How to keep the healthy in health; and cause ftiem to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus
2. How to nourish, feed, and care for the convalescent, that they may be brought into a state of spiritual soundness.
3. How to reprove, instnict, and awaken those who are still under Xhefull power of the disease of sin.
4. How to Jind out and remove the cause of all that spiritual weakness of which he sees some slowly dying.
5. How to deal with those who have fallen into some scandalous sin, and restore them from their ^aW.
6. How to Jind out and turn aside the sore temptation or cruel usage by which some have been driven
7. How to seek and bring back to the fold those who have strayed into strange pastures, and have had their souls perverted by erroneous doctrines; and knows also how, by a godly discipline, to preserve him in the flock, and keep the flock honourably together.
8. How to oppose, confound, and expel the grievous wolf, who has got among the flock, and is scattering them from each other, and from God. He knows how to preach, explain, and defend the truth. He is well acquainted with the weapons he is to use, and the spirit in which he is to employ them.
In a word, the true shepherd gives up his life to the sheep; spends and is spent for the glory of God; and gives up his life for the sheep, in defence of them, and in labouring for their welfare. And while he is thus employed, it is the duty of the flock to feed and clothe him; and see that neither he nor his family lack the necessaries and conveniencies of life. The labourer is worthy of his meat. He who does not labour, or, because of his ignorance of God and salvation, cannot labour, in the word and doctrine, deserves neither meat nor drink; and if he exact that by law, which he has not honestly earned by a proper discharge of the pastoral function, let him read this chapter, and learn from it what a fearful account he shall have to give to the chief Shepherd at the great day; and what a dreadful punishment shall be inflicted on him, when the blood of the souls lost through his neglect or inefficiency is visited upon him! See the notes on chap. iii. 17, &c.
Verse 7. Therefore,ye shepherds, (ye bad and wicked shepherds,) hear the word of the Lord] In the preceding character of the good shepherd the reader will find, by reversing the particulars, the character of a bad shepherd; and therefore I may be excused from entering into farther detail.
Verse 10. I ivill — cause them to cease from feeding the flock] God, in this country, unpriested a whole hierarchy who fed not the flock, but ruled them with force and cruelty; and he raised up a new set of shepherds better qualified, both by sound doctrine and learning, to feed the flock. Let these be faithful, lest God cause them to cease, and raise up other feeders.
Verse 12. Cloudy and dark day.] Times of genera! distress and persecution; in such times the shepherd should be especially watchful.
Verse 13. / u'ill — feed them upon the mounlanis] When I bring back the people from their captivity, I will raise up to them a holy and diligent priesthood, who shall in all places give them sound instruction. But this, and some of the following promises, belong to the Christian Church, as we shall find below.
cir. annum 30. Yo=,\, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that ichich luas Ijroken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy " the fat and the strong; I will feed them ^ with judgment.
17 And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord God:?■ Behold, I judge between '■ cattle and cattle, between the rams and the ^ he-goats.
18 Seemeth it a small thing unto you to jiave eaten up tlic good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?
1 9 And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they
Verse 16. I will destroy the fat and the strong] I will destroy those cruel and imperious shepherds who abuse their authority, and tyrannize over the flock.
Verse 17. And as for you, O my Jiock] After having spoken to the shepherds, he now addresses the flock.
I judge between cattle and cattle] Between false and t7-ue professors; between them that have only the form and them that have the power of godliness; between the backslider in heart and the upright man.
Averse 18. Have eaten up the good pasture] Arrogate to yourselves all the promises of God, and will hardly permit the simple believer to claim or possess any token of God's favour.
Ye must foul the residue with your feet 1] Ye abuse God's mercies; you consume much upon yourselves, and ye spoil more, on which the poor would have been glad to feed. There are some who would rather give food to their sporting dogs than to the poor around them, who are ready to starve, and wlio would be glad of the crumbs that fall from the table of those masters!
Verse 20. / tvill judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle,] Between the rich and the poor; those who fare sumptuously every day and those who have not the necessaries of life.
Verse 23. I ivill set up one Shepherd — my servant David] D.^viD, king of Israel, had been dead upwards of four hundred years; and from that time tUl now there never was a ruler of any kind, either in the Jewish Church or state, of the name of David, This, then, must be some typical person; and from the texts marked in the margin we understand that Jesus Christ alone is meant, as both Old and New Testaments agree in this. And from this one Shepherd all Chris-
20 Therefore thus saith the R^'^RomanT'" Lord God unto them; ^ Behold, "' """""^ '^°- I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.
21 Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;
22 Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and ' I will judge between cattle and cattle.
23 And I will set up one ^ Sheplierd over them, and he shall feed them, " even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their Shepherd.
24 And ^ I the Lord will be their God, and my Servant David i a Prince among them; 1 the Lord have spoken it.
tian ministers must derive their authority to teach, and their grace to teach effectually.
By the kind providence of God it appears that he has not permitted any apostolic succession to be preserved, lest the members of his Church should seek that in an uninterrupted succession which must be found in the He.id alone. The papists or Roman Catholics, who boast of an uninterrupted succession, which is a mere fable that never was and never can be proved, have raised up another head, the pope. And I appeal to themselves, in the fear of God, whether they do not in heart and in speech trace up all their authority to him, and only compliment Christ as having appointed Peter to be the first bishop of Rome, (which is an utter falsity, for he was never appointed to such an ofBce there, nor ever held such an office in that city, nor, in their sense, any where else;) and they hold also that the popes of Rome are not so much Peter's successors as God's vicars; and thus both God and Peter are nearly l"st sight of in their papal enumerations. AVith them the authority of the Church is all in all; the authority of Christ is seldom mentioned.
Averse 24. / the Lord u'ill be their God, and my Servant David a Prince] Here we find God and his Christ are all in all in his Church, and Jesus is stiH Prince among them; and to him the call and qualifications of all genuine pastors belong, and from him they must be derived. And he has blotted out what is called uninterrupted succession, that every Christian minister m.ay seek and receive credentials from himself Here is the grand reason why the uninterruptect succession cannot be made out. And here is the proof also that the Church that pretends to it, and build*
R. Roman., Will cause the evil beasts to '"■ """"'" ^°- cease out of the land. and they '' shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
26 And I will make them and the places round about ' my hill ■" a blessing: and I will " cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be ° showers of blessing.
27 And p the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have 1 broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that "■ served themselves of them.
ther shall the beast oi the land r. Roman., devour them; but ' they shall ""'■ """'"" ^ dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.
29 And I will raise up for them a " plant " of renown, and they shall be no more ■* consumed with hunger in the land, ^ neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.
30 Tims shall they know that ^ I the Lord their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the
31 And ye my ^ flock, the flock of my pas^ ture, are men, and I am your God, saith the
upon it, must be a. false Church; for it is founded on a falsity; an uninlerrupted siiccession which does not exist either in history or in fact.
Verse 25. I will make with them a covenant of peace] The original is emphatic: □l'?!!' rciS QH'? 'iTOl vecharatli lahem berith shalnm, " And I will cut with them the peace covenant;" that is, a covenant sacrifice, procuring and establishing peace between God and man, and between man and his fellows. I need rot tell the reader that the cutting refers to the ancient mode of tnaking covenants. The blood was poured out; the animal was divided from mouth to tail, exactly in two; the divisions placed opposite to each other; the contracting parties entered into the space, going in at each end, and met in the middle, and there took the covenant oath. He is the Prince of peace, and through him come glory to God in the highest, and peace and good will to men upon earth.
And will cause the evil beasts to cease] These false and ravenous pastors. Christ purges them out of his Church, and destroys that power by which they lorded it over God's heritage.
There shall be showers of blessing.] Light, life, joy, peace, and power shall be manifest in all the assemblies of Christ's people.
Verse 29. / will raise up — a plant ofrenoion] i'D"2 DtJ'7 matta leshem, " a plantation to the name;" to the name of Christ. A Christian Church composed of men who are Christians, who have the spirit of Christ in them, and do not bear his name in vain. I believe the words might be applied to the Christian Church; but th^it Christ may be called a plant or plantation here, — as he is elsewhere called a branch and a rod, Isa. iv. 2; xi. 1; so Jer. xxiii. 5;.xx.xv. 15, — is most probable. He is the Person of name, DB''? leshem. Jesus; the Saviour, Christ; the Anointer, long spoken of before he was manifested in the flesh, and since the daili/ theme in the Church militant. It is he who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, no other name being given under heaven among men by which we can be saved; he who has a name above every name, and at whose 7iame every knee shall bow; through whose name, by faith in his name. the diseased are healed; and in whose name all our prayers and supplications must be presented to God to make them acceptable. This is the Person of name!
They shall be no more consumed with hunger] For this glorious plant of name is the Bread of life; and this is broken in all the assemblies of his people where his name is properly proclaimed.
