Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Impossible for it ever to desist from the sin. This is the way in which we understand ver. 43, connecting D*B&0 n^p with TDfcl: a I said concerning her who was debilitated with whore- dom/' njSj feminine of n?n, used up, worn out; see, for example, Josh. ix. 4, 5, where it is applied to clothes; here it is transferred to persons decayed, debilitated, in which sense the verb occurs in Gen. xviii. 12. E^?, which is co-ordinated with npn, does not indicate the means by which the strength has been exhausted, but is an accusative of direction or reference, debilitated with regard to adultery, so as no longer to be capable of practising it.1 In the next clause 'til PUP ny, nTmrn is the subject to njr, and the Chetib is correct, the Keri being erroneous, and the result of false exposition. If iTDUTn were the object to TOP, so that the woman would be the subject, we should have the feminine n^n. But if, on the other hand, rmwn is the subject, there is no necessity for this, whether we regard the word as a plural, from DVltiOT, or take it as a singular, as Evvald (§ 259a) has done, inasmuch as in either case it is still an abstract, which might easily be preceded by the verb in the masculine form. fc^HJ gives greater force, not only to the suffix, but also to the noun — and that even she (her whoredom). The sin of whoredom is personified, or regarded as D^^T nn (Hos. iv. 12), as a propensity to whoredom, which continues in all its force after the capacity of the woman herself is gone. — Ver. 44 contains the result of the foregoing description of the adulterous conduct of the two women, and this is followed in vers. 45 sqq. by an account of the attitude assumed by God, and the punishment of the sinful women. ^3J1, with an indefinite subject, they (man, one) went to her. HvK, the one woman,

" adultery to the devil," cannot be defended by the usage of the language; and that of Hitzig, " the withered hag practises adultery," is an unnatural invention, inasmuch as 7, if taken as nota clativi, would give this meaning: the hag has (possesses) adultery as her property — and there is nothing to indicate that it should be taken as a question.

Oholibah. It is only in the apodosis that what has to be said is extended to both women. This is the only interpretation of ver. 44 which does justice both to the verb Ki3J (imperfect with Vav consec. as the historical tense) and the perfect *K3. The plural rf$x does not occur anywhere else. Hitzig would therefore alter it into the singular, as u unheard of," and confine the attribute to Oholibah, who is the only one mentioned in the first clause of the verse, and also in vers. 43, 40, and 41. The judgment upon the two sisters is to be executed by righteous men (ver. 45). The Chaldeans are not designated as righteous in contrast to the Israelites, but as the instruments of the punitive righteousness of God in this particular instance, executing just judgment upon the sinners for adultery and bloodshed (vid. ch. xvi. 38). The infinitives fOVJ} and jirij in ver. 46 stand for the third person future. For other points, compare the commentary on ch. xvi. 40 and 41. The formula nw fnj is derived from Deut. xxviii. 25, and has been explained in the exposition of that passage, tfia* is the inf. abs. Piel. For the meaning of the word, see the comm. on ch. xxi. 24. From this judgment all women, i.e. all nations, are to take warning to desist from idolatry. TH3M is a mixed form, compounded of the Niphal and Hithpael, for *iE>;inn? like 1S33 in Deut. xxi. 8 (see the comm. in loc). — For ver. 49, vid. ch. xvi. 58. — The punishment is announced to both the women, Israel and Judah, as still in the future, although Oholah (Samaria) had been overtaken by the judgment a considerable time before. The explanation of this is to be found in the allegory itself, in which both kingdoms are represented as being sisters of one mother; and it may also be defended on the ground that the approaching destruction of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah affected the remnants of the kingdom of the ten tribes, which were still to be found in Palestine; whilst, on the other hand, the judgment was not restricted to the destruction of the two kingdoms, but also embraced the later judgments which fell upon the entire nation.

On the day on which the king of Babylon commenced the siege and blockade of Jerusalem, this event was revealed by God to Ezekiel on the Chaboras (vers. 1 and 2); and he was commanded to predict to the people through the medium of a parable the fate of the city and its inhabitants (vers. 3-14). God then foretold to him the death of his own wife, and commanded him to show no sign of mourning on account of it. His wife died the following evening, and he did as he was commanded. When he was asked by the people the reason of this, he explained to them, that what he was doing was symbolical of the way in which they were to act when Jerusalem fell (vers. 15-24). The fall would be announced to the prophet by a fugitive, and then he would no longer remain mute, but would speak to the people again (vers. 25-27). — Apart, therefore, from the last three verses, this chapter contains two words of God, the first of which unfolds in a parable the approaching calamities, and the result of the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans (vers. 1-14); whilst the second typifies by means of a sign the pain and mourning of Israel, namely, of the exiles at the destruction of the city with its sanctuary and its inhabitants. These two words of God, being connected together by their contents, were addressed to the prophet on the same day, and that, as the introduction (vers. 1 and 2) expressly observes, the day on which the siege of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon began.

Ver. 1. And the word of Jehovah came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, saying, Ver. 2. Son of man, write for thyself the name of the day, this same day! The king of Babylon has fallen upon Jerusalem this same day. — The date given, namely, the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year after the carrying away of Jehoiachin (ch. i. 2), or what is the same thing, of the reign of Zedekiah, who was appointed king in his stead, is mentioned in Jer. lii. 4, xxxix. 1, and 2 Kings xxv. 1, as the day on which Nebuchadnezzar blockaded the city of Jerusalem by throwing up a rampart; and after the captivity this day was still kept as a fast-day in consequence (Zech. viii. 19). What was thus taking place at Jerusalem was revealed to Ezekiel on the Chaboras the verv same dav; and he was instructed to announce it to the exiles, " that they and the besieged might learn both from the time and the result, that the destruction of the city was not to be ascribed to chance or to the power of the Babylonians, but to the will of Him who had long ago foretold that, on account of the wickedness of the inhabitants, the city would be burned with fire; and that Ezekiel was a true prophet, because even when in Babylon, which was at so great a distance, he had known and had publicly announced the state of Jerusalem." The definite character of this prediction cannot be changed into a vaticinium post eventum, either by arbitrary explanations of the words, or by the unfounded hypothesis proposed by Hitzig, that the day was not set down in this definite form till after the event. — Writing the name of the day is equivalent to making a note of the day. The reason for this is given in ver. 2b, namely, because Nebuchadnezzar had fallen upon Jerusalem on that very day. ^00 signifies to support, hold up (his hand); and hence both here and in Ps. Ixxxviii. 8 the meaning to press violently upon anything. The rendering " to draw near," which has been forced upon the word from the Syriac (Ges., Winer, and others), cannot be sustained.

Vers. 3-14. Parable of the Pot witii the Boiling Pieces. — Ver. 3. And relate a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Set on the pot, set on and also pour water into it. Ver. 4. Gather its pieces of flesh into it, all the good pieces, haunch and shoulder, fill it with choice bones, Ver. 5. Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood underneath for tJie bones; make it boil well, also cook its bones therein. Ver. G. Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe! 0 city of murders! 0 pot in which is rust, and whose rust doth not depart from it; piece by piece fetch it out, the lot hath not fallen upon it. Ver. 7. For her blood is in the midst of her; she hath placed it upon the naked rock; she hath not poured it upon the ground, that they might cover it zvith dust. Ver. 8. To bring tip fury, to take vengeance, I have made her blood come upon the naked rock, that it might not be covered. Ver. 9. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Wop to the city of nuirders I I also will make the pile of wood great. Ver. 10. Heap up the wood, stir the fire, do the flesh thoroughly, make the broth boil, that the bones may also be cooked away. Ver. 11. And set it empty upon the coals thereof, that its brass may become hot and glowing, that the uncleanness thereof may melt within it, its rust pass away. Ver. 12. He hath exhausted the pains, and Iter great rust doth not go from her; into the fire with Iter rust! Ver. 13. In thine uncleanness is abomination; because I have cleansed thee, and thou hast not become clean, thou wilt no more become clean from thy uncleanness, till I quiet my fury upon thee. Ver. 14. 1 Jehovah have spoken it; it cometh, and I will do it; I will not cease, nor spare, nor let it repent me. According to thy ways, and according to thy deeds, shall they judge thee, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah.

The contents of these verses are called?TO, a proverb or parable; and Ezekiel is to communicate them to the refractory generation. It follows from this that the ensuing act, which the prophet is commanded to perform, is not to be regarded as a symbolical act which he really carried out, but that the act forms the substance of the mdshdl, in other words, belongs to the parable itself. Consequently the interpretation of the parable in vers. 10 sqq. is clothed in the form of a thing actually done. The pot with the pieces of flesh and the bones, which are to be boiled in it and boiled away, represents Jerusalem with its inhabitants. The fire, with which they are boiled, is the fire of war, and the setting of the pot upon the fire is the commencement of the siege, by which the population of the city is to be boiled away like the flesh and bones in a pot. T1DB> is used, as in 2 Kings iv. 38, to signify the setting of a pot by or upon the fire, 'W t]DK • put in its pieces all together. 0*£9?j its pieces of flesh, i.e. the pieces belonging to the cooking-pot. These are defined still more minutely as the best of the pieces of flesh, and of these the thigh (haunch) and shoulder are mentioned as the most important pieces, to which the choicest of the bones are to be added. This is rendered still more emphatic by the further instruction to take the choice of the flock in addition to these. The choicest pieces of flesh and the pieces of bone denote the strongest and ablest portion of the population of the city. To boil these pieces away, more especially the bones, a large fire is requisite. This is indicated by the words, u and also a pile of wood underneath for the bones." "PR in ver. 5, for which rnviD is substituted in ver. 9, signifies a pile of wood, and occurs in this sense in Isa. xxx. 33, from "vn, to lay round, to arrange, pile up. B**OT-i? "Wl cannot mean a heap of bones, on account of the article, but simply a pile of wood for the (previously mentioned) bones, namely, for the purpose of boiling them away. If we pay attention to the article, we shall see that the supposition that Ezekiel was to place a heap of bones under the pot, and the alteration proposed by Bottcher, Ewald, and Hitzig of D^vvn into D^yy, are alike untenable. Even if "vn in itself does not mean a pile of wood, but simply strues, an irregular heap, the fact that it is wood which is piled up is apparent enough from the context. If ^^V.7} had grown out of D^vy through a corruption of the text, under the influence of the preceding D*DVy, it would not have had an article prefixed. Hitzig also proposes to alter fJ^Wp. into n%nn3, though without any necessity. The fact that QNnnn does not occur again proves nothing at all. The noun is added to the verb to intensify its force, and is plurale tant. in the sense or boiling, 'til W3"D3 Js dependent upon the previous clause C3 taking the place of the copulative 1. On ^3, to be cooked, thoroughly done, see the comm. on Ex. xii. 9.

