The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 253

was God who caused the children of Israel to lose their heritage and to be carried away as they were. Their sorrows were the penalty of their sin; it was the hand of the Lord that was laid upon them. Yet their distressing condition 'called forth the Divine compassion. It was in mercy, in true pity, that he saw them "bearing the shame of the heathen" (ver. 6; see ver. 16). Even though it is in virtue of God's own righteous laws that we "are minished and brought low" that we suffer in the fle?h or in the spiri~ in circuIJ?,stance o~ in soul, _as the_ co~sequence of our wrong- dorng, even then, m our straits and in our misery, m our bondage and in our degradation, we are the objects of Divine compassion. God likes not to see his children suffer and " bear shame" as they do. And he sends the messenger of mercy that bids us rise from our wretchedness and ruin and return unto himself. IV. THAT EVERYTHING MAY BE RECOVERED WHEN GOD IS ON OOB BIDE. (Vers. 8 -15.) When God says, "I am for you, and I will turn unto you," what is there that we may not hope for? Then the land of Israel might look to be retilled and resown, to yield its fruit as in the best days that were; to be repeopled by those who had a right to walk upon its hills and to cultivate its villages; it should no longer be a grave for the dead, but a home for the living. And when we turn in penitence and in faith to God, and he turns in mercy and in grace to us, what is there that we may not hope for? What glorious spiritual restoration is within our reach I-the peace which no earthly good can either give or take away: the joy which abides and which blesses while it lasts; the ea:;cellency of character and of life which makes us take rank with the children of God everywhere; the hope which is full of immortality.-C. Vers. 16--21.-God's Name and ours. The moHt striking thought contained in these words is God's regard for the honoa.r of his own Name. But there are two truths which claim attention. I. Two THINGS WHICH INCUB HIS filGH DISPLEASURE. The ponring out of his "fnry" is, of course, language which is accommodated to our human feelings; but it speaks of the Divine displeasure existing in a very high degree; and the two evils ""°hich excite it are: 1. Perverted piety; the giving to another the glory due to himself: idolatry (ver. 18). 2. Inhumanity. "They had shed blood upon the land" (ver. 18). The want-0n ta.king of human life is the darkest and saddest form of cruelty; but it is by no means the only one which meets the severe rebuke of God. All forms of unkindness or of wrong, by which men's circumstances are reduced or their spirits are wounded, call down bis reproach and bear their penalty. II. ONE ESPECIAL FORM OF PEN.ALTY. God "scattered" the Israelites; he ea.used them to be "dispersed through the countries" (ver. 19). The evil which they suffered in Babylon was negative rather than positive. They were not ill treated there. The misery of it lay in its unhomeliness. They were far from their own land-from Mount Zion and its glorious temple, from the happy services and holy institutions which made their childhood and their youth what they were; they were exiles, dwelling in" a strange land." This is the constant penalty of sin. It causes us to dwell a.far off from Gud; we lose our sense of nearness to him ; we are in no spilitual home; we are in the hand and in the land of the enemy. It is not that earth is far from heaven ; it is that sin is far from righteousness ; it is that the disloyal subject, the unfilial child, is far from his gracious Sovereign, far from his heavenly Father. III. GoD's SOLICITUDE CONCERNING HIS N urn. " They profaned my holy Na.men (ver. 20); "I had pity for my holy Name" (ver. 21). Why should God be concerned thus "for his Name"? Knowing, as we do, that God is love, and that he lives not for himself, but for the good of his universe, we cannot believe that this Divine solicitude bas any selfishness at the root of it. We conclude that its explanation is in the fact that it is of vital conseque11ce to the world that he should be rightly regarded and truly honoured. It is so in both aspects, affirmative and negative. 1. It is a boundless blessing when God is known and understood; when, therefore, he is honoured and obeyed ; and when, therefore, all the priceless blessings of obedidnce are secured. 2. It 1B an immeasurable evil when God is misrepresented and misunderstood; when his Name is profaned, and men think of him as he would not be thought of; when his Name ls associated with weakness, or with indifference, or with injustice, or with any kind of wrong. Then comes irreverence, and all the long train of evils that ll(l()Ompany it CIB, nx-n. 1-SS.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL.