Vita In this chapter we have, 1. The time when this prophecy was delivered, vers. 1. the place where, vers. 2. and the person by whom, vers. 3. 2. The introduction is it by a vision of the glory of God. (1.) The cherubim over which he appeared, vers. 4—14. (2.) The wheels that accompanied them, vers. 15—26. (3.) His glo- 1. The word of the LORD was the first part of the word of the Lord, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, (as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar) that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. 2. In the fifth day of the month (which was the fifth year of king Jehoakim's captivity) 3. The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzl, in the land of the Chaldean, by the river Chebar, and the hand of the LORD was there upon him. We have here, 1. The date of this prophecy. In the thirtieth year, as some fuppets, of the prophet's life, when, according to callouts, he entered on his priestly office; but others refer it to the era commencing from Nabopolafes's reign, which was the twelfth of the captivity, reckoning from the third year of Jehoakim; and the fifth of Jehoakim, or Cimah's captivity, in the fourth month, the fifth day of the month, probably a labbath-day, when the prophet was employed in the higher work of contemplation and prayer; the seven days after we first another vision of the same nature given him, chap. iii. 16. Note. They who seek to improve the sacred house God hath separated for his own service, in waiting upon him, will find him often manifesting himself to them as he doth not unto the world. 2. The place: among the captives by the river Chebar, in the land of the Chaldean. In their afflicted state God thus shewed he had not forsaken them, but would encourage full their hope of mercy, and engage them to repent and turn to him. The prophet stated in the common calamity; for in national judgment, the people who had been a great deal of the people who had been a great deal of the people who had been a great deal of the people who had been a great deal of the people who had been a great deal of the people who had been a great deal of the people who had been a great deal of the people who had been a great deal of the people who had been a great deal of the people who had been a great deal of the people who had been a great deal of the people who had been a great deal of 3. The vision. The heavens were opened, and I saw the visions of God, some amazing displays of the divine glory appeared. And the word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzl. The words translated came expressly into the original, implying the certainty, evidence, and clearness, of the prophetic word which God revealed to him. And the hand of the Lord was there upon him, supporting him, that he might not be overpowered with the dazzling lustre; and strengthening him to go forth to deliver what was communicated to him. Note. (1) They will be enabled to deliver their message with great boldness, who speak from the most absurd conviction in their own souls. (2) If God sends us forth in his ministry, we may expect his hand will be with us to strengthen us, and give deconstruction and power to the work he puts into our mouths. Heb. Concling it fell. Rev. ix. 6. &c. In this chapter we have the further preparation of the prophet for the work to which God called him. 1. His rating of the roll, ver. 1—3. 2. Further instructions and encouragement given him, ver. 4—11. 3. The mighty impulse he was made, with which he was carried to those that were to be his hearers, ver. 12—15. 4. A further explanation of his office and authority as a prophet, under the similitude of a watchman, ver. 16—21. 5. The rejuvenating and reffering of the prophet's liberty of speech, as God pleased, ver. 22—27. 1. Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou fished; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. 2. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. 3. And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. 4. ¶ And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. 5. For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech, and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel: 6. Not to many people of a strange speech, and of an hard language, who words thou cant not understand: surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. 7. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are I impudent and hard-hearted. 8. Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. 9. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. 10. Moreover, he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee, receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears. 11. And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the LORD God, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. 12. Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place. 13. I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that I touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing. 14. So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness. terneels, in § the heat of my Spirit, but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me. 15. ¶ Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I let where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days. This is a continuation of the vision of the foregoing chapter. 1. The prophet eats the roll at the divine command; not literally, but figuratively: he must read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the prophetic word first him, filling his head with the knowledge, and his heart with the love of it; and not disobedient to the heavenly vision, he opened his mouth, and the Lord could him to eat the roll; gave him understanding of his message, and inclination and ability to discharge his office; and he found it in his mouth as many for generosity: whatever mourning and woe it contained to the impenitent, there were great and precious promises therein respecting Christ and his salvation, on which his soul fell with great delight. Note, (1.) God's word is the bread of life, every day to be fed upon by all his people, deeply to be received into the heart, and universally to be embraced and obeyed. (2.) They who minister to others in holy things, are especially bound to meditate on their subjects, and make solemn and serious preparation before they presume to speak God's word. (3.) All our sufficiency is of God: though we had the greatest human ability, and the most intense application, unless he causeth us to eat the roll, and believe a spirit of wisdom and understanding, we shall know nothing as we ought to know. (4.) They who make God's word their daily meditation, will find it sweeter than honey or the honey-comb. 2. He is sent as before to the rebellious house of Israel. When he had thoroughly learnt and digested the roll, he must go and faithfully deliver it, v. 1. careful to speak God's words, not his own, or the entering words of man's wisdom, but think the Holy Ghost teacheth, v. 4. for then art not first to a people of a strange إنشاء, but to the house of Israel, for whom he ought to have a tender concern, and from whom he might expect, as he spoke to them in their own tongue, and with the most convincing arguments, attention and obedience. Or this is mentioned to upbraid their impenitence and obstinacy in rejecting him; for had he been sent to the most barbarous nations, whose language he could not understand, and most have spoken by an interpreter; yet would his preaching have been more effectual to them, than it will now be to his