In vers. 6-8 the interpretation of the parable is given, and that in two trains of thought introduced by ]^0 (vers. 6 and 9). The reason for commencing with ]2?9 therefore, may be found in the fact that in the parable contained in vers. 3 sqq., or more correctly in the blockade of Jerusalem, which furnished the occasion for the parable, the judgment about to burst upon Jerusalem is plainly indicated. The train of thought is the following: — Because the judgment upon Jerusalem is now about to commence, therefore woe to her, for her blood-guiltiness is so great that she must be destroyed. But the punishment answering to the magnitude of the guilt is so distributed in the two strophes, vers. 6-8 and vers. 9-13, that the first strophe treats of the punishment of the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the second, of the punishment of the city itself. To account for the latter feature, there is a circumstance introduced which is not mentioned in the parable itself, namely, the rust upon the pot, and the figure of the pot is thereby appropriately extended. Moreover, in the explanation of the parable the figure and the fact pass repeatedly the one into the other. Because Jerusalem is a city of murders, it resembles a pot on which there are spots of rust that cannot be removed. Ver. 66 is difficult, and has been expounded in various ways. The b before the twofold n^nna is, no doubt, to be taken distributively: according to its several pieces, i.e. piece by piece, bring it out. But the suffix attached to FiNNrtn cannot be taken as referring to *vp, as Kliefoth proposes, for this does not yield a suitable meaning. One would not say: bring out the pot by its pieces of flesh, when nothing more is meant than the bringing of the pieces of flesh out of the pot. And this difficulty is not removed by giving to Nsyin the meaning to reach hither. For, apart from the fact that there is nothing in the usage of the language to sustain the meaning, reach it hither for the purpose of setting it upon the fire, one would not say: reach hither the pot according to its several pieces of flesh, piece by piece, when all that was meant was, bring hither the pot filled with pieces of flesh. The suffix to iwtfn refers to the city p^), i.e. to its population, " to which the blood-guiltiness really adhered, and not to its collection of houses" (Hitzig). It is only in appearance also that the suffix to ^nru refers to the pot; actually it refers to the city, i.e. to the whole of its population, the different individuals in which are the separate pieces of flesh. The meaning of the instructions therefore is by no means doubtful: the whole of the population to be found in Jerusalem is to be brought out, and that without any exception, inasmuch as the lot, which would fall upon one and not upon another, will not be cast upon her. There is no necessity to seek for any causal connection between the reference to the rust upon the pot and the bringing out of the pieces of flesh that are cooking within it, and to take the words as signifying that all the pieces, which had been rendered useless by the rust upon the pot, were to be taken out and thrown away (Havernick); but through the allusion to the rust the interpretation already passes beyond the limits of the figure. The pieces of flesh are to be brought out, after they have been thoroughly boiled, to empty the pot, that it may then be set upon the fire again, to burn out the rust adhering to it (ver. 11). There is no force in Kliefoth's objection, that this exposition does not agree with the context, inasmuch as, il according to the last clause of ver. 5 and vers. 10 and 11, the pieces of flesh and even the bones are not to.be taken out, but to be boiled away by a strong fire; and the pot is to become empty not by the fact that the pieces of flesh are taken out and thrown away, but by the pieces being thoroughly boiled away, first to broth and then to nothing." For a boiling away to nothing" is not found in the text, but simply that even the bones are to be thoroughly done, so as to turn into the softness of jelly. — -So far as the fact is concerned, we cannot follow the majority of commentators, who suppose that the reference is simply to the carrying away of the inhabitants into exile. Bringing the pieces of flesh out of the pot, denotes the sweeping away of the inhabitants from the city, whether by death (vid. ch. xi. 7) or by their being carried away captive. The city is to be emptied of men in consequence of its being blockaded by the king of Babylon. The reason of this is given in vers. 7 and 8, where the guilt of Jerusalem is depicted. The city has shed blood, which is not covered with earth, but has been left uncovered, like blood poured out upon a hard rock, which the stone cannot absorb, and which cries to God for vengeance, because it is uncovered (cf. Gen. iv. 10; Job xvi. 18; and Isa. xxvi. 21). The thought is this: she has sinned in an insolent and shameless manner, and has done nothing to cover her sin, has shown no sign of repentance or atonement, by which she might have got rid of her sin. This has all been ordered by God. He has caused the blood that was shed to fall upon a bare rock, that it might lie uncovered, and He might be able to execute vengeance for the crime.

The second turn in the address (ver. 9) commences in just the same manner as the first in ver. 6, and proceeds with a further picture of the execution of punishment. To avenge the guilt, God will make the pile of wood large, and stir up a fierce fire. The development of this thought is given in ver. 10 in the form of a command addressed to the prophet, to put much wood underneath, and to kindle a fire, so that both flesh and bones may boil away. Dnn? from Qftfi, to finish, complete; with "^3? t° cook thoroughly. There are differences of opinion as to the true meaning; of nnpntsn np"in; but the rendering sometimes given to nj5"j, namely, to spice, is at all events unsuitable, and cannot be sustained by the usage of the language. It is true that in Ex. xxx. 25 sqq. the verb nj3H is used for the preparation of the anointing oil, but it is not the mixing of the different ingredients that is referred to, but in all probability the thorough boiling of the spices, for the purpose of extracting their essence, so that " thorough boiling " is no doubt the true meaning of the word. In Job xli. 23 (31), nn|5"jo is the boiling unguent-pot. VlPP is a cohortative Hiphil, from "nn, to become red-hot, to be consumed. — Ver. 11. When the flesh and bones have thus been thoroughly boiled, the pot is to be placed upon the coals empty, that the rust upon it may be burned away by the heat. The emptying of the pot or kettle by pouring out the flesh, which has been boiled to broth, is passed over as self-evident. The uncleanness of the pot is the rust upon it. Dfin is an Aramaean form for O'nn = Dflfi. Michaelis has given the true explanation of the words: " civibus caesis etiam urhs consumetur " (when the inhabitants are slain, the city itself will be destroyed).1 — In vers. 12 sqq. the reason is given, which rendered it necessary to inflict this exterminating judgment. In ver. 12 the address still keeps to the figure, but in ver. 13 it passes over to the actual fact. It (the pot) has exhausted the pains (B^Kn, air. \ey.), namely, as ver. 13 clearly shows, the pains, or wearisome exertions, to make it clean by milder means, and not (as Hitzig erroneously infers from the following clause) to eat away the rust by such extreme heat. ^^?r), third pers. Hiphil of HS?, is the earlier form, which fell into almost entire disuse in later times (yid.

1 Hitzig discovers a Hysteronproteron in this description, because the cleaning of the pot ought to have preceded the cooking of the flesh in it, and not to have come afterwards, and also because, so far as the actual fact is concerned, the rust of sin adhered to the people of the city, and not to the city itself as a collection of houses. But neither of these objections is sufficient to prove what Hitzig wants to establish, namely, that the untenable character of the description shows that it is not really a prophecy; nor is there any force in them. It is true that if one intended to boil flesh in a pot for the purpose of eating, the first thing to be done would be to cleah the pot itself. But this is not the object in the present instance. The flesh was simply to be thoroughly boiled, that it might be destroyed and thrown away, and there was no necessity to clean the pot for this purpose. And so far as the second objection is concerned, the defilement of sin does no doubt adhere to mau, though not, as Hitzig assumes, to man alone. According to the Old Testament view, it extends to things as well (rid. Lev. xviii. 25, xxvii. 28). Thus leprosy, for example, did not pollute men only, but clothes and houses also. And for the same reason judgments were not restricted to men, but also fell upon cities and lands.

Ges. § 75, Anm. 1). The last words of ver. 11, I agree with Hitzig, Havemick, and others, in taking as an exclamation. Because the pot lias exhausted all the efforts made to cleanse it, its rust is to go into the fire. In ver. 13 Jerusalem is addressed, and HDJ is not a genitive belonging to:]nKl?tD3, " on account of thy licentious uncleanness" (Ewald and Hitzig), but a predicate, u in thine uncleanness is (there lies) n&T, i.e. an abomination deserving of death" (see Lev. xviii. 17 and xx. 14, where the fleshly sins, which are designated as zimmdh, are ordered to be punished with death). The cleansings which God had attempted, but without Jerusalem becoming clean, consisted in the endeavour, which preceded the Chaldean judgment of destruction, to convert the people from their sinful ways, partly by threats and promises communicated through the prophets (vid. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15), and partly by means of chastisements. For nvn n^n see ch. v. 13. In ver. 14 there is a summary of the whole, which brings the threat to a close.

