The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 232

,(according to the Keri, followed by tbe God (vers. 33-38); o.nd (3) to remove all Authorized e.nd Revised Versions, e.s well doubt from the people's minds e.s to the as by Ewe.Id e.nd Bmend), but (according possibility of this happening by the vision to the Chethih, preferred by Keil, Kliefoth, of the dry bones (eh. xxxvii. 1-H). Hii.vemiok, Hongstenberg, Schroder, e.nd Vers. 16-20.-That Israel's restoration Plumptre) it should not even ea.use them (or it) to stumble; i.e. should no more should not be brought a.bout on account of ~use its iuhe.bit.e.nts to lo.pee into those Israel's merit, the prophet shows by briefly sins, amongst which idolatry stood promi- rehearsing the story of Israel's demerit, as nent, which entailed .on them ruin. Heug- the reason of her exile. stenberg!s idll!I, that "moral sLumbling is Ver. 17.-Their way wu before me; not to be thought of in this. connection," Their we.ye aud doings, i.e. their violent is certainly to be rejected. deeds o.ud idole.troas practices (ver. 18), were Ver. 15.-Neither will I oe.use men to as morally loathsome in Jehovah's sight o.s hear in thee-let thee hear, proclaim againat the uncleanness of o. woman in her separa- tlietJ (Revised Version); or literally, cause tion wo.s mo.terio.lly disgusting. The com- to be heard agaimt thu-the aha.me of the parison may have been derived from Isa. heathen e.ny more ; i.e. the contemptuous lxiv. 6, but was o.s likely to have been speech uttered age.inst thee by the heathen, equivalent to the reproaoh of the .people; or, origino.l, seeing Ezekiel we.s a priest-prophet, to whom the details of the Levitical Lnw people,; ie. the reproach cast .upon thee by must have been familiar (comp. oh. xviii. 6; the nations (see oh. xvi 57; xxii f; and Lev. :xv. 19). comp. Josh. v. 9; Micah vi. 16), rather than, as Currey suggests, the reproe.oh cast Ver. 19.-Aooorcling to their way and upon thee by thy rightful possessors for according to their doings I judged them. wo.nt of fertility. .This prophecy clearly The language hints at o. correapondence looked beyond the return from exile under between the punishment and the crime. As Zerubbe.bel e.nd Joshua, Ezra. and Nehe- a woman iu her separation we.a not only miah, since under these leaders only a defiled, but separated from the cougrege.tiou portion of the wbole house of Israel re- (Lev. xv. 19), so Iero.el, having defiled both este.blished themselves in Ce.ne.o.n, while herself o.nd her land, required to be removed the laud was often afterwards subjected to from it (Lev. xviii. 28). And she was. reproach and oppression under heathen Jehovo.h eco.ttered her among the heathen powers. At the same time, the home- o.nd dispersed her through the countries. coming from Babylon o.nd the prosperity Vor. 20.-They profaned my holy Ne.me; that ensued thereupon were partial fulfil- or, the name of my holiness. Accor<ling to ments of the blessiuga here promised. Kliefoth, the subject of the verb is "the Ver. 16.-The oracle, commencing with heathen," but expositors generally rego.r,l this verse and extending to eh. x:nvii. H, it e.s "the house of l11mol" of ver. 17. has e.n ultimate connection with that wliich Plumptre thinks that "while gre.mmatioo.lly precedes. Having predicted a golden age the words mo.y refer to either the heathen in the future for Israel, when hor people or the exiles of Isro.el, possibly the sentence should have returned from banishment, her was purposely left vague, so o.s to describe cities should age.in be inha.bitecl and her the fact in whioh both were sharers," o.nd fields cultivated, the prophet is directed (1) oitee in support of this view eimil,n con, to explain that the ground of this would structions in Isa.. Iv. 5 o.nd Rom. ii. 2-1.. not lie iu any worthiness Jehovah should What led to the profe.no.tion of Jehovo.h's behold in Israel, who had rather in the Na.me by the heathen we.s the e.rri ve.l o.moug pe.st been punished e.nd dispersed (vers.16- them, not of the nows of the co.lamity which 20), but only in the regard he, Jehovo.h, had befo.llen Isro.el (Kliefoth, Hengeten.- should have for his own holy Name or berg), but of the house of Isro.el itself; and che.111.oter (vcrs. 21-24); (2) to intimate the actual profe.no.tion lay in this, that, tho.t this glorious period should be aocom- having beheld the exiles, they so.id, These pauied by o. moral and spiritual renovo.tion are the people of the Lord, and they a.re of the people, which, however, could ond gone forth out of his land. As tho heo.theu therefore would be brought about only by recognized only local divinities, thoy con- God himself giving them o. new heart and cluded Jehovah ho.d either behaved capri- a new spirit, age.in for his own Name's sake ciously towards his people and cast them off (vers. 25-32), and which, when atto.ined, (comp. Jer. xxiiL 40; xxix. 18; xuiii. 24), should lead to e. prosperity so uupe.rolleled or had proved unequal to the tosk of pro- as to reoa.11 the pristine splendours of earth's tecting them, so that they had been driveu pnre.disie.oal condition, and convince the off (comp. eh. xx. 5, etc.; Numb. xiv. 16; heathen that should then be sharers in Jer. xiv. 9). In either case, the honour of Isro.el's felicity lhe.t J ehovo.h alone wo.a Jehovah had been lessened in the minds 240 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [ea. llXVL 1-38,