented abundant matter for lamentation, as the beginning of
the Chaldean servitude and the first taking of Jerusalem fall
in it ; and even a second, occasioned by his revolt, in which the
king himself lost his life, took place under him ; yet he be
longed not to this connection, as the carrying away of Zede
kiah into a heathen land, and specially into Babylon, is to be
foreshadowed. Ver. 1. And take thou up a lamentation for the princes of
Israel, 2. And say, How is thy mother a lioness ? she lay down
among lions, among ravening lions she reared her whelps. 3.
And she brought up one of her whelps, and he became a
ravening lion, and learned to catch the prey : he devoured
men. 4. And the heathen heard of him : he was taken in
their pit ; and they brought him with rings to the land of
Egypt. 5. And she saw that she had waited ; her hope was
lost : and she took another of her whelps ; she made him a
ravenous lion. 6. And he walked in the midst of the lions ;
he became a ravenous lion, and learned to catch the prey : he
devoured men. 7. And he knew his widows, and laid waste
their cities ; and the land was desolate, and its fulness, through
the noise of his roaring. 8. And the heathen gave against him
round about from the provinces, and spread their net over him :

THE -SECOND CYCLE — CHAP. XIX. 1-9. 163
he was taken in their pit. 9. And they put him in ward in
rings, and brought him to the king of Babylon : they brought
him into the nets,1 that his voice should no more be heard on
the mountains of Israel.
The " how" (ver. 2) is an exclamation of surprise (comp.
xvi. 30) at the former glory, which, as this glory is now
vanished, is in reality a bitter lamentation. The address is to
the man Judah, the people of the present. The mother is the
people in itself. The people appears as a lioness on the ground
of Gen. xlix. 9, to which passage the couching in particular
refers (comp. Num. xxiii. 24, xxiv. 9 ; Isa. xxix. 1), because it
was a royal people, of equal birth with other independent and
powerful nations, as this royal nature was historically dis
played, especially in the times of David and Solomon. The
Highest development of this lion-nature, the true verification of
Gen. xlix. 9, 10, first came to pass in the future, in the ap
pearance of the Messiah, the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev.
v. 5). Before, however, this highest development could take
place, the people must first, sink so deep as to resemble a worm
rather than a lion. For in the kingdom of God the way is
per ardua ad astra : there is no state of exaltation without
the corresponding state of humiliation. The whelps of the
mother are the sons of the king of Israel. The bringing up
of these among lions points to the fact that the kingdom of
Israel was of equal birth with the mighty kingdoms of the
heathen world. In ver. 3 the figure of the lion is otherwise
applied. The ignoble side of the lion-nature is here brought
to view. The distance, however, is not very great : there is a
close connection between the two sides. By the constitution
of human nature, arrogance is inseparably connected with high
rank, and therewith a rude barbarity towards all who stand in
the way of self-will. He only who walks with God can escape
this natural consequence ; and the walk of faith is not the
attainment of every man. It should, however, be the attain
ment of every man among the people of God ; and where it
fails, and the corrupt nature unfolds itself without resistance,
1 Luther, " and they kept him." miVD is not " hold" (against this
are the plural, and the mention of Babylon in the foregoing passage), but
net (Eccles. ix. 12 ; comp. here xii. 13, xxxii. 3). For the taking of so dan
gerous a wild beast many nets were necessary.

164 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
there the vengeance of God takes effect. Jehoahaz proved to
be a barbarous tyrant toward his own subjects ; whereas, accord
ing to its constitution, the kingdom of Israel should exhibit a
heroic power against the enemies of the people of God. For
this reason he was punished. To the mother here corresponds,
in 2 Kings xxiii. 30, the people of the land, who, after Josiah
fell in the battle with the Egyptians, made Jehoahaz king.
To that which is said here concerning his disposition, corre
sponds 2 Kings xxiii. 32, " And he did that which was evil
in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had
done." On ver. 4, Chr. B. Michaelis says : " There is an
allusion to the custom, when the news arrives that a lion or
other savage beast is committing mischief, of assembling on all
sides to seize and slay it." The ring lays on the wild beast the
necessity of following whither it will not (comp. 2 Kings xix.
28). In reality, the fetters correspond to the ring. 2 Kings
xxiii. 33, 34 gives the historical commentary : " And Pharaoh-
Necho fettered him at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, . . . and
took him and brought him to Egypt, and he died there."
In ver. 5 f. the second type of the fate awaiting Zedekiah
is still more definite than the first, because Zedekiah, like
Jehoiachin, was also to be carried away to Babylon. The
co-operation of the people in the elevation of Jehoiachin to
the throne is not mentioned in the narrative, as it is expressly
in the case of Jehoahaz. But respect to the wishes of the
people is implied in his being the son of Jehoiakim. " And
she saw that she had waited, her hope was lost :" that is, while
she waited, namely, for the return of Jehoahaz from Egypt.
Jehoiachin also (ver. 6) exposed the bad side of the lion-
nature. In accordance with our passage, it is said of him
(2 Kings xxiv. 9), notwithstanding his reign of only a few
months, " he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,
according to all that his father had done." The knoioing in
ver. 7 denotes the practising of brutalities. His, that is, the
king's widows, are the widows whom he, as king, was bound
to protect. His widows are at the same time tlieir, the people's,
widows, the wretched and suffering, the personal miserabiles.
The subject is the king as a lion, as a hard and cruel man.
There is an abridged comparison here : he acts towards the
wretched, whom he was called on to protect, as one who injures

THE SECOND CYCLE— CHAP. XIX. 10-14. 165
a widow confided to his protection. The fulness of the land
is that which lives and moves in it. The lion roars when he is
about to rend ; and this rending is to be added to the roar, as
only thus the effect ascribed to the roar is explained. " Gave
against him" (ver. 8) : what they gave is not said. It is to
be supplied from the connection — every one his gift, his con
tribution, to make him harmless. The provinces are the sur
rounding countries, as parts of the Chaldean empire ; comp.
2 Kings xxiv. 2, according to which the Syrians, Ammonites,
and Moabites were summoned against Jehoiakim, the father
of Jehoiachin. Ver. 96 returns to ver. 8b, to give prominence
to the object of the whole procedure.
While the first part of the elegy refers to the kingdom, the
second describes the existing condition of the people. It
appears in the close of the 80th Psalm under the figure of a
choice vine that is now wasted. Ver. 10. Thy mother, it
seems to thee, is like a vine planted by the waters : she was
fruitful and full of branches from many waters. 11. And she
had strong rods for sceptres of rulers, and her growth was
high above the clouds ; and she was conspicuous in her height,
in the fulness of her branches. 12. And she was torn out in
fury, cast to the earth, and the east wind dried up her fruit ;
and her strong rods were broken and dried up, fire consumed
them. 13. And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a land
of drought and thirst. 14. And fire went out of the rod of
her branches, consumed her fruit ; and there was not in her
a strong rod, a sceptre for ruling. This is a lamentation, and
shall be for a lamentation.
THe people of the present are addressed in ver. 10. His
mother is the people in itself. The phrase, " it seems to thee,"
properly, in thy idea or likeness,1 points to this, that what is
here said of the mother, the comparison with the vine to be
utterly destroyed, applies pre-eminently to the people of the
present, and calls out to them, tua res agitur, is equivalent to
the saying, " Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not
pass till all these things come to pass." The many waters
signify the divine blessing which ruled over Israel, the rich
influx of grace. Ver. 11 refers especially to the glorious con
dition of the people in the time of David and Solomon, under
1 D*l = rVlEn ; comp. h vapxPoKri, Heb. xi. 19.

166 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
whom Israel became a world-power like Assyria, of whom the
same is said in ch. xxxi. 3.1 The east wind (ver. 2) is a figure
of the divine judgment to be executed by the Chaldeans. The
fire denotes the same divine judgment in its destroying cha
racter.2 The wilderness (ver. 13) denotes the misery of the
state of exile, in which the passing of Israel through the wil
derness in the olden time repeated itself. Such a wilderness
may even be in the midst of a cultivated land. The fire in
ver. 14 goes out from the chief stem of the branches : it does
not take its rise from the Chaldees, but proceeds from the
royal family itself, which by its crimes called down the divine
vengeance. The fruit denotes the prosperity of the people.
The prophet here dwells on that which Israel receives in the
way of her works. She falls into utter destruction, until, with
the appearance of the Messiah, through God's unmerited
grace, a new beginning is made, and the word is heard, " I
am the true vine." They who stop the ear against the word
abide in death, to which they are doomed by their works. The
lamentation is (properly was, with prophetic anticipation of the
future) for a lamentation : it is not the fancy of a gloomy
seer, but the prediction of a lamentation, which will actually
flow in a thousand voices from the mouth of the people. What
Ezekiel here pronounces, the people will too soon be compelled
to repeat after him. His lamentation is, as it were, the sowing,
out of which a rich harvest of lamentation grows. At present
the sky is full of joyous music to the people ; but very soon it
will be said : " My harp is turned to mourning, and my flute
to the voice of weeping."
1 riUJJ, " clouds," gradually loses its plural meaning. From this
Ezekiel has formed the new plural QiJTQS?, which is found in him only in
this meaning {Christol. iii. p. 457). It is properly, " over between the
clouds." It grows through between the clouds, and out above them. The
suffix in inoip refers to the royal family, the collection of the ruling rods ;
and this is also the subject in k-|'iV This is properly, they were seen,
they appeared, displayed themselves openly, shone in the eyes of all.
2 The strong rod is the collection of the strong rods or branches, that
became sceptres of rulers in ver. 11. This explains the construction with
the plural. The suffix in inrpDN refers not to the vine, but to the strong
rod. The misfortune of the king, however, was at the same time that of
the people.

THE THTED AND FOUKTH CYCLES.
THE THIRD.— CHAPTERS XX.-XXIII.
E have here the third cycle. The prophet takes occa
sion for a new beginning, from the visit of men from
the elders of the people. These are here, as in ch.
xiv. 1, representatives, not of the totality of the exiles,
but of the great mass of those only externally fearing God, but
internally addicted to the spirit of the world and the age. The
embassy had probably a special occasion in the circumstances of
the time, in a favourable turn which the affairs of the coalition
Had taken. They wish to obtain confirmation of their joyful
hopes from the mouth of the prophet. As long as he remains
in the former position, things do not stand well with them.
The prominent question is not about salvation in general, but
whether there can be salvation without judgment and without
repentance — salvation for the people as they now are. They
do not consider that a total revolution must take place in them,
if they are to be capable of salvation.
The direct answer to the embassy is contained in ch. xx. ;
the further details are given in ch. xxi.-xxiii. In ch. xx. the
prophet sets their sins before Israel till ver. 20. The descrip
tion has four paragraphs : Israel in Egypt — the first station in
the wilderness — the second station — Israel in Canaan. With
a people so obstinately persevering in their sins, from their
origin, through all times down to the present, God must hold
a great reckoning, which is at the same time a purification
(vers. 30-39). Yet the judgment will be followed by grace
for those who are purified thereby (vers. 40-44).
Ver. 1. And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the
fifth month, on the tenth day, came men of the elders of Israel
to inquire of the Lord ; and they sat before me. 2. And the
word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 3. Son of man,
speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith
167

168 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the Lord Jehovah, Are. ye come to inquire of me ? As I live,
saith the Lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you.
4. Wilt thou judge them, wilt thou judge them, son of man ?
Make known to them the abominations of their fathers.
The question, repeated in the liveliness of emotion, " Wilt
thou judge them ? " is a question of impatience, to which things
go too slowly, and shows how little right they have to look for
grace, or expect a pleasing answer. The son of man cannot
go soon enough for the Lord to the work of judgment and
punishment for sin, which is here alone announced, and is to
be executed in His name. Those who wish to have another
answer, must repent beforehand. The summons to make
known to them the sins of their fathers, points to this, that the
evil is deep-seated, and a radical cure is to be desired, which
can only be effected by a judgment of inflexible rigour.
First, Israel's sins in Egypt. God made Himself known to
Israel in Egypt by wonders and signs ; said to them, in fact,
" I am your God," and held out to them the land of promise.
But they requited His kindness with ingratitude ; yet God
brought them out of Egypt. Ver. 5. And say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, In the day when I chose Israel,
and lifted up my hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and
made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, and lifted
up my hand to them, saying, I am the Lord your God ; 6.
In that day I lifted up my hand to them, to bring them out of
the land of Egypt into the land which I had espied for them,
flowing with milk and honey, which is an ornament for all
lands. 7. And I said unto them, Cast away every man the
idols of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the abomina
tions of Egypt : I am the Lord your God. 8. And they re
belled against me, and would not hearken unto me : they did
not cast away every man the idols of his eyes, nor forsake the
abominations of Egypt ; and I said, I will pour out my fury
upon them, I will accomplish my anger upon them in the midst
of the land of Egypt. 9. And I did it for my name's sake,
that it should not be polluted before the heathen among whom
they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, to lead
them out of the land of Egypt.
There can be no doubt that the lifting up of the hand in
vers. 5 and 6 is the gesture of the oath ; for so it undeniably

THE THIRD CYCLE — CHAP. XX. 5-9. 169
occurs in ver. 15, ver. 28, and in the fundamental passage,
Ex. vi. 8. Now in the last the oath refers solely to the leading
out of Egypt, and to this we must here also adhere. The
hand is here lifted up beforehand, to warrant this assurance.
The expressions, " I made myself known to them," and " I said,
I am the Lord your God," serve only to bring the oath im
pressively before their minds. It takes place, as it were, while
the hand is lifted up to this oath, to give a practical founda
tion for faith in it. Both refer to the wonders and signs in
Egypt. By these God made Himself known to Plis people, and
said to them, " I am the Lord your God ; " comp. Ex. vi. 2,
according to which, God by these facts made Himself known
by His name Jehovah. "Into the land which I had espied
for them : " God, as it were, spied out this land for them,
sought it out with the greatest care as the best. No gift of
God without obligation (ver. 7). How should they not truly
serve Him who had exerted Himself so signally for them ?
The words, "I am the Lord your God," point to the ground
of obligation. In ver. 8 we are told how badly the people
in Egypt responded to His call. History does not expressly
mention such a revolt of the people in Egypt ; yet we are led
indirectly to this by the statements of the books of Moses con
cerning the perpetual tendency of the people ih the wilder
ness to the customs of Egypt. To this belongs, for ex., the
making of the golden calf, in which there is an imitation
of the Egyptian worship of the brute ; further, Lev. xvii. 7,
according to which Israel in the wilderness served he-goats.
The worship of a deity under the form of a he-goat was
peculiar to Egypt; Lev. xviii. 3, where the people are ad
monished : " After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein
ye dwelt, shall ye not do." That the Israelites generally
served idols in Egypt, is attested by Josh. xxiv. 14 ; and this
being so, it is to be expected beforehand that this inclination
would not immediately cease after the true God had made
Himself known to them. The murmuring also of the people
in Egypt against Moses and Aaron (Ex. v. 21), implies an
under-current of Egyptian tendencies. " And I did " (ver. 9) :
namely, what I did — the well-known fact to be afterwards
more exactly defined, that I, notwithstanding their infidelity,
led them out of Egypt. The ground which determines God to

170 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
this— respect for His name, His honour— is further amplified
in Num. xiv. 13-16.1 God's name and call would be dese
crated, degraded into the sphere of impotence and falsehood, if
He did not perform what He had proposed.
Vers. 10-17. The sin of the first generation of Israel in the
wilderness. Ver. 10. And I led them forth out of the land of
Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. 11. And I
gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, by
which, if a man do them, he shall live. 12. And also my
sabbaths I gave them, to be a sign between me and them, that
they might know that I the Lord do sanctify them. 13.
And the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness ;
they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judg
ments, by which a man lives, if he do them ; and my sabbaths
they greatly polluted ; and I said I would pour out my fury
upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. 14. And I
did it for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted be
fore the heathen, in whose sight I led them out. 15. And
also I lifted up my hand to them in the wilderness, that I
would not bring them into the land which I had given them,
flowing with milk and honey, which is an ornament for all
lands. 16. Because they despised my judgments, and walked
not in my statutes, and polluted my sabbaths ; for their heart
went after their abominations. 17. And my eye spared them
that I should not destroy them, and I did not make an end of
them in the wilderness.
The precepts which God gave His people bring (ver. 11)
life and salvation with them to him who does them. What
grace in God, who gives such precepts ! what a summons to
true obedience ! These precepts also imply before all things,
that they shall confess their sins, and seek forgiveness in the
blood of atonement. This is required by the laws concerning
the sin-offerings, which in the Mosaic law form the root of all
other offerings; the passover, which so strictly requires us to
strive after the forgiveness of sins, and connects all salvation
with it and the great day of atonement. The Sabbath, in
stituted by God, and altogether peculiar to Israel (ver. 12), is
a weekly recurring confession of God to Plis people, and of the
people to their God, — a sign that God sanctifies this people,
1 ?nn, infinitive in Niphal, from ^>n (comp. vii. 24).

THE THIRD CYCLE — CHAP. XX. 18-26. 171
and separates them from the mass of other nations as His own
people. How careful must they be to keep holy an institution
so rich in grace ! Whosoever violates it, transgresses against
his existence. "My Sabbaths they greatly polluted" (ver. 13) :
history records nothing of an external violation of the Sabbath
during the journey through the wilderness. Num. xv. 32 f.,
where the man who gathered wood on the Sabbath was brought
before the congregation, and stoned by them after formal sen
tence, is rather a proof that in this respect they were not
wanting in zeal. But the prophet, in accordance with Isa.
lviii. 13, 14, and with Moses himself, who commanded to
sanctify the Sabbath, to consecrate it in every respect to God,
and withdraw it wholly from the region of self-interest, of
personal sinful inclination, according to which the festival
cannot possibly be observed with indolent repose, forms a
deeper and more spiritual idea of the Sabbath. " Thou shalt
cease from thy doing, that God may have His work in thee : "
in this sense the truly God-fearing only can celebrate the
Sabbath; so that all that in the books of Moses attests the
want of true godliness among the people in the wilderness, in
volves at the same time the charge of desecrating the Sabbath.
For His name's sake God destroys not the people (ver. 14) ;
but He excludes the present generation from the possession of
Canaan, in just retribution for that which they have practised
against Him. To this just retribution points the " and I also."
It depends on the will of every one what position he will take
towards God ; but he must be prepared for this, that his act
will be attended with a corresponding divine act. That the
lifting up of the hand here has the import of an oath, is shown
by Num. xiv. 28-30 ; Ps. cvi. 26, "And Pie lifted up His hand
to them, that Pie would overthrow them in the wilderness."
Ver. 17 reverts to ver. 14. Although the present generation
was condemned to perish, God did not give over the whole
people to the destruction they deserved.
In vers. 18-26 are the sins of the second generation in the
journey through the wilderness. Ver. 18. And I said unto
their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of
your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile your
selves with their abominations. 19. I am the Lord your God:
walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them ;

172 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
20. And hallow my sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between
me and you, that it may be known that I am the Lord your
God. 21. And the children rebelled against me : they walked
not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, by
which the man that does them lives ; and they polluted my
sabbaths : and I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to
accomplish my anger upon them in the wilderness. 22. And
I turned back my hand, and did it for my name's sake, that it
should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I led
them forth. 23. I also lifted up my hand unto them in the
wilderness, to scatter them among the heathen, and disperse
them in the countries ; 24. Because they did not execute my
judgments, and despised my statutes, and polluted my sab
baths, and their eyes were after their fathers' abominations.
25. And I also gave them statutes that were not good, and
judgments whereby they should not live. 26. And I polluted
them Hy their own gifts, in that they caused all to pass through
that openeth the womb, that I might lay them desolate, that
they might know that I am the Lord.
To the " children" (ver. 18) belongs, among other things,
the whole second law-giving, with its impressive admonitions,
as it was promulgated in Arboth-Moab, and is recorded in
Deuteronomy. God, for Plis name's sake, has not destroyed
the apostate generation in the wilderness (vers. 21, 22) ; but
He has in just retribution, before the entrance into the pro
mised land, set before their eyes the impending dispersion
among the heathen (vers. 23, 24). The prophet refers to the
passages in the books of Moses, in which the exile was held out
in prospect to apostate Israel, as Deut. xxviii., xxx. 1. In
vers. 25, 26, a second retribution. We may compare here
Rom. i. 24, according to which God, in just retribution for
their revolt, gave over the heathen to vile affections'; Acts vii.
42, where it is traced back to God, that the heathen served
the host of heaven ; and 2 Thess. ii. 11, where God sends the
apostates strong delusions. God has so constituted human
nature, that revolt from Him must be followed by total dark
ness and disorder ; that no moderation in error and sin, no
standing still at the middle point, is possible ; that the man,
however willing he might be to stand still, must, against his
will, sink from step to step. Revolt from God is the crime,

&

THE THIRD CYCLE — CHAP. XX. 27-29. 173
excess in error and moral degradation the merited doom, from
which all would willingly escape if this were in their power.
Grotius writes : " I have taken from them the understanding,
that in despising my laws they may make for themselves hard
and death-bearing laws." By way of example, the custom of
sacrificing children is mentioned in ver. 26. " I polluted
them" (ver. 26) : this means, according to ver. 25, not as
older expositors and Havernick, evacuating the sense, explain,
I declared them unclean, treated them as such; but that to
God, who governs even in the evolution of sin, is attributed
the polluting itself, which takes place according to a law
beyond their power. " By their offerings," which they pre
sented to their idols, with the hope of obtaining, through their
purification, forgiveness of sins and salvation. Wherein these
gifts consisted, is intimated in the words, " in that they caused
all to pass through." " To cause to pass through" the fire
(ver. 31 ; comp. xvi. 21, xxiii. 37), is the current phrase for
sacrificing children which were offered to Moloch. Into such
a detestable custom did God in His righteous judgment permit
them to fall, that the merited punishment might come upon
them (" that I might lay them desolate"), by which they learn
that their paternal God, whom they set at nought, is God in
the full sense, whom to forsake is at once to fall into misery.
That the presentation of children as sacrifices was already
common in the time of Moses, is plain from Num. xviii. 21,
Deut. xviii. 10.
In vers. 27-29, the continuance of the revolt from the
Lord during the sojourn in Canaan. Ver. 27. Therefore, son
of man, speak to the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus
saith the Lord Jehovah, Yet in this your fathers blasphemed
me, in dealing treacherously with me. 28. And I brought
them to the land, which I lifted up my hand to give them ; and
they saw every high hill, and every thick-leaved tree, and
offered there their sacrifices, and presented there the provoca
tion of their offering, and there made their sweet savour, and
there poured out their drink-offerings. 29. And I said unto
them, What is the high place whereunto ye go ? And the
name thereof is called High Place unto this day.
" Therefore" (ver. 27) — since ye are a people so utterly
corrupt. " Yet in this your fathers blasphemed me :" every

174 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
revolt from God, every departure from His commands, is a
practical blasphemy, a denial of His righteousness and omni
potence ; for where these are vividly realized, there a man will
love God with all his heart, and not deviate a step from His
commandments. The stricter designation of blasphemy follows
in ver. 28, after it was designated in general, at the close of
ver. 27, in the words, " in dealing treacherously with me."
" The provocation of their offering" (ver. 28)— the offerings to
idols, whereby they provoked the anger of God ; comp. Deut.
xxxii. 16, 17, " They provoked Him to jealousy with strange
(gods) ; with abominations they made Him indignant. They
sacrificed to lords which were not God, to gods whom they
knew not." God says to them in the tone of reproach (1 Kings
ix. 13), "What is the high place whereunto ye go?" (ver. 29) :
how can ye, instead of seeking me in my true sanctuary, turn
to these miserable places, with their miserable gods? And
yet these are named high places unto this day, in the sense of
sanctuaries, and with the notion that they have something
peculiar about them.
In vers. 30-38, the punishment. Ver. 30. Therefore say
unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Are
ye polluted in the way of your fathers, and do ye go a whoring
after their abominations ? 31. And when ye offer your gifts,
when ye make your sons pass through the fire, ye pollute your
selves with all your abominations unto this day : and shall I
be inquired of by you, O house of Israel ? As I live, saith the
Lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you. 32. And that
which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, when ye say,
We shall be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to
serve wood and stone. 33. As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah,
Surely with a mighty hand, and with outstretched arm, and
with fury poured out, will I rule over you. 34. And I will
lead you out from the peoples, and gather you out of the
countries wherein ye were scattered, with a mighty hand, and
with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. 35. And
I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there
will I plead with you face to face. 36. So as I pleaded with
your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, will I plead
with you, saith the Lord Jehovah. 37. And I will cause you
to pass under the staff, and bring you into the bond of the

THE THIRD CYCLE— CHAP. XX. 80-38. 175
covenant. 38. And I will purge out from you the rebels and
the transgressors against me : I will lead them forth out of the
land of their sojourning, and into the land of Israel he shall
not come ; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
First, in vers. 30, 31, the refusal of the grace sought ; then
from ver. 32 on, the announcement of the continued punish
ment. The heathen stood under the divine long-suffering
(Rom. iii. 25) ; not so Israel, to whom God had so gloriously
made Himself known. Wherein the heathen may prosper,
therein Israel must decline. The designation of the heathen
gods as wood and stone, alone sufficient to counteract the
strange notion which attributed a real existence to the heathen
gods, is taken from Deut. iv. 28, xxviii. 36. " Will I rule
over you " (ver. 33) : for the friendly and gracious govern
ment of God they have given Him little thanks, and have
wickedly withdrawn from Him. As God, however, must come
to His sovereign rights, so His sovereignty now assumes a
terrible form. The prophet speaks, in vers. 34, 35, to those who
are already in exile, who can therefore no more be threatened
with removal into exile. To those who fancied that with the
removal into exile the judicial activity of God was already
closed, and the dawn of the day of grace was immediately ap
proaching, He announces a new phase of this judicial activity,
similar to that which first came over Israel in the wilderness.
If they are really led out of the former state into the new one,
in which they underlie a second judgment, formally they are
led into the wilderness, which here designates a state similar
to that in which Israel was formerly in the wilderness. The
wilderness is designated as " the wilderness of the peoples," in
contradistinction to the former wilderness, where was only the
howling of wild beasts (Deut. xxxii. 10), lions, serpents, and
the. like (Deut. viii. 15; Isa. xxx. 6). The new wilderness is
one in which Israel is in the midst of the peoples, and can
therefore be no ordinary wilderness, for wilderness and peoples
exclude one another. It must rather be a symbolic or typical
designation of the state of punishment and purification. The
interchange of type and thing is in ver. 36 separated. From
the defect of historical notices concerning the state of the exiles,
we cannot show the fulfilment of this prophetic announcement.
It is natural, however, to suppose that the part taken by the

176 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
exiles in the political intrigues of the home country brought
upon them also severe sufferings. A short time before, Jere
miah, in ch. xxix. 21, 22, predicted to Ahab and Zedekiah, the
false prophets of the exile, who incited the people by their
predictions against the Chaldean government, the downfall by
Nebuchadnezzar. Besides, the threatening is conditional. Its
fulfilment might be prevented by sincere repentance. Very
many would take to heart this earnest warning of the prophet,
and be thereby delivered from a participation in the threatened
punishment. The staff in ver. 37 is the shepherd's staff, from
the government of which they had withdrawn (Lev. xxvii. 32 ;
Mic. vii. 14). By the decree of punishment they are brought
to submit themselves again to this staff. By chastisement also
they are brought into " the bond of the covenant," necessitated
to yield to the conditions of the covenant, the laws of God;
whereas they were heretofore without bound or bond, brothers
of the free spirit (Isa. xlvi. 12). " Let the wicked be favoured,
yet will he not learn righteousness ; in the land of uprightness
he will deal unjustly, and regard not the majesty of the Lord"
(Isa. xxvi. 10). As once in the wilderness judgment was held
on the generation that came out of Egypt, and the greater part
was condemned not to enter Canaan (Num. xiv. 28-30), so
shall it be also in the exile. The dreams of those who an
nounce that Jerusalem will not fall, but rather in the briefest
space all the exiles after the immediately approaching fall of the
Chaldean monarchy shall return thither in vast numbers (Jer.
xxviii. 1-4), will come to a miserable end. From the land of
their sojourning (that is, the state of exile) they shall be brought
out, not, as they think, to return home, but to meet with an
overwhelming punishment. "He shall not come :" the rebels
are here collected into one ideal person. " They shall know
that I am the Lord : " this is the painful experience that will
sooner or later force itself upon all those who despise salvation.
In vers. 39-44, the promise. Ver. 39. And ye, O house of
Israel, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Go ye, serve every one
his idols, and hereafter surely ye will hearken unto me ; and
pollute ye no more my Holy name with your gifts and your
abominations. 40. For in my holy mountain, in the high
mountain of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah, there shall all the
house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me : there will

THE THIRD CYCLE — CHAP. XX. 39-44. 177
I accept them, and there will I require your heave-offerings,
and the first-fruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.
41. I will accept you as a sweet savour, when I shall lead you out
from the peoples, and gather you out of the countries wherein
ye have been scattered ; and I will be sanctified on you before
the Heathen. 42. And ye sliall know that I am the Lord, when
I bring you into the land of Israel, the land which I lifted
up my hand to give to your fathers. 43. And there shall ye
remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have
been defiled ; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight
for all your evils that ye have committed. 44. And ye shall
know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for my name's
sake, not according to your evil ways and your corrupt doings,
O house of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah.
Though they now do what they cannot leave off (ver. 39),
the Lord regards it with calm equanimity, because He knows
that a time comes when, penetrated by the severity of the
divine judgment, they will return to Him.1 They wished, how
ever, at present to adhere to that which the future will reject
of itself with contempt. The first fulfilment took place in the
time immediately after the exile ; to the last Paul refers in
Rom. xi. 25. The proper author of the great change here an
nounced in the temper and tendency of the people is God, who
gives them a new spirit, and takes away the stony heart (ch.
xi. 19). Yet they must and will do their own part (ch. xviii.
31) : they must leave off their wicked opposition to the Holy
Spirit (Acts vii. 51), and their sad unwillingness (Matt, xxiii.
37). Therein, along with the severity of the crushing divine
judgments, will the love of God work, which displays itself
gloriously in their redemption from their deliverance from the
exile onwards, but above all in Christ. " Pollute ye no more
my holy name : " every form of idolatry among the people of
God was a desecration of the name of God, when the impotent
and the abominable were preferred. " The height of the
mountain of Israel " (ver. 40) is a spiritual mountain (comp.
xvii. 23). " As a sweet savour will I accept you " (ver. 41) : the
people consecrating themselves anew to the Lord, appear as an
acceptable offering. The practical explanation of this accept-
1 vb DN is a particle of swearing. The preterite stands in place of the
future, because the future is regarded as the present.
M

178 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ance is, that God brings them back, and sanctifies or glorifies
Himself among them before the heathen by the acts of His
redeeming grace. To loathe in one's sight (ver. 43), is to be
come oneself an object of loathing (ch. vi. 9).
Ch. xxi. In vivid terms the prophet now places before the
eyes of the people, captivated by foolish hopes, a figure of the
fall of the city and kingdom, which formed the bright points of
their hopes. The endeavour is everywhere visible, to obtain by
the clearness of the description a representation of the reality
not yet existing, but already germinating, and in this way to
withdraw the people from their delusions, and make penitence
take the place of politics.
The prophet first, in vers. 1—5, brings before the people in a
riddle the catastrophe awaiting the mother country, to which
all their longing was directed. Ver. 1. And the word of the
Lord came unto me, saying, 2. Son of man, set thy face
towards the right, and drop towards the south, and prophesy
against the forest of the south field. 3. And say to the forest
of the south, Hear the w7ord of the Lord. Thus saith the
Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it will
devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the
flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from south
to north shall be scorched thereby. 4. And all flesh shall see
that I the Lord have kindled it ; it shall not be quenched.
5. And I said, Ah Lord Jehovah, they say of me, Doth he
not speak parables ?
Judea appears as the south land (ver. 2), from the stand
point of the exile. It is usual with the prophets to designate
Chaldea, and in general the world-monarchy in inner Asia, as
the north country, wherein the geographical situation is not so
much regarded as the circumstance that the armies of this
power entered the land from the north through Syria, and the
captives were also carried away to the north. The forest in its
density is a figure for the people. It is designated as the
forest of the field, in opposition to that of the mountain, because
it is here treated of a people of culture. The destruction of a
people under the figure of a forest on fire appears already in
Isa. ix. 18. " Green tree and dry tree " (ver. 3) are, according
to the exposition in vers. 8, 9, the righteous and the un-

THE THIRD CYCLE— CHAP. XXI. 6-12. 179
righteous (comp. Luke xxiii. 31). The faces represent, as often,
the whole persons. This is the noble material which the fire has
to consume. Even its non-extinction (ver. 4) shows that the
Lord kindled the fire. If we see that all human plans and
devices, even the most promising, come to nothing, wre are led
to the confession that we have to do with personal omnipotence
and righteousness, against which the battle is unavailing. The
riddle is easy to solve, and the prophet has to do with a sharp-
witted people ; but the hearers will not understand (ver. 5),
because the truth is unpleasant to them, and retire with a
certain irony behind the difficulty of the form, and make as
if they did not understand. To take away this miserable
excuse from them, to punish them for their ironical hardness of
hearing, he expresses the same in clear and plain terms in the
following passage.
Ver. 6. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
7. Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop to
ward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel.
8. And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord, Behold,
I am on thee, and will draw my sword out of its sheath, and will
cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked. 9. Because I
cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall
my sword go forth out of its sheath on all flesh from south to
north. 10. And all flesh shall know that I the Lord have
drawn .my sword out of its sheath: it shall not return. 11.
And thou, son of man, sigh with the breaking of thy loins, and
with bitterness shalt thou sigh before their eyes. 12. And it
shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou ?
then thou shalt say, For the tidings, because it cometh ; and
every heart shall melt, and all hands shaU be feeble, and every
spirit shall faint, and all knees shall dissolve into water : be
hold, it is come, and has Happened, saith the Lord Jehovah.
" Drop toward the holy places " (ver. 7) : to drop (comp.
ver. 2) is a term of art to denote the prophetic utterance, taken
from Deut. xxxii. 2, to which passage the word, wherever it
occurs, points as definitely as an express citation. Moses there
compares his word, the primeval form of all prophecy, with a
fruitful rain, though it is a sharp discourse of punishment and
repentance, and holds forth the crushing judgments of God.
The salutary effect is the point of comparison. What is bitter

180 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
to the mouth is wholesome to the heart. The word of God in
all its parts, even there where it is sharper than a two-edged
sword, is like the quickening rain. Of the holy place (the
plural refers to the glory of the one sanctuary) as a building
the prophet does not speak in the following words. All applies
there to the people. The holy place here, as often (comp.
especially Jer. vii. 4), can only be regarded as the spiritual
abode of the people. The catastrophe, according to ver. 8,
comes upon the righteous and the wicked. This is not in con
tradiction with ch. ix. 4, according to which the righteous,
amidst the impending catastrophe, are the object of the pro
tecting and sustaining activity of God. For if two suffer the
same, yet it is not the same. To those who love God must all
things be for the best (Rom. viii. 28). " From north to south"
(ver. 9), from Dan to Beersheba, in the whole compass of the
Jewish territory (comp. ver. 3). In the sentence, "it shall
not return " (ver. 10), the subject is, according to ver. 4, not
misfortune in its divine determination, but misfortune generally.
That God has drawn the sword, will appear from the futility of
all attempts to turn away the sword or the misfortune. The
prophet laments in ver. 11 not from his own soul, but as repre
sentative of Israel.1 Michaelis writes, " Because thou art set
as a type of the future misfortune of the Jews." The loins of
him are said to be broken whom acute pain robs of all power
and strength. The tidings in ver. 12 is the account of the accom
plished misfortune which the prophet, representing his people,
wrapt into the future, has already received. All knees are
dissolved as water, or into water, so that they become water,
like water in laxity and incoherence. The prophet represents
in his own person this future condition of the people.
Vers. 13-22. The figure already indicated in vers. 8-12, of
the avenging sword of God, is here unfolded : we have here,
so to speak, a sacred sword and battle song. Ver. 13. And
the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 14. Son of man,
prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord, Say, A sword, a
sword is sharpened, and also furbished. 15. For slaughter to
slay is it sharpened, and it is furbished that it may flash : or shall
we rejoice over the rod of my son, despising every tree? 16.
And he gave it to be furbished, that he might hold it with the
1 Comp. Mic. i. 8 ; Isa. xx. 3, 4, xxi. 3, 4 ; Christol i. 490 f.

THE THIRD CYCLE— CHAP. XXI. 13-22. 181
palm : this sword is sharpened and furbished, that he may give
it into the hand of the slayer. 17. Cry and howl, son of man ;
for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes
of Israel : they shall be devoted to the sword with my people :
therefore smite upon the thigh. 18. For it is a trial, and how ?
Should the despising rod not be? saith the Lord Jehovah. 19.
And thou, son of man, prophesy, and smite palm on palm, and
the sword shall be doubled threefold : it is the sword of the
slain, the sword of a slain man of the great, that pierces into
them. 20. That the heart may faint, and the stumblings be
multiplied at all their gates, I give the weight 1 of the sword :
ah ! it is made to flash, sharpened for slaughter. 21. Unite
thyself, go to the right, give heed, go to the left, whither thy
face is set. 22. And I also will smite my palm upon my
palm, and make my fury rest : I the Lord have spoken.
" And also furbished" (ver. 14), so that with its terrible
flash it dazzles the eyes of those against whom it is drawn.
" The rod of the son, which despises all wood" (ver. 15), is the
punishment hanging over Israel, which exceeds all other punish
ments in rigour, according to the law that is set forth in Luke
xii. 47 : every one is judged according to the measure of grace
which he has received. This rod, says the Lord, is truly no
object of joy.2 The joy is the counterpart to the sighing in
ver. 12 ; comp. ver. 17, " Have I not had cause enough to call
thee to sighing, or shall we rejoice ?" etc. " We" — I and thou —
comes out from the soul of the people itself. For the emotion
here applies not to the representative, but to those whose lot
and mood are represented. The Lord first Himself takes the
sharpened and polished sword into Plis hand (ver. 16), and then
Hands it over to the instruments of His punitive justice. In ver.
17 also the prophet is not to express his personal compassion,
but to foreshadow the expression of those on whom the judg
ment fell. The words " for (it is) a trial " point with the utmost
brevity to the character of the impending time, which presented
itself in rosy hues to the politically excited people. Trial is a
terrible word to a people that suffers the deepest calamities.
When the trial comes, nothing remains undisclosed, nothing
1 The sense of this word, occurring only here, can be determined only
by the context.
2 t}>lB> with the accusative of the object of joy (Isa. xxxv. 1).

182 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
unrequited ; every varnish disappears, and all glitter vanishes.
With a view to the sanguine imaginations by which the people
sought to banish the thought of the hardness of the times, the
prophet then asks, " And how ? Should the despising rod (the
punishment that far outstrips all other punishments, ver. 15)
not be?" And the answer to this question he gives in the
names of God, which utter a loud no to these illusions. Clap
ping the hands (ver. 19) is a gesture of lively excited feeling,
which may be of various kinds (2 Kings xi. 12 ; Job xxvii. 23),
and is here the prognostic of an impending energetic action.
The sword shall be doubled for the third time, three times
douHled, — a combination of two different designations of the
earnestness and energy of the divine punishment. That it is the
sword of the slain points to this, that many shall thereby fall ;
that it is the sword of one slain of the great, of a slain one who
is great, indicates that it rages not merely in the lower regions,
but ascends to the highest (comp. ver. 30). The stumblings
before the gates (ver. 20), at which in the sallies the fiercest
conflict burns, are the heaps of the fallen over which a man
stumbles. In ver. 21 the address is to the sword. "Unite
thyself" alludes to the thrice doubled sword in ver. 19. In
reality, the terrible weight is designated with which the divine
judgment falls on him whom it is to strike. " Go to the right,"
" go to the left," intimates that the sphere of the judgment
to be executed has wide dimensions ; it embraces not merely
Judea, but a whole group of peoples. " Give heed" corre
sponds to " unite thyself," and implies that the sword must and
will do its part earnestly and zealously. The sword will per
form the said actions, whither its face is set, where only God
orders it to rage for merited punishment. " And I also" (ver.
22) : this looks back to ver. 19, where God commands the
prophet to smite on the hands. The fury rests when it reaches
the object to which it is directed (ver. 13).
Vers. 23-37. Judah, who thinks himself above all the
peoples, first incurs the divine vengeance, yet not to perpetual
ruin ; Ammon, that mocked at his calamity, shall follow him
therein, but not resemble him in his restoration. The begin
ning is Here also fearfully threatening, sharply cutting off all
hope ; yet, at the end, a ray of promise falls upon the chilly
night.

THE THIRD CYCLE— CHAP. XXI. 23-28. 183
Ver. 23. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
24. And thou, son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the
sword of the king of Babylon may come: they both shall
come out of one land, and form a hand, form it at the head of
the way to a city. 25. Thou shalt appoint a way, that the
sword may come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and to
Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. 26. For the king of Baby
lon stands at the mother of the way, at the head of the two
ways, to use divinations : shakes the arrows, consults the tera
phim, inspects the liver. 27. In his right hand is the divina
tion, Jerusalem, to place battering-rams, to open the mouth in
the slaughter, to lift up the voice with the war-cry, to place
rams at the gates, to cast a mount, to build towers. 28. And
it is to them a treacherous divination in their eyes, that was
sworn with an oath to them; and he calls to remembrance
iniquity, that he may be taken.
Ver. 24. The action belongs here also only to the inner
world. The external representation would descend into the
puerile. Because the matter belongs to the internal, the mere
command suffices ; the execution is not mentioned. We have
here the outline that is carried out in what follows. According
to it, two ways are parted, not from home, from Babylon ; the
parting commences at a determinate point, at which the prophet
in the very beginning is placed, because the decision is there
made. The hand, or the guide, points to the end of the way,
which cannot always pursue its end on account of the difficul
ties presented by the country, and indicates the direction only
for a short distance. The city is still undefined ; the definition
follows in ver. 25. "In Jerusalem" (ver. 25): this shows that
Judah has his essence in Jerusalem. Materially, Jerusalem
lay in Judah ; spiritually, Judah in Jerusalem. " The forti
fied:" this points out how far Judah lay in Jerusalem. It
is the beating heart of the land, and therefore is fortified in
the strongest manner. The historical presupposition is, that
Ammon no less than Judah has incurred the anger of the
king of Babylon. With Judah it belonged to the same anti-
Chaldaic coalition ; and it is antecedently settled that it, no
less than Judah, had to expect the vengeance of the king of
Babylon. It lay somewhat nearer Chaldea than Jerusalem,
and hence the human probability was that the judgment would

184 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
commence there. But the prophet learns the contrary by divine
revelation. By the providence of God, who turns the hearts of
men as the water-brooks, it comes to pass that judgment begins
at the house of God. The mother of the way (ver. 26) is the
main road, from which two by-roads, the daughters, branch off.
That there are here two, is asserted in what follows, at the head
of the two ways. What is said of divination is only dress taken
from the manner in which decisions were usually made among
the Chaldeans. The thought is simply that, in the providence
of God, who is here to be conceived as standing behind the
divination, which is in itself utterly delusive, according to vers.
28 and 34, and bending it to his own objects, the king will first
march against Jerusalem, lulling itself asleep with delusive
hopes. The practice of soothsaying, which here includes the
interpretation of signs, is the general ; the three different species
follow. The teraphim are intermediate gods, serving for the
investigation of the future.1 " In his right hand is the divina
tion, Jerusalem" (ver. 27) — is handled with the right hand:
He has the decision spiritually therein; is determined in his
actions by the decision given for Jerusalem through the divina
tion in its three forms, or at least in the most weighty of them.
The placing of the battering-rams is followed by the cry accom
panying them ; it is then taken up again, and with it the other
directly practical measures are connected. The slaughter-cry
of the besiegers is called slaughter, because the slaughter is vir
tually contained in it. The inhabitants of Jerusalem (ver. 28)
foreboded not, in their blindness, wdiat was before them. They
repelled every thought of the impending destruction, as if the
question was only about delusive soothsaying (the true prophets
they degraded to miserable soothsayers ; the false, who pro
mised them good fortune, they elevated into true prophets) ;
whereas it was in truth about a fixed and irrevocable decree of
God,2 which is made known to them anew by His servant the
prophet, the son of man, behind whom the Almighty stands.
In this manner Judah brings to remembrance the iniquity, to
atone for which by sincere repentance was his immediate duty.
1 Christol on Hos. iii. 4, Zech. x. 2.
2 The sworn of the oath is that which is sworn to by oath, as the
announcement of destruction in Ezekiel is mostly introduced by the formula,
" As I live."

THE THIRD CYCLE — CHAP. XXI. 29-37. 185
Ver. 29 shows that Israel is spoken of in the words, " and he
calls to remembrance."
Vers. 29-37. We have here the second paragraph of the
section, connected with the first not merely by the formula,
" And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying," but by
the placing of Judah over against Ammon. The beginning
here again is threatening. In the course of the prophecy,
However, reference is made to the glorious resurrection of
Israel after the judgments, whereas Ammon is doomed by them
to utter perdition.
Ver. 29. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because
ye bring your iniquity to remembrance, since your transgres
sions are discovered, and your sins are seen in all your doings ;
because ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with
the palm. 30. And thou, slain wicked one, prince of Israel,
whose day comes at the time of the iniquity of the end : 31.
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Remove the head-band, and take
off the crown : this is not this ; to exalt the low, and abase the
high. 32. Overturn, overturn, overturn will I make it : this
also is not, until he come whose right it is ; to him I give it.
33. And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the
Lord Jehovah of the children of Ammon and of their reproach :
and thou shalt say, A sword, a sword is drawn to slay, fur
bished sufficiently,1 in order to flash. 34. While they see
vanity for thee, while they divine a lie to thee, to set thee
on the necks of the slain among the wicked, whose day is come
in the time of the iniquity of the end. 35. Return (thy
sword) into its sheath : in the place where thou wast created,
in the land of thy origin will I judge thee. 36. And I will
pour out my anger upon thee ; the fire of my indignation I will
blow upon thee, and I will give thee into the hand of burning
men skilful to destroy. 37. Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire ;
thy blood shall be in the midst of the land : thou shalt not be
remembered ; for I the Lord have spoken it.
They bring their iniquity to remembrance (ver. 29) by this,
that they continue their sinful life in the face of judgment.
The palm is that of the minister of the divine vengeance.
1 Luther, " that it shall consume.'' ysrf? (comp. xxiii. 32) means
properly embracing, filling up the whole sphere of a polished sword.
Luther has derived the form from ^ax, to consume.

186 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The king, in ver. 30,1 includes the people under him, and comes
forward as their representative. It is not implied in this, that
he shall personally and individually submit to the sword, which
would be in contradiction with ch. xii. 13, according to which
he shall come to Babylon, but not see it. This can be the less
thought of, as the sword in the foregoing passage is God's
sword of vengeance, the symbol of His punitive justice, The
" iniquity of the end" is the iniquity that brings on the end,
the catastrophe, by which the measure will at length be made
full. The iniquity of the end for Zedekiah was resistance to
the faithful counsel of Jeremiah. The infinitive in ver. 31
denotes the mere action, without stating from whom it pro
ceeds. Ideally regarded, the king bears, as the representative
of the whole people, along with the crown, the head-band, or
priestly cap.2 The two are closely connected. The crown
without the band is an empty show. The forgiveness of sins,
which was secured by the mediation of the High priest, whose
dignity was overthrown with the fall of the sanctuary, forms
the foundation of all the royal blessings of God. In the
Messiah, in whom the kingdom attained to its full reality, a
real union of the kingly and priestly offices is to take place
(Zech. vi.), which were practically divided under the Old Tes
tament on account of human weakness. " This is not this :"
by this an entire revolution of the existing state of things is
signified. This is also intimated by the abasing of the high,
and the exalting of the low.3 In a general overthrow the low
is exalted, even by the fact that it becomes like the high, who
are involved in the same downfall. The people have in their
procedure turned the lowest into the highest ; and in just
retribution, the same takes place in their experience. All is
levelled. The threefold repetition of overturning, or destruc
tion, in ver. 32, points to its completeness. " An overturning
I make it" — the existing state of things, or even the land.
1 On vers. 30-32 more extended discussions are given in Christol. ii.
p. 562 f.
2 riDJVD is only used for the diadem of the high priest, and stands for
this in the Pentateuch, which Ezekiel closely follows no less than eleven
times. 3 POSE* is' masc, with n unaccented, which here only serves to make
the form fuller and more sonorous.

THE THIRD CYCLE — CHAP. XXI. 29-37. 187
" This also," the new state of things produced by the destruc
tion, " is not," has no permanence. Overthrow follows on
overthrow, as on the Chaldean period soon follows the Persian,
and so on, till at length the Messiah comes, brings all into
order, and founds a state of unchangeable duration. The
Messiah is designated as He " whose right it is." The right is
God's, according to Deut. i. 17 ; and this right He gives to the
Messiah, as His representative on earth, that Pie may uphold
it there, and make an end of the reign of wrong, according to
Ps. lxxii. 1, to which passage there is a pointed reference.1
The children of Ammon (ver. 33) represent the world-
power hostile to the kingdom of God. Yet the representative
is not taken accidentally out of the multitude of the heathen
peoples hostile to the kingdom of God ; but the prophet takes
occasion from the circumstances of the time. Ammon had at
that time, no less than Judah, incurred the anger of the Chal
deans ; and so it was natural to exemplify in him the general
truth ; the more natural, because the vengeance was first to
fall on Judah, while Ammon appeared to come out of the affair
with high shoes, and mocked Judah, who had to pay the score.
" Their reproach" — the insults which they heaped upon Judah.
The prophet foresees that the Ammonites, on the approach of
danger, will withdraw from the coalition (comp. Lam. i. 2),
and on the catastrophe of Jerusalem give free course to their
ancient hatred against Judah. Judah exchanges the prophecy
that was unfavourable to him for the divination (ver. 28), and
by this fatal exchange falls : Ammon exchanges (ver. 34) the
divination favourable to him for the prophecy, and thereby
prepares himself at all events for the downfall. The necks of
the slain are specially prominent, because they have there
received the death-stroke. All the resistance of Ammon is
vain (ver. 35), for they have God for their foe. The prophet
sees before his eyes how they draw the sword to guard against
1 At the same time to the prophecy concerning Shiloh, the peaceful,
to whom the peoples shall adhere, in Gen. xlix. 10. The letters of this
word form the beginnings of the words in Ezekiel (Christol. i. 99). " To
whom I give it ; " properly, and I give it. The suffix refers to the right.
The fundamental passage (Ps. lxxii. 1) requires this reference. The
person to whom it is given being known from the context, needs no closer
designation.

188 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the foe. This explains the phrase " return into its sheath,"
without express mention of the sword. We have here the
fundamental passage for Matt. xxvi. 52. " Burning men"
(ver. 36) are those who are filled with glowing anger. " Thou
shalt not be remembered" (ver. 37). From the times of the
Maccabees, the Ammonites and Moabites have quite disap
peared out of history.
Ch. xxii. In amplification of ch. xxi. 29, the prophet de
picts in three paragraphs the sins of Judah, by which the judg
ment depicted in the preceding passage is brought on, and
thereby confirms the conviction that it is inevitable.
Ver. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2. And thou, son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge
the city of blood? and make known to her all her abomina
tions. 3. And say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, A city that
sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that its time may come, and
. maketh idols over itself for defilement. 4. In thy blood which
thou hast shed thou art become guilty ; and in thy abomina
tions which thou hast made thou art defiled ; and thou hast
brought nigh thy days, and art come to thy years : therefore I
give thee for a reproach to the heathen, and for a mocking to
all lands. 5. They that are nigh, and those that are far from
thee, shall mock at thee, thou unclean of name and full of con
fusion. 6. Behold, the princes of Judah are every one ac
cording to his arm in thee, to shed blood. 7. Father and
mother they lightly esteem in thee ; with the stranger they
deal by oppression in thy midst ; the widow and the orphan
they vex in thee. 8. My sanctuaries thou hast despised, and
hast profaned my sabbaths. 9. Men of slander were in thee,
to shed blood ; and in thee they ate upon the mountains ; they
committed lewdness in thy midst. 10. In thee one uncovers
a father's nakedness ; in thee they humble her that is unclean
in her separation. 11. And one commits abomination with'
his neighbour's wife ; and another lewdly defiles his daughter-
in-law ; and another in thee humbleth his sister, his father's
daughter. 12. In thee they take a gift to shed blood; usury
and increase thou takest, and overreachest thy neighbour with
oppression, and forgettest me, saith the Lord Jehovah. 13.
And, behold, I smite my palm at thy gain, which thou hast

THE THIRD CYCLE — CHAP. XXII. 1-10. 189
made, and at thy blood which is in thy midst. 14. Will thy
heart be stedfast or thy hands be strong in the days when I
shall deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken, and will do
it. 15. And I will scatter thee among the heathen, arid dis
perse thee in the countries, and consume thy filthiness out of
thee. 16. And thou shalt be profaned in thee before the eyes
of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
The question in ver. 2, "Wilt thou judge, judge?" is here,
as in ch. xx. 4, an expression of the impatience to which the
son of man is too slow. "Wilt thou judge?" is, in fact, the
same as, Judge thou; and with this agrees the addition "make
known." " Over itself for defilement " (ver. 3) : to heap upon
itself defilement with its consequences. The days and years
in ver. 4 are those of decision, of the crisis, which she brings
on by her violent dealing : for as a man drives, so it goes.
The mocking in ver. 5 suits the destiny ; and to this refer
also the " unclean of name," on account of her ignominious
walk (comp. xxiii. 10), and the " full of confusion," unrest and
tumult, as they are the companions of the accomplished cata
strophe.1 According to ver. 6, the arm, not the right, is the
measure with the great. The Sabbaths in ver. 8 are related
to the sanctuaries as the part to the whole. The idea of the
sanctuary is as broad as that of the religion of Israel. All
that the Ploly One has instituted, consecrated, and commanded,
is a sanctuary for His people. The moral prescriptions also
belong thereto. The despising takes place in many ways. All
belongs to this, which in the sequel is enumerated in detail, —
every violation of the commands of God, every kind of indiffer
ence, every homage to a false religion. The desecration of the
Sabbath does not consist merely in breaking the external rest :
all sins in thought, word, or deed are a breach of the Sabbath
(comp. Isa. lviii. 13, 14; and here, ch. xx. 21). Instead of
"men of slander" (ver.9), it is properly "men of the slanderer!'
The slanderer appears as an ideal person, to whom belong the
individual slanderers. Malignant slanderers are meant, who
bring false charges, by which life is endangered. The eating on
the mountains, the seats of idolatry, belongs to the department
of the first table. The prophet is prone to interweave with one
1 HDiriD, as penal evil, also Deut. xxviii. 20 ; comp. Deut. vii. 23, 2
Chron. xv. 5, and especially here, vii. 7.

190 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
another the sins against the two tables, and in fact they proceed
from one source, and the distinction of religion and morals is a
fiction contrary to experience. He that is not true to his God
cannot love his neighbour. The lewdness with the stepmother
(ver. 10) points to Lev. xx. 11 (comp. 1 Cor. v. 1). The prophet
says not, in ver. 11, that the transgressions named are common
in Jerusalem, but only that such cases occur there. Where
individuals go so far, the moral atmosphere must be generally
corrupt. The hand in ver. 13 is the penal one. Along with
the gain, it strikes the blood, that is, blood-guiltiness.1 The
Heart fails them, the hands sink down powerless by the side
(ver. 14), when God's vengeance for such wickedness comes upon
them. THe removal of the uncleanness of Jerusalem (ver. 15)
is effected by the extirpation of the sinful inhabitants. Jeru
salem has desecrated the sanctuaries of the Lord (ver. 8); there
fore shall it also be desecrated for a requital (ver. 16). It has
wickedly insulted the dignity of God ; for this it must suffer
the loss of its own dignity. "In thee," so that thou must ex
perience in thyself the desecration, whereas before thou didst
send it forth from thee. Such things always return to him
from whom they proceed.
Vers. 17—22. Corrupt Israel must be molten in the fire of
the divine judgment. 17. And the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, 18. Son of man, the house of Israel is to me
become dross : they are all brass, and tin, and iron, and lead,
in the midst of the furnace ; they are the dross of silver. 19.
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because ye are all be
come dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst
of Jerusalem. 20. As a man gathereth silver, and brass, and
iron, and lead, and tin into the furnace, that he may blow the
fire upon it, to melt them ; so will I gather in my anger and
in my fury, and lay you down and melt you. 21. And I will
gather you, and blow upon you the fire of my wrath ; and ye
shall be melted in the midst thereof. 22. As silver is melted
in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst
thereof ; and ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out
my fury upon you.
" Dross " (ver. 18), properly waste, inferior metal, which is
mingled with the precious. In the spiritual department the
1 VTI, a plural of quantity : much of which is under thee.

THE THIRD CYCLE — CHAP. XXII. 23-31. 191
silver may become altogether dross. The furnace is Jerusalem,
according to its destination to serve for a smelting-pot. Dross
of silver, is silver that has become dross. They are all gathered
into Jerusalem (ver. 19), as the people far and wide, under the
pressure of the foe, seek refuge in the fortified city. In the
whole section the judgment is regarded not in the light of
purification, but in that of destruction; as. Ezekiel usually
considers the population of Jerusalem as an ungodly multitude
doomed to be extirpated.
Vers. 23-31. In this third section the judgment is repre
sented as inevitable, because the corruption pervades all ranks
of the people. Ver. 23. And the word of the Lord came unto
me, saying, 24. Son of man, say unto her, Thou art a land
that is not cleansed, that has no rain in the day of indigna
tion. 25. The conspiracy of her prophets is in her midst, like
a roaring lion ravening the prey : they devour souls, they take
treasure and precious things, they multiply her widows in her
midst. 26. Her priests violate my law, and profane my sanc
tuaries : they distinguish not between holy and profane, and
they discern not between the unclean and the clean,1 and they
hide their eyes from my sabbaths ; and I am profaned in their
midst. 27. Her princes in her midst are like wolves ravening
the prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, and to make gain.
28. And her prophets daub them with absurdity, seeing vanity
and divining a lie unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, when Jehovah hath not spoken. 29. The people of
the land exercise oppression and commit robbery, and vex the
poor and needy, and oppress the stranger without right. 30.
And I sought for a man among them that built up the wall,
and stood in the breach before me for the land, that I might
not destroy it ; and I found none. 31. Therefore I pour out
my indignation upon them ; I consume them with the fury of
my wrath : their own way I lay upon their heads, saith the
Lord Jehovah.
A land that has no rain in the day of indignation (ver. 24),
is a land that in the outburst of the divine judgment finds no
grace ; and simply, as the connection shows, because its im
purity is not removed. The rain in the day of indignation
would be a benefit. It would quench the flame of the divine
1 " Know" in a judicial sense, that is, pass sentence.

192 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
indignation. To the indignation, the full energy of which is
here called forth by the uncleanness, may be applied that which
is said in the Song of Songs (viii. 7) of the fire of love :
" Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the, rivers
drown it." The false prophets (ver. 25), who have got the
upper hand so^ far that the true cannot prevail beside them,
but that they alone count as prophets, rob the goods and
devour the souls, in so far as they stand by to help forward
the robbing and murdering acts of the great (ver. 27), and
sharpen not, but rather soothe their conscience by saying,
Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Thus they are accom
plices in the robbing and murdering course of the great, who
have them in their pay. They deport themselves as smooth
and peaceful men, and present themselves as men of tender
ness, in contrast with the rough preachers of repentance, the
true prophets ; but when examined in the light, they are
thieves and murderers. To this they are as it were sworn.
That the words are to be so understood, is shown by their rela
tion to ver. 27, where the same is said of the nobles, and by
repetition in ver. 28, which serves to explain the sense. The
moral principle that is in keeping with the inclination of the
people is charged upon the priests, who endeavour by a vio
lent interpretation to bring it into harmony with the law of
God. " And profane my sanctuaries :" these include all that
is commanded of God ; comp. xxii. 8. To the distinguishing
between holy and profane, clean and unclean, corresponds, in
the fundamental passage, Lev. x. 11, " And to teach the
children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken
unto them." The law of the Sabbath is given as an example.
This they rob of its deep spiritual import, and limit it to the
external rest, as if it were given for animals, and not for
men, who are to* serve God in spirit; comp. on. xxii. 8. Be
cause they thus let down the commandments of God to the
level of man, and make them minister to human inclination,
God Himself is desecrated by them : in place of the dread and
holy God, who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the chil
dren, appears a lax and sin-favouring god, who creates no one,
and is glad if any one will only acknowledge him, and is
thankful for every bow that is made to him. The princes
(ver. 27), the political authorities and officials, resemble the

THE THIRD CYCLE— CHAP. XXIII. 1-4. 193
wolves in their ravenous bloodthirstiness, for the satisfaction
of which the party-spirit of the times affords them a welcome
occasion. The false prophets recur once more, in ver. 28, as
abettors of the nobles, to whom they hold out deliverance, and
thereby confirm them in their shameful course, instead of
vehemently testifying against their sins, and setting before
them the judgments of God. On daubing with absurdity, see
ch. xiii. 10. In ver. 29, after the three orders of shepherds
follow the people. What is meant by building a wall and
mounting a breach (ver. 30), we learn from ch. xiii. 5. Jere
miah, by his powerful preaching of repentance, presented him
self as such a public deliverer ; but they despised him, and he
could gain no position. The man alone is nothing. The
position must be added, and the people must gather around
him. One " against whom every man contends" cannot avert
the judgment of God ; he can only accelerate it.
Ch. xxiii. We have here the closing passage of ch. xx.-xxiii.,
— an extended survey of the whole historical development of
Israel, the result of which is the inevitableness of the judg
ment from which the elders had sought deliverance. Israel
and Judah appear, in keeping with ch. xvi., under the figure of
two harlots, to whose rebellious course an end must at length
be put. In vers. 1-4 the introduction, which affords the preliminary
acquaintance with the two evil characters. Ver. 1. And the
word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2. Son of man, there
were two women, daughters of one mother. 3. And they
committed whoredom in Egypt ; in their youth they committed
whoredom : there were their breasts pressed, and there they
handled their virgin bosoms. 4. And their names were Oholah
the great, and Oholibah her sister ; and they became mine, and
bare sons and daughters : and their names were Samaria
Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.
The mother in ver. 2 is the people in general. The pro
phet makes the bipartition of the people not to begin with the
separation of the kingdoms, but to be already extant in Egypt,
in harmony with the blessing of Jacob (Gen. xlix.), in which
the two tribes of Judah and Ephraim stand out absolutely
before the others, and appear as two independent powers. In

194 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ver. 3 we have the participation in Egyptian customs, in the
idolatry and moral corruption of Egypt in the former times,
which is attested in so many ways in the books of Moses. "In
their youth :" this points to the corruption that manifested
itself in the very beginning of their existence. " Their virgin
bosoms :" at that time Israel was still unmarried : the mar
riage with Jehovah took place when the covenant was made at
Sinai. But she was even at that time betrothed. This is
proved by what God had done to the patriarchs, and by the
circumcision to which they had submitted; and hence their
unchaste conduct fell under the judgment of Deut. xxii. 23 f.
Their business was to prepare themselves as a pure virgin for
marriage. The great, in ver. 4, is the elder, according to the
usage of the language. This refers to the precedence of Joseph
in Egypt, who was crowned among his brethren (Gen. xlix.
26) ; to that of Ephraim in the time of Joshua and the judges;
and to that of Benjamin, belonging to the ten tribes, in the
time of Saul. Judah attained the supremacy at a very late
period in the time of David. These relations are treated of at
full length in Ps. lxxviii. The elder sister is called Oholah,
her tent, that can call a tent her own, that has a house of her
own, an independent existence. The tent, without further dis
tinction, can -only be the dwelling. Similar is the name of
Esau's wife, Oholibamah (Gen. xxxvi. 2) — my tent is high,
I have a high tent. The younger sister is called Oholibah, my
tent is in her ; Jehovah being speaker. The name refers to
the advantage which Judah Had on the separation of the king
doms, in the possession of the true sanctuary. At the close of
the introduction the well-known historical names are given,
along with the significant names formed Hy the prophet.
Vers. 5-10 now treat of Oholah, Her adultery with Assyria,
and the punishment, the instrument of which was the same
people which she had made the object of her impure love.
Ver. 5. And Oholah played the harlot under me, and doted
on her lovers, on Assyria, Her neighbour, 6. Clothed in purple,
captains and rulers, all of them comely young men, knights
riding upon horses. 7. And she bestowed her whoredoms
upon them, all of them the choice of the sons of Assyria ; and
with all on whom she doted, with all their abominations was
she defiled. 8. And she left not her whoredoms with Egypt ;

THE THIRD CYCLE— CHAP. XXIII. 5-10. 195
for they lay with her in her youth, and handled her virgin
bosom, and poured out their whoredoms upon her. 9. Where
fore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the
hands of the sons of Assyria, on whom she doted. 10. These
uncovered her nakedness ; they took her sons and daughters,
and herself they slew with the sword, and she became a name
among women ; and they executed judgment upon her.
" Played the harlot under me" (ver. 5) : this is to be ex
plained by Flos. iv. 12, where it is said directly of the people of
the ten tribes, " And they have gone a whoring from under their
God." The woman is under the man (Rom. vii. 2); and if she
in this state have to do with another, she incurs the judgment.
"Her neighbour;" that is, who or when they are come into
her neighbourhood.2 The neighbours recur in ver. 12. The
opposite we Have in ver. 14 : there the far are cherished.
We have here the ground which tempted Oholah to become
unfaithful to her God. It lay in this, that the paramour
Assyria came into her neighbourhood, and placed his grandeur
before Her. Therein lay the temptation to sue for his favour
to ward off injury. The adultery has here not so much a reli
gious as a political import. The paramour, on whose account
Israel forsakes his God, is Assyria itself, not its god, though
they endeavoured, no doubt from fear of the people, to make
friends of its gods also. The historical situation, which the
prophet has here before his eye, is thus represented in the
Christology, i. p. 190, on the ground of the predictions of the
Israelitish prophet Hosea: "The people, sorely oppressed by
Assyria, seek now to obtain help from Egypt against Assyria,
now to be on friendly terms with the latter." Thus the
situation is precisely described in Hos. vii. 11, " They call to
Egypt ; they go to Assyria." What threatened Israel was,
according to Hos. viii. 10, " the burden of the king of princes,"
the king of Assyria (ver. 9). This they endeavoured to avert
partly by their adulterous arts, partly by appealing to the king
of Egypt. " Assyria alone is the king combatant, Hos. v. 13,
x. 6." This was the great sin of Israel, that in their political
oppression they sought help in man, even in their oppressors,
instead of turning with heartfelt confidence to their. God, the
only one to whom to surrender oneself unconditionally is not
1 DUIIp takes the place' of a whole sentence.

196 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL,
to degrade oneself. Ver. 6 describes with a touch of irony
how Oholah fell into this unfortunate connection with Assyria.
The thought is, that her eyes and heart were blinded and cap
tivated by the power of Assyria. That, however, is named
which strikes the eye of a worldly-minded woman. Ver. 7
points to this, that their , idols are inseparable from the world-
powers, as powers beyond and above them, but themselves
made objective and quite incorporated with them, so that to
defile herself with the Assyrians is at the same time to defile
herself with their idols (comp. ver. 30). Besides Assyria,
Oholah played the harlot also with Egypt (ver. 8), that land
into the shameful spiritual slavery of which she had already
fallen in former times (ver. 3). With this compare 2 Kings
xvii. 4, according to which Hoshea, the last king of Israel,
brought on the final catastrophe by refusing the tribute to the
king of Assyria, in reliance on Egypt. This was only one out
of many acts which Ezekiel here includes. The uncovering
of the nakedness (ver. 10) denotes the ignominious treatment
which Israel must suffer from Assyria, as a punishment for
Her revolt to Egypt. Oholah is slain with the sword : the
proper substance of the people, the men fit for service, fell
in the war, while the weaker portion was carried into exile.
" She became a name among women," famous among the
nations by the exemplary punishment which she suffered.
In vers. 11-35, Oholibah or Jerusalem. First, in vers.
11-21, her guilt. 11. And her sister Oholibah saw (this),
and she corrupted her lust still more than she, and her whore
doms more than the whoredoms of her sister. 12. She doted
on the sons of Assyria, captains and rulers, her neighbours,
clothed in splendour, knights riding on horses, all of them
comely young men. 13. And I saw that she was defiled:
one way was to both of them. 14. And she added to her
whoredoms ; and she saw men portrayed upon the wall, images
of the Chaldeans, drawn in ruddle, 15. Girt with girdles
on their loins, waving turbans on their heads, all of them
looking like knights, the likeness of the sons of Babylon,
the Chaldeans in the land of their birth. 16. And she
doted on them for that which her eyes saw, and sent mes
sengers unto them to Chaldea. 17. And the sons of Babylon
came to her into a bed of love, and defiled her with their

THE THIRD CYCLE— CHAP. XXIII. 11-21. 197
whoredom ; and she was defiled with them, and her soul was
estranged from them. 18. And she uncovered her whoredoms,
and uncovered her nakedness : and my soul was estranged
from her, as my soul was estranged from her sister. 19.
And she multiplied her whoredoms, remembering the days of
her youth, when she played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
20. And she doted upon her paramours, whose flesh is the flesh
of asses, and their issue the issue of horses. 21. And thou
didst visit the lewdness of thy youth, when a man of Egypt
handled thy bosom, on account of the breasts of thy youth.
" And her sister saw" (ver. 11) the shameful course of
Oholah, and the divine vengeance. Already should the first
have filled her with deep loathing and abhorrence. Instead of
this, she behaved still worse : according to what follows, her
adultery was multiplied still more : she did not rest with those
near, but sent also to those far away. The seeing of God (ver.
13) holds out a bad prospect. We expect that it will not fare
better with Oholibah than with her sister, unless she repent in
time. In ver. 14 f. we have her impure intercourse with the
Chaldeans. This passage is important for the history. That
the Chaldeans, before they attained the supremacy, and while
they were under the sway of Assyria, sought an alliance with
Judah in the war against Assyria, is shown by the embassy of
Merodach Baladan to Hezekiah (2 Kings xx., Isa. xxxix. ; comp.
Gesenius on the passage). According to our passage, however,
attempts must have been made by Judah also to form a connec
tion with the Chaldeans, and certainly at the time when the
Assyrian monarchy still existed ; and the initiative in regard
to the whole relation must have been taken by Judah, and
consequently before the embassy of Merodach Baladan. For
the occasion for the adulterous intercourse is here stated to
be this, that Oholibah sees Chaldeans portrayed on the wall.
This implies that she had not yet seen living Chaldeans. In
form it belongs only to the dress which Ezekiel takes from that
which he observed among the Chaldeans around him. There
such wall-pictures for the glorification of the people and their
victories were found ; whereas in Jerusalem they certainly
were not in existence. The real meaning, however, can only
be this, that Judah, in distinction from the relation to Assyria,
which arose from the fact that Assyria came into the land

198 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
(ver. 12), sought a connection with the Chaldeans, on the mere
report of their military valour. The images on the walls are,
in fact, the fancy forms, raised up by hearsay, of the Chal
deans, as a brave and aspiring power, in which help might be
found against the old oppressor Assyria. THe representation
in ver. 14 refers to the Chaldeans themselves, and not to their
idols ; as, according to that which history relates of Hezekiah,
the Chaldeans themselves, and not their idols, were the object
of idolatrous reliance.1 " Drawn in ruddle :" red is the most
suitable colour for men of war. The girdle (ver. 15) is the
war-girdle (Isa. v. 27). " In the land of their birth" forms
the contrast to the Assyrians, whom they had come to see in
their own land. There seems to be an allusion to Gen. xi. 28,
where Ur of the Chaldees (to which Babylon of the Chaldeans
here corresponds) is designated as the native land of Abraham's
family. The native land of the Chaldees is at the same time
that of Israel. The original blood-relationship might perhaps
have come to utterance in this political intercourse. The mes
sengers (ver. 16) whom Jerusalem sent to Chaldea, were pro
bably the occasion of the embassy sent from the Chaldeans,
according to Isaiah and 2 Kings, who were to take a view of
the resources of the power proposing an alliance. It is ante
cedently probable that not Babylon, but the weaker power,
took the initiative. This visiting of the remote Chaldeans was
a denial of the power and will of God to help His people.
Had their eyes been open, they would have perceived, that if
the proposal took effect, it could only end in a change of
masters. In this view Isaiah had already anticipated our pro
phet. As the sending to Egypt, so the proposed treaty with
the Chaldeans was the object of vehement prophetic rebuke.
" And her soul was estranged from them" (ver. 17) ; properly,
disjointed from those to whom she had grown, as it were, a
limb ; the opposite of the expression, " My soul is, fast bound
to your daughter" (Gen. xxxiv. 8). Having attained the
supremacy, the Chaldeans turned the rough side out, cast off
the mask under which their selfishness Had concealed itself,
1 The form rji'lBO, instead of D'HK'a, which was usual in Palestine, is
a Ohaldaizing one : in Daniel the singular is I'nb'a, the plur. pfcOBO- In
ver. 15 is the usual Heb. form, which the Masoretes wish to place here
also. Similar changes occur elsewhere also in Ezekiel.

THE THIRD CYCLE — CHAP. XXIII. 11-21. 199
and now the vague desires of the deluded Jerusalem ceased.
Estrangement — this is the usual end of impure love, of selfish
ness disguised in love. According to ver. 18, the matter does
not end with this, that she does not find the expected satisfac
tion in the adulterous intercourse with Chaldea of long con
tinuance ; by her shameless and disgraceful devotion to those
unworthy associates, she has estranged from herself the only
true Friend in heaven and on earth. But now, instead of
returning with penitence and regret to the Friend of her youth,
and entreating His forgiveness, she follows after new adulterers
(ver. 19) : when she became wearied of the Chaldeans, she
turned again to the Egyptians, her former adulterers ; comp.
ver. 3. The paramours (ver. 20) — a derisive term, as it is else
where used only of concubines — corresponds to the adulterers
in ver. 5. As there the adulterers are the Assyrians, so here
the Egyptians, to whom the her refers. The nations with which
Jerusalem enters into impure intercourse appear now as a unity,
and again as a plurality. The real import of the words, " their
flesh," and so on, is the great propensity of the Egyptians to
enter into impure political intercourse ; so that Jerusalem may
there expect full satisfaction for her adulterous lust. The
falling power of Egypt sought to provide a prop for itself
by diplomatic art. Asses and horses come into view as par
ticularly lecherous animals. The flesh is named, because the
lechery has its seat there. Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah,
all three met their downfall by conspiring with the Egyptians
against the Chaldeans. The sudden transition to the address
in ver. 21 is explained by this, that the prophet has here before
His eyes the actual state of affairs. " And thou didst visit the
lewdness of thy youth :" the falling back into the old sin is,
as it were, a visit which is paid to that which ought to be Hated
and avoided. The words, " when a man of Egypt handled,"
and so on, refer to the attempt of the Egyptians to draw the
people in their first beginnings into the Egyptian unity, and so
to nationalize them, — an attempt to which the youth of the
people furnished the occasion. That the attempt went before
and along with the cruel measures of which History speaks,
we cannot doubt. This lay in the nature of things. History
also presents several traces of the more friendly disposition of
the Egyptians; for ex., the conduct of the Egyptian king's

200 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
daughter to Moses, and the gifts of the Egyptians to the de
parting Israelites.
In vers. 22-35, the transgression of Oholibah is followed by
Her punishment. Ver. 22. Therefore, Oholibah, thus saith the
Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will awaken thy lovers against thee,
from whom thy soul is estranged, and I will bring them upon
thee from every side ; 23. The sons of Babylon, and all the
Chaldeans ; Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, all the sons of
Assyria with them : comely young men, captains and rulers all
of them ; knights and counsellors, riding on horses all of them.
24. And they shall come against thee with sabre,1 chariot, and
wheel, and with a multitude of nations ; target, and shield, and
Helmet they shall set against thee round about : and I will set
judgment before them, and they shall judge thee with their
judgments. 25. And I will set my jealousy upon thee, and
they shall deal with thee in fury : thy nose and thine ears they
shall take away, and thy remnant shall fall by the sword : they
shall take thy sons and thy daughters, and thy remnant shall
be consumed with fire. 26. And they shall strip thee of thy
clothes, and take away thy fair jewels. 27. And I will make
thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom from the
land of Egypt ; and thou shalt not lift up thine eyes to them,
nor remember Egypt any more. 28. For thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, Behold, I will deliver thee into the hands of those
whom thou hatest, into the hand of those from whom thy soul
is estranged. 29. And they shall deal with thee in hatred,
and shall take away all thy earning, and leave thee naked and
bare ; and the nakedness of thy whoring, and thy lewdness, and
thy whoredoms, shall be uncovered. 30. This shall be done
unto thee for thy whoring after the heathen, because thou art
polluted with their abominations. 31. In the way of thy sister
thou hast walked, and I give her cup into thy hand. 32. Thus
saith the Lord Jehovah, The cup of thy sister shalt thou drink,
the deep and the wide : thou shalt be a scoff and a mockery of
large measure. 33. Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and
sorrow ; the cup of wasting and desolation shalt thou drink,
the cup of thy sister Samaria. 34. And thou shalt drink it,
1 )SH, here only, is without doubt a designation, taken from the Chal
dean military language, of the offensive weapons with which they fought
from the chariot. The swords in ch. xxxviii. 4 correspond.

THE THIRD CYCLE — CHAP. XXIII. 22-35. 201
and suck it out ; and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and
pluck off thy breasts : for I have spoken it, saith the Lord
Jehovah. 35. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Be
cause thou hast forgotten me. and cast me behind thy back,1
therefore take thou also upon thee thy lewdness and thy
whoredoms. Ver. 22. "From whom thy soul is estranged" — the Chal
deans (ver. 17). Pekod (supremacy), Shoa (the chief2), and
Koa (of uncertain meaning), are titles of Chaldee dignitaries.
There is a sarcasm in the use of these names. They were in
all mouths formerly in the time of adultery. Now they would
gladly be rid of Pekod and the rest. He has brought them
into trouble. Along with the Chaldeans appear also the old
lovers, the Assyrians again, now tlieir vassals. These " comely
young men," formerly so beloved, shall now make the clear
day dark to them. "I will set judgment before them" (ver.
24) : God chooses them as judges in Plis cause, and entrusts
them with the execution of justice. "Thy nose and thine
ears they shall take away " (ver. 25) : what nose and ears are
for a woman, that for a people is tlieir military strength, the
bloom of the nation. When this is annihilated, a people has
lost its beauty. That the words must refer to this, is shown by
those immediately adjoining, and giving the explanation, " thy
remnant shall fall by the sword." Zion has various forms of
existence, and therefore a manifold remnant. The first rem
nant refers to the fighting men, who, so to speak, shall fall
by the sword to the last man — the falling of the remnant pre
supposes the falling of all the rest ; the second remnant refers
to Zion as a city, the houses, all of which shall be destroyed by
fire. In ver. 26, the plunder. The sin ceases (ver. 27) with
the annihilation of the sinner. The whoredom ceases " from
the land of Egypt," to which hitherto her wanton course was
directed. "The nakedness of thy whoring" (ver. 29): as
long as all went well, this nakedness was covered. The
shamefulness of her conduct did not come to the light. In
that which she suffers, what she has done will be manifest to
all the world. The cup in ver. 32 is the figure of the destiny.
1 13, a later form for 13.
s In Job xxxiv. 19, in opposition to the small, $rj.

202 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The "mockery of large measure"1 corresponds to the cup of
wide compass — the greatness of the mockery to the greatness
of the calamity, that called forth the mockery so much the
more, the greater the pretensions of the Jews, who conducted
themselves as the people to whom was secured the universal
supremacy, who had always in their mouth the saying, " My
enemies shall fall, but I shall tread on their high places."
" The cup of wasting and desolation " (ver. 33) : thy destiny
will be to be waste and desolate. " And suck it out " (ver. 34) :
this means that she shall fully empty the cup, that her cala
mity shall be complete, that there shall be no cessation until
she has come to the last drop. " Thou shalt break the sherds
thereof," as one who, having taken a very bad potion in ill-
humour, shatters the vessel. " Pluck- off thy breasts" thereon
— on the sherds : the attempt, arising from the utmost ab
horrence of her sad destiny, to deliver herself, only leads to
new misfortune. We find a historical illustration of this in
the treatment they gave Gedaliah, the Chaldean governor of
those who were left in the country after the taking of the city,
for which they were compelled to suffer (Jer. xli.).
In the conclusion the prophet joins the two women to
gether. First, in vers. 36-45, the figure of their sin. Ver. 36.
And the Lord said unto me, Son of man, wilt thou judge
Oholah and Oholibah, and show them their abominations ? 37.
For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands,
and with their abominations they have committed adultery; and
also their sons whom they bare unto me, they passed through"
for them for food. 38. This, moreover, they did to me : they
defiled my sanctuary in that day, and profaned my sabbaths.
39. And when they sacrificed their sons to their abominations,
they came in that day into my sanctuary to profane it ; and, lo,
thus have they done in the midst of my house. 40. And also
because they sent to men coming from afar, unto whom a
messenger was sent ; and, lo, they came, for whom thou didst
wash thyself, paint thine eyes, and put on ornaments. 41.
And thou sattest upon a stately bed, and a table was laid be
fore it ; and mine incense and mine oil thou didst set upon it.
42. And the voice of a secure murmur is in her, and to men
of the multitude of men are brought Sabean topers from the
1 Literally, greatness in regard to holding, capacious ; comp. xxi. 33.

THE THIRD CYCLE— CHAP. XXIII. 36-45. 203
wilderness ; and they put bracelets on their hands, and a beau
tiful crown upon their heads. 43. And I said, Are adulteries
to the faded? Shall adulteries be still committed even with
her ? 44. And one comes to her, as one comes to a harlot : so
come they to Oholah and to Oholibah, the women of lewd
ness. 45. And righteous men, they shall judge them with the
judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment. of those who
shed blood; for they are adulteresses, and blood is in their
Hands. " Wilt thou judge ? " (ver. 36 ; comp. xx. 4, xxii. 2.) The
double transgression, adultery and murder, is first briefly stated
in ver. 37, and then further amplified : the adultery refers to
the idolatry; the murder to the sacrifices of children, which
they offered to their idols (comp. xx. 31). The defiling of
the sanctuary of God, which appears in ver. 38 as a second
crime, which they lay upon themselves, takes place, according
to ver. 39, in this way, that they enter it polluted with idola
trous abominations. In like manner follows also the profana
tion of the Sabbath. The idolater can keep no Sabbath ; and
if he keeps it externally, he profanes it. The essence of the
Sabbath is to be wrapt up in God ; and this cannot be where
the heart clings to idols. " In that day : " this points to the
unseemly coincidence of the two movements. Oholah also made
herself guilty of defiling the sanctuary, when she gave up the
external connection with the temple in Jerusalem. For she
continues in the service of Jehovah, and in the claim to His
grace. Ideally also they have recourse to the sanctuary of
God.1 But it is possible, too, that the prophet from ver. 36
has in view only the time after the destruction of the kingdom
of the ten tribes, when the sanctuary in Jerusalem again be
came common to the whole nation. In ver. 40 the prophet
passes from religious to political adultery. He censures the
forming of adulterous connections, even with the far distant,
in opposition to the near (vers. 5, 11), as the visiting of the
Chaldeans, who are mentioned in ver. 16, and of the Sabeans,
ver. 42. The washing, painting, and adorning signify that
Jerusalem uses every means to make herself agreeable to her
lovers, the world-powers. Already, in ch. lvii. 9, Isaiah re
bukes the faithless Zion : " And thou lookest to the king in
1 Comp. Christol. on Amos ix. 1.

204 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
oil (perfumed), and increasest thy scents, and sendest thy
messengers far away, and sendest them down to hell ; " without
doubt referring specially to the mission to the Chaldeans
against the Assyrians, as it, along with that to the Egyptians
and Sabeans, took place at the instigation of the nobles in the
time of Hezekiah. The prophet first addresses the two sisters -,1
then he passes to the singular, because the transgression here
mentioned fell as a charge especially on Jerusalem. The
board or the table, in ver. 41, is furnished with meats and
drinks. Eating and drinking play an important part in
adultery, either in the usual or the spiritual sense. "Upon
it : " this can only refer to the bed.2 This is made fragrant
by the incense and the oil. Religious ceremonies are not
here spoken of. We find ourselves in the region of political
idolatry, which in the latest times of the people, from the days
of Ahaz and Hezekiah, far outweighed that of religion. The
corresponding reality consists in the rich gifts by which Judah
endeavoured to purchase the favour of the heathen sovereigns ;
comp. Isa. xxx. 6. The secure murmur (ver. 42) arises from
the noisy and self-confident intercourse of the adulterers with
the adulteresses, from the festivals which were held for the
sealing of political friendship. Among the adulterers are
found, besides many others from ail the world (this refers to
the great anti-Assyrian coalition in the time of Hezekiah),
Sabean topers 3 also from the wilderness, loose barbarians, who
are not too vile for her. " In her : " here the personification
is abandoned. The bracelets and the golden crowns are the
gifts which the adulterers from afar give; comp. xvi. 11,
Gen. xxiv. 22, where likewise gifts from the man to the
woman are spoken of. The author refers to political con
nections with Ethiopia, whose capital was Seba or Meroe. In
the time of Hezekiah, Tirhakah king of Kush, or Ethiopia,
marched to raise the siege of Jerusalem when beleaguered
by Sennacherib king of Assyria (Isa. xxxvii. 9 ; 2 Kings
1 And (this also is of importance, or comes into consideration) " that
they send," for "and they even sent." The future denotes the often
repeated action in the past.
2 inpC is always, and so in our verse, masculine.
G The form is a mixed one, that signifies both Sabeans and topers :
D'saiD instead of CSOD, Isa. xiv. 14, as the Masoretes wish to read.

THE THIRD CYCLE— CHAP. XXIII. 36-15. 205
xix. 9) ; and Isa. xiv. 14 also implies the seeking of help from
the Sabeans or inhabitants of Meroe in the time of Isaiah :
•" Thus saith the Lord, The labour of Egypt, and the mer
chandise of Cush and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall go
over unto thee, and be thine: they shall go after thee; in
chains they shall go over, and they shall fall down unto thee
to beseech thee ; only in thee is G od, and there is no God
beside." We have here the opposite of the ignominious de
pendence on Egypt and Ethiopia, which is connected with it,
especially Meroe, as it existed in the time of the prophet.
To such a subordinate relation Isaiah points also in ch. xliii.
3 : the future will show that Israel, through his God, stands
Higher than Egypt and Sheba, to whom he once ignomini-
ously yielded. The object of Sennacherib's expedition was,
as M. v. Niebuhr {History of Assyria and Babylon, p. 171 f.)
has shown, the breaking up of a great coalition, which threat
ened the Assyrian dominion in Syria, and not merely the
subjugation of the small kingdom of Judah. Trusting to
this coalition, Hezekiah had rebelled against Assyria. The
arrival of Tirhakah, remarks Niebuhr, at the bottom of which
lay probably an alliance with the native Egyptian princes,
is a movement that can only be explained by the seeking of
aid on the part of Hezekiah. This seeking of aid from the
Sabeans went hand in hand with that from the Chaldeans,
which was before mentioned by the prophet. These were the
two extreme ends of the coalition against Assyria. In regard to
these relations we may compare also Isa. xviii. There the in
telligence of the glorious deliverance which the Lord has secured
to His people against Assyria is brought to Kush, in proof that
this country was at that time connected with Judah by a close
community of political interests. Judea Had looked for aid to
Ethiopia, instead of which Kush is taken into the community
of the salvation secured to Judah by his God. "To the in
veterate are adulteries ? " (ver. 43) : Shall her adulteries go on
still further ? " Shall adulteries be still committed even with
her ? " 1 The thought is, that the Lord cannot possibly suffer
this, that He must at length make an end of such a course ;
1 The reading of the text is rW1- The Masoretic reading UP is a good
interpretation. Comp. 1X3, ver. 44.

206 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
comp. ver. 45. It may seem strange that in ver. 44 (as also
in ver. 45), along with Oholibah, Oholah also appears still in
the present pursuing her adulterous course. The solution,
however, is, that after the fall of the kingdom of the ten tribes,
Oholah still continued to exist in close community with Oholi
bah. That Judah, to which no inconsiderable number of the
citizens of the former kingdom of the ten tribes had attached
themselves (comp. 2 Chron. xxxv. 18), thenceforward represents
the collective nation, is shown by the name Israel which was
now assumed by it. The righteous men in ver. 45 are the
Chaldeans. They are righteous, according to their mission as
ministers of the divine vengeance ; whereby it is not excluded
that they, in regard to their motive, are evil, and themselves
liable to the divine vengeance. The Heathen tyrant also, in
Isa. xlix. 24, is designated as righteous. The blood refers to
the sacrificing of children ; comp. ver. 37.
In vers. 46-49, the punishment to which the last verse of
the foregoing section had conducted. Ver. 46. For thus saith
the Lord Jehovah, Bring up against them a company, and give
them to maltreatment and spoiling. 47. And the company
shall cast stones upon them, and cleave them with their swords:
they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn their
houses with fire. 48. And I will cause lewdness to cease out
of the land ; and all women shall be warned, and shall not do
after their lewdness. 49. And they shall requite your lewd
ness upon you, and the sins of your abominations ye shall take
upon you : and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
In ver. 46 the prophet is first addressed. What shall
happen is, as it were, wrought by him, as the power which gave
the prophecy produces also the fulfilment; in the prophecy
also, ideally considered, the fulfilment is already present. The
community denotes usually the congregation of Israel. As this
has failed to do its duty, reacting against the crime, as once
happened in the war against Benjamin (Judg. xx.), so stands
here the community of the heathen, which God summons to
execute His vengeance. The women in ver. 48 are the nations
to whom the execution decreed against Israel shall serve for a
warning and deterring example. " The sins of your abomina
tions " (ver. 49) — those committed in commerce with them.

THE FOURTH CYCLE — CHAP. XXIV. 1-14. 207

THE FOURTH CYCLE.— CHAPTEE XXIV.
As all the prophecies of Ezekiel are arranged chronologically,
this embraces ch. xxv. as well as ch. xxiv. For the next
chronological date is found in ch. xxvi. 1. The starting-
point is the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem, descried in
spirit by Ezekiel : comp. with ch. xxiv. 1, 2, 2 Kings xxv. 1,
Jer. Hi. 4, xxxix. If., Zech. viii. 19. This event first gives
occasion to the prophet's closing threatening against Judah,
which is much shorter than the previous one, because the open
ing thunders of the divine judgment themselves now speak.
From the chief criminal Judah, with whom the judgment of
God must begin, the prophet then turns to the accomplices, the
heathen members of the coalition, where he takes an ideal
standpoint, and presupposes as already present what had been
predicted, ch. xxiv., in reference to Judah.
The announcement of the judgment on Judah falls into
two symbolic actions taking place internally. The first parable,
that of the caldron, denotes the destiny of the people; the
second, the death of the prophet's wife, represents how they
will be affected thereby, the facts and the disposition called
forth thereby. Ver. .1. And the word of the Lord came unto
me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth of the
month, saying, 2. Son of man, write thee the name of the day,
this same day : the king of Babylon moves towards Jerusalem
this same day. 3. And utter against the house of rebellion a
parable ; and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Set
on a pot, set it on, and pour water into it : 4. Gather its pieces
into it, every good piece, thigh and shoulder ; fill it with the
choice of the bones. 5. Take the choice of the flock, and also
the wood-pile of the bones under it ; let it boil and boil,1 so
that its bones be sodden in the midst of it. 6. Therefore thus
saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe to the city of blood, the pot
whose rust is in it, and whose rust is not gone out of it ! empty
it 2 piece for piece ; no lot falls upon it. 7. For her blood is
1 Properly, " cook its cookery."
2 Properly, " bring it out," namely according to its flesh pieces, which
belong to the consistency of the pot, as the inhabitants denoted by them
to that of the city ; so that to bring it out is in reality to bring them out.

