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The absence of any fresh date, and the fact that it is simply tacked on to the previous chapter by the copulative conjunction, shows that what follows belongs to the same group. The use of the phrase, the word of the Lord came unto me, shows, however, that there was an interval of silence, perhaps of meditation, followed by a fresh influx of inspiration; and, so far as we may judge from the more lyrical character of the chapter, a more intense emotion.
Eze_7:2
An end, etc. The iteration of the word once more gives emphasis. The words read like an echo of Amo_8:2. The four corners (Hebrew, "wings") were probably, as with us, the north, east, south, and west. The phrase had been used before in Isa_11:12, and the thought meets us again, in the form of the "four winds," in Dan_11:4; Zec_2:6; Mat_24:31; Mar_13:27. The "end" in this case is either that of the siege of Jerusalem, or that of the existence of Israel as a nation. It was now drawing nigh—was, as we say, within measurable distance.
Eze_7:3
Now is the end upon thee, etc. We note the repetition of this and Eze_7:4 in Eze_7:8, Eze_7:9, as a kind of refrain in the lamentation. Stress is laid, and for the time laid exclusively, on the unpitying character of the Divine judgments. And this is followed as before, in Eze_6:14, by "Ye shall know that I am the Lord." Fear must teach men the lesson which love had failed to teach.
Eze_7:4
Thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee, etc. These are, of course, primarily the idolatries of Israel. The people are to reap what they have sown. Their sins should be recognized in their punishment.
Eze_7:5
An evil, an only evil, etc. The words imply that the evil would be unique in character, attracting men's notice, not needing repetition. Cornill, however, following Luther, gives "evil after evil," changing one letter m the Hebrew for "one," so as to get the word "after." For is come read, with the Revised Version, it cometh. It is the nearness, not the actual arrival, of the end, that is in the prophet's thoughts. He writes in B.C. 595-4. Jerusalem was not taken till B.C. 588.
Eze_7:6
It watcheth for thee; better, with the Revised Version, it awaketh against thee. So the LXX; Vulgate, Luther. The Hebrew presents a paronomasia between the noun and verb—hakketz, hekitz—which cannot be reproduced in English. The destined doom is thought of as rousing itself to its appointed work. The word is cognate with that rendered "awaketh" in Psa_78:65.
Eze_7:7
The morning is come unto thee, etc. In the only other passage in which the Hebrew noun occurs (Isa_28:5), it is translated "diadem," the meaning being strictly a circular ornament. Here the LXX. gives πλοκὴ , something twirled, out of which may come the meaning of the changes of fortune. Possibly, as in the familiar "wheel of fortune," that thought was involved in the circular form by itself. In the Tahnud it appears as the name of the goddess of fate at Ascalon (Furst). On the whole, I follow the Revised Version, Keil, and Ewald, in giving "thy doom." The "morning" of the Authorized Version probably rises from the thought that the dawn is, as it were, the glory and diadem of the day. The Vulgate gives contritio. The day of trouble; better, with the Revised Version, of tumult. The word is specially used of the noise of war (Isa_22:5; Amo_3:9; Zec_14:3). Not the sounding again upon the mountains. The first noun is not found in the Old Testament, but a closely allied form appears in Isa_16:9; Jer_25:30; Jer_48:33, for the song of the vintage. Not that, the prophet says, shall be heard on the mountains, but in its place the cry of battle and the noise of war. The LXX. "not with travail-pangs," and the Vulgate non gloriae montium, show that the word was in both cases a puzzle to the translators.
Eze_7:8, Eze_7:9
The verses repeat, like the burden of a lyric ode, but end more emphatically, ye shall know that I am Jehovah that smiteth.
Eze_7:10
It is come. Read, as before, it cometh; and for morning, doom (see note on Eze_7:7). The rod hath blossomed, etc. The three verbs imply a climax. The "doom" springs out of the earth; the rod of vengeance blossoms (the word is the same as that which describes the blooming of Aaron's rod (Num_17:8), and the phrase was probably suggested by the history); pride (either that of the Chaldean ministers of vengeance, or of Israel as working out its own punishment; I incline to the latter) buds and bears fruit. In Isa_27:6 the word follows on "blossom," and therefore seems applicable to the formation of the fruit rather than the flower. (For the image of the rod, comp. Psa_110:2; Isa_10:26; Mic_6:9.)
Eze_7:11
Violence is risen up, etc. The "violence" admits of the same twofold interpretation as the "pride" of Eze_7:10. None of them shall remain. The interpolated verb, though grammatically necessary, weakens the force of the Hebrew. "None of them; none of their multitude; none of their wealth." Neither shall there be wailing for them. The noun is not found elsewhere. Taken, as the Authorized Version takes it, the thought, like that of Eze_24:16 and Jer_16:4, is that the usual rites of burial would be neglected, and that there would be "no widows to make lamentation" (Psa_78:64). The Revised Version "eminency" implies the loss of all that constituted greatness. Cornill and the LXX. ("beauty" or "gaiety") practically agree with this. The Vulgate gives requies, and Furst "a gathering, or tumult of the people." Probably the text is corrupt.
Eze_7:12
Let not the buyer rejoice, etc. We have to read, between the lines, the story of Ezekiel's companions in exile. They belonged, it will be remembered, to the nobler and wealthier class (2Ki_25:19). They, it would seem, had been compelled to sell their estates at a price which made the "buyer rejoice and the seller mourn." In each ease the joy and the sorrow would be but transient. Wrath had gone out against the whole multitude. In Mic_2:2 and Isa_5:8 we have parallel instances of the advantage taken by the rich of the distress of the old tree holders. In the story of Jer_32:6-16 we have, though from a very different point of view, the history of a like purchase, while the city was actually surrounded by the Chaldeans. The neglect of the sabbatic year (Jer_34:8-17) makes it probable that the jubilee year also (if, indeed, it had ever been more than an ideal) had fallen into desuetude, and that the buyers comforted themselves with the thought that the land they had got, on cheap terms, weald belong to them and their children forever.