own countrymen, whose hardened hearts would be deaf to the plainest admonitions, and inattentive to the most awful warnings: nor need the prophet marvel if they refused to hearken to him, when they had rejected God himself, v. 7. Nevertheless he must go, and God engages to endure him with such invincible courage and unshaken intrepidity, that he shall be able to face, yet to confound the boldest, most impudent, and daring sinners among them; and therefore whatever dangers threatened, he need not fear, or be dismayed, v. 8, 9. but go and turn all God's words, warning them into his own heart and ears, without exception or disputing against them, and delivering them without relieve in God's name, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, v. 10, 11. Note, (1.) They who have the word of God clearly set before them, and wilfully reject the counsel of God against their own souls, are without excuse. (2.) They who have impudent sinners to deal with, need a forehead of adamant, not to be insulted or disinterested by their mockery or insults. (3.) When we are called out to hard services, we shall be furnished for our place and liaison: as our day is, our strength shall be. (4.) Though we should not see the happy fruit of our labours we could wish, we must not be discouraged from persevering zeal in the discharge of our ministry. 3. The Spirit of God with a holy violence sets him on his work. He lifted me up, and took me away, as Philip, left will. go carrying him thro' the air from the place where he was, to another company of the captives seated at a distance on the same river Chebar; and I heard behind me, as he went, a voice of a great rushing, proceeding from the living creatures and the wheels, saying, Blessed be the glory of God out of his place; which may be considered as an acception of praise offered to God by all his redeemed, whether ministers or people, proceeding from his church militant out of his temple on earth, or from his church triumphant out of heaven, on account of his glorious perfections, and all his righteous works and ways. For it may be a sigh of lamentation after the blessed glory of the Lord removing out of his place, forsaking his temple. I heard only the noise of the wrong of the living creatures, who clapped them when they praised God, that touched me another, or, literally, blessed a woman her father, uniting in true love to God and one another, and joining in this doxology: and the noise of the wheels ever opened them, actuated by the same spirit, and giving the same glory to God; and a noise of a great rushing, as before, v. 12. and I went in histerhaft, grieved at the people's wickedness, and affected with the doleful tidings he carried; in the best of my spirits, moved with indignation, or fretting at the disobedience forested, and reluctant to go on to unwelcome an errand: but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me; constraining him to the work, and mightily supporting him to go through with it. Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, the Jews who were hard there, that dwelt by the river Chebar, another colony on the same river; and I sat where they sat, attentive to their discourse, or waiting the prophetic impulate; and remained there astonished among them seven days, as Job's friends, Job xi. 13. overwhelmed with grief on beholding their misery, or overpowered with the weight of the awful message he brought them. Note, (1.) If God did not use a kind of holy violence with our reluctant hearts, we should be ready at times to desert our past. (2.) There may be many struggles of fear and unbelief where grace reigns; and, though with trembling, we dare go at God's holding. (3.) Nothing is more discouraging to a minister's spirit, than to see a hardened people unaffected under his discourse. (4.) Great greats are often silent, too big for utterance, and far beyond tears. 16. And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 17. ¶ Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore bear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. 18. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and thou giveest him not warning, nor speak'd to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life: the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 19. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 20. Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 21. Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin; he shall surely live, because he is warned: also thou hast delivered thy soul. After seven days God sends his word to him: probably this was a sabbath, and he will thus honour his day by especial manifestations of himself. 1. God tells him his office. Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; to watch over their souls, to warn and guard them against their spiritual enemies; for which purpose, sharp discernment, simplets vigilance, and courageous fidelity are needed. Note, They whom God appoints for watchmen on the walls of his Zion, the church, must shun no toil; detest their past for no danger; watch always; and pray for a better guard than their own, conscious that without the divine benediction and care the watchmen watch but in vain. 2. The duty of his office is set before him, the blessings of fidelity, and the curse of unfaithfulness. He must speak according to the divine word communicated to him. Hear the word of my mouth, and pray them warning from me; and as the characters of men are different, he must distinguish between the precious and the vile, and give to each their due person. (1.) He must address the wicked, to warn him of his danger, and lead him to repentance. (2.) Whilst he persists in his sins he is a damned soul, and eternal death his portion. (3.) If he repents, and turns from his wickedness, he shall save his life, God being ready to pardon and receive every returning sinner. (4.) Though the minister be negligent, that will be no excuse; for the sinner shall perish in his iniquity. Yet, (4.) God will require at the watchman's hands the souls that were lost through his carelessness and unfaithfulness; and a terrible reckoning will this prove in a judgment day for all unfaithful and negligent ministers. (5.) If they have been faithful, though unsuccessful, God will approve their conduct, and they shall at least deliver their own souls. (2.) He must address the righteous; either those who are such professionally, or in sincerity and truth. (1.) Some are only externally righteous, delivered from grosser excesses, and observant of the forms of godliness merely. These easily turn from their righteousness, and commit iniquity: they have no inward principle to support them in the time of temptation, and therefore apostates from the little profession they made. In the way of such God lays stumbling-blocks, to discover the secret wickedness that reigns within; placing them in such circumstances, and withholding his refraining grace, so that what is in their hearts breaks forth. These will die eternally, and all their good deeds and duties, on which they trusted, will stand them in no field. Of this he must assure them, at the peril of his own soul, chargeable with their blood if he neglect his office; not that his neglect will be their recognition; they shall notwithstanding perish in their apostasy. (2.) Some are righteous 3 C in In sincerity and truth, justified by Christ Jesus, and sanctified by his spirit, yet these need warnings; not that they ever can or will profit, but that God, who hath ordained the end, hath also ordained the means, in the use of which their perseverance is secured. These must be warned that they do not; for in the most holy, corruption still wars, and they need continually to watch and pray against it; the effect of which will be, that he do not, receiving and improving under the word of exhortation. In this way he shall surely live, and finally be saved, the path of holiness being the way to glory. The warning through divine grace will be made effectual, and the fidelity of the minister approved: thus he shall save his own soul, and these who bear him, I Tim. iv. 6. 