Y Pi Sasa aay
letter could be thought to be meant, the reafon of it was, becaufe it is the laft letter of the alphabet; and fo may fignify, that the Lord’s people marked with it, are the laft among men, or the filth of the world; or that fuch who perfevere to the end, fhall be faved: but the word fignifies; not a letter, but a mark or fien; and fo it is in4_ terpreted in the Septuagint verlion, and by the Targum, Farchi, Kimchi, and others; and denotes the diftinction the Lord had made by his grace between them and others; and now by his power and providence in the protection of them; for the Lord knows them that are his, and will preferve them. ‘The allufion is, either to the marking of fervants in their foreheads, by which they were known who they ‘belonged to, Rev. vii. 3. or to the fprinkline of the pofts of the J/raelites houfes with blood, when the firft-born of Egypt were deftroyed, Exod. xii. 22,23: of the men that figh; and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midft thereof; the abominations were thofe abominable idolatries mentioned in the preceding chapter, and thofe dreadful immoralities hinted at in ¥.g. all which were grieving and diftreffing to godly minds, becaufe they were contrary to ‘the nature and will of God; tranfgreffions of his’ righteous law; and.on account of which his name was difhonoured, and his ways blafphemed, and evil fpoken:of; for thefe they fighed and: groaned in private, and- mourned and lamented in public; bearing their teftimony againft them with bitter expreflions of grief and forrow, by groans, words and tears; and fuch as thefe are taken notice of by the Lord; he comforts thofe that mourn in Zion, and preferves them.
¥.5. And to the others he faid in mine hearing, &c.] To the other fix men that had the flaughterweapons in'their hands: go ye after bim thro’ the city; thatiis, after the man clothed with linen; for he was fent out firft to take care of the righteous, and preferve them; and the reft were not fuffered to ftir till he was gone; and then they are bid to, go after him. The Syriac verfion is, ‘* to *¢ them that were with him he faid to them before’ “© me, go thro’ the city after me;” as if thefe were the words of the man clothed with linen to the other fix; and fo the 4abic verfion; but the | other is the true reading, and-gives the right fentfe, as the following words fhow: aud /mite; the inhabitants of the city: Jet not your eye. fpare, neither have ye pity; not that the Chaldeans were inclined to mercy and: pity, for they were a.cruel and» barbarous people; but this is faid to fhow the. re; fentment of God againft the fins of the Fews; and that it was his will they fhould act the fevere part they: did.
y. 6. Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women, &c.| All of them objects of compaffion, becaufe of their age and fex 3” and yet none to be {pared; and which, orders were_ exactly obeyed; fee 2 Chrow. xxxvi. 17.2 but come: not near any man on whom is the mark; thele were not to be flain; and tho’ fome were carried cap: ' tive, as Daniel, and others 3) yet it was. for their good, and God’s glory,;; fee Rev. viii.354., and ix. 3,4: and begin at. my fantiuary, the, temple, the houfe of God, and the priefts and Levites that dwelt there. The Septuagint verfion is, dégin at — my faints; thofe who profefled themfelves to be the faints of the Lord, and were feparated and devoted to his fervice; and fo the Radbins fay y, don’t read *y p19 at my fanciuary, but *wTpDD a thofe that fanéify me, or my fanttified ones; which they interpret of thofe that keep the whole law, from Aleph to Tau; fee 1 Pet. iv. 17: then they began at the ancient men, which were before the houfe; the feventy elders of J/rael, who offered incenfe to the idols pourtrayed upon the walls of the chambers of the temple, ch. viii. 10, 11. thefe they flew firft., ¥. 7. And he faid unto them, defile the houfe, &c.] The temple; don’t be afraid of flaying any perfon in it, for fear of defiling it; they have defiled it with their abominations, and now do you defile it with their blood: wad fill the court with the flain, the court of the priefts, and the court of the J/raelites, and the court of the women, and all the chambers where the priefts and Levites were, and had their images pourtrayed: go ye forth; from the brazen altar, by which they ftood, and out of the temple, after they had done their bufinefs there, and had flain all they fhould: and they went forth, and flew in the city, they went out of the temple, and flew in the city all but thofe that had the mark.
¥. 8. And it came to pafs while they were flaying them, &c.] That were in the city: and I was left; in the temple; and the only one that was left there, the reft were flain; for there were none marked in the temple, only in the city, ¥. 4: that I fell upon my face, as a fupplicant with great humility: and cried, and faid; being greatly diftreffed with this awful providence: ah, Lord God! wilt thou defiroy all the refidue of Ifrael; the ten tribes had been carried captive before; there only remained the two tribes of Fudab and Benjamin, and thefe were now threatened with an utter deftruction: in ‘thy pouring out of thy fury upon Ferufalem? fhewn in the deftruction of men, both in the city and temple, by famine, peftilence and fword.