Vers. 15-24. The Sign of silent Sorrow concerning tiie Destruction of Jerusalem. — Ver. 15. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 16. Son of man, behold, 1 take from thee thine eyes delight by a stroke, and thou shalt not mourn nor weep, and no tear shall come from thee. Ver. 17. Sigh in silence; lamentation for the dead thou shalt not make; bind thy head-attire upon thee, and put thy shoes upon thy feet, and do not cover thy beard, and eat not the bread of men. Ver. 18. And I spake to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died, and I did in the morning as I was commanded. Ver. 19. Then the people said to me, Wilt thou not show us what this signifies to us that thou doest so? Ver. 20. And I said to them, The word of Jehovah has come to me, saying, Ver. 21. Say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes, and the desire of your soul; and your sons and your daughters, whom ye have left, will fall by the sivord. Ver. 22. Then will ye do as I have done, ye will not cover the beard, nor eat the bread of men; Ver. 23. And ye will have your head-attire upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet; ye will not mourn nor weep, but ivill pine away in your iniquity, and sigh one toward another. Ver. 24. Thus will EzeMel be a sign to you; as he hath done will ye do; when it cometh, ye will know that I the Lord am Jehovah. — From the statements in ver. 18, to the effect that the prophet spoke to the people in the morning, and then in the evening his wife died, and then again in the (following) morning, according to the command of God, he manifested no grief, and in answer to the inquiry of the people explained to them the meaning of what he did, it is evident that the word of God contained in this section came to him on the same day as the preceding one, namely, on the day of the blockade of Jerusalem; for what he said to the people on the morning of this day (ver. 18) is the prophecy contained in vers. 3-14. Immediately after He had made this revelation to him, God also announced to him the approaching death of his wife, together with the significance which this event would have to the people generalty. The delight of the eyes (ver. 16) is his wife (ver. 18) "i??.*?? by a stroke, i.e. by a sudden death inflicted by God (yid. Num. xiv. 37, xvii. 13). On the occurrence of her death, he is neither to allow of any loud lamentings, nor to manifest any sign of grief, but simply to sigh in silence. QTip 72X does not stand for B^ft 73N, but the words are both accusatives. The literal rendering would be: the dead shalt thou not make an object of mourning, i.e. thou shalt not have any mourning for the dead, as Storr (Observv. p. 19) has correctly explained the words. On occasions of mourning it was customary to uncover the head and strew ashes upon it (Isa. Ixi. 3), to go barefoot (2 Sam. xv. 30; Isa. xx. 2), and to cover the beard, that is to say, the lower part of the face as far as the nose (Mic. iii. 7). Ezekiel is not to do any of these things, but to arrange his head-attire CHJ*i the head-attire generally, or turban, vid. ver. 23 and I>a. Ixi. 3, and not specially that of the priests, which is called njaJBJ] *7»8 in Ex. xxxix. 28), and to put on his shoes, and also to eat no mourning bread. cr^X DTO does not mean panis mUerorum^ cibut lvgentium) in which case D'BOK would be equivalent to EPFJK, but bread of men, i.e. of the people, that is to say, according to the context, bread which the people were accustomed to send to the house of mourning in cases of death, to manifest their sympathy and to console and refresh the mourners, — a custom which gave rise in the course of time to that of formal funeral meals. These are not mentioned in the Old Testament; but the sending of bread or food to the house of mourning is clearly referred to in Deut. xxvi. 14, Hos. ix. 4, and Jer. xvi. 7 (see also 2 Sam. iii. 35). — When Ezekiel thus abstained from all lamentation and outward sign of mourning on the death of his dearest one, the people conjectured that such striking conduct must have some significance, and asked him what it was that he intended to show thereby. He then announced to them the word of God (vers. 20—24). As his dearest one, his wife, had been taken from him, so should its dearest object, the holy temple, be taken from the nation by destruction, and their children by the sword. When this occurred, then would they act as he was doing now; they would not mourn and weep, but simply in their gloomy sorrow sigh in silence on account of their sins, and groan one toward another. The profanation (/?)) of the sanctuary is effected through its destruction (cf. ch. vii. 24). To show the magnitude of the loss, the worth of the temple in the eyes of the nation is dwelt upon in the following clauses. D3W jisa is taken from Lev. xxvi. 19. The temple is called the pride of your strength, because Israel based its might and strength upon it as the scene of the gracious presence of God, living in the hope that the Lord would not give up His sanctuary to the heathen to be destroyed, but would defend the temple, and therewith Jerusalem and its inhabitants also (cf. Jer. vii. 4). MK;w 7£nD, the desire or longing of the soul (from ^?n, in Arabic, desiderio ferri ad aliquam rem). The sons and daughters of the people are the relatives and countrymen whom the exiles had been obliged to leave behind in Canaan. — The explanation of this lamentation and mourning on account of the destruction of the sanctuary and death of their relations, is to be found in the antithesis: 'W3 Dn'jSM^ ye will pine or languish away in your iniquities (compare ch. iv. 17 and Lev. xxvi. 39). Consequently we have not to imagine either u stolid indifference " (Eichhorn and Hitzig), or " stolid impenitence" (Ewald), but overwhelming grief, for which there were no tears, no lamentation, but only deep inward sighing on account of the sins which had occasioned so terrible a calamity. BHJ, lit. to utter a deep growl, like the bears (Isa. lix. 11); here to sigh or utter a deep groan. " One toward another," i.e. manifesting the grief to one another by deep sighs; not " full of murmuring and seeking the sin which occasioned the calamity in others rather than in themselves," as Hitzig supposes. The latter exposition is entirely at variance with the context. This grief, which consumes the bodily strength, leads to a clear perception of the sin, and also to true repentance, and through penitence and atonement to regeneration and newness of life. And thus will they attain to a knowledge of the Lord through the catastrophe which bursts upon them (cf. Lev. xxvi. 40sqq.). For riBiOj a sign, see the comm. on Ex. iv. 21.

Vers. 25-27. Sequel of tiie Destruction of Jerusalem to the Prophet himself. — Ver. 25. And thou, son of man, behold, in the day when I take from them their might, their glorious joy, the delight of their eyes and the desire of their soul, their sons and their daughters, Ver. 26. In that day will a fugitive come to thee, to tell it to thine ears. Ver. 27. In that day will thy mouth be opened with the fugitive, and thou wilt speak, and no longer be mute; and thus shalt thou be a sign to them that they may know that I am Jehovah. — As the destruction of Jerusalem would exert a powerful influence upon the future history of the exiles on the Chaboras, and be followed by most important results, so was it also to be a turning-point for the prophet himself in the execution of his calling. Hiivernick has thus correctly explained the connection between these closing verses and what precedes, as indicated by nnsi in ver. 25. As Ezekiel up to this time was to speak to the people only when the Lord gave him a word for them, and at other times was to remain silent and dumb (ch. iii. 26 and 27); from the day on which a messenger should come to bring him the tidings of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, he was to open his mouth, and not continue dumb any longer. The execution of this word of God is related in ch. xxxiii. 21, 22. The words, " when I take from them their strength," etc., are to be understood in accordance with ver. 21. Consequently CWD is the sanctuarv, which was taken from the Israelites through the destruction of Jerusalem. The predicates which follow down to E'f23 KfeftD refer to the temple (cf. ver. 21). C;D3 NDD, an object toward which the soul lifts itself up (Kbo)? i.e. for which it cherishes a desire or longing; hence synonymous with PS3 tefiD in ver. 21. The sons and daughters are attached aavvSercos. KVin UV3, (in that day), in ver. 20, which resumes the words 'til *nnp DV2. (in the day when I take? etc.) in ver. 25, is not the day of the destruction of the temple, but generally the time of this event, or more precisely, the day on which the tidings would reach the prophet. E?sn? wjtn tne generic article, a fugitive (vid. Gen. xiv. 13). D^tX nvnpph?, to cause the ears to hear (it), i.e. to relate it, namely to the bodily ears of the prophet, whereas he had already heard it in spirit from God. nwn, a verbal noun, used instead of the infinitive Hiphil. Bvarrnx, with the escaped one, i.e. at the same time " with the mouth of the fugitive " (Hitzig). ris expresses association, or so far as the fact is concerned, simultaneousness. The words, u then wilt thou speak, and no longer be dumb," do not imply that it was only from that time forward that Ezekiel was to keep silence, but point back to ch. iii. 2b and 27, where silence is imposed upon him, with the exceptions mentioned there, from the very commencement of his ministry; and in comparison with that passage, simply involve implicite the thought that the silence imposed upon him then was to be observed in the strictest manner from the present time until the receipt of the intelligence of the fall of Jerusalem, when his mouth would be opened once more. Through the " words of God" that were given to His prophet (ch. iv.-xxiv.), the Lord had now said to the people of Israel all that He had to say concerning the approaching catastrophe for them to consider and lay to heart, that they might be brought to acknowledge their sin, and turn with sorrow and repentance to their God. Therefore was Ezekiel from this time forward to keep perfect silence toward Israel, and to let God the Lord speak by His acts and the execution of His threatening words. It was not till after the judgment had commenced that his mouth was to be opened again for still further announcements (yid. ch. xxxiii. 22). — Ezekiel was thereby to become a sign to the Israelites. These words have a somewhat different meaning in ver. 27 from that which they have in ver. 24. There, Ezekiel, by the way in which lie behaved at the death of his wife, was to be a sign to the people of the manner in which they were to act when the judgment should fall upon Jerusalem; whereas here (ver. 27), riDi^p refers to the whole of the ministry of the prophet, his silence hitherto, and that which he was still to observe, as well as his future words. Through both of these he was to exhibit himself to his countrymen as a man whose silence, speech, and action were alike marvellous and full of meaning to them, and all designed to lead them to the knowledge of the Lord, the God of their salvation.

While the prophet's mouth was to be mute to Israel, the Lord directed him to speak against the heathen nations, and to foretell to them the judgment of destruction, that they might not be lifted up by the fall of the people and kingdom of God, but might recognise in the judgment upon Israel a work of the omnipotence and righteousness of the Lord, the Judge of the whole earth. There are seven heathen nations whose destruction Ezekiel foretells in this section of his book, viz. (1) Amnion; (2) Moab; (3) Edom; (4) the Philistines (ch. xxv.); (5) Tyre, (6) Sidon (ch. xxvi.-xxviii.); and (7) Egypt (ch. xxix.-xxxii.). These prophecies are divided into thirteen words of God by the introductory formula, a The word of Jehovah came to me," the utterances against Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines, being all comprehended in one word of God; whereas there are four separate words of God directed against Tyre, one against Sidon, and seven against Egypt. In the seven nations and the seven words of God directed against Egypt we cannot fail to discover an allusion to the symbolical significance of the number. Sidon, which had lost its commanding position and become dependent upon Tyre long before the time of Ezekiel, is evidently selected for a special word of God only for the purpose of making up the number seven. And in order to make it the more apparent that the number has been chosen on account of its significance, Ezekiel divides his announcement of the judgment upon the seventh people into seven words of God. On the basis of Gen. i., seven is the number denoting the completion of the works of God. When, therefore, Ezekiel selects seven nations and utters seven words of God concerning the principal nation, namely Egypt, he evidently intends to indicate thereby that the judgment predicted will be executed and completed upon the heathen world and its peoples through the word and acts of God. — The predictions of judgment upon these seven heathen nations are divisible, accordingly, into two groups. Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, and Sidon form one group, while the second treats of Egypt alone. This is certainly the way in which the cycle of these prophecies is to be divided rather than the plan ordinarily adopted, according to which the nations included in ch. xxv., as representatives of the one phase of the world-power, are placed in contrast with the other phase of heathenism represented by Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt. The latter is the opinion entertained by Havernick, for example, with regard to the " beautiful and symmetrical arrangement" of these prophecies. "First of all," says he, " the prophet shows in one series of nations how the idea of the judgment of God was realized in the case of those nations which rose up in direct and open hostility to the theocracy, and thereby represented the might of heathenism as turned away from God and engaged in downright rebellion against Him (ch. xxv.). The prophecies concerning Tyre and Sidon contemplate heathenism in a second aspect (ch. xxvi.-xxviii.). In Tyre we have an exhibition of pride or carnal security, which looks away from God, and plunges deeper and deeper into the sin and worthlessness of the natural life. Both aspects are then finally combined in Egypt, that ancient foe of the covenant nation, which had grown into a world-power, and while displaying in this capacity unbending arrogance and pride, was now, like all the rest, about to be hurled down from the summit of its ancient glory into a bottomless deep." But this interpretation is, in more than one respect, manifestly at variance with the substance of the prophecies. This applies, in the first place, to the antithesis which is said to exist between the nations threatened in ch. xxv. on the one hand, and Tyre and Sidon on the other. In the case of Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines, for example, the sins mentioned as those for which they would be overthrown by the judgment are their malicious delight at the fall of Israel, and their revengeful, hostile behaviour towards the covenant nation (cli. xxv. 3, 8, 12, 15). And in the same way, according to ch. xxvi. 2, Tyre had involved itself in guilt by giving utterance to its delight at the destruction of Jerusalem, which inspired the hope that everything would now flow into its own store. On the other hand, nothing is said in the case of Pharaoh and Egypt about malicious pleasure, or hostility, or enmity towards Israel or the kingdom of God; but Pharaoh has rendered himself guilty by saying: the Nile is mine, I have made it for myself; and by the fact that Egypt had become a staff of reed to the house of Israel, which broke when they sought to lean upon it (ch. xxix. 3, 6, 7). According to these obvious explanations, Ezekiel reckoned Tyre and Sidon among the nations that were inimically disposed towards Israel, even though the hostile attitude of the Phoenicians was dictated bv different motives from those of Edom and the other nations mentioned in ch. xxv.; and the heathen nations are arranged in two groups, and not in three. This is established beyond all doubt, when we observe that each of these two groups terminates with a promise for Israel. To the threat of judgment uttered against Sidon there is appended the promise: and there shall be no more for Israel a malicious briar and smarting thorn from all that are round about them who despise them; and when the Lord shall gather Israel from its dispersion, then will He cause it to dwell safely and prosperously in His land, inasmuch as He will execute judgment upon all round about them who despise them (ch. xxviii. 24—26). And the prediction of judgment upon Egypt in the last prophecy uttered concerning this land, in the twenty-seventh year of the captivity (eh. xxix. 17), closes in a similar mannerT with the promise that at the time when the Lord gives Egypt as spoil to the king of Babylon, He will cause a horn to grow to the house of Israel (ch. xxix. 21). The fact that these two prophecies correspond to each other would not have been overlooked by the commentators if the prophecy concerning Egypt, which was really the last in order of time, had been placed in its proper chronological position in the book of Ezekiel, namely, at the close of the words of God directed against that land.

