Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

shall I judge you; and ye shall learn that I am Jehovah. Ver. 11.

on the frontier of Israel shall I judge. Ver. 12. And ye shall learn that I am Jehovah, in whose statutes ye have not walked, and my judgments ye have not done, but have acted according to the judgments of the heathen who are round about you. — For?2n viii. 1), the Spirit of Jehovah is mentioned here; because what follows is simply a divine inspiration, and there is no action connected writh it. The words of God are directed against the " house of Israel," whose words and thoughts are and counsellors of the nation, nvi ni?yo thoughts, suggestions of the mind, may be explained from the phrase 2??y rbv, to come into the mind. Their actions furnish the proof of the evil suggestions of their heart. They have filled the city with slain; not u turned the streets of the city into a battle-field,"

however, by bringing about the capture of Jerusalem in the time of Jeconiah, as Hitzig would explain it. The words are to be understood in a much more general sense, as signifying murder, in both the coarser and the more refined signification of the word.1 B^!?9 is a copyist's error for DHNpo. Those who have been murdered by you are the flesh in the caldron

(ver. 7). Ezekiel gives them back their own wrords, as words which contain an undoubted truth, but in a different sense from that in which they have used them. By their bloodshed they have made the city into a pot in which the flesh of the slain is a pot to protect the flesh from burning while cooking, but a

1 Calvin has given the correct explanation, thus: " He does not mean

that men had been openly assassinated in the streets of Jerusalem; but under this form of speech he embraces all kinds of injustice. For we knowthat all who oppressed the poor, deprived men of their possessions, or shed innocent blood, were regarded as murderers in the sight of God."

pot into which the flesh of the slaughtered is thrown. Yet even in this sense will Jerusalem not serve as a pot to these worthless counsellors (ver. 11). They will lead you out of the city (N^nj in ver. 7, is the 3d pers. sing, with an indefinite subject). The sword which ye fear, and from which this city is to protect you, will come upon you, and cut v<>u down — not in Jerusalem, but on the frontier of Israel. Parity, in ver. 10, ver. 11. This threat was literally fulfilled in the bloody scenes at Riblah (Jer. lii. 24-27). It is not therefore a vaticinium ex eventu, but contains the general thought, that the wicked either in Jerusalem or in the land of Israel as a whole, but were to be led out of the land, and judged outside. This threat compare the remarks on ch. v. 7. The truth and the power of this word are demonstrated at once by what is related in the

Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died: then I fell upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said: Alas! Lord Jehovah, dost Thou make an end of the remnant of Israel? — The sudden death of one of the princes of the nation, while Ezekiel was prophesying, was intended to assure the house of Israel of the certain fulfilment of this wrord of God. So far, however, as

1 " He threatens a double punishment; first, that God will cast them out of Jerusalem, in which they delight, and where they say that they will still make their abode for a long time to come, so that exile may be the first punishment. He then adds, secondly, that He will not be content with exile, but will send a severer punishment, after they have been cast out, and both home and land have spued them out as a stench which they could not bear. 1 will judge you at the frontier of Israel, i.e. outside the holy land, so that when one curse shall have become manifest in exile, a severer and more formidable punishment shall still await you."

the fact itself is concerned, we must bear in mind, that as it was only in spirit that Ezekiel was at Jerusalem, and prophesied to the men whom he saw in spirit there, so the death of Pelatiah was simply a part of the vision, and in all probability was actually realized by the sudden death of this prince during or immediately after the publication of the vision. But the occurrence, even when the prophet saw it in spirit, made such an impression upon his mind, that with trembling and despair he once more made an importunate appeal to God, as in ch. ix. 8, and inquired whether He meant to destroy the whole of the remnant of Israel, nja niyy, to put an end to a thing, with HK before the object, as in Zeph. i. 18 (see the comm. on Nah. i. 8). The Lord then gives him the comforting assurance in vers. 14-21, that He will preserve a remnant among the exiles, and make them His people once more.

Vers. 14-21. Promise of the gathering of Israel out of the nations. — Ver. 14. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 15. Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren are the people of thy proxy, and the whole house of Israel, the whole of it, to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem say, Remain far away from Jehovah; to us the land is given for a possession. Ver. 16. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Yea, I have sent them far away, and have scattered them in the lands, but I have become to them a sanctuary for a little while in the lands whither they have come. Ver. 17. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, And I will gather you from the nations, and will collect you together from the lands in which ye are scattered, and will give you the land of Israel. Ver. 18. And they will come thither, and remove from it all its detestable things, and all its abominations. Ver. 19. And I will give them one heart, and give a new spirit within you; and will take the heart of stone out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh; Ver. 20. That they may walk in my statutes, and preserve my rights, and do them: and they will be my people, and I will be their God. Ver. 21. But those whose heart goeth to the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will give their way upon their head, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. — The prophet had interceded, first of all for the inhabitants of Jerusalem (ch. ix. 8), and then for the rulers of the nation, and had asked God whether He would entirely destroy the remnant of Israel. To this God replies that his brethren, in whom he is to interest himself, are not these inhabitants of Jerusalem and these rulers of the nation, but the Israelites carried into exile, who are regarded by these inhabitants at Jerusalem as cut off from the people of God. The nouns in ver. 15a are not a accusatives, which are resumed in the suffix to ^i?n"in in ver. 16," as Hitzig imagines, but form an independent clause, in which T£$ is the subject, and ^r&W S^K as well as b&ito) rvn'b the predicates. The repetition of u thy brethren " serves to increase the force of the expression: thy true, real brethren; not in contrast to the priests, who were lineal relations (Havernick), but in contrast to the Israelites, who had only the name of Israel, and denied its nature. These brethren are to be the people of his proxy; and toward these he is to exercise n?N3. n?X3 is the business, or the duty and right, of the Goel. According to the law, the Goel was the brother, or the nearest relation, whose duty it was to come to the help of his impoverished brother, not only by redeeming (buying back) his possession, which poverty had compelled him to sell, but to redeem the man himself, if he had been sold to pay his debts (yid. Lev. xxv. 25, 48). The Goel therefore became the possessor of the property of which his brother had been unjustly deprived, if it were not restored till after his death (Num. v. 8). Consequently he was not only the avenger of blood, but the natural supporter and agent of his brother; and n?xa signifies not merely redemption or kindred, but proxy, i.e. both the right and obligation to act as the legal representative, the avenger of blood, the heir, etc., of the brother. The words " and the whole of the house of Israel" are a second predicate to " thy brethren," and affirm that the brethren, for whom Ezekiel can and is to intercede, form the whole of the house of Israel, the term " whole" being rendered more emphatic by the repetition of b'3 in ffe. A contrast is drawn between this u whole house of Israel " and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who say to those brethren, u Remain far away from Jehovah, to us is the land given for a possession." It follows from this, first of all, that the brethren of Ezekiel, towards whom he was to act as Goel, were those who had been taken away from the land, his companions in exile; and, secondly, that the exiles formed the whole of the house of Israel, that is to say, that they alone would be regarded by God as His people, and not the inhabitants of Jerusalem or those left in the land, who regarded the exiles as no longer a portion of the nation: simply because, in their estrangement from God, they looked upon the mere possession of Jerusalem as a pledge of participation in the grace of God. This shows the prophet where the remnant of the people of God is to be found. To this there is appended in ver. 16 sqq. a promise of the way in which the Lord will make this remnant His true people. J3P. therefore, viz. because the inhabitants of Jerusalem regard the exiles as rejected by the Lord, Ezekiel is to declare to them that Jehovah is their sanctuary even in their dispersion (ver. 16); and because the others deny that they have any share in the possession of the land, the Lord will gather them together again, and give them the land of Israel (ver. 17). The two ]J? are co-ordinate, and introduce the antithesis to the disparaging sentence pronounced by the inhabitants of Jerusalem upon those who have been carried into exile. The *3 before the two leading clauses in ver. 16 does not mean " because," serving to introduce a protasis, to which ver. 17 would form the apodosis, as Ewald affirms; but it stands before the direct address in the sense of an assurance, which indicates that there is some truth at the bottom of the judgment pronounced by their opponents, the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The thought is this: the present position of affairs is unquestionably that Jehovah has scattered them (the house of Israel) among the Gentiles; but He has not therefore cast them off. He has become a sanctuary to them in the lands of their dispersion. Migddsh does not mean either asylum or an object kept sacred (Hitzig), but a sanctuary, more especially the temple. They had, indeed, lost the outward temple (at Jerusalem); but the Lord Himself had become their temple. What made the temple into a sanctuary was the presence of Jehovah, the covenant God, therein. This even the exiles were to enjoy in their banishment, and in this they would possess a substitute for the outward temple. This thought is rendered still more precise by the word W3, which may refer either to time or measure, and signify " for a short time," or " in some measure." It is difficult to decide between these two renderings. In support of the latter, which Kliefoth prefers (after the LXX. and Vulgate), it may be argued that the manifestation of the Lord, both by the mission of prophets and by the outward deliverances and inward consolations which He bestowed upon the faithful, was but a partial substitute to the exile for His gracious presence in the temple and in the holy land. Nevertheless, the context, especially the promise in ver. 17, that He will gather them again and lead them back into the land of Israel, appears to favour the former signification, namely, that this substitution was only a provisional one, and was only to last for a short time, although it also implies that this could not and wras not meant to be a perfect substitute for the gracious presence of the Lord. For Israel, as the people of God, could not remain scattered abroad; it must possess the inheritance bestowed upon it by the Lord, and have its God in the midst of it in its own land, and that in a manner more real than could possibly be the case in captivity among the Gentiles. This will be fully realized in the heavenly Jerusalem, where the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb will be a temple to the redeemed (Rev. xxi. 22). Therefore will Jehovah gather together the dispersed once more, and lead them back into the land of Israel, i.e. into the land which He designed for Israel; whereas the inhabitants of

Jerusalem, who boast of their possession of Canaan (ver. 15), will lose what they now possess. Those who are restored will then remove all idolatrous abominations (ver. 17), and receive from God a new and feeling heart (ver. 19), so that they will walk in the ways of God, and be in truth the people of God (ver. 20).

