{"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":17,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["eagle--the king of birds. The literal Hebrew is, \"the great eagle.\" The symbol of the Assyrian supreme god, Nisroch; so applied to \"the great king\" of Babylon, his vicegerent on earth (Jer 48:40; Jer 49:22). His \"wings\" are his great forces. Such symbols were familiar to the Jews, who saw them portrayed on the great buildings of Babylon; such as are now seen in the Assyrian remains. \n\nlong-winged--implying the wide extent of his empire. \n\nfull of feathers--when they have been renewed after moulting; and so in the full freshness of renovated youth (Psa 103:5; Isa 40:31). Answering to the many peoples which, as tributaries, constituted the strength of Babylon: \n\ndivers colours--the golden eagle, marked with star-like spots, supposed to be the largest of eagles [BOCHART]. Answering to the variety of languages, habits, and costumes of the peoples subject to Babylon. \n\ncame unto Lebanon--continuing the metaphor: as the eagle frequents mountains, not cities. The temple at Jerusalem was called \"Lebanon\" by the Jews [EUSEBIUS], because its woodwork was wholly of cedars of Lebanon. \"The mountain of the Lord's house\" (Isa 2:2). Jerusalem, however, is chiefly meant, the chief seat of civil honor, as Lebanon was of external elevation. \n\ntook the highest branch--King Jeconiah, then but eighteen years old, and many of the chiefs and people with him (Kg2 24:8, Kg2 24:12-16). The Hebrew for \"highest branch\" is, properly, the fleece-like tuft at the top of the tree. (So in Eze 31:3-14). The cedar, as a tall tree, is the symbol of kingly elevation (compare Dan 4:10-12).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["land of traffic . . . merchants--Babylon (Kg2 24:15-16), famous for its transport traffic on the Tigris and Euphrates. Also, by its connection with the Persian Gulf, it carried on much commerce with India.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["seed of the land--not a foreign production, but one native in the region; a son of the soil, not a foreigner: Zedekiah, uncle of Jehoiachin, of David's family. \n\nin a fruitful field--literally, a \"field of seed\"; that is, fit for propagating and continuing the seed of the royal family. \n\nas a willow--derived from a Hebrew root, \"to overflow,\" from its fondness for water (Isa 44:4). Judea was \"a land of brooks of water and fountains\" (Deu 8:7-9; compare Joh 3:23).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["vine of low stature--not now, as before, a stately \"cedar\"; the kingdom of Judah was to be prosperous, but not elevated. \n\nbranches turned toward him--expressing the fealty of Zedekiah as a vassal looking up to Nebuchadnezzar, to whom Judah owed its peace and very existence as a separate state. The \"branches\" mean his sons and the other princes and nobles. \n\nThe roots . . . under him--The stability of Judah depended on Babylon. The repetition \"branches\" and \"springs\" is in order to mark the ingratitude of Zedekiah, who, not content with moderate prosperity, revolted from him to whom he had sworn allegiance.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["another . . . eagle--the king of Egypt (Eze 17:15). The \"long-winged\" of Eze 17:3 is omitted, as Egypt had not such a wide empire and large armies as Babylon. \n\nvine . . . bend . . . roots towards him--literally, \"thirsted after him with its roots\"; expressing the longings after Egypt in the Jewish heart. Zedekiah sought the alliance of Egypt, as though by it he could throw off his dependence on Babylon (Kg2 24:7, Kg2 24:20; Ch2 36:13; Jer 37:5, Jer 37:7). \n\nwater it by . . . furrows of . . . plantation--that is, in the garden beds (Judea) wherein (the vine) it was planted. Rather, \"by\" or \"out of the furrows.\" It refers to the waters of Egypt, the Nile being made to water the fields by means of small canals or \"furrows\"; these waters are the figure of the auxiliary forces wherewith Egypt tried to help Judah. See the same figure, Isa 8:7. But see on Eze 17:10, \"furrows where it grew.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["It was planted in a good soil--It was not want of the necessaries of life, nor oppression on the port of Nebuchadnezzar, which caused Zedekiah to revolt: it was gratuitous ambition, pride, and ingratitude.