208 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
in the midst of her; on the bare rock has she laid it; she poured
it not upon the earth, to cover it with dust. 8. That I might
raise up fury, take vengeance, I set her blood upon the bare
rock, that it should not be covered. 9. Therefore thus saith
the Lord Jehovah, Woe to the city of blood ! I will also
make the wood-pile great. 10. Heap on wood, kindle the fire,
make ready the flesh, and put in the spice, and let the bones
be burnt. 11. And set it empty upon its coals, that it may
be hot, and its brass may burn, and its impurity in it may be
melted, and its rust be finished. 12. She has been wearied
with labours, and her much rust went not out of her ; her rust
into the fire. 13. In thy filthiness is lewdness : because I
purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt no more be
purged from thy filthiness, until I cause my fury to rest upon
thee. 14. I the Lord have spoken : it shall come, and I will
do it ; I will neither spare nor repent : according to thy ways,
and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the
Lord Jehovah.
The prophet is to write down the day (ver. 2), as a man does
with remarkable days, in order not to forget the date. The
object, to make use of this afterwards in proof of his prophetic
office, needed to be more definitely noticed. That he knew in
spirit the event of the day, presents itself to the prophet as so
natural, that he makes nothing more of it. The action which
the prophet is to take is in ver. 3 expressly described as a
parable, — a description which occurs nowhere of an externally
accomplished action. Ver. 5 also does not permit us to think
of such an action, according to which a whole number of slieep
are to be put into the caldron. If the first symbolic action
belongs to the department of the inner, the same holds good
obviously of the second, which is closely co/inected with the
first. A wife of Ezekiel has no more actually died, than he
has actually set on a caldron. The caldron is Jerusalem.
The flesh and the bones, that are put therein, are the Jews,
the ordinary inhabitants of the city, and the fugitives from the
country ; the fire is the fire of war. Water is poured into the
caldron, because in the first place only the inhabitants are
regarded, not the city as such. Afterwards, where the caldron
only is intended, it is set on empty (ver. 11). The bones, in
ver. 4, in contradistinction to the pieces of flesh, are those who

THE FOURTH CYCLE — CHAP. XXIV. 1-14. 209
lend support to the body of the state — the authorities, with the
king at their head. The wood-pile of the bones in ver. 5 is a
wood-pile that is adapted to a cooking process, in which bones
also are to be cooked. With ver. 6 begins the interpretation
of the parable, yet so that with it the further development of
it goes hand in hand. The rust in the pot signifies the sin of
Jerusalem. The pieces are cast out after they are burned (ver.
10). This destiny, to be burned and then cast out, comes upon
all witliout distinction, and so there is no way, in regard to the
pot or its contents, by which a man might go off free. In ver.
7 we have the cause of this judgment: deeds of murder are
done in Jerusalem boldly and without abhorrence, by which wc
are to understand the numerous judicial murders which were
perpetrated by the party who had at that time seized the helm
of the state, the party of the external alliances against which
all were indignant, who in the name of the God of Israel raised
a protest against this adulterous movement. An example of
such judicial murder is the prophet Urijah (Jer. xxvi. 20 f.).
She has not covered her sins, therefore wiil they not be covered
by the Lord (ver. 8). Forgiveness of sins is not for the peccato,
voluntaria — for those which, according to Num. xv. 31, are
perpetrated with a high Hand, with bold disregard of the
covenant and the command of God. They are punished with
extinction. The fate of Sodom is a type of this. The address
in ver. 10 is directed, to the prophet. It is intended first of all
to represent symbolically, in the region of the purely internal,
what was immediately to enter into realization. " Put in the
spice," lay on spice, that the flesh may be savoury for the foe
or for the devouring sword. The prophet is once again
sarcastic. "And let the bones be burned:" the fire shall be
so strong, that even the most powerful cannot resist its vio
lence. On the destruction of the inhabitants, figured by flesh
and bones, follows in ver. 11 the destruction of the city itself,
figured by the caldron. " She has been wearied with labours"
(ver. 12) : the pot, Jerusalem, is wearied of the severe labour
which the true servants of the Lord have undergone, to remove
the rust, the sin from her, so that they are compelled to say,
"I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought
and in vain" (Isa. xlix. 4). Hence the last means must be
applied to remove the rust, the fire, by which with the rust the
o

210 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
pot also is destroyed. The impurity has increased to lewdness
(ver. 13), inasmuch as the earnest endeavours of God to purify
Jerusalem, as by the mission of His servant Jeremiah, are
rudely repelled: comp. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15, 16. God makes
no longer trial, therefore, of such purification, the term of which
is run out (Jer. xiii. 27) : He now discharges upon it His fury,.
that thereby the purification may be effected, which is identical
with destruction, and of which Isaiah prophesied, ch. iv. 4. -
Vers. 15-24. The thought here is, a time of immeasurable
sorrow draws nigh to the people. This alone, and not penitence
or impenitence, is here spoken of. The prophet will annihilate
the last remnant of sanguine hope. Ver. 15. And the word of
the Lord came unto me, saying, 16. Son of man, behold, I take ,
from thee the delight of thine eyes - with a stroke ; and thou
shalt not lament nor weep, neither shall thy tears fall. 17.
Groan, be still,1 make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire
of thine head upon thee, and put thy shoes upon thy feet, and
cover not thy beard, and eat not the bread of men. 18. And
I spake unto the people in the morning, and in the evening
my wife died ; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
19. And the people said to me, Wilt thou not tell us what
these things are to us ? for thou doest it. 20. And I said unto
them, The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 21. Say
to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold,
I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the
delight of your eyes, and the pity of your soul ;2 and your sons
and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall bv the sword.
22. And ye shall do as I have done ; ye shall not cover your <
beard, nor eat the bread of men. 23. And your tire shall be
on your heads, and shoes on your feet : ye shall not mourn nor
weep; and ye shall pine away in your iniquities, and groan
every man to his brother. 24. And Ezekiel is unto you a
wonder ; according to all that he hath done, shall ye do : when
this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord.
On ver. 16 it has been erroneously remarked by the older
1 Luther, " Secretly mayest thou sigh." But not a concession, but a
command, is meant. The passage speaks also not of a secret, but of a
low groaning.
2 The sympathy of the soul, — an object which, when it suffers, draws
the soul that is inwardly united with it into a state of sympathy.

THE FOURTH CYCLE— CHAP. XXIV. 15-24. 211
expositors: "The miserable death of the Jewish church is
prefigured, which was, as it were, a spouse of God." The
prophet is the type of the people, the wife the counterpart of
all that was dear and precious to the people, — namely, the
temple, in which all else was included. They shall not weep
for the downfall of it, because they shall be wholly taken up
with the pain of their own misery. There is a degree *of
suffering where sympathy ceases in those who are not deeply
founded in God (and of such it is here treated), because they
are swallowed up with dull and deep despair. "Groan, be
still" (ver. 17) : the prophet is to groan low, in order to repre
sent the dull pain no longer capable of any lively sensation.
" Mourning • for the dead " — the solemn mourning, which is
appointed in cases of death.1 This is the general ; the follow
ing are the several acts of which mourning usually consisted.
The tire is not specially the priestly bonnet, against which ver.
23 decides, but the head-dress that was commonly worn. This
was taken off in mourning, in order to scatter ashes on the
head (Isa. lxi. 3). It belonged to mourning also, that a man
should walk barefooted (2 Sam. xv. 30). The covering of the
beard occurs as a sign of mourning in Lev. xiii. 45 and Mic.
iii. 7. The beard is thus regarded as an ornament of a man.
If a sign were required " that a man wishes not to speak," the
beard would certainly not be mentioned. Bread of men is the
ordinary food (in such circumstances, in cases of death). The
thought in both verses is, not that the existing public misfor-
tune is so great, that the pain of the individual on account
of the heaviest personal loss is thereby overpowered ; but the
prophet, as the following clearly shows, appears merely as a
holy actor — he prefigures a future state of the people. This
confirms to us what we had already concluded from the
analogy of the parable of the caldron, that the occurrence is
not externa], but that we have to do with a mere figure ; so
that it is questionable whether Ezekiel had a wife at all : the
contrary, at all events, cannot be proved from this occurrence.
A moral relation like marriage cannot be degraded to a mere
mode of representation. Were Ezekiel's wife, the delight of
his eyes, actually dead, it would be unnatural if he, suppressing
1 DTlD is the relative accusative ; or we may regard both words as a,
kind of nomen compositum.

212 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
all tenderer feeling, had used this occurrence only as an out
ward representation of the impression which the existing great
misfortune should make on the people. It would be strange
also, if God had lowered His servant the prophet so far into a
mere instrument of His plan, that Pie took from him his wife
on no other ground than to give him occasion for a mimetic
representation of the future state of the people. If we have
only a vividly drawn figure before us, these thoughts vanish
away. If the married relation of the prophet be only a mode
of representation, the thoughts fall away that refer to a real
marriage. The prophet, according to ver. 18, imparts the
received divine command immediately on the same morning
when he received it, or after the night, to the people. On the
following morning he appears with the already announced
actions before the people, informing them that in the evening
his wife died, which is a fact, but a symbolic fact, belonging
to the holy phantasy. Even the manner in which the people,
according to ver. 19, receive the action of the prophet, scarcely
gives rise to the thought of the existence of the actual fact.
For otherwise the people would not have been so readily con
vinced of the symbolic character of his proceeding. Tlie
words, " For thou doest it," express the conviction that the
prophet here is regarded purely in his official character, and
not as a private individual. To him whom such a calamity
has struck as the loss of a beloved wife, no one will so speak,
even if he were a prophet. They say not that the action of the
prophet is so peculiar, that it transcends his private relations;
but they express the conviction that what the prophet does,
irrespective of its peculiarity, even because he does it, must be
significant for the future of the people. This shows that no
event had transpired in which the private character of the
prophet came into the foreground. The sanctuary comes into
view in ver. 21 as the dwelling-place of the whole people. In
its profanation is included the dissolving of the whole covenant
relation, the removal of everything sublime and glorious, that
had flown from that covenant relation, of all that was valuable
and dear to the people. The general conception is demanded
by the fundamental passage, Lev. xxvi. 19, where by "the
pride of power " is meant all the glory of Israel. Then also
by ver. 25, where in place of the sanctuary here all that is

THE FOURTH CYCLE — CHAP. XXIV. 25-27. 213
glorious appears. The sons and the daughters are here related
to the sanctuary, as the part to the whole. The sons and the
daughters are not those of individuals, but of the people as a
whole. The house of Israel, not the exiles in particular, are
addressed. In point of fact, it is as much as to say, your
countrymen. "Ye shall pine away in your iniquities:" with
this comp. ch. iv. 17, Lev. xxvi. 39; what is there threatened
to the people in case of rebellion, now passes into terrible fulfil
ment. "And Ezekiel is unto you a wonder" (ver. 24): the
type is designated as a wonder, because it must draw wonder
to itself, as the exact representation of the future state of things.
"When it cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah,"
because by my servant I have placed before your eyes the
image of the future in lines so clear and sharp.
In vers. 25-27, the close of this discourse, and at the same
time of the whole national announcement of the prophet be
fore the execution of the judgment. Ver. 25. And thou, son
of man, surely in the day when I take from them their strong
hold, their proud joy, the delight of their eyes and the desire
of their soul, their sons and their daughters ; 26. In that day,
he that is escaped shall come unto thee, to cause thine ears to
hear. 27. In that day shall thy mouth be opened with him
that is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb :
and thou shalt be a wonder unto them ; and, they shall know
that I am the Lord.
" In the day" (ver. 25) is the same as " at the time." The
" stronghold of the people" is, according to ver. 21, the temple,
to which the sons and daughters belong as a part to the whole.
" From them," regarded as the whole people. The people lose
their all, when they lose their sons and daughters. " He that
is escaped" (ver. 26) is, as in Gen. xiv. 13, an ideal person, and
includes in reality a plurality in itself — the whole host of those
carried away after the destruction of Jerusalem, who were
directed to the dwelling-place of the prophet, or passed it. To
gain the foundation for the new appearance of the prophet, the
mere rumour of the taking of Jerusalem and the destruction
of the temple was not sufficient,: it was necessary that eye
witnesses should come, who by their arrival, and by the vivid
report of personal experience, might call forth a profound
emotion of the heart. The prophet is dumb (ver. 27), because

214 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
now nothing more can be done — 'the die is cast. Ch. xxiv. is
to be regarded as a farewell. Hence its brevity. Formerly
Israel might still have been brought to reason. Now Nebu
chadnezzar stands before the gates. Formerly sin was active :
now the passive history of sin has made its commencement.
A new period for prophetic utterance came when the misfor
tune was realized. This was first to prepare the soil. The
prophet can only speak " with him that is escaped," in accord
ance with the news which he will bring ; comp. ch. xxxiii. 21,
where that which is here announced is accomplished. Yet the
dumbness only refers to domestic relations. In the very time
of his silence regarding these, the predictions of the prophet
regarding foreign nations are unfolded. " And thou shalt
be a wonder unto them." When the eye-witnesses (the
escaped) report that all has happened as the Lord proclaimed
by Ezekiel, he will be to them an object of wonder ; they will
recognise the Lord concealed behind the Son of man, and he
seized with the feeling of His real Godhead. This result of
the message of the fugitives was a necessary foundation for the
new appearance of the prophet.

EOEEIGN NATIONS.
CHAPTERS XXV.-XXXII.

CHAPTER XXV.
E have here the second part of the discourse of the
prophet, beginning in ch. xxiv. All the prophecies
of Ezekiel are chronologically determined. Hence
the date in ch. xxiv. 1 applies to this also.
What was predicted in ch. xxiv. regarding the immediate
future of Judah is here presupposed as already accomplished ;
so that the point of view is ideal. Judgment must begin at
the house of God, but it does not stop there ; it passes over
thence to the heathen members of the coalition, especially to
the tribes related by race to Judah : Ammon (vers. 1-7), Moab
(vers. 8-11), Edom (vers. 12-14) — who will smart for their
hostile, mischief-loving demonstrations at the destruction of
Judah, — -and lastly the Philistines (vers. 15-17). When the
prophet has grouped together these small border tribes, he
afterwards announces the judgment of God in several predic
tions to the nations of the world that had taken part in the
coalition — Tyre and Egypt.
The nations threatened with destruction are seven in all.
The seven are divided into four and three. The confederate
nations besides Judah were properly only six ; but to gain the
number seven, and consequently the three, the prophet sub
joins to the lengthened predictions against Tyre a brief one
against Sidon, which indeed is also expressly mentioned along
with Tyre in the enumeration of the members of the coalition
(Jer. xxvii. 3).
The absence of a prophetic menace against the Chaldeans
must surprise us the more, as Jeremiah, Ezekiel's predecessor,
215

216 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
had announced their destruction in the review of the ap
proaching judgments of God in ch. xxv. (" And the king of
Sheshach," by a sort of anagram for Babel, " shall drink after
them"), and had closed his book with a lengthened proclamation
against Babylon. Among the personal relations of Ezekiel,
the reason can. perhaps only lie in this, that he prophesied in
the midst of the Chaldeans. A reason for braving the danger
did not present itself. Jeremiah had treated exhaustively of
this matter; and Ezekiel, while he took up again the other
announcements of his predecessor, as good as pointed expressly
to this particular topic. Then the prophecy against Tyre is
indirectly at the same time a prophecy against Babylon; and
this perhaps explains its comparative fulness. That which is
uttered against the city in which the trade of the world cul
minated, holds good also of the city in which the dominion of
the world was centred, which the prophet already in ch. xvii. 4
had, in reference to Tyre, designated as the city of the mer
chants — of the political negotiations.
These prophecies against foreign nations serve to extend
the range of vision — to give, through the insertion of the special
judgment on Judah in the greater whole of the divine judg
ments, a deeper impression of its import, and to arouse to
sincere conversion to God, who walks solemnly along, judging
the nations ; and who, as He is rich in judgment, must be rich
also in mercy — as He is mighty to destroy, must be mighty also
to deliver. Whosoever thus received an insight into the whole
of the divine judicial acts, must have been thereby powerfully
drawn from politics to repentance. Whosoever should not
turn with his whole heart to a God who, while His people lie
low, walks victoriously over the High places of the earth, and
even thereby shows that the humiliation of His people is the
merited punishment of their sins, is not a contradiction of His
power, but a testimony to it. We have in these prophecies
aoainst foreign nations the preparation for the later direct
announcement of salvation for Israel, with which the prophet
wished then to come forward, when judgment had completed
its course. These prophecies present, themselves as forerunners
of cheering intelligence also, in so far as the downfall of the
heathen powers here announced is throughout total and defini
tive, whereas hope is still left to Israel everi in the deepest

CHAP. XXV. 217
misery. This view is expressly opened up in ch. xxviii. 25, 26.
This also is very consolatory to Israel, that among the causes
of the divine judgments on the heathen world, the wrong done
to Israel occupies so important a place (ch. xxv. 3, 8, 12, 15).
How could God leave a people in misery whose cause He
makes His own, even when they pine in misery, and regarding
whom Pie says, " What ye have done to the least of these, ye
have done to me ? "
From the point of view from which Ezekiel regards the
destinies of the nations, it is plain that he turns his attention
chiefly to the judicial activity of God in regard to the heathen,
and looks away from the future proofs of His mercy and com
passion towards them. How rich and deep was Ezekiel's know
ledge of this appears, for ex., from ch. xvi.
We have here not perhaps a separate book of the prophecies
of Ezekiel against foreign nations ; but the chronological prin
ciple ruling the whole collection is here also applicable. The
prophecies against foreign nations are inserted here simply
because they mostly took place at that very time, between the
last announcement of the downfall of Judah, with which the
beginning of the armouncement against the heathen nations in
ch. xxv. is combined into one prophetic discourse, and the an
nouncement of salvation delivered after the downfall was com
pleted. But with the chronological order is connected an
order of nature-. The prophecies which refer to one of the
two great nations, Tyre and Egypt, are not to be separated
from one another, and yet are to be chronologically arranged
among themselves. The prophecy against Tyre in ch. xxvi. 1
belongs to a somewhat later point than the first prophecy
against Egypt in ch. xxix. 1. The chief power in the coalition
must form the close, and is formally separated from the fore
going by the closing formula in ch. xxviii. 25, 26. And to the
prophecies against Egypt, which fall between the last threat
aeainst Judah and the promise, is added by way of appendix,
to bring all that relates to Egypt together, a prophecy in ch.
xxix. 17 f., which was delivered some time after the promise to
Judah, and which, in strict adherence to chronological order,
would form the last part of the whole book. The two prophe
cies in ch. xxxii. 1 and xxxii. 17 also are of somewhat later date
than the beginning of the predictions of promise (ch. xxxiii. 21).

218 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The proclamation of the judgment against the four heathen
nations, that were always filled with envy and hatred, around
Israel, begins with the three whose guilt was enhanced by their
relationship. At the head stand in ch. xxv. 1-7 the Ammon
ites. They belonged, with Judah, to the anti-Chaldaic coali
tion ; comp. ch. xxi. 20 f. The avenging march of the king
of Babylon was directed first against Judah, according to the
same passage, and now the neighbouring nations were busied in
separating their cause from that of Judah (Lam. i. 2) ; and in
place of friendship came the old enmity, which, as the prophet,
after the example of Obadiah and other prophets, foresees, was
to be particularly active in the impending catastrophe of Judah.
According to 2 Kings xxiv. 2, Ammonites and Moabites, in
fact, took part in the expedition of Nebuchadnezzar against
Jerusalem. That the Ammonites here open the series is to be
explained either from this, that their hostility against Judah
was peculiarly intense, or from the fact that among the com
bined nations they dwelt nearest the Chaldeans. In ch.xxi. 19
also, Ammon appears next to Israel as the immediate object of
the Chaldean vengeance.
Ver. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, set thy face against the sons of Ammon, and
prophesy against them ; 3. And say unto the sons of Ammon,
Hear the word of the Lord Jehovah; Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, be
cause it was profaned ; and against the land of Israel, because
it was wasted ; and against the house of Judah, because they
went into captivity ; 4. Therefore, behold, I will deliver thee
to the sons of the east for a possession, and they shall set their
houses in thee, and make their dwellings in thee : they shall
eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk. 5. And I will
give Kabbah for a stall for camels, and the sons of Ammon a
couching-place of sheep; and ye shall know that I am the
Lord. 6. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because thou
clappest the hand, and stampest with the foot, and rejoicest
with all thy despite of soul over the land of Israel ; 7. There
fore, behold, I will stretch out my hand against thee, and
give thee for food 1 to the heathen ; and cut thee off from the
1 Luther, after the Keri, "for a spoil." For 33 the Masoretes wish to read
T3, spoil, which, like all the Keris, is a mere conjecture. But J2 in Persian,

CHAP. XXV. 1-7. 219
nations, and destroy thee out of the lands: I will extirpate
thee ; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
The sons of the east, in ver. 4, are not the proper instru
ments of the judgment. These are, as in Judah, so also in
the whole system of prophecies against the foreign nations, the
Chaldeans, as surely as all these nations were the members of
the anti-Chaldaic coalition, who oppose themselves in vain to
the scourge which the Lord has sent upon them. The sons
of the east — an old designation borrowed from the books of
Moses for the Arabians, who appear under the latter name
first in Isa. xiii. 20 — are rather the vultures that fall upon the
carcases of the people, those who always appear where fire and
sword have wasted a country, and overspread it with their
flocks, in which character they appear also in the passage
quoted from Isaiah. The sons of the east do nothing more
than take possession of the land that has been already deso
lated. Among the number of the nations over whom the
judgment by the Chaldeans passes, appear the Ammonites
already in Jer. xxv. 21, xxvii. 3, xlix. 1 f. In Ezekiel also
{ch. xxi.) the king of Babylon considers whether he shall
direct his avenging activity first against the Ammonites or
against Jerusalem ; and the decision falling upon the latter
refers only to the order of time. That which the prophet
first expressly says of Tyre, ch. xxvi. 7, "Behold, I bring
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the north, the king
of kings," refers in reality to all the seven kings of the coali
tion. That it is first uttered of Tyre, corresponds to the richer
unfolding of the prophetic discourse, as it generally appears
where the prophet comes to this principal nation, which in its
grandeur was best fitted to bring into view the thought of
the vanity of human glory. The more exact designation of
allotted portion, food, is confirmed by J3n3, mouth-portion, Dan. i. 5, xi.
26, and particularly suits ver. 4, " They shall eat thy fruit and drink thy
milk," and still better the following, which speaks of total annihilation.
The conjecture T2 was rendered natural by the fact that J3, probably con
nected with the Greek (paysiv, does not occur elsewhere in the Old Testa
ment, and also by ch. xxvi. 5, where Tyre becomes a spoil (n) for the
heathen, which is an intentional variation of our passage. The coincidence
in the use of a Persian word not elsewhere occurring in the whole Old
Testament, is one o"f the many indications of the contemporaneousness of
Ezekiel and Daniel.

220 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the instrument of the divine vengeance appears also there
first in the development, and indeed at the very commence
ment of it. In the introduction there (vers. 2-5), the gene- ,
ral tenor of the proclamation against the four neighbouring
nations continues. The old Ammonitis, the ruin of which
began, in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and continued thence
forward without interruption, is abandoned to the Bedouin
Arabs unto this day. Kabbah (ver. 5) is the old capital of
the Ammonites, to whose name, the Populous, the stall for,
camels forms a melancholy contrast. Camel and wilderness
go inseparably together. The clapping of the hands, in ver. 6, «
is the gesture of highly excited feeling. On the stamping
with the foot, comp. vi. 11.
After Ammon follows, in vers. 8-11, the brother people
Moab. Ver. 8. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because Moab
and Seir say, Behold, like all the heathen is the house of
Judah ; 9. Therefore, behold, I will open the shoulder of
Moab from the cities, from his cities at his end, the beauty
of the land, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and unto Kiriathaim,
10. To the sons of the east, with the sons of Ammon ; and
I will give it for a possession, that the sons of Ammon may
be no more remembered among the heathen. 11. And on
Moab will I execute judgments, and they shall know that I
am the Lord.
Mention is already by anticipation made of Seir and Edom
in ver. 8, along with Moab (the prophet treats of him fully
in ver. 12 f.), to guard against the thought that the guilt here
mentioned is peculiar to Moab, to indicate that it belongs to
Moab only as a part of the surrounding heathendom. The
guilt consists in the denial of the true deity of the God of
Israel, for only on this ground could Israel be placed on the
same level with all other nations. The pretence for this
denial they take from the misery of Israel, which they derive
not from their guilt, but from the feebleness of their God, and
discern therein a palpable proof against His true and full
deity. Their God Jehovah, the absolutely pure Being, the
primeval ground of all things, the absolutely certain Helper
of His people, is a mere fancy : otherwise must they soar
above, and not sink beneath. This full deity, against whose
historically extant evidences they rashly close their eyes, they

CHAP. XXV. 12-14. 221
must now discover by their own destruction. The trans
gression is seemingly small; but it is that by which the
nations perish even to the present day. As each takes its
stand towards God, who is historically revealed in His church,
so is its destiny measured out. The lot which fell upon Moab
and his confederates, on account of guilt comparatively so
light, which it did not enter into his mind to regard as such,
is a warning-cry which should not be unheard. The shoulder
in ver. 9 is named as the place where blows and sword-strokes
are most easily applied. It is " opened," when it is made
accessible to these. The "cities" appear as strongholds. In
these the opening begins, and then proceeds unhindered to
the other parts of the country. The strong forts lie naturally
at the "end" of the land, its border. Before "the beauty of
the land" "I open" is to be repeated. What follows indivi
dualizes the beauty, as the best parts are named. " And unto
Kiriathaim:" this1 was the outermost among the radiant points
of the land. Ver. 10 declares to whom it is opened. " I give
it," both Moab and Ammon, that form together a national
unity, in which the Ammonites, as in Judg. xi. 12 f., form the
prominent part ; for which reason in' the words, " that the sons
of Ammon be no more remembered," these alone are named.
According to ver. 11, through the judgments under which
with Ammon Moab also falls (the latter is connected, as in guilt
with Edom, so in punishment with Ammon), it is forced to
acknowledge the true deity of Jehovah, which it did not will
ingly accept.
In vers. 12-14, Edom. Ver. 12. Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, Because Edom is busy in taking vengeance on the
house of Judah, and they have been guilty and have taken
vengeance on them ; 13. Therefore thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, And I will stretch out my hand upon Edom, and cut
off from it man and beast, and make it a desert from Teman ;
and unto Dedan they shall fall by the sword. 14. And I will
lay my vengeance on Edom through my people Israel : and
they shall do in Edom according to my anger and according
to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the
Lord Jehovah. »
Edom is guilty in the Chaldean catastrophe (ver. 12),
because he seizes the occasion to avenge himself on Judah for

222 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
former injustice. This involves the historically established
principle, that Edom brought upon himself by his own conduct,
what he formerly, particularly under David, suffered from
Judah. For only on this supposition was the revenge sinful.
" And I will stretch out : " the and connects this with the fore
going threatenings against Ammon and Moab, and points out
the proceeding against Edom as one link of a chain. Teman,
a district in the southern part of Edom ; Dedan in the
northern. If the destruction sets out from Teman, and extends
to Dedan, it embraces the whole country. " Through my
people Israel " (ver. 14) : these are the proper authors, the
Chaldeans only their instruments; as in the second part of
Isaiah, what Cyrus shall do to the Chaldeans is referred to
Israel (ch. xiv. 4), and in Jeremiah Nebuchadnezzar appears as
the servant of the God who rules in Israel. The immediate
instruments of the divine judgments here threatened in all the
seven prophecies against foreign nations are the Chaldeans, as
the prophet himself had already expressly said in regard to
the Ammonites, who stand at their head. But to Israel is the
work of vengeance ascribed so much the more, because after
wards, in the time of the appearance of Christ, he was to come
forward without a substitute warring and conquering again
the heathen world. Comp. Amos ix. 11, 12 ; Obad. 17 f.; Jer.
xlix. 20, where this final victory of the people of God over the
heathen world is, even as here, individually applied to Edom.
In vers. 15-17, the Philistines. The fundamental passage
here is Jer. xlvii. There the Philistines are flooded with a
great flood from the north, the symbol of the Asiatic world-
power. Ver. 15. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because the
Philistines are busy with vengeance, and avenge themselves
with despite of their whole soul,1 for a destruction of perpetual
hatred; 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah; Behold,
I stretch out my hand upon the Philistines, and cut off the
Kerethim, and destroy, the remnant at the haven of the sea.
17. And I will take on them great vengeance with rebukes
of fury; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when
I lay my vengeance upon them.
1 Literally, in soul ; so that the soul, the seat of the affections, is active
therein ; in contrast with a contempt which has its seat prominently only
on their lips.

CHAP. XXVI.-XXVIII. 223
The destruction of perpetual hatred (ver. 15) is that which
grows out of perpetual hatred. " And cut off the Kerethim "
(ver. 16) : the name Philistines signifies probably the emigrants,
in accordance with the accounts of the books of Moses concern
ing their migration from the regions on the Black Sea, from
Colchis, and the adjacent Pontic Cappadocia, Kaphtor. By
the side of this name goes, of substantially like signification
for the same people, Kerethim, extirpated — those who were
forced to leave their native land. These Kerethim are now
to become Kerethim a second time ; their name shall verify
itself anew. The destruction of the remnant points to this,
that they shall be destroyed to the last man, as in fact the
Philistines have utterly disappeared. It is the great privilege
of the people of God, that how heavy soever the judgments
of God may be upon them, never will it be said of them, I
will destroy the remnant. CHAPTERS XXVI.-XXVIII.
These chapters describe the fall of Tyre and Sidon. First
the prophecy against Tyre in ch. xxvi. . Then the lamentation
over Tyre in ch. xxvii. In ch. xxviii. 1-10 the fall of the
prince of Tyre; in vers. 11-19 the lamentation over him. In
vers. 20-24 the prophecy concerning Sidon. In vers. 25, 26,
before the fall of the chief power in the coalition, Egypt, we
have the close of the prophecies concerning the neighbouring
nations. The prophet has good reason to be so full in his announce
ment against Tyre. Along with Babylon and Egypt, Tyre was
then the most glorious concentration of the worldly power. In
the queen of the sea the thought of the vanity of all worldly
power was strikingly exemplified. Hand in hand with this
thought goes, in Ezekiel, that of the indestructibleness of the
kingdom of God. The design to raise the light of the kingdom
of God through the shade of the world, appears manifestly
at the close of the whole in ch. xxviii. 25, 26, and even before
at the close of ch. xxvi. . The prophet wishes to prevent the
despondency which the contemplation of the world shining in
its glory may so easily call forth in the people of God groaning
under the cross.

224 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The prophecy in ch. xxvi. has four clauses : the destruction
of Tyre in outline, vers. 2-6; the detail, vers. 7-14 ; the lamen
tation of the princes of the sea over Tyre, vers. 15-18 ; and
the epilogue, in which Tyre in its total downfall is contrasted
with Zion in its glorious resurrection, vers. 19-21.
Ver. 1. And it came to- pass in the eleventh year, in the
first of. the month, the word of the Lord came unto me,
saying. In the date the month is wanting. This omission of
the month indicates here, as in ch. xxxii. 17, that it is to be
taken from the last previous date, that is, from ch. xxiv. 1.
Accordingly it is the tenth month. The prominence given
to the similarity of the month leads to the similarity of the
situation : there the day of the opening of the siege of Jeru
salem, here that of the opening of the siege of Tyre. In the
same month in which Tyre a few years before had rejoiced,
must she now lament. When Ezekiel uttered this prophecy,
the proclamation against Jerusalem in ch. xxiv. was already
fulfilled by the conquest of it which took place in the fourth
month of the eleventh year (Jer. xxxix. 2). Already came the
change to its heathen rival Tyre, who had rejoiced in the
downfall of Jerusalem, thinking that she would come off free,
and gain by its. fall.
Ver. 2. Son of man, because Tyre saith against Jerusalem,
Aha, broken is the gate of the peoples -1 it is turned to me ;2 1
will be replenished, she is laid waste. 3. Therefore thus saith
the Lord Jehovah; Behold, I am against thee, Tyre, and I
will bring up many nations upon thee, as if I brought up the
sea with its waves. 4. And they shall destroy the walls of
Tyre, and break down her towers : and I will sweep away her
. dust from her, and make her a bare rock. 5. A place for
spreading a net shall she-be in the midst of the sea : for I have
spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah ; and she shall become a
spoil to the heathen. 6. And her daughters which are in the
field shall be slain by the sword ; and they shall know that I
am the Lord.
1 Luther, " The gates of the peoples are broken." But the sing, of the
verb shows that the plur. of the noun denotes here, as often, one gate.
2 Luther, "It is turned." But the fern, refers obviously to the gate:
this, or in fact the prerogative of being the gathering point of the nations,
is gone over to Tyre.

CHAP. XXVI. 2-6. 225
The general thought in ver. 2 is this : the world triumphs
over the church, when the latter suffers a heavy overthrow and
is visited by the judgments of her God; but its laughter will
be changed into howling. Both Jerusalem and Tyre laid
claim to be the world-city, — the one because she regarded the
true religion as the highest good, the other because she con
sidered material gain and earthly riches as alone real. By the
taking of Jerusalem the process seemed to be decided in favour
of Tyre, and she exulted in this decision. In the Messianic
announcements, the homage of Tyre to Jerusalem, and its
incorporation into the kingdom of God, were expressly cele
brated. In Ps. xiv. 13 it is said, " The daughter of Tyre shall
entreat thee with a gift, the rich among the people." In Ps.
lxxxvii. 4, " I proclaim Kahab and Babylon as my confessors ;
behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Kush, (of these it is said,)
This was born there." Tyre, in the future, will in Jerusalem
be born again to a new life. In Isa. xxiii., Tyre, after she has
been made tender by the judgments of God, consecrates her
self, and all that she has, to the Lord. Without doubt these
bold Hopes of Zion were known in Tyre, and caused much bad
blood in the proud queen of the sea. Already they seemed to
be proved by facts to be vain fancies. Zion lay low, and Tyre
stood upright, and believed that in the heart of the seas she
might despise the world-conqueror, especially as Assyria had
already assailed her in vain. " The gate of the peoples :" so
is Jerusalem named, on account of the influx of the nations,
which was destined for her in the future. Comp. especially
the expression, " All nations shall flow into it" (Isa. ii. 2 ; Mic.
iv. 1), not without a connecting point in the present, as Jeru
salem was at all times a magnet for the God-seeking hearts
among the heathen. " It is turned to me :" namely, the gate of
the peoples. Tyre considers herself the heiress of Jerusalem.
The fall of the spiritual centre presents to view the enhanced
importance of the secular. " As if I brought up the sea with its
waves :" so we must interpret ver. 3 according to ver. 19. The
" many nations," according to ver. 7, gather around Nebuchad
nezzar as their leader. Tyre, the insular (Scripture knows no
other ; T and that this alone can be meant here, is proved even
1 Only by a wrong interpretation has Havernick found a notice of
Palsetyrus in Hos. ix. 13. r

226 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
by the contrast of the daughters in tHe field, ver. 6, and her
situation on a rock), sinks back (ver. 4) into her original state :
all that was added by man vanishes — there remains only the
bare, naked rock in the sea; all glorious array, wherewith
she _was adorned, disappears as a dream on awaking. The
daughters of Tyre in the field (ver. 6) are the cities dependent
on her on the mainland, perhaps the so-called Palsetyrus in
particular, the suburb of the insular Tyre, standing on the
shore. The field forms the contrast to the rock of the insular
Tyre, on which was neither sowing nor planting.
The survey of the fate of Tyre is now followed by the
detailed description of its siege and capture by Nebuchad
nezzar. In so full a description of the siege, the casting up of
a mound is nowhere mentioned. This shows that such already
existed before Nebuchadnezzar undertook the siege. This is also
antecedently probable. Great accumulations by the Tyrians
themselves are expressly mentioned in history. Tyre was pre
eminently a merchant city. The possible disadvantages in war
of the connection with the mainland might the less outweigh
the great and permanent advantages for trade, as the mound
might be so easily cut through in case of danger.
Ver. 7. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I bring
upon Tyre Nebuchadrezzar1 king of Babylon from the north,
a king of kings, with horse, and with chariot, and with riders,
and company, and much people. 8. Thy daughters in the
field he will slay with the sword, and set a tower against thee,
and cast up a wall against thee, and lift up the buckler against
thee. 9. And the destruction 2 of his engine he shall set
against thy walls, and break down thy towers with his swords.3
10. From the abundance of his horses, their dust shall cover
thee : at the sound of the rider, and the wheel, and the chariot,
thy walls shall shake, when he entereth into thy gates, like the
entrance into a broken city. 11. With the hoofs of his horses
he shall tread all thy streets : thy people shall he slay with the
1 This comes nearer the native form. Abroad the r-was softened into
n (Niebuhr, p. 41).
2 TlD, destruction (comp. 2 Kings xxi. 13), in connection with [IT1, cor
responds to fn11 ; that is, he will destroy thy walls with his engines.
3 Luther, " his weapons." There is no ground, however, for taking 2"in
in other than the usual sense of sword.

CHAP. XXVI. 7-14. 227
sword, and thy strong pillars shall come down to the earth.
12. And they shall plunder thy riches, and despoil thy mer
chandise, and break down thy walls, and pull down thy fair
houses,1 and lay thy stones, and thy timbers, and thy dust, in
the midst of the water. 13. And J will cause the noise of thy
songs to cease ; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more
heard. 14. And I will make thee a bare rock : a spreading-
place of nets shalt thou be ; thou shalt be built no more : for
I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.
The riders, along with the horses and chariots (ver. 7),
are the chariot-warriors ; comp. ver. 10. The words, " Thy
daughters in the field he will slay with the sword," are repeated
in ver. 8 and ver. 6, to indicate that we have here the filling up
of what was there given in outline. By the connection with a
distinct personality already present on the scene they receive a
new import. The swords in ver. 9, which slay the defenders,
are at the same time the means of destroying the towers. The
wheels and the chariots are distinguished in ver. 10 : the
chariots themselves also rattle. The falling of the "strong
pillars" (ver. 11) has its special import in this, that these
pillars were symbols of the power and glory of Tyre, as the
image erected by Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. iii.) was a symbol of
the glory of the Chaldean empire. The first place among these
pillars was taken by those of Hercules (Herod, ii. 44), who, as
even his name indicates, properly the Merchant, was exactly
the objective I of the Tyrians.2 Ver. 14 returns as a refrain
to vers. 4, 5. According to Isa. xxiii. 15-18, Tyre, seventy
years, after her fall by the Chaldeans, returns to prosperity,
"whores" or trades " with all the kingdoms of the earth," and
consecrates herself, and all her gains, to the true God. A
contradiction does not arise here ; but the one prophet is to be
completed from the other. Ezekiel does not touch on the
lucidum intervallum celebrated by Isaiah, because, in regard to
the heathen nations in general, his eye is directed only to the
side of wrath, which alone served his purpose. Isaiah obtains
from him the completion, that a lucidum intervallum only is
1 Concerning 1DPI and iTTOn — never longing, pleasure, but always the
beautiful, or beauty — comp. Christol. on Hag. ii. 7. The fair houses here
correspond to the palaces of Tyre destroyed by the Chaldeans (Isa. xxiii. 13).
2 Compare rbstt ver. 12.

228 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
meant, that the restored Tyre will not understand the time of
her visitation, and that the neglect of the light will bring on a
deeper darkness. It is not to be overlooked, however, that the
restoration in Isaiah is only, partial. Tyre is, in him, after the
lapse of the seventy years of Chaldean supremacy, certainly
again an important merchant city, but not a merchant power.
In vers. 15-18 the impression which the fall of Tyre will
make on its confederates. Ver. 15. Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah to Tyre, Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy
fall, when the wounded cry, and slaughter is made in thy
midst? 16. And all the princes of the sea shall come down
from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and put off their
broidered garments : they shall clothe themselves with trem
bling, sit on the earth and tremble at every moment, and be
amazed at thee. 17. And they shall take up a lamentation
for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that art
inhabited from the seas, the renowned city, which wast strong
in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause terror to all
her inhabitants ! 18. Now shall the isles 1 tremble in the day
of thy fall, and the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled
at thy departure.
The islands shake in ver. 15, not exactly on account of 'any
immediate danger which accrued to them from the fall of
Tyre, but because now nothing any more in all the world
appears to be secure. The fall of Tyre is an impressive ser
mon on the vanity of all earthly things, the transitory nature
of all glory that has its foundation only in the earth. "That
art inhabited from the seas " (ver. 17) — out of the seas : -this is
exactly the aspect that especially interests those princes of the
seas standing in connection with Tyre, the conflux from the
colonies, and other seaports in the mother city and central
place. " She and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to
all her inhabitants :" Tyrelhad a twofold class of inhabitants,
Hke Jerusalem, whose inhabitants were in a certain sense all
the inhabitants of the land : first, the inhabitants in the strict
sense — the citizens ; then her connections in the colonies and
in other seaports more or less dependent on Tyre, who at
all events, ideally taken, dwelt in Tyre, because the roots of
tlieir existence were there ; on which account they often be-
1 Intentionally stands first the Chaldee form Ji^.

CHAP. XXVI. 19-21. 229
took themselves thither and made their abode there for a time :
they flowed into and out of the central state. The inhabit
ants in the one sense were the terror of the inhabitants in the
other sense. They must bow before them, and obey their com
mands. The departure in ver. 18 is the end.
In the epilogue, vers. 19-21, the contrast of Tyre in its
irretrievable destruction, and Zion in its joyful resurrection.
Ver. 19. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, When I shall make
thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited ; when
I bring up the deep upon thee, and many waters cover thee ;
20. And I bring thee down with them that go down into the
pit, to the perpetual people, and cause thee to dwell in the land
of the deep, in waste lands of old with those that go down to
the pit, that thou sit not ; then shall I set beauty in the land
of the living; 21. I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt
be no more ; and thou shalt be sought, and no more found
for ever, saith the Lord Jehovah.
In. ver. 19 the city, in ver. 20 the inhabitants, ruins above,
a terrible wilderness beneath, in the desolate places of Sheol,
the land of death-darkness without order (Job x. 22). Then, in
contrast with both, Zion gloriously risen from her fall. He
who has such a hope may well be patient with the scorn of
Tyre (ver. 2), and answer it with a simple respice finem.
With respect to Zion the mere indication suffices, the refer
ence to the fact that on the ruin of Tyre on the earth there
is a place of glory. It is only necessary to mark the place
for the announcement of salvation hereafter to be unfolded.
With " Then shall I set " begins the apodosis. On the re
lation of the words, inserted with enigmatical brevity, to Zion
there can be the less doubt, when the fundamental passage in
Isa. xxiv. 16 is considered. There also the beauty denotes the
glory of Israel rising out of a heavy divine visitation. The
flood in ver. 19 is ideal, the overflowing of the nations; comp.
ver. 3, where the comparison, here abridged, is expanded.
The perpetual people (ver. 20) are those who from primeval
times have been in hell — -its ancestral guests, so to speak — to
whom all others, and among them the inhabitants of Tyre,
go down, especially the " heroes of eternity," or antiquity, who
perished in the deluge (Gen. vi. 4). "That thou sit not :" to
sit is the opposite of lying down. The land of the living

230 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
points to Ps. xxvii. 13, where the singer, or Israel, expresses
the assurance that he will see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living, and forms the contrast to Sheol, the land
of the dead, to which in the foregoing the inhabitants of Tyre
are assigned. The prophet has, in regard to Tyre, comprised
in vers. 19-21 what was historically realized by degrees, and
Has now. become a completed fact for many centuries. The
truth of his announcement consists in this, that the first taking
of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar was the beginning of the end, the
germ of its downfall, that it never again attained to its ancient
greatness, but rather step by step reached its total overthrow,
although, in harmony with the prophecy of Isaiah, an apparent
improvement in its condition occasionally took place. No
human eye could discern that precisely this moment was of
decisive importance for the whole future of the city. Ea-
tionalism has made the assertion that Tyre was not taken by
Nebuchadnezzar. On the contrary, this one thing is sufficient,
that Ezekiel makes the communication a long time after the
decision to prepare a collection of his prophecies was formed.
Had it not been fulfilled, the prophet by the very communi
cation would have exposed himself to the judgment pronounced
in Deut. xviii. 22. We have a clear evidence of the fulfil
ment further on, in ch. xxix. 17-21.1
Ch. xxvii. We have here the lamentation over the fall of
Tyre, announced in the foregoing chapter. First, its present
glory is presented at full length to the view, vers. 1-25;
then its fall, the importance of which can only be under
stood from the knowledge of its glory. We must profoundly
know the gloria mundi, if we are to take to heart the sic
transit gloria mundi. In vers. 3-9, the splendour of the city
and the state ; in vers. 10, 11, its admirable state of defence ;
in vers. 12-25, its world-wide trade. And all this to disappear
without a trace !
Ver. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2. And thou, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre ; 3.
And say to Tyre, that dwells at the entrances of the sea, that
1 The full demonstration of the fulfilment is given in my treatise, De
rebus Tyriorum, with which comp. Havernick, Comm. ; Movers, Phoenicians,
ii. 1, pp. 428, 48 f., 61 f. ; Niebuhr, Hist, of Ass. and Babylon, p. 216.

CHAP. XXVII. 1-9. 231
trades with the nations in many isles, Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, O Tyre, thou sayest, I am perfect in beauty. 4. In
the heart of the sea is thy border, thy builders have perfected
thy beauty. 5. Of the cypresses of Shenir they have built
for thee all thy boards ; they have taken cedars pf Lebanon to
make the mast for thee. 6. Of the oaks of Bashan have they
made thine oars ; thy benches they have made of ivory, inlaid
in larch from the isles of Chittim. 7. Embroidered byssus
from Egypt was thy outspreading, to be a banner for thee ;
purple and crimson from the isles of Elishah was thy covering.
8. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy rowers ; thy
wise men, O Tyre, were in thee : they were thy pilots. 9. The
ancients of Gebal and its wise men were in thee, repairing thy
chinks ; all the ships'of the sea and tlieir mariners were in thee
to carry on thy merchandise.
" In the entrances of the sea" (ver. 3), in a place from
which the sea is easily accessible on all sides, in the centre of
the civilised world, as the entrance of the city in Judg. i. 24,
25, is the entrance to the city. That others may easily como
to it is not in the words, although it is the necessary conse
quence of what is said, but that it may easily come to all others,
in harmony with the following, where Tyre appears throughout
as active, as one who visits the nations for trade. Tyre lies,
according to ver. 4, as it were in the heart, in the midst of the
sea, because in its favourable situation all seas are easily acces
sible to it. In connection with this favourable situation in the
heart of the sea, whose treasures flow into it from all sides, so
that it already has what in Isa. Ix. 5 is presented as the future
of Zion — " The abundance of the sea shall be turned unto
thee : the wealth of the Gentiles shall come unto thee," — stands
the perfect beauty which is ascribed to Tyre in the second half
verse. This refers not merely to the city as such, in its build
ings, but, as the following shows, to the whole state. In ver. 5 f .
the state of Tyre appears under the figure of a splendid ship.
By the ship, where many are together, and have a common
object, danger, profit, and loss, are communities usually denoted
in the symbolic language of Scripture. In the passage lying
at the ground of the present one (Ps. xlviii. 8), where, in the
celebration of a defeat which the Lord on behalf of His king
dom has sent on the hostile heathen, it is said, " By the east

232 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
wind Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish ;" in Isa. xxxiii. 21
and Rev. viii. 9 the ships signify states.; Elsewhere the church
appears under the symbol of a ship ; comp. on John vi. 24, 25.
In the Tyrian state, the representation by the symbol of a ship
was the more natural, as it was a maritime power : the capital
lay like a ship in the midst of the sea, and was surrounded with
a forest of masts. The materials that are employed for the
state ship are the most precious of which the city was built,
especially the most costly articles which commerce brought to
it, on which account several of the articles Here mentioned are
wanting in the later description of the trade. Shenir (ver. 5)
is, according to Deut. iii. 9, the old Amoritish name of Hermon,
which, as unusual, was specially adapted for the lofty prophetic
style,1 but is employed here perhaps also, because it suited the
Canaanites, to whom the Tyrians belonged. " Of ivory inlaid
in larch" (ver. 6) : it is literally, ivory, daughter of the larch-
trees. By daughter is meant the subordinate relation. The
solid material is wood ; the ivory serves only for inlaying.
" The isles of Chittim :" Cyprus and the surrounding islands
and coasts. " The outspreading" (ver. 7) is, as the addition
" to be a banner for thee" shows, the unfurled flag ; comp. Isa.
xxxiii. 23, " they spread a banner." The sail, which some
thought must be here introduced, is not mentioned, because
this ship does not move, but remains in its place, and only
sends out the smaller ships from it (ver. 9). The thought in
'vers. 8 and 9a is, that the powers of the other Phoenician cities
are for the good of the Tyrian state ; but the prerogatives of
supremacy remain in the chief state, and the bearers of the
highest offices proceed from it. " All the ships of the sea and
their mariners were in thee, to carry on thy merchandise" (9&) :
the ships and seamen of the Tyrians are meant, with their
colonies, to whom the ships in this description belong, which
alone are represented as active in it. The ships of other nations,
which, in comparison with those of Tyre, come not into view,
are disregarded. All the ships of Tyre are, as it were, in this
giant ship, as the jolly-Hoats in an ordinary large ship, and are
sent thence, as occasion requires, on their particular errand.
In vers. 10, 11, the military fortification of Tyre. The
figure of the ship is omitted here, where walls and towers are.
1 Comp. my comment on iv. 8 of the Song of Songs.

CHAP. XXVII. 10, 11, 12-25. 233
spoken of, and is only resumed in ver. 26, on the transition
from the description of the splendour to that of the destruc
tion. Ver. 10. Paras, and Lud, and Phut, were in thy force,
thy men of war : shield and helmet, they hanged in thee ; they
set forth thy beauty. 11. The sons of Arvad and thy force
were on thy walls round about, and bold champions in thy
towers : their shields they hanged upon thy walls round about :
they completed thy beauty.
In ver. 10, the foreign mercenaries, who had their fixed
quarters in Tyre, and were sent from it on external expedi
tions ; at their head the Persians from inner Asia, who stood
related to Tyre, probably even then in connection with the
anti-Chaldaic coalition, the first germ of their later victorious
lifting of the shield against the Chaldean empire : comp. on
ch. viii. 16, xxxii. 24. Then the African nations Lud and
Phut. These were the most remote among the countries from
which Tyre drew its mercenaries. " They set forth thy
beauty :" Grotius says, It was honourable to thee to have so
many nations in thy service. In apposition to the foreign
mercenaries appear those from Aradus (ver. 11), the garrison
forces from the other Phoenician cities. But along with these,
Tyre has also a native force ; and this is mentioned in the
third place. The sons of Arvad and thy force are related to
one another, as in ver. 8 the inhabitants of Zidon and thy wise
men. Towers and walls are only relied on in Phoenician war
fare. "Bold champions:" this term not occurring elsewhere,
is probably the Tyrian designation of a choice troop. The
Hanging of the weapons on the walls serves as an external
symbol of self-defence. The words, " They completed thy
beauty," refer to ver. 3, where Tyre piques itself on its perfect
beauty; and ver. 4,. where the prophet says, "Thy builders
completed thy beauty."
In vers. 12-25, to complete the representation of the
glory of Tyre, we have the description of its trade, which
begins and ends with Tarshish, the chief place of trade,
but otherwise moves quite freely, and aims neither at com
pleteness nor at geographical order. The attempt to force
the latter upon the picture has done material injury to the
representation. Ver. 12. Tarshish traded with thee on account of the ful-

234 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ness of thy wealth ¦} silver, iron, tin, and lead, they gave thee
for sale. 13. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they traded with
thee : souls of men and vessels of brass they gave thee for
wares. 14. From the house of Togarmah they gave horses^
and riders, and mules to thee for sale. 15. The sons of Dedan
traded with thee : many isles bartered with thee : ivory and
ebony they returned thee for a gift. 16. Aram traded with
thee on account of the abundance of thy works : carbuncle, v
purple, and embroidery, and byssus, and precious things,2 and
rubies, they gave thee for sale. 17. Judah and the land of
Israel, they traded witH thee : wheat of Minnith, and dainties,
and honey, and oil, and balm, they gave thee for wares. 18.
Damascus traded with thee on account of the abundance of
thy works, the abundance of thy wealth, in wine of Helbon
and bright wool. 19. Vedan and Javan gave thee yarn :
wrought iron,3 cassia, and cinnamon, were among thy wares,
20. Dedan traded with thee in broad coverings for riding.
21. Arabia and all the princes of Kedar, they bartered with
thee : in lambs, and rams, and he-goats, in these they bartered
with thee. 22. The merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded
with thee : the chief of all spices, and all precious stones and
gold, they gave thee for sale. 23. Haran, and Kanneh, and
Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Kilmad, traded
with thee. 24. They traded with thee in ornaments, mantles
of purple and embroidery, and in treasures 4 of damask, bound
with cords, and fastened in thy market. 25. The ships of
Tarshish visit thee, thy wares : and thou becamest full, and
very glorious, in the heart of the sea.
Tarshish in ver. 12 is Tartessus in Spain, Javan (ver. 13)
Greece ; in connection with which, notwithstanding the local
1 Luther, " Thou hast had thy trade on the sea :'' setting aside the
ships of Tarshish, for which in ver. 25 also he puts ships of the sea.
2 Luther, "velvet." By derivation the word signifies excelsa. It is best
explained by precious things or precious stones. This meaning suits also
in Job xxviii. 18 and Prov. xxiv. 7. " For the fool, wisdom is ramoth :"
an individualizing designation of a good unattainable by him.
3 Luther,, " Dan, and Javan, and Mehusal, brought iron- work to thy.
markets ;'' instead of Vedan, Dan, and Meussal, falsely, as a proper
name. 4 Luther, " costly chests." There is no reason for omitting the ascer
tained meaning, treasures.

CHAP. XXVII. 12-25. 235
distance, on account of the similarity of the wares, Meshech
and Tubal, the Moschi and Tibareni on the border of the
Black Sea.1 Togarmah in ver. 14 is probably Armenia. As
Scripture knows only one Dedan, the Arabic, Dedan in ver. 15
cannot be different from Dedan in ver. 20. The " many isles "
here have nothing geographically to do with Dedan. The
prophet was probably unable to define them exactly. The
Dedanites with their caravans appear as representatives of the
inland trade. The same products, however, were imported into
Tyre by sea, and thus came from " the isles," the islands and
coasts. " They returned thee for a gift :" all trade is a return.
" On account of the abundance of thy works" (ver. 16) — thy
works of art. The abundance in these is that which enticed
Aram to trade. What Tyre offers is only indicated in a brief
allusion : the prophet is full only in respect of the imported
goods, because the conflux of these to Tyre constitutes the
glory of the city, and thus gives the ground for picturing the
depth of its fall. The point of view to which the prophet
keeps in the whole picture, is exactly given in the words of the
close : " And thou'becamest full and very glorious in the heart
of the sea." Accordingly, what Tyre exported comes out only
as an allusion in passing. That Tyre was so full and honoured,
while Zion became ever poorer and poorer, and sank into misery
— this was a stone of stumbling to the people of God. The
prophet removes the stumbling-stone when he points to the
end. There all fulness and glory are vanished from Tyre, for
ever vanished, buried in the depth of the sea ; and, on the con
trary, Zion begins to bloom.2 Minnith in ver. 17 is the name
of a place in the transjordanic region (Judg. xi. 33). For the
nobler gifts, which the land of Israel could offer, Tyre had no
taste. Damascus, included under Aram, ver. 16, occurs again
expressly in ver. 18, because it was a chief place of trade for
Tyre. Along with works of art from Tyre, which were
already mentioned in ver. 16, is noticed here the abundance of
all riches as a motive for Damascus to enter into relations of
trade with Tyre. This proves that the trade of Tyre was no
1 Niebuhr, p. 135.
2 The 3 in !]SJ3 might be wanting, according to ver. 12 and ver. 19.
It is not needful to think of a meaning deviating from these parallels.
Properly, in rubies ; so that the works furnished by them consistedin these.

236 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
mere barter — that it also paid for wares with money ; for this
especially is to be understood by riches. Helbon, a place in
Antilibanus, where even now the vine is largely cultivated.
Vedan, in ver. 19, cannot be determined, and was probably
known to the prophet himself only by name. Javan is always
Greece, and occurred before in ver. 13. The second half-
verse says nothing of the origin of the wares. Goods must
have been brought in of which the prophet knew not the
origin. Among Greek commodities, yarn only is mentioned
here; others are named in ver. 13. Dedan, mentioned before
in ver. 15, recurs once more in ver. 20, to complete by a new
commodity the splendid warerooms of Tyre. All that flowed
into Tyre interests the prophet more than the order in the
enumeration of the places whence it came. Sheba, mentioned
before in ver. 22, recurs in ver. 23, where it was intended to
give at the close a collection of the most diverse regions, and
bring to view the extent of the Tyrian trade. This alone is
the object of the prophet. He writes as little from the view
of a minister of commerce, as Isaiah in ch. iii. from that of a
milliner. The succession of places is then only " highly dis-^
orderly and surprising," when we measure the prophet by a
false standard. Excessive order would not suit the prophet.
Concerning Kilmad, Ezekiel himself had perhaps no more exact
information to give than concerning Vedan. He knew only
one thing for certain, that there was a Kilmad, and that Tyre
had commercial relations with it; and this only concerns us
here. Ornaments (ver. 24), properly perfections, is the general,
which is then followed by the special. " Bound with cords, and
fastened:" Ezekiel describes the bales of such stuffs probably
according to his own view. " The ships of Tarshish visit thee,
thy wrares" (ver. 25) : these were the special object of the
visit. But while they fetched, they also carried — comp. ver.
12, to which the close of the whole section returns, — and that
which they brought comes here specially into view, as the
second part of the verse shows. The ships of Tarshish come
so far into view as they contribute to this, that Tyre becomes
full and glorious.
Hitherto is the delineation of the glory of Tyre, which has
no other object than to bring to the light the depth of its fall,
and indelibly impress upon the mind the vanity of all earthly

CHAP. XXVII. 26-3G. 237
things. " The glory of the lands must come to dust and
ashes:" this is now exemplified in Tyre in vers, 26-36, the
greatness of which had been so long for Israel a riddle and a
stumbling-stone, that still stood upright, when Zion already lay
in ruins. Jeremiah had already struck up his song : " How
sits the city so solitary, that was full of people ! She is become
as a widow : a princess among the nations, and a queen in
the provinces, she must now serve." We have here a plaster
for the wound, which this lamentation of Jeremiah describes.
Ver. 26. Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters ;
the east wind1 hath broken thee in the heart of the seas. 27.
Thy riches and thy merchandise, thy wares,2 thy mariners and
thy pilots, the repairers of thy chinks, and those who dealt in
thy wares, and all thy men of war that are in thee, and all thy
company 3 which is in thy midst, shall fall into the heart of
the sea in the day of thy fall. 28. At the sound of the cry of
thy pilots the borders shall shake. 29. And all that handle
the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come
down from their ships : they shall stand upon the land. 30.
And they shall make their voice heard over thee, and cry
bitterly, and cast dust upon their head : they shall strew them
selves with ashes. 31. And they shall shave themselves bald
for thee, and gird' themselves with sackcloth, and weep for
thee in bitterness of soul with a bitter wailing. 32. And in
their wailing they shall take up a lamentation4 for thee, and
lament over thee, Who is like Tyre, like one that is destroyed 5
amidst the sea? 33. When thy merchandise went out from
1 Luther, " And thy mariners have conveyed for thee upon great waters
but an east wind." But it is not said, they have brought for thee, but thee.
2 Luther, "thy wares, buyers, traders." He overlooked that the first
three words refer to the goods, and then a double triad of persons follows.
8 It is literally, " and in or on thy great multitude," so that the falling
consists in the multitude. a occurs several times in this way in Genesis,
for ex. ix. 10.
4 Luther, after a wrong reading, " their children also shall lament
thee." y is contracted from TO, Jer. ix. 17, 18 ; comp. nj, Ezek. vii. 11.
The reading " their sons " is only a bad conjecture. Not their sons^they
themselves lament.
5 HOT is not the participle, but the past tense in Pual, that here, as
often the past tense— for ex. rttn, ch. xxvi. 17— stands in the place of the
participle.

238 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the seas, thou satisfiedst many people : with the abundance of
thy riches and thy wares thou didst enrich the kings of the
earth. 34. In the time when thou art broken from the sea in
the depths of the waters,1 thy wares and all thy company in
thy midst shall fall. 35. All the inhabitants of the isles shall
be astonished at thee, and thy kings shall shudder, they shall
be troubled in face. 36. The merchants among the people
shall Hiss at thee ; thou shalt be a terror, and shalt not be for
ever. In ver. 26, Tyre appears again, as in vers. 4-9, under the
figure of a ship, and her fall as a shipwreck. The many
waters are a figure of great dangers and sufferings (Ps. xiii. 8).
The east wind — this in particular, as the most violent in Pales
tine — signifies the storm of dangers. The fundamental passage
is Ps. xlviii. 8. "In the heart of the sea:" this recurs from
ver. 25. The earlier state of glory now changes into its grave.
According to ver. 29, the catastrophe is regarded by all sea
faring men standing in close relation with Tyre as a common
one. They lament over the fall of Tyre, because nothing
more is certain in the whole world, if even the queen of the
sea must fall. They are so overwhelmed with terror, that they
leave the uncertain sea, as the fall of Tyre shows, and betake
themselves to the' land. No one is like Tyre (ver. 30), in the
combination of former unexampled glory and present total
destruction. The point of departure for the wares of Tyre is
the sea (ver. 33), whence they are exported into the havens of
all the world. The satisfying denotes the appeasing of desire.
The wares are those, the importation of which into Tyre was
described in vers. 12-25. Tyre is (ver. 34) broken from the
seas, from which formerly its wares came (ver. 33), in the depth
of the waters, as a sunken ship, and with it are its wares
drowned in the deep. Formerly the sympathy of friends, but
in ver. 36 the scorn of the rivals and the envious.
1 Luther, "but now art thou plunged from the sea in the deepest
waters." Other expositors also take rijj for an accus. of time now. But it
does not so occur elsewhere. , According to all parallel passages, TFi2V>}
must give the more exact definition of the time — at the time when. From
' the contrast with ver. 33 also, the chief emphasis must lie on the loss of
the wares : the destruction of Tyre itself can only be regarded as its con
ditioning cause.

chap, xxviii. 1-10. 239
Ch. xxviii. The city of Tyre is here followed by the prince
of Tyre, the prophecy concerning him (vers. 1-10), and the
lamentation over him (vers. 11-19). The new point of most
importance here is the emphatic indication of the guilt by
which the catastrophe was brought upon Tyre. The king of
Tyre forms not the contrast to the city, but its complement.
The prophet had the more reason to bring him forward in its
fall, as he thus obtains a counterpart to the glorious rise of the
kingdom of Israel in Christ. /
Ver. 1. And the word of the Loed came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the
Lord Jehovah, Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou sayest,
I am God, in the seat of God I sit in the heart of the sea ; and
thou art man, and not God, and settest thy heart as the heart
of God : 3. Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel ; no secret
Have they hid from thee. 4. By thy wisdom and thy under
standing thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and
silver in thy treasures : 5. By the greatness of thy wisdom, by
thy traffic, hast thou increased thy riches, and thy heart is glad
through thy riches : 6. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
Because thou settest thy heart as the heart of God ; 7. There
fore, behold, I will bring on thee strangers, the violent of the
heathen ; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty
of thy wisdom, and defile thy brightness. 8. They shall bring
thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the death of the slain
in the heart of the seas. 9. Wilt thou say, I am God, before
thy slayer ? and thou art man, and not God, in the hand of
him who defileth thee. 10. The death of the uncircumcised
shalt thou die by the hand of strangers : for I have spoken it,
saith the Lord Jehovah.
The seat of God (ver. 2) is a seat which, in its absolute
inaccessibleness, is like the seat of God in heaven.1 He sets
or makes his mind like the mind of God ; he has so pushed
himself into the height, that in his folly he arrogates to him
self . what God claims to Himself by right. It belongs to the
nature of God, to be and to have all from Himself; to the
nature of man, to derive all from the fulness of God. If man
imagines himself to subsist as God in himself, this is the
1 Grotius : sic ut Deus ab omni injuria tutus est in arce ccelesti, sic me
defendit mare.

240 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
greatest of all perversities, which cannot remain unpunished,
because God does not give His glory to another. The funda
mental passage is Isa. xiv. 14, where the king of Babylon
compares himself with the Most High. The general divine
name, Elohim, the Godhead, stands as usual, where there is a
contrast of man and God, of earth and heaven. Hand in
hand with the charge that he likens himself with God, goes in
ver. 3 the reproach that he counts himself wiser than Daniel.
Denying the authenticity of Daniel, Bernstein was right in
declaring this passage and ch. xiv. 14 to have been interpolated
after the composition of the book of Daniel, in which, how
ever, no one has been able to follow him. We find here, as
in ch. xiv. 14, the most remarkable harmony with the book of
Daniel. The prophet would- have made himself and Daniel
ridiculous, if the latter had not given such proofs of a wisdom
surpassing all that was ordinary, as his book presents. ' To
declare .himself wiser than Daniel, is at once to transcend the
stage of man, and make himself equal with God. The prophet
presumes it to be acknowledged that Daniel stands on the
highest stage of wisdom attainable by man. This rests on a
fact by which the pre-eminence of Daniel above all other wise
men was proved — that recorded in Dan. ii., where Daniel per
forms what all the wise men of Babylon could not perform,
what they had designated as exceeding human power. Comp.
ch. ii. 10, 11, where they say, " There is not a man upon earth
who could tell what the king asks ; there is none who can tell
it except the holy gods, who dwell not with men." Daniel's
wisdom must have been generally known and acknowledged,
^specially among the Jews in the Chaldean exile, for whom in
the first instance Ezekiel wrote : for Ezekiel presupposes that
the king of Tyre knew of Daniel, and certainly as one whom
no other but himself excelled in wisdom ; so that Daniel can
be no mere Jewish celebrity, but must have proved his wisdom
on the theatre of the world, as is recorded of him in the book
of Daniel. But Ezekiel ascribes to Daniel not merely wisdom,
but even a special kind of it, that to which nothing hidden
was dark. This very kind of wisdom meets us in the book
of Daniel. The king of Babylon says of Daniel in ch. iv. 6,
"I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no
secret troubleth thee." Daniel had appeared as one from

CHAP. XXVIII. 1-10. 241
whom no secret was hidden in the very beginning of his* career,
and thereby laid the foundation of his prominent position.
He performed in secret wisdom what all the Chaldean wise
men could not do. It is said in ch. ii. 19, " Then was the
secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision.'' Finally, from
the contrast with the prince of Tyre, who had to prove his
wisdom on the theatre of the world (comp. ver. 5, where the
wisdom is immediately connected with the trade), we expect
that Daniel also was no solitary sage, that he exercised his
wisdom in great public circumstances. In harmony with this,
Daniel appears in the book named after him, as the statesman
among the prophets. He holds from his youth, contemporary
with the king of Tyre, the highest civic offices in the Chaldean
empire. He was, in particular, placed at the head of all the
Chaldean wise men, who exercised so important an influence
on public affairs ; comp. ch. ii. 48, 49. Whosoever, in the
investigation of the authenticity of the book of Daniel, declines
to go thoroughly into the facts presented here and in ch. xiv.
14, thereby shows that he is devoid of purely scientific interest,
a slave to dogmatic preconceptions, and determined not by
facts, but by leanings. The violent among the heathen (ver. 7),
so violent that the others beside them do not come into view,
are the Chaldeans, the then world-conquerors ; so active, that
what others undertook against them, only aimed at repelling
the violence. " Defile thy brightness " — which was hitherto a
sanctuary bestowed on him by God, and stood under His pro
tection. He himself has first defiled it, because he ascribed to
Himself what belonged to God. Now he is also desecrated as
a punishment. The cruelly estranged brightness was dragged
through the mire. " Thou shalt die the death of the slain "
(ver. 8) : it is literally the deaths, as is also said in ver. 10 of
the death of the king. The king, the central personage, the
animating breath of the whole people, as the king is called in
Lam. iv. 20, dies as it were many deaths — dies in each of his
slain subjects. In the same respect it is said in ch. xxix. 5
of Pharaoh, " Thou shalt not be gathered nor heaped up."
Already in Gen. xiv. 10 it was said of the kings of Sodom and
Gomorrah, that they fell into the slime-pits, which befell them
only in their subjects, while as individuals they remained alive.
The foolish thoughts of pride, which creep into men only in
Q

242 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
good fortune, will vanish from the king (ver. 9) when he stands
helpless before his slayer, when he is in the hand of him who
defiles him ; comp. ver. 7. Thus will it be manifest that he
is man, and not God. " The death of the uncircumcised shalt
thou die" (ver. 10) : the circumcision of the flesh is, according
to the law, a symbol of the circumcision of the heart (Lev.
xxvi. 41 ; Deut. x. 16, xxx. 6). On this account, in Ezekiel,
the uncircumcised stand at once for the men of unclean heart,
the ungodly and the wicked (xxxi. 18, xxxii. 19), the uncir
cumcised in heart and ears (Acts vii. 51 ; comp. Ezek. xliv. 9).
The uncircumcised, in the sense of Ezekiel, are found among
the Jews no less than among the heathen, because the sign
loses all significance, and is regarded as not existing, when the
thing signified does not exist (Rom. ii. 25 ; Jer. ix. 26).
In the second section (vers. 11-19) the lamentation over
the king of Tyre. Ver. 11. And the word of the Loed came
unto me, saying, 12. Son of man, take up a lamentation over
the king of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, Thou sealest the archetype,1 full of wisdom, and
perfect in beauty. 13. In Eden the garden of God wast thou :
every precious stone covered thee, sardius, topaz, and diamond ;
tarshish, onyx, and jasper ; sapphire, carbuncle, and smaragd,
and gold : the work of thy drums and thy pipes was in thee-;
in the day when thou wast created they were prepared. 14.
Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth ; and so I made
thee : upon the holy mountain of God wast thou ; amidst the
stones of fire thou didst walk. 15. Thou wast innocent in thy
ways from the day when thou wast created, until iniquity was
found in thee. 16. In the abundance of thy merchandise they
filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou sinnedst : and
I will profane thee from the mountain of God, and destroy
thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17. Thy heart was high because of thy beauty ; thou didst
corrupt thy wisdom by reason of thy .brightness : I will cast
thee to the ground ; before kings will I set thee for a spectacle.
18. By the abundance of thy iniquities, in the perversity of
thy traffic, thou didst defile thy sanctuaries ; and I will bring
forth a fire from the midst of thee, this shall devour thee ; and
1 Luther, " thou art a fine seal," as if it were Drfin.

CHAP. XXVIII. 11-19. 243
I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the eyes of all that
see thee. 19. All who know thee among the nations shall be
amazed at thee ; thou shalt be a terror,1 and thou shalt not be
for ever.
A sealer of the archetype2 is one who has a right to lay
aside the idea of his being, because he himself completely re
presents it ; because he is a personified idea, a corporate ideal,
completely represented in life, which he, and in general man,
may be. Quite in harmony with this stands the following,
where the king of Tyre is described as " full of wisdom and
perfect in beauty." " In Eden the garden of God wast thou"
(ver. 13) : in the first book of Moses, ch. ii. 8, the garden of God
is in the region called Eden ; comp. here, ch. xxxvi. 35. But in
our passage the name of the whole is transferred to the most
eminent part. We have here an abridged comparison. The
thought is, Thou didst enjoy as it were a paradisaic existence —
a glory like that of the first man in Paradise. A like abridged
comparison is found, for ex., in naming a cloister paradise. The
precious stones with which the king is bedecked bring the glory
of his rank to outward view. Of the precious stones, there are in
all ten, including the gold, which is here the more readily added
to the precious stones, because they are usually set in gold.
The nine precious stones, which have been supposed, without
any reason, to be related to the precious stones in the breast
plate of the high priest, with which they have no real connec
tion, fall into three times three ; being respectively limited in
this way, that and always stands before the third. The gold
then completes the decade. " The work of thy drums and
pipes was in thee :"3, with this is to be compared the enumera
tion of the instruments in Dan. iii. 5. Music appears there as a
necessary element of the royal grandeur, which it is even to the
present day. With the king of Babylon goes (Isa. xiv. 11) also
1 Luther, " that thou art so suddenly overthrown." nn^3 in the stiU
even now often assumed but not ascei-tained meaning, sudden downfall.
2 rwari signifies, ch. xliii. 10, outline, model. The meaning ornament,
beauty, is assumed without ground. To seal never stands in the meaning
of completing, often in the sense of setting aside ; because we are wont te
seal up things which we have locked up or put aside for greater security.
Comp. Christol. on Dan. ix. 24.
3 3p3, the perforated, signifies in general the wind instrument, in con
trast with those which are struck.

244 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the " noise of his viols " down to the grave. The work of thy
drums and pipes denotes the artistic workmanship of them;
comp. ch. xxvii. 16. " In the day of thy birth were they pre
pared :" this intimates that the Tyrian monarchy from its very
origin was surrounded with this music, that it came into exist
ence, as it were, amid drums and trumpets, as according to Job
xxxviii. 7 the earth was ushered into existence amid the songs
of the morning stars, and the shouting of the sons of God.
For the king, who is here an ideal person, the Tyrian monarchy,
the day of being created is that of his accession to the throne ;
comp. Ps. ii. 7. " Thou wast an anointed cherub that covereth "
(ver. 14) : the cherub is the ideal combination of all living
creatures on the earth. The king of Tyre resembles it, in so
far as he represents the earthly creature-life in its highest stage
and in its utmost perfection. The anointed1 cherub is the holy
one, with reference to the statement of the books of Moses,
that all the vessels of the temple were anointed, to impress on
them the character of holiness (Ex. xxx. 22-33). The anoint
ing, the consecration from God, is common to the king of Tyre
with the cherub ; comp. the phrase " thy sanctuaries," ver. 18,
and also vers. 7, 9. He is res sacra, because God has imparted
to him of His grandeur, and kept him in the possession of it.
All earthly majesty is holy, and remains holy, until it desecrates
itself. "That covereth:" this points to Ex. xxv. 20. The
cherubs in the sanctuary cover and protect the ark of the
covenant ; the covenant, the people of the covenant. So the
king of Tyre covers his people so long as the favour of God is
with him. Instead of " And so I made thee," it is literally,
" And so I gave thee " — in such a situation I placed thee.. This
situation is then denoted by two figures, which are as well in
dependent of one another as of the preceding figure of the
cherub. Many false expositions have been occasioned by this,
that men are confused by the sudden change of the figures in
Scripture, and seek to bring unity into the figure by force,
instead of resting simply in the unity of the thought. First,
the king of Tyre was on the holy mountain of God. It is not
•said, On a mountain of gods, so as to be compared with Isa.
xiv. 14, but on the mountain of God; nor does it refer to a
pretence or imagination, but to one actually certified by God.
1 nti'D, in Hebrew only to anoint.

CHAP. XXVIII. 11-19. 245
Every earthly dignity is an elevation on the holy mountain of
God, a participation in the divine dignity. On the mount of
God is God Himself enthroned, as David is enthroned in the
mount of David (Ps. xxx. 8). It is a figure for His exalted
position, which is elsewhere expressed by sitting in heaven.
The mountain of God stands, as we have said, in as little con
nection with the cherub as with " the walking amidst the stones
of fire " that follows. We have in the verse three designa
tions of the glory of Tyre quite independent of one another.
" Amidst the stones of fire thou didst walk :" to the fiery stones
here correspond the fiery wall in Zech. ii. 5, comp. ix. 8. Both
denote the divine protection, which makes him that stands
under it inaccessible to all his foes. Whosoever will assail him
must first pass through the fiery stones and consume himself,
before he approaches him. The innocence which is ascribed
in ver. 15 to the king of Tyre in his beginnings, is naturally
such as may take place on the ground of Gen. iii., especially
among a people to which God has not made Himself known,
that stands out of connection with Plis arrangements for salva
tion, which present the right remedy against sin, and render a
sincere walk with God possible. Our passage, which is in har
mony with Gen. xv. 16, according to which in the time of
Abraham the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full, as well1
as with that which Jesus says of the (relative) innocence of
children, is in favour of caution in the definition of natural
corruption, and implies that there are important differences
among those who have not yet by God's grace attained to re
generation, so important as to condition the awarding of the
judgments of God, and the communication of His grace. A
sound experience is in harmony with this. It shows that on
the common ground of hereditary corruption there are yet in
the life of individuals and of nations very important diversi
ties, times of comparative innocence and of deep declension
provoking the judgments of God. As a rule, youth is the
better time: the rule holds in nations as in individuals, who
have not given way to grace ; the older, the worse. Sin not;
vigorously resisted in its beginnings, grows from step to step.
In harmony with our passage are the experiences which the
missionaries to the heathen have now to obtain, compared with
the earlier ages. " They (thy inhabitants) filled the midst of

246 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
thee :" those filling belonged to the king of Tyre, who is, so to
speak, an ideal person ; comp. on ver. 8. The city also belongs
to him, the representative of the collective Tyrian state. Hence
we may speak of his midst. The expression sets forth- the
dangers of trade for whole nations and for individuals.1 In
accordance with this, Jesus of Sirach says in ch. xxvi. 18, " A
merchant can hardly keep himself from doing wrong, or a
huckster from sin ;" and in ch. xxvii. 2, " As a nail in the wall
sticketh between two stones, so also doth sin stick between
buyer and seller." The constant excitement of selfishness and
covetousness connected with trade can only be effectually
counteracted by the grace of God. Where this does not pre
vail, trade, no less than influential position, brings deep con
fusion with it, as history also clearly shows in the daughter
city of Tyre, Carthage ; the proofs of which Miinter gives with
abundant fulness in the treatise, The Religion of the Car
thaginians. In ver. 17 a second cause of • corruption. The
soul, entangled in the bonds of self-interest and covetousness,
and thereby deeply degraded, is now also led captive in other
respects by sin ; in particular, it is a sport of pride which is the
immediate forerunner of the divine judgments, because God will
be alone great, and gives His honour to no other. " Thou didst
corrupt thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness :" the bright
ness is the cause on which the effect depends. The foundation
of wisdom is humility, which sees things as they are, has an
open eye for its own weaknesses and the excellences of others,
and is on its guard against dangerous undertakings, as David
says in Ps, cxxxi. 1 : " O Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor
mine eyes lofty ; neither do I walk in great matters, and too
wonderful for me." The " brightness " received into the heart
blinds the eye, so that one regards himself alone as great, and
everything else as small, and rushes wantonly into dangers for
which he is not prepared, and enters on paths which lead to
perdition ; as, for ex., Tyre undertook the combat against the
flourishing Chaldee monarchy. God does not need to appear
as a deus ex machina in the judgment upon the proud, who
wantonly brings himself to ruin. There is here a weighty
lesson for all nations, and for individuals : if thy safety is dear
1 Comp. viii. 17, xxx. 11. The verb is followed by a double accusative
of the space and the material rilling it.

CHAP. XXVIII. 20-26. 247
to thee, withstand the beginnings of pride. The only effectual
resistance, however, is fellowship with God, walking with Him
after the example of Enoch and Noah, from whom alone can
flow the living power to overcome the living lusts and passions,
which appear of themselves with the " brightness," and defy
all mere good resolutions, and all morality severed from God.
This is the rock on which all the heathen powers of the old
world wrere shattered. "Will I set thee for a spectacle:"
formerly in its brightness a spectacle of wonder and envy for
kings, Tyre is now become for them a spectacle of astonishment
and spiteful joy1 in its terrible downfall. In ver. 18 the
prophet returns to the sin of avarice as the cause of its down
fall. " Thou didst defile thy sanctuaries :" any greatness con
secrated by God, any glory imparted by Him, may be regarded
as a sanctuary, the desecration of which by the feoffee is fol
lowed by desecration by the feudal lord. The idea of the
sanctuary is that of separation from the world, which exerts
all its destructive powers in vain against the gift imparted by
God, so long as the possessor remains in the right position
towards God. " I will bring forth a fire from the midst of
thee:" the destructive catastrophe has its starting-point in that
which is thereby destroyed ; comp. in ver. 17, " Thou didst cor
rupt thy wisdom." " From the midst of thee :" this is explained
by the fact that the king comprehends in himself the city and
the people. The ashes are the mournful remnant of the process
of combustion. A terror (ver. 19) is he at whose sight one
trembles.2 The cause of this trembling and becoming a terror
is the total destruction, " and thou shalt not be for ever," — a
destruction like that of Sodom in ancient times, in which the
sin-root of Canaan first came to full development — the sentence,
" Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death " (Jas. i. 14), first
verified itself; while the. judgment on Tyre forms the close of
the long series of judgments on the Canaanites.
Ch. xxviii. 20-26. Here follows the prophecy concerning
Zidon. After Tyre, Zidon was the most important among the
, Phoenician cities. It appears in the books of Moses, in which
1 .Comp. xxvii. 36. nxi with 3 signifies the impassioned regard, and
especially that with joyful interest.
2 The ordinary meaning terror corresponds with amazement.

248 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Tyre is not yet mentioned, as the oldest and most prominent
settlement of the Canaanites (Gen. x. 15), as the representa
tive of the whole Canaanitish trade (Gen. xlix. 13). It had
formerly had the leadership, but had long lost it in favour
of Tyre. That it was dependent on the latter, appears among
other places from ch. xxvii. 8, where the inhabitants of Zidon,
along with those of Aradus, appear as rowers in the Tyrian
state-ship. Yet it must have retained a certain independence.
This appears from Jer. xxvii. 3, where messengers (or a mes
senger) of the king of Zidon appear in Jerusalem along with
the messengers of the king of Tyre. This explains why a
special prophecy is here devoted to Zidon apart from Tyre.
The fulfilment of this prophecy appears in ch. xxxii. 30, where
in an announcement which belongs to the end of the twelfth
year, the Zidonians appear in the list of the nations who have:
already experienced the judicial activity of God, and have
fallen by the sword of Nebuchadnezzar. Our prophecy was,.
as the want of a new date shows, contemporary with that re
lating to Tyre, of which it forms an appendix. The latter
belongs, according to ch. xxvi. 1, to the beginning of the tenth
month, in the eleventh year, so that the fulfilment followed
very close upon the prophecy. The visitation of Zidon fol
lowed soon after the beginning of the siege of Tyre, which,
favoured by its situation, was able to present a longer and
more vigorous resistance to the hostile power.1
Ver. 20. And the word of the Loed came unto me, saying,
21. Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy
against it, 22. And say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah ; Be
hold, I am against thee, O Zidon ; and I will be glorified in
the midst of thee : and they shall know that I am the Loed,
when I execute judgments on it, and am sanctified in it. 23.
And I will send into it pestilence and blood in its streets;2
and the slain shall fall in the midst of it by the sword upon
it round about ; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Ver. 24. And there shall be no more to the house of Israel
a pricking thorn nor a grieving sting from all round about
1 Niebuhr, p. 213.
2 Luther, " and I shall send pestilence and bloodshed among them in
their streets," so that the pestilence is imparted even to the streets, con
trary to Deut. xxxii. 25.

CHAP. XXVIII. 20-26. 249
them that despised them ; and they shall know that I am the
Lord Jehovah. 25. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, When I
gather the house of Israel from the nations amon 2 whom thev
are scattered, then I will be sanctified in them in the eyes
of the heathen, and they shall dwell in their land that I have
given to my servant Jacob. 26. And they shall dwell therein
securely, and build houses and plant vineyards, and dwell
securely, when I execute judgments upon all that despised
them round about; and they shall know that I am the Loed
their God.
The God of Israel, so despised by the inhabitants of Zidon,
comes upon them (ver. 22) in judgment; and they must
recognise or experience Him in His operations, whom they
obstinately refused to recognise willingly. How consoling it
is, however, for the people of God, when lying in the dust, that
their God is above, and in the very time of their deepest
humiliation interposes for their exaltation ! That the opera
tions here ascribed to Him belong to Him in fact, they can the
less doubt, , as He has proclaimed them as His work by His
servants the prophets (Jeremiah in ch. xlvii. 7, and Ezekiel
here). "And am sanctified, or sanctify myself in it:" to be
sanctified is the same as to be glorified or to glorify Himself,
as surely as the holy God is separate from all creatures, sublime
and glorious. To be sanctified is to be active in this absolute
ness or infinity. Both pestilence and blood are sent against
it (ver. 23), but the blood only belongs to the streets.1 Ver.
24 already turns into the path of a general consideration, em
bracing Zidon in a greater whole, which applies no less to
the other bordering states than to the Zidonians. The point
of view here opened is a consolatory one. While the Lord
chastises His own people with an unsparing rod, He visits the
neighbouring heathen nations for the wrong which they have
done to His people, as if it were directed against Himself, and
verifies in them His word, " He that toucheth you, toucheth
the apple of His eye" (Zech. ii. 8). Vers. 25, 26 give the
close of the prophecies against the smaller bordering nations,
and mark them off from the prophecies concerning Egypt, the
chief power in the coalition, which formed the starting-point
for the prophetic activity of Ezekiel. Here Zion in her
2 Instead of the Pllel of f>3J stands in xxx. 4, xxxii. 20, the Kal.

250 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
glorious restoration is contrasted with the annihilating judg
ments which pass over the heathen world. It was needful
here to meet the despondency, which was now, after the opening
of the siege of Jerusalem, the most dangerous foe. Thus,
with the one-sidedness which so commonly adheres to prophecy
when it enters on definite periods and determinations, only the
bright side of the future of the covenant people is presented
to the eye. That along with this also in the future a shady
side, and that a terrible one, will appear, that which Jerusalem
had even now to suffer will not permit us to doubt. The
deep corruption of the people, which provoked the catastrophe
of the present, will also manifest itself in the future, so that
along with grace wrath must intervene. With respect to this
side, here intentionally concealed, the successors of Ezekiel,
Zechariah and Malachi, provide an essential supplement to
him. They enter fully into the shady side, the existence
of which Ezekiel also clearly and sharply recognises, as in
particular ch. v. 1-4 shows. A great national judgment
is there expressly announced, which is to follow after the
Chaldean.

CHAPTEES XXIX.-XXXII.
The prophecies against Egypt now follow, in which the
prophet turns from the members of the coalition to its head.
Of the prophecies against Egypt there are in all six, each
with a date, — properly only five, as the second (ch, xxix. 17-
xxx. 19) proves itself to be an appendix to the first by this,
that it departs from the otherwise so strictly observed chrono
logical order : it does not lie, as most of the other prophecies
against foreign nations, between the date given in ch. xxiv. 1
and that in ch. xxxiii. 21; it departs from the chronological
order even within the collection of prophecies against Egypt.
Its object is to point out that the fulfilment of the first pro
phecy is fast approaching, to which it is in part verbally
attached, to show most emphatically that it has no independent
import, but is merely a supplement. Thus there remain only
the prophecies, ch. xxix. 1-16, xxx. 20-26, xxxi., xxxii. 1-16,
and 17-32. The number seven can only be carried through
by forcibly separating what is united. There is in the whole

CHAP. XXIX. 1-7. 251
collection of Ezekiel no single independent discourse which
is not dated.
The first prophecy (ch. xxix. 1-16) belongs to the twelfth
day in the tenth month of the tenth year after the captivity
of Jehoiachin, and thus lies between the last prophecy against
Judah, of the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year
(ch. xxiv. 1) ; and the prophecy against Tyre of the first day
of the tenth month in the eleventh year, in ch. xxvi. The pro
phecy was delivered, as ch. xxiv. 1 shows, during the siege
of Jerusalem. The occasion is the hope of recovery through
Pharaoh. The practical point of view, which it is of so great
import to recognise in the exposition, is presented in vers. 6, 7,
16. The prophet predicts concerning Egypt, not for Egypt —
what are things outside to Him ? — but for Judah. The pro
phecy is to oppose the foolish hopes which were again placed
in Egypt, to which Israel had so often resigned itself to its
injury with idolatrous reliance; comp. ch. xvi. 26, xxiii. 8, 19.
How foolish to trust in the land which already stands itself on
the brink of a precipice, which must so soon experience the
judicial strokes of God ! Who would bind himself to a corpse ?
The prophet is, according tq ver. 2, to prophesy against
Pharaoh, and against all Egypt. Accordingly he turns to
the king, vers. 3-7; to the land, vers. 8-12. In the third
section, vers. 13-16, a mitigation, which, however, makes no
change in the chief point : Egypt will, after the fall of the
Chaldean empire, recover itself in some measure, but never
again attain to such a state that Israel could be led to make it
the object of its reliance.
Ver. 1. In the tenth year, the tenth month, on the twelfth
day of the month, the word of the Loed came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt,
and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt. 3. Speak,
and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against
thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in
the midst of his Niles, which says, My Nile is mine, and I have
made myself. 4. And I will put a double ring in thy jaws,
and hang the fish of thy Nile in thy scales, and bring thee up
out of the midst of thy Niles, and all the fish of thy Niles shall
stick in thy scales. 5. And I will leave in the wilderness thee
and all the fish of thy Niles ; upon the field thou shalt fall ;

252 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
thou shalt not be gathered nor heaped up : to the beast of the
earth and to the fowl of the heaven I have given thee for food.
6. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the
Loed ; because they were a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
7. When they take Hold of thee by thy hand, thou breakest
and splittest all their shoulder ; and when they lean upon thee,
thou breakest and stayest all their loins.
THe dragon (ver. 3) denotes, according to Gen. i. 21, the
great sea animals in general, the monsters of the deep. That
the prophet has the crocodile chiefly in view, which belongs to
the remarkable peculiarities of Egypt, follows from the mention
of the scales in ver. 4. Already in Isa. xxvii. the crocodile
is named, the leviathan along with the dragon. The sea, in
the symbolic language of Scripture, denotes the world. The
dragon appears often as the king of the sea and head of the
sea animals (comp. Ps. Ixxiv. 13, 14). In the sea of the world
its natural counterpart is tlrus the great king, or the great
power ; comp. Isa. xxvii. 1, where it is said in reference to the
world power : " In that day will the Lord visit with His hard,
great, and strong sword leviathan, the flying serpent, and
leviathan the wreathed serpent, and will slay the dragon which
is in the sea." Of Nebuchadnezzar it is said, Jer. li. 24 :
" He has swallowed us like the dragon." In the Apocalypse
the prince of this world appears as the great dragon, whose
servants and instruments only the earthly despots are.1 As
the dragon is the symbol of the king, so are the Niles (the
Nile in its several branches) the symbol of the land of Egypt
in its riches and its power, which have the Nile for their
source. In this sense the Nile occurs already in Isa. xix.,
where in an extended delineation the destruction of the pros
perity of Egypt appears under the figure of the drying up of the
Nile. " I have made myself : " the Nile belongs to him. First,
in connection with the Nile, is he what he is. There is an.
1 The form D^n is found only here. It is a pluralis majestatis from
}fl = pn, the more suitable here as a variation for this, as this dragon puffs
himseK up so much, presents himself as the ideal of all dragons. It appears
that jn and pn are originally the same word, and that only in the ordinary
speech usage the first form was generally used of monsters on land, the
second of monsters in water ; an assumption the more natural, as )fl never
occurs in prose, and is a term not of natural history, but of poetry. As |n
occurs here of the water animals, so pn in Lam. iv. 3 of jackals.

CHAP. XXIX. 1-7. 253
accordance in the thought with ver. 9, where, in* opposition to
the sentence, " Let him do and rule," he asserts that he has
made all himself. By the rings, fastened in the softest and
tenderest parts of the head (ver. 4), are the monsters tamed.
The double ring is a ring that consists of two halves joined
together in the middle, which are fastened on both sides, so
that the joining middle comes into the mouth.1 If the Nile
denotes the prosperity of Egypt, the fish are its inhabitants
living in prosperity, that feel themselves indeed as fish in the
water, but now are placed on the dry ground. They are
drawn out with the dragon ; the subjects fall with the king,
and in consequence of his fall. The wilderness (ver. 5), in
contrast with the Nile, denotes the state of weakness without
Help or means. The contrast is taken from the natural condi
tions of Egypt, where the waste, awful wilderness borders on the
fertile banks of the Nile. " I will leave thee into the wilder
ness " is the concise expression for, " I will bring thee into the
wilderness, and leave thee there." The field is the open field,
in contrast with the splendid mausoleums in which the Egyp
tian Pharaohs were buried in the times of their glory. He
comes down so low, that he does not even receive an honourable
burial. Who would trust in a deliverer, and make him an
idol, who cannot provide this for himself, who is destined to
feed the raven, and will very soon be carrion ! The king is, so
to speak, an ideal person, who comprises in himself a great
numerical multipHcity. Thus the statement is appropriate :
" Thou shalt not be gathered nor heaped up." Each of his
deceased subjects was, as it were, a part of Pharaoh, as in the
retreat from Moscow Napoleon was seen in every dead French
man. " They shall know that I am the Lord " (ver. 6) : they
have put themselves in Jehovah's place, offered themselves as
deliverers in scorn of Israel ; so they must learn that they are
men, and the God of Israel alone God, whereby it is not con
sidered whether they recognise the effect proceeding from the
God of Israel as proceeding from Him : it suffices that it really
proceeds from Him, and is recognised by His believing people
as proceeding from Him. A staff of reed can yield no firm
support. There is an allusion to Isa. xxxvi. 6, where Kab-
shakeh, the general of Sennacherib, says to Hezekiah : " Lo,
1 The reading in the text, QiTin, is the dual, in accordance with wrb-

254 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, in Egypt, which
if a man lean on it, goes into his hand and pierces it : so is
Pharaoh to all that trust in him." So long has this miserable
staff of reed already betrayed the people of God ; even in the
Assyrian times it was manifestly such ; and yet men seek even
at the present to lean upon it, and it makes every effort to
delude into such folly. But soon is the miserable business to
be arrested. " When they take hold of- thee by thy hand, thou
breakest " (ver. 7) : the Jewish intended amendment of the
text, "by the hand," which Luther follows, arises from a
material conception of the figure. They thought that a reed-
staff could have no hand ; but the king of Egypt has one, and
yet is a reed-staff. We have an abridged comparison : when
they take thee by the hand, thou wilt be like a breaking reed-
staff. The king of Egypt not merely helped them not; he
injured them, because he had led them to rebel in reliance on
his aid, and prevented them from capitulating. " And stayest
all their loins : " the staying is put sarcastically. He had pro
mised to stay, and what he afforded to them was all he could
do in the way of staying — was the staying in his sense and
according to his lexicon ; so that thus the staying is provided,
as it were, with a note of quotation. A pretty staying, which
is, in fact, a casting down.1
From the king the prophet now turns in the second section
to the land. Ver. 8. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off from thee
man and beast. 9. And the land of Egypt shall be desolate
and waste, and they shall know that I am the Loed ; because
he said, The Nile is mine, and I have made. 10. Therefore,
behold, I am against thee and thy Niles, and I will make the
land of Egypt an utterly desolate waste from Migdol to Syene,
and to .the border of Kush.2 11. No foot of man shall pass
through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it ; and it shall
not sit8 forty years. 12. And I will make the land of Egypt
1 Allusion to lyon, Ps. lxix. 24.
2 Luther, " from the tower at Syene even to the border of the Moorish
land," which, as Egypt lies even on the border of the Moorish land, has no
meaning whatever.
8 Luther has, in place of " sitting," " be inhabited," against the usage
of speech, although even Hitzig renders, " it shall remain uninhabited."

