The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 85

EXPOSITION. CHAPTER IV. Ver. 1.-The first sign in thls method of unspoken prophecy was to indicate to the Prior to any detailed exo.mino.tion of the exiles of Tel-Abib that which they were strange series of acts recorded in this and unwilling to believe. The day of uncertain the following chapter, we are met with the hopes o.nd fears, of delusive dreams and promises (Jer. xxvii. 16; xxviii. 1-3; xxix. questiou whether they were indeed visible 21), was nearly over. The siege of Jerusa- and outward acts, or only imagined by the lem, in spite of Zedekiah's Egyptian alliance, prophet in a state of ecstasy and afterwards was a thing decreed. Four years before it rep01·ted by him to the people. Each view came--we are now between the fourth month has been maintained by commentators of of the fifth year (eh. i. 2) and the sixth month of the sixth year (eh. viii. 1) of Zede- repute. I adopt, with sco.rcely o.ny hesita- kiab, and the siege began in the ninth yea.r tion, the former, and for the following rea- (2 Kings xxv. I)-Ezekiel, on the segnius sons. (I) On the other interpretation the irritant principle, brought it, us here narrated, acts recorded were not signs to the people before the eyes of the exiles. That he did (ver. 3) till tile prophet reported them; but so implies o. certain artistic cultnre, in pos- sessing which he stands alone, so fo.r as we the whole context shows that they were to know, among the prophets of Israel, and to be substitutes for spoken teaching. They which his residence ill the land of the Chal- belong to the period of the prophet's silence. dees may have contributed. He takes a (2) 'fhis mode of teaching, though not car- tile, or tablet of bo.ked clay, such o.s were ried to the same extent, wo.s part of the nor- used in Babylon and Assyria for private mal method of a prophet's work. Zedekiah's contructs, historical inscriptions, astrono- mical observations (Pliny, 'Hist. Nat.,' vii. horns of iron (l Kings xxii. 11); Isaiah's 57), and the like, which were, in fact, the walkin~ "naked and barefoot" for three boolcs of that place and time, and of which yeo.rs (Isa. xx. 2, 3); Jeremio.h's yokes of whole libraries have been brought to light in wood (Jer. xxvii. 2), probably even the latter recent excavations (Lnyo.rd, 'Nineveh and prophet's journey to the Euphrates (Jer. Bo.by Ion,' eh. xxii.), and engraves upon it the outlines of "a city " (Revised Version), in xiii. 4) ; and Hoseo.'s marriage with o. ho.riot which the exiles would at once recognize (Hos. i.-iii.), were o.11 outward objective the city of their fathers, the towers which facts. We o.re only disposed to to.ke o. dif- they bad once counted (Isa. xxxiii. 18; Ps. ferent view of Ezekiel's acts because they xlviii. 12), the temple which had been their are more startling o.nd repulsive; but to glory o.nd their joy. Bricks with such scenes on them were found among the ruins adopt a non-no.tum! interpretation on this of Nimroud, now in the British Museum a priori ground of feeling is not the act of (Layo.rd, ut supra, oh. vii. p. 167). It is an honest interpreter. We ho.ve to admit not difficult to picture to ourselves the won- that outwardly the life of the prophets of dering curiosity with which Ezekiel's neigh- Isro.ol might present analogies to the pheno- bours would watch the strnnge proceeding. In this case the sign would bo more impres- mena of other religions or other times. The sive than any spoken utterance. nets of Ezekiel may find a parallel in those Ver. 2.-La.y siege age.iJlst it, etc. The of Simeon Stylites or George Fox; of Jesus wonder would increase C\S the spectators the son of Anauus, who for seven yours o.nd looked on what followed. Either tmcing five months walked to and fro in Jeru- the scene on the tablet, or, more probC\bly, us ver. 3 seems to indicate, consh·ucting t\ salem, uttering his woes ago.inst the city nnd model of the scene, the prophet brings be- the holy house (Josephus, 'Bell. Jud.,' vi. fore their eyes o.11 the fomiliC\r details of a 6. 3); of Solomon Eagle, as he, in like man- siege, such ns we see on numerous Assyri,tn ner, walked through the streets of London bns-reliefs; such also us the no.rro.tives or during the great Plague (Defoe, ' Hist. of the Old Testament bring before us. Thero are (I) the forts (as in 2 Kings xxv. 1; ihe Plague,' p. 519, edit, 18G9). 72 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [olI. 1v. 1~17,