Ezekiel 4
Prior to any detailed examination of the strange series of
acts recorded in
this and the following chapter, we are met with the
question whether they
were indeed visible and outward acts, or only imagined by
the prophet in a
state of ecstasy and afterwards reported by him to the
people. Each view
has been maintained by commentators of repute. I adopt,
with scarcely any
hesitation, the former, and for the following reasons:
They belong to the period
of the prophet’s silence.
of the normal method of a
prophet’s work. Zedekiah’s horns of iron
(I Kings 22:11); Isaiah’s
walking “naked and barefoot” for
three years
(Isaiah 20:2-3); Jeremiah’s
yokes of wood (Jeremiah 27:2),
probably even the latter
prophet’s journey to the
13:4); and Hosea’s marriage with
a harlot (Hosea 1-3), were all outward
objective facts. We are only
disposed to take a different view of Ezekiel’s
acts because they are more
startling and repulsive; but to adopt a non-natural
interpretation on this a
priori ground of feeling is not the act of an
honest interpreter. We have to
admit that outwardly the life of the prophets
of
other times. The acts of Ezekiel
may find a parallel in those of Simeon
Stylites or George Fox; of Jesus the son of Ananus,
who for seven years
and five months walked to and
fro in
the city and the holy house
(Josephus, ‘
Eagle, as he, in like manner,
walked through the streets of
the great Plague (Defoe. ‘Hist. of the Plague,’ p.
519, edit. 1869).
1 “Thou
also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray
upon it the city, even
prophecy was to
indicate to the exiles of Tel-Abib
that which they were unwilling to
believe. The day of
uncertain hopes and fears, of delusive dreams and promises
(Jeremiah 27:16; 28:1-3; 29:21), was nearly over. The siege
of
Four years before it came — we are now between the fourth
month of the
fifth year (ch. 1:2) and the
sixth month of the sixth year (ch. 8:1) of Zedekiah.
and the siege began in the ninth year (II Kings 25:1) —
Ezekiel, on the segnius
irritant principle, brought it, as here narrated, before
the eyes of the exiles.
That he did so implies a certain artistic culture, in
possessing which he stands alone,
so far as we know, among the prophets of
land of the Chaldees may have
contributed. He takes a tile, or tablet of baked clay,
such as were used in
inscriptions, astronomical observations (Pliny, ‘Hist. Nat.,’ 7:57), and the
like, which were, in fact, the books of that place and time,
and of which
whole libraries have been brought to light in recent
excavations (Layard,
‘
city” (Revised Version), in which the exiles would at once
recognize the
city of their fathers, the towers which they had once
counted (Isaiah
33:18; Psalm 48:12), the temple which had been their glory
and their
joy. Bricks with such scenes on them were found among the
ruins of
Nimrod, now in the
not difficult to picture to ourselves the wondering curiosity with which
Ezekiel’s neighbors would watch the strange proceeding. In this case the
sign would be more impressive than any spoken utterance.
2 “And lay
siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount
against it; set the camp also against it,
and set battering rams against it round
about.”
Lay siege against it, etc. The wonder would increase as the
spectators looked on what followed. Either tracing the
scene on the tablet,
or, more probably, as v. 3 seems to indicate, constructing
a model of the
scene, the prophet brings before their eyes all the
familiar details of a siege,
such as we see on numerous Assyrian bas-reliefs: such also
as the
narratives of the Old Testament bring before us. There are:
perhaps, the wall of
circumvallation, which the besiegers
erected that they might carry on
their operations in safety;
not distinguish between the two)
of earth from which they plied the bows
or catapults (Jeremiah 6:6;
32:24; 33:4; Ezekiel, ut supra);
in which they were
stationed in various positions found the city;
has a special interest. The
primary meaning of the Hebrew word is “lamb”
(so in Deuteronomy 32:14; I
Samuel 15:9, et al., Revised Version),
or, better, “full grown wethers or rams” (Furst). Like
the Greek κρίος –
krios – (Xen., ‘Cyrop.,’ 7:4. 1; II Maccabees 12:15), and the Latin aries
(Livy,
21:12; 31:32, et
al.), it was transferred to the engine which was used to “butt,”
like a ram, against the walls of
a besieged city, and which, in Roman
warfare, commonly terminated in
a ram’s head in bronze or iron. Ezekiel is
the only Old Testament writer
who, here and in ch.21:22, uses the
word, for which the Septuagint
gives βελοστάσεις – belostaseis -, and the
Vulgate arietes. The margin of the Authorized Version in
both places gives
“chief leaders,” taking
“rams” in another figurative sense; but, in the face of
the Septuagint and Vulgate,
there is no reason for accepting this. Battering
rams frequently appear in
Assyrian bas-reliefs of a much earlier date than
Ezekiel’s time, at Nimroud (Vaux, ‘Nineveh and Persepolis,’ p. 456),
Konyunyik (Layard, ‘
They were hung by chains near
the bottom of the besiegers’ towers, and
were propelled against the
walls.
A Pictorial Sermon (vs. 1-2)
The method of this prophecy is as instructive as the
substance of it. Let us,
therefore, consider this by itself.
mouth, though indeed
occasionally they had given visible illustrations of
their sermons. Thus Jeremiah had
worn a symbolical yoke of iron
(Jeremiah 28:10). But to draw a
picture on a tile was a new method of
prophecy. The pulpit is
generally too conservative of old methods, too
timid of innovation. The
preacher should not be a slave of fashion. But,
then, he should be careful not
to be in bondage to an old fashion any more
than to a new fashion. He ought
to be ready to embrace any novel method
that promises to make his work
more effective.
great brick libraries which have
been discovered in the very region where
Ezekiel was living, and which
include works of the very date of his
ministry, contain similar
pictorial representations — inscribed
representations of sieges.
Therefore Ezekiel was adapting his teaching to
the manners of his
contemporaries. It is as though a modern preacher,
unable to reach all the persons
he desired to address from the pulpit, should
write in the newspapers.
Therefore the most effective weapon of the day
should be secured by the
preacher. The enemy have breech-loading rifles:
why should the friends of the
truth be content with old flint muskets?
Eccentricity may win notoriety,
but it will not honor truth. Erratic
methods lower the dignity of
truth. The preacher has to remember the
solemn, the awful character of
his message. But, then, a novel and almost
alarming method may be most
suitable for conveying the message. In this
matter the means must be
subservient to the end. Now, Ezekiel’s method
was remarkably suitable for his
purpose.
Ø
It made his message intelligible to all. People who cannot
read may
understand a picture, and the
same picture may speak to men of
different languages. Raphael’s
‘Transfiguration’ is intelligible to
Englishmen who do not know a
word of Italian. Pictorial preaching
is easily understood.
Ø
It made the message vivid and impressive. We feel most strongly
what we see in picture
before our eyes. The failure of preaching is
often owing to the fact
that the truth proclaimed is accepted only in
words which do not suggest
clear, strong ideas. It may be admitted
by the reason, but it is
not embraced by the imagination. The truth
which has power over us is
not that which we consent to in cold,
intellectual agreement, but
that which stands to the eyes of the
soul as a present reality. Therefore, after we have made our
meaning
clear and proved our
preposition to demonstration, a large part of our
work remains, viz. to
impress the truth on the imagination and the
heart of our hearers; and
to be impressive, the truth must be vivid.
