Volume 2
CLARK
S
/3
FOEEIGN
THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY.
FOURTH SERIES. VOL. L.
Uiil on
tlje
i^ropijemg of
YOU
.
)tfci*t
;V
EDINBURGH: T.
&
T.
CLARK,
38
GEORGE STREET.
1876.
PRINTED BY MURRAY AND GIBB, FOE T.
&
T.
CLARK, EDINBURGH.
LONDON,
.
.
.
DUBLIN,
.
.
.
.
.
.
KEW
YORK,
HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND ROBERTSON AND CO. SCRIBNER, WELFORD,
CO.
AND ARMSTRONG.
BIBLICAL
COMMENTARY ON THE
PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEI
BY
CARL FRIEDRTCH
KEIL,
D.D.,
DOCTOR AND PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY.
f ranslahb from
ijje
BY
REV.
JAMES MARTIN,
VOL.
-
ir.
EDINBURGH CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. :
T.
&
T.
B.A.
MDCCCLXXVI.
CONTENTS.
EXPOSITIO N
continued.
PREDICTIONS OF JUDGMENT UPON THE HEATHEN NATIONS (CHAP. XXIX.-XXXII.).
continued
PACK
AGAINST EGYPT (CHAP. XXIX.-XXXIL),
1
.
......
The Judgment upon Pharaoh and xxix. 1-16),
.
his People
and Land (Chap. 2
Conquest and Plundering of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar (Chap. 10
xxix. 17-21),
The Day of Judgment upon Egypt (Chap. xxx. 1-19),
.
.
15
Destruction of the Might of Pharaoh by Nebuchadnezzar (Chap.
26
xxx. 20-26),
The Glory and
Fall of Asshur a
Type
of
Egypt (Chap,
xxxi.),
.
28
Lamentations over the Ruin of Pharaoh and his People (Chap. xxxii.),
.
.
.
.
.
.
41
SECOND HALF. THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF SALVATION. CHAP. XXXIII.-XLVIII. The Calling
of the Prophet,
People (Chap,
xxxiii.),
and
his .
Future Attitude towards the .
.
Calling of the Prophet for the Future (Vers. 1-20),
.
.
.64 .
66
Preaching of Repentance after the Fall of Jerusalem (Yers.
72
23-33), 5
VI
CONTENTS. PACK
THE RESTORATION OF
AND DESTRUCTION OF GOG AND MAGOG
ISRAEL,
(CHAP, xxxrv.-xxxix.), Deposition of the
Flock
.
.
Bad Shepherds
and Appointment
;
xxxiv.),
Devastation of
.
The Salvation
.
.
the
its
.80
Israel
of
.94
.
Sanctification (Chap.
.
.
Land .
.
upon
.
.
of the
..
.
of
.
of Israel founded
xxxvi. 16-38),
and Tending
One Good Shepherd (Chap,
Edom, and Restoration
(Chap. xxxv. 1-xxxvi. 15),
.79
.
Collecting
;
of the
.
.
.
.
.106
.
Resurrection of Israel and Reunion as one Nation (Chap, xxxvii.),
new
Resurrection of Israel to
Reunion
xxxviii.
.
.
Gog with
his
and xxxix.),
.
great
(Chap,
Introduction (Chap.
,
114
of Nations
1-4),
(Chap. 157
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.182
.
.
.
.
XL.-XLVIII.),
,
180
.
xl.-xliii. 12),
xl.
.129
.
.
,
New Temple
Army
*
.
THE NEW KINGDOM OF GOD (CHAP. The
.
one Nation under the future King David
of Israel as
(Vers. 15-28),
Destruction of
Life (Vers. 1-14),
114 .
.
182
The Outer Court, with Boundary Wall, Gate-Buildings, and Cells (Yers. 5-27),
.
The Inner Court, with
.
its
Tables (Vers. 28-47),
.
..
Gates, Cells,
.
.
I
.
.186
and Slaughtering.
.209
The Temple-house, with the Porch, Side-storeys, and Backbuilding (Chap.
The Holy
xl. 48-xli.
26),
.
.
and the Extent
Cells in the Court,
Domain around the Temple (Chap,
xlii.),
.
Entrance of the Glory of the Lord into the (Chap,
xliii.
1-12),
The new Ordinances
.
of Divine
.
"Worship
.
(Chap,
.
xliii.
.
of the .
.223 Holy .
253
New Temple .
.273
13-xlvi. 24),
283
Description and Consecration of the Altar of Burnt-Offering
(Chap,
xliii.
13-27),
.
.
.
.
284
Position of the different Classes of the People in relation to the
New
Sanctuary (Chap,
xliv.),
.
.
...
.
298
Vl1
CONTENTS.
PAGE
The Holy Heave
of the
Land and the Heave-offerings
People (Chap. xlv. 1-17),
of the
.
Instructions concerning the Festal
and Daily
Sacrifices (Chap.
ooo
xlv. 18-xlvi. 15),
Sacrifices for the
and Daily Blessing of the
Sabbath and
Sacrifices (Chap.
Land
of Canaan, xlvii.
Tribes of Israel (Chap,
The River
of
Water
New Moon, xlvi.
1-15),
.
and Distribution
and
of it .
xlviii.),
of Life (Chap, xlvii. 1-12),
Boundaries and Division of the Holy Land. City of
Freewill-Offerings,
God (Chap,
xlvii. 13-xlviii. 35),
among
the .
350
.
351
Description of the .
361
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
CHAP.
XXIX.-XXXIL AGAINST EGYPT,
]HE announcement
of the
proclaimed in seven five are threats.
The second
"words
The
tains a threat of the
and
his people
judgment upon Egypt first
of
The
God."
is
first
(ch. xxix. 1-16) con
judgment upon Pharaoh and grand and general traits.
land, expressed in
17-21) gives a special prediction of the The conquest and plundering of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. third (ch. xxx. 1-19) depicts the day of judgment which will (ch. xxix.
break upon Egypt and
The
fourth (ch. xxx. 20-26) foretells the annihilation of the might of Pharaoh by the king of Babylon ; and the fifth (ch. xxxi.) holds up as a warning to the king and people of
its allies.
Egypt the glory and the overthrow of
Assyria. The last two words of God in ch. xxxii. contain lamentations over the destruction of Pharaoh and his might, viz. ch. xxxii. 1-16, a lamentation over the king of Egypt;
and
ch. xxxii. 17-32, a second lamentation over the destruc
tion
of his imperial power.
Egypt assumes power of
this
Pharaoh
Ezekiel
s
prophecy concerning
elaborate form, because he regards the and Egypt as the embodiment of that
phase of the imperial
power which imagines in
self-deification that it is able to
its
ungodly uphold the kingdom of God,
and thus seduces the people of God
to rely with false confidence
upon the imperial power of this world. EZEK.
II.
A
2
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
CHAP. XXIX.
THE JUDGMENT UPON PHAKAOH AND HIS PEOPLE AND LAND.
1-16.
Because Pharaoh looks upon himself as the creator of his kingdom and of his might, he is to be destroyed with his men of war (vers. 2-5a).
In order that Israel
may no
longer put
power of Egypt, the sword shall cut off from Egypt both man and beast, the land shall be turned into a barren wilderness, and the people shall be scattered over the its
trust in the fragile
But
lands (vers. 5&-12).
appointed for restored,
its
after the expiration
the time
of
punishment, both people and land shall be
though only
remain an
to
kingdom
insignificant
to ver. 1, this
According prophecy belongs to (vers. 13-16). the tenth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin ; and as we may see by comparing it with the other oracles against Egypt of
which the dates are given,
by Ezekiel concerning also
harmonize with
it
was the
first
word of God uttered
The contents imperial kingdom. inasmuch as the threat which it con
this
this,
announces in general terms the overthrow of the might of Egypt and its king, without naming the instrument employed to execute the judgment, and at the same time the tains merely
future condition of Egypt is also disclosed. Vers. 1-12. Destruction of the might of
Ver.
devastation of Egypt.
1.
In
Pharaoh, and
the tenth year, in the tenth
(month), on the twelfth of the month, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 2. Son of man, direct thy face against Pharaoh the king
Egypt.
of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Ver. 3. Speak and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
Behold, Twill deal ivith thee, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, thou great Mine is the river, dragon which lieth in its rivers, which saith, "
and I have made
it
for
myself"
Ver.
4.
/
will put
a ring into
thy jaws, and cause the fishes of thy rivers to hang upon thy scales, and draw thee out of thy rivers, and all the fishes of thy rivers
which hang upon thy scales
into the desert, thee
and
all
;
Ver.
5.
And
will cast thee
the fishes of thy rivers
;
upon
the
CHAP. XXIX.
6
1-12.
wilt not be lifted up nor surface of the field wilt thou fall, thou I give thee for food to the beasts of the earth gathered together ;
and
I am
Egypt
shall learn that
to the
house of Israel,
branches, thou crackest
when they lean upon to
Ver.
the birds of the heaven.
Ver.
shake,
Behold,
I
man and
Ver.
and
bring upon
And
When
7.
tearest
it is
of a reed-staff
they grasp thee by all their shoulder
open
Therefore thus
saith
thee the sword,
and
beast; Ver.
all the inhabitants
Because
;
tliy
and
thou breakest and causest all their loins
thee,
8.
6.
Jehovah.
9.
And
the land
Lord Jehovah,
the
ivill
cut off
from
thee
will become
of Egypt
a
waste and desolation, and they shall learn that 1 am Jehovah. Because he saith : a The river is mine, and I have made
it,"
Ver. 10. Therefore, behold, I will deal with thee and thy rivers, and will make the land of Egypt into barren waste desolations
from Migdol foot ivill
to Syene,
of man
not pass through
it,
and
the
midst of devastated lands,
and
desolate cities forty years nations^ "
and
;
it,
and
land of Egypt a its
cities
year,"
is
of beast
and I scatter
waste in the
shall be waste
the
among
Egyptians among the
The
disperse them in the lands.
in the tenth
the foot
will not be inhabited for forty
it
/ make
Ver. 12.
years.
Ver. 11. The
even to the border of Cush.
will not pass through
date given, viz.
defended even by Hitzig as more correct
than the reading of the LXX., eV em TW ScoBe/carct) and he supposes the Alexandrian reading to have originated in the T<
fact that the last date
brought down called
xxxii. 2)
whom
the great dragon is
the threat
"
in
had already
in ch. xxvi. 1
the account to the eleventh year.
king of Egypt, against "
mentioned
;
ver.
is
Pharaoh, the
first
directed, is
D^n (here and
3.
ch.
equivalent to pan, literally, the
lengthened animal, the snake; here, the water-snake, the crocodile, the standing symbol of Egypt in the prophets (cf. Isa. li. 9, xxvii. 1 ; Ps.
which is here transferred to Pharaoh, as the ruler of and Egypt representative of its power. By D^&O we are to understand the arms and canals of the Nile (vid. Isa. vii. 18).
Ixxiv. 13),
The predicate,
"
lying in the midst of his
rivers,"
points at once
4
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
to the
proud security in
As
himself up.
his
own power
the crocodile
to
which Pharaoh gave
quietly in the waters of the
lies
Nile, as though he were lord of the river
so did Pharaoh regard ; himself as the omnipotent lord of Egypt. His words affirm the river is mine, I have made it for myself." this : The "
suffix attached to
the suffix
is
WK
V.
stands in the place of v, as ver. 9, where
There
wanting, clearly shows.
is
an incorrectness
which evidently passed into the language of literature from the popular phraseology (cf. Ewald, 3156).
in this use of the suffix,
The rendering
of the Vulgate, ego fed memetipsum, is false. the expression used by him as a king who regards the land and its rivers as his own property; in connection with ^fc* is
which we must bear Nile not only for this
to "
its
in
mind
that
Egypt
greatness, but for
its
is
indebted to the
In
actual existence.
respect Pharaoh says emphatically
v, it is mine, it belongs me, because he regards himself as the creator. The words, I have made it for myself," simply explain the reason for the
expression y, and affirm
more than
session of this through
my own power,
blessings for myself
"
I have put myself in pos
"
"
(Havernick)
;
or,
or have acquired
its
I have put
its
it
into
present condition by constructing canals, dams, sluices, and Pharaoh calls himself buildings by the river-side (Hitzig). "
the creator of the Nile, because he regards himself as the creator of the greatness of Egypt. This pride, in which he forgets
God and
attributes divine
power
to himself,
of his sin, for which he will be overthrown
draw the
crocodile
Pharaoh out of
is
the cause
by God.
his Nile with hooks,
God
will
and
cast
him upon the dry land, where he and the fishes that have been drawn out along with him upon his scales will not be gathered but devoured by the wild beasts and birds of prey. The ,up, figure
is
derived from the
manner
in
which even
in
ancient
times the crocodile was caught with large hooks of a peculiar construction (compare Herod, ii. 70, and the testimonies of travellers in
Oedmann
and Jomard
s
Vermischten Sammlungen, III. pp. 6 sqq.,
in the Description de
VEgypte,
I.
p. 27).
The
CHAP. XXIX. 1-12.
form
Yod
with a double
D"nn
is
a copyist
s
error,
probably
occasioned by the double Yod occurring after n in T^HpSi, which dual form for D nn is unsuitable, and is not used follows.
A
anywhere
s
else
even by Ezekiel
(cf. ch. xix. 4,
9,
and more
The fishes which hang upon the and are drawn along with it out of the
especially ch. xxxviii. 4). scales of the monster,
Nile, are the inhabitants of Egypt, for the Nile represents the The casting of the beast into the wilderness, where it land.
and
putrefies
is
devoured by the beasts and birds of prey, must
not be interpreted in the insipid manner proposed by Hitzig, namely, that Pharaoh would advance with his army into the
The
desert of Arabia and be defeated there.
wilderness
is
the
dry and barren land, in which animals that inhabit the water and the thought is simply that the monster will
must perish
;
be cast upon the desert land, where it will finally become the food of the beasts of prey. In ver. 6 the construction is a sub ject of dispute,
the
Hebrew Drri
til
which
n it
inasmuch
as
many
of the commentators follow
division of the verse, taking the second hemistich
dependent upon the first half of the verse, for assigns the reason, and then interpreting ver. 7 as a }5P
as
further development of ver. 66, and commencing a new period with ver. 8 (Hitzig, Kliefoth, and others). But it is decidedly
wrong
to connect together the two halves of the sixth verse,
reason that the formula njrp
if
^x yn^, only for the simple which occurs so frequently elsewhere in Ezekiel, invariably closes a train of thought, and is never followed by the addition of a further reason. is
JJP
15J,
10a.
*3
Moreover, a sentence commencing with by an apodosis introduced by
just as invariably followed
of
which we have an example just below in vers. 96 and For both these reasons it is absolutely necessary that we til Dn^n JSP as the beginning of a protasis, the which commences with fij in ver. 8. The cor
should regard apodosis to
rectness of this construction
is
is
spoken
of, as in vers.
beyond all doubt by no longer Pharaoh who
established
the fact that from ver. 66 onwards
it is
3-5, but Egypt; so that
IJ
introduces
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
6
new tram
of thought. But ver. 7 is clearly shown, both by the contents and the form, to be an explanatory intermediate a
clause inserted as a parenthesis. is
removed
in
consequence to
And
Ezekiel has introduced the formula
Jehovah
"
at the
inasmuch
as the protasis
some distance from
commencement
"
thus
its
apodosis,
saith the
Lord
of the apodosis, for the pur
pose of giving additional emphasis to the announcement of the punishment. Ver. 7 cannot in any case be regarded as the protasis, the apodosis to
as
Havernick maintains.
which commences with the
The
suffix
attached to
|3?
in ver. 8,
Brri^n, to
which
Hitzig takes exception, because he has misunderstood the con
and which he would conjecture away, refers to Q^VP Because the kingdom of Egypt was kingdom. a reed-staff to the house of Israel (a figure drawn from the struction,
as a land or
physical character of the banks of the Nile, with its thick growth of tall, thick rushes, and recalling to mind Isa. xxxvi. 6),
Lord would bring the sword upon both man and beast. But before this the
the reed-staff
is
more
clearly defined
"
:
it
and cut
off
from
it
apodosis the figure of
when they
(the Israel
This take thee by thy branches, thou breakest," etc. is not to be taken as referring to any particular explanation facts either of the past or future, but indicates the deceptive ites)
nature of Egypt as the standing characteristic of that kingdom. the same time, to give greater vivacity to the description,
At
the words concerning to the
Egypt are changed
i.e.
into a direct address
not to Pharaoh, but to the Egyptian
Egyptians, people regarded as a single individual. The expression "jara causes some difficulty, since the ordinary meaning of *)3 (hand) from is apparently unsuitable, inasmuch as the verb p">fl,
break or crack (not to break in pieces, i.e. to break that the figure of the reed is still quite through), clearly shows is bad emendation, based upon the a continued. The Keri *)33 rendering to grasp with the hand," which is grammatically yyj, to
"
inadmissible.
^?n with 2 does not mean
thing, but to seize
upon something,
to grasp with
some
to take hold of a person
CHAP. XXIX.
(Isa.
6
iii.
;
Deut. to
ix.
1-12.
17), so that 1S32 can only be
*I3.
The meaning
an explana
or grasp of the
grip, tory apposition is also unsuitable and cannot be sustained, as the plural Hi23 alone is used in this sense in Song of Sol. v. 5. The
hand,
only meaning appropriate to the figure
is
that of branches,
which is sustained, so far as the language is concerned, by the use of the plural ni23 for palm-branches in Lev. xxiii. 40, and of the singular naa for the collection of branches in Job xv. 32, ix. 13, xix. 15; and this is apparently in perfect with natural facts, since the tall reed of the Nile, harmony more especially the papyrus, is furnished with hollow, sword-
and
Isa.
shaped leaves at the lower part of the stalk. When it cracks, the reed-staff pierces the shoulder of the man who has grasped it, and tears it ; and if a man lean upon it, it breaks in pieces
and causes
all
the loins to tremble.
T^Stf?
cannot mean to
cause to stand, or to set upright, still less to render stiff and The latter meaning cannot be established from the rigid.
usage of the language, and would be unsuitable here. For if a stick on which a man leans should break and penetrate his loins, it would inflict such injury upon them as to cause him to fall,
and not
to
remain
stiff
and
rigid.
IDJjn
cannot have any
other meaning than that of "Uft?n, to cause to tremble or relax, as in Ps. Ixix. 24, to shake the firmness of the loins, so that the
In the apodosis the thought of the impaired. of the land gives place to that people ; hence the use of the feminine suffixes *lvtf and 5JB& in the place of the masculine
power to stand
suffixes
is
^3 and T?y in ver.
7.
Man
and beast
shall
be cut
off,
and the land made into a desert waste by the sword, i.e. by This is carried out still further in vers. 9612; and once war. again in the protasis 96 (cf. ver. 36) the inordinate pride of the king is placed in the foreground as the reason for the devastation of his land and kingdom. The Lord will make of
Egypt
the most desolate wilderness,
superlative by the double genitive wilderness.
Throughout
its
nunn
nDD2>"
is
intensified into a
snh, desolation of the
whole extent from Migdol,
i.e.
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
8
to the Itiner.
Magdolo, according twelve
Roman
Anton,
miles from Pelusium
;
171
p.
in the
(ed. Wessel),
Coptic Meshtol,
Egyptian Maktr (Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr. I. pp. 261 seq.), the most northerly place in Egypt. ruin, to Syene (for the con struction see ch. xxx. 6 and xxi. 3), Sun in the inscrip 2vr)i>r),
according to Brugsch (Geogr. Insc/ir.I. p. 155), probably the profane designation of the place (Coptic Souart), the most southerly border town of Egypt in the direction of Cush, i.e. tions,
Ethiopia, on the eastern bank of the Nile, are
which
is
Reiseber.
situated to the
am
clopaedia).
of
which
be seen in the modern Assvan (Assuan,
to
still
some ruins
north-east of
them
Aegypten, p. 247, and Leyrer The additional clause, 6i and
Brugsch,
(vid.
in
Herzog
to
the
s
Ency
border of
does not give a fresh terminal point, still further advanced, but simply defines with still greater clearness the Cush,"
boundary toward the south, viz. to Syene, where Egypt ter minates and Ethiopia begins. In ver. lla the desolation is
more "be
fully depicted.
inhabited,"
-&r\ K?,
as in Joel iv.
it
will not
(iii.)
dwell,
poetical for
20, Isa. xiii. 20, etc.
devastation shall last for forty years, and so long people of Egypt be scattered among the nations.
This
shall the
But
after
the expiration of that time they shall be gathered together again (ver. 13). The number forty is neither a round number (Hitzig) nor a very long time (Ewald), but is a symbolical term denoting a period appointed by God for punishment and penitence (see the comm. on ch. iv. 6), which is not to be under stood in a chronological sense, or capable of being calculated. Vers. 13-16. Restoration of Egypt. Ver. 13. For thus saith the
Lord Jehovah, At
the
end of forty years
I
will gather the
Egyptians out of the nations, whither they were scattered.
And I will
turn the captivity of Egypt, and will bring them back
of their origin, and they shall Ver. 15. Lowlier than the kingdoms no more over the nations ; and I will
into the land of Pathros, into the land
be a lowly kingdom shall
it
be,
Ver. 14.
and
there.
exalt itself
9
CHAP. XXIX. 13-16.
more over
malce them small, so that they shall rule no
And
Ver. 16.
it
shall be
Israel^ bringing iniquity to
and
it ;
no more
remembrance when they
they shall learn that
ing of the period of
the confidence
I am
the
years shall
Egypt punishment
forty
Lord
;
"a,
which
For forty
"
Egypt be utterly laid waste
tion of that period the
The turn
connected by
is
of
incline towards
Lord Jehovah.
s
refers to the time indicated, viz.
of
the nations. the house
years."
for after the expira
will gather the
Egyptians again from their dispersion among the nations, turn their captivity, i.e. put an end to their suffering (see the comm. on ch. xvi. 53),
and lead them back into the land of
their birth,
i.e.
of their
Dnnsj ? origin (for n*j^p ? see ch. xvi. 3), namely, to Pathros. Jer. xliv. 1), or south the Egyptian Petores (IlaOovpws,
LXX.
land,
The
i.e.
Upper Egypt,
designation of
the Thebais of the Greeks and
Upper Egypt
as the
Romans-
mother country of the
Egyptians, or the land of their nativity, is confirmed not only by the accounts given by Herodotus (ii. 4 and 15) and Diodorus Sic. but also by the Egyptian mythology, according to which (i. 50), the
first
king who reigned after the gods,
viz.
Menes or Mena,
sprang from the city of Thinis (Thyid*\ Egypt. Tenj9 in the neighbourhood of Abydos in Upper Egypt, and founded the city of
Memphis
in
Lower Egypt, which became
times (vid. Brugsch, Histoire shall not attain to its
d Egypte,
I.
so celebrated in later
But Egypt
p. 16).
former power any more.
It will be
and
continue a lowly kingdom, that it may not again become a ground of confidence to Israel, a power upon which Israel can rely, so as to fall into guilt
Egypt
and punishment.
The
subject to
as a nation, notwithstanding the fact that
fW
it
K^l is
has pre
viously been construed in the feminine as a land or kingdom, and in BnnpiN the Egyptians are spoken of in the number. plural
For
out of the question to take |ty "V3TB as the subject to HVP &6 in the sense of no more shall one who calls guilt to it is
"
remembrance
inspire the house of Israel with
confidence,"
as
Kliefoth proposes, not only because of the arrangement of the words, but because the more precise definition of |iV
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
10
nx DnfaD3 clearly shows that Egypt
as
is
the subject of the
sentence; whereas, in order to connect this definition in any way, Kliefoth is compelled to resort to the interpolation of the words,
"
which
it committed."
jty
^3JB
is
in apposition to
ntp2D making Egypt the ground of confidence, brings into remembrance before God the guilt of Israel, which consists in ;
the fact that the Israelites turn to the Egyptians and seek salvation from them, so that He is obliged to punish them (vid.
The
ch. xxi. 28, 29).
has been confirmed
if
by
history,
inasmuch as Egypt never
former power after the Chaldean period. More we compare the Messianic promise for Egypt in Isa.
recovered over,
truth of the prediction in vers. 13-16
its
in vers. 13-15, we are struck at once with the peculiarity of Ezekiel, already referred to in the introductory remarks on ch. xxv.-xxxii., namely, that he leaves entirely out of sight the Messianic future of the heathen nations.
18-25 with the prediction
xix.
CHAP. XXIX.
17-21.
Ver. 17. In on the
CONQUEST AND PLUNDERING OF EGYPT BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
the seven the
moon,
and the
twentieth year, in the first (mooii),
word of Jehovah came
to
me, saying, Ver. 18. Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, of Babylon, has made his army perform hard work at Tyre : every head is bald, and every shoulder grazed, and no wages have been given to him first
of
the king
the work which he performed 19. thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Ver. Therefore against the I Behold, give Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the land of
and
to his
army from Tyre for
it.
may carry away its possessions, and plunder its and make booty of its booty, and this may be the wages plunder, Egypt, that he
of
his
him
army.
the land
Ver. 20.
As
the
pay for which
of Egypt, because they did
it
he worked,
I give
is the
for me, saying of the Lord Jehovah. Ver. 21. In that day will I cause a horn to sprout to the house of Israel^ and I will open the mouth for thee in the midst of
them; and they shall know that
I am
Jehovah.
CHAP. XXIX.
17-21.
1
1
This brief prophecy concerning Egypt was uttered about seven teen years after the preceding word of God, and was the latest of all the predictions of Ezekiel that are supplied with dates. But notwithstanding its brevity, it is not to be taken in connec tion with the utterance
which follows
in ch. xxx.
1-19
so as to
form one prophecy, as Hitzig supposes. This is at variance not only with the formula in ch. xxx. 1, which is the usual introduction to a new word of God, but also with ver. 21 of the present chapter, which is obviously intended to bring the This termination, which is previous word of God to a close.
analogous to the closing words of the prophecies against Tyre and Sidon in ch. xxviii. 25, 26, also shows that the present
word of God contains the
last of
EzekiePs prophecies against
the Egyptian world-power, and that the only reason why the prophet did not place it at the end when collecting his pro that is to say, after ch. xxxii. was, that the promise phecies in ver. 30, that the
house of
Lord would cause
a horn to
bud
to the
Israel, contained the correlate to the declaration that
Egypt was henceforth this threat of
to
be but a lowly kingdom.
judgment, which
is
as brief as
it is
Moreover, definite,
was
way and to serve as an introduction the more for elaborate threats which follow. The contents of well fitted to prepare the
the prophecy, namely, the assurance that God would give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar as spoil in return for the hard labour which
army had performed
he and
his
siege of
Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar.
at Tyre, point to the time of the thirteen years the termination immediately following
If
we compare with
this
the date given in ver. 17, the siege was brought to a close in the twenty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, i.e. B.C. 572,
and must therefore have commenced
in the year B.C.
586, or about two years after the destruction of Jerusalem, and with this the extract given by Josephus (c. Ap. i. 21) from the 1 nnhj; Tyrian annals agrees. ^?-V$, to cause a work to be 1 For the purpose of furnishing the proof that the temple at Jerusalem lay in ruins for fifty years, from the time of its destruction till the com-
12
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
This labour was so severe, that every head was bald and every shoulder These grazed. words have been correctly interpreted by the commentators, executed, or service to be rendered.
even by Ewald, as referring to the heavy burdens that had to be carried in order to fill up the strait which separated Insular
Tyre from the mainland. They confirm what we have said above, in the remarks on ch. xxvi. 10 and elsewhere, concerning
But
the capture of Tyre.
neither he nor his
recompense for their severe
army had
received
This does not imply that
toil.
any Nebuchadnezzar had been unable
to accomplish the work which he had undertaken, i.e. to execute his design and conquer the city, but simply that he had not received the recompense which he expected after this severe labour ; in other words, had not
found the booty he hoped for when the city was taken (see the introductory remarks on ch. xxvi.-xxviii.). To compensate him
Lord
him the land
FUton NJyj ), that possessions as booty,
Egypt with its he may carry off the abun
dance of
not that he
for this, the
will give 1
its
possessions, its wealth
the multitude of "
K5W
is
its
people
;
(De Wette,
of
may
lead
away
Kliefoth, etc.), for
not the appropriate expression for
this"
(Hitzig).
iin ? abundance of possessions, as in Isa. Ix. 5, Ps. xxxvii. 16, etc. then that which is gained by f&?S, the doing of a thing ;
working, the recompense for labour, as in Lev. xix. 13 and other passages, y ^y IPK is taken by Hitzig as referring to the Egyptians, and rendered,
they have done
to
me."
"
in
consequence of that which may be taken in this
But although
"IPK
sense (vid. Isa. Ixv. 18), the arguments employed by Hitzig in
mencement
of its rebuilding, Josephus gives in the passage referred to above the years of the several reigns of the kings and judges of Tyre from Ithobal to Hirom, in whose reign Cyrus took the kingdom from which it is apparent that fifty years elapsed from the commencement of the siege of Tyre to the fourteenth year of Hirom, in which Cyrus began to reign. At the same time, the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar is given by mistake ;
instead of the seventeenth or nineteenth as the date of the beginning of
(Compare on this point Movers, Plwnizier, Niebuhr, Gesch. Assurs u. Bab. pp. 106 sqq.
the siege.
M.
v.
Gesch. des Altert.
I.
p.
841.)
pp. 437 sqq. and M. Duncker,
II. 1, ;
;
CHAP. XXIX
opposition to the ordinary rendering nezzar and his army) have done it for their hard
work
at
no force whatever.
13
17-21.
"for
me,"
they (Nebuchad
i.e.
have performed
me and by my commission have Tyre This use of v nby is thoroughly established for
by Gen. xxx. 30 arid the objection which he raises, namely, that a the assertion that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre in the ;
service of
Jehovah could only have been properly made by
Ezekiel in the event of the city having been really conquered," is out of place, for this simple reason, that the assumption that the city was not taken
is
a
mere conjecture
;
and even
if
the
conjecture could be sustained, the siege itself might still be a work undertaken in the service of Jehovah. And the principal that we should necessarily expect nby argument, namely, "
(instead of V^V), inasmuch as with
WW
every
Hebrew
reader
would inevitably take IB K as referring to C^IV*?," is altogether wide of J;he mark for p does not signify the Egyptians in ;
^~)>
but the land of Egypt alone is spoken of both in the verse before us and throughout the oracle, and for this V^V this passage,
is
quite unsuitable, whereas the context suggests in the most
natural
way
But what
is
the allusion to Nebuchadnezzar and his army. absolutely decisive is the circumstance that the
thought itself, "in consequence of what the Egyptians have done to me," i.e. what evil they have done, is foreign to, if not at variance with, all the prophecies of Ezekiel concerning
For the
Egypt and
Egypt.
Pharaoh mentioned by Ezekiel crime is not any against Jehovah, but simply Pharaoh s deifica tion of himself, and the treacherous nature of the help which
Egypt
guilt of
afforded to Israel.
expression for this, in
v ^?
its
njrr6
support of
"6
n^y is not the appropriate which assertion we might
Ver. 21. On that day, namely, the judgment upon Egypt is executed by Nebuchadnezzar, the Lord will cause a horn to sprout or grow to the house
point to
in ch. xxiii. 38.
when
The horn is a symbol of might and strength, which the attacks of foreigners are warded off. by By the overthrow of Judah the horn of Israel was cut off (Lam. ii. 3 (people) of Israel.
;
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. In
also Jer. xlviii. 25).
W?x
the promise coin cides, so far as the words are concerned, with Ps. cxxxii. 17 ;
compare but
it
also points
Hannah
in 1
back
Sam.
ii.
mouth hath opened
pi?
to the prophetic
u 1,
itself
My
horn
is
wide over
my
enemies,"
will cause
and
is
my
Mes
The horn which
sianic in the broader sense of the word.
Lord
words of the godly
exalted in Jehovah,
the
to sprout to the people of Israel is neither
Zerubbabel nor the Messiah, but the Messianic salvation.
The
reason for connecting this promise of salvation for Israel with the overthrow of the power of Egypt, as Havernick has observed, is
that
"
Egypt presented
itself to
the prophet as the power in
which the idea of heathenism was embodied and In the might of Egypt the world-power overthrow of the world-power
the
is
is
dawn
circumscribed."
shattered,
and the
of the unfolding of
the might of the kingdom of God. Then also will the Lord to His an of the mouth in the midst of give prophet opening
These words are unquestionably connected with the promise of God in ch. xxiv. 26, 27, that after the fall of Jeru salem the mouth of Ezekiel should be opened, and also with the Israel.
fulfilment of that promise in ch. xxxiii. 22
much more comprehensive meaning, namely,
;
but they have a
that with the
dawn
church of the Lord, the word of prophecy would sound forth in the richest measure, inasmuch as, according to Joel (ch. ii.), a universal outpouring of the
of salvation in Israel,
Spirit of is
God would
i.e.
in the
then take place.
correct in his remark, that
the whole band of
prophets."
In
this light
Theodoret
through Ezekiel He signified But Kliefoth has quite mistaken "
meaning of the words when he discovers in them the God would then give the prophet a new word thought that
the
"
God
concerning both Egypt and Israel, and that this is Such a view as this contained in the oracle in ch. xxx. 1-19."
of
false, apart from other grounds, by the DDirm (in the midst of them), which cannot be taken expression
is
proved at once to be
as applying to 7K"]^.,
Egypt and
the house of Israel.
Israel,
but can only refer to JV3
CHAP. XXX.
CHAP. XXX.
Lord
that the
s
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT UPON EGYPT.
1-19.
Commencing with
15
1-19.
a call to lamentation, the prophet announces
day of judgment upon the nations
is
near at
nations in alliance hand, and will burst upon Egypt, and the He then depicts in three strophes, with with it 2-5). (vers.
nb ? the execution of this judg the introductory words of the might of Egypt and destruction the ment, namely : (a) "
"tt?K
the devastation of the land (vers. 6-9)
(b) the
;
enemy by
the judgment will be accomplished (vers. 10-12) ; and the extermination of the idols of Egypt, the conquest and
whom (c)
demolition of
its
fortresses, the slaughter of its
and the captivity of the daughters of the land
The heading
13-19).
same
period as the
whilst others connect
it
more
;
definite criteria for determining
with precision the date of the prophecy.
it
(vers.
does not contain any chronological information
and the contents furnish no oracle to the
male population,
Jerome
assigns this
prophecy in ch. xxix. 1-16,
closely with ch. xxix. 17-21,
as the latest of all Ezekiel s prophecies.
The
and
latter is
regard the conclusion adopted by Rosenmiiller, Havernick, Hitzig,
The
Kliefoth, and some others. for linking
of
it
on
to ch. xxix.
judgment upon Egypt
this did not
is
1
principal
7 sqq.
is,
argument adduced
that in ver. 3 the day
threatened as near at hand, and
apply to the tenth year (ch. xxix.
1),
though
to the twenty-seventh (ch. xxix. 17), perfectly applicable
it
was
when
the siege of Tyre was ended, and Nebuchadnezzar was on the But the expression, the day of the point of attacking Egypt. "
Lord
is
near at
hand,"
is
so relative a chronological phrase,
that nothing definite can be gathered from
which an oracle was composed.
Nor
it
as to the date at
does the fact that our
prophecy stands after the prophecy in ch. xxix. 17-21, which furnished with a date, prove anything for the other pro phecies which follow, and are furnished with dates, all belong to a much earlier period. It is very evident from this that
is
ch. xxix.
;
17-21
is
inserted
without regard to chronological
THE PKOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
16
sequence, and consequently ch. xxx. 1-19 may just as well belong to the period between the tenth month of the tenth year (ch. xxix. 1) and the first month of the eleventh year (ch. xxx. 20), as to the twenty-seventh year (ch. xxix.
17),
since all the reasons assigned for the closer connection of our
prophecy with the one immediately preceding (ch. xxix. 1721), which is supposed to indicate similarity of date, are invalid ; whilst, on the other hand, the resemblance of vers. 6 and 17 to ch. xxix. tion of a
10 and 12
Ver.
2.
not sufficient to warrant the assump
contemporaneous origin.
Vers. 1-5. its allies.
is
Announcement
Ver.
1.
of the
And the word
Son of man, prophesy, and
Howl
judgment upon Egypt and
of Jehovah came
Thus
say,
to
me, saying,
saith the
Lord
! Woe to the day ! Ver. 3. For the day is Jehovah near, a day of cloud, the time of the day of And the sword will come upon Egypt, 4. it Ver. will be. heathen
Jehovah,
ye
near, the
and
there will be
pangs in Ethiopia, when
the slain fall in
Egypt,
and her foundations are destroyed. Ver. 5. Ethiopians and Libyans and Lydians, and all the rabble, and Chub, and the sons of the covenant land, will fall by the
and
they take her possessions,
sword with them.
In the announcement of the judgment in
2b and 3, Ezekiel rests upon Joel i. 13, 15, and ii. 2, where the designation already applied to the judgment upon the the day of Jehovah heathen world by Obadiah, viz. (Obad. ver. 15), is followed by such a picture of the nearness and
vers.
"
"
terrible nature of that day, that
even Isaiah
(Isa. xiii. 6, 9)
and
Zephaniah (Zeph. i. 7, 14) appropriate the words of Joel. Ezekiel also does the same, with this exception, that he uses Pin instead of nn^
?
and adds
to the force of the expression
by the
Bi 2i~ij?. In ver. 3b, the words from JJV Di 1 to repetition of u a rprp are not to be taken together as forming one sentence, 11
day of cloud
will the
cause the idea of a
"
time of the nations be
time of the nations
tioned before, so as to prepare the Di and D ia real nature here. Ijy
way r\y
"
"
(De Wette), be
has not been
men
for a description of
its
contain two co-ordinate
CHAP. XXX. affirmations concerning the
of cloud,
17
1-5.
of great calamity (as in Joel
i.e.
the heathen,
i.e.
It will be a
day of Jehovah. ii.
2),
when heathen (&h without
day
and a time of
the article) are
(cf. Isa. xiii. 22). might judged, when This day is coming upon Egypt, which is to succumb to the sword. Ethiopia will be so terrified at this, that it will writhe
their
is
be shattered
to
n convulsively with anguish ( ^r D, as in Nah. ii. 11 and Isa. n i? signifies the xxi. 3). plundering and removal of the fijon Fubn like The of the Nirj in ch. xxix. 19. land, possessions 3
the enemy. The i.e. they," subject to *n|i is indefinite, foundations of Egypt, which are to be destroyed, are not the "
foundations of
its
buildings,
figurative sense as relating Isa. xix.
10
but
may
to persons,
be understood in a after the analogy of
but the notion that Gush, Phut,
;
etc.
(ver. 9),
i.e.
the mercenary troops obtained from those places, which are called the props of Egypt in ver. 6, are intended, as Hitzig
not
is
assumes,
extremely improbable,
only
The announcement
erroneous.
in ver. 6, that
but decidedly
Gush, Phut,
are to fall by the sword along with the Egyptians sufficient of itself to
show that these
tribes,
or mercenaries of Egypt,
auxiliaries
even
if
(
D
etc.,
^), is
they were
did not constitute the
foundations of the Egyptian state and kingdom ; but that, on the contrary, Egypt possessed a military force composed of native troops, which was simply strengthened by auxiliaries there interpret H TillD*, after the analogy of and allies. Ps. xi. 3 and Ixxxii. 5, as referring to the real foundations of
We
the state, the regulations and institutions on which the stability
and
prosperity
friendly,
and
of
the
kingdom
The neighbouring, be smitten by the judg
rest.
allied peoples will also
ment together with the Egyptians. Cush, i.e. the Ethiopians, Phut and Liid, i.e. the Libyans and African Lydians (see the
comm. on
ch.
auxiliaries of
xxvii.
10),
are
mentioned here primarily as
Egypt, because, according
to Jer. xlvi. 9,
Necho s army. By IT$n~?3, the whole of crowd (see the comm. on 1 Kings x. 15, TTUVTCS ol served in
EZEK.
II.
they
the mixed e
B
18
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
LXX.), we the
are then to understand the mercenary soldiers in
Egyptian
army, which
were
from
obtained
different
nations (chiefly Greeks, lonians, and Carians, ol eTTiKovpoi, as they are called by Herodotus, iii. 4, etc.). In addition to
Havernick connects
is also mentioned. these, 113 (air. \ej.)
name with the people of Knfa, so frequently met with on the Egyptian monuments. But, according to Wilkinson (Man 361 sqq.), they inhabited a portion of Asia ners, etc., I. 1, pp.
this
farther north even than Palestine
the enemies of Egypt.
among Kufa is probably
;
and he ranks them
(p.
379)
Hitzig therefore imagines that
to be found in Kohistan, a district of Media, from which, however, the Egyptians can hardly have obtained
mercenary troops. And so long as nothing certain can be with gathered from the advancing Egyptological researches regard to the name Cub, the conjecture that 113 is a mis-spelling is not to be absolutely set aside, the more especially as for ni>
DW of Nah. side of DW
by the and the form lA by the
this conjecture is naturally suggested
and 2 Chron.
xvi. 8,
analogous to lA by the side of D*TO in Jer. Liby-Aegyptii of the ancients, the term D*lw (see the
keeping here. Gesenius (Thes.
On
in
who
iii.
9 is
xlvi. 9, whilst
the
are to be understood
by
comm. on Gen.
x. 13),
would be quite
the other hand, the conjecture offered by
has but a very weak and the supposition that li^
p. 664), viz. 113, Niibia,
support in the Arabic translator ; may have been the earlier Hebrew form for Nubia (Hitzig), is Maurer suggests Cob, a city destitute of any solid foundation.
(municipium) of Mauretania, in the Itiner. Anton, p. 17, ed. The following expression, "sons of the covenant Wessel. is also obscure. land," Hitzig has correctly observed, that it cannot be synonymous with En^l vjp, their allies. But we certainly cannot admit that the covenant land (made definite by is Canaan, the Holy Land (Hitzig and Kliefoth) writes without Jerome reserve, de jiliis terrae foederisj although and the LXX. in their translation, i.e. de populo Judaeorum ;
the article)
teal
rS)v vlcov
;
TT}<?
$ia&r}Kr)s fjioVj
undoubtedly thought of the
CHAP. XXX.
19
G-9.
Jews, who fled to Egypt, according to Theodoret s exposition, along with Jeremiah after the destruction of Jerusalem and the murder of the governor Gedaliah, for fear of the vengeance For the applica of the Chaldeans (Jer. xlii., xliii., and xliv.). tion of the expression
"
land of the
covenant"
is
never met with either in the Old or
Holy Land Testament, and
to the
New
cannot be inferred, as Hitzig supposes, from Ps. Ixxiv. 20 and
Dan.
xi.
"the
where Peter of the
promise"
unknown
in
Jews
calls the
We
covenant."
regarding
by a
any way from either the epithet Heb. xi. 9, or from Acts iii. 25,
28, or supported in
land of
the children of the prophets and therefore agree with Schmieder in "
Jinan ptf as signifying a definite region, though one to us, in the vicinity of Egypt, which was inhabited
tribe that
was independent of the Egyptians, yet bound
to render help in time of war.
Vers. 6-9. All the supports and helpers of Egypt will its cities will be laid waste. Ver.
the whole land with
fall,
6.
and
Thus
Lord Jehovah, Those who support Egypt will fall, and proud might will sink ; from Migdol to Syene will they fall Ver. 7. by the sword therein, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. saith the
its
And
they will
lie
waste in the midst of waste lands, and
be in the midst of desolate
I am Jehovah, when I are shattered.
me
Ver.
9.
Ver.
cities.
8.
They
bring Jire into Egypt, and all
In
that
day
writhing
among them "Those
tribes
and
allies,
who
might,"
Egypt"
and princes
15), and the warriors
tion of the
is
and
Egypt ;
from
there will be
for,
behold,
it
are not the auxiliary
(ver. 13), the fortified cities
(ver. 17),
might of the kingdom.
which
helpers
for they are included in the term nnfy in
ver. 8, but the idols (ver.
as in the day of
support
its
will messengers go forth
in ships to tsrrify the confident Ethiopia,
cometh.
its cities
shall learn that
who formed
TO
"
jisa,
the founda
the pride of
its
an expression applied in ch. xxiv. 21 to the is to be taken here in a general sense,
temple at Jerusalem,
and understood not merely of the temples and idols of Egypt, but as the sum total of all the things on which the Egyptians
20
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
rested the might of their kingdom,
they regarded
on is
The
ch. xxix. 10.
almost a
TOBO
nn
^UftS, see the
itt
&&
is
the
Wb.
")*
comm. Ver. 7
and the subject to though the number and 12
literal repetition of ch. xxix.
regarded as a country,
D^vp
is
subject to
and on the ground of which
For
as indestructible.
it
;
gender of the verb have both been regulated by the form of the noun. The fire which God will bring into Egypt (ver. 8) is the fire of war. Ver. 9. The tidings of this judgment of
God
will
be carried by messengers to Ethiopia, and there In the first terrible dread of a similar fate.
awaken the most
hemistich, the prophet has Isa. xviii. 2 floating before his mind. The messengers, who carry the tidings thither, are not the
who
warlike forces of Chaldea,
God;
are sent thither by
for
they would not be content with performing the service of mes have rather to think of Egyptians, who sengers alone.
We
flee
by
ship
The messengers
to Ethiopia.
go,
from
^
&"?,,
who is regarded as being present in Egypt, D ?, as in while executing judgment there (cf. Isa. xix. 1).
before Jehovah,
11
Num.
xxiv.
24 r^D
1
"^
(Dan.
the Rabbins, in Hieron.
Targum on to B*o,
Num.
Gush (Ewald, DH2,
(cf.
Gush secure
among
30), ships, trieres, according to
xi.
Symm. on
Ges. Thes.
Isa.
p.
xxxiii. 21,
1156).
rm
is
and the attached
or confident, equivalent to the confident
2S7c).
rbn njvrn,
the Ethiopians.
"TCD
repeated from ver.
DV3, as in the
4.
day of Egypt,
not the present day of Egypt s punishment, for the Ethiopians have only just heard of this from the messengers; but the ancient, well-known day of judgment upon Egypt
i.e.
(Ex. xv. 12 sqq.). taking D^3 for EV2
and reduces
;
but this
is
follow the
LXX.
DV2 into a tame repetition of wnn Di 2. The nan is to be taken from the context, viz. that s
predicted in the preceding verses (vers. 6-8). Vers. 10-12. The executors of the judgment. Ver.
Thus
in
both incorrect and unsuitable,
"TCD
FIN2 subject to
which
Ewald and Hitzig
is
saith the
Lord Jehovah, And I
tumult of Egypt
will put
through Nebuchadnezzar
an end
to
10. the
king of Babylon.
CHAP. XXX.
He and
Ver. 11.
liis
21
13-19.
people witli him, violent of the nations, will
draw
be brought to destroy the land; they will
their
swords
Ver. 12.
And I
against Egypt, and Jill the land with slain. will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into
the
men, and lay ivasie the land and foreigners ; 1 Jehovah have spoken
cannot be under
its
hand of wicked fulness by the hand of
it.
jton
stood as signifying either the multitude of people only, or the abundance of possessions alone ; for fl^ n is not really ap plicable to either of these meanings.
They
are evidently both
Jton, which signifies the tumult of the people in the possession and enjoyment of their property (cf. ch. xxvi. 13). The expression is thus specifically explained in vers. 11 and 12.
included in the
Nebuchadnezzar
will destroy the
land with his
men
of war,
D?fa T"]y, as in ch. slaying the people with its possessions. B til pnn xxviii. 7. as in xxiii. ch. 42. c f. ch. xii. 14, -xyio, ?
*in
xxviii. 7.
.
.
canals of the Nile,
.
E
IMPD; as in ch. xi. 6.
11
")^,
the arms and
by which the land was watered, and on which
the fertility and prosperity of Egypt depended. The drying up of the arms of the Nile must not be restricted, therefore, to the fact that God would clear away the hindrances to the entrance of the Chaldeans into the land, but embraces also the removal of
the natural resources on which the country depended. ^J, to sell a land or people into the hand of any one, i.e. to deliver it into his
the fact
power
(cf.
Deut.
xxxii.
itself, see Isa. xix. 4-6.
30
Judg.
;
For
U1
ii.
"nte^
14, etc.).
For
n, see ch. xix. 7.
Vers. 13-19. Further description of the judgment. Ver. 13. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, 1 will exterminate the idols and cut
from Noph, and there shall be no more a prince of Egypt ; and I put terror upon the land of
off the deities
from
the land
Egypt.
-Ver. 14.
Zoan, and
my fury upon tude of in pain,
And I
lay Pathros waste,
execute judgments
No ; and
upon No;
Sin, the stronghold of Egypt,
Ver. 16.
No
And I put fire
will be broken open,
and bring
Ver. 15.
in
and
Egypt and Noph
fire into
And I pour
out
cut off the multi ;
Sin will writhe enemies by day.
Ver. 17. The men of On and Babastus will fall by the sword,
22
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL
and
the
panches
of Egypt ness
Ver. 18.
they themselves will go into captivity.
day
there,
and an end
cloud will cover
;
Ver. 19.
tivity.
and
it,
And
may know
that they
when I
be darkened
will
will be put to
and
its
I I am
thus
that
shatter its
At Tachthe
yokes
proud haughti
daughters will go into cap-
execute judgments
Jehovah.
upon Egypt, will lose its
Egypt
oW*
D^a
and princes are synonymous, signifying not the images, but the deities ; the former being the ordinary epithet applied to false deities idols
(cf. Jer. xlvi. 25).
its
by Ezekiel
comm. on
the
(see
ch.
able to the reading of Isa. xix. 1. Manoph or Menoph Pjb in Hos. ix.
=
capital of
vi.
4).
the latter trace
Pp,
contracted from *p&,
6, is
Memphis, the ancient
Lower Egypt, with
the celebrated temple of Ptah, one of the principal seats of Egyptian idolatry (see the comm.
on Hos.
6 and Isa. xix. 13).
ix.
a
i.e.
native
the principal
cities
ver.
13&
px
"TCO
belongs
of
put fear upon (cf. ch. Ezekiel passes in ver. 14
comm. on
ch. xxix.
14),
and then names several more of
also to be laid waste,
is
to
jro,
(Pathros, see the
Upper Egypt
which
nan*
prince.
From Lower Egypt
xxvi. lib). to
In
no more a prince from the land of Egypt,
to &TBO, there shall be
Lower Egypt along with
the chief city
Egypt. Zane, Copt. Jane, is the Taw ?, of the Greeks and Tanis, Romans, on the Tanitic arm of the see the comm. on Num. Nile, an ancient city of Lower Egypt
of
$
Upper Egypt.
,
;
xiii. "
22 and
abode of
sacred
on Nah. is
Amon,"
name
Egypt, the
PP)
Isa. xix.
11.
of Thebes, the
Aio<$
iii.
TroXt?
8).
Il7j\ov(7iov,
to in
77
celebrated
Nah.
iii.
house of
i.e.
fjLeyd\rj of the
8,
probably the
Amon,
royal
city of
Greeks
(see the
Upper comm. Aram.
mire compare the its name from which derives Pelusium,
Pp
(literally,
TOV
because there were swamps
arm
= |to
Egypt. P-amen,
7777X05 (wvopao-Tai, CLTTO
eastern
8ta
73-77X01) 7777X05,
Strab. xvii. p. 802),
round.
It
was situated on the
its
name,
all
of the Nile, to which
of twenty stadia from the sea. also signifies dirty, or
;
muddy.
it
gave
at a distance
The Egyptian name Pheromi From this the Arabs have made
CHAP. XXX.
Elfarama
and
;
in the vicinity of the
Pelusium there
is still
Chaldee
clay,
<
NJ P,
observes,
u
a castle called
Dan.
in
bulwark of
or
fortress
Egypt
23
13-19.
ii.
few ruins of the ancient Tineh (compare the
<LAJ^,
Ezekiel calls
41).
because,
Egypt,"
the
it
Strabo
as
(I.e.)
of access here from places in the
is difficult
for which reason Hirtius (de bell. Al. c. 27) calls it u the the key both of the key of Egypt," and Suidas (s.v.) the On entrance and exit of Egypt." history of this city, see JO |ton many of the Leyrer in Herzog s Encyclopaedia. In East;"
"
commentators find a play upon the name of the god ftoij (Jer. xlvi. 25), the chief deity of Thebes, which is possible, but not mentioned very probable, as we should not expect to find a god would be and ver. 13 after here W?n inappropriate. again ;
In
ver.
16 Sin (= Pelusium)
No (=
fortress,
Thebes)
mentioned again as the border
is
the chief city of
as
and Noph (= Memphis) as the falling
nx
1
DDi"
Upper Egypt,
Upper Egypt, as all The expression judgment.
capital of
within the range of the sp has caused some difficulty and given occasion to
various conjectures, none of which, however, commend them 1 As Hitzig has selves as either simple or natural explanations. 1
correctly observed, xv. 8,
and
D^"
^ ie same
is
as Ey^Sf?
"n.-?
rM
"H
^
in Jer.
m
nn ^ Obad. ver. 5. the opposite of comes by day, not in the night, is the enemy
is
enemy who
The who
The connection with tjb is to be does not shun open attack. xxiv. 2, u the one basket rule as same Jer. the explained by very good
1
Memphis
figs."
Ewald proposes
renders
to alter
"
it
Memphis
:
nv
will
into
DEV
to explain "
Memphis that
QD^,
D"nV
D>i^,
H^
will be eternal
properly objected that in ch. xxiv. in Ps. vi. 3
have enemies in broad daylight,
6, 11,
rust."
rust
is
"
;
mean perpetual or eternal. from the Aramaean P, to rend
does not
Hiivernick proposes or tear
in
pieces,
become perpetual rents." To this also it maybe objected, Hebrew has the standing meaning of oppressors; and that
shall
in
interdiu, is not equivalent to perpetual
preposition
Aramaean), rust," and But to this Hitzig has very an d that even called n&An
(after the
*?
could not be omitted before
>1V.
;
and
still
further, that the
24 i.e.
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. will
be
filled
or ^?ZM),
(Egyptian An,
Lower Egypt
with them.
(see the
is
=
|J
|, in Gen.
jte,
the popular
comm. on Gen.
name
xli.
xli.
45, 50
of Heliopolis in
45)
and the form
;
(a vain thing, or idol) is probably selected intentionally in the sense of an idol-city (see the comm. on Hos. iv. 15),
fltf
because On-Heliopolis (Bfo|hri* in Jer. xliii. 13) was from time immemorial one of the principal seats of the Egyptian worship of the sun, and possessed a celebrated temple of the sun, with a numerous and learned priesthood (see the comm. on Gen. xli.
45,
1
eel.
2).
ftaa-rk (Herod,
Pashtj so called
fl??"
Bovpatrro?
i.e.
?,
(LXX.)
Bov-
or
the place of 59), Egyptian Pi-Pasht, from the cat-headed Bubastis or Pasht, the
ii.
i.e.
Egyptian Diana, which was worshipped there in a splendid It was situated on the royal canal leading to Suez, temple.
which was begun by Necho and finished under Ptolemy ii., not It far from its junction with the Pelusiac arm of the Nile. r
was the chief the Persians,
seat of the J\ o?nos Bubastites,
who demolished
its
was destroyed by and
walls (Diod. Sic. xvi. 51),
disappeared, with the exception of some heaps of ruins which still bear the name of Tel JBastah, about seven
has entirely
hours journey from the Nile (compare Ges. Thes. pp. 1101
and Leyrer
in
Herzog
s
Encyclopaedia,
Bubastis, according to Herod,
ii.
The
warrior-caste of Calasirians.
sqq.,
The Nomos
s.v.).
166, was assigned D Hira, the
young
of
the
to
military
men, will fall by the sword and nan^ not at yvvalfces (LXX. and others), but the cities themselves, i.e. their civil population ;
as distinguished
from the military garrison,
This explanation of H3n Dn:ann or omann (Jer. D;ann in Jer.
ii.
Adfyvai (Herod,
is
go into
commended by J*to3
xliii.
16 (Chetil), ii.
shall
7 sqq., xliv. is
1,
xlvi.
Tdfyvat, Ta$vr)
30. 107), a frontier city of
vicinity of Pelusium, after the time of
exile.
in ver. 18.
14),
and
(LXX.),
Egypt Psammetichus a
or
in the forti
with a strong garrison, where a palace of Pharaoh was be found, according to Jer. xliii. 9. After the destruc tion of Jerusalem, a portion of the Jews took refuge there, fication
also to
CHAP. XXX.
25
13-19.
them Jeremiah predicted the punishment the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer.
and
to
In the case of
1 sqq.).
xliv.
Masora
printed
be found in
Masora
1
?
is
codices and printed editions
of the
many
this is
adopted in all the ancient versions.
appropriate meaning, and the Isa.
10, Joel
iii.
darkening of the day
dawning
7 sqq.,
^n
evidently the correct reading, as
xiii.
xliii.
"i&n
the codices examined by the author of the
whereas
;
God on
the reading varies ; the as the reading to at Gen. xxxix. 3 giving
all
have T^C anc^
of
of the great
Amos
4,
Tjb
parallel viii.
9,
This
n does not furnish an passages, ch. xxxii. 8, all
favour
TJBTI.
The
the phenomenal prognostic of the day of judgment upon the nations (cf. is
This day is to dawn upon Egypt at Tachpanches, the border fortress of the land towards Syria and Palestine, when the Lord will break These words point back to Lev. xxvi. 13, the yokes of Egypt. Joel
ii.
10,
iii.
4,
iv.
15;
where the deliverance of the breaking in
called
xxxiv. 27).
Isa. xiii. 10, etc.).
from the bondage of Egypt is pieces of its yokes (see also Ezek. Israel
That which took place then
The yokes which Egypt put upon and
all
end
(W
be brought to an In ver. 185, &^n, which stands at the
the proud might of that pN3, as in ver. 6).
is to be repeated here. the nations are to be broken ;
kingdom
is
to
an absolute form, points back to onjanna. The city (Daphne) will be covered with cloud, i.e. will be overthrown by
head
in
the judgment; and her daughters, i.e. the smaller cities and hamlets dependent upon her (cf. ch. xvi. 46 and xxvi. 6), will
go into captivity in the persons of their inhabitants. from this that Daphne, was the chief city of a Nomos
It follows in
Lower
confirmed by the circumstance that there Egypt ; was a royal palace there. If we compare the threat in this verse, that in Tachpanches an end is to be put to the proud arid
this is
might of Pharaoh, with the threatening words of Jer. xliii. 9 sqq., to the effect that Nebuchadnezzar would set up his throne at
Tachpanches and smite Egypt, it is evident that the situation Daphne must at that time have been such that the war
of
Zb
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
between Egypt and Babylonia would necessarily be decided These prophetic utterances cannot be
in or near this city.
many Jews
explained, as Kliefoth supposes, from the fact that
had
in
settled
Daphne
;
nor do the contents of this
verse
furnish any proof that Ezekiel did not utter this prophecy of his till after the Jews had settled there (Jer. xliii. and xliv.).
Ver. 19 serves to round
CHAP. XXX.
20-2G.
the prophecy.
DESTRUCTION OF THE MIGHT OF IHARAOH BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
to the
heading in ver. 20, (month), on the seventh of
According in the first
off
Jehovah came
to
me,
In
"
month, the word of
the
word
this short
saying"
the eleventh year,
of threatening
the second year of the siege of Jeru against Egypt salem by the Chaldeans, and, as ver. 21 clearly shows, after the falls in
Pharaoh Hophra, which marched to the relief of Jerusalem, had been defeated by the Chaldeans who turned to If we compare with this the date of meet it (Jer. xxxvii. 5, 7).
army
of
prophecy against Egypt in ch. xxix. 1, the prophecy before us was separated from the former by an interval of
the
first
But
three months. to
Pharaoh
s
as there
attempt to
is
come
no allusion whatever in ch. xxix.
to the relief of
the besieged city
of Jerusalem, or to his repulse, the arrival of the Egyptian
army
in Palestine, its defeat,
seems
to
have
and
its
repulse
occurred in the interval
by the Chaldeans,
between these two pro
phecies, towards the close of the tenth year. Ver. 21. Son of man, the arm of Pharaoh the king of Egypt have I broken ; and, behold, it will no more be bound up, to apply
remedies, to put on a bandage to bind
strong
to
grasp
the sword.
Lord Jehovah, Behold, I Egypt, and
will deal with
will break both his arms,
broken one, and will cause the sword
Ver. 23.
And I
it
up, that
it
may grow
Ver. 22. Therefore thus saith the
will scatter the
Pharaoh
the king
the strong one to
and
of the
fall out of his hand.
Egyptians among the nations and
27
CHAP. XXX. 21-26. disperse them in the lands, Ver. 24.
of the king of Babylon, and give
And will strengthen sword
my
into his hand,
the
arms
and
will
break the arms of Pharaoh, so that he shall groan the groanings of a pierced one before him. Ver. 25. I will strengthen the arms
of
know
they shall the
of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh will fall
the king
hand of
the king
land of Egypt. nations,
lam
and
I am
that
Jehovah, ivhen
of Babylon, that he
I will
Ver. 26.
Jehovah.
The
perfect
may
scatter the
disperse them in the lands
;
m.y sword
stretch
and into
against the
it
Egyptians among
and they
;
in ver.
W?*f
I give
21
is
shall
know
the
that
not a prophetic
utterance of the certainty of the future, but a pure preterite. maybe seen both from the allusion in ver. 216 to the
This
"
and also to the obviously condition resulting from the , antithetical relation of ver. 22, in which future events are ;
"U
(Hitzig).
predicted"
The arm
is
power, here for military power, as
a figurative expression for wields the sword. God
it
broke the arm of Pharaoh by the defeat which the Chaldeans inflicted upon Pharaoh Hophra, when he was marching to the relief of besieged
from the
Jerusalem,
infinitive
clauses (
njy 121
an
flftj)
is
a present, as
is
apparent
which follow, altogether
nan ; and bn signifies to bind up, for the purpose apart from of healing a broken limb, that remedies may be applied and a
^Tnp, that it may become strong or sound, subordinate to the preceding clause, and governs the infini The fact that the further judgment which tive which follows.
bandage put on.
is
upon Pharaoh
? introduced with (therefore) here the fact that it has not been (ver. 22), notwithstanding preceded by any enumeration of the guilt which occasioned it, may be
is
to
fall
is
accounted for on the ground that the causal \& forms a link with the concluding clause of ver. 21 the arm shall not be :
healed, so as to be able to grasp or hold the sword.
Pharaoh fore
is
God
Because
not to attain any more to victorious power, there will shatter both of his arms, the strong, i.e. the
sound one and the broken one, that is to say, will smite it so The completely, that the sword will fall from his hand.
28
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Egyptians are to be scattered among the nations, as is repeated ver. 23 verbatim from cli. xxix. 12. God will give the
in
sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and equip and strengthen him to destroy the might of Pharaoh, that the latter may groan before him like one who is pierced with the sword. This thought is repeated in vers. 25 and 26 with an intimation of the purpose of this divine procedure. that
men may come
to recognise
The
subject to 1JTH
is
LXX.
is
indefinite
a very good one,
Jehovah ;
That purpose as
God
is
:
the Lord.
and the rendering of the
/cal yvocxrovTcu, Trd
CHAP. XXXI. THE GLORY AND FALL OF ASSHUR A TYPE
OF EGYPT. In two months minus
six
days from the time when the pre
ceding word of God was uttered, Ezekiel received another threatening word against the king and the people of Egypt, in which the former announcement of the destruction of the
might of Egypt was confirmed by a comparison drawn between Ezekiel having Egypt and that of Asshur. his with the whom does Pharaoh prophecy question, opened the power of
with his might resemble (ver. 2), proceeds to depict Asshur as a mighty towering cedar (vers. 3-9) which has been felled and cast down by the prince of the nations on account of its height
and pride fall,
15-17).
The question, whom Pharaoh resembles,
in ver. 18 is
10-14), so that everything mourned over its many nations went down with it to hell (vers.
(vers.
because
;
is
then repeated
and from the preceding comparison the conclusion
drawn, that he
will perish like that lofty cedar.
The remi
niscence of the greatness of the Assyrian empire and of its destruction was well adapted to overthrow all reliance upon the
might and greatness of Egypt. The fall of that great empire was still so fresh in the mind at the time, that the reminiscence could not hearers.
fail to
make
a deep impression upon the prophet s
CHAP. XXXI.
Yers. 1-9.
The might
and glory of Asshur.
29
1-9.
Pharaoh resembles the greatness Ver. 1. In the eleventh year, in the third of
(month), on the first of the month, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 2. Son of man, say to Pliaraoh the king of
Egypt, and to his tumult, Whom art thou like in thy greatness ? Ver. 3. Behold, Asshur was a cedar-tree upon Lebanon, beautiful
was high in growth, Water brought him up, the flood and
in branches, a shadowing thicket,
its
top
and among the clouds. Ver. 4. made him high, its streams ivent round about it
sent
branches became great, and
its
waters in
its
shooting out.
of the heaven made their
Ver.
all
of
kinds.
plantation,
Ver.
and
And
7.
trees
of
5.
and
There
the field,
boughs long from many branches all the birds
its
and under
nests,
Ver.
all the its
In
6.
beasts of the field brought forth,
nations
its
channels to all the trees of the field.
growth became higher than
its
fore
and
its
its
in its
boughs all the
shadow
sat great
he ivas beautiful in
his
of his shoots ; for his root ivas by many Cedars did not obscure him in the garden of
greatness, in the length
Ver. 8.
waters.
God, cypresses did not resemble his branches, and plane-trees like his boughs ; no tree in the garden of God resem bled him in his beauty. Ver. 9. / had made him beautiful
were not
the multitude of his shoots, and all the trees of Eden which were in the garden of God envied him. The word of God is addressed to King Pharaoh and to fcton, his tumult,
in
i.e.
whoever and whatever occasions noise and tumult
land.
We
must not interpret
this,
as signifying the ruling classes
and
in the
however, as Hitzig has done, estates in contrast with the
quiet in the land, for no such use of pon
is
anywhere
to be
Nor must we regard
the word as applying to the mul titude of people only, but to the people with their possessions,
found.
their riches,
xxx. 10.
which gave
The
inquiry,
rise to
whom
resemble in his greatness,
luxury and tumult, as in ch.
does Pharaoh with his tumult
followed in the place of a reply by a description of Asshur as a glorious cedar (vers. 3-9). It is true that Ewald has followed the example of Muibom (vanarum is
30
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL
in Cod. Hebr. interpret!, spec. III. p. 70)
and endeavours
and J. D. Michaelis,
to set aside the allusion to
Asshur, by taking an appellative sense, and understanding Ptf as signifying a particular kind of cedar, namely, the tallest But apart altogether from there being no foun species of all. the word
"fi$tf
WK
in
dation whatever for such an explanation in the usage of the language, there is nothing in the fact to justify it. For it is
not anywhere affirmed that Pharaoh resembled this cedar ; on the contrary, the question, whom does he resemble? is asked
Moreover, Michaelis is wrong in again in ver. 18 (Hitzig). the supposition that from ver. 10 onwards it becomes perfectly "
it is not Assyria but Egypt itself which is meant the cedar-tree Under the figure of by previously described." the felling of a cedar there is depicted the overthrow of a king
obvious that
or monarchy, which has already taken place.
12 and 16, where the past future in ver. 18.
And
throw of Pharaoh and
whose destruction
is
is
vers.
indicated quite as certainly as the
18 plainly designates the over
as ver.
his
Compare
power
as
still
in the future, the cedar,
not only threatened in vers. 10-17, but
declared to have already taken place, can only be Asshur, and not Egypt at all.
The
picture of the glory of this cedar
recalls
in several
Asshur respects the similar figurative description in ch. xvii. is called a cedar upon Lebanon, because it was there that the fep ^ ify a shade-giving thicket a of Hipliil participle (/? fe), belongs to *\W na^ as a further expansion of ^JJV, corresponding to the further expansion of its If we bear this riDp FI33 by top was among the clouds."
most stately cedars grew, is
"
in mind, the reasons assigned
by Hitzig for altering Bnh
into
an adjective
Bhrj, and taking felp as a substantive formation after the analogy of 3DD lose all their force. Analogy would only require an adjective in the construct state in the event of ?
the three statements $ HS H ? o
with one another. conjecture
is
But what
hh and ?
is
P H23
being co-ordinate
decisive against the proposed
the fact that neither the noun fe? nor the ad-
31
CHAP. XXXI. 1-9.
jective
$in
ever met with, and that, in any case,
is
The
not signify foliage. is
nemorosus"
rendering of the Vulgate,
merely guessed
at,
whilst
omitted the word as unintelligible to them. of clouds, see the
The
ch. xvii. 3.
comm. on
ch. xix. 11
can
frondibus
Seventy have
the
For
and for
;
H9
"
crnby, thicket rntsv, that
on
cedar grew to so large a size because it was flood poured its streams round about
richly watered (ver. 4).
A
the place where the cedar was planted, and sent out brooks The difficult words U1 iTrhnrns to all the trees of the field. are to be taken literally thus
:
as for its (the flood s) streams, it
was going round about
(the flood)
its
plantation,
i.e.
round
about the plantation belonging to the flood or the place situated where the cedar was planted. TIN is not to be taken as it,
near
a preposition, but as a sign of the accusative, and Wjhfl3"TMJI as an accusative used for the more precise definition of the manner It is true that which the flood surrounded the plantation. in the masculine SJTh, there still remains something striking
in
since Dinn, although of
common
gender,
we
is
construed throughout difficulty remains
But the
as a feminine, even in this very verse.
follow Evvald, and take
ffen to be a defectively written or irregular form of the Hiphil T^ n ; a conjecture which is precluded by the use of Tr^> to cause to run^zto
even
if
cause to flow away, in ch. xxxii. 14. ny^o, its (the flood s) Qinn plantation, i.e. the plantation for which the flood existed.
used here to signify the source or starting-point of a flood, as in Deut. viii. 7, where niionn are co-ordinate with nfo$.
is
While the place where the cedar was planted was surrounded by the streams of the flood, only the brooks and channels of reached to the trees of the
this flood
field.
The
cedar therefore
the trees of the field in height and luxuriance of surpassed growth (ver. 5). ^^3, an Aramean mode of spelling for nroa all
;
and nsSHD, for
nfejflp,
aTr. \ey.,
branches.
inp^ a cannot
(Ewald)
;
mean
"
an Aramean formation with 1 inserted, For rhNB, see the comm. on ch. xvii. 6.
since
it
(the stream) sent out the water
for although Dinn in ver.
4
is
also construed
"
as a
32
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
masculine,/ the suffix cannot be taken as referring O to Dton for :
this is
much
too far
And
off.
7
the explanation proposed
by Rosen mu ller, Havernick, Kliefoth, and others, as it (the tree) sent them (the branches) is open to this objection, that inp3 would then contain a spiritless tautology; since the "
out,"
stretching out of the branches of their becoming
existence i.e.
already contained in the fact The tautology has no long.
is
numerous and
the object
in its spreading out," the spreading not only of the branches, but also of the
roots, to
the
if
rw is
which
many
is left
"
indefinite,
sometimes applied (cf. Jer. made the cedar great,
waters which
xvii. 8).
By
we must
not
understand, either solely or especially, the numerous peoples which rendered Assyria great and mighty, as the Chaldee and
many
of the older commentators have done.
must rather
It
embracing everything which contributed to the and It is questionable whether greatness of Assyria. growth the prophet, when describing the flood which watered the cedar be taken
as
had the description of the
plantation,
rivers of Paradise in
10 sqq. floating before his mind. Evvald and Havernick think that he had ; but Hitzig and Kliefoth take a decidedly
Gen.
ii.
There
opposite view.
is
certainly
no
distinct indication
of
We
meet with this for the first time from any such allusion. In ver. 8 onwards. vers. 6-9 the greatness and glory of
Asshur are
still
Upon and under
further depicted.
the branches
of the stately tree, all creatures, birds, beasts, and men, found shelter xvii.
and protection for
23 and Dan.
iv.
life
and increase
In D^n trtrfe,
9).
6;
(ver.
all
cf.
ch.^
kinds of great
The tree was nations, the fact glimmers through the figure. so beautiful (*p.l from naj) in its greatness, that of all the trees in the garden of all
envied
it
God
not one was to be compared with it, and that is to say, all the other nations ;
on that account
and kingdoms greatness and consequently
in
God s
glory.
creation were far inferior to Etf&jjj
J3
H3? in vei s. 9, 16,
ch. xxviii. 13.
There
is
is
Asshur in
the garden of Paradise
and 18
is
;
and
also Paradise, as in
no ground for Kliefoth
s
objection,
CHAP. XXXI.
that
if
in this sense, the
n# be taken
garden of
God"
will contain
In Gen.
tautology.
words
"
which are
in the
a superfluous pleonasm, a mere
8 a distinction
ii.
33
10-14.
is
also
made between
fiJJ
and the garden in Eden. It was not all Eden, but the garden planted by Jehovah in Eden, which formed the real paradisaical creation
so that the
;
words
"
which are
give intensity to the idea of the
"
in the
trees of
garden of
God
"
Eden."
Moreover, Havernick has correctly pointed out, there is a peculiar emphasis in the separation of B^N J33 from D*n$ in ver. 8 as
:
"
cedars
.
.
.
even such as were found
Not one even of the other and most
in the
garden of
God."
glorious trees, viz. cypresses
and planes, resembled the cedar Asshur, planted by God by many waters, in its boughs and branches. It is not stated in
many words
so
in the
and 9 that the cedar Asshur stood
in vers. 8
garden of
God
;
but
it
by no means follows from
this,
by the garden of God we are to understand simply the world and the earth as the creation of God, as Kliefoth u as all the imagines, and in support of which he argues that nations and kingdoms of the world are regarded as trees planted
that
by God, the world plantation of
between
itself is
quite consistently called a garden or
The very
God."
fact that a distinction
is
made
4 and 5) and trees of Eden in 8 and 9), shows that the trees are not
trees of the field (vers.
the garden of God (vers. all regarded here as being in the same sense planted by God. If the garden of God stood for the world, where should we field ( Tjifn)? The thought of vers. not a single tree in all God s broad earth was to be compared to the cedar Asshur," but that even of the trees of Paradise, the garden in Eden, there was not one so
then have to look for the 8 and 9
is
not that
"
beautiful and glorious as the cedar Asshur, planted many waters.
Vers. 10-14.
The
felling of this cedar, or the
Asshur on account of the
its
Lord Jehovah, Because
he stretched his top
EZEK.
II.
to the
pride.
by God by
overthrow of
Ver. 10. Therefore thus said
thou didst exalt thyself in height,
and
midst of the clouds, and his heart exalted
o
34
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
itself in its height,
I
Ver. 11.
him
will give
into the
hand of
the
prince of the nations ; he shall deal with him : for his wickedness I rejected him. Ver. 12. And strangers cut him down, violent ones of the nations,
and
him away : upon the mountains and fell, and his boughs were broken in
cast
in all the valleys his shoots
pieces into all the deep places of the earth the earth
and
and
;
all the nations
him
let
of Ver. 13.
lie.
his fallen trunk all the birds of the heaven settle,
Upon beasts
of water
the
withdrew from
his shadow,
the field are over his branches
:
and
Ver. 14. That no
all the
trees
by
exalt themselves on account of their height, or stretch
may
their top to the
midst of the clouds, and no water-drinkers stand
upon themselves in their exaltation: for they are all given
up
to
death
into hell, in the midst
of the children of men, to those that go into the In the description of the cause of the overthrow of Asshur
grave.
which commences with
"I5W
|J^ the figurative
language changes
the third clause into the literal fact, the towering of the cedar being interpreted as signifying the lifting up of the heart
in
that
in his height,
the tree itself
is
is
to be explained
fact presented
itself.
first
clause
but in the clauses which follow,
;
The
spoken of in the third person. clause
In the
is to say, in his pride.
addressed
from the vivid manner
The
it is
direct address in the first in
which the
divine sentence in vers. 10 and 11
not directed against Pharaoh, but against the Assyrian, who depicted as a stately cedar ; whilst the address in ver. 10a, and the imperfect (future) in ver. 11, are both to be accounted
is is
for in
from the fact that the
which
it
fall
of
Asshur
is
related in the
form
was denounced on the part of Jehovah upon that
is therefore a The perfect imperial kingdom. preterite here: the Lord said . . . for His part: because Asshur has exalted itself in the pride of its greatness, I give it up. The "M?s
form
^runso
is
not to be changed into ^HKJ, but is defended which follows. by the imperfect
against critical caprice
That the penal sentence first
nfe>l
God
not to be regarded as being uttered in the time then present, but belongs to the past, of
is
and therefore the words merely communicate what God had
CHAP. XXXI.
35
10-14.
is clearly shown by the preterites commencing already spoken, with *Wjna, the historical tenses *nrn31 and *np t3l, and the
preterite ^3J,
which must not be turned
into futures in violation
be high in its height, mean, grammar. which would be a tautology; but to exalt itself (be proud) in, And in the same way is DT) also or on account of, its height. FD3 does not njjip3
of
to
affirmed of the heart, in the sense of exultation from pride. For the fact itself, compare Isa. x. 5 sqq. cna 7K does not
mean God, but a powerful one and
is
Nebuchad
i.e.
is
;
For
construct state of ^R, a ram.
met
of the nations,
a simple appellative from ^s, the strong one neither a name of God nor a defective form for ^K, the 7N
nezzar.
^,
with once in the case of
defective form
this
%
where we have the plural D^N and nowhere
else
,
is
Job
a ram, namely, in
only
xlii. 8,
whereas, in
;
the case of ?K, D^R, in the sense of a strong one, the scriptio plena very frequently alternates with the defectiva. Compare,
Job
for example,
xlii.
where both readings occur
8,
just as in
where many MSS. have ? R (vid. de Rossi, variae also Ex. xv. 15 and Ezek. xvii. 13, fy$, com lectt. ad h. I) vR in Ezek. xxxii. 21, after the analogy of with p, pared this instance,
;
t
<l
")
2
Sam.
and Dn
xxii. 29,
relative clause,
"
3,
2 Chron.
who should
treat
him
ill,"
W,
omitted on account of the preceding but it is an independent sentence, and sion for the imperative "
let
him
deal with
used here as Ivi. 5.
ty?n.Si
Rossi, variae
it
:
he
him."
ad
h. I.)
nor
is
n^
is
to
Assyrian empire cedar,
Wti*1
ttfo :
is
they cast
as
relat. ;
in an evil sense;
compare Ps. and Abarbanel (in de
uphold as the reading of many of belongs to ^riisnn
In
ver.
:
12
resumed; and the extinction of the
described as the cutting
^ny D^T
1
a forcible expres
for, or according to, his wickedness, I rejected him. is
not a
him, equivalent to y do anything to a person,
the more exact manuscripts and editions
the figure of the tree
the
is
as Hitzig imagines
nirjp is
or fat^?, which Norzi lectt.
wy
Plfc
will deal with ?
frequently
6
16.
ii.
in
ch.
him away and
xxviii. let
him
down
of the proud
7 and xxx. 11, lie,
12.
as in ch. xxix. 5,
36
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
xxxii.
4
;
so that in the
predominates, and
first
in the
sentence the idea of casting away
second that of letting
By
lie.
the
casting away, the tree became so shattered to atoms that its boughs and branches fell upon the mountains and on the low
ground and valleys of the earth, and the nations which had sat Vn*1 under its shadow withdrew. (they descended) is to be explained from the idea that the tree had grown upon a high mountain (namely Lebanon) ; and Hitzig is mistaken in his conjecture that VH*} was the original reading, as T1J, to fly, is not an appropriate expression for Q^y. On the falling of the had which their the birds made nests in its branches tree, If, then, in ver. 13, birds and beasts are naturally flew away. said to settle upon the fallen trunk, as several of the commen
have correctly observed, the description is based upon the idea of a corpse, a rPBD (Judg. xiv. 8), around which both birds
tators
and beasts of prey gather together to tear it in pieces (cf. ch. s$ njn, to corne towards or over xxxii. 4 and Isa. xviii. 6). any one,
to be
above
it.
The thought
nations took advantage of the
of
fall
expressed
is,
that
Asshur and rose
many new
into
Ver. 14. This fate was prepared for upon its ruins. Asshur in order that henceforth no tree should grow up to the life
sky any more, i.e. that no powerful one of this earth (no king or prince) should strive after superhuman greatness and might. "^N
l^r
is
dependent upon V^ncnsj in ver. 11
for vers. 12
;
and 13 are simply a further expansion of the thought expressed D B are trees growing near the water, and
^
in that word.
For
therefore nourished by water.
The words
w
Dn^
Vi
*6l
are
*U1
*na
difficult.
&6, see ver.
As
D.T!?S,
10.
with
% Tzere under N to which the Masora calls attention, cannot be the preposition ?K with the suffix, many have taken Dfrf?H to be a noun, in the sense of fortes, principes, or terelintki (vid. Isa. ,
and have rendered the clause either ut non perstent tereeorum in altitudine sua, omnes (ceterae arbores) bibentes
Ixi. 3),
bintlti
aquam princes
(Vatabl., Starck, Maurer,
may
not
lift
and Kliefoth),
or, that their
themselves up in their pride,
all
the
CHAP. XXXI.
37
10-14.
But both renderings founder
drinkers of water (Havernick).
on the simple fact that they leave the
suffix &J in Dirta either unnoticed or unexplained. As only the trees of the water have been spoken of previously, the suffix must be taken as referring
to
But
them.
the water-trees have neither terebinths nor
these are what they must either be, princes on the contrary, or or signify. Terebinths, princes of the water-trees, would bo ;
senseless ideas.
and rendered
it
Ewald has thus
"
:
therefore taken
QHvK
as the object,
and (that) no water-drinkers may con
He has not proved, tend with their gods in their pride." to however, but has simply asserted, that loy is to endure
=
The only remaining course is to (!). LXX., Targum, and many commentators, and to contend
follow
take
the
DH^M
Bn
: to station oneself vtf. and point it *? xxxiii. 2JJ 1EJ? or 26), in the sense of (ch. upon against, suffix is to be taken The resting, or relying upon anything. in a reflective sense, as in ch. xxxiv. 2, etc. (vid. Ewald, 314c),
as a pronoun,
*"?V
=
and precedes the noun
to
which
it
refers, as in
Prov. xiv. 20 for
Q !??3?, as in ver. 10, referring to pride.
example.
0?
D really synonymous with falls into the background of tree the the that figure except The rendering of the Berleburg behind the fact portrayed. the subject of the sentence,
is
very good: "and no trees abounding in water stand themselves (rely upon themselves) on account of their upon The water-drinkers are princes of this earth who height." Bible
is
As a have attained to great power through rich resources. so of men are moisture the accus tree grows through water, "
tomed
to
become proud through
their abundance, not reflecting
that these waters have been supplied to
The reason
for this
given in ver.
them by
warning against proud
God"
146 in the general statement, that
all
great ones of this earth are delivered up to death. them, the water-drinkers or water-trees already
whom
kings, earthly potentates, are intended.
s
(ch. xxvi. 20).
ans ?* tfna
:
(Starck).
self-exaltation
is
the proud D?3, all of
named, by JVflnn p.^
=
in the midst of the
38
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
children of men,
like
i.e.
other men.
all
"
Thus
the prophet
teaches that princes must die as well as the people, that death and decomposition are common to both. Hence he takes all
ground of proud boasting Vers.
away"
of Asshur; and
its
caused a mourning
Us streams, and
Lebanon
to
application
Lord Jehovah, In
saith the
the
day
:
and
down
great waters were held back
Ver. 16.
to hell
I
I made
and
all the trees
:
I of
caused
the field
the nations tremble at the noise to hell to those
who go
into the
they comforted themselves in the nether world, even the choice
of Eden,
all the water-drinkers.
and most
beautiful of Lebanon, Ver. 17. They also went with him into
pierced with the sword, who sat as his helpers in among the nations. Ver. 18. Whom dost thou thus
to those
hell,
his shade
among
the trees
of Eden
the trees
of Eden
into
resemble in glory and greatness shalt thou be thrust
world, and the sword. the
Thus
Ver. 15.
covered the flood for his sake, and stopped
:
the
of his fall, when I cast him down all the trees
the nations by the fall
Pharaoh.
that he went
blacken itself for him,
to
pined for him.
grave
(Starck).
1518. Impression made upon
lie
down
to
So
?
the nether
among uncircumcised ones with those pierced with is Pharaoh and all his tumult, is the saying of
This
Lord Jehovah.
i.e.
In order that the overthrow of the Assyrian, the destruction of the Assyrian empire, may be placed in
the clearest
made upon
light, a picture is drawn of the impression which it the whole creation. There is no necessity to under
nb in a past sense, as in ver. 10. What God did on the overthrow of Asshur He may even now, for the first time, stand
"MQN
make known through
the prophet, for a warning to Pharaoh and the people of Israel. That this is the way in which the words are to be interpreted, is evident from the use of the per fect w?n, followed by the historical imperfects, which cannot be taken in a prophetical sense, as Kliefoth supposes, or turned It is contrary to Hebrew usage to connect w^sn into futures.
and
s
fllj?3
veil in
together as asyndeton, so as to form one idea, viz.
mourning,"
as
Ewald and Havernick
propose.
"
to
The
CHAP. XXXI.
39
15-18.
circumstances under which two verbs are joined together to
form one idea are of a is
^fejJO
first
placed
totally different kind.
as
In
this instance
an absolute; and in the sentences
which follow, it is more specifically defined by a detail of the Dinrrn&s Ivy PID3 objects which were turned into mourning.
mean
cannot
"
here,
upon (over) him
to cover the flood
"
(after
and xxvi. 19); for this is altogether unsuitable to The either the more remote or the more immediate context.
ch. xxiv. 7
Asshur was not destroyed by a
tree
The
strangers.
flood,
I
"
following clauses,
but cut down by
stopped
its
streams,"
etc., show very plainly that the connection between the flood (Dinn) and the tree which had been felled is to be understood
in accordance with ver.
round about
now
its
4.
plantation,
A
flood,
made the
that the tree has been felled,
account.
<"1D3
is
to
which poured
God
be explained from
its
cedar-tree great;
niinj
and
covers the flood on
PB? fiD3 y to veil
in mourning, as Easchi, Kimchi, Yatablus,
its
or
wrap and many others
The word is omitted, because it appeared The mourning of the flood is to be
have shown.
pb>
inappropriate to Dinn.
taken as equivalent to drying up, so that the streams which issued from it were deprived of their water. Lebanon, i.e. the cedar-forest (Isa. x. 34),
the
and
the cedar Asshur.
fall of
all
the other trees,
"^i??,
mourned over
to clothe in black,
i.e.
to
HOT is regarded by Ewald as a Pual turn into mourning. formed after the Aramean mode, that is to say, by attaching the syllable ae instead of doubling the middle radical ; whilst In any case the Hitzig proposes to change the form into nzby. word must be a perfect Pual, as a nomen verbale appears unsuit
and
must
also be a third person feminine, the termina into n , as in nnv (Isa. lix. 5), and the softened being of the ^ doubling being dropped on account of the Sheva ; so
able
;
it
tion n
that the plural
^y,
317a).
thought
by the
is
fall
is
construed with the singular feminine (Ewald, faint with grief (cf. Isa. li. 20). The
to
the following : all nature was so painfully affected of Asshur, that the whole of the resources from
40
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
and might had been derived were dried up. the different figures as specially relating to princes interpret and nations appears a doubtful procedure, for the simple reason
which
its
prosperity
To
is expressly named. the nations on the surface of the earth tremble at
that in ver. 16 the trembling of the nations
Whilst the
all
of Assyria, because they are thereby
fall
warned of the
perishable nature of all earthly greatness and of their own destruction, the inhabitants of the nether world console them
thought that the Assyrian is now sharing their compare ch. xxxii. 31 and Isa. xiv. 9, 10).
selves with the
fate (for this thought, "
All the trees of
The
idea "
tion,
Eden
"
itself,
the powerful and noble princes. trees of Eden," is explained by the apposi "
are
all
the choice and beautiful ones of
picked and finest cedars, and expression D?o
^Vs2
Lebanon,"
i.e.
the
further strengthened by the
still
(cf. ver. 14).
3wy\
"irOD
are connected, as
and both words are placed side by side in the construct state, as in Dan. i. 4 (cf. Ewald, 3395). They comfort themselves because they have gone down with him into
Sam.
in 1
ix.
2
;
Sheol, so that he has no advantage over them. thither to those pierced with the sword,
i.e.
They come
to the princes
and
whom Asshur
slew in wars to establish his imperial peoples In power, ijntt might also belong to VTV as a second subject. that case fes WtPJ should be taken in a relative sense and u which sat in his shadow i.e. his his "
:
among
resources,
arm,"
the
nations."
With
this explanation ty iT
would be
different
from DH, and could only denote the army of the Assyrian. But this does not harmonize with the sitting in his shadow among the nations, for these words obviously point back to ver. 6 that ty
and
We
is
"tf
is
evidently meant
to correspond to D^zn
actually identical with Dn,
i.e.
with
all
D^3"?3
;
so
(ver. 6),
the trees of Eden.
therefore agree with Osiander, Grotius,
and
others, in
regarding the whole of the second hemistich as more precisely determining the subject, in other words, as a declaration of the reason for their descending into hell along with the Assy and render the passage thus : for as his arm. (as his rians, "
CHAP. XXXII.
41
1-16.
"
so that the might) they sat in his shadow among the nations In of a causal in used 1 is any case, the particle. place cop. the LXX. and from Ewald has which adopted conjecture ;
the Syriac, viz. iJTW, and his seed, in support of which appeal be made to Isa. xiv. 21, is unsuitable, for the simple
might
reason that the statement, that nations, does not apply.
it
After
sat in his
shadow among the
this description of the greatness
and the destruction of the imperial power of Assyria, Ezekiel to whom repeats in ver. 18 the question already asked in ver. 3 :
H23, so, i.e. under such circumstances, cedar Asshur has been smitten by such a glorious The reply to this question is really contained fate (Hitzig).
is
Pharaoh like?
when the
description given already; so that it is immediately and thou wilt be thrust down," followed by the announcement,
in the
"
etc.
D is
&?!)#,
fcfln,
not
"
equivalent
he
would require
the predicate ,
to
uncircumcised, is,"
:
as that
this is
(i.e.
so does
it
ungodly heathen *ttn njns but Kin ;
happen
to)
Pharaoh.
as in ver. 2.
PHARAOH
CHAP. XXXII. LAMENTATIONS OVER THE RUIN OF
AND HIS PEOPLE. The times
which
:
chapter contains two lamentations composed at different the first, in vers. 1-1 6, relating to the fall of Pharaoh,
upon the prophecy contained in 20-26; the second, in vers. 1732,
rests
ch. xxx.
ch. xxix. in
1-16 and
which the pro
phecy concerning the casting down of this imperial power into hell (ch. xxxi. 14-17) is worked out in elegiac form. Vers. 1-16.
LAMENTATION OVER THE KING OF EGYPT.
Pharaoh, a sea-monster,
is
drawn by the nations out
of his
waters with the net of God, and cast out upon the earth. His flesh is given to the birds and beasts of prey to devour, and the earth is saturated with his blood At his destruction (vers. 2-6). the lights of heaven lose their brightness, and
all
the nations
42
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The king
be amazed thereat (vers. 7-10).
will
of Babel will
come upon Egypt, will destroy both man and beast, and will make the land a desert (vers. 1116). The date given in ver. 1
In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the
"
month, the
word of Jehovah came
"
to
me, saying agrees entirely with the relation in which the substance of the ode itself stands to
the prophecies belonging to the tenth and eleventh years in ch. xxix. 1-16 and ch. xxx. 20-26 ; whereas the different date found in the Septuagint cannot
The
Vers. 2-6.
man, say
to
and
raise a lamentation over
him, Thou wast compared
Pharaoh
Therefore will
Ver.
I spread
nations, that they
will cast thee field,
and
2.
a young lion among the nations,
to
thou didst break forth in
;
may
upon
out
3.
Thus
my net
draiu thee
saith
the
Thy
and
over thee in the midst of
up
in
the land, hurl thee
my
Ver.
yarn ;
upon
the
of
didst
Lord Jehovah,
many
4.
And
surface of the
will cause all the birds of the heaven to settle
the beasts 5.
the
moment.
Son of king of Egypt, and Ver.
didst trouble the waters with thy feet,
tread their streams.
Ver.
into consideration for a
yet wast like a dragon in the sea
thy streams, and
and
come
destruction of Pharaoh.
upon
thee,
the whole earth to satisfy themselves with thee.
I put upon
flesh ivill
valleys with thy funeral heap.
the mountains,
Ver.
6.
I will
and
fill
the
saturate the earth
of thy blood even to the mountains, and the low This lamentation begins, like places shall become full of thee. a with of the others, picture glory of the fallen king. Hitzig ivith thine outflow
rPETU objects to the ordinary explanation of the words
\eovn eOvMv
^{jLOu^Or]^
(LXX.),
D^i3
TSD,
leoni gentium assimilatus es
njrn would (Vulg.), on the ground that the frequently recurring
only have this meaning in the present passage, and that ?fO?, which would then be synonymous, is construed in three other
ways, but not with the nominative. For these reasons he lion of the nations, thou belongest to adopts the rendering, But it would be contrary to the analogy of all the death." "
nirp to
Hitzig
s
commence
the lamentation with such a threat; and
objections to the ordinary rendering of the
words
will
CHAP. XXXII.
The
not bear examination. is
only met with here
for HOT has this
43
2-6.
circumstance that the Niplial noTi
in the sense of opoiova-Qai,, proves nothing
meaning
in
;
the Kal^ Piel, and Hithpael, and
the construction of the Niphal with the accusative (not nomi
be derived without difficulty from But what is the construction of the synonymous fep? with 3.
native, as Hitzig says)
may
decisive in favour of this rendering
is
the fact that the following
connected by means of the adversative nnsi (but thou), which shows that the comparison of Pharaoh to a D^n forms an clause
is
antithesis to the clause in
If JVp*]3
would
a
this antithesis
lion of the nations
any
which he
T23 contained
intelligible
be
is
compared
lost,
would
young
but the words addressed to
float in the
lion.
air
it
as a
and be used without
The lion is a figurative representa meaning. and victorious ruler and D]ia VB3 is really
tion of a powerful
;
equivalent to 0^3 s$ in ch. xxxi. 11. as
to a
a declaration of destruction, not only
a mighty conqueror of the nations, compared to the crocodile, which
to be
Pharaoh was regarded "
though he was rather
stirs
up the streams, the
fresh waters, and life-giving springs of the nations most per niciously with
mouth and
feet,
and renders turbid
all
that
is
Evvald and Hitzig pure" (Ewald). have taken offence at the words Tfpnaa run, thou didst break D^fl, as in ch. xxix. 3.
"
forth in thy
and
streams,"
alter
Tn inaa,
Tainan into
with thy
12) but they have not considered that nsn (Job would be quite cut of place with such an alteration, as rV3 in both the Kal and Iliphil (Judg. xx. 33) has only the intransi
nostrils
xli.
tive
to
meaning
;
break out.
The thought
is
simply this: the
crocodile lies in the sea, then breaks occasionally forth in its
streams, and feet.
makes the waters and
their streams turbid with
its
Therefore shall Pharaoh also end like such a monster
(vers. 3-6).
The
guilt of
Pharaoh did not
that he had assumed the position of a ruler
consist in the fact
among
the nations
but in his polluting the water-streams, stirring up (Kliefoth) and disturbing o the life-civing o o streams of the nations. God will ;
take him in His net by a gathering of nations, and cause him
44
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL,
drawn out
to be
upon the dry land, where he and beasts of prey (cf. ch. xxix.
of his element
become food
to the birds
xxxi. 12, 13).
The words
">
D^y
i>np3
shall 4, 5,
are not to be understood as
referring to the nations, as spectators of the event (Havernick) ; but 3 denotes the instrument, or medium employed, here the
persons by whom God causes the net to be thrown, as is evident from the ^Ivgrtt which follows. According to the parallelismus
membrorum, the
TOT can
only refer to the carcase of the beast, although the source from which this meaning of the word is derived has not yet been traced. There is no worth to
air. \ey.
in some of the codices, as be attached to the reading does not yield a suitable meaning either in the sense of rns"|
HB")
or reptile, or in that of putrefaction
has
been attributed
to
we adhere
circumstances
decomposed
from the Arabic.
it
to the derivation
from
bodies,
which
Under
these
be high,
DVI, to
ftton may signify a height or a heap, which according to which the context defines as a funeral-pile, nsv, strictly speaking, a which flows out, the outflow to that from fpi, flow, participle
(Hitzig),
is
not to be taken in connection with
fttf,
but
is
a
second object to VTi?# n 5 an d the appended word ^IP^S indicates the source whence the flowing takes place, and of what the outflow consists. B^nn 7K ? to the mountains, i.e. up to the top J
The thought
of the mountains.
in
these verses
is
probably
the fall of Pharaoh would bring destruction the of whole the land of Egypt, and that many nations upon would derive advantage from his fall.
simply
this, that
Vers. 7-10. His overthrow
ing and terror. sky and darken
moon
its
stars
sky do
over thy land,
;
I will
light
I darken
is the
fills
the whole world with
When I extinguish
7.
will not cause its
lights in the
I
Ver.
to shine.
Ver.
because of thee^
many
8.
and
the
the shining
and I bring darkness
Lord Jehovah.
nations
A II
mourn
cover the
cover the sun with cloud,
saying of the
will trouble the heart of
thee,
I will
when
I
Ver.
9.
And
bring out thine
overthrow among the nations into lands which thou knowest not, Ver. 10. And 1 will make many nations amazed at thee, and their
CHAP. xxxn. kings shall shudder at thee
face
;
and
45
7-10.
when 1 brandish
my sword
before their
moment, every one for his life thought of vers. 7 and 8 is not
they shall tremble every
on the day of his fall. The when thou art extinguished, all exhausted by the paraphrase, so far as Egypt is concerned," will be extinguished, light "
accompanied with the remark, that the darkness consequent thereupon is a figurative representation of utterly hopeless circumstances (Schmieder). The thought on which the figure rests is that of the day of the Lord, the day of God s judgment, on which the lights of heaven lose their brightness (cf. ch. ii. This day bursts upon Egypt 10, etc.). on it the fall of and with the Pharaoh, shining stars of heaven
xxx. 3 and Joel
are
darkened, so that the
land of Pharaoh becomes dark.
a world-power represented by Pharaoh, which col Egypt But the overthrow of this world-power lapses with his fall. is an omen and prelude of the overthrow of every ungodly is
world-power on the day of the last judgment, when the present heaven and the present earth will perish in the judgment-fire.
Compare the remarks to be found in the commentary on Joel 4 upon the connection between the phenomena of the
iii.
The contents of heavens and great catastrophes on earth. both verses may be fully explained from the biblical idea of the day of the
Lord and the accompanying phenomena
for the explanation of iniim, there
is
no necessity
;
and
to assume,
and Hitzig have done, that the sea-dragon of Egypt presented here under the constellation of a dragon ; for there
as Dereser is is
no connection between the comparison of Egypt to a tannim and ch. xxix. 3 ( 2rn, Isa. li. 9), and
=
or sea-dragon, in ver. 2
the constellation of the dragon (see the
comm. on
Isa.
li.
9 and
In *jnta32i Pharaoh is no doubt regarded as a star of xxx. 7). the first magnitude in the sky ; but in this conception Ezekiel rests upon Isa. xiv. 12, where the king of Babylon is desig nated as a bright morning-star. That this passage was in the s is evident at once from the fact that ver. 7 mind, prophet coincides almost verbatim with Isa.
xiii.
10.
The
extinction
40
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
and obscuration of the
stars are not
merely a figurative repre occasioned by the fall of Pharaoh ; mourning still less can vers. 9 and 10 be taken as an interpretation in in vers. 7 and 8. literal the words of figurative phraseology sentation of the
For vers. 9 and 10 do not
relate to the
of the nations,
mourning
but to anxiety and terror into which they are plunged by
God
through the fall of Pharaoh and his might. 1? D^?, to afflict the heart, does not mean to make it sorrowful, but to fill it with u When I anxiety, to deprive it of its peace and cheerfulness. bring thy fall among the nations is equivalent to spread the "
"
report of thy
Consequently there
fall."
no need for either
is
the arbitrary alteration of ^119? into which Evvald proposes, with the imaginary rendering announcement or report ; nor for T"!?^>
the marvellous assumption of Havernick, that
describes
*J"]3t?
the prisoners scattered among the heathen as the ruins of the ancient glory of Egypt, in support of which he adduces the
rendering of the
LXX.
at^jj,a\a)triav aov,
upon the change of TO5? into ch. xxvii. 35. *|3ty, to cause to brandished before their face
is
For
"pat?.
fly, to
when
which
is
founded
10a compare brandish. The sword
it
ver.
falls
time after time
upon their brother the king of Egypt, whereby they are thrown into alarm for their own lives. B^-Hp, by moments every
=
moment
comm. on Isa. xxvii. 3). Vers. 11-16. The judgment upon Egypt will be executed by the king of Babylon. Ver. 11. For thus saitli the Lord Jehovah, (see the
The sword of
the king
of Babylon
By
swords of heroes will
of
the nations are they all,
and
all its
tumult
off all its cattle
ivi.ll
from
I
to
flow
I make of
its
the
be destroyed.
to fall) violent
ones
And
1 will cut
no foot of
man may
Ver. 13.
any hoof of
cattle
their waters to settle
and
disturb them. their streams
Lord Jehovah, Ver. 15. When desert, and the land is made desolate
saying of the
land of Egypt a
fulness, because
Ver. 12.
thee.
will lay waste the pride of Egypt,
the great ivaters, that
I cause
like oil, is the
come upon
cause thy tumult
and
disturb them any more, nor
Ver. 14. Then will
ivill
I smite
all the inhabitants therein^
and
they
CHAP. XXXII.
shall
know
that
I am
ful ode) is this,
Ver. 16.
Jehovah.
and
ivill
they
of the nations will sing
it
tumult will they sing
it
sing
47
11-16.
it
A
lamentation
mournfully
(mourn
the daughters
;
mournfully, over Egypt and over all is
the saying
the
its
Lord
of mournfully, concluding strophe the figurative announce ment of the preceding one is summed up briefly in literal terms
Jehovah.
In
this
and toward the better future.
close (ver. 14) there
The
is
;
a slight intimation of a
destruction of the proud might of
Egypt
be effected through the king of Babylon and his brave and D fa Tl^? as in ch. xxxi. 12 violent hosts. (see the comm. on will
ch. xxviii. 7). to the
flon in vers.
12 and 13 must not be restricted
multitude of people.
It signifies tumult,
and embraces
Egypt by which noise and confusion were made everything although the idea of a multitude of (as in ch. xxxi. 2 and 18) in
;
people undoubtedly predominates in the use of Jton in ver. 12a. D^yrp flaw, the pride of Egypt, is not that of which Egypt is
The proud, but whatever is proud or exalts itself in Egypt. utter devastation of Egypt includes the destruction of the cattle, i.e. of the numerous herds which fed on the grassy banks of the Nile and were driven to the Nile to drink xli.
2sqq.; Ex.
ix.
3)
;
and
this
is
(cf.
Gen.
xlvii. 6,
therefore specially mentioned
an allusion to the consequence thereof, namely, that the waters of the Nile would not be disturbed any more
in ver. 13, with
either
by the foot of man or hoof of beast (compare
ver.
136
with ch. xxix. 11). The disturbing of the water is mentioned with evident reference to ver. 2, where Pharaoh is depicted as a sea-monster,
which disturbs the streams of water.
disturbance of the water
The
therefore a figurative representation of the wild driving of the imperial power of Egypt, by which the life-giving streams of the nations were stirred Ver. 14. up. Then will God cause the waters of Egypt to sink. Hitzig and is
Kliefoth understand this as signifying the diminution of the abundance of water in the Nile, which had previously over
flowed the land and rendered
no further purpose now.
it
fertile,
According
but for which there was to this explanation, the
48
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEEIEL.
words would contain a continued picture of the devastation of
But
the land. that
it
this is evidently a mistake, for the simple reason
irreconcilable with the
is
introduced.
TK, tune, is
more
by which the thought
ttf,
precisely defined
by
W
^nn
is
in
15 as the time when the devastation has taken place; whereas Kliefoth takes the 15th verse, in opposition both to the
ver.
words and the usage of the language, as the sequel or in other words, regards
to ver. 14,
W3 as synonymous with WJ1.
The
verse contains a promise, as most of the commentators, led by 1 the Chaldee and Jerome, have correctly assumed. JTi?^?, to
make
the water sink, might no doubt signify in itself a dimi nution of the abundance of water. But if we consider the context, in
which reference
is
made
to the disturbance of the
water through being trodden with the feet (ver. 13), jppjyn can only signify to settle, i.e. to become clear through the sinking to the bottom of the slime which had been stirred up its
The correctness of this explanation is (cf. ch. xxxiv. 18). confirmed by the parallel clause, to make their streams flow with oil. To understand this as signifying the slow and gentle flow of the diminished water, would introduce a figure of which there
is
no trace in Hebrew.
Oil
used throughout the
is
Scriptures as a figurative representation of the divine blessing, or the power of the divine Spirit. 1^3, like oil, according to like rivers of And phraseology, is equivalent to oil-rivers are not rivers which flow quietly like oil, but rivers
Hebrew
"
oil."
which contain
oil
instead of water (cf.
symbolical of the rich blessing of
The
Job
God
(cf.
xxix. 6),
Deut.
and are
xxxii. 13).
a very appropriate one for Egypt, as the land is figure Whereas its water indebted to the Nile for all its fertility. is
up and rendered turbid by Pharaoh after the Pharaoh the Lord will cause the waters of the stream,
had been fall of
stirred
;
Then will purest waters, The explanation of Jerome is the following: which had been disturbed by the sway of the dragon, be restored not by another, but by the Lord Himself; so that their streams flow like oil, and "
1
are the nutriment of true
light."
49
CHAP. XXXII. 17-21.
which pours its blessing upon the land, and will make its streams flow with oil.
to purify themselves,
The
clarified
water
and flowing oil are figures of the life-giving power of the word and Spirit of God. But this blessing will not flow to Egypt till its
natural power
is
destroyed.
Ewald has
therefore given
The Messianic the following as the precise meaning of ver. 14 : first time dawn on Egypt, when the times will then for the "
waters no more become devastating and turbid, that is to say, through the true knowledge to which the chastisement leads."
Ver. 16
rounds
passage by turning back to ver. 2 of the nations are mentioned as the The daughters (Hitzig). for the dead was for the most part the because mourning singers, The words do not contain business of women (cf. Jer. ix. 16). "
"
off the
summons
to the daughters of the nations to sing the lamen the declaration that they will do it, in which the but tation,
a
thought
is
implied that the predicted devastation of Egypt will
certainly occur.
Vers. 17-32. FUNERAL-DIRGE FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MIGHT OF EGYPT. This second lamentation or mourn
ing ode, according to the heading in ver. 17, belongs to the same year as the preceding, and to the 15th of the month, no
doubt the 12th month; in which case fourteen days after the first. omitted here, as in ch. xxvi. 1
it
was composed only
The statement ;
of the
and the omission
to be attributed to a copyist in this instance also.
month
is
no doubt, In the ode,
is,
which Ewald aptly describes as a dull, heavy lamentation," we have six regular strophes, preserving the uniform and "
monotonous character of the lamentations for the dead, in which the thought is worked out, that Egypt, like other great nations, is
is
cast
down
to the nether world.
The whole
of
it
simply an elegiac expansion of the closing thought of the
previous chapter (ch. xxxi.). Vers. 18-21. Introduction and
first
strophe.
of man, lament over the tumult of Egypt, and hurl
EZEK.
II.
Ver. 18. Son it
doivn, her,
D
50
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
like the
daughters of glorious nations, into the nether world, to
who go
Whom
Ver. 19.
dost thou surpass with the uncircumcised. lay thyself slain with the sword luill they fall ; the Ver. 20. Among those sword is handed, draw her down and all her tumult. Ver. 21. those
into the pit !
Go down and
in loveliness ?
The strong ones of with
its
the heroes say of
out of the midst of hell
helpers: they are gone down, they
cumcised, slain with the sword. irrnirn, thrust
it
the lamentation,
thrust
down it
suffix
*n~
?
Egypt
as such
nrritf
utters,
means
or by
the tumult of
God s word; and
what
lie
there, the uncir
nnj, utter a lamentation,
and
(the tumult of Egypt) down, are co-ordinate.
With is
it
is
thereof,
is
Ezekiel to
The lamentation
into hell.
has the power to accomplish not intended as a repetition of the it
but resumes the principal idea contained in the
object already named, viz. D^TO, Egypt, i.e. its population. nrritf and the daughters of glorious nations are co-ordinate.
the expression, daughter Tyre, daughter Babel, denotes the population of powerful heathen nations. The D^H as
flfaa,
in
D T!K can only be the nations enumerated in vers. 22, 24 sqq., which, according to these verses, are already in Sheol, not about to
be thrust down, but thrust down already. Consequently to be taken in the sense of a com 1 before flfoa is
the copula
parison, as in 1
Sam.
xii.
15
(cf.
Ewald,
3405).
All these
glorious nations have also been hurled down by the word of God ; and Egypt is to be associated with them. By thus
placing
Egypt on a
enumeration of which
level fills
with
all
the fallen nations, the
the middle strophes of the ode, the extended into a funeral-dirge on the
lamentation over Egypt is For ni snnn ptf fall of all the heathen powers of the world. and compare ch. xxvi. 20. The ode itself commences "fa
"H")^)
in ver. 19,
kingdom. ripyj
by giving prominence to the But this prominence consists
^p, before
than any one D]"}p
whom
else ?
