Exposition of the Whole Bible

HIS chapter contains an account of the fins of the princes of ‘fudab; a prophecy of their deftruétion; fome comfortable promiles, refpecting thofe of the captivity; and the chapter is clofed with the finifhing of the vifion of the Lord’s removing from Ferufalem; and the whole being ended, the prophet related it to’ the men of the captivity. In ¥. 1. the prophet is fhewn five and twenty men, ameng whom were two he knew, and are mentioned by name, and were princes of the people; and he is told, that thefe men devifed mifchief, and gave bad advice to the people, ¥. 2, 3. wherefore he is bid to prophefy againft them, ¥. 4. which he accordingly did, the Spirit of the Lord falling upon him, y¥. 5. declaring that their fecret evils were known, as well as their publick ones; and that feeing they had multipled their flain, and had feared the fword, the fword fhould come upon them; fome fhould fall by it, and others fhould be carried captive; the confequence of which would be, that God would be known, and his juftice acknowledged, it being what their fins deferved, y. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. upon this prophecy being delivered out, one of the princes before named died immediately; which filled the prophet with great concern, and put him upon expoftulating with God, y. 13. wherefore for his comfort he is told, that tho’ the inhabitants of Feru/alem had infulted their brethren that were carried captive, and looked upon the land of J/rae/ as their own poffeffion, that God would be a little fanétuary to them; that he would gather them out of all lands, and give them the land of J/rae/; that they fhould come thither, and remove all idolatry from it, and fhould have regenerating and renewing grace given them, to walk in the ftatutes and ordinances of the Lord, by which they fhould appear to be his people, and he to be their God, ¥. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. but as for fuch that.continued in their abominable idolatries, thefe fhould receive a juft recompence of reward, ¥. 21. after which follows an account of the entire removal of the glory of the Lord from the city of Ferufalem, ¥. 22, 23. and the prophet being in vifion brought again to Cha'dea, reports the whole he had feen to them of the captivity, ¥. 24, 25.

¥. 1. Moreover, the Spirit lift me up, &c.| From the inner court of the temple, where the prophet was, according to the laft account of him, ch. viii. 16. it was the fame fpirit that took him by the lock of his head, and lift him up, as in ch. viii. 3 and perhaps in the fame manner: and brought me unto the eaft gate of the Lora’s houfe, which looketh eaftward;, where were the cherubim, and the wheels, and the glory of God above them, ch. x. 19: and behold, at the door of the gate five and twenty men; not the fame as in ch. viti. 16. for they were in a different place, between the porch and the altar; and about different fervice, they were worfhipping there; and feem to be men of a different order, priefts; whereas thefe were at the door of the eaftern gate, fitting as a court of judicature, and were civil magiltrates; tho’ Farchi and Kimchi take them to be the fame. Some fay Yerufalem was divided into twenty-four parifhes, diftricts, or wards, and every one had its own head, ruler, and governor; and that there was one who was the prefident over them all, like the mayor and aldermen of a city, Among whom I faw Faazaniah the fon of Azur; not the fame that is mentioned in ch. viii. 11. he was the fon of Shaphan, this of Azur; he was one of the feventy of the ancients of J/rae/, this one of the twenty-five heads or rulers of the people; he feems to have been a prince; by having a cenfer in his hand, this was a prieft: the Septuagint and Arabic verfions call him, Yechoniah: and Pelatiah the fon of Benaiab, thefe two are mentioned by name, as. being principal men, and well known by the prophet; and the latter is obferved more efpecially, for what befel him hereafter related: princes of the people; men who were intrufted with power and ‘authority, to exercife the laws of the nation; and who fhould have been reformers of the people, and ought to have given them good advice, and. fet them good examples; whereas they were the reverfe, as follows.

y. 2. Then faid be unto me, fon of man, &c.} That is, the Lord, or the Spirit of the Lord, that lift him up: ¢hefe are the men that devife mifchief; or vanity», this is to be underftood not of the two only that are named, tho’ it may of them chiefly; but of all the twenty five, who formed {chemes for the holding out of the fiege, and for the fecurity of the city, and of themfelves in it, which was all folly and vanity: and give wicked counfel in this city; either in ecclefiaftical affairs, to forfake the worfhip of God, and cleave to the idols of the nations; or in civil things, as follows.

