Ill.
unto him; wherefore the Targam is, “ fon of mari ‘¢ receive what is given thee;” which was the rail, as follows: eat this roll; not literally, but fguratively, as Yobn is bid to eat the little book, Kev. X. 9,10. that is, read it, meditate upon the things contained therein, and digeft them, that he might be able to impart them, and make them knowa to others: it is explained in ¥. 10. by hearing and receiving the words of the prophecy; and fo the Targum, ‘* receive what is written in this reli;” this is to eat it; as great readers of books are called helluones librorum, eaters of books, gluttons at them; read them greedily, deeply meditate upon what is in them, and thoroughly digeft them; fo it becomes all good men to eat the word, to mix it with faith, to receive it in the love ef it, and con- {tantly meditate on it, P/i.1,2. and efpecially minifters of the gofpel, 1 Tim. iv. 15: and go,
Speak unto the houje of Ifrael, or, as the Targum,
‘* go, and prophefy to the houfe of d/rae/; for by eating the roll, in the fenfe given, he was fit for it; and when minifters of the word have read, and ° thought of, and digefted the truths of the gofpel themfelves; then they are prepared to go and enter upon their work, and feed others with knowledge and underftanding.
y¥.2. So I opened my mouth, &c.} To take in the roll, and eat it; he was not difobedient to the heavenly vifion; he did all that he could towards eating it, but was not fufficient of himfelf; and therefore it follows: and be caufed me to eat that roll; he, the Lord, put it into his mouth, caufed him to eat it, and filled him with it, according to his promife, Pf Ixxxi. 10, The: efficacy and fufficiency to think of good things, to meditate upon them, receive and digeft them, are of Gods it is he that makes men prophets, and able minifters. The Zargum is, ‘‘ and I inclined. my foul, ‘* and he taught me (or made me wile, with) what *¢ was written in this: roll.”
¥. 3. And he faid unto me, fm of man, caufe thy and confuime; thar is, concoét and digeft; don’t caf. it out, of thy mouth, as foon as thou haft tafted of it; but lec it go. down into the ftomach,.and. there digeft. it; and from thence into the belly, that fo upon the whole, virtue may be recéived, and nourifhment come by it: and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee; eat to fatiety; fo the Targum, ** fon of “« man, thou fhalt fatiate thy foul, and fill thy ** belly, if thou receiveft what is written. in this ** roll, which I give thee:” this was. fufficient to qualify the’ prophet for prophefying, and. furnifh him. with materials enough; and. thefe fic and proper for the difcharge of his office; and fo fuch who ftudy the word of God with application, become fcribes well inftruéted in the kingdom of heaven; and being filled themfelves, are able sto bring forth things. to. the comfort 54 meditated upon it, and laid it up in his memory in order to deliver it out when commanded; and tho’ it contained things very diftreffing, and which would occafion lamentation, and mourning, and wo; yet Confiderinig that thefe were the will of God, and in righteous judgment to men, he could not but acquiefce in, and approve of them: All the words that come out of the mouth of God are as {weet as honey, yea fweeter than that, P/- xix. 10. and cxix. 103. and fo the Targum interprets it, of the words of the Lord, “* and I took it, ** and his words were in my mouth as {weet ** honey,” and efpecially the gofpel, and the truths of it, are like honey; they are gathered by laborious minifters, as honey by the induftrious bee, out of the various flowers of the fcriptures, with which being laden, they bring into the hive of the church, and difpofe of for general ufefulnefs; thefe are like honey for healthfulnefs, for nourifhment, and for fweetnefs to. the tafte; that which makes the gofpel fo, are the exceeding great and precious promifes in it; its doctrines of grace, and. thofe of peace and reconciliation, of pardon, righteouinefs, eternal life and falvation by Jefus Chrift; and above all, Chrift himfelf, who 1s the fum and fubftance of it; and all its truths being quickning, comforting and_refrefhing: but then the gofpel is only fweet when itis eaten; not merely heard, affented to, and fuperficially tafted of, but eaten and fed upon by faith; and fo it is fweet, not to unregenerate perfons, whofe tafte is not changed; nor to nominal and notional profefiors, who have only a fuperficial tafte of it; but to true believers in Chrift, fpiritual men, who judge and difcern all things, fee Rev. x. g,.10. ¥. 4. And be faid unto me, fon of man, go, &c. | AAfter he had ate the roll; for then was he qualified to prophely: get thee unto the boufe of Ijrael; to whom he was to prophefy: and /peak with my words unto them; not with his own words; nor with the words of men, the enticing words of man’s wifdom; but with the words of Chrift; with the taught words of the Holy Ghoft; with what is written in the roll; the words of this prophecy are meant. So the Targum, ‘‘ and thou fhalt pro- <* phefy the words of my prophecy unto them;” in like manner Foba, after he had ate the little book, is told that he muit prophefy before many people, nations, tongues and kings, Rev. x. 9, 10, 11. tho’ Zzekiel was only fent to one nation, as follows: ¥.5. For thou art not fent toa people of a firange Speech, &c.|] Deep of lip *, or fpeech; difficult to be got at, and underftood: and of an bard language; or heavy of tongue”; of a barbarous and unknown language, whom he could not underftand, nor they him; and fo would have been barbarians to one another;.and confequently it could not be thought his prophefying among them could have been of any ufe. This may be confidered, either by way of encouragement to the prophet to on his errand to fuch a people; fince, as he could underftand them, and they him, he might hope to meet with fuccefs; or however, he could deliver his meffage, fo as to be underftood: or as an aggravation of the impiety, perverfenefs and ftupidity of the J/raelites,; that tho’ the prophet fpoke to them in their own) language, yet they would not hear, nor receive his words: but to the houfe of Ifrael; who were a people of the fame fpeech and language with the prophet; all {poke and underftood the language of Canaan; nor were