(ver. 18), or
glory of the falling in the brief inquiry
thou lovely ? i.e. art thou more lovely The words are addressed either to jtoQ art
what
is
more probable,
to
Pharaoh with
all
CHAP. XXXII.
his
tumult
(cf.
51
18-21.
world-power, Egypt, as em of Pharaoh ; and the meaning of the
ve r. 32),
i.e.
to the
bodied in the person question is the following:
Thou, Egypt, art indeed lovely; more lovely than other mighty heathen
but thou
art not better or
nations
therefore thou canst not expect any better fate than
to
;
go down
into Sheol,
and there This
B\^W, as in ch. xxxi. 18.
is
lie
with the uncircumcised.
carried out
The
and the ground thereof assigned.
ver. 20,
still
the Egyptians, or Pharaoh and his tumult. the midst of those pierced with the sword. is
further in
subject to vb*.
They fall The sword
in is
already handed to the executor of the judgment, the king of Babel (ch. xxxi. 11). Their destruction is so certain, that the Draw words are addressed to the bearers of the sword "
:
Egypt and
all its
for I3^b in
Ex.
tumult down into Sheol
xii.
"
(*3Kfo is imperative
21), and, according to ver. 21, the heathen
v ^?T. is already in Sheol are speaking of his destruction, there speak to him, address him, greet rendered by many, to Isa. xiv. 9 sqq., where the allusion an with him," king of "
when descending
into Sheol, is greeted with malicious the kings already there. But however obvious the pleasure by fact may be that Ezekiel has this passage in mind, there is no address in the verse before us as in Isa. xiv. 10, but simply a
Babel,
statement concerning the Egyptians, made in the third person. Moreover, VtfjrriK could hardly be made to harmonize with For it is not allowable to VIST, if ^ signified ad eum.
ii>
connect vntjmK (taken in the sense of along with their helpers) with D niaJ vK as a noun in apposition, for the simple reason that the two are separated
can only belong Vnfy, his
to
(Pharaoh
VIST s)
:
w
by
Tjlno.
Consequently
VjT ynK
they talk (of him) with his helpers.
helpers are his
allies,
who have
already
gone down before him into hell (cf. ch. xxx. 8). The singular suffix, which has offended Hitzig, is quite in order as corre sponding to &. The words, they have gone down, lie there," "
etc.,
point once
pened
to the
more
to the fact that the
Egyptians
as
to
all
same
fate has
hap
the rest of the rulers and
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
52
whom God has judged. For ones of the heroes, compare the comm. on ch. xxxi. 11. strong the nether world, the gathering-place of the dead; !?W, hell nations of the world
=
not the place of punishment for the damned, l^n vpn without On the article is a predicate, and not in apposition to E\/)Vn. the application of this epithet to the Egyptians, Kliefoth has the question whether the Egyptians correctly observed that received circumcision is one that has no bearing upon this "
passage
;
for in the sense in which Ezekiel understands circum
even cision, the Egyptians were uncircumcised, accustomed to circumcise their flesh."
In the four following strophes heathen nations
is
enumerated,
(vers.
whom
if
22-30) a the
they were
of
series
Egyptian
finds
already in hell, and with whom he will share the same fate. There are six of these namely, Asshur, El am, Meshech-Tubal, the princes of the north, and Sidon. The six are three great and remote world-powers, divisible into two classes
Edom,
and three smaller neighbouring
In
nations.
this
no regard
is
paid to the time of destruction. With the empire of Asshur, which had already fallen, there are associated Elam and
Meshech-Tubal, two nations, which only rose to the rank of world-powers in the more immediate and more remote future ;
and among the neighbouring nations, the Sidonians and princes of the north,
i.e.
the Syrian kings, are grouped with
Edom,
although the Sidonians had long ago given up their supremacy to Tyre, and the Aramean kings, who had once so grievously oppressed the kingdom of Israel, had already been swallowed up in the Assyrian
that
"
in
and Chaldean empire.
case, at the time
It
may, indeed, be said
when Ezekiel
any prophesied, princes of the Assyrians both had descended into Sheol already enough and Elamites, etc., to welcome the Egyptians as soon as they
came
(Kliefoth) but with the same justice said that many of the rulers and countrymen of "
;
may
it
also
Egypt had
be
also
Sheol already, at the time when Pharaoh, reigning in Ezekiel s day, was to share the same fate. It is
descended into
CHAP. XXXII.
53
22, 23.
any such reflection upon chronological out of place in connection with our text, the inten tion of which is merely to furnish an exemplification" (Kliefoth), evident, therefore, that relations
"
is
and that Ezekiel looks upon Egypt more power, discerning in
picture,
in the light of a world-
the overthrow of
the heathen
all
and predicting it under the prophetic that Pharaoh and his tumult are expected and welcomed the world,
of
power
fall
its
by the princes and nations that have already descended into Sheol, as
to share their fate with
coming
them.
^
Ver. 22. There is Asshur Vers. 22, 23. Second strophe. and all its multitude, round about it their graves, all of them slain, fallen
Ver. 23.
by the sword.
the deepest pit,
and
its
multitude
is
Whose graves are made in round about
its
grave; all
sword, who spread terror in the land of the The enumeration commences with Asshur, the worldliving. power, which had already been overthrown by the Chaldeans. It is important to notice here, that WK, like D^y in ver. 24, and bnn TJ^O in ver. 26, is construed as a feminine, as
slain, fallen by the
which follows in every case plainly shows.
Fijton
therefore, that the predominant idea
or people,
is
It
is
obvious,
not that of the king
but that of the kingdom or world-power.
It
is
true that in the suffixes attached to VJrnjp vnta ap in ver. 22,
and vnta Qp
in
25 and 26, the masculine alternates with
vers.
and Hitzig therefore proposes to erase these but the alternation may be very simply explained, on the ground that the ideas of the kingdom and its king are not
the
feminine,
words
kept
;
strictly separate,
to the other. lies in Sheol,
It
is
but that the words oscillate from one idea
affirmed of Asshur, that as a world-power
and the graves of
the graves of its ruler. fallen by the sword, i.e.
ment
of
God.
To
lie
added
its
in ver.
23 the declaration that
in the utmost sides,
deepest extremity of Sheol
together with
it
countrymen are round about
They all lie there as those who have who have been swept away by a judg
this is
the graves of Asshur
its
;
i.e.
the utmost or
whereas so long as
this
people was in the land of the living,
power i.e.
so
54
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
long as they ruled on earth, they spread terror
around them
all
From
the loftiest height of earthly by might and greatness, they are hurled down to the lowest hell. The higher on earth, the deeper in the nether world. Havertheir violent deeds.
nick
has
entirely
Asshur are about
its graves" "
its
grave
words
misunderstood the
and
(ver. 22),
"its
"
round
multitude
(the grave of this world-power),
about
is
round
when he
finds
therein the thought that the graves and corpses are to be
regarded as separated, so that the dead are waiting near their graves in deepest sorrow, looking for the honour of burial, There is not a word of this in the text, but looking in vain.
but simply that the graves of the people
lie
round about the
grave of their ruler. Vers. 24 and 25. Third strophe. Ver. 24. There is Elam, and all its multitude round about its grave ; all of them slain, fallen
by the sword,
nether world, living,
who went down uncircumcised
who spread
and bear
their
shame with
those
who went
Ver. 25. In the midst of the slain have they made all its multitude,
into
the
terror before them in the land of the
round about
it
are their graves
into the pit. it
;
a bed with
all
of them
uncircumcised, pierced with the sword ; because terror was spread shame with before them in the land of the living, they bear their
who have gone into the pit. In the midst of slain ones is Asshur is followed by D^JJ, Elam, the warlike people of Elymais, i.e. Susiana, the modern Chusistan, whose archers served in the Assyrian army (Isa. xxii. 6), and which is men those
he laid.
tioned along with the
as
one of the conquerors of
whereas Jeremiah prophesied its destruc the commencement of Zedekiah s reign (Jer. xlix. 34 sqq.).
Babylon tion at
Medes
(Isa. xxi. 2),
Ezekiel says just the same of Elam as he has already said of Asshur, and almost in the same words. The only difference is, that his description
is
more copious, and that he expresses more
thought of shameful destruction which is implied in the fact of lying in Sheol among the slain, and repeats distinctly the
it
a second time, and that he also
sets the
bearing of shame
CHAP. XXXII.
which Elam had spread
into Sheol in contrast with the terror
around
The
it
during
2
in Wtoq~i?59 the fact of being in
and WH3 has an
D^P was given. ;
on earth.
its life
nisfa NEO, as in ch. xvi. 52.
either the
is
the
55
26-28.
"
with of
midst of a crowd,
nj refers to
= there
"
indefinite subject,
or
association,"
"
they gave
33^ *?, the resting-place of the dead, as in 2 Chron. last clause in ver. 25 is an emphatic repetition of the leading thought he (Elam) is brought or laid in the
xvi. 14.
The
:
midst of the
slain.
Vers. 26-28. Fourth strophe.
Tubal and
all its
its
Ver. 26. There
is
graves round about
Meshechit
all
of them uncircumcised, slain with the sword, because they spread Ver. 27. They lie terror before them in the land of the living. uncircumcised heroes not with the fallen men, who went down of into hell with their
multitude,
;
weapons of war, whose swords they laid under have come upon their bones, because
their heads ; their iniquities
they were a terror of the heroes in the land of the living.
Thou lie
also wilt be dashed to pieces
ivith those slain
and Tibareni
Ver. 28.
among uncircumcised men, and t\Vfo and n, the Moschi
with the sword.
of the
Greeks
(see the
comm. on
ch. xxvii. 13),
are joined together dcrvvSeTws here as one people or heathen
power ence
;
is
and Ewald, Hitzig, and others suppose that the refer to the Scythians,
who invaded
Josiah, and the majority of
the land in the time of
whom had
miserably perished not
But apart from the fact that make no allusion to any inva the by Scythians (see Minor Prophets, vol. ii.
very long before (Herod, i. 106). the prophets of the Old Testament sion of Palestine
124, Eng. transl.), this view is founded entirely upon the erroneous supposition that in this funeral-dirge Ezekiel men
p.
tions only such peoples as
or shorter time before.
had sustained great defeats a longer
Meshech-Tubal comes
into considera
tion here, as in ch. xxxviii., as a northern power,
overcome in
its conflict
phetically exhibited
which
with the kingdom of God, and
by the prophet
under the judgment of death.
as
is
is
pro
having already fallen In ver. 26 Ezekiel makes the
56
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
as he has already made concerning Asshur and with regard to Elam in vers. 24, 25. But the announcement in ver. 27 is obscure. Rosenmiiller, Evvald, Havernick, and others, regard this verse as a question (N^ in
same announcement
in vers. 22, 23,
and should they not lie with (rest with) the sense of *6n) other fallen heroes of the uncircumcised, who . i.e. they do lie with them, and could not possibly expect a better fate. But :
.
.
although the interrogation
?"
merely indicated by the tone
is
where the language is excited, and therefore *6l might stand for *6n, as in Ex. viii. 22, there is not the slightest indication of such excitement in the description given here as could render
assumption a probable one. On the contrary, &O1 at the commencement of the sentence suggests the supposition that an
this
antithesis
is
intended to the preceding verse. And the pro is the allusion made to heightened by
bability of this conjecture
heroes,
who have descended
weapons
of
war
into the nether world with their
inasmuch
;
as,
at
all
events,
therein affirmed which does not apply to
have gone down into
The custom
hell.
of fallen heroes along with
Diod. Sic.
xviii.
26
;
them
Arrian,
i.
something
the heroes
all
is
who
of placing the weapons
in the
5
;
grave is attested by Virgil, Aen. vi. 233 (cf.
and, according to the pp. 281, 282) ideas prevailing in ancient times, it was a mark of great respect But the last place in which we should expect to to the dead.
Dougtaei Analectt.
ss.
i.
;
meet with any allusion to the payment of such honour to the dead would be in connection with Meshech and Tubal, those wild hordes of the north, hearsay.
many
We therefore
who were only known
to
Israel
follow the Vulgate, the Rabbins,
by and
of the earlier commentators, and regard the verse before
us as containing a declaration that the slain of Meshech-Tubal
would not receive the honour of resting in the nether world along with those fallen heroes whose weapons were buried with them in the grave, because they 1
with honour. 1
^3
He compares them, meaning but with the heathen, who, although
C. a Lapide has already given the true
therefore, not with the righteous,
fell
"
:
57
CHAP. XXXII. 26-28. niorte, instruments of war, weapons, as in
text leaves
The
41.
i.
who they were who had been buried The Seventy have confounded By]^ with
uncertain
it
with such honours. D^iyp,
Deut.
and rendered By?.^ D ?^, T&V
ire jrTWKOTcw air
the gibborim of Gen. vi. 4. possibly thinking of the text to this ; and even alter to Hitzig propose
alwvos,
Dathe and Havernick
imagines that the prophet may possibly have had such passages But as Gen. vi. 4 and x. 9 sqq. floating before his mind. not sufficient ground to warrant an alteration of the
there
is
text
and
;
if
Ezekiel had had Gen.
no doubt have written Dnisan.
4
vi.
The
in his mind, he
clause DHUij? *nni
would is
re
garded by the more recent commentators as a continuation of the preceding Ul un*}, which is a very natural conclusion, if
we simply take
notice of the construction.
%
But
we
if
consider
th-e sense of the words, this combination can hardly be sus
The
tained.
bo nes
"
(or
"
words,
and so were
their iniquities
they came upon them), can
upon
their
well be understood as an
explanation of the reason for their descending into Sheol with must therethoir weapons, and lying upon their swords. fe^e regard EHUty ^nrn as a continuation of O3^, so that their
We
resting with those
atn
who were
buried with their weapons of
r f urn i s h es
the proof that their guilt lay upon their bones. words, therefore, have no other meaning than the phrase ;
1N ^. in
vers.
24 and 30.
when of
IVnn, terror of the heroes, of their savage nritf
Sin comes upon the bones it falls upon the bones
the punishment consequent upon In the last clause the sinner.
with
variance
terrible
and cruel nature.
as referring to
tators propose.
i.e.
A
Meshech-Tubal,
we connect
In as
ver.
28 we cannot take
many
of the
direct address to that people
the whole
plan of
D^tea with
even to heroes on account
the ode.
commen
would be
at
Moreover, the
declaration contained in the verse would contradict
what pre-
uncircumcised, had met with a glorious death, i.e. they will be more wretched than these for the latter went down to the shades with glory, but they ;
with ignominy, as
if
conquered and
slain."
58
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
As Meshech-Tubal
already lying in Sheol among the slain, according to ver. 26, the announcement cannot be made to it for the first time here, that it is to be dashed in pieces and cedes.
laid with those
who
is
who
is
are slain with the sword.
addressed, and he
is
It
is
the Egyptian
told that this fate will also fall
upon him. And through this announcement, occurring in the midst of the list of peoples that have already gone down to Sheol, the design of that
list is
once more called to mind.
Vers. 29 and 30. Fifth strophe. its
kings
and
all its princes,
who
Ver. 29. There are Edom, in spite of their bravery are
associated with those that are pierced with the
sword ; they
lie
with the uncircumcised and with those that have gone down into Ver. 30. T/iere are the princes of the north, all of them, the pit.
Sidonians who have gone down to the slain, been pat to shame in spite of the dread of them because of their bravery ; they lie there as uncircumcised, and bear their shame with those who
and all
the
In this strophe Ezekiel groups together have gone into the pit, the rest of the heathen nations in the neighbourhood of Israel ;
and
in
doing
n!3$, thither.
he changes the SW of the preceding list for This might be taken prophetically thither
so,
:
jj>ill
to these do they also belong they come, (Havernick),aot such nations being mentioned here as are still awaitingwa* destruction. But, in the first place, the perfects l^Tht "
"
VTV
"iPK,
much
in vers. 29, 30,
do not favour
,
this explanation, itfus-
as they are used as preterites in vers. 22, 24, 25, 26,
)2
7
;
and, secondly, even in the previous strophes, not only are such peoples mentioned as have already perished, but some, like
Elam and Meshech-Tubal, which
did not rise into historical
importance, or exert any influence upon the development of the kingdom of God till after Ezekiel s time, whereas the
Edomites and Sidonians were already approaching destruction.
We therefore
regard
the sense of
thither have they
"
nsiy as simply a variation of expression in
allusion to the future. i.e.
come,"
without discovering any
In the case of Edom, kings and OWBO,
tribe-princes, are mentioned.
The
allusion
is
to the allu-
CHAP. XXXII.
59
31, 32.
or phylarchs, literally chiliarchs, the heads of the leading families (Gen. xxxvi. 15 sqq.), in whose hands the government
phim
of the people lay, inasmuch as the kings were elective, and (see the comm. on Gen.
were probably chosen by the phylarehs
DrntoJS, in, or with their bravery,
xxxvi. 31 sqq.). of
There
it.
of the north
something remarkable in the allusion
is
(
^p?,
comm. on Josh.
lit.
xiii.
to princes
persons enfeoffed, vassal- princes
21 and Mic.
in spite
i.e.
;
see the
connection with the
v. 4) in
Sidonians, and after Meshech-Tubal the representative of the
The
northern nations.
association with the Sidonians renders
the conjecture a very natural one, that allusion is made to the north of Palestine, and more especially to the Aram of Scrip
many separate states and princes (Hiivernick) ; xxv. 26, "the kings of the north, both far and Jer. a-] though furnish a conclusive proof of this. So much, near," does not ture, with its
north are not to
at (any rate, is certain, that the princes of the
identified with the
be
"
rectly observed, viz.
For, as Kliefoth
Sidonians.
there are six heathen
nori;h,
and Sidon
;
and
if
nations
Edom,
Asshur, Elam, Meshech-Tubal,
we add Egypt
has cor
mentioned, the princes of the to the list, we shall
Kigy} seven, which would be thoroughly adapted, as
it
was
atinnently intended, to depict the fate of universal heathenism." ;vithrinciple
is
also clearly discernible in
the
mode
in
which
Asshur, Elam, and Meshech-Tubal repre sent the greater and more distant world-powers; Edom the princes of the north, and Sidon the neighbouring nations of thef are grouped.
Israel
on both south and north.
DJTVI33D DJTflna, literally, in
dread of them, (which proceeded) from their bravery, their bravery inspired.
U1
WVM,
and
them, and comfort himself over
all his
army
Lord Jehovah.
I
the land of the living, therefore is
Ver. 31. Pharaoh
all his multitude.
are slain ivith the sword,
Ver. 32. For
which
as in ver. 24.
Vers. 31 and 32. Sixth and last strophe.icill see
i.e.
is
Pharaoh
the saying
of
the
caused him to spread terror in he laid in the midst of uncir-
cumcised, those slain ivith the sword, Pharaoh
and
all his multi-
60
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
tude, is the
saying of the
application to
world rulers
all
Egypt
Lord Jehovah.
In these verses the
Pharaoh
will see in the nether
follows.
the greater
and smaller heathen nations with
and when he sees them
;
all
given up
to the
their
judgment
of death, he will comfort himself over the fate which has fallen
upon himself and his army, as he will perceive that he could not expect any better lot than that of the other rulers of by Dm, to comfort oneself, as in ch. xxxi. 16 and the world, xiv.
22.
Hitzig is
s
assertion,
that
W
incorrect (see the
&n3
never
comm. on
signifies
to
ch. xiv. 22).
comfort oneself^ WO, I have, given terror of him, i.e. I have made him an instrument of terror. The Keri V^nn arose from a mis
irmrrnx
understanding. The Chetib is confirmed by vers. 24 and 26. ver. 326 the ode is brought to a close by returning even in expression to vers. 19 and 20a.
In
now, we close with a review of the whole of the contents
If,
of the words of
God
directed against Egypt, in all of them, is the destruction of the might of Pharaoh and Egypt as a world-
And
prophecy has been completely Kliefoth has most truly observed, onei t^jy needs to enter the pyramids of Egypt and its cataco^av^
power
foretold.
fulfilled.
"
see that the glory of the
And
this
As
Pharaohs has gone down
int-emiv.
^
,i equally certain that this destruction of the p^. ancient Egypt dates from the times of the Babylonio-Pej^an
it is
Moreover, this destruction was so thorough, that even empire. to the New Egypt of the Ptolemies the character of the Old
Egypt was hensible."
a perfect enigma, a thing forgotten and incompre But if Ezekiel repeatedly speaks of Nebuchad
nezzar the king of. Babylon as executing this judgment upon Egypt, we must bear in mind that here, as in the case of Tyre (see the comm. on ch. xxviii. 1-19), Ezekiel regards Nebuchad nezzar as the instrument of the righteous punishment of God in general, and discerns in what he accomplishes the sum of all
that in the course of ages has been gradually fulfilling itself
in history.
At
the same time,
it
is
equally certain that this
CHAP. XXXII.
61
31, 32.
view of the prophet would have no foundation in truth unless
conquer Egypt and lay it waste, and the might and glory of this ancient empire were so shattered former greatness, but thereby, that it never could recover its
Nebuchadnezzar
really did
even after the turning of
its
captivity,
i.e.
after
its
recovery
from the deadly wounds which the imperial monarchy of Babylonia and afterwards of Persia inflicted upon it, still no more rule over remained a lowly kingdom, which could "
the
nations"
(ch.
xxix.
13-16).
Volney, however, in his 151 sqq.), and Hitzig
Reclierch. nouv. sur r/iist. anc. (III. pp.
(Ezek. p. 231), dispute the conquest and devastation of by Nebuchadnezzar, because the Greek historians, with
dotus
(ii.
Egypt Hero
161 sqq.) at their head, make no allusion whatever to Egypt ; and their statements are even opposed
an invasion of to
such an occurrence.
But the
silence of
Greek
historians,
argument. The word not a about the of Necho by do defeat same historians say Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish ; and yet even Hitzig accepts especially of Herodotus,
this as
an indisputable
is
a most
fact.
"
miserable
"
Herodotus and
his
successors
derived their accounts of Egypt from the communications of Egyptian priests, who suppressed everything that was humili ating to the pride of Egypt, and endeavoured to cover it up with their accounts of glorious deeds which the Pharaohs had
But Hitzig has by no means proved that the performed. statements of the Greeks are at variance with the assumption Chaldean invasion of Egypt, whilst he has simply rejected but not refuted the attempts of Perizonius, Vitringa, Havernick, and others, to reconcile the biblical narrative of the con of a
quest of
Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar with the accounts given by
Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and other Greeks, concerning the mighty feats of Necho, and his being slain by Amasis. The
remark
the description given by Herodotus, Amasis independent king by the side of Cambyses, only less than the Persian monarch, proves nothing more, powerful that,
in
appears as an
even assuming the correctness of the
fact,
than that Amasis
62
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
had made Egypt once more independent of Babylonia on the sudden overthrow of the Chaldean monarchy.
The conquest
of
Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, after the atti tude which Pharaoh Necho assumed towards the Babylonian empire, and even attempted to maintain in the time of Zedekiah by sending an army to the relief of Jerusalem when
besieged by the Chaldeans, is not only extremely probable in Even if itself, but confirmed by testimony outside the Bible. no great importance can be attached to the notice of Megas-
handed down by Strabo (xv. 1. 6) and Josephus he says that he (Nebuchadnezzar) conquered (c. Ap. 20) the greater part of Libya and Iberia;" Josephus not only thenes,
"
i.
:
the Baby quotes from Berosus (I.e. i. 19) to the effect that of lonian got possession Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia, Arabia," but, on the ground of such statements, relates the complete fulfil "
ment
of the prophecies of Scripture, saying, in
with reference to Nebuchadnezzar,
"
he
fell
<Antt.
x. 9. 7,
upon Egypt
to
And
the reigning king he slew ; and having conquer in his place, made those Jews prisoners who another appointed had hitherto resided there, and led them into Babylon." And it.
Josephus does not give his authority in this case, the assertion that he gathered this from the prophecies of Jeremiah
even
if
; because, immediately before the words we have he says that what Jeremiah had prophesied (Jer. xliii. quoted, and xliv.) had thus come to pass; making a distinction, therefore,
is
untrue
between prophecy and history. And suspicion is not to be cast as that Josephus does upon this testimony by such objections not mention the name of the Egyptian king, or state precisely the time when Egypt was conquered, but merely affirms in terms that general and Moabites.
it
was after the war with the Ammonites
SECOND HALF
THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF SALVATION. CHAP. XXXIII.-XLVIIT.
jN the
first
half of his book, Ezekiel has predicted
severe judgments, both to the covenant nation and But to the people of Israel to the heathen nations.
he has after the
also
promised the turning of
its
captivity,
judgment of the destruction of the kingdom and the
the refractory generation in the heathen lands ; dispersion of restoration to their own land, but the setting their not merely
up of the covenant made with the fathers, and the renewing of the restored nation by the Spirit of God, so that it will serve the Lord upon His holy mountain with offerings acceptable to
Him
(compare ch.
xi.
16-21, xvi. 60, and xx. 40
On
sqq.).
the other hand, he has threatened the heathenish peoples and kingdoms of the world with devastation and everlasting destruc that they will be
tion, so
remembered no more (compare
xxi. 36, 37, xxv. 7, 10, 16, xxvi. 21, xxvii. 36,
or rather with the lasting humiliation
and
ch.
xxviii. 19),
and overthrow of
their
nether world (compare ch. xxix. 13 sqq., xxxi. 15 sqq., and xxxii. 17 sqq.); whilst God will create a glorious thing in the land of the living, gather Israel from its dispersion, glory in the
it to dwell safely and happily in the land given to His servant Jacob, and a horn to grow thereto (ch. xxvi. 20,
cause
xxviii.
out
25
still
sqq.,
and xxix. 21).
This announcement
is
further in the second half of the book, where 68
carried first
of
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
64 the
all
pardon, blessing,
and
promised to the
glorification
covenant nation, after its sifting by the judgment of exile, are unfolded according O to their leading O features, and the destruction of
its
foes
secondly, there
of
kingdom
is
is
God
foretold
xxxiv.-xxxix.)
(ch.
;
and then,
depicted the establishment of the renovated for everlasting continuance (ch. xl.-xlviii.).
The prophet s mouth was opened to make when a fugitive brought the tidings of the
the announcement destruction both of
Jerusalem and of the kingdom to the captives by the Chaboras; and this constitutes the second half of the prophetic ministry of
The
Ezekiel.
according
promise
itself
is
contained in ch.
of
the restoration ;
and
into
divisible
is
to its contents, as just indicated,
xxxiv.-xxxix.)
new
introduction to this
announcement
whilst the
namely,
glorification
of
xxxiii.,
two
parts,
first,
Israel
the (ch.
and secondly, the apocalyptic picture of the
constitution of the
kingdom
of
God
(ch. xl.-xlviii.).
CHAP. XXXIII. THE CALLING OF THE PROPHET, AND HIS FUTURE ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE PEOPLE. This chapter
divided into two words of
is
God
of an intro
ductory character, which are separated by the historical state ment in vers. 21 and 22, though substantially they are one.
The
1-20) exhibits the calling of the prophet for the second (vers. 23-33) sets before him his own attitude towards the people, and the attitude of the people first
(vers.
the time to
come
;
towards his further announcement. arrival of the messenger, exiles the tidings of the
who
The
precedes the brought to the prophet and the first
conquest and destruction of Jerusalem
by the Chaldeans (ver. 21). The second was uttered after wards. The fall of the holy city formed a turning-point in the prophetic work of Ezekiel. Previous to this catastrophe, God had appointed him to be a watchman over Israel to show the people tiieir sins, and to proclaim the consequent punishment, namely, the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah, together with :
65
CHAP, xxxiii. the dispersion of the people among the heathen. the judgment predicted by city had fallen, and
aimed
be place, the object to
at
was
But
after the
him had taken
to inspire those
who were
desponding and despairing of salvation with confidence and consolation,
of
God
new
in a
life,
by predicting the restoration of the fallen kingdom new and glorious form, to show them the way to to open the door for their entrance into the new God. The two divisions of our chapter correspond
and of
kingdom to this, which was prophet.
In the
to be henceforth the task
(vers. 1-20), his calling to be the spiritual
first
watchman over the house special instructions to to despair
of Israel
announce
renewed
is
(vers. 2-9),
to the people,
under the burden of their
pleasure in the
imposed upon the
sins, that
who the
with
are inclined
Lord has no
death of the sinner, but will give
life to
him
The kernel and turns from his iniquity (vers. 10-20). word of God are found in the lamentation
who
central point of this
of the people
we
"
:
Our
transgressions
and
sins lie
upon
us,
and
away through them; how then can we live?" together with the reply given by the Lord By my
are pining
"
(ver. 10), life,
:
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked
ye, turn yourselves;
way
is
why do ye
prepared for this
out this promise of
by
God
wish to
die?"
further,
an antidote
.
turn
The
12-20 carry
and assign the reason for
The thoughts with which the promise
it.
.
(ver. 11).
vers. 2-9, whilst vers.
still
.
of the Lord, thus
and explained but of earlier are not new, however, words of God. repetitions
presented as
The
to despair, is introduced
29
is preparatory introduction in vers. essentially a return word in ch. iii. 17-21, with which the Lord closes the
to the
prophet s call by pointing out to him the duty and responsi And the reason assigned bility connected with his vocation. in vers. 12-20, together with the divine promise in ver. 11, is taken from ch.
where the prophet unfolds the working of the righteousness of God and more precisely from vers. 20-32 of that chapter, where the thought is more fully expanded, that xviii.,
;
the judgments of
EZEK.
II.
God
can be averted by repentance and con-
E
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
66
From
version.
all this it is
indisputably evident that the
first
section of this chapter contains an introduction to the second
half of the prophecies of Ezekiel ; and this also explains the remark absence of any date at the head of the section, or the "
fact that the date (vers. 21
able"
and 22) is not given till the stands between the first and
middle of the chapter, where it second of the words of God contained therein.
God
The word
of
23 sqq. was no doubt addressed to the prophet after the fugitive had arrived with the tidings of the fall of in vers.
Jerusalem
whereas the word by which the prophet was pre
;
pared for his further labours (vers. 1-20) preceded that event,
and coincided
in point of
time with the working of
God upon
the prophet on the evening preceding the arrival of the fugi tive, through which his mouth was opened for further speaking
22)
(ver.
because
and
;
it
it
placed before this historical statement
is
was a renewal of
his call.
1
Vers. 1-20. Calling of the Prophet for the Future.
The prophet s
Vers. 1-9.
word of Jehovah came
the
speak the
to the
the people
to
Ver.
.1.
And
Son of man,
When I bring land take a man
them.
of the
company and set him for a watchman, Ver. 3. And the sword come upon the land, and bloweth the trumpet,
and warneth
1
and say
2.
their
he seeth
blast
watchman.
me, saying, Ver.
sons of thy people,
sword upon a land, and
from
office of to
of
It is
the people;
the trumpet
Ver.
and not
incomprehensible
how
4.
If, then,
one should hear the
take warning, so that the
Kliefoth could find
"
sword
no sign of introduc
in this section, or could connect it with the preceding oracles against the foreign nations, for no other reason than to secure fourteen words of God for that portion of the book which contains the
tory
thoughts"
prophecies against the foreign nations.
arguments which he adduces assertion that
"
For there
is
no force
in the other
in support of this combination and the the section, ch. xxxiii. 1-20, speaks of threatenings and ;
warnings, and of the faithfulness with which Ezekiel is to utter them, and of the manner in which Israel is to receive them," simply shows that he has neither correctly nor perfectly understood the contents of this section
and
its
train of thought.
CHAP. XXXIII.
67
1-9.
should come and take him away, his blood would come upon his own head. Ver. 5. He heard the blast of the trumpet, and took not warning
come upon him
his blood will
;
:
whereas, if he had
taken warning, he would have delivered his soul. the
watchman
Ver.
6.
But
if
sword come, and bloiveth not the trumpet, not warned ; and the sword should come and
seeth the
and
the people is
take
away a
soul from them, he
taken
is
away through
his guilt ;
I demand from the watchman s hand. Ver. 7. of man, I have set thee for the watchman to the
but his blood will
Thou, then, son house of Israel
word from my mouth, and
thou shalt hear the
;
warn them for me. wilt die the death
Ver.
and thou
;
If I say
8.
to the sinner,
speakest not to
warn
Sinner, thou,
the sinner
from
for his iniquity, and his blood I will demand from thy hand. Ver. 9. But if thou hast warned the sinner from his way, to turn from it, and he does not turn his way, he, the sinner, will die
way, he will die for his iniquity ; but thou hast delivered Vers. 7-9, with the exception of slight deviations which have little influence upon the sense, are repeated verbatim
from
his
thy soul.
from ch.
iii.
The
17-19.
repetition of the duty binding
upon
the prophet, and of the responsibility connected therewith, introduced, however, life,
must
and made
in vers.
26,
is
by an example taken from one who heard the words
so plain that every
see that Ezekiel
was obliged
to call the attention of the
people to the judgment awaiting them, and to warn them of the threatening danger, and that this obligation rested upon him still. In this respect the expansion, which is wanting in ch. iii., serves to connect the following prophecies of Ezekiel with the threats of judgment contained in the first part. The As it is the duty of the meaning of it is the following :
appointed watchman of a land to announce to the people the approach of the enemy, and if he fail to do this he is deserving of death so Ezekiel also, as the watchman of Israel appointed ;
by God, not only ing judgment,
warned them of
is
in it,
bound
to
order to so that
warn the people of the approach
but has already whoever has not taken warning has fulfil
his duty,
68
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
been overtaken by the sword because of his sin. As, then, Ezekiel has only discharged his duty and obligation by so In doing, so has he the same duty still further to perform. ver. 2 pN is placed at the head in an absolute form ; and N OK
Ul
I bring the sword upon a stood with this restriction so that the \3
"
if
?
is
land,"
to
is
enemy
:
be under
on the way
"
and an attack may be expected" (Hitzig). Dn^yjpfy from the end of the people of the land, i.e. one taken from the whole
body of the people,
Gen.
as in
xlvii.
2 (see the
comm. on Gen.
a signal of alarm on the Blowing approach of an enemy (compare Amos iii. 6 ; Jer. iv. 5). in ver. 5b is a participle ; on the other hand, both before the trumpet
xix. 4).
is
"int?
and afterwards
it
is
perfect,
For
account of the tone. ch.
a
pointed
Kametz
with
on
7-9, see the exposition of
vers.
17-19.
iii.
Vers. 10-20.
who
to those
As watchman
over Israel, Ezekiel
to
is
announce
Lord God, from destruction those who turn from their sin,
are despairing of the inercy of
will preserve
that the
and lead them into
life. Ver. 10. Thou then, son of man, say house of Israel, Ye rightly say, Our transgressions and our
to the
us, and in them we vanish away ; how, then, can Ver. 11. Say to them, As truly as I live, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, 1 have no pleasure in the death of the sinner;
sins
we
lie
upon
live?
but when the sinner turneth ye, turn ye
The
him
in the
the righteous
his transgression,
and
from
righteous
man
sinneth.
Ver. 13. If I say to the righteous
and he
lias
slialt
done,
die,
will not deliver
his sin,
and
the
will not be able to live thereby in the day that he
relies
upon
his righteousness
righteousnesses will not be remembered ;
he
to
man
the sinner ivill not fall
through his sin in the day that he turneth
live,
house of the sons of thy
will ye die,
righteousness of
day of
Turn
his way, he shall live.
from your ways! for why Ver. 12. And thou, son of man, say
Israel? people,
from
evil
lie
will die.
Ver. 14. If
and he turns from
his sin,
I
and
man
that he shall
does wrong, all his
and for
his
wrong
say to the sinner,
and does justice and
that
Thou
righteous-
CHAP. XXXIII.
ness,
Ver. 15.
So
69
10-20.
that the wicked returns the pledge,
restores
what has been robbed, walks in the statutes of life wrong, he will live, not die. Ver. 16. All his sins which he has without doing
committed shall not be remembered against him; he lias done Ver. 17. And the sons of justice and righteousness, he will live. thy people say, their
way
from
is
The way of
the
Lord
is
not right
Ver. 18. If the righteous
not right.
and doeth wrong, he
his righteousness
Ver. 19. Bat if the wicked doeth right
and
yet ye say,
The way of
man
turneth
the
Lord
is
but they
man
shall die
from
not right.
turneth thereby
Ver. 20.
I will
;
and
his wickedness
righteousness, he will live thereby.
every one according
;
And
judge you
In vers. 1 house of Israel. ways, for the future is set before him, calling
to his
and 11 the prophet s inasmuch as God instructs him
to
announce
to those
who
are
on account of their sins the gracious will of the Lord. The threat contained in the law (Lev. xxvi. 39), *p\ of which Ezekiel had repeatedly reminded the people ? in despair
Dji>a
with warning, and, last of all, when predicting the conquest and destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans (compare ch. iv. 17 and xxiv. 23), had pressed heavily upon their heart,
when
the threatened judgment took place, so that they quote
the words, not
"
in
self-defence,"
as
Havernick erroneously Ezekiel is to meet
supposes, but in despair of any deliverance. this despair of little faith
by the announcement that the Lord
has no pleasure in the death of the sinner, but desires his con version and his life. Ezekiel had already set this word of grace before the people in ch. xviii. 23, 32, accompanied with the summons to salvation for them to lay to heart : there, it was
done to overthrow the delusion that the present generation had to atone for the sins of the fathers but here, to lift up the ;
hearts of those
reason xviii.
who were
despairing of salvation
;
and for
this
accompanied with the asseveration (wanting in ch. 23 and 32) as truly as I live, saith the Lord," and it is
"
:
with the urgent appeal to repent and turn. But in order to the abuse of this word of consolation it a preclude
by making
70
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ground of
false confidence in their
repeats in vers.
own
righteousness, Ezekiel
12-20 the principal thoughts contained
announcement
xviii.
first
of
in that in vers.
20-32) namely, all, (ch. 12-16, the thought that the righteousness of the righteous is of no avail to him if he gives himself up to the unrighteous ness,
and that the sinner
will not perish
on account of his
sin
he turns from his wickedness and strives after righteousness (na ttfy., ver. 12, as in Hos. v. 5, Jer. vi. 15 ; compare ch.
if
xviii.
24, 25,
and
xxi., xxii.
especially ch. xviii. 5
the reproof of those
1720, Lord (compare
;
and 7)
and for
who
vers.
14 and 15, more
and then, secondly, in
;
find fault with the
vers.
of the
way
ch. xviii. 25, 27, 29, 30).
Vers. 21 and 22. Tidings of the fall of Jerusalem, and the Ver. 21. And it consequences with regard to the prophet.
came of
pass in the twelfth year, in the tenth (month), on month after our being taken captive, there came
to
the
fugitive
And
from Jerusalem, and
said,
The
me a
Ver. 22.
city is smitten.
hand of Jehovah had come upon me in before the arrival of the fugitive, and He opened till he came to me in the morning ; and so icas the
the fifth to
the evening
my my
mouth,
mouth
In these verses the fulfil opened, and I was silent no more. ment of the promise made by God to the prophet in ch. xxiv. 25-27, after the prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem,
The chronological datum, as to the precise recorded. time at which the messenger arrived with the account of the destruction of Jerusalem, serves to mark with precision the
is
point of time at which the obstacle was removed, and the prophet was able to speak and prophesy without restraint. The fact
Jerusalem, which took month of the eleventh year, are said to have
that the tidings of the destruction of
place in the fifth only reached the exiles in the tenth
month
of the twelfth year,
that is to say, nearly a year and a half after it occurred, does not warrant our following the Syriac, as Doederlein and Hitzig have done, calling in question the correctness of the text and
substituting the eleventh year for the twelfth.
With
the dis-
CHAP. XXXIII.
71
21, 22.
tance at which Ezekiel was living, namely, in northern Meso potamia, and with the fearful confusion which followed the catastrophe, a year and a half might very easily pass by before a fugitive arrived with the information. But Hitzig s assertion,
that Ezekiel would contradict himself, inasmuch as, according to ch. xxvi. 1, 2,
eleventh year,
is
he received intelligence of the affair in the founded upon a misinterpretation of the pas
is not stated there that Ezekiel received this sage quoted. information through a fugitive or any man whatever, but simply that God had revealed to him the fall of Jerusalem
It
even before (ver.
it
21 andch.
occurred. xl. 1),
after our being led
^Tivjp,
coincides with r??
n
away
in ch.
i.
^?L>
2.
nnan, smitten, i.e. conquered and destroyed, exterminated. In nirp nn n is a pluperfect, and vS the clause Ti^ the verb stands for ^y, according to the later usage. The formula
w
s
indicates the translation of the prophet into (see the
comm. on
speak, that
is
ch.
i.
3), in
to say, the silence
an ecstatic state
mouth was opened to imposed upon him was taken
which
his
The words, a till he came to me in the morning," etc., away. are not to be understood as signifying that the prophet s mouth had only been opened for the time from evening till morning for this would be opposed to the following sentence. They ;
simply affirm that the opening of the mouth took place before the arrival of the fugitive, the night before the morning of his S S which follows, is an arrival. in !??!l,
emphatic repetition,
nj<
troduced as a link with which to connect the practically impor tant statement that from that time forward he was not speechless It was in all probability shortly afterwards that any more. Ezekiel was inspired with the word of God which follows in vers. 23-33, as we may infer from the contents of the word itself,
which
laid the
foundation for the prophet
s
further pro
But nothing can be gathered from ver. 22 with phesying. regard to the time when this and the following words of God (as far as ch. xxxix.), of
which no chronological data are given, His
were communicated to the prophet and uttered by him.
72
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
u by no means involves immediate or being silent no more continuous speaking, but simply recalls the command to be "
There
no ground for the assumption that all these words of God were communicated to him in one night speechless.
is
(Havernick, Hengstenberg, and others), either in ver. 22 or in the contents of these divine revelations.
Vers. 23-33, Preaching of Repentance after
ilie
Fall of
Jerusalem.
The
first
word
God, which Ezekiel received
of
after the
arrival of the fugitive with the intelligence of the destruction
was not of a consolatory, but of a rebuking
of Jerusalem,
nature, and directed against those who, while boasting in an impenitent state of mind of the promise given to the patriarchs
of the everlasting possession of the
they could
still
Holy Land, fancied
that
remain in possession of the promised land even of Jerusalem and of the kingdom of
after the destruction
Judah.
This delusion the prophet overthrows by the announce ment that the unrighteous are to have no share in the posses sion of the land of Israel, but are to perish miserably,
the land
is
to
and that
be utterly waste and without inhabitants
The Lord then shows him
(vers.
that his countrymen will
23-29). indeed come to him and listen to his words, but will only do that which is pleasant to themselves ; that they will still seek after gain,
and not do
his
after his words have been
words; and that fulfilled that
it
will not
be
till
they will come to the
knowledge of the fact that he really was a prophet (vers. 30-33). perceive from these last verses that the threat uttered in
We
24-29 was
to
form the
basis for Ezekiel s further pro
phecies, so that the
whole of
this
vers.
force of an introduction
word of God has only the But however
to his further labours.
the two halves of this word of
God may
appear to
differ, so far
as their contents are concerned, they are nevertheless closely
connected.
The
state of heart
disclosed in the first half, with
reference to the judgment that has already fallen upon the
73
CHAP. XXXIII. 23-29.
land and kingdom, is to preclude the illusion, that the fact of the people s coming to the prophet to hear his words is a sign
hand
of penitential humiliation under the punishing
and
to bring out the truth, that the salvation
to foretell to the people
is
God,
is
about
only to be enjoyed by those
turn with sincerity to the Lord. Vers. 23-29. False reliance upon
And
of
which he
word of Jehovah came
God s
promises.
who
Ver. 23.
me, saying, Ver. 24. Son of man, the inhabitants of these ruins in the land of Israel speak thus : A braham was one, and received the land for a possession ; but
the
we are many,
the
Ver. 25. Therefore say
Ye
eat
upon
the blood,
land to
is
lift
us for a possession.
to
given
them,
and
to
Thus
Lord Jehovah,
saith the
up your
your idols, and Ver. 26. Ye rely
eyes to
shed blood, and would ye possess the land?
upon your sword, do abomination, and one defileth another s wife, and would ye possess the land? Ver. 27. Speak thus to them, Thus
saith the
Lord Jehovah, By my
and whoever
ruins shall fall by the sword,
him do 1
give to the beasts to devour,
fortresses
and
make
life,
and
those is
those
caves shall die of the pestilence.
the land devastation
and
and
who are
in the
in the open field
who are
Ver. 28.
in the
And I
proud might shall have an end, and the mountains of Israel shall be waste, so that no one passeth through. Ver. 29. And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I make the land devastation and waste because of
all the
its
abominations which they have done.
directed against the people
Judah
waste,
who remained behind
after the destruction of Jerusalem,
Israelites
This threat
who dwelt amidst
in the
is
land of
nininn *zw are the
the ruins of the
Holy Land, the remnant of the people left behind in the land. For it is so evident as to need no proof that Kliefoth is wrong in asserting that by Hfcnnn
we
are to understand the district bordering
on
the Chaboras, which was not properly cultivated ; and by the inhabitants thereof, the exiles who surrounded Ezekiel. It is
only by confounding aside the
"iK
more precise
and
"5n
that Kliefoth
is
able to set
definition of the inhabitants of these
74
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ruins contained in the words SaNf* n*iK
IK
with 0*188,
^, and
to connect
they speak concerning the land of Israel;" and in ver. 27 it is only in a forced manner that he can generalize nlannn^ and take it as referring to the waste to*
?]}
places both in the
moreover, that
fact,
Chaboras, to in vers. this
"
Holy Land and on the Chaboras. The vers. 30-33 treat of the Israelites by the
no proof whatever that they must also be referred 24-29. For the relation in which the two halves of
is
word of God stand
to
one another
not that
is
"
vers.
30-33
depict the impression made upon the hearers by the words the persons alluded to in contained in vers. 24-29," so that "
vers.
30-33 must
Yers. 30-33
necessarily be the hearers of vers.
treat in quite a general
manner
24-29."
of the attitude
which the prophet s countrymen would assume towards that is to say, not merely to his threats, but also to words predictions of salvation
had a pleasant sound It
(vers. 31, 32).
;
to
is
his his
they would only attend to that which them, but they would not do his words
quite in
harmony with
this, that in vers.
23-29 these people should be told of the state of heart of those who had remained behind on the ruins of the Holy Land, and that it should be announced to them that the fixed belief in the permanent possession of the Holy Land, on which those who remained behind in the land relied, was a delusion, and that those
who were
victims of this delusion should be destroyed by
sword and pestilence. Ezekiel
uttered
the
Just as in the
first
part of this book
threatened
prophecies concerning the in the presence of his the and addressed them to these, Chaboras, countrymen by because they stood in the same internal relation to the Lord as
destruction of Jerusalem and
their brethren in
up
Judah
Jerusalem and Judah
this delusion before
them
;
so here does
he hold
as a warning, in order that he
them the worthlessness of such vain hope, and preach repentance and conversion as the only way to life. The meaning of the words spoken by these people, Abraham was one," etc., is, that if Abraham, as one solitary individual,
may
disclose to
"
CHAP. XXXIII. 23-2D. received the land of
Canaan
for a possession by the promise of could not take this possession away from sons of Abraham. The antithesis of the
God
God, the same
them, the many one and the many "
"
75
"
derived
"
significance, in relation to
its
from the descent of the many from the one, taken for granted, and also from the fact, which is
their argument,
which
is
assumed
to
be well
known from
the book of Genesis, that the
land was not promised and given to the patriarch for his own possession, but for his seed or descendants to possess. They
Jews
relied, like the
of the time of Christ (John
viii.
33, 39),
from Abraham (compare the similar Ezekiel, on the other hand, simply
their corporeal descent
upon words
in
ch. xi.
15).
reminds them of their own sinful conduct purpose of
loss of this possession.
in
which the blood
from
(vers. 25, 26), for the
showing them that they have thereby incurred the
blood, as in
is
Eating upon the blood, is eating flesh lying, which has not been cleansed
still
Lev.
xix.
26 and
1
Sam.
xiv. 32,
33; an act
the prohibition of which was first addressed to Noah (Gen. and is repeatedly urged in the law (cf. Lev. vii. 26, 27).
ix. 4),
This
with the prohibition of idolatry, lifting up the eyes to idols (cf. ch. xviii. 6), and the shedding of blood (cf.
is
also the case
ch. xviii. 10, xxii. 3, etc.).
i:nn
nny, to support oneself, or used as in ch. xxxi. 14) upon the sword, i.e. to rely pBtf, put confidence in violence and bloodshed. In this connection we $>y
are not to think cf the use of the sword in war.
To work
abomination, as in ch.
xviii. 12. JJVb jJ is not a feminine, "ye written in the place of D on account of the n which follows, after the analogy of jina for Di^a On (Hitzig). the defiling of a neighbour s wife, see the comm. on ch. xviii. 6.
women,"
but
]
Such daring might
be.
xiv. 21).
the word
In
is
sinners the ver.
Those
Lord would destroy wherever they
37 the punishment
in the rrirnn shall fall
is
individualized (cf. ch.
by the Tin (the play upon
is those in the open country shall perish very obvious) wild beasts 2 by (compare Kings xvii. 25; Ex. xxiii. 19; Lev. xxvi. 22) ; those who are in mountain fastnesses and ;
caves,
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
76
where they are safe from the sword and ravenous beasts, shall This threat is not to be perish by plague and pestilence. restricted to the acts of the
Chaldeans
in the land after the
destruction of Jerusalem, but applies to
Even
succeeding times. the devastation and utter depopulation of the land, all
threatened in ver. 28, are not to be taken as referring merely to the time of the Babylonian captivity, but embrace the devastation which accompanied and followed the destruction of For TO jitfa, see the comm. on ch. Jerusalem by the Romans. vii.
For
24.
ver. 29,
compare
ch. vi. 14.
Yers. 30-33. Behaviour of the people towards the prophet.
Ver. 30.
And
thou, son
of man, the sons of thy people converse
about thee by the walls and in the house-doors; one talketh to another, every one to his brother, saying. Come and let us hear
Ver. 31. what kind of word goeth out from Jehovah. will come to thee, like an assembly of the people, and
my people, and
thee as
that
which
is
And sit
they
before
will hear thy words, but not do them
;
but
pleasant in their mouth they do ; their heart goeth Ver. 32. And, behold, thou art unto them like
after their gain.
a pleasant singer, beautiful in voice and playing well; they ivill Ver. 33. But when hear thy words, but they will not do them. it
cometh
the midst
which
is
behold,
it
cometh
they
ivill
their
a prophet was in
first
substance
and stands
in obvious
con
the prophet on the given call (ch. iii. 16 sqq.), and repeated, so far is concerned, in vers. 7-9, as Kliefoth
with the instructions
occasion of his as
that
of them. This addition to the preceding word of God, addressed to Ezekiel personally, applies to the whole
of the second half of his ministry,
nection
know
to
acknowledges, in opposition to his assumption that vers. 120 of this chapter belong to the prophecies directed himself
As God had directed the prophet s against the foreign nations. his of the occasion on call, to the difficulties connected attention, with the discharge of the duties of a watchman with which he was entrusted, by setting before him the object and the respon sibility of his vocation,
and had warned him not
to allow himself
CHAP. XXXIII.
77
30-33.
be turned aside by the opposition of the people so here in 3033, at the commencement of the second section of his
to
;
vers.
addressed to him personally, in order not be influenced in the further prosecution of his
word
ministry, another
that he
may
calling
by
is
men.
either the pleasure or displeasure of
His
former utterances had already induced the elders of the people to come to him to hear the word of God xiv. 1 and (cf. ch. xx.
But now that
1).
had been
his prophecies concerning Jerusalem the exiles could not fail to be still more fulfilled,
attentive to his words, so that they talked of
him both
secretly
and openly, and encouraged one another
come and
listen to
God
discourses.
his
him
at the
foretells
same time that
to
but announces to
this to him,
this disposition
on the part of
his
even now no sign of genuine countrymen conversion to the word of God, in order that he may not be mistaken in his expectations concerning the people. Kliefoth to listen to
him
is
has thus correctly explained the contents, design, and connec tion of these verses as a whole. In ver. 30 the article before the participle W}21) takes the place of the relative N, and the words are in apposition to Tjoy ^.3, the sons of thy people who converse about thee. *O*]J is reciprocal, as in Mai. iii. 13, 16, ">
and Ps.
cxix. 23.
But 1
is
to
of concerning, like 3 3 ! in Num. xxi. to
"Di
be understood, not in a hostile
from the Psalms, but
sense, as in the passage cited
in 1
Sam.
xix.
3 as contrasted with
1
"ft
7,
continued by the
is
^py
s
follows, in the
p_3
There
speak against a person.
finite
^^1
"13*11,
of ver.
in the sense
The
participle
and the verb belonging to 31, in the form of an apodosis.
something monstrous in Hitzig s assumption, that the whole passage from ver. 30 to ver. 33 forms but one clause, is
and that the predicate ver. 33.
to
*Jy
\)3
does not occur
by the side of the walls,
till
the
WT1
of
&K, sitting against the walls, equivalent to secretly ; and in the doors of the houses, in other words publicly, one neighbour conversing with another. "in
?
rtiTjpn
Aramean
for
in, and WX by
i.e.
the side of inN, every one
not merely one here or there, but every
man
to his
;
neighbour.
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
78
BS,
men
my
lit.
as the
people,
i.e.
crowds or troops.
as if they wished, like
i.e.
people,
word from
as
W
my
when a crowd
But they do not think of doing thy words, i.e. E announce to them as my word. are things
W
which one cherishes an eager
their
of
a predicate, as people, to hear my is
thee.
what thou dost for
coming of a
flock together in
i.e.
pleasant things in
desire,
according to their taste (cf.
mouth, Havernick is wrong in taking
D^W
to
mean
Gen. xxv. 28).
The
love.
illicit
such a meaning. The quite inapplicable do it with their mouth, is rendering, they opposed both to the construction and the sense. their gain, the source from
word Dn^aa
to
is
&?>"?,
In
which they promise themselves advantage or gain. a clearer explanation
is
given of the reason
ver. 32
why they come
to
the prophet, notwithstanding the fact that they do not wish to Thou art to them this cannot do his words.
DW
mean
like a pleasant song, but, as JM
well)
clearly
(Hitzig).
;"
The shows, like a singer of pleasant songs. a singer, a man of song In ver. 32 b, "they hear thy words, but do them
W
abstract
TB>3
2DD (one who can play
stands for the concrete
"1K>,
repeated with emphasis, for the purpose of attaching But when it cometh, namely, what thou the threat in ver. 33. not,"
is
sayest, or prophesiest,
behold,
it
cometh,
i.e.
it
will
come
surely as thy prophecies concerning the destruction of
salem
;
ch. (cf.
them.
which
then will they know that a prophet was among them ii. 5), that is to say, that he proclaimed God s word to Therefore Ezekiel is not to be prevented, by the misuse
will
be made of
his words,
This conclusion of the ch.
ii.
as
Jeru
5, also
shows that
follow. phecies which
word it
of
from preaching the truth. God, which points back
forms the introduction
to the
to
pro
79
CHAP. XXXIV.-XXXIX.
CHAP.
XXXIV.-XXXIX. THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL, AND DESTRUCTION OF GOG AND MAGOG.
The promise of the salvation, which is to blossom for the covenant nation after the judgment, commences with the announcement that the Lord will deliver Israel out of the hand
of
its
who only
evil shepherds,
feed themselves and de
stroy the flock, and will take care of His own flock, gather them together, feed and tend them on a good meadow, protect the weak sheep against the strong, and through His servant
David bring
security
and blessing
to the
whole of the flock
This comprehensive promise
(ch. xxxiv.).
is
carried out
still
Because further in the following chapters in various phases. Edom cherishes perpetual enmity against the sons of Israel,
and has sought to take possession of their land, in which Jehovah was, the mountains of Seir shall become a perpetual desert (ch. xxxv.) rebuilt,
and sown once more, bear
and beast holy
whereas the devastated land of Israel
;
name s
fruit,
and be
The Lord
(ch. xxxvi. 1-15).
sake, will cleanse
will
His people from
be
with
man
this for
His
filled
do
shall
their sins,
when
gathered out of the nations, by sprinkling them with pure water, and renew them by His Spirit in heart and mind, that
His commandments, and multiply greatly in their land, when it has been glorified into a garden of God The house of Israel, which has been slain (ch. xxxvi. 16-38).
they
may walk
in
with the sword, and has become like a the dead, the
Lord
will
awaken
to
new
and kingdom,
will liberate
He
dry bones of
and bring in peace 1-14) the two divided
into the land of Israel (ch. xxxvii.
peoples and kingdoms of Israel
field full of life,
;
will unite into
them from
one people
their sins, cause
them
to
dwell in the land given to His servant Jacob under the sove reignty of His servant David, will make with them a covenant of peace for ever, and dwell above in the sanctuary,
which
(ch. xxxvii. 15-28).
He
And,
them
as their
will establish in the finally, in
God
for ever
midst of them
the last time,
when
Israel
80 is
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
dwelling in
own land
its
in security
and peace, the Lord
will
bring Gog from the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, with a powerful army of numerous peoples, into the land that has been restored
from the sword
;
when he has come to plunder and prey, the Lord will destroy him with all his army, and by this judgment display
but
His glory among the nations, and so have compassion upon the whole house of Israel, and because He has poured out His Spirit
upon
it,
xxxix.).
of
God
will hide
From
it
this general
no more it
is
(ch. xxxviii.
and
evident that the words
survey contained in ch. xxxiv.-xxxvii. announce the restoration
and exaltation of ch. xxxviii. tion,
His face from
Israel to be the sanctified people of
and xxxix. the lasting establishment of
God, and this salva
through the extermination of those enemies who
rise
up
against the restored people of God.
CHAP. XXXIV. DEPOSITION OF THE BAD SHEPHERDS; COL LECTING AND TENDING OF THE FLOCK; AND APPOINT
MENT OF THE ONE GOOD SHEPHERD. The
shepherds, who have fed themselves and neglected the it has been scattered and has become a prey to
flock, so that
Lord
of their office of
will take
charge of His own
wild beasts, will be deprived by the
shepherd (vers. 110).
And He
together from
dispersion in the lands, feed gather and tend it on good pasture in the land of Israel, and sift it by the extermination of the fat and violent ones (vers. 11-22). He it
flock,
its
His servant David shepherd over His flock, make a covenant of peace with His people, and bless the land with
will appoint
dwell there in security, and no be carried off either as booty for the nations or by famine,
fruitfulness, so that Israel
more
may
and may acknowledge Jehovah as its God (vers. 23-31). This word of God is a repetition and further expansion of The threat the short prophecy of Jeremiah in Jer. xxiii. 1-8. against the bad shepherds simply forms the foil for the promise.
81
CIUP. xxxiv.
the flock, which has been plunged into misery by bad the Lord and His shepherds, shall be gathered and tended by servant David, whom Jehovah will appoint prince over His that
people, so that
it
is
essentially a
prophecy of salvation for
The question in dispute among the commentators, whether we are to understand by the shepherds, out of whose hand and tyranny the Lord will rescue Israel His flock, the Israel.
and kings (Ephr., Syr., and Theodoret), or the false prophets and false teachers of the people (Glass and others), or priests
simply the kings (Hengst., Hav., and others), or
by reason of their priests,
arid
office, "
prophets,
all those who, were leaders of the people, rulers, the whole body of official persons
charged with the direction of the nation
"
(Kliefoth),
may be
by the simple conclusion, that only the rulers of the This is proved not only by the biblical nation are intended.
settled
idea of the shepherd generally, which (probably in distinction
from the idea of the bell-wether) is everywhere employed to denote rulers alone, but more particularly by the primary passage already referred to (Jer. xxiii. 1-8), where we are to understand by the shepherds, kings and princes, to the exclu
and prophets, against whom Jeremiah first prophesies from ver. 9 onwards ; and, lastly, by the antithesis sion
of
priests
good shepherd, David, who Jehovah as prince (N^J), and not as to the
is
to
feed the flock of
priest or
prophet (vers.
Only we must not take the term rulers as applying to the kings alone, but must understand thereby all the persons 23, 24).
entrusted with the government of the nation, or the whole body of the civil authorities of Israel, among whom priests and
prophets come into consideration, not on account of their spiritual calling and rank, but only so far as they held magis
And apart from other grounds, we are not offices. warranted in restricting the idea of shepherds to the kings alone; for the simple reason that our prophecy, which dates from the time succeeding the destruction of Jerusalem, does
terial
not apply to the former rulers only,
KZEK.
II.
i.e.
the kings
who had F
82
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
fallen along with the
kingdom of Judah, but although treating
who had
scattered Israel shepherds, of these shepherds is assumes that the rule
of
among still
the nations,
continuing, and
announces their removal, or the deliverance of the flock out of their hand, as something to be effected in the future (cf. vers.
who governed after the and even monarchy, of the the until the Messiah, coming captivity promised Prince of David.
8-10)
so that
;
it
also refers to the civil rulers
Israel after the overthrow of the
Woe
Vers. 1-10.
bad shepherds.
to the
word of Jehovah came
to
Ver.
1.
And
the
me, saying, Ver. 2. Son of man, pro
phesy
concerning the shepherds
them,
to the shepherds,
Thus
of Israel ; prophesy, and say
saith the
Lord Jehovah, Woe
to
to the
shepherds of Israel, who fed themselves ; should not the shepherds feed the flock ? Ver. 3. Ye eat the fat, and clothe yourselves with the
wool
;
The weak
ye slay the fattened ; the flock ye do not feed. Ver. 4. ones ye do not strengthen, and that which is sick ye do
wounded one ye bind not up, the scattered ye bring not back, and the lost one ye do not seek ; and ye rule over them with violence and with severity. Ver. 5. Therefore they were
not cure, the
scattered,
because without
the beasts
the field,
of
shepherd,
and were
and became food
scattered.
Ver.
to
My
6.
sheep
and
ivander about on all the mountains, and on every high hill ; over all the land have
who
asks for them,
my sheep
been scattered, and there
and no one who
fore, ye shepherds, hear ye the
seeks them.
Ver.
word of Jehovah : Ver.
no one
is
7.
all
There 8.
As I
of the Lord Jehovah, because my sheep become my sheep become food to all the beasts of the field, because there is no shepherd, and my shepherds do not inquire after live, is
the saying
a prey, and
my
sheep,
and
sheep, Ver.
Jehovah,
feed themselves, but do not feed the Therefore, ye shepherds, hear ye the word of
the shepherds
9.
Ver. 10.
Thus
saith
will deal with the shepherds, their hand,
may feed
and cause them
themselves no
the
and
Lord Jehovah, Behold, I demand my sheep from
will
to cease to
more ; and
I
feed
my
will deliver
flock,
my
that they
sheep
from
CHAP. XXXIV.
83
1-10.
may be food to them no more. In an explanatory apposition to B^ ?^, and is not
mouth, that they
their
ver. 2
1
D^T*
is
taken in connection with
"V3K
use of this formula, as Kliefoth maintains.
woe pronounced
is
be
to
nb^ in opposition to the constant
"
given in the apposition,
The reason for the who fed themselves,
whereas they ought to have fed the flock and the charge that they only care for themselves is still further explained by a de ;
scription of their conduct (vers. 3
and
4),
and of the dispersion Observe the
of the flock occasioned thereby (vers. 5 and 6). periphrastic preterite
that the
woe had
rulers of the nation.
124. 16).
D^ l
vn, they were feeding, which shows
relation chiefly to the Dflix
is
reflective,
former shepherds or se
ipsos (cf.
Gesen
The
disgracefulness of their feeding themselves is out the brought by Ought not the shepherds to feed question, "
the flock
how
Ver. 3 shows
"
1
how they
they neglected the flock.
Hitzig
fed themselves, and ver. 4 J?n the fat, which Bochart and 9
propose to alter into 27nn, the milk, after the
Septuagint not open to any objection. The fat, as the best portion of the flesh, which was laid upon the altar, for example, in the case of the sacrifices, as being the flower of all
and Vulgate,
the flesh,
is
is
mentioned here as pars melior pro
toto.
Havernick
has very properly pointed, in vindication of the reading in the text, to Zech. xi. 16, where the two clauses, ye eat the fat, and slay the fattened,
are joined together in the one clause,
flesh of the fattened
one
will
he
There
eat."
objection raised by Hitzig, that
is
no force
"
the
in the
the slaughtering of the fat beasts, which ought to be mentioned first, is not introduced till afterwards;"
"
for this clause contains a heightening of the
thought that they use the flock to feed themselves even
and
kill it
:
they do not
the leaner beasts, but those that are well fattened
;
follows very suitably after the general statement, that
they make use of both the flesh and the wool of the sheep for their own advantage. They care nothing for the wellbeing of the flock
:
this is stated in the last
explained in detail in ver. 4.
clause of ver. 3, which
rribn: is
is
the Niplial participle of
84
!"^n,
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. and
is
a contracted form of
like
n?m
in Isa. xvii. 11.
is
determined by
Hw?j>,
The
distinction
between ni?m
and
"6in
the respective predicates Pjn and NH. According to these, fijna signifies that which is weak in consequence of sickness, and r6h that which is weak in itself, J"n?BO, literally, that
broken, an animal with a leg or some other member In the last clause rrjJ, scattered, as in Deut. xxii. 1. injured, of ver. 4, the neglect of the flock is summed up in the posi
which
is
tive expression, to rule over fitt rnn
is
them with violence and
taken from Lev. xxv. 43, 46
points back to Ex.
;
severity.
but there as well as
where TflM is applied to the tyrannical measures adopted by Pharaoh for the oppression of here
it
the Israelites.
i.
The result of
13, 14,
this (vers. 5, 6) was, that the
sheep
were scattered, and became food to the beasts of prey. ^3p njn, on account of there not being a shepherd, i.e. because there was no shepherd worthy of the name. This took place when Israel
was carried away
the heathen nations.
into exile,
When we
where
find this
it became a prey to mournful fate of the
people described as brought about by the bad shepherds, and attributable to faults of theirs, we must not regard the words as
applying merely to the mistaken policy of the kings with regard to external affairs (Hitzig) ; for this was in itself simply a con
sequence of their neglect of their theocratic calling, and of their falling
away from the Lord
into idolatry.
It is true that the
people had also made themselves guilty of this sin, so that it was obliged to atone not only for the sins of its shepherds, but for its own sin also ; but this is passed by here, in accordance with the design of this prophecy. And it could very properly be kept out of sight, inasmuch as the rulers had also occasioned
the idolatry of the people, partly by their neglect of their duty,
and partly by
their
bad example, nrasni is repeated with and the thought is still further The wandering upon all the mountains
emphasis at the close of ver. 5 in ver. 6.
;
expanded and hills must not be understood
as signifying the straying of
the people to the worship on high places, as Theodoret and
CHAP, xxxiv.
85
1-10.
Kliefoth suppose. The fallacy of this explanation is clearly shown by the passage on which this figurative description rests
where the people are represented as scat mountains in consequence of the fall of the the upon The words king in battle, like a flock that had no shepherd. in the next clause, corresponding to the mountains and hills, (1
Kings
xxii. 17),
tered
are
pn
the whole face of the land, not
^S"^3,
For although the
(Kliefoth).
"
of the earth
"
dispersion of the flock actually
the
carrying away of the people into heathen actual the lands, meaning of the figure is kept in the back ground here, as is evident from the fact that Ezekiel constantly in
consisted
uses the expression fl^n^n (plural) when speaking of the dis The distinction persion among the heathen (cf. ver. 13).
between
En*
5
}
and P j52l
is,
that &rn signifies rather to ask, inquire
for a thing, to trouble oneself about
seek for that which has strayed or punishment for their unfaithfulness
it,
whereas K p2 means to In vers. 7-10, the
is lost.
is announced to the shep but the at same ; time, as is constantly the case with Ezekiel, their guilt is once more recapitulated as an
herds themselves
explanation of the threatening of punishment, and the earnest
appeal to listen
The Lord will demand repeated in ver. 9. and because ; sheep have been lost through will depose them from the office of shepherd,
is
His sheep of them their fault,
and
He
from
so deliver the poor flock
their violence.
If
we com
Behold, I will visit upon you the pare with this Jer xxiii. 2 : wickedness of your doings," the threat in Ezekiel has a much "
milder sound.
There
nothing said about the punishment of
is
the shepherd, but simply that the task of keeping the sheep shall be taken from them, so that they shall feed themselves no
more.
This distinction
our prophecy, which
is
is
to
not so
be explained from the design of
much
to foretell the
punishment of
the shepherds, as the deliverance from destruction of the sheep that have been plunged into misery. The repetition of ^tf,
my
flock (vers. 8
with
this.
The
and 10,
as before in ver. 6),
rescue of the sheep out of the
is
also
connected
hand of the bad
86
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
shepherds had already commenced with the overthrow of the monarchy on the destruction of Jerusalem. If, then, it is here described as only to take place in the future, justice is not done to these words by explaining them, as Hitzig does, as signifying that what has already actually taken place is now to
be made
final,
and not
For although
to be reversed.
this
is
implied, the words clearly affirm that the deliverance of the sheep out of the hand of the shepherds has not yet taken place,
remains to be effected, so that the people are regarded as being at the time in the power of bad shepherds, and their
but
still
rescue
is
predicted as
How
in the future.
still
and when
it
will
be accomplished, by the removal of the bad shepherds, is shown in the announcement, commencing with ver. 11, of what the
Lord
will
do for His
flock.
Vers. 11-22. Jehovah Himself will seek His flock, gather it together from the dispersion, lead it to good pasture, and sift
by the destruction of the bad sheep. saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I myself, I
Ver. 11. For thus
it
and
will inquire after
my
As
a shepherd taketh flock, his in is in the when the midst of his he day charge of flock scattered sheep, so will I take charge of my flock, and deliver them take charge thereof.
Yer. 12.
out of all the places whither they have been scattered in the day
of cloud and cloudy night.
from
Ver. 13.
And I will
bring them out
and gather them together out of the lands, and their land, and feed them upon the mountains of
the nations,
bring them into
Israel, in the valleys,
Ver. 14.
/
will feed
and
in all the dwelling-places of them in a good pasture, and on
mountains of Israel will their pasture-ground be
:
the land. the high
there shall they
good pasture-ground, and have fat pasture on the mountains of Israel. Ver. 15. / will feed my flock, and I will lie
down
in a
them to lie down, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Ver. 16. That which is lost will I seek, and that which is driven cause
away will I bring back and that which is sick and strong
will
I
;
that which is ivounded will
will 1 strengthen
destroy,
:
I
bind up, but that which is fat
and feed them according
to justice.
CHAP. XXXIV.
And
Ver. 17. Behold,
you,
I will judge
my
thus
sheep,
87
11-22.
Lord Jehovah,
the
saitli
between sheep and sheep, and the rams and
Ver. 18. Is
it too little for you, that ye eat up the remains what and of your pasture ye tread down good pasture, ivith your feet ? and the clear water ye drink, and render muddy
the he-goats.
ivhat remains with
have for food
that
drink that which
is
fore thus saith the
your feet? Ver. 19. And are which is trodden down by your
shoulder,
and
driven them out
;
tjirust all
Ver. 22.
no more become a prey
feet,
and
to
;
Ver. 21. Because ye press with side the weak ivith your horns, till ye have
/ will
and
help
sheep, so that they shall
my
words D
obvious antithesis to
W
and
will judge between sheep
All that the Lord will do for His flock ver. 11, in the
sheep to
made muddy by your feet ? Ver. 20. There Lord Jehovah to them, Behold I, I will judge
between fat sheep and lean.
and
my
TOM
^tfe-JlK
w hj c h
wH^
BhVn p&O in ver. 6,
an
sheep.
summed up
is
in
stand in
antithesis sharply
accentuated by the emphatic OT, which stands at the head The fuller explanation is given in the in an absolute form. Observe here that verses which follow, from ver. 12 onwards. "OK
"ij53
is
substituted for
P
jpsi.
"[?2,
involves the idea of taking
to seek
and examine minutely,
What
affectionate charge.
Lord does
12a
the
for His people is compared which a shepherd who deserves the name manifests towards in ver.
to the care
sheep when they are scattered (rrtB^B? without the article is connected with iJN in the form of apposition) ; and in ver. I2b still
it is
more
particularly explained.
them from
In the
first
place,
He
the places to which they have been JfH T scattered. implies that in their dispersion they have fallen into a state of oppression and bondage among the nations (cf.
will gather
Ex.
vi. 6).
?"$!
IJV
Q
all
^? belongs
to the relative clause
:
whither
they have been scattered. The circumstance that these words are taken from Joel ii. 2 does not compel us to take them in connection with the principal clause, as Hitzig and Kliefoth propose, and to understand them as relating to the time when
God
will
hold His judgment of the heathen world.
The
88
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
notion that the words in Joel signify God s day of judgment upon all the heathen (Kliefoth), is quite erroneous ; and even "
"
Hitzig does not derive this meaning from Joel ii. 2, but from the combination of our verse with Ezek. xxx. 3 and xxix. 21.
The
deliverance of the sheep out of the places to which they have been scattered, consists in the gathering together of Israel out of the nations, and their restoration to their own land, and
upon the mountains and all the dwelling-places of the land (3&tet a place suitable for settlement), and that in good and fat pasture (ver. 14) ; and lastly, in the fact that Jehovah their feeding
bestows the necessary care upon the sheep, strengthens and heals the weak and sick (vers. 15 and 16), that is to say, does
what the bad shepherds have omitted (ver. 4), and the fat and In this last clause another side destroys strong.
just
is
shown of the
pastoral fidelity of Jehovah.
and Vulg.
the
changed by LXX., Syr., and Luther has followed them in over
them."
But
this
is
TJp^ tf has been
into
his rendering,
"
I will watch
evidently a mistake, as
it
fails to
harmonize with BQtppn najp.K. The fat and strong sheep are characterized in vers. 18 and 19 as those which spoil the food
and water of the
others.
The
allusion, therefore, is to the rich
and strong ones of the nation, who oppress the humble and The destruction of these poor, and treat them with severity. oppressors shows that the loving care of the Lord is associated with righteousness that He feeds the flock BBKto. This
thought is carried out still further in vers. 1721, the sheep themselves being directly addressed, and the Lord assuring them that He will judge between sheep and sheep, and put an
end
to the oppressive conduct of the fat sheep
nb?
ns?
and the strong.
fl Bv between the one sheep and the other. is extended in the apposition, the rams and he-goats," which
pa
:
"
must not be rendered,
with regard to the rams and he-goats," as it has been by Kliefoth. The thought is not that Jehovah will divide the rams and he-goats from the sheep, as some have explained
it,
"
from an inappropriate comparison with Matt.
CHAP, xxxiv.
xxv. 32; but the division
is
89
23-ci.
be effected in such a manner
to
that sheep will be separated from sheep, the fat sheep being placed on one side with tht3 rams and he-goats, and kept apart
from the lean (nn, It
is
ver. 20)
and the
sickly sheep
(flftro,
the last-named sheep, rams, and he-goats that
to
With regard
and 19 are addressed.
to the
ver. 21).
18
vers.
charge brought
against them, that they eat
up the pasture and tread down the
remainder with their feet,
etc.,
observed, that
"
the words are not quite applicable to actual perfectly appropriate to the mystical sheep
if
sheep, they are
intended here,
Bochart has already correctly
i.e.
to the Israelites,
among whom many
of the
enjoying an abundant harvest and vintage, grudged the poor their gleaning in either one or the other." Vi^b, a
rich, after
substantive formation, like water,
i.e.
Dip"io,
literally, precipitation
the water purified by precipitation
;
of the
for y\)W, to sink,
the opposite of toi, to stir up or render muddy by treading with the feet (compare ch. xxxii. 14 and 2). PP-O, ver. 20
is
=
nK"ia
Ver. 22 brings to a close the description of the God will deliver His flock, and feed it with
or njna.
manner
in
which
points back to Wfffl in ver. 12,
Ti^im
righteousness.
and
BBf:i najnx in ver. 16. To this there is appended in vers. 23 sqq. a new train of thought, describing how God nBsrcn to
His people His pastoral fidelity. Vers. 23-31. Appointment of David as shepherd, and bless Ver. 23. And I will raise up one shepherd ing of the people. will still further display to
over them,
them,
who
and he
servant
David ; he
will be to them a shepherd.
Ver. 24.
Jehovah, will be midst of them
:
shall feed them,
God I,
to
my
them, and
my
servant
Jehovah, have spoken
make a covenant of peace
ivith them,
it.
will feed
And
David prince Ver. 25.
and destroy
And I will
the evil beasts
out of the land, so that they will dwell safely in the desert steep in the forests.
places round
Ver. 26.
And I
will
I,
in the
make them and
and the
a blessing, and cause the rain to fall in its my season: showers of blessing shall there be. Ver. 27. The tree of the field will (jive its fruit, and the land ivill give its produce, and hill
SO
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. will be safe in their land,
tJiey
when I break
and
know
will
their yoke-bars in pieces,
and
I am
that
Jehovah, them out of
deliver
hand of those who made them servants. Ver. 28. They will more a prey to the nations, and the wild beasts will not devour them ; but they will dwell safely, and no one will terrify the
be no
And I
Ver. 29.
them.
for a name, in the land,
and
am
God,
ye are
am
And
they shall
with them, and they the
is
Israel,
no more be swept away by famine
shall no longer bear the disgrace of the heathen
Ver. 30.
nations.
my
saying of
the
the flock
sheep,
your God,
up for them a plantation
will raise
so that they will
are
my
that I, Jehovah, their
people,
Lord Jehovah. of
the saying
is
know
house of
the
And
Ver. 31.
my
pasture; ye are men,
the
Lord Jehovah.
God
I
will
of cause to stand up, raise up, one single shepherd over His E i? !?, the standing expression for the flock. rising up of a in the of God history through interposition (cf. Deut. person l
i
Sam.
15, 2
xviii.
vii.
12,
and other passages),
iriK
nyh, not
unicus, singularis, a shepherd unique in his kind, but one shepherd, in contrast not only with the many bad shepherds, but w ith the former division of the people into two kingdoms, ?
each with Jer.
its
xxiii. 6,
raised
up
is
own
separate king.
where
it
Compare
ch. xxxvii.
expressly said that the
is
24 with
David
to be
and Judah, the two peoples that had servant David:" Jehovah calls "My
to feed Israel
been divided before.
him ^y, not merely with reference
to the obedience rendered
(Havernick), but also with regard to his election (Isa.
xlii.
1
;
no necessity to refute the assertion Hengstenberg). and of Hitzig, David Strauss, others, that Ezekiel expected the former King David to be raised from the dead. The reference There
is
of
David
to the sprout of
David
in
Hos.
Jehovah
will
then be
iii.
(Jer. xxiii. 5), already called simply
5 and Jer. xxx.
to this
David
is
more
9.
In
ver.
24 the
precisely defined
:
relation
Jehovah
His people, and David be prince in the The last words point back to 2 Sam. vii. 8b.
God
midst of them.
is
to
Through the government
of David,
Jehovah
will
become
in
CHAP XXXIV. truth
God
of
His people Israel
in perfect unity with
Jehovah,
;
91
23-31,
for
David
will
will feed the people
merely carry out the will
of Jehovah, and not place himself in opposition to
had shepherds, because, as
God by
nected with is
carried out
is
God,
therewith presupposed, he
In
unity of nature.
further, thought to His people, and prove Himself to be
is
con
vers.
25 sqq. the
will
become God
how God
still
like the
covenant
its
God
will through the pastoral fidelity of the future David. God The to Israel. the mercies covenant promised fully accomplish
making of the covenant of peace need not be restricted, in accordance with Hos. ii. 20 (18), to a covenant which God would make with the beasts in favour of His people. The thought is a more comprehensive one here, and, according to Lev. xxvi. 4-6, the passage which Ezekiel had in his mind involves all the salvation which God had included in His promises to His people viz. (1) the extermination of every thing that could injure Israel, of all the wild beasts, so that they :
would be able (ver.
to sleep securely in the deserts
and the
forests
25; compare Lev. xxvi. 6); (2) the pouring out of an rain, so that the field and land would yield rich pro
abundant duce
(vers. 26,
Israelites,
the
hill
27;
Lev. xxvi.
cf.
and the surroundings of
of Jehovah,
my
make them,
"I
4, 5). hill,
a
blessing."
according to Isa. xxxi. 4,
is,
Mount
the
W?3, Zion,
The the temple-mountain, including the city of Jerusalem. surroundings of this hill are the land of Israel, that lay around it.
But
Zioii,
with the land around,
place of the inhabitants
;
the surroundings of the
and hill
still
is
not mentioned in the
less are
we
to
understand by
the heathen nations, as Plengsten-
berg does, in opposition both to the context
and the usage of
Lord will make the language. The thought is both the people and the land a blessing (Havernick, Kliefoth). nrnii, a blessing, is stronger than "blessed" (cf. Gen. xii. 2) simply that the
The
brought by the rain in its season, which fertilizes This will take place when the Lord breaks the
blessing
the earth.
is
yokes laid upon His people.
These words are from Lev.
92
THE PROl HECIES OF EZEKIKL,
xxvi. 13,
where they refer to the deliverance of Israel from the Egypt and they are transferred by Ezekiel to the
bondage of
;
future redemption of Israel from the bondage of the heathen.
For DH3 E^y, compare Ex. out
still
further in ver. 28
been said
is
summed up
i.
14.
This thought
and then, in
;
in the thoughts,
is
carried
ver. 29, all that has "
I raise up for them
a plantation for a name," etc. JK3O, a plantation, as in ch. xvii. 7 ; not a land for for a name, planting (Hitzig). i.e. not for the glory of God (De Wette) ; but the plantation, D^>,
which the Lord of
blessing (ver.
namely, among is is
will cause to
to
is
26),
the heathen,
grow by pouring down showers bring renown to the Israelites,
who
will see
from
this that Israel
a people blessed by its God. This explanation of the words supplied by the following clause: they shall no more be
swept away by famine in the land, and no more bear the dis grace of the heathen, i.e. the disgrace which the heathen
heaped upon Israel when in distress (compare Zeph. xiii. 11 and the primary passage, Deut. xxvi. 29).
Jer.
they will learn that Jehovah their
God
;
From
;
this blessing
19
iii.
is
with
The promise concludes in them, and Israel is His people. ver. 31 with these words, which set a seal upon the whole Ye "
:
are
my
TOp
flock, the flock of
I***,
are ye, I
Jer. xxiii.
am your
1,
my pasture (lit. my pasture-flock ; the flock fed by God Himself) ; men
God."
That these
last
words do not serve
merely as an explanation of the figurative expression is
a fact of which no proof
is
needed.
The
"
flock,"
figure of a flock
The words call attention to every one. the depth and greatness of the divine condescension, and meet the objection of men of weak faith, that man, who is taken was
intelligible to
from the earth
"
anc^ returns to it again, is incapable of ?7so intimate a connection with God (Hengstenberg). If we take another survey, in conclusion, of the contents of ri
r
?>
"
our prophecy, the following are the three features of the sal vation promised to the people of Israel: (1) The Lord will liberate His people from the hand of the bad shepherds, and
CHAP. XXXIV.
He
Himself
will feed
together from its and fe ed it there,
it
as His flock
dispersion, bring
93
23--C1.
it
;
(2)
back
He
to the
will
gather
it
land of Israel
charge of the sheep in need of help, and destroy the fat and strong sheep by which the weak ones
are oppressed
will take
(3)
;
He
shepherd, and under
will raise
his care
He
up the future David fora bestow upon His people
will
the promised covenant blessings in richest measure. These His of for acts God are not however, people, saving depicted according to their several details and historical peculiarities, as
Kliefoth has correctly observed, nor are they narrated in the chronological order in which they would follow one another in history
but they are grouped together
;
according to their
If, general design and character, and their essential features. we seek for the fulfilment, the Lord raised up His servant
then,
David
shepherd to Israel, by sending Jesus Christ, who seek and to save that which was lost (Luke xix. 10
as a
came
to
Matt,
xviii. 11),
;
and who
calls
Himself the Good Shepherd with
obvious reference to this and other prophetic declarations of a similar kind (John x. 11 sqq.). But the sending of Christ was
preceded by the gathering of Israel out of the Babylonian exile, by which God had already taken charge of His flock. Yet, inasmuch as only a small portion of Israel received the
Messiah, who appeared in Jesus, as its shepherd, there fell upon the unbelieving Israel a new judgment of dispersion among all nations, which continues still, so that a gathering together still awaits the people of Israel at some future time.
No
distinction
made
in the
prophecy before us between these two judgments of dispersion, which are associated with the twofold gathering of Israel but they are grouped together as is
;
one,
so that
although
their fulfilment
commenced with
the
deliverance of Israel from the Babylonian captivity and the of Jesus as Christ the Good coming Shepherd of the family of
David, it was only realized in that portion of Israel, numerically the smallest portion, which was willing to be gathered and fed
by Jesus
Christ,
and the
full realization will
only be effected
94
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
when
that conversion
of
Israel
take place, which the
shall
Apostle Paul foretells in Rom. xi. 25 sqq. For further remarks on the ultimate fulfilment, we refer the reader to a later page.
15. DEVASTATION OF EDOM, AND RESTORATION OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL.
CHAP. XXXV. 1-XXXVI.
The two
sections, ch. xxxv.
1-15 and
ch. xxxvi.
115, form
connected prophecy. This is apparent not only from their formal arrangement, both of them being placed together under
a
the introductory formula,
me,
saying,"
tion to the
"
And
the word of Jehovah
came
to
but also from their contents, the promise in rela
mountains of Israel being so opposed
to the threat
against the mountains of Seir (ch. xxxv. 1-15) as to form the
obverse and completion of the latter ; whilst allusion is evi dently made to it in the form of expression employed (com and ch. xxxvi. 5a with pare ch. xxxvi. 4, 6, with ch. xxxv. 8 ;
The
contents are the following: The tains of Seir shall be laid waste (ch. xxxv. 1-4), because ch. xxxv. 156).
moun
Edom
enmity and bloody hatred towards Israel and because it has coveted the land of Israel and (vers. 5-9), Jehovah On the other hand, the blasphemed (vers. 1015). cherishes eternal
which the heathen have despised on devastation, and have appropriated to themselves
mountain-land of account of as booty
and
shall
its
Israel,
be inhabited by Israel again, be cultivated and no longer bear the disgrace of the
(ch. xxxvi. 1-7), shall
heathen (vers. 8-15). This closing thought (ver. 15) points back to ch. xxxiv. 29, and shows that our prophecy is intended as a further expansion of that conclusion
;
and
that in the devastation of
Edom
world as a whole, with
enmity against God,
its
at the
same
time,
the overthrow of the heathen is
predicted, and
in the restoration of the land of Israel the re-erection of the
fallen
kingdom of God.
Chap. xxxv.
THE DEVASTATION OF EDOM.
Ver.
1.
And
CHAP. XXXV.
word of Jehovah came
the
set tliy
to
it,
thee,
thee,
and make
I make
know
Thus
Mount
with
will
Mount
face against
And say
that
Son of man,
2.
and prophesy against
Seir,
Ver.
it,
3.
Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will deal and will stretch out my hand against
Seir,
thee waste
I am
me, saying, Ver.
to
saith the
and
wilt become
Ver.
Jehovah.
and gavest up
Ver.
devastation.
and thou
into ruins,
eternal enmity,
95
1-15.
a
waste,
Because
5.
4.
Thy and
thou
shalt
cherishest
sword
the sons of Israel to the
cities
at the
time of their distress, at the time of the final transgression, Ver. 6. Therefore, as truly as I live, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah,
1 will make thee blood, and blood shall pursue thee
;
since thou
Ver.
hast not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue thee.
I will make Mount from him fill his
valleys,
Seir devastation
that goeth
mountains
and
ivith his
slain ;
and
waste,
and
cut off there
9.
I will make
shall not be inhabited
and ye
;
Ver. 10. Because thou they shall be mine,
sayest,
and we
And
that returneth, Ver. 8.
upon thy
hills,
and
in
in all thy low places, those pierced with the
Ver.
shall fall.
away and him
know
that
thy
sword
and
thy cities
I am
Jehovah.
thee eternal wastes,
shall
7.
The two nations and
will take possession of it,
the two lands
when Jehovali
Ver. 11. Therefore, as truly as I live, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, 1 luill do according to thy ivrath and thine envy, as thou hast done because of thy hatred, and will make my ivas there
;
known among them, as I shall judge thee. Ver. 12. And thou shalt know that I, Jehovah, have heard all thy reproaches
self
which
against the mountains of Israel, saying,
iliou hast uttered
Ver. 13. they are laid waste, they are given to us for food." Ye have magnified against me with your mouth, and heaped up
"
your sayings against me the
;
Lord Jehovah, When
devastation for thee.
I
have heard
I do
to thee ;
I will prepare
Ver. 15. -4s thou hadst thy delight in the
inheritance of the house of Israel, will
Ver. 14. Tims saith
it.
the whole earth rejoiceth,
because
it
thou shalt become a waste,
was
laid waste, so
Mount
Seir
and
Edom together ; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. The theme of this prophecy, viz. a Edom and its cities
all
are
%
PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
TIIE
to become a desert" (vers. 2-4), is vindicated and earnestly elaborated in two strophes, commencing with jj^ (vers. 5 and 10), and closing, like the announcement of the theme itself
W
(ver. 46), with
the sins of
3 fUn^)
*3
Edom.
Already,
CWT1, by a in ch. xxv.,
distinct statement of
Edom
has been
named
the hostile border nations which are threatened with
among
The
destruction (vers. 12-14).
earlier
prophecy applied to the
Edomites, according to their historical relation to the people of Israel
In the present word of and the kingdom of Judah. Edom comes into consideration, on the
God, on the contrary,
its hostile attitude towards the covenant people, as the representative of the world and of mankind in its hostility to the people and kingdom of Qod, as in Isa. xxxiv. and Ixiii.
ground of
1-6.
This
is
prepared for
apparent from the fact that devastation is to be Edom, when the whole earth rejoices (ver. 14),
which does not apply to Edom as a small and solitary nation, and still more clearly from the circumstance that, in the pro mise of salvation in ch. xxxvi., not all Edom alone (ver. 5), but the remnant of the heathen nations generally (ch. xxxvi. 3-7 and 15), are mentioned as the enemies from whose disgrace
and oppression ch.
xiii.
17.
Israel
~Pyw
to
is
"in
is
be delivered.
the
name given
For
ver. 2,
to the
compare mountainous
by the Edomites, between the Dead Sea and the Elanitic Gulf (see the comm. on Gen. xxxvi. 9). The district inhabited
prophecy is directed against the land ; but it also applies to the nation, which brings upon itself the desolation of its land by its hostility to Israel.
destruction.
The
enmity toward
For
ver. 3,
sin of
Edom
Israel,
which has
Philistines in ch. xxv. 15, but
case of
Edom,
in the hostile
(Gen. xxv. 22 sqq. and
compare ch. vi. 14, etc. ^znn, mentioned in ver. 5 is eternal
also been imputed to the which struck deeper root, in the attitude of Esau toward Jacob
xxvii. 37), arid
was manifested,
as
Amos
has already said, in the constant retention of its malignity (i. 11) toward the covenant nation, so that Edom embraced every opportunity to effect
its
destruction,
and according
to the
charge
CHAP XXXV.
97
1-15.
brought against it by Ezekiel, gave up the sons of Israel to the T ?y Tarij lit. to sword when the kingdom of Judah fell. into) the hands of the sword, i.e. to deliver up pour upon ( 3"?.n
power of the sword
to the
DTK run
recalls
to
(cf.
mind DTK
Ps.
11
Ixiii.
Di"3
Jer. xviii. 21).
;
Obad. 13; but here
in
more
precisely defined by f*i?. jijJ njja, and limited to the time of the overthrow of the Israelites, when Jerusalem was it
is
taken and destroyed by the Chaldeans. in Ity W*, as ch. xxi. 30. On account of this display of its hostility, the Lord will make Edom blood (ver. 6). This expression is f*i?.
probably chosen for the play upon the words
Edorn
does not the it
become what
shall
soil
mean merely
its
filling
with blood (Hitzig)
;
were into blood, or causing "
pursue thee,
name it
D"!
and CHK.
Making
suggests.
it
blood
with bloodshed, or reddening
but, as in ch. xvi. 38, turning it
Blood
to vanish therein.
it
as
shall
as blood-guiltiness invariably pursues a murderer,
cries for vengeance,
and so
delivers
him up
to punishment"
(Havernick). &6 DX cannot be the particle employed in swear ing, and dependent upon ^apn, since this particle introduces an affirmative declaration,
much
relationship.
meaning to
which would be unsuitable here, inas
as nn in this connection cannot possibly
of
"
since."
*6 DX
signify blood-
means if not," in which the conditional DK coincides with the causal, if being equivalent "
"
"
The unusual
separation of the &6 from the verb
occasioned by the fact that Cn is placed before the verb to avoid collision with tfr\. To hate blood is the same as to "have is
a horror of bloodshed or murder. still
further in vers. 7 and 8.
This threat
The land
a complete and perpetual devastation be exterminated by war. The form
;
of its
nDP
carried out
is
Edom
is
to
become
inhabitants are to
stands for notpe^ and
not to be changed into nsBfo. Considering the frequency with which the occurs, supposition that we have here a s error is no means a probable one, and still less copyist by
is
ni3B>
probable is the perpetuation of such an error, Zech. vii. 14. For ver. 8. ch. xxxii.
compare
EZEK.
II.
"Q 2B>J
5,
y,
as in
6 and ch. Q.
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL
98
The Chetib nn^n is scriptio plena for njn^n, the imperfect Kal of 3PJ in the intransitive sense to be inhabited. The Keri nj^Jj, from :n$, is a needless and unsuitable correc tion, since 3W does not mean restitui. xxxi. 12.
In the second strophe,
vers.
assigned for the desolation of session of Israel
and
its
10-15, the additional reason
Edom
longing for the pos land, of which it desired to take
forcible possession, although
it
is
knew
its
that they belonged to
Jehovah, whereby the hatred of Edom toward Israel became contempt of Jehovah. The two peoples and the two lands are Israel and Judah with their lands, and therefore the whole of the holy people and land.
the sign of the accusative : as for the two peoples, they are mine. The suffix appended to
HWT
is
neuter, and
is
to
fitf is
be taken as referring generally to
what has gone before, nvj D^ niiTi is a circumstantial clause, through which the desire of Edom is placed in the right light, an attack upon Jehovah Himself. Jehovah namely, in the land of which Edom wished to take
and characterized was there possession.
as
Kliefoth
s
"
rendering,
and yet Jehovah
is
there,"
opposed to Hebrew usage, by changing the preterite n^n into a present ; and the objection which he offers to the only render
is
ing that there,"
is
grammatically admissible,
to the effect
that the
"
that
it
"
when Jehovah was
attributes to Ezekiel the thought
Holy Land had once been
of God, but was so no
viz.
longer,"
the land and dwelling-place calls
in question the actual
historical condition of things without the slightest reason.
For
Jehovah, had really forsaken His dwelling-place in Canaan before the destruction of the temple, but without thereby re nouncing His right to the land ; since it was only for the sins
He
had given up the temple, city, and land to be u But Edom had acted as if Israel laid waste by the heathen. existed among the nations without God, and Jehovah had of Israel that
or rather as if Jehovah departed from it for ever (Havernick) ; were a powerless and useless Deity, who had not been able to "
defend His people against the might of the heathen nations.
CHAP. XXXV.
The Lord
will requite
Edom
99
1-15.
for this, in a
manner answering
anger and envy, which had both sprung from hatred. I will make myself known among them (the Israel
to its
D3
"
""flJinUj
when
ites)
Edom
for
I judge
thee;"
He
its sin,
i.e.,
fact that
by the
to Israel that
will
He
He
punishes
a
God who
is
prove does not suffer His people and His possession to be attacked with impunity. From this shall Edom learn that He is
Jehovah, the omniscient God, who has heard the revilings of His enemies (vers. 12, 13), and the almighty God, who rewards those
who
(vers.
14 and 15).
utter such proud sayings according to their deeds
26
ix. 18,
(cf.
tone, in contrast with
first
Ewald,
The
696).
"
expression
for the land of Israel, in ver. 12
Israel,"
Chetib noDJ?
emphasis
to
in
Neh.
mountains of
and ch. xxxvi.
1, is
occa
"
The
singular of the neuter gender is used with broken and emotional address, and is to be taken
spite of the Keri.
in a
is
rtew
mountain (mountain-range) of Seir." be pronounced nntt^, and to be retained in
sioned by the antithesis
The
has retained the Kametz on account of
fliVKJ
the guttural in the
nas. as referring ad sensum to the land. /*Wj to magnify or boast with the mouth, i.e. to utter proud sayings against God, in other words, actually to deride God (compare na in
b*^jn
Obad. 12, which has a kindred meaning). according to
In is
nbB>3,
Aramean usage
in ver. 14, 3
before infinitives
rejoices,
not
"over
is
(e.g.
thy
for
IW^
used here
to multiply, or
heap up. a particle of time, as it frequently Josh. vi. 20), when all the earth "^Xjn,
desolation"
(Hitzig),
which does not
rational thought, but when joy is prepared for all the I will world, prepare devastation for thee. Through this anti
yield
any
thesis
limited to the world, with the exception of to that portion of the human race which stood in a
FJKrpa
Edom,
i.e.
is
God and His people from that of Edom ; in other words, which acknowledged the Lord as the true God. It follows from this, that Edom represents the world at enmity different relation to
against God.
son
;
In ^nnD^S and the meaning of
(ver. 15) 3
ver. 15
is
:
is
a particle of compari
as thou didst rejoice over
100
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the desolation of the inheritance of the house of Israel, so will
I cause others to rejoice over thy desolation. In ver. 15& we agree with the LXX., Vulgate, Syriac, and others, in taking n nn as the second rte serves person, not as the third, s
DVlK"$>3
to strengthen 5$jjfesrt
(compare
ch. xi. 15
and xxxvi.
10).
Chap, xxxvi. 1-15. THE KESTOEATION AND BLESSING OF ISRAEL. Yer. 1. And thou, son of man, prophesy to the moun tains of Jehovah
enemy
Israel, :
and
Ver.
2.
say,
Mountains of
Thus
saith the
Aha!
saith concerning you,
become ours for a possession say,
Thus
saith the
:
Ver.
Israel, hear the
word of
Lord Jehovah, Because
the
the
everlasting heights have
3.
Therefore prophesy, and
Lord Jehovah, Because,
even because they lay
you waste, and pant for you round about, so that ye have become a possession to the remnant of the nations, and have come to the Ver. 4; Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah : Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and hills, to the talk of the tongue find gossip
of the people
:
low places and valleys, and to the ivaste ruins and the forsaken cities, which have become a prey and derision to the remnant of the nations round about ; Ver. 5. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Truly in the fire of the
remnant of
have made
the nations,
my jealousy I have spoken against Edom altogether, which
and against
land a possession for themselves in all joy of Ver. 6. heart, in contempt of soul, to empty it out for booty. the land and of Israel, Therefore prophesy concerning say to the
my
mountains and
Lord
hills, to the
low places and valleys, Thus saith the
my jealousy and fury have 1 spoken, borne the disgrace of the nations. Ver. 7.
Jehovah, Behold, in
because ye have
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I, I have lifted up my ; truly the nations round about you, they shall bear their Ver. 8. But ye, ye mountains of Israel, shall put forth disgrace.
hand
your branches, and bear your fruit to my people Israel ; for Ver. 9. For, behold, I will deal with you, they will soon come.
and turn toward you, and ye
shall be tilled
and sown.
Ver. 10.
CHAP, xxxvi.
/
men upon
will multiply
and
and
you, all the house of Israel at once
and
the cities shall be inhabited,
And I will
multiply upon you
be fruitful
and I
:
101
i-io.
the ruins built.
man and
beast ; they shall multiply
make you inhabited as
will
;
Ver. 11.
time, and do more good to you than in your Ver. 12. ye shall know that I am Jehovah.
in
your former
earlier
days
;
and
/ will cause men, walk and shall my people upon you ; they possess thee, and thou shalt be an inheritance to them, and make them childless Israel, to
Ver. 13. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because they u Thou art a devourer of men, and hast made thy you, say 14. childless Ver. Therefore thou shalt no more devour people men, and no more cause thy people to stumble, is the saying of the no more. to
;"
Lord Jehovah. the scoffing
And I will
Ver. 15. the nations,
and
no more cause
the disgrace
thee to
hear
of the nations
thou
of shalt bear no more, and shalt no more cause thy people is the saying of the Lord Jehovah.
This prophecy
to stumble,
uttered concerning the land of Israel, as is plainly declared in ver. 6 ; whereas in vers. 1 and 4 the mountains of Israel are mentioned instead of the land, in antithesis to the
on ch. xxxv. 12).
is
mountains of Seir (ch. xxxv.
The promise
antithesis to the threat against
Edom
rejoices that the
has fallen to
it
;
see the
comm.
takes throughout the form of
Edom
in ch. xxxv.
Holy Land, which has been
Because laid waste,
for a possession, therefore shall the devastated
land be cultivated and sown again, and be inhabited by Israel the former time. The heathen nations round about shall,
,as in
on the other hand, bear their disgrace; Edom, as we have already observed, being expanded, so far as the idea is con the heathen nations surrounding Israel (vers. In ver. 2, ^itfn, the enemy, is mentioned in quite a
cerned, into
3-7).
general
Edom
all
manner
;
and what has already been stated concerning and 10, is here predicted of the enemy.
in ch. xxxv. 5
In vers. 3 and 4 heathen nations cisely defined
;
this
and
by the
enemy it
is
is
not "
clause,
designated as a remnant of the till ver. 5 that it is more pre
and
all
Edom
altogether."
The
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
102 0^3 round about
(MD
ver. 4,
compared witli ver. 3) are the heathen nations which are threatened with destruction in "isw,
on account of their malicious rejoicing at This serves to the devastation of Jerusalem and Judah. ch. xxv.
and
xxvi.,
explain the fact that these nations are designated as D]fan fYnKB*, the rest, or remnant of the heathen nations, which presupposes that the judgment has fallen upon them, and that only a remnant of them is left, which remnant desires to take
devastated land of
of the
possession
applied to this land, &7iy points
back
to
the
E?, everlasting,
Gen.
of
tfyy rrtjoa
The
Israel. i.e.
epithet
primeval heights, 26 and Deut.
xlix.
and is chosen for the purpose of representing the land as a possession secured to the people of Israel by primeval promises, in consequence of which the attempt of the enemy to
xxxiii. 15,
seize
The
land has become a sin against the Lord God. indignation at such a sin is expressed in the emotional
upon
character "
Ezekiel
this
the
of is
As Ewald
address.
seized with unusual
statement in ver. 2
i
has aptly observed,
so that after the brief
fire,
repeated five times, the charges brought against these foes forcing themselves in again and again, before the prophecy settles calmly upon the moun tains of Israel, to $!? see the
$.?
therefore
which
it
comm. on
is
was
really intended to
ch.
xiii.
10.
niftfc?
apply."
an
is
For
infinitive
Kalj formed after the analogy of the verbs n (cf. Ewald, E f to be waste, to devastate, as in Dan. viii. 13, 23Se), from S>
,
ix. 27, xii. 11,
Isa.
xlii.
and
is
not to be taken in the sense of D^J, after *JNt?, to pant for a thing
14, as Hitzig supposes.
;
snapping at anything. This is required with ver. 4&, where Dp iTn corresponds to a comparison by nat? fe In the connection to and |5. here
it is
equivalent to
Jjtt>
a^
signifies
W
the lip as an organ of speech, or, more
the tongue, is personified, words spoken ; and precisely, the B^N and stands for tfKv (Ps. cxl. 12), a tongue-man, i.e. a talker. flB>>,
In
ver.
4 the idea expressed
expanded into mountains,
in
hills,
"the
mountains of
Israel" is
lowlands, and valleys
(cf. ch.
CHAP. XXXVI.
xxxi. 12, xxxii. 5, 6)
;
and
103
1-15.
this periphrastic description of the
more minutely defined by the additional clause, waste *6 DN in ver. 5 is the particle used ruins and forsaken cities." land
"
is
in oaths (cf. ch.
v.
11, etc.)
;
and the perfect
^jn?/!
is
not
God
merely prophetic, but also a preterite.
has already uttered a threatening word concerning the nations round about in ch. xxv., xx vi., and xxxv. ; and here He once more declares that nx3jp ute is the fiery jealousy they shall bear their disgrace. fc&3 is an Aramean form for F&2 of wrath. (ch. xxxv. 15).
For
Btej BKBfr,
see ch. xxv. 6.
In the expression PiBHJB
fefcA
D^, which has been rendered in various ways, we agree with Gesenius and others in regarding BnJD as an Aramean form of the infinitive of BH3, with the meaning to empty out, which is confirmed by the Syriac ; for BHJD cannot be a substantive, on
account of the pointed
w,
tJJOT
;
and Hitzig s conjecture, that D^ should be
and the clause rendered
"
to
plunder
its
produce,"
precluded by the fact that the separation of the preposition ? ]Vv?, by the insertion of a word between, is unexampled, to say nothing of the fact that BH3O does not mean produce at all. is
The thought
expressed in vers. 6 and 7 is the following: because Israel has hitherto borne the contempt of the heathen, the heathen shall now bear their own contempt. The lifting of the xx.
6,
hand
is
etc.
a gesture employed in taking an oath, as in ch. of Israel is to receive a blessing.
But the land
This blessing
described in ver. 8 in general terms, as the bearing of fruit by the mountains, i.e. by the land of Israel ;
and in
its
is
speedy commencement is predicted. It is then depicted in vers. 9 sqq. In the clause Kfob 3, the
detail
}!"}
Israelites are not to
be regarded as the subject, as Kliefoth
supposes, in which case their speedy return
be announced. for
it
is
The
^3
shows that
this
immediately preceded by
from
exile
would
cannot be the meaning
& W?
5
,
;
which precludes
the supposition that, when speaking of the mountains, Ezekiel had the inhabitants in his mind. The promised blessings are the subject, or the branches and fruits, which the mountains
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
10-1
the commentators have agreed in adopting this explanation of the words, after the analogy of Isa. Ivi. 1. With the *3 in ver. 9 the carrying out of the are to bear.
all
Nearly
blessing promised
is
form of a reason assigned The mountains shall be cultivated,
appended
for the general promise.
the
men upon them,
in the
viz. all Israel, multiplied,
the desolated
dwell in the land as in the
cities rebuilt, so that Israel shall
former time, and be fruitful and blessed. This promise was no doubt fulfilled in certain weak beginnings after the return of a portion of the people under Zerubbabel and Ezra ; but the multiplying and blessing, experienced by those who returned
from Babylon, did not take place promised here, and more especially to ver. 12, the land Israel,
and
will
to bear the
in vers.
1215.
become the inheritance
to
no more make the
ing to ver. 14) cause
more
is
long after the salvation
till
them
Israelites childless, or (accord
to stumble
;
and the people are no
But
contempt of the heathen.
of the nation which returned
from
exile
under the rule of the heathen, but had bear the contempt of the heathen Israel not only stumbled, but fell
According
of the people
that portion
not only continued
also in various
ways to and eventually, because very low through the rejection still
;
was scattered again out of the land among the until this day. . heathen, and the land was utterly wasted In ver. 12 the masculine suffix attached to T^T! refers to
of
its
Saviour,
it
.
.
the land regarded as pjDin.
It
is
not
which
"in,
vers. 13, 14,
till
also the subject to rp?n
is
and
where the idea of the land
becomes so prominent, that the feminine is used. &J|^, to make them (the Israelites) childless, or bereaved, is explained That the land in vers. 13, 14 by D^K ftjffe, devouring men. devours
Canaan
its
in
inhabitants,
Num.
xiii.
32
is ;
what the
and in 2 Kings
of the district of Jericho that
on account of
its
bad water.
into consideration
;
spies say of the land of
it
ii.
causes fl?3^?,
The
19
it is
i.e.
miscarriages,
affirmed
latter passage does not
but the former (Num.
does, and Ezekiel evidently refers
to this.
xiii.
come
32) probably
For
there
is
no
CHAP. XXXVI.
105
1-15.
doubt whatever that he explains or expands E73^ by D JX Although, for example, the charge that the land devours
men
by the enemies or adversaries of Israel brought against D"nEK to you), the truth of the charge is admitted, ? they say since it is said that the land shall henceforth no more devour it
is
(DD^>
men, though without a repetition of the which Ezekiel affirms of the land that and was henceforth
to be so
no more,
*?3W. it
But the
sense in
had been
determined by
is
v?bn, thou wilt no more cause thy people to stumble, which added in ver. 146 in the place of ITO ^5^D in ver. 14a.
Jiy
is
"^2
Hence caused
became a devourer of men by the fact that it people to stumble, i.e. entangled them in sins (the
the land its
Keri ^3 n for
Y^n
a bad conjecture, the incorrectness of doubt by the Ity fyfa&tfk of ver. 15). placed beyond we understand the cannot Consequently devouring of men," ;
which
is
all
is
"
Num.
after
xiii.
32, as signifying that, on account of
its
situa
an apple of discord, for the of the strive with one another, so that which nations possession tion
and
fruitfulness, the land
is
the inhabitants are destroyed, or at restrict the
to this
and
meaning Ewald and Hitzig in thinking ;
all
still
events
less
we must not
can we agree with
of the restless hurrying
and
driving by which individual men were of necessity rapidly If the sweeping away of the population is con swept away. with the nected stumbling, the people are devoured by the
consequences of their
sins, i.e. by penal judgments, unfruitfuland ness, pestilence, war, with which God threatened Israel for These judgments had depopulated the its apostasy from Him. land and this fact was attributed by the heathen in their own ;
way
to the land,
disgrace.
take
and thrown
The Lord
will
in the teeth of the Israelites as a
henceforth remove this charge, and all occasion to despise His people,
away from the heathen
namely, by bestowing upon His land and people the blessing which He promised in the law to those who kept His com mandments. But this can only be done by His removing the occasion to stumble or sin, i.e., according to vers. 25 sqq. (com-
106
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
pared with ch. all
18
sqq.),
uncleannesses and
idols,
new
spirit.
xi.
