It is remarkable that Ezekiel speaks in this chapter of a new functionary, whom he calls the prince, nasi, to whom a large portion of land east and west of the oblation for the priests and Levites is assigned, and whose duty it is to provide the sacrifices. Here again it is only possible to interpret these features spiritually. In later times the head of the Sanhedrim, who filled a very different office, was called by this name. The mediatorial function which is assigned to this personage in the vision of Ezekiel is very remarkable.

In the forty-seventh chapter we have the vision of the living waters which, flowing eastward from under the altar, rapidly become an impassable stream, which flows into the Dead Sea and makes it sweet. This is manifestly the original of John’s vision in the last chapter of the Revelation. It is to be observed that all the latter chapters of Ezekiel, whatever may be their interpretation, are only to be understood on one assumption, that, namely, of the restoration of the Temple and the reoccupation of the land. When we bear in mind that the latest date in Ezekiel’s prophecies was some three years before the release of Jehoiachin from prison, this expression of confident hope is the more remarkable, and is certain proof of the influence of Jeremiah’s promise of the restoration. (Cf. Dan. 9:2.)

Ezekiel’s writings as a whole have probably commended themselves to a more limited circle of readers than those of Isaiah and Jeremiah, in consequence of the detailed accounts of his visions, which are at all times difficult to realize, but they nevertheless abound in passages of permanent and universal interest, and when regarded as a whole with reference to the time and conditions under which they were penned they fill a conspicuous and important part in the economy of revelation, and are of no inconsiderable value for the clear evidence they afford of the acquaintance with the law of Moses which the children of Israel must have carried with them into the land of their exile. S. Leathes.

1:1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity, the word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him. And I looked, and, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with a fire infolding itself, and a brightness round about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. And out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides: and they four had their faces and their wings thus; their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man; and they four had the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox 11 on the left side; they four had also the face of an eagle. And their faces and their wings were separate above; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered 12 their bodies. And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they 13 went; they turned not when they went. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches; it went up and down among the living creatures: and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth 14 lightning. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of light- 15 ning. Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth beside the 16 living creatures, for each of the four faces thereof. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appear- 17 ance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel. When they went, they went 18 upon their four sides: they turned not when they went. As for their rings, they were high 19 and dreadful; and they four had their rings full of eyes round about. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them: and when the living creatures were lifted up 20 from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went; thither was the spirit to go: and the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the 21 living creature was in the wheels. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside 22 them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. And over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of a firmament, like the colour of the terrible crystal, 23 stretched forth over their heads above. And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two which covered on this side, and every one had 24 two which covered on that side, their bodies. And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult 25 like the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings. And there was a voice above the firmament that was over their heads: when they stood, they let down their 26 wings. And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the 27 appearance of a man upon it above. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire within it round about, from the appearance of his loins and upward; and from the appearance of his loins and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was 28 brightness round about him. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

Chap. 1. The remarkable vision recorded in this chapter served to introduce Ezekiel to his prophetic work. It was a species of the ophany analogous to that made to Isaiah, as recorded in his sixth chapter, and to John (Rev. 1: 10-20). How admirably it was adapted to prepare him for his mission will be better seen when we have carefully studied its import and in some good measure comprehended its sym- bols. We shall find them richly significant. H. C.

Walking by the river Chebar in deep medita- tion, probably upon the destinies of his coun- try, the “hand of Jehovah” rested upon Eze- kiel, and, closing the avenues of his mind to the ordinary impression of the senses, displayed to his tranced sight the most wonderful specta- cie ever presented to mortal eyes. From the dark north a whirlwind appeared like a vast cloud, formed of blazing fire, shooting out rays and tongues of flame on every side, and enclos- ing at its centre an appearance as of amber, or rather dark blue, like polished steel. From this dark centre there came forth four living beings, each four-sided, and having on each side four wings, making for each sixteen in all. Their feet were not like those of men, set at right angles to the leg, but came straight down and ended, like those of a calf, in a flat sole. On each side under their four wings they had human hands, and as thus each side was perfect with its face, four wings, and four hands, they needed not to turn, but faced every way, and moved ever straight onward. Each one apparently had on the right hand the faces of a man and of a lion, and on the left those of an ox and an eagle, signifying the union in each one of intelligence, courage, strength, and piercing vision, or spiritual insight. Their wings were so arranged that two on each side were elevated, enclosing the face between them, while two covered the body, but they needed them not for motion. Wherever they willed to go, thither they went; and such was their brightness and the rapidity of their movements that they seemed to go hither and thither like the lightning flash.

