so.t before him in his house, the visions Jehovah had caused him to behold of the imo.ge of jealousy o.nd of the chambers of imagery in the temple o.t Jerusalem (eh. viii. 1-18), as well as of the princes who devisefl misohief and gave wicked counsel in the city ( eh. xi. 1-21); by reciting in their hearing the story of Ierael's original condition and subsequent apostasy, both in highly figurative ( eh. xvi., xxiii.) and in plainly prosaic speech (eh. xx., xxii.); and by reproving both them and the people they represented for their own insincerity and apostasy ( eh. xiv.). The third part of his mission he pursued throughout, never exulting in the lurid pictures he drew, either of Israel's sin or of Israel's overthrow, but always aiming at awakening in the breasts of his hearers a conviction of their guiltiness and a feeling of repentance; and although, while Jerusa- lem was standing, his endeavours only met with resistance and mostly ended in failure, yet there cannot be a doubt that after the city fell his words gained a readier access to his listeners' hearts, and were more suc- cessful in conducting the exiles to a better state of mind. The fourth and last part of his life-work, which became possible only when the city had succumbed and the people's hearts had been softened, he carried out by giving them in God's name the promise of a true Shepherd, who should feed them in place of the false shepherds who had neglected and destroyed them ( eh. xxxiv. 23); by assuring them of the final overthrow of their old adversary EJom (eh. xxxv.), as well as of any new combinations that might arise against them (eh. xxxviii.); by illustrating the possi- bility of their political and religious resuscitation (eh. xxxvii. 1-14) as well as of their ultimate reunion (eh. xxxvii. 15-20); and finally, by depicting, in a vision of a re-erected temple, a redivided land, and a reorganized worship (eh. xl.-xlviii.), the glories of the future, when, at the close of seventy years, Jehovah should turn again their captivity. Into the proper method of interpreting this concluding part of Ezekiel's pro- phecy it is not necessary at present to enter, further than to say that it does not. appear self-evident, as the newer critics, Kuenen (' The Religion of Israel,' ii. 114), Wellhausen (' Geschichte Israels,' p. 62), 8mend (' Der Prophet Ezechiel,' pp. 306, etc.), Robertson Smith (' The Old Testament in the Jewish Church,' p. 314), and others maintain, that the seer's aim in this part of his book-and, in point of fact, his principal intention as a prophet-was to outline a plan for the second temple and supply a programme for the post-exilic Church. At least, to cite the words of the late Dean Plumptre, " there is no trace in the after- history of Israel of any attempt to carry Ezekiel's ideal into execution. No reference is made to it by the Prophets Haggai and Zechariah, who were the chief teachers of the people at the time of the rebuilding of the temple. There is no record of its having been in the thoughts of Zerub- babel, the Prince of Judah, and Joshua the high priest, as they set about that work. No description of the second temple or of its ritual in Josephus or the rabbinical writings at all tallies with what we find in these xii lNTRODUOTION TO
chapters" ('Ezekiel: an Ideal Biography,' Exposito1·, 2nd series, vol. viii. pp. 422, 423). As for the manner-the times, places, and methods-in whioh Ezekiel exercised his calling, considerable light is cast on this by the hints scattered throughout his volume. lt'rom these it appears that he neve1· spoke or acted prophetically of his own proper motion, but always under the direct impulse of inspiration, either after the word of Jehovah had come to him ( eh. i. 3; vi. 1; vii. 1 ; xii. 1, etc.), or after he had beheld a -,ision which, from its nature, he understood required to be commu- nicated to the people (eh. iii. 22; viii. 1-xi. 25; xl. 2, eto.). Nor does it contradict this representation of the source of Ezekiel's predictions that he occasionally gave them first in answer to inquiries from the elders of his people ( eh. xx. 1), as it does not follow that, though these appear to have made frequent visits to the prophet's presence ( oh. viii. 1; xiv. 1), he could have addressed them without first obtaining permission from Jeho'"°ah (oh. iii. 1--4, 25-27; xxx:iii. 22). Then, while it would seem that for the most part the prophet restricted his prophetic utter- ances to those who sought him out in his own dwelling ( oh. viii. 1; xiv. 1; xx. 1; xxiv. 19), and certainly never undertook journeys to remote colonies of the exiles, it is by no means apparent that such discourses as recite J udah's and Israel's sins ( eh. vi., vii., xiii., xvi.) or call to repentance ( oh. xxxiii,, xxxvi.), or justify Jehovah's procedure in dealing with his people (oh. xviii., xxxiii.), were not pronounced before public congregations; and if usually his prophecies were first spoken before being written, there is ground for thinking ihat some deliverances, as e.y. those relative to foreign nations ( eh. xxv.-xxxii.) and to the temple ( oh. xl.-xlviii. ), were not pubDshed orally at all, but only circulated in writing (seep. xx.). In addition to his mission to Judah and Israel, the prophet had a calling to fulfil with reference to the heathen nations by which God's ancient people had been surrounded and not unfrequently opposed, and this be discharged by composing the prophecies comprised in eh. xxv.- xxxii. Some interpreters regard these predictions as the commencement of the consolation Ezekiel was directed to offer to humbled Israel (see p. xv.); as if the prophet's thoughts were that Israel, though over- thrown herself, should derive comfort and hope from the fact that, even wLile punishing her, J eho,ah was preparing the way for her recovery by pouring out the vials of his wrath upon her foes. It is, how- ever, doubtful if the prophet did not mean, along with this at least, to sound a note of warning to these foreign peoples who had in times past so often harassed Israel, and were even then exulting in her over- throw, as if the day and hour of their final triumph over her were at band; that although Jehovah had visited her on account of her iniqui- ties, he certainly did not mean them to escape,.but rather intended they E>hould read in Israel's doom the precursor and pledge of their own; for "if judgment had begun at the house of God, what should the end be" of those that did not belong to, but were the enemies, of that house? THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. xiii