The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 265

false prophets rather than the true ones; and if they persisted in their choice they must take the consequences thereof. This was God's answer to their inquiries. He had shown them that by true repentance they would put themselves into right relations with him. But if they would not repent, he would no more speak to them by his prophets, but by his judgments in the just consequences of their sins. '!'heir chosen prophet.a would be deceived, and would deceive those who inquired of them, and both the prophets and the inquirers should "bear the punishment of their iniquity." But in what sense can the Lord be said to deceive the false prophet., and then to punish him? It is certain that he cannot sin, and that he 1s not the author of sin. "The deception proceeds originally from indwelling sin (Jas. i. 14), othenv:~e it coul<l not he the object of punishment." But it was both permitted and reaulated by God. He controls both sin and the consequences thereof for the accompli;hment of his own glorious purposes (cf. Ps. h::xvi. 10). When Nebuchadnezzar besieaed Jerusalem, be did so of his own accord, with no thought of doing the will of the L~rd Jeho'l"ab, yet uncomciously he was doing that will; and frequently the Lord says that he would do those things which the army of the Chaldean monarch did (cf. eh. iv. 16; 'I". 8-17). God employed the Chaldeans, and regulated and controlled their move- ments, for t.be working out of his own plans; yet they were free in those movements nnd bad no idea that in them they were the agents of the Lord God of Israel. S~ these false prophets were used by him in the way of judgment, and were controlled by him; but they acted voluntarily in the course which they pursued, and they who consulted them did ~o of their own will; and both of them should become the victims of their cherished delusions, and "bear the punishment of their iniquity." 3. Phey should become the means, under God, of leading his people to fidelity unto him. "'fhat the house of Israel may go no more astray from me," etc. (ver. 11). This was the Divine design in the punishment of the sinful people. " ' God punishes sins by means of sins,' but the end is the re-establishment of righteousness. His people, purified by trials, will cleave to him whom they have forsaken, and become a con.verted, sanctified people, joined unto their God by a covenant which they will not break" (' Speaker's Commentary'). The judgments of God aim at the promotion of the well-being of man. CONCLUSION. 1. Here is solemn warning against insincere approach unto God. 2. Here is encouragement to approach God sincerely and humbly. (Vers. 6, 11.}-W. J. Ver. 20.-The privilege and power of the godly, their nature and limitation._ •• Thongh Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, saitb the Lord God," etc. 'l'bree very distinguished men are here mentioned, two of whom bad long passed away from this world and all its scenes, the other was yet amongst men upon earth. Yet Noah and Job are spoken of as still in being. Absent from this world, they were yet living and present in the great universe of God. These undesigned testimonies to man's immortality, to be met with frequently in the Scriptures, afford the basis for a strong argument in support of that fact. " The dead are like the stars by day, Withdrawn from mortal eye; But not extinct, they hold their wa1 In glory through the sky. Spirits from bondage thus set free Vanish amidst immensity, Where human thought, like human sight, Fails to pursue iheir trackless flight." Daniel at this time, like Ezekiel, was an exile in Babylon, and was eminent both for his piety and his position. Noah, Daniel, and Job were all good men and great men; they are enrolled amongst the most illustrious of our race. 'l'he prophet in this paragraph predicts "four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence," by reason of their idolatry and other sins.1 .And in the text be declares that, when the hour of judgment arrives, even the presence of such men as Noah, Daniel, and Job in the doomed city would not avail to save any but their own souls. ' Most of these judgments we have noticed in our survey of earlier chapters of thill boolr. on. xiv. 1-23.] THE BOOK OF 'l'HE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 263