Ezekiel 24
1 “Again in
the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the
month, the word
of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this
same day:
the king of
In the ninth year. We pass from the date of ch.20:1 (B.C. 593) to B.C. 590,
and the
very day is identified with that on which the army of Nebuchadnezzar besieged
passing there was as plain as though he saw it with his own
eyes. The siege lasted
for about two years. The
punishments threatened in Ezekiel 23, had at last come
near. We may
probably infer that a considerable interval of silence had followed on
the Aholah and Aholibah discourse. Now the time had come to break that
silence, and it was broken, after the prophet’s manner, by
a parable. In the
“rebellious
house” we find, as in ch.2:3 and
elsewhere, primarily Ezekiel’s
immediate hearers, secondarily the whole house of
The time for the execution of the Divine judgments may seem
to me to be long
delayed but ITS ARRIVAL IS
CERTAIN! This judgment against
been spoken of by the prophets for a long time. The people of
that city had
refused to believe in its approach; but now it has actually
commenced.
“The King of
notice:
the siege were known unto
God. Nothing is hidden from Him (compare
II Kings 19:27; Psalm
139:1-4; Matthew 9:4; John 2:24-25; Hebrews 4:13).
day, which is clearly specified
and set down in writing, the prophet
announced to his fellow-exiles
that Nebuchadnezzar had begun to besiege
from
impossible for Ezekiel to know
by human means that the siege of
had commenced on that day; and
when it was afterwards ascertained that
the prediction had exactly
corresponded with fact, it would be regarded
as an invincible proof of his
Divine mission.
When this prophecy was
found to be exactly true, the record of it would
rebuke the people for their
unbelief of the prophet, and witness to the
Divine inspiration and
authority with which he spake. But to revert to
our main point, the apparent delay of a Divine judgment DOES NOT
AFFECT ITS
CERTAINTY. “Because
sentence against an evil
work is not
executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is
fully set in them
to do evil.” (Ecclesiastes 8:11). God’s visitation because
of persistent sin is certain,
and it will take place at the precise time appointed
by God. (For us, Jesus said, “But
of that day and hour knoweth no man,
no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” - Matthew 24:36 – CY –
2014). With what remarkable iteration and emphasis
is this
awful certainty
expressed in v. 14! “I the Lord have
spoken it: it shall come to pass, and
I will do it; I will
not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent”
(compare Numbers 23:19; I Samuel
15:29). God’s threatenings
of
punishment will as surely be
fulfilled as
His promises of blessing.
Memorable Days (v. 2)
Ezekiel was to take note of the day on which he received a
message
concerning the approaching ruin of
anniversary of that day that the King of
Thus it would be seen that the prediction was strikingly
fulfilled. This is
one instance of the marking of memorable days.
days may be equally sacred
(Romans 14:5). Nevertheless, a difference
of character, history, and
associations will divide our days out into very
various classes, and will mark
some for especial interest. There are days
that stand out in history like
great promontories along the coast. We must
all have lived
through days the memory of which is burnt into our souls.
There are the
red-letter days, days of honor and gladness; and there are the
black-letter days
of calamity. Note some of the kinds of
memorable days.
Ø
Days of warning. Such was the day of our text. We cannot afford to
forget such days. They may occur
but rarely; yet their influence should
be permanent.
Ø
Days of blessing. If we have had times of exceptional prosperity, or
occasions when we have been
surprised with new and unexpected good,
surely such
happy seasons deserves to be chronicled.
It is ungrateful to
leave a blank in our diaries for
those days.
Ø
Days of sorrow. These, too, may be days of blessing, though of blessing
in disguise. It is not easy to
forget such days, nor is it altogether desirable.
The softened memory
of past grief has a wholesome, subduing influence
over the soul.
Ø
Days of revelation. The day to be noted by Ezekiel was of this
character. We have no prophetic
visions. But there may be days when
God has seemed
to draw especially near to us. Truth has then been
most clear and faith most strong.
The memory of such days is a help
for the darker seasons of doubt and
dreary solitude.
Ø
To chronicle them. A diary of sentiments is not always a wholesome
production; but a journal of events should be full of instruction. An
almanac marked with anniversary dates
is a constant reminder of the
lessons of the past.
Ø
To study them. Dates are but sign-posts. They indicate events which
require separate consideration. It is good
sometimes to turn aside from the
noisy scenes of the present and walk in the dim cloisters
of the sweet, sad
past, communing with bygone days and musing over the deeds
of olden
times. Our own
rushing, heedless age would be the better for such
meditations among the tombs, not
to grow melancholy in the thought of
death, but to learn wisdom in the lessons of the ages.
Ø
To avoid their errors. There are bad past days. Antiquity
does not
consecrate sin
and folly.
Ø
To follow their good example. We have the whole
roll of the world’s
history from which to select
instances of inspiring lives. The Christian
year is sacred to the memory of
a holy past, and its
anniversaries revive
the lessons of
good examples; chiefly it repeatedly reminds us of the
great events in
the life of our Lord.
Ø
To be prepared for their recurrence. The day of prophecy
was
anticipatory of the Day of
Judgment. Past days of judgment point to the
future judgment. “Of
that day and of that hour knoweth no man, no, not
the angels of
heaven, but my Father only!” (Matthew 24:36) The
fulfillment of prophecy in the
destruction of
warning of the sure
fulfillment of predictions concerning the
judgment
on the whole world.
3 And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say
unto them,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour
water into
it: 4 Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece,
the
thigh and the
shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.”
Set on a pot, etc. The
words contain an obvious reference to the imagery of ch. 11:3-7. The people
had
used that imagery either
in the spirit of a false security or in the recklessness of
despair. It is now
the prophet’s work to remind them that the interpretation which
he gave to their
own comparison had proved to be the true one. The cauldron
is the city, the fire is the invading army, the metal of
the cauldron does not
protect them. The pieces, the choice bones, were the princes and chief men
of the people.
5 “Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones
under it, and
make it boil
well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.”
Burn also the
bones under it; better, with the Vulgate and
Revised Version, pile the bones. The bones of
animals were often used as
fuel. Currey quotes an
interesting passage from Livingstone’s ‘Last
Journal,’ 1. p. 347, narrating how, when the supply of
ordinary fuel failed,
he made his steamer work with the bones of elephants. See a
like practice
among the Scythians (Herod.,
4:61).
The
Seething-Pot (vs. 1-5)
of the city had certain points
of resemblance.
Ø
Unity. All the parts are thrown into one vessel. There was a
common
life in the one city. All
classes shared a common fortune. They who
are united in sin will be united in doom.
Ø
Vain protection. The heat of the fire came through the vessel. The
wails of
will protect the
guilty from the wrath of God.
Ø
Fatal imprisonment. The miserable inhabitants of
up to the horrible fate of a besieged
city. There is no escape from the
scene of Divine
judgment. Indeed, the sufferings of a
siege are worse
than those of the open
battle-field. They who hold out against God
will be more miserably punished
than those who meet Him early.
Ø
Flesh. The various joints of the butchered animal are flung into
the
seething-pot. They represent the
inhabitants of
punishment of sin falls
on the persons of the sinners. “The
soul that
sinneth, it shall
die” (ch.
18:20). There
is something humiliating in this
comparison with mere joints
of meat. The doomed sinner is in a
degraded
condition. His higher spiritual nature has
been neglected and
well-nigh lost. He appears as “flesh,” and, having sunk into THE
LOWER LIFE OF
FLESH, he must expect to receive the treatment
of
flesh. Sowing to the flesh,
he reaps corruption (Galatians 6:8).
Ø
The choice parts. “The
choice bones” are to be thrown into the
seething-pot. The princes of
even selected
for exceptional indignity and suffering.
No earthly rank
or wealth will save from the
just punishment of sin. On the contrary,
if large privileges have been
abused, and high duties neglected, the
penalty will be all the heavier. (“And that servant, which knew
his lord’s will, and prepared not himself,
neither did according
to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” (Luke 12:47)
burning wrath.
Ø
Suffering. The symbol of fire certainly suggests pain. Jesus says
“Where their worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched.”
(Mark 9:44)
Ø
Destruction. The fire is to go on beyond its wonted task till all the
water is dried up and the contents
of the vessel are burnt. This is
the final issue of
the penalties of sin. At first they
come in suffering.
But if there is no
amendment, and the lessons of chastisement are
not taken to heart, the
broad road leads to DESTRUCTION!
(Matthew 7:13), and “the
wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
6 “Wherefore thus saith the Lord
GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the
pot whose scum is
therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it!
bring it out
piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.”
Scum. The word is not
found
elsewhere. The Authorized Version follows the Vulgate.
The Revised Version
gives “rust.” As the
cauldron was of brass (v. 11), this must have been the verdigris
which was eating into the metal, and which even the blazing
fire could not
get rid of. The pieces that are to be brought out are the
inhabitants of
as was often done with prisoners of war, taking every tenth
man
(decimating) of the captives for death or exile (compare II
Samuel 8:2).
All alike were doomed (Joel 3:3).
7 “For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the
top of a
rock; she poured
it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust;
8 That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have
set
her blood upon
the top of a rock, that it should not be covered.”
The parable is for a moment interrupted, and
murderess who has shed blood, not where the earth might
cover it (Job 16:18;
Isaiah 26:21), but as on the top of a rock visible in the
sight of all men.
9 “Therefore thus saith the Lord
GOD; Woe to the bloody city! I will
even make the
pile for fire great.” We return to the image of the cauldron, and
once again, as in v.