Eze_7:13
For the seller shall not return, etc. At first the thought seems only to add to the sorrow of the seller. He is told that he, at least, shall not return to his old estate. Even though they should be alive at the year of jubilee, their exile had to last its appointed time, Ezekiel's forty (Eze_4:6) and Jeremiah's seventy years (Jer_25:11). This, however, did not exclude the return of their children (Jer_32:44), and in the mean time all private sorrow would fall into the background as compared with the great public woe of the destruction of the holy city. The vision is touching, etc. The noun is used as a synonym for prophecy, as elsewhere (Isa_1:1; Nah_1:1; Hab_2:1). It may be noted that it is specially characteristic of Ezekiel (seven times) and Daniel (eleven times). For the Authorized Version read with the Revised Version, none shall return, or better (with the Vulgate and Keil), the vision touching the whole multitude shall not return, i.e. shall go straight onward to do its work (comp. Isa_55:11). So taken, there is a kind of play upon the iterated word: "The seller shall not turn his footsteps back, neither shall the prophecy." Vestigia nulla retrorsum shall be true of both. I take the other words, with the Revised Version, no man in the iniquity of his life shall strengthen himself, noting the fact that the word for "strengthen" is that which enters into Ezekiel's name. It is as though he said, "God is the only true source of strength to thee, as thy very name bears witness."
Eze_7:14
They have blown the trumpet. The word for "trumpet" is not found elsewhere, but the corresponding verb is used continually in connection with the trumpet of war, and Ezekiel seems to have coined the corresponding substantive, not, perhaps, without a reminiscence of Jer_6:1. There may possibly be an allusion to the trumpet blowing with which the jubilee year (see Jer_6:13) was ushered in. The trumpet should sound, not for each man's return to his own estate, but for the alarm of war. and even then the consciousness of guilt will hinder men from arming themselves for battle (comp. Le 26:36; Deu_28:25; Deu_32:30).
Eze_7:15
The sword is without (see Eze_5:12; Eze_6:12). Here there seems a more traceable fitness in assigning the pestilence as well as the famine to those who are shut up in the besieged city.
Eze_7:16
They that escape, etc. The sentence is virtually conditional. They that escape shall, it is true, in one sense, escape the immediate doom; but if so, it shall only be to the mountains. These were, in all times, the natural refuge for those who fled from danger, but even this should fail those of whom the prophet speaks. They should be like the doves of the mountain gorges, that are fluttered at the appearance of the eagle or the fowler, and seem by note (Isa_38:14; Isa_59:11) and gesture (Nah_2:7), to be mourning forevermore. There also they shall lie, every man in his iniquity, and wailing for its punishment. We are reminded of Dante's similitudes in 'Inf.,' 5.40, 46, 82.
Eze_7:17
All knees shall be weak as water; literally, shall flow with water. So the Vulgate. The LXX. is yet stronger, shall be defiled, etc. The words may point to the cold sweat of terror which paralyzes men's power to act. The phrase is peculiar to Ezekiel, and meets us again in Eze_21:7. The thought finds a parallel in Isa_13:7; Jer_6:24.
Eze_7:18
They shall also gird, etc. The words become more general, and include those who should remain in the city as well as the fugitives. For both there should be the inward feelings of horror and shame, and their outward symbols of sackcloth (Gen_37:34; 2Sa_3:31, 2Sa_3:32; 2Ki_6:30; Isa_15:3; Jer_4:8, et al.) and baldness (Isa_3:24; Isa_15:2; Isa_22:12; Amo_8:10).
Eze_7:19
They shall cast their silver, etc. The words remind us of Isa_2:20 and Isa_30:22, with the difference that here it is the silver and gold as such, and not the idols made of them, that are to be flung away. They had made the actual metal their idol, and their confidence in it should be powerless to deliver them (Zep_1:18). Their gold shall be removed; better, with the Revised Version, as an unclean thing. The word implies the kind of impurity of Eze_18:6; Eze_22:10; Eze_36:17; Isa_30:22. Instead of gloating, as they had done, over their money, men should shrink from it, as though its very touch brought pollution. The Vulgate gives in sterquilinium, "to the dunghill." They shall not satisfy their souls. In the horrors of the siege, with everything at famine prices (2Ki_6:25), and little or nothing to be had for them, their money would not stop the cravings of hunger. It is characteristic that he applies to riches as such the very same epithet, stumbling block of their iniquity, as he had applied before (Eze_3:20) to actual idolatry (comp. Col_3:5).
Eze_7:20
As for the beauty of his ornament. The latter word is commonly used of the necklaces, armlets, etc; of women (Exo_33:4-6; Isa_49:18; Jer_2:32; Jer_4:30). So again in Eze_16:7, Eze_16:11; Eze_23:40. The singular is used of the people collectively, or of each man individually, like German man or French on. He set it in majesty; better, he—or to give the sense they—turned it to pride. Wealth and art had ministered, as in Isa_2:16, first to mere pride and pomp; then they made out of their ornaments the idols which they worshipped, and which were now, the same emphatic word being repeated, as a pollution to them.
