{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"EZK","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Ezekiel","commonName":"Ezekiel","introduction":"The name Ezekiel means \"(whom) God will strengthen\" [GESENIUS]; or, \"God will prevail\" [ROSENMULLER]. His father was Buzi (Eze 1:3), a priest, and he probably exercised the priestly office himself at Jerusalem, previous to his captivity, as appears from the matured priestly character to be seen in his prophecies, a circumstance which much increased his influence with his captive fellow countrymen at Babylon. Tradition represents Sarera as the land of his nativity. His call to prophesy was in the fifth year from the date of his being carried away with Jehoiachin (see Kg2 24:11-15) by Nebuchadnezzar, 599 B.C. The best portions of the people seem to have been among the first carried away (Eze 11:16; Jer 24:2-7-8, Jer 24:10). The ungodly were willing to do anything to remain in their native land; whereas the godly believed the prophets and obeyed the first summons to surrender, as the only path of safety. These latter, as adhering to the theocratic principle, were among the earliest to be removed by the Chaldeans, who believed that, if they were out of the way, the nation would fall to pieces of itself. They were despised by their brethren in the Holy Land not yet captives, as having no share in the temple sacrifices. Thus Ezekiel's sphere of labor was one happier and less impeded by his countrymen than that of Jeremiah at home. The vicinity of the river Chebar, which flows into the Euphrates near Circeslum, was the first scene of his prophecies (Eze 1:1). Tel-Abib there (now Thallaba) was his place of residence (Eze 3:15), whither the elders used to come to inquire as to God's messages through him. They were eager to return to Jerusalem, but he taught them that they must first return to their God. He continued to prophesy for at least twenty-two years, that is, to the twenty-seventh year of the captivity (Eze 29:17), and probably remained with the captives by the Chebar the rest of his life. A treatise, falsely attributed to EPIPHANIUS, states a tradition that he was killed at Babylon by a prince of his people whom he had reproved for idolatry.\n\nHe was contemporary with Jeremiah and Daniel. The former had prophesied for thirty-four years before Ezekiel, and continued to do so for six or seven years after him. The call of Ezekiel followed the very next year after the communication of Jeremiah's predictions to Babylon (Jer 51:59), and was divinely intended as a sequel to them. Daniel's predictions are mostly later than Ezekiel's but his piety and wisdom had become proverbial in the early part of Ezekiel's ministry (Eze 14:14, Eze 14:16; Eze 28:3). They much resemble one another, especially in the visions and grotesque images. It is a remarkable proof of genuineness that in Ezekiel no prophecies against Babylon occur among those directed against the enemies of the covenant-people. Probably he desired not to give needless offence to the government under which he lived. The effect of his labors is to be seen in the improved character of the people towards the close of the captivity, and their general cessation from idolatry and a return to the law. It was little more than thirty years after the close of his labors when the decree of the Jews' restoration was issued. His leading characteristic is realizing, determined energy; this admirably adapted him for opposing the \"rebellious house\" \"of stubborn front and hard heart,\" and for maintaining the cause of God's Church among his countrymen in a foreign land, when the external framework had fallen to pieces. His style is plain and simple. His conceptions are definite, and the details even of the symbolical and enigmatical parts are given with lifelike minuteness. The obscurity lies in the substance, not in the form, of his communications. The priestly element predominates in his prophecies, arising from his previous training as a priest. He delights to linger about the temple and to find in its symbolical forms the imagery for conveying his instructions. This was divinely ordered to satisfy the spiritual want felt by the people in the absence of the outward temple and its sacrifices. In his images he is magnificent, though austere and somewhat harsh. He abounds in repetitions, not for ornament, but for force and weight. Poetical parallelism is not found except in a few portions, as in the seventh, twenty-first, twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth through thirty-first chapters. His great aim was to stimulate the dormant minds of the Jews. For this end nothing was better suited than the use of mysterious symbols expressed in the plainest words. The superficial, volatile, and wilfully unbelieving would thereby be left to judicial blindness (Isa 6:10; Mat 13:11-13, &c.); whereas the better-disposed would be awakened to a deeper search into the things of God by the very obscurity of the symbols. Inattention to this divine purpose has led the modern Jews so to magnify this obscurity as to ordain that no one shall read this book till he has passed his thirtieth year.