soul what health is to the body; These it preserves a and serenity more than counwithin us, and tervails all the calamities become fools when they trust to their own vain imaginations, science is to the and will not look to that Word of God which is as able to confound the wise as to give understanding to the simple." words, from the lips of a great advocate of infidelity, proclaim constant ease the certainty of the truth which he was too blind or bigoted to see. For not more unintentionally or unconsciously do many illiterate Arab pastors or herdsman verify one prediction, while they literally tread Palestine under foot, than Volney, the academician, himself verifies another, while, speaking in his own name, and the spokesman also of others, he thus confirms the unerring truth of God's holy word by what he said, as well as by describing what he saw." CHAPTER THE SEVENTH. and Iafflictions which can possibly befall us."-Addi son. e Keith. 1-4. (1) moreover, etc., the ch. beginning thus is a dirge a Mal. i. 1, ii. 11. rather than a prophecy. Only three or four years were to inter-"Possibly Manasvene before the final overthrow of Jerusalem by the Chaldæans. seh and his suc(2) land of Israel, this is the term for the whole land that is cessors in the used after the captivity of the northern nation. four corners, Judah bad the kingdom of or wings; fig. to include the whole land. (3) recompense, dominion of the etc.. God speaks of the people's sin as if it had been a personal whole land of injury to Him. (4) not spare, or set limits to the calamities Canaan, formerly that are coming. Punishment and bitter suffering is necessary to reveal the hateful character of sin. divided into the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel, as tributaries under the kings of Assyria."Prideaux. 6 Nu. xxiv. 17. breastplate than a heart untainted? Thrice is he arm Desolation of Judæa.-It is no "secret malediction," spoken of by Volney, which God has pronounced against Judæa. It is the curse of a broken covenant that rests upon the land; the consequences of the iniquities of the people, not of those only who have been plucked from off it and scattered throughout the world, but of those also that dwell therein. The ruins of empires origi-"What stronger nated, not from the regard which mortals paid to revealed religion, but from causes diametrically the reverse. The desolations are not of Divine appointment, but only as they have followed the violations of the laws of God, or have arisen from thence. And none other curses have come upon the land than those that are written in the Book. The character and condition of the people are not less definitely marked than the features of the land that has been smitten with a curse because of their iniquities. And when the unbeliever asks, Wherefore hath the Lord done this unto the land? the same word which foretold! that the question would be put, supplies an answer and assigns Keith. the cause. or ed who hath his quarrel just; and he but naked, though locked up in steel, whose conscience with injustice is corrupted."-Shake speare. a Rather, the noise you hear is the rushing of the destroy you. enemy "How to in the 5-9. (5) an only evil, i.e. a singular evil, with none to match it. Or an unrelieved evil, which shall have no mitigations. (6) the end, the final manifestation of the Divine judgment on the land. watcheth, or wakes up for thee. (7) morning, beginning of the day of doom. sounding, or echo: i.e. it is a reality, and no mere echo of the mountains." (8) shortly, in a very few years; at most three or four. (9) not spare, v. 4. Sin in blossom (v. 5).-The teaching of the figure before us is-scious guilt appear!"-Ovid. I. That beauty may be associated with evil, as beauty of countenance, Absalom, poetry, eloquence, art, magnificent mansions and b U. R. Thomas. picturesque acres. II. That success is no test of moral right or wrong. III. That the forces of retribution are ever at work." looks does con a "Wickedness daily spreads and becomes ripe for judgment." increases, till it Lowth. "The violence and fury of the 10-15. (10) rod.. blossomed, a fig. to represent the fact that the iniquity of Judah was now full, and demanded immediate Divine interference. Some refer the fig. to the blossoming of the Chaldæan power. (11) rod of wickedness, or a rod that must punish wickedness. multitude. . theirs, a difficult sentence. Prob. meaning, neither the men themselves, enemy have risen nor any of their belongings, their wives or their children. (12) up so as to be- day, i.e. the day of doom.4 (13) not return, to occupy his rod to land, the lease of which he sells. neither. life, better, punish the wickedness of the "Neither shall any strengthen for himself his life by his iniquity." (14) none.. battle, bec. of failing hearts. (15) sword, etc., v. 2, vi. 12, etc. come a people."