y¥. 3. Which fay it is not near, let us build houfes, &c.] Meaning that the deftruction of the city was not near, as the prophet had foretold, ch. vii. 3, 6, 7, 10, 12. and therefore encourage the people to build houfes, and reft themfelves fecure, as being fafe from all danger, and having nothing to fear from the Chaldean army; and fo putting away the evil day far from them, which was juft at hand: tho’ the words may be rendered, it is not proper 0 build boufes near *, near the city of Ferufalem, in the fuburbs of it, fince they would be liable to be deftroyed by the enemy; but this would not be condemned as wicked counfel, but mutt be judged very prudent and advifeable: and the fame may be objected to another rendering of the word, which might be offered, not in the midjt to build houfes; or it is not proper to build houfes in the midft of the city, in order to receive the. multitude that flock out of the country, thro’ fear of the enemy, to Yerufalem for fafety; fince by this means, as the number of the inhabitants would be increafed, fo provifions in time would become - fcarce, and a famine muft enfue, which would _ oblige to deliver up the city into the hands of the befiegers;. wherefore the firft fenfe feems beft. The Septuagint and Arabic verfions render them, are not the houfes lately built? and fo not eafily demolifhed, and are like to continue long, and we

GH-XE 942-1), Ay Zo A RB BEY 2 48 inthem. This city is the cauldron, and we be the fie, referring to, and laughing at, what one of the prophets, namely Yeremiah, had faid of them, comparing them to a boiling pot, Fer. i. 13. and it is as if they fhould fay, be it fo, that this city is as a cauldron or boiling pot, then we are the fefh in it; and as flefh is not taken out of a pot until it is boiled, no more fhall we be removed from hence till we die; we fhall live and die in this city; of with flain; fuch numbers of innocent perfons being put to death, as in the times of Manafeh, 2 Kings xxi. 16. or fo many dying of the’ famine, peftilence, and fword, during the fiege, and at the taking of Feru/alem.

y. 7. Therefore thus faith the Lord God, 8c.) Applying the parabolical expreffions they had derided, and explaining them in a different fenfe from what they had put upon them: your flain and as it is difficult and dangerous to take hot boiling meat out of a cauldron, fo it is unlikely whom ye have laid in the midjt of it, they are the fief; the prophets they had killed; the perfons we fhould be taken out of this city, and carried who had died innocently for crimes laid to their captive; what a cauldron or brazen pot is to the flefh, it holds and keeps it from falling into the fire; that the walls of Ferufalem are to us, our fafety and prefervation; nor need we fear captivity.

¥. 4. Therefore prophefy againft them, &c.] Evil things againft them, things that are difagreeable to them; fince they flatter themfelves with good | things, and cry peace and fafety, let them know that deftruction is coming upon them: or, concerning them‘; what will befal them, and that it will, be otherwife with them than they imagine: prophefy, O fon of man, this is repeated, not only to ftir up the prophet to the performance of his work and office, not fearing the faces, and Keishi | charge, they had not been guilty of; and fuch who had fallen by one judgment or another fince the fiege, they were the perfons intended by +he fico, and not fuch as were alive; and therefore could promife themfelves nothing from this proverb they had took up, and fcoffed at: and this city is the cauldron; that holds the flain, and in which they will lie and continue, and not the liv-

| ing: but I will bring you forth out of the midft of

it; where they promifed themfelves fafety, and a long continuance; yet fhould not abide, but be carried captive.

¥. 8. Ye have feared the fword, &c.] Of the Chaldeans, and therefore they fent to the Egyptians for help. The Targumiis, ** ye have been afraid and mockings of men; but to fhew the indigna- ‘‘ of them that kill with the fword;” and not tion of the Lord at their fcoffs and jeers, and the certain accomplifhment of what fhould be predicted.

