Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

expectantly waiting a recall was great. Where now was Jehovah,' since his city was destroyed? Many had refused to worship the gods of Babylonia. Now their own god had deserted his land. If indeed some had come to think of Jehovah as with them in Babylon, what was he worth, since he had not been able to resist the power of the gods of Babylon, represented by Nebuchadnezzar and his armies? Faith and reason staggered under the blow. The people were bewildered and confused. What of the future now? To whom could they appeal but to the prophet whose name was upon every lip, but whose words accomplished their purpose in but few of the hearts of his hearers.

"And as for thee, son of man, the children of thy people talk of thee on the streets and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to one another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from 5 Jehovah. And they come unto thee, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but do them not; for with their words they show much love, but their heart goeth after their gain. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play 10 well on an instrument; for they hear thy words, but they do them not.3

Jehovah the Shepherd of Israel

Henceforth Ezekiel spoke to a people who were full of sorrow and humility, and who needed comforting words. For these he had a message of hope. To hearts longing for the home land, and the Temple of Jehovah he gave promise of return. The old message of denunciation and coming punishment was almost entirely abandoned. The new conditions called for a new message.

1 We must keep in mind that the Hebrews regarded Jehovah as dwelling in Jerusalem. He could not dwell in a ruined city, and the very fact of its ruin showed that he had deserted it, whether because of weakness or anger no one knew.

2 Ezek. 33:30-32.

3 Ezekiel's speeches were interesting, strange, and stirring, but the people went to him from habit, and listened as people too frequently listen to sermons for the pleasure of the emotions stirred by them. Few practical results followed.

'For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: "Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As a shepherd2 seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; 5 and I will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all 10 the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture; and upon the mountains of the height of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie down in a good fold; and on fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I 15 will lead them to pasture, saith the Lord Jehovah. I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: over the fat and the strong I will watch.

20

25

"And I will set up one shepherd over them and he shall feed them, even my servant David;3 he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I, Jehovah, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them; I, Jehovah, have spoken it.

"And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land;4 and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in its season; there 30 shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they

1 Ezek. 34:11-16, 23-31 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., with revisions).

2 The figure of a shepherd was a favorite one for the ideal ruler promised by the prophets, as well as for Jehovah himself. The times demanded emphasis upon the tenderness of Jehovah and his care for his people.

3 My servant David: To this kingless captive nation came the most wonderful dreams of the future—a kingdom, glorious in power, universal in authority, with all nations coming to it for counsel and judgment. The ideal ruler of this kingdom is always represented as a descendant of the House of David, the one king to whom the people looked back as a perfect head.

4 Evil beasts: In the ideal kingdom peace and harmony between the wild beasts. and man is always pictured.

shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those that made bondmen of 35 them. And they shall no more be a prey to the nations, neither shall the beasts of the earth devour them; but they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will raise up unto them a plantation for renown, and they shall be no more consumed with famine in the land, neither 40 bear the contempt of the nations any more. And they shall know, that I Jehovah, their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people," saith the Lord Jehovah. "And ye my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God," saith the Lord Jehovah.

The Vision of Dry Bones

Although strong in his own belief that Jehovah would restore at least the faithful of his people to their own land, what evidence could Ezekiel bring to convince the disappointed and hopeless ones in the community that the future promised hope. Years passed. The people lost their spirit, and to many Jehovah seemed but a name. Those who hoped with Ezekiel feared that all national feeling would be lost before opportunity for return could come, for such an opportunity might be expected only in the breaking-up of the Babylonian empire. All save the prophet lost heart. He vividly pictured his faith in the power of Jehovah to revive even the dry and bleaching bones of the Hebrew nation in captivity, and to fulfil his promises to the faithful.

'The hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of Jehovah, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. And he caused me to pass. by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in 5 the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord Jehovah, thou knowest." Again he said unto me, "Speak to these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah.

I Ezek. 37:1-14 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., with revisions).

2 This vision seems like a dream, rather than a literary device. It appears to bring into new relations the prophet's despair over his people and the power of Jehovah.

10 Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah."

[ocr errors]

So I spoke as I was commanded: and as I spoke, there was 15 a noise, and, behold, an earthquake; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and, lo, there were sinews upon them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, "Speak unto the wind, and say to the wind, Thus saith the 20 Lord Jehovah: Come from the four winds, O wind, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." So I spoke as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

Then he said unto me, "Son of man, these bones are the 25 whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.1 Therefore speak, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will open your graves,2 and cause you to come up out of your graves, O my people; and I will bring you into the land of 30 Israel. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I will place you in your own land: and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken it and performed it, saith 35 Jehovah."

How long Ezekiel continued his labors we do not know. Whether he lived to see the death of Nebuchadnezzar and the succession of his son Evil-Merodach, under whom the captive Hebrew king, Jehoiachin, was liberated and treated as a royal prisoner, we cannot say. He need have reached no great age to have seen the assassination of Evil-Merodach in 558, and the succession in one year, 554 B.C., of three different kings of Babylon. But his work as we have it reflects no such turbulent conditions, but rather the serene contemplation of one who dwells upon his visions of the

1 Clean cut off: We are dead as a nation, nothing can revive us.

2 Not literally, but figuratively. The exiles buried in exile among the nations of the world, viz., in Egypt, Babylonia, and elsewhere would be gathered together in their old home and the nation now dead would be restored to new life, prosperity, and power.

future with delight. The later chapters of his book are devoted to a most elaborate description of the new Jerusalem of his dreams, in which he pictures a wonderful temple, with perfect worship of the Holy God, in the midst of a land where "waters fail not," and "trees bring forth fruit every month," and where no man, be he stranger or homeborn, shall oppress his brother, and none shall fail in his duty to Jehovah.

Ezekiel as a man seems to stand aloof from the people. His messages are couched in stately phrases, in sharp contrast with the broken utterances of Jeremiah's sympathetic heart. Perhaps his early training in the exclusive circle of the temple priests had made him something of an aristocrat. None the less was he able to interpret Jehovah in a new light. No longer would the prophets of Israel address their promises to a nation, nor even to those individuals alone who had been true to Jehovah, but to every member of the Hebrew community who of his own free will should choose the way of Jehovah and walk in it. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" was supplemented by "the soul that repents and turns from its evil way shall live and his sin shall be remembered no more." And so by this transition step the God of the Hebrews might in time come to be understood as extending his forgiveness and blessing to men of other nations should they freely choose to serve him.'

I Can we appreciate the increase in the estimate of the value of human life, which is bound up in the idea that Jehovah considers and deals with each individual man according to his own acts? That which Jehovah valued could not be disregarded by This was the chief contribution of Ezekiel. How does it compare in value with the contributions of the prophets who preceded him?

men.

« AnteriorContinuar »