Eze_7:21
I will give it. The "it" refers to the silver and gold, the "beauty of the ornaments" thus desecrated in their use. The strangers, i.e. the Chaldean invaders, should in their turn pollute (better, with the Revised Version, profane it) by making it their prey. For them the idols which Israel had worshipped would be simply as booty to be plundered.
Eze_7:22
My secret place. The work of the spoiler would not stop at the idols of silver and gold. Jehovah would surrender his own "secret place", that over which he had watched, sc. the sanctuary of his temple, to the hands of the spoiler. In Psa_83:4 the same adjective is used of persons, the "hidden" or protected ones of God. In the name of Baal-zephon, "Lord of the secret place," we have possibly a kindred thought. In Psa_17:14 we have "hid treasure."
Eze_7:23
Make a chain; better, the chain. The word is not found elsewhere, but a kindred form is thus translated in 1Ki_6:21. Looking to the force of the verbs from which it is formed, its special meaning is that of a coupling chain, such as would be used in the case of captives marched off to their place of exile (Nah_3:10). All previous sufferings were to culminate in this. The φυρμόν of the LXX. and the fac conclusionem of the Vulgate show that the word perplexed them. Full of bloody crimes. The only passage in the Authorized Version of the Old Testament in which the English noun occurs. Literally, judgments of blood. The words may be equivalent either
(1) to "blood guiltiness" (compare the "judgment" in Jer_51:9), or
(2) to judgment perverted into judicial murder. The latter finds support in Eze_9:9. In either case it is noticeable that Ezekiel points not only to idolatry, but to violence and wrong, as the sins that had cried for punishment (comp. Jer_22:17 as a contemporary witness).
Eze_7:24
The worst of the heathen; literally, evil ones of the nations—with the superlative implied rather than expressed. For the thought, comp. Deu_28:50; Lam_5:11-13; Jer_6:23. The Chaldeans were probably most prominent in the prophet's thoughts, but Jer_35:5 and Psa_137:7 suggest that there was a side glance at the Edomites. The pomp of the strong, etc. Another echo of Lev_26:1-46. (Lev_26:31). The "pomp" is that of Judah trusting in her strength. The "holy places" find their chief representative in the temple, but, as the word is used also of a non-Jehovistic worship (Eze_28:18; Amo_7:9), may include whatever the people looked on as sanctuaries—the "high places" and the like. The Vulgate gives possidebuut sanctuaria; the Revised Version margin, they that sanctify them; but the Authorized Version is probably right in both cases. Luther renders ihre kirchen, which reminds us of Act_19:37.
Eze_7:25
They shall seek peace, etc. The noun is probably to be taken in its wider sense as including safety and prosperity, but may also include specific overtures for peace made to the Chaldean generals.
Eze_7:26
Mischief … turnout. The combination reminds us of the "wars and rumours of wars" of Mat_24:6. The floating uncertain reports of a time of invasion aggravate the actual misery (comp. Isa_37:7; Jer_51:46; Oba_1:1). They shall seek a vision of the prophet, etc. The words paint a picture of political chaos and confusion. The people turn in their distress to the three representativtes of wisdom—the prophet as the bearer of an immediate message from Jehovah, the priest as the interpreter of his Law (Mal_2:7), the "ancients" or "elders" as those who had learnt the lessons of experience,—and all alike in vain. (For illustrative facts, see Jer_5:31; Jer_6:13; Jer_21:2; Jer_23:21-40; Jer_27:9-18; Jer_28:1-9, and generally Mic_3:6; Amo_8:11; 1Sa_28:6; Lam_2:9.)
Eze_7:27
The king shall mourn, etc. The picture reminds us of Jehoram in 2Ki_6:30. The action of Zedekiah in Jer_21:1 and Jer_34:8 makes it probable enough that it was actually reproduced. A solemn litany procession like that of Joe_1:13, Joe_1:14 and Joe_2:15-17 would have been quite in keeping with his character. The prince shall clothe himself, etc. The noun is specially characteristic of Ezekiel, who uses it thirty-four times. In Eze_12:12 the "prince" seems identified with the "king." Here it may mean either the heir to the throne, or the chief ruler under the king. The people of the land, etc. The phrase is perhaps used, as the Jewish rabbis afterwards used it, with a certain touch of scorn, for the labouring class. All the upper class had been carried away captive with Jehoiachin (2Ki_24:14). Compare Ezekiel's use of it in Eze_33:2; Eze_46:3, Eze_46:9. I will do unto them, etc. The chapter, or rather the whole section from Eze_1:1 onwards, ends with an iterated assertion of the equity of the Divine judgments. Then also they shall know that I am the Lord, Almighty and all-righteous.
"Come, gone,—gone forever;
Gone as an unreturning truer;
Gone as to death the merriest liver;
Gone as the year at the dying fall,
Tomorrow, today, yesterday, never:
Gone once for all."
1. There is an end to the day of work. "The night cometh, wherein no man can work." The opportunity will pass. Let us make the most of our strength and time while we have them.
2. There is an end to the freedom of sin. The orgies of mad self-indulgence will not last forever. They burn themselves out in folly and shame. Then comes the end, and after that the reckoning.
3. There is an end to the discipline of sorrow. The pain will not last forever. The doubt and mystery and darkness are not eternal. The Christian pilgrimage is long and weary, but it is not an infinite, endless course. The wilderness is wide, and the goal far off. But the way will end at last in the heavenly city, the home of the soul.
II. THE END THAT SHOULD COME. There are some things which we should do welt to end, yet still they are with us.
1. An end should come to our life of sin. The old sin has been our companion for years, a bad companion, corrupt and corrupting. It is time we and it parted. It is time we turned over a new leaf and began a better way. The old self has lived too long. Let it die and be buried.