6 and chps. 22:3 and 23:37, we have the words which
Nahum
(3:1) had used of
10 “Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and
spice it well,
and let the bones
be burned.” Spice it well; better, make
thick the broth
(Revised Version).
The verb is used in Exodus 30:33, 35, of the concoction
of the anointing oil, and the cognate adjective in Job
41:31 for the “boiling”
of the water caused by the crocodile. We are reminded of
the “bubble,
bubble” of the witches’ cauldron in ‘Macbeth.’
11 “Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass
of it may be
hot, and may
burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it,
that the scum of
it may be consumed.” Then set it empty upon the coals, etc.
The empty cauldron is,
of course, the city bereaved of its inhabitants. The fire
must go on till the
rust is consumed. There is, however, in spite of the seemingly
terrible hopelessness
of the sentence, a gleam of hope, as there had be in
ch.16:42. When the punishment had done its full work, then Jehovah might
cause His fury to rest (v. 13). Till then He declares, through the prophet, there
will be no mitigation of the punishment. The word has gone
forth, and there will
be no change of purpose.
12 “She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum
went not
forth out of her:
her scum shall be in the fire. 13 In thy filthiness is
lewdness:
because I have
purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged
from thy
filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.
14 I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I
will do it; I
will not go back,
neither will I spare, neither will I repent;” according to thy
ways, and
according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith
the Lord GOD.”
She hath wearied
herself with lies, etc.; better, it (keeping
to the image of the cauldron)
is worn out with labors;
sc. with the pains taken to cleanse it, and yet the rust remains.
The fire must burn, the retributive judgment must continue, till the work is
done.
The Parable
of the Cauldron
or
The Judgment upon
(vs. 1-14)
“Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth
day of the month,
the word of the Lord came unto me,” etc. The interpretation of the chief
features of this parable is not difficult. “The cauldron is
flesh and the bones that are put therein are the Jews, the
ordinary
inhabitants of the city and the fugitives from the country.
The fire is the fire
of war. Water is poured into the cauldron, because in the
first place only
the inhabitants are regarded, not the city as such.
Afterwards, where the
cauldron only is intended, it is set on empty (v. 11). The
bones, in v.4, in
contradistinction to the pieces of flesh, are those who
lend support to
the body of the state — the authorities, with the king at
their head”
(Hengstenberg). The precise
meaning of one clause is controverted. “Burn
also the bones under it” (v. 5) Revised Version, “Pile also the bones
under it.” The interpretation of Fairbairn
appears to us to be correct,
“What the prophet means is that the best, the fleshiest
parts, full of the
strongest bones, representing the most exalted and powerful
among the
people, were to be put within the pot and boiled; but that
the rest, the very
poorest, were not to escape: these, the mere bones as it
were, were to be
thrown as a pile beneath, suffering first, and, by
increasing the fire,
hastening on the destruction of the others.” A remarkable
confirmation and
illustration of this interpretation is quoted in the
‘Speaker’s Commentary ‘
from Livingstone’s ‘Last
Journal:’ “When we first steamed up the river
Shire, our fuel ran out in the elephant marsh where no
trees exist. Coming
to a spot where an elephant had been slaughtered, I at once
took the bones
on board, and these, with the bones of a second elephant,
enabled us to
steam briskly up to where wood abounded. The Scythians, according to
Herodotus, used the bones of the animal sacrificed to boil
the flesh; the
Guachos of South America do the same when they have no fuel; the
ox
thus boils himself.” The parable and its interpretation as
given by Ezekiel
suggest the following observations.
·
THE TIME FOR THE EXECUTION OF THE DIVINE JUDGMENTS
MAY SEEM TO MEN TO BE LONG DELAYED, BUT ITS ARRIVAL
IS CERTAIN. (vs. 1-2.)
This judgment against
spoken of by the prophets for a
long time. The people of that city had
refused to believe in its
approach; but now it has actually commenced.
“The King of
notice:
Ø
The minuteness
of the Divine knowledge of the beginning of the
judgment. “In the ninth year, in the tenth month, in
the tenth day of the
month,”
etc. (vs. 1-2; and
compare II Kings 25:1). The very day, yea, the
hour and the
moment, when Nebuchadnezzar began the siege were
known
unto God. Nothing
is hidden from Him
(compare ibid. ch.19:27; Psalm
139:1-4;
Matthew 9:4; John 2:24-25; Hebrews 4:13).
Ø The communication of this knowledge to Ezekiel. Here on a particular
day, which is
clearly specified and set down in writing, the prophet
announced to
his fellow-exiles that Nebuchadnezzar had begun to
besiege
Michaelis,
“was distant from
it was
therefore impossible for Ezekiel to know by human means that the
siege of
afterwards
ascertained that the prediction had exactly corresponded with
fact, it would
be regarded as an invincible proof of his Divine mission.”
Ø The minute record of the fact.
“Son of man, write thee the name of the
day,
even of this selfsame day.” When this prophecy was found to be
exactly true,
the record of it would rebuke the people for their unbelief of
the prophet,
and witness to the Divine inspiration and authority with
which
he spake. But to revert to our main point, the
apparent delay of a Divine
judgment does
not affect its certainty. “Because sentence against an evil
work
is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is
fully
set in them to do evil.” (Ecclesiastes 8:11) God’s visitation because
of
persistent sin is certain, and it will take place at the precise time
appointed
by God. With what
remarkable iteration and emphasis is this
awful certainty
expressed in the v. 14! “I the Lord have spoken it:
it
shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will
I
spare, neither will I repent” (compare Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29).
God’s threatenings
of punishment will as surely be
fulfilled as His
promises of blessing.
·
IN THE EXECUTION OF HIS JUDGMENTS GOD IS NO
RESPECTER OF PERSONS.
“Set on the cauldron, set it on, and also
pour water into
it; gather’ the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece,
the thigh, and the
shoulder’; fill it with the choice bones. Take the choice
of the flock.” Thus the prophet teaches that the great ones of
judgment. There is another
expression which points to the same
conclusion: “No lot is fallen upon it”
(v. 6). In former visitations some
had been taken captive and
others left. So it was when Jehoiakim and when
Jehoiachin were taken away II Kings 24.; II Chronicles 36:1-10). But
in
this case the judgment was to
fall upon all without distinction. “There is no
respect of persons
with God.” He is a Respecter of
character, but not of
persons. No outward rank
or riches, no distinctions of place or power, nor
anything in man’s secular circumstances or condition, can exempt him from
the stroke of God’s anger in the
day when He visits a people for their
sins.
·
WHEN WICKEDNESS HAS BECOME FLAGRANT, THE
DIVINE JUDGMENT WILL BE NOT LESS CONSPICUOUS. “For her
blood is in the
midst of her; she set it upon the bare rock; she poured it not
upon the ground,
to cover it with dust; that it might cause fury to come up
to take vengeance,
I have set her blood upon the bare rock, that it should
not be covered.” Blood upon the bare rock is here mentioned in
contradistinction to blood shed
upon the earth, which is absorbed by it, or
which is covered and concealed
with dust. There is, perhaps, as
Hengstenberg suggests, a reference to the judicial murders which were
perpetrated in
(Jeremiah 26:10-23). But there
certainly is set forth the notorious
wickedness of the people of
“distinguished by the openness
and audacity with which they sinned.” The
conspicuousness of their
wickedness would manifest the righteousness of
the judgment of God; and it
would lead to an equal conspicuousness in the
infliction of that judgment. She
had poured out blood “upon the bare rock,”
and God would “set
her blood upon the bare rock.” In the administration
of the Divine government there
is a close relation and proportion between
sin and its punishment. “It is
fit,” says Matthew Henry, “that those
who sin
before all should be rebuked before all, and that the reputation of those
should not be consulted by the
concealment of their punishment who were
so impudent as not
to desire the concealment of their sin.”
·
When wickedness has
become utterly confirmed, the time for execution of
judgment has come! Several things in the text indicate the
habitualness of the
wickedness of the people. The scum or rust of the cauldron was not cleansed
(vs. 6, 12); so the cauldron
shall be put empty upon the fire, that the rust may be
burnt away (v. 11). J.D. Michaelis explains this verse: “When verdigris has
eaten very deeply into it,
copper is made red-hot in the fire, and cooled in
water, when the rust falls off
in scales. It can be partially dissolved by the
application of vinegar. Only one
must not think of a melting away of the
rust by the fire, since in that
case the copper would necessarily be melted
along with it. Also through the
mere heating the greater part can be
loosened, so that it can be
rubbed off.” But here it seems that
both the
cauldron and the
rust are to be consumed; both
inhabitants are to
be destroyed. Nothing will avail to cleanse them but the
fierce fires of stern
retribution. Another evidence of the exceeding
wickedness of the people is the
application to them of the word translated
“lewdness.” hM;zi
means “deliberate
wickedness,” wickedness meditated
and planned. For such willful
and studied evil-doing there remained but
judgment. All measures of a less
extreme kind had been tried in vain; those
were non-exhausted; and as the iniquity appeared to be entwined with the whole
fabric and
constitution of SOCIETY, nothing remained but to subject all to the
crucible of A SEVER AND OVERWHELMING
CATASTROPHE! This
is
represented by keeping the
cauldron on the fire till its contents were stewed
away, and the very bones burnt.
