The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 303

V. THIS FAOT IB AN EARNEST OP FINAL AND EVERLASTING BE0URITY AND VIOTOBY FOR THOSE WHOH GoD DELIVERS AND BEDEEHB. APPLI0ATION, In preaching the gospel of Christ, stress should be laid upon the Lord's power, as well as upon his love. Christ, in his resurrection, was proved to be " the Son of God with power." The same might which was then manifested is ever exercised for the protection and preservation of all sincere Christians. 'l'hey who adhere faithfully to the Saviour need to be encouraged by the assurance that Omnipo- tence is upon their side. Enemies and opposition they may have to encounter; but the Lord will deliver their foes into their hands, They shall be more than conquerors through him that loved them. There is therefore no ground for fear or for depression. The Lord shall fight for them, and they shall hold their peace. In returning and in rest they shall be saved. 'l'hey shall pass through victory to rest-T. Vers. 23, 24.-The Divine reason for Israe'Cs captivity. Israel is in prophecy the representative of mankind, of the "new humanity" that God has redeemed to himself and appointed to everlasting life. In every dispensation, in all God's dealings with men, there bas been the manifestation of wisdom. Nothing that God has done bas been done without a purpose, an intention. Faith convinces us of this. And Scripture sometimes, as in this passage, gives us an insight into the Divine counsels, and points out to us the particular reasons by which the action of Eternal Wisdom has been actuated in the treatment which we have received, especially in so far as we have sinned against God and done wickedly. 1 THE PACT OF lsRAEL's BIN. Various terms are employed to set this forth: "iniqnity," "trespass," "uncleanness," "transgression." By these various terms the Lord, speaking by his prophet, denotes our attitude in respect to God, in respect to moral law, in respect to the ideal of perfect human conduct. Nationally and indi- vidually, Israel transgressed and sinned. II. 'l'Im DIVINE DISPLEASURE WITH IsRA.EL. The Lord expresses this by a remark- able idiom: "I hid my face from them." The metaphor is simple. As favour is denoted by an open, radiant, smiling countenance, so the veiling or averting of the face which is clouded with a frown denotes censure and dissatisfaction. Making proper allowance for the imperfections of human speech, and the impossibility of using adequate language when referring to the Supreme, we may assuredly say that there is nothing in this representation derogatory to God. It is no infirmity, but a perfection of our Divine Ruler, that he is not indifferent to the moral conduct of his subjects. He is angry with the wicked every day. He cannot look upon sin. ill. lsBAEL's ENEMIES THE llINIBTEBB OF DIVINE RETRIBUTION. "I gave them into the hands of their adversaries;" "According to their transgressions did I unto them." There were many forms of chastisement from which Israel suffered. This was perhaps the sorest. David entreated the Lord that, whatever might happen to him, he might not be delivered into the hands of his enemies. It was an enfeebling and an humiliating form of chastisement which God's people were called upon to endure. The attacks of the foe may not have been in themselves justifiable, but the Ruler of nations (as is shown nowhere more effectively than in this book) employs instruments to fulfil his purposes that are animated by no desire for justice and for the kingdom of God. The surrounding nations were employed as the scourge by which the culprits were chastised. IV. IsnAEL's CAPl'IVITY AS PUNITIVE DISCIPLINE. It is remarkable that the chosen people of Jehovah, whose nationality was ere.died (so to speak) in the bondage of Egypt, were called upon, centuries afterwards, to endure the bitter humiliation of exile and captivity in the East. 'l'hey "went into captivity for their iniquity." Punish- ment is thus declared to be a. characteristic of Divine government when dealing with the sinful and rebellious. There were certain ends answered by the special form which Israel's punishment and humiliation assumed; it is well known that, when the people returned, they returned free from the taint of idolatry and from all temptation to return to the heathen practices into which they had been misled. Still, it was punishment which they endured-punishment for past offences, as well as correction with a view to future obedience and subjection. They learned by bitter experience that "the way of transgressors ill hard."-T.  C'H, xxxa:. 1-29.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 81.'3