There is always scope for
pictorial preaching. All preachers who are
effective with the multitudes
resort to this method.
Ø
It made the message enduring. The brick libraries
of
have been deposited in the
sound today as when they were
first produced three thousand years
ago. It is
just possible that some day Ezekiel’s tile may be dug up
uninjured! Sermons may be forgotten, but truth endures; and it is
the mission of the preacher so
to burn the truth into the hearts of
his hearers that it shall even
outlast Babylonian libraries and be
seen through all eternity.
Siege (v. 2)
By the remarkable symbolism described in this chapter,
Ezekiel was himself
assured that the metropolis of his country was about to
endure the horrors
of a siege, and his action was intended for a sign to the
house of
modern times, underwent the calamity again and again. It
was probably the
siege by Nebuchadnezzar which was
foretold by the symbol of the tile and
the iron pan. To
be besieged was a not uncommon incident of warfare. But
the prophet of God treated this approaching catastrophe,
not merely as a
fact of history, but as a moral and Divine lesson.
ENDURING A STATE OF
Ø
Community in civic life. Every city always has
its own social
characteristics. Citizens take a
pride in the prosperity and glory of
their city, especially if it be
the metropolis of the nation. In our
own time
was never so realized as when
thus encompassed by the enemy.
Ø
Community in resistance and hostility. Distinctions of rank and of
social position almost
vanish when a common danger threatens every
class alike. Each man takes his share in the defense of
the city, in
bearing the common burden.
All are drawn together by their
community in dread or in
defiance of the foe.
Ø
Community in the experience of suffering. Hunger and thirst,
privation and want of rest,
are shared by all the citizens of a
beleaguered city. Men who
partake the same calamity are drawn
together by their common
experience. The annals of a siege will
usually be found to contain
the record of remarkable cases of
heroic unselfishness and
public devotion.
spiritual discipline and profit.
Ø
The vanity of human
pride and ambition was strikingly exhibited.
The Jews were a vain
glorious people; they possessed many
distinctive marks of
superiority raising them above the heathen,
and their knew and boasted
that it was so. They took credit to
themselves
for much for which they ought to have offered thanks
to
God. Their
self-confidence and glorying were rebuked in the most
emphatic
manner when their fair and famed metropolis was besieged
and
threatened with destruction. This lesson is impressed upon their
countrymen
with unsparing faithfulness by the ancient
Hebrew prophets.
Ø
Equally pointed was
the lesson conveyed as to the utter vanity of
mere human help. The Jews
did indeed sometimes seek alliances
which might befriend and
assist them in their distress; but against
such alliances they were
repeatedly warned by the prophets, whose
duty it was to assure their
countrymen of the vanity of
the help of
man. Especially were they rebuked for seeking friendship and aid
from
such friendship hollow, and
such aid ineffectual.
Ø
The inhabitants of
by the siege of the city, directed to seek Divine deliverance. The city
might fall; its walls might
be leveled with the dust; its defenders might
be slain; its inhabitants
decimated. But all this might be overruled for
the nation’s
real and lasting good, should calamity and humiliation
lead to
repentance, should Divine favor be entreated, and a way of
salvation be
opened up to the remnant of the people.
3 “Moreover
take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron
between thee and the city: and set thy face
against it, and it shall be
besieged, and thou shalt
lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the
house of
for a flat or shallow vessel in which cakes were baked or
fried. Such a pan,
like the Scotch “girdle,” or our “gridiron,” may well have
formed part of
the furniture of the prophet’s house when it was taken for
this strange use.
It was to represent the kind of shield or fence set up on
the ground, from
behind which the besiegers discharged their arrows. Such
shields are seen,
like the battering rams, in Assyrian bas-reliefs (Layard, ‘
2:345). Other interpretations, which see in it the symbol
of the
circumvallation of the city, or of the impenetrable barrier which the sins of
the people had set up between themselves and Jehovah, or of the
prophet
himself as strong and unyielding (Jeremiah 1:18), do not
commend
themselves. The flat plate did not go round the city, and
the spiritual
meaning is out of harmony with the context. This shall be a sign, etc.
(comp. like forms in ch. 12:6,
11; 24:25, 27). The exiles of Tel-
Abib, who wore the only spectators of the prophet’s acts, are
taken as
representatives of “the
house of
by Ezekiel, unless, as in vs. 5-6, and ch.
37:16, there is a special
reason for noting a distinction for
4 “Lie
thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of
lie upon it thou shalt
bear their iniquity.” Lie thou also upon thy left side, etc.
We find the explanation of the attitude in ch.
16:46.
i.e. to the north,
as a man looked to the east. So the same word yamin
is both
“the south” (I
Samuel 23:19, 24; Psalm 84:12) and “the
right hand.”
Here, accordingly, the “house of
sense, as the northern kingdom as distinguished from the “house of
in v. 6. Thou shalt bear their iniquity; ie.,
as in all similar passages
(Exodus 28:43; (Leviticus 5:17; 7:18; Numbers
18:1, et al.), the
punishment of their iniquity. The words so taken will help
us to understand
the numerical symbolism of the words that followed. The
prophet was by
this act to identify himself with both divisions of the
nation, by representing
in this strange form at once the severity and the limits of
their punishment.
I adopt, without any hesitation, the view that we have here
the record of a
fact, and not of a vision narrated. The object of the act was to startle men
and make them wonder.
As week after week went on this, exceptis
excipiendis, was to be Ezekiel’s
permanent attitude, as of one crushed to
the very ground, prostrate under the burden thus laid upon
him, as
impersonating his people.
5 “For I
have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to
the number of the days, three hundred and
ninety days: so shalt
thou bear the iniquity of the house of
Three hundred and
ninety days, etc. The days, as stated in
v. 6, stand for years according to the symbolism (with
which Ezekiel was
probably acquainted) of Numbers 14:34. How we are to
explain the
precise number chosen is a problem which has much exercised
the minds of
interpreters. I will begin by stating what seems to me the
most tenable
solution. In doing this I follow Smend
and Cornill in taking the Septuagint as
giving the original reading, and the Hebrew as a later
correction, made
with a purpose.
former gave 190 years, some 150
and others, agreeing with the Hebrew,
390. The first of these numbers
fits in with the thought that Ezekiel’s act
was to represent the period of
the punishment of the northern kingdom.
That punishment starts from the
first captivity under Pekah about B.C.
734. Reckoning from that date,
the 190 years bring us to about B.C. 544.
The punishment of
near the other, that, in the
round numbers which Ezekiel uses, they may be
taken as practically coinciding.
