The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 63

Luther, however, gives "a wind lifted me fitness. The hand of the Lord, eto. Tho word up." The pe.rallels of eh. viii. 3 (where, how- for" strong" is the same ae that whioh enters ever, we have the addition, "in the visions into Ezekiel's nu.me. Te.king this and ver. !) of God ") and eh. xi. 1 suggest the con- ir1to account, there seems sufficient reason clusion that this was a purely subjective for translating as the Vulgate does, oon- Eensation, that it was one of the phenomena jo1·tans (eo Luther, "held me firm"), at of the ecst;itic state, and that there was no least for thinkiug of that meaning ae implied actual change of place. On the other hand, (comp. Ezra vii. 9 ; viii. 18; N eh. ii. 8 ; the uee of like language in the cases of Dan. x. 18). There was a. sustaining power Elijah (1 Kings x.iii. 12; 2 Kings ii. 16), in spite of the "bitterness" and the" heat." of our Lord (Mark i. 12), of Philip (Acts In a. more general sense, e.s in eh. i. 3, it viii. 39), would justify the inference that the is used as implying e. special intensity of prophet actmllly passed from one locality to prophetic inspiration, as in the oase of the other. The language of 1 Kings xviii. Elisha (2 Kings iii. 15) ; but this ie the 46 probably points to the true solution of only case in which it occurs with the ad- the problem. The ecstatic state continued, jective "strong." and in it Ezekiel went from the banks of Ver. 15.-At Tel-Abih, etc. We now enter Chebar to the dwellings of the exiles at Tel- on the first scene of the prophet's ministry. Abib (see note on eh. i.), at some distance The LXX. leaves the proper name. The from it. I heard behind me, etc. The words Vulgate rightly translates it as acervua nova- imply that the prophet, either in his vision rum jrugum, the " mound of ears of oorn" or in very deed, bad turned from the glory (the meaning appears in the name of the of the liviug creatures and of the wheels, Passover month, Abib), Luther gives, and set his face in the direction in which be strangely enough, "where the almond trees was told to go. Ae he does"'-eo, he hears the stood, in the month A bib"). J erome'e sounds of a great rushing (LXX., ,,-.frrµ.os ; suggestion, that here also there was a nomen Lntber, "earthquake "), followed hy words et omen, and that those who shared Ezekiel's which, though in the form of a. doxology, exile were regarded as the "fustfruits" of uttered, it may be presumed, by the living the future, is at least ingenious, and finds creatures, were also a message of encourage- some support in Ps, cxxvi. 5, 6. The place ment. His readiness to do his work ae a bas not been identified, and its position preacher of repentance calls forth the praise depeuds on that of the river with which it is of God from those in whose presence there connected (see note on eh. i. 1), The worrl is "joy over one sinner that repentetb." "Tel " is commonly applied to the mounds We are reminded of the earthquake in the formed out of masses of ruins, which are Mount of Pnrillcation and the Gloria in ex- common all over the plains of Mesopotamia. celBis of Dante (' Purg.,' n:. 127-141; xxi. The name in this case may suggest that the 53-60). The words, from his pla.ce (belong- earth had gathered over it, and that it was ing, probably, to the narrative rather than cultivated. I eat where they eat, etc. The the doxology), point, not to the sanctuary at ministry begins not with speech, but silence. Jerusalem, which Jehovah had forsaken, but Our Western habits hardly enable us to to the region thought of as in the nort.h enter into the impressiveness of such e. (see note on eh. i 4), to which he had with- procedure. The conduct of Job's friends drawn himself. (Job ii. 13) presents a para.lie!, and a.e Ver. 13.-A.nd I heard, etc. There ie no Ezekiel seems to have known that book verb in the Hebrew, but it may be supplied (eh. xiv.14, 20), he may have been influenced from ver. 12. We lose in the English the by it. Like actions meet us in Ezra ix. 3-5; poetry of the original, "kissing, or touching, Dan. iv. 19, each its sister." The attitude as of wiugs Ver. 17.-A watchman nnto the house of raised for flight. and the sound of both the Israel. Tho seven days' session of nmaze- wings and wheels, implied the departure_ of ment came to a.n end, but even then there the glcrious visiou, presuIIlJl.bly to the reg10n was at first no utterance of a message. 'l'he from which it came. word of tho Lord came to his own soul, and Ver. 14.-The Spirit lifted me np (see note told him what hie special vocation as a. pro- on ver. 12). Here the LXX. has the more phet wo.e to be. He was to be a. "wotehme.n definite phrase, "the Spirit of the Lord." unto the house of Israel." He was, like the For bittemeas (see note on eh. ii. 3). The watchman of a city on hie towo,r, to be on heat of my spirit. The first noun ie here the look out to warn men against coming translated literally. Elsewhere it is rendered dangers, not to slumber on his post. In 2 as" wrath" (Deut. xxix. 23; Job xxi. 20; Sam. xviii. 24-27 and 2 Kings ix. 17-20 Prov. xv.11,et al.)," fury" (Jer. iv. 4). Here we have vivid pictures of such e. work. It probably it points to the conflict of emotions hacl already been used figurativoly of tha -indignation against the sins of hie peopie, p.ophet';; work by Jeremiah (vi. 17), the dread of failure, the oon&eioueness of un- The cognate verb, with the image fully au. m. 1-27.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 49