midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth.

10 Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.

II Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.

12 The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any

10. rod] Heb. matteh'. The Hebrew word is commonly used for tribe, Exod. xxxi. *; also for a rod used to punish, Micah vi. 9. The people of Judah have blossomed into proud luxuriance.

11. Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedess] The rod of wickedness here means the rod to punish wickedness.-The violence and fury of the enemy have risen up so as to become a rod to punish the wickedness of the people. There is a play upon the word rod.

The remainder of this verse is literally thus

-"not from them and not from their multi

tude, and not from any of theirs, and there is no one lamenting among them."

There are differences in the rendering of some of the words in this passage, as is indicated by the marginal varieties, but the above translation seems to be the true one. The meaning however still remains obscure, owing to the brief and enigmatic form of the utterance. We may adopt the following explanation. The Jews had ever exulted in their national privileges everything great and noble was to be from them and from theirs; but now Jehovah raises up the rod of the oppressor to confound and punish the rod of his people. The furious Chaldæan has become an instrument of God's wrath, endued with power emanating not from the Jews or from the multitude of the Jews, or from any of their children or people; nay, the destruction shall be so complete that none shall be left to make lamentation over them.

12. the day] Comp. Joel ii. 2; Zeph. i. 14, the day of doom, either of temporal or final judgment.

12, 13. It was grievous for an Israelite to part with his land. But now the seller need not mourn his loss, nor the buyer exult in his gain. A common ruin should carry both away; the buyer should not take possession, nor should the seller return to profit by the buyer's absence. Should he live it would be in exile. All should live the pitiful lives of strangers in another country.

13. although they were yet alive] Though they be yet among the living. The fuller stop should be after thereof.

which shall not return] he (i.e. the seller) shall not return.

neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life] and, every man living

in his iniquity, they shall gather no strength. Lit. "and every man-in his iniquity, his life-they shall not strengthen themselves." Exile being the punishment of iniquity, the exiles were said to live in their iniquity.

16. But they that escape, &c.] The construction is that noted above, vi. 7. "But when they that escape shall escape, then they shall be like doves of the valleys on the mountains." Comp. Ps. xi. 1; Mark xiii. 14; Luke xxi. 21. As doves whose natural abode is the valleys when driven by fear into the mountains moan lamentably, so shall the remnant, who have escaped actual death, moan in the land of their exile. To mourn as a dove, comp. Isai. xxxviii. 14, lix. 11,

18. Various signs of mourning common in eastern countries. Sackcloth, see below, xxvii. 31; cover them, to cover the face or lips was another sign, Micah iii. 7; shame upon all

a separa

cleanness.

4.

with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. 19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be Heb. for removed: their silver and their gold tion, or, un- shall not be able to deliver them in c Prov. 11. the day of the wrath of the LORD: Zeph. 1.18. they shall not satisfy their souls, neiEcclus. 5.8. ther fill their bowels: because it is cause their the stumblingblock of their iniquity. iniquity is 20 ¶ As for the beauty of his ornastumbling ment, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things Or, made therein: therefore have I set it far them an from them.

I Or, be

their

block.

it unto

faces, Jer. li. 51; Micah vii. 10; baldness, Ezra ix. 3; Job i. 20; Jer. xlviii. 37. This was forbidden to the Israelites, Deut. xiv. 1, where see note. They seem, however, in later times to have adopted the custom of foreign nations in this matter, not without permission. Comp. Isai. xxii. 12; Amos viii. 1o; Micah i. 16, also below, xxvii. 31.

19. They shall cast their silver in the streets] In the hurry of flight they shall cast away their treasures as useless.

shall be removed]-Heb. "shall be an unclean thing," Lev. xx. 21, their gold shall be unclean and abominable in their eyes.

the stumbling block of their iniquity] See above, iii. 20. Their gold and silver was the occasion of their sin, especially as used in making images, Hos. ii. 8, viii. 4.

