eating bread of uncleanness," "shaving his head," eto.-should be understood as external (Umbreit, Plumptre, Schroder) or merely internal oocunence::i (Stiiudlin, Bleek, Keil, Hengstenberg, Smend, Calvin, Fairbairn,' Speaker's Commentary'). Undoubtedly there are circumstances in the accounts given of most of these extraordinary actions which seem to bear out the latter view; but just as surely the former is not without rrnpport. Yet in any case it seems absolutely indispensable to hold that there was more in the prophet's symbolism than simply the fruit of his own natural and unas,isted imagination (Ewald). If he did not actually perform the actions above referred to in his own house, it at least seemed to him while in the ecstatic or clairvoyant state that he did. In addition to these were symbolic acts which there is no reason to doubt he did perform, such as the carrying out of his stuff from his house ( oh. xii. 7), and his sighing bitterly before the eyes of his people ( oh. xxi. 6).
5. Theological Standpoints. Though presumably nothing was further from the prophet's mind than to compose a treatise on dogmaties, it is certain there is no book of the Old Testament in which the theological views of the author shine out with greater clearness than they do in this. So generally is this fact recognized, that Ezekiel has been pronounced the first dogmatic theologian of the Old Testament, and as such compared to Paul, who bears the same character and holds the same position in relation to the New (Cornill). An instructive essay of some dimensions might easily be prepared on the theology of Ezekiel; nothing more can be attempted in the closing paragraphs of this introduction than to outline the teaching it supplies on the subjects of God, the Messiah, man, the kingdom of God, and the end of all things. (1) God. Whatever view of the Divine Being may have been entertaineu by Ezekiel's contemporaries in Jerusalem or on the banks of the Chebar, it is clear that to Ezekiel himself Jehovah was no mere local or national divinity, but the supreme and self-existent almighty (eh. i. 24) and omniscient ( eh. i. 18) One, the Possessor of life in himself, and the Source of life to all his creatures, the highest of whom, the cherubim, acted as his throne-bearers (oh. i. 22), while the lowest, whirlwinds, storms, clouds, etc., served as his messengers. Infinitely exalted above· the earth, clothed with honour and majesty, he was the Lord not alone of the celestial hierarchies, but also of all that dwelt beneath the skies, the supreme Dis- poser of events on this mundane sphere; the absolute Ruler of men and nations; whom not only Israel and Judah, but Egypt and Babylon, with all other heathen peoples, were bound to obey; who put down one empire and raised up another at his will; who employed a Nebuchadnezzar as his servant with as much facility as he could make use of a David or an Ezekiel. Though not represented, as in Isaiah's vision (Isa. vi. 3), as receiving the adorations of the cherubim in the lllidst of which he appeared, XXX INTRODUCTION 'l'O
he was nevertheless the Holy One of Israel ( eh. xxxix. 7), whose name was holy ( eh. xxxvi. 21, 22; xxxix. 25). Perhaps this was symbolized by the "brightness" round about the" cloud" ( eh. i. 4, 27) in which the glory of the Lord appeared, but in any case it was proclaimed with awful emphasis by the withdrawal of that glory from the desecrated temple and city ( eh. x. 18; xi. 23), as well as by the terrible denunciations against the wickedness of Israel and Judah which were put into the prophet's mouth. Then, arising out of this, was the inviolable righteousness of God, which by an eternal necessity with the whole fulness of his Godhead, set him apart from and opposed to sin, and demanded even of him that the sinner should be rewarded according to his works. This attribute in Jehovah it was that to Ezekiel's mind rendered the downfall of Jerusalem and the overthrow of her then surrounding nations inevitable. The former had become so degenerate, incurably vile, presumptuously apostate and defiant, while the latter had so persistently arrayed themselves against Jehovah as repre- sented by Israel, that he, by the very necessities of his own nature, was obliged to declare himself against them both ( eh. vii. 27; xiii. 20 ; xvi. 43; :i..:viii. 30; xxvi. 3; xxix. 3). The God Ezekiel preached was One who could make no compromise with sin, who could by no means clear the guilty, whether individual or nation, and who would assuredly in the end, without pity, consign to well-merited perdition the soul that declined to forsake its sin. Yet was he a God of boundless grace, who had no pleasure in the death of the wicked ( eh. xviii. 23, 32 ; xxxiii. 11); who, even while threatening judgments against the ungodly, sought to woo them to penitence by promises of clemency (eh. xiv. 22; xvi. 63; xx. 11), and who found the reason for his gracious acts in him.self, and not at all in the objects of his pity (xxxvi. 32). In proclaiming such a God, Ezekiel showed himself exactly in line with the clearer and fuller revelations of the gospel. (2) The Messiah. It has been said that, while the Old Testament prophets were unanimous in regarding Jehovah as the direct first cause which should introduce the Messianic times and set up the Messianic kingdom, they frequently diverged from one another in the view they gave of the instrumentality by which this splendid hope of the future ishould be realized; and in particular that, whereas in the pre-exilic period., when prophecy was at its height, the personal organ of God in the accomplishment of salvation was the theocratic king (Isa. ix. 1-7; xi. 1-5 ; Micah v. 2-7; Zech. ix. 9-16), in the post-exilic rJeriod, after the downfall of the kingdom, "the Messianic King falls iuto the background as a subordinate feature in the image of the future painted by Jeremiah and Ezekiel" (Otto Pfleiderer, 'Grundriss der Chri,;t]ichen Glaubens- und Sittenlehre,' pp. 130, 131). So far, however, as Ezekiel is concerned, th3 Kingship of the future Messiah is rather i;;trikingly emphasized. Besides being depicted as a "tender twig" taken from the highest branch of the cedar of Judah's royalty, and planted upon a high mountain, and eminent in the land of Israel (eh. xvii. 22-24),_he THE BOOK OF THF, PROPHET EZEKIEL. xxxi