friction of water. Ask the myriads of stones on the sea-shore, what has become of all their angles, once so sharp, and of the roughness and uncouthness of their whole appearance. Their simple reply is, "Water wrought with us, nothing but water, and none of us resisted." If they yield to be fashioned by the water, and you do not to be fashioned by God, what wonder if the very stones cry against you? 17-20. (17) moreover, on another occasion, or with another message. (18) with quaking, i.e. with such signs of alarm as persons would feel in a time of siege; and with anxiety to limit the quantity of food to that barely necessary to sustain life." (19) people of the land, i.e. the captives. They were to feel that the lot of their brethren in Jerusalem was far worse than their own. desolate.. therein, i.e. desolated of her people and her treasures. (20) cities, dependent on the fall of the chief city, Jerusalem. Preparing food.-At Algiers they have public bakehouses for the people in common, so that the women only prepare the dough at home, it being the business of other persons to bake it. Boys are sent about the streets to give notice when they are ready to bake bread; "upon this the women within come and knock at the inside of the door, which the boy hearing makes towards the house. The women open the door a very little way, and, hiding their faces, deliver the cakes to him, which, when baked, he brings to the door again, and the women receive them in the same manner as they gave them." This is done almost every day, and they give the boy a piece, or little cake, for the baking, which the baker sells (Pitts). This illustrates the account of the false prophetesses receiving as gratuities pieces of bread : they are compensations still used in the East, but are compensations of the meanest kind, and for services of the lowest sort." 21—25. (21, 22) days.. faileth, the point of the prov. is that the threatened judgment was so long in coming that the people need not fear its ever coming at all. vision, i.e. prophetic vision. (23) at hand, close at hand. Very close when Ezekiel wrote. effect, or carrying out. (24) vain vision, one that will not be fulfilled. flattering divination, one that encourages the people to think they will yet be spared. Very soon the national calamities will silence the false diviners.' (25) in your days, before you die in your time. a Je. xvii. 15, xx. the events quite contrary to what they foretold, that they will never pretend any more to publish new prophecies."-Lowth. vr. 21, 22. J. W. Death and eternity at hand (v. 23).-I. The tidings here announced to the Jews. Similar tidings to you, but you have disregarded them as the Jews of old; yet the days are at hand. II. The sign by which they were confirmed. Apply:-1. It may be that some of you will consider; 2. But the great mass of you will not. Nearness to the dead. When the spirit of the living Christian Warter, ii. 453. draws nigh to the throne of grace, there is then between him and the spirits of the just made perfect a real nearness, the thought of which should be most consolatory to those whose friends have fallen asleep in Jesus. They are then breathing the same atmosphere of communion with Christ which those breathe who are with Him in paradise. The radii of a circle, in approaching a centre, cannot but, in the nature of things, draw near to one another; and two hearts, though separated by oceans c C. Simeon, M.A. Notice in the seed the germ of the tree. Cut it open; study it the mi under Root, croscope. trunk, branches, leaves, are all a Je. vi. 14, xxiii. 11. etc.. xxvii. 14, xxix. 8, 22, 23; Mic. iii. 5. b Comp. Is. i. 1, ii. 1. and mountains, yea, though separated by a greater gulf, which divides the seen from the unseen world, if both approach that great centre of attraction in the spiritual world, "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," cannot but really and truly draw near to one another, though there may be no outward visible token of such nearness." 26-28. (26, 27) many days, i.e. it belongs only to the far off future.a (28) prolonged, even Divine long-suffering now shall fail, and judgment come speedily. Apostrophe to futurity. Ye rocks! ye elements ! thou shoreless main, Thoughts that with terror and with sorrow wring And as when horror lays his finger cold Their deeds, that yet shall be on earth, in heaven, CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH. 1-5. (1,2) prophesy.. hearts, i.e. of their own will, and not as delivering a Divine message. (3) seen nothing, had no Divine vision given them.' "Seers of what they have not seen." (4) like the foxes, these creatures find their homes in desolate and ruined countries and cities; so the prophets find their profit in the ruin of their country. (5) gaps, or breaches. The fig. is taken from stopping the way of an enemy when a breach in crafty in their the walls has been made." made.. hedge, or thrown up any devices to get works of defence. "In deserts the foxes become so ravenous and food. So the Foxes. When game fails him, or when the sword has ceased prophets wander in Israel, a moral to supply his wants, the fox devours, with equal greediness, honey, desert, unre- fruits, and particularly grapes. In allusion to his eager desire strained, greedy for the fruit of the vine, it is said in the Song of Solomon, "Take of gains which us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines, for our vines they get by craft."