The fulfilment of this promise did, indeed, begin with the return of a portion of the exiles under Zerubbabel; but it was not completed under either Zerubbabel or Ezra, or even in the Maccabean times. Although Israel may have entirely relinquished the practice of gross idolatry after the captivity, it did not then attain to that newness of heart which is predicted in vers. 19, 20. This only commenced with the Baptist's preaching of repentance, and with the coming of Christ; and it was realized in the children of Israel, who accepted Jesus in faith, and suffered Him to make them children of God. Yet even by Christ this prophecy has not yet been perfectly fulfilled in Israel, but only in part, since the greater portion of Israel has still in its hardness that stony heart which must be removed out of its flesh before it can attain to salvation. The promise in ver. 19 has for its basis the prediction in Deut. xxx. 6. " What the circumcision of the heart is there, viz. the removal of all uncleanliness, of which outward circumcision was both the type and pledge, is represented here as the giving of a heart of flesh instead of one of stone" (Hengstenberg). I give them one heart. *inx 37^ which Hitzig is wrong in proposing to alter into "inx y?j another heart, after the LXX., is supported and explained by Jer. xxxii. 39, " I give them one heart and one way to fear me continually" (cf. Zeph. iii. 9 and Acts iv. 32). One heart is not an upright, undivided heart (o$ 3/?), but a harmonious, united heart, in contrast to the division or plurality of hearts which prevails in the natural state, in which every one follows his own heart and his own mind, turning " every one to his own way" (Isa. liii. 6). God gives one heart, when He causes all hearts and minds to become one. This can only be effected by His giving a " new spirit," taking away the stoneheart, and giving a heart of flesh instead. For the old spirit fosters nothing but egotism and discord. The heart of stone has no susceptibility to the impressions of the word of God and the drawing of divine grace. In the natural condition, the heart of man is as hard as stone. li The word of God, the external leadings of God, pass by and leave no trace behind. The latter may crush it, and yet not break it. Even the fragments continue hard; yea, the hardness goes on increasing " (Hengstenberg). The heart of flesh is- a tender heart, susceptible to the drawing of divine grace (compare ch. xxxvi. 26, where these figures, which are peculiar to Ezekiel, recur; and for the substance of the prophecy, Jer. xxxi. 33). The fruit of this renewal of heart is walking in the commandments of the Lord; and the consequence of the latter is the perfect realization of the covenant relation, true fellowship with the Lord God. But judgment goes side by side with this renewal. Those who will not forsake their idols become victims to the judgment (ver. 21). The first hemistich of ver. 21 is a relative clause, in which "i^K is to be supplied and connected with D2?: " Whose heart walketh after the heart of their abominations." The heart, which is attributed to, the abominations and detestations, i.e. to the idols, is the inclination to idolatry, the disposition and spirit which manifest themselves in the worship of idols. Walking after the heart of the idols forms the antithesis to walking after the heart of God (1 Sam. xiii. 14). For 'tt1 b^-n, " I will give their way," see ch. ix. 10.

Vers. 22—25. The promise that the Lord would preserve to Himself a holy seed among those who had been carried away captive, brought to a close the announcement of the judgment that would fall upon the ancient Israel and apostate Jerusalem. All that is now wanting, as a conclusion to the whole vision, is the practical confirmation of the announcement of judgment. This is given in the two following verses. — Ver. 22. And the cherubim raised their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was vp above them. Ver. 23. And the glory of Jehovah ascended from the midst of the city, and took its stand upon the mountain which is to the east of the city. Ver. 24. And wind lifted me up, and brought me to Chaldea to the exiles, in the vision, in the Spirit of God; and the vision ascended away from me, which I had seen. Ver. 25. And I spoke to the exiles all the words of Jehovah, which He had shown to me. — The manifestation of the glory of the Lord had already left the temple, after the announcement of the burning of Jerusalem, and had taken its stand before the entrance of the eastern gate of the outer court, that is to say, in the city itself (ch. x. 19, xi. 1). But now, after the announcement had been made to the representatives of the authorities of their removal from the city, the glory of the God of Israel forsook the devoted city also, as a sign that both temple and city had ceased to be the seats of the gracious presence of the Lord. The mountain on the east of the city is the Mount of Olives, which affords a lofty outlook over the city. There the glory of God remained, to execute the judgment upon Jerusalem. Thus, according to Zech. xiv. 4, will Jehovah also appear at the last judgment on the Mount of Olives above Jerusalem, to fio-ht thence against His foes, and prepare a way of escape for those who are to be saved. It was from the Mount of Olives also that the Son of God proclaimed to the degenerate city the second destruction (Luke xix. 21; Matt. xxiv. 3); and from the same mountain He made His visible ascension to heaven after His resurrection (Luke xxiv. 50; cf. Acts i. 12); and; as Grotius has observed, " thus did Christ ascend from this mountain into His kingdom, to execute judgment upon the

After this vision of the judgments of God upon the ancient people of the covenant and the kingdom of God, Ezekiel was carried back in the spirit into Chaldea, to the river Chaboras.

The vision then vanished; and he related to the exiles all that he had seen.

The words of God which follow in ch. xii.-xix. do not contain any chronological data defining the exact period at which they were communicated to the prophet and reported by him. But so far as their contents are concerned, they are closely connected with the foregoing announcements of judgment; and this renders the assumption a very probable one, that they were not far removed from them in time, but fell within the space of eleven months intervening between ch. viii. 1 and xx. 1, and were designed to carry out still further the announcement of judgment in ch. viii.-xi. This is done more especially in the light thrown upon all the circumstances, on which the impenitent people rested their hope of the preservation of the kingdom and Jerusalem, and of their speedy liberation from the Babylonian yoke. The purpose of the whole is to show the worthlessness of this false confidence, and to affirm the certainty and irresistibility of the predicted destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, in the hope of awakening the rebellious and hardened generation to that thorough repentance, without which it was impossible that peace and prosperity could ever be enjoyed. This definite purpose in the prophecies which follow is clearly indicated in the introductory remarks in ch. xii. 2, xiv. 1, and xx. 1. In the first of these passages the hardness of Israel is mentioned as the motive for the ensuing prophecy; whilst in the other two, the visit of certain elders of Israel to the prophet, to seek the Lord and to inquire through him, is given as the circumstance which occasioned the further prophetic declarations. It is evident from this that the previous words of God had already made some impression upon the hearers, but that their hard heart had not yet been broken by them.

In ch. xii., Ezekiel receives instructions to depict, by means of a symbolical action, the departure of the king and people from Jerusalem (vers. 3-7), and to explain the action to the refractory generation (vers. 8-16). After this he is to exhibit, by another symbolical sign, the want and distress to which the people will be reduced (vers. 17-20). And lastly, he is to rebut the frivolous sayings of the people, to the effect that what is predicted will either never take place at all, or not till a very distant time (vers. 21-28).

Vers. 1-7. Symbol of the Emigration. — Ver. 1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 2. Soji of man, thou dwellest amidst the refractory generation, ivho have eyes to see, and see not; and have ears to hear, and hear not; for they are a refractory generation, Ver. 3. And thou, son of man, make thyself an outfit for exile, and depart by day before their eyes; and depart from thy place to another place before their eyes: perhaps they might see, for they are a refractory generation, Ver. 4. And carry out thy things like an outfit for exile by day before their eyes; but do thou go out in the evening before their eyes, as when going out to exile, Ver. 5. Before their eyes break through the wall, and carry it out there, Ver. 6. Before their eyes take it upon thy shoulder, carry it out in the darkness: cover thy face, and look not upon the land; for I have set thee as a sign to the house of Israel, Ver. 7. And I did so as I was commanded: I carried out my things like an outfit for exile by day, and in the evening I broke through the wall with my hand; I carried it out in the darkness; I took it upon my shoulder before their eyes. — In ver. 2 the reason is assigned for the command to perform the symbolical action, namely, the hard-heartedness of the people. Because the generation in the midst of which Ezekiel dwelt was blind, with seeing eyes, and deaf, with hearing ears, the prophet was to depict before its eyes, by means of the sign that followed, the judgment which was approaching; in the hope, as is added in ver. 3, that they might possibly observe and lay the sign to heart. The refractoriness (^o rP3y as in ch. ii. 5, 6, iii. 26, etc.) is described as obduracy, viz. having eyes, and not seeing; having ears, and not hearing, after Deut. xxix. 3 (cf. Jer. v. 21; Isa. vi. 9; Matt. xiii. 14, 15). The root of this mental blindness and deafness was to be found in obstinacy, i.e. in not willing; u in that presumptuous insolence/' as Michaelis says, " through which divine light can obtain no admission." »"yU v3, the goods (or outfit) of exile, were a pilgrim's staff and traveller's wallet, with the provisions and utensils necessary for a journey. Ezekiel was to carry these out of the house into the street in the day-time, that the people might see them and have their attention called to them. Then in the evening, after dark, he was to go out himself, not by the door of the house, but through a hole which he had broken in the wall. He was also to take the travelling outfit upon his shoulder and carry it through the hole and out of the place, covering his face all the while, that he might not see the land to which he was going. " Thy place " is thy dwelling-place. nTtf ^iDS: as the departures of exiles generally take place, i.e. as exiles are accustomed to depart, not " at the usual time of departure into exile," as Havernick proposes. For fc^fiE, see the comm. on Mic. v. 1. ntWJD differs from ^VX and signifies the darkness of the depth of night (cf. Gen. xv. 17); not, however, " darkness artificially produced, equivalent to, with the eyes shut, or the face covered; so that the words which follow are simply explanatory of HD?^" as Schmieder imagines. Such an assumption would be at variance not only with ver. 7, but also with ver. 12, where the covering or concealing of the face is expressly distinguished from the carrying out " in the dark." The order was to be as follows: In the day-time Ezekiel was to take the travelling outfit and carry it out into the road; then in the evening he was to go out himself, having first of all broken a hole through the wall as evening was coming on; and in the darkness of night he was to place upon his shoulders whatever he was about to carry with him, and take his departure. This he was to do, because God had made him a mopheth for Israel: in other words, by doing this he was to show himself to be a marvellous sign to Israel. For mOphSth, see the comm. on Ex. iv. 21. In ver. 7, the execution of the command, which evidently took place in the strictness of the letter, is fully described. There was nothing impracticable in the action, for breaking through the wall did not preclude the use of a hammer or some other tool.