-Spk. Com. c" Trans. There is nothing of them, of their multitude, of their crowds; and there is no The morning gone forth (v. 10).-This alludes to the punishment of the children of Israel; and Jehovah, through His servant, addresses the people in Eastern language: "The morning is gone forth." Their wickedness, their violence, had grown into a rod eminence among to punish them. The idea is implied in the Tamul translation them.'"-Revised also. "Yes, wretch, the rod has long been growing for thee; 'tis Eng. Bible. now ready, they may now cut it." "True, true, the man's past d Joel ii. 2; Zep. crimes are as so many rods for him." i. 14. 16-19. (16) doves, noted for the mournfulness of their note, a "As doves, and their fond attachment to their homes and mates." (17) whose natural abode is the hands.. feeble, for the fig. see Job iv. 3, 4. ; Is. xxxv. 3. be valleys, when weak, lit. go, yield as water. (18) gird, etc., Is. xv. 3; Je. driven by fear xlviii. 37. baldness, Is. xxii. 12; comp. De. xiv. 1. (19) cast, tains mourn la- etc., this would be done in the misery of famine, when they mentably, so shall found gold and silver could feed nobody." stumblingblock, the remnant, who curse was on the gold and silver because they had made idol have escaped actual death, moan gods, and ornaments for idol gods with it. in the land of into the moun Com. Doves mourning. This is a most strikingly apt simile to all their exile."-Spk. who have heard the sound made by the turtle dove. In the woods of Africa I have often listened to the sound of the turtle b"Their wealth will not procure dove's apparent mourning and lamentations, uttered incessantly them the neces- for hours together-indeed, without a moment's intermission. In saries of life a calm, still morning, when everything in the wilderness is at under the straits of famine, rest, no sound can be more plaintive, pitiful, and melancholy. It would cause gloom to arise in the most sprightly mind,-it rivets the ear to it, the attention is irresistibly arrested." or miseries of bond age."-Lowth. a "The God of punishing His they pollute the a "It was cus 20-22. (20) beauty.. ornament, prob. referring to God's temple. images, of their idol gods. set.. them, or made it as an unclean thing; given it into the hands of the Gentiles. (21) strangers, barbarous and savage nations." (22) face .. them, so as not to interfere and defend the holy place from their outrages. robbers, lit. "men making breaches." Strangers. Instead of abiding under a settled and enlightened government, Judæa has been the scene of frequent invasions, which have introduced a succession of foreign nations (des peuples étrangers)." "When the Ottomans took Syria from the Mamelouks, they considered it as the spoil of a vanquished enemy. According to this law, the life and property of the vanquished belong to the conqueror. The Government is far from disapproving of a system of robbery and plunder which it finds so profitable" (Volney).* 23-27. (23) make a chain, comp. Je. xxvii. 2. A chain is tomary to lead the symbol of captivity." bloody crimes, rather, judgment of blood, i.e. "murder committed with hypocritical formalities of "This expression appears to indicate that at this empire contained in it an element of rude, rough, and uncultivated warriors, while at time the Bab. the same time War.-Seneca, the great moralist of antiquity, is still more strong in his condemnation of war. "How are we to treat our fellow creatures? Shall we not spare the effusion of blood? How small a matter not to hurt him to whom we are bound by every obligation to do all the good in our power! Some deeds, which are considered as villanous while capable of being prevented, become honourable and glorious when they rise above the control of law. The very things which, if men had done them in their private capacity, they would expiate with their lives, we there must have extol when perpetrated in regimentals at the bidding of a civilised populageneral. We punish murders and massacres committed among tion long settled private persons; but what do we with wars, the glorious crime in of murdering whole nations? Here avarice and cruelty know Babylon." no bounds; enormities forbidden in private persons are actually enjoined by legislatures, and every species of barbarity authorised by decrees of the senate, and votes of the people." CHAPTER THE EIGHTH. been a highly Nineveh or Ewald. 7. 