Kor Be. Ty ig
the things he deliveted fuch as they weré altogethe? ftrangers to, being the fame for fubftance, which Mo/es, and the other prophets; had ever taught:
W. 6. Not to many people of a firange fpeech; and of an bard language, &c:]. The prophet was fent; not to different nations, of ‘different languages 5 but to one nation; of the fame language; indeed feveral of his prophecies concern other nations; as the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Tyrians, Phihiftines, Egyptians and Affyrians; but then thefé had. a relation to the people of J/rael, and were chiefly on their account; and therefore he was not fent ~ to thofe nations to deliver his prophecies untd them, but to the people of J/rael only § ahd fo had no difficulty on his part concerning their language, which he would have had; had he been fent to the barbarous nations: whofe words thou canft not underftand; the prophet being only ufed to the language of the Jews, and not having the gift of {peaking with, and underftanding divers tongues; as the apoftles of Chrift had, when they were fent to many people of different languages, and which is here tacitly intimated: furely had I fent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee which is an aggravation of the obftinacy and difobedience of the people of Jjrae/; that had the barbarous nations been favoured with the fame means of inftruction they were, they would have been obedient; fee Matt. xi. 21, 23. for tho’ they could not underftand the prophet’s language; nor he theirs 5 yet, as Kimchi. obferves; they would have fought for an interpreter to have explained the prophecy to them: ‘The thing is very ftrongly affirmed, /urely, verily MPSA of 2 truth; as the fame Yewifh writer interprets m> ON; and both he and archi take it to be the form of an oath. Some render the words; if I had not fent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee’; and the fenfe is, either, that if the Lord had not fent him to the Jraelites, but to the people of a ftrange fpeech; they, the people, would have hearkened to him: or, if the Lord had not fent the prophet, but he had gone of himfelf, as the falfe prophets, in their own name, the J/raelites would have hearkened to him; fuch was their perverfenefs and rebellion: others render the words, if not, or had it not been for their ftrange fpeech and hard language, J ewou d have Jent thee to them *, the barbarous nations, and they would have bearkened unto thee, but the firlt fenfe feems beft; which is confirmed by the Zergum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and the Oriental verfions.
y. 7. But the houfe of Ifrael will not bearken unto thee, 8c.| They are not willing', they have no defire, no inclination to hear and hearken; but the reverfe; tho’ they were capable of hearing and underftanding his fpeech and language, and tho’ he was fent unto them by the Lord: and indeed the reafon why they did not hearken to him, was not becaufe they rejected him and his words, but becaufe they reje¢ted the Lord and his words; they were the words of the Lord, and his reproofs; and therefore they would not hearken to them, as follows: for they will not hearken unto me, and which is an argument why the prophet fhould bear with patience their difregard to him and his words, and their neglect and contempt of. them; for feeing they would not hear the Lord, how could
‘pnndy comoN N89 DON fi nom he expect they fhould hear him; and. therefore he fhould not be uneafy at it; fee fobn xv. 20: for all the houfe of Irael are impudent and hard hearted; or, firong of front, and hard of heart”; they had a whore’s forehead, an impudent face, that could not blufh and be afhamed; and hearts of ftone, like a rock, and harder than the nether mill-{tone, on which no impreffions could be made, by all the admonitions and reproofs given them; fee ch. ii. 4. and this was the cafe of all of them in general, excepting fome very few; which fhows the fad degeneracy of this people.
¥. 8. Bebold, [ have made thy face firong againft their faces, &c.] Not that the prophet fhould have the fame fort of impudence and confidence they had; but that God would give" him fuch a face, as it is in the Hebrew text, fuch fpirit and courage, that he fhould neither be afhamed of the words of the Lord, nor afraid to fpeak them to _this people; fo that he fhould be a match for them; they fhould not be able to out-face him, or look him out of countenance; he fhould behave with an undaunted fpirit, and with great intrepidity, amidft all oppofition made to him: the Lord fits his minifters for the people he fends them to, and gives them courage and ftrength proportionate to the oppofition they meet with; as their day is, their ftrength is; and all that invincible courage, boldnefs and ftrength, with which they are endowed, it is all from the Lord, and a gift of his:. and thy forehead firong againft their forebeads,; which is the fame thing in different words.
