Ezekiel 33

the same place with them. The masculine and feminine genders are promiscuously used in the following verses. The masculine referring to the prince, whose subjects the deceased were; the feminine to the nation or country to which they belonged. Vcr. 23. Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit.’] Compare xxvi. 20. Isa. xiv. 15. And her company round about her grave.] Like lesser graves placed round the monument of a person of great quality: or the words mayiiraport that death has made thein all equal. (Compare ver. 24, 25.) All of them slain, &c] See ver. 20. Which caused terror in the land of the living.] Though they were a terror while they were alive to their neighbours. (See xxvi. 17*) ARGUMENT* The duty of a prophet in warning a people of their sins, is exemplified by that of a watchman; then follows an earnest exhortation to repentance, upon assurance that God will accept it, being for the most part a repetition of what was said before in the eighteenth chapter. Upon the news being brought to the prophet that Jerusalem was destroyed by the Chaldeans, he foretells the utter destruction of Judea, to check the vain confidence of those who still tarried in it, and withal reproves the hypocrisy of those Jews who were of the captivity.

Ezekiel 33:2

rr HEN I bring a sword upon a land. Bring an enemy against a land with armed force. (See xiv. 17.) If the people of the land take a man of their coasts.] Or, from among them, to which sense the word miktse is trans^ latcd, Gen. xlvii. 2. And set him for a tvatchman.] Such watchmen were placed upon the turrets of their city walls, to give notice of the enemy’s approach. (See 2 Sam. xviii. 24, 25. 2 Kings ix. 17. Isa. xxi. S.) Vcr. 3. If when he see the sword come vpon the land.] When he spies the enemy marching against it. (See vcr. 2.)

Ezekiel 33:4

His blood shall be upon Ms own head. His destruction is owing to himself. (See xviii. 13. Acts xviii. 6.)

Ezekiel 33:5

But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. Shall save his life from the danger that threatens it. In like manner, he that takes warning by the prophet’s admonition shall preserve himself from the judgments threatened against sinners. (See ver. 10.)

Ezekiel 33:6

He shall die in his iniquity, &c. See iii. 18,

Ezekiel 33:7

J have set thee a watchman to the house of Israel, &c. See iii. 17—19.

Ezekiel 33:10

If our transgressions be upon ns, and we pine away in them, koto shall we then live?. Thou hast threatened that we shall pine away in our sins, xxiv. 23. how then can the promises of life belong to us? The words of persons despairing of God’s mercy, and from thence taking encouragement to go on in their sins. (See a like instance, Jer. ii. 25.)

Ezekiel 33:11

Why will ye die, O house of Israel?. See the note on xviii. 4.

Ezekiel 33:12

Tlte righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression, &c. See the note upon xviii. 26, 27.

Ezekiel 33:13

If he trust to his own righteousness. If he rely upon the good works he hath done, and think the worth of them will overbalance the guilt of his evil deeds. This seems to be the sense of the latter Jews, who lay this down for a certain rule in their Mischna, that all Israel hath a sliare iu the world to come. [The Mahometans maintain the same opinion. See Relandus, lib. i. de Relig. Mohammed, cap. 6.]

Ezekiel 33:15

If the wicked restore the pledge. See xviii. 7. Give again that he hath robbed.] It is a necessary condition of obtaining pardon, that men make restitution of what they have unjustly gotten from others. The law was express to this purpose, Lev. vi. 5. where the offender is required to add a fifth part to the principal, and give it to him to whom it appertained; to the same purpose is that received rule among the Christian casuists taken from St. Augustine, epist. 54. " Non dimittitur peccatum, nisirestituatur ablatum;" Hie sin is not forgiven, unless what is taken away be restored. Walk in the statutes of life.] See the note on xx. 11.

Ezekiel 33:16

None of the sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him. Sec the note on xviii. 22.

Ezekiel 33:21

In the twelfth year of our captivity, &c. The news of the taking and burning of Jerusalem was brought to that part of the Babylonish dominions where the Jewish captives were, in something above a year and four months after this calamity happened. (Sec Jer. Hi. 12.)

Ezekiel 33:22

Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening. I felt a sensible impulse of the prophetical spirit. (See i. 3.) And had opened my mouth, until he came tomein themorning, &e.] God has given me commission to speak in his name unto the people, which I had not done before near the space of three years. (Compare xxiv. 1.) And the destruction of the city, which I had so often foretold, being jiovv brought to pass, (which at that time you would not believe, see xi. 3. xii. 22.) gave an indisputable authority and credit to my words. (See the note on xxiv. 27.)

