NOTES.

NOTES ON EZEKIEL.

EZEKIEL, whose name, being interpreted, is "God-will-strengthen," the son of Buzi, a priest, was one of the ten thousand captives, carried with king Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, into Mesopotamia, and placed near the river Chebar, or Chaboras, by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. 2 Kings xxiv. 14. This event happened about twelve years before the destruction of Jerusalem, or about six hundred years before the Christian era. In the fifth year after his removal he was called to the prophetic office, Ch. i. 2, which he continued to exercise to at least the sixteenth year after the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, or to the twenty-seventh of his captivity, that is, about twenty-two years; not twenty-seven, as is stated by Jahn. How much longer he prophesied, and when he closed his life, we are not informed. From what has been said it appears that he was a contemporary of Jeremiah. A great help to the intelligent perusal of both of these prophets is the Jewish history of the times in which they flourished. It may be found in the Bible, or in the writings of Josephus, or in Prideaux's Connection, or in Milman's History of the Jews.

Respecting the comparative merits of Ezekiel as a writer, there has been a considerable diversity of opinion, as may be seen in the remarks of Bishop Lowth upon this prophet, in his Lectures on Hebrew Poetry, and the note of Michaelis. To me the judgment of Michaelis appears in this instance to be more correct than that of Lowth. Undoubtedly there are to be found in Ezekiel some striking passages, such as the vision of the dry bones, some great thoughts, such as that in xxxvi. 26, and many bold images. But in general he wearies the reader by endless amplification and frequent repetition, and sometimes 21

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disgusts by his minuteness of detail in the delineation of gross images. One illustration, which Isaiah has despatched in a single verse, or a single expression, Is. i. 21, Ezekiel has spun out into whole chapters, so as to lead us to wonder at the state of society, when such things would not be offensive to the taste of a writer of genius and his contemporary readers. See Ch. xvi. and xxiii. His visions and allegories sometimes dazzle and confound rather than impress and instruct us, though it may be said that his contemporaries may have attached a meaning to them, where we cannot. Yet he was himself so sensible of the obscurity of some of his. emblems and allegories, that he gives a verbal explanation of them. Some of his emblems are forced and unnatural, and there occurs occasionally something ludicrous in their want of appropriateness, as when he takes an iron pan, and lays siege to it, as the emblem of enemies besieging the wall of a city. His language is generally prosaic, prolix, and without strength.

There may appear to some readers a want of reverence in thus speaking of the style of the prophet; but since the time of Bishop Lowth the style of the sacred writers has been regarded as their own, and made the subject of criticism, and in my opinion great injury is done to the just claims of the sacred writers by extravagant and indiscriminate eulogy.

Though I cannot rank Ezekiel so high amongst the sacred writers as some others have done, in regard to the style and dress in which he conveys his sentiments, I yield to no one in respect for the depth of his moral feelings, and his just and discriminating moral and religious views. See iii. 17-21, xviii., xxxiii.

The prophecies of Ezekiel have sometimes been divided into three parts; I. Those relating to the Jews before the destruction of Jerusalem, Ch. i. - xxiv.; II. Prophecies relating to foreign nations, Ch. xxv. - xxxii.; III. Prophecies relating to the Jews after the destruction of Jerusalem, Ch. xxxiii. - xlviii.

I. 1. in the thirtieth year: i. e. of the reign of Nabopalassar, the first king of Babylon that was independent of Assyria. See Ros. ad loc. visions of God: i. e. visions presented or sent by God. The plural is here used, because the vision to which it relates consists of a variety of particulars.

3.-hand of Jehovah, &c.: i. e. he was under the influence of the divine spirit.

