Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 4.djvu/592



When we entered upon the writings of the Prophets, which speak of the things that should be hereafter, we seemed to h;ive the S'lme call that St. John had, (Rev. iv. 1.) Come ufi hither; but when we enter upon the prophecy of this book, it is as if the voice said. Come liji higher, as we go forward in time; for Ezekitl prophesied in the captivity^ as Jeremiah prophesied just "before it; so we soar upward in dis- coveries yet more sublime of the divine glory. 1 hese waters of the sanctuary still grow deeper; so far are they fnjm being fordable, that in some places they are scarcely fathomable; yet, deep as they are, out of them flow streams which make glad the city of our God, the holy filace of the tabernacles oj the Most High. As to this prophecy now before us, we may inquire, I. Concerning the penman of it — it was Ezekiel; his name signifies. The strength of God; or one girt or strengthened of God. He girded up the loins of his mind to the service, and God put strength mto him. Whom God calls to any service he will himself enable for it; if he gives commission, he will give power to execute it. Ezekiel's name was answered when God said, (and no doubt did as he said,) I haxie made thy face strong against their faces. The learned Selden, in his bock De Diis Syris, says that it was the opinion of some of the ancients, that the prophet Ezekiel was the same with that Naza- ratus Assyrius, whom Pythagoras (as himself relates) had for his tutor for some time, and whose lec- tures he attended; and it is agreed that they lived much about the same time. We have reason to think that many of the Greek philosophers were acquainted with the sacred writings, and borrowed some of the best of their notions from them. If we may credit the tradition of the Jews, he was put to death by the captives in Babylon, for his faithfulness and boldness in reproving them; it is stated that they dragged him upon the stones till his brains were dashed out. An Arabic historian says that he was put to death, and was buried in the sepulchre of Shem the son of Noah. So Hottinger relates, Thesaur. Philol. lib. ii. cafi. 1. n. Concerning the date of it — the place whence it is dated, and the time when. The scene is laid in Babylon, when it was a house of bondage to the Israel of God; there the prophecies of this book were preached, there they were written, when the prophet himself, and the people to whom he prophesied, were captives there. Ezekiel and Daniel are the only writing prophets of the Old Testament who lived and prophesied any where but in the land of Lsrael, except we add Jonah, who was sent to Nineveh to prophesy. Ezekiel pi-ophesied in the beginning of the captivity, Daniel in the latter end of it; it was an indication of Ciod's good will to them, and his gracious designs concerning them in their affliction, that he raised up prophets among them, both to convince them, when, in the beginning of their troubles, they were secure and unhumbled, which was Ezekiel's business, and to comU)rt them, when, in the latter end of their trouljles, they were dejected and discouraged. If the Lord had been pleased to kill them, he wndd not have used such apt and proper means to cure them. III. Concerning the matter and scope of it; 1. There is much in it that is very mysterious, dark, and hard to be understncid; especially in the lieginning and the latter end of it; which therefore the Jewish rabbins forbade the reading of to their young men, till they came to be thirty years of age, lest by the difficulties they met with there they should be ])rejudiced against the scriptures; but if we read these difficult parts lif scripture with humility and reverence, and search them diligently, though wemay not be able to untie all the knots we meet with, no more than we can solve all the phainomena in the book of nature, et we mav from them, as from the book of nature, gather a great deal for the confirming of ourfiith, and the encouraging of our hope, in the God we worship. 2. Though the visions here be intricate, such as an elephant may swim in, yet the sermons are mostly plain, such as a lamb may wade in; and the chief design of them is to show God's people their transgressioris, that in their captivity they miglit be repenting, and not repining. It should seem, he was constantly attended, for we read of their sitting before him as God's people sat to hear his tvords; (ch. xxxiii. 31.) and thathe was occasionally consulted, for we read of the elders of Israel who came to inquire of the Lord by him, {ch. xiv. 1,3.) And as it was of great use to the oppressed captives themselves to have a prophet with them, so it was a tcstimonv to their holy religion against their oppressors, who ridiculed it and them. 3. Though the reproofs and the threatenings here be very shai-p and bold, yet toward the close of the book N'ery comfortable assurances are given of great mercy God had in store for them; and there, at length, we shall meet with something that has reference to gospel-times, and. which was to have its ac- coniplishinont in the kingdom of the Messiah, of whom indeed this prophet speaks less than almost any of the prophets. But by opening the terrors of the Lord he prepares Christ's way; by the law is the knowledge of sin, and so it becomes our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The visions, which weie