Vers. 8-16. Explanation of the symbolical action. — Ver. 8. And the word of Jehovah came to me in the morning ', saying, Ver. 9. Son of man, have they not said to thee, the house of Israel, the refractory generation, What art thou doing f Ver. 10. Say to them, Tints saith the Lord Jehovah, 1'his burden applies to the prince in Jerusalem, and to all the house of Israel to ichom they belong. Ver. 11. Say, lam your sign: as I have done, so shall it happen to them; into exile, into captivity, will they go. Ver. 12. And the prince who is in the midst of them he will lift it upon his shoulder in the dark, and will go out: they will break through the wall, and carry it out thereby: he will cover his face, that he may not see the land with eyes. Ver. 13. And I will spread my net over him, so that he ivill be caught in my snare: and I will take him to Babel, into the land of the Chaldeans; but he will not see it, and will die there. Ver. 14. And all that is about him, his help and all his troops, I will scatter into all winds, and draw out the sword behind them. Ver. 15. And they shall learn that I am Jehovah, when I scatter them among the nations, and winnow them in the lands. Ver. 16. Yet I will leave of them a small number of men from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may relate all their abominations among the nations whither they have come; and learn that I am Jehovah. — As queries introduced with fc6n have, as a rule, an affirmative sense, the words " have they not asked," etc., imply that the Israelites had asked the prophet what he was doing, though not in a proper state of mind, not in a penitential manner, as the epithet nan rva plainly shows. The prophet is therefore to interpret the action which he had just been performing, and all its different stages. The words n)j) Nteran N^asij to which very different renderings have been given, are to be translated simply a the prince is this burden," i.e. the object of this burden. Hammassd does not mean the carrying, but the burden, i.e. the threatening prophecy, the prophetic action of the prophet, as in the headings to the oracles (see the comm. on Nah. i. 1). The u prince " is the king, as in ch. xxi. 30, though not Jehoiachin, who had been carried into exile, but Zedekiah. This is stated in the apposition " in Jerusalem," which belongs to " the prince," though it is not introduced till after the predicate, as in Gen. xxi v. 24. To this there is appended the further definition, " the whole house of Israel," which, being co-ordinated with N^n, affirms that all Israel (the covenant nation) will share the fate of the prince. In the last clause of ver. 10 D^n? does not stand for R3taa^ so that the suffix would refer to Jerusalem, " in the midst of which they (the house of Israel) are." "IKW cannot be a nominative, because in that case n®[} would be superfluous; it is rather to be taken with D3iri3, and ftte\} to be understood as referring to the persons addressed, i.e. to the Israelites in exile (Hitzig, Kliefoth): in the midst of whom they are, i.e. to whom they belong. The sentence explains the reason why the prophet was to announce to those in exile the fate of the prince and people in Jerusalem; namely, because the exiles formed a portion of the nation, and would be affected by the judgment which was about to burst upon the king and people in Jerusalem. In this sense Ezekiel was also able to say to the exiles (in ver. 11), " I am your sign; " inasmuch as his sign was also of importance for them, as those who wrere already banished would be so far affected by the departure of the king and people which Ezekiel depicted, that it would deprive them of all hope of a speedy return to their native land. DHJ, in ver. 11, refers to the king and the house of Israel in Jerusalem, njian is rendered more forcible by the addition of *?$?. The announcement that both king and people must go into exile, is carried out still further in vers. 12 and 13 with reference to the king, and in ver. 14 with regard to the people. The king will experience all that Ezekiel has described. The literal occurrence of what is predicted here is related in Jer. xxxix. 1 sqq., II £. 4 sqq.; 2 Kings xxv. 4 sqq. When the Chaldeans forced their way into the city after a two years' siege, Zedekiah and his men of war fled by night out of the city through the gate between the two walls. It is not expressly stated, indeed, in the historical accounts that a breach was made in the wall; but the expression " through the gate between the two walls" (Jer. xxxix. 4, lii. 7; 2 Kings xxv. 4) renders this very probable, whether the gate had been walled up during the siege, or it was necessary to break through the wall at one particular spot in order to reach the gate. The king's attendants would naturally take care that a breach was made in the wall, to secure for him a way of escape; hence the expression, " they will break through." The covering of the face, also, is not mentioned in the historical accounts; but in itself it is by no means improbable, as a sign of the shame and grief with which Zedekiah left the city. The words, " that he may not see the land with eyes," do not appear to indicate anything more than the necessary consequence of covering the face, and refer primarily to the simple fact that the king fled in the deepest sorrow, and did not want to see the land; but, as ver. 13 clearly intimates, they were fulfilled in another way, namely, by the fact that Zedekiah did not see with his eyes the land of the Chaldeans into which he was led, because he had been blinded at Riblah (Jer. xxxix. 5, lii. 11; 2 Kings xxv. 7).?.¥?> by eye = with his eyes, is added to give prominence to the idea of seeing. For the same purpose, the subject, which is already implied in the. verb, is rendered more emphatic by fcttn; and this fcttii is placed after the verb, so that it stands in contrast with P.?*?* The capture of the king was not depicted by Ezekiel; so that in this respect the announcement (ver. 13) goes further than the symbolical action, and removes all doubt as to the credibility of the prophet's word, by a distinct prediction of the fate awaiting him. At the same time, his not seeing the land of Babylon is left so indefinite, that it cannot be regarded as a valicinium post event um. Zedekiah died in prison at Babylon (Jer. lii. 11). Along with the king, the whole of his military force will be scattered in all directions (ver. 14). nhty? his help, i.e. the troops that break through with him. VaSfcTTa, all his wings (the wings of his army), i.e. all the rest of his forces. The word is peculiar to Ezekiel, and is rendered " wings" by Jos. Kimchi, like kendphaim in Isa. viii. 8. For the rest of the verse compare ch. v. 2; and for the fulfilment, Jer. lii. 8, xl. 7, 12. The greater part of the people will perish, and only a small number remain, that they may relate among the heathen, wherever they are led, all the abominations of Israel, in order that the heathen may learn that it is not from weakness, but simply to punish idolatry, that God has given up His people to them (cf. Jer. xxii. 8).

Vers. 17-20. Sign depicting the Terrors and Consequences of the Conquest of Jerusalem. — Ver. 17. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 18. Son of man, thou shalt eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and trouble; Ver. 19. And say to the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, in the land of Israel, They will eat their bread in trouble, and drink their water in amazement, because her land is laid waste of all its fulness for the wickedness of all who dwell therein. Ver. 20. And the inhabited cities become desolate, and the land will be laid waste; that ye may learn that I am Jehovah. — The carrying out of this sign is not mentioned; not that there is any doubt as to its having been done, but that it is simply taken for granted. The trouble and trembling could only be expressed by means of gesture. WT[, generally an earthquake or violent convulsion; here, simply shaking, synonymous with nirj, trembling. " Bread and water" is the standing expression for food; so that even here the idea of scanty provisions is not to be sought therein. This idea is found merely in the signs of anxiety and trouble with which Ezekiel was to eat his food. nrpnx"^ = 'n&rby, " upon the land," equivalent to u in the land." This is appended to show that the prophecy does not refer to those who had already been carried into exile, but to the inhabitants of Jerusalem who were still in the land. For the subject-matter, compare ch. iv. 16, 17. |V2? indicates not the intention, " in order that," but the motive, u because."

Vers. 21-28. Declarations to remove all Doubt as to the Truth of the Threat. — The scepticism of the people as to the fulfilment of these threatening prophecies, which had been made still more emphatic by signs, manifested itself in two different ways. Some altogether denied that the prophecies would ever be fulfilled (ver. 22); others, who did not go so far as this, thought that it would be a long time before they came to pass (ver. 27). These doubts were fed by the lying statements of false prophets. For this reason the refutation of these sceptical opinions (vers. 21-28) is followed in the next chapter by a stern reproof of the false prophets and prophetesses who led the people astray. — Ver. 21. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 22. Son of man, what kind of proverb have ye in the land of Israel, that ye say, The days become long, and every prophecy comes to nothing? Ver. 23. Therefore say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I will put an end to this saying, and they shall say it no more in Israel; but say to them, The days are near, and the word of every prophecy. Ver. 24. For henceforth there shall be no vain prophecy and flattering soothsaying in the midst of the house of Israel, Ver. 25. For I am Jehovah; I speak; the word which I speak will come to pass, and no longer be postponed; for in your days, 0 refractory generation, I speak a word and do it, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah.— Mdshdl, a proverb, a saying current among the people, and constantly repeated as a truth. " The days become long," etc., i.e. the time is lengthening out, and yet the prophecy is not being fulfilled. 12N, perire, to come to nothing, to fail of fulfilment, is the opposite of fetia, to come, to be fulfilled. God will put an end to these sayings, by causing a very speedy fulfilment of the prophecy. The days are near, and every word of the prophecy, i.e. the days in which every word predicted shall come to pass. The reason for this is given in vers. 24 and 25, in two co-ordinate sentences, both of which are introduced with *3. First, every false prophecy shall henceforth cease in Israel (ver. 24); secondly, God will bring about the fulfilment of His own word, and that without delay (ver. 25). Different explanations have been given of the meaning of ver. 24. Kliefoth proposes to take NV^ and pbn Dp[?D as the predicate to jitn: no prophecy in Israel shall be vain and flattering soothsaying, but all prophecy shall become true, i.e. be fulfilled. Such an explanation, however, is not only artificial and unnatural, since Dpprp would be inserted as a predicate in a most unsuitable manner, but it contains this incongruity, that God would apply the term BDpB, soothsaying, to the predictions of prophets inspired by Himself. On the other hand, there is no force in the objection raised by Kliefoth to the ordinary rendering of the words, namely, that the statement that God was about to put an end to false prophecy in Israel would anticipate the substance of the sixth word of God (i.e. ch. xiii.). It is impossible to see why a thought should not be expressed here, and then still further expanded in ch. xiii. Ppn, smooth, i.e. flattering (compare Hos. x. 2; and for the prediction, Zech. xiii. 4, 5). The same reply serves also to overthrow the sceptical objection raised by the frivolous despisers of the prophet's words. Hence there is only a brief allusion made to them in vers. 26-28. — Ver. 26. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 27. Son of man, behold, the house of Israel saith, The vision that he seeth is for many days off, and he prophesies for distant times. Ver. 28. Therefore say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, All my words shall be no longer postponed: the word which I shall speak shall come to pass, saith the Lord Jehovah. — The words are plain; and after what has already been said, they need no special explanation. Ver. 20 compare with ver. 25.

The way was already prepared for the address in this chapter by the announcement in ch. xii. 24. It divides itself into two parts, viz. vers. 1-16, directed against the false prophets; and vers. 17-23, against the false prophetesses. In both parts their conduct is first described, and then the punishment foretold. Jeremiah, like Ezekiel, and sometimes still more strongly, denounces the conduct of the false prophets, who are therefore to be sought for not merely among the exiles, but principally among those who were left behind in the land (vid. Jer. xxiii. 9 sqq.). A lively intercourse was kept up between the two, so that the false prophets extended their operations from Canaan to the Chaboras, and vice versa.

