THE PROPHECY OF GOD’S MERCIES TOWARD HIS PEOPLE IN THE WORLD
_______________
I. THE RENEWAL OF EZEKIEL’S DIVINE MISSION.—Ch 33.
1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2Son of man, speak to the sons of thy people, and say to them, When I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their borders, and set him for3their watchman; And he sees the sword coming upon the land, and blows4the trumpet, and warns the people; And any one hears the sound of the trumpet, and does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes himaway, his blood shall be upon his own head. 5He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him, since, letting6himself be warned, he would make his soul [his life] escape [would deliver it]. And the watchman, when he sees the sword coming, and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword shall come and take away a soul [a man] from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood7will I require at the watchman’s hand. And thou, son of man, [as a] watch man have I given thee to the house of Israel, and [so] thou hearest the word8out of My mouth, and thou warnest them from Me. If I say to the wicked, Wicked man, thou shalt surely die, and thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, he, the wicked man, in [on account of] his iniquity shall9die, but his blood will I require at thy hand. But if thou dost warn a wicked man of his way, that he turn from it, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in [on account of] his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul.10And thou, son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus ye say, saying, If our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we pine in [on account of] them,11how shall [can] we then live? Say to them, As I live, saith [sentence of] the Lord Jehovah, if I should have pleasure in the death of the wicked! but in the turning of a wicked man from his way, that he may live. Turn ye, turn ye12from your evil ways; and why will ye die, O house of Israel? And thou, son of man, say to the sons of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and through [in the] wickedness of the wicked shall he [the wicked] not stumble [fall] in the day of his turning from his wickedness; and a righteous man shall not be able to13live thereby [namely, because he is a righteous man] in the day of his sin. When I say of the [to the] righteous, He shall surely live, and he trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered, and in14his iniquity which he does, in it shall he die. And when I say to the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and he turns from his sin, and does judgment andrighteousness: 15If the wicked shall restore a pledge, shall repay what he had robbed, if he walks in the statutes of life, that he do no iniquity—he shall16surely live, he shall not die! All his sins which he sinned, they shall not be remembered to him; he does judgment and righteousness; he shall surely17live! And the sons of thy people are saying, The way of the Lord is not18right—but they, their way is not right! When a righteous man turns from his19righteousness and commits iniquity, then he shall die thereby: And when a wicked man turns from his wickedness, and does judgment and righteousness,20thereby shall he live. And ye say: The way of the Lord is not right? Everyone as his ways [are] will I judge you, O house of Israel.—21And it came to pass, in the twelfth year, in the tenth [month], on the fifth of the month of our captivity,22the escaped from Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city is taken. And the hand of Jehovah was upon me [came upon me] in the evening before the coming of the escaped, and He opened my mouth, until he came to me in23the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer dumb. Andthe word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 24Son of man, the inhabitants of those ruins on the ground of Israel are saying, Abraham was one, and he got the land for a possession, and we [are] many, and the land is given us for a possession25Therefore say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Ye eat upon [with] the blood, and ye lift your eyes [continually] to your abominable idols, and shedblood, and shall ye possess the land? 26Ye stand upon your sword, ye do abomination, and pollute every one his neighbour’s wife, and shall ye possess27the land? Say thus unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, As I live, if they who are in the ruins shall not fall by the sword! And him that is in the field will I give to the beasts to be eaten, and they that are in the forts28and in the caves shall die of the pestilence. And I give the land to waste and desolation, and the pride of its strength ceases; and the mountains of29Israel are waste, that no one passes over them. And they know that I [am] Jehovah, when I give the land to waste and desolation, because of all their30abominations which they have done.—And thou, son of man, the sons of thy people talk of thee beside the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one with another, each with his brother, saying, Come now, and hear 31what the word is which proceedeth from Jehovah! And they will come to thee as a people comes, and will be before thee [as] My people, and they hear thy words, and they will not do them; for [but] in their mouth they are prating loves [ever making love-songs, have wanton pieces in their mouth]; their heart goes after32their gain. And lo! thou art to them as a wanton song, beautiful of sound [voice], and one striking the chords well; and they hear thy words, and do33them not. And when it comes—lo! it comes, then they know that a prophet was in the midst of them.
Eze_33:2. Vulg.: de novissimis suis—(licet ex infimis suis, Rosenm, vel de excellentioribus, Lyra).
Eze_33:3. Sept.: ...
êáὶ óçìáíç ô
.
ëáῶ
,
Eze_33:4. ...
êáé ìç öõëáîçô÷é
—et non se observaverit—
Eze_33:31. ...
ὁôé Øåõäïò ἐí ô
.
óôïìáôé áὐôùí ê
.
ὀðéóù ô
.
ìéáóìáôùí áὐôùí
—Vulg.: quia in canticum oris sui vertunt illos et avaritiam suam—
Eze_33:32.
Êáé ãéíì áõøïéò ὡò öùíç Øáëôçòéïõ ἡäõöùíïõ åὐáòìïóôïõ
—Vulg.: quasi carmen musicum, quod suavi dulcique sono canitur;—
Eze_33:33. ...