2. An end should come to our indecision. "How long halt ye between two opinions?" This hesitation has lasted too long. "Choose you this day whom ye will serve."
3. An end should come to the gloom of doubt, the coldness of half-hearted service, the lethargy and paralysis of an unspiritual religion. "The night is far spent; the day is at hand;" "Awake, thou that sleepest!"
III. THE END THAT MAY COME. We contemplate possible endings which we would fain avert, but which seem to be approaching.
1. Some of these endings are within our power, and should be kept off. We should guard against an end to our early faith and zeal. Ephraim's goodness, which was like the morning cloud, was soon dissipated. Of some it must be said the end has come to their fervent devotion and self-sacrificing service. Once they were bright lights of the Church, but they have waned, and are approaching spiritual night.
2. Some of these endings are beyond our control. The home circle may be broken, the dear countenances of the loved may smile upon us no more. For the old fulness of friendship we may have left only blankness and vacancy, and a bitter sense of loss. The very freshness of our soul may be lost too, and thee we look back to the old sweet years, and wonder how we could have taken them so quietly.
IV. THE END THAT WILL FEVER COME.
1. There will never be an end to the righteous Law of God. Right and truth are eternal. We can never outlive their claims. If we continue forever in opposition to them, their pains and penalties must be always ours.
2. The love of God will never end. Modes of Divine operations may change as circumstances alter, and new dispensations may succeed to old dispensations—new covenants taking the place of old covenants. But God does not change. There is no end to him. He abideth faithful. In the wreck of the universe the Rock of Ages remains unshaken. Love in his essence, God never wearies in helping and blessing. There is no end to his grace. "The mercy of the Lord endureth forever." Whenever the helpless, penitent prodigal returns, he will find his Father waiting to welcome him.
3. The eternal life can have no end. The body dies. Happily there will be an end to that. But the life in God abides forever. In that life many things thought to be ended here on earth will be recovered and will revive. Thus our past experience is not utterly lost. It lives in memory and in what it has made us. A German poet writes -
"Yesterday I loved;
Today I suffer;
Tomorrow I die.
But I shall gladly,
Today and tomorrow
Think on yesterday."
Eze_7:10
I. THE FUTURE BECOMES PRESENT. The much anticipated day at length arrives. We are thus forever overtaking the future. However far the future event may be, it will surely be reached, if time is the only impediment to be got over. The day of death may be far ahead, but most assuredly it will come. The dreaded day will come only too swiftly. The hoped for day will also dawn, though we become weary in waiting for it. God's great day of doom will arrive, though the sinner mock at its tarrying. Christ's glorious day of triumph will also appear, though the Church grow faint and wonders at its slow approach.
II. THE NEW DAY WILL BE REVEALED BY ITS OWN ADVENT. No prediction can exactly describe the coming day, for no words can paint the thing that has not been. We vainly try to anticipate the future, and we blunder into the greatest mistakes. We cannot know what sorrow is till the day of sorrow breaks, nor can we understand the joy of the Lord till a glad day of heavenly love smiles upon us. We shall not know death till we are in the day of death. When the new day of the life beyond dawns we shall know its meaning as we can never guess now.
III. THE COMING DAY WILL HAVE A NEW CHARACTER. No two days are exactly alike. Ezekiel was announcing a day of doom. The awful thunders of that day are to roll over the heads of guilty and impenitent men with a surprise and a horror never anticipated in easier times. Thus it was in the doom of Israel under the Babylonian invasion. But there are brighter days to anticipate. There is the day of light after the night of doubt; the day of joy's sunshine succeeding the night of sorrow's weeping; the day of penitent new beginnings after the night of sin; the day of busy service after the night of rest and waiting. Carlyle writes—
"Lo! here hath been dawning
Another blue day:
Think, wilt thou let it
Slip useless away?
"Out of eternity
This new day is born;
Into eternity
At night will return.
"Behold it aforetime
No eye ever did;
So soon it forever
From all eyes is hid."
IV. THE CHARACTER OF THE NEW DAY IS DETERMINED BY OUR CONDUCT IN THE OLD DAYS. The day of doom is not the day of fate. It is a day of judgment, i.e. of examination, discrimination, and consequent decision. Therefore it is determined by the character of the old days it judges. The new day may come to us as a surprise, but it will not fall out by chance as one of storm or one of sunshine. When it arrives we shall see that, in its deepest character, it bears the record of our own past.
Eze_7:12
1. A respect for truth and justice. A Christian merchant's word should be as good as his bond in his counting house as well as in his home. It is scandalous that "trust" can only go with "security." Christian honour should pay the debt that cannot be exacted by law. The bankrupt who listens to the teachings of Christ will not be content to scrape through the courts by the aid of technicalities which only enable him to cheat his creditors. The Christian seller will not deceive the buyer, nor the Christian buyer take advantage of the difficulties of the seller to drive an unfair bargain. Justice means more than keeping the law—it means fair dealing and equal treatment.
2. A recognition of human brotherhood. If I recognize my neighbour as a brother when at church, can I pounce upon him as my prey in the world? The "golden rule" belongs to commerce as much as to any other part of life. But it will not be effective till a spirit of cooperation takes the place of one of cruel, hard, selfish competition.
3. A reverence for the rights of God in the fruits of commerce. Over the Royal Exchange, in London, there runs, in great and bold letters, the legend, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." How far is that the text of the words and deeds of the men who throng the streets round this public building? If all in the earth belongs to God, we shall have to give him an account of our trade transactions.
II. COMMERCE WITHOUT RELIGION WILL NOT SECURE THE WELFARE OF A PEOPLE. People who prefer Mammon to God will find they have chosen a hard master.