Verse 31. And ye my flock] That is, under the allegory of a fiock of sheep, I point out men; under that of a pasture, my Church; and under that of a shepherd, the Messiah, tlirough whom I am become your God. And he who is your God is nin" '2"IN Adonai Yehovah, the self-existent Being; the Governor and Director, as well as the Saviour and Judge. of men.
7^e prophet having formerly predicted the ruin of Edom, the same with Seir, (chap. xxv. 12,) now resumes and pursues the sulijcct at greater length, intimating, as did also Isaiah, (chap..xxi. 1 1. 12,) that thovjh other nations should recover their Ulicrty after the fall of the Bahi/lonian monarchy, the Edomiles should continue in bandage for their very despiteful behaviour towards the children of Israel in the dai/ of their calamity, 1-15.
3 And say unto it, Thus saitli the Lord God; Behold, 0 Mount Seir, I a7n against thee, and ■^ I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee " most desolate.
4^1 will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am
5 s Because thou hast had a ^ perpetual hatred, and hast ' shed the blood of the children of Israel, by the '' force of the sword in the time of their calamity, ' in the time that their iniquity had an end:
6 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: " sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.
7 Thus will I make Mount Seir "most desolate, and cut off from it ° him that passeth out and him that returneth.
the persecuting Edomites.
Verse 2. Set thy face against Mount Seir] That is, against the Edomites. This prophecy was probably delivered about the time of the preceding, and before the destruction of Idumea by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place about jitie years after.
Calmet supposes that two ilestructions of Idumea aie here foretold; one by Nebuchadnezzar, and the other by the Jews after their return from their captivity.
Verse 5..4 perpetual hatred] The Edomites were the descendants of Esau; the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob. Both these were brothers; and between them there was contention even in the womb, and they lived generally in a state of enmity. Their descendants kept up the ancient feud: but the Edomites were implacable; they had not only a rooted but perpetual enmity to the Israelites, harassing and distressing them by all possible means; and they seized the opportunity, when the Israelites were most harassed by other enemies, to make inroads upon them, and cut them off wherever they found them.
To afflict the afflicted is cruel. This is scarcely of man, bad as he is. He must be possessed by the malignant spirit of the devil, when he wounds the wounded, insults over the miseries of the afflicted, and
in all thy rivers, shall they fall ""• '"^"'" ''°- that are slain with the sword.
9 1 1 will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: "■ and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
10 Because thou hast said. These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will " possess it; 'whereas "the Lord was there:
11 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will even do, '' according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee.
12 "And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us ^ to consume.
1 3 Thus ^ with your mouth ye have ^ boasted
5; Obad 13. tOr, though the LORD was there. "Psa.
seeks opportunities to add affliction to those who are already under the rod of God.
Averse 6. Blood shall pursue thee] Thou lovest blood, and thou shalt have blood. It is said that Cyrus and tuw hundred thousand men were slain in an ambush by Thomyris, queen of the Scythians, and that she cut off his head, and threw it into a vessel filled with blood, with this severe sarcasm: —
Satia te sanguine quem siiisti, Cyre. " O Cyrus, now satisfy thyself with blood." Hence, the figure: — " Sarcasmus, with this biting taunt doth kill: Cyrus, thy thirst was blood, noiv drink thy fill."
Verse 9. Perpetual desolations] Thou shalt have perpetual desolation for thy perpetual hatred.
A'erse 10. These two nations] Israel and Judah. The Idumeans thought of conquering and possessing both; and they would have succeeded, but only the Lord was there; and this spoiled their projects, and blasted their hopes.
Verse 12. They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume.] They exulted in seeing Judea overrun; and they rejoiced in the prospect of completing the ruin, when the Chaldeans had withdrawn from the land.
A''erse 13. Thus iinth your mouth ye hare boasted against me] Ye have said you would enter into those lands, and take them for your inheritance; though ys
^ Wlien tlie whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.
knew that God had promised them to the Israelites, and that you should never have them for your portion.
Verse 14. When the whole earth rejoiceth'] WTien the whole laiid shall rejoice in the restoration of tlie Jews, I will make thee desolate. Probably this refers to the time of the Maccabees.
Verse 15. So will I do unto thee] Others shall rejoice in thy downfall as thou hast rejoiced at their dowTifall.
15 ''As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: "^ thou shall be desolate, O Mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the Lord
Do as thou wouldst be done by; and what thou wouldst not have done to thee, do not to others. And from it we learn that every man may, in some sort, be said to make his own temporal good or evil; for as he does to others, God v\'ill take care to do to him, whether it be evU or good, weal or wo. Would you not be slandered or backbitten? Then do not slander nor backbite. Wouldst thou wish to live in peace? Then do not disturb the peace of others. Be merciful, and thou shalt obtain mercy.
The Edomites or Idumeans, during the Balylonish captivity, took possession of the mountainous parts oj Judea, and the fortresses which command the country, intending to exclude the Jew^ if ever they should return from their captivity. The prophet therefore, by a beautiful personification, addresses the mountains of Israel; and, ascribing to them passions and emotions similar to those of his own breast, consoles them with the prospect of being soon rid of those usurping foes; of being freed from the dishonour of idols under which they groaned; and of flourishing again in their ancient glory under their rightful owyiers, 1—15. The idolatry and other sins of the Jews are then declared to be the cause of their captivity and dispersion, 16—20; from which however they are promised a deliverance in tei-ms of great force and beauty, 21—38. This chapter contains also, under the type of the happy condition nf the Israelites after their restoration from the Babylonish captivity, a glorious prophecy of the rich blessings of the Gospel dispensation.
A LSO, thou son of man, prophesy unto the =" mountains of Israel, and say. Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord:
2 Thus saith the Lord God; Because * the enemy hath said against you, Aha, " even the ancient high places * are ours in possession:
3 Therefore prophesy and say. Thus saith the Lord God; ^ Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue
Verse 1. Prophesy itnto the mountains of Israel] This is a part of the preceding prophecy, though it chiefly concerns the Jews. In it they are encouraged to expect a glorious restoration; and that none of the evU wishes of their adversaries should take place against them.
taken up in the lips of talkers, oi. XLyiii. 2. and are an infamy of the people: r. Roman., '
4 Therefore, ye mountains of "'' """"" ^- Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the '' rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which ' became a prey and ^ derision to the residue of the heathen tluit are round about;
.5 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; ' Surely in the fire of my jealousy liave I
means thought they would shortly be put in possessioD of all the strong places of Israel; the ancient hig/i places shall be ours.
Verse 4. Therefore — this saith the Lord God to the mountains, Jjrc] They shall neither possess mountain nor valley, hill nor dale, fountain nor rtver; for though in my justice I made you desolate, yet they shall not profit by your disasters. See ver. 5, 6, and 7. 6?1
spolcen against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, "" which have appointed my land into their possession
witli the joy of all their heart, with despiteful
minds, to cast it out for a prey.
6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys. Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have " borne the shame of the heathen:
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I have "lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen tliat are about you, they shall bear their shame.
8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.
9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown:
10 And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and p the wastes shall be budded:
11 And il will multiply upon you man and beast: a;id they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: ■■ and ye shall know that I arn the
12 Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; ^ and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth ' bereave them of vien.
Verse 8. For they are at hand to come.] The restoration of the Jews is so absolutely determined that you may rest assured it will take place; and be as confident relative to it, as if you saw the different families entering into the Israelitish borders. It was near at hand in God's determination, thouirh there were about _^/yeight of the seventy years unelapsed.
Verse 9. Ye shall be tilled and sown] The land shall be cultivated as it formerly was, when best peopled and at peace.
Verse II. I will multiply upon you man and least] The agriculturist and the beast of burden.
And toill do better unto you than at your beginnings] I agree with Calmet, that it would be difficult to show the literal fulfilment of this prophecy from the days of
13 Thus saith the Lord God Because they say unto you " Thou land devourest up men and hast bereaved thy nations;
14 Therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither " bereave thy nations any more
15 " Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the simme of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord God.
16 Moreover the word of the Lord came
17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, ^ they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as y the uncleanness of a removed woman.
18 Wherefore I poured my fury upon them '^ for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:
1 9 And I " scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: *> according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.
20 And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they " profaned my holy name, when they said to them. These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his land.
2 1 But I had pity '' for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel,
Zerubbabel to the birth of Christ. The colouring is too high for that period; and the whole falls in better with Gospel than with Jewish times.
Verse 17. When the house of Israel dwelt in their own land] Had they continued faithful to me, they had never been removed from it: but they polluted it with their crimes; and I abhorred the land on that account, and gave both them and it up to the destroyers.
Verse 20. And when they entered unto tlie heathen] So had were they, and so deeply fallen, that they profaned the Lord^s name among the heathen; and, on their account, the true God was blasphemed. These, say they, are the people of Jehovah! O what an abominable people are these! and what a being must that God be who can have and own such for his people!