Vers. 1-16. Against the False Prophets. — Vers. 1-7. Their conduct. — Ver. 1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 2. Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel icho prophesy, and say to the prophets out of their heart, Hear ye the word of Jehovah. Ver. 3. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe upon the foolish prophets, who go after their spirit, and that which they have not seen! Ver. 4. Like foxes in ruins have thy prophets become, 0 Israel. Ver. 5. Ye do not stand before the breaches, nor wall up theicall around the house of Israel to stand firm in the battle on the day of Jehovah. Ver. 6. They see vanity and lying soothsaying, wlio say, u Oracle of Jehovah;'' and Jehovah hath not sent them; so that they might hope for the fulfilment of the word. Ver. 7. Do ye not see vain visions, and speak lying soothsaying, and say, Oracle of Jehovah; and I have not spoken? — The addition D*K33n? a who prophesy," is not superfluous. Ezekiel is not to direct his words against the prophets as a body, but against those who follow the vocation of prophet in Israel without being called to it by God on receiving a divine revelation, but simply prophesying out of their own heart, or according to their own subjective imagination. In the name of the Lord he is to threaten them with woes, as fools who follow their own spirit; in connection with which we must bear in mind that folly, according to the Hebrew idea, was not merely a moral failing, but actual godlessness (cf. Ps. xiv. 1). The phrase "going after their spirit" is interpreted and rendered more emphatic by 1N^ ^P^, which is to be taken as a relative clause, " that which they have not seen," i.e. whose prophesying does not rest upon intuition inspired by God. Consequently they cannot promote the welfare of the nation, but (ver. 4) are like foxes in ruins or desolate places. The point of comparison is to be found in the undermining of the ground by foxes, qui.per cuniculos subjectam terram excavant et suffodiunt (Bochart). For the thought is not exhausted by the circumstance that they withdraw to their holes instead of standing in front of the breach (Hitzig); and there is no force in the objection that, with this explanation, r>^"in:i is passed over and becomes in fact tautological (Havernick). The expression " in ruins " points to the fall of the theocracy, which the false prophets cannot prevent, but, on the contrary, accelerate byundermining the moral foundations of the state. For (ver. 5) they do not stand in the breaches, and do not build up the wall around the house of Israel (&6 belongs to both clauses). He who desires to keep off the enemy, and prevent his entering the fortress, will stand in the breach. For the same purpose are gaps and breaches in the fortifications carefully built up. The sins of the people had made gaps and breaches in the walls of Jerusalem; in other words, had caused the moral decay of the city. But they had not stood in the way of this decay and its causes, as the calling and duty of prophets demanded, by reproving the sins of the people, that they might rescue the people and kingdom from destruction by restoring its moral and religious life. nor6©3 "ibyp, to stand, or keep ground, i.e. so that ye might have kept your ground in the war. The subject is the false prophets, not Israel, as Hiivernick supposes. " In the day of Jehovah," i.e. in the judgment which Jehovah has decreed. Not to stand, does not mean merely to avert the threatening judgment, but not to survive the judgment itself, to be overthrown by it. This arises from the fact that their prophesying is a lie; because Jehovah, whose name they have in their mouths, has not sent them (ver. 6). vjTi is dependent upon Dnjt?: Qocl has not sent them, so that they could hope for the fulfilment of the word which they speak. The rendering adopted by others, u and they cause to hope," is untenable; for?nj with 7 does not mean " to cause to hope," or give hope, but simply to hope for anything. This was really the case; and it is affirmed in the declaration, which is repeated in the form of a direct appeal in ver. 7, to the effect that their visions were vain and lying soothsaying. For this they are threatened with the judgment described in the verses which follow.

Vers. 8—16. Punishment of the false prophets. — Ver. 8. Therefore thus saith (he Lord Jehovah, Because ye speak vanity and prophesy lying, therefore, behold, I ivill deal with you, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Ver. 9. And my hand shall be against the prophets who see vanity and divine lies: in the council of my people they shall not be, and in the register of the house of Israel they shall not be registered, and into the land of Israel shall they not come; and ye shall learn that I am the Lord Jehovah. Ver. 10. Because, yea because they lead my people astray, and say, u Peace" though there is no peace; and when it {my people) build a wall, behold, they plaster it with cement: Ver. 11. Say to the plasterers, that it will fall: there cometh a pouring rain; and ye hailstones fall, and thou stormy wind break loose! Ver. 12. And, behold, the wall falleth; will men not say to you, Where is the plaster ivith which ye have plastered it? Ver. 13. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I cause a stormy wind to break forth in my wrath, and a pouring rain will come in my anger, and hailstones in wrath, for destruction. Ver. 14. And I demolish the icall which ye have plastered, and cast it to the ground, that its foundation may be exposed, and it shall fall, and ye shall perish in the midst of it; and shall learn that I am Jehovah. Ver. 15. And I will exhaust my wrath upon the wall, and upon those who plaster it; and will say to you, It is all over with the ivall, and all over ivith those who plastered it; Ver. 16. With the prophets of Israel ivho prophesied to Jerusalem, and saw visions of peace for her, though there is no peace, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. — In ver. 8 the punishment which is to fall upon the false prophets is threatened in general terms; and in ver. 9 it is more specifically described in the form of a climax, rising higher and higher in the severity of its announcements. (1) They are no longer to form part of the council of the people of God; that is to say, they will lose their influential position among the people. ("riD is the sphere of counsellors, not the social sphere.) (2) Their names shall not be registered in the book of the house of Israel. The book of the house of Israel is the register in which the citizens of the kingdom of God are entered. Any one whose name was not admitted into this book, or was struck out of it, was separated thereby from the citizenship of Israel, and lost all the privileges which citizenship conferred. The figure of the book of life is a similar one (cf. Ex. xxxii. 32). For Israel is not referred to here with regard to its outward nationality, but as the people of God; so that exclusion from Israel was also exclusion from fellowship with God. The circumstance that it is not the erasure of their names from the book that is mentioned here, but their not being entered in the book at all, may be accounted for from the reference contained in the words to the founding of the new kingdom of God. The old theocracy was abolished, although Jerusalem was not yet destroyed. The covenant nation had fallen under the judgment; but out of that portion of Israel which was dispersed among the heathen, a remnant would be gathered together again, and having been brought back to its own land, would be made anew into a holy people of God (cf. ch. xi. 17 sqq.). But the false prophets are not to be received into the citizenship of the new kingdom. (3) They are not even to come into the land of Israel; i.e. they are not merely to remain in exile, but to lose all share in the privileges and blessings of the kingdom of God. This judgment will come upon them because they lead astray the people of God, by proclaiming peace where there is no peace; i.e. by raising and cherishing false hopes of prosperity and peace, by which they encourage the people in their sinful lives, and lead them to imagine that all is well, and there is no judgment to be feared (cf. Jer. xxiii. 17 and Mic. iii. 5). The exposure of this offence is introduced by the solemn |JP2} |SP, because and because (cf. Lev. xxvi. 43); and the offence itself is exhibited by means of a figure. When the people build a wall, the false prophets plaster the wall with lime. Kirn (ver. 10) refers to *BP, and the clause is a circumstantial one. 7Dn signifies the plaster coating or cement of a wall, probably from the primary meaning of ^Qn, to stick or plaster over (=5>£D, conglutinare, to glue, or fasten together), from which the secondary meaning of weak, insipid, has sprung. The proper word for plaster or cement is rPtp (ver. 12), and?sn is probably chosen with an allusion to the tropical signification of that which is silly or absurd (Jer. xxiii. 13; Lam. ii. 14). The meaning of the figure is intelligible enough. The people build up foolish hopes, and the prophets not only paint these hopes for them in splendid colours, but even predict their fulfilment, instead of denouncing their folly, pointing out to the people the perversity of their ways, and showing them that such sinful conduct must inevitably be followed by punishment and ruin. The plastering is therefore a figurative description of deceitful flattery or hypocrisy, i.e. the covering up of inward corruption by means of outward appearance (as in Matt, xxiii. 27 and Acts xxiii. 3). This figure leads the prophet to describe the judgment which they are bringing upon the nation and themselves, as a tempest accompanied with hail and pouring rain, which throws down the wall that has been erected and plastered over; and in connection with this figure he opens out this double thought: (1) the conduct of the people, which is encouraged by the false prophets, cannot last (vers. 11 and 12); and (2) when this work of theirs is overthrown, the false prophets themselves will also meet with the fate they deserve (vers. 13-16). The threat of judgment commences with the short, energetic?B^, let it (the wall) fall, or it shall fall, with Vav to indicate the train of thought (Ewald, § 347a). The subject is iwj, to which ^ suggests a resemblance in sound. In ver. 12 this is predicted as the fate awaiting the plastered wall. In the description of the bursting storm the account passes with njriKI (and ye) into a direct address; in other words, the description assumes the form of an appeal to the destructive forces of nature to burst forth with all their violence against the work plastered over by the prophets, and to destroy it. ^W D£>3, pouring rain; cf. ch. xxxviii. 22. ^aptf ^DK here and ch. xxxviii. 22 are hailstones. The word B^liap K? which is peculiar to Ezekiel, is probably ^23 (Job xxviii. 18), with the Arabic article i>N; ice, then crystal. ni"Wp nvi, wind of storms, a hurricane or tempest. Vip^n (ver. 11) is used intransitively, to break loose; but in ver. 13 it is transitive, to cause to break loose. The active rendering adopted by Kliefoth, " the storm will rend," sc. the plaster of the wall, is inappropriate in ver. 11; for a tempest does not rend either the plaster or the wall, but throws the wall clown. The translation which Kliefoth gives in ver. 13, " I will rend by tempest," is at variance with both the language and the sense. Jehovah will cause this tempest to burst forth in His wrath and destroy the wall, and lay it level with the ground. The suffix in HDinii refers (ad sensum) to Jerusalem, not to Tg (the wall), which is masculine, and has no ^/J (midst). The words pass from the figure to the reality here; for the plastered wall is a symbol of Jerusalem, as the centre of the theocracy, which is to be destroyed, and to bury the lying prophets in its ruins. WJ31 (ver. 15) contains a play upon the word n?D? in ver. 13. By a new turn given to r6s, Ezekiel repeats the thought that the wrath of God is to destroy the wall and its plasterers; and through this repetition he rounds off the threat with the express declaration, that the false prophets who are ever preaching peace are the plasterers to whom he refers.