1. When commerce is prosperous, it will not satisfy the greatest needs of men. Man does not live by bread alone, and certainly he cannot subsist on bankers' accounts. In Jerusalem the buyer and seller would cease to rejoice over their bargains, would even not care for loss or gain, glad if only they escaped with their lives. The best things cannot be bought with money; but, happily, they can be had "without money and without price."
2. When national calamity comes, commerce fails. The commercial barometer is a most sensitive test of approaching political storms. Wickedness in business is deservedly punished in the general calamity of a nation by the collapse of trade that is certain to be one of the first results of the adversity.
3. Commercial sin will be justly punished with commercial ruin. This does not necessarily happen to the individual trader who may die rich with ill-gotten gains; but history proves it to be true in the long run with nations.
Eze_7:16
I. NATURE INTERPRETS MAN TO HIMSELF. There is an interpretation of nature by man; there is also an interpretation of man by nature. The glad sights and sounds of spring are commentaries on the fresh joyousness of youth. We should not know the hope and beauty of life so well if May never came. So, also, storm, night, winter, desert, mountain, and raging torrent open the heart of man's grief and despair, and reveal its desolation. The key to human passion is there. Wordsworth, the prophet of nature, who saw deepest into her secret, discerned among the woods and hills "the still, sad music of humanity."
II. SORROW IS RELIEVED BY CONGENIAL SCENES OF NATURE. The mourning exiles will note the melancholy tones of the doves of the valley. To the happy these sounds come as a touching variation from the generally pleasing aspect of nature; but to the sorrowful fugitives among the mountains they express the sympathy of nature. It is well to cultivate this sympathy, which is not all imaginative; "for there is a spirit in the woods." and hills and valleys are filled with a Divine presence.
III. IN THE SECLUSION OF NATURE THE DEEPER FEELINGS OF THE SOUL FIND VENT. While among the mountains the exiles utter their lamentations. In the city, scenes of warfare, bloodshed, fury, and terror absorb all attention. These are the immediate and the coarser experiences in a season of great calamity. For the time they destroy the power of reflection. But in solitude and silence men have leisure to think. Then the sadness of the soul wakes up, and takes the place of the agitation and distress of external circumstances.
IV. THE SORROW OF MAN IS DEEPER THAN THE MELANCHOLY OF NATURE, While the doves coo in plaintive notes that suggest to the hearer a feeling of grief, though they are not really mourning, the exiles from Jerusalem respond to the natural notes of the doves with utterances of true sorrow. Man is greater than nature. He has self-consciousness and conscience. He knows his trouble and he knows his sin. He pays the penalty of his higher endowments in the greater depth of his fall and shame and sorrow. The whole range of nature's experiences is slight by the side of the lofty aspirations and profound griefs of nan. Going from the one to the other is like leaving the soft, undulating landscape of England for the cliffs and chasms and dark valleys and the awful mountain peaks of Switzerland. The chief difference is moral. Man alone has conscience; he only can mourn for sin. This grief for sin—and not merely grief on account of its penalties—is one of the deepest experiences of the human heart. It puts leagues of space between the men who mourn like doves, and the innocent, simple birds whose notes suggest a grief they can never feel. But in this deeper grief is man's hope. Mourning for sin is a part of repentance, and it points to the day of better things, when God has forgiven his guilty children, and when the mourning doves will be forgotten, and the singing of the lark at heaven's gate will be the key to a new experience of heavenly gladness.
Eze_7:19
I. THE VALUE OF GOLD AND SILVER IS NOT STABLE. Financially, this fact is recognized in the Money Market, but it goes further than men of business generally admit. The precious metals have a certain utility and beauty of their own; but there are circumstances under which they become mere incumbrances; e.g. on hoard a sinking ship, in a besieged city, on a desert island, in great sickness, at death. They are chiefly valued as money, i.e. as a medium of exchange. But when there is nothing to exchange them for, their money value is lost. This must be the case in a state of social insecurity, when no one can depend upon holding his property from one day to another. Then the purchasing power of money will fall, even though there be plenty of articles for sale, because the purchase of goods may be nullified by the loss of them. In a famine at first the rich man may buy dear food which the poor man can not afford to get; but when all the food is exhausted, he cannot feed on his gold and silver. In times of great sorrow the value of gold and silver falls almost to nil. It will not supply the vacant place of the dead, nor will it heal the smart of unkindness or ingratitude. He is poor indeed whose wealth consists in nothing better than gold and silver. The worship of Mammon is a miserable idolatry, certain to be most fatal to the most devoted worshipper—and, alas! how many such our money loving age produces! What Wordsworth wrote of the plutocracy of his day is little less true now.
"The wealthiest man among us is the best:
No grandeur now in nature or in book
Delights us. Rapine, avarice, expense,
This is idolatry: and these we adore:
Plain living and high thinking are no more:
The homely beauty of the good old cause
Is gone; our peace, our fearful innocence,
And pure religion breathing household laws."
II. THERE ARE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH LEAD TO THE ABANDONMENT OF GOLD AND SILVER.
1. Necessity. "All that a man hath will he give for his life." The drowning man will drop his money bags rather than be dragged down to death with them. Yet there are men who behave as slaves to their money, consenting to a slow death of exhaustion from devotion to business rather than preserve health and life at the cost of pecuniary loss.
2. Folly. Extravagant people "cast their silver in the streets." Money spent in sin is worse than lost; it is invested in funds from which the dividends will be pain and death.
