The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 228

I. AN INFLlOTION ANBWEBING lN CHARACTER TO THE SIN. "Because thou hast given over . , . to the power of the sword . . . therefore . , . I will prepare thee unto- blood, and blood shall pursue thee" (vers. 5, 6). Our Lord also himself tells us that "they who take the sword shall perish with the sword." Violena shown to others commonly brings down violence on ita own head. Craft and cunning lead men to great wariness, and even to a corresponding wiliness, in their dealing with the man who endeavours to undermine and to deceive. The man who is much eugaged in digging pits for others is very likely to fall into one himself. Miserlineu of spirit and behaviour always leads to a real impoverishment of soul, and often to an imaginary :poverty of circumstance which, though imaginary, is real enough to the man's own mind. There is no one whom the penurious man deprives of so much good and joy as himself. Penalty always answers to wrong-doing in its character. They who sin in the flesh suffer in the flesh, and they who sin in the spirit suffer in the spirit. The· man who sins against his family will suffer domestic trouble; he that does not respect himself wrongs himself grievonsly, if not fatally. II. " INFLICTION ANSWERING lN MEASURE TO THE SIN. The severity of Edom's punishment was to answer to the greatness of her crime. 1. Lasting enmity was to he visited with lasting desolation (see vers. 5, 9). 2. Because they bad "hated blood," i.e. had shown such determined ma.lice and cruel hatred towards their own relatives (Theodoret, Jerome, Michaelis), therefore "blood should pursue them;,. violence should not only overtake and slay, but should pursue them, should continue to smite them. 3. "According to the joy of the whole land [of Edom], God would make it a desolation" (ver. 14; Fairbairn); as it did rejoice in Israel's fall, in like measure would it be the object of derision and of triumph " in the dark hour coming on." As its joy, so its desolation; the height of the one would measure the depth of the other. ,ve cannot always pr-0ve that penalty answers in measure to the extent of the wrong that has been wrought; but we can very often see that it does, and we- are quite sure that it does so when we cannot recognize the fact. The truth that much sorrow is not penalty at all but discipline and preparation for higher work and a larger life, and the further and deeper truth that a very large and most important part of pell&lty is found in inward experience and especially in spiritual deterioration. will explain many apparent exceptions to this rule. Fuller knowledge and profounder wisdom will bring their sufficient revelations in good time; meo.n while we may be- perfectly assured of the fact that the further we wander from God, from truth, from righteousness, from love, the deeper is the brand that enters iato our soul, and the sadder is the destiny we are weaviug for ourselves. Ill. Tm!: CONS'l'ANTLY BECUBRINO ELEMENT OF DESOLATION. As the word "desolate,n or" desolation," is the prevailing note of this prophecy, and indeed of many others also, so may it be said that loss, diminution, destitution, ruin, is the constantly recurring evil which sin is workiDg in the soul and in the life of men. They who forsake the God of their fathers and who seek their heritage not in his holy service hut in material successes or in the lower affections and delights, will surely find that they nre bereaving themselves of all that is best; that they are denuding their life of its highest worth, that they are going down, step by step-sometimes it is by very steep steps, too-to the condition which may be well described in the prophet's words as "a desol~tion and an astonishment" (ver, 3).-C. Vers. 10-13,-'-Tiie supreme mistake, The two striking and significant sentences in this passage are in the tenth and thirteenth verses: •• And Jehovah was there n• (ver. 10}; "I have heard" (ver. 13). They bring out,- !. Eooll'e· OBEAT M.I.BOALOULATION. No doubt Edom had its princes, its statesmen, its warriors, of whom it was proud, on whose sagacity and prowess it was leaning. But however astute her ministers may have been, they made one great and fatal mis- take-they left out of the account one factor, the presence of which made all the difference to the issue. Under their false guidance Edom thought itself more than a match for Israel, which, with its pastoral and agricultural pursuits, was less warlike than itself. And Edom said to itself, "These two nations ..• shall be mine, and we will inherit it" (ver. 10). "And Jehovah was there," interjects the prophet, with burning indignation. Edom, forsooth, going to appropriate Israel, and swiillow it ul! 23G THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [err. :xnVI. 1-38.