posed that the prophet speaks this of Josiah, but it turn to feel God's afflicting hand; the cup of afflicseems more probable that Zedekiah is meant, and tion shall pass unto thee: see Jer. xlix. 7, &c. The his being taken prisoner and led into captivity is punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O here alluded to. Of whom we said, Under his daughter of Zion, &c.—It was usual for the proshadow we shall live among the heathen-As long phets, when they denounced God's judgments as he was safe, we had some hopes of being pro- against any heathen nation, at the same time to give tected, and of preserving some face of government, gracious promises to Israel; thereby importing that although we were carried away into a foreign coun- God would never cast off the Jewish people utterly, try. The protection a king affords his subjects is as he did other nations, but would in due time exoften, in Scripture, compared to the shelter of a tend his mercy toward them. He-Namely, God; great tree, which is a covert against storms and will no more carry thee away-Or, rather, suffer tempests: see Ezekiel xvii. 23, and xxxi. 6; Daniel || thee to be carried; into captivity-" These and such iv. 12. like expressions, if they be understood in a strict, literal sense, must relate to the final restoration of the Jews."-Lowth. He will discover thy sins—He will manifest how great thine iniquities have been, by the remarkable judgments wherewith he will punish thee. Verses 21, 22. Rejoice and be glad, O daughter || of Edom-A sarcastical expression, as if the prophet had said, Rejoice while thou mayest, O Edom, over the calamities of the Jews; but thy joy shall not last long, for in a little time it shall come to thy CHAPTER V. In the Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic versions, this chapter is entitled, The prayer of Jeremiah. But no such title appears in the Hebrew copies, or in the LXX. It is rather a memorial, representing, in the name of the whole body of Jewish exiles, the many and grievous hardships they groaned under, and humbly entreating God to commiserate their wretchedness, and to restore them once more to his favour, and to their ancient prosperity. More particularly, it contains, (1,) A remonstrance of the present calamitous state of God's people in their captivity, 1-16. (2,) A protestation of their concern for God's sanctuary, as that which lay nearer their hearts than any secular interest of their own, 17, 18. (3,) An humble supplication to God, and expostulation with him, for the return of his mercy, 19–22. The chapter may be considered as an epilogue, or conclusion, well adapted to the contents of the preceding chapters. 2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our bour, and have no rest. houses to aliens. 6 We have given the hand to the Egyp 3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers tians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with are as widows. bread. d Deut. xxviii. 48; Jer. xxviii. 14.- 2 Heb. On our necks are we persecuted.- Le Gen. xxiv. 2; Jer. 1. 15.- Hos. xii. 1. people, destitute of almost every thing. We have Verses 1-6. Consider, and behold our reproach-drunk our water for money, &c.-When our counWhich we suffer from the heathen nations. Our inheritance is turned to strangers-Namely, to the Babylonians and others, to whom our lands are given. We are orphans and fatherless-All the chief men being carried away to Babylon, lest they should make any fresh attempts to shake off the Babylonish yoke, all that were left in Judea were poor try was in our own possession, we had free use of water and wood, both which we are now forced to buy. Our necks are under persecution-We are become slaves to our enemies, who make us labour incessantly. We have given the hand to the Egyptians, &c.-We have been obliged to stretch out our hands to the Egyptians and Assyrians for bread to The Israelites confess their A. M. 3416. iniquities. i LAMENTATIONS. 7 Our fathers have sinned, and h are not; and we have borne their 8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. 9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. 10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. sin, and pray for mercy. 14 The elders have ceased from the A. M. 3416. B. C. 588. gate, the young men from their music. 15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. 16 The crown is fallen from our head: wo unto us, that we have sinned! 17 For this Pour heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. 18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which 11 'They ravished the women in Zion, and is desolate, the foxes walk upon it. the maids in the cities of Judah. 12 Princes are hanged up by their hand; the faces of elders were not honoured. 19 Thou, O LORD, * remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation. t 20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, 13 They took the young men to grind, and and forsake us 5 so long time? the children fell under the wood. Jer. xxxi. 29; Ezek. xviii. 2.-h Gen. xlii. 13; Zech. i. 5. i Neh. v. 15. Job xxx. 30; Psalm cxix. 83; Chapter iv. 8. Or, terrors, or, storms.- Isa. xiii. 16; Zech. xiv. 2.- Isa. xlvii. 6; Chap. iv. 16. Judg. xvi. 21. Job xix. 9; Psa. lxxxix. 39. support us. Whether the expression here used implies their begging it of them, or buying it with money, is not quite plain. Verses 7-10. Our fathers have sinned, and are not-Death hath secured our fathers from these evils, though they had sinned; but the punishment they escaped, we suffer in the most grievous degree: see note on Jer. xxxi. 29. The expression, is not, or, are not, is often used of those who are departed out of this world, Gen. xlii. 13. Servants have ruled over uss-Servants to the great men among the Chaldeans, and other strangers, are become our masters, Neh. v. 15. We gat our bread with the peril of our lives, &c.