The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 235

x. 11 ; Ill!\. xxx. SO; nviii. 2, I 7). And may mean either knuckles, wrists, or (as in when the diSOBter c--0mes men will tnrn to the Revised Version) elbows. Possibly these those who professed to be master-bnilders may !in rn been, like the phylacteries of Matt. and repairers of the branch, with derision, xxiii. 5, cases containing charms or incan- and ask, "Where is the daubing wherewith tntions, and used as Amulets. Something ye have dnubod?" And then men shall analogous to, if not identical with, these orna• see that through all this it is J ehovnh's ments, is found in the" seeress wreaths," and hand that hos been working. It is he who "divining garments" of Cassandra. (2Esch., "rends" the wall; he who "brings it down 'Agamemnon,' 1237-1242), and in the to the ground;" be who "acc-0mplishes his "garlands" or "fillets" of the Pythian wrath" (vers. 13-15). That shall be the priestess in 2Esch., • Eumen.,' 39. By some end of the false "visions of peace." writers (Hli.vernick) the word has been taken, Ver. 17.-Set thy face against the daugh- as, perhaps, in the Authorized Version, for ters of thy people. Here we note that the for- ••pillows" in the larger sense, either lite- mula, " thy people," of eh. iii. lJ. reappears. rally as used in wanton luxury, like the The section which follows (vers. 17-23) "tapestry" of Prov. vii. 16, or figuratively, throws a.n interesting side-light on the like the "wall" of the preceding section, position of women in the religious life of for counsels that lulled the conscience into Israel. For good as for evil, their influence the slumber of a false security. Strangely was stronger there than in most other na- enou1'h, the Hebrew noun rendered "arm- tions. Miriam had led the way (Exod. xv. holes." has the pronominal suffix "my arms," 21), and had been followed by Deborah or "my hands." Keil accepts this rendering, (Judg. v. 4). Hnldah had been almost as and explains it as meaning that the prophet. prominent in Josiab's reformation as Hil- esses sought to "bind the arms," i.e. to re- kiab the high priest (2 Kings xxii. 14-20; strain the power of Jehovah. On the whole, 2 Cbron. =:iv. 22). It was but natnml it is safer to follow Ewald and Hitzig, as that there sbonld be women on the other I have done above. Make kerchiefs upon side also, gniding their own sex ; and it is the head of every stature. The word for probable that Ezekiel bad in his thoughts "kerchiefs" is again unique, but is, per- some special leaders who headed the women haps, a variant of the word in Isa. iii. 22, of Jerusalem in their opposition to Jere- and rendered "wimples" in the Autho- miah, as afterwards at Path.roe (Jer. xliv. rized Version. There is a fair consensus of 15). So, later on, we have the prophetess interpretations that it means, as "kerchief" Noadia.h heading the opposition to Nehe- means, some covering for the head, a veil miah (Neh. vi. 14); and in the New Testa- that hangs down over it, lilre the Spanish ment, on the one hand, Anna (Luke ii. 36) mantilla. Its use is, perhaps, explained and the daughters of Philip (Acts =i. 9), by the words that follow, which suggest and on the other, the ill-regulated prophet- that the veils were not worn by the prophet- esses of Corinth (1 Cor. xi. 5) and the esses themselves, but by those who came to woman Jezebel, who called herself a pro- consult them. The former had, as it were, phetess (Rev. ii. 20). a whole wardrobe of such veils adapted to Ver. 18.-Woe to the women who sew persorui of various heights, so that in all pillows, etc. Ezekiel's minute description, cases it shrouded their whole form. We though it is from a different standpoint, may, perhaps, read between the lines the reminds us of that in Isa. iii. 18-26. In thought that their utterances, like their both cases there are the difficulties insepar- veils, were adapted to suit every age and able from the fact that he had seen what every taste. Analogous usages present he describes, and that we have not; and themselves in the tallith of later Judaism, that he uses words which were familiar and the veil worn by the Roman augm·s. enough then, but are now found nowhere Ezekiel paints, we may believe, what he else, so that (as in the case of the l{ovofo of had seen. And in those veils he had seen l Cor. xi. 10) we have to guess their mean- a net cast over the victims of the false ing. The picture which he draws of a false prophetesses, a snare from which they prophetess is obviously taken from the lifo, could not escape. Will ye hunt, etc. ? The and the dre1is, we can scarcely doubt, was one question (that form is preferable to the that belonged to her calling. The word for affirmative of the margin of the Revised "sew" meets us in Gen. iii. 7; Job xvi. 15; Version) is one of burning indignation. Eccles. iii. 7; and the English is an adequate Omitting the words, "that come" (which rendering. For the word rendered "pillows," have nothing in the Hebrew corresponding the LXX. gives ..-po111wp&.>..a,a, the Vulgate to them), the second clause will run, "Will :,,u),t,ilU (equivalent to "cushions"). The ye make your own eeuls live?" and the word here obviously denotes an article of question is explained by what follows. The dress, something fastened to the arms. For prophetesses were living upon the credulity arm-holea, rea.djointB of the two liaud6, which of the victims over whow they cast their netd. on. xm. 1-23.] 'l'RE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 231