4.- — a stormy wind came from the north. I do not regard this as referring to the calamities which were to burst on Jerusalem from her

northern enemies, the Chaldeans; but rather as preparatory to the manifestation of the Deity which follows. Comp. 1 Kings xix. 11; Acts ii. 2. The storm is said to come from the north, in allusion to an opinion that prevailed in the East, that in the remotest regions of the north there was a certain mount of congregation, a place where God and his angels assembled. See Is. xiv. 13, and the notes of Gesenius or Rosenmüller upon it. It may be here remarked, that it is against the spirit of the writer to explain the circumstances of the vision too minutely, or to assign a particular meaning to every part of the scene. Ezekiel evidently describes a manifestation of the Deity to him, by which he was called to assume and exercise the prophetic office. This was the great design of the vision. The circumstances, under which this manifestation was made, were designed to make it more august and impressive. He, who is elsewhere said to make the clouds his chariot, is here represented as sitting upon such a chariot, and drawn by living creatures of surpassing excellence, and in a manner calculated to excite astonishment and veneration; in an unearthly manner, and corresponding to the greatness of Deity. Various particulars in the description are introduced only to fill up the scene, and add to its majesty.

5. —four living creatures. In Ch. x. they are called cherubs, and are to be regarded as a class of angels. In Gen. iii. 24, they are represented as guarding the tree of life. They are said to have the human form, by which it is to be understood, that they resembled man in respect to their size and their erect stature. In other respects their forms are borrowed from creatures regarded as most excellent upon the earth, namely, from the lion, the first amongst wild beasts, the eagle, the first amongst birds, the ox, the first amongst tame animals, and from man, the head of them all. As symbols, these animals denote strength and wisdom; or perhaps, strength, swiftness, obedience, and wisdom. Having four faces, they are ready to go with promptness and execute the commands of God in every direction. The representation of the Deity, having his chariot-throne borne by creatures uniting the forms of various animals, was agreeable to the conceptions of the Eastern nations, as appears from antiquities of Egypt, and some of the countries of Asia. See Rosenmüller on Ch. i. 10.

7.—their feet were upright: i. e. perpendicular, not horizontal, like human feet.

9.were joined one to another: i. e. of the two in front, and of the two behind, the right wing of one reached to the left wing of the other; the extremities of the expanded inner wings forming an arch.

Newcome. - they turned not about. Having a face in each direction, they could go forward or backward, to the right hand or to the left. The wheels also were adapted to such motions. For it appears from verses 16 and 17, that the wheels were made so as to move sideways, as well as straight forwards; i. e. they were composed of two rims intersecting each other at right angles. There was no need therefore of their turning. This proceeding directly on, in the same undeviating inflexible position, seems to show their steadiness in performing the divine will, which advances to its destined goal right onwards. It may be said, that it is impossible to construct wheels of this kind, so as to move a carriage, as is here represented. But in vision they would go as well as any wheels. No human artist could give a living spirit to wheels.

12.—the spirit was to go. By a comparison of this phraseology with verses 20, 21, and x. 17, I should suppose that spirit in this verse denotes the divine spirit or power which was imparted to the living creatures. So in Ch. ii. 2, it is said, "the spirit entered into me, when he spoke to me, and set me upon my feet." Others understand by it inclination, or will.

15.- with its four sides. The wheel being composed of two rims intersecting each other at right angles, as it were a wheel within a wheel, the four semicircular parts thus formed seem to be called the four faces or sides.

18.-full of eyes. Their eyes may be supposed to represent God's all-seeing providence.

20.- for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels : i. e. the same divine spirit which was in the living creatures, directing their motions, was also in the wheels.

22. — a firmament like crystal. So in the Apocalypse iv. 6, the floor or pavement of the divine throne is represented as "a sea of glass, like unto crystal." And in Exodus xxiv. 10, it is said that the elders of Israel" saw the God of Israel, and under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire, and shining like heaven itself." It has been said, that this representation of the pavement of the divine throne is borrowed from the custom of the ancients, who covered the floors of their more costly edifices with glass or crystal. See Ros. ad loc.

24. voice of the Almighty: i. e. like thunder. Comp. x. 5.; Ps. xxix. 3, &c.

26.like that of a man. So in Dan, vii. 9, the Supreme Being is represented in the form of an aged man.