Vers. 17-23. Against the False Prophetesses. — As the Lord had not endowed men only with the gifts of prophecy, but sometimes women also, e.g. Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah; so women also rose up along with the false prophets, and prophesied out of their own hearts without being impelled by the Spirit of God. Vers. 17-19. Their conduct.— Ver. 17. And thou, son of man, direct thy face towards the daughters of thy people, who prophesy out of their heart and prophesy against them, Ver. 18. And say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe to those who sew coverings together over all the joints of my hands, and make caps for the head of every size, to catch souls! Ye catch the soids of my people, and keep your souls alive. Ver. 19. And ye profane me with my people for hand fids of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay souls which should not die, and to keep alive which should not live, by your lying to my people who hearken to lying. — Like the prophets in ver. 2, the prophetesses are here described as prophesying out of their own heart (ver. 17); and in vers. 18 and 19 their offences are more particularly described. The meaning of these verses is entirely dependent upon the view to be taken of ^, which the majority of expositors, following the lead of the LXX., the Syriac, and the Vulgate, have regarded as identical with DJT or *1J, and understood as referring to the hands of the women or prophetesses. But there is nothing to justify the assumption that *T is an unusual form for D^\ which even Ewald takes it to be (Lehrbuch, § 177a). Still less can it stand for the singular *P. And we have not sufficient ground for altering the text, as the expression D^nynt in ver. 20 (I will tear the rriDD3 from your arms) does not require the assumption that the prophetesses had hidden their arms in niDD3; and such a supposition is by no means obviously in harmony with the facts. The word flinpa, from np3? with n fern, treated as a radical letter (cf. Ewald, § 18Ge), means a covering or concealment =rrpiD3. The meaning "cushion" or "pillow" (LXX. Trpoo-Kefyakaia.) Vulg. pulvilli) is merely an inference drawn from this passage, and is decidedly erroneous; for the word ">2H (to sew together) is inapplicable to cushions, as well as the phrase *T v*Jfcrta?y, inasmuch as cushions are not placed upon the joints of the hands, and still less are they sewed together upon them. The latter is also a decisive reason for rejecting the explanation given by Havernick, namely, that the Ifsdthoth were carpets, which were used as couches, and upon which these voluptuous women are represented as reclining. For cushions or couches are not placed upon, but under, the arm-joints (or elbows) and the shoulders, which Havernick understands by *V v^SfK. This also overthrows another explanation given of the words, namely, that they refer to carpets, which the prophetesses had sewed together for all their armjoints, so as to form comfortable beds upon splendid carpets, that they may indulge in licentiousness thereon. The explanation given by Ephraem Syrus, and adopted by Hitzig, namely, that the k'sdtlwth were amulets or straps, which they wound round their arm-joints when they received or delivered their oracles, is equally untenable. For, as Kliefoth has observed, " it is evident that there is not a word in the text about adultery, or amulets, or straps used in prayer." And again, when we proceed to the next clause, the traditional rendering of rrinspp? as signifying either pillows (virav^evia, Symm.; cervicalia, Vulg.) or broad cloaks = rrinstpp (Hitzig, Havernick, etc.), is neither supported by the usage of the language, nor in harmony with t^fcO?y. Mispdchothy from sdphach, to join, cannot have any other meaning in the present context than a cap fitting close to the head; and pV must denote the pattern which was followed, as in Ps. ex. 4, Esth. ix. 26: they make the caps after (answering to) the head of every stature. The words of both clauses are figurative, and have been correctly explained

by Kliefoth as follows: " A double charge is brought against the prophetesses. In the first place, they sew coverings together to wrap round all the joints of the hand of God, so that He cannot touch them; i.e. they cover up and conceal the word of God by their prophesying, more especially its rebuking and threatening force, so that the threatening and judicial arm of God, which ought above all to become both manifest and effective through His prophetic word, does not become either one or the other. In the second place, they make coverings upon the heads of men, and construct them in such a form that they exactly fit the stature or size of every individual, so that the men neither hear nor see; i.e., by means of their flattering lies, which adapt themselves to the subjective inclinations of their hearers at the time, they cover up the senses of the men, so that they retain neither ear nor eye for the truth." They do

both of these to catch souls. The inevitable consequence of their act is represented as having been intended by them; and this intention is then still further defined as being to catch the souls of the people of God; i.e. to allure them to destruction, and take care of their own souls. The clause nmivn rritPfian is not to be taken as a question, " Will ye catch the souls? " implying a doubt whether they really thought that they could carry on such conduct as theirs with perfect impunity (Havernick). It contains a simple statement of what really took place in their catching of souls, namely, " they catch the souls of the people of God, and preserve their own souls;" i.e. they rob the people of God of their lives, and take care of their own (Kliefoth). Wp is used instead of the genitive (stat. constr.) to show that the accent resjs upon Vpy. And in the same way we have njD7 instead of the suffix. The construction is the same as in 1 Sam xiv. 16. Ver. 19 shows how great their sin had been. They profane God among His people; namely, by delivering the suggestions of their own heart to the people as divine revelations, for the purpose of getting their daily bread thereby (cf. Mic. iii. 5); by hurling into destruction, through their lies, those who are only too glad to listen to lying; by slaying the souls of the people which ought to live, and by preserving those which ought not to live, i.e. their own souls (Deut. xviii. 20). The punishment for this will not fail to come.

Vers. 20-23. Punishment of the false prophetesses. — Ver. 20. Therefore thus salth the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will deal with your coverings with which ye catch, 1 will let the souls fly; and I loill tear them away from your arms, and set the souls free, which ye catch, the souls to fly. Ver. 21. And I will tear your caps in pieces, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall no more become a prey in your hand; and ye shall learn that I am Jehovah. Ver. 22. Because ye grieve the heart of the righteous with lying, when I have not pained him; and strengthen the hands of the wicked,, so that he does not turn from his evil way, to preserve his life. Ver. 23. Therefore ye shall no more see vanity, and no longer practise soothsaying: and I will deliver my people out of your hand; and ye shall learn that I am Jehovah. — The threat of judgment is closely connected with the reproof of their sins. Vers. 20 and 21 correspond to the reproof in ver. 18, and vers. 22 and 23 to that in ver. 19. In the first place, the Lord will tear in pieces the coverings and caps, i.e. the tissue of lies woven by the false prophetesses, and rescue the people from their snares (vers. 20 and 21); and, secondly, He will entirely put an end to the pernicious conduct of the persons addressed (vers. 22 and 23). The words from nzm ngte to rrirnb? (ver. 20a), when taken as one clause, as they generally are, offer insuperable difficulties, since it is impossible to get any satisfactory meaning from D£>, and rrirnbp will not fit in. Whether we understand by k'sdthdtfr coverings or cushions, the connection of Df> with "l§^| (jvJiere ye catch the souls), which the majority of commentators prefer, is untenable; for coverings and cushions were not the places where the souls were caught, but could only be the means employed for catching them. Instead of Dt? we should expect cn or DH3; and Hitzig proposes to amend it in this way. Still less admissible is the proposal to take UV as referring to Jerusalem (" wherewith ye catch souls there "); as EP would not only contain a perfectly superfluous definition of locality, hut would introduce a limitation altogether at variance with the context. It is not affirmed either of the prophets or of the prophetesses that they lived and prophesied in Jerusalem alone. In vers. 2 and 17 reference is made in the most general terms to the prophets of Israel and the daughters of thy people; and in ver. 16 it is simply stated that the false prophets prophesied peace to Jerusalem when there was no peace at all. Consequently we must regard the attempt to find in Dt;; an allusion to Jerusalem (cf. ver. 16) as a mere loophole, which betrays an utter inability to get any satisfactory sense from the word. Moreover, if we construe the words in this manner, rrirnbp is also incomprehensible. Commentators have for the most part admitted that rna is used here in the Aramaean sense of volare, to fly. In the second half of the verse there is no doubt about its having this meaning. For rw is used in Deut. xxii. 7 for liberating a bird, or letting it fly; and the combination rrirnb? 'BtfrfM JW is supported by the expression ^'DHp rw in Ex. xxi. 26, while the comparison of souls to birds is sustained by Ps. xi. 1 and cxxiv. 7. Hence the true meaning of the whole passage rrirnb?... ruB*B|rrnK tfinpp is, I send away (set free) the souls, which ye have caught, as flying ones, i.e. so that they shall be able to fly away at liberty. And in the first half also we must not adopt a different rendering for rrtrnbpj since rtBfMfrrilC is also connected with it there. But if the words in question are combined into one clause in the first hemistich, they will give us a sense which is obviously wrong, viz. " wherewith ye catch the souls to let them fly." As the impossibility of adopting this rendering has been clearly seen, the attempt has been made to cloak over the.difficulty by means of paraphrases. Ewald, for example, renders nirnb? in both cases " as if they were birds of passage; " but in the first instance he applies it to birds of passage, for which nets are spread for the purpose of catching them; and in the second, to birds of passage which are set at liberty. Thus, strictly speaking, he understands the first rrirnb^ as signifying the catching of birds; and the second, letting them fly: an explanation which refutes itself, as pdrach, to fly, cannot mean " to catch " as well. The rendering adopted by Kimchi, Rosenmliller, and others, who translate rrirnb? ut advolent ad vos in the first hemistich, and ut avolent in the second, is no better. And the difficulty is not removed by resorting to the dialects, as Havernick, for the purpose of forcing upon rrirnb the meaning dissoluteness or licentiousness, for which there is no authority in the Hebrew language itself. If, therefore, it is impossible to obtain any satisfactory meaning from the existing text, it cannot be correct; and no other course is open to us than to alter the unsuitable tif into U&9 and divide the words from nans n^'x to nirrbp into two clauses, as we have done in our translation above. There is no necessity to supply anything to the relative TflM£, as TO is construed with a double accusative (e.g. Mic. vii. 2, Cnn TO, to catch with a net), and the object to DiTto^ viz. the souls, can easily be supplied from the next clause. B^, as a participle, can either be connected with '??*?) " behold, I make," or taken as introducing an explanatory clause: " making the souls into flying ones," i.e. so that they are able to fly (/ DIP, Gen. xii. 2, etc.)* The two clauses of the first hemistich would then exactly correspond to the two clauses of the second half of the verse. BJ"IN W")p1 is explanatory of 'HDD 7X ^n, I will tear off the coverings from their arms. These words do not require the assumption that the prophetesses wore the mr)Di> on their arms, but may be fully explained from the supposition that the persons in question prepared them with their own hands, 'ttl *W??^ corresponds to 'ttl niBtarrw ny; and Hirnhb is governed by WiW. The insertion of D-craanviK is to be accounted for from the copious nature of Ezekiel's style; at the same time, it is not merely a repetition of niC'aarnn&S, which is separated from rrirnb? by the relative clause 'SB B^N T~^.> hut as the unusual plural form D*6?B3 shows, is intended as a practical explanation of the fact, that the souls, while compared to birds, are regarded as living beings, which is the meaning borne by K'S3 in other passages. The omission of the article after HN may be explained, however, from the fact that the souls had been more precisely defined just before; just as, for example, in 1 Sam. xxiv. 6, 2 Sam. xviii. 18, where the more precise definition follows immediately afterwards (cf. Ewald, § 277a, p. 683). — The same thing is said in ver. 21, with regard to the caps, as has already been said of the coverings in ver. 20. God will tear these in pieces also, to deliver His people from the power of the lying prophetesses. In what way God will do this is explained in vers. 22 and 23, namely, not only by putting their lying prophecies to shame through His judgments, but by putting an end to soothsaying altogether, and exterminating the false prophetesses by making them an object of ridicule and shame. The reason for this threat is given in ver. 22, where a further description is given of the disgraceful conduct of these persons; and here the disijracefulness of their conduct is exhibited in literal terms and without any figure. They do harm to the righteous and good, and strengthen the hands of the wicked. fiiaon, Hiplril of nfeS3j in Syriac, to use harshly or depress; so here in the Hiphil, connected with 3/, to afflict the heart. IjJ? is used adverbially: with lying, or in a lying manner; namely, by predicting misfortune and divine punishments, with which they threatened the godly, who would not acquiesce in their conduct; whereas, on the contrary, they predicted prosperity and peace to the ungodly, who were willing to be ensnared by them, and thus strengthened them in their evil ways. For this God would put them to shame through His judgments, which would make their deceptions manifest, and their soothsaying loathsome.