-Fausset. have tender grapes." In Scripture, the Church is often compared d "It was the prayers and in to stop to God's vengeance when it was just ready to be poured out upon a sinful people." -Lowth. "Reference is to desolate ruins are jackals, which ir more hungry and rapacious than others."-Words to a vineyard; her members to the vines with which it is stored; 66 own worth. v. 3. H. Sydenham, 224; Bp. Wilberforce, 306. v. 4. W. Reading, iv. 129. e Paxton. a "They come to believe their own hath not sent lies. The Lord them that they should hope,' ie. SO that they should have that their words will be confirmed. - Spk. grounds to hope Com. b"They shall die in their captivity, and shall die childless, shall leave no posterity to take their 6-9. (6) made to hope, reference is rather to their delusive hope that the event might confirm their word. (7) vain vision, one that was a mere mental deception; an imagination of your own mind. (8) am against you, or I come against you to punish your wickedness. (9) assembly, etc., here referring to the roll of the sacred people, as recognised by God. The Heb. word used (sod) means a privy council; and the Prophets may be spoken of as constituting God's privy council. enter, etc., on the return of the people to their land." Foxes. "The cunning of the fox caused it to be a fitting term of reproach for the false prophets: 'O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts' (Ezek. xiii. 4). Thus also our Lord rebuked the duplicity of Herod: Go ye, and tell that fox' (Luke xiii. 32). Its habit of burrowing, especially among rocks or ruins, is more than once alluded to: Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head' (Matt. viii. 20). If a fox go up, he shall among those who even break down their stone wall' (Neh. iv. 3). And its resort- either themselves ing to desolate places: The mountain of Zion, which is desolate, or their posterity returned out of the foxes walk upon it' (Lam. v. 18); though here the jackal is Babylon, of more especially indicated. So it is also in Psa. lxiii. 10: They whom a particushall fall by the sword; they shall be a portion for shu'allimlar account was for the fox is not an habitual carrion feeder; while the jackals follow caravans, and attack graves for the carrion, which is their favourite dainty." denomination fr. them, and SO their names shall not be found a "In a Median village the men were building a wall of beaten earth rammed into moulds or boxes, to give the parts the requisite shape and consistence, and so deposited, by the withdrawal of the mould, layer by layer, upon the wall, each layer drying in its place as the work proceeds. The blocks are usually of considerable size, and are of va 10-13. (10) saying, peace, Je. vi. 14. a wall, very slightly as we would say, "run up a wall." untempered mortar, or slight coating of lime to make it look sound. Walls in the E. are often made of unbaked bricks, or rather masses of clay. smeared over with cement. This will not stand heavy rains." (11) overflowing shower, i.e. one so heavy as to make an overflow. God's judgments are often compared to storms. hailstones, Heb. stones of ice. (12) be said, your folly shall even pass into a popular proverb. (13) rend it, force it asunder so that it shall come down with an utter destruction. Preaching (v. 10).—I. The charge brought against the preachers of the Gospel. 1. That they preach what is unreal; 2. What is unintelligible; 3. Allegorical. II. Some of the statements of the preachers of the Gospel on which this charge against them is founded. 1. Those which relate to the natural condition of mankind; 2. To the evidences of conversion; 3. To the happiness of religion; 4. To the future punishment of the finally impenitent. rious quality and Delusive confidence reproved (vv. 10—12).—I. Who are obnoxious strength, as well to this reproof? 1. Unfaithful ministers; 2. Unbelieving people. II. The warning here given to them. Their labour will end-1. In certain and bitter disappointment; 2. In irremediable and endless ruin. Address (1) Careless sinners; (2) Self-complacent formalists; (3) Inconsistent professors." as cost, according to the materials employed, and the time ex'pended upon them. Unless the climate be very dry, such a wall requires to be faced or coated with a tempered mortar of lime or sand, as a fence against weather."-Kitto. the b Job xxvii. 20; d C. Simeon, M.A. "A divine ought t calculate his sermon, as an astronomer does his almanac, to the meridian of the place and people where he lives."-Palmer. "As a thistle, if stroked upward, will not molest a man, but, if stroked down Bricks. In countries destitute of coal, bricks are only either sun-dried, or very slightly burnt with bushes and branches of trees laid over them and set on fire. Such are ready to moulder if exposed to moisture, and entirely to melt away if exposed to heavy rain dashing against them. To prevent such a catastrophe, all the houses in the Cape colony are daubed or plastered over with fine mortar, made from ground seashells. Should only a small hole remain unnoticed in the plaster, powerful rain will get into it, and probably soon be the destruction of the whole building. Well do I remember one deluge of rain that turned a new house of three floors absolutely into a mass of rubbish, and brought down the gable of a parish church, besides injuring many other buildings. 