—It was at the hazard of our lives that we brought in the grain out of the fields, on account of the robbers who infested the country. Blaney thinks that the prophet refers here to the incursions of the Arabian free-booters, who, he supposes, might not be improperly styled, the sword of the wilderness, to whose depredations the people, on account of their weak and helpless state, were continually exposed, while they followed their necessary business. Our skin was black like an oven-Famine and other hardships changed the very colour of our counte nances. Verses 12-16. Princes are hanged up by their hand-By the hand of their enemies. They took the young men to grind-To grind at the mill was the common employment of slaves, Exod. xi. 5. The children fell under the wood-They made children turn the handle of the mill till they fell down through weariness: so some explain it with relation to the former part of the verse. But the expression may be understood of making them carry such heavy burdens of wood that they fainted under the load. The elders have ceased from the gate-The elders no more sit in the gates of the cities, to administer justice to every one, and keep things in order. The young men from their music-Those songs of mirth and joy which used to be heard in our nation are || 21 Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and Hebrew, The crown of our head is fallen.—P Chapter i. 22. 9 Psa. vi. 7; Chapter ii. 11. Psalm ix. 7; x. 16; xxix. 10; xc. 2; cii. 12, 26, 27; cxlv. 13; Hab. i. 12.- - Psalm xlv. 6. t Psa. xiii. 1.- -5 Heb. for length of days ?- " Psa. lxxx. 3, 7, 19; Jer. xxxi. 18. heard no longer. The joy of our heart is ceased— Since the enemy came in upon us like a flood, we have been strangers to all comfort. Our dance is turned into mourning-Instead of leaping for joy, as formerly, we sink and lie down in sorrow. This may refer especially to the joy of their solemn feasts: this was now turned into mourning, which was doubled on their festival days, in remembrance of their former delights and comforts. The crown is fallen from our head-At their feasts, at their marriages, and other seasons of festivity, they used to crown themselves with flowers. The prophet most probably alludes to this custom, as we may gather from the preceding verses. The general meaning is, “All our glory is at an end, together with the advantages of being thy people, and enjoying thy presence, by which we were distinguished from the rest of the world."-Lowth. Verses 17, 18. For this our heart is faint-And sinks under the load of its own heaviness. Our eyes are dim-See on chap. ii. 11. Our spirits fail us, and we are almost blind with weeping. Because of the mountain of Zion-The holy mountain, and the temple built upon it. Nothing lies with so heavy a load upon the spirits of good people, as that which threatens the ruin of religion, or weakens the interest thereof: and it is a mark of our possessing saving grace, if we can appeal to God that we are more concerned for his cause than for any temporal interests of our own. The Jews had polluted the mountain of Zion with their sins, and therefore God justly made it desolate; which he did to such a degree' that the foxes walked upon it, as freely and commonly as they did in the woods. It is lamentable indeed when the mountain of Zion is made a portion for foxes, Psa. lxiii. 10. Verses 19-22. Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever Though, for our sins, thou hast suffered these calamities to befall us, and our throne, through thy righteous providence, is thrown down; yet thou art still the same God that thou ever wast: thy power is of their pleading with him, and praying thus earnestnot diminished, nor thy goodness abated. Thou still ly to be restored to his favour and the enjoyment of governest the world, and orderest all the events of their ancient privileges. The Jewish rabbins, beit, and shalt rule it, and superintend its affairs, for cause they would not have the book to conclude ever and ever. Thou art, therefore, always able to with the melancholy words of this verse, repeat after help us, and art thou not as willing as able? Is it them the prayer of the preceding verse, namely, possible thou shouldest be unmindful of the promises Turn thou us unto thee, &c., a prayer which we which thou hast made to thy people? Our hope, || cannot too frequently, or too fervently, address to therefore, is still in thee, unto whom we look for God, for ourselves and others. And surely the fermercy and deliverance. Wherefore dost thou forget vent zeal with which the prophet beseeches the us, &c.