¥. 5. And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, &c.] In an extraordinary manner, and afrefh, and enlightened his mind, and fhewed him things that fhould come to pafs; and filled him with boldnefs and courage to declare them. The Targum interprets it of the fpirit of prophecy: and faid unto me, fpeak, what I fhall fhew and put into thy mouth, that fpeak out; be not afraid, but boldly declare all that I give thee in commiffion to fay:

afraid of the Lord; fee Matt. x. 28: and TI will bring a fword upon you, faith the Lord God; or thofe that kill with the fword, as the Yergum; meaning the Chaldeans, who were fent by the Lord, and when they took the city, put many to death by the fword, and carried captive others.

¥. 9. And I will bring you out of the midft thereof, &c.] Ferufalem, the cauldron, as they faid it was, and where they thought they fhould be fafe; this is repeated, to exprefs the certainty of it, and to excite their attention to it, and remove their vain confidence: and deliver you into the hands of thus faith the Lord, thus have ye faid, O houfe of rangers; the Chaldeans: and will execute judgments dfrael, as in ¥. 3. which perhaps was faid in fecret, and fpoken privately, but known by the Lord; and it was not only the princes that faid it, but the whole body of the people joined in with it, and agreed to it; tho’ it is very probable, they were influenced by the former: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them; not only their fcoffing words, but the thoughts of their hearts; not one of them efcaped the knowledge of God; the confideration of which fhould command an awe on men, and engage them to a watchfulnefs over their thoughts, words, and actions.

¥. 6. Ye have multiplied your flain in this city, &c.] Had killed many of the prophets of the Lord that had been fent unto them, and had fhed much innocent blood; and not only had unjuftly condemned many to die, and had put them to death without a caufe; but alfo the death of all thofe that were flain whilft the city was_befieging, and when it was taken, were owing to their advice and counfel, in encouraging them to hold out, and not deliver up the city; fanfying they fhould be able to defend it, contrary to the declarations of the Lord by the prophet; wherefore their death is laid to fuch advifers, and they are called their flain: and ye have filled the ftreets there- among you; punifhments for fin, fuch as famine, peftilence, fword, and captivity.

y. 10. Ye fhall fail by the fword, &e.) Of the Chaldeans, not in the city of Ferufalem, but out of it, when it was broken up, and they fled: J wil} judge you in the border of Ifrael, that’ is, inflict punifhment on them, particularly by the fword; which was done at Ribl/ah in the land of Hamath, where the fons of Zedekiab were flain, and all the princes of Fudab, Fer. lii. 9, 10. and this was on the border of the land of J/rael, Numb. xxxiv. 8, 11: and ye foall know that I am the Lord, who knows things, and foretels: them before they are; and am able to accomplifh all that is threatened;) and am juft and righteous in all my ways and works; and who am known by the judgments executed by me.

y. 11. This city foall not be your cauldron, &c.} It was one, as in ¥. 7. but not theirs; it was the cauldron for the flain, for the dead, but not the living: neither fhall ye be the fico in the midft of it; or, and ye foail be*; or, but ye fhall be, the negative is underftood, and rightly fupplied by us; tho’ the Zargum renders it without it, ‘* but ye ‘© fhall be in the midft of it, as flefh that is boiled “ in the midft of a pot:” but J will judge you in the border of Ifrael; this is repeated, that they might take notice of it, and to afiure them that fo it would be.

y.12. And ye foall know that I am the Lord, &c.] See the note on ¥. 10: for ye have not walked in my ftatutes, neither executed my judgments; which is the reafon why the Lord would judge them on the border of J/rae/, and deliver them up into the hands of ftrangers; nor can he be thought to aét the fevere and cruel part to them, when this their difobedience is obferved; fince they had his ftatutes and his judgments made known to them, which were not known to other nations, and yet they regarded them not; wherefore it was but righteous in him to inflict his judgments upon them, and which is the more aggravated by what follows, and which {till more clearly fhows the juttice of the divine proceedings againft them: but have done after the manners of the heathens that are round about them; or, the judgments of the heathens, regarded them, and acted according to them, when they flighted and difobeyed the judgments of the Lord; inftead of worfhipping of him according to his revealed will, they ferved the idols of the nations round about them, and gave in to all their fuperftitious rites and ceremonies.

