The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 230

expressly declarod to be the jubilation over to dwell throughout on the derision rather the downfall of Israel, and the eagerness than the desolation to which hie country, with which they sought to appropriate to the mountains of Isre.el, had been subject." themselves her Corso.ken land. Aha I Ex- And ye are taken up; literally, ye are mada ulting over Israel's misfortune (comp. eh. to come, if i~_P.JJ) be an imperf. niph. of ~f, xxv. 3; Ps. :d. 16). The e.noient high "to go up"· (Rosenmiiller, Schroder); or, places, which Israel's enemies fancied had become theirs in possession, were probably ye are came, if it be imperf. ke.l of 'i?_v,, "to "the everlasting hills" of Gen. Ilix. 26 press, or go in" (Ewald, Havemick); or, JIB and Deut. xxxiii 15, the principal moun- are gone up, if it be second pen. kal of ~P. tains of Palestine, which, as Hii.vemick (Hitzig, Smend). In the lips of talken ; finely observes, were "the honourable wit- litere.lly, upon the lip of the tongue-the lip nesses and indestructible monuments of being regarded as the instrument or organ that ancient blessing spoken by Israel's with which the tongue speaks. Ha.vemick ancestor, and still resting on the people ; " unnecessarily takes "the tongue" as equiva- and to assail which was, in consequence, lent to " people " in the parallel clause-- not only to sin against Jehovah, but to a signification )°'ll'~ has only in Isa. lxvi. 18; attempt an enterprise foredoomed to failure and shame. At the same time, Plumptre's while Kliefoth views it as synonymous with suggestion ('Ezekiel: an Ideal Biogrophy,' "slander," as in Pa. cxl. 11, and transle.tes, Expositor, vol. viii. 284; and: Unpublished "upon the lip of slander and of the evil Notes) is not without plausibility, that, con- report of the people." Keil sees in "the sidering the special significance of the term tongue" a personification for the " tongue- bamoth in Ezekiel, the phrase should be man" or talker of Pe. ed. 11 ; and Geseni118 held as referring to the BBnctuaries which oonsidera the two clauses as tautological. stood upon those heights - including, of Ver. 4.-The rivers (or, ahannel,, bollOlll6, course, the.chief BBnctuary, or temple (Schro- dales) wero the water-courses, wadies, or der); in support of which the dean cites ravines through wbioh mountain stree.ms the frequency with which the enemies of flowed, as in eh. x:u:v. 8; e.nd the residue Isro.el, as, for insto.nce, the Assyrians and of the heathen were the surrounding na- the Moe.bites, in their inscriptions, boasted tions tho.t had mocked Isruel in her degra- that they bad captured these sanctuaries dation, and were then profiting by her fe.11 (see 'Records of the Past,' 2nd series, (comp. Ps. lxxix. 4). vol. i. p. 107; ii. 203). Ver. 5.-Snrely. tt'rc~, the partiole of' Ver. 8.-Therefore. Ewald oalls atten- udj oration, as in eh. v. 11 ; llXxiii. 27 ;, tion to the fivefold repetition of this con- xxxiv. 8; xxxviii. 19. The fire of my junction, saying, "It repents its~lf five jealousy. Zephanie.b (i. 18; iii. 13) uses the times, the reusons [for God's judgments] against these enemies thrusting tbemsel ves same phruse. Similur expressions occur in forwo.rd, before the discourse calmly dwells oh. :u:i. 31, " tho firo of my wro.th ; " and upon the mounte.ins of Israel, of which it is eh. XXllviii. 19, "in my jeulonsy and in strictly intended to tree.t." As it were, the the fire of my wro.th" (comp. Deut. iv. 2-1). prophet's emotion is so strong, e.nd his in- Against all Idnmee.. Edorn. As in eh. dignation e.gninst Israel's enemies eo vehe- xxxv. 15, so here, it is the wickedness, more ment, the.t, though he three times in succes- especially of the Edomites, thnt excites the eion begins to prophesy to the mountains of prophet's indignution. They bnd not only Israel, he on ea.oh occusion bree.ks off before concluded thut Israel's territory should be he cun get bis me88llge told, to ellpntiute to them for a possession, but thoy he.d done upon the wiokedness of Isrucl's foes. lo the so with the joy of e.11 their hea.rt, and with prophet's estimution thut wickedness was so despitefnl minds; or, wit/, ~onte~pt of soul heinous us to inevitubly carry ia its bosom (comp. oh. xxv. 6, 15); u. with deudly appropriate retribution. Beoanae-literally, (Ewuld) or hearty (Smond) contempt. because a11d because, or even becau,e1 u re- "The temper of the Edomitcs," wrilea duplication for the suke of empho.sis, as in eh. Plumptre, "might ulmost serve us the re- xiii. 10 and Lev. xxvi. 43-they have made gulutive instunce of the form of evil for you deaole.te, and &wallowed yon np on which Aristotle(' Eth. Nio.,' 2, 7, 15) seems every side; literally, •uxuting of and ranting to have coined the word l1r•X"'Pfr<rucfa., the after you (are) round about. Fe.1rbairn, tempor which rejoices in the ills thut foll Ewald, and Bmend, deriving n\cr;I from czll, on others," The oonoluding clause, to oast it out for a prey, has been differently ren• "to pant," rather thun from ci;il(, "to fay dared. (1) Regurding i'l;':irP as an iufini ti ve waste," tro.nsle.tc, "because there is snapping and puffing at yon round a.bout," which after JF!??, "to spoil it," i.e. the lund (Ge- Plumplre thinks "foils in better with the senius), "empty ont" (Koil) or "dri vo out,._ oontext," since "the prophet'ij spirit seems (Ewuld, Bmend) its inhubitunts (so us t,; 288 TIIE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [cH. xxxvr.1--38.