The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 38

II. THE JUIJGMENT OP THE CITY, As the flesh and bones are placed in the cauldron, and boiled and seethed by the fire being applied beneath, so tbe inhabitants of Jerusalem are enclosed within the walls, the besieging army surronnds them, and the citizens are abandoned to all the privations and fears and sufferings, and finally to the destruction, incident to so miserable a condition. The instrument of chastisement is appointed to be the nation into whose idolatries Judah had been sednced, the nation whose protection might for a time have availed to avert further evils, bad not the catastrophe been hastened by the treachery and rebellion of prince and people. 'l'he Divine Judge never lacks instruments for the carrying out of his own purposes. " Heap on wood; kindle the fire!" III. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OITY. Previous punishment bas been of the nature of chastisement, of correction; this is of the nature of consuming. All the ca.lamitie!I which have come upon Jerusalem have failed to produce true repentance and radical reformation ; it remains now to execute the threats and to complete the ruin foretold. The language coming from the Almighty Ruler, who bad taken Jerusalem under his especial patronage and care, is frightrul indeed. "I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord God." It is evident that the purpose of God is this-that the era of rebellion shall come to an end, that there must be a break in the continuity of the national life, that a future revival must be a new beginning unaffected for evil by the habits and traditions of the past. To this end the people and all their ways and practices, all their rebellions and idolatries, all their oppressions and immoralities, must first be cast into the cauldron of judgment, and many must be consumed and destroyed.-T. Ver. 13.-Ineffectual discipline. Men who are providentially entrusted with the care and training of the young, or with the probation of undisciplined members of society, often have reason to complain that their endeavours seem to be utter failures, that there is no response to the appeal which by language and by action they a.re constantly addressing to those who are placed beneath their charge. It is very instructive to a.II such to observe what was the result of Jehovah's dealing with Judah and Jerusalem. It is not to be disputed that. the results in question were perfectly known to the Omniscient before they ea.me to pass. Yet it seemed good to him, in dealing with moral a.gents, to afford them the means of repentance, and to furnish them with induce- ments to repentance. Lamentable is the record of what without irreverence we may term the Divine experience: "I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged." I. DIVINE DISCIPLINE. There is presumed the need for such discipline. It is because the metal ie mixed with dross that it is cast into the furnace. It is because the patient is sick that medicine is administered. It is because the wheat and the chaff a.re inter- mingled that the winnowing-fan is employed. And it is because the heart and life of the individual or the nation are contaminated with evil that the chastening band of God intervenes to purge away the mischief-the dross, the chaff. The means employed is usually e.ffiiction in some one or more of the many forms it assumes. One heart is reached in one way, another by a way altogether different; one nation is bumbled by pestilence or famine, another by defeat in war and privation of territory. II. THE MOTIVE AND PURPOSE OF DIVINE DISCIPLINE. To the careless observer it may seem as if such experiences as those described were evidences of malevolence in the Governor of the world. But in fact it is otherwise. "Whom he loveth be chasteaetb, and sconrgeth every child whom he receiveth." The son does not always understand his father's treatment of him, and does not always accept that treatment with submis- sion and gratitude; neither does he always profit by it as he might do. Yet the treat- ment may be wise and well adapted for purposes alike of probation and of education; and the time may come when, looking back with enlarged experience and maturer judgment, he may approve his father's action. So is it with God's dealing with bis great family. 'l'he Father of the spirits of all flesh has at heart the welfare of his offspri!!g, his household. He knows that uninterrupted prosperity would not be beneficial, that many lessons could never be acquired amid circumstances of ease and enjoyr.:ient, that character could not by such experience be formed to ripeness and moral strength. It is through trials and afflictions that true men are fashioned. And  40 THE BOOlt OF Tltlll PROPH:B:T EZ:B:KrnL. [ott. xnv. 1-27.