ἐòïõóéí
’
Éäïõ ἡêåé
—
EXEGETICAL REMARKS
It is a question whether the last division of our book opens with this chapter. Kliefoth denies it from the contents, which point back to what precedes, Eze_3:17 sq., Eze_18:20 sq. The third part must begin with Eze_33:21. In contrast to the foreign nations, Eze_33:2 associates this word of threatening against Israel with the words of threatening against foreign nations previously given, as is done also in Isaiah and Jeremiah. Eze_25:1 to Eze_32:32 numbers thirteen words of God; thereto belongs Eze_33:1-20 as a fourteenth, in order to make out the number 2 × 7. The contents, threatenings and warnings, are not suited as an introduction to the promises of the third part; while, on the contrary, they are quite proper as a conclusion to the preceding portions. Hengstenberg also regards Eze_33:1-20 as the author’s conclusion, but to the whole of what precedes, namely, Ezekiel 1-32. The text does not show the impossibility of Ezekiel having delivered a prophecy to his people before the arrival of the escaped; but the admitted résumé out of the preceding is no argument against the supposition of an introduction to the following, as we shall see, just as little as the want of a specification of time. For with reference to the latter point, Hitzig justly points to the historical notice standing in the middle, Eze_33:21-22. Its importance for the present chapter, in fact, makes any farther indication of time superfluous; as was remarked by Häv., who in this only goes too far, that he makes the revelations on to Ezekiel 39 to have been imparted to the prophet in one night—the portion Eze_33:1-20 forming the somewhat earlier introduction revealed to him, and Eze_33:21-33 attaching itself to the other very closely as a new introduction.
This chapter has first of all its relation to the transition portion, Ezekiel 25-32. In this respect it likewise has a transition character, which on one side gives indication of itself in this, that it, as also Ezekiel 25-27, points back to the earlier part. For as the predictions of judgment upon those without are in some sense an appendage to the repeated, always increasingly definite prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, so Eze_33:2 sq., in what it says of the watchman-agency of Ezekiel, attaches an admonition for Israel to try themselves, in presence of this activity of the prophet, whether Ezekiel had not dealt faithfully with his obligation, or Israel with his warning; but especially as regards the exiled, the verses 10 sq. render conspicuous, in contrast with the despair of these, God’s will and procedure, and verses 17 sq. set forth these as being the right way. If people will not renounce every kind of a connection, for which there is no foundation, they will find—where now what was announced in Ezekiel 24-26 sq. begins to enter—the supposition of a close to the past prophetic activity of Ezekiel, the prophecy of judgment, quite deserving of acceptation. It was a close proceeding out of as well as with that which had preceded. But by reason of the relation of this chapter, as now indicated, primarily to Ezekiel 25-32., is farther expressed its relation to the first main division, Eze_1:-24. On the other side, however, the transition character of the section Ezekiel 25-32. (pp. 11, 12) is proved by that which is contained in these chapters of a preparatory, introductory nature to the second main division of the book. This is the case also with our present chapter. It might already be regarded as a preparation for something new, that at the close with what precedes the call of Ezekiel is formulated out of it, and Israel is challenged to self-examination, as also to an acquittal of the prophet and a justification of God. The in part verbal reference of this chapter to Ezekiel 3, 18, in Eze_33:2-20, certainly does not (as Keil supposes) set forth the call of Ezekiel for the future, but it contains a renewal of his divine mission. The connecting together of the two halves of the chapter is on no account to be regarded as “merely accidental.” “The two verses 25 and 26, just as Eze_33:15, alike point back to Ezekiel 18; and on the other hand, that Eze_33:10 b is in accord with Eze_24:23, cannot be overlooked” (Hitz.). The full-toned charge in Eze_33:2 : “Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them,” suits well as a commencement, while Eze_33:24 looks only like a continuation. What Ezekiel must say to the sons of his people (Eze_33:2) prepares for the opening of his mouth (Eze_33:22), and so introduces what is to be said in Eze_33:25. There can be no doubt that what is stated in Eze_33:21-22 is the fulfilment of Eze_24:26-27; so that the new, to which the verses 2–20 form the preparation and introduction,—the prophecy of God’s mercies toward His people in the world,—is the second main division of the book. The passage, also, Eze_33:10 sq. explicitly directs the despairing to grace, while in the parallel passage, Eze_33:24 sq., the stout-hearted are, on the contrary, pointed to the judgment; so that the section Eze_33:23 sq. speaks just as much of threatening as of the opposite.
Eze_33:1-20
. What kind of a sending of Ezekiel that was which is now renewed.