01. XLViu. 2. not this for your sakes, 0 house K^"Rom;inr'' of Israel, ^ but for mine holy cir. annum 30. j^ajjjg'g sake, whjch yc have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.
23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have jirofaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I siiall be ' sanctified in you before s their eyes.
24 For ^ I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries,
25 ' Then will I sprinkle clean R'?"Ro!nan.r''
Verse 23. / will sanctify my great name] By changing jour hearts and your conduct, I shall show ni}' hatred to vice, and my love to holiness: but it is not for your sa^es, but for?>iy holy name's sake, that I shall do you good in your latter days.
^'erse 24. / loill take you from among the heathen] Tliis does not relate to the restoration from Babylon merely. The Jews are at this day scattered in all Heathen, Mohammedan, and Christian countries. From these they are to be gathered, and brought to repossess their own lancJ.
Verse 25. Then — at the time of this great restoration— will I sprinkle clean water upon you — the truly cleansing water; the influences of the Holy Spirit typified by water, whose property it is to cleanse, lohiten, purify, refresh, render healthy and fruitful.
From all your filthiness] From every sort of external and internal abomination and pollution.
And from all your idols] False gods, false worship, false opinions, and false hopes.
Will I cleanse you.] Entirely separate you.
Verse 26..-1 new heart also will I give you] I will change the whole of your infected nature; and give you new appetites, new passions; or, at least, the old ones purified and refined. The heart is genially understood to mean all the affections and passions.
And a new spirit will I put within you] I will renew your minds, also eyilighten your understanding, correct J'our judgment, and refine your will; so that you shall have a new spirit to actuate your new heart.
I will take away the sto7iy heart] That heart that is hard, impenetrable, and cold; the affections and passions that are unyielding, frozen to good, unaffected by heavenly things; that are slow to credit the words of God. I will entirely remove this heart: it is the opposite to that wliicli I have promised you; and you cannot have the new heart and the old heart at the same time.
And I will give you a heart of flesh.] One that can feel, and that can enjoy; that can feel love to God and to all men, and be a proper habitation for the living God.
Verse 27. And I ivilt put my Spirit tcithin you] To keep the heart of flesh alij^e, the feeling heart still tensible,_ the loving heart still happy. I will put my
clean: '' from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A ' new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my ™ Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Spirit, the great principle of light, life, and love, within you, to actuate the new spirit, and to influence the new affections and passions; that the animal spirit may not become brutish, that the mental powers become not foolish. I will put my Spirit within you, so that as the neio spirit may influence the new heart, so will my Spirit influence your new spirit, that each may have a proper mover; and then all will be pure, regular, and harmonious, when passion is influenced by reason, and reason by the Holy Ghost.
And the cause shall be evidenced by the effects; for I will cause you to walk in my statutes — not only to believe and reverence my appointments relative to what I command you to perform; but ye shall walk in them, your conduct shall be regulated by them. "And ye shall keep my judgments;" whatsoever I enjoin you to avoid. And ye shall do them — ye shall not only avoid every appearance of evil, but keep all my ordinances and commandments unblamably.
Here is the salvation that God promises to give to restored Israel; and here is the salvation that is the birthright of every Christian believer: the complete destruction of all sin in the soul, and the complete renewat of the heart; no sin having any place within, and no unrighteousness having any place without.
" But where are they that are thus saved V Ans. Wherever true Christians are to be found. " But 1 know many true Christians that have not this salvation, but daily mourn over their evil hearts 1" Ans. They may be sincere, but they are not true Christians; i. e., such as are saved from their sins; the true Christians are those who are filled with the nature and Spirit of Christ. But I will ask a question in my turn: " Do those you mention think it a virtue to be always inouming over their impurities V Most certainly. Then it is a pity they were not better instructed. It is right they should mourn while they feel an impure heart; but why do they not apply to that blood which cleanses from all unrighteousness, and to that Spirit which cleanses the very thoughts if the heart by his inspiration? Many employ that time in brooding and mourning over their impure hearts, which should be spent in prayer and faith before God, that their impurities might be washed away. In what a state of nonage are many m'embers of the Christian Church '.
29 I will also ^ save you from all your uncleannesses: and 1 1 will call for the corn, and will increase it, and 'lay no famine upon you.
30 ''And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
31 Then 'shall ye remember yoiu- own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and " shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
32 ' Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, 0 house
33 Thus saith the Lord God; Li the day tliat I shall have cleansed you from all yoiu: iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the
Verse 28. Ye shall be my people] Wholly given up to me in body, soul, and spirit.
And I icill be your God.] To fill you with love, joy, peace, meekness, gentleness, long-suffering, fidelity, and goodness, to occupy your whole soul, and gratify your every desire.
Verse '29. / mil also save you from all your uncleannesses] 1 repeat it; "1 will save you from all your sins."
Verse 30. Ye shall receive no more reproach of famine'] Ye shall be daily and hourly fed with the bread thai endures unto eternal Ife. " But will not those get proud, who are thus saved, if there be any such? and will they not undervalue the blood of the covenant, for then they shall not need it V Ans. Hear what the Lord saith, —
Verse 3 1. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways] Ye shall never forget that ye were once slaves of sin, and sold under sin; children of the wicked one; heirs to all God's curses, with no hope beyond hell. Such cleansed people never forget the horrible pit and the miry clay out of which they have been brought. And can they then be proud 1 No: they loathe themselves in their own sight. They never forgive themselves for having sinned against so good a God, and so loving a Saviour. And can they undervalue hlm by whose blood they were bought, and by whose blood they were cleansed? No! That is impossible: they now see Jesus as they ought to see him; they see him in his splendour, because they feel him in his victory and triumph over sin. To them that thus believe he is precious, and he was never so precious as now. As to their not needing him when thus saved from their sins, we may as well say, as soon may the creation not need
34 And the desolate land shall R.'^ToInanT' be tilled, whereas it lay desolate "'■ """""* ^° in the sight of all that passed by.
35 And they shall say. This land that was desolate is become like the garden of ^ Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.
36 Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: y I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.
37 Thus saith the Lord God; ^ I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will ■' increase them with men like a flock.
38 As the *> holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
the sustaining hand of God, because the works are fnished! Learn this, that as it requires the same poiver to sustain creation as to produce it, so it requires the same Jesus who cleansed to keep clean. They feel that it is only through his continued indwelling, that they are kept holy, and happy, and useful. Were he to leave them the original darkness and kingdom of death would soon be restored.
Verse 35. This land that ivas desolate by sin, is become like the garden of Eden by righteousness. — Satan's blast is removed; God's blessing has taken place
^'erse 36. The7i the heathen] They shall see how powerful Jehovah is, and how fully he saves those who come unto and worship him.
Verse 37. Thus saith the Lord God] In answer to the question, "Who shall have such blessings'!" we say, they that pray, that seek earnestly, that strive to enter in at the strait gate. " Thus saith the Lord, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel." Neither Jeiv nor Gentile shall be thus saved who do not earnestly pray to God; and for this thing; for this complete salvaliun; this setting up of the kingdom of Christ upon earth, and particularly in their own souls.
Verse 38..4.? the holy flock] The Church of Christ, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.
The flock of Jerusalem] The Jerusalem that is from above, the city of the living God, the place where his Majesty dwells. As they came in ancient times to the solemn national feasts, so shall they come when they have fully returned unto the Lord, and received his salvation by Christ Jesus.
I do not ask my reader's pardon for having considered this most beautiful chapter as relating, not to the restoration from the Babylonish captivity, but to the redemption under the new covenant by Jesus Christ. There is no period of the Jewish history from that time until now, to which it can be apjilied. It must belong to the Gospel dispensation; and if the Jews will still refuse, contradict, and blaspheme, let no Christian have any fellowship with them in their opposition to this Almighty Saviour. Let none be indifferent to his salvation; let all plead his promises; and let the messengers of the Churches proclaim to the Christian world a free, a full, and a present salvation! And may great grace rest upon themselves, and upoD all their flocks!
This chapter treats of the same subject with the preceding, in a beautiful and significant vision. Under the emblem of the open valley being thickly strewed with very dry bones is represented the hopeless state of the Jews when dispersed throughout the provinces nf the Chaldean empire. But God, contrary to every human probability, restores these bones to life, thereby prefiguring the restoration of that people from the Babylonish captivity, and their resettlement in the land of their forefathers, 1-14. The prophet then makes an easy and elegant transition to the blessedriess of the people of God under the Gospel dispensation, in the plenitude of its manifestation; when the genuine converts to Christianity, the spiritual Israel, shall be no longer under the domination of heathen and anti-christian rulers, but shall be collected together into one visible kingdom, and constitute but one flock under one Shepherd, 15-28. The vision of the dry bones reviving is considered by some as having a remote view to the general resurrection.
'PHE =" hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out
''in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
2 Atid caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open ' valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
3 And he said unto me. Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, ^ thou knowest.
4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
5 Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones;
Verse 1. The hand of the Lord icas upon me] The prophetic influence was communicated.