Ezekiel 33:24

There is Elam, and all her multitude. Which was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar. (See Jer. xlix. 34. and the notes there.) Yet have they borne their shame with them that go down into the pit.] They have been shamefully subdued, and lost their lives and glory together, as Ashur did before them. (Vcr. 22.) Vcr. 25. They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain, &c] Elam and her people have a place among the deceased princes and potentates. The word bed is used for the grave, Isa. lvii. 2. and may, perhaps, in both places, allude. to the costly monuments or sepulchres which used to be erected for persons of great quality. Mittah, a word of the samo sense, is used for a bier or coffin, 2 Sam. iii. 31. Her graves are round about him.] About those of the king of Egypt, and his people. Ver. 2G. There is Meshech, and Tubal, and all her multitude.] Who are threatened by God with a terrible destruction. (Sec xxxviii. 2, &c.) But they seem to be mentioned here by way of prolepsis, or anticipation, as the critics call it; for the destruction threatened to Meshech and Tubal was not to come to pass till several ages after this prophecy against Egypt was fulfilled, as may be gathered from several expressions in that prophecy.?• It is usual in the prophets to speak of what is to come, as if it were already past, as hath been observed elsewhere. So the country of Goshen is called the land of llameses, Gen. xlvii. 11. which yet had that name from the city Barneses, built in aftertimes by the Israelites. (See Exod. i. 11.) By the same figure Horeb is called the mountain of God, Exod. iii. 1. Concerning Meshech and Tubal, see the note on xxvii. 13. They that inliabit those wastes of the land of Israel.] They that are left behind in the land that is now wasted with fire and sword. (See ver. 27. and xxxvi. 4.) Abraham was one, and he inherited the land.] If Abraham, being but a single person, with his family, had the. whole country of Judea given to him, (sec Gen. xiii. 15.) there is much greater reason to conclude that God will preserve the possession of it to us, who are a numerous part of Abraham’s posterity. These men spake after the vain manner of the Jews, who fondly presume that they have a right in all the promises made to Abraham. (See Matt. iii. 8. John viii. 33. Rom. ix. 7.) The title of one is elsewhere given to Abraham, as being singled out from the rest of his family to be the original or head of the Jewish nation. (Sec Isa. Ii. 2. Mai. ii. 15. Heb. xi. 12.)

Ezekiel 33:25

Ye eat with the blood. Which was forbidden • several times in the law, as being a rite the heathens used’ in the sacrifices they offered to idols (whose worship is reproved in the very next words), as Dr. Spencer proves at large, deLegib. Hebraic, lib. ii. cap. 11. who brings many arguments to shew that the Hebrew phrase nal hadam, should be translated near the blood; in allusion to the idolatrous rite of pouring the blood of this slain beast into a vessel or pit, and then eating part of the sacrifice just by it. And lift up your eyes towards your idols.] See xviii. 6. And shed blood.] See ix. 9. xxii. 6. 9.

Ezekiel 33:26

Ye stand upon your sword. You make your strength the law of justice, according to the character given of ungodly men, AVisd. ii. 11. Dr. Spencer, in the forecited place, thinks that the expression alludes to a custom of the heathens, who put the blood of their sacrifices into a vessel or pit, in order to call up and consult evil spirits, and then stood with their swords drawn to keep the demons off from doing them any harm. Ye defile every one his neighbour’s wife.’] See Wisd. ii. 6. xxii. 11. •

Ezekiel 33:27

And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised. They shall not lie among those heathen heroes who died a natural death, and are laid in their graves with pomp and magnificence. (Compare this verse with Isa. xiv. 18, 19.) Which are gone down to hell, [or the grave; sec ver. 21.] with their weapons of tvar, &c] The prophet may possibly represent the future state of these tyrants and warriors, according to the popular notions received in the world, and describe their condition in the other life suitably to the character they bore in this. So Virgil describes his heroes in the Elysian fields, (iEncid. lib. vi.) " Quae gratia currum Armommque fuit vivis,— sequitur tellure reppstos." And they have laid their sivords under their heads.] Who were carried to their graves in state, and had their achievements and other ensigns of honour affixed to their monuments for perpetuating their memory. It has been the custom of all ages to adorn the sepulchres of heroes with their swords and other trophies of war. (Sec 1 Mac. xiiL 19.) So Virgil describes Misenus’s tomb, (iEn. vi.) " Ingcnti mole sepulchrum Imponit, suaque arma viro."’ But their iniquity shall be upon their bones, &c] Their death shall carry in it plain tokens of their sins, and of God’s vengeance pursuing them for their cruelty. They that are in the wastes (see ver. 24.) shall fall by the sword, &c] The three judgments here mentioned, together with famine, are often threatened as the last and finishing strokes of God’s vengeance upon the Jewish nation. (See v. 12. 17. vi. 12. xiv. 21. Jer. xv. 3.) And they that be in the forts, and in the caves, shall die of the pestilence.] Compare Judg. vi. 2. The caves here mentioned were a sort’ of strong holds formed by nature in the rocks, or cut out under the tops of mountains: they were so large, that men might secure themselves, their families, and their goods, in them. So David is said to abide in strong holds, and remain in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph, ISam.xxiii. 14. Such was the cave of Adullam, where David had his residence for some time, and was there resorted to by his relations, (1 Sam. xxii. 1.) and at another time by his principal officers, (2 Sam. xxiii. 15.) [Such a cave is mentioned by Dio, called Ceria, belonging to the Gctse, whither they fled, and carried their moveables, for fear of Crassus: lib. Ii. ad fin.]

