prophets, e.nd in particular by his two illustrious contemporaries, Jeremiah in Jerusalem and Daniel in Babylon. Yet can it not be jUBtly alleged that Ezekiel never epoke in accents of love and tenderness, since in addition to the already cited instances of sympathetic feeling which appear in hir, several discourses, throughout the whole of his book, and more especially the third part, which is devoted to the consolation of the exiled people, there runs a deep undertone of pity for the fallen nation. It was this feeling of pity which fitted him to be, what he was more than any prophet previously had been, a true shepherd of souls. Cornill finely utters this thought when he writes, "Whilst the earlier prophets make the people in their collective capacity the subject of their preaching, Ezekiel turns himself to individual souls; [in him J the prophet becomes a 'carer for souls.' ',Ve find in Ezekiel, for the first time in the Old Testament, a clear and definite example of that delivering, seeking love which goes after the erring, and brings back the lost"(' Der Prophet Ezechiel,' pp. 51, 52).
II. EZEKIEL-THE BOOK. 1. Arrangement and Contenf.s.
(1) Arrangement. A glance into the Book of Ezekiel shows that the ,prophetic utterances composing it have not been thrown together at random, but set down in accordance with a well-considered plan. As the downfall of Jerusalem formed the middle point of Ezekiel's activity, so has it been made the centre of Ezekiel's book, the prophecies reported in the first twenty-four chapters having all been delivered prior to, while those recorded in the second twenty-four, at least mainly, were uttered after, that event. Again, if regard be had to the destinations of the oracles, two distinct groups emerge-one, a. larger, addressed to Israel ( eh. i. -xxiv.; xxxiii.-xlviii.), and another, a smaller, directed against foreign nations (eh. xxv.-x..xxii.). Then the prophecies concerning Israel divide themselves into two main sections, both as to the times when they were spoken and as to the subject-matters: of which they treat; those in eh. i.-x..xiv. having been uttered, as already stated, previous to the fall of Jerusalem, and composed of threatenings and judgments, while those in eh. xxxiii.-xlviii. were published subsequent to that catastrophe, and held forth comforts and consolations to the stricken people. Hence a threefold division is distinguishable: eh. i.-xxiv., prophecies ( of judgment) against Israel; eh. xxv.-xxxii., prophecies against foreign nations; and eh xxxiii.-xlviii., prophecies (of consolation) for Israel; and this division. is for the most part recognized and followed by expositors (De Wette, Ewald, Kliefoth, Smend, Schroder, Wright), although many prefer to reduce the three parts into two principal sections, by either combining the second part with the first as an appendix (Hengstenberg), or connecting it with the third pa1·t as a preface (Hitzig, Hiivernick, Keil, Cornill). One xvi INTRODUCTION TO
expositor (Bleek) adopts a fourfold division by splitting up the third po.rt into two subsections, eh. xxxiii.-xxxix., and xl.-xlviii. The first part (eh. i.-xxiv.), consisting of prophecies of judgment concerning Israel, has been variously subdivided. Bleek (' Introduction to the Old Testament,' ii. 106) partitions it into twenty-nine sections corre- sponding to the number of its separate utterances; Kliefpth, excluding the introduction (eh. i. I-iii. 21), into seven (eh. iii. 12-vii. 27; viii. 1-xi. 25 ; xii. I-xiii. 23; xiv. 1-xix. 14; xx. 1-xxi. 4; xxi. 5-xxiii. 49 ; xxiv. 1-27); Haverniok into six ( eh. i.-iii. 15; iii. 16-vii.; viii.-xi.; xii.-xix.; x:x:.-xxiii.; xxiv.); Smend into five ( oh. i.-iii. 21; iii. 22-vii. 27; viii.-xi.; x:ii.-xix.; x.x.-xxiv); Schroder into three ( eh. i.-iii. 11; iii. 12-vii. 27; viii. 1-xxiv. 27); and Ewald (' Prophets of the Old Testament,' vol. iv. p. 22) into three (eh. i.-xi.; xii.-xx.; xxi.-x.xiv.), representing "the three separate periods in which Ezekiel had felt called upon by important events to be more than usually active." Perhaps the simplest division is that adopted by Keil, Hengstenberg, and others, which forms four subsections according to the chronological notes furnished by the prophecies themselves; as thus: eh. i.-vii., which began to be spoken in the fifth year, in the fourth month, and on the fifth day; eh. viii.-xix., dating from the sixth year, the sixth month, and fifth day; eh. xx.- :xxiii., at the head of which stands the seventh year, the fifth month, and the tenth day; and eh. xxiv., which was published on the ninth year, in the tenth month, and on the tenth day of the month. These several sub- sections again are resolvable into component parts, distinguishable by the well-known phrase, " And the word of the Lord came unto me," intro- ducing each separate oracle communicated to or delivered by the prophet. In the first subsection the phrase occurs four, or, excluding the introduction ( eh. i. 3 ), three times ( eh. iii. 16 ; vi. 1 ; vii. 1) ; in the second, fourteen times ( eh. :xi 14; xii. 1 ; xii. 8; xii. 17; xii. 21 ; xii. 26; xiii. 1·; xiv. 2; xiv. 12; xv. 1; xvi. I; xvii.1; xvii.11; xviii. 1); in the third, nine times ( eh. xx. 2 ; xx. 45 ; xxi. 1 ; xxi. 8 ; xxi. 18; xxii. 1 ; xxii. 17; xxii. 23 ; xxiii. 1); and in the fourth, twice (eh. xxiv. 1; xxiv. 15); in all twenty- nine, or, excluding the introduction, 28 ( 4 X 7) times. The second part ( eh. :xxv.-xx.xii. ), comprising oracles relating to foreign nations, divides itself into three subsections according to the subjects with which these deal. In the first subsection ( eh. xxv.) are found prophecies against Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines, of which the date is uncertain, though they seem to have been spoken at the same time and before the fall of Jerusalem, most likely during the progress of the siege. The second subsection (eh. xxvi.-xxviii.) embraces five separate oracles, four against Tyre and one against Zidon, which began to be published on the first day of an unrecorded month in the eleventh year; and though it cannot be affirmed that the several oracles were continuously spoken, yet the probability is they were all uttered about the same period. The third buusection brings wgether six oracles which at different times were pro- THE IlOOK OF 'l'HE PROPHET EZEKIEL. xvii