And carried me out in the spirit] Or, And the Lord brought me out in the spirit; that is, a spiritual vision, in which all these things were doubtless transacted.
The valley which was full of bones] This vision of the dry bones was deaigned, first, as an emblem of the then wretched state of the Jews; secondly, of the general resurrection of the body.
Verse 3. Can these bones live.?] Is it possible that the persons whose bones these are can return to life?
Verse 4. Prophe.iy upon these bones] Declare to your miseratjle countrymen the gracious designs of the Lord; show them that their state, however deplorable, is not hopeless.
Verse 5. Behold, I will cause breath] nil ruach signifies both soul, breath, and wind; and sometimes the Spirit of God. Soul is its proper meaning in this
Behold, I will " cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, anc], will bring up flesh tipon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; ^ and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there toas no breath in them.
vision, where it refers to the bones: " I will cause the soul to enter into you."
Verse 6. I will lay sinews upon you] Observe the progress: 1. Here are the bones. 2. The ligaments, called here sinews, are to be added in order to unite the bones, that the skeleton might be complete. 3. The flesh (the whole muscular system, the subjacent and superjacent muscles, including the arterial and venous system) clothes this skeleton. 4. The skin (the dermis and epidermis, or cutis and cuticle) envelopes the whole of these muscles or flesh; and now these bodies are in the state that the body of Adam was before it received the animal and intellectual principle from God. 5. There was no breath in them — they had not yet received their souls. 6. The tviml, nn ruach, the soul, came into them. They were endued with aniinal and intellectual life; and they arose and evidenced a comjilete restoration to life,'and began to per form its functions, ver. 10.
01. XLvnr, 2. phesy unto the ^ wind, prophesy, ^EL^RomaTL!'' son of man, and say to the wind,
fiom the foiu winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10 Sol prophesied as he commanded me, ' and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
1 1 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, ^ Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, ^ O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you
13 And ye shall know that I "'■ """""' ^"- am the Lord, when I have opened youj- graves, 0 my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And "shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.
15 The word of the Lord came again unto
16 Moreover, thou son of man, " take thee one stick, and write upon it. For Judah, and for P the children of Israel his companions:
Verse 9. Prophesy unto the icind] nil ruach. Address thyself to the soul, and command it to enter into these well-organized bodies, that they may live.
Co7ne from the four wmds] Souls, come from all parts where ye are scattered; and reanimate these bodies from which ye have been so long separated. The four winds signify all parts — in every direction. Literally it is, " Souls, come from the four souls;" " Breath, come from the four breaths;" or, " Wind, come from the four winds." But here nil ruach has both of its most general meanings, loind or breath, and soul.
Verse 1 1. These hones are the ivhole house of Israel] That is, their state is represented by these bones; and their restoration to their own land is represented by the revivification of these bones.
Averse 12. / ivill open your graves] Here is a pointed allusion to the general resurrection; a doctrine properly credited and understood by the Jews, and to which our Lord refers, John v. 25, 28, 29: " The hour is coming when they that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and come forth."
And cause you to come up out of your graves] I am determined that ye shall be restored; so that were ye even in your graves, as mankind at the general resurrection, yet my aU-powerful voice shall call you forth.
Verse 13. When I have opened your graves] AVTien I shall have done for you what was beyond your hope, and deemed impossible, then shall ye know that I am Jehovah.
Verse 14. And.shall put my Spirit] 'nil ntchi. Here nil ruach is taken for the Holy Ghost. They were living souls, animal and intellectual beings, when thev had received their souls, as mentioned above: but they could only become spiritual, holy, and obedient creatures by the Spirit of God actuating their spirits. See the notes on chap, xxxvi. 25, 26, 27.
Three degrees or processes have been remarked in this mystic vision. Wien the prophet was commanded to prophesy — -to foretell, on the authority of God, that there should be a restoration to their own land, —
1. There was a noise, which was followed by a general shaking, during which the bones became arranged and united.
2. The flesh and skin came upon them, so that the dry bones were no longer seen.
Perhaps these might be illustrated by three periods of time, which marked the regeneration of the Jewish polity.
1. The publication of the edict of Cyrus in behalf of the Jews, which caused a general shaking or stir among the people, so that the several families began to approach each other, and prepare for their return to Judea, Ezra i. 2, 3. But though partially restored, they were obliged to discontinue the rebuilding of their temple.
2. The edict published by Darius in the second year of his reign, Ezra iv. 23, 24, which removed the impediments thrown in the way of the Jews. Ezra vi. 6, 7, &c.
3. The mission of Nehemiah, with orders from Artaxerxes to complete the building of the temple and the city, Neh. ii. 7, &c. Then the Jews became a great army, and found themselves in sufficient force to defend themselves and city against all their enemies.
As to the spiritual uses of this curious vision, I must leave them to preachers. I have given the literal meaning, and what the different parts refer to; and if they found their observations on these, they may profit their hearers.
Verse 16. Son of man, take thee one stick] The two sticks mentioned in this sj-mbolical transaction represented, as the text declares, the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which were formed in the days of Rehoboam, and continued distinct till the time of the captivity. The kingdom of Judah was composed of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with the Levites; all the rest went off in the schism with Jeroboam, and formed the kingdom of Israel. Though some out of those tribes did rejoin themselves to Judah, yet no
17 And ijoin them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, ■'Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these?
19 ''Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take ' the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Lsrael his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20 And the sticks wliereon thou writest shall be in thine liand " before their eyes.
21 And say unto them. Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, ' I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I ■" will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and ^ one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
whoh tribe ever returned to that kingdom. Common Bufferings in their captivity became the means of reviving a kinder feeling; and to encourage this, God promises that he will reunite them, and restore them to their own land; and that there shall no more be any divisions or feuds among them. To represent this in such a way as would make it a subject of thought, reflection, and inquiry, the prophet is ordered to take the luw sticks mentioned above, to write on them the distinguishing names of the divided kingdoms, and then by a notch, doretait, glue, or some such method, to unite them both before the people. He did so; and on their inquiry, showed thera the full meaning of this symbolical action.
Verse 19. The stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim] Jeroboam, t}ie first king of the ten tribes, was an Ephraimite. Joseph represents the ten tribes in general: they were in the hand of Ephraim, that is, under the government nf Jeroboam.
Verse 22. I loill make them one nation] There was no distinction after the return from Babylon.
any 01 their transgressions: but r. Roman., ' I will save them out of all their ""■ """""' ^°- dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
24 And "David my servant shall he king over them; and '' they all shall have one shep herd: " they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
25 "^ And they shall dwell in the land that 1 have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children ^ for ever: and ^ my servant David shall he their prince for ever.
26 Moreover I will make a e covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and ^ multiply them, and will set my ' sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
27 '' My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be ' their God, and they shall be my
28 "And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do " sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
And one king shall be king to them all] Politically speaking, they never had a king from that day to this; and the grand junction and government spoken of here must refer to another time — to that in which they shall be brought into the Christian Church with the fulness of the Gentiles; when Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, shall rule over all.
Verse 24. And David my servant shall be King] That this refers to Jesus Christ, see proved, chap..\x.Kiv. 23.
Verse 25. The land that I have given unto Jacob my servant] Jacob means here the twelve tribes; and the land given to them was the whole land of Palestine; consequently, the promise states that, when they return, they are to possess the whole of the Promised Land.
Verse 37. My tabernacle] Jesus Christ, the true tabernacle, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Gog, and the land of Magog,
The sublime prophecy contained in this and the following chapter relates to Israel's victory over Gop; and ts very obscure. It begins with representing a prodigious armament of many nations combined toaelher under the conduct of Gog, with the intention of overwhelming the Jews, after havin"- been for some time resettled in their land subsequent to their return from the Babylonish captivity, 1—9. These enemies are farther represented as making themselves sure of the spoil, 10-13. But in this critical conjuncture whe? Israel, to all human appeara7ice, tvas about to be swalloived up by her enemies, God most Graciously appears, to execute by terrible judgments the vengeance threatened against these formidable adversaries of his people, 14-16. The prophet, in terms borrowed from human passions, describes, with atoful emphasis, the fury of Jehovah as coming up to his face; and the effects of it so dreadful, as to make all the animate and inanimate creation tremble, and even to convulse icith terror the whole frame of nature, 17-23
A ND the word of the Lord
2 " Son of man, •> set thy face against " Gog, the land of Magog, ^ tlie chief prince of " Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against tliee, O Gog, the ciiief prince of Mesliech and Tubal:
4 And ^ I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and liorsemen, « all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a
Verse 3. Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog] This is allowed to be the most difficult prophecy in the Old Testament. It is difficult to us, because we know not the king nor people intended by it: but I am satisfied they were well known by these names in the time that the prophet wrote.