1-4. (1) elders, those carried away with Jehoiachin, and a Comp. 2 Ki. now at the Chebar. These had come to inquire of the Lord, xvi. 10-15, xxi. through His Prophet. hand. . me, ch. i. 3. (2) likeness, etc., comp. ch. i. 26, 27. loins.. fire, to intimate the vengeance "Ezekiel has of God kindled against the wicked Jews. amber, ch. i. 4. (3) this repeated form of a hand, comp. Da. v. 5. in the visions, i.e. he seemed to have all these things done to him in the vision. door .. gate, i.e. the entrance to the court of the priests. image of jealousy, some idol figure that provoked Jehovah to jealousy.a (4) glory.. there, showing plainly that it was the residence of Jehovah alone. Ref. is to the Shekinah cloud. of the vision aggravate the sin their of Israel (who is own God, the God a God of so much glory as here He appears to be), for dunghill gods, scandalous god., false gods, and indeed no gods." -Mat. Henry. The ancients used amber as a medicine. How the Hebrews ob tained it we are not told. But as the Phoenicians Spain, there is very little doubt but that they traded with carried it to Tyre. A classic writer asserts that the ern Sea. "Every man is a volume, if you know how Phoenicians equal in value to a strong and robust slave. It is used in this brought amber from the North-country for making necklaces, snuff-boxes, and bracelets, etc. And Easterns, at the present day, make mouthpieces to their tobacco pipes of the same material, which they highly prize. It is sometimes used for money. A traveller writes, "We paid for what we wanted in little coarse pieces of amber." This substance is found in different parts of the world; but mostly on the shores of the Baltic Sea. It is met with floating on the coast, particularly after tempests; and in beds of wood coal in different parts of Europe,-often in mines far from the sea, and in Birmah. As many as one hundred and fifty tons were picked up in one year on the seashore near Pillau, in Prussia. to read him."-W. Ellery Channing. a "The locality of the idol en hances the hei 5, 6. (5) toward the north, comp. 2 Ki. xvi. 14. the altar, i.e. the great altar of burnt-offering. (6) great abominations, by thus in the most insulting way setting up an idol image right in front of Jehovah's shrine. go.. sanctuary, being compelled to forsake it, and deliver it up to its pollution. Predictions of Ezekiel.-Most of the earlier predictions of the Book of Ezekiel have respect to the remnant of the nation left b Comp. Eze. vii. in Judæa, and to the further judgments impending over them, nousness of the sin before God's own altar."Fausset. 21, 22, x. 18. c Bush. "Books are a guide in youth, and an entertainment for age. They support us under solitude, and keep us from our cares and our passions, and lay such as the siege and sacking of Jerusalem-the destruction of the Temple-the slaughter of a large portion of its inhabitants -and the abduction of the remainder into a foreign land. The date of the first chapter is about six years prior to the occurrence of these events, and the vision which it contains was undoubtedly designed to exhibit a visible symbol of the Divine glory which dwelt among that nation. The tokens of Jehovah's presence constituted the distinguishing honour of Israel, and its depar becoming a burture from among them would consequently form the essence of den to ourselves. their national calamities, and swell them indefinitely beyond all They help us to forget the crosssimilar disasters which could possibly befall any other people. ness of men and Plain intimations of the abandonment of the Holy City by the things, compose emblems of the Lord's glory are interspersed through several ensuing chapters, till we come to the tenth, where the same disappoint- splendid image is again brought to view, and is now exhibited ments asleep. in the act of forsaking its ancient dwelling-place. The first chapter describes what their treasure was; the tenth, the loss of weary of the living, we may it. Together with this, the latter contains several additional repair to the particulars in the description of the vision, which are all impor dead, who have tant to its explication. By keeping in mind this general view of nothing of the contents of these chapters, the reader will find himself peevishness. pride, or design assisted in giving that significancy to each, which he was in their conver- probably before at a loss to discover. It may be here remarked, that the symbol of the Divine glory described by Ezekiel was not designed as a mere temporary emblem, adapted only to that occasion, but that it is a permanent one, of which we have repeated intimations in the Scriptures. It is from this fact, chiefly, that it derives its importance as an object of investigation." onr When we are sation."