The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 22

h&d before ea.id eepamt.ely, eo 9.8 t.o me.ke (comp. John xii. 29), came from 11bove tho the picture romplete, beforo p11.Ssing on to expanse of azure, 11nd that it stilled the the yet more glorious vision that next met motion of the wings, working peaoc, o.s in his gaze. the midst of the endless agitations of the Ver. 22.-And the likeness of the firme.- universe. The wings thnt had been stretched ment, etc. The word is the same as that in upward o.re now folded, like the others. Gen. i., pnssim; Ps. xix. 1 ; cl. 1 ; Dan. xii. 3. Ver. 26.-The likeness of a throne. The It meets us again in vers. 23, 25, 26, and in greatest glory was kept to the last. High x. 1, but does not occur elsewhere in the above the nzure expanse we.a the UJ,eness of Old Te.stament. Whnt met the prophet's e. throne ( wo note the co11st.o.nt recurrence eye was the expanse, the "body of heaven of the word " likeness," nine times in this in its clearness" (Exod. xxiv. 10), the deep one chapter, as indicating Ezekiel's con- intense blue of nn Eastern sl.--y. Like the sciousness of the vision-oh11racter of what he oolonr of the terrible crystal, etc. The Hebrew saw). The idea of the throne of the great noun is not found elsewhere. Its primary King first 11ppeo.rs in 1 Kings xxii. 19, is meaning. like that of the Greek ttp,',a-.,.a>.J\os, frequent in the Psalms (Pa. ix. 4, 7; xi. 4 ; is that of" cold," and I incline therefore to xiv. 6), notably in ba. vi. 1. In the visions the mnrgin of the Revised Version, "ice." of St. John (Rev. i. 4, and passim) it is the Rock-crystal, sel'n, as it is, in small masses, dominant, central object throughout. Aa and in its pure colourless transparency, the appearanoe of a sapphire stone. The hardly suggests the idea of terror; but the iuteme blue of the sapphire has made it in intense brightness of masses of ice, as shin- all ages the natural symbol of e. heavenly ing in tlie morning sun, might well make purity. Ezekiel's vision reproduces that of that impression. Had Ezekiel seen the Exod. xxiv. 10. It appears among the gems glories of a mountain throne of ice, as he of the high priest's breastplate (Ez:od. xxviii. looked np, on his way from Palestine to 18; xxxix. 11) and in the" foundations" of Cha.Idea, at the heights of Lebanon, or Rev. xxi. 19. The description of the Hermon, and thought of them as the fitting sapphire given by Pliny (' Hist. Nat.,' symbol of the throne of God? We note, xxxvii. 0), as "never transparent, and in this connection, the use of "terrible" refulgent with spots of gold," suggests lapis- in Job xxxvii. 22 (see note on ver. 4). lazuli. .AI; used in the Old 'festament, how- Ver. 23.-Under the firmament, etc. The ever, the word probably means the sapphire description must be read as completing of modern jewellery (Braun, • De Vest. that of ver. 11. The two npper wings of the Sacerd.,'p. 630,edit. 1680). A likeness asof "living creatures" were not only stretched the appearance of a man. The throne, the out, but they pointed to the azure canopy symbol of the sovereignty of God over the above them, not as sUEtaining it, but in the "living creatures" and the "wheels," over attitude of adoration. N e.ture, in all her the forces and the laws which they repre- life-phenomena, adores the majesty of the sented, is not empty. There was" e. likeness Eternal. as of the appearance" (we note again t.he ac- Ver. 24.-The noise of their wings, etc. The cumulation of words intended to guard against wings representing the soaring, ascending the thought that what was seen was more elements in nature, their motion answers to than an approximate symbolism)" of a man." its aspirations, their sounds to its inarticulate In that likeness there was the witness that groaninga (Rom. viii. 26) or its chorus of we can only think of God by reasoning praise. The noiae of great waters may upward from all that is highest in our con- Le that of the sea, or river, or torrents. ceptions of human greatness and goodness, Ezekiel'a use of the term in eh. xxxi. 7, in and thinking of them as free from their connection with the ce<lars of Lebanon, seems present limitations. ]\fan's highest thought in favour of the last. On the other hand, of God is that it is " a face like his face that in eh. xxvii. 26; Ps. x:xix. 3; cvii. 23, the term receives him." He finds a humanity in the is manifostly used for the seas. The thought Godhead. It is noticeable that this prelu<ling appears age.in in Rev. i. 15; xix. 6. In Ps. anticipation of the thought of the Incarna- xx:ix. 3, et al., tlie "voice of the Lord" is tion, not recognized in the vision of Moses identified with thunder. For the voice of (Exod. xxiv. 10) or Isaiah (vi. 1), appears speech,. which wrongly suggests articulate prominently in the two prophets of the exile utterance, read, with the Revised Version, -here and in the memorable Messianic vision a rwise of tumult. of" One like unto the[' a,' ReviBe<l Version] Ver. 25.-And there was a voice from the Son of man" in Dan. vii. 13. What might firmament. Revised Version gives above. have been perilon~ly anthropomorphic in The proplrnt's silence suggests that what he the early stages of the growth of Israel, heard was at first ineffable (comp. 2 Cor. when men tended to identify the symbol xii. 4), perhaps unintolligible. All that he with the thing symbolized, was now made knew was that an awful voice, like thunder subservient to the truth which underlies even CR, I, 1-28,] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL, 7