Eze_33:1. On what occurred in the twelfth year, after the taking of Jerusalem, on the evening or during the night before the escaped made his appearance, comp. at Eze_33:22. The address being to the sons of thy people (Eze_33:2), shows that he was now to turn from foreign nations to Israel again—although
òַîְּêָ
is still used, not
òַîִּé
, as at Eze_33:31 for the first time. There is already a preparation made for the great turn which divides the book.—If an application to the fellow-exiles of the prophet is primarily to be understood, there is still a more general one indicated in what follows,—that to the Israel of the captivity the Israel at home were to be added, that Israel generally were to be contemplated. For with this also agrees “the house of Israel” in the application of the similitude (Eze_33:7), according to which the children of the people of the prophet were thought of in common, as those who were entering into one and the same condition
(
áּåֹà
)
, just as in the similitude itself “land” is spoken of, and
àֶøֶõ
placed quite absolutely (comp. Eze_14:13).—The idea is first expressed figuratively, Eze_33:2-6, before Israel is put into the frame and hung on the wall (Eze_33:7-9).—
àֶøֶõ ëִּéÎàָáִéà
, spoken generally, but not altogether hypothetically; so, however, that the hearers should think of a case before them which had either actually occurred or was in the act of doing so. The enemy was on the way (Hitz., Grot.), was standing at the cross-way (Eze_21:26 [21], Eze_24:2). The turning of the matter into a similitude is peculiar to our passage, as distinguished from Eze_3:16-21. Peculiar, also, is the trait in a manner necessitating a certain experience on the part of the hearers, that the people of the land in question, the men, were themselves to appoint the watchmen, whence, in case they did not give heed to him, they withstood and strove against themselves, and so should be the more convicted of their guilt and folly.—
îִ÷ְöֵéäֶí
, singular, but in a plural sense: from the end on all sides, the entire territory of the land; according to the suffix, to be understood of the whole community, with reference to
ìָ÷ְúåּ
and
ðָúְðåּ× ìָäֶí
(Gen_19:4; 1Ki_12:31). Häv., Tuch decide for an ellipsis
åְòַã ÷ָöֶä
.—On
öֹôֶä
, comp. on Eze_3:17.
Eze_33:3. Corresponding to the fundamental idea of
åְøָàָä
,
öֹôֶä
.—
ùׁåֹôָø
of the clear resounding tone. That we are to think of a horny sort of instrument, if not one simply of horn, is evident from its being exchanged with
÷ֶøֶõ
, in Joshua 6. for example.
úָּ÷ַò ùׁåֹôָø
is distinguished as a signal for the calling together of the people, in Num_10:6-7, from the sounding of an alarm at a breaking up. Here it is manifestly applied to the announcement of the enemy, for a warning or advertisement to the people (comp. Eze_3:17, and pp. 72, 73).
Eze_33:4.
åְùָׁîַò äַùֹּׁîֵòַ
, who hath ears to hear (Rev_2:7; Rev_2:11, etc.).—
áִæְçָø
for
ðִæְçַø
.—And the sword comes, when the sword is a-coming, and what is to be feared cannot be a matter of doubt. Ewald: “so that the sword came and carried him away, then his blood,” etc. According to Hengst.: because people are wont to carry on their heads; according to others, the image is derived from sacrifice, in which the offerer transferred his guilt to his victim by the laying on of his hand (Lev_1:4; Lev_24:14; Mat_27:25).
Eze_33:5. The alone self-guiltiness of the individual is here made still more manifest. An explication without any need of the
áִּé
, for.—
áּåֹ
, as much as
áְּøֹàùׁåֹ
, Eze_33:4.—Hitzig: “Because he let himself be warned, he has delivered his soul.”
ðִæְçָø
is here the participle.
Eze_33:6. The similitude has hitherto proceeded on the supposition that the watchman does his duty, because this is really the case in hand. But now the other supposition is made, that he has neglected what belonged to his calling.—
äåּà
, masculine, referring to
ðֶôֶùׁ
.—Since only the soul which continues in sin is liable to death (Eze_18:4, etc.), a wicked person is presupposed (as at Eze_3:18) as the one that should be carried away; it should be through his guilt, on account of it and in it. But while previously the guilt of his blood was simply his own, the blood-guilt of his disobedience in respect to the intended warning is now, without regard to his guilt otherwise and generally, sought at the hand of the watchman. It is to be observed that for this
ãָּøַùׁ
is used here, while we have
áָּ÷ַùׁ
at Eze_3:18; Eze_3:20.—That the case supposed is only a possible, by no means a real one, appears from the application made of it at Eze_33:7 to Ezekiel—for the
ðñïôáóéò
the
ἀðïäïóéò
(comp. Heb_13:17). At the same time is his installation as watchman to the house of Israel taken out of human hands,—in that case, when men appoint for themselves a watchman, the last-named possibility (Eze_33:6) might all the more readily take place,—and Jehovah carries back the watchman-office of Ezekiel expressly to Himself (I have given thee).—
åְùָׁîַòְúָּ×
, such literally was the expression used of the call given in Eze_3:17, so that we must think of supplying to the words marks of quotation; therefore not importing that the prophet must thereby be instructed with respect to the future.
Eze_33:8. The same as before, only with a still more emphatic address than at Eze_3:18.
Eze_33:9. So here again; comp. at Eze_3:19 (Act_20:25-26).
Eze_33:10. Since nothing of the neglect of duty which had taken place is charged upon the prophet, only the original direction given him is again literally repeated: the guilt must be sought among the people, as was really the case, and indeed is clear from their own lips, as stated here.—
ìֵàîֹø
, their saying is set over against that which had been said to the prophet in divine direction, according to which he must speak; their doing also in regard to the Lord, as they had known it from the prophet’s behaviour toward them, set over against his doing and acting.—Of what nature the divine mission of Ezekiel was from the first has been repeated (Eze_33:2-9) in the similitude and its explanation, and now (hence
àְֶîֹø×
repeated in Eze_33:11) there follows in what manner this mission of his is renewed to the prophet. A reference is made back to Ezekiel 18, but the difference between what is said there and here must not be overlooked. While there no consciousness of guilt, no confession of sin, appears (Eze_18:2), the predominantly recriminative work of Ezekiel has still produced so much effect that they now say: Our transgressions and our sins are upon us. But this consciousness and this confession tinges in the darkest manner the feeling of despair in regard to life. It is by no means for the purpose of excusing themselves that the people appeal to the passage Lev_26:39. Consequently, the upon us is not to be understood as meaning: “testify against us” (Rosenm.), but as of a burden under which they are sinking (
åּáָí× ðְðַ÷ִּéí
, comp. on Eze_24:23; Eze_4:17). Those who represented themselves in Ezekiel 18 as expiatory sufferers for their ancestors, here are pining away under their own burden, and that with reference to the prospect of life, likewise repeatedly opened up in Ezekiel 18. (Eze_33:23; Eze_33:32). We must, therefore, take into account the pressure, were it only of the evil forebodings, the foreshadows of the event mentioned in Eze_33:21, if not the actual knowledge of the taking of Jerusalem; so that in this also may be seen preparation, an introduction to what was to follow.