¥. 9. As an adamant harder than flint have I
made thy forebead, &c.] Or, than a rock°; the adamant has its name in Greek, becaufe it cannot be conquered or fubdued, neither by the hammer, nor by fire; the one cen’t break, nor the other con{ume it; and it is called /hamir in Hebrew, from its preferving itfelf from both; it will cut iron in pieces, which is harder than ftone, and therefore mutt be harder than that. Bochart takes it to be the fame with /miris, a hard ftone, which jewellers ufe to polifh their gems with; fee Fer. xvii. x. and Zech, vii. 12.. The defign of the fimile is to fet forth the courage and fortitude of mind the prophet was. endowed with, in order to face an impudent and hard-hearted people. Fear them not,
neither be difmayed at their looks, though they be a
rebellious houfe; fee the note on ch. ii. 6:
¥. 10. Moreover he faid unto me, fon of man, &c.] The fame glorious perfon as before, continued {peaking to him, and added, as follows: ail my words that I fhall {peak unto thee; not only what he had {poken to him, but what he fhould hereafter; for he did not tell all at once what he fhould jay, but gradually, revealing his mind to him by little and little; but then, he was to receive all that he fhould fay, and rejeét nothing, nor fhun to declare the whole counfel of God: ‘receive in thine heart, and bear with thine ears; what the Lord fays, fhould not only be diligently: attended to, and heard with eagernefs, but fhould be. received in the love of it, into the heart,.and laid up in the mind and memory, in order to be delivered out to others at a proper times. ay ©)
¥. 11, And go, get thee.to them of the captivity,
ITE L. Chi. 9.814 by Salmanefer king of Affiria, for thefe were placed in the cities of the Medes, 2 Kings xvii. 6. but in the times of econiab king.of Fudeh, ch. i. 2°: unto thy people; the ews, which were in the land of Chaldea: and {peak unto them, and tell them; the words the Lord fpoke to him: thus faith the Lord God, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; fee the note on ch. ii. 7., y. 12. Then the fpirit took me, &c.] Not tlie wind, nor an angel, but the Spirit of God; who took up the prophet from the ground, from the place where he was, among the captives by: the river Chebar, and had {een the glorious vifion deé- {cribed in the firft chapter; and had had his cali and miffion, as exprefied in the fecond chapter, and -hitherto in this; and was carried by him to another company of captives, who were at another place by the fame river, as appears by comparing, ch. i. 1, 2, 3. with ch. iii, 15. for this was ner done in a vifionary way, as Kimchi thinks, but im reality; not in fpirit, but in body; juft as the fpirit caught away Philip from the eunuch, dé Vili. 39: and I beard behind me a voice of a great rufhing; of the living creatures and wheels, as is afterwards explained: faying, d/effed be the glory of the Lord out of bis place, either out of heaven, the place where his glory is manifefted; fo the Ta gum, out of the place of his Shekinah or majefty, or out of the temple, from between the cherubim over the mercy-feat, from whence he was about to remove, ch. x. 4. © Thefe words may be confidered either as a doxology of the church and people of God, afcribing glory, bleffing, and praife unto chim.; not only onaccount of the perfections of his.
nature, but becaufe of his works: of nature, prot vidence, and grace, and even for his righteous judgments on men. Maimonides?, by his’ place, underftands the effence of God. Oroas a Jamentation for the departure of the blefled-and glorious majefty of God from the temple, which feemed to be threatened; for the words may be rendered, #be bleffed glory of the Lord out of his place 45: that is, ‘it is juft ready to go.out.of his. place...
y¥. 13. E heard alfo the noile.of the wings of the living creatures, &c.] Which they clapped; when they.uttered the preceding words; fee the note. on ch. i. 24: that touched one another, or kiffed, a woman her fifer *., denoting their affection. and agreement in the doxology or afcription of glory to God 3 fee ch. i. 9,511,239: aud the noife of the wheels over-againft them, the living creatures; for the wheels were by the living creatures, and went over-againft them, as they went, ch. i. 15, “1g, 20,21. minifters and churches join together in this doxology: and a noife of a great rifbing, which is repeated for the confirmation of the thing, and to exprefs the greatnefs of the noife made by the living creatures and wheels, like. that of thunder or an earthquake; it is faid to be like the noife of great waters, ‘ch. i. 24. ° 7 sovnrr’ on ‘saperl x2 14. So the fpirit lifted me up, and. took me away, 8cc.] Lifted him up from;the earth, and
| carried him:thro’ the air: and I wens in ditterne s, fulltof trouble and forrow, that the-Lord was departing from the temple; that his people had beenguilty-of fuch crimes they had, and were fuch an impudent and hard-hearted people they were; and _ Sow TON ee ouciwan > LoofhsRiithas