The date of the great mass of these prophecies falls within the period of the last siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, that is to say, in the interval between ch. xxiv. and ch. xxxiii., as the chronological data in the headings plainly affirm. The first word concerning Tyre is from the eleventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin (ch. xxvi. 1). Of the prophecies against Egypt, the one in ch. xxix. 1-16 dates from the tenth month of the tenth year; that in ch. xxx. 20-26, from the first month of the eleventh year; that in ch. xxxi., from the third month of the same year; the two in ch. xxxii. 1 sqq. and 17 sqq., from the twelfth month of the twelfth year; and lastly, the brief utterance in ch. xxix. 17-21, from the twenty-seventh year of the captivity. There are no chronological data attached to the others. But the short, threatening words against the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Philistines in ch. xxv. belong to the time immediately succeeding the fall of Jerusalem, since they presuppose its having occurred. The second and third utterances concerning Tyre in ch. xxvii. and ch. xxviii. 1-19 as well as that concerning Sidon in ch. xxviii. 20 sqq., are closely connected, so far as their contents are concerned, with the first word of God against Tyre belonging to the eleventh vear of the captivity. And lastly, the threatening word concerning Egypt in ch. xxx. 1-19, to which no definite chronological data are attached, appears to stand nearer in point of time to ch. xxix. 1-16 than to ch. xxix. 17—21. — Consequently the arrangement is based upon the subject-matter of the prophecies, and the chronological sequence is kept subordinate to this, or rather to the comparative importance of the several nations in relation to the theocracy.

These prophecies evidently rest upon the predictions of the earlier prophets against the same nations, so far as their contents are concerned; and in the threats directed against Tyre and Egypt, more especially, many of the thoughts con- tained ia the prophecies of Isaiah (Isa. xxiii. and xix.) are reproduced and expanded. But notwithstanding this resting upon the utterances of earlier prophets, Ezekiel's prophecy against the heathen nations is distinguished in a characteristic manner from that of the other prophets, by the fact that he does not say a word about the prospect of these nations being ultimately pardoned, or of the remnant of them being converted to the Lord, but stops with the announcement of the utter destruction of the earthly and temporal condition of all these kingdoms and nations. The prophecy concerning Egypt in ch. xxix. 13—16, to the effect that after forty years of chastisement God will turn its captivity, and gather it together again, is only an apparent and not a real exception to this; for this turning of the judgment is not to bring about a restoration of Egypt to its former might and greatness or its glorification in the future; but, according to vers. 14 sqq., is simply to restore a lowly and impotent kingdom, which will offer no inducement to Israel to rely upon its strength. Through this promise, therefore, the threat of complete destruction is only somewhat modified, but by no means withdrawn. The only thing which Ezekiel positively holds out to view before the seven heathen nations is, that in consequence of the judgment falling upon them, they will learn that God is Jehovah, or the Lord. This formula regularly returns in the case of all the nations (yid. ch. xxv. 5, 7, 11, 17, xxvi. 6, xxviii. 22, 23, xxix. 6, 9, xxx. 8, 19, 25, 26, xxxii. 15); and we might take it to mean, that through the judgment of their destruction in a temporal respect, these nations will come to the knowledge of the God of salvation. And with this interpretation it would contain a slight allusion to the salvation, which will flourish in consequence of and after the judgment, in the case of those who have escaped destruction. If, however, we consider, on the one hand, that in the case of Edom (ch. xxv. 14) the formula takes a harsher form, namely, not that they shall know Jehovah, but that they shall experience His vengeance; and, on the other hand, that the mighty Tyre is repeatedly threatened with destruction, even eternal extinction (ch. xxvi. 20, 21, xxvii. 3G, xxviii. 19), and that the whole cycle of these prophecies closes with a funeraldirge on the descent of all the heathen nations into Sheol (ch. xxxii. 17-32), — we shall see that the formula in question cannot be taken in the sense indicated above, as Kliefoth maintains, but must be understood as signifying that these nations will discern in their destruction the punitive righteousness of God, so that it presents no prospect of future salvation, but simply increases the force of the threat. There is nothing in this distinction, however, to establish a discrepancy between Ezekiel and the earlier prophets; for Ezekiel simply fixes his eye upon the judgment, which will fall upon the heathen nations, partly on account of their hostile attitude towards the kingdom of God, and partly on account of their deification of their own might, and is silent as to the salvation which will accrue even to them out of the judgment itself, but without in the least degree denying it. The reason for his doing this is not that the contemplation of the particular features, which form the details of the immediate fulfilment, has led him to avert his eye from the more comprehensive survey of the entire future; * but that the proclamation of the spread of salvation among the heathen lay outside the limits of the calling which he had received from the Spirit of God. The prophetic mission of Ezekiel was restricted to the remnant of the covenant nation, which was carried into exile, and scattered among the heathen. To this remnant he was to foretell the destruction

1 Drechsler (in his commentary on Isa. xxiii.) has given the following explanation of the distinction to be observed between the prophecies of Isaiah and those of Ezekiel concerning Tyre, — namely, that in the case of Isaiah the spirit of prophecy invests its utterances with the character of totality, in accordance with the position assigned to this prophet at the entrance upon a new era of the world, embracing the entire future even to the remotest times, and sketching with grand simplicity the groundplan and outline of the whole; whereas in the case of the later prophets, such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who were living in the midst of the historical execution, the survey of the whole gives place to the contemplation of of the kingdom of Judali, and after the occurrence of that catastrophe the preservation and eventual restoration of the kingdom of God in a renewed and glorified form. With this commission, which he had received from the Lord, there was associated, it is true, the announcement of judgment upon the heathen, inasmuch as such an announcement was well fitted to preserve from despair the Israelites, who were pining under the oppression of the heathen, and to revive the hope of the fulfilment of the promise held out before the penitent of their future redemption from their state of misery and restoration to the position of the people of God. But this would not apply to the prophecies of the reception of the heathen into the renovated kingdom of God, as they contained no special element of consolation to the covenant people in their depression.

In connection with this we have the equally striking circumstance, that Ezekiel does not mention Babylon among the heathen nations. This may also be explained, not merely from the predominance of the idea of the judgment upon Israel and Jerusalem, which the Chaldeans were to execute as " righteous men" (ch. xxiii. 45), so that they only came before him as such righteous men, and not as a world-power also (Kliefoth), but chiefly from the fact that, for the reason described above, EzekiePs prophecy of the judgment upon the heathen is restricted to those nations which had hitherto cherished and displayed either enmity or false friendship toward Israel, and the Chaldeans were not then reckoned among the number. — For the further development of the prophecy concerning the future of the whole heathen wrorld, the Lord had called the particular features belonging to the details of the immediate fulfilment. But this explanation is not satisfactory, inasmuch as Jeremiah, notwithstanding the fact that he lived in the midst of the execution of the judgment, foretold the turning of judgment into salvation at least in the case of some of the heathen nations. For example, in ch. xlviii. 47 he prophesies to the Moabites, and in ch. xlix. 6 to the Ammonites, that in the future time Jehovah -will turn their captivity; and in ch. xlvi. 26 he says, concerning Egypt, that after the judgment it will be inhabited as in the days of old.

prophet Daniel at the same time as Ezekiel, and assigned him his post at the seat of the existing heathen imperial power.

The prophecies, comprehended in the heading (ver. 1) in one " word of the Lord," against Ammon (vers. 1-7), Moab (vers. 8-11), Edom (vers. 12-14), and the Philistines (vers. 15-17), those four border-nations of Israel, are very concise, the judgment of destruction being foretold to them, in a few forcible lines, partly on account of their scorn at the fall of the people and kingdom of God, and partly because of actual hostility manifested toward them. The date of these utterances is not given in the heading; but in vers. 3, 6, and 8 the destruction of Jerusalem is presupposed as having already occurred, so that they cannot have been delivered till after this catastrophe.