Beneath these living beings were wheels bright as of beryl, shaped wheel within wheel, but each wheel of equal size, placed transversely to one another, so as to form globes. And the circles or tires of these wheels were full of eyes, the symbols of intelligence; and as each living creature had beneath it one of these globes of wheels, which moved ever with it as it willed, the whole represented the rapid intelligence with which God’s ministers instantaneously do His behests. For these beings formed the throne of the Deity. Above their heads was an expanse of dazzling crystal, whence came a voice; and as they moved the prophet seemed to hear a mighty rushing of wings, like the sound of many waters, and of rolling thunder, and of the din of an army; but when the voice came from the expanse, all was still, and the living creatures drooped their wings. For the voice came forth from a throne of sapphire, circled around with the same deep blue color as had formed the centre of the cloud of whirlwind, while above it was the rainbow, and in the midst the Deity seated in human form, but as “the appearance of fire round about within.” And the voice was Ezekiel’s commission to speak in Jehovah’s name to Israel’s rebellious house.

When we contrast this vision, so intricate, so minute in its details, so complex, and withal so awful and mysterious, with the calm sublimity of the glorious spectacle which greeted Isaiah’s eyes in the Temple, or with the peaceful simplicity of Jeremiah’s imagery, we understand something of the reason which made St. Jerome characterize Ezekiel as “the ocean and labyrinth of God’s mysteries,” and which made the Rabbins forbid their pupils to read his writings till they were thirty years of age. Well might his name be called Ezekiel—that is, “the strength of God.” R. P. S.

The very essence of the vision of the living creatures was that the Jews were taught to look for a new covenant, for a spiritual restoration. The vision of Ezekiel is not a dead and dying story, it lives still as the very charter of the Church of the future. Any work for Christ which shall be real, solid, abiding, must follow on the lines here marked out for us—mobility, spirituality, universality; these three ideas must inspire our efforts, not to cling obstinately to the decayed anachronisms of the past, not to narrow our intellectual horizon, not to stunt our moral sympathies, but to absorb new truths, to gather new ideas, to adapt, to enlarge, to follow always the teaching of the Spirit. This is our duty as Christians; remembering meanwhile that there is the fixed centre from which our thoughts must spread and to which our hopes must converge—Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. Bp. Lightfoot.

1-3. I find this “thirtieth year” in the new Chaldean epoch of Nabopolassar, father of Nebuchadnezzar, which reckoned its years from the fall of Nineveh, n.c. 625. This is natural, and meets all the conditions of the case; for the very brevity of the allusion shows that the epoch must have been well known, and goes far to prove that it was the common epoch of the place, the people, and the age—in other words, that it was Chaldean. A prophecy written in Chaldea should naturally, first of all, connect itself with the current Chaldean epoch. So much deference to their national history would seem due to that people. Yet, since the prophecy was chiefly for the Jews, no more than this brief connecting link could be demanded. This would enable the Chaldeans to compare Jewish dates with their own, and thus locate each several message. For his common epoch Ezekiel would manifestly prefer the Jewish.