It was to that date that the prophet,
perhaps, unacquainted with
Jeremiah’s seventy years (Jeremiah 25:12),
with a different starting point
(B.C. 600) and terminus (B.C. 536), looked
forward as the starting point of
the restoration of
Ezekiel contemplated the
contemporaneous restoration of
(ch.16:53-55; 37:19-22; 47:13),
as indeed Isaiah also seems to do
(Isaiah 11:13-14), and Jeremiah
(31:6, 12, 27). The teaching of Ezekiel’s
acts, then, had two distinct
purposes.
Ø
It taught the
certainty of the punishment. No plots, or rebellions, or
alliances with
should survive the
siege of
Ø
It taught the exiles
to accept their punishment with patience, but with
hope. There was a limit, and
that not very far off, which some of them
might live to see, and beyond
which there lay the hope of a restoration
for both
which Ezekiel’s language impiles, the same may be, said of the language
of Isaiah chps.40-66., whether
we refer those chapters to Isaiah himself
or to the “great unknown” who
followed Ezekiel, and may have listened
to his teaching.
Hebrew text, the combination of
390 and 40 gives 430, and this, it is
urged, was the number assigned
in Exodus 12:40 for the years of the
sojourning in
DIVIDED! And the punishment of its two divisions is
apportioned
according to their respective
guilt. For
dye, there was to be, as it
were, another Egyptian bondage (Hosea 8:13 and 9:3
seem to predict a literal return
to
been figurative only). For
in the wilderness for forty
years a period of punishment, but also of
preparation lot a re-entry into
the land of promise.
days with the forty stripes of
Deuteronomy 25:3, reduced by Jewish
preachers to “forty stripes save one” (II Corinthians
11:24). Thus
thirty-nine were assigned to
each of the ten tribes, leaving forty for
standing by itself. With this
addition this last on merges into the previous
one!
in the number of the years the
measure, not of the punishment, but of the
guilt of
the margin of the Authorized
Version) from the revolt of the ten tribes
(B.C. 975) to the time at which
Ezekiel received the commands with which
we are now dealing (B.C. 595).
This computation gives, it is true, only 380
years; but the prophet may be
thought of as dealing with round numbers,
the 390 being, perhaps, chosen
for the reason indicated in above, or as
reckoning with a different
chronology. The forty years of the guilt of
are, on this view, reckoned from
Josiah’s reformation (B.C. 624), which
would bring us to B.C. 585-4.
And the sin of
consisting specially in its
resistance to that reformation and its rapid relapse
into an apostasy
like that of Ahaz or Manasseh. It can hardly be said that
this is a satisfactory
explanation.
lasted, in round numbers, for
430 days — a day for each year of the
national guilt as measured in
the last hypothesis. Against this there is the
fact that, according to the
statements in II Kings 25:1-3, the siege lasted
for much more than the 430 days,
sc. for nearly a year and a half. The
conclusion to which I am led,
after examining the several hypotheses, is, as
I have said, in favor of the
first one above. The text of the Hebrew, as we
find it, may have risen out of
the fact that the ten tribes had not returned as
a body, and that there was no
sign of their return, when
536, and therefore a larger
number was inserted to allow time for a more
adequate interval.
6 “And
when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side,
and thou shalt
bear the iniquity of the house of
have appointed thee each day for a
year.” Each day for a
year. The Hebrew
formula is that of iteration — “a
day for a year, a day for a year.” It originates,
as has been said, in Numbers 14:34. What has been known as
the year-day
theory of prophetic interpretation flows naturally from it, and has
been applied:
Revelation 11:3, 9.
Sin Bearing (vs. 4-6)
Ezekiel is to bear the sin of his people, doing it indeed
symbolically every
night, by lying first on one side, with the idea that the sin of
him so that he cannot move; and then for a shorter period on the other
side, with the idea of the sin of
down. This shows
that a prophet is more than a messenger from God to
men. He is one of the people, and his function involves his
bearing
somewhat of their sin. This must be the case with all
servants of God who
would be helpful to their brethren. Thus Christ’s sin bearing, while it stands
alone in its tremendous endurance and its glorious
efficacy, is anticipated
and followed in a minor degree.
Ø
It is bearing sin for
others. Ezekiel took on him the burden of the
sin of the guilty nation.
Vicarious endurance of sin runs through
all life. No man keeps his
sin to himself. All who love the
sinner
bear some of the
weight of his sin. CHRIST THE SINLESS
bears our sin.
Ø
It is bearing sin for
brethren. The prophet was to identify himself
with his people, and thus
to come to bear their sin. Christ became
one of us that He
might bear our sin for us. Pharisaical
scorn for
the sin of others betrays the spirit of
Cain.
Ø
It is bearing sin in
true proportion. The guilt of
that of
sin of the blue states in
CY – 2014), and its
punishment is accordingly of longer duration.
These facts are recognized
in Ezekiel’s symbolical periods of
endurance. As all sin is
not equal, all sin does not produce the same
distress on the sin bearer.
The aggravation of the world’s sin leads
to THE AGGRAVATION
OF CHRIST’S SUFFERINGS!
How much has each added to
that awful load?
symbolical, but it suggested a
true spiritual experience.
Ø
Sin is borne
vicariously in the thought of it. We may
refuse to note our
brother’s ill conduct, and if so
we may pass it by with indifference.
But the prophet must study the
signs of the times; Christ must
take the real state of the world
into His thought and heart; the man
of Christian sympathy must
consider deeply and sadly the great sin
of mankind.
Ø
This is borne in the shame of it. Each man is only
guilty of his own
misconduct. Yet we are all
conscious of the shame of the sin of those
who are closely related to us. A
child’s sin is his father’s shame. The
Christian spirit makes the shame
of the sin of others felt by those who
have escaped it.
This is borne in the
suffering of it. We cannot but suffer
for THE
WICKEDNESS OF THOSE WHO ARE NEAR TO US! One
who
would help and save his brethren
must bear the suffering of their sins.
Ezekiel in a lower degree
anticipated that type of vicarious suffering set
forth in Isaiah 53, which CHRIST ALONE FULLY REALIZED!
The Saviour
of men must ever be one who sacrifices himself for men,
by suffering the hurt of the sin
of men.
FROM SIN. We cannot
see all the deep mystery of this; but we can discern
its glorious issue.
Ø
The sin bearer is a
propitiation to God. The Lamb of God
who bears
away the sin of
the world is God’s beloved Son, in whom He is well
pleased. God cannot be pleased with mere suffering; but He may well
be delighted with the spirit of
obedience, holiness, and love that is
manifested in vicarious
suffering, and as a glorious intercession.
Ø
The sin bearing
should move the guilty to repentance. The
Jews were to
learn a lesson from
Ezekiel. Christ’s cross preaches repentance.
7 “Therefore
thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of
thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.”
Thine arm shall be
uncovered. This, as in Isaiah 52:10, was the symbol of
energetic action. The prophet was to be, as it were, no apathetic
spectator
of the siege which he was thus dramatizing, but is as the
representative of the
Divine commission to control and guide it. The picture of
the prophet’s attitude,
not merely resting on his side and folding his hands, as a
man at ease might do,
but looking intently, with bare outstretched arm, at the
scene portrayed by him,
must, we may well imagine, have added to the startling effect of the whole
procedure. We note
the phrase, “set thy face,” as specially characteristic of
Ezekiel (here, and, though the Hebrew verb is not the same,
ch.14:8; 15:7). The
words “prophesy against it” may imply some
spoken utterance of the
nature of a “woe,” but hardly, I think, a prolonged address.