y. 13. And it came to pals when I prophefed, &c.] Or, as I prophefied'; that is, whilft he was prophefying, or declaring the above things from the mouth of the Lord, concerning the flaughter of the Fews by the fword, and the captivity of the re{t: that Pelatiah the fon of Benaiah died, one ot the princes of the people, and was among the five and twenty men the prophet faw at the door of the ea{t-gate of the temple, ¥. 1. this man dropped down dead on a fudden, juft as Ananias and Sapphira at the feet of Peter. It was ina vifion Ezekiel {aw this; and in the temple; but no doubt at the fame time this prince died at his own houfe, whofe death was notified to the prophet in this way. Then fell I down upon my face, as greatly furprized at the event, and filled with concern at what would be the iffue of this providence; looking upon it as a pledge and earneft, a token and forerunner of the utter deftruction of the people: and cried with a loud voice, exprefling the vehemency of his affection, and the earneftnefs of his fupplication: and faid, ab Lord God, wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Ifrael? or, art thou making * 2 the ten tribes had been carried cap-

“five many years ago, and a large number of the o.. two tribes in Feconich’s captivity, fo that tHere were but a remnant left in the land; and upon the fudden and awful death of this prince, the prophet feared the Lord was going to make an utter end of them at once; which. he:deprecates.

¥. 14. Again the word of the Lord came unto me,

Jaying, &c.] In anfwer to his prayer. The Targum calls it, ‘* the word of prophecy from,the ** Lord;” this was by way of comfort to the cap-. tives in Babylon, as the former was by way of thréatning to the inhabitants of Yerufalem..

¥. 15. Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, &c.| Or, of thy redemption'; to whom the right of redemption ‘of his lands and poffeffions belonged, as it did to thofe that were next a-kin. The Septuagint, by a among the countries; and therefore what miftake of tlie word, render it, the men of thy captivity; and fo the Syriac and Arabic verfions fol lowing them. ’*Tis true, thofe were his. fellowcaptives who are here meant; fome of them that were carried captive were his brethren by blood, and all by nation and religion; and thefe phrafes, and the repetition of them) are defigned not only to excite the prophet’s attention to, and to affure them of what is after declared; but to take off his concern for the inhabitants of Yeru/alem, who had ufed his brethren ill, and to turn his thoughts and affections towards his friends in Chaldea. Kimcebi thinks, that thefe three expreffions refer to three captivities; the captivity of the children of Gad and Reuben; the captivity of Samaria, or the ten tribes; and the captivity of Fehbciachin.~ It follows, and all the houfe of Ijrael wholly are they; or, <¢ all the houfe of J/rael, all of them,” as the Targum; that is, all the whole houfe of J/rae/. The Septuagint render it, all the boufe of Ijrnel is made an end of; the Syriac verfion, shall be blotted out; and the Arabic verfion, fhall be cut off; all wrong; fince thefe words are not a threatening to the ten tribes, or thofe of the ‘ews in captivity, for all that follows is in favour of theni; but only point at the perfons the prophet is turned unto,, and who are the fubject of the following difcourfe. A colon, or at leaft a femicolon, fhould be here put; fince the accent Athnach is upon the: laft word. Unto whom the inhabitants of Ferufalem have faid, get ye far from the Lord; Kimchi interprets it; from the land of the Lord, the holy land; they being carried captive into a foreign country. The Zargum is, ** from the fear of the Lord;” the worfhip of the Lord; they being at a diftance from the temple, and the fervice of it. Thefe words are an infult of the inhabitants of Yeru/alem upon the captives, fuggefting that they were great finners, and for their fins were taken away from their own land, and carried to Babylon; and that they deferved to be excommunicated from the houfe and people of God, and were fo; and indeed, this ig a kind of a form of excommunication of them: unto us is this land given in poffeffion; you have forfeited your right to it, and are difinherited; we are fole heirs, and in the pofieffion of it, and fhall ever continue in it. The Syriac verfion reads this, and the preceding claufe, as if they were the words of the J/raelites to the inhabitants of Feru/alem, thus; ‘* becaufe they faid to-them, O inhabitants “< of Ferufalem, depart from the Lord, for unto. ‘€ us is given this land for an inheritance.” The Arabic verfion indeed makes them to be the words of the inhabitants of Yerufalem, but render the laft claufe thus; to you (i. e. the D/raelites) is given the land for an inheritance. * y. 16, Therefore fay, thus faith the Lord God, &c.] Since they were fo infulted and ill-treated by* their brethren the Fews: altho’ I have caft them’ afar off among the heathen; both the ten tribes,’ even all the houfe of J/rae/, who were carried into Affsria, and ‘placed in the cities of the Medes, in’ Halath and Habor, by the river Gozan, 2 Kings’ xviii. and thofe of the Fews in Feconiah’s capti— vity, among. whom were £2ekiel, and his brethren, - and his kindred: and altho’ I have fcattered them with the diftance’