Eze_33:11. What for this despair in respect to life (i.e. deliverance, salvation, favour) was the declared mind and will of Jehovah in Eze_18:23; Eze_18:32, the same is here emphasized in the peculiar protestation: As I live, while there it is only: “Have I any pleasure?” or: “for I have no pleasure”—see there also Eze_18:30-31.
Eze_33:12. We learn, however, that the question is about conversion: “He combats despair only in so far as it is a hindrance to repentance. To afford mere tranquillity is not the aim of the prophet” (Hengst.). Comp. on Eze_18:20, where in like manner with reference to conversion we have this antithesis: “righteousness of the righteous,” and: “wickedness of the wicked.” Through this antithesis to
ìֹà úַּöִּéìֶðּåּ
, the expression
ìֹà éִëָּùֶׁì
becomes clear (Niphal); Gesen.: “he shall not be unfortunate.” His own righteousness no means of deliverance, so soon as he falls into transgression; and wickedness, again, no necessary destruction, so soon as a change to the better comes. (
ôִּùׁòåֹ
is likewise infinitive.) Because presently the case of the righteous was to be spoken of, it is said by way of introduction thereto: And a righteous man, etc.
áָּäּ
, in, through, on account of his righteousness.
Eze_33:13. To the righteous man who continues such, assurance of life is promised. Confidence in one’s own righteousness (singular, as an actual quality), when one does unrighteousness (Eze_3:20), may be on the one side, but on the other side there will be no remembrance of the earlier righteousnesses. Comp. Eze_18:24; Eze_18:26.
Eze_33:14. The contrast with the wicked. Here an address to such, because this is what is wished for; comp. Eze_18:21.
Eze_33:15. A lively form of speech, hence without the copula, an exemplification. Comp. in reference to it, Eze_18:7; Eze_18:12; Eze_18:16; Eze_18:21; Eze_18:28; Eze_20:11.
Eze_33:16. Comp. Eze_18:22.
Eze_33:17. Comp. on Eze_18:24 sq. The immediate occasion for blame is formed here by such a representation of the wicked (Eze_33:14 sq.) who repented, over the righteous who does unrighteousness. The fact alone that “a righteous man” could be spoken of before them in such a manner, more especially that turning, turning, is what they are called to, while they had placed their confidence upon “the righteousness of the righteous” (Eze_33:12)—if not their own, yet that which belonged to them, descended to them as the people of God from their pious forefathers—that is the stone in the way of the Lord which the divine address takes away, in order to throw it to the quarter to which it belongs, namely, to the false way of Israel, which they had chosen for themselves with their outward carnal self-righteousness in such and such religious observances. Eze_33:18-19, however, do not simply repeat Eze_33:13-14, but the two cases of the righteous and the wicked return again in the form which is the most appropriate for setting forth clearly and distinctly the way of the Lord, and in which it strikes at first sight, and at the same time with reference to the command given: “Return, return.” Hence not
åְäåּàÎáָèַç òַìÎöִã×
, as at Eze_33:13, but
áְùׁåּáÎöַãּé÷ îִöִּãְ×
(Eze_3:20), and with nothing farther
åּîֵú áָּäֶí
, namely, by these two parts: turning from his righteousness, which is left unnoticed, and doing unrighteousness. (Rosenm.:
òָåֶì
, collective.) Comp. Eze_18:24; Eze_18:26. The wicked throws light on this caricature of turning—a turning it also is, indeed, only to what is evil—by his, on the contrary, turning from his wickedness (in Eze_33:14 it is from “his sin”).
Eze_33:20, as also Eze_18:29, repeats the charge for the purpose of making a suitable close. Comp. Eze_18:30 (Eze_7:27).
Eze_33:21-22
. The fresh turn.
The fact is now an accomplished one—Jerusalem is taken (Eze_24:25); and therewith we have, as had been foretold at the close of Ezekiel 24, not only the arrival of the escaped, but as the main thing the opening of Ezekiel’s mouth, that he might no more be dumb. This historical notice in the middle of the chapter is therefore the kernel of the whole: the renewal of the divine mission of the prophet, over against the completed acts of judgment, now gives to his prophecy the expression of God’s compassions toward His people in the world, with which the second main division of the book is occupied.