8 “And, behold,
I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn
thee from one side to another, till thou
hast ended the days of thy
siege.”
I will lay bands upon thee, etc. The words point to the
supernatural constraint which would support the prophet in
a position as
trying as that of an Indian yogi or a Stylite
monk. He would himself be
powerless to move (exceptis
excipiendis, as before) from the prescribed
position. There is, perhaps, a reference to ch.3:25. The
people
would have “put bands” upon the
prophet to hinder his work; Jehovah will
“put bands” upon
him to help, nay, to constrain, him to finish it.
9 “Take
thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles,
and millet, and fitches, and put them in
one vessel, and make thee
bread thereof, according to the number of
the days that thou shalt
lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety
days shalt thou eat
thereof.”
Take thou also unto thee, etc. The act implies, as I have said,
that there were exceptions to the generally immovable
attitude. The
symbolism seems to have a twofold meaning. We can scarcely
exclude a
reference to the famine which
accompanied the siege. On the other
hand,
one special feature of it is distinctly referred, not to
the siege, but to the
exile (v. 13). Starting with the former, the prophet is
told to make bread,
not of wheat, the common food of the wealthier class
(Deuteronomy 32:14;
Psalm 81:16; 147:14; Jeremiah 12:13; 41:8), nor of barley, the chief food of the
poor (ch. Ezekiel 13:19; Hosea
3:2; John 6:9), but of these mixed with beans
(II Samuel 17:28), lentils
(Ibid.); Genesis 25:34) — then, as now, largely used in
elsewhere), and fitches, i.e. vetches (here also the
Hebrew word is found only in
this passage, that so translated in Isaiah 28:25-27
standing, it is said, for the
seed of the black cummin). The
outcome of this mixture would be a coarse,
unpalatable bread, not unlike that to which the population
of
reduced in the siege of 1870-71. This was to be the
prophet’s food, as it
was to be that of the people of
that siege was symbolically, though not numerically,
represented. It is not
improbable, looking to the prohibition against mixtures of
any kind in
Deuteronomy 22:9, that it would be regarded as in itself
unclean.
10 “And
thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight,
twenty
shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.” Thy meat, etc.; better, food,
here and elsewhere. Coarse as the food was, the people would have but
scanty
rations of it. Men were not, as usual, to measure the corn, but
to weigh the bread
(Leviticus 26:26). Taking the shekel at about 220 grains, the twenty
shekels would
be about 10 or 12 ounces. The common allowance in
pauper dietaries gives, I believe from 24 to 32 ounces,
Besides other food.
And this was to be taken, not as hunger prompted, but at
the appointed
hour. once a day. The
whole scene of the people of the besieged city
coming for their daily rations is brought vividly before us.
11 “Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin:
from time to time shalt
thou drink.” The sixth, part of an hin,
etc. According
to the varying
accounts of the “hin” given by Jewish writers, this would
give
from .6 to .9
of a pint. And this was, like the food, to be
doled out once a day.
Possibly “the bread of
affliction and the water of affliction,”
in I Kings 22:27
and Isaiah 30:20, contains a reference to the quantity as
well as the
quality of a prison dietary as thus described. Isaiah’s
words may refer to
the siege of Sennacherib, as Ezekiel’s do to the siege of Nebuchadnezzar.
12 “And
thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with
dung that cometh out of man, in their
sight.” Thou shall bake it with dung, etc.
The process of baking in ashes was as old as the time of Abraham
(Genesis 18:6),
and continues
in Arabia and
rolled into thin flat cakes, and they were placed upon, or hung over,
the hot wood
embers of the hearth or oven. But in a besieged city the
supply of wood for
fuel soon fails. The first resource is found, as still
often happens in the
East, in using the dried dung of camels or of cattle.
Before Ezekiel’s mind
there came the vision of a yet more terrible necessity.
That supply also
might fail, and then men would be forced to use the dried
contents of the
“draught houses” or cesspools of
almost literally to fulfill the taunt of Rabshakeh (Isaiah 36:12). That
thought, as bringing with it the ceremonial pollution of
Leviticus 5:3;
7:21, was as revolting to Ezekiel as it is to us; but like
Dante, in a like
revolting symbolism (‘Inf.,’ 18:114), he does not shrink
from naming it. It
came to him, as with the authority of a Divine command,
that he was even
to do this, to represent the
extreme horrors of the siege. And all
this was to
be done visibly, before the eyes of his neighbors at Tel-Abib.
13 “And
the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of
defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I
will drive them.”
Even thus shall
the children of Israel, etc. The
strange
command takes a wider range. It symbolizes, not the literal horrors of the
siege, but the “defiled bread” which even the
exiles would be reduced to
eat. So taken, the words
remind us of the risk of eating unclean, food,
which almost inevitably attended the position of the exiles
(Hosea 9:3;
Daniel 1:8), and which, it may be, Ezekiel had already felt
keenly.
There is obviously something more than can be explained by
a reference to
“the bitter bread of banishment,” or to Dante’s “Come sa di sale… “
(‘Par.,’ 17:58).
Defiled
Bread (v. 13)
Among the many inconveniences of the exile this was to be
included, that
the Jews would not be able to secure that their food should
be cooked in
their own manner, and so kept free from ceremonial
defilement. But is
there not a latent irony in the suggestion of such a thing
as a serious
calamity? Does it not show that the
spirit of the Pharisees, who would
strain out a gnat and swallow a camel, HAD ALREADY
APPEARED? These
Jews, who would be so alarmed at the prospect of external
defilement, had
already corrupted and befouled their souls with the vilest
sin. Nevertheless,
if they did feel the shame of the external
defilement, it would come to them
as a fitting retribution. Outward
shame is the just penalty of INWARD SIN!
bad man touches turns to
corruption. The sweetest food becomes foul in
the mouth of the wicked. A
morally bad musician desecrates the good
music which he tries
to interpret by breathing into it A CORRUPT
FEELING! The best book will
be degraded by an evil minded reader.
Such a person will contrive to
extract sinful suggestions from the Bible;
and then perhaps he will even
denounce the sacred volume as immoral
in its tendency.
finest wheaten loaf is a
corrupt thing when it has been stolen. A dishonest
style of business degrades
all its proceeds. When a man grows fat
on the
gains which he has extorted from
the helpless by cunning or force, he has
brought moral degradation into
his home and corruption to his table. The
very bread with which he feeds his innocent children is a vile thing, and the
hungry poor whom his wicked
practices are starving may have the
consolation of knowing that the
crusts they gnaw in reeking cellars are
cleaner in the sight of God than
the dainties of his sumptuous banquets.
SPIRIT. If the hand of
the Giver is ignored, the bread is at once degraded.