diftance of the place where they were, and the difperfion of them among the people where they refided, their cafe might feem to be defperate; and that there was no probability, and fcarce any poffibility, of their being preferved as a people, and of their reftoration to their own land: yet will I be to them a little fantiuary in the countries where they fhall come; their dwelling-place, as he has been to his people in all generations; their protection from all their enemies, in whom, and by whofe power they fhould be fafe,; and whofe prefence they fhould enjoy, tho’ deprived of public ordinances of temple-worfhip and fervice; though they were at a diftance from the great fanctuary, the temple, the inhabitants of Feru/alem boafted of, yet the Lord would make up the want of that to them with himfelf. The Targum, Farchi, and Kimchi ™, interpret this of the fynagogues, which were fecond to the temple, the J/raelites had in foreign countries, where they prayed to the Lord, and worfhipped him, and enjoyed his prefence. It may be rendered, the fanéiuary of a few", they being but few, efpecially that were truly godly, that were carried captive: or, @ fanéluary for a little while °; that is, during feventy years, and then they fhould bé returned, as follows. The Targum is, ‘* | have given them fynagogues, fe- “* cond to my fanctuary, and they are as few in “* the provinces where they are carried captive.”

y. 17. Therefore thus faith the Lord God, I will even gather you from the people, &c.] The Babylo- ‘nians, Medes, and Perfians, where they had been carried captive: and ajfemble you out of the countries, where ye have been fcattered; that is, out of Chaldea and Media, out of which they fhould come in a body, and not fingly, or in fmall numbers, as they did, when Cyrus iffued out his proclamation: and I will give you the land of Ifrael, not only the Fews of the two tribes of Fudah and Benjamin, but many of the ten tribes came out of Badylon with Zorobabel, and fettled in the land of J/rael; and hither they came alfo in after-times, even thofe that fettled. in other countries, at their feveral feftivals, and about fuch time more efpecially that the Meffiah was expected, and continued there; and this will have a fuller completion at the reftoration of the Yews in the latter days.

¥. 18. And they fhall come thither, &c.] That is, thofe of the captivity fhall come to the land of J/rael, they or their pofterity: and they fhall take away all the deteftable things thereof; the idols of the nations, that had been there introduced, deteftable to God and all good men: and all the abominations thereof from thence; idols as before, even all of them, fo that idolatry fhould be wholly rooted out; this had its accomplifhment under Zorobabel, Ezra, Haggai, &c. when the worfhip of God was reftored, and there was a reformation of many abufes in religion; and again, in the times of the Maccabees; and will have a greater fulfilment at the time of the converfion of the Jews.

when every thing that is deteftable and abominable.

among that people will be removed; of which converfion the following words are a prophecy.

