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in the beautiful lament over the banished princec of the royal house, ch. 19), as well as by the many fine images which occur throughout the book. His first conceptions, indeed, are almost invariably beautiful and true, although to our minds their sesthetic eti'ect is frequently lost through over- elaboration. E. is perliaps not more deficient in Elastic power than Heb. writers generally; but in is case the defect is more apparent from his love of detail, and his anxiety to exhaust the didactic significance of every conception before he can persuade himself to let it go. Thus the com- parison of Tyre to a stately vessel, moored by the shore (27), which Isaiah might have presented in a verse or two, is spread out over a long chapter by the help of an inventory of the ship's cargo, which is really a valuable statistical survey of Phoen. imports. Again, the image of Jerus. as a foundling chUd (16) is intrinsically as beautiful as any to be found in prophecy ; but when drawn out into an allegory of the whole history of the nation, its unity is dissipated by the multitude of details that have to be crowded into it. A similar critic- ism has often been passed on his description of his opening vision, as contrasted with the sixth chapter of Isaiah. On the other hand, the pro- pliet's talent for lucid and methodical exposition appears to advantage when he comes to deal with practical and technical matters, as in the descrip- tion of the sanctuary (40 ff. ) A certain architec- tonic faculty is, in truth, a marked characteristic of his intellect, being visible alike in his plan of the temple buildings, in his sketch of the theocratic institutions, and in the orderly arrangement and division of the book.
Religious Teaching.— E.'s rank as a religious teacher may be summed up under two general aspects. In the first place, he gave definite and almost dogmatic expression to the great religious truths which were the presuppositions of all previous prophecy, combining these into a com- prehensive theory of the divine providence ; and, in the second place, by giving a peculiar direction to the Messianic hope, he made it a practical ideal in the life of the nation, and the starting-point of a new religious development.
The first of these aspects is abundantly illoB- trated by the contents of chs. 1-39. While the substance of these chapters presents no single element which may not De traced in the wTitings of earlier prophets, there is none which does not receive a more distinct intellectual expression in the hands of Ezekiel. He is concerned to exhibit the immanent logic of the abstract principles involved in the relations between God and the world ; and, as we read, the outlines of a grand theological system are gradually disclosed to the mind. Only a few outstanding features of this system can here be mentioned. 1. The prophet's idea of God, which is expressed by the visions in elis. 1. 8. 10. 43, has more of a transcendental character than that of liis predecessors. Those divine attributes which we call metaphysical, ex- pressing the relation of the Godlieau to created existence as a whole, are emphasized more than by previous writers, and are those chiefly symbolized by the heavenly chariot of the visions. And this view of God enters deeply into the fibre of E.'b teaching. While he does not lose hold of the truth that J" is a moral person having the attri- butes of anger, jealousy, pity, etc., he is never weary of insisting that the activity of the divine being must be self-centred, the supreme motive of all His dealings with men, whether in mercy or in judgment, being the manitestation of His own Godliead (' They shall know that I am J" '). It is easy to exaggerate this doctrine in a way that would misrepresent the prophet's measing ; but
EZEKIEL
KZEKIEL
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the reiterated assertion of it shows that it is a truti) to which he himself attaches tlie utmost importance. 2. Another instance of tlie same tendency to rigorous and even extreme statement of a prophetic principle is found in his conception of Israel. In opposition to Uosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, he denies that there was any good time in the nation's past, tracing the idolatrous jiro- clivities of the people back to the sojourn in the wilderness and tiie oppression in Egypt (SO*- " 23-). Thus, while all the prophets teach or assume that the relation between J" and Israel rests on a free elective act of God, E. takes the further step of assigning as the positive ground of this relation- ship J"'8 regard for the glory of His name in the eyes of the nations (20 pass.). 3. From this position an important consequence follows. Since the honour of J" is historically identified with the destinies of Israel, the final disclosure of His divinity can be accomplished only by the re- storation of this people to its own land, under conditions which reflect the holy nature of J". E. is alive to the false impression of the God of Israel naturally produced on the heathen mind by the great national calamity of the Exile (Se*"). This efl'ect must be wiped out when the lesson of the history is complete (39^). The same principle of the divine action which caused the temporary rejection of Israel becomes the guarantee of its ultimate redemption. The prophet is thus led to a conception of salvation in which everything depends on the sovereign irresistible grace of God, which breaks the stubborn heart of the people, and produces in them an abiding sense of shame and self-contempt, and bestows on tliem a new spirit, causing them to walk in His statutes and keep His jvd'TnentB to do them (6» U" IG^ 20** SG^"*- ST" 3"*"'-). 4. The doctrine which is usually considered E. 8 mo.st distinctive contribution to theology is th\! doctrine of the freedom and responsibility of the individual soul before God. But even here he builds on the foundation laid by his predecessors. The conception of religion as personal fellowsliip between the individual and God is implicitly contained in the consciousness which all the jiro- phets have of their own relation to J" ; and in Jer the truth is enunciated that what had hitherto been the possession of the prophets is the form which the perfect religion must assume univers- ally. It was reserved for E., however, to formu- late the principle logically, showing that neither the burden of Hereditary guilt nor the sins of a man's past can hinder the action of God's forgiving mercy towards the penitent sinner (18).