{"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":5,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["Three classes are described. The sword was to destroy one third of the people; famine and plague another third (\"fire\" in Eze 5:2 being explained in Eze 5:12 to mean pestilence and famine); that which remained was to be scattered among the nations. A few only of the last portion were to escape, symbolized by the hairs bound in Ezekiel's skirts (Eze 5:3; Jer 40:6; Jer 52:16). Even of these some were to be thrown into the fiery ordeal again (Eze 5:4; Jer 41:1-2, &c.; Jer 44:14, &c.). The \"skirts\" being able to contain but few express that extreme limit to which God's goodness can reach.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["Explanation of the symbols: \n\nJerusalem--not the mere city, but the people of Israel generally, of which it was the center and representative. \n\nin . . . midst--Jerusalem is regarded in God's point of view as center of the whole earth, designed to radiate the true light over the nations in all directions. Compare Margin (\"navel\"), Eze 38:12; Psa 48:2; Jer 3:17. No center in the ancient heathen world could have been selected more fitted than Canaan to be a vantage ground, whence the people of God might have acted with success upon the heathenism of the world. It lay midway between the oldest and most civilized states, Egypt and Ethiopia on one side, and Babylon, Nineveh, and India on the other, and afterwards Persia, Greece, and Rome. The Phœnician mariners were close by, through whom they might have transmitted the true religion to the remotest lands; and all around the Ishmaelites, the great inland traders in South Asia and North Africa. Israel was thus placed, not for its own selfish good, but to be the spiritual benefactor of the whole world. Compare Psa 67:1-7 throughout. Failing in this, and falling into idolatry, its guilt was far worse than that of the heathen; not that Israel literally went beyond the heathen in abominable idolatries. But \"corruptio optimi pessima\"; the perversion of that which in itself is the best is worse than the perversion of that which is less perfect: is in fact the worst of all kinds of perversion. Therefore their punishment was the severest. So the position of the Christian professing Church now, if it be not a light to the heathen world, its condemnation will be sorer than theirs (Mat 5:13; Mat 11:21-24; Heb 10:28-29).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["changed . . . into--rather, \"hath resisted My judgments wickedly\"; \"hath rebelled against My ordinances for wickedness\" [BUXTORF]. But see on Eze 5:7, end.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["multiplied--rather, \"have been more abundantly outrageous\"; literally, \"to tumultuate\"; to have an extravagant rage for idols. \n\nneither have done according to the judgments of the nations--have not been as tenacious of the true religion as the nations have been of the false. The heathen \"changed\" not their gods, but the Jews changed Jehovah for idols (see Eze 5:6, \"changed My judgments into wickedness,\" that is, idolatry, Jer 2:11). The Chaldean version and the Masora support the negative. Others omit it (as it is omitted in Eze 11:12), and translate, \"but have done according to the judgments,\" &c. However, both Eze 11:12 and also this verse are true. They in one sense \"did according to the heathen,\" namely, in all that was bad; in another, namely, in that which was good, zeal for religion, they did not. Eze 5:9 also proves the negative to be genuine; because in changing their religion, they have not done as the nations which have not changed theirs, \"I (also) will do in thee that which I have not done.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["I, even I--awfully emphatic. I, even I, whom thou thinkest to be asleep, but who am ever reigning as the Omnipotent Avenger of sin, will vindicate My righteous government before the nations by judgments on thee.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["See on Eze 5:7. \n\nthat which I have not done--worse than any former judgments (Lam 4:6; Dan 9:12). The prophecy includes the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and the final one by Antichrist (Zac 13:8-9; Zac 14:2), as well as that by Nebuchadnezzar. Their doom of evil was not exhausted by the Chaldean conquest. There was to be a germinating evil in their destiny, because there would be, as the Lord foresaw, a germinating evil in their character. As God connected Himself peculiarly with Israel, so there was to be a peculiar manifestation of God's wrath against sin in their case [FAIRBAIRN]. The higher the privileges the greater the punishment in the case of abuse of them. When God's greatest favor, the gospel, was given, and was abused by them, then \"the wrath was to come on them to the uttermost\" (Th1 2:16).