The indication of time which was to mark the turning-point for the prophet (for Jerusalem was overcome on the 9th of the 4th month of the 11th year) teaches us to understand the expressions: “in the day,” inch. Eze_24:25, or: “in that day,” Eze_33:26-27, of what was to take place more than sixteen months afterwards. Hitzig regards it as “very improbable that Ezekiel should first have received in January 586 the report of what had happened to Jerusalem in July 588;” and in place of considering that the text could not mean to speak of the report, he makes the prophet over and above “contradict himself,” inasmuch as, according to Eze_26:1-2, he had already in the eleventh year heard the report of the matter—which, however, is not necessarily rendered clear by Ezekiel 26.—and then at the close he changes the twelfth year into the eleventh, which is supported by the Syrian translation alone. Hengst. justly remarks that the notice does not refer to the first report concerning the taking of Jerusalem, and then proceeds: “The news of such events spread with amazing rapidity. The intelligence, doubtless, arrived in eight, or at the most fourteen days at the abode of Ezekiel; so that the difficulty is not removed by assuming most arbitrarily an error in the text, and putting the eleventh in place of the twelfth year.” The meaning of what was announced beforehand in Ezekiel 24, and according to our verse had now actually occurred, is that in place of all reports—so fitted to awaken hope, yet traversing the way of the Lord with His people, always again paralysing their necessary conversion—which up to the last had arrived, a certain fugitive shall now speak, and, as an eye-witness, place beyond all dispute what had actually happened. The matter-of-fact voucher given into the hand of the exiled with this escaped one must have removed out of the path of safety what at least the strong walls of Jerusalem threw in the way of their turning to the Lord. For the meaning ascribed to
çַôָּìִéè
, to make one’s escape, get off through flight (Gen_14:13), it is not necessary, with Hengstenberg, to suppose an ideal person, a collective, that is, “a band of exiles,” as Ezekiel had already intimated, Eze_14:22-23, that a whole host of such fugitives would come to the exiles, “so that these by their miserable plight should be a living proclamation of the frightful catastrophe through which they had passed.” Hitzig thinks that “the fugitive may have escaped immediately after the bloodshed at Mizpah from the band of Ishmael (Jer_41:10); if not, which is improbable, only after the flight which ensued into Egypt.” J. D. Michaelis explains out of the remoteness of Ezekiel’s place of residence the so late arrival of the fugitive, especially considering the frightful disorder that took place.
Eze_33:22. And the hand of Jehovah, etc.; comp. Eze_37:1; Eze_1:3. The effect of it was the opening of the mouth. But this latter can be virtually and actually distinguished. In that respect the opening of the mouth of Ezekiel took place when it was commanded him that he should speak to the sons of his people, in respect to whom he had been dumb from the time indicated in Ezekiel 24. He began to do so at Eze_33:1 of this chapter, to which, therefore, the expression concerning “the hand of Jehovah” brings us back—namely, that this hand had now removed from him his previous dumbness, so that he might henceforth again speak to Israel, and should do so. J. D. Michaelis remarks quite correctly: “the prophet fell into ecstasy,” and the word contained in Eze_33:2-20 was imparted to him. In regard to the time, it is more precisely stated that the divine cause comes into operation on the evening before the coming of the escaped; and parallel therewith was the effect, the opening of the prophet’s mouth,
òַãÎáֹּà àֵìַé×
, therefore in the interval between the evening and the morning. It was hence independently of the escaped that the prophet got a renewal of his commission, and, indeed, while there was combined with the removal of his previously enforced silence a direct positive revelation and communication. Through a divine movement and working, everything was thus prepared and introduced for that which was going to take place on the fugitive’s arrival. For the circumstance that on his actual arrival Ezekiel’s mouth was opened (
åַéִּôָּúַç ôִּé
is not to be regarded as an emphatic repetition for the purpose of connection with what follows, but in contradistinction to
åַéִּôְúַּç àֶúÎôִּé
), adds to what was done potentia, as it now also took place actu, so that the divine word, Eze_33:2-20, given with this aim, for this particular moment destined, was now also spoken to the people by the prophet; and in proof that he was no more dumb, he immediately proceeded to give the continuation of it (Eze_33:23 sq.). In Eze_24:27 it was said Ezekiel’s mouth should be opened “with” the escaped. In the wider sense, namely, at the same time, about the time, when the escaped should come, it took place in the evening; literally, it took place with him in the morning, and the renewed prophetical mission of Ezekiel began then in fact. [“One may designate the following prophecies as the prophetically represented victorious history of Israel, of the kingdom of God among men. The wonderful, truly great, and divine is set forth here as a contrast to the present. In the presence of death only resurrection and life! The deepest humiliation of the covenant-people, their apparent annihilation is the path to their true greatness, nay, to their eternal glory.”—Häv.] Hengst. remarks: “On the night before the arrival of the exile-band, which was doubtless announced the day before, took place the opening of the prophet’s mouth, the removal of the seal as it were from it. The impulse to speak to the people again asserted itself. The prophetic activity itself first commenced after the exile-band appeared, the arrival of which was to form the ground for the receiving of the new disclosures. Only after the complete death exhibited before their eyes, the annihilation of all earthly hopes, could the announcement of the joyful resurrection be made.” Comp. besides on Eze_3:26-27; Eze_29:21.
Eze_33:23-33. The Renewed Mission of Ezekiel in view of the State of Heart of those in Canaan (Eze_33:23-29), and then of those in the Captivity (Eze_33:30-33).
