The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 10

Lying intrigues, to encompass a rival's death, are plentiful as hnwe, Thie sin the Hebrews had copicJ from their neighbours. 8. Unchastity and adultery, "They commit lewdnes-s." The s:mctit.v of the marriage-tie disappeared. Virtuous 11ffcction wns strangled by animal lust. Incest and other abominations followed. 'l'he people gradually sank to the level of the beasts. All the special dignity and nobleness of nrnnhood died out.. Degradation of humanity spread. 9. Judicial bi·ibery. "Thoy l111ve taken gifts to shed blood." Not an upright judge remained. Wickedness, like an epidemic, spread_ and infect~ every office and every rank. 'l'he fountain of justice bec.'\mc a fountam of corruption and death. 10. .Avarice. There were gains that were dishonest. Extortion was on every side. Avarice, like a cancer, had eaten out all the healthy flesh of honour and sincerity. Gold became to them a god, 11. Forgetfulness of God. This was the root and the crown of their sins. The very memory which God created refused to entertain him; as if a house which a man himself had built should shut its doors against him. When God is driven out, all his retinue-purity, strencrth unity, peace, honour-go with him. This is a long and dismal catalogue of crimes~ ' 11. THE ASSIZE-DAY. "Thou hast caused thy days to draw near." 1. Tliis asslze is certain. "I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it." As surely as night succeeds to day, the reckoning-day of God's justice comes. It has never yet failed. Neither the rn11n nor the nation that has defied God has on any occasion escaped. 2. The proceeding will be strictly equitable. The people had made alliance with the gods of tLe heathen, therefore among the heathen shall they dwell. 3. The irresistibleness of God's judicial act. "Can thine hands be strong in the day that I shall deal with thee?" From bis bar there is no appeal. Against his power it is vain to strive. III. THE VERDICT. "Thou shalt show her all her abominations." Here is threatened: l. Self-discovery. All sin has a subtle potency to blind thejudgment, Men are prone to measure themselves only by others, or to look at their conduct only in the mirror of their neighbours' conduct. But when the clear light of eternal truth flashes upon the soul, past sins start into gigantic magnitude; they are like mountains for their siz<'. 2. Public shame. "Therefore I have made thee a reproach unto the heathen." 'l'his is a· stinging verdict. Even the heathen, so much more barbarous and degraded tl,:m were the Hebrews aforetime, shall now reproach them for their fl.agitious deeds. The fall is all the greater if we have first climbed to some stnpendous height. 3. Over- whelming a.ffeiction. "Can thine heart endure in the days that I shall deal with thee?" When Cain felt the full stress of his sentence, he cried out," My punishment is greater t ban I can bear! " The just wrath of the Creator: how can frail man endure it? 4, Banishment. "I will disperse thee . . . in the countries." In the same measure in which the Hebrews had been confident and boastful in their own land, was the gravamen of the ser:tence that scattered them among many nations. To be shut out from one's own land and home is a heavy stroke. 5 . .Abandonment. "Thou ehalt take thine i1Jheritance in thyself." In other words, thou shalt shift for thyself: thou shalt find no good beyond thyself. When men persist in saying to God, " Depart from me I " God will say to them," Depart from me I" To be left to ourselves is heaviest doom, IV. THE ULTIMATE DESIGN. "I will consume thy filthiness out of thee." 1. Purification. This abandonment is only for a time. When penalty and suffering have accomplished their end, God promised to retum to them in mercy. Meanwhile, alas! many would be cut off by death. Only a remnant would partake of the distant grace. So it came to pass. The seventy years' banishment purged out effectually the spirit of idolatry. It was a severe, yet a successful, remedy I 2. Surrender. "Thou shalt know that I am the Lord." This knowledge would be not only intellectual, but practical. It was a knowledge of God as Supreme King and Judge. It was a know- ledge that produced fruits of obedience. "A burnt child dreads the fire:" so the painful experiences through which that generation passed left wholesome effects upon their children. Full surrender is the only safety.-D. Vere. 17-22.-Thesmeltingfurnace. For every materia.l thing there is a test. We may know metals by their action under chemical agents, or by the furnace-flame. We can test gases by their power to sustain life or to sustain flame. We can test dynamical forces by electricity or by their power to create motion, So for huma.n charactor there iJi a crucial test. ell. xu. 1-31.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 11