And as if even this were not enough, as
if something more
were necessary to avenge and purge out such scandalous
wickedness, the cauldron itself must be kept hot and burning till the
pollution
should be thoroughly consumed
out of it. The wicked city must be laid in ruins
(compare Isaiah 4:4)…. In plain terms, the Lord was no longer going to deal
with them by
half-measures; their condition called for the greatest degree of
severity
compatible with their preservation as a distinct and separate people,
and so the
indignation of the Lord was to rest on them TILL A
SEPARATION WAS
EFFECTED BETWEEN
THEM AND THEIR SIN!
·
THAT THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD ARE RETRIBUTORY IN
THEIR CHARACTER. “According
to thy ways, and according to thy
doings, shall they
judge thee, saith the Lord God.” (We have already
noticed this aspect of the
Divine judgments in our treatment of
chps. 7:3-4; 9:10; 16:43.)
The
Consuming Cauldron (vs. 1-14)
The threatened judgment has at last descended upon the
guilty city; and
Ezekiel, far away in the land of the Captivity, sees in
vision, and declares to
his fellow-captives by a parable, the siege of
place. As in so many parts of his prophecies, Ezekiel
reveals by symbol that
which he has to communicate. Opinions differ as to whether
the cauldron
was actually filled with the joints of animals and was
actually heated by a
fire. But the familiar operation, whether literally
performed or merely
imagined and described, served vividly to portray to the
mind the calamities
which were befalling the doomed metropolis.
·
THE SIN OF THE CITY.
As described in this passage, the errors of
Ø
Lies. By which we must understand the corruption, the deceits
and
frauds, the political insincerity, which had eaten away the very heart
of the citizens.
Ø
Lewdness. Or the prevalence of
sensual sins and of carnal luxury,
opposed to that purity and
simplicity of domestic life in which the
moral health of a nation ever
consists.
Ø
Blood-guiltiness. Or violence and murder, which at this time were rife in
life of his neighbors. These
three classes of iniquity are chosen by the
prophet as peculiarly heinous
and obtrusive, not as exhausting, but
simply as exemplifying, the
city’s sinfulness.
·
THE JUDGMENT OF THE CITY. As the flesh and bones are placed
in the cauldron, and boiled and
seethed by the fire being applied beneath,
so the inhabitants of
army surrounds them, and the
citizens are abandoned to all the privations
and fears and sufferings, and
finally to the destruction, incident to so
miserable a condition. The
instrument of chastisement is appointed to be
the nation into whose idolatries
protection might for a time have
availed to avert further evils, had not the
catastrophe been hastened by the treachery and rebellion of prince and
people. The Divine Judge never lacks instruments for the carrying
out of
His own purposes. “Heap
on wood; kindle the fire!”
·
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY. Previous punishment has been
of the nature of chastisement,
of correction; this is of the nature of
consuming. All the calamities which have come upon
to produce true repentance and radical reformation; it remains now to
execute the threats and to complete the ruin foretold. The language coming
from the Almighty Ruler, who had
taken
patronage and care, is frightful
indeed. “I will do it; I will not go back,
neither will I
spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and
according to thy
doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord God.” It is
evident that the purpose of God
is this — that the era of rebellion shall
come to an end, that there must
be a break in the continuity of the national
life, that a future revival must
be a new beginning unaffected for evil by the
habits and traditions of the
past. To
this end the people and all their ways
and practices, all their rebellions and idolatries, all their
oppressions and
immoralities, must first be cast into the cauldron of
judgment, and many
must be consumed and destroyed.
The Interior Mechanism
of War (vs. 1-14)
The prophet is commissioned to employ another homely
metaphor. The
patience and
ingenuity of God’s love are inexhaustible. The
homeliest
imagery is employed with a view to vivid and abiding
impression. Here it is
shown that behind all the machinery and circumstance of
war, a
hand
Divine directs
and overrules. A moral force resides within the material and
human agency.
·
THE NECESSITY FOR THE SCOURGE. The necessity arose from the
excessive
criminality of the Jewish people.
·
They are described as a “house of rebellion.” The
authority of Jehovah
was trampled in the dust.
·
the guilty escaped; the innocent
were judicially murdered.
·
Sin assumed the most flagrant
forms. “In
thy filthiness is lewdness.” All
restraint to vice was cast off.
All moral vigor was eaten out with self-
indulgence.
·
There had been wanton abuse of
God’s
corrective methods. “I
purged
thee, and thou wast not purged.”
Costly remedies had been wasted and
scorned. The hand of the great
Physician had been withstood. This is the
culmination of guilt. The condition of
such is hopeless.
·
THE CERTAINTY OF THE SCOURGE. “I the Lord have spoken: it
shall come, and I
will do it.” The event was based upon
the word of God,
and God’s word is the
forth-putting of His will. He puts Himself into His
speech. Fulfillment of
His word is not only invariable as law; fulfillment is
a necessity. But
further, the scourge had already come. By prophetic
inspiration Ezekiel knew that on that identical day on
which he spoke to
the people in Chaldea, Nebuchadnezzar lay siege to
verification of this fact would
impart a weight of authority to Ezekiel’s
mission as a prophet of Jehovah.
It was now too late to evade, by
repentance, the scourge. Still, the moral lesson would be healthful. It is
never unseasonable to be assured
of the righteous faithfulness of God.
·
THE SEVERITY OF THE SCOURGE. The truth intended to be
conveyed by this singular and
striking figure is that of entire and
indiscriminate destruction. Chastisements less drastic in their nature had
been tried in vain; and, as the evil seemed to
be ingrained in the very nature
of the body politic, no
other measure was availing than OVERWHELMING
DISASTER. (There was no remedy. CY - II Chronicles 36:16)
This is represented by keeping the cauldron on the fire till
its
contents were EVAPORATED! To
men this punishment appears severe, but
to those intelligences who stand
near God’s throne the punishment does not
appear such an evil as does the
sin. No
punishment is equal to THE
HATRED OF MAN’S
HEART TOWARD GOD! Calamity that is
external to the man is not such a
curse as THE SIN IN THE SOUL!
This inward canker is the
heaviest of all catastrophes.
·
THE THOROUGHNESS OF THE SCOURGE. “I will not go back,
neither will I
spare, neither will I repent, saith the Lord’ (v. 14). Every
piece of flesh was to be brought
out for the foe; no exemption was to be
allowed. Even the scum was to be
consumed. The very rust upon the
cauldron was to be burnt off. In
other words, the city itself was to be
destroyed as well as the inhabitants — the institutions, political and
religious, as well as nobles and
priests. God’s cleansing will be thorough.
In God’s esteem there are no
small sins. Only give them time, and small
sins become great. Therefore, no sin
must be spared. God is represented, in
one place, as “searching
to discover her secret sins. Over the gateway
of the new Jerusalem it shall
be written, “Nothing that is defiled, or that worketh abomination, can
enter
herein!” (Revelation 21:27) And
unless sin be separated from us,
we and our sins must
be destroyed together. Light and darkness cannot
dwell in the same room at the
same moment; nor can sin and holiness.
THE GOD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS will exterminate SIN root and branch.
·
THE HIDDEN HAND THAT WIELDS THE SCOURGE. Ordinary
observers of the invasion of Judaea, and of the overthrow of
saw only the activity of man. To
them it would seem only a human quarrel.
Human ambition on the one side,
and violation of treaties upon the other,
appeared as the immediate causes
of the war. To military captains, I dare
say the probability of success
was on the side of the besieged. The wails
were strong and high; the
natural ramparts were almost inaccessible; the
gates had withstood many a foe. Yet there was a factor in that martial
business that was not apparent.
The mightiest agent was out of sight.
All
the forces of righteousness were on the side of Nebuchadnezzar. He had
been commissioned to this
undertaking by the invincible God. At what
point, or in what way, the
directing and controlling will of Jehovah acted
upon the mind of the Babylonian
king, we cannot say. But that God did
move him to this undertaking,
and did give him success, is a plain fact.
Even men of the world are the sword in the hand of God.
A Weary Task (v. 12)
weary in the fruitless task. The rust cannot be cleansed
from the vessel.
Ø
It comes from a corroding agent. Temptation bites into the yielding
soul like an
acid.
Ø
It reveals an inferior character. Brass and iron
become rusty under
circumstances which leave gold and silver untarnished. Readiness to
yield to temptation is a sign that there is base metal in the soul.
Ø
It corrupts the very substance of the soul. Rust on metal is not
like moss
on stone, a mere excrescence and
parasite growth. It is formed
from the
METAL ITSELF; it
is a portion of it disintegrated and mixed with AN
ALIEN BODY!
Sin breaks down the fabric of the soul-life,
and wears
it away in A
SLOW DEATH!
Ø
It tarnishes the beauty of the soul. Rust is like
ingrained dirt on the
bright surface of the metal. The rusty mirror no longer reflects light.
The sin-stained
soul has lost its luster and ceases
to reflect THE
LIGHT OF HEAVEN!
up some other way!” (John 10:1) This is the task that the people of
are
supposed to have undertaken.
Ø
They turn from their past. The atmosphere which caused the rust is
abandoned. The old days
are to be forgotten; a new life is to be
commenced.
Ø
They put their souls under discipline. The attempt is made to burn off
the rust or to scour it
away.
Ø
They offer compensation. New deeds of goodness are to
supersede
and atone for old deeds of
sin.
Ø
They offer sacrifices of expiation. The history of
religion is full of such
sacrifices — sacrifices which
constitute a leading element in the Old
Testament economy.
TASK.
