The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 171

concur to assure us that there are elements in man's nature which will surely reveal themselves in hostility and in mutual ill will, in bloodshed, and in violent death. Nation rises against nation. The sword is drawn, and is only sheathed wheu one combatant is constrained to submit to the superior power of the other. l. THERE IS A SENSE IN WHICH THE SWORD OF THE MIGHTY CONQUEROR 18 THE SWORD OF GoD HIMSELF. When the King of Babylon attacked the King of Egypt, tbere is no doubt he was actuated by motives of hostility, of personal ambition, perhaps of revenge. But for all this, and although he knew it not, he was the minister of God -was doing God's work, executing God's purposes. The Almiahty can overrule th~ wrathful passions of men to bring about the objects he desires t; compass. II. THE SWORD OF THE CONQUEROR IS THE SYMBOL OF SUPREME POWEil. Men talk of submitting matters to the arbitrament of the sword, implying that there is no possi- bility of going behind and beyond this. In all earthly government physical force is the ultimate resource; it may not be brought prominently forward, but it lies in the background, to be used when necessary. God's power controls and rules the nations ; he cannot be resisted. "The nations are as nothing before him; they are counted as less than nothing and vanity; " "Let not the rebellious exalt themselves I" III. 'l'HE CONQUEROR'S SWORD IS THE EMBLEM OF THE EXECUTION OF D1V1NE JUSTICE. We speak of the sword of the magistrate, as well as of the sword of the soldier: "He beareth not the sword in vain." There is certainly no allusion in this prophetic passage to judicial functions, if they are understood to be distinct from military operations. Yet in God's band the sword is not a. weapon of violence, far less of injustice. He never smites vindictively, but always as a righteous ltuler and an impartial Judge. Even in warfare he is exercising a magisterial as well as a military office and power. His sword subdues the rebel, corrects the offender, and establishes the rule of justice, and brings about the purposes of equitable and happy peace.-T. Vers. 17-32.-.The gathering of the guilty nations in Hades. This vision of the poet-prophet is one of the boldest and most sublime in the whole compass of literature. .AI, a lofty flight of imagination it excites the wonder and admiration of every reader gifted with poetical appreciation. Ezekielis bringing to a close bis prophecies regarding the nations by which the land of Israel was encompassed. How far from the narrow- ness and the lack of sympathy sometimes attributed to the Hebrews was the prophet of the Oriental captivity! How wide the sweep of his vision! How ready his sympathy for the fate of other peoples than bis own I And, above all, bow sublime his conception of the unity and the true immortality of the human race 1 As he was not lirni ted by space, but interested himself in the territories and the dominions of distant monarchs, so he disdained the bounds of time, passed beyond this scene of discipline and probation, and anticipated the community of the heathen nations in the realm of Hades. There his prophetic spirit beheld Pharaoh and his people surrounded by the kings and armies and multitudes from other lands, participating in a just and common fate. L THE ooM.MON BIN OF THE NATIONS. Of a.II those mentioned by the prophet, it may be said that they were unfaithful to their trust, and incurred the just displeasure of the Ruler of the universe. 1. They had all forgotten God, for it is in this light that we must view their idolatry. 2. They had all sought their own aggrandizement and glory rather than the life of righteousness. 3. They had all been rapacious, violent, and unscrupulous in their treatment of neighbouring peoples. II. THE COM.MON DOOM OF TllE NATIONS. lt is said of one after another of these guilty states, that they were all slain with the sword, and bore their shame with them that go down to the pit, to the midst of Sheol. It is said that "their iniquities were upon their bones," by which we may understand that their sin clave to them, that they were counted responsible for it, and were required to bear the penalties attaching to it, It would be absurd to attempt a. precise explanation of the poetical language of thill ,plendid vision, which is utterly insusceptible of logical analysis. It expresses the 0100d of the inspired prophet; it conveys a great moral truth ; it aids us in Iba appreciation of national continuity and vitality; it brings powerfully before our mind the amenability of governments and states to the moral law and jurisdictioa of the Eternal UighteoUBness.  on. :u.xu. 1-32.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 177