3. Charity. There are the poor of the streets, and the rich and well clad man who sees his brethren shivering and hungry has a good call to cast his silver in the streets—not, indeed, for a loose scramble in which the most worthless will seize most, not in indiscriminate charity which breeds idle paupers and neglects modest poverty, but in wise and thoughtful alleviation of misery. The young man whom Jesus loved was bidden to sell all and give to the poor (Mat_19:21). St. Francis of Assissi and many another did so. Those who do not practise this "counsel of perfection" should see the duty of making real sacrifices for their brethren as for Christ (Mat_25:40).
4. Consecration. Men may cast aside their care of wealth, and even let the proceeds lie in neglect while they devote themselves to a higher ministry; or they may bring their wealth and lay it at the feet of Christ, to be spent on his work in the streets of earth.
Eze_7:26
(first part)
1. THE MISCHIEF OF RUMOUR.
1. Rumour distresses by its prophecy of coming evil. There may be rumours of good, to cheer. But in the present instance we have only rumours of evil brought to our attention. Such reports cloud the present with dim visions of a possible dark future. It is hard enough to face the difficulties of today; add to these the portents of tomorrow, and the load may be crashing. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
2. Rumour alarms by its vagueness. Rumour is not news, not the picture of the distant, but only its shadow. If we knew the worst, we might know how to prepare for it; but rumour comes with large, general adumbrations, leaving us to fill in the details with imaginary horrors.
3. Rumour confuses us by its contradictoriness. Rumour is to follow "upon rumour." There is to be a succession of reports. Possibly these might confirm one another. But general experience would suggest that they are more likely to conflict one with another. The result is a chaos of impressions and a paralysis of energy.
4. Rumour exaggerates evil. It is rarely, if ever, true to fact. It is like the snowball, that grows as it rolls.
II. OUR DUTY IN REGARD TO RUMOUR.
1. We should be careful how we spread a rumour. First, it is necessary to ascertain that we receive it on good authority. Then it is important to guard against adding our reflections and impressions as parts of the original report. If the rumour be one calculated to do harm it may be well to keep it to ourselves. No good comes of scandalmongery. A vulgar sense of self-importance delights in telling shocking news; but the motive is a low one, and the action may be most unkind. Panics spring from rumour. When a thoughtless person cries "Fire!" in a public place, he cannot answer for the consequences of his rash and perhaps fatal folly. We need self-restraint to prevent the mischievous spread of rumour.
"Rumour is a pipe
Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures,
And of so easy and so plain a stop,
That the blunt monster with uncounted heads,
The still-discordant wavering multitude,
Can play upon it."
2. We should be on our guard against yielding to turnout. It wants courage and strength to resist this influence, especially when our neighbours are carried away by it. But past experience should teach caution. We have better than rumour to follow in seeking our highest interest. "We have not followed cunningly devised fables." We have "the more sure word of prophecy," and the inward personal experience of the soul with God. Christianity is not based on a rumour of ghost stories; it sends on the historical facts of gospel history and on Christian experience,
Eze_7:26
(latter part)
I. THE SEARCH. The words of true prophecy were not much valued by the careless people in their hours of ease; but when trouble came natural anxiety and superstitious terror combined to drive them to the sacred oracles. The question arises—What did they wish to learn from the prophets? There is no indication that they desired to know the will of God and to be directed back into his way. More probably they were simply consumed with a morbid curiosity as to their approaching doom. Was it certain that the nation must be scattered? Now, little good can come from such inquiries. A search into the deep mysteries of the future is not likely to give us any very helpful results. It is in God's most merciful method of educating his children, to keep the future hidden, for the most part, and to give just so much light as is needed for the day. There is, however, a better side to this search. Trouble breaks through the thin crust of worldliness, and reveals the essentially spiritual character of man and his needs. Then it is not possible to be satisfied with things seen and temporal. The unseen world that has been slighted in prosperous times is felt to be supremely real and of profoundest interest. So the sorrow-stricken soul searches for some voice out of the darkness beyond.
II. THE LOSS. The search proves to be vain and useless. The oracle is dumb; the prophet sees no vision; the Law perishes; counsel ceases. This is a disappointment for the boasting confidence of the people (Jer_18:18).
1. There is no new inspiration. Revelation did not continue to come in an unbroken stream of light. There were periods of darkness in the history of Israel, when no new word of God was given. The completion of the Bible has put an and to this kind of revelation. Yet there is the inspiring guidance of God's eternal Spirit and the opening of the eyes of spiritually minded men to a personal knowledge and to new aspects of truth. If this ceases, though the letter of revelation remains, the quickening spirit is lost.
2. The old written word is lost. Not only is there no prophet's vision; even the ancient Law perishes from the priest. The ceremonial of the temple was stopped by Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Jerusalem. This was very different from the final cessation of it when the Jewish economy bad passed away. Now the loss of the Law was premature. It would be paralleled by our loss of the whole Bible and its guidance—a thing that happened practically in the Middle Ages.
3. Tradition fails. This counsel of the ancients is lost in the confusion of the scattered people. There are floating beliefs and customs of religion that help and influence us unconsciously. In a broken, disordered condition even these advantages may be lost.
III. THE SIN. The lamentable condition was part of the punishment of Israel's sin. This was the abuse of Law and prophecy. The law of the ritual had been followed as a mere form, and trusted without moral obedience (Isa_1:10-15). Such a desecration of religion may be justly punished by the loss of its aid. Perhaps this would be the most merciful way to bring people to appreciate eternal verities, if all our Bibles were lost, should we value them more, and crave the recovery of them with a new relish? With Israel, prophecy was degraded till the popular prophets became mere echoes of popular, opinions. Then they were deceivers of the people, and not only did they deserve to be swept away, but the loss of them was a merciful deliverance to the deluded nation, There is a teaching which can be well spared, especially in view of a higher gospel.