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["Shall it prosper?--Could it be that gratuitous treason should prosper? God will not allow it. \"It,\" that is, the vine. \n\nhe . . . pull up--that is, the first eagle, or Nebuchadnezzar. \n\nin all . . . leaves of her spring--that is, all its springing (sprouting) leaves. \n\nwithout great power or many--It shall not need all the forces of Babylon to destroy it; a small division of the army will suffice because God will deliver it into Nebuchadnezzar's hand (Jer 37:10).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["being planted--that is, \"though planted.\" \n\neast wind--The east wind was noxious to vegetation in Palestine; a fit emblem of Babylon, which came from the northeast. \n\nwither in . . . furrows where it grew--Zedekiah was taken at Jericho, on Jewish soil (Jer 52:8). \"It shall wither, although it has furrows from which it expects continual waterings\" [CALVIN], (Eze 19:12; Hos 13:15).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["Know ye not--He upbraided them with moral, leading to intellectual, stupidity. \n\nhath taken the king--Jeconiah or Jehoiachin (Kg2 24:11, Kg2 24:12-16).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["the king's seed--Zedekiah, Jeconiah's uncle. \n\ntaken . . . oath of him--swearing fealty as a vassal to Nebuchadnezzar (Ch2 36:13). \n\nalso taken the mighty--as hostages for the fulfilment of the covenant; whom, therefore, Zedekiah exposed to death by his treason.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["That the kingdom might be base--that is, low as to national elevation by being Nebuchadnezzar's dependent; but, at the same time, safe and prosperous, if faithful to the \"oath.\" Nebuchadnezzar dealt sincerely and openly in proposing conditions, and these moderate ones; therefore Zedekiah's treachery was the baser and was a counterpart to their treachery towards God.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["he rebelled--God permitted this because of His wrath against Jerusalem (Kg2 24:20). \n\nhorses--in which Egypt abounded and which were forbidden to Israel to seek from Egypt, or indeed to \"multiply\" at all (Deu 17:16; Isa 31:1, Isa 31:3; compare Isa 36:9). DIODORUS SICULUS [1.45] says that the whole region from Thebes to Memphis was filled with royal stalls, so that twenty thousand chariots with two horses in each could be furnished for war. \n\nShall he prosper?--The third time this question is asked, with an indignant denial understood (Eze 17:9-10). Even the heathen believed that breakers of an oath would not \"escape\" punishment.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["in the place where the king dwelleth--righteous retribution. He brought on himself in the worst form the evil which, in a mild form, he had sought to deliver himself from by perjured treachery, namely, vassalage (Eze 12:13; Jer 32:5; Jer 34:3; Jer 52:11).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["Pharaoh--Pharaoh-hophra (Jer 37:7; Jer 44:30), the successor of Necho (Kg2 23:29). \n\nNeither . . . make for him--literally, \"effect (anything) with him,\" that is, be of any avail to Zedekiah. Pharaoh did not act in concert with him, for he was himself compelled to retire to Egypt. \n\nby casting up mounts, &c.--So far from Pharaoh doing so for Jerusalem, this was what Nebuchadnezzar did against it (Jer 52:4). CALVIN MAURER, &c., refer it to Nebuchadnezzar, \"when Nebuchadnezzar shall cast up mounts.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["given his hand--in ratification of the oath (Kg2 10:15; Ezr 10:19), and also in token of subjection to Nebuchadnezzar (Ch1 29:24, Margin; Ch2 30:8, Margin; Lam 5:6).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["mine oath--The \"covenant\" being sworn in God's name was really His covenant; a new instance in relation to man of the treacherous spirit which had been so often betrayed in relation to God. God Himself must therefore avenge the violation of His covenant \"on the head\" of the perjurer (compare Psa 7:16).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["my net-- (Eze 12:13; Eze 32:3). God entraps him as he had tried to entrap others (Psa 7:15). This was spoken at least upwards of three years before the fall of Jerusalem (compare Eze 8:1, with Eze 20:1).