The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 12

princes, priests, and prophets acted basely in Israel, thereforo the IC people of the ll\11d used oppression and exercised robbery" (ver. 29). Vice is more contagious than fever. Rank give;; e.rtificial importance to its possessor, and exerts extensive influence either for evil or for good. As a monument attracts the notice of human eyes in proportion to the elevation on which it is rnised, so ac,cording to the station in society a mnn occupies he will have more or fewer imitators. Wide influence is a perilous pos.•ession. IV. THE HlGHEST RANK IS NOT DESmED AMONG MEN. IC I sought for a man who should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none." Real and thorough reform is always unpopular, Men are often eager to reform their institutions or their laws, but always backward to reform themselves. A faithful prophet, who shall recall the people back to God, has always been a scarce man. Nor is this the only time in which God exprossed his surprise that no intercessor for men could be found. Yet this is the noblest office any man can occupy. Its aim is the very loftiest. It brings man into companionship with God. Its fruits are permanent, yea, eternal. Alongside this order of service every other rank pales into insignificance. A mediator is a peerless m:ml V. THE INFLUENCE OF ONE MAN MAY BE ENORMOUS. Had one real man been found to repro'l"e the people, restore religious worship, and plead with God, Israel might have been spared its overthrow. One man may save a nation or plunge it into perdition, Paul, on board ship, obtained the lives of all the crew. The intercession of Moses brought a deed of pardon for the Hebrew host. For David's sake God conferred large favours on the nation. Luther's firm faith brought deliverance both spiritual and temporal to all Europe. What one man can do no language can portray, imagination can scarce conceive. A man of wisdom, piety, and faith may quietly revolutionize the world.-D. Vers. 1-16.-.An appalling indictment and ajustjudgment. "Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city?" etc. "This chapter," says Fairbairn, "standli closely related to the last chapter, and may fitly be regarded as supplementary to it; the former ha'l"iog presented a striking delineation of the Lord's purpose to execute the severity of his displeasure upon the people of Jerusalem, while this returns to lay open the fearful mass of corruption on account of which such severity was to be inflicted. In what is written here there is nothing properly new; in its general purport it is a repetition of the charges which were urged in eh. x:x.; and so the chapter begins much in the same way-with a call upon the prophet to judge the people, and set before them their Iniquities. There, however, the charge took the form of an historical review for the purpose of connecting tbe present state of wickedness with the past, and showing how continuously the stream of corruption had flowed through all periods of their national existence. Here, on the other hand, the prophet looks exclusively to the present, and brings out in fearful array the many heinous and rampant sins which were crying in Heaven's ear for vengeance." We have in the text- L AN APPALLING CATALOGUE OF THE PEOPLE'S BINS, 1. The nature of these sins. (1) Forgetfulness of God. "Thou hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God." We mention this first, because it was the root-sin out of which all the others sprang. Men forget God's holy authority, his constant and universal presence, and his great goodness, and thns the principal restraints from sin are removed. " Forgetfulness of God opens the window to every wicked action." (2) Blood-guiltiness. 'l'his charge is repeatedly and variously stated. "The bloody city. . . . A city that sheddeth blood in the midst of her. . . . Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hasi. shed." This may refer, as Schroder suggests," to murderous deeds generally; specially to judicial murders, consequently to the shedding of the innocent blood of righteous, God-fearing men, prophets, etc. (cf. Matt. xxiii. 37). The city which had its naml'I from 'peace' has l,ecome a city of death to those who require true peace." Even the princes were guilly of violence and bloodshed. "Behold, the princes of Israel, every one according to his power, have been in thee to shed blood" (ver. 6). They ditl not reco~nize the sacred duties or the solemn accountabilities of their exalted station, Ti..iey ruled not in accordance with right, but a~rding to their might; and that might 011. xm. 1-31.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 11