Ezekiel 33:28

Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, &c. See ver. 19. For Ituill lay the land most desolate.] Sec Jer. xliv. 2. 6. 22. and xxxvi. 34, 35. of this prophecy. TJie pomp of her strength shall cease.] AH that riches and magnificence wherein they pleased themselves, as that which gave them strength and reputation in the eyes of the world: (see vii. 24.) or the phrase may denote the beauty and glory of the temple, which they looked upon as their chiefest strength and protection. (See xxiv. 21.) Digitized by Microsome GO [chap. XXXIV And the mountains of Israel shall be desolate.] See vi. 2.

Ezekiel 33:29

There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, &c. Of whose destruction Ezekiel prophesied, xxv. 12. Tlien shall they know that I am the Lord, &c.J See vi. 7. Vcr. 30. The children of thy people (those of the captivity) are still talking against thee, Sec] Or rather, of thee, as the LXX. rightly render it; for ivith their mouth they shelved much love, as it follows in the next verse. By the walls, and in the doors of their houses.’] Both in their public places of concourse, and in their private meetings. Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.] These were such as drew nigh to God with their mouths, but their hearts were far from him; as Isaiah describes their hypocrisy, xxix. 13.

Ezekiel 33:30

There be the princes of the north all of them, and the Zidonians. By the princes of the north, may probably be understood the Tynans and their allies, (see xxvi* 16.) joined here with the Zidonians their near neighbours, as they are put together in this prophecy, chap, xxviii. as sharers in the same destruction. *Some by the princes of the north understand Meshech, Tubal, and other northern nations: see xxxviii. 6. 15. xxxix. 2. whose destruction, is foretold in those chapters.

Ezekiel 33:31

Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over his multitude. As it affords some relief to calamitous persons to sec others in the same condition with themselves. (See xxxi. 16.) They come unto thee as the people cometh.] Or, as disciples flock to their teachers. So the Chaldee paraphrase explains it. And they sit before thee as my people.] See the note on viii. 1. For with their mouth they shew much love.] They make loves, or jests, as our margin reads out of the Hebrew; which some interpreters understand, as if they ridiculed the prophet’s words, or turned them into burlesque; so the Vulgar Latin renders it, In canticum oris sui vertunt. But by comparing this with the following verse, where the same word nagabim is spoken of a song or musical tune, we may rather understand the phrase to this sense, That they were delighted with the prophet’s harmonious voice, or taking eloquence, but would not make the proper use of what he said for the correcting their evil manners.

Ezekiel 33:32

For I have caused my terror in the land of the living, &c. As these kings and nations have been a terror to the world whilst they were in it, (ver. 24, &c.) so I will be now a terror to them: and especially to Pharaoh and his people, in making them a remarkable example of my vengeance. And, lo, thou art to them as a very lovely song f &c] They come to hear thee for their entertainment, not for their edification, as many go to hear famed and eloquent preachers. St. Augustine tells us, that he himself was such an auditor of St. Ambrose, before he was converted, (Confess, lib. v. cap. 13.) u Studiosc audiebam disputantem in populo, non attentione qua debui, sed tanquam explorator facundioe ejus, utrum conveniret famae suae. — Verbis ejus suspendebar intentus, rerum autem incuriosus et contemptor astabam." I heard him diligently when he discoursed in the congregation, but not with that application of mind which I ought to have done; but I came rather out of airiosity to know whether his eloquence was answerable to that opinion the world had of him. I was very attentive to his style, and charmed with the siveetness of his delivery, but had little value or concern for the subjects he treated of.

Ezekiel 33:33

And when this comes to pass, lo,it will come, &c. Or rather, lo, it is come; for so the same phrase is translated, vi. 2. 6. 10. the verb being in the present tense. When you see my prophecies concerning the destruction of Jerusalem actually brought to pass, as it appears they are at this time, (see ver. 21.) then you will be convinced of the truth of my mission, and of your own inexcusable crime in despising my predictions. (See xxiv. 27.)