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":21,"content":["all his fugitives--the soldiers that accompany him in his flight.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":22,"content":["When the state of Israel shall seem past recovery, Messiah, Jehovah Himself, will unexpectedly appear on the scene as Redeemer of His people (Isa 63:5). \n\nI . . . also--God opposes Himself to Nebuchadnezzar: \"He took of the seed of the land and planted it (Eze 17:3, Eze 17:5), so will I, but with better success than he had. The branch he plucked (Zedekiah) and planted, flourished but for a time, to perish at last; I will plant a scion of the same tree, the house of David, to whom the kingdom belongs by an everlasting covenant, and it shall be the shelter of the whole world, and shall be for ever.\" \n\nbranch--the peculiar title of Messiah (Zac 3:8; Zac 6:12; Isa 11:1; Isa 4:2; Jer 23:5; Jer 33:15). \n\na tender one--Zerubbabel never reigned as a universal (Eze 17:23) king, nor could the great things mentioned here be said of him, except as a type of Messiah. Messiah alone can be meant: originally \"a tender plant and root out of a dry ground\" (Isa 53:2); the beginning of His kingdom being humble, His reputed parents of lowly rank, though King David's lineal representatives; yet, even then, God here calls Him, in respect to His everlasting purpose, \"the highest . . . of the high\" (Psa 89:27). \n\nI . . . will plant it upon an high mountain--Zion; destined to be the moral center and eminence of grace and glory shining forth to the world, out-topping all mundane elevation. The kingdom, typically begun at the return from Babylon, and the rebuilding of the temple, fully began with Christ's appearing, and shall have its highest manifestation at His reappearing to reign on Zion, and thence over the whole earth (Psa 2:6, Psa 2:8; Isa 2:2-3; Jer 3:17).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":23,"content":["under it . . . all fowl--the Gospel \"mustard tree,\" small at first, but at length receiving all under its covert (Mat 13:32); the antithesis to Antichrist, symbolized by Assyria, of which the same is said (Eze 31:6), and Babylon (Dan 4:12). Antichrist assumes in mimicry the universal power really belonging to Christ.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["I . . . brought down the high--the very attribute given to God by the virgin mother of Him, under whom this was to be accomplished. \n\nhigh . . . low tree--that is, princes elevated . . . lowered. All the empires of the world, represented by Babylon, once flourishing (\"green\"), shall be brought low before the once depressed (\"dry\"), but then exalted, kingdom of Messiah and His people, the head of whom shall be Israel (Dan 2:44).\n\nVindication of God's moral government as to His retributive righteousness from the Jewish imputation of injustice, as if they were suffering, not for their own sin, but for that of their fathers. As in the seventeenth chapter he foretold Messiah's happy reign in Jerusalem, so now he warns them that its blessings can be theirs only upon their individually turning to righteousness.\n\n\n\n\nNext: Ezekiel Chapter 18\n\n"]}],"introduction":"PARABLE OF THE TWO GREAT EAGLES, AND THE CROPPING OF THE CEDAR OF LEBANON. JUDAH IS TO BE JUDGED FOR REVOLTING FROM BABYLON, WHICH HAD SET UP ZEDEKIAH INSTEAD OF JEHOIACHIN, TO EGYPT; GOD HIMSELF, AS THE RIVAL OF THE BABYLONIAN KING, IS TO PLANT THE GOSPEL CEDAR OF MESSIAH. (Eze. 17:1-24)\n\nriddle--a continued allegory, expressed enigmatically, requiring more than common acumen and serious thought. The Hebrew is derived from a root, \"sharp,\" that is, calculated to stimulate attention and whet the intellect. Distinct from \"fable,\" in that it teaches not fiction, but fact. Not like the ordinary riddle, designed to puzzle, but to instruct. The \"riddle\" is here identical with the \"parable,\" only that the former refers to the obscurity, the latter to the likeness of the figure to the thing compared.\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/17.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":17},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/18.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":18},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/16.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":16},"numberOfVerses":21}