22. ¶ And the hand of the LORD was there upon me, and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee. 23. Then I arose, and went forth into the plain, and behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar; and I fell on my face. 24. Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, that thyself within thine house. 25. But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them. 26. And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them; a reprover, for they are a rebellious house. 27. But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus laith the LORD God, He that beareth, let him bear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house. 9. 22—27. We have here a repetition of the former glorious vision made to the prophet in the plain, whither at the divine command he had gone forth, vouchsafed to him probably to confirm his faith, and overcome the reluctance he might feel, to undertake the prophetic office. 1. He is commanded to go and shut himself up in his house, 9. 28. there to wait farther instructions from God; or, as withdrawing himself from a people unworthy of the divine notice; or as others with probability faggell, as a figure of Jerusalem closely befinged by the Chaldeans, so that none might go forth. Note, (1.) It is a heavy judgment on a people, when God shuts up and removes from them their faithful reprovers. (2.) Ministers have need of retirement, to learn of God themselves what they must declare unto others. There is little prospect of profitable preaching, without previous meditation and prayer. 2. He is warned of the insults they would put upon him. They shall put bands upon thee, either as a disturber of the peace, as a safe prophet, or a mad enthusiast; with all which characters the faithful and zealous ministers of God are often branded: or that may be understood figuratively, either of the obstinate disobedience of the people which shut his mouth, or of the divine order to retire, which tied up his hands from labouring among them. Therefore, 3. He must be silent, neither go among them, nor speak to them as a reprover, but leave them to their hard and impatient hearts, as a rebellious body, till God shall take off the interdict; and having communicated to the prophet all his mind concerning them, shall open his mouth, and authorize and enable him to speak, whether they will bear and be reformed, or forbear at the peril of their eternal ruin. God's mercy will thus be glorified in the salvation of the repentant sinner, or his justice in the damnation of the obstinately rebellious. To silence the presumption of those who fastened themselves with a speedy return to Jerusalem, as the false prophets assured them, we have here, 1. Jerusalem befieged in a figure, and taken, ver. 1—8. 2. The raging famine typically represented by the prophet, ver. 9—17. On chief fiances. On a flat plate. § Chap. vii. 4. THOU also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, roar Jerusalem; 2. And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it: for the camp also against it, and set a battering ramp against it round about. 3. Moreover, take thou unto thee I an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city, and set thy face against it, and it shall be befieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it: this shall be a sign to the house of Israel. 4. Let thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity. 5. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, I three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee 5 each day for a year. 7. Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it. 8. And behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege. 9. 1—8. Whether the transactions mentioned in this chapter were done in reality or in vision only is dubious. It is contended against the reality, that the petition, 9. a. without a mistake, could not be kept so long, and that the prophet is spoken of as sitting in his house before the expiration of the days. Compare chap. i. 1, 2. viii. 1. for from the fifth of the fourth month in the fifth year, to the fifth of the sixth month in the sixth year, are but four hundred and thirteen days, and seven of those must be at least deducted, chap. iii. 15. Whilst three hundred and ninety, and forty, make four hundred and thirty days: and as for the bread which the prophet is commanded to eat, it forms a feverish and indolence which he could scarce be called to submit to. Others, and those two of ground weight, support the reality of the transactions; the things are spoken of as facts, by these he was to prophesy, 9. 7. when his lips were silent, he was to do this, 9. 12. in the sight of the people. His situation or disagreeable diet being enjoined of God for purposes of his glory, he would be comfortably supported under it; and that he really used the bread spoken of 9. 9. his prayer 9. 14. strongly implies. The days may be accounted for, by supposing an intercalated month that year, as was common; or that the forty days for Judah are included in the three hundred and ninety for Israel. 1. On a tyle he is commanded to pourtray the siege of Jerusalem, surrounded with mounts, bulwarts, and battening rams; and the iron pan set between him and the city, against which, as the representative of the Chaldeans army he lays siege, signifies the strength of their works, as a wall of iron comprising the city; and the safety in which the befiegers lay being thus covered; and their fixed resolution to carry the place it implied by the prophet's face set against Jerusalem, and his arm made bare. 2. He is ordered to lie on his left side three hundred and ninety days, and forty days on his right; or to accomplish the number of three hundred and ninety days for Israel, with forty for Judah, bearing their iniquity, the punishment of it, a day for a year; which years are reckoned from the revolt of Jerusalem to the destruction of the temple; and the forty years of Judah's peculiar iniquity are either the reign of Mianahos, or from the thirteenth of Judah, when Jeremiah began to prophesy: nothing contributing so much to a prophet's guilt and ruin, as the rejecting God's ministers, and the warnings he vouchsafes to them. 3. Bound thus by the divine order as Ezekiel was, so should the Chaldean army be, nor stir from the place till they had carried it; and the three hundred and ninety days, during which the prophet lay on his side, may signify the duration of the siege; for though it continued seventeen months in all, 2 Kings xxv. 1—4. yet if the interruption given to it by the Egyptians, Jer. xxxvii. 5. be deducted, the close siege might not last more than those days. 4. In this way Ezekiel must prophesy, 9. 7. not in words but by works, which speak strongest, and would leave them inexcusable if they refused to pay attention to them. 9. ¶ Take thou also unto thee, wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side: three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof. 10. And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it. 11. Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink. 12. And thou shalt eat it as barley-cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man in their sight. 13. And the LORD said, Even thus I shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them. 14. Then said I, Ah LORD God, behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now, have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces, neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth. 15. Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cows dung, for mans dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith. 16. Moreover, he had unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care, and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment. 17. That they may want bread and water, and be astonished one with another, and consumed away for their iniquity. To affect their minds with the servilements of the famine, which would be the consequence of the siege, the prophet, during the three hundred and ninety days, must use the most wretched provision, and in the most happy measure. 1. His bread is ordered him of the vilest fort, beans, lentils, millet, flocks, mixed with wheat and barley. To such distress would they be reduced, that the very provender for their cattle would be greedily devoured. They who now live daintily, know not what fruits they may be driven to ere they die. 2. He is to be very sparing of this vile food, eating his bread by weight, and drinking water by measure, allowed but ten ounces of the former, and a pint of the latter each day, barely a sufficiency to keep him alive; a token of their great fruits, and their sufficiency to hold out to the very last month, Jer. xxxviii. 21. Note, When God's glory requires it of us, we must not hesitate to endure any hardness, and deny ourselves the lawful comforts of life. 3. He is to bake his bread with human ordure dried, in the light of the people, that they might be affected with the grievances of the famine, where fuel as well as food would be warring, and no distinction to made between clean and unclean. The prophet makes no objection to the wretchedness of the food, but apprehending ceremonial defilement would thence accrue to him, which, as a priest, he had ever carefully ablained from every kind, v. 14. he prays, if God pleases, for some mitigation to this point, and the Lord permits him to use one's deep instead of man's. Note, (1.) The fear of sin affects the gracious fool more than any thing before. (2.) God's condemnation to the scruples of Ezekiel should teach us to use the like tenderness towards our brethren, and not to grieve their weak condicences. 4. The intention of God's orders to Ezekiel is explained. He is a sign unto them. So how shall he the famine during the siege of Jerusalem, that the little bread which remained should be used with the strictest care, in order to enable them the longer to hold out; yet, with astonishment they will find all their measures broken, their resistance fruitless, and their affairs growing each day more desperate, pining away in their iniquities, and astonished one with another, unable to relieve or help each other, and shocked to behold the dire effects of famine, fatigue, and sickness, which made the belligerent appear rather as specters than men. And at last delivered into the hands of the heathen, they should be compelled to eat the defiled bread of the Gentiles, as loathsome as the cakes the prophet baked. Such are the sad effects of sin, and abused plenty thus justly ends in pining want. In this chapter we have a farther and no less terrible denunciation of the judgments of God upon the Jewish nation, 1. Reprehended by casting, burning, and scattering of hair, vers. 1—4. 2. That sign is expounded and applied to Jerusalem, (1.) Sin is charged upon her as the cause of this defelation, contempt of God's law, vers. 5—7. and profanation of his sanctuary, vers. 11. (2.) Which is threatened, great wrath, vers. 8, 9, 10. a variety of miseries, vers. 12, 16, 17. such as should be their reproach and ruin, vers. 13—15. 1. AND thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barbers rafor, and cause it to pass upon thine head, and upon thy beard, then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair. 2. Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and thou shalt take a third part, and finite about it with a knife; and a third part thou shalt fouter in the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. 3. Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy fixirts. 4. Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel. Jerusalem's ruin is here represented by another sign. 1. The prophet must shave his head and beard, and carefully weigh and divide the hair into three parocks; one third must be burnt, another be cut in pieces, the other scattered in the wind, a few hairs excepted, which he must bind in his fixirts, and then quickly take them thence, and burn them in the fire. 2. The meaning of this is, that Jerusalem, which had been the head of the nation, and full of inhabitants, numerous as these hairs, must undergo the foolish disgrace, and be covered with bitterest grief; weighed in the balances of God's justice, the punishment suitable to their guilt is determined. The city must be taken and burnt; one third of the inhabitants conformed in the flames, or by the famine; another slain with the sword during the siege, or attempting to escape; the other be dispersed into all the neighbouring countries, not only led captive into Chalkia, but dying for refuge to Egypt, Nissha, and Ammon, whether the sword of the king of Babylon would pursue them. A few under Godallah formed relieved for mercy, but even among them the fire kindles, their ruler is slain, and this remnant miserably conformed; thus will God overcome when he judgments. If sinners will obstinately perish in their wickedness, utter destruction will infallibly overtake them. 5. Thus saith the LORD God, This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. 6. And the hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them. 7. Therefore thus saith the LORD God, Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you: 8. Therefore thus saith the LORD God, Behold, I, even I am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee, in the sight of the nations. 9. And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like; because of all thine abominations. 10. Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds. 11. Wherefore, as I live, saith the LORD God, Surely because thou hast desited my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee, neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity. 12. A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. 13. Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them. 14. Moreover, I will make thee waite, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by. 15. So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury, and in furious rebukes: I the LORD have spoken it. 16. When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you; and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread. 17. So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee, and I will bring the sword upon thee: I the LORD have spoken it. 4. The meaning of this is, that Jerusalem, which had been the head of the nation, and full of inhabitants, numerous as these hairs, must undergo the foolish disgrace, and be covered with bitterest grief; weighed in the balances of God's justice, the punishment suitable to their guilt is determined. The city must be taken and burnt; one third of the inhabitants conformed in the flames, or by the famine; another slain with the sword during the siege, or attempting to escape; the other be dispersed into all the neighbouring countries, not only led captive into Chalkia, but dying for refuge to Egypt, Nissha, and Ammon, whether the sword of the king of Babylon would pursue them. A few under Godallah formed relieved for mercy, but even among them the fire kindles, their ruler is slain, and this remnant miserably conformed; thus will God overcome when he judgments. If sinners will obstinately perish in their wickedness, utter destruction will infallibly overtake them. The reddition of the foregoing sign is here given at large, This is Jerusalem; the name of the thing signified being given to the sign, as this is my body. 1. Jerusalem was highly honoured, v. 5. set in the midst of the nations, and exalted in privileges above them all, as a beacon on a hill, designed to diffuse the light of those divine oracles, which were entrusted to her. For whom God hath given distinguished mercies, he justly expects a suitable return. 2. Her provocations were multiplied, great and aggravated. She hath changed my judgment into wickedness; not only neglecting God's commands, and fighting his instructions, but introducing the idolaters and abomination of the heathen; and as if it was not enough to be like them, the profaneness and impiety of Israel were more than the nations round about them; yet, they they did not according to the judgments of the nations round about them; they were more abandoned in wickedness, and the word of that respect for the true God which they paid to their idol desires. And to such a pitch of hardened influence and impulses in sin were they grown, that in the very house erected for God's honour and worship, there did they set up their hand idols, and offered their detestable sacrifices before them. Nies, (1.) Many a comparatively virtuous heathen will rise up and condemn the immoral lives of professing christianism. (2.) When they who have been God's people by profession, turn apollases, they usually grow most abandoned. 3. Her punishment shall be according to her sins; terrible beyond what any nation before ever did, or ever shall again suffer, v. 9. and public, in the midst of thee, ver. 8. that all around might behold God's righteous judgments, and be warned by her plagues. (1.) God himself makes bare his holy arm. I, even I am against thee; whatever instruments he employed, the destruction was from the Lord: in anger and fury, and furious rebuke, as a man exasperated with the most atrocious provocations; yea, all the fierceness of his wrath shall be accomplished, ver. 13. So entire shall be their ruin, and his fury shall rest upon him for a long reason; they shall lie under the marks of his fearful vengeance, and this without mercy or pity, v. 11. Yea, so far from it, he will delight in their misery, I will be confirmed, ver. 13. in thus easing himself of his enemies, under whom the very earth sprang, and in glorifying his justice and truth by the execution of these most righteous judgments. And then at last when they feel, they will know the truth of his thirteenth, and his jealously in vindicating his own glory, and the honour of his government. Nies, (1.) Wo to the sinner that provokes a jealous God. When his wrath is kindled, yea, but for a moment, who may abide it! (2.) The misery of the damned shall result to God's glory, and he will, without the least impatements of his mercy, delight in their torment, seeing it is the just reward of their deeds. (2.) The particular judgments threatened are many and grievous. (1.) Famine, sharp and deadly as a poisoned arrow, v. 16. So raging, that all natural affection should be extinguished thereby, and fathers eat their sons, and sons feed upon their murdered fathers. (2.) Disperison; the remnant which survived the siege, should be miserably scattered in all lands, like Cain under a curse, and vagabonds in the earth. (3.) Petition; which should devour a third part, v. 12. the usual consequence of famine. (4.) The sword, which should not only destroy a third part during the siege, but pursue the fugitives, and bring them at last to a miserable end, v. 12. (5.) God beeth, ver. 17. not merely enemies, as savage as lions, but every furious beeth of prey that should break in upon them in herds, because them of their dearest relatives, and devour those who find into the mountains and deserts for shelter. For as vain is it to fly from God's vengeance, as to redit it. (3.) Neighbouring nations would insult their fall, reproach them for their wickedness, ridicule their vain confidence; and whilst they were amazed and astonished at the terribleness of the judgment, would receive instruction, and be warned of the dreadful danger of provoking such a jealous God. Nies, When the judgments of God are seen in the earth, the inhabitants thereof should learn righteousness, and repent of those sins which they see productive of such unutterable misery in others. 4. The veracity of God is engaged for executing the words of his thirestings. I, the Lord, have spoken it, able to perform it, and who cannot lie, or repent, therefore the judgment is infidely sure to come. And however, while the threatened vengeance is distant, sinners are apt to despise it, when it is accomplished, they shall know and feel the truth of those thirestings, which they would not believe from the mouth of the prophet. In this chapter we have, 1. The destruction of Israel and of their idols threatened, ver. 1—7. 2. A promise of the gracious return of a remnant of them to God by true repentance, ver. 8—10. 3. Directions given to the prophet and other the Lord's servants, to lament both the iniquities and the calamities of Israel, ver. 11—14. a Chap. novel, ii. a Lib. vi. 1. a Lev. rev. vi. Or fairinsight. Ver. 6. a Lev. rev. vi. I. lib. Danghill Pitt. Ibid. Div. a Kings vol. 18. 1. AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2. Son of man, set thy face towards the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them. 3. And say, "Ye mountains of Israel, bear the word of the LORD God, Thus faith the LORD God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, Behold, I, now I will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. 4. And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken; and I will rest down your Slain men before your I idols. 5. And I will say the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones round about your altars. 6. In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be laid waite, and the high places shall be desolate, that your altars may be laid waite and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. 7. And the Slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD. We have here repeated denunciations of vengeance against a rebellious people. 1. The prophet is commanded to set his face towards the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, against the whole land, and the inhabitants thereof; against the ground among them, particularly those who had been the ringleaders in wickedness: or the mountains are adorified, as if the rocks thereon were less obdurate, and the inanimate earth more ready to hear, than that stupid people; and against the hills, the rivers, and the mullers also, the especial scenes of their idolatry; or as deforgeries of the whole country against which judgment is denounced. 