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The desolation of

B. C. 587.

е

EZEKIEL.

A. M. 3417. cised into the nether parts of the
earth, which caused their terror in
the land of the living; yet have they borne their
shame with them that go down to the pit.
25 They have set her a bed in the midst of
the slain with all her multitude: her graves
are round about him: all of them uncircum-
cised, slain by the sword: though their terror
was caused in the land of the living, yet have
they borne their shame with them that go down
to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that

be slain.

26 There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living.

27 And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell 10 with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

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different states.

B. C. 587.

28 Yea, thou shalt be broken in the A. M. 3417. midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword. 29 There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.

30 There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit.

31 Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be m comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord God.

32 For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

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of honour, to have their arms buried with them, or hung upon their sepulchres. Thus was the grave of Misenus honoured by Æneas.

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EN. vi. 232.

shame-They have been shamefully subdued, and have lost their lives and glory together, as Asshur did before them. They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain, &c.-Elam and her people have gone Ingenti mole sepulchrum down to the state of the dead, among those who Imponit, suaque arma viro.” have fallen by the sword. The word bed is used for the grave, Isa. lvii. 2, and may, in both places, "It was usual," says Kirchman, De Funer. Roman, allude to the costly monuments, or sepulchres, || 1. iii. c. 18, "in former times, in some places, to put which used to be erected for persons of great quality. Her graves are round about him--The king and people are involved in the same common destruction.

Verses 26-28. There is Meshech, Tubal, &c.These are some other of the Assyrian allies; some think the Cappadocians, and other nations neighbouring to them, are here meant. The Scythians also, who anciently governed Asia, may be comprehended, and their expulsion from Media by Cyaxares may here be referred to: see Obs. on Books, i. 192. || And they shall not lie with the mighty, &c.-They || shall not lie among those heathen heroes, men of courage and fortitude, who were laid in distinct graves, with pomp and magnificence, but shall all be tumbled together into one common pit, as their actions have not made them worthy of any distinction. Which are gone down to hell-Or, the state of the dead, as the word which we translate hell ought often to be rendered. With their weapons of war-Brave men, who had gained signal victories, used, by way

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swords, shields, and other armour in the graves of military men, as they did in the grave of Theseus, and on the bier of Alexander the Great." But the meaning of the prophet here is, that those, of whom he speaks, should be without these usual martial solemnities, with which people formerly often honoured their dead. Instead of which he says their iniquities shall be upon their bones-Their death shall carry in it plain tokens of their sins, and of God's vengeance pursuing them on account of them. Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised-Thou, O king of Egypt, shalt have no honorary distinctions paid thee at thy death, or be laid in a magnificent tomb, as those great conquerors have been, but shalt lie in a common pit, or grave, promiscuously with those who are overcome and slain in battle.

Verses 29-32. There is Edom, her kings, &c.Of whose destruction Ezekiel prophesied, chap. xxv. 12; laid by them that were slain by the sword-Laid among the conquered. With them that go down to

The duty of a

CHAPTER XXXIII.

spiritual watchman.

the pit-Among those of no renown, who are thrown he was alive in the world. And he shall be laid in into one common grave without any honour or dis- the midst of the uncircumcised-That is, with the tinction paid to them. There be the princes of the basest sort, or those of no distinction. Or, if we read north-By these, it seems, are meant the Tyrians, with the Masorites, whom our translators follow, my who lay north of Judea, and were overcome in many terror, the meaning of the verse may be, As these battles by the Chaldeans. Pharaoh shall see them, kings and nations have been a terror to the world and shall be comforted, &c.-Here, by a poetical while they were in it, verse 24, &c., so will I be now figure, sense is given to Pharaoh among the dead, a terror to them, and especially to Pharaoh and his and he feels a consolation in that state to see so many people, in making them a remarkable example of other kings and nations brought into the same con- my vengeance. Observe, reader, the calamitous state dition as himself and his people were in. Even of human life! See what a dying world this is! The Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword-He- strong die, the mighty die; Asshur, Elam, Meshech, rodotus affirms, that Apries, or Pharaoh-hophra, was Tubal, Edom, the princes of the north, the Zidostrangled: o de piv añеzvišav, 1. ii. p. 154. But thenians, Pharaoh, and all his multitude! But here enemies of Apries may have used the sword against is likewise an allusion to the final and everlasting him before he expired. For I have caused my ter- || death of impenitent sinners. Those that are uncirror in the land of the living-In the Hebrew text it cumcised in heart are slain by the sword of divine is, n, his terror, that is, I have permitted the king justice. Their iniquity is upon them, and they bear of Egypt to be a vexation and terror to many while || their shame for ever!