20. in majesty] And the beauty of his ornament, he set it to pride. He, the people called either be or they. What was for their ornament they used for pride.

have I set it far from them]-made it a defilement, see also v. 19; they have made abominable images with it--therefore have I made it their defilement and their disgrace.

22. secret] Hidden for the purpose of protection, Ps. lxxxiii. 3, thy hidden ones, those under thy protection. My secret place is the inner sanctuary, hidden from the multitude, protected by the Most High.

robbers] Lit. "men making breaches." Hence the marginal alternative, burglers.

22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into Or, burgler it, and defile it.

23 ¶ Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.

24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and 'their holy places shall be defiled. I Or, th 25 Destruction cometh; and they rit their shall seek peace, and there shall be places. none.

26 Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.

23. Make a chain] Heb. "the chain," i.e. the chain of imprisonment determined and appointed for them. Forge the chain. See note on iii. 24.

shall in

holy

+ Heb.

24. the worst of the heathen] The most cruel and terrible of nations-the Chaldæans. Comp. Deut. xxviii. 49 foll. This expression is considered by Ewald, 'Geschichte des Volkes Israel,' III. 781, to indicate that at this time the Babylonian Empire contained in it an element of rude, rough, and uncultivated warriors, while, at the same time, there must have been a highly civilized population long settled in Nineveh or Babylon. The two elements are mentioned by Habakkuk, chh. i. and ii.

the pomp of the strong] The same Hebrew words which are rendered in Lev. xxvi. 19 the pride of power. This is a repetition of the warning in Leviticus. The strong are those who pride themselves in imaginary strength.

their holy places shall be defiled] Jerome remarks that what elsewhere is called God's

Holy Place is here their holy places, because God disowns the profaned sanctuary. If the marginal rendering be adopted they shall inherit, they must mean the worst of the heathen. See on xxii. 16.

26. Mischief shall come upon mischief] Comp. Isai. xlvii. 11.

rumour shall be upon rumour] then shall they seek a vision] 3; Jer. xxxvii. 17, xxxviii. 14.

Job ch. i. Comp. xx. 1,

Cutting

27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do

NOTE on

the morning] Heb. n. The word occurs elsewhere only in Isai. xxviii. 5. The first meaning is a circle. Hence in Isaiah diadem and here morning, as a crown of light. But Gesen. remarks that in scriptural language morning indicates not the beginning but the end of trouble (Ps. xxx. 5). In our passage the word is very variously translated, LXX. λok (a wreath), Vulg. contritio, Targ. regnum, a kingdom (derived from the idea of a

CHAPTER VIII.

1 Eukiel, in a vision of God at Jerusalem, 5 is shewed the image of jealousy, the chambers of imagery, 13 the mourners for Tammuz, 15 the worshippers towards the sun. 18 God's wrath for their idolatry.

ND it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the

CHAPS. VIII-XIX. A date is prefixed to the 8th (14 months after the date of the preceding visions); the next date given is in the 20th chapter. The prophecies contained in the intervening chapters must therefore fall within eleven months. Although they were not all delivered on the same day, they may be regarded as a whole. They contain in fact a review of the condition of the people of Judah, including those who were still in the Holy Land, and those who were with the prophet exiles in Chaldæa.

This is first represented by a vision in which the seer is transported in spirit to the temple of Jerusalem, and sees there idolatry, so often openly practised in that city (viii.); the punishment of all except such as had received God's mark (ix.). He sees the glory of the Lord quit the temple (x.), punishment fall upon the princes, and the glory of the Lord leave the city (xi.).

