4. The (Jharacter of the Prophet. That considered simply as a man Ezekiel was a striking personality, who, bad he nover been called to prophetic functions, would still have made a powerful impression on his age and contemporaries, will probably not be denied. Endowed by nature with high intellectual capacity, with a clear perception, a lively imagination as well as a faculty of eloquent and arrestive speech, he possessed, it is obvious, in no small degree that educa- tion and culture which are indispensable to render natural endowments effective. Though not a scholar in the modern acceptation of the term, he had no slight acquaintance, not merely with the sacred books, institutions, and customs of his own people, as will afterwards be shown (p. xxv.), but also with the learning, ideas, habits, and practices of the world generally in the times in which he lived. To appropriate the language of Ewald, without endorsing it in every particular, "he describes the condition and circumstances of the nations and countries of the world with a fulness 'and historical vividness equalled by no other prophet. In his oracles concerning Tyre and Egypt it is as if he intended to present at the same 'time, in the shape of learned information, a full and complete account of these kingdoms as regards their position and relations to the world, so •exhaustive, at the cost indeed of their artistic effect, are these descriptions designed to be" ('The Prophets of the Old Testament,' vol. iv. pp. 9, 10). Or, to cite the words of Smend, "To the predominantly practical tendency of his mind points his extensive material and technical culture. He understands the geography of his day. He possesses accurate knowledge of the markets of Tyre. Especially are precious stones and cloth-stuffs known to him. He is a skilled designer and calculator" (' Der Prophet Ezechiel,' p. xv.). So accurate, indeed, is his knowledge of surrounding peoples, that Cornill (' Der Prophet Ezechiel,' p. xii.) surmises he must have been a diligent as well as observant traveller in his youth. Then, in combination with these well- cultivated mental abilities, he owned other qualities which are usually found in men who lead their fellows, whether in the department of thought or in that of action. He was distinguished in a rare degree by energy and decision of character (eh. iii. 24:; viii. 10), by resolute and patient self- command ( eh. iii. 15, 26; xxiv. 18), by intense moral earnestness ( eh. xxii. xxxiii.), and by deep personal humility, which perhaps reflected itself in the frequent appellation "son of man" ( oh. ii. 1 ; iii. 1 ; iv. 1, et passim); and while without these traits he might have developed into a powerful orator, which indeed he was (eh. xxxiii. 32), or into a poet, which he may fairly claim to have been ( eh. xv. 1-5; xix. 14--21; xxi. 14-21 ), without aspiring to be the .lEschylus or Shakespeare of the Hebrews (Herder), it was his possession of these that fitted him in an eminent degree to fulfil the calling of a prophet. Nor are indications wanting that Ezekiel was not destitute of the softer qualities of the heart. If he la.eked the tender xiv INTRODUCTION '1'0
sensibilities of Jeremiah which frequently dissolved themselves in tears (Jer. ix. I; xxii. 10), he oooasionally manifested warm feeling, as when he deprecated the destruction of his countrymen by the divinely commissioned executioners ( eh. ix. 8), and again as when he poured forth a threnody over the evil fate of the princes of Judah (eh. xix. 1, 14). That the bereavement which fell upon him in his thirty-fourth year occasioned him the most poignant grief, and would have evoked from his stricken heart audible and ,·isible expressions of sorrow, had he not been enjoined "neither to mourn nor weep" ( eh. xxiv. 15), is not difficult to see. Hence the view that Ezekiel was not so much a flesh-and-blood personality as a semi-etherealized puppet, which was moved hither and thither in obedience to Divine (or supposed Divine) impulse, must be unhesitatingly rejected. That regarded as a see1· Ezekiel-" the priest in a prophet's mantle," as Wellhausen styles him-was distinguished by scarcely less exalted qualities, becomes immediately apparent. Not only was his spiritual discernment of the highest order (eh. i. 4-28; ii. 9; iii. 23, etc.), but his soul's instincts were so attuned to the inner harmonies of righteousness and truth, that he had the clearest and most accurate pe1·ception of the moral and religious situation both in Judah and on the Chebar, as well as the finest and directest appreciation of what that situation required. The verdict of Smend, that" Ezekiel's judgment of Israel's past was without question wrong, that he interpreted the history according to ii priori sup- positions of his own, and that for the objective historical truth he had no sense more" (' Der Prophet Ezechiel,' p. xviii.), will hardly commend itself to those who have no preconceived theory of their own to buttress, and who are anxious only to reach such conclusions as are warranted by the facts of the case. Then it goes without saying that not only had Ezekiel a high conception of the nature and difficulty, responsibility and dignity, of the prophetic calling, but almost more than any other prophet lived, moved, and had his being in it, the prophecies he uttered being so spread throughout his twenty-seven years of active ministry as to leave him scarcely a moment free from its sacred duties and impressions. His :fidelity both to Jehovah who appointed him, and to them for whose sakes he had been appointed to his calling, was hardly less conspicuous. That he either failed to understand his countrymen or judged them too severely, because naturally "accustomed to look upon the dark side of things," or, perhaps out of chagrin and vexation, "because he himself had been the victim of his people's error" (Kuenen, ' The Religion of Israel,' ii. 106), is a sugges- tion as unworthy as it is baseless. If he" showed not the least inclination to t:x.cuse the conduct of his contemporaries out of pity for their lot" (ibid.), the reason was that ihe judgment be expressed, besides being irue and therefore impossible to be changed, was likewise Jehovah's judgment, and dared not be tampered with. Accordingly, with these convictions in his soul, it was not surprising that in the discharge of his sacred duties he should evince an invincible fortitude like that possessed by all great THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. xv