The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 212

is ~afe from the surrounding fire, so they regarded themselves as safe within their city walls, whatever forces me.y rage outside them. 'l'hey deemed their position a secure one, and would trust to their city walls and defensive an-angements, rather than heed tho words of the Prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In most ages there have been presumptuous and profane scoffers at the threatenings of Divine judgmcnts (of. 2 Pet. iii. 3, 4). And in our own age there are many who persist in sin, notwithstandincr the warnings addressed to them in the sacred Scriptures. A.nd if their own conscienc: also remonstrates with and warns them, they make light of its admonitions. They seem to think that they can sin on with impunity, that somehow they will escape the natural consequences of their trangressions (cf. Jer. v. 12). 2. Sinners in influential positionsformi11g wicked plans and proffering wiclced counsel, and so misleading others. "These arc the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city." They entered into political intrigues, and formed plans of resistance against the enemy in direct opposition to the will of God expressed by Jeremiah (xxi. 8-10; xxvii. 8-18· :xxniii. 17-23). By following this course, these five and twenty men had brought calamity and slaughter upon many whom they had misled (ver. 6). Sin, mischievous in any one, is especially mischievous in those who, by reason of their position and influence, lead others astray. When leaders in society by evil and perilous examples, or politicians or statesmen by unwise or unrighteous speeches or measures, or authors by injurious books, mislead or corrupt others, it is unspeakably pernicious. Great is the responsibility attached to great influence, and great is the guilt when that influence is exerted for evil. II. THE PRESUMPTUOUS A.ND FALSE SECURITY OF SINNERS CONDEMNED, (Vers. 4----13.) Notice: 1. The Divine knowledge of their evil designs. "Thus saith the Lord ; Thus have ye said, 0 house of Israel : for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them; " or, as Hengstenberg translates, "A.ad that which riseth up in your mind I know." To the Omniscient all their thoughts and purposes were fully known (cf. Deut. xxxi. 21; Ps. cxxxix. 1-6; John ii. 24, 25; Acts i. 24; and see a homily on this verse which appears below). 2. The disastrous consequences of their evil desi_gns. "Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled thG streets thereof with the slain." A.t this time bloodshed and murder were terribly prevalent in Jerusalem, and were amongst the chief crimes mentioned by Ezekiel as calling for the Divine judgment upon the city and its guilty inhabitants (cf. eh. viii. 17; ix. 9). A.nd in addition, "the slain" includes those who would be killed "by the Chaldeans, already slain from the standpoint taken up in the discourse of God." A.nd they are said to be the slain of" the men that devise mischief," because their deaths were a consequence of their evil counsels. Who can guage the miseries that arise in every age from the evil counsels of incompetent, unprincipled, or wicked leaders of men? 3. The fatal issue of their evil designs. (Vers. 8-13.) Here are several points which call for brief notice. (1) The utter failure of their boasted security in the city. "I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you." (2) Their slaughter in the execution of the just judgment of God. "Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord God. . . . Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of IsraeL" A.ad this prophecy was fulfilled with remarkable fidelity. After they had taken Jerusalem, the Chaldean army made prisoners of many of the chief men; they also captured King Zedekiah as he was endeavouring to escape by flight ; and they carried them" to Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath," on the northern border of Israel; and there the King of Babylon slew the r,rinces and nobles of Judah, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, to carry him to Babylon (2 Kings xxv. 18-21; Jer. xxxix. 4----7; Iii. 8-11). (0) Their recognition of Jehovah as the true and supreme God when it was too late. "And ye shall know tbat I am the Lord" (we havG noticed these words in eh. vi. 7, 10). '' It is lamentable," says Hengstenberg, "if we must gain the knowledge of God by our own destruction, if he in whom we live, and move, and arG, is first recognized by the strokes which break our own head. The knowledge has here, moreover, no moral import. It is a mere passive knowledge, forced upon tlle ungodly, unconnected with repeutance." (4) The awful earnest of the fulfilment of the words of the prophet. c, A.nd it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died." In en, xr. 1-25.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 2(7