What sort of a mission that of Ezekiel’s was which was renewed to him, namely, to do the part of a watchman, to warn the people, we have already seen in Eze_33:2-9. Hence in the connection of the following section with Eze_33:1-20 things stand in their proper order, and it entirely corresponds with a continuation of the divine discourse, that such a position of the prophet at the renewal of his divine mission first of all comes to an explanation with those who are still to be warned, to be threatened. The beginning of the divine word made known to Ezekiel corresponds very closely with that contained in Eze_33:8-9. It is a complete misunderstanding on the part of Kliefoth, when he would not find “the inhabitants of these waste places,” as he renders, in the desolated Jerusalem, or in the desolated cities of Judah, or in the desolated land of Canaan, i.e. in the remnants of the people who still remained there, but drags into the text the exiles in “the certainly not too well cultivated regions on the Chaboras.”
çְøָáåֹú
with the article implies demolition, ruins of cities and houses. Hitzig: “these wastes,” less Jerusalem itself than the other cities which had been stript of their inhabitants (Jer_33:13; Jer_33:10), in which those who were without possessions (Jer_39:10) shared with the returned fugitives (Jer_40:12), having all at once come to great wealth of land, and were puffed up. Things were lying in a comfortless state; how do the hearts adjust themselves to the comfortless position of things? “That there were people who still, ever giving themselves up to illusions, thought that the judgment would not inexorably run its course, was proved by the revolt in which Gedaliah, the Chaldean governor, was slain” (Hengst.). Comp. also the representation in Nehemiah 1. of the desolate condition of things, though an interval of upwards of a century had meanwhile elapsed!—As even in the time of Jesus they were always throwing themselves back on Abraham (for example, John 8, Mat_3:9), so was it the case here. An argumentum a minori. Since to Abraham, an individual man, in his posterity the land was given for a heritage, the less they conceive could it possibly fail to them—namely, to keep the land; not so properly with Hengst. to receive it again, for they do not give it up as lost—when in point of number they were many, and still more in the feeling of their souls they were without the knowledge of sin and the sense of guilt. In the words of Hengst: “they held themselves to be the true continuation of Abraham’s being, the bearers of the promise given to him” (Gen_15:7)—the posterity in whom Abraham inherited it, to whom therefore it “was given.” “They overlooked the wide gulf that stood between them and him; if they were Abraham’s children, they would have done his works.” (Comp. at Eze_11:15.)
Eze_33:25. To eat upon the blood is explained by Keil as eating of flesh which has not been cleansed of the blood; comp. Lev_19:26. “A fundamental law of the theocracy” (Häv.). The prohibition was given so early as at Gen_9:4. There with respect to the shedding of blood, as the infliction of death, murder; so that it was aimed against the spirit of murder (Hengst.). Targum: “You eat upon innocent blood.” From the blood a transition is made to the eating. In Leviticus 19. it appears in connection with the service of idolatry, as also here.—Lev_18:6; Lev_18:15, Lev_22:3; Lev_4:27.—The question is repeated in Eze_33:26. To stand or place one’s self is=to support one’s self, therefore to place his confidence thereon, which carries farther the shedding of blood.—
òֲùִׁéúֶï úּåֹòֵáָä
feminine; hence it has been understood of the women, with reference to immodest idolatrous worship. Hengst. points to Eze_13:17 sq. (“The feminine character of the sinner is already indicated in Gen_4:7, where it appears unmanly to let sin conquer, instead of ruling over it,”) Hitzig:
ï
stands for
í
on account of the
ú
following. Eze_18:12; Eze_16:50; Eze_5:11. The abomination must, according to Hengst., be adultery; Eze_18:6; Eze_18:11.—In Eze_33:27, three punishments are placed over against 2 × 3 sins. The parallel to Eze_33:10—here referring to presumption, there to despair—is confirmed by: “As I live” (Eze_33:11).—
áֶּçְøָáåֹú
(Eze_33:24)
áַּçֶøֶá
, a play of words.—Ch. 5.17, Eze_14:15; Eze_14:21; 2Ki_17:25.—
îְöָãåֹú
, the mountain-tops, difficult of access; hence asylums, mountain-fastnesses, to which (as deeps to heights) the caves correspond on the other side, and which come into consideration as refuges from the sword and ravenous wild beasts, but not from the pestilence. (1Sa_13:6; Jos. Bell. Jud. 1:16. 4) Eze_5:17; Eze_14:21.
Eze_33:28. Eze_6:14.—(Niph.) Eze_30:18; Eze_7:24.—
îֵàֵéï òåֹáֵø
, Eze_14:15. Cleared of men, even of passing travellers.
Eze_33:29. Eze_32:15.
Eze_33:30-33. The reference in the preceding verses to the accomplished fact of Jerusalem’s overthrow is followed in Eze_33:30 by a glance into the immediate surroundings of the prophet, as they stood related to his fresh mission. The position of matters was here full of consolation; the consolatory work of Ezekiel must begin, the announcement of salvation is going to proceed. How do the hearts of the exiles feel in regard to this? The prophet cannot speak comfort by means of Abraham, after the manner in which they comforted themselves in Canaan (Eze_33:24). He is “no servant of sin, but of the living God” (Häv.). A putting of the prophet right, therefore, with respect to the men, such as that which fell to his lot at the outset of his mission, is entirely suitable also here for the new beginning and for the continuation even to the end.—And thou corresponds to the application, Eze_33:7.—
äַðִּãְáָּøִéí
(“who talk among themselves;” they are presented to the prophet, as it were, with a: See there!—Hengst.). Hitzig makes the matter too pointed when he expounds: “Not who confer together upon thee, but who converse about thee as about a matter that is of no great interest to them.” On the contrary,
áְּêָ
indicates a continuation of the discourse and a sense of interest, which Häv. thinks cannot be understood otherwise than with a hostile feeling. Still less, however, accords with such an interpretation the regular assembling of the people about the prophet, and above all, the impression which the fulfilment of his predictions will probably have made upon them. He hence forms the beloved standing object of their plaudits—must have done so, we may rather say.
