HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-4.-,U~~rved and lavish_kind1:ess. The Prophet Ez_ek)el was a prophet of reproach. His m1D1stry largely consisted m rebuke and denunc1at1on. His lot fell upon the time of his country's calamity. Defection and apostasy were punished by national disaster; for whilst the exiles endured the ills of banishment, the remnant in Jerusalem and in Judah endured the horrors of siege. That all the evils inflicted upon the Hebrew people were of the nature of righteous punishment is apparent from the record of their departure from God. It is this point which the prophet presses in this chapter-one of the most painful in the inspired volume. The distinguishing favour; bouuty, and forbearance of God are described as aggravating the national guilt. That a people so favoured should forsake him to whom they owed everything, and should addict themselves to the worship and service of idols, was guilt of no ordinary kind, entailing no ordinary chastisement. The figure under which the prophet sets forth the Divine favour towards Jerusalem, and Jerusalem's disloyalty to God, is a very bold and effective figure; and if it were less painful and distressing it would be less just. Jerusalem is represented first as a low-born, neglected babe, taken under the kindly protection of the Lord, and by him nourished and trained to lovely womanhood, and taken for his own spouse. Ungrateful for this kindness, Jerusalem is pictured as unfaithful to him to whom she owed everything, as prostituting herself to her idolatrous neighbours, indulging her own passions, and dishonouring her rightful Lord. In plain and pungent language her monstrous guilt is exposed, and its due punishment is threatened. Yet, in his amazing compassion, the Lord does not abandon and repudiate her whom he had chosen, but invites her to repentance, and promises to renew the covenant of his loving-kindness. In the early part of the chapter the goodness and pity of God towards Jerusalem are portrayed in terms the most touching and affecting. I. GoD's GRACIOUS KINDNESS APPEARS FROM THE RECORD OF THE ORIGIN AND EARLY STATE OF JERUSALEM. In ver. 3 the prophet reminds Jerusalem whence she had Eprung. Her native place was the land of Canaan, a land notorious for the cruelty and vileness of its inhabitants. Her father was an Amorite, and her mother a Hittite-an ancestry of which she could not be vain. '!'here was, accordingly, nothing in the birth aud breeding of Jerusalem which could commend her to the Divine regard; that reizard must have been altogether disinterested, benignant, and compassionate. II. GoD'B SPA.RING MERCY APPEARS FROM ms TREATMENT OF JERUSALEM IN THE TIME OF HER WORTRLEBSNEBS AND WRETOHEDNESS. Under the graphically depicted firrure of a deserted new-born child, the condition of Jerusalem is portrayed as one of n~glect, destitution, and friendlessness. When in such a state she was seen and pitied by the Benevolent One, who rescued her from death, who nurtured her gently, and provided for her all that could minister to her health, her growth, her vigour, her beauty. Whatever was justly written in praise of Jerusalem, in her fairest and brightest days, must be read in connection with this authoritative statement of the grace and kindness of God her Saviour. She had nothing which she did not receive from him who made her to differ. III. Goo's LOVING-KINDNESII" APPEARS IN THE COVENANT INTO WHICH HE ENTEllED WITI.1 J Ell.USALEM. In the eighth and following verses is descl'ibed in glowing language 011. xvI. 1-63.] THE BOOK OF 'fHE PROPHET EZEKmL. 237
the favour which God had to Jorusnlem in the day of her espousals. The covenant of love was ontored into, and the bride was arrayed in magnificent and costly attire, indicative of the bounty and kindness of her Lord. The poet-prophet rises to his highest strain in singing of the beauty and majesty of the elected spouse of Jehovah. "Thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper unto royal estate. And thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty : for it was perfect through my mRjesty, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God." IV. GoD'B GRACE APPEARS IN THE EXALTATION OF JERUSALEM TO A POSITION OF FAVOUR AND HONOUR. '!'he wealth and splendour, the power and renown, of Jerusalem, especially in the reign of Solomon, are matters of history. The fame of Jerusalem was spread afar: she was "the joy of the whole earth." And this was the explanation : "The Lord bath chosen Zion; he bath desired it for an habitation." "I," said the Lord-" I aware unto thee, and thou becamest mine."-T.