CHAP. XXIX. 8-12. 255
desolate amidst the desolate lands, and its cities shall be deso
late among the waste cities forty years; and I will scatter
Egypt among the nations, and sprinkle them in the lands.
" Because he said, The Nile is mine, and I have made" (ver.
9) — namely, all that was to be made, so that no place remains
for God : Luther rightly, " I am he who does it." Isa. x. 13
shows that we may not explain, I have made it, the Nile. Yet
the Nile is of all things the department in which the making
of the king appears, and from which the supernatural causality
is excluded. The land must suffer for what the king has com
mitted, because the spirit of the people rules only in the king ;
Pharaoh was the Egyptian. " I am against thee, Pharaoh, and
thy Niles" (ver. 10) : the judgments of God against the foreign
nations consist, with Ezekiel generally, only in hostile inva
sions, especially in the visitation by the Chaldeans. On the
height of the usually so-called Nile, the enemy had as little
influence as Pharaoh, who could in regard to it utter the proud
speech, I have made. The Nile must thus also here stand in a
symbolic sense, as a designation of the prosperity and power of
Egypt — of its resources. As in this sense Pharaoh regarded
himself as the creator of the Nile, so the king of Assyria says
in Isa. x. 13, " By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom ; for I am prudent." Migdol appears also
in Jer. xliv. 1, xlvi. 14, as the border city of Egypt towards
Judah, and thus in the north. It there stands at the head of
the cities in which the Jews had sought refuge from Nebu
chadnezzar. Syene is the southern border city of Egypt : it is
distinguished as such by the addition, " and to the border of
Kush ;" Kush, Ethiopia, the south border land of Egypt.
Thus the whole land shall be wasted, and nowhere a tenable
point remain for Pharaoh. Ver. 11 is naturally to be under
stood with the limitations arising from that which generally
happens in a hostile occupation, which never involves the com
plete cessation of all intercourse, least of all in a great king
dom. " It shall not sit :" the opposite of sitting is here also
the lying down. The time that Egypt is to lie waste is here
fixed at forty years. That the Chaldeans must be regarded as
the authors of this desolation, appears not only from the his
torical starting-point of the prophecy, which was uttered when
Nebuchadnezzar's army had already reached Judea, the border

256 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
land of Egypt, and from the analogy of all other prophecies of
Ezekiel against foreign nations ; comp. especially ch. xxvi. 7,
but also from the passage in Jer. xlvi. 26, where it is said of
the Egyptians : " And I will deliver them into the hand of
those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchad
nezzar and his servants ; and afterwards it shall dwell as in the
day of old, saith the Lord." The time that the nations, and
among others the Egyptians, will be subject to the Chaldeans,
is fixed in Jer. xxv. and xxix. at seventy years. The beginning
of these seventy years is the fourth year of Jehoiakim. In
this year was fought the great battle at Karkemish or Circe-
sium, on the Euphrates, in which the power of Egypt was for
ever broken, which in the struggle between the African and the
Asiatic world-powers decided in favour of the latter; comp.
ch. xxx. 21. The desolation of Egypt, here fixed at forty
years, is different from the servitude of seventy years, as in
Judah also'the desolation of the city and the temple was sepa
rated by an interval of eighteen years from the beginning of
the servitude. Thirty years it lasted, until the war passed from
the confederate nations or dependencies of Egypt to the proper
head-land of the anti-Chaldaic coalition, and wasted it from
end to end. The analogy of the seventy years, of which the
forty here are merely a branch, shows clearly, that even the
latter have a historical import, — not, as has been asserted, " a
purely theological," as a supposed antitype of the forty years'
march of Israel through the wilderness, with which the forty
years here have nothing whatever to do. Yet we may suppose
that the period of time here, as most of the periods in the
book of Judges, is a round number, which in general better
suits the nature of prophecy, which reckons in the gross, and
is the more probable, as the desolation is not so precise a fact
as the supremacy, which was decided by a single battle. It is
sufficient if the beginning of the desolation took place within
the fourth decennium before its end. The end of the forty
years, at all events, coincides with that of the seventy years.
The beginning of the forty years was not yet immediately in
view. Of the seventy years of Jeremiah, seventeen had
elapsed at the time when our prophecy was published, of which
seven fall in the eleven years of the reign of Jehoiakim, and
ten, according to ver. 1, in the reign of Zedekiah. Thus at

CHAP. XXIX. 18-16. 257
least thirteen years must still have expired before the beginning
of the forty years. Before the main blow could have been
given to Egypt, the great and difficult work of the coiiquest of
Tyre must have been completed, the maritime power of which
might have been very dangerous in a premature march against
Egypt, the chief enemy. Niebuhr (p. 217) places the war,
" which was decided most unfortunately for Egypt," in the
thirty-fourth year of Nebuchadnezzar. The prophet has him
self afterwards, in ch. xxix. 17, expressly determined the be
ginning of tlie four decenniums. He places it in the twenty-
seventh year of Jehoiachin, which was the thirty-fourth of the
seventy years of Jeremiah. "Amidst the desolate lands"
(ver. 12) : the desolate lands are those of the anti-Chaldaic
coalition, the desolation of which the prophet had announced in
the preceding prophecies.
Vers. 13-16. In the foregoing the duration of the desola
tion of Egypt was limited to forty years. This announcement
is here confirmed by the express announcement of its cessation
after forty years. That this cessation is in connection with
the cessation of the Chaldean sovereignty, we must already
expect from Jer. xxv., where, after the end of the seventy
years of the Chaldean servitude, the judgment on Babylon is
published; as also from Isa. xxiii. 15, where the seventy years
of the prostration of Tyre are designated as the years of " one
king" of a reigning dynasty, after the fall of which Tyre again
rises to power. The cessation of the desolation of Egypt is
not, however, the chief thought of the section. It is rather,
that even after this cessation takes place, Egypt will still con
tinue in a feeble state, and never recover her ancient greatness.
This served the practical object of the prophet, which was to
warn against trusting in Egypt.
Ver. 13. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, At the end of
forty years will I gather Egypt from the nations whither they
were scattered. 14. And I will return to the captivity of
Egypt, and bring them back to the land of Pathros, to the land
of their birth ; and they shall be there a low kingdom. 15. It
shall be lower than the kingdoms, and shall not exalt itself
above the nations ; and I will diminish them,' that they shall
no more rule over the nations. 16. And it shall no more be
the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to re-
K

258 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
membrance, when they turn after them : and they shall know
that I am the Lord Jehovah.
" I will return to the captivity of Egypt" (ver. 14), is the
same as, I again take pity, on their misery.1 The return to
Pathros, South or Upper Egypt, is specially mentioned, because
this was the proper kernel of the land — their birth-land : the
restoration was thus only then complete, when this came again
into their power. The passage is of historical interest, because
according to it the original seat of the Egyptian kingdom must
have been in the Thebaid ; which leads us up beyond the
Mosaic period, in which the capital Zoan or Tanis was in Lower
Egypt.2 " They shall be there a low kingdom :" this is, as
already remarked, no mere prediction, but has an immediate
practical import, that of an indirect advice, as Isaiah, in ch. xli.
28, terms the utterances of the prophet. It serves the object
of the whole prophecy, to dissuade from a foolish confidence in
Egypt. Even after its restoration, Egypt will not again return
to its ancient greatness : its power is for ever broken. The
weakness of the old Pharaonic monarchy after the time of
Nebuchadnezzar, here so clearly and definitely announced, is
fully attested by history. Never has it again pointedly affected
the progress of history. Great catastrophes must have befallen
Egypt in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, otherwise the conse
quence in the world's history could not have been so thorough
and enduring. How radical it was, is manifest from the single
fact, that Cambyses seeks the daughter of Amasis of Egypt,
not for a wife, but for a concubine, in which condition that of
her people reflects itself ; and that Amasis, who knows before
hand what is in agitation, although the Persian monarch had
not expressly mentioned it, does not venture to refuse his
request (Herod, iii. 1). The words, " And they shall be there
a low kingdom," refer, besides, to ch. xvii. 14. " A low king
dom :" the condition that Pharaoh had formerly prepared for,
the Israelitish kings, is now imposed upon himself, and that
for ever ; while the kingdom of Israel rises from its deep humi
liation to the highest pre-eminence (ch. xvii. 22 f.). Thus the
1 Comp. on xvi. 53. y\ty, to return, is here obviously different from
the following y&n, to briDg back. The returning is the root of the
bringing back.
2 Comp. my treatise on Egypt and the Books of Moses, p. 41 f.

CHAP. XXIX. 17-XXX. 19. 259
places are changed. Whosoever beguiles into iniquity brings
iniquity to remembrance (ver. 16), or to the knowledge of him to
whom the iniquity refers. For existing iniquity cannot remain
unmarked or unpunished by the " Judge of all the earth."
Ch. xxix. 17-xxx. 19. We have here an appendix to the pre
ceding prophecy, — an announcement from the twenty-seventh
year of Jehoiachin, above sixteen years later than that in vers.
1-16 ; later also than the concluding prophecy of this alto
gether chronologically arranged book, the vision of the new
temple. For this belongs, according to ch. xl. 1, to the twenty-
fifth year of Jehoiachin. The appendix that, as already re
marked, proves itself to be such by departing from the chrono
logical order, goes on to the following new superscription, and
so embraces not merely ch. xxix. 17-21, but also ch. xxx. 1-19.
The resumption of vers. 1-16 must, if it had taken place, have
been more distinctly marked in ch. xxx. ; and we cannot think
of an independent discourse there, because all independent dis
courses are dated in Ezekiel. We have seen already that the
prophecy in ch. xxix. 1-16 was not designed to go immediately
into fulfilment. At the time when this fulfilment was to take
place, and the course of instruction for Egypt during four
decenniums was to begin, the prophet takes up again his earlier
announcement, and enlarges it. The hindrance to the imme
diate fulfilment of the former prophecy, the resistance of Tyre,
is now removed. The siege of Tyre began, according to ch.
xxvi. 1, towards the end of the eleventh year of the deportation
of Jehoiachin. It lasted, according to Menander, extracting
from the Tyrian annals (Joseph, c. Ap. i. 21) and Philostratus
(Joseph. Arch. x. 10, 1), thirteen years. Some time of rest
must have been granted to the army, which, according to ch.
xxix. 18, was completely exhausted. The blow also which was
to shake the foundations of Egypt required much preparation.
Two years after the conquest of Tyre, at the beginning of
the twenty-seventh year of Jehoiachin, began the expedition
against Egypt, the principal foe ; and simultaneous with this
beginning is our prophecy, which, with a clearness and cer
tainty that can only be given by the Spirit of God, declares the
end from the beginning (Isa. xlvi. 10). There is much pro
bability that we have before us, in the chronological date at the

260 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
beginning of our prophecy, at the same time that of the pre
sent collection of the prophecies of Ezekiel, and that on the
occasion of this collection he added this supplement. The col
lection was prepared in connection with the great conclusion,
which was accomplished by the expedition of Nebuchadnezzar
to Egypt. The whole prophetic activity of Ezekiel moves
around the great anti-Chaldaic coalition. His first appearance
was contemporary with its formation. With its close, the
expedition of Nebuchadnezzar to Egypt, the mission of Ezekiel
is completed ; and as soon as it is completed, he brings together
the documents relating to it.
First, the introduction (ch. xxix. 17-21). Ver. 17. And it
came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, in
the first of the month, the word of the Loed came unto me,
saying, 18. Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
caused his army to serve a great service at Tyre : every head
was made bald, and every shoulder peeled ; and there was no
reward for him or his army from Tyre, for the service that he
served against it: 19. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
Behold, I will give Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon the
land of Egypt : and he shall take its tumult, and seize its
spoil ; and it shall be a reward for his army. 20. As his hire,
for which he has served, I give him the land of Egypt, because
they wrought for me, saith the Lord Jehovah. 21. In that
day will I cause a horn to bud forth for the house of Israel,
and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of
them ; and they shall know that I am the Loed.
In the statement in ver. 18, that the Chaldeans had
laboured in God's service against Tyre, it is involved that the
taking of the city was actually accomplished : for where God
gives a special mission, He causes it to attain its object ; and the
mission in regard to Tyre, according to all the announcements
of Ezekiel, is not directed to the siege, which comes into view
only as the means to the end, but to the conquest. That they
attained the object of their mission is as good as expressly said,
inasmuch as they obtain a reward for their severe labour. If
they had not executed their task, there could have been no talk
of a reward. For the work concerns God not in itself, but
only in its result. The failure here intimated of a reward in
Tyre for their labour there, says nothing against the conquest.

CHAP. XXIX. 17-21. 261'
For the prophet speaks of a reward which was suitable to a
grand and decisive result obtained by immense efforts ; and it
will be expected beforehand, that after a siege of so many
years, not much was to be found in Tyre, as the best was partly
consumed, partly destroyed, and partly carried away. More
over, we must distinguish between the thought and its form.
The thought is, that Nebuchadnezzar, by God's appointment,
will find in Egypt abundant satisfaction for his expectations in
Tyre that were not quite satisfied. The form is taken from
human relations, where to one who has executed a task that
does not repay him, another is committed in which he finds a
recompense. It is impossible, in truth, to speak of reward, as
Nebuchadnezzar acted not in obedience to the command of
God, but in the service of his own lusts and passions. " Every
head is made bald, and every shoulder peeled : " the labours
in which this took place — the erecting of besieging towers, and
especially the raising of a mound against Tyre — are described
in ch. xxvi. 8. To the impending humiliation of Egypt, the
prophet in ver. 21 opposes the impending exaltation of Zion,
as he had done in regard to the other nations of the coalition
at the close of the prophecy against them in ch. xxviii. 25, 26.
"In that day" — when Egypt is thus humbled. The whole
period of the humiliation of Egypt is viewed under the figure
of an ideal day. The horn is an emblem of power and ability
for self-defence,1 in contrast with the weakness which befalls
Egypt, which can no longer push the nations (Deut. xxxih. 17),
but only be pushed by them. The real fulfilment is, according
to the other indications of the prophet himself — for ex., ch.
xvii. 22 f. — to be sought in Christ, in whom Israel obtains the
absolute power of defence against the heathen world (comp.
Luke i. 69, Rev. v. 6), yet so that even earlier the prophecy
several times prelusively verifies itself. " And I will give thee
the opening of the mouth in the midst of them : " the prophet
speaks, even after he is dead, lives still among his people, in his
book still to be found at the close, on which, after the analogy
of the monumentum exegi aere perennius, he here impresses as
it were the seal. When all is finished that he has announced
in this book, in salvation for Israel as well as in punishment for
his foes and betrayers, then may he as it were joyfully open
1 Comp. on Ps. cxlviii. 14.

262 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
His mouth and say, " You have heard it, see it now all " (Isa.
xlviii. 6) : ye see now that the son of man is no mere son of
man; that the sentence, "And the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying," is true, that I do not fall under the judgment
of Deut. xviii. 20. If his prophecy were not fulfilled, then
must he, surviving in his book, have been dumb, and not have
gone out of the door (Job xxxi. 34). The expectation that his
prophecy of the horn being caused to bud forth for Israel
would be fulfilled in his lifetime, Ezekiel could not entertain.
For he was thirty years old in the fifth year of Jehoiachin
(ch. i. 1), when twelve only of the seventy years of the Chaldean
servitude had elapsed ; and according to ch. xxix. 12, 13, the
Chaldean supremacy was to endure forty years after the desola
tion of Egypt here announced as impending, which absolutely
excluded the budding forth of the horn for Israel.
Ch. xxx. 1-5. The naked thought, expressed in the intro
duction of the prophecy (ch. xxix. 17-21), of the great cata
strophe hanging over Egypt, assumes flesh and blood in the
main bulk of the prophecy (ch. xxx. 1-19). In four para
graphs the prophet brings the destruction of Egypt to view in
a pictorial way, as a substitute for sight to those to whom not
seeing and yet believing is so difficult. Ch. xxix. 17-21 as
introduction, and ch. xxx. as completion, are inseparably con
nected. We have no complete prophecy in Ezekiel that is so
general as ch. xxix. 17-21, none that blunders out so awk
wardly as ch. xxx. Vers. 2 and 3 especially require that the
party to be judged should be mentioned before. That ch. xxx.
1-19 also belongs to the prophecy, which announces the speedy
fulfilment of the earlier prophecy in ch. xxix. 1-16, the inten
tionally verbal repetition of passages of this prophecy leaves no
room to doubt.
Ver. 1. And the word of the Loed came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord Jeho
vah, Howl ye, Alas the day ! 3. For near is the day, and near
the day of the Loed, a day of cloud ; a time of the heathen
will it be.1 4. And a sword shall come upon Egypt, and
trembling shall be in Kush, when the slain shall fall in Egypt,
1 Luther, " The time is present that the heathen shall come," contrary
to Jer. xxvii. 7 and the other parallel passages.

CHAP. XXX. 1-5. 263 '
and they shall take away her tumult, and her foundations
shall be pulled down. 5. Kush, and Phut, and Lud, and all
the throng, and Kub, and the sons of the land of the covenant,
shall fall with them by the sword.
" A time of the heathen will it be " (ver. 3) : the time of
the heathen here is identical with the day of Egypt in ver. 9.
These are the heathen, who, according to the introduction
(ch. xxix. 17 f.), here come into view. The general designation
is explained by the contrast with the people of the covenant,
whose time had come earlier. The heathen are judged in
Egypt, one of their chief representatives, after the judgment
on the house of God had already begun. We have here the
fundamental passage for the often misunderstood word of the
Lord, Luke xxi. 24 : " And Jerusalem shall be trodden
down of the Gentiles,.until the times of the Gentiles be ful
filled" — that is, arrive (Gen. xxv. 24). The times of the
heathen are, according to the fundamental passage here, the
times of judgment ; comp. Isa. xiii. 22. The judgment begins
with unbelieving Jerusalem, and passes, after it has there con
sumed all its fuel, over to the heathen, who were the instru
ments of the judgment on Jerusalem : being the fall of the
Roman empire elsewhere also often foretold by Jesus, of the
mountain that shall be cast into the sea after the barren fig-
tree of the Jewish people is dried up (Matt. xxi. 21), of the
sycamore-tree that is to be rooted out and cast into the sea
in Luke xvii. 6. Kush trembles at the fall of the slain in
Egypt (ver. 4) : this shows that Ethiopia had made common
cause with Egypt, and thus behoved to be afraid of being
involved in its fall; comp. on ch. xxiii. 42. " Their tumult :"
this is here the prosperity of Egypt bringing active life with
it. " Her foundations shall be pulled down : " the state under
the figure of a house that is destroyed from the foundation,
after the example of Isa. xix. 10, where it is said of Egypt,
" Its foundations shall be broken." The enumeration of the
foreign auxiliaries of Egypt that suffer with it (ver. 5), begins
with Kush, which was already (ver. 4) mentioned as closely
connected With it. Then follow Phut and Lud, that already
occur, ch. xxvii. 10, among the mercenary troops of the
Tyrians. The Phutseans appear, Jer. xlvi. 9, along with
Kush and Lud as mercenaries of Egypt. The three names

264 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
are followed by a collective term, " and all the throng" — the
whole remaining motley company of mercenaries. Two others
besides are then made prominent. First, Kub. This seems to
correspond with the Persians named in ch. xxvii. 10 along with
Phut and Lud, and indeed at their head, who, as was re
marked, had probably entered in consequence of the coalition
into the service of Tyre ; so that it cannot surprise us if we
meet them here also. As the name Kub does not occur else
where in the Old Testament, we must antecedently expect that
those who are thereby designated, and here occupy so important
a place, may appear under other names — that the name Kub
may be a native one, that first became known in anterior Asia
in the time of Ezekiel, in consequence of the nearer political
contact with this country.. In old Persian Kufa means moun
tain. Kufa occurs in the Egyptian monuments as a mighty
Asiatic power with which the Egyptians had relations.1 It has
been already indicated that the coalition had formed a connec
tion with Medo-Persia. Among those who must drink of the
Chaldean cup are named (Jer. xxv. 25) all the kings of Elam
and all the kings of Media. Elam had then, at the time
designated in ch. xxix. 17, already suffered a severe defeat
from the Chaldeans (ch. xxxii. 24). It was natural that they
should seek to avenge this defeat, as they were a strong, push
ing people, destined to succeed the Chaldeans in the supremacy.
Wherever the battle against the tyrants burned, in Tyre and
in Egypt, their mercenaries appeared. Along with Kub are
the " sons of the land of covenant " specially signalized. The
pre-eminently so-called covenant land of Egypt can only be
Kush. This appears everywhere as such in the Assyrian and
Babylonian times. The close returns to the beginning, and
explains that there the beginning was made with Kush. Kush
appears in ven. 4, 9 as partaking next in the fall of Egypt.
The "sons of the land of covenant" that, according to ch.
xxiii. 42, entered into direct relation with Israel, the confede
rate of Egypt (for the Sabeans there mentioned belong to
Kush), are before all led to the help-of Egypt, and along with
them the volunteers from farther Asia, and others from the
African confines.
Vers. 6-9. Desolation strikes Egypt, after it Has fallen with
1 Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of Ancient Egypt, i. 1, p. 375 f.

CHAP. XXX. 6-0. 265
all its auxiliaries, from end to end. Ver. 6. Thus saith the
Lord Jehovah, And they that uphold Egypt shall fall, and its
mighty pride shall come down : from Migdol to Syene they
shall fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord Jehovah. 7. And
they shall be desolate among the desolate countries, and their
cities shall be among the wasted cities. 8. And they shall
know that I am the Loed, when I set a fire in Egypt, and all
her helpers are broken. 9. In that day shall messengers go
forth from me in ships to frighten Kush the secure, and
trembling shall come upon them in the day of Egypt : 1 for, lo,
it cometh. After the new break, "Thus saith the Lord" (ver. 6), the
and connects this paragraph, and shows that only new touches
are to be given to the picture. This beginning with and is
common to all new sections after the first (vers. 1-5). They
thereby show themselves to be parts of a whole. The defeat
of the Helpers of Egypt is taken over from the foregoing, and
includes what was said in vers. 4, 5. This is followed by the
defeat and desolation of Egypt itself, which in this and the
following verse is intentionally depicted, in almost literal agree
ment with ch. xxix. 10, 12, to show that already the term for
the fulfilment of that earlier prophecy is come, which in the
continued prosperity of Egypt might have been a mockery to
many. The "mighty pride" appeared in ch. xxiv. 21 in
reference to Jerusalem ; now comes the succession of humilia
tion on the heathen people. The " knowing " in ver. 8 is an
actual experience, in which it does not appear whether they in
their thoughts refer to the Lord that which they must suffer
from Him. So much the worse for them if they do not. The
fire is the fire of war (comp. Rev. viii. 7, ix. 17), which often
also comes to view in material fire. The point of comparison
is the consuming power. The messengers sent from the Lord
in ver. 9, who, ascending 2 the Nile in ships, bring the news of
1 Luther, " as it happened to Egypt when her time came." He took
3, which here, as in the fundamental passage, Isa. xxiii. 5, serves as a
definition of time, as a particle of comparison.
2 Of the difficulties which the navigation on this river from Egypt to
Ethiopia presents, Ezekiel has taken as little account as Isaiah in the fun
damental passage. The papyrus boats, of course, ply on the Nile (Isa.
xviii. 2).

266 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the fall of Egypt effected by the Lord to the covenant land of
Ethiopia, belong to the poetic conception. The real import is,
that the alarming news will soon reach Ethiopia. The sending
of the messengers is ascribed to the Lord, because the act
which forms the substance of the message proceeds from Him.
The messengers here form a contrast to the messengers with
joyful tidings for Ethiopia in Isa. xviii. 1-3. Then the Lord,
by the defeat of Sennacherib, graciously turned away the
danger from Jerusalem which threatened, as Judea, so also
Egypt and Ethiopia, from Assyria. Now it is otherwise. To
Babylon is given power, as over Judea, so also over Egypt and
Ethiopia. Sons of the latter fall in Egypt (ver. 5), and it is
threatened in its own borders by the Chaldeans. A second
allusion to Isaiah is found in the words, " And trembling shall
come upon them in the day of Egypt." In Isa. xxiii. 5 it is
said in the prophecy against Tyre : " They (the Egyptians)
shall tremble at the report of Tyre." Tyre, Egypt, Ethiopia,
stood together in the battle formerly against Assyria, after
wards against Babylon. When the one of these powers, the
bulwark, falls, the next following trembles in expectation of
a like fate. " It conies " — the threatened misfortune.
The peculiarity in vers. 10-12 is the naming of the con
queror — the same man who is engaged in the invasion of Egypt.
Ver. 10. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, And I shall make the
tumult of Egypt to cease by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
11. He and his people with him, the violent of the heathen,
shall be brought to destroy the land : and they shall draw their
swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. 12. And
I will make the Niles dry, and sell the land into the hand of
the wicked ; and I will desolate the land and the fulness thereof
by the hand of strangers : I the Loed have spoken it.
"The tumult" (ver. 10) — as it is heard in a land rich in
men and goods, full of life and movement. THe word comprises
what is afterwards enumerated in detail. It refers not merely
to the multitude, but to the prosperity of Egypt. Ch. xxix. 19
is also against the limitation of it to the multitude. " The
violent of the heathen" (ver. 11) — those who are counted as
violent even among the heathen, who are generally addicted to
violence — occurred before in ch. xxviii. 7 as a designation of
the Chaldeans. " Shall be brought : " they come not of them-

CHAP. XXX. 13-19. 267
selves, but the Almighty brings them, and hence they are irre
sistible ; he to whom they come is irretrievably lost. The
drying up of the Nile in ver. 12 denotes, as in Isa. xix., the
destruction of prosperity. The Nile in the strict sense — the
foundation of this prosperity — is as good as dried up for Egypt,
for strangers consume its produce. " And sell the land into
the hand of the wicked : " this presupposes that the Egyptians
also are wicked, yet in another sense than that in which (Matt.
vii. 11) all men are so called : the accomplished sin first bringeth
forth death (Jas. i. 15). God punishes one knave by the other,
who does not escape His judgment, but is only reserved for the
same ; as in Jer. xxv. the king of Babylon has no other advan
tage over those punished by him but this, that he drinks last.
" Into the hand of the wicked : " this shows that the want of
a prophecy against Babylon in Ezekiel can only be referred to
external grounds. Wickedness and judgment go hand in hand.
Power can only be given to the wicked for a short time. The
announcement, so often repeated in Ezekiel, of the restoration
of Israel has the annihilating judgment on Babylon, the despot,
for its presupposition.
Vers. 13-19. In the specification of the ruin hanging over
Egypt, those points are made prominent which have special
import in any respect. No, Thebes, occurs thrice ; Noph,
Memphis, twice, to give special prominence to their importance
as the two capitals of the country — No of Upper, and Noph of
Lower Egypt. Along with these, Zoan, Tanis, situated also in
Lower Egypt, which appears in Isa. xix. 11, 13, and previously
in Num. xiii. 22, as the capital of Egypt. Besides are named
Daphne and Sin as frontier fortresses. The latter, Pelusium,
is designated by Hirtius the Lock of Egypt — claustrum JEgypti.
Then On, the city of the sun — Heliopolis, as it is called by the
Greeks — as the religious centre, the spiritual capital. Even in
Genesis it appears as such, where Joseph marries the daughter
of the high priest of On : this was the most distinguished'
alliance, that by which he could be most effectually freed from
the disgrace of his origin. Pathros, not a city, but a country,
is, according to ch. xxix. 14, named as the mother country — as
it were, the birthplace of the people. Thus is the land robbed
of all its ornaments (ch. xxv. 9).
Ver. 13. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, And I will destroy

268 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the detestable things, and make the vanities to cease out of
Noph; and there shall no more be a prince of the land of
Egypt : and I will put fear in the land of Egypt. 14. And I
will make Pathros desolate, and set a fire in Zoan, and execute
judgments in No. 15. And I will pour out my fury upon
Sin, the stronghold of Egypt, and cut off the tumult of No.
16. And I will put a fire in Egypt : Sin shall writhe, and No
shall be broken, and Noph shall have foes by day. 17. The
young men of Aven and Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword ; and
these shall go into captivity. 18. And in Tehaphnehes the
day shall spare, when I break there the yokes of Egypt ; and
her mighty pride shall cease in her : a cloud shall cover her,
and her daughters shall go into captivity. 19. And I will
execute judgments on Egypt ; and they shall know that I am
the Loed.
The idols and the princes are in ver. 13 connected, because
they were the two chief objects of the pride and worship of the
Egyptians. What still remains to Egypt after the catastrophe
in the way of princes, in comparison with her former proud
monarchs, deserves no more the name of princes : they are, in
fact, miserable slaves. " The tumult" — Hamon of No. There
is an allusion to the surname Amon, which No received from
its god (comp. Nah. iii. 8, Jer. xlvi. 25). Amon is unable to
preserve for the city its Hamon. The fire in ver. 16 is the fire
of war, or of the annihilating catastrophe. " Noph shall have
foes by day : " this denotes, as " the spoilers at noonday" (Jer.
xv. 8 ; Zeph. ii. 4), a state of deep humiliation, in which the
enemy disdains to surprise the city by night (Obad. 5), and
rather, in consciousness of his absolute superiority, marches in
broad daylight against the unresisting. " Foes by day" stands
briefly for one that has to deal with foes by day. On, in Jer.
xliii. 13 called Bethshemesh, sun-house, as the chief place of
the Egyptian sun-worship, appears in ver. 17 with a slight
alteration under the name of Aven, to indicate by this change
the cause of the divine judgments coming upon it. These
cannot fail where men commit the iniquity of worshipping the
creature rather than the Creator. In like manner had the
older prophets put in place of the name Bethel, house of God,
that had become a lie from the time of Jeroboam, the real
name Bethaven, house of iniquity (Hos. iv. 15, x, 5). The

CHAP. XXX. 20-26. 269
name On still more easily admits of this change. Pi-beseth is
Bubastis, which is also regarded as a chief place of idolatry by
its collocation with On, and by its name, which refers to the
cat-worship there established. To the " young men," the men
fit for service, as also in the New Testament young men with
out any addition stand for soldiers (Mark xiv. 51), are opposed
the cities themselves, to the military the civil population, — a
contrast explained by this, that in Egypt the soldiers formed a
separate caste ; for which reason the young men of On cannot
here be all the young men in it, but only the soldiers who form
its garrison. Tehaphnehes, in ver. 18, Daphne, is also men
tioned in Jer. xliii. 7 as a frontier stronghold of Egypt. There,
where a decisive combat with the invading Chaldean power
was to be expected, the day is dark, as the sun no longer shines
for the unfortunate : for Him the luminaries of heaven are as
good as extinguished. "THe day shall spare" — withhold as a
miser : this stands by choice for, It is dark, and as a variation
from it. On the words, " When I break there the yokes of
Egypt," we should compare ch. xxix. 15, "And I will diminish
them (or bring them down), that they shall no more rule over
the heathen;" and also here, ver. 13, " There shall no more
be a prince of the land of Egypt." The yoke of Egypt, which
in former times pressed heavily on Israel, and afterwards on
other nations (comp. ch. xxxii. 2), will now be broken for ever,
while the once enslaved Zion rises to universal dominion. The
" mighty pride" refers not to Tehaphnehes, but to Egypt (comp.
ver. 6 and ch. xxxii. 12), whose pride is broken in the battle at
the frontier fort. The " daughters" of Daphne are the minor
cities -in its neighbourhood. In ver. 19 is the object of the
judgment passed upon Egypt. The true God, whom they do
not mean to worship willingly, must come to His rights in the
punishment inflicted on them. This is not merely an alarming,
but also a comforting point of view. The most comfortless of
all thoughts is to have no part in God. How many transgressors
have joyfully devoted themselves to the sword, in the conviction
that by the punishment they come to have a part in God !
Ch. xxx. 20-26. We have here the second prophecy against
Egypt, delivered on the seventh day of the first month in the
eleventh year, and thus separated from the first (ch. xxix. 1)

270 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
by the interval of almost a quarter of a year. In the fourth
month of the eleventh year, almost three months after our
prophecy, the conquest of Jerusalem took place (Jer. xxxix. 2).
The practical point of view is Here the same as in ch. xxix. 1-16.
It is designed to annihilate the Hope of aid from Egypt ; by the
relentless destruction of all earthly expectations in the exiles,
to direct the eye to God alone. The earthly hope had pro
bably then received- new vigour from the circumstances of the
times. We see from the thirty-seventh chapter of Jeremiah,
that during the siege of Jerusalem Pharaoh had marched with
an army from Egypt to drive the Chaldeans from Palestine,
and that the latter, in consequence of this, raised the siege and
went to meet him. The first prophecy referred to this hope.
Already had it, as it appears, attained to full bloom through
the departure of the Chaldeans.
Ver. 20. And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the
first month, in the seventh of the month, the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, 21. Son of man, the arm of Pharaoh
king of Egypt I have broken ; and, lo, it is not bound up to
apply healings, to put a roller to bind it, that it may be strong
to hold the sword. 22. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah,*
Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break
his arms, the strong and the broken ; and I will make the sword
fall out of his hand. 23. And I will scatter Egypt among
the heathen, and sprinkle it through the lands. 24. And I
will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my
sword in his hand : and I .will break the arms of Pharaoh, and
he shall groan with the groans of a wounded man before him.
25. And I will seize the arms of the king of Babylon,1 and the
arms of Pharaoh shall fall ; and they shall know that I am the
Loed, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and he shall stretch it out against the land of Egypt.
26. And I will scatter Egypt among the heathen,2 and sprinkle
it through the lands ; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
The breaking of the Pharaoh in ver. 21 refers to a great
defeat. This can only be that at Karkemish or Circesium, in
1 Luther's translation, " I will strengthen the arms of the king of Baby-
Ion," overlooks the distinction of the Hiphil here from the Piel in ver. 25.
2 Luther, " And I scatter the Egyptians among the heathen," mistak
ing the independent character of the verse in which the object is stated.

CHAP. XXXI. 271
the very beginning of the career of Nebuchadnezzar (Niebuhr,
p. 205 f., 369), in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and thus
seventeen years before our prophecy. By this battle the fate
of Egypt was decided for ever, and from this it has never
recovered. Already Jeremiah, in ch. xlvi., sees in this battle
the beginning of the end of Egypt, and regards it as having
inflicted an incurable wound on Egypt ; comp. especially ver.
11, a passage which leaves no doubt of the reference of our
author to the defeat at Karkemish : " Go up to Gilead, and
fetch balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou
multiply medicines ; there is no cure for thee." Of a defeat
which the Egyptians suffered in the attempt to come to the aid
of Judah, history knows nothing. The retreat of the Egyptians
without crossing swords cannot have ensued at the time of the
composition of our prophecy. After it, it would have been un
necessary. Our prophecy must have been delivered at a time
when, humanly speaking, there was hope from the Egyptians.
The " healings," or cures, which might be applied, consist
chiefly in the bandage itself. The arm comes into view as the
seat of power. The broken arm in ver. 22, that is to be broken
a second time, denotes the already weakened power of the
Egyptian kingdom ; the strong, what still remained of unbroken
power. " Before him " (ver. 24) — the Babylonian conqueror.
The Lord seizes the arms of the king of Babylon (ver. 2,5),
and they are thereby kept strong, as it is said of Joseph in
Gen. xlix. 24, " Strong are the arms of his hands by the hands
of the Mighty One of Jacob;" while, on the contrary, the arms
of the king of Egypt, left to his own weakness, hang down
powerless. In ver. 26 the scattering is once more repeated,
to connect with it the statement of the object, in which the
whole suitably issues. The true God, despised by Egypt from
ancient times, is thereby to come to His rights regarding them.
If He be the true Jehovah, the personal Being, the absolute
Essence, He must necessarily be glorified, if not by their action,
yet by their passion. •
Ch. xxxi. This prophecy belongs to the time shortly before
the taking of Jerusalem, which was in the fourth month of the
same year on the ninth day, and so about a month and eight
days later. The practical point of view is the same as in the

272 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
foregoing prophecies. That the hope in Egypt still continued
even at this last moment, we see from this, that they still held
out. With the full extinction of the hope in Egypt, the
resolution to surrender must have gone hand in hand. The
peculiarity here is, that the already accomplished fall of Assyria
is held before the eyes of the king of Egypt as a mirror of his
future, precisely as the prophet in ch. xix. had employed the
history of Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin as a prophecy of the fate
of the then reigning king Zedekiah. A future in a historical
dress — this is the pervading character of the chapter. The
imposing grandeur that still remained to Egypt exercised on
the minds that sought a support on earth, a safe embankment
against the overflow of the Asiatic empire, a magic influence.
This influence vanished when Egypt was chained to the already
overwhelmed Assyria. The prophecy falls into three sections.
First, vers. 1-9. Ver. 1. And it came to pass in the eleventh.
year, in the third month, on the first of the month, the word
of the Loed came unto me, saying, 2. Son of man, say to
Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his tumult, Whom resemblest
thou 1 in thy greatness ? 3. Behold, Assyria was a cedar in
Lebanon, fair in leaves, and shading the wood, and tall in
growth; and its top was among the clouds. 4. The waters
made him great, the flood raised him up, with its streams going
round his plant-ground, and it sent its channels to all the trees
of the field. 5. Therefore his growth was high above all the
trees of the field, and his branches were great, and his boughs
were long, from the many waters, when he shot forth. 6. In
his branches all the fowls of heaven nested, and under his
boughs all the beasts of the field brought forth, and in his
shadow all the many nations. 7. And he was fair in his great
ness, in the length of his shoots : for his root was by great
waters. 8. The cedars in the garden of God darkened him
not : cypresses resembled not his branches, and the plane-trees
were not like his boughs ; all the trees in the garden of God
resembled him not in his beauty.2 9. I had made him fair in
1 Luther, " Whom thinkest thou, then, that thou art like? " But the
question is not about an opinion, but about an actual likeness.
2 Luther, " Yea, he was as fair as a tree in the garden of God." He
understood by the garden of God, Paradise, in the usual sense, and conse
quently changed the subordination into a mere comparison.

CHAP. XXXI. 1-9. 273
the multitude of his shoots; and all the trees of Eden, that
were in the garden of God, envied him.
" Whom resemblest thou in thy greatness ? " (ver. 2), — as
much as to say, Shall I tell thee whom thou art like in thy
greatness ? Thou art like Assyria. The greatness of Egypt :
this was the point by which the urgent warnings of the prophet
against relying on it, the announcements of its downfall, were
rebutted. The prophet shows, from the example of Assyria,
that greatness does not secure from a fall — that no greatness on
earth can withstand the strokes of God. The words, " Behold
Assyria," etc., in ver. 3, are the answer to the question, Whom
art thou like? that is, Thou art like Assyria, who was a cedar
in Lebanon. This, the queen of trees, is a figurative designa
tion of that which was prominent above all others in the human
world. The flood in ver. 4 denotes the subterranean waters
coming up in springs (Gen. xlix. 25 ; Deut. viii. 7). In reality,
water and flood denote that which the world calls good fortune,
— -the divine blessing that accompanied the undertakings of
Assyria, the flow of favour which gave it prosperity.1 " Round
his plant-ground :" it is properly her plant-ground, the feminine
referring to Assyria as a tree. The trees of the field, to which
the flood nourishing Assyria sends its channels, denote his
subjects in contrast with the king of Assyria, the cedar on
Lebanon. The limitation to the territory of Assyria is given
by the foregoing. To name it expressly was not suitable, as
Assyria is to be represented as the world-power. " From the
many waters when he shot forth " (ver. 5) ; that is, because he
Had many waters in his time of shooting (xvii. 6, 7). To the
fowls of heaven and the beasts of the field, the wild in contra
distinction to the domestic animals, correspond in the spiritual
tree of Assyria the nations ; comp. xvii. 23. The last words
give an explanation of the figurative expression, which includes
in it a comparison. The grandees of the earth appear in ver.
8 as stately trees, according to an oft-recurring figure ; as for
ex. in Isa. x. 18, 19, the trees of Assyria, in contrast with his
underwood (ver. 17), are his grandees. The chief seat of this
figurative representation is in the Old Testament in Daniel
and Ezekiel, in the New Testament in Revelation ; comp. on
Rev. vii. 1. The total of the great men of the earth Ezekiel
1 The masculine *]$>n is the more suitable, as D'D precedes.
S

274 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
denotes as the garden of God, in which he regards them as the
counterpart of the garden which God once planted in Eden — of
Paradise with its glorious trees. The comparison is the more
suitable, because, as Paradise was planted by God (Gen. ii. 8),
so all human greatness has its origin from God. The envy of
the remaining trees in the counterpart of the garden of God in
Eden, and so of the remaining grandees on the earth (ver. 9),
comes into view only so far as it places in a clear light the great
ness of the gifts bestowed upon the king. Envy has an aspect
in which it may be regarded as a good for him whom it affects.
Let us only reflect on the proverb, Better envied than pitied.
In vers. 3—9, the glory bestowed by God on Assyria; in
vers. 10-14, the judgment which for the warning of Pharaoh
he brought on himself by its abuse. In the face of the judg
ment, the greatness of Pharaoh can no longer impose. Ver.
10. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because thou art
high in growth, and he hath set his top among the clouds, and
his heart was lofty in his height ; 11. Therefore I give him
into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen ; he shall deal
with him : for his wickedness I drove him out. 12. And
strangers, the violent of the nations, cut him off, and left him :
on the mountains and in all the valleys his shoots fell, and his
boughs were broken in all the plains of the earth ; and all the
peoples of the earth went down from his shadow, and left him.
13. On his ruins shall all the fowls of heaven dwell, and all
the beasts of the field shall be upon his boughs : 14. To the
end that none of the trees by the waters exult in their growth,
nor set their top among the clouds, nor any drinkers of water
stand up by themselves in their height ; for they are all de
livered unto death in the nether earth, among the sons of men,
to those who go down to the pit.
" Therefore " (ver. 10) — because I made him fair (ver. 9).
The greatness bestowed by God, being abused, is the cause of
his fall. The first two members come into their full light by
the third. That the king of Assyria became high in growth
in ver. 5, and that his top shot up among the clouds in ver. 3,
were described as the gift of God. But greatness itself be
comes a sin and a cause of the divine judgment, if it is not as
it were expiated and sanctified by humble submission to God. '
Ver. 14 shows that the first two members denote an offence,

CHAP. XXXI. 10-14. 275
that the expression of this does not appear first in the third,
which rather affords the explanation of the others. " There
fore I give him" (ver. 11) : the fact, already belonging to the
past, is transferred to the present, that it may happen as it were
before the eyes of the reader ; which was the more suitable, as
the like in Egypt was shortly to be repeated. At the close
the discourse is calmer, and the past appears in the form of the
past : " I drove him out." " The mighty one of the heathen,"
among the heathen, who in regard to him appear as powerless:
so is Nebuchadnezzar, the world-conqueror, named. For this
mighty one of the nations the lot of Assyria was no less an
actual prophecy than for Pharaoh. Yet the question was not
about him : not on him, but on Pharaoh, rested the foolish
Hopes which the prophet wishes to destroy ; and he had also
other grounds for leaving to his readers the application to him.
" He shall deal with him :'; properly, do to him. What he will
do to him is not more particularly defined. It is enough that
the action is on his side : to Pharaoh is left nothing but to
suffer. Pharaoh had also a time of activity. Where this is
abused, the period of pure passivity breaks forth with violence.
In place of the hammer comes the anvil. " For his wicked
ness:" the wickedness denotes the pride, and the conduct flow
ing from it. Where pride has first occupied the heart, there
all divine and human rights are trampled under foot. The
tender respect for them roots in the consciousness of being
under God. All righteousness and goodness flow from humble
submission to God. " I drove him out :" this points to the
driving of the first man out of Paradise, that was also a con
sequence of pride, with reference to vers. 8 and 9, according
to which the king of Assyria was also in a garden of God.
The allusion is the less to be mistaken, because the driving
out proper is less suitable to the tree. " All the peoples of the
earth went down from his shadow:" they had formerly, like
birds, perched upon the branches of the tree in its shade (ver.
5). The ruin in ver. 13 (ver. 16 shows that it must be so
translated) stands for the fallen tree, that is as it were a living
ruin. The fowls of heaven and the beasts of the field, the wild
beasts that formerly sought protection under this tree, assemble
now for another object beside the fallen — to peck, and gnaw,
and take what they please of its fruits. In great catastrophes

276 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
every one seeks to draw advantage from the misfortune. In
ver. 14 the object of the catastrophe ordained for the king of
Assyria: it is to be a lesson for all the high things of the
earth, to place before their eyes the dangers of pride. High in
his growth, in the sense here meant, is he only who gives him
self over with all his heart to his height. Genuine humility
brings to elevation its only corrective. It fixes the eye on
the lowliness, which in all human greatness is present with the
greatness. The trees of the water and the water-drinkers are
the great of the earth, to whom God gives joyful prosperity.
" Nor any drinkers of water stand up by themselves," assuming
to themselves what belongs to God. As water-drinkers, they
have nothing but what they receive : to stand by themselves,
is to steal what belongs to God; and to seize upon the property
of God is a wholly wicked procedure. "For they are all
delivered unto death," — namely, those proud trees, the grandees
of the earth, who were tempted to haughtiness by their great
ness. Haughtiness comes before a fall, and in this fall they
must learn humility ; for they go down into the kingdom of
the dead, where they are nothing else than ordinary sons of
men : comp. Job iii. 19, " Small and great are there."
The third and last section of the discourse now follows.
Ver. 15. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, In the day when he
went down to the grave I caused a mourning ; I spread over
him the deep, and held back its rivers, and the many waters
were stayed ; and I made Lebanon black over him, and all the
trees of the field sank in weakness over him. 16. At the
sound of his fall I make the heathen quake, when I cast him
down to the grave with those that go down to the pit ; and all
the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that
drink water, sighed in the nether earth. 17. They also went
down to the grave with him, to those slain by the sword ; and
they who were his arm sat in his shadow among the heathen.
18. Whom dost thou thus resemble in glory and in greatness
among the trees of Eden ? and thou shalt be cast down with
the trees of Eden unto the nether earth : thou shalt lie among
the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword. This is
Pharaoh and all his tumult, saith the Loed.
The flood (ver. 15), the subterranean store of water that
supplies the springs (comp. ver. 4, Gen. vii. 11), mourns be-

CHAP. XXXI. 15-18. 277
cause it cannot flow farther into the wonted, well-loved paths.
Lebanon, denoting the kingdom of the heathen (comp. ver. 3,
and on xvii. 3), mourns over the fall of its greatness, which
forebodes evil to all other world-powers. In deep pain sink
the trees of the field, the great ones of the earth (ver. 8). " I
caused a mourning, I spread over ; " that is, I spread over him
for mourning. The king of Assyria is here also an ideal per
son, the Assyrian empire ; and we are not to think of a reference
to Sennacherib slain by his servants, nor even to the personal
fate of the last Assyrian king. The trees of Eden in ver. 16,
and the water-drinkers, are parallel phrases. The trees of
Eden are the former high ones of the earth, who resembled the
trees of Paradise in glory, and in whom these were represented,
as it were, anew ; the water-drinkers are those who formerly
enjoyed a glorious prosperity. In the fall of Assyria they
went through their own sorrow, as it were, a second time.1
The lamentation obeys the general law, which was fulfilled in
the king of Assyria, as it had been exhibited before in them ;
sic transit gloria mundi. We have here a variation of Isa.
xiv. 9, 10, where the king of Babylon is received in the king
dom of the dead by those who had gone down before him.
"With him" (ver. 17), that is, no less than he, denotes not
simultaneousness — for they are on his arrival already in Sheol
— but similarity. The vassals of the king have gone before
him in their fall. He comes to the close, and is received by
his former associates in Sheol. Then at the close of the whole
tragedy there is sung in chorus a lamentation over the vanity
of worldly glory. " His arm " — his auxiliaries. " Whom dost
thou thus resemble in glory and greatness?" (ver. 18) : according
to the foregoing, one in whom it was already obvious that glory
and greatness cannot shield from a fall, but rather, if abused,
involve in it. After removing the supposed hindrance, which
consisted in the greatness of Pharaoh blinding the eyes, his
downfall is announced to him. The uncircumcised stand here, as
in xxviii. 10, for the impure and ungodly. " This is Pharaoh"
— namely, in regard to the issue. " His tumult ;" comp. ver. 2.
1 Dna in the Niphal, sigh, be troubled, not be comforted. This meaning
would be against ver. 15, where Lebanon mourns, and also against ver. 17,
according to which those who received the king of Assyria in Sheol were
those who had formerly been friendly to him.

278 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Ch. xxxii. The work of God in His people is come to a
close. A time of lamentations has arrived. Besides these
lamentations, comes as a consolation the double lamentation of
our chapter over Pharaoh and over Egypt. It reminded Israel
that even in its deepest misery it had an infinite advantage over
the world-power-that was apparently far superior, which is here
represented by Egypt. For all that the latter now possesses
will soon be taken away ; and while a joyful resurrection awaits
Judah after it has endured the pains of death, the other re
mains in death, and beyond the darkness sees no light. The
occasion of this lamentation was probably the circulation of the
Lamentations of Jeremiah in the lands of the exile. It pleases
Ezekiel in general to follow this his leader.
First, in vers. 1-16, the lamentation over Pharaoh, in two
sections. Ver. 1. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the
twelfth month, in the first of the month, the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, 2. Son of man, take up a lamentation
for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Lion of the
heathen, thou art undone, and thou art like the dragon in the
sea ; and thou brokest forth with thy rivers,1 and troubledst
the water with thy feet, and didst tread in their rivers. 3.
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, And I will spread over thee my
net in the congregation of many peoples ; and they will bring
thee up in my net. 4. And I will leave thee upon the land,
and sling thee upon the field ; and I will make all the fowls of
heaven to dwell on thee, and satisfy all the beasts of the earth
with thee. 5. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains,
and fill the valleys with thy height. 6. And I will water the
land of thy overflowing with thy blood, even to the mountains ;
and the plains shall be full of thee. 7. And when I put thee
out, I will cover the heavens, and darken the stars thereof ; the
sun I will cover with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her
light. 8. All luminaries of light in the heaven I will make
dark for thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord
Jehovah. 9. And I will vex the heart of many peoples, when
I bring thy breach among the heathen into the countries which
thou knewest not. 10. And I will astonish many peoples at
1 Luther, " and leapest forth in thy rivers," against the meaning of the
verb, which means to break forth only, and against ver. 6.

chap, xxxii. 1-10. 279
thee, and their kings shall quake greatly for thee, when 1
brandish my sword in their face ; and they shall tremble every
moment, each man for his own soul, in the day of thy fall.
" Lion of the heathen, thou art undone"1 (ver. 2) : we have
here a short outline, which is afterwards filled up ; the lion
receives its explanation even in this verse, the undoing in ver.
3. The figure of the dragon at the side of that of the lion is
explanatory, to bring to view the demeanour of Pharaoh among
the nations. The sea is the sea of nations. The mischief
which the crocodile commits in the waters presents a figure of
the mischief which Pharaoh commits among the nations. The
words, " Thou brokest forth with thy rivers," have respect, as it
appears, to this, that the natural crocodile pours out water in
breathing. Bartram, in Oedmann in the Miscellaneous Collec
tions from Physiology for the Illustration of Holy Scripture,
part vi., says, in the description of the North American crocodile,
p. 59 : " Before I had got half the way, I was assailed on all
sides by a great number of crocodiles, some of which attempted
to upset my canoe. Two especially attacked me, one on each
side, raised at once their heads and a part of their bodies above
the water, and, amidst the most horrible roaring, squirted a
great quantity of water on me." P. 63 : "I went on thence ;
but scarcely had I rowed a few strokes, when an enormous
crocodile rushed from the reed-bank, darted like an arrow
under my boat, came up on the lee side, opened its horrible
jaws, and poured over me a stream of smoke and water like a
torrent in a hurricane." P. 67 : " The weaker crocodiles must
content themselves with roaring and puffing in the smaller
pools. But an old champion, who is become absolute master
of a sea, pushing into the river, proceeds in a direct line on the
surface of the water from the reed-covered strand. At first
his course is rapid as the lightning, but it becomes gradually
slower until he reaches the centre, where he takes his place.
He then puffs himself up by drawing in air and water through
his mouth, which for a minute occasions a clear rustling in his
throat. But presently after he spirts out the air through his
mouth and nostrils with a loud noise, swings his strong tail,
and spouts out through the holes of the nose a vapour which
looks like a smoke. Sometimes he is wont, after his belly has
1 riDlJ never means to be made like, always to be silent, undone.

280 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
been so stretched out that he is ready to burst, to raise up his
head and tail, and swing himself round in this position above
the water like a wheel." The water of rivers and wells is a
frequent symbol in Scripture of resources, prosperity, means
(comp. on Rev. xvii. 1). That the rivers here also are to be
taken in this sense, appears from this, that only thus do the
rivers here come under one point of view with the waters and
rivers in the following passage. As the natural crocodile over
flows all around him with water, so Pharaoh the nations with
his troops. The counterpart to the rivers here which are
poured upon others, consists in the streams of Pharaoh's own
blood, with which he must water the earth. " Troubledst the
water with thy feet : " because Pharaoh makes use of his re
sources, he disturbs the welfare of the nations. " And didst
tread in their rivers" — the rivers of the heathen. But the
rivers could not be rivers of water. The sense is the same in
either case. For the rivers of water would also belong to the
nations whom Egypt subdued, and denote their prosperity.
The nations in ver. 3 are not mere onlookers, but at the same
time instruments of the judgment. " They will bring thee up."
Jehovah spreads His net in the congregation of many nations,
and gives it over to them, that they may draw it out. The
thought in ver. 4 is, that it will fare no better with thee than
with a fish, which must perish miserably, because it is taken
out of its element. To the fowls of heaven, and the wild
beasts which fall upon the dragon flung on the land, correspond
the nations in the case of Pharaoh. Mountains and valleys
in ver. 5 denote together the whole of the places in which the
fish out of its element lies. The height forms the contrast to
the valleys, properly hollows. They are filled with the proud
carcase. " The land of thy overflowing " x (ver. 6): — the land
which thou didst formerly overflow with thy rivers (ver. 2).
" When I put thee out " (ver. 7) : Pharaoh in his glory is a
bright shining light. In the quenching of this light the heavenly
luminaries lose their splendour : in great political catastrophes,
and the endless woe connected with them, the heavenly lumi
naries appear, as it were, to be extinguished (Isa. xiii. 10 ;
Amos viii. 9, 10 ; comm. on Rev. vi. 12). They shine truly
only for the happy ; the sun is only present when the eye is
1 The verb tjis in the sense overflow, see in Lam. iii. 54.

CHAP. XXXII. 11-16. 281
for the sun. The nations are troubled at the fate of Pharaoh
(ver. 9), because they see in his fall the proof of the vanity of
all human grandeur, the threat of their own downfall (comp.
ver. 10). Jehovah brings His fall among the heathen, in so
far as He by means of it gives occasion to the news of it per
vading the countries ; and also when He scatters the Egyptians
through all lands, and thereby causes them to bring the news
thither (comp. ch. xxx. 9). " When I brandish my sword in
their face" (ver. 10): the sword is brandished immediately
over Pharaoh, but so that the other high ones of the earth shall
see it, and take example by him for themselves (comp. xxxi. 14
and Deut. xiii. 11), according to which the evil-doers are to
be judged, that " all Israel may hear and fear, and do no more
such wickedness in thy midst."
In vers. 11-16, the second part of the lamentation over
Pharaoh. Ver. 11. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The
sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee. 12. By
the swords of the heroes will I bring down thy tumult : the
violent of the heathen are they all ; and they shall lay waste
the pride of Egypt, and all its tumult shall be desolated. 13.
And I will destroy all its cattle from the many waters ; and
the foot of man shall trouble them no more, neither shall the
foot of cattle trouble them. 14. Then will I deepen their
waters, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord
Jehovah. 15. When I make the land of Egypt a desert, and
the country desolate from its fulness, when I smite all that
dwell therein, then shall they know 1 that I am the Lord. 16.
This is a lamentation, and they shall sing it : the daughters of
the heathen shall sing it ; over Egypt and over all her tumult
shall they sing it, saith the Lord Jehovah.
The peculiarity in ver. 11 is the express naming of the
instrument of the divine judgment : the man, in fact, already
lifts the sword to brandish it against Egypt. The pride of Egypt
in ver. 12 is, according to ch. xxx. 6, 18, its greatness and glory.
By the many waters in ver. 13 is meant the Nile. No foot any
more troubles the waters, because man and beast are gone.
1 Luther, " that they may learn." Thereby is the verse brought into a
wrong connection with the foregoing ; and the thought that all shall tend
only to make the Egyptians feel the true deity of the living God, is brought
down from its dominant position : comp. xxxiii. 29.

282 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The Nile is also a symbol of the prosperity of Egypt, as in
Isa. xix. In ver. 14 this symbolic import of the waters comes
into the foreground. The thought is, that Egypt's prosperity
and power will sink. The comparison with the oil turns solely
on the easy flowing. In this new stage of its existence Egypt
will be a low kingdom (xxix. 14) — no longer, as in former
times, partly dangerous (it can no more overflow, vers. 2 and
6), partly seductive to the other nations. " Saith the Lord
Jehovah," who, as the possessor of omnipotence, can with easy
effort make a gentle brook out of the proud river. The
lamentation is (ver. 16) not the vain show of a lamentation,
but the type of one which will be actually sung. The nations
will strike it up yet over Egypt, and then will the difference
between a poet and a prophet be obvious. We may compare
ch. xix. 14, where the same is said of the lamentation over
Judah. In reference to the latter, the lamentation has now
actually become a lamentation. So will it also be in reference
to Egypt. The daughters of the nations are, as ver. 18 shows,
the nations themselves, as daughters or virgins. They here
appear under this figure, because the lamentation bears a
feminine character, and because it was the custom in common
life that the laments should be sung by women ; comp. Jer.
ix. 16. In ch. xxxii. 17-32, the wail over Pharaoh is followed by
the wail over Egypt. The prophet in this funeral song brings
Egypt into connection with the congeries of nations on which
the Chaldean judgment fell. In the announcement of this
in Jer. xxv., are named, along with Egypt, Edom, Zidon,
Elam, and the kings of the north. There are wanting in
Jeremiah only Assyria, which had already fallen when he
made his announcement, and Meshech and Tubal, which were
probably conquered with the Assyrians (Niebuhr, p. 201). As
Jeremiah uttered his prophecy when the Chaldean empire
had already begun its career and dealt out heavy blows, while
Ezekiel referred to the whole Chaldean judgment on the
nations, some names must occur here which are wanting in
Jeremiah. On the other hand, Tyre, mentioned by Jeremiah,
is wanting here. It was still standing when the prophet
struck up this dirge. But only in Egypt does he anticipate
the future. Of the remainder he only names those who had

CHAP. XXXII. 17-32. 283
already fallen. That which still belonged to the future in
Egypt, should have its ground in that which had already taken
place. The practical aim is expressed in the words of the
Psalmist, " Trust not in oppression and fraud ; if riches in
crease, set not your heart on them." The prophecy is fitted to
call forth a deep feeling of the vanity of earthly things, to
warn against carnal confidence in earthly power, and its abuse
by violence and wrong, and, what comes specially into account
here, to guard against envying those who enjoy such power for
the moment. Human nature, what is it ? In an hour it falls
to the ground !
Ver. 17. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, on the
fifteenth of the month, the word of the Loed came unto me,
saying, 18. Son of man, wail for the tumult of Egypt, and cast
it down, her, and the daughter of the glorious nations, into the
land of the depths, with those that go down to the pit. 19. Be
yond whom art thou lovely ? go down, and be laid among the
uncircumcised. 20. They shall fall among those slain by the
sword : the sword is given ; they drag her and all her tumult.
21. The strong heroes from the midst of hell shall speak to
him with his helpers : the uncircumcised are gone down, they
lie slain by the sword. 22. There is Asshur and all his com
pany : around him are His graves : all of them slain, fallen by
the sword : 23. Whose graves are put in the depths of the
pit ; and his company is around his grave : all of them slain,
fallen by the sword, who caused terror in the land of the
living. 24. There is Elam, and all his tumult around his
grave ; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who are gone
down uncircumcised into the land of depths, who gave their
terror in the land of the living ; and they bear (now) their
shame with those that go down to the pit. 25. Among the
slain they set him a bed with his tumult : around him are
his graves ; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword : for
their terror went forth in the land of the living, and they
(now) bear their shame with those who go down to the pit ;
among the slain he is laid. 26. There is Meshech, Tubal, and
all his tumult : around him are his graves : all of them uncir
cumcised, slain by the sword ; for they gave their terror in the
land of the living. 27. And should they not lie with the
heroes, the fallen of the uncircumcised, who are gone down

284 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
to hell with their weapons of war ? And they laid their swords
under their heads, and their iniquities were upon their bones ;
for a terror were the heroes in the land of the living. 28. And
thou shalt be broken among the uncircumcised, and shalt lie
with those slain by the sword. 29. There is Edom, his kings
and all his princes, who are joined in their might with those
slain by the sword : they lie with the uncircumcised, and, with
those that go down to the pit. 30. There are the princes of
the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians who are gone
down with the slain, ashamed in their terror (proceeding) from
their might ; and they lie uncircumcised with those slain by
the sword, and bear their shame with those that go down to
the pit. 31." Pharaoh will see them, and will sigh over all his
tumult ; Pharaoh and all his host are slain by the sword, saith
the Lord Jehovah. 32. For I gave him to be a terror in the
land of the living i1 and Pharaoh and all his tumult shall be
laid among the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword,
saith the Lord Jehovah.
The month is not named in ver. 17 ; it is to be taken from
ver. 1 : comp. on ch. xxvi. 1, where we have quite an analogous
case. The lamentation over the land falls in the same month
with that over the king, and being closely connected with it,
is separated from it only by fourteen days. The remaining
nations (ver. 18) are already in Sheol. The prophecy belongs
to a time when, of the opponents of the Chaldeans, only Tyre
and Egypt were on the stage, and all the rest were gone. But
the prophet will send down, as it were, a second time those
already sent down with Egypt, the first to be sent down, since
he goes over the whole process anew. Even in respect to
Egypt the sending down has only a representative character.
As the prophet in respect to it represents what the Lord will
do, foreshadows the future process, he repeats, in respect to the
other nations, that which has taken place, and thus unites that
which is internally connected into a grand whole — the great
judgment of the nations by Nebuchadnezzar the servant of
the Lord. The " daughters of the glorious nations" are the
glorious nations themselves, as virgins or daughters, once
1 Luther, " for all the world shall also yet fear before me." He follows
tlie Masoretic conjecture VVTin for wnn, the reading attested by manu
script.

CHAP. XXXII. 17-32. 285
splendid in the bloom of youth, lovely to behold ; comp. ver.
19. "Beyond whom art thou lovely?" (ver. 19) : thou hast
no advantage over one of these glorious nations ; they were no
less lovely than thou, and yet must go down to Sheol. Thus
their fate is the prophecy of thine. The Egyptian is addressed,
the ideal unity of the Egyptians, who appear in ver. 20 in the
place of the Egyptian. In ver. 18 also, the nations were pre
sented in the unity of the daughters. " Go down and be laid
among the uncircumcised : " the uncircumcised are, in the
usage of Ezekiel, the unclean ; comp. on ch. xxviii. 10. As
Egypt is like the other fallen nations in its sinful uncleanness,
so must it share their fate also. From the mention of the
unclean, the words "Beyond whom art thou lovely?" receive
their more exact import. Hence we perceive that the ad
vantage of loveliness, if it existed, must have consisted chiefly
in freedom from the blemish of sin. The expression in our
verse applies also to those who with uncircumcised hearts are
found in the external community of the people of God. The
outward circumcision loses all significance where the state of
the heart indicated by it is wanting. No less, also, baptism
under the New Testament. " The sword is given " (ver. 20) —
namely, into the hands of the earthly executors of the divine
wrath, the Chaldeans. These are the subject' in the words
" They drag her " l — like a criminal who is dragged to the place
of execution, or like a corpse to the pit. The helpers of Egypt
(ver. 21) are those who remained with him to the last ; comp.
the enumeration in ch. xxx. 5. The " strong heroes" are pre
eminently of the nations that are afterwards enumerated, and
were already sent down by the avenging hand of God. The
address of the strong heroes to the king of Egypt and his
helpers is not given ; for the words " are gone down," etc., do
not suit in the mouth of the heathen. Even because the
address is not given, we can only think of the obvious and self-
evident thought. They greet him as a colleague. That which
is here only indicated is unfolded in the fundamental passage,
Isa. xiv. 10, 11, where the departed receive the king of Baby
lon in Sheol with the words, " Thou also art become weak
as we : thou art become like unto us." The words " are gone
down," etc., give the closer description of the strong heroes —
1 13B>Q is 3d prseterite, as IjriJ, ver. 25.

286 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
denote them as those who have already gone down into Sheol
before the Egyptians. With this agrees the description in ver.
22 f. of this subterranean company by individual persons.
Asshur (ver. 22) stands at the head as the brightest example of
human greatness going to destruction. In this respect he was
already (ch. xxxi.) presented to Pharaoh as a mirror of his
future. " Around him are his graves : " Asshur, the ideal
person of the people, bodily represented by the king, has all
his graves, the graves of his people, around him.1 The graves
here and in ver. 23 are distinguished from Sheol, as generally in
the Old Testament, even in Isa. xiv., Sheol and the grave are.
separated, although here, in ver. 27, indeed the grave appears,
so to speak, as a station on the way to Sheol. The depth in
ver. 23 is that of the grave. The grave is deep even if, mate
rially taken, it be only a few feet, as a stream is very deep if it
be only six feet. The grave is deep enough to cover all glory.
A terrible contrast, in which they who formerly spread terror
over the earth, now in death lie so impotent beneath. How
have they raged in vain ! (Ps. xxxix. 7.) After Asshur fol
lows, in ver. 24, Elam. To him, in Jer. xlix. 34 f., " in the
beginning of the reign of Zedekiah," a great defeat is pre
dicted, doubtless in consequence of taking part in the anti-
Chaldaic coalition then forming; comp. on viii. 16 f., xxx. 5.
Here the defeat has already taken place. Concerning Meshech
and Tubal (ver. 26), the Moschi and Tibareni on the Pontic
mountains, comp. xxvii. 13. " For they caused their terror
in the land of the living : " this appears here otherwise than
before as the cause of the slaying with the sword, in accord
ance with the rule not merely of human, but principaliter of
divine judgment, " Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man
shall his blood be shed " (Gen. ix. 6), and, " They that take
the sword shall perish by the sword " (Matt. xxvi. 52). This
thought is further expanded in ver. 27. What is there said
immediately of Meshech and Tubal, holds in fact of all other
nations lusting after war and victory. The ground on which
the thought is expressed immediately in regard to Meshech and
Tubal is probably this, that the custom regarded as significant
by the prophet prevailed among them, to bury the fallen war-
1 Asshur is here treated as masculine ; in the foregoing, and also in ver.
23, as feminine, — a frequent variation.

CHAP. XXXII. 17-32. 287
riors with their death-weapons, in which they have, as it were,
their misdeeds with them, so that guilt and punishment are
united in the grave. " And should they not lie : " the ques
tion without the interrogatory particle is especially frequent in
Ezekiel. " They laid their swords : " to the dead is ascribed
what took place by their order, and that in which they placed
their highest honour, like the race of Cain, that counted the
fratricide of their ancestor as bravery. Edom also appears in
ver. 29 among the number of those already judged. He had
shown a malicious joy at the downfall of Judah ; but imme
diately after, the Chaldean storm must have swept over him
also. Only the beginning indeed of the judgment can be
regarded as having already taken place. The threatening in
ch. xxxv. shows this. " In their might : " in the exercise and
encounter of it, or even notwithstanding their might, as Luther
translates, " although they were mighty.'' To the " princes of
the north " (ver. 30) correspond in Jer. xxv. " all the kings of
the north near and far," who there appear among those who
must drink the cup of the Chaldean catastrophe. Here they
have already drunk it. There are the Aramaeans. To them
belong Arpad, Hamath, and Damascus, to whom Jeremiah in
ch. xlix. 23-27 predicts destruction.1 To the Aramseans are
joined the neighbouring Zidonians, who were subdued at the
time when Nebuchadnezzar placed his army before Tyre. In
ch. xxviii. 30 f. they are, in a prophecy of the tenth month
of the eleventh year, still the object of threatening ; here, in
a prophecy of the twelfth month of the twelfth year, this
threatening has been carried into effect. Tyre is here not
found in the company which greeted Pharaoh on his entrance
into Sheol. At the time when this prophecy was uttered Tyre
was still standing, though the siege was already begun. The
prophet might certainly have anticipated its clearly foreseen
fall, and mingled it in the company. But he omits it to pre
vent mistake. But the fact that Tyre is not named, shows
clearly that all those named have already received their doom.
Pharaoh sighs (ver. 31) : others explain, he comforts himself.2
But Pharaoh could so much the less derive comfort from the
1 Comp. on the enterprises of Nebuchadnezzar in Syria, Niebuhr, p. 208 f.
2 Comp. on Dnj) not to comfort oneself, but to sigh, be troubled, at
xxxi. 16.

288 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
view of the others, as they had been not his foes, but his con
federates on earth, and their defeat was at the same time his
own. The Lord gave the terror of Pharaoh in the land of the
living (ver. 32) : he was for a long time terrible on the earth,
not by his own power, but by the operation of God, who made
use of him as His instrument. Used up, he is now destroyed
by the same power which employed him before for its ends.
He has, in the time of the power vouchsafed to him, proved
himself unclean and uncircumcised, and Hence he must share
the fate of the uncircumcised.
Ch. xxxiii. 1-20. We have here the author's conclusion to
ch. i.-xxxii. No other view is admissible. According to ch.
xxiv. and ver. 22, here a prophecy delivered among the people
before the arrival of the fugitives from Jerusalem is impos
sible. The contents, which only resume throughout, and in
part almost verbally repeat, what has been already said, are
decisive against the hypothesis of an introduction to the fol
lowing passage. Then there is the want of a date. Before
the prophet passes to a new epoch of his prophetic activity, he
lays down, in relation to his prophetic past, as it is given in
ch. i.-xxxii., three fundamental thoughts, which are deeply im
portant for all times of the church.
The first section (vers. 1-9) accords in thought, and partly
also in expression, with ch. iii. 16-21, where Ezekiel, in his
call, receives the office of a watchman. The end returns to
the beginning. The section falls into two parts : first in vers.
1-6, the comparison of a watchman, whom a people appoints
at a time of approaching war ; then the application in vers.
7-9. In the comparison the watchman is appointed by men ;
in the application by God. The lesson is, that the relation
between the prophet (and in general the servant of God in His
kingdom) and the people is one full of responsibility. As the
prophet has in the foregoing fulfilled his duty, the response
falls upon the people. Let every one take heed how he hears,
among the contemporaries of the prophets and among their
successors, to whom he commits his book. The neglect of the
faithful admonitions of the servants of God, has in the past
brought down the divine judgments, against which none ought
to murmur, as they have their root and justification in culpable

CHAP. XXXIII. 1-9. 289
disobedience to the word of God (Zech. vii. 11 f.). The neglect
of the admonitions of the prophet will also in future bring down
the judgments of God.
Ver. 1. And the word of the Loed came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, speak to the sons of thy people, and say unto
them, When I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of
the land take a man from their midst,1 and set him for their
watchman ; 3. And he sees the sword coming upon the land,
and blows the trumpet, and warns the people ; 4. And any one
hears the sound of the trumpet, and takes not warning, and the
sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his
own head. 5. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took
not warning, his blood shall be upon him ; and he took warn
ing,2 he delivered his soul. 6. And if the watchman see the
sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not
warned, and the sword come and take a soul of them, he is
taken away in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at the
watchman's hand. 7. And thou, son of man, I gave thee to
be a watchman to the house of Israel ; and thou shalt hear
a word from my mouth, and warn them from me. 8. When
I say unto the wicked, O wicked, thou shalt die ; and thou
speakest not to warn the wicked from his way, he, the wicked,
shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thy
hand. 9. But when thou warnest a wicked man of his way,
that he turn from it, and he turn not from his way, he shall
die in his iniquity, and thou hast delivered thy soul.
" His blood shall be upon his own head" (ver. 4) : he will
be to blame for his own fall. The head is named, from the
custom of carrying on the head. Blood often stands for blood-
guilt. " He is taken away, in his iniquity" (ver. 6) : mishap
befalls no one undeserved, even if under the circumstances he
might have been delivered. For the unwarned it is decreed as
the deserved punishment of his other sins, that warning should
1 Properly, from their end, that is, of their number. The end includes
in itself that which is before the end, or that which lies between the ends
(on both sides). In form the word is singular, but it may also be plural,
as in 1 Kings xii. 31, where Jeroboam takes priests from the ends of the
people, from their number — laymen instead of Levites.
2 Luther, " But whosoever takes warning." But the thought is, If he
had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul ; so that he is thus to
blame for his own fall.

290 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
not be given- hiim, as Joseph's Hrethren, innocent in the parti
cular case, cry out, " God hath found out the iniquity of thy
servants" (Gen. xliv. 16). But the unfaithful watchman is
punished for his neglect.
In vers. 10, 11 is the second thought. The prophet has
had to punish and to threaten very much. The effect of his
address might easily be depressing and disheartening. At the
close, therefore, once more he gives prominence to a thought
which he had already expressed in ch. xviii. 23, 30, 32, and
which by this repetition he secures against being overlooked :
Say not I have been too severe. The sinner should not de
spair : the merciful God accepts sinners. Repentance -is the
way to salvation. To invite to this is the proper object. To
afford more tranquillity is not the aim of the prophet. He
combats despair only so far as it is a hindrance to repentance.
Ver. 10. And thou, son of man, say to the house of Israel,
Thus ye say, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and
we pine away in them, how should we then live? 11. Say
unto them, As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I have no pleasure
in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his
way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways ; and
why will ye die, O house of Israel ? "And we pine away in
them" (ver. 10) : as thou thyself hast said (ch. xxiv. 23), and
also the lawgiver has said in Lev. xxvi. 39.
The third thought (vers. 12-20) is comprehended in the
one word theodicy. The greatest danger that can arise out of
suffering, is that a man should misunderstand his Maker : one
of the hardest problems of the servants of God is to bring
reason to bear on suffering. God, the prophet proceeds, is
righteous in all His ways : every one murmur's for his sins
(Lam. iii. 39). Whosoever fails of salvation, let him not — as
Israel, sighing under his distress, is so prone to do — accuse God,
who always bestows salvation on the righteous, and on him who
turns from his sin. Evil only befalls the formerly righteous,
who has turned away from righteousness, and the wicked, who
will not repent. Thoughts are also here repeated from ch.
xviii. ; comp. especially vers. 20, 21, 24, 25, 29. They are of
extreme importance ; for the heart that in distress misunder
stands its God, will not tread the path of repentance, which
determines the return of salvation ; and man is quite prone to

CHAP. XXXIII. 12-20. 291
mitigate his guilt, and to think that God has dealt too hardly
with him. It may easily be the same persons, who think in
vers. 10, 11 that they have been severely treated, and here that
God has done too much for them. In such times of suffering,
the one wave relieves the other.
Ver. 12. And thou, son of man, say unto the sons of thy
people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him
in the day of his transgression ; and by the wickedness of the
wicked he shall not fall in the day that he turns from his
wickedness ; and the righteous shall not be able to live thereby
in the day of his sin. 13. When I say to the righteous that
he shall live, and he trusts in his righteousness, and commits
iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered, and by
his iniquity that he has done he shall die. 14. And when I say
to the wicked, Thou shalt die, and he turns from his sin, and
does judgment and righteousness ; 15. If the wicked restore
the pledge, repay that which is robbed, walk in the statutes of
life, so that He do no iniquity, he shall live, not die. 16. All
His sins wherein he sinned shall not be remembered to him : he
has done judgment and righteousness, he shall live. 17. And
the sons of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not right ;
but their way is not right. 18. When the righteous turns
from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, then he shall die
thereby. 19. And when the wicked turns from his wickedness,
and does judgment and righteousness, he shall live thereby.
20. And ye say, The way of the Lord is not right : I will
judge you, O house of Israel, every one after his ways.
" Thereby" (ver. 12) : that he has been righteous formerly,
or until now. " He trusts in his righteousness" (ver. 13) : it
was a widespread delusion among the Jews, that they possessed
a hereditary righteousness ; that whatever they might them
selves be, yet the righteousness of their pious fathers, from
Abraham down, would avail them ; and if they experienced
the contrary in their misfortunes, they held themselves justified
in murmuring against God. The prophet teaches, on the con
trary, that the fate of every generation is determined by its own
relation to God. "If the wicked restore the pledge" (ver. 15) ;
comp. xviii. 7. " The way of the Lord is not right" (ver. 17) :
properly, not weighed ; comp. xviii. 25, 29.

WOKDS OF COMFOKT.
CHAPTERS XXXIII. 21-XXXIX,

5w

CHAPTEE XXXIII. 21, 22.
HE book of Ezekiel has only two chief parts — pro
phecies before and after the destruction of Jerusa
lem — threatening and promise. If this be mistaken,
and the prophecies against foreign nations be made
a separate part beside the other two, the position of ch. xxxiii.
1-20 is inconceivable, as in that case it must have followed ch.
xxiv. This follows also from the fact that the beginning of
the prophecy against foreign nations in ch. xxv. is connected
with that relating to home affairs in ch. xxiv. The prophecies
against foreign nations are merely an appendix to the first part,
designed to throw a stronger light on the judgments pronounced
against Judah, by unfolding to the view the judgment im
pending over the heathen. This subordinate place is already
assigned to the prophecies against foreign nations by this, that
the prophet (ch. xxiv. 27) at the opening of the siege of Jeru
salem is dumb, and (on the main subject) does not speak again
until the fugitive comes. Accordingly, what he says between
ch. xxiv. 27 and xxxiii. 23 cannot be co-ordinate with the rest;
it can only have a subsidiary importance.
Our two verses give, in accordance with the end of ch.
xxiv., the historical introduction to the discourses of the second
epoph., Ver. 21. And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our
captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, the
fugitive from Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is
smitten. 22. And the hand of the Loed was upon me in the
evening before the fugitive came ; and He opened my mouth,
292

CHAP. XXXIII. 21, 22. 293
until he came to me in the morning ; and my mouth was
opened, and I was no longer dumb.
This cannot refer to the first news of the taking of Jeru-
salem. This took place nearly one and a half year sooner, on
the ninth day of the fourth month in the eleventh year ; and
the news of such events spreads with amazing rapidity. The
intelligence arrived no doubt in eight, or at the most fourteen,
days at the abode of Ezekiel ; so that the difficulty is not
removed by assuming most arbitrarily an error in the text,
and putting the eleventh in place of the twelfth year. It
refers rather to the first account of an eye-witness, who had
himself passed through the terrors of the catastrophe, and was
in his miserable plight a living proclamation of it. The " fugi
tive" is here, as in Gen. xiv. 13, an ideal person, or according
to the usual designation, a collectivum — not a single individual,
but a transport. Ezekiel had already said, in ch. xiv. 22, 23,
that a whole host of such fugitives would come to the exiles ;
comp. also ch. vi. 9. There we have the commentary on the
fugitive here. These sufferers were by their very appearance
a testimony to the fearfulness of the divine judgments : in
them the smitten city presented itself as it were bodily. Their
narratives gave only the commentary on their appearance :
they said, The city is smitten, even before they opened the
mouth. Analogous to this is the deep impression, which,
according to Neh. i., the description of the desolate condition
of Jerusalem by eye-witnesses made on Nehemiah, although
this condition had existed for a century. Here the impression
must have been still, deeper. On the night before the arrival
of the transport, which was doubtless announced the day before,
took place the opening of the prophet's mouth, that had been
closed since ch. xxiv. 27 — as it were the removal of the seal
from it. The impulse to speak to the people again asserted
itself. The prophetic activity itself first commenced after the
transport appeared, the arrival of which was to form the
ground for the assumption of new hopes. Only after the com
plete death, the annihilation of all earthly hopes, had passed
before their eyes, could the announcement of the joyful resur
rection be made. Already in ch. xxiv. 27 it was said that
God would open the prophet's mouth to the fugitive. Ac
cordingly the actual arrival of the ruined people, in whom

294 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the ruined city was represented, was the prerequisite of the
discourse. Ch. xxxiii. 23-29. The new discourse here first takes up
again the former threatening, and meets those who, still giving
themselves up to illusions, thought that the judgment would
not inexorably run its course. That there were such people,
was proved by the revolt in which Gedaliah the Chaldean
governor was slain. The new discourse is essentially comfort
ing. But before the seed of divine hope could be sown, the last
thorns and thistles of false human hopes, and of the efforts that
grew out of them, had to be destroyed, which even now, although
against all appearances, were convulsively grasped by those who
avoided the passage through the strait gate of repentance, which
is the condition of participating in the divine h6pe, and did not
wish to put off the spotted garment of the flesh.
Ver. 23. And the word of the Loed came unto me, say
ing, 24. Son of man, the inhabitants of those ruins in the land
of Israel say, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land :
and we are many ; the land is given to us for a possession.
25. Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your detestable
things, and ye "shed blood : and shall ye possess the land ? 26.
Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and defile
every one his neighbour's wife : and shall ye possess the land ?
27. Say thus unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, As I
live, they that are in the ruins shall fall by the sword ; and
him that is in the field I will give to the beast for food ; and
they that are in the forts and the caves shall die of the pesti
lence. 28. And I will lay the land desolate and waste, and
her mighty pride shall cease ; and the mountains of Israel
shall be desolate, without any passing through. 29. And they
shall know that I am the Loed, when I lay the land desolate
and waste, for all their abominations which they have done.
" The inhabitants of these ruins " (ver. 24) : according to
ver. 27, the ruins are those of the places destroyed. The whole
land was a land of ruins, and therefore ground enough to let
go at length the hopes of a deluded heart. They still cherish
these hopes, and connect them with Abraham. He was child
less, and yet has inherited the land in his posterity. Why

CHAP. XXXIII. 30-33. 295
shall they, who are still numerous in reference to him, not
receive again the possession of the land ? They believe that
they must approach the nearer to Abraham, as they hold them
selves to be the true continuation of Abraham's being — the
holders of the promise given to him — but overlook the wide
gulf that stands between them and him. If they were Abra
ham's children, they would do his works. " Ye eat with the
blood !" The eating of blood was forbidden in Geii. ix. 4 as
the first step to the prohibition of murder : in the blood of
animals was to be seen a type of the blood of man. The pre
scription had a didactic end. It was to call forth an abhorrence
of shedding human blood. Whosoever disregarded this prohi
bition showed, under the Old Testament, after the law had
made the horror of animal blood national, that the germ of the
murderous spirit was in him. " Ye work abomination " (ver.
26) : the feminine form of the verb is surprising: Your wives
work. This goes hand in hand with the fact that in ch. xiii.
17 f. the false prophets appear as women. The feminine cha
racter of the sinner is already indicated in Gen. iv. 7. There
it appears unmanly to let sin conquer, instead of ruling over it.
In reference to sin, the men are not to be womanly, but the
women manly. The abomination is afterwards more exactly
defined. It is adultery. The man who defiles his neighbour's
wife is, in truth, himself a woman. In the foregoing we have
the transgression of the first commandment of the first table,
and of the first' of the second: the eating of blood is only
mentioned by way of introduction. Here we have the trans
gression of the first two commandments of the second table.
The pestilence is in ver. 27 the companion of the famine, which
pursues those who have fled from the Chaldeans to the inac
cessible hills, and to the caves.
Ch. xxxiii. 30-33. This second part of the introductory
discourse, which proves itself to be such by this, that the sen
tence, " And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying," first
recurs in ch. xxxiv. 1, endeavours in another respect to prepare
the mind for the chief contents of the new message. The
prophet had, otherwise than Jeremiah, a well-affected audience,
especially now, after the violent catastrophe had gone over
Jerusalem, and confirmed his former predictions : as the power

296 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
of the opposition which had formerly risen against him (ch.
ii. 6, iii. 7) was broken. But many were still wanting in real
earnestness : they listened to his fair speech ; but the heart
was still addicted to worldly things — the word bore no good
fruit. With a view to such, the prophet warns men against
hearing him for the tickling of the ears. The word of God is
a very serious matter. Let every one take heed how he hears,
that he be not a hearer only, but a doer. What the prophet
announces comes to pass ; and if the fulfilment takes place, the
mere hearer will be the loser : he is overtaken by the threatened
punishments, and excluded from the promised blessings. He
has not to deal with an excellent orator ; but behind the son
of man stands the Lord, mighty to punish and to save.
Ver. 30. And thou, son of man, the sons of thy people
talk1 concerning thee by the walls and in the doors of the
houses, and speak with one another, each with his brother,
saying, Come now, and hear what is the word that cometh
from the Loed. 31. And they come unto thee as a people
comes, and sit before thee as my people, and hear thy words,
and do them not; for they deal tenderly with their mouth,
their heart goeth after their covetousness. 32. And, lo, thou
art to them as a song of love, pleasant in voice, and playing
well; and they hear thy words, and do them not. 33. And
when it comes, lo, it is come ; and they shall know that a
prophet hath been in the midst of them.
The talking in ver. 30, as the following shows, is not
hostile,2 but well-meaning : amidst the national impoverishment
they amuse themselves with the surpassing rhetorical gifts of
the new classic. " By the walls" — oil the divan. This is the
place for household talk. "As a people comes" (ver. 31):
the prophet has not merely several followers, but he is become
popular among the exiles — has a quite different position from
that of Jeremiah in Jerusalem, who had to cry, Woe is me,
against whom every man contended in the land. " As my
people : " so respectful, attentive, and apparently earnest and
1 Literally, " who talk." They are, as it were, placed before the pro
phet that he may have them clearly in his eye— be aware of their character.
A " behold " might have been prefixed.
2 D need not lead to this supposition.- The person concerning whom
often stands elsewhere with 3.

chap, xxxiv. 297
willing. " They deal tenderly with their mouth " (ver. 31) :
properly, they show ardour1 — affect in words an ardent love
to God and His word, while the real inclination of their heart
goes quite another way — is turned to mammon, the god of the
Jewish old man. The essence of the dealing desired by the
prophet is sincere conversion to God, the turning of the heart
from covetousness to Him. As a person can only be compared
with a person, so "as a song of love" (ver. 32) means, as one
who sings and plays a love-song.2 " A prophet " (ver. 32) — no
mere orator. The difference they discover in painful experience
when it is too late: the threatened punishment has already over
taken them ; they are already excluded from the promised salva
tion, which can be gained only by true repentance. " Lo, it is
come, and they shall know :" they shall know even by its coming.
Ch. xxxiv. The prophet now comes to the chief calling
which he had to fulfil in the present circumstances : his dis
course assumes a consolatory character. As he was before
only a threatener, so he is now only a promiser. Those who
failed to infer the restoration from former prophecies of threat
ening import, that must always return under similar circum
stances, might easily fall into grave misconceptions. But the
prophet was not bound to obviate these misconceptions by
cautionary hints, and thereby make his discourse less palatable
to troubled souls by presenting a handle for their anxiety. The
misconceptions of those whose heart is not right with God are
not to be removed — they form a part of their judgment : this
is one of the many stones cast in their way to cause them to
stumble. The trouble which the prophet here encounters
arises from the loss of civil government. The seeming loss,
he contends, is a real gain, as the present government was so
bad (vers. 1-10) ; and then God makes ample amends for it
when He Himself undertakes the pastoral care of the people
(yers. 11-22), and in this pastoral care raises up David for
their shepherd, under whose government the fulness of salva
tion will be imparted to them (vers. 23-31). If thus they need
1 The meanings loveliness and delight are not well founded.
2 Jerome : Tales sunt usque hodie multi in ecclesia, qui aiunt; venite
audiamus ilium et istum, mira eloquentia prsedicationis suse verba volventem,
plurimique plausus commovent et vociferantur etjactant manus.

298 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
not look in despairing grief to the past, they must look in joy
ful hope to the future.
Ver. 1. And the word of the Loed came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, pro
phesy, and say unto them, the shepherds, Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who have fed them
selves ! shall not the shepherds feed the flock ? 3. Ye eat the
fat and clothe you with the wool, ye kill the fed : ye feed not
the flock. 4. The weak ye strengthened not, nor healed the
sick, nor bound up that which was broken, nor brought back
that which was driven away, nor sought that wdiich was lost ;
and with force ye ruled over them, and with rigour. 5. And
they were scattered without a shepherd, and they became food
to all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. 6. My flock
wander on all the mountains, and on every high hill : and my
flock was scattered on the whole face of the earth, and there
is none to search and none to inquire. 7. Therefore, ye shep
herds, hear the word of the Loed. 8. As I live, saith the,
.Lord Jehovah, Because my flock is become a prey, and my
flock is become food to every beast of the field without a shep
herd, and my shepherds searched not after my flock, and the
shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock : 9. Therefore,
ye shepherds, hear the word of the Loed ; 10. Thus saith the
Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and will
require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from
feeding the flock ; and the shepherds shall no more feed them
selves : and I will deliver my flock from their mouth, and they
shall not be food for them.
What the prophet announces in vers. 1-10 had already
actually taken place. It is an explanation of the judgment in
the form of an announcement of it. Yet it is not to be over
looked, that two of the dethroned kings, Jehoiachin and Zede
kiah, were still alive, and also many of the chiefs who had
been formerly at the helm. In this respect the announcement
actually extends into the future. It is certain that nothing
can be said of a restoration, of a return to the former state, of
which many then still dreamed; comp. ch. xxxiii. 21-29.
The shepherds of Israel in ver. 2 are the kings ; these,
however, not as individuals, but as inclusive of the whole then
ruling order. That the nobles partly were still worse than the

CHAP. XXXIV. 1-10. 299
kings, is shown by Jeremiah (xxxviii. 5) : " Behold, he is in
your hand ; for the king can do nothing against you." That
the shepherds are only the civil rulers, not including the priests
and prophets, as many old expositors thought, appears from the
fundamental passage, Jer. xxiii. {Christol. ii. p. 447, comp. 423);
and also from this, that in ver. 23 the Messiah is opposed to
them under the name of Shepherd and Prince; no less, moreover,
from the whole description of their conduct, in which nothing
at all is said of false doctrine, but only of that which comports
with bad civil rulers — tyranny, violence, wrong. That in the
New Testament what is here said of the bad shepherds is
applied to the Pharisees (comp. especially John x. 8, 10),
affords the less warrant here to go beyond the civil rulers,
because in these times the pharisaically disposed Hierarchy also
occupied the place of the domestic civil government. " The
shepherds:" this is emphatically repeated, to indicate the con
trast of the idea and the office to the reality. The high office
of rulers of the people serves them (ver. 3) only as a means of
satisfying their selfish desires. Instead of the fed, some, after
the example of the LXX. and Jerome, wish to place the milk ;
appealing to this, that the eating of the fat presupposes the
killing of the sheep, which is mentioned only in the third place.
Only in the figurative sense of the sheep can a man eat the fat
without killing them. The eating of the fat is, as the clothing
with the wool, the draining of the subjects. Killing, the cul
minating act, denotes the murder of the subjects in order to
seize on their goods. But milk does not suit, as it is a right of
the shepherds to eat the milk of the flock (1 Cor. ix. 7). The
eating of the fat follows also from the conclusion in ver. 10,
" I will deliver my flock from their mouth, and they shall not
be food' for them." To the three sins of commission is op
posed, in the words " Ye feed not the flock," the one great
sin of omission. "With rigour" (ver. 4) points to that which
the Egyptians once did to the Israelites (Ex. i. 13, 14) —
the native shepherds are no better than the heathen despots
were in the olden time — and also to Lev. xxv. 43, "Thou
shalt not rule over him with rigour, but shalt fear thy God."
The first " and they were scattered " in ver. 5 points to the
internal dissolution of the people. In consequence of this, the
neglected people unlearned the power of resisting the external

300 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
foe. The beasts of the field are here, without doubt, the
heathen nations, the wild stock. By being scattered, in the
second place, the exile is meant ; comp. vers. 12, 13.
In the place of those bad shepherds, whose removal is in
truth a benefit, God Himself will in the' future appear with
His pastoral care. Ver. 11. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
Behold, it is I ; and I will search after my flock, and seek them
out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock, in the day that he
is among his flock that is scattered ; so will I seek out my flock,
and deliver them out of all the places where they have been
scattered in the day of cloud and fog. 13. And I will bring
them out of the peoples, and gather them from the lands, and
bring them to their own land, and feed them on the moun
tains of Israel, in the valleys, and in all the dwellings of the
land. 14. I will feed them in good pasture, and on the moun
tains of Israel shall their walk be ; there shall they lie in a
good walk, and on a fat pasture shall they feed on the moun
tains of Israel. 15. I will feed my flock, and cause them to
lie down, saith the Lord Jehovah. 16. I will seek the perish
ing, and bring back the scattered, and bind up the broken,
and strengthen the sick : and the fat and the strong will I
destroy"; I will feed it with judgment. 17. And ye, my flock,
thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I judge between sheep
and sheep, the rams and the bucks. 18. Is it too little for you
to feed on the good pasture, that ye tread down the residue
of your pasture with your feet ; and to drink the settled water,
that ye foul the residue with your feet ? 19. And my flock
must feed on that which your feet have trodden, and drink
what your feet have fouled. 20. Therefore thus saith the
Lord Jehovah unto them, Behold, it is I; and I will judge
between the fat and the lean sheep. 21. Because ye push
with side and with shoulder, and thrust with your horns the
sickly, till ye have scattered them abroad. 22. And I will
save my flock, and they shall no longer be a prey ; and I
will judge between sheep and sheep.
"Behold, it is I" (ver. 11): this found its most glorious
fulfilment in the appearance of Christ, as vers. 23, 24 expressly
announce that God will execute His pastoral office specially
by the Messiah. Yet even before the appearance of Christ
the pastoral care of God was active in the restoration from the

CHAP. XXXIV. 11-22. 301
exile and the other gracious gifts and benefits, which, however,
all point forward to the true fulfilment, and call forth the desire
for it. The day of cloud and fog, in ver. 12, is from Joel ii. 2.
Here, as there, this day denotes the dark, afflictive time of the
people of God, the time of being visited by their foes — not the
day of judgment on the heathen, with which Joel deals only in
ch. iv. The fat and the strong, in ver. 16, are the new robber-
knights, who will appear among the people when the old are
set aside by the Chaldean catastrophe. Even among the
people of God such pests spring forth ; but they differ in this
respect from the heathen, that against these pests, which have
tlieir root in Gen. iii., an internal reaction always arises, so that
they cannot maintain a perpetual dominion. By the fat and the
strong are designated here not all the mighty, but those whose
essence is exhausted in possession and might. David desig
nates himself, even on the throne, as wretched and poor. A
rich man in Scripture is not one who has many goods, but
whose heart is in this possession, so that it ceases to be for him
something accidental ; while a poor man is only one who knows
and feels himself poor, who is so not merely externally, but
also in spirit — in his consciousness. To feeding belongs also
judgment on the part of the flock committing trespass : the
tending must in this case be with a rod of iron (Rev. ii. 27).
The care announced in the first part of the verse for the
suffering part of the flock can only be realized by a power
ful interference with those who commit trespass. The thought,
here first coming out, of the reaction of God against the return
of the wicked state before the exile, is carried out further to
the end of the section. In ver. 17 the rams and bucks are in
apposition with the sheep in the second place. God procures
for the one part of the sheep, the sufferers, justice against the
other part, the evil-doers. The rams and the bucks are
identical with the fat and the strong in ver. 16. The quality
of the bucks, which comes here into account, is the pushing,
and in general the violent dealing. The address in ver. 18 is
to the tyrants of the future. But what has been already seen
in the tyrants who have retired, forms the ground of the pic
ture. " Settled water " is water in which a settling has taken
place, ,and the impurities have gone to the bottom. They
themselves drink the pure water, and thereon wantonly stir up

302 THE PROPHECIES of ezekiel.
the impurities. " Till ye have scattered them abroad " (ver.
21) : the condition of the people, disturbed by the bad internal
administration, had at length brought on the exile ; comp. ver. 5.
Similar relations will return in future ; but God will check
them powerfully. " I will judge between sheep and sheep "
(ver. 22) : the work begun in exile will be continued in the
course of time, and find its completion at length in the judg
ments announced in Matt. xxv. The connection with what
follows shows that the chief fulfilment is here also to be sought
in Christ, whose government and secret but powerful sway
permits no tyranny or injustice to endure, and brings back the
right and the normal into the place of the fallen state. A
chief phase in the judgment between sheep and sheep was
decision given by God in the conflict between the synagogue
and the rising Christian church. But that this judgment be
tween sheep and sheep pervades the whole history, that we have
here to do with a true prophecy and not with a patriotic fancy,
is shown by the comparison of the present Christian world
with the heathen and Mohammedan powers, and also with the
state of justice that appears in the Old Testament. We in
variably see that, since the coming of Christ, a new judicial
power is busy among the people of God, which quietly and
noiselessly removes the abnormal, — a reforming power which
the old covenant did not yet possess.
According to vers. 23-31, the pastoral care of God is
specially shown in this, that He raises up David as the shepherd
of His people. The peace and happiness under his govern
ment are depicted in a series of figures that are mostly taken
from the books of Moses, especially from Lev. xxvi.1
Ver. 23. And I will raise up one shepherd over them, and
he shall feed them, my servant David ; he shall feed them, and
he shall be their shepherd. 24. And I the Loed will be their
God, and my servant David prince among them : I the Lord
have spoken it. 25. And I will make with them a covenant of
peace, and cause the evil beast to cease out of the land ; and
they shall sit safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
26. And I will make them, and the environs of' my hill, a
blessing ; and send down the rain in, its season : there shall be
showers of blessing. 27. And the tree of the field shall yield
1 Comp. the copious treatment of this section, Christol. ii. p. 571.