It becomes but a dead mass of
earth. THE HEAVENLY HAND that gave it
makes its highest
value. Taken
in faith and gratitude, the common
bread of
a daily meal has
something of a sacramental nature in it. But
INGRATITUDE
SPOILS ALL! The Israelites, loathing the manna in the
wilderness and murmuring against their
God, did
their worst to corrupt
THE HEAVENLY
GIFT!
PURPOSE.
Divine sanctity
of it vanishes, and it becomes a degraded
thing. The glutton
who lives to eat defiles the
best bread. So, too, the man who
accepts the
other gifts of
indulgence, lowers and vitiates all he consumes.
does wickedly in the strength of
the bread which the holy God has given to
fit him for the service of
goodness. Can any act of defilement be worse
than that? To preserve our bread from corruption let us recollect
the
apostolic direction, “Whether
therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye
do, do
all to the glory of God.” (I
Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17)
14 “Then
said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been
polluted: for from my youth up even till
now have I not eaten of
that which dieth
of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there
abominable flesh into my mouth.” Then said I, Ah, Lord God! etc. The
formula is, curiously enough, equally characteristic of
Ezekiel (ch.9:8; 11:13;
20:49) and of his teacher and contemporary (Jeremiah 1:6; 4:10;
14:13;
32:17). The Vulgate represents it by A, a, a. His
plea, which reminds us at
once of Daniel 1:8 and Acts 10:14, is that he has
kept himself free
from all ceremonial pollution connected with food. And is
he, a priest too,
to do this? That be far from him! Anything but that! The
kinds of
defilement of which he speaks are noted in Exodus 22:31;
Leviticus
7:24; 11:39-40; 17:15. The “abominable things” may refer
either to the
unclean meats catalogued in Deuteronomy 14:3-21 (as e.g.
in Isaiah
65:4), or as in the controversy of the apostolic age (Acts
15.; I Corinthians 8:1;
Revelation 2:20), to eating any flesh that had been
offered in sacrifice to idols.
The prophet’s passionate appeal is characteristic of the
extent to which his
character had been influenced by the newly discovered Law
of the Lord
(II Kings 22.; II Chronicles 34.), i.e. probably by
the Book of Deuteronomy.
15 “Then
he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s
dung, and thou shalt
prepare thy bread therewith.” Lo, I have given thee, etc.
The concession mitigates the horror of the first command, though even
this was
probably regarded as involving some ceremonial uncleanness.
It served, at any
rate, to represent, in some measure, the pressure of the
siege.
16 “Moreover
he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the
staff of bread in
with care; and they shall drink water by
measure, and with
astonishment:” The staff of bread. The phrase occurs again in ch.5:16; 14:13,
and also in Leviticus 26:26; Psalm 105:16. In Isaiah 3:1
the thought is the same,
but the Hebrew word is different. They shall eat bread by weight, etc. The
phrase
occurs, it may be noted, in Leviticus 26:26, one of the verses
above referred to.
The care and astonishment, implying that the wonted cheerfulness of meals
would have departed, meet us again in ch.12:19.
17 “That
they may want bread and water, and be astonied one
with
another, and consume
away for their iniquity.” Consume away for their
iniquity, etc. Another echo from the book which had entered so largely
into the
prophet’s education (see Leviticus
26:39, where the Hebrew for “pine”
is the same as that here rendered “consume”).
To the wretchedness of physical
privation there was to be
added the consciousness of the sufferers that it was
caused by their own evil deeds.
A Symbolic Famine (vs. 9-17)
The moral intention for which God imposed this series of
painful privations
on his prophet was this, viz. to convince the people
that their expectation
of a speedy return to
around which God had so long thrown the shield of His
protection, could
not (so they thought) long remain in the power of the
heathen. To explode
this bubble delusion, God represented before their eyes the
rigors of a
military siege, the privations and hardships of the
beleaguered inhabitants,
along with the final
discomfiture of THE CITY’S GUILTY DEFENDERS.
The prophet in
the stroke at present rests. The bends of sympathy with the
people’s best
interests constrained the prophet to suffer with them
and for them. Hence,
during three hundred and ninety days he ate no pleasant
bread; he lived on
the narrowest rations. In the midst of surrounding plenty,
he fared (for
sublime moral reasons) with the hard pressed and beleaguered
Jews. Now,
famine has its moral uses.
PROVISION. If it is
possible to sustain our life with ten ounces of bread
per diem, and this bread of the
coarsest description, then all that we
obtain
beyond this is
proof of THE EXHUBERANT KINDNESS OF OUR GOD!.
As transgressors against God’s
Law, we should not expect more than bare
subsistence — mere prison fare;
we have no right to claim even that.
Taking this scale with which to
measure our former possessions and
comforts, we may gain some conception of the amazing love of God.
Would that, side by side with a
clear idea of His goodness, there was also
adequate impression! Every gift of
sustenance, is a
token of God’s tender affection; brings a message of
kindness — is a gospel.
safely conclude that it is not
for small reason that God deprives men of
nature’s kindly gifts. The
internal monitor, as well as the external prophet,
teaches us that this
interruption of providential supplies is God’s act. Many
and strange factors may
intervene, but a clear eye looks through and
beyond all inferior causes,
until it discovers the rule of the
great First
Cause. The pride of earthly kings, the march of armies, the
scrutiny of
martial sentinels, biting
frosts, blustering winds, inroads of insects — a
thousand things may serve as the
nearest visible cause of famine; but a
devout mind will regard all
these as the agents and administrators of the
most high God. For no other reason would He manifest His anger, save for
moral transgression, wilful disloyalty! He would have us to see and to feel
HOW GREAT AN EVIL
IS SIN, by the serious mischief it works
— yea,
by the severity of
His own displeasure. Even famine
serves as the Master’s
ferule, if it brings us back to
childlike obedience.
AFFLICT. Very
obvious is it that frail man hangs on God by a thousand
delicate threads. Ten thousand
minute avenues are open by which an
enemy can approach, chastisement
come near. We almost shudder as we
think of the manifold forms,
and of the majestic ease, with which the
avenging God could scourge His
rebellious creatures. Let Him but change
one ingredient in the
all-nurturing air, and instead of inhaling health, we
should, with every breath,
inhale fiery poison. If but the appetite fail,
if the
digestive organs become weak, if
secretions stay their process, lassitude
and decay speedily follow. It is
enough that God should speak a word, and
life for us would be stripped of
charm. We should crave to die.
IS DISCIPLINARY. It is
not sudden and irremediable death. If God
intended that, he would
have chosen some other punitive weapon. But
this
reduction of food to a minimum,
this suspension of enjoyment, these
obnoxious necessities in
preparing a meat, all indicate correction with a
view to
repentance. If only the sighs of true penitence arise, then quicker
than flashing light does God run
to remove the burden from our shoulders.
To punish men is
a grief to God; TO PARDON IS HIS
DELIGHT!
Yet if present corrections avail
nothing to produce righteous obedience,
the final
infliction will be IRREVOCABLE and OVERWHELMNING!