-Wherefore dost thou act toward us, in the Lord to have compassion on his people, should exdispensations of thy providence, as if thou hadst for- || cite us, at all times, to pray earnestly to him, espegotten us, and forsaken us, and that for a long time? cially for the protection, safety, and prosperity of Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord-Turn us unto thy- his church, and the supply of all its wants, whether self from our sins and idols, by a sincere repentance it be exposed to persecutions and sufferings on the and thorough conversion; and we shall be turned- one hand, or the assaults of infidelity, impiety, and Effectually and lastingly turned to thee, so as to turn vice on the other. We may learn also, from this from thee no more. Renew our days as of old-humble and earnest prayer of the prophet for the Restore us to that happiness and prosperity which we formerly enjoyed. But thou hast utterly rejected us-Hebrew, 1♫OND DND ON')2, which, it seems, should rather be rendered, For surely thou hast cast us off, &c., the prophet, in this verse, assigning the reason of the preceding application. For God's having rejected his people, and expressed great indignation against them, was the cause and ground 3 || restoration of the Jewish nation, that, when God corrects us, and afflicts us, even with the greatest severity, we must not despond or restrain prayer before him, but have recourse to him by true repentance and faith, and implore his pardoning mercy and renewing grace, as the only way to obtain the light of his countenance, and a restoration to our former state of peace, tranquillity, and comfort. 569 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKI E L. ARGUMENT. EZEKIEL, being the son of Buzi, of the house of Aaron, was consequently a priest, as well as a prophet. He was carried to Babylon, with many other Jews, in Jehoiachin's captivity, and therefore dates his prophecies by the years of that captivity. He began his prophetic office in the fifth year after it, and continued to prophesy about twenty years, namely, from the year of the world 3409 to 3430. His name, happily expressive of his character, signifies the power, strength, or courage of God. It appears he did not reside at or near Babylon, but by the river Chebar, many miles north of that city, great numbers of the captives being placed there. These, his fellowexiles, as St. Jerome observes in his preface to this book, being disposed to repine at their condition, as more wretched, they supposed, than that of their brethren who had been suffered to remain in Judea; a principal part of the prophet's design seems to have been to check these murmurings, by removing the cause of them, and showing them how preferable their circumstances were to those of their countrymen who had not yet been carried into captivity as they had been. For this purpose he sets before them that terrible scene of calamities which God was about to bring upon Judea and Jerusalem, which should end in the utter destruction of the city and temple; recounting and painting, in strong and lively colours, the heinous provocations of the Jews, which were bringing down these heavy judgments upon them. Jeremiah, it must be observed, was at the same time employed to the like purpose at Jerusalem, in persuading the inhabitants left there, and in the other parts of Judea, not to think themselves more the favourites of God than their brethren who had been carried into captivity, for that more grievous calamities would soon befall them, while those who were at present captives should experience God's peculiar favour and protection. But these prophets were neither of them duly regarded by those to whom they addressed themselves; for the Jews who remained in Judea gave no credit to Jeremiah's predictions against them, but thought meanly of those who had been carried into captivity, and believed themselves to be the peculiar favourites of God, and that they only should possess the land of Canaan, while their captive brethren should be for ever excluded from it. And the Prophet Ezekiel was little more regarded by those in captivity; for, notwithstanding all his declarations, they murmured against God, and thought themselves more hardly dealt by than their brethren who remained in their own land. Although some frivolous objections, grounded on gross mistakes, have been started against the authenticity of this book, the prophecies contained in it, which have been very surprisingly fulfilled, and are fulfilling at this day, are a demonstration both of its truth, and that it was written by inspiration of God; especially the prophecies concerning Tyre and Egypt, chapters xxvi.-xxxii. And as to the many predictions contained in it, which are not yet fulfilled, relating to the restoration of Israel, and the triumphs of the church over all her enemies, these, upon a careful investigation, will be found to coincide so entirely with many parts of Isaiah's and Daniel's prophecies, and those contained in the Revelation by St. John, that we can neither doubt their being given by divine inspiration, nor that they will be fulfilled at the proper season. It appears from many parts of Ezekiel's writings that, exclusive of his prophetic gift, he was a man of considerable learning and talents. "He had great erudition and genius," says Grotius, in the Introduction to his Commentary on this prophet, "so that, setting aside his gift of prophecy, which is incomparable, he may deservedly be compared with Homer on account of his beautiful conceptions, his illustrious comparisons, and his extensive knowledge of various matters, particularly of architecture." Rapin, in his Treatise on Eloquence, calls his style THE TERRIBLE, as having something in it which strikes the reader with a holy dread and astonishment. Bishop Lowth's character of him is as follows: "Ezekiel is inferior to Jeremiah in elegance, but is equal to Isaiah in sublimity, though in a different species of the sublime. He is bold, vehement, tragical, and deals very much in amplification. His sentiments are lofty, animated, poignant, and full of indignation. His images are fertile, magnificent, and sometimes rather bordering on indelicacy. His EZEKIEL. diction is sounding, grave, austere, rough, and sometimes uncultivated. He abounds in repetitions, not for the sake of beauty or grace, but from vehemence and indignation. Whatever