I have already remarked in the introduction to this book that there are but two opinions on this subject that appear to be at all probable: 1. That which makes Gog Cambyscs, king of Persia; and, 2. That which makes him Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria. And between these two (for one or other is supposed to be the person intended) men are much divided.
Calmel, one of the most judicious commentators that ever wrote on the Bible, declares for Cambyses; and supports his opinion, in opposition to all others, by many arguments.
Mr. Mede supposes the Amencans are meant, who were originally colonies of the Scythians, who were descendants of Magog, sou of Japheth. Houbigant declares for the Scythians, whose neighbours were the people of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, that is the iJw,?- sians, Muscovites, and Tybareni or Cappadocians. Several eminent critics espouse this opinion. Rabbi David Kimchi says the Christians and Turks are meant: and of later opinions there are several, founded in the ocean of conjecture. Calmet says expressly, that GoG is Cambyses, king of Persia, who on his return from the land of Egypt, died in Judea. The Rev. David Martin, pastor of the Waloon church at Utrecht,
5 Persia, Ethiopia, and *■ Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet.
6 ' Gomer, and all his bands; the house of ■^ Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.
7 ' Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 " After many " days thou shall be visited: in the latter years thou shah come into the
concludes, after examining all previous opinions, that Antiochus Epiphanes, the great enemy of the Israelites, is alone intended here; and that Gog, which signifies covered, is an allusion to the well-known character of Antiochus, whom historians describe as an artful, cunning, and dissembling man. See Dan. viii. 23, 25; xi. 23. 27, 32. Magog he supposes to mean the country of Syria. Of this opinion the following quotation from Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. v., c. 23, seems a proof; who, speaking of Ccele-Syria, says: Ceele habet Apamiam Marsyia amne divisam a Nazarinorum Tetrarchia. Bambycem quam alio nomine Hierapolis vocatur, Syris vero Magog. " Coele-.Syria has Apamia separated from the tetrarchy of the Nazarenes by the river Marsyia; and Bambyce, otherwise called Hierapolis; but by the Syrians, Magog."
Verse4. Iivillturntheeback] Thy enterprise shall fail.
Verse 5. Persia] That a part of this country was tributary to Antiochus, see 1 Mace. iii. 31
Ethiopia, and Libya] That these w-ere auxiliaries of Antiochus is evident from Dan. xi. 43: " The Libyans and Ethiopians shall be at his steps."
Verse 6. Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah] The Cimmerians and Turcomanians, and other northern nations. — Calmet.
A- *!; <^i''- M17. ian(j ijidi ig brought back from 61. XLvni.2. the sword, ^and is gathered out
R Roman., 01 many people, agamst "the cir. annum 30. mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall p dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou slialt ascend and come i like a storm, thou shalt be "■ like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with
10 Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt 'think an evil thought:
1 1 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will ' go to them that are at rest, " that dwell ^ safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 '"To take a spoil, and to take a prey, to turn thine hand upon ^ the desolate places that are now inhabited, 5' and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the ^ midst of the land.
13 "Shcba, and '=Dedan, and the merchants ° of Tarshish, with all '^ the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee. Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say
God; " In that day when my 01. XLViii. 2. people of Israel ^ dwelleth safely, r. Roma"!"''
15^ And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, ^ and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 ' And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; ''it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, ' that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time, " by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days mant/ years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For " in my jealousy " atid in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, p Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that 1 the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, 'and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the
was fulfilled about /our hundred years after. — Martin. The expedition of Camhyscs against Egypt was about twelve years after the return of the Jews from Babylon.— Calmct.
Verse 9. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm] It is observable that Antiochus is thus spoken of by Daniel, chap. xi. 40: The king of the north — Antiochus, shall come against him (the king of the south is the king of Egypt) like a whirlwind.
Verse 10. Shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought] Antiochus purposed to invade and destroy Egypt as well as Judea; see Dan. xi. 31, 33, 36. This Calmet interprets of Cambyses, his cruelties in Egypt, and his evil design to destroy the Israelites.
Verse 12. To take a spoil — and a prey] When Antiochus took Jerusalem he gave the pillage of it to Vol. rV. f 34)
his soldiers, and spoiled the temple of its riches, which were immense. See Joseph. War, B. i. c. 1.
Averse 13. Sheba, and Dedan] The Arabians, anciently great plunderers; and Tarshish, the inhabitants of the famous isle of Tartessus, the most noted merchants of the time. They are here represented as coming to Antiochus before he undertook the expedition, and bargaining fur the spoils of the Jews. Art thou come to take a spoil, to carry away silver and gold, cattle and goods?
' Steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
2 1 And I will ' call for " a sword against him througliout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: 'every man's sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will "plead against him with ''pestilence and with blood; and ''I will rain upon
Verse 21. / tuill call for a sword against him] Meaning Judas Maccabeus, who defeated his array under Iiysias, making a horrible carnage. — Martin. Cambyses had no wars in the mountains of an overrlowing rain, and ^ great r. Roman., hailstones, fire, and brimstone. cir. annum so. 23 Thus will I magnify myself, and " sanctify myself; ''and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am
Verse 22. Great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.^ These are probably figurative expressions, to signify that the whole tide of the war should be against him, and that his defeat and slaughter should be great. Abp. Newcomc supposes all the above prophecy remains yet to be fulfilled. Where such eminent scribes are divided, who shall decide 1
The prophet goes on to denounce the Divine judgments against Gog and his army, 1—7; and describes their dreadful slaughter, 8-10, and burial, 11—16, in terms so very lofty and comprehensive, as must certainly denote some very extraordinary interposition of Providence in behalf of the Jews. And to amplify the matter still -more, the prophet, with peculiar art and propriety, delays the summoning of all the birds and beasts of prey in nature to feast on the slain, (in allusion to the custom of feasting on the remainder of sacrifices,) till after the greater multitudes are buried; to intimate that even the remainder, and as it were the stragglers of such mighty hosts, would be more than sufficient to satisfy their utmost rapacity, 17—20. The remaining verses contain a prediction of the great blessedness of the people of God in Gospel times, and of the stability of the Mngdom of Christ, 21—29. It will be proper to remark that the great northern expedition against the natural Israel, described in this and the preceding chapter, is, from its striking resemblance in the main particulars, put by the writer of the Apocalypse, (chap. xx. 1—10^ for a much more formidable armament of a multitude of nations in the four quarters of the earth against the pure Christian Church, the mystical Israel; an event still extremely remote, and which it is thought shall immediately precede the destruction of the world by fire, and the general judgment.
2 And I will turn thee back, and •> leave but the sixth part of thee, ° and will cause thee to come up from '' the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left
hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 ' Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: ''I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every ^ sort, and to the beasts of the field ^ to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon ' die open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.
6 ^ And I will send a fire on Magog, and
A''erse 2. And leave but the sixth part of thee] The I intended here. The bow is held by the left hand; the margin has, strike thee ivith six plagues; or^draw thee i arrow is pulled and discharged by the right, back with a hook of six teeth. Verse 6. I will send a fire on Magog] On Syria.
Verse 3. I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand] ' I will destroy the Syrian troops. The Persians whom Antiochus had in his armv, chap. I And among them that dwell carelessly in the isles^ 530 ' ( 34*)
oi. XLyiii. 2. lessly m "the isles: and they R''"Rom;mT' shall luiow that I am the
7 " So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them ° pollute my holy name any more: p and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.
8 1 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day "■ whereof I have spoken.
9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the = handstaves, and the spears, and they shall ' burn them with fire seven years:
10 So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: " and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them,
1 1 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea; and it shall stop the '' noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of ^ Hamon-gog.
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, ^ that they may cleanse the land.
13 Yea, all the people of the land shall
The auxiliary troops that came to Antiochus from the boriiers of the Euxine Sea. — Martin.
Verse 7. In the midst of my people Israel] This defeat of Gog is to be in Israel: and it was there according to this prophecy, that the immense army of Antiochus was so completely defeated.
And I unll not let them pollute my holy name any more] See on I Mace. i. 11, &c., how Antiochus had profaned the temple, insulted Jehovah and his worship, &c. God permitted that as a scourge to his disobedient people; but now the scourger shall be scourged, and he shall pollute the sanctuary no more.
Verse 9. And shall set on fire — -the weapons] The Israelites shall make bonfires and fuel of the weapons, tents, &c., which the defeated Syrians shall leave behind them, as expressive of the joy which they shall feel for the destruction of their enemies; and to keep up, in their culinary consumption, the memory of this great event.