-Collier. a No indignity 7-11. (7) hole in the wall, through which he could see could be so great into one of the very side chambers of the sanctuary itself. This as making a very is more prob. than that the chamber was in the outer wall of the portion of the sanctuary a place Temple." (8) dig, etc., the secrecy of these rites is thus forcibly of idolatrous indicated the ordinary entrance had been covered up, and some secret entrance made, poss. through the other rooms. Or the b Reference is very chamber itself may have been secretly made in the foun rites. of idolatry. "Belzoni's form discoveries brought to light many subterranean chambers in rocks upon the shores of the Nile. These were used chres as sepulboth for kings and private persons. The dations. (9) go in, so as to get demonstration of the evil. evidently to the (10) pourtrayed, etc., these pictures were objects of worship." Egyptian (11) seventy, etc., a company of the elders or leaders of the nation. Poss. members of the great council, or Sanhedrim. The chamber of imagery (vv. 7—12).-From this vision we learn the following truths. I. That man has a wonderful power of vision beyond that of the senses. 1. Through this power God frequently reveals the greatest truths; 2. Through it man will derive much of his happiness or misery for ever. II. That the degenerating tendency in the most advanced people has ever been strong. This-1. Repudiates the atheistic notion that the original state of man was that of savageism, and confirms the Biblical doctrine that God made man upright, etc.; 2. Shows that it behoves the most advanced people to be humble. III. That the greatest sins of humanity are generally the hidden ones. 1. Man has power to conceal his sins; 2. That as a sinner he has the strongest reasons for concealment. IV. That an insight of the hidden iniquity of a population is a necessary qualification for a true reformer. 1. It serves to impress him with the justice of human suffering; 2. Also with the greatness of God's love in redemption; 3. With the sublime mission of Christianity. V. That the most hidden sins are destined to be exposed. Of this exposure of sin there are two kinds. 1. Unconscious; 2. Conscious. VI. That a practical disregard of the constant presence and c Dr. Thomas. inspection of God is an explanation of all sin 1. Because the realising of God's presence implies supreme love to Him; 2. If men love Him supremely, they will have no room in their hearts for idols." walls were uniformly adorned by painted figures... and by hieroglyphical characters, some of wh. were re of presentative "Conscience is justice's best minister: it threatens, promises, rewards, and punishes, and keeps all under its control: attend to its remonstrances, the the busy must powerful submit to its reproof, and the angry endure its upbraidings. While conscience is our friend, all is peace; but if once offended, Cares.-Caves, and other similar subterraneous recesses, consecrated to the worship of the sun, were very generally, if not universally, in request among nations where that superstition was practised. The mountains of Chusistan at this day abound with stupendous excavations of this sort. Allusive to this kind of cavern temple, and this species of devotion, are these words of Ezekiel. The Prophet in a vision beholds, and in the most sub-most lime manner stigmatises, the horrible idolatrous abominations which the Israelites had borrowed from their Asiatic neighbours of Chaldæa, Egypt, and Persia. "And he brought me (says the Prophet) to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall; and, when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. And he said unto me, Go in (that is, into this cavern temple), and behold the wicked abominations that they do there. So I went in, and saw, and behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, were portrayed upon the wall round about." In this subterraneous temple were seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and their employment was of a nature very nearly similar to that of the priests in Salsette. stood with every man his censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery?" In Egypt, to the particular idolatry of which country, it is plain, from his mentioning every form of creeping thing and abominable beasts, the Prophet in this place alludes, these dark, secluded recesses were called They farewell the tranquil mind."Hon. Mrs. Montague Bessus, a Grecian, gave as a reason for pulling down the birds' nests about his house, that the birds never ceased to accuse him of the father. murder of his |