his subject be, he keeps it always in his eye, without the least deviation, and is so much taken up with it that he has scarcely any regard to order or connection. In other things he may perhaps be exceeded by the other prophets; but in that species for which he was particularly turned, that is, in force, impetuosity, weight, grandeur, no writer ever equalled him. His diction is clear enough; almost all his obscurity arises from his subjects. His visions are particularly obscure; which, however, as in Hosea, Amos, and Zechariah, are delivered in a plain and historical narration. The greater part of this book, but especially the middle of it, is poetical: but some passages are so rough and unpolished, that we are frequently at a loss to what species of writing we ought to refer them."De Sacra Poesi Hebræorum, Prælec. xxi. A learned German professor, Eichhorn, quoted by Bishop Newcome, having, in his Introduction to the Old Testament, spoken of Ezekiel as a writer "distinguished by much originality; adding dignity to his relations, by lively fictions of his inexhaustible imagination ;" and as "creating great artificial images, and by such means new worlds ;" and having represented the prophet's first two visions as being "accurately polished with much art," and therefore "could not possibly be an unpremeditated work;" the bishop, with a reference to these sentiments, delivers his own judgment of Ezekiel as follows: "I do not consider him as the framer of those august and astonishing visions, and of those admirable poetical representations, which he committed to writing; but as an instrument in the hands of God, who vouchsafed to reveal himself through a long succession of ages, not only in divers parts, constituting a magnificent and uniform whole, but also in divers manners, as by a voice, by dreams, by inspiration, and by plain or enigmatical vision. If he is circumstantial in describing the wonderful scenes which were presented to him in the visions of God, he should be regarded as a faithful representer of the divine revelations for the purpose of information and instruction; and not as exhausting an exuberant fancy, in minutely filling up an ideal picture. It is probable that Buzi, his father, had preserved his own family from the taint of idolatry; and had educated his son, for the priestly office, in all the learning of the Hebrews, and particularly in the study of their sacred books. Josephus says, that he was a youth at the time of his captivity; and his first revelation was made to him only five years after that period. This is a season of life when a fervour of imagination is natural in men of superior endowments. His genius led him to amplification; like that of Ovid, Lucan, and Juvenal, among the Roman poets; though he occasionally shows himself capable of the austere and concise manner, of which the seventh chapter is a remarkable instance. But the Divine Spirit did not overrule the natural bent of his mind. Variety is thus produced in the sacred writings. Nahum sounds the trumpet of war, Hosea is sententious, Isaiah sublime, Jeremiah pathetic, Ezekiel copious. This diffuseness of manner in mild and affectionate exhortation, this vehement enlarging on the guilt and consequent sufferings of his countrymen, seems wisely adapted to their capacities and circumstances; and must have had a forcible tendency to awaken them from their lethargy." It has been observed, as an apology for the roughness and incorrectness which appear in the style of this prophet, "that he lived in an age when the beauty, purity, and majesty of the Hebrew language were upon the decline, and that it would argue a great absurdity to expect the vigour of youth in the imbecilities of old age."-See Michaelis's Notes, p. 110. St. Jerome hath more than once observed, that the beginning and latter part of this prophecy are more than ordinarily difficult and obscure, and may justly be reckoned among the things in Scripture which are dvovonra, hard to be understood. In the first three chapters, Ezekiel describes a wonderful vision, whereby God confirmed and instructed him in his prophetic office. In the following chapters, to the twenty-fifth, he describes the horrible sins of the Jews, especially of those remaining in Jerusalem and Judea, and their approaching punishments. From thence to the thirty-third chapter he foretels the ruin of many neighbouring nations who were enemies to the Jews, as the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Edomites, the Philistines, the Tyrians, Sidonians, and Egyptians. From the thirty-third to the fortieth chapter, the murmurings and hypocrisies of the Jews, who were captives in Chaldea, are severely censured, with an exhortation to true repentance, and to a firm expectation of an approaching salvation; in which not only the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, but the far greater deliverance of all the world from the bondage of SIN and IGNORANCE by Jesus Christ, was signified In the last nine chapters is related a grand vision of the building of a new temple. The liberty with which Ezekiel treated the idolatry of his countrymen is said to have so highly irritated the chief of them, as to have occasioned his being put to death: and in the time of Epiphanius it was a current opinion that his remains were deposited in the same sepulchre with those of Shem and Arphaxad; that his tomb was then to be seen; and that the Jews kept a lamp burning in it; who likewise pretended that they had this prophecy written by the prophet's own hand, which they read every year on the day of expiation.-Calmet's Preface to this book. 3 571 |