These captives are, of course, the Jewish exiles, located, as shown in the introduction, along the royal canal of Nebuchadnezzar, the great and long river, as the word Chebar without much doubt indicates. These “visions of God” are not merely visions given by God through His revealing Spirit, but visions of God, the special purpose of which was to reveal God Himself in certain great aspects of His providential agency. The “fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity” follows the Jewish epoch, dating from the captivity of Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, and last king of Judah save one, his uncle Zedekiah. This captivity occurred n.c. 600. Hence both this epoch and the Chaldean locate this first vision of Ezekiel n.c. 595. (See 2 Chron. 36: 9, 10, and 2 K. 24: 1-16.) The words “came expressly” translate the usual emphatic Hebrew phrase which repeats the infinite absolute before the finite verb; “coming, it came”—i.e., it certainly came; came with the clearest demonstrations of its actuality. “The hand of the Lord was there upon him,” is the usual phrase to indicate the special agency of the Divine Spirit in revealing Himself to His servants the prophets. (See other cases of its use in chap. 3:14-22 and 37:1, and in the same sense, though with various phrase, Jer. 1:7, 10 and 20:7.) H. C.

2. The fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity. This was the thirteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign; for Jehoiachin was carried captive in the eighth (2 K. 24:12). It was also the fifth year of the reign of Zedekiah in Jerusalem, and the sixth before the destruction of the city and the Temple. Ezekiel was made a captive with Jehoiachin, and he computes the succeeding parts of his prophecy from that event. W. Lowth.

3. To speak comfort to those that feared God and trembled at His word, and humbled themselves under His mighty hand: “Let them know that though they are captives in Babylon, yet they have God nigh unto them; though they have not the place of the sanctuary to be their glorious high throne, they have the God of the sanctuary.” Dr. Lightfoot observes: “Now that the Church is to be planted for a long time in another country, the Lord shows a glory in the midst of them, as He had done at their first constituting into a church in the wilderness, and out of a cloud and fire, as He had done there, He showed Himself, and from between living creatures, as from between the cherubims, He gives His oracles.” H.

4. In the general import of this wonderful vision I suppose it to be a symbolic representation of the movable base of the throne of God incarnate—this incarnate God being considered as manifesting Himself in His providential government of our world. As here represented, His throne rests on a lofty, magnificent platform or solid floor, which floor itself reposes on the bodies and wings of “the living creatures” that are so graphically portrayed in this vision. The whole representation contemplates the varied agencies of God’s providence as combining the utmost energy, wisdom, celerity, efficiency and grandeur, and is designed to show how He moves among the nations of men, lifting up and casting down at His will, scourging for sin and purifying by discipline, evermore just and righteous, and making His movements conspire to the exalted and worthy ends of His own glory and of human salvation. The vision opens with surpassing grandeur. A whirlwind rolls up from the north with a great cloud and a fire which perpetually takes hold of itself (so the Hebrew), making one vast, continuous sheet of flame. A brightness invests the whole, of the color of “amber,” or, as many modern critics prefer, of “burnished brass.” All the ideas of that age seem to have located the home of the gods in the north—a sentiment due perhaps to the Aurora Borealis, which they seem to have thought of as the occasional illumination of the palace halls of the gods. Thus Isaiah (14:13) makes his proud Lucifer (the great monarch of Babylon) say, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.” Perhaps it was with some reference to those ideas that this magnificent vision of Jehovah’s moving throne comes forth from the north. H. C.

Out of the north. It was frequently foretold that the Divine judgments should proceed from the north (Jer. 1:14; 4:6), because it was from the north that the Assyrian conquerors came upon the Holy Land, and it may be that for this reason the whirlwind proceeded out of the north, for the vision, though seen in Chaldea, had reference to Jerusalem, and the seer is to contemplate judgment as it is coming upon the Holy Land. But we observe in the vision of Zechariah that the horses go toward the north (Zech. 6:8). Mount Zion and the Temple were on the sides of the north (Ps. 48:2 and Isa. 14:13). Thus the north was felt by the Jews to be the peculiar seat of the power of Jehovah. Further, the high mountain range of Lebanon that closed in the Holy Land on the north naturally connected to the inhabitants of that country the northern region with the idea of height reaching to heaven, from which such a vision as this would probably come. B. C.