¥.9. Then he faid unto me, &c.} In order to fatisfy the prophet, and make him eafy, and fhew the equity and juftice of the divine proceedings: the iniquity. of the houfe of Ifrael and Fudab is ex- ’ ceeding. great; it can’t be well conceived or exprefled how great it is; it abounded and fuperabounded: this is the anfwer in general, but in particular it follows: and the land is full of blood; of murders, as the Zargum interprets it; of fhedding of innocent blood; and even of all atrocious and capital crimes: and the city full of perverfenefs; or of perverfion of judgment, as the Zar-
N this chapter is a vifion, very much like that in the firft chapter, with fome difference, and with a different view. The defign of it being to reprefent the wrath of God againft Feru/alem, and his departure from the city and temple. A throne much like that in ch. i. 26, is deferibed y. 1. orders are given from it to fcatter coals over the ‘city, ¥. 2. the fituation of the cherubim when thefe orders were given, ¥. 3. the removal of the glory of the Lord from the cherub to the threfhold of the houfe, and the confequences of it; the houfe filled with fmoke; the court with the. brightnefs of the Lord’s glory; and the found of the che- oné fat to do juftice and judgment, have nothing but perverfion and injuftice: for they fay, the-Lord bath forfaken the earth, and the Lord feeth not; does not concern himfelf with human affairs, and takes no notice of what is done below; and having imbibed fuch atheiftical principles, were hardned in fin, and gave themfelves over to all iniquity; having no reftraints upon them, from the confideration of the providence of God, and his government of the world: or eHe the fenfe is, that the Lord had withheld his mercy and favours from them; and therefore they fhewed no regard to him; and looked upon all their evils and calamities as fortuitous events, and not as ordered by him, as punifhments for their fins..
y. 10. And as for me alfo, &c.) As they have not fpared the poor and the needy, the widow and the fatherlefs, but have perverted their judgment, and fhed innocent blood: wine eye fhall not Jpare, neither will I have pity, but 1 will recompenfe their way upon their bead; deal with them by the law of retaliation, and reward them according to their deferts; fee ch. vii. 4. %
¥.11. And behold, the man clothed with linen,. which had the ink-horn by bis fide, &c.) ¥.2. to whom the orders were given to mark the mourners in the city, ¥. 4. The Syriac verfion is, them I faw the man, &c. which muft direét him to. eb= ferve and call to mind the diftinguifhing goodnefs of God to his own people: reported the matter, faying, I have done as thou haft commanded mes meaning that the righteous were marked, and had ' been preferved, whilit the others were flain. Chrift, as man and mediator, fuftains. the character of a fervant; as fuch he has commands enjoined him, which he has obeyed; he has done all he was to do; he has fulfilled the whole will of God, and wrought out the complete falvation of his people; a report of which he made when here om earth, Fohn xvii. 4. and will do again at the laft day; when all his people will be gathered in, and he fhall deliver the kingdom to the Father, and pre- ~ fent them all to him, having been kept by his: power, faying, /o, I and the children thou hafk given me, when all will be done as was com manded, and he undertook, and the -report: made: accordingly. Bex Melech obferves, that’ the Ker® or marginal reading is, ‘‘ according to alk which: ‘¢ thou haft commanded me;” as if he fhould fay there is nothing wanting of all that was com manded. “ bis a. va Do@aneet Pes MS ans. ‘i vO, ty eS pe rubim’s wings heard to the outercourt,. as the voice)
of God, ¥. 4, 5. the orders of taking and! fire over the city executed, and the manner in which they were, ¥. 6, 7. a defcription of the che- — rubim and the wheels, much like that im the firft chapter, ¥. 8—r7. the departure of the glory: God from the threfhold to the eait-gate ¢ Lord’s houfe, with the motion of the ¢ and wheels along with him, ¥. 18, 1g.; chapter is concluded with ing, thatt rubim are the fame with the living creatures. the vifion of the firft chapter, and had’ the form, likenefs and motion, ¥. 20, 21,22 vifion of the deftruction of the greater part of the inhabitants of Ferufalem by the fix men with flaughter-weapons, and of the prefervation of a few by the man clothed with linen; another vifion is feen by the prophet, in fome things like to that he faw, of which there is an account in the firft chapter; tho’ in fome circumftances different, and exhibited with a different view; partly to reprefent the deftruction of Yerufalem by fire, and partly the Lord’s removal from it, before or at that time: im the firmament that was above the bead of the cherubim; the fame with the living creatures, ch. i. 22, 26. where the firmament or expanfe of heaven is faid to be over their heads, as here; fee the note there: there appeared over them as it were a fapphire-ftone, as the appearance of the likenefs of a throne; fee the note on ch. 1, 26.
