The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 150

eh. nx. 4, for hie nuKiliory forces. It opene ns in eh. xvii. 23; Dan. iv. 9; Matt. x.m. with one of the cuatomory formulm of an 32, was the natural symbol of the fact Eastern opologue (Me.rk iv. 30), intended to that o.11 the neighbouring nations owned the sharpen the curiosity e.nd win the attention eovereignty of Assyria and were sheltered of the prophet's hee.rere or readers, It is by her protection. In the great nations we significant the.t the qneetion ie repeated e.t have the parable paesing into its inte1-preta- the cloee of the pe.re.ble, e.s if the prophet tion. he.d left the interpretation to hie readers, as Ver. 8.-The oedara in the garden of God. our Lord does in saying, " He that he.th ears As in eh. xxviii. 13, the thoughte of the to I,ee.r, let him hee.r." prophet dwell on the picture of Eden in Ver. 3.-Behold, the Assyrian was a oedar Gen. ii. 8. Far above all other treee, tho in Lebanon. The Hebrew text, os rendered cedar of Assyria rose high in majesty. All in all versioUB and illterpreted by most the treee that were in the garden of God commentators, gives ue, in the form of the envied him. The treee specially chosen for pa.re.hie of the cedar, the history of the comparison 11re (I) the fir trees-probably, Assyrian empire in its glory and its fall. a.a in eh. xxvii. 5, the cypresses; and (2) The.t had passed a.way in spite of its great- the chestnut trees, for which the Revised ness, and so should Egypt. The question in Version, following the Vulgate and the LXX. ver, 18 takes the place of "Thou art the of Gen. x.xx.. 37, gives the "plane," which man I" in Nathan's interpreto.tion of his held e. high place in the admiration of Greek parable (2 Sam. xii. 7), or tile mutato fl01lline and Roman writers. Of thi3 we have IL de ui fahula narratur of the Roman satirist. special instance in the story of Xerxes, who Some recent commentators, however, either decorated a plane tree near the Meander like Ewe.Id, taking the Hebrew word for with ornaments of gold (Het"od., vii. 31 ; ••Assyrian" as describing a particular kind '1Elicon,' v.14; also comp. Ecclus. xxiv. 14; of cedar or fir tree, or, like Cornill o.nd Smend, Virg., 'Georg.,' iv. 146; Cicero, 'De Oral.,' adopting a conjectuml emendation of the i. 7, 28). text which actually gives that meaning Vers.10, 11.-Beoe.use thou hast lifted up (Tasshur for .Asshur), refer the whole parable thyael.f. The second and third persons ure primarily to Egypt, and dwell on the fa.et curiously mixed ; probo.bly the former was the.t the words of vers. 10, 18 ore addressed in the nature of a warning addressed to tho to the living represent1Ltive of e. great King of Egypt, while the latter continues monarchy, and not to o. power the.t he.a the pe.mble of the history of Assyria. For already passed a.way into the Hades of boughs read cloud.8, 11B in ver. 3. Ezekiel departed glory. The former view seems to writes o.s with the feeling which led Solou me the more tenable of the two, and I there- to note that the loftiest trees ore those fore adopt it throughont the chapter. It which a.re most exposed to the strokes of me.y be admitted, however, that the inner the thunderbolts of Zeus (Herod., vii. 10). meaning of the pn.rable at times breaks The Aseyrio.n'e heart was "lifted up witli through the outward imagery, os woe indeed pride" (lea. x. 5), and therefore he was to be expected, the prophet seeking to apply delivered to the mighty one of the nations; his opologne even before he had completed so. to Nebuchadnezzar. it. 'l'he "cedar in Leb11non" hos already Ver. 12.-Strangen, the terrible of the met 11s os the symbol of e. kingdom, in eh. nations. We note the recurrence of tho xvii. 2. The ah&dowing shroud may be phrase of oh. xxx. 11, e.s pointing, here oe noted e.s e. speoiully vivid picture of the there, to the Ch1Lldco.n invaders. The peculiar folinge of the cedar rendered with branches of the tree were broken, the peoplo singular felicity. His top was among the of the earth no longer dwelt under its eh1Ldow thiok boughs; better, clouds, aa in tho (De.n. iv. 11). mo.rgiu of tho Revised Version. So Keil, Ver. 13.-Upon his ruin. Tho prophet, us Smend, 1Lnd others (comp. vere. 10, 14). it were, corrects his imagery. 'l'ho hir,ls Ver. 4.-The waters made him great. and bewits ore etill thero, but insten,I of Tho scenery ie hardly that of Leb1Lnon, but dwelling in the boughs, they (vultures ancl finds its counterpart in that of the Nile, owls, juck11le and hyenoe) hover and creep perhaps also of tho Tigris, with the waters oe over the co.rco.ee of tho dead, decoying of the river diverted into etree.me and trunk. ohonnele by o careful eystom of irrigation. Ver. 14.-To the end that none, etc. With The cedar grew olose to the river itself; the a oharo.cteristio amplitude of etyle, Ezekiel other treea of the field were w1Ltererl only by prc11chcs the groat lesson or the mutability the emo.ller ohonnels, o.ncl eo were inferior to of earthly greatness. This we.a the leeeon it iu the fulnese of their growth. (For the tlmt tho hiHtory of AeeyrilL ought to have general__imagery, comp. _eh. x.vii. 5; Pa. i. 3; to.ught the nations of tho earth, and it was Jer. xvu. 8; Numb. xx.1v. 6.) jUBt that lceeon that thoy rofuseLI to leLLrn. Ver. 6.-All the fowl.II of heaven, This, They are all delivered to death. The scenery  156 THE BOOK OF THE PROPRET EZEKIEL. [ou. xxxr. 1-18.