Ø
New circumstances do not destroy old sins. Though the vessel
be taken
out of the damp atmosphere which
first corroded it, it does not become
bright. The rust is still on it.
We may try to make amends in the future,
but by such
means we cannot get rid of the guilt
and the consequences
of the past.
Ø Sin has eaten
its way so deeply into the soul that no efforts of ours can
remove it. It is not like dust that lies loosely on the surface; it
has cut
into our nature like rust. Our feeble self-discipline is ineffectual for
removing SO
CLOSE-CLINGING AN EVIL!
Ø No compensation
of good works nor expiatory sacrifices will remove
this evil. “It
is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sin” (Hebrews 10:4). Such sacrifices can be but symbols at
the best.
Ø
He has made the great atonement with God. HE IS THE ONE
TRUE SACRIFICE
FOR SIN! (Hebrews 10:14). Thus the way is
now clear for
the soul’s cleansing.
Ø
He removes the rust of sin from the soul. As “the Lamb of God
that
taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), Christ not only brings
pardon, He produces purity.
His mighty arm scours the rust off the soul.
Ø
This was a weary task for Christ. Even He found it no
easy work. It
required:
o
the humiliation
of
o
the agony of
o
the death of
Christ toiled, suffered,
and grew weary unto death in the
awful task. YET HE
PERSEVERED UNTO THE END!
Christ invites us to abandon our useless, weary task and COME
TO HIM FOR CLEANSING! It
is especially to those who labor
and are heavy laden with sin
that He gives His great invitation!
(Matthew 11:28-30)
God True to His Word (v. 14)
“I the Lord have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I
will do it.”
WORD. Certain
observations and considerations shelter that supposition.
Ø
The changefulness of life. It looks as though things fell
out by chance.
We do not discern regular,
orderly movements in Divine providence.
Ø
The tardy fulfillment of threat and promise. Both are delayed. Then
men lose hold of both, and
regard them as inoperative. (“Because
sentence against an
evil work is not executed speedily, therefore
the heart of the
sons of men is fully set in them to do evil!”
(Ecclesiastes 8:11)
Ø
A false idea of God’s
mercy. It
is thought that God must be too
kind to execute his awful
threatenings of wrath.
Ø
Unbelief. This condition of the souls of men is at the root of the
error,
and it is only by its existence
that other considerations are laid hold
of and made occasions for
doubting God’s certain performance of
what He has foretold.
This is based on important
considerations.
Ø
The constancy of God. He is “the
Eternal.” (“For I am the
Lord, I change
not!” – Malachi 3:6) Men vary, but GOD
IS
CHANGELESS! What He wills today, HE WILLS FOR EVER!
Ø
The perfect knowledge of God. We may be forced to
change our plans
by reason of the discovery of
new facts. A change in our circumstances
may compel a change in our
conduct. But God knows all things, and He
has prevision of all
future contingencies when He makes His promise.
Of course, He acts in
regard to changing events and the alteration of the
characters of men. But these
things are all foreknown, and where His
action is concerned with them it is
conditioned accordingly from the first.
THERE ARE NO
SURPRISES TO GOD!
Ø
The power of God. We may fail to keep our word from simple inability.
A man may promise to pay a sum
of money by a certain day, and, in the
mean time, unforeseen
misfortunes may rob him of the power to redeem
his word. No such chances can happen with the Almighty.
Ø
The mercy of God. Archbishop Tillotson pointed out
that God was not
so bound to fulfill His threats
as to keep His promises of grace, because
men had a claim on the latter,
but no one would claim the former.
Nevertheless, it would not be
merciful in God to torture us with
warnings of a doom that was not
impending. God does remit penalties.
But then, from the first he has promised PARDON TO THE
PENITENT!
Ø
The vanity of unbelief. It may be with us as it was in the days of Noah
(Matthew 24:37-39). But the judgment will not be the less certain
because we refuse to
expect it. (“If
we believe not, YET HE
ABIDETH
FAITHFUL: HE CANNOT DENY HIMSELF!”
(II Timothy 2:13)
Ø
The need of A SURE
REFUGE. God has threatened
judgment
against sin. He will be true to His word. Then we should be prepared
to face the day of wrath. Our
only refuge is to “FLEE TO GOD!”
Ø
The assurance of true faith. God has given gracious promises
of
pardon to His
returning children (e.g.
Isaiah 1:18). He will certainly
be as true to those
promises as to any threatenings of wrath against
the impenitent. (“Whereby are given to us exceeding and
precious promises: that by these ye
might be partakers of the
Divine Nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through
lust” (II Peter
1:4). THE
ETERNAL
CONSTANCY OF GOD is a rock of refuge
for His humble,
repentant,
trusting children.
Ineffectual
Discipline (v. 13)
Men who are providentially entrusted with the care and
training of the
young, or with the probation of undisciplined members of
society, often
have reason to complain that their endeavors seem to be
utter failures, that
there is no response to the appeal which by language and by
action they are
constantly addressing to those who are placed beneath their
charge. It is
very instructive to all such to observe what was the result
of Jehovah’s
dealing with
question were perfectly known to the Omniscient before they
came to pass.
Yet it seemed good to Him, in dealing with moral agents, to
afford them the
means of repentance, and to furnish them with inducements
to repentance.
Lamentable is the record of what without irreverence we may
term the
Divine experience: “I
have purged thee, and thou wast not purged.”
·
DIVINE DISCIPLINE.
There is presumed the need for such discipline.
It is because the metal is mixed
with dross that it is cast into the furnace. It
is because the patient is sick
that medicine is administered. It is because the
wheat and the chaff are
intermingled that the winnowing-fan is employed.
And it is because the heart and life of the individual or the
nation are
contaminated with evil that the
chastening hand of God intervenes to purge
away the mischief — the
dross, the chaff. The means employed is usually
affliction in some one or more
of the many forms it assumes. One heart is
reached in one way, another by a
way altogether different; one nation is
humbled by pestilence or famine,
another by defeat in war and privation of
territory.
·
THE MOTIVE AND PURPOSE OF DIVINE DISCIPLINE. To the
careless observer it may seem as
if such experiences as those described
were evidences of malevolence in
the Governor of the world. But in fact it
is otherwise. “Whom
He loveth He chasteneth,
and scourgeth every child
whom He receiveth.”
(Hebrews 12:6) The son does not always understand
his father’s treatment of him,
and does not always accept that treatment with
submission and gratitude;
neither does he always profit by it as he might
do. Yet the treatment may be
wise and well adapted for purposes alike of
probation and of education; and
the time may come when, looking back
with enlarged experience and maturer judgment, he may approve his
father’s action. So is it with
God’s dealing with His great family. The Father
of the spirits of all flesh has at heart the welfare of
His offspring, His
household. He knows
that uninterrupted prosperity would not be
beneficial, that many lessons
could never be acquired amid circumstances
of ease and enjoyment, that
character could not by such experience be
formed to ripeness and moral
strength. It is through trials and afflictions
that true men are
fashioned. And the same is the case with nations.
had to wander and to fight in
the wilderness.
present position by means of
many generations of conflict and many epochs
of adversity. God has “purged”
His people, not because He is indifferent to
their sufferings, but because He
is solicitous for their welfare, which only
through sufferings can be
achieved.
·
THE APPARENT FAILURE OF DIVINE DISCIPLINE. There is a
pathetic tone in the assertion, “I
have purged thee, and thou wast not
purged.” The explanation of this failure is to be found in the
mysterious
fact of human liberty. An
eminent philosopher has said that he would be
content to be wound up like a
clock every morning, if that would ensure
his going right throughout the
day. Determinism
is mechanism; it reduces
man to the level of a machine. But this is not the true, the Divine idea of
man. God evidently
designs to do something better with man than to
constrain him. He even gives to
man the prerogative of resisting the high
motives which He in wisdom and
mercy brings to bear upon him. And when
He perceives that the purposes
of discipline are not fulfilled, He laments, “I
have purged thee,
and thou wast not purged.” Yet it is not for us to say
that even in such cases there
has been real failure. Ends may be answered
of which we cannot judge; good
may be done which we cannot see;
preparation may be making for
advanced stages which we are now
incapable of comprehending.
Doubtless in many cases the “purging”
which
is ineffectual here and now will
be brought about hereafter, and perhaps
above. It is open to us to believe,
with the poet:
“That
nothing walks with aimless feet,
That not
one life shall be destroyed
Or cast as
rubbish to the void,
When God
has made His work complete.”
15 “Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 16 Son of man, behold,
I take away from
thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet
neither shalt thou
mourn nor weep,
neither shall thy tears run down. 17 Forbear to cry, make no
mourning for the
dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put
on thy
shoes upon thy
feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.”
Behold, I take
away from thee, etc. The next word of
the Lord, coming after an
interval, is of an altogether exceptional character, as
giving one solitary glimpse into
the personal home life of the prophet. The lesson which the
history teaches is, in
substance, the same as that of Jeremiah 16:5. The calamity
that falls on the nation
will swallow up all personal sorrow, but it is brought home to Ezekiel, who may
have read those words with wonder, by a new and terrible
experience. We are
left to conjecture whether anything in the prophet’s home
life furnished a
starting-point for the terrible message that was now borne
in upon his soul.
Had his wife been ill before? or, as the words, with a stroke, suggest, did
it fall on him, as a thunderbolt “out of the blue”? I
mention, only to reject,
the view that the wife’s death belongs as much to the
category of symbolic
visions as the boiling cauldron. To me such a view seems to
indicate an
incapacity for entering into a prophet’s life and calling
as great as that
which sees nothing but an allegory in the history of Gomer in Hosea 2., 3.