CHAPTER XXXIII.

In this chapter we have, (1,) The duty of a spiritual watchman, 1–9. (2,) A declaration of the safety of penitents, and the destruction of apostates, 10-20. (3,) A message to those who flattered themselves with hopes of safety, though they repented not, 21-29. (4) A reproof of those who approved the word of God, but did not practise it, 30-33.

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NOTES ON CHAPTER XXXIII.

Verses 1-6. Again the word of the Lord came unto me--"It is plain that Ezekiel uttered what is contained in this chapter to verse 20, before Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians; but how long before is uncertain."-Bishop Newcome. Son of man, speak to the children of thy people--To the Jews, to whom he had not spoken since he declared what is contained in chap. xxiv. The reader will find in chap. iii., from verses 17 to 22, the substance of what is repeated in the first ten verses of this chapter. The instruction is the same in both passages; but the subject is here more fully and explicitly illustrated. "When the prophet had confirmed his predictions of evil, both to the Jews and heathen, by exemplifications of the like predictions already fulfilled among

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17; Isa. xxi. 8; Verse 7; Hos. ix. 8.- - Heb. he that hearing heareth. Chap. xviii. 13.- - Verse 8.

the latter, he proceeds to apply home the conclusion arising hence by an expostulation and pathetic address to the hearts and consciences of the Jews. But to what Jews is this addressed? To the Jews who were already in captivity. In order, then, that this address might make the stronger impression on them, and produce its wished-for effect, he immediately subjoins an information, which he here presents, as having been just then received, of the actual capture and destruction of the city of Jerusalem, agreeably to his foregoing prophecies against it: the accomplishment of which prediction against the Jews themselves, joined to his historic narrations before, of the accomplishment of many others against the heathen, both completes his arguments in favour of the credit and veracity of his predictions against

The duty of a

A. M. 3417.
B. C. 587.

EZEKIEL.

7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand.

9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

Chapter iii. 17.- Chapter xxiv. 23. So Isa. xlix. 14;
Chap. xxxvii. 11.

Egypt, or other nations, and also proves, by a conspicuous example, the truth of that maxim with which he had concluded his late address to the captive Jews, That God will judge every one after his ways, both Jews and heathen.”—Obs. on Books, ii.

196.

spiritual watchman.

B. C. 587.

10 Therefore, O thou son of man, A. M. 3417. speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?

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11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

12 Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The 'righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day

i 2 Sam. xiv. 14; Chap. xviii. 23, 32; 2 Peter iii. 9. Chap.
xviii. 31.
Chap. iii. 20; xviii. 24, 26, 27.

merly committed, and in consequence of the present fault of not watching, a great fault in every one that is guilty of it in time of war. But his blood will I require at the watchman's hands-The guilt of that blood will I charge upon the watchman, and punish him for it, for he sinned in not giving the necessary warning.

When I bring the sword upon a land-When an enemy approaches to any land, which never happens Verses 7-9. So thou, O son of man-The Lord without my appointment or permission; if the people here applies the preceding account of the watchof the land take a man of their coast-Or, from among man's office to the prophet, and shows that his duty them, to which sense the word sp, here used, is is illustrated thereby. As if he had said, If a watchtranslated, Gen. xlvii. 2; and set him for their watch- man, appointed by his fellow-citizens, is so highly man-Such watchmen were placed upon the turrets guilty, if he do not give warning to the city, and of their city-walls, or upon high mountains near, to shall receive such punishment from my hands; what give notice of the enemy's approach: see the margin. must not thou expect, who art appointed by me to If when he seeth the sword come upon the land-If, give warning to thy countrymen of the terrible evils when he spies the enemy marching against it, he blow which their sins will bring upon them, if thou nethe trumpet, sound the alarmı; and warn the people- || glect to do it? God has never left his people withThe sound of the trumpet is a warning, yet it is out sufficient means of instruction, but has vouchsometimes necessary to add a warning by word of safed it to them more or less in every age, from the mouth, and tell the people brought together by beginning of the world to this day. He has, from the trumpet what he sees. Whosoever heareth, &c., time to time, and at all times, set watchmen over and taketh not warning-Considers not, minds not them, raised up good and holy men to instruct, adwhat he hears, nor will be made sensible of the dan- || monish, warn, and reprove. "I have even sent unto ger, so as to provide for resisting or fleeing from the you all my servants the prophets daily, rising up sword; if the sword come and take him away-De- early and sending them, but you have not hearkened stroy him; his blood shall be upon his own head unto me, nor inclined your ear," Jer. vii. 25. When His destruction is owing to himself. He heard the I say unto the wicked, &c.-See notes on chap. iii. sound of the trumpet-He heard as well as others 18, 19. who escaped, and he might have delivered himself Verses 10, 11. If our transgressions be upon us, as they did who took warning. His blood shall be || &c.-If the unpardoned guilt of our sins lie upon us, upon him-The guilt and blame of his death cannot and we be punished for them in the wasting of our be charged on any but himself. But he that taketh country, the burning of our city, the abolishing the warning shall save his soul-Shall save his life from public worship of God, &c.; and we pine away in the danger that threatens it. In like manner, he that them-Experience their bitter consequences in fatakes warning by the prophet's admonition shall pre- mine and disease, and in a variety of other calamiserve himself from the judgments threatened against ties; how shall we live?-How then can the prosinners. But if the watchman see the sword come, mises of life belong to us? How can such assurances and blow not the trumpet-If he neglect his charge, be true as were given us chap. xviii. 17-32? What which is to give the alarm; and the people be not ground can we have to hope for a recovery of our warned-But are surprised by the enemy; if the former condition? Or, how canst thou promise the sword take any person from among them-Cut any continuance or restoration of any mercy to us? How one off unexpectedly; he is taken away in his iniquity can it be better with us than it is? If thy threaten--Punished and cut off by the Lord for his sins for-ings be true, it will be worse with us, and not better;