2. Utter destruction is threatened both against the idols and their worshippers, from God; for though the executioners of his wrath were the Chaldeans, the sword in their hands was his. So far from being able to protect their roaches, these sacked deities would be unable to defend themselves; their high places should be destroyed, their altars desolate, their images broken, and their dreadful gods (as the word for idols, ver. 4. signifies) rest into the dust; their worshippers should share their feet, Slain before their idols, their dead couple should be laid at their feet, and their bones scattered around their hateful altars; universal desolation should spread through the land, the cities be destroyed, every dwelling-place ruined, and those high places and altars defiled by their abominations, be now more defiled with the blood and carcasses of the Slain, and ye shall know that I am the Lord; by terrible experience convinced of the difference between those senseless idols they served, and that only living and true God whom they had slighted. 8. ¶ Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some of them that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries. 9. And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations, whether they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorlth heart which hath departed from me, and with their eyes which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. 10. And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them. When God executes judgment, he still remembers mercy. Though none should be spared in proclaim, a remnant of the dispersed shall yet be rescued from the devouring sword. 1. They shall remember me. Either, [1.] The wrath of God, visible now in their sufferings among the nations whether they shall be carried captives, would drive them to him, afflictions being often the most salutary means of recovering their abiding soul: or, [2.] They would be drawn by the tender mercies of God they had slighted, who still yearned over them, though so highly provoked by their ungrateful departures from him, and who was broken with their other heart, grieved to behold their spiritual adulteries, and attachment to their idols. Nies, Nothing wounds the awakened sinner's conscience more deeply, than a sense of his bare ingratitude, and his grieving the holy spirit of God. 2. This will produce self-loathing and genuine repentance. They shall both themselves for the rest they have committed in all their abominations; they will be brought, by remembrance of God, to a knowledge of their own abominations, will discover the malignity of their sins, and the multitude of evils they had overlooked; and this will produce self-abhorrence and self-loathing; even though God hath forgiven them, they never can forgive themselves. 3. They will then give glory to God. They shall know that I am the Lord, acknowledging the truth of his word, the justice of their punishment, and the wonders of his grace; and this will be the calls with every truly penitent foul. 11. ¶ Thus faith the LORD God, 'Smite with thine hand, and flamp with thy foot, and say, 'Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel: for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. 12. He that is far off shall die of the pestilence, and he that is near shall fall by the sword, and he that remaineth and is befuged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my duty upon them. 13. Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their Slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every Benedictus Pitt. Ibid. 11. high hill in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet favour to all their idols. 14. So will 'I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate; yea, 'y more desolate than the wilderness towards Diblatb, in all their habitations, and they shall know that I am the LORD. Since the Jews, in general were too unaffected both with their sufferings and sins, the prophet is ordered, 1. To express the throught sinfations of grief and anguish for them, if it might contribute to awaken them from their no-fordability, when they law him so deeply affected on their account. Sins with these hand, and flamp with thy feet, and say, that I for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; their sins were grievous, and their judgment would be terrible, devoted to famine, pestilence, and the sword. Note, God's faithful ministers have the tenderest tenibility towards miserable sinners, and often weep over those who never shed a tear for themselves. 2. To repeat the same awful warnings as he had done before, that they may have line upon line, and be affiant of the certainty of the impending judgments: in vain is flight when God pursues, he that is far off shall die by the pestilence; in vain is shift, since, when the war is of the Lord, he that is now, and stands on his defence, shall fall by the justice, or perish by the famine in the finalists of the Siege. Since God's fury is provoked, he will accomplish their destruction. Before those hated idols, in every place where they had offered incense unto them, shall their purest people lie unburied, a manifest token of God's righteous vengeance, v. 13. More desolate than the howling and barren wilderness towards Diblatb, Deac, viz. 15, shall the whole land be made. And since they refuse to fly to him, and prove his mercy, God will force them to know him as the sin-averaging God, in the terrible judgments he will inflict upon them. In this chapter the approaching ruin of the land of Israel is most particularly forelief, in affecting expections often repeated, that if possible they might be awakened by repentance to prevent it. The prophet must tell them, 1. That it will be a complete destruction, viz. 1—No. 2. That it is now, even at the door, viz. 7—10. 3. That it is unavoidable, viz. 10—15. 4. That their strength and wealth should be no fours against it, viz. 16—19. 5. That the temple, in which they erupted, should itself be ruined, viz. 20—22. 6. That it should be an universal ruin, the sin that brought it having been universal, viz. 23—25. 1. Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2. Also thou son of man, thus faith the LORD God unto the land of Israel, 'An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. 3. Now is the end came upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and 'will judge thee according to thy ways, and will 'recompense upon thee all thine abominations. 4. And 'mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee, and 'ye shall know that I am the LORD. 5. Thus faith the LORD God, An evil, an only evil, behold, is come. 6. An end is come, the end is come; it 'I watcheth for thee, behold, it is come. 7. 'The morning is come upon thee, O thou that dwelleth in the land: 'The time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. 8. Now will I shortly 'pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. 9. 'And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways, and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee, and 'ye shall know that I am the LORD that immett. 10. Behold, the day, behold, it is come, the morning is gone forth, the rod hath blubbered, pride hath budded. 11. 'Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs, 'neither shall there be waiting for them. 12. The time is come, the day drawn near, 'let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for the earth is upon all the multitude thereof. 13. For 'the seller shall not mourn to that which is told, although they were yet alive: for the vinson is touching the Vol. II. whole multitude thereof, which shall not return: neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. 