We, who accept the Scripture record as we find it, may
believe that Ezekiel
was taught, as the earlier prophet, to interpret his work
by his own
personal experience. To Ezekiel himself the loss of one who
is thus
described as the
desire (or, delight) of
his eyes (the word is used of things
in I Kings 20:6, of young warriors in Lamentations 2:4, of
sons and
daughters in v. 25), must have been, at first, as the
crowning sorrow of
his life; but the feelings of the patriot-prophet were
stronger even than
those of the husband, and his personal bereavement seemed
as a small thing
compared with the desolation of his country. He was to
refrain from all
conventional signs of mourning, from weeping and wailing,
from the loud
sighing (for forbear
to cry, read, with the
Revised Version, sigh, but not
aloud), from
the head covered or sprinkled with ashes (Isaiah 61:3),
and from the bare feet (II Samuel 15:30; Isaiah 20:2), from
the
covered lips (Leviticus 13:45; Micah 3:7), which were “the
trappings and the garb of woe” in such a case. Eat not the bread of men.
The words point to the custom, more or less common in all
nations and at
all times, of a funeral feast, like the parentalia
of the Romans. Wine also
was commonly part of such a feast (Jeremiah 16:7). The
primary idea
of the custom seems to have been that the mourner’s friends
sent the
materials for the feast as a token of their sympathy.
A
Sudden and Sorrowful Bereavement (vs. 15-16)
“Also the word of
the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, I
take away from
thee the desire of thine eyes,” etc. The death of the
prophet’s wife is introduced here as a type of the
calamities which were
impending over
was a fact, and not merely “a vividly drawn figure”
designed to set forth
the more impressively the overwhelming troubles which were
coming upon
the Jews. We may notice, in passing, that the fact that
Ezekiel had a wife
suggests the unscripturalness of
the papal dogma of the celibacy of the
clergy. Moses was most eminent as a prophet, and he was
married
(Exodus 2:21-22). So also was his brother Aaron, the high
priest.
Samuel the seer and judge was married (1 Samuel 8:1-2); and
St. Peter
(Matthew 8:14).
wife that is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles,
and the brethren of
the Lord, and Cephas” (1 Corinthians 9:5). And he writes of the
prohibition of marriage as a “doctrine of demons” (1
Timothy 4:1-3).
Regarding the death of the wife of the prophet as a real
actual occurrence,
we propose to consider it at present apart from its typical
significance. We
notice:
·
THE REMOVAL OF A BELOVED RELATIVE BY DEATH. “Son of
man, behold, I take away… the desire of thine
eyes.” This undoubtedly
refers to the wife of Ezekiel;
and this mode of speaking of her indicates the
high esteem and tender affection
in which she was held by her husband. “A
good wife,” says Jeremy Taylor,
“is Heaven’s last best gift to man — his
angel and minister of graces
innumerable — his gem of many virtues — his
casket of jewels. Her voice is
sweet music; her smile, his brightest day; her
kiss, the guardian of his
innocence; her arms, the pale of his safety, the
balm of his health, the balsam
of his life; her industry, his surest wealth; her
economy, his safest steward; her
lips, his faithful counselors; her bosom,
the softest pillow of his cares;
and her prayers, the ablest advocates of
Heaven’s blessing on his head.”
The sacred Scriptures, especially in the
New Testament, represent the
love which the husband should bear towards
his wife as being of the
closest, tenderest, holiest kind (Ephesians 5:25-
33). When a man has a good wife,
who is to him the desire of his eyes, and
she is taken from him by death,
great is his loss and sore his sorrow. “The
death of a man’s wife,” says Lamartine, “is like cutting down an ancient
oak that has long shaded the
family mansion. Henceforth the glare of the
world, with its cares and
vicissitudes, fails upon the old widower’s heart,
and there is nothing to break
their force or shield him from the full weight
of misfortune. It is as if his
right hand were withered; as if one wing of his
angel was broken, and every
movement that he made brought him to the
ground. His eyes are dimmed and
glassy, and when the film of death falls
over him, he misses those
accustomed tones which have smoothed his
passage to the grave.” How
frequently are beloved relatives removed by
death! At one time it is the
true wife and tender mother. At another, it is
the faithful husband and the
wise and loving father. Again, it is the beloved
and beautiful child.
·
THE REMOVAL OF A BELOVED RELATIVE BY DEATH
SUDDENLY, “I
take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a
stroke.” The wife of Ezekiel did not suffer long from any illness,
she had
no antecedent affliction which
tended to prepare him for her removal, but
was snatched away as it were in a moment. It is not infrequently the
case
that our beloved are taken from
us without any warning or without any
anticipation of their removal.
By virulent disease, by public calamity, by
private accident, men are taken
away with a stroke. This renders the
suffering of the survivors more
severe. If the life had slowly faded away,
they would in a moment have been
prepared for its departure. When there
is a protracted affliction, the
hearts of those who are soon to be bereaved
nerve themselves for the last
separating stroke when it shall come. The idea
of the parting to some extent
familiarizes itself to the mind. But in
cases of
sudden death there is no such preparation for the trial. And the stroke
sometimes stuns the bereaved by
its unlooked-for force, sometimes
overwhelms their hearts with
sorrow, and sometimes drives them into
half-madness.
·
THE REMOVAL OF A BELOVED RELATIVE BY DEATH
SUDDENLY BY GOD. “The
word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man,
behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine
eyes with a
stroke.” The agent in the removal of the prophet’s wife is here said
to be
neither disease, nor accident,
nor chance, nor fate, but the Lord Himself.
This is the general teaching of
the Bible as to man’s decease (compare Job
1:21; 14:5, 20; Psalm 31:15;
68:20; 90:3, 5; 104:29; Revelation 1:18).
In the fact which we are
considering there is:
Ø
Deep mystery. Why does God take away our beloved ones with a
stroke? Why does He not grant us
at least some intimation and
preparation for the coming
trial? We cannot tell. But He says unto us,
“What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt
understand
hereafter.” (John
13:7)
Ø
Divine instruction. The fact should teach us important lessons; e.g.:
o
Not
to place too much reliance on creatures, however wise and good
and beloved
(compare Psalm 146:3-4; Isaiah 2:22; 1 Corinthians
7:29).
o
To live in a state of preparedness for
death. He who lives a
truly
Christian life
will not be found unprepared whenever death shall
come to him
(compare Philippians 1:21).
o
To acknowledge God as the Sovereign of
our life. This is
manifestly our
duty and our interest.
Ø
Rich comfort. God is all-wise, perfectly righteous, infinitely kind, and
graciously interested in us. Therefore His arrangements concerning us,
and His actions in relation to
us, must be for our good. It is consoling
and inspiring to know that our times are in His hand.
·
THE REMOVAL BY GOD OF A BELOVED RELATIVE, WHO
WAS NOT TO BE MOURNED BY THE BEREAVED SURVIVOR.
“Yet neither shalt thou mourn or weep, neither shall thy tears run
down.”
God does not prohibit to His servant
the feeling of sorrow, but only its
outward expression. All the
visible signs of mourning in use amongst his
countrymen he must abstain from
(v. 17). He may not weep, and even
the relief of silent tears is
forbidden him. It has been well said by Albert
Smith that tears are “the
safety-valves of the heart, when too much
pressure is laid on.”
And Leigh Hunt writes, “Tears enable sorrow to vent
itself patiently. Tears hinder sorrow from becoming despair
and madness.”
But in this painful bereavement
Ezekiel must neither weep nor shed tears,
in order that he may be a more
impressive sign unto his fellow-exiles.
Exceedingly severe were his
trials. But for us in our sorrow there is no
such prohibition. Christianity
does not forbid tears. “Jesus wept.” In the
days of His flesh He “offered up prayers and supplications
with strong
crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from
death.” And the
solace of tears is allowed unto
us. We may relieve the over-laden heart by
sighs, and cool the burning
brain by our flowing tears. And in the sorrows
of bereavement we have richer,
diviner consolations than these. We know
that to those who are in Christ death is unspeakable gain; that the
separations which it causes are
more in appearance than in reality; and that
in the great
hereafter there will be blessed reunions with those who have
passed
beyond the veil.
The Desire of Thine
Eyes (v. 16)
desire of his
eyes.” God has ordained marriage, and the
blessedness of the
true union of husband and wife
is from Him. It is in itself good and a source
of further blessings. It is not
the doctrine of the Bible that monkish celibacy
is more holy than homely wedded
love.
Ø
The blessedness of wedded love is a solace in trouble. If Ezekiel
had a wife who could be
described in the language of our text, it
must have been refreshing
for him to turn from the rancor of Jewish
enmity to the sympathy of a
true woman. The home is a sacred
refuge from the
storms of the world.
Ø
Wedded love is a type of Divine love. The Church is the bride of the
Lamb. God loves
His people as a true husband loves his wife.
Ø
Such a great blessing should be tenderly guarded. Wedded love may be
hurt by want of thought as much
as by want of heart. Small kindnesses
constitute much of the happiness
of life, and small negligences may
make its cup very bitter. It
needs care lest the bloom of love be
ruthlessly brushed aside.
Ø
“The desire of his eyes” is taken from Ezekiel. A prophet is not exempt
from the greatest troubles that
fall to the lot of men. Divine privileges do
not save us from earthly
sorrows. Love cannot hold the beloved forever.