¥. 19. And Iwill give them one heart, &c.) In oppofition to a divided heart, Ho/. x. 2. divided between the true God and idols, wavering and halting between two opinions, fometimes ferving God, and fometiimes Baa/;, a heart to purfue one way of worfhip, and to ferve the Lord with ote theul® der or confent, Yer. xxxii. 40. Zeph. iii. g. a heart fincere to God and man, in oppofition to a double or hypocritical one, Pf xii. 2: a heart fingle to the honour and glory of God; and firmly attached to his word and worfhip: alfo concord, harmony, an unity of affections to oné another, fo as to be ~ of one heart and one foul, as the firft chriftians were, who were Jews, Ads iv. 32. and an unity of judgment, an onenefs of principle and practice, as there ought to be, 1 Cor. i, 10. and ail this is the gift of God, and flows from his grace and favour.

it, another heart; different from what they had before. meaning either the Holy Spirit of God, the author of regeneration and renovation: this is reprefented by the ancient Jews?, as the fame with the Spirit of the Meffiah that moved upon the face of the waters, Gen. i. 2. or the fpirit of man, the feat of this renewing work; or rather the work. itfelf, called a new man, a new creature, Eph. iv. 24. 2 Cor. v. 17. and this is a new frame and difpofi« tion of mind, in which are new principles of light and life, grace and holinefs; a new underftanding of themfelves and ftate, of God and of Chritt,

The Septuagint and Arabic verfions render.

And I will put a new fpirit within you;

of divine things and gofpel-truths; new affections for God, and all that is good; new defires after grace and righteoufnefs, after God and communion with him, after his word and ordinances, and conformity to Chrift; new purpofes and refolutions to ferve the Lord, and glorify him; new delights and joys, and in fhort ali things become new.

Inftead ot within you, the Septuagint, and all the Oriental verfions, read, ia them; and to this the Targum agrees. ud I will take the ftony heart out of their fiee, a heart hardened by fin, and confirmed in it; deftitute of {piritual lite, fenfelefs and ftupid as to fpiritual things; ftubborn and inflexible, on which no impreffions are made by corrections, admonitions, and inftructions of fuperiors; and fo an impenitent one: this God only can remove; men can’t foften their own hearts; nor can minifters work upon them; nor will judgments themfelves bring men to repentance: it is the work of God only; who does it by his word, with which he breaks the rock in pieces; by the difcoveries of his love, with which he melts the heart that is harder: than the nether mill-ftone; by giving repentance to them, by working faith in them, to look to a crucified Chrift and mourn, and all this by dis Spirit: this is faid to be taken out of their fief; not their body, but their nature corrupted by fin, Fobn iii. 6. which fhows that this hardnets is. natural to men, and rooted. in them, and that it requires omnipotence to remove it. dnd will give them an heart of flefo, afenfible and penitent one; a foft and tender one; a fanctitied and {piritual one; one flexible and obfequious to the will of God; on which impreffions are made; on which the laws of God are written; into which the doctrines of the gofpel are tranfcribed, Chrift is formed, and the fear of God is implanted, with every other grace all which are the gifts of God, and owing to his efficacious grace. The Targum of the whole is, ‘‘ and I will give them a fearing «¢ heart, and a fpirit of fear I will put in their “ bowels (or in the midft of them);,and I will “© break the heart of wickednefs, which is as hard anys wn ad fanuarium paucitatis, Calvin 5 in fanctuarium paucorums Cocceius. So Ben Melech fays the word is a fubftantive in fome copies,

“ as a ftone, out of their flefh, and J will give “ them an heart fearing before me to do my $6 will.”

y. 20. That they may walk in my flatutes, &c.) Have their converfation ordered according to the will and word of God; to which there is neither will nor power, till God gives a new heart and fpirit, or works in them both to will and to do: and keep mine ordinances, and do them, all things appertaining to religion and worfhip, both in public and private: and they fhall be my people, and I will be their God, it will appear by walking in the ftatutes of the Lord, and, by keeping his ordinances, that they are his people, made willing in the day of his power to ferve him; and by having covenant-bleffings beftowed on them, the grace of God wrought in them, his fear upon them, and new hearts and fpirits given them, that he is their covenant-God and Father; by this means, what under the prevalence of idolatry was hid, will now be made manifeft.

