The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 2

forms of incest, l\gninet which the horror this Is followed both by tho Authorized flnfural.is of the heathen, as in the story of Version and the Revised Version (comp. Hippolytus, uttered its protost, would seem Isa. v. 6; Amos iv. 7). to hnve been common among the rorruptione Ver. 25.-A oonspiraoy of prophets. The of Israel (Amos ii. 7; comp. 1 Cor. v. 1). (For prophet's thoughts go back to oh. xiii. 1-16, tlio sin described in tho second clause, see from whioh, in vc1·. 28, he a.otually quotes. notes on oh. xviii. 6.) It is probable thnt, in the inte1·val, fresh Vom. 11, I 2.-The list of sins follows on the tidings had reached him of the evil work Jines of Lev. xviii. 9, 15. (For those in ver. which they were Joing at Jeruse1lcm. The l 2. see notes on eh. xviii. 12.) It is to be re- LXX. o.if,11")'0.lµ•vo, ( equivalent to" princes'') marked, however, that the prophet does not suggests that they followed a different text, confine himself to the mere enumeration of and this is adopted by Keil nnd Hitzig. Like specific sins. These e.ro traced to their a. roaring lion (comp.eh. xix. 2, 8; 1 Pet. v. 8). source in that "forgetting God" which was The word probably points to the loud decla- nt once the starting-point and the consum- mations of the false prophets ( compare, as a mation of all forms of evil (comp. Rom. striking parallel, Zeph. iii. 3, 4). i. 28). Ver. 26.-The sins of the prophets a.re Ver. 13.-I have smitten my hand. The followed by those of the priests. Their guilt gesture, e.s in eh. xxi. 14, 17, was one of was that they blurred over the distinction indignant, and, as it were, impatient com- between the holy and the profane (Revised mand. Version, ''common"), between the olean and Ver. 14.-Ce.n thine heart endure, eto.? the unolean (comp. eh. xliv. 23; Lev. x. 10, The question implies an answer in the where the same terms are used), iu what we negative. Rea.rt would fail and hands wa.x have learnt to ce.11 the positivee.ndceremonial feeble in the day of the Lord's judgment. ordinnnces of the Law, e.nd so blunted their The doom of exile and dispersion must come, keenness of perception in regard to analogous with all its horrors; but even here, Judah moral distinctions. Extremes meet, e.nd in was not, like Ammon, to be forgotten (eh. xxi. our Lord's time the same result was brought 32). Her punishment was to do its work, about by an exaggerated scrupulosity about 11.nd to consume her filthiness out of her. the very things the neglect of which was, Ver. 16.-Thou shalt take thins inherit- in Ezekiel's time, the root of the evils ance, etc.; better, with the Revised Version, which he condemns. This was true gene- Keil, e.nd most other commentators, Thou. rally, conepiouously true in the case of the ihal,t be profaned in thyself, etc. The prophet sabba.th. Its neglect was a. crying evil in is still speaking of punishment, not of re- Ezekiel's time, just as its exaggeration was storation. in the later development of Judaism. Ver. 18.-The house of Israel is to me Though in itself positive rather than more.I, become dross, etc. A new parable, based to hide the eyes from its holiness was, for upon lea. i 22, 23 and J er. vi 30, begins, and those to whom the commandment had been is ca.rri~d out with considerable fulness. In given, an a.et of immorality. Mal. iii. 2, 3 we have the some imagery. Ver. 27.-Wolves (comp. Hab. i. 8; Zeph. Baser metals have been mingled with the iii. 3 ; Matt. vii. 15; Acts xx. 29). silver, and must be burnt out, but there is Ver. 28.-(Seech. xiii.10.) The fact that hope, as well as terror, in the parable. Men the prophets a.re adchessed here gives some throw the mixed meta.ls into the smelting- force to the idea. that " chiels " or "judges" pot in order that the silver may be separated were addressed. in ver. 27. from the dross and come out pure (comp. Ver. 29.-From the classes, the prophet 1 Pet. i. 7). And this was to be the issue of turns to the masses. The people of the land, the "fiery trial" through which Jerusalem the common people '(2 Kings x.xv. 3, 19). and its inhabitants were to pass. come under the same condemnation. Greed Vera. 23, 24.-A fresh section opens, and of gain, the oppression of the poor and the the prophet addresses himself, not to Jeru- stranger, were seen everywhere. ealem only, but to the whole land. A land Ver. 30.-And I sought for a. man, eto. that is not cleansed. The words admit of (For the imagery that follows, see eh. xiii. 5: the rendering, not shined upon, and this is Ps. cvi. 23.) The fa.et stated, as in J er. v. 1, adopted by Keil. The land is deprived at is that there was no one in e.ll Jerusalem once of the sunshine and the rain, which are righteoUl3 enough to be either a. defender or the conditions of fertility. The LXX. gives an intercessor, none to be e." repairer of the "not rained upon," and so the two cle.W188 breach" (Isa. lviii. 12). Nothing was left are parallel and state the same fa.et. So but the righteous punishment proclaimed i.u Ewald. The Vulgate gives immunda, and ver. 31, ou. xXIL 1-31.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. s