The pair who love much may yet
be parted. This awful grief of
Widowhood or widowerhood
may invade the happiest home. They who
are never divided in love may
yet be thrust asunder by “the dark divorce
of death.”
Ø
This trouble comes by a sudden stroke. Sudden death seems
to be best
for the victim, for it spares all
the agonies of a protracted illness, and all
the horrors of the act of dying.
But to those who are left it comes as an
awful blow! Still, as such
events do occur in the most affectionate and
most peaceful households, we
should do well to be prepared for them.
(Philip Henry, Matthew Henry’s
father, was known for his prayer of
“Lord, help me to
be ready to leave this world or be left!” - CY – 2014).
The sweet summer garden of today
may be a waste, howling wilderness
tomorrow.
Ø
The trouble comes from God. Therefore it must be
irresistible. On the
other hand, it must be right. We
cannot understand why so fearful a
blowshould fall. We can only say, “It is the Lord: let Him do what
seemeth Him good.” (I Samuel 3:18)
to “mourn nor weep.”
Inwardly his grief cannot be stayed, for no man can
escape from nature; but all
outward signs of grief are to be suppressed.
This is a hard requirement.
Ø
Public men must repress private emotion. Here is one of the
penalties of a prominent
position. The great duties must be performed as
though nothing had
happened. The leader of others must present a
confident face to the foe,
though his soul is wrung with despair.
A smiling countenance must
mask a breaking heart.
Ø
Private sorrow is buried in public calamity. The national disaster of
widowerhood is not to be considered by the side of it. Grief is
generally selfish; but what is
one soul’s agony to the misery of
mankind?
Ø
Divine judgments are not to be gainsaid. Ezekiel’s trouble is
typical.
Ezekiel’s loss is used as an
illustration of the fate of the Jews. This was
unanswerable. The penalty was deserved by the guilty nation.
Guilt is
silent. In all sorrow we have no right to reply to God. The psalmist says,
“I was dumb” (Psalm 39:2). Christ went to His cross in silence. “As a
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth
not His mouth!”
(Isaiah 53:7).
Ø
God has consolations for patient sorrow. Though the mourner is silent,
God is not, and
His voice whispers peace to all His trusting sons and
daughters in
their sorrow.
18 “So I spake unto the people in
the morning: and at even my wife
died; and I did
in the morning as I was commanded.” So I
spake unto the
people in the
morning, etc. In yet another
way the calling of the prophet superseded
the natural impulses of
the man. He knew that his wife’s hours
were numbered, yet
the day was spent, not in ministering at her deathbed, but
in one last effort to
impress the teachings of the time upon the seared
consciences and hardened
hearts of his countrymen and neighbors. I cannot help referring to the poem
‘Ezekiel,’ by B.M., published in 1871, as expressing the meaning
of the
history better than any commentary. (I highly recommend this poem to
be found at:
https://archive.org/stream/ezekielandother01macagoog#page/n11/mode/2up
To access, highlight, hit control and then click – CY –
2014)
19 “And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what
these things are to
us, that thou
doest so? 20 Then I answered them, The word of
the LORD came
unto me,
saying,” We must read between the lines what had passed in that
eventful night of sorrow. The rumor must have spread among
the exiles of
Tel-Abib that the prophet had
lost the wife whom he loved so tenderly.
They were ready, we may imagine, to offer their consolations
and their
sympathy. And, behold, he
appears as one on whom no special sorrow had
fallen. But that
strange outward hardness had the effect which it was meant
to have. It roused them to ask questions, and it was one of
the cases in
which the prudens interrogation
(A prudent question is, as it were, one
half of wisdom) which if not in itself the dimidium seientiae, at least prepared
the way for it. The form of their question implies that they had a forecast that
the strange conduct was, in some way, connected with
the prophet’s work.
Wilt thou not tell
us what these things are to us?
21 “Speak unto the house of
I will profane my
sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the
desire of your
eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons
and your
daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.”
“Your sons and your daughters whom ye have left behind shall fall by the sword.”
Many parents may have been obliged to leave their children with relatives, from
their being of too tender age to accompany them to exile; and these would be slain
by the sword. But it seems to us better to interpret that the sons and the daughters
are
not
those of individuals, but of the people as a whole. The house of
the exiles in particular, are addressed. In point of fact, it is as much as to
say,
‘ your countrymen.’ They were soon to be:
would perish by”
Ø
famine,
Ø
pestilence, and
Ø
sword.
22 “And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your
lips, nor eat
the bread of
men. 23 And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your
shoes upon your feet:
ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away
for your
iniquities, and mourn one toward another.
24
Thus Ezekiel is unto
you a sign:
according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh,
ye shall know
that I am the Lord GOD.” Their
consciousness of the sin which
caused their
calamities should check the outward exhibitions of sorrow because of
them. In the typical
part of the delineation, it was not because the prophet was
insensible to the loss he sustained by the death of his
wife
that he was to abstain
from the habiliments and usages of mourning; but because there was
another
source of grief behind, of which this was but the sign and presage, and in itself
so much greater and more appalling, that his spirit,
instead of venting itself in
expressions of sorrow at the immediate and ostensible calamity, was rather
to brood in silent agony and concern over the more distressing evil it
foreshadowed. And in
like manner with the people, when
all their fond hopes
and visions were finally exploded, when the destruction of
their beautiful temple,
and the slaughter of their sons and daughters, CAME HOME TO THEM
AS
DREADFUL REALITIES, they
could only refrain
from bewailing the loss of
what had so deep a hold on their desires and affections, by having come to
discern in this the sign of what was still greatly more dreadful and appalling.
And what might that be but the bloodstained
guilt of their iniquities, which had
brought on the catastrophe?…
The overwhelming sense should then break in upon
them of the iniquities to which they had clung with such fatal
perverseness,
absorbing their spirits, and turning their moanings into a new and higher
direction. The agonies of bereavement would be in a manner
lost under the
self-inflicted pains of contrition and remorse (compare
ch.7:16). Yet the
description must be understood with certain qualifications,
and indeed is to
be viewed as the somewhat ideal delineation of a state of
things that should
be found, rather than the exact and literal description of
what was actually
to take place… The people
should, on the occurrence of such a fearful
catastrophe, have sunk under an overpowering sense
of their GUILT and
FOLLY,
and, like the prophet, turned the tide of their
grief and mourning
rather against the gigantic evil that lay behind, seen
only in the chambers of
imagery, than what outwardly appeared; they should have
bewailed the
enormous sins that had provoked the righteous displeasure
of God, rather
than the present troubles in which that displeasure had
taken effect. And
such, undoubtedly, was the case with the better and more
enlightened
portion of the people; but many still
cleaved to their idols, and would not
receive the instruction given-them, either:
·
by the prophet’s
parabolical example or
·
by the reality of
God’s afflicting dispensations.
LET
US MARK WELL THE DREAD CONSEQUENCES OF
PERSISNTENCE IN SIN!
An Awful Catastrophe and a Prohibition of Mourning
(vs. 20-23)
“The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Speak unto the
house of
Israel, Thus saith the Lord God,” etc. The death of Ezekiel’s wife, and his
abstinence from mourning by reason thereof, were
symbolical, and their
signification is brought before us in our text. Two scenes
are presented for
our contemplation.
·
A PEOPLE DEPRIVED OF THEIR MOST PRECIOUS POSSESSIONS.
Ø The
possessions of which they were to be deprived.
o
The temple itself. “Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the
pride of
your
power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth”
The last clause
is literally, “the pity of your soul;” that which “your
soul would
spare — pledging life itself for it.” See also in what
exalted terms
the temple is spoken of in v. 25: “I take from them
their
strength,” or
stronghold, “the joy of their glory, the desire of
their
eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart.” The wife of
Ezekiel, who
was the desire of his eyes, symbolized the temple. In
some respects
the Jews made too much of their temple. They gloried
in its outward
beauty and splendor, even while they dishonored God
by their
idolatries; they trusted in it as their stronghold, instead of
making God
their Refuge and Strength; they set their heart upon it,
when they
should have loved Him with all their heart, and soul, and
mind, and
strength. And they were now about to lose that temple.
Heathen
intruders would first desecrate it and then destroy it
(compare Psalm
79:1; 74:3-8).
o
The temple as a symbol. “The temple,” says Schroder,
“symbolizes all
the possessions
and power of
appealed
against their brethren (ch. 11:15); and to this they
trusted
amid all their
wickedness and apostasy (ch. 8:6; Jeremiah 8:4).”
And Hengstenberg remarks that in the profanation of the
sanctuary “is
included the
dissolving of the whole covenant relation, the removal of
everything
sublime and glorious, that had flown from that covenant
relation, of
all that was valuable and dear to the people. The general
conception is
demanded by the fundamental passage, Leviticus 26:19,
where by the
pride of power is meant all the glory of
by v. 25, where
in place of the sanctuary here all that is glorious
appears.”
o
Their sons and daughters. “Your sons and your daughters whom ye
have
left behind shall fall by the sword.” Hitzig suggests that, “on the
occasion of the
expatriation, many parents may have been obliged to
leave their children
with relatives, from their being of too tender age to
accompany them;
and these would be slain by the sword. But it seems
to us better to
interpret, with Hengstenberg, “The sons and the
daughters
are not those
of individuals, but of the people as a whole. The house of
much as to say,
‘ your countrymen.’” They were soon to be stripped of
their temple
and its ordinances, their independence and liberty, their
homes and country, and many of their
fellow-countrymen would
perish by famine, pestilence, and sword.
