iii.— F K
book were forbidden, a certain R. Nananias undertook to reconcile the supposed ditierences. (Spinoza, Tract. Theol. Polit. ii, 27, partly from these considerations, infers that the present book is made up of mere diro- (yf-iaaiu'iTia, but his argument from its commencing with a 1, and from the expression in i, 3 above al- luded to, hardly needs refutation.)
That Ezskiel was a poet of no mean oi'der is ac- knowledged by almost all critics (Lowth, De sacra Po- esi IIebra'07'um, ed. J. D. Michaelis, Gottingen, 1770, p. 431). Michaelis and Dathe are the only critics of any eminence (as far as we know) who think slightingly of his poetical genius. The question is altogether one of taste, and has, we imagine, been decided by com- mon consent against Michaelis. He remarks more truly that Ezekiel lived at a period when the Hebrew- language was declining in purity, when the silver age was succeeding to the (/olden one. It is, indeed, to the matter rather than the language of Ezekiel that we are to look for evidence of poetic genius. His style is often simply didactic, and he abounds in peculiarities of expression, Aramaisms, and grammatical anoma- lies which, while they give individualitj' to his writ-' ings, plainlj' evince the decline of the language in which he wrote. An extended account of such pecu- liarities is given by Eichhorn (Einleituiifj in das A. T. iii, 190) and Gesenius (Geschichte der Ileb. Sprache u. Schift, p. 35). Among the most splendid passages are ch. i (called by the Kabbis ilHS'l^), the prophecy against Tyrus (ch. xxvi-xxviii), that against Assyria, "the noblest monument of Eastern history" (ch. xxxi), and ch. viii, the account of what he saw in the Temple porch,
" When, by the vision led, His eye suvveyeil tlie dark idolatries Of alienated Judah."— Milton, Par. Lost, i.
— Kitto, s. V. ; Smith, s. v.
V. Commentaries. — The following are special exc getical works on the entire book; the most important have an asterisk (*) prefixed : Origen, Commentarii, etc. (in Opera, iii, 351 sq., 406); Ephraem S3'rus, Ex- planatio (in Opera, v, 1G5) ; Gregory Nazianzen, Sig- nijicatio (in Opera Spuria, i, 870) ; Jerome, Commenta- rii, etc. (in Opera, v) ; Theodoret, Inteipretatio (in Op- era, II, ii ; also Rome, IGGi, fob); Gregoiy the Great, Homilke (in Opera, i, 1174); Raban, Commentarii (in Opera) ; Rupert, In Ezech. (in Opera, p. 489) ; CEco- lampadius, Commentarius (Basil. 1534, 4to; 1543, 8vo; Argent. 1G34, 4to) ; Strigel, Scholia (Lips. 1539, 1564, 1575, 1579, 8vo); Calvin, Prcelectiones (Geneva, 1565, 8vo, and since ; in French, Genev. 15G5, fol. ; in Eng- lish, Edinb. 1849-50, 2 vols. 8vo) ; Junius, Commentaria (Genev. 1609, fol. ; 1610, 8vo) ; Maldonatus, In Ezech. (in his Commentarii. p. 542) ; Selnecker, Auslegung (Lips. 1567, 4to); Pinto, Commentarius (Salam. 1568, fol., and later); Lavater, Commentarii (Geneva, 1571, fol.) ; Serranus, Commentarius (Antw. 1572, 1607, fol.) ; Heilbrunner, Qua'stiones (Laving. 1587, 8vo) ; Abraham ben-^Iose, Ubersetzung (Prag. 1602, 4to) ; *Pradus and Villalpandus, Exjjlanatiojies (Romaj, 1605, 3 vols, fol.); Polan, Commentaria (Geneva, 1609, fol. ; 1610, 8vo) ; h Lapide, In Ezech. (in his Commentaria); Sanctius, Commentarius (Lugd. 1612, 1619, fol.); Brandmliller, Commentarius (Basil, 1621, 4to); *Greenhill, Exposition (London, 1645-67, 5 vols. 4to ; also 1827, 1863, 8vo ; in Dutch, Hague, 1732-6, 4 vols. 4to) ; Cocceius, Commen- tarius (Leyd. 1668, 4to ; Amst. 1700, fol.) ; Hennisch. Clavis (Rotenburg, 1684; Lips. 1697, 4to); Petersen, Zeugniss (Frcft. 1719, 4to) ; *Lowth, Commentary (Lon- don, 1723, 4to) ; *Starck, Commentarius (Frcft. ad M. 1731, 4to) ; Vogel, Weisagnngen (Hal. 1772, 8vo) ; Vol- borth, Anmerk: (Giitt. 1787, 8vo) ; Newcome, Erplana- tion (Dub. 1788, 8vo, and since); Venema, Lectiones (Leov. 1790, 4to) ; ^Horsley, Notes (in Bih. Criticism, ii, 65); Hanker, Consideration (in Works, ix, 719); *Ro- senmtiller, Scholia (Lpz. 8vo, 1808-10, 2 vols. ; also
EZEL
434
EZNITE
1856); Ehesa, 06sfrm^Jones(Regiom.l819, 4to); Stern, iixpm, etc. (Vienna, 1S42, 8vo) ; *Havernick, Com- mcntai- (Erlangen, 1843, 8vo); *Umbreit, Commentar (Hamb. 1843, *vo); Macfarhin, Version (London, 1845, 8vo) ; *Hitzig, Erkldrvnri (in the Kvrtz. Exeget. JIM., Lpz. 1847, yvo) ; *Fairbairn, Expodlion (Edinb. 1851, 1855, 8vii) ; *lIenderson, Commentary (London, 1855, 8vo) ; Guthrie, Discourses (Edinb. 1856, 8vo) ; Shrews- bury,' Notes (Manch. 18G3, 8vo) ; Kliefoth, ErUarung (Rest. 1864-5, 8vo); *lIengstenberg,£'/-;a«<e/-Mn5f (BerL 1867 sq., 2 vols. 8vo ; transL Lond. 1869, 8vo) ; Cowles, Notes (New York, 1867, 12mo). See Prophets.
E'zel occurs only in the name Eben-Ezel (Heb. with the art. repeated, ha-E'ben ha-E'zel, STKiH "3^<t|t [in pause ^TX, A'zel], the stone of the departure, per- haps i. q. mile-stone ; Sept. to 'Epya/S [v. r. tttyov and t» X/3oc] tKtXvo; Vulg. lapis cui nomen est Ezel; A. V. "the stone Ezel"), an old testimonial-stone in the neighborhood of Saul's residence, the scene of the parting of David and Jonathan when the former final- ly fled from the court (1 Sam. xx, 19). It seems to have derived its name from some earlj' circumstance not recorded. At the second mention of the spot (ver. 41) the Heb. text (333^1 ^'4^^ ; A. V. "out of a place toward the south," literally "from the slope of*the south ;" Sept. arro too 'A()yd/3,Vulg. cle loco qui verge- bat ad anstruin) is, in the opinion of some critics, cor- rupt, as indicated by the Sept., which in both cases has Ergah or Argab (i. e. S'OX, Argob' , a heap of stones) — in ver. 19 for the Heb. Eben, "stone," and in ver. 41 for han-negeb, " the south." The sense in ver. 41 would then be as follows : "David arose from close to the stone heap" — close to which (the same preposi- tion, ^itX^ A. V. "by") it had been arranged before- hand that he should remain (ver. 19). Other inter- preters, however, render simply "on the south side," a signification which sufficiently suits the circumstan- ces. See also Beth-Ezel.