\n\nRABBI HANANIAS is said to have satisfactorily solved the difficulties (Mischna) which were alleged against its canonicity. Ecclesiasticus 49:8 refers to it, and JOSEPHUS [Antiquities, 10.5.1]. It is mentioned as part of the canon in MELITO'S catalogue [EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 4.26]; also in ORIGEN, JEROME, and the Talmud. The oneness of tone throughout and the repetition of favorite expressions exclude the suspicion that separate portions are not genuine. The earlier portion, the first through the thirty-second chapters, which mainly treats of sin and judgment, is a key to interpret the latter portion, which is more hopeful and joyous, but remote in date. Thus a unity and an orderly progressive character are imparted to the whole. The destruction of Jerusalem is the central point. Previous to this he calls to repentance and warns against blind confidence in Egypt (Eze 17:15-17; compare Jer 37:7) or other human stay. After it he consoles the captives by promising them future deliverance and restoration. His prophecies against foreign nations stand between these two great divisions, and were uttered in the interval between the intimation that Nebuchadnezzar was besieging Jerusalem and the arrival of the news that he had taken it (Eze 33:21). HAVERNICK marks out nine sections:--(1) Ezekiel's call to prophesy (Eze. 1:1-3:15). (2) Symbolical predictions of the destruction of Jerusalem (Eze. 3:16-7:27). (3) A year and two months later a vision of the temple polluted by Tammuz or Adonis worship; God's consequent scattering of fire over the city and forsaking of the temple to reveal Himself to an inquiring people in exile; happier and purer times to follow (Eze. 8:1-11:25). (4) Exposure of the particular sins prevalent in the several classes--priests, prophets, and princes (Eze. 12:1-19:14). (5) A year later the warning of judgment for national guilt repeated with greater distinctness as the time drew nearer (Eze. 20:1-23:49). (6) Two years and five months later--the very day on which Ezekiel speaks--is announced as the day of the beginning of the siege; Jerusalem shall be overthrown (Eze. 24:1-27). (7) Predictions against foreign nations during the interval of his silence towards his own people; if judgment begins at the house of God, much more will it visit the ungodly world (Eze. 25:1-32:32). Some of these were uttered much later than others, but they all began to be given after the fall of Jerusalem. (8) In the twelfth year of the captivity, when the fugitives from Jerusalem (Eze 33:21) had appeared in Chaldea, he foretells better times and the re-establishment of Israel and the triumph of God's kingdom on earth over its enemies, Seir, the heathen, and Gog (Eze. 33:1-39:29). (9) After an interval of thirteen years the closing vision of the order and beauty of the restored kingdom (Eze. 40:1-48:35). The particularity of details as to the temple and its offerings rather discountenances the view of this vision being only symbolical, and not at all literal. The event alone can clear it up. At all events it has not yet been fulfilled; it must be future. Ezekiel was the only prophet (in the strict sense) among the Jews at Babylon. Daniel was rather a seer than a prophet, for the spirit of prophecy was given him to qualify him, not for a spiritual office, but for disclosing future events. His position in a heathen king's palace fitted him for revelations of the outward relations of God's kingdom to the kingdoms of the world, so that his book is ranked by the Jews among the Hagiographa or \"Sacred Writings,\" not among the prophetical Scriptures. On the other hand, Ezekiel was distinctively a prophet, and one who had to do with the inward concerns of the divine kingdom. As a priest, when sent into exile, his service was but transferred from the visible temple at Jerusalem to the spiritual temple in Chaldea. \n\n\n\nNext: Ezekiel Chapter 1\n\n","order":26,"numberOfChapters":48,"sha256":"77a36f7a59a5d4db239b980af31f7a75c9b226da690c4d0154330b6770f5cfc5","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":48,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/48.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":48},"totalNumberOfVerses":932},"chapter":{"number":12,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["stuff for removing--rather, \"an exile's outfit,\" the articles proper to a person going as an exile, a staff and knapsack, with a supply of food and clothing; so \"instruments of captivity,\" Jer 46:19, Margin, that is, the needful equipments for it. His simple announcements having failed, he is symbolically to give them an ocular demonstration conveyed by a word-painting of actions performed in vision. \n\nconsider-- (Deu 32:29).