5-9. Now there came forth from the blaze of this effulgence what seemed like four living creatures in whom the human form predominates. Yet each one had four faces and also four wings. Their feet, moreover, were not those of a man, but of a calf or ox, yet sparkling with radiance like that of burnished brass. They had also the hand of a man under their wings. Two of these wings, making one pair, were joined together. Remarkably they made no turn in their movements, but went in straight lines, evermore straight forward. Probably this fact takes its significance from that law of mind which associates moral perversity with turning from a right line. The path of right and duty is thought of as being straight, but never crooked. God’s providential agencies are evermore true and righteous altogether. It may indicate that in both discipline and retribution God moves straight on to His purposed end. The symbol on the calf or ox may have a place here to indicate the solid, massive strength requisite to support so vast a structure as the throne of the Almighty. The reader will note that many of these symbols appeared to the Jews in actual life in the vast “molten sea” connected with Solomon’s Temple. This sea stood on twelve oxen, and, moreover, had in its ornamental work sculptured lions, oxen and cherubim, coupled also with wheels, as in this vision of Ezekiel. (See 1 K. 7: 23-33.) In some respects, therefore, this grouping of symbols was Hebraic, while in others it was Chaldean. The grouping of diverse animal figures in one nondescript symbol is very common, as above shown, in the Chaldean monuments of that age. H. C.

9. That, whatever service they went about, they went every one straight forward (verses 9, 12), which intimates: First, that they sincerely aimed at the glory of God, and had a single eye to that in all they did; their going straight forward supposes that they looked straight forward, and never had any sinister intentions in what they did. And if thus our eye be single, our whole body will be full of light; the singleness of the eye is the sincerity of the heart. Secondly, that they were intent upon the service they were employed in, and did it with a close application of mind; they went forward with their work; for what their hand found to do, they did it with all their might, and did not loiter in it. Thirdly, that they were unanimous in it; they went straight forward, every one about his own work; they did not thwart or jostle one another, did not stand in one another’s light, in one another’s way. Fourthly, that they perfectly understood their business, and were thoroughly apprised of it, so that they needed not to stand still, to pause or hesitate, but they pursued their work with readiness, as those that knew what they had to do, and how to do it. Fifthly, they were steady and constant in their work; they did not fluctuate, did not tire, did not vary, but were of a piece with themselves; they moved in a direct line, and so went the nearest way to work in all they did, and lost no time. When we go straight, we go forward; when we serve God with one heart, we rid ground, we rid work. H.

10-12. This account of the location of the several faces is not quite explicit, but there can scarcely be a doubt that these four diverse faces looked each in its several direction, the human face in front, the lion face to the right, the face like the ox to the left, and that of the eagle backward to the rear. Of their four wings, two were joined and stretched upward, while the other two fell and covered their bodies. Somewhat like this were the wings of the cherubim as seen by Isaiah (chap. 6: 2). They had each six wings: one pair covering the face, one the feet, and the other used for flight. Here again we may note that all movement is straight forward, with no turning. They go as the spirit in them impels; this whole representation being designed to show that the magnificent agencies of God’s universal providence are everywhere and forevermore permeated and controlled by His own ever-present will—the one Infinite Mind guiding and ruling all.

13,14. To heighten the grandeur of this magnificent portrayal, these living creatures now seem to have the appearance of coals of fire that burn like lamps. One clause seems to say that this fire shoots and darts among these living creatures—a fire invested with a glorious radiance out of which lightnings flashed; while another clause has it that the living creatures themselves ran and returned like flashes of lightning. Probably both were seen in the vision. How grand and sublime must that scene have been!

15-17. Wheels are an expressive symbol of power and rapid motion. As to the number of wheels in this combination of symbols, verse 15 seems to indicate but one; but verses 16 and 18 both speak of four, and so also does the co-ordinate description in chap. 10: 9, 10. These wheels were sparkling and brilliant, shining like polished gems. But the most remarkable feature was their combination, said to be “as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.” According to this description, they might be concentric and in the same plane, or they might be concentric and yet in different planes, say, at right angles. From the account of their motion in any direction without turning, the latter seems to have been their form. This is the view of the ablest modern commentators. We need not trouble ourselves with the fact that no axletree could be made to work in two such concentric double wheels, so that they could run in planes at right angles to each other. For this movable base for the throne of God was seen in prophetic vision, and not in the actual world; was constituted to be seen—not to run in the business of real life; and had for its object a certain impression on the mind of the prophet, and not any particular result in the mechanical world.