God's dealings with

B. C. 587.

m

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B. C. 587.

A. M. 3417. of his transgression: as for the wick- || shall be mentioned unto him: he hath A. M. 3417. edness of the wicked, he shall not done that which is lawful and right; fall thereby in the day that he turneth from he shall surely live. his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.

13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; "if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;

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15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in 'the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.

17 Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the LORD is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.

18 "When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby.

19 But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.

20 Yet ye say, * The way of the LORD is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.

21 ¶ And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, say

16 None of his sins that he hath committed ing, a The city is smitten.

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and if they be not true, how can we trust thy promises of recovery? These are supposed to be the words of impious persons, who, pretending to despair of God's mercies, take encouragement from thence to continue in their sins. Say, As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked-For an elucidation of this and the following verses to the 20th, compare chap. xviii.; and see the notes there.

Verse 13. When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live-When I make him a promise of life, peace, and every blessing which he stands in need of; if he trust to his own righteousness-Formerly performed, but now abandoned; or, if he rely upon the good works he hath done, and think the worth of them will overbalance the guilt of his evil deeds; which seems to have been the opinion of the later Jews, who lay it down for a rule in their Mishna, That all Israel shall have a share in the world to come. All his righteousness shall not be remembered, &c.-He shall come again under the guilt of all his past sins, and shall be exposed to condemnation and wrath: see notes on chap. xviii. 24-29. It is evidently signified here, that to trust in our own righteousness, whether internal or external, whether graces or virtues, past or present, or to entertain high thoughts of our own attainments in religion, and to put confidence therein, is one step toward a fall, and generally issues in apostacy.

Verse 15. If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed—It is a necessary condition of obtaining pardon, that men make restitution of what they have unjustly gotten from others. The law is express to this purpose, Lev. vi. 5, where the offender is required to add a fifth part to the princi

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Leviticus xviii. 5; Chapter xx. 11, 13, 21.————3 Chap. xviii. 22. Verse 20; Chap. xviii. 25, 29. Chap. xviii. 26, 27. Verse 17; Chap. xviii. 25, 29.—y Chap. i. 2.- -2 Chapter xxiv. 26. 2 Kings xxv. 4.

pal, and give it to him to whom it appertaineth; see the note there. To the same purpose is that received rule among the Christian casuists, taken from St. Augustin, Epistle liv., Non dimittitur peccatum, nisi restituatur ablatum. The sin is not forgiven, unless what is taken away be restored. Lord Clarendon's observations on this subject are peculiarly excellent: "Robbery and violence would be too gainful a trade, if a man might quit all scores by repentance, and detain all he hath gotten; or if the father's repentance might serve the turn, and the benefit of the transgression be transmitted as an inheritance to the son. If the pledge remained it must be restored; the retaining it is committing a new iniquity, and forfeits any benefit of the promise. If he hath it not, nor is able to procure it, his hearty repentance is enough without reparation: but to enjoy the spoil, and yet to profess repentance, is an affront to God Almighty, and a greater sin than the first act of violence, when he did not pretend to think of God, and so did not think of displeasing him. Whereas now he pretends to reconcile himself to God, and mocks him with repentance, while he retains the fruit of his wickedness. He who is truly penitent restores what he hath left to the person who was deprived of it, and pays the rest in devout sorrow for his trespass."