àֵöֶì×
, sitting down by the walls(“upon the divan,” Hengst.)—as much as: in secret, or within their houses. (Scarcely, as Häv.: “the sons, etc., who speak against thee in the house, are thy opponents secretly, and in the doors of the houses, in public, there every one acknowledges thee.”)
áְּôִúְçֵé
, without, namely, standing under the gates or doors of the house. And speak; this continues the action of the previous clause. The full form of expression likewise imports more than Hitzig will concede to them.—The words: Come now, etc., appear also to intimate that they must now expect something new, different from what they had been hitherto always hearing. But is it as at Hos_6:1? Would they only hear, as they say, and not also obey? not return to the Lord?—The prophet must not deceive himself on this account, that his person is their daily theme within and without, nay, that they come in a manner to the word of the Eternal, as is described in Eze_33:31, namely, “as the coining of people,” that is, like streaming multitudes, in vast crowds (“as on great solemnities,” Häv.)—to which is parallel
òַîִּé
, in an emphatic manner designating either: “My people” ironically, those who should be Mine—hear, but do not; or: “as My people,” that is, as if they would be My people, and still are not. Ewald: “as if they were the true community.” Or may it not be as Hengst.: “so respectful, attentive, and apparently earnest and willing”? What they will not do is clear from Eze_33:11; the words of the prophet aim at the heart’s conversion.—
ëִּéÎòֲðָáִéí
, Hitzig: “for the lovely is according to their taste;” but
äֵîָּä òùִֹׁéí
? and
òùִֹׁéí
is certainly suggested by
ìֹà éַòֲùֹׁåּ
. “Lovely things” were such as they liked, desired, longed for; hence they are only about the doing of that which is pleasant in their mouth, smacks agreeably to them. Gesenius, however, puts it: “For with the mouth they do what is well-pleasing (to God), but their heart goes after their unrighteous gain.” Hengst. declares the meanings of “loveliness” and “well-pleasing” to be without foundation, and renders: “they deal tenderly with their mouth,” properly: “they show ardour, affect in words an ardent love to God and His word, while the real inclination of their heart goes quite another way, is turned to mammon, the god of the Jewish old man.” Häv.: “for lewdness they follow with their mouth.”
òָðַá
with Ezekiel (comp. at ch.23.) and Jeremiah unquestionably denotes impure love, passionate desire, especially unchaste fleshly desire, whether as akin to
ἀãáðÜù
, or to “gaping after” (gaffen), looking after, or to “snatching at” (Germ. happen), hoping for, earnestly expecting. So much is clear as to the meaning of the word; all besides is imported, or arbitrarily connected with it.
òֲðָáִéí
(only in the plural), however, occurs not merely in Eze_33:31, but also in Eze_33:32 connected with
ùִׁéø
, song. What else, then, can it signify but “love-songs” (songs of impure love)? To the fact that they do not the words of the prophet, which according to their own confession proceed from Jehovah (Eze_33:30), the
òֲâָáִéí áְּôִéäֶí äֵîָּä òùִֹׁéí
form a restriction: certainly they also do, they are at the doing in their mouth: as much as, with words, with the tongue. What is received by the ear, this in the mouth becomes love-songs; the “doing” of that they make out of the words of God spoken by the prophet. Hence, after that in Eze_33:31 the expression
òֲðָáִéí
has been explained, or more exactly defined, the statement: “and they hear thy words,” etc., is again resumed. So that their doing remains in the mouth; the heart does not participate in it, as is presently indicated when it is said that their heart goes after its covetous, fraudulent gain (
áֶּöַò
from
áָּöַò
, to make a cut; Eze_22:27; Eze_22:12). Nay, they take such advantage of the words of God, which Ezekiel announces to them, that they turn them to their own account; whence it is not so much their warm regard for Jehovah, as Jehovah’s for them, which here comes into consideration. In some such way they treat the divine promises as loving declarations of a hot paramour. We are not, however, on this account obliged to interpret
òֲâָáִéí
by: “frivolous jokes,” “words of mockery” (with the Targum), or: “falsehood,” “deceit,” with the older translations. Not that they would “only amuse themselves,” but more, they turn grace into wantonness (Judges 4). With them also, therefore, the matter concerns the substance of things, not so much “the lovely form;” and they were perverting it to excess according to their heart’s lust.
Eze_33:32. According to Hitzig,
ùִׁéø
must signify not song, but “lovely singer.”
éְôֵä ÷åֹì
does not necessitate that, for it may be referred to the fine tones of the song. But if it applies to the fine voice of the prophet, then it is to be understood that, after he has in
ùִׁéø
been coupled with his prophecy (to which, however, the reference according to the connection must chiefly be made), he is thought of apart, and
îֵèִá ðַðֵּï
continues the reference to the prophet, without therefore constraining us by this personal reference to understand
ùִׁéø
also directly and simply of him.
