The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 161

EXPOSITION. and Smend, however, translate," young lion CHAPTER XXXII. of the nations, thon art brought to nought; " Ver. 1.-In the twelfth year, etc. March, but there is no adequate reason for abandon- B.C. 584, nineteen months after the destruc- ing the Revised translation. Troubledst the tion of J ernsalem. The two sections of the waters. As in eh. xx.xiv. 18, the act is used chapter, vers. 1-16 and 17--32, belong to as the symbol of all selfish and aggressive the same year, and probably, though the ml~, defiling the streams of righteousness date of the month is not given for the and judgment. Thou oamest forth with thy second, were written within a fortnight of rivers. Ewald and Smend translate, "Thou each other. The thoughts of the prophet didst spurt out the water," as describing still dwell up,,n the downfall of Egypt, and the act of the crocodile when it raises its he is stirred, as by a special inspiration, to head out of the water as in the " neeeings," write an elaborate " lamentation" over its or sneezings" of Job xii 12, Hebrew departed greatness. It would seem, from [English version, 18]. the repetition of the word in ver. 16, as if Ver. 3.-I will spread out my net. The the elegy had originally been intended to imagery of eh. xxix. 3 is repeated, with o. end there. Possibly it may h.a.ve occurred variation as to the mode of capture. There to the prophet that what he bad written is no evidence that the crocodile was ever was rather a prediction of coming evil than to.ken with a net; but Ezekiel may hove a lamentation, and therefore needed to be chosen the comparison for that very renson. completed by a second, coming more strictly What woe impossible in the parable, accord- under that title. ing to its letter, was possible when it received Ver. 2.-Thou art like a young lion; its application. rather, with the Revised Version, thou U"ast Ver. 4.-The picture is carried out to its likened unto a young lion. The two clauses completion. 'fhe carcase of the crocodile of the verse stand in direct contrast to each becomes the prey of unclean birds and other. Flatterers, orators, courtiers, had beasts. The carcase of the Egyptiu.u great- used the usual symbolism of the animal ness was to satiate the oppetito of the invad- world. The King of Egypt was as the king ing hosts. Were the words of Ps. lxxiv. of beaels. Ezekiel rejects that comparison, 14, os to loviathnn being "given for meat and likens him rather to the whale, the to the pcoplo in the wilderness" floating in dragon (Revised Version), in the seas, i.e. Ezekiel'e mind (compare the strange rofer- to the crocodile of his own river (compare enco to leviathan in 2 Esdr. vi. 49, 52, and the use of the "dragon" for the King of in later Jewish traditions)? Greek writers Egypt, in eh. :nix 3; Isa. Ii. 9). Ewald describe the ichthyoph11.gi of Africa os feed-  err. xx:m. 1-32.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 167