The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 41

eays that the priests entered upon their office at the same age; but the statement is very questionable. John the Baptist began his ministry on the completion of bis thirtieth year. And '' the Light of the world" was not publicly manifested until our Lord had attained the same age. 2. That he desired to plar,e the reality of ltis predic- tions beyond question. Some of these are very remarkable. "1,Ve should deem i~ impossible for any one," says Fairbairn, "in a spirit of candour and sincerity, to peruse the wonderful and discriminating predictions contained in his writings respecting either the Jews themselves (those, for example, in eh. v., vi., xi., xvii., xxi.), or the neigh• bouring nations, more particularly those of Tyre and Egypt-predictions which foretold in regard to the subjects of them very different and varying fortunes, and such as necessarily required ages for their accomplishment--we should deem it impossible for any one in a proper spirit to examine these, and compare them with the fulfilment, without being persuaded that they afford indubitable evidence of a supernatural insight into the far-distant future." And the minuteness of the statement of time in the text, and the chronological order which is observed and stated in the prophecies, would emphasize the genuineness of these predictions and the certainty of their Divine origin. 3. That the summons made a deep impression upon the soul of the prophet. The careful particularity of the record indicates that Ezekiel felt profoundly the importance of that which he records. Those seasons in which God approaches most near to the soul, and communicates most directly with us, are momentous; they constitute epochs in our spiritual history. II. wAS ADDRESSED TO HIM IN SIGNIFICANT CIRCUMSTANCES. 1. In a heathen land. "In the land of the Chaldeans," whither he had been carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar. The Chaldeans were idolaters. The Jewish rabbins assert that the Holy Spirit inspired the prophets only in the Holy Land. But here in Cho.Idea the inspiration of God quickens the soul of Ezekiel, heaven is opened unto him, visions of God are unfolded unto him, and the voice of God speaks to him. In the same land the Divine inspiration came to Daniel. And it was not at Jerusalem, but in Patmos, that St. John beheld his marvellous and glorious visions, and heard the mighty and awful voices of the great apocalypse. God is not limited to any place whatsoever. His Spirit can work as freely and effectively in one place as in another. 2. In a captive condition. "As I was among the captives," or, "in the midst of the captivity." With others of his fellow- countrymen Ezekiel had been taken from Judrea and settled in Cbaldea. That some of the captives painfully felt their condition is clear from Ps. cxxxvii. To the patriotic and the pious'tbere was much in their exile to cause grief. They would mourn for the fatherland with its stirring and sacred memories, and for the temple and its precious 11rivileges, from which they had been removed. These sorrows the godly had to suffer in common with the wicked. Those who were faithful to the Lord their God had to bear the captivity which had come upon the people by reason of the general unfaithful- ness. Ezekiel, Daniel, and his three noble companions in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, men eminent for their religious fidelity, suffered the privations and griefs of the captivity not less, but perhaps much more, than they did whose sins caused that captivity. In every age the good are subjeet to the same outward affiictions and trials as the wicked. 'fhey have no exemption from the common calamities of life. In this respect " all things come alike to all," etc. (Eccles. ix. 2). 3. By the river of Ohebar. We cannot with certainty identify this river. According to some it is "the modern Khabour, w~ich rises near Nisibis, and flows into the Euphrates near Kerkesiah, two hundred miles north of Babylon." But Professor Rawlinson is of opinion that it "is the Nahr Malcha, or Royal Canal of Nebuchadnezzar-the greatest of all the cuttings in Mesopotamia." It is probable that there was quiet and solitude by this river, and th~se are favourable to the reception of Di vine communications. It was amid the awful h~1ghts of Sinai that Moses on two occasions was alone with God forty days and forty mgbts (Exod. xxiv. 15-18; xxxiv.). And somewhere in the seclusion of the same mountain region "the Lord passed by" the Prophet Elijah, and the voice of God spake unto him (1 Kings xix. 8-18). .And our Lord and Saviour frequently sought retire- ment for communion with his Father (Matt. xiv. 22, 23; Mark i. 35; Luke iv. 42; v. 16). Devout solitude and serenity are congenial with Divine manifestation and communication. Moreover, there is something very suggestive about a river. It tends to hush the tumults of the mind and to stimulate peaceful and puro thought. Wheu 26 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [err. I. 1-28,