SEVERITY OF THE STROKE. The windows of heaven were shut and
opened again at the breath of
Elijah’s prayer. Ezekiel humbly remonstrates
with God that he may not be
required to violate ceremonial purity. At once
the command of God is modified.
The tenderness of the prophet’s
conscience is to be respected.
God alters not His plans without sufficient
cause; this is sufficient cause.
This particular step in His procedure was
clearly foreseen; and it was to
bring out this request from Ezekiel that the
first demand was made. Prayer
not only expresses mental desire; it
strengthens it also. It does us good every way. It fits us to enjoy, and to
improve,
the blessing. It softens chastisement.
The Chastisement of Famine (vs. 16-17)
The striking and distressing symbolism described in this
chapter must have
brought with great vividness before the mind of the
prophet, and before the
minds of his companions in exile, the sufferings that were
about to befall
the metropolis which was the pride of their hearts. In the
siege which was
to come upon
privation, of hunger, and of thirst. It was foretold that in a sense this
should be God’s appointment, the effect of that
retributive
which devout minds cannot fail to recognize in the
government of the
world. If such
events took place in accordance with what are called general
laws, since those laws are the
consequence and expression of the very
constitution of society, none the less must the Divine hand be recognized,
none the less must it be understood that Divine lessons are
to be learned
with reverent submission.
by rejecting
Jehovah’s worship, and by honoring the gods of the nations;
by disobeying
Jehovah’s laws, and following sinful impulses and indulging
in sinful practices. As a city,
and fell. The innocent, no doubt, suffered with the guilty; those who
mourned over the
defection of
PROMINENT AGENTS IN THAT DEFECTION! No man can live apart
from his neighbors; least of all is this
possible in the life of the city, which is
characterized by a unity that may be
designated corporate.
are mentioned in this chapter as
necessaries of life; without them men are
condemned to famine and to
death. The body is in correlation to nature —
to the provision made for its
sustenance and strength. If the supply be cut
off, the body perishes. Familiar
and commonplace as this truth is, men
need, in their
pride and self-confidence, to be reminded of it. The haughty
Jews stood in need of the
lesson. Let an army invest the city, and it is only
a question of time; for the
besieged, if unable to beat back the besiegers,
must sooner or later surrender
to the force of hunger, if not of arms.
calamities attending a siege are
presented by the prophet. Men may see in a
beleaguered city only a
political fact, a military incident, the consequence
of well known causes, the cause
of well understood effects. To see all this
is justifiable; to
see nothing but this is BLINDNESS!
A thoughtful and
pious mind will look through,
will look above, all that is phenomenal. There
is purpose in human affairs,
there is Divine meaning, there is revelation.
When men, oppressed by adversity
and threatened with ruin, are “astonied
one with
another, and pine away in their iniquity,” it is possible that they
may be so stupefied as to
recognize no moral law in their experience, their
fate. but the enlightened discern in such events indication of
the Divine
displeasure and
indignation with sin. Chastisement,
punishment, is no
chimera invented by a heated
imagination; it is a sober, albeit a painful fact,
from which there is
NO ESCAPE and NO APPEAL. The judgments of
God are abroad in the earth; and
this is that the inhabitants thereof may
learn
righteousness.
not, indeed, explicitly
presented in this passage; yet the whole prophetic
symbolism leads up to it. Why are men hungry but that they may call for
the bread of
life? and upon whom shall they call but
upon God? Whither
shall the parched and thirsting
turn but to Him who has the water of life, for
the quenching of their thirst
and the satisfaction of their souls? To whom
shall the afflicted address
themselves but to Him who can turn the outward
curse into a
spiritual blessing, who can make the scourge the means of
healing, and the sword the
means of life? In the midst of wrath God
remembers mercy (Habakkuk
3:2); and it is ever true that they who call
upon the Name of
the Lord SHALL BE SAVED!
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Substitution
(v. 4)
In order to his being a religious teacher and guardian of
his nation, it was
necessary that Ezekiel should enter into the state of his
fellow —
countrymen, and even share the sufferings due to their
unbelief and
rebellion. The Christian reader cannot fail to discern in
the prophet of the
Captivity a figure by anticipation of the Lord Jesus, who
himself “bare our
sins and carried our sorrows.” Doubtless Christ bore the
iniquity of men in
a sense in which no other can do so. Yet there is no possibility
of benefiting
those who are in a state of sin and degradation, except by
stooping to their
low estate, participating in their lot, enduring somewhat
of their sorrow,
and thus bearing their iniquity.
·
WHETHER WILLINGLY OR UNWILLINGLY, IN EVERY
NATIONAL CALAMITY THE INNOCENT SUFFER WITH THE
GUILTY. The guilt is
the nation’s, the suffering is the individual’s. The
righteous may witness against
the city’s sin and rebellion, but they are
overtaken by the city’s
catastrophe. It is not always that the city is spared
for the sake of the ten
righteous who are found therein. One common ruin
may, as in the case of
who have erred and offended, and
those who have raised their voice in
protest and in censure.
·
THE RIGHTEOUS BEAR THE INIQUITY OF THEIR
NEIGHBOURS BY SENSITIVENESS TO THEIR SINS. As
vexed with the filthy
conversation of the dwellers in
those in
the city, so in the midst of a
corrupt and ungodly community there may be
those who lay to heart their neighbours’ iniquity, and who feel bitter
distress because of conduct
which to callous sinners brings no sorrow. It
may be granted that this is to
some extent a matter of temperament; that a
sensitive character will be
afflicted by what a calmer, colder disposition
bears with impunity. Yet every
good man should watch himself, lest
familiarity with abounding sin
should dull the edge of his spiritual
perceptions, lest he should
cease to be distressed because of the prevalence
of iniquity.
·
THE RIGHTEOUS BEAR BY SYMPATHY THE SUFFERINGS
WHICH SIN ENTAILS UPON THEIR NEIGHBOURS. A siege is usually
accompanied by most painful and
heartrending incidents; wounds and
privations, pestilence and
violent death, are all but inseparable from so
frightful an aspect of human
warfare. The prophet was not a man to think
of such incidents, to realize
them by vivid imagination and confident
anticipation, without being
grievously affected. Who is there, with a heart
to feel, who can picture to
himself the miseries, the disease, the want, the
bereavements, which sin daily
brings upon every populous city, without
taking upon himself something of
the burden? We are commanded to
“weep with those that weep.” And
when the calamities which befall our
neighbours are the unmistakable results of transgression of Divine
commands, we do in a sense bear
their iniquities, when we feel for them,
and are distressed because of
the errors and follies which are the occasion
of afflictions and disasters.