äֵéèִéá
(Hiph. of
éָèַá
), with
ðַðֵּï
, signifies either to play well, beautifully, or to do so vigorously, bravely. Junius refers what is said to the prophecies of doom upon those who are without (Ezekiel 25-32). Hengst., in a manifestly modern fashion: “they rejoice amid the national impoverishment at the admirable rhetorical gifts of the new classic” (!).
Eze_33:33. This verse joins to the repetition of their not doing the prediction of their unfailing and so different knowledge of the prophet.—And when it comes, in a general sense, what he speaks; not the more special utterance in Eze_33:27-29, which at least does not sound like a song of loves, rather the prophecies which were now going to follow. Thus the tone with which this second main division of the book commences is different; not: they shall know that I am Jehovah, but as at Eze_2:5, where the language employed was still of a general kind. (See there.)—The: behold it comes, points back to the circumstance that the judgment on the people has actually come; and as such a thing has come, so certain also shall the following discourses be seen to be as to their fulfilment. (Hitz.: the matter shall certainly come to pass which is the object of thine address. Häv.: “And lo! it is already fulfilled; this must signify, Jerusalem is fallen, and the truth of the predictions perfectly established.”) The experience is, however, a painful one, because the people’s impenitence will exclude them from the future salvation. What far-reaching and, at the same time, true prospective vision, even to the days of the Son of man! It had already been declared to them through the prophets in the midst of them; so much the more, when He Himself actually came and spoke to them, did every pretext for their sin fall away, Joh_15:22.
DOCTRINAL REFLECTIONS
Compare the Reflections at pp. 72, 73, and on ch 18
1. “Woe is me,” exclaimed the apostle, “if I preach not the gospel!” (1Co_9:16.) This is a lesson which belongs to all those who have had the care or oversight of others committed to them. With that is not to be confounded the circumstance, that each individual has his particular gift from God, by means of which he can be profitable to his neighbour. The general love demands that we should seek the salvation of each other, Jude 21–23 (Cocceius).
2. In the office, calling, service which belongs to preachers, two things unite,—namely, the appointment through men, that is, in the present case, through the Church, as is implied in the similitude Eze_33:2 sq.; and that the Lord gives preachers to Jerusalem, as is said at Eze_33:7. Where this latter is not regarded, there the other also cannot be considered. If the civil magistrate, hence the State, or private individuals to whom the patronage belongs, will assert for themselves the vocatio ministrorum, they thereby ignore the Christian rights of the Church, just because they do not acknowledge the supreme right of God over His people. For it belongs to the Church to choose and ordain her servants, according to the order of Christ and His apostles; and a particular community, although it may be locally formed, does not at all stand related to the whole Church after the manner that a single commune, as a section of the civic commonwealth, stands related to the State; but it is in respect to constitution the Church itself, which has its representation in the community as regards its full possession of life. Not otherwise appear to us the communities of the Acts of the Apostles and of the apostolic epistles. Hereditary relations might well enough beget a temporary legal right of a historical kind, but really destitute of foundation, in so far as it is at variance with the fundamental rights of the Church, and can be proved to be the remnant of an antagonistic claim of rights, an unjust usurpation. We are not to speak with the Remonstrants of rights conferred upon the Church by the State in the matter of the vocatio ministrorum, since the State has no right to confer, because possessing none. And so the Reformation, if it found itself very much in the position, could not have the right, to erect a throne for the Cæsareo-papal government of the Church, since the Church, having the right to govern itself, renounces itself when it gives up to the State, or to the persons in whom the civil power concentrates itself, rights which are absolutely the Church’s own, which therefore the civil power cannot possess, unless these rights are to be turned to foolishness. In every tyranny exercised on the conscience, foolishness plays its part. But the claim of right, which, since the Reformation, has crept in for the conferring of rights which are against right, is of a piece with that of summus episcopus—whence the Papistical leaven of this title clearly appears. For it is Papistical doctrine in the general to ascribe the right of vocation to the bishops, if the Roman chair should not have granted special exceptions in regard to the election of pastors. When the limits of State-power have been formulated in this way, that it has to do with things circa sacra, but not in sacris, it certainly does look odd enough that “a supreme bishop” should indeed inspect the walls of the sanctuary, but must not tread upon them. The experience of upwards of 300 years, however, has shown much else than the absurdity of the formula in question—has proved the neglected, though oft-repeated and powerfully expressed, warnings of Luther and of the symbolical books, against the intermingling of the spiritual and civil jurisdictions, to have been only too well grounded. And when the Reformed theologian Heidegger, in his Medulla Theologiœ, with the view of smoothing over the folly of that formula, would not have the oversight and power of the State limited to the circa religionem et ecclesiam, but apostrophises the magistrate as
ὁìïðéôôïò
et ecclesiœ membrum excellens, thereby giving him to participate in the power which belongs to the Church, and then ascribing to him the obligation of serving Christ and His kingdom, and of advancing this kingdom with the authority lent him by God;—or when Burmann, also a Reformed theologian, enumerates the offices of the magistrate circa sacra, and among these reckons not merely the appointment and ordering of the acts of public worship, so as to secure that all be done according to the word of God, and the providing a safeguard against ecclesiastical arbitrariness, and the interposition on behalf of oppressed fellow-believers, and so forth, but also the suppression of errors, of heretics and heterodox, the reformation of the Church when it has become corrup
