The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 130

EXPOSITION. CHAPTER VII. ?eetined _doom i~ thought of ns rousing itself to its uppomted work. The word is Ver. 1.-The absence of e.ny fresh date, cognate with that rendered "e.wuketh" in nnd the fact that it is simply to.eked on to Ps. lxxviii. 65. the previous chapter by the copulative oon- Ver. 7.-The morning is oome unto thee, jnnotion, shows that what follows belongs to etc. In the only other po.sse.ge in which the the same group. The use of the phrase, the Hebrew noun ocours (Isa, xxviii. 5), it is word of the Lord O&JD.e unto me, shows, translated "diadem," the meaning being however, that there was an interval of strictly o. circular ornament. Here the silence, perhaps of meditation, followed by LXX. gives 1r>..01e~, something twirled, out of e. fresh influx of inspiration ; and, so far as which may come the meaning of the changes we may judge from the more lyrical character of fortune. Possibly, us in the familio.r of the chapter, a more intense emotion. "wheel of fortune," that thought was Ver. 2.-An end, etc. The iteration of involved in the circular form by itself. In the word once more gives emphasis. 'l'he the Talmud it appears as the name of the words read like an echo of Amos viii. 2. goddess of fate e.t Asoalon (Fiirst). On The four oomers (Hebrew,_" wings") were the whole, I follow the Revised Version, probably, as with us, the north, east, south, Keil, and Ewald, in giving " thy doom." and west. The phrase had been used The "morning" of the Authorized Version before in Isa. xi. 12, and the thought meets probably rises from the thought that the us again, in the form of the " four winds," dawn is, as it were, the glory and diadem of in Dan. ri. 4; Zech. ii. 6 ; Matt. xxiv. 31; the day. The Vulgate gives contritio. The Mark xiii 27. The " end" in this case is day of trouble ; better, with the Revised either that of the siege of Jerusalem, or Version., of tumult. The word is speciully that of the existence of Israel as a nation. used of the noise of war (Isa. xxii 5 ; Amos It was now drawing nigh-was, as we say, iii. 9; Zech. xiv. 3). Not the sounding within measurable distance. again upon the mountains. The first noun Ver. 3.-Now is the end upon thee, etc. is not found in the Old Testament, but e. We note the repetition of this and ver. 4 in closely allied form appears in Isa. xvi. 9 ; vers. 8, 9, as a kind of refrain in the Jer. xxv. 30; xlviii. 33, for the song of the lamentation. Stress is laid, and for the vintage. Not that, the prophet says, shall time laid exclusively, on the unpitying be heard on the mountains, but in its place character of the Divine judgment.s. And this the cry of battle and the noise of we.r. The is followed as before, in eh. vi. 14, by " Ye LXX. "not with travail-pangs," ·and the i;he.11 know that I am the Lord." Fear Vulgate non glorim. montium, show that the must teach men the lesson which love had word was in both cases e. puzzle to the trans- failed to tee.eh. lators. Ver. 4.-Thine abominations shall be in Vere. 8, 9.-The verses repeat, like the the midst of thee, etc. These are, of course, burden of a lyric ode, but end more_ primo.rily the idolatries of Israel. The emphatically, •ye shall know that I am people are to reap what they have sown. J'ehovah that smiteth. Their sins should be recognized in their Ver. 10.-It is oome. Read, as before, it punishment. C0111,6th; and for morning, doom (see note on Ver. 5.-An evil, an only evil, etc. The ver~ 7). The rod hath blossomed, etc. The words imply that the evil would be unique three verbs imply e. climax. The "doom " in character, attracting men's notice, not need- springs out of the earth; the rod of ven- ing repetition. Uomill, however, following geance blossoms ( the word is the same us thut Luther, gives "evil after evil," changing one which describes the blooming of Aaron's rod letter in the Hebrew for "one," so as to get (Numb. xvii. 8), and the phrase was probo.biy the word "after." For is come read, with suggested by the history); pride (either the Revised Version, it cometh. It is the thu.t of the Chaldean ministers of vengeance, nearness, not the actual arrival, of the end, or of Israel as working out its own punish- that is in the prophet's thoughts. He writes ment; I incline to the latter) buds and bears in n.u. 595--4. Jerusalem wo.s not taken till fruit. In Isa.. xxvii. 6 the word follows on 1'.C. 588. "blossom," and therefore seems applic11ble Yer. 6.-It watoheth for thee; better, to the formation of the fruit ro.ther tuan the -with the Revised Version, it awalreth against flower. (For the image of the rod, comp. thee. So the LXX., Vulgate, Luther. The Ps. ex. 2; Isa. x. 26; Micnh vi. 9.) Ri,brew presents a pe.ronomasia between Ver. 11.-Violenoe is risen up, otc. The the 11oun and verb-hakketz, hekitz-which "violence" admits of tho same twofol<l t:o.fillot Lb reproduced in English. The interpr0tatbn us the " pri<lo" of vor. 10. cm. vu, 1-27.J 'l'HE BOOK OF 'l'HE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 1HJ