¥.2. And he fpake unto the man clothed with linen, &c.] That is, the God of J/rael, or the glory of the Lord, that fat upon the throne before defcribed; he gave orders to the man clothed in linen, who appears in another character, and reprefents the Chaldean or Roman army: go in between the wheels, even under the cherub; the fingular for the plurat, the cherubim; the wheels were under thefe; the churches are under their minifters, their paftors, guides and governors; or ra- -ther, fince the wheels were by the cherubim, it fhould be rendered, as by fome, unto the cherub, or cherubim*: and fill thine band with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and fcatter them over the city; thefe coals of fre were an emblem of the wrath of God againft Ferufalem, and of the deftruction of it by fire; and thefe being fetched from between the cherubim, fhew that the caufe of this wrath and ruin was the ill treatment of the prophets of the Lord; fee 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15—19. as the deftruction of the fame city afterwards by the Romans was owing, as to the rejection and killing of the Meffiah, fo to the perfecution of his apoitles, 1 Theff. ii. 15,16: and he went in my fight, in the fight of the prophet, as it appeared to him in vifion; he faw him go in, as he was ordered, between the wheels, and under the cherubim; but as yet he did not fee him take the coals of fire, and much lefs fcatter them; thefe were afterwards done, as related in the other part of the vifion.
¥.3. Now the cherubim flood on the right-fide of the houfe, &c.] According to the Targum, it was the fouth-fide of the houfe; and fo archi interprets it; oppofite to the north, where the grofs ido-
Jatries were committed, ch. viii. 3, 5, 14. ftanding at the greateft diftance from them, and bearing their teftimony againft them: when the man went in; they ftood as it were in a levee, thro’ which the man paffed, waiting upon him; paying a refpect to him; affenting to what he did; and approving of it: this circumftance is mentioned, becaufe they were not always in this pofition, only at this time; nor did they continue fo; we afterwards hear of their motion: and the cloud filled the inner court; the court of the priefts, not as a token of God’s prefence, as at the dedication of the temple; but rather of judicial blindnefs and darknefs, which the people of the Hews were left unto.
¥.4. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, &c.} Or cherubim; thote that were upon the mercy-feat, between which the Shekinah or glorious majefty of God dwelt, in the moft holy place: this is a token and intimation of the Lord’s leaving of the temple; and a little before the deftruction of Ferufalem by the Romans, to which this vifion chiefly, if not altogether, refers, a voice was heard in the temple, ‘‘ let us go hence »:” and {tood over the threfhold of the houfe, either of the holy of holies, from whence he was removing;
or rather of the holy place, the court of the prietts, the inward court, and fo open to the outward court, and view of the people in it: and the houfe was filled with the cloud; the temple, being forfaken of God, was filled with darknefs; as an emblem of that blindnefs which is come upon the Fews, and will continue on them till the fulnefs of the Gentiles is brought in: and the court was full of the brightne/s of the Lora’s glory, either the inward court, as the glory of the Lord paffed thro’ it, from the holy of holies; or rather the outward court, of which mention is made in the next verfe; the glory of the Lord being on the threfhold of the houie, which looked towards that, and fo en=: lightened it. This outward court fignifies the Ge#- tiles; who, when the Lord removed trom the Fewifh nation and people, were favoured with the glorious light of the gofpel, and ordinances of Chrift; whereby they were enlightened, and filled with the knowledge of the Lord; with the knowledge of him, who is the brightnefs of his Father’s glory, and the exprefs image of.his perfon; fo thro’ the fall of the ews falvation came to the Gentiles, Rom. Xi, 11, 12..
¥. 5. And the found of the cherubims wings was heard even to the utter court, &c.] Or outward court. ‘The found of the gofpel, which is a joyful found; a found of love, grace and mercy; of life, liberty, peace, pardon, righteoufnefs and falvation by Chrift; the found of this in the fwift miniftry of the apoltles, fignified by the cherubims wings, went into all the earth, and throughout the whole
Gentile world; by which many fouls were quickened and inlightened; many churches were formed; and the glory of the Lord being revealed, was feen by all flefh; and the whole world was. filled with the brightnefs of the Lord’s glory, as it will be again, and more abundantly in the latter day: and this found was as the voice of the Almighty God when be fpeaketh; the gofpel is as thunder,. which is the voice of God; and the minifters of it are boanergefes fons of thunder: it fhakes the confcience; fhews men their danger; and points at the Saviour: it is not the word of man, but in deed and in truth the word of God: it is the voice of Chrift, who is the Almighty; and it appears to be fo, by its powerful effects, when attended with a divine energy, in quickning dead finners; enlightning dark minds; unftopping deaf ears; foftning hard hearts; and turning men from darknefs to light, and from the power of fatan to God; it is fo when God {peaks in it, and by it; when it comes not in word only, but in the Holy Ghoft, and in power.
¥. 6. And it came to pafs, that when he had commanded the man clothed with Jinen, &c.] After the orders were given by him that was upon the throne to the man thus defcribed: /aying, take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubim;
as in ¥. 2: then be went in; immediately, into the place