The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 131

None of them shall remllin. The inlerpo- ret'Uf'n, or beUer (with the Vulga.te and Kr,il), Jated verb, though gmmmntico.lly necossury, the vision touching the wlww multitude shall wenlrnns tho force. of U10 Hebrew. "None not ret1//fn, i.e. shall go straight onwar,\ to of thorn; none of their multitude ; none of d1 its work (comp. Isa. Iv. 11). So taken, their woo.Ith," Neither shall there bo wail- there ia a kind of play upon the iterated ing for them. 'l'he noun is not found else- word: "'l'he seller shall not turn his foot- where. Ta.ken, a.e the Authorized Version steps back, neither shall the prophecy." takes it, the thought, like tha.t of eh. xxiv. Vestigia nulla retrorsum shall be true of both. 16 a.nd Jer. xvi. 4, is that the usual rites of I take the other words, with the Reviser! burial would be neglected, and that there Version, no man in the iniquity of his life shall would be " no widows to make w.mentntion" stren;tlhen himself, noting the fact that the (Pe. lxxviii. 64). The Revised Version word for "streogthen" is that which entera "eminency" implies the loss of all tha.t into Ezekiel's Bame. It is a.B though he constituted greatness. Cornill a.nd the said," God is the only true source of strength LXX. ("beauty" or "gaiety") practically to thee, a.s thy very na.me bears witness." ugree with this. The Vulgate gives requies, Ver. '.14.-They ha.ve blown the trumpet. and Fiirst "o. gathering, or tumult of the The word for "trumpet" is not found else- people." Probably the ttJxt is corrupt. where, but tl1e corresponding verb is u3i,d Ver. 12.-Let not the buyer rejoice, etc. continually in connection with the trumpet We ha.ve to rea.d, between the lines, the of war, and Ezekiel seems to have coined story of Ezekiel's corn pa.nions in exile. the corresponding substantive, not, perhaps, They belonged, it will be remembered, to without a. reminiscence of J er. vi. l. There the nobler and wealthier class (2 Kiugs may possibly be an allusion to the trumpet- xxv. 19). They, it would seem, had been blowing with which the jubilee year (see corn polled to sell their estates at a price ver. 13) wo.s ushered in. The trumpet which made the "buyer rejoice and the should soull!I, not for ea.eh man's return to seller mourn." In ench case the joy and his own estate, but for the a.lo.rm of war, o.nd the sorrow would he but transient. Wrath even then the consciou,ness of guilt will ho.d gone out against the whole multitude. hinder men from arming themselves for In Micah ii. 2 and Isa.. v. 8 we have battle (comp. Lev. xxvi. 36; Deut. xxviii, parallel instances of the advantage ta.ken 25 ; xxxii. 30). by the rich of the distress of the old free- Ver. 15.-The sword is without (see eh. holders. In the story of Jer. xxxii. 6-16 v. 12 ; vi. 12). Here there seems a. more we have, though from a very different point traceable fitness in assigning the pestilence of view, the history of a. like purchase, while a.s well us the fa.mine to those who are shut the city was actually surrounded by the up in the besieged city. Cha.ldeans. The neglect of the sa.bbo.tic Ver. 16.-They tha.t escape, etc. The yea.r (Jer. xxxiv. 8-17) mukes it probable sentence is virtually conditional. They thnt that the jubilee year also (if, indeed, it had escape shull, it is true, in one sense, escape ever been more than an ideal) ha.d fallen the immeditite doom; but if so, it shall only into desuetude,o.nd that the buyers comforted be to the mountains. 'fheso were, in nil themselves with the thought tho.t the land times (Gen. xix. 17; Jndg. vi. 2; 1 So.m. they he.d;got, on cheap terms, would belong xiii. 6; Ps. xi. 1 ; 1 Mace. ii. 28 ; Jllo.tt. to them e.nd their children for ever. xxiv. 16; Ma.rk xiii. 14), the naturul refuge Ver. 13.-For the seller shall not return, for those who fled from danger, but even etc. At first the thought seems only to add this should Co.ii those of whom the prophet to the sorrow of the seller. He is told thut speaks. They should be like the doves of he, at least, shall not return to his old the mountain-gorges, that o.ro fluttered >Lt estate. Even though they should be alive the appea.ro.nce of the eagle or tho fowler, 11t the year of jubilee, their exile ho.d to last a.nd seem by noto (Isa. xxxviii. H; !ix. II) Hs appointed time, Ezekiel's forty (eh. iv. o.nd gesture (Nah. ii. 7), tu he mourning for U) and Jeremiah's seventy years (Jer. xxv. evermore. '!'here nlso t!Jey shall lie, every 11). This, however, did not exclude the mo.n in his iniquity, and wailing for its return of their children (Jer. xxxii. 44), a.nd punishment. Wo a.re reminded of D,mte's in the mea.n time a.11 private sorrow would similitudes in ' lnf.,' v. 40, 46, 82. fall into the background as compared with Ver. 17.-All knees aha.II be weak ns the gro>Lt public woe of the d €struction of the water; literally, sliall flow wU/1 ioaler. So holy city. The vision is touching, etc. The the Vulgute. 'fhe LXX. is yet stronger, noun is usod a.s o. synonym for prophecy, us sha.ll be defiled, etc. 'l'he words may point elsewhere (Isa. i. 1; No.h. i. 1; Hnb. ii. 1). to the oold sweat of terror which pl\nilyzos It mo.y be noted thut it is specially charuc- men's power to act. The phruse is pc- teristio of Ezekiel (seven times) o.nd Daniel culia.r to Ezekiel, nnd meets us ngnin in (eleven times). For the Authorized Version eh. xxi. 7. The thought fimls a. po.rnllel in iead with the Revised Version, no11e 6ha.ll Isa.. xiii. 7 ; J or. vi. 2.i. 120 TIIll: BOOR OF 'l'lIE PROPHET EZEKtEt, (oit. vu. 1-27.