The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 95

III. FAJiUNE rROVES TO us HOW EASY IT IS FOR Goo TO AFFLICT. Very obviou~ is it that frail man hangs on God by a thousand delicate threads. 'l'en thousand minute avenues nre open by v,hich an enemy can approach, chastisement como near. ,ve almost shudder as we think of the manifold forms, and of the majestic case, with which the avenging God could scourge hi~ rebellious creatures. Let him but change one ingredient iu the all-nurturing air, and instead of inhaling health, wo should, with every breath, inhale fiery poison. If but the appetite fail, if the digestive organs become weak, if secretions stay their process, lassitude and decay speedily follow. H is enough that God should speak a word, and life for us would be stripped of charm. ""e should crave to die. IV. Tms SCARCITY PROVES THAT PRESENT CHASTISEMENT IS DISCIPLINARY. rt is not sudden and irremediable deaLh. If God intended that, ho would have chosen some other punitive weapon. But this reduction of food to a minimum, this suspen- sion of enjoyment, these obnoxious necessities in preparing a meal, all indicate correction with a view to repentance. If only the sighs of true penitence arise, then quicker than flashing light does God run to remove the burden from our shoulders. To punish men is a grief to God; to pardon is his delight. Yet if present corrections avail nothing to produce righteous obedience, the final infliction will be irrevocable and overwhelming. Y. PRAYER MODIFIF.S, IF IT DOES NOT REMOVE, THE SEVERITY OF THE ST!lOKE, The windows of heaven were shut and opened again at the breath of Elijah's prayer. Ezekiel humbly remonstrates with God that he may not be required to violate cere- monial purity. .At once the command of God is modified. The tenderness of the prophet's conscience is to be respected. God alters not his plans without sufficient cause; this is sufficient cause. This particular step in his procedure was clearly foreseen ; and it was to bring out this request from Ezekiel that the first demand was made. Prayer not only expresses mental desire; it strengthens it also. It does us good every way. It fits us to enjoy, and to improve, the blessing. It softens chastisement.-D. Vers. 1-17.-The siege of Jerusalem and the sufferings of the people symbolized. "Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem,'' etc. This chapter presents difficulties to the student. There is the question whether it is to be understood literally or metaphorically; or, more correctly, whether the things here set forth were really done or were only visional. The commands given in vers. 1-3 might have been literally executed; but the direc- tions of vers. 4-8 could not have been literally carried out. Hence Fairbairn and others conclude that the actions must have taken place in vision. "It is enough to suppose," says Dr. Currey, "that when the prophet was bidden to do such acts, they were impressed upon his mind with all the vividness of actual performance. In spirit, he grasped the sword and scattered the hair (eh. v. 1-4), and saw herein the coming events thus symbolized. They would only have lost force by substituting bodily for mental action. The command of God gave to the sign the vividness of a. real trans- action, and the prophet communicated it to the people, just as it had been stamped on his own mind, with more impressiveness than could have been conveyed by the language of ordinary metaphor." .Again, it is by no means easy to decide what is the precise reference of the three hundred and ninety days, and the forty days, each day for a. year. The different interpretations have been so ably sustained by their respective advocates, that it seems to us that it would be presumptuous dogmatically to assert that it must mean either one or another. But let us endeavour to discover the homiletic aspects of this chapter. I. INQUIRE THE BEASON WHY, IN TilIS CHAPTER AND ELSEWHEllE, Goo HAS MADE KNO=• HIS WILL BY REMARKABLE SYMBOLS. There are many such symbols in the prophecies by Ezekiel. And in those by Jeremiah we have the rod of an almond tree, and the seething pot (i. 11-16), the linen j!;irdle, and the bottles of wine (xiii.), the potter's earthen vessel (xix.), the two baskets of fige (xxiv.), and tho yoke of iron (xxviii.). Many other examples might be cited from other portions of the sacred Scriptures. We cannot think that these striking symbols wero employed to conceal truth, or to make the apprehension of the truth more difficult. That would have been inconsistent with revelation-the contradiction of revelation. And it seems cu. ,v. 1-17.] 'fHE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKlEL. 83