CHAP. XXXIV. 23-St. 303
its fruit, and the land yield its increase ; and they shall be safe
in the land, and know that I am the Loed, when I break the
bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those
whom they served. 28. And they shall no more be a prey to
the heathen, and the beast of the field shall not devour them :
and they shall sit safely, and none shall make them afraid.
29. And I will raise up for them a plantation for a name, and
they shall no more be swept away by famine, and no more take
upon them the reproach of the heathen. 30. And they shall
know that I the Loed their God am with them ; and they
are my people, the house of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah.
31. And ye are my flock, sheep of my pasture ; ye are men : I
am your God, saith the Lord Jehovah.
The unity of the shepherd in ver. 23 can only refer, as
the comparison of ch. xxxvii. 24 shows, to the separation of
the kingdom caused by the revolt from the Davidic dynasty.
As one God, so is there now again one king. With the unity is
connected the glory of the king and his kingdom, as the decline
was connected with the multiplicity of the shepherds. The
words "one fold and one shepherd" in Isa. x. 16 are an exten
sion of this sentence. With the coming of that great Shepherd
ceases not only the division of Israel, but also the separation
between Israel and the heathen. The more explicit announce
ment in the earlier prophets — for ex. Isa. ix. and xi., and other
passages of the same prophet — leaves no doubt that by David
here is meant the true David, the Messiah, in whom the stem
of David is to culminate. No one who was at home in the
language of Scripture could think of a personal reappearance
of David, any more than in Mai. iii. 23 of a personal reappear
ance of Elias. The Messiah, the glorious offspring of David —
this had long been in the times of the prophets a lesson of the
catechism. It is also not a resurrection of David that is spoken
of, but a sending of a David who has not yet been present.
"I the Lord have spoken it" (ver. 24) : this strikes down the
doubt of the announcement that appears incredible under pre
sent circumstances. However deep was the present humiliation
of the people and their kingdom, he who promises is the man
to perform. "Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?"
The peace in ver. 25 is the security against hostile powers.
The " evil beasts," according to vers. 5 and 28 especially,

304 THE prophecies of ezekiel.
appear in human form. Through Christ the people of God
are predominant. The heathen world is forced from tlie
dominant place which it had hitherto taken, and sinks to the
servile. "Them and the environs of my hill" (ver. 26) :
Israel dwells spiritually on Zion (Isa. x. 24), which is the well-
spring of blessing (xvii. 23). This blessing is so mighty, that it
extends even to the environs of the hill — the heathen joining
themselves in the time of salvation to the old covenant people.
Comp. xvii. 23, according to which all the fowls dwell under the
tall cedar of the Davidic race, attaining to its glory in Christ ;
xvi. 61, according to which her sisters become daughters to
Zion ; and especially xlvii. 8, according to which the waters
flowing from the sanctuary heal the dead sea of the world.
That the blessing overflows to the heathen, attests the super
abundant fulness of it, and is therefore full of comfort even
for Zion. The explanation, " they who dwell around my hill,"
would, contrary to the view of Zion as the dwelling-place of
Israel, which pervades the whole Old Testament, exclude them
from Zion itself, change the temple merely into a dwelling-
place of God ; whereas it appears throughout as the place
where God dwells with His people, and even the tabernacle is
called the tent of meeting. Moreover, the environs of Zion or
Jerusalem are always in Ezekiel the heathen. The words,
" And I will raise up for them a plantation for a name " (ver.
29), point to Gen. ii. 8, 9, " And the Lord God planted a
garden eastward in Eden, and made to grow out of the ground
every tree pleasant to behold and good to eat." The reference
to this passage appears more explicitly in ch. xxxvi. 35, " This
desolate land is become like the garden of Eden." On the
other hand, ch. xxxvi. 29, 30 shows that the renovation of the
paradisaic plantation here announced consists in the distribu
tion of rich harvest blessings. This serves them for a name,
inasmuch as they are thereby represented as the people of
the blessed of the Lord. Corn cannot be at once directly
described as a plantation. It can be so called only as an anti
type of the paradisaic plantation. The house of Israel in ver. 29
has an emphatic meaning. It denotes the people of God and
of covenant in a true and proper sense. Israel is the holy
name of the head of the race. "Sheep of my pasture, ye
are men " (ver. 31). What grace, when the God of heaven

chap. xxxv. 305
condescends to men, who are taken from the earth and return
to it ! comp. Ps. viii., xxxvi. 8.
CHAPTEE XXXV.
This contains the desolation of Edom. The light of Israel
is set off by the shadow of Edom. There is a prophecy against
Edom already in ch. xxv. 12-14. A special occasion for
resuming it was here presented by the account of the fugitive,
concerning the injustice committed by them in the destruction
of Jerusalem, and particularly concerning the denial of the
future of Israel by the Edomites ; comp., besides that which is
contained in our prophecy itself, ch. xxxvi. 2. We need not
assume that Edom here represents the whole heathen world.
That the heathen world universally is to be admitted to a par
ticipation in the salvation destined for Israel in the future, is
affirmed in ver. 14 ; comp. also ch. xxxiv. 26. In a like rela
tion with Edom stand only the other small bordering nations,
who correspond with it in intensity of hate (xxxvi. 4). Edom
appears here as a people corrupted to the root, that is to have
no part in the Messianic salvation. In accordance with the
present prophecy, not a trace of it is left on the earth.
Ver. 1. And the word of the Loed came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, set thy face against Mount Seir, and prophesy
against it, 3. And say to it, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
Behold, I am against thee, O mount Seir, and I will stretch
out my hand over thee, and make thee desolate and waste.
4. Thy cities I will make a ruin, and thou shalt be desolate ;
and thou shalt know that I am the Loed. 5. Because thou
hadst a perpetual hatred, and gavest over the sons of Israel to
the hands' of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the
time of the iniquity of the end : 6. Therefore, as I live, saith
the Lord Jehovah, I will make thee into blood, and blood shall
pursue thee : forsooth thou hast hated blood, and blood shall
pursue thee. 7. And I will make mount Seir desolate and
waste, and cut off from him the passer and the returner.
8. And I will fill his mountains with his slain : in thy hills, and
thy valleys, and all thy dales, the slain by the sword shall fall.
9. Perpetual desolations will I make thee, and thy cities shall
not sit ; and ye shall know that I am the Loed. 10. Because
u

306 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
thou saidst of the two nations and the two lands, They shall be
mine, and we shall possess them ; and the Loed was there :
11. Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I will do ac
cording to thy anger and thy jealousy, as thou hast done in
thy hatred against them ; and I will make myself known among
them, as I judge thee. 12. And thou shalt know that I the
Loed have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken
against the mountains of Israel, saying, It is desolate, they are
given to us for food. 13. And ye boasted against me with
your mouth, and heaped up your words against me : I have
heard it. 14. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, When the whole
earth rejoiceth, I will bring desolation on thee. 15. As thou
didst rejoice over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because
it was desolate, so will I do to thee ; thou shalt be desolate, 0
mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it ; and they shall know that
I am the Loed.
Mount Seir, so called from a chieftain of the primeval
Canaanitish inhabitants of the country, who were driven out
by the posterity of Esau, appears as the dwelling-place of
Edom in Gen. xxxvi. 9. The words, " And I will stretch out
my hand against thee, and make thee desolate and waste," are
significantly repeated in ver. 3 from ch. vi. 14, where they
occur in reference to Israel, to indicate that the judgment
begins certainly at the house of God, yet never ends there, but
infallibly passes to its foes and persecutors ; so that these have
never occasion to rejoice or triumph ; much more must they
say, This is done in the green tree, what shall be done in the
dry ? The confession in ver. 4 is, as usual with Ezekiel in this
formula, not voluntary, but constrained. That Jehovah, whom
they have despised, is really God, they learn from their destruc
tion. In ver. 5, the announcement of the catastrophe is fol
lowed by the indication of its cause. The " time of the iniquity
of the end," that is, which brings on the end, the catastrophe,
is taken from ch. xxi. 30, 34. The words point to the divine
causality, concealed behind the human, in the fall of Judah.
" Thou hast hated blood " (ver. 6) : the murderer hates the
blood which he sheds. If he hates the man with such an
energy of hate that he attempts his life, he hates the blood, in
which is the man's soul. " And cut off from him the passer
and the returner," so that all intercourse ceases, and the land

CHAP. XXXV. 307
becomes a silent desolation, as it is at this day. The words
refer to ch. xxxiii. 28, where this is threatened to the land of
Israel. To-day to me, to-morrow to thee ; so says the woe
begone church to the triumphant world. " Thy cities will not
sit" (ver. 9), but lie prostrate ; comp. xxvi. 20.1 In ver. 10
the second cause of the catastrophe. The two nations and
lands can only be Judah and Israel. For they are designated
as those in which the Lord was. After the removal of the ten
tribes, Judah was successor to their rights, and in Judah Israel
continued to exist, — a conception often found elsewhere in
Ezekiel ; comp. on ch. xxiii. 44. From ch. xxxvi. 3 we see
that Edom wished to put himself in possession of the previous
inheritance of Israel, not alone, but in conjunction with other
bordering nations. For our passage, it is indifferent whether
he had associates in his plan or not. This only is of conse
quence, that this plan proceeded from him, and that the aim
was directed to the complete exclusion of Israel. The plan
had humanly taken much likelihood of success. The present
clear and correct acknowledgment that it did not succeed — that
Edom, so far from extending, will itself fall under the annihilat
ing judgment — shows that the prophet spoke by another spirit
than his owm. The words, " And the Lord was there," belong
not to the Edomites, but to the prophet. They point to a great
flaw in the otherwise correct reckoning of the Edomites. Who
soever will appropriate God's portion to himself, will always be
the loser. Where God is in the midst, there Edom cannot pos
sibly gain a footing, though he give over His people even for a
long time to the foe. It is not said, " The Lord is there," but
" zvas there." For a moment He had withdrawn Himself
(comp. ch. xi. 23) ; but that He was there, secures that He will
be there, since He has not yet definitely given up His inherit
ance, as happened after the rejection of the good Shepherd.
" As thou hast done" (ver. 11) ; that is, as thou hast practised
and wrought. " And I will make myself known among them"
(the children of Israel, of whom the immediately preceding
passage speaks). " As I judge thee :" both the becoming
known to Israel and the judgment on Edom go hand in hand,
1 The marginal reading rtilBTI, they will return, has arisen only from
a misunderstanding. To return cannot, without addition, mean to be
restored. j

308 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
and have like proportion. The becoming known, which accord
ing to ch. xxxiv. has its central point in the raising up of
David, is as glorious as the judgment is terrible. The salva
tion of Israel was also, in ch. xxviii. 25, 26, placed in contrast
with the downfall of the neighbouring nations. A quite brief
and as here allusive contra-position is also found in ch. xxvi.
20. The inhabitants are, as it were, eaten up (ver. 12), when
the land, which formed the basis of their existence, is appro
priated.1 In vers. 14, 15, the close. " When the whole earth
rejoiceth " — over the great salvation which falls to Zion. This
is an object of joy to the whole earth, because it bears witness
to the glory of God, whose deeds for the part are always pro
phecies for the whole, and who can only bless His people, that
in them all nations may be blessed. Already, Deut. xxxii.
43 f . calls upon the heathen to rejoice at that which the Lord
does in the end of the penal period to His people. According
to Isa. xiii. 10 f., the isles, the inhabitants of the wilderness
and the mountains, are to rejoice over the great deeds which
the Lord does first for His people. In Ps. xcvii. 1 it is said,
" The Lord reigneth" (that is, He will in the future enter
upon His reign, and prove Himself to be governor by the de
liverance of His people) ; " let the earth rejoice, let the many
isles be glad." " The joy of the whole earth" is Zion desig
nated in Ps. xlviii. 3, Lam. ii. 15, on account of the unfolding
of the glory of God in it.

CHAPTEE XXXVI. 1-16.
The prophet's third word of comfort obviates the grief for
the desolation of the holy land. It shall cease in no long time.
The sentence, " Thus saith the Lord Jehovah," constantly
recurring in this prophecy, shows how little hold the consola
tion of the prophet, justified by history, had in visible things.
Ver. 1. And thou, son of man, prophesy to the mountains
of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of
the Lord. 2. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because the
1 The reading of the text, TYDW, 3d fern, sing., refers to the land
hidden behind the mountains of Israel, as mjtjni (ver. 10). The Masoretes
wish to read 1DDK', on account of the following plural ; but this refers to
the men : comp. the lands and the nations, ver. 10.

CHAP. XXXVI. 1-15. 309
enemy saith against you, Aha, and the perpetual heights are
become our possession : 3. Therefore prophesy and say, Thus
saith the Lord Jehovah, Because and since ye are desolated,
and they long after you round about, that ye may become a
possession to the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up
in the word of the tongue, and for a reproach of the people :
4. Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear" the word of the
Lord Jehovah, Thus saith the Lord Jehovali to the mountains
and to the hills, to the dales and to the valleys, and to the
desolate ruins, and to the forsaken cities, which are become a
prey and a derision to the residue of the heathen that are
round about ; 5. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the
residue of the heathen, and against all Edom, who have given
themselves my land for a possession, in the joy of all their
heart, in contempt of soul, that their suburbs should be a prey.
6. Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say
to the mountains and to the hills, to the dales and to the valleys,
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I have spoken in my
jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the reproach
of the heathen : 7. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I
have lifted up my hand ; surely the heathen that are about
you, they shall bear their shame. 8. And ye mountains of
Israel shall shoot forth your leaves, and yield your fruit to my
people Israel ; for it is nigh to come. 9. For, behold, I am
for you, and will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and
sown. 10. And I will multiply upon you men, the whole
house of Israel, all of it ; and the cities shall be inhabited, and
the wastes builded. 11. And I will multiply upon you man
and beast, and they shall multiply and bear fruit ; and I will
make you to sit as in your foretime, and will do unto you
better than in your past ; and ye shall know that I am the
Lord. 12. And I will bring upon you men, my people Israel ;
and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance,
and thou shalt no more make them childless. 13. Thus saith
the Lord Jehovah, Because they say unto you, Thou land
devourest men, and makest thy people childless ; 14. There
fore shalt thou no more devour men, and no more make thy
people stumble, saith the Lord Jehovah. 15. And I will no
more cause to be heard in you the shame of the heathen, and

310 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ye sliall no more take upon you the reproach of the nations,
and thou shalt no more make thy people stumble, saith the
Lord Jehovah.
By the mountains, in ver. 1, as the most prominent part,
the whole land is represented. What is flat appears as an
appendage to the mountains, which are to the land the same
as the king and his nobles to the people. The "perpetual
heights " (ver. 2) are the natural mountains as a figure of the
unchangeable grandeur of which Israel boasted, because it had
the Eternal for its protector, and in Him the security of its
own perpetuity ; comp. Ps. cxxv. 2. The words are to be
regarded as marked with inverted commas. The revilers take
them from the mouth of Israel, who opposed His " perpetual
mountains" to all tlieir pretences and boasts. The desolation,
in ver. 3, is the cause of the striving and longing. It is wasted
on a good that is apparently without a master.1 The residue
of the heathen is spoken of because they had themselves
already suffered severe losses by the Chaldean invasion, and
greater still awaited them. The consideration of their own
condition might have kept the neighbouring nations from
striving after an increase of possessions. "BecauseTand since''
(comp. xiii. 10) points out that there was abundant reason for
this address of God, and for His actual procedure. " In con
tempt of soul " (ver. 5) ; comp. xxv. 6. The " suburbs " of the
land is all that lies round the central point, the capital.2 The
whole land is represented as the border of Zion, which appears
often in the Psalms and prophets as the spiritual dwelling-
place of the whole people. The lifting up of the hand (ver. 7)
is the gesture of swearing ; comp. xx. 5. Leaves and branches
(ver. 8, comp. xvii. 8, 23) come into view as food for cattle,
while the fruit is for man. The use of the young branches
for fodder is still very common in southern countries. " It is
nigh to come;" properly, "they are nigh to come:" the old
and legitimate possessors of the land soon come back. Ezekiel
1 On account of desolation : so we must explain, as Qtoc> usually, and
especially in Ezekiel, occurs in a passive sense. niOK' is a verbal noun.
2 Michaelis after Cocceius, suburbana terrse sunt, quse extra rnetropolin
sunt. The words literally mean, on account of their fields for a prey. The
whole striving of the neighbours was that Zion's fields might be their prey.
tJHJD stands always, and especially in Ezekiel, for the parks of the towns.

CHAP. XXXVI. 1-15. 311
knows that the exile will last only a short time, — a knowledge
which he also avows in ch. xi. 16. This is in accordance with
Jeremiah, according to whom the Chaldean servitude, beginning
in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, is to last seventy years, and
then the return of the people into their own country is to take
place. Of these seventy years, according to ch. xxxiii. 21,
twenty had already elapsed, so that many of those still living
might yet see the joyful day. The sitting (ver. 11) forms the
contrast to the lying low. " Better than in your past : " this
was fulfilled when He appeared in the holy land, who could
say of Himself, " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden," and who far outshone Solomon in all his glory,,
" Thou shalt no more make them childless " (ver. 12) : the self-
evident condition is, if they do not fill up anew the measure of
their sins. To those who would not there is no privilege.
Our promise gives only the security that the former guilt is
to be removed, and at the same time that all is to be done
to guard against incurring more. This is clone in the most
glorious manner: God Himself came, in His Son, to His
inheritance ; but when His own received Him not, the promise
expired, and the former threatenings revived. The supplement
we have in Ezekiel himself, in ch. v. 3, 4. In vers. 13-15, the
conclusion. " Thou devourest men " (ver. 13). The land of
Israel had a dangerous position. It was a land of transit
(Zech. ix. 8), an apple of discord for the Asiatic and African
powers, and exposed to oppression by the surrounding nations
of the wilderness, who always went to it for barter. On
account of this dangerous position, it is designated even in
Num. xiii. 32 as a land that devours its inhabitants. Pre
cisely such a land had God chosen for His people. They
should always have occasion to look up to Him; and when
they fell away, the rods were also laid up. Peaceful seclusion
would have produced a stagnant condition, the worst that can
befall the people of God. It is essential to the church in this
world to be militant. " Thou shalt no more make thy people
stumble" (ver. 15) ; that is, no more make them unfortunate.
Moral stumbling is not to be thought of in this connection.1
The land had no part in this. The covenant people stumbled
1 ^Wan must in substance be equivalent to ?3B>, which the Keri would
unadvisedly substitute for it.

312 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
afterwards indeed (Rom. xi. 11 ; 1 Pet. ii. 8) ; but God's gift
and grace remained the same, even when they were ungrate
fully despised. The rock on which they stumbled was the
rock of salvation ! CHAPTEE XXXVI. 16-38.
Here is the fourth word of comfort. Israel has found
misery in the way of his sins ; but God will, for His name's
sake, bring salvation, and certainly a salvation of infinite ful
ness, — restoration to the holy land, sprinkling with the water
of forgiveness, the bestowment of a new heart, the outpouring
of the Spirit, the adoption to be the true people of God, and
the consequent fulness of all other blessings. The very kernel
of this comfort is, that God will redeem Israel, not for any
thing in their own nature, but only for His own name's sake.
This was certainly very humiliating, but at the same time very
consoling ; and the consolatory aspect comes absolutely into
the foreground, when the prophet spake to a people who sighed
under the judgments of God, and by them had attained to the
knowledge of their own sinfulness. With the consolatory im
port is also joined the hortatory. If Israel has found misery
in the way of his sins, real conversion is the means of partak
ing in the coming salvation. The section consists of the intro
duction (vers. 16-21), the main subject (vers. 22-36), and the
conclusion. Vers. 16. And the word of the Loed came unto me, say
ing, 17. Son of man, the house of Israel sat in their own land,
and defiled it by their way and by their doings ; like the un
cleanness of the removed woman was their way before me.
18. Wherefore I poured out my fury upon them, for the blood
that they had shed upon the land, and by their detestable
things they polluted it. 19. And I scattered them among the
heathen, and they were sprinkled through the lands : according
to their way and according to their doings I judged them. 20.
And it came to, the heathen whither they came, and they pro
faned my holy name, when they said of them, These are the
people of the Loed, and are gone forth out of his land. 21.
And I had pity for my holy name, which the house of Israel
profaned among the heathen whither they went. 22. There-

CHAP. XXXVI. 16-38. 313
fore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
Not for your sake do I this, O house of Israel, but for my holy
name's sake, which ye profaned among the heathen, whither ye
went. 23. And I will sanctify my great name, which was
profaned among the heathen, which ye profaned among them :
and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord
Jehovah, when I sanctify myself in you before your eyes. 24.
And I will take you out of the heathen, and gather you out of
all lands, and bring you to your own land. 25. And I will
sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all
your filthiness, and from all your detestable things will I
cleanse you. 26. And I will give you a new heart, and a new
spirit I will put within you ; and I will remove the heart of
stone out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. 27.
And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in
my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them. 28. And
ye shall sit in the land that I gave to your fathers ; and ye shall
be my people, and I will be your God. 29. And I will save
you from all your defilements ; and I will call for the corn,
and multiply it, and not lay famine upon you. 30. And I will
multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that
ye may not receive the reproach of famine among the heathen.
31. And ye shall remember your evil ways, and your doings
that were not good ; and ye- shall loathe your own face for
your iniquities and your abominations. 32. Not for your sake
do I this, saith the Lord Jehovah, be it known unto you : be
ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
33. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, In the day that I cleanse
you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to sit, and
the ruins shall be builded. 34. And the desolate land shall be
tilled, instead of being desolate in the eyes of every passer.
35. And they shall say, This desolated land is become like
the garden of Eden ; and the waste, and desolate, and ruined
cities, sit fortified. 36. And the heathen that are left around
you shall know that I the Lord builded the ruined places,
planted the desolate : I the Loed speak and do. 37. Thus
saith the Lord Jehovah, I will yet for this be inquired of
by the house of Israel, to do it for them : I will multiply
them with men like a flock. 38. As the holy flock, as the
flock of Jerusalem in her festivals, so shall the waste cities

314 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
be full of the flock of men ; and they shall know that I am
the Loed.
The blood and the detestable things (ver. 18), murder and
idolatry — with reference to the first commandment of the first
table, and the first of the second. " It came" (ver. 20), namely
the fate which was spoken of in ver. 19, the news of the cala
mity into which they had fallen. This came at the same time
with themselves : it came whither they came : they were the
embodied intelligence. " They profaned my holy name :"
according to the connection with the immediately foregoing, as
well as with the next following, when this came to the heathen,
they of the house of Israel even thereby profaned my holy
name, not by their doing (Rom. ii. 12), but by their suffering,
from which the unfaithfulness or weakness of their God was
inferred, who would not or could not help His people. But it
is the profanation to which they gave occasion by their fate,
ascribed to them as a deed, because they had brought it on by
their active profanation. " When they said of them, These are
the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of His land :"
a forced departure, a carrying forth into exile, is here spoken of.
This appears to the heathen a striking proof that the God of
this people, the Jehovah about whom they formerly made so
much ado, whom they triumphantly opposed to the heathen
world, does not signify much. They judged thus, because, first,
they did not recognise the righteous judgment of God upon
His rebellious people ; and next, they looked upon their banish
ment from their land as permanent. If it bore this character,
it would certainly be in contradiction with the word and nature
of God, as He had guaranteed to His people the possession of
the land, and in general a future of salvation, while temporary
interruptions of gracious relations were expressly designed by
God Himself, and accorded with His nature. Hence there is
a point where God appears for His name's sake. He must, by
acting, remove the delusion of perpetual abandonment. " I had
pity for my holy name" (ver. 21) : the main body of the dis
course shows1 what measures resulted from this care of God
for His name, which must dwell in Him as surely as He is
God. " Not for your sake do I this" (ver. 22) : here we have
the action in general ; in the following the sphere in which it
1 On vers. 22-36, comp. Christol. ii. p. 579 f.

CHAP. XXXVI. 16-38. 315
moves is more exactly defined. The holiness "of the name of
God denotes His incomparable and absolute glory.1 God
sanctifies His name (ver. 23) when He glorifies it, and removes
everything that drags it down to the dust of the earth and of
the finite. " Great : " this shows why God must resist the
profanation of His name. "Before your eyes:" we might
expect " before their eyes ; " but the thought of the manifest
salvation is better so expressed, that those immediately con
cerned are the same whose eyes have beheld the misery, and
are thus immediate spectators ; comp. Job xix. 27, " Mine eyes
behold, and not a stranger." " Before their eyes " is the
necessary consequence of " before your eyes." If it hold of
Israel that " they shall see eye to eye when the Lord returns
to Zion " (Isa. Hi. 8), it holds also of the heathen. The saving
gifts of God to His people, by which the sanctification or
glorification of His name is effected, are more exactly de
scribed in ver. 24 f. The first is the restoration from exile,
ver. 24 ; the second is the sprinkling with clean water, ver. 25.
This is, on the ground of Num. xix. 17-19, the symbolic
expression for the forgiveness of sins, the exposition of the
Mosaic rite in which it was incorporated. The beginning of this
benefit, the root and presupposition of all others (Jer. xxxi. 34),
must have preceded the restoration from exile, which holds the
first place. Its various degrees are subjectively conditioned
by the various degrees of acknowledgment of sin, faith in
forgiving mercy, endeavour after a godly life, desire to do the
will of God, — in one word, repentance. Regarded in this sub
jective way, the fulfilment, which precedes the return, might
be only very imperfect. Repentance was then only superficial.
The practical testimony for the low degree of forgiveness of
sins was the indigent circumstances of those restored. Had
the sprinkling with clean water ' been complete, their peace
would have been like the river, and their righteousness like
the waves of the sea. But the true fulfilment might also . for
this reason begin in the time of Christ, because then, first, by
the propitiation of Christ, the proper foundation was gained
for justification : comp. Isa. liii. 11, " My righteous Servant
shall justify many ; " and in general that whole prophecy, in
which the propitiating act of Christ is presented as the neces-
1 Comp. my comment, on Ps. xxii. 4, Rev. iv. 8.

316 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
sary foundation of the sprinkling or absolution. The sentence
here, " I will sprinkle clean water upon you," only resumes
the " He shall sprinkle " of the older prophecy, ch. Iii. 15.
Thus, in substance, the return from the exile precedes the
sprinkling with clean water ; comp. Heb. x. 23, where having
the body washed with pure water is represented as a cha
racteristic of the believers of the New Testament. On the
forgiveness of sins follows, in ver. 26, as the third main benefit,
the bestowment of a new heart, which is also in Ps. li. im
mediately connected with the forgiveness of sins. Here is
again taken up what was already promised in ch. xi. 19. This
promise also is essentially Messianic. The stony heart could
not be entirely overcome through the means available in the
old covenant. The elevation of the Son of man on the cross,
and the more complete forgiveness of sins therein rooted,
formed, according to John iii. 14, 15, the foundation of this
conquest. From the bestowment of the new heart flows,
according to ver. 27, the altered position toward the law of
God. On Israel, thus become the true people of God, is the
fulness of all other blessings poured. " Ye shall loathe your
own face " (ver. 31) : ye shall be loathsome to yourselves ; comp.
vi. 9. " I will cause the cities to sit " (ver. 33) — raise them up
again. In ver. 35 the passers-by say, " This land is become
like the garden of Eden." We have here the clear counter
part of the night-piece, Joel ii. 3, where it is said of the time
of the judgment which was to befall the people of God through
the heathen world, " The land was as the garden of Eden
before it (the heathen horde represented by the figure of
locusts), and behind it a desolate wilderness." The comparison
of this fundamental passage, according to which the figure of
the land of Eden can only signify a prosperous state in general,
shows how erroneous it is to find in our passage the restoration
of Canaan to a really paradisaic glory, and to charge those who
cannot find this in it with a spiritualizing evaporation. Even
Gen. xiii. 10 might have warned them against this. Through
the guilt of the people the land afterwards still once more
became a desolate wilderness ; but the election has obtained a
better inheritance, in possession of which it looks down on the
old land of Canaan, on which now still to lay a weight is a
miserable anachronism, — namely, the earth from end to end,

CHAP. XXXVII. 317
and the heavenly glory. " The cities sit fortified :" the sitting
here also forms the contrast to lying prostrate. A fortified city
sits as such, while a city whose wall is broken lies on the
ground. " I the Lord speak and do " (ver. 36) : I Jehovah,
whose name and nature afford a security that between speaking
and doing no gulf can be fixed. In vers. 37 and 38, the con
clusion. " I will be inquired of by the house of Israel " — will
give an answer to his prayer or grant his request; comp. xiv. 3.
In ver. 38, formal mention is made of the festivals in general.
But the limitation lies here, as in Mark xv. 6, in the connection.
The passover was the only one among the festivals in which
there was a great accumulation of sheep, with which the fulness
of men in restored Israel is compared. But the consecrated
sheep are meant here, not any other gathering of sheep, be
cause the people that is compared with the sheep is the people
of the saints of the Lord. The fulfilment is to be sought in
the church of Christ still more than in the times between the
exile and Christ.

CHAPTEE XXXVII.
This contains a twofold prophetical word of comfort, the
second separated from the first by the new beginning, "And the
word of the Lord came unto me, saying ; " by the form — in
the first a vision, in the second a symbolic action ; and by the
contents. Yet both stand in an inner connection, and present
themselves as a pair. In the first (vers. 1-14), the restoration
of Israel as a covenant people ; in the second, the restoration of
Israel as a brotherhood. The peculiarity of the first discourse 1
lies not in the dogmatic thought, but in this, that the restoration
of Israel appears under the figure of the resurrection. Under
this figure the removal of the afflictive condition is already
presented in Hos. vi. 2, where Israel, fallen into calamity, says,
" After two days He will revive us, on the third day He will
raise us up ;" and even in Deut. xxxii. 39 we read, " I kill, and
I make alive ; " comp. 1 Sam. ii. 6, Ps. xxx. 4. But the pecu
liarity here is the unfolding of what appears there only in germ.
Our passage has often been referred to the real resurrec
tion. But this discourse is thereby severed from the con-
1 Comp. on this, Christol. ii. p. 587 f.

318 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
nection with all the other comforting words of the prophet,
which are occupied with that which belongs to this world, and
was soon to take its beginning (ch. xxxvi. 8), and in particular
from the connection with the discourse in ver. 15 f., which is
united with it in one pair. The persons risen are those who
are thus united. But the union is an event of this world.
But decidedly against this view is ver. 11. The dead are there
introduced speaking : they lament that their bones are dried,
and confess their despair of a restoration. Accordingly the
passage cannot refer to the really dead, who cannot appear
speaking, but to the living dead. The misery of Israel, which
forms the starting-point for the prophetic discourse, refers,
according to this verse, to the state of the people in exile.
" Our bones are dried : " this is there explained by " Our
hope is lost, we are cut off." If death accordingly be a figura
tive designation of evil, of a sinful state,1 the resurrection may
also be only a figurative designation of the return to salvation.
The same appears also from ver. 12. According to this, the
" slain" of ver. 9 are in exile. The slaying can therefore only
denote the national dissolution. The slain, in a literal sense,
were in Canaan. That death is the state of exile, follows also
'from ver. 14, according to which those raised from the graves
are to be brought ,to Canaan. On the whole, the resurrection
of Israel is three times put in connection with the return to his
own land. This does not comport with a bodily resurrection.
That the doctrine of the proper resurrection was already
known in the time of the prophet, forms the presupposition of
the so expanded figurative representation, and is attested by
Isa. xxv. 8, xxvi. 19, and especially by ch. xii. 2 of Daniel,
who was almost contemporary with our prophet. But not
merely does the prophet set out from this doctrine, and use it
as a means of representation : his figurative representation, and
the historical confirmation which it received, must also have
powerfully awakened the belief in the resurrection. If God
proves Himself the master of death in a figurative sense, and
delivers His people from eternal and spiritual misery, into
which they had fallen by the exile, how should the death of
the body set limits to His grace ? Yet there is a still closer
1 Venema : Israelitas hie reprxsentari non naturaliter, sed civiliter et
religiose mortui.

CHAP. XXXVII. 1-14. 319
reference to the bodily resurrection. While we need not think
immediately and exclusively of this, against which even this
decides, that the dry bones — which according to this view, just as
they are, would form the basis of the resurrection body, and only
receive a new clothing of sinews and flesh — comport very badly
with 1 Cor. xv., the salvation here announced under the figure
of the resurrection is completed in the resurrection ; and if we
look away from this, and rest merely in the region of the present,
yet the word of the apostle in 1 Cor. xv. 19 will hold good.
The discourse falls into two parts : the symbol, vers. 1-10 ;
and the interpretation, vers. 11-14. Whosoever feels himself
constrained to conceive vers. 11-14 not as an interpretation,
even thereby expresses judgment concerning his view of vers.
1-10. All analogies, especially in the prophets Daniel and
Zechariah, standing so near the time of Ezekiel, and even in
Ezekiel himself, lead to such a relation : it is a rule that the
prophetic discourse, which follows the description of a vision,
gives the interpretation of it, in accordance with the vocation
of the prophets,, who were not poets, but preachers for the
people, and thus bound to furnish throughout the key to the
meaning. But it is the less possible to conceive the relation
otherwise, because in ver. 11 it is expressly said that it is to be
explained what " these bones," of which it was spoken in vers.
1-10, are to signify : they denote not the corporeally dead,
but the house of Israel in its present desperate condition.
" These bones : " this brings the two parts of the sections into
the closest connection with one another. It is an unessential
difference, that the prophet in the description of the scene
(ver. 1) represents the bones as exposed to view ; while, on the
contrary, in ver. 12, the graves are opened, and the slain
brought from their graves. It is a vain effort to bring these
two representations into accordance. The first representation be
longs to the vision, as the survey of the condition of the people
was to be afforded to the prophet. The interpretation is not an
ordinary exegesis ; it moves more freely. It introduces the new
figure of the grave, in order to place in a clearer light the real
state of the people. All the expositions in Scripture are of this
kind : they always mingle new elements in the explanation.
Ver. 1. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he carried
me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst

320 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
of the valley,1 and it was full of bones. 2. And he led me by
them round about : and, behold, they were very many on the
face of the valley ; and, lo, they were very dry. 3. And he said
to me, Son of man, will these bones live ? And I said, O Lord
Jehovah, thou knowest. 4. And he said to me, Prophesy over
these bones, and say unto them, Ye dry bones, hear the word
of the Loed. 5. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto these
bones, Behold, I will send spirit into you, and ye shall live.
6. And I will lay sinews upon you, and bring up flesh upon
you, and cover you with skin, and put spirit in you, and ye
shall live : and ye shall know that I am the Loed. 7. And I
prophesied as I was commanded : and there was a voice as I
prophesied, and behold a noise,2 and the bones approached,
bone to his bone. 8. And I looked, and lo, sinews and flesh
came up, and skin covered them above : and there was no
spirit in them. 9. And he said unto me, Prophesy to the
wind : prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith
the Lord Jehovah, Come from the four winds, O wind, and
blow upon these slain, and they shall live. And I prophesied
as he commanded me, and the spirit came into them, and they
lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceeding great army.
11. And he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the
whole house of Israel : behold, they say, Our bones are dried,
and our hope is lost; we are cut off for us. 12. Therefore
prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you out of your
graves, O my people, and bring you into the land of Israel:
13. And ye shall know that I am the Loed, when I open,
your graves, and when I bring you up out of your graves, 0
my people. 14. And I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall
live ; and I will place you in your land : and ye shall know
that I the Lord have spoken and done it,3 saith the Loed.
1 Luther, " a wide field." But the valley is not characterized by its
width, but by its depression.
2 Luther, " And behold there was a rustling as I prophesied, and behold
a moving." He makes the voice as well as the rustling proceed from the
bones, whereag the voice is that of God, and the rustling of the bones its
consequence: 3 Luther, " And ye shall know that I am the Lord, I speak it and do
it also;" against xxxvi. 36, xvii. 24, xxii. 14, according to which "I the
Lord " is connected with what follows.

CHAP. XXXVII. 1-14. 321
The detached section, without and, in ver. 1, points out
that the fact here related is extraordinary, and out of con
nection with the usual prophetic activity. The hand of the
Lord denotes the overruling divine influence. " In the
Spirit:" this points, to the communication being a vision.1
The valley, in opposition to the mountain, is simply a valley.
The valley denotes depression of state ; comp. xvii. 22, where
the mountain, high and eminent, denotes the state of exalta
tion. The valley here has nothing to do with the valley in
ch. iii. 22 f. The dry bones denote the collective misery of
the state of exile, not merely the political, but also, and pre
eminently, the spiritual. This appears clearly from the fol
lowing. The life which is there imparted to the bones is the
spiritual life. The external restoration appears there only as
the preliminary to reanimation. They were very dry (ver. 2) :
this denotes not so much the long duration of the condition, as
rather the depth of the misery into which Israel had fallen.
All is vanished that even only reminds of a former life. The
question of the Lord, in ver. 3, is only to call forth the answer
of the prophet, and then append to this the revelation. The
address as son of man is significant : as such, Ezekiel knows
nothing of the matter ; the secrets belong only to God, and to
those to whom He will reveal them. In vers. 5 and 6 the Lord
gives, in the form of an address to the bones, the reason of the
summons to be addressed to them by the prophet ; or He imparts
beforehand to the prophet what He will Himself afterwards
say to the bones : comp. Amos iii. 7, " The Lord will do nothing,
but He revealeth His secret to His servants the prophets."
In fact, the two verses are connected with ver. 4 by a for.
" Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : " that is, Thus say I who am
the Lord Jehovah. The noun is put instead of the pronoun,
because in it lies the security for the reality of that which is to
be revealed. The order in ver. 5 is other than in the execu
tion in ver. 7 f . Here the quickening by the Spirit appears at
the head as the chief thing, without which the remainder, the
merely corporeal resurrection, is of no importance. There, on
1 The second Jehovah is not the genitive, but the nominative, as the
accents rightly indicate. The mere nVO corresponds to the Dt6k rTTU
in xi. 24; comp. in irvtiipatt, Matt. xxii. 43. The contrast is in tsufiwu,
2 Cor. xii. 2. X

322 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the other Hand, the corporeal resurrection is the beginning,
and the quickening Hy the Spirit follows. The same sequence
presents itself also in ver. 6. Yet it does not appear even
there, as it is determined in vers. 7-10 that the corporeal
resurrection and the quickening by the Spirit are two different
elements : we might suppose that both go immediately hand in
hand with one another, and that the quickening refers only to
the natural life — in fact, to the political restoration. Such a
supposition is distinctly forbidden first by ver. 7 f . — " I pro
phesied as I was commanded." The prophesying limits itself
to the summons, " Ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord."
All that the prophet as such has to speak in the ecstasy bears
the character of prophecy. To prophesy is to speak in the
Spirit. " And there was a voice : " the voice proceeds here, as
in ch. i. 25, from God ; comp. John v. 28. It expresses that
which, designed for the bones, was already imparted to the
prophet in vers. 5, 6. The noise (ch. iii. 12), which imme
diately follows the voice that brings the announcement with
it, can only proceed from the bones. It is thereby effected
that they get into movement, and seek one another. "And
there was no spirit in them : " this shows that the restoration
was first pre-eminently an external, political one. There is a
reference to the first creation of man. There also the lower
element comes first into being, then the higher ; or the differ
ence of these two elements is represented under the form of
a difference of time. For man created after the image of
God, for the people of God, whose essence in connection with
God consists in this, that His image is living in them, that
they partake of His Spirit, the mere external restoration
cannot suffice. The prophet is penetrated with the thought
that the real misery of the people is the moral ruin, the revolt
from God and His holy word, the dominion of sin. In the
political disorder he sees only the reflection and the righteous
punishment of sin. The remedy, therefore, cannot stop at
the restoration of the civic state : were it so, the gift would
be only a mockery, as the thing must have been instantly
resumed. The main thing is a renewed outpouring of the
Spirit, and the restoration of union with God thereby effected,
which was originally accomplished by God breathing into man
the breath of life. This outpouring of the Spirit had its pre-

CHAP. XXXVII. 1-14. 323
lude already in the return from the exile : that a spirit of
awakening then ruled among the people is shown, for ex., by
the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, and the Psalms be
longing to this period. The proper fulfilment is to be sought
in Christ ; comp. John vii. 39^ " The Holy Spirit was not yet
present, because Jesus was not yet glorified," which points
back to our passage. The detailed account in ver. 9 points
to the high importance and the decided significance of the fact
which is here treated of. That the address is formally to the
wind, and not to the Spirit, denoted in Hebrew by the same
word, is shown by the phrase " from the four winds," in place
of which it is impossible to put the four spirits. Yet in point
of fact the wind is identical with the Spirit : it comes into view
only as a symbol of^ the Spirit, which is spoken of before and
after, and which alone can evoke the effect here mentioned —
¦the making alive ; or the Spirit presents itself here under the
symbol of the wind : comp. John xx. 22, where Jesus breathed
on the disciples, and thereby imparted to them the Holy Ghost.
That the wind is to come from the four winds, from the four
quarters from which the wind comesj indicates the fulness and
force of the Spirit's operations. Parallel is the phrase, " as of a
rushing mighty wind" (Acts ii. 2). " Blow upon the slain : "
this means not the individuals killed in the Chaldean cata
strophe, but the whole people slain, robbed of their life by
external violence. This follows from vers. 11, 12. According
to these the slain are in exile, not in Canaan, where those slain
in the literal sense are buried. The slain are further, ac
cording to ver. 11, the whole house of Israel, not a separate
part of it. Now, as all Israel had not submitted to death, we
can only think of walking bodies. That the quickening of
the slain by the Spirit refers to the higher life, the life in
God, is shown by the distinction from the political restitution
denoted by the corporeal restoration; and then the parallel
passages, ch. xxxvi. 26, 27, and xi. 19, where the bestowment
of a new heart is spoken of, and the Spirit produces a walking
in the commandments of God. To the symbol is annexed,
in vers. 11-14, the interpretation. "The whole house of
Israel " (ver. 11) : not merely Judah, but the people of the
ten tribes, which had yielded to death long before Judah.
" We are cut off for us : " the for us points out how grievous

324 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the sad fact is for those concerned, how painfully they were
affected by it. " My people" (ver. 12); that is, because ye are
my people. Even in the interpretation the political and the
spiritual restoration are clearly distinguished from each other.
The words, " And I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall
live " (ver. 14), even if their prelude was to be acknowledged
before the restoration to their country — which, according to the
whole tenor of Scripture, presupposes a certain quickening by
the Spirit, whence it is also explained that here, otherwise than
before, the restoration follows the quickening by the Spirit;
still more, however, in the time soon after the return — yet found
their true fulfilment only in the saving presentation of the gifts
of the Holy Spirit to the whole people by Christ, and in the
appropriation of this Spirit by the election, which formed the
stock of the Christian church. Wherever within it a new
state of death arises, there this prophecy always comes again
into force, until at the end of days death be fully overcome.
The rejection of the gift of the Spirit by the majority of the
covenant people, and their continuance in the state of death,
belong to the chapter " Ye would not," and cannot diminish
the glory of the gift of God. We need not extend our pro
phecy to the unbelieving Jewish people and their future con
version. It applies, as is expressly said in vers. 12, 13, only to
Israel as the people of God, and the dispensation of grace grows
out of this relation. Only in view of Rom. xi. 28 can we
admit a certain by-reference to the Jews shut up in unbelief.
Ch. xxxvii. 15-28. This sixth word of comfort is occupied
with the union of the people, and the other benefits which
are annexed to this under the great King of the future. The
proper object of the prediction is, however, only the union — the
removal of the former separation of Israel and Judah. This
appears from the fact that to this only the opening symbolical
action refers. Besides, in the remainder, only that which was
already predicted is repeated, which receives a new significance
only by the connection in which it stands with the union.
The partial reference to the old covenant people is explained
by the fact that this was at that time the suffering part. But
the conclusion contains a reference to the participation of the
heathen in the promised salvation. If the reality do not per-

CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28. 325
fectly correspond with the image of the future, which the pro
phet here presents ; if, in place of the separation, the removal
of which the prophet here announces, after the coming of
Christ a still worse took place, the separation between believers
and unbelievers, this does not arrest the grace and gift of God,
which the prophet here, where his mission was to comfort, is
alone to paint. But, according to the New Testament, we
may expect a time when the difference between the image of
the future and the reality will stand out less sharply. But
those of Israel who believe have no less, but receive more, than-
is here promised them. The church of which they were the
stock, has by the calling of the heathen received a rich com
pensation for the unbelieving Jews ; and instead of the pos
session of Canaan, has entered upon the lordship of the earth,
which the Lord (Matt. v. 5) has guaranteed to the meek.
Ver. 15. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
16. And thou, son of man, take to thee a stick, and write on
it, For Judah, and for the sons of Israel and his companions;
and take another stick, and write on it, For Joseph, the stick
of Ephraim, and of the whole house of Israel his companions.
17. And join them one to another for thee into one stick; and
they shall be one in thy hand. 18. And when the sons of thy
people shall say to thee thus, Wilt thou not show us what these
are to thee ? 19. Say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of
Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions, and lay them
on it, the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they
shall be one in my hand. 20. And the sticks on which thou
writest shall be in thy hand in their eyes. 21. And say to
them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will take the
sons of Israel from among the heathen, whither they are gone,
and gather them from around, and bring them to their land :
22. And I will make them one nation in the land on the
mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all ;
and they shall be no more two nations, and shall be no more
divided into two kingdoms. 23. And they shall no more defile
themselves with their abominations, and their detestable things,
and all their transgressions ; and I will save them out of all
their dwellings where they have sinned, and cleanse them : and
they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 24. And

326 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
my servant David shall be king over them, and one shepherd
shall be to them all ; and they shall walk in my judgments, and
keep my statutes, and do them. 25. And they shall sit in the
land which I have given to my servant Jacob, in which your
fathers sat ; and they shall sit in it, they and their sons, and
their sons' sons, for ever ; and David my servant shall be their
prince for ever. 26. And I will make for them a covenant
of peace ; it shall be a perpetual covenant with them : and I
will give them, and multiply them, and set my sanctuary in
the midst of them for ever. 27. And my tent shall be over
them ; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28. And the heathen shall know that I the Loed sanctify Israel,
when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for ever.
The beginning with and in ver. 6 points to the connection
of the symbolic action here with the vision in ver. 1 f. The
companions1 of Judah are a small part of Benjamin, Simeon,
and Levi, and the members of the former ten tribes, who
had already attached themselves to Judah. Joseph is prefixed,
because the honourable position of Ephraim, and his equality
with Judah, rested on him. We see from the blessing of Jacob
that this took its rise in Egypt. The stick is, however, ascribed
to Ephraim, because he stood in reality at the head of the ten
tribes. These sticks must have been so formed as to present
a unity when combined, and therefore planed. Round staves,
which some wish to take from Num. xvii. 17 f., will scarcely
suit the purpose. The stick belongs, according to ver. 19,
properly to Joseph, who was " crowned among his brethren "
(Gen. xlix.) ; but it is in the hand of Ephraim, who actually
stood at the head. It is said, " on it the stick Judah " (pro
perly, " the stick of Judah," I think), not simply, on the stick
of Judah, to indicate that Judah is the proper stem of the
people of God ; and the rest is only of accessory importance.
What is here announced was already prepared in the times
before Christ. Judah was the central point for the whole
people, and the temple in Jerusalem his spiritual abode.
The confirmation of this preliminary unity, the prevention of
new and mischievous divisions, was to take effect in Christ,
1 The reading attested by MSS. ; the Kethib is the singular, his com
panion, the combination of the companions into an ideal unity, the com
panion for the company. Such combinations are quite frequent in Ezekiel.

CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28. 827
who is introduced in the later development as the centre of the
unity. But here the election only as yet has attained what is
here held out to view. The great mass has by its guilt for
feited the gift of God. By the sad " Ye would not " the
schism is not removed, but only increased ; comp. Matt. x. 35.
This takes place according to the rule which Ezekiel himself
lays down in ch. xxxiii. 13. The promise is in itself not
conditioned : the promised blessings must have been offered,
and were offered to the whole people ; but the participation of
individuals in these blessings is of course connected with condi
tions ; and where these conditions are not fulfilled, in the place
of the blessing comes a deeper curse. Ezekiel himself has in
ch. xxxiii. 23-29 intentionally prefixed to the announcement
of salvation, a severe threatening against those who do not
fulfil the conditions of salvation, and announced to them that
the judgment on them will complete its course begun in the
destruction of Jerusalem. In this threatening the announce
ment of salvation has its limits : the two run parallel ; they
have in the same way found their full realization. It was not
the prophet's fault, if those who stood under the threatening
appropriated the promise.
After the symbolic action, and its interpretation, follows in
vers. 20-28 an explanation, in which the chief benefit of which
the section treats — the union of the people — is connected with
the other gifts which God will bestow on His people, especially
with the already given promise of the one Shepherd and King
of the family of David, and by this arrangement receives new
light. On the one king, in ver. 22, comp. xxxiv. 23. The
statement, " They shall no more defile themselves with their
abominations " (ver. 23), furnishes only the warrant for the rich
offer of the means against sin to the whole people, and the use
of these means by an election ; but it does not offer, in con
tradiction to the spirit and letter of the whole Scripture from
Gen. u. down, a security to the whole mass against a relapse
into sin, which would be a denial of the divine image created
in man, wherewith the free moral decision is given. " I will
save them out of all their dwellings, where they have sinned :"
the dwellings are those of the exile, in which the people were
at the starting-point, the time of the announcement. The
former sins in Canaan do not come into account. They leave,

328 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
as it were, their sins in the foreign land ; they are presented
with an opportunity, in quite new relations, of beginning a
new life in righteousness, and leaving behind the old defile
ment. The phrase " for ever," in ver. 25, needs not be either
weakened, or referred to a future possession of the land of
Canaan, of which the whole New Testament knows and can
know nothing, as blessings of this kind are nowhere presented
in it. If the fulfilment be sought in the latter, the interrup
tion of two thousand years is inconceivable, as a constant pos
session is here contemplated. With respect to the perpetual
possession, we must rather look to Matt, xxiii. 37 : (' How often
would I have gathered thy children together, . . . and ye would
not." Already Moses lays it down as an inviolable rule : If ye
are fit for nothing, the land will spue you, as it spued out the
former inhabitants. That they are excluded from the holy
land by their own guilt, the Jews themselves acknowledge,
although their eyes are blinded so that they do not recognise
the nature of their guilt — the rejection of the good Shepherd,
who appears in Ezekiel' as the channel of all divine blessings.
As a supplement to Ezekiel, we have here Zechariah, one of
his immediate successors, who soon after the return from the
exile predicts (ch. xi.) a desolation of the land in consequence
of the rejection of the good Shepherd. The covenant of peace,
ver. 26, guarantees security against all hostile powers. As the
basis of this covenant of peace, appears in ver. 24 the walking
in the commandments of God, to which this especially belongs,
that they hearken to the great Prophet whom God will here
after raise up (Deut. xviii.). The expression " I will give them"
denotes the removal to a certain condition, and of course an
agreeable one ; " and multiply them " gives a more exact de
scription of this condition. It is not simply, I will make them
more. The independent prefix, " I will give them," intimates
that the multiplying is not the, but a gift of God along with
others; comp. ver. 25, and the conclusion here. That the
essence of the sanctuary is the presence of God among them,
is shown by ch. xi. 16, where the sanctuary stands in a purely
spiritual sense. Whether this sanctuary will appear continually,
as was of course soon to be the case, in the form of an external
temple, is a question which Ezekiel leaves undecided. This
depends on the conduct of the people. At all events, this pro-

CHAP. XXXVIII. XXXIX. 329
mise is gloriously fulfilled to the election, which is the stem of
the Christian church. It is again taken up in the words of
Christ, " Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the
world." " Over them " (ver. 27) refers to the protecting
power which is afforded in the house of God ; comp. Ps. lxviii.
30. The heathen know that the Lord sanctifies Israel (ver. 28) :
this separation and preference, this marking off from the pro
fane world, which constitutes the idea of sanctification, follows
from this, that God's sanctuary is in Israel, that He dwells
among them with all the fulness of His blessings and gifts.
The natural consequence of this recognition compelled by facts
is, that they seek for admittance among this people; comp.
Isa. xliv. 5.

CHAPTEES XXXVIII. XXXIX.
We have here the seventh and last in the series of con
solatory prophecies, which Ezekiel pronounced soon after the
arrival of the fugitive — the full-toned conclusion of the whole.
The dogmatic idea of the prophecy is very simple. The
community of God, renewed by His grace, will victoriously
resist all the assaults of the world. This idea the prophet has
here clothed with flesh and blood : he brings it before us in a
grand finished picture, in which he unites what is realized in
the course of time in a long series of successive events. The
applications to a single historical event are all at the same time
true and false : true, so far as the idea governing the prophecy
is certainly realized in these several events ; false, in their ex
clusiveness, — in mistaking the fact that all that here appears to
lead to a single event belongs to the form.
The starting-point is the fear which penetrates the sick
heart. What avails it, is the question that meets the prophet,
even if we recover, according to thy announcement, from the
present catastrophe ? The predominance of the heathen still
remains. Soon shall we sink under another attack into per
manent ruin. Against such desponding thoughts the prophet
here offers comfort. He unites all the battles which the re
stored community Has hereafter to fight in one great battle,
and lets this be decided by one glorious victory of the Lord
and His people.

330 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The comprehensive character of the prophecy appears
especially in vers. 5, 6, 13. Nations from the most diverse
countries, without national connection, unite in an expedition
against Israel. The attempt at a historical explanation here at
once proves itself to be vain. The description has a Utopian
character. The prophet fetches from all ends of the earth
whatever can be raised of formidable heathen powers, of
hitherto unknown terror. He sets aside all bounds and limits
in which all historically understood events are included.
The freedom with which the prophet forms from the land
Magog, which Gen. x. 2 alone knows, a king Gog, who appears
only in him and those dependent on him, shows that we are
here in respect of detail in the region of holy fancy, and must
beware of taking the garb for the man. The Apocalypse, in the
resumption of this announcement, goes a step further, and casts,
by the freedom it assumes, Hght on the poetical freedom of the
original. It makes out of the king Gog a land and people of
Gog beside Magog. It destroys also the appearance of a his
torical character, inasmuch as it at once identifies Gog and
Magog with the heathen in the four ends of the earth. Its
knowledge of the comprehensive character of the prophecy
appears in this, that it recognises the fulfilment of the prophecy
in different historical events (xix. 17 and xx. 7-16).
How clearly the prophet was conscious that everything
special serves only for individualizing and poetical delineation,
appears from the following facts. The older prophets know
nothing of Gog and Magog ; and yet the prophet says that
these older prophets, who speak only in general of the enemies
of the kingdom, have prophesied of him (ch. xxxviii. 17).
Further, according to ch. xxxviii. 3, 12, the future expedition
of Gog and Magog against the people of God was only a
renewal of an earlier enterprise from the same quarter. This
is explained only when under Gog and Magog are concealed
the enemies of the community of God in general, so that the
Assyrian and Chaldean catastrophe may be regarded as the
prelude of that here announced. From Magog and all other
nations here named, Israel had suffered nothing in the past.
Ch. xxxix. contains descriptions which give the cold sweat
to the historical expositors, — as we may see, for example, in
Venema. Seven years they leave the wood untouched, and

CHAP. XXXVIII. XXXIX. 331
burn only the weapons of the enemy, etc. Who can be ignorant
that we are here in the region of painting, and not in that of
prediction ?
We have here a good preparation for the exposition of the
vision of the new temple. Our prophecy shows clearly how
wide a space is given to painting in Ezekiel, how attentive he
is to fill the imagination with holy figures, how carefully we
must distinguish in him between the idea and its garb, how
ill-applied is in him the so-called " biblical realism," to which
it often happens to take the garb for the man. He who should
carry it out here, would fall into a labyrinth of mipossibilities.
To seek the fulfilment in the dark region of the end of the days
is the less possible, because most of the nations named either
no longer exist, or are no longer heathen. Magog, Gomer,
Meshech and Tubal, Phut, Sheba, and Dedan, are no more to
be found. Kush is a Christian people, and according to recent
experience will scarcely again attain to world-wide influence.
In accordance with the prophecy of Joel, where the out
pouring of the Spirit upon the covenant people, who are first
thereby brought into the normal relation with God, is followed
by the judgment on their enemies, as it is described from
ch. iii. 3 to the end of the book, the prophet also designates
the outpouring of the Spirit in ch. xxxix. 29 as the ground of
the judgment of the nations which he announces, — the ideal
concentration of that which history discloses in a whole series
of events. As the outpouring of the Spirit, according to the
earlier announcements of the prophet himself and his prede
cessors, bears an essentially Messianic character, and is con
nected with the coming of the good Shepherd of David's line,
on whom (Isa. xi. 1) the fulness of the Spirit rests ; so is the
accomplishment of these movements, presupposing this out
pouring, to be regarded as of the first importance in the
Messianic time. The phrase " at the end of the days " (ch._
xxxviii. 16, comp. ver. 8) speaks for this, which is employed
in the prophets only of the Messianic time. So does the re
sumption in the Apocalypse. But as beginnings of the out
pouring of the Spirit already occur in the time before Christ,
so has our prophecy found a prelude to its conclusive fulfil
ment in the battles which the Jews had to fight with the Greek
empire. But one of the most glorious fulfilments was the vie-

332 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
tory of the true community of God over the Roman empire, —
the same empire which had enslaved Israel after the flesh, the
mere seeming Israel, destroyed its capital, scattered it in all the
world, and by all this withdrawn from it the mask : all which
was the necessary preparative to the victory of the true Israel,
the legitimate continuation of the Old Testament covenant
people. But the fulfilment did not rest here. It is going
forward even now. Even the breaking up of the Moham
medan empire, which we now see before our eyes, is included
under it. The glorious consummation belongs, according to
the Apocalypse, to the end of the days.
Ch. xxxviii. 1-9 states the fact in its general outlines. The
details are then added.
Ver. 1. And the word of the Loed came unto me, saying,
2. Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog,
the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against
him, 3. And say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I
am against thee, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal ; 4.
And I will lead thee back, and put rings in thy jaws, and bring
forth thee, and all thy army, horses and riders, clothed all in
splendour, a great gathering with targe and shield, all handling
swords : 5. Persia, Kush, and Phut with them ; all of them
with shield and helmet : 6. Gomer, and all his squadrons ;
the house of Togarmah in the farthest north, and all his
squadrons ; many nations with thee. 7. Prepare thyself, and
prepare for thee, thou and all thy gatherings that are gathered
unto thee, and are obedient to thee. 8. After many days thou
shalt be visited : at the end of the years thou shalt come into
a land recovered from the sword, gathered from many nations,
upon the mountains of Israel, which have become a perpetual
waste : and it is brought forth out of the nations, and they
shall sit all in safety. 9. And thou shalt go up, like a ruin
shalt thou come ; thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land,
thou and all thy squadrons, and many nations with thee.
The land of Magog (ver. 2) stands for "in the land of
Magog," as the connective word is often omitted where the
connection is clear of itself. This takes place among ourselves,
for ex., in addressing letters. Magog, the nation of the
Scythians, occurs already in Gen. x. 2 among the descendants
of Japheth. Of Gog Ezekiel only knows. He has doubtless

CHAP. XXXVIII. 1-9. 333
formed the name of the king from that of the country, as if
one were to give a bishop Erm to the diocese of Ermeland.
The Apocalypse goes further in this direction, and without
scruple changes the king Gog of Ezekiel into a people Gog
beside Magog. Both have intentionally adopted this freedom,
to guard beforehand against all historicizing interpretations.
Gog is prince over Magog, moreover chief prince, king of the
kings over Meshech and Tubal, the Moschi and Tibareni (ch.
xxvii. 13, xxxii. 26), who had their own kings, but appear
here as vassals of Gog. Many expositors render, instead of
chief prince, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. But the
poor Russians have been here very unjustly arranged among
the enemies of God's people. Rosh, as the name of a people,
does not occur in all the Old Testament. The mere prince
would not suit. It would not accord with the relation of Gog
to his immediate subjects. This appears particularly in ver. 3,
where the native land of Gog is not named ; and so all reference
to his native sovereignty is wanting, if it is not contained in
this, that he is styled chief prince of Meshech and Tubal,
which leaves us to infer a direct native sovereignty. It must
at least have been " who was also prince." Meshech and Tubal
are besides always, and particularly in the already quoted pas
sages of Ezekiel, independent nations, that cannot be without
more ado subjected to the king of Magog. Only as chief
prince can he have the very warlike nations of ch. xxxii. 26 in
his train. The distinction between Magog and Meshech and
Tubal is that of subjects and subordinate allies. To the chief
prince here corresponds the supreme authority, which is ascribed
in ver. 7 to the king of Magog in reference to the "nations
with him." Besides, Meshech and Tubal are here only selected
out of the whole number of allied nations as the most power
ful and warlike. The fuller enumeration follows in vers. 5, 6.
"I will lead thee back" (ver. 4) : in Gog the earlier foes of
God's people, namely the Chaldeans, reappear.1 It is signifi
cant that the irruption of Gog is here, and in what follows,
referred to Jehovah. He means to march against Jehovah,
1 The historicizing expositors wish to give other meanings to the verb
here and in ch. xxxix. 2 ; but with the meaning to turn back it recurs in
ver. 8, and also in ch. xxxix. 27. The bringing back of enemies is also
spoken of in ver. 12 ; and with the return of the former foes in Gog here

334 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
but the latter has him in tow— he must march whither He
will to his own destruction, as in former times Pharaoh did not
thwart the God of Israel when he refused to let His people
go, but acted so because Jehovah Himself had hardened his
heart to plunge him into destruction. "Put rings in thy
jaws : " the rings which are put in the most tender parts of
intractable animals, on which to fasten the bridle or reins;
comp. xix. 4, xxix. 4. The "great gathering" is in apposition
with the riders, and indicates that they are numerous. To
understand this, with many, of the foot-soldiers does not agree
with ver. 15, according to which the whole expedition consists
of cavalry, which suits best to the march from a distant land.
Only in regard to cavalry also is the description complete — the
array of the riders, their multitude, their armour. " Clothed
in splendour : " this is designedly transferred from the descrip
tion of the troopers of Assyria in ch. xxiii. 12, in accordance
with the words, "I will lead thee back." The Persians, in
ver. 5, represent the far east ; the Kushites or Ethiopians, the
far south. With these appear in ver. 6, as representatives of
the farthest north, Togarmah or Armenia, and Gomer or Cim-
meria. Phut occurs before in xxvii. 10, xxx. 5; in the latter
place, as here, connected with Kush. There is no impossi
bility in the connection of nations so distant from one another.
The anti-Chaldaic coalition, which the prophet himself had
witnessed, actually extended from Ethiopia to Persia. The
impossible lies rather in this, that all these nations are to co
operate at a definite time against the petty Palestine ; which
must be assumed, according to the historicizing conception.
The spoil of so petty a territory could have no charm for such
a mass of nations. What would it be among so many ? " Pre
pare thyself, and prepare for thee " (all that is necessary for
such an expedition) : the form of the summons, in which the
prediction here appears, points to this, that the expedition
comes, quite according to the wish of the God of Israel, against
whom it is directed. In the words, " and are obedient to
thee," or, thou art their authority, the prediction appears as
such. " After many days thou shalt be visited " (ver. 8) : the
it goes hand in hand, that in the invasion of Gog (ver. 17, ch. xxxix. 8)
the fulfilment of earlier prophecies is recognised, in which Gog is not ex
pressly mentioned.

CHAP. XXXVIII. 10-16. 335
fundamental passage is Isa. xxiv. 22. It is there said of the
ungodly world-power, " After many days (a long period of
impunity) they shall be visited." Gog meant to visit the
people of God, but in reality he is himself visited. It was
God who led him, in order to prepare for his downfall. It is
very consolatory to the church, that God not merely conquers
its enemies, that even their hostile undertaking is under His
guidance, that they move not hand nor foot but at His com
mand. " At the end of the years : " this indicates that the
catastrophe belongs to a quite new order of things. As the
corresponding phrase " at the end of the days," so this denotes
the Messianic epoch. The land has reference to its inhabit
ants. In so far it may be said that it dwells on the mountains
of Israel. " Like a ruin shalt thou come " (ver. 9) : Gog is,
as it were, the incarnate desolation.1
In the filling up of this outline, the detailed account of the
enterprise is first given in vers. 10-16, connected with the
general announcement of its failure, which contains the germ
of the following amplification.
Ver. 10. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, And it shall come
to pass in that day, words will come upon thy heart, and thou
shalt think an evil thought, 11. And say, I will go up against
a land of villages ; I will come upon the quiet that sit securely,
all of them sitting without a wall, and they have no bar nor
gate, 12. To take a spoil and seize a prey ; to turn thy
hand again on the inhabited ruins, and to a people gathered
from the heathen, acquiring cattle and goods, sitting on the
navel of the land. 13. Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants
of Tarshish, and all their wild lions, will say to thee, Comest
thou to take a spoil ? Hast thou gathered thy gathering to
seize a prey ? to bear off silver and gold, to take cattle and
goods, to take a great spoil ? 14. Therefore prophesy, son of
man, and say to Gog, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, In that
day when my people Israel dwell securely, shalt thou not know
it? 15. And thou shalt come from thy place out of the
farthest north, thou, and many nations with thee, riding all on
horses, a great gathering, and a numerous army. 16. And go
up against my people Israel as a cloud to cover the land ; in
the latter days it shall be, and I will bring thee against my
1 The meaning " storm " is not ascertained.

336 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
land, that the heathen may know me, when I am sanctified in
thee before their eyes, O Gog.
Ver. 11 depicts the community of God, in its want of
earthly defence or help. It appears as a peaceful people, a
people of quietness in the land, that in reliance on its God
looks for no earthly defence, in regard to which it must always
be at a disadvantage against the world, while God has reserved
to Himself its defence. The perception of this defenceless
state offers the occasion for the undertaking of the enemy.
They have no conception, that among this defenceless people
dwells One who is mighty in their weakness — against whom
their might is mere impotence. To turn the hand again upon
any one (ver. 12), means always, to make him again the object
of action. In Gog, the world-power, that had before caused
desolation, appears anew. " Acquiring cattle and goods :" the
land of villages (ver. 11) is adapted to the possession of flocks.
Goods are the general to the special, the genus to the promi
nent species. They acquire with their hands what is requisite
for daily need, according to the rule, He who does not work
shall not eat. The words refer to the first book of Moses
(xxxiv. 23), to the peaceful patriarchal state. " Sitting on the
navel of the land :" the navel stands for the middle, and this
for the best ; comp. v. 5. The height does not suit. That only
is meant which gives a charm to the land in the eyes of the
enemy. Those named in ver. 13 are simply commercial nations,
— the Arabian nations Sheba and Dedan as representatives of
the land trade, and Tarshish of the sea trade. Where the
carrion is, the eagles gather ; where there is spoil, the traders.
The Sabeans occur before as traders in ch. xxvii. 22, 23. The
great men of Tarshish are 'designated as wild lions, on account
of their relentless ferocity, that goes hand in hand with the
spirit of trade ; comp. xix. 3. The question, in case of affir
mation, implies joyful participation. This did not need to be
more definitely expressed, as it was understood from the cha
racter of the speakers. " Therefore" (ver. 14) : because Gog
will undertake it. The address is not to the Gog of the future ;
but it tells the Gog of the present what will happen, if he
meddle in future with the people of God. " Shalt thou not
know ? " — even this, that my people dwell securely. That he
knew this, was the inducement to his undertaking ; comp. ver.

CHAP. XXXVIII. 17-23. 337
11. God is sanctified in Gog, when He displays His incom
parable glory in his punishment.
In carrying out the brief intimation of ver. 16, the defeat of
the hostile enterprise — which formed the theme of the previous
section — by the intervention of Jehovah is depicted in vers.
17-23, and certainly in great strong outlines, to which is sub
joined the further finishing in the following sections.
Ver. 17. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Art thou he of
whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of
Israel, who prophesied in those days during years,1 that I would
bring thee upon them ? 18. And it shall come to pass in that
day, the day when Gog comes to the land of Israel, saith the
Lord Jehovah, my fury shall come up in my nose. 19. And
in my jealousy, in the fire of my wrath, have I spoken, Surely
in that day there will be a great earthquake in the land of
Israel ; 20. And the fishes of the sea, and the fowl of heaven,
and the beast of the field,2 and every creeper that creepeth on
the ground, and all men that are upon the face of the earth,
shall quake at my presence ; and the mountains shall be thrown
down, and the cliffs3 sliall fall, and every wall shall fall to the
earth. 21. And I will call a sword upon him on all my moun
tains, saith the Lord Jehovah : a man's sword will be against
his- brother. 22. And I will plead with him by pestilence and
by blood ; and a pouring rain and hailstones, fire and brimstone,
will I rain on him, and on his squadrons, and on the many
nations that are with him. 23. And I will be magnified and
sanctified, and made known in the eyes of many heathen ; and
they shall know that I am the Loed.
The predictions of the earlier prophets are mentioned (ver.
17), in so far as in them the victory of the kingdom of God
over the heathen world is announced, as well as the judgment
which the Lord will execute on it. Only when this is known
does the reference to these predictions accord with the remain
ing contents of the section. Among these predictions, that of
1 D^C is omitted by Luther.
2 Luther, " the cattle on the field," against the usage, according to
which the living creature of the field is the wild animal, in opposition to
the tame.
s Luther, " the walls," contrary to Song ii. 14, where the word stands
in parallelism with J)?D- T

338 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Joel, in ch. iii. 3-5, takes the first place. This follows espe
cially from the fact that here, in ch. xxxix. 29, as there, the
judgment of the Lord on the raging heathen power is closely
connected with the outpouring of the Spirit on the house of
Israel, which is thereby raised to the full dignity of the cove
nant people. Even the picture of Joel, as well as the present
announcement, is comprehensive in its character. As in the
first part of Joel all judgments upon the covenant people, so
in the last part all assaults of the heathen world on the com
munity who have part in the " teacher of righteousness,". and
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, are combined into one
grand figure. Along with Joel, we have specially to consider
the prophecy in Isa. xxiv.-xxvii., to which the prophet referred
verbally in ver. 8. Isa. xxxiv. comes also into consideration,
as indeed Deut. xxxii., where the announcement of the visita
tion of Israel by the Heathen world is followed by that of the
glorious deliverance from it. But we need not pause for a
moment at the predictions in which the impending inundation
of Israel by the heathen power, and the judgment upon the
latter, are announced in a general way. Special announce
ments also concerning the invasion and defeat of several
empires, especially Assyria and Babylon, may be added. For
all these rest on a common ground, which revived them again
after the latest fulfilment has taken place, as soon as a new
heathen power entered on the scene. Venema rightly remarks
on this, that the question, " Art thou he?" presupposes that
the oldest prophets did not speak of Gog under this name.
The phrase " during years " indicates that the prophecy of
the victory over the heathen power went through the whole
course of time. As in ver. 18, so already in Deut. xxxii. 22,
the divine wrath is ascribed to the nose, by which it manifests
itself to men, snorting with anger ; comp. also Ps. xviii. 9, 16.
The earthquake in ver. 19, as the storm in Ps. xviii., is a figure
of a great annihilating catastrophe in the human world (comp.
on Rev. vi. 12), in which all has the feeling as if the earth
were dissolving. The catastrophe affects only the enemies of
God's people — comp. 22 (in the whole prophecy, ch. xxxviii.
and xxxix., all that is heavy and destructive is aimed only at
Magog) ; but it is so dreadful, that the whole world seems to
come to an end — that all that lives on earth is felt to be

CHAP. XXXIX. 1-16. 339
affected by it : every high thing is cast to the ground, without
discriminating whether it belongs to the enemy or not. All
terrible particular judgments in their operations come upon
the sense, like a universal judgment. The earth appears in
them to go out of joint. " One man's sword shall be against
his brother" (ver. 21) : one great means by which God sweeps
away the enemies of the king, is the internal discord, for which
He presents the natural occasions. The community of hatred
can scarcely offer successful resistance to these. At the ground
of this lies perhaps the historical example of the event recorded
in 2 Chron. xx., where, under Jehoshaphat, the nations of the
wilderness, combined for the destruction of Judah, destroy one
another, so that Judah is delivered without a blow, and the
name of the king, " the Lord hath judged," is realized. The
colours of the picture in ver. 22 are partly taken from the
Egyptian plagues (the pestilence, the blood, the hail), and from
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
In ch. xxxix. 1-16 the description of the fall of Gog is
continued. In powerful terms the vastness of the overthrow
is presented to the view. Seven years the weapons of the
slain enemies serve the whole people for fuel. Seven months
are they employed with the burial of the dead, and even then
the labour is not completed. We have here the main thing in
the description of the catastrophe, as appears from this, that we
go back to the beginning of the undertaking, and do not begin
at the point we had reached at the close of the preceding sec
tion. This is to be regarded as the introduction, the remainder
as the conclusion.
Ver. 1. And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog,
and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against
thee, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal : 2. And I
will lead thee back, and six thee, and raise thee up from the
farthest north, and bring thee upon the mountains of Israel :
3. And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and cast
thy arrows out of thy right hand. 4. On the mountains of
Israel shalt thou fall, thou and all thy squadrons, and the
nations that are with thee : I give thee to the ravenous birds
of every wing, and the beasts of the field for food. 5. Upon
the face of the field shalt thou fall ; for I have spoken it, saith
the Lord Jehovali. 6. And I will send a fire on Magog, and

340 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
on those that dwell securely in the isles ; and they shall know
that I am the Loed. 7. And I will make my holy name
known among my people Israel : and the heathen shall know
that I the Loed am holy in Israel. 8. Behold, it is come, and
it is done, saith the Lord Jehovah : this is the day whereof I
have spoken. 9. And the dwellers of the cities of Israel shall
go out and kindle and burn armour, and shield, and targe, bow
and arrows, and hand-staff and spear ; and they shall burn with
them a fire seven years. 10. And they shall not fetch wood
from the field, nor hew it from the forests : for they shall burn
a fire with the armour, and spoil those who spoiled them, and
rob those who robbed them, saith the Lord Jehovah. 11. And
it shall be in that day, I will give to Gog a place there of burial
in Israel, the valley of the passengers east of the sea;1 and it
hinders the passengers : and there shall they bury Gog, and all
his tumult, and shall call it The valley of the tumult of Gog.
12. And the house of Israel shall bury them to cleanse the
land seven months. 13. And all the people of the land shall
bury : and it shall be to them a name, the day when I am
glorified, saith the Lord Jehovah. 14. And they shall'set
apart appointed men passing through the land, burying with
the passengers 2 those that remain on the face of the land to
cleanse it; from the end of seven months shall they search.
15. And the passengers shall pass through the land, and one
shall see a man's bone, and set up by it a sign, till the buriers
have buried it in the valley of the tumult of Gog. 16. And
also the name of the city shall be Tumult; and they shall
cleanse the land.
"I will lead thee back, and six thee" (ver. 2).: we have
here the outline that is afterwards unfolded. " Six thee,"
that is, afflict thee with six plagues, which are named in ch.
xxxviii. 22. That the plagues there are precisely six, leaves no
doubt of the correctness of this interpretation.3 " Ravenous
birds of every wing " (ver. 4)— as many as have wings (comp.
xvii. 23). •" On those that dwell securely in the isles ;' (ver. 6) :
1 Luther, " the valley as they go by the sea to the east." All that is
characteristic in the designation of the locality is thus left out.
2 Luther, " And with them the buriers." But the appointed men are
themselves the buriers.
3 The meaning " to six " is determined by xiv. 13.

CHAP. XXXIX. 1-16. 341
the word denotes the islands and coasts. In the usual sense
it includes only Tarshish of all the partners in the expedi
tion above mentioned, which is the less satisfactory, as it held
only a secondary place, and was counted as a trading people.
It is natural to suppose that the prophet uses the word for
states and countries in general, islands in the sea of the world.
In this sense islands often occur in the Old and New Testa
ment (comp. on Rev. vi. 14). One reason for so taking them
here is that the expedition belongs to the land, as the whole
army consists of riders, and not a trace appears of ships. The
proud " security" which the inhabitants of the islands enjoy at
home, has led them to the expedition against the people of God.
Pride in the world goes hand in hand with prosperity. The
punishment is directed against this expedition. Nothing is
said of a punishment that falls upon the nations engaged in it
in their own homes. With the fire here goes hand in hand the
making known of God's name among Israel. The fire must
also kindle on Israelitish soil. The holy name of God (ver. 7)
is His character, arising from His former historical manifesta
tions, as God in the full sense, the absolute, the transcendently
glorious, unconditionally separate from all untruth and impo
tence. God makes known His name among His people when
He verifies His historical character anew, when He gives His
people the victory over the heathen world that rages against
them. He would profane His name if He were to abandon
His people continually to the heathen world, as He had done
in the time of the prophet on account of their apostasy, comp.
xxxvi. 20, though only by the way xxxvi. 22. " It is come,
and it is done ;' (ver. 8) — the defeat of the enemy announced
in the previous passage. The predicted events come so vividly
before the mind of the prophet, that he sets it down as already
past, as it is the nature of faith to see that which is not as if it
already were. The words, in fact, indicate that we have to do
not with a patriotic fancy, but with a word of Him who speaks
and it is done. " This is the day whereof I have spoken " in
this very prophecy ; comp. especially ch. xxxviii. 19. In ver.
9 f. it is evident that we have a picture of the scene of destruc
tion, not an idle play of the fancy, but a stay which is pre
sented to weak faith, which has to wage war with the visible
in all its terrible urgency. In the face of this, the future also

342 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
is clothed in the form of sight. The word on. which faith has
to live, puts on, as it were, flesh and blood, to gain an influence
over the fancy, in which frightful forms so readily take their
seat. It would be against the evidence to ascribe a real import
to the specialities, which are so obviously means of representa
tion. In ver. 9, first the general armour (comp. ver. 10), then
the enumeration of particulars. Of the armour, only that which
is combustible comes naturally into view. Gog meant to bury
the people of God, and appropriate their land ; but it falls out
quite otherwise — he is buried by the people of God, and re
ceives only so much of the land as suffices for a grave (ver. 11).
The place of his burial is designated as the " valley of the pas-.
sengers," because it lay on the great commercial and military
road. The valley of Megiddo is no doubt meant, to which
this description eminently applies. Hergt (Palcestina, p. 77)
says ; " The old main road of commerce between Egypt and
the Euphrates . . . passes over Karmel at Megiddo (Lejun)."
Megiddo, the very name of which points to battles,1 is cele
brated in history as a battle-field. Josiah fell there in battle
against Pharaoh-Necho, whose way he hoped here most suc
cessfully to oppose ; and this explains why he first encountered
him here so far to the north. " East of the sea : " as the
whole country lay east of the sea, the Mediterranean, the
designation means nothing, unless a known and celebrated
valley pretty near the sea is intended. This also suits Me
giddo. " And it hinders the passengers : " 2 it is a narrow
pass, or glenny region, similar to the Preussengrab, so called
by the Austrians. Such passes are found at Megiddo. Hergt,
p. 69, says : " Beyond the above described northern part not
much more is now known of Karmel than the two passes that
lead farther east by Megiddo or Lejun over the hills. It is
only known that the range, abounding in springs, and covered
with trees and thick underwood, is pierced by a hundred great
and small defiles, and is almost impassable." In this dangerous
locality the prophet makes Gog be overtaken by the divine
judgment. All the three marks which the prophet gives suit
Megiddo. In all probability, Legio, now Lejun, the modern
1 Locus turmarum incursantium ; so it is explained by Simonis in the
Onomasticon, and by Gesenius after him.
2 DDn, "stop" (Deut. xxv. 4), and then in general, "hinder."

CHAP. XXXIX. 17-24. 343
name of Megiddo, is derived from our passage. Legio cor
responds to the great multitude here. (The "tumult" here
and further on is the noisy crowd, the strepera multitudo.) To
suppose that the name Legio arises from our passage is the
more natural, as in ver. 16 it is expressly said, not merely that
the valley is named from the noisy throng, but also the adjacent
city will receive the name of Hamonah, a great multitude.
Men were more inclined to call the city Legio in reference to
our prophecy, because in the times of the Roman empire they
certainly applied the prophecy concerning Gog pre-eminently
to it, and eagerly anticipated the time when the great heathen
grave at Megiddo would receive the Roman legions.1 " And
it shall be to them a name " (ver. 13) : that the house of Israel
should bury the foe, not the reverse, serves them for fame,
which has its root, however, not in themselves, but in their
God. Their fame is, that they have, a God that can deliver
from death, and send destruction on their foes. Throughout
seven months the whole people are to be employed with the
burial of the foe. This time, however, suffices only to bury
the foes lying by one another in a heap in the chief place of the
defeat. Even at the end of the seven months the labour con
tinues. They now choose buriers, who go through the whole
country to inter the bodies, or rather bones, still to be found.
" Appointed men " (ver. 14) ; properly men of continuance,
who have a permanent office in opposition to a passing func
tion. These buriers go through the country " with the pas
sengers :" ver. 15 shows what part the latter have in the burial.
They, the proper searchers, mark the places where bodies or
bones lie ; then come the proper buriers, and do their work.
These bury the bodies, but not in the places where they are
found, but transfer them all to the great heathen grave at
Megiddo. In the new section of the description of Gog's overthrow
(vers. 17-24), is detailed that which was briefly touched upon in
ver. 4, that the flesh of the foes, with whose bones the foregoing
section was so fully occupied, serves for food to the beasts and
1 From pen K^ rn ver. 11 the Kuxfian of Judith vii. 3 is formed,
where the camp of Holofernes extends from Bethulia Uc Kvapanoc, $ iartu
dmuauTi '-Eolpan-Kiip. So the name of the place, Ketftftava, according to
the Onom. of Eusebius, six Roman miles from Legio.

344 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
birds of prey. Then follow some general concluding observa
tions on the import of the event.
Ver. 17. And thou, son of man, thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, Say to the fowls of every wing, and to every beast
of the field, Assemble and come; gather around to my sacrifice
that I kill for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel,
and eat flesh and drink blood. 18. Ye shall eat the flesh of
heroes, and drink the blood of princes of the earth : rams, lambs
and bucks, bullocks, fatlings of Bashan, all of them. 19. And
ye shall eat fat to sating, and drink to drunkenness of my
sacrifice which I have killed for you. 20. And ye shall be
sated at my table with horse and chariot, hero and all men of
war, saith the Lord Jehovah. 21. And I will set my glory
among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment
which I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon
them. 22. And the house of Israel shall know that I am the
Loed their God from that day and forward. 23. And the
heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity
for their iniquity : because they trespassed against me, and I
hid my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their
adversaries : and they all fell by the sword. 24. After their
uncleanness and after their transgressions have I done unto
them, and hid my face from them.
The defeat of the foes appears in ver. 17 under the figure
of a sacrifice, after the example of Isa. xxxiv. 6, Jer. xlvi. 10,
because the Lord as it were pays Himself by the downfall of
those who refused Him His own, and obtains for Himself the
sacrifice refused. God must come to His rights from every
creature formed after His image, either so that it gives it to Him,
which is the sacrifice, or that He takes it. This is the proper
cherem, the contrast of the sacrifice, and yet closely related to
it, so that it may be figuratively designated as a sacrifice. The
sacrifice by blood is here specially intended, because with this
a sacrificial meal, a communion, is connected. The communi
cants are here the wild beasts and birds. In ver. 18 the
heroes and princes are first named. Then the whole mixed
multitude is denoted by rams, lambs, bucks, and bullocks. The
general idea of enjoyment is to be taken from the previous
words, "Ye shall eat the flesh and drink the blood." The
words " fatlings of Bashan, all of them," refer merely to the

CHAP. XXXIX. 25-29. 345
bullocks. There is an allusion to Ps. xxii. 13, where the
righteous man complains, " Strong ones of Bashan beset me
round." The fat oxen of Bashan correspond to the heroes and
princes. The chariots in ver. 20 come naturally after their
occupants. As here horse and chariot, so elsewhere horse and
rider, or chariot-warrior, are connected (Ex. xv. 1). The
knowledge that the Lord is his God, Israel gains from the
operations of His grace in the battle against Gog and other
wise. The heathen know that the house of Israel was formerly
led captive for its iniquity, according to ver. 23, from the
present glorious proof of the omnipotence, love, and truth of
the God of Israel, which leaves no other explanation of its
former suffering.
In vers. 25-29, at the close of the prophecy against Magog
as contained in the previous section, follows the close of the
whole system of prophecies of a predominantly comforting
character, from ch. xxxiii. 21 onwards. Thus the prophet
had already closed large sections with a like finale : ch.
xxxiii. 1-20 appears as the close of the whole first part ; in
ch. xxviii. 25, 26, the denunciation against the neighbouring
nations is separated by a brief close from that concerning
Egypt. That here the close refers not merely to the denun
ciation against Gog, appears from this, that the prophet has
here to do mainly with the restoration from exile, which is
presupposed in the prophecy against Gog. That this appears
at the close of the whole, rather than the victory over Gog,
is explained by the fact, that the longing eye of the people
languishing in exile must have been directed at once to this
primary benefit.
Ver. 25. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Now will
I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy on the
whole house of Israel, and be jealous for my holy name. 26.
And they shall take upon them1 their shame, and all their
trespass which they have committed against me, when they
dwell2 securely in their land, and none makes them afraid.
27. When I bring them back from the nations, and gather
1 Luther, " they bear," which, however, KKO never signifies.
2 That this must be so rendered, not " dwelt," appears from ch. xxix.
25, 26. The former state also was no such undisturbed security as is here
indicated.

346 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
them from their enemies' lands, and am sanctified on them J in
the eyes of many heathen. 28. And they shall know that I
the Loed am their God, when I led them captive to the
heathen and now gather them into their land, and leave no
more of them there. 29. And I will no more hide my face
from them, because I have poured out my Spirit upon the
house of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah.
Therefore (ver. 25) rests on the whole system of previous
prophecies, and intimates that here their sum is to be given.
" Now " — under the present relations, when my righteousness
has been satisfied by punishment. The captive state, or the
captivity, denotes the misery or sad condition, as ch. xvi. 53,
Job xiii. 10. The original passage is Deut. xxx. 3, " And the
Lord thy God will return to thy captivity." " They take upon
them" (ver. 26) : the former misery is proved by the present
salvation to have been merited punishment, and its origin
from the impotence or malice of God is refuted. Considered
in itself, the misery was a former punishment,, but it becomes
what it is in itself when it is displayed before the world in this
character. "And leave no more of them there" (ver. 28):
after the fall of the Chaldean monarchy, access to their native
land was free to all Israel ; and those who voluntarily remained
had yet in Canaan their home, and in the temple at Jerusalem
their spiritual dwelling-place.
1 Luther, " in them." But this does not come before the eyes of the
heathen. Comp. ch. xxxvi. 23, 24, xx. 41.