Vers. 1-7. Against the Ammonites. — Ver. 1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 2. Son of man, direct thy face towards the sons of Ammon, and prophesy against them, Ver. 3. And say to the sons of Ammon, Hear ye the word of the Lord Jehovah! Thus saith the -Lord Jehovah, Because thou say est, Aha! concerning my sanctuary, that it is profaned; and concerning the land of Israel, that it is laid waste; and concerning the house of Judah, that they have gone into captivity; Ver. 4. Therefore, behold, I will give thee to the sons of the east for a possession, that they may pitch their tent-villages in thee, and erect their dwellings in thee; they shall eat thy fruits, and they shall drink thy milk. Ver. 5. And Iiabbah will I make a camel- ground, and the sons of Ammon a resting-place for rf,ocks; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. Ver. 6. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because thou hast clapped thy hand, and stamped with thy foot, and hast rejoiced in soul with all thy contempt concerning the house of Israel, Ver. 7. Therefore, behold, I will stretch out my hand against thee, and give thee to the nations for booty, and cut thee off from the peoples, and exterminate thee from the lands; I ivill destroy thee, that thou mayst learn that lam Jehovah. — In ch. xxi. 28 sqq., when predicting the expedition of Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem, Ezekiel had already foretold the destruction of the Ammonites, so that these verses are simply a resumption and confirmation of the earlier prophecy. In the passage referred to, Ezekiel, like Zephaniah before him (Zeph. ii. 8, 10), mentions their reviling of the people of God as the sin for which they are to be punished with destruction. This reviling, in which their hatred of the divine calling of Israel found vent, was the radical sin of Ammon. On the occasion of Judah's fall, it rose even to contemptuous and malicious joy at the profanation of the sanctuary of Jehovah by the destruction of the temple (a comparison with ch. xxiv. 21 will show that this is the sense in which brn is to be understood), at the devastation of the land of Israel, and at the captivity of Judah, — in other words, at the destruction of the religious and political existence of Israel as the people of God. The profanation of the sanctuary is mentioned first, to intimate that the hostility to Israel, manifested by the Ammonites on every occasion that presented itself (for proofs, see the comm. on Zeph. ii. 8), had its roots not so much in national antipathies, as in antagonism to the sacred calling of Israel. As a punishment for this, they are not only to lose their land (vers. 4 and 5), but to be cut off from the number of the nations (vers. 6 and 7). The Lord will give up their land, with its productions, for a possession to the sons of the east, i.e., according to Gen. xxv. 13-18, to the Arabs, the Bedouins (for D^p "03, see the comm. on Judg. vi. 3 and Job i. 3). The Piel &$\9 although only occurring here, is not to be rejected as critically suspicious, and to be changed into Kal, as Hitzig proposes. The Kal would be unsuitable because the subject of the sentence can only be D*i|5 "on, and not DiTHVY'D; and 3K» in the Kal has an intransitive sense. For ni"M?, tent-villages of nomads, see the comm. on Gen.

xxv. 16. D*?3lp?, dwellings, are the separate tents of the shepherds. In the last clauses of ver. 4, n*27\ [s repeated for the sake of emphasis; and Hitzig's opinion, that the first n®\} corresponds to the subject in the clause '131 U^l, the second to that in WJ1, is to be rejected as a marvellous flight of imagination, which approaches absurdity in the assertion that H^? *^S signifies the folds, i.e. the animals, of the land. Along with the fruit of the land, i.e. the produce of the soil, milk is also mentioned as a production of pastoral life, and the principal food of nomads. On the wealth of the Ammonites in flocks and herds, see Judg. vi. 5. The words are addressed to Ammon, as a land or kingdom, and hence the feminine suffix. The capital will also share the fate of the land. Rabbah (see the comm. on Deut. iii. 11) will become a camel-ground, a waste spot where camels lie down and feed. This has been almost literally fulfilled. The ruins of Amman are deserted by men, and Seetzen found Arabs with their camels not far off (yid. von Raumer, Palestine, p. 268). In the parallel clause, the sons of Ammon, i.e. the Ammonites, are mentioned instead of their land. — In vers. 6 and 7, the Lord announces to the nation of the Ammonites the destruction that awraits them, and reiterates with still stronger emphasis the sin which occasioned it, namely, the malicious delight they had manifested at Israel's fall, 1&KB>"i>32l is strengthened by C;d:3: with all thy contempt in the soul, i.e. with all the contempt wThich thy soul could cherish. In ver. 7 the air. \ey. 337 occasions some difficulty. The Keri has substituted TX>, for booty to the nations (cf. ch. xxvi. 5); and all the ancient versions have adopted this. Consequently 33 might be a copyist's error for?3; and in support of this the circumstance might be adduced, that in ch. xlvii. 13, where na stands for nT? we have unquestionably a substitution of i for T. But if the Chelib T3 be correct, the word is to be explained — as it has been by Benfey (Die Mpntasnamen, p. 194) and Gildemeister (in Lassen's Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes, iv. 1, p. 213 sqq.) — from the Sanscrit bhdga, pars, portio, and has passed into the Semitic languages from the Aryan, like the Syriac L^> csca, which P. Boetticher

(Home coram, p. 21) has correctly traced to the Sanscrit bhaj, coquere. — The executors of the judgment are not named; for the threat that God will give up the land of the Ammonites to the Bedouins for their possession, does not imply that they are to exterminate the Ammonites. On the contrary, a comparison of this passage with Amos i. 13-15 and Jer. xlix. 1-5, where the Ammonites are threatened not only with the devastation of their land, but also with transportation into exile, will show that the Chaldeans are to be thought of as executing the judgment. (See the comm. on ver. 11.)

Vers. 8-11. Against the Moabites. — Ver. 8. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because Moab, like Seir, saith, Behold, like all other nations is the house of Judah: Ver. 9. Therefore, behold, 1 ivill open the shoulder of Moab from the cities, from its cities even to the last, the ornament of the land, Beth-hay eshimoth, Baal-meon, and as far as Kiryathaim, Ver. 10. To the sons of the east, together with the so?is of Ammon, and will give it for a jiossession, that the sons of Ammon may no more be remembered among the nations, Ver. 11. Upon Moab will 1 execute judgments; and they shall learn that I am Jehovah. — Moab has become guilty of the same sin against Judah, the people of God, as Ammon, namely, of misunderstanding and despising the divine election of Israel. Ammon gave expression to this, when Judah was overthrown, in the malicious assertion that the house of Judah wa3 like all the heathen nations, — that is to say, had no pre-eminence over them, and shared the same fate as they. There is something remarkable in the allusion to Seir, i.e. Edom, in connection with Moab, inasmuch as no reference is made to it in the threat contained in vers. 9-11; and in vers. 12, 13, there follows a separate prediction concerning Edom. Hitzig therefore proposes to follow the example of the LXX., and erase it from the text as a gloss, but without being able in the smallest degree to show in what way it is probable that such a gloss could have found admission into an obviously unsuitable place. Seir is mentioned along with Moab to mark the feeling expressed in the words of Moab as springing, like the enmity of Edom towards Israel, from hatred and envy of the spiritual birthright of Israel, i.e. of its peculiar prerogatives in sacred history. As a punishment for this, Moab was to be given up, like Amnion, to the Bedouins for their possession, and the people of the Moabites were to disappear from the number of the nations. Vers. 9 and 10 form one period, D^g VQp in ver. 10 being governed by nrib in ver. 9. The shoulder of Moab is the side of the Moabitish land. In the application of the word *)n3 to lands or provinces, regard is had to the position of the shoulder in relation to the whole body, but without reference to the elevation of the district We find an analogy to this in the use of ^na in connection with the sides of a building. In 'Ul Uny*JQ3 the IP cannot be taken, in a privative sense, for nrnp; for neither the article B'nyn, nor the more emphatic ^nvf^p rjjJD, allows this; but jp indicates the direction, " from the cities onwards," a from its cities onwards, reckoning to the very last," — that is to say, in its whole extent. vngpy as in Isa. lvi. 11, Gen. xix. 4, etc. This tract of land is first of all designated as a glorious land, with reference to its worth as a possession on account of the excellence of its soil for the rearing of cattle (see the comm. on Num.. xxxii. 4), and then denned with geographical minuteness by the introduction of the names of some of its cities. Beth-Hay eshimoth, i.e. house of wastes (see the comm. on Num. xxii. 1), has probably been preserved in the ruins of Suaime, which F. de Saulcy discovered on the north-eastern border of the Dead Sea, a little farther inland (via1. Voyage en terre sainte, Paris 1865, t. i. p. 315). Baal-Meon, — when written fully, Beth- Baal- Meon (Josh. xiii. 17), — contracted into Beth-Meon in Jer. xlviii. 23, is to be sought for to the south-east of this, in the ruins of

Myun, three-quarters of an hour's journey to the south of Heshbon (see the comm. on Num. xxxii. 38). Kiryathaim was still farther south, probably on the site of the ruins of El Teym (see the comm. on Gen. xiv. 5 and Num. xxxii. 37). The C/tctib nonnp is based upon the form Bnnp^ a secondary form of E^")i?, like |rn, a secondary form of JTn, in 2 Kings vi. 13. The cities named were situated to the north of the Arnon, in that portion of the Moabitish land which had been taken from the Moabites by the Amorites before the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan (Num. xxi. 13, 26), and was given to the tribe of Reuben for its inheritance after the defeat of the Amoritish kings by the Israelites; and then, still later, when the tribes beyond the Jordan were carried into captivity by the Assyrians, came into the possession of the Moabites again, as is evident from Isa. xv. and xvi., and Jer. xlviii. 1, 23, where these cities are mentioned once more among the cities of the Moabites. This will explain not only the naming of this particular district of the Moabitish country, but the definition, u from its cities." For the fact upon which the stress is laid in the passage before us is, that the land in question rightfully belonged to the Israelites, according to Num. xxxii. 37, 38, xxxiii. 49, Josh. xii. 2, 3, xiii. 20, 21, and that it was therefore unlawfully usurped by the Moabites after the deportation of the trans-Jordanic tribes; and the thought is this, that the judgment would burst upon Moab from this land and these cities, and they would thereby be destroyed (Havernick and Kliefoth). PBJT\32?V, not " over the sons of Amnion," but "in addition to the sons of Ammon." They, that is to say, their land, had already been promised to the sons of the east (ver. 4). In addition to this, they are now to receive Moab for their possession (Hitzig and Kliefoth). Thus will the Lord execute judgments upon Moab. Ver. 11 sums up what is affirmed concerning Moab in vers. 9 and 10, in the one idea of the judgments of God upon this people. — The execution of these judgments commenced with the subjugation of the Ammonites and Moabites by Nebuchadnezzar, five years after the destruction of Jerusalem (vid. Josephus, Anil. x. 9. 7, and M. von Niebuhr, Gesch. Assurs, etc., p. 215). Nevertheless the Ammonites continued to exist as a nation for a lon<* time after the captivity, so that Judas the Maccabaean waged war against them (1 Mace. v. 6, 30-43); and even Justin Martyr speaks of 'AfjLfjLavLT&v vvv ttoXv irXfjOos (Dial. Tryph. p. 272). — But Origen includes their land in the general name of Arabia (lib. i. in Job). The name of the Moabites appears to have become extinct at a much earlier period. After the captivity, it is only in Ezra ix. 1, Neh. xiii. 1, and Dan. xi. 41, that we find any notice of them as a people. Their land is mentioned by Josephus in the Antiq. xiii. 14. 2, and xv. 4, and in the Bell. Jud. iii. 3. 3. — A further fulfilment by the Messianic judgment, which is referred to in Zeph. ii. 10, is not indicated in these words of Ezekiel; but judging from the prophecy concerning the Edomites (see the comm. on ver. 14), it is not to be excluded.