18. “Rings,” as used here, mean the rims, the periphery, or felloes of the wheels. Their height, so great that they seemed “dreadful,”

represents the wheels as of immense size, towering aloft in the air with magnificence fearfully sublime. Then the periphery of these wheels was full of eyes all round about, indicating perfect intelligence, and giving the impression of piercing thought and most vivid expressiveness.

19-21. Next we have the same elements of life and self-acting inspiration in these wheels as in the living creatures themselves. The wheels constantly attend the living creatures as if moved by one common impulse and will. This was one of the most striking features in this wonderful combination of symbols. It could not signify less or other than that God’s providences always have a meaning; always aim at some wise purpose; are evermore guided by one and the same supreme and all-pervading Divine will. H. C.

20. The reason given of this is, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels; the same wisdom, power and holiness of God, the same will and counsel of His, that guides and governs the angels, and all their performances, does, by them, order and dispose of all the motions of the creatures in this lower world, and the events and issues of them. God is the soul of the world, and animates the whole, both that above and that beneath, so that they move in perfect harmony, as the upper and lower parts of the natural body do; so that whithersoever the Spirit is to go, whatever God wills and purposes to be done and brought to pass, thither their spirit is to go. H.

22,23. Here we begin to reach the purpose and work of this remarkable combination of symbols. The living creatures bear upon their heads and upon their straight wings a firmament—i.e., a solid expanse, platform, or elevated floor. Its appearance was in color “like the terrible crystal”—so brilliant and dazzling as to be even fearful to behold. Upon this base, as we shall soon see, reposed the throne of the incarnate God. The prophet again refers to the position of the two sets of wings, one set straight and joined together, assisting to support the firmament, somewhat like the wings of the cherubim in the most holy place. When the living creatures stood, the other set fell gracefully down and protected their bodies.

24,25. As if to combine every element of grandeur and sublimity, and appeal to every sense, the sound of their wings, when in motion, was as the roar of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty God Himself. In the clause, “The voice of speech as the noise of an host,” the Hebrew does not imply the utterance of articulate words, but should rather be rendered, “The sound of their noise was as the sound of an host”—i.e., of an army rushing to battle. There may have been the voice of articulate words from above the firmament—i.e., from the glorious personage who sat on the throne; verse 25 seems to imply this. The reader will readily recall the manifestations made by the “Alpha and Omega,” by Him who is both the first and the last, to John, the Revelator, as in Rev. 1: 10-16, “His voice was as the sound of many waters, and His face as the sun when he shineth in his strength.”

26,27. The vital points in this description are plain, and they are also richly significant and sublime. Here is the throne, for the sake of supporting which, and of moving it also, we have seen a wonderful combination of living creatures, wings and wheels, with various accompanying symbols of intelligence, energy, splendor and majesty. Here also—more really sublime than all the rest—is the appearance of a man upon this throne. From his loins upward, and from his loins downward, he seemed as one begirt with fire—the brightness of fire, and the effulgence of the most magnificent pearls and gems, combining to invest him with ineffable glory. This personage can be no other than the incarnate Son of God, the great Lord of universal providence, appearing in this majestic form to His servant Ezekiel, much as the same personage appeared to Isaiah (chap. 6), of which case, John in his Gospel (chap. 12: 41) tells us that Isaiah then and there “saw the glory of Jesus, and spake of Him.” Numerous proofs might be adduced to show that repeatedly, during the course of the Old Testament age, Jesus Christ anticipated His incarnation by appearing in human form to His people. He appeared thus to Manoah and his wife (Judges 13: 2-23), giving them His name, “Wonderful” (not “secret”), using the identical word which Isaiah gives as one of His names (Isa. 9: 6), “Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God,” etc. “This is also He who was with His Church in the wilderness,” as Stephen affirms (Acts 7: 38), and as the narrative (Ex. 23: 20-23) most plainly indicates. It was therefore only a subsequent appearance of the same glorious personage which was vouchsafed to John in Patmos with a lustre and effulgence of glories closely analogous to what we have here. H. C.