The Keri
by His cleansing His people from and giving them a new heart and a in vers. 13, 14,
Tj^ia
and 15
is
a needless
^3. In ver. 15 this promise is rounded and concluded by another summing up of the principal
alteration of the Chetib off
thoughts.
CHAP. XXXVI.
THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL FOUNDED UPON ITS SANCTIFICATION.
16-38.
Because Israel has defiled scattered the people
its
land by its sins, God has but because they also
the heathen
among
;
profaned His name among the heathen, He will exercise forbear ance for the sake of His holy name (vers. 16-21), will gather Israel out of the lands, cleanse
it
from
its
and sanctify it will walk in His
sins,
by the communication of His Spirit, so that it ways (vers. 22-28), and will so bless and multiply it, that both the nations around and Israel itself will know that He is the
This promise is shown by the introduc (vers. 29-38). formula in and by the contents to be an independent ver. 16 tory word of God; but it is substantially connected in the closest
Lord
manner with the preceding word
of God, showing, on the one the motive which hand, prompted God to restore and bless His people ; and, on the other hand, the means by which He would
permanently establish the salvation predicted in ch. xxxiv. and The kernel of this promise is formed by ch. xxxvi. 1-15. vers.
25-28, for which the
whilst the further extension
The Lord
is
is prepared in vers. 17-24, contained in vers. 29-38.
way
extend His forbearance, for the sake of His holy name, to the people who have been rejected on account of their sins. Ver. 16. And the word of Jehovah Vers. 16-21.
came
to
dwelt in
will
me, saying, Ver. 17. Son of man, the house of Israel land, and defiled it with its way and its doings ; like
its
undeanness of the unclean woman, was its way before me. Ver. 18. Then I poured out my fury upon them on account of the
CHAP. XXXVI.
Hood which
tlie
had shed
they
107
16-21.
and because
in the land,
they
had
through their idols, Ver. 19. And scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed in the lands ; according to
defiled
it
way and
their
I
their doings
And
Ver. 20.
judge them.
they
and profaned my holy u These are Jehovah s said men name, for of them, people, and His land" out Ver. 21. And so 1 had they have come of came
the nations whither they came,
to
pity upon
among
holy name, which the house of Israel profaned The address commences
my
the nations whither they came.
why God had
with a description of the reasons
thrust out
His people among the heathen, namely, on account of their sins and idolatrous abominations, by which the Israelites
had
defiled the land
(cf.
Lev.
xviii.
28
arid
Num.
xxxv. 34).
Their conduct resembled the most offensive uncleanness, namely, the uncleanness of a woman in her menstruation (Lev. xv. 19),
which the moral depravity of the people had already been compared in Isa. Ixiv. 5. In ver. 18 the consequence of the
to
defiling of the land
In
pression SJBBW. participle
&2W
in the past, as simile
For 3,
by the people ver. 17,
and the
;
defiled
second
participle
we may
is
introduced with the ex
*s
^e
continuation of the
expressive of the condition
from the words
see
til
SJ3?W.
The
an explanatory, circumstantial clause. vii. 8, and for til D nn compare by, ch. xxii. The last clause, and through their idols they have 176
in ver.
is
ch.
ver. 18,
6.
^SBBJ
is
"
is it,"
loosely
reason
for the
upon the people. ver. 20 refers to
For
appended
but
pouring out ver. 19,
7NnB>;"JVa
1ND2 on that account.
;
;
it
compare
but there
is
really
contains
the wrath
of
ch. xxii. 15.
no necessity
of
a
God
Ktajl in
to read
It is perfectly arbitrary to supply the
the report of what had by Kliefoth, viz. came to the heathen, which is quite the connection for it was not the report concerning
subject proposed
happened foreign to Israel,
to
Israel"
but Israel
profaned the sacred
;
itself,
name
which came of
God.
to
This
the is
heathen,
and
not only plainly
expressed in ver. 216, but has been already stated in ver. 20.
108
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The
fact that the
words of the heathen, by which the name of
God was
profaned, are quoted here, does not prove that it is the heathen nations who are to be regarded as those who pro faned the name of God, as Kliefoth imagines. The words, "
these
are
Jehovah
s
and have come out of His
people,
(Jehovah s) land," could only contain a profanation of the holy name of God, if their coming out was regarded as in voluntary, i.e. as an exile enforced by the power of the heathen ; or,
on the other hand,
if
the Israelites themselves had denied
God through
the holiness of the people of
among in
the heathen.
favour of the former view.
this explanation
omnipotent,
from His
He
land."
"
:
their behaviour
Most of the commentators have decided if their
Vatablus, for example, gives
God whom
they preach had been to be expelled
would not have allowed them
And we must
decide in favour of this exposi
tion, not only because of the parallel passages, such as Num. xiv. 16 and Jer. xxxiii. 24, which support this view ; but chiefly
on account of the verses which follow, according sanctification of the
name
of
God among
to
which the
the nations consists
God gathers Israel out of its dispersion among the nations, and leads them back into His own land (vid. vers. 23 and 24). Consequently the profanation of His name can
in the fact that
only have consisted in the fact that Israel was carried away out of its own land, and scattered in the heathen lands. For, since the heathen acknowledged only national gods, and regarded Jehovah as nothing more than such a national god of Israel, they did not look upon the destruction of the kingdom of Judah
and the carrying away of the people as a judgment of the almighty and holy God upon His people, but concluded that that catastrophe was a sign of the inability of
Jehovah
to
defend
The only way in which God His land and save His people. was delusion this could destroy by manifesting Himself to the heathen as the almighty God and Lord of the whole world through the redemption and glorification of His people. tenxj The so I had pity, compassion upon my holy name. jJ
:
109
CHAP. XXXVI. 22-23.
inasmuch as the compassion consists in the gathering of Israel out of the nations, which is announced The rendering, I in vers. 22 sqq. as still in the future. is
preterite
prophetic,
"
spared (them) for is false ; for fen
holy name s sake" (LXX., Havernick), construed with ?#, governing the person or
my is
the thing toward which the compassion and 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15, 17).
Vers. 22-28. For His holy
from
its
people.
name
shown
sake the
s
(vid. ch. xvi. 5
Lord
its
bring
dispersion into
not for your sakes,
Israel,
Lord Jehovah, I do it but for my holy names
among
the nations whither ye
have come.
saith the
sanctify
will
His own land, purify it sins, and sanctify it by His Spirit to be His own Ver. 22. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus
back from
Israel
is
great name, which
my
ichich ye have
sake,
is
house of
profaned Ver. 23. / will
profaned among
the nations,
which ye have profaned in the midst of them, so that the nations shall
know
ivhen
I prove
/
that
I am
Jehovah,
is
the saying of the
myself holy upon you
Lord Jehovah,
before their eyes.
Ver. 24.
you out of the nations, and gather you out of all and bring you into your land, Ver. 25. And will sprinkle
will take
lands,
clean water
upon you, that ye may become clean ; from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols will I cleanse you, Ver. 26. And I will give you a new heart, and give a new spirit within
I
your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. Ver. 27. / will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and keep my rights,
you
;
will take the heart of stone out of
Ver. 28. And ye shall dwell in the land which have given to your fathers, and shall become my people, and
and do them.
I I
These verses show in what way the your God. will have compassion upon His holy name, and how will put an end to the scoffing thereat, and vindicate
will be
Lord
He
His honour sake,"
i.e.
the sight of the heathen. Not for your not because you have any claim to deliverance in
"
on account of your behaviour ix.
6),
but for
my holy name
(cf.
Isa. xlviii.
s sake,
i.e.
11 and Deut.
to manifest as holy
110 the
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL,
name which has been profaned among
what follows from it, namely, will sanctify His name, i.e. show self to
be holy upon
although the
Israel,
holiness
of
ver. it
to
t^ni? is
God
the heathen, I do
23 onwards.
The Lord
be holy by proving Him not equivalent to glorify,
involves the
idea of glory.
the removing or expunging of the blots and
is
Sanctifying blemishes which adhere to anything. The giving up of His people was regarded by the heathen as a sign of the weakness This blot through which His omnipotence and of Jehovah. glory were dishonoured, God would remove by gathering Israel out of the heathen, and glorifying it. Instead of the
C?^^
This reading is also ancient versions have rendered DJpyg?, found in many of the codices and the earliest editions, and is confirmed by the great Masora, and also commended by the parallel passages, ch. xx. 41 and xxviii. 25, so that it no doubt deserves the preference, although
WO ^ 1
can also be
justified.
had despaired in the midst of their wretchedness through unbelief, it was necessary that Jehovah The should sanctify His great name in their sight as well.
For inasmuch
great
name
as Israelites
Jehovah
of
is
His almighty exaltation above
all
The first thing that Jehovah does 11, 12). gods (cf. for the sanctification of His name is to bring back Israel from its dispersion into its own land (ver. 24, compare ch. xi. 17 Mai.
i.
and xx. 41, 42) its
The
sins.
;
and then follows the purifying of "
figurative expression,
Israel
from
to sprinkle with clean
taken from the lustrations prescribed by the law, water," more particularly the purifying from defilement from the dead is
by sprinkling with the water prepared from the ashes of a red (Num. xix. 17-19 compare Ps. li. 9). Cleansing from
heifer
;
which corresponds to justification, and is not to be con founded with sanctification (Schmieder), is followed by renewal with the Holy Spirit, which takes away the old heart of stone sins,
and puts within a new heart of flesh, so that the man can fulfil the commandments of God, and walk in newness of life (vers.
26-28
;
compare ch.
xi.
18-20, where this promise has already
Ill
CUAP. XXXVI. 29-38.
occurred, and the necessary remarks concerning its fulfilment have been made). With regard to the construction HN ^CT
w
to
"iBfcj
make
or effect
your walking, compare Ewald,
3376.
The Lord will richly bless, multiply, and glorify when thus renewed and sanctified. Ver. 29. And
Vers. 29-38.
His people,
I will save you from
all
your uncleannesses, and will
call the corn,
and multiply it, and no more bring famine upon you; Ver. 30. But I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the ye will no more bear the reproach of famine among Ver. 31. Bat ye will remember your evil ways, and your deeds which were not good, and will loathe yourselves on account of your iniquities and your abominations. Ver. 32.
field) so that
nations.
the
Not for your sake do I this, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, be this known to you ; be ye ashamed and blush for your ways, Ver. 33. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, In
house of Israel !
the day when I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will make the cities inhabited, and the ruins shall be built, Ver. 34.
And
of being a desert Ver. 35. And men
the devastated land shall be tilled instead
who passed by. was laid waste, has become like the This which land, say. and and ruined cities are fortified the desolate garden of Eden, before the eyes of every one
ivill
and
inhabited.
Ver. 36.
And
the nations,
which have been
left
round about you, shall know that 1 Jehovah build up that which is destroyed, and plant that which is laid ivaste. I, Jehovah, have said
1
it,
will still
and do let
Ver. 37. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
it.
myself be sought by the house of Israel in this,
for them ; I will multiply them, like a flock, in men ; Ver. 38. Like a flock of holy sacrifices^ like the flock of Jeru salem on its feast-days, so shall the desolate cities be full of flocks to
do
it
of men
;
and
they shall
know
that
I am
Jehovah.
The words
W
^9?ftn, I help or save you from all your uncleannesses, cannot be understood as relating to their purification from the former uncleannesses ; for they have already been cleansed from these,
according to ver. 25.
The
rriNttts
can only be such defilements
112
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
as are
still
possible even after the
rence of
renewing of the people
and
;
guard them against any further recur such defilements (cf. ch. xxxvii. 23), and not to deliver
means
to help, JIBta,
to
them from the consequences of their former pollutions. But if God preserves His people from these, there is no longer any occasion for a fresh suspension of judgments over them, and God can bestow His blessing upon the sanctified nation without It is in this
reserve.
pended
He
first
and,
;
will bless
of
that the further promises are ap
way
in vers.
all,
293 and 30, a promise that
them with an abundant crop
orchard and the
field.
"
I call to the
corn,"
or grow, so that famine will occur no
of fruits, both of the i.e.
more
In consequence of blush with shame at the thought of
I cause
it
to
(for the fact,
come
com
pare ch. xxxiv. 29).
this blessing, Israel
will
its
former
sins,
and
abominations (ver. 31) ; compare ch. To this, xx. 43, where the same thought has already occurred. after repeating what has been said before in ver. 22, namely, will loathe itself for those
that
God
is
not doing
this for the sake of the Israelites
all
themselves, the prophet appends the admonition to be ashamed of their conduct, i.e. to repent, which is so far inserted appro priately in the promise, that the promise itself Israel to repent
and return
strophes introduced with
"
is
meant
to entice
Then, secondly, in two the nb, promise is still further the prophet shows how the de
to
God.
"H?K
In vers. 3336, expanded. vastated land is to be restored and rebuilt, and to become a paradise and in vers. 37 and 38, how the people are to be ;
Both of blessed through a large increase in their numbers. these strophes are simply a further elaboration of the promise contained in vers. 9-12.
Win
?
be inhabited, to populate, as in ch. v.
pass
The
14.
by."
subject to
causative of Isa. liv. 3.
$\ in ver. 35
For the comparison
to the
to cause to
3B>J,
"ttfoT/3 "
is,
W?,
as in
those
who
garden of Eden, see
a circumstantial word belonging to 12^: they shall be inhabited as fortified cities, that is to say, shall afford to their inhabitants the security of fortresses, from ch.
xxxi.
9.
fihttfa
is
CHAP. XXXVI.
113
29-38.
In no fear of their being expelled. nations which shall be expression, "the heathen which there
is
ver.
36 the
left
round
you," presupposes that at the time of Israel s redemption judgment will have fallen upon the heathen (compare
about the
ch. xxx. 3 with ch. xxix. 21), so that only a will
be
work
still
in existence
Jehovah
and
;
this
remnant
remnant of them
will recognise the
This recognition, however, does not involve the conversion of the heathen to Jehovah, but is simply preparatory to it. For the fact itself, of
compare
in the restoration of Israel.
ch. xvii. 24.
n^?>
to
l et
oneself be asked or entreated,
with regard to this, is explained by do follows in nyi. God will His such an to that extent, multiply people they will resemble as in ch. xiv. art?
nib>i.
3.
DNT,
What God
w
will
the flock of lambs, sheep, and goats brought to Jerusalem to sacrifice upon the feast days. Compare 2 Chron. xxxv. 7,
where Josiah
is
said to
have given
to the people thirty
thousand
lambs and goats for the feast of the passover. E^X |Ni*3 does not mean, like a flock of men. cannot be a genitive on of account the article in I&&3, but dependent upon |N, D"JK
n either as a supplementary apposition to Efli^, belongs to or as a second object, so that n3"]X would be construed with a double accusative, after the analogy of verbs of plenty, to ?"]S )
multiply them in men.
Kliefoth
I will multiply rendering, that shall be the flock of so men them, they (of mankind), is untenable. a flock of grammatically holy beasts, i.e. GM^JJJ I*&, "
s
"
of
lambs.
sacrificial
The
flock
of
Jerusalem
is
the
flock
the yearly feasts, when the male brought the to the sanctuary (Deut. xvi. of land came population 16) So shall the desolate cities be filled again with flocks of men to
Jerusalem
at
:
(compare Mic.
EZEK.
ir.
ii.
12).
n
114
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
CHAP. XXXVII. RESURRECTION OF ISRAEL AND REUNION AS
ONE NATION. This chapter contains two revelations from God (vers, 1-14 and vers. 15-28). In the first, the prophet is shown in a vision
new
the resurrection of Israel to a
commanded
to exhibit,
of the divided
Both
by means of
In the second, he
life.
a symbolical act, the reunion
into a single nation
kingdoms is to announce
of these he
substantial connection
is
under one king.
to the children of Israel.
between these two prophecies
The
will
be
seen from the exposition.
Vers.
Ver. led
me
valley
1.
114.
Resurrection of Israel
new Life.
There came upon me the hand of Jehovah, and Jehovah
out in the spirit,
;
to
was full of
this
and
set
me down Ver.
bones.
2.
in the midst of the
And He
led
me past
them round about; and, behold, there were very many on the Ver. 3. surface of the valley, and, behold, they were very dry.
And He and I to
said to me, Son of man, will these bones come to life?
said,
me, Prophesy over these bones,
hear ye the word of Jehovah.
Jehovah
to these
may come cause
Ver. 4. Then
Lord, Jehovah, thou knowest.
bones, Behold,
/
and say Ver.
I
5.
He
said
them, Ye dry bones, Thus saith the Lord
to
bring breath into you, that ye
upon you, and grow upon you, and cover you with skin, and bring you, so that ye shall live and know that I am Jehovah.
to life.
Ver.
6.
will create sinews
flesh to
breath into
And I prophesied as I ivas commanded; and there was a noise as I prophesied, and behold a rumbling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. Ver. 8. And I saw, and behold
Ver.
7.
sinews came over them, and flesh grew, and skin drew over
above ; but there was no breath in them. to
me, Prophesy
the breath,
to the breath,
Thus
saith the
Ver.
9.
Then
He
said
prophesy, son of man, and say
Lord Jehovah, Come from
the
it
to
four
winds, thou breath, and blow upon these slain, that they may come to life. Ver. 10. And I prophesied as I was commanded;
CHAP. XXXVII.
1-14.
and
they
then the breath came into them, their feet,
upon
a
very, very great
115
came
to life,
Ver. 11.
army.
and stood
And He
said
whole house of Israel ; has perished ; behold, they say, our bones are dried, and our hope Ver. 12. Therefore prophesy, and say to ice are destroyed! to
me, Son of man,
them,
Thus
graves,
Lord Jehovah, Behold, I
saith the
I am
ivill
open your come out of your graves, my people, and land of Israel. Ver. 13. And ye shall know
and cause you
bring you into the that
these bones are the
to
I open your
Jehovah, when
graves,
and cause you
to
come out of your graves, my people. Ver. 14. And I will put my Spirit into you, and will place you in your land, and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken and do it, is the saying of Jehovah. This revelation divides
itself into
two
sections.
Vers.
110
the vision, and vers. 11-14 give the interpretation. no particular difficulties in the description of the are There of the words is concerned. By a vision, so far as the meaning
contain
supernatural intervention on the part of God, Ezekiel is taken from his own home in a state of spiritual ecstasy into a valley which was full of dead men s bones. For the expression HJVn
comm. on
"
"
I
.
^?, see tne
ver. 1 njfP
is
ch.
the subject, and
connection with nn3, as
it
in opposition to the accents. xi.
24),
and
D^K
is
i.
In the second clause of
3.
not to be taken as a genitive in has been by the Vulgate and Hitzig is
nm:a stands for P^T*!
s
diately afterwards. whereas in other cases the form |V3n
The
1
f^"
omitted simply because njn* follows n ?n, t se t down, here and ch. fs
? (ch.
imme xl.
usually employed
2
;
in
nvpsn appears to point back to ch. iii. 22, to the valley where Ezekiel received the first revelation concerning the fate of Jerusalem and its inhabitants.
this sense.
article prefixed to
That ^TOJ are dead men
s
bones
is
evident from what follows.
?\^ ^T^JtfJ, not He led me over them round about," but past them, in order that Ezekiel might have a clear view of them,
D
and
"
see
whether
They were
it
were possible for them
to
come
to life again.
lying upon the surface of the valley, i.e. not under, but upon the ground, and not piled up in a heap, but scattered
.
116
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
over the valley, and they were very dry. The question asked by God, whether these bones could live, or come to life again, prepares the
way
for the miracle
;
and Ezekiel
s
"
answer,
Lord,
Thou knowest" (cf. Rev. vii. 14), implies that, according to human judgment, it was inconceivable that they could come to life any more, and nothing but the omnipotence of God could effect this.
After this introduction there follows in vers. 4 sqq.
the miracle of the raising to life of these very dry bones, accomplished through the medium of the word of God, which
the prophet addresses to them, to show to the people that the power to realize itself is inherent in the word of Jehovah pro
claimed by Ezekiel
in other words, that
;
Jehovah possesses the
power to accomplish whatever He promises to His people. The word in ver. 5, Behold, I bring breath into you, that ye announces in general terms the raising of may come to "
life,"
them
to life, whilst the process itself
in ver. 6. flesh,
spirit
God
is
more minutely described
put on them (clothe them with) sinews,
will
and then put nvi in them, or breath = &*$ irn (Gen. vi. 17,
and
nvi is the
skin,
vii.
17).
animating D^iJ,
CLTT.
When
Ezekiel prophesied there arose or followed a sound (^P), and then a shaking (t?jn), and the bones approached one another, every bone to its own \ey. in Syriac incrustare, oMucere.
Different explanations have been given of the words pip and t^jn. ?ip signifies a sound or voice, and PJH a trembling,
bone.
an earthquake, and also a rumbling or a loud noise (compare The relation between the two words ch. iii. 12 and Isa. ix. 4). as they stand here
is
certainly not that the sound (?ip) passes
at once into a loud noise, or is continued in that form ; whilst The ttfin denotes the rattling or rustling of bones in motion. fact that the moving of the bones toward one another is repre
(with Vav consec.\ as the sequel to B^n, is Yet we cannot agree with Kliefoth, that decisive against this. the trumpet-blast, or voice of God, understand to we are by ?ip
sented by
12"]i?rn
that wakes the dead from
passages of the
New
their graves,
Testament which
according to those
treat of the resurrection,
CHAP. XXXVII.
117
1-14.
This earthquake which opens the graves. explanation is precluded, not only by the philological difficulty that ^1p without any further definition does not signify either
and by
t?jn
the
the blast of a trumpet or the voice of God, but also by the circumstance that the ?ip is the result of the prophesying of
Ezekiel
and we cannot suppose that God would make His
;
almighty dependent upon a prophet s prophesying. And even in the case of Wi, the reference to ch. xxxviii. 19 does call
not prove that the word must mean earthquake in this passage also, since Ezekiel uses the word in a different sense in ch. xii.
18 and
iii.
We
12.
of a loud noise,
and
therefore take
Ti
i>ip
in the general sense
in the sense of
shaking (so. of the the loud which was occasioned by noise, and produced, bones), or was followed by, the movement of the bones to approach
The coming
together of the bones was followed by their being clothed with sinews, flesh, and skin ; but there was not yet any breath in them (ver. 8). To give them this
one another.
the prophet is to prophesy again, and that to the breath, that it come from the four winds or quarters of the world and breathe into these slain (ver. 9). Then, when he prophesied, the breath
came upon
into them, so that they received their feet.
by
"wind,"
In
others
vers. 9
"spirit;"
and 10
life,
nvi is
and stood upright rendered by some
but neither of these
is
in con
nvi does not mean formity with what precedes it. anything else than the breath of life, which has indeed a substratum in
the wind, perceptible to the senses, but
The wind
is
not identical with
it.
brings no life into dead bodies. If, therefore, the dead bodies become living, receive life through the blowing itself
what enters into them by the blowing cannot be a symbol of the breath of life, but must be the breath of life itself namely, that divine breath of life which pervades
of the nvi into them,
all
Ps.
nature, giving civ.
Gen.
ii.
bones to
29, 30). 7.
The
life in
and sustaining the
life
of
all
creatures (cf.
OWina n3
The
points back to expression representation of the bringing of the dead
two
acts
may
also
be explained from the fact
118 that
Gen.
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. it
is
based upon the history of the creation of man in 1 Theodoret has observed, and serves plainly to
as
ii.,
depict the creative revivification here, like there, as a
work of the almighty God.
the
For a
first
creation
correct under
standing of the vision, it is also necessary to observe that in ver. 9 the dead bones, clothed with sinews, flesh, and skin, are called B^IL!, slain, killed, at once
from
this that
the resurrection of
all
and not merely dead.
It
is
apparent not intended to symbolize the dead, but simply the raising up of
our vision
is
the nation of Israel, which has been slain. This is borne out by the explanation of the vision which God gives to the prophet in vers.
1114, and
directs
dead bones are the given up "
These
to
"
bones"
in ver.
The
to repeat to the people.
whole house of Israel
"
that has been
w ords, Juclah and Ephraim. 11 are the same as in vers. 3 and 5, and
in
death;
him
other
r
not the bodies brought to life in ver. 10 ; though Hitzig main tains that they are the latter, and then draws the erroneous conclusion that vers. 11-14 do not interpret the vision of the first ten verses, but that the bones in the valley are simply explained in these verses as signifying the dead of Israel. It true that the further explanation in ver. 12 sqq. of what is described in vers. 5-10 as happening to the dead bones is not given in the form of an exposition of the separate details of
is
that occurrence, but
God
will
open
transport them
to their
own
But
1214.
words are not "
is
and
does not follow from
represented from what
Such a view to
be taken so
is
at
THEODORET.
it
;
is
announced
variance with
Adam was
we
first
so here also both
in
the words,
Even
Israel."
literally as that
For as the body of our forefather
the soul was thus breathed into harmony."
it
of their graves,
is
u these bones are the whole house of
1
announcement that
in the
them out
land.
announcement
something different vers.
summed up
merely an application of the the restoration of Israel to new life, and therefore that
this that the
vision to
is
their graves, bring
if
these
are to under*
moulded, and then combined in fitting
119
CHAP. XXXVII. 1-H.
stand that the prophet was shown in the vision the bones of the slain and deceased Israelites, but simply mean: these dead bones the nation of Israel in its represent the house of Israel, depict in the clearest terms so much state of death, they express the in which relation the explanation in vers. 12-14
concerning
stands to the visionary occurrence in vers. 4-10, namely, that
has shown to Ezekiel in the vision what
God him
He commands
12-14; in other words, that the bringing of the dead bones to life shown to him in the vision was intended to place visibly before him the announce
to
whole nation of Israel
or of the raisin o
death into which
the words
concerning Israel in vers.
it
had
fallen.
This
new
to
out of the
life
obvious enough from
is
JV3V3
these bones are the whole house of Israel.
:
^1^. points forward to the reunion of the tribes of Israel that It is are severed into two nations, as foretold in vers. 15sqq. D npx is neither they who speak in ver. lib. The subject to fonfc* but the the bones nor the dead of Israel (Hitzig),
n^3
already named, which says
is
our bones are dried,
:
i.e.
our vital force
is
marrow, or
same as r6a
substantially the
has perished (cf. ch. xix. into a nation once more. ourselves, sc. Isa.
liii.
To Lord
^
in the nijpn
tiiMJ
:
"
it is all
psalm
we
open life
into them,
Bfr, to
Our hope
(I.e.).
here the hope of rising literally, we are cut off for living (cf.
over with
their graves, bring
and
is
the people speaking thus, Ezekiel will
;
vital sap of the bones, is
from the sphere of the
8), equivalent to
breath of If
5).
The bones
gone.
are the seat of the vital force, as in Ps. xxxii. 3
dry up, applied to the
All Israel
also addressed in ver. 12.
is
to
iii.
54
;
us."
announce that the
them out
and lead them
Lam.
of them, put His
own
into their
land.
observe the relation in which vers. 12 and 13 stand to
ver. 14, namely, parallel to the
that the two halves of the 14th verse are
two verses 12 and 13, the clause
"
:
<3
Dnyri
to the similar clause in ver. 13, there
can be no
doubt that the contents of ver. 14a also correspond ver. 12 that is to say, that the words, put
to those of
in ver.
146
"I
my
breath
120
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
(Spirit) into yon, that "
land
ye may
live,
and place you in your own same as
to rest therein), affirm essentially the
(bring you I bring you out of your graves, and lead you into the words, with this simple difference, that the bringing the land of Israel out of the graves is explained and rendered more emphatic by "
;"
the more definite idea of causing them to live through the breath or Spirit of God put into them, and the fc^an by the n"lin,
by the transporting and bringing them to rest therein. Consequently we are not to understand by flnj DD1 mi either a divine act differing from the raising of the leading into the land
<i
dead
to life, or the
communication of the Holy Spirit
tinguished from the imparting of the breath of life, nn ? which Spirit of Jehovah, is identical with the
as dis nvi,
the
comes, according to vers. 9 and 10, into the bones of the dead when clothed with sinews, flesh, and skin, i.e. is breathed into them.
This
breath of
the creative principle both of the physical and of the ethical or spiritual life. Consequently there are not three things announced in these verses, but only
two
spirit or
The
life is
raising to life from a state of death,
by bringing out of the graves, and communicating the divine Spirit of life (2) the leading back to their own land to rest quietly therein. :
(1)
;
therefore, Kliefoth explains these verses as signifying that for the consolation of Israel, which is mourning hopelessly in its
When,
existing state of death,
That
at
God
"
some future time
the literal sense, that
its
it
directs the prophet to say
(1)
will experience a resurrection in
graves will be opened, and that all its still alive, will be raised up out
dead, those deceased with those of their graves;
land; and
He
will
(2) that
(3) that
God
when He
will place them in their own has so placed them in their land,
put His Spirit within them that they
may
live
:
in the
point the idea of the future resurrection, both of those deceased and of those still living, is interpolated into the text ;
first
point, placing them in their land before they are brought to life by the Spirit of God, would be at variance with the text, according to which the giving of the Spirit
and in the third
CHAP. XXXVII.
121
1-14.
precedes the removal to their own land. The repetition of vsy in vers. 12 and 13 is also worthy of notice you who are my :
people, which bases the comforting promise
upon the
fact that
the people of Jehovah. If, therefore, our vision does not set forth the resurrection of
Israel
is
the dead in general, but simply the raising to of Israel
which
to death,
life
of the nation
given up only right that, in order still further to establish this view, we should briefly examine the other explanations that have been given. The is
Fathers and most
of
it
is
the orthodox
commentators, both of ancient and modern times, have found in vers. 1-10 a locus
and
classicus for the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead,
that quite correctly. strict
But
meaning and design
their views differ widely as to the
of the vision itself
;
inasmuch as some
regard the vision as a direct and immediate prophecy of the general resurrection of the dead at the last day, whilst others take the raising of the dead to
life
shown
to the prophet in the
vision to be merely a figure or type of the life
of the Israel
view
more
which
is
now dead
in its
mentioned by Jerome but in especially defended by Calov, and
is
;
waking up
to
The
captivity.
later times it has last of all
new first
been
most decidedly
by Kliefoth. Yet the supporters of this view acknowledge that vers. 11-14 predict the raising to life of the nation of Israel.
The
question arises, therefore,
how
this
prediction
is
be
to
harmony with such an explanation of the vision. brought The persons noticed by Jerome, who supported the view that into
in vers.
4-10
sought
to
it
is
the general resurrection that
remove the
difficulties to
exposed, by taking the words, of
Israel,"
as
"
which
is
spoken
first
by interpreting the leading of
is
these bones are the whole house
referring to the resurrection of the saints,
connecting them with the
of,
this explanation
resurrection in Rev. xx. 5, Israel
back
as equivalent to the inheriting of the earth
to
their
and
and
own land
mentioned in Matt,
Calov, on the other hand, gives the following explanation of the relation in which vers. 11-14 stand to vers. 1-10: In
v. 5.
"
122
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
this striking vision there
was shown by the Lord
the resurrection of the dead
to the prophet
but the occasion, the cause, and the
;
scope of this vision were the resurrection of the Israelitish people,
much
not so
into its earlier political form, as for the restoration
of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the establishment of the worship of God, both of which were indeed restored in the time
were
of Zerubbabel, but
coming
of Jesus
the dead
have
is
first
He
Christ."
brought to perfection at the assumes that the raising of
also
represented in the vision,
"because
this representation exhibited for a figure
of the
of the restitution
people."
And
God would
and confirmation
lastly,
according to
Kliefoth, vers. 11-14 do not furnish a literal exposition of the
but simply
make an
application of it to the bringing of cannot Israel to regard either of these views as correct, because neither of them does justice to the words of vision,
life.
The
the text.
We
idea of the Fathers, that vers.
11-14
treat of
the resurrection of the saints (believers), cannot be reconciled either with the words or with the context of our prophecy, And the assump and has evidently originated in perplexity.
Calov and Kliefoth, that vers. 11-14 contain simply an application of the general resurrection of the dead exhibited in
tion of
vers.
110
to the resurrection of Israel,
the meaning of the words,
"
by no means exhausts
these bones are the whole house of
we have
already observed in our remarks on ver. 11. Moreover, in the vision itself there are certain features to be found which do not apply to the general resurrection of the Israel,"
dead.
as
In proof of
this,
we
will not lay
any
stress
upon the
circumstance that Ezekiel sees the resurrection of the dead only the dead men s bones and not the dead of the lying about in one particular valley, whole earth, though a very great army, that he sees come to within certain limits
;
that
it
is
we must press the fact that again ; but, on the other hand, in ver. 9 those who are to be raised to life are called &WL!, a life
word which does not signify the dead those
who have been
slain, or
of all kinds, but simply
have perished by the sword, by
CHAP, XXXVII.
123
1-14.
by other violent deaths, and which indisputably proves that Ezekiel was not shown the resurrection of all the dead, but simply the raising to life of Israel, which had been famine, or
Kliefoth would account for
swept away by a violent death. this restriction to the prophet.
from the purpose for which the vision was shown Because the design of the vision was to com
fort Israel concerning the wretchedness of its existing condition,
and that wretchedness consisted for the most part in the fact had perished by sword, famine,
that the greater portion of Israel
and
pestilence,
he was shown the resurrection of the dead
generally and universally, as it would take place not in the case of the Israelites alone, but in that of all the dead, though here confined within the limits of one particular field of dead ; and stress is laid upon the circumstance that the dead which Ezekiel
saw raised
omnium, were such as had met with a This explanation would be admissible, if only
to life instar
violent death.
it had been indicated or expressed in any way whatever, that the bones of the dead which Ezekiel saw lying about in the But we find nyp:i represented all the dead of the whole earth.
no such indication
;
and because
in the
whole vision there
is
not a single feature contained which would warrant any such generalization of the field of the dead which Ezekiel saw, we are constrained to affirm that the dead
men s
bones seen by
Ezekiel in the valley represent the whole house of Israel alone, and not the deceased and slain of all mankind and that the ;
vision does not set forth the resurrection of all the dead, but
only the raising to
given up
life
of the nation of Israel which
had been
to death.
Consequently we can only regard the figurative view of the though this also has been adopted in
vision as the correct one,
very different ways.
When Jerome
says that Ezekiel
"
is
pro phesying of the restoration of Israel through the parable of the resurrection," and in order to defend himself from the charge of denying the dogma of the resurrection of the dead, adds that a the similitude of a resurrection would never have been
124
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
employed to exhibit the restoration of the Israelitish people, if that resurrection had been a delusion, and it had not been believed that
it
would
really take place
;"
because no one con
by means of things which have no
firms uncertain things existence
;
Havernick very justly
replies, that the resurrection
not to be so absolutely regarded as a dogma already completed and defined, or as one universally known and having its roots in the national belief; though Havernick of the dead
is
support of this that the despair of the people described in ver. 11 plainly shows that so general a is
wrong
in affirming in
belief cannot possibly be presupposed.
same despair
at times
when
faith in
For we
find just the
the resurrection of the
dead was a universally accepted dogma. The principal error connected with this view is the assumption that the vision was merely a parable formed by Ezekiel in accordance with the dogma of the resurrection of the dead. If, on the contrary, the vision was a spiritual intuition produced by God in the soul of the prophet, it might set forth the resurrection of the
dead, even if the belief in this dogma had no existence as yet in the consciousness of the people, or at all events was not yet a living faith ; and God might have shown to the prophet the raising of Israel to life under this figure, for the purpose of 1
In that case, however, the awakening this belief in Israel. vision was not merely a parable, but a symbolical representation of a real fact, 1
No
which was
to serve as a pledge to the nation of
conclusive evidence can be adduced that the doctrine of the resur
was not only known to Ezekiel, but was regarded by the people as indisputably sure, as both Hengstenberg (Christology, vol. III. Such p. 51, transl.) and Pareau (Comment, de immortal, p. 109) assume. passages as Isa. xxv. 8 and xxvi. 19, even if Ezekiel referred to them, rection of the dead
merely prove that the belief or hope of the resurrection of the dead could not be altogether unknown to the believers of Israel, because Isaiah had But the obvious announcement of this dogma in already declared it. Dan. xii. 2 belongs to a later period than our vision and even Daniel does ;
not speak of it as a belief that prevailed throughout the nation, but simply communicates it as a consolation offered by the angel of the Lord in anticipation of the times of severe calamity awaiting the people of God.
CHAP. XXXVII.
its
restoration to
truth
when he
vision
:
that
"
125
1-14.
Theodoret comes much nearer
life.
to the
gives the following as his explanation of the on account of the unbelief of the Jews in exile, who
were despairing of their restoration, the almighty God makes known His might and the resurrection of the dead bodies, ;
which was much more
difficult
than their restoration, is shown may be taught
the prophet, in order that all the nation thereby that everything is easy to His will to
x ;"
and when,
a type not of accordingly, he calls what occurs in the vision the calling to life of the Jews only, but also of the resurrection "
of
all
The only
men."
defect in this
is,
that Theodoret regards
the dead bones which are brought to life too much as a figura tive representation of any dead whatever, and thereby does the neither to these bones are the whole house justice words, "
of
Israel,"
which he paraphrases by TUTTO? rov Io-parj\ Tavra, nor them as Own, though it may fairly
to the designation applied to
be pleaded as a valid excuse so far as D Onn is concerned, that the force of this word has been completely neutralized in the Septuagint, upon which he was commenting, by the rendering Havernick has interpreted the vision in row? vercpovs TOVTOVS. a much more abstract manner, and evaporated it into the general idea of a symbolizing of the creative, life-giving power of God, which can raise even the bones of again.
His exposition
but this
is
the dead to
life
is the There is no express following: of the resurrection in these prediction words, whether of a resurrection or of the resurrection of Israel ; general particular
only thought of here, inasmuch as
creative activity of
death as this 1
is
</huv
to
it rests upon the which even such a conquest of
2
ol
TUV
God,
possible."
His words are these 6
"
Qtog
:
t%
t7rtt%v)
1%
yoip
o<
%v tvwovv d^iaria.y r/x; wwroripotg yevottevoi, rY,v olxstxy
^lov^otiot; ctixpct haToii
STriQsixvvffi
^vvocf^iu,
ovaw huTtpce. J ruv vtxpav au^otruv x,i 2
B/
fxetvov
irai/Toc, tiiQoujKti
TV,V
sroAAw rqg S7^iQeix,i>va(
TQV Aaoy, u; nav-rot, avrij) paoioc.
The view expressed by Hofmann
a kindred one, namely, that
x.u.1
duotcrrotorj
it is
(Sckriftbeweis, II. 2, pp. 507 sqq.) is not the future resurrection of the dead, or
126
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The to the
calling to life of the thoroughly dried
prophet in the vision,
of that which the
namely, that
He
will
is
dead bones shown
a figure or visible representation
Lord announces
to
bring Israel out of
him
in
vers.
1114,
graves, give it life with His breath, and bring it into its own land ; and conse quently a figure of the raising of Israel to life from its existing state of death.
its
The opening of the graves is also a figure for Lord will bring out of their graves are they ;
those
whom
who
Our bones are dried," etc. (ver. 11), and therefore who are deceased, nor even the spiritually dead, but who have lost ail hope of life. We are not, however,
the
"
say,
not those those to
understand by this merely mors civilis and vita civilis, as For Israel was destroyed, not only politi
Grotius has done.
cally as a nation, but spiritually as a
church of the Lord,
through the destruction of its two kingdoms and its dispersion among the heathen ; and in a very large number of its members it had also been given up to the power of physical death and
sunk into the grave. who were deceased,
Even
we keep
out of sight those Israel, as the people of God, was slain without any hope of coming to life again, or a resurrec (^"in), But the Lord now shows the prophet this tion to new life. then,
if
resurrection under the figure of the raising to life of the very
dry bones that
lie
scattered
all
around.
This
is
fulfilled
through the restoration of Israel as the people of Jehovah, to which the leading of the people back into the land of Israel essentially belongs.
The way was opened and
prepared for
by the return of a portion of the people from the Babylonian captivity under Zerubbabel and Ezra, which was
this fulfilment
the resurrection of the deceased Israelites, which is indicated in the vision, and that it does not even set forth to view the unconditioned power of God over death, or an idea which is intended as a pledge of the resurrection of the dead
;
but that by the revelation made manifest to the prophet in the
state of ecstasy, the completeness of that state of death out of which Israel is to be restored is exhibited, and thus the truth is set before his eyes that
the word of prophecy has the inherent power to ensure its own fulfilment, even when Israel is in a condition which bears precisely the same resem
blance to a nation as the state of death to a
human
being.
CHAP. XXXVII.
127
1-14.
brought to pass by the Lord, by the rebuilding of the cities of Judah and the temple which had been destroyed, and by the
But
restoration of political order.
all
this
was nothing more
than a pledge of the future and complete restoration of Israel.
For although the Lord still raised up prophets for those who had returned and furthered the building of His house, His glory did not enter the newly erected temple, and the people
never attained to independence again, that is to say, not to permanent independence, but continued in subjection to the imperial power of the heathen. And even if, according to Ezra, very
many more
land,
by whom,
of the exiles
may have returned
was repopulated and
Galilee
for example,
to their native
brought into cultivation again, the greater portion of the nation
The true Lord commenced with
remained dispersed among the heathen. of Israel as the people of the ing of the new kingdom of God, the
"
kingdom
restoration
the found
of
heaven,"
But inas through the appearing of Christ upon the earth. much as the Jewish nation as such, or in its entirety, did not acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Messiah foretold by the pro phets and sent by God, but rejected its Saviour, there burst afresh upon Jerusalem and the Jewish nation the judgment of dispersion
among
the heathen
;
God
whereas the kingdom of
founded by Christ spread over the earth, through the entrance of believers from among the Gentiles. This judgment upon the Jewish people, which is hardened in unbelief, still con tinues, and will continue until the time when the full number of the Gentiles has entered into the as a people shall also
One
crucified
(Eom.
xi.
as its Saviour,
Then
25, 26).
of its graves, the graves of
brought back into Israel of
in
which
God
Israel
own
and bow the knee before
will
all
Israel"
Him
be raised up out
political
and
spiritual death,
land, which
will
extend as far as the
its
inhabits the earth.
Then
also will the
and
hour come
the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, forth out of their graves to the resurrection (Dan.
all
and come
its
kingdom of God, and
be converted to Christ, acknowledge the
128
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
v. 25-29); when the Lord shall appear in His from heaven with the trump of God and descend glory, all the dead to life, and Thess. iv. to call 16), (1 through the
xii.
2; John
judgment upon all the nations to perfect His kingdom in glory, and bring the righteous into the Canaan of the new earth, into the heavenly Jerusalem, to the imperishable life of
everlasting blessedness.
All these several factors in the restoration of Israel, which has been given up to the death of exile on account of its sins, though far removed from one another, so far as the time of
concerned, are grouped together as one in the vision of the coming to life of the dead bones of the whole their occurrence
house of Israel.
is
The two
features which are kept distinct in
the visionary description namely, (1) the coming together of the dry bones, and their being clothed with sinews, flesh, and and (2) the bringing to life of the bones, which have skin ;
now
the form of corpses, through the divine breath of
are not to be distinguished in the
life
manner proposed by Heng-
stenberg, namely, that the first may be taken as referring to the external restitutio in the restoration of the civil condition
integrum; the second, to the giving of
new
through the Even according to our view, life
outpouring of the Spirit of God. the vision contains a prophecy of the resurrection of the dead, only not in this sense, that the doctrine of the general resurrec tion of the
dead
is
the premiss, or the design, or the direct
but that the figurative meaning consti tutes the foreground, and the full, literal meaning of the words
meaning
of the vision
;
the background of the prophetic vision, and that the fulfilment the advances from the figurative to the literal meaning,
up of the people of Israel out of the civil and spiritual death of exile being completed in the raising up of the dead out of their graves to everlasting life at the last day.
raising
CHAP. XXXVIL
129
15-28.
Vers. 15-28. Reunion of Israel as one Nation under the future King David.
This word of
God
the reunion of the tribes of Israel, into
two kingdoms
by a sign which have been divided
directs the prophet to represent
(vers. 15-17),
and
to explain this sign to
the people (vers. 18-21), and predict its sanctification and blessedness under the reign of the future David (vers. 22-28).
What
is
new
word of God
in this
the express prediction,
is
embodied in a symbolical action, of the reunion of the divided tribes of Israel into one single people of God, which has been already hinted at in the promise of the raising to
whole house of
Israel"
plainly expressed
is
"
the
here
fully developed.
And the word of And thou, son of man,
Ver. 15.
Ver. 16.
of
This brief indication
(ver. 11).
and more
life
Jehovah came
to
me, saying,
take to thyself a piece of wood,
and write upon it : Of Judah, and the sons of Israel, his asso ciates ; and take another piece of wood, and write upon it : Of Joseph, the wood of Ephraim, and the whole house of Israel, his associates
Ver. 17.
;
And
put them
together, one to the other,
one piece of wood to thee, that they may be united in thy hand. Ver. 18. And iclien the sons of thy people say to thee,
into
Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by
this ? Ver. 19. Say Thus saith the Lord I will take the them, Jehovah, Behold, wood of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his associates, which I put thereon, with the wood oj Judah, and will make them into one stick, that they may be one
to
in
my
Ver. 20.
hand.
And
hast written shall be in thy
And
say
to
them,
Thus
the pieces
of wood upon which thou their eyes. Ver. 21.
hand before
saith the
Lord Jehovah, Behold, I
will
among whom they walk, from round about, and lead them into their land. Ver. 22. / will make them into one nation in the land, the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king over them upon all ; and it shall not become two nations any more, and they shall
take the sons of Israel out of the nations
and
will gather them
EZEK.
II.
I
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
130
not henceforth be divided into two kingdoms any more; Ver. 23.
And
shall not defile themselves by their idols
and by
tions,
all their transgressions
all their dwelling-places,
cleanse them
God.
and
;
And my
servant
be a shepherd for them all
and keep
my
dwell in the land which
them for
ever.
them for
ever,
will place them,
;
Israel,
The
will
be their
will
walk in
Ver. 25.
And
my
rights,
they will
to
and
and multiply them, and put Ver. 27.
midst of them, for ever.
And my
God, and they shall know that I nation
will be their
the
and
and I will
will be king over them,
and they
I
abomina
help them from
my servant David will be a prince to Ver. 26. And I make a covenant of peace with an everlasting covenant shall be with them ; and I
children for ever
And
their
gave my servant Jacob, in which dwelt; there will they dwell, and their children s
their fathers
them; I
;
my people,
David
and do them.
statutes
and
I will
in which they have sinned,
so that they shall be
Ver. 24.
;
but
when my sanctuary symbolical action
will be
am
my
sanctuary in the dwelling will be over
my people.
Ver. 28.
Jehovah, who sanctifieth
shall be in the midst
commanded
the prophet no doubt performed in
in vers.
all its
of them for ever. 16 and 17, which
external reality (cf.
easily understood, and expresses the thing to be represented in the clearest manner. The writing of the names of the tribes composing the two kingdoms recalls to
vers.
19 and 20),
mind the But the
is
similar act
act itself
on the part of Moses (Num. xvii. 17 sqq.). a different one here, and neither the
is
passage referred to nor Ezek. xxi. 15 furnishes any proof that Y$ signifies a staff or rod. Ezekiel would undoubtedly have
used ntSD for a
staff.
Nor have we even
to think of flat boards,
but simply of pieces of wood upon which a few words could be The before written, and which could be held in one hand.
names to be written upon each piece of wood is the sign of the genitive, indicating to whom it belongs, as in the case of the heading to David s psalms (TT$) This is evident from the
the
fact that in
name
is
D^BK yy
the construct state
to indicate that the piece of
is
used instead.
wood belongs
to
The
Judah
or
CHAP. XXXVII.
131
15-28.
Ephraim, and represents it. The command to Ezekiel to write the sons of upon one piece of wood, not only Judah, but that the circumstance Israel, his associates," arose from the "
kingdom
Judah
of
included, in addition to the tribe of Judah,
the greater portion of Benjamin and Simeon, the tribe of Levi and those pious Israelites who emigrated at different times from the kingdom of the ten tribes into that of Judah, who either were or became associates of Judah (2 Chron. xi. 12 sqq., xv. 9, xxx. 11, 18, xxxi. 1).
piece of wood, 0^?^?
YV.
is
In the writing upon the second an explanatory apposition to
and an accusative governed by
But the command
3TI3.
to be understood as signifying that Ezekiel
was
*|DVv, is
not
to write the
words DnDN Y$ upon the piece of wood all that he was to write was, "Joseph and the whole house of Israel, his asso ;
The name
ciates."
as
of Joseph
is
chosen, in
probability, not
all
the more honourable name, as Havernick
supposes, but
because the house of Joseph, consisting of the two powerful tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, formed the trunk of the
kingdom of the ten
tribes (Kliefoth).
The
"
whole house of
are the rest of the tribes belonging to associates," that kingdom. The two pieces of wood, with these inscrip
Israel, his
upon them, Ezekiel is to put together, and hold in his hand bound together in one. v nN"nD what these (two pieces of wood) are to thee, is equivalent to, what thou meanest tions
J
to indicate
the
word
Joseph
by them.
is
For the
rest,
compare ch. xxiv. 19.
In
God
explaining the action (ver. 19), the wood of not the piece of wood with Joseph s name written
of
upon it, but the kingdom represented by this piece of wood which was in Ephraim s hand, inasmuch as the hegemony was with the tribe of Ephraim. Instead of the wood, therefore, the tribes (not staffs) of Israel, i.e. the Israelites who consti tuted these tribes, are mentioned as his associates.
God
will
put these upon the wood of Joseph (I^V), i.e. will join them together, and then place them with the wood of Judah, i.e. the kingdom of Judah, and unite them into one wood (or nation).
132
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL the construction of which has been misunderstood
by Hitzig, and
is
neither in apposition to vi y, nor governed
by
put them thereupon, upon the wood of Judah" and I add them to it, (namely) with Kliefoth), or, (Hitzig the wood of Judah (De Wette) ; but it is dependent upon :
"Jinj
will
"
"
"
fi|?/,
I take the wood of Joseph ... and the tribes of Israel, which I put thereon, along with the wood of
his associates,
Judah, and make them into one
wood."
The
construction
is
rendered obscure simply by the fact that the relative clause, "which I put thereon," is attached to the principal clause f
OK by Vav
U1 Pif6 hand"
there
is
consec.
probably an
In ^2,
"
they shall be one in my T3, those who
antithesis to B.^SK
have come into Ephraim s hand, the tribes severed by Ephraim from the kingdom of God, will God once more bring together In with Judah, and hold in His hand as an undivided nation. ver. 20 the description of the sign is completed by the addi
wood on which the prophet has written are to be in his hand before their eyes, and conse quently that the prophet is to perform the act in such a way
tional statement, that the pieces of
countrymen may see it; from which it follows that he The fulfilment of the performed it in its outward reality. that his
instructions is not specially mentioned, as being self-evident
;
but in vers. 21-28 the further explanation of the symbolical action is given at once ; and the interpretation goes beyond the symbol, inasmuch as
God
He
will effect the
it
not only describes the
union of the divided
manner
tribes,
in
which
but also what
do for the preservation of the unity of the reunited of their blessedness. This people, and for the promotion will
the repetition explanation is arranged in two strophes through u of the concluding thought : they will be my people," etc., in vers.
Each
23 and 27.
The
of these strophes contains a twofold
(vers. 21-23) promises (a) the gathering of promise. the Israelites out of their dispersion, their restoration to their
own
land,
David
and
first
union as one nation under the rule of
their
(vers. 21, 22)
;
(b) their purification
from
all
sins,
and
133
CHAF. XXXVII. 15-28.
sanctification as the true people of the
Lord
The
(ver. 23).
second strophe (vers. 24-27) promises (a) their undisturbed
David their prince (ver. 25); conferred upon them through the conclusion (b) the blessedness
eternal abode in the land, under
of an everlasting covenant of peace (vers. 26
and 27).
This
second promise, therefore, constitutes the completion of the first,
securing to the nation of Israel
cation for all time.
The whole
its
restoration
promise, however,
and is
sanctifi
merely a
repetition of that contained in ch. xxxiv. 11-31 and xxxvi. 22-30.
The
the gathering out of the nations, restora form the tion to the land of Israel, and reunion as one people union of first act of divine The the Israelites, when grace. three factors
brought back to their land, in
David a king who
will not
doms.
is
accomplished by
God
giving them
will so rule the reunited people that
they be divided any more into two peoples and two king The Chetib HYP is not to be altered into the plural
VIT, as in the
Keri ; but ^3
to
is
be supplied in thought, from
the preceding clause, as the subject to the verb. The division of the nation into two kingdoms had its roots, no doubt, in the
ancient jealousy existing between the two tribes
Ephraim and
was primarily brought to pass through the Judah; falling away of Solomon from the Lord. Consequently it could only be completely and for ever terminated through the but
it
righteous government of the second David, and the purification of the people from their sins. is
xxxvi. 25. "
words,
I help
they have
For
This
is
the
way
in
which
ver.
23
23a compare ch. xiv. 11 and Different interpretations have been given of the
attached to ver. 22.
them from
sinned."
help them from in that case,
"
They
ver.
all
their dwelling-places, in
recall to
mind
all their uncleannesses."
which
ch. xxxvi. 29,
As
"
I
IP Vy*in signifies,
to preserve therefrom," so in the present instance
the thought can only be,
"
God
will preserve
them from
all
the
which they have sinned." Hengstenberg is of opinion that the redemption from the dwelling-places does dwelling-places in
not take place locally, but spiritually, through the cleansing
134
away
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. of
all
traces of sin, first
consequence, from
around.
all
from the
In
this
hearts,
way
and then,
in
the land changed,
is
through the power of the Lord, into another land, from a sinful to a holy one ; just as before it had been changed from a holy to a sinful one through the guilt of the people. But if this
were the only thought which the words contained, Ezekiel
would certainly have placed the DrriK W.ncn before W tfiypim. As the words read, the deliverance of the people from their sinful dwelling-places
the
for
it
to precede their purification, to prepare
is
and bring
way The dwelling-places,
it
to pass,
and not
to follow after
it.
which they have sinned, cannot be the settlements in foreign lands, as Hitzig supposes, but only the dwelling-places in Canaan, to which the Lord would at or in
bring them after gathering them from their dispersion. V ^n does not signify, leading out from these dwelling-places," which is the explanation given by Kliefoth, who consequently "
we must understand the words as denoting the of Israel from the present Canaan, or the Canaan over leading of this life, to which its sins adhere, to the glorified, new, and This view is utterly irreconcilable both with eternal Canaan. thinks that
the words themselves and also with the context.
meant
to lead out,
it
Even
if
JK2>in
would not be allowable to transform the
sinful Canaan into a leading in" to leading and the glorified heavenly Canaan. Moreover, the further "
out"
development of
from the
this
"
promise in ver. 25 also shows that
in the glorified, eternal
Canaan that
Israel
is
it is
not
to dwell, but in
It is obvious the earthly Canaan in which its fathers dwelt. from this, that in all the promise here given there is no allusion to a transformation
and
glorification of
Canaan
itself.
The
helping or saving from all dwelling-places in which they have sinned would rather consist in the fact, therefore, that God
would remove from
their dwelling-places everything that could
For although sin has its to sin. in the heart, the external without but us, seat, not in the things circumstances of a man do offer various inducements to sin. offer
them an inducement
CHAP. XXXVII.
135
15-28.
Before the captivity, Canaan offered such an inducement to the Israelites through the idolatry and moral corruption of the Canaanites this the
who were
brought back
to
And
left in the land.
Lord promises
with reference to
when His people are preserve them from the sinful
that in future,
He
Canaan,
will
But
influence of their dwelling-places.
this preservation will
God
only be effected with complete success when Israel itself, and,
from the heart
sinful desire
way wnzpl
by means
is
appended
in the
Through the removal of and the purifying of the
of
its
(cf. ch.
most
all sinful
purifies
renovation, eradicates all xxxvi. 26, 27).
fitting
way
to
til
In
this
ViyBJirn.
from around them, then become in truth
influences
heart, Israel will
the people of God, and Jehovah the God of Israel (ver. 23). Israel, when thus renewed, will walk in the rights of the Lord
His commandments, under the protection of its one shepherd David, i.e. of the Messiah (ver. 24, cf. ch. xxxvi. 27, and xxxiv. 23) and its children and children s children will
and
fulfil
;
own
dwell for ever in
its
(ver. 25, cf. ch.
xxxvi. 28
which
this promise,
contained in
is
land,
David being
its
prince for ever
and xxxiv. 24). What is new in repeated from ch. xxxiv. and xxxvi., is
D^$, which
is
to
be taken in the
strict sense of
Neither the dwelling of Israel in Canaan, nor the government of the David-Messiah, will ever have an end.
the word.
therefore repeated in ver. 26 in the promise of the The covenant which the Lord will make with His people. D^ijA is
thought
has already been expressed in ch. xxxiv. 25, and to be understood, both here and there, as compre
itself
Dife Tina
is
the saving good which the Lord will bestow upon hending His sanctified people. There are only two factors of this salva all
tion
mentioned here in vers. 2Gb and 27, namely, the multipli
cation of the people, as the earthly side of the divine blessing,
and the establishing of His eternal sanctuary in the midst of them as the spiritual side. These two points refer back to the former acts of God, and hold up to view the certain and full realization in the future of what has hitherto been neither per-
136
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
permanently accomplished on account of the sins of the people. DW3*, i n V er. 26, is not to be taken in connection fectly nor
with
Dnitf W3"?, so as to
form one idea in the sense of dabo
(Venema and Hengstenberg), for we have no such a mode of combination but BW?, I make,
eos multiplicatos
; analogies of or place them, is to be taken by itself, and completed from the I make them into a nation, and I multiply them (cf. context, "
Ezekiel has here Lev. xxvi. 9 and 11
ch. xxxvi. 10, 11, 37).
we may
in his mind, as
give
my sanctuary in
see
from the
the midst of
fact that the words,
them
for
ever,"
"
I
are obviously
formed after Lev. xxvi. 11, I give my dwelling in the midst in such a manner, however, that by the substitution of them "
"
;
Wj?& for ^SEte, and the addition of D^V?, the promise is both deepened and strengthened. In the change of ^3^? into indeed have had the words of Ex. xxv. 8 floating *K*jj?D, he may
of
make me a sanctuary, that I may nevertheless he deliberately selected the to indicate that the Lord would sanctuary,"
before his mind,
"
they shall
among them ;
dwell
"
my expression dwell in the midst of Israel as the "
Holy One, and the Sanctifier words the are not, His of my dwelling Moreover, people. will be in the midst of them, or among them" (D?taa), but "
This expression is transferred from the site of the temple, towering above the city (Ps. Ixviii. 30), to the dwelling of God among His people, to give prominence to the &iTh?, over
protective Israel (cf.
them.
power and saving grace of the God who rules in The sanctuary Hengstenberg on Ps. Ixviii. 30).
which Jehovah
will give in Israel for ever,
cause to endure, that
and
He may
bless, is the temple,
As an
babel.
found and
will
it
to shelter
but not the temple built by ZerubJewish interpretation, Jerome
objection to this
has justly said:
when
i.e.
dwell in the midst of
"
but
how
could
it
be said to stand
for
ever,
that temple which was built in the time of Zerubbabel,
and afterwards restored by many
Roman
others,
was consumed by
All these things are to be taken as referring to fire ? the church in the time of the Saviour, when His tabernacle
CHAP. XXXVII.
was placed
in the
There
church."
137
15-28.
is
no reference whatever
here to the rebuilding of the temple by Zerubbabel; not because that temple did not stand for ever and was destroyed by the Romans, but chiefly because God did not make it His abode, or
The
fill
this
temple with His gracious presence (Shechinah). will place for ever among His people
sanctuary which God
the sanctuary seen by Ezekiel in ch. merely a figurative representation of the is
xl. "
sqq.
;
and
dwelling of
this is
God
in
the midst of His people through His Son and Holy Spirit" (cf. Vitringa, Observv. I. p. 161), which began to be realized in the
incarnation of the Logos, who is set forth in John i. 14 as the true I?f P, in the words eV^z/wcrez/ eV rjfuv, and is continued in the spiritual dwelling of iii.
16, vi. 19),
and
our Lord in the
new Jerusalem,
"
God
in the heart of believers (1 Cor.
be completed at the second coming of tabernacle (a-Krjvrj) of God with men of the will
"
Lord God Almighty and the first have become in truth the people of God, and Jehovah (God with them) xxi. their God (Rev. The promise concludes in ver. 28 3, 22).
Lamb
of which the
are the temple, since Israel will then
with an allusion to the impression which these acts of make upon the heathen (cf. ch. xxxvi. 36).
Israel will
God in From
the fact that Jehovah erects His sanctuary in the midst of Israel for ever, they will learn that it is He who sanctifieth B*|E, to sanctify,
Israel.
means,
"
to
remove from
tion either with sin or with its consequences.
ence
is
dation"
Here the
refer
because these alone strike the eyes of the but the former is presupposed as the necessary foun
;
The words rest upon the promises where God describes Himself as He who
(Hengstenberg).
of the Pentateuch,
xxii.
connec
to the latter,
heathen
will
all
and does sanctify Israel (compare Ex. xxxi. 13; Lev. This promise, which has hitherto been only 3133).
imperfectly fulfilled on account of Israel fectly realized in the future,
when
of the Lord, renewed
Spirit of
Thus
by the
s
guilt, will
Israel will
walk
be per
in the
ways
God.
does this prophecy of Ezekiel span the whole future of
THE PEOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
138 the people of it
God even
But the promise
to eternity.
Lord
culminates, namely, that the
will erect
in which
His sanctuary
His restored people, and there take up His abode above them for ever (ch. xxxvii. 26 sqq.), is of importance
in the midst of
as helping to decide the question,
fulfilment of the restoration to
the fathers, which
is
how we
Canaan
promised to
all
manner, by the restoration of the
are to understand the
into the land given to
Israel
;
whether, in a
literal
Israelites to Palestine
;
or
spiritually, by the gathering together of the Israelites converted to the Lord their God and Saviour, and their introduction into
the
kingdom
of
God founded by
as the site of the
Christ, in
Old Testament kingdom
which case Canaan, of God, would be a
symbolical or typical designation of the earthly soil of the heavenly kingdom, which has appeared in the Christian church.
These two different views have stood opposed to one another from time immemorial, inasmuch as the Jews expect from the Messiah, for whose advent they still hope, not only their restora tion to Palestine, but the erection of the kingdom, of David and the rebuilding of the temple upon Mount Zion, together with the sacrificial worship of the Levitical law; whereas in the Christian church, on the ground of the New Testament doc trine, that the old
covenant has been abolished along with the
Levitical temple-worship through the perfect fulfilment of the
law by Christ and the perpetual efficacy of His atoning sacri fice, the view has prevailed that, with the abolition of the Old
Testament form of the kingdom of God, even Palestine has ceased to be the chosen land of the revelation of the saving grace of God, and under the new covenant Canaan extends as far as the Israel of the new covenant, the church of Jesus Christ, is spread abroad over the earth, and that Zion or Jeru
salem spirit
Christendom worships God in and in truth, wherever Christ is with His people, and is
to be sought wherever
dwells in the hearts of believers through the
Holy
Spirit.
was by J. A. Bengel and C. F. Oetinger that the "
"
realistic
It
so-called
interpretation of the Messianic prophecies of the
139
CHAP. XXXVII. 15-23.
Old Testament
according to which, after the future conver
sion to Christ of the Jewish people
who
establishment of the kingdom of
God
Jerusalem
capital
made
to
is
be expected
are hardened in
still,
the
Palestine and
its
has been revived and
into one of the leading articles of Christian hope.
means
of this
the chiliastic
"
"
exposition of the prophetic
realistic
By word
of the establishment of a
kingdom of glory before the last judgment and the end of the world is then de duced from the twentieth chapter of the Apocalypse ; and many
dogma
of the theologians of our day regard this as the certain resultant of a deeper study of the Scriptures. In the more precise definition of the dogma itself, the several supporters diverge
very widely from one another
but they all agree in this, that ; they base the doctrine chiefly upon the prophetic announce ment of the eventual conversion and glorification of all Israel.
As Ezekiel then stands out among all the prophets as the one who gives the most elaborate prediction of the restoration of Israel under the government of the Messiah, and he not
only draws in ch. of the
xl.-xlviii.
a detailed picture of the
kingdom of God, but
also in ch. xxxviii.
new form
and
xxxix., in
the prophecy concerning Gog and Magog, foretells an attack on the part of the heathen world upon the restored kingdom of God, which appears, according to Kev. xx. 7-9, to constitute the close of the thousand years reign
more and
closely at this view,
con,
of the Israel.
endeavour
we must
;
look
somewhat
and by examining the arguments pro
to decide the question as to the fulfilment
Old Testament prophecies concerning the future In doing
this,
however,
we
shall fix
of
our attention
exclusively upon the exegetical arguments adduced in support 1 of the chiliastic view by its latest supporters.
1
These are, C. A. Auberlen, The Prophet Daniel and the Revelation of also in a treatise on the Messianic Prophecies of the Mosaic times,
John
"
"
;
in the JaJirlb. f. deutscJie Theologie, IV. pp. his Weissagung und im A. u.
in
Schriftleweis, vol. II. p. 2
Erfiitlung ;
778 sqq. J. C. K. Hofmann, N. Testamente, and in the
Mich. Baumgarten, article
;
"
Ezekiel"
in
Herzog
s
140
THE PEOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The
prophetic announcement, that the Lord will one day gather together again the people of Israel, which has been thrust out among the heathen for its unfaithfulness, will bring it
back into the land given to the fathers, and there
bless
and
greatly multiply it, has its roots in the promises of the law. If the stiff-necked transgressors of the commandments of God bear the punishment these are the words of Lev. xxvi. 4045 of their iniquity in the land of their enemies, and confess their
and
humbled, then will the Lord remember His covenant with the patriarchs, and not cast sins,
them and
their uncircumcised heart is
off
even in the land of their enemies, to destroy them, His covenant with them but will remember
to break
;
He made
the covenant which
with their ancestors, when
He
brought them out of Egypt before the eyes of the nations to be He will, as this is more precisely defined in Deut. their God. xxx. 3 sqq., gather them together again out of the heathen nations, lead sessed,
them back
and multiply
into the land
Israel
of this promise, of which
more than
which
its
Moses gives a
their fathers pos
fathers.
On the ground
further pledge to the xxxii. 3643), all the prophets people in his dying song (Deut. announce the restoration and ultimate glorification of Israel. still
This song, which closes with the promise, Rejoice, ye nations, over His people for He will avenge the blood of His servants, "
;
and repay vengeance to His adversaries, and expiate His land, His people," continues to resound to use the words of Hof-
mann
(ScJiriftbeweis, II. 2, pp. 89, 90)"
Testament prophecy.
the
Old
(ver. 17)
and
through
Not only when Obadiah
all
good to their nation do they call the city of Jerusalem the place where there the nations of the world ; is protection from the judgment upon but Micah also, who foretells the destruction of the temple and Joel
(ch.
iii.
5) promise
Mount Zion and
Testament ; Cyclopaedia, and here and there in his commentary on the Old C. E. Luthardt, The Doctrine of the Last Things in Treatises and Expositions
of Scripture (1851) and Dr. Volck, in the Dorpater Zeitschrift fur Theoand others. logie und Kirche, IX. pp. 142 sqq. ;
;
CHAP. XXXVII.
141
15-28.
the carrying away of his people to Babylon, beholds Mount Zion exalted at last above all the seats of worldly power, and his people brought back to the land of their fathers (ch. iv. 1, vii.
The same
14).
Isaiah,
who was
sent to harden his people
with the word of his prophecy, is nevertheless certain that at last a holy nation will dwell in Jerusalem, a remnant of Israel
and the holy mountain of Jehovah, to which His scattered people return from all the ends of the world, is that abode of peace where even wild beasts do no more harm (Isa. iv. 3, x. 21)
;
under the rule of the second .David the calamities which
and
foretell
it
was the mournful
also to witness,
days when He would
After
(Isa. xi. 9, 11).
of Jeremiah to
lot
Jehovah showed
all
this
prophet the
His people, and bring them back to the land which He gave to their fathers (Jer. xxx. 3). ... And the same promise is adhered to even after the return. In restore
the assurance given
by Zechariah, that Judaii 1 This re holy possession in God s holy land." storation of Israel Ezekiel describes, in harmony with Jer. xxxi., is
way
every
shall be
God s
1
Compare with this the words of Auberlen (der Prophet Daniel, p. 399, The doctrine of the glorious restoration of Israel to Canaan, after severe chastisement and humiliation, is so essential and fundamental a ed. 2)
"
:
thought of
all
prophecy, that the difficulty
is
much to find passages By way of example, let
not so
to support it, as to make a selection from them. us notice Isa. ii. 2-4, iv. 2-6, ix. 1-6, xi. and
xii.
;
more
especially xi.
11 sqq., xxiv. sqq., Ix. sqq. Jer. xxx.-xxxiii. Ezek. xxxiv. 23-31, xxxvi., xxxvii. Hos. ii. 16-25, iii. 4, 5, xi. 8-11, xiv. 2 sqq. Joel iii. 1-5, iv. ;
;
;
;
16-21; Amos 11-20; Zeph. xii. 2-xiii. 6,
ix. iii.
xiv.
8-15; Obad. vers. 17-21; Mic. ii 12, 13, iv., v., vii. 14-20; Zech. ii. 4 sqq., viii. 7 sqq., ix. 9 sqq., x. 8-12, 8 sqq." Auberlen (pp. 400 sq.) then gives the following
as the substance of these prophetic descriptions brought back to its own land, will be the people of
and deeper sense than before ledge of
God
will
fill
"
:
Israel
God
in a
having been
much higher
inasmuch as sin will be averted, the know the land, and the Lord will dwell again in the midst
of His people at Jerusalem.
;
A
new
period of revelation
is
thus
com
menced, the Spirit of God is richly poured out, and with this a plenitude of such gifts of grace as were possessed in a typical manner by the apostolic church. And this rich spiritual life has also its perfect external manifes tation both in a priestly and a The priesthood of Israel was regal form.
more
especially seen by Ezekiel, vision in ch. xl.-xlviii. ; the
the son of a priest, in his mysterious while Daniel, the statesman
monarchy by
;
142
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL
though "
much more detailed picture, in the following way : condition of things in the future will differ from that
in a
The
simply in the fact that Israel will then have a heart converted to fidelity and obedience by the Spirit of God
in the past,
and
good peace and pro sperity under the shelter of its God, who is known and acknow ledged by all the world (ch. xxxvi. 23). The land to which it is restored, a land most decidedly represented by Ezekiel as the (ch. xi. 19, xxxvi. 27),
same
as that in
which
throughout merely promise of
its
fathers lived (ch. xxxvii. 25), appears
its
as a
will live in
happy earthly dwelling-place, and the
possession as an assurance given
continuing to propagate itself in
peace"
to
(Hofmann,
a nation p. 576).
This manner of depicting the condition of the Israel restored and glorified by the Messiah, as a peaceful settlement and a
happy
life in
the land of the fathers, a
possessions, is not confined, however, to
but stands out more or pictures of
all
less
the prophets.
life
rich in earthly
Jeremiah and Ezekiel,
conspicuously in the Messianic
What
follows, then,
from
this in
Jeremiah, for example, unites the two (ch. xxxiii. 17-22). What took place only in an outward way, i.e. in the letter, during the Old Testament times, and withdrew, on the other hand, into the inward and hidden spirit-
during the time of the Christian church, will then manifest itself out wardly also, and assume an external though pneumatic form. In the Old Testament the whole of the national life of Israel in its several forms of manifestation, domestic and political life, labour and art, literature and culture, was regulated by religion, though only at first in an outward and
life
The church, legal way. renewal of the heart, and
on the other hand, has, above all, to urge a must give freedom to the outward forms which
assumes, enjoining upon the conscience of individual men, in these also In the thousand years reign all these departments of to glorify Christ. Looked at in this life will be truly Christianized, and that from within. life
be nothing left to give offence, if we bear in mind that the ceremonial law of Moses corresponds to the priesthood of Israel, and the The Gentile church has only been able to civil law to the monarchy. however moral the certainly it has been directed merely to the law, adopt
light, there will
inwardly working means of the word, or of the prophetic office. But when once the priesthood and the kingly office have been restored, then, without doing violence to the Epistle to the Hebrews, the ceremonial and civil law of
Moses will unfold
the thousand years
its spiritual reign."
depths in the worship and constitution of
CHAP. XXXVII.
relation to the Is
it
mode
in
which these prophecies are
that the form assumed
when
143
15-28.
by
the
life
to
be
fulfilled ?
of the people of Israel
restored will be only a heightened repetition of the condi
tions of
its
former
life in
Palestine, undisturbed
by
By no
sin 1
On
the contrary, it follows from this that the prophets have depicted the glorious restoration of Israel by the Messiah
means.
by means
of figures borrowed
national life of Israel,
from the past and present of the
and therefore that
their picture
is
not to
or typically, and that we are literally, but symbolically not to expect it to be literally fulfilled.
be taken
We
are forced to this conclusion
by the
fact that, through
the coming of Christ, and the kingdom of heaven which began with Him, the idea of the people of God has been so expanded, that henceforth not the lineal descendants of Abraham, or the
Jewish nation merely, but the church of confessors of Jesus Christ, gathered together out of Israel and the Gentiles, has
become the people of God, and the economy of the Old Testa ment has ceased to constitute the divinely appointed form of the church of God.
If, therefore,
rejected the Saviour,
who appeared
the Jewish people, in Jesus Christ,
who have and have
hardened themselves against the grace and truth revealed in
Him,
are not cast off for ever, but, according to the promises Old Testament and the teaching of the Apostle Paul
of the
eventually repent, and as a people turn to the crucified One, and then also realize the fulfilment of the pro
(Rom.
xi.), will
mises of
God
;
there
of the prophetic
is still
lacking, with the typical character
announcement, any clear and unambiguous whose salvation is to be looked
biblical evidence that all Israel,
for in the future, will be brought
back
to Palestine,
when
eventually converted to Christ the crucified One, and continue there as a people separated from the rest of Christendom, and
form the earthly centre of the church of the Lord gathered out of all nations and tongues. For, however well founded the
remark of Hofmann
(ut sup. p. 88)
may
and holy land are demanded by one
be, that
"
holy people
another;" this
proves
144
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
nothing more than that the holy people, gathered out of
the
all
families of the earth through the believing reception of the gospel, will also have a holy land for
dwelling-place ; in other words, that, with the spread of the church of the Lord over all the quarters of the globe, the earth will become holy land or Canaan, so far as it is inhabited by the followers of
The Apostle Paul
Christ.
which he
foretells to Israel,
restoration
that to
its
teaches this in the
hardened
same Epistle
in
in unbelief, its eventual
when he explains in Rom. iv. 9-13 ; or his seed the promise that he was to be the
and blessedness
Abraham
heir of the world
was not
through the law, but through which Abraham had when still
fulfilled
the righteousness of the faith, uncircumcised, that he might become a father of
all
those
who
believe, though they be not circumcised, and a father of the
circumcision, not merely of those who are of the circumcision, but of those also who walk in the footsteps of his faith. As
the apostle, when developing this thought, interprets the promise to thy seed given to the patriarch in Gen. xii. 7 and xv. 18 : of land the will I give this land Canaan), by Ktoipovopelv (i.e. "
"
KOO-^OV (inheriting the world), he regards Canaan as a type of the world or of the earth, which would be occupied by the
children born of faith to the patriarch. This typical interpretation of the promise, given in the
Testament
to the seed of
Abraham,
Old
of the everlasting possession
of the land of Canaan, which
is thus taught by the Apostle the church on his authority, has been and Paul, adopted by also to the spirit and meaning of the Old Testa corresponds
ment word
of God.
This
is
evident from Gen.
xvii.,
where
Lord God, when
instituting the covenant of circumcision, but expressly to Sarah also, the gives not to Abraham only, promise to make them into peoples (&^?), that kings of nations
the
come from them through the son, whom they 6 and 16), and at the same time promises (vers.
(DVSV ota) shall
are to receive
Abraham, thus greatly to be multiplied, the land of his pilgrimage, the whole land of Canaan, for an
to give to the seed of
CHAP. XXXVII.
145
15-28.
This promise the Lord, as the everlasting possession (ver. 8). not carried has into effect by making Abraham almighty God," "
and Sarah into nations through the lineal posterity of Isaac, but only through the spiritual seed of Abraham, believers out of all nations, who have become, and still will become, chil dren of Abraham in Abraham became the D^ia,
Christ.
It
was only through these that
father of a multitude of nations (fton id?
For although two peoples sprang from Isaac, the through Jacob, and the Edomites through Esau, and
ver. 5).
Israelites
Abraham
became the ancestor of
also
several tribes through C5
Ishmael and the sons of Keturah, the divine promise in question refers to the people of Israel alone, because Esau was separated
from the seed of the promise by God Himself, and the other sons of Abraham were excluded by the fact that they were not born of Sarah. The twelve tribes, however, formed but one people; and although Ezekiel calls them two peoples (ch. xxxv. 10 and xxxvii. 22), having in view their division into two kingdoms, they are never designated or described in the
Old or
New
Testament
To
as D^3 jion.
did indeed give the land of
Canaan
to the boundaries described in
this
one people
God
for a possession, according
Num.
xxxiv., so that
it
dwelt
was driven out and scattered among the heathen But inasmuch as that portion for its persistent unfaithfulness. of the promise which referred to the multiplication of the seed therein until
of
Abraham
it
peoples was only to receive
into
fulfilment in Christ, according to the counsel
and
its
complete
will of
God,
through the grafting of the believing Gentile nations into the family of Abraham, and has so received it, we are not at liberty the other portion of this promise, relating to the possession of the land of Canaan, to the lineal posterity of the patriarch, or the people of Israel by lineal descent, but must
to
restrict
assume that of
promise of the land to be given to the seed even then spoke of Canaan as a type of the
in the
Abraham God
land which was to be possessed by the posterity of
Abraham
multiplied into nations.
EZEK.
II.
K
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
146
typical phraseology runs through
Tliis
all
the prophetical
writings of the Old Testament, and that both with regard to the promised seed, which Abraham received through Isaac
12) in the people of Israel, and also with reference to the land promised to this seed for an inheritance, although, while the old covenant established at Sinai lasted, Israel
(Gen.
xxi.
according to the flesh was the people of God, and the earthly Canaan between the Euphrates and the river of Egypt was the dwelling-place of this people. For inasmuch as Abraham received the promise at the very time of his call, that in his
the families of the earth should be blessed, and the germs of the universal destination of the people and kingdom of God were deposited, according to Gen. xvii., in the subse seed
all
quent patriarchal promises, the prophets continued to employ the
names
of Israel
and Canaan more and more
sianic prophecies as symbolical terms for the
people and kingdom of God. fortress of
And from
in their
Mes
two ideas of the
the time
when
the
Jerusalem upon Mount Zion was exalted by David kingdom and the seat of his government
into the capital of his
over Israel, and was also
made
the
the dwelling of Jehovah in the midst of His people, by the removal of the ark of the covenant to Zion, and the building of the temple which site of
was planned by David, though only carried into execution by Solomon his son, they employed Zion and Jerusalem in the same typical manner as the seat and centre of the kingdom of
God
;
so that, in the Messianic psalms
and the writings of the
prophets, Zion or Jerusalem is generally mentioned as the place from which the king (David-Messiah), anointed by Jehovah as
prince over His people, extends His dominion over all the earth, and whither the nations pour to hear the law of the Lord,
and
to
be instructed as to His ways and their walking in His
paths.
Consequently neither the prominence expressly given to the land in the promises contained in Lev. xxvi. 42 and Deut. xxxii.
43,
upon which such
stress
is
laid
by Auberlen
(die
147
CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28.
messianische Weissagungen, pp. 827 and 833), nor the fact that
Mount Zion judgment
kingdom
or the city of Jerusalem
is
named
as the place of
upon the world of nations and the completion of the
of
God,
to
which both Hofmann and Auberlen appeal
in the passages already quoted, furnishes
that the Jewish people, on
its
any
valid evidence
eventual conversion to Christ,
be brought back to Palestine, and that the Lord, at His second coming, will establish the millennial kingdom in the earthly Jerusalem, and take up His abode on the material will
Mount Zion, in a temple built by human hands. Even the supporters of the literal interpretation
of the
Mes
sianic prophecies cannot deny the symbolico-typical character
of the
Old Testament
Thus Auberlen,
revelation.
observes (die mess. Weiss, p. 821) that, racter, the sacrifices furnish us
for example,
in their typical
cha
with an example of the true
signification of all the institutions of the
of
"
Old Testament kingdom
God, while the latter exhibit to us in external symbol and
type the truly holy people and the Messianic kingdom in its perfection, just as the former set forth the sacrifice of the
But among
Messiah."
these institutions the Israelitish sanc
tuary (tabernacle or temple) undoubtedly occupied a leading place as a symbolico-typical embodiment of the kingdom of
God all
It
now acknowledged by nearly Scripture who have any belief in revelation.
established in Israel, as
is
the expositors of not merely the institutions of the old covenant, however,
is
which have a symbolico-typical
signification,
but
this is also
the case with the history of the covenant nation of the Old Testament, and the soil in which this history developed itself. This is so obvious, that Auberlen himself (ut sup. p. 827) has it is quite a common thing with the prophets to the represent approaching dispersion and enslaving of Israel the heathen as a renewal of their condition in Egypt, among
said that
"
and the eventual restoration of both the people and kingdom as a new exodus from Egypt and entrance into Canaan (Hos. ii.
1,
2 and 16, 17,
is.
3 and C,
xi.
5,
11; Mic.
ii.
12,
13,
143
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. and other
15, 16; Isa. x. 24, 26, xi. 11; Jer. xvi. 14, 15,
vii.
passages)."
And
even Hofmann, who
phraseology of the prophets restoration of
world
is
Israel
from
its
in
Isa.
sets aside this typical xi.
1115, where
the
all
the
throughout
dispersion
depicted as a repetition of its deliverance
from Egypt
through the miraculous division of the Red Sea, with the u that the names of the simple remark, peoples mentioned in the 14th as well as in the llth verse, and the obstacles described the 15th verse, merely serve to elaborate
in
(Schriftbeweis, II. 2, p. 548), "
that in Isa. xxxiv. 5 EV1X
is
the
thought"
cannot help admitting (at p. 561) not to be understood as a special
prophecy against the Edomitish people, but as a symbolical designation of the world of mankind in its enmity against God." .
But
God
if
Edom
in
this
a type of the human race in the threatening of judgment,
is
"
its
hostility to
ransomed of
mentioned in the corresponding announcement of salvation in Isa. xxxv., who are to return to Zion with songs,
Jehovah"
"
and everlasting joy upon their heads," cannot be the rescued remnant of the Jewish people, or the Israel of the twelve tribes
who
will ultimately attain to blessedness,
which they return be the this
nor can the Zion to
capital of Palestine.
If
eschatological prophecy denotes the world in
Edom
its
in
enmity
against God, the ransomed of Jehovah who return to Zion are the people of God gathered from both Gentiles and Jews, who
enter into the
blessedness of the heavenly Jerusalem. By view of Edom, Hofmann has admitted the typical adopting use of the ideas, both of the people of Jehovah (Israel) and of Zion, by the prophets, and has thereby withdrawn all firm this
foundation from his explanation of similar Messianic prophecies when the Jewish nation is concerned. The same rule which applies to
applicable
Edom
and Zion
in Isa. xl.-lxvi.
in Isa. xxxiv.
and xxxv. must
also be
The prophecy concerning Edom
Isa. xxxv. has its side-piece in Isa.
Ixiii.
1-6
;
in
and, as Delitzsch
has said, the announcement of the return of the ransomed of as a whole and in every Jehovah to Zion in ch. xxxvi., "
CHAP. XXXVII.
149
15-28.
particular, both in thought
and language,
book of consolation for the
exiles (i.e. the
Isa.
Ezekiel uses
xl.-lxvi)."
prediction of
the
Edom
is
a prelude of this
one which follows in
the same way, in the
in
devastation of
everlasting
Edom
and the
restoration of the devastated land of Israel, to be a lasting
blessing for
its
As Edom
inhabitants.
sents the world in
its
hostility to
God
in this case also repre
(see the
comm. on
ch.
xxxv. 1 xxxvi. 15), the land of Israel also is not Palestine, but the kingdom of the Messiah, the boundaries of which extend
from sea
and from the river
to sea,
(Ps. Ixxii. 8
and Zech.
ix.
It
10).
to the ends of the world
is
true that in the case of
no express mention made of the spread of the kingdom of God over the lands, inasmuch as he is watch man over the house of Israel, and therefore, for the most part, our prophet there
is
principally speaks of the restoration of Israel
;
but
it
also
is
obvious that this prophetic truth was not unknown to him, from the fact that, according to ch. xlvii. 22, 23, in the fresh division of the land
and
the foreigners as well as among the children of Israel,
the tribes by
among
the natives are to be reckoned
lot,
to receive their portion of the land as well,
which plainly
abolishes the difference in lineal descent existing under the old
covenant.
Still
more
announce the reception the kingdom of God in ch. xvi. 53
clearly does he
of the heathen nations into
where he predicts the eventual turning of the captivity, not of Jerusalem only, but also of Samaria and Sodom, as the sqq.,
goal of the ways of
God
with His people.
pictures of the restoration
and
God, he speaks of the land of
mode
of description
is
If, therefore, in
glorification of the
His
kingdom of
Israel alone, the reason for this
probably also to be sought in the fact
that he goes back to the fundamental prophecies of the
Pen
tateuch more than other prophets do and as, on the one hand, he unfolds the fulfilment of the threats in Lev. xxvi. and Deut. ;
xxviii.-xxxii. in his threatenings of
judgments,
so,
on the other
hand, does he display the fulfilment of the promises of the law in his predictions of salvation. If we bear this in mind, we
150
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
must not take of Israel
Gen.
prophecy of the very numerous multiplication
and of the eternal possession of Canaan and
blessings in in
his
xvii.
its
any other sense than in that of the divine promise that is to say, we must not restrict the numerous ;
of the multiplication of Israel to the literal multiplication remnant of the twelve tribes, but must also understand thereby
the multiplication of the seed of
manner explained
Abraham
into peoples in the
above, and interpret in the same
the
way
restoration of Israel to the land promised to the fathers.
This view of the Old Testament prophecy concerning the eventual restoration of Israel on its conversion to Christ is confirmed as to
its
correctness by the
New
Testament
also
;
if,
we
consider the plain utterances of Christ and His apostles concerning the relation of the Israel according to the flesh, i.e. of the Jewish nation, to Christ and His kingdom, for example,
and do not adhere
in a one-sided
manner
to the literal inter
pretation of the eschatological pictures contained in the language of the
For
Old Testament prophecy.
since, as
Hofmann
has
correctly observed in his Scliriftbeweis (II.
2, pp. 667, 668), the apostolical doctrine of the end of the present condition of things, namely, of the reappearance of Christ, of the glorifica "
tion of
His church, and the resurrection of
its
dead, or even of
the general resurrection of the dead, of the glorification of the material world, the destruction of the present and the creation of a
new
one, stands in this relation to the
Old Testament
prophecy of the end of things, that it is merely a repetition of under the new point of view, which accompanied the appear ing and glorification of Jesus and the establishment of His it
church of Jews and Gentiles
these eschatological pictures are also clothed in the symbolico-typical form peculiar to the Old Testament prophecy, the doctrinal import of which can ;"
only be determined in accordance with the unambiguous doc Of these doctrinal trinal passages of the New Testament. passages the
first
which presents
Apostle Paul
tells
the Christians at
itself is
Rome
Rom. as a
xi.,
where the
/jt,vcrTrjpi,oVj
that
CHAP. XXXVII.
151
15-28.
hardness in part has happened to Israel, till the pleroma of the Gentiles has entered into the kingdom of God, and so (i.e. after this has taken place) all Israel will be rescued or saved (vers. 25, 26).
formed from
He
then supports
Isa. lix.
20 and
by a scriptural quotation 9 (LXX.), with an evident
this
xxvii.
u there shall come out of 33) also Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob," whilst he has already shown how, as the fall of Israel, or etc. allusion to Jer. xxxi.
34
:
(?
;
its a7ro/3oX?7, is
the riches of the Gentiles and reconciliation of
the world, the TrpocrXr]^ will be nothing else than life from The apostle evidently the dead (fan) IK veicpwv, vers. 11-15). teaches here that the partial hardening of Israel, in consequence of which the people rejected the Saviour, who appeared in in Christ, is not Jesus, and were excluded from the salvation an utter rejection of the old covenant nation; but that the
hardening O of Israel
will cease after the entrance of the
of the Gentiles into the
kingdom
with ^Icrparfk in contrast
of God, and so
IK, /^e pof?,
i.e.
pleroma *
all Israel
(iras
the people of Israel as
a whole) will attain to salvation, although this does not teach 1
the salvation of every individual Jew. mess. Weissagungen, pp. 801 sqq.) puts too of the apostle
But Auberlen
much
into these
when he combines them with Ex.
from the fact that Israel in the
xix. 5, 6,
earlier ages of the
(die
words
and
Old Testa-
All Israel," says Philippi in the 3d ed. of his Commentary on the as contrasted with Ix, pspov; (in part) in Epistle to the Romans (p. 537), ver. 25, and also in the connection in which it stands with the train of 1
"
"
thought in ch. ix. xi., which, as the chapter before us more especially shows, has only to do with the bringing of the nations as a whole to the Messianic salvation, cannot be understood in any other sense than as signi fying the people of Israel as a whole (see also vers. 28-32). The explanation
words as denoting the spiritual Israel, the Israel of God (Gal. according to which all the true children of Abraham and of God are to be saved through the entrance of the chosen Gentiles, and at the same time also of the x*oyjj of the Israel that has not been hardened, is
of the
vi. 16),
as referring merely to the all Israel just as arbitrary as it is to take believing portion of the Jews, the portion chosen by God, who have belonged But in the appendix to in all ages to the telppu. X.XT ixAoyqy %otpiro ,"
the third edition he has not only given full expression to the opposite view,
152
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ment was once a people and kingdom, but not really a holy and priestly one, and that in the first ages of the New Testament was once holy and priestly, though not as a people and kingdom, draws the conclusion, not only that the Jewish nation it
must once more become holy
as a people
and kingdom, but
that the apostle of the Gentiles here declares
be
fulfilled
in its
it is
this, after the present period of the
a
new
Israel,
period in prospect,
before."
For
to
kingdom of God, there
if
is
the converted and sanctified
all to
be a priestly kingdom, will
of the blessing of fellowship with
the nations in a totally
than
when
being called once for
become the channel
also
that the promise
be a holy people, will experience, and that in connection with
given to the people of Israel, that still
"
God
to
different and far more glorious manner the apostle had intended to teach the
eventual accomplishment of this promise in the case of the Israel according to the flesh, he would certainly have quoted it, or at all events have plainly hinted at it, and not merely of the Israel which was hardened have spoken of the There is nothing to show, even in the remotest way, then. that Israel will eventually be exalted into the holy and priestly <7&>eo-0cu
people and kingdom for the nations, either in the assurance all Israel shall be saved," or in the declaration that the that "
"
"
receiving which Besser in
(-TrpocrX^ila?)
of Israel will work, or be followed
his Bibelstunden has supported in the
most decided man
ner, after the example of Luther and many of the Lutheran expositors, but is inclined to give the preference, even above the view which he previously all Israel is the whole of the Israel intended by upheld, to the idea that the prophetic word, and included in the divine word of promise, to which alone the name of Israel truly and justly belongs according to the correct understanding of the Old Testament word of God that is to say, those "
Abraham who walk in the footsteps of his faith (ch. iv. 12), who are so not merely outwardly in the flesh, but also inwardly
lineal sons of
those Jews
and also to in the spirit, through circumcision of heart (ch. ii. 28, 29) the following exposition which Calovius gives of the whole passage, namely, it does not relate to a simultaneous or universal conversion of the that Israelites, or to the conversion of a great multitude, which is to take place ;"
"
at the last times of the world, and is to be looked forward to rather to successive conversions continuing even to the end of the
still,
but
world."
CHAP. XXXVII.
by,
from the
"life
which Paul "
viz.,
if
dead"
153
15-28.
(ver. 15);
and the proposition from
infers the future deliverance of the people of Israel
the first-fruit be holy, the
lump
is
also holy
;
and
if
the
shows plainly that root be holy, so are the branches" (ver. 16) it never entered the apostle s mind to predict for the branches that were broken off the olive tree for a time an exaltation to
even greater holiness than that possessed by the root and begin ning of Israel when they should be grafted in again.
There
is
also another
way
in
which tlofmann^ScJiriftbeweis,
96 and 668) makes insertions in the words of the apostle, namely, when he draws the conclusion from the prophetic
II. 2, pp.
quotation in vers. 25, 26, that the apostle takes the thought
from the prophetic writings, that Zion and Israel are the place where the final revelation of salvation will be made, and then argues in support of this geographical exposition of the words, shall come out of Zion," on the ground that in these words "
we have not
to think of the first
coming of the Saviour
alone,
but the apostle extends to the second coming with perfect pro
what the Old Testament prophecy generally affirms with regard to the coming of Christ, and what had already been
priety
verified
weak.
at
His
Even
if
when rendering
This argument is extremely first coming. one would or could insist upon the fact that, the words ?Nia jtop &O1 (there will
Zion a Redeemer), in Isa. (the
Redeemer
will
come
lix.
20,
by r/et
e/c
SLMV
come for 6 pvopevos
out of Zion), the apostle designedly
adopted the expression etc 2iwv, it would by no means follow that he meant the material Zion or earthly Jerusalem to be "
as the final site of the New Testament revelation." regarded o For if the apostle used the expression come out of Zion," "
with reference to the second coming O O f the Lord, because
it
/
had been
coming of Jesus, although Jesus out of Zion, but out of Bethlehem, accord
verified at the first
did not then
come
ing to the prophecy of Mic. v. 1 (cf. Matt. i. 5, 6), he cannot have meant the material Mount Zion by IK 2i(*)v, but must have taken Zion in the prophetico-typical sense of the central
154
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
seat of the
of
kingdom
God
;
a meaning which
it
also has in
such passages in the Psalms as Ps. xiv. 7, liii. 7, and ex. 2, which he appears to have had floating before his mind. It
was only by taking s 2id)v for the p
this
view of Zion that Paul could use
e/c
of Isaiah, without altering the meaning of the prophecy, that the promised Redeemer would come for i.e.
Zion,
>v
for the citizens of Zion, the Israelites.
when making
The
apostle,
from the prophets, had no more intention of giving any information concerning the place where Christ would appear to the now hardened Israel, and prove Himself
to
this quotation
be the Redeemer, than concerning the land in which among the nations would be found at the
the Israel scattered
second coming of our Lord. in the
New
Testament
And
there
to the effect that
is "
nothing whatever Lord will not
the
He
has prepared both Israel and Zion for the All that Christ reappearing" (Hofmann, p. 97).
till
appear again scene of His
the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a witness concerning all nations, and says
is,
that
then will the end come (Matt. xxiv. 14). And if, in addition to this, on His departing for ever from the temple, He exclaimed Your house will be left unto to the Jews who rejected Him, "
you till
desolate
;
for I say unto you,
Ye will not
see
me henceforth,
ye shall say, Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the
(Matt, xxiii. 38, 39), all that He means is, that He will not appear to them or come to them before they receive Him with faith, greet Him as the object of their longing expecta and by no means that He will not come till they have tion ; Lord"
"
"
been brought back Jerusalem.
Even Matt,
xxvii.
from
their
dispersion
53 and Rev.
called the holy city, do not furnish
because
it is
xi.
2,
to
Palestine
where Jerusalem
any tenable proof of
so called, not with regard to
and
any
is
this,
glorification to be
looked for in the future, but as the city in which the holiest events in the world s history had taken place ; just as Peter (2 Pet. i. 18) designates the
Mount
of Transfiguration the holy mount, with
155
CHAP. XXXVII. 15-28.
reference to that event, and not with any anticipation of a
future glorification of the mountain ; and in 1 Kings xix. 8 Horeb is called the Mount of God, because in the olden time
The old Jerusalem God revealed Himself there. now the holy city still to those who have directed their "
new Jerusalem
eyes to the
alone
"
(Hengstenberg).
applies to the designation of the temple as the
Matt. xxiv. 15, by which Hofmann erroneously, understand Jerusalem.
And
the words of Christ in
(p.
Luke
is
even
hopeful This also "
"
holy place
91) would
also,
xxi. 24, that
in
though
Jerusalem
be trodden down by the Gentiles, a^P 1 ir\ripu)6tocrLv icaipol eOvoov, cannot be used as furnishing a proof that the earthly will
Jerusalem
will
be occupied by the converted Jews before or
at
the second coming of the Lord. For if stress be laid upon the omission of the article, and the appointed period be understood in such a manner as to lead to the following rendering, viz. : "
Gentile
till
periods
shall
be
fulfilled,"
periods which have been appointed
i.e.
"
till
certain
to Gentile nations for the
accomplishment of this judgment of wrath from God shall have elapsed" (Meyer), we may assume, with Hengstenberg (die
Juden und
come
to
Gentiles
die christl. Kirche,
3
art.),
that these times
an end when the overthrow of the might of the is
effected through the
judgment of God, and the
Christian church takes their place ; and we may still further say with him, that the treading down of Jerusalem by the heathen, "
among whom, according
Mahometans
to the Christian view, the
be reckoned, has ceased twice already, namely, in the reign of Constantine, and in the time of the Crusades, also are to
when
a Christian
kingdom
existed in Jerusalem.
And what
then happened, though only in a transient way, will eventually take place again, and that definitively, on the ground of this declaration of the Lord. Jerusalem will become the posses sion of the Israel of the Christian
church."
If,
on the other
we adopt Hofmann s view (pp. 642, 643), that by icaipol iOvv we are to understand the times of the nations, when the hand,
156
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
world belongs to them, in accordance with Dan. viii. 14, in support of which Rev. xi. 2 may also be adduced, these times "
come
end when the people of God obtain the supre
to an
u that and, according to this explanation, it is affirmed this treacling down of the holy city will not come to an end till
macy
;"
the filling up of the time, during which the world belongs to the nations, and therefore not till the end of the present course of this
world."
Gentiles
But
if
lasts till then,
possession of
it
the treading down of Jerusalem by the even the converted Jews cannot recover
at that time
course of this world the
new
;
end of the present and earth
for at the
creation of the heaven
take place, and the perfected church of Christ, gathered out of Israel and the Gentile nations, will dwell in the heavenly Jerusalem that has come down upon the new earth. However, will
we may interpret these words of the Lord, we are Luke xxi. 24 any more than in Matt. xxiv. 15 and xxvii. 53, or Rom. xi. 26, that the earthly Jerusalem will
therefore,
not taught in
come tion
into the possession of the converted
from the power of the Gentiles, that
Jews it
will
after
its
libera
hold a central
position in the world, or that the temple will be erected there
again.
And
a decisive objection to these Jewish, millenarian of the hopes, and at the same time to the literal interpretation of Israel, is to be announcements of restoration the prophetic lastly,
New Testament says nothing what ever concerning a rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple and a restoration of the Levitical worship ; but that, on the contrary, found in the fact that the
it
teaches in the most decided manner, that, with the completion
of the reconciliation of
men
with
God through
the sacrifice of
Christ upon Golgotha, the sacrificial and temple service of the Levitical law was fulfilled and abolished (Heb. vii.-x.), on the
ground of the declaration of Christ, that the hour cometh, and now is, when men shall worship neither upon Gerizim nor at Jerusalem in spirit
;
worship the Father 21-24), in accordance with the
but the true worshippers
and
in truth
(John
iv.
shall
157
CHAP. XXXVIIL, XXXIX.
by the apostle in Rom. xii. 1. But the prophets of the Old Testament do not merely predict the return of the Israelites to their own land, and their everlasting abode in that direction given
land under the rule of the Messiah
sanctuary,
the promise
in
culminates
i.e.
that
;
but this prediction of theirs
Jehovah
will
His
establish
His temple, in the midst of His redeemed people, them and above them for ever (Ezek.
and dwell there with xxxvii. 27, 28),
of the
and that
all
nations will
Lord upon Zion year by
Kin or Jehovah
year,
come
to this
sanctuary
to worship before the
and keep the Feast of tabernacles the Jewish people Ixvi. 23). If, then,
of hosts,
(Zech. xiv. 16 cf. Isa. should receive Palestine again for its possession either at or after its conversion to Christ, in accordance with the promise of God, the temple with the Levitical sacrificial worship would ;
But if such a of necessity be also restored in Jerusalem. of with the Christ and the teaching supposition is at variance so that this essential feature in the prophetic picture apostles,
of the future of the
kingdom
of
God
is
not to be understood
or typically, it is an unjustifiable in literally, but spiritually consistency to adhere to the literal interpretation of the pro
phecy concerning the return of Israel to Canaan, and to look for the return of the Jewish people to Palestine, when it has
come
to believe in
Jesus Christ.
CHAP. XXXVIII. AND XXXIX. DESTRUCTION OF GOG WITH HIS GREAT
ARMY OF NATIONS.
Magog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and invade the restored land of Israel from the far
in the land of
Gog,
Tubal, will
by the appointment of God in the and with a powerful army of numerous nations
distant northern land
last
times,
(ch.
1-9), with the intention of plundering Israel, now dwelling in security, that the Lord may sanctify Himself upon him before all the world (vers. 10-16). But when Gog, of
xxxviii.
whom
earlier prophets
have already prophesied, shall
fall
upon
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
158
he
Israel,
is
to
be destroyed by a wrathful judgment from the may know that God is the Lord (vers,
Lord, that the nations
On
17-23). hosts
the mountains of Israel will
and nations succumb
1-8).
The
months
in
to the
Gog with all his God (ch. xxxix. judgment of
inhabitants of the cities of Israel will spend seven years in burning the weapons of the fallen foe, and seven
burying the corpses in a valley, which will receive name from this, so as to purify the land (vers. 9-16) whilst
its
;
in the
meantime
all
selves with the flesh
them
the birds and wild beasts will satiate
and blood of the
fallen (vers. 17-20).
By
judgment will all the nations as well as Israel know that was on account of its sins that the Lord formerly gave up
this it
power of the heathen, but that now He will no more forsake His redeemed people, because He has poured out His Spirit upon it (vers. 21-29).
Israel into the
Vers. 1-9. Introduction.
Preparation of
Gog and
for the invasion of the restored land of Israel.
word of Jehovah came
his
Ver.
1.
army
And
me, saying, Ver. 2. So?i of man, land of Magog, the prince of JKosh, MesJiecli, and Tubal, and prophesy -against him, Ver. 3. And say. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will deal with theey the
set thy
face toward Gog
to
in the
Gog, thou prince of JKosh, Meshech, and Tubal, Ver. 4. And will mislead thee, and will put rings in thy jaws, and lead thee all thine army, horses, and riders, all clothed in perfect a leauty, great assembly, with buckler and shield, all wielding swords ; Ver. 5. Persian, Ethiopian, and Libyan with them, all out,
and
of them with shield and helmet the house
of Togarmah many peoples with thee.
;
Ver.
6.
Gomer and
Ver.
7.
Be prepared and make
thou and all thine assembly,
who have assembled
and
Ver.
be thon their guard.
8.
After
peoples, upon
waste, but
the
now
it
back
;
ready,
together to thee,
many days
be visited, at the end of the years shalt thou wliich is brought
all his hosts,
in the uttermost north with all his hosts
come
shalt thou
into the land,
the sword, gathered out
of many from mountains of Israel, which were constantly laid is
brought out of the nations, and they dwell
159
CHAP. XXXVIII. 1-9.
together in safety
a storm,
and
like
many
Ver.
;
a cloud
to
with
peoples
to prophesy against
And
9.
tliou shalt
come up, come
cover the land, thou thee.
Gog.
aia,
Vers.
1
Gog, the
and
and
name
like
all thy hosts 2.
Command
of the prince
the prophecy is directed, is probably a name which Ezekiel has arbitrarily formed from the name of the against
whom
does occur in 1 Chron. v. 4 as country, Magog ; although Gog the name of a Reubenite, of whom nothing further is known. construction ito p.K
Gog of the land of Magog, is an u abbreviated expression for Gog from the land of Magog and JtD pK is not to be taken in connection with T-J3 &T, as The
!H3,
"
;
toward Gog, to the land of Magog"), as the local object Ewald and Hilvernick would render it ; since it would be very ("
difficult in that case to
explain the fact that
312 is
afterwards
W
is the name in the apposition JiJft, Magog, K^J. of a people mentioned in Gen. x. 2 as descended from Japhet, to the early Jewish and traditional explanation, the
resumed
according
great Scythian people ; and here also it is the name of a people, and is written with the article (^?L ), to mark the people as t
one well known from the time of Genesis, and therefore pro Gog is still further perly the land of the Magog (-people). described as the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and true that
Ewald
follows Aquila, the
connects pan with K
11
^
as
But
Tubal.
It
is
Targum, and Jerome, and
an appellative
in the sense of princeps
argument used in support of this explanation, namely, that there is no people of the name of Rosli mentioned either in the Old Testament or by Josephus,
capitis, chief prince.
weak one
the
on the other hand, the appellative rendering, though possible, no doubt, after the analogy of |nan in 1 Chron xxvii. 5, is by no means probable, for the simple is
a very
;
whilst,
t?N"
reason that the $fcO K PJ occurs again in ver. 3 and ch. xxxix. 1, and in such repetitions circumstantial titles are generally
The Byzantine and Arabic writers frequently mention a people called Pw?, in the (jwjj, Rus, dwelling of the Taurus, and reckoned among the Scythian tribes country abbreviated.
160
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
(for the passages, see Ges. Thesaurus, p. 1253), so that there no reason to question the existence of a people known by
is
the
name
of
Rosh
;
even though the attempt of Bochart to find
a trace of such a people in the
*
iii.
Pcogakdvoi, (Ptol.
5)
and
Roxalani (Plin. h. n. iv. 12), by explaining this name as formed from a combination of Rlws (Rhox) and Alani, is just as doubtful as the conjecture, founded upon the investigations of
Frahn (Ibn Foszlan,
sians
is
u. a.
connected with this
and Tubal
Amber
Berichte uber die Russen
Petersburg 1823), that the
dlterer Zeit, St.
(as in ch. xxvii.
Pd>9,
and our
(jw^,
13 and
name
Kus-
of the
tr&O.
Mesliech
xxxii. 26), the Mosclti
Tibareni of classical writers (see the
comm. on Gen.
and
x. 2),
dwelt, according to the passage before us, in the neighbourhood
of
There were
Magog.
ing to ver.
also
found
Pharas (Persians),
5,
in the CusJi,
army of Gog, accord and Phut (Ethiopians
and Libyans, see the comm. on ch. xxx. 5 and xxvii. 10), and, according to ver. 6, Gomer and the house of Togarmah. From a comparison of this list with Gen. x. 2, Kliefoth draws the conclusion that Ezekiel omits all the peoples mentioned in Gen. 2 as belonging to the family of Japhet, who had come into historical notice in his time, or have done so since, namely, the
x.
Medes, Greeks, and Thracians whilst, on the other hand, he mentions all the peoples enumerated, who have never yet ;
But this remark is out of appeared upon the stage of history. for the reason that Ezekiel also omits the Japhetic simple place, Ashkenaz and Riphath (Gen. x. 3), and still more from the fact that he notices not only the Dna, or Persians, who were probably related to the **!, but also the Hamitic
tribes of
Consequently peoples Cush and Phut, two African families. the army of Gog consisted not only of wild Japhetic tribes, who had not yet attained historical importance, but of Hamitic tribes also, that
north
(|tey
(Ethiopians),
These are
is
T ?!!? 1
all
i.e.
to
ver.
say, of
6)
peoples living
and
east
at the
(Persians)
extreme
and
south
on the borders of the then known world.
summoned by Gog, and gathered
together for an
CHAP. XXXVIU.
This points to a time when
attack upon the people of God.
former
their
161
1-9.
Ammon, Moab, Edom,
foes,
and
Philistines,
Syrians, and the old imperial powers, Egypt, Asshur, Babel, Javan, will all have passed away from the stage of history, and
the people of God will stand in the centre of the historical life of the world, and will have spread so widely over the earth, that its foes will only be found on the borders of the civilised world
(compare Rev. xx. 8). Vers. 3-9 contain in general terms the determinate counsel Vers. 3-6. Jehovah is about to of God concerning Gog. mislead
Gog
to a crusade against
His people
Israel,
and sum
mons him to prepare for the invasion of the restored land of The announcement of the purpose for which Jehovah will make use of Gog and his army, and the summons addressed Israel.
to
him
make
to
marked by the Ver.
God
3.
ready, form two strophes, which are clearly
similarity of the conclusion in vers. 6
will deal
and
9.
with Gog, to sanctify Himself upon him
by means of judgment (cf. ver. 10). He therefore misleads him to an attack upon the people of Israel. 32V^, an intensive form from
2VJ>,
may
signify, as vox media, to cause to return
and to cause to turn away,
(ch. xxxix. 27),
to lead
away from
Here the right road or goal, to lead astray (Isa. xlvii. 10). 2 it means to lead or and in ch. xxxix. bring away from his previous
attitude,
i.e.
to mislead or seduce, in the sense of
a dangerous enterprise; according to which the Chaldee has rendered it correctly, so far as the actual sense is
enticing to
concerned, ^Ti^K, alliciam in thy
"
jaws
te.