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["fathers . . . eat . . . sons--alluding to Moses words (Lev 26:29; Deu 28:53), with the additional sad feature, that \"the sons should eat their fathers\" (see Kg2 6:28; Jer 19:9; Lam 2:20; Lam 4:10).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["as I five--the most solemn of oaths, pledging the self-existence of God for the certainty of the event. \n\ndefiled my sanctuary--the climax of Jewish guilt: their defiling Jehovah's temple by introducing idols. \n\ndiminish--literally \"withdraw,\" namely, Mine \"eye\" (which presently follows), that is, My favors; Job 36:7 uses the Hebrew verb in the same way. As the Jews had withdrawn from God's sanctuary its sacredness by \"defiling\" it, so God withdraws His countenance from them. The significance of the expression lies in the allusion to Deu 4:2, \"Ye shall not diminish aught from the word which I command you\"; they had done so, therefore God diminishes them. The reading found in six manuscripts, \"I will cut thee off,\" is not so good.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["Statement in plain terms of what was intended by the symbols (Eze 5:2; see Eze 6:12; Jer 15:2; Jer 21:9). \n\ndraw out . . . sword after them-- (Lev 26:33). Skeptics object; no such thing happened under Zedekiah, as is here foretold; namely, that a third part of the nation should die by pestilence, a third part by the sword, and a third be scattered unto all winds, and a sword sent after them. But the prophecy is not restricted to Zedekiah's time. It includes all that Israel suffered, or was still to suffer, for their sins, especially those committed at that period (Eze 17:21). It only received its primary fulfilment under Zedekiah: numbers then died by the pestilence and by the sword; and numbers were scattered in all quarters and not carried to Babylonia alone, as the objectors assert (compare Ezr 1:4; Est 3:8; Oba 1:14). \n\npestilence . . . and famine--signified by the symbol \"fire\" (Eze 5:2). Compare Isa 13:8; Lam 5:10; plague and famine burning and withering the countenance, as fire does.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["cause my fury to rest upon them--as on its proper and permanent resting-place (Isa 30:32, Margin). \n\nI will be comforted--expressed in condescension to man's conceptions; signifying His satisfaction in the vindication of His justice by His righteous judgments (Deu 28:63; Pro 1:26; Isa 1:24). \n\nthey shall how--by bitter experience.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["reproach among the nations--They whose idolatries Israel had adopted, instead of comforting, would only exult in their calamities brought on by those idolatries (compare Luk 15:15).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["instruction--literally, \"a corrective chastisement,\" that is, a striking example to warn all of the fatal consequences of sin. For \"it shall be\"; all ancient versions have \"thou,\" which the connection favors.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["arrows of famine--hail, rain, mice, locusts, mildew (see Deu 32:23-24). \n\nincrease the famine--literally, \"congregate\" or \"collect.\" When ye think your harvest safe because ye have escaped drought, mildew, &c., I will find other means [CALVIN], which I will congregate as the forces of an invading army, to bring famine on you.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["beasts--perhaps meaning destructive conquerors (Dan 7:4). Rather, literal \"beasts,\" which infest desolated regions such as Judea was to become (compare Eze 34:28; Exo 23:29; Deu 32:24; Kg2 17:25). The same threat is repeated in manifold forms to awaken the careless. \n\nsword--civil war.\n\n\n\n\nNext: Ezekiel Chapter 6\n\n"]}],"introduction":"VISION OF CUTTING THE HAIRS, AND THE CALAMITIES FORESHADOWED THEREBY. (Eze. 5:1-17)\n\nknife . . . razor--the sword of the foe (compare Isa 7:20). This vision implies even severer judgments than the Egyptian afflictions foreshadowed in the former, for their guilt was greater than that of their forefathers. \n\nthine head--as representative of the Jews. The whole hair being shaven off was significant of severe and humiliating (Sa2 10:4-5) treatment. Especially in the case of a priest; for priests (Lev 21:5) were forbidden \"to make baldness on their head,\" their hair being the token of consecration; hereby it was intimated that the ceremonial must give place to the moral. \n\nbalances--implying the just discrimination with which Jehovah weighs out the portion of punishment \"divided,\" that is, allotted to each: the \"hairs\" are the Jews: the divine scales do not allow even one hair to escape accurate weighing (compare Mat 10:30).\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/5.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":5},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/6.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":6},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/EZK/4.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"EZK","chapter":4},"numberOfVerses":14}