BESTOBATION. CHAPTERS XL.-XLVIII.

j OURTEEN years after the conquest of Jerusalem,
the destruction of the temple, the desolation of the
land, the deportation of its inhabitants, Ezekiel
describes in this section the restoration of all that
was lost, and gives at the same time, in ch. xlvii. 1-12, a glance
into the distant future, in which from the restored Israel salva
tion for the wdiole world goes forth in fulfilment of the ancient
prediction, " In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of
the earth be blessed."
After the introduction (ch. xl. 1-4) follows the description
of the temple of the future, its enclosing walls and its gates, ch.
xl. 5-16; the outer court, vers. 17-27 ; the inner, vers. 28-47 ;
the proper temple, ch. xl. 48— xli. 4. In ch. xli. 5—11, the pro
portion of the lateral buildings to the temple; in vers. 12-14,
that of the rear buildings ; in vers. 15—26, whatever else is to be
said of these structures. In ch. xiii. 1-14, the offices for the
priests. In vers. 15-20, after the description of the several
parts of the sanctuary, the proportions of the whole. In ch.
xliii. 1-9, the entrance of the Lord into the finished temple.
In vers. 10-12, why the revelation of the second temple is
given. In vers. 13-17, the proportions of the altar of burnt-
offering ; in vers. 18-27, its consecration. In ch. xliv. the
prophet turns from the temple to the priests of the future, to
whom the description of the place leads, which formed the
central point of their ministry, the altar of burnt-offering. In
ch. xiv. 1-17, the environs of the temple, the glebe land for
the priests, the Levites, and the princes of the future. In ch.
xiv. 18-xlvi. 15, the sacred seasons and the sacred actions of
347

348 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the future. In ch. xlvi. 16-24, supplements to the foregoing.
In ch. xlvii. 1-12, an entirely new subject : the waters of the
Dead Sea are made wholesome, and filled with life by the
stream from the sanctuary. At the close the prophet returns
from the distant to the nearer future. After the temple here
follow the land and the city of the future. The prophet
describes, in ch. xlvii. 13-23, the borders of the land; then in
ch. xlviii. the distribution among the several tribes, and how
they are grouped around the temple, and the city adjoining it.
Thus all that was lost is restored, and a broad foundation for
the hopes of the future is given to the people languishing in
misery, to the worm Jacob creeping on the ground.
This great picture of the future belongs to the end of the
literary activity of the prophet. The only prediction of a later
date to be found in the collection, that in ch. xxix. 17-xxx. 19,
which belongs to the twenty-seventh year of Jehoiachin, while
the present belongs to the twenty-fifth, bears no independent
character, but is only the resumption of an earlier one at a
time when its fulfilment was approaching. It was probably
inserted in the collection of prophecies occasioned by the cir
cumstances of those times. Our prophecy simply forms the
conclusion of the second consolatory part of ch. xxxiii. 21. But,
at the same time, it forms the counterpart to the first great
description of the destruction in ch. i.-vii., as it is introduced
by the majestic vision of the cherubim in ch. i. The cheru
bim and the new temple, the introduction and conclusion, —
this is what every one thinks of when the name of Ezekiel is
mentioned. When our prophecy is usually designated as Ezekiel's vision
of the second temple, there is nothing to find fault with, if it is
only understood that the designation refers to its most pro
minent part. Along with the temple, Ezekiel is concerned in
everything else that seemed to be for ever lost in the Chaldean
catastrophe. With the exception of the Messianic section in ch. xlvii.
1-12, the fulfilment of all the rest of the prophecy belongs
to the times immediately after the return from the Chaldean
exile. So must every one of its first hearers and readers have
understood it. Jeremiah the prophet, whom Ezekiel follows
throughout, with whom the very and with which he begins

CHAr. xl.-xlviii. 349
the collection of his prophecies connects him, had prophesied
that the city and temple should be restored seventy years after
the date of the Chaldean servitude, falling in the fourth year
of Jehoiakim. Of these seventy years, thirty-two had already
elapsed at the time when our prophecy was delivered. Ezekiel
himself had announced, in ch. xxix. 13, that forty years after
the desolation of Egypt, the nations visited by the Chaldeans
would return to their former state. And what is more obvious,
according to ch. xi. 16, the restoration is to follow in a brief
space after the destruction of the temple. Accordingly the
first hearers and readers could not but expect that, with respect
to the restoration of the temple and city, the word holds good
which Habakkuk once uttered (ch. i. 5) with regard to the de
struction, " I do a deed in your days ;" and we enter upon the
interpretation with the presupposition that here also the word
of the Lord applies, " Verily I say unto you, This generation
shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled."
What can be maintained against this assumption rests on
mere appearance. We have before us not a foreboding, which
represents the future in its accidental and indifferent circum
stances, but a prophecy, for which it is essential to give truth
and poetry, which contains a kernel of real thoughts, but does
not present them naked — how would the holy Scripture shrivel
up if we should reduce it to its matter of thought ! — but clothed
with flesh and blood, that they may be a counterpoise to the
sad reality, because they fill the fancy, that fruitful workshop
of despair, with bright images, and thus by the word alleviate
life at a time when all that is visible cries aloud, Where is now
thy God ? If we mistake this characteristic of the prophecy,
that comes out more strikingly in Ezekiel than in any other
prophet ; if we ascribe a real import to everything without
discrimination, an incongruity will certainly appear between
the prophecy and the state of things after the exile. But it
vanishes at once, if we can distinguish between the thought
and its clothing ; and this distinction will be easy, if we place
before our eyes the first hearers and readers of Ezekiel, figure
to ourselves the wounds for which the remedy is here proposed,
and at the same time the mental world of Ezekiel the priest,
the circumstances in which he grew up, and the materials
within him for clothing the divine verities which he had to

350 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
announce to the people of God. But we must regard this
distinction as the chief problem of the expositor in the present
section. Exactly in proportion to the fitness of the solution
will be the value of the exegetical result. A double danger
here lies before us, — to ascribe to forms what belongs to
thought, and to thought that which belongs to mere form.
Let us take a glance at the views deviating from that now
given. According to some, we have here " a model, according
to which, on the return of the people, the temple should have
been rebuilt," — a building specification by divine authority.
But this opinion forgets that we have here to do not with an
architect, but with a prophet — with one whose department is
not the hands, but the hearts, which he has to awaken to faith
and hope, and walking in the ways of God. It cannot produce
a single analogy from the prophetic region : nowhere have the
prophets intruded into the department of legislation, for which
under the old covenant other organs were provided. Espe
cially all the other prophecies of Ezekiel of the time after the
destruction bear not a legislative, but a hortatory character.
In particular, the adjoining prophecy concerning Gog and
Magog leads us to expect that here also much will belong to
mere pictorial description, which is excluded if we ascribe a
legislative import to the section. To this is added the obvious
impossibility of erecting a building according to the specifica
tions given. These suffice only to give play to the imagination.
For a practical end, the most necessary things are wanting.
We have in particular almost nothing of materials, to which so
much space is devoted in the description of Solomon's temple.
As a rule, the specifications are confined to the mere measures
and distances ; whence those who, like Villalpandus, have
undertaken to give literal plans of Ezekiel's temple, have been
obliged to draw much from their own fancy. Lastly, in the
building of the second temple, it is manifest that no reference
is made to Ezekiel's temple. As the reason of this cannot be
sought in any doubt of the divine mission of Ezekiel, whose
prophecies were admitted into the canon, it can only be found
in this, that men saw in this prophecy something else than a
building specification.
In the older theology, it was customary to regard not
merely ch. xlvii. 1-12, but the whole section (ch. xl.— xlviii.),

CHAP. XL- XLVIII. 351
as a prophecy of the Christian church.1 There is truth at
the foundation of this view. Although the restoration of the
city and the temple is first predicted, as it took place on the
return from the Chaldean exile, yet this special announce
ment rests on the general ground of the firm conviction of the
living power and indestructibility of the kingdom of God, the
symbol of which was the temple, according to a view pervading
the whole of the Old and New Testament. And as the pro
phecy reaches beyond, its first fulfilment, it guarantees that
within the kingdom of God life shall arise out of every death,
— that the old covenant cannot go down witliout rising again
gloriously in the new. But the fault in the older exposition,
as it has been lately revived by Dr. Kliefoth, with the addition
that the prophecy here describes not merely the development
and operation of the Christian church in this world, but its
consummation in the next, was this, that it referred the pro
phecy directly and exclusively to the Christian church, and
excluded the fulfilment in the time of Zerubbabel. It is against
this opinion so stated, that it is unnatural to suppose that the
prophet has left out all consideration of the nearer deliverance ;
that, with the exception of ch. xlvii., there is not the slightest
reference to the peculiarities of the church of the New Testa
ment, and all that is advanced as such is only imported ; that
the statement, " The new theocracy which he depicts is more
intellectual and spiritual than the old," is nowhere verified ; and
that in this way we lose the whole substance of the prophecy,
and are compelled to fill up the vacuum thus occasioned with
our own thoughts. It is, for ex., obviously to import and not
to expound, if we are to find in the close of the prophecy,
from xlvii. 13 onwards, " the introduction of the people of
God, gathered by Christ from Jew and Gentile, as a new
manhood, into the perpetual Canaan of the new earth at the
consummation." None of the first readers of Ezekiel could
find this in it. They must have understood by the Jordan
simply the Jordan, by the sea the Mediterranean, by the tribes
themselves those who still bore the yoke of banishment. The
1 But the older theologians were not without a sense of the difficulties
which pressed upon the view, and awaited fuller light in the future.
Starck, for ex., says, Precor Deum, ut aliis Ezechielis revelationem meditan-
tibus majorem affundat lucem, majora dicendi et nodos solvendi.

352 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
return of the people to the old home, the restoration of the
temple, of the priestly service to be performed by the sons of
Zadok, of the sacrifices in the Old Testament form,-^-these are
obvious realities ; and nothing leads us to suppose that they are
to be regarded as figures belonging to the action of the pro
phetic scene of the future. If so interpreted, the prophecy
would be altogether vain. The people might then reject the
former threatenings of the prophet also, because they referred
them to a people of the future, and explained all that cried
aloud, " Thou art the man," as mere figures. Had the prophet
wished all these things to be regarded as mere figures, he must
have explained this in the clearest manner. The apagogical
argument for this view, drawn from the fact that there is much
that is not found in the times soon after the exile, so that we
must be perplexed about the divine mission of the prophet if
we cling to these times, loses its force as soon as it is admitted
that a distinction must be made between the thought and its
clothing. But we do not see how this argument can be main
tained by those who themselves extend the domain of form
much further, and in fact draw upon themselves the charge of
arbitrary spiritualizing unjustly brought against others.
Finally, most unfortunate is the interpretation, according
to which that "national order" is here described, "in which
at the end of the times converted Israel, with the church
engrafted into it from the heathen, shall live in the millennial
kingdom." There is not the least ground to refer to the last
time a prophecy which, rightly understood, has found its ful
filment a few decenniums after it was delivered. It is mani
fest on the clearest grounds, that the delineations of the prophet
have something intentionally Utopian, and much belongs only
to the pictorial. If we neglect this, and are led by a literal
interpretation to overstep the bounds of the Old Testament, we
arrive at very doubtful dogmatic results. The restoration of
the temple, the Old Testament festivals, the bloody sacrifices,
the priesthood of the sons of Zadok, can only be expected within
the bounds of the New Testament by a misunderstanding of
the nature of Christ and His church. But if we shrink from
these consequences, if at this point we distinguish between the
thought and its form, if we cease to cling to the literal inter
pretation, we do not see why the fulfilment is to be sought

CHAP. XL. 1-4. 353
in so cloudy a distance. Dr. v. Hofmann says justly in the
Scriptural Proof : " In the face of the fall of the Israelitish
community, the desolation of the holy land, the destruction of
God's house, the people needed a promise which assured them
of the restoration of all that seemed lost." All this is actually
bestowed again upon the people through God's grace under
Zerubbabel and Joshua, Ezra and Nehemiah ; and with what
gratitude this grace is acknowledged, Ps. cvii. for ex. shows.
It would be unreasonable to ignore this restoration, rather than
be led by so manifest a fulfilment of the promise contradicting
all natural reason, to the hope of the deliverance of the church
from all the troubles and sorrows which it now suffers.
THE 1NTEODUCTION — CHAPTEE XL. 1-4.
Ver. 1. In the .five and twentieth year of our carrying
away, in the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month,
in the fourteenth year after the city was smitten, in the self
same day the hand of the Loed was upon me, and he brought
me thither. 2. In the visions of God brought he me into the
land of Israel, and set me on a very high mountain, and on it
was as the frame of a city in the south. 3. And he brought
me thither, and behold a man, whose appearance was like the
appearance of brass, and a line of flax in his hand, and a mea
suring-rod ; and he stood in the gate. 4. And the man spake
to me, Son of man, see with thine eyes, and hear with thine
ears, and set thy heart on all that I show thee ; for thou art
brought hither that I might show them to thee : declare all
that thou seest to the house of Israel.
There is a far-reaching import in that which is given in ver. 1
simply as a date. The removal into exile, and the destruction
of the city, with its centre the temple, are the points around
which the thoughts of Ezekiel and the people move, the diffi
culties which the following vision happily removes. Both had
already lasted some time: the exile, which Ezekiel always
reckons from the deportation of Jehoiachin, in which he him
self was carried away, twenty-five years;1 the destruction of
the city, between which and Jehoiachin's deportation the eleven
1 The Chaldean servitude had begun seven years before, in the fourth
year of Jehoiakim, in which Daniel with his companions was carried
z

354 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
years of Zedekiah's reign lay, fourteen years ; so that it was
now high time that a new and strong staff should be offered
to the people of God waxing faint in their hopes. " In the
beginning of the year, in the tenth of the month : " the month
did not need to be more exactly defined. It follows from the
words " In the beginning of the year," that the first month
only can be intended. In the words, " In the beginning of
the year, in the tenth of the month," we have an abbreviation
from Ex. xii. 2, 3, where the Lord says to Moses and Aaron in
the land of Egypt, " This month shall be to you the beginning
of months : it shall be the first of the months of the year to you.
Speak ye to all the assembly of Israel, In the tenth of the month
they shall take to them every man a lamb for a family, a lamb
for the house." That every word is taken from this original
passage, is equivalent to an express quotation. That the day
is significant for the thing, appears even from this reference,
and is confirmed by the prominence given to the day in the
words " in the self-same day." It is not difficult to determine in
what the significance consists. On the day when the passover
was instituted in Egypt, and the people were brought, as it were,
within the sacred precincts of the approaching redemption, the
day on which after so many centuries the impending new seal
ing of the redeeming grace of God was solemnly proclaimed,
the pain of the captivity of the people, and the destruction of
the city and the temple, with which the cessation of the festi
vals celebrated in the temple was connected, must have been
greatly enhanced ; but at the same time, the hope of deliver
ance in the believing mind must have been more strongly
awakened than ever, because the ancient God still lived, who
in this deliverance of the olden time had given His people a
pledge of deliverance from all future calamities. This day
was therefore specially fitted for the new assurance of saving
grace which Ezekiel was now to impart to the people. The
day is significant in other respects. On the tenth day of the
first month were the people led in a miraculous manner across
the Jordan (Josh. iv. 19). Then followed on the fourteenth
the solemnity of the passover, suspended for thirty-eight years,
— the renewed assurance of the saving grace, which the people
away. Of the seventy years of the Chaldean servitude in Jeremiah, thirty-
two had already elapsed.

CHAP. XL. 1-4. 355
so urgently needed in the approaching conflict. On the same
day also took place the solemn entrance of Christ into Jeru
salem — the inauguration of His kingdom, which He wished to
earn, by bleeding and dying. The day was thus as significant
here as the day on which John received the Apocalypse — " I
was in the Spirit on the Lord's day" (ch. i. 10) ; the day of
the resurrection was a fitting day for the reception of. the reve
lation, the fundamental thought of which is, that Christ will
come to deliver His church from death. So also was the day
of the institution of the passover a fitting day for a revelation
which set forth the healing of the wounds which were inflicted
on the people by the captivity, and the destruction of the city
and temple. That even in later times the popular hope of
deliverance from the oppression of the world was connected
with the passover, appears from the right of the release of a
prisoner at the passover, which had been obtained from the
Romans. The prisoner represented in the eyes of the Jews
the people enslaved by the Romans.
There can be no doubt that the introduction here stands in
relation to that of the first vision in ch. i. 1-3. Common to
both are the fulness in the date, and the mention of the hand of
the Lord, and of the visions of God. The internal connection of
the two visions, to which the relation of the introduction points,
is, that the first vision sets forth anger and judgment, the last
the healing of the wounds thereby occasioned. There the pro
phet encounters the dreams of a God gracious to sinners, and
an immediately approaching future of salvation. Here at the
end, after that announcement has been made, he deals a last
powerful blow against the second dangerous enemy of God's
people that now advances into the foreground, — the despair,
which averts from treacling the divinely appointed way of re
pentance as effectually as the former false security. But the
germ of this last prophecy appears even in the first, in the
rainbow which surrounds the appearance of the offended Deity,
and presents to view the grace returning after wrath. The
present prophecy is not the last in point of time. The pro
phecy in ch. xxix. 27 f. belongs to the twenty-seventh year of
Jehoiachin, and is therefore two years later than it. But the
prophet has subjoined it as an appendix to an older prophecy,
in order to close with this great vision of the restoration, in

356 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
opposition to the great introductory vision of the destruction.
The God appearing above the cherubim for the work of de
struction, and the description of the new temple, are obviously
the two grand pieces in the prophecies of Ezekiel, which are in
their place only at the opening and the close of the whole.
" In the self-same day the hand of the Lord was upon
me : " herein verifies itself anew the name of the prophet,
" God is strong : " he in regard to whom God is strong (p. 5).
He records here that which flesh and blood have not revealed
to him, which cry in him as in all others, Gone is gone, lost is
lost, but the Father in heaven who alone can teach to hope where
is nothing to hope. Isaiah (ch. viii. 11) was already enabled,
by the strong hand of the Lord upon him, to proclaim to the
people the vanity of all attempts against the kingdom of God.
" And He brought me thither : " the thither floats in the
air if we do not apply it to the smitten city. In the place
where this once stood is now already a new building, but the
locality is essentially the same ; and besides, the new building
is present only for the higher view : for the lower, the smitten
city still remains.
Visions of God (ver. 2)" are visions that proceed from God,
and clearly have divine things for their object ; comp. on i. 1.
The very high mountain is mount Zion, but not in its pre
sent form, the state of humiliation, but in glorious exaltation.
The height is here in fact moral, though, in accordance with
the nature of the vision, it presents itself in a physical form.
It existed already in the times before the destruction of the
temple (Ps. xlviii. 3, lxviii. 17). It now returns, because the
Lord is present again among His people with His help and
grace. The new exaltation had its beginnino' in the return
from the exile ; it found its consummation in the coming of
Christ (ch. xvii. 22, 23).
"And on it was as the frame of a city:" the as points
as Ezekiel so often and so designedly does, to the distinction
between -the visionary sphere and the reality, and gives to ex
positors the so often unregarded warning not to transfer their
inborn prose to the prophets. Instead of the city there is the
less need to substitute anything else without warrant from the
usage, because the building which the prophet here sees is
evidently the substitute for the smitten city in ver. 1. And

CHAP. XL. 1-4. 357
we do not need to say that he has first seen a temple on the
mountain, and then beside it a city : for there is not the slight
est trace of the temple beside the city, as also in Heb. xii.
22 the city and nothing else is on the heavenly Zion ; and that
the temple is here included in the city (in the wider sense)
we must expect from ver. 1, where the temple obviously forms
the central point of the city. But the reason which has led to
these false assumptions, that the prophet gives the description
of the temple immediately after the introduction, and that the
gate in ver. 3 appears to belong to the temple, is removed by
the remark that the temple forms the proper essence of the
city, and the city in the stricter sense is only accessory, and
all the more because the temple was regarded as the spiritual
residence of the whole people. The earlier temple also in ch.
viii. held this absolutely central position.
The prophet sees the form of a city southward, or in the
south. The mountain and the building are southward to one
coming from Babylonia. He lands, as it were, in the most
northern part of the mountain. Ch- xxi- 2 forms the key, where
all Canaan appears to the prophet as a southern land. The
north is in Jeremiah and Ezekiel the usual designation of the
Chaldean land ; comp. on i. 4.
The words, " And he brought me thither" (ver. 3), give no
new event, but only resume that which has been already said,
to attach to it a new event — 'the meeting with the angel of the
Lord. He who is here a man, is in ch. xliv. 2, 5 called Jehovah.
In Zechariah (ch. ii. 5-17), the angel who measures the future
compass of Jerusalem is the angel of the Lord, the godlike
revealer of God ; comp. Christol. iii. p. 265. It is quite in
order that the Lord and architect of the church (with the
words " and He made " here in ver. 14, comp. Matt. xvi. 18)
sets before the eyes of the prophet and the people the glory of
His future building ; and all the more suitable, because the
angel of the Lord in ch. ix. 10 had appeared to judge the city
and to destroy it, and at the same time, by reserving to himself
the preservation of the pious, while the work of destruction
was executed by him in common with the ministering angels,
had intimated that he had rather deliver than destroy, build
up than pull down.

358 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The comparison of the appearance of the angel of the
Lord with brass can only refer to the property of which every
one thinks in brass, — the solidity, the durability, the counter
part of all softness and weakness — the power of resisting all
impressions and influences: comp. the tubes of brass, Job
xl. 18 ; the gates of brass, Isa. xiv. 2 ; and the question of
Job, Is my flesh of brass ? — a question to which no man, what
ever the angel of the Lord may do, can answer Yes. The
passages Dan. x. 6, where it is said of Michael, under which
name the angel of the Lord appears in Daniel, " His arms and
his feet were like glowing brass ; " Rev. i. 15, where to Christ,
the angel of the Lord manifest in the flesh, are ascribed " feet
like unto clear brass heated in a furnace," — differ from our
passage only so far as the brass there, because its annihilating
effect on the enemy comes into view, appears as glowing, which
would not suit the present purpose. " His appearance as
brass :" this is quite consolatory to the church of God, and all
the more because its earthly representatives have so little of
this brass-nature in them, and resemble not brass, or iron, or
steel, but rather soft wax. But when they grow into com
munion with their heavenly Leader, his brass nature comes
more and more upon them.
The line of flax and the measuring-rod are emblems of the
building activity, and indicate that the angel of the Lord has
here to do with a building. That they appear here in this
sense, and not with a view to a special practical application, is
manifest from this, that the line of flax occurs no more in the
sequel, while the measuring-rod is often applied. There are
circumstances in which the measuring-line must be applied —
for ex., when the circumference of a round pillar is to be
measured — but these do not come into consideration here. It
is perhaps not without significance that a line of flax is spoken
of, and the measuring-rod. The angel in Rev. xxi. 15 has " a
golden reed to measure the city, and its gates, and its wall."
The line is not mentioned, although the dimensions are very
great. The opinion that the great dimensions are to be mea
sured with the line, has here also the subsequent context against
it, where all dimensions, great or small, are measured with the
rod. Thus the implements only draw the prophet's attention
to the fact that the following revelation relates to a building.

CHAP. XL. 5-16. 359
They form the counterpart to " the instruments of destruction,"
which in ch. ix. 1 the heavenly ministers of righteousness have
in their hands. The activity which the angel of the Lord is
to put forth is, besides, not properly a building one. Accord
ing to ver. 2, the frame of the city already existed. He has
the function of an architect who is to introduce a person in
terested in the building into his finished work, and show him
its bearings. " And he stood in the gate : " as the prophet
comes from the north, the gate can only be the north one.
There stands the angel of the Lord awaiting " the son of
man," whom he is to introduce in the building.
The threefold summons to attention in ver. 4 intimates that
a matter is here treated of which is of the greatest importance
to the community of God. To this it is essential that faith in
the indestructibility of the kingdom of God, and in its resurrec
tion from every death, live in it in full power. It is this alone
which is here treated of, however dense may be the veil of
architectural details behind which it is concealed. The ad
dress, Son of man (comp. on ch. ii. 1), reminds the prophet of
his weakness and his low estate, that he may grasp the more
eagerly that which is presented to him from above to raise him
to a higher ; and reminds the community that they remain not
with the son of man, but ascend to Him who is mighty in their

CHAPTEE XL. 5-16.
The description of the new temple begins in vers. 5-16
with the encompassing wall and its gates. The description
goes so much into detail to furnish a stay for the imagination
against the visible, which drew the eye to it with so much force,
and pronounced all hope to be foolish. The terrible impres
sion of the "smitten" city was to be overcome by the ani
mating image of the restored city, which is painted in all its
details, to be able to cope with the smitten city. Further on
(ch. xlvii. 1-12) are intermingled traces which characterize
the nature of the kingdom of God before the catastrophe, and
show that the resurrection will be at the same time a glorifica
tion, or rather will end in the glorification. But in this section
such traces are wanting ; and the object is simply and solely

360 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
that already indicated, to impress upon the mind the restora
tion of the kingdom of God lying on the ground in dust and
ashes. That in the greater cubit a reference has been sought
without ground to the surpassing glory of the kingdom of
God in its new epoch, and that a cubit different from that
of the earlier temple is chosen merely because it wras current
in the prophet's time, will appear hereafter. If the cubit had
then been smaller than the former one, the prophet would
have chosen it nevertheless. Besides, the dimensions of the
wall and of the gates are by no means colossal, so that there
could be found in them any reference to the surpassing glory
of the future state of the kingdom of God. And a compensa
tion for that which is otherwise wanting is vainly sought in the
numbers. The theological significance of the numbers is
throughout the Old Testament much less than is presupposed
in this attempt, and then some artifice must be applied here to
obtain significant numbers. The preponderance of the insig
nificant number six, by which the measuring-rod is regulated,
shows that nothing is to be gained in this way. The change
of the six into the seven is only gained by reverting to the old.
cubit, which however, according to the prophet, comes into
account only so far that he states the proportion of the measure
used by him that was current in his time, to that former one,
to which he makes no further allusion.
The commentary of Dr. Kliefoth has rendered an essential
service in regard to the architectonic details in the description
of Ezekiel, and has its special weight in this department.
Many hitherto dark points are here cleared up for the first
time. Even where we cannot agree — and this is certainly very
often the case — we acknowledge in this work an essential pro
gress and a help.
The arrangement in vers. 5-16 is systematic. First, the
wall in general ; then the most notable part of it, the gates, the
relation of which to the most prominent of them, the east gate,
is presented to view. First the dimensions of the several parts
of the gateway are laid down in order, from the out- to the
inside, the threshold or step, in ver. 6 ; the guard-rooms with
their partition-walls and the inner threshold, ver. 7 ; the porch
bordering on the temple court, and opening into it, which
finishes the gate-buildings, vers. 8, 9. After the gateway

CHAP. XL. 5-16. 361
follows (in ver. 11) the measuring of the gate in the proper
sense, the gate-door, after a supplementary remark has been
made on the guard-rooms, at the end of which are the gate-
doors, the situation of which is fixed by that remark : the doors
open to those who have undergone the threefold inspection,
and they now step on the inner threshold, then into the porch,
and thence into the court. Ver. 12 refers to a contrivance
which is applied for the decisive inspection, at the guard-rooms.
After laying down the measurements of the several parts, comes
the statement of the relations of the structure as a whole : in
ver. 13 the greatest breadth of the structure, in ver. 14 the
greatest height, in ver. 15 the length. At the close, in ver 16,
is a statement concerning the arrangement for light in the
gate-buildings, which was so important for decisive inspection ;
and in the last words an allusion to Him to whom the gate, with
all to which it gave admission, was consecrated — the Creator
and Lord of nature.
Ver. 5. And behold a wall outside the house round about,
and in the man's hand the measuring-reed of six cubits, by the
cubit and hand-breadth : 1 and he measured the breadth of the
building, one reed ; and the height, one reed. 6. And he came
to the gate which looketh towards the east, and went up its
steps, and measured the threshold of the gate, one reed in
breadth, and the one threshold, one reed broad. 7. And the
guard-room one reed long, and one reed broad ; and between
the guard-rooms, five cubits ; and the threshold of the gate, by
the porch of the gate within, one reed. 8. And he measured
the porch of the gate within, one reed. 9. And he measured
the porch of the gate, eight cubits ; and its pillars, two cubits ;
and (this is) the porch of the gate within. 10. And the guard
rooms of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three
on that ; they had all three one measure : and the pillars had
one measure on this side and on that. 11. And he measured
the breadth of the doors of the gate, ten cubits ; the length of
the gate, thirteen cubits. 12. And a border before the guard
rooms one cubit, and one cubit the border on that side ; and
1 Luther, " every cubit was a hand-breadth longer than a common
cubit ; " whereas Ezekiel's cubit was then the common one, in contrast
with one then out of use, by which the measurements in the ruined sanc
tuary were made.

362 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the guard-rooms six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that.
13. And he measured the gate from the roof of the guard
room to its roof : a breadth of twenty and five cubits, door
against door. 14. And he made the pillars sixty cubits, and
at the pillar the court which is around the gate.1 15. And
from the entrance-gate to the place before the porch of the
inner gate, fifty cubits. 16. And closed windows in the guard
rooms, and in their pillars within the gate round about, and
likewise in the parting-walls ; 2 and the windows round about
inwards ; and at each pillar palms.
The object of the wall (ver. 5) is, according to ch. xiii. 20,
to draw the boundary between the sacred and the profane.
This boundary had a double meaning. To the community it
was a warning not to draw near the sanctuary with unrenewed
hearts ; comp. Ps. xv. With respect to God, it guaranteed that
He would eventually separate His people from the world. Be
cause the people of God had neglected the warning implied
in the boundary, as a just punishment the boundary was also
in the latter respect destroyed. To the desecration as guilt,
succeeded the desecration as punishment. In the pierced wall,
the smitten city lay an image of the abandonment of the people
of God to the world. That this relation will be altered again
in the future, that God will again raise His reformed people
to independence, this is figured by the erection of the new wall,
which in this respect is an embodiment of God's help and
grace, that are to be imparted to the covenant people renewed
in spirit. The description of the wall as such is very brief ;
while that of the gates, which present a resting-place for the
eye in the uniformity of the wall, is full. " Outside the
house : " this indicates that the wall is a ring, enclosing all
buildings and areas which belong to the house — the temple in
the widest sense. Before the statement of the first measure
ment the measuring-rod is defined. It is six cubits long, each
containing one cubit and a hand-breadth. The length of the
1 Luther, " and before every projection a court at the gate round
about ; " whereas here the court of the temple is spoken of, within which
lay the whole structure of the gate.
2 Luther, " in the porches ; " but these received their light through
the passage, and also needed less the light, which was specially required
for inspection.

CHAP. XL. 5-16. 363
cubit is here defined by reference to a measure formerly
current. The cubit with which the prophet measures is a
hand-breadth longer than the former one. The relation to this
it was the more needful to give, because it had been used in
the former temple. In accordance with our passage, Chronicles
(2 Chron. iii. 3) speaks of a cubit " after the former measure."
The dimensions of Solomon's temple are given according to this,
because it was current at the time of the building. Since the
greater cubit meets us first in Ezekiel, it is probable that it was
borrowed in the exile from the Chaldeans. The distinction of a
sacred and a common cubit, which many expositors make here,
is a mere fiction. Scripture knows nothing of a sacred cubit.
Moses declares, in Deut. iii. 11, that he measures with the cus
tomary " cubit of a man." On Rev. xxi. 17, " And he measured
the wall of it, an hundred and forty and four cubits, the mea
sure of a man, which is that of the angel," it was remarked in
my Comm. : " When an angel measures, we might expect him to
do so with a measure unknown to us. The remark opposes this
thought. Because angels, when they measure, only measure for
men, the man's measure is at the same time the angel's measure,
and the 144 cubits are ordinary cubits." To the question of Ber-
theau, " How came the prophet to borrow a measure for the
erection of so peculiarly sacred a building from the Babylonians,
who stood in his time so sharply defined over against the
Israelites ? " it may be answered that the prophet wrote first
for his contemporaries, and wished to make the measurements
clear to them. For this purpose the then current, the ordinary
measure, only was suitable ; and it would have been a useless
piece of antiquarianism if the prophet had chosen to adhere
to the old one. The building is the wall itself, which deserves
the name the more as the gate-structures also belong to it.
The height of the wall is not important, but the thickness is,
which is equal to the height.
The prophet has met the angel at the north gate, the one
which he must have reached first coming from the north (ver.
3). The angel, that he may describe to the prophet the gates
of the wall, proceeds thence to the east gate. At this, as the
chief gate, the relations of all the gates were to be explained to
the prophet. The east side, that of the rising sun, is always the
chief side. . To this one turns the face in taking the bearings.

361 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
By the east gate, according to ch. xliii. 1, the Lord enters.
At the gate is first presented the stair, which cannot be want
ing, as the sanctuary, into the environs of which we now enter,
must rise as the higher above the profane. The church is
always ra avm, the things above (Col. iii. 1). This stair lies,
as it appears, within the wall, which is a rod broad. The gate-
structure from the threshold on lies within the court. After
the stair comes the threshold in the wider sense, or the gate-
step. This has the by no means extravagant breadth of a rod :
the step is as great in many an ordinary dwelling-house. The
words at the end, " one threshold (measured he), one reed
broad," do not imply that this breadth was extraordinary, but
prepare us for hearing afterwards of another threshold or
another step at the passage of the gate-doOr, before the porch
into which the whole gate-structure runs, and from which we
enter at once into the court.
From the threshold at the entrance of the gate-structure,
the description passes to the guard-rooms, from these to the
outgoing threshold, then to the porch. The guard-rooms are,
according to ch. xliv. 11, 14, occupied by the Levites, who
exclude all the profane. The idea here implied is expressed in
Rev. xxii. 15 : " Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whore
mongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and all who love and
make a lie." Then also in Ps. xxiv. : " Who shall ascend into
the hill of the Lord ? He that hath clean hands and a pure
heart." But in reality only a very limited consequence can be
given to this idea, as the church does not judge of the heart.
Here only the size of each chamber is stated, and its distance
from the next. The details concerning them, their number
and their barriers, come afterwards. The interval between the
guard-rooms cannot have been open, otherwise the gateway
would have been no gateway : every one who wished to avoid
inspection might have entered the court by the side. The
interval was filled by a wall, which is afterwards expressly
mentioned. Such side-walls were, as is also afterwards men
tioned, at the front threshold also. They went from the front
threshold to the gate, where there were no guard-rooms. In
the steps lying within the wall it took their place. Beyond
the door that was behind the three guard-rooms at the back
threshold they were no longer necessary. The inspection was

CHAP. XL. 5-16. 365
there completed. " The guard-room :" the article stands gene-
rically, to indicate what belongs to the class, and is common to
each. The measurement is here also very moderate, and there
appears no intention to impress by colossal magnitude. Six
cubits long and six broad — this goes, not beyond a monk's cell.1
In vers. 8, 9, the last part of the gateway, the porch. The
measurements may refer only to the length of the porch from
east to west. The porch is first measured in the narrower
sense, so to speak — the space in it for company ; for this is the
first question : How much space it afforded for those who, before
they went into the open air, wished to stand for shelter against
storm and rain. Then in ver. 9 is the measurement of the
porch given in the wider sense. To the six cubits are added
three cubits as an area, which must have been separated in
some way from the principal space ; then also two cubits as the
thickness of the main pillars terminating the porch and the
whole gate-structure, which formed the majestic egress and
ingress on both sides, so that the whole had a length of ten
cubits. With the words, " And this is the porch of the gate
within," is the way prepared for returning to the parts lying
farther towards the front entrance.
After the description of the gateway follows that of the
gate in the strict sense, the proper door. To arrive at this, the
prophet goes back once more in ver. 10 to the guard-rooms, at
the end of which the door was, and which were inseparably
connected with the door : those who stayed in the guard-rooms
were properly the gatekeepers. The guard-rooms are three on
each side. All the guard-rooms are of the same size, already
stated in ver. 7. The pillars also on both sides of the guard
rooms are equal in compass. What this compass was in each
pillar, is not expressly stated. For this very reason must they
be equal to the thickness of the pillars of the porch, which are
fixed in ver. 9 at a cubit. The pillars are to be regarded as
standing in the inner space all round before the wall. For the
1 JTOno may either mean inwards, or at the side of the house, the
temple structure. Both come, in fact, to the same thing. At all events,
the JV3HD forms the contrast to the wall outside the house iu ver. 5.
Accordmg to ver. 8, it is better to refer the irono to the porch than
the threshold. Indirectly it leads in any case to that which immediately
adjoins the porch, and places it in contrast with the entering threshold.

366 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
gate has its significance only for those who go through ; and
the prophet is within the gate, and can only see what is there
present. The object of the pillars appears afterwards in ver.
16. In ver. 11, in immediate connection with the guard-rooms,
are the statements concerning the gate in the strict sense, the
proper gate-door, which obviously adjoins the last guard-room,
so that the back threshold and the porch were beyond the door.
The work of inspection must have been ended before the
entrance was possible ; and when it was ended, there was no
more reason to refuse entrance. The second threshold has no
meaning, if it lay not at the egress of the gate-door. The gate-
door can the less be placed in the porch, because the porch is
elsewhere in Scripture the place before the gate ; comp. Matt.
xxvi. 71, " he went out into the porch." Besides, on that sup
position, the whole arrangement of the section is incompre
hensible. The breadth of the door is fixed at ten cubits, the
length at thirteen. As in a door we cannot speak of length
in the usual sense, by the length, as the old writers observed —
for ex. Starck — must here be denoted the height. This may
be explained by the supposition that the gate was lying when
measured. In a door the height must be more important than
the breadth. Thus, to the last number of perfection — the ten
derives its name in Greek from taking in the other numbers —
is added the first number of perfection, three, which often meets
us as such in the Old Testament: for ex. in the Aaronic
blessing, and in the thrice holy in Isa. vi., in Ezekiel in ch. xxi.
32, and in our section itself in the guard-rooms. The num
ber thirteen must have a definite ground, otherwise a round
number would be put in its stead. Before every guard-room,
according to ver. 12, is a border or barrier, a cubit broad, so
that the guards may step out of the guard-rooms and control
the passengers, without these having access to the guard-rooms,
by the back-doors of which they might penetrate into the court.
The arrangement presumes that there are impudent people
among the entrants, who are willing to force an entrance not
allowed to them ; comp. Luke xiii. 24. The statement of the
dimensions of these borders forms the transition to ver. 13,
where the measures of the borders are to be included in the
collective measure of the breadth.
After the statement of the dimensions of the several parts,

CHAP. XL. 5-16. 367
follows now, in ver. 13, the statement of the breadth of the
whole gate-buildings. The measure is taken where this breadth
is greatest, not at the partition-walls or side-parapets, but at
the guard-rooms. It is measured " from the roof of the guard
room to its roof," that is, from the end of the roof of the guard
room on one side, to the end of the roof on the other side. The
writer does not speak of different roofs of the guard-rooms on
both sides. One roof covers the guard-rooms on both sides,
and at the same time the intervening gateway. That this is
to be considered covered, is evident from this, that there are
windows in the building. These would be unnecessary if the
light fell from above. The somewhat obscure expression,
" from the roof of the guard-room to its roof," is elucidated by
the addition, " door against door." The doors of the guard
rooms are where they go out into the court : towards the gate
way they were open, and the barriers occupied the place of the
door. The doors would have been useless, as the guards must

gu

have been at their posts. If the roof was measured from the
point where the door was under it, the extreme end only of the
roof on both sides can be meant. We see here also how the
measurement was obtained. Beforehand it is not natural to
suppose that the angel mounted on the roof, as this would be
so much out of the way that it must have been mentioned.
There was no occasion for this. He obtained the measure
from roof to roof, when he measured beneath from door to
door. For the door was on both sides under the end of the
roof. That the angel takes the measure, with perfect ease, ap
pears indeed from ver. 15, where he does not measure the
pillars sixty cubits high. Of the twenty-five cubits, ten fall to
the passage (comp. ver. 11), twelve to the guard-rooms on both
sides, two to the borders on both sides (ver. 12)", so that one
remains over for the outer wall on both sides. If this be
thought insufficient, it is open to us to place the barriers in the
gateway. Yet it appears that their measures are stated for the
purpose of being included in the total measure.
After the statement of the breadth of the structure where
it is broadest, follows in ver. 14 the statement of the height
where it appears highest: the usual height might have been
taken from the statement of the height of the gate-door in
ver. 11. The pillars form this point of height, in which the

368 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
whole structure ends towards the court, and thus at the end
of the porch. They are, as it were, the head of the whole,
that which the tower is in our churches, striving and pointing
towards heaven. It is said, not he measured as elsewhere, but
he made. The height of sixty cubits was too great to be con
veniently measured. So the prophet goes back to the time
when he who here explains the building to him prepared it.
In fact, though not literally, " he made " is " he had made."
We are to think of the angel stating the measure to the
prophet ; yet this is not to be imported into the word. It is
not said "he fixed," but "he made." This, according to all
usage, can only refer to the construction. To the statement
that the pillars here referred to immediately adjoin the court,
in contrast with the pillars that were spoken of in ver. 9, is
attached the notice, that the gate in the wider sense, or the
whole gate erection, was surrounded by the court, which could
not be otherwise, because it began at the wall surrounding the
court, and so was entirely built into it.
In ver. 15, on the statement of the greatest breadth and
height of the gate-buildings follows that of its length. Of the
fifty cubits that begin from the end of the breadth of the wall,
into which the stair is built, twelve go to the two thresholds,
eighteen to the three guard-rooms on each side, ten to the inter
vening walls, and ten to the porch. The door-opening in the
entrance is marked out as the starting-point of the measure
ment.1 A gate in the usual sense, a door (comp. ver. 11), was
neither at the entrance nor at the end of the whole structure.
We speak also of a rock-gate. The end is the end of the
porch, and the door-opening given with it towards the court.2
In ver. 16 is explained how the gateway receives its light,
— an important matter, as light is requisite for the sharp inspec
tion of the passengers. The gateway obtains its light by closed
windows in the guard-rooms and in the side-walls. The win-
1 Jinx"1, the reading attested by MSS., is an adjective formed from the
future of the verb nnx, to come, — a formation from the 3d fut. which is
very common. The Masoretes were puzzled by such a form, and substi
tuted at their own hand the new form nrpK.
2 In the definitions of the egress and the end the prepositions from and
to are omitted, as is often the case with the relative word when the rela
tion is clear.

CHAP. XL. 5-16. 369
dows could not be quite open. This would contradict the
nature of a gateway, which must have no other passable open
ing but the door watched by the guards. On the other hand,
that the closing can only be partial, only extend so far as to
prevent leaping through, lies in the design which the windows
serve. Windows completely closed would not be windows at
all. The admission of light must not be hindered by the
closing. In Solomon's temple, according to 1 Kings vi. 4, the
windows were closed by beams. How the closing is here
effected, is shown by the words " and in their pillars." These,
which were already mentioned in ver. 10, and here first receive
their definition, stood before the windows, so that only a small,
not passable, opening remained on both sides.1 The windows
closed by the pillars were not merely in the guard-rooms, in
which we are to suppose the open windows lying beyond the
cognizance of the prophet towards the court, through which
light entered, but also in the side-walls between the guard
rooms (and next the thresholds, vers. 22, 25), which are, in
fact, already mentioned in ver. 7, but which are here first
denoted by a term of art, the meaning of which, after vers.
7, 22, 25, cannot be doubtful. By these the light came direct
from the court. It is further mentioned 'that palms stood by
the pillars. That whole palms besides the pillars are meant,
and not ornaments of palm-leaf work on the pillars themselves,
appears from ver. 26. What these palms signify, is manifest
from the discussions in Append. Part ii. They indicate that
the gate leads to a building which is consecrated to the Lord
of creation. It corresponds with the merely introductory cha
racter of the gate, that the creation is here represented not by
the animal world, but by the lower region of the vegetable
kingdom, of which the palm is king. All other explanations
of the palms sever them from connection with the other passages
in the description of the temple, where the palms are insepar
ably connected with the cherubim.
1 Balmer-Rinck (Vision of the Temple by the Prophet Ezekiel, Basel, 58)
says, " Of the arrangement of pillars, by means of which the windows are
as it were latticed, an alabaster plate from Kuyunjik (Fergusson's Handbook
of Architecture, p. 180) gives a surprising example." It is conjectured by
Fergusson that the sculpture represents a palace of Samaria, Jerusalem, or
Van. 2 A

370 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.

CHAPTEE XL. 17-27.
Having arrived in the outer court through the east gate
built into it, the prophet here states what was further to be
said of it. He speaks in vers. 17, 18 of its chambers and
its pavement ; gives in ver. 19 the distance from the east gate
of the outer court to the east gate of the inner court, and
thus indirectly the measurements of the whole court; then
turns in vers. 20-23 to the north gate, and describes its rela
tions as corresponding to those of the east gate, and likewise in
vers. 24-27 to the south gate. The description of the outer
court by its gates is thus completed. For on the west side,
for reasons hereafter appearing, there was no gate.
Ver. 17. And he brought me into the outer court, and
behold chambers, and a pavement made for the court round
about : thirty chambers by the pavement. 18. And the pave
ment was by the side of the gates, over against the length of •
the gates, the lower pavement. 19. And he measured the
breadth from the point of the gate of the lower (court) to the
front of the inner court without, a hundred cubits the east and
the north. 20. And the gate which was toward the north of
the outer court, he measured in its length and in its breadth.
21. And its guard-rooms, three on this side and three on that ;
and its pillars and its side-walls were after the measure of the
first gate : its length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and
twenty cubits. 22. And its windows, and its side-walls, and
its palms, after the measure of the gate that is towards the
east ; and they went up into it by seven steps, and its side-
walls were before them. 23. And the inner court had a gate
over against the gate to the north and to the east; and he
measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits. 24. And he
brought me toward the south, and behold a gate toward the
south : and he measured its pillars and its side-walls by those-
measures. 25. And there were windows to it, and to its side-
walls round about, like those windows ; the length fifty cubits,
and the breadth five and twenty cubits. 26. And its ascent
had seven steps, and its sider walls were before them ; and it
had palms, one on this side and one on that side, by its pillars.
27. And the inner court had a gate toward the south; and

CHAP. XL. 17-27. 371
he measured from (this) gate to the gate toward the south a
hundred cubits.
The prophet sees (ver. 17) in the court, chambers and a stone
pavement. The chambers go before, and we thence conclude
that they lay near the surrounding wall which forms the
natural starting-point for the examination. It is to be sup-
1 posed that the chambers were attached immediately to the wall
behind, like the churches in many old towns ; or the wall
formed their back-wall, as in the house of Rahab. Of both
the chambers and the stone pavement it is said that they were
round about the court.1 This is to be understood with a
limitation. In the relation in which the chambers and pave
ment stand to the gates, the west side, which had no gate, can
not come into account. The number of the chambers is fixed
at thirty, and it is to be supposed that these are to be equably
distributed among the three gates, and that they, as far as
they extended, occupied the whole space from one gate to
another. That the chambers might be very spacious, is shown
by 1 Sam. ix. 22, where thirty persons sit at table in such a
chamber. The court was the abode of the whole people ; and
as it was uncovered, there must have been considerable apart
ments for refuge from storm and rain (Isa. iv. 6 ; Ezra x. 9 ;
John x. 23), in which respect the pavement with the chambers
come under one point of view : when it was dirty they retired
to the pavement, but especially to be able to respond to the
command to rejoice before the Lord (Deut. xii.), and to eat
and drink before Him (Luke xiii. 26). The chambers stand in
relation with the sacrificial kitchens afterwards mentioned. In
them were prepared the sacrificial feasts, to which, according
to the above passage of Deuteronomy, a considerable number
of persons were often invited,— sons, daughters, men-servants,
maid-servants, the poor Levites, and other personal miserabiles.
They were the agapce of the Old Testament, the type of the
agapce in the Christian church. Jeremiah wishes, according to
ch. xxxv., to entertain the whole house of the Rechabites with
wine in such a chamber of the temple. We have so little
reason to limit the chambers in point of space, that the question
is rather whether they did not consist of several stories, which
1 WV, the partic. masc. sing., does not agree with nasi, aud is to be
referred to the whole of the chambers and the stone pavement.

372 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
is the more probable, as it is expressly affirmed of the priests*
chambers. That every chamber was a separate building, al
though they joined one another, appears from this, that the
prophet could not otherwise have observed their number from
the outside. The chambers were beside the stone pavement;
they stood not upon it, but they opened on it. This is shown
by the preposition, which cannot have been put here negli
gently, and by the nature of the thing : we only pave under
the open air (2 Chron. vii. 3 and Esth. i. 6) ; and the prophet
could not see what was under the chambers, but only what was
before them. The pavement, according to ver. 18, was by the
side of the gates, over against the length of the gates : it filled
the whole space from where the chambers terminated to the
end of the gates ; so that if we give a depth of twenty-five
cubits to the chambers, twenty-five cubits were occupied by
the stone pavement. The lower pavement is so designated in
reference to the court of the priests, which was higher. The
elegans et pretiosum has been ascribed to this pavement by the
expositors of their own fancy. Ezekiel's whole description is
averse to such things. His whole view is to present a support
to weak faith despairing of the kingdom of God, to oppose to
the sorrowful "judged" a joyful "delivered."
The starting-point for the measurement in ver. 19 is the
end of the gate of the lower or outer court,1 — the end, the
boundary, of the inner court : the " without" belongs in reality
to the starting-point as well as to the end. The determination
here receives a necessary supplement in vers. 23 and 27. It
is there expressly said that the end was not the court itself, but
its gate, which is indeed evident of itself, as the door of the
inner court, which extended fifty cubits into the outer, already
formed an integral part of the inner ; and the angel would not
remain outside of the inner court when he had measured its
gate. The distance between the two gates is a hundred cubits.
To get the breadth of the whole court, the fifty cubits of the
outer gate and the fifty cubits of the inner gate must be added.
1 The fem. roirinn cannot refer to the gate, but only to the omitted
"ISD- It is characteristic for the priest Ezekiel, that " the lower" is with
him at once the lower court; comp. on ch. viii. 3, where "the inner"
likewise stands for the inner court, according to a breviloquence usual in
sacerdotal speech.

CHAP. XL. 17-27. 373
Thus we have two hundred cubits, still a very moderate extent.
The remark, "the east and the north" — that is, such measure
applies not merely to the gate in the east, but also to the gate
in the north, so that there also the distance from the end of the
outer court gate to the beginning of the inner court gate was a
hundred cubits — leads to a description of the north gate. In
this, as in the following description of the south gate, is ob
served the method which we usually find in the Old Testament,
and particularly in the first chapters of Genesis — for ex. in
ch. ii. 19, ix. 10 — in repetitions. These are never literal and
mechanical : several parts are omitted, as here the porch is
wanting ; in the south gate also the guard-rooms. In the
arrangement there is less completeness than in the fundamental
passage, which is thus not made superfluous, to which rather the
reader will have occasion to refer. Some new traits are added,
to give the charm of novelty to the repetition, and to prevent
dulness in the reader.
That the side-walls mentioned in ver. 21 are noticed a
second time in ver. 22, has its ground in this, that in the close
of this verse side-walls are spoken of to complete the descrip
tion of the east gate, which are not there expressly mentioned.
That description mentioned only those side-walls which were
between the guard-rooms. Here we see that the entrance
threshold also was provided with side-walls, which we must
expect beforehand, because it was within the court, and thus
could not be open, unless the whole design of the gate-structure
were to be defeated. After the remark, presenting also a new
trait, that the stair had seven steps, it is said, " and its side-
walls were before them : " before the stair, which was built
into the wall, was the threshold or step ; there, according to
this remark, the side-walls took their beginning. For it lies
obviously in this remark, that the side-walls began equally with
the end of the stair. " Over against the gate " (ver. 23) : the
gate is that of the outer court, with which the prophet has to
do. This gate at its end was separated from the beginning of
the gate to the inner court, as in the east gate, by a hundred
cubits. In vers. 24-27 the south gate. "By those measures"—
those given at the east gate and the north gate. " Windows
to it and to its side-wall^" (ver. 25) : the chief place of the

374 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
windows, according to the measured description of the east
gate, was the guard-rooms, whose occupants needed the light
for the discharge of their function. The side-walls also had
windows. Ver. 26 gives a new trait. In ver. 6 it was said
with surprising brevity, pointing to a fuller explanation to be
expected afterwards, " and by the pillar palms." This explana
tion we now receive. We learn that by every pillar stood two
artificial palms, which put it between them. Whether this
applies to all the pillars, or to the two main pillars in ver. 14,
which formed the completion of the whole structure, and
immediately adjoined the court, is not clear ; but the latter is
most probable. CHAPTEE XL. 28-37.
After the description of the outer court follows that of the
inner. First, the gates. As these are built in the main like
those of the outer court, all that is necessary is to bring out
this likeness. Yet still even here some elements are touched
upon for the first time that were passed over there ; for ex.
ver. 30 ; and a variation from the gates of the outer court is
discovered at least in the number of the steps.
Ver. 28. And he brought me to the inner court by the
south gate : and he measured the south gate by those measures;
29. And its guard-rooms, and its pillars, and its side-walls,
according to those measures : and there were windows to it,
and to its side-walls round about : the length fifty cubits, and
breadth twenty and five cubits. 30. And side-walls round
about, the length five and twenty cubits, and the breadth five
cubits. 31. And its side- walls were toward the outer court,
and palms by its pillars ; and its ascent had eight steps. 32.
And he brought me to the inner court toward the east : and
he measured the gate according to those measures. 33. And
its guard-rooms, and its pillars, and its side-walls, according to
those measures ; and there were windows to it, and to its side-
walls round about : the length fifty cubits, and the breadth five
and twenty cubits. 34. And its side-walls were toward the
outer court, and palms by its pillars, on this side and on that :
and its ascent was eight steps. 35. And he brought me to the
north gate, and measured according to those measures ; 36. It

CHAP. XL. 28-37. 375
had its guard-rooms, its pillars, and its side-walls, and windows
round about : the length fifty cubits, and the breadth five and
twenty cubits. 37. And its pillars toward the outer court, and
palms by its pillars, on this side and on that : and its ascent
was eight steps.
In the outer court the prophet had at length inspected the
south gate. This is the reason that in the inner court he
makes the beginning with the south gate, which was next the
south gate of the outer court, although the east gate here, as
in the outer court, was the principal one.
Ver. 30 gives the length and breadth of the side-walls, and
thus completes the former description. The length round
about the gate, or the gateway, so far as the side-walls reached
in their whole extent, is fixed at twenty-five cubits, the half
of the total length of the gateway amounting to fifty cubits.
This measurement is in harmony with the former statements.
The side-walls are expressly mentioned at the intervals between
the guard-rooms (comp. ver. 7 and ver. 16), the length of which
was fixed at ten cubits; then at the thresholds (vers. 22, 26),
which together make twelve cubits ; then there must have been
side-walls also at the porch, which, as such, must not have been
open at the sides. Yet the side- walls will have belonged to the
porch only in the strict sense, not to the space before the ter
minating pillars, which, as such, was separated from the proper
porch by this, as it seems, that it was open at the sides. Thus
of the porch only the six cubits in ver. 8 come into account.
From the twenty-eight cubits thus obtained is deducted the
space which the walls of the guard-rooms occupied. Such
walls there must have been specially for the guard-rooms, as
' they were broader than our side-walls, which therefore could
not take the place of side-walls of the guard-rooms. These
side-walls of the euard-rooms must be reckoned into the five
cubits, which, according to ver. 7, were between the guard
rooms, and into the six cubits of the threshold. If we reckon
these walls of the guard-rooms at three cubits on the whole, we
have our twenty-five cubits. The breadth is stated at five
cubits. They could not be narrower, not to contrast too much
with the guard-rooms. The breadth of the guard-rooms was
six and a half or seven and a half cubits, so that they pro
jected one and a half or two and a half cubits before the side

376 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
parapets ; comp. on ver. 13. As a bulwark of five cubits
must have been useless, we may suppose a wall on both sides
towards the gateway and the court, and a dark space within,
if we wish to draw the thread further where the prophet does
not decide.
Ver. 31 states further,, in reference to the side-walls, that
they went into the outer court, into which all the gates to the
inner court were built. Then he touches on the end toward
the inner court, the pillars with their palms, which in the inner
gate as in the outer enclosed the porch, and between which
they went forth into the inner court, and on the commence
ment of the gateway, which reached farthest into the outer
court, the stair. To this are given eight steps, in contrast
with the seven in the outer gate. As the number eight has
no import elsewhere in the Old Testament, it is here to be
regarded merely as an advance on the number seven, — a hint
of the superior dignity of the inner court, which, with its altar
of burnt-offering, rises still higher above the outer court than
this does above the profane exterior.
In vers. 32-34 the east gate. " And he brought me to the
inner court towards the east." A comparison with ver. 28
shows that this means where the east gate was. The gates of
the inner court belonged to it, although they lay without it in
the outer court. Hence the meaning is, he brought me from
the south gate of the inner court to its east gate. That such
is the explanation appears from ver. 35 : he brought me to the
north gate.
The north gate, in vers. 35-37, forms the close. To this
the prophet is brought last, because to it alone belonged the
notabilities of the inner court, to be described in the following
section, the arrangements for the slaughter of the victims, and
the preparation of their flesh. Ver. 37, as ver. 31, places the
pillars at the one end, and the stair at the other, over against it.
That the pillars in which the whole structure ended belonged
to the outer court (they occupied the two last of the fifty cubits,
which the gate-structure of the inner court reached into the
outer), it was the more suitable to remark, because they passed
immediately from these into the inner court. As the stair rose
eight steps above the outer court, the whole gateway naturally
must have been raised so far in regard to the outer court, so

CHAP. XL. 38-17. 377
that they entered at the end on a level into the inner court,
which was higher by the extent of the eight steps above the
outer court. All gets into confusion, if we forget that the
order of the several parts in the gates of the inner court was
exactly the same as in the gates of the outer court — stair, first
threshold, guard-rooms, second threshold, porch. There is not
the least tenable ground to depart from this order. If there
was to be a variation, the prophet must have set it forth in the
clearest and most indubitable terms.

CHAPTEE XL. 38-47.
In these verses we have what is noteworthy in the inner
court besides the gates : the arrangements regarding the victims
(vers. 38-43) ; the chambers for the singers (vers. 44-46) ; the
size of the court ; and lastly, its crown, the altar of burnt-
offering (ver. 47).
Ver. 38. And a chamber, whose door was at the pillars of
the gates : there they wash the burnt-offering. 39. And in
the porch of the gate two tables on this side, and two tables on
that, on which to slay the burnt-offering, and the sin-offering,
and the guilt-offering. 40. And at the side without, for him
that goeth up the way of the gate to the north, two tables ; and
on the other side of the porch of the gate, two tables. 41.
Four tables on this side, and four tables on that, by the side of
the gate ; eight tables on which they slaughtered. 42. And
four tables for the burnt-offering of hewn stones,1 a cubit and
a half long, arid a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high,
on which they lay the instruments with which they slay the
burnt-offering and the slain-offering. 43. And the ledges of a
hand-breadth are fastened within2 round about ; and on the
tables was the flesh of the offering. 44. And outside the inner
1 Luther, " were of hewn stones ;" afterwards, " on which they laid ;"
mistaking the import of the 1 in irWl, which serves to put the object of
this table in contrast with that of the table in ver. 41. Bottcher, " With
1 as for a new sentence after a pause of thought, thereupon— they shall
now," etc.
3 Luther, " bent inwards ;" whereas rOM refers to the tables which
stood within the gate-structure, in the porch itself, in opposition to the
tables without, beside the porch.

378 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
gates the chambers of the singers in the inner court, which
was at the side of the north gate, and tlieir front towards the
south : one at the side of the east gate, fronting towards the
north. 45. And he spake to me, This chamber, whose front is
toward the south, is for the priests, who keep the charge of the
house. 46. And the chamber whose front is toward the north,
is for the priests who keep the charge of the altar : these are
the sons of Zadok, who of the sons of Levi come near the Lord
to minister to him. 47. And he measured the court, a hundred
cubits long and a hundred cubits broad, squared ; and the altar
was before the house.
The description of the arrangements concerning the offer
ing, as they were placed in and by the north gate, begins in
ver. 38, with the chamber for washing the flesh, because this
lay most in advance. The prophet had already, in ver. 37,
reached the extreme end of the north gate, the two pillars"
which closed. To these^ he had opposed the stair, which
formed the beginning of the whole doorway. Here he returns
to the pillars occupying the place of the tower. Hard by these
lay the chamber for cleansing the flesh, the last stage which
the sacrifice had to pass through before it was laid on the altar.
The pillars are spoken of as a whole, although the door of the
chamber could only adjoin one of them. It was not de
signed to determine more exactly the situation of the chamber.
The pillars are characterized as gate-pillars, as distinguished
from other pillars in the interior of the gateway, by which the
windows were closed ; comp. ver. 16. By the gate is here
designated the gate-opening, as in ver. 15.1 A proper gate
could not be in the porch, the nature of which was to be open,
to form a space before the gate. The burnt-offering, as the
most excellent kind, here represents the whole class of offer
ings : in ver. 39, the sin-offering and the guilt-offering are
named along with it ; in ver. 42 the slain-offering ; and in ver.
43 stands the general name for all offering. According to
many, arrangements are described here, and in what follows,
that were found alike at all the gates. But there is no reason
1 D'HJJK'n, the gates, stands, with omission of the preposition, for at the
gates, as they were at the gates. The pillars only of a definite gate, the
north gate, are spoken of. But these are denoted in a generic way as
gate-pillars, to distinguish them from those in the interior.

CHAP. XL. 38-47. 379
for this assumption, as here the north gate only is spoken of :
the gate in ver. 39 refers to the expression, " And he brought
me to the north gate," in ver. 35 ; and in vers. 40 and 44 the
north gate is expressly mentioned. According to the old pre
scription of Moses, the offerings were to be slain " on the side
of the altar northward" (Lev. i. 11) ; and there, according to
the statements of the Talmud (Bottcher), the arrangements
for slaughtering continued in the later temple.
From the pillars at the end of the porch, beside which was
the chamber for cleansing the flesh, the consideration of the
arrangements for offering turns to the porch itself, in which
four tables stand for slaughtering — two on each side. The
slaughtering is here to be taken in a wide sense, so as to in
clude the whole preparation of the flesh for offering. Accord
ing to ver. 43, the flesh lay on these tables, and they were
provided with ledges, that in the separation nothing might fall
off. It appears that the proper slaughtering was performed
outside the porch ; and the proper slaughtering-tables were
those standing there, according to ver. 40. The communica
tion out and in was the easier, because the porches at their
ends had no side-walls. We have to suppose the tables placed
at the end, close to the egress into the inner court.
Four other tables stood, according to ver. 40, without, in
regard to him who went up to the door of the north gate. He
that passes the whole gateway is thus designated, because the
door was, for every one that entered the way, the chief point.
Thus it is meant that these tables lay outside of a position
taken in the interior of the gateway. The tables stand without
the porch, on both sides of it, — thus in the outer court, hard by
the boundary of the inner. This is the place where the slaugh
tering was done.
Ver. 41 sums up the tables named, for greater clearness :
there are eight of them in all— four on the one side of the
gate, two of them within and two without, and four on the
other. Besides these eight slaughter-tables, the prophet sees,
according to ver. 42, four other tables for the burnt-offering,
so designated because they also stand in relation, though more
distant, to the sacrifice, for depositing thereon the instruments
used in slaughtering— knives, etc. That the burnt-offering
stands here as a representative of offerings in general, is clearly

380 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
shown by the close of the verse, where burnt-offerings and
slain-offerings are named, which so often together denote all
kinds 'of offering; on which it is to be remarked, that to the
burnt-offering in a wide sense the sin-offering and guilt-offer
ing are reckoned, that have this in common with the burnt-
offering in a strict sense, that the offerer does not partake of
them, no communion is connected with them, as is the case in
the slain-offering. Those who have put in place of the burnt-
offering the stair, neglect the usage, and bring all into con
fusion. The whole apparatus for the offering is found at the
egress of the inner gateway, near its opening into the inner
court, in which the offerings were made. If we take away the
stair, the position of the four tables designed for the instru
ments is not precisely marked: but this is not necessary; it
follows at once of itself from their design. They must have
stood close by the proper slaughter-tables, that the instruments
might be at hand, one by each pair. These tables are of stone,
while the proper slaughter-tables were of wood, which was
suitable for cutting up the flesh. There are twelve tables in
all, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, and in
harmony with the number of the victims in Ezra vi. 17 and
viii. 35, — " twelve he-goats" and " twelve bullocks," after the
number of the tribes of Israel. In ver. 43 we have the borders
or ledges, with which the tables standing " within," inside the
porch, in contradistinction to those without (ver. 40), were pro
vided ; and certainly round about, so that the ledges went round
the tables, to keep the pieces when cut up from falling off. It
has been asked, " How was the ledge enclosure worth so many
words?" But the very going into details apparently so minute
showed how clearly and sharply the prophet in faith looked
into the riot-being as being, and was well fitted to draw away
the minds of the people from the fixed look at the smitten city.
We must indeed always keep in view the object of the prophet,
to set up an interim temple for the imagination, in which they
might expatiate as long as the real temple, and with it the
kingdom of God, lay in ruins. " And on the tables was
the flesh of the offering :" here, intentionally, at the end the
generic name of the offering, Korban, is placed, that we may
not be led into error by the designation of the whole of the
offerings by their prominent kinds in the preceding passage.

CHAP. XL. 38-47. 381
That the cells (ver. 44) in the inner court, destined for the
priests, are different from those already described in the outer
court, destined for the use of the people, is understood of itself.
That the singers are here so prominent, is explained by this,
that in the exalted position of the community of God more
ample material was given them for new songs, so that the
singing in the worship of the new temple must play a chief
part, as indeed the multiplication of the singers and musicians
under David stood connected with the advance which the people
of God had then made. According to Ps. lxxxvii., when the
future of salvation is come, the singers with the dancers say,
" All my springs are in Thee," that is, We praise Thee, O
Lord, as the Author of the great deliverance which we enjoy.
The second part of Isaiah, and its lyric echo in Ps. xci.-c, are
full of the thought, that in the time of salvation all shall sing
and play. Even in the times soon after the return from the
exile, singing revived in a degree that had not been since
David. In a long series of Psalms, from Ps. cvii. onwards, the
people thank their God for the blessing of restoration. Halle
lujah — this was then the word. The chambers of the singers
are generally faced toward the south. There was the entrance
of the temple-house, the chief place where the singers had to
perform (1 Chron. xvi. 37). The singers had this entrance
always before their eyes, to be able to observe it on the occasion
of their office. But a portion of the cells of the singers x lay
at the side of the east gate, with the front toward the north :
there in the court stood the altar of burnt-offering, where the
singers had to perform at the offering of the great national
sacrifices (1 Chron. xvi. 41). The chamber in ver. 45 denotes
a series of chambers. Of what kind the service was which the
priests had to perform in the temple, appears from ver. 44,
according to which the singers are here singly and solely con
cerned.2 " These are the sons of Zadok," etc. (ver. 46) : this
refers not merely to the singers, who had the charge at the
1 The masc. ins shows that we are not to think of a single cell, but a
set of cells.
2 Concerning the import of m»B>D "1DB>, comp. Christol iii. p. 629.
To keep the keeping of any one, or of his business, is to take care of him
or it. To keep the keeping of the house, is thus to take care or be studious
of his service in the house, to perform it. If any one, against the usage,

382 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
altar of burnt-offering, but also to those who had the charge as
singers in the temple. With the entire holy service, the sons
of Zadok had also the service of holy singing, whereby they
are not excluded, however, from calling in the aid of such
Levites as could sing. , The prophet afterwards (ver. 44 f .)
gives a fuller explanation concerning the sons of Zadok.
In ver. 47, the matter of the inner court is completed by
the statement of its dimensions. It was a square a hundred
cubits long and a hundred broad, in contrast with the three
hundred cubits of the outer court. To this is added the remark,
that in the inner court before the temple stood the altar of
burnt-offering, to be fully described in xliii. 13 f., which
formed the radiant point of the inner court.
After the consideration of the court, the prophet turns to
the description of the proper temple. This is remarkably dis
tinguished by its brevity from that of the court. In the de
scription of the temple of Solomon in our historical books,
the reverse is the case. Bahr, in The Temple of Solomon, p.
147, says : " For the character of the court in contrast with
the temple, the brevity, abruptness, and indefiniteness with
which both narratives, the books of Kings as well as those of
Chronicles, describe it, are very significant. While in the
temple the description goes partly into the minutest detail, and
states precisely even things apparently the most indifferent, as
the quality of the building-stone, the proportion of the several
entrances, the wood and the ornaments of the doors, in the
court most things are left undefined, the compass and size are
not fixed, and that which is necessary to form an idea of this
second chief part of the whole building is scarcely mentioned."
The problem has been explained in various ways. The simplest
explanation is this : The annals of Judah, from which our
historical books are here drawn, pass rapidly over the courts,
because they were known to every Israelite from childhood by
personal inspection. On the other hand, they were copious in
the description of the parts of the sanctuary inaccessible to the
explains the phrase of a supervision of the temple "or keeping watch in it,
he is in conflict with ver. 44, according to which we have here to do only
with the holy singers. Hence the phrase refers here only to the .service
which the priests had as singers in the temple, and in ver. 46 to the service
at the altar of burnt-offering.

CHAP. XL. 48, 49. 383
people. Ezekiel, who wrote for the people in exile, might
reckon, in regard to the proper temple, that the hints which he
gave regarding the sanctuary to be restored, would find an
ample supplement in the existing historical sources. On the
contrary, in the courts he was obliged to go more into detail,
if the hope of restoration was to make a deep impression on
the minds of his readers, w>ho had not, like himself, seen these
courts with their own eyes. That the reason of his method is
to be sought here, is evident from this, that in the description
of the proper temple, Ezekiel coincides often verbally with the
accounts derived from the annals of Judah in our historical
books, and by the merely allusive nature of his accounts, which
receive and are only to receive their meaning by comparison
with the historical books, almost expressly refers to them. Let
us compare, for ex. the close of ch. xli. 7. The obviously
intentional obscurity of the expression there can only be re
garded as an indirect reference. First, in
Ch. xl. 48, 49, The porch of the temple.— Ver. 48. And
he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured the
pillar of the porch, five- cubits on this side, and five .cubits on
that; and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this
side, and three cubits on that. 49. And the length of the
porch twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; and
(such was the breadth) at the steps by which they go up to
it; and there were columns by the pillars, one on this side,
and one on that.
The corner pillars of the porch had, according to ver. 48,
on both sides a thickness of five cubits. The gate had three
cubits on the one side, and three cubits on the other. It was
of the nature of the porch to be open, being an open approach
to a space that is or may be closed, which shelters from the
inclemency of the weather those who must wait for the opening.
A door is not mentioned here, as otherwise generally in the
closed rooms of the temple. The words " three cubits on this
side, and three cubits on that," indicate that an open space was
left in the midst. We are to conceive the matter thus : In the
porches of the court, that had a large thoroughfare, the whole
space within must have been open. It was otherwise in the
porch of the sanctuary, which the officiating priests only had

384 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
to enter. There the inaccessibility for the multitude, the odi
profanum vulgus et arceo, was figured by this, that the greater
space on both sides was cut off by a certain contrivance, pro
bably a grating, and in the midst only a free passage five
cubits wide, the half of that .in the porches of the courts, was
left. The grating probably did not take in the whole height
any more than the whole breadth, so that it did not hinder the
free view into the whole porch.
The length of the porch in ver. 49 corresponds to that of
the porch in Solomon's temple (1 Kings vi. 3), where exposi
tors, against the clear letter of the text, have often put the
breadth instead of the length, and then adopted the incongruity
that the porch was as broad as the house itself. The breadth
of the porch is here fixed at eleven cubits. This refers to the
open space. The whole breadth, inclusive of the corner pillars,
each five cubits broad, amounted to twenty-one cubits. The
breadth of eleven cubits here is not in contradiction to that of
ten cubits in the porch of Solomon's temple. According to ch.
xli. 2, the door of the sanctuary, to which the porch led, was
also ten cubits broad. The eleventh cubit here affords only
the space, for the posts of the door on both sides, so that in fact
the porch is here only ten cubits broad. The eleventh cubit
here is not essential, but serves another purpose, — is purely
accessory,1 as we must expect beforehand that the eleven will
return to a round number. The breadth of eleven cubits
applied to the stair that went up to it, no less than to the porch
itself. The number of steps in this stair is not given, as it was
in those of the outer and inner courts. But, according to ch.
xli. 8, the height must have come to six cubits. Accordingly
we may have fourteen steps in contrast with the seven steps of
porch of the outer court. As in the porch of the outer and
inner court, here also the corner pillars on both sides of the
porch are mentioned. This, however, is done quite in passing,
and it must be surprising that here the height -of these pillars
is not mentioned, as is done in ver. 4 in the case of the
corner pillars of the porch of the court. We expect to find
what is wanting in the historical books. For in the account of
Chronicles, derived from the annals of Judah, we are presented
1 So already Sturm : undecim cubitorum, vel ab initio poslis decern, nam
ab initio postis prxcipue latitudo numeranda.

CHAP. XL. 48, 49. 385
(2 Chron. iii. 4) with the statement that the porch (at its
highest point) was 120 cubits high, with which the statement of
Josephus (Arch. viii. 3, 2) is in harmony. This statement suits
well with the height of sixty cubits of the corner pillars of the
court in Ezekiel. The proportion in height agrees with the
thickness of the corner pillars, which in the court amounts only
to two cubits, here to five. The objections which have been
raised against the statement of Chronicles must vanish when it
is considered that art in the old Orient, and particularly in
Solomon's temple, is only the minister of religion. That which
Bahr (p. 198) says with respect to the two pillars Jachin and
Boaz, applies here also : " Their form has arisen from their
meaning : they are not lank, soaring, slender, but very thick,
enormously strong pillars, that measure twelve cubits in com
pass with only eighteen in height, — a form that can by no means
be called beautiful, but yet shows that art was here wholly in
the service of symbolism, and the beautiful was made subordi
nate to the expression of the religious idea." In a building
which was consecrated to the Lord of heaven, and was to effect
a connection between heaven and earth, the most emphatic
reference to heaven could not be wanting : as far as it was
possible for man, the head of the building must point to
heaven : humility, no less than pride, has need of a tower
whose top is in heaven (Gen. xi.). On both sides of the corner
pillars, that are connected architecturally with the porch itself,
stand, without external connection with the building, and quite
free, two columns, which are mentioned in so brief and signifi
cant a manner, that we perceive an almost express reference to
what is already otherwise known : if we disregard this, we can
make nothing of the two columns, and the prophet might have
left them altogether unmentioned. Every Israelite knew that
the two columns in such a place can only be the two celebrated
columns Jachin and Boaz in Solomon's temple raised from
ruin (1 Kings vii. 15 f.), which, as Bahr (p. 36 f.) has shown,
also received a free place beside the porch. These columns,
which the prophet himself had seen in their place, on which
his youthful fancy had no doubt dwelt with delight, were re
moved by the Chaldeans (Jer. Iii. 20 f.). Again in the spirit
he sees them in their old place. The import of these columns
cannot be doubtful. They were, as it were, the stone program
2 B

386 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
of the temple, and of the kingdom of God signified by it. They
signified what the people of God have in their God. Their
name shows this, in which, as usual, their nature is exhibited :
Jachin, " He (God) establishes (me) ;" and Bo.az, "In Him (am
I) strong." In harmony with their form, " cast of brass (comp.
on ver. 3), round, very thick, uniform to the top," they are a
figure of the unchangeable stability and strength of the king
dom of God, which was practically refuted only in appearance
by the Chaldean catastrophe. By the restoration, seen in vision,
this fact enters into its true light : it is shown that only He has
taken away stability and strength who bestowed them, because
the people had made themselves unworthy of His aid; it is
shown that the Chaldeans were only instruments in His hand.
In the porch are described only the entrance, the stair, the
corner pillars, the outstanding pillars on both sides. Where
the corner pillars terminate the side-walls probably came in, as
in the porch of the court.
After the porch of the house, the proper temple building,
follows now the house itself. First the measurements of the
entrance of the holy place ; then, in the second half of ch. xli. 2,
the length and breadth of itself.
Ch. xli. 1. And he brought me to the temple, and measured
the pillars six cubits broad on this side, and six cubits broad on
that, the breadth of the tent. 2. And the breadth of the door
ten cubits, and the sides of the door five cubits on this side, and
five cubits on that : and he measured the length of the temple
forty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.
The temple denotes in ver. 1, as in 1 Kings vi. 5 and else
where, not, as frequently, the whole of the temple building,
but the chief room, the nave of it, the holy place in contra
distinction from the most holy, to which the prophet passes in
ver. 3. The corner pillars of the entrance are on each side six
cubits, in contrast with the five cubits of the corner pillars of
the court. The strength (and corresponding height) of the
corner pillars is, according to Starck, to remind the entrants
what the King is who dwells in this temple. The words " (this
is) the breadth of the tent," do not mean that the twelve
cubits which the pillars occupy make the whole breadth of the
temple, which would be in contradiction with what immediately

CHAP. XLI. 1, 2. 387
follows, according to which the free space of the house alone
had a breadth of twenty cubits. The words point out rather
that the two pillars form the ends of the breadth of the temple,
so that we have the whole breadth, if we measure from the end
of the one to the end of the other, in which measurement the
twenty cubits of the free space in ver. 2 are included. The
temple-house, holy and most holy together, is designated an
tiquely as " the tent," because the sanctuary originally, and for
a series of centuries from Moses to Solomon, had had the form
of a tent. In commemoration of the very brief sojourn of the
people in tents, that came to an end with the conquest of
Canaan, the houses of the Israelites were several times desig
nated as tents (Josh. xxii. 8 ; 1 Kings xii. 16). But the prophet
had here a definite reason for speaking 6f the breadth of the
tent, and not of the temple. He had before briefly put the
tent in a strict sense for the holy place. But here the breadth
of the whole building was to be given, inclusive of the most
holy places to which the same breadth is ascribed in ver. 4,
while the length in the holy and the most holy place is dif
ferent. The breadth of the door of the house is in ver. 2 fixed
at ten cubits. Adding to this the two side-walls of the door,
five cubits each, of which half a cubit on each side is destined
for the door-posts (comp. on xl. 49), we have a total breadth
of twenty cubits, the half of the forty cubits' length of the
holy place. As the length and breadth agree with the temple
of Solomon, the statement of its height, thirty cubits (1 Kings
vi. 2), will also apply to the temple of Ezekiel. The breadth
is, besides, only that of the open space. The total breadth,
including the pillars on both sides, amounted to thirty-two
cubits. The agreement of the temple of Ezekiel with that of
Solomon, where we have materials for the comparison of the
two, points out to us that essential agreement will also be found
where, as in the courts, the comparison cannot be instituted,
because the descriptions of the temple of Solomon are incom
plete. But that the prophet in his measurements retains the
number of cubits in the .temple of Solomon, although his cubit
was different from that employed in Solomon's temple, being
a hand-breadth greater, that he does not think of reducing the
number of cubits to the former standard, proves how little the
description of the new temple was meant to be realistic. If it

388 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
concerned him only to give a firm hold to the future hopes of
the people ; if he wrote not for the architects of the future, but
for the believers of the present ; if it concerned him only, at a
time when the stone temple was fallen, to erect an interim
temple for the imagination, he must have reckoned in whole
numbers, and a reduction of the proportion would have been
paltry and confusing. The design to represent the temple of
the future as greater than that of the past, need not be ascribed
to the prophet. For this purpose the difference is too slight.
A sixth part more or less is nothing in such matters.
In vers. 3, 4, the inmost part of the temple, or the most
holy place. Ver. 3. And he went inward, and measured the
pillar of the door, two cubits ; and the door, six cubits ; and
the breadth of the door, seven cubits. 4. And he measured
its length, twenty cubits ; and the breadth, twenty cubits,
before the temple : and he said unto me, This is the most holy
place. " And he went" (ver. 3) : Ezekiel might as priest follow the
measuring angel into the holy place, but not into the most
holy, which was accessible only to the high priest. Here,
therefore, he beholds the taking of the measure only from
without. The whole breadth of the door is seven cubits, be
cause one cubit for the posts is added to the six cubits for the
door. The opinion that the six cubits are the height of the
door, has been already refuted by Villalpandus. The pillars
on both sides, with the door-posts and the door, include a
breadth of eleven cubits. It is not said how the most holy
was separated from the holy place in the remaining nine
cubits. But it lies in the nature of the thing that it was
separated. For otherwise, wherefore the door? Probably the
separation was by a curtain. It is a question whether the
pillars, each at two cubits, stood beside the door-posts, or at both
sides of the enclosing wall, so that on each side the half of the
nine cubits was between them and the door-posts. At all events
here, as in ch. xl. 16, pillars in the interior of the building are
spoken of, such as stood within " the wall of the house" (ver. 5).
The measurements given in ver. 4 agree again with those of
Solomon's temple. The temple denotes here also the holy
place. The most holy lay before the holy in its whole breadth.

CHAP. XLI. 5-11. 389
In vers. 5-11, the sheds of the temple, or the sacristies for
the sojourn of the priests before they entered upon their func
tions (Luke i. 8, 9), for keeping all holy things, vessels,
dresses, antiquities (1 Kings vii. 51, viii. 4 ; 2 Kings xi. 10) ;
then the open spaces on this side and on that side of the
enclosing wall.
Ver. 5. And he measured the wall of the house, six cubits;
and the breadth of the side-chamber, four cubits round about
the whole house. 6. And the side-chambers were chamber on
chamber three, and thirty times ; and they came to the wall,
which was to the house for the side-chambers round about,
that they might have hold, and they had not hold in the wall
of the house. 7. And it was broader, and wound about still
upward round about the house; for the winding of the house
was still upward round about the house : therefore there was
breadth to the house upwards, and from the lowest they went
up on the highest by the middle. 8. And I saw the height of
the house round about : the foundations of the side-chambers
were a full reed, six cubits its story. 9. The breadth of the
wall, which was for the side-chamber without, was five cubits,
and the place that was left free. This is the side-building of
the house. 10. And between the chambers was a breadth of
twenty cubits round about the whole house. 11. And the
door of the side-building was toward the free place, one door
toward the north and one door to the south : and the breadth of
the free place was five cubits round about.
The thickness of the wall of the temple is stated in ver. 5 to
be six cubits, the breadth of the side-building, which surrounded
the temple on all three sides,1 four cubits. Thus we obtain as
the breadth of the whole building, including the side-building,
which serves to give greater fulness to the building, and make
it more respectable, 40 cubits : 20 cubits for the open room, 12
for the walls, and 8 for the side-buildings. Ver. 6 says that
the side-chambers had three stories, one above the other.2 It
is added that the side-chambers adjoined the wall of the temple,
1 That of the four sides only three come into account, and the fourth is
for obvious reasons omitted, is intimated by the threefold repetition of the
2 It is literally chamber on chamber. But that they are to be not one
beside but one above another, is manifest from what follows, and could not

390 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
which enclosed the side-chambers, so that the beginning of the
breadth of the side-chambers coincided with the end of the
wall; and further, that they were connected with this wall,
and by this connection had their hold, yet so that they were
not inserted in the wall of the house itself. 1 Kings vi. 6
gives the requisite commentary. It is there said in reference
to the temple of Solomon and its side-chambers : " He had
made rebates to the house around without, that they, might not
be fastened in the walls of the house." On this Keil observes :
In the temple wall, when the joists of the several stories were
to be applied, ledges were made, so that the ends of these joists
rested on the ledges, and did not enter the proper wall of the
house. 1 Kings vi. 10 is also to be compared, " And it (the
chamber) rested on the house with joists of cedars ; " on which
Keil says, " By the cedar-joists of the several stories, which
rested on the ledges of the temple-wall, the side-building took
hold of the house : it was firmly connected with the temple-
house, without interfering injuriously with the sanctuary." In
the exposition of ver. 7, it must be laid down as the first rule,
that we do not get into contradiction with the description of
the side-building in Solomon's temple. For all clear and certain
statements of Ezekiel essentially agree with those given there ;
and the more subordinate the side-chambers are, the more
improbable it is that Ezekiel has here given a quite new con
struction, — the more obvious is the assumption that the side-
chambers, with which were probably connected the fondest
associations of his youth (we have only to think of Samuel,
who, as well as Eli, had his sleeping apartment in such a
chamber in the tabernacle), appeared to him in vision in their
early form. Now, according to 1 Kings vi. 6, the breadth of
the under story was five cubits, that of the middle six, and
that of the highest seven ; and this difference arose from the
thickness of the temple-wall, which was six cubits below, and
diminished first one and then two cubits.1 Now the words
antecedently be doubtful to any one acquainted with the former temple.
The remark of Bottcher, "^x for ^j? here, where the rise of one story
above another is concerned, would be more than negligent," does not
aPPlyt because the very inexactness is an indirect reference to the existing
description of Solomon's temple, which was accessible to the reader.
1 Starck on our passage : Murus sex cubitos habuit, sed quo altior ascen-

CHAP. XLI. fi-11. 391
here agree quite well with this, if they were scarcely intelligible
without this commentary. In ascending, a continual change
took place in the stories,1 which consisted indeed in the increas
ing breadth of the chambers.2 The last words of the verse,
" And from the lowest they went up on the highest by the
middle," have the key to their meaning in 1 Kings vi. 8,
"And by a winding stair they went up to the middle, and
from the middle to the third." 3 The winding stair here is not
expressly mentioned. It must be transferred from the former
description. This therefore presupposes the stair. Hence it
is plain that, by the breadth increasing above, space was gained
for the stair. In ver. 8, the height of the house here spoken
of, the side-building, is given. The socle has a height of a
whole reed — whole, this is here added, because the elevation
above the ground might easily be supposed less. If this be
the elevation of the side-building, it must also be that of the
proper temple, the entrance of which, it is self-evident, was not
on level ground. With the statement of the size, here corre
sponds the mention of the stair in ch. xl. 49. Then follow
three stories (in the original it is properly joints, xiii. 18),
each of six cubits. According to 1 Kings vi. 10, every story
in Solomon's temple had a height of five cubits. There is no
debat, tenuior fiebat, et cubicula in illis spatiis spatium lucrabatur, ut hmc
squali linea essent exterius, sed interius tamen latiores uno altero, quia nempe
murus illis locum ampliorem concedebat.
1 33D, to turn, Zech. xiv. 10 ; Piel, change, alter, 2 Sam. xiv. 20 ;
Hiphil, change, 2 Kings xxiii. 22.
2 Bottcher : nam refers not to Tip, ver. 6, where this was not the
subject, but, from 1 Kings vi. 6, necessarily to the internal enlargement of
the side-chambers, of which it is said impersonally, " and it widened."
So mwi. He further remarks : n^>J?K3^ is pictorially reduplicated in that
which is continued upwards ; and so the farther up, the more enlarge
ment and alteration.
8 The defectiveness of the expression is intentional, and is an indirect
reference to the earlier description, from which the meaning is to be
learned. In the under story the preposition is quite wanting, which,
according to the whole style of this local section in Ezekiel, creates not the
least difficulty. In nftyrb it is quite generally expressed, that the middle
story also comes into account, instead of saying definitely, that the way
from the lowest to the highest lay through it. And we only arrive at the
certain understanding of the rby, one goes up, when we refer to the
lV in the book of Kings.

392 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
difference, as here probably the floor and the roof are in
cluded. If, in the statement of the height of the temple in
1 Kings vi. 3, the socle and the upper chambers (1 Chron.
xxviii. 11 ; 2 Chron. iii. 8) were to be included, for which 1
Kings vi. 20 speaks, according to which the most holy place,
in harmony with its length and breadth, had only a height of
twenty cubits, the side-building reached the height of the
temple ; if, on the contrary, the thirty cubits in 1 Kings vi. 2
be exclusive of the socle and the upper chambers, the temple
exceeded the side-building by twelve cubits. We prefer the
former view. Ver. 9 gives five cubits for the breadth of the
outer wall of the side-building, and remarks that beyond this
breadth that of the free place comes into account, which ex
tended along the side-building, made it accessible, and gave it
light. After this brief allusion to the free space, of which the
prophet speaks more fully in ver. 11, but to which reference
had to be made here, lest the breadth, in which the free space
should have been included, might be too hastily summed up,
the description of the side-building itself is closed with the
words, " (This is) the side-building of the house," as it is the
manner of Ezekiel to give such limiting conclusions (comp. for
ex. i. 11); and he now still turns in vers." 10 and 11 to the free
spaces which were connected with the side-buildings.1 First
in ver. 10 the greater free space, twenty cubits broad, that lies
between the outer wall of the side-stories and the chambers to
be described first in ch. xiii. 1 f., and indeed on all the three
sides of the temple : " between the chambers " stands for
between the side-building spoken of at the end of ver. 9, and
the chambers. Then in ver. 11 the smaller free space, five
cubits broad, between the side-building and the outer wall
enclosing it. If we add to the already obtained breadth of
forty cubits for the temple and the side-building, the five
1 The name njD, left free, is borne only by the relatively narrow free
space between the wall of the side-building and the enclosing wall. In
this narrow lane (five cubits broad) the idea of the space left open comes
out more sharply by the opposition to the building on both sides. That
the two free spaces, the narrow and the wide, cannot immediately border
on one another, but must be separated by the enclosing wall, is understood
of itself, and is also implied in the way in which the narrow free space is
spoken of in ver. 9, but still more definitely in ver. 11, according to which
the doors of the side-building open into the free space.

CHAP. XLI. 12-14. 393
cubits of the inner free space on both sides, and therefore ten
cubits, the five cubits of wall thickness on both sides, makino-
also ten more, and the twenty cubits of free space on both sides,
making forty more, we have 100 cubits for the total breadth,
in harmony with ver. 14.
In vers. 12-14 the prophet gives the measurements of a new
building, which rises to the west of the temple, and connects
therewith the statement of the total length and total breadth
of the temple-house, which results from summing up the former
statements regarding the measurements of the several parts.
The outer court encloses on three sides — east, south, and north —
a space 300 cubits long and 100 cubits broad, that falls into
three parts, each 100 cubits long. The inner court forms the
eastern part, the temple-house the middle, and the building
here described, which abuts on the western enclosure of the
outer court.
Ver. 12. And the building which was before the gizrah
(off-space), on the side of the west, was seventy cubits broad ;
and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about,
and its length ninety cubits. 13. And he measured the house,
a hundred cubits long ; and the gizrah, and the building, and
its walls, a hundred cubits long ; 14. And the breadth of the
front of the house, and of the gizrah toward the east, a hundred
cubits. The space on which the building to be measured in ver. 12
stands, is designated the gizrah. In this name the design and
import of the building are given. Gizrah means the cut-off,
separate, the separate place, the off-place or off-room.1 The
place and the building thereon serve negatively the same pur
pose which the temple serves positively. If this is to retain its
dignity and sanctity, a place must be assigned whither all un
cleanness is removed; which was the more necessary, as in
the holy areas, especially on festivals, many thousands, yea
myriads of men, remained the whole day (Ps. lxxxiv. 11), held
their intercourse and their meals, and rejoiced " before the
1 LXX. to *\-xokomov ; Aq. and Sym. separation. The corresponding
rniJ stands in Lev, xvi., of the place to which the buck consecrated to
Azazel is sent away— the wilderness, in opposition to the cultivated land.
The line of cultivation forms a sharp boundary.

394 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
' Lord."1 Already in the books of Moses is found the order for
setting apart a place for such a purpose outside the camp,
which corresponded to the temple with its courts, and the in
junction that this place is to be kept clean, which is laid down.
as a religious duty (Deut. xxiii. 13, 14). That there was a
building for this purpose near the temple of Solomon, appears
from 2 Kings xxiii. 11, according to which the stabling of the
horses, which the idolatrous king had consecrated to the sun,
were in this building. According to 1 Chron. xxvi. 18, this
building lay quite, as here, to the west of the temple. Accord
ing to 1 Chron. xxvi. 16, the. gate which led to this building
was called the refuse-gate ; and from this gate a street led
to the city on the west, which probably served for carrying
away.2 Even now in the East, in the churches and mosques,
are found the most extensive arrangements for this purpose, to
concentrate the impurities in a place assigned to them, and
separate them from the holy cities. The building is described
as lying to the west side, in opposition to the temple, which
lay east of the boundary line. The building formed the close
westward. There it extended to the outer enclosing wall of
the court, and by a gate built in this had its egress into the
city.- The breadth of the building is fixed at seventy cubits.
The walls contain five cubits on both sides. Twenty cubits
therefore remain, ten on each side for the entrances and the
galleries (ver. 15). In length, and therefore from east to west,
the building filled the whole extent of the gizrah. This
amounted to 100 cubits. Of these, the building filled ninety
cubits, and the walls at both ends ten cubits. The gizrah was
equal in length and breadth to the temple-house. We have
already shown that the latter was 100 cubits broad. The
1 The gizrah must have had access to the outer court, by which it was
bounded on the south and north. The arrangements are too extensive for
the priests alone.
2 The name TTlB, which this building bears in 2 Kings xxiii. 11, or
"ia"ID, as it is called with hardened form in Chronicles, is derived from
TIB, to split, rend (Ps. Ixxiv. 13 ; Isa. xxiv. 19), and denotes, quite like
gizrah, localities that are separated from others by a sharply defined
boundary line. In the Targums and the Talmud occurs jiTHD, de suburbiis
locisque urbis vicinis, of all that is separated by the boundary hue of the
wall from the towns, then of islands which are severed from the mainland
by the boundary line of the sea.

CHAP. XLI. 15-26. 395
length of 100 cubits amounts thus : six cubits the thickness of
the walls of the sanctuary (ver. 5) ; sixty cubits the holy place
and the most holy ; four cubits the side-building in the west ;
five cubits the free space between the side-building and the
surrounding wall ; five cubits this surrounding wall ; twenty
cubits the free space bordering this surrounding wall ; and
therefore 100 cubits from the end of the court to the gizrah.
After stating the measurements of the buildings, the pro
phet in vers. 15-26 gives a series of observations which he
made upon them.
Ver. 15. And he measured the length of the building in
front of the gizrah which was behind it, and its galleries, on
this side and on that, a hundred cubits, and the inner temple,
and the porches of the court ; 16. The thresholds, and the
closed windows, and the galleries round about for all three,
over against the threshold a boarding of wood round about,
ahd from the ground to the windows, and the windows were
covered ; 17. On that which was above the door, and to the
inner house and outside, and on the whole wall round about,
within and without, were measures. 18. And there were made
cherubim and palms, and a palm between a cherub and a
cherub ; and the cherub had two faces ; 19. And the face of
a man was toward the palm on this side, and the face of a lion
toward the palm on that side, made on the whole house round
about. 20. From the ground to above the door were cherubim
and palms made: and (this is) the wall of the temple. 21.
The temple had a square post, and in the front of the temple
the view was as the view. 22. The altar of wood was three
cubits high, and its length two cubits ; and it had its corners,
and its length and its walls were of wood : and he said unto
me, This is the table that is before the Lord. 23. And the
temple and the sanctuary had two doors. 24. And the doors
had two leaves, two turning leaves ; the one door had two, and
the other had two leaves. 25. And on them, on the doors of
the temple, were made cherubim and palm's, as they were made
on the walls ; and a step of wood was in front of the porch
without. 26. And closed windows and palms were on this
hand and on that, on the sides of the porch, and on the side-
chambers of the house, and the steps.

396 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Ver. 15 recapitulates. Beginning from the building which
was last measured, the erection in the gizrah, and proceeding
thence to the porches of the court, with which the description
had commenced, he repeats that the angel has measured all
the buildings, to connect therewith the supplementary notices
to be given. Yet we have no mere repetition. The prophet
here inserts something that serves to define more exactly what
goes before. First, in elucidation of what is said in ver. 12,
he gives once more the situation of the building in the gizrah.
It lay in front of the gizrah ; but this front was the back
front, in harmony with ver. 12, according to which the build
ing lay before the gizrah on the west side, which was the
hinder side : in the forefront of the gizrah on the east lay
the temple, between which and the western building the gizrah
formed the boundary line. Then he intimates that the build
ing in the gizrah had on both sides passages or galleries.1 This
statement fits into that which is said in vers. 12, 14. Accord
ingly, of the 100 cubits in the breadth of the gizrah from south
to north, only eighty cubits were occupied by the proper building,
so that on both sides, south and north, ten cubits remained over.
Here we learn that these ten cubits were not an open street,
but were occupied with a passage or gallery. By the inner
temple is designated the whole temple-building, the holy place
and the most holy, in opposition to the doubled outwork of
the building in the gizrah and the courts, the whole of which are
called " the court." In ver. 16 the verb " he measured " is to
be supplied from ver. 15. All that is mentioned in this verse
is new, except the closed windows (xl. 16), which, however,
are explained at the close of the verse by a more intelligible
expression : the passages were previously mentioned only in
reference to the building in the gizrah. It is common to all
that is mentioned in this verse, that it is viewed from without,
although in the wainscoting the glance penetrates into the
interior. The sills are naturally door-sills : window-sills are
1 The LXX. rendered the word Qipinx — occurring only here in vers.
15, 16, and in ch. xlii. 3, 4 — in the latter place by ¦Kiota-rv'hov, colonnade ;
the Vulg. by porticus. The meaning passage, gallery, is demanded by
ch. xlii. Here also the circumstance that the object spoken of is measurable,
in the same way as the building itself, and also the correspondence between
the statement here, and that in vers. 12, 14, lead to the same conclusion.