;
in
Gog is
compelled to obey the power of
to lead
him away from
Rev. xx.
"
I place rings
represented as an compelled to follow its leader
(cf. ch. xxix. 4),
manageable beast, which is Isa. xxxvii. 29) and the thought is
In the words, is
thereby expressed, that
God
The
(cf.
Gog
N^
against his will.
his land, or natural soil.
un
"
1
1 ,
passage
to deceive the nations (TrXavrjaai, ra C&VTJ), and to them to Gog Magog, battle," corresponds gather together to these words so far as the material sense is concerned with EZEK. II. L "
8,
;
162
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. Satan
this exception, that
mentioned as the seducer of the
is
nations in the Apocalypse, whereas Ezekiel gives prominence to the leading of God, which controls the manifestations even of evil,
two passages stand in the same relation xxiv. 1 and 1 Chron. xxi. 1 (Hav.). 46-6 the army is depicted as one splendidly equipped so that these
"
to one another as 2
In
vers.
Sam.
"
and very numerous. For ?fep S0A, see the comm. on 12, where the Assyrian satraps are so described.
ch. xxiii.
^
as
bnj?,
The words
buckler and shield are loosely in the heat of the discourse, without any logical sub appended Besides the defensive arms, the ordination to what precedes. in
ch.
17.
xvii.
greater and smaller shield, they carried swords as weapons of In the case of the nations in ver. 5, only the shield offence.
and helmet are mentioned
as their equipment, for the sake of
variation, as in ch. xxvii. 10
and in
;
two other nations
ver. 6
of the extreme north with their hosts are added.
Cimmerians the
comm.
ch.
xii.
^ns
D^sn.
14.
nowhere
Gomer :
the
of Togarmah the Armenians (see For D B3K, see the comm. on on ch. xxvii. 14). ;
and
the house
:
S
The
is
description
In ver.
rounded
finally
7, the infin. abs. Niphal
else except in
Amos
place of the imperative.
iv.
12,
is
|ton,
off
with
D^P
which occurs
used emphatically in the
The repetition of the same verb, though i.e. make ready, sc. everything
in the imperative Hiphil, equip,
thou to them
Conor.,
Job
one who
vii.
"lO^??,
for heed, or watch,
gives heed
12 and Neh.
iv.
to 3,
as abstr.
pro
them, keeps watch over them
(cf.
xxiv. 22, that the play
mistaken Isaiah,
Gog was to
clause reminds so strongly of
first
;
upon
i.e.
16), in actual fact their leader.
Vers. 8 and 9 indicate for what
The
strengthen the thought.
vii. 14), also serves to (cf. ch.
necessary
Be
this
hold himself ready.
VJfcB* D^oj
is
in Isa.
passage cannot possibly be
so that Ezekiel uses the words in the
though Havernick
an
wrong
in
same sense
supposing that T|?an
as is
used in the sense of being missed or wanting, i.e. of perishing. The word never has the latter meaning and to be missed does ;
not suit the context either here or in Isaiah, where
1^ means
CHAP. XXXVIII.
to
be
i.e.
visited,
meaning,
visitari
163
1-9.
And here also this brought to punishment. is to be retained, and that in the (Vulg.),
The objection raised, namely, that sense of a penal visitation. there is no reference to punishment here, but that this is first mentioned in
ver.
16 or 18,
loses all its force if
we bear
in
mind
that visiting is a more general idea than punishing ; and the visitation consisted in the fact of God s leading Gog to invade
He
might sanctify Himself upon him by judgment. This might very fittingly be here announced, and thou wilt it also applies to the parallel clause which follows the land of Israel, that
:
come
which the explanation commences would visit him. The only other
into the land, etc., with
of the
way
in
which
God
meaning which could
also
answer to the parallelism of the
command
(Hitzig and Kliefoth), is neither sustained by the usage of the language, nor in accordance with the context. In the passages quoted in
clauses, viz. to
be commanded, to receive
support of this, viz. Neh. vii. 1 and xii. 44, merely signifies to be charged with the oversight of a thing; and it never means "1E)3
only to receive command to do anything. Moreover, Gog has already been appointed leader of the army in ver. 7, and there fore is not u to be placed in the supreme command for the first time after after &^i D^OJO, many days. many days, i.e. "
not indeed equivalent signifies merely the lapse of a defined here as occurring in the
after a long time (cf. Josh, xxiii. 1), in itself to
D^n
lengthened period
D^n
nnnx.
rnnS3 but ?
;
D^ n
yet
this is
nnnx, equivalent
is
s to D ;n rrnns ( V er. 16),
the end of days, the last time, not the future generally, but the final future, the Messianic time of the completing of the kingdom of God (see the comm. on Gen. xlix. 1). This meaning
is
is
also applicable here.
of Israel,
For Gog is
which have been
long time, but are TEtt a
now
to
laid waste
inhabited again.
come up
to the
mountains
n, continually,
i.e.
for a
Although, for example,
signifies period of time relatively long, it evidently indi cates a longer period than the seventy or fifty years desolation
of the land during the Babylonian captivity
;
more
especially
164 if
we
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. take
it
in
connection with the preceding and following Gog will come into the land, which
statements, to the effect that
has been brought back from the sword and gathered out of
many peoples. These predicates show that in p.K the idea of the population of the land is the predominant one ; for this alone could be gathered out of many nations, and also brought back from the sword,
i.e.
not from the consequences of the
from
calamity of war, viz. exile (Rosenmiiller), but restored
being slain and exiled by the sword of the enemy, passive participle of the Pilel 52te*, to restore (cf. Isa.
rmisrp, Iviii.
12) ; not turned away from the sword, i.e. in no expectation of war not answer to the parallel clause, and can (Hitzig), which does
not be sustained by Mic.
ii.
D^
3.
D^.yD
7
gathered out of
peoples, points also beyond the Babylonian captivity the dispersion of Israel in all the world, which did not take place till the second destruction of Jerusalem, and shows
many
to
that TDJj denotes a much longer devastation of the land than torn introduces a circumstantial the Chaldean devastation was.
clause
;
and
fcOn
points back to p.8,
i.e.
to the inhabitants of
These are now brought out of the nations, i.e. at when the time Gog invades the land, and are dwelling in their
the land.
own land upon
the mountains of Israel in untroubled security.
n?y signifies the advance of an enemy, as in Isa- vii. nKi$, a tempest, as in Prov. L 27, from nxKJ, to roar.
comparison
to a cloud
is
limited to the covering
;
but
1, etc.
The
this does
not alter the signification of the cloud as a figurative representa tion of severe calamity.
Vers. 10-16. Account of the motive by which Gog was induced to undertake his warlike expedition, and incurred guilt,
notwithstanding the fact that he was led by God, and in conse of which he brought upon himself the judgment of
quence
destruction that was about to fall saith the
Lord Jehovah,
things will
It shall
come up in thy
design, Ver. 11.
And
say,
upon him.
come
hearty
I will
to
Ver. 10. Thus
pass in that day, that
and thou
wilt devise
an
evil
go up into the open country,
I
CHAP. XXXVIIJ.
come upon
will
the peaceful ones,
icho dwell without walls,
To
take plunder
and
to
165
10-10.
who are
all dwelling in safety,
and have not bars and gather spoil,
gates,
Ver. 12.
bring back thy
to
hand
and against a people on trade and commerce, gathered out of the nations, carrying who dwell on the navel of the earth. Ver. 13. Sabaea and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, and all her young lions, will say are inhabited again, against the ruins that
to
Dost thou come
thee,
to take
plunder
thy multitude of people to take spoil ?
and
take possession
silver, to
and
Is
gain, to
Hast thou gathered
?
Ver.
14. Therefore prophesy, son of man,
Thus
saith the
my
Israel dwelleth
people
And
Ver. 15.
Lord Jehovah,
Is
in
it
not so
security,
come from thy place from
to
away gold a great spoil ? plunder it
?
carry
and say
On
to
Gog,
that day,
when
thou wilt
observe
it,
the extreme north, thou
and many peoples with thee, all riding upon horses, a great crowd and a numerous army, Ver. 16. And wilt march against my people Israel, the days
my
land,
to
cover the
land
will take place;
it
that
the
nations
like
then
a cloud
shall
may know
I
;
at the
end of
lead thee
against
I
sanctify
me, ivhen
In ver. 10 Gog. myself upon thee before their eyes, C* are not words, but things which come into his mind. What things these are, we learn from vers. 11 and 12 ; but 1
"]^
first
of
all,
these things are described as evil thoughts or de
Gog resolves to fall upon Israel, now living in peace and security, and dwelling in open unfortified places, and to rob rriPS px and plunder it. literally, land of plains, i.e. a land
signs.
?
which has no (see the
but only places lying quite exposed 8); because its inhabitants are living
fortified towns,
comm. on Zech.
ii.
and safe repose, and therefore dwell in that have no walls with gates and bars (cf. Judg. xviii. 7 ; places Jer. xlix. 31). This description of Israel s mode of life also
in undisturbed peace
points beyond the times succeeding the Babylonian captivity to the Messianic days, when the Lord will have destroyed the
horses and war-chariots and fortresses (Mic. v. 9), and Jeru salem will be inhabited as an open country because of the
166
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
men and
multitude of the fire
cattle,
round about her (Zech.
Isa. x. 6.
T!J
2 v^r6
ii.
and the Lord 8, 9).
For
be a wail of
will
ver. 12a,
compare
not dependent upon TOK, like but is subordinate to 131 r6jJR
the
is
1^ : preceding thou sayest, I will go up ... to turn thy hand." ^n, to bring back, is to be explained from the fact that the heathen infinitives,
"
had already towns of
at
an earlier period turned their hand against the
Israel,
rriinn in rrintpj
and plundered
and goods. connection are desolate places which are
this
their
possessions
inhabited again, and therefore have been rebuilt are synonyms; and xxvi. 19). 3j? njjpjp and
mean
fiocks or herds, but gain,
xxxi. 18, xxxiv.
23).
One
possession (cf.
motive of
Gog
(cf.
rtJjpip
:
who
xii.
20,
does not
Gen. xxxvi. for
attack was to be found in the possessions of Israel
given in the words
ch.
6,
making the ;
a second
is
dwell upon the navel of the earth.
This figurative expression is to be explained from ch. v. 5 Jerusalem in the midst of the nations." The navel is not :
"
a figure denoting the high land, but signifies the land situated in the middle of the earth, and therefore the land most glorious and most richly blessed ; so that they who dwell there occupy
A
covetous desire the most exalted position among the nations. for the possessions of the people of God, and envy at his exalted position in the centre of the world, are therefore the motives
by which Gog
impelled to enter upon his predatory expedi tion against the people living in the depth of peace. This covetousness is so great, that even the rich trading populations is
of Sabaea, Dedan, and Tarshish (cf. ch. xxvii. 22, 20, and 12)
perceive
it,
and declare that
it is
this alone
which has determined
The words of these peoples undertake his expedition. Gog not to be taken as expressing their sympathies (ver. 13) are serve to give prominence to the obvious thirst but (Kliefoth), to
v for booty which characterizes the multitude led by Gog. fi ??, their young lions, are the rapacious rulers of these trading Ver. 14 communities, according to ch. xix. 3 and xxxii. 2. 1
?.
introduces the announcement of the punishment, which consists
CUAP. XXXVIII.
of another
and
of the daring enterprise of
summary account
clear statement of the design of
God
JHn (ver. 14,
Gog
4-9), and a him against His leading of which different ren
and 16a with
his hosts (cf. vers. 14, 15,
people and land,
167
17-23.
in
close),
vers.
wilt experience, derings have been given, does not mean, thou but the or be aware of, the punishment object is to be taken ;
from the context
thou wilt know, or perceive,
:
not expecting
dwells securely,
LXX.
rendering of the
any
hostile
sc.
that Israel
invasion.
The
satis (eyepOrjo-y) does not furnish any
factory ground for altering jnn into
=
(Ewald, Hitzig). the (ver. 166) opening thought of defined with greater is resumed and the whole picture (ver. 4a) of attaching to it the declaration of the precision, for the purpose
With
the words W1
"iyn
"ityn
TO^ni
Himself design of the Lord in bringing Gog, namely, to sanctify 23 ver. and ch. upon him before the eyes of the nations (cf. xxxvi. 23).
Vers. 17-23.
Announcement
of the wrathful
as a proof of the holiness of the
Gog,
saith the
Lord Jehovah, Art
former days through
my
Lord.
judgment upon Ver. 17. Thus
whom I
thou he of
spoke in the
servants the prophets of Israel,
who
prophesied for years in those days, that I would bring thee over them? Ver. 18. And it cometh to pass in that day, in the day when Gog cometh into the land of Israel, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, that in
my
that
my
ivrath will ascend into
jealousy, in the fire of
my
day will a great trembling
Ver. 20. The fishes of the
sea,
my
nose.
I
anger, have
come over
and
Ver. 19.
And
spoken, Truly in
the land
of Israel ; of heaven, and the
the birds
the field, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the and all the men that are upon the ground, will tremble ground, before me; and the mountains will be destroyed, and the rocky Ver. 21. / heights fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. will call the sword against him to all my holy mountains, is the
beasts
of
saying of the the
other.
and by
Lord Jehovah :
Ver. 22.
blood,
the
And I
and overflowing
sword of
the one will be against
will strive with
rain-torrents
him by
and
pestilence
hailstones; fire
163
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
and brimstone the
will
I rain upon him and
many peoples that are with
self great
and
holy,
and
will
of many nations, that they
The announcement
of the
and upon
all his hosts,
him; Ver. 23.
And
will prove
my
make myself known before the eyes may know that I am Jehovah.
way
in
which the Lord
will sanctify
Gog (ver. 16) commences with the statement in Gog is he of whom God has already spoken by
Himself upon ver. 17, that
This assertion the earlier prophets. a question : nriN n, not nntf fc6n, which
clothed in the form of
is is
the interrogative form
used for an emphatic assurance; whereas nnxn does not set down the point in question as indisputably certain, but suggests the inquiry for the purpose of giving a definite answer. The affirmative reply to the question asked is contained in the last clause of the verse
"
:
to
bring thee upon them
"
;
so
that
Kin nnxn
The statement, that really means, thou art truly he. Gog is he of whom God had already spoken by the earlier pro phets, does not mean that those prophets had actually men tioned Gog, but simply that
Gog was the enemy of whose God the prophets of the former
up against the people of time had prophesied, as well as of his destruction by a wrathful judgment of the Lord. (for years, or years long) is an rising
&W
LXX.
accusative of measure, not asyndeton to &^2, as the and many of the commentators down to Havernick have taken
The
design of this remark is not to accredit the pro phecy by referring to the utterances of earlier prophets, but to show that the attack of the peoples gathered together by Gog,
it
to be.
upon the land and people of the Lord,
is
not an unexpected
event, or one at variance with the promise of the restoration of To what utterances of the Israel as a kingdom of peace.
older prophets
thought
these
Zechariah
answer.
of, as
captivity,
words refer
is
(xii. 2, 3, xiv. 2, 3)
a question difficult to is of course not to be
Zechariah himself did not prophesy
and therefore not
till
after Ezekiel.
till
after the
But we may
2 and 11 sqq. ; Isa. xxv. 5, 10 sqq., xxvi. 21 ; Jer. xxx. 23 and 25 ; and, in fact, all the earlier prophets who recall Joel iv.
169
CHAP. XXXVIIL 17-23.
1
s of judgment upon all the heathen. prophesied of Jehovah day Vers. 18 and 19 do not contain words which Jehovah spoke through the ancient prophets, and which Ezekiel now transfers
to
the time of his appearing (Hitzig and Kliefoth).
Gog and
The
perfect
assumption
;
in ver. 19
^1?1
for this
is
by no means warrants such an
the cer purely prophetic, expressing
tainty of the divine determination as a thing clearly proved. Still less can itf EN? in ver. 18 be taken as a preterite, as
nor can vers. 18 and 19 be regarded as a thing long predicted, and so be separated from vers. 2023 as a word of God which is now for the first time uttered. For Kliefoth supposes
;
the anthropopathetic expression, my wrath ascends in Ps. xviii. smoke ascends in His nose." nose," compare 9,
my
"
"
outburst of wrath shows the wrathful
comm. on
man
itself in
The
the vehement breath which
inhales and exhales through his nose (see the
The
bursting out of the wrath of God is literally explained in ver. 19. In the jealousy of His wrath God has spoken, i.e. determined, to inflict a great 0??i?? (cf. ch. v. 13) is trembling upon the land of Israel. the Psalm,
I.e.).
Bfca strengthened by Vnag
trembling which
will
(cf.
ch. xxi. 36, xxii. 21).
come upon the land
creatures in the sea, in the
air,
The
of Israel, so that all
and upon the ground, tremble
before Jehovah (^sp), who appears to judgment, will rise in nature into an actual earthquake, which overthrows mountains, and walls. rnjnio are steep heights, which can only be hills,
This picture of the ascended by steps (Song of Sol. ii. 14). whole with all the of the world, creatures, before the trembling
Lord who
is
coming
1
to
judgment, both here and in Joel
iv.
16,
Aug. Kueper (Jeremias interpr. atque vindex, p. 82) has correctly observed concerning this verse, that "it is evident enough that there is no reference here to prophecies concerning Gog and Magog, which librr. sacrr.
lost but those general prophecies, which are met with on every hand directed against the enemies of the church, are here referred to And before him, J. F. Starck had already said- In my opinion, Gog."
have been
;
"
we
are to understand all those passages in the prophets which treat of the enemies of the church and its persecutions . . . these afflictions were pre
ludes and shadows of the bloody persecution of
Gog."
170
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Zech. xiv.
4, 5, rests
upon the fact which actually occurred
connection with the revelation of
whole mountain was made
God upon
Sinai,
when
in
the
The quake (Ex. xix. 16 sqq.). inhabitants of the land of Israel tremble at the terrible pheno to
mena
attending the revelation of the wrath of God, although the wrathful judgment does not apply to them, but to their The Lord calls the sword against enemies, Gog and his hosts.
may wound and slay one another. This enemy by wounds inflicted
his hosts
Gog, that
feature of the destruction of the
by
itself,
which we meet with again in Zech.
typical exemplar
Gideon (Judg.
Judah
vii.
22),
and
also in that of the
enemy invading In
in the reign of
nrrap the
my
all
xiv. 13, has its
in the defeat of the Midianites in the time of
? is
Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xx. 23). not distributive, but indicates the direction
The overthrow
mountains."
of the
enemy
is
"
:
to
intensi
by God pestilence and blood (cf. ch. xxviii. 23), torrents of rain and hailstones (cf. ch. xiii. 11), and the raining of fire and brimstone upon Gog,
by marvellous plagues
fied
inflicted
upon Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. xix. 24). Jehovah prove Himself to be the almighty God by judgment upon His enemies, and sanctify Himself before all the nations (ver. 23, compare ver. 16 and ch. xxxvi. 23). as formerly
Thus
will
Ch. xxxix. 1-20. Further description of the judgment to upon Gog and his hosts. Vers. 1-8. General announce
fall
ment
of
his
destruction.
Ver.
And
1.
son of man,
thou,
prophesy against Gog, and say. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold,
I
will deal with thee, Gog, thou prince
and Tubal.
Ver.
2.
cause thee to come up the
thy
/
will mislead thee,
from
thee,
and
and bring thee to smite thy bow from
the uttermost north,
mountains of Israel ; Ver. left
of Eosh, Meshech,
and conduct
3.
And
hand, and cause thine arrows
will
to fall
from
thy right hand.
Ver. 4. Upon the mountains of Israel wilt thou fall, thou and all thy hosts, and the peoples which are with thee : I give thee for
food
to the birds
the field.
Ver.
of prey of every plumage, and 5.
Upon
the
to
the beasts
open field shalt thou fall,
for
of
I
CHAP. XXXIX.
have spoken
I
will
security
Ver.
7.
Ver.
6.
And
send fire Magog, and among those who dwell in upon the islands, that they may know that I am Jehovah. / will make known my holy name in the midst of in
any more,
Ver.
8.
Behold,
Lord Jehovah;
my
let
may know
that the nations
in Israel. the
Lord Jehovah.
saying of the
is the
people Israel, and will not
my
of
it,
171
1-8.
this
holy
that
name
I am
be profaned
Jehovah, holy
comes and happens, is the saying is the day of which I spoke.
it
further description of the judgment with which Gog and his hosts are threatened in ch. xxxviii. 2123, commences with
The
command
a repetition of the
Gog
to the
prophet to prophesy against
The principal contents summed up in ver. 2.
of
(ver. 1, cf. ch. xxxviii. 2, 3).
ch. xxxviii.
4-15 are then
briefly
strengthened by T^^. N I leave a sixth part is not connected with W& in the sense of of thee remaining," or afflict thee with six punishments ; but as in ch. xxxviii. 4,
is
"
in the Ethiopia
proceed, or to climb, and here,
signifies to
it
used in the sense of leading on (LXX. KaOoaccordingly, Sqyrfaa) (7j or, according to another reading, icard^a) Vulg. educam). For ver. 2&, compare ch. xxxviii. 15 and 8. In the it is
;
land of Israel,
make him
God
will strike his
weapons out of
incapable of fighting (for the fact
his hands,
itself,
i.e.
compare the
and give him up a beast of prey, is further strengthened
similar figures in Ps. xxxvii. 15, xlvi. 10),
with
all his
army
more by
W,
as a prey to death.
precisely defined the genitive ^JJ PS
by :
"riav,
still
birds of prey of every kind.
be confined
will not
and
to the destruction of the
judgment Gog, which has invaded the land of
The
army
of
Israel, but (ver. 6) will also extend to the land of Gog, and to all the heathen nations
that are dwelling in security. fire, primarily the fire of a in a further war; then, sense, figure denoting destruction B>tf,
inflicted directly
by God,
as in ch. xxxviii. 22,
fore represented in Rev. xx.
9 as
fire
which
is
there
falling from heaven.
Magog is the population of the land of Magog (ch. xxxviii. 2). With this the inhabitants of the distant coastlands of the west
~
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
(the t^X) are associated, as representatives of the remotest heathen nations. Vers. 7, 8. By this judgment the Lord will
make known His
He
that
the fact
holy name in Israel, and show the heathen will not let it be blasphemed by them any more. For
For ver. 8, compare ch. compare ch xxxvi. 20 and for Dln, see ch. xxxviii. 18, 19. Vers. 9-20 Total destruction of Gog and his hosts. Ver. 9. 12
xxi.
Then and
itself,
,
will the inhabitants of the cities of Israel go forth,
heat with
armour and
and hand-staves and Ver. 10
shield
spears,
And
and
target,
with bow and arrows
and will burn fire
will not fetch
and burn
them for seven
ivith
wood from
the field,
nor cut
years
;
wood
out of the forests, but will burn fire with the armour,
and plunder
will spoil those ivho spoiled them, is the
them,
come
saying of the
and
the sea ;
will they bury
of Gog
will stop the
it
Gog and
of
way
to the travellers,
all his multitude,
Ver 12
name on
They of
and
will call
the house
to
the
day when I glorify myself,
Ver. 14.
And
rove about in the land,
it
and
them for a
saying of the
is the
there
the valley
of Israel will Ver. 13. And to
Lord
they will set apart constant men, such as
and such as bury with them
who remain upon
on the front
the travellers
purify the land for seven months. people of the land will bury, and it will be
Jehovah.
those
Lord Jehovah* Ver. 11. And it will I will give Gog a place where his
be, the valley
s multitude.
bury them, all the
and
who plundered
pass in that day, that
to
grave in Israel shall
of
those
the surface
that rove about
of the ground,
of seven months will they search
to cleanse it
,
through. Ver. 15. And those who rove about will pass through the land ; and if one sees a man s bone, he will set up a sign by it, till the buriers of after the lapse
the
dead bury
it
The name of a
And
in the valley of the multitude city shall also be called
thus will they cleanse the land.
man, thus saith plumage, and to
it
the
Ver
Lord Jehovah, Say
of Gog.
Ver. 16.
Ilamonah (multitude). 17. to
And
the
thou, son of
birds of every
of the field. Assemble yourselves, round about to my sacrifice, which , gather together from 1 slaughter for you, to a great sacrifice upon the mountains of
and come
all the beasts
CHAP. XXXIX.
Israel,
and
eat flesh
And
and drink Hood.
in he-goats, bullocks, all fattened
ye shall eat fat to satiety,
Flesh of heroes
Ver. 18
and drink blood of princes of
shall ye eat,
lambs, and
173
9-20.
the
earth; rams,
and drink blood
of
the
and
heroes
all
Lord Jehovah.
upon Gog
will
be,
kinds
of men of war,
To show how Ezekiel
depicts
the burning of
all
is
terrible the
in
the total destruction of his powerful forces.
9.
to intoxication,
I have slaughtered for you. of my sacrifice which And ye shall satiate yourselves at my table with riders,
Ver.
Bashan.
three
Ver
20.
horses
and
the
saying
judgment ways
special
In the
first place,
the weapons of the fallen foe will furnish
the inhabitants of the land of Israel with
wood
for firing for
seven years, so that there will be no necessity for them to fetch But fuel from the field or from the forest (vers 9 and 10).
Havernick
is
wrong
in supposing that the reason for
burning
the weapons that, according to Isa. ix. 5, weapons of war are irreconcilable with the character of the Messianic times of is
This
peace.
is
not referred to here; but the motive
is
the
complete annihilation of the enemy, the removal of every trace The prophet therefore crowds the words together for of him. the purpose of enumerating every kind of weapon that was combustible, even to the hand-staves which men were accus
Num. xxii. 27). The quantity of the (cf. be so great, that they will supply the Israelites weapons with all the fuel they need for seven years. The number seven in the seven years as well as in the seven months of burying
tomed
to carry will
(ver. 11) inflicted
is
symbolical, stamping the overthrow as a punishment
by God, the completion of a divine judgment.
With
the gathering of the weapons for burning there is associated the plundering of the fallen foe (ver. 106), by which the Israelites
do to the
enemy what he intended
to do to
them
(ch. xxxviii. 12), and the people of God obtain possession of the wealth of their foes (cf. Jer. xxx. 16). In the second place, God will 2Tssign a large burying-place for the army of Gog in
a valley of Israel, which
is
to
be named in consequence
"
the
174
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
multitude of called
just as a city in that region will also be
Gog;"
Hamonah from
fallen of
Gog
The
this event.
bury the
Israelites will
there for seven months
long,
and after the
expiration of that time they will have the land explored by men specially appointed for the purpose, and bones that may still have been left unburied will be sought out, and they will have them interred by buriers of the dead, that the land may be thoroughly cleansed (vers. 11-16), a place D^ Dip ?
"ttjj
where there was a grave in Israel, i.e. a spot in which he might be buried in Israel. There are different opinions as to both the designation and the situation of this place. There yn ^ derives its foundation for the supposition that
is
Q^
from the mountains of Abarim in xxxii.
Num.
49 (Michaelis, Eichhorn), or that
it
xxvii.
no
name
12 and Deut.
signifies valley of the
haughty ones (Ewald), or that there is an allusion to the valley mentioned in Zech. xiv. 4 (Hitzig), or the valley of Jehoshaphat
The
(Kliefoth).
valley cannot even have derived
D (Dnnyn) from the
11
")^,
who
out the bones of the dead that
have them interred
name
its
passed through the land to search
(vers. 14,
still
15).
remained unburied, and For 0^3 yn cannot have
any other meaning here than that which it has in the circum stantial clause which follows, where those who explored the land cannot possibly be intended, although even
The only
obscure.
xxv. 4, where
it
other passage in signifies a muzzle, and in the Arabic
to obstruct, or cut off
bably, to stop the
word
for the
"OJJ
;
and hence,
E^n yn
of
Bnn yn
Sea.
in
is
Deut.
it
means
the passage before us, pro
are not the Scythians (Hitzig),
way. never applied to their invasion of the land,
is
but generally the travellers especially those
this clause is also
which DDH occurs
who
cross
who
pass through the land, or
from Peraea
to
Canaan.
The
more
valley
no doubt the valley of the Jordan above the Dead on the front The definition indicates this, viz. Djn is
riD"!^
of the sea for
ripljp
By
D*n
;
not to the east of the sea, as
it is
generally rendered,
never has this meaning (see the comm. on Gen.
we cannot understand
"
the
Mediterranean,"
ii.
14).
as
the
CHAP. XXXIX.
175
9-20.
there would then be majority of the commentators have done, as the land of Israel whole of the since no meaning in the words,
was situated
Dead
Sea, generally called "
Djn nEHfp,
Mediterranean Sea.
to the east of the
atonjjn
ch. (
Djn
on the front side of the (Dead)
xlvii.
Sea,"
from Jerusalem, the central point of the land,
is
E*n
is
18)
;
the
and
as looked at
probably the
from Gilead valley of the Jordan, the principal crossing place of the the broadest and into Canaan proper, Jordan-valley, part which was therefore well adapted to be the burial-place for the multitude of slaughtered foes. But in consequence of the
army
of
Gog
future block
and
fro.
clause.
having there found
up the way
its
grave, this valley will in
who
to the travellers
desire to pass to
This appears to be the meaning of the circumstantial From the fact that Gog s multitude is buried there,
the valley
itself will
receive the
name
of
The
Hamon-Gog.
occupy seven months in burying them, so enor mously great will be the number of the dead to be buried this labour will be for a name, i.e. for renown, (ver. 12), and
Israelites will
This does not mean, of course, that it in to them to assist this work nor be a source of honour
to the will
whole nation.
"
;"
the renown to be sought in the fact, that as a privileged the grave of Gog in people, protected by God, they can possess
is
their land (Hitzig),
a thought which is altogether remote, and views ; but the burying of Gog s
perfectly foreign to Israelitish
multitude of troops will be for a
inasmuch
name
to the people of Israel,
as they thereby cleanse the land
and manifest
their
show themselves a holy people by sweeping all uncleanness away. D^ is an accusative of time on the day when I zeal to
:
glorify myself.
Vers. 14, 15.
The
effort
made
to cleanse the
land perfectly from the uncleanness arising from the bones of the dead will be so great, that after the great mass of the slain
have been buried in seven months, there will be men specially appointed to bury the bones of the dead that still lie scattered here and there about the land.
TOf)
a permanent duty to discharge.
HWN
The
are people
who have
D Hrfy and participles
176
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
and are written together asyndetos, men who go about the land, and men who bury with those who go That the words are to be understood in this sense is about. a|50
are co-ordinate,
evident from ver 15, according to which those who go about do not perform the task of burying, but simply search for bones that have been left, and put up a sign for the buriers of the dead,
n^n, with the subject indefinite;
bone, he builds (erects) a 2 Kings of Hamonah,
Ver
xxiii. 17). i.e.
ft
s
y,
16.
"
name
the
of the city
In the
last
it
also receive the
To
multitude or tumult
Hebrew.
required in
side of
by the
A city shall
nvv from the context, since easily supply the statement,
one sees a human
if
or stone,
TjrDE>
(cf.
name
we may
this puts in the future
for
is"
words,
which no verb was
pNH
VinBl, the
main
finally repeated and the picture brought to a close. thought Vers. 17-20. In the third place, God will provide the birds is
of prey and beasts of prey with an abundant meal from this
This cannot be understood as signifying that only corpses, and have not been cleared away in
slaughter.
what remain of the the
manner depicted
wild beasts
;
become the prey of make their meal of the
in vers. 11-16, will
but the beasts of prey will
corpses before
it
is
possible to
bury them, since the burying
cannot be effected immediately or features in the picture, of the
are to be destroyed
at once.
all
manner
in
The
several
which the enemies
the last trace of them
gone, are not arranged in chronological order, but according to the subjectmatter; and the thought that the slaughtered foes are to become the prey of wild beasts is mentioned last as being the
more
striking,
destruction
till
because
culminates.
it
is
To
in
this
give
that
is
their
ignominious
due prominence
to
this
thought, the birds and beasts of prey are summoned by God to gather together to the meal prepared for them. The picture of it as a sacrificial meal is based Isa. xxxiv. 6 and given upon Jer. xlvi. 10.
In harmony with
this picture the slaughtered
foes are designated as fattened sacrificial beasts, rams, lambs,
he-goats, bullocks
;
on which Grotius has correctly remarked,
CHAP. XXXIX.
that
names
these
"
177
21-29.
which were generally employed
of animals,
in the sacrifices, are to be understood as signifying different
orders of men, chiefs, generals, soldiers, as the Chaldee also observes."
The
Vers. 21-29.
judgment, and the concluding
result of this
Ver. 21. Then will I display
promise. nations,
and
all nations shall see
execute,
and
my hand
And
the house
from
that because tivity
of
their wickedness the house
into the
uncleanness,
and according
of Israel went
Lord Jehovah, Now
Jacob, and have pity upon
my
holy name.
will
all the
into cap
I
hid
my
I
to their
dealt with
Ver. 25. Therefore thus bring back the captivity of
house of Israel, and be jealous
Ver. 26. Then
all their faithlessness
I
God know
their oppressors,
their transgressions,
and hid my face from them.
saith the
and
to
Ver. 22.
the nations shall
hand of
shall
their
Ver. 24. According
so that they all fell by the sword.
for
And
because they have been unfaithful toward me,
;
I
upon them.
I am Jehovah
that
Ver. 23.
face from them, and gave them
them,
my
the
among
glory
judgment which
shall lay
know
of Israel shall
day and forward.
this
I
which
my
ivill
they bear their reproach
which they have committed toward
me
they dwell in their land in security, and no one alarms them ; Ver. 27. When I bring them back out of the nations, and gather
when
them out of the lands of their enemies, and sanctify myself upon them before the eyes of the many nations. Ver. 28. And they will know that I, Jehovah, am their God, when I have driven them
and then bring them together again into their Ver. 29. And none land, of them there any more. I will not hide my face from them any more, because I have
out to the nations,
and
leave
poured out the
of
have first,
my
Spirit
upon
Lord Jehovah.
The
the
house of Israel,
terrible
is
the saying
judgment upon Gog
will
twofold effect as a revelation of the glory of God Israel will know that the Lord is, and will always continue this
to be, its
God
He
Israel into their power,
gave
(ver. 22)
land, not from
EZEK.
II.
;
secondly, the heathen
weakness,
and thrust
but to punish
it
it
will
know
out of
for
its
M
its
that
own
faithless
THE HIOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
178
apostasy (vers. 23 and 24 ; compare ch. xxxvi. 17 sqq.) nl"P Dntf (ver. But because this was the 24), as in ch. vii. 27, etc.
purpose of the Lord with His judgments, He will now bring back the captives of Israel, and have compassion upon all His This turn of the prophecy in ver. 25 serves to intro people.
duce the promise to Israel with which the prophecy concerning Gog and the whole series of prophecies, contained in ch.xxxv. 1 onwards, are brought to a close (vers. 25-29). This promise 1^ K rro to the prophet s own time, to which Ezekiel had already gone back by mentioning the carrying
reverts in
away of
W
Israel in vers.
captives of Jacob
23 and 24.
commences with the
The
restoration of the
liberation of Israel
from
It the Babylonian exile, but is not to be restricted to this. embraces all the deliverances which Israel will experience from
the termination of the Babylonian exile till its final gathering out of the nations on the conversion of the remnant which is still
hardened and scattered.
j??,
therefore, sc. because
God
be holy in the sight of the heathen nations by means of the judgment, and will make known to them that He has punished Israel solely on account of its sins, will
prove Himself
and therefore
will
Spirit (ver. 29).
name
consists
is
to
He
by His In what the jealousy of God for His holy evident from ver. 7, and still more plainly His people and renew
restore
it
ch, xxxvi. 22, 23, namely, in the fact that by means of the judgment He manifests Himself as the holy God. wy\ is will as Dathe into and altered be to not *BW, they forget," v for m&)} (like for Hitzig propose, but is a defective spelling
from
"
Ifc6
in ch. xxviii. 16)
:
they will bear their reproach.
The
xvL 54 and
61, where the bearing thought is of reproach is explained as signifying their being ashamed of their sins and their consequences, and feeling disgust thereat.
the same
They
will feel this
When
shame when the Lord grants them
lasting
Raschi has correctly explained it thus I shall have done them good, and not rewarded them as
peace in their "
own
as in ch.
land.
:
their iniquity deserved, they will be filled with shame, so that
179
CHAP. XXXIX. 21-29.
they will not dare to lift up their face." Ver. 27 is only a For the fact itself, compare further expansion of ver. 2Gb.
And
ch. xxxvi. 23, 24, xx. 41, etc.
be ashamed of
Jehovah
in ver. 22,
its sins,
God from
is its
when He
not only will Israel then
but (vers. 28, 29) it will also know that henceforth and for ever, as was affirmed
shall fully restore to their
own land
the
people that was thrust into exile, and withdraw His favour from it no more, because He has poured out His Spirit upon it,
and thereby perfectly
sanctified
it
as
His own people
(cf. ch.
xxxvi. 27).
The promise with which tion of all
Gog
is
brought
the prophecy concerning the destruc
to a close,
namely, that in
nations shall see the glory of God, and
all
this
judgment
Israel shall
know
be their God, and will no more His from serves to confirm the substance of hide face them, that henceforth
Jehovah
will
the threat of punishment; inasmuch as it also teaches that, in the destruction of Gog and his gathering of peoples, the last attack of the heathen world-power upon the kingdom of God
be judged and overthrown, so that from that time forth the people of God will no more have to fear a foe who can disturb will
its
peace and
its
blessedness in the everlasting possession of the it by the Lord. Gog is not only depicted
inheritance given to as the last foe,
whom
the
Lord Himself
entices for the purpose
of destroying him by miracles of His almighty power (ch. xxxviii. 3, 4, 19-22), by the fact that his appearance is assigned
end of the times, when all Israel is gathered out of the nations and brought back out of the lands, and dwells in secure to the
repose in the open and (ch. xxxviii. 8, 11, 12)
;
unfortified
but
this
may
towns of
its
own land
also be inferred
fact that the gathering of peoples led
from the
by Gog against
Israel
belongs to the heathen nations living on the borders of the known world, since this points to a time when not only will the ancient foes of the
kingdom
of
Gog, whose destruction was
predicted in ch. xxv.-xxxii., have departed from the stage of history and perished, but the boundaries of Israel will also
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
180 stretch far
beyond the
limits of Palestine, to the vicinity of
these hordes of peoples
at
the remotest extremities on the
So much may be north, the east, and the south of the globe. gathered from the contents of our prophecy in relation to its
But
determine with greater heathen power thus rising up in Gog of precision what is the Magog against the kingdom of God, we must take into con
historical fulfilment.
in order to
Apocalypse (Rev. xx. 8 and 9), resumed. Into this, however, we will
sideration the passage in the
where our prophecy
is
not further enter
after the exposition of ch. xl.-xlviii.,
till
when
we shall take up the question as to the historical realization of the new temple and kingdom of God which Ezekiel saw.
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
The
last
vision, in
THE NEW KINGDOM OF GOB.
nine chapters of Ezekiel contain a magnificent
which the prophet, being transported in an
state into the land of
Israel, is
ecstatic
shown the new temple and the
with the new organization of the service of God, together division of Canaan among the tribes of Israel, who have been
new
This last section of back from among brought O the nations. O off in itself, is indeed rounded is perfectly
our book, which
from the preceding pro sharply distinguished by its form with them so far as the phecies; but it is -closely connected contents are concerned, and forms the second half of the entire book, in which the announcement of salvation for Israel is
brought to
its full
completion, and a panoramic vision displays
the realization of the salvation promised. (ch. xxxiv.-xxxvii.)
commenced with
This announcement
the promise that the
Lord
would bring back all Israel from its dispersion into the land of Canaan given to the fathers, and would cause it to dwell there as a people renewed by His Spirit and walking in His com-
181
CHAP. XL-XLVIII.
mandments and closed with the assurance make an eternal covenant of peace with His ;
that
He
would
restored people,
the midst of them, and there dwell place His sanctuary in The above them as their God for ever (ch. xxxvii. 26-28). picture
shown
realization
to the prophet in the chapters before us, of the
of this promise,
commences with the
and measuring of the new sanctuary
description
(ch. xl.-xlii.), into
which
the glory of the Lord enters with the assurance, "This is the place of my throne, where I shall dwell for ever among the
sons of Israel
(ch.
xliii.
tion of the boundaries
twelve
1-12) and the
;
division of
tribes, as well as of the extent
Jerusalem (ch. this picture is
of God,
and concludes with the
"
xlvii.
occupied by the
by observing which
holy people of the
Lord
(ch.
all
new
central portion of
organization of the service
Israel
xliii.
and building of the new
The
13-xlviii. 35).
defini
Canaan among the
is
to prove itself to
be a
13-xlvi. 24), so as to partici
pate in the blessing which flows like a river from the threshold of the temple and spreads itself over the land (ch. xlvii. 1-12). From this brief sketch of these nine chapters, it is evident that this vision does not merely treat of the
new temple and
new order of the temple-worship, although these points are described in the most elaborate manner ; but that it presents a
the
picture of the of
God, and
new form assumed by
the whole of the
the restoration and the blessedness of Israel. it
may
kingdom
in this picture exhibits to the eye the realization of
therefore be divided into three sections
description of the
new temple
(ch. xl.
xliii.
12)
The whole
of
(a) the
:
viz.
;
(b) the
new
organization of the worship of God (ch. xliii. 13-xlvi. 24) ; (c) the blessing of the land of Canaan, and the partition of it among the tribes of Israel (ch. xlvii. 1 xlviii. 35) ; although this
not strictly adhered to, inasmuch as in the not only are several points relating to the such as the description of the altar of burnt-offering
division
is
central section
temple (ch. 1
xliii.
9-24)
13-17), and the kitchens for the sacrifices (ch. xlvi. repeated, but the tJienimah to be set apart as holy on
182
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the division of the land, and the prince
mentioned and defined (ch.
s
domain, are also
xlv. 1-8).
CHAP. XL.-XLIII.
12.
THE NEW TEMPLE.
After a short introduction announcing the time, place, and design of the vision (ch. xl. 1-4), the picture of the temple shown to the prophet commences with a description of the It then turns courts, with their gates and cells (ch. xl. 5-47). to the description of the
temple house, with the porch and
side- building, of the erection xl. 48-xli. 26),
and
upon the separate place
(ch.
also of the cells in the outer court set apart
for the sacrificial meals of the priests, and for the custody of their official robes
and proceeds
;
to
define the extent of the
outer circumference of the temple (ch. xlii.). It closes with the consecration of the temple, as the place of the throne of
God, by the entrance
into
it
of the glory of the
Lord
(ch.
1
xliii.
1-12).
Chap. Ver.
In
1.
beginning of 1
the Jive
the year,
xl.
Versuch xlvi.
tiber die ideale
Introduction.
and
twentieth year of our captivity, at the on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth
For the exposition of this one - sided, work of
critically
14.
section,
compare the thorough, though
Bottcher (Exegetisch kritischer Ezech. ch. xl.-xlii., der Tcmpelgebdude Beschreibung Jul.
Fr.
19-24) in the Prolen alttestamentlicher Schrifterkldrung, Lpz. 1833, On the other hand, the
pp. 218-365, with two plates of illustrations.
Jo. Bapt. Villalpando, de posearlier monographs upon these chapters trema Ezechielis visione, Pars II. of Pradi et Villalpandi in Ezech. explanatt., Rom. 1604 Matth. Hafenreffer, Templum Ezechielis s. in IX. postr. proLeonh. Cph. Sturm, Sciagraphia templi Hierosol phetiae capita, Tub. 1613 praesertim ex visione Ezech., Lips. 1G94 and other writings mentioned :
;
;
.
.
.
;
Rosenm tiller s Scholia ad Ez. XL., by no means meet the scientific demands of our age. This also applies to the work of Dr. J. J. BalmerRinck, with its typographical beauty, Des Propheten Ezechiel Ansicht vom
in
Tempel, mit 5 Tafeln und 1 Karte, Ludwigsb. 1858, and to the description of Ezekiel s temple in Gust. Unruh s das alte Jerusalem und
and engraving seine
Bauwerke, Langensalza 1861.
CHAP. XL.
183
1-4.
this same day the hand of year after the city was smitten, on Jehovah came upon me, and He brought me thither. Ver. 2. In
God He
brought me into the land of Israel, and set me a down upon very high mountain ; and upon it there was like a toward the south. Ver. 3. And He brought me thither, city-edifice visions of
there was a man, his appearance and a flaxen cord in his hand, and
and behold
like the
of brass,
the
appearance
measuring-rod ;
and he stood by the gate. Ver. 4. And the man spake to me : Son of man, see with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thy heart to
show
upon
all that
it thee.
I show
thee
;
for thou art brought hither
Tell all that thou seest to the house of Israel.
The twofold announcement of the time when the prophet was shown the vision of the new temple and the new kingdom of
God
points back to ch. i. 1 and xxxiii. 21, and places this divine revelation concerning the new building of the kingdom
God in a definite relation, not only to the appearance God by which Ezekiel was called to be a prophet (ch. i. 1,
of
but also to the vision in ch.
viii.-xi., in
of 3),
which he was shown
the destruction of the ancient, sinful Jerusalem, together with The twenty-fifth year of the captivity, and the its temple.
fourteenth
reduced
year after the city was smitten, i.e. taken and year 575 before Christ. There is a
to ashes, are the
difference of opinion as to the correct explanation of nj^n at the
beginning of the year
;
but
it
is
{y&ria,
certainly incorrect to
take the expression as denoting the beginning of the economical or so-called civil year, the seventh month (Tishri). For, in the
custom of beginning the year with the month Tishri was introduced long after the captivity, and was probably
first
place, the
connected with the adoption of the era of the Seleucidae ; and, secondly, it is hardly conceivable that Ezekiel should have
down in the Torah in so important only thing that could render this at all
deviated from the view laid a point as this.
The
probable would be the assumption proposed by Hitzig, that the year 575 B.C. was a year of jubilee, since the year of jubilee did
commence with
the day of atonement on the tenth of the
18-i
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
seventh month.
But
the supposition that a jubilee year fell in the twenty-fifth year of the captivity cannot be raised into a
We therefore
probability.
nj$n
Ex.
is
agree with Havernick and Kliefoth
view of the older commentators, that pan
in adhering to the
a contracted repetition of the definition contained in t?nr6 jteto
xii. 2, njtfn
month
of the year,
day of
this
i.e.
DWn
the
tf&n,
and
signifies the
month Abib (Nisan).
opening
The
tenth
month was the day on which the preparations
for
the Passover, the feast of the elevation of Israel into the people of God, were to commence, and therefore was well adapted for
new
the revelation of the
constitution of the
kingdom
of God.
On
that day was Ezekiel transported, in an ecstatic state, to the site of the smitten Jerusalem. For vV !?, compare ch. "
"P
1
"K
and
thither, i.
1.
HEP
evidently points back to "W in ver. 2b : where the city was smitten. DWg fliN"], as in ch. in 7S WJ*: he set me down upon (not by) a very
xxxvii. 1
J
i.
3.
high mountain (/N for 7P, as in many other instances ; e.g. ch. The very high mountain is Mount xviii. 6 and xxxi. 12). Zion, which
(Mic. to
iv.
what
1
;
exalted above the tops of all the mountains the mountain upon which, Isa. ii. 2), is
new temple
follows, the
according seen in the vision stood, and
which has already been designated Israel in ch. xvii. 22, 23.
1
Upon
as the lofty
this
something like a city-edifice toward the south
Ty
south hither).
rrno
is
mountain of
mountain Ezekiel saw
from the
(lit.
not the building of the
new Jeru
salem (Havernick, Kliefoth, etc.). For even if what was to be seen as a city-edifice really could be one, although no tenable proof can be adduced of this use of 3 simil^ nothing is said about the city
even there
it
is
till
ch. xlv. 6
dividing of the land 1
and
xlviii.
15 and 30
sqq.,
and
only in combination with the ;
so that
Havernick
s
measuring and the remark, that "
H. Michaelis has already explained it correctly, viz.: "The highest had also predicted that Mount Zion would (ii. 2) cf. be, not physically, but in the eminence of gospel dignity and glory Eev. xxi. J.
mountain, such as Isaiah
;
10."
CHAP. XL.
185
1-4.
and the
revelation has reference to the sanctuary
city
;
these
two principal objects announce themselves at once as such in the form of vision," is neither correct nor conclusive. The
and the whole of the
revelation has reference to the temple
holy land, including the city; and the city itself does not come at all into such prominence as to warrant us in assuming that there
is
If
duction.
made
already a reference
we
look at the context, the
to
here in the intro
it
man
with the measure,
whom
Ezekiel saw at the place to which he was transported, at the gate (ver. 3). This gate in the wall round about the building was, according to vers. 5, 6, a temple gate.
was standing
Consequently what Ezekiel saw as a the building of the new temple, and its manifold court buildings. 333D can both be brought into
city-edifice
with
The
its
can only be
surrounding wall
expressions tv? and
harmony with
lyJJ refers
this.
mountain mentioned immediately before, to the summit of which the prophet had been transported, and
to the very high
measured before
upon which the temple-edifice But 3J3 does not imply, that
is
mountain he saw in
toward the south, a magnifi but simply that, looking from
as Ezekiel looked
the distance,
his eyes.
from the
cent building like a city-edifice his standing-place in a southerly direction, or southwards, he ;
upon the mountain, that is to say, as he had been transported from Chaldea, i.e. from the north, into the land of Israel, he really saw it before him towards the south saw
this building
;
so that the rendering of 3J3
substantially correct, alter
into TJ3.
aa.3
airkvavri, in the
is
by Septuagint though without furnishing any warrant to In ver. 3a, nnv TrtK is repeated from
KW
the end of ver. 1, for the purpose of attaching the following when He brought description of what is seen, in the sense of, "
me
thither, behold, there (was) a
like the
appearance of brass,
the correct gloss of the ch.
as
i.
he
LXX.
man."
His appearance was
of shining brass (according to
%a\Kov
cmA/3oi>T09
= 56
JTtf jj
nj,
This figure suggests a heavenly being, an angel, and called Jehovah in ch. xliv. 2, 5, the angel of Jehovah.
7). is
i.e.
18G
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Kliefotli s opinion, that in ch. xliv. 2, 5,
it is
not the
man who
speaking, but that the prophet is there addressed directly by the apparition of God (ch. xliii. 2 sqq.), is proved to be unten able by the simple fact that the speaker (in ch. xliv.) admonishes is
the prophet in ver. 5 to attend, to see, and to hear, in the same This words as the man in ver. 4 of the chapter before us. of doubt. He places the identity of the two beyond the reach flaxen cord for and the hand his a had in measuring measuring,
that
rod,
is
to say,
two measures, because he had
to
measure
many and various things, smaller and larger spaces, for the former of which he had the measuring rod, for the latter the measuring line. The gate at which this man stood (ver. 3) is not more precisely defined, but according to ver. 5 it is to be sought for in the wall surrounding the building ; and since he
went
to the east gate first, according to ver. 6,
east gate, but probably the north gate, as that Ezekiel had come.
it
it
was not the
was from the north
Vers. 5-27. The Outer Court, with Boundary Wall, GateBuildings,
and
Cells.
THE SURROUNDING WALL.
And, behold, a wall round the house; and in the marfs hand (rail) on the outside was the measuring rod of six cubits, each a cubit and a handVer.
5.
breadth
;
and he measured
The
a rod.
the height
the breadth
of
the building
a rod, and
description of the temple (for, accord
rpan is the house of Jehovah) (cf. ch. ing to what follows, xliii. 7) commences with the surrounding wall of the outer court,
whose breadth
(i.e.
thickness)
Plate I. (see the illustration,
ing rod having
aaa
been given by way of parenthesis. This measured) by the cubit and handbreadth
first
was
six cubits (sc.
that
is
to say, six cubits, each of
(common)
cubit
cubit,
which was of the length of a
and a handbreadth
therefore, six cubits
common
a),
and height are measured the length of the measur
and
six
xliii. (cf. ch.
handbreadths.
The
13)
;
in
all,
ordinary or
judging from the statement in 2 Chron.
iii.
3,
CHAP. XL. that the measure of
Solomon
s
187
6-16.
temple was regulated according
to the earlier measure, had become shorter in the course of time than the old Mosaic or sacred cubit. For the new temple, there fore, the measure is regulated according to a longer cubit, in all
probability according to the old sacred cubit of the Mosaic law, which was a handbreadth longer than the common cubit accord
ing to the passage before us, or seven handbreadths of the ordi nary cubit. |^2H ? the masonry, is the building of the wall, which i.e. thick, and the same in height. The length not given, and can only be learned from the further description of the whole wall (see the comm. on ch. xl. 27).
was one rod broad, of this wall
is
Vers. 6-16.
THE BUILDINGS OF THE EAST GATE. (See 6. And lie went to the gate, the direction of
Ver.
Plate II. 1).
which was toward the
measured
the threshold
east,
of
and ascended
threshold one rod broad, Ver. 7.
long
and one rod broad, and between
and
the threshold
of
the
from
gate
the
Ver.
guard-rooms five
temple
8.
cubits,
the gate
porch of from the And he measured the porch of
hither
measured the porch of the gate
and
the
the gate by the
temple hither one rod.
and
the steps thereof,
rod broad, namely, the first And the guard-room one rod
the gate one
one rod.
eight cubits,
Ver.
and
its
9.
And
he
pillars two
of the gate was from the temple hither. Ver. 10. And of the guard-rooms of the gate toward the east there were three on this side and three on that side ; all three had one cubits
;
the porch
measure, and the pillars also one measure on this side and on that.
Ver. 11.
And
he measured the breadth of the opening of the gate
ten cubits, the length
of the gate thirteen
cubits.
Ver. 12.
And
was a boundary fence before the guard-rooms of one cubit, and a cubit was the boundary fence on that side, and the guard there
rooms were six cubits on Ver. 13.
rooms
to
And the
against door.
and
the court
this side
and
six cubits on that side.
he measured the gate
from the roof of the guard them and roof of five twenty cubits broad, door Ver. 14. And he fixed the pillars at sixty cubits,
round about
the gate reached to the pillars.
Ver. 15.
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
188
And
of the entrance gate to the front of the porch of the Ver. 16. And there were closed win inner gate was fifty cubits. dows in the guard-rooms, and in their pillars on the inner side of the front
round about, and so also in the projections of the walls ; there were windows round about on the inner side, and palms on a he went in at "W /K ^ia*1 is not to be the the gate
rendered,
pillars.
For although
would be grammatically admis not in harmony with what follows, according to sible, it is which the man first of all ascended the steps, and then com
the
gate."
this
menced the measuring of the gate-buildings with the threshold
The
of the gate.
steps
(B
in the illustration) are not to be
thought of as in the surrounding wall, but as being outside in front of them ; but in the description which follows they are
The number not included in the length of the gate-buildings. of steps is not given here, but they have no doubt been fixed at seven, as that is the number given correctly by the
LXX.
and 26
in vers. 22
southern gates.
in
From
(C), and measured
it.
connection with both the northern and the steps the man came to the threshold "The actual description of the first
building, that of the eastern gate,
commences
in the inside
;
the entire length is traversed (vers. 6-9), and the are measured on the one side; then (vers. divisions principal 10-12) the inner portions on both sides are given more defi
first
of
all,
number, and measure in vers. and measurement of the whole building are
nitely as to their character,
13-15 the
relations
;
noticed; and finally (ver. 16), the wall-decorations observed The exit from the gate is first men round about the inside.
given in vers. 6-16 must have been visible within the building, just as in the case tioned in ver. 17; consequently
of
the
other
always to be
gates the
all
that
is
measurements and descriptions are from within" (Bottcher). The
regarded as given
that is to say, measuring threshold (C) was a rod in breadth, from the outside to the inside, and was therefore just as broad as the wall
or
first
was thick
(ver. 5).
threshold, which had
But
this threshold
to be crossed
was the one,
by any one who
189
CHAP. XL. 6-1G.
entered the gate from the outside, for the gate-building had a second threshold at the exit into the court, which is mentioned Hence the more precise definition *iriN PJD riKl, u and in ver. 7. that the one,
breadth
nor
is it
also
i.e. first
given a second time. used in the sense of HNT
is
governed by
W}.
And
several"
frequently is the first (vid.
HS ;
is
neither nota nominativi,
but
"JHK
which the
is
it is
nota accus., and
is
not to be taken in a
not broken up, or composed (Bottcher, Havernick), but is employed, as it in enumeration, for the ordinal number: one for "
pregnant sense, of
in connection with
threshold,"
e.g.
only one,
Gen.
i.
i.e.
5, 7).
The
length of the threshold,
i.e.
measure between the two door-posts (from north to south), is not given but from the breadth of the entrance door mentioned
its
;
we can infer that it was ten cubits. Proceeding from the threshold, we have next the measurement of the guard-room (6r), mentioned in ver. 7. According to 1 Kings xiv. 28, Nfi is a room constructed in the gate, for the use of the
in ver. 11,
This was a rod in length, guard keeping watch at the gate. of five cubits is then men in breadth. and the same space
A
tioned as intervening between the guard-rooms.
from
It
is
evident
were several guard-rooms in succession according to ver. 10, three on each side of the doorway, but that instead of their immediately joining one another, they were this that there
;
separated by intervening spaces
(H)
of five cubits each.
Tin s
These spaces between the required two spaces on each side. of we which have no further description, must guard-rooms, not be thought of as open or unenclosed, for in that case there would have been so many entrances into the court, and the
gateway would not be closed but we must assume that they were closed by side walls, which connected the guard-rooms with one another" (Kliefoth). After the guard-rooms there "
;
follows, thirdly, the threshold of the gate
on the
side of, or
near the porch of, the gate in the direction from the house," i.e. the second which was at the western exit from threshold, "
the gate-buildings near the porch (D)
;
in other words,
which
-
190
THE PROPHECIES OF EZKKIEL.
stood as
out into the 11
first
you entered immediately in front of the porch leading the court (C C), and was also a cubit in breadth, like threshold at the eastern entrance into the gate, JV3HB, from the house," or, transposing it into our
in the direction
mode
of viewing and describing directions,
temple-house."
This
is
added to
"W$n
going toward the ^?K to indicate clearly "
the position of this porch as being by the inner passage of the gate-buildings leading into the court, so as to guard against our
thinking of a porch erected on the outside in front of the entrance gate. Bottcher, Hitzig, and others are wrong in JV3n with f^3D, inwardly, intrinidentifying or interchanging secus (ch. to
vii.
15; 1 Kings vi. 15), and taking it as referring were to designate this threshold as the
as if the intention
*)P,
inner one lying within the gate-buildings, in contrast to the threshold mentioned in ver. 6.
In
and 9 two different measures of
vers. 8
(D) are given,
viz. first,
eight cubits (ver. 9). difference,
and
still
one rod
The
more
= six
first
this court-porch
cubits (ver. 8),
and then
ancient translators stumbled at this
at the fact that the definition of the
is repeated in the same words ; so that, with the of the exception Targumists, they have all omitted the eighth
measurement
verse;
and
in
consequence of
this,
modern
critics,
such as
Houbigant, Ewald, Bottcher, and Hitzig, have expunged it from the text as a gloss. But however strange the repetition of the measurement of the porch with a difference in the
numbers may appear
at the first glance, and however naturally the may suggest thought of a gloss which has crept into the text through the oversight of a copyist, it is very difficult to
it
understand how such a gloss could have been perpetuated ; and cannot be explained by the groundless assumption that there was an unwillingness to erase what had once been erro this
To this must be added the difference in the neously written. to describe the dimensions, viz. first, a rod, and terms employed then eight cubits, as well as the circumstance that in ver. 9, in addition to the measure of the porch, that of the pillars adjoin-
CHAP. XL.
ing the porch
is
191
6-16.
The
given immediately afterwards.
attempts
of the earlier commentators to explain the two measurements of have altogether failed ; and Kliefoth was the first to the
porch
solve the difficulty correctly,
by explaining that
in ver. 8 the
measurement of the porch
given in the clear,
i.e.
is
according
to the length within, or the depth (from east to west), whilst
in ver. 9 the external length of the southern (or northern) wall
Both of these were of the porch (from east to west) is given. the former to a correct idea of the inner space necessary, give of the porch, as in the case of the guard-rooms in ver. 7 ; the supply the necessary data for the entire length of the gate-buildings, and to make it possible to append to this the latter, to
dimensions of the pillars adjoining the western porch-wall. As a portion of the gate-entrance or gateway, this porch was open to the east and west ; and toward the west, i.e. toward the court, it
was closed by the gate
built against
it.
Kliefoth therefore
assumes that the porch-walls on the southern and northern sides projected two cubits toward the west beyond the inner space of the porch, which lay between the threshold and the gate that could be closed, and was six cubits long, and that the gate-pillars, with their thickness of two cubits each, were
two
attached to this prolongation of the side walls. But by this supposition we do not gain a porch (&^), but a simple extension of the intervening wall between the third guard-room and the western gate. If the continuation of the side walls, which joined the masonry bounding the western threshold on the south and north, was to have the character of a porch, the hinder wall (to the east) could not be entirely wanting ; but even if there were a large opening in it for the doorway, it must stand out in some way so as to strike the eye, whether by projections of the wall at the north-east
may be more
probable,
and south-east
by the
corners, or
what
fact that the southern
and
northern side walls receded at least a cubit in the inside, if not more, so that the masonry of the walls of the porch was
weaker (thinner) than that
at the side of the threshold
and by
192
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
and the porch in the clear from north to south was broader than the doorway. The suffix attached to I^K is the
pillars,
pro bably to be taken as referring to "W? D/X ? and not merely to *W, and the word itself to be construed as a plural 1
O"
^)
:
(E) were two cubits thick, or strong. not to be divided between the two pillars,
the pillars of the gate-porch
This measurement as the earlier
is
commentators supposed, so that each
pillar
would
be but one cubit thick, but applies to each of them. As the pillars were sixty cubits high (according to ver. 14), they must have had the strength of at least two cubits of thickness to secure the requisite firmness. At the close of the ninth verse, the statement that the gate-porch was directed towards the temple-house is made for the third time, because it was this
which distinguished the gate-build ings of the outer court from those of the inner ; inasmuch as in peculiarity in the situation
the case of the latter, although in other respects its construction resembled that of the gate-buildings of the outer court, the situa tion
was reversed, and the gate-porch was
at the side
turned away
from the temple toward the outer court, as is also emphatically stated three times in vers. 31, 34, and 37 (Kliefoth).
On
reaching the gate-porch and its pillars, the measurer had gone through the entire length of the gate-buildings, and de termined the measure of all its component parts, so far as the length was concerned. Having arrived at the inner extremity or exit, the describer returns, in order to supply certain import ant particulars with regard to the situation and character of the whole structure.
reference to the
He
first
number and
of all observes (in ver. 10), with
relative position of the guard-houses
were three of them on each side opposite to one (6r), that there another, that all six were of the same measure, i.e. one rod in
and then, that the pillars length and one in breadth (ver. 7) measurement of which was determined ver. the in mentioned 9, ;
(E\ size.
that
standing at the gate-porch on either side, were of the same Many of the commentators have erroneously imagined
by &^$? we are
to
understand the walls between the guard-
CHAP. XL.
rooms or
pillars
in
the guard-rooms.
could not be called Dv^K
and
if
193
G-1G.
The connecting
walls
pillars belonging to the
guard In rooms were intended, we should expect to find lyW. ver. 11 there follow the measurements of the breadth and ;
length of the doorway. The breadth of the opening, a width of the doorway, was ten cubits. By this
i.e.
we
the are
whole doorway in its full extent, just as the length of the two thresholds and the seven steps, which was not given in vers. 6 and 7, is also fixed
naturally to understand the breadth of the
The measurement which follows, cubits" (Kliefoth). the length of the gate, thirteen cubits," is difficult to ex The plain, and has been interpreted in very different ways. of and that the Kliefoth, others, length of by Lyra, supposition at ten
viz.
"
the gate we are to understand the height of the trellised gate, which could be opened and shut, cannot possibly be correct. =p.N, in this con length, never stands for ncip, height; and
^n
mean
the gate that was opened and shut. "W?, as distinguished from "W n nna, can only signify either tho whole of the gate-building (as in ver. 6), or, in a more limited
nection cannot
sense, that portion of the building
which bore the character of
way; primarily, therefore, the masonry on the two sides, together with its roof ; the threshold enclosing and then, generally, the covered doorway, or that portion of the a gate in a conspicuous
gate-building which was roofed over, in distinction from the un covered portion of the building between the two gates (Bottcher, Hitzig, and Havernick) ; inasmuch as that a gate-building of fifty cubits long
Now,
as there are
and the
cannot be supposed was entirely roofed in.
it
two thresholds mentioned in
distinction in ver.
vers. 6
and
7,
15 between the (outer) entrance-gate
and the porch of the inner gate implies that the gate-building had two gates, like the gate-building of the city of Mahanaim (2
Sam.
xviii.
thirteen cubits
24), one
might be disposed
to distribute the
length of the gate between the two gates, be
cause each threshold had simply a measurement of six cubits. a supposition as this, which is not very probable in
But such EZEK.
II.
N
194
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
proved to be untenable, by the fact that throughout the whole description we never find the measurements of two or more separate portions added together, so that no other course is open itself, is
than to assume, as Bottcher, Hitzig, and Hiivernick have done, that the length of thirteen cubits refers to one covered doorway,
and
according to the analogy of the measurements of the guard-rooms given in ver. 7, it applies to the second gateway also
that,
;
in
which
case, out of the forty cubits
which constituted
the whole length of the gate-building (without the front porch), about two-thirds (twenty-six cubits) would be covered gateway (b &),
and the fourteen cubits between would form an uncovered
court-yard (c c) enclosed on all sides by the gate-buildings. Consequently the roofing of the gate extended from the eastern
and western
side
over the guard-room,
which immediately
adjoined the threshold of the gate, and a cubit beyond that, over the wall which intervened between the guard-rooms, so that only the central guard-room on either side, together with a portion of the walls which bounded it, stood in the uncovered portion or court of the gate-building.
there was a
Ptoa,
According
to ver. 12,
or boundary, in front of the guard-rooms,
i.e.
a
in breadth, along the whole of the with its breadth of six cubits on either side. The guard-room, construction of this boundary fence or barrier (a) is not ex
boundary fence of a cubit
but the design of it is clear, namely, to enable the come without obstruction out of the guard-room, to observe what was going on in the gate both on the right and
plained
;
sentry to
without being disturbed by those who were passing through the gate. These boundary fences in front of the guard-rooms left,
to the extent described, so that there projected into the gateway were only eight (10 2) cubits open space between the guard
rooms, for those
who were going
out and
in.
In ver. 12 we
must supply nbp after the first nnK because of the parallelism. In ver. 13 Ver. 12& is a substantial repetition of ver. la. there follows the measure of the breadth of the gate-building.
From
the roof of the one guard-room to the roof of the other
*
CHAP. XL.
195
6-16.
guard-room opposite (top is an abbreviated expression for door against door." Nfi? 337) the breadth was twenty-five cubits, "
These
last
words are added for the sake of clearness, to de
signate the direction of the measurement as taken right across the gateway. The door of the guard-room, however, can only
be the door in the outer wall, by which the sentries passed to
and fro between the room and the court. given wall,
The measurement
not allow of our thinking of a door in the inner the wall of the barrier of the gateway, without touch
will i.e.
ing the question in dispute among the commentators, whether the guard-rooms had walls toward the gateway or not, i.e.
whether they were rooms that could be closed, or sentry-boxes open in front. All that the measuring from roof to roof pre supposes as indisputable
that the guard-rooms had a roof.
is,
The measurement given agrees, moreover, with the other measurements. The breadth of the gateway with its ten added
cubits,
each guard-room with
to that of
and there
six,
makes twenty-two cubits in all so that if we add three cubits for the thickness of the two outer walls, or a cubit and a half each, that is to say, according fore of both together with twelve, ;
to ver. 42, the breadth of
one hewn square stone,
we
obtain
twenty-five cubits for the breadth of the whole gate-building, the dimension given in vers. 21, 25, and 29.
There
is
a further difficulty in ver. 14. The & v^, whose is fixed in the first clause at sixty cubits, can only
measurement
be the gate-pillars (1 v N) mentioned in ver. 9 and the measure ment given can only refer to their height. The height of sixty ;
cubits
serves to explain the
choice of the verb
W,
in the
general sense of constituit, instead of TOJi, inasmuch as such a height could not be measured from the bottom to the top with the measuring rod, but could only be estimated and fixed at
such and such a result.
modern
critics at
observed, that
"
With regard to the offence taken by the sixty cubits, Kliefoth has very correctly if
it
had been considered that our church
towers have also grown out of gate-pillars, that
we may
see for
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
196
ourselves not only in Egyptian obelisks and Turkish minarets,
but in our own hollow factory-chimneys, how pillars of sixty cubits can be erected upon a pedestal of two cubits square and ;
we have here
do with a colossal building seen in there would have been no critical difficulties discovered
lastly, that
to
a vision, in this statement as to the
Moreover, not only the height." whole is verified as correct the text but number, by the Targum defended and Vulgate, and by them against all critical caprice ; whilst the verdict of Bottcher himself concerning the Greek
and Syriac
texts
is,
In the second half of the verse
figured. tive sense
"
:
and
that they are senselessly mutilated
and the court touched the
<K
dis
stands in a collec
ivnn
is
pillars."
not a
court situated within the gate-building (Hitzig, Havernick, and court of the temple. "WH is an accusa others), but the outer tive, literally,
with regard to the gate round about,
round about, that passing the gate-building sides.
These words plainly affirm what
is
i.e.
to say,
is
encom
on three
implied in the preceding
account, namely, that the gate-building stood within the outer court, and that not merely so far as the porch was concerned,
To
very suitably attached in ver. 15 the account of the length of the whole building. The words, at the front of the entrance gate to the front of the porch of the inner gate," are a concise topographical expres
but in
its
whole extent.
this there is
"
sion for
"
side of the
from the front
measurement
mencement
JB (TJflg)
is
terminal point
indicated
is
into *W, since /V,
At
the starting-point of the was unnecessary, as the point of com
*}&? ?y, as distinguished
aimed
side of the entrance gate to the front
porch of the inner
gate."
by the position of the word and in from VIS ^V, the direction toward the ;
shown, so that there
when used
is
no necessity
to alter
?J>
of the direction in which the object
at lies, frequently touches the ordinary
meaning
of *W (cf.
whilst here the Isa. x. 25) xix. 7, and on^n rendered perfectly plain by the (in ^??). The Chetib pnNTT, a misspelling for jin KfJ, we agree with Gesenius and others entrance." The entrance gate in regarding as a substantive nnttj?
^, Ps.
direction
;
i>y,
is
*?
"
:
CHAP. XL.
197
6-16.
the outer gate, at the flight of steps leading into the gatebuilding. Opposite to this was the "inner gate" at the end of the is
by the porch leading into the court. The length from the outer to the inner gate was fifty cubits, which is the gate-building,
resultant obtained
from the measurements of the several por 6-10; namely, six
tions of the gate-building, as given in vers.
threshold, 3 x 6
cubits the breadth of the
first
of the three guard-rooms,
2x5 = 10
= 18
cubits that
cubits that of the spaces
intervening between the guard-rooms, 6 cubits that of the inner threshold, 8 cubits that of the gate-porch, and 2 cubits that of the gate-pillars (6+18 + 10+6+8+2 50).
=
windows and decorations of the gateniDDS Di3i?n closed windows, is, no buildings are mentioned. Lastly, in ver. 16, the
?
doubt, a contracted expression for E vi. 4),
windows of closed
i.e.
bars,
DDX D^Dp^
*p.i!?n
(1
Kings
windows, the lattice-work of
which was made so
fast, that they could not be opened at pleasure windows of dwelling-houses. But it is difficult to deter mine the situation of these windows. According to the words of the text, they were in the guard-rooms and in narp?K and
like the
also
nte^, and i.e.
building,
that
5
"W^
n^ai? into the interior of the gate-
inner side of the gateway 2*2D surrounding the gateway on all sides.
going into the
3^D, round about, i.e. To understand these statements, we must endeavour, first of all, to cet a clear idea of the meaning o of the words Dv^K and niEPN. b
The
first
occurs
ch. xli. 3,
m
but also
chapter and in ch.
the singular in 1
Kings
xli. 1.
<K,
vi.
not only in vers. 14, 16, and in the plural only in this ;
31
The second aP$
or BPK
is
met with
only in this chapter, and always in the plural, in the form ftwtjl only in vers. 16 and 30, in other cases always Swtf, or with a suffix Wf?H*, after the analogy of rilsn in ver. 12 by the side of D^n in vers. 7 and 16, MJ in ver. 10, and Vijn or
^n
in
vers.
21,
29,
33,
36,
from which
it
is
apparent
that the difference in the formation of the plural (JTIE^K En^lt) has no influence upon the meaning of the word.
the other hand,
it is
evident from our verse (ver. 16), and
and
On still
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
198
more
from the expression l&p&tt y S, which is repeated in vers. 21, 24, 29, 33, and 36 (cf. vers. 26, 31, and 34), that D and D^pN must signify different things, and are not to be so
j>s?
identified, as
The word
Bottcher and others suppose.
bjtjj
as
an architectural term, never occurs except in connection with It is used in this connection as early as doors or gates. 1
Kings
place in
vi.
31, in the description of the door of the
Solomon
s
on the door-posts,
temple, where i.e.
most holy
the projection the projecting portion of the wall in were fixed. Ezekiel uses nri2n T tf in /]NPf signifies
which the door-posts ch. xli. 3 in the same sense in relation
most
to the door of the
holy place, and in an analogous manner applies the term Hy*K which rose up to a colossal height at or by the
to the pillars
gates of the courts (vers. 9, 10, 14, 21, 24, etc.), and also of
The the pillars at the entrance into the holy place (ch. xli. 1). same meaning may also be retained inver. 16, where pillars (or nftHvK posts) are attributed to the guard-rooms, since the suffix in
As
can only be taken as referring
to D^fln.
had
have had their
doors, the doors
14 tyrty points back
as in ver.
tioned,
the
may
also
these guard-rooms posts.
And
to the Dvtf previously
just
men
and the singular is used in a collective sense so may ?N in ver. 16 be taken to collectively, and referred ;
<N
the pillars
mentioned before.
There
is
more
difficulty
in
W?$
or ntopx), determining the meaning of DT N (plural which has been identified sometimes with o^$, sometimes with
Dv*K.
Although etymologically connected with these two not only clearly distinguished from By ^, as we have 1
words,
it is
already observed, but fact that, apart
it is
from ch.
also distinguished
xli.
from D7*X by the
15, where the plural *B^M
signifies
the front porches in all the gate-buildings of the court, DJ3S only occurs in the singular, because every gate-building had only one front porch, whereas the plural is always used in the case of B^PK.
from
^.N
;
the pillars
So
far as the
form
is
concerned, D^K
is
derived
and since /$ signifies the projection, more especially on both sides of the doors and gates, it has apparently
XL
CHAP.
199
6-JC.
the force of an abstract noun, projecting
work
;
but as
distin
guished from the prominent pillars, it seems to indicate the projecting works or portions on the side walls of a building of dimensions.
large
If,
then,
we endeavour
to
determine the
D^K more precisely in our description of the gatemeaning building, where alone the word occurs, we find from ver. 30 of
there were fNEPK round about the gate-buildings
that
;
and
16 and 25, that the B^pN had windows, which entered into the gateway and still further from vers. 22 again from
vers.
;
and 26, that when one ascended the "
V**?,
in front of
them."
And
flight of steps,
from
lastly,
they were
vers. 21, 29,
and 33,
where guard-rooms, on this side and on that side, pillars ( D Y*?), and WwM are mentioned as constituent parts of the gatebuilding or gateway, and the length of the gateway is given as fifty cubits, we may infer that the D^px, with .the guard
rooms and
pillars,
throughout if
mistaken,
formed the side enclosures of the gateway Consequently we shall not be
its
entire length.
we
follow Kliefoth in
understanding by Q^pK those
portions of the inner side walls of the gateway which projected
same manner
two
by the porch, namely, the intervening walls between the three guard-rooms, and also those portions of the side walls which enclosed the two thresholds in the
as the
For
pillars
there was nothing more along the gate way, with the exception of the portions mentioned," that pro
on either
side.
"
jected in any way, inasmuch as these projecting portions of the side enclosures, together with the breadth of the
and the porch, along with
its
pillars,
made up
guard-rooms
the entire length
This explanation of the passages in which it occurs, even to vers. 30 and 31, as the exposition of these verses will
of the gateway,
the word
show.
It
amounting
applicable to
is
to fifty cubits.
all
follows from this that the
windows mentioned
in
ver. 16 can only be sought for in the walls of the
and the projecting that n ?nv
?N1 is to "
:
guard-rooms gateway and therefore a more precise definition of
side walls of the
be taken as
there were
windows
in the
;
guard-rooms, and, indeed
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. (that
i.e. pillars," by the side of the pillars These windows entered into the interior
to say), in their
is
enclosing the door. of the gateway.
It
remains
still
questionable,
however,
whether these windows looked out of the guard-rooms into the court, and at the same time threw light into the interior of the gateway, because the guard-rooms were open towards the gate or way, as Bottcher, Hitzig, Kliefoth, and others assume whether the guard-rooms had also a wall with a door opening into the gateway, and windows on both sides, to which allusion ;
is
made
as, if
here.
The
latter
is
by no means probable, inasmuch
the guard-rooms were not open towards the gateway, the them would not have projected in such a man
walls between
For this ner as to allow of their being designated as we regard the former as the correct supposition. There J"riE>7tf.
reason is
some
difficulty also in the further expression
Mp Mp
;
for,
strictly speaking, there were not windows round about, but simply on both sides of the gateway. But if we bear in mind
windows
that the
in the hinder or outer wall of the
guard-rooms
receded considerably in relation to the windows in the project can be justified in this ing side walls, the expression ^2p
Mp
sense
"
:
rrift?Nv }3 ?
round, wherever the eye turned in the gateway." likewise in the projecting walls, sc. there were such
all
\2\ implies not only that there were windows in these but also that they were constructed in the same manner walls, as those in the pillars of the guard-rooms. It was only thus
windows.
went inwards.
came
have windows round about, which Consequently this is repeated once more and
that the gateway
to
;
in the last clause of the verse
^S
7X ?
i.e.,
it
is
still
further observed, that
according to ver. 15, on the two lofty pillars in front
of the porch, there were B nteri added,
i.e.
ornaments
in the
form of palms, not merely of palm branches or palm leaves. This completes the description of the eastern gate of the outer court.
The measuring
angel
now
leads the prophet over the
court to the other two gates, the north gate and the south gate. On the way, the outer court is described and measured.
CHAP. XL.
Vers. 17-19.
SURED.
Ver.
THE OUTER COURT DESCRIBED AND MEA 17. And he led me into the outer court, and
behold there were
cells
and pavement made round the court ; Ver. 18. A nd the pavement was
on the pavement.
thirty cells
by the side of
the gates, corresponding to the
Ver. 19.
(namely) the lower pavement.
length of the gates,
And
he measured the
of the inner about a hundred cubits on the east side and on the north
breadth court,
201
17-19.
from
the
front of
the lower gate to the front
Ezekiel having been led through the eastern gate into the outer court, was able to survey it, not on the eastern side and southern sides and there he only, but also on the northern side.
;
and
pavimentum, mosaic pavement, or a perceived floor paved with stones laid in mosaic form (2 Chron. vii. 3 cells
ns-p.)
;
Esth.
i.
6),
made round
the court; that
is
to say, according to
the more precise description in ver. 18, on both sides of the a breadth corresponding to their length, run gate-buildings, of ning along the inner side of the wall of the court, and conse
quently not covering the floor of the court in all its extent, but simply running along the inner side of the surrounding wall as a strip of about fifty cubits broad, and that not uniformly on all
four
sides,
sides,
and
but simply on the eastern, southern, and northern west and south - west corners of the
at the north -
western side, so
far,
namely, as the outer court surrounded the I. b b b) ; for on the western
inner court and temple (see Plate
from the inner court and templethe surrounding wall of the outer court was filled by
side the intervening space
house to
a special building of the separate place. tion that
to
we have
to take 2
3D S Op.
It is with this limita ^\yy
may belong
either
nsytt niatyp. or merely to nsyij so far as grammatical con
siderations are concerned
an irregularity
;
for in either case there
in the gender,
and the
would be
put in the look fairly at the fact itself, not participle
is
If we singular as a neuter. one of the reasons assigned by Kliefoth, for taking as to is If the na^n only, referring applicable throughout. pave ment ran round by the side of the gate-buildings on three sides
^y
202
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
of the court, and the cells were by or upon the pavement, they may have stood on three sides of the court without our being
forced to assume, or even warranted in assuming, that they must of necessity have filled up the whole length on every side from the shoulder of the gate-building to the corner, or rather
space that was set apart in every corner, according to ch. xlvi. 21-24, for the cooking of the sacrificial meals of the to the
people. cells
We
therefore prefer to take ^ py as referring to the
and the pavement
because this answers better than the
;
In ver. 18 the other, both to the construction and to the fact. is said to have been shoulder of the gates. the pavement by D H.y^n is in the plural, because Ezekiel had probably also in his
mind the two *in3j
gates which are not described till afterwards. the shoulder of the gate-buildings regarded as a body, is
the space on either side of the gate-building along the wall, with the two angles formed by the longer side of the gateThis is more buildings and the line of the surrounding wall. precisely defined
alongside of the length of with it (cf. 2 Sam. xvi. 13), or running parallel stretching out on both sides with a breadth corresponding to The gates were fifty cubits the length of the gate-buildings.
the gates,
by
t^n Tptf TM2jP 9
i.e.
long, or, deducting the thickness of the outer wall, they pro
jected into the
court to the distance of forty-four cubits. the pavement ran along the inner sides of the Consequently surrounding wall with a breadth of forty-four cubits. This
pavement
is
called the lower pavement, in distinction
from the
pavement or floor of the inner court, which was on a higher All that is said concerning the ntoBfr is, that there elevation. were thirty of them, and that they were nayirj ?K (see Plate The dispute whether b$ signifies ly or upon the pave T. C). As Ezekiel ment has no bearing upon the fact itself. /K for frequently uses
and
vice versa, the
rendering upon cannot be established, as Hitzig sup to 2 Kings xvi. 17. If we retain the poses, by referring cannot of at or we literal meaning i?, against, picture to our-
can be defended
;
but
?^,
it
CHAP. XL. selves the position of the
have stood the
cells as projecting
into the
;
pavement rather than against
in front of (*&?) the
pavement.
from the inner
unpaved portion of the court a person crossing the court, they would
edge of the pavement for in that case, to
203
17-19.
The
prep.
fact that the cells were
^
built
against,
rather suggests
the
near the surrounding wall, so
that the pavement ran along the front of them, which faced In this case it made no the inner court in an unbroken line. difference to the view whether the cells were erected
upon the
pavement, or the space occupied by the cells was left unpaved, and the pavement simply joined the lower edge of the walls of the cells
all
The
round.
text contains
no account of the manner
which they were distributed on the three sides of the court. But it is obvious from the use of the plural nto^?, that the in
not to thirty entire buildings, but simply to thirty H3^ does not signify a building consisting of several rooms, but always a single room or cell in a building. Thus reference
is
rooms, as
Sam. ix. 22 it stands for a room appointed for holding the sacrificial meals, and that by no means a small room, but one which could accommodate about thirty persons. In Jer. xxxvi. 12 it is applied to a room in the king s palace, used as in 1
the chancery. Elsewhere H3^p is the term constantly employed for the rooms in the court-buildings and side-buildings of the temple, which served partly as a residence for the officiating
and Levites, and partly for the storing of the temple dues collected in the form of tithes, fruits, and money (vid.
priests
Kings xxiii. 11 Jer. xxxv. 4, xxxvi. 10 1 Chron. ix. 26 Neh. x. 3840). Consequently we must not think of thirty 2
;
;
;
separate buildings, but have to distribute the thirty cells on the three sides of the court in such a manner that there would be
ten on each side, and for the sake of
symmetry
five in
every
building, standing both right and left between the gate-building and the corner kitchens. In ver. 19 the size or compass of the
outer court
is
determined.
The breadth from
the front of the
lower gate to the front of the inner court was 100 cubits.
204
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ruinnrin
iy$n, the gate of the lower court, rninnnn
which was lower than the inner,
i.e.
the outer gate,
not an adjective with for from Isa. xiv. 31 iy^ is never "W, apart agreeing construed as a feminine ; but it is used as a substantive for is
"ran
psfep de njinnnn, the lower court, see the comm. on ch. viii. 3. notes the point from which the measuring started, and *$W "rann the direction in which it proceeded, including also the
terminus
"
:
to before the inner
the front of the inner
court."
equivalent to up to terminal point is more pre "
court,"
The
cisely defined by pnp from without, which Hitzig proposes to erase as needless and unusual, but without any reason. For, inasmuch as the gateways of the inner court were built into 7
evident from what follows, pnp simply affirms that the measuring only extended to the point where
the outer court, as
the inner court
is
commenced within
the outer, namely, to the
front of the porch of the gate, not to the boundary wall of the
inner court, as this wall stood at a greater distance from the porch of the outer court-gate by the whole length of the courtgate, that
is
to say, as
much
as fifty cubits.
precise definition of the terminal point
that
the
it
From
follows
more
this
still
further,
was not the boundary-wall, but the
starting-point
porch of the gate of the outer court
in other words, that the
;
hundred cubits measured by the man did not include the cubits
length of the gate-building, but this
is
fifty
expressly ex
This is placed beyond all doubt by vers. 23 and 27, where the distance of the inner court-gate from the gate (of the outer court) is said to have been a hundred cubits. The cluded.
DHpn have been very properly separated Masoretes from what precedes, by means of the Athnach, the by for they are not to be taken in close connection with *1BJ1 nor
closing words ps^ni
;
are they to be rendered,
toward the ment,
meant
"
north,"
"
he measured
for this
would be
to the front of the inner
.
.
.
toward the east and
at variance with the state
court."
They
are rather
to supply a further appositional definition to the
of the preceding clause
:
whole
a he measured from ... a hundred
CHAP. XL.
cubits,"
east side relating to the
205
20-23.
and the north
side of the court,
that the measuring took place from gate to gate both on the eastern and on the northern side ; in other words, that the
and
affii-m
measure given, a hundred cubits, applied to the eastern side as and thus they prepare the way for the well as the northern of the north gate, which follows from ver. 20 ;
description
onwards.
Vers. 20-27.
THE NORTH GATE AND THE SOUTH GATE
OF THE OUTER COURT
The
(1 Plate I. ^4).
description of
very brief, only the principal por tions being mentioned, coupled with the remark that they resembled those of the east gate. The following is the descrip these two gate-buildings
tion of the north gate.
was toward length
and
this side
It its
is
Ver. 20.
And
the gate,
whose direction
measured
the north, touching the outer court, he
breadth, Ver. 21.
its
and
three on that,
and
And
its
guard-rooms, three on
its
and
pillars
its
its
wall-projections.
was according to the measure of the first gate, fifty cubits Ver. 22. and twenty cubits. length, and the breadth five
And
its
windows and
and
ivall- projections
its
its
palms were was toward
according to the measure of the gate, whose direction the east; and by seven steps they went up, and its wall -pro jections ivere in front of
court
was opposite
the
it.
Ver. 23.
And
a gate
and
gate to the north
to the inner
to. the
east;
and
With the gate a hundred cubits. from gate breadth of the court the of the measuring man measuring had reached the north gate, which he also proceeded to he measured
measure now. absolutely; and
to
In
ver.
20 the words
"W^
to rni^nn are written
in ver. 21 the verb rrn does not belong to the
objects previously enumerated, viz. guard-rooms, pillars, etc.,
but these objects are governed by
"IIJJ5,
and
n^n points
back
to
the principal subject of the two verses, "WH : it (the gate) was according to the measure . . . (cf. vers. 15 and 13). For the use of n in definitions of measurement, $c.
measured), as in Ex. xxvii. 18,
"
25
etc., see
nBSa"
(by the cubit,
Gesenius,
120. 4,
206
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Anm.
The
2.
"
first
gate"
the east gate, the one
is
mea
first
In ver. 23& the number of steps
sured and described.
is given and this of course had; gateway In applies to the flight of steps of the east gate also (ver. 6). rn3 is not to be ver. 22, regarded as doubtful, as Hitzig sup
which the
flight leading into the
changed into 3 for even if the windows of the east were not measured, they had at all events a definite mea gate surement, so that it might be affirmed with regard to the windows
poses, or
;
of the north gate that their dimensions were the same.
With regard
also applies to the palm-decorations.
(ver. 21), however, it but the measurement to
as
is
not given.
B^N
to the
were measured;
simply stated that they
is
This
BriVJDp (ver.
22, end)
is
not
be altered in an arbitrary and ungrammatical way into HD^B^ The suffix DH refers to the steps. Bottcher proposes.
DW
** of the Before the steps there were the gate-building. This before," however, is not equivalent to a outside the flight 1
"
of
steps,"
as Bottcher imagines
;
for the measuring
man did
not
go out of the inside of the gate, or go down the steps into the court, but came from the court and ascended the steps, and as he was going up he saw in front
DWK
(vis-a-vis) of the steps the
-
of the gate, i.e. the wall projections on both sides of In ver. 23 it is observed for the the threshold of the gate. first time that there was a gate to the inner court opposite to the northern and the eastern gate of the outer court already
and inner court stood
described, so that the gates of the outer
The
vis-a-vis. is
distance between these outer and inner gates viz. 100 cubits, in harmony with ver. 196.
then measured,
In
vers.
brevity. there
and
about
Ver. 24.
w all-projections
there were
he led
like
its
ascent
;
and twenty its
described with the same the south,
and behold
and he measured
its
according to the same measures.
windows in
and
is
me toward
the south,
those windows
the breadth Jive
were
And
was a gate toward
its
And
24-27 the south gate
it
and
fifty cubits.
its
pillars
Ver. 25.
wall-projections round
cubits
was
Ver. 26.
the
And
length,
and
seven steps
wall -projections in the front of them,
207
CHAP. XL. 24-27.
and that
had palm -work, one upon
it
on
its
Ver. 27.
pillars.
inner court toward the gate toward the
south)
this
And
was a gate
there
and he measured from
a hundred
south
and one upon
side
This
cubits.
to
the
gate to
gate also
was built exactly like the two others. The description simply differs in form, and not in substance, from the description "
of the gate immediately preceding.
n^&sn
nfasa,
like those
for u like the measures of measures," is a concise expression the pillars already described at the north and east gates."
For
compare vers. 16 and 216 ; and for 226. Ver. 266 is clearly explained from
ver. 25,
vid. ver.
ver.
26a,
ver. 166,
compared with ver. 96. And lastly, ver. 27 answers to the 23d verse, and completes the measuring of the breadth of the court, which was also a hundred cubits upon the south as
side,
from the outer gate
to the inner gate standing opposite,
was the case according to ver. 19 upon the eastern side. Havernick has given a different explanation of ver. 27, and as
would take the measurement of a hundred cubits
as referring o
between the gates of the inner court which stood each other, because in ver. 27 we have "Wp in the
to the distance
opposite to text,
and not
"WH
}p
so that
;
we
should have to render the
passage thus, he measured from a gate to the gate toward the south a hundred cubits," and not u from the gate (already "
described) of the outer
court,"
but from another gate, which must also be a gate of the
according to the context of the verse inner court.
But
it
is
decidedly against this ver. 18, the
the context which
precisely
explanation.
For
since,
speaks according to
man
did not take the prophet into the inner court, for the purpose of measuring it before his eyes, till
measuring
after he had measured from (a) gate to the south gate of the inner court, the distance which he had previously measured and
found
to
be a hundred cubits
is
not to be sought for within
the inner court, and therefore cannot give the distance between the gates of the inner court, which stood opposite to one but must be that from the south gate of the outer another,
208
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. This
court to the south gate of the inner.
the case not only
where the north gate
here, but also in ver. 23,
We may see how
is
little
to
is
is
mentioned.
be attached to the omis
importance from the expression "W 7N "WE in ver. 23, where neither the one gate nor the other is defined, because the context showed which gates were meant. Hiiversion of the article in
nick
s
explanation
"WP
therefore untenable, notwithstanding the
is
fact that, according to ver. 47, the size of the inner court
was
hundred cubits both in breadth and length. From the distance between the gates of the outer court and the corre a
sponding gates of the inner, as given in vers. 27, 23, and 19, we find that the outer court covered a space of two hundred cubits
on every
side,
namely,
fifty cubits
the distance which
the outer court building projected into the court, and fifty cubits for the projection of the gate-building of the inner court into
the outer court, and a hundred cubits from one gate-porch to
+
=
+
50 100 the opposite one (50 200). the full size of the Consequently building enclosed by the wall (ch. xl. 5), i.e. of the temple with its two courts, may also has been by many of the expositors. If we from the outer north gate to the outer south gate upon the ground plan (Plate I.), we have, to quote the words of Kliefoth, u first the northern breadth of the outer
be calculated, as
it
proceed, fcr example,
court (D) with
its
two hundred cubits
;
then the inner court,
which measured a hundred cubits square according to ch. 47 (E), with its hundred cubits and lastly, the south side
xl.
;
of the outer court with two hundred cubits
more
(JD)
;
so that
the sanctuary was five hundred cubits broad from north to And if we start from the entrance of the east gate of south. the court (A),
we have
first
of
all
the eastern breadth of the
outer court, viz. two hundred cubits then the inner court (E) with its hundred cubits ; after that the temple-buildings, which ;
also covered a space of a
hundred cubits square according to open space around them (G), with
ch. xli. 13, 14, including the
another hundred cubits
;
and
lastly,
the nnia
(/), which
was
CHAP. XL.
209
28-37.
situated to the west of the temple-buildings,
and
also covered a
space of a hundred cubits square according to ch. xli. 13, 14, with another hundred cubits ; so that the sanctuary was also five
hundred cubits long from east to west, five hundred cubits."
other words,
or, in
formed a square of
Vers. 28-47. The Inner Court, with
its
Slaugli tering- Ta I les
Vers. 28-37. Plate
B
I.
THE GATES OF THE INNER COURT.
and Plate
the inner court
into
Ver. 28.
II. II.)
And
the south gate,
through
guard-rooms, and
its
same measures
pillars, ;
and
round about
wall-projections
and
its
brought
me the
And
its
were round about,
the
wall-projections, according
there were
windows in
fifty cubits
:
breadth Jive and twenty cubits.
was
Ver. 30.
and
it
in its
and
the length,
And
and twenty
length Jive
(Vid.
and measured
lie
south gate according to the same measures; Ver. 29.
to the
and
Gates, Cells,
.
the
wall-projections cubits,
and
the
Ver. 31. And its wall-projections were breadth five cubits. toward the outer court ; and there were palms on its pillars, and eight steps its ascending s.
court toward the east,
same measures
and
its
;
Ver. 33.
And
the length
Ver. 34.
windows
was fifty
And
its
in
it
cubits,
the breadth five
it
and twenty
pillars on this side
according
Its guard-rooms, its pillars,
the breadth five
same measures
and
Ver. 35.
it
into the inner
;
and
and
round about:
and twenty
stood toward the outer court
to
and on
its
same measures
wall-projections
the length
cubits.
;
was fifty
Ver. 37.
And
;
;
that side,
And he brought me to the
:
cubits.
wall-projections were toward the outer court
eight steps its ascent.
in
me
wall-projections round about
and
windows
the
its
its
were,
to
and
and there were palms on and measured
he led
the gate according to the guard-rooms, and its pillars,
its
wall -projections, according
there were
gate,
And
Ver. 32.
and measured
the north
Ver. 36.
and cubits, its
there
and
pillars
and palms were upon its pillars on this side and on that; and its ascent was eight steps. In ver. 27 the measuring man had measured the distance from EZEK. II. O ;
210
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the south gate of the outer court to the south gate of the inner He then took the prophet court, which stood opposite to it.
through the latter (ver. 28) into the inner court, and measured as he went through, and found the same measurements as he
it
had found
This was
in the gates of the outer court.
also
the
case with the measurements of the guard-rooms, pillars,
and
wall-projections, and with the position of the windows, and the length and breadth of the whole of the gate-building (ver. 29);
from which
it
follows, as
a matter of course, that this gate
resembled the outer gate in construction, constituent parts, and dimensions. This also applied to both the east gate and north of gate, the description
which in
vers.
32-37 corresponds exactly
to that of the south gate, with the exception of slight variations It is true that the porch is not mentioned in of expression. the case of either of these gates ; but it is evident that this was
not wanting, and see
may
from
is
simply passed over in the description, as we where the tables for the sacrifices are
ver. 39,
There are only two in vers. 31, 34, and 37, by which points of difference mentioned these inner gates were distinguished from the outer. In the described as being in the porch
first
(&^?).
place, that the flights of steps to the entrances to these
gates had eight steps according to the closing words of the verses just cited, whereas those of the outer gates had only seven (cf. vers. 22 and 26) ; whilst the expression also varies,
pyo being constantly used here instead of IflvV (ver. 26). rnffy, from y the ascending, are literally ascents, i.e. places of "6
?
mounting, for a n/?JM?j
same first
flight of steps or staircase. I^E, the plural of the ascent (not a singular, as Hitzig supposes), has the The second difference, which we find in the meaning.
clause of the verses mentioned,
character.
It
is
is
contained in the words,
of a "
more important
and
its
E^K
(the
projecting portions of the inner side-walls of the gateway) were (?K and ? indicating the of this somewhat obscure state interpretation direction). in that ver. 37 v*K stands in the ment is facilitated b the fact
directed toward the outer
The
court"
CHAP.
XL
211
28-37.
X (vers. 31 and 34). l^K are the two lofty gatethe of the pillars by porch gate, which formed the termination of the gate-building towards the inner court in the case of the place of
rafc
outer gates. If, then, in the case of the inner gates, these stood toward the outer court, the arrangement of these pillars gates must have taken the reverse direction to that of the outer so that a person entering the gate would not go from the flight of steps across the threshold to the guard-rooms, and then across the second threshold to the porch, but would first of all enter the porch by the pillars in front, and then go across
gates
;
the threshold to the guard-rooms, and, lastly, proceed across the second threshold, and so enter the inner court. But if this
when looked at from without, commenced with the porch-pillars and the front porch, this porch at any rate must have been situated outside the dividing wall of the two courts, that is to say, must have been within the limits of the
gate-building,
outer court.
And
further, if the D
S E>7^
7
or wall-projections
between the guard -rooms and by the thresholds, were also directed toward the outer court, the whole of the gate-building
must have been
built within the limits of that court.
affirmed
first
by the
clauses of vers. 31, 34,
This
is
and 37, which
have been so greatly misunderstood and there is no necessity to alter &$} in ver. 37 into VJ^fcO, in accordance with vers. 31 ;
and 34.
For what
the position
Dy
tf ;
is
"
the
vers.
31 and 34 concerning
Wpfj
and they are probably mentioned
the intention to describe the
stated in
or direction of
still
also
in ver.
applies
to
the
37 because of
further in ver. 38 what stood near
By *?.
Kliefoth very properly finds it incomprehensible, that not a few of the commentators have been able, in spite 1
of these definite statements in vers. 31, 34, and 37, to adopt the conclusion that the gate-buildings of the inner gates were situated within the inner court, just as the gate-buildings of the
outer gates were situated within the outer court.
As
the inner
court measured only a hundred cubits square, if the inner gates had stood within the inner court, the north and south gates of
212
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the inner court would have met in the middle, and the porch of the east gate of the inner court would have stood close against the porches of the other two gates. It was self-evident that the gate-buildings of the inner gates stood within the
more
Neverthe spacious outer court, like those of the outer gates. of the reason the situation the inner less, why gates is so ex pressly mentioned in the text
is
evidently, that this
made
the
position of the inner gates the reverse of that of the outer gates. in the
In the case of the outer gates, the
first
threshold was
surrounding wall of the outer court, and the steps stood
and thus the gate-building stretched into In that of the inner gates, on the contrary,
in front of the wall
the outer court.
;
the second threshold lay between the surrounding walls of the inner court, and the gate-building stretched thence into the outer
and
court,
its
steps stood in front of the porch of the gate.
Moreover, in the case of the east gates, for example, the porch of the outer gate stood toward the west, and the porch of the inner gate toward the east, so that the two porches stood opposite to each other in the outer court, as described in vers. 23 and 27."
30 further particulars respecting the D ftT X are given, which are apparently unsuitable and for this reason the verse In
ver.
;
has been omitted by the
LXX.,
while J.
D.
Michaelis, Bottcher,
Ewald, Hitzig, and Maurer, regard it as an untenable gloss. Havernick has defended its genuineness but inasmuch as he ;
B^K
synonymous with DJ^K, he has explained it in regards a most marvellous and decidedly erroneous manner, as Kliefoth as
MD
has already proved. The expression MD, and the length and breadth of the nto?K here given, both appear strange.
Neither the length of twenty-five cubits nor the breadth of five cubits seems to tally with the other measures of the gatebuilding.
So much may be regarded
twenty-five cubits length
and the
as
certain,
five cubits
that the
breadth of the
cannot be in addition to the total length of the gateits total breadth of twenty-five building, namely fifty cubits, or
ritota
cubits,
but must be included in them.
For the ni7X were
CHAP. XL.
213
28-S7.
of the gateway, simply separate portions of the side-enclosure of wall-projec cubits consisted of since this enclosure fifty long tions (rftt&K), three
The open
open guard-rooms, and a porch with pillars. 18 cubits, and was
3X6 =
space of the guard-rooms
the porch was six cubits broad in the clear (vers. 7 and 8), and If we deduct these 18 + 6+2 = the pillars two cubits thick.
26 cubits from the
fifty cubits of
twenty-four cubits for the walls
the entire length, there remain by the side of the thresholds
and between the guard-rooms, namely, 2 X 5 = 10 cubits for the walls between the three guard-rooms, 2 X 6 = 12 cubits for the walls of the threshold, and 2 cubits for the walls of the porch ; in all, therefore, twenty-four cubits for the fitoptf ; so that only one cubit
is
wanting
stated, viz. twenty-five cubits.
to give us the
We
measurement
obtain this missing cubit
if
we assume
that the front of the wall-projections by the guard rooms and thresholds was a handbreadth and a half, or six
inches wider than the thickness of the walls, that it
is
to say, that
projected three inches on each side in the form of a moulding.
The breadth
of the ntepK in question,
namely
five cubits,
was
the thickness of their wall-work, however, or the dimension of the intervening wall from the inside to the outside on either That the intervening walls should be of side of the gateway.
such a thickness will not appear strange,
if
we
consider that the
surrounding wall of the court was six cubits thick, with a height of only six cubits (ver. 5). And even the striking expression
MD
l^D becomes
intelligible if
fact that the projecting walls
we
take into consideration the
bounded not only the entrance
to
the gate, and the passage through it on the two sides, but also the inner spaces of the gate-building (the guard-rooms and porch) on all sides, and, together with the gates, enclosed the
gateway on every
side.
Consequently ver. 30 not only has a
suitable meaning, but furnishes a definite
measurement of no
value for the completion of the picture of the gate-build The fact that this definite measure was not given in ings.
little
connection with the gates of the outer court, but was only
214
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
supplemented in the case of the south gate of the inner court, cannot furnish any ground for suspecting its genuineness, as several particulars are supplemented in the description.
same manner
number
Thus, for example, the
in this
of steps in front of
the outer gates is first given in ver. 22, where the north gate is described. Still less is there to surprise us in the fact that these particulars are not repeated in the case of the following gates, in which some writers have also discovered a ground for
suspecting the genuineness of the verse. From the south gate the measuring (ver. 32) into the inner court
him the inner
man
toward the
led the prophet
east, to
east gate, the description of
measure for
which
33
(vers.
and 34) corresponds exactly to that of the south gate. Lastly, he led him (ver. 35) to the inner north gate for the same purpose
and
;
found to correspond to those pre described in the same manner. The
this is also
viously mentioned, and
is
which Hitzig finds in Dngn TO W&n "Mjrrfa in 32, and which drives him into various conjectures, with the
difficulty
ver.
assistance of the
LXX., vanishes, if
instead of taking D Hjan
TO
"ivnn as a further definition of the latter,7 along ...... T O with ^lo^sn ..
connect
he led
it
me
we
with ^N^/i as an indication of the direction taken
:
way (or direction) toward
into the inner court, the
the east, and measured the gate (situated there). The words, when taken in this sense, do not warrant the conclusion that
he had gone out at the south gate again. Aramaic form for lio in vers. 32 and 28.
T!^
35
in ver.
is
an
THE CELLS AND ARKANGEMENTS FOR THE WORSHIP BY AND IN THE INNER COURT.
Vers. 38-47.
SACRIFICIAL Ver. 38.
And
there they
porch that)
had
a
door was by the pillars at the gates ; wash the burnt-offering. Ver. 39. And in the
cell
to
with
of the gate were to slay
two tables on
this side
and two
tables
on
and
the
outside,
to
thereon the burnt- offering, the sin-offering,
trespass- offering.
one going up
its
Ver. 40.
to the opening
And of
at
the
the gate
shoulder
toward the north, stood
215
CHAP. XL. 38-47.
two tables ; and at the other shoulder, ly the porch of the gate,
two
Ver. 41. Four tables on
tables.
on that
hewn
the gate ; eight tables
shoulder side, at the
of Ver. 42.
they were to slaughter. stone,
a
cubit
and four
this side
and a
And
tables
four
half long,
and a
tables
on which
by the
steps,
and a
cubit
half broad, and a cubit high; upon these they were to lay the instruments with which they slaughtered the burnt- offer ings and
Ver. 43.
oilier sacrifices.
fastened round about
And
the house
;
the double pegs,
a span
long,
were
but the flesh of the sacrifice was
placed upon the tables. Ver. 44. And outside the inner gate were two cells in the inner court, one at the shoulder of the north gate, with its front side toward the south ; one at the shoulder of the
Ver. 45.
south gate, with the front toward the north. said to me, This priests
the cell
who
cell,
whose front
is
toward
attend to the keeping of
whose front
is
the.
toward the north
he
the south, is
house is
And
;
for the Ver. 46. A nd
for the priests ivho
They are the sons of Zadok, Jehovah of the sons of Levi, to serve Him. he measured the court, the length a hundred cubits,
attend to the keeping of the altar.
who draw near Ver. 47.
and
And
the breadth
to
a hundred cubits in the square, and the altar
The opinions of modern commentators stood before the house. differ greatly as to the situation of the cells mentioned in ver. 38, since Bottcher
and Hitzig have adjusted a text
to suit their
own
liking, founded upon the Septuagint and upon decidedly The dispute, whether Qy fc?3 is to be erroneous suppositions. l
rendered in or by the
Ev% may
be easily
set at rest
by the
simple consideration that the Ev^ in front of the porch of the gate were pillars of two cubits long and the same broad (ver. 9), in
which
Hence
it
was impossible that a room could be constructed.
the nstyp could only be
To D^tO
there
is
also
by (near) the pillars of the gate. added D^r^n (by the gates) in loose co
ordination (vid. Ewald, 293e), not for the purpose of describ the of the ing position pillars more minutely, which would be quite superfluous after ver. 9, but to explain the plural D^N, and extend it to the pillars cf all the three inner gates, so that
216
THS PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
assume that there was a H3&9 by the pillars of all This is also demanded by the purpose these gates (Plate I. 0).
we have
to
of these
cells, viz.
offering."
As
for the cleansing or washing of the burntthe sacrifices were not taken through one gate "
alone, but through all the gates, the Sabbath-offering of the
prince being carried, according to ch. xlvi. 1, 2, through the east gate, which was closed during the week, and only opened on the Sabbath, there must have been a cell, not by the north
(Bottcher, Havernick), or by the east gate only (Ewald, Hitzig), but by every gate, for the cleansing of the Havernick, Hitzig, and others are wrong in burnt-offering.
gate alone
supposing that njiyn every kind of animal
a synecdochical designation applied to sacrifice. This is precluded not only by
is
the express mention of the burnt-offerings, sin-offerings, and in trespass-offerings (ver. 39), and by the use of the word |3"]P
but chiefly by the circumstance that neither the Old Testament nor the Talmud makes any allusion to the
this sense in ver. 43,
washing of every kind of
flesh offered in sacrifice,
but that they
and legs of the animals sacrificed as burnt-offerings (Lev. i. 9), for which purpose the basins upon the mechonoth in Solomon s temple merely speak of the washing of the entrails
were used (2 Chron. is
interpreted
room
iv. 6,
by the
at every gate (not
where the term
f*rn
used in Lev.
D3 irPT nSiyn apposition
by every
pillar)
was
nb>J?D-n^).
i.
9
A
sufficient for this
If there had been a H2^p of this kind on each side of purpose. the gate, as many have assumed on symmetrical grounds, this
would have been mentioned,
just as in the case of the slaughter
The
text furnishes no information as ing-tables (vers. 39-42). to the side of the doorway on which it stood, whether by the left pillar. On the ground plan we have placed the right or the one at the east gate, on the right side, and those by the north
and south gates on the western
side (Plate I.
Moreover, on each
tables
slaughtering.
side,
Two
eight therefore in pairs stood
0).
39-41, there were twice two
according to vers.
"
in the
all,
which served for
porch of the gate/
i.e.