Verse 21. In the twelfth year of our captivity, &c.-According to this reading, the news of the taking and burning of Jerusalem was brought to that part of the Babylonish dominions where the Jewish captives were placed in a year, five months, and twenty-six days after the calamity happened: see Jer. lii. 12. But eight MSS. having ny instead of

The desolation of

B. C. 587.

EZEKIEL.

B. C. 587.

Judea foretold. A. M. 3417. 22 Now the hand of the LORD || Abraham was one, and he inherited A. M. 3417. was upon me in the evening, afore the land: but we are many; the he that was escaped came; and had opened land is given us for inheritance. my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.

25 Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Ye eat with the blood, and 'lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed

23 Then the word of the LORD came unto blood and shall ye possess the land? me, saying,

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26 Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and yem defile every one his neighbour's wife: and shall ye possess the land?

h Genesis ix. 4; Lev. iii. 17; vii. 26; xvii. 10; xix. 26; Deut. xii. 16.- Chap. xviii. 6. Chapter xxii. 6, 9.— Chap. xviii. 6; xxii. 11.

vain manner of the Jews, who fondly presume that they have a right to all the promises made to Abraham, without considering the vast difference between them and Abraham, both in faith and practice. The appellation of one is given to Abraham in other parts of Scripture, because he was singled out from the rest of his family, to be the original, or head, of the Jewish nation."-Lowth.

, Bishop Newcome, and some others, think the preferable reading is, the eleventh year. If this be adopted, only about six months passed between the taking of Jerusalem and the communication of that event to Ezekiel. One that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me-According to what God had foretold to him should be the case, as is mentioned chap. xxiv. 26, and which was to be as a new commission unto him to speak unto the people; from Verses 25, 26. Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord doing which, by the command of God, he had-Remove from them this destructive carnal conficeased for near three years before; the prophetic || dence, and show them what they do, and how far influence, or impulse, not coming upon him during that time.

Verse 22. Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening--I felt a sensible impulse of the pro- || phetic spirit: see chap. i. 3. And had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning-Had so influenced my mind, that I found myself disposed and prepared to speak freely and with authority. Not that he had been utterly dumb before: for he had probably "been able to converse with the Jews concerning the predictions formerly delivered to them, and perhaps spake, or delivered in writing to them, the prophecies which he uttered concerning other nations; but he had received no further revelation from God respecting their affairs: in this sense he had been dumb."-Scott. But now the Spirit moved him to speak, and continued so to do till the messenger came, whose information concerning the taking and burning of Jerusalem, which had been repeatedly and clearly foretold by the prophet, would give an indisputable authority and credit to all his predictions, and prepare the people's minds to receive, with faith and a due regard, every future message which he was commissioned to deliver to them.

they are from being Abraham's genuine seed. Ye eat with the blood-Which was expressly forbidden in the Jewish law, as appears from Lev. vii. 26, as well as that more ancient law ordained to all mankind, Gen. ix. 4; and lift up your eyes toward your idols-Offer up your prayers unto your fictitious gods; and shed blood-That is, commit murders; and shall ye possess the land?-When you do not perform the conditions on which the land was given, namely, that of being a holy people, can you think that you shall continue to enjoy it? Ye stand upon your sword-You make your strength the law of justice, and, confiding in that, you do whatsoever your inclinations lead you to, whether right or wrong; according to the character given of ungodly men, Wisd. ii. 11, who say, "Let our strength be the law of justice, for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth," &c. Houbigant translates the clause, You stand in your high way, or the corners of your streets, and commit your abominations, considering the words as referring to their public and open profession of idolatry. Dr. Spencer (De Legib. Hebrew, lib. ii. cap. 11) thinks that the expression alludes to a custom of the heathen, "who put the blood of their sacrifices into a Verse 24. They that inhabit those wastes of the vessel, or pit, in order to call up and consult evil land of Israel-They that are left behind in the spirits, and then stood with their swords drawn, to land, that is now wasted with fire and sword: see keep the demons off from doing them any harm." the margin. Speak, saying, Abraham was one, Ye defile every one his neighbour's wife-Ye uniand inherited the land-Had the privilege of dwell-versally commit adultery; and shall ye possess the ing and feeding his flocks in it; as if he had said, "If Abraham, being only a single person, had the whole country of Judea given him, there is much greater reason to conclude, that God will preserve the possession of it to us, who are a numerous part of Abraham's posterity. These men speak after the

land?-The question implies a peremptory denial. Thus the prophet shows how vain and ill-grounded their expectations were of being continued in the possession of Judea, since they did those things which were contrary to the divine law, and which consequently excluded them from any right to the land.

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