Ø
The Person by whom they were to
be thus deprived. “Thus saith the
Lord God; Behold,
I will profane my sanctuary,” etc. (v.
21); “I take
from them their strength,” etc.
(v. 25). In this destruction and slaughter
the Chaldeans
were as instruments and weapons in the hand of God,
who was Himself the great Agent.
Ø
The reason why they were to be
thus deprived. All this loss and misery
was coming upon them because
of their sins. They had forsaken God,
and He was about to leave them without His defense. They had
profaned His temple by their idolatries, and He was about to allow
the idolatrous Chaldeans to enter into it and destroy it. Their
calamities were caused by their crimes. Their sufferings
were the righteous retribution of their sins.
·
A PEOPLE THAT SHOULD NOT MOURN THE LOSS OF EVEN
THEIR MOST PRECIOUS POSSESSIONS. “And ye shall do as I have
done: ye shall not
cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. And your tires
shall be upon your
heads,” etc. The outward
demonstrations of mourning
are thus forbidden to the Jews
in their distress. The covering of the face
from the upper lip downwards was
a sign of mourning (compare Leviticus
13:45; Micah 3:7). In great
grief the mourners partook of food which
their neighbors prepared and
sent to them (compare Jeremiah 16:7,
Revised Version). This is here
called “the bread of men.” In many cases of
mourning the headdress was taken
off, and dust or ashes sprinkled upon
the head (compare Leviticus
10:6; Job 2:12; Isaiah 61:3;
Lamentations 2:10). But David
and his companions in a season of deep
distress went weeping with their
heads covered (II Samuel 15:30). It
was also customary for mourners
to go barefoot, as David did on the
occasion just referred to. All
these visible symbols of grief were to be
absent from the house of
coming upon them. Yet our text
speaks of their great sorrow. “Ye shall
pine away in your
iniquities, and moan one toward another.” We suggest,
by way of explanation:
Ø Their
calamities would so overwhelm them as to leave them no power to
think of the ceremonial of mourning. Their losses and
miseries would
stun them with amazement and
anguish of soul. “As in the prophet’s
case,” says Schroder,
“the misfortune of his wife’s death disappears in
the deep shadows of the
overthrow of
personal feelings of the exiles” (and we must not limit this to them to
the exclusion of their
fellow-countrymen) “shall be absorbed in this
destruction of the last remnant of the kingdom and city. One and
another shall be benumbed with pain, so that no comfort shall come
from any quarter; on
the contrary, a desolating feeling of guilt shall
be general — such shall
be their
knowledge of the Lord.”
Ø Their
consciousness of the sin which caused their calamities should
check the outward exhibitions of sorrow because of them. This is well
set forth by Fairbairn:
“In the typical part of the delineation, it was not
because the prophet was
insensible to the loss he sustained by the death
of his wife that he was to
abstain from the dress and usages of
mourning;
but because there was another
source of grief behind, of which this was
but the sign and presage, and in
itself so much greater and more
appalling, that his spirit,
instead of venting itself in expressions of
sorrow at the immediate and
ostensible calamity, was rather to brood
in silent agony and concern over the more distressing evil
it
foreshadowed. And in
like manner with the people, when all
their
fond hopes and visions were
finally exploded, when the destruction
of their beautiful temple, and
the slaughter of their sons and
daughters, came home to them as
dreadful realities, they could only
refrain from bewailing the loss
of what had so deep a hold on their
desires and affections, by
having come to discern in this the sign of
what was still greatly more dreadful and appalling. And what might
that be but the bloodstained
guilt of their iniquities, which had brought
on the catastrophe?… The
overwhelming sense should then break in
upon them of the
iniquities to which they had clung with such fatal
perverseness, absorbing their spirits, and turning their moaning into
a new and higher direction.
The agonies of bereavement would be in
a manner lost under the self-inflicted
pains of contrition and remorse
(compare ch.
7:16). Yet the description must be understood with
certain qualifications, and
indeed is to be viewed as the somewhat
ideal delineation of A STATE OF THINGS that should be found,
rather than the exact and
literal description of what was actually
to take place… The people
should, on the occurrence of such a fearful
catastrophe, have sunk under an
overpowering sense of their guilt and
folly, and, like the prophet,
turned the tide of their grief and mourning
rather against:
o
the gigantic evil that
lay behind, seen only in the chambers of
imagery, than what outwardly
appeared; and
o
they should have bewailed the enormous sins that had
provoked the righteous displeasure of God,
rather than
the present troubles in which
that displeasure had taken effect.
And such, undoubtedly, was the
case with the better and more
enlightened portion of the
people; but
many still cleaved to
their idols, and would not receive the instruction
given-them,
either by the prophet’s parabolical example or by the reality
of God’s afflicting
dispensations.”
·
CONCLUSION. Mark well the dread consequences of persistence in sin.
Ezekiel
a Sign (v. 24)
This prophet was commissioned to utter many words and to
perform many
actions which were of the nature of signs to
God’s own instruction, Ezekiel is directed, not to show,
but to be, a sign
to the people. In his own person, in his own remarkable
experience, he
typified great truths.
·
IN THE AFFLICTION WHICH BEFELL HIM.
·
IN THE ANGUISH WHICH HE EXPERIENCED.
·
IN HIS SILENT SUBMISSION TO DIVINE APPOINTMENTS.
·
IN HIS UNCOMPLAINING OBEDIENCE TO DIVINE BEHESTS.
·
IN HIS DESIRE AND RESOLUTION, BY ALL HIS
EXPERIENCE AND ACTION, TO GLORIFY GOD.
·
APPLICATION. There are occasions when a good man can do little in
the way of directly benefiting
or influencing the ungodly by whom he may
be surrounded. But even in such
circumstances he may be a witness to
God, and he may render service
to his fellow-men, by his own life, and
especially by his
demeanor in times of affliction and trial.
25 “Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I
take from them their
strength, the joy
of their glory, the desire of their
eyes, and that whereupon they
set their minds,
their sons and their daughters,” Their calamities would so
overwhelm them
as to leave them no power to think of the ceremonial of mourning.
Their losses and miseries would STUN
THEM WITH AMAZEMENT AND ANGUISH
OF SOUL! All the personal
feelings of the exiles (and we must not limit this to them
to the exclusion of their fellow-countrymen) shall be
absorbed in this destruction of the
last remnant of the kingdom and city. Everyone shall be benumbed with pain, so
that
no comfort shall come from any quarter; on the contrary, a desolating feeling of
guilt
shall be general — such
shall be their knowledge of the Lord.”
The desire of
your eyes. There is something exquisitely pathetic in the iteration of the phrase of
v. 17. To the priest
Ezekiel himself,
to the people whom he addressed, the temple
was as dear as the wife to the husband. It was also “the pride of their power”
(Revised Version),
the “pity of their soul” (margin). The former phrase comes
From Leviticus 26:19. When that temple should be profaned,
when sons and
daughters should fall by the sword, then they would do as
the prophet had
done. They would learn
that there is A SORROW TO DEEP FOR
TEARS TO SHOW! The state which the prophet describes is not
one of callousness, or impenitence, or despair. The people shall mourn for
their iniquities;”
this will be the beginning of
repentance. Leviticus
26:39-40 was obviously in the prophet’s thoughts. We note
that v. 24 is
the one solitary passage since ch.1:3 in which Ezekiel
names himself. As single
acts and gestures had before (ch.
4:1-12) been a sign of what was coming, so
now the man himself was to be in that hour of bereavement.
26 “That he that escapeth in that
day shall come unto thee, to cause
thee to hear it
with thine ears?
27 In
that day shall thy mouth be opened
to him which is
escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb:
and
thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am
the LORD.”
Yet another sign was given, not to the people, but to the
prophet himself.
For the present there was to be the
silence of UNUTTERABLE SORROW
CONTINUING, DAY
AFTER DAY, as there had been before (ch.3:26).
Then there should come a messenger from
capture and destruction, and then his mouth should be
opened. The
messenger does not come till nearly three years afterwards
(ch.33:21); and
we must infer that there
was no spoken message during the interval, but that
from ch.25:1 onward we have the written words of the Lord
that came to him
from time to time, not as messages to
surrounding nations. We have, i.e., what is, strictly speaking, a
parenthesis
in the prophet’s work.
Speechless and Tearless
Sorrow (vs. 15-27)
If the event here described really happened, and if the
death of the
prophet’s wife was a fact and not a mere vision or parable,
at all events
there is no reason to suppose that this death took place
from other than
natural causes. Foreseeing what would happen, the God of
men and of
nations used the affliction of His servant and turned it to
account, making it
the occasion and the means of spiritual instruction and
impression for the
benefit of the Hebrew community. The decease of Ezekiel’s
wife
symbolized the fate of the guilty
·
SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED. The
Lord took away from the
prophet the desire of his eyes “with
a stroke.” How touching is the
prophet’s record! — “At
even my wife died.” It is the simplicity of truth,
the simplicity of submission,
which speaks in this language. The terms
Ezekiel employs show how great
was his love and attachment to his wife;
all the more was this sudden
bereavement a shock of distress and anguish
to him. Similarly swift was
the stroke of retribution and ruin which came
upon the Jewish metropolis. Notwithstanding repeated warnings and
threatenings, the Israelites would not believe that their beloved
“the joy of the
whole earth,” could fall before the
mighty conqueror from
the east. But their confidence was misplaced, and their pride was destined
to humiliation. The death stroke came, and it came with the sharpness and
suddenness which corresponded
with the prophet’s bereavement.
