{"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":34,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["fat--or, by differently pointing the Hebrew, \"milk\" [Septuagint]. Thus the repetition \"fat\" and \"fed\" is avoided: also the eating of \"fat\" would not probably be put before the \"killing\" of the sheep. The eating of sheep's or goats' milk as food (Deu 32:14; Pro 27:27) was unobjectionable, had not these shepherds milked them too often, and that without duly \"feeding\" them [BOCHART], (Isa 56:11). The rulers levied exorbitant tributes. \n\nkill . . . fed--kill the rich by false accusation so as to get possession of their property. \n\nfeed not . . . flock--take no care of the people (Joh 10:12).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["The diseased--rather, those weak from the effects of \"disease,\" as \"strengthened\" (that is, with due nourishment) requires [GROTIUS]. \n\nbroken--that is, fractures from wounds inflicted by the wolf. \n\nbrought again . . . driven away-- (Exo 23:4). Those \"driven away\" by the enemy into foreign lands through God's judgments are meant (Jer 23:3). A spiritual reformation of the state by the rulers would have turned away God's wrath, and \"brought again\" the exiles. The rulers are censured as chiefly guilty (though the people, too, were guilty), because they, who ought to have been foremost in checking the evil, promoted it. \n\nneither . . . sought . . . lost--Contrast the Good Shepherd's love (Luk 15:4). \n\nwith force . . . ruled-- (Exo 1:13-14). With an Egyptian bondage. The very thing forbidden by the law they did (Lev 25:43; compare Pe1 5:3).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["scattered, because . . . no shepherd--that is, none worthy of the name, though there were some called shepherds (Kg1 22:17; Mat 9:36). Compare Mat 26:31, where the sheep were scattered when the true Shepherd was smitten. God calls them \"My sheep\"; for they were not, as the shepherds treated them, their patrimony whereby to \"feed themselves.\" \n\nmeat to all . . . beasts--They became a prey to the Syrians, Ammon, Moab, and Assyria.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["every high hill--the scene of their idolatries sanctioned by the rulers. \n\nsearch . . . seek--rather, \"seek . . . search.\" The former is the part of the superior rulers to inquire after: to search out is the duty of the subordinate rulers [JUNIUS].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["I will require my flock-- (Heb 13:17), rather, \"I require,\" &c., for God already had begun to do so, punishing Zedekiah and the other princes severely (Jer 52:10).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["I . . . will . . . search--doing that which the so-called shepherds had failed to do, I being the rightful owner of the flock.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["in the day that he is among--in the midst of (Hebrew) His sheep that had been scattered. Referring to Messiah's second advent, when He shall be \"the glory in the midst of Israel\" (Zac 2:5). \n\nin the cloudy . . . day--the day of the nation's calamity (Joe 2:2).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["And I will bring them out from the people, &c.-- (Eze 28:25; Eze 36:24; Eze 37:21-22; Isa 65:9-10; Jer 23:3).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["good pasture-- (Psa 23:2). \n\nhigh mountains of Israel--In Eze 17:23; Eze 20:40, the phrase is \"the mountain of the height of Israel\" in the singular number. The reason for the difference is: there Ezekiel spoke of the central seat of the kingdom, Mount Zion, where the people met for the worship of Jehovah; here he speaks of the kingdom of Israel at large, all the parts of which are regarded as possessing a moral elevation.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["In contrast to the unfaithful shepherds (Eze 34:4). The several duties neglected by them I will faithfully discharge. \n\nfat . . . strong--that is, those rendered wanton by prosperity (Deu 32:15; Jer 5:28), who use their strength to oppress the weak. Compare Eze 34:20, \"the fat cattle\" (Isa 10:16). The image is from fat cattle that wax refractory. \n\nwith judgment--that is, justice and equity, as contrasted with the \"force\" and \"cruelty\" with which the unfaithful shepherds ruled the flock (Eze 34:4).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["you, . . . my flock--passing from the rulers to the people. \n\ncattle and cattle--rather, \"sheep and sheep\"; Margin, \"small cattle,\" or \"flocks of lambs and kids,\" that is, I judge between one class of citizens and another, so as to award what is right to each. He then defines the class about to be punitively \"judged,\" namely, \"the rams and he-goats,\" or \"great he-goats\" (compare Isa 14:9, Margin; Zac 10:3; Mat 25:32-33). They answer to \"the fat and strong,\" as opposed to the \"sick\" (Eze 34:16). The rich and ungodly of the people are meant, who imitated the bad rulers in oppressing their poorer brethren, as if it enhanced their own joys to trample on others' rights (Eze 34:18).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["Not content with appropriating to their own use the goods of others, they from mere wantonness spoiled what they did not use, so as to be of no use to the owners. \n\ndeep waters--that is, \"limpid,\" as deep waters are generally clear. GROTIUS explains the image as referring to the usuries with which the rich ground the poor (Eze 22:12; Isa 24:2).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["they eat--scantily. \n\nthey drink--sorrowfully.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["fat . . . lean--the rich oppressors . . . the humble poor.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":21,"content":["scattered them abroad--down to the time of the carrying away to Babylon [GROTIUS].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":22,"content":["After the restoration from Babylon, the Jews were delivered in some degree from the oppression, not only of foreigners, but also of their own great people (Neh. 5:1-19). The full and final fulfilment of this prophecy is future.