The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 20

xxiii. 5; Isa. li. 17; Jer. xxv. 15; Matt. paid to them. With the men of the oommon xx. 22; xxvi. 89.) Tile cup, in this case, wo.s sort; literally, as in the margin, o/ the mul!i• to be deep and large as that of Sam11ria. The tud<J of men. Sabean■ from the wilderneBB, adulteress was to bo "drunk, but not with The Revised Version, with Keil and nlruost wine" (Isn. xxix. 9). And that "oup,'' all recent commontntors, follows the mnrgin, over and above the laughter and derision, drunkarwi (LXX., olvw1uvo1), "Snbenns" would contain mnoh of un1.-nown calamities, rests on a Jewish rendering of the text, but, the astonishment and desolation of ver. 33. as a people, the Snbeaus, who dwelt south Ver. 3!.-Thon shalt break the sherds of llforoe, though named in Isa. xiv. 14, were thereof. The picture of the desolate too remote to come witllin the horizon of the adulteress becomes yet more terrible. Like paroble. What Ezekiel dwells on is tho a forlorn and desperate castaway, she does ever-growing degro.dation of the harlot city. shameful execution on herself; breaks her Not only the officers of the Chaldeans, bnt rup, and completes the work of mutilation tho mixed multitude, the very drunkards in itll most terrible form. That is the. doom from the wilderness of Babylon, were ad- decreed for her, because she had forgotten mitted to her embraces. Possibly the word her true husband and the love of hor may point to the false gods lo whom libations espouse.ls. Revised Version girns gnaw the of wine were offered, but I incline to refer sherwi thereof, painting yet more vividly it rather to those who got drunk at their tL e despair of the ou tca.st. idol-festivals even in Jerusalem. Drunken- Ver. 36.-As often, Ezekiel emphasizes by ness was one of the vices of the Babylonians, reiteration, begins yet a fresh disoonrse with and the prophets, whoaclmired theRechabites the snme words, wilt thou judge, as in eh. and the Naw.rites (Jer. xxxv.; Amosii.11), xx. 4 o.nd xxii. 2, and enters on another must have looked on Juda.h's participation summary of the sins of the two harlot sisters, in that sin BB a measureless degradation. in which Moloch-worship (ver. 37) and The bracelets and orowna symbolize tho sabbath-hrea.ldng (ver. 38) were conspicuous wealth and prestige which the Chaldean alements. The nature of the guilt is em- allianoe was supposed to bring with it. phasized (vers. 38, 39) by the fact that the Ver.43.-The whole verse is obscure, and idolatrous ritual was performed on the very has been very differently rendered. (1) day in which the people sacrificed in the Tile Authorized Version may be para phrased, temple; that it found a local habitation even " Then said I to her that was worn out with there (comp. eh. vi.ii.17; 2 Kings xii. 4; Jer. her whoredoms, passed her prime and xxxii. 34). enfeebled, Will they (the foreign nations) Ver. 40.-Ye have sent for men to come commit whoredoms (enter into alliances) with from fa.r, etc. The words obviously refer her? ao. What is there to attract now? And to the embo.ssies which had been sent from yet the ha.bit is inveterate. She has grown time to time by both 8amariaand Jerusalem old in her vice, and cannot cease from it." to Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. The (2) The Revised Version takes it not as a imagery of the earlier et.age of the harlot's question, but o.s a statement : Now said 1 of progress is resumed, and we have a picture her that was old in adulteries, NO'I.O will tliey almost the counterpart of that in Prov. vii. commit, etc. So, in the ma.in, Keil. The 10-21. She takes her bath, paint. her eye- teit is probably corrupt, and resists con- lashes with kohol, the black pigment still jectural emendation. In any case the genera.I used in the East, as Jezebel had done meaning is clear. The sin ill of too long (2 Kings iL 30). She decks herself with standing to be cured. jewels, e.nd sits on e. divan (a. sofa-conch, Yer. 45.-Tbe righteous men a.re in effecl ratLer than bed), and prepares o. table for the ministers of God's wrath. The doom a banqnet. And on that table are the comes at last on both the sisters, who ore incense and the oil, symbols alike of wealth murderers as well as o.dulteresses. They and worship, which Jehovah claims as his, shall suffer the punishment of stoning whioh and which she offers to her ;lovers (comp. the Law commanded (Lev. xx. 10; Deut. eh. xvi. 13, 19 ; Hos. ii. 5, 8). xxii. 22, 24; John viii. 5), and after that their Ver. 42.-A voice of a multitude, etc. bodiea were to be hacked to pieces. The The word for "multitude" is strictly result of tho.t judgment would be tho.t all "tumult," and Keil ancl Currey render" The women ehouhl learn not to do after their voice of tumult became Btill," ac. the threats lewdness, i.e. that idolatry should cease of the alien powers whom Judah courted from bciug the siu of the cities of Ierael. were for 11, tiwc hushed by t!ie tributes thus OH. x.xm. 1-49.] 'l'HE BOOK OF THE PROPHE!T EZEKIEL. 21