CHAP. XLI. 15-2G. 397
not known to the Old Testament. We must the rather expect
the thresholds to be mentioned here, as the posts are spoken of
in ver. 21. Of the passages it is said that all three had them,
— namely, the three buildings named in ver. 15, the buildino-
in the gizrah, the temple, and the porches of the courts.
We have already seen when they were applied in the gizrah.
In the temple their place cannot be doubtful — the space
of twenty cubits, that according to ver. 10 went round the
temple on all sides except the east, where the porch was. That
this space was no bare street we must expect beforehand, as it
is considered an appendage of the temple, and included in its
dimensions ; and this is the more natural, as the designation
of the "free" or unbuilt "space" (in ver. 11) is restricted
to the street before the side-building, and not extended to this
space. The passages in the porches of the courts we conceive
most simply as covered galleries, that led from the porch of
the outer court to the gate of the inner court, and from the
porch of the inner court to the altar of burnt-offering and the
temple, perhaps also from the one outer gate to the other.
That there were such passages in Solomon's temple, appears
from John x. 23, and Josephus, Arch. xx. 9, 7. " Over against
the threshold a boarding of wood : " this can refer only to the
ground floor, which was seen when one looked over the threshold
into the sanctuary. In Solomon's temple also the ground
floor was boarded, as were also the walls (Bahr, Solomoiis
Temple, p. 24). To the latter refers the expression, " and (the
wooden boarding was) from the ground to the windows." x As
the wooden boarding obviously covered the whole walls in
Solomon's temple, we must assume that the windows above
were fitted in the roof, as in the ark, according to Gen. vi. 16.
Thus we escape the difficulty, that the wing-building was, at
the sides, probably equal in height to the temple. If any one
insists that the windows were in the sides, he must either
1 The omission of the preposition before p^n has not the least difficulty,
according to the general style of the prophet, and especially in these topo
graphical sections that abbreviate as much as possible. Obviously corre
sponding is Y^KiVD in ver. 20. If we deny the omission of the preposition,
the sense is that the windows reached to the ground ; which is very im
probable, and does not agree with the words, as nobody wishing to express
such a sense will say that the ground reached to the windows.

398 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
suppose that the temple was higher than the wing, and the
windows were quite above it, or that the windows opened into
the wings, and received their light through corresponding
windows in the outer wall of these. Both assumptions have
something perplexing. The covering of the windows can only
have been partial. How it was effected is not explained, as
it was in the windows of the porch (ch. xl. 16). But 1 Kings
vi. 4 gives the supplement, according to which it was effected
by bars laid across. The upper chambers of Solomon's temple
are perhaps connected with the windows. Ver. 17 says that
wherever one turned in the sacred edifice, from one end to the
other, within and without, all was arranged according to
measure, although it would lead too far to give these measures
in detail : it was a house worthy of God, who has wisely
arranged all things in His creation (Ps. civ. 24), and nothing
is left to caprice or chance. The space over the door, not
the door itself, forms the starting-point, because the measures
of this were already given. The inner house, the house in the
interior from end to end, forms the contrast to the space over
the door of the sanctuary. To this again is opposed the outer,
the outside of the building. The walls come into account on
their two sides, the inner and the outer.
In vers. 18-20 the decoration of the walls of the temple
with cherubim and palms. Tnese were found also in the
temple of Solomon (1 Kings vi. 29 ; Bahr, p. 24). There are
carved works in the temple, the destruction of which by the
Chaldeans is lamented in Ps. Ixxiv. 6 ; and now they are here
again. Theyindicate that the house is dedicated to the God
of the whole terrestrial creation, to Him to whom the whole
work belongs which is described in Gen. i. ; not to a national
god of limited power, but to Him who spake and it was
done. The faces of the cherub look to the palms, to indicate
that all creation, animate and inanimate, is a whole — a har
monious work of the creative power of God. Of the four
faces of the cherub only two could appear here, as we have
to do not with statues, but with figures, that can only present
one side. If the whole animal world were to be denoted by
one representative, the lion would be the most suitable. The
wild beast denoted by the lion bears pre-eminently the name of
the living thing, in distinction from the cattle, in which a

CHAP. XLI. 16-26. 399
lower energy of life appears. The cherubim and the palms,
according to ver. 20, extended from the ground to the space
above the door ; this represents the upper part of the wall
of the house. If they were applied above the entrance-door,
they would naturally, where no door was, fill the whole space
from the ground or the floor to the roof. The words " and
(this is) the wall of the temple " finish the subject of the wall
of the temple and its decoration, and lead to other matters :
comp. on the close of ver. 9.
Of the front of the temple, the prophet in ver 21 describes
only the door-posts, — an ideal unity which includes under it a
material duality. This is described as squared,1 the chief form,
which meets us everywhere in the temple of Ezekiel, as in that
of Solomon (Bahr, p. 97). All the rest — the door itself, the
threshold (ver. 16), the wall, the porch at the entrance — was
already mentioned, so that the prophet only saw on review
what he had seen before. That the words " and the front of
the house " (omitting the preposition for " in the front) (was)
" the view as the view," compare a new view with a former
one, which the prophet had had, is the simplest sense, and is
put beyond a doubt by the corresponding parallel in ch. xliii. 3.
In ver. 22 the altar of incense. It is described as the altar
(of) wood, in opposition to the brazen altar of burnt-offering,
which is to be described later still. The gold plating is not
mentioned here, as in Solomon's temple (1 Kings vi. 20), as a
deep silence is generally observed by Ezekiel concerning gold,
which plays so great a part in the description of Solomon's
temple. In the floor also, and the walls, mention is only made
of the wooden boarding, not of the gold with which it was
overlaid in Solomon's temple. Temple and city should be
built again in " troublous times" (Dan. ix. 25),— a remarkable
parallel between the two prophets^ Zechariah, who prophesied
after the return, joins these as a third, in whom the Lord in
ch. iv. 10 admonishes not to despise the day of small things.
The dimensions of the altar of Solomon are not given. Those
here given are without doubt borrowed from it. They suit
the enlargement of the measurements, as they are found in the
temple of Solomon, compared with the tabernacle. There the
1 " A post of the square" is a square post. The square is, like many
adjectives, made independent.

400 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
altar of incense was two cubits high and one cubit broad.
" Its length and its walls of wood :" the length can only be
that of the top of the altar. The corners of the altar are the
elsewhere so-called horns of it, into which it ran at the corners,
and which formed as it were its head. The altar is designated
as the table or board before the Lord, because that which is set
on it — the incense, denoting the prayers of the saints (Ps.
cxli. 2 ; Eev. v. 8, viii. 3) — is regarded as a spiritual food, which
the people present to tlieir heavenly King.1 The altar appears
as the table of the Lord also in ch. xliv. 16. The offering
appears as the food of God, Mai. i. 7. Not without cause is
the altar in 1 Kings vii. 48 compared with the table of shew
bread : the bread laid on the latter denoted the spiritual
nourishment which the people are to present to their heavenly
King, which is good works. In Matt. xxi. 18, 19, Jesus
hungers after the fruit of the fig-tree, which signifies the
Jewish people. From the altar of incense the supplementary
description, which is bound to no systematic order, turns to the,
doors. It is first said in ver. 23, that the holy place and the
most holy had each a door of two doors, that is, a door with
two leaves. The most holy cannot in itself be denoted by the
holy place ; but it may, after the temple in the strict sense,
the great room of the temple, has gone before. Of the entire
holy space, only the most holy then remains ; and this might
be the rather designated the holy, as it is in respect of the great
room pre-eminently the holy. Ver. 24 says that the two door-
leaves of the two entrances were again divided into two parts,
that the whole, or some part, might be opened as occasion
required : in a door ten cubits wide, such a division was very
suitable to facilitate the opening. The two parts of the door-
leaves are described as turning or revolving,2 because they
could be folded or unfolded. According to ver. 25, there were
cherubim and palms in the great room of the temple, on the
doors no less than on the walls. It is also said that the porch
had a wooden step.3 Ver. 26 dwells still further on the porch.
1 Comp. on John xxi. 5, 10, and my treatise on The Day of the Lord, p. 52.
2 Comp. 3D1D in ver. 7.
3 ay is in 1 Kings vii. 6, " a threshold-like piece, a step or perron ;"
comp. Thenius and Keil. Ezekiel here first uses the older form. Then
for explanation he puts the form current in his time at the end of ver. 26.

CHAP. XLII. 1-9. 401
It had closed windows, like the guard-rooms of the gate at the
outer court (xl. 16), and like the temple itself (xli. 26). The
porch, and likewise the wings, take the character of the sub
ordinate from this, that only palms are figured on them, and
not cherubim also (comp. on ch. xl. 16). In the ' creation,
proceeding from the lower to the higher, the vegetable king
dom, represented by the palm, was in existence before the
animal kingdom, represented by the cherubim. The words at
the close, " and the steps," as much as to say, " and besides,
the steps also are to be noticed in the porch" (comp. ver. 25),
place the extreme end to the east, over against the extreme
end to the west, the gizrah, with which the section in ver. 15
began. In ch. xlii. 1-9, the description of a building destined for
the priests in the outer court, that immediately adjoins the
gizrah on the north, and runs parallel with its whole length.
We must beforehand expect that a description of buildings
destined for so numerous a priesthood will follow. For the
chambers, which according to ch. xl. 17 adjoined the enclosing
wall in the outer court, were destined for the people. The
chambers in the inner court, mentioned in ch. xl. 44, belong
only to the priestly singers. The cells in the wings of the
temple, however, afforded, if they come here at all into account,
at all events only a temporary sojourn for the officiating priests.
There is as yet altogether wanting a proper dwelling-place for
the priests, a great number of whom must have remained the
whole day in the temple.
Ver. 1. And he brought me forth into the outer court,
the way toward the north, and took me into the chamber
which is over against the gizrah, and which was before the
building toward the north. 2. Before the length of a hundred
cubits the door toward the north, and the breadth fifty cubits.
3. Over against the twenty of the inner court, and over against
the pavement of the outer court, passage was against pas
sage, in the chambers of the third story. 4. And before the
chambers a walk ten cubits broad inward, by a way of one
cubit, and their doors toward the north. 5. And the upper
chambers are shortened ; for the passages consumed building
space from them, from the lowest and the middle. 6. For
2 C

402 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
they are three-storied, and have no pillars, as the pillars of the
courts : therefore is (space) taken away from the lowest and
from the middle, from the ground. 7. And the fence-wall
which is outside, next the chambers, toward the outer court, in
the face of the chambers, its length was fifty cubits. 8. For
the length of the chambers which are toward the outer court
was fifty cubits ; and, lo, before the temple a hundred cubits.
9. And under it (the fence-wall) are these cells : the entrance
on the east, in going into them from the outer court.
The prophet had to be led into the outer court (ver. 1),
because the building lay in it. He is led the way toward the
north, because the building was not on the south side of the
area in which he had last been, of the inner area, consisting of
the inner court, the temple, and the gizrah, but on the north
side. It serves to designate the situation of the building more
exactly, that it lay north over against the gizrah and the
building. The building here can only be that on the gizrah,
which is denoted in ch. xli. 12-14 by the same word : any
other building must have been more precisely determined. In
ver. 13 the gizrah merely is named instead of the gizrah and
the building, — a proof that there was no local difference be
tween the gizrah and the building. To understand the temple
by the building is inadmissible, for this reason, that it should
not be even partially obstructed by building ; whereas it was
quite consistent with the design of the gizrah and its building,
to withdraw it from the view, by an additional structure im
mediately adjacent on both sides. To point directly to this,
the words " and before the building" may have been added.
But it was also fitting, in the mere interest of the local de
scription, to point out that the gizrah, on which the building
to be described bordered, was built upon. Nay, if this build
ing lay on the north side of the gizrah, it must have occupied
the most westerly part of the north side of the outer court.
For the gizrah occupied in the inner area the last 100 cubits,
and ended on the west at the enclosing wall. The after-men
tioned priests' kitchen need not be regarded as a separate
building, which lay more westerly than this building, but as an
integral part of it, as indeed kitchens are not generally separate
buildings. The building bears the name of the chamber in the
sense of a system of chambers.

CHAP. XLII. 1-9. 403
In ver. 2 the measurements of the building are given. The
length is not directly stated ; but it is said that the building
lay in the face of or along " the length of a hundred cubits," —
the definite length, that which was before ascribed to the gizrah
and its building in the direction from east to west ; so that thus
the building began in the east, where the gizrah began, and
ended in the west, where the gizrah ended. These words are
quite unambiguous. The breadth, on the contrary, which is
peculiar to this building, is directly given. It amounted to
fifty cubits. As, according to what follows, a building for
priests of equal breadth lay on the other side of the gizrah, the
100 cubits breadth of the gizrah were enclosed, and set in the
middle, by the fifty cubits breadth of the priestly court. But
according to the following, this breadth applies only to the
lower story. In the two upper there was a diminution, so
that the building was in the form of a terrace. Between the
statements regarding the length and breadth of the building, it
is remarked that the doors (the door stands collectively) opened
toward the north. This statement is fitly appended to that of
the length, because the doors were in the long side. If there,
they must be on the north side, as the gizrah lay on the south.
The south opposite of the building, the gizrah, on the north of
which it was placed, and likewise the west, the enclosing wall,
had been already mentioned in vers. 1 and 2. Thus the
doubled over against in ver. 3 can refer only to the east and the
north. " Over against the twenty of the inner court :" this
points to a definite space in the inner area, which in the fore
going was characterized by the number twenty. The pointing
would be a mispointing, if in the foregoing there were several
such spaces. But there is, in fact, only one passage, twenty
cubits broad, provided, according to ch. xli. 16, with galleries
' round the temple ; and to this we must refer all the more,
because in ch. xli. 10 it has been intimated that it extended to
the chambers here described. As this space extended on the
west side of the temple by the gizrah, while the building here
was of the same length with the gizrah, and the fence-wall,
which, according to what follows, enclosed the priests' court on
the east, belonged to it, being about twenty cubits distant from
the building proper, as well as the passage which led thence to
the gate of the inner court ; so the east side of the building, at

404 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
its end, lay over against this space. The building proper came
in contact with the end of the twenty on the west ; the fence-
wall with the end of the twenty on the east. That the twenty
are here applied to the inner court, whereas they formed a
constituent part of the temple, need not surprise or mislead.
The word is properly not court, but enclosed space. The
prophet here divides the whole sanctuary into two spaces, the
inner and the outer. First within the inner area there was a
distinction between the temple and .that which was merely inner
area in general, the remaining inner area not specially charac
terized. For our passage this distinction does not come into
account. There remains now still that which is over against
on the north side. The pavement of the outer court is thus
designated. This occupied on the west side of the court pro
bably the whole breadth of fifty cubits, the half of which was
taken up on the remaining sides by the chambers for the
people (comp. xl. 17, 18). The words, " passage (comp. on
xli. 15) was against passage in the chambers of the third
story," imply that one looked down from the passage before
the chambers of the third story, to another passage that was
before the chambers of the second story.1 Before the cham
bers, according to ver. 4, was a street ten cubits wide, to afford
entrance to them. It went on the long side from west to east,
or north of the building. From it there was access to the
interior of the chambers, which was only one cubit from the
street, which was the thickness of the walls. That the doors
led to the north, had been already said in ver. 2, but is here
once more repeated, that no one may be in doubt where the
way is to be sought, — namely, in the 100 cubits of the long side
of the building. According to ver. 5, the upmost chambers,
those of the third story, were narrowed, less in breadth than
the rest. This narrowing is here applied only to the upmost
chambers, because it was there most visible. But it found
place, as appears more definitely in ver. 6, also in the middle,
in relation to the lowest ; so that the building had three stages :
in the first story, fifty cubits ; in the second, perhaps forty ;
in the third, thirty, if we measure the breadth of the passage
by that of the street, which formed the entrance to the lowest
1 CBvtJ' occurs quite as here in Gen. vi. 16, of the chambers of the
third story (of the ark). The word cannot signify three stories.

CHAP. XLII. 1-9. 405
chambers. The occasion of the narrowing is given in the
words, " For the passage consumed building-space from them,
from the lowest and the middle." " Consuming" stands in the
sense of subtracting. The passages or galleries correspond in
the upmost story (as also in the middle) to the access or the
street in the lowest. They were necessary to obtain access to the
several chambers. They served the purpose also of balconies
or verandahs. " From them :" this refers to the chambers in
general, which are more exactly defined in the words, " from
the lowest and the middle (chambers) ;" in the latter, the half
of the space, wdiich was deducted from the lowest by the gal
leries of the highest. " Building," or building-space — space
that might otherwise have been built upon — is that which is as
it were consumed in the upper chambers by the galleries. The
space is taken from the upper stories. But the prophet says,
from the middle and the lowest, because he gives an ideal pro
longation to the end-line of the breadth of these. It means, in
fact, from the space which the middle and the lowest took.
Ver. 6 explains why the passages or galleries, which deducted
from the building-space, were necessary. Had the chambers
had a colonnade before, with a threefold floor in the first,
second, and third stories, no galleries diminishing the breadth
of the building itself would have been necessary : the object
which they served would have been answered by the front.
Such a colonnade was found elsewhere in the courts, but not
here. No express mention has yet been made of pillars in
the courts, which are here spoken of in the plural number.
But we shall have to seek them there, where they are here
wanting, in " the chambers," — those for the use of the people
in the outer court, and those for the singers in the inner court :
only the similarity can invite comparison. We learn from our
passage, what we already found probable, that these chambers
also had several stories. The words, " Therefore is space
taken away from the lowest and from the middle, from the
ground," indicate that in the middle chambers a diminution of
the given ground was effected with respect to the lowest, and
in the upmost a still greater diminution in reference to the
lowest and the middle. " From the ground :" this points out
that the diminution of space refers to the normal breadth of
fifty cubits which the building had in the ground floor. The

406 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL:
earth denotes here the bottom or ground floor. Near the
building, according to ver. 7, a fence-wall, to withdraw what
was within it from the curious gaze : according to ch. xliv.
17-19, these chambers, and others abutting on the outer court,
served for the dressing and undressing of the priests. The
screen-wall needed to be only so high as to protect the chambers
of the lowest story. It must have stood at some distance
from the building, otherwise it would have interfered with its
air and light.1 On what side it is to be sought, is shown by the
statement that it was in the face of the chambers : in local
designations in the Old Testament, the face is always to be
conceived as turned to the east. The length of the wall of
fifty cubits leads also to the east side : this, according to
ver. 2, is the breadth of the building ; so that, as the west
side, abutting on the enclosing wall of the court, cannot come
into account, the east side must needs be meant. According
to ver. 8, the chambers had on the east side, over against the
fence-wall, a length of fifty cubits. These chambers are dis
tinguished as those which belonged to the outer court. The
whole building lay in the outer court. But these chambers on
the east side belonged to the outer court in a special sense,
inasmuch as they opened into it, received their light from it,
and had their windows and galleries towards it. This was
the case only with the chambers on the east side. That it
was not so with the chambers on the north side, appears
from this, that there was no fence-wall there, as on the east
side. The chambers that had their entrance there had their
look-out on the gallery of the gizrah. The gizrah is the
part of the temple, in the wider sense, which comes here into
account ; for that the building lay only before the gizrah,
and was conterminous with it, appears from vers. 1 and 2.
According to ver. 9, the chambers were under the wall men
tioned in ver. 7 : the wall — this was its design — rose above
1 If we assume that the distance of the wall from the building was
twenty cubits, it lay on a line with the west end of the wing-building in
the temple ; and the twenty cubits, which accordmg to ch. xli. 20 were
between the wing-building and the chambers, are those to be measured
from the wall. If we suppose the wall nearer the building, the twenty
cubits there must refer to an ideal prolongation of the building here — its
building range. -,

CHAP. XLII. 10-12. 407
and covered them.1 The entrance to the chambers was on
the east side, " from the east," where the fence-wall must
have had a door ; not, as it might have been, from the north,
where the interval between the wall and the chambers ter
minates northwards.
In vers. 10-12, the two priestly courts in the east and in
the south. As these are perfectly similar to the fully described
priestly courts in the north, the description confines itself to
the exhibition of this similarity, and is carried out quite briefly
and allusively. Yet a little is given here that was passed over
in the measurements of the priestly court in the north.
Ver. 10. In the breadth of the fence-wall of the court
toward the east, in the face of the gizrah, and in the face of
the building, were chambers. 11. And a way before them was
as the look of the chambers which were toward the north, as
their length so their breadth ; and all their outgoings after
their fashions and their doors. 12. And like the doors of the
chambers which were toward the south, was a door at the head
of the way : the way before the fence-wall was convenient
toward the east in entering them.
The fence-wall mentioned in ver. 10 can only correspond
to that in vers. 7 and 12. The indefinite description, the
fence-wall of the court, is more exactly defined by ver. 7 as
the fence-wall of the eastern priestly court situated in the
court, which corresponds to the before-mentioned wall of the
northern priestly court. As that fence-wall, so this also is on
the broad side of the priestly court, or set of priestly cells,
the side from north to south, and indeed at the end of it toward
the outer court ; whereas the beginning of the priestly court
lies on the enclosing wall of the inner court. The fence-wall
has there an extent of fifty cubits. The priestly court lies on
the breadth of this fence, that is, it extends to the same breadth
with it — is, no less than the fence-wall which closes it on the
east, fifty cubits broad. These fifty cubits begin at the south
or north side of the gate to the inner court, but go beyond this
side, as of the 100 cubits breadth of the inner court, twenty-
five cubits go to the gate, so that for each of the two sides only
1 We must read PinnriD. The vowels here belong to the wrong con
jecture of the Masoretes, which removes the n to the following word.

408 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
thirty-seven and a half remain. The priestly court lay in the
face of the gizrah, that is, east of it, whereas the two other
priestly courts lay north and south. That the site is deter
mined by reference to the gizrah, with which the priestly court
has no inner connection, is explained by the circumstance that
the two other priestly courts north and south lie close by the
gizrah. Hence the gizrah was the natural bearing in regard
to the site of the priestly courts. With the determination of
the relation of this court to the gizrah, was determined at the
same time its relation to the other two priestly courts. The
expression " in the face of" was the more suitable, because
the view from the gizrah to this eastern priestly court, sepa
rated from it by 200 cubits, was prevented by nothing : on the
free space, 100 cubits long by twenty broad, at the south side
of the temple-building, followed the 100 cubits of the inner
court, unbuilt upon ; so that on the south side of the gizrah
this eastern priestly court was the proper point de vue on which
the eye rested. The " building" is here also the erection on
the gizrah. The way before the chambers (ver. 11) is the
passage between the fence-wall and the chambers on the east
end of the eastern priestly court, which is here intentionally
mentioned, because this way was only presupposed in the
northern priestly court. This way was " as the look of the
chambers in the north," looked as the way in these, or as these
looked in regard to the way. No less had also the priestly
court in the east a similar appearance with those. " As their
length, so their breadth :" it was like that in the north, 100
cubits long from east to west, and fifty cubits broad from south
to north. Even so were they of like appearance, of like
nature : " after their fashions and their doors ;" that is, their
fashions in general, and especially their doors. These are
specially mentioned in connection with the following, where in
the south priestly court, in regard to the doors, a supplement
to the former description of the priestly court is to be given ;
even as in the east priestly court the description receives a
completeness by the express mention of the way. In ver. 12
the south priestly court, which is separated by the gizrah 100
cubits broad from the north, and with the latter encloses the
gizrah in the middle. That the doors of this south court agree
with those of the east and the^north, only particularizes the

CHAP. XLII. IS, 14. 409
idea of the agreement in all arrangements. But the doors are
specially brought out, in order to introduce a supplement which
concerns a particular door. In ver. 9 was wanting the distinct
statement, that the fence-wall, which went along the west end
of the priestly court, had a door. The way is here, as is after
wards expressly affirmed, the way on the outside of the fence-
wall. At the end of this way was a door. The words, " The
way before the fence-wall was convenient toward the east, in
entering them," agree in substance with the close of ver. 9.
The word convenient shows that the access in the east was
serviceable, as the east side of the south priestly court lay next
the temple, in which the priests had to perform their function.
In vers. 13, 14, the design of the three priestly courts is
stated to the prophet. Ver. 13. And he said to me, The
chambers of the north, the chambers of the south, which are
in face of the gizrah,1 these are the holy chambers, where the
priests who approach the Lord shall eat the most holy
things : there shall they lay the most holy things, and the
meat-offering, and the sin-offering, and the guilt-offering ; for
the place is holy. 14. When they, the priests, come in, they
shall not go out of the holy place into the outer court, and
shall there lay their garments wherein they minister ; for they
are holy : they shall put on other garments, and approach to
that which belongs to the people.
According to ver. 13, the priests' portions of the offerings are
to be taken to the priestly courts, that they may there be pre
pared in the priests' kitchens, to be afterwards mentioned, and
then consumed. The most holy is the genus : meat-offerings,
etc., are the several species. Only the meat-offerings, the sin
and the guilt offerings, are mentioned, not the slain or peace
offering, because only in the former were the portions falling to
the priests most holy, and as such to be consumed by the priests
1 Luther puts two instead of the three chambers, " and the chambers
toward the south, toward the temple," misled by the want of the conjunc
tion, which, however, occurs in the second priestly court, and so several
times in ver. 17 f. The brevity of the expression, which meets us so often
in the topographical sections of Ezekiel — for ex. even in this, that in ver.
16 f., nil, wind, stands simply for the quarter whence the wind comes —
should the less have given rise to misunderstandings here, as the local
designation is taken word for word from ver. 10.

410 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
alone, in their official function ; whereas in the peace-offerings
the priestly portion was consumed by the priests with their
whole family, including even the females (Lev. x. 14). Bahr
(Symbolism of the Mosaic Worship, ii. p. 372) says of the sin-
offering : " It was a proper priestly eating : rejoicing and
festivity were altogether wanting. The priests appear therein
as priests, that is, in their office, in their proper dignity." Of
the meat-offering, Kurtz (The Old Testament Sacrificial Wor
ship) says : " The remainder of the meat-offering, after remov
ing the azkarah, fell in all its forms (Lev. ii. 3, 10), as most
holy, to Aaron and his sons, who are to consume it in a holy
place" (Lev. vi. 9,' 10, 12, 13). The reference even to this
passage of the law, shows that we must render " the holy
chambers," not the chambers of the sanctuary. The holy
chambers here correspond to the holy place there. In ver. 14,
the second design of the chambers, as -places of undressing for
the priests. These, when they come from the discharge of
their duty (not when they go into the sanctuary to minister),
shall not at once go out of the sanctuary, the inner room, into
the outer court, and there mingle among the people, but shall
first in these chambers — which, though situate in the outer
court, are to be regarded as an appendage to the inner — put off
tlieir official garments, and deposit them there, because they
are holy : they shall then put on their usual garments, and in
them enter into intercourse with the people.
In vers. 15-20, after the description of the several parts of
the sanctuary, and the statement of their measures, the mea
surements of the whole are given. Ver. 15. And when he had
finished the measures of the inner house, he brought me forth
by the gate, whose face is toward the east, and measured it (the
house) round about. 16. He measured the east side with the
measuring-reed, five hundred cubits in reeds, with the measuring-
reed around. 17. He measured the north side, five hundred in
reeds, with the measuring-reed around. 18. He measured the
south side, five hundred in reeds, with the measuring-reed. 19.
He turned to the west side ; he measured five hundred in reeds
with the measuring-reed. 20. On the four sides he measured it; it
had a wall round about, the length five hundred, and the breadth
five hundred, to separate between the holy and the profane.

CHAP. XLII. 15-20. 411
The inner house in ver. 15 is the whole sanctuary, including
the outer court in its inner side. The work, whose completion
is here announced, had in ch. xl. 5, 6, begun with this, that
the angel had gone from the wall outside around the house
into the east gate of the outer court. To obtain the measure
ments of the whole, the angel was obliged to leave the inner
house, and betake himself to the outside of the wall. For this
wall itself belongs to the circumference of that which was to
be measured. The total measure could not be taken in the
interior of the house, because the walls were not accessible
throughout; on the contrary, they were interrupted by the gates
and the chambers. " And measured it : " this can only refer
to the house, the whole of the sacred building. That we have
to abstract it from the adjective inner, lies clearly in the con
nection. In ver. 20, where " he measured it " recurs, there is
added in explanation the wall round about. This " he measured
it," according to which the measuring here refers to the same
space with which the former was concerned, prepares a quite
insurmountable hindrance to those who wish to refer the
measuring to a space different from the house. The statement
of the results of measurement begins with the east and ends
with the west. It is thus independent of the way which the
angel took. If the prophet had followed him, the order would
have been east, north, west, south. But the prophet wished to
set the south side opposite the corresponding north side. On
the east side it is expressly said that there are five hundred
cubits.1 Then on the remaining sides the mere number suffices.
It is then added, still in harmony with ch. xl. 5, how the
measure was obtained not by cubits, but by reed, with the
already described reed containing six cubits. The measures
here, on all sides 500 cubits, agree exactly with the earlier
1 niDS is a blending of ni!3K and niNO- The vowels belong to the
Masoretic conjecture niND- Yet we are to conceive the word as thus
originally vocalized. The tf belongs to the nDK, but in the vowel the
second word comes to its rights. The incorrect view of this word— the im
possible assumption, supported by no tenable parallel, that it stands at
once for a hundred— is the common starting-point of the different erroneous
assumptions in our section. The one party wish to efface the reeds alto
gether, the mention of which would indeed be inadmissible, if the mention
of cubits excluding all doubt had not gone before. The others rightly
declare the setting aside of the cubits to be purely arbitrary, but then

412 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
details. If we measure from east to west, we have 50 cubits
the length of the outer east gate, 50 cubits the length of the
inner, 100 cubits the length of the outer court between both
(xl. 23), then 100 cubits the length of the inner court, 100
cubits of the temple, and 100 cubits of the gizrah. If we
reckon from north to south, we have again 50 cubits of the
outer north gate, and 50 of the inner ; 100 cubits between,
100 cubits the breadth of the inner court, 50 cubits of the
inner south gate, and 50 of the outer, and 100 between. The
exact correspondence of the total here with the several measure
ments of the house formerly given, leaves no doubt that the
measurements of the house are here given, and not of a space
different from it. We must also, according to the whole pro
cedure of Ezekiel in this topographical section, antecedently
expect that he will give a general summary of the space rela
tions of the sanctuary, and not leave the reader to arrive at
them by summing up the separate statements. Such a general
summary we should here miss. On the contrary, we should
be surprised with the measurements of a space which wants
alike all definition and all occupation, which would be nothing
but a bare space ; " nothing but space," as the Hungarian said
when he was introduced to a bad prospect. A bare space of
five hundred reeds on each of the four sides, designed to
separate between the holy and the profane, without having the
character of holiness impressed upon it, would indeed be in
tolerable. We can the less imagine this, because in the temple
of Solomon, the form of which is perpetually before the
prophet's eyes, there is nothing corresponding to this. On the
other hand, the department of the holy terminates with the
enclosing wall of the court, because farther the measures else
where confine themselves to very modest limits, but here at
labour in vain to show that the space in question had actually five hundred
reeds on each side. Havernick, against evidence, wishes to force such a
compass on the sanctuary itself. With Kliefoth, on the other hand, the
measurement is to be applied to an empty space on all sides of the enclosing
wall of the court. Besides that which we shall remark in the text against
this view, it is fairly urged that all the greater measures in Ezekiel else
where are given in cubits, and not in reeds. Besides, the Hebrews were
fond of such abbreviations ; they occur especially in proper names — 1 Sam.
i. 20 (Ewald, Gr. pp. 767-74). We have a quite analogous case in ch.
xliii. 13.

CHAP. XLIII. 1-9. 413
once they pass into the region of the enormous; because a
glaring contradiction arises between the narrowness of the
important space and the broadness of the unimportant ; finally,
because, according to the express statement of ch. xlii. 20, the
region of the profane began immediately beyond the' enclosing
wall of the sanctuary. The words in ver. 20, " to separate
between the holy and the profane," state the object which the
wall just measured served ; comp. xlii. 20.
In ch. xliii. 1-9, the entrance of the Lord into the com
pleted temple. We have here the parallel to the description
of the entrance of the Lord into the tabernacle in Ex. xl. 34 f .,
and into the temple of Solomon, 1 Kings viii. 10, 11, and
the counterpart to ch. xi., where the Lord in the face of the
Chaldean catastrophe leaves the temple, and indeed by the
very gate by which He here again makes His entrance. The
peculiarities by which this appearance of the Lord is to be
distinguished from all others, have been only dwelt upon by
the expositors, who wish to limit the temple of Ezekiel to the
Messianic times, or even to the final completion of the Messianic
salvation. The prophet himself describes in ver. 3 this ap
pearance of God as, essentially similar to the former one which
he had himself seen. On the assertion that the glory of the
Lord, when entering the temple of Solomon, appears in a veil
of cloud, while here it beams forth in clear light, it is to be
remarked that the cloud in 1 Kings viii. 10, 11 is also to be
regarded as shining (ve<pe\r) fywrewr), Matt. xvii. 5) : it conceals
in itself the brightness of flaming fire (Ex. xl. 38 ; Isa. iv. 5).
All that is here related is implied in this, that the glory of the
Lord appeared ; nothing serves to set off this appearance against
the others. The Lord is again present in His mercy and grace.
" They shall see eye to eye when the Lord returns to Zion "
(Isa. Hi. 8) : this is that which must have been said to comfort
the minds that were vexed with the thought, Where is now thy
God ? We have nothing which surpasses the divine appear
ance in Ps. 1. or in Isa. vi. ; nothing which would not be a
simple carrying out of the words, " The glory of the God of
Israel came," and is included in them. If God appears, He
can only present Himself in His glory, which is His eternal
essence.

414 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Ver. 1. And he brought me to the gate, the gate that
looketh towards the east : 2. And, behold, the glory of the God
of Israel came from the east ; and his voice was like the voice
of many waters : and the earth shone with his glory. 3. And
it was as the sight of the appearance which I saw, as the
appearance which I saw when I came to destroy the city : and
sights like the appearance which I saw by the river Chebar ; 1
and I fell upon my face. 4. And the glory of the Lord came
to the house, by the way of the gate whose face was toward
the east. 5. And the spirit took me up, and brought me to
the inner court ; and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the
house. 6. And I heard one speaking to -me from the house ;
and a man stood by me. 7. And he said unto me, Son of
man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my
feet, where I dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for
ever, and the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy
name, they and their kings, by their whoredom, and by the
corpses of their kings in their high places. 8. When they set
their threshold by my threshold, and their post by my post, and
the wall (only) was between me and them, and they defiled my
holy name by their abominations which they did : and I con
sumed them in my anger. 9. Now they shall put away their
whoredom, and the corpses of their kings, from me, and I will
dwell in the midst of them for ever.
To behold the entrance of the Lord, the prophet is brought
(ver. 1) to the outer east gate of the temple, at which the
angel, according to ch. xl. 5, had begun, in order to introduce
him to the relations of the new temple. By the east gate the
Lord behoved to enter, because it was the chief gate : from
the east also He behoved to come as the rising Sun of righteous
ness, under whose wings His people should have salvation
(Mai. iii. 20), the day-spring from on high (Luke i. 78). It
is first said, " He brought me to the gate," the gate merely, the
chief gate; then this gate is more exactly defined. The voice
of God was (ver. 2) like the voice of many waters. In ch. i. 24
the voice of the wings of the cherubim is compared with the
voice of many waters. The relation of our passage to this is
1 Luther, " And it was like the vision which I had seen at the water of
Chebar, whither I came, that the city might be destroyed." He combines
into one the two former visions with which Ezekiel compares this.

CHAP. XLIII. 1-9. 415
clear to us from Ps. xciii. 3, 4 : " The floods lift up, O Lord, the
floods lift up their voice ; the floods lift up their roar. The Lord
on high is mightier than the voices of many waters, than the
mighty waves of the sea." The creature has its voice only from
the Creator, and therefore must His voice sound above its voice,
loud though it be. What is here said of Jehovah is in Dan. x. 6,
" And the voice of his words like the voice of a tumult," said
of Michael, the uncreated angel and revealer of God ; in Rev.
i. 15, " And His voice as the sound of many waters," of Christ,
the brightness of His Father's glory. How the prophet had
occasion to hear the voice of the God of Israel, we learn from
ch. i. 25, " There was a voice from the vault," which gave
, command to the cherubim. . Here also the voice determines the
direction which the procession is to take. With the words, " The
earth shone with His glory," is to be compared Ps. 1. 2, " Out
of Zion, the perfect in beauty, God shineth," and also Deut.
xxxiii. 2. He who said, " Let there be light," shines forth
when He appears in the clearest light, as He who dwells in
inaccessible light (1 Tim. vi. 16), the Father of lights (Jas. i.
17). As here of Jehovah, so it is said in Rev. xviii. 1 of Christ,
"And the earth was lightened with His glory." In ver. 3
the prophet describes this appearance as corresponding to that
which was imparted to him before, when the destruction of the
city was to be foreshadowed, in ch. x., and still earlier, at the
Chebar in ch. i., which first appearance was already in ch. x.
20 compared with that later one. The comparison naturally
refers only to that which belongs in that first appearance to
the unchangeable essence of God, not to that which bears
specially on the then existing relations to the work of wrath,
which was then to be executed on the corrupt people (comp.
App. p. 537) ; as indeed in the recurrence of the description of
the cherubim in the Apocalypse all is set aside which refers
to anger and destruction. This would here, as there, produce
an utterly confusing impression, because the appearance is a
gracious one. Instead of " When I came to destroy the city,"
we might expect " When He came." But the prophet speaks
thus on good grounds ; for the Lord came not first of all in
outward reality, but in the spirit of the prophet, in visions of
which he was the bearer. Parallel is Jer. i. 10, where the
prophet is sent to destroy and to throw down, and to build and

416 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
to plant ; because the ideal world is contemplated in which he
moves, and in which is foreshadowed what is afterwards to
come into reality. So long as the matter is confined to the
region of the internal, there is an interchange of the prophet,
and of God who works in him, which meets us already in
Gen. xlix. 7, where Jacob says of Simeon and Levi, " I will
divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel." The prophet
here, no less than in ch. i. 28, falls down on his face, there
before the majesty of the angry God, here before that of God
appearing in His grace ; comp. Rev. i. 17. At the east gate
the prophet had seen the entrance of the Lord. When the
Lord entered into the house, the prophet is brought so near to
Him, that this is possible from his position. He is removed to
the inner court, which was accessible to him as priest (ver. 5),
and beholds there through the opened door of the house which
was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. That
we must render, " The spirit (not wind) lifted me up," appears
from that which was remarked on ch. iii. 12 ; comp. xi. 1 and
•24. The prophet might have made the short passage on foot,
as he had already done in company with the angel. But the
reason why the spirit lifts him up we learn from ver. 3. Over
come by the impression of the vision, he lies powerless on the
ground. The prophet hears one who spoke to him from the
house ; and aroused by the voice, and looking toward it, he
beholds a man standing by him. He stands in the inner
court, as near to the vision to be observed as is requisite for
verification, hard by the door of the sanctuary ; and the man
has entered the door to speak to him. What he said to him
follows in ver. 7. Between the statement that one spake, and
the speech which was made, stands the account concerning
the person of the speaker, to which the prophet is first turned
by the speech. The seeing was first occasioned by the hearing.
The relations here only indicated are more fully unfolded in
Rev. i. 10-13. There the prophet hears first behind him a
voice as of a great trumpet. Looking after the voice, he be
holds Christ. The speaker is designated as a man, and yet in
ver. 7 he speaks as God, and applies to himself that which can
belong only to Jehovah. We have thus without doubt the
angel of God before us, the only one in whom the opposition
of God and man is mediated and removed. The man here is

CHAP. XLIII. 1-9. 417
no other than the man whose appearance was like brass in ch.
xl. 3. The prophet intentionally perhaps does not expressly set
forth the identity, because the reader should find it out by his
own judgment. The angel of the Lord in ver. 7 designates
the temple as His throne, and the place of His feet. The
ark of the covenant, with which the presence of the Lord is else
where usually connected, is not here referred to. It perished
in the Chaldean destruction ; and that it was not to be restored
after this downfall, Jeremiah had already announced before it
was accomplished (ch. iii. 16). A more essential loss was not
therewith connected. It was a mere symbol of the presence
of God, which was not inseparable from it. " For ever : "
this might also have been said of the temple of Solomon, with
the same right with which in Ex. xxxii. 13 and elsewhere
Canaan is promised to the Jews for a perpetual possession.
Such promises are conditional, and terminate when the condi
tion ceases. They secure only that the blessing will never be
withdrawn on the part of God. This condition is expressly
made, for ex., in Deut. v. 29 : " Oh that there were such a
heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep my com
mandments : always then would it be well with them, and with
their children for ever ! " Isa. xlviii. 18 : " Oh that thou hadst
hearkened to my commandments ! Then had thy peace been
as the river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea."
Even here there is a reference to this condition in the words,
" And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name."
These words certainly imply as much as the words of Christ
(John x. 28), " No man shall pluck them out of my hand."
They have essentially the force of a promise. They present
before the children of Israel a help against themselves, whereby
they may succeed in conquering the enemy, that makes the
dwelling of God among them impossible. They go hand in
hand with the promise elsewhere expressed of a new spirit and
a heart of flesh (ch. xi. 19). But this is here clearly expressed,
that if they go on as before, they will also come to an end
" for ever." And it is the uniform doctrine of Scripture, that
all internal helps from God are free from compulsion, that the
not willing (Matt, xxiii. 37) is not thereby excluded, and that
to this not willing there is in human nature, and especially in
the character of the man Judah, a desperately strong inclina-
2 D

418 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
tion (Deut. xxix. 3, xxxi. 29). That the Roman destruction of
the temple is not at variance with the term " for ever " here, is
shown by John ii. 19, where Jesus declares the Jews to be
the destroyers of the temple. That Jesus aimed at the preser
vation of the temple, is shown by the cleansing of the temple,
undertaken by Him, according to John, in the beginning of His
ministry, whereby He evinced His design to accomplish a salu
tary reformation. Only after this reformation was decidedly
rejected, He effected at the end of His ministry a second
cleansing of the temple, which is the symbolic announcement
of its destruction : The reformation ye have refused, the revolu
tion must come upon you. The sentence, " Behold, your house
is left unto you desolate," immediately follows the exclamation,
" How often would I have gathered thy children together,"
etc. Had they been gathered together, their house would not
have been destroyed ; it would have become " a house of
prayer for all people " (Isa. lvi. 7). The words, " There shall
not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be
thrown down " (Matt. xxiv. 2), Jesus utters immediately before
His passion, when the stiff-necked obstinacy of the people was
fully revealed to Him. Had the Jews hearkened to Jesus and
His disciples, had they not reduced them to silence, the stones
of the temple would not have cried out (Luke xix. 40 ; comp.
Hab. ii. 11). Only after they stopped the mouth of the true
witnesses did the stone sermon sound forth. But while the
abolition of the form was occasioned by the conduct of the
mass of the people, who once more in the most culpable
manner thrust from them their Creator, and despised the rock
of tlieir salvation (Deut. xxxii. 15), the elect, far from being
robbed of the blessing due to them, found a glorious recom
pense for the loss of the temple in the church of Christ, which
He Himself in John ii. 19 declared to be the legitimate con
tinuation of the temple. It is cast as a reproach on the
children of Israel, that they formerly defiled the holy name of
God. This defilement coincides with the defilement of the
sanctuary, reproved in ch. v. 11, xxiii. 28, by idolatry both
within and without it. Whosoever placed these doleful forms,
these miserable nothings, beside God, whosoever by an accom
modation theology bridged over the gulf between the God of
revelation and the gods of the world, insulted the sublime name

CHAP. XLIII. 1-9. 419
of the God who revealed Himself by His deeds among His
people. They have committed such impiety " by their whore
dom, and by the corpses of their kings, tlieir high places ; " that
is, while they commit idolatry, whoredom in a spiritual sense,
and transgress in the corpses of their kings and tlieir high
places. The enigmatical expression, " and by the corpses of
their kings," which, in its connection with the preceding whore
dom and the following high places, can only be referred to
idolatry, points by its very mystery to the existence of a funda
mental passage, which serves the purpose of a key. From the
whole relation in which Ezekiel stands to the books of Moses,
we must seek the passage first in these. And there is in fact
such a passage in Lev. xxvi. 30, where we recover not merely
the corpses, but also the high places : " And I will destroy
your high places, and cut down your sun-pillars, and cast your
corpses upon the corpses of your idols." In this expression, to
which the prophet had already referred in ch. vi. 3, 4, the idols
are figuratively designated as. corpses, because they have no
life and no power, as they are on like grounds called carcases
by Jeremiah (ch. xvi. 18), and the dead by Isaiah (ch. viii.
19), "Shall one ask the dead for the living?" The funda
mental passage speaks of the corpses of the idols, this of the
corpses of the kings. The kings here can only so far come
into account as they have to do with the corpses, which were
to be avoided, according to the law, as unclean and defiling.
The ungodly kings, as Manasseh and Amon, were the proper
patrons of idolatry. The high places, corresponding to the
corpses, include in themselves the idols there worshipped, and
forming their essence. The eighth verse L refers to the idols in
connection with the corpses and the high places. In this we
have to think not merely of the idolatry that was practised
externally in the temple, where places of idolatry were erected
in the outer court, in the immediate neighbourhood of the
sanctuary, and wall to wall with it. Every form of idolatry
which was practised in Israel was in fact a desecration of the
temple, in which ideally it was performed ; comp. ch. v. 11 and
ch. viii. " And I consumed them in my anger : " this points
to Ex. xxxii. 10, where, in the first beginnings of the people,
this consuming activity of God is immediately visible.
1 The suffix in Dnfl refers to the kings, that in DSD to the idols.

420 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL
In vers. 10-12 is stated to the prophet the point of view
from which the revelation concerning the second temple is to
be regarded — the purpose which it serves. It is to lead the
people to repentance ; and when this is accomplished, to give
them comfort and warning.
Ver. 10. Thou son of man, show to the house of Israel the
house, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities ; and they
shall measure the plan.1 11. And if they be ashamed of all
that they have done, show them the form of the house, and its
fashion,2 and its out-goings, and its in-comings, and all its form,
and all its ordinances, and all its form, and all its law : and
write it in their sight, that they may keep all its form and all
its ordinances, and do them. 12. This is the law of the house ;
On the top of the mountain all its border round about is most
holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
The announcement concerning the new temple is, according
to ver. 10, to lead the house of Israel to " be ashamed of their
iniquities" in the presence of the mercy of God, which will
hereafter reveal itself to them, when they will be seized with a
deeper shame on account of their former sins against this loving
God, who, notwithstanding their sins, is not wearied of doing
them good, and restores to them the pledge of His presence.
Through the goodness of God they are led to repentance (Rom.
ii. 4). When this fruit of repentance has been matured in
them, and they have thus gained the authority in the house of
the future, they " sliall measure the plan," not as architects,
but as Abraham went through the length and breadth of the
promised land (Gen. xiii. 17), with the interest of the family in
the house to be inhabited. Meditating, and loving, and thank
ing, they shall follow the measures announced in the preceding
passage, and by this process receive a foretaste of that which is
to be realized by them in no distant time (xi. 16), immediately
after the lapse of the seventy years of Jeremiah, the half of
which has already run. When they are brought to repentance,
1 Luther, " And let them take a clean copy of it." JVJ3Ji is, according
to ch. xxviii. 12, plan, model.
2 njian is here, as in Job xxiii. 3, Neh. ii. 10 (comp. 1 Chron. xxii. 14,
xxix. 3), derived from pa, and signifies arrangement, establishment. There
is no proof of a ruian derived from pn. n)13n has thus nothing to do
with ryMn.

CHAP. XLIII. 10-12. 421
the prophet (ver. 11) is to introduce them still further to the
nature of the new building, which is the more important, as
with the building relations there, quite otherwise than in ordi
nary buildings, precepts and laws go hand in hand ; so that all
here has a practical import, and implies what the apostle in
2 Tim. iii. 16 says in general of the holy Scripture. The
high mountain, for ex., on which the house rests, proclaims
" the hearts in the high places." The wall, which surrounds
the whole (ch. xlii. 20), to separate between the holy and the
profane, was the law presented in stone, " Ye shall be holy,
for I am holy." In the guard-rooms of the gates is embodied
the word, " Without are dogs, and adulterers, and murderers,
and idolaters." The chambers for the people in the outer
court preached, " Rejoice in the Lord alway," and, " Be ye
thankful." The arrangements for the priests reminded of sin,
and demanded that each should consecrate himself to God in
the burnt-offering, present to Him always the thank-offering and
the meat-offering of good works. The altar of incense pro
claimed to all, " Pray without ceasing." The inner connection
in which the architectural stands with the moral, is expressed
by the words, " All its form,1 and all its ordinances," and the
emphatic repetition, " And all its form, and all its law." On
account of this connection, this intertwining of the architec
tural and the moral in the last words of the verse, the former
are also taken into the circle of that which is to be kept and
to be done. Architectural arrangement and law do not lie
parallel, but are only different sides of the same thing. The
words "Write in their sight" are not to be referred to a
draught traced by the prophet, but to this, that he shall not
merely represent orally the description of the new temple, but
also commit the same to writing. In ver. 12 is given the sum
of the precepts indirectly contained in the building proportions
of the temple, as it were the first and best of the commands
expressed in the new building, of which, as even now, every
church worthy of the name is to be a sermon in stone. The
whole, as far as it is enclosed by the outer wall, is a holy of
holies, or most holy. This was figured by the situation of the
1 The vowels in ini« belong in both cases to Masoretic conjecture,
and also the vowels in iniifi. We must read irTO and irnin.

422 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
whole. " On the top of the mountain," and also by the wall,
which formed a sharp boundary between it and the profane
world (ch. xlii. 20). The law here laid down has its import
not in the future only. The new temple was already extant
ideally ; and all behoved, in view of it, to strive to be holy in all
their conversation (I Pet. i. 15), as we have to regard ourselves
even now as citizens of the new Jerusalem, and in this cha
racter to walk. If they did not do this, their part would be
taken away from the holy city. Quite perversely has a pre
ference been here discovered of the new sanctuary above the
old ; and the sense has been thus defined : the holiness which
formerly belonged only to the most holy place, is now to be
transferred to the whole sanctuary, including the court. The
same words might much rather be spoken of the tabernacle and
the temple of Solomon. The most holy is most widely used
of all that is eminently holy. It stands in general for a most
holy place also in Num. xviii. 10. The question here is not
concerning the relation of the parts of the sanctuary to one
another (only where this is the case does the most holy stand
in the stricter sense), but concerning the relation of the
sanctuary to the surrounding world. The point of view is
thoroughly practical. The sentence serves as the foundation
for the confident expectation expressed in vers. 7-9, that the
people will hereafter lay aside all unholy dispositions. The
prophet has already said that within the house the old de
grees of holiness shall continue. How could the most holy
continue to subsist in a building, if degrees of holiness no
longer existed ?
In vers. 13-17, the measurements of the altar of burnt-
offering. This was already mentioned by the way in ch. xl. 47 ;
but on account of its pre-eminent importance, the prophet has
reserved the proper description for this place, where it does not
lose itself in the multiplicity of details. Of what import the
altar is, appears from ver. 27, where the divine acceptance is
made to depend on the service at the altar ; further, from ch.
ix. 2, where the ministers of the divine vengeance stand by the
altar ; as also in Amos ix. 1 the altar appears as the place where
blessing and curse are earned. According to ch. iii. of the
book of Ezra, the altar of burnt-offering was restored before all

CHAP. XLIII. 13-17. 423
other things by those returned from the exile, because its exist
ence was regarded as the condition of the success of the temple-
building. The altar is decisive for the whole relation of the
people to their God ; but it was proper to give the description
of the altar here only even for this reason, that the prescriptions
concerning the service at the altar are properly connected with
it. The description gives first the breadth, or thickness, of the
outer wall of the altar (ver. 13), quite as the description of the
sanctuary had begun with the wall and its thickness ; then it
turns, in vers. 14, 15, to the altitude ; and lastly, in vers. 16,
17, is the statement of the breadth and length, which refers
indeed only to the upper surface of the altar, but at the same
time belongs to the whole, as it was equally broad and long from
the ground up. If it had been otherwise, the measurements
of the lower parts must also have been given.
Ver. 13. And these are the measures of the altar in cubits :
The cubit is a cubit and a hand-breadth ; and the bosom was a
cubit, and a cubit the breadth, and its border in its edge around
a span ; and this is the ridge of the altar. 14. And from the
bosom of the ground to the lower closing, two cubits, and the
breadth one cubit ; and from the smaller closing to the greater
closing, four cubits, and the breadth one cubit. 15. And the
mountain of God four cubits ; and from the ram-lion and
upward, the four horns. 16. And the ram-lion twelve long
by twelve broad, square in all its four sides. 17. And the
closing fourteen long by fourteen broad in its four sides ;
and the border about it half a cubit, and its bosom a cubit
around ; and its (the altar's) steps towards the east.
In ver. 13, the statement regarding the length of the cubit
is repeated from ch. xl. 5. We have in this verse the descrip
tion of the bosom of the altar and its ridge, both of which
denote only the same thing in different aspects. The inside of
the altar, according to Ex. xx. 24, 25, should consist of earth
or unhewn stone. Hence an enclosure was necessary to give
support to the whole. This consisted, in the tabernacle and
the temple of Solomon, of brass ; and hence the altar received
the name of the brazen altar. Now this enclosure is here
called the bosom, because it embraced and grasped the heart.
The bosom has its name in Hebrew from this grasping : it is
properly grasp, and encloses the breast with the grasping

424 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
arms.1 This enclosure is called ridge, because it forms the
outside, the periphery of the altar, as in ch. i. 18 the felloes of
the wheels are called ridges. The bosom measures one cubit
of the designated length, according to the old measure a cubit
and a hand-breadth,2 and measures it indeed in breadth ; or the
lining of the altar is throughout a cubit thick, which is after
wards repeated in the several parts, and from which the differ
ence of the twelve cubits in ver. 16, and the fourteen cubits
in ver. 17, is explained. The border or the rim at the end of
this enclosure measures a span.3 This border recurs in ver. 17.
Of the identity we cannot doubt, as, according to ver. 20, the
altar had only one span, and indeed quite above, next the
horns. Both passages, vers. 17 and 20, agree with the state
ment here, that the border was at the rim of the bosom, on its
extreme end. The measure here also, a span, and in ver. 20 half
a cubit, agree. For the span contains three hand-breadths, each
of four fingers, excluding the thumb ; and these are reckoned
equal to half a cubit.4 As the statement " in the bosom"
refers to the breadth, the statement " in the border" must
go to the breadth, in accordance with which the half-cubit in
ver. 17 is found among the statements that refer to length and
breadth. Thus the rim stood not in the height, but extended
in breadth half a cubit beyond the enclosure. In ver. 14,
" the bosom of the ground" is the enclosure where it touches
the ground. The earth denotes the ground also in ch. xli. 16,
" from the ground to the windows," and ver. 20. " Closing :" 6
this is the third designation for the wall of the altar, which
held together the kernel of earth and stones, which is distin
guished from the two others by this, that it specially denotes
the external wall of the enclosure, which was two cubits thick,
so that the bosom is its appurtenance (ver. 17) ; in another
respect the whole, to which the closing belongs as a part. The
1 The other explanations of the pin are wrecked on ver. 17, where the
piD of the altar extends from bottom to top.
2 The article points to this definite cubit.
3 "inK is treated as a noun, the one, the unity ; a span of the unity
stands for one span.
4 Comp. Gousset, Lex. s. v.
4 mtJJ occurs of the court as the closing of the sanctuary, 2 Chron. iv.
9, vi. 13. If we assume that it is weakened from mXJJ, it denotes the
locking or closing. If it be referred to 1JK (Cocc), it denotes a girdle.

CHAP. XLIII. 13-17. 425
under closing is that part of the external wall which is lower
in respect of that presently to be mentioned, as indeed the
designations of the smaller and the greater refer to the relation
of these parts to one another. The under or smaller closing,
and likewise in the following the greater, is to be regarded in
its totality, and in reference to its end. The breadth in the
under and in the upper closing applies only to the several
parts, what in ver. 13 was said of the thickness of the whole
enclosure of the altar. That the first given measures in the
under and the upper closing are measures of height, did not
need to be expressly mentioned, because the statement of the
breadth went before in ver. 13, and is here once more repeated ;
but no one could think of the length. In ver. 15 the height
of the altar proper. This amounts to four cubits, which, with
the six cubits of the substructure, make together ten cubits, in
accordance with the height of Solomon's altar of burnt-offering
in 2 Chron. iv. 1. Those who explain ver. 13 incorrectly adopt
eleven cubits, — a number inconvenient in itself, of which it is
sought to get rid in vain by forced assumptions. The sub
structure is not expressly named or described as such ; but it
appears as such from this, that here the proper altar is distin
guished from the space mentioned in the foregoing. The
whole altar bears the name of God's mountain, to indicate
that, small though its external height may be, an important
ideal height belongs to it, in harmony with ch. xl. 2, where the
externally low temple mountain is, on account of its ideal
height, represented as a very high mountain. The mountain
of God is, in fact, God's most holy altar. The " ram-lion" 1 is
different from the mountain of God. The upper surface of
the altar is so called, because it consumes the rams, which here
represent all offerings : directly in the consecration of the altar
prescribed in the following section, rams are presented. Be-
1 For the explanation of the ariel, we may refer to the passages in
which the same word occurs in the sense " lion of God" (2 Sam. xxiii. 20 ;
Isa. xxix. 1, 2), at all events as far as they show that the first part of the
compound is to be taken in the sense of lion. We have here, without
doubt an imitation of that word before us. Against the assumption that
the second part here, as there, signifies God, is the .Tod, which, removed by
the Masoretes on the ground of mere conjecture, points to ?X, ram. The
vowels here and in ver. 16, as always where a Keri is noted, belong
directly to the marginal reading. It is possible, however, that the form

426 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ginning from the surface of the altar, and rising above it, the
four horns of the altar appear, which form as it were its head,
and in which its significance culminated. It is designedly not
stated how high they are, lest their measure should be added
to that before given. The altar was to be ten cubits high, as
that of Solomon, in which also, without doubt, the horns are
not included.
After the height follow in vers. 16 and 17 the length and
breadth. These are taken Only at the surface in which the
altar terminates. But the statements apply to the whole,
which was equally long and broad, from the bottom to the top.
In ver. 16 the measures of the proper sacrificial hearth are
given, the altar surface without the enclosure. Here we have
twelve cubits in length and breadth. In ver. 17 the length
and breadth of the enclosing wall are given, and thus at the
same time of the whole altar. Then we have fourteen cubits,
inasmuch as on both sides of the length and the breadth, a
cubit the thickness of the enclosure is added. The one cubit
added to the bosom here, as in ver. 13, explains the difference
of the measures here from those in ver. 16. In the mention
of the border and the bosom here, the end of the description of
the altar reverts to its beginning in ver. 13. Those who feel
bound to understand by the border and the bosom here some
thing else than in ver. 13, thereby show that they have formed
a false conception of ver. 13. At the close is mentioned quite
briefly the stair of the altar lying towards the east,1 which
from its height of ten cubits could not be wanting. This stair,
which no doubt existed in the temple of Solomon, could only
be brought into harmony with Ex. xx. 26 by a special arrange
ment of the stair itself, or of the priest's dress, which obviated
the ground on which the Mosaic prohibition of the stair unne
cessary for the law altar of the tabernacle is based.
originally sounded i>iN"lK, not $>1K"1N- Then would the prophet have in
view, as yn does not elsewhere occur of the ram, a double sense — lion of
God, and ram-lion, the lion that consumes the rams for God. The desig
nation is, at all events, a purely priestly one, and was probably borrowed
by Ezekiel from the priestly terminology.
1 JTI3S is the infinitive, properly to turn toward, with omission of the
preposition, for " if one turn."

CHAP. XLIII. 18-27. 427
In vers. 18-27, the consecration of the altar of burnt-
offering. While the prophet enters into the details of this,
he draws away the eye of the believer from the mournful cir
cumstances of the present, and soothingly combats his despon
dent thoughts. This is the point from which we have to
regard the description, which is still highly edifying for us, as
it teaches us to hope where nothing is to be hoped, and to see
the non-existent as if it already were. In a few years, that
enters into external reality which the prophet here announces
against all human probability, against sound reason, which
declared to be foolish all hope of the restoration of the ruined
sacred buildings. The endeavour to find traces which go
beyond the Old Testament standpoint has here also not been
fortunate. In a simple point of view, nothing occurs here
which might not have occurred in consecrating the altar of
burnt-offering under Joshua and Zerubbabel, although they
could not have thought of arranging the details of the conse
cration according to our section, which aims at quite a different
object. In all essentials we find agreement with that which
is said in Lev. viii. of the consecration of the Mosaic altar of
burnt-offering. We must never forget that the prophet wrote
for the present. To be or not to be, that was the question
which then occupied the mind in reference to the altar. The
prophet wishes to uphold and comfort troubled souls, not to
afford satisfaction to a sickly eschatological curiosity by detailed
explanations concerning the future.
Ver. 18. And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the
Lord Jehovah, These are the ordinances of the altar in the day
when it is made, to offer a burnt-offering on it, and to sprinkle
blood upon it. 19. And thou shalt give to the priests the
Levites, who are of the seed of Zadok, who are near unto me,
saith the Lord Jehovah, a bullock of the herd for a sin-offering.
20. And thou shalt take of its blood, and put upon its four
horns, and on the four corners of the closing, and on the border
around, and thou shalt cleanse and purge it. 21. And thou
shalt take the bullock of the sin-offering, and he shall burn it
in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary.
22. And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats
without blemish for a sin-offering, and they shall cleanse the
altar as they cleansed with the bullock. 23. When thou hast

428 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a bullock of
the herd without blemish, and a ram of the flock without ble
mish. 24. And thou shalt offer them before the Loed, and
the priests shall cast salt upon them, and offer them for a burnt-
offering unto the Lord. 25. Seven days shalt thou prepare
every day a goat for a sin-offering ; and they shall prepare a
bullock of the herd and a ram of the flock without blemish.
26. Seven days shall they purge the altar, and purify it, and
fill its hand. 27. And they shall complete the days ; and it
shall be on the eighth day and onward the priests shall make
upon the altars your burnt-offerings and your peace-offerings ;
and I will accept you, saith the Lord Jehovali.
In ver. 18 the ordinances of the altar receive their definite
form in that which immediately follows. Accordingly it is
treated of the rite of consecration, by which the altar is pre
pared for its purpose as the place of sacrifice and propitiation.
The direction of the address in ver. 19 to the prophet is a
mere form, to give greater life to the recital, realize that which
belongs to the future, and bring it home to the mind. The
prophet represents those whom the matter concerns. " Thou
shalt give" is, in fact, the same as " one shall give ; " to whieh
the prophet himself points, when in the sequel he exchanges
for the address directed to himself the form, " One does this
and that." The particulars concerning the priests of the line
of Zadok belong to xliv. 15 f. The bull is the most prominent
among the animals used for the sin-offering ; hence the series
of sin-offerings is opened with it. From the second to the
seventh day the smaller he-goat appears in its place. We have
here a minus in regard to the consecration of this altar in the
tabernacle. In Ex. xxix. 36 the sin-offering of the bullock con
tinues through the whole seven days. It is a question whether
this deviation is significant — whether it is not a variation of
things in themselves indifferent. The minus may perhaps be
explained by this, that that arrangement was the first — the'
ground and root of the later one. Sin and sin-offering properly
fall only into the human department, and in fact the sin-offering
here also belongs only to this, and likewise the burst-offering
mentioned in the sequel. The altar does not come down from
heaven : it is made (ver. 18) — prepared — by sinful man, and
presented for acceptance to God by a sinful people. That the

CHAP. XLIII. 18-27. 429
sin goes back to the altar, is shown, for ex., by Ex. xx. 22
and Lev. xvi. 16. The sin, as it were, removes to the altar.
The object here, as usual in sin-offerings, is to make remem
brance of sins (Heb. x. 3), and point to the necessity of divine
sin-forgiving mercy. The erection of the altar was in itself
a good work ; but even in works good in themselves it is
especially necessary to show that they can never please God
without the blood of atonement — that they also need forgive
ness. As the sin-offering, so the burnt-offering, has its proper
reference to man. The people atoned for on the altar present
themselves in the burnt-offering to God for new obedience.
The blood of the sin-offering (ver. 20) is sprinkled on all the
prominent parts above, on the altar, on the horns terminating
its height, the border limiting its breadth, and the corners.
The appointed place of the house (ver. 21) can only be an
appurtenance or dependence of the house outside, as the addi
tion "without the sanctuary" shows : house and sanctuary
coincide ; a diversity between them must have been definitely
stated. To this lead also the fundamental passages — Lev. viii.
16, according to which, in the consecration of the sacrificial
altar in the tabernacle, the bullock of the sin-offering was
burned without the camp ; and Lev. iv. 11, 12, where the flesh
of the sin-offering is to be carried without the camp to a clean
place — the same place to which the sacrificial ashes were taken
(Lev. vi. 4). We have here no complete account of what was
to be done with the sin-offering, which indeed, from the design
of the prophet, cannot antecedently be expected : he wishes not
to prescribe what was to be done — for this the law provided —
but only by a few striking traits to prepare a ground for faith
in the future of the people. The burning of the fat is un
noticed, which took place in the sin-offering at the consecration
of the altar in the tabernacle (Lev. viii. 16), and in all other
sin-offerings (Lev. iv. 10). Without the burning of the fat a
sin-offering could not be thought of ; it is precisely that which
makes it an offering at all. That here it is said of the whole
bullock that it shall be burned, cannot serve to prove that the
prophet did not think of the burning of the fat, because in Lev.
iv. 11, 12 the whole bullock is burnt, though, according to
ver. 10, the fat had been offered on the altar. From the sin-
offering the ordinance turns in ver. 23 to the burnt-offering.

430 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
We perceive from ver. 25 that this was to be presented on all
the seven days of the consecration. Accordingly the words,
" When thou hast made an end of cleansing it," are to be
understood thus : on each of these two days and onwards, when
thou hast presented the sin-offering, and therewith laid the
necessary foundation, thou shalt offer burnt-offerings. Sin-
offerings and burnt-offerings are inseparably connected. By
the sin-offering is obtained the forgiveness of sins, that whoso
ever receives it may, by the burnt-offering, dedicate himself
anew to God. But the prophet wished, before he spoke of the
burnt-offering, to place fully before the eyes the material of
the sin-offering. The salt which the priests (ver. 24) are to
add to the burnt-offering points, in harmony with Lev. ii. 13,
according to which no meat-offering was to be presented
without salt, to the unsalted quality of human nature, which
may not enter into relation with God. Ver. 25 receives from
ver. 20 the supplement, that on the first of the seven days the
sin-offering consists of a bullock. The words determine only
the rule : every intelligent reader might add the exception.
After the seven days' duration of the Mosaic solemnity forming
the basis, and especially after the express declaration in ver. 26,
that the whole ceremony lasted only seven days, the prophet
certainly could not think that it would occur to any one that
the seven days here were to be reckoned only from the second
clay in ver. 22. The filling of the hand in ver. 26 properly
applies only to the conferring of office upon persons in whose
hand is laid what they have forthwith to offer, and what they
have to handle, but is here transferred to the altar, which
henceforth enters, as it were, into office.
CHAP. XLIV.
In ch. xliv. the prophet turns from the holy places to the
holy persons in the new order of things — from the temple to
the priests, from the altar to those who attend the altar. He
has here a twofold object. First, he wishes to draw away the
view from the dreary present, the ruins of the priesthood, the
priests without office or prospect of office, which now alone
were exhibited to the eye. He presents, on the contrary, priests
in office and honour before the eye, in whom the Mosaic ordi-

CHAP. XLIV. 431
nances are again in full exercise and authority, which in the
natural view of things had become purposeless for all time.
Secondly, he wishes to labour for the regeneration of the priest
hood, the removal of the deep calamities into which the priest
hood, involved in the apostasy of the people, had fallen in the
period before the exile. The latter of these two objects meets
us especially in vers. 1-16 ; the former in vers. 17-31. Yet
the former section also serves this purpose. For the restoration
of the priesthood is here the foundation and presupposition.
Vers. 1-5 are so far preparatory, as they exhibit the glory
of the impending revelation of God, the immediate conse
quence of which is, first the restoration of the priesthood, and
next its reformation. In the latter respect is to be compared
Ps. xxiv., where, on the occasion of bringing in the ark, David
expresses the high demands arising from the coming of the
Lord of glory, the necessity to prepare worthily for His
coming. Then also Isa. xl. 3-5, where the theme is handled :
'' Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The glory
of the coming Lord is exhibited in this, that the prophet finds
the gate by which he entered shut (vers. 1-3), and that he
sees the house filled with the glory of the Lord (ver. 4), which
had been recorded in ch. xliii. 5, and to which new reference
can here only be made, in so far as it affords the ground for
that which immediately follows. Into the house of such a God
access may only be permitted to the worthy (ver. 5) , the old
degeneracy of the priests with heathen hearts, of the Canaan
ites in the house of the Lord, must wholly cease in the new
sanctuary (vers. 6-9) ; the unfaithful must be removed from
office (vers. 10-14) ; only the faithful shall officiate in the
new sanctuary (vers. 15, 16). The decisions of the law of
God regarding the priesthood shall, in consequence of the new
revelation of God, come again into living use : if He show
Himself in His dignity, the dignity of His servants must also
revive (vers. 17-31).
Ver. 1. And he brought me back to the outer gate of the
sanctuary, that looketh toward the east ; and it was shut. 2.
And the Lord said unto me, This gate shall be shut -1 it shall
1 Luther, " shall remain locked." But it is here said what shall take
place, if once the gate, here only foreshadowed, be made (ch. xliii. 18), and
the Lord have made His entrance by it. .

432 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
not be opened, and no man shall go through it, because the
Lord, the God of Israel, went through it, and it shall be shut.
3. As to the prince, the prince shall sit in it to eat food before
the Loed ; from the porch of the gate he will come in, and
from it he will go out. 4. And he brought me through the
north gate before the house : and I looked, and behold the
glory of the Loed filled the house of the Lokd : and I fell
upon my face. 5. And the Loed said unto me, Son of man,
set thy heart, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine
ears, all that I say unto thee, all the ordinances of the house
of the Lord, and all its law i1 and set thy heart to the entrance
of the house, with all the outgoings of the sanctuary. 6. And
say to the rebellion, to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, There is enough of all your abominations, O house
of Israel. 7. When ye brought sons of the outland, uncir
cumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my
sanctuary, to profane it, even my house : when ye offered my
food, the fat and the blood, and they broke my covenant, for
all your abominations. 8. And ye have not kept the charge
of my holy things, and ye set keepers of my charge in my
sanctuary for you. 9. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, No son
of the outland, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in
flesh, shall come into my sanctuary, (say I) to every son of the
outland that is among the children of Israel. 10. But the
Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who
went astray from me after their detestable things, they shall
take their iniquity on them. 11. And they shall be ministers
in my sanctuary, keepers at the doors of my house, and mini
stering to the house : they shall slay the burnt-offering and the
sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to
minister to them. 12. Because they ministered to them before
their detestable idols, and became to the house of Israel a
stumbling-block of iniquity ; therefore I lifted up my hand
upon them, saith the Lord Jehovah, and they shall take their
iniquity upon them. 13. And they shall not draw near me, to
be priests to me, and to draw near for all my holy things to the
most holy place ; and they shall take on them their shame and
1 Luther, " laws," according to the marginal reading, which is here
conformed to the foregoing mpni without observing the difference between
them.

CHAP. XLIV. 1-14. 433
their abominations which they have done. 14. And I will
make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all its ser
vice, and for all that is to be done in it.
The prophet was last found in the inner court for the con
sideration of the altar of burnt-offering (ch. xliii. 5) : thence
he is brought back (ver. 1) through the north or south gate,
to the place where he had been in ch. xliii. 1, before the east
gate. The object is no other than to see that the gate was
shut. We are not to suppose that the prophet, in vers. 1 and
2, wishes to give a direction which is to be carried out in the
new temple. This did not belong to his office ; and in such
things are found, along with the ideal, material causes which
often decide the question. Here it depends simply and solely
on the thought of the glory of the impending revelation of the
Lord, which, in conformity with the nature of the vision,
embodies itself in the door being shut through which the en
trance had been made. It is also decisive against the realistic
view, that the visible entrance of the glory of the Lord through
the east gate belongs itself only to the vision, not to the reality.
The thought is, that the Lord will again be among His people
with His help and grace. This appears also from this, that
the entrance forms the counterpart to the egress of the glory
of the Lord at the Chaldean destruction, in ch. xi. If this
egress did not take place visibly, the visibility in the entrance
only belongs to the form of the contemplation. But if in the
cause the visibility belong only to the region of the spirit, the
consequence also will belong to the sarne. If the Lord did not
actually enter by the east gate, this gate is not to be actually
shut. The prophet himself is not slow to declare that he
speaks in figure and enigma, to demand that we distinguish
between form and matter. Ver. 3 forms no exception to what
is said in ver. 2. For the prince comes, as is expressly said,
from the porch to the gate, and goes back through the porch.1
1 The assertion, that " the shut gate lay directly in the door of the
porch adjacent to the outer court," is refuted even by our passage, accord
ing to which the porch, and a farther part of the gate-building, in which
the king took his meal, lay out in the court, on this side of the shut gate.
Our former investigation, according to which the gate lay directly at the
end of the guard-rooms, is hereby confirmed. The inner threshold imme
diately adjoining the porch is specially fitted to be the place for the
prince's meal.
2 E

434 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
He does not pass the gate-door, which was at the end of the
guard-rooms, but comes from the outer court, into which he
had entered by the north or south gate, and takes his seat in
the east gate, on this side of the door which remains shut. The
prophet here lets the agreeable state of the prince pass in
splendour before the people, with which he will afterwards
occupy himself more fully. The ceasing of the magistracy,
of which only a feeble remnant was to be found in the exile,
was a chief cause of trouble. The mention of it here must
have been the more striking, as it was incidental. The prince
is not announced, but his presence presupposed. The prince
is here an ideal person, which enters into life in a multiplicity
of historical appearances. . It is quite intentional in the de
scription of the new temple, to speak of the prince in general,
and not of the king, that all these forms may be included. The
prince finds his closing appearance in the Messiah, according
to ch. xxxiv. 24, xxxvii. 25 ; but in the centuries which lay
between him and the prophet, the prince appeared in various
forms as well as in the kingly. First he appeared in the pre-
figuration of the last fulfilment, in the person of Zerubbabel,
the descendant of David. The prophecy of Zechariah in ch.
iv. 14 is related to this. The two sons of oil, who stand before
the Lord of the whole earth, are the bearers of the priestly and
kingly office, which the Lord maintains through centuries in
His restored community, till both find their full truth in Christ.
Along with the spiritual authority shall, according to this an
nouncement, the civil also be the medium by which the Lord,
as in the time before the exile, so in the time after it, impart
His grace to His people. The sons of oil are there, as the
prince here, ideal persons, who are represented at the time by
Zerubbabel and Joshua. Then is to be compared also Zech.
x. 4, " Out of him a corner, out of him a nail, out of him
the battle-bow, out of him will go forth every ruler," where
rulers and officers of themselves, and an independent military,
are promised to the people, — an announcement which received
its verification before Christ, especially in the times of the
Maccabees. In Zech. xi., the sovereign power, the prince, is
one of the three shepherds. The prefixed words, " As to the
prince," fasten the attention on this remarkable person. To
" eat food (not bread) before the Lord" refers to the partak-

CHAP. XLIV. 1-14. 435
ing of the festivals, at the communion which was connected
with the peace-offerings. The place here assigned to the prince
for his sacrificial meal is not honourable in itself. The people
kept these festivals in the court itself, in chambers built for the
purpose. The gates cannot be in themselves more prominent
than the court to which they admit : the outer east gate is here
spoken of. The character of the place of honour, in connec
tion with vers. 1 and 2, lies simply and solely in this, that by
this gate the Lord entered ; and to place the glory of the Lord
who enters before the eyes, this is, in harmony with vers. 1
and 2, not less, nay, we say much more the object, than to
indicate the high position of the prince. How glorious must
the Lord be, when the prince cannot be more highly honoured
than by a place in the gate by which He entered ! It needs no
further proof that men have without any ground sought, in
eating before the Lord, a pre-eminence of the future prince
over the former rulers. To eat before the Lord was common
to all Israelites, as it is now common to all Christians (Luke
xiii. 26).
That the prophet, in ver. 4, is brought through the outer
and inner north gates into the immediate neighbourhood of the
temple, appears not only from the phrase " before the' house,"
but still more distinctly from ch. xliii. 5, to which our verse
stands as the brief repetition to the fundamental passage :
" And he brought me to the inner court, and behold the glory
of the Lord filled the house." It is also quite natural that the
prophet, if he was to behold the glory of the Lord, should be
brought to the door of the sanctuary, where he had it imme
diately before him. " The Lord said unto me" (ver. 5) : to
this is to be added, from ch. xliii. 6, that the Lord spake to the
prophet by His angel. The threefold demand for attention,
which points back to the like demand by the man of brass in
ch. xl. 4, has its ground in the glory of the Lord, just seen by
the prophet. Who should not attend to that which such a God
commanded? The entrance of the house, with all the out
goings of the sanctuary, is designated as the most direct object
of the carefully to be observed " ordinances of the Lord's
house." It is first to be settled who may go in and out of the
house of the Lord, be present and have his being therein. As
the house here can only be the house in the strict sense, the

436 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
proper temple-building, this being the inference from ver. 4,
according to which " the house " is filled with the glory of the
Lord, those who are here referred to can only be the priests,
the only persons who have access to the house. The question
is, whether mere priestly descent is entitled to be present in the
new sanctuary, or whether other qualifications are requisite ?
This question is answered in the following passage. The
rebellion in ver. 6 is the house of Israel, as the embodied
rebellion (comp. ch. ii. 8). " There is enough :" on this is to
be compared 1 Pet. iv. 3.1 The reproach in ver. 6 f. falls
justly on the people, who should not have tolerated the dege
neracy of heathenishly inclined priests, and indeed would not
have tolerated them, had they not been themselves under the
sway of a heathenish will. It is objected to them in ver. 7,
that going beyond their own abominations, and as it were
putting the crown upon them, they had proceeded to admit
men of uncircumcised heart and flesh to the priesthood. This
cannot refer to the externally uncircumcised, the heathen. The
prophet himself declares in ver. 9, that he means not ordinary
foreigners, but foreigners who are " among the children of
Israel ;" that is, Jewish heathen. The discourse here is not of
the courts, but of the house and the sanctuary, the priestly
places ; indeed, the reproach refers still more definitely to this,
that they have by such men presented to God His food, the
fat and the blood ; which cannot be said of the heathen in the
ordinary sense. In ver. 8 also it is said, that they have en
trusted to these men the ministry in the sanctuary. Not the
slightest trace in the documents before the exiles implies that
they had admitted actual heathens to the priesthood. Of de
cisive significance is the but in ver. 10, which is only explained
if the Levites, who have there removed far from the Lord, are
identical with the uncircumcised foreigners in ver. 9. In
ver. 9 it was said that the delinquents shall not come into my
sanctuary, that is, in fact, shall not discharge the priestly office ;
for the priests only had access to the sanctuary. In ver. 10
it is added : But they shall take their iniquity upon them.
The thing stands thus. In the time of the apostasv, and of
the giddy spirit poured -out on the whole people, some of the
1 Starck : En novum templum instauro, jam novam vitam inchoate, en nova
sacra doeeo, nova corda prxparaie.

CHAP. XLIV. 1-14. 437
priests also had taken part in idolatry — had indeed been leaders
in it (ver. 12). They had thereby put themselves on a level
with foreigners, as surely as the service of Jehovah is the
proper Israelitish principle : the worldly wisdom, of which it
is characteristic not to take its starting-point from Jehovah,
appears in Proverbs as the stranger, the foreigner. They
had also proved themselves to be uncircumcised in heart ; for
the essence of the circumcision of the heart, according to Deut.
xxx. 6, consists in loving the Lord tlieir God with all their
heart and soul. But where circumcision of the heart fails,
circumcision of the flesh also loses its import (Rom. ii. 25) ;
for if that which remains is to be called circumcision, then it
might be communicated even to a brute. It was from the
beginning proper to circumcision not to be a mere corporeal
quality. It had the import of a covenant seal ; and this import
it retained only so long as the state signified by the outward act
was really present. Ishmael ceased to be circumcised in the
flesh when he departed from communion with the house of
Abraham, and rah wild. The Egyptian priests had externally
that which was called circumcision ; but the men of the Old
Testament would never have acknowledged that they had cir
cumcision. There is the less reason to carry out the realistic,
more correctly the literal interpretation, by force in our sec
tion, inasmuch as in a whole series of other passages of the
Old Testament rebellious Israelites are at once designated as
heathen or uncircumcised. Isaiah, in ch. i. 10, addresses the
princes of Israel as princes of Sodom, the people as the people
of Gomorrah. Jeremiah, in ch. ix. 25, designates the rebellious
Jews of his time as uncircumcised in heart. Zechariah pro
claims, in ch. xiv. 21, " And in that day there shall be no more
the Canaanite in the house of the Lord ;" and thus presup
poses that in his time Canaanites were in the house of the
Lord ; and in particular, a Canaanite was hidden under many
a priestly gown. In the apocryphal history of Susanna, a
worthless Jew' is thus addressed : " Thou seed of Canaan, and
not Juda." Ezekiel himself says, in ch. xvi. 3, to his degene
rate people : " Thy descent and thy birth is of the land of
the Canaanite : thy father the Amorite, and thy mother the
Hittite." A parallel for the abridged comparison, which is
found in our passage as in that, is presented in Ps. cxx., where

438 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
those who hate peace are designated as Meshech and Kedar,
the names of the wildest and most intractable nations. Similar
forms of speech occur among ourselves. We call infidels
Jews, heathens, Turks. In the ancient polemics, the designa
tion of those who denied the faith by Mamelukes was endeni
zened. " To profane it, my house :" this is stronger than if it
stood simply, to profane my house. The attention is fixed on
this, what it is to profane God's house. The fat and the blood
are the parts of the sacrifice which serve God as it were for
food. How impious it is to set God's food before Him with de
filed hands, that have been polluted with the " dirty ! " (ver. 12.)
" They broke my covenant :" these men broke the covenant of
God, whom they were not ashamed to employ as priests, by this
participation in idolatry (comp. Lev. xxvi. 15), according to
which the covenant is broken by the transgression of the com
mandments, at whose head the prohibition of idolatry stands.
The people themselves have ignominiously neglected the service
in the sanctuary1 (ver. 8), because they admitted to it as their
representatives these men, the uncircumcised circumcision,
heathenish Israelites. After the accusation follows, in ver. 9 f.,
the penal sentence. The godless priests shall lose their dignity,
and be degraded to common Levites, the worst that can befall
them ; for they cannot go beyond the limits of the tribe. We
are not to take the sentence in a judicial sense. The prophet
is not appointed a judge over the priests. He wishes to
awaken among the priests and the people a true abhorrence
of the rebellious temper among the priests. In the spirit of
Ezekiel, Nehemiah proceeds (ch. xiii. 28, 29) against a priest
thus heathenishly inclined. " They sliall take their iniquity
on them" (ver. 10) : this shows in general that they shall not
go unpunished, as would be the case if they might officiate
after as before in the sanctuary. In what follows, the punish
ment is more precisely stated. The whole context shows, that
by Levites are here meant those who had hitherto been Levi
tical priests. Such are evidently spoken of as come into the
sanctuary, offer the food of God, and do the service in the
house. What follows is unintelligible if we think of the
Levites in general. Levites cannot be degraded to the rank
of Levites. In view of this degradation, the Levitical priests
1 For n-lDK>D 1DB>, comp. on ch. xl. 45.

CHAP. XLIV. 15-31. 439
are here by anticipation designated as Levites. The prophet,
himself a priest, may not grant the honourable name of priest
to these scandals of their order, as our lips will not permit
us to call a rationalist a pastor. To " stand before them to
minister to them :" this appears in Num. xvi. 9, in accordance
with ver. 11 here, as the calling of the ordinary Levites.
" Stumbling-block of iniquity" (ver. 12), for which Luther has
" a scandal for sin." " For all my holy things" (ver. 13) : as for
ex. the sacrifices. The reason why they may not enter is given
in what is added, " to the most holy place," or the holy of
holies. What is consecrated to the Lord of hosts is not merely
holy, but most holy, and must therefore be withdrawn from
men uncircumcised and unrenewed in heart. If they formerly
served the Lord (ver. 8), for their unfaithfulness in this ser
vice they are now (ver. 14) degraded to be mere domestics,
who do service outside of the house. The mere Levites might
not enter even the holy place. The several acts enumerated
in ver. 11 are only such as were performed in the courts.
Menial servants with us also are not wont to enter into the
inmost rooms. Mere sextons were made out of the bad priests,
as were to be wished also of the bad pastors. That bad priests
are of no use as Levites, the prophet knew ; but how sliall he
dispose of them ?
After the exclusion of the unworthy, follows in vers. 15, 16
the promise to the priests who remained true : they shall per
form the priestly service in the new sanctuary ; God rejects
not the whole for the unworthiness of the part (Isa. lxv. 8).
To this is subjoined, in vers. 17-31, a series of regulations
regarding the priesthood in the new era. These are taken col
lectively from the Mosaic law. The attempt to point out new
elements not yet exhibited there, must be regarded as a failure.
There is no ground for a progress to deeper views of the priest
hood in the New Testament, than those to be found elsewhere
in the Old Testament; for ex. in Zech. vi. 13, where the
Messiah appears as the true High Priest ; Isa. Ixvi. 21, accord
ing to which Levitical priests are to be taken from the heathen
also ; Jer. xxxiii. 14-26, where the whole people of the Lord
are invested with priestly dignity ; and thus Ex. xix. 6 attains
to its verification. Of these high things nothing is found here.

440 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
We remain quite on the ordinary priestly ground. The pro
spect of the New Testament relations remains completely closed.
This must land those in helpless perplexity who ascribe a Mes
sianic import to the whole prophecy of the new temple, or refer
it altogether to the last time of the New Testament. But it
will appear natural, if we reflect that it was the first problem
of Ezekiel to announce the deliverance which the Lord was to
accomplish in a brief period, according to the fundamental
prophecy by Jeremiah of the seventy years of the Babylonish
servitude. The recovery of that which was to human view for
ever lost (our prophecy belongs to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar,
the time of the power and bloom of the Chaldean monarchy),
this it was which is primarily intended, which occupied all
minds : the progress stood in a second line, with which the
prophet occupies himself in ch. xlvii. How consolatory it
must have been to the people, that the Mosaic regulations
concerning the priesthood, which had apparently become anti
quated, here once more enter into life ! And in harmony with
the announcement of the prophet, they actually entered again
into life. They have been practised anew for half a millen
nium, and then, because the priesthood had again wholly de
generated, because the law must have been realized in it which
Ezekiel had already proclaimed concerning the part then re
bellious, they only perished as the seed-corn in the stalk, only
perished to rise again in glory. How absurd it is to set aside
this immediate fulfilment, which at the same time furnishes
the security that God also in all later epochs will bring forth
for His people life out of death, and by forced interpretations
to introduce another thing, which could be neither intelligible
nor edifying to the immediate hearers and readers ! If we keep
in view the object of the regulations here, we shall not expect , , ,
them to be very complete. The only aim was by a few well-
chosen strokes to bring out the thought of the restoration of
the Mosaic priesthood in its customs and its rights. The rest
is to be sought in Moses. Ezekiel is a prophet, not a lawgiver.
His eye is not directed to the priests; he wishes only to up
hold the desponding people, who in their officiating priests had
lost the mediators of the grace of God.
Ver. 15. And the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok who
kept the charge of my sanctuary, when the sons of Israel went

CHAP. XLIV. 15-31. 441
astray from me, they shall come near me to minister unto me,
and shall stand before me to offer unto me fat and blood, saith
the Lord Jehovah : 1 6. They shall come into my sanctuary,
and they shall draw nigh to my table to minister unto me, and
shall keep my charge. 17. And it shall be, when they enter
the gates of the inner court, they shall put on linen garments ;
and wool shall not come upon them when they minister in the
gates of the inner court, and in the house. 18. Bonnets of
linen shall be on their heads, and breeches of linen shall be
on their loins ; they shall not gird themselves in sweat. 19.
And when they go forth to the outer court, to the outer court
to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they
minister, and lay them in the holy chambers, and put on other
garments ; and they shall not sanctify the people with their
garments. 20. And their head they shall not shave, nor leave
their locks to grow long ; they shall poll their heads. 21. And
no priest shall drink wine when they go into the inner court.
22. And they shall not take to them for wives a widow or a
divorced woman ; but they shall take maidens of the seed of
the house of Israel, or a widow who is a priest's widow. 23.
And they shall teach my people the difference between the
holy and the profane, and make them discern between unclean
and clean. 24. And in a strife they shall stand to judge
according to my judgments, and shall judge him : and my laws
and my statutes in all my festivals they shall keep ; and they
shall hallow my Sabbaths. 25. And to a dead man they shall
not come to be defiled : but for father, and for mother, and
for son, and for daughter, for brother, and for sister that hath
no husband, they may defile themselves. 26. And after his
cleansing, they shall count to him seven days. 27. And in
the day of his coming into the sanctuary, to the inner court, to
minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin-offering, saith
the Lord Jehovah. 28. And it shall be unto them an inherit
ance ; I am their inheritance : and ye shall give them no
possession in Israel; I am their possession. 29. The meat
offering, the sin-offering, and the guilt-offering, they shall eat
them ; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30.
And the first of all the firstlings of all, and every oblation of
all, out of all your oblations, shall be to the priests : and the
first of your dough ye shall give to the priest, to bring down a

442 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
blessing on thy house. 31. The priests shall not eat of carrion,
or that which is torn, of fowl or beast.
In ver. 15 all is brought into confusion by the opinion that
the prophet here assigns the priesthood in the new era to the
sons of Zadok, exclusive of all who are not sons of Zadok.
The truth is, all priests are sons of Zadok, even the unfaithful
who were excluded in the foregoing passage. The priesthood
is not here adjudged to the sons of Zadok in general, but to
those of them who abode in the truth. These are in ch. xlviii.
11 described as "the sanctified of the sons of Zadok," the
sanctified part of them as distinguished from the unsanctified.
From the time of 1 Kings ii. 35, where Solomon, setting aside
Abiathar, placed Zadok in the high-priesthood, all priests are
sons of Zadok who survived in his posterity. The fatherhood
is the primeval relation of authority, whence father and mother
appear in the decalogue as the representatives of all superiors.
Hence the name father is often employed in the Old Testament
to designate the superior. The leading personages among the
prophets bore the name of fathers; the subordinate, that of sons.
The high priest appears as the father of the whole people in
Isa. xliii. 27, in accordance with the names handed down even
to the present day, abbuna among the Ethiopians, holy father,
pope. Different from the sons of Zadok here and in ch. xl.
46, as a designation of the priests as a body, are the priests
who are of the seed of Zadok in ch. xliii. 19, who officiate at the
consecration of the altar of burnt-offering, where the heads of
the high-priesthood are meant, the high priests, and those who
stand next them who are of the high priest's kindred (Acts
iv. 6).1 That the apostasy here is limited only to a part of the
priests, while the praise of fidelity is awarded to another and
no inconsiderable part, shows that on ch. viii. 16 we rightly
protested against the view that the twenty-five apostates there
are the presidents of the twenty-four classes, with the high
1 The assertion is incorrect, that in the whole vision of the new temple
the high priest does not meet us. The opposite is shown by the fact that
all priests are designated as sons of Zadok, who survives in his high-priestly
descendants. Ch. xliii. 11 speaks of a special activity reserved for the
house of the high priest. Prophecy is here in accordance with history.
The high-priesthood of Zadok lasted centuries after the return from the
exile till the time of the Maccabees.

