A. C. 587. heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee. 5 And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height. 6 I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee. m 7 And when I shall + put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. 8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make § dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD. 9 I will also || vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known. 10 Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall. 11 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee. 12 By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed. 13 I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside the great waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them. 14 Then will I make their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord GOD. 15 When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be * destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the LORD. 16 This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament for her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the Lord GOD. SECTION III. Prophecy against Egypt. EZEKIEL XXXII. VER. 17, TO THE END. 17 It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fif teenth day of the month, that the word of the LORD came A.C. 587. unto me, saying 35, 18 Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit. 19 Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised. 20 They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword: * she is delivered to the sword: draw her and Or, the all her multitudes. 21 The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword. 22 Asshur is there and all her company: his graves are about him all of them slain, fallen by the sword: sword is laid. ing. 23 Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused + terror in the land of the living. Or, dismay24 There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit. 25 They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain. 26 There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain 36 The imagery of the latter part of this chapter, from verse 17, is sublime and terrible. Bishop Lowth remarks that Ezekiel has here described the same scene, with all the same circumstances, as Isaiah in chap. xiv. "Hell," in verse 21, signifies the state of the dead; where the deceased tyrants are represented as coming to meet the king of Egypt with his auxiliaries (see chap. xxx. 8.) upon their arrival at the same place. The Assyrians, both king and people, whose destruction is represented, chap. xxxi.; the Persians, conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer. xlix. 34. The Scythians, and the people called Tibareni, and Moschi, (the sons of Japhet, Gen. x. 2, situated towards Mount Caucasus, and the Euxine Sea); the Edomites, "Her kings and all her princes," whose destruction is foretold by Ezekiel, chap. xxv. 12; "The princes of the north," the Tyrians and their allies, chap. xxvi. 16; joined with the Zidonians their neighbours, are all represented as assembled in this invisible state, and laid in the midst of the uncircumcised; "all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living." A.C. 587. by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living. weapons of their war. 27 And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen *Heb. with of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. 28 Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword. 29 There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which + Heb. given, with their might are + laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit. dr, put. 30 There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit. 31 Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD. 32 For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD. SECTION IV. Appeal to the Captives in Babylon. EZEKIEL XXXIII. VER. 1-2136. 1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and Heb. A land say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if sword upon the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set her. a him for their watchman: 36 This part of chap. xxxiii. is inserted here, as it is placed in the sacred text immediately after the thirty-second; and I see no reason to alter its arrangement. Archbishop Newcome observes, " that Ezekiel certainly uttered the prediction contained in this chapter (ver. 1-21.) before Jerusalem was taken, but how long is uncertain." The learned prelate, however, has not given his reason for this opinion: and from examining the contents of the prophecy, we may conclude, that the prophet might as justly be called a watchman to the people after, as before the captivity: and the reasoning is as perfectly applicable (perhaps more applicable), to the Jewish church in Babylon, as if they had remained in their own country. 3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he A. C. 587. blow the trumpet, and warn the people; hearing hear. 4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, Heb. he that and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him eth. away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. 6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. &c. 7 ¶ So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman n ch. iii. 17, unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. 8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 10 Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live? 14. ch. xviii. 11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have 2 Sam. xiv. no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked 32. turn from his way and live turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? p ch. xviii. 31. 12 Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not ach. xviii. 24. deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth. 13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it. 14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do † that which is lawful + Heb. judgand right; 15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he ment and jus tice. A.C. 587. had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. r ch, xviii. 25. 16 None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live. 17 Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the LORD is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal. 18 When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. 19 But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby. 20 Yet ye say,The way of the LORD is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways. SECTION V. Ezekiel proceeds to denounce the Anger of God on the Governors of the Jews, who had deceived the People to their Ruin. He then predicts the Restoration of the Jews to Jerusalem, and the ultimate Happiness of Christ's Kingdom. EZEKIEL XXXIV 37. 1 A reproof of the shepherds. 7 God's judgment against them. 11 His provi 1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GoD s Jer. xxiii. 1. unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? S 3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. 4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that 37 In chapter xxxiv. God reproves the conduct of the governors of the Jewish people, ver. 1-11; and promises, under the symbol of a shepherd, to provide for them himself. He promises to restore them to their own land under the Messiah, under whose reign their happiness is beautifully described. Chapter xxxv. repeats the prophet's former denunciations against the Edomites (see chap. xxv. 12.) as a just punishment for their insults to the Jews during their calamities. The thirty-sixth chapter announces the general restoration of the Jews, and their consequent happiness. The same subject is illustrated in chapter xxxvii. 1—15, under the vision of a resurrection of dry bones; which many commentators have considered as remotely alluding to the general resurrection: under the union of two sticks, (ver. 16, to the end) is foretold the union of Israel and Judah into one state and church under the Messiah.-Horne's Crit. Introd. |