y. 21. But as for them, &c.] Who remained in Ferufalem, and were not carried captive, but continued in their own land, and worfhipped idols, the fame as in y¥. 15: whofe heart walketh after the heart of their deteftable things, and their abominations; not images of gold and filver, which cannot be faid to have an heart; but devils and evil fpirits worfhipped in them, who are well pleafed and delighted with the worfhip given them; fo that the hearts of the devils worfhipped, and the hearts of the idolatrous worfhippers, were alike and agreed; wherefore their hearts were very different from thofe before-mentioned; fo far from having one heart, that their hearts were double and divided, partly after God, and partly after their idols; and fo far from walking in the ftatutes of the Lord, that they were walking after the will of their idols, and in the warfhip of them; which were abominable and deteftable to God, and all good men. The Targum is, ** and after the wor- “¢ fhip of their idols, and of their abominations, “¢ their heart wanders.” J will recompenfe their ways upon their own heads, faith the Lord God, that is, punifh them according to their deferts, by the fword, famine, peftilence, and captivity.

¥. 22. Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, &c.] In order to remove, as in ch. x. 19: and the wheels befides them, which were lifted up alfo along with the cherubim: and the glory of the God of I/rael was over them above, both cherubim and wheels.

¥. 23. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midft of the city, &c.| Of Ferufalem, whither it was removed from the door of the eaft gate of the temple, ch. x. 19. tho’ no mention is made of fuch removal; and now having left the temple, it leaves the city: and ftood upon the mountain, which is on the eaft fide of the city; either waiting for the repentance of the inhabitants of it, leaving them with reluétance; or in order to bring down his judgments upon it, and behold its deftruétion and ruin: this mountain was the mountain of Olives, as the Targum interprets it; and fo Farchi and Kimchi; fee Zech. xiv. 5. Chrift ftood on this mountain and wept over Ferufalem, and from hence he afcended to heaven. ‘This Farchi calls the third remove of the Shekinab or glory of the God of Trael, The Rabbins fay 4 it removed ten times, and reckon them thus, ** from the mercy-feat to ‘* the cherub; from the cherub to the cherub; “ from. the cherub to the threfhold; from the threfhold to the court; from the court to the altar; from the altar to the roof; from the roof to the wall; from the wall to the city; from the city to the mountain; from the mountain to the wildernefs;-and from the wildernefs ig afcended and fat in its own place, according to Hof vioPgns ¥. 24. Afterwards the Spirit took me up, &e.] From the eaft gate of the temple, whither he hadbrought him; when he had been fhown, and every thing had been told him, neceflary for the reproof of the Fews in Ferufalem, and for the comfort of the captives: and brought me in vifion by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity; all this was done in vifion; fo it appeared to the prophet, under the influence of the divine Spirit of God, as if he was carried to Yerufalem, and there faw and heard all he did, and then was brought back again to Cha/dea; whereas this was only mental, not corporal; he was all the while in Chaldea, though things were fo reprefented to his mind, as if he had been removed from place to place: fo the vifion that I had feen went up from me; he returned to himfelf, and became as another man, or as he was before; and found himéelf in his own houfe, and among the elders of Fudab. This fhows that the vifion was from heaven, and therefore it is faid to go up from him; and that prophecy was not of the will of men, but of God; and that the prophets were not always under the influence of a prophetic fpirit; but this came and went, and was only with them at certain times.

¥.25. Then I fpake. unto them of the captivity, &c.] The elders of Fudab, and others with them, at Tel-Abib, where the prophet had an houfe: aff the things the Lord had fhewed me, all the vifions contained in the preceding chapters, from the beginning of the 4th chapter to the end of this: as the pourtraying Feru/alem on a tile, and lying on his fide for a long time, as an emblem of the fiege of that city; the barley cakes, denoting a famine; the fharp knife with which he cut off his hair, fignifying the deftruction of its inhabitants; how he was brought to Feru/alem, what idolatries he faw in the temple; the vifion of the fix men with’ flaughter-weapons, and of another with a writer’s inkhorn by his fide; and alfo the vifion of the cherubim and wheels, and the glory of the God of J/rael, and their departure from the city and temple, together with what was threatened to the Fews in Ferufalem, and was promifed to them in Chaldea; all which the prophet faithfully related, and kept back nothing that the Lord had made known unto him by words or figns. iil ain