All the other parts of this vision were but a preface and introduction to this. God in them had made Himself known as Lord of angels and supreme Director of all His affairs of this lower world, whence it is easy to infer that whatever God by His prophets either promises or threatens to do, He is able to effect it; angels are His servants, men are His tools. But now that a Divine revelation is to be given to a prophet, and by him to the Church, we must look higher than the living creatures of the wheels, and must expect that from the eternal Word, of whom we have an account in these verses. Ezekiel, hearing a voice from the firmament, looked up, as John did, to see the voice that apake with him, and he saw one like unto the Son of man (Rev. 1 : 12, 13). The second Person sometimes tried the fashion of a man, occasionally, before He clothed Himself with it for good and all; and the spirit of prophecy is called the Spirit of Christ (1 Pet. 1 : 11) and the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 19 : 10). H.

26. The appearance of a man.** Deeply significant is the form of this manifestation. Here is no angel conveying God’s message to man, but the glory of the Lord Himself, and when we remember how in the fulness of time the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father (John 1 : 14), in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, we recognize in this vision the prophetic annunciation of the Holy Incarnation. Yet we observe the manifestation was such that the prophet did not see a distinct human form, such as an artist might have portrayed to represent his God. We are told little of the extent to which the human form was made evident to the prophet. There was the likeness of a throne, and the likeness as the appearance of a man above it. For the vision of the prophet was rather to the mind than to the bodily eye, and even inspired language was inadequate to convey to the hearer the glory which eye hath not seen nor ear heard, and which only by special revelation it hath entered into the heart of man to conceive. In Revelation the form of one like unto the Son of man as revealed to John is one minutely described, but the characteristics are not such as admit of visible representation. They are all highly symbolical—and it is upon the substance, not upon the symbol, that the mind is invited to dwell. B. C.

All the dispensations of providence, as well as the various departments of creation, are under the dominion of the Mediator. It embraces men, not only in all their characters, but in all their concerns, in all their affairs, and in all the vicissitudes that can befall them. This is proved, not only by the universal language to which we have before adverted as employed by the inspired writers when speaking of Christ’s rule, but by the express terms of Scripture with reference to this subject, and also by the necessity of the thing itself. The vision of the wheels, in the first chapter of Ezekiel’s prophecy, is generally understood to refer to the dispensations of Divine providence in their nature, aspects, intricacy and perfect consistency and wisdom. These dispensations were represented to the prophet as under the direction of one who sat upon a throne, and whose likeness was as “the appearance of a man above upon it.” We are not left to doubt that “the man Christ Jesus” is here meant; for it is afterward said, “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” We have here, then, an explicit proof from Scripture that the affairs of providence are managed by the Mediator; managed, too, with perfect wisdom, and with special reference to the covenant of grace, as indicated by the rings of the wheels being “full of eyes round about, and by the appearance of the brightness being as the day of rain.” Symington.

His throne, as represented in Ezekiel’s vision, is erected over the wheels of providence, which, though in the highest degree complicated, like wheels within wheels, do, to those who attentively and filially observe them, furnish abundant evidence of Divine goodness. The sacred history throws great light on this department of God’s government. There we trace His dealings with nations and with individuals for several hundred years, and view His providence irradiated by a column of light from heaven. There we see the benevolent designs of His judgments upon wicked nations and individuals, and His agency in all the comforts bestowed on His people. There we trace His faithfulness to His saints, His sudden interpositions to supply their wants, to deliver them from their enemies, to arrest evils on their way to assail them, and to turn all their afflictions to a good account. There the most mysterious and complex dispensations are analyzed, and the use of every part explained before our eyes. These are exhibited as specimens, to enable us to understand the designs of Providence in every age. Instructed by these disclosures, we may daily read the goodness of God, not only in those great events which concern nations, but in those which relate to families and individuals. The whole skein of Providence, from the falling of a sparrow to the revolutions of empire—the whole skein of Providence in all worlds is nothing but the constantly repeated action of Divine goodness and the universal extension of Divine care. E. D. Griffin.