CHAP. XIV. ATTITUDE OF GOD TOWARDS THE WORSHIPPERS OF IDOLS, AND CERTAINTY OF THE JUDGMENTS.

This chapter contains two words of God, which have obviously an internal connection with each other. The first (vers. 1-11) announces to the elders, who have come to the prophet to inquire of God, that the Lord will not allow idolaters to inquire of Him, but will answer all who do not turn from idolatry with severe judgments, and will even destroy the prophets who venture to give an answer to such inquirers. The second (vers. 12-23) denounces the false hope that God will avert the judgment and spare Jerusalem because of the righteousness of the godly men therein.

Vers. 1-11. The Lord gives no Answer to the Idolaters.— Yer. 1 narrates the occasion for this and the following words of God: There came to me men of the elders of Israel, and sat down before me. These men were not deputies from the Israelites in Palestine, as Grotius and others suppose, but elders of the exiles among whom Ezekiel had been labouring. They came to visit the prophet (ver. 3), evidently with the intention of obtaining, through him, a word of God concerning the future of Jerusalem, or the fate of the kingdom of Judah. But Havernick is wrong in supposing that we may infer, from either the first or second word of God in this chapter, that they had addressed to the prophet a distinct inquiry of this nature, to which the answer is given in vers. 12-23. For although their coming to the prophet showed that his prophecies had made an impression upon them, it is not stated in ver. 1 that they had come to inquire of God, like the elders in ch. xx. 1, and there is no allusion to any definite questions in the words of

God themselves. The first (vers. 2-11) simply assumes that they have come with the intention of asking, and discloses the state of heart which keeps them from coming to inquire; and the second (vers. 12-23) points out the worthlessness of their false confidence in the righteousness of certain godly men.

Ver. 2. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 3. Son of man, these men have let their idols rise up in their heart, and have set the stumbling-block to guilt before their face: shall 1 allow myself to be inquired of by them? Ver. 4. llterefore speak to them, and say to them, TJius saith the Lord Jehovah, Every man of the house of Israel who lifteth up his idols in his heart, and setteth the stumbling-block to his sin before his face, and cometh to the prophet, to him do I, Jehovah, show myself answering according thereto, according to the multitude of his idols; Ver. 5. To grasp the house of Israel by their heart, because they have turned away from me, all of them through their idols. — We have not to picture these elders to ourselves as given up to gross idolatry. 3? '# *tyj) means, to allow anything to come into the mind, to permit it to rise up in the heart, to be mentally busy therewith. "To set before one's face" is also to be understood, in a spiritual sense, as relating to a thing which a man will not put out of his mind. 0:iy 7i£OD, stumbling-block to sin and guilt (cf. ch. vii. 19), i.e. the idols. Thus the two phrases simply denote the leaning of the heart and spirit towards false gods. God does not suffer those whose heart is attached to idols to seek and find Him. The interrogative clause 'til PTJxn contains a strong negation. The emphasis lies in the infinitive absolute CH'JK placed before the verb, in which the n is softened into K, to avoid writing n twice. BhTTJj to allow oneself to be sought, involves the finding of God; hence in Isa. lxv. 1 we have Cnn3 as parallel to K?&?. In vers. 4, 5, there follows a positive declaration of the attitude of God towards those who are devoted to idolatry in their heart. Every such Israelite will be answered by God according to the measure of the multitude of his idols. The Niphal TO.3 bas not the signification of the Kal, and does not mean u to be answerable," as Ewald supposes, or to converse; but is generally used in a passive sense, u to be answered," i.e. to find or obtain a hearing (Job xi. 2, xix. 7). It is employed here in a reflective sense, to hold or show oneself answering, rn, according to the Chetib H3, for which the Keri suggests the softer gloss to, refers to /J 2h2 which follows; the nominative being anticipated, according to an idiom very common in Aramaean, by a previous pronoun. It is written here for the sake of emphasis, to bring the following object into more striking prominence. 2 is used here in the sense of secundum, according to, not because, since this meaning is quite unsuitable for the 2 in ver. 7, where it occurs in the same connection (*3). The manner in which God will show Himself answering the idolatry according to their idols, is reserved till ver. 8. Here, in ver. 5, the design of this procedure on the part of God is given: viz. to grasp Israel by the heart; i.e. not merely to touch and to improve them, but to bring down their heart by judgments (cf. Lev. xxvi. 41), and thus move them to give up idolatry and return to the living God. vtfj, as in Isa. i. 4, to recede, to draw away from God. D?3 is an emphatic repetition of the subject belonging to Flfj.

Vers. 6-8. In these verses the divine threat, and the summons to repent, are repeated, expanded, and uttered in the clearest words. — Ver. 6. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Repent, and turn away from your idols; and turn away your face from all your abominations. Ver. 7. For every one of the house of Israel, and of the foreigners who sojourn in Israel, if he estrange himself from me, and let his idols rise up in his heart, and set the stumbling-block to his sin before his face, and come to the prophet to seek me for himself; I will show myself to him, answering in my own way. Ver. 8. 1 will direct my face against that man, and will destroy him, for a sign and for proverbs, and will cut him off out of my people; and ye shall learn that I am Jehovah. — I5J in ver. 6 is co-ordinate with the

]?? in ver. 4, so far as the thought is concerned, but it is directly attached to ver. 5b: because they have estranged themselves from God, therefore God requires them to repent and turn. For God will answer with severe judgments every one who would seek God with idols in his heart, whether he be an Israelite, or a foreigner living in the midst of Israel. 12VJ;, turn, be converted, is rendered still more emphatic by the addition of ED^B... OHPTj. This double call to repentance corresponds to the double reproof of their idolatry in ver. 3, viz. &\V. to J? hv 'bl rhvr\; and D^:B X2Wr\. to their setting the idols Dn'jB n^« *3NW is not used intransitively, as it apparently is in ch. xviii. 30, but is to be taken in connection with the object D3*3B, which follows at the end of the verse; and it is simply repeated before WOB for the sake of clearness and emphasis. The reason for the summons to repent and give up idolatry is explained in ver. 7, in the threat that God will destroy every Israelite, and every foreigner in Israel, who draws away from God and attaches himself to idols. The phraseology of ver. la is adopted almost verbatim from Lev. xvii. 8, 10, 13. On the obligation of foreigners to avoid idolatry and all moral abominations, vid. Lev. xx. 2, xviii. 2Q, xvii. 10; Ex. xii. 19, etc. The) before W and?T does not stand for the Vav relat., but simply supposes a case: u should he separate himself from my followers, and let his idols rise up, etc." *3 S/Hlhn? does not mean, " to seek counsel of him (the prophet) from me," for if? cannot be taken as referring to the prophet, although BHTO with? does sometimes mean to seek any one, and? may therefore indicate the person to whom one goes to make inquiry (cf. 2 Chron. xv. 13, xvii. 4, xxxi. 21), because it is Jehovah who is sought in this case; and Ilaverniek's remark, that " Kn^ with p merely indicates the external object sought by a man, and therefore in this instance the medium or organ through whom God speaks," is proved to be erroneous by the passages just cited.)b is reflective, or to be taken as a dat. commodij denoting the inquirer or seeker. The person ap- proaclied for the purpose of inquiring or seeking, i.e. God, is indicated by the preposition 3, as in 1 Chron. x. 14 (nin^n C^rn); and also frequently, in the case of idols, when either an oracle or help is sought from them (1 Sam. xxviii. 7; 2 Kings i. 2 sqq.). It is only in this way that V and ^ can be made to correspond to the same words in the apodosis: Whosoever seeks counsel of God, to him will God show Himself answering ^ in Him, i.e. in accordance with His nature, in His own way, — namely, in the manner described in ver. 8. The threat is composed of passages in the law: '131 'OB ^iru and 'til W]3n, after Lev. xx. 3, 5, 6; and 'til ^rrritoBfa, though somewhat freely, after Deut. xxviii. 37 ('til b#d> mgb wr\). There is no doubt, therefore, that VtfDB?n is to be derived from DBB>? and stands for VriBi^n in accordance with the custom in later writings of resolving the Dagesh forte into a long vowel. The allusion to Deut. xxviii. 37, compared with rrixp HVl in ver. 46 of the same chapter, is sufficient to set aside the assumption that TilD^n is to be derived from D^, and pointed accordingly; although the LXX., Targ., Syr., and Vulg. have all renderings of D*1^ (cf. Ps. xliv. 16). Moreover, D*b> in the perfect never takes the Hiphil form; and in ch. xx. 26 we have DBBW in a similar connection. The expression is a pregnant one: I make him desolate, so that he becomes a sign and proverbs.