"Ring out the old,
Ring in the new;
Ring out the false,
Ring in the true."
I. RECOMPENSE IMPLIES A FREE AND RESPONSIBLE NATURE ON THE PART OF MAN. There can be no recompense where there is no accountability; and there can be no accountability where there is no intelligence, no freedom. Natural objects, Kant tells us, act according to laws; spiritual beings, according to representation of laws. Man is capable of apprehending and approving moral ordinances prescribed for his guidance and control; he can recognize moral authority. And he is distinguished from unintelligent and involuntary natures in that he can obey or disobey the laws which he apprehends. If this were not so, consequences might indeed ensue from action; but recompense would be an impossibility.
II. RECOMPENSE PRESUMES THAT THERE IS ON THE PART OF GOD NO INDIFFERENCE, BUT DEEP CONCERN, WITH REGARD TO MAN'S MORAL CHARACTER AND CONDUCT. If We think chiefly of law, or uniformity of action, we cannot but remember that law does not account for itself; if we think of the Lawgiver, we are constrained to recognize purpose in all his proceedings and provisions. It cannot be imagined that the great Ruler of all inflicts suffering for any delight in seeing his creatures suffer, or even that he regards their sufferings with perfect indifference. There must be a governmental, a moral end to be secured. The Lawgiver and Judge has what, in the case of a man, we should call a deep interest in the condition and action of the children of men.
III. RECOMPENSE IMPLIES THE POSSESSION BY THE SUPREME GOVERNOR OF THE ATTRIBUTES WHICH QUALIFY FOR THE EXERCISE OF JUDICIAL FUNCTIONS. None but an omniscient Ruler can be acquainted with all the secret springs of action, as well as with all the varied circumstances of life; yet without such knowledge, how can recompense be other than imperfect and uncertain? None but a perfectly impartial Ruler can administer justice which shall be undisputed and indisputable: who but God is stainlessly and conspicuously just? All earthly retribution is open to suspicion, for the simple reason that every human judge acts upon partial knowledge, and is liable to be influenced by prejudice. But as from the Divine tribunal there is no appeal, so with the Divine decisions can no fault be found. The Judge of all the earth will surely and in every case do right.
IV. RECOMPENSE AS A PRACTICAL PRINCIPLE OPERATING IN HIS LIFE WAS EXEMPLIFIED IN THE HISTORY OF THE CHOSEN PEOPLE. The Old Testament has been written to little purpose for those who do not recognize the action of retributive Providence; the narrative would be meaningless apart from this moral significance. The position of Ezekiel compelled him to trace the hand of God in the life and fortunes of his nation. For the Captivity in the East was an unmistakable instance of God's judicial interposition. And if this was the most striking instance, others occur in abundance, witnessing to the fact that this earthly state is a scene of moral government, incomplete, indeed, yet not to be denied as real.
V. RECOMPENSE IS A PRINCIPLE OF UNIVERSAL PREVALENCE IN GOD'S ADMINISTRATION OF THE AFFAIRS OF MANKIND. Doubtless the history of the children of Israel is intended to teach, among other lessons, in a very especial manner, the lesson of Divine government and human responsibility. Not only is the story told, but its moral significance is expressly.set forth. Yet the great principles which are explicit in Old Testament history are Implied in all history—in the history of every nation which exists upon earth. Go where we may, we do not and cannot go beyond the sphere of Divine retribution. Everywhere "the way of transgressors is hard," and "the wages of sin is death."
VI. RECOMPENSE IS A PRINCIPLE OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT WHICH, WHEN ITS ENDS ARE ANSWERED, ADMITS OF BEING TEMPERED WITH MERCY. It is observable that, in the prophetic writings, we find no unqualified denunciation. Threats of severe punishment are met with; but they are followed by offers of mercy and promises of pardon to the penitent. The gates of hope are not closed upon the sinner. And if the most complete and glorious manifestation of God's character is to be found in the gospel of Christ, it must be remembered that, whilst that gospel was occasioned by man's ruin by sin and his liability to punishment, it was intended to secure man's salvation and deliverance "from the wrath to come."—T.
Eze_7:16
I. THERE IS ABUNDANT OCCASION FOR MOURNING ON THE PART OF THOSE WHO HAVE SINNED AND WHO ENDURE THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN.
II. IT IS ONLY A NATURE IN SOME MEASURE SENSITIVE AND SUSCEPTIBLE OF BETTER FEELING WHICH IS CAPABLE OF MOURNING. How truly has it been said that "the worst of feeling is to feel all feeling die"! "They that lack time to mourn lack time to mend."
III. MOURNING FOR SIN IS MINGLED WITH SELF-REPROACH AND HORROR. They who mourn because they have lost what was precious to them, especially because they have been bereaved of such as they held dear, may mourn tranquilly and holily, and with a patient submission to the will of God. but they who "mourn, every one for his iniquity," cannot but feel conscience stricken because of their personal participation in sin, and their personal guilt for sin; they cannot but accuse themselves, and pass judgment, as it were, upon their own wrong doing and folly.
IV. SUCH MOURNING IS AGGRAVATED BY THE NUMBER OF THOSE PARTICIPATING IN IT. The prophet compares the conscience stricken remnant, distressed and weeping because of their own and their nation's iniquities, to a flight of doves uttering their doleful lamentations. It is no exceptional, singular case; multitudes are involved in the common fate, the common trouble. The feeling is heightened by sympathy. When all heads are bowed in confession, when the utterance of contrition rises from many afflicted hearts, when a contagion of sorrow and distress passes through a vast congregation of humble and penitent worshippers, each is the better able to realize his own and the common distress, and to unburden the over-laden heart.