·
THE RIGHTEOUS MAY SOMETIMES, BY THUS
PARTICIPATING IN THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR
NEIGHBOURS’ INIQUITY, BE THE AGENTS IN BRINGING ABOUT
REPENTANCE AND DELIVERANCE. Our Lord Jesus Christ so
identified himself with the
sinful race whose nature he assumed, that he is
said to have been “made sin” for
us; he “bore our sins in his body on the
tree.” This was seen, by the
infinite wisdom of our Father in heaven, to
have been the one way by which salvation
could be brought to this sinful
humanity. Now we are reminded
that, in his endurance of the results of
men’s sins, Jesus left us an
example that we should follow in his steps. He
is, indeed, the only
Propitiation from sin, the only Ransom for sinners. But
the principle underlying
redemption is a principle which has an application
to the spirit and to the moral
life of all the followers of Christ. They are in
this world, not simply to keep
themselves pure from its evil, but to help to
purify others from that evil.
And this they can only do by bearing the
iniquity of their fellow men;
not by keeping themselves aloof froth sinners,
not by merely censuring and
condemning sinners, but by taking the burden
of their sins upon their own
renewed and compassionate hearts, by entering
into their temptations, and
helping to rescue them from such snares; and,
above all, by bringing them, in
compassion and sympathizing love, into the
fellowship of that Divine Saviour who gave himself for us, and who bears
and takes away the sin of the
world. It is by him only that the world’s
iniquity is to be pardoned and
to be abolished, and to be replaced by the
love of and by obedience to a
righteous and holy God.
Vicarious Suffering
(vs. 1-8)
Every true prophet is a forerunner of Jesus Christ. We do
not detract from
the work of the Saviour — we
magnify it — when we discern that the
same kind of work (though not equal in measure or
effectiveness) had been
done by the prophets. Ezekiel was called of God, not only
to teach
heavenly doctrine, but also to suffer for the people. “Thou
shalt bear their
iniquities.” No one can be a faithful servant of God who
does not suffer for
the cause he serves. Suffering is the badge of a Divine
commission.
·
EVERY PROPHET IS A VICAR. He represents God before the people;
he represents the people before
God. In his whole person, action, suffering,
mission, he is a type of Jesus
Christ. When men will not listen to his words,
he is commanded to speak to them
by deeds. The life of the prophet is a
prophecy. Ezekiel deals with
these captives as with sullen children. To the
ignorant he became as ignorant.
He condescended to their low estate.
Being made dumb by reason of
their perversity, he pursues his heavenly
task in another way — he teaches
them by pictures, object lesson and deed
symbol. It is “line upon line,
precept upon precept, here a little and there a
little.” So long as there remains
an avenue to the heart, God will not
abandon men.
·
HIS SUFFERING IS VICARIOUS. This prophet was not himself free
from sin, and suffering was its
effect. Yet the suffering described in this
chapter is wholly vicarious.
What was justly due to others was laid upon
him by God. “I have laid upon
thee the years of their iniquity.” Yet this was
impossible without the prophet’s
willing consent. In proportion as the
prophet’s mind had expanded
under the Divine afflatus, be had considered
and comprehended the magnitude
of
present iniquity was clear and vivid to his mind. He saw its extent
and
aggravation. He perceived the
moral turpitude. He felt its baseness and
criminality. He foresaw its
bitter fruits. The burden of a nation’s sift
pressed upon his conscience. He
drew it in upon himself and confessed it
before God. But, further,
Ezekiel represented in himself the severity of
Divine judgment — God’s sense of
sin. Hence he was required to lie upon
one side for the space of three
hundred and ninety days — a pain to
himself, a passive rebuke to the
people, in order to represent in visible form
God’s indignation. Yet there was
pictured forth also Divine compassion.
Just severity was alleviated;
there was but a day for a year.
sacrificed, but it was in order
that the people might be saved. Not an item
was overlooked by God. The
proportionate guilt of
vividly symbolized in the
several acts of the prophet. The one end sought
was — repentance.
·
HIS ACTION IS VICARIOUS.
The prophet was a Hebrew, a priest;
he loved
belonged alone to God. For
Ezekiel to represent the Babylonian invaders,
for him to invest the city with
fire and sword, this must have been gall and
wormwood. Yet, in vision, he had
eaten the roll of God’s behests, had
digested and assimilated the
knowledge of his will. Therefore, in his
vicarious character, he has to
set his face against the city as the
impersonation of the foe; he has
to “make bare his arm” to typify the
resolute energy of the spoiler.
Be the effect upon the Jewish chiefs, already
in captivity, what it may; be
the effect to exasperate feeling against the
prophet or to produce
repentance; the prophet is constrained to fulfil his
task by a Divine necessity. “Bands
are upon him.”
·
HIS
ENDURANCE OF RIDICULE IS VICARIOUS. We can well
suppose that many who visited
Ezekiel in his dwelling would fail to
perceive the propriety or
utility of this long and irksome penance. They
would sneer and laugh at this
toy siege, at this childish exposure of an
outstretched arm, at this
constant recumbence on one side. Be it so; the
prophet continues his task
unmoved. “The foolishness of God is wiser than
men.” Littleness and greatness
are matters about which men egregiously
err. Ezekiel, in his
humiliation, was as magnanimous and noble an actor in
life’s drama as Elijah on
power. What could be baser to
the vulgar eye of the world than to bear a
felon’s cross through the
streets, and then to hang in nakedness and pain
thereon? “But God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound
the mighty… and things which are
not, to bring to nought things which
are.” Like his Divine Master,
Ezekiel “despised the shame.”
The Siege of
(vs.
1-17)
“Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before
thee, and portray
upon it the city, even
the student. There is the question whether it is to be
understood literally or
metaphorically; or, more correctly, whether the things here
set forth were
really done or were only visional. The commands given in vers. 1-3 might
have been literally executed; but the directions of vers. 4-8 could not have
been literally carried out. Hence Fairbairn
and others conclude that the
actions must have taken place in vision. “It is enough to
suppose,” says Dr.
Currey, “that when the prophet was bidden to do such acts, they
were
impressed upon his mind with all the vividness of actual
performance. In
spirit, he grasped the sword and scattered the hair (ch. 5:1-4), and
saw herein the coming events thus symbolized. They would
only have lost
force by substituting bodily for mental action. The command
of God gave
to the sign the vividness of a real transaction, and
the prophet
communicated it to the people, just as it had been stamped
on his own
mind, with more impressiveness than could have been
conveyed by the
language of ordinary metaphor.” Again, it is by no means
easy to decide
what is the precise reference of the three hundred and
ninety days, and the
forty days, each day in a year. The different
interpretations have been so
ably sustained by their respective advocates, that it seems
to us that it
would be presumptuous dogmatically to assert that it must
mean either one
or another. But let us endeavour
to discover the homiletic aspects of this
chapter.
·
INQUIRE
THE REASON WHY, IN THIS CHAPTER AND
ELSEWHERE, GOD HAS MADE KNOWN HIS WILL BY
REMARKABLE SYMBOLS.