Vers. 12-14. Against the Edomites. — Ver. 12. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because Edom acteth revengefully towards the house of Judah, and hath been very guilty in avenging itself upon them, Ver. 13. Therefore, thus saith the JjOrd Jehovah, I icill stretch out my hand over Edom, and cut off man and beast from it, and make it a desert from Teman, and unto Dedan they shall fall by the sword. Ver. 14. And I ivill inflict my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel, that they may do to Edom according to my anger and my wrath; and they shall experience my vengeance, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. — Whilst the Ammonites and the Moabites are charged with nothing more than malicious pleasure at the fall of Israel, and disregard of its divine calling, the Edomites are reproached with revengeful acts of hostility towards the house of Judah, and threatened with extermination in consequence. The ftifrjj, doing or acting of Edom, is more precisely defined as 'W ^p33, i.e. as consisting in the taking of vengeance, and designated as very guilty, tricfc *WfcO. rro? followed by 2 with an infinitive, as in ch. xvii. 17. Edom had sought every opportunity of acting thus revengefully towards Israel (vid. Obad. vers. 11 sqq.; Amos i. 11), so that in ch. xxxv. 5 Ezekiel speaks of the "eternal enmity" of Edom against Israel. For this reason we must not restrict the reproach in ver. 12 to particular outbreaks of this revenge at the time of the devastation and destruction of Judah by the Chaldeans, of which the Psalmist complains in Ps. cxxxvii., and for which he invokes the vengeance of God upon Edom. Man and beast are to be cut off from Edom in consequence, and the land to become a desert from Teman to Dedan. These names denote npt cities, but districts. Teman is the southern portion of Idumaea (see the comm. on Amos i. 12); and Dedan is therefore the northern district. Dedan is probably not the Cushite tribe mentioned in Gen. x. 7, but the tribe of the same name which sprang from the sons of Abraham by Keturah (Gen. xxv. 3), and which is also mentioned in Jer. xlix. 8 in connection with Edom. npni has n local with SegJwl instead of Kametzt probably on account of the preceding a (vid. Ewald, § 216c). There is no necessity to connect fl^np with the following clause, as Hitzig and Kliefoth have done, in opposition to the accents. The two geographical names, which are used as a periphrasis for Idumaea as a whole, are distributed equally through the parallelismus membrorum between the two clauses of the sentence, so that they belong to both clauses, so far as the sense is concerned. Edom is to become a desert from Teman to Dedan, and its inhabitants from Teman to Dedan are to fall by the sword. This judgment of vengeance will be executed by God through His people Israel. The fulfilment of this threat, no doubt, commenced with the subjugation of the Edomites by the Maccabees; but it is not to be limited to that event, as Eosenmiiller, Kliefoth, and others suppose, although the foundation was thereby laid for the disappearance of the national existence of Edom. For it is impossible with this limitation to do justice to the emphatic expression, u my people Israel." On the ground, therefore, of the prophecies in Amos ix. 12 and Obad. vers. 17 sqq., that the people of God are to take possession of Edom, when the fallen tabernacle of David is raised up again, i.e. in the Messianic times, which prophecies point back to that of Balaam in Num. xxiv. 18, and have their roots, as this also has, in the promise of God concerning the twin sons of Isaac, "the elder shall serve the younger" (Gen. xxv. 23), we must seek for the complete fulfilment in the victories of the people of God over all their foes, among whom Edom from time immemorial had taken the leading place, at the time when the kingdom of God is perfected. For even here Edom is not introduced merely as a single nation that was peculiarly hostile to Judah, but also as a type of the implacable enmity of the heathen world towards the people and kingdom of God, as in ch. xxxv., Isa. xxxiv. 63, etc. The vengeance, answering to the anger and wrath of Jehovah, which Israel, as the people of God, is to execute upon Edom, consists not merely in the annihilation of the national existence of Edom, which John Hyrcanus carried into effect by compelling the subjugated Edomites to adopt circumcision (see the comm. on Num. xxiv. 18), but chiefly in the wrathful judgment which Israel will execute in the person of Christ upon the arch-enemy of the kingdom of God by its complete extinction.

Vers. 15-17. Against the Philistines. — Ver. 15. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because the Philistines act with revenge, and avenge themselves with contempt in the soul to destroy in everlasting enmity, Ver. 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will stretch out my hand over the Philistines, and cut off the Cretans, and destroy the remnant by the seashore. Ver. 17. And J will execute great vengeance upon them through chastisements of wrath, and they shall know that

I am Jehovah, when I bring my vengeance upon them. — The Philistines resembled the Edomites and Ammonites in their disposition towards the covenant nation, the former in their thirst for revenge, the latter in their malicious rejoicing at Israel's fall. For this reason they had already been classed by Isaiah (xi. 14) with Edom, Moab, and Ammon as enemies, who would be successfully attacked and overcome by Israel, when the Lord had gathered it again from its dispersion. In the description of its sin towards Israel we have a combination of elements taken from the conduct of Edom and Ammon (vers. 12 and 6). They execute revenge with contempt in the soul (£'^3 B^, as in ver. 6), with the intention to destroy (rvnc'bp) Israel; and this revenge springs from eternal, neverending hostility. The Lord will cut off the whole of the people of the Philistines for this. 0^3, Cretans, originally a branch of the Philistian people, settled in the south-west of Canaan. The name is used by Ezekiel for the people, as it had already been by Zephaniah (ii. 5), for the sake of the paronomasia with WH. The origin of the name is involved in obscurity, as the current derivation from Creta rests upon a very doubtful combination (cf. Stark, Gaza, pp. 66 and 99 sqq.). By the "remnant of the sea-coast," i.e. the remnant of the inhabitants of the coast of the Mediterranean, in other words, of the Philistines, the destruction of which had already been predicted by Amos (i. 8), Isaiah (xiv. 30), and Jeremiah (xlvii.4), we are to understand the whole nation to the very last man, all that was still left of the Philistines (see the comm. on Amos i. 8). — The execution of the vengeance threatened by God began in the Chaldean period, in which Gaza was attacked by Pharaoh, and, judging from Jer. xlvii., the whole of Philistia was laid waste by the Chaldeans (see the fuller comments on this in the exposition of Jer. xlvii.). But the ultimate fulfilment will take place in the case of Philistia also, through the Messianic judgment, in the manner described in the commentary on Zeph. ii. 10.

The greater portion of these three chapters is occupied with the prophecy concerning Tyre, which extends from ch. xxvi. 1 to ch. xxviii. 19. The prophecy against Sidon is limited to ch. xxviii. 20-26. The reason for this is, that the grandeur and importance of Phoenicia were concentrated at that time in the power and rule of Tyre, to which Sidon had been obliged to relinquish the hegemony, which it had formerly possessed over Phoenicia. The prophecy against Tyre consists of four words of God, of which the first (ch. xxvi.) contains the threat of destruction to the city and state of Tyre; the second (ch. xxvii.), a lamentation over this destruction; the third (ch. xxviii. 1-10), the threat against the king of Tyre; the fourth (ch. xxviii. 11—19), a lamentation over his fall.

In four sections, commencing with the formula, " thus saith the Lord," Tyre, the mistress of the sea, is threatened with destruction. In the first strophe (vers. 2-6) there is a general threat of its destruction by a host of nations. In the second (vers. 7-14), the enemy is mentioned by name, and designated as a powerful one; and the conquest and destruction emanating from him are circumstantially described. In the third (vers. 15-18), the impression wrhich this event would produce upon the inhabitants of the islands and coast-lands is depicted. And in the fourth (vers. 19-21), the threat is repeated in an energetic manner, and the prophecy is thereby rounded off.

This word of God bears in the introduction the date of its delivery to the prophet and enunciation by him. — Ver. 1. It came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first of the month, that the word of Jehovah came to me, saying. — The eleventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin was the year of the conquest and destruction of Jerusalem (Jer. lii. 6, 12), the occurrence of which is presupposed in ver. 2 also. There is something striking in the omission of the number of the month both here and in ch. xxxii. 17, as the day of the month is given. The attempt to discover in the words Vnrb "inN3 an indication of the number of the month, by understanding EHhp as signifying the first month of the year: "on the first as regards the month," equivalent to, u in the first month, on the first day of it" (LXX., Luther, Kliefoth, and others), is as forced and untenable as the notion that that particular month is intended which had peculiar significance for Ezekiel, namely, the month in which Jerusalem was conquered and destroyed. The first explanation is proved to be erroneous by ver. 2, where the destruction of Jerusalem, which occurred in the fifth month of the year named, is assumed to have already happened. The second view is open to the objection that the conquest of Jerusalem happened in the fourth month, and the destruction in the fifth (Jer. Hi. 6 and 12); and it cannot be affirmed that the conquest was of less importance to Ezekiel than the destruction. We cannot escape the conclusion, therefore, that the number of the month has been dropped through a corruption of the text, which has occurred in copying; but in that case we must give up all hope of being able to determine what the month really was. The conjecture offered by Ewald and Hitzig, that one of the last months of the year is intended, because Ezekiel could not have known before then wrhat impression the conquest of Jerusalem had made upon Tyre, stands or falls with the naturalistic view entertained by these writers with regard to prophecy.