217
CHAP. XL. 38-47.
in the inner space of the porch,
pair on
i.e.
that,
one pair on
on the right and
this side, the other
left sides to a
person entering
The the porch, probably near the wall (see Plate II. II. //). at the tables (vers. 39 and expression Dn^H Dln^ to slaughter that is, for the when use "to for stands slaughtering" 40), is flesh This the slaughtered upon. apparent purpose of laying For the slaughtering was not itself in ver. 39. front porch, but outside, and somewhere within the performed The front porch of the gate-building was not a near it. where those who entered the slaughter-house, but the place from the fact
gate could assemble. The only purpose, therefore, for which the tables standing here could be used was to place the sacrificial flesh upon when it was prepared for the altar, that the priests
might take
thence and lay
it
it
upon the
to
this is required
by the antithesis
in ver. 40,
"TO?
BrKn
is
by the shoulder outside to one going
the
northern"
(Plate II. II. d d).
up
;
where two pair of
Two
tables outside the porch are mentioned. "
altar.
be understood as signifying the inner space of the porch
of these stood
to the gate opening,
The meaning
of these not very
apparent from the second half of the verse, intelligible which adds the correlative statement as to the two opposite
words
is
When it is said of these tables that they stood by the tables. other shoulder (rnnsn fjnsrrpK) which the porch of the gate had, not only is *WH nriD7 of the first hemistich more pre cisely defined hereby as the gate -porch, but fwtesrn is also rendered it
is
intelligible, namely, that as it corresponds to rnnKi^ an adjective belonging to ^nan ta, at the northern
shoulder outside to a person going up the steps to the opening of the gate the outer in contrast to the inside of (nyUTO, side, "
the porch, D^K^ ver. 39). of the porch of the gate, side.
The is
shoulder of the gate, or rather
the side of
it,
Consequently these four tables stood
and that the outer
by the outer
sides
of the porch, two
by the right wall and two by the left. In ver. 41, what has already been stated concerning the position of the tables mentioned in vers. 39 and
40
is
summed up
:
Four
218
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
on each side of the porch, two inside, and two the outer wall, eight tables in all, which were used for against tables stood
slaughtering purposes. There is nothing strange in."Wn sjnrA as an abbreviated expression for "WH f\r\J? in ver. 40,
D^
as
want of clearness was not
"it?s
be feared after ver. 40.
to
In
addition to these there were four other tables (nyin^ and four, ver. 42) of stone, from which it may be inferred that the four already mentioned were of wood. The four stone tables stood J"i?iy?,
i.e.
at (near) the flight of steps (cf . rnj3
to the city, Prov.
no doubt the
viii.
steps also
s
Sp, at
the entrance
3), and were of hewn square stones, as were (see Plate II. II. e e). It yields no
sense whatever to render
for the burnt-offering
"
fijtyj
"
(LXX.
and others); and the expression nv y in ver. 26 thoroughly warrants our translating Bjfr, a flight of steps or staircase). These stone tables served as flesh - benches, on which the slaughtering tools were laid, as if at the 1 being inserted "
after a pause in the
Gen.
xl. 9,
DHvK belong together, the commencement of a new sentence ^rpin
thought"
Bottcher).
It
is
(cf,
Prov.
xxiii. 24,
xxx. 28;
not expressly stated, indeed, that
these four tables were distributed on the two sides of the steps
;
but this may be inferred with certainty from the position of the other tables. Moreover, the twelve tables mentioned were not merely to be found at one of the gate-porches, but by all three of the inner gates, as was the case with the washing-cells
animals were taken to the altar and
sacrificial (ver. 38), for
slaughtered at every gate
;
so that
what
is
stated in vers.
39-42
with reference to one porch, namely, the porch of the east gate, rotetfn in ver. 40, is applicable to the porches of judge from
to
the south and north gates also. In ver. 43 another provision for the slaughtering of the sacrificial animals is mentioned, concerning which the opinions of the older translators
But
and commentators are greatly
divided.
the only explanation that can be sustained, so far as both of the language and the facts are concerned, is that
the usage
adopted by the Chaldee,
viz.
n^3
pyap nn
*|Bfe
pj?lM pbjjfjn
219
CHAP. XL. 38-47.
KjnaBp
JTO,
et
egrediebantur (longitudine) unius palmi
uncini
domus
which not only Bottcher, but Roediger (Ges. Thes. p. 1470) and Dietrich (Lex.) have given to set or stand (act.), For D^? f, from their adhesion.
defixi in columnis
macelli, to
p
J1QK>,
pegs (in Ps. Ixviii. 14, the folds constructed of stakes), here pegs a span long on the wall, into which they were inserted, and from which they projected to the length of a or signifies stakes
stands for double pegs, forked pegs, upon which the carcases of the beasts were hung for the purpose of span.
In the dual
flaying, as
The
it
Dav. Kimchi has interpreted the words of the Chaldee. pegs required for the
article indicates the kind, viz. the
This explanation is also in harmony with the verb Q^J^, Hophal of pD, fastened, which by no means process of slaughtering.
rendering originated by the LXX., viz. ledges round The only remaining difficulty the edge or the rim of the table. in is the word JV33, which Bottcher interprets as signifying suits the
"
"
the interior of the gate-porch and pillars (Roediger, in interiore parte, nempe in ea atrii parte, ubi hostiae mactandae essent), on the just ground that the interior of the front porch could not
be the place for slaughtering, but that this could only be done But even in outside, either in front of or near the porch. interiore parte atrii
not really suitable, and at
is
indefinite for D oyiD.
correct to render
It
all
events
is
too
would therefore be probably more
fastened against the house," i.e. to the outer walls of the gate-porch buildings, so that JV3 would stand for buildings in the sense of n^n ? although I cannot cite any it
"
passage as a certain proof of the correctness of this rendering. this does not render the explanation itself a doubtful one,
But as
it
would be
explained in
still
more
difficult to interpet
any other way.
sides of the porch.
The
T2D 3^p
l^nij,
vers.
the general
word
if
D?nBB>
were
refers to the three outer
description of the slaughtering appa
ratus closes in ver. 436 with the words,
(mentioned in
JVM
39-42) came the
fi
and upon the
flesh
of the
for sacrificial offerings, as in
In vers. 44-46 we have a description of
offering."
Lev.
cells for the
tables
i.
2 sqq.
officiating
220
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
and in vers. 45 and 46 two such cells are plainly men tioned according to their situation and purpose (vid. Plate I.
priests,
F F). ver.
But
44
into
is
it
harmony with
arbitrary manner. is
to
1 D"
"]^
impossible to bring the Masoretic text of
HP^6,
this,
without explaining
it
in
an
For, in the first place, the reference there cells of the
singers
;
whereas these
cells,
ac
45 and 46, were intended for the priests who cording the in the temple-house and at the altar of service performed The attempt of both the earlier and the more burnt-offering. to vers.
recent supporters of the Masoretic text to set aside this discre pancy, by arguing that the priests who had to attend to the service in the temple
and
at the altar, according to vers.
and 46, were singers, is overturned by the Old Testament worship a sharp distinction the
Levitical singers and the priests,
i.e.
45
fact that in the is
made between who
the Aaronites
administered the priesthood ; and Ezekiel does not abolish this distinction in the vision of the temple, but sharpens it still further by the command, that none but the sons of Zadok are the priestly service at the sanctuary, while the other descendants of Aaron, i.e. the Aaronites who sprang from to attend to
Ithamar, are only to be employed in watching at the gate of the house, and other non-priestly occupations (ch. xliv. 10 sqq.). Consequently Ezekiel could not identify the priests with the singers, or call
singers
cells.
mentioned in
the cells intended
Moreover, only two vers.
45 and 46, and
for cells,
the officiating priests or cell-buildings, are
their position
the same words as that of the cells mentioned
is
described in
in ver. 44, so that
there can be no doubt as to the identity of the former and the
In ver. 44 the supposed singers cells are placed at the north gate, with the front toward the south, which only altter cells.
to ver. 45, to the applies, according
one
cell
intended for the
attended to the service in the holy place and again, priests who in ver. 44, another cell is mentioned at the east gate, with the ;
front toward the north, which was set apart, according to ver. Conse46, for the priests who attended to the altar service.
221
CHAP. XL. 38-47.
of the 44th verse, there quently, according to our Masoretic text would be first singers cells (in the plural), and then one cell, at
whereas, according to vers. 45 and And lastly, the inx in ver. 446 can 46, there were only two. u another," only be understood by our taking it in the sense of For these reasons in opposition to the usage of the language.
least three cells therefore
we
;
are compelled to alter
LXX.,
after the
consequence of
into
and probably
and
IW,
into
"IPK
also D^jan into CtfTjn,
and in
and
to read
J~ri3?,
Further alterations are not requisite or
n*33 instead of Dn^.3.
LXX.,
as the rest of the deviations in their
from
text are to be explained
their free handling of the original.
According to the text with these there are only two cells mentioned. side the inner
E^,
adopt the pointing
this to
indicated by the
Dn^
alterations,
This definition
gate."
even in ver. 44
They were situated is
ambiguous, for
"
out
you are
outside the inner gate not only before entering the gate,
i.e.
while in the outer court, but also after having passed through Hence there follows the more it and entered the inner court. u in the inner court." we read nnx
precise definition,
for
"iBfc,
more
If,
then,
there follows, in perfect accordance with the fact, a
and
precise statement as to the situation of both the one
the other of these
cells,
The second
another.
nn
and
iriK
corresponding to one
intf, instead of nnx, which
is
grammati
ad cally the more correct, is to be attributed to a construct sensum, as the ntoB? were not separate rooms, but buildings with several chambers. One cell stood by the shoulder (side) of the north gate, with the front (B^?) toward the south
;
the
other at the shoulder of the south gate, with the front toward the north. They stood opposite to one another, therefore, with
Instead of the south gate, how and ver. ever, the Masoretic text has OHi?"? "W, the east gate their fronts facing each other.
;
46 contains nothing that would be expressly this, so that
at variance with
But only Kliefoth in assum
B^jjn could be defended in case of need.
we
in case of
need
ing that
stood on the left of the gateway to persons entering
it
that
is
to say, if
follow
222
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
through the east gate, and explaining the fact that its front turned toward the north, on the ground that the priests who resided in sacrifices
it
were charged with the duty of inspecting the
brought
through
the
east
gate,
bringing in of the sacrifices,
so that this
watchman
this
s cell
after
Bat
or
watching the
cell
was simply a founded upon
assumption is a misinterpretation of the formula nntftn n 7!9^P ?^, to keep This formula does not mean to the keeping of the altar. all.
"
11
watch and see that nothing unlawful was taken
to the altar,
but
refers to the altar service itself, the observance of everything
devolving upon the servants of the altar in the performance of the sacrificial worship, or the offering of the sacrifices upon the altar according to the precepts of the law.
If, then, this
duty
was binding upon the priests who resided in this cell, it would have been very unsuitable for the front of the cell to be turned toward the north, in which case impossible to see the altar
it
would have been absolutely
from the front of the
cell.
This
unsuitability can only be removed by the supposition that the cell was built at the south gate, with the front toward the north, i.e.
looking directly toward the
second
For
altar.
also regard E^ijn as a corruption of
this reason
Di"nn,
we must
an d look for this
south gate, so that it stood opposite to the one built at the north gate. All that remains doubtful is, cell
at the
whether these two
cells
were on the east or the west side of the
south and north gates, a point concerning which we have no information given in the text. In our sketch we have placed them on the west side (vid. Plate I. F), so that they stood in front of the altar of ver. 46, in
and the porch-steps.
which
Iran
The concluding words
refers to the priests
mentioned in
45 and 46, state that in the new sanctuary only priests of the sons of Zadok were to take charge of the service at the vers.
altar
and
and this is still further expanded ; 10 sqq. Finally, in ver. 47 the description of the concluded with the account of the measure of the in the holy place
in ch. xliv.
courts
is
inner court, a hundred cubits long and the same in breadth,
CHAP. XL.
according to which wall,
made
it
223
48, 49.
formed a perfect square surrounded by a
The only other observation according to ch. xlii. 10. that it was within this space that the altar of burntis, of which is given afterwards in stood, the description
offering ch.
13sqq. (see Plate
xliii.
xl.
Chap.
xl.
Chap.
I.
//).
The Temple-house, with Side-storeys, and Back-building.
48-xli. 26.
THE TEMPLE-PORCH
48, 49.
The measuring angel conducts
the Porch,
(See Plate III. A).
the prophet
still
farther to
the porch of the temple, and measures its breadth and length. Yer. 48. And he led me to the porch of the house, and measured
of the porch, five cubits on
the pillar
and
this side
Jive cubits
on that side; and the breadth of the gate, three cubits on this Yer. 49. The length of side and three cubits on that side. the
ivas
porch
twenty
and
cubits,
the breadth
eleven
cubits,
by which one went up ; and columns were by the pillars, one on this side and one on that side. JV2n is the temple in the more restricted sense of the word,
and
that
by
the
steps
the temple-house, as in 1 Kings vi. 2, etc. ; and D?K, the porch before the entrance into the holy place (cf. 1 Kings vi. 3). The measurements in vers. 48 and 49, which are apparently
LXX.
irreconcilable with one another, led the
to the adoption
and conjectures in ver. 49, 1 in accord ance with which Bottcher, Hitzig, and others have made correc
of arbitrary interpolations
tions in the text,
which have a plausible
justification in the
and for the most part mistaken interpretations many The measures in ver. 49a that have been given of the text. artificial
are perfectly plain, namely, the length of the porch twenty cubits,
1
and the breadth eleven cubits
The text USf TTiVTe
Tf-n^uu V KOtl
of the
LXX. reads
TO 7TXaTO
:
.
.
.
and there
x.a.1
is
no question
^nftirpYias TO
"A
rov
tvQtV XOtl TTyfcVV iriVTS Svdsv, KOCl TO SVpO; TOU
bsKoc.Ttaffdipav,
x.etl
KlflXUV Tpl&JIt tvdsv. XCll
thus
;
fcTTi
ewuftios; TJ? Gvpoig TOV otihdp Kol( TO
(AY,X,OS
TOV
OtlhO./*
TT^UV
OtKOt dvctfiol0{tUV OCVSfiotlVG!/ iTT
CCVTG
f Uoffl
KOtl
TO
224
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
that these measurements are to be understood in the clear, that to say, as referring to the internal space, the side-
is
excluding
walls, as in the case of the holy place, the
The only
the inner court.
is
question
dimension from east to west,
signifies the
most holy place, and whether the length
i.e.
the distance which
be traversed on entering the temple, and therefore the breadth, the extent from north to south ; or whether we are to
had
to
understand by the length the larger dimension, and by the breadth the smaller, in which case the measurement from north
which formed the breadth of the house, would be designated the length of the porch, and that from east to west
to south,
the breadth.
Nearly
all
the commentators have decided in
favour of the latter view, because, in the porch of Solomon
s
temple, the length of twenty cubits was measured according to the breadth of the house. But the fact has been overlooked, that in 1
by is
vi.
Kings
the clause,
"
3 the length given
is
more
in front of the breadth of the
precisely defined house."
There
no such definition here, and the analogy of the building of s temple is not sufficient in itself to warrant our
Solomon
regarding the construction of the porch in the temple seen by Ezekiel as being precisely the same ; since it was only in the essential portions, the form of which was of symbolical signifi
cance (the holy place and the most holy), that this picture of a temple resembled the temple of Solomon, whereas in those
which were ways.
At
less essential it differed
from that temple in various more probable assump
the very outset, therefore, the
tion appears to be, that just as in the case of the holy place
and the holy of
holies, so also in that of the porch,
we
are to
understand by the length, the distance to be traversed (from east to west), and by the breadth, the extension on either side (i.e.
from south
text.
north).
If,
then,
we understand
the
49 in this way, the measures given in be explained without any alterations in the The measuring of the pillar of the porch on either side,
measurements ver.
to
48 may
in ver.
also
and of the gate on
this side
and that
(ver. 48),
is
sufficient of
CHAP. XL.
225
48, 49.
lead to the conclusion that the front turned toward a
itself to
This person entering is the breadth from south to north. one on side and this a on breadth presented to the eye pillar two pillars, therefore, each five cubits broad (c c), and a that, breadth of gate of three cubits on this side and three on that, six cubits in all (6), that is to say, a total breadth (k k) of 5
+ 34-3 + 5 =
defined
16
cubits.
manner
The
only thing that can surprise
which the breadth of the gate is three cubits on this side and that, instead of simply
one here
is
:
the
in
But the only reason
six cubits.
in all probability
is,
that the
are mentioned just before, and the gate of pillars on either side six cubits breadth consisted of two halves, which had their
hinges fastened to the adjoining pillars, so that each half was itself from the pillar to which it was attached.
measured by
The breadth
of front mentioned, viz. sixteen cubits, agrees very
well with the breadth of the porch inside,
(m
m\
for
it
each side wall
The
porch.
i.e.
eleven cubits
allows a thickness of two cubits and a half for
and
(a),
pillars,
this
was
which were
sufficient for the walls of a
five cubits
broad on the outer
face, were therefore only half that breadth (2^ cubits) in the inner side within the porch, the other two cubits and a half
All the particulars given in ver. 48 may be explained in this way without any artifice, and yield a result the proportions of which are in harmony with those of
forming the side
wall.
For the porch, with an external breadth was half as broad as the house, which had a
the entire building. of sixteen cubits,
breadth of twenty cubits in the clear, and side walls of six cubits in thickness (ch.
outside
it
was 6
the interior also
+ is
20
+
xli. 5),
6 =
so that
32 cubits
when measured on the The breadth of broad.
apparently perfectly appropriate, as the porch
was not intended either for the reception of vessels or for the abode of individuals, but was a simple erection in front of the entrance into the holy place, the door of which (d) was ten cubits broad (ch. xli. 2), that is to say, half a cubit narrower on either side than the
EZEK.
II.
porch-way leading
to
it.
And
lastly,
P
the
226
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
length of the porch was also in good proportion to the holy place, which followed the porch ; the porch being twenty cubits If we add to this the long, and the holy place forty cubits. front wall, with a thickness of two cubits and a half, corre
sponding to that of the side walls, we obtain an external length of twenty-two cubits and a half for the porch. In front were the steps by which one went up to the porch (I). It is generally K after rri?J?ft3 being supposed that there were ten steps, the "i
But changed into (ten) after the example of the LXX. however this alteration may commend itself when the facts of the case are considered, ten steps in front of the porch answer "IKW
ing very well to the eight steps before the gateway of the inner court, and to the seven steps in front of the gateway of the outer court, is
it is
not absolutely necessary, and in all probability who did not know what
merely a conjecture of the Seventy,
do with 1PK, and possibly it is not even correct (see at ch. The words xli. 8). nelson can be attached without diffi
to
"IPK
culty to the preceding account of the breadth
was eleven to
it," /
i.e.
cubits,
and that
at the steps
when measured on
"
:
the breadth
by which they went up
the side on which the flight of O
If the words are taken in this way, they serve to remove all doubt as to the side which is designated as the steps stood.
breadth, with special reference to the fact that the porch of Solomon s temple was constructed in a different manner. The
number
of steps, therefore,
is
not given, as was also the case xl. 6), because it was
with the east gate of the outer court (ch.
of no essential importance in relation to the entire building. The last statement, "and there were columns by the pillars on this side
and on
that,"
is
from
free
difference of opinion
among
difficulty,
although there
is
also a
the commentators as to the position
D^Nn points back to Dbtf *?X (ver. 48). The ?K does not imply that the columns stood close to the preposition had the form of half-columns, but simply that they pillars, and of these columns.
stood near the pillars (see Plate III.
and Boaz
in
Solomon
s
K\ like the
columns Jachin
temple, to which they correspond.
CHAP. XLI.
xli.
Chap.
Plate III.
B
1-4.
and
and measured cubits breadth
Ver.
2.
And
227
1-4.
THE INNER SPACE OF THE TEMPLE (see Ver. 1. And he led me into the temple, C).
the pillars, six cubits breadth
on
on
the breadth
of
the door
was
ten cubits
and Jive
shoulders of the door, five cubits on this side, that
and he measured
:
twenty
cubits.
Ver.
the door,
pillar of
this side
and six
that side, with regard to the breadth of the tent.
its length,
3.
And
two cubits
;
forty cubits
he went within
and
breadth of the door, seven cubits.
and
;
4.
the
on
the breadth,
and measured
the
and
the
the door, six cubits
Ver.
and
cubits
;
And
lie
;
measured
its
and
the breadth, twenty cubits, toward the is the This Vers. 1 and 2 me, holy of holies. temple ; tWfl is used here the of holy place. give the measurements in the more restricted sense for the nave of the temple, the length, twenty cubits
and said
;
to
holy place (B), without the porch and the holy of holies (cf. The measuring commences with the front vi. 17). 1
Kings
This there was the entrance door. (eastern) wall, in which wall had pillars (e e) of six cubits breadth on either side (on the right hand and the left), and between the pillars a door (d) ten cubits broad, with door-shoulders (e e) of five cubits on this 6 10 4~ These measurements (6 side and that (ver. 2a).
+ +
5 -f 5) yield for the front wall a total breadth of thirty-two
This agrees with the measurements which follow twenty cubits, the (internal) breadth of the holy place, and six cubits the thickness of the wall (e) on either side (ver. 5). The cubits.
:
only remaining difficulty
is
in the very obscure
words appended,
which Ewald and Hitzig propose to alter pnxn into -^n^ because the LXX. have substituted rov ai\dp,, but without making any improvement, as ?*Kn is still more inexpli />nxn
irh, in
examining the various attempts to explain these words, comes to the conclusion that no other course is left than to take as signifying the inner space of
cable.
Kliefoth,
after
5>nfcn
Ezekiel
s
temple, consisting of the holy place arid the holy of
holies, which was the same in the entire building as the taber nacle had been, viz. the tent of God s meeting with His
228
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEEIEL.
people,
and which
is
identity of this space
designated as
to
fcjfc
and the tabernacle.
show the
The
substantial
clause
5>nNn
arh
thus attached to the preceding double nap (i.e. to the measure ment of the two pillars bounding the holy space), in an
is
elliptical
in the following sense:
manner, the
pillars,
on
this side
and
that,
of the tent, on the outside, that
"he
measured the breadth of
which marked is
off the
breadth
to say, of the inner space of
the holy place which resembled the tabernacle
"
;
so that this
clause formed a loose apposition, meaning, with regard to the nnan nians are the walls on both sides of breath of the tent." "
the door (e
The
between the door and the boundary pillars. and breadth of the holy place are the
e),
internal length
same
as
vi.
He
Vers. 3 and 4 refer to the holy of holies (c). have M* (for KUJ) and not ^^^l went within."
(ver.
because the prophet was not allowed to tread the
"
2,
in
the holy place
of
Solomon
s
temple (1 Kings
17).
We
1),
most holy place, and therefore the angel went in alone. OQ is defined in ver. 4 as the holy of holies. The measure njp
ments in
ver.
3 refer to the partition wall between the holy nnsn T X, the pillar-work of the (g).
place and the most holy
door, stands for the pillars
on both
sides of the door
measurement of two cubits no doubt
;
and the
applies to each pillar,
denoting, not the thickness, but the breadth which it covered on the wall. There is a difficulty in the double measurement
which follows
:
the door six cubits, and the breadth of the
door seven cubits.
As
the latter
is
perfectly clear,
and
also
apparently in accordance with the fact, and on measuring a door the height is the only thing which can come into con sideration in addition to the breadth, we agree with Kliefoth in
taking the six cubits as a statement of the height. The height of six cubits bears a fitting proportion to the breadth of seven cubits, if there were folding-doors ; and the seven is significant in the case of the door to the holy of holies, the dwelling of
Seventy, however, did not know what to do with this text, and changed Hiax #3$ nnan nrh into ra?
God.
The
CHAP. XLT.
229
5-11.
rov 6vp(o/jiaTos irr\yu>v em a euOev fcal evOev, in which they have But it is been followed by Bottcher, Hitzig, and others. the have derived these obvious at once that Seventy simply data from the measurements of the front of the holy place overlooked the fact, that in the first place, (ver. 2), and have beside the measure of the nnan nisna,
eV&yuSe? rov vrvXco-
i.e.
the nnan nrh ? or breadth of the door,
vos,
is
also
expressly
there, whereas here, on the contrary, it is preceded nnsn and secondly, as the measurement alone, without nni by of the Dy*K given in ver. 1 indicates their breadth (from south
measured
;
measure ascribed
to north), in the present instance also the
the nnan ^K can only refer to
its
to the breadth of the ^K,
But
thickness (from east to west).
we
if
to
and not
explain the
first
clause of ver. 3 in this manner, as both the language and the is fact require, the reading of the proved to be a false
LXX.
by the fact that
correction,
twenty-four cubits
(24-2
it
yields a breadth of twenty-two or
+ 6+7 +
7),
whereas the holy of
the
holy place, was only twenty cubits broad.
The dimensions
of the holy of holies also correspond to the by the holy of holies in Solomon s
like
holies,
covered
space (1
Kings
vi.
temple
20).
The
expression
iwn
\^"%,
"toward
the
be explained by the supposition that the holy place," after he had proceeded to the western end of measuring angel, is
to
the holy of holies for the purpose of measuring the length, turned round again to measure the breadth, so that this breadth "
lay
toward the holy
Vers.
Ver.
5.
5-11.
And
place."
THE WALL AND THE
SIDE-BUILDING.
he measured the ivall of the house six cubits,
and
the breadth
about.
room
of the side storey four cubits round the house round Ver. 6. And of the side-rooms there were room upon
three,
and
that thirty times,
and
they
came upon
the wall,
which the house had by the side-rooms round about, $o that they were held, and yet they were not held in the wall of the house. Ver. 7. And it spread out, and was surrounded upwards more
230
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
and more
to the side-rooms,
for the enclosure of the house went
upwards more and more round about house received breadth upwards ; and the
house; therefore the
so the lower ascended to
upper after the proportion of the central one.
1 saw
in the house
foundations
Ver.
joint.
had on
the
free was by
And
the
of
Ver.
8.
a height round about, with regard side-rooms a full rod,
six
cubits
And
to
the
to
the
The breadth of the wall, which the side storey outside, was five cubits, and so also what was left 9.
the side-chamber building
between the
cells
house round about.
Ver. 11.
and one door toward free was
five
of the house.
was a breadth of twenty
building led toward what was
left
the
the
cubits
And
the door
left free,
south,
of
cubits
Ver. 10.
round
the
the side-chamber
one door toward the north
and
round about.
the
breadth of the space the interior of
From
the sanctuary the measuring man turned to the outer work, and measured, first of all, the wall of the house (ver. 5), i.e. .
commencing with the pillars in the front (ver. 1), which surrounded the holy place and the holy of holies on This was six cubits the north, the west, and the south (e). the
wall
thick.
He
then measured the breadth of the CT,
i.e.
of the
building consisting of three storeys of side-rooms, which was erected against the north, west, and south sides of the sanc tuary (7i). For jta? signifies not only a single side-room, but collectively the
whole range of these side-chambers, the entire
^
in building against the sides of the temple house, called 1 Kings vi. 5, 6, with which V^n (ver. 8) is also used alternately
comm. on 1 Kings vi. 5). The breadth of the was four cubits in the clear, that is to say, the side-building space from the temple wall to the outer wall of the side-build
there (see the
ing (/), which was five cubits thick (ver. 9), and that uniformly The further particulars concerning the all round the temple. side-rooms in vers. 6 and 7 are very obscure, so that they can only be made perfectly intelligible by comparing them with the description of the similar building in Solomon s temple. and as for the According to this, ver. Qa is to be taken thus "
:
231
CHAP. XLI. 5-11.
room upon room (ta for ?y) three, and and understood as signifying that there
side-rooms, there were (that) thirty
times,"
were three side-rooms standing one above another, and that this occurred thirty times, so that the side-building had three storeys, each containing thirty
rooms (chambers),
so that there
were thirty times three rooms standing one above another (Ji h h). is no necessity, therefore, for the transposition of P which D^C^ into fe; D^P, Bottcher, Hitzig, and Havernick
There
B>W
have adopted from the
LXX.,
because of their having taken
^K in the sense of against, room against room thirty, and that three times, which yields the same thought, no doubt, but not so clearly,
inasmuch
as
it
remains indefinite whether the three
times thirty rooms were above one another or side by side. Nothing is said about the distribution of the thirty rooms in
each storey
;
but
uniform, so that
it
is
very probable that the distribution was sides, i.e. against the
on each of the longer
northern and southern walls of the temple, there were twelve rooms, and six against the shorter western wall. The northern and southern walls were sixty cubits, plus six cubits the thick the wall, plus four cubits the breadth of the side building against the western wall (60 + 6+4), in all therefore seventy cubits, or, deducting five cubits for the thickness of the
ness of
outer wall at the front of the building, sixty-five cubits long and the western wall was 20 + 2 X 6 (the thickness of the side ;
wall),
i.e.
thirty-two cubits long.
If,
therefore,
we
fix
the
length of each side-room at 4J cubits, there remain five cubits against the western wall for the seven party walls required, or five-sevenths of a cubit for each, and against the northern and
southern walls eleven cubits for party walls and staircase, and reckoning the party walls at four-sevenths of a cubit in thick ness, there are left four cubits
the
The
stairs,
and a seventh for the space for
quite a sufficient space for a winding staircase.
clauses
which follow
relate to the connection
between these
side-rooms and the temple house. Tj53 rriNn, they were coming 3 Kto (going) upon the wall. generally intrare in locum, here, ;
232
THE PROPHECIES OP EZEKIEL.
on account of what follows, to tread upon the wall that is to say, they were built against the wall in such a manner that the ;
beams
of the floors of the three storeys rested on the temple
wall on the inner side,
i.e.
were held or borne by it, but not so and held fast thereby. The only
as to be inserted in the wall
way
which
in
this
could be effected was by so constructing the
temple wall that it had a ledge at every storey on which the beams of the side storeys could rest, i.e. by making it recede half a cubit, or
become
so
much
thinner on the outer side, so
that if the thickness of the wall at the bottom it
would be
five cubits
at the second,
and a half
and four and a half
was
six cubits,
at the first storey, five cubits at the third.
In
this
way
the
side-rooms were supported by the temple wall, but not in such a manner that the beams laid hold of the walls of the sanctuary, or were dovetailed into them, which would have done violence to
the
sanctity
of
the temple house ; and the side storeys be, an external building, which
what they should
appeared as, That did not interfere with the integrity of the sanctuary. this is the meaning of the words is rendered certain by a com parison with 1 Kings vi. 6, where the ledges on the temple wall are expressly mentioned, and the design of these is said to that the beams might not be fastened be nWjpn Ths <nW>,
walls of
in the
JV2H
verse,
"Vipa
"
Vjaa rriNS,
as
rriyb&
JV^
temple. resting
DWN
ViT-tffy,
not
rendering of grammatically unten
Kliefoth
refer.
they went against the
Kin with 3 does
able,
rooms.
the house, to which the last words of our
is
wall,"
mean
to
s
go against anything.
which the (temple) house had toward the side3^3p rrno, round about, i.e. on all three sides of the The peculiarity of the storeys, arising from this iBfc,
upon the temple,
is
described in ver.
7,
of which dif
ferent explanations have been given, but the general meaning of which is that it occasioned a widening of the side-rooms as proceeding upwards from storey to storey,
in 1 Kino-s O vi. 6.
The words rno^ T T
together, as expressing
:
one idea,
mmi
:
viz.
T -; -:
"
it
is
plainly stated
are not to be taken
spread round about
"
CHAP. XLI.
233
5-11.
(De Wette), but contain two different assertions, which follows by the substantives precisely defined in what Neither
3rh.
nor
"Vjp
V^n
is
are
more
2D1
and
be taken as the subject
to
;
but
there spread out the verbs are to be regarded as impersonal a a and and surrounded," i.e. widening surrounding took place. "
:
The double
rfeoi has been correctly explained by Bochart, viz.
u
more by continued ascending," i.e. the higher one went the accord with i.e. one did extension and compass find, regard to, the side-rooms or side-storeys. TO^rp measure to the of, ing n more belongs to JV*??7 and is added for the purpose of defining at but took not place, gradually, precisely how the widening these flfcJW are the three rooms standing one each storey for "
;
above another, spoken of in ver. is
6"
(Kliefoth).
explained, and the meaning of which depends
This statement
the reason assigned, in the clause introduced
with
"3,
of the
This word
word 3WD.
upon the explanation a way round, and a
may mean
The Rabbins, whom Havernick follows, under Dvv mentioned in by 2D1D a winding staircase, the
surrounding. stand
which led from the lower storey to the upper This is decidedly wrong for apart from the question ones. whether this meaning can be grammatically sustained, it is im 1
Kings
vi. 8,
;
winding any rational meaning to the words, of the house was upwards more and more round about
possible to attach staircase
the
house,"
"a
since a winding staircase could never
run round
about a building seventy cubits long and forty cubits broad, but could only ascend at one spot, which would really give it
Bottcher s explanation is the character of a winding staircase. of the interior was for the round untenable : winding equally "
upwards more and more round and round the
not
first
place,
JVan does not
mean inwards
equivalent to
mean
and secondly, an alteration of form ;
the interior, and tl
For, in
inwards."
does
F
winding round
"
is
not
in the shape of the rooms,
through which those in the bottom storey were oblongs running lengthwise, those in the central storey squares, and those in the third oblongs running inwards, which Bottcher imagines to
234
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
have been the
It
case.
explanation of Kliefoth
would be much
and
way round, and regard
of a
round the house walk
all
in the
others, it
This,
as
easier to adopt the take SD^D in the sense
as signifying a passage
running which one could gallery, by reach the rooms in the upper
form of a
round the house, and
storeys.
who
Kliefoth
so
was the
further remarks,
still
why the surrounding of (circuit round) the house was greater the higher one ascended, and also the reason why it reason
became wider up above "
in
the upper storeys, as the words,
therefore the breadth of the house increased
In these words Kliefoth finds a
upwards,"
distinct assertion
"
affirm.
that there
no foundation for the assumption that the widening upwards was occasioned by the receding of the temple walls but that
is
;
the widening of the building, which took place above, arose from the passages round that were attached to the second and third storeys,
and that these passages ran round the building, to the outside in the form of
and consequently were attached galleries."
But we
how this can be distinctly Even if rpan, in con srh.
are unable to see
asserted in the words n^JDp JV3? nection with 3^8, signified the side-building, including the words would temple house, the only thought contained in the
that the side-building
be,
you ascended,
i.e.
with each storey.
became broader
at each
storey as
that the breadth of the side-building increased
But even then
what manner the increase
it
would not be stated
in breadth arose
;
in
whether in con
wall at each storey, or sequence of the receding of the temple
from the fact that the side-rooms were built so as to project farther out, or that the side-storeys were widened by the addi And the decision tion of a passage in the form of a gallery. in
favour of one or other of these
possibilities
where
could only be stated that 3D1D
obtained from the preceding clause, rV3n went round about the side-building, and that in favour of the JVa!?
it is
that fpan and But, in the first place, the assumption the temple of the to exclusion denote the side-building,
last.
house,
is
ivan extremely harsh, as throughout the whole section
CHAP. XLI.
signifies
in this
the temple house sense.
If
;
and
235
5-11.
in ver.
6
W&?
is
we understand, however, by
used again JVan ap^D a
round the temple house, the words by no means imply that there were outer galleries running In the second place, it is extremely round the side-rooms. passage or a surrounding
all
harsh to take 2D1D in the sense of a passage round, if the 2D1D takes up preceding H3DJ is to signify surrounded. As precisely the same thing is signified rorn as by the substantives arri and verbs the two napr, by 3D1D afterwards," we cannot render row by surrounded, and
the word nnpj again, and
"
SD^iD 2D10 by a passage round. If, therefore, signified a passage, round the this would a gallery running building, necessarily be in the verb n ? P5, which must be rendered, there expressed went round," i.e. there was a passage round, more and more "
i
upwards, according to the measure of the storeys.
But
this
would imply that the passage round existed in the case of the bottom storey also, and merely increased in breadth in the
Now a gallery round the bottom and upper storeys. storey is shown to be out of the question by the measurements which follow. From this we may see that the supposition that central
there were galleries on the outside round the second and third storeys is not required by the text, and possibly is irreconcil and there is not even a necessity to adduce the able with it ;
further argument, that Kliefoth s idea, that the entire building of three storeys was simply upheld by the outer wall, with
out any support to the beams from the wall of the temple, is most improbable, as such a building would have been very in secure,
and
useless for the reception of
We therefore surrounding.
any things of importance. take 2pj and 3D1D in the sense of surrounded and In
this case, ver. 7
simply affirms that the sur the side-building round about the
rounding of the house, i.e. temple house, became broader toward the top, increasing (more and more) according to the measure of the storeys; for it
more in proportion to the height against the so that the house became broader as you ascended. house, temple
increased the
236
To
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. appended by means of 151 the last statement of and so the lower ascended to the upper after the
this there is
the verse
"
:
measure of the central
This clause
one."
majority of the commentators to
mean
is
taken by the
thus they ascended from
:
But many have
the lower to the upper after the central one.
observed the folly of an arrangement by which they ascended a staircase on the outside from the lower storey to the upper,
and went from that followed the
into the central one,
LXX.
in
changing
\3\
into
and have therefore ft?l
W
ruto%
and
into
and from the lower (they ascended) to the upper But there is no apparent necessity central one." the through for these alterations of the text, as the reading in the text ruifinnn as the subject to yields a good sense, if we take "
nji^re,
and thus the lower storey ascended to the upper after the a rendering to which no decisive measure of the central one,
r6j
:
objection can be urged on the ground of the difference of J51 affirms that the ascent took place gender (the masc. n?JQ.
according to the mode of widening already mentioned. In the 8th verse we have a further statement concerning the side-rooms, as we may see from the middle clause; but it has also
been explained in various ways. Bottcher, for example, renders and I saw what the height round about the first clause thus "
:
was
false
and
yields
the eyes,
(l :
"
and
in
this
omitted in the case of
saw this
in the house a
means
is
mean
my
"
eyes upon the height round
this is also untenable, as
case also the article
=
words
:
"
:
I
What
the side-rooms
the foundation of the rooms was
i.e.
but a participle Pual nriD)
thus
an elevation round about.
in the following
a full rod (six cubits) high.
nan does
measuring with could hardly be
The words run simply
H2*a.
full rod,
Kliefoth
sense.
upon, in the sense of
height"
shown
had foundations a
I fixed
but
to fix the eyes
both grammatically in an inwardly, and
is
no conceivable
"
adopts the rendering about to the house ;
mean
but this
;
senseless, as Hjdj does not
inwardly direction
not
"
in an inwardly direction
nilD^D ;
is
not a substantive fiiwp,
and the Keri
is
substantially
237
CHAP. XLI. 5-1 i.
correct,
though an unnecessary correction
;
fa
for tffa
(com
The side-building did not pare ch. xxviii. 16, v& for *N?). stand on level ground, therefore, but had a foundation six This is in harmony with the statement in ch. cubits high. 49, that they ascended by steps to the temple porch, so that the temple house with its front porch was raised above the inner court. As this elevation was a full rod or six cubits, not xl.
merely for the side-building, but also for the temple porch, we may assume that there were twelve steps, and not ten after the
LXX.
of ch.
xl.
49, as half a cubit of Ezekiel
was a considerable height for "
follows,
six cubits
TOW^
is
The
steps.
s
measurement
expression which
obscure, on account of the various
which rftCM may be understood. So much, however, ways is beyond all doubt, that the words cannot contain merely an in
six cubits length of the rod measure to the because the of the rod has wrist," (measured) length already been fixed in ch. xl. 5, and therefore a fresh definition
the
explanation of
"
:
would be superfluous, and the one given here would contradict ^Sft? signifies connection or joint, and when
that of ch. xl. 5.
applied to a building can hardly mean anything else than the point at which one portion of the building joins on to the other.
Havernick and Kliefoth therefore understand by i^S the point at which one storey ends and another begins, the connecting line of the rooms standing one above another
the clause to be a
more
;
and Havernick takes
precise definition of sn nno^D,
under
standing by nino^D the foundations of the rooms, i.e. the floors. Kliefoth, on the other hand, regards the clause as containing fresh information, namely, concerning the height of the storeys, so that according to the statement in this verse the side-build
ing had a foundation of six cubits in height, and each of the storeys had also a height of six cubits, "and consequently the
whole building was twenty-four cubits high, reckoning from the ground. So much is clear, that n^p^O does not signify the floors of the rooms, so that
ground.
And
Kliefoth
s
Havernick
view
is
also
s
explanation
open
falls to
the
to this objection, that
238
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the words gave the height of the storeys, and therefore sup plied a second measurement, the copula 1 could hardly fail to if
stand before them.
The absence
of this copula evidently leads
the conclusion that the six cubits" n^jrx are merely intended to furnish a further substantial explanation as to the foundation, which was a full rod high, the meaning of which
to
"
has not yet been satisfactorily cleared up, as all the explana still further from the mark.
tions given elsewhere are
In
ver. 9 there follow
side (/),
was
two further particulars with reference wall of it without, i.e. on the out
The
to the side-building.
and therefore one cubit
five cubits thick or broad,
in the side-building thinner than the temple wall. The H3 was just the same breadth. In the clause beginning with 1BW
the measure (five cubits) given in the repeated, so that we may render 1 by
take the words in the sense of
"
first "
and
just as
clause
is
to
be
and must
also"
broad."
H3B,
the
Hoplial participle of rvan, to let alone, in the case of a building, is that portion of the building space which is not built upon like the rest it
signifies
;
(Plate JV3
ver. 11,
is
necessity for
by the is
all
it;
along
"which
was
was
built
any
alteration of the text,
round about
it.
^
gain thereby
is
locus relictus.
"in$,
:
against
and JV2?
to the
"iB>K
temple,"
is i.e.
the
an be
Consequently there is no not even for changing JT2
into r? in order to connect together ver. 96 clause, as Bottcher
the building
sides of 1
P"
an adverbial or locative accusative
appositional explanation: it,
used as a substantive,
is
it
The Chaldee rendering
house of side-chambers, or
longed to
where
the space left open
I. i).
r\ty7$
and in
and Hitzig propose
the discrepancy that
;
and
ver.
though
in vers. 96
all
10
as
one
that they
and 10 the
space left open between the side rooms against the temple house and between the cells against the wall of the court is said to have been twenty cubits broad, whereas in ver. 12 the
breadth of this munndcli
is
set
down
as five cubits.
There
follows next in ver. 10 the account of the breadth between the
temple-building and the
cells
against the wall of the inner
239
CHAP. XLI. 5-11.
and then in ver. 11 we have further particulars concern the side-building and the space left open. ing nfojPpn (ver. 10) are the cell buildings, more fully described in ch. xlii. 1 sqq., court,
which stood along the wall dividing the inner court from the outer on the west of the north and south gates of the inner
and therefore opposite to the temple house (Plate I. L L). To the expression, and between the cells there was a there has to be supplied the correlative term from the breadth," court,
"
context, namely, the space between the H3E
and the
rri3ts6
had a
breadth of twenty cubits round about the house, i.e. on the and south sides of the temple house. The descrip
north, west,
tion of this space closes in ver.
11 with an account of the
entrances to the side-building. It had a door toward the space left open, i.e. leading out into this space, one to the north and one to the south (Plate III. i {), and the space left open was five
round about,
cubits broad
south sides of the temple that which remained open, If, then, in conclusion,
-
i.e.
on the north, west, and
the place of njttn the space left open. gather together all the measure
building,
i.e.
we
ments of the temple house and
DipE>
7
immediate surroundings, we a I.) square of a hundred cubits in breadth and a hundred cubits in length, exclusive of the O
obtain (as
is
shown
in
its
Plate
The temple (G) was twenty
porch.
cubits broad
in
the
the wall surrounding the sanctuary was six ; cubits (ver. 5), or (for the two walls) 12 cubits. The four in cubits broad the clear on each side side-buildings being
inside (ver. 2)
2x6 =
make
(ver. 5),
2x4
8 cubits.
The
outside walls of these
buildings, five cubits on each side (ver. 9),
The
cubits.
2
X
5
=
10
na
(&), five cubits
cubits.
And
round about
fect ch.
is
20
(ver.
2
X
11),
5
= 10
makes
the space between this and the cells
standing by the wall of the court about (ver. 10), makes 2 X 20 therefore
make
(e-g-li-f),
twenty cubits round
= 40 cubits. The sum total 12 8 10 + + + + 10 + 40 = 100 cubits, in per
harmony with the breadth of the inner court given in xl. 47. The length was as follows forty cubits the holy :
240
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
and twenty cubits the holy of holies (vers. 2 and 4) ; the western wall, six cubits ; the side-rooms on the west, four cubits ;
place,
and
their wall, five
cubits; the H3E, on the west, five cubits;
and the space to the cells, twenty cubits + 5 + 5 + 20 = 100 cubits, as stated
;
in
40+20+6 + 4
all,
in ver. 13.
The porch
and the thickness both of the party-wall between the holy place and the most holy, and also of the front (eastern) wall of the
The porch is holy place, are not taken into calculation here. not includedj because the ground which it covered belonged to
The partythe space of the inner court into which it projected. wall is not reckoned, because it was merely a thin wooden therefore occupied no space worth notice. But partition, and say why the front wall of the holy place is not As there was no room for it in the square of a included. hundred cubits, Kliefoth assumes that there was no wall what it is
difficult to
ever on the eastern side of the holy place, and supposes that the back wall (i.e. the western wall) of the porch supplied its place. But this is inadmissible, for the simple reason that the porch
was certainly not of the same height as the holy place, and according to ch. xl. 48 it had only sixteen cubits of external breadth so that there would not only have been an open space ;
left in the
two cubits
Moreover, the measurement both of the on both sides of the front of the /ff& (ver. 1), and of the
no wall of pillars
upper portion of the front, but also an open space of in breadth on either side, if the holy place had had its
own.
shoulders on both sides of the door (ver. 2), presupposes a wall on the eastern side of the holy place, which cannot or partition
be supposed to have been thinner than the side- walls, that is to are shut up, than six cubits in thickness. say, not less
We
therefore, to the conjecture that the forty cubits length of the
ten holy place was measured from the door-line, which was on door-shoulders cubits broad, and that the thickness of the the two sides
is
included in these forty cubits, or, what is the into account in the
same thing, that they were not taken measurement. The objection raised to
this,
namely, that the
CHAP. XLI.
241
12-14.
have lost a consider space within the holy place would thereby able portion of its significant length of forty cubits, cannot
have much weight, as the door-shoulders, the thickness of which is not reckoned, were only five cubits broad on each side,
which was occu
for the central portion of the holy place,
and
was ten cubits broad, the length of forty pied by the door, and Just as the pillars cubits suffered no perceptible diminution. of the
door of the holy of holies with the party -wall are 40+20 cubits length of the sanctuary, and
reckoned in the
are not taken into consideration
so
;
this
may
also
have been
the case with the thickness of wall of the door-shoulders of the
holy place.
The measurements
of the space occupied
by the
holy place and holy of holies, which have a symbolical signi ficance, cannot be measured with mathematical scrupulosity.
Vers. 12-14.
THE SEPARATE PLACE, AND THE EXTERNAL Ver. 12. And the building at
DIMENSIONS OF THE TEMPLE.
of the separate place was seventy cubits broad on the side turned toward the west, and the wall of the building five the front
cubits
And and
broad round about, and
its
the separate place,
a hundred (temple)
hundred
house,
the
separated.
and of
The
of the
meaning from 1T3, to cut,
its
rnra
the
length a hundred cubits;
and
its
the breadth
the separate place
walls
:
the length
the face
of toward the
of the east, a
explanation of these verses depends upon
word
finta.
to separate, n^Ta
Thus
:
building,
And
Ver. 14.
cubits.
cubits.
and
Ver. 13.
length ninety cubits.
he measured the (temple) house
p?
is
According to its derivation means that which is cut off, or
the land cut
off,
the desert, which
not connected by roads with the inhabited country. In the rnta passage before us, signifies a place on the western side of the temple, i.e. behind the temple, which was separated from
is
the sanctuary (Plate
I. J), and on which a building stood, but the concerning purpose of which nothing more definite is stated than we are able to gather, partly from the name and situation
of the place in question,
EZEE. H.
and partly from such passages as
Q
242
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
1 Chron. xxvi. 18 and 2
even in Solomon
s
Kings O
xxiii. 11,7
according O to which,7
temple, there was a similar space at the back
of the temple house with buildings upon separate way out, the gate HjW, namely, that its
buildings, was
it, "
which had a
this space,
be used for the reception of
to
all
with
refuse,
kinds of rubbish, in brief, of everything that was separated or rejected when the holy service was performed and that this was the reason why it received the in the temple, sweepings,
name
of the separate
this space is
(that
all
that djn
western
to say, as ij
place"
T?.
was
five cubits
;
the temple, and had a breadth of seventy
round about, which
broad (thick), and a length of ninety cubits. is specially mentioned in connec
the thickness of the wall
we must add
tion with the breadth, to
building upon
it
cubits (from north to south), with a wall
As
The
from the temple) and of the way to the sea, i.e. on the
one approached
DKQ, on the side
side, sc. of
(Kliefoth).
rnfarr O& vX, in the front of the gizrah
was situated
the
looked
it
both to the breadth and
length of the building as given here at
from the
;
so that,
when
outside, the building was eighty cubits
broad and a hundred cubits long.
In ver. 136
this length is
expressly attributed to the separate place, and
(i.e. along with) the length of the temple house has also been previously stated as a hundred In ver. 14 the breadth of both is also stated to have cubits.
its
building,
and the walls thereof.
been a hundred
cubits,
But
namely, the breadth of the outer front,
or front face of the temple, was a hundred cubits ; and the breadth of the separate place 0^157 toward the east, i.e. the
breadth which
it
showed
to the person
measuring on the eastern
was the same.
If, then, the building on the separate place side, was only eighty cubits broad, according to ver. 12, including the walls, whilst the separate place itself was a hundred cubits
broad, there remains a space of twenty cubits in breadth not covered by the building ; that is to say, as we need not hesitate
put the building in the centre, open spaces of ten cubits each on the northern and southern sides were left as approaches to
243
CHAP. XLI. 15-26.
to the building on both sides (K\ whereas the entire length of the separate place (from east to west) was covered by the All these measurements are in perfect harmony. building.
As
the inner court formed a square of a hundred cubits in
length (ch.
xl.
47), the temple house, which joined
west, extended with
its
appurtenances
it
on the
to a similar length
;
and
the separate place behind the temple also covered a space of equal size. These three squares, therefore, had a length from east to west of three hundred cubits. If we add to this the
length of the buildings of the east gates of the inner and outer courts, namely fifty cubits for each (ch. xl. 15, 21, 25, 29, 33., 36), and the length of the outer court from gate to gate a hundred cubits (ch. xl. 19, 23, 27), we obtain for the whole of the temple building the length of five hundred cubits.
we add
breadth of the inner court or temple house, which was one hundred cubits, the breadths of the outer court, with the outer and inner gate-buildings, viz. two again,
If,
to the
hundred cubits on both the north and south breadth of 100
total
+ 200 + 200 =
sides,
500 (say
we
obtain a
five
hundred) whole building covered a space of five hun dred cubits square, in harmony with the calculation already cubits
made
;
so that the
(at ch. xl.
24-27) of the
size of the
surrounding wall.
Vers. 15-26. SUMMARY ACCOUNT OF THE MEASUREMENT, THE CHARACTER, AND THE SIGNIFICANT ORNAMENTS OF THE PROJECTING PORTIONS OF THE TEMPLE BUILDING. Ver. 15.
And
thus he measured the length of the building in the front of which was at the back thereof, and its
the separate place
on
this side
and
galleries
that side,
a hundred
cubits,
and
the inner sanc
tuary and the porches of the court; Ver. 16. The thresholds, ^
and
the closed
windows, and the galleries round about all three
was wainscoting wood round about, and windows ; but the windows were covered
opposite to the thresholds the
ground up to the Ver. 17. (The space) above the doors, both to the inner temple and outside, and on all the wall round about, within and ivithout,
244
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
its measures. Ver. 18. And cherubs and palms were made, a palm between every two cherubs ; and the cherub had two faces; man s face toward the palm on this side, and a lion s Ver. 19.
had
A
face toward the palm on that side
thus ivas
:
From
Ver. 20.
the whole house.
it
made round about
the floor to above the doors
were the cherubs and palms made, and that on the wall of the Ver. 21. The sanctuary had square door-posts, and sanctuary. the front
The
of the holy of holies had the same form.
altar
cubits
;
and
was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two it had its corner-pieces and its stand, and its walls
were of wood
:
and he said
of
had two
me, This
to
And
Ver. 23.
before Jehovah. holies
the
table which stands
Ver. 25.
And
doors of the sanctuary,
upon the
the walls;
porch
And
the
1.5 is
the
and
two
the other
made upon them, upon the cherubs and palms, as they were made
and a moulding of wood was on
outside.
the holy
doors had two
there were
Ver. 26.
And
and palms on this side and on porch, and the side -rooms of Ver.
and
holy place
Ver. 24.
doors.
is the
wings, two turning leaves; the one door two, leaves.
Ver. 22.
commencement
the front
there were closed
that,
on the
side-ivalls
house, and
the
of windows
the
of the
beams.
of a comprehensive enumeration
of particular features in the building, the greater part of which have not been mentioned before ; so that *no* (for ItJS) * s to
be rendered,
"
and thus he
measured."
The circumstance
that
another measurement follows in ver. 15a, whereas no further ver. 156 onwards, does not warrant
numbers are given from
us in assuming that ver. 15a is to be joined on to ver. 14, and The absence ver. 156 to be taken in connection with ver. 16. of the cop.
1
before D^QDH in ver. 16a
is sufficient to preclude D BDn commences a fresh does that
the latter, showing as it statement; and the words
U1
i^T
1
in ver.
156
are
still
*TO* in ver. 15a. The contents of governed by the verb ver. 15 are also decisive against the separation mentioned. If, for instance,
we connect
ver.
15a with ver. 14, the
first
clause
contains a pure tautology, as the length of the building has
245
CHAP. XLT. 15-26.
is given in ver. 13. The if the not does exist, summary statements of the tautology of the whole temple building measurement of different portions commence with ver. 15; and in connection with these a
been already measured, and the result
given of various details not mentioned contents of the second clause, namely, what is
supplementary account
The
before.
stated concerning the
is
B^nK, belong
The
directly to the latter.
building in front of the separate place, which was measured by the man, is more precisely defined, so far as its situation is con cerned, by the words ^fiHT/J
mntf
points back "
f^an
:
the building
.
.
.
The feminine
"1E>K.
in
suffix
can only refer to consequently which was at the back of the tyfetah"
to fHTan
"iBte
;
not at variance with the situation indicated in
This
is
rntan,
but serves as a more exact definition of this statement,
showing that the building which stood
at the
V.?"
*?
front of the
gizrah occupied the hinder part of it, i.e. extended in length from the front of the gizrali to the back. The meaning of D pviN or D !?^, here (Keri) and in ver. 16, ch. 11
3 and
xlii.
5,
the
only other passages in which it occurs, is involved in obscurity. Even Raschi confesses that he does not know what it means,
and the older translators have simply resorted jectures for their renderings ch.
3 and 5
xlii.
ethecas
(the
in
irepia-TvXov
LXX.
and
<rroat;
Hebrew word Latinized), London Polyglot, ver.
ch. xlii. 3, \U
;
the
in the
Targum, KjjWiN
;
Hebrew
;
;
and
xlii. 5,
KJH.
vague con
to
here, avroXotTra, in
the Vulgate, here,
in
ch.
15,
xlii.
NriJW
There
is
portions ;
ver.
;
16,
no root pHK
and the derivation of the word from jTO
is
not
only uncertain, but furnishes us with nothing that can be used for tracing the architectural signification of the word. Even the context in vers. 15 and 16 of this chapter supplies nothing, for in both verses the meaning of the clauses in which D^riK stands that
is
we
a matter of dispute.
find
any
clue.
According was
storied
cell-building there
storey
and according
;
It is only in ch.
to ver.
\>
5 the
xlii.
to ch. xlii. 3, in ^f"^
cells of
P^K on
3 and 5
the threethe third
the upper storey in
246
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
building were shorter than those of the lower and central storey, because &\?n# took space away from them; and the this
reason for
was, that the three- storied cells had no
we may
infer with certainty that the D^JjiK or galleries passages running along the outer walls of the
pillars.
were
this, again,
From
this
building, which were not supported necessarily rested
rooms of the upper
The
and
its
galleries
and south
pillars,
and therefore
storey.
This meaning also
suits the present
NH^fiN (an Aramaic form for n^riN) but to n^srj i n ver. 13 for the words, $3, on this side and on that," i.e. on the north
suffix in
chapter. points back, not to "
by
upon ledges obtained by the receding of the
;
sides of the building, are not
in the sense of
dependent upon
Sflfc
the length of the building, with its ?JJ3n, galleries on this side and on that," as Kifpin&o is too widely sn !pfc for this. NiTpinKl is rather a second separated from
its
Tl:
he measured (1) the length of the building; a hundred cubits; galleries on this side and that
object to (2)
"
(3) the inner temple, etc.
The hundred
cubits do not refer to
the length of the building, but to the galleries on both sides, which were of the same length as the building, and therefore
was not superfluous *nn mention, as they might possibly have been shorter.
ran along to
^an
its
entire length,
a fact which
it
the temple house, with the buildings against it, within the inner court. In addition to these, there are also mentioned is
the porches of the court, i.e. at the gate-buildings of the inner and outer courts, as the projecting portions of these buildings. These three works mentioned in ver. 15 comprise the whole of
the buildings, the measurements of which have been mentioned viz. the building to the west of the in the previous description in vers. 1-11; the temple, in vers. 12-14; the inner temple, of the courts, to which the temple porch in front of porches
the holy place
measurement
Thus
is
as
to
be added, as having been reckoned in the
belonging to the inner court, in ch.
xli.
the contents of our verse (ver. 15) plainly show that it is an indivisible whole, but forms a conclusion in
not only
CHAP. XLI.
247
15-26.
which the foregoing measurements are all summed up, and which serves as as introduction, in accordance with this, to the following
of various additional features in the temple
summary
of mention. buildings which are also worthy In this summary there are five points fact that
all
had
parts of the buildings
noticed
:
(a) the
measurements
their
of the (vers. 16 and 17) (6) the significant ornamentation altar in the the inner walls of the sanctuary (vers. 18-21) (c) of and the character decoration holy place (ver. 22) (d) ;
;
;
the doors of the sanctuary (vers. 23-25a)
;
(e)
the style of the
porch and of the side-buildings against the temple (vers. 25, 26). Vers. 16 and 17 form one period, enlarged by the paren thetical insertion of explanatory statements, similar to the
struction in vers.
The
18 and 19.
to
con
the three
predicate the thresholds, the closed windows, and the galleries not to be sought for either in DnB^Pp or in ^DH
subjects is \S\
Mp
*]W".
The
latter construction,
Havernick, yields the
unmeaning
adopted by Bottcher and
assertion that the thresholds
The former
lay across in front of the threshold.
gives the
apparently bald thought, that thresholds, windows, and galleries were round about ; in which the use of the article, the thresholds, the is
windows,
nnp
ments
at the ;
is
The
exceedingly strange.
end of
ver.
17
:
and the construction
predicate to
the thresholds, is
etc.,
u>
D^BDn
had measure
so far anakolouthistic, that the
predicate nnrp, strictly speaking, belongs to the things mentioned in ver. 17 alone,
and the subjects mentioned in ver. 16 are to The words cn^W 2^D
be regarded as absolute nominatives.
belong to the three preceding subjects, as a further definition, the thresholds, windows, and galleries (which were) against these three round about. The suffix to their "
refers to the three buildings
mentioned
0**$$
triad,"
in ver.
15: the one
upon the separate place, the temple building, and the porches of the court and the appositional is not to be so pressed
Mp
;
as to lead to the conclusion that all three buildings, and there fore the porches of the court had round about. As also,
D^fiK
248
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Wtt MD
the
and the
is
affirmed of the thresholds, and the windows,
and these three objects are introduced by the known, i.e. as already mentioned and described
galleries,
article, as well
preceding verses, the more precise definition (resp. limita round about these three/ is to be tion) of the apposition, taken from the preceding description of these three buildings, in the
"
and we are simply to assume the existence of thresholds, windows, and galleries in these buildings in those cases in which they have been mentioned in that description so that the only place in which there were galleries was the building ;
upon the separate is
But before
place.
given concerning the thresholds,
with the words from
a remark
etc.,
Mp
*)Dn njj to
the intended information
?
is
introduced,
as to the construction of
the threshold (*|Bn being used in a general sense for every threshold) there was Y. W^j *W3 does not mean a thin covering of wood, or wainscoting. the thresholds
:
viz. that opposite to
across the front
(Bottcher),
but
"
"
opposite
opposite to the threshold of a door
word
is,
;
and the part
strictly speaking,
the
probably used in the broader sense for the framework of the door, above and on the two
Here, however, the
lintel.
sides, as is
shown by
fresh object etc.
;
is
Mp Mp
is
which follows.
pxn
introduced,
and the thought of supplying
is
With
a nominative, like "
\D,
from the
ground,"
originated in a faulty interpretation of the words. this
The
has
idea
is
etc., so also the
as the thresholds, the
windows, ground and the the between i.e. the windows, ground up space is to the windows The allusion had measurements. windows, followed by the remark, in the form of a circumstantial clause, :
to the
that
"
the windows were
covered."
niDriE is apparently only a
substantial explanation of rriOBN (see the
In ver. 17
comm. on
ch. xl. 16).
two further objects are mentioned as having
measurements
;
not, however, in the logical position of subjects,
but with prepositions ?JJ and 7K upon that which was above the opening of the door . . and (what was) on all the walls, on all the walls. To this i.e. the space above the doors and :
.
CHAP. XLI.
of the subject, through fe
periphrasis
2 19
15-26.
and
,
there
"
The meaning is, been named had
that
measured
all
attached
measures."
the parts of the building which have
their definite measurements,
In order to express
off.
is
the subjects of vers. 16
the predicate flfalp, which belongs and 17, in the sense of, on all the walls there were to all
were carefully
thought in as general
this
and comprehensive a manner as possible, the ideas contained in the subjects in ver. 17 are expanded by means of appositions :
that of the space above, over the entrance door, by an n?an njn the inner temple, i.e. both the et prfo, both (11 et) into inside of the temple throughout,
idea of the whole wall inside
and 17
and on the is
clear,
and
is
and
"
expressed by
outside."
cut out
all
round about,
Thus everything
in accordance with fact;
scissors of necessity either for the critical
who
The
also to the outside.
in
in the
vers.
and there
is
16
no
Ewald and
Hitzig, that they do not understand as glosses, or
for the w?a/-emendation of Bottcher, vi.
and thus
finds
who changes it
to
nvnp into
ornament the
good 18), nij^pp (1 Kings temple with sculptures, even on the outsides of all the walls. Vers. 18-21 treat of the ornamenting of the inside of the of holies. sanctuary, i.e. of the holy place and the holy Vers. 18 and 19 form, like vers. 16 and 17, a period extended by parentheses. The predicate "W, standing at the beginning is resumed in ver. 196, and completed by rrarr^s-ta of ver. 18,
That the cherubim and palms were executed in sculp ture or carving, is evident from the resemblance to Solomon s They were so distributed that a cherub was followed temple. D D.
by a palm, and this by a cherub again, so that the palm stood between the two cherubim, and the cherub turned one of its palm on this side, and the other to the palm upon that side. In sculpture only two faces could be shown, and consequently these cherubic figures had only two faces,
two faces
to the
This sculpture was placed round about the whole house, and that, as is added in ver. 20 by way of explanation, from the ground even to up above
and not
four, like those in the vision.
250
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the door, namely, on the inner wall of the sanctuary is ir??"* ? hereby limited to the fa^n, the holy place and the 5
is a local accusative. To this there is holy of holies. appended the further notice in ver. 21, that the sanctuary had "Vjpl
door-posts in a square form.
The
loose
arrangement of the
the sanctuary post work of square form," is a concise words, form of expression after the manner of brief topographical <c
nnrp invariably signifies, wherever it occurs, the door J^n, posts, i.e. the projecting framework of the entrances. does not mean four-cornered but "foured" really merely, notices,
square (Ex. xxvii. 1 and xxviii. 16). Consequently the words, the door-posts of the holy place were of a square shape," might be understood as signifying not merely that the door "
posts were
post that
beams cut square,
but, as Kliefoth supposes, that the
work surrounding the door was made of a square form, is to say, was of the same height as breadth, which would
be quite in keeping with the predominance of the square shape, with its symbolical significance, in this picture of a temple. But the statement in the second half of the verse can hardly be reconciled with
this
;
for whatever diversity there
may
be in
the interpretation of this verse in particular points, it is certain that it does contain the general assertion that the doorway of the holy of holies was also shaped in the same way. But the
door of the holy of holies, instead of being square, was (accord ing to ver. 3) six cubits high and seven cubits broad. tfjtyWj as distinguished from *J*OD,
is
doubt (for
the holy of holies, which ver. 23
use of Bhjsn, see Lev. xvi. 2, 3, 16). K^pn-^3, the face of the holy of holies, the front which met the eye of a person entering the holy place. HNinisn
places
beyond
naOB3
is
all
this
the predicate, which is attached as loosely as in the The front of the holy of holies had the first hemistich. like the appearance (just described), i.e. like the appearance n in fact, it had also a doorway with fourappearance of the J. F. Starck has already given this explana cornered posts. tion of the words Eadem fades et aspcctus erat utriusque portae s
;
:
CHAP. XLI.
251
15-26.
et quadratis postibus conspicua templi et adyti, utraque quadrata erat. The proposal of Ewald, on the other hand, to connect nantsa
in front of the holy of holies with the following word n?TBn, there was something to be seen like the shape of the altar" (LXX., Syr.), has the article in ngnen against it (Bottcher). "
Ver. 22.
THE ALTAR OF BURNT- OFFERING
(see Plate III. n).
The
tinued."
"
The abrupt
wood
altar
in the holy place
style of writing
for the altar
still
is
con
was of wood three cubits
the expanse of the wall from one corner length, high to the other, was two cubits ; the breadth (thickness), which is ;
its
i.e.
not expressly mentioned, was the same, because the square form is presupposed from the shape of this altar in the tabernacle and
Solomon s temple. Under the term Vniyvpp, its corner-pieces, the horns projecting at the corners, or the horn-shaped points, are probably included, as the simple mention of the corners appears superfluous, and the horns, which were symbolically in the altar, would certainly not have been significant features
wanting. There is something strange in the occurrence of ^1^1 as the length is already included before and along with !?, in the walls, and it could not be appropriately said of the 1
rtfi"
length that copyist
s
it
was of wood.
error for fr]K,
pedestal.
The
r)
@d<ris
to"]K
is
therefore certainly
avrov (LXX.),
angel describes this altar as the
Jehovah
"
tl
its
a
stand or
table
which
harmony with the epithet bread already applied to the sacrifices in the Pentateuch, the not because the of altar table was in God," though (Dn?)
stands before
in perfect
"
"
tended to combine the old table of shewbread and the altar of incense
"
(Bottcher).
The
table of shewbread
is
not mentioned
any more than the candlestick and other portions of the temple furniture.
The
altar of burnt-offering stood before
Jehovah,
before the entrance into the holy of holies. This leads in vers. 23 sqq. to the notice of the doors of the sanctuary, the
i.e.
character of which since the doorway
is
also described as
simply openings
had been mentioned before.
riTi
(nfl-?),
signifies
a
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
252
moveable door, and the plural fl^"yn, doors, whether they consist of one leaf or two, i.e. whether they are single or folding doors.
Here the
nirta in vers.
on the other hand, the
23 and 24 first
(ninW>)
ninTH in ver.
and
used for the wings of the door,
are folding doors
;
24 and HTn
ibid, are
nteDID
for the
fiiryn
swinging portions (leaves) of the separate wings. The ing is this : the holy place (/^t ) and the holy of 1
mean holies
(^7.1^) had two folding doors (i.e. each of these rooms had one). These doors had two wings, and each of these wings, in the
one door and in the other, had two reversible door-leaves, so that when going in and out there was no necessity to throw
open on every occasion the whole of the wing, which was at There is no foundation for
least three or four cubits broad.
the objection raised by Kliefoth to the interpretation of ^n? EHPr) as signifying the holy place and the holy of holies;
deny that the two words are 17, 31, 33, and ^P in Lev. xvi.
since he cannot 1
Kings
vi.
5,
so used, 2, 3, etc.
/^r\
*
n
And
the artificial explanation, a to the temple space, and indeed to the holy place," not only passes without notice the agreement
between our verses and 1 Kings vi. 31-34, but gains nothing further than a side door, which does violence to the dignity of the sanctuary, a passage from the side chambers into the holy s temple. place, with which Bottcher has presented Solomon These doors were ornamented, like the walls, with figures of
Other remarks are added in vers. 256 cherubim and palms. The and 26 concerning the porch in front of the holy place. was outside there of the the front first is, that on YV. ^porch The only other passage in which the word 3y occurs in a similar
Kings vii. 6, where it refers to wood-work in and it cannot the Ulam of Solomon s porch of pillars
connection front of
is
1
be determined whether
;
it
signifies threshold, or moulding, or
On the shoulders, i.e. on the right and threshold-mouldings. left side walls of the front porch, there were closed windows and figures of palms. The cherubim were omitted here. The last words of ver. 26 are very obscure. JV?n rnypyi may be
CHAP. XLII.
253
1-14.
and on the taken in connection with the preceding clause, side-rooms of the temple," as there is no necessity to repeat the preposition in the case of closely continuous clauses (vid. Ewald, "
351a) ; and the side-rooms not only must have had windows, but might also be ornamented with figures of palms. But if the words be taken in this sense, the
D^y must
also signify
something which presented, like the walls of the porch and of the side chambers, a considerable extent of surface capable of receiving a similar decoration ; although nothing definite has hitherto been ascertained with regard to the meaning of the
word, and our rendering
makes no pretension
"
beams"
to
correctness.
Chap.
xlii.
The Holy
Cells in the Court,
Holy Domain around Vers. 1-14.
Ver.
1.
And
the
Extent of the
the Temple.
THE CELL-BUILDINGS
FOR HOLY USE.
and
IN
he brought
THE OUTER COURT me
out into the outer
way toward the north, and brought me to the cellbuilding, which was opposite to the separate place, and opposite to the building toward the north, Ver. 2. Before the long side of court by the
a hundred
cubits,
fifty cubits,
Ver.
with the door toward the north, and the breadth 3.
opposite to the stone
gallery
was
Opposite
pavement of
in the third storey.
walk, ten cubits broad
and
to the
their doors
went
;
to the
twenty of the inner court and
the outer court
Ver.
inner a
to the north.
4.
And
;
gallery against
before the cells a
way of a hundred
Ver.
5.
And
cubits
the
;
cells
upper were shortened, because the galleries took away space from them, in comparison with the lower and the central ones in the building.
6. For they were three- storied, and had no columns, like the columns of the courts ; therefore a deduction zvas made from the
Ver.
lower and from the central ones
from
a wall outside parallel with the
cells
in front of the cells
the ground.
Ver.
7.
And
ran toward the outer court
Ver. 8. For the length fifty cubits, length of the cells of the outer court was fifty cubits, and, behold, Ver. 9. out against the sanctuary it was a hundred cubits. ;
its
And
254
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
from underneath east, ivhen
rose
it
one went
up
these cells
them from
to
the entrance
;
was from
the
Ver. 10. In
the outer court.
the breadth of the court wall toivard the south, before the separate
place
way
and
before the building, there were
cells,
With a
Ver. 11.
before them, like the cells, which stood toward the north, as to their length so
according
to their
according
breadth,
and accord
And ing to all their exits as according to all their arrangements. as their doorways, Ver. 12. So were also the doorways of the cells,
which were toward the south, an entrance at the head of
the
way, of the way opposite to the corresponding wall, of the way from the east when one came to them. Ver. 13. And he said to me, The
cells in
the north, the cells in the south,
which stood in
front of the separate place, are the holy cells where the priests, who draw near to Jehovah, shall eat the most holy thing ; there they shall place the most holy thing, both the meat-offering offering
When
and
the trespass-offering
they go in, the priests,
;
and
the place is holy.
for
the sin-
Ver. 14.
they shall not go out of the holy
place into the outer court ; but there shall they place their clothes, in ivhich they
put on other
the service,
perform clothes,
and
so
for they are holy ; they shall to what belongs to the
draw near
people.
evident from vers. 13 and 14 which furnish particulars concerning the cells already described, that the description itself It
is
refers to
?
two cell-buildings only, one on the north side and the
other on the south side of the separate place (see Plate I. L). Of these the one situated on the north is described in a more circumstantial contrary,
is
manner
merely
(vers.
1-9)
stated in
that on the south, on the
;
the briefest
manner
to
have
resembled the other in the main (vers. 10-12). That these two cell-buildings are not identical either with those mentioned in ch. xl.
44
sqq. or with those of ch. xl. 17, as
supposes, but are distinct from both,
is
Havernick
so obvious that
it is
im
how they could ever have been identified. possible to understand in the The difference description is sufficient to show that they are not the
same
as those in ch. xl.
44
sqq.
The
cells
men-
CHAP. XLII.
tioned in ch. priests
44 were
xl.
255
1-14.
set apart as dwelling-places for the
during their administration of the service in the holy at the altar ; whereas these serve as places for de
place and
sacrificial gifts and the official dresses of positing the most holy To this may be added the difference of situation, the priests.
those mentioned here both from those of which distinguishes O Those in ch. xl. 44 seq., and also from those of ch. xl. 17. ch. xl.
44 were
in the inner court,
true that those mentioned in ch.
xl.
ours in the outer.
It
17 were also in the
is
latter,
but in entirely different situations, as the description of the position of those noticed in the chapter before us indisputably proves.
by the
Ezekiel
way
is
led out of the inner court into the outer,
cell-building (that ns^pn
evident from
is
the plural fiiDKv
in
vers.
4,
This stood
5).
the separate space behind the temple 12 sqq.), and opposite to the $3, i.e. neither the
opposite to the gizrah,
house (ch.
toward the north, to n3^pn ? the used here in a collective sense is
in the direction
xli.
i.e.
outer court wall, which
is designated as $3 in ch. xl. 5, but cannot be intended here, where there is no further definition, nor the temple house, as Kliefoth imagines, for this is invariably
We
called JV3H.
have rather to understand by $3n the build
ing upon the gizrah described in ch. xli. 12 sqq., to which no valid objection can be offered on the ground of the repetition of the relative "IBM, a s it is omitted in ver. 10, and in general simply serves to give greater prominence to the second defini tion in the sense of and, indeed, opposite to the building of the As pss?n ~7K (sc. separate place) toward the north." "
more precise definition of the direction indicated by the N *2& H which follows in ver. 2 depends and is co-ordinate with upon ^N^.l, nsK^n^K, defining the side of the cell-building to which Ezekiel was taken to the face belongs to
as a
"IPK
"H3,
"
:
of the
i.e. to the length," long side of the building, which extended to a hundred cubits. The article in nxsn requires
that the words should be connected in this manner, as
not be used
if
the words were intended to
mean
*{
it
could
on the sur-
256
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
face of a length of a hundred place was also a
hundred
Since, then, the separate cubits, that is to say, of the same cubits."
length as the cell-building opposite to to
assume that
it,
we might be
disposed
as the separate place reached to the outer court
wall on the west, the cell-building also extended to the latter
with
its
western narrow
But
side.
this
would be
at variance
with the fact that, according to ch. xlvi. 19, 20, the sacrificial kitchens for the priests stood at the western end of this portion of the court,
and therefore behind the
of these kitchens
is
not given
;
cell-building.
The
but judging from the
size
size of
the sacrificial kitchens for the people (ch. xlvi. 22), we must reserve a space of forty cubits in length ; and consequently the
which was a hundred cubits long, if built close the kitchens, would reach the line of the back wall of against the temple house with its front (or eastern) narrow side, since, cell-building,
according to the calculation given in the comm. on ch. xli. 1-11, this wall was forty cubits from the front of the separate place, so that there was no prominent building standing opposite to the true sanctuary on the northern or southern side, by which any portion of it could have been concealed. And not only is
there no reason for leaving a vacant space between the sacri ficial
kitchens and the cell-buildings, but this
the fact that
if
is
precluded by
the kitchens had been separated from the cell
building by an intervening space, it would have been necessary to carry the holy sacrificial flesh from the kitchen to the cell in which it was eaten, after being cooked, across a portion of the outer court.
It
is
not stated here
how
was from the northern boundary of the
far this cell-building gizrali,
and the open
n this may be space ( j?) surrounding the temple house; but to the xli. which ch. from inferred 10, according intervening
and the cells was twenty cubits. space between the munnach For the cells mentioned there can only be those of our cellno other cells opposite to the northern building, as there were
and southern
sides of the
temple house.
But
if
the distance
of the southern longer side of the cell-building, so far as
it
CHAP. XLII.
257
1-14.
stood opposite to the temple house, was only twenty cubits, the southern wall of the cell-building coincided with the boundary wall of the inner court, so that it could be regarded as a
The
continuation of that wall.
door to the north,
is
would otherwise come
"
between the accounts of the length
in
as to disturb the connection.
of the building corresponds to the breadth of the
gate-buildings of the inner court. The meaning of the third verse
Dn C
"
says Bottcher,
yn,"
?
taken as subordinate to the preceding with the door to the north," because it
and breadth of the building, so
"
nnQ
jtosfn
to be
clause, in the sense of
The breadth
further definition
as well as the
difficult
is
number, inasmuch
as,
a subject of dispute.
is
on account of the
article
with the exception of the
twenty cubits left open in the temple ground (ch. xli. 10), there are no QT^iJ mentioned as belonging to the actual ^sn ~ivn and ?
the numeral does not stand with sufficient appropriateness by But there is not sufficient the side of the following nayi."
weight in the
last objection
twenty cubits a doubtful one, simply a contracted form of
twenty
cubits,"
pavement
(nD"i),
this space
i.e.
most natural
it is
over,
and
to
render the reference to the
since the
expression
forms a
"twenty
for
"
is
the space of
fitting antithesis to the
the paved portion of the court.
More
to supply the missing substantive to the
from the niax mentioned just before,
"twenty"
cubits"
much more
natural certainly than to supply as there is no allusion fl&gyj either before or afterwards to any other cells than those whose situation
is
intended to be defined according to the twenty agree with J. H. Michaelis, Eosenmiiller, Hiiver-
We therefore
and Hitzig, that the only admissible course
nick,
niDN
;
for the description of the priests
which Kliefoth imagines that B^SOT for us to be able to take the
word
is
to supply
cells in ch. xl. 44, to
refers, is far too distant
ntoSJv
thence and supply
it
to
And
again, the situation of these priests cells to the east of the cell-building referred to here does not harmonize
Dnfryn.
with the
133, as
EZEK.
II.
the second definition introduced by the correlative
R
258 1331
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. points to the stone
pavement on the north.
north do not form such a vis-a-vis as the double
Our view
"
requires.
harmony with the explanatory which were to the inner court," i.e. belonged
of the D nbtyH
relative clause,
East and
133
is
also in
For the open space of twenty cubits breadth, which ran the by long side of the temple house between the munnach belonging to the temple and the wall of the inner court, formed to
it.
the continuation of the inner court which
temple house on the north, west, and south.
surrounded
the
1
If,
therefore,
what was opposite to the 133 defines what stood the the on second south, cell-building There the portion of the opposite to it on the northern side. this first definition of the 133 refers to
outer court which was paved with stones ran along the inner This serves to define as clearly side of the surrounding wall. as possible the position of the broad side of the cell-building.
For Kliefoth and Hitzig
are right in connecting these definitions with ver. 2b. and taking the words from p^fltf onwards as introJL
Even the expression itself \33~?K ducing a fresh statement. P^riK does not properly harmonize with the combination of the two halves of the third verse
as
one sentence, as Bottcher
against the twenty cubits of the inner court and against the pavement of the outer court there ran gallery For if the galleries of the in front of gallery threefold." proposes, thus
"
:
building were opposite to the pavement on the north, and to the space in front of the temple on the south of the building, they
must of necessity have run along the northern and southern is not walls of the building in a parallel direction, and *?.&"?
that is to to the front the correct expression for this, V.?"^?* the or to the other. of front to the one other, up gallery say,
This could only be the case 1
The statement
of Kliefoth, that
if
"
the galleries surrounded the
all,"
length and the same
in breadth.
the space in front of the temple.
twenty cubits in breadth cannot be established from ch.
this space of
did not belong to the inner court at xl. 47, where the size of the inner court
For
is
this
given as a hundred cubits in
measurement simply
refers to
CHAP. XLII.
259
1-14,
four sides, or at any rate on three ; for with the latter arrangement, the gallery upon the eastern side would building on
all
terminate against those on the southern and northern sides. Again, the rendering threefold," or into the threefold, cannot "
be defended either from the usage of the language or from the The only other passage in which the plural D^P occurs facts. is
Gen.
vi.
16,
third storey,
quently
where
it
signifies
and the singular is
tPfcyfte
"
in the third
And
in the third storey.
chambers, or rooms of the
""ByE*
means the
so far as the fact
Conse
third.
row of chambers or
rooms," i.e.
is
concerned, it does not follow from the allusion to upper, central, and lower cells (vers. 5 and 6), that there were galleries round every one of the three storeys. Ver. 4. u Before the cells there was a walk of ten cubits breadth"
In what sense we are
(m).
to
understand ^Sp,
"before,"
whether running along the northern longer side of the building, or in front of the eastern wall, depends upon the explanation of the words which follow, and chiefly of the words nnx nstf TJTI,
by which alone the sense
in
which JWiarrta
stood can also be determined. nntf
nes
"
7p;n ?
a
way
of one
is
to
be under
Havernick and Kliefoth take in the sense of
cubit,"
"
the ap
proaches (entrances into the rooms) were a cubit broad." But the words cannot possibly have this meaning ; not only because the collective use of
^n
after the preceding ^]jn&,
which
is
not
collective, and with the plural Dn nna following, is extremely a way, improbable, if not impossible but principally because is not with an or a nria, synonymous NtaOj entrance, doorway.
^,
;
Moreover, an entrance, if only a cubit in breadth, to a large building would be much too narrow, and bear no proportion whatever to the walk of ten cubits in breadth. It is impossible
any suitable meaning from the w ords as they stand, a way of one cubit;" and no other course remains than to alter notf
to get
r
nriN into
There n^N
is
"
nbK nxo, after the eVt 7r^%et9 etcarov of the Septuagint. no question that we have such a change of rwp into
in ver. 16,
where even the Rabbins acknowledge that
it
260
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
And when once n^p had been turned into would naturally be followed by the alteration of change DDK into a numeral that is to say, into flHK. The statement lias
occurred.
this
itself,
u a
way of
a hundred
cubits"
as referring to the length of the
(in length),
walk
might be taken
in front of the cells, as
But JV Orrta the cell-building was a hundred cubits long. with reconcilable this. for is If, hardly example, we take these t
a walk of ten words in connection with the preceding clause, a way of a hun cubits broad into the interior," the statement, dred cubits," does not square with this. For if the walk which "
"
ran in front of the
cells
was a hundred cubits long,
it
did not
lead into the interior of the cell-building, but led past it to the must therefore take JTWarrptf in outer western wall.
We
connection with what follows, so that ntots^n
:
in front of the cells there
it
corresponds to
was a walk of ten cubits
breadth, and to the inner there led a
way
of a
j)Bp
in
hundred cubits
fWpsn would then
signify, not the interior of the "inn inner court the ch. xliv. 17, but .(JTWan cell-building,
in length.
?
This explanation derives its principal support from the circumstance that, according to vers. 9 and 11, a way
xxi. 27, etc.).
ran from the
east,
i.e.
from the
on the northern and southern
steps of the inner court gates,
sides, to the cell-buildings
on the
north and south of the separate place, the length of which, from the steps of the gate-buildings already mentioned to the north-eastern and south-eastern corners of our cell-buildings,
was exactly a hundred cubits, as we may see from the plan in This way (I) was continued in the walk in front of the Plate I. cells (wi),
and may safely be assumed
The
breadth as the walk.
last
to
have been of the same
statement of the fourth verse
the doorways to the cells were turned toward perfectly clear ; the north, so that one could go from the walk in front of the
is
cells directly into
the cells themselves.
cells
were
middle
built.
cells
;
The
so that
it
5 and 6 there
In. vers.
follow certain statements concerning the
manner
in
which the
building contained upper, lower, and
was
three-storied.
This
is
expressed in
CHAP. XLII.
rbvbm
the words njn
261
1-14.
for the cells were tripled
3,
But they were not
rows stood one above another.
;"
three
all built alike
;
the upper ones were shortened in comparison with the lower and the central ones, i.e. were shorter than these (J before nunnrin and fiiJto rin is comparative) ; for ate (|
"
galleries
part of
(to
11
How
them
for
"
that
away
an architectural sense,
in
&3&,
to say, took
is
far this took place
is
shown
a portion of
to take
in the first
away them
away from).
two clauses of the
sixth verse, the first of
which explains the reference
lower, and middle
while the second gives the reason for the and the
cells,
to upper,
shortening of the upper in comparison with the lower central ones.
As
the three rows of cells built one above another
had no columns on which the rest,
was necessary,
it
upper row could
galleries of the
in order
to
get a foundation
for the
gallery of the third storey, that the cells should be thrown back
from the outer
wall, or built as
This
the gallery required. Ul
is
far inwards as the breadth of
expressly stated in the last clause,
H
bxw
with an indefinite subject there was de |3"/P. KJ!, ducted from the lower and the middle cells from the ground, sc. :
which these rooms covered. elucidation.
we may
is added for the P"!!?? purpose of the allusion to the columns of the courts
From
see that the courts
had colonnades,
like the courts in
the Herodian temple, and probably also in that of Solomon,
though their character is nowhere described, and no allusion made to them in the description of the courts.
is
The
further statements concerning this cell-building in vers. is a wall serving to enclose courtyards, The predicate to follows in vineyards, and the like.
7-9 are obscure.
"Ha
"HJI
:
a
nbtS^n stands for shows).
by the
boundary wall ran along the front of the cells V!?"^,
as the
The course
corresponding fawjH
of this wall (n)
relative clause,
"
more
which ran outwards
cells in
the direction of the outer
court.
The length
from
is
of this wall
this that the wall did
court,"
was
i.e.
W^>
in ver.
8
precisely defined parallel with the
toward the outer
fifty cubits.
It is evident
not run along the north side of the
262
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. for in that case
building,
must have been a hundred cubits
it
but along the narrow side, the length of which was cubits. Whether it was on the western or eastern side
in length, fifty
cannot be determined with certainty from ver. 7, although ta VJ3 favours the eastern, i.e. the front side, rather than the western
side, or
And what
back.
follows
is
decisive in favour
of the eastern narrow side.
was
this wall
In explanation of the reason why cubits long, it is stated in ver. 8 that the "
fifty
length of the
cells,
which were
to the outer court,
was
fifty
but, behold, toward the temple front a hundred cubits; Consequently "the cells which the outer court had" can only
cubits
;
be the
whose windows were toward the outer court
cells
that
those on the eastern narrow
to say, side of the building ; for the sacrificial kitchens were on the western narrow side (ch.xlvi. The second statement in ver. 8, which is introduced 19, 20). is
by nan
an indication of something important, is intended to Bvn as though by length preclude any misinterpretation of we must necessarily understand the extension of the building as
7]"]^
from
east to west, as in ver. 2
The
ments.
use of
"ipfc
and most of the other measure
for the extension of the narrow side of *
by the length of the wall, in ver. 7, where 2rh would have been inadmissible, because 2rh, the breadth of a wall, would have been taken to mean its the building
is
also suggested
thickness. J 50 faced the north.
*}& is
A
"
ta"]K,
the outer side of the temple house which
further confirmation of the fact that the
boundary wall was situated -on the eastern narrow building
is
given in the
first
clause of the ninth verse, in which,
however, the reading fluctuates. the Keri ntoj pn
nnritt,
But
side of the
as
The Chetib gives nbg6 nnnrip, we generally find, the Keri is
an alteration for the worse, occasioned by the objection felt by the Masoretes, partly to the unusual circumstance that the singular form of the suffix is attached to nnfl, whereas it usually takes the suffixes in the plural form, and partly to the omission of the article
which
is
from
ritojy
by the
defined by the article.
side of the demonstrative
But
these two deviations
n^n, from
CHAP.
263
XLII. 1-14.
the ordinary rule do not warrant any alterations, as there are rinn has a singular suffix not only analogies in favour of both, in narinn
21) and ^rinn (2 Sam.
ii.
(Gen.
instead of
^nn
xxii. 37, 40,
and 48),
40, 48), which may undoubtedly
(Ps. xviii. 37,
on the ground that the direction whither is 103. 1, Anm. 3), but also in Dnnn, which thought of (Ges. occurs more frequently than Dnwn, and that without any be explained
meaning (compare, for example, Deut. ii. 12, 7, Job xxxiv. 24, and xl. 12, with 1 Kings
difference in the
21, 22, 23, Josh. v.
xx. 24, 1 Chron. v. 22, 2 Chron. is
analogous to pfajn
binations, in
xii.
which the force of the
And n^n
10).
in Zech. iv. 7,
"in
ntaK6
and many other com means of the
definition (by
only placed in the middle for the sake of convenience 293). If, therefore, the Chetib is to be taken (vid. Ewald, without reserve as the original reading, the suffix in nnnn can article) is
which only refer to neath the wall were these
is
"Ha,
of
common gender: from under
cells, i.e.
the
cells
turned toward the
outer court; and the meaning is the following: toward the bottom these cells were covered by the wall, which ran in front of them, so that,
when a person coming toward them from
east fixed his eyes
the wall.
upon
the
these cells, they appeared to rise out of
Kliefoth, therefore,
who was
the
first
to perceive
this clause, has
given expression to the
conjecture that the design of the wall
was to hide the windows
the true
meaning of
of the lower
row cf
cells
which looked toward the
east, so that,
when
the priests were putting on their official clothes, they NUisn commences a fresh might not be seen from the outside. statement. To connect these words with the preceding clause ("underneath
these cells
was the entrance from the
east"),
as
Bottcher has done, yields no meaning with which a rational idea can possibly be associated, unless the ft? in nrinrip be alto gether ignored.
The
LXX.
which was unintelligible
to
have therefore changed
Hitzig has followed them in doing necessary
if
rwnrupl,
them, into Kal at Qvpai Onnai), so.
No
and
such conjecture
is
annno^ be rightly interpreted, for in that case
264
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
sn must be the commencement of a new sentence. (by the side of which the senseless reading of the Keri cannot be taken into consideration for a moment) is the ap This was from the proach, or the way which led to the cells.
from the outer court, not from the inner court, against the northern boundary of which the building stood, na vnn "ttn^E east,
not to be taken in connection with nan? isoa, but is co-ordinate of which it is an explanatory apposition. with Q 1i?L In vers. 10-12 the cell-building on the south of the separate is
<l
l
>
place
is
though very
described,
briefly
;
all
that
is
said in addi
tion to the notice of its situation being, that it resembled the
northern one in difficulties
its
Bat
entire construction.
there are several
connected with the explanation of these verses, which by an error in the text, partly by the
are occasioned, partly
unmeaning way in which the Masoretes have divided the text, and finally, in part by the brevity of the mode of expression. In the Drnrij ^HPl"?
clause of ver. 10.
first
E^i
1
is
a copyist
s
error for
which has arisen from the fact that 9).
(ver.
between
D^n
-p^
For there and
rntan
it is preceded by an irreconcilable discrepancy The build *)&-*?$, which follows.
is
ing stood against, or upon, the broad side (^D" ) of the wall of the court, i.e. the wall which separated the inner court from the 1
outer, opposite to the separate place ("OB
"J33
7, from in ver. 1
;
the outer side hither,
and l^sn
is
is
and the building upon
it
practically equivalent to
to be taken in the
same sense here
and there). The relation in which this cell-building stands to the separate place tallies exactly with the description given of the former one in ver. 2. If, then, according to ver. 2, the other stood to the north of the separate place, this must neces that is to say, upon the sarily have stood to the south of it,
broad side of the wall of the court, not in the direction toward the east (D^n TTTJ), but in that toward the south (CnTp T^rn), Kliefoth has expressly stated in vers. 12 and 13 also. the breadth of affirmed, it is true, in opposition to this, that
as
is
"
the wall enclosing the inner court must, as a matter of course,
CHAP. XLII.
265
1 -It.
have been the eastern side of the inner court
but on the
"
;
room
eastern side of the wall of the inner court there was not
hundred cubits
for a cell-building of a
in
length, as the wall
was only thirty-seven cubits and a half long (broad) on each side of the gate-building. If, however, one were disposed so
meaning of
the
to dilute
nn *na nrra as to make
it
affirm
nothing more than that the building stood upon, or against, the breadth of the wall of the court to the extent of ten or twenty
and with the other eighty or ninety cubits stood out into the outer court, as Kliefoth has drawn it upon his ground be as it could not described plan possibly standing cubits,
"
W^
;"
was not opposite to (in face of) the gizrah, but far removed from it, that only the north-west corner
because
"^>
was so
would be
14,
if
we
from the south-east corner of the
consider, in addition to this, that in vers.
where the intention of the
1-12
vers.
slightly visible
And
gizrah.
and
it
is
given, only
cells
13
cell-buildings described in
on the north and on the south are
mentioned as standing nitan ^Q"?X, there can be no doubt that we are to understand the broad side of the wall which by 3l"h
bounded the inner court on the south side from east to west, and that D^ijn
*pp?
should be altered into DiTin ^vj.
the true meaning has
In ver. 11
been obscured by the fact that the
Masoretic verses are so divided as to destroy the sense. words DiTjjBp TpTi belong to ni3B^ in ver. 10 cells and a
The
"
:
before
i.e.
them,"
cells
to the sjjno in ver. 4.
with a
way
nfepoa, like the
appearance
or constructed
like, does not belong to to conform to the way in front of the
made cells
with a
north.
The
way
^
in front.
7]"n
in front,
conforming
in
cells,
way
corresponds
=
appearing, the sense of
but to tibv6j toward the
to the cells
further clauses from J3-)K3 to
|>VB32to
are con
nected together, and contain two statements, loosely subordi nated to the preceding notices, the concerning points in which the cells upon the southern side were made to conform to those
upon the northern aiid to render them
;
so that they really intelligible in
depend upon njpp3 (English tr.) must
German
?
266
THE PEOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
be attached by means of a preposition
with regard or the four words contain Moreover,
"
"
according to
(secundum).
two co-ordinated comparisons
"
:
to,"
expressed by 15 ... 3, the second simply indicated by the particle 3 before IH^S^D The suffixes of all four words refer to 360a). (cf. Ewald, the
;
first
the cells in the north, which those in the south were seen to
resemble in the points referred cells in the south were like the,
The meaning
to.
cells in the
is
this
north to look
:
the
at,
as
according to their length so according to their breadth, and all their exits as
according to
according to their arrangements
the design answering to their purpose, i.e. the (D^tpa^p, manner of their arrangement and their general character : for lit.
this
meaning, compare Ex. xxvi. 30
word of the
verse,
jrvnnM^
;
2 Kings
i.
7).
The
last
belongs to ver. 12, viz. to -B&a ^nnSDi,
the comparison being expressed by 321, as in Josh. xiv. 11 Dan. xi. 29 ; 1 Sam. xxx. 24 (cf. Ewald, I.e.). Another con struction also
and
commences with fnTinM.
like their doors (those of the
|n nriD:n i
northern
i
s
;
a nominative:
cells), so
also
were
the doors of the cells situated toward the south. there
is
a gloss,
Consequently no necessity either to expunge arbitrarily as for which procedure even the LXX. could not be ""nnsirn
appealed to, or to assent to the far-fetched explanation by which Kliefoth imagines that he has discovered an allusion to a third cell-building in these words. Light is thrown upon the further statements in ver. 12 by the description of the northern cells.
u
A
door was at the
head,"
i.e.
at the beginning of the
of a hundred cubits in ^177. corresponds to the way way. is the ver. 4, arid point where this way, which ran to that the southern gate-building of the inner court, commenced "H^n
is
to say,
where
^i it
met the walk
in front of the cells (ver. 4).
The
further statement concerning this way is not quite clear to of the CLTT. ^J^n is uncertain. In us, because the meaning the Chaldee and Rabbinical writings the word signifies decens, \e<y.
conveniens.
If
we take
corresponding (to these
it
in this sense, na^n
cells), i.e.
rrttjin
is
the wall
the wall which ran in front
CHAP. XLII.
267
1-14.
the eastern narrow side of
the building parallel to the in cubits wall of cells, the fifty length described in ver. 7 in connection with the northern building (for the omission of the of
nyjn after the substantive which
article before
pare ch. xxxix. 27
;
Jer.
s
ii.
21, etc.).
?.??,
it
defines,
in conspectu,
com
which
not perfectly synonymous with *}?, also harmonizes with For the way referred to was exactly opposite to this wall this. at its upper end, inasmuch as the wall joined the way at right
is
The
angles.
%
of ver.
from the
;
last
D^ijn
words of ver. 12 are an abbreviated repetition
^
is
D equivalent to
^nD
Kiasn, the
way
on coming to them, i.e. as one went to these cells. 1 According to vers. 13 and 14, these two cell-buildings were set apart as holy cells, in which the officiating priests were to east
them, and to put on clothes in which they drew near to the
deposit the most holy sacrifices,
and
off
the sacred
Lord.
BWjpn
official
and
my
to eat
Wp were that portion of the meat-offering which
was not burned upon the see
and
altar (Lev.
Bill. Archdologie, I.
52),
ii.
3, 10, vi.
and the
9-11,
x.
12
;
flesh of all the sin-
trespass-offerings, with the exception of the sin-offerings
offered for the high priest
and
the congregation, the flesh of which was to be burned outside the camp (cf. Lev. vi. 19-23, vii. 6).
all
All these portions of the sacrifices were called most
holy, because the priests were to eat them as the representatives of Jehovah, to the exclusion not only of all the laity, but also
of their
own
(women and children see my Archdol. The depositing (wr) is distinguished from
families
45 and 47).
I.
;
the eating (yj#) of the most holy portions of the sacrifices ; because neither the meal of the meat-offering, which was mixed with oil, nor the flesh of the sin- and trespass-offerings, could be eaten by the priests immediately after the offering of the sacri-
1
For no further proof is needed after what has been observed above, that the relative clause, which were in front of the separate place," belongs to the two subjects cells of the north and cells of the south, and "
:
does not refer to a third cell-building against the eastern wall, as Kliefoth supposes.
268 fice
to
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
;
but the former had
be boiled, and
it
first
of
all to
was not allowable
be baked, and the latter them wherever
to deposit
The putting on they liked previous to their being so prepared. and off, and also the custody of the sacred official clothes, were be restricted to a sacred place.
^Nin^ on their coming, sc. to the altar, or into the holy place, for the performance of Their not going out of the holy place into the outer service. to
court applies to their going into the court among the people assembled there ; for in order to pass from the altar to the sacred cells, they were obliged to pass through the inner gate
and go thither by the way which led Vers. 15-20.
TEMPLE.
to these cells (Plate I.
I).
EXTENT or THE HOLY DOMAIN AROUND THE
Ver. 15.
And when
he had finished the measure
ments of the inner house, he brought me out by the way of the gate, which is directed toward the east, and measured there round Ver. 16. He measured the eastern side with the measuring rod five hundred rods by the measuring rod round about ; Ver. 17. He measured the northern side five hundred rods by the measur about.
ing rod round about
;
Ver. 18. The southern side he measured five
hundred rods by the measuring rod; Ver. 19. He turned round to the western side, measured five hundred rods by the measuring rod. Ver. 20.
round about hundred,
;
To the
to divide
It had a wall four winds he measured it. length ivas five hundred and the breadth five the
between the holy and the common.
There
has been a division of opinion from time immemorial concern ing the area, the measuring of which is related in these verses,
and the length and breadth of which are stated in ver. 20 to have been five hundred ; as the Seventy, and after them J. D. Michaelis,
Bb ttcher, Maurer, Ewald, and
this the space
Hitzig, understand by with its two courts. But the temple occupied by
as that space was five hundred cubits long and five hundred broad, according to the sum of the measurements given in have omitted the word D OiJ in ch. xl.-xlii. 15, the
LXX.
vers. 16,
18,
and 19, whilst they have changed
it
into
CHAP. XLII.
in ver. 17, ver. 20.
and have According
269
15-20.
word
also attached this
to the
numbers
in.
to this, only the outer circumference of
the temple area would be measured in our verses, and the wall which was five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits
broad (ver. 20) would be the surrounding wall of the outer Ver. 15 could certainly be made court mentioned in ch. xl. 5. to
harmonize with
this
For even
view.
if
we understood by
not merely the temple house, which the expression primarily indicates, but the whole of the inner building, i.e. all the buildings found in the inner and outer the
"
court,
inner house
"
and by the east gate the eastern gate of the outer court D a 3D VTTO, he measured it round about," ;
the expression
11
"
merely affirms that he measured something round about outside this gate. The suffix in ftlB is indefinite, and cannot be taken as referring to any of the objects mentioned before, either to "TO? The inner house he had already measured or to ^j>an TVan. ;
and the measurements which follow are not applicable
Nor can
the suffix be taken as referring to rpan, illam aedem (Ros.) ; or at any rate, there is nothing in ver. 20
gate. sc.
to the
to sustain
such a reference.
Nevertheless,
we might
think of a
measuring of the outer sides of the whole building compre
hended under the idea of the inner house, and regard the wall mentioned in ver. 20 as that which had been measured round about on the outer side both in length and breadth. But it is difficult to reconcile this view even with ver. 20 ; and with the
measurements given in vers. 16-19 it is perfectly irreconcilable. Even if we were disposed to expunge D^jJ as a gloss in vers. 16, he measured the east side with the 17, 18, and 19, the words, "
measuring rod, five hundred by the measuring rod," are equiva lent to five hundred rods, according to the well-known Hebrew "
usage cubit,
just
;
is
as indisputably as
equivalent
to
ch. xl. 21 at the close).
a
""SKa
l
?^?j
hundred cubits
The
a hundred by the (see the
comm. on
rejection of D^j? as an imaginary
therefore not only arbitrary, but also useless; as the appended words rnran rupa, even without D Jij, affirm that the
gloss
is
270 five
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. hundred were not
and 17
cubits,
but rods.
1
The
MD
in vers.
16
not to be understood as signifying that on the east
is
he measured a square on each side of five hundred rods in length and breadth, but simply indicates that he measured on all sides, as is obvious from ver. 20. For ac
and north
sides
cording to
this,
the space which was measured toward every
hundred rods had a boundary wall, which was hundred rods long on every side. This gives an area of
quarter at five five
whereas the temple, with the inner 250,000 square rods and outer courts, covered only a square of five hundred ;
cubits in length and breadth, or 250,000 square cubits. It is evident from this that the measuring related in vers. 15-20
does not refer to the space occupied by the temple and its courts, and therefore that the wall which the measured space
had around
it
(ver.
mentioned in ch.
xl.
20) cannot be the wall of the outer court 5, the sides of which were not more than
hundred cubits long. The meaning is rather, that around this wall, which enclosed the temple and its courts, a further space of five hundred rods in length and breadth was measured five
between the holy and profane," i.e. a space which was intended to form a separating domain between the off
"
to separate
sanctuary and the
common
The purpose thus
land.
for the space, which was measured off on "
inner
house,"
all
assigned four sides of the
leaves no doubt remaining that
it
was not the
length of the surrounding wall of the outer court that
1
The rriEX
mn for
nitflp
Eton in ver. 16
is
was
utterly useless as a proof
that cubits and not rods are intended as it is obviously a copyist s error, a fact which even the Masoretes admit. Rabbi ben-Asher s view of this ;
an interesting one. Prof. Dr. Delitzsch has sent me the follow from a fragment in his possession copied from a codex of the Royal Library at Copenhagen. R. ben-Asher reckons niEK among the words written verspov vporspov, of which there are forty"irnKDI Dlplft, seven in the whole of the Old Testament, the following being quoted by writing
is
ing, taken
*".
ben-Asher
(Z.c.)
2 Sam. xx. 14 1
Sam.
xiv. 27.
;
by way rri"QSD,
of
example:
2 Sam. xv. 28
j^a, ;
Josh. xx. 8, xxi. 27
W^m,
Judg. xvi. 26
;
;
tfli^t,
CHAP.
measured, but a space outside
n^D
ron
ib
271
XLII. 15-20.
The
this wall.
a wall was round about
?
following clause irreconcilable
is it,"
with the idea that the suffix in iTjD (vers. 20 and 15) refers to this wall, inasmuch as the i^ can only refer to the object indi cated by the suffix attached to ^?- This object, i.e. the space which was five hundred rods long and the same broad round about,
i.e.
on the outside,
it
had a wall enclosing and forming the partition between the holy
on every one of the four
and the common.
therefore
is
tTij-n
sides,
^an
"
rpan,
the inner
temple house with its side-building, but the sanctuary of the temple with its two courts and their house
;"
but
buildings, O 7
this is not the
which was measured
in ch. xl. 5
xlii.
this explanation of
our verses,
and
the words of the text,
made
in the text
,
by the
to be a false gloss, (1) this
"
the only one in
LXX.,
harmony with
Ac
are without any force.
and
Qthers,
D^ijj is
likely
because n*jsn rnpa stands close to
quite needless after D^p,
is
in opposition to
in vindication of the alterations
cording to Bottcher (p. 355), Hitzig,
and while
12. ,
The arguments which have been adduced
it
also
may
it
;
have
But this tells rather against the a gloss, since, as we have already ob five served, according to the Hebrew mode of expression, the
occasioned
the
gloss."
suspicion that D^j?
is
"
hundred D
"
would be defined
Jjj.
of expressing in the clearest
here
as rods
Ezekiel, however, had added
is
n?.i??,
even without
rnfen n3j?3 for the
manner the
not to cubits, but to a
ordinary kind, to
by rnsn
purpose
fact that the reference
new measurement
of an extra
which nothing corresponding could be shown
And the Seventy, by retaining this rov Kakd^w perpoVj have pronounced sentence upon of the rods into cubits ; and it is no answer change
in the earlier temple. clause, ev
their
own
to this that the
Talmud (Midd.
c.
hundred cubits
to the JVZin
since this
is
"in,
treating of the historical temple
ii.
note 5) also gives only five
Talmudic description
and not of Ezekiel
s
prophetic picture of a temple, although the Rabbins have transferred various statements from the latter to the former. The second
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
272
and third reasons are weaker
viz.
still
"
other instance in which the measurement in the plural
;
and, on the other hand, HEX
as being the ordinary measurement,
For the
because there is is
is
no
expressed by rods frequently omitted
and therefore taken for
proved to be erroneous, not only by our verses, but also by ch. xlv. 1 sqq. and xlviii. 16 sqq., whilst there is no force whatever in the second. The last
granted."
first
assertion
is
argument employed is a more plausible one namely, that the five hundred rods are not in keeping with the sanctuary, because the edifice with the courts and gates would look but a "
little
pile
according to the previous measurements in the wide
expanse of 20,000 (?)
rods."
But although the space measured
around the temple-building for the separation between the holy and the profane was five times as long and five times as off
broad, according to the large
as the
Hebrew
text, or twenty-five times as 1
whole extent of the temple and
appearance of the temple with
courts
its
is
its
courts,
the
not diminished in
consequence, because the surrounding space was not covered with buildings on the contrary, the fact that it was separated ;
from the common by so large a surrounding space, would rather add to the importance of the temple with its courts. is peculiar to Ezekiel s temple, and other many arrangements in the new sanctuary and to inviolable holiness of that sanctuary. the worship, symbolize
This broad separation serves, like
(a)
two
c
Area
courts,
of the temple with the 500 cubits square.
(b) Surrounding space, five hundred rods 3000 cubits square. (c) Circuit
breadth space.
of
fifty
around Ch. xlv.
the 2.
cubits
in
surrounding
CHAP. XLIII.
The
earlier
Kliefoth
is
273
1-12.
sanctuary had nothing answering to this; and wrong in supposing that the outer court served the
same purpose
in the tabernacle
and Solomon
had
in the temple of Ezekiel this
s
temple, w hereas r
become part of the
also
The tabernacle had no outer sanctuary, and was itself holy. court at all, and in Solomon s temple the outer court did form a component part of the sanctuary. The people might enter no doubt, when they desired to draw near to the Lord with it,
and
sacrifices
gifts
but this continued to be the
;
EzekiePs temple, though with certain restrictions
case
in
(cf. ch. xlvi.
9 and 10).
Only, in the case of Solomon s temple, the outer court bordered directly upon the common soil of the city and the land, so that the defilement of the land produced by the sin of the people could penetrate directly even into the holy space of the courts. In the sanctuary of the future, a safeguard
was
to be placed against this
separated the holy from the
by the surrounding space which common. It is true that the
surface of Moriah supplied no
room for this space of five but the new temple was not to be built upon the real Moriah, but upon a very high mountain, which hundred rods square the
Lord would
;
exalt
and make ready for the purpose when
temple was erected. Moreover, the circumstance that Moriah was much too small for the extent of the new temple the
and
surroundings, cannot furnish any argument against the correctness of our view of the verses in question, for the simple reason that in ch. xlv. and xlviii. there follow still further its
statements concerning the separation of the sanctuary from the rest of the land, which are in perfect harmony with this, and show most indisputably that the temple seen by Ezekiel
was not
to
have
its
xliii.
Chap,
seat in the ancient Jerusalem.
1-12. Entrance of the Glory of the into the
Ver.
toward
1.
And
the east
EZEK.
II.
he led :
Ver.
me 2.