·
SEVERE. No affliction
which could befall Ezekiel could be so
distressing and so crushing as
the loss of his beloved wife. In this it was
emblematical of the blow which
was about to descend upon
“Behold,” said the Lord, “I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of
your
power, the desire
of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth.”
Patriotism, historical
associations, religious pride, and other elements of
feeling conspired to render
their metropolis dear to the sons of Abraham;
and its destruction and the
dispersion of its citizens could not be
contemplated by them without the
liveliest emotions of anguish and
anxiety. No heavier blow could
fall upon them than this. Distress, as of
the bereaved and desolate, must
needs take possession of every true
Hebrew heart, when predictions
of Divine wrath were fulfilled, when the
heathen entered and possessed
the sanctuary of Jehovah.
·
INEVITABLE AND IRREPARABLE. Life is in the hands of
the
Lord and Giver of life. When He recalls
His gift, His creatures can do
nothing but submit. So Ezekiel himself acknowledged and felt; it was God
who deprived him of the desire
of his eyes. The dead return not to their
place, which knows them no more.
This fact gives keenness to the sorrow,
whilst it aids submission.
Ezekiel’s fellow-countrymen were to learn that it
was the Divine purpose to
inflict upon
human power could avert, and no
human power could repair, this evil, any
more than such power could save or restore the life which the Creator
recalled. A new career might indeed open up before the people of
but the old career was closed
irreversibly and irrecoverably.
·
CRUSHING EVEN TO SILENCE. Ezekiel was bidden, when his
bereavement came upon him, to
refrain from weeping and mourning, and
from all the outward signs of
grief. Distressing and difficult as the
command certainly was, it was
obeyed. And the prophet’s obedience to it
was significant. When the day of
manner and with such
circumstances accompanying it that the
survivors
and spectators of the national calamity were rendered
speechless through
grief. Their
experience reminds us of the memorable language of the
psalmist, “I was dumb, I opened not my
mouth, because thou didst it.”
(Psalm 39:9) There is a time to
be silent. When the hand of God is heavy upon
those who have resisted His laws and rebelled against His
authority, they
have nothing wherewith to answer their righteous Lord whom
they have
offended. It is for them
to refrain from complaint, which in such a case
would be merely blasphemy; it is
for them to bow beneath the rod; it is for
them, in silence and in
speechless bitterness of heart, to repent of all their
sins. It is the Lord: “Behold,
here am I; let Him do to me as seemeth good
unto
Him.” (II Samuel 15:26)
Graduated
Lessons (vs. 15-27)
Most important truths can only be learned by a series of
comparisons. We
best know the magnitude of the sun by comparison with the
moon and
stars. We prize the fragrance of the rose by comparison
with the perfume
of other flowers. We learn the dignity and strength that
belong to a man by
passing through the stages of childhood and youth. God teaches us
and
trains us, not
only through the understanding, but also through the feelings,
affections, griefs, inward experiences.
Every event that occurs is a lesson
for the immortal life.
·
GRIEF FOR THE LOSS OF A WIFE IS NATURAL. A wife occupies a
more central place in a man’s
heart than any other among humankind. God
Himself has
ordained that this mutual affection shall transcend all other. It is
a relationship born of mutual
choice. In proportion to this depth and
intensity of affection is the
sense of loss when death occurs. To suffer
anguish of heart at such a time
accords with the laws and instincts of
nature. It is a loss not to be measured by words, and in
proportion to the
sense of loss is
the abundance of the grief.
·
MAN’S CAPACITY FOR FEELING GRIEF IS LIMITED. Every
capacity of the soul of man has,
on earth, limitation. Whether this will
continue when released from the
trammels of the flesh is not known. In all
likelihood, capacity of mind and
feeling will be enlarged, but will still be
limited. If grief be indulged
for minor losses, the soul will have no power of
grief remaining for heavier
demands. Therefore effort of will should be
employed to restrain, and not to
excite, our grief. Those who weep over
imaginary sorrows portrayed in
novels often become callous in the
presence of real distress. The
fountain of grief is exhausted.
·
REAL GRIEF SHOULD BE RESERVED FOR OUR HEAVIEST
CALAMITIES. Because,
if we allow the severest disasters to occur
without an adequate sense of
sorrow, we do our moral nature an injury; we
do injury to others. We convey
to men a wrong impression. We emphasize
the less important matters. The
result is that our nature gets out of
harmony with God’s
nature — a disaster the heaviest of all.
Then God’s
lessons are lost upon us. We
become incapable of receiving good. We are
“past feeling.” (Ephesians 4:19) To
lose feeling is to lose enjoyment —
is to endure diminished life.
·
SIN SO OUTWEIGHS ALL OTHER CALAMITIES THAT OUR
CHIEF SORROW SHOULD RE RESERVED FOR SIN. God forbade
Ezekiel to weep for the loss of
his wife. He forbade the Hebrews to exhibit
signs of mourning for the fall
and ruin of their temple. “But,” He added —
“ye shall pine
away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another.”
All other disaster is external
to a man. This disaster, sin, is
internal and
injures the very texture and fabric of his soul. This is without question
“sorrow’s crown of sorrow.” A
man belonging to the criminal class
obtained an interview with a
Christian gentleman. Replying to questions,
the man told his sad history —
his gradual lapse into crime, his ultimate
detection, Said he, “I have been
twice in jail; I have endured all kinds of
misery; but I confess that my
worst punishment is in being what I am
now.” This is the cardinal truth
set forth by Ezekiel — that sin is the sum
of all disasters, the quintessence of hell. Hatred
of God is man’s curse.
·
A GOOD MAN IS A SIGN TO THE UNGODLY, OF UNSEEN
REALITIES. “Thus
Ezekiel is unto you a sign.” A sign is an index of
unseen things. Smoke is the sign
of fire. A sword is the sign of hostility. An
English ensign is an index of
the queen’s authority. A good man’s life is
a”
sign” or proof that THERE IS A GOD and that God is the Friend of man.
Ø
The purity and piety
of a good man is an index of the transforming
grace of God.
Ø
The peace in a good
man’s heart is an index of the peace of God —
the
peace of heaven.
Ø
The obedience of a
good man is an index of God’s gracious authority.
The resignation of a good man
under trouble is a sign of the superiority
of
heavenly good to earthly. Every good man
is a sign and witness for God.
The Dumb
Mouth Opened (v. 27)
·
THERE IS A TIME TO KEEP SILENCE. Ezekiel was not stricken
dumb physically like Zacharias. He was silenced by circumstances and the
will of God. Even a prophet may
have to learn that “silence is golden.”
Consider the indications of the
time to keep silence.
Ø When one has nothing to say. It is a great mistake to speak because one
ought to say
something instead of waiting till there is something to be said.
Prophets have
not always messages to deliver. Poets are not always
inspired.
Ø When men will not hear. Ezekiel’s repeated discourses, and even
his
striking
illustrative actions, had been treated with indifference by the Jews.
It is useless
to “cast
pearls before swine.”
Ø When events are speaking. God says, “Be still, and know that I am
God” (Psalm 46:10). The
awful voice of providence silences every
utterance of man.
Ø When we are called to reflect. We have too much talking and too little
thinking. This
is an age of expression. We have lost the art of restraint.
The consequence is shallowness and
instability. More silence
would
allow of a
richer brooding thoughtfulness.
·
EVENTS OPEN THE MOUTH OF THE SILENT. Ezekiel was to be
silent in the grief of his
sudden widowhood, and the Jews would be
silenced by the frightful
calamities of the siege of
the prophet’s lips would be
unsealed, and he would be able to speak to
better purpose. Events help to
this result:
Ø In suggesting topics. The truest thought is inspired by fact.
New
occurrences
give rise to new lessons. The age of literature follows the age
of action, and
great books spring up in the soil that has been fertilized by
great deeds.
The facts of the gospel history are the chief topics for
Christian
preaching. The new scenes of the life of Christ and the Acts of
the Apostles
are the inspiration of all evangelistic speech.
Ø In inclining men to listen. Ezekiel was silenced by indifference; he
was
to be rendered
eloquent again by a newly awakened interest. Now, this
change was to
be brought about through the instrumentality of external
events. Thus God
breaks up the fallow ground and prepares the soil to
receive the seed of the Word.
Ø In inducing faith. This is the principal cause of the change
in the present
instance. The
Jews had refused to believe Ezekiel. But when his words had
been verified
by the occurrence of the calamities he had predicted, the
skeptical
hearers would be forced to acknowledge that he was a true
prophet. The
fulfillments of Christ’s prophecy in the growth of the
kingdom from
the grain of mustard seed to the great tree should incline
people to
listen to Christian teaching with faith.
·
THE WISE TEACHER WILL SEIZE OPPORTUNITIES FOR
SPEECH. His mission is
to proclaim the will of his Master; and, though
silence may be suitable on
occasion, and room for thought is
greatly to be
desired, he must be on the watch for every opportunity of delivering
his
great message. It is a glorious
time when inspired lips are unsealed. The
mere babble of empty talk is not
to be compared with such utterance. The
Jews had it in the thunders of
prophecy, and the early Christians in the gift
of the cloven tongues. But every
Christian teacher who has power to speak
to his brother may receive Divine impulses which should
give him words of
helpfulness and healing. The great art is then to utter the word in season —
the right word, to the right
person, in the right spirit, at the right moment.
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