They shall burn them with fire seven years] These may be figurative expressions, after the manner of the.^Vsiatics, whose language abounds with such descriptions. They occur every where in the prophets. As to the number seven, it is only a certain for an indeterminate number. But as the slaughter was great, and the bows, arrows, quivers, shields, bucklers, handstaves, and spears were in vast multitudes, it must have taken a long time to gather them up in the different parts of \.he fields of battle, and the roads in which the.Syrians had retreated, throwing away their arms as they proceeded; ao there might have been a long time employed in collectmg and burning them. And as all seem to have been doomed to the fire, there might have been some found at different intervals and burned, during the seven years here mentioned. Mariana, in his History of Spain, lib. xi., c. 24, says, that after the Spaniards had given that signal overtlirow to the Saracens, A. D. 1212, they found such a vast quantity of lances, javelins, and such like, that they served them for four years for fuel. And probably these instruments obtained by the IsraeUtes were used in general for culintry firewood, and might literally have served them for seven years; so that during that time they should take no wood out of the fields, nor out of the forests for the purpose of fuel, ver. 10.
Verse 1 1. The valley of the passengers on the east of the sea] That is, of Gennesareth, according to the Targum. The valley near this lake or sea is called the Valley of the Passengers, because it was a great road by which the merchants and traders from Syria and other eastern countries went into EgT,'pt; see Gen. xxxvii. 17, 25. See Calmet here.
There shall they bury Gog and all his multitude] Some read, " There shall they bury Gog, that is, all his multitude." Not Gog, or Antiochus himself, for he was not in this battle; but his generals, captains, and soldiers, by whom he was represented. As to Hamongog, we know no valley of this name but here. But we may understand the words thus: the place where this great slaughter was, and where the multitudes of the slain were buried, might be better called Hamongog, the valley of the multitude of Gog, than the valley of passengers; for so great was the carnage there, that the way of the passengers shall be stopped by it. See the text.
Verse 12. And seven months] It shall require a long time to bury the dead. This is another figurative expression; which, however, may admit of a good deal of literal meaning. Many of the SjTrian soldiers had secreted themselves in different places during the pursuit after the battle, where they died of their wounds, of hunger, and of fatigue; so that they were not all found and buried till seven months after the defeat of the Syrian army. This slow process of burying is distinctly related in the three following verses, and extended even to a bone, ver. 15; which, when it was
14 And they shall sever out ^ men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, ^to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
1 5 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he ^ set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog.
16 And also the name of the city shall be "= Hamonah. Thus shall they ^ cleanse the land.
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God; " Speak ^ unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, s Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my ^ sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice ' upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.
18 ''Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of ' goats, of bullocks, all of them ™ fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
found by a passenger, the place was marked, that the buriers might see and inter it. Seven months was little time enough for all this work; and in that country putrescency does not easily take place; the scorching winds serving to desiccate the flesh, and preserve it from decomposition.
Verse 17. Gather yourselves — to my sacrifice^ This is an allusion to a custom common in the east: when a sacrifice is made, the friends and neighbours of the party sacrificing are invited to come and feast on the sacrifice,
Verse 18. Ye shall — drink the blood of the princes of the earth] I need not mention the custom of the Scandinavians: they were accustomed to drink the blood of their enemies out of the skulls of the dead. But this is spoken oi fowls and beasts here — rams, lambs, and goats. The feast shall be as grateful and as plenteous to the foivls and beasts, as one made of the above animals, the fattest and best of their kind, (because fed in the fertile fields of Bashan,) woidd be to the guests of him who makes a sacrifice.
my table with horses and chariots, oi. XLvm. 2. " with mighty men, and with all ^n'^ToL^n.!''' men of war, saith the Lord God. "''"■ """"■" 3°-
2 1 P And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and 1 my hand that I have laid upon them.
22 ■■ So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward.
23 "And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore ' hid I my face from them, and "gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
24 " According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
25 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; " Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the ^ whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
26 y After that they have borne their shame and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they ^ dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
27 ''When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of theii
Who shall eat and drink, &c.1 Not the Jews; though Voltaire says they ate human flesh, and are invited here by the prophet to eat the flesh and drink the blood of their enemies; which is a most unprincipled falsehood. It is the /o!('/.s and the beasts that God invites, ver. 17: " Spe.ak to every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, assemble yourselves — that ye mav eat flesh and drink blood;" nor are the persons altered in all these verses, 17, 18, 19, 20: so the assertion of Voltaire is either through brutish ignorance or Satanic malice.
VeTse 25. Now will I bring again the captivity nf Jacob] Both they and the heathen shall know that it was for their iniquity that I gave them into the hands of their enemies: and now I wiU redeem them from those hands in such a way as to prove that I am a merciful God, as well as a ju.^t God.
A'erse 26. After that they have borne their shame] After they shall have borne the punishment due to a line of conduct which is their.sAame and reproach, viz. idolatry.
nations; 28 ■= Then shall they knowthat I am the Lord their God, ^ which caused them to be led into captivity among tlie hea- had before captured many of the Jews, and sold them for slaves; see Dan. xi. 33.
Verse 28. And have left none of them any more there.] All that chose had liberty to return; but many remained behind. This promise may therefore refer to a greater restoration, when not a Jew shall be left behind. This, the next verse intimates, wiU be in the Gospel dispensation.
then: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left oi. XLViii. 2.
none 01 them any more there. r. Roman.,
29 «NeitherwillIhidemyface '^'■^^^- any more from them, for I have ' poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel,saith the LordGoD.
Verse 29. For I have poured out my Spirit] That is, I will pour out my Spirit; see the notes on chap, xxxvi. 25-29, where this subject is largely considered. This Spirit is to enlighten, quicken, purify, and cleanse their hearts; so that, being completely changed, they shall become God's people, and be a praise in the earth. Now, they are a proverb of reproach; then, thev shall be eminently distinguished.
[For an explanation of this plan, and of the accompanying map of the division of the Land of Canaan, see at the end of chap, xlviii.]
The prophecy or vision, which begins here, continues to the end of the Book. The Temple of Jerusalem lying in ruins when Ezekiel had this vision, {for its date is the fourteenth year after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar,) the Jews needed consolation. If they were not promised a restoration of the temple, they would not feel so great an interest in returning home. It is thought by some that no model of Solomon's Temple had remained. To direct them, therefore, in the dimensions, parts, order, and rules of their new temple might be one reason why Ezekiel is so particular in the description of the old; to which the new was conformable in figure and parts, though inferior in magnificence, nn account of the poverty of the nation at the time. Whatever was august or illustrious in the prophetic figures, and not literally fulfilled in or near their oivn times, the ancient Jeios properly considered as belonging to the time of the Messiah. Accordingly, upon finding that the latter temple fell short of the model of the temple here described by Ezekiel, they supposed the prophecy to refer, at least in part, to the period now mentioned. And we, who live under the Gospel dispensation, have apostolical aulhorily for the assertion that the temple and temple worship were emblematic of Christ's Church, frequently represented in the New Testament under the metaphor of a temple, in allusion to the symmetry, beauty, and firmness of that of Solomon; to its orderly tvorship; and to the manifestations it had of the Divine Presence. This chapter commences with the time, manner, and end of the vision, 1—5. We have next a description of the east gate, 6-19, the north gate, 20-22, and the south gate, 24-31. A farther description of the east gate, 32-34, and of the north gate, 35-38. Account of the eight tables, 39-43; of the chambers, 44-47; and of the porch of the temple, 48, 49.
Serv'ii Tuiiii, ginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the four-
Verse 1. In the five and twentieth year of our captivity] According to the date here given, this prophecy was delivered on Tuesday, April 20, A. M. 3430, in the twenty-fifth year of the captivity of Jeconiah, and fourteen years after the taking of Jerusalem.
The temple here described by Ezekiel is, in all probability, the same which he saw before his captivity, and which had been burned by the Chaldeans /our^sen years before this vision. On comparing the Books of Kings and Chronicles with this prophet, we shall find the same dimensions in the parts described by both; for instance, the temple, or place which comprehended the sanctuary, the holy place, and the vestibule or porch before the temple, is found to measure equally the same both in Ezekiel and the Kings. Compare 1 Kings vi. 3-16, with chap. xli. 2, &c. The inside ornaments of the temple are entirely the same; in both we see two courts; an inner one for the priests, and an outer one for the people. Compare 1 Kings vi. 29-36; 2 Chron. iv. 9; and Ezek. xli. 16, 17, and xlviii. 7-10. So that there is room to suppose that, in all the rest, the temple of Ezekiel resembled the old one; and that God's design in retracing these ideas in the prophet's memory was to preserve the remembrance of the plan, the dimensions, the ornaments, and whole structure of this Divine edifice; and that at the return from captivity the people might more easily repair it, agreeably to this model. The prophet's applying himself to describe this edifice was a motive of hope to the Jews of seeing themselves one day delivered from captivity, the temple rebuilt, and their nation restored to its ancient inheritance. Ezekiel touches very slightly upon the description of the temple or house of the
'' the liand of the Lord was upon scrvii TuUii, me, and brought me thither. R. Roman., 5.
Lord, which comprehended the holy place or sanctuary, and which are so exactly described in the Books of Kings. He dwells more largely upon the gates, the galleries, and apartments, of the temple, concerning which the history of the kings had not spoken, or only just taken notice of by the way.