Vers. 2—6. Tyre shall be broken and utterly destroyed. — Ver. 2. Son of man, because Tyre saith concerning Jerusalem, u Aha, the door of the nations is broken; it turneth to me; I shall become full; she is laid waste;" Ver. 3. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will come upon thee, 0 Tyre, and will bring up against thee many nations, as the sea bringing up its waves, Ver. 4. They will destroy the walls of Tyre, and throw down her towers; and I will sweep away her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. Ver. 5. She shall become a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken it, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah; and she shall become booty for the nations, Ver. 6. And her daughters which are in the land shall be slain ivith the sword; and they shall learn that I am Jehovah. — Tyre, as in the prophecy of Isaiah (ch. xxiii.), is not the city of that name upon the mainland, rj iraXai Tvpos or HakaiTvpos, Old Tyre, which was taken by Shalmaneser and destroyed by Alexander (as Perizon., Marsh, Vitringa, J. D. Michaelis, and Eichhorn supposed), bat Insular Tyre, which was three-quarters of a mile farther north, and only 1200 paces from the land, beiDg built upon a small island, and separated from the mainland by a strait of no great depth (vid. Movers, Phoenizier, II. p. 288 sqq.). This Insular Tyre had successfully resisted the Assyrians (Josephus, Antt. ix. 14. 2), and was at that time the market of the nations; and in Ezekiel's day it had reached the summit of its greatness as mistress of the sea and the centre of the commerce of the world. That it is against this Tyre that our prophecy is chiefly directed, is evident from vers. 5 and 14, according to which Tyre is to become a bare rock in the midst of the sea, and from the allusion to the daughter cities, n'lfe'n, in the field, i.e. on the mainland (in ver. 6), as contrasted with the position occupied by Tyre upon a rocky island in the sea; and, lastly, from the description given in ch. xxvii. of the maritime trade of Tyre with all nations, to which Old Tyre never attained, inasmuch as it possessed no harbour (vid. Movers, I.e. p. 176). This may easily be reconciled with such passages as vers. 6, 8, and ch. xxvii., xxviii., in which reference is also made to the continental Tyre, and the conquest of Tyre is depicted as the conquest of a land-city (see the exposition of these verses). — The threat against Tyre commences, as in the case of the nations threatened in ch. xxv., with a brief description of its sin. Tyre,gave expression to its joy at the fall of Jerusalem, because it hoped to derive profit therefrom through the extension of its commerce and increase of its wealth. Different explanations have been given of the meaning of the words put into the mouth of Tyre. " The door of the nations is broken in pieces." The plural Awl indicates the folding doors which formed the gate, and are mentioned in its stead. Jerusalem is the door of the nations, and is so called according to the current opinion of expositors, because it was the centre of the commerce of the nations, i.e. as a place of trade. But nothing is known to warrant the idea that Jerusalem was ever able to enter into rivalry with Tyre as a commercial city. The importance of Jerusalem with regard to other nations was to be found, not in its commerce, nor in the favourable situation which it occupied for trade, in support of which Hiivernick refers to Herodotus, iii. 5, and Hitzig to Ezekiel xxiii. 40, 41, but in its sanctuary, or the sacred calling which it had received for the whole world of nations. Kliefoth has therefore decided in favour of the following view: That Jerusalem is called a gate of the nations, not because it had hitherto been open to the nations for free and manifold intercourse, but for the very opposite reason, namely, because the gate of Jerusalem had hitherto been closed and barred against the nations, but was now broken in pieces through the destruction of the city, and thereby opened to the nations. Consequently the nations, and notably Tyre, would be able to enter now; and from this fact the Tyrians hoped to derive advantage, so far as their commercial interests were concerned. But this view is not in harmony with the text. Although a gate is opened by being broken in pieces, and one may force an entrance into a house by breaking the door (Gen. xix. 9), yet the expression " door of the nations." cannot signify a door which bars all entrance on the part of the nations, inasmuch as doors and gates are not made to secure houses and cities against the forcible entrance of men and nations, but to render it possible for them to go out and in. Moreover, the supposition that " door of the nations" is equivalent to shutting against the nations, is not in harmony with the words vN nspj which follow. The expression " it has turned to me," or it is turned to me, has no meaning unless it signifies that through the breaking of the door the stream of the nations would turn away from Jerusalem to Tyre, and therefore that hitherto the nations had turned to Jerusalem. H3Da is the 3d pers. perf. Niphal of 23D? for n3D^ formed after the analogy of DDJ, etc. The missing subject to H3D3 is to be found ad sensum in &®V[} Hin^, It is not the door itself, but the entrance and streaming in of the nations, which had previously been directed towards Jerusalem, and would now turn to Tyre. There is no necessity, therefore, for Hitzig's conjecture, that PIOSK should be altered into n&6», and the latter taken as the subject. Consequently we must understand the words of the Tyrians as signifying that they had regarded the drawing of the nations to Jerusalem, i.e. the force of attraction which Jerusalem had hitherto exerted upon the nations, as the seat of the divine revelation of mercy, or of the law and judgment of the Lord, as interfering with their endeavour to draw all nations to themselves and gain them over to their purposes, and that they rejoiced at the destruction of Jerusalem, because they hoped that henceforth they would be able to attract the nations to themselves and enrich themselves with their possessions. This does not require that we should accredit the Tyrians with any such insight into the spiritual calling of Jerusalem as would lie beyond their heathen point of view. The simple circumstance, that the position occupied by Jerusalem in relation to the world apparently interfered with the mercantile interests of the Tyrians, would be quite sufficient to excite a malignant pleasure at the fall of the city of God, as the worship of God and the worship of Mammon are irreconcilably opposed. The source from which the envy and the enmity manifesting itself in this malicious pleasure took their rise, is indicated in the last words: u I shall fill myself, she (Jerusalem) is laid waste," which Jerome has correctly linked together thus: quia ilia deserta est, idcirco ego implebor. NPBn, to be filled with mer- chandise and wealth, as in ch. xxvii. 25. On account of this disposition toward the kingdom of God, which led Tyre to expect an increase of power and wealth from its destruction, the Lord God would smite it with ruin and annihilation. *^n T|$y, behold, I will come upon thee, as in ch. xiii. 8; Jer. 1. 31, Nah. iii. 5. God will lead a powerful army against Tyre, which shall destroy its walls and towers. Instead of the army, u many nations" are mentioned, because Tyre is hoping to attract more nations to itself in consequence of the destruction of Jerusalem. This hope is to be fulfilled, though in a different sense from that which Tyre intended. The comparison of the advancing army to the advancing waves of the sea is very significant when the situation of Tyre is considered. D*n is the subject to riPVnSj and the Hiphil is construed with? instead of the accusative (compare Ewald, § 292c with § 211e). Accordto Arrian, ii. 18. 3, and Curtius, iv. 2. 9, 12, and 3. 13, Insular Tyre was fortified all round with lofty walls and towers, which were certainly in existence as early as Nebuchadnezzar's time. Even the dust of the demolished buildings (B'JSV) God would sweep away (WHO, "7r- ^€7> witft a play upon Virra), so that the city, i.e. the site on which it had stood, would become a bare and barren rock (Vbo rprflf, as in ch. xxiv. 7), a place where fishermen would spread out their nets to dry. " Her daughters " also, that is to say, the towns dependent upon Tyre, u on the field," i.e. the open country, — in other words, their inhabitants, — would be slain with the sword.

In vers. 7-14 the threat is carried still further. — Ver. 7. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, from the north, the king of kings, with horses, and chariots, and horsemen, and a multitude of much people. Ver. 8. Thy daughters in the field he will slay with the sword, and he will erect siege-towers against thee, and throw up a rampart against thee, and set up shields against thee, Ver. 9. And direct his battering-rams against thy walls, and throw down thy towers with his swords. Ver. 10. From the multitude of his horses their dust will cover thee; from the noise of the horsemen, wheels, and chariots, thy walls will shake when he shall enter into thy gates, as they enter a city broken open. Ver. 11. With the hoofs of his horses he will tread down all thy streets; thy people he will slay ivith the sword, and thy glorious pillars will fall to the ground, Ver. 12. They will make booty of thy possessions, and plunder thy merchandise, destroy thy walls, and throw down thy splendid mansions, and sink thy stones, thy wood, and thy dust in the water. Ver. 13. / will put an end to the sound of thy songs, and the music of thy harps shall be heard no more. Ver. 14. / will make thee a bare rock; thou shalt be a place for the spreading of nets, and be built no more; for 1 Jehovah have spoken it, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. — Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of Babylon, — this is the meaning of the rhetorical description in these verses, — will come with a powerful army (ver. 7), smite with the sword the inland cities dependent upon Tyre (ver. 8, compare ver. 6), then commence the siege of Tyre, destroy its walls and towers (vers. Sb and 9), enter with his army the city in which breaches have been made, put the inhabitants to death (vers. 10 and 11), plunder the treasures, destroy walls and buildings, and cast the ruins into the sea (ver. 12). Nebuchadrezzar, or Nebuchadnezzar (for the name see the comm. on 2 Kings xxiv. 1), is called king of kings, as the supreme ruler of the Babylonian empire, because the kings of conquered provinces and lands were subject to him as vassals (see the comm. on Isa. x. 8). His army consists of war-chariots, and cavalry, and a great multitude of infantry. 2"}"Djn 7n[5 are co-ordinate, so far as the rhetorical style is concerned; but in reality ^"Dy is subordinate to ^p as in ch. xxiii. 24, inasmuch as the?np consisted of 2VDy. On the siege-works mentioned in ver. Sb, see the comm. on ch. iv. 2. nay D^pn signifies the construction of a roof with shields, by which the besiegers were accustomed to defend themselves from the missiles of the defenders of the city wall while pursuing their labours. Herodotus repeatedly mentions such shield-roofs as used by the Persians (ix. 61. 99, 102), though, according to Layard, they are uot to be found upon the Assyrian monuments (see the comm. on Nah. ii. 6). There is no doubt that i?JPT ^rip signifies the battering-ram, called ">3 in ch. xxi. 27, though the meaning of the words is disputed, ^rr?, literally, thrusting or smiting, tap, from ^p> to be pointed either taf? or tapT (the form tapT adopted by v. d. Hooght and J. H. Michaelis is opposed to the grammatical rules), has been explained by Gesenius and others as signifying res opposite that which is opposite; hence tap TIE, the thrusting or demolishing of that which stands opposite. In the opinion of others,?3P is an instrument employed in besieging; but there is nothing in the usage of the language to sustain either this explanation or that adopted by Havernick, u destruction of liis defence." vriirnn, his swords, used figuratively for his weapons or instruments of war, u his irons/' as Ewald has very aptly rendered it. The description in ver. 10 is hyperbolical. The number of horses is so great, that on their entering the city they cover it with dust, and the walls shake with the noise of the horsemen and chariots. '3D ^V ^toEB, literally, as the marchings into a broken city, i.e. a city taken by storm, generally are. The simile may be explained from the peculiar situation of Insular Tyre. It means that the enemy will enter it as they march into a land -fortress into which a breach has been made by force. The words presuppose that the besieger has made a road to the city by throwing up an embankment or dam. SjW ntaSD, the memorial pillars of thy might, and the pillars dedicated to Baal, two of which are mentioned by Herodotus (ii. 44) as standing in the temple of Hercules at Tyre, one of gold, the other of emerald; not images of gods, but pillars, as symbols of Baal. These sink or fall to the ground before the overwhelming might of the foe (compare Isa. xlvi. 1, xxi. 9, and 1 Sam. v. 3). After the slaughter of the inhabitants and the fall of the gods, the plundering of the treasures begins, and then follows the destruction of the city.

rrjipn *fi3 are not pleasure-houses (u pleasure-towers, or gardenhouses of the wealthy merchants," as Ewald supposes), for there was not space enough upon the island for gardens (Strabo, xvi. 2. 23), but the lofty, magnificent houses of the city, the palaces mentioned in Isa. xxiii. 13. Yea, the whole city shall be destroyed, and that so completely that they will sweep stones, wood, and rubbish into the sea. — Thus will the Lord put an end to the exultation and rejoicing in Tyre (ver. 13; compare Isa. xiv. 11 and Amos v. 23). — The picture of the destruction of this powerful city closes with the repetition of the thought from ver. 5, that Tyre shall be turned into a bare rock, and shall never be built again.

