The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 356

horclcrcrl by many no.tions. This may pro- Lev. vii. 14, et al.) and other oblations. The bo.bly point to tho great Syro-Aro.bio.n desert fact that Israel itself is said to be the lyi11g between Babylon o.nt! Po.Jestine. 'l'his "sweet savour" (Revised Version) which wns to ho to them who.t the wilclemess of Jehovah e,ccept• (comp. 2 Cor. ii. 15; Eph. Binni ho.rl been in the time of the Exodus. v. 2; Phil. iv. 18) suggest• a like spirituo.l Thero Jehovo.h would plead with them face interpretation of the other offering•, though to fooc, in the first instance as o.n o.ccuser. the literal meaning waa probably dominant (For fa.co to fo.ce, e.s expressing the direct in the prophet's own thoughts. The nearest revelation of Jehovah, see Exocl. xxxiii. 11; approach to a parallelism in e. later o.ge is Dent. v. 4; xxxiv. 10, e,ud elsewhere.) that presented by Rom. ix.-xi. ; but it is Ver. 37.-I will ea.use you to po.ss under noticeable how there St. Paul avoids any the rod. The "rod" (same word o.s in Pa. worda that imply the perpetuation of the x.xiii. 4) is primarily the,t of chastisement, temple anrl ita ritual, o.nd confines himself but it is also thnt of the shepherd who to the spiritual restoration of his brethren gathers in his flock (eh. xxxiv. 11; Lev. o.ccording to the flesh. It was given to him xxvii. 32; Micah vii. 14). Into the bond to see, what the prophets did not see, that of the covenant. The word for "bond " that perpetuation would frustrate the pur- (only found here in the Old Teste,ment) is pose of the restoration; that the temple and probably cognate with the.t for ''fetter" or its ritual took their places among the things "bond" (Isa. Iii. 2; Jer. v. 5; xxvii. 2). that "were decaying and waxing old," and The chastisement we.a, for those who ac- were ready to vanish away (Heh. viii. 13). cepted it, to do its work by restoring the Ver. 41.-I will be sanctified in you, etc. blessings of the covenant which o.poslasy God is sanctified when he is manifested and he.d forfeitetl. recognized o.s holy (Lev. :x. 3; Numb. xx. Ver. 38.-The thought of the shepherd 13). That recognition would be the conse- suggests, o.s in Matt. xxv. 33, the sepe.re.tion quence of the restoration of Israel, for ftlen of the sheep from the goats. The le,nd of it would be seen, even by the heathen, that the restored Israel we,s to be e. le,nd of the God of Israel had been holy and just righteousness, o.nd the rebels were not to and true in hiajudgments,o.nd that he seeks enter into it. Wa.a Ezekiel thinking of those to mo.ke men partakers of his holiness. who were thus to die in the "wilderness of Ver. 43.-A.nd there shall ye remember, the peoples'' as e. counterpart of those who etc. The words stretch far and wide, and perished in the forty yeo.re of the wande1ing, throw light on many of the problems that o.nd did not enter Canaan? Ver. 36 seems to connect themselves with the conversion of imply that he was looking for n repetition the sinner and the eschatology of the Divine of that history. The solemn fast kept by government. The whole evil past is still Ezra by the river of Ahava (Ezra viii. remembered o.fter repento.nce and forgive- 21-23) may be noted as corresponding, on ness. There is no water of Lethe, each a.a e. small scale, to Ezekiel's expectations. the Greeks fabled, such as Dante dreamt of Ver. 39.-Go ye, serve every man his e.s the condition of entering Po.radise (' Purg.,' idols, etc. The command comes e.s with e. xxxi. 94-105). The self-loathing and hn- gro.ve irony. "Be o.t lee.at consistent. Sin mility which grow out of that memory, the on, if it is your will to sin ; but do not mo.ke acceptance of all the punishment of the past the sin worse by the hypocrisy of o.n umeal as less than had been deserved,-these are the worship, o.nd mix up the name of Jehovah conditions e.nd se.feguo.rds of the new blessed- with the ritual of Moloch" (comp. Josh. ness. Ezekiel teo.ches us, i.e., that it is :xxiv. 19, 20). The margin of the Revised possible to conceive of o.neternoJ. punishment, Version, with not e. few critics (Keil), gives, the puuishmenl of memory, shame, self- "but hereafter surely ye sho.ll hearken uuto loCLthing, as compatible with eterno.l life. me"(" if not" equivalent to" ye she,11," as in So (in ver. 44) the prophet ends who.t is the familiar idiom of Ps. xcv. 11, where perhaps, the profoundest and the noblest of "if" is equivalent to" shall not"). So taken, his discourses, his "vindication of the ways the verse looks forward to what follows. of God to mo.n." Ver. 40.-From the e11rlior stage of the Ver. 45.-ln the Hebrew the verses tbo.t restomtion the prophet p11sses on to its com- follow form the opening of the next chapter. pletion. The people have come to the The Authorized Version follows the LXX., mountain of the height of Israel (Micah the Vulgate, o.nd Luther. The section he.s iv. 1, 2; fsn. ii. 2, 3). Ezekiel sees an Ierael olearly no connection with who.the.a preceded, that slmll at le,st be worthy of its name, the e.nd, though fragmentary in its cho.racter, worship of false god~ rooted out for ever. seems by the words, "set thy face,'' to con- The e.11 of them points to the breaking down nect itself with eh. xxi. 2, and to lead up to of the old division between Isrnel and Judah it. The words of ver. 45 imply, as always, an (Isa. xi. lB). J chovBh wouhlnrcept the" henl'e interval of silence CLnd repose. olfo1·iug" (s11mo word as in Ex.od. xxiv. 27; Ver. 46.-Drop thy word. Tile vcru is 158 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [cu. xx:. l-'19.