This is the judgment of Calmet; and although every Biblical critic is of the same opinion, yet more labour is spent on rebuilding this temple of Ezekiel than was spent on that built by Solomon! The Jesuits, Prada and Villalpand, have given three folio volumes on this temple, with abundance of cuts, where the different parts are exhibited after the finest models of Grecian and Roman architecture! But stUl the building is incomplete. Now, of what consequence is all this to the Christian, or to any other reader? I confess I see not. While, then, we have the exact dimensions and accurate description in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, of that built by Solomon, in imitation of which this plan by Ezekiel was drawn, we need not be very solicitous about the manner of measuring and describing used by the prophet; as, when we have laboured through the whole, we have only the measurements and description of that built by Solomon, and delineated by a hand not less faithful in the First Rook of Kings, chap, vi., and 2 Chron. ii., iii., iv.,v., and vi.
As the prophet knew that the Chaldeans had utterly destroyed the temple, he thought it necessary to preserve an exact description of it, that on their restoration the people might build one on the same model. As to allegorical meanings relative to this temple, I can say nothing: God has given no data by which any thing of this kind can be known or applied; and as to those who have laboured in this way, perhaps " Solomon's
2 ■= In the visions of God brought lie me into the land of Israel, * and set me upon a ver}' high mountain, " by
which was as the frame of a city on the
3 And he brought me thither, and, behold, the7'e was a man, whose appearance was ' like the appearance of brass, s -with a line of flax in his hand, '^ and a measiu:ing reed; and he stood in the gate.
4 And the man said unto me, ' Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee; for to the intent that I might show them unto thee art thou brought hither: ^ declare all that thou seest to the house of
5 And behold ' a wall on the outside of the liouse round about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits long by the cubit and a hand breadth: so he measured the breadth of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed.
6 Then came he unto the gate ™ which looketh toward the east, and went up the stairs thereof, and measured the threshold of the gate, ivhich was one reed broad; and the other threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad.
7 And every httle chamber was one reed long, and one reed broad; and between the
Temple Spiritualized, by John Bunyan," is equally good with their well-intended inventions. Those who wish to enter much into the particulars of this temple must have recourse to the more voluminous expositors, who on this subject seem to have thought that they could never say enough. See also the accompanyingma;;.
A''erse 2. Set me upon a very high mountain] Mount Moriah, the mount on which Solomon's temple was buUt, 2 Chron. iii. 1.
Verse 3. A man, whose appearance was lilce — hrass] Like hright polished brass, which strongly reflected the rays of light. Probably he had what we would term a nimbus or gtory round his head. This was either an angel; or, as some think, a personal appearance of our blessed Lord.
Verse 4. Declare all thai thou seest to the house of Israel] That they may know how to build the second temple, when they shall be restored from their captivity.
Verse 5. A measuring reed of six cubits long] The Hebrew cubit is supposed to be about ttveniy and a half inches; and a palm, about three inches more; the ength of the rod about ten feet six inches.
little chambers luere five cubits; and the tlireshold of the gate by the porch of the gate within was one reed.
8 He measured also the porch of the gate within, one reed.
9 Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits: and the posts thereof, two cubits; and the porch of the gate ivas inward.
10 And the little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side.
1 1 And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.
12 The "space also before the little cham bers was one cubit o)i this side, and the space was one cubit on that side: and the little chambers were six cubits on this side, and sLx cubits on that side.
1 3 He measured then the gate from the roof of ojie little chamber to the roof of another: the breadth ivas five and twenty cubits, door against door,
14 He made also posts of threescore cubits, even unto the posts of the court round about the gate.
15 And from the face of the gate of the entrance unto the face of the porch of the inner gate were fifty cubits.
The breadth — one reed; and the height, one reed.] As this toall was as broad as it was high, it must have been a kind of parapet, which was carried, of the same dimensions, all round the temple. See AAAA in the plan.
Verse 6. Went up the stairs thereof] As the temple was built upon an eminence, there must have been steps on the outside, opposite to each door, to ascend by. And it appears there were steps to go up from one court to another, see ver. 22, 26, 34, 37; and also from the court of the priests to the sanctuary, ver. 49. See MMMMM in the plan.
A'erse 7. And every little chamber was one reed] These were the chambers of the buildings which were within the inclosure of the temple round the court, and these chambers appear to have been numerous. See the map, which has been carefully copied from that of
Verse 9. The porch of the gate] See account of the gates in the plan.
■• arches: and windows icere round about ■■ inward: and upon each post were palm trees.
17 Then brought he me into Hhe outward court, and, lo, there were ' chambers, and a pavement made for the court round about: ° thirty chambers were upon the pavement.
18 And the pavement by the side of the gates over against the length of the gates ivas the lower pavement.
19 Then he measiured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate unto the forefront of the inner court " without, a hundred cubits eastward and northward.
20 And the gate of the outward court " that looked toward the north, he measured the lengtii thereof, and the breadth thereof.
21 And the little chambers thereof were three on this side, and three on that side; and the posts thereof and the ^ arches thereof were after the measure of the first gate: the length thereof icas fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.
22 Ajid their windovk^s, and their arches, and their palm trees, were after the measure of the gate that looketh toward the east: and they went up unto it by seven steps; and the arches thereof were before them.
23 And the gate of the inner court tons over against the gate toward the north, and toward the east; and he measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits.
24 After that he brought me toward the south, and behold a gate toward the south: and he measured the posts thereof and the arches thereof according to these measures.
25 And there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about, like those win-
Arches] Porch. The arch was not known at this period.
Verse 24. According to these measures.] The same measures that had been used at the eastern court.
and the breadth five and twenty Olymp. Li. 3
26 And i/tere tuere seven Steps RR""'^-5-
to go up to it, and the arches thereof were be fore them: and it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, upon the posts
27 Aiid there was a gate in the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south a hundred cubits.
28 And he brought me to the inner comt by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures;
29 And the little chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, 'according to these measures: and there were windows in it, and in the arches thereof roimd about: it luas fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.
30 And the arches round about luere i five and twenty cubits long, and five cubits '^ broad.
31 And the arches thereof were toward the utter co(irt; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof: and the going up to it had eight steps.
32 And he brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measmres.
33 And the httle chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, luere according to these measures: and there luere windows therein and in the arches thereof roimd about: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.
34 And the arches thereof were toward the outward court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eight steps.
35 And he brought me to the north gate, and measured it according to these measures;
twenty cubits long] That the^re cubits broad should be read ticcnly-fii'C is evident from verses 21, 35, 20, 33, and 36. The word D'tCJ'l veesrim, twenty, has probably been lost out of the test. Indeed the wliole verse is wanting in ttoo of Kennicotfs MSS., one of De Rossi's, and one of mine, (Cod. B.) It has been added in the margin of mine by a later hand. It is reported to have been anciently wanting in many MSS.
Oiymp. LI. 3. the posls thereof, and the arches
Servii Tuiiii, thereof, and the windows to it cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits
37 And the posts thereof we7-e toward the utter court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eigiit steps.
38 And tlie chambers and the entries thereof ivere by the posts of the gates, where they washed the burnt- offering.
39 And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to slay thereon the bumt-offering and '^ the sin-offering and '' the trespass-offering.
40 And at the side without, ■= as one goeth up to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side, which was at the porch of the gate, were two tables.
4 1 Four tables luere on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they slew their sacrifices.
42 And the four tables were of hewn stone for tiie burnt-offering, of a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high: whereupon also they laid the instruments wherewith they slew the burntolfering and the sacrifice.
43 And within were ^ hooks, a hand broad, fastened round about: and upon the
tables was the flesh of the a. M. 3«o.
44 And without the inner gate SerriiTuUii were the chambers of "^ the sing- R- Roman., s ers in the inner court, which ivas at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south: one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north.
45 And he said unto me. This chamber, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, ^ the keepers of the s charge of the house.
46 And the chamber whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, ''the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of ' Zadok among the sons of Levi, which come near to the Lord to minister unto him.
47 So he measured the court, a hundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar that loas before the house.
48 And he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side.
49 '' The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; and he brought me by the steps whereby they went up to it: and there were ' pillars by the posls, one on this side, and another on that side.
Verse 39. The porch of the gate] The north gate of the court of the priests. See Q in the plan.
Two tables] Some say of marWe. See (^(/(fd in the plan.
Verse 41. Four tables] These were in the porch of the north gate, in the court of the priests: on them they slew, flayed, and cut up tlie victims. See dddd in the plan.
Verse 47. He measured the court] This was the court of the priests. See FFF in the plan.
Verse 48. Breadth of the gate] It is evident that the gate was a bivalve, or had folding doors. The length of the porch was tieenty cubits. Josephus says the vestibule was twenty cubits long and ten broad. Antiq. lib. viii. 3, 2.
Verse 49. By the steps] This was a flight of steps that led to the temple; there vera eight steps in each flight. See YY in the plan.