There are many such symbols in the
prophecies by Ezekiel. And in
those by Jeremiah we have the rod of an
almond tree, and the seething
pot (Jeremiah ch. 1:11-16), the linen girdle, and
the bottles of wine (13), the potter’s
earthen vessel (19), the two baskets of
figs (24), and the yoke of iron
(Jeremiah 28). Many other examples might
be cited item other portions of
the sacred Scriptures. We cannot think that
these striking symbols were
employed to conceal truth, or to make the
apprehension of the truth more
difficult. That would have been inconsistent
with revelation — the
contradiction of revelation. And it seems to us that it
would have been out of harmony
with the character of God to have used
remarkable symbols to obscure
his Word. They were intended rather, we
conceive, to arouse attention,
to stimulate inquiry, and impress upon the
mind the truths shadowed forth
by them. Fairbairn has well said, “As the
meaning obviously did not lie
upon the surface, it called for serious thought
and inquiry regarding the
purposes of God. A time of general backsliding
and corruption is always a time
of superficial thinking on spiritual things.
And just as our Lord, by his
parables, that partly veiled while they
disclosed the truth of God, so
the prophets, by their more profound and
enigmatical discourses, sought
to arouse the careless from their security, to
awaken inquiry, and stir the
depths of thought and feeling in the soul. It
virtually said to them, “You are
in imminent peril; direct ordinary discourse
no longer suits your case;
bestir yourselves to look into the depths of
things, otherwise the sleep of
death shall overtake you.”
·
ENDEAVOUR TO SET FORTH THE MEANING OF THESE
REMARKABLE SYMBOLS.
1. Here is a representation of the siege of
Directions are given to Ezekiel
to portray a siege of the holy city; and to
prepare the fort or siege tower,
and the mound, and the encampments, and
battering rams, and lay siege to
it. Notice:
(1) The great Agent in this siege. The prophet was to besiege
it, acting as
the representative of Jehovah. “If
the prophet, as commissioned by God,
enters on such a siege, the real
besieger of
the Chaldeans
appear as mere instruments in the Divine hand” (Schroder).
Nebuchadnezzar and his army unconsciously did the work of God. And the
prophet was to do his work with
resolution and might (v. 7). The
uucoveted arm indicates one about to engage in vigorous exertion
(compare
Isaiah 52:10). So the siege here
foreshadowed would be prosecuted
with determination and power.
(2) The cause of this siege, The sin of the people has brought
it upon them.
This is indicated by the iron
pan or plate which Ezekiel was to set up
between himself and the city (v.
3). “It is clear from the expression,
between thee and the city, that a relation of separation, of division,
between
God is m, ant to be expressed.
Only on the ground of such a relation
between God and
prophet’s race, and especially
the clause, and it is in siege, and along with
that, vs. 1 and 2” (Schroder). “Their iniquities had separated between
them and their God” (Isaiah
59:2). That their calamities were caused by
their sins appears also from the
prophet being called to bear the iniquity of
the house of
it is expressly stated that they
should “consume away for their iniquity.”
Sin is the one great cause of
suffering and sorrow, of calamity and loss.
2. Here is a representation of the sufferings of the
inhabitants of
(1) These are symbolized by the prostrate attitude of the
prophet bearing
the sins of the people (vs.
4-6). In the former portion of the chapter
Ezekiel represents the Lord; but
here and in subsequent verses he
represents the besieged and
suffering people. His lying down, and inability
to turn from one side to
another, “is a figure of the wretched condition of
the people during the time of
the siege” (compare Psalm 20:8; Isaiah
50:11; Amos 5:2).
(2) The miseries of the people are also represented by the
scarcity of food
and its loathsome associations.
The prophet is directed to “take wheat, and
barley, and beans,” etc. (v. 9).
“It is suggested in this way that the
besieged will in their distress
be compelled to gather together everything
that can possibly be turned into
bread. This state of matters is represented
yet more strongly by means of
the one vessel, which shows that of each
separate sort not much more is
to be had” (Schroder). Ezekiel, moreover,
has to take his food by weight
and measure, and only at long intervals
(vs. 10-11). And although in
that country less is needed to sustain life
than in our colder climate, yet
the quantity allowed the prophet is not more
than half what is usually
regarded as necessary. The quantity, as some one
observes, was too much for
dying, too little for living. So would the people
suffer want and hunger during
the long siege. From the scarcity of food we
proceed to its impurity. It is
represented as having been baked with fuel of
the most offensive kind — with
human ordure (v. 12). But in answer to a
pathetic appeal of the prophet,
he is allowed to use the dried ordure of
cattle instead thereof. To this
he made no objection. “He was, in fact, used
to it; for the dried dung of
beasts is used for fuel throughout the East
wherever wood is scarce, from
extends into Europe, and
subsists even in
this symbol is stated: “Even
thus shall the children of
bread among the Gentiles,
whither I will drive them.” The reference is to
the impurities of heathenism.
Those who in their own land had disregarded
the commands of God would in
their exile find the corruptions of
heathenism a grievous offence
unto them. And then in its close (vs. 16-17)
the chapter recurs to the
sufferings during the siege. The misery was to
grow and to become so great as
to cause amazement and dismay. The
people would take their scanty
portion in deep sorrow; and so great would
be the scarcity of the prime
necessaries of life as to strike them dumb with
anguish. Such were the miseries
which they had brought upon themselves
by their long course of sin.
·
APPLY THE INSTRUCTIONS WHICH THIS SUBJECT HAS FOR US.
1. An impressive illustration of the omniscience of God. Nothing
less than
infinite knowledge could have
foretold to Ezekiel the things symbolized in
this chapter. They did not seem
in the least degree probable when he
published them. “If we accept,”
says Dr. Currey, “the fifth year of
Jehoiachin’s captivity (as is most probable) for the year in which
Ezekiel
received this communication,… it
was a time at which such an event
would, according to human
calculation, have appeared improbable.
Zedekiah was the creature of the
King of Babylon, ruling by his authority
in the place of Jehoiachin, who was still alive; and it could scarcely have
been expected that Zedekiah
would have been so infatuated as to provoke
the anger of the powerful Nebuchadnezzar.” Yet he did so; and this
prophecy was fulfilled. Nothing
can be hidden from God (Psalm 139.). To
him the future is visible as the
present. This is exhibited by Isaiah as an
evidence that the Lord is the
true God (Isaiah 41:21-29; 44:6-8; 46:9-11).
2. Sin transforms persons and places in the sight of God.
Think of what
holy city;” “the perfection of
beauty, the joy of the whole earth.” But now,
alas, how changed it is!
Formerly he had been its Defender; now he has
become its Besieger. Sin darkens
and deforms human character; it takes
away the glory of cities and
covers them with shame.
3. The certainty of the punishment of sin. The chosen
people shall not
escape punishment if they
persist in sin. The sacred city, with the temple
which God had chosen as his
dwelling place (Psalm 132:13-14), will
afford no protection to a people
who have obstinately rebelled against him.
“Though hand join in hand, the
wicked shall not go unpunished;”
“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” etc. Sin carries within
itself the germ of its own
punishment.
4. The power of God to inflict punishment upon the
obstinately rebellious.
He can use the heathen as his
instruments for this purpose. He can break
the staff of bread, and dry up
the springs of water, etc.
5. The heinousness and perilousness
of sin. (compare Jeremiah 2:19; 44:4.)
Let us cultivate hearty
obedience to the Lord God.