{"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":27,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["situate at the entry of the sea--literally, plural, \"entrances,\" that is, ports or havens; referring to the double port of Tyre, at which vessels entered round the north and south ends of the island, so that ships could find a ready entrance from whatever point the wind might blow (compare Eze 28:2). \n\nmerchant of . . . people for many isles--that is, a mercantile emporium of the peoples of many seacoasts, both from the east and from the west (Isa 23:3), \"a mart of nations.\" \n\nof perfect beauty-- (Eze 28:12).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["Tyre, in consonance with her seagirt position, separated by a strait of half a mile from the mainland, is described as a ship built of the best material, and manned with the best mariners and skilful pilots, but at last wrecked in tempestuous seas (Eze 27:26).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["Senir--the Amorite name of Hermon, or the southern height of Anti-libanus (Deu 3:9); the Sidonian name was Sirion. \"All thy . . . boards\"; dual in Hebrew, \"double-boards,\" namely, placed in a double order on the two sides of which the ship consisted [VATABLUS]. Or, referring to the two sides or the two ends, the prow and the stern, which every ship has [MUNSTER]. \n\ncedars--most suited for \"masts,\" from their height and durability.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["Bashan--celebrated for its oaks, as Lebanon was for its cedars. \n\nthe company of . . . Ashurites--the most skilful workmen summoned from Assyria. Rather, as the Hebrew orthography requires, \"They have made thy (rowing) benches of ivory inlaid in the daughter of cedars\" [MAURER], or, the best boxwood. FAIRBAIRN, with BOCHART, reads the Hebrew two words as one: \"Thy plankwork (deck: instead of 'benches,' as the Hebrew is singular) they made ivory with boxes.\" English Version, with MAURER'S correction, is simpler. \n\nChittim--Cyprus and Macedonia, from which, PLINY tells us, the best boxwood came [GROTIUS].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["broidered . . . sail--The ancients embroidered their sails often at great expense, especially the Egyptians, whose linen, still preserved in mummies, is of the finest texture. \n\nElishah--Greece; so called from Elis, a large and ancient division of Peloponnesus. Pausanias says that the best of linen was produced in it, and in no other part of Greece; called by HOMER, Alisium. \n\nthat which covered thee--thy awning.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["Arvad--a small island and city near Phœnicia, now Ruad: its inhabitants are still noted for seafaring habits. \n\nthy wise men, O Tyrus . . . thy pilots--While the men of Arvad, once thy equals (Gen 10:18), and the Sidonians, once thy superiors, were employed by thee in subordinate positions as \"mariners,\" thou madest thine own skilled men alone to be commanders and pilots. Implying the political and mercantile superiority of Tyre.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["Gebal--a Phœnician city and region between Beirut and Tripoils, famed for skilled workmen (Kg1 5:18, Margin; Psa 83:7). \n\ncalkers--stoppers of chinks in a vessel: carrying on the metaphor as to Tyre. \n\noccupy thy merchandise--that is, to exchange merchandise with thee.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["Persia . . . Phut--warriors from the extreme east and west. \n\nLud--the Lydians of Asia Minor, near the Meander, famed for archery (Isa 66:19); rather than those of Ethiopia, as the Lydians of Asia Minor form a kind of intermediate step between Persia and Phut (the Libyans about Cyrene, shielded warriors, Jer 46:9, descended from Phut, son of Ham). \n\nhanged . . . shield . . . comeliness--Warriors hanged their accoutrements on the walls for ornament. Divested of the metaphor, it means that it was an honor to thee to have so many nations supplying thee with hired soldiers.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["Gammadims--rather, as the Tyrians were Syro-Phœnicians, from a Syriac root, meaning daring, \"men of daring\" [LUDOVICUS DE DIEU]. It is not likely the keeping of watch \"in the towers\" would have been entrusted to foreigners. Others take it from a Hebrew root, \"a dagger,\" or short sword (Jdg 3:16), short-swordsmen.