The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 174

Vers. 17-32.-0ompanionship in woe. 'l'he prophet is a man of power. He is a king bearing an invisible sceptre, As a monarch wields only a borrowed power-a power lent by God-so a true prophet is God's vicegerent. Here he unfolds a terrible vision, the outline of a woeful reality. Ha leads the Egyptian king to the mouth of a vast abyss, in which lie multitudes of the vanquished and the slain. He is invited to contemplate the condition of those thus dishonoured by the King of Babylon. .And ha is foreyvamed that such will be his doom. Escape was just possible, but it was almost a forlorn hope. I. DUTY OFTTIMES IS EXCEEDINGLY PAINFUL, God's servant is called upon to wail. He is even an agent, though a subordinate agent, in casting king and people into the abyss of death. He is under obligation to act for God. '!'ha path of duty is often severely rugged ; yet no other path is smoother, though another path may seem to be, The course of righteousness will be in the end peace, but in the process there is strife and hard discipline. The harvest will be plentiful, but severe exertion is required, and faith is put to the strain. The pain of travail must precede the joy of young life. 'l'hrough toil we pass to honour. II. SIN .ALWAYS LEADS TO TERRIBLE DEGRADATION. Sin is already real degradation, nlthough very often men do not see it. But the disease will appear by-and-by on the exterior circumstance. The seed will come to the fruitage. Sin is no" respecter of persons." Even "the daughters of the famous nations "-eminent for strength and beauty-" shall be cast down into the nether parts of the earth." There shall be visible a terrible downfall, an unmitigated degradation. .As the lower orders of creatures cannot sin, neither can they suffer such degradation. 'l'he balances are in the bands of supreme justice, and the hour of final retribution draws on apace. " Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small." III. SELF-ESTEEM 18 NO SAFEGUARD AGAINST JUST RETRIBUTION, "Whom dost thou pnss in beauty? Go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised." The spirit of vanity may tempt us to say," We are better than they. The doom of others will not be our doom." It is marvellous how men are taken in the web of self-deception. Yet no external circumstance has ever yet saved men from the effects of unrighteous- ness. Riches have not saved them. The beauty of Cleopatra did not protect her from a terrible doom, The honour of our contemporaries cannot save us. Posterity will ensily reverse the present judgment of men, and the hand of justice will tear in pieces our flimsy reputation, Present fame may be future disgrace. IV. ASSOCIATION WITH OTHERS WILL BE DETERMINED BY MORAL AFFINITIES. In the present state, men are associated by natural affinities and by external circumstances. Dut such nrrangements are temporary and provisional only. Children nursed at the same brenst and fed at the same table will have their final portion as separate as the poles asunder. Now kings consort with kings, nobles with nobles, poets with poets; but in the final apportionment, the righteous of every social grade will consort with the righteous; vile kings will consort with vile beggars. Earthly circumstance !lnd pomp will have disappeared. Only moral distinctions will remain. .Association in sin must terminate by association in woe. Human beings and all beings gravitate to thnt state for which they are fitted. No affinities are so deep o.nd stroug as moral affinities, and, though for a time suppressed, they will by-and-by be uppermost. V. THE RUIN OF 01'HERS 18 IMPOTENT TO DETER FROM BIN. "The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell." If only men would be warned by the fall and ruin of others, we might hope that all future generations of mankind would be saved. '!'here are beacons without number to frighten men away from the focks and quicksands of peril, yet all to no purpose. We think others to be in peril, not ourselves. Alas I "the heart is deceitful above o.11 things." Nothing will turn us nway from the fascinating eye of sin but the working of almighty grace within. Beacons become to us what scarecrows do to birds-they soon cease to alo.rm. VI. SELF-INFLATION IS TilE PRELUDE TO ETERNAL BilAME. "Thoy were the terror  180 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [cu. xx::w.1-32.