14. They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready, but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. 15. The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him. Before Chall 196. I do whale life is in his iniquity. Fair warning is here given to a careless people; and with great earnestness the prophet speaks, if so be he might awaken them from their lethargy. 1. Their time of judgment is come, their end at hand, their destruction impending; and this is urged with a great variety of expressions, to throw the certainty, nearerely, and terribly of the calamity. The whole land is doomed to ruin, v. 2. An evil, such as was never heard of before approached, v. 3. Their desolations watched for them, v. 6. The dawn of their calamity was already broke upon them, the day of trouble swiftly advanced; not a mere found, like the diffuses echo of a man's voice between the mountains, but a terrible shout of the Chaldean hoffs already at the walls of the city, v. 7. Note, (1.) The end of all things is at hand, Are we ready? (2.) Tho' God's patience bears long with sinners, he will surely visit them at the appointed time, and the evil of eternal vengeance will overtake them. 2. Their destruction is from God's wrath, v. 8. Their provocations had awakened his fury, and now in full visits he will pour it out on their devoted heads, and accomplish his anger, giving it full scope, v. 8. and no pity or mercy shall mitigate the judgment, v. 4, 9. and we to those against whom God thus ritech up as an enemy. 3. God herein acts with strictest justice. The sentence passed on them would be in consequence of an impartial trial, and the righteous recompense of their great abominations, v. 5. There being found in the midst of them unrepented of, wrath to the utterance of the same, v. 6. The rod hath blubbered, the rod of universal wickedness, and they gleeed in it; pride hath budded, that sin peculiarly hateful to God, and violence is risen up, a scene of oppression and injustice appears, and the rod of upright government is turned into a rod of wickedness; to invite the innocent. Though some understand these expressions as ifgingly the Chaldean monarch, the rod of God's anger swelling with pride, and ready to break in violently upon them as a flood, to punish them for their iniquity. 4. The ruin coming upon them would be universal. None of them shall remain, the whole nation utterly wafted by famine, pestilence, and the sword; princes and people shall fall together unlamented, none surviving to bemoan them, or the few who were left, wholly engrossed with care about themselves, v. 11. The buyer should not rejoice, nor the seller mourn, because both now would be do a level, alike captives, and removed from their own land, v. 12. and no year of justice cause the possessions to revert to their former owners, though they were yet alive, viz. 13. the whole multitude being doomed to a lavatory years servitude in Babylon. In vain on the approach of the enemy they have the prompt to oppote them, but now push to the battle; their courage is lost, the wrath of God upon them dispirits the branch, and they fall an only prey, v. 14. The sword confumes without, the famine and pestilence within, and neither the city nor country can afford the least protection from their desolating judgments, v. 15. and they who thought to strengthen themselves in their iniquity, and out-brave the threatened vengeance, now find themselves terribly disappointed, v. 15. Note, (1.) Multitudes are no protection from the wrath of God; sinners shall no more escape because they are many, than because they are mighty. (2.) They who strengthen themselves in wickedness, will find their rebel arm impotent and broken when God awakes to judgment. 5. God's hand will be visible in their sufferings. And ye shall know that I am the Lord that immett. Though the Chaldean army be employed, they shall be convinced God's arm is made bare against them, and in their sufferings read his fearful indignation. 16. ¶ But they that escape of them, shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them 'mounting, every one for his iniquity. 17. 'All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water. 18. They shall also 'gold themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them, and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. 19. They shall cast their sliver in the fessors, and their gold shall be 'removed: their' sliver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity. 20. ¶ As for 'the beauty of his ornament, he 3 D Prov. v. Before Christ 194. 1. Jer. 6: 30. 2. On made 3. from them 4. on whom 5. on long- 6. here. set it in majesty: 'but they made the images of their abominations, and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I § set it far from them. 21. And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil, and they shall pollute it. 22. My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my Secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it and defile it. 3. 15. ¶ But thou didst truth in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and poured out thy fornications on every one that passed by: his it was. 16. And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. 17. Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madeest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them. 18. And toukest thy broidered garments, and coveredest them: and thou hast let mine oil and mine incense before them. 19. My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even fit it before them for ye a sweet favour: and thou it was, saith the LORD God. 20. Moreover, thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast born unto me, and thiee thou hast sacrificed unto them, to be devoured: is thou of thy whoredoms a small matter, 21. That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them? 22. And in all thy abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood. 23. And it came to pass after all thy wickedness (wo, wo unto thee, saith the LORD God) 24. That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street. 25. Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms. 26. Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh, and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. 27. Behold therefore, I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines which are ashamed of thy lewd way. 28. Thou hast played the whore with the Affyrians, because thou wast unsttable: yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldst not be satisfied. 29. Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea, and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. 30. How weak is thine heart, saith the LORD God, seeing thou dost all these things, the work of an imperious whorlth woman? 31. In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street, and hast not been as an harlot (in that thou scornest thee). 32. But as a wife that committed adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband. 33. They give gifts to all whores, but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and kures them that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. 