Tr, this chapter the prophet gives us a circumstantial account of the measures, parts, chambers, and ornaments of the temple, 1-26.
to the temple, and measured
the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle.
2 And the breadth of the *door was ten cubits; and the sides of the door luere five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured the length thereof, forty cubits: and the breadth, ''twenty cubits.
3 Then went he inward, and measiured the post of the door, two cubits; and the door six cubits; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits.
4 So * he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said unto me, This is the most holy place.
5 After he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side chamber, four cubits, round about the house on every side.
6 ■* And the side chambers were three, ° one over another, and ^ thirty in order; and they entered ijilo the wall which was of the house for the side chambers round about, that they might s have hold, but they had not hold in the wall of the house.
Verse 1. To the temple] He had first desciibed the courts and the porch. See chap. xl.
Verse 2. The breadth of the door] This was the door, or gate, of the sanctuary, (see gates, 3, in the plan,) and this doorway was filled up with fokiing gates. The measurements are exactly the same as those of Solomon's temple. See 1 Kings vi. 2, 17.
Verse 4. The length thereof, twenty cubits] This is the measurement of the sanctuary, or holy of holies. See G in the plan. This also was the exact measurement of Solomon's temple, see 1 Kings vi. 20. This, and the other resemblances here, sufficiently prove that Ezekiel's temple and that of Solomon were on the same plan; and that the latter temple was intended to be an exact resemldance of the former.
Verse 6. The.tide chambers were three] We find by Joseph. Antiq. viii. 3, 2, that around Solomon's temple were chambers three stories high, each story consisting of thirty chambers. It is supposed that twelve were placed to the north of the temple, twelve to the gouth, and six to the east.
went still upward round about the house. therefore the breadth of the house was still. upward, and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst.
8 I saw also llie height of the house round about: the foundations of the side chambers were '' a full reed of six great cubits.
9 The thickness of the wall, which was for the side chamber without, was five cubits: and that which ivas left was the jjlace of the side chambers that were within.
10 And between the chambers was the wideness of twenty cubits round about the house on every side.
1 1 And the doors of the side chambers were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about.
12 Now the building that was before the separate place at the end toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length thereof ninety cubits.
13 So he measured the house, a hundred cubits long: and the separate place, and the
into the outer wall, but they rested on projections of the inner wall.
Verse 7. An enlarging, and a ivinding ahouf] Perhaps a winding staircase that widened upward as the inner wall decreased in thickness; this wall being six cubits thick as high as the first story, five from the floor of the second story to that of the third, and four from the floor to the ceiling of the third story: and thus there was a rest of one cubit in breadth to support the stories. — Neiccome.
The place of the side chambers] A walk, or gallery of communication along the chambers, ^ye cubits broad,
Verse 12. The length thereof nineti/ cubits.] The temple, with the buildings which surrounded it, was eighty-one cubits long; add ten cubits for the vestibule, or Jive for the breadth of the separate place, and five for its wall; in all, ninety cubits. See the plan, LHIL. By the separate place I suppose the temple itself is meant.
Verse 13. So he measured the house] Tlie temple,
Oiymp. LI. 3. a hundred cubits long; ScnirTiiiiii, 14 Also the breadth of the face
15 And he measured the length of the building over against the separate place which was behind it, and tlie ' galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side, a hundred cubits, with the inner temple, and the porches of the court;
1 6 The door posts, and " the narrow window, and the galleries round about on their three stories, over against the door, ° ceiled with wood round about, ° and from the ground up to the windows, and the windows were covered;
17 To that above the door, even unto the inner house, and without, and by all the wall round about within and without, by p measure.
1 8 And it luas made * with cherubims and palm trees, so that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had two faces;
19 ■■ So that the face of a man ivas toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side: it was made through all the house round about.
taken from the wall which encompassed it from the western side to the vestibule, was one hundred and one cubits; five for the separate place, nine for the wall and the chambers attached to the temple, sixty for the sanctuary and the holy place, ten for the vestibule, and twelve for the two great waUs on the west and east of the temple; in all, one hundred and one cubits. See the plan, GHI.
Verse 14. The hreadth of the face of the house'] That is, the front. See the plan, FRR.
Verse 1 8. A palm tree was betiveen a cherub and a cherub] That is, the palm trees and the cherubs were alternated; and each cherub had two faces, one of a Hon., and the other of a man; one of which was turned
20 From the ground unto above ^^ "^J; ^1,^°- the door were cherubims and palm Oiymp. Li. 3. trees made, and on the wall of servii Tuiui,
21 The = posts of the temple we7-e squared, and the face of the sanctuary; the appearance of the one as the appearance of the other.
22 ' The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, ivere of wood: and he said unto me. This is " the table that is ' before the
23 '''And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors.
24 And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves; two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other door.
25 And there loere made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubims and palm trees, like as ivere made upon the walls; and there were thick planks upon the face of the porch without.
26 And there were ^ narrow windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch, and upon the side chambers of the house, and thick planks.
Verse 20. From the ground unto above the door] The temple was thirty cubits high, 1 Kings vi. 2; the gate -vc^s fourteen cubits, chap. xl. 48. The palm trees and the cherubim were the same height as the gate or door. The windows were above the door.
A''erse 22. The altar of ivood] This was the altar of incense, and was covered with plates of gold.
Verse 25. There were thick planks] The wood, or planks, were thick and strong; for the cherubim and palm trees were carved in relief, out of their substance, and unless they had been of considerable thickness, this could not have been done.
This chapter gives us a description of the priests'' chambers and their use, with the dimensions of the holy mount on which the temple stood, 1-20.
1j c'srf' THEN he brought me forth
Olymp. LI. 3. into the utter court, the way
Servii TuUii, toward the north: and he brought over against the *" separate place, and which was before the building toward the north.
2 Before the length of a hundred cubits was the north door, and the breadth was fifty cubits,
3 Over against the twenty cubits which were for the inner court, and over against the pavement which was for the utter court, was "^ gallery against gallery in three stories.
4 And before the chambers ivas a walk of ten cubits' breadth inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors toward the north.
5 Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries ^ were higher than these, ' than the lower, and than the middlemost of the building.
6 For they luere in three stories, but had not pillars as the pillars of the coiu-ts: therefore the building was straitened more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground.
7 And the wall that was without over against the chambers, toward the utter court on the forepart of the chambers, the length thereof was fifty cubits.
8 For the length of the chambers that were in the utter court luas fifty cubits: and, lo, before the temple were a hundred cubits.
9 And ffrom under these chambers ivas ^the entry on the east side, '' as one goeth into them from the utter court.
10 The chambers luere in the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, over against the separate place, and over against the building.
1 1 And ' the way before them was like the appearance of the chambers which ivere toward the north, as long as they, and as broad as they: and all their goings out were both ac-
12 And according to the doors Senii TuUii.
of the chambers that luere toward Kom:in., j.
Verse 1. He hrmight me forth into the utter court] He brought him out from the temple into the court of the priests. This, in reference to the temple, was called the outer court; but the court of the people was beyond this.
A'erse 4. A walk of ten cubits'' breadth inward] This seems to have been a sort of parapet.
the south was a door in the head of the way. even the way directly before the wall toward the cast, as one entereth into them.
13 Then said he unto me, Tiie north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be holy chambers, where the priests that approach unto the Lord ^ shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and • the meat-offering, and the sin-oifering, and the trespass-offering; for the place is holy.
14 "When the priests enter therein, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the utter court, but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister; for they are holy; and shall put on other garments, and shall approach to those things which are for the people.
1 5 Now when he had made an end of measuring ihe inner house, he brought me forth toward the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about.
1 6 He measured the east " side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed roimd about.
17 He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed roimd about.
18 He measured the south side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed.
19 He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed.
20 He measured it by the four sides: " it had a wall round about, ^ five hundred reeds long, and five hundred broad, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane
Verse 14. They shall lay their garments wherein they minister] The priests were not permitted to wear their robes in the outer court. These vestments were to be used mily when they ministered; and when thej' had done, they were to deposit them in one of the chambers mentioned in the thirteenth verse.
A'erses 16-19. He measured the east — north — south — ivesl side] Each of which was/fe hundred reeds;
and, as the building was square, the area must have been neatly thirteen thousand paces. No wonder this was called a city. See chap. xl. 2.
Verse 20. It had a wall round alout — to make a separation betwee7i the sanctuary and the profane place. ] The holy place was that which was consecrated to the Lord; into which no heathen, nor stranger, nor any in 1 state of impurity, might enter. The profane place was that in which men, women, Gentiles, pure or impure, might he admitted. Josephus says, War, lib. vi., c. 14, that in his time there was a wall built before the entrance three cubits high, on which there were posts fixed at certain distances, with inscriptions on them in Latin and Greek, containing the laws which enjoined purity on those that entered; and forbidding all strangers to enter, on pain of death. See Calmet.