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["Tarshish--Tartessus in Spain, a country famed for various metals, which were exported to Tyre. Much of the \"tin\" probably was conveyed by the Phœnicians from Cornwall to Tarshish. \n\ntraded in thy fairs--\"did barter with thee\" [FAIRBAIRN]; from a root, \"to leave,\" something left in barter for something else.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["Javan--the Ionians or Greeks: for the Ionians of Asia Minor were the first Greeks with whom the Asiatics came in contact. \n\nTubal . . . Meshech--the Tibareni and Moschi, in the mountain region between the Black and Caspian Seas. \n\npersons of men--that is, as slaves. So the Turkish harems are supplied with female slaves from Circassia and Georgia. \n\nvessels--all kinds of articles. Superior weapons are still manufactured in the Caucasus region.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["Togarmah--Armenia: descended from Gomer (Gen 10:3). Their mountainous region south of the Caucasus was celebrated for horses. \n\nhorsemen--rather, \"riding-horses,\" as distinct from \"horses\" for chariots [FAIRBAIRN].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["Dedan--near the Persian Sea: thus an avenue to the commerce of India. Not the Dedan in Arabia (Eze 27:20), as the names in the context here prove, but the Dedan sprung from Cush [BOCHART], (Gen 10:7). \n\nmerchandise of thine hand--that is, were dependent on thee for trade [FAIRBAIRN]; came to buy the produce of thy hands [GROTIUS]. \n\na present--literally, \"a reward in return\"; a price paid for merchandise. \n\nhorns of ivory--Ivory is so termed from its resemblance to horns. The Hebrew word for \"ivory\" means \"tooth\"; so that they cannot have mistaken ivory as if coming from the horns of certain animals, instead of from the tusks of the elephant.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["\"Syria was thy mart for the multitude,\" &c. For \"Syria\" the Septuagint reads \"Edom.\" But the Syrians were famed as merchants. \n\noccupied--old English for \"traded\"; so in Luk 19:13. \n\nagate--Others translate, \"ruby,\" \"chalcedony,\" or \"pearls.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["Minnith . . . Pannag--names of places in Israel famed for good wheat, wherewith Tyre was supplied (Kg1 5:9, Kg1 5:11; Ezr 3:7; Act 12:20); Minnith was formerly an Ammonite city (Jdg 11:33). \"Pannag\" is identified by GROTIUS with \"Phenice,\" the Greek name for \"Canaan.\" \"They traded . . . wheat,\" that is, they supplied thy market with wheat. \n\nbalm--or, \"balsam.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["Helbon--or Chalybon, in Syria, now Aleppo; famed for its wines; the Persian monarchs would drink no other.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["Dan also--None of the other places enumerated commence with the copula (\"also\"; Hebrew, ve). Moreover, the products specified, \"cassia, calamus,\" apply rather to places in Arabia. Therefore, FAIRBAIRN translates, \"Vedan\"; perhaps the modern Aden, near the straits of Bab-el-man-deb. GROTIUS refers it to Dana, mentioned by PTOLEMY. \n\nJavan--not the Greeks of Europe or Asia Minor, but of a Greek settlement in Arabia. \n\ngoing to and fro--rather, as Hebrew admits, \"from Uzal.\" This is added to \"Javan,\" to mark which Javan is meant (Gen 10:27). The metropolis of Arabia Felix, or Yemen; called also Sanaa [BOCHART]. English Version gives a good sense, thus: All peoples, whether near as the Israelite \"Dan,\" or far as the Greeks or \"Javan,\" who were wont to \"go to and fro\" from their love of traffic, frequented thy marts, bringing bright iron, &c., these products not being necessarily represented as those of Dan or Javan. \n\nbright iron--Yemen is still famed for its sword blades. \n\ncalamus--aromatic cane.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["Dedan--in Arabia; distinct from the Dedan in Eze 27:15 (see on Eze 27:15). Descended from Abraham and Keturah (Gen 25:3) [BOCHART]. \n\nprecious clothes--splendid coverlets.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":21,"content":["Arabia--the nomadic tribes of Arabia, among which Kedar was pre-eminent. \n\noccupied with thee--literally, \"of thy hand,\" that is, they traded with thee for wares, the product of thy hand (see on Eze 27:15-16).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":22,"content":["Sheba . . . Raamah--in Arabia. \n\nchief of . . . spices--that is, best spices (Deu 33:15). Obtained from India and conveyed in caravans to Tyre.