28. The prophecy of Ezekiel opens with the magnificent vision of the four living creatures, the cherubim, and over them the throne of God, and upon the throne the appearance of a man above upon it, and round about an appearance of brightness, as of the rainbow. The seer describes the glorious appearance of Him who sat on the throne in terms that closely correspond with John’s description of the same Divine object in the opening of the Apocalypse. This, he tells us, was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord; words that might seem to have suggested to the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews the language in which he speaks of the Eternal Son as the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person. And when he saw it, he, as John, fell upon his face, and heard the voice of one that spake. The Speaker, who is later on spoken of as the God of Israel (Ezek. 10: 20), and whose presence is indicated and accompanied by the visible Shekinah, the glory of the God of Israel, speaks throughout in the person of the Lord Jehovah; and declares Himself the Divine Being against whom the house of Israel had sinned in all their rebellious history. Medd.

The pupilage of the Church, as well as of the nations, stretched over long and dreary centuries before it pleased Him to send into the world the grand element of rectification and progression in the person of His incarnate Son. He is from everlasting to everlasting, and, speaking reverently, can afford to be slow and misunderstood till the time of the end. Movement is slow, usually, in proportion to its majesty. The wheels of Ezekiel’s vision were so high as to be dreadful to contemplate. Yet the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels and high above, in the firmament, like the terrible crystal, the appearance of the throne, and upon it the likeness of the appearance of a man, even the glory of the Lord. Happy he who, amid the noises and mysteries of the wheels of a providence so slow and majestic, is able to keep his eye and faith fixed on Him who is at the centre of power and motion, working all things according to the counsel of His own will. D. H. Riddle.

Thus the Shekinah revealed Himself to Ezekiel to impress his soul with the magnificence, the energy and the glory of Him whose work he was now to undertake, whose mission as a prophet he was to fulfil, whose words he was to hear and then to bear to his people. What an installation this into his prophetic work! No wonder he fell on his face as one overwhelmed with reverence and awe! Let it be noted yet further that this portrayal was specially pertinent in view of the fact that God’s providential agencies were then intensely active among the nations, and especially toward the Jews in both discipline and judgment—the discipline that chastened to reclaim, and the judgments that scourged in stern and awful retribution. Into the midst of these agencies Ezekiel was thrown. He was commissioned as a prophet of God to co-operate by the use of moral agencies with those providential agencies of the Almighty. He was to interpret the significance of those judgments. He was to warn the people to repent, as they would escape such inflictions. He was to press them to repentance by the promise of pardoning mercy. In every appropriate way he was to supplement those agencies of providence with the concurrent influences of God’s revealed truth. Hence nothing could be more vital than to impress upon his mind the qualities of that fearfully glorious and energetic Divine providence which in its intensified forms was now being manifested toward the chosen people. Moreover, nothing could have been better adapted to impart to him a baptism of reverence, docility, energy and self-sacrificing devotion. Under the influence of such views of the glorious Being whose behests he is commissioned to bear to the people, how could he falter before hardship or danger? How could he fail to carry with him through life a sense of the glory of his Divine Master, saying evermore: “I serve the ineffably glorious, incarnate God; and I must be true and faithful!” This interpretation meets all the conditions of the case. It fits every circumstance. It is pertinent to an inauguration of Ezekiel to his prophetic office, as it should be; it fits his relations as a prophet to the captives at Babylon; fits their relations to the Omnipresent and then specially active agencies of God’s providence over nations; fits the style of illustrating the attributes of God which prevailed in Chaldea, and also that which was developed to some extent in the Jewish temple; in short, this construction fits in all possible points. H. C.