This vision ended, and the prophet having again taken his stand as a man among men, he by a symbolical act expresses to his fellowexiles the coming removal of their countrymen from Jerusalem and the Holy Land and the doom of their king (xii.), and addresses a warning of false prophets, whether in Jerusatem or in Chaldæa, who were holding out false hopes that the doom of the city would be averted (xiii.). The prophet next turns a searching eye to the exiles themselves. These might at first seem free from the charge of idolatry

crown, and referring to the approach of the king Nebuchadnezzar). Perhaps conclusion (winding up) will best express the meaning, as a whole series of events are, as it were, summed up and brought to a close-with a slightly different shade of meaning it has been taken to mean the revolution of events, in the same manner as the goddess Fortune is represented with her wheel.

fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.

2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even

(for the outward sin was not committed by them as it was at Jerusalem), but there might be, and unhappily was, a spirit of idolatry which called for stern rebuke (xiv.). He then, by the parable of an unfruitful vine, depicts the state of God's people (xv.), and reviews under another figure their past history, shewing how the nation had fallen, and yet holding out hopes of restoration (xvi.). By a striking figure he illustrates the doom of the nation, warns them against their false hopes of delivery from Egypt, and shews that their future hopes rest not on the present ruler (Zedekiah), but on the family of him who has been displaced (xvii.). Lest, however, the recital of the sins of past times should lead the people to imagine that they were to suffer, not for their own, but for others' faults, the prophet corrects this misapprehension (xviii.), and closes this section of his prophecy by a lament over his ruined country (xix.).

1. the elders of Judah] The prophet is now recognized by his fellow-exiles, who are no longer unwilling to hear him as in ch. ii. Sitting as mourners. See on iii. 15. The message here is not common to all the descendants of

Abraham (as in vi. 2), but distinctly to Judah, that portion of the people whose exile

Ezekiel shared.

2. the appearance of fire] It is the same appearance as in i. 26, there seen as the appearance of a man enthroned upon the cherubim.

ments.

@ Dan. 5. 5.

28.

upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.

3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.

4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to chap. 1. the vision that I saw in the plain. 5 Then said he unto me, Son of

Here He stands apart from the throne revealing Himself to His servant. See Note at end of chapter i.

as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber] See on i. 4. And from his loins, even upward, the appearance of brightness, like that of burnished gold. The double as is used to intensify the comparison, and as we say, "like master, like man."

3. in the visions of God] It is not to be thought that Ezekiel was transported in the body, but rapt in spirit, while he still sat amidst the elders of Judah. See xi. 24. It was probably a misunderstanding of such passages, reducing the spiritual to the literal, which led the author of the apocryphal book of Bel, v. 36, to represent Habakkuk as lifted up bodily by a lock of his hair.

the inner gate] the gate of the inner court. This gate led from the outer to the inner court (the court of the priests), called, v. 5, the gate of the altar, because it was from this side that the priests approached the brazen altar (see on xl. 35 and 37 foll.). The prophet is on the outside of this gate, so that the image of jealousy was set up in the outer or people's court over against the northern entrance to the priests' court.

the image of jealousy] The image of a false god provoking Jehovah to jealousy (Deut. xxxii. 16, 21; 1 K. xiv. 22). In the kingdom of Israel Ahab had set up an image of Baal which Jehoram put away, 2 K.iii. 2. Manasseh set up an image in the house of God, 2 Chro. xxxiii. 7. It may be doubted whether the scenes described in this chapter are intended to represent what actually occurred. They may be ideal pictures to indicate the idolatrous corruption of priests and people. And this is in accordance with the symbolical character of the number four; the four idolatries representing the idolatries in all the four

man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.

7¶And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.

quarters of the world. The false gods of heathendom are brought into the temple in order that they may be detected and exposed by being brought face to face with the God of revelation (Schroeder). Still history proves that the ideal picture was supported by actual facts which had occurred and were occurring. See Note A at end of the Chapter.

In the opening vision the glory of the Lord had been manifested to the prophet independently of any special locality.

Now he is carried in spirit to that place (the temple) which (for the chosen people) was the peculiar dwelling-place of the glory of the LORD.