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["by day--in broad daylight, when all can see thee. \n\nat even--not contradicting the words \"by day.\" The baggage was to be sent before by day, and Ezekiel was to follow at nightfall [GROTIUS]; or, the preparations were to be made by day, the actual departure was to be effected at night [HENDERSON]. \n\nas they that go forth into captivity--literally, \"as the goings forth of the captivity,\" that is, of the captive band of exiles, namely, amid the silent darkness: typifying Zedekiah's flight by night on the taking of the city (Jer 39:4; Jer 52:7).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["Dig--as Zedekiah was to escape like one digging through a wall, furtively to effect an escape (Eze 12:12). \n\ncarry out--namely, \"thy stuff\" (Eze 12:4). \n\nthereby--by the opening in the wall. Zedekiah escaped \"by the gate betwixt the two walls\" (Jer 39:4).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["in . . . twilight--rather, \"in the dark.\" So in Gen 15:17, \"it\" refers to \"thy stuff.\" \n\ncover thy face--as one who muffles his face, afraid of being recognized by anyone meeting him. So the Jews and Zedekiah should make their exit stealthily and afraid to look around, so hurried should be their fight [CALVIN]. \n\nsign--rather, \"a portent,\" namely, for evil.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["What doest thou?--They ask not in a docile spirit, but making a jest of his proceedings.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["burden--that is, weighty oracle. \n\nthe prince--The very man Zedekiah, in whom they trust for safety, is to be the chief sufferer. JOSEPHUS [Antiquities, 10.7] reports that Ezekiel sent a copy of this prophecy to Zedekiah. As Jeremiah had sent a letter to the captives at the Chebar, which was the means of calling forth at first the agency of Ezekiel, so it was natural for Ezekiel to send a message to Jerusalem confirming the warnings of Jeremiah. The prince, however, fancying a contradiction between Eze 12:13; \"he shall not see Babylon,\" and Jer 24:8-9, declaring he should be carried to Babylon, believed neither. Seeming discrepancies in Scripture on deeper search prove to be hidden harmonies.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["sign--portent of evil to come (Eze 24:27; Zac 3:8, Margin). Fulfilled (Kg2 25:1-7; Jer 52:1-11).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["prince . . . among them--literally, \"that is in the midst of them,\" that is, on whom the eyes of all are cast, and \"under whose shadow\" they hope to live (Lam 4:20). \n\nshall bear--namely, his \"stuff for removing\"; his equipments for his journey. \n\ncover his face, that he see not the ground--See on Eze 12:6; the symbol in Eze 12:6 is explained in this verse. He shall muffle his face so as not to be recognized: a humiliation for a king!\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["My net--the Chaldean army. He shall be inextricably entangled in it, as in the meshes of a net. It is God's net (Job 19:6). Babylon was God's instrument (Isa 10:5). Called \"a net\" (Hab 1:14-16). \n\nbring him to Babylon . . . ; yet shall he not see it--because he should be deprived of sight before he arrived there (Jer 52:11).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["all . . . about him--his satellites: his bodyguard. \n\nbands--literally, \"the wings\" of an army (Isa 8:8). \n\ndraw out . . . sword after them--(See on Eze 5:2; Eze 5:12).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["I will leave a few . . . that they may declare . . . abominations--God's purpose in scattering a remnant of Jews among the Gentiles; namely, not only that they themselves should be weaned from idolatry (see Eze 12:15), but that by their own word, as also by their whole state as exiles, they should make God's righteousness manifest among the Gentiles, as vindicated in their punishment for their sins (compare Isa 43:10; Zac 8:13).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["Symbolical representation of the famine and fear with which they should eat their scanty morsel, in their exile, and especially at the siege.