New to
And
Lord
Temple.
the gate,
the gate
which looked
behold the glory of the a
God of
274
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
came from many waters, and
Israel
1 saw, was
I saw when I came
appearances
sound was
its
His
the earth shone with
the appearance ichich
which
and
the east,
to
Ver.
glory.
look at
to
;
appearance
and
(there were)
appearance which 1 had seen by the river Ver. 4. And the glory
like the
I fell down upon my face.
Chebar ; and
of Jehovah came into the house by the ivay of the gate, tion of which is toward the east. Ver. 5. And wind
up and brought me of Jehovah filled to
me from
Ver.
and
into the inner court
Ver.
the house.
and
the house,
And
7.
he said
me
and, behold, the glory
heard one speaking
me, Son of man, the place of my throne of my feet, where I shall dwell in the
to
my
places, Ver. 8.
and
the house
of Israel will and their name, they kings, holy through their
whoredom and through
and
lifted
was a man standing by me.
there
of midst of the sons of Israel for ever defile
;
And I
6.
the direc
the soles
the place
no more
And
3.
the
like
destroy the city
sound of
like the
When
their door-posts
by
;
the corpses
of their kings, their high
they set their threshold by
and
my door-posts,
between me and them, and
they defiled
there
my
threshold,
was only
the wall
my holy name by their I destroyed them in my
abominations ivhich they did, so that wrath. Ver. 9. Now will they remove their whoredom and the corpses of their kings
them for
ever.
from me, and I
shall dwell in the midst of
Ver. 10. Thou, son of man, show
Israel this house, that they
may
be
ashamed of
to the
house of
their iniquities,
and may measure the well-measured building. Ver. 11. And when they are ashamed of all that they have done, show them the picture of the house in,
and
ail its
all its laws its
;
form and
and
forms and and write it
its
The angel had shown
and
its
goings out
all its
before their eyes, that they
all its statutes
law of the house : Upon round about is most holy.
arrangement, and
all its statutes,
and do
the top
of
Behold,
them. the
this is the
the prophet the
forms and
may
keep all
Ver. 12. This
mountain
and
is the
all its territory
law of the house.
new sanctuary
as already
to its completed, and had measured it in his presence according God of the house several parts. But this building only became
CHAP.
when Jehovah
as the
God
275
XLIII. 1-12.
of Israel consecrated
it,
to
be the
dwelling-place of His divine and gracious presence in the midst His people, by the entrance of His divine glory into the 1 house. The description of the new temple closes, therefore, of
with this act of consecration.
That the prophet might see
this
own
eyes, the measuring man led the him from ground surrounding the temple (ch. xlii. 15-20) back again to the east gate (ver. 1). The allusion is to the
act of divine grace with his
eastern gate of the outer court
Ezekiel
taken
is
into
the
for
;
inner
it
is
not
77
court,
and.
till
ver. 5 that
according J3
to
he was brought back to the east gate of the outer Standing in front of this gate, he sees the glory of the
ch. xliv. 1,
court.
God
of Israel
come by the way from the
east with a great
and lighting up the earth with its splendour. coming of the theophany from the east points back to ch. noise,
The x. 19,
and 23, where the Shechinah, when leaving the ancient temple, went out at the east gate and ascended to the summit
xi. 1
of the mountain, which was situated on the east of Jerusalem. It
was from the
new
temple.
east, therefore, that it
This fact
is
returned to enter the
sufficient of itself to
show that the
present entrance of the divine glory into the new temple did not lay the foundation for a new and more exalted bond of grace, but
was simply intended
to restore the relation
had existed before the removal of Israel into
captivity.
which
The
tabernacle and Solomon s temple had both been consecrated by Jehovah in the same manner as the seat of His throne of
grace in Israel (compare Ex. xl. 34, 35; 1 Kings viii. 10, 11 and 2 Chron. v. 13, 14, and vii. 1-3, from which the expres sion njrn rva-nN njnptaa *6o in ver. 5 has been borrowed).
;
It is true that
this
Havernick, Kliefoth, and others
agreement, a
Jehovah appeared
difference
in
along with the fact that the glory of
in the cloud in
find,
both the tabernacle and
**
1 The Lord appears, and fills the house with His own glory showing that the house will not only be built, but will be filled with the power of ;
God
"
(Theodoret).
276
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Solomon in
s
temple
whereas here, on the contrary,
;
it
appeared
that peculiar form which Ezekiel
But
seen.
it
had already repeatedly does not follow that there was really a difference,
because the cloud
is
not mentioned in the verses before us
;
for
evident that the cloud was not wanting, even in the mani festation of the glory of God seen by Ezekiel, from the words
it is
found
in
Ezek.
x.
3
"
:
The
cloud filled the inner court, and
the glory of Jehovah had risen up from the cherubim to the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud,
and the court was Jehovah."
If,
of
full
therefore,
it
the is
splendour of the glory of expressly attested in ver. 3,
even Kliefoth admits, that the appearance of God which entered the temple was like the appearance which Ezekiel saw as
by the Chaboras and before the destruction of the temple, and connection with the last-mentioned appearance the cloud was visible along with the brilliant splendour of the divine in
doxa, the cloud will certainly not have been wanting when it entered the new temple ; and the only reason why it is not expressly mentioned
must
be, that
it
did not present a contrast
to the brilliant splendour, or tend to obscure the light of the
glory of God, but as a shining cloud was simply the atmospheric If, then, the cloud did not present clothing of the theophany.
a contrast to the brilliancy of the divine glory, it cannot be and the earth shone with His glory," inferred from the words, "
that there was any difference between this and the earlier
manifestations of the divine glory at the consecration of the tabernacle
and Solomon
words do not affirm that
s
temple
it
became
;
more light
especially as
these
on earth, but simply
that the earth shone with the glory of God,
that
to say,
is
threw a bright light upon the earth as it passed along, so that this remark simply serves to indicate the intensity
that
it
of the brightness of this theophany.
are not to be understood, as
we may
The words
wi bipa
learn from ch.
i.
W
24, as
loud referring to a voice of the coining God, but describe the noise made by the moving of the theophany on account of the
CHAP.
277
XLIII. 1-12.
of the rustling of the wings
In ver.
waves. roaring of mighty
This resembled the
cherubim.
the expression
3,
nN"]B3
somewhat heavy in style, but is correct with which Hitzig seeks to justify remark Hebrew and the would his alteration of nanMI into n&OBl, namely, that HKIDD .
ntf-iEO} is
ns")E)n
;
"
signify
whereas Ezekiel intends
so the appearance,
the present appearance from the well-known false so far as the
usage of the language
to express in
accustomed
is
one,"
German by
so
...
is
When
concerned.
we
are
...
as),
uses two 3 in cases of comparison, which
Hebrew
the
to explain
earlier
wie (so
he always commences with the thing to which he compares another, and lets the thing which is to be compared follow afterwards. Thus, for example, in Gen. xviii. 25, P^tf? ^ni VBH3 does not affirm that it happens as to the righteous so to the wicked, but vice versa, that it happens to the righteous as to the wicked
mean, for
;
like
and
in
thee
so
Gen.
xliv. 18,
Pharaoh, but
is
does not
thoii art
"for
Hebrew
According to this genuine
Pharaoh."
^
^03
njn?3
like
expression, the
of the divine glory is mentioned first in the present appearance verse before us, and then in the earlier one which the present And even the apparent pleonasm n&nBn njon resembled.
vanishes
if
we render
nsnio
"
by
was just apparition which I saw
look,"
the
look of the
like the apparition, etc.
W1 nnrf? refers to the ecstatic transportation of the
Jerusalem (ch. (see
more
destroyed
the
city
prophet to
witness the destruction of the city
viii.-xi.), to
particularly ch.
^33
viii. 4,
ideally
by
ix.
his
1 sqq.).
prophecy,
"The
of
prophet
which the "
fulfilment simply forms the objective reverse side (Hitzig). there were appearances, rrtfcpo* is appended in loose apposition, visions,
ch.
For
i.
1,
and the plural is to be taken as xl. 2. For what follows, compare
ver. 5a,
ch.
iii.
14, xi.
in
ch.
CWX iii.
ni&OO in
23, x. 15.
24.
compare and 7 the question arises, who it is who is speaking to the prophet; whether it is Jehovah, who has entered the In
vers. 6
temple, or the
man who
is
standing by Ezekiel in the inner court
?
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
278
There can be no doubt that vN ch.
ii.
2
;
though the
whether Jehovah spoke directly
medium
"OTO
is
Jehovah
commentators are divided to the prophet, or
as in
here, in
opinion through the
man who
stood by his side. Havernick presses and that Ezekiel heard God con the Hitlipael "^P? imagines in the of which the within sanctuary, consequence versing of the
angel stood by his side so that the words of God consisted chiefly in the command to communicate to Ezekiel the divine ;
revelation
which follows
which Havernick has overlooked. is
But
in ver. 7.
be erroneous by the expression
vtf
this
view
is
which follows
proved to "^p,
and
Kliefoth, on the other hand,
of opinion that the words contained in ver. 7,
which proceeded
from the i^P, were addressed to the prophet directly by God Himself for he heard them before anything was said by the ;
man, and neither here nor in what follows is the man have spoken. On the contrary, both here and in what even in ch.
xlvi. 20, 24, xlvii. 6, 7, it is
who appears
as the speaker,
guide. xlvi. 6, 8,
But
this is
also
always
said to follows,
God Himself
and the man simply as the prophet s not correct. Such passages as ch.
20 and 24 compared with vers. 19 and 21, and ch. xlvii. compared with vers. 1 and 4, show undeniably that the
man who conducted also conclude that
addressed his side,
we must
he who spoke to the prophet from the temple
him through and that
Conse
the prophet also talked with him.
quently, in the case referred to in the verse before us,
^K
the is
medium
of the
the subject to
man who S
">EK
!!
stood by
in ver, 7
;
from
it by no means follows that the "i^p was also an angel, who spoke to the prophet, not from the most holy from within the house, as Hitzig explains the place, but simply
which, however,
matter
The meaning
is
rather, that Ezekiel heard
God
con
versing with him from the sanctuary, whilst a man, i.e. an K*K is in angel, stood by his side and spoke to him as follows. that case not some angel merely who spoke in the name of
Jehovah, but the angel of Jehovah, God s own speaker, o Xoyo? rov Seov (John i. 1 sqq.). But according to his outward habitus,
CHAP. XLIII.
279
1-12.
this angel of the Lord, who is designated as S^S, is identical with the angel who showed the prophet the temple, and mea sured it (ch. xl. 3 onwards). For according to ch. xlvii. 1 sqq. The absence this B^K had also a measuring rod, and measured.
from
of the article from B^K in ver. 6, which prevents Kliefoth
admitting this identity, does not indicate decidedly that a diffe man from the one mentioned before is introduced here
rent
as the prophet s attendant, but simply leaves the identity of this K^K with the
former
it can only be inferred because the point of import
indefinite, so that
from the further course of events
;
ance here was neither to establish this identity by employing the article, nor to define the medium of the word of God more
words which follow as
precisely, but simply to introduce the
God
the words of
The
Himself.
commences with an
address
explanation on the part of God that the temple into which the glory of the Lord had entered was the place of His throne, where He would dwell for ever among the sons of Israel. The
DipOVlK
is
we have
vflfl place."
in 1
The
Chron.
and Lam. designate
is
nota accus., and
n&p or nan
"
:
behold the
the place of the soles of my feet (cf. equivalent to the footstool of my feet in Isa.
rii23 DipE,
Isa. Ix. 13), is Ixvi. 1.
OK
a concise expression, in which
to supply in thought either
ark of the covenant
xxviii.
ii.
1,
the
Jehovah, since
2
and Ps.
where
temple.
this
is
called the footstool of
cxxxii. 7
;
compare Ps.
xcix. 5
possibly be used to
epithet
may
also
applies
This
God
to
the
throne
of
God was enthroned above the cherubim of the
ark in the holy of holies
(cf.
Ex. xxv. 22
;
1
Sam.
iv. 4, etc.).
In the sanctuary which Ezekiel saw, no reference is made to the ark of the covenant, and the silence with regard to this is hardly to be regarded as a mere omission to mention it, inas much as none of the things contained in the temple are men tioned with the exception of the altars, not even the table of
shew-bread or the candlestick. mentioned, because, as
is
The
ark of the covenant
stated in Jer.
iii.
is
not
16, in the Messianic
times the ark of the covenant will not be remembered, neither
280
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
will
it
be missed,
tfo)
as in ch. xxxvii.
The
26 and 28.
promise culminates in this. D^tyi does not apply either to the tabernacle or to Solomon s temple, in which Jehovah also had
His dwelling-place, though not for ever. These sanctuaries He left, and gave them up to destruction, because the Israelites
had profaned His holy name by their idolatry. This will not take place any more after the erection of the new sanctuary. }KBt^ N? is not imperative, but a simple future they will no "
:
more
defile,"
because
the}^
come
to a
knowledge of their
sins
through the punitive judgment of exile, so that they become ashamed of them, and because the Lord will have poured out
His Spirit upon them (cf. ch. xxxvii. 23 sqq., xxxix. 29). Formerly, however (ver. 7&), they profaned the holy name of
God by their
spiritual
whoredom
(cf. ch. xvi.)
and by dead
idols,
for which they erected high places in the immediate neighbour
hood of the dwelling-place of Jehovah, that is to say, even in the temple courts, so that Jehovah was only separated from the
by a
idols
wall.
This
is
the general meaning of vers. Ib and 8,
which the exposition of DITID pio ^B is difficult. Rosenmiiller, Havernick, and others understand by the corpses of their in
"
kings,"
the dead idols.
Ewald, Hitzig, and Kliefoth, on the
other hand, take the expression in a literal sense, as referring to the corpses of kings which had been buried near to the temple, so that the temple
had been
defiled
by the proximity of these
But the latter view is precluded by the fact that not a single instance can be adduced of the burial of a king in the vicinity of the temple, since Neh. iii. 15 contains no allusion to graves.
anything of the kind, and the tombs of the kings upon Zion were not so near to the temple that it could possibly be defiled in consequence. Moreover, DHioa cannot be reconciled with this
view
;
and for that reason Ewald and Hitzig propose in their
The attempt
of Kliefoth,
to
how
read B^to, &nto3 by taking it as in apposition ever, to defend the reading to DH^D and not to Bn^D ^r ^, is a desperate remedy, which DniD2 with the clearly shows the impossibility of connecting death."
?
3
CHAP.
"
corpses of the
dead
We
DfP|fclD
^S
therefore understand by
in accordance with Lev. xxvi. 30
idols,
but by
kings."
281
XLI1I. 1-12.
we understand, not the
idols,
the
(cf. Jer. xvi. 18)
;
but the Israelitish
the preceding DfTCPD ; partly because it kings, as in the case of the cannot be shown that plural B^PO is ever used in the sense of idols (though the singular D3?
and Amos
is
used of Baal in Zeph.
involved in
together, in the first instance of the kings,
of the idols of Israel.
the dead
had
idols, for
built
i.
5
26), and partly on account of the harshness interpreting the two Dnoi D when standing so close
v.
The
and
second
in the
corpses of the kings are therefore
which the kings (for example, Manasseh) D ?) in the sanctuary, i.e. in (
or high places
altars
the courts of the temple (2 Kings xxi. 4, 5-7). The objection that B^te without anything further, such, for instance, as
D^a
in
Lev. xxvi. 30, cannot signify the dead
idols, will
bear examination, as the more precise definition which
is
not
want
supplied by the context, where idolatry is the point in Dnton without the question. preposition 1 is a loosely attached
ing
is
Q T-- rP ^3?? and CinyD, which defines apposition to 1
cisely in
more pre
what way the whoredom of the nation and the dead had amounted to a defiling of the house of
idols of the kings
the Lord, namely, from the fact that the people and the kings had erected temples of high places (bdmoth) for dead idols by the side of the temple of the living God, and had placed them so close that the threshold and door-posts of these idol-temples touched the threshold and door-posts of the temple of Jehovah,
and there was nothing but the wall of the temple p^n) between Jehovah and the carcase-gods. DrriDn is explained in this way in ver. 8a,
and then the defiling of the holy name
of the
Lord
is
mentioned again for the purpose of appending, by means of 73SJ (imperf. Piel of nj3), the allusion to the penal judgment which Ver. 9. Such they had thereby brought upon themselves. as this will more in time to not take profanation place any
come, and Jehovah will dwell for ever in the midst of
To
lead Israel to this goal, Ezekiel
is
to
Israel.
show them the house
282
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
(i.e.
In
the temple).
this
way
are the further words of
God
in
10-12 attached to what goes before. JVarrnK Tan, show or make known the house, is equivalent to proclaim to the In this were people the revelation concerning the new temple. vers.
the Israelites to discern the magnitude of the grace of God, that they might blush at their evil deeds, and measure the wells
measured building (n 33n, as in ch. xxviii. 12), i.e. carefully consider and ponder what the Lord had bestowed upon His people through this sanctuary, so that they might suffer them selves to be brought to repentance by means of its glory. And if they felt shame and repentance on account of their
show them the shape and arrange ment of the sanctuary, with all its forms and ordinances, and write them out before their eyes, that they might have the transgressions, Ezekiel
picture of thereof.
was
to
impressed upon their minds, and keep the statutes In ver. 11 the words are crowded together, to indicate it
the several parts and arrangements of the new temple are significant arid worthy of being pondered and laid to heart,
that
all
the shape of the temple generally, n, the internal arrangement as a whole. is
its
external form
;
Both of these are
allusion to the goings out
and
in, as
well as to the forms (rri~n) of the separate parts,
and
their
noticed specifically
by the
and laws, rripn are the precepts concerning the things be observed by Israel when appearing before the Lord in
statutes to
the
temple,
the
regulations
for
divine
worship.
Dhifl,
the
instructions contained in these statutes for sanctification of life.
The second irrvrtH^ Hebrew Codd., and
is
omitted in the
LXX.
and some of the
has therefore been expunged as a gloss by Dathe, Hitzig, and other critics ; but it is undoubtedly genuine, and in conformity with the intentional crowding together of words. carefully
The admonition is
to
keep and to observe everything
closed in ver. 12 with a statement of the funda
mental law of the temple that upon the lofty mountain the whole of its domain round about is to be most holy, BfefTflf ;
"inn
does not belong to JVan in the sense of the house which
is to
XLIII. 13-XLVI.
CHAP.
283
24
be built upon the top of the mountain, but to the contents of It is to stand upon the top of the the thordh of this house. Wtift is mountain, and to be most holy in all its domain, to be understood in accordance with ch. xl. 2 ; and v3? points "inn
back
Both by
to JVan.
situation
its
upon a very high mountain,
by the fact that not merely the inner sanctuary, and not merely the whole of the temple house, but also the whole of and
its
also
surroundings
(all
courts), are to be
its
to be distinguished
is
sanctuary has been already stated
profaned any more
is
repetition of the words,
from the
most holy, the new earlier one.
What
namely, that the temple shall not be
compressed into this clause and by the this is the law of the house," the first ;
"
section of this vision, viz. the description of the temple,
rounded
off
10 and 11, temple
to
;
command given to the prophet make known all the statutes and laws
whilst the to
is
in vers.
of this
the house of Israel, forms at the same time the
transition to the section
CHAP. XLIII. 13-XLVI.
which follows.
24.
THE NEW ORDINANCES OF DIVINE WORSHIP.
the entrance of the divine glory into the new temple, which Ezekiel saw in the spirit (ch. xliii. 1-5), the Lord
With
God
entered once more into the covenant relation of grace But if the abode of Jehovah in Israel.
toward the tribes of
the midst of His people was to have an eternal duration, Israel must turn in uprightness of heart to its God, and suffer itself to
be renewed and sanctified in heart, mind, and
spirit
from
within the sanctuary, through the mercy of the Lord and His It must entirely renounce the idols to which it was Spirit.
formerly attached, and cherish with willingness of heart fellow ship with its God in the temple, through the faithful fulfilment
The description and all that He required of His people. consecration of the new temple, as the site of the throne of
of
Jehovah
in Israel, is therefore
followed by the precepts con-
284
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
cerning the manner in which Israel was to serve
its
God
in the
sanctuary, and to sanctify His name. These precepts commence with the description and ritual of the consecration of the altar of burnt-offering, at which the people was to approach the Lord with sacrifices, to seek and obtain from Him grace, sanctification,
and blessing
(ch.
xliii.
13-27).
To
these there are ap
pended regulations, (1) concerning the access to the sanctuary, for the prince (ch. xliv. 1-4), also for the ministers of the altar
and of the holy place, the Levites and the priests, their duties and privileges (ch. xliv. 5-31) (2) concerning the attitude of all ;
the people toward the sanctuary and its ministers, or concerning the holy portion to be set apart to the Lord for His sanctuary, and its ministers, priests, Levites, and princes on the division of the land (ch. xlv. 1-12),
and
was
also
concerning the heave-
which all Israel supplv the sacrifices binding upon him (ch. xlv. 13-17) (3) concerning the offerings which were to be brought on the Sabbaths, the offerings,
to bring to the prince to ;
new moons,
the yearly festivals, and every day (ch. xlv. 18lastly, (4) by way of appendix, precepts con 15) landed the property of the prince (ch. xlvi. 16-18), and cerning the sacrificial kitchens (ch. xlvi. 19-24).
xlvi.
;
and
Vers. 13-27. Description and Consecration of the Altar of
Burnt- Offering. Vers. 13-17. tion
on Plate
altar in cubits
DESCRIPTION OF THE ALTAR
III.). :
framework of a
The
Ver. 13.
And
cubit a cubit
cubit (in height) ,
(see the illustra
these are the measures
of the
and a handbreadth ; a groundand a cubit in breadth, and its
This is the base of moulding on its border round about a span. Ver. 14. And from the ground-framework of earth the altar. to the lower enclosure, two cubits (in height), and a cubit in breadth
four the
;
and from
the small enclosure to the greater enclosure,
cubits (in height),
and one
cubit in breadth.
mount of God, four cubits; and from
upwards,
the
jour horns.
Ver. 16.
And
Ver. 15.
the hearth the hearth
of
And God
of God,
CHAP.
285
XLIII. 13-1.7.
twelve cubits in length by twelve cubits in breadth its
Ver.
sides.
four
in length
17.
And
;
squared on
the enclosure, fourteen
by fourteen cubits in breadth on its
cubits
four sides; and
moulding round about it, half a cubit; and the groundframeivork of it, a cubit round about: audits steps faced the east. the
To
the heading,
"
are the measures of the altar in
these
(according to) cubits," there is once more appended, as in ch. 5, in connection with the measuring of the temple, the The description commences with length of the cubit measure. xl.
the foundation of the altar, and, proceeding upwards, gives the height and breadth of the several gradations of the walls of the altar,
up
to the horns at the four corners (vers. 13-15).
It
then passes from above downwards, to supply the length and breadth, or the circumference of the different stages (vers. 16
and 17).
As
the
first,
or lowest part, the P^n
is
mentioned^ bosom or then the the hollow ; transference, by lap literally, formed by the sides of a chariot (1 Kings xxii. 35) here the ;
lower hollow or base of the altar (p), formed by a border of a a frame running round, a stand in definite height, not merely which the altar stood the hollow filled (Hitzig), nor merely "
"
"
(Kliefoth), but both together.
This ground-frame and a cubit broad. That (sc. high) as to the is be taken is to evident from rra^n referring height, nexn n the statement of the breadth which follows, is not p
with
earth"
work (p) was a cubit
be altered into HEK n^n, as Ewald proposes, nor is ni3n to be changed into nasa (Hitzig) ; but Havernick s explanation is and a bosom (was there) the cubit," i.e. of the to be adopted to
"
:
irn, breadth, is the extent height of the cubit just described. which the bosom projected beyond the next enclosure (g) on
to
every side, and formed a support, the circumference of which was a cubit more than the lower cube of the altar on every side.
This P^n
is
shown by the measurements
had a
ns^,
lip,
3*2| is
on
its
HD^ of a span
the rim
(1
Kings
^33, the bordering on the rim ?
and 17.
The
(half a cubit) in height (o).
vii. is
in vers. 16
26
;
Gen.
a moulding.
xxii.
17)
;
and
The feminine
286
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
suffixes attached to
^703 and Fina^ refer to P^n which
is
?
of the
masculine gender, no doubt, when used in its literal sense of bosom or lap, but is construed as a feminine in the tropical sense of an inanimate object.
moulding, formed
hump
the 23 of
The ground-framework, with the altar.
23,
its
the arched, then a
or back, signifies here the support of the altar.
Upon
this
support the altar rose in a cubical enclosure or frame, which diminished in circumference by ledges or steps. The enclosure resting upon the support, and therefore the lowest enclosure (</),
mentioned in ver. 14a; and the one which followed (r) in The word niT^ which has probably sprung from ver. 146. is
"ivy
ing,
by the softening of V into T, signifies enclosure, surround and is mostly used for the outer court of the temple here
it is
;
applied to the altar,
work of the kernel
and
signifies the enclosure or frame
of the altar, consisting of earth.
altar rose in steps, a distinction
is
made between
and the (upper or) greater rnjXJ. lower rnj5| and the smaller one (najppn)
The
smaller,
is
As
the
the lower or
identity of the
so evident
from the
course of the description, that it is universally admitted by modern expositors. The lower one (g) is called the small one, in comparison with the large one
which stood above
it,
from the
height was smaller, as it was only two cubits high, whereas the upper one (r) was four. When, therefore, the fact that
its
measurement of the greater one is given in this way in from the small enclosure to the great enclosure, ver. 14& "
:
four
cubits,"
this
statement cannot be understood in any other
way than as meaning, that this enclosure or frame had a height that is to say, of four cubits from the lower to the upper end, in other words, that the lower ledge
upper.
was four cubits from the
a from the Consequently the statement in ver. 14a, of earth to the lower enclosure, two cubits,"
ground-framework can also have no other meaning than that the lower enclosure, from the lower edge by the moulding to the upper edge, at which the second enclosure commenced, was two cubits high. This height
is
reckoned from the upper edge of the |W, or from
CHAP. the
first
The
(lowest) ledge.
mount
the
God
of
(s),
height of these three portions seven cubits. To
(1+2+4)
taken together, therefore, was this
287
XLIII. 13-17.
which was four cubits
(ver. 15),
has to be added, making in all eleven cubits. In ver. 14 P^n is followed by p.?? the P^n consisting of earth, or filled with But the ^ with its moulding, is designated 33, the earth. :
1
p"
altar, and is thereby distinguished from the altar itself; so that, for the height of the altar, we have only to reckon the two enclosures, with the mount of God,
back or support of the
which amount
to ten cubits.
Upon
the basis of the p^n, with
moulding, and the two enclosures (mttJ), there rose the true altar, with its hearth, and the horns at the four corners, noticed
its
A
in ver. 15.
distinction
is
here
made between
?X"in,
i.e.
mount
God, and ^ntf and they are not to be identified, as they have been by many of the commentators, down to Hitzig, after of
;
LXX.
^
the example of the !^ (as the word is to be written to the does not mean lion of God," but Keri) according <r
"
"
hearth of
The
God"
hearth of
(^K, from rn, to burn), as in Isa. xxix. 1, 2. is the surface of the altar, its fire-hearth (t);
God
whereas *!Pp, mount of God (s), was the basis or foundation of the hearth. This was four cubits high, whereas no height is
mentioned in connection with the hearth of God; but it simply stated that four horns went upward from it, namely,
With
the four corners.
is
at
the horns of the altar, the size and
which are not given, and which cannot be reckoned at three cubits, the description of all the parts, from the bottom to height of the top,
ments,
is
given
is
to
;
and
all
that remains to complete the measure
describe the circumference of the several parts
which rose one above another in the form of follows in vers. 16 cubits long
square, of
and
17.
The
hearth of
This
steps.
God
is
twelve
and twelve cubits broad, and is therefore same length and breadth on its four
the
Going downwards, there follow breadth of the "TJJJJ,
in
ver.
Jft2*i
?
sides.
17 a the length and it was a cubit
with fourteen cubits, as
broader on every side according to ver. 14.
It
is
very strange,
288
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
however, that the length and breadth of only one rnjXJ are given here, as there are two of different heights mentioned in
Many of the commentators have therefore identified mount of God with the great rntJJ, and attribute only a
ver. 14.
the
height of seven cubits to the altar ; whereas Kliefoth regards both the of ver. 17 and the taa and P n of ver. 15 as different vers.
from the parts mentioned by the same name
in
13 and 14, and takes them as referring to an enclosure
One
and a barrier of the mount of God.
is
as arbitrary as the
words of the text do not require either of these The difficulty, that only one rnjJJ is mentioned assumptions. in ver. 17, is easily solved, if we consider that in ver. 15 only
other, as the
the height of the
mount
of
God
given, and no breadth
is
is
mentioned as in the case of the rnjg in ver. 14. We may see this that the mount of God had the same breadth or the
from
as the upper rnjJJ (see r and s in the illus In that case the length and breadth of all the parts tration). of the altar were given, when, in addition to the length and
same circumference
breadth of the hearth of
God
(i),
those of one rnty, and that
the lower, were given, as this alone was longer and broader than the hearth of God and the mount of God ; whereas the
were identical with those length and breadth of the upper of the circumference of the mount of God. n*nj>
The
altar, therefore, upon the upper surface, the hearth of was a square, of twelve cubits in length and breadth. God, The mount of God and the upper enclosure had the same
length and breadth. The lower enclosure, on the other hand, was fourteen cubits long and broad and the support^ finally, without the moulding, was sixteen cubits in length and breadth. ;
with the height of the altar was as follows : the support, two lower cubits ; a half the and cubit ; enclosure, moulding, a
The
the upper, four ; and the mount of God, with the hearth, also four cubits in height ; whereas the altar in Solomon s temple
was ten cubits high, and at and broad (2 Chron. iv. 1).
lower basis twenty cubits long The description closes in ver. 176
its
CHAP. XLIII.
289
18-27.
with an allusion to steps, which the altar of Ezekiel had upon the eastern side whereas, in the case of the tabernacle, steps ;
were not allowed
form an
riijQ
is
to be placed
nominasc.
infin.
by the
taken by Kimchi whilst
;
The
altar (Ex. xx. 23).
as a noun.
Others regard
Hitzig proposes to point
it
as
as a
it
participle nijb.
Vers. 18-27.
And
CONSECRATION OF THE ALTAR. Yer. 18. Son of man, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
he said to me,
These are the statutes of the altar in the day when
and
to offer burnt-offerings
to
it
is
erected,
sprinkle blood thereon.
upon it, Ver. 19. Thou shalt give to tlie priests of the tribe of Levi who are of the seed of Zadok, who draw near to me, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, a bullock, a young ox, for a sin-offering. Ver. 20. And thou shalt take of its blood, and put it upon its
four horns, and upon the four corners of the enclosure, and upon the moulding round about ; and so absolve and expiate it. Ver. 21 .
And
thou shalt take the bullock of the sin-offering,
and burn
at
Ver. 22.
the appointed place of the house, outside the sanctuary.
And
it
on the second day thou shalt offer a faultless he-goat for a
sin-offering^ that they
with the bullock.
may
Ver. 23.
absolve the altar, as they absolved
When
it
thou hast completed the abso
a bullock, a young ox, without fault, and a faultless ram of the flock ; Ver. 24. And shalt bring them before Jehovah, and the priests shall throw salt upon them, and lution , thou shalt offer
sacrifice
them as burnt-offering to Jehovah. Ver. 25. Seven days a sin-offering goat daily and a bullock, a young
shalt thou offer
and a ram of the flock without fault shall they prepare. Ver. 26. Seven days shall they expiate the altar, and cleanse it, and Jill its hand. Ver. 27. And when they have completed these ox,
days,
it
shall
come
to
pass on the eighth day and henceforward,
that the priests place your burnt-offerings
upon of
the altar,
and I
will accept
and your peace-offerings
you with delight,
is the
the
Lord Jehovah.
As
the altar of the tabernacle and that of Solomon
EZEK.
II.
T
s
saying
temple
290
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
were consecrated before they were used (Lev. viii. 11, 15, 19, 33; 1 Kings viii. 62-66; 2 Chron. vii. 4-10), and God
commanded and
regulated this consecration of the altar of the
tabernacle (Ex. xxix. 10 sqq.), so also is the altar of burntoffering in the new sanctuary to be consecrated before it is This command is given to Ezekiel, and the consecration used.
enjoined upon him, not as the representative of the nation, but as a prophet, upon whom, as is frequently the case in the pro phetical narratives, those things are said to be enjoined, which are to be set in operation through his proclamation. This
commission
when
given to him, however, for the day (the time)
is
the altar will be
made
or restored,
see that the execution of the
from which alone we
command
belongs to the future, in which the temple shown him in the spirit is to be erected, and that it will take place in a manner corresponding
may
to the realization of the temple this
command
;
so that
alone that the reference
is
we cannot
infer
from
to the building of a
n?tt?n rnpn are temple and altar of stone, metal, and wood. not the regulations prescribed for the altar service generally,
If we compare but simply those relating to its consecration. these with the account of the consecration of the altars of the earlier sanctuaries,
we
find that
no detailed description is given Solomon s temple, but that
of the consecration of the altar of
lasted seven days (2 Chron.
it is
simply stated that
The
consecration of the altar of the tabernacle lasted just the
same time (Ex. is
xxix. 37
it
;
Lev.
And
the same period the consecration of the altar
viii.
But
appointed here (ver. 26).
of the tabernacle
vii. 9).
33).
was associated with the consecration of the
Here, on the contrary, the existence of the priesthood is consecrated. The conse presupposed, and only the altar
priests. is
cration of the Mosaic altar
commenced with
the anointing of the the altar utensils, by sprinkling of it seven times by Moses with the holy anointing oil, for the purpose viii. 11). of sanctifying it Here, on the other hand,
and
all
its
(Lev.
nothing
is
said about the
anointing of the altar
;
only the
CHAP.
absolving of
it
sacrifice is
by
anointing in the case of the
291
XLIII. 18-27.
mentioned, which followed the
Mosaic
At
altar.
the altar in the
tabernacle Moses performed the whole act of consecration, as the mediator of the covenant, the anointing as well as the pre
Here, however, the priests already paration of the sacrifices. consecrated for their service are to complete the sacrificial
ceremony. "take
of
its
It
is
true that the expressions used in ver. 20,
blood,"
etc.,
and
in ver. 21,
"take
the bullock of
apparently indicate that the prophet was the sprinkling of the blood and the burning of the perform it is obvious that this is But only to be under sin-offering.
the
sin-offering," etc.,
to
stood as signifying that he was to do it through the medium of the priests, i.e. was to enjoin the performance of it upon them,
Wn
in ver. 226 : from the use of the plural the altar, as they have absolved it with the
they shall absolve bullock." It is not "
who are to perform of the but those this service, family of Zadok, who simply all
the priests of the tribe of Levi, however,
alone are selected in the service (cf. ch. xl.
46 and
new temple xliv.
15
for specifically priestly
The
sqq.).
sacred ceremony
commences young ox as a sin-offering ; vers. 19, 20, as in Lev. viii. 14, compared with Ex. xxix. 1, 10. The blood of the ox is to be put upon the four horns and the with the offering of a
four corners of the enclosure, and upon the moulding below it round about ; and the flesh is to be burned at an appointed place outside the sanctuary.
For the
article in nxtsnn
"ten
The pouring out of the blood 2906. Ewald, was not used for smearing the places indicated at the
(ver. 21), see
that
not mentioned, nor the burning of the fat cannot infer, from portions of the sacrifice upon the altar. the omission of the latter circumstance, that the fat was not
foot of the altar
is
We
consumed upon the altar, but was burned, with the flesh, skin, and bones of the animal, outside the sanctuary, as Kliefoth
Without the burning of certain definite portions of supposes. the victim upon the altar, the slaughtering of the animal would not have been a complete
sacrifice at
all
;
the smearing of the
292
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
blood upon the altar would not have sufficed for the fact that in ver. 21 the command is given, bullock and burn
And
this. "take
the
does not prove that the animal was to be burned along with those fat portions which were to be con sumed upon the altar in the case of every sin-offering. In
Lev.
viii.
17
Ex. xxix. 14. ritual is well
in
it,"
also,
"I3HVIK
stands in the place of
*i>n
"to"
n ?,
Ezekiel generally presupposes that the sacrificial known, and therefore mentions only those points
which deviations from the ordinary
ritual took place in con
nection with this sacrifice, such as the sprinkling of the blood, because the blood was to be smeared on particular parts of the altar,
where
and the burning of the flesh, on account of the place In the case of the burnt-offering this was to be done.
no directions are given concerning the ceremonial because this was to be in conformity with the standing ritual,
in ver. 23,
;
with the exception of the sprinkling with salt, which was not to be performed in the same manner as in the ordinary sacri fices. The burning is to take place JVan Ipajpsi, outside the a place commanded or appointed ; and is a place in the temple set apart for that purpose. It follows from this that the place in question, since it belonged
sanctuary. JVan npDtt
to the house,
lij??
be sought for within the hundred cubits in extent, which was covered by
i.e.
square of five
is
the temple and
to the temple, is to
its
courts
;
and at the same time that
it
was
a spot which did not form part of K^Ji? ?, i.e. upon Kliefoth the sanctuary in the stricter sense of the word. therefore thinks of a spot within the gizrah (ch. xli. 12), the name of which implies that the space which it covered did not
outside the
belong to the true Bnprp. This view is the most probable one whereas Ewald s conjecture, that the place intended is the ;
locality of the sacrificial kitchens of the priests described in ch.
decidedly erroneous, as these kitchens, which were set apart for the cooking of the holy sacrificial flesh to be eaten by the priests alone, were certainly reckoned as forming
xlvi. 19, is
part of the Bfy?&.
Ver. 22.
On
the second day, a he-goat
293
CHAP. XLIII. 18-27.
be brought for a sin-offering, and the altar was to be cleansed from sin with this just as with the bullock on the
was
to
day; which implies that the same ceremonial was to be observed with this sacrifice as with that of the sin-offering. first
After the completion of the expiation a burnt-offering was to be presented to the Lord of a bullock and a ram (vers. 23 and 24). There is a difference of opinion as to the meaning of "infes KisnD in these verses. Hitzig and Kliefoth suppose that the
expiation was only completed on the second day, with the They both of them offering of the he-goat as a sin-offering.
on the one hand, in vers. 23 and 24 the offering of the burnt-offering is mentioned on the second day, and not on the first day also ; and, on the other hand, in
lay stress
upon the
fact that,
ver. 25, for the seven days of consecration,
tion of a he-goat for the sin-offering
only the prepara
and the preparation of the
two animals appointed for the burnt-offering are mentioned. Hitzig also adduces the fact that in ver. 26 there is no further
and and draws the reference to NBH, but simply to to conclusion from this, that the sin attaching the altar was O "ISO
"int3,
removed with two
sin-offerings
on two days, and then through
seven days further by means of burnt-offerings the anger of God which followed the sin was appeased (133), and the uncleanness or profane character of the altar was expunged ("inD), so that the seven days ver.
19 onwards.
of ver. 25 are not to be dated
According
from
to this view, the consecration of
the altar lasted nine days, and not seven, and the eighth day
mentioned in ver. 27 would really be the tenth day, reckoning from the commencement of the consecration. To carry out Hitzig is obliged to erase not only the *nrn3:n of but also the first half of ver. 25 as glosses ; a fact
this view,
ver. 20,
which
carries its
condemnation with
it,
as even the Septuagint
furnishes no warrant for the erasure of ver. 25a.
Moreover,
Ntsn on the one the distinction which Hitzig draws between 1Q3 and and on erroneous. the other, is quite Puri hand, inip fication
is ("into)
never mentioned in the law as the effect pro-
294
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
A sin-offering followed
duced by a burnt-offering. offering for
"
is
by a burnt-
invariably prescribed for the removal of uncleanness
and
reconciliation
;
purification take place
through the absolution effected by the sin-offering; and to such a sinoffering and its purifying operation the burnt-offering is then
added
to
secure the good pleasure of
been already even Kliefoth
cleansed"
(Kliefoth).
God
for that which has
But we cannot regard
view as well founded, namely, that on the first a day sin-offering alone was presented, and it was only from the second day onwards that a sin-offering and burnt-offering s
were presented, and
this lasted for
seven days, so that the con
secration of the altar continued fully eight days,
and on the
ninth day (not the eighth, as stated in ver. 27) the regular use of the altar commenced. Kliefoth bases this conclusion prin cipally
upon the
19-21 attribute only the sinthe first day ; and that, on the other
fact that vers.
offering of a bullock to
hand, vers. 25 and 26 extend in
all
its
details to
seven days
the very same ceremony as vers. 22-24 assign to the second day, whereas they do not contain a syllable to the effect that
the sin-offering of the bullock was to be repeated every day, or that the sacrifices described in vers. 22-24 were also to be offered on consists in
the
first
silentio,
The sinew
day.
therefore
argument crumbles here, as from the words of ver. 26 :
;
in "
and
of this demonstration
this
most other
precarious
basis
of
cases, as is evident
seven days shall ye reconcile the
This perfectly general statement, which and purify not connected with ver. 25 by any Vav copul., or placed in subordination to it, affirms in the clearest manner that the con it."
altar, is
secration of the altar less
;
so that
if
was
to last seven days, neither
more nor
these seven days are to be reckoned from the
second day, the sin-offering of the bullock upon the first day must be deprived of its reconciling and purifying worth, in direct contradiction not only to ver. 20, according to which the altar
was
to
be absolved and reconciled through the sin-offering first day, but also to ver. 22,
of the bullock to be offered on the
CHAP. XLIU.
295
18-27.
according to which they were to absolve the altar by the sinin just the same manner as they had offering of the he-goat,
by the sin-offering of the bullock (on the first day). in ver. 26 merely as the effect pro and duced by the sacrifices mentioned in ver. 25, renders the rijDB* D ^ standing at the head of ver. 26 an impossibility. Unless, absolved
To
it
take the
">S3
"intp
11
we would impose upon the words of the prophet a contradiction, we must lay no stress either upon the fact
therefore,
gross
that in ver.
tioned
till
23 the offering of the burnt-offering
is
not
men
after the direction concerning the sin-offering to be
presented on the second day, or upon the circumstance that in 25 the he-goat is mentioned as a sin-offering for all the
ver.
seven days, and no allusion is made to the fact that the sinThe former (the refer offering of the first day was a bullock.
ence to the burnt-offering after the sin-offering of the second day) may be explained very simply, on the ground that the
two days are mentioned one after the animals different were prescribed for the purpose, because other, and then, first, the burnt-offerings, which were the same for sin-offerings of the first
And
every day.
it
obvious that the explanation is to be and not in the fact that
is
sought for in this formal arrangement,
only a sin-offering without a burnt-offering was to be pre sented on the first day, and consequently that the expression refers solely to the sin-offering of on the second day "
<c
since day, from the words Ntsnp "^nfeli in ver. 23 KEPID cannot be understood in a different sense from that which
that
;
bears in ver. 22, the clause immediately preceding, i.e. must not be restricted to the sin-offering of the second day, but must be taken as referring to the sin-offerings of both the first and
it
second days.
The meaning
of the words
is
therefore
this
:
when
the absolution by means of the sin-offering on the first and on the second day is ended, then shalt thou bring a burntoffering.
But
if this is
the
meaning
of the words, the offering
of the burnt-offering prescribed in ver.
23 does not
fall so
exclusively under the definition of time contained in the words
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
296
on the second day," as to warrant our assigning it to the second day alone, and concluding that no such offering was There was no necessity for Ezekiel presented on the first day. "
to express himself
more
clearly
on
this point, as there
was no
fear of any misunderstanding on the part of those who were acquainted with the law since every Israelite who had been ;
instructed in the law
knew
full well that
no sin-offering could
ever be presented without being followed by a burnt-offering, that in fact the burnt-offering was indispensable to the
plishment of the
And
in ver.
somewhat
25
fi"!??,
also,
accom
which the sin-offering was presented. Ezekiel had no occasion to fear that the for
loose expression,
"
seven days shalt thou prepare a
he-goat sin-offering for the day," would be misunderstood ; as he had already stated that a bullock was to be taken for the sin-offering of the first day,
and the period of seven days was law for every act of consecra
so universally prescribed in the
tion
which
lasted
more than one day, that he would have in manner any deviation from this rule. We
dicated in a clearer
therefore regard the change of the seven days devoted to the
consecration of the altar into eight as being just as groundless as that into nine,
and adhere
to the traditional explanation of
these verses, namely, that the consecration of the altar lasted only seven days, and that on every one of these days a sin-
and a burnt-offering were
offering
offering on the
first
to
be presented, the
sin-
day being a bullock, and on the other days
a he-goat, whilst the burnt-offerings were to consist on all seven to the burntdays of a young ox and a ram. With regard the direction given, that the priests are to throw or pour offering,
(Tpfen),
and not merely
regarded as significant.
added
to
every
\3~}Pr
to strew or sprinkle, salt
According
Lev.
ii.
13, salt
(bloody or bloodless) sacrifice.
allusion to the salting of
and
to
upon
is
to be
was
to be
it,
The
express
these consecrating burnt-offerings,
also the choice of the verb
Trf
?>
point to a copious strewing
with salt for the purpose of giving greater intensity to the force On the significance of salt in relation to of these sacrifices.
CHAP. XLIII.
the sacrifices, see the
297
18-27.
comm. on Lev.
ii.
The
13.
1
attached to
is to be explained from the fact that the definition of the time D Q* ny??* is placed at the head There is something bold in the application of the absolutely. T Nj?p to the altar ; since this expression arose from expression the ceremony peculiar to the consecrating sacrifice of the
the Chetib Viarn in ver. 26
namely, that the fat and fleshy portions of this sacrifice, which were intended partly for consumption upon the altar, and
priests,
for Jehovah, were to be given into partly as a heave-offering the hands of the priests to be consecrated for the purpose of
investing
them symbolically with the gifts, which they were to Lord in the altar fire in the fulfilment of
offer in part to the
their official duties,
and
to receive in part for their service (see
comm. on Lev.
viii.
25-29).
the
therefore,
that
it
Filling the
equivalent to providing
is
it
with
hand
of the altar,
sacrificial gifts, so
In this sense the
should never be without them.
symbolical act was connected with the completion of its The Keri IT is incorrect, consecration as a place of sacrifice. inasmuch as even at the con and IT the proper reading ;
secration
of
placed in the
D^T
(
c f.
the
when
priests,
hands of the
Ex. xxix. 9
;
Lev.
the
priests,
T
sacrificial
K?D only
is
were
portions
used, and not
xxi. 10, etc.).
If we compare the directions given in the section before us concerning the consecration of the altar, with the consecra tion which was prescribed in Ex. xxix. for the altar of burnt-
and was fully carried out according
offering in the tabernacle, to
Lev.
viii.,
we
find the following points of difference
the anointing of the altar tion of the
Mosaic
is
wanting here
;
:
(1)
(2) at the consecra
(young ox) was prescribed the seven days (Ex. xxix. 36), in
altar a bullock
as the sin-offering for
all
first day only, and a he-goat for the rest; (3) the blood of this sin-offering is smeared upon the horns of the altar in the former consecration (Ex. xxix. 12 ; Lev. viii. 15),
Ezekiel for the
in the latter
npon
upon the horns and the corners of the
the lower moulding round about
;
walls,
and
(4) the burnt-offering
298
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
there consists in a
ram every
day, here in a bullock and a
ram
daily ; (5) on the other hand, the ram offered as a sacrifice of consecration in the Mosaic ceremony, which was specially con
nected with the institution of the priests in their office, is omitted here, as the priests were already holding their office ;
absorbed into the burnt-offering.
might be said to be here All essential differences
therefore reduce themselves to the
fact that in Ezekiel
so that the sacrifice of consecration
last
six
days
is
animal, in place of intensified
the
wanting, and the sin-offering of the diminished by the selection of an inferior
anointing of the altar
is
which the burnt-offering is considerably of a bullock and a ram for this, the
demand
by the
same thing being also indicated by the copious pouring of salt thereon. For the symbolical meaning of these sacrifices, com pare the commentary on Lev. viii. altar was completed in seven days
onwards the (ver. 27)
;
priests
were to
whereas at
The ;
consecration of the
and from the eighth day
offer the regular sacrifices
upon it the Mosaic consecration of the altar and
priests, the constant altar service of the priests was still further inaugurated by a solemn sacrifice on the eighth day (Lev. ix.).
Burnt-offerings and peace-offerings are mentioned in ver. 27 omnium as being the principal and most frequent sacri
instar
whilst
fices,
sin
-
offerings
and
meat - offerings are
implied
therein.
Chap.
xliv. Position
of the
different Classes
relation to the
With way
is
New
of
the People in
Sanctuary.
the consecration of the altar of
burnt-offering
opened for the congregation of Israel
to
the
appear in the
sanctuary before the Lord, to serve Him with sacrifices. If, however, the use of the new house of God was to be in har
mony
with the holiness of the
God who
dwelt therein,
it
was
further directions should be given concerning the entering of the people into it, and the character of the servants of both the altar and the sanctuary. These directions requisite that
still
CHAP. XLIV.
299
1-3.
follow in the chapter before us, first, as to the place which the prince was to occupy at the service in the temple (vers. 1-3) ; secondly, as to the admission of foreigners and the
appointment of Levites and priests for the service
and
(vers.
416)
;
to the conditions requisite for the administration lastly, as
of the priest s office,
and the duties and
privileges of that office
(vers. 17-31).
THE PLACE OF THE PRINCE IN THE SANCTUARY. And he brought me back by the way to the outer gate
Vers. 1-3.
Ver.
1.
of the sanctuary, which looked toward the east; and it was shut. Ver. 2. And Jehovah said to me, This gate shall be shut, shall not be opened, and no one shall enter thereby ; because
God of
Jehovah^ the
Ver.
3.
As
Israel, has entered by
it,
for the prince, as prince he shall
eat bread
before Jehovah;
gate shall
he go
the
to
shall be shut.
it
sit
therein,
the
to
the
from way porch of and from its way shall he go out. From the inner court where Ezekiel had received the measure in,
altar of burnt-offering and the instructions con consecration (ch. xliii. 5 sqq.), he is taken back to cerning the east gate of the outer court, and finds this gate, which
ments of the its
formed the principal entrance
to
Jehovah
to the temple, closed.
him through the angel understood according to ch. xliii. 6 and 7) thus explains this fact to
"
l
("jflj
be shut, because Jehovah, the
God
"
:
^^
s
l
is
to be
this gate is
of Israel, has entered
we have already learned from the as Only prince, prince, was allowed to sit in it for the of sacrificial meals there. So far purpose holding the meaning of the words is clear and indisputable. For there into the temple
ch.
thereby,"
as
xliii. 2.
can be no doubt whatever that
ver. 3 introduces a
more precise
statement concerning the closing of the gate ; in other words, that the right of sitting in the gate to eat bread before Jehovah,
which
conceded to the priest, is intended as an explanation, nvn and limitation, of the statement modification resp. the On other the more precise definition of hand, (ver. 2). is
"NJD
300
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the prerogative granted to the prince in ver. 3 is not quite Such a prerogative is clear, and therefore open to dispute. in the prominence expressly given to the already indicated prince,
N s L/3n~DSI consisting partly in the fact that
written
[s
an absolute form, and partly in the expression Kin fcOJM, which is repeated in the form of a circumstantial clause, first in
"
prince
is
there."
because he is prince, he is to sit equivalent to is neither the high priest, as many of the older "
he,"
fcOPJ
commentators supposed, nor a authorities of
the
people (Havernick), but the David
of
collective
Israel
who
will
time, according to ch. xxxiv. 23, 24,
bread before Jehovah
"
in
term for the
the
civil
Messianic times
be prince in Israel at that
and xxxvii. 24.
to hold a signifies O
"
sacrificial
To
eat
meal at
the place of the divine presence, i.e. in the temple court, and is not to be restricted, as Kliefoth supposes, to that sacrificial
which was held after and along with the bloodless sacrifices, viz. the minchoth, and the shew-breads, and the sweet
meal
il
loaves of the
There
Passover."
is
no authority
in the
usage
of the language for this literal interpretation of the expression to eat bread," for EH? ?3K means in general to partake of a "
meal, compare Gen. xxxi. 54, etc., and especially Ex. xviii. 12, with Aaron and the eats bread before God where Jethro "
"
elders of Israel, that
to say, joins in a sacrificial
is
meal com
t^nnr or According to this view, which slain-offerings. posed of is the only one supported by usage, the prerogative secured to
the
K^J
sacrificial
of the future
meals
(of
is
the
not
"that
of participating in the
which
priests),
were
to
be
held
in opposition to the daily with the minchoth and shew-bread, law which prevailed before" (Kliefoth), but simply that of
holding his
sacrificial
meals in the gate,
i.e.
in
the porch
of the gate, whereas the people were only allowed to hold them in the court, namely, in the vicinity of the sacrificial kitchens.
There
is
concerning the meaning from the way of the porch
also a difference of opinion
of the second statement in ver. 3
"
:
CHAP. XL1V.
301
1-3.
of the gate shall he enter in, and thence shall he go from the suffix in foiftb can only refer to cfetf, "
which he came (entered), from
this
way
shall
The
out."
way from
he go out
again."
thus Hitzig follows the Kabbins, who understand the passage as the gate is to remain shut, he must go by the way to the :
"
xl. 9). porch which is directed inwardly, toward the court (ch. north or the court He must have gone into the outer through the south gate, and by the way by which he came he also went
back
But Kliefoth
again."
argues, in objection to this, that
the prince was to eat the bread in the porch, the entrance through the south or the north gate would be of no use to him "
if
at all
;
as the gate
which could be shut was
at that door of the
porch which was turned toward the outer court." Moreover, he affirms that it is not at all the meaning of the text that he
was
bread
to eat the
in the porch,
but that he was to eat
in
it
gate-building, and he was to come thither from the place which served as a way to the gate i.e. "iy$n, DblS Tp/ip
the
porch, that
walk from the eastern entrance of the
to say, the
is
gate-building to the front of the porch, and from that was he The prince, therefore, was to go into the to go out again." "
the front of the porch through the eastern entrance, there to eat his bread before Jehovah, and to as far
gate-building
as
come out again from thence, side of the gate porch
still
so that the gate at the western
remained
shut."
But we cannot
regard either of these views as correct. There is no firm foundation in the text for Kliefoth s assertion, that he was not to eat the bread in the porch, but in the gate-building.
It
is
true that the porch is not expressly mentioned as the place where the eating was to take place, but simply the gate (to) yet the porch belonged to the gate as an integral part of the ;
gate-building
way
porch to
;
and
if
D^iX
leading to the porch, shall
he enter
in,"
go into the porch and
^"H
is
the
way
the words,
"
to the porch, or the
to
the
that he
was
is
also
by the way
imply clearly enough This to eat bread there.
demanded by the circumstances,
as the
meaning
of the words
302
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
cannot possibly be that the prince was to hold his sacrificial meal upon the threshold of the gate, or in one of the guard rooms, or in the middle of the gateway ; and apart from the porch, there were no other places in the gate-building than those
we have named.
on the western
And
again, the statement that the gate
side of the gate porch
was
to
be shut, and not
that against the eastern wall, is also destitute of proof, as a DP}^ the way to the porch, is not equivalent to the way up to the front of the porch." And if the prince was to hold the ^"H
sacrificial
meal behind the inner gate, which was closed, how it was prepared to be carried into the gate-
was the food when
building? Through a door of one of the guard-rooms ? Such a supposition is hardly reconcilable with the significance of a holy sacrificial meal. In fact, it is a question whether eating in the gate-building with the inner door closed, so that it was not
even possible
to look
toward the sanctuary, in which Jehovah
was enthroned, could be called eating rtirP *}a?. Hitzig s ex planation of the words is not exposed to any of these difficulties, but
At
the outset
chargeable with improbability, as it is impossible to see any just ground why the prince, if he was to hold the sacrificial meal in the porch of the it is
beset
by
others.
east gate, should not
have been allowed
it
is
to enter
through
this
was obliged to take the circuitous route through the south or the north gate. Again, it is irreconcilable with the statements in ch. xlvi. analogous According to ch. xlvi. 1 sqq.,
gate, but
the east gate of the inner court was to be shut, namely, during the six working days ; but on the Sabbath and on the new moon it was to be opened. Then the prince was to come by the way
from without, and during the preparation of the by priests to stand upon the threshold of the gate and worship. This same thing was to take place when the prince desired to offer a freewill offering on any of the week of the gate porch
his sacrifice
days.
The
east gate
was
to
be opened for him
to this
end
;
but after the conclusion of the offering of sacrifice it was to be closed again, whereas on the Sabbaths and new moons .t was to
CHAP XLIV.
303
1-3.
stand open till the evening (ch. xlvi. 12 compared with ver. 2). It is still further enjoined, that when offering these sacrifices
by the way of the gate porch, and to go whereas on the out again by the same way (vers. 2 and 8) before the which feast days, on Jehovah, every people appear one who comes, the priest along with the rest, is to go in and the prince
is
to enter
;
out through the north or the south gate (vers. 9 and 10). If, before when the feast the on people appeared days, therefore,
Jehovah, the prince was to go into the temple in the midst of the people through the north or the south gate to worship, whereas on the Sabbaths and new moons, on which the people
were not required to appear before the Lord, so that the prince alone had to bring the offerings for himself and the people, he
was to enter by the way of the porch of the east gate, and to go out again by the same, and during the ceremony of offering the sacrifice was to stand upon the threshold of the inner east it is obvious that the going in and out by the way of the gate,
porch of the gate was to take place by a different way from This other way that through the north or the south gate. as no fourth the east be could only gate existed. gate, through
The
conclusion to which this brings us, so far as the passage is concerned, is that the shutting of the east gate of was to be the rule, but that there were certain court the outer before us
till ch. xlvi., though exceptions which are not fully explained before us in the directions the in at hinted are chapter they
given there, that the prince was to hold the
sacrificial
meal in
The outer east gate, which was probably the one used by the people when appearing before the Lord in chiefly the earlier temple, both for going in and coming out, is to be shut
this gate.
in the
new
temple, and not to be
made use
of
by the people for
either entrance or exit, because the glory of the
into the temple thereby.
This reason
is
Lord entered
of course not to be
understood in the way suggested by the Rabbins, namely, that the departure of the Shechinah from the temple was to be pre vented by the closing of the gate ; but the thought is this :
304
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
because this gateway had been rendered holy through the entrance of the Shechinah into the temple thereby, it was not to remain open to the people, so as to be desecrated, but was to be kept perpetually holy.
This keeping holy was not preju the fact that the prince held the sacrificial way by meal in the gate, and also entered the court through this gate way for the purpose of offering his sacrifice, which was made diced in any
ready by the priests before the
inner
gate,
and then was
present at the offering of the sacrifice
upon the altar, standing DTiN SJTI gate building.
upon the threshold of the inner "WH is therefore the way which led from the outer
flight of
steps across the threshold
past the guard-rooms to the gate porch at the inner end of the gate-building. By this way the priest was to go into the gate opened for him, and hold the sacrificial
meal therein, namely, in the porch of
this gate.
That
the offering of the sacrifice necessarily preceded the meal
assumed first
prescribes the
when
and the law of
as self-evident,
manner
offering the sacrifice,
is
sacrifice in ch. xlvi.
which the prince was to behave and how near to the altar he was
in
to be allowed to go.
THE POSITION OF FOREIGNERS, LEVITES, AND RELATION TO THE TEMPLE AND THE TEMPLE
Vers. 4-16.
PRIESTS IN
The further precepts concerning the approach to SERVICE. the sanctuary, and the worship to be presented there, are intro duced with a fresh exhortation to observe with exactness all the and laws, in order that the desecration of the sanctuary which had formerly taken place might not be repeated, and are statutes
delivered to the prophet at the north gate in front of the festation of the glory of
brought
and I
me
the way of and behold
l>y
looked,
Jehovah, and said to me,
God
(vers. 4-8).
Son of man,
4.
mani
And
he
the north gate to the front the glory
I fell down upon my
and hear with
Ver.
of the house ; Jehovah of filled the house of Ver. 5. And Jehovah face.
direct thy heart
thine ears all that
I
say
and to
see with thine eyes
thee with
regard
to
305
CHAP. XLIV. 4-8.
all the statutes
of
the house of
Jehovah and
all its laics,
and direct
into the house through all the exits thy heart to the entering
And
house, Ver. 6. Israel^
Thus
say
saith the
to
the rebellious
Lord Jehovah, Let
it
one, to the
of the
family of
be sufficient for you,
house of Israel, Ver. 7. In that ye of all your abominations, in heart and uncircumcised brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in flesh, to be in offered
my
sanctuary, to desecrate
my food, fat and
blood,
and
it,
my
when ye
house,
so they broke
my
covenant
your abominations, Ver. 8. And so ye did not keep the charge of my holy things, but made them keepers of my charge for you From the outer gate to which Ezekiel had in my sanctuary. to all
been taken, simply that he might be instructed concerning the entering thereby, he is once more conducted, after this has been done, by the way of the north gate to the front of the further directions there for the temple house, to receive the in the new sanctuary. The performance of the worship of God are to understand by the north gate that we whether question,
of the outer or that of the inner court, cannot be answered with
Hitzig has decided in favour of the latter, Kliefoth The place to which he is conducted of the former. favour in certainty.
is
JVan \J3~ta, ad faciem domus, before the temple house, so that
As the gate before his eyes, i.e. was able to see it. about four was court inner of the cubits, higher eight steps,
he had
way
it
than the outer court gate, this was hardly possible if he stood i.e. the at or within the latter. temple house, could only J"P?n,
And the remark be distinctly seen from the inner north gate. that it is more natural to think of the outer north gate, because the next thing said to the prophet has reference to the question who is to go into and out of the sanctuary, has not much force, as the instructions do not refer to the
but chiefly to the charge of Jehovah, divine worship.
Lord, which again, ch.
so
EZEK.
At
filled
the fresh standing-place the glory of the the temple, met the sight of the prophet
that he fell
xliii. 3, 5). II.
going in and out alone, to the maintenance of
i.e.
down and worshipped once more
This remark
is
not intended
"
(cf.
to indicate that
U
306
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
now, after the preliminary observations in cli. xliii. 13-xliv. 3, commences (Kliefoth), but to show the un "
the true thorah
approachable glory and
holiness of
ver. 5, see ch. xl. 4,
11, 12.
xliii.
the
new
In ver. 6
For temple. ta is placed at
^B
the head in a substantive form for the sake of emphasis, and 7&O^ JT2 is appended in the form of an apposition. For the fact itself, see ch.
ii.
8.
anything, as in Ex. "
there
is
enough
which they are
for
B??~2"i
ix.
28, 1
you
followed by
a sufficiency of
Kings xii. 28, is equivalent to from The nnyin, from
to desist
to desist, are
IP,
more
it."
precisely defined in ver. 6.
They consisted in the fact that the Israelites admitted foreigners, heathen, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, into the sanctuary, It is not during the offering of sacrifice. that admitted uncircumcised they expressly stated, indeed, heathen to the offering of sacrifice, but this is implied in what is
to
desecrate
it
The offering of sacrifice in the temple of Jehovah is affirmed. not only permitted in the Mosaic law to foreigners living in Israel, but to some extent prescribed (Lev. xvii. 10, 12 ; Num. xv. 13 sqq.).
was allowed first
of
all
It
was only
meal that no
in the paschal
to participate
xii.
To do
"133
J3
he must
this, (Ex. 43). be circumcised (ver. 44). Solomon accordingly
prays to the Lord in his temple prayer that He will also hearken to the prayer of the foreigner, who may come from a
Lord s name sake to worship in His house (1 Kings viii. 41 sqq.). The reproof in the verse before us is apparently at variance with this. Kaschi would therefore
distant land for the
understand by
Israelites ">33"\33,
who had
fallen into heathen
Rosennuiller, on the other hand, is of opinion that idolatry. the Israelites were blamed because they had accepted victimas et libamina from the heathen, and offered them in the temple,
which had been prohibited
in
Lev. xxv. 22.
Havernick under
stands by the sons of the foreigner, Levites who had become and were therefore placed by Ezekiel apostates from Jehovah, on a par with the idolatrous sons of the foreigner. And lastly,
Hitzig imagines that they were foreign traders,
who had been
CHAP. XLIV.
307
9-1G.
admitted within the sacred precincts as sellers of sacrificial All these are alike arbitrary animals, incense, and so forth.
The apparent discrepancy
and erroneous. sider the
more
heart and first,
precise definition of
"O?.
vanishes,
V.?, viz.
"
uncircumcised in
Their being uncircumcised in heart
flesh."
we con
if
is
placed
for the purpose of characterizing the foreigners as godless
heathen,
who were
destitute not only of the uncircumcision of
their flesh, but also of that of the heart,
which Solomon mentions
coming
i.e.
of piety of heart,
prayer as the motive for the By the admission
in his
of distant strangers to the temple.
of such foreigners as these,
who had no
fear of
God
at all, into
the temple during the sacrificial worship, Israel had defiled the "Wsrnx is in The sanctuary. apposition to the suffix to |6|tt.
food of Jehovah
(Wp)
xxi. 6, etc.,
and
which the
LXX.
is
is
according to Lev. iii. 11, a fat and blood."
sacrifice,
therefore explained by
changed
second person, refers to the
^-?5,
an arbitrary manner into the
in "
foreigners,"
the heathen.
By
the temple in their ungodliness they broke the covenant of the Lord with His people, who allowed this dese
their treading
cration of
His sanctuary,
nnjrtrrfe px ? in addition to all
your
How
grievous a sin was involved in this is The people of Israel, by their unrighteous
abominations. stated in ver. 8.
admission of godless heathen into the temple, not only failed to show the proper reverence for the holy things of the Lord, but even made these heathen, so to speak, servants of God for them selves in
His sanctuary.
These
last
Allowing them
stood literally, but spiritually.
temple
is
words are not to be under
regarded as equivalent
to appointing
charge of the worship in the temple.
For
WOBp
to tread the
them 1B>,
to take
see
Lev.
and the commentary on Lev. viii. 35. The Lord would guard against such desecration of His
xviii. 30, xxii. 9,
sanctuary in the future.
To
concerning the worship in the
Thus heart
saith the
this
Lord Jehovah, No
and uncircumcised
end the following precepts
new temple
are given.
Ver.
9.
foreigner, uncircumcised in
in flesh, shall
come
into
my
sanctuary^
308
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
of all the foreigners that are in the midst of the sons of Israel; Ver. 10. But even the Levites, who have gone away from me in the wandering of Israel, which wandered away from me after its
idols,
Ver. 11. They shall be
they shall bear their guilt.
servants in
my
and
sanctuary, as guards at the gates of the house
serving in the house
they shall slay the burnt-offering
;
the people,
and
shall stand before
it
and
the
to serve
for Ver. 12. Because they served them before their idols, and became to the house of Israel a stumbling-block to guilt, therefore
slain-offering
them.
I
have lifted
my hand
is the
against them,
saying of the
Lord
Jehovah, that they should bear their guilt. Ver. 13. They shall not draw near to me to serve me as priests, and to draw near to all
my
and so
holy things, to the most holy, but shall bear their disgrace
all their
will
abominations which they have done.
I make
them guards of
the charge
of
Ver. 14.
And
the house
with
regard to all its service, and to all that is performed therein. Ver. 15. But the priests of the tribe of Levi, the sons of Zadok, who have kept the charge of my sanctuary on the wandering of the sons
of Israel from me, they shall draw near
and stand before me,
Lord Jehovah. they draw near
offer to
me
fat and
blood,
Ver. 16. They shall come into to
my
table to serve me,
and
to
me
is the
my
to serve
me,
saying of the
sanctuary,
shall keep
my
and
charge.
may be kept at a distance from the new sanctuary, foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh are not to be admitted into it; and even of the Levites In order that
all
desecration
appointed for the service of the sanctuary according to the Mosaic law, all who took part in the falling away of the people into idolatry are to be excluded from investiture with the priests
office
as a
punishment for
their departure
from the
Lord, and only to be allowed to perform subordinate duties in
On the other hand, the connection with the worship of God. descendants of Zadok, who kept themselves free from all stray service ing into idolatry, are to perform the specifically priestly at the altar
and
in the sanctuary,
and design of the command,
to
and they
alone.
The meaning
shut out the foreigners un-
CHAP. XLIV.
circumcised in heart from
all
that the intermediate position
309
9-16.
access to the sanctuary, are not
and
class of foreigners living in
be abolished (Kliefoth) ; for this with ch. xlvii. 22 and 23, according to would be at variance henceforth
should
Israel
which the foreigners (D
own
lU)
were
to receive a possession of their
in the fresh distribution of the land,
which not only pre
supposes their continuance within the congregation of Israel, but also secures it for the time to come. The meaning is
in life
No
heathen uncircumcised in heart, i.e. estranged from God, shall have access to the altar in the new
rather this
:
The emphasis
sanctuary. ver.
7,
their being
upon
of the prohibition lies here, as in and the ;
uncircumcised in heart
reason for the exclusion of foreigners consists not so much in the foreskin of the flesh as in the spiritual foreskin, so that not only the uncircumcised heathen, but also Israelites who were circumcised in flesh, were to keep at a distance from the
sanctuary if they failed to possess circumcision of heart. The ? before 3 ]3~s3 serves the purpose of comprehension, as in
Gen.
ix.
Lev.
10,
only are foreigners
from coming
xi.
42, etc. (compare Ewald,
who
are estranged from
God
310a). to
Not
be prevented
into the sanctuary, but even the Levites,
who
fell
into idolatry at the time of the apostasy of the Israelites, are i.e. are to be punished for it by exclusion This is the connection from the rights of the priesthood. between the tenth verse and the ninth, indicated by CK Vs,
to bear their guilt,
which derives
its
as
in
connection,
meaning, truly (imo) Isa.
xxxiii. 21.
DTOfl
t
yea even, from this are not the Levites
here as distinguished from the priests (Aaronites), but all the descendants of Levi, including the Aaronites chosen for the priests office, to whom what is to be said concerning the Levites chiefly applies. The division of the Levites into such as are excluded from the service and office of priests (ID?,
on account of their former straying into idolatry, and the sons of Zadok, who kept aloof from that wandering, and ver. 13)
therefore are to be the only persons allowed to administer the
310
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. shows very clearly that the threat
priests office for the future,
does not apply to the common They are to be degraded priests. to the performance of the inferior duties in the temple and at The guilt with which they are charged is that divine worship. "
they shall bear their guilt
"
Levites, but to the Levitical
they forsook Jehovah when the people strayed into idolatry. Forsaking Jehovah involves both passive and active participa
This wandering of the Israelites place during the whole time that the
tion in idolatry (cf. Jer.
from Jehovah took
ii.
5).
tabernacle and Solomon
s temple were in existence, though at and with varying force and extent. Bearing The more minutely defined in vers. 11-13.
different periods
the
is
guilt
Levitical priests
who have
forsaken the Lord are to lose the
dignity and rights of the priesthood ; they are not, indeed, to be entirely deprived of the prerogative conferred upon the tribe of
Levi by virtue of
its
election to the service of the
sanctuary in the place of the first-born of the whole nation, but henceforth they are merely to be employed in the per
formance of the lower
duties, as
guards at the gates of the
temple, and as servants of the people at the sacrificial worship, when they are to slaughter the animals for the people, which every one who offered sacrifice was also able to do for himself.
Because they have already served the people before their idols, i.e. have helped them in their idolatry, they shall also serve the not as people in time to come in the worship of God, though The words in but non-priestly occupations. simply priests, U1 VTOJP
Drrosi
nsn are taken from
and &*?]$ refer
xiv. 3, xviii. 30.
up the hand draw near to
lift
1J MfJ,
Num.
to DJ>.
|ty
and the
xvi. 9,
5w3,
not to raise the
as
arm
to swear, as in ch. xx. 5, 6, etc.
in
suffixes in
ch. vii.
to smite,
19,
but to
^^3 ^ nvb,
are not the rooms
my holy things. &^i? which sanctuary, but those portions of the sacrifices were sacred to the Lord. They are not to touch these, i.e.
to
all
:
in the
neither to sprinkle blood nor to burn the portions of fat upon This or the anything connected therewith. altar,
peiform
CHAP. XLIV.
311
9-16.
the apposition D^ijn *hfn#j which explanation is required by mean the most holy place at the hinder not does (in the plural) the most holy sacrificial gifts (cf. part of the temple, but ncfa K PJ, as in ch. xvi. 52. In ver. 14 it is ch. xlii. 13).
once more stated in a comprehensive manner in what the bearing of the guilt and shame was to consist: God would make them keepers of the temple with regard to the inferior
The
acts of service.
JVsn general expression
"i^,
the temple service universally, receives
signifies
to the inferior acts of service
in
J"noc*
Num.
iii.
26,
iv.
from
U1 ^"pP.
its
restriction
^?, which
23, 30, 32, 39, 47, for the
which
is
used
heavy duties
performed by the Merarites and Gershonites, in distinction from the rrpy of the Kohathites, which consisted in rn&lfO
^
naste rrtspg (Num. iv. 3). 28) and 1#D The priestly service at the altar and in the sanctuary, on the other hand, was to be performed by the sons of Zadok alone,
enpn (Num.
because
iii.
when
the sanctuary,
with
fidelity.
i>nta
the people went astray they kept the charge of i.e. performed the duties of the priestly office
Zadok was the son of Ahitub, of the
Eleazar (1 Chron.
who remained
v. 34, vi. 37, 38),
King David at the rebellion of Absalom (2 Sam. and also anointed Solomon as king iri opposition the pretender (1
Abiathar, of the
Kings line
i.
32 sqq.)
;
of Ithamar,
line of
faithful to
xv. to
24
sqq.),
Adonijah
whereas the high priest took part with Adonijah
and was deposed from
by Solomon in consequence, so that now the high-priesthood was in the sole possession of Zadok and his descendants (1 Kings ii. 26, (1
Kings
i.
7,
27, and 35).
25),
From
this attitude of
his office
Zadok toward David, the
prince given by the Lord to His people, it may be seen at once that he not only kept aloof from the wandering of the people, but offered a decided opposition thereto,
and attended
manner that was well-pleasing to God. As he received the high -priesthood from Solomon in the place of Abiathar for this fidelity of his, so shall his descendants only
to his office in a
be invested with the priestly
office in
the
new
temple.
For
312
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the correct explanation of the words in these verses, however, a who have particular regard to the clause,
we must pay
kept This implies, for example, that the charge of my sanctuary." lineal descent from Zadok alone was not sufficient, but that
Lord must
fidelity in the service of the
indispensable service
In
requisite.
vers.
described according to
is
its
be added as an
also
156 and 16 the priestly principal functions at the
and in the holy place at the altar of the altar of incense (see ch. xli. 22).
altar of burnt-offering,
incense.
is
^n?t?
Vers. 17-31. EEQUISITES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRIESTS OFFICE, AND THE OBLIGATIONS AND PRIVI LEGES OF THAT OFFICE. Ver. 17. And it shall come to pass,
when
they go to the gates of the inner court, they shall
linen clothes, the gates
of
and no wool
shall
the inner court
Linen turbans
shall be
and
upon
lie
upon them, when they serve in toward the house. Ver. 18.
serve
and
their head,
linen drawers
when they go out
into the outer court, into the outer court to
the people, they shall take off their clothes in
and put them
ministered,
clothes, that they
Ver. 20.
And
may
in the holy
ivhich they have
and put on
cells,
they shall not shave their head bald, nor
they shall not drink wine, no priest,
inner court.
Ver. 22.
And
when
may
and
take.
the
widow who has become
Ver. 23.
And
let
their
Ver. 21.
they go into the
a widow and a divorced woman they
shall not take as wives, but virgins of the seed Israel,
other
not sanctify the people with their clothes.
hair grow freely ; they shall cut the hair of their head.
And
upon
Ver. 19.
their hips: they shall not gird themselves in sweat.
And
put on
the
of
the house
widow of a
they shall teach
my
of
priest they
people,
make
difference between holy and common, and Ver. 24. And they shall stand to between unclean and clean.
known
to
them
the
judge concerning disputes
my
statutes at all
And
;
my feasts,
and and
they shall observe sanctify
my
Sabbaths.
my man
laws and
Ver. 25.
to to any corpse of a defile himself ; son and and mother, for daughter, for brother, only for father
one shall not go
CHAP. XLIV.
for
who had no husband, may
sister
And
Ver. 26.
more
they
defile
themselves.
after his purification shall they reckon seven
him; Ver. 27.
to
313
17-31.
And
on the day
iv hen
days
he comes to the
holy place, into the inner court, to serve in the holy place, he Lord Jehovah.
shall offer his sin-offering, is the saying of the
Ver. 28.
And
so shall
be with their inheritance, that
I am
ye shall not give them a possession in Israel : Ver. 29. The meat-offering, and the sin-
their inheritance,
I am
it
their possession.
and
offering,
the trespass-offering, these shall they eat,
thing banned in Israel shall belong to them. firstlings
offering
of
;
and
the
No
And
the
of everything, your heave-offerings, shall belong to firstlings of all your ground meal shall ye
give to the priest, that
Ver. 31.
Ver. 30.
and every heave-
all the first-fruits
of everything, of
the priests
and every
all
a blessing
may come down upon
thy house.
carrion nor anything torn in pieces of fowl
To
beast shall the priests eat.
the directions,
who
and of
are to perform
new
temple, there are appended corresponding instructions concerning the bodily condition in which this service the service in the
is
to
be performed, as the bodily condition shadows forth the state
of the soul, or the spiritual constitution of .the servants of God.
The
dress prescribed in Ex. xxviii. for the priests to
wear during
the holy service had this signification. The same rule is here pre supposed as still in force ; and it is simply renewed and partially
emphasized by the enumeration of some of the leading points. At the service at the altar and in the holy place the priests are to
wear linen
clothes,
service, they are to take
and, after the performance of the
them
off
again
when they go
into the
outer court (vers. 17-19). In the Mosaic law, white byssus, or 13, white linen, is mentioned as the material used for the
W,
priests clothing (Ex. xxviii. 39, 42)
;
here the material
is
more
B WB, flax linen ; and "i, animal wool, the motive being assigned for this regu expressly forbidden, that the lation, namely, priest is not to cause himself to sweat distinctly designated as is
Sweat produces uncleanness by wearing woollen clothing. and the priest, by keeping his body clean, is to show even out;
314
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
wardly that he is clean and blameless. With regard to the putting on and off of the official clothes, the new tJwrah accords
For we cannot agree with Kliefoth, who
with the Mosaic.
detects a deviation in the fact that, according to Ex. xxviii. 43,
the priests were to wear the official clothes only when they entered the tabernacle and when approaching the altar, and,
according to Lev.
vi. 4, xvi.
them
23, were to take
off
when
the service was ended; whereas, according to ver. 17 of the chapter before us, they were to put them on as soon as they
entered the inner court, and were never to the official costume.
come before the
according to the Mosaic the before were to the altar of burnt-offering in law, go priests the court in their holy official dress, and not otherwise, they
people in
must have put on could not wait
changed imply
on entering the court
this dress
they were
till
their clothes.
If,
;
for they
in front of the altar before they
For the expression DVH ?K DKV does not w ere never to appear in
that, according to Ezekiel, they
r
the presence of the people in their official costume, as it does not mean "come before the people," but "go out to the people,"
or
the words their
"
walk among the people
\X\
clothes
^"^
(by
*6l,
their
"
;
nor
this involved in
they shall not sanctify the people in
The
clothes).
latter
affirms that they are to sanctify the people
them, but are not to do this in
official
by
costume
simply that they are not to
move among
court while wearing their
official
sanctify them by
is
by no means
intercourse with ;
the meaning
is
the people in the outer clothes, that they may not
their holy clothes.
This sanctification cannot
be understood in any other way than as analogous to the rule laid down in the law, that touching most holy sacrificial flesh
would sanctify (Lev. vi. 11, 20), which Ezekiel repeats in ch. xlvi. 20, and which does not stand in anything like an isolated position in the law, but
and xxx. 29 of the the sanctuary.
is
also affirmed in
altar of burnt-offering
The same thing which
Ex. xxix. 37
and the
vessels of
applied to these vessels
namely, that their holiness passed from them to any one
315
CHAP. XLIV. 17-31.
who touched them priests;
here predicated of the holy dresses of the in priests among the people
is
and the moving of the
their holy clothes
is
forbidden, because such holiness, acquired
by contact with holy objects, imposed upon the person to whom it had passed the obligation to guard against all defilement (Lev. xxi. 1-8), which the people could not avoid in the ordinary relations of life, and thus a weakening or abolition of
between things holy and common would in ensued. are the holy cell-buildings ^Hp"? ni3K7 evitably have To the clothing there is simply described in ch. xlii. 1-14. the distinction
appended
in ver.
20 the direction concerning the hair of the
head, the natural covering of the head, in relation to which excess on either side
prohibited, either shaving the head bald
is
or wearing the hair uncut.
the priests in the law hair
freely in
grow
Both of these were forbidden
to
shaving in Lev. xxi. 5, and letting the Lev. x. 6 and the latter was simply :
;
imposed upon the Nazarites for the period of their vow (Num. DD3 only occurs here ; but its meaning, to cut the hair, vi. 5). obvious from the context.
is
drinking of wine x. 9
;
Ver. 21. The prohibition of the service agrees with Lev.
when performing
on the other hand, the instructions concerning the choice
of wives are sharpened in ver. 22, as that which only applied to the high priest in the law is here extended to all the priests.
Ezekiel throughout makes no distinction between the high priest and the common priests. In Lev. xxi. 14, marrying a widow is only forbidden to the high priest, who was to marry
In
fact,
a virgin of his own people, whereas no such restriction is laid down for the ordinary priests. Here, on the other hand, marrying a widow is forbidden to all the priests, marriage with the
widow
to n J9: ^ n
of a priest being the only one allowed, i
fy
wno h as become
the
widow of a
i^bp belongs 1
priest.
1 The Rabbins (Targ. Talm. and Masor. according to their accentuation) have endeavoured to obliterate this distinction, by applying the first hemistich to the high priest alone, and explaining the second thus: "The widow, who is really a widow, the priest may take," interpreting jniDD by
316
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
In
23 and 24 the general
vers.
official
duties of the priests
are mentioned, viz. to teach the people, and to instruct them concerning the difference between the holy and the unholy, the
clean and the unclean, as in Lev. x. 10 (cf. Deut. xxxiii. 10
and Ezek.
xxii.
26)
;
also to administer justice in questions in
God, a duty which had been committed to the already priests in its highest form in ^n Sty, concerning, in Deut. xvii. 8 sqq., xix. 17, and xxi. 5. dispute according to the rights of
BSBv the case of, matters in dispute. to stand to judge, ^ or as act i.e. to D^tpD Tpj;n, to appoint appear judge (compare "IDJ^
or institute judges, in 2 Chron. xix. 5).
needless emendation after 2 Chron. xix.
on the other hand,
is
them
and
The Keri B5tpp s a The Chetib intpsc^ 8. J
a copyist s error for *&*#! Lastly, at all the feasts they are to observe the laws and statutes of Jehovah, that is to say, to perform all the priestly duties binding upon at the feasts,
to sanctify the Sabbaths, not
merely by
offering the Sabbath sacrifices, but also
Sabbath
rest (cf.
Lev.
xxiii. 3).
by maintaining the In vers. 25-27 there follow
concerning defilement from the dead, and its Ver. 25 is a simple repetition of Lev. xxi. 13.
regulations
removal.
But the
instructions concerning purification
from defilement
from the dead are sharpened, inasmuch as not only is the purification prescribed by the law (Num. xix. 1 sqq.), and which lasted seven days, required a further
period of seven days
(this is is
meant by irnnD) but
appointed
?
after
these,
at
which the presentation of a sin-offering is demanded before the service in the sanctuary can be resumed.
the expiration of
By
this
demand
for a heightened purification, the approach to
a corpse permitted to the priests, which was prohibited to the high priest in the Mosaic law, even in the case of father and
mother (Lev.
xxi. 11), is tolerably equalized.
quidam sacerdotum, or
aliqui ex ordine sacerdotali, or ceteri sacerdotes.
But
contrary to the usage of the language, as fnbp cannot possibly be understood in a partitive sense in this passage, where the priests generally
tlds
is
are spoken of,
and the plural ^np
l>
follows.
CHAP. XLIV.
For these
duties
317
17-31.
and obligations of service the priests are emoluments. These are treated of
receive corresponding vers.
28-31.
They
to in
are not, indeed, to receive any share of the
land as their property in time to come any more than in former times; but in the place of this Jehovah will be their property
and possession, and give them the necessary room for their dwellings from His own property in the land (ch. xlv. 4), and let them draw their maintenance from His altar (vers. 29 and 30).
The promise
that
Jehovah
be the nta and njnx of
will
a simple repetition of the regulation in the law xviii. 20 ; Deut. xviii. 1, x. 9). So far as the construc (Num. tion in ver. 28a is concerned, the words Drfcna -OK are really the the priests
subject to "
is
&
DH7 nrpnij which
the inheritance for
For the proposal
them
we
are obliged to render obliquely,
shall be, I
am
their
of Hitzig to take the words
inheritance."
from DrOT OK
to
the close of the verse as a parenthesis, and to regard til in ver. 29a as the subject to ^.? is untenable, not only on
nnpte>n
W
1
i"
account of the great harshness which such a parenthesis would involve, but principally because these portions of the sacrifices
and heave-offerings which belonged to the priest were not a ^JD^, and are never designated as H/TCi, inheritance, i,e. property in land. Ver. 28 treats of the property in land, which God assigned to the Levites and priests under the Mosaic economy, by appoint ing them towns to dwell in, with meadows for the feeding of their cattle, within the territory of the other tribes, but
would
them in future from the heave-offering set apart from the land for the sanctuary (ch. xlv. 4). It is not till vers. 29 and 30 that the means of support for the priests are spoken of. assign to
They
are to be supported
first-fruits
land,
from the
which Israel has
and which
He
to
pay
sacrifices
to
and the
Jehovah
tithes
and
as the lord of the
transfers to His servants the priests.
For
the priests share of the meat-offering, sin-offering, and trespasssee Lev. ii. for vi. vii. that 7 which 3, offering, 9, 11, 19, 6, ;
put under the ban, Lev. xxiii. 19, xxxiv. 26, Deut. is
xxvii.
21
xviii.
4,
;
for the first-fruits,
Num.
xviii.
13;
Ex.
for the
318
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ntonn,
Num.
20, 21.
In
house,"
the
itself,
xv. 19, xviii. 19; for the niony U1
rwrp,
individual
see Mai.
iii.
support there
is
command
in
the
n^sq, Num. xv.
cause a blessing to rest upon thy Israelite is addressed. For the fact
to
To
10.
appended Lev. xxii.
the enumeration of the means of
an emphatic repetition of eat of any dead thing (i.e.
in ver. 31 8,
not to
anything that has died a natural death), or anything torn to pieces, either of birds or beasts, on account of its (Lev. defiling
xvii. 15).
Chap.
xlv.
1-17. The Holy Heave of the Heave-offerings of
The determination is
followed
still
which Jehovah
of the
Land and
the
the People.
means of support
for the priesthood
further by an explanation of the manner in be their inheritance and possession in
will
;
other words, assign to the priests and Levites that portion of the land which was requisite for their abode. This is to be
done by His causing a
definite tract of land to
be
set apart for
Himself, for the sanctuary, and for His servants, and for the capital, when the country is distributed among the tribes of Israel (vers. 1-8).
On
both sides of this domain the prince
is
also to receive a possession in land, to guard against all exaction on the part of the princes in time to come. And everywhere unrighteousness is to cease, just weight and measure are to be
observed (vers. 9-12), and the people are to pay certain heaveofferings to provide for the sacrifices binding (vers.
upon the prince
13-17).
Vers. 1-8.
THE HOLY HEAVE FROM THE LAND.
Ver.
1.
And when
ye divide the land by lot for an inheritance, ye shall a heave for Jehovah as a holy (portion) from the land ; Jive lift and twenty thousand the length, and the breadth ten (? twenty) thousand.
It shall be holy in all its circumference
round about.
hundred shall belong to the Holy by jive Of hundred square round about, and fifty cubits open space thereto
Ver.
2.
this jive
CHAP. XLV.
round about.
Ver.
3.
And from
and
ten thousand,
A
4.
this
measured space tJwu
in this shall be the sanctuary, a holy of holies.
holy (portion) of the land shall this be;
the servants of the sanctuary, shall
Jehovah, and
to the priests,
belong who draw near
it
shall be to them the place
it
shalt
and twenty thousand, and a breadth of
measure a length of Jive Ver.
319
1-8.
to serve
for houses and a sanc
Ver. 5. And Jive and twenty thousand tuary for the sanctuary. in breadth shall belong to the Levites, thousand in length and ten the servants
dwell
of Ver.
in.
And
6.
in breadth Jive thousand
Ver.
And
7.
and ;
it
to the
Jive
and twenty thousand
to
in length,
shall belong to the whole house of
prince (ye shall give) on both sides
of the holy heave and of the possession of heave and along the possession of the
wards and on
them as gates
to
as a possession for the city, ye shall give
parallel to the holy heave Israel.
for a possession
the house,
the east side eastwards,
the city, along the holy
on the west side west
city,
and in
length parallel to one
of the tribe-portions, from the western border to the eastern border. Ver. 8. It shall belong to him as land, as a possession in Israel ; and my princes shall no more oppress my people, but shall leave the land
be
to the
first
house of Israel according
of all set apart
among the
tribes
is
at the
time of
its
to
distribution
called novin, heave, not in the general sense
of the lifting or taking of a portion
from the whole, but
as a
or taken by a person from his property as an
portion lifted offering for
The domain
to its tribes.
from the land
God
;
for
ncnn comes from
1 D"
")?,
which
signifies in
the case of the minchah the lifting of a portion which was burned upon the altar as nnsjTK for Jehovah (see the comm. on
Lev.
ii.
9).
Consequently everything that was offered by the either voluntarily or in
consequence of a precept from the Lord for the erection and maintenance of the sanc tuary and its servants, was called nijvin (see Ex. xxv. 2 sqq.,
Israelites,
xxx. 15; Lev.
vii.
14;
Num.
xv. 19, etc.).
instructions concerning the heave
and these are repeated
Only the
principal
from the land are given here,
in ch. xlviii. 8-22, in the section con
cerning the division of the land, and to
some extent expanded
320
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
The
there. lot for
IV.)
an
"
introductory words,
inheritance,"
{"an,
sc. info
as in Josh.
when ye
point to this.
(Prov.
i.
divide the land
(See the
map on
14), to cast the lot, to divide
Then
by
Plate
by
shall
ye lift, set apart, a heave for Jehovah as a holy (portion) from the land, p.ijrj jp i s to connected with be closely In the EH?, as shown by ver. 4. lot,
xiii. 6.
numbers mentioned the measure
But
be employed
to
is
not given.
obvious that cubits are not meant, as Bottcher, Hitzig, and others assume, but rods ; partly from a comparison of ver. 2 with ch. xlii. 16, where the space of the sanctuary, which is it is
given here as 500 by 500 square, rods on every side
;
and partly
is
described as five hundred
from the fact that the open fixed at fifty cubits, and in this also
space around the sanctuary is case HEK is added, because rods are not to be understood there as in connection with the other
The
numbers.
correctness of
this view, which we meet with in Jerome and Raschi, cannot be overthrown by appealing to the excessive magnitude of a reyLteyo?
of twenty-five thousand rods in length
rods in breadth
for
;
it
will
be seen in ch.
and ten thousand
xlviii.
surements given answer to the circumstances in cubits.
The
:p.K
before and after the
that the
number
is
mea
but not
in rods,
pleonastic
:
a as for
the length, twenty-five thousand rods in length." is the measurement from east to west, and breadth here Length to from north south, as we may clearly see from ch. xlviii. 10.
No
regard, therefore, is paid to the natural length and breadth the land and the greater extent of the portions to be measured is designated as length, the smaller as breadth. The of
expression
;
*1?K
J^
n<
is
a remarkable one, as &??$
and stantly used, not only in vers. 3
The
5,
^^
but also in ch.
is
con
xlviii. 9,
LXX.
have eUocri p^XtaSa?, twenty thousand breadth. This reading appears more correct than the Masoretic, For according to ver. 3, as it is demanded by vers. 3 and 5. 10, 13, 18.
of the portion measured in ver. 1 twenty-five thousand rods in length and ten thousand in breadth were to be measured for
the sanctuary and for the priests land
;
and according
to ver. 5,
CHAP. XLV.
321
1-8.
the Levites were also to receive twenty- five thousand rods in in breadth for a possession. The first length and ten thousand clause of ver. 3 is unintelligible if the breadth of the holy terumah is given in ver. 1 as only ten thousand rods, inasmuch
as
one cannot measure
off
from an area of twenty-five thousand
rods in length and ten thousand rods in breadth another space of the same length and breadth. Moreover, ver. 1 requires
the reading
B
?,
as tne
"
no bT terumah
for the sanctuary
portion set apart also that
11
"}^
*)!>
which was
ch. xlviii. 14, this
and the
set apart for the
was
also
"holy
to
"
is
not only the
priests
Levites.
land, but
According to whereas the
Jehovah;"
common (ch. xlviii. 15). portion measured off for the city was This is borne out by the fact that in the chapter before us the "
"
domain appointed for the city is distinguished from the land of the priests and Levites by the verb unn (ver. 6), whilst the description of the size of the Levites land in ver. 5 is closely connected with that of the land of the priests
;
and further, that
in ver. 7, in the description of the land of the prince, reference is
made only
city,
to the holy
from which
it
terumah and the possession of the
also follows that the land of the Levites is
included in the holy terumah. Consequently ver. 1 treats of Bn the whole of the P nDnri, i.e. the land of the priests and Levites, which was twenty-five thousand rods long and twenty
thousand rods broad.
This
is
designated in the last clause of
the verse as a holy (portion) in its entire circumference, and then divided into two domains in vers. 2 and 3. Ver. 2. Of this
(TO, of the area measured in ver. 1) there shall come, or
belong, to the holy, i.e. to the holy temple domain, five hundred rods square, namely, the domain measured in ch. xlii. 15-20
round about the temple, for a separation between holy and common and round this domain there is to be a B^&, i.e. an ;
open space of the priests
on every side, that the dwellings of not be built too near to the holy square of the
fifty cubits
may
temple building.
Yer.
measured piece of land), EZEK. II.
3.
n&ftn rnipn,
also points
this
back
measure
to ver. 1,
(i.e.
and
X
{
this
can-
322
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
not be taken in any other sense than in njD (ver. 2). From the whole tract of land measured in ver. 1 a portion is to be
measured
off
thousand rods in length and ten
twenty-five
thousand rods in breadth, in which the sanctuary, i.e. the temple with its courts, is to stand as a holy of holies. This domain, in the midst of which is the temple, is to belong to the priests, as the sanctified portion of the land, as the place or space for their houses,
and
the temple.
Yer.
is
to
be a sanctuary for the sanctuary, i.e. for portion equally large is to be measured
A
5.
off to the Levites, as the
The Keri n^PP
last
is
nw
is
There
indisputably correct.
words of
twenty
temple servants, for their possession. formed after the nvn of ver. 4, and the Chetib
this verse,
cells;"
for
roBO Dn^y,
which the
LXX.
is
great difficulty in the
for a possession to
them
give avrols et? fcarda^eo-iv
and which they have therefore read, or for which they have substituted by conjecture, ttW? ^IVG D Hb fibP? the y in obtain from of the Masoretic cannot, fact, TroXet? TOV Karoiiceiv,
W
text if
any meaning that
we render
will
harmonize with the context, even
the words, as Rosenmiiller does, in opposition to
the grammar,
cum
viginti cubiculis,
For we
capacious cell-buildings. connection a description of the
and understand by nbc6
neither expect to find in this
number and
character of the
which the Levites
lived, nor can any reason be imagined why the Levites, with a domain of twenty-five thou sand rods in length and ten thousand rods in breadth assigned
buildings in
to them, should live together in less
can we think of the
tion with the thirty cells xl.
"
Still twenty cell-buildings. twenty cells" as having any connec in the outer court near to the gate-
17, 18), as these temple cells, even
though for the Levites their in the were service during appointed they in any way with the not connected were terumali holy temple,
buildings (ch.
spoken of here.
Hiivernick
s
remark, that
"
the prophet has in
and the dwellings of which were only on the outside
his eye the priests cells in the sanctuary,
the Levites during their service,
of the sanctuary, were to correspond to
these,"
is
not indicated
CHAP. XLV.
323
1-8.
by the words, but is a mere conjecture. no other course open, therefore, than to acknowledge a corruption of the text, and either to alter f&th D^iry into
in the slightest degree
There
is
Hitzig proposes (cf. Num. xxxv. 2, 3 Josh. for a posses anry as a mistake for ^"W the frequent to sion to them as gates to dwell according 1
J"QKv
Q"
"]^,
as
;
xxi. 2), or to take
"
:
in,"
use of
^"W,
gates, for D^V, cities, e.g. in "
who
the Levite
standing phrase, Deut. xii. 18, xiv. 27, xvi. 11
;
"
Ex. xx. 10
cf.
what was almost a
in thy gates
is
;
Deut.
(
= cities
;
v. 14, etc.).
In that case the faulty reading would have arisen from the transposition of Ety into W-, and the change of 3 into 3. Beside the holy terumah for sanctuary, priests, and Levites, they are also (ver. 6) to give a tract of twenty-five thousand rods in length and five thousand rods in breadth as the pro fl^W? parallel to the perty of the city (i.e. of the capital). :
holy heave,
i.e.
running by the longer side of
it.
This portion
of land, which was set apart for the city, was to belong to all
and not
Israel,
to
any single tribe. The more precise direc and concerning the situation of the whole
tions concerning this,
terumah in the land, are not given till ch. xlviii. 8-22. Here, in the present chapter, this heave is simply mentioned in con nection with the privileges which the servants of the
These included,
of His sanctuary were to enjoy.
Lord and
in a certain
sense, also the property assigned to the prince in ver. 7 as the
head of the nation, on whom the provision of the sacrifices for the nation devolved, and who, apart from this, also needed for his subsistence a portion of the land, his
own,
in
ttrin as his property (the verb
ver. 6) the land
on
this side
and
of the city-possession,
two
tracts of land, that
their boundaries, "
view,
which should be peculiarly They were to give him
accordance with his rank.
upon
")
is
is
to
be supplied to
and that
and that
W&&
side of the holy
from
terumah
in front (VJS ta) of these
to say, adjoining
ui tf J"INS,
from
"
them, extending to to our (i.e., according
the west side westward, and from (upon) the in other words, the land which remained on ;
east side eastward
324
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the eastern and western boundary of the holy terumali and of the city domain, both toward the west as far as the Mediter
ranean Sea, and toward the east as far as the Jordan, the two boundaries of the future Canaan. The further definition
W
is not but the meaning of the words quite clear the of the is, length portions of land to be given to the prince on the east and west side of the terumali shall be equal
ntojfl
that
;
"iQM
"
one of the
to the length of
and not that the
tribe-portions,"
portions of land belonging to the prince are to be just as long
from north
one of the twelve
to south as the length of "
Length
possessions.
from
east to west.
It
throughout
is
so in the case of all the tribe-territories
and must be taken in
(cf. ch. xlviii. 8),
this sense in connection
with the portion of land belonging to the prince therefore this
is
meaning
tribe-
this section is the extent
"
:
in length
The
also.
east to west) these
(from
portions shall be parallel to the inheritance of one of the twelve tribes
from the western boundary
Two
to the eastern.
the eastern
:
boundary of the land allotted to the tribes, i.e. on the the Jordan, and on the west to the Mediterranean xlviii.
8)
parallel i.e.
;
things
first, that the prince s portion is to extend on and western sides of the terumah as far as the
are stated here
and secondly, that on the
(ntejjjp)
east
and west
east to (cf. ch.
to
it is
run
to the length of the separate tribe-territories,
not to reach farther toward either north or south than the
terumah lying between, but to be bounded by the long sides of the tribe-territories which bound the terumali on the north and south.
sp.fc
xvi. 7
is
the accusative of direction Ps. Ixxxii. 7).
Judg. to be retained, contrary ;
In
ver. 8,
"intf
;
?
P^
some one
(cf.
with the article
p^
is
to the to Hitzig s conjecture land belonging to him as a possession shall it (the portion marked off in ver. 7) be to him." pK, as in 1 Kings xi. 18, of
given.
:
In ver. 81, the motive for these instructions kings of Israel had no land of their
property in land. is
"
The former
own, no domain
;
and
this
had driven them
property by violence and extortion.
That
to acquire private
this
may
not occur
325
CHAP. XLV. 9-12.
any more in the future, and all inducement to such oppression of the people may be taken from the princes, in the new king
dom
ver. 7 is "
plural,
the portion of land more precisely defined in The to be given to the prince as his own property.
God
of
my princes,"
does not refer to several contemporaneous
be understood of the king and his sons, i.e. of the royal family, on account of ch. xlvi. 16 ; but it is to be that Ezekiel was also thinking of traced to the simple fact princes, nor can
it
"
the past kings, and that the whole series of princes, who had ruled over Israel, and still would rule, was passing before his to conclude from (Kliefoth), without our being able this that there would be a plurality of princes succeeding one another in time to come, in contradiction to ch. xxxvii. 25. mind"
And
the land shall they (the princes) leave to the people of the land, with Israel (3 in the sense of concedere ; and "
pn,
"
the exception of the portion set apart from against oppression and
The warning
reason thus assigned,
it
in vers. 1-7).
extortion, implied in the
expanded into a general exhortation in
is
the following verses. Vers. 9-12. GENERAL EXHORTATION TO OBSERVE JUSTICE Ver. 9. Thus AND KlGHTEOUSNESS IN THEIR DEALINGS.
Lord Jehovah, Let
saith the desist
violence
from
and
righteousness, sion, is the
and
it
and observe
oppression,
cease to thrust
saying of the
you, ye princes of Israel
suffice
my
justice
:
and
people out of their posses-
Lord Jehovah.
Ver. 10. Just
scales,
and a just ephah, and a just lath, shall ye have. Ver. 11. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, so that the bath holds the tenth part of the homer,
of the
homer
And
the
after the
homer
its
ephah the tenth part Ver. 12. standard be.
the
;
shekels, fifteen shekels, shall the
exhortation in ver. 9
both in form and substance. to
and
shall
shekel shall have twenty gerahs
and twenty
The
:
renounce the idolatry
to
is
twenty shekels, five
mina
be with you.
similar to that in ch. xliv. 6,
As
the Levites and priests are
which they have been previously
326
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
addicted,
of
life,
and
to serve before the
which they have formerly righteousness
;
example
(1
practised,
ness
is
and
and holiness
acts of oppression
do justice and
to
Lord
unjust expulsion from one s possession, conduct toward Naboth furnished a glaring
nt5Ti3 is s
Kings
These
xxi.).
acts of violence pressed heavily
upon the people, and this burden 10-12 the command
vers.
in purity
from the
for example, to liberate the people of the
from the RH^I. of which Ahab
In
Lord
so are the princes to abstain
expanded
;
and
it
is
to
be removed faft
D>
1^).
and righteous a duty upon the whole
to practise justice laid as
is
nation to have just weights and measures. This forms the transition to the regulation, which follows from ver. 13 to be paid by the people to the prince to the defray expenses attendant upon the sacrificial worship.
onwards, of the taxes
For
ver. 10, see
of the is
Lev.
36 and Deut. xxv. 13 sqq. which contained
xix.
xix. 36), the bath,
Iiin
(Lev. mentioned here as the measure for
with for the
first
time in Isa.
v. 10,
Instead six hins,
The nn
liquids.
and appears
is
met
have been
to
introduced as a measure for liquids after the time of Moses, having the same capacity as the ephah for dry goods (see my Bill. Archaol. II. This similarity is expressly pp. 139 sqq.). stated in ver. 11. Both of them, the ephah as well as the
homer (n^??, to carry, for compare Gen. xxxvi. 7 with Amos
bath, are to contain the tenth of a to contain, to hold **?9f) vii.
10),
and
;
to be regulated
by the homer.
The
the weights used for money. legal provision (Ex. xxx. 13
;
Lev.
first
Ver. 12 treats of
clause repeats the old
xxvii.
25
;
Num.
iii.
47),
that the shekel, as the standard weight for money, which was
afterwards stamped as a coin, is to contain twenty gerahs. The regulations which follow are very obscure twenty "
:
shekels, twenty-five shekels, fifteen shekels, shall the to
you."
The mina,
mina be
nasn, occurs only here and in 1 Kings
Ezra ii. 69 and Neh. vii. 71, 72, that is to say, only in books written during the captivity or subsequent to it. If we compare 1 Kings x. 17, according to which three minas of gold x.
17
;
;
CHAP. XLV.
were used for a
shield, with
similar shield,
it is
Now
shekels.
Chron.
2
hundred (shekels) of gold are
327
9-12.
evident that a
ix.
where three
16,
have been used for a
said to
mina was equal
to a
hundred
C ??) contained three thousand 1
as the talent
the (sacred or Mosaic) shekels (see
comm. on Ex.
xxxviii. 25, 26),
the talent would only have contained thirty minas, which does
not seem to answer to the Grecian system of weights. For the Attic talent contained sixty minas, and the mina a hundred
drachms
;
so that the talent contained six thousand drachms, or
But
three thousand didrachms.
Hebrew
as the
shekel was
the Attic talent with three thousand BtSpaffltav, didrachms corresponded to the Hebrew talent with three thou
equal to a
sand shekels
;
and the mina,
with a hundred drachms or to the
Hebrew mina with
as the sixtieth part of the talent,
fifty
didrachms, ought to correspond
fifty shekels, as
Greek name
the
fjuva
unquestionably derived from, the Semitic FU&. The relation between the mina and the shekel, resulting from a comparison of 1 Kings x. 17 with 2 Chron. ix. 16, can hardly be made to
is
square with in 2
Chron.
shekels, the
by the assumption that the shekels referred to 16 are not Mosaic shekels, but so-called civil
this, ix.
Mosaic half-shekel, the
beka,
JJJ53,
having acquired
name
of shekel in the course of time, as the most widelycoin of the larger size. silver hundred such shekels spread
the
A
or
bekas made only
one mina
;
fifty Mosaic shekels, which amounted to while sixty minas also formed one talent (see my
Bill. Archdol. II. pp. 135, 136).
But
the words of the second
half of the verse before us cannot be brought into
with this proportion, take them how we we add the three numbers together, 20
harmony
If, for example,
will.
+ 25 +
15 shekels shall
the mina be to you, Ezekiel would fix the mina at sixty shekels. But no reason whatever can be found for such an alteration of the proportion between the
mina and the
hand, or the shekel on the other, to
remain unchanged.
And
if
talent
on the one
the shekel and talent were
even apart from
of the sixty into twenty, twenty-five,
and
this,
fifteen
the division still
remains
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
328
inexplicable,
and can hardly be
accounted for in
satisfactorily
manner proposed by the Rabbins, namely, that there were pieces of money in circulation of the respective weights of twenty, twenty-five, and fifteen shekels, for the simple reason the
that no historical trace of the existence of any such pieces can 1 And the other be found, apart from the passage before us.
attempts that have been made to explain the difficult words are The explanation given by Cocceius and J. not satisfactory. D. Michaelis (Supjplem. ad lex. p. 1521), that three different a smaller one of fifteen Mosaic shekels,
minas are mentioned, a
medium
size of
twenty shekels, and a large one of twenty-
out by Bertheau, open of the true definition an exact that in weight of anything we do not expect three magnitudes, and the purely arbitrary to the objection justly pointed
is
five,
assumption of three different minas
The same division,
an obvious subterfuge.
twenty, twenty-five, and fifteen shekels, has reference
to the three kinds of metal
1
is
thing applies to Hitzig s explanation, that the triple
It is true that Const.
1
used for coinage,
Empereur has observed,
viz.
gold, silver,
in the Discursus
ad
Lectorem prefixed to the Paraphrasis Joseph. Jachiadae in Danielem, that u as God desired that justice should be preserved in all things, He noticed the various coins, and
commanded
that they should have their just weight. Jewish testimony, was of twenty shekels, a second of twenty-five, and a third of fifteen shekels and as these together made one mina, according to the command of God, in order that it might be
One
coin, according to
;
manifest that each had
its
proper quantity,
He
directed that they should
be weighed against the mina, so that it might be known whether each had its own weight by means of the mina, to which they ought to be equal." But the Jewish witnesses (Jadaei testes) are no other than the Rabbins of the Middle Ages, Sal. Jarchi (Raschi), Dav. Kimchi, and Abrabanel, who attest the existence of these pieces of money, not on the ground of historical The much earlier tradition, but from an inference drawn from this verse. of them, but paraphrases the words whatever knows nothing Targumist the third part of a mina has twenty shekels a silver mina, five and twenty shekels the fourth part of a mina, fifteen shekels all sixty are a mina and a great mina (i.e. probably one larger than the ordinary, from which all that can be clearly or civil mina) shall be holy to you learned is, that he found in the words of the prophet a mina of sixty A different explanation is given by the LXX., whose rendering, shekels.
thus
"
:
;
;
;
;
"
;
according to the Cod.
Vatic. (Tischendorf),
runs as follows
:
CHAP. XLV.
329
13-17.
and copper, so that the gold mina was worth, or weighed, twenty shekels the silver mina, twenty-five and the copper ;
;
mina, fifteen, which has no tenable support in the statement of Josephus, that the shekel coined by Simon was worth four
drachms in
which
overthrown by the incongruity in the relation places the gold to the silver, and both these metals
and
;
it
is
There
to the copper.
standing in the
is
evidently a corruption of very old text, and we are not in possession
words of the
of the requisite materials for
Vers. 13-17.
Ver. 13. This
the heave -offering
sixth part of the ephah
give
And
by emendation.