4. the glory of the God of Israel was there] We learn in ix. 3 that the glory of the LORD was gone up from the cherub where He sat to the threshold of the house; we may therefore conclude that the glory of the LORD having now departed from His seat between the cherubims in the Holy of Holies rests in the threshold of the temple, to execute vengeance before it quits the house altogether (x. 18). The

seer stands indeed on the outside of the gate of the inner court, but he may well see the glory of the LORD which is within; so there must mean in the inner court, which was full of the brightness of the LORD'S glory (x. 4), and at the gate of which Ezekiel stands.

7. the door of the court] The seer is brought to another spot. This was probably not the same gate as that which in v. 3 is called the gate of the inner court. The court here may be the outer or inner court. The outer court was indeed first brought into exact symmetry in the vision of the temple (xl.), but in Ezekiel's time there were sundry buildings on the space around the inner court which formed a court or courts, not improbably inclosed by a wall (see Note at end of chap. xl.). The Hebrew word for wall (kir) is

8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a

door.

9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.

10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.

II And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of

the term for the wall of a city, or of a whole collection of buildings, rather than for an internal wall separating one part from another. The idolatries here were viewed as taking place in secret, and it is more in accordance with the temple arrangements to suppose that such chambers as would give room for those rites should belong to the outer than to the inner court. The seer is now outside the wall of the outer court, by the door which leads from it out of the temple boundary. By breaking through the wall he enters into a chamber which stands in the outer court against the wall near the gate.

a bole] A window or some opening not sufficiently large to admit of entrance until the wall is broken through, and the seer entering comes upon a door which admits him to the scene of idolatry.

10. There is clearly a reference to the idolatry of Egypt. See Note A at end of the Chapter. Belzoni's discoveries in the early part of the present century brought to light many subterranean chambers in rocks upon the shores of the Nile. These were used as sepulchres both for kings and private persons. The walls were uniformly adorned by painted figures, depicting embassies from foreign nations, or the occupations of ordinary life, and by hieroglyphical characters, some of which were representative of the objects of idolatrous worship. The most remarkable of these chambers are the tombs of the kings at Bibanel-Molouk, and also at Gourneh near Thebes. Belzoni found access into one of these by a bole in the wall, which gave no sign of a regular entrance (see Gosse's Monuments of Egypt,' p. 6). We have no evidence that these sepulchral chambers were used as places of worship, but their position, and the adornments, some of which at least were objects of idolatry, fitted them for the scene of the ideal picture by which Ezekiel represented Egyp

tian idolatry. In reference to Egyptian worship, Ammianus Marcellinus, XXII. 15 (quoted by Rosenmüller), speaks of "certain subterranean caverns, said to have been constructed by men practised in ancient rites, on the walls of which were portrayed many kinds of birds and beasts, which they called hieroglyphics." The Egyptian worship of animals is well known.

11. seventy men] The council of seventy (the Sanhedrim) was not instituted till the return from captivity—but seventy elders had in times past been chosen to represent the whole people in beholding the glory of Jehovah (Exod. xxiv. 9, 10).

The vision may have pointed to the contrast between the times. The number seven is, moreover, symbolical of the covenant between Jehovah and His people, and so the seventy men exhibit forcibly the breach of the covenant. It is a figure of the covert idolatry of the whole people.

Jaazaniah] The name means Jehovah is listening. Contrast the LORD [Jehovah] seeth not in v. 12. Jaazaniah was, however, a real person, one of the chief Jews, distinguished as son of Shaphan from another Jaazaniah (xi, 1). The name also occurs in 2 K. xxv. 23.

a thick cloud of incense] See Note B at end of Chapter.

12. in the dark] Hidden as it were in the secret places which the seer dug through the wall to discover.

every man in the chambers of his imagery] Rather, in his chambers of imagery. Chambers of imagery=chambers painted with images. The word for imagery is the same as in Lev. xxvi. 1. What the prophet had seen was a sample of all. All were worshipping their graven images.

14 The seer is now brought back to the same gate as in v. 3.