Vers. 9-11. No prophet is to give any other answer. — Ver. 9. But if a prophet allow himself to be persuaded, and give a word, I have persuaded this prophet, and will stretch out my hand against him, and cut him off out of my people Israel. Ver. 10. They shall bear their guilt: as the guilt of the inquirer, so shall the guilt of the prophet be; Ver. 11. In order that the house of Israel may no more stray from me, and may no more defile itself with all its transgressions; but they may be my people, and I their God, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, — The prophet who allows himself to be persuaded is not a prophet tepp (ch. xiii. 2), but one who really thinks that he has a word of God. nriQ, to persuade, to entice by friendly words (in a good sense,

Hos. ii. 16); but generally sensu?naloy to lead astray, or seduce to that which is unallowable or evil. " If he allow himself to be persuaded:" not necessarily "with the hope of payment from the hypocrites who consult him " (Michaelis). This weakens the thought. It mifjht sometimes be done from unselfish good-nature. And " the word " itself need not have been a divine oracle of his own invention, or a false prophecy. The allusion is simply to a word of a different character from that contained in vers. 6—8, which either demands repentance or denounces judgment upon the impenitent: every word, therefore, which could by any possibility confirm the sinner in his security. — By nirv *:x (ver. 9) the apodosis is introduced in an emphatic manner, as in vers. 4 and 7; but Wft cannot be taken in a future sense ("I will persuade"). It must be a perfect; since the persuading of the prophet would necessarily precede his allowing himself to be persuaded. The Fathers and earlier Lutheran theologians are wrong in their interpretation of WjJB, which they understand in a permissive sense, meaning simply that God allowed it, and did not prevent their being seduced. Still more wrong are Storr and Schmieder, the former of whom regards it as simply declaratory, "I will declare him to have gone astiay from the worship of Jehovah;" the latter, " I will show him to be a fool, by punishing him for his disobedience." The words are rather to be understood in accordance with 1 Kings xxii. 20 sqq., where the persuading (pittdh) is done by a lying spirit, which inspires the prophets of Ahab to predict success to the king, in order that he may fall. As Jehovah sent the spirit in that case, and put it into the mouth of the prophets, so is the persuasion in this instance also effected by God: not merely divine permission, but divine ordination and arrangement; though this does not destroy human freedom, but, like all "persuading," presupposes the possibility of not allowing himself to be persuaded. See the discussion of this question in the commentary on 1 Kings xxii. 20 sqq. The remark of Calvin on the verse before us is correct: "it teaches that neither impostures nor frauds take place apart from the will of God " (nisi Deo volente). But this willing on the part of God, or the persuading of the prophets to the utterance of self-willed words, which have not been inspired by God, only takes place in persons who admit evil into themselves, and is designed to tempt them and lead them to decide whether they will endeavour to resist and conquer the sinful inclinations of their hearts, or will allow them to shape themselves into outward deeds, in which case they will become ripe for judgment. It is in this sense that God persuades such a prophet, in order that He may then cut him off out of His people. But this punishment will not fall upon the prophet only. It will reach the seeker or inquirer also, in order if possible to bring Israel back from its wandering astray, and make it into a people of God purified from sin (vers. 10 and 11). It was to this end that, in the last times of the kingdom of Judah, God allowed false prophecy to prevail so mightily, — namely, that it might accelerate the process of distinguishing between the righteous and the wicked; and then, by means of the judgment which destroyed the wicked, purify His nation and lead it on to the great end of its calling.

Vers. 12-23. The Kighteousness of the Godly will not avert the Judgment. — The threat contained in the preceding word of God, that if the idolaters did not repent, God would not answer them in any other way than with an exterminating judgment, left the possibility still open, that He would avert the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem for the sake of the righteous therein, as He had promised the patriarch Abraham that He would do in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. xviii. 23 sqq.). This hope, which might be cherished by the people and by the elders who had come to the prophet, is now to be taken from the people by the word of God which follows, containing as it does the announcement, that if any land should sin so grievously against God by its apostasy, He would be driven to inflict upon it the punishments threatened by Moses against apostate Israel (Lev. xxvi. 22, 25, 26, and elsewhere), namely, to destroy both man and beast, and make the land a desert; it would be of no advantage to such a land to have certain righteous men, such as Noah, Daniel, and Job, living therein. For although these righteous men wrould be saved themselves, their righteousness could not possibly secure salvation for the sinners. The manner in which this thought is carried out in vers. 13-20 is, that four exterminating punishments are successively supposed to come upon the land and lay it waste; and in the case of every one, the words are repeated, that even righteous men, such as Noah, Daniel, and Job, would only save their own souls, and not one of the sinners. And thus, according to vers. 21-23, will the Lord act when He sends His judgments against Jerusalem; and He will execute them in such a manner that the necessity and righteousness of His acts shall be made manifest therein. — This word of God forms a supplementary side-piece to Jer. xv. 1-4, where the Lord replies to the intercession of the prophet, that even the intercession of a Moses and a Samuel on behalf of the people would not avert the judgments which wTere suspended over them. Ver. 12, And the ivord of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 13. Son of man, if a land sin against me to act treacherously, and I stretch out my hand against it, and break in pieces for it the support of bread, and send famine into it, and cut off from it man and beast: Ver. 14. And there should be these three men therein, Noah, Daniel, and Job, they would through their righteousness deliver their soul, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Ver. 15. If I bring evil beasts into the laud, so tliat they make it childless, and it become a desert, so that no one passeth through it because of the beasts: Ver. 16. These three men therein, as 1 live, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, would not deliver sons and daughters; they only would be delivered, but the land would become a desert. Ver. 17. Or 1 bring the sicord into that land, and say, Let the sword go through the land; and 1 cut off from it man and beast: Ver. 18. These three men therein, as I live, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, icould not deliver sons and daughters, but they only would be delivered, Ver. 19. Or I send pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast.: Ver. 20. Verily, Noah, Daniel, and Job, in the midst of it, as I live, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, would deliver neither son nor daughter; they icould only deliver their own soul through their righteousness. — K"^ in ver. 13 is intentionally left indefinite, that the thought may be expressed in the most general manner. On the other hand, the sin is very plainly defined as?yn~?VD?. PJJD, literally, to cover, signifies to act in a secret or treacherous manner, especially towards Jehovah, either by apostasy from Him, in other words, by idolatry, or by withholding what is due to Him (see comm. on Lev. v..15). In the passage before us it is the treachery of apostasy from Him by idolatry that is intended. As the epithet used to denote the sin is taken from Lev. xxvi. 40 and Deut. xxxii. 51, so the four punishments mentioned in the following verses, as well as in ch. v. 17, are also taken from Lev. xxvi., — viz. the breaking up of the staff of bread, from ver. 26; the evil beasts, from ver. 22; and the sword and pestilence, from ver. 25. The three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, are named as examples of true righteousness of life, or n^iy (vers. 14, 20); i.e., according to Calvin's correct explanation, quicquid pertinet ad regulam sancte et juste vivendi. Noah is so described in Gen. vi. 9; and Job, in the Book of Job i. 1, xii. 4, etc.; and Daniel, in like manner, is mentioned in Dan. i. 8 sqq., vi. 11 sqq., as faithfully confessing his faith in his life. The fact that Daniel is named before Job does not warrant the conjecture that some other older Daniel is meaut, of whom nothing is said in the history, and whose existence is merely postulated. For the enumeration is not intended to be chronological, but is arranged according to the subject-matter; the order being determined by the nature of the deliverance experienced by these men for their righteousness in the midst of great judgments. Consequently, as Havernick and Kliefoth have shown, we have a climax here: Noah saved his family along with himself; Daniel was able to save his friends (Dan. ii. 17, 18); but Job, with his righteousness, was not even able to save his children. — The second judgment (ver. 15) is introduced with ^>, which, as a rule, supposes a case that is not expected to occur, or even regarded as possible; here, however, £ is used as perfectly synonymous with BK. ^rozp has no Mappik, because the tone is drawn back upon the penultima (see comm. on Amos i. 11). In ver. 19, the expression " to pour out my wrath in blood " is a pregnant one, for to pour out my wrath in such a manner that it is manifested in the shedding of blood or the destruction of life, for the life is in the blood. In this sense pestilence and blood wrere also associated in ch. v. 17. — If we look closely at the four cases enumerated, we find the following difference in the statements concerning the deliverance of the righteous: that, in the first instance, it is simply stated that Noah, Daniel, and Job would save their soul, i.e. their life, by their righteousness; whereas, in the three others, it is declared that as truly as the Lord liveth they would not save either sons or daughters, but they alone would be delivered. The difference is not merely a rhetorical climax or progress in the address by means of asseveration and antithesis, but indicates a distinction in the thought. The first case is only intended to teach that in the approaching judgment the righteous would save their lives, i.e. that God would not sweep away the righteous with the ungodly. The three cases which follow are intended, on the other hand, to exemplify the truth that the righteousness of the righteous will be of no avail to the idolaters and apostates; since even such patterns of righteousness as Noah, Daniel, and Job would only save their own lives, and would not be able to save the lives of others also. This tallies with the omission of the asseveration in ver. 14. The first declaration, that God would deliver the righteous in the coming judgments, needed no asseveration, inasmuch as this truth was not called in question; but it was required in the case of the declaration that the righteousness of the righteous would bring no deliverance to the sinful nation, since this was the hope which the ungodly cherished, and it was this hope which was to be taken from them. The other differences which we find in the description given of the several cases are merely formal in their nature, and do not in any way affect the sense; e.g. the use of nS>, in ver. 18, instead of the particle D^, which is commonly employed in oaths, and which we find in vers. 16 and 20; the choice of the singular {2 and n?, in ver. 20, in the place of the plural nto D^a, used in vers. 16 and 18; and the variation in the expressions, DB>33 vx:\ (ver. 14), DBfea ihr (ver. 20), and iw mib nvr\ (vers. 16 and 18), which Hitzig proposes to remove by altering the first two forms into the third, though without the slightest reason. For although the Piel occurs in Ex. xii. 36 in the sense of taking away or spoiling, and is not met with anywhere else in the sense of delivering, it may just as well be used in this sense, as the Hiphil has both significations.