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":23,"content":["Haran--the dwelling-place of Abraham in Mesopotamia, after he moved from Ur (Gen 11:31). \n\nCanneh--Calneh, an Assyrian city on the Tigris; the Ctesiphon of the Greeks (Gen 10:10). \n\nEden--probably a region in Babylonia (see Gen 2:8). \n\nChilmad--a compound; the place designated by PTOLEMY \"Gaala of Media.\" The Chaldee version interprets it of Media. HENDERSON refers it to Carmanda, which XENOPHON describes as a large city beyond the Euphrates.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["all sorts of things--Hebrew, \"perfections\"; exquisite articles of finery [GROTIUS]. \n\nclothes--rather, \"mantles\" or \"cloaks\"; literally, \"wrappings.\" For \"blue,\" HENDERSON translates, \"purple.\" \n\nchests of rich apparel, bound with cords--treasures or repositories of damask stuffs, consisting of variegated threads woven together in figures [HENDERSON]. \n\ncedar--The \"chests\" were made of cedar, in order to last the longer; and it also keeps off decay and has a sweet odor.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":25,"content":["sing of thee--personification; flay great merchant ships were palpable proofs of thy greatness. Others translate from a different Hebrew root, \"were thy (mercantile) travellers.\" FAIRBAIRN translates, \"Were thy walls.\" But the parallelism to \"thou wast glorious\" favors English Version, \"sing of thee.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":26,"content":["In contrast to her previous greatness, her downfall is here, by a sudden transition, depicted under the image of a vessel foundering at sea. \n\neast wind--blowing from Lebanon, the most violent wind in the Mediterranean (Psa 48:7). A Levanter, as it is called. Nebuchadnezzar is meant. The \"sea\" is the war with him which the \"rowers,\" or rulers of the state vessel, had \"brought\" it into, to its ruin.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":27,"content":["The detailed enumeration implies the utter completeness of the ruin. \n\nand in all thy company--\"even with all thy collected multitude\" [HENDERSON].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":28,"content":["The suburbs--the buildings of Tyre on the adjoining continent.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":29,"content":["So on the downfall of spiritual Babylon (Rev 18:17, &c.). \n\nshall stand upon . . . land--being cast out of their ships in which heretofore they prided themselves.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":30,"content":["against thee--rather, \"concerning thee.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":31,"content":["utterly bald--literally, \"bald with baldness.\" The Phœnician custom in mourning; which, as being connected with heathenish superstitions, was forbidden to Israel (Deu 14:1). \n\ntake up--lift up. \n\nthe destroyed--a destroyed one. Literally, (as opposed to its previous bustle of thronging merchants and mariners, Eze 27:27), \"one brought to death's stillness.\" \n\nin . . . midst of . . . sea--insular Tyre.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":33,"content":["out of the seas--brought on shore out of the ships. \n\nfilledst--didst supply plentifully with wares. \n\nenrich . . . kings--with the custom dues levied on the wares.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":34,"content":["In the time when . . . shall . . . shall--Now that thou art broken (wrecked) . . . thy merchandise . . . are fallen [MAURER].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":35,"content":["isles--seacoasts.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":36,"content":["hiss--with astonishment; as in Kg1 9:8.\n\n\n\n\nNext: Ezekiel Chapter 28\n\n"]}],"introduction":"TYRE'S FORMER GREATNESS, SUGGESTING A LAMENTATION OVER HER SAD DOWNFALL. (Eze. 27:1-36)\n\nlamentation--a funeral dirge, eulogizing her great attributes, to make the contrast the greater between her former and her latter state.\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/27.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":27},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/28.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":28},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/26.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":26},"numberOfVerses":33}