THE HEAVE-OFFERINGS OF THE PEOPLE. is
the sixth
it
removing
part of
which ye shall heave: The
homer of wheat, and ye shall ephah from the homer of barley ;
from the
the
proper measure of oil, from the bath of oil a tenth of the bath from the cor, which contains ten baths or a homer ; for ten baths are a homer ; Ver. 15. And one head from
Ver. 14.
the flock x.ee.1
the
from two hundred from ff/xXo/,
to the Cod.
AL
^t>cot
:
oi
x,ct\
TrtvTtix.ovTet
TTSVTS fftxhot
the watered land
aixhot q pva,
Gesch. der Isr. pp. 9 sqq.) regard the latter as
tuate
it
thus
xovroe, alx. hoi "
:
oi
Trivre oix.hoi
Trt i/Tf,
x,ee.l
oi
vftiy
aix,~hot
\
and according
^tKce,
xcti
vsvTri-
and Bertheau (Zur the original text, and punc
Boeckh (Metrol. Untersuch. pp. 54
XGVTOC. x.r.A.
iar,ot.i
^SKX
TTSVTS xoti ol
of Israel, for
sqq.)
tit>cot
ff/xAo/
Bsxac,
xotl
TTSJ/TJJ-
q pvot, iarxi vp.lv, interpreting the whole verse as follows once fixed shall remain unaltered, and unadulterated in its
the weight original value
:
namel/, a shekel shall contain ten gerahs five shekels, or a five-shekel piece, shall contain exactly five and so also a ten-shekel piece, exactly ten shekels ; and the mina shall contain fifty shekels." But how :
;
;
ever this explanation may appear to commend itself, and although for this reason it has been adopted by Havernick and by the author of this com
mentary in his BibL Arcliaol., after a repeated examination of the matter I cannot any longer regard it as well-founded, but am obliged to subscribe to the view held by Hitzig and Kliefoth, that this rendering of the LXX. carries on the face of it the probability of its resting upon nothing more "
than an attempt to bring the text into harmony with the ordinary value of the mina." For apart from the fact that nothing is known of the existence
and ten shekel pieces, it is impossible to get any intelligible meaning from the words, that five shekels are to be worth five shekels, and ten shekels worth ten shekels, as it was self-evident that five shekels could not be worth either four shekels or six. of five
330
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the meat- offering,
and for
the burnt-offering,
and for
the peace-
make atonement for them, is the saying of the Lord Ver. 16. All the people of the land shall be held to this
offerings, to
Jehovah.
Ver. 17.
heave-offering for the prince in Israel.
prince shall devolve the burnt-offerings, the drink-offering at the feasts, the
at all the festivals of the house sin-offering,
and
to
And
upon
the meat-offering,
new moons, and
the
and
the Sabbaths,
of Israel ; he shall provide the
and
the meat-offering,
the peace-offerings,
and
the burnt-offering,
make atonement for
and
the house of Israel.
The
introductory precepts to employ just measures and weights are now followed by the regulations concerning the productions of nature to be paid by the Israelites to the prince the sacrificial worship, the provision for which was to Fixed contributions are to be levied for this devolve on him.
for
and animals of the
purpose, of wheat, barley,
oil,
according to vers.
of corn the sixtieth part, of
hundredth
There
is
offering,
offering flock.
part,
1315,
and of the
flock the
flock
namely, oil
the
two hundredth head.
no express mention made of wine for the drinkor of cattle, which were also requisite for the burnt-
and peace-offering, in addition to animals from the The enumeration therefore is not complete, but simply
contains the rule according to which they were to act in levying The word bW$W in what was required for the sacrifices.
13 must not be
ver.
altered, as Hitzig proposes; for although
this is the only passage in
CW
in
Gen.
xli.
u to raise the sixth
homer, part of a proper quantity. article, see the oil, is
part."
ph, that fl?$n
A
comm. on
n$fc?
sixth of
is
ch. oil,
be contributed from the
occurs,
it
is
formation and
its
which
ran
namely of the bath of
to
which
34, both in
meaning,
the sixtieth i.e.
the
apposition to |0$n (for the
xliii. i.e.
oil,
is
fixed or established,
is
in
an ephah
analogous to its
21), the fixed quantity of the measure of that which
and that from the bath of
be the tenth part of the bath from the cor, i.e. the oil, hundredth part of the year s crop, as the cor contained ten shall
baths.
The
cor
is
not mentioned in the preceding words
331
CHAP. XLV. 13-17.
(ver. 11),
name
nor does
occur in the Mosaic law.
it
for the homer,
which
met with for the
is
writings of the captivity (1 For this reason
Kings
v.
2,
25
;
It is first
another
time in the
2 Chron.
ii.
9,
capacity explained by the Ul D rinn JTW, from the words which are appended to "H3D cor (namely) of ten baths, one homer; and the latter definition
xxvii. 5).
its
is
:
further explained by the clause, for ten baths are one homer." Ver. 15. n p^E, from the watered soil (cf. Gen. "
is still
xiii.
10), that
has been
is
general purpose
The
to say, not a lean beast,
fed upon
article in
belong, to
but a fat one, which
&?&.
good pasture.
of the sacrifices (vid.
&yn as in ron in ver, 14.
i.
anything
4).
?K rvn
?
in
indicates
">????
Lev.
?
to be,
other words, to be held to
the
Ver. 16.
it,
i.e.
to
under
obligation to do it; T^iTjn (ver. 17), on the other hand, to be
upon
a person,
i.e.
and days of
feast
In Hjtovaa the upon him. which have been previously men
to devolve
festival,
tioned separately, are
all
grouped together,
to furnish the sin-offering, etc.,
i.e.
to
ttl
nwpnn DK
rtvw,
supply the materials for
them. concerned, the Mosaic law makes no mention of any contributions to the sanctuary, with the ex ception of the first-born, the first-fruits and the tithes, which
So far
as the fact
is
could be redeemed with money, however. Besides these, it was only on extraordinary occasions e.g. the building of the tabernacle
that
the
people
were called upon for freewill
But
the Mosaic law contains no regulation as heave-offerings. to the sources from which the priests were to meet the demands for the festal sacrifices.
before us are new.
So
far, the instructions in the verses
What had
formerly been given for this
object as a gift of spontaneous love, is to become in the future a regular and established duty, to guard against that arbitrary
and
fitful
injury.
from which the worship of God might suffer To these instructions there are appended, from ver. 18 feeling
onwards, the regulations concerning the sacrifices to be offered at the different festivals.
332
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Chap.
xlv. 18-xlvi. 15. Instructions concerning the Festal
and Daily
The
series
month
Sacrifices.
commences with the
Then
xlv.
in
sin-offerings
the
first
follow the sacrifices at the
18-20). (ch. Passover and feast of tabernacles (vers. 21-25), in connection with which a way and a standing-place in the temple are assigned to the prince and the people during the offering of these sacrifices (ch. xlvi. 1-3). After these we have the burntofferings
on the Sabbaths and new moons
(ch. xlvi. 4-7),
and
once more a direction with regard to their entrance and exit
when
the prince and the people
yearly festivals (vers. feasts (ver. 1.1), to
810);
come
also
which there
is
to the
temple at the
the meat-offerings at the
appended a direction with
regard to the freewill-offerings of the prince (ver. 12); and, finally, the instructions
concerning the daily burnt-offering and
meat-offering (vers. 13-15). Vers. 18-20.
THE
SIN-OFFERINGS IN THE FIKST MONTH.
Yer. 18. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, In the first (month), on the first of the month, thou shalt take a bullock, a young ox without blemish, and absolve the sanctuary. Ver. 19. And the priest shall take
upon of
the enclosure
gate
of the blood of
the door-posts
of
the
of
altar,
inner court.
on the seventh of
and of
of the
the house,
the
folly, that so ye
the
sin-offering,
and upon
and upon
Ver. 20.
the
And
the
and put
it
four corners
door-posts at the so
shalt
thou
do
month, for the sake of erring men may make atonement for the house.
prescribed for the new moons generally the sin-offering of a he-goat, in addition to the burnt-offerings and meat-offerings (Num. xxviii. 15) and, besides this, had
The Mosaic law had
;
month by day a special feast-offering to be added to the regular new-moon s and sacrifices, and consisting of a sin-offering of a he-goat, This burnt-offerings and meat-offerings (Num. xxix. 2-6). also distinguished
the new-moon
s
of the seventh
CHAP. XLV. distinguishing of the seventh
333
18-20.
month by a
special
new-moon
s
but in the place of it the first month is distinguished by a sin-offering to be presented on the first and seventh days. Nothing is said in vers. 18-20 about sacrifice is
omitted in Ezekiel
;
burnt-offerings for these days;
appointed in ch. xlvi. 6, 7 for the
but as the burnt-offering is new-moon s day without any
and the regulations as to the connection between the meat-offering and the burnt-offerings are repeated in ch. xlvi. 11 limitation,
and
for the holy days
the is
new-moon
s
day
is
feast days also
evidently good ground
offering ch. xlvi. first
(2"njta
D^n) generally, and
reckoned among the B^iE, there
for the assumption that the burnt-
and meat-offering prescribed for the new moon in 6, 7 were also to be offered at the new moon of the
month.
On
the other hand, no special burnt-offering or
meat-offering is mentioned for the seventh day of the first month ; so that in all probability only the daily burnt-offering
and meat-offering were added upon that day
(ch. xlvi.
13 sqq.)
to the sin-offering appointed for
it. Moreover, the sin-offerings and seventh days of the first month are distinguished from the sin-offerings of the Mosaic law, partly by the animal selected (a young bullock), and partly by the
prescribed for the
first
disposal of the blood.
offering for the
According
new moons,
to the
Mosaic law, the
sin-
as well as for all the feast days of
the year, the Passover, Pentecost, day of trumpets, day of and feast of tabernacles atonement, (all eight days), was to be a he-goat
(Num.
xxviii.
15, xxii. 30, xxix. 5, 11, 16, 19, 22,
Even the sin-offering for the congrega on the great day of atonement simply consisted in a he-goat (or two and it was only he-goats, Lev. xvi. 5) for the sin-offering for the high priest, whether on that day (Lev. xvi. 3), or when he had sinned so as to bring guilt upon 25, 28, 31, 34, 38).
tion of Israel
;
the nation (Lev. iv. 3), or when the whole congregation had sinned (Lev. iv. 14), that a bullock was On the required. other hand, according to the both on the Ezekiel, sin-offering first and seventh of the first and also the one to days month,
334
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
be brought by the prince on the fourteenth day of that month, i.e. on the day of the feast of Passover (ch. xlv. 22), for himself
and for all the people, were to consist of a bullock, and only the sin-offering on the seven days of the feasts of Passover and tabernacles of a he-goat (ch. xlv. 23, 25). The Mosaic law contains no express instructions concerning the sprinkling of the blood of the sin-offering at the new moons and feasts (with the exception of the great atoning sacrifice on the day of
atonement), because it was probably the same as in the case of the sin-offerings for the high priest and the whole congregation,
when
the blood was
first of all to be sprinkled seven times the curtain in of front the against capporeth, and then to be to the horns of the altar of and the remainder incense, applied
to
be poured out at the foot of the altar of burnt-offering
(Lev.
iv.
atoning
was
6,
7,
17, 18)
sacrifice
;
whereas, in the case of the great
on the day of atonement, some of the blood
of all to be sprinkled at or
upon the front side of the capporeth and seven times upon the ground, and after that it was to be applied to the horns of the altar of incense and of first
But according the altar of burnt-offering (Lev. xvi. 15-17). to Ezekiel, some of the blood of the sin-offerings on the first and seventh days of the first month, and certainly also on the same days of the feasts of Passover and tabernacles, was to be smeared upon the posts of the house that is to say, the posts mentioned in ch.
21, not merely those of the ?^n, the door
xli.
into the holy place, but also those of the BHp, the door leading into the
most holy place, upon the horns and the four corners
of the enclosure of the altar of burnt-offering (ch. xliii. 20), and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court. It is a
ivnn "W is only one door, and point in dispute here whether in that case whether the east gate of the inner court is to be understood as in ch.
xlvi.
2 pSJ$? HWD), as Hitzig and others to be taken in a collective sense as
is suppose, or whether the three gates of the inner court (Kliefoth and signifying is favoured The latter view by the collective use of others). "tyW
CHAP. XLV.
335
21-1-5.
the word njwp by itself, and also by the circumstance that if only one of the three gates were intended, the statement which of the three would hardly have been omitted (cf. ch. xlvi. 1, xliv.
According
1, etc.).
to ver. 18, these sin-offerings
to serve for the absolving of the sanctuary
ver. 20, to
were
and according
;
to
make atonement for the temple on account of error The recon directions mean the same thing.
Both
or folly.
the temple was effected by its absolution or purifi cation from the sins that had come upon it through the error ciliation of
and
Sins OMB^D are sins occasioned by the and weakness of blood, for which expiation could be made by sin-offerings (see the comm. on Lev. iv. 2 and Num. xv. 22 sqq.). B^NO, lit. away from the erring man, i.e. to folly of the people. flesh
nab>
release "nso,
him from
his sin.
This expression
away from simplicity or
folly
;
is
strengthened by
here, as in Prov.
vii. 7,
as
The great expiatory abstractum pro concrete, the simple man. sacrifice on the day of atonement answered the same purpose, the absolution of the sanctuary from the sins of the people committed nwa (Lev. xvi. 16 sqq.). Vers. 21-25. SACRIFICES
OF TABERNACLES.
AT THE PASSOVER AND FEAST
Ver. 21. In the
on the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall keep the Passover, a feast of a Ver. 22. And the prince full week; unleavened shall be eaten. first (month),
day for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock as a sin-offering. Ver. 23. And for the seven shall the as a he feast days of prepare burnt-offering for Jehovah
shall prepare on that
seven bullocks days,
and seven rams without blemish
and as a
sin-offering
daily, the seven
a he-goat daily. Ver. 24. prepare an ephah for the
And
as
a meat-offering, he shall bullock, and an ephah for the ram, and a hin of oil for the ephah. Ver. 25. In the seventh (month), on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast he shall do the same for seven days with regard
to the
meat-offering,
sin-offering, as
as
also
the
oil.
also
the
In
burnt -offering, and the the
"
words,
shall
the
336
THE PKOPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Passover be to
there lies the thought that the Passover is you," be celebrated in the manner appointed in Ex. xii., with the There is con paschal meal in the evening of the 14th Abib. to
siderable
D^
ntylB?,
which
feast of seven
A
weeks.
connected with the
difficulty
all
following words, the older translators have rendered
an "
a
signifies periods of seven days or feast of heptads of days, or weeks of days, cannot days."
JliJOKJ
possibly mean a feast which lasted only seven days, or a week. nijDKJ an is used elsewhere for the feast of weeks (Ex. xxxiv. 22
;
Deut.
because they were to reckon seven weeks from the second day of the Passover, the day of the sheaf of firstfruits, and then to keep the feast of the loaves of first-fruits, or xvi. 10),
the feast of harvest (Deut. xvi. 9). Kliefoth retains this wellestablished meaning of the words in this passage also, and gives the following explanation If the words flijDEJ an stood alone :
without D 1 ^,
be kept
it
would mean that
like the feast of
But
of first-fruits.
in future the
Passover was to
seven weeks, as the feast of the loaves
the addition of
CW, which
is
to
the same sense as in Dan. x. 2, 3, Gen. xxix. 14, this turn to the thought, that in future the
kept as a feast weeks."
of seven weeks long,
According "
regulation
is,
to this
"a
be taken in etc.,
Passover
is
gives to
be
feast lasting seven
explanation, the
meaning of the
that in future not only the seven days of sweet
whole of the seven weeks intervening between the feast of the wave-sheaf and the feast of the wave-loaves, loaves, but the
be kept as a Passover, that the whole of the quinquagesima should be one Easter an, and the feast of weeks be one with the Passover." To this there is appended the further
was
to
be eaten, not merely for the seven days therefore, but for the whole of the seven weeks, This explanation is a till the feast of the loaves of first-fruits.
regulation,
that unleavened bread
is
to
very sagacious one, and answers to the Christian view of the But it is open to objections which render it Easter-tide. untenable.
In the
of lasting for days,
^, when used in the sense not usually connected with the preceding
first is
place, that
1
D"
CHAP. XLV.
the construct state, but D jn^ accusative
noun
in
compare B^ Gen. xli. 1, Jer.
;
D
Jp;
D;JW
in
more important objection jnn *? 1 D"
*?;,
337
21-25.
is
attached as an adverbial in
Wffel
Dan.
x.
2,
3,
But a
xxviii. 3, 11, etc.
and still
the circumstance that the words
is
23 unquestionably point back to nijn^ :n no other way in which the article in ann can be
in ver.
njDB>
as there
is
22 points back to the four teenth day mentioned in ver. 21 as the time of the pesach feast. It follows from this, however, that D lpj nljniP can only signify explained, just as
fcttnn
Bi s ? in ver.
It is true that the plural filing appears a seven days feast. irreconcilable with this ; for Kimchi s opinion, that rnjOE> is a
written with C/iolem instead of Patach,
singular,
result of perplexity,
is
purely a
and the explanation given by Gussetius,
that Ezekiel speaks in the plural of weeks, because the refer
ence
is
"
to the institution of the
to be celebrated
no
The
better.
of genus, as in xix.
29
;
many
times in the series of times and
must rather be taken
plural T\\y3& ^.V,
Passover as an annual festival
Gen.
xiii.
or D J3, Gen. xxi. 7,
ages,"
is
as a plural
12 and Judg. xii. 7 inn, Gen. Isa. xxxvii. 3 ; so that Ezekiel ;
speaks indefinitely of heptads of days, because he assumes that the fact is well known that the feast only lasted one heptad of days, as he expressly states in ver. 23.
If this explanation of the plural does not commend itself, we must take nljOB* as a copyist s error for JTO^ ? feast of a heptad of days, i.e. a feast lasting a full week,
error to the fact that
and
attribute the origin of this copyist s JH the
nyn^
naturally suggested thought of rnjQP an, feast of weeks, or Pentecost, not merely because the feast of Pentecost
is always mentioned in the Pentateuch with the feasts of Passover and tabernacles, but also along because the only singular form of niJDt? that we meet with is W1W (Dan. (Gen. xxix. 27), not here as in Deut. xvi. 1,
elsewhere
ix.
njDB>
27), or in the construct state
and njnp.
2, so
feast of unleavened bread.
that
II.
:
Js
JD^ used
includes the seven days
The Niphal
the accusative in the olden style
EZEK.
it
-The word nnari
&?
is
construed with
mazzoth shall
men eat. Y
In
338 vers.
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. 22 and 23 there follow the regulations concerning the
and first of all concerning the sinbe presented on the fourteenth day, on the evening of which the paschal lamb was slaughtered and the paschal sacrifices of this festival,
offering to
meal was held
(ver. 22).
The Mosaic
legislation
makes no
allusion to this, but simply speaks of festal sacrifices for the
seven days of mazzoth, the loth to the 21st Abib (Lev. xxiii. 58; Num. xxviii. 16-25), with regard to which fresh regula tions are also given here.
The Mosaic law
prescribes for each
of these seven days as burnt-offerings two bullocks, a ram, and
seven yearling lambs, as a meat-offering ; three-tenths of an ephah of meal mixed with oil for each bullock, two-tenths for the ram, and one-tenth -for each lamb, and a he-goat for the sin-offering
(Num.
xxviii.
19-22).
The new law
for the feasts,
on the other hand, also requires, it is true, only one he-goat daily for a sin-offering on the seven feast days, but for the daily burnt-offerings seven bullocks and seven rams each ;
and for the meat-offering, an ephah of meal and a hin of In the new thorah, oil for every bullock and for every ram. and meat-offerings are much richer and more copious, and the latter in far greater measure than the former. Ver. 25. The same number of sacrifices is therefore,
to
the burnt-offerings
be offered throughout the feast of seven days falling upon
the fifteenth day of the seventh month. This feast is the feast of tabernacles, but the name is not mentioned, doubtless because
the practice of living in tabernacles (booths) would be dropped And even with regard to the sacrifices of in the time to come.
new
thorah differs greatly from the old. Accord ing to the Mosaic law, there were to be offered, in addition to the daily sin-offering of a he-goat, seventy bullocks in all as
this feast, the
burnt-offerings for the seven days; and these were to be so distributed that on the first day thirteen were to be offered,
and the number was
to be reduced
by one on each of the
following days, so that there would be only seven bullocks upon the seventh day; moreover, every day two rams and
339
CHAF. XLVI. 1-7.
fourteen yearling lambs were to be offered, together with the of meal and oil for a meat-offering ac requisite quantity of the animals (Num. xxix. 12-34). number the to cording
on the other hand, the quantity of provision made for the sacrifices remained the same as that so that the whole cost appointed for the feast of Passover
According
to
Ezekiel,
;
and meat-offerings did not reach the amount required by the Mosaic law. In addition to all this, there was an eighth day observed as a closing festival in the of the burnt-offerings
Mosaic feast of tabernacles, with special also
is
wanting in Ezekiel.
and
sacrifices;
But the following
is
still
this
more
important than the points of difference just mentioned Ezekiel only mentions the two yearly feasts of seven days in the first :
and seventh months, and omits not only the Pentecost, or feast of weeks, but also the day of trumpets, on the first of the seventh month, and the day of atonement on the tenth from which we must infer that the Israel of the future would keep only the ;
two
first
named
of
all
this conclusion is placed
the yearly feasts. The correctness of the of reach doubt by the fact beyond
that he practically transfers the feasts of the day of trumpets and of the day of atonement, which were preparatory to the feast of tabernacles, to the first special sin-offerings for the first (vers.
meal
month, by the appointment of and seventh days of that month
18-20), and of a sin-offering on the day of the paschal This essentially transforms the idea which (ver. 22).
lies at
the foundation of the cycle of Mosaic feasts, as
we
intend
show, when
discussing the meaning and signi ficance of the whole picture of the new kingdom of God, as
subsequently to
shown
in ch. xl.-xlviii.
Chap.
xlvi.
1-15. Sacrifices for the Sabbath and
Freewill- Offerings,
Vers. 1-7. SACRIFICES
and Daily
New Moon,
Sacrifices.
FOR THE SABBATH AND
NEW MOON.
devolved upon the prince to provide and bring the sacrifices for himself and the house of As, according to ch. xlv. 17,
it
340
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Israel
after the appointment of the sacrifices to be offered at
;
the yearly feasts (ch. xlv. 18-25), and before the regulation of the sacrifices for the Sabbath and new moon (ch. xlvi. 4-7), directions are given as to the conduct of the prince at the
For although the
offering of these sacrifices (ch. xlvi. 1-3).
slaughtering and preparation of the
sacrifices
for the
altar
devolved upon the priests, the prince was to be present at the offering of the sacrifices to be provided by him, whereas the people were under no obligation to appear before the Lord in the temple except at the yearly feasts.
Ver. court,
1.
Thus
saith the
Lord Jehovah, The
which looks toward the
east, shall be
gate of the inner
shut the six working
days, and on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of Ver. 2. And the prince shall the new moon it shall be opened.
come by
the ivay to the
at the posts offering
and
of
porch of
the gate,
and
the gate
his peace-offerings,
threshold of the gate
from
without,
the priests shall prepare
and he
and then go out; but
And
and stand
Ms
shall worship
burnt-
on the
the gate shall not be shut
of the land shall worship at the entrance of that gate on the Sabbaths and on the new moons Ver. 4. And the burnt-offering which the prince before Jehovah.
till
the evening.
Ver.
3.
the people
shall offer to Jehovah shall consist on the Sabbath-day of six lambs
without blemish and a
ram
without blemish
;
Ver.
5.
And
as a
a meat meat-offering, an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs as offering that which his hand may give, and of oil a hin to the ephah Ver. 6. And on the day of the new moon there shall be a a bullock, young ox without blemish, and six lambs and a ram without blemish ; Ver, 7. And he shallput an ephah for the bullock (of meal).
and an ephah for the ram for the meat-offering, and for the lambs as much as his hand affords, and of oil a hin for the ephah. Vers. 1-3 supply and explain the instructions given in ch. xliv.
1-3 concerning the outer eastern
gate.
As
the east
the east gate of gate of the outer court (ch. xliv. 1), so also the inner court was to remain closed during the six work
and ing days, and only to be opened on the Sabbaths
new
CHAP. XLVI.
moons, when prince was
was
it
to
341
1-7.
remain open
to enter this inner east gate,
till
The the evening. to stand there and
and
worship upon the threshold while his sacrifice was being pre "WH &?N TO K ^ is to be taken as in ch. pared and offered. xliv. 3 ; but P n P, which is appended, is not to be referred to the entrance into the inner court, as the statement would be quite superfluous so far as this
was not already
of the inner court
meaning
of
is
concerned, since any one who must enter the gate-building
in the inner court
HnP
is
from without, or from the outer court. The rather that the prince was to enter, or to go
the gate porch of the inner court through the outer east gate. There he was to stand at the posts of the gate and worship on to,
the threshold of the gate during the sacrificial ceremony ; and when this was over he was to go out again, namely, by the same way by which he entered (ch. xliv. 3). But the people who
came
temple on the Sabbaths and new moons were to nna, i.e. at the entrance of this gate, outside the
to the
worship
threshold of the gate.
Kliefoth
is
wrong
nna
in taking
in the
sense of through the doorway, as signifying that the people were to remain in front of the outer east gate, and to worship
looking at the temple through this gate and through the open fcttnn this gate, can only be the gate of "iy$n, gate between. For There is the inner court, which has been already mentioned.
no force Ninn,
in the consideration
which has led Kliefoth
and think of the outer
gate, namely, that
"
to overlook it
would be
unnatural to suppose that the people were to come into the outer court through the outer north and south gates, whilst the outer east gate remained shut (or perhaps more correctly, was opened for the prince), and so stand in front of the inner court,"
as
it is
impossible to see what there
in such a supposition.
On
is
the other hand,
that it
is
is
unnatural
unnatural to
assume that the people, who, according to ver. 9, were to come through the north and south gates into the outer court at all the D^JJiD to appear before Jehovah,
court upon the Sabbaths and
were not allowed
new moons
if
to enter the
they should wish to
342
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
worship before Jehovah upon these days outside before the gate of the
but were to stand
also,
The
outer court.
difference
between the princes and the people, with regard to visiting the temple upon the Sabbaths and new moons, consisted chiefly in this, that the prince could enter by the outer east gate and proceed as far as the posts of the middle gate, and there wor ship upon the threshold of the gate, whereas the people were only allowed to come into the outer court through the outer north and south gates, and could only proceed to the front of the middle gate. Vers. 4 sqq. The burnt-offering for the
Sabbath
is
when compared with that The law requires two yearling
considerably increased
appointed in
the Mosaic law.
lambs with the corresponding meat-offering (Num. xxviii. 9) Ezekiel, six lambs and one ram, and in addition to these a meat
ram according
offering for the
down iT
in ch. xlv.
24 for the
;
to the proportion already laid
festal sacrifices
nriOj a gift, a present of his hand,
that
;
is
and for the lambs, to say, not a hand
ful of meal, but, according to the formula used in alternation
with
Vr
it
in ver. 7, as
much
as his
hand can
rfrn, see Lev. xiv. 30, xxv. 26.
sacrifices of the
new moon
in vers. 6
It
and
For
afford.
"^
$3
different with the
is
The law
7.
of
Moses
prescribed two bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs, with the corresponding meat-offering, and a he-goat for a sin-offering
(Num.
xxviii.
11-15)
;
the thorah of Ezekiel, on the contrary,
omits the sin-offering, and reduces the burnt-offering to one bullock, one ram, and six lambs, together with a meat-offering,
according to the proportion already mentioned, which is peculiar The first D^Dn in ver. 6 is a copyist s error for to his law.
ON THE OPENING OF THE TEMPLE FOR THE AND FOR THE VOLUNTARY OFFERINGS OF THE PEOPLE, Vers. 8-12.
PRINCE. by
the
out.
way Ver.
Ver.
8.
to the 9.
And when
porch of
And
ichen
the prince cometh, he shall go in
the gate,
and by
the people
of
its
the
way
shall he go
land come before
CHAP. XLVI.
343
8-12.
Jehovah on the feast days, he who enters through the north gate to
worship shall go out through the south gate
;
and he
ivho enters
through the south gate shall go out through the north gate
:
they
shall not return through the gate through which they entered, but
go out straightforward. Ver. 10. And the prince shall enter in the midst of them, when they enter ; and when they go out, they Ver. 11. And at the feast days and holy shall go out (together).
days the meat-offering shall be an ephah for the bullock, an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs wliat his hand may give, and of oil
a hin for
And when
Ver. 12.
the ephah.
the prince
voluntary burnt-offering or voluntary peace-offerings they shall open the gate that looks to the east, his burnt- offer ings
day ;
and
his peace-offering as he does
and when he has gone out
The coming
out.
and he
prepares a to
Jehovah,
shall prepare
on the Sabbath
they shall shut the gate after his going
of the people to worship before
Jehovah has
been already mentioned in ver. 3, but only casually, with refer ence to the position which they were to take behind the prince in case any individuals should come on the Sabbaths or new
At the high moons, on which they were not bound to appear. one was on the other to come hand, every (Deut. festivals, and for this there follow the necessary directions in xvi. 16) ;
vers. 9
and 10,
to prevent
crowding and confusion.
For the
purpose of linking these directions to what comes before, the rule already laid down in ver. 2 concerning the entrance and exit of the prince
is
repeated in ver. 8.
D^jMo
is
supposed by
the commentators to refer to the high festivals of the
and seventh months apply
to the
ver. 11, as
D SH
same
we may
(ch. xlv.
as
feasts
see
first
21 and 25); but B^TO does not those which are called D an in
from the combination of D an and
&H^-
the term applied to the greater annual feasts, as distin guished from the Sabbaths, new moons, and the day of atone is
ment.
The
D^jpo, on the contrary, are
sanctified to the Lord, including
comm. on Lev.
xxiii. 2).
here in ver.
and not D an
It s
9,
is -
t
in
all the times and days even the Sabbath (see the this sense that is used
because what
D^
is
laid
down con-
344
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
cerning the entrance and exit of the people, when visiting the temple, is not merely intended to apply to the high festivals, on which the people were bound to appear before Jehovah, but
Sabbaths and new moons, when ever individuals from among the people were desirous of their own free-will to worship before the Lord. The latter cases also to such feast days as the
were not
to
great feasts
and
be excluded, although, as ver. 10 clearly shows, the were principally kept in mind. For the entrance
exit of the prince in the midst of the people (ver.
apply to the great yearly feasts alone. ver.
9
is
to be preferred to the easier
The Keri
Chetib
K,
and
W is
10) in
not
reading, but the more correct reading of kinds those who entered as two people are mentioned, also, who entered and those north the gate by the south. Both by
merely the more
difficult
are to go out walking straight forward ; and neither of them is to turn in the court for the purpose of going out by the gate
Even
through which he entered. altered, as Hitzig supposes,
in ver.
10
1^.1 is
not to be
but to be taken as referring to the
In ver. 11, the instructions given in ch. concerning the quantities composing the meat
prince and the people. xlv. 24, xlvi. 5, 7,
offering for the
different feasts,
are repeated here as rules
D^JJto^ D^na has been correctly at the feasts, and generally at all
applicable to all festal times.
explained as follows
"
:
regular (more correctly, established) seasons," cf. ch. xlv. 17. Only the daily sacrifices are excepted from this rule, other regulations being o laid o
down
for
them
Ver. 12. The
in ver. 14.
And freewill-offerings could be presented on any week-day. the rules laid down in vers. 1 and 2 for the Sabbath-offerings of the prince are extended to cases of this kind, with one modification, namely, that the east gate, which had been opened for the occasion, should be closed again as soon as the sacrificial
ceremony was over, and not left open till the evening, as on the n:HJ is a substantive the freewillSabbath and new moon. :
offering,
offering.
which could be either a burnt-offering or a peace-
CHAP. XLVI.
THE DAILY
Vers. 13-15.
345
13-15.
SACRIFICE.
Ver. 13.
And
a
slialt thou prepare as a burnt: Jehovah every morning shalt thou prepare offering daily for a And 14. Ver. it. meat-offering shalt thou add to it every
yearling lamb ivithout blemish
morning, a sixth of an ephah, and oil a third of a hin, to moisten the wheaten flour, as a meat-offering for Jehovah : let these be ever lasting statutes, perpetually enduring.
lamb,
and
and
the meat-offering,
The
petual burnt- offer ing.
the
Ver. 15. oil,
And prepare
the
every morning as a per
preparation of the daily sacrifice
the prince, in
harmony with ch. xlv. 17
is
not imposed upon ; the duty of the congregation, which the priests have to super intend. Every morning a yearling lamb is to be brought as a
The Mosaic law
burnt-offering.
morning and evening (Num.
it is
required such a lamb both
xxviii. 3, 4).
The new
thorah
omits the evening sacrifice, but increases the meat-offering to the sixth of an ephah of meal and the third of a hin of oil,
an ephah of meal arid the fourth of a hin of against the tenth of the Mosaic law (Num. xxviii. 5). Dh, from prescribed by D D p-i, of Sol. v. The DCH, &TT. \7., to moisten (cf.
oil
Song
2).
plural Hipn refers to the burnt-offering and meat-offering. is added to give greater force, and, according to the
Yn
remark of Hitzig, appears to be intended as a substi The repeated P$B?!ft$ in Lev. xxiii. 14, 21, 31. "i33 of shows that the silence as to the emphasizing correct
tute
for
"ijjaa
evening
not a mere oversight of the matter, but order of worship the evening sacrifice is to
sacrifice is
be omitted.
new The
to the Keri
?!.
that in the
Chetib
&
JJ!
is
to be retained, in opposition
This brings to an end the new order of worship. The verses which follow in the chapter before us introduce two
supplementary notices,
namely, a regulation pointing back to
ch. xlv. 7-9, concerning the right of the prince to
or give
away
description
of
(vers. 19-21).
his landed property (vers.
16-18)
;
hand down and a
brief
the sacrificial kitchens for priests and people
346
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ON THE RIGHT
Vers. 16-18.
OF HIS LANDED PROPERTY.
OF THE PRINCE TO DISPOSE Ver. 16. Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, If the prince gives a present to one of his sons, it is his inheritance, shall belong to his sons ; it is their possession, in an
Ver. 17. But if he gives a present from
hereditary way.
heritance to one of his servants,
of
liberty ,
and then return
Ver. 18.
inheritance remain. the inheritance
possession; sons, that
shall belong to
prince
And
his
from
my
own
;
to his
him
till
his in
the year
sons alone shall his
the prince shall not take
from
them out of
their
of the people, so as
no one of
^-According
to the
it
to thrust
possession he shall transmit to his
people be scattered
from
his possession.
to ch. xlv. 7, 8, at the future division of the land
among the tribes, a possession was to be given to the prince on both sides of the holy heave and of the city domain, that he might not seize upon a possession by force, as the former The
princes had done.
prince might give
away
portions of
but only within such limits that the design with which a regal possession had been granted might not be To his sons, as his heirs, he might make gifts frustrated.
this royal property,
therefrom, which would remain their
presented to property,
it
own property
;
but
if
he
any one of his servants a portion of his hereditary
was
to revert to the prince in the year of liberty
;
Mosaic law, the hereditary field of an which had been alienated, was to revert to its heredi
just as, according to the Israelite,
tary
owner (Lev.
xxvii. 24,
compared with xxv. 10-13).
suffix in ^ripm (ver. 16) is not to
The
be taken as referring to the
with the preceding words in opposition prince, and connected to the accents, but refers to VJ2D to
$
N.
What
the prince gives
one of his sons from his landed property shall be his n^ru i.e. This is expressed still more generally ?
his hereditary possession. in the next clause
:
to his (the prince s) sons shall
as their HjrjJ, presented) belong
i.e.
after the
it
(the land
manner
of an
On
the other hand, what the prince hereditary possession. shall not become hereditary in presents to one of his servants his case, but shall revert to the prince in the year of liberty, or
CHAP. XLVI.
347
19-24.
The second half of ver. 17 reads verbally the year of jubilee. is it ; as for his sons, it shall belong inheritance his thus only "
:
And
was not
break up his regal possession by presents made to servants, so was he (ver. 18) also not to put any one out of his possession by force, for the to
them."
as the prince
to
purpose, say, of procuring property for his own sons; but was to give his sons their inheritance from his own property alone.
For
is
We
14, xxii. 7.
how
ch. xlv. 8,
compare
njin 7
viii.
and such passages as 1 Sam. by and by to the question,
shall return
view that the prince
this regulation stands related to the
the Messiah.
THE
19-24.
Vers.
SACRIFICIAL
PRIESTS AND FOR THE PEOPLE.
me up
the entrance by the shoulder
the priests,
which looked
to
KITCHENS FOR
Ver. 19.
of the gate
the north
;
And
to the
THE
he brought
holy cells for
and behold
was a
there
Ver. 20. And he place on the outermost side toward the west. said to me, This is the place where the priests boil the trespassoffering and the sin-offering, where they bake the meat-offering that they
not need to carry
may
sanctify the people. court,
and
Ver. 21.
and caused me
behold,
in
four
corner spaces
And
were under
he said
vants
to
the
length
and
rows
out into the outer
there
thirty
;
was again a
the court
were
closed,
cubits in breadth
Ver. 23.
therein in all four ,
made round
about.
and
And
;
a
boiling
Ver. 24.
me, These are the kitchen-house, ivhere the ser
of the house boil the slain
In the
court
had one measure.
row of stands was round about hearths
the
of four corners of
the
courts of forty cubits in all
me
he led
pass by the four corners of the court
every corner
Ver. 22. In
court.
to
out into the outer court, to
it
And
-
offering
of the people.
and description of the subordinate buildings of the the sacrificial kitchens are temple, passed over; and they are therefore referred to here again in a supplementary manner.
Ewald xlii.
list
has shifted vers. 19-24, and placed them after ch. 14, which would certainly have been the most suitable
348
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
place for mentioning the sacrificial kitchens for the priests, But it is evident that they stood here originally, and not there ; not only from the fact that in ver. 19a the passage to the holy cells (ch. xlii. 1 sqq.) is circumstantially described,
have been unnecessary
if
which would
the description of the kitchens had
originally followed immediately after ch. xlii. 14, as Ezekiel was then standing by the cells ; but also, and still more clearly,
from the words that serve as an introduction "
he led
me back
door of the house
to the
to
what
follows,
"
(ch. xlvii. 1),
which
are unintelligible unless he had changed his standing -place xlvi. 18 and xlvii. is related in ch. xlvi. 19 as 1,
between ch.
and 21, since Ezekiel had received the 5-xlvi.
xliv.
vers.
19-24 had
front
in
18)
the
of
sacrificial thorah (ch.
house (ch.
xliv.
4).
If
originally stood elsewhere, so that ch. xlvii. 1
was immediately connected with ch. xlvi. 18, the transitionformula in ch. xlvii. la would necessarily have read very But with this section the right of the preceding differently.
Ewald has
one, vers. 16-18, which ch. xlv.
between
and
vers. 8
arbitrarily interpolated in
9, to hold its present place in the
The chapter before us as an appendix, is fully vindicated. holy cells (ver. 19) are those of the northern cell-building (chxlii. 1-10) described in ch. xlii. 1-14 (see Plate I. L). Kuan is
the approach or
way mentioned
in ch.
xlii.
9,
which led from
the northern inner gate to these cells (see Plate I. I) not the to which Ezekiel was but the place brought (Kliefoth), passage ;
along which he was follows in
led.
ntotp;>n
in ch.
xliii.
;
spot to which he
E onbn b$
21, etc.).
of an apposition
The
was conducted
(the article before the construct state, as
*?x
is
and here nb^p
to those for the priests.
appended
is
s ntobn
to
to this in the
form
be repeated in thought
:
belongs to
nto^n. There, was a space set apart at the outermost (hinderfor the boiling of the most) sides toward the west (Plate I. flesh of the trespass-offering and sin-offering, and the baking i.e.
by the
cells,
M\
of the minchah,
that
which the
were
priests
is
to say, of those portions of the sacrifices
to eat in their official capacity (see the
CHAP. XLVI.
comm. on
ch.
xlii.
349
19-24.
For the motive assigned
13).
in ver.
206
for the provision of special kitchens for this object, see the 19. In addition to these, kitchens were exposition of ch. xliv. for the preparation of the sacrificial meals, which were
required
connected with the offering of the shelamim, and were held by These sacrificial kitchens for the those who presented them. in people are treated of in vers. 20-24. They were situated To show the four corners of the outer court (Plate I. N).
angel leads him into the outer court. The holy cells (ver. 19) and the sacrificial kitchens for the wall of the priests (ver. 20) were also situated by the outside had Ezekiel inner court; and for this reason already been led
them
to the prophet, the
out of the inner court, where he had received the sacrificial
through the northern gate of the court by the way which led to the holy cells, that he might be shown the sacri ficial kitchens. When, therefore, it is stated in ver. 21 that thoraJi,
me
WSi* can
only be explained on the supposition that the space from the surround ing wall of the inner court to the way which led from the gate "
he led
out into the outer
court,"
porch of that court to the holy cells, and to the passage which continued this way in front of the cells (Plate I. I and m), was regarded as an appurtenance of the inner court.
In every one
there was a (small) nn yifppa has a repetition of
of the four corners of the outer court
The
courtyard in the court.
The
distributive force.
the court were nhpfy
unmeaning, since "
contracted
sustain
(Hitzig), ;
not
but in
januis clausa (Ges.
uncovered,"
as this
is t
also
;
nor
"it?ij
is
also nothing in the
probability atria clausa,
Thes.\ from
"lEp
;
in
i. e.
language to muris cincta et
Aram,
Ethiop. clausit, obseravit januam. The word nijttfjpno with puncta extraordinaria by the Masoretes as a
word, and
would be
"
which there all
"
has no such meaning ; nor as the Talmudists suppose; nor bridged
(Bottcher), for
"fumum exlialantia"
over
small courtyards in the four corners of
i.e.
courts or courtyards were uncovered
all
"
"
")n
ligavit ; is
in
marked
suspicious
omitted in the Septuagint and Vulgate.
350
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Bottcher and Hitzig have therefore expunged it as a gloss. But even Hitzig admits that this does not explain how it found its
into the text.
way
in the sense
The word
of cornered
is
a
Hophal
participle of
cut off into corners, and
off,
apposition to the suffix to DfiyrnN^
literally,
There
is
in
one measure was
to all four, the spaces or courtyards cut off in the corners. this appositional use of the participle,
Jttj3,
is
compare
1
Kings
For
xiv. 6.
also a difference of opinion as to the
meaning of the which only occurs here and in Ex. xxviii. 17 sqq. and xxxix. 10, where it signifies row," and not "enclosure" word
"ViD,
"
nrPB, which follows, is evidently merely the femi (Kliefoth). nine plural, from *VID, as HTtp is also derived from nia, in the sense of
encircle"
"to
sequently TiD does not
row or
comm. on Ps. Ixix. 26). Con a covering or boundary wall, but
(see the
mean
which had several separate shelves, under which the cooking hearths were placed, rifesp, not a
shelf of brickwork
kitchens, but cooking hearths; strictly speaking a partic. Piel,
which
things fi^L
1
V$&9
cause
to
DWnsn
boil.
the temple servants,
as
JV2,
kitchen
house.
distinguished from the
servants of Jehovah (ch. xliv. 15, 16), are the Levites (ch. xliv. 11, 12).
^fry is construed as in ch. xl. 17
AND DISTRIBUTION OF
IT
and
AMONG THE TRIBES OF
xli.
18, 19.
ISRAEL.
After Ezekiel had seen the entrance of the glory of the Lord new temple, which was measured before his eyes, and
into the
had received the new thorah
to be announced to the people which Israel was to render to its God in the service concerning of a stream the new sanctuary, living water was shown to him,
proceeding from the threshold of the temple, flowing to the
Arabah, and emptying itself into the Dead Sea, to fertilize the barren soil, and fill the salt water of the Dead Sea with vital
power
Lord
is
(ch. xlvii.
1-12)
communicated
to
;
and
finally,
the
command
him concerning the boundaries
of
the
of the
CHAP. XLVIT.
351
1-12.
the twelve tribes of Israel, holy land, its distribution among and the building of the holy city (ch. xlvii. 13-xlviii. 35).
Chap,
When
1-12. TJie River of Water of Life.
xlvii.
Jehovah
shall
valley of Jehoshaphat,
have judged
and
all
shall dwell as
the heathen in the of His people
King
upon Zion His holy mountain, then will the mountains trickle with new wine, and the hills run with milk, and all the brooks and a spring will proceed from the house of Jehovah, and water the Acacia valley. With these of
Judah
flow with water
figures Joel
(ch. iv. 18)
;
has already described the river of
salvation, which the Lord would cause to flow to His congrega tion in the time when the kingdom of God shall be perfected.
This picture of the Messianic salvation shapes itself in the case of our prophet into the magnificent vision contained in the 1 Ver. 1. And he led me back to the door of section before us. the house, and, behold, water
toward
flowed out from wider the threshold
for the front side of the house was the east ; and the water flowed down from below, from the right shoulder of the house on the south of the altar. Ver. 2. the house
of toward
And to
he led
me
the east,
out by the
way of
and caused me
the north gate,
go round about on the outside, to the outer gate of the way to toward the east ; and, behold, ivaters rippled
the (gate), looking
of the gate. Ver. 3. When the man went out toward the east, he had a measuring line in his hand, and he measured, a thousand cubits, and caused me to go through
for
the right shoulder
the water
water
to
thousand, and caused knees
;
the ankles.
me
Ver.
4.
And
he measured a
go through the water and he measured a thousand^ and caused me
water
to the hips.
to
Ver.
5.
And
water
to the
to
go through he measured a thousand
a river through which I could not tualk, for the water was high, water to swim in, a river which could not be forded. Ver. 6.
And 1
he said
to
me, Hast thou seen
Compare W. Neumann, Die Wasser
on Ezek.
xlvii.
1-12.
Berlin, 1848.
it,
son of
man ? and
des Lelens.
An
he led
me
exegetical study
352
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
lack again by the bank of the river. Ver. 7. When I returned, behold, there stood on the bank of the river very many trees on this side
and on
Ver.
that.
8.
And
and reaches
the sea
into the sea is
;
Ver.
become wholesome.
may
with which living thing river comes, will
when
live,
he said
me. This water
to
and runs down
flows out into the eastern circle,
it
carried out, that the waters
And
9.
into the plain,
it
will
come
to
pass, every
swarms everywhere, whither the double and there will be very many fishes ; for it
water comes thither they will become wholesome, and Ver. 10. And everything will live whither the river comes. will to stand by it, from Engedi Eneglaim they will fishermen this
spread out nets
;
after their kind will there be fishes therein, like
the fishes of the great sea, very its
Ver. 11.
many.
Its
marshes and
they will not become wholesome, they will be given
swamps, Ver. 12.
to salt.
edible fruit
up
And
by the river will all kinds of trees of bank, on this side and on that ; their leaves
grow on its and their fruits
will not wither,
will not fail
every
;
moon
they
will bear ripe fruit, for its water flows out of its sanctuary.
And
their fruits will serve as food,
From
the outer court,
sacrificial
back
and
their leaves as medicine.
where Ezekiel had been shown the
kitchens for the people (ch. xlvi. 21 sqq.), he
to the front of the door of the
house, to
temple
is
taken
be shown
a spring of water, flowing out from under the threshold of the temple, which has swollen in the short course of four thousand
source into a deep river in which men can swim, and which flows down to the Jordan valley, to empty itself into
cubits
the
from
Dead
its
Sea.
In
vers. 1
water are described
;
and
in vers. 3
2,
in ver. 6, the growth of trees on
emptying
itself into
the
the origin and course of this
and
5, its
its
Arabah and
marvellous increase
banks
;
in vers.
;
712, Dead Sea, with The door of the
its
into the
Ver. 1. the life-giving power of its water. house is the entrance into the holy place of the temple, and (fisp not "in the east" JVnn the threshold of this door, "^li?,
sentence explaining the reason does (Hitzig), for the following toward the east" of the this meaning; but require
not
"
.NL
(I
IIT
V
(I
M
JNL
CHAP. XLVII. threshold, which lay toward the
temple was in the east, *|ri3, but to be taken by
east,
is
flftnp
353
1-12.
for the
front of the
not to be connected with
down
only not in the sense of
itself,
wards (Hitzig), but from beneath, namely, down from the right shoulder of the house,
to flow
"nj,
down, because the
stood on higher ground than the inner court.
temple
The
the part of the eastern wall of the holy place right shoulder is between the door and the pillars, the breadth of which was five cubits (ch.
xli. 1).
The water
therefore issued from the corner
formed by the southern wall of the porch and the eastern wall of the holy place (see the sketch on Plate I.), and flowed past the altar of burnt-offering on the south side, and crossed the
court in an easterly direction, passing under its surrounding It then flowed across the outer court and under the wall.
pavement and the eastern wall into the open country, where the prophet, on the outside in front of the gate, saw it rippling
That he might
forth from the right shoulder of that gate.
this, he was led out through the north gate, because the east gate was shut (ch. xliv. 1), and round by the outside wall
do
to the eastern outer
gate.
-W
this,
by
pinn
way Pid
ta,
and
to the (gate) looking
P n TH again,
more minutely defined
is
by
DHjj ruten -ji^
eastwards."
The
OLTT.
by the
\ey.
O^p,
of nD3, related to nsa, most probably signifies to ripple,
not to trickle.
DJp has no article, because
it
is
evident from
the context that the water was the same as that which Ezekiel
had seen
in the inner court, issuing
from the threshold of the
The
temple. right shoulder is that portion of the eastern wall which joined the south side of the gate. Vers. 3-5. The miraculous increase in the depth of the water. thousand
A
cubits
from the
wall, as
one walked through,
it
reached to the
ankles; a thousand cubits further, to the knees; a thousand cubits further, to the hips ; cubits it was impossible to
and
after going another thousand
wade through, one could only swim
The words
D DSX Vp are a brief expression for "there was water which reached to the ankles." CSX is equivalent to
therein.
EZEK.
II.
Z
354
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. an ankle, not the
DB,
sole of the
striking expression tJ^3i3 D^D for
^^"}2
for *ft
DW
may
in Isa. xxxvi. 12 (Keri).
xi.
13,
The
DSN.
possibly have
had the same meaning
been chosen because E^in
D^l
In 1 Chron.
foot.
&&i D3
on the other hand, we have
The measuring man
as ^B
D
directed
the prophet s attention (ver. 6) to this extraordinary increase in the stream of water, because the miraculous nature of the
A
stream was exhibited therein.
natural
river
could not
such an extent within such short distances, unless, other streams emptied themselves into it on all indeed, sides, which was not the case here. He then directed him to ^o back increase, to
to the bank," 7R along the bank, not it. The purpose for which he had been "
again
nsb>
never
left
the
bank was accomplished
cubits.
From
how
covered with
after he
as he
had
led along
had gone four thousand
the increase in the water, as measured up to this he could infer what it would reach in its further depth point, He is therefore now to return along the bank to see course. it is
trees.
^3*B?3 cannot be explained in
any
other way than as an incorrect form for ^wa, though there are no corresponding analogies to be found.
In vers. 8-12 he gives him a
still
course of the river and the effect of
further explanation of the its
waters.
The
river flows
out into njlol^n TOvin, the eastern circle, which is identical the circle of the Jordan (Josh. xxii. 10, 11), with nnn a,
nM
the region above the Dead Sea, where the Jordan valley (Ghor) n is the widens out into a broad, deep basin. deep valley
?^
of the Jordan,
now
called the
Ghor
(see the
comm. on Deut.
i.
1),
of which Robinson says that the greater part remains a desolate wilderness.
It
was
so described in ancient times (see Joseph.
10. 7, iv. 8. 2), and we find it so to-day (compare Pal. ns;n is the Dead Sea, called Djn Raumer, p. 58). and the sea of the Arabah in Deut. iii. 17, in ver. Oto^n 18,
Bell.
Jud.
iii.
v.
iv.
D
49.
fcttpiBn
We HEVrta
agree with Hengstenberg in taking the words as an emphatic summing up of the previous
statement concerning the outflow of the water, to which the
355
CHAP. XLVII. 1-12.
explanation concerning its effect upon the Dead Sea is attached, the and supply ^3 from the clause immediately preceding : "
waters of the river that have been brought out (come) to the There is no sea, and the waters of the Dead Sea are healed." need, therefore, for the emendation proposed by Hitzig, namely,
on
Dn
7N. So much, however, is beyond all doubt, no other than the Dead Sea already mentioned. The supposition that it is the Mediterranean Sea (Chald., Eos., D^fettftD
that nsjn
is
Ewald, and others) cannot be reconciled with the words, and has only been transferred to this passage from Zech. xiv. 8. signifies, as in 2 Kings ii. 22, the healing or rendering wholesome of water that is injurious or destructive to life. The KS"U
character of the
Dead
well acquainted,
and of which Tacitus writes
immenso ambitu,
specie maris sapor e corruptior, gravitate odoris
Sea, with which the ancients were also as follows
:
Lacus
accolis pestifer, neqne vento impellitur neque pisces aid suetas
aquis volucres patitur (Hist. v.
modern
all
travellers (cf. v.
a statement confirmed by Raumer, Pal. pp. 61 sqq., and c. 6),
is Robinson, Physical Geography of the Holy Land), regarded as a disease of the water, which is healed or turned into whole
some water
in
which
fishes
can
live,
by the water of the river
The healing and Dead Sea is described
proceeding from the sanctuary.
and 10.
animated beings dual
D^m
-,vill
occasions
come some
dual should have been
semblance to is it
life-giving
in vers. 9 upon the Whithersoever the waters of the river come, all
effect of this river
DV?, as
that there
is
any
to life
and
flourish.
It
difficulty.
is
In
ver. 9 the
not likely that the
used merely for the sake of
Maurer imagines
;
and
still less
its
re
probable
allusion to a junction of the river proceed
ing from the temple at some point in
its
course with the Kedron,
which is
also flows into the Dead Sea (Havernick), as the Kedron not mentioned either before or afterwards. According to
Kliefoth, the dual
is
intended to indicate a division which takes
place in the waters of the river, that have hitherto flowed on together, as soon as they enter the sea.
But
this
would certainly
356
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
have been expressed more "
expression rent,
and refers
to Jer.
river with a strong cur
21 in support of
bably the best explanation the text into
mean a
to
1.
Hengstenberg takes the
clearly.
"
double river
;
D^m (Ewald)
for nothing
is
this.
This
is
pro
gained by altering does not
or D^ru (Hitzig), as
5>H3
require definition by means of a suffix, nor does the plural U1 is to be taken in con answer to the context. ? 5
"i^"
nection with r
"I5?
:
"i^
^
wherewith
"
it
swarms whithersoever
though ?K does not stand for ?JJ after Gen. vii. 21, as Hitzig supposes, but is to be explained from a species n of attraction, as in Gen. xx. 13. jnvis a pregnant expression, the river
comes;"
to revive, to
come
The words
to life.
are not to be understood,
however, as meaning that there were living creatures in the the before the health-giving water flowed into it
Dead Sea
;
simply, that whithersoever the waters of the river thought come, there come into existence living creatures in the Dead is
Sea, so that
it
swarms with them.
In addition
to the Y*$?j the
quantity of fish is specially mentioned; and in the second hemistich the reason is assigned for the number of living creatures that
come
into existence
by a second
allusion to the
The subject to health-giving power of the water of the river. is to be waters of Dead the viz. the Sea, WBT1, supplied from in the Dead Sea fish The great abundance of the context. produced by the river is still further depicted in ver. 10. Fishermen will spread their nets along its coast from Engedi to Eneglaim; and as for their kind, there will be as many kinds of fish there
found in the great or Mediterranean
as are to be
now Aiti-Jidi, a spring in the middle of the west coast of the Dead Sea, with ruins of several ancient buildings (see the comm. on Josh. xv. 62, and Sea.
"Ha
TV,
i.e.
Goat
s
spring,
has not yet been discovered, u though, from the statement of Jerome, Engallim is at the it has of the Dead Sea, where the Jordan enters v.
Raumer, Pal.
D^V
p. 188).
beginning been conjectured that
PJJ
it,"
be found in Ain el-Feshkhah, a of the west coast, where there are spring at the northern end it
is
to
357
CHAP. XLVIL 1-12. also ruins of a small square
tower and other buildings to be
seen (vid. Robinson s Palestine, II. pp. 491, 492), as none of the other springs on the west coast, of which there are but few, answer so well as this. FD*Q& is pointed without Mappik, pro because the Masoretes did not regard the n as a suffix, as
bably
the noun to which
it
alludes does not follow
afterwards.
till
Yer. 11 introduces an exception, namely, that notwithstanding this the Dead Sea will still retain marshes or pools and swamps,
which
made wholesome
will not be
An
for flto, pools).
(riNJfa
allusion to the natural character of the
Dead Sea
underlies the
In the rainy season, when the sea is full, its waters overspread many low tracts of marsh land, which remain after the receding of the water in the form of moist pools or basins words.
"
;
and
as the water in these pools evaporates rapidly, the
becomes covered with a thick crust of Geography,
p. 215).
destined to remain
The
reach them. not that of "
stenberg,
its
salt"
(Robinson
s
ground
Physical
np&p, they are given up to salt, i.e. because the waters of the river do not
ttfiJ
salt,
light in
which the
salt is
regarded here
seasoning properties, but, in the words of
as the foe to all fruitfulness, all life
as Pliny has said (Hist.
Nat. xxxi.
reperitur sal, sterilis est nihilgue gignit
c.
")
7
Omnis
:
(cf .
and
is
Heng-
prosperity,
locus, in
Deut. xxix. 22
;
quo Jer.
Zeph. ii..9 ; Ps. cvii. 34). In ver. 12 the effect of the water of the river upon the vegetation of the ground, already mentioned in ver. 7, is still further described. On its coast
xvii. 6
grow
;
all
xix. 23), fail,
kinds of trees with edible fruits
but ripen every month p|3, to produce
fresh fruits
cause
FV, as in
fyw?
whose leaves do not wither, and whose
the
;
and &<Bhj$
fruits
Lev.
do not
first-fruits, i.e.
distributive, as in Isa. xlvii. 13), be
waters which moisten the
soil
proceed from the
sanctuary, i.e. directly and immediately from the dwellingplace of Him who is the author of all vital power and fruitful"
ness"
(Hitzig).
The
leaves
possess supernatural powers.
the maintenance of the
life
and
fruits of these trees therefore
The
fruits serve as food,
i.e.
for
produced by the river of water;
358
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the leaves as medicine
= (nann from *)Vi KH, healing), and corrupt (et9 OepaTretav, Rev.
i.e.
for
the healing of the sick xxii. 2). In the effect of the water proceeding from the sanctuary upon the Dead Sea and the land on its shores, as described in
water in relation
vers. 8-12, the significance of this stream of
new kingdom of God implied. If, then, the question be asked, what we are to understand by this water, whether we are
to the
is
to take it in a literal sense as the
temple spring, or in a spiritual and symbolical sense, the complete answer can only be given in connection with the interpretation of the whole of the temple
Even
vision (ch. xl.-xlviii.).
if
however, that the description of ship appointed for
it,
we assume for the moment, the new temple, with the wor
and the fresh
division of
Canaan,
is
to be
and therefore that the building of an a earthly temple upon high mountain in the most holy teruma/i of the land set apart for Jehovah, and a renewal of the bleeding sacrifices in this temple by the twelve tribes of Israel, when
understood
literally,
restored to Palestine from the heathen lands, are to be taken for granted,
would be
it
interpretation
of
temple spring.
what
It
is
difficult to
combine with
this a literal
concerning the effect of the we are to true that in Volck s opinion is
said
"
think of a glorification of nature;" but even this does not remove the difficulties which stand in the way of a literal inter pretation of the temple spring.
According
to ver. 12, its waters
and healing power ascribed to them because they issue from the sanctuary. But how does the the glorification possession by the water of the power to effect possess the life-giving
from a temple in which and goats are slaughtered and sacrificed 1
of nature harmonize with bullocks, rams, calves,
its
issuing
further of opinion that, with the spiritual inter u of the temple spring, nothing at all could be made pretation of the fishermen;" because, for example, he cannot conceive of
Yolck
is still
the spiritual interpretation in any other way than as an alle of all the separate features of the prophetic gorical translation picture into spiritual things.
But he has
failed to consider
CHAP. XLVII.
359
1-12.
that the fishermen with their nets on the shore of the sea, once
dead, but
now swarming with
fish,
are irreconcilably opposed to
the assumption of a glorification of nature in the holy land, just because the inhabitants of the globe or holy land, in its will no more eat fish or other paradisaically glorified state,
according to the teaching of Scripture, than the first men When once the wolf shall feed with the lamb,
flesh,
in Paradise.
the leopard with the kid, the cow with the bear, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, under the sceptre of the sprout from the stem of Jesse, then will
men
also cease their fishing,
and
no longer slaughter and eat either oxen or goats. To this the Israelites will form no exception in their glorified land of Canaan.
And
if
even these features in the vision before us
decidedly favour the figurative or spiritual view of the temple spring, the necessity for this explanation
is placed beyond the reach of doubt by a comparison of our picture with the parallel According to Joel iv. 18, at the time when a spring passages.
issues
from the house of Jehovah and the vale of Shittim
watered, the mountains trickle with
with milk.
then, in this
If,
is
new
wine, and the hills run case we understand what is affirmed
of the temple spring literally, the trickling of the mountains
with
new wine and
taken
the flowing of the
literally as well.
But we
hills
with milk must be
are unable to attain to the
belief that in the glorified land of Israel the
milk; and in
mountains will be
new
wine, and the hills into fountains of the words of the whole verse we can discern
turned into springs of
nothing but a figurative description of the abundant streams of And just blessing which will then pour over the entire land. as in Joel the context points indisputably to
figurative explanation, so also does the free
Zechariah uses
a non-literal or
manner
in
which
this
prophecy of his predecessors, speaking only of living waters which issue from Jerusalem, and flow half into the eastern
(i.e.
the
Dead)
sea,
and half
into the western
the Mediterranean) sea (i.e. (Zech. xiv. 8), show that he was not thinking of an actual spring with earthly water. And here
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
360
we
are
still
provisionally passing
by the application made of
this feature in the prophetic descriptions of the
new kingdom (Rev.
xxii. 1
The
of
God
and
2).
glory of the
in the picture of the heavenly Jerusalem
or spiritual explanation, is moreover favoured by the analogy of the Scriptures. Water," interpretation,
figurative
"
which renders the unfruitful land
fertile,
and supplies refresh
used in Scripture as a figure denoting blessing and salvation, which had been represented even in In Isa. Paradise in the form of watering (cf. Gen. xiii. 10). ing drink to the thirsty,
xii. 3,
"
and with joy ye draw water from the wells of
the figure "I
will
desert
;
is
expressly interpreted.
And
salvation,"
so also in Isa. xliv. 3,
pour water upon the thirsty one, and streams upon the I will pour
upon thine the Spirit
my
offspring:"
is
named "
is
is
manifested,
Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing where the blessing answers to the water,
as the principal
the foundation of
form in which the blessing other salvation for the
all
(Hengstenberg). This salvation, which Joel had already described as a spring issuing from the house of people of
God"
Jehovah and watering the dry acacia valley, Ezekiel saw in a from under the visionary embodiment as water, which sprang threshold of the temple into which the glory of the Lord entered, and
a river that
had swollen it
at a short distance off into so
was no longer
possible to
wade through.
mighty In this
way the thought is symbolized, that the salvation which the Lord causes to flow down to His people from His throne will in marvellously increasing pour down from small beginnings The river flows on into the barren, desolate waste of fulness. the Ghor, and finally into the Dead Sea, and makes the waters The waste is a thereof sound, so that it swarms with fishes. and figure denoting spiritual drought desolation, and the Dead The healing and Sea a symbol of the death caused by sin. quickening of the
salt
waters of that sea, so fatal to
all life, set
of that divine salvation which conquers death,
forth the
power
and the
calling to life of the world
sunk
in spiritual death.
CHAP. XLVII.
From as
comes
this
life in its
shown both by the
361
13-23.
creative fulness
and manifold variety,
figure of the fishermen
nets along the shore, and
who
spread their
by the reference to the kinds of
fish,
which are as manifold in their variety as those in the great sea. But life extends no further than the water of salvation flows.
Wherever
The
it
cannot reach, the world continues to
pools and
And
salt.
swamps
of the
Dead Sea
lastly, the water of
are
still
lie
in death.
given up to the
salvation also possesses
produce trees with leaves and fruits, by which the called forth from death can be sustained and cured of to
power
This
life all
the meaning, according to the express statement of the text, of the trees with their never withering leaves, upon diseases.
is
the banks of the river, and their fruits ripening every month.
Boundaries and Division of the Holy Description of the City of God.
xlvii. 13-xlviii. 35.
Chap,
Land.
13-23. BOUNDARIES OF THE LAND TO BE THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL. (See the map, AMONG DIVIDED
Chap,
xlvii.
Lord Jehovah, This is the which shall divide the land among you ye boundary according for an inheritance, for Joseph portions. Ver. 14. And ye shall Plate IV.)
Ver. 13. Thus saith the to
receive
it
up
for an inheritance, one as well as another, because
my
hand
and
to give it to
I
thus shall this
your fathers ; you for an inheritance. Ver. 15. And this is the boundary of the land: toward the north side, from the great sea onwards by the way to Chetlon, in the direction of Zedad ;
lifted
land fall
to
Ver. 16. Ilamath, Berotah, Sibrairn, which
is
between the bound
ary of Damascus and the boundary of Hamath, the central Hazer, which is on the boundary of Hauran. Ver. 17. And the
boundary from the sea shall be Hazar-Enon, the boundary town of Damascus ; and as for the north northwards, Ilamath is the Ver. 18. And the east side Tids, the north side. boundary. between Hauran and Damascus and Gilead and the land of Israel, shall be the
Jordan
shall measure.
;
from
the
boundary to the eastern sea ye Ver. 19. And the south side
This, the east side.
362
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL,
toward
from Tamar
the south;
Ver. 20.
south.
And
Hamath.
boundary
to
shall ye
divide
Ver. 22.
And
shall
come
;
inheritance,
they shall be to
Kadesh, toward the
strife,
sea
the great
the
to
tribes
and among
who have
you
the
from
Ver. 21. This land of Israel.
pass, ye shall divide
to
in the midst of you,
midst of you
;
This, the west side.
among you according it
of
This, the south side
west side
the
among yourselves for an who dwell
the water
to
along the brook to the great sea.
it
lot
by
the foreigners
begotten sons in the
like natives
born among the
sons of Israel; they shall cast lots with you for an inheritance
among
the tribes
Ver. 23.
of Israel.
And
it
shall
come
to
pass,
in the tribe in which the foreigner dwells, there shall ye give his inheritance, is the saying
The
fixing of the
of
the
boundary of the land which
divide in future according to
its
13 and 14) and concluded
(vers.
tain
statements
general
him
Lord Jehovah. twelve tribes (vers.
concerning
is
Israel
was
to
commenced
22 and 23) with cer
the
distribution.
The
introductory statements are attached to the heading "this Ha the boundary," which is therefore repeated in ver. 15.
is is
evidently a copyist s error for nt, which is adopted by all the older translators, contained in some Codd., and demanded by nn in ver. 15.
^33 stands here for the whole of the boundary of and Itt K which follows is an accusa
the land to be distributed tive, "according to
But the
its
division
According to the twelve tribes," and dwell as one people of God under "
for all Israel is to return
one prince in
;
which."
own land among
(ch. xxxvi.
24
sqq., xxxvii.
the twelve tribes
is
more
21 sqq.). precisely
defined immediately afterwards by the clause abruptly appended, "
Joseph portions," no doubt that this with Gen.
xlviii.
i.e.
is
two portions for Joseph. There can be meaning of the words in accordance
the
22 and Josh.
xvii. 14, 17.
Hence
the notice-
form of the expression, which should not be obliterated by If the land was to be divided pointing D^an as a dual, Dvjn.
like
according to twelve tribes, and the tribe of Levi was to receive its portion from the terumah which was set apart,
by
lot
363
CHAP. XLVII. 13-23.
for his Joseph must necessarily receive two hereditary portions sons Ephraim and Manasseh, in accordance with the appoint
ment
The commencement of the patriarch in Gen. xlviii. 22. is not at variance with this, as Hitzig imagines ; for the
of ver. 14
words,
u
ye
shall receive
it
for an inheritance, one as
another,"
simply affirm, that of the twelve tribes reckoned by Israel in all were to receive equal shares, the one as relation to the n^>rn,
much
as the other.
the land, allusion
is
to give this land to
of the boundaries in
As the reason for this command to divide made to the oath with which God promised The definition the fathers (cf. ch. xx. 28).
commences with
many points from
Num.
ver. 15.
In form
differs
it
xxxiv. 1-15, but in actual fact
it
In Num. xxxiv. the is in harmony with the Mosaic definition. description commences with the southern boundary, then pro ceeds to the western and northern boundaries, and closes with the eastern.
In Ezekiel
ary and proceeds
it
commences with the northern bound
to the east, the south,
and the west.
This
may be explained in a very simple manner, from the fact that the Israelites in the time of Moses came from Egypt difference
marching from the south, and stood by the south-eastern boundary of the land, whereas at this time they were carried
i.e.
away
and Babylon, and were Again, in Ezekiel the bound
into the northern lands Assyria
regarded as returning thence. aries are described
much more
briefly than in
Num.
xxxiv.,
the northern boundary alone being somewhat more circum The course which it takes is represented stantially described. in a general manner in ver. 15 as running from the great sea, the Mediterranean, by the way to Chetlon, in the direction toward Zedad. In vers. 16 and 17 there follow the places i.e.
which formed the boundary.
The
starting-point on the
Medi
terranean Sea can only be approximately determined, as the places mentioned, Chetlon and Zedad, are
only Chetlon^ but Zedad
also,
still
unknown.
has not yet been discovered.
Not The
Sadad (Sudud), to the east of the road leading from Damascus to Hums (Emesa), which Robinson and Wetzstein
city of
364
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
suppose to be the same, lies much too far toward the east to be used in defining the boundary either here or in Num. xxxiv. 8
Num.
on
(see the coinm.
merated in
ver.
16,
much
Orontes, which lay
dom
xxxiv. 8).
flon
Among
of Hamatli, the southern boundary of which
northern boundary of Canaan, though exactness.
2 Sam. it
is
the names enu
not the city of Hamah on the too far to the north, but the king is
Berotliah
viii. 8,
still
Ziphron
Num.
it
cannot be given with with Berothai in
probably identical
Zobah
a city of the king of
unknown.
in
is
formed the
Sibraim
may
;
but the situation of
perhaps be identical with
xxxiv. 9, which has also not yet been dis
covered, and
is not to be sought for in the ruins of Zifran, to the north-east of Damascus, near the road to Palmyra; for that place could not form the boundary of Damascus and
Hamath.
The
situation of the
has also not
"central Hazer"
Hauran, on the boundary of which it yet been determined. is used here in a more stood, comprehensive sense than AvpaWT/-9 in
Josephus and other Greek authors, and includes the (Golan) and Batanaea
later Auranitis, together with Gaulanitis
(Bashan), and probably also Ituraea, as only Damascus and Gilead are named in ver. 18 in addition to Hauran, on the east side of the
Jordan
the territory of
;
so that the
whole tract of land between
Damascus and the country
of Gilead Sis
braced by the
name Hauran.
from the number of caves
j^in,
("tin,
Arab,
is
em-
S t
is
derived
Tin) in that district, to
which
Wetzstein (Eeiseber. p. 92) indeed raises the objection that with the exception of the eastern and south-eastern Hauran, where
have been perforated by troglodytes, the dwellings in caves are by no means common in But the name may have originated in this eastern that region.
no doubt most of the volcanic
hills
and possibly have included even that portion of Gilead which was situated to the north of the Jabbok, namely, Erbed
district,
For further remarks con comm. on Deut. iii. 4 and 10.
and Suet, the true cave-country. cerning these districts, see the
CHAP. XLVII.
The
statement in ver. 17a,
"
365
13-23.
the boundary from the sea shall
be Hazar-Enon, the boundary of Damascus," cannot have any other meaning than that the northern boundary, which started
from the Mediterranean Sea, stretched as far the frontier city of
as
Hazar-Enon,
Hazar-Enon formed
Damascus, or that
the
terminal point on the east, toward the boundary of Damascus, *Mn for the northern boundary proceeding from the sea. endea we have xxxiv. i.e. or ]W 9), spring-court, (Num.
$W
"ivn
voured to identify in the comm. on
Num.
xxxiv. 3 with the
at the watershed between spring Lebweh, which lies in the Bekda the Leontes and the designation and the the Orontes ; "
boundary of Damascus suits the situation very well. Ver. 176 has been aptly explained by Hitzig thus, in accordance with the and as for the north north literal meaning of the words, "
"
wards,
Hamath
is
the
boundary,"
which he further elucidates by
intended as a supplementary note to the boundary line from west to east, which is indicated just before. fiSV DK3 JlNl is a concluding formula this, the north side."
observing that
"ijiS-f
is
"
:
(here and vers. 18 and 19) is not to be altered into nNT, after ver. 20 and the Syriac version, as Hitzig supposes,
But
HNi
but to be explained, as ver. 18 clearly shows, on the supposition that Ezekiel had Ynton, ye shall measure," floating before his a and that the northern boundary," would HJO, mind, to which "
"
form a correct
logical sequel.
in ver. 18 in the
same manner
The as in
eastern boundary
Num.
xxxiv.
defined
is
1012,
except
more minutely described above the Lake of Gennesaret by the mention of several localities, whereas Ezekiel only names the Jordan as the boundary. DHjJ HN3, with sup
that in the latter
it is
plementary remarks,
is
not to be taken as the predicate to the
subject nn??, as Hitzig has correctly observed ; for the meaning of n&?a does not allow of this. The explanation is rather this : as for the east side, between
the Jordan.
Hauran,
etc.
and the land of
Hauran, Damascus, and Gilead
lie
of the Jordan, the land of Israel on the west side.
circumstance that Ezekiel
Israel, is
on the east side
The
striking
commences with Hauran, which
lay in
366
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Damascus and Gilead, Hauran, Damascus, and Gilead, instead of Damascus, Hauran, and Gilead, may that the from the fact which he be Jordan, explained probably
the middle between
names
as the boundary, for the sake of brevity, did not extend
upwards as to the territory of Damascus, but simply formed the boundary of the land of Israel between Hauran and Gilead. Mip points back to the northern boundary already
so far
From this boundary, the eastern terminal point of which was Hazar-Enon, they are to measure to the eastern sea, Ver. 19. The southern boundary toward i.e. to the Dead Sea. mentioned.
the south
is
to
proceed from
Tamar
to the
water of
strife,
Kadesh, (and thence) along the brook to the great (i.e. Medi Tamar , a different place from Hazazonterranean) sea. Tamar, called Engedi in ver. 10 (cf. 2 Chron. xx. 2), is sup
Thamara (Sa^apd)^ which was a day s journey on the road from Hebron to Aelam (Aelath, Deut. ii. 8 posed
be the
to
;
1
ix.
26), according to
Eusebius in the Onomast. ed. Lars.
Kings and had a Koman garrison and Robinson (Pal. III. that it is to be pp. 178 and 186 sqq.) accordingly conjectures six hours lie which of found in the ruins journey to Kurnub, p. 68,
;
the south of Milh, toward the pass of es-Sufdh.
But
this
con
bound up with various assumptions of a very ques jecture tionable character, and the situation of Kurnub hardly suits the Tamar of our passage, which should be sought, not to the west is
of the southern point of the
Dead
Sea, but, according to the as drawn in Num. xxxiv. 3-5,
southern boundary of Canaan to the south of the Dead Sea.
Kadesh (Num. 1
waters of
xx. 1-13), in the desert
The statement runs thus o B&X
The
:
heyerett
etKitrray MTTO Xtfipuv
tl$
&
TI$
of
strife
of
Zin, were near
Qapotpa.
Afactft,
qns
vvu
Qpovptov
tart
ruv
aliud castellum, unius diei itinere a Mampsis de Chebron, ubi mine romanum pre Ailiam oppido separatum, pergentibus But on account of the Md\}/i$ (Mampsis), which is est. sidium
In Jerome
:
est et
positum evidently a corruption, the passage
is
obscure.
Robinson
s
conjecture
that the reading concerning Thamara is founded upon the assumption should be M?u?, and that this is the Malatha mentioned by later writers as the station of a
Roman
cohort.
CHAP. XLVII.
367
13-23.
Kadesh-Barnea, which was in the neighbourhood of the spring
Ain
Katies, discovered
by Rowland
to the
south of Bir-Seba
and Khalasa by the fore-courts of Jebel Helal, i.e. at the north-west corner of the mountain land of the Azazimeh (see the
comm. on Num.
we have xxvii. 5>nJ
the
singular
loc.
wady
ra no
and xx. 16). in
Instead of riU HO
ch. xlviii. 28,
as
in
Num.
be pointed fvru, from njm and the reference is to the brook of Egypt the
14 and Deut.
with n
great
x. 12, xii. 16,
;
xxxii. 51.
is
to
;
el-Arish ^Pivoicopovpa\ along which the southern
boundary of Canaan ran from Kadesh to the Mediterranean Sea (see the comm. on ch. xxxiv. 5). Ver. 20. The Mediter ranean Sea formed the western boundary. ^?P, i-e. from the southern boundary mentioned in ver. 19 to the
coming
to
Hamath,
i.e. till
till
opposite (naj iy)
opposite to the point at
which
one enters the territory of Hamath (Hitzig), i.e. the spot men tioned in ver. 20 (? 17) as the commencement of the northern
boundary in the neighbourhood of the promontory of esliShukah, between Byblus (Gebal) and Tripolis. Ver. 21. This land they are to divide
With
this
among them according
remark, which points back
to their tribes.
to ver. 13, the definition of
is brought to a close. There is simply added in 22 and 23 a further regulation concerning the foreigners The law of Moses had already repeatedly living in Israel.
the boundaries
vers.
urged upon the Israelites affectionate treatment of them, and in Lev. xix. 34 the command is given to treat them like natives in this respect,
and
to love
them.
ship was not thereby conceded
to
But
the full right of citizen them, so that they could also
The land was given to the Israelites acquire property in land. alone for an hereditary possession. Foreigners could only be incorporated into the congregation of Israel under the limita tions laid down in Deut. xxiii. 2-9, by the reception of circum cision.
But
contrary, the
in the 1 D"
"^
future
were
native-born Israelites exist
;
to
and
distribution
receive
of
the land, on the
hereditary property like
in this respect
no difference was
to
between the members of the people of God born of
368
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Abraham
s
At
seed and those born of the heathen.
time, this right
was not
to be conferred
the
same
upon every foreigner
who might be only temporarily living in Israel, but to those alone who should beget sons in the midst of Israel, i.e. settle permanently in the holy land. The Kal vB is not to be altered s
into the Hiphil l^SPi, as Hitzig proposes, but
sense of receiving "
to apportion
by
by
lot,
is
used in the
derived from the Hiphil signification,
lot."
AMONG THE xlviii. 1-29. DIVISION OF CANAAN The division of THE TERUMAII. AND OF BOUNDARY TRIBES, Chap,
the land, like the definition of the boundaries (ch. xlvii. 15), commences in the north, and enumerates the tribes in the order
which they were to receive their inheritances from north to northern boundary to the first, seven tribes from the centre of the land (vers. 1-7), where the heave for the sanctuary,
in
south
:
with the land of the priests and Levites and the city domain, two sides, was to be set together with the prince s land on the
and secondly, the other five tribes from apart (vers. 8-22 this to the southern boundary (vers. 23-29). Compare the ;
map on Ver.
Plate IV. 1.
And
these
are
north end by the side of the
Hazar-Enon the side
Dan
the
the
names of
way
to
boundary of Damascus
from the Hamath (and)
the tribes
Chetlon toward
:
toward the north by
him : of Hamath there shall east side, west side belong to Ver. 2. And on the boundary of Dan from
one (tribe-lot).
the east side to the west side:
Asher
one.
Ver.
3.
And
on the
boundary of Asher from the east side to the west side : NaphVer. 4. And on the boundary of Naphtali from the tali one. Ver. 5. And on the east side to the west side: Manasseh one. side : of Manasseh from the east side to the west Ephraim one. Ver. 6. And on the boundary of Ephraim from Ver. 7. And on the the east side to the west side : Reuben one.
boundary
side : Judah one. boundary of Reuben from the east side to the west Ver. 8. And on the boundary of Judah from the east side to the
I.
Outer Gate.
II.
A
Plate
Inner Gate.
J
J
J H
-
cc
G
G
;a
-H
i
:
[
9 a
9 a
ad a
E
E
3
^ GerinartsElL - to 24 uicftef
II.
CHAP. XLVIII.
369
1-29.
west side shall be the heave, which ye shall
lift
(heave)
twenty thousand (rods) in breadth, and the length portion
from
the east side to the west side
and
;
off,
five
and
like every tribe
the sanctuary shall
midst of it. Ver. 9. The heave which ye shall lift shall be five and twenty thousand in length Jehovah (heave) for and ten thousand in breadth. Ver. 10. And to these shall the be in the
holy heave belong, to the priests, toward the north, five and twenty thousand; toward the ivest, breadth ten thousand; toward the
breadth ten thousand;
east,
and twenty thousand the
middle of
and
;
and toward
of the sons of ZadoTc, who have kept strayed
ivith the
straying of
strayed, Ver. 12. the heave
Levites.
south, length five
of Jehovah shall be in priests, whoever is sanctified
Ver. 11. To the
it.
the
the sanctuary
To them
the sons
my
charge,
who have not
of Israel, as the Levites have
shall a portion lifted off belong
from
of the land ; a most holy beside the territory of the Ver. 13. And the Levites (shall receive) parallel with
of the priests five and twenty thousand in length, and in breadth ten thousand ; the whole length five and twenty thousand, and (the whole) breadth ten thousand. Ver. 14. And they shall the territory
nor shall the first-fruit of the land Ver. 15. And the five holy to Jehovah.
not sell or exchange any of
it,
to others ; for it is thousand which remain in the breadth along the five and twenty thousand are common land for the city for dwellings and for open
pass
Ver. 16. And space; and the city shall be in the centre of it. these are its measures : the north side thousand four five hundred, the south side four thousand five hundred, the east side
four
thousand five hundred, and the west side four thousand five hundred. Ver. 17. A nd the open space of the city shall be toward, the north two hundred and fifty, toward the south two hundred
and fifty, toward ivest
the east
two hundred and
two hundred and
fifty.
Ver. 18.
fifty,
And
and toward
the
the
remainder in
length parallel ivith the holy heave, ten thousand toward the east
and
ten thousand
heave,
toward the west,
and its produce
Ver. 19.
EZEK.
And II.
this
shall serve the
as for the
shall be beside the holy
workmen of the
workmen of
city
for food.
the city, they shall cultivate
2
A
370
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
it from all the tribes. Ver. 20. The whole of the heave is Jive and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand; a fourth of
the holy heave shall ye take for the possession
And
the
remainder shall belong
and of
that side of the holy heave
Jive
and twenty thousand of
toward
;
and
of the city. Ver. 21. prince on this side and on
the city possession
;
along the
the heave to the eastern boundary,
the west along the Jive
boundary parallel with the prince
to the
and twenty thousand
to the
tribe portions, it shall belong
and
the holy heave
the sanctuary
and
western to the
the house shall
of Ver. 22. Thus from the possession of the Levites (as) from the possession of the city shall that which lies in the midst of ivhat belongs to the prince between the territory of Judah be in the midst.
and
the territory
of Benjamin belong to the prince. Ver. 23. of the tribes are from the east side to the west side: Benjamin one. Ver. 24. And on the boundary of Benjamin
And
the rest
from
the east side to the ivest side
on the boundary of Simeon from Issachar one. Ver. 26. And on the east side to the west side:
:
Simeon
one.
Ver. 25.
And
the east side to the luest side
:
boundary of Issachar from Zebulon one. Ver. 27. And on the the
boundary of Zebulon from the east side to the west side : Gad one. Ver. 28. And on the boundary of Gad on the south side toward the south, strife
This
boundary shall be from Tamar
from Kadesh along is the
tribes
the
the water
of Ver. 29.
land which ye shall divide by lot for inheritance to the the saying of the ; these are their portions, is
of Israel
Lord Jehovah. The new division
of the land differs
effected in the time of Joshua, in the
that
to
the brook to the great sea.
all
from the former one first
place, in the fact
the tribe-portions were to extend uniformly across the from the eastern boundary to the
entire breadth of the land
Mediterranean Sea on the west, so that they were to form whereas in the distribution made in parallel tracts of country ;
the time of Joshua, several of the tribe-territories covered only half the breadth of the land. inheritance on the west of
For example, Dan received his and the territories of Benjamin ;
CHAP. XLVIII.
half
of
371
1-29.
Manasseh and Asher ran up from the northern boundary while Ephraim to the northern boundary of Canaan ;
Issachar, Naphtali, east of these
;
and
and Zebulon received lastly,
Simeon received
his possession within
And
the boundaries of the tribe of Judah.
on the
their portions
it
secondly,
also
differs from the former, in the fact that not only are all the twelve tribes located in Canaan proper, between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea whereas previously two tribes and ;
a half had received from Moses, at their
own
request, the con
quered land of Bashan and Gilead on the eastern side of the Jordan, so that the land of Canaan could be divided among the
remaining nine tribes and a half. But besides this, the central tract of land, about the fifth part of the whole, was separated
and the prince
for the holy heave, the city domain,
that only the northern
and southern portions, about
of the whole, remained for distribution
among
s
land, so
four-fifths
the twelve tribes,
seven tribes receiving their hereditary portions to the north of the heave and five to the south, because the heave was so selected that the city with
Jerusalem.
In
vers.
its
territory
lay near the ancient
1-7 the seven tribes which were
on the north of the heave are enumerated.
The
to dwell
principal
points of the northern boundary, viz. the way to Chetlon and Hazar-Enon, the boundary of Damascus, are repeated in ver. 1 ch. xlvii. 15, 17, as the starting and terminal points of the northern boundary running from west to east. The \vords Don T/N fix the northern boundary more precisely in relation
from
to the adjoining territory
;
and
in &
v
vrn the enumeration of
the tribe-lots begins with that of the tribe of Dan, which was to receive its territory against the northern boundary. i3 refers to the name r\ which follows, and which Ezekiel already had
DNS
constructed asyndetos ; and HNS is to be the east side (and) the repeated in thought before Djn west (side) are to belong to it, i.e. the tract of land toward its
in his
mind.
Bjn D^ij
is
:
west and
its
east side.
The words which
attached in an anacoluthistic
manner
"
:
follow,
Dan
(is
inN to
fi,
are
receive)
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
372 one
portion,"
for
"
one shall belong to
to supply in thought the substantive
much
The assumption
"
ch. xlvii. 13.
To ^HK we
Dan."
^n,
was
this
peated is
to receive as
as another (yid. ch. xlvii. 14), leads to the conclusion
that each tribe-lot was to be taken as a monas
In
according to
tribe-lot,
that one tribe
are
way
the
must
"inx,
names
in vers.
also be taken.
repeated in vers.
2328
it is
(Kliefoth).
with the constantly re
The same form
of description
in the case of the five tribes placed
In the order of the several
to the south of the heave. territories
27,
"
tribe-
impossible to discover any universal principle of All that is clear is, that in the case of Dan,
arrangement. Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, and Ephraim, regard is had to the former position of these tribe-territories as far as the altered
In the time of the Judges
circumstances allowed.
a portion of
the Danites had migrated to the north, conquered the city of Laish, and given it the name of Dan, so that from that time
forward
Dan
the land
as early as 2 (e.g.
is
generally
Dan
Accordingly
named Sam.
as the northern iii.
10,
and
boundary of
in other passages).
receives the tract of land along the northern
Asher and Naphtali, which formerly occupied the
boundary.
most northerly portions of the land, follow next. Then comes Manasseh, as half Manasseh had formerly dwelt on the east of Naphtali ; and Ephraim joins Manasseh, as it formerly joined The reason for placing Reuben the western half Manasseh.
between Ephraim and Judah appears to be, that Reuben was the first-born of Jacob s sons. The position of the terumah between
Judah and Benjamin
is
probably connected with the circum
stance that Jerusalem formerly stood on the boundary of these
two
tribes,
and
so also in the future
The
its territory.
was
to skirt
Benjamin with
other tribes had then to be located on the
south of Benjamin Simeon, whose territory formerly lay to the south ; Issachar and Zebulon, for which no room was left ;
in the north
;
and Gad, which had
to
be brought over from
Gilead to Canaan.
In
vers. 8-22, the terwnali,
which has already been described
373
CHAP. XLVIII. 1-29.
in
1-7
xlv.
ch.
defined
:
a
for
different
is
purpose,
first of all, in ver. 8, according to its
viz. twenty-five
more
precisely
whole extent
thousand rods in breadth (from north to south),
and the length the same as any one (= every one) of the tribefrom the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea lots, i.e. reaching xlv. 7). (cf. ch.
this separated territory the
In the centre of
of which sanctuary (the temple) was to stand, toina, the suffix refers ad sensum to P5?n instead of HDVirij has not the indefinite "
for the in the centre but signifies to stand, which the was middle of in the temple priests portion, the of the Levites between the central portion position occupied "
"
meaning
and the
;
therein,"
city
circumstance
possession,
as
is
evident from ver.
The
22.
that here, as in ch. xlv. 1 sqq., in the division of
the terumah, the priests portion is mentioned first, then the portion of the Levites, and after this the city possession, proves
nothing so far as the local order in which these three portions followed one another is concerned ; but the enumeration is regulated by their spiritual significance, so that first of all the most holy land for the temple and priests is defined, then the
holy portion of the Levites, and
The command,
city.
lastly,
the
that the sanctuary
of the whole terumali, leads to a
is
common to
land for the
occupy the centre
more minute description
in the
place (vers. 9-12) of the priests portion, in which the sanctuary was situated, than of the heave to be lifted off for
first
In ver. 10, ify*?, which stands at the head, is ex The extent of this holy plained by E^ns? which follows. terumah on all four sides is then given and lastly, the com
Jehovah.
;
mand
is
repeated, that the sanctuary of
the centre of the
LXX.,
sense by
In ver. 11, B^i?l?n Chald. and Syr., and it.
Kimchi and
fied of the sons of
others
Zadok.
:
Jehovah
to the priests
This
is
is
to be in
rendered in the plural by is taken in a distributive
is
whoever
is
sancti
required by the position of
the participle between tPXtib and pn^ V. 2 *? (compare 2 Chron. xx vi. 18, and for the singular of the participle after a previous plural, Ps.
viii.
9).
The
other rendering,
tl
for the priests
is
it
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
374
sanctified, those of the sons of
Zadok," is
at variance not only
with the position of the words, but also with the fact, namely, that the assignment to the priests of a heave set apart for Jehovah is never designated as Bn|?, and from the nature of the case could not be so designated. follows in ver. 12, where
&$$&
is
The
apodosis to ver. lla
resumed
in Erp.
nwin
is
an adjective formation derived from nipnn, with the significa an abstract that which is lifted (the lifting) from the
tion of
:
heave, as
it
were
formations, see
"
a terumah in the second potency
164 and 165).
Ewald,
"
(for these
This terumiyah
is
most holy, in contrast with the Levites portion of the The priests portion is to terumah, which was BHp (ver. 14). called
be beside the territory of the Levites, whether on the southern or northern side cannot be gathered from these words any more than from the definition in ver. 13: "and the Levites beside
(parallel
with)
the
territory
of
the
priests."
Both
statements simply affirm that the portions of the priests and side by side, and not to be separated by the 13 and 14 treat of the Levites portion : Vers. possession. ver. 13, of its situation and extent ; ver. 14, of its law of
Levites were to
lie
town
tenure.
The seemingly
tautological repetition of the
measure
the length and the ment of the length and breadth, as the fact "that Ezekiel intends to breadth," is occasioned by "all
as in ver. 10, to express himself more briefly here, and not, take all the four points of the compass singly; in all the sides of the oblong, and in length he embraces the two long all broad the two the breadth sides, and affirms that (all)
the length/
i.e.
of both the north
and south
sides, is
to
be
and all the breadth, i.e. of both twenty-five thousand rods, is to be ten thousand rods" (Kliefoth). the east and west sides, and therefore proposes to alter the Hitzig has missed the sense, the to With regard text. possession of the Levites, the in structions given in Lev. xxv. 34 for the field of the Levites are extended that none of it was to be sold cities to the
namely, whole of the territory of the Levites
:
no part of
it
is
CHAP. XLVIII. to be alienated
possession
is
by
And
sale or barter.
assigned as the reason
375
1-29.
the character of the
the first-fruit of the land,
:
the land lifted off (separated) as first-fruit, into the possession of others, because as such it i.e.
Lord.
The
Chetib
sc. to others, to
is
not to pass holy to the
the correct reading: to pass over,
is
"faj
is
non-Levites.
As
Vers. 15-18 treat of the city possession. was twenty -five thousand rods in breadth
the terumali
(ver.
8),
after
measuring off ten thousand rods in breadth for the priests and ten thousand rods in breadth for the Levites from the entire breadth, there
still
along, the long This remnant was
i.e.
remain
be
the city (Jerusalem).
thousand rods
p.
3
?y, in
front of,
which was twenty-five thousand
side,
to
five
i.e.
^n,
;
rods.
(not holy) land for
for dwelling-places,
3C^D/>,
ing dwelling-houses upon precinct around the city.
common
i.e.
for build
and Kn^p?, for open space, the city was to stand in the centre
The
Ver. 16 gives the size of the city: on each of the four sides, four thousand five hundred rods (the t?on, of this oblong.
designated by the Masoretes as
np
text through a copyist s error)
and
;
&6l 2T13,
has crept into the
ver. 17, the extent of the
open space surrounding it: on each side two hundred and fifty rods. This gives for the city, together with the open space, a square of five thousand rods on every side so that the city ;
with it,
precinct filled the entire breadth of the space left for and there only remained on the east and west an open space its
of
ten thousand rods
its
produce was
length and five thousand rods in breadth along the holy terumali. This is noticed in ver. 18 in
;
to serve for bread,
i.e.
for maintenance, for the
labourers of the city (the masculine suffix in
nhxun
grammatically to Vrian).
would under
By vyn
nrfy Hitzig
refers
stand the inhabitants of the city, because one cultivates a piece of land even by But this use of TO cannot dwelling on it.
be established.
Nor
are
Tjn nn y the workmen employed
in
building the city, as Gesenius, Haverriick, and others suppose; for the city was not perpetually being built, so that there
376
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
should be any necessity for setting apart a particular piece of land for the builders; but they are the working men of the city, the labouring class living in the city. They are not to be
without possession in the future Jerusalem, but are to receive a possession in land for their maintenance. are told in
We
ver.
19 who these workmen
Here
are.
"J?
yn
is
used collectively:
as for the labouring class of the city, people out of all the tribes
of Israel shall
work upon the land belonging
suffix in ^nnajP points tion, to
back
employ a person
to confirm
The
it.
ver.
The
"inian.
The
to the city.
transitive explana
in work, has
fact itself
in ch. xlv. 6, that the city in
to
was
is
nothing in the language in harmony with the statement
to
belong to
all
Israel.
Lastly,
20 the dimensions of the whole terumah, and the
relation of the city possession to the holy terumah, are given. is
nDnrin-i>3
the whole heave, so far as
it
has hitherto been
described, embracing the property of the priests, of the Levites,
and of the
In
city.
this extent
it is
twenty-five thousand rods
If, however, we add the property long and the same broad. of the prince, which is not treated of till vers. 2123, it is con
siderably longer, and reaches, as has been stated in ver. 8, to
the boundaries of the land both on the east and west, the
Jordan
and the Mediterranean Sea, as the several
But
tribe-
we omit
the prince s laud, the space set apart for the city possession occupied the fourth part of the holy terumah, i.e. of the portion of the priests and Levites. territories do.
if
the meaning of the second half of ver. 20, which to a fourth shall ye lift off the holy literally reads thus This is not to be under terumah for the city possession."
This
is
"
:
stood as
meaning that a fourth was
lerumah for the city possession
;
to be taken
for that
from the holy
would yield an
in
correct proportion, twenty thousand rods in breadth would be reduced to fifteen thousand rods by the subtraction as the
which would be opposed to vers. 9 and 15. rather the following from the whole terumah
of the fourth part,
The meaning
is
:
the fourth part of the area of the holy terumah
is
to
be taken
377
CHAP. XLVI1I. 1-29.
thousand rods for twenty According to ver. 15, this was the size of the apart for the city.
off for the city possession,
thousand.
domain In
set
vers.
2123
i.e.
five
the situation and extent of the prince
For
session are described. rest of the terumah, as
it
ver. 21, vid. ch. xlv. 7.
s
"Vrian,
pos the
has been defined in ver. 8, reaching to the Mediterranean. As the
from the Jordan in length o
holy terumah and the city possession were only twenty-five thousand rods in length, and did not reach to the Jordan on the east, or to the sea on the west, there still remained an area
on either side whose length or extent toward the east and west is not given in rods, but may be calculated from the proportion
which the intervening terumah bore to the length of the land and ^" V, in front of, or along, **"* (from east to west). the front of the twenty-five thousand rods, refer to the eastern and western boundaries of the terumah) which was twenty-five thousand rods in length. In ver. 216 the statement is repeated, that the holy terumah and the sanctuary were to
centre of
it, i.e.
prince on either
between the portions of land appointed for the side and lastly, in ver. 22 it is still further ;
stated, with regard to the prince
it
s
land on both sides of the
was to lie between the adjoining tribe-territories the north) and Benjamin (to the south), so that (to was to be bounded by these two. But this is expressed in a
terumah) that of
in the
lie
it
Judah
The words IK S Tjiro heavy and therefore obscure manner. HYP in the of that centre which fcp&$p, belongs to the prince," to Jjn and form rflntfo^ belong together with the latter "
"T
.
.
the subject, which
.
is
written absolutely
;
in a partitive, but in a local sense (from),
rendered thus
:
And
as for that
which
so that |O
is
not used
and the whole
lies
is
to
be
on the side of the
and of the possession of the city in the centre of what belongs to the prince, (that which lies) possession of the Levites,
between the territory of Judah and the territory of Benjamin shall belong to the prince. Hitzig s explanation what remains between Judah and Benjamin, from the city territory
to the
378
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
priests
domain, both inclusive, shall belong to the prince
arbitrary,
is
and perverts the sense. The periphrastic designation bounded off between the prince s land by the
of the terumah
two portions named together without a copula, viz. possession of the Levites and possession of the city," is worthy of notice. This periphrasis of the whole by two portions, shows that the "
named formed
portions
third portion,
which
is
the boundaries of the whole, that the
not mentioned, was enclosed within the
two, so that the priests portion with the sanctuary lay
them.
between
In vers. 23-27 the rest of the tribes located to the
south of the terumah are mentioned in order
and 29 the account of the
;
division of the land
and is
in vers.
28
brought to a
with a repetition of the statement as to the southern boundary (cf. ch. xlvii. 19), and a comprehensive concluding close
formula. If
now we
relation in
attempt, in order to form a clear idea of the this prophetic division of the land stands to
which
the actual size of
Canaan according
to the
boundaries described
in ch. xlvii. 15 sqq., to determine the length and breadth of the
terumah given here by their geographical dimensions, twentyfive thousand rods, according to the metrological calculations of
Boeckh and Bertheau, would be 1O70 geographical
miles, or,
according to the estimate of the Hebrew cubit by Thenius, 1 The extent of Canaan from only 9-75 geographical miles. or to a line Beersheba, Kadesh, up running across from Kas
esh-Shukah
to the spring
El Lebweh,
is
3J degrees,
i.e.
fifty
geographical miles, ten of which are occupied by the terumah, and forty remain for the twelve tribe-territories, so that, each According to Boeckh, one sacred cubit was equal to 234^ Paris lines P.I. =481 62 528-62 millimetres; according to Thenius = 214 Now as one geographical mile, the 5400th part of the circum millim. 1
=
ference of the globe, which is 40,000,000 metres, is equivalent to 7407 398 metres = 22,803 290 old Paris feet, the geographical mile according to Boeckh is 14,012^ cubits = 2335 rods (sacred measure) according to ;
Thenius, 15,3SO given in the text
may
=
2563 rods (s. m.), from which the numbers easily be calculated.
cubits
CHAP. XLVIII.
If, now, geographical miles in breadth. reckon three geographical miles as the breadth of each of
tribe-lot
we
379
1-29.
would be
3^-
the five tribe-lots to the south of the terumah, and as the land a breadth of 3y geogra seven tribe-lots to the north, the terumah phical miles for the set apart in the centre of the land would extend from the site
becomes broader toward the south
of Jerusalem to
Dothan
or Jenin.
If,
however,
we
take into
consideration the breadth of the land from east to west in the of Jerusalem, or where the Jordan enters the neighbourhood O
Dead
Sea,
whereas
at
Canaan Jenin
is it
eleven geographical miles in breadth, is hardly ten geographical miles broad.
If, therefore, the length of the terumah (from east to west)
was
would only remain a breadth on the east and west at
fully ten geographical miles, there
piece of land of half a mile in
the southern boundary, and nothing at all at the northern, for have therefore given to the terumah upon prince s land.
We
(Plate IV.) the length and breadth of eight geo graphical miles, which leaves a tract of two miles on the average for the prince s land, so that it would occupy a fifth
the
map
of the area of the holy terumahj whereas the city possession
covered a fourth. south to north
is
No
doubt the breadth of the terumah from
also diminished thereby, so that
have reached quite down
it
cannot
Jerusalem or quite up to Jenin. we consider that the distances of places, and therefore If, now, also the measurements of a land in length and breadth, are to
greater in reality than those given upon the map, on account partly of the mountains and valleys and partly of the windings of the roads, and, still further, that our calculations of the
Hebrew
cubit are not quite certain, and that even the smaller estimates of Thenius are possibly still too high, the measure ments of the terumah given by Ezekiel correspond as exactly to
Canaan as could be expected with a knowledge of its extent obtained not by trigonometrical measurement, but from a simple calculation of the length of the roads. But this furnishes a confirmation by no means
the actual size of the land of
380
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
our assumption, that the lengths and breadths indi Beckoned cated here are measured by rods and not by cubits. by cubits, the terumah would be only a mile and a half or a slight of
mile and two-thirds in length and breadth, and the city pos whereas the session would be only a third of a mile broad ;
land would be more than six times as large as the prince whole of the terumah, i.e. of the territory of the Levites, the s
and the
priests,
land,
thirteen times as large as the priests
city,
and from thirty
possession
to thirty-two times as large as the city
= proportions the
improbability of which
at
once
AND NAME OF THE CITY.
To
is
apparent.
Vers. 30-35. SIZE, GATES,
complete the whole picture of the future land of Israel, what has been stated in vers. 15 and 16 concerning the size of the Ver. 30. And these holy city is still further expanded here.
from the north side, four thousand Ver. 31. And the gates measurement. hundred (rods) five of the city according to the names of the tribes of Israel : three the gate of gates toward the north ; the gate of Reuben one, are the outgoings of the city
and
Judah
four thousand five
:
one, the gate of
gate of Joseph one.
of Levi one. Ver. 32. And on the east side and three gates ; namely, the hundred (rods)
one, the gate
And to
Ver. 33.
of Dan four thousand five hundred one, the gate
Benjamin
the south side,
; the gate of Simeon one, the Ver. 34. To one. Zebulon Issachar the gate of one, gate of
measurement
the west side, the gate
one.
the
and
:
four thousand
Gad
of Ver. 35.
name of
situation
of
three gates
one, the gate
Round
the city
the
:
city
five
about,
from of
hundred
of Asher
their gates three;
one, the gate
eighteen thousand
of Naphtali (rods)
henceforth Jehovah there.
God
within the
terumah
and
;
The and
its
external dimensions have already been generally indicated in Here the measurement of the several sides is vers. 15, 1.6. their gates, specified with a notice of
the heading,
"
the outlets of the
and
city."
this is
nxvifl,
preceded by
the outgoings
CHAP. XLVIII. (not extensions, for the
furthest extremities in
nates
381
30-35.
word never has
meaning) are the
this
of land termi city or a tract
which a
not outlets or gates, which are expressly distinguished sides hence the definition of the
;
from them, but outgoing
;
extent or length of the several sides
is
appended immediately
The enumeration commences, as above in the case with the north side. Each side has three gates, so
afterwards. of the land,
that the whole city has twelve,
which bear the names of the
twelve tribes, like the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem in Rev. xxi. 12, because it will be the city of the true people of God.
included here, and consequently Ephraim and Manasseh The three sons of Leah are united in the one tribe of Joseph.
Levi
is
commence
the series with the northern gates.
They
the blessing of Moses in Deut. xxxiii. 6-8
first in
:
also stand
the
first
born in age, the first-born by virtue of the patriarchal blessing, and the one chosen by Jehovah for His own service in the
Then
place of the first-born.
follow, for the eastern gates, the
two sons of Rachel, according to their age (thus deviating from Deut. xxxiii. 12 and 13), and, along with them, the elder son of Rachel
of
Leah
;
maid
s
and
;
for the southern gates, the three other sons
the western gates, the three other sons
lastly, for
Being thus indicated by the names of its gates as the city of all Israel, the city itself receives a name, which But different exalts it into the city of God (Jehovah).
of the maids.
explanations have been given of the words in ver. 35 which refer to this name. The allusion in Di 5 & and the meaning of nsE>
are both disputed points.
means
"
thither
"
DB>,
there,"
tion that
"
;
in ch. xxiii.
day forward, equivalent and for ever, though s
"
is
true that the latter literally it
as
synonymous with
3 and xxxii. 29, 30, so that the asser
na^ never means
Whether Di the name
It
but Ezekiel also uses
to
"there"
is
incorrect.
henceforward
;
Di s ,
from
but not henceforth
may be implied in the context. be taken in connection with the preceding words, this
of the city will henceforward
which follow, the name of the
city will
be," "
be,
or with those
henceforward
382
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
Jehovah
makes no material
there,"
difference so far as the
thought is concerned, as the city can only bear the name from the time when Jehovah is ntM? and can only bear it so long as ?
Jehovah
is
whether
nW
nick
is
But
riBB*.
so far as the question
is
concerned,
signifies thither or there in this passage, Haverof opinion, indeed, that the whole of Ezekiel s vision
does not harmonize with the meaning inasmuch as he there," and so that Jehovah does not properly separates temple city, "
dwell in Jerusalem, but, in the strictest and highest sense, in
His sanctuary, and turns thence to Jerusalem with the fulness of His grace and love. But if Jehovah does not merely direct
His love toward the
city
further says, turns
fully toward
to rest
upon
love, so that
In any
it
He
it,
then
it
can bear the name
case, the interpretation,
untenable; for the
off,
but, as
Havernick
still
it, causes His good pleasure also rules and is in the city with His
proceed thither, to restore is
from afar
it,
name
"
"
Jehovah
Jehovah
will
thither
(there)."
from henceforth
make
to
it a holy city" (Kliefoth), not given to Jerusalem when
is
lying waste, but to the city already restored and fully built, which Ezekiel sees in the spirit. He has therefore before this
turned His favour once more to Jerusalem, which was laid waste; and the name
fiBt? njrp given to the new Jerusalem, can only affirm that henceforward it is to be a city of Jehovah, i.e. that from this time forth Jehovah will be and rule in her.
The rendering
"
Jehovah
only the rendering, Ix.
14,
the
?
"
Jehovah
where Jerusalem
Holy One
in
thither
is
"
will
does not answer to
be
there."
called the city of
this,
Compare
but Isa.
Jehovah, Zion of
Israel, because the glory of
Jehovah has
risen over her as a brilliant light.
Having now completed our
exposition in detail,
if
we
take a
survey of the substance of the entire vision in ch. xl.-xlviii., on comparing it with the preceding prophecies of the restoration
383
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
of Israel (ch. xxxiv.-xxxvii.), we obtain the following picture When the of the new constitution of the kingdom of God :
Lord
shall gather the sons of Israel
from
amono the heathen, and bring them back 1
to
their
banishment
Canaan, so that
the rule of they shall dwell therein as a united people under His servant David, then shall they, on the fresh distribution of the land according to the full extent to which God promised it to the patriarchs, and indicated the boundaries thereof through
Moses
(ch. xlvii.
15-20),
set apart the central portion of it as
and His
servants, the priests
and
labourers, and Levites, as well as for the capital and give to the prince a possession of his own on both sides of
also
a heave for the sanctuary
its
this
In the central point of the heave, which occupies a square space of twenty- five thousand rods in length and breadth, the tem.ple is to stand upon a high mountain, and
heave.
cover, with
its
hundred cubits square hundred rods on every side
courts, a space of five
and round about
it
a space of five
;
form a boundary between the holy and the common. The glory of Jehovah will enter into the temple and dwell therein
is
to
for ever;
holy (ch.
and the temple, xliii.
1-12).
tract of land of twenty-five
thousand in breadth
and by their
side,
area of similar size
whole extent, will be most
in its
Round about
this the priests receive a
thousand rods in length and ten
to dwell in as a
sanctuary for the sanctuary; toward the north, the Levites receive an for dwelling-places but toward the south, ;
a tract of land of twenty-five thousand rods in length and five thousand rods in breadth is to be the property of the city and in the centre of this area, the city, with its open space, is to ;
cover a square of five thousand rods in length and breadth ; and the rest of the land on both sides is to be given to the labourers of the city out of
The land
all
Israel for their maintenance.
lying on the eastern and western sides of the heave, Jordan and the Mediterranean, is to be the pro
as far as the
perty of the prince, and to remain the hereditary possession of his sons After the (ch. xlv. 1-8, xlvi. 16-18, xlviii. 8-22).