CHAP. XLIV. 15-31. 443
priest at their head. The table of God is His altar ; comp.
what was remarked on ch. xli. 22 and ver. 7 here, where fat
and blood, which were offered on the altar of burnt-offering,
are designated as the food of God. The spiritual offering
embodied in the outward offering is the spiritual nourishment,
which the people are to present to their heavenly King. In
vers. 17-19, first the raiment of the priests. This is to consist
(vers. 17, 18) wholly of linen, not of wool, in accordance with
Ex. xxviii. 42, Lev. vi. 3, xvi. 4. The reason is to be sought
in cleanliness and the oriental sweat-producing climate. This
appears distinctly in the words, " They shall not gird them
selves in sweat," so that they fall into a sweat ; which refer
first indeed only to the girdle (it is said, gird themselves, comp.
Lev. viii. 7, 13, xiii. 6, xvi. 4, not clothe themselves), but in
fact apply also to the other pieces of raiment. The funda
mental passage is Lev. xvi. 4, " A coat of linen he shall put
on, and breeches of linen shall be upon his flesh, and with a
linen girdle shall he be girded, and a mitre of linen he shall
bind on." To the words there, " with a girdle of linen," cor
respond here, " not in sweat." The girdle of linen is that
which does not produce sweat. "In the gates of the inner
court" (ver. 17) means within it. The ministry at the altar
of burnt-offering is intended ; comp. xl. - 46. Even in the
Pentateuch, " in the gates " stands often of the space which
is bounded by the gates. In ver. 19 the regulation that the
priest's garments are to be only the official dress, and are to be
laid aside as soon as his ministry is accomplished (Lev. vi. 3, 4),
here forms the foundation. Where the change of garments
is to take place, is not determined in the Mosaic law. From
Solomon's time this took place no doubt in the priests' courts,
which the prophet in the foregoing passage only sees revived.
The reason why the priests, before they mingle with the people,
are to put on other garments, is stated in the words, " And
they shall not sanctify the people with their garments." In
Lev. vi. 11, vi. 18, it is said, in reference to the portion of the
meat-offering which was not consumed on the altar, " Every
one that toucheth them is holy." " The same effect," Knobel
remarks, " results from touching the sin-offering (ver. 20), the
altar of burnt-offering, and the vessels of the tabernacle, which
were also most holy " (Ex. xxx. 29). The priestly garments

444 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
stand in quite the same relation with the holy vessels, so that
here also the prophet gives nothing new. Only a holiness of
the ceremonial law is here in question, that has nothing to do
with holiness of heart and conversation, and was instituted to
secure respect for the holy vessels, and for Him to whose ser
vices they were consecrated. This kind of holiness could not
have clung to the ceremonially unclean persons who came into
contact with it ; it must have been separated from them.
How this is to be done, has not been prescribed in the law,
probably on the presumption that every one will keep himself
from contact ; and it is enough to pronounce the noli me
tangere. The first thing is the presenting of a sin-offering, by
which the guilt of the incautious approach to the holy thing
was expiated. But if the priests in the holy garments had
mingled in the throng of the courts, the guilt of profanation
would have fallen upon themselves.
In ver. 20 it is arranged how the priests are to manage
their hair : they are not to shave, according to a heathenish
custom, already repudiated in Lev. xix. 27, xxi. 5, because this
would be to find fault with the Creator, and reject the ornament
bestowed by Him ; and they are not to let the hair grow long,
which is the sign of a wild, disorderly man, who leaves nature
to its free course. The Nazarite might in consequence of a
vow, undertaken for a time, let the hair grow long (Num. vi. 5),
to signify his separation from the world ; x but not the priests,
whose duty it was to converse with the world, and adapt them
selves to society, which even in Joseph's time was wont to go
with the hair polled. This regulation is, in fact, contained in
Neh. vi. 5. In the case of the Nazarite, separation is declared
to be the reason for allowing the hair to grow. But the priest
was not to be separate. In ver. 21 is the prohibition to drink
wine before entering upon duty, taken from Lev. x. 9. The
rules also concerning the marriage relations of the priests, in
ver. 22, do not go beyond the Mosaic law. The ordinary
priest in Lev. xxi. 5, no less than the high priest in vers. 13
and 14, is forbidden to marry any but a virgin. No restrictions
are in this respect laid on the high priest which did not apply
to other priests.2 The permission here to marry a priest's
1 Religiosum quendam squalorem prse se tulit. — Lightfoot.
2 This mistake could only be made by a false interpretation of the n??n,

CHAP. XLIV. 15-31. 445
widow is new. But this Ezekiel certainly did not fix of him
self. It was a consequence drawn in current practice from
the law. The priestly dignity of the deceased compensated,
as it were, for the want of virginity. In vers. 23, 24, we have
what the priests are to do. The vocation here assigned to
them, to separate between the holy and the unholy, rests on
Lev. x. 10 : comp. on xxii. 20, the share in the administration
of justice which is assigned to the priests ; on Deut. xvii. 8-12
and xxi. 5, according to which, in cases where the local court
did not venture to decide, the right was granted to obtain the
decision of the most esteemed priests as expositors of the law\
The order of the festival and the Sabbath is maintained by
the priests doing and teaching. In vers. 25-27, where direc
tions are given how the priest is to act in cases of death, Lev.
xxi. 1-3 is resumed. We have here the same six cases in
which the priest is to take uncleanness on him. Those named
are the nearest blood relations. The wife and her relatives
are wanting here no less than there, where in ver. 4 by the
correct interpretation they are expressly excluded ; in which
it is to be observed that the question is not about the feeling
of the heart, but about bodily contact. The " cleansing " in
ver. 21 begins with the beginning of the ceremony, lasting,
according to Num. xix., seven days.1 We have only one heptade
of days, not two, as it would be if we put having been cleansed
instead of cleansing. Seven days are the longest period which
any uncleanness lasts. In vers. 28-30 we have the reward
which the priest is to receive. The general proposition, that
the Lord is the portion of the priests, that their sustenance is
incumbent on Him, and is to be provided from that which is
offered to the Lord, is taken from Num. xviii. 20, Deut. x. 9.
That which is devoted (ver. 29) is awarded to the priests, on
the ground of Lev. xxvii. 21, xxviii. 29 ; the offering of the
firstlings of meal (ver. 30) was ordered in Num. xv. 20. It is
indicated as an object of the gifts to the priests, and a motive
to present them joyfully, " to bring down a blessing on thy
house," in accordance with the decalogue, where the divine
formmg the counterpart to the virgin, perforata, in Lev. xxi. 7, which
includes under it the harlot, the divorced, and the widow.
1 In Lev. xiv. 7 also niHD is used of cleansing, as distinguished from
having been cleansed.

446 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
blessing is made dependent on the honour to superiors, which
is to be shown by a willing bestowment of all dues (Matt. xv.
4, 5). To the statement of the means of sustenance for the
priests is appended, in ver. 31, the prohibition to eat of carrion,
or that which is torn, according to Lev. xxii. 8.

CHAPTEE XLV. 1-17.
From the sanctuary, with its ministers, the prophet turns
to its immediate environs, for which the special occasion is
that the Lord has declared in ch. xliv. 18 that He will be the
possession of the priests. Of an investiture of the priests with
lands ch. xliv. does not yet speak ; we expect, therefore, that
it will be mentioned in this, the next following section. This
begins in vers. 1-4 with the ordinance, that in the approaching
division of the land, a portion, 25,000 cubits long and 10,000
cubits broad, shall be set apart as a heave-offering (oblation)
to the Lord. The already described sanctuary of 500 cubits
square shall form the middle of this ; the remainder shall
fall to the household of the Lord, the priests, who, as those
" who are near the Lord," have by right their dwellings
around Him. Along with the priests, the ministers of the
house, the Levites, receive a portion of land of like extent
(ver. 5). Then follows the district of the holy city, with the
same length and a breadth of 5000 cubits ; so that the whole
first portion for priests, Levites, and city, is in breadth as in
length 25,000 cubits. The whole of this ground is enclosed
on both sides by the grounds assigned to the prince (ver. 7).
The reason why he is to be provided with such a domain is
stated in vers. 8, 9 ; the princes will then no more be tempted,
as formerly, to seize a possession for themselves at the cost of
their subjects. To the requirement to abolish this ancient
interference with private rights, is annexed, in vers. 10-12, the
admonition to enforce right in the new order of things, and
to leave no room for lust. Then follows, in vers. 13-17, the
requirement of the willing payment of a tax to the prince,
whereby he and others are enabled to defray the costs of
public worship.
The practical point of view in this section is twofold. First
the prophet wishes to strengthen the faith of the people ; and

CHAP. XLV. 1-17. 447
hence, in contrast with the dreary present, in which priests and
Levites, city and civil authority are fallen, he paints before
their eyes a future full of hope. Next he wishes to indicate
the necessity of a moral reformation, to penetrate the mind
with a zeal for the removal of old evils, and to awaken the
sense of righteousness and free-will in offering. Self-interest
and avarice, that have hitherto wrought so perniciously, shall
no longer prevail among the people of the future, but rather
righteousness (vers. 8-12), a spirit of willing sacrifice (vers.
13-17). We should quite mistake the import of the section, if we
sought to find in it special revelations concerning the relations
of the future, and statutes which should then have the power
of law. What appears to favour this is only colouring, the
clothing of the thought with flesh and blood. The local deter
minations must be conceived in connection with those which
afterwards occur in reference to the tribes. If we survey the
whole, it is evident that the specifications are too mathematical,
too much at variance with the relations of the ground and the
number of persons to be sustained, to be intended as real.
The seal of the Utopian is intentionally impressed on them,
that no one may entertain the idea that the prophet wishes
to forestall the historical development, to which Moses had
given the freest scope. The prophet cannot have meant the
placing of the Levites in barracks to be real, because he would
thereby contradict the Mosaic law, which distributes the Levites
through all Israel. From the local specifications, light falls on
the arrangements concerning the tax in ver. 13 f. to be paid to
the prince. If we regard this as an actual prescription of law,
the most surprising defects are found in it. How, for ex.,
could a statement of the way in which it applies to black
cattle be wanting ? We find not the smallest trace of these
specifications of Ezekiel being adopted in the arrangement
of the relations after the return from the exile. It is quite
otherwise with the Mosaic law, which has been the determining
power in the minutest details through all times.
Ver. 1. And when ye allot1 the land for inheritance, ye
1 Luther, ' ' divide by lot." But casting the lot is not spoken of in what
follows ; indeed, it is excluded by that which the prophet says concerning
the situation of the tribe-land. It is literally, when ye let fall (Ps. xvi. 6).

448 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
shall make an oblation to the Lokd, holy from the land : the
length five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand.
It shall be holy in all its border round. 2. Of this shall be
for the sanctuary five hundred (cubits) by five hundred square
around ; and fifty cubits a free space for it around. 3. And
from this measure thou shalt measure a length of five and
twenty thousand, and a breadth of ten thousand : and in it
shall be the sanctuary, the holy of holies. 4. This holy portion
of the land shall be for the priests, the ministers of the
sanctuary, who are near to minister unto the Loed ; and it
shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the
sanctuary. 5. And five and twenty thousand in length, and
ten thousand in breadth, shall be to the Levites, the ministers
of the house, to them for a possession twenty chambers. 6.
And as a possession for the city ye shall give five thousand in
breadth, and in length five and twenty thousand, by the holy
oblation : it shall be for the whole house of Israel. 7. And
for the prince on both sides of the holy oblation, and of the
possession of the city, over against the holy oblation, and over
against the possession of the city, from the west side westward,
and from the east side eastward ; and the length by one of the
tribe shares shall be from the west border to the east border.
8. In the land shall it be to him for a possession in Israel : and
my princes shall no more oppress my people ; and the land
shall they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes.
9. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, It is enough for you, O
princes of Judah : remove violence and rapine, and do judg
ment and justice, take away your expulsions from my people,
saith the Lord Jehovah. 10. Ye shall have just balances,
and a just ephah, and a just bath. 11. The ephah and the
bath shall be of one measure, that the bath hold the tenth of
the homer, and the ephah a tenth of the homer ; the measure
of it shall be after the homer. 12. And the shekel shall be
twenty gerahs : twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen
shekels, shall be your maneh. 13. This is the oblation that
ye shall make ; a sixth of the ephah from a homer of wheat,
and ye shall give a sixth of the ephah from a homer of barley.
14. And the statute of the oil, the bath (is for) the oil, is a
tenth of the bath out of the kor, a homer of ten baths ; for ten
baths make a homer. 15. And one sheep out of the flock,

CHAP. XLV. 1-17. 449
from two hundred, out of the watered land of Israel, for the
meat-offering, and for the burnt-offering, and for peace-offer
ings, to atone for them, saith the Lord Jehovah. 16. And all
the people of the land shall give this oblation to the prince in
Israel. 17. And upon the prince shall fall the burnt-offerings,
and the meat-offering, and the drink-offering, in the feasts, and
in the new moons, and in the Sabbaths, in all the solemnities
of the house of Israel : he will make the sin-offering, and the
meat-offering, and the burnt-offering, and the peace-offerings,
to atone for the house of Israel.
The oblation (heave-offering) in ver. 1 is the part of the
land which is heaved up to God, who dwells on high — is conse
crated to Him. The oblation is here applied only to the priests'
part, with the sanctuary in its midst. But in a wider sense it
includes the portion of the Levites and the circuit of the city ;
even the portion of the prince might be reckoned to it, as he
acts as the minister of God. The length is the extent from
east to west, the breadth that from north to south. That the
25,000 and the 10,000 are cubits, and not reeds, is clear from
this, that in ch. xl.-xlviii. throughout, all greater measures are
reckoned by cubits, even in ch. xlii. 16 f. ; and that in ver. 2
cubits are expressly named ; and so here reeds must needs have
been named, if the prophet wished them to be understood. The
cubits expressly mentioned in ver. 2 apply also to the rest.
The reason why they are only there expressly mentioned is, that
the measure is there unexpectedly small, so that one might
easily think of a larger scale. Besides, if we take the reed, we
arrive at colossal magnitudes, which do not at all suit the
otherwise very moderate statements in ch. xl.-xlviii., particu
larly the measurements of the new temple, which is only 500
cubits square. With perfect right Bottcher remarks : " If all
the numbers were reeds, the holy oblation, for ex. ch. xiv. 1,
must have been 150,000 cubits = 225,000 feet = 10 geogra
phical (about 42 English) miles in length, and 60,000 cubits
= 90,000 feet = 4 (17 Eng.) miles in breadth, and thus 40 (740
Eng.) square miles, almost a tenth of the whole land ; the capital
(xlviii. 16 f.) must have been four times 27,000 cubits = 108,000
cubits = 7 (30 Eng.) miles in circuit, more than seven times that
of the later Jerusalem" (Joseph. B. J. v. 4, 3; c. Ap. i. 22).
Such colossal proportions are the less suitable, because the.
2 F

450 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
limits of the land are, according to what follows, the old ones :
the remark, " he finds the land of Palestine greater," finds no
verification in him. Then, too, if we here take the reed as
measure throughout, the inheritance lying west and east of the
district already set apart would be so confined, that the object
of the grant of land mentioned by the prophet would not be
attained. There would remain for him only a very small
strip on both sides, whereas we expect that his portion will be
nearly equal to that of one of the tribes, and will suffer no
material loss by the land previously set apart. By ch. xlvi.
16-18 it is presupposed that the domain of the prince is of con
siderable extent. The lot is also much too great for the priests
and Levites, who are debarred from agriculture, if we take the
reed as measure. What are the priests to do with a region of
forty (740 Eng.) square miles ? It is also important that, with
such an extent of ground, the Levites, the ministers of the
house, must have undertaken a formal journey every time they
went to the house. The free space of 50 cubits round the
sanctuary (ver. 2) shows very clearly that the 500 of the sanc
tuary are not reeds, but cubits. A free space of 50 cubits to a
sanctuary of 500 reeds would be too small. And if we suppose
that of the 500 reeds only 500 cubits were built upon, and the
rest was vacant, the free space loses its meaning. It was ob
viously intended to be an interval between the house of God
and the houses of the priests. That the measure of the whole
heave-offering shall take its rise from the measures of the
sanctuary (ver. 3), points to the central import of this, to the
fact that the rest only exists on its account. The hallowed
part of the land (ver. 4, comp. ver. 1) falls into a twofold
division : the one for the priests, whose land is holy, because
they are the ministers of the sanctuary ; the other, the holy
space for the sanctuary itself. After the priests, in ver. 5
follow the Levites. The salutary Mosaic ordinance, by which
these are to be scattered through the whole land, the prophet
cannot intend to abrogate. If he therefore here concentrates
them all in one place near the sanctuary, this can only be the
means of representing an idea, the exhibition of their relation
to the sanctuary. The prophet nowhere speaks of the tithe to
be paid to the Levites ; yet it is presupposed, as without it the
tribe would have no means of subsistence. Instead of the

CHAP. XLV. 1-17. 451
Levitical cities arranged by Moses, appear here twenty cham
bers or courts, corresponding to the already mentioned priestly
courts, barracks for the Levites, the inhabitants of which use
the twentieth part of the land assigned to them as pasturage.
The chambers or courts here include the land as an appurte
nance. To the part of the priests and Levites is annexed in
ver. 6 the possession of the city. This is to be distinguished
from the city itself. The latter, according to ch. xlviii. 16, is
square, the length being equal to the breadth, so that essen
tially it has the circuit which Josephus in the passages already
quoted, and also Hecatasus Abderita, ascribe to the later Jeru
salem. In ver. 7 the domain of the prince. This encloses on
the east and west sides the holy oblation, by which the land of
the priests and Levites is here designated, and the territory of
the city, so that it takes into the midst and protects the two
districts : it extends on both sides, east and west, as far as
each of the tribe allotments. The prince obtains, as Jerome
has remarked, as much as every tribe, with the exception of
the square for the priests, Levites, and city. But in the por
tion of the princes, says Ch. B. Michaelis, lay the sanctuary,
because it is the part of pious princes to make room for the
church. In vers. 8, 9 it is stated why the prince in the new
order of things is so richly endowed with lands. He is thus to
be freed from the temptation to provide himself with land at
the cost of his subjects. "My princes:" this shows clearly
that under the ideal unity of the prince in Ezekiel a numerical
plurality is included. Those who understand by the prince
merely the Messiah, must here do violence te the text. The
address in ver. 9 shows that representatives or descendants of
the princes who formerly committed injustice, were also in
exile. The political parties especially gave occasion for the
"expulsions" or confiscations. But the history of Ahab's
seizure of the vineyard shows that occasion was taken for these
even without a cause. Already Samuel, in 1 Sam. viii. 14,
points out that the king will take the best field and vineyard,
and give them for pay to his servants. Righteousness shall
in future govern the popular life : this is the thought in vers.
10-12. Ver. 10 only resumes Lev. xix. 35, 36, and Deut. xxv.
13—1 B — regulations the frivolous violation of which had had a
material part in the curse which fell upon the people. Moses

452 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
had already given the motive for this command, "that thou
mayest live long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth
thee. For all that do these things, all that do wrong, are an
abomination to the Lord thy God." The determinations in
vers. 11, 12 are not designed to fix for ever the current weights
and coins, but to show how exact men ought to be in measures
and coins. Whosoever, for ex., takes one from the twenty
gerahs of a shekel, either by clipping the coin or giving too
little of the commodity, sins against God's ordinance. We
have here thus only a particularizing of the general principle
in ver. 10. What the ephah is for dry goods, the bath is for
liquids. Both have the same content. The homer, which is
common to dry goods and to liquids, affords the standard, of
which both the ephah and the bath are a tenth. That the
shekel contains twenty gerahs, is repeatedly stated in the Penta
teuch (Ex. xxx. 13, etc.). The maneh, probably of external
origin, which explains its rare and late occurrence, is stated
at a threefold value, which coincides with its foreign origin :
it had in the different countries whence it came a different
valuation. The prophet places first, as the normal mina, that
which contains twenty shekels : this corresponds to the twenty
gerahs of the shekel. On this follows a mina which has five
shekels more than the normal mina ; and lastly, a mina which
has five less. The prophet allows all three kinds of mina ;
but whosoever reckons, for ex., by a mina of fifteen shekels,
must not diminish a shekel from it, either in money or in
goods. The middle mina agrees with the Attic. This contains
100 drachma3. But the shekel, according to Joseph. Arch. iii.
8, 2, contains four Attic drachmas. Not " the shekel is equal
to a didrachmon, a double drachma," but the half-shekel (Matt.
xvii. 24). The stater there, the double of the didrachmon,
corresponds to the shekel. There is no valid proof1 for a
Hebrew mina of 100 shekels, nor for one of fifty shekels.
The oblation in vers. 13-17 is offered to God, and paid
to His servant and plenipotentiary the prince, who has there
with to defray the cost of the public worship ; though, as it
appears, not that alone — for the amount is much too great for
this purpose, and no barley was used in worship — but also the
1 For Jjijd in 1 Kings x. 17 is to be read J11KD, according to ver. 16
and 2 Chron. ix. 16.

CHAP. XLV. 18-XLVI. 15. 453
other expenses for the general good, so that here we have the
Old Testament foundation for Rom. xiii. 6, 7. Willingness to
pay dues belongs still to the marks of a true church member.
This is also the general doctrine, that the magistrate shall take
first of all from the taxes levied the means for the proper ob
servance of divine worship. In determining the amount of the
tax, the prophet does not mean to trench upon the office of
statesmen : what he states is only exemplification and outline.
Of grain the sixtieth part shall be paid, of oil the hundredth,
of sheep the two-hundredth : the oxen are not mentioned, — a
proof that the determinations here have not the character of an
actual regulation of taxes. The -tax of wheat and barley is the
same, with a difference only in the expression. The proper
sixthing here — that is, taking a sixth part — occurred already in
xxxix. 2. The kor in ver. 14 is only another name for the
homer. The last is without doubt the native name. The kor,
occurring only in books written in or after the exile, is trans
ferred from the Aramaic. " Out of the watered land of
Israel" (ver. 15): this points to Gen. xiii. 8, the only other
place where watered land occurs. It stands then of the Jordan
valley before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The
reference is a significant one. Whosoever makes " pride and
all fulness" (ch. xvi. 49) his watchword, whosoever shuns to
give God His part of the blessing bestowed by Him, he is
punished by the withdrawal of this blessing.
CHAPTER XLV. 18-XLVI. 15.
From the holy places and the holy persons, the prophet
turns to the holy times and the holy acts. He directs his view
to those who were grieved " for the festival" (Zeph. iii. 18), to
the banished, who complained that " the ways of Zion lie
waste, because none come to the feasts : all her gates are deso
late, her priests sigh" (Lam. i. 4) : " her adversaries look on
her, and mock at her Sabbaths" (i. 7). " The Lord _ hath
caused the feast and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion" (ii. 6).
He presents before their eyes the figure of the restored wor
ship and the restored festival. He begins with the consecra
tion of the house (ch. xiv. 18-20) ; then turns to the yearly
festivals, of which the first and the last are made prominent

454 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
(vers. 21-25) ; passes to the Sabbath and the new moon (ch.
xlvi. 1-7) ; returns to the yearly festivals (vers. 9-11); states
the manner of the free-will offering of the prince (ver. 12) ;
and closes with the daily sacrifice (vers. 13-15). Restoration
of the worship, removal of the intolerable void, which since its
abolition pressed upon God-fearing minds : this is the thought
which the prophet does not present naked, but paints before
the eyes, to prepare a powerful counterpoise to the pain of the
dreary present. We move here also quite on Old Testament
ground ; and the fulfilment of the rightly understood prophecy,
in which the details are only means of representation, lies
wholly in Ezra iii. The supposed contrast to the Mosaic law,
in a series of particular determinations, does not in fact exist.
The Mosaic ordinances concerning the number of victims are
only to be regarded as general rules, from which under cir
cumstances deviations are allowable ; just as Solomon, in the
building of the temple, was not deterred by the measurements
of the sanctuary from adapting himself to the altered circum
stances. The Mosaic law makes in the details concessions to
poverty : instead of the paschal lamb, a kid might be taken ;
the poor lying-in woman might present (Lev. xii. 8), instead
of the lamb and the dove, two turtle-doves ; whosoever had no
sheep for a guilt-offering, was accepted (Lev. v.) with two
turtle-doves ; and whosoever had not even these, with a little
meal. So also, without doubt, in the public offering, were the
people accepted according to that which they had, not accord
ing to that which they had not. In times of hard necessity, of
deep poverty, a reduction of the victims and other services
might take place. But still less was it forbidden on occasion
to introduce a multiplication of the victims and other services,
and thus give expression to the heart filled with thankfulness
by a new and great benefit. The law says expressly and re
peatedly, that it will set no limit to free and thankful love. In
Num. vi. 21 it is said, " and besides what his hand affords" —
what he may do of free-will. In the feast of Pentecost, ac
cording to Deut. xvi. 10, the feast is kept " according to the
free-will offering of thy hand which thou givest ;" as Knobel
explains, according to that which thou mayest freely do after
the blessing granted by Jehovah : comp. Lev. xxiii. 37, 38 ;
Num. xxix. 30. But the deviations from the Mosaic law

CHAP. XLV. 18-XLVI. 15. 455
consist here almost always in increase and advance. This is
shown in the most striking manner in the victims of the pass-
over and in the meat-offering. In the daily sacrifice, this, in
Num. xxviii. 5, amounts to a tenth of an ephah of flour, a
fourth of a hin of oil ; here to a sixth of an ephah and a third
of a hin. On the Sabbath two-tenths of an ephah, in Num.
xxviii. 9 ; here a whole ephah for every victim. On the new
moon, by the law, three-tenths of an ephah to one bullock,
two-tenths to one ram, and one to a lamb (Num. xxviii. 12) ;
here a whole ephah to the bullock, and an ephah to the ram.
In the passover by the law as in the new moon ; here an ephah
for the bullock, an ephah for the ram, and in the lambs the
quantity is left to the free-will. The meat-offering signifies
good works. Zeal in these, as the advance denotes, is to be
mightily enhanced by the impending new exhibition of the
grace of God. But a deviation from the law of Moses is here
so much the less meant, as the prophet does not give legal
prescriptions concerning that which it was the part of the
prince and the people to determine ; but as all details are for
him only means of representation, his mission is confined to the
impression which he is to make on minds assailed by despair ;
to which is only to be added, the aim to impress on them the
thought : When salvation will have come, be ye abundantly
thankful. Those who here wish to overleap the half millen
nium of the restored temple, and refer all to the times of the
New Testament, or even to its millennial kingdom, unnaturally
sever the announcement from the state of mind, the cares and
anxieties of the first readers, and have ch. xi. 16 against them,
according to which a restoration of the outward temple shall
follow in a brief period. No less against them also is the
analogy of the other prophets, who in great afflictions of the
people first place before their eyes the lower deliverance, and
then further direct their attention to the Messianic salvation, as
the prophet does here in ch. xlvii. 1-12. Isaiah, for ex., in the
Assyrian oppression, places first, in ch. x., deliverance from this
before their eyes ; then in ch. xi. lifts the view to the great
Ruler of David's line, who makes an end of all the affliction
of His people, and in whom they rule the world. But we
move here quite on the ground of the Old Testament worship ;
and there is not the slightest indication that, by the sacrifice of

456 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
bulls, lambs, and goats, other forms of worship are denoted.
Though the details were only means of representation and
colouring, yet such an intimation regarding the whole should
not be wanting, if the announcement were to go to a time
when, by the offered sacrifice of Christ, a total revolution in
the worship was introduced. This is certainly correct : though
the prophecy refers first to the restoration of the Old Testa
ment worship, and in this respect has long found its fulfil
ment, and indeed a fulfilment that has long disappeared — the
downfall was proclaimed by the word of Christ, " Behold, your
house is left unto you desolate," — yet at the same time it con
ceals in the details the kernel of a general truth, the im
perishability of the worship in the community of God on earth,
which is demonstrated, among other things, by this, that as
the here predicted worship was overthrown by the Roman
destruction, the worship of the Christian church rose again in
glory. Ver. 18. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, In the first month,
on the first of the month, thou shalt take a bullock of the herd
without blemish, and cleanse the sanctuary. 19. And the
priest shall take of the blood of the sin-offering, and put it
upon the posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the
enclosure of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the
inner court. 20. And so shalt thou do on the seventh of the
month for the erring man and for the simple, and ye shall
atone for the house. 21. In the first month, on the fourteenth
day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven
days : unleavened bread shall be eaten. 22. And on that day
the prince shall offer for himself, and for all the people of the
land, a bullock for a sin-offering. 23. And the seven days of
the feast he shall offer for a burnt-offering to the Loed, seven
bullocks and seven rams without blemish every day for the
seven days ; and for a sin-offering a kid of the goats daily.
24. And he shall offer for a meat-offering an ephah for a bul
lock, and an ephah for a ram, and a bin of oil for the ephah.
25. In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month,
in the feast, he shall do the like seven days, as the sin-offering,
as the burnt-offering, and as the meat-offering, and as the oil.
Ch. xlvi. 1. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The gate of the
inner court, that looketh toward the east, shall be shut the six

CHAP. XLV. 18-XLVI. 15. 457
days of work ; and on the Sabbath-day it sliall be opened, and
on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. 2. And the
prince shall enter the way of the porch of the gate without,
and stand at the post of the gate ; and the priests shall offer
his burnt-offering and his peace-offering, and he shall worship
at the threshold of the gate, and go out ; and the gate shall
not be shut until the evening. 3. And the people of the land
shall worship at the door of this gate in the Sabbaths and in
the new moons before the Lord. 4. And the burnt-offering
that the prince shall offer unto the Lord on the Sabbath-day
shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish.
5. And the meat-offering an ephah for the ram, and for the
lambs the meat-offering shall be the gift of his hand, and of
oil a hin to the ephah. 6. And in the day of the new moon a
bullock of the herd without blemish ; and six lambs and a
ram, they shall be without blemish. 7. And an ephah for the
bullock, and an ephah for the ram, he shall offer for a meat
offering ; and for the lambs what his hand affords, and of oil
a hin to the ephah. 8. And when the prince enters, he shall
enter the way of the porch of the gate, and by its way shall he
go out. 9. And when the people of the land come before the
Loed in the festivals, he that entereth the way of the north
gate shall go out the way of the south gate, and he that
entereth the way of the south gate shall go out the way of the
north gate : he shall not return the way of the gate whereby
he came in, but straight before him they shall go out. 10.
And the prince shall go in among them when they go in ; and
when they go out they shall go out. 11. And in the feasts
and in the solemnities the meat-offering shall be an ephah for
the bullock, and an ephah for the ram; and for the lambs the
gift of his hand, and of oil a hin for the ephah. 12. And
when the prince shall offer a free gift, a burnt-offering or
peace-offering, a free gift to the Lord, then one shall open to
him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall offer
his burnt-offering and his peace-offering as he offers on the
Sabbath-day ; and he shall go out, and one shall shut the gate
after he goeth out. 13. And a lamb of the first year without
blemish thou shalt offer for a burnt-offering in the day to the
Lord : every morning thou shalt offer it. 14. And for a meat
offering thou shalt offer with it every morning the sixth of an

458 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ephah, and of oil the third part of a hin, to moisten the wheat
flour, a meat-offering to the Lord, an ordinance of continual
standing. 15. And they shall offer1 the lamb, and the meat
offering, and the oil, every morning, for a continual burnt-
offering. First, in ch. xiv. 18-20, the consecration of the sanctuary.
This corresponds to the consecration of the altar of burnt-
offering in ch. xliii. 20 ; and after the analogy of this, we shall
have to regard the solemnity as occurring only once, corre
sponding to the seven days' solemnity on the consecration of
the temple of Solomon (2 Chron. vii. 8), and to the new con
secration of the temple under Hezekiah by the offering of
burnt-offerings (2 Chron. xxix. 18-30), but especially to the
consecration of the tabernacle, which, according to Ex. xl.,
took place also on the first day of the first month. But even
if it were treated of a yearly recurring solemnity, the institu
tion of it would not be contrary to the law of Moses. That
men did not think of seeing in the Mosaic festival ordinances
an insurmountable barrier for all time, is shown, for ex., by
2 Chron. xxx. 23, and also by the feast of Purim, but parti
cularly by the feast of dedication. It would only be inad
missible if the prophet himself wished to ordain such a festival,
which was not at all in his power, and lay beyond the range of
his vocation. But this cannot be intended. All details serve
the one object, to express the assurance with which the prophet
looked forward to the restoration of the Mosaic worship. The
" post" and " the door" stand collectively. All the doors of
the inner court are meant. The cleansing of the house took
place after ver. 3. " For the erring man and for the simple :"
he alone, the well-disposed in heart, but weak, easily tempted,
is by the law (Num. xv. 27-31) made partaker of the forgive
ness of sins effected by the sacrifice. Those who sin boldly
and wantonly, who daringly break the covenant of God, are to
be wholly disregarded : they stand beyond forgiveness, and
belong not to Israel ; they are souls who are cut off from their
people. But even if we disregard these, the sanctuary is ever
built by poor sinners, and presented by them to God : with its
1 The reading of the text is the prset. with Vau ; the marginal reading
is the future. The vowels belong to the latter ; and of an imperative there
is no trace.

CHAP. XLV. 18-XLVI. 15. 459
erection no merit is connected, but the building is only accept
able through the atonement.
After the consecration of the building, the chief and fun-
damental festival, the passover, is celebrated in it (vers. 21-24).
In this festival the enhancing of the offerings appears quite
prominent, which is explained by this, that the grace of re
demption sealed by this festival was to receive so rich an acces
sion by the events of the future. The law requires for each
of the seven days two bullocks and one ram for the burnt-
offering. Here we have, on the whole, forty-nine bullocks
and forty-nine rams for it. The passover is called " a feast of
the seven of days," because it lasted seven days every time it
occurred.1 That the prince must offer the bullock as a sin-
offering, not merely for the people, but also for himself, shows
quite clearly that we should understand by him neither exclu
sively nor immediately the Messiah. Princes in Israel between
Ezekiel and Christ are presented to us among other things by
the coins, which bear the superscription, " Simon the prince of
Israel." It could not come into the mind of Ezekiel, with the
end he had in view, to transcribe the whole Mosaic catalogue
of festivals. If one and another revived, it is evident of itself
that the others also revived. Hence in ver. 25 only the feast
of tabernacles is mentioned along with the passover. That this
forms the end of the Mosaic cycle of feasts, as the passover
forms the beginning, shows at once that we are to understand
all that lies between. Ch. xlvi. 11 decides for this still more
definitely. A multiplicity of feasts and solemnities to be cele
brated in the future is there mentioned. The distinction
between the two indicates that there are solemnities which are
not seasons of joy. This leads us to the continuance of the
great day of atonement, on the supposed disappearance of
which so far-reaching conclusions have been founded. The
brevity also with which the feast of tabernacles is mentioned
points back to the Mosaic law, from which is to be taken the
regulation concerning the number of victims ; only that here
the meat-offering receives an increase (comp. xlvi. 11). The
1 jnat? stands in the original meaning of a heptade, in which it also
occurs in Daniel, where it denotes a heptade of years. Other interpre
tations are refuted by the fundamental passage, Num. xxviii. 17, " The
feast of seven days, unleavened bread shall be eaten."

460 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
similarity to the passover here intimated refers, as is expressly
said, only to the kinds of offering, not to the number of the
victims. Similarity of the latter in the passover and the feast
of tabernacles would mar the individual physiognomy of both.
" In the feast " — the feast which, according to the law, falls on
the day named. Neither here nor elsewhere in Scripture is
the feast of tabernacles designated merely as the feast. This
was a distinction which applied only to the passover, as the
root of all feasts.
On the yearly festivals follow, in ch. xlvi. 1-7, the weekly
and monthly festivals. First, in vers. 1-3, the place where
prince and people are to worship. The inner east gate of the
temple, otherwise shut, shall be opened on the Sabbath and
new moon. This rule does not interfere with ch. xliv. 1. There
the outer gate is expressly named. This also here remains shut,
as indeed ch. xlvii. 2 presupposes that it is shut once for all ;
otherwise it would have been opened for the prince. That the
inner east gate is shut on ordinary days, we learn first from
our passage. His sacrificial feast the prince eats, according to
ch. xliv. 3, in the outer east gate, which remains shut from
without. On the contrary, in making the offering, he is to
advance to the end of the inner gate opening in the inner court
upon the altar of burnt-offering. He enters the outer court
by the north or south gate, and then passes through the open
door of the inner east gate, to the threshold and post of it. He
does not pass the porch, but remains on this side of it,1 beyond
the open gate, but close by it, on the threshold, which lies
between the open gate and the porch (comp. xl. 7). The right
here granted to the prince does not extend at all to the position
of the kings before the exile. In the consecration of the
temple, Solomon (2 Chron. vi. 13) stood on a scaffold within
the inner court before the altar of burnt-offering (comp. 1 Kings
viii. 22). A raised stand in the inner court for the king is
mentioned elsewhere also (2 Kings xi. 14, xxiii. 3 ; 2 Chron.
xxiii. 13). The matter in hand is not merely about " a sub
ordination of the prince under God :" there is in regard to the
worship a sharp line drawn between prince and priest, which
does not at all permit us to understand the prince of Christ
exclusively, or even primarily. In harmony with the limit here
1 ]'ino is not from without, but without, beyond.

CHAP. XLV. 18-XLVI. 15. 461
drawn is ch. xiv. 22, according to which the prince must offer
a sin-offering for himself. Plainly incompatible with it is the
assertion, resting on quite a loose ground, "The prophet assigns
to him also priestly rights and functions." The people may not
enter the inner gate ; they worship at the opened door, through
which they catch a glimpse of the altar of burnt-offering, which
the prince — that is the only difference — sees better from a
nearer point. In vers. 4, 5, the offering of the Sabbath. The
increase of grace shows itself here also in the augmentation of
the victims. In lambs we have here threefold (Num. xxviii. 9),
and the ram is a new addition. The meat-offering also, with
the ram, appears enhanced above the minimum appointed by
the law. In the lambs, the amount of the meat-offering is left
to the free-will of the prince, only that naturally it should not
fall short of the determination of the law, which is a very small
quantity. " The gift of his hand " here, and " what his hand
affords" in ver. 7, show that, according to the view of the
prophet, there is in the offerings a range of freedom along with
the obligation, and cast light also on his apparent deviations
from the Mosaic law. The number of bullocks at the new
moon (ver. 6) is apparently left to the free judgment ; only it
should not fall short of the two required by the law1 (Num.
xxviii. 11). In vers. 8—11 the prophet returns to the yearly
festivals. He states first how prince and people are to go in
and out at the festivals. Ver. 8 is quite general : it applies not
merely to the Sabbaths and new moons (comp. ver. 2), but also
to the festivals : in these also the prince takes the place of
honour before the porch of the inner gate. That which is
peculiar to the festivals is contained only in ver. 10. There
the prince, so far as the common ground, the outer court, ex
tended, is not to separate himself from the people, but to come
and go among them. This was formerly the manner of the
pious princes in Israel, to walk in the festivals among the mul
titude keeping the holy day. David, in banishment, says in
Ps. xlii. 5 : " These things I remember, and pour out my soul
1 That the unity of the bullock is ideal, while the word is used collec
tively, is shown by the plural DiCCD- It appears unsuitable to explain
this plural of the return of the festival ; it is used in no other way than
in the second half of the verse. A minus in relation to the Mosaic law
is beforehand scarcely conceivable, and contrary to analogy.

462 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
in me : for I went in the crowd; I walked to the house of God,
with the voice of joy and praise, in the multitude keeping the
holy day." The reason of the regulation in ver. 9, that no one
at the festival is to go out by the same gate by which he came
in, cannot be sought in the endeavour to avoid a throng : in
that case it must have ordained that all should go in by the
same gate, and go out by the opposite one. The reason can only
be a theological one, to signify that each should go out of the
sanctuary another man than he came in ; or what the apostle
also says, Phil. iii. 13, " I forget that which is behind, and
reach forth to that which is before." In ver. 11 the amount
of the meat-offering and the oil, which in ch. xiv. 24 was
specially required for the passover, is fixed as the general rate
for all festivals. The distinction between feasts and solemni
ties here (the latter are the genus, the former the species) is
illustrated by Lev. xxiii. 27 f. The regulation concerning the
mode of presenting the free-will offering of the prince (ver.
12) is distinguished from that regarding the Sabbath offering
in ver. 2 by this, that here the inner east gate is closed after
the prince has made his offering, whereas there it remains open
till the evening. The distinction is explained by this, that in
the free-will offering the prince appears as an individual, in
the Sabbath offering as the representative of the people. In
vers. 13-15, the ordinance concerning the daily sacrifice. This
is limited to the morning sacrifice, which suffices for the object
of the prophet. The evening sacrifice is unnoticed. From the
circumstance that here the people are addressed, whereas in
the other offerings the prince appears as the offerer, it appears
all the more to follow that the prince had not to provide
the material for the daily sacrifice, while in ch. xiv. 17 the
providing of the offering on the Sabbaths, new moons, and
solemn feasts, is assigned to the prince alone. Yet the conclu
sion is not certain. The transition from the prince to the
people is an easy one, as in the foregoing passage the' prince
represents the people. The section also in ch. xiv. 18-20 had
begun with the address to the people, and there is scarcely a
doubt that the close here corresponds to the beginning there :
the prince is enclosed on both sides by the people. But in ch.
xiv. 17 the daily sacrifice may be passed over, because, accord
ing to the material side there alone coming into account, it was

CHAP. XLVI. 16-24. 463
relatively unimportant. The whole section is for us of tran
scendent importance, as it teaches us to live in the word, if the
grace of God does not make itself known to us in the visible.
What the prophet here announces appeared to the natural
reason to be mere fancy ; but of those to whom he addressed
his words, not a few lived to see his announcement forcing its
way into reality. They took part in the solemn sacrificial
worship, in which the 116th Psalm was sung after the return
from the exile. This begins with the words, "It is dear to
me that the Lord heareth my voice and my supplication ;" and
ends thus, " I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to
the Lord before all His people : in the courts of the Lord's
house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Hallelujah." " Thus
saith the Lord Jehovah :" so begins the whole section with all
right. The prophet announces in it that which flesh and blood
had not revealed unto him, but the Father in heaven, who alone
can teach to hope where there is nothing to hope. The formula
refers not merely to the matter, but also to the form. The
means of representation are such as were best adapted to bring
home the truth to the people pining in exile, and impress it
deeply on their minds.

CHAPTER XLVI. 16-24.
Before passing to an entirely new subject, the prophet gives
some additions to the .foregoing. The first of these additions
is connected with ch. xiv. 7-9, where the prophet had presented
to view the separation of an estate for the prince. The second,
in vers. 19, 20, gives, in continuation of the description of the
chambers of the priests in ch. xlii. 1 f ., an account of the sacri
ficial kitchens for the priests, forming the termination of them
toward the west. To this is then annexed, in vers. 21-24, an
account of the sacrificial kitchens for the people. The practical
point in the first of these additions is to warn against the re
currence of the former despotic spirit in the government. The
second and third additions are intended to teach the people to
rise from the visible to their God, who is so plenteous in redemp
tion. The energy of the prophet's faith is shown in this, that
he enters into the minutest architectural details cf the temple

464 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
of the future. As, moreover, the section concerning the princes
takes its rise from the relations of the past, so the sacrificial
kitchens of the future are doubtless portrayed with reference
to that which the prophet had seen with the bodily eye in the
past. Such apartments could not be wanting in the temple of
Solomon. Where it belongs properly to the priestly calling
to eat parts of the sacrifices, where the piety of laymen is to
employ itself in the preparation of sacrificial feasts " before the
Lord," there must have been cooking-places within the bounds
of the sanctuary.
Ver. 16. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, When the prince
gives a gift to any of his sons, this shall be his inheritance to
his sons : it shall be their possession by inheritance. 17. And
if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then
it shall be his to the year of freedom, and it shall return to the
prince ; only his inheritance to his sons shall belong to them.
18. And the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance,
to force them out of their possession : out of his own possession
he shall endow his sons, that my people be not scattered every
man from his possession. 19. And he brought me through the
entry, which was at the side of the gate, to the holy chambers
to the priests, that look toward the north : and, behold, there a
place on their side westward. 20. And he said unto me, This
is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt-offering and
the sin-offering, where they shall bake the meat-offering, so as
not to bring it forth to the outer court to sanctify the people.
21. And he brought me forth to the outer court, and led me
to the four corners of the court ; and, behold, a court in the
corner of the court, and a court in the corner of the court.
22. In the four corners of the court were smoking courts forty
long and thirty broad ; one measure was to the four corner
rooms. 23. And there was a range around in them around
the four, and cooking-places were made under the ranges
around. 24. And he said to me, These are the house of the
cooks, where the ministers of the house boil the sacrifice of the
people. That we have in vers. 16-18 not an attempt of the prophet
to set up for a lawgiver, but a clear representation of the
thought that the princes of the future are to be no despots, are
to beware of the unjust absolutism of those of the past, is mani-

CHAP. XLVI. 16-24. 465
fest from that which we have already remarked concerning the
purely ideal character of the partition of the land. The prince
here cannot be Christ. He is one who may have several sons
of his own body, who disposes of his property in the prospect
of his death, who stands not beyond the region of sin, else he
should not need to be warned against it. We have here, in
fact, not two commands, but one concession, — namely, that the
prince may bequeath of his own proper and hereditary lands to
his later born sons ; and one command, — namely, that he may
not give away thereof to his servants, because he who gives
much is forced to take from others their own. The danger
against which the prophet here provides, Samuel has pointed
out in 1 Sam. viii. 14. The regulation that the gifts of land
to the prince's servants shall revert to him in the jubilee, points
to Lev. xxv. 10, 13, where the jubilee is also called the year of
freedom. The "holy chambers" mentioned in ver. 19 are the cham
bers of the priests described in ch. xlii. 1 f . " To the priests : "
this is added, because the chambers are regarded as a perquisite
of the priests, — a usage for which many analogies are to be
found in Catholic countries — " to the Carmelites," etc. The
entry is that mentioned in ch. xlii. 9. It leads to the inner
court gate west of the eastern gate of the fence-wall of the
priestly cells. There : thus the kitchens are in the cell-build
ing, not by or outside it. It formed, as we have already
shown, the western part of it.1 The priests must have their
separate kitchens, lest, if they carry the food through the
throng of the court, the people be sanctified : this is explained
by the remarks on ch. xliv. 19.
The repetition of the words, " a court in the corner of the
court," in ver. 21, points out that the same observation is re
peated several times. Ver. 22 then says more definitely, that
in each of the four corners of the court was such a kitchen for
the people, which we must regard as an offshoot of the cham
bers of the people in the sides of the court. " Smoking courts "
(ver. 22) : the rising smoke is the characteristic mark of these
1 The singular arDT is to be read as in Gen. xlix. 13. The suff.
refers, in fact, to the' chambers, formally to the priests, including the
chambers under them.
2G

466 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
buildings.1 Not without reason are the slain-offerings only
mentioned in ver. 24, as distinguished from the sin and guilt
offerings to be prepared in the kitchens of the priests. Only
with the slain-offerings, such as are akin to common slaughter
ing, was a communion connected. The greatest part fell to
the offerers, and was consumed in the sacrificial meals. But
the sacrifice of the people might not be prepared by the people,
but only by the Levites, who were designated in ch. xliv. 11
the ministers of the people. CHAPTER XLVII. 1-12.
Here suddenly the view becomes wider and freer. It
enters into the Messianic times. From the restored temple at
length salvation goes forth for the whole world: this is the
naked thought. We shall have to regard as the Mediator of
this salvation the exalted descendant of David, who, according
to ch. xvii. 23, grows from a feeble sapling to a glorious cedar
under which all fowls dwell : to the fowls of every wing there,
correspond here the fish of every kind (ver. 10). In harmony
with our prophecy the salvation here announced took its be
ginning at the time of the second temple, and flowed thence,
where Jesus had the chief seat of His activity (comp. on John
vii. 3, 4), over the nations of the earth.
The relations of the New Testament to our section are very
rich and manifold. In reference to it the Lord in Matt. iv.
18, 19 says to Peter and Andrew, " I will make you fishers of
men." On it rests the miraculous draught of fishes by Peter at
the beginning of the ministry of Jesus (Luke v.), and also the
1 The verb "it3p, with all its derivatives, has in Hebrew only the mean
ing, to exhale, steam, smoke ; and to abandon this in favour of another
far-fetched meaning there is the less occasion, where kitchens are in ques
tion. That the proper name Keturah, written as our word, means the
fragrant, is admitted. The Talmud (Middoth ii. § 8) has rendered
niySpHD here atria fumum exhalantia, with which the Masoretes were
perplexed, as the points over it show ; and which is probably a kind of
priestly proper name for those rooms, which Ezekiel here brings forward
as a fond reminiscence. It is properly the part. Hoph., and signifies not, as
JHXpD, corner, but cornered, a corner room.
2 The name referring to the form is here intentionally used ; formerly
Shelamim, the name expressing the nature.

CHAP. XLVII. 1-12. 467
draught after the resurrection in John xxi. Jesus designedly
embodies, at the commencement and the close, the contents of
our prophecy in a symbolic act. No less allusive to our pro
phecy is the parable of the net, which gathered of every kind,
in Matt. xiii. 47. Finally, in Rev. xxii. 1, 2 is announced the
last and most glorious fulfilment of our prophecy. Our
section is the only one in the whole cycle of ch. xl.-xlviii., the
fulfilment of which is represented in the New Testament as
belonging to the time of Christ. It should have set aside the
old application of the whole prophecy concerning the new
temple to the Christian church, that the New Testament
affords no support for this interpretation. On this side of the
Apocalypse the references are limited to ch. xlvii. 1-12 ; all
the rest is ignored, which would be inconceivable if it referred
to the times of the New Testament. But the new Jerusalem
in the Apocalypse, far from establishing the interpretation of
the whole prophecy by the Christian church, stands to the
restored Jerusalem of Ezekiel in an antithetic relation. In
Ezekiel all is earthly; there all is above the earthly. The
measures are quite different. In Ezekiel the whole city has
the moderate circuit of about a mile and a half (about 7 Eng.),
which agrees with its extent after the exile. On the contrary,
in Rev. xxi. 16 the city is 12,000 stadia long, broad, and high.
It measures on every side 300 geographical miles (above 1200
Eng.). In the Apocalypse all is of gold, precious stones, and
pearls, while here the most moderate relations are presented.
The temple that forms here the absolute centre is wanting alto
gether in the Apocalypse.
It is not otherwise with the closing prophecy of Ezekiel than
in the prophecy in the first book of Moses. There the announce
ment concerning the blessing coming upon all the families of the
earth through Abraham, and of the Shiloh, to whom the people
cleave (Gen. xlix. 10), only penetrates into the Messianic
region. Irrespective of this, the prophetic announcement — as
Gen. xii. 1-3, and particularly the blessing of Jacob in Gen.
xlix., clearly show — refers to the deliverance of the nearer future,
to the people springing from the descendants of the patriarchs,
the release from the land of pilgrimage, the possession of
Canaan. So, in Ezekiel, the lower but nearer deliverance pre
eminently draws his attention to itself, as indeed is the case in all

468 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
other prophets ; as, for ex., Habakkuk opposes to the Chaldean
catastrophe first the release from the Chaldean bondage. Such
a course is evidently wise and natural. The plain, obvious
matter of fact could only be mistaken in a time when the mind
was not alive to historical apprehension. It is an anachronism
to attempt to revive such an interpretation. We certainly
need not therefore mistake the fact, that in a certain sense the
whole description of the new temple bears a Messianic character.
The restoration of the temple here announced is not exhausted
by the immediate fulfilment. It assures us that even in the
church of Christ life will ever issue from death. But there it
stops : ch. xlvii. 1-12 alone is directly and exclusively Messianic.
The order in this section, which runs parallel with ch. liii.
of Isaiah, ch. xxx. and xxxi. of Jeremiah, and ch. xi. of Zecha
riah, is very simple : first, the description, the water from the
sanctuary, vers. 1-6; the trees on its banks, ver. 7 ; then the
statement of the purpose served by that which is described —
the water, vers. 8-11 ; the trees, ver. 12.
Ver. 1. And he brought me back to the door of the house ;
and, behold, waters issued from under the threshold of the
house eastward : for the front of the house was toward the
east, and the waters came down from under the right side of
the house south of the altar. 2. And he brought me forth
the way of the gate northward, and led me round without to
the outer gate that looketh eastward; and, behold, waters
gushed from the right side. 3. And when the man went
forth to the east, and the line in his hand, he measured a
thousand cubits, and brought me through the waters, waters of
the ankles. 4. And he measured a thousand, and brought me
through the waters, waters to the knees. And he measured a
thousand, and brought me through waters of the loins. 5.
And he measured a thousand ; and it was a river that I could
not wade : for the waters were high, waters of swimming, a
river that could not be passed. 6. And he said unto me, Seest
thou, son of man ? And he led me, and brought me back to
the brink of the river. 7. When I returned, behold, at the
brink of the river were very many trees on this side and on
that. 8. And he said unto me, These waters go out to the
west circuit, and go down to the waste, and enter the sea;
brought forth they fall into the sea, and the waters are healed.

CHAP. XLVII. 1-12. 469
9. And it shall be, that every living being that creepeth, to
which the two rivers come, shall live; and the fish shall be
very many : for these waters shall come thither, and they shall
be healed ; and every thing shall live to which the river cometh.
10. And it shall be, that fishers shall stand on it, from En-gedi
even to En-eglaim ; they shall be a spreading place for nets :
their fish shall be of all kinds, as the fish of the great sea,
very many. 11. Its mire and its marshes that are not healed
are given to salt. 12. And on the river, on its brink, on this
side and on that, shall grow all trees for food : its leaf shall not
fade, nor its fruit cease ; it shall ripen every month, for its
waters flow forth from the sanctuary ; and its fruit shall be for
food, and its leaf for healing.
Under the figure of water salvation is often presented in
Scripture, which appears even in paradise in the shape of
water ; comp. Gen. xiii. 10. In Ps. xlvi. 5, " The river, its
streams gladden the city of God," the blessings of the kingdom
of God, His royal graces, appear as a river that conveys its
saving waters by a series of channels to the community of God.
The saving waters that there belong first only to Zion are here
led out also to the heathen. In Ps. Ixxxvii. 7, when the Mes
sianic salvation is come which quickens the thirsty soul and the
dry land, Israel sings, " All my springs are in Thee." Isaiah
prophesies in ch. xxx. 25 of this time : " And there shall be
on every high mountain, and on every lofty hill, rivers, water-
brooks, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall."
While the judgment on the world proceeds, and in it annihilates
all pride and abases all haughtiness, Zion is quickened by the
waters of salvation. The figure is directly explained in several
places. In Ps. xxxvi. 9, " And of the river of thy pleasure thou
makest them drink," the river denotes the fulness of delight
which the Lord pours upon His own. Isaiah says in ch. xii. 3
of the Messianic times, " And with joy shall ye draw water out
of the wells of salvation." In Rev. vii. 17 it is said, " The Lamb
in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them to
living fountains of waters." Accordingly water signifies life,
a powerful happy life disturbed by no hindrance. So also in
Rev. xxii. 1. Ezekiel expands here what Joel has indicated
in ch. iv. 18, " And a fountain goes forth from the house of
the Lord, and waters the acacia dale," the symbol of human

470 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
need ; , and Zechariah again in ch. xiv. 8 points back to Ezekiel.
The water comes out under the threshold of the house. The
house is the proper temple, the holy place, and the holy of
holies. The proper fountain is in the latter. According to
the Apocalypse, the water goes out from the throne of God.
The prophet hag in ch. xliii. 1 f. seen the new entrance of the
Lord into the sanctuary forsaken by Him. In this entrance,
from which the city again receives the name " Jehovah thither "
(ch. xlviii. 35), not only the appearance of Christ announced
elsewhere by the prophet, but the issue of the waters conse
quent upon it, has its ground. But Ezekiel, held fast by the
Old Testament limits, cannot advance to the fountain of waters.
The entrance into the holy of holies was allowed only to the
high priest. The words, " For the face or front of the house
was toward the east," explain the foregoing passage, where the
threshold toward the east was spoken of. The front side is, as
such, at the same time the door side. But the front of the
temple is toward the east. That the descent of the" water is
spoken of is explained by this, that to depict its internal eleva
tion the temple was higher than the court. The water comes
down under the right or south side of the house, that is, to the
south-east ; for from what goes before, the south side can only
be the south part of the east side. The water flows to the
south end of the threshold. The reason why it came forth
there, and not in the middle of the threshold, is given in the
words " south of the altar." The altar of burnt-offering lay
immediately before the east door of the sanctuary (ch. xl. 47) :
the water must therefore issue not from the middle of the
threshold, if it was not to meet with an immediate hindrance ;
it must first come forth where the altar did not stand in the
way. The prophet has, so far as he was allowed, seen the
origin of the water. Now he is to observe its further course.
For this purpose he must leave the temple. The most natural
way out was the east gate of the court, where the water flowed
toward the east. But as, according to ch. xliv. 1, 2, the outer
east gate was always shut, he must go round through the north
gate, and outside the temple make his way to the east gate.
There, according to ver. 2, he sees water gushing out 1 on the
1 TpS, to roll, is connected with ppz, both formed after the sound, " of
the sound which the emptying bottle makes," in Arab, to break forth,

CHAP. XLVII. 1-12. 471
right side. The right, or the south side, is here also, from
the connection, the south-east. The south side of the east gate
is first meant. But the water comes forth on the south side of
the east gate, only because it has taken its rise on the south-east
side of the temple. It goes forth thence in a straight course.
The measuring in vers. 3-5 is fourfold. The thought is, that
the Messianic salvation, at first small in appearance, will unfold
itself in ever richer fulness and glory, crescit eundo, while
the streams of worldly enterprise after a brief course dry up —
are streams whose waters lie (Isa. lviii. 11; Job vi. 15-20).
To be compared is ch. xvii. 22, 23, where the tender sapling
grows to a cedar, in whose shadow all the fowls of heaven,
all the nations of the earth, dwell, — a passage that affords the
necessary supplement to ours, as in it the person of the Mediator
appears ; and also in the New Testament the parables of the
mustard seed and the leaven. The same progress which is
exhibited in the real world among the nations, appears also in
the life of individuals. The wonderful power working in secret
brings by degrees great out of small, fathers in God out of
ohildren. That it was not possible to walk through the water
(ver. 5), the prophet ascertained by his own experience as he
waded in to the neck (Isa. viii. 8). In ver. 6 the prophet is
brought back from the stream to its brink. He cannot there-
fore have been satisfied with observing the state of the water
from the brink, which has also all antecedent analogy against it.
The words, " Seest thou, son of man" (ver. 6), point out the high
significance of what precedes, and form at the same time the
close and the transition. The words, " and brought me back to
the brink of the river," indicate that the attention is now to
be, turned to this, whereas hitherto it was directed to the bed
of the river, in which the prophet had to go hither and thither.
It is said literally in ver. 7, " when he turned me back." * This
is one of the verbal peculiarities which occur, in the whole of
the Old and New Testament, only in Ezekiel. Me : this shows
that the return was a passive act determined by a foreign in
fluence. It is indeed preceded by, " He led me, and brought me
gush forth. Very unsuitable is the comparison with rD3, weep, then trickle.
The water must in its very origin bear the character of fulness and life.
1 In the infinitive, 13 — regularly and without exception denotes the
accus. me, 1 — the genitive of the subject, my (Bottcher, Gram.).

472 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
back to the brink of the river." The need of salvation is
denoted by hungering as well as thirsting. Accordingly life
or salvation is here represented in the shape of the fruit-tree,
as before by the water ; comp. Isa. Iv. 1, 2, where, in describ
ing the future times of quickening, along with water for the
thirsty, is named bread for the hungry. The trees have here
no independent import. They come into account only for
their fruit. If, by an unseasonable comparison of Ps. i. 3,
Jer. xvii. 8, we understand by trees, men — the righteous of
the Messianic time — by fruits their virtues, we violently sever
our prophecy from the connection with Gen. ii. 9, iii. 22, on
the one side, and with Rev. xxii. 2 on the other. That in
the latter place persons are not spoken of, and the trees as in
paradise come into account only for their fruits, is shown by
the parallel passage, ch. ii, 7, " To him that overcometh will
I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
paradise of God." Here the righteous are not themselves the
tree of life, but they eat of the tree of life. With ver. 8 begins
the statement of the aim. First, we learn in vers. 8-11 what
the water means. The words, " These waters go out to the
east circuit," determine the region in which the waters are to
prove effectual. The details then follow in the words, " And
go down to the waste, and enter the sea." The waste, the
Arabah, denotes in general the valley of the Jordan. In this
connection, however, with the east region on the one side and
the sea on the other, the Arabah can only come into account
in its south end by the Dead Sea. There, in preparation' for
the Dead Sea, and as a fitter entrance to this, it is a horrid
wilderness — " a solitary plain full of salt clay." The wilderness
is in Scripture a figure of ungodliness — thus a suitable emblem
of the world estranged from God and excluded from His king
dom, to which applies the words in Ps. cvii. 5, " Hungry and
thirsty, their soul fainted in them." In the fundamental passage
of Joel corresponds to the Arabah here, " The vale of the
acacias, the wilderness tree ; " and in Isa. xxxv. 6, the Arabah
is in parallelism with the wilderness : "In the wilderness shall
waters break out, and streams in the waste." The figure of the
wilderness transferred from Joel, the prophet only indicates.
He turns immediately to a second more striking figure of un
godliness, and gives this at full length. " The sea " is from

CHAP. XLVII. 1-12. 473
the whole context the east sea (ver. 18), the Dead Sea, of which
Von Raumer says, p. 61, " The sea is called Dead, because
there is in it no green plant, no water-fowl — in it no fish, no
shell. If the Jordan carry fish into it, they die." Gadow
relates : " Some herons had taken tlieir stand on the miry delta
(of the entering Jordan), and sought the little fishes washed
into the sea, that died instantly in the sharp lye. I remarked
some struggling with death." This explains the passage of
Ezek. xlvii. 8-10. Sea-fishes, which Marshal Marmont at
Alexandria cast into the water taken from the Dead Sea, died
in two or three minutes. As a symbol of the corrupt world
lying in wickedness (1 John v. 19), the Dead Sea is the more
appropriate, as it owes its origin to a judgment on the corrupt
world, and the spiritual eye discerns under its waves the figure
of Sodom and Gomorrah. The prophet has already, in ch. xvi.,
presented Sodom as a type of the world dead in sins ; comp.
above, p. 144. " Into the sea " is a repetition, in order to
attach to it the statement of the aim and the import. All
before this was purely geographical. For the statement of
the aim the phrase " brought forth " prepares, which points
to the higher hand, which by deliberate counsel executes the
plan of salvation. " And it shall be" (ver. 9) directs the atten
tion to the remarkable change. As there is in the Dead Sea
no other " living being " than those who wrestle with death,
or have yielded to it, so also its counterpart the world is a
great charnel-house. " Living beings : " they merit this name
first after the waters from the sanctuary have overcome the
substances hostile to life. The " two rivers " stand for the
strong river, as in Jer. 1. 21 the double revolt means the strong
revolt. The first oppressor of Israel in the time of the Judges
bears, on account of his great wickedness, the name Rishathaim,
double wickedness.1 In a certain respect the foregoing passage
speaks of a doubled water — the source as it first comes from the
sanctuary, and the increase which it afterwards receives. Only
after they receive this reinforcement they effect the here men
tioned miraculous change in the Dead Sea. " And the fish
1 Perhaps D^jy in ver- 10 is also sucl1 a dua1' the Q0U&le cal:E m
parallelism with the goat. Springs are named after the discoverers. The
calf had signalized itself by the discovery. The doubled stands often for
the distinguished : thus 0^33, Job xi. 6 ; ri3B>D, Isa. lxi. 7.

474 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
shall be very many:" the sea appears in Scripture as the
symbol of the world. Accordingly men appear as the living
creatures in the sea, and in particular as the fishes ; comp. on
Rev. viii. 9. In the Dead Sea of the world there were hitherto
only dead fish, that .are not reckoned as fish, but only unspiritual,
unsaved men. If the meaning of the fish be settled, that of the
fishers cannot be doubtful. If the fish be the men who have
attained to life by the Messianic salvation, the fishers can only
be the messengers of this salvation, who gather those who are
quickened into the kingdom of God — introduce them into the
communion of the church. So also has our Lord repeatedly
and emphatically expounded this trait of our prophecy ; thus
in the words directed in the apostles to all the ministers of the
church : " I will make you fishers of men ; fear not, henceforth
thou shalt catch men" (Luke v. 11 ; in Matt. xiii. 47, etc.). The
question is not of fishers who will divide the fish caught after
their kind, but only of those who catch fish of different kinds.
The forced transference of the prophecy to the last time of the
kingdom of God has nothing for, everything against it : the
gradual growth of the river of life ; the authority of Christ,
who sets out from this, that the fishing of men predicted by
Ezekiel begins immediately ; and the nature of the thing, as it
would be absurd to ignore the beginning and contemplate the
end alone or even chiefly, since it is already contained in the
beginning. The fishers will stand from En-gedi to En-eglaim.
Both places are combined, because they are both named from
a fountain. En-gedi is known. It lies on the west side of the
sea, pretty far toward the south, though by no means on the
south end. Jerome places En-eglaim at the north end of the
sea, where the Jordan flows into it. But as obviously the whole
compass of the sea is intended, it is much better to look for
En-eglaim on the east side of the sea. Now En-gedi is in fact
obliquely over against the Eglaim mentioned in Isa. xv. 8 ;
according to the Onom. s. v. Ag'allim 8 m. p., south of the old
Moabite city Ar, probably identical with Agalla, a city which
Alexander Jannseus had wrested from the Arabs (Joseph.
Arch. xiv. 1, 4).1 " They shall be a spreading place for nets ; ''
1 That Eglaim in Isaiah is written with x is not decisive, as J> and x
are not seldom exchanged ; comp. Gesen. Thes. under tf- D^JN affords no
suitable derivation.

CHAP. XLVII. 1-12. 475
literally, they shall be a place for the spreading of the nets.
The subject is the places from En-gedi to En-eglaim, thus the
whole compass of the Dead Sea, on which hitherto no spread
nets, as it were the symbol of the fish kingdom, were seen.
The nets are spread after fishing to dry, in preparation for
new work, new success. " Their fish shall be of all kinds : "
this refers to Gen. i. 21. In the Dead Sea of the world arises
such a joyful swarm of those who are made partakers of life
from God, as once at the creation in the natural sea of ordinary
fish. The salvation is for all, without distinction of nation,
rank, or age.1 " Its mire 2 and its marshes that are not healed "
(ver. 11) : the height of the water in the Dead Sea is different
at different times. If the water subsides, salt morasses and
marshes arise here and there, that are cut off from connection
with the main sea (Robinson, Part ii. pp. 434, 459). In the
Dead Sea of the world, the swamp and marshes are originally
of the same nature as the main sea : the only difference is, that
they cut themselves off from the healing waters that come from
the sanctuary : comp. the sayings, " and ye would not ;" and,
" No man can come unto me, except the Father, who hath sent
me, draw him " — whose drawing the longing of the soul must
meet (John vi. 44). " Are given to salt : " the salt comes into
account here not as seasoning, as often, but as the foe of fruit
fulness, life, and prosperity. The salt land denotes, in Job
xxxix. 6, the desert, barren steppe. To be given to salt forms
the contrast to deliverance from the corrosive power of salt,
which would be effected by the water from the sanctuary, if
access were afforded to it ; the waters remain given over to the
salt : " He that believeth not the Son of God shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abideth on him " (John iii. 36). It is
punishment enough for the world lying in wickedness, that it
abides as it is. That the trees bring forth new fruit every
month (ver. 12), indicates the uninterrupted enjoyment of
1 Jerome : Omnia capta sunt ab apostolis, nihil mansit incaptum, dum
nobiles et ignobiles, divites et pauperes et omne genus hominum de mari hujus
seculi extrahitur ad salutem. The great multiplicity of kinds has since then
become infinitely more manifest.
2 The singular stands in the text. The Keri, to which the vowels
belong, substitutes the plural on account of the following plural. But nV2
occurs elsewhere only in the sing. (Job viii. 11, xl. 21) ; and also f3, mire,
Jer. xxxviii. 22.

476 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
salvation. The salvation must present itself for the deadly
sick heathen world, before all in the form of saving grace.
Besides the nourishing fruits, therefore, are named also the
healing leaves. CHAPTER XLVII. 13-23.
From the far future -the prophet returns to the near, from
the higher salvation to the lower, which formed its presuppo
sition. He has already painted the temple and city of the
future. It remains to show how Israel is reinstated in the pos
session of the land. In this section the boundary of the land
is given. In ch. xlviii. then follows the partition among the
several tribes.
In Num. xxxiv. and in Josh. xv. the statement of the
boundaries proceeds from the south ; here, on the contrary, it
begins in the north, and the tribes also in ch. xlviii. follow
from north to south. The distinction arises from this, that in
ancient times Israel came from the south into the land, but
here the return takes place from the land of the north.
Everything also in our section depends on this, that we
rightly conceive the aim of the prophet. His problem is this,
to give a hold and a ground for believing hope in the restora
tion to the land of their fathers as it existed for the people
affected by the Chaldean catastrophe (to those affected by the
Roman conquest such a hope is nowhere held out in the Old
or New Testament, and could not be held out according to the
nature of the New Testament). Questions of detail — whether
the Phoenicians and the Philistines shall keep their coast-land,
whether the transjordanic region shall, as formerly, come into
possession of Israel as a frontier of the proper Canaan — in
terest him not. He deals only in the general. He knows
that the Mosaic boundary is not completely covered by the
later actual boundary — that circumstances have changed the
state of things. He adheres closely to this Mosaic boundary
as it is presented in Num. xxxiv., as in the description of the
temple he does to the pattern of that of Solomon. In conclu
sion, he declares that the strangers who have been incorporated
with Israel during the exile, shall be made equal with the
natives in the partition of the land. We have here a remark-

CHAP. XLVII. 13-23. 477
able monument of faith — a parallel to the blessing of Jacob,
who, far from the land of promise, contemplated its future
possession as present. The exposition that would transfer all
to the times of the New Testament, is in this section also in
volved in perplexity. It asserts that all is to be spiritually
understood here, but cannot give the spiritual sense more pre
cisely. It is true our section contains " truth and poetry ; "
but if we do not understand that the truth in it is the restora
tion from the Chaldean exile, which even in Jeremiah, for ex.
in ch. xxx. 31, presents itself as the chief source of comfort, all
floats in the air.
Ver. 13. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The inside of the
border by which ye shall inherit the land, for the twelve tribes
of Israel : for Joseph two portions. 14. And ye shall inherit
it, every one as his brother ; which I lifted up my hand to give
to your fathers : and this land shall fall to you for inherit
ance. 15. And this is the border of the land on the north side,
from the great sea towards Hethlon, and thence to Zedad ;
16. Hamath, Berathah, Sibraim, which is between the border
of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazer the middle,
which is on the border of Hauran. 17. And the border from
the sea shall be Hazar-enon, the border of Damascus, and the
north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the
north side. 18. And the east side, from between Hauran, and
Damascus, and Gilead, and the land of Israel, is the Jordan ;
from the border to the east sea ye shall measure. And this is
the east side. 19. And the south side southward, from Tamar
to the waters of Meriboth Kadesh the inheritance reaches to
the great sea. And this is the south side southward. 20. And
the west side is the great sea, from the border over against the
way to Hamath. This is the west side. 21. And ye shall
divide the land for you unto the tribes of Israel. 22. And it
shall be, that ye shall allot it for an inheritance to you, and to
the strangers that sojourn among you, who have begotten chil
dren among you ; and they shall be unto you as the natives
among the children of Israel ; with you shall they share in the
inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 23. And it shall be,
that in the tribe with which the stranger dwells, there ye shall
give him his inheritance, saith the Lord Jehovah.
The inside of the border (ver. 13) is the land enclosed

478 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
within the border.1 The following "by which" — in what
relation, to what extent — " ye shall inherit the land " serves for
explanation. " Joseph parts ; " that is, wherein Joseph shall
receive two parts. The allusive brevity, which shows itself
particularly in this, that a multiplicity of parts is spoken of
instead of a definite duality, arises from this, that the propor
tion is generally known. Jacob, in Gen. xlviii. 5, makes the
two sons of Joseph equal in respect of the share in the land of
Canaan — raises these grandsons to the rank of sons. In the
statement of the north boundary in vers. 15-17, the direction is
first defined in ver. 15 by a prominent point. It commences at
the Mediterranean, and proceeds thence over Hethlon to Zedad.
This, the present Zadad or Sudud, four hours from Hasya on
the west edge of the desert, was named in Num. xxxiv. 8 as
the north-eastern point of the territory of Israel. In ver. 16
are then named some- of the most important places lying on the
north border ; at the head Hamath, as the most considerable of
the border lands. Then in ver. 17 the sea is designated as the
western point of the north border ; Hazar-enon as the eastern,
which appeared in Num. xxxiv. 9 as the eastern point of the
north border ; and Hamath as the northern,2 which often pre
sents itself, after the example of Num. xxxiv. 8, as the
northern limit of Canaan. Solomon assembles all Israel to the
dedication of the temple, from Hamath to the river of Egypt
(1 Kings viii. 65).8 As the east border, by which the land of
1 nj is no " old mechanically perpetuated clerical error for nf." Had
this been so, no writer would have put r0 for it. Any one must have at
tentively considered the letters before he wrote nj. It seems almost that
Ezekiel wished to teaze scribes and critics, and put them to the test with
the nj. nj is of like import with PirU, Prov. xvii. 22, " A merry heart
doeth good to the inwards, and a broken spirit drieth the bone." The stem
is nnj or niJ. Cognate is ij), middle — in Chald. 13 ; {OJ, valley, the interior
enclosed by mountains ; 11J, people, the interior, the centre, in opposition to
the individuals as the periphery. The Syr. renders nj rightly by r6n3. It
is not the border that is afterwards spoken of, but the territory, nj is here
also the fitting word, as riT in ver. 15.
2 )1£¥, north, without the preposition, denotes the north border, to which
all the places named belong. roiBX, toward the north, gives the special in
the general. The north border was no straight line, but had its more and
less northern points. The most northern was Hamath.
3 " This is the north side." TIN may also here be regarded as a sign of
theaccus. We may supply " ye see," or the like. We have here in the local

CHAP. XLVII. 13-23. 479
Israel is separated from Hauran, Damascus, and Gilead, appears
in ver. 18 the Jordan. The transjordanic region is thus not
reckoned to the land of Israel. A reversal of relations has
thence been wrongly inferred. Even in Num. xxxii. 30,
xxxiii. 51, the land of Canaan is the land west of the Jordan.
In Josh. xxii. 9, Canaan and Gilead are set over against one
another quite as here. But when the prophet here excludes
Gilead from the proper land of Israel, he does not in the re
motest degree say that they shall not have it as a frontier in
the future, as formerly. If he asserted this, he would be at
variance with Ps. Ix., with Mic. vii. 14, where it is said of the
people delivered from the Babylonian catastrophe (ch. iv. 9, 7),
" They shall feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old ;"
with Jer. 1. 19, where, along with Karmel and Mount Ephraim,
Bashan and Gilead appear as the possession of the people re
stored from Babylon ; with Zech. x. 10, and not less with
history. "From the border to the east sea ye shall measure :"
the border on the north has been already defined in vers. 15-17 ;
and then again in our verse, where Hauran stands at the head
as the northern point of the east border, the east sea is named
as the southern point of the east border — the Dead Sea, so
called in contrast with the Mediterranean, which lay to the
west. The starting-point of the south border, Tamar, in ver.
19, occurs not elsewhere in the Old Testament. As the west
sea is given as the end of the south border, we must look for
Tamar at the extreme south-east, at the end of the east sea,
which appears in ver. 18 as the southern part of the east
border. To this also point Num. xxxiv. 4 and Josh. xv. 2,
according to which the south border begins at the end of the
salt sea, the tongue that looketh southward from the southern
end of the Dead Sea, on which Tamar must have stood.1 The
descriptions of Ezekiel a style which closely resembles our telegram. In
such a style it is quite perverse to wish, by critical alteration and verbal
exposition, to force that which is so easily explained by the assumption of
omissions. 1 Robinson (Travels, iii. 1, pp. 179, 186), whom several have inadver
tently followed, looked for Tamar on the site of the present Kurnub. But
the positive grounds are wholly uncertain. The situation of the Thamara
mentioned in the Onom. is determined by a change of text— a mere conjec
ture ! But Robinson's hypothesis leads to the unnatural assumption that
the description of the border begins at a point in the middle, and then

480 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
second point, the strife-waters of Kadesh, is made prominent
on account of the theological monitory significance which it
has in the history of the old time.1 The great sea is designated
as the western point of the south border.2 The west border in
ver. 20, the Mediterranean, begins with the western point of
the south border mentioned in ver. 19, and goes in the north,
" over against the way to Hamath," to the point where the
way from the sea to Hamath, that lay inland in the extreme
north, begins, ver. 17. The land so designated by its boundary
is to be divided (ver. 21) among the tribes of Israel ; yet so,
it is added in vers. 22, 23, that the strangers who have been
naturalized in Israel in the times of affliction (strangers in
general are not intended; but the more exact definition is
added, "who have begotten children among you") are con
sidered in the partition, and indeed each in the tribe to which
he has attached himself. Some have wished to find here a
New Testament trait ; but they have not reflected that the
boundaries of the land confined between the Jordan and the
Mediterranean render it impossible to think of the hosts of
heathen who were then received into Israel, and still less that
turns first to the east, and then to the west, against which all analogy
speaks. 1 The designation is taken from Num. xxvii. 14 ; only, instead of the
singular there, the plural JYO'ID is put, which points to this, that the strife
there involves a whole fulness of rebellion, — a solemn N.B. for those who
bore in themselves the nature of their fathers, who were still to the present
day a " house of rebellion."
2 Instead of " the inheritance goes to the great sea," it is now usually
said, by the river to the great sea, with reference to Num. xxxiv. 5, Josh.
xv. 4, where, in the definition of the south border, mention is made of
the river which falls into the Mediterranean at the old Rhinokorura, the
modern Arish. But this river is nowhere else briefly called the river, or
river without the article — always the river of Egypt, even in Isa. xxvii. 12
— and could least of all here be so designated by mistake in a section that
treats so strictly of the Pl?ru, the inheritance of Israel. The assumption
connected with this interpretation of the incorrectness of the vocalization
and accentuation — the word must then have been written as in Num.
xxxiv. 5 — has not a single analogy in the whole so carefully elaborated text
of Ezekiel. The oldest translators, LXX. — who have here iraoiwrtiuon, in
the repetition (ch. xlviii. 28) nhnpovoplxc — Jonathan, the Syriac, are against
this explanation. The inheritance here corresponds to the border of the
land in the first two places. That there is an allusion to the river in Num.
xxxiv. we may certainly assume.

CHAP. XLVII. 18-28. 481
only the strangers already naturalized in Israel are here spoken
of. The general principle which lies at the root of this regu
lation is already expressed by Moses in Lev. xix. 34 : " The
stranger that dwelleth with you shall be as the home-born
among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself." Thus, accord
ing to the Mosaic law, heathens by birth might be received into
the community of God. The exception that in this respect is
made regarding the Ammonites and the Moabites (Deut. xxiii.
3-5), serves only to confirm the rule (Deut. xxiii. 7, 8). Already
in the condition of the people, as Moses discovered, was found
a considerable foreign element — the whole posterity of the
servants who went to Egypt with Jacob.1 A new accession
took place in Egypt at the time of the exodus. We find of
those in the train of Israel a great swarm of Egyptians (Ex.
xii. 38 ; Num. xi. 4). In 1 Chron. ii. 34, 35 we have an
example 2 that these Egyptian strangers were considered in the
partition of the land, and indeed in the territory of the tribe
to which they were attached. Further, Moses gives the friendly
invitation to his Midianitish brother-in-law, according to Num.
x. 29 f., to share with his tribe the lot of Israel : " What good
the Lord does to us, we will do to you." " Hobab," says
Knobel, " shall have equal rights with them ; thus, for ex., a
share in the land. As no further refusal, but immediately after
the departure of Israel, is recorded, Hobab consented. In fact,
we find his family afterwards in the Hebrew land." We may
compare Judg. i. 16, iv. 11 ; Jer. xxxv. Only apparently at
variance with Ezekiel is the conduct of Ezra towards the
heathen wives (Ezra ix. 10), and that of Nehemiah in ch. xiii.
toward the heathen men who had settled among the Israelites.
Ezekiel speaks of those who had attached themselves by inner
inclination to Israel at a time when he had no form nor come
liness, and when there was nothing in him to desire but the
true God ; Ezra and Nehemiah are zealous against the attempt
to make heathendom of equal right with Israel, and to break
down the partition wall so necessary in the times before Christ.
Both the attraction which Ezekiel commends, and the repulsion
for which Ezra and Nehemiah are zealous, arise rather from
1 Compare my essay, " Moses and Colenso," Ev. K. Z. lxiv. p. 195.
s Compare on this the essay above quoted.
2 H

482 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the same principle. It is the true God who here binds and
there severs.

CHAPTER XLVIII.
This chapter falls into three parts. It describes the order
of the tribes in the recovered land from north to south, vers.
1-7 and vers. 23-29. Then the oblation situated in the midst
of the tribe territory, between the seven northern and the five
southern, which was already spoken of in detail, but must still
be here introduced in its order in vers. 8-22 ; in which vers. 8,
9, and 20 treat of the oblation in general ; vers. 10-12, of the
priests' part with the sanctuary ; vers. 13, 14, of the Levites'
part; vers. 15, 16, of the city; ver. 17, of the free space; ver. 18,
of its guard; vers. 21, 22 of the land of the prince. The third
part, vers. 30-35, treats of the boundary of the city and its
gates, and gives at the close the significant name of the city.
Everything leads to the conclusion that this plan of the
situation of restored Israel is designed only to give a pro
visional support to hope, to withdraw the view from the com
fortless present, and afford an image for the fancy. Against
the realistic interpretation are the equality of the tribe allot
ments, without reference to the numerical proportions of the
tribes expressly enjoined in the Mosaic law, the complete
neglect of the nature of the ground, and the grouping of the
tribes on a theological principle. Yet we must not extend
the department of figure too far. The real thought is, that
the same covenant people who were carried into exile, are
to be restored in a brief space to their native land. Against
those who find here a prophecy of the church of the new
covenant, it is decisive that there is not the slightest trace that
by the tribes anything else is to be understood than Judah,
Ephraim, etc., as they lived in the time of the prophet ; that
the region is the old country between the Jordan and the
Mediterranean, whereas the bounds of the Messianic kingdom,
according to Ps. lxxii. and Zech. ix. 10, " and He shall reign
from sea to sea, from the river (the Euphrates) to the ends of
the earth," coincide with the bounds of the earth ; and that
Jerusalem, in its very limited compass of 18,000 cubits, nearly
50 stadia, which Hecatseus ascribes to it in the early times of

CHAP. XLVIII. 483
the Greek empire, presents itself not as the centre of the world,
but as the capital of a small territory.
In regard to the succession and grouping of the tribes, the
prophet has acted on a threefold point of view. First came
into account the situation of the old Jerusalem, nearly in the
centre, but yet more to the south. With a view to this he
could not divide the twelve tribes into the double six, but he
distributed them into seven and five, — a division of twelve
which also occurs often in the grouping of the Psalms, where
the sacred number seven is always the chief number, and five
appears as its supplement. Then it behoved him to represent
Judah and Benjamin, of which at least a part remained true
to David's line in the separation of the kingdom, as the kernel
of the whole, as it presented itself in the later history : the
whole of the people, indeed, afterwards received their name
from Judah. Hence the prophet makes Judah the close of
the number seven, which also receives its import by running
out in Judah, and bringing him up immediately to the oblation.
Benjamin opens, on the other side, the supplementary five.
Three pairs go before Judah, two after Benjamin. A third
point of view for the prophet is the essential equality of all the
tribes — the prominence of the thought that they are all equal
members in the body of the people of God. In this interest
the prophet has in the two enumerations of the tribes, at the
tribe allotments and at the gates, intentionally and artfully
mingled the sons of the maidens and of the wives, and those of
the latter again among one another, as is shown in details in my
comment, on Rev. vii. 5-8. From the thought that with God
is no respect of persons, it arises also that Dan, the son of a
handmaid, is placed at the head, and opens the series of tribe
allotments, in accordance with the prominence given to the
equality of Dan with the sons of the wives already in Gen.
xlix. 16. Israel is a fraternal people, in which no member
may raise itself above another.
Ver. 1. And these are the names of the tribes. From the
north end to the part of the way of Hethlon, towards Hamath,
Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus northwards, to the part
of Hamath, and they shall be to him the east side the sea ;
Dan one. 2. And on the border of Dan, from the east side
to the west side, Asher one. 3. And on the border of Asher,

484 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
from the east side to the west side, Naphtali one. 4. And on
the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side,
Manasseh one. 5. And on the border of Manasseh, from the
east side to the west side, Ephraim one. 6. And on the border
of Ephraim, from the east side to the west side, Reuben one.
7. And on the border of Reuben, from the east side to the
west side, Judah one. 8. And on the border of Judah, from
the east side to the west side, shall be the oblation which ye
shall offer, five and twenty thousand the breadth, and the
length as one of the tribe-shares, from the east side to the west
side, and the sanctuary in the midst of it. 9. The oblation
which ye shall offer to the Lord shall be in length five and
twenty thousand, and in breadth ten thousand. 10. And to
these shall be the holy oblation to the priests, northward five
and twenty thousand, and westward in breadth ten thousand,
and eastward in breadth ten thousand, and southward in length
five and twenty thousand: and the sanctuary of the Lord shall
be in the midst of it. 11. To the priests, to him who is sanc
tified of the sons of Zadok,1 who kept my charge, who went
not astray, when the children of Israel went astray, as the
Levites went astray. 12. And they shall have a heave-portion
of the oblation of the land most holy, by the border of the
Levites. 13. And the Levites over against the border of the
priests, shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and
in breadth ten thousand ; the whole length five and twenty
thousand, and the breadth ten thousand. 14. And they shall
not sell of it, nor exchange, nor alienate the first-fruits of the
land : for it is holy unto the Lord. 15. And five thousand
that are left in the breadth, before the five and twenty thou
sand, shall be profane for the city, for dwelling, and for
suburbs : and the city shall be in the midst of it. 16. And
these are the measures of it ; the north side five hundred and
four thousand, and the south side again five hundred and four
thousand, and on the east side five hundred and four thousand,
and the west side five hundred and four thousand. 17. And
there shall be a suburb to the city northward fifty and two
hundred, and southward fifty and two hundred, and eastward
fifty and two hundred, and westward fifty and two hundred.
1 Luther, " that shall be consecrated to the priests the children of
Zadok," contrary to 2 Chron. xxvi. 18.

CHAP. XLVIII. 485
18. And the residue in length, over against the holy oblation,
shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward ;
and it sliall be over against the holy oblation : and the produce
of it shall be for food for those who serve the city. 19. And
they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of
Israel. 20. All the oblation shall be five and twenty thousand
by five and twenty thousand : a fourth part ye shall offer the
holy oblation, for a possession of the city. 21. And the
residue shall be to the prince, on this side and on that side of
the holy oblation, and the possession of the city, before the five
and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border,
and westward before the five and twenty thousand toward the
west border, over against the portions for the prince : and the
holy oblation and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the
midst of it. 22. And from the possession of the Levites, and
from the possession of the city, in the midst of which is the
prince's, between the border of Judah and between the border
of Benjamin, shall be the prince's. 23. And the rest of the
tribes, from the east side to the west side, Benjamin one. 24.
And on the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west
side, Simeon one. 25. And on the border of Simeon, from
the east side to the west side, Issachar one. 26. And on the
border of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulon
one. 27. And on the border of Zebulon, from the east side to
the west side, Gad one. 28. And on the border of Gad, from
the east side to the west side, and the border shall be from
Tamar over the strife-waters of Kadesh, the inheritance to the
great sea. 29. This is the land which ye shall allot of the
inheritance to the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions,
saith the Lord Jehovah. 30. And these are the outgoings of
the city on the north side, five hundred and four thousand by
measure. 31. And the gates of the city shall be after the
names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; the
gate of Reuben one, the gate of Judah one, the gate of Levi
one. 32. And on the east side five hundred and four thou
sand : and three gates ; the gate of Joseph one, the gate of
Benjamin one, the gate of Dan one. 33. And the south side five
hundred and four thousand in measure : and three gates ; the
gate of Simeon one, the gate of Issachar one, the gate of Zebu
lon one. 34. The west side five hundred and four thousand :

486 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
and three gates ; the gate of Gad one, the gate of Asher one,
the gate of Naphtali one. 35. Around are eighteen thousand :
and the name of the city from that day is Jehovah thither.
The north border, with which the tribe-land begins, is briefly
transferred to ver. 1 from ch. xlvii. 15-17. First, as in ch.
xlvii. 15, the course of the north border from west to east; then,
as in ch. xlvii. 17, the eastern point, Hazar-enan, and the most
northern, Hamath. " To the part of the way : " this shows that
the border runs along this way. The words, " And they shall be
to him the east side the sea," assert that all the tribe-lands fill
the whole breadth of the land of Canaan. What is here said
in general of all the tribes 'is in the following applied to every
single tribe except the first, Dan, which the prophet had spe
cially in his eye in the preliminary general statement. " To
him : " this can only refer to the whole of the tribes previously
named, which are combined into an ideal unity. The reference
to Dan, who is first named afterwards, is impossible. A general
expression for that which is afterwards applied to the several
tribes we expect beforehand ; and the deviation from the stand
ing formula, which is afterwards used in the several tribes, is
obviously designed to prevent the application to Dan.1 The
oblation stands in ver. 8 in the widest sense, including even the
land of the prince. Only when the portion of the prince is
taken in, has the oblation the given dimensions. Oblation is
all that is not included in the partition, but is antecedently
set apart for God. The prince is no less than the priests and
Levites the servant of God, and as such is endowed with lands.
The breadth is here throughout the extent from north to south,
the length from east to west. The reason why the length of
the oblation is not given, as the breadth, is that the prophet
by such statements would go out of his proper sphere. The
length is determined by the boundaries of nature, the Jordan
on the one side and the Mediterranean on the other ; and to fix
them must be left to the geometers. In regard to the lensth
of the oblation, the prophet contents himself with remarking
that it is equal to that of the tribe portion, in which he also
does not fix the length. Von Raumer (p. 25) reckons the
middle breadth of the land at 1 5 (about 68 Eng.) miles. This
1 The LXX. are correct : K«i hn»i etiraig tx rrpog auaioha,; %ac rcpoc
Qa.'hU.QGU.D.

CHAP. XLVIII. 487
whole breadth (or, according to our passage, length) belonged
to the prince, with the exception of 25,000 cubits for priests,
Levites, and city. "And the sanctuary shall be in the midst
of it " — of the whole oblation. The sanctuary lies in the midst
of the priests' part. This is enclosed on the east and west by
the portion of the prince. On the north and south it lies in
the midst of the Levites' part, south of the tribe-land of Judah
and of the city territory, and north of the tribe-land of Ben
jamin. The oblation that is to be specially set apart for the
Loid (ver. 9), the hob/ oblation in ver. IX), as distinguished
from the oblation in general (ver. 8), is the priests' part, with
the sanctuary in the midst. The prophet begins with this,
because he has in view not the situation, but the dignity. The
length, the extent from east to west, is the same in the portion
of the priests, Levites, and city — 25,000 cubits ; the breadth,
the extent from north to south, is peculiar to each — the priests'
part 10,000 cubits, the Levites' part also 10,000, and the city's
part 5000. In the north (ver. 10), as also in the south, the
border of the priests' part measures from east to west 25,000
cubits ; in the west and the east, the border from north to
south or the broad side, 10,000 cubits. As the receivers of
the priests' part are named in ver. 11 the sons of Zadok, who
remained faithful to the Lord in the time of the apostasy,
excluding the rebellious, comp. ch. xliv. 10, 15. They are
sanctified by their fidelity, by which their election is made sure.
The others are in punishment desecrated, degraded, reduced to
mere Levites.1 " As the Levites went astray," those who de
filed themselves by the service of idols are no longer honoured
with the priestly name ; comp. ch. xliv. 10 f. Here also it is
clear that the range in which the prophet moves is the time
immediately after the exile. The relations and persons with
which he is concerned had long disappeared in the times of the
New Testament. The heave-portion,2 which fell to the priests,
is described in ver. 12 as most holy, because it has God's
sanctuary in the midst of it, and belongs to His most eminent
1 The singular KHpDH denotes the hallowed part, as distinct from that
which is not hallowed. The plur. would attribute the consecration to the
collective priestly class ; comp. 2 Chron. xxvi. 18.
2 ,TDVU1, different from piDVin, the i denoting descent, is a terumah-
part.

488 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ministers, in contrast with the part of the Levites, which had
only the second degree of holiness, and with that of the city,
which had only the third. " By the border of the Levites : "
this forms the transition to that which follows, where the
Levites' part is spoken of. But it was, even apart from this,
proper to make it prominent that the Levites' part bordered on
that of the priests. In the description of the oblation, for
theological reasons, the prophet had begun with the middle
portion, the priests' part. It is necessary now to guard against
the thought that the Levites' part was separated by the city,
or the city by the Levites' part from the sanctuary. The
servants of the house, the Levites, and also the inhabitants of
the city, who in the divine services were to form the holy
assembly, behoved to have the sanctuary as near as possible.
The " whole length " in ver. 13 is explained by ver. 10 : the
length from east to west, not merely on the south border, which
was spoken of in the beginning of the verse, where the Levites'
part adjoined the priests' part, but also on the north border,
where the Levites' part bordered on the tribe of Judah.
The ordinance in ver. 14 transfers to this new Levitical
land what was said in Lev. xxv. 34 regarding the lands of the
Levitical cities. The ordinance applies naturally also to the
priests' land; but it is expressly given only for the Levites'
part, because its holiness is less, so that the thought of its being
saleable might more readily arise. The "first-fruits of the
land " is thus the oblation, to which the Levites' part belonged,
denoted by an abridged comparison, to indicate that of this first
part, as of the first-fruits, nothing may be given over to common
use. Barter is excluded where God is the landowner and the
Levites are only the usufructuaries.1 In ver. 15 follows the
third part of the oblation, the city, with its environs situated in
the south part of it. Here the breadth of the city lands, its
extent from north to south, is first given. It takes in 5000
cubits which remain over of the total breadth of 25,000. In
regard to the length, it is only stated that the city ground, so
far as it reaches, lies before the 25,000 cubits, the total length
of the oblation, which are common to the priests' part and the
Levites' part. The particulars of the length, the extent from
1 The Keri "V3JJ1, Hiph. instead of Kal, rests on a perverse assimilation
to "idi.