Vers. 21—23. The rule expounded in vers. 13-20 is here applied to Jerusalem. — Ver. 21. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, How much more when 1 send my four evil judgments, sword, and famine, and evil beasts, and pestilence, against Jerusalem, to cut off from it man and beast? Ver. 22. And, behold, there remain escaped ones in her who will be brought out, sons and daughters; behold, they will go out to you, that ye may see their walk and their works; and console yourselves concerning the evil which I have brought upon Jerusalem. Ver. 23. And they will console you, when ye see their walk and their works: and ye will see that I have not done without cause all that I have done to her, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. — By "'S in ver. 21 the application of the general rule to Jerusalem is made in the form of a reason. The meaning, however, is not, that the reason why Jehovah was obliged to act in this unsparing manner was to be found in the corrupt condition of the nation, as Havernick supposes, — a thought quite foreign to the context; but %JS indicates that the judgments upon Jerusalem will furnish a practical proof of the general truth expressed in vers. 13-20, and so confirm it. This s3 is no more an emphatic yea than the following " *]X is a forcible introduction to the antithesis formed by the coming fact, to the merely imaginary cases mentioned above" (Hitzig). *)X has undoubtedly the force of a climax, but not of an asseveration, u verily " (Hav.); a meaning which this particle never has. It is used here, as in Job iv. 19, in the sense of *3 *)X; and the *3 which follows ^N in this case is a conditional particle of time, " when." Consequently ^ ought properly to be written twice; but it is only used once, as in ch. xv. 5; Job ix. 14, etc. The thought is this: how much more will this be the case, namely, that even a Noah, Daniel, and Job will not deliver either sons or daughters when I send my judgments upon Jerusalem. The perfect Ww is used, and not the imperfect, as in ver. 13, because God has actually resolved upon sending it, and does not merely mention it as a possible case. The number four is significant, symbolizing the universality of the judgment, or the thought that it will fall on all sides, or upon the whole of Jerusalem; whereby it must also be borne in mind that Jerusalem as the capital represents the kingdom of Judah, or the whole of Israel, so far as it was still in Canaan. At the same time, by the fact that the Lord allows sons and daughters to escape death, and to be led away to Babylon, He forces the acknowledgment of the necessity and righteousness of His judgments among those who are in exile. This is in general terms the thought contained in vers. 22 and 23, to which very different meanings have been assigned by the latest expositors. Havernick, for example, imagines that, in addition to the four ordinary judgments laid down in the law, ver. 22 announces a new and extraordinary one; whereas Hitzig and Kliefoth have found in these two verses the consolatory assurance, that in the time of the judgments a few of the younger generation will be rescued and taken to those already in exile in Babylon, there to excite pity as well as to express it, and to give a visible proof of the magnitude of the judgment which has fallen upon Israel. They differ so far from each other, however, that Hitzig regards those of the younger generation who are saved as B^V, who have saved themselves through their innocence, but not their guilty parents, and who will excite the commiseration of those already in exile through their blameless conduct; wThilst Kliefoth imagines that those who are rescued are simply less criminal than the rest, and when they come to Babylon will be pitied by those who have been longer in exile, and will pity them in return. — Neither of these views does justice to the words themselves or to the context. The meaning of ver. 22a is clear enough; and in the main there has been no difference of opinion concerning it. When man and beast are cut off out of Jerusalem by the four judgments, all will not perish; but n^vQ, i.e. persons who have escaped destruction, will be left, and will be led out of the city. These are called sons and daughters, with an allusion to vers. 16, 18, and 20; and consequently we must not take these words as referring to the younger generation in contrast to the older. They will be led out of Jerusalem, not to remain in the land, but to come to a you," i.e. those already in exile, that is to say, to go into exile to Babylon. This does not imply either a modification or a sharpening of the punishment; for the cutting off of man and beast from a town may be effected not only by slaying, but by leading away. The design of God in leaving some to escape, and carrying them to Babylon, is explained in the clauses which follow from Ervx"]} onwards, the meaning of which depends partly upon the more precise definition of &3TJ and DHvvy, and partly upon the explanation to be given of njnrr5>j; D#»na and O^m awui. The ways and works are not to be taken without reserve as good and righteous works, as Kliefoth has correctly shown in his reply to Hitzig. Still less can ways and works denote their experience or fate, which is the explanation given by Kliefoth of the words, when expounding the meaning and connection of vers. 21-23. The context certainly points to wicked ways and evil works. And it is only the sight of such works that could lead to the conviction that it was not E3n? in vain, i.e. without cause, that God had inflicted such severe judgments upon Jerusalem. And in addition to this effect, which is mentioned in ver. 23 as produced upon those who were already in exile, by the sight of the conduct of the HBvQ that came to Babylon, the immediate design of God is described in ver. 22b as Dnonsi

'i:i ny-\n~?y. The verb Dm with by cannot be used here in the sense of to repent of anything, or to grieve over it (Hitzig); still less can it mean to pity any one (Kliefoth). For a man cannot repent of, or be sorry for, a judgment which God has inflicted upon him, but only of evil which he himself has done; and Dn? does not mean to pity a person, either when construed in the Piel with an accusative of the person, or in the Niphal c. by, rei. B^pn? is Niphal, and signifies here to console oneself, as in Gen. xxxviii. 12 with?V, concerning anything, as in 2 Sam. xiii. 39, Jer. xxxi. 15, etc.; and *Bru (ver. 23), with the accusative of the person, to comfort any one, as in Gen. li. 21; Job ii. 11, etc. But the works and doings of those who came to Babyh n could only produce this effect upon those who were already there, from the fact that they were of such a character as to demonstrate the necessity for the judgments which had fallen upon Jerusalem. A conviction of the necessity for the divine judgments would cause them to comfort themselves with regard to the evil inflicted by God; inasmuch as they would see, not only that the punishment endured was a chastisement well deserved, but that God in His righteousness would stay the punishment when it had fulfilled His purpose, and restore the penitent sinner to favour once more. But the consolation which those who were in exile would deriye from a sight of the works of the sons and daughters who had escaped from death and come to Babylon, is attributed in ver. 23 (03AN *oni) to the persons themselves. It is in this sense that it is stated that " they will comfort you; " not by expressions of pity, but by the sight of their conduct. This is directly affirmed in the words, " when ye shall see their conduct and their works." Consequently ver. 23a does not contain a new thought, but simply the thought already expressed in ver. 22b, which is repeated in a new form to make it the more emphatic. And the expression n^y *W?i? "^"^3 AN, in ver. 22, serves to increase the force; whilst AN, in the sense of quoad, serves to place the thought to be repeated in subordination to the whole clause (cf. Ewald, § 277a, p. 683).

As certainly as God will not spare Jerusalem for the sake of the righteousness of the few righteous men therein, so certain is it that Israel has no superiority over other nations, which could secure Jerusalem against destruction. As the previous word of God overthrows false confidence in the righteousness of the godly, what follows in this chapter is directed against the fancy that Israel cannot be rejected and punished by the overthrow of the kingdom, because of its election to be the people of God.

Ver. 1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 2. Son of man, what advantage has the ivood of the vine over every wood, the vine-branch, which was among the trees of the forest? Ver. 3. Is wood taken from it to use for any work f or do men take a peg from it to hang all kinds of vessels upon? Ver. 4. Behold, it is given to the fire to consume. If the fire has consumed its two ends, and the middle of it is scorched, will it then be fit for any work? Ver. 5. Behold, when it is uninjured, it is not used for any work: how much less when the fire has consumed it and scorched it can it be still used for work! Ver. 6. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, As the wood of the vine among the wood of ilie forest, which I give to Hie fire to consume, so do I give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Ver. 7. And direct my face against them. They have gone out of the fire, and the fire will consume them; that ye may learn that I am Jehovah, when 1 set my face against them. Ver. 8. And I make the land a desert, because they committed treachery, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. — Israel is like the wood of the wild vine, which is put into the fire to burn, because it is good for nothing. From Deut. xxxii. 32, 33 onwards, Israel is frequently compared to a vine or a vineyard (cf. Ps. Ixxx. 9 sqq.; Isa. v.; Hos. x. 1; Jer. ii. 21), and always, with the exception of Ps. Ixxx., to point out its degeneracy. This comparison lies at the foundation of the figure employed, in vers. 2-5, of the wood of the wild vine. This wood has no superiority over any other kind of wood. It cannot be used, like other timber, for any useful purposes; but is only fit to be burned, so that it is really inferior to all other wood (vers. 2 and 3a). And if, in its perfect state, it cannot be used for anything, how much less when it is partially scorched and consumed (vers. 4 and 5)! OWTUSj followed by IP, means, what is it above (IP, comparative)? — i.e. what superiority has it to HT'?> a^ kinds of wood? i.e. any other wood, 'til i&'K rntofH is in apposition to JBan ff9 and is not to be connected with pjr?3», as it has been by the LXX. and Vulgate, — notwithstanding the Masoretic accentuation, — so as to mean every kind of fagot; for nnioT does not mean a fagot, but the tendril or branch of the vine (cf. ch. viii. 17), which is still further defined by the following relative clause: to be a wood-vine, i.e. a wild vine, which bears only sour, uneatable grapes. The preterite njn (which was; not, " is ") may be explained from the idea that the vine had been fetched from the furest in order that its wood might be used. The answer given in ver. 3 is, that this vine-wood cannot be used for any purpose whatever, not even as a peg for hanging any kind of domestic utensils upon (see comm. on Zech. x. 4). It is too weak even for this. The object has to be supplied to nibTp rDM?£?; to make, or apply it, for any work. Because it cannot be used as timber, it is burned. A fresh thought is introduced in ver. 46 by the words 'P W flK. The two clauses in ver. 46 are to be connected together. The first supposes a case, from which the second is deduced as a conclusion. The question, 11 Is it fit for any work?" is determined in ver. 5 in the negative. *3 *|N: as in ch. xiv. 21. inj: perfect; and W; imperfect, Niphal, of Tin, in the sense of, to be burned or scorched. The subject to "VM is no doubt the wood, to which the suffix in *nnb3N refers. At the same time, the two clauses are to be understood, in accordance with ver. 46, as relating to the burning of the ends and the scorching of the middle. — Vers. 6-8. In the application of the parable, the only thing to which prominence is given, is the fact that God will deal with the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the same manner as with the vine-wood, which cannot be used for any kind of work. This implies that Israel resembles the wood of a forest-vine. As this possesses no superiority to other wood, but, on the contrary, is utterly useless, so Israel has no superiority to other nations, but is even worse than they, and therefore is given up to the fire. This is accounted for in ver. 7: " They have come out of the fire, and the fire will consume them" (the inhabitants of Jerusalem). These words are not to be interpreted proverbially, as meaning, "he who escapes one judgment falls into another" (Havernick), but show the application of vers. 46 and 5 to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Out of a fire one must come either burned or scorched. Israel has been in the fire already. It resembles a wild vine which has been consumed at both ends by the fire, while the middle has been scorched, and which is now about to be given up altogether to the fire. We must not restrict the fire, however, out of which it has come half consumed, to the capture of Jerusalem in the time of Jehoiachin, as Hitzig does, but must extend it to all the judgments which fell upon the covenant nation, from the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes to the catastrophe in the reign of Jehoiachin, and in consequence of wThich Israel now resembled