384
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
separation of this heave, which, with the prince covers about the fifth part of the whole extent of rest
s
possession,
Canaan, the of the land on the north and south of the heave is to be
divided into equal parts and distributed among the twelve so that shall stretch from the Jordan tribes, every tribe-territory
seven tribes receiving their hereditary
to the Mediterranean,
portions on the north of the heave and
five on the south, whilst the foreigners having their permanent homes among the different tribes are to receive hereditary possessions like the native Israelites (ch. xlvii. 21-xlviii. 7, and xlviii.
23-29). Israel,
land,
thus placed once more in possession of the promised
to appear with its prince before the
is
at the yearly feasts, to worship
of which
vision
seasons, for
and
Lord
in the
temple
to offer sacrifices, the pro
devolve upon the prince at all festal which purpose the people are to pay to him the is
to
sixtieth part of the corn, the
hundredth part of the
oil,
and the
two hundredth head from the flock every year as a heaveThe sacrificial service at the altar and in the holy offering. place
is
to
be performed by none but priests of the family of
Zadok, who kept
the charge of the Lord faithfully when the people wandered into idolatry. All the other descendants of Levi are simply to discharge the inferior duties of the temple
uncircumcised heathen are not to be admitted
service, whilst
into
the temple
them
When
(ch.
xliii.
any more, that 13-xliv.
31,
Israel shall thus serve the
His commandments and blessing from God.
A
may
it
xlv.
statutes,
not be defiled by
8-xlvi.
Lord it
its
will
and 19-24). God, and walk in 15,
enjoy the richest
spring of living water will issue
from
the threshold of the temple house, and, swelling after a short course into a mighty river, will flow down to the Jordan valley,
empty itself into the Dead Sea, and make the water of that sea so wholesome that it will swarm with living O creatures and fishes of every kind
;
and on the banks of the river
grow with never-withering
leaves,
which
fruit-trees will
will bear ripe fruit for
The Temple.
.
TV
A Ai_TeTmt<rn.Ea
CHAP.
385
XL-XL VIII.
food every month, whilst the leaves will serve as medicine (ch. xlvii.
As
1-12). to the Messianic character of the substance of this whole
Jewish and Christian commentators are generally agreed;
vision,
and the opinion which, according to Jerome, many of the Jews entertained, and which has been supported by the rationalistic and others), expositors (Dathe, Eichhorn, Herder, Bottcher, after the
example of Grotius,
namely, that Ezekiel describes
the temple of Solomon destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar as a model for the rebuilding O of it after the return of the Jews from
has not found much favour, inasmuch as, apart the captivity, from all other objections to which it is exposed, it is upset by the fact that not only are its supporters unable to make any thing of the description of the spring which issues from the threshold of the temple, flows through the land, and makes the waters of the Dead Sea sound, but they are also unable to explain the separation of the temple
salem
;
as
it
from the
would never have occurred
apart from divine revelation, much
to
city of
any Jewish
Jeru
patriot,
a priest like Ezekiel, who claims such important prerogatives for the prince of the family of David in relation to the temple, to remove the house less to
Jehovah from Mount Zion, the seat of the royal house of David, and out of the bounds and territory of the city of of
Jerusalem. related to
it,
But even viz.
if
we
lay aside this view, and the one
that the whole vision contains nothing
more
than ideal hopes and desires of better things belonging to that age, with regard to the future restoration of the destroyed temple and kingdom, as Ewald and others represent the matter, as being irreconcilable with the biblical view of prophecy, the
commentators, who acknowledge the divine origin of prophecy and the Messianic character of the vision in these chapters, very widely from one another with reference to the some declaring question how the vision is to be interpreted differ
;
themselves quite as decidedly in favour of the literal explana tion of the whole picture as others in favour of the figurative
EZEK.
II.
2
B
386
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
or symbolico-typical view, which they regard as the only correct and scriptural one. The latter view gained the upper hand at
a very early period in the Christian church, so that
we
find
it
l and it adopted by Ephraem Syrus, Theodoret, and Jerome so that Lud. for generally, prevailed Cappellus, example, in his ;
Trisagion
s.
templi HierosoL tripl. delin. (in the apparat. bibl.
of Walton, in the
first
London
part of the
Polyglot, p. 3), says
:
In this passage God designs to show by the prophet that He no more delights in that carnal and legal worship which they have hitherto presented to Him but that He demands from "
;
them another kind
more pleasing
to
of worship very different
Him
from
that,
and
(a spiritual worship, of which they have
a type in the picture and
all
the rites of this temple, which
from those of Moses), and that He will establish them when He shall have called them to Himself among
differ greatly it
through the Messiah. And that this spiritual worship is set before them in shadows and figures, there is not a Christian O who denies nor any Jew, unless prejudiced and very obdurate, 7
;
Epliraera Syrus, on ch. xli., not only interprets the windows of the It temple and even the measuring rod allegorically, but says expressly: is evident that the rest of the things shown to the prophet in the building of the new temple pertain to the church of Christ, so that we must hold that the priests of that house were types of the apostles, and the calves 1
"
slain therein prefigured the sacrifice of Christ." Theod. indeed restricts himself throughout to a brief paraphrase of the words, without explaining every particular in a spiritual manner but he nevertheless says expressly (at ch. xliii.) that we must ascend from the type to the truth, as God will ;
and therefore he repeatedly opposes the Judaeo-literal interpretation of Apollinaris, although he himself appears to take ch. xlviii. as simply referring to the return of the Jews from the not dwell for ever in the type
;
Babylonian exile, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple in the time of Zerubbabel. This explanation is expressly opposed by Jerome, as the opinion of ignorant Jews and he observes, on the other hand, that this temple which is now described, with the order of the priesthood and division of the land and its fertility, is much superior to that which Solomon built whereas the one which was built under Zerubbabel was ;
"
;
so small,
and so unworthy
of comparison
with the earlier one, that they
temple, and now looked on this, wept," etc. Under the type of the restoration of the city destroyed by the Babylonians, there
who had is
seen the
first
predicted futurae aedificationis veritas.
387
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
who
ventures to deny, seeing that there are so many things in Ezekiel which not even the most shameless
this description of
Jew
we
has dared to argue that
The
the letter/ etc.
literal interpretation
time peculiar to the Jews, only their
own
are to interpret according to
remained for a long the Messiah not
who expect from
Canaan, but the re
restoration to the earthly
building of the temple and the renewal of the Levitical worship in the manner described by Ezekiel, and the establishment of a political
kingdom generally
;
whereas Christians have founded
the expectation of an earthly kingdom of glory in the form of the millennium, more upon the Apocalypse than upon Ezekiel s
prophecy.
has only
It
been in the most recent time that
certain scientific defenders of chiliasm have not shrunk
from
carrying out their views so far as to teach not only the restora tion of the Jews to Palestine on their conversion to Christ, but,
according to their
literal
explanation of our prophecy, the re
building of the temple in Jerusalem and the renewal of the Levitical worship in the millennial kingdom. Auberlen has
only hinted at this, so that from his words quoted already, when once priesthood and monarchy are revived, then, with out impairing the Epistle to the Hebrews, the ceremonial and "
civil
and see
law of Moses
will unfold its spiritual depths in the
how
Ezekiel
far he assumes that there will be a literal fulfilment of s
M. Baumgarten
prophecy.
Cyclopaedia) says,
outward
much
worship
we cannot
in the constitution of the millennial kingdom,"
reality,
more
"
what went
will
Herzog all
s
the
in vision, will be not so
before, as a glorification of the
outward, which had perished and been "glorification"
in
u the restoration of plainly, that
which Ezekiel saw
a repetition of
Ezekiel"
(art.
simply consist in
condemned,"
"extensions
since this
and
intensi
of the earlier precepts of the law. he adds, "For," in support of this opinion, when Israel as a nation turns to fications"
"
God, how can, how should ence in any other
Jehovah gave
way
it
manifest
its
faith
and
its
obedi
than in the forms and ordinances which
to that people ?
And
is it
not obvious
(!
?) that
388
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
the whole law, in
all its
sections
and
portions, will not receive,
after this conversion, that fulfilment
till
hitherto sought in vain sacrificial
service,
opposed to faith in the
life,
And how
I
which
in all ages
it
has
should temple, priesthood,
Sabbath, and new moon, in themselves be the perfect and eternal revelation of God in
death, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ?"
In con
sistency with this, Baumgarten is therefore of opinion that eventually even the Gentile community will enter again into the congregation of Israel, and find its national organization in
the law of Israel according to the will of God. Hofmann, on the contrary (Schriftbeweis, II. 2, pp. 577 sqq.), finds only so
much viz.
established with certainty in the revelation of Ezekiel,
that Israel will
Jehovah
will
serve
God
again in
dwell in the midst of
it
its
again.
own
land,
He
and
therefore
would have the several parts interpreted in relation to the whole so that what Hengstenberg calls the ideal interpretation of this But he does not say precisely what his prophecy remains. ;
view to
is
concerning the temple, and the Levitical
He
be performed therein.
simply infers, from the fact that
from the temple-mountain makes the
a stream of water issuing
Dead Sea sound and
the lower Kedron-valley fruitful, that the
land will be different from what tion
Volck
rite of sacrifice
it
was before
;
and
this altera
calls a glorification of Palestine.
In our discussion of the question concerning the restoration we have already declared ourselves as
of Israel to Canaan,
opposed
to the literal interpretation of the prophecy,
and have
given the general grounds on which the symbolico-typical view appears to be demanded namely, because the assumption of a restoration of the temple is
and the Levitical,
to the teaching of
i.e. bloody, sacrificial Christ and His apostles.
opposed worship have now to assign further reasons for this. If, then, in the first place, we fix our attention upon the vision in ch.
We
xl.-odviii.,
we cannot
find
any conclusive argument against the
literal and in favour of the
figurative interpretation of the
vision in question, either in the fact that Ezekiel does not give
389
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
any building-plan for the temple, bat simply ground arrange ments and ground measurements, and does not say that a ever to be built according to his plan, or give any instructions for the restoration of the Israelitish worship, or in
temple
is
the fact that the division of the land, the bounding off of the terumah and the arranging of the city, cannot be practically realized.
The
command
omission of any
might be simply accounted
for,
to build the
from the design
to
temple let
the
prophet merely see the restoration of the destroyed temple in a more perfect form, and cause this to be predicted to the people through him, without at present giving any command to build, as that was only to be carried out in the remote future.
The
absence of elevations and precise directions concerning the
construction of the several buildings might be explained from the fact that in these respects the building was to resemble the
former temple. land
among
And
with regard to the distribution of the
the tribes, and the setting apart of the terumah,
it
cannot truly be said that u they bear on the face of them their The description of a purposelessness and impracticability." portion of land of definite size for priests, Levites, city, and prince, which was to reach from the eastern boundary of
Canaan
to the western,
and
line
by the tribe-territories
may
infer from the
to
be bounded
a straight adjoining, contains off in
immediately nothing impracticable, provided that we do not think of the boundary line as a straight line upon a chess-board. But we
which were their cattle
Mosaic instructions concerning the
districts,
be given to the Levites as pasture grounds for round about the cities assigned to them to dwell in, to
that the words of the text do not warrant
any such
idea.
They
are described as perfect squares of a thousand cubits on every side (Num. xxxv. 2-5). If, then, these Mosaic instructions
could be carried out, the same
must be
true of those of Ezekiel
concerning the terumah) as its dimensions are in harmony with the actual size of the land. And so also the separation of the
city
from the temple, and the square form of the
city
390
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
with three gates on every
side,
cannot be regarded in general
purposeless or impracticable.
as either
And,
finally,
in the
statements concerning the territories to be distributed among the twelve tribes, viz. that they were to lie side by side, that they were all to stretch from the Mediterranean to the Jordan,
and that they were to be of equal size, there is no ground for supposing that the land was to be cat up with the measuring rod into abstract oblongs of equal measurements, with an entire
The only thing which disregard of all the actual conditions. causes any surprise here is the assumption on which the regu lation, that one tribe is to receive as much as another, is founded, namely, that all the tribes of Israel will be equal in This hypothesis can the number of families they contain. hardly be reconciled with the assumption that an actual dis tribution of Palestine
ing from exile
among
the twelve tribes of Israel return
Even
the measuring of a of forming a separation space around the temple for the purpose between the holy and the common, which space was to be five times as large as the extent of the temple with its courts, con tains
is
contemplated.
an obvious hint
at a symbolical signification of the
temple
a real temple such an object could building, inasmuch as with have been attained by much simpler means. To this must be added the river issuing from the threshold of the eastern
marvellously increasing flow of water, and the supernatural force of life which it contains for, as we have already pointed out, this cannot be regarded as an earthly
temple gate, with
its
;
river watering the land, but can only be interpreted figuratively, i.e.
in a symbolico-typical sense.
But
if
the stream of water
cannot be regarded as a natural river, flowing from the temple the temple also cannot be an earthly temple, and the sacrificial service appointed for this temple cannot be taken as divine service consisting in the slaying and offering of bullocks, goats,
and calves
;
and as the
entire description
forms a uniform
distribution of the land prophetic picture, the of Israel must also not be interpreted literally.
among
the sons
391
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
But
as different supporters of the chiliastic
fended the
literal
view have de
of the temple interpretation of the picture of a glorification of nature, i.e. of a
spring by the assumption before the glorification of Palestine
and the earth, and
new
creation of the heaven
of great importance in assumption relation to the question concerning the fulfilment of this pro
phecy (Ezek.
this
is
we must examine somewhat more
xl.-xlviii.),
closely the arguments used in
I.
Is the glorification of
Zur
Eschatologie,"
support.
Canaan
in the prophecy of the Old ("
its
before the last
Testament
?
Dorpat. Zeitschr.
idea of such a glorification
is
very
judgment taught According to Volck
vii.
pp. 158 sqq.), the
common throughout
the
Old
Isaiah (ii. 2-4) sees Testament prophecy. When," he says, the mountain of the house of Jehovah exalted above all the "
"
mountains, and the nations flowing to it, to walk in Jehovah s ways ; when he prophesies of a time in which the Lord will
now saved and holy in all its members, and fill land with glory, and Canaan, under the rule of the righteous prince of peace, with its inhabitants once scattered over all the shelter Israel,
its
world brought back once more, paradisaical state
judgment
iv.
(Isa.
will
be restored to the original,
of peace, whilst the world
2-6,
ix.
1-6, and 11, 12)
;
is
given up to
when Jeremiah
prophesies that Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and a sprout from the house of David will rule well over his people, upon whose heart Jehovah will write His law (Jer. xxxi. 31-44, xxxiii. 15)
when Hosea returned home
;
16-25) sees the house of Jacob, which has
after a period of severe affliction, as a pardoned
God
betrothes Himself again ; when Joel 16-21) sees a time break forth after the judgment upon the
people to (iv.
(ii.
which
its
army of the world of nations, in which the holy land bursts into miraculous fruitf ulness ; when Amos (ix. 8-15) predicts the rebuilding of the tabernacle of David that has been over
thrown, and the restoration of the Davidic kingdom; when, according to Zechariah (xiv. 8 sqq.), Jerusalem is to be the
392
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
centre of the world, to which the nations flow, to celebrate the feast of tabernacles with Israel it is impossible, without in :
troducing unbounded caprice
into our exposition,
conclusion, that in all these passages,
the
to resist
and others of a similar
kind, a time is depicted, when, after the judgment of God upon the power of the world, Israel will dwell in the enjoyment of blissful peace within its own land, now transfigured into para disaical
But
ments
and
glory,
that
will
rule over the nations
round
concerning a partial glorification of the earth that kingdom of glory, is apparent from the fact that "
Are there
upon
"
"
after writing this that
till
about."
these passages do not contain clear scriptural state
all
this
Volck himself
raises the question,
distinct utterances of
any and he only
really, then,
point?"
during not
it is
Scripture
two passages (Joel
cites
iv.
18 sqq. and Mic. vii. 913) as containing an affirmative answer to the question, to which he also adds in a note Isa.
1-23
xxiv.
as
compared with
But when Joel
upon the army of nations mountains
trickle
and Zech.
xiv.
of
judgment
8-11.
Jehovah
in the valley of Jehoshaphat, the
with
new
wine, the
hills
flow
with
the springs of Judah stream with water, while will become a desolation, and Edom a barren desert, he
milk, and
Egypt
will
Isa. xiii. 9
foretells that, after the
all
announces nothing more than that which Isaiah repeats and still further expands in ch. xxxiv. and xxxv. where even Ilof;
mann
(Schriftbeweis, II. 2, p. 563)
symbolical designation, applied to the
admits that
Edom
is
world of mankind in
a its
estrangement from God. as
Edom
But
if
Joel merely mentions Egypt as well as representatives of the world in its hostility to God.
Egypt and Edom
are types of the world in
its
estrange
enmity against Him, Judah is a type of the kingdom of God; and this passage simply teaches that through the judgment the might and glory of the kingdoms of
ment from God
or
its
the world at enmity against God will be laid waste and de established. stroyed, and the glory of the kingdom of God
But
in
nowise do they teach the glorification of Palestine and
393
CHAP. XL-XLVIII.
Idumaea and the country of the Nile espe we bear in mind that, as we have already observed,
the desolation of if
cially
;
the trickling o of the mountains and o and flowing
hills
with
new
We
meet wine and oil cannot possibly be understood literally. with the very same antithesis in Mic. vii. 9-13, where the daughter of Zion, presented under the figure of a vineyard, is promised the building of her walls and the flowing into her
numerous peoples from Egypt, Asshur, and the ends of the Micah does world, and the desolation of the world is foretold. of
not say a word about a partial glorification of the earth, unless the building of the walls of Zion is taken allegorically, and changed into a glorification of Palestine. But if this is the case with passages selected as peculiarly clear, the rest will furnish still less proof of the supposed glorification of the land of Israel.
1-23
"
It
is
that
we
also find in Isa. xxiv.
the antithesis between Zion, the glorified seat of Jehovah,
and the earth and
true, indeed,
laid
waste by the
judgment"
(cf. Isa. xiii. 3),
Zech. xiv. 8 sqq. the prediction of an exaltation of Jeru salem above the land lying round about but even if a future in
;
God
midst of His people, and, a transformation of the indeed, earthly soil of the kingdom of God, be foretold in these and many other passages, the chiliastic glorification of the seat of
in the
idea of a glorification of Palestine before the universal judg the new creation of the heaven and earth is by no
ment and
means proved thereby,
so long as there are
no
distinct state
ments of Scripture to confirm the supposition that the future of
Zion, Jerusalem, Canaan, predicted by the Even Yolck prophets, will take place before the judgment. glorification
appears to have felt that the passages already quoted do not furnish a conclusive proof of this, since it is not till after dis cussing them that he thinks Does the Old Testament "
Canaan
necessary to raise the question, really speak of a glorification of it
in the literal sense of the
word?"
To
reply to this
he commences with an examination of the view of the millen
nium
held by Auberlen,
who
finds nothing
more
in the state-
394
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ments of the Old Testament than that
"
even nature
will
be
included in the blessing of the general salvation, the soil endowed with inexhaustible fruitfulness, all hostility and thirst for blood
be taken from the animal world, yea, the heavens bound to the earth in corresponding harmony," so that we should be reminded of the times of the world before the flood,
nature were
still
intimation in
when
greater than they are now.
Isa. Ixv.
20-22
alludes,
the powers of
To
this
the
where men a hundred
years old are called boys, etc. (der Prophet Daniel, pp. 402, 403). But Yolck objects to the literal interpretation of such passages
on the ground that the consequence of this assumption leads to absurdities, inasmuch as such passages as Isa. xi. 6, Ix. 17, 19, Ixvi. 25, would then also have to be taken
as Isa. Ixv. 20,
"
which certainly no one would be so ready to agree Luthardt, die Lehre von den letzten Dingen, p. 78). "
literally, to
(see also
On
the other hand, he defends the canon laid
mann of
"
(p. 566),
glory
down by Hof-
that in the prophetic description of that time
we must
distinguish between
the thoughts of the
prophecy and the means used for expressing them the former we reach by generalizing what is said by way of example, and ;
The reducing the figurative expression to the literal one." thought lying at the foundation of these prophetic pictures is, in his opinion,
no other than that of a
blessed, blissful fellow
ship with God, and a state of peace embracing both the
human
and the extra-human creation. To set forth this thought, the prophets seize upon the most manifold figures and colours which the earth offers them." Thus in Isa. Ixv. 20-23 we *
have only a figurative description of what is said in literal words in Isa. xxv. 8 He swalloweth up death for ever, and So also the Jehovah wipeth away the tears from every face. :
in Isa. xi. 6-8, Ixv. 25, affirm nothing figurative expressions ic than that the ground will be delivered from the curse
more
which
rests
upon
it
for the sake of
man, and the extra-human
creation will be included in the state of peace enjoyed in the
holy seat of God.
But where
there
is
no death and no
evil,
395
CHAP. XL.-XLViir.
and therefore no more
sin,
where the glory of the Lord shines
without change (Isa. Ix. 19, 20), not only has the world before the flood with its still greater powers of nature returned, but there
is
the world of
glorification"
We
agree with this view
and simply add that this furnishes no proof of the Before this before the last judgment. glorification of Canaan in general,
can be done,
it
must be conclusively shown that these prophetic kingdom, and do not
millennial passages treat of the so-called
in Isa. Ixv. 17 sqq. and Rev. xxi. depict what is plainly taught and xxii., the glory of the heavenly Jerusalem upon the new earth.
acknowledges this, inasmuch these passages, he proposes the question,
Volck
also
clear passages in the
as, after "
Are
examining
there really
Old Testament prophecy which warrant
us in assuming that there will be an intermediate period between
the judgment, through which Jehovah glorifies Himself and His people before the eyes of the world, and a last end of all
An
things?"
affirmative answer to this question
is
said to
where the prophet, when the And it will earth, says : judgment upon come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will visit the army of the height on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth ; Isa. xxiv. 21 sqq.,
be furnished by depicting the
and they
will
and shut up
"
be gathered together as a crowd, taken in the in the prison,
days will they be turns pale
;
for
Jerusalem, and
Hofmann
visited.
Jehovah
and
And
after the expiration of
the sun blushes, and the
pit,
many moon
upon Mount Zion and in His elders is glory." Here even
rules royally
in the face of
finds (pp. 566, 567) the idea clearly expressed
"
of a
time between the judgment through which Jehovah glorifies Himself and His people before all the world, and a last end of
we must picture to ourselves when we read of a rolling up of the heaven on which all its host falls off, like dry leaves from the vine (Isa. xxxiv. 4), and of a day of retri
things, such as
bution upon earth, when the earth falls to rise no more, and a fire devours its inhabitants, which burns for ever" (Isa. xxxiv. 8, 9, xxiv. 20). But if we observe that the announce-
396
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
merit of the
judgment upon the earth
closes in Isa. xxiv.
20
the earth will fall, and not rise with the words, and again;" then vers. 21 sqq. continue as follows: "And it comes to pass "
in that day,
Jehovah
will
visit,"
etc.,
it
will
be evident that the
judgment upon the host of the heavens, etc., is assigned to the time when the earth is destroyed, so that by the Mount Zion and Jerusalem, where Jehovah will then reign royally in glory, only understand the heavenly Jerusalem. An inter
we can
mediate time between the judgment upon the world and the last
end of things,
i.e.
the destruction of the heaven and the
Nor is it taught in ch. Ixv. 17-19, w here, according to Hofmann (p. 568), a glorification of Jeru salem before the new creation of the heaven and the earth is for here even Volck admits that we have said to be foretold a picture of the new world after the destruction of heaven and earth,
is
not taught here..
r
;
earth and after the last judgment, and concludes his discussion u that in upon this point (p. 166) with the acknowledgment, the Old Testament prophecy these two phases of the end are
not sharply separated from each other, and especially that the manner of transition from the former (the glorification of
Jehovah and His church before the world thousand years reign) to the
last
end of
of eternity, does not stand clearly latter respect there is
an indication
If, then, for the present
we
to
out,"
all
in
the so-called
things, to the life
though even
in the
be found in Ezek. xxxviii.
lay this indication aside, as the
question concerning Ezek. xxxviii. can only be considered in connection with Eev. xx., the examination of all the passages
quoted by the
chiliasts in support of the glorification of
tine, before the
new
creation of the heavens
and the
Pales earth,
two assumed phases of the end are generally not distinguished in the Old Testament prophecy, and that the utterances of the different prophets concerning the
yields rather the result that the
the war of the world-powers against the kingdom than this, that Jehovah will clearly contain no more
final issue of
of
God
destroy
all
the enemies of His
kingdom by a judgment, over-
397
CHAP. XL.-XLVIIL
throw the kingdoms of the world, and establish His kingdom Isaiah alone rises to a prediction of the destruction of the whole world, and of the new creation of the heaven and
in glory.
But what the Old Testament
the earth. this respect,
is
supposed
this question, therefore,
II.
Does
the
New
leaves
still
to be clearly revealed in the
we
will
now
obscure in
New.
To
proceed.
Testament teach a glorification of Palestine
and a kingdom of glory in the earthly Jerusalem, before the judgment and the destruction of the heaven and the earth ?
last
In
the opinion of most of the representatives of millenarianism, is no doubt whatever as to either of these. For, ac
there
"
cording to Kev. xx., the overthrow of the world-power and the destruction of Antichrist are immediately followed by the establishment of the kingdom of glory of the glorified church of Jesus Christ for the space of a thousand years, at the of Gog and Magog against the expiration of which the war beloved city takes place, and ends in the overthrow of the hostile
army and the
earth"
(Yolck, p. 167).
new heaven and the new assumption is by no means
creation of the
Even
But
this
we grant
in passing, that, according view of the Apocalypse, the events depicted in ch. xx. are to be understood chronologically, the assumption that Palestine will be glorified during the millennium is not so indisputable.
if
to the millenarian
Auberlen, for example, who regards the doctrine of the thousand years reign as one of the primary
yet demonstrated.
articles of the Christian hope, pronounces the following sen tence (pp. 454, 455) upon Hofmann s view of the millennial reign, according to which the glorified church is to be thought
not as in heaven, but as on earth, and, indeed, as united with the equally glorified Israel in the equally glorified Canaan It appears obvious to me that the whole of the Old Testament
of,
:
"
prophecy
is
irreconcilable with this view, apart from the internal
improbability of the
above,
we regard
thing."
And
according to our discussion
this sentence as perfectly well
founded.
The
393
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
prophets of the Old Testament know nothing of a thousand years kingdom ; and a glorification of the earthly Canaan before the end of the world cannot be inferred from the picture of the temple spring, for the simple reason that the resumption of this prophetic figure in Eev. xxii. 1 and 2 shows that this spring belongs to the heavenly Jerusalem of the new earth.
Even
Kev. xx. we read nothing about a glorification of This has merely been inferred from
in
Palestine or Jerusalem.
the fact that, according to the literal interpretation of the chapter, those who rise from the dead at the second coming of
beloved city," i.e. Jeru Christ will reign with Christ in the has not been taken into consideration, the salem ; but question "
whether a warlike expedition of the heathen from the four corners of the unglorified world against the inhabitants of a glorified city,
who
are clothed with spiritual bodies,
is
possible
and conceivable, or whether such an assumption does not rather Nor can it be shown that the doctrine lead to absurdities." "
end of the present contained in the remaining chapters of the Apocalypse It cannot be or the other writings of the New Testament.
of a glorification of Palestine before the
world
is
inferred from the words of the Apostle Paul in
Rom.
xi.
15,
viz. that the restoration of the people of Israel, rejected for a
time after the entrance of the pleroma of the heathen into the u life from the dead since kingdom of God, will be or cause "
;
never really means the new bodily life of glorification beginning with the resurrection of the dead (Meyer), nor the glorification of the world (Volck) and this il
life
from the dead
"
;
meaning cannot be deduced from the fact that the TraXtyMatt. xix. 28) and the %p6voi diroryeveata regeneration," Acts iii. rj-21) will of times KaTao-Tdaew restitution," ("
("
"
follow the
And earthly clusive "
"
receiving
(TrpocrX^t?) of Israel.
even for the doctrine of a kingdom of glory in the Jerusalem before the last judgment, we have no con scriptural
beloved
city"
in
evidence.
The
assumption,
that
by the
Rev. xx. 9 we are to understand the earthly
399
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
Jerusalem, rests upon the hypothesis, that the people of Israel will return to Palestine on or after their conversion to Christ, rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, and dwell there
till
the
Christ. But, as we have already shown, no has support either in Rom. xi. 25 or any other hypothesis unequivocal passages of the New Testament; and the only this
of
coming
passages that
come
xiv. 1-5,
and
tained.
In Rev.
of the
into consideration at all are Rev. vii. 1-8,
xi., xii.,
in
which
1 sqq.,
vii.
this doctrine
John
is
said to be con
sees how, before the outbreak
judgment upon the God-opposing world-power, an angel in their foreheads, and hears the servants of our God "
"
seals
number
that the
thousand of
all
of those sealed
is
a
hundred and forty-four
the tribes of the children of Israel, twelve
thousand from each of the twelve tribes mentioned by name. In ch. xiv. 1 sqq. he sees the Lamb stand upon Mount Zion, and with
Him
a hundred and forty-four thousand, having the name upon their forehead. And in ch. xi. 1 sqq.
of his Father written
given to him, and he is commanded to measure the temple of God and the altar, but to cast out the outer court of the temple, and not to measure it, because it is given to the a rod
is
heathen,
become
From
who
will
spiritually a
tread under foot the holy city, which has
Sodom and an Egypt Hofmann (II. 2, p.
these passages,
and others conclude that the converted
for forty-two months.
703), Luther, Volck, Israelitish
church
will
not only dwell in Palestine, more especially in Jerusalem, before the coming (parusia) of Christ, but will be alone in outliving the coming of Christ whilst the rest of Christendom, ;
at all events the
whole number of the believers from among
the Gentile Christians, will lose their lives in the great tribula tion which precedes the parusia, and go through death to God.
This conclusion would be indisputable
if
the premises were
well founded, namely, that the passages in question treated of Jewish Christians and the earthly Jerusalem. only For, in
the
first
thousand
place,
it
is
evident that the hundred and forty-four sees with the Lamb upon Mount Zion in
whom John
400
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
ch. xiv. 1 sqq. are identical with the
hundred and forty-four
thousand who are sealed from the twelve tribes of Israel in ch.
The
vii.
omission of the retrospective article before e/carov, be explained from the fact that the in
K.T.\. in ch. xiv. 1 is to
tention
is
to give
prominence
to the antithesis,
which the
in
stands to what precedes. Over against the whole multitude of the rest of the world, subject to the beast and his notice of
it
"
prophet, there stands
upon Zion a comparatively limited host of
thousand" (Volck). And in the second place, it is quite as evident that in the one hundred and forty-four thousand who are sealed (ch. vii.), the total number
a hundred and forty-four
is
contained of
all
believers,
who have been preserved
in the
great tribulation, and kept from perishing therein ; and in ch. vii. 9-17 there is placed in contrast with these, in the innumer multitude able out of all the heathen, and nations, and lan
guages standing before the throne of God clothed in white robes, and carrying palms in their hands, who have come out of the great tribulation, the total lost their
into
the
temporal
number
of believers
everlasting
The mode
life.
u Uebersichtliche ( Darstellung
in
who have
and entered
lives in the great tribulation,
which Christiani
des Inhalts der
Apokalypse,"
53) attempts to evade this conclu sion namely, by affirming that the separate visions never give a complete final account, but only isolated glimpses of it, and
Dorpater Zeitschr. III.
p.
that they have mutually to supplement one another
does not
Volck has correctly observed,
suffice.
tion that the vision in ch.
vii.
917
in answer to the objec does not set before us the
entrance of all the believing Gentile Christians of the last time heaven through death, that although we simply read of a
into
great multitude" in ch. vii. 9, this expression does not permit us to infer that there will be a remnant of Gentile Christians, "
inasmuch the one
upon which all turns is of a hundred and number compact
as the antithesis
side, this
thousand out of Israel destined to survive the
last
this:
"on
forty-four
oppression
;
on the other, an innumerable multitude out of every nation,
Plate
HOLY LAND according to Ezekiel C.XLVII fcXLVIII
If f
l^m
con s true ted by
DrOttoDelitsch
f
<t
A.
KSa*.
401
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
Nevertheless, we must support Christian! in his opposition to the assumption, that at the parusia of Christ only Jewish Christians will be living on
who have come to God through
death."
Jerusalem or upon Mount Zion, and that all the believing Gentile Christians will have perished from the globe ; because such a view is irreconcilably opposed not only to Rev. earth
iii
also to all the teaching of the
12, but
iii.
especially to the declarations of our
New
Testament,
Lord concerning His second
When
the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica,/ consisting O of Gentile and Jewish Christians,/ eV
coming.
"
\6ya) Kvplov
Lord
:
we who
live
and remain
who
to the
coming of the
"
sleep (1 Thess. iv. 15 sqq.), and when he announced as a fAva-rr/pLov to the church at Corinth, which was also a mixed church, consisting for the most part of shall not anticipate those
Gentile Christians
"
:
we
shall not all sleep, but
we
shall all
be
xv. 51), he held the conviction, based upon changed" (1 Cor. a word of the Lord, that at the time of Christ s coming there
would
still
earth.
And when the Lord man will come in the
Son
be believing Gentile Christians living upon the Himself tells His disciples u the :
clouds of heaven with great power and glory, and will send His angels with sounding trumpets, of
and they will gather His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other" (Matt. xxiv. 30, 31), He treats it as
an indisputable fact that there
will be licXe/crat, believing
Christians, in ail the countries of the earth,
existing at
His coming
will not
and that the church
be limited to the Israel which
has become believing in Jerusalem and Palestine. If, therefore, the Apocalypse is not to stand in direct con tradiction to the teaching of Christ and the Apostle Paul in one of the principal articles of the truths of salvation, the exposition in question of Rev. vii. and xiv. cannot be correct. the
On
contrary,
we
are firmly convinced that in the
forty-four thousand
who
hundred and
are sealed, the whole body of believing
Christians living at the parusia of our
Lord
is
represented
and notwithstanding the fact that they are described EZEK. II. 2 C
;
as the
402
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
servants of
God
out of
"
all
the tribes of the children of
Israel,"
and are distributed by twelve thousands among the twelve tribes of Israel, and that in ch. xiv. 1 they stand with the
Lamb upon Mount
Zion, we can only regard them, not as Jewish Christians, but as the Israel of God (Gal. vi. 16), i.e. the church of believers in the last days gathered from both
Gentiles and Jews.
If the description of the sealed as children
of Israel out of all the twelve tribes,
and the enumeration of
these tribes by name, prove that only Jewish Christians are
intended, and preclude our taking the words as referring to
from both Gentiles and Jews, we must also regard the heavenly Jerusalem of the new earth as a Jewish Christian
believers
city,
because
it
has the names of the twelve tribes of the chil
dren of Israel written upon its gates (Rev. xxi. 12), like the Jerusalem of Ezekiel (ch. xlviii. 31) and as this holy city is ;
Lamb
we must assume (Rev. that only Jewish Christians will take part in the marriage of the Lamb. Moreover, the Mount Zion upon which John sees called the bride of the
Lamb and
the hundred
xxi. 9, 10),
and forty-four thousand standing
cannot be the earthly Mount Zion, as Bengel, Hengstenberg, and others have correctly shown, because those (ch. xiv. 1),
are standing there hear and learn the song sounding from heaven, which is sung before the throne and the four living
who
creatures
and the
this instance, as in
salem. is
There
is
The Mount Zion
elders (Rev. xiv. 3).
Heb.
xii.
in
22, belongs to the heavenly Jeru
no foundation for the assertion that
at variance with the connection of this group,
this
and
is
view also
opposed to the context (Christiani, p. 194, Luther, and others). excellent remarks of Diisterdieck, with regard to the con
The
nection, are a sufficient refutation of the
without any proof
"
:
Just as in ch.
vii.
first,
which
is
asserted
9 sqq. an inspiring look
at the heavenly glory was granted to such believers as should remain faithful in the great tribulation which had yet to come, so also in the first before the tribulation itself was displayed ;
part of ch. xiv. (vers. 1-5) a scene
is
exhibited,
which shows
403
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
the glorious reward of the conquerors (cf. cb. ii. 11, iii. 12, 21) * a hundred in a certain group of blessed believers (ver. 1 :
the first - fruits ), who and forty-four thousand: ver. 4: appear with the Lamb upon Mount Zion, and are described as
those
who have kept themselves pure from
the world during their earthly
only be opposed to the context to ver. 1,
i.e. if
if
And
all
the defilement of
assumption would vers,2-5 formed an antithesis
life."
this
those in heaven mentioned in vers. 2, 3 were dis
tinguished from the hundred and forty-four thousand as being still on earth. But if those who sing the new song are really the hundred and forty-four thousand, and are from distinguished still questionable, it by no means hundred and forty-four thousand are upon the earthly Mount Zion, but simply that they have reached the Zion of the heavenly Jerusalem, and stand with the Lamb i(
angelic
follows
choirs,"
from
which
is
this that the
by the throne of God, serving Him as His attendants, seeing His face, and bearing His name upon their foreheads (Rev. xxii. 1, 3, 4), and that they learn the new song sung before the throne. can we understand by the holy city of Rev. xi. the earthly Jerusalem, and by the woman clothed with the sun in Rev. xii. the Israelitish church of God, i.e. the Israel of the Still less
days converted to Christ. spiritually a Sodom and Egypt.
last
The Jerusalem of Rev. xi. is The Lord is obliged to endow
the two witnesses anointed with His Spirit, whom He causes to appear there, with the miraculous power of Elias and Moses, to
And when eventually they are slain by the beast from the abyss, and all the world, seeing their dead bodies lying in the streets of the spiritual defend them from their adversaries.
rejoices at their death, He brings them to again after three days and a half, and causes them to ascend visibly into heaven, and the same hour He destroys the tenth part of the city by an earthquake, through which seven
Sodom and Egypt, life
thousand
men are slain, so God of heaven.
glory to the quite
as
that the rest are alarmed and give
Jerusalem
degenerate a state as in the
is
introduced here in
last
times before
its
404
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
by the Romans.
destruction
we cannot think John meant this, his
Nevertheless
of this ancient Jerusalem, because
if
prophecy would be at variance with Christ s prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. For, according to the Revelation, "
neither a destruction of the temple in prospect, nor does the church of Jesus flee from the city devoted to destruc
there
is
The temple with the altar of burntp. 684). measured and defended, and only the outer court
"
tion
(Hofmann, is
offering
with the city
and
lastly,
For
this
given up to the nations to be trodden down ; only the tenth part of the city is laid in ruins. is
reason,
according
Jerusalem of the
last days,
to Christ,
is
intended.
this explanation is to
Jerusalem
is
to
Hofmann and Luther,
the
inhabited by the Israel converted
But the
difficulty
be found not so
which presses upon
much
in the fact that
restored in the period intervening between the
conversion of Israel as a nation to Christ and the establishment
and possesses a Jewish temple, as in the fact that the Israel thus converted to Christ, whose restora of the millennial kingdom,
according to the teaching of the Apostle Paul in Rom. 25, will be "life from the dead" to all Christendom, should
tion, xi.
again become a spiritual Sodom and Egypt, so that the Lord has to defend His temple with the believers who worship there from being trampled down by means of witnesses endowed
with miraculous power, and to destroy the godless city partially by an earthquake for the purpose of terrifying the rest of the
Such an give glory to Him. apostasy of the people of Israel after their final conversion to Christ is thoroughly opposed to the hope expressed by the
inhabitants, so that they
may
Apostle Paul of the result of the restoration of Israel after the entrance of the pleroma of the Gentiles into the kingdom of
God.
Hofmann and Luther
are therefore of opinion that
the Israelitish-Christian Jerusalem of the last times
is
called
spiritually Sodom and Egypt, because the old Jewish Jerusalem had formerly sunk into a Sodom and Egypt, and that the
Christian city
is
punished by the destruction of
its
tenth part
405
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
and the slaying of
"
upon the
men God
thousand
seven
hostile nationality
;
as if
"as
a judgment
could act so un
the government of Jerusalem as to give up to the heathen the city that had been faithful to Him, and to in
justly
destroy the tenth part thereof.
This
pretation becomes utterly impossible to
According which Paul
He
foreknew
the
Hofmann, "
says,
God
"
(Rom.
xi.
woman
realistic
when
in the
Jewish inter
ch. xii. is added.
sun
is
that Israel of
has not cast away His people whom 2), i.e. the Israeli tish church of the
Before the birth of the boy who will rule the nations with a sceptre of iron, this church is opposed by the dragon ; saved.
and
after the
heaven, she
is
child born
hidden by
by her has been caught up into God from the persecution of the
dragon in a place in the wilderness for twelve hundred and sixty days, or three times
down
and a
half, i.e. during the forty-two a spiritual Sodom is trodden of the heathen, and only the temple with those who
months
in
which Jerusalem
as
is But even if we overlook protected by God. the contradiction involved in the supposition that the Israel believing in Christ of ch. xi. has sunk so deep that Jerusalem
worship there
has to be trodden
down by
the heathen, and only a small
God are protected in the temple, inquire how it is possible that the
portion of the worshippers of
we must
nevertheless
Israelitish
church of believers in Christ should at the same
time be defended in the temple at Jerusalem, and, having fled from Canaan into the wilderness, be concealed in a place of "
distress
and
tribulation."
The Jerusalem
of the
last
times
does not stand in the wilderness, and the temple protected by God is not a place of distress and tribulation. And how can the Israelitish church of God, which has given birth to Christ, be concealed in the wilderness after the catching up of Christ
His ascension, seeing that the believing portion of Israel entered the Christian church, whilst the unbelieving into heaven, or
mass
at the time of the destruction of
Jerusalem were
in part
destroyed by sword, famine, and pestilence, and in part thrust
406 out
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
among
the Gentiles over
all
the world
Jerusalem onwards, there
tion of
of
congregation branches broken
God
outside
off
from the
unbelief, are not a church of
is
the
From
Christian tree
olive
God.
?
the destruc
no longer any
Israelitish
church.
The
because of their
And Auberlen s
objection
namely, that from the birth of Christ in at once a violent leap into the antichristian
to this interpretation
ver. 6
makes
it
times
still
all
retains
its
force,
inasmuch
as this leap not only has
nothing in the text to indicate it, but is irreconcilable with vers. 5 and 6, according to which the flight of the woman into the wilderness takes place directly after the catching away of the child. Auberlen and Christian! have therefore clearly
seen
the
impossibility of
interpretation of these
chapters.
take the holy city in ch. the material Jerusalem "
"
allegorically
carrying out the realistic Jewish
xi. in ;
The
latter,
a literal sense,
whilst
he
indeed, would
i.e.
interprets
as signifying
the
temple
as representing the Christian church, without
observing the difficulty in which he thereby entangles himself, inasmuch as if the holy city were the material Jerusalem, the
whole of believing Christendom out of all lands would have In the exposition of ch. xii. he follows
fled thither for refuge.
460), who has correctly interpreted the the sun as signifying primarily the Israelitish church of God, and then passing afterwards into
Auberlen (Daniel,
woman
clothed
p.
with
the believing church of Christ, which rises on the foundation of the Israelitish church as its continuation, other branches
from the wild
olive tree being grafted on in the place of the branches of the good olive that have been broken off (Rom. xi. 17 In Rev. xiii. and xv.-xix. there is no further sqq.).
Judah and Jerusalem. then, we draw the conclusion from the foregoing discus the result at which we have arrived is, that even Rev.
allusion to If,
sion,
i.-xix. furnishes
Israel
no confirmation of the assumption that the
which has come
to believe in Christ will dwell in the
earthly Jerusalem, and have a temple with bleeding
sacrifices.
407
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
And
tins takes
away
ground for the assumption 9, against which Satan
historical
all
that by the beloved city in Rev. xx. leads Gog and Magog to war with
we can
four corners of the earth,
heathen from the
the
only understand the earthly however, we look more
Jerusalem
of
closely at
Rev.
xx., there are three events described in vers.
viz. (1)
the binding of Satan and his confinement in
1-10,
the last times.
If,
the abyss for a thousand years (vers. 1-3) ; (2) the resurrection of the believers, and their reigning with Christ for a thousand years, called the
"
first
resurrection
"
(vers.
4-6)
;
(3) after the
termination of the thousand years, the releasing of Satan from his prison, his going out to lead the heathen with Gog and
Magog city,"
to
war against
"
the
camp of the saints and the beloved army by fire from heaven, and
the destruction of this
the casting of Satan into the lake of fire, where the beast and the false prophet already are (vers. 7-10). According to the millenarian exposition of the Apocalypse, these three events will
none of them take place
till
after the fall of
Babylon and
the casting of the beast into the lake of fire ; not merely the final casting of Satan into the lake of fire, but even the binding of Satan and the confining of
not stated in the
him
in the abyss.
The
latter is
however, but is merely an inference drawn from the fact that all three events are seen by John text,
and related in
his Apocalypse after the fall of Babylon, etc., an inference for which there is just the same warrant as for
the conclusion drawn, for example, by the traditional exposition of the Old Testament by the Jews, that because the death of
Terah
Abram
is
to
related in
Gen.
Canaan
Gen.
in
xi., xii.,
and the
call
and migration of
therefore Terah died before the
migration of Abraham, in opposition to the chronological data of Genesis. All that is stated in the text of the Apocalypse is,
that Satan
is
cast into the lake of fire,
where the beast and
the false prophet are (ver. 10), so that the final overthrow of Satan will not take place till after the fall of Babylon and the
overthrow of the beast and the false prophet.
That
this is
not
408
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
to happen till a thousand years later, cannot be inferred from the position of ch. xx. 10 after cli. xix. 20, 21, but must be gathered from some other source if it is to be determined at all.
The assumption
that the contents of Rev. xx. are chrono
and
logically posterior to ch. xviii.
xix.,
which the millenarian
interpretation of the Apocalypse has adopted
from the
earlier
orthodox exposition, is at variance with the plan of the whole book. It is now admitted by all scientific expositors of the
Apocalypse, that the visions contained therein do not form such a continuous series as to present the leading features of the conflict between the powers at enmity against God and the kingdom of God in chronological order, but rather that they are arranged in groups, each rounded off within
itself,
one of which reaches to the end or closes with the
last
everv
judg
ment, while those which follow go back again and expand more fully the several events which prepare the way for and introduce the last judgment so that, for example, after the ;
judgment upon the living and the dead has been announced in ch. xi. 15 sqq. by the seventh trumpet, the conflict between last
Satan and the kingdom of of Christ (ch. xii.).
God on
not shown to the seer
is
And
the birth and ascension
the following chapter the events set forth in the last group com
mencing with ch. xix. must analogous to this.
till
be interpreted in
The contents of by Hofmann (II.
this
a
manner
group have been
720) as follows: 11 onwards, is visions, intended to of exhibit the victory Christ over His foes. merely There is first a victory over Satan, through which the army of correctly explained "The
whole
from
series of
2,
p.
ch. xix.
the enemies of His people by which he is served is destroyed secondly, a victory over Satan, by which the possibility of leading the nations astray any more to fight against His church ;
is
is
taken from him
;
thirdly, a victory over Satan,
deprived of the power to
by which he keep those who have died with
faith in their Saviour in death
any longer; and, fourthly, a his which last attack upon the saints of over Satan, by victory
409
CHAP. XL-XLVIII.
God
in
issues
his final
That the second and
destruction."
from each other in point the in the period assigned sameness by But the time when these a thousand years."
third victories are not to be separated
of time,
indicated
is
to each, viz.
"
thousand years commence, cannot be determined from the Apocalypse itself ; it must be gathered from the teaching of the rest of the tion.
New
According
Testament concerning the
to the statements
one
in 1 Cor. xv., every
Christ the "
will
first
be raised
"
the Apostle Paul in his own order :
afterward they that are Christ
first-fruits,
then the end,
resurrec
made by
the resurrection of
s at
His
the dead, coming the last judgment, the destruction of the world, and the new creation of heaven and earth. Consequently the first resurrection ;
i.e.
takes place along with the to the teaching of the
not to be deferred
commences,
as the
coming of
Christ.
But, according Testament, the parusia of Christ is the last day of the present world, but
New
till
Lord Himself has
not long after His will not
said,
some of His own contemporaries till of death they see the Son of man come
ascension, so that taste
all
kingdom
(Matt. xvi. 28).
The Lord
repeats
this in
in
His
Matt,
His parusia to Verrly I say unto
xxiv. 34, in the elaborate discourse concerning
judgment, with the solemn asseveration you, this generation things be
fulfilled."
u :
will not (77 yevea avrrf) pass till all these as Hofmann has And, correctly observed
(p. 640), the idea that
"
"
signifies the
this generation
of Christ, does not deserve refutation.
We
church
therefore under
stand that the contemporaries of Christ would live to see the things of which He says, "that they will be the heralding tokens of His second appearance;" and, still further (p. 641):
have already seen, from Matt. xvi. 28, that the Lord has solemnly affirmed that His own contemporaries will live to see
"We
His royal
1
coming."
Concerning
this royal
1
coming of the Son
Luthardt also says just the same (pp. 94, 95) Undoubtedly the age which the Lord is speaking is not the whole of the present era, nor the nation of Israel, but the generation then existing. And yet the Lord s "
:
of
410
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEK1EL.
man in the glory of His Father with His angels, which of His contemporaries live to see (Matt. xvi. 27 and 28), of
writes,
in
1
Thess.
iv.
15, 16:
"We
which are
some Paul
and
alive
remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not anticipate them which are asleep for the Lord Himself shall descend from ;
heaven with a shout,
etc.,
and the dead
in
Christ will rise
Consequently the New Testament teaches quite first resurrection commences with the the that clearly coming of Christ, which began with the judgment executed through
first,"
the
etc.
Romans upon
the ancient Jerusalem.
This was preceded
the first-fruits," and the only by the resurrection of Christ as resurrection of the many bodies of the saints which slept," "
"
that arose from the graves at the resurrection of Christ, and
appeared to
in the holy city (Matt, xxvii. 52, 53), as a
many
testimony that through the resurrection of Christ deprived of its power, and a resurrection from the According to this distinct grave secured for all believers. and the of Christ apostles, the popular opinion, that teaching
practical
death
is
the resurrection of
the dead as a whole will not take place
the last day of this world, must be rectified. The New Testament does not teach anywhere that all the dead, even those who have fallen asleep in Christ, will remain in the till
grave, or in Hades, till the last judgment immediately before the destruction of heaven and earth, and that the souls which
have entered heaven
at their death will
unclothed and without the body.
be with Christ
till
then
This traditional view merely
upon the unscriptural idea of the coming of Christ as not taking place till the end of the era, and as an act restricted to
rests
a single day of twenty-four hours. According to the Scriptures, the parusia takes place on the day of the Lord, njrp , fj fjpepa 1
Di"
But
rov Kvplov.
twenty-four hours
this ;
day
is
not an earthly day of twelve or
but, as Peter says (2
Pet.
iii.
"
8),
one
prophecy goes to the very end, and reaches far beyond the destruction of The existing generation was to live to see the beginning Jerusalem. of the end, and did live to see .
.
.
it."
411
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years The day on which the Son of as one day" (cf. Ps. xc. 4). man comes in His glory commences with the appearing of the
Lord
to the
judgment upon the hardened
Israel at the destruc
Jerusalem by the Romans; continues till His appearing to the last judgment, which is still future and will be visible to
tion of
all
nations; and closes with the day
heavens
be dissolved with
will
fire,
.of
God, on which the
and the elements
will
melt
with heat, and the new heaven and new earth will be created, for which we wait according to His promise (2 Pet. iii. 12, 13).
To show how incorrect is the popular idea of we may adduce not only the fact
of the dead,
the resurrection of the resurrec
immediately after the resurrection of Christ (Matt, xxvii. 52, 53), but also the solemn declaration of the Lord : u Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and tion of
many
saints
now
when
the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
is,
and they that hear
shall
live,"
the hour
"
in the
which
that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall
all
come
they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, etc." (John v. 25, 28) and again the repeated word of Christ, that whosoever believeth on Him hath everlasting life, and forth
;
;
cometh not into judgment, but hath passed from death unto life (John v. 24, vi. 40, 47, iii. 16, 18, 36) and lastly, what ;
was seen by the sacred seer on the opening of the fifth seal (Rev. vi. 9-11), namely, that white robes were given to the souls that
were
slain for the
word of God and for the testimony
which they held, and that were crying for the avenging of their blood, inasmuch as the putting on of the white robe involves or presupposes the clothing of the soul with the newbody, so that this vision teaches that the deceased martyrs are translated into the state of those
who have
risen
from the dead
before the judgment upon Babylon. The word ^rv^ai, which is used to not does designate them, prove that disembodied souls are intended (compare, as evidence to the contrary, the of 1 Pet.
iii.
20).
412
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
But
as
Rev. xx.
the time of the
teach that they first
first
110
furnishes no information concerning so also this passage does not
resurrection
who
,
are exalted to reign with Christ
resurrection will live
and reign with Christ
by the
in the earthly
Jerusalem, whether it be glorified or not. The place where the thrones stand, upon which they are seated, is not mentioned
4-6 or
The
opinion that this will be in Jerusalem merely rests upon the twofold assumption, for which no evidence can be adduced, viz. (1) that, according to either in vers.
vers. 1-3.
the prophetic utterances of the Old Testament, Jerusalem or the holy land is the site for the appearance of the Lord to the
judgment upon the world of nations (Hofmann, pp. 637, 638) and (2) that the beloved city which the heathen, under Gog ;
and Magog,
will besiege,
according to Rev. xx. 8. 9, is the it is still further inferred, that
earthly Jerusalem, from which
the saints besieged in the beloved city cannot be any others than those placed upon thrones through the first resurrection.
But the inconceivable
nature, not to say the absurdity, of such
an assumption as that of a war between earthly men and those who have been raised from the dead and are glorified with spiritual bodies, precludes the identification,
which
is
not ex
pressed in the text, of the saints in
Jerusalem with those
upon thrones and reigning with
Christ,
eternal life through the resurrection.
with Christ, the Son of God,
sitting
who have obtained
And
as they are reigning
who has returned
to the glory of
His heavenly Father, would also be besieged along with them by the hosts of Gog and Magog. But where do the Scriptures
The fact that, according to the teach anything of the kind ? prophecy of the Old Testament, the Lord comes from Zion to judge the nations furnishes no proof of this, inasmuch as this Zion of the prophets is not the earthly and material, but the heavenly Jerusalem. The angels who come at the ascension of Christ to comfort His disciples with regard to the departure of This Jesus, who has their Master to the Father, merely say "
:
gone up from you
to heaven, will so
come
in like
manner
as ye
413
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
Him
have seen say at
go
Paul says
to
He
what place
heaven"
Thess.
in 1
come
will
iv.
(Acts
i.
again. "the
16,
11); but they do not
And though Lord
will
the Apostle descend from
he also says, they that are living then will be caught up together with those that have risen in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so be ever with the Lord. And as here heaven,"
the being caught
up
in the clouds into the air is not to
be
literally, but simply expresses the thought that those are glorified will hasten with those who have risen from
understood
who
the dead to meet the Lord, to welcome
Him
and to be united
with Him, and does not assume a permanent abiding in the air ; so the expression, descend from heaven," does not involve a "
The words coming to Jerusalem and remaining upon earth. are meant to be understood spiritually, like the rending of the heaven and coming down in Isa. Ixiv. 1. Paul therefore uses the words airoKaXv^r^ air ovpavov, revelation from heaven, in 2 Thess.
i.
7,
with reference to the same event.
The Lord has
already descended from heaven to judgment upon the ancient Jerusalem, to take vengeance with flaming fire upon those who
would not know God and obey the gospel (2 Thess. i. 8). Every manifestation of God which produces an actual effect upon the earth
is
a
coming down from heaven, which does not involve a
local abiding of the
Lord upon
the earth.
As
the coming of Jerusalem does not affect His
Christ to the judgment upon sitting at the right hand of the Father, so to ourselves the resurrection of those
the Lord, which
commences with
than that those who
church of the
have become
rise
we must not picture who have fallen asleep in
coming, in any other w ay are received into heaven, and, as the
first-born,
who
r
this
are written in heaven,
i.e.
who
heaven (Heb. xii. 23), sit on seats around the throne of God and reign with Christ. Even the citizens of
not to be thought of as an act occurring once and ending there ; but as the coming of the Lord, which commenced with the judgment of the destruction of Jerusalem,
first
is
resurrection
is
continued in the long series of judgments through which one
414
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. power after another
hostile
of the last
enemy,
so
is
may we
that the resurrection of those
overthrown, until the destruction also assume, in
who have
analogy with
this,
fallen asleep in Christ,
commencing with that parusia^ is continued through the course of centuries; so that they who die in living faith in their Saviour are raised from the dead at the hour God appointed by according to His wisdom, and the souls received into heaven at death, together with those sown as seed-corn in the earth and ripened from corruption to incorruptibility, will be clothed with The thousand years are spiritual bodies, to reign with Christ.
not to be reckoned chronologically, but commence with the coming of Christ to the judgment upon Jerusalem, and extend
and the
to the final casting of the beast
lake of
perhaps
fire,
cannot
tell
for
;
it is
still
further.
know
not for us to
which the Father hath reserved
in
The chaining and imprisonment
false
When
prophet into the
they will end
we
the times or the seasons,
His own power (Acts
i.
7).
of Satan in the abyss during
the thousand years can also be brought into harmony with this view of the millennium, provided that the words are not taken
and we bear in mind that
in a grossly materialistic sense, all
nearly
character.
the pictures of the Apocalypse are of a very drastic The key to the interpretation of Eev. xx. 1-3 and
7-10
is
when
just before
to
be found in the words of Christ in John
to the people
His passion
to a
work of the world
When
the
Lord
s
close,
He
for
is
xii.
31,
about to bring His addresses
the purpose of completing the
redemption by His death and resurrection.
says, just
at this
ment passing over the world
;
moment,
now
"
now
is
the judg
will the prince of this
world
namely, out of the sphere of his dominion, He the designates completion of the work of redemption by His death as a judgment upon the world, through which the rule of be cast
out,"
Satan in the world devil destroyed.
which
is
is brought to nought, or the kingdom of the This casting out of the prince of this world,
accomplished in the establishment and spread of the
kingdom of Christ on
earth,
is
shown
to the sacred seer in
415
CHAP. XL.-XLVI1I.
Michael with the dragon, which ends in the casting out of Satan into the earth (Rev. of the chaining and imprisonment of Satan in xii. 7 sqq.), and
Patmos
in the visions of the conflict of
The conflict the abyss for a thousand years (Rev. xx. 1 sqq.). of Michael with the dragon, which is called the Devil and to persecute the Satanas, commences when the dragon begins of her child, and the birth woman clothed with the sun after
being caught up into heaven, i.e. after the work of Christ on earth has terminated with His ascension to heaven. John
its
receives an explanation of the
way
in
which the victory of
Michael, through which Satan is cast out of heaven upon the earth, is to be interpreted, from the voice, which says in heaven, "Now is
come the
and the strength, and the kingdom power of His Christ for the accuser of cast down, who accused us day and night before salvation,
of our God, and the
our brethren God"
is
;
With the casting of Satan out of heaven, the God and the power of His anointed are estab
(ver. 10).
kingdom
of
and Satan
thereby deprived of the power to rule any It is true that when he sees longer as the prince of the world. himself cast from heaven to earth, i.e. hurled from his throne,
lished,
he persecutes the
is
woman
;
but the
woman
receives eagles wings,
so that she flies into the wilderness to the place prepared for her
by God, and is there nourished for three times and a half, away from the face of the serpent (Rev. xii. 8, 13, 14). After the casting out of Satan from heaven, there follow the chaining and shutting up in the abyss, or in hell ; so that during this
time he
is
no more able
to seduce the
heathen to make war
saints (Rev. xx. 1-3 and 8). All in not thereby taken from him ; he is simply deprived of the power to rule on the earth as ap^wv among the
upon the camp of the fluence upon earth
is
1 heathen, and to restore the egovo-ta wrested from him.
We
1
Hofmann (Schriftbeweis, II. 2, p. 722) understands the binding of Satan in a similar manner, and writes as follows on the subject That which is rendered impossible to Satan, through his being bound and imprisoned in "
:
the nether world, and therefore through his exclusion from the upper
416
may
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL. therefore say that the binding of Satan began with the heathenism as the religion of the world, through the
fall of
elevation of Christianity to be the state-religion of the
empire, and that
it
will last so
Roman
long as Christianity continues to
be the state-religion of the kingdoms which rule the world. It is impossible, therefore, to prove from Rev. xx. that there will
be a kingdom of glory in the earthly Jerusalem before the
judgment ; and the New Testament generally neither teaches the return of the people of Israel to Palestine on their last
according to Rom. of nor the the and restoration of rebuilding temple sqq., But if this be the case, then Ezekiel s Levitical sacrifices. conversion to Christ,
xi
which
will take place
25
vision of the
new temple and
division of the land of
sacrificial
worship, and the
Canaan, cannot be understood
new
literally,
but only in a symbolico-typical sense. The following question, therefore, is the only one that remains to be answered :
III.
How are we to understand the vision of the
new kingdom of
God in Ezek. xl. xlviii ? In other words, What opinion are we to form concerning the fulfilment of this prophetic picture 1 The first reply to be given to this is, that this vision does not depict the coming into existence, or the successive stages in the and development, of the new kingdom of God. For
rise
Ezekiel sees the temple as a finished building, the component parts of which are so measured before his eyes that he is led
about within the building. into the temple,
He
sees the glory of
Jehovah enter
and hears the voice of the Lord, who declares
world, where the history of mankind is proceeding, is siwhj that kind of activity which exerts a determining influence upon the course of history."
And
Flacius, in his Glossa to the New Testament, gives this explanation : is not then so bound or shut up in hell that he cannot do
u But Satan
anything, or cause any injury, more especially disobedience in his children but simply that he cannot act any more either so powerfully or with such from the resur success as before." He also reckons the thousand years rection and ascension of the Lord, when Christ began in the most powerful manner to triumph over devils and ungodly men throughout the world," ;
"
etc.
417
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
house to be the seat of His throne in the midst of His
tins
and commands the prophet to make known to the people the form of the house, and its arrangement and ordi nances, that they may consider the building, and be ashamed people
;
also (ch.
The new
order of worship 13-xlvi. 15) does not refer to the building of the
of their evil deeds (ch. xliii.
xliii.
412).
temple, but to the service which Israel is to render to God, who is enthroned in this temple. Only the directions concerning
the boundaries and the division of the land presuppose that Israel has still to take possession of Canaan, though it has
already been brought back out of the heathen lands, and is about to divide it by lot and take possession of it as its own to dwell there,
inheritance,
with the fulness of
its
and
blessings.
to
and delight
sustain
It follows
from
itself
this that the
prophetic picture does not furnish a typical exhibition of the church of Christ in its gradual development, but sets forth the
kingdom is
God
of
established
by Christ in its perfect form, and the Old Testament outline of the
partly to be regarded as Testament picture of the heavenly Jerusalem in Rev. xxi.
New and
For the
xxii.
river of the water of life
is
common
to both
According to Ezekiel, it springs from the threshold of the temple, in which the Lord has ascended His throne, flows through the land to the Arabah, and pours into the Dead Sea, to make the water thereof sound ; and according to Rev. xxii. visions.
1 sqq.,
it
proceeds from the throne of
God and
flows through the midst of the street of the
According
to
Ezek.
are trees growing
month, that
is
xlvii.
upon
its
7, 12, as
of the
Lamb, and
New
Jerusalem.
well as Rev. xxii. 2, there
banks which bear edible
to say, twelve times a year,
fruits
every
and the leaves of
which serve for the healing of the nations. But EzekieFs of the new of comes short of the picture God picture kingdom of the
New
Jerusalem in
this respect, that in Ezekiel the city
and temple are separated, although the temple stands upon a high mountain in the centre of the holy terumah in the midst of the land of Canaan,
EZEK.
II.
and the
city of
Jerusalem reaches 2
D
to the
418
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
holy termuali with the northern side of its territory ; whereas the new heavenly Jerusalem has no temple, and, in its perfect cubic form of equal length, breadth, and height, has itself
become the holy of holies, in which there stands the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev. xxi. 16, xxii. 4). Ezekiel could not
rise to
such an eminence of vision as
this.
The kingdom
God
seen by him has a preponderatingly Old Testament stamp, and is a perfect Israelitish Canaan, answering to the idea of the Old Covenant, in the midst of which Jehovah of
dwells in His temple, and the water of
His throne and pours over all the His people. The temple of Ezekiel
life
flows
down from
land, to give prosperity to
simply a new Solomon s temple, built in perfect accordance with the holiness of the house of God, in the courts of which Israel appears before
Jehovah
to
offer
is
burnt-offerings O and
slain-offerings, O 7
and
to
worship ; and although the city of Jerusalem does indeed form a perfect square, with three gates on every side bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, like the gates of the
heavenly Jerusalem,
it
has not yet the form of a cube as the which Jehovah the almighty God name is, henceforth Jehovah thither."
of the holy of holies, in
stamp
enthroned, though its Still less does the attack of
is
"
Gog
with his peoples, gathered
together from the ends of the earth, apply to the heavenly It is true that, according to the formal arrange Jerusalem.
ment
of our prophet
new kingdom within
it,
and
of it
s
book,
it
stands before the vision of the
God ; but chronologically its proper place does not even fall at the commencement of
is it,
but at the end of the years, after Israel has been gathered out of the nations and brought back into its own land, and has dwelt there for a long time in security (ch. xxxviii. 8, 16). This attack on the part of the heathen nations is only conceiv able as directed against the people of God still dwelling in the earthly Canaan. How then are
hand the
river
remove the discrepancy, that on the one of the water of life proceeding from the temple
we
to
419
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII. indicates a glorification of
Canaan, and on the other hand the be still unglorified, and the latter are
land and people appear to of living in circumstances which conform to the earlier condition
Does not
Israel ?
this picture suggest a state of earthly glory
on the part of the nation of Israel in
its
own
land,
which has
passed through a paradisaical transformation before the new Isaiah also predicts creation of the heaven and the earth ? a
new
time, in which the patriarchal length of life of the
primeval era shall return, when death shall no more sweep men prematurely away, and not only shall war cease among men,
but mutual destruction in the animal world shall also come to
an end
Ixv.
(Isa.
1923
shall this take place ?
compared with
.Delitzsch,
who
ch. xi. 6-9).
When
asks this question (Tsa.
vol. II. p. 492, transl.), gives the
"
following reply Certainly not in the blessed life beyond the grave, to which it would be both impossible and absurd to refer these promises, since they :
presuppose a continued mixture of sinners with the righteous, and merely a limitation of the power of death, not its destruc tion."
From
description
But the
is
this
he then draws the conclusion that the
only applicable to the state of the millennium. new heaven and a new earth precedes
creation of a
this description
(ch. Ixv. 17, 18).
Does not
this point to the
To this Delitzsch heavenly Jerusalem of the new earth ? that the was Old Testament not yet able to replies prophet distinguish from one another the things which the author of "
the Apocalypse separates into distinct periods.
From
the
Old
Testament point of view generally, nothing was known of a state of blessedness beyond the grave. In the Old Testament prophecy, the idea of the new cosmos is blended with the mil It is only in the New Testament that the new lennium. creation intervenes as a party wall between this life and the life
beyond
;
whereas the Old Testament prophecy brings the
new
creation itself into the present life, and knows nothing of any Jerusalem of the blessed life to come, as distinct from the
new Jerusalem
of the
millennium."
But even
if
there were a
420
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
better foundation for the chiliastic
(Rev. xx.) than there
of
idea
the
millennium
according to our discussion of the the question above, passage just quoted would not suffice to remove the difficulty before us. For if Isaiah is describing the is
Jerusalem of the millennium merely brought the present to the
life,
new
new
in
ch. Ixv.
1923, he
has not
creation of heaven and earth into the
but he has also transferred the so-called millennium i.e.
earth,
to the other side of the
new
creation of
heaven and earth.
Delitzsch himself -acknowledges this on page 517 (transl.), where he observes in his commentary on Isa. Ixvi. 22-24 that the object of the prophecy (namely, that "
"
from new moon
to
come
new moon, and from Sabbath
to
Sabbath,
Jehovah, and they will go out to look at the corpses of the men that have rebelled against a Him, whose worm will not die, nor their fire be quenched) is all flesh will
to worship before
no other than the new Jerusalem of the world to come, and the eternal torment of the
damned."
done the same
19-23
is speaking of the other side, but he speaks of it as on this side." But if Isaiah is speaking of the other side as on this side in ch. Ixvi., he has
in ch. Ixv.
;
Isaiah
"
and the Jerusalem depicted
in
ch.lxv. cannot be the Jerusalem of the millennium on this side,
but can only be the New Jerusalem of the other side coming down from heaven, as the description is the same in both chap ters,
one and the same object. The that in ch. Ixvi., can be perfectly
and therefore must refer
description in Isa. Ixv., like
to
comprehended from the fact that the prophet is speaking of that which is on the other side as on this side, without there being any necessity for the hypothesis of a thousand years
kingdom of glory. It is quite correct Testament knows nothing whatever of a blessed earthly
that the state
Old
beyond
the grave, or rather merely teaches nothing with regard to it, and that the Old Testament prophecy transfers the state beyond to this side, in other words, depicts the eternal life after the last
judgment in colours taken from the happiness of the Israelitish And this is also correct, that the Old Testalife in Canaan. "
421
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
ment
depicts both this life
extension of this
life
the
being the
state
that the
is
an endless
last
as a
it
point in this present
point of the infinite state beyond
this life, to the life to
come
;
of this life
form, the
side, the
the
New
:
and
Testament
the inner side, the nature, the reality of the life to
by making come, the
as
Testament depicts
come, by transferring the outer
appearance of
it
first
come
life to
New
Old Testament preserves the continuity
life to
But
and the
whilst the
two halves, the
continuous line in finite
;
Swa^a?
/-te
XXo^TO?
atcoi/o?,
immanent
in this
life."
only to the doctrinal writings of the New Testament Of the prophetical pictures of the
that this absolutely applies.
New
Testament, on the other hand, and especially the Apo calypse, it can only be affirmed with considerable limitations.
Not only
the
is
New
Jerusalem of Isaiah, which has a new
and a new earth beneath, simply the old earthly Jerusalem, which has attained to the highest glory and happi ness; but in the Apocalypse also, the Jerusalem which has heaven above
it
come down from heaven
is
an earthly city with great walls of stones, with
jasper and pure gold, founded upon twelve precious
twelve gates consisting of pearls, that are not shut by day, in order that the kings of the earth may bring their glory into the city, into
which nothing common and no abomination enter. picture rests upon those of Isaiah and Ezekiel, and
The whole
merely rises above these Old Testament types by the fact that the most costly minerals of the earth are selected, to indicate the exceeding glory of the heavenly nature of this city of God. What, then, is the heavenly Jerusalem of the new earth I Is it
new world, or the capital of the kingdom not rather a picture of the many mansions in
actually a city of the of heaven
Is
?
the Father
s
it
house in heaven, which Jesus entered at His
ascension to heaven, to prepare a place for us (John xiv. 2) ? Is it not a picture of the heavenly kingdom (2 Tim. iv. 18), into
which
all
the blessed in that world enter whose
written in the book of
life ?
And
its brilliant
names
glory,
picture of the unspeakable glory of the eternal
life,
is it
are
not a
which
110
422
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
eye has seen, no ear has heard, and which has not entered into the heart of any man (1 Cor. ii. 9) ?
And i.e.
the state beyond the grave depicted in colours and imagery if
transferred to this side,
is
drawn from
this side,
not
Old Testament prophecy, but in that of the New Testament also, we must not seek the reason for this prophetic only in the
mode of describing the circumstances of the everlasting life, or the world to come, in the fact that the Old Testament knows nothing of a blessed state beyond the grave, is ignorant of a heaven with men that are saved. The reason is rather to be
found
heavenly things and circumstances lie beyond our idea and comprehension so that we can only repre in the fact, that
;
God after the analogy of kingdom earthly circumstances and conditions, just as we are unable to form any other conception of eternal blessedness than as a life sent to ourselves the
of
without end in heavenly glory and joy,
from
set free
all
the
So long as we imperfections and evils of this earthly world. are walking here below faith and not by by sight, we must be content with those pictures of the future blessings of eternal life with the Lord in His heavenly kingdom which the Scrip tures have borrowed from the divinely ordered form of the Israelitish theocracy, presenting
Jerusalem with
Canaan the abode of the covenant people
of the
its
temple, and
Old Testament
kingdom of heaven, and picturing the glory of the world to come as a city of God coming down from heaven upon the new earth, built of gold, precious stones, and pearls, as types of the
and illumined with the this there
light of the glory of the
must no doubt be added,
Lord.
in the case of the
To Old
Testament prophets, the fact that the division of the king dom of the Messiah into a period of development on this side,
and one of
full
completion on the other, had not yet been them as it has been to us by Christ in
so clearly revealed to
the
New
Testament
;
so that Isaiah
is
the only prophet
who
prophesies of the destruction of the present world and the crea tion of a
new heaven and new
earth.
If
we
leave out of
423
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
point of the Old Testament prophecy, all the prophets depict the glorification and completion of the kingdom of God established in Israel by the Messiah, on the one
sight this culminating
hand, as a continuous extension of His dominion on Zion from Jerusalem outwards over all the earth, through the execution of the judgment upon the heathen nations of the world and, on the other hand, as a bursting of the land of Canaan into miraculous fruitfulness for the increase of His people s pro ;
and
as a glorification of Jerusalem, to which all nations on go pilgrimage to the house of the Lord on Zion, to worship the Lord and present their treasures to Him as offer
sperity, will
ings. Israel,
Thus also in Ezekiel the bringing back of the people of who have been scattered by the Lord among the heathen
on account of their apostasy, to the promised land, the restora tion of Jerusalem and the temple, which have been destroyed,
and the future blessing of Israel with the most abundant sup ply of earthly good from the land which has been glorified into paradisaical fruitfulness,
form a continuity,
in
which the small
beginnings of the return of the people from Babylon and the deliverance and blessing which are still in the future, lie folded one another, and the present state and that beyond are
in
blended together.
And
accordingly he depicts the glory and and renovated kingdom of God under
completion of the restored
the figure of a new division of Canaan among the twelve tribes of all Israel, united under the sceptre of the second David for
and forming one single nation, by which gruities of the former times are removed, and ever,
all
the incon
also of a
new
sanctuary built upon a very high mountain in the centre of
Canaan, in which the people walking in the commandments and rights of their God offer sacrifice, and come to worship before the
Lord
yearly feasts.
in His courts on the Sabbaths, new moons, and This blessedness of Israel also is not permanently
disturbed through the invasion of the restored land by Gog and his hordes, but rather perfected and everlastingly estab lished by the fact that the
Lord God
destroys this last enemy,
424
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
and causes him
to perish
But however
by self-immolation.
strongly the Old Testament drapery of the Messianic prophecy stands out even in Ezekiel, there are traits to be met with even in this form,
by which we may recognise the fact that the Israelform simply constitutes the clothing in which
itish theocratical
the
New
veiled.
1
Testament constitution of the kingdom of God o
Among
these traits
we reckon not only
is
the description
which can only be interpreted in a typical the vision of the raising to life of the dry bones
given in ch. xl. xlviii., sense, but also
in ch. xxxvii. 1-14, the ultimate fulfilment of
which
will
not
take place till the general resurrection, and more especially the prophecy of the restoration not only of Jerusalem, but
Samaria and Sodom, to their original condition (ch. xvi. 53 sqq.), which, as we have already shown, will not be perfectly
also of
fulfilled
till
the TraXiyyeveala,
i.e.
the general renovation of
the world after the last judgment.
From
1
this
last-named
Of all such pictures it may certainly be said that we cannot see how an Old Testament prophet, when speaking of Canaan, Jerusalem, Zion, and their future glorification, can have thought of anything else than the earthly sites of the Old Testament kingdom of God (Volck) but this "
"
;
objection proves nothing against their typical explanation, as we know that the prophets of the Old Testament, who prophesied of the grace that was to come to us, inquired and searched diligently what, and what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ that
was
in
them did
signify (1 Pet.
i.
10, 11).
Even, therefore, if the prophets in their uninspired meditation upon that which they had prophesied, when moved by the Holy Ghost, did not discern the typical meaning of their own utterances, we, who are living in the times of the fulfilment, and are acquainted not only with the commence ment of the fulfilment in the coming of our Lord, in His life, sufferings,
and death, and His resurrection and ascension to heaven, as well as in His utterances concerning His second coming, but also with a long course of fulfilment in the extension for eighteen hundred years of the kingdom of heaven established by Him on earth, have not so much to inquire what the Old Testament prophets thought in their searching into the prophecies which they were inspired to utter by the Spirit of Christ, even if it were possible to discover what their thoughts really were, but rather, in the light of the fulfilment that has already taken place, to inquire what the Spirit of Christ, which enabled the prophets to see and to predict the coining of His kingdom in pictures drawn from the Old Testament kingdom of God, has foretold and revealed to us through the medium of these figures.
425
CHAP. xL-xLviir.
prophecy, to which the healing of the waters of the in ch. xlvii. 9 sqq. supplies a parallel, pointing as
Dead Sea it
the renewal of the earth after the destruction of the world,
it
clearly follows that the tribes of Israel
does to present
which receive
Canaan for a perpetual possession are not the Jewish people converted to Christ, but the Israel of God, i.e. the people of
God
of the
new covenant gathered from among both Jews and
and that Canaan, in which they are to dwell, is not the earthly Canaan or Palestine between the Jordan and the Gentiles
;
New
Testament Canaan, i.e. the whose boundaries reach from God,
Mediterranean Sea, but the territory of the
of
sea to sea,
river to the ends of the earth.
kingdom and from the
And
the temple upon a very high mountain in the midst of this Canaan, in which the Lord is enthroned, and causes the river of the water of
life
to flow
down from His throne over His
kingdom, so that the earth produces the tree of life with leaves as medicine for men, and the Dead Sea is filled with fishes and living creatures, is a figurative representation and type of the gracious presence of the
Lord
in
His church, which
is
realized in the present period of the earthly development of
the in
kingdom
of
heaven
in the
a spiritual and invisible
form of the Christian church
manner
in
the indwelling of the
Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers, and in a spiritual and invisible operation in the church, but which will eventually manifest itself when our shall appear in the glory of the Father, to translate His
Lord
church into the kingdom of glory, in such a manner that we shall see the almighty God and the Lamb with the eyes of our
and worship before His throne.
glorified body,
This worship
is
described in our vision (ch.
xliii.
13
as the offering of sacrifice according to the Israelitish
xlvi.
24)
form of
divine worship under the Old Testament; and in accordance with the mode peculiar to Ezekiel of carrying out all the pictures in detail, the leading instructions concerning the Levitical sacrifices
are repeated and modified in
harmony with the
426
new
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
As
circumstances.
the Mosaic worship after the building
commenced with the consecration of the altar, description of the new worship commences with
of the tabernacle so Ezekiel s
the consecration of the altar of burnt-offering, and then spreads over the entering into and exit from the temple, the things requisite for the service at the altar, the duties and rights of the worshippers at the altar, and the quantity and quality of
new moons, and
the sacrifices to be offered on the Sabbaths,
From
yearly feasts, as well as every day.
new
a comparison of the
thorah with that of Moses in our exposition of these chapters, we have observed various distinctions which essentially modified the character of the whole service, viz. a sacrificial
thorough alteration in the order and celebration of the feasts, and a complete change in the proportion between the material of the meat-offering first
distinction
is
and the animal
So far
sacrifices.
concerned, the daily sacrifice
is
as the
reduced
to a
morning burnt- and meat-offering, and the evening sacrifice of the Mosaic law is abolished on the other hand, the Sabbath ;
offering
the
is
more than
new-moon
tripled in quantity
offerings,
;
the sin-offering
again, in the case of
omitted and the
is
burnt-offering diminished; in the yearly feasts, the offerings prescribed for the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread
and of the
feast of tabernacles are equalized in quantity
and
and meat-offerings of the feast of quality, and the daily burntbread are on the other unleavened considerably increased ;
hand, the daily sacrifices of the least of tabernacles are dimi nished in proportion to those proscribed by the Mosaic law.
Moreover, the feast of weeks, or harvest-feast, and in the seventh
month the day
of trumpets and the feast of atonement,
In the place of these, great atoning sacrifices, are dropt. copious sin-offerings are appointed for the first, seventh, and fourteenth days of the first month. To do justice to the meaning
with
its
of these changes, cycle of feasts.
we must keep (For
this, see
The ceremonial worship
in
my
mind the
idea of the Mosaic
Bibl. Arclidol. I.
prescribed
by
the
76 sqq.)
Mosaic law, in
427
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
addition to the daily sacrifice, consisted of a cycle of feast days
and
festal seasons
which had
its
root
regulated according to the number seven, in the Sabbath, and was organized in
accordance with the division of time, based upon the creation, into weeks, months,
and years.
As
the
Lord God created the
and ended the creation on the seventh day clays, and by blessing sanctifying that day through resting from His works, so also were His people to sanctify every seventh day of world in six
Him by resting from all work, and by a special burnt- and meat-offering. And, like the seventh day of the week, so also was the seventh month of the year to be sanctified by the keeping of the new moon with sabbatical rest and special the week to
sacrifices,
and every seventh year
this cycle of
to
be a sabbatical year.
holy days, arranged
seven, the yearly feasts consecrated to the
Into
number remembrance of the
according to
the
mighty acts of the Lord for the establishment, preservation, and blessing of His people, were so dovetailed that the number of these yearly feasts amounted to seven, the Passover, feast of unleavened bread, feast of weeks, day of trumpets, day of
atonement, feast of tabernacles, and conclusion of this
feast,
of which the feasts of unleavened bread and tabernacles were
kept for seven days each. festal circles, the first
These seven
feasts
formed two
of which with three feasts referred to
the raising of Israel into the people of God and to its earthly subsistence ; whilst the second, which fell in the seventh month,
and was introduced by the day of trumpets, had for its object the preservation of Israel in a state of grace, and its happiness in the full enjoyment of the blessings of salvation, and com
menced with the day of atonement, culminated tabernacles, and ended with the octave of that festal thorah of Ezekiel,
in the feast of feast.
In the
on the other hand, the weekly Sabbath
did indeed form the foundation of
all
the festal seasons, and the
new moon as the monthly Sabbath corresponds but the number of yearly feasts is reduced to the Pass
keeping of the to this
;
over, the seven days feast of unleavened bread,
and the seven
428
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
clays
The
seventh month (the feast of tabernacles). feast of weeks and the presentation of the sheaf of firstfeast of the
on the second day of the feast of unleavened bread are omitted; and thus the allusion in these two feasts to the fruits
harvest, or to their earthly maintenance,
is
Of
abolished.
still
greater importance are the abolition both of the day of trumpets and of the day of atonement, and the octave of the feast of tabernacles,
and the
institution of three great sin-offerings in
month, by which the seventh month is divested of the sabbatical character which it had in the Mosaic thorah. Ac
the
first
cording to the Mosaic order of feasts, Israel was to consecrate the Lord and to His service, by keeping the feast of Passover and the seven days feast of unleavened bread every
its life to
year in the month of its deliverance from Egypt as the first month of the year, in commemoration of this act of divine
by appropriating to itself afresh the sparing of its first and its reception into the covenant with the Lord, in the born, and by sacrifice of the paschal lamb and in the paschal meal,
mercy,
renewing into the
its
transportation from the old condition in
new
life
Egypt
of divine grace in the feast of unleavened
then by its receiving every month absolution for the weakness committed in the previous month, by means of a sin-offering presented on the new moon, and by keeping the
bread,
sins of
seventh month of the year in a sabbatical manner, by observing new moon with sabbatical rest and the tenth day as a day
the
of atonement, on which
it
received forgiveness of
all
the sins
had remained without expiation during the course of the year through the blood of the great sin-offering, and the puri fication of its sanctuary from all the uncleanness of those who that
approached
it,
so that,
on the feast of tabernacles which
fol
lowed, they could not only thank the Lord their God for their gracious preservation in the way through the wilderness, and their introduction into the
Canaan
so
abounding in
blessings,
but could also taste the happiness of vital fellowship with their God. The yearly feasts of Israel, which commenced with the
429
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII. celebration of the memorial of their reception into the
Lord
s
covenant of grace, culminated in the two high feasts of the seventh month, the great day of atonement, and the joyous feast of tabernacles, to indicate that the people living
under the
law needed, in addition to the expiation required from month to month, another great and comprehensive expiation in the seventh month of the year, in order to be able to enjoy the blessing consequent upon its introduction into Canaan, the blessedness of the sonship of God. According to Ezekiel s order of feasts and sacrifices, on the other hand, Israel was to begin every new year of its life with a great sin-offering on the seventh,
first,
and fourteenth days of the
first
month, and
through the blood of these sin-offerings procure for itself for giveness of all sins, and the removal of all the uncleanness of its
sanctuary, before
Lord
it
renewed the covenant of grace with the and its transposition into the new
in the paschal meal,
of grace in the days of unleavened bread, and throughout the year consecrated its life to the Lord in the daily burntoffering, through increased Sabbath-offerings and the regular life
new moon; and
sacrifices of the
commemoration
of
its
lastly,
through the feast in
entrance into Canaan, in order to live
Him
a blameless, righteous, and happy life. In the Mosaic order of the feasts and sacrifices the most comprehensive
before
act
of expiation,
and the most perfect reconciliation of the
God which
the old covenant could offer, lay in the seventh month, the Sabbath month of the year, by which it people to
was indicated that the reconciliation,
year; whereas Ezekiel
now
s
new
it
to
them
in the middle of the
order of worship offers to Israel,
God, reconciliation through the forgiveness and purification from its uncleannesses at the begin
returning to
of its sins
Sinaitic covenant led the people toward
and only offered its
ning of the year, so that
it
can walk before
God
in righteousness
in the strength of the blood of the atoning sacrifice
throughout
the year, and rejoice in the blessings of His grace. Now, inas much as the great atoning sacrifice of the day of atonement
430
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
pointed
to
typically
which Christ was
the
atoning sacrifice
eternally availing
to offer in the midst of the years of the
world
through His death upon the cross on Golgotha, the trans position of the chief atoning sacrifices to the commencement of the year by Ezekiel indicates that, for the Israel of the new
covenant, this eternally-availing atoning sacrifice would form the foundation for all its acts of worship and keeping of feasts, as well as for the whole course of
its life.
find the Messianic feature of Ezekiel feasts,
s
It
is
in this that
we
order of sacrifices and
by which it acquires a character more in accordance New Testament completion of the sacrificial service,
with the
which
also
deeply sacrifice
presents itself to us in the other and modifications
of
penetrating on the part of Ezekiel, both
daily sacrifice
is
reduced to a morning
the in
Mosaic the
sacrifice,
fact
and
still
more
thorali
that
of
the
also in the
fact that the quantities are tripled in the Sabbath-offerings and those of the feast of unleavened bread as compared with the
Mosaic
institutes,
and more especially
in
the change in the
relative proportion of the quantity of the meat-offering to that
the burnt-offering. For example, as the burnt-offering shadows forth the reconciliation and surrender to the Lord of
of
the person offering the sacrifice,
shadows forth the
whilst the meat-offering
fruit of this surrender, the
sanctification of
good works, the increase in the quantity of the meat connected with the burnt-offering, indicates that the offering
the
life in
people offering these sacrifices will bring forth more of the fruit of sanctification in good works upon the ground of the reconciliation
which
it
has received.
We
do not venture to
carry out to any greater length the interpretation of the differ ences between the Mosaic law of sacrifice and that of Ezekiel, or to point out any Messianic allusions either in the number of victims prescribed for the several feast days, or in the fact that
a different quantity is prescribed for the meat-offering con nected with the daily burnt-offering from that enjoined for the festal sacrifices, or in any other things of a similar nature.
431
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
These points of
detail apparently
And
vidualizing of the matter.
belong merely to the indi
so also, in the fact that the
provision of the people s sacrifices for the Sabbath, new moon, and feasts devolves upon the prince, and in the appointment of
the place where the prince is to stand and worship in the temple, and to hold the sacrificial meal, we are unable to detect
any Messianic elements, for the simple reason that the position which David and Solomon assumed in relation to the temple
and
its
tions.
ritual furnished
And,
Ezekiel with a model for these regula manner, the precept concerning the
in a similar
hereditary property of the prince and
its
transmission to his
sons (ch. xlvi. 16 sqq.) is to be explained from the fact that the future David is thought of as a king, like the son of Jesse, who will
be the prince of Israel for ever, not in his own person, but
in his family.
consideration
is
The only thing that still appears worthy of the circumstance that throughout the whole of
order of worship no allusion is made to the high holiness is demanded of all the priests priest, but the same which was required of the high priest in the Mosaic law. This
Ezekiel
s
points to the fact that the Israel of the future will answer to its calling to be a holy people of the Lord in a more perfect
manner than
In this respect the new temple from the old temple of Solomon. The very elaborate description of the gates and courts, with their build in past times.
will also differ
new temple has no other object than to show how the future sanctuary will answer in all its parts to the holiness of the Lord s house, and will be so arranged that no person
ings, in the
uncircumcised in heart and flesh will be able to enter all
these things belong to the
which were (Col.
ii.
17
to pass ;
Heb.
away when x.
1).
"
shadow of things
"the
When,
body of
therefore,
Christ"
it.
to
But come/
appeared
M. Baumgarten,
Auberlen, and other millenarians, express the opinion that this shadow-work will be restored after the eventual conversion of Israel to Christ, in support of to
the
authority of
which Baumgarten even appeals the Gentiles, they have
the apostle of
432
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
altogether disregarded the warning of this very apostle
ware
lest
any man after
Be
you through philosophy and vain
spoil
deceit, after the tradition of
world, and not
"
:
Christ"
after the rudiments of the
men, (Col.
ii.
8, 16, 20, 21).
Lastly, with regard to the prophecy concerning Gog, the prince of Magog, and his expedition against the restored land
and people of
Israel (Ezek. xxxviii.
new conformation
to the
of the
Gog and Magog
of
kingdom
God
its
relation
depicted in
Hengstenberg (on Rev. xx.
ch. xl.-xlviii., the assumption of
that
and xxxix.), and
7),
generally all the future enemies of the kingdom of God, and that we have here em "
represent
braced in one large picture
all
that has been developing itself
which take
in a long series of events, so that the explanations
them
as referring to the Syrian kings, the
Goths and Vandals,
and only
false in their exclu-
or the Turks, are
all alike
true,
not in harmony with the contents of this prophecy, and cannot be reconciled with the position which it occupies in
siveness,"
is
Ezekiel and in the Apocalypse. For the prophecy concerning Gog, though it is indeed essentially different from those which
concern themselves with the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and other smaller or larger nations of the world, has nothing "
Utopian"
about
it,
which indicates
character."
comprehensive by Ezekiel in the freest
remote the peoples led by
make war upon peace, may be
Israel,
"a
thoroughly ideal and
Even if the name Gog be formed manner from Magog, and however
Gog from
when
the ends of the earth to
restored and living in the deepest
yet Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Pharaz, Cush, and Phut are not Utopian nations, but the names of historical tribes of whose existence there is no doubt, although their settlements ;
lie
outside the
known
civilised world.
Whether
there be any
foundation for the old Jewish interpretation of the as referring to a great Scythian tribe, or not,
but so
much
is
certain, that
we
name Magog
leave undecided
Magog was a people
extreme north of the world known to the ancients.
we attempt
to decide
;
settled in the
Nor
will
whether the invasion of Hither Asia by
433
CHAP. XL.-XLVIII.
the Scythians forms the historical starting-point or connecting s prophecy concerning Gog; bat there can be
link for Ezekiel
no doubt that
this
prophecy does not refer
to
an invasion on
the part of the Scythians, but foretells a last great conflict, in
which the heathen dwelling on the borders of the globe engage against the kingdom of God, after the kingdom
will
of the
world in
its organized national forms, as Asshur, Babel, Javan, have been destroyed, and the kingdom of Christ shall have Gog of Magog spread over the whole of the civilised world.
shall
is
the last hostile phase of the world-power opposed to God, will wage war on earth against the kingdom of God, and
which
that the rude force of the uncivilised heathen world, which will
not
rise
up and attack the church
of Christ
till
after the fall of
the world-power bearing the name of Babylon Apocalypse, towards the end of the present course of the world, when in the
i.e. till
attempt to lay it waste and destroy it, but will be itself annihilated by the Lord by miracles of His almighty power.
it
will
In the
"
conglomerate of
nations,"
which
Gog
people of Israel at the
end of the years, there
of
in the
all
come
that
is
ungodly
leads against the is
a combination
heathen world, and that has be
ripe for casting into the great wine-press of the wrath of
be destroyed by the storms of divine judgment (ch. xxxviii. 21, 22, xxxix. 6). But, as Baumgarten has correctly
God,
to
observed (in Herzog s Cyclopaedia), u inasmuch as the undis guised and final malice of the world of nations against the of
kingdom
God
is
exhibited here, Ezekiel could truly
say
that the prophets of the former times had already prophesied of this enemy (ch. xxxviii. 17), and that the day of vengeance
upon Gog and Magog
is
spoken (ch. xxxix. 8),
that
that of is
which Jehovah has already
to say, all that has
been stated
concerning hostility on the part of the heathen towards the finds
its
and the judgment upon
of Jehovah,
kingdom
this hostility,
ultimate fulfilment in this the last and extrernest op
position of
all."
tion of this
EZEK.
II.
This
is
prophecy in
in
harmony not only with the assump
Rev.
xx.,
but also with the declaration 2
E
434
THE PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.
of the Apocalypse, that
who and
it is the Satan released from his prison leads the heathen to battle against the camp of the saints the beloved city, and that fire from God out of heaven
consumes these enemies, and the is
devil
who has seduced them
cast into the lake of fire to be tormented for ever and ever.
According to all this, the appearing of Gog is still future, and the day alone can clearly show what form assume.
THE END.
MURRAY AND i
GIBR,
lUNTEUS TO HER MAJESTY
EDINBURGH, STATIONERY OFFICE.
*
in the it
will
T.
and
T.
Clark s Publications.
Just published, in dewy Svo, price
St.
John the Author By
of the
9s.,
Fourth Gospel.
Professor C. E. LUTHARDT, Author of Fundamental Truths of Christi etc. Translated and the Literature enlarged by C. R. GREGORY,
anity,
Leipzig.
A
work of thoroughness and value the translator has added a lengthy Appendix con taining a very complete account of the literature bearing on the controversy respecting this Gospel. The indices which close the volume are well ordered and add greatly to its value. Guardian. 4
;
In this work, from the pen of one of the greatest divines of Germany, the facts are made to speak for themselves, and the result is a complete refutation of the AntiJohannine school of criticism, and a correspondingly complete establishment of the truth on which the unanimous testimony of the ancient Church is shown to rest. Such a .
work
was much needed.
as this
.
.
Dickinson s Quarterly.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. Fourth
crown Svo,
edition,
The Fundamental Truths The Antagonistic Views
of the
Anomalies of Existence
Man
;
World
6s.,
of Christianity. Development The The Creation of the World Revelation Heathenism and
in their Historical
The Personal God
;
;
;
Revelation Religion History of Judaism Christianity in History The Person of Jesus Christ. ;
;
;
;
;
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. Third edition, crown Svo, 6s.,
Apologetic Lectures on the Saving Truths of Christianity. of Christianity; Sin; Grace;
The Nature Christ
The Trinity
;
;
The Church
;
The God -Man The Work of Jesus Holy Scripture The Means of Grace ;
;
;
The Last Things. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. Second
edition,
crown Svo,
-a 6s.,
Apologetic Lectures on the Moral Truths of Christianity. of Christian Morality; Man; The Christian, and the Christian Virtues The Devotional Life of the Christian, and his Attitude towards
The Nature
;
Christian Marriage The Christian Home The State and ; Culture and Christianity ; The Life of the Christian in the State Christianity ; Humanity and Christianity. From Dr. Luthardt s exposition even the most learned theologians may derive in valuable criticism, and the most acute disputants supply themselves with more trenchant ami polished weapons than they have as yet been possessed of. Bell s Weekly ALtssenger. We do not know any volumes so suitable in these times for young men entering on life, or, let us say, even for the library of a pastor called to deal with such, than the three volumes of this series. We commend the whole of them with the most cordial satisfaction. They are altogether quite a specialty in our literature. -Weck/i/ Review.
the Church
;
;
;
Crown
Luthardt, Church
A
Kahnis,
Svo, 5s.,
and Bruckner-- The
Its Origin, its History, and its present Position. comprehensive review of this sort, done by able hands, is both instructive and
suggestive.
:
Record.
T.
and
T.
Claris Publications.
This day, in demy 8vo, price
9s.,
A CHRONOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION TO
THE LIFE OF CHKIST By
CASPARI.
E.
C.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES, BY M.
J.
EVANS,
B.A.
brj
Sutjjor.
tfje
The work is handy and well suited for the use of the student. It gives him in very reasonable compass, and in well digested forms, a great deal of information respecting the dates and outward circumstances of our Lord s life, and materials for forming a Guardian. judgment upon the various disputed points arising out of them. In this work the author affords us the results of many-sided study on one of the most important objects of theological inquiry, and on a knot of problems which have been so often treated and which are of so complex a nature. The author is unquestionably right in supposing that the so-called outworks of the life of Jesus have their value, by no means to be lightly esteemed. Their examination must be returned to ever afresh, until the historic or unhistoric character of the substance of the gospel narrative has been brought out as the result of scientific examination. ... In conclusion, we believe we can with full conviction characterise the whole work as a real gain to the scientific literature of the question and a great advance on previous investigations; not doubting that the most important positions maintained by the author will in all essential points win the approbation of the student. Jahrbucherjiir Deutsche Theologie.
A
thoroughly scholarlike treatise, in which every point of criticism is weighed with the utmost exactness, every phase of doubt examined with the nicest precision, and every proof that can be furnished for the authenticity and truth of the gospel history, sought after and produced with unfaltering accuracy. ... No Bible student should fail to make this treatise his constant friend and companion, and no honest man can read, mark, learn, and digest its contents, without being persuaded that its value is priceless. Bdl s Weekly Messenger.
The volume before us is to be regarded as an exceedingly valuable contribution to the extensive literature we already possess, and it combines the two advantages of large
. The fruits of this chronological and topographical knowledge with careful exegesis. conscientious study are here stored in goodly abundance and ripeness. The trans lator deserves more than any ordinary word* of commendation, for it is evident that he has entered upon his task con amore ; and has furnished us not only with a satisfactory rendering of tue original, but also added some notes of great value. English Independent. .
.
.
.
.
Taking up the different events in the life of Christ, every incident is dwelt upon in connection with the place and time of its occurrence and the student and the exoounder of Scripture will find in these chapters a complete guide to the surroundings of life cf Christ, and much that will throw a vivid light upon His words and actions. Courant. ;
"the
This is in every way a remarkable work, and one that cannot value to biblical students. Rock. 1
fail to
prove
of great
and
T.
T.
Clark s Publications.
WORKS BY THE LATE
PATRICK FAIRBAIRN,
D.D.,
PRINCIPAL AND PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, GLASGOW.
In
Two
Volumes,
Demy
8vo, price 21s., Fifth Edition,
THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE,
Viewed
in connection
with the whole Series of the Divine Dispensations. As the product of the labours of an original thinker and of a sound theologian, who has at the same time scarcely left unexamined one previous writer on the subject, ancient or modern, this work will be a most valuable accession to the library of the theological student. As a whole, we believe it may, with the strictest truth, be pronounced the best work on the subject that has yet been published. Record. A work fresh and comprehensive, learned and sensible, and full of practical religious British
feeling.
and Foreign Evangelical Review. In
Demy
8vo, price 10s. 6d.,
Third Edition,
AND THE BOOK OF HIS PROPHECY: An
EZEKIEL,
Exposition With a New Translation. which was greatly wanted, and which will give the author no mean place among the Biblical Expositors of his country and language, for in it he has cast con siderable light on one of the obscurest portions of God s Word. Journal of Sacred ;
A work
Literature.
In
Demy
8vo, price 10s. Gd.,
PROPHECY, Viewed
Second Edition,
in its Distinctive Nature, its Special
Functions, and Proper Interpretation. would express our conviction that if ever this state of things is to end, and the Church is blest with the dawu of a purer and brighter day, it will be through the sober and well-considered efforts of such a man as Dr. Fairbairn, and through the general acceptance of some such principles as are laid down for our guidance in this book.
We
Christian Advocate.
In
Demy
8vo, price 10s. 6d.,
HERMENEUTICAL MANUAL;
or, Introduction to the Exegetical Study of the Scriptures of the New Testament. Dr. Fairbairn has precisely the training which would enable him to give a fresh and suggestive book on Hermeneutics. Without going into any tedious detail, it presents the points that are important to a student. There is a breadth of view, a clearness and manliness of thought, and a ripeness of learning, which make the work one of peculiar freshness and interest. I consider it a very valuable addition to every student s library. Rev. Dr. MOORE, Author of the able Commentary on The Prophets of the Restoration.^ In
Demy
8vo, price 10s. Gd.,
THE REVELATION OF LAW IN SCRIPTURE, with respect both to
considered
own Nature and
to its relative place in Succes sive Dispensations. (The Third Series of the Cunningham Lectures. ) Dr. Fairbairn is well known as a learned and painstaking writer, and these lectures will bear out his reputation. They are the writing of a man who is a laborious student of the Bible, and patient readers will find that they can learn something from him. Guardian. its
.
.
.
The tone and spirit of this volume are admirable. The lectures are carefully elabo arguments and scriptural illustrations seem to have passed each one under the author s scrutiny so that, besides unity of purpose in the lectures as a whole, we mark the conscientiousness that has sought to verify each separate statement. ... It is an
rated, the
;
excellent book.
Nonconformist.
T.
and
T.
Clark s Publications.
Just published, in demy Svo, 700 pages, price 15s.,
A CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL COMMENTARY ON THE
BOOK OF PSALMS, WITH A NEW TRANSLATION. JAMES
BY a. LL.D., T.C.D., AUTHOR OF COMMENTARIES ON THE BOOKS OF GENESIS, EXODUS, 1
Dr.
MURPHY,
ETC.
Murphy contribution to the literature of the Psalms is a most welcome addition. We have no hesitation in predicting for it a cordial reception from all who can appre ciate a sound and scholarly exegesis, and who are anxious to discover the full and exact meaning of the inspired Word. Baptist Magazine. regard this book as one of the most valuable critical and exegetical commentaries that have appeared on the Psalms; the Notes are brief, but they are clear, judicious, and .
.
s
.
We
satisfactory.
Homilist.
A
scholarly, careful production. It gives explanations of difficult Hebrew forms and phrases, traces with skill and insight the connection in each Psalm, arid brings out the sense in a version that is clear and idiomatic. Freeman.
The Notes on each Psalm are, however, the most valuable part of the work. They grapple with every difficulty in the text, and the exegetical remarks are of the most minute character. In them the author proves himself a thoroughly skilled Hebraist. ... 1 he 700 pages of this volume will be invaluable to all who desire thoroughly to understand the subject of which it treats. To a clergyman s library it will be indispens able. Dublin Evening Mail "
"
An
examination of this Commentary on the Psalms has given us the very greatest It is at once learned, devout, and We have no hesitation in practical. it as one of the best works which has on the Psalms for a long appeared
satisfaction.
recommending time.
Its clearness, the brevity and yet fulness of the notes, and its deep spirituality of Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette. tone, leave nothing to be desired.
Just published, in
A
Two
Vols. Svo, price 21s.,
COMMENTARY ON THE
GOSPEL OF BY
F.
LUKE,
ST,
GODE
T,
DOCTOR AND PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY, NEUCHATEL.
Translated from the Second French Edition,
We are
indebted to the publishers for an English translation of the admirable work which stands at the head of this review. ... It is a work of great ability, learning, and research.
Christian Observer.
The whole book
is very valuable, and is the work of a critic, scholar, and divine of no ordinary attainments, who has devoted to it wonderful conscientiousness and diligent care. Union Review. This is one of the most important and valuable works yet issued in the Foreign Theological Library. Kich in learning, scientific in method, profound and luminous in thought, it is a masterpiece of exposition, critical and spiritual, worthy to be placed side Dickinson s by side with the author s great "Commentary on St. John s Gospel. "
Theological Quarterly.
and
T.
T. Clark s Publications.
Just published, in crown 8vo, price
6s.,
PASTORAL THEOLOGY, A TEEATISE ON THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF THE CHRISTIAN PASTOE. BY THE LATE PATRICK FAIRBAIRN, D.D, PRINCIPAL AND PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY, FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, GLASGOW.
WITH A BIOGKAPH1CAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. This treatise on the office and duties of a Christian pastor, by the late Professor Fairbairn, is well deserving thoughtful perusal. Throughout the volume, however, there is a tone of earnest piety and practical good sense, which finds expression in many profitable counsels, embodying the result of large experience and shrewd observation. Much of the volume is devoted to the theory and practice of preaching, and this . . . part we can most heartily commend it is replete with valuable suggestions, which even those who have had some experience in the ministry will find calculated to make them more attractive and efficient preachers. Christian Observer. ;
1 This work is pervaded throughout by an earnest zeal for the interests of religion, as well as for the prosperity of the Church to which the author belonged, and is on the whole free from the charge of intolerance and bigotry. Scotsman.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. Just published, in crown Svo, price
THE PASTORAL redt 2u.rt
Is. 6d.,
EPISTLES,
anb ^Translation,
WITH INTRODUCTION, EXPOSITOEY NOTES, AND DISSERTATIONS. 1
We
recommend
cordially
this
work
to ministers
and theological
students.
Sfethodist
Magazine.
We
have read no book of his with a keener appreciation and enjoyment than that on the Pastoral Epistles. Nonconfoimist.
just published
The work
is
way worthy of Dr. Wide and well-digested
in every
Fairbairu
s high reputation. Nay, more, it learning, accurate scholarship, thorough of thought exercised in a calm and serious spirit, sound judgment, ripe Christian experience, distinguish this work. London Weekly Review.
enhance independence will
it.
Dr. Fairbairn deserves our best thanks for this meritorious work of conscientious criticism and careful exposition of a portion of Scripture which has not received so much attention as it merits. Daily Review. Dr. Fairbairn has done essential service by this very scholarly and able work, in which he deals vigorously with the critical questions of our own day. British Quarterly Rtvitw. The work is indeed a complete exegesis of the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, and 1
embraces Rock.
all the critical
and controversial questions
to
which they have given
rise.
T.
MEYER
and
ClarKs Publications.
T.
COMMENTARY ON THE NEW TESTAMENT.
S
CLARK
have in course of preparation a Translation of the well-known and and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, by Dr. H. MEYER, Obercousistorialrath, Hannover, of which they have published
MESSRS.
justly esteemed Critical
A.
W.
FIRST YEAR ROMANS, Two Volumes GALATIANS, One Volume ST. JOHN S GOSPEL, Volume I. SECOND YEAR FIRST ISSUE ST. JOHN S GOSPEL, Volume II. PHILIPPIANS AND COLOSSIANS, One Volume. ;
;
;
The
Subscription price for
first
Eight Volumes
THE W.ORKS OF
is
ST.
2, 2s.,
AUGUSTINE.
EDITED BY MARCUS DODS, Subscription
payable in advance.
Each year s Volumes One Guinea, payable
D.D. in advance (24s.
when not
paid in advance).
FIRST YEAR THE CITY OF GOD, Two Volumes; WRITINGS IN CON NECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY, in One Volume; THE ANTI-PELAGIAN WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTINE, Volume I. SECOND YEAR LETTERS, Volume I. TREATISES AGAINST FAUSTUS THE MANICHJEAN, One Volume; THE HARMONY OF THE EVANGELISTS, AND THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT, One Volume ON THE TRINITY, One Volume. THIRD YEAR COMMENTARY ON JOHN, Two Volumes; ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, ENCHIRIDION, ON CATECHIZING, AND ON FAITH AND THE CREED, One THE ANTI-PELAGIAN WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTINE, Volume II. Volume FOURTH YEAR LETTERS, Volume II.; CONFESSIONS, with Copious Notes by Rev. J. G. PILKINGTON ANTI-PELAGIAN WRITINGS, Volume III., in 1876; LIFE BY PRINCIPAL RAINY, in 1876. ;
;
;
;
The
Series will be completed in the above Sixteen Volumes.
Subscription price,
Four Guineas.
Each Volume
is
sold separately, at
Ten
Shillings
and Sixpence.
FOREIGN THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY. One Guinea (payable in advance) for Four Volumes, not paid in advance, the Retail Bookseller is entitled to charge 24s.
Annual Subscription
When
Demy 8vo.
N.B. Any two Years in this Series can be had at Subscription Price. A single Years Books (except in the case of the current Year) cannot be supplied separately. Nonsubscribers, price 10s. 6d. each volume, with exceptions marked.
1S76FIRST ISSUE KEIL S COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL, Two For full
details
of the above Subscription
Volumes.
Series, see Classified Catalogue.
SECT.
FEB2818a
PLEASE
CARDS OR
DO NOT REMOVE
SLIPS
UNIVERSITY OF
BS 15H5
1876 V.2 C.I ROBA
>
FROM
THIS POCKET
TORONTO
LIBRARY
Keil, Carl Friedrich
Biblical commentary on the prophecies of Ezekiel, tr. by J.Martin