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":23,"content":["set up--that is, raise up by divine appointment; alluding to the declaration of God to David, \"I will set up thy seed after thee\" (Sa2 7:12); and, \"Yet have I set My king on My holy hill of Zion\" (Psa 2:6; compare Act 2:30; Act 13:23). \n\none shepherd--literally, \"a Shepherd, one\": singularly and pre-eminently one: the only one of His kind, to whom none is comparable (Sol 5:10). The Lord Jesus refers to this prophecy (Joh 10:14), \"I am THE Good Shepherd.\" Also \"one\" as uniting in one the heretofore divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and also \"gathering together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and on earth\" (Eph 1:10); thus healing worse breaches than that between Israel and Judah (Col 1:20). \"God by Him reconciling all things unto Himself, whether things in earth or in heaven.\" \n\nDavid--the antitypical David, Messiah, of the seed of David, which no other king after the captivity was: who was fully, what David was only in a degree, \"the man after God's own heart.\" Also, David means beloved: Messiah was truly God's beloved Son (Isa 42:1; Mat 3:17). Shepherd means King, rather than religious instructor; in this pre-eminently He was the true David, who was the Shepherd King (Luk 1:32-33). Messiah is called \"David\" in Isa 55:3-4; Jer 30:9; Hos 3:5.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["my servant--implying fitness for ruling in the name of God, not pursuing a self-chosen course, as other kings, but acting as the faithful administrator of the will of God; Messiah realized fully this character (Psa 40:7-8; Isa 42:1; Isa 49:3, Isa 49:6; Isa 53:11; Phi 2:7), which David typically and partially represented (Act 13:36); so He is the fittest person to wield the world scepter, abused by all the world kings (Dan 2:34-35, Dan 2:44-45).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":25,"content":["covenant of peace . . . evil beasts . . . to cease . . . dwell safely--The original promise of the law (Lev 26:6) shall be realized for the first time fully under Messiah (Isa 11:6-9; Isa 35:9; Hos 2:18).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":26,"content":["them and the places round about my hill--The Jews, and Zion, God's hill (Psa 2:6), are to be sources of blessing, not merely to themselves, but to the surrounding heathen (Isa 19:24; Isa 56:6-7; Isa 60:3; Mic 5:7; Zac 8:13). The literal fulfilment is, however, the primary one, though the spiritual also is designed. In correspondence with the settled reign of righteousness internally, all is to be prosperity externally, fertilizing showers (according to the promise of the ancient covenant, Lev 26:4; Psa 68:9; Mal 3:10), and productive trees and lands (Eze 34:27). Thus shall they realize the image of Eze 34:14; namely, a flock richly pastured by God Himself.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":27,"content":["served themselves of them--availed themselves of their services, as if the Jews were their slaves (Jer 22:13; Jer 25:14; compare Gen 15:13; Exo 1:14).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":28,"content":["dwell safely-- (Jer 23:6).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":29,"content":["plant of renown--Messiah, the \"Rod\" and \"Branch\" (Isa 11:1), the \"righteous Branch\" (Jer 23:5), who shall obtain for them \"renown.\" FAIRBAIRN less probably translates, \"A plantation for a name,\" that is, a flourishing condition, represented as a garden (alluding to Eden, Gen 2:8-11, with its various trees, good for food and pleasant to the sight), the planting of the Lord (Isa 60:21; Isa 61:3), and an object of \"renown\" among the heathen.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":31,"content":["ye my flock . . . are men--not merely an explanation of the image, as JEROME represents. But as God had promised many things which mere \"men\" could not expect to realize, He shows that it is not from man's might their realization is to be looked for, but from GOD, who would perform them for His covenant-people, \"His flock\" [ROSENMULLER]. When we realize most our weakness and God's power and faithfulness to His covenant, we are in the fittest state for receiving His blessings.\n\nAnother feature of Israel's prosperity; those who exulted over Israel's humiliation, shall themselves be a \"prey.\" Already stated in Eze 25:12-14; properly repeated here in full detail, as a commentary on Eze 34:28. The Israelites \"shall be no more a prey\"; but Edom, the type of their most bitter foes, shall be destroyed irrecoverably.\n\n\n\n\nNext: Ezekiel Chapter 35\n\n"]}],"introduction":"REPROOF OF THE FALSE SHEPHERDS; PROMISE OF THE TRUE AND GOOD SHEPHERD. (Eze. 34:1-31)\n\n\nJer 23:1 and Zac 11:17 similarly make the removal of the false shepherds the preliminary to the interposition of Messiah the Good Shepherd in behalf of His people Israel. The \"shepherds\" are not prophets or priests, but rulers who sought in their government their own selfish ends, not the good of the people ruled. The term was appropriate, as David, the first king and the type of the true David (Eze 34:23-24), was taken from being a shepherd (Sa2 5:2; Psa 78:70-71); and the office, like that of a shepherd for his flock, is to guard and provide for his people. The choice of a shepherd for the first king was therefore designed to suggest this thought, just as Jesus' selection of fishermen for apostles was designed to remind them of their spiritual office of catching men (compare Isa 44:28; Jer 2:8; Jer 3:15; Jer 10:21; Jer 23:1-2).\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/34.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":34},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/35.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":35},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/33.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":33},"numberOfVerses":24}