V. SINCERE MOURNING MAY LEAD TO TRUE REPENTANCE, AND MAY ISSUE IN NEWNESS or LEFT. There is a "godly sorrow which worketh repentance"—a sorrow which is not only or chiefly because of the painful results of sin, but because of the very evil itself which is in sin, and because it is an offence against a forbearing and gracious God. Where such sorrow is, there can be no despair. The rainbow of hope spans the cloud, dark and heavy though it be.—T.
Eze_7:19
I. THE WEALTHY ARE USUALLY PRONE TO PLACE TOO GREAT RELIANCE UPON THEIR RICHES. Money can purchase many things, and it is not surprising that the rich should have a latent belief that it can procure for them everything that they may need.
II. THE VANITY OF SUCH RESOURCES BECOMES MANIFEST EVEN IN ORDINARY EARTHLY CALAMITIES. In sickness, in sorrow of heart, in many calamities, especially in distressing bereavement, the powerlessness of wealth to deliver or to aid is made painfully apparent. In how many circumstances are the rich and the poor almost upon a level! How often would the wealthy be glad to exchange their riches for the poor man's poverty, might they enjoy the poor man's health!
III. SUCH POWERLESSNESS IS YET MORE EVIDENT IN THE PRESENCE OF SUCH CALAMITIES AS ARE THE SIGN OF DIVINE DISPLEASURE. Judah was fated to experience the catastrophe designated by the prophet as "the day of the wrath of the Lord." This awful expression conveys a distinct declaration concerning the Divine government, concerning human responsibility for rebellion and defection. From this wrath no worldly agency could possibly deliver. In the day when the Eternal enters into judgment with the sons of men, earth can offer no immunity, no protection. Release, exemption from righteous judgment can be purchased by no treasures, no gifts, no sacrifice.
IV. WEALTH, WHEN ABUSED, MAY EVEN BE A DISADVANTAGE AND HINDRANCE TO ITS POSSESSOR. In a shipwreck, in a fire, in flight from a besieged or captured city, men have been known, by clutching their gold and burdening themselves with its weight, to lose their chance of escape, and consequently miserably to perish. Their wealth has been their stumbling block. Such action and such a fate are a picture, a figure, of the conduct and the doom of not a few. They trust in uncertain riches instead of trusting in the living God. They make an idol of their possessions. That which they might have used for good ends they misuse to their own destruction.
V. HENCE APPEARS THE REASONABLENESS, THE WISDOM, OF SEEKING BETTER RESOURCES AND MAKING BETTER PROVISION FOR THE DAY OF TRIAL. Silver and gold must fail their possessor; the time must come when they will be cast aside. But there are true riches; there is a steadfast and unfailing prop; there are riches of Divine mercy and compassion. It is not what a man has, it is what a man is, which is of supreme concern. He who has repented of sin and forsaken sin, who has sought and obtained through Christ acceptance with God, whose attitude towards the great King is no longer an attitude of opposition and rebellion, but one of subjection and obedience, he only can look forward with calm confidence to the day of trial; for he knows whom he has trusted, and is persuaded that the Lord will keep that which he has committed to him against that day.—T.
Eze_7:22
I. IN THE SHINING OF GOD'S COUNTENANCE IS LIFE AND JOY. When the sun arises in his strength, and floods the hills and the valleys, the rivers and the forests, the cornfields and the meadows, with his glorious rays, nature returns the smiles, glows in the sunbeams, rejoices in the warmth and the illumination. Where the sun shines brightly, there the colours are radiant, the odour delicious, there the music of the grove is sweet and the harvest of the plain is golden, there life is luxuriant and gladness breaks forth into laughter and song. And in the moral, the spiritual realm, it is the sunlight of God's countenance, the manifestation of God's favour, which calls forth and sustains all spiritual life, health, peace, and joy. "In thy favour is life."
II. MAN'S UNBELIEF AND SIN OCCASION THE HIDING AND WITHDRAWING OF GOD'S COUNTENANCE. The change is not in him; it is in us. When the sun is not seen in the sky, it is not because he no longer shines, but because clouds, mists, or smoke, ascending from the earth, come between the orb of day and the globe which he illumines. So if God turns his face from an individual, a city, a people, it is because their sins have risen up as a dense, foul fog, intervening between them and a holy, righteous God. "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God." So it was with those against whom the Prophet Ezekiel was called upon to testify. So it is with multitudes whom the ministers of Christ are required to address in language of tender sympathy, yet of expostulation and reproach.
III. THE AVERSION OF GOD'S COUNTENANCE IS THE WORST OF ALL CALAMITIES. It is not to be wondered at that men with their composite nature, absorbed as they are in things which affect the body and the earthly life, should think chiefly of the sufferings and privations in which the moral laws of the universe involve them. And these sufferings and privations are realities which no thoughtful man can fail to perceive and to estimate with something like correctness. Yet he who is enlightened and in any measure spiritually sensitive cannot fail to see that it is the regard of God himself which is of chief import. It is better to enjoy the Divine loving kindness, even in poverty, privation, spoliation, and weakness, than to possess luxury, honour, and the delights of sense, and to know that God's countenance is turned away, is hidden.
IV. A MERCIFUL GOD WILL TURN AGAIN HIS FACE AND CAUSE IT TO SHINE UPON PENITENT AND BELIEVING SUPPLIANTS. It is sin which conceals the Divine countenance; it is repentance which seeks the shining anew of that countenance; and salvation consists in the response of God to the prayer of man. Yet the turning of