14-16. (14) ye.. consumed, fr. this expression it appears that the city of Jerusalem is figured by this wall which is about to be destroyed. (15) they.. daubed, i.e. the false prophets, who helped it to cherish a false security. (16) visions of peace, Je. vi. 10, viii. 11. Cure for dull preaching.-Congregations sometimes mourn over dull preaching when themselves are to blame. Give your minister more beefsteak, and he will have more fire. Next to the Divine unction, the minister needs blood; and he cannot make that out of tough leather. One reason why the Apostles preached so powerfully was that they had healthy food. Fish was cheap, along Galilee, and this, with unbolted bread, gave them plenty of phosphorus for brain-food. These early ministers were never him: 80 many invited out to late suppers, with chicken salad and doughnuts. hearers of the Nobody ever embroidered slippers for the big foot of Simon the minister Peter, the fisherman preacher. Tea parties with hot waffles, at preaches pleasant ten o'clock at night, make namby-pamby ministers; but good things, are hours and substantial diet, that furnishes nitrates for the muscle, pleased with him; but so soon and phosphates for the brain, and carbonates for the whole frame, as he rubs them prepare a man for effective work. When the water is low the ward, will prick word, so long as mill-wheel goes slow; but a full race, and how fast the grist is ground. In a man the arteries are the mill-race, and the brain the wheel; and the practical work of life is the grist ground. The reason our soldiers failed in some of the battles was because their stomachs had for several days been innocent of everything but hard-tack." See that your minister has a full haversack. Feed him on gruel during the week, and on Sunday he will give you gruel. Eight hundred or a thousand dollars for a minister is only a slow way of killing him, and is the worst style of homicide. Why do not the trustees and elders take a mallet or an axe, and with one blow put him out of his misery ? « 17–19. (17) daughters, some women prophets are noticed in Scripture: this encouraged others of the same sex to pretend to the same gift. (18) sew.. armholes, or elbows. By fixing pillows on the elbows, these women designed to indicate the assurance of perfect restfulness and tranquillity.' kerchiefs. stature, magical veils put on the heads of those who consulted these false prophetesses. will ye save, nay rather, how surely you will deceive and destroy all you gain. (19) for handfuls, etc., i.e. for mere gain putting the name of God to dishonour. For even the meanest and most trifling rewards. Carpets. In Barbary and the Levant they "always cover the floors of their houses with carpets; and along the sides of the wall or floor, a range of narrow beds or mattresses is often placed upon these carpets; and, for their further ease and convenience, several velvet or damask bolsters are placed upon these carpets or mattresses, indulgences that seem to be alluded to by the stretching of themselves upon couches, and by the sewing of pillows to armholes " (Shaw). But Lady M.W. Montagu's description of a Turkish lady's apartment throws still more light on this passage. She says: "The rooms are all spread with Persian carpets, and raised at one end of them about two feet. This is the sofa, which is laid with a richer sort of carpet, and all round it a sort of couch, raised half a foot, covered with rich silk, according to the fancy or magnificence of the owner. Round about this are placed, standing against the walls, two rows of cushions, the first very large, and the rest little ones. The seats are so convenient and easy, that I believe I shall never endure chairs again as long as I live." And in another place she thus describes the fair Fatima: "On a sofa raised three steps, and covered with fine Persian carpets, sat the kahya's lady, leaning on cushions of white satin, embroidered. She ordered cushions to be given me, and took care to place me in the corner, which is the place of honour." spiritual flights, to which they to a" Fly is pecu20-23. (20) make them fly," or run into your nets and liarly appropriate snares. Margin has, "into your gardens or groves." tear..as to those lofty arms, and expose your deceptions. (21) kerchiefs, v. 18. (22) líes, false representations, leading the righteous to mistrust the Word of God and deluding the sinners with vain hopes. hands.. wicked, by wh. his evil works were wrought. (23) see no more vanity, bec. the fulfilment of Divine threatenings, and your own destruction, are close at hand. Pillows and armholes.-The margin has, instead of armholes," "elbows." The marginal reading is undoubtedly the best. Rich people have a great variety of pillows and bolsters "Disheartened 66 when they veile 1 their heads with kerchiefs, and made them rest luxurious arm-cushions."- on Fausset. |