34. And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee; therefore thou art contrary. The peculiar favours which the Jewish people had received, exceedingly aggravated the guilt of their spo- 1. They grew proud of their distinguished mercies, forgot their original meanness, v. 22. stuffed on their beauty, and forsook the rock of their salvation to play the harlot with dumb idols, v. 15. Note, (1.) The pride of beauty hath when proved the bane of its possessor. (2.) Forgetfulness of God and ourselves, is at the bottom of all our sinful departure from him. 2. They ran into the grossed idolatry. Thus poured out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was: as a common strumpet profitions herself to every passenger, so many were they to embrace every new deity that offered, multiplying their whereabouts, ver. 25, beyond all other nations. Luvish up these wretched paramours, their high places, like the harlot's bed, were decked with showy colours, and the jewels God had given them employed to fashion and adorn their idols. The like things shall not come, neither shall it be so, no such scandalous idolatry ever was, or shall be practised again, v. 16, 17. Before the images, the work of their own hands, they lavished their incense and offerings, counting nothing too much to spend in the gratification of their hills, v. 18. That it was, from the Lord God, open, avowed, and notorious, v. 19. And as if all the rest had not been enough, their very children, there deserved gifts of God, shocking to relate, they had sacrificed to these hated deities: inhuman, barbarous, unnatural; and robbing God of the property he claimed in them. They are my children, saith he, v. 21. not only as he had given them life and being, but as having adopted them in a peculiar covenant to be his people. Is this of thy whereabouts a small matter? ver. 20. Some, perhaps, affected to treat them so forth, though so heinous and terrible; or the sense in their other wickedness was great; but this the summit of iniquity. With open effrontery, as a hardened whore, whose forehead is brash, and knows no shame, so had they built an eminent place, or a beaufel, had set up their idol temples and altars in every street, and in the highway, sitting there as the harlot exposed, v. 25. to inflame the public's by, and draw them in to commit adultery and idolatry; making their beauty abhorred of God and all good men; yea, of the very heathen, as a strumpet despicable and hard by those to whom she hath profited hereth; And her weakness herein aggravated great as her wickedness, v. 30. therefore a fearful wo is denounced against her, v. 23. the dreadful effects of which will be seen in time and in eternity. Note, (1.) Our gold and silver are not our own, but God's, and to him we are accountable for the use we make of them. (2.) The lavishness of idolaters should shame the niggardness of the worshippers of the true God. (3.) They who bring up their children in pride and vanity, and by their ill examples encourage them in sin, are more grievously guilty than even these idolaters: the one only murdered their bodies; the others also murder their souls, and sacrifice them to devils. (4.) Many make light of sin now as a small matter, but the punishment of it will be found insupportably heavy. (5.) Wickedness and weakness are inseparably connected. None but fools could barter the momentary pleasures of sin for the eternal moments of hell. 3. There were peculiar circumstances attending their sins, which rendered them exceedingly aggravated. (1.) Their indoluble hell after new gods, v. 28. ever doting on the idols of those nations from whom they had suffered most grievously. They committed fornication with the Egyptians, Affyrians, and Canaanites; and nothing seemed too far fetched, or too clearly bought, so great was their rage for idolatry; and after all they could not be jamshed, but still craved for more. Note, (1.) Lawless lust is ever tormenting, craving, infatuate. (2.) They who forsake God can never find abiding satisfaction in any thing beside. (2.) Their unscumbled obstinacy under the rebukes God had given them, v. 27. His heavy hand had been again and again laid on them: he would have brought them to repentance under his chastisements. The famine wafted them; the Philistines ravaged their country, a Chas. xxviii. 18, 19. and even these idolaters were ashamed of the inconstancy of the Jewish people in so often changing their gods: yet every correction lust thou still hardened, and they sinned yet more and more. Note, When neither mercies draw, nor corrections bend, the case seems utterly desperate. (3.) Their diversity from all other people, v. 31—32. Other harlots profited themselves for hire, and gained something by their wickedness; but they, as a shameless adulteress, not for want, but merely for heaviest false, not only courted but hired their lovers at a vast expence, contracting alliances with the Affyrians and Egyptians, a King's evil. I. No. xxx. 5, 7. soliciting their friendship, and hiring their gods for protection. 35. ¶ Wherefore, O' harlot, hear the word of the LORD. 36. Thus saith the LORD God, Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood We have here the miserable condition of the few who survive the ruin of their country. 1. They are men of forrows, and vagabonds in the earth. On the solitary mountains, whether they have fled for refuge, like doves of the valley, they mourn every one for his iniquity; either for the punishment of it only, or with deep anguish bewailing their fins, which were the cause of their sufferings, v. 16. weak as water to resist their enemies, v. 17. and abandoning themselves to despair, in horrors of conscience, or terrified with continual fear; covered with shame and confidence because of their transgressions, or of their present wretched flats; grit with backcloth, and business on their heads, the expedient signs of deep unutterable anguish. Note, (1.) Sin and sorrow are inseparable. (2.) Our afflictions are then gracious, when they lead us to mourn for our iniquity. (3.) The intent's confidence will end in despair and fruitless everlasting wailings. 2. Their riches profit not in this day of wrath. They had idolized the shining mammon, and it had been the flambling-bled of their iniquity, which they placed that affection and dependence upon their gold which they withdrew from God; but now they are made to know their folly and their sin, compelled to call away their gold and silver as what would retard their flight, and unable with these to satisfy the cravings of hunger, or purchase a moment's rest or eats to their souls. Some underhanded by the gold and silver their idols made of their precious metals, on which they trusted, but found their expectations from them terribly deceived. Note, (1.) Money is a dangerous future; the inordinate love of it hath been the ruin of thousands. (2.) The greatest wealth can profit as nothing in a day of wrath: it cannot flag the angels of death, or procure in hell a drop of water to cool a flaming tongue. 3. Their temple is destroyed, magnificent and adorned as it had been, not merely by the immense profusion of gold, silver, and precious stones, bestowed on it, but infinitely more by the residence of the king of glory. They had polluted it, and dared within their sacred walls to erect their detested idols; therefore have I set it far from them, removing them as captives into a distant land, and giving up the sanctuary to be trodden under foot by the heathen, to be polluted, profaned, plundered, and burnt, by the Chaldeans first, and afterwards by the Romans. My face also will I turn from them, deserting the Jews in their distress; or not displeased with the ravages of their wicked enemies, but suffering them uncontrolled to spread havoc and desolation on every side. Note, They who forsake God may expect that he will forsake them in the day of their calamity. a Kings 12: 16. b Or they that fearfully them. 2. Heb. 1. sitting off. 4. Jer. 