Visions of the First and Tenth Chapters.

Ezekiel himself tells us that he saw the likeness of the glory of God. We must distinguish between the visions of the tenth and of the first chapter. The two visions are identical in form, but different in circumstances. There the vision is in distinct connection with the Temple, the place in which the Shekinah had a local habitation. Here the vision has the most general relation and application; the glory of God arising to visit the earth. The first idea is that of judgment, hence the whirlwind (Jer. 23 : 19), the great cloud, and the fire (Ex. 19); but at the same time there is the clear brightness, the symbol of God’s purity, truth, and the rainbow, the token of His mercy. The glory of God is manifested in the works of creation; and as light and fire, lightning and cloud, are the usual marks which in inanimate creation betoken the presence of God (Ps. 18 : 6-14), so the four living ones symbolize animate creation. The forms are typical, the lion and the ox of the beasts of the field (wild and tame), the eagle of the birds of the air—some have thought that the eagle represents the angelic nature (wings being the constant mark of angels), but we are rather concerned with the works of creation upon earth—while man is the rational being supreme upon the earth. And the human type predominates over all, and gives character and unity to the four, who thus form one creation. Further, these four represent the constitutive parts of man’s nature: the ox (the animal of sacrifice), his faculty of suffering; the lion (the king of beasts), his faculty of ruling; the eagle (of keen eye and soaring wing), his faculty of imagination; the man, his spiritual faculty, which actuates all the rest. Christ is the perfect man, so these four in their perfect harmony typify Him who came to earth to do His Father’s will; and as man is lord in the kingdom of nature, so is Christ Lord in the kingdom of grace; and as the word of His commandments goeth forth into all lands through His Gospel, so the reference which Irenæus discovered in the four living creatures to the four Gospels is not without its significance (Lange).

The wings represent the power by which all creation rises and falls at God’s will; the one spirit, the unity and harmony of His works; the free motion in all directions the universality of His providence. The number four is the symbol of the world, with its four quarters; the veiled bodies, the inability of all creatures to stand in the presence of God; the noise of the wings, the testimony borne by creation to God (Ps. 19 : 1-3); the wheels connect the vision with the earth, the wings with heaven, while above their heads, separated by the bright expanse, is the throne of God in heaven.

As the eye of the seer is turned upward, the lines of the vision become less distinct. He describes what he sees as the likeness of a throne, the appearance of a sapphire stone, the likeness as the appearance of a man, the appearance of fire, the appearance of his loins, as if he were struggling against the impossibility of expressing in words the object of his vision; yet on the summit of the throne is He who can only be described as, in some sort, the form of a man. That Jehovah, the eternal God, is spoken of, we cannot doubt, and herein we recognize the necessity under which we lie of ascribing to the Deity the attributes of man, just as we speak of His anger, jealousy, love, mercy and the like, and even of His hand, His eye and His ear, figures all, but the only ones which we can employ, being borrowed from the attributes of the being who was created in the image of God. But in thus contemplating God under the form of man there is something more. In the Hebrews we read that Christ is the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person (Heb. 1 : 3); and John tells us that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1 : 14); while a similar vision in Isaiah (6) is explained by John to refer to Christ: These things said Esaias when he saw His glory and spake of Him (John 12 : 41). We are therefore justified in maintaining that the revelation of the Divine glory here made to Ezekiel has its consummation or fulfilment in the person of Christ, the only begotten of God, a conclusion which is borne out and indeed established beyond dispute by the identification of Him, of whom Ezekiel saw the appearance upon a throne, with the Ancient of days, whom Daniel saw enthroned, and described in terms employed afterward by John to describe Him who announced Himself thus: I am the first and the last. I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore (Rev. 1 : 17, 18).

The vision in the opening chapter of Ezekiel is in the most general form—the manifestation of the glory of the living God. It is repeated more than once in the course of the book. The Person manifested is always the same, but the form of the vision is modified according to special circumstances of time and place. B. C.