Vers. 15-18. The tidings of the destruction of Tyre will produce great commotion in all her colonies and the islands connected with her. — Ver. 15. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to Tyre, Will not the islands tremble at the noise of thy fall, at the groaning of the wounded, at the slaughter in the midst of thee? Ver. 16. And all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, and will lay aside their robes and take off their embroidered clothes, and dress themselves in terrors, sit upon the earth, and they will tremble every moment, and be astonished at thee, Ver. 17. They will raise a lamentation for thee, and say to thee: How hast thou perished, thou who wast inhabited from out of the sea, thou renowned city, she who was mighty upon the sea, she and her inhabitants, who inspired all her inhabitants with fear of her! Ver. 18. Now do the islands tremble on the day of thy fall, and the islands in the sea are confounded at thy departure. — *6n, nonne, has the force of a direct affirmation. >VBD 7ip, the noise of the fall, stands for the tidings of the noise, since the noise itself could not be heard upon the islands. The fall takes place, as is added for the purpose of depicting the terrible nature of the event, at or amidst the groaning of the wounded, and the slaughter in the midst of thee. Jnna is the infinitive Niphal, with the accent drawn back on account of the following Mild, and should be pointed ITrtj, The word

C^tf, islands, is frequently used so as to embrace the coast lands of the Mediterranean Sea; we have therefore to understand it here as applied to the Phoenician colonies on the islands and coasts of that sea. The " princes of the sea" are not kings of the islands, but, according to Isa. xxiii. 8, the merchants presiding over the colonies of Tyre, who resembled princes. HiKpS, not royal thrones, but chairs, as in 1 Sam. iv. 13, etc. The picture of their mourning recalls the description in Jonah iii. 6; it is not derived from that passage, however, but is an independent description of the mourning customs which commonly prevailed among princes. The antithesis introduced is a very striking one: clothing themselves in terrors, putting on terrors in the place of the robes of state which they have laid aside (see the similar trope in ch. vii. 27). The thought is rendered still more forcible by the closing sentences of the verse: they tremble ^VJ y, by moments, i.e. as the moments return, — actually, therefore, " every moment " (vid. Isa. xxvii. 3). — In the lamentation which they raise (ver. 17), they give prominence to the alarming revolution of all things, occasioned by the fact that the mistress of the seas, once so renowned, has now become an object of horror and alarm. DV3*p ro^fa, inhabited from the seas. This is not to be taken as equivalent to "as far as the seas," in the sense of, whose inhabitants spread over the seas and settle there, as Gesenius (Thes.) and Havernick suppose; for being inhabited is the very opposite of sending the inhabitants abroad. If \o were to be taken in the geographical sense of direction or locality, the meaning of the expression could only be, whose inhabitants spring from the seas, or have migrated thither from all seas; but this would not apply to the population of Tyre, which did not consist of men of all nations under heaven. Hitzig has given the correct interpretation, namely, from the sea, or out of the seas, which had as it were ascended as an inhabited citv out of the bosom of the sea. It is not easy to explain the last clause of ver. 17: who inspired all her inhabitants with their terror, or with terror of them (of themselves); for if the relative itftj? is taken in connection with the preceding yiv\ the thought arises that the inhabitants of Tyre inspired her inhabitants, i.e. themselves, with their terror, or terror of themselves. Kimchi, Rosenmiiller, Ewald, Kliefoth, and others, have therefore proposed to take the suffix in the second iT3£T as referring to Esn, all the inhabitants of the sea, i.e. all her colonies. But this is open to the objection, that not only is DJ of the masculine gender, but it is extremely harsh to take the same suffix attached to the two JT3B* as referring to different subjects. We must therefore take the relative IBW and the suffix in DJVnn as both referring to WIVh &n: the city with its population inspired all its several inhabitants with fear of itself. This is not to be understood, however, as signifying that the inhabitants of Tyre kept one another in a state of terror and alarm; but that the city with its population, through its power upon the sea, inspired all the several inhabitants with fear of this its might, inasmuch as the distinction of the city and its population was reflected upon every individual citizen. This explanation of the words is confirmed by the parallel passages in ch. xxxii. 24 and 26. — This city had come to so appalling an end, that all the islands trembled thereat. The two hemistichs in ver. 18 are synonymous, and the thought returns by way of conclusion to ver. 15. |**N has the Aramaean form of the plural, which is sometimes met with even in the earlier poetry (vid. Ewald, § 177a). r)N>*, departure, i.e. destruction.

Vers. 19-21. Thus will Tyre, covered by the waves of the sea, sink into the region of the dead, and vanish for ever from the earth. — Ver. 19. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, When I make thee a desolate city, like the cities which are no longer inhabited, when I cause the deep to rise over thee, so that the many waters cover thee, Ver. 20. / cast thee down to those who have gone into the grave, to the people of olden time, and cause thee to dwell in the land of the lower regions, in the ruins from the olden time, with those who have gone into the grave, that thou mayest be no longer inhabited, and 1 create that which is glorious in the land of the living. Ver. 21. / make thee a terror, and thou art no more; they ivill seek thee, and find thee no more for ever, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. — Not only will ruin and desolation come upon Tyre, but it will sink for ever into the region of the dead. In this concluding thought the whole threat is summed up. The infinitive clauses of ver. 19 recapitulate the leading thoughts of the previous strophes, for the purpose of appending the closing thought of banishment to the tinder- world. By the rising of the deep we are to understand, according to ver. 12, that the city in its ruins will be sunk into the depths of the sea. "H3 H"iV, those who go down into the pit or grave, are the dead. They are described still further as Djty DJJ, not u those who are sleeping the long sleep of death," or the generation of old whom all must join; but the people of the " old world " before the flood (2 Pet. ii. 5), who were buried by the waters of the flood, in accordance with Job xxii. 15, where Djty denotes the generations of the primeval world, and after the analogy of the use of D;>iy Dy in Isa. xliv. 7, to describe the human race as existing from time immemorial. In harmony with this, BjiyD niain are the ruins of the primeval world wrhich perished in the flood. As D;iy DJ/ adds emphasis to the idea of "fa Trt\ so also does DPiyo rfa-ira to that of rrisrinn pK. Tyre shall not only descend to the dead in Sheol, but be thrust down to the people of the dead, who were sunk into the depths of the earth by the wraters of the flood, and shall there receive its everlasting dwelling-place among the ruins of the primeval world which was destroyed by the flood, beside that godless race of the olden time. ptf Diving land of the lowest places (cf. ch. xxxii. 18, 24), is a periphrasis for Sheol, the region of the dead (compare Eph. iv. 9, " the lower parts of the earth "). On 'til "22 WW Hitzig has observed with perfect correctness: u If we retain the pointing as the first person, with which the place assigned to the Athnach (a) coincides, we must at any rate not regard the clause as still dependent upon $»?, and the force of the t& as continued. We should then have to take the clause as independent and affirmative, as the accentuators and the Targum have done." But as this would give rise to a discrepancy between the two halves of the verse, Hitzig proposes to alter WU into the second person WW, so that the clause would still be governed bv N*5 ]Vv?. But the want of agreement between the two halves of the verse does not warrant an alteration of the text, especially if it lead to nothing better than the forced rendering adopted by Hitzig, " and thou no longer shinest with glory in the land of the living," which there is nothing in the language to justify. And even the explanation proposed by Htivernick and Kliefoth, u that I no longer produce anything glorious from thee (Tyre) in the land of the living," is open to this objection, that u from thee" is arbitrarily interpolated into the text; and if this were what Ezekiel meant, he would either have added ^ or written spflfW. Moreover, the change of person is a sufficient objection to our taking Wij as dependent upon |V£?, and supplying K?. WW is evidently a simple continuation of ^"TOnm. And nothing but the weightiest objections should lead us to give up a view which so naturally suggests itself. But no such objections exist. Neither the want of harmony between the two halves of the verse, nor the context, — according to which Tyre and its destruction are referred to both before and immediately after, — forces us to the adoption of explanations at variance with the simple meaning of the words. We therefore adhere to the natural interpretation of the words, " and I set (establish) glory in the land of the living; " and understand by the land of the living, not the theocracy especially, but the earth, in contrast to the region of the dead. The words contain the general thought, that on and after the overthrow of the glory of the ungodly power of the world, He will create that which is glorious on the earth to endure for ever; and this He really does by the establishing of His kingdom. — Tyre, on the contrary, shall become, through its fate, an object of terror, or an example of sudden destruction, and pass away with all its glory, not leaving a trace behind. For ver. 216, compare Isa. xli. 12 and Ps. xxxvii. 36. TP?DS imperf. Pual, has Chateph-patach between the two u, to indicate emphatically that the syllable is only a very loosely closed one (vid. Ewald, § 316, p. 95).

The lamentation commences with a picture of the glory of the city of Tyre, its situation, its architectural beauty, its military strength and defences (vers. 3-11), and its wide-spread commercial relations (vers. 12-25); and then passes into mournful lamentation over the ruin of all this glory (vers. 26-36).

Vers. 1-11. Introduction and description of the glory and might of Tyre. — Ver. 1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ver. 2. And do thou, 0 son of man, raise a lamentation over Tyre, Ver. 3. And say to Tyre, Thou who dwellest at the approaches of the sea, merchant of the nations to many islands, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Tyre, thou sayest, I am perfect in beauty, Ver. 4. In the heart of the seas is thy territory; thy builders have made thy beauty perfect. Ver. 5. Out of cypresses of Senir they built all double-plank-icork for thee; they took cedars of Lebanon to make a mast upon thee. Ver. 6. They made thine oars of oaks of Bashan, thy benches they made of ivory set in box from the islands of the Chittaeans. Ver. 7. Byssus in embroidery from Egypt was thy sail, to serve thee for a banner; blue and red purple from the islands ofElishah was thine awning. Ver. 8. The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy rowers; thy skilful men, 0 Tyre, were in thee, they were thy sailors. Ver. 9. The elders of Gebal and its skilful men were with thee to repair thy leaks; all the ships of the sea and their mariners were in thee to barter thy goods. Ver. 10. Persian and Lydian and Libyan were in thine army, thy men ofivar; shield and helmet they hung up in thee; they gave brilliancy to thee. Ver. 11. The sons of Arvad and thine army were upon thy walls round about, and brave men were upon thy towers; they hung up their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect. — The lamentation commences with an address to Tyre, in which its favourable situation for purposes of trade, and the perfect beauty of which she was conscious, are placed in the foreground (ver. 3). Tyre is sitting, or dwelling, at the approaches of the sea. D* nfcuo, approaches or entrances of the sea, are harbours into which ships sail and from which they depart, just as "Wj Ni^P, the gate of the city, is both entrance and exit. This description does not point to the city on the mainland, or Old Tyre, but answers exactly to Insular Tyre with its two harbours.1 *n?B?*, with the connecting i, which is apparently confounded here after the Aramaean fashion with the i of the feminine pronoun, and has therefore been marked by the Masora as superfluous (vid. Ewald, § 2116). The combination of JvDh with '"I B^K /X may be accounted for from the primary meaning ofOT, to travel about as a merchant: thou who didst go to the nations on many shores to carry on thy trade. Tyre itself considers that she is perfect in her beauty, partly on account of her strong position in the sea, and partly because of her splendid edifices.2 In the description which follows of this