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["people of the land--the Jews \"in the land\" of Chaldea who thought themselves miserable as being exiles and envied the Jews left in Jerusalem as fortunate. \n\nland of Israel--contrasted with \"the people in the land\" of Chaldea. So far from being fortunate as the exiles in Chaldea regarded them, the Jews in Jerusalem are truly miserable, for the worst is before them, whereas the exiles have escaped the miseries of the coming siege. \n\nland . . . desolate from all that is therein--literally \"that the land (namely, Judea) may be despoiled of the fulness thereof\"; emptied of the inhabitants and abundance of flocks and corn with which it was filled. \n\nbecause of . . . violence-- (Psa 107:34).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["the cities--left in Judea after the destruction of Jerusalem.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":22,"content":["proverb--The infidel scoff, that the threatened judgment was so long in coming, it would not come at all, had by frequent repetition come to be a \"proverb\" with them. This skeptical habit contemporary prophets testify to (Jer 17:15; Jer 20:7; Zep 1:12). Ezekiel, at the Chebar, thus sympathizes with Jeremiah and strengthens his testimony at Jerusalem. The tendency to the same scoff showed itself in earlier times, but had not then developed into a settled \"proverb\" (Isa 5:19; Amo 5:18). It shall again be the characteristic of the last times, when \"faith\" shall be regarded as an antiquated thing (Luk 18:8), seeing that it remains stationary, whereas worldly arts and sciences progress, and when the \"continuance of all things from creation\" will be the argument against the possibility of their being suddenly brought to a standstill by the coming of the Lord (Isa 66:5; Pe2 3:3-4). The very long-suffering of God, which ought to lead men to repentance, is made an argument against His word (Ecc 8:11; Amo 6:3). \n\ndays . . . prolonged . . . vision faileth--their twofold argument: (1) The predictions shall not come to pass till long after our time. (2) They shall fail and prove vain shadows. God answers both in Eze 12:23, Eze 12:25.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":23,"content":["effect--literally, \"the word,\" namely, fulfilled; that is, the effective fulfilment of whatever the prophets have spoken is at hand.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["no more . . . vain vision . . . flattering divination--All those false prophets (Lam 2:14), who \"flattered\" the people with promises of peace and safety, shall be detected and confounded by the event itself.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":25,"content":["word . . . shall come to pass--in opposition to their scoff \"the vision faileth\" (Eze 12:22). The repetition, \"I will speak . . . speak,\" &c. (or as FAIRBAIRN, \"For I, Jehovah, will speak whatever word I shall speak, and it shall be done\") implies that whenever God speaks, the effect must follow; for God, who speaks, is not divided in Himself (Eze 12:28; Isa 55:11; Dan 9:12; Luk 21:33). \n\nno more prolonged--in opposition to the scoff (Eze 12:22), \"The days are prolonged.\" \n\nin your days--while you are living (compare Mat 24:34).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":27,"content":["Not a mere repetition of the scoff (Eze 12:22); there the scoffers asserted that the evil was so often threatened and postponed, it must have no reality; here formalists do not go so far as to deny that a day of evil is coming, but assert it is still far off (Amo 6:3). The transition is easy from this carnal security to the gross infidelity of the former class.\n\n\n\n\nNext: Ezekiel Chapter 13\n\n"]}],"introduction":"EZEKIEL'S TYPICAL MOVING TO EXILE: PROPHECY OF ZEDEKIAH'S CAPTIVITY AND PRIVATION OF SIGHT: THE JEWS' UNBELIEVING SURMISE AS TO THE DISTANCE OF THE EVENT REPROVED. (Eze. 12:1-28)\n\neyes to see, and see not, . . . ears to hear, and hear not--fulfilling the prophecy of Deu 29:4, here quoted by Ezekiel (compare Isa 6:9; Jer 5:21). Ezekiel needed often to be reminded of the people's perversity, lest he should be discouraged by the little effect produced by his prophecies. Their \"not seeing\" is the result of perversity, not incapacity. They are wilfully blind. The persons most interested in this prophecy were those dwelling at Jerusalem; and it is among them that Ezekiel was transported in spirit, and performed in vision, not outwardly, the typical acts. At the same time, the symbolical prophecy was designed to warn the exiles at Chebar against cherishing hopes, as many did in opposition to God's revealed word, of returning to Jerusalem, as if that city was to stand; externally living afar off, their hearts dwelt in that corrupt and doomed capital.\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/12.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":12},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/13.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":13},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/11.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":11},"numberOfVerses":19}