The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 109

Ver. 16.-Bin and destruction. No doubt the inspired prophet of the Lord saw in the fate of Tyre what was not discernible to worldly and enlightened minds. These would look for political causes and motives and consequences in the rise and fall of states. But Ezekiel saw below the surface. He knew that there Wa.9 Divine action in and beneath the action of Tyre's enemies; and that there were rea.gons only recogniz- able by a reflecting and religious man for the awful disasters which he Wa.9 commissioned to foretell. I. THE oooA.sroNB OF BIN. 1. We may discover what may be called material occasions of sin, in the wee.Ith and prosperity, the fame and renown, the beauty and splendour, of Tyre. Circumstances of very different kinds may yet agree in suggesting evil thoughts, desires, and habits. Men lay the blame upon circum.stances, but this is a very short- sighted method of proceeding. 2. There are moral promptings to sin which may spring out of the former. The heart is lifted up with exultation; a not unnatural confidence in possessions and resources springs up and asserts itself. II. THE MAND'EBTATIONS OF BIN, "Thou hast sinned" is the reproach addressed by God to the guilty city; and it is the reproach addressed to every nation and to every man that has yielded to temptations which should have been withstood, repelled, and mastered. The forms which sin assumes are innumerable, and vary with varying times and with varying states of society. The context refers to: 1. Iniquity, or the violation of Divine laws regulating men's relations among themselves and to God himself. 2. Violence, such as the powerful, wilful, and haughty are given to exercise in their treatment of their infeliors. 3. Corruption and defilement, such as are certain to prevail where God is not honoured, and where selfish ends inspire men's conduct. III. THE PUNISHMENT OF BIN, This is : 1. By the decree of God. He is the Speaker throughout this passage. He claims to bestow privileges, and to call men to account for the manner in which those privileges are used. Whatever be the agency or instrumentality of chastisement and correction, it is by the Eternal Wisdom and Righteousness that it is inflicted. 2. In the case of natione.l sin, the penalties are put in force through the instrumentality of neighbouring nations. A barbarian horde, or a mighty sovereign and conqueror, has again and again been used as a" scourge of God." It would be wrong to attribute any moral superiority to the victorious people ; they may be merely the rod, the sword, in the hand of the Lord of hosts, 3. Where the offence has been heinous, tho visitation may be one involving complete destruction, as in the case of Tyre. The terms of threatening here recorded aro of the strongest and most unsp:i.ring. " I will destrny thee ; " "I will cast thee to the ground; " " I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee; it shall devour thee." Such punishment is sometimes regarded as inconsistent with the attributes of a just and merciful King nnd Judge. But, whilst it may not be in our power to vindicate all the ways of God, it is certainly not for us to question the acts of him who is omniscient, and whose righteous- ness is without a flaw. There is nothing in Scripture to support the opinions of thoso who think that, because God is benevolent, therefore there is no such thing o.s punish- ment. There is a moral law which the Sovereign Judge will surely maintain and vindicate. 4. The punishment inflicted upon sinners shall be published far and wide. What is done by God in the exercise of punitive justice is done in the eight of all, an,l all shall be astonished. This publicity may surely be explained ns an arrangement intended for the universal good-to impress upon the minds of all mankind the heinousness of iniquity, that they may" stand in awe, and sin not."-T. Vera. 25, 26.-Thefavo11,r shown to Israel. In the writings of Ezekiel, as in those of other prophets, we cannot but observe the remarkable conjunction of pa.ssages denouncing judgment with passages revealing Divine grace and promising Divine clemency. The attentive reader cannot but be surprised and charmed upon meeting with such a promise as is contained in these two verses, coming in between the denunci- ation of Tyre and the denuaciation of Egypt. Undoubtedly, the fate of surrounding nations had relation to the history and prospects of Israel, though it would be pre- sumption in us to define those relations too exactly. It was not a mere rhetorical art which led to the introduction of this portion of the prophecies just in this place. Yet we feel that its position both enhances its beauty and deepens its interest and significance. 112 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [oH. xxvm.1-26.