CHAP. XLVIII. 489
east to west, appear first in ver. 16. The city has the 25,000
cubits over against it, but the 25,000 have the city opposite
only for 5000 cubits ; for the city quarter extends so far in
length. The city lies in the midst of the whole city quarter :
it is surrounded on all sides by an open space, which serves the
inhabitants for many purposes.1 The district of the city is
designated as profane, in comparison with the holier district of
the Levites, and the most holy of the priests. In a general
sense, the city also is holy. The city is indeed a part of the
oblation, and oblation and holy coincide. The former Jeru
salem is commonly called the holy city. The restored Jeru
salem itself is called Kadytis, the holy city, in Herodotus. In
vers. 16 and 17 are given the complete measures of the city in
the strict sense, and of the free space. To the already known
5000 of the north side are here added those of the other sides.
We learn here that the city part, which according to ver. 15
has half the breadth of each of the other two parts of the
oblation, includes in the length from east to west only a fifth
part of it. The city itself is 4500 cubits on each side.2 The
free space has (ver. 17) 250 cubits on each side, so that the whole
city district contains 5000 cubits in length and 5000 in breadth.
The small compass of the city district wholly excludes the in
habitants from agriculture. Vers. 18 and 19 now dispose of
the 20,000 cubits, which still remain in the extent from east
to west of the 25,000 cubits of the oblation. These 20,000
cubits, which no less than the 5000 of the city lie beside the
holy oblation, the priests' part — which is here once more
emphatically repeated, that no one may mistake the situation,
or in particular shove in the Levitical part between, by which
the holy oblation would be separated from its guardians — are
divided into two parts of 10,000 cubits each, which take the
city in the midst and enclose it east and west. The produce
of these two districts is destined for those who " serve the city."
1 The suff. in roim refers to the city in the wider sense— to TJJ$> ; the
city in the strict sense lies within the city in the wide sense. The Maso
retes could not understand this, and appended the masc. suff.
2 The Masoretes could make nothing of the second B»»n. They have
left it without vowels, to indicate that it is to be omitted in reading. But
it points to this, that the south side equally with the north side has 4500
cubits. Five stands, by an abbreviation usual with Ezekiel in local state
ments, for on the five, or to the five, etc.

490 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
We can only understand by this a militia, who take the city in
the midst — military service is the only rude service which can
be rendered to a city — and, as is so emphatically stated, are
encamped as a guard by the holy oblation with the temple.
On the north side of the holy oblation are the Levites as the
militia sacra (Num. iv. 23, viii. 24) ; on the south side the
ministers of the secular arm, which is to protect the church.
Adjoining the provision made for these servants on both sides
is the domain of the prince, who is to be considered the com
mander of these guards.1 Among others, Egypt afforded an
example of such military colonies endowed with land. The
militia is to be out of all the tribes of Israel ; not a hired host
gathered out of the lands of other lords, as formerly the Kerethi
and Pelethi, but consisting of those who will also serve their
Lord in this lower sphere.2 In ver. 20 is the closing remark
on the whole oblation thus far described. The holy oblation
in the wider sense has without the city 20,000 cubits in breadth:
5000 cubits in the breadth — that is, the fourth part of 20,000
cubits — fall to the district of the city, this being taken in the .
wider sense, so that it includes the land of " the servants of
the city."3 The parts of the priests and the Levites are together
four times greater than that of the city. The city is here also
included in the holy oblation. In vers. 21, 22 the part of the
prince. This contains on both sides of the holy oblation, ex
tending 25,000 cubits from east to west, which is included in
the midst of his department, the land eastward to the Jordan
and westward to the sea. On the north, like the holy oblation,
particularly the Levitical part, it abuts on Judah ; and on the
south, as the city portion, on Benjamin. From north to south
it has on the east and west sides, first the Levitical part,
then the priestly part, then the city part, specially the land
of "the servants of the city."4 In ver. 22, "the possession
of the Levites " either includes at the same time the part of
1 "UJ? occurs of military service also in ch. xxix. 20. Q112J? for soldiers
is quite common.
2 The fern. suff. in nrWDn the Masoretes could not understand, because
the residue means the remaining land, and here the produce of land is to
be spoken of.
8 rVJTQI means only the fourth part, which refutes the other explana
tion. >
4 The suff. in nDirn, ver. 21, refers to the domain of the prince.

CHAP. XLVIII. 491
the priests who were also Levites, or the two ends only of the
oblation, the northern and the southern, are given. In vers.
23-28 follow the five remaining tribe territories. On ver. 28,
comp. xlvi. 17. In ver. 29, the closing formula to the account
of the partition among the tribes. It is said of, not to, the in
heritance, because a part of the whole was not to be distributed,
but set apart first as holy ground. In vers. 30-35 follow now
the " outgoings " of the city. These comprise, as the following
details show, two things, — first the boundary lines marked out
by walls on the four sides, and next the gates. Both together
are that in which the city terminates. The boundary line
measures on each side 4500 cubits : the gates on each side are
three, each denoted by one of the names of the tribes of Israel,
only for honour, not with reference to the situation of the tribe-
land; whence Levi, omitted in the statement of the tribe allot
ments, must also be mentioned, while the two tribes Ephraim
and Manasseh are comprised under the name Joseph, so that
the number twelve, which has become the signature of the
covenant people, remains to the tribes. At the close of the
whole is given the name of the city in its new state. It is
henceforth called1 "Jehovah thither." This name is explained
by Deut. xi. 12. There the land, which Israel prepared to
occupy, is designated as " a land which the Lord thy God
seeks, on which the eyes of the Lord thy God are continually
from the beginning of the year to the end of it." " Jehovah
thither " accordingly means the city to which Jehovah continu
ally turns His heart and eye. This " Jehovah thither" showed
itself in the most glorious manner in the coming of Christ, in
the many attempts which He made to gather the children of
Jerusalem, in the tears which the Son of God shed over the
fruitlessness of these attempts. When, however, they would
1 After DVD, fr°m the day, usually follows the definition of the day :
for ex. Deut. ix. 24, "from the day that I knew you;" Ex. x. 6, "from
the day that they were in the land." Here this definition is not expressly
stated ; but it is to be derived from the context, from the day that it is
restored, that it appears in the state so fully described. DVD stands thus
elliptically in Isa. xliii. 13: "from the day "means from the time when
the prophecy will be fulfiUed ; comp. xlviii. 16. DVD never means, and
cannot mean, "always," and just as little "from to-day." r\DV never
means " there," always " thither," and there is no reason here to abandon
this meaning ; comp. Christol. on Hos. ii. 17.

492 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
not, when His own received not Him that came to His own,
the highest grace was turned into a curse — Jerusalem was
destroyed ; and the " Jehovah thither," which had availed the
restored city for five hundred years, now passed to the new
people of God gathered out of Jews and Gentiles, the legiti
mate continuation of Israel and Jerusalem (Matt. xxi. 43), to
which Jesus has promised, " Lo, I am with you alway, unto the
end of the world." The material Jerusalem has thenceforth
and for ever lost its significance. The fig-tree of the Jewish
people, as the people of God, has been torn up with the root
(Mark xi. 20) ; and Jerusalem has not merely for a time, but
for ever, ceased to be a privileged city for the worship of God
and the revelation of His grace (John iv. 21-24).

EETEOSPECT.

ZEKIEL, carried into exile in the captivity of
Jehoiachin, seven years after the beginning of the
Chaldean bondage, eleven years before the destruc
tion of the city, appeared there as prophet in the
fifth year after his captivity, in the thirtieth year of his life
(ch. i. 1). The latest date which we find in the superscriptions
of his prophecies is the twenty-seventh year of the captivity
of Jehoiachin (ch. xxix. 17), so that the historically ascertained
period of the prophet's activity embraced twenty-two years.
It was shown that the prophet had precisely in that period a
definite occasion for the collection of his prophecies.
The prophecies contained in the present collection, like
those of the contemporary Daniel, are all provided with chrono
logical superscriptions. These are in all twelve, of which six
belong to native prophecies, and six to prophecies against foreign
nations, — xxvi. 1, xxix. 1, xxix. 17, xxxi. 1, xxxii. 1, xxxii. 17.
The collection falls into two main parts,— prophecies before
and prophecies after the destruction of Jerusalem. That we
may not, with some, make the prophecies against foreign nations
in ch. xxv.-xxxii. a special main part, that they are rather to
be considered an appendix to the prophecies before the destruc
tion, is manifest: 1. Because the beginning of these predictions
in ch. xxv. is connected with the last native prophecy before
the destruction in one chronologically determined section ; 2.
Because the section ch. xxxiii. 1-20 forms the literary close to
ch. i.-xxxii.; and with special reference to the main portion, ch.
i.-xxiv., gives some nota benes concerning the whole previous
literary activity of Ezekiel.
The essential character of the first part is threatening ; that
of the second, promise.
The starting-point of the first main part is a great anti-
493

494 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Chaldaic coalition, and the danger connected with it of the
people failing to discern the signs of the times.
The first main part contains four groups of native prophe
cies — ch. i.-vii., viii.-xix., xx.-xxiii., and xxiv. — in regular
chronological sequence. The first dates from the fifth year of
Jehoiachin, a time when the formation of the coalition began
to fill men's minds with joyful hopes ; the last from the tenth
day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Jehoiachin, — the
fatal day of the opening of the siege of Jerusalem, which put
an end to the hopes founded on the coalition.
The mission of the prophet in these four groups is to make
clear to the people the import of the great Chaldean catastrophe,
and to bring them to understand the day of their visitation,
and escape the miserable fate of those who are severely afflicted,
without gaining the peaceable fruit of righteousness. To the
book of the works no less than to the book of the words of
God we may apply the saying, " Understandest thou what thou
readest ? " It was the great privilege of the people of God, that
such an interpretation always went along with the doings of God.
The prophet leads the people to discover in the coming event a
long reckoning of God, — the visitation of a guilt that goes back
to the very origin of the people. He makes every effort to
bring the people to acknowledge the depth of their corruption,
which alone could account for their sufferings, and thus not
send them far from their God, but connect them closely with
Him. The destined event, thus recognised in its necessity,
had to be represented as inevitable. The prophet is inex
haustible in the denunciation of the foolish hopes of the people,
before whose eyes he portrays the future calamity as if it were
already present, as indeed the roots of it in reality were ; in
exhaustible also in the destruction of the false views concerning
the source of the approaching suffering, and the beating down
of the craftiness of the natural man, who in the deep indwell
ing antipathy to repentance makes every effort to cast the
blame on God. He deals annihilating blows to those who led
the people away from the way of repentance, and flattered
them with foolish hopes. The radiant point in these discourses
is the grand survey of the whole past development of Israel in
ch. xxiii., which places before our eyes the figure of a people
such as they ought not to be, and the result of which is, that

RETROSPECT. 495
the judgment is inevitable. Few sections of Scripture call so
powerfully as these for earnest self-examination.
At the close of ch. xxiv. the prophet announces that native
predictions will now be silent, until with the execution of the
judgment a new beginning for the prophetic activity be given.
The servant is silent in the beginning of the practical discourse
of the Master Himself, for the understanding of which sufficient
provision has been made. But with the previous ending of
native prophecy is connected the beginning of the prophet's
activity in regard to foreign nations. This connection is shown
by this, that the beginning of this activity is included in the
same section with the closing prophecy concerning Judah. The
prophecies against foreign nations have the special aim to shed
a fuller light on the judgment on Judah announced in the
native prophecies, and already beginning its course. They give
the answer to the natural question, Lord, but what of these ?
(John xxi. 21.) • They are all directed against the nations of
the anti-Chaldaic coalition, and the executors of the judgments
are in them all the Chaldean monarchy. Judah was first to
drink the cup (ch. xxi. 18 f.). God sanctified Himself first on
those who were near Him (Lev. x. 3) ; the judgment began at
the house of God. It appeared as if the people of the covenant
must alone suffer among all the members of the coalition. The
scorn of these confederates themselves was poured out on the
people of Jehovah (ch. xxv. 3, 6, xxvi. 2) ; indeed, they made
common cause in part with the Chaldeans, and sought to derive
advantage from the misfortune of Judah (ch. xxxv. 10). The
prophet portrays before the eyes the judgment which in his
time will fall upon them. He turns the heart of the people to
their God when he points out that for the heathen the judgment
has an annihilating character ; whereas Israel rises from it to a
more glorious state. Thus these predictions against foreign
nations appear as the transition from the first part to the second
— the comforting and promising part.
Of the foreign nations there are seven, divided into four
and three— four neighbouring nations and three world-powers,
the last Egypt, which had formed the centre of the coalition ;
so that there is thus a progress from the less to the greater.
On this side and on that side of the prophecies against
foreign nations the arrangement is strictly chronological. There

496 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
occurs no prophecy which is not chronologically determined ;
and all prophecies so determined stand in regular order. In
the external predictions also the chronological prevails. But a
certain deviation must be allowed, otherwise things intimately
connected must have been separated. The prophecies are here
arranged according to the nations, so that, for ex., all those
referring to Egypt come together. Among the prophecies re
ferring to Egypt, that in ch. xxix. 17 goes before the one in
ch. xxxi. 1, which belongs to an earlier period, because it stands
in a close relation with the foregoing (ch. xxix. 1), and resumes
it at a time when its fulfilment was close at hand. Although
the main body of the external prophecies belong to the time
before the term, given in ch. xxxiii. 21, of the recommencement
of the home prophecies, yet the date of some external pro
phecies precedes that in ch. xxxiii. 21 (ch. xxxii. 1, 17), because
the external prophecies forming a connected cycle should not
be separated from one another, and because the following cycle
of home prophecies also should meet with no interruption.
The first part contains in all a decade of prophecies — four
native and six foreign. At the close of the first part in ch.
xxxiii. 1-20 follows, in vers. 21, 22, the historical introduction
to the discourses of the second period ; in vers. 23-33, the warn
ing and admonishing preparation for the new message, — the
mediation, as it were, between it and the first part. With ch.
xxxiv. begins the communication of the comforting message.
From this forward the prophet is as inexhaustible in comfort
ing as he was before in threatening. The dangerous foe was
now despair, as it was before false confidence. Common to the
comforting and to the threatening discourses is the pictorial
character ; the viewing of that which is not as if it were, a re
sult of dependence on God, in whose nature salvation as well
as judgment is founded. The comfort is in this first group
unfolded in seven paragraphs. In the first discourse (ch.
xxxiv.) the prophet meets in a soothing manner the grief for
the loss of civil government, and places before the eyes of his
hearers and readers the bright form of the glorified David, in
whom the civil government of the future will culminate. In
the second (ch. xxxv.) he portrays the desolation of Seir. The
light of Israel is relieved by the shade of Edom, who here
represents the nations, who, in their hatred of the kingdom of

RETROSPECT. 497
God, are not fit for it, but are ripe for destruction. The third
discourse (ch. xxxvi. 1-15) relieves the pain occasioned by the
desolation of the holy land. The fourth (ch. xxxvi. 16-38) lays
down the name of God as the pledge of salvation. The fifth
announces the restoration of Israel as a covenant people (ch.
xxxvii. 1-14) ; the sixth, as a brotherly people (vers. 15-28).
The seventh (ch. xxxviii. xxxix.) represents the renovated
people as victorious in every conflict.
The second principal part has only two dates (ch. xxxiii. 21
and ch. xl. 1), and thus presents only two sections, which in
crease the ten of the first part to twelve. In the great closing
picture in ch. xl.-xlviii. the prophet portrays in detail the
recovery of all that was lost, in fulfilment of the words of
the psalmist, " He keepeth all his bones : not one of them is
broken ; " and points in the midst of it, in ch. xlvii. 1-12, to
the great progress of the kingdom of God in the future.
In the picture of the future drawn by the prophet, the fol
lowing are the principal traits. Vain is every attempt of the
people to avert the threatening misfortune. They must drain
to the bottom the cup of the divine wrath (ch. xxi. 26). Egypt,
the power on which their hopes chiefly rest, proves a broken
reed : the time of its political importance is for ever gone.
But what earth denies, heaven will grant in its own time. After
the people have attained to repentance, wrath is followed by
grace ; all that is lost — the temple, with its priests and wor
ship, the city, the land — is restored. Yet not this alone : the
fuure brings an enhancement of salvation. The people receive
a r.ch treasure of forgiveness of sins (ch. xxxvi. 25, xxxvii. 23) ;
the Lord takes away the heart of stone, and gives them a heart
of flesh (xi. 19) ; He awakens them by His quickening breath
from spiritual death (ch. xxxvii.). The centre of all graces is
an exalted descendant of David, who will spring from His
family when reduced and wholly deprived of the sovereignty,
and connect the high-priestly with the kingly office (ch. xxi. 27,
Xxxiv. 11-31). The blessing is so potent that it extends also to
the heathen, who will join themselves to Israel in the time of
salvation. According to ch. xxxiv. 26, "the environs of his
hill" will be partakers of it with Israel ; according to ch. xvii.
22-24, the descendant of David, at first small and inconsider
able, is raised to the sovereignty of the world ; according to ch.
2 I

498 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL,
xlvii. 1—12, the waters of the Dead Sea of the world are healed
by the stream from the sanctuary. This great revolution of
things, however, will give the old covenant people no cause for
self-exaltation ; it will rather tend to their deep humiliation.
They find salvation only through the redeeming mercy of God in
common with the heathen world, sunk deep in sin, to whom they
are become like, as in sin, so in punishment (ch. xvi. 53-63).
And then in the future, along with grace, which is only for the
willing, comes also judgment. The prophet announces in ch.
v. 4 a second annihilating judgment, which after the Chaldean
will come upon the people restored by the grace of God, — a fire
which will devour the people as such, and leave only an elec
tion of them which participates in the blessings of salvation.
The name of the prophet denotes one in relation to whom
God is strong (p. 5), who speaks not out of his own heart, but
is moved and determined by a supernatural power. The veri
fication of this name we have in the prophecies before us. That
which the Lord said to Peter applies to him, " Flesh and blood
hath not revealed it to thee, but the Father in heaven." None
of His words have fallen to the ground. The whole course of
history has verified His word in ch. xxxiii. 33 : " They shall
know that a prophet was in the midst of them."

APPENDIX.

THE CHERUBIM.1

| HAT Christian should not feel a desire to know the
nature of the cherubim ? When we sing the Am-
brosian anthem, we dwell with special emotion of
heart on the words : " The cherubim and seraphim,
and all angels, serve Him." As long as the nature of the
cherubim is concealed from us, a whole series of scriptural
passages is inaccessible to us. The cherubim occur in the Old
Testament no less than eighty-five times. They meet us in
the very first pages of revelation : the cherubim and the flame
of the blazing sword repel the parents of our race from the
tree of life. In the tabernacle and in the temple of Solomon
the cherubim receive an important place. The grand visions
of Ezekiel in ch. i. and x., even on a superficial examination,
awakening the anticipation of a glorious meaning, and present
ing a fulness of earnest warning and comfort, are sealed to us,
if we have not learned the nature of the cherubim. In the
Psalms God appears enthroned on the cherubim, as the firm
ground for the confidence of His people ; and whosoever will
be a partaker of this confidence, must before all know what the
cherubim are to signify. Even in the New Testament the
holy enigma of the cherubim meets us. John, in the Revela
tion, sees in the midst of the throne, and about the throne,
four beasts full of eyes before and behind, that had no rest
day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the
Almighty. The right knowledge of the cherubim, however, has a
1 From the Ev. Kirchenzeitung (Evangelical Church Gazette), 1866.

500 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
special interest for our own times. The opposition therein
existing has its last root in the proper foundations of this
knowledge. All questions that now move the heart most
deeply go back to the one, whether the first article in our Con
fession of Faith be true or not. Whosoever is at home in this
article, into which he has entered in heart and life, to him the
other two give no trouble ; and whosoever shrinks from these,
thereby shows that he has not yet truly received the first article
into his heart, even though he may have confessed it with his
mouth. Janet, in his work On the Materialism of our Time in
Germany1 says : " Two fundamentally different views of the
world and of nature prevail at present. According to the
one, the world is only a descending series of causes and effects :
something exists from all eternity with certain original pro
perties. From these properties spring phenomena ; from the
combination of these phenomena arise new phenomena, which
on their part give existence to others, and so on without end.
There are undesigned and unforeseen wild movements and
leaps, which, thanks to the co-operation of a boundless term,
have carried on the world as we now see it to-day. According
to the other, the world is an organic and living being, that
developes itself according to an idea, and raises itself gradually
to the completion of a nature eternally inaccessible in its
infinite perfection. Each of these steps is conditioned not only
by that which precedes it, but also by that which follows it.
Each step is designed for progress by the effect which it must
introduce. Thus we see nature ascend from dead matter to
life, and from life to feeling and thought. According to this
view, nature is no longer a kind of play, in. which all things
are due to accident, whereby an effect is brought out some
where : it has a plan, a reason, an idea. It is not a kind of
improvisation, where each speaks, and thence arises an appa
rent discourse : it is a real poem, a drama directed by wisdom,
where all the threads of the action, however intricate they may
be, unite to a definite end. It is an ascending series of means
and ends. A first thought has selected and directed. Among
the endlessly varied tendencies in which the world was involved
by the unconscious and irregular impulse of mechanical causes,
1 Translated, with introduction and notes, by Fr. v. Eeichlin-Meldegg,
with a preface by Fichte, Leipzig 1866.

THE CHERUBIM. 501
one tendency has prevailed over all. As a horse turned from
his path, and urged by a blind rage into a bold course, may
strike into a thousand different ways, but when held back and
guided by a strong and wary hand, takes only the one which
leads to the end ; so blind nature, held fast from her origin
under the yoke of an incomprehensible will, and guided by a
concealed master, ever advances, step by step, with a move
ment full of grandeur and dignity, to the ideal whose influ
ence rules and animates it. The idea guides the all : it is in
the beginning, in the middle, at the end ; and nothing arises
that is devoid of the idea." In the chief conflict of our times,
which, recognised in its significance, makes the oppositions of
churches and confessions, important though they may be, ever
appear as subordinate, the cherubim, understood in their true
nature, give not only a firm hold for the thoughts, but at the
same time fill the imagination with a holy image, which, once
gained, ever enlightens anew, and precludes the opposite de
structive views from all access to the mind.
It is, however, of the first importance to ascertain the true
nature of the cherubim. That this is no easy matter, is mani
fest from the wide diversity of opinions on the subject. The
sacred Scripture nowhere gives us a direct explanation of the
nature of the cherubim. The key to this matter we have in
Gen. iii. There the cherubim meets us in the history of the
first man. We learn from this, that the revelation beginning
with Abraham found them already existing, — that they do not
originally belong to the department of revelation, but to that
of natural religion, — that they are an image in which the piety
of the primeval world represents the nature of surrounding
things. As we have nowhere an intelligent account of the
nature of the cherubim, and this is rather presupposed to be
already known, we must endeavour to discover it from the
scattered hints that have come down to us; and this is a
difficult task.
That antiquity was not successful in determining the
nature of the cherubim, that it diverged into all manner of
conjectures, is explained mainly by the tendency of the older
theology to conceive everything in a dogmatic and realistic
way, from its incapacity to recognise a poetic element in
Scripture, — its misunderstanding of the truth, that it is the

502 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
problem of Scripture not merely to furnish the understanding
with right thoughts, but also the imagination with holy images.
This error, which is the more difficult to remove, because
many think to secure their faith by a crude literal appre
hension, continues in many forms to the present day. It
robs very many of an insight into that which is contained in
Scripture, and deprives them, especially in the closing book of
the Scripture, where the poetic imagery stands out in so bold
relief, of the blessing of a deeper penetration into its meaning.
One thing must be held fast before all, if we go into the
definition of the nature of the cherubim, that only that defi
nition can be correct which equally suits all the passages of
Scripture in which it occurs, from the first to the last book.
Whoever has marked the wonderful unity of Scripture, must
be antecedently certain that views which ascribe to the cheru
bim now this and now that import, thereby pass sentence on
themselves. In the present state of scriptural knowledge, a
view like that expressed by Herder in the Spirit of Hebrew
Poetry — namely, " In the oldest legend it was an awe-in
spiring, miraculous creature; in the tabernacle, a dead work
of art ; in the Psalms and poems, a figure ; in the [ pro
phetic vision, finally, a heavenly creature, bearer of the glory
of God " — would be an anachronism, a late birth from the time
of rationalism, that had no conception of the unity of the
spirit pervading holy Scripture. When Dr. Riehm, in his
treatise on the cherubim, assumes that in the Revelation, in
which the cherub appears as the combination of the creatures
of God, the original and genuine meaning is obscured, he
thereby gives us to understand that he has not been able to
discover the original and genuine meaning. That he, with
his preconceived opinion, has suffered shipwreck in the Reve
lation, might have induced him to retrace his steps.
Velthusen, in a small treatise on the cherubim, of the year
1764, first came on the right track in defining the nature of
the cherubim, though still doubtful and uncertain. " Perhaps,"
says he (p. 21), " it is merely notified that there is no kind of
living creature which the Most High does not employ for His
purposes, as well as lifeless nature ; and no animal, either
rational or irrational, tame or wild, flying or walking on the
earth, is excluded from His sway. The figure would then

THE CHERUBIM. 503
refer to the chief dogma of the Jewish religion, and would be
directly opposed to all idolatry, especially to the Egyptian wor
ship of irrational animals, and in particular to the worship of
oxen or calves, to which the Israelites so soon showed a leaning."
The merit of having first fully established this view belongs
to Bahr in the Symbolism of the Mosaic Worship, and in the
treatise on the temple of Solomon. " The beings of whom the
cherub is composed," says he, "belong to those creatures of
the visible world that form the upmost and highest of its three
kingdoms — the kingdom of organic life ; and in this kingdom,
again, they belong to the highest class, to that which has warm
blood, and therefore the highest physical life ; and in this class
they are again the highest. The cherub is far from being a
figure of God Himself ; on the contrary, its essential character
is to be a creature : it is a figure of the creature in its highest
stage — an ideal creature. The living powers distributed in
the visible creation to the highest creatures are combined and
idealized in it." " The whole creation is combined in it as in
a point in one being ; it represents in so far also the whole
creation, and stands naturally of all the creatures nearest to
God : only God is above it. The cherub, as creation indi
vidualized, is at the same time the being in which the glory
of God manifests itself. Hence it appears as the throne of
God itself, or in the closest connection with the throne : where
Jehovah in His majesty and glory reveals Himself, there the
cherub also appears."
This view in the main is alone correct ; only it is to be
remarked, that the cherubim represent first not the creature in
general, but only the animated creation on the earth. Yet
this is regarded as the apex of all created things on earth, so
that the remainder is in some measure represented by it, and
is appended to the animated creation as an accessory, and all
the more because it has been created for its sake. But we
must not include the heavenly creature : He that sits on the
cherubim, and the God of hosts, are co-ordinate expressions ;
by the hosts are meant the heavenly creatures.
The cherubim never occur alone — always in connection
with God. The formation of the symbol has arisen not from
the motive of the consideration of nature as such, but from
the motive of piety. In the consideration of the multitude of

504 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
visible creatures the mind may easily distract itself, and dwell
on the individual — now on this, now on that. " Whilst they
move and search among the works of God, they are caught by
the sight, because that which is seen is beautiful," says the
author of the Wisdom of Solomon (ch. xiii. 7). The pious
mind, therefore, protesting against such distraction and such
service of the creature (Rom. i. 15), comprehends all visible
multiplicity in an ideal unity, and places this unity absolutely
under God, who by His creative Spirit is the foundation of this
unity. This representation has for piety a profound signifi
cance. If we look to God, who sits above the cherubim, we
are filled with adoring reverence for Him, who is so wonderful
in His works, with the heartfelt desire to do the will of this
God, whose is the earth and the fulness thereof, the world and
they that dwell therein (Ps. xxiv. 1), with the dread of calling
down upon us the wrath of the God of the spirits of all flesh,
with joyful courage in the face of the world, with an absolute
refusal to make concessions to it, with a holy contempt for its
foolish pursuits, with invincible strength under its persecu
tions, with the consciousness that it cannot move hand or foot
without the influence of God ; that in the last resort we have
to do, not with it, but with God ; that it concerns us to come
to terms, not with it, but with God by true repentance ; that
He visits us through it ; and that an endless fulness of means
are at His command to help us, when His visitation has attained
its end. If we consider attentively the God who sits above the
cherubim, we are filled with deep contempt, holy wrath, and
strong pity at the sight of the theory, now so wide-spread, of
a degraded, half-brutalized generation. " No power without
matter," so runs the theory ; " no matter without power. A
power ruling over matter is a senseless thought. Power is the
property of matter, and inseparable from it. The idea of an
absolute creative power, which is distinct from matter, creates
it, regulates it according to certain absolute laws, is a pure
abstraction." We know, on the contrary, that power is the
original principle ; that the Spirit, who proceeds from Him
who sits above the cherubim, gives to eyerything its existence ;
that in Him it lives, and moves, and is. Sabaoth and cheru
bim — that is our watchword in the face of such error.

THE CHERUBIM. 505
The original generation of men with its cherubim, how
ever, not merely raises a protest against the false science of our
day, but turns with friendly consent to that which is found in
it of true science. There are here two important points of
agreement. First, that the living creature, as it is represented
by the cherubim, forms a distinct department of the terrestrial
creation. And next, that exactly in this department the crea
tive power of God displays itself most gloriously ; that of it in
a special manner the word of the apostle holds good, " The
invisible things of God, His eternal power and Godhead, we
see and know in His works." Janet says in regard to this :
" Let us hold by the chief facts, which hitherto have supported
a distinction not to be effaced between dead or inorganic and
living matter. The first and weightiest of these facts is the
harmonious unity of the living and organic being ; it is, to
make use of an expression of Kant, the correlation of the parts
to the whole." " Organic bodies," says the great physiologist
Miiller (Job. Miiller, Physiol, v. i. p. 17), " not only differ
from inorganic in the mode in which their elements are com
bined; but the constant activity which works in the living
organic matter, acts according to the laws of a rational plan
in conformity with an end, because the parts are adapted to
the end of the whole : and this it is exactly that marks the
organism." Kant says : " The reason of the kind of existence
in each part of a living body is contained in the whole, whereas
in the dead mass each part bears it in itself." Joh. Miiller,
quoted by Janet, says further : " The harmony of the members
necessary to the whole (in the organism) subsists not without
the influence of a power (' the Spirit of the living' in Ezek. i.
20, 21), that worh also through the whole, and depends not on
the several members, and this power exists before the harmonious
members of the whole are joined together : they are first formed
in the development of the embryo by the power of the germ.
In a piece of mechanism constructed for a given end — for ex
ample, a clock— the whole thus adjusted may exhibit an action
proceeding from the co-operation of the several parts, which
are set in motion by a cause ; but organic beings subsist not
merely by an accidental combination of these elements, but
produce the organs necessary for the whole by their own power
out of the organic matter. This productive power, acting in

506 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
conformity with reason, displays itself in each animal according
to strict laws, as the nature of each animal requires : it is al
ready present in the germ, before the later parts of the whole
are distinctly present ; and it is that which actually produces
the members that belong to the idea of the whole."
Even a Moleschott, constrained by the power of the truth,
must acknowledge, in p. 57 of the Treatise on the Unity of Life,
that " the unity of life arises from the deep and universal
dependence that concatenates all functions with one another,
from the internal and necessary co-operation of the several
parts to a given end, which constantly affects all parts of the
body from one point, from that most expressive bond operating
by symmetry, by freedom, by inviolable and intrinsic utility,
that has produced from the noun the ideal adjective " organic,"
by which we ascribe order, connection, harmony, freedom of
movement — in short, capacity of life — to every creation of the
human spirit, to languages, to laws, to art, and to every. branch
of science." On which Reichlin-Meldegg remarks : " The
whole is certainly not derived from the favourite principle of
material change." Moleschott himself is compelled to declare
(p. 37), that " the secret animating the spirit of the naturalist"
— the God who sits above the cherubim, and penetrates them
with His Spirit — " has not vanished away."
The cherubim, the ideal combination of the multiplicity of
living things — this assumption is antecedently the less doubtful,
as the holy Scripture expressly intimates that we have here
before us not simply realities — that we must distinguish be
tween phenomenon and thing, between the thought and its
dress, and thus decidedly opposes the realistic tendencies of
those who deal with holy Scripture just as if they had a com-
pend of theology before them. Ezekiel says, in ch. i. 5 : " And
out of the midst thereof (saw I) the likeness of four living
creatures." On this Theodoret remarks : " He says not simply
that he has seen four animals, but only a likeness of four
animals ; so that it is obvious that the divine prophets saw not
the very essences of the invisible things, but only certain like
nesses and patterns, which were shown to them according to
the requirements of the great Giver."

THE CHERUBIM. 507

II.
The time of mere assertion in the exposition of holy Scrip
ture is past, although many are unwilling to observe this. It
is necessary, therefore, in regard to the cherubim, to prove that
they are the ideal concentration of the animal kingdom ; and
on this proof we will now enter.
In regard to the name cherubim, men have given way to
manifold conjectures ; and the end has been, that they have
despaired of any interpretation. The cause of this despair lies
in the incorrect definition of the nature of the cherubim. As
soon as we recognise in the cherub the ideal unity of the animal
creation, the interpretation follows of itself. It means, " as a
multitude" — the concentration of all multiplicity on earth into
a unity. We have the commentary in Ezek. i. 24 : " And I
heard the noise of tlieir wings, like the noise of many waters,
as the voice of the Almighty in their going, the voice of a
roaring like the voice of a host. Here is developed before us
the "like many."1
The designation, " the living," takes the place of a second
proper name of the cherubim. The idea of the living creature
1 Analogous is Kabul, " as nothing," the name of the district which
Solomon gave to Hiram, 1 Kings ix. 13 (Ewald and Thenius). The a
enters into the composition of the proper name ; and so this may stand in
the plural, and with the article. By the origin of the proper name is
explained the tendency to use the singular along with the plural, as Ps.
xviii. 11, Ezek. ix. 3. That the a belongs not to the root, is, as Abenezra
says on Ex. xxv. 18, the old Jewish tradition, and has also remained,
according to Abenezra, who combats this view, the usual Jewish assump
tion. " Banc traditionem," says Buxtorf, Exercitationes, p. 100, "fere omnes
neoterici Judxi amplectuntur ¦." In their conception of the second element
of the proper name the Jewish expositors deviate from the correct view,
which did not agree with their preconceived opinion that the cherubim
are angels. They explain, " as youths.'''' But we can show, that even at
an earlier period these two elements were conceived with at least verbal
correctness. Theodoret often repeats the remark, that the word rendered
into Greek signifies the multitude of knowledge— on Ezek. i. 22, x. 1, and
at the close of ch. x. : *Mfos and a-Tuj/ws always recur in him. We cannot
pursue this explanation further. According to Philo, in the Life of Moses,
b. iii. p. 668, the name of the cherubim signifies much knowledge and
science. The word yields the muchness : the man infected with knowledge
adds of himself the knowledge.

508 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
is already fixed by the first chapter of the first book of Moses.
There the living creature is only on the earth, including the
water and the sky. According to Gen. ii. 7, the living crea
ture has a twofold source, the earthly material and the quicken
ing breath of God. According to Gen. ix. 16, " every living
creature, all flesh which is upon the earth," the idea of the
living creature is covered by that of the (animated) flesh, which
belongs only to the earth. Now, the circumstance that the
cherubim are called living creatures, might in itself be only a
designation of the genus to which they belong — only express
that they, like many other things, are living creatures. Even
according to this view, a series of hypotheses would be ex
cluded by the fact that the cherubim are to be sought among
the number of living creatures. To these the angels in parti
cular do not belong, who have been reckoned among the cheru
bim, according to the assumption very widely spread among
Jews and Christians, and first thoroughly contravened by
Vitringa. The remark of Theodoret, " The angels are living
creatures no less than men — the latter mortal, the former im
mortal ;" and likewise that of Keil, " The cherubim, as living
creatures, take the highest place in the realm of spirits," — are
contrary to the usage of speech, in which the living always
denotes the animated earthly creation, in opposition to the life
less. But we must not stop at this point. The fact that the
designation of the cherubim as living creatures takes exactly
the place of the proper name — as in Revelation the name cheru
bim does not occur, they are only designated as living creatures
— shows that by this designation their nature must be fully ex
pressed, that the genus does not exist beyond them, but is com
pletely represented by them. All doubt, however, is removed
by this, that the singular designation, " the living creature,"
alternates with that of the cherubim as living creatures (Ezek.
i. 20, 21, " The spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels ;"
x. 15, " And the cherubim were lifted up ;" x. 20, " This is the
living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar"). This
singular designation shows that in the cherubim the whole
genus of the living on earth, man and beast, is represented.
On the cherubim, further, the signature of the number four
is impressed in the strongest manner. Four animals appear
in Ezekiel and in Revelation. In the former still further play

THE CHERUBIM. 509
is given to the number four : the four animals have each four
faces and four wings. This number four in itself points to the
earth. The number four always appears in the Old Testament
as the signature of the earth. We have four classes of. living
creatures on the earth besides man, in Gen. vii. 21, 23 : " All
flesh, that moves upon the earth, in fowl, and in cattle, and in
wild beast, and in creeping thing, that creepeth upon the earth."
In Ps. cxlviii., the Creatures who shall praise God on the earth
are four times four. In particular is to be compared ver. 10,
" wild beasts and all cattle, the creeping thing and winged
fowl." The number four thus constrains us to remain on the
earth, and does not at all permit us, for ex., to think of the
angels belonging to heaven. We are led, however, still further,
when we take a nearer view of the four animals of which the
cherub is composed. Only on the assumption that the cherub
is tlie concentration of all that lives on the earth, can this
composition be referred to a rational ground. The four
animals appear as the representatives of the four classes of
the animal world. An old Jewish saying runs thus : " Four
are the highest in the creation, — the lion among the beasts, the
ox among the cattle, the eagle among the fowls, and man above
all ; but God is the highest of all." Here we have briefly
and well the explanation of the phrase, He that sitteth above
the cherubim. That the ox comes actually into consideration
as the representative of the cattle, appears from this, that, on
purpose to preclude other interpretations, the calf is twice put
in its place, in which those properties of the ox, which the other
interpretations have in view, are not at all present (Ezek. i. 7 ;
Rev. iv. 7). And that the eagle is designed to represent the
class of birds, appears from the same passage in Revelation,
" And the fourth beast was like unto a flying eagle," where the
epithet of the eagle can have no other end.
Of importance is also the position which man takes in the
composition of the cherubim. It is quite that which we should
antecedently expect, if the cherubim are the representation of
all that lives on the earth. According to the position which
is assigned to man among the living creatures in the Mosaic
history of the creation, in the symbolic representation of the
animal world, no mere co-ordination of man with the other
kinds of living creatures could take place : the human type

510 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
must preponderate in the representation of the living. Quite
so we find it in the cherubim. In the cherubs in the tabernacle
and the temple of Solomon all is human, as it appears, except
the wings : all the rest of the animal world must be contented
with this one symbolic representation, which is taken from that
class which in the history of the creation opens the series of
living things, as man closes it. In Ezekiel, ch. i., the human
face is towards the- east. This is, in the Old Testament, the
front and chief quarter. Right and left are the lion and the
ox; behind, the eagle, which, according to what has been
remarked, takes also the last place in Genesis. The creation
proceeds from the lower to the higher. First fish (which is
here left out of account, as belonging to the lower stage of
life), and fowl, and last man. According to Ezek. i. 5, the
human form is further predominant in the cherubim, and this
is very emphatically exhibited at the very beginning of their
description. From man, who according to Gen. i. is the crown
of the animal creation, as the only bearer of the divine likeness,
the lord of the whole remaining creation, they have the upright
walk, the hands, and other peculiarities.
That the cherubs represent the animal kingdom in a con
centrated form appears also from this, that according to 1 Kings
vii. 29, in the temple of Solomon, lions, kine, and cherubim
were figured on the bases of the layers for the purifying of
the sacrificial flesh. This fact shows, on the one hand, that
the cherubim of Solomon did not bear the faces of the lion and
the ox, like those of Ezekiel. This is only explained then,
when we find that in the cherubim of Solomon, externally
viewed, only man, and the class of birds that are at the other
extreme, were represented, — man in the whole figure, the birds
only in the wings, the design of which to represent the flying
clearly appears, especially from this passage. Josephus, who
at his own hand adds the eagle, and Ziillig, who thought that
the eagle had only been left out " from inadvertence," over
looked the fact that the eagle could not be introduced, because
the bird had its representation already in the very form of the
cherubim. But on the other hand also, the addition of the lion
and the ox, with which Dr. Riehm knows not what to do, to
the cherubim, shows that they must stand to these in an in
ternal relation ; and such only finds place when the cherubim

THE CHERUBIM. 511
represent the animal world. Then the lions and oxen come in
at their side, completing and explaining, inasmuch as they
represent those classes of animals which had found no express
representation in the cherubim themselves, though implied in
them. Ziillig rightly remarks, that the grouping together of
the cherubs with the lions and the oxen presupposes the
thought that the whole animal kingdom falls into those four
classes designated by the noblest of every kind. Not merely
on the ark and the walls of the temple, but on the other furni
ture of it, was the signature of the Almighty Lord of nature
impressed. Israel was to be constantly reminded that his God
is not a god, but God absolutely, possessed of infinite power to
bless and to punish, the only One in the whole universe who is
worthy to be feared and loved, and certainly with all the heart,
with all the soul, and with all the powers. Hand in hand with
the absoluteness of His power goes the requirement of absolute
devotion to Him. The God of the spirits of all flesh desires an
undivided heart. All other things depend absolutely on Him :
it is therefore unreasonable to divide the heart between Him
and these others ; and because unreasonable, wicked ; and
because wicked, the object of the divine resentment.
Only when the cherub represents the animal world can we
explain also the grouping of it with palms and flowers. Accord
ing to 1 Kings vi. 29, all the walls in the temple of Solomon
bore " round about in carved work, cherubim, and palms, and
open flowers." It is clear as light that the cherubim must be
placed under the same point of view with the palms and flowers.
If we suppose, with Bahr, that the palms and flowers are in
general symbols of salvation, — that the adorning with flowers
denotes the state of the richest fulness of life, of prosperity and
happiness,— we violently sever the flowers from the cherubim,
with which they are inseparably connected. Ezekiel says, in
the description of the new temple, in ch. xli. 18, 19, 25 : "And
there were made cherubim and palms, and a palm between
cherub and cherub ; and the cherub had two faces. And the
face of a man toward the palm on this side, and the face of a
lion toward the palm on that side ; they were made on the
whole house round about. And there were made on the doors
of the temple cherubim and palms, like as they were made on
the walls." The inseparable connection between the cherubs

512 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
and the palms appears here still more strongly than in the
temple of Solomon, — namely in this, that the faces of the
cherubs look towards the palms. We cannot therefore regard
as correct the opinion of Dr. Kliefoth, that " the palms
remind us of the feast of tabernacles, and the cherub-figures
are signs of the presence of God, who has His dwelling here."
Thus the cherubs and palms fall quite asunder. There is only
one way of explaining the connection of the cherubs with the
palms and flowers. The cherubs are first a representation of
the living ; but at the same time, as the living forms the crown
of the whole earthly creation, this also is represented by it.
The addition of the palms and flowers serves to indicate this
more comprehensive meaning, and to show that the living forms
no counterpart to the rest of nature, but rather represents this
also. Next to the animal creation, the vegetable kingdom is
the most glorious revelation of the creative power of God. In
modern science it is connected with the animal kingdom, under
the head of the organic creation. But the vegetable kingdom
cannot be better represented than by the palms and flowers.
According to Celsius, the palm is called by the Arabs " the
blessed tree." Libanius says of it : " The palm raises itself
on high, and removes itself as far as possible from the earth.
It hastens as it were towards heaven, and cannot bear to
remain on earth, though sprung from it." Celsius carries out
the thought : " Palms and men are similar in many respects."
Linne called the palms " the princes of the vegetable king
dom ;" Humboldt, " the noblest of plants, to which the nations
ever assign the prize of beauty." As the animal life culmi
nates in man, lion, ox, and eagle, so the vegetable life in the
palms and flowers. Herbs and trees are the two halves of the
vegetable kingdom in the history of the creation : the tripar-
tition of the vegetable kingdom, which some expositors have
there assumed, rests on a false explanation. The herb culmi
nates in the flower ; the king of the trees is the palm. We
have a commentary on the grouping of the palms with the
cherubim in Ps. cxlviii. In this psalm, the design of which is
to raise the children of God to gladness, by pointing to the
supremacy of the Almighty God over nature, " mountains
and all hills, fruit-trees and all cedars" (ver. 9), praise the
Lord ; " beasts and all cattle, creeping things and winged

THE CHERUBIM. 513
fowl" (ver. 10) ; and men with kings at the head, in ver. 11 f. ;
and thence down to the smallest, praise Him. As the objects
quoted in ver. 10 f., as speaking proofs of the omnipotence of
God, correspond to the cherubim, so do the fruit-trees and all
cedars to the palms and flowers. The cedars and palms con
tend for the rank of being " the trees of God" (Ps. civ. 16,
Ixxx. 11).
That the cherubs represent the living creatures on earth,
and in general the terrestrial creation, is borne out by the rela
tion in which they stand in Ezekiel to the " vault." It is said,
Ezek. i. 22, " And there was a likeness over the heads of the
living creature as a vault, as the look of the crystal the terrible
(the awe-inspiring, imposing, glorious), stretched out over their
heads above." This vault is the place of the throne of God.
In ver. 26 it is said, " And above the vault that was over their
head, in appearance as a sapphire-stone, the likeness of a throne,
and upon the likeness of a throne one like the appearance of
a man." There can be no doubt that the vault is a type of
the heavens ; for in the representation of the universe, as it is
given in this majestic vision, the heavens cannot be wanting,
and so much the less as it appears in the scriptures of the Old
and New Testament as absolutely the most important part of
creation, while the earth in reference to it occupies a lower
place. The vault is, moreover, according to Gen. i., the vault
of heaven. The heaven appears as the place of the throne of
God elsewhere in a great number of passages ; for ex. Isa.
Ixvi. 1, " The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my foot
stool." " Stretched out :" this is the usual designation of the
relation in which the heaven stands to the earth ; as, for in
stance, Isaiah (in ch. xl. 22) says, "Who sitteth upon the
circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are as grasshoppers ; that
stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out
as a tent to dwell in." To the comparison with " the crystal the
terrible " corresponds that which Daniel (ch. xii. 3) says of the
sublime splendour of the vault of heaven. If it is certain on
these grounds that the vault means the heavens, the cherubim
under the vault can only represent the terrestrial creation ;
for heaven and earth are usually joined together in the Old
Testament as the two spheres of the glorification of God. On
that which is here presented to the prophet in a figure— above
2 K

514 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
all, the Lord, under Him the vault, and under the vault the
cherubim — Isaiah in ch. xlii. 5 gives the commentary : " Thus
saith the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them
out, that spread forth the earth and its products, that giveth
breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk
therein." As Ezekiel presents Him who sits above the vault
and the cherubim as a terror to the secure sinners, who ex
pected to be able to attain salvation without repentance, and
shows them that there is no refuge for them in the whole
universe; so Isaiah points out Him who stretches out the
heavens and spreads forth the earth, as the security for the
poor worm Jacob, that he shall not abide in death, but be raised
to a glorious life, and attain to the supremacy of the world.
In the whole universe is no power that can injure him, and all
powers that rule in the universe stand absolutely at the dis
posal of Him who will achieve the salvation of Zion.
It is also of decisive import, that He who sits on the
cherubim is often joined with the God of hosts, the God whom
sun, moon, and stars obey, which appear in holy Scripture not
as mere flickering luminaries, but as the "powers of heaven,"
that far surpass the earth in glory. The whole earthly sphere
only stands worthily beside the heavenly sphere of God's omni
potence, being represented by the cherubim, the concentration
of the living, in which the whole earthly creation culminates.
The 80th Psalm, which expresses the grief of Judah for the
captivity of the ten tribes, and entreats God to make an end
of the desolation of His vine, begins with the words, " Thou
Shepherd of Israel, give ear ; Thou that leadest Joseph like
a flock, that sittest above the cherubim, shine forth." He
turns first to the love and pastoral faithfulness of God, and
then to His omnipotence, to which the whole terrestrial crea
tion, with all its power, is subject. The second strophe begins
with the words, " O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt Thou
burn against the prayer of Thy people 1 " Here the Lord of the
heavenly powers appears beside the Lord of the earthly. In
1 Sam. iv. 4 it is said : " And the people sent to Shiloh, and
brought thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts,
who sitteth on the cherubim." The author has already in view
the sad catastrophe which he has to relate in the sequel, the
taking of the ark of the covenant by the Philistines. In view

THE CHERUBIM. 515
of this, he makes it prominent that the ark of the covenant is
the sanctuary of the Almighty Lord of heaven and earth, so
that the loss of it cannot arise from the impotence of the God
of Israel, but from the sins of the people, whom God con
demned by His righteous judgment to the loss of their sanc
tuary. According to 2 Sam. vi. 2, David goes with all the
people to bring up the ark of God, on which is named the
name of the Lord of hosts, who sitteth on the cherubim. The
words imply that the undertaking was a sublime one, with
which a new epoch began for the people of God. He who
made His entrance anew among them was not one among the
many, was the Almighty Lord of heaven and earth. We
have the elucidation of the two names Jehovah Zebaoth and
Sitting on the cherubim in Ps. cxlviii. There praise the Lord,
first, from the heavens and the heights, all His angels, all His
hosts, sun, and moon, and all the stars of light; then from
the earth, beasts and all cattle, the creeping thing and all
winged fowl, the kings of the earth and all peoples, young
men and maidens, old men and children. The practical result
is this : " He exalteth the horn of His people, the praise of
all His saints, the children of Israel, a people near unto
Him. Hallelujah." The church is preserved as sure as God
Almighty reigns in heaven and on earth ; no power there
prevails that had not its origin in Him, and by Him is given
and taken.
This also leads to the given interpretation, that He who
sitteth on the cherubim is often joined with the name Elohim,
which designates the God of Israel as the Deity absolutely,
the possessor of all the fulness of the Godhead — for instance,
in 1 Sam. iv. 4 and Ps. Ixxx. — and also with other designations
of true deity and absolute omnipotence. Hezekiah, when he
was extremely oppressed by Assyria, at that time the concen
tration of the world-power, prays (2 Kings xix. 15), " O Lord
God of Israel, who sittest on the cherubim, Thou art God
alone over all the kingdoms of the earth ; Thou hast made
heaven and earth. Let all the kingdoms of the earth know
that Thou, Lord, art God alone." The sitting of God over the
cherubim appears as the immediate security that the world-
power can have no advantage over the people of God, and
as running parallel with God's being over all the kingdoms

516 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
of the earth, and with the creating of heaven and earth, which
is secondary to it, as well as with His being God alone. No
other interpretation of the cherubim is sufficient to explain
this fact. In none is the idea of omnipotence, and especially
of sovereignty over the earth, given simply along with sitting
above the cherubim ; in none is the sitting above the cherubim
absolutely equivalent to God alone, and the Creator of heaven
and earth.
David says, in the description of the all-powerful inter
position of God against his foes (Ps. xviii. 10), " He rode
upon a cherub, and flew, and soared upon the wings of the
wind." Elsewhere God usually sits on the cherubim, here He
rides upon them. The explanation of this is, that the Almighty
Sovereign of the earth, from whose hand no one can deliver,
who is able to save whom He will save, even him that is sunk
in the lowest depth of misery, and can destroy whom He will,
even the mightiest, is here found in action. As sure as God
sits, so surely He also rides. The sitting denotes the constant
relation, the moving the particular operation of this relation.
If God be the Lord of the whole earthly creation, He must
also give practical effect to this lordship for the salvation of
His own, and for the destruction of His foes. What princi
pally concerns us, however, in this place, and forms an im
portant contribution to the discovery of the nature of the
cherubim, is the connection of the cherubim with the wind.
This connection is explained only where we perceive in the
cherubim the representation of that which lives. The wind
represents the power of nature. The Lord of all that lives is
at the same time He who " gives way, course, path to clouds,
air, and winds." Whosoever has Him for a friend, need not
despair though the bands of hell surround him, and the cords
of death overpower him. His God sends out of the height, and
fetches him, and draws him out of many waters.
Hand in hand with the grouping together of cherub and
wind, in Ps. xviii., goes the fact that in Ezekiel under and
along with the cherubim appear four wheels. By these wheels
are the powers of nature designated, which serve God no less
than the living creatures. The point of comparison is the
weight. Joh. Heermann expresses the thought that finds its

THE CHERUBIM. 517
picturesque expression in the wheels in the song, " Ah, God,
how dreadful is thy wrath," thus :
" Thou art the Lord and God alone,
"Whom thunder, lightning, wind obey,
Whom all things are compelled to own,
And do His will without delay.
Lord, where is any like to Thee,
In heaven above or earth below ?
Who hath a realm so great and free,
That all must reverence to Him show ? "
The proof that the wheels are the powers of nature, in addition
to the joining of the cherub with the wind in Ps. xviii., is found
in Ezek. x. 13, where the prophet expressly declares concern
ing the import of the wheels, " The wheels, they were called the
whirlwind in mine ear." With this Isa. v. 28 is to be compared.
As there the wheels in the war-chariots of the world-power sent
by God for the punishment of His rebellious people are com
pared with the whirlwind, so here inversely the whirlwind, re
presenting the powers equal to it in weight, appears under the
figure of the wheels. Ezek. x. 6 affords a further proof of this.
There the fire with which the ungodly Jerusalem shall be
burned is taken from between the wheels, and certainly from
the cherub, who hands it to the angel. Jerusalem was to be
burned by men, otherwise than Sodom and Gomorrah. But
their activity is only subordinate, being directed by God. They
take the fire from between the wheels ; and the angel stands
behind and above them, who performs the work of burning.
These are quite clear and certain grounds, which leave no doubt
concerning the import of the wheels. To the wheels of Ezekiel
correspond in Ps. cxlviii. 8, fire, hail, snow, and vapour, stormy
wind fulfilling His word, which there appear along with the
living creatures on the earth as the practical praise of God, as
the security of the victory of His church. How the powers of
nature serve God along with the cherubim, the history of Job
shows : of the four catastrophes there, two are effected by
human instruments, so that they belong to the department of
the cherubim, and two by the powers of nature — the fire of
God and the wind. The word of the Psalmist also (Ps. civ.)
serves to elucidate the symbol of the wheels : " Who maketh
the clouds His chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the

518 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
wind; who maketh the winds His angels, and a flaming fire
His ministers." Here the clouds appear as the chariot of
God, because He leads them whither He will ; the winds are
obedient to Him as their Master, as the horses to their earthly
driver. The application to the relations of the people of God
is this : He who gives a way, course, and path to the clouds,
air, and winds, will also find a way where thy foot may go.
" Whither the spirit was to go," it is said (Ezek. i. 20) of the
cherubim, " thither they went, and the wheels lifted themselves
equally with them ; for the spirit of the living creatures was
in the wheels." The creature and the powers of nature work
equally for the end appointed by God, for salvation or for
destruction, because both are equally dependent on the Spirit
of God moving them ; so that we have nowhere to do pro
perly with man or beast, fire or storm, but always with their
Lord, who summons and sets them in motion. The unity of
the Spirit in the beasts and in the wheels points to this, that
in consequence of their equal dependence on God, they both
with one accord obey the will of God, be it for blessing or for
punishment, as in the destruction of Jerusalem the Chaldeans
and the fire co-operated.
Only, if the cherubim are the concentration of all that
lives, can it be explained that they, as well as the wheels,
are all covered with eyes in Ezekiel and in Revelation. In
Ezek. i. 8 it is said that the felloes of the wheels connected
with the cherubs were full of eyes. This is to show that the
powers of nature, notwithstanding their apparent wild irregu
larity, are under the guidance of Divine Providence. The
wind appears to go whither it will ; but, in truth, it has no in
dependent will : a secret hidden power binds all its movements
according to a wise design. " The eyes," remarks Hitzig, " are
on the outside of the felloes, not the inside : naturally, for
they are to look outwards into the world and on the way, not
turned inwards, to regard the spokes and the axle." The
place in which the eyes are set shows that the powers of
nature, in their action on the world and their relation to man,
are not subject to a blind chance, but are guided by deliberate
counsel — that reason is in them, because above them. While
the passage now discussed refers only to the wheels, it is said
in ch. x. 12 of the cherubim themselves, " And their whole

THE CHERUBIM. 519
flesh, and their backs, and their hands, were full of eyes round
about." And in Rev. iv. 6 it is said, " And in the midst of
the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts, full
of eyes before and behind." The thought expressed by the
symbol of the eyes in the cherubim, the Psalmist enunciates in
the words (Ps. civ. 24), " How manifold are thy works, 0
Lord!" (the cherub is the being that represents the multiplicity
of the works of God;) "in wisdom hast Thou made them all."
And this thought lies at the root of that which is said in Prov.
viii. 22-31 concerning the constructive wisdom of God. In
the living creation rules no chance, but everywhere law, order,
design : it is not a monstrum horrendum ingens cui lumen
ademtum, as the modern materialists teach, who place them
selves on a parallel with the apes, from which they derive
the origin of the human race ; but all in it is guided by in
telligence. This belongs not to the creatures, but to God,
who has created them in wisdom, and in wisdom guides and
directs them. The whole living creation is penetrated by the
spirit; and where the spirit is, there is also reason, end, de
sign. For the spirit is the spirit of the personal intelligence.
The whole living creation has its origin in God, and there
fore bears the seal of intelligence in its being and in its
working. The worm in the dust has no less the signature of
the eye than man. That this is the import of the eyes, is
shown by Zech. iii. 9, according to which seven eyes are directed
to the one foundation-stone of the temple that was then to
be built anew : the thought can be nothing else than this,
that the building of the temple was under the special guidance
of Divine Providence. Further (Zech. iv. 10), the seven eyes
of the Lord, which pervade the whole earth, preside oyer the
building of the temple. The eyes here are the powers of God,
which work not blindly, but are the radiations of His provi
dence. These eyes penetrate the whole earth, to counteract
the dangers from every quarter to the kingdom of God, and
from all sides to gather help. According to Rev. v. 6, the
Lamb has seven eyes as well as seven horns, which are the
seven spirits of God sent into all the earth. Horns and
eye's denote here the whole fulness of divine power and intelli
gence with which Christ is endowed for the destruction of His
foes and the salvation of His own. If the eyes are so con-

520 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ceived as the symbol of intelligence, which does not perhaps
dwell in the cherubim, but is developed in them, this explains
also the connection in which (Rev. iv. 8) the eyes of the
cherubim stand with their song of praise. This forms, ac
cordingly, the elucidation to the eyes. It is there said, " And
around and within they are full of eyes, and have no rest day
and night, and say, Holy, holy, holy is God the Lord, the
Almighty." The expression already employed, around (before)
and within (behind) they are full of eyes, would be an un
necessary repetition, if it did not stand in close connection
with the following ; and because they are a living actual testi
mony to the wisdom and glory of God, they unceasingly pro
claim by their very presence that which is holy.
The cherubim are full of eyes, in accordance with which
modern science, so far as it really deserves the name of science,
and is not a secretion of " evil beasts, slow bellies," acknow
ledges that nature appears throughout as a work of intellect —
that the stamp of providence is impressed upon it. The cele
brated naturalist of Petersburg, Karl von Baer, in the treatise,
What View of Animated Nature is the Correct One ? Berlin,
1862, calls " the processes of life" ideas of creation : he finds
in the natural instinct of the insect-world " something original,
not proceeding from the constitution of the body, but standing
above it." Instinct is to him " an emanation from the uni
verse, and not from the bodily relations. The intelligence,
which lies at the root of it, is not the intelligence of the beasts,
but a necessity which a higher intelligence has laid upon them."
He cites, among other examples, the life-process of the gnat,
which begins its life in the water and closes it in the air.
While it places itself on a leaf floating on the water, or an
overhanging blade of grass, it lets its eggs fall into the water,
because the newly-formed germ must begin its existence in the
water. Here we cannot think of a prescience of the gnat, and
yet it acts in the given case quite as if the future fate of the
brood were known to it. It shuns the water as lone as it has
no need of it ; it seeks it when it becomes necessary for the
future germ. The sainted Schubert has already referred to
many similar facts in the Mirror of Nature, which has not, we
think, obtained the circulation it deserves. Professor Fichte
says, in the preface to the German translation of Janet's

THE CHERUBIM. 521
Treatise on Materialism, " The spirit of materialism and the
spirit of natural philosophy are diametrically opposed; they
stand essentially in irreconcilable contradiction. That which
animates all natural philosophy, which fills it with ever new
enthusiasm, is the never actually disappointed confidence, that
there is reason in things ; that an intrinsic harmony and an
intelligent mutual adaptation embraces the whole as well as the
parts of nature ; in short, that that great principle never and
nowhere denies itself, which speculation has designated as
' immanent teleology,' the internal design and omnipresent
reason in things. And that which natural philosophy actually
finds, which it most emphatically proves and brings to be
admitted without question, is only the perpetual confirmation
of this great thought. It is, according to its proper spirit, an
uninterrupted worship of God, a rational and intelligent glori
fication of that inexhaustible wisdom which reveals itself in
nature. The materialistic view is by no means a protest merely
against a philosophical or religious theory, but against the
whole finding of experience — against the constitution of the
universe itself. The creation must have been different, if
materialism was to be right. And so we say with confidence,
if it should ever be accounted the true and all-sufficient con
ception of the world, then would the last memory of the great
results of natural philosophy vanish, and scientific barbarism
would make good its entrance." These are golden words ; and
if the author had spoken no other than these, he would deserve
to have lived. He has thereby fulfilled the highest task assigned
to science : " I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker" (Job
xxxvi. 3). Hence may those learn to be ashamed of them
selves, who, like C. Vogt, are full of eyes round about, and
yet cannot see, — who thus divest themselves of the high privi
lege of men, to acknowledge Him whose seal is impressed upon
all nature. The cherub signifies that which lives on earth : only by
acknowledging this is the joining of the cherub with the elders
in Revelation explained. The elders are there the representa
tives of the church. If they are purely ideal beings, an ideal
element will also be present in the cherubs that are joined with
them ; and those will be astray who simply see in them real
beino-s. In ch. xiv. 3, the community of the completed saints

Jo"

522 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
on the heavenly Zion sing the new song " before the throne,
and before the four beasts and the elders." The ground on
which the four beasts are here joined with the elders we learn
from ver. 4, where it is said of the elect in their heavenly per
fection, " These are bought out of men, to be first-fruits unto
God and the Lamb." The four beasts, or more exactly, the
" four living creatures," have their culminating point in man ;
and the glorification of the human race is here solemnized in
the glory of the elect. In the similar scene, ch. vii. 9-17, in
which the believers in Christ are brought before us in the
heavenly glory which awaits them, the elders go before the
four beasts, after whom they were placed in ch. iv. Where the
elders stand before, they come into view as the party imme
diately concerned. On the contrary, the four beasts have a
claim to the first place, because they represent the genus, while
the elders form only a species of that genus. There the one
condition is satisfied, here the other. No less clear and trans
parent, according to our view, is the connection of the elders
and the four beasts in ch. xix. 4. Here the twenty-four elders
and the four beasts fall down and worship God, who sits on the
throne, saying, Amen ; Hallelujah. The starting-point, the
great deed of God, which calls forth the worship and praise,
is the overthrow of the great whore. Along with the repre
sentatives of the church, over which the bloody persecution of
the Roman empire, represented by the adulterous woman, has
passed, the representatives also of the animal creation on earth
offer their thanks for the redemption of the earth, which,
according to ver. 2, it had corrupted by its whoredom, its crafty
hypocritical policy. Not merely the churoh, but all mankind,
trodden under foot, is interested in the overthrow of imperial
Rome. Only if the cherubs are the combination of that which lives
on earth, is explained their interest in the judgments on the
earth in Revelation. On the opening of the first four seals,
in ch. vi., the seer each time hears one of the four say, with a
voice of thunder, " Come and see." The beasts announce the
different phenomena of the judgment, because they are the
representatives of the living, on the earth, on which the judg
ments shall fall. In ch. vi. 6 it is further said : " And I heard
a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat

THE CHERUBIM. 523
for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and
hurt not the oil and the wine." The voice sounds " in the
midst of the four beasts," because this news concerns them.
The cherubim accordingly represent beings who are concerned
in the thriving of wheat and barley, oil and wine — who must
suffer want in years of famine. On this must all other views
of the cherubim suffer shipwreck ; for ex., that of the creative
powers of God, of the angels, of the four evangelists, of the
officers in the church. In ch. xv. 7, one of the four beasts
gives to the seven angels seven golden cups full of the wrath
of God, who liveth for ever and ever. The earthly creature of
God on whom the judgments fall, by this act acknowledges
their righteousness. It says with downcast head, We receive
what we have deserved.
Only by the view in question is explained also the fact, that
the cherubim appear so regularly under the throne of God, and
indeed in circumstances where it is either intended to give
comfort to the church in the face of the seemingly omnipotent
world, and to assure it of the certainty of the victory over the
world, as in Rev. iv., or where it is designed to oppose the
blindness of the degenerate sons of the church, who expected
to be able to escape the vengeance of their angry God, as in
Ezekiel. The cherubim under the throne, which indicate that
God is the God of the spirits of all flesh, equally oppose the
despair and the security of the church.
Finally, the only plausible one among the other various
conceptions of the cherubim — the only one, also, which pos
sesses a wide popularity, and an existence so tenacious, that it
is ever turning up anew, that which takes them to be angels —
suffers shipwreck on Rev. v. 11, " And I beheld, and I heard
the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts,
and the elders : and their number was ten thousand times ten
thousand ;" and on Rev. vii. 11, " And all the angels stood
round about the throne, and the elders, and the four beasts,
and fell before the throne on their face, and worshipped God."
The diversity of the beasts from the angels is here clear as the
sun. The myriads of angels, all angels, form the environs
of the circle, in which, with the throne and the twenty-four
elders, the four beasts also are found. Further, the depart
ment of the cherubim is always sharply defined by that of the

524 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
angels. The cherubim never perform the part of messengers,
of the " spirits who are sent to minister" (Heb. i. 14), of " the
mighty in strength, who do the commandments of God, hearken
ing unto the voice of His word" (Ps. ciii. 20). Their business
is only to be under the throne of God — to set forth His omni
potence — to thank and praise God, because their presence is the
actual praise of God, in accordance with Ps. ciii. 22, " Bless
the Lord, all His works, in all places of His dominion ;" as,
according to Ps. xix., the heavens declare the glory of God,
of which they are a speaking proof ; and then, on account of
His benefits, which He bestows upon His creatures on earth ;
finally, to be active in the representation of the judgments
which fall upon the earth. On the whole, only few words are
put into their mouth, in proof that speaking is not their proper
business ; that it is only granted them for the interpretation of
the practical speech, which is implied in their very presence.
Our task, to demonstrate the correct interpretation of the
symbol of the cherubim, is completed. It remains now to
examine more particularly some of the principal passages in
which the cherubim are mentioned.

in.
We turn our eye first to the properly fundamental passage,
Gen. iii. 24, " And He drove out the man, and placed at the
east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the flame of the
flashing sword, to keep the way to the tree of life."
The thought that most obviously meets us here, in accord
ance with the original state of the human race, that is pictured
as it were before our eyes, is, that by the wrathful omnipotence
of God men found themselves wholly excluded from the life
which should have been the reward of their true obedience.
The wrath of God is figured by the flashing sword. We
may not assign the sword to the cherubs. For it is not said,
with the flame (Luther has freely translated, the cherubim with
a naked hewing sword), but, and the flame. The sword appears
as a second power along with the cherubim. A sword would
not indeed suit the many cherubim. And then the cherubim
have never and nowhere anything to do with the sword. They
are in themselves quite unconcerned with the divine wrath,

THE CHERUBIM. 525
which is represented by the sword. Under other circum
stances, if man were not fallen, they would appear themselves
friendly in a friendly circle, as the cherubim on the ark of the
covenant already show. As bearer of the sword we have,
according to all parallel passages, much more to think of God
or His angel, who carries on all His relations with the human
race. In the books of Moses himself, it is God who says
(Deut. xxxii. 41 ), " If I whet the flash of my sword, and my
hand take hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on my
adversaries, and requite them that hate me." With drawn
sword the angel of the Lord appears to Balaam, and also to
David when he sinned in numbering the people (1 Chron. xxi.
16). Also in Josh. v. 13, Isa. xxxiv. 5, the sword belongs to
God and His angel. If, then, the sword is to be placed in the
closest relation with God, the same holds good in regard to the
cherubim. According to the analogy of all other passages, we
shall have to think of God as sitting upon them, as appearing
above them ; and so much the more, because the cherubim are
never employed on any mission like the angels. The seeming
independence of the cherubim, as of the sword, is only put
forward, in order that these points in the whole phenomenon
might engage the attention of the first men — namely, the wrath
of God and His omnipotence, which are sufficient to show that
every attempt to reach that which is prohibited is foolish and
vain. " He placed the cherubim and the sword," then, is as
much as to say, He that sitteth on the cherubim, and beareth
the sword, shut him out. " To place" occurs elsewhere in the
sense of setting up (Josh, xviii. 1), and is of abiding significance.
He set up, not without or beside Himself, but Himself appearing
over them. In point of fact, the setting up of the cherubim
still takes place after every sin. The conscience calls to the
sinner, that he is wholly excluded by the wrath of God from
access to salvation. A whole swarm of false views meets us in
this passage. The cherubim are not " guardians of paradise"
nor " executors of judgment :" they do not serve to exhibit
" the majestic presence of God in the attitude of wrath," with
which the cherubim have nothing whatever to do, and which
is represented here by the sword alone. Much less still may we
say that the garden is given to the cherubs for a dwelling-place :
in that case the same must also hold good of the sword. We

526 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
have here no " mythic being" before us, no " griffin," but the
presentation of an eternally true thought in pictorial form, in
the spirit of the olden time, in which the thought of itself took
flesh and blood. This is the truth in one of the many unfortu- <
nate hypotheses concerning the second and third chapters of
Genesis, which regarded the contents of this chapter as an
attempt to translate a hieroglyphic picture into words.
Turn we now to the cherubim over the ark of the, covenant
in the tabernacle. The state of things as it is represented in
Ex. xxvi. 16 f. is this. In the ark of the covenant is laid the
" testimony," externally represented by the two tables of the
law. Over the testimony is the "mercy-seat," externally re
presented by the lid of the ark. Over the mercy-seat rise two
cherubim, in close connection with it, externally represented
by this, that they are formed of the same mass of gold of
which the mercy-seat is made, and, as it were, grow out of it.
The cherubs stand on the two ends of .the mercy-seat. The
faces of the two are directed towards one another. They look
down on the mercy-seat. The mercy-seat is covered by their
outstretched wings. Over the cherubim sits the Lord, and
thence communicates to Moses all His orders to the people.
The following is the exposition of these facts. The foun
dation of the covenant of God with Israel is the testimony, the
revelation of the will of God to Israel. This is a great grace
which the Lord has bestowed on His people, and in them on
the church of all times, that they should possess in His word
a light on their paths, as the Psalmist sings : " He showeth His
word unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto Israel.
He hath not dealt so with any nation, and His judgments they
have not known. Hallelujah." And as Moses himself says
(Deut. iv. 8) : " And what nation is so great, that hath statutes
and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before
you this day?" If with this boon they are true — if they endea
vour with all their heart to fulfil His commands, they have in
the mercy-seat the pledge of the forgiveness of their sins of
infirmity, or as Philo expresses himself, of the " gracious power
of God." This is the second great benefit. From the second
arises a third : from the propitiation comes forth the protection
of the cherubim, who with their faces cast a friendly look on
the mercy-seat and the ransomed people, and cover it with their

THE CHERUBIM. 527
protecting wings. To those who love God, and are loved of
Him, must all things work for the best : the creatures go with
their Creator. If the people of God only have Him on their
side, the whole creation stands in a friendly relation to them.
We have still some points to discuss more fully.
In reference to the form of the cherub, Ziillicf remarks :
" According to Ex. xxv. 20, the faces of the two cherubs were
directed to the lid of the ark of the covenant. Had they been
the cherubs of Ezekiel, they could only have had one of their
four faces in this direction, while the three other faces must
have looked towards the three other opposite points. Hence
each of these must have had only one face, while those had
four." The cherubs of the ark of the covenant had human
forms and faces ; and the three other classes of living things
must have been contented with the representation by the
wings taken from the birds, which in the history of the
creation form the beginning of the animal world, as man
forms the close. These, wings had the double purpose, —
above, to form the throne of God ; beneath, to overshadow
the rnercy-seat.
Why do the cherubim appear over the ark of the cove
nant ? In general they belonged to it, because it was of the
deepest moment to indicate that the God of Israel was at the
same time God absolutely, which is so emphatically and de
signedly held forth in the books of Moses from the very first
chapter, that the temple is dedicated to the God of the spirits
of all flesh, who is almighty to save those who keep His
commandments, and to destroy those who transgress them.
For the same purpose, cherubim were to be woven in the
inner curtains or hangings of the tabernacle, according to
Ex. xxvi. 1. What special significance the cherubim had
here in connection with the whole of the ark, we have already
pointed out. This significance is in the first place comforting.
In the background, however, stands along with this a warning
and deterring one. If the church be not in earnest regarding
the foundation of the whole — the testimony, the revelation of
the divine will ; if she turns the great grace, that she knows
the will of her Lord, into lasciviousness ; if she has in her
mouth only the commandments, which are to be kept and
obeyed, in order to boast of them, and judge others by them

528 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
(Rom. ii.), — the mercy-seat forthwith loses its significance ;
the protective power of the cherubim, which is inseparably
connected with it, at the same time conies to an end; their
friendly face turns into a terrible one ; the majesty of the
offended God sitting above them arms them for the punish
ment of His unfaithful people.
The further question, Why are the cherubim of one piece
with the mercy-seat? is answered by that which has been
already remarked. The fact points to this, that the protec
tion which the cherubim secure comes from the propitiation.
That the faces of the cherubim are directed to one another,
is indicative of the mutual harmony of the creatures, which
rests on their common relation to the Lord, whose spirit rules
in them. That the face of the cherubim is directed to the mercy-seat,
points to this, that grace is the most adorable secret. The
passage in 1 Pet. i. 12, which refers to the angels who have
nothing to do with the cherubim, has been without reason
connected with this ; but the face turned inwards is a sign
of the friendly disposition which the creature entertains to
wards the community reconciled to. God (Ps. xxxiv. 16), as
the averted or concealed face is so often the sign of a hostile
disposition. As the cherubs, and in them the Lord who
sits above them, here look to the mercy-seat, so in Ps. Ixxiv.
20, in a time of heavy oppression to the commonwealth, the
Lord is entreated by it to " look unto the covenant." Thus
regarded, the direction of the faces of the cherubim to the
mercy-seat is in harmony with the fact that they cover it
with their wings, and both facts come under the same point
of view. It cannot be doubted that this covering of the mercy-seat
is a symbol of the protection which the cherubim secure to
the redeemed community. The covering is often used of a
protecting covert; for example, Ps. cxl. 8, "Thou coverest
my head in the day of battle ; " and the wings are often the
figure of protection, as in Ps. xxxvi. 8, " How excellent is
Thy goodness, O God ! and the children of men trust in
the shadow of Thy wings;" and Ps. lxi. 5, "I will abide in
Thy tents for ever ; I will trust in the covert of Thy wings."
But it is quite decisive, that in Ezek. xxviii. 14, according

THE CHERUBIM. 529
to the connection, " the covering " must necessarily be the
protecting cherub. Hence, so much the more light falls on
the covering of the cherubs in the sanctuary, as the prophet
has borrowed the figure from this, and expressly alludes to
it. The thought which lies at the root of the symbolic re
presentation, that the creature goes along with the Creator,
that the community reconciled to its God enjoys the protec
tion of the creature, we find often expressed in the Old Testa
ment. Thus it is said, Lev. xxvi. 3 f., " If ye walk in my
statutes (the right relation to the testimony, as the condition
of sharing in the propitiation), ... I will rid evil beasts out
of the land, and the sword (of man, the apex of the animal
world) shall not pass through your land." In contrast with
this, it is said in vers. 22, 25, of those who violate the testi
mony, and thereby exclude themselves from a part in the pro
pitiation : " And I will send against you the beast of the field ;
and it will rob you, and destroy your cattle, and diminish you ; .
and your ways shall lie waste. And I will bring upon you a
sword, avenging the quarrel of my covenant" (the propitiation,
which can never be idle, acquires now a destructive import) ;
" and ye shall be given into the hand of the enemy." In Hos.
ii. 20 it is said of the people when awakened to repentance :
"And in that day I will make a covenant for them with the
beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the
creeping thing of the ground ; and bow, sword, and battle I
will break out of the land." Here we have a fourfold array
of the "living" creature, which the Lord makes friendly to
His renewed people : from the irrational the prophet rises to
man. Also in Ezek. xxxiv. 25 f. peace with the creatures
follows peace with God : " And I will make with them a
covenant of peace ; and I will rid the evil beasts out of the
land, and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep
in the woods. And they shall be no more a prey to the
heathen, and the beasts of the land shall not devour them, and
none shall make them afraid." The " beasts of the land "
appear not seldom also in human form. By the lions, one
of the faces of the cherubs in Ezekiel, are often designated
the wickedness and tyranny of the heathen ; for ex., in Isa.
xxxv. 9. In Nebuchadnezzar, man, lion, and eagle are pre
sented at the same time. The four world-powers appear in
2 l

530 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Daniel not without design in the form of four beasts. And
in Isa. lvi. 9 the beasts of the field are the heathen, whom the
Lord sends over His degenerate people. Schiller also sings,
" The women became hyenas." The limits which the original
order of creation has placed between man and beast may be
destroyed by the degeneracy of man.
The cherubs in the temple of Solomon demand, on the
whole, no special treatment. The same applies to them as to
the cherubs in the tabernacle. Solomon's formative activity
was here confined within narrow limits. What was com
municated to Moses by revelation, he was obliged in the main
only to repeat. Only a few single points here claim our at
tention. To the smaller cherubic figures immediately over the ark
Solomon added (1 Kings vi. 23 f.) " in his temple two others
ten cubits high, of olive tree, carved and overlaid with gold,
which stood near the ark with outstretched wings. Their out
stretched wings formed a second higher covering over the ark"
(Ziillig). That the wings of these cherubim extended from
one wall of the most holy place to the other, signified the com
pleteness of the protection which God secures to His people by
means of His creatures.
According to 1 Chron. xxviii. 18, David gives to Solomon
the gold " for the pattern of the chariot, the cherubim, that
spread out their wings, and cover the ark of the covenant of
the Lord." The cherubim do not here draw a chariot, but they
are themselves the chariot ; as also in Jesus Sirach, in ch. xlix. 8,
the cherubim-chariot is the ehariot that consists of the cherubim
themselves ; and in Ps. xviii. 11 God rides on the cherub.
The relation of God to His living creatures resembles that of
the driver to his chariot, which takes its direction absolutely
from him. God is the absolutely guiding principle in His
creatures and for His creatures : this is the thought which lies
at the root of the designation of the cherubim by the chariot.
When once the figure of the chariot used by David in Ps.
xviii. was naturalized, it was easy to add to the chariot also
wheels. We have seen before, that these wheels, at the same
time under and near or beside the cherubim, not absolutely1
subordinate to them, but co-ordinate with them, represent in
Ezekiel the powers of nature, which are directed by the Lord

THE CHERUBIM. 531
of creation no less than the living creatures in harmony with
them. The proper source of this sensible representation is not,
however, to be sought in Ezekiel. Vitringa has clearly shown
that it goes back to Solomon ; and those who will now deny this
are either ignorant of his argument, or have not duly appre
ciated it. In the place of the single laver for cleansing the
sacrificial flesh, which Moses (Ex. xxx. 28) placed before the
tabernacle, between it and the altar of burnt-offering, entered
in the temple of Solomon, along with the brazen seas, ten
lavers, which Hiram the artisan constructed by command of
Solomon. The description of these lavers is extremely brief ;
it occupies only a single verse. On the other hand, no vessel
of the temple has the author of the book of Kings described
so fully as the bases of these lavers : he devotes to them no
less than twelve verses (1 Kings vii. 28-39). This at once
indicates to us, that these bases must have a deeper positive
import ; and it will not disturb us that these bases, together
with the lavers resting on them, externally considered, had
only a very subordinate position : for what was represented in
the part belonged to the whole ; and to represent it precisely
here was natural, as only here, in these newly introduced ves
sels, was freer scope given for holy art, whereas in the more
important vessels it was necessary to copy the patterns of
Moses. Now on these bases were figured lions, oxen, cherubim,
and palm trees. This indicates that the temple was dedicated
to the Lord of the whole organic creation. " The figure," says
Velthusen, " announced the presence of the only true supreme
Lord of" all nature, and thereby distinguished this building
consecrated to Him, where He was worshipped, and had pro
mised graciously to receive offering and prayer, from all idola
trous temples." Under the bases are four wheels. That these
must have a symbolic meaning is clear, not only from the
analogy of the significant figures on the bases, and from the
comparison of Ezekiel, where even as here the wheels con
nected with the cherubim, and taking the lower place in rela
tion to them, on clear and certain grounds, denote the powers
of nature ; but it lies in the nature of the thing, as there is
here no practical end which the wheels might serve. It has
been supposed that the wheels were to make the bases with the
lavers easily moveable. But they occupied a fixed place, as is

532 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
expressly said in 1 Kings vii. 39 ; and motion is not to be
thought of.
We will conclude with the discussion of the grand vision of
the cherubim in Ezekiel. But first, we will take a glance at
the passing mention of the cherub in Ezek. xxviii. 14. The
prophet, in the prediction against the king of Tyre, here says
to him, " Thou art an anointed cherub, that covereth." As
the cherub comprehends the multiplicity of the creatures in a
unity, so the king the multiplicity of his people. The nature
of the kingly office can scarcely be more aptly designated than
by the name cherub. Jeremiah, in Lam. iv. 20, calls the king
of Israel the life-breath of his people, so that they live and die
with him. Further, the king, like the cherub, is a concentra
tion of productive nature. Bahr rightly says : " The accom
panying description of the wisdom, beauty, perfection, might,
grandeur, and glory of this king, shows clearly that the desig
nation of cherub was applied to him, because he was on the
highest stage of created life. All that this creation has of
grandeur and glory was united in him, as in the cherub." The
king calls himself God. The prophet accords to Him a posi
tion similar to that of an anointed cherub ; but because he
went beyond this position which was granted him by God, who
had anointed him and endowed him with gifts by His Spirit,
it is wrested from him by God, and he sinks into absolute
nullity. The cherub is more exactly described as " the cover
ing." The article points to the well-known covering cherub
in the sanctuary, and specially to Ex. xxv. 20. As the cherub
in the sanctuary covers the ark, and in particular the mercy-
seat, in token of the protection which, in consequence of
the operation of God who rules over him, he secures to the
covenant people, so is the king of Tyre the protector of his
state, with all the nations that are subject to him. But as in
the cherub the protective power only comes directly from him,
but ultimately from the power of God that animates him, so
also the king of Tyre has only by the grace of God the power
to cover ; and as he has made himself unworthy of this grace,
the power has been lost. Much confusion is introduced by
extending, further the comparison with the cherub, which is
limited singly and alone to the words quoted : thus, for example,
B. Bahr remarks, " Here the king of Tyre is figuratively

THE CHERUBIM. 533
called a covering cherub ; and it is said of him, In Eden, in
the garden of God, thou didst dwell;" and Riehm, "The
king of Tyre is compared with the cherub that dwells on the
mount of God, and walks in the midst of the stones of fire."
The expression, " In Eden, the garden of God, wast thou,"
in ver. 13 — in a situation glorious like that of the first man
in paradise — and also the following one on the comparison
with the cherub, in ver. 14, " On the mount of God wast thou
in the midst of the stones of fire," that formed around thee
a protecting wall, so that thou, under the mighty protection of
God, mightest protect thy subjects, stand in no near relation
to the cherub, but depict the glory of the king of Tyre under
another figure. He resembles in this his glory, (1) the first
man in paradise, (2) the cherub, and (3) one who on a high
hill is surrounded by walls of fire.
We now turn to the sublime vision of the cherubim, which
opens the prophecies of Ezekiel.
The historical starting-point of this vision lies in the false
hopes which had at that time seized the minds of those who
remained in Jerusalem with Zedekiah at their head. A spirit
of infatuation had fallen on the people. They cast the pro
phecies of Jeremiah to the wind, which announced the ap
proaching completion of the judgment by the Chaldeans.
Confiding in the confederacy with the Egyptian power, which
must at that time have taken a lofty flight, they hoped soon
to be able to free themselves altogether from the Chaldean
supremacy. These hopes also were spread among the exiles,
as the letter addressed to them by Jeremiah (ch. xxix.) shows.
He therein warns them, " Let not the prophets that are among
you deceive you, and hearken not to your dreams, for they
prophesy falsely to you in my name." Soon, it was thought,
will a return to tlieir country be opened up; and to this
thought was joined the other — namely, to work together for
it. These illusions and excitements, which prevented the
people from entering with sincerity on the path of repentance
pointed out by God, Ezekiel was to oppose. This opposition
was made first by the vision of the cherubim, the real import
of which Grotius thus briefly and well defines : " After the
long-suffering of God, all tended towards vengeance." The

534 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
following discourses of the prophet are related to this opening
vision as the commentary to the text.
Parallel with the vision of the cherubim in Ezekiel is the
seething-pot coming from the north, which, according to Jer.
i. 13, is shown to his senior colleague iii office on his call, with
the added elucidation, " Out of the north the evil will be
opened upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will
call all the families of the kingdoms towards the north ; and
they shall come, and set every one his throne before the gates
of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about,
and against all the cities of Judah." The vision of Ezekiel
serves to uphold and confirm that older vision against the
assaults of the time. It opposes the wrath of the Almighty
to all hopes of salvation. We have here at the same time the
counterpart of that first appearance of the cherubim in para
dise. As there, God appearing above the cherubim with the
flaming sword excludes from the tree of life ; so here, God ap
pearing above the cherubim interposes between the people and
salvation, and cuts off all access of the people to it.
The picture begins in ch. i. 4 with the words, " And I
looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great
cloud, and enfolded fire, and a brightness about it, and out of
the midst of it as the look of chasmal, out of the midst of
the fire." That the appearance has a threatening character,
appears from the connection of the three chief figures for
wrath, judgment, and punishment, — the storm, the cloud, and
the fire, the more precise description of which as enfolded,
fire gathered into a ball, borrowed from Ex. ix. 24, indicates
that the same energy of the punitive righteousness of God
which was once in ancient times displayed on the Egyptians,
will now once more direct itself against the chosen people of
God, who have turned the grace of God into lasciviousness,
of that God who in earnest warning has said to them, " The
Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." Out of
the midst of the fire appears to the prophet, as the look of
chasmal, the figure of God. Chasmal denotes here the essence
of the personality of God, the holiness, that is, the infinite
glory, the absolute pre-eminence above all creation, His in-
comparableness, His perfection. The "splendour" parallel

THE CHERUBIM. 535
to it in ch. viii. 2 leaves no doubt that it denotes something
of the clearest brightness. " Out of the midst of the fire : "
this makes the soul shake in its inmost depth. It is dreadful
to have for a foe the fountain of all salvation. All hope is
thereby cast down. There is no one in heaven or on earth
who can deliver from His hand. And yet the matter has also
a cheering side. It is better to fall into the hands of God
than into those of man — better to have to do with God than
with the terrible Chaldeans. If He is angry, and indeed with
an anger " which burns unto the lowest hell, and consumes the
land with its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the
mountains " (Deut. xxxii. 22), yet is there ever in Him a back
ground of compassion, and indeed of a compassion that is as
great as Himself, the infinity of which is an emanation of His
holiness ; and salvation will follow on repentance.
The further description of the vision, as it is given from
ver. 5, presents the following points. First, under jthe high
throne on which God sits in human form like a glorious king,
appears the cloud, the type of the heavens, the incorpora
tion of the name Zebaoth, with which the Lord is so often
designated as the Almighty Ruler of heaven. The description
of the cloud is very brief, because the powers of heaven are
not immediately concerned in the present matter. So much
the more full is the description of those points in the vision,
which present God as the Lord of the works and powers of
nature. For the Lord wished to summon these for the punish
ment of His unfaithful people. The Chaldeans, the repre
sentatives of the living creatures, composed of man, lion, ox,
and eagle (Dan. vii. 4), were to take Jerusalem, and it was to
be burned with fire. The living creatures are represented by
the cherubim, which in this connection admit of only the one
explanation — God sends the creature against His backsliding
people. The powers of nature are denoted by the wheels. It
is quite an irrelevant question, in what way the wheels were
connected with the cherubim. It suffices for the figure of the
chariot that the cherubim took the upper place, and the wheels,
under which figure the powers of nature are represented, on
account of their weight and energy, the lower. All is easy
and obvious to thought. We have before us an inspired ideal
form, much too ethereal for either painting or sculpture to

536 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
master. u The appearance of the wheels and their work was
as the look of the chrysolite : " this points to the glory of the
powers of nature. "A wheel was in the middle of a wheel : "
in every wheel a wheel was inserted. " To their four sides
they went in going : " this indicates that the powers of nature
are absolutely at the disposal of God — that He can use them
where He will, and send them whither He will. That the
felloes of the wheels are full of eyes, is a sign that the powers
of nature do not work blindly, but are directed by Providence.
That the spirit of the living creature is in the wheels, shows
that one and the same divine power is active in the living
creatures and in the powers of nature, so that they work har
moniously for the end appointed of God. In the repetition
of the vision of the cherubim in ch. x., the cherub stretches
forth its hand, takes the fire, with which Jerusalem is to be
burned, out of the midst of the wheels, and hands it over to
Him that is clothed in linen, the angel of the Lord, who has
received from Him that sits on the throne the command to
burn Jerusalem. By this it is indicated that the activity of
the Chaldeans in the burning of the city, figured by the action
of the cherub, is altogether subordinate ; that the burning of
Jerusalem in the main is to be no otherwise regarded than that
of Sodom and Gomorrah, in which there was no human co
operation. The fire is found under the throne of God, is an
element created by Him ; and the cherub hands it only at the
command of God to the angel from whom the proper action
proceeds. In Ezek. xi. 22 it is said, " The cherubim flapped
their wings, and the wheels moved beside them ; and the glory
of the God of Israel was over them." Kliefoth rightly ob
serves that it is merely said " the wheels," whereas it is said
" their wings." This proves that the wheels, although they
followed the movement of the cherubim, do not belong to the
cherubim. Those who do not wish in the cherubim to dis
tinguish between the idea and its dress, are brought into a
dilemma by the wheels. Velthusen rightly maintains, that
" the wheels are so connected with the cherubim, and make
with them so much one figure, that they stand, go, and rise
with these animals, witliout being able to separate the one from
the other ; so that he who holds the cherubim to be not a
mere figurative appearance, must regard the wheels and throne

THE CHERUBIM. 537
at the same time as things actually existing in nature, of
which the Most High makes use in His advent. The Jews
perceived this, and therefore regarded the wheels as a peculiar
kind of angels."
It will be necessary to distinguish, in the grand represen
tation of the universe in Ezekiel, between that which belongs
to the constantly identical being, and that which specially refers
to ttje present circumstances — to the work of wrath, which is
now to be executed on the degenerate covenant people. This
distinction makes itself known even in Him who sits upon the
throne. According to ch. i. 27, the appearance of God below
the loins was as the look of fire, which is enclosed around, a
concentrated fire, and above as shining brass. The shining
brass denotes the " wrathful glow of His judicial and vindictive
function," which is now significant, though in general it has
only subordinate importance. But the same distinction meets
us also in the cherubim. Here there is special reference to
present circumstances in " the feet sparkling as the look of
glowing brass," in ch. i. 7, with which they will destroy every
thing that resists. Vers. 13, 14 likewise refer to the present
mission, " And the likeness of the living creatures was as coals
of fire : they burn like torches. The fire goes in between the
living creatures, and the fire is bright, and out of the fire goes
lightning. And the living creatures ran hither and thither, as
the appearance of a flash." The animals can scarcely await
the time when they are to fulfil their mission as the ministers
of the divine vengeance. This is the temporary element in the
delineation of the cherubim in Ezekiel ; as in the first appear
ance of the cherubim in paradise, the connection with the flash
ing sword was only a temporary and separable one. In other
circumstances all would bear a more serene and friendly aspect.
In the repetition of the delineation of the cherubim in Revela
tion, where God appearing above the cherubim comes forward
on behalf of His church, all that points to anger, punishment,
and destruction is removed.
But though the appearance is so severe and threatening,
yet the friendly element is not wanting here. Accordmg to
ch. i. 27, 28, the whole of the appearance is surrounded with a
brightness : " As the appearance of the bow that is in the
cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the bright-

538 THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ness round about." Grotius has rightly perceived the real
import of the figure : " The divine judgments, however. severe,
shall not obliterate the memory of the covenant made with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." The rainbow since Gen. ix. is
unchangeably consecrated to be the symbol of mercy returning
after wrath. Although in us there is much sin, in God there
is much more grace : thus the lovely form of the rainbow ex
claims to the church affrighted by the terrible cloud (ver. 4),
and trembling on account of her sins. To her alone belong
the sayings, " I kill, and I make alive ; " and, " He woundeth
and bindeth up ; He smiteth, and His hands heal ; " whereas the
clouds are common to her with the world. The vision of the
rainbow has been gloriously fulfilled, since after the Chaldean
destruction, first the joyful return took place, and then the
tidings were heard, " Behold, I announce to you great joy, for
to you is born this day a Saviour." And it will be fulfilled
even to the end of the days. " If it come to pass that I bring
a cloud over the earth, my bow shall be seen in the cloud : "
this is the perpetual privilege which is conferred on the church
of God on the earth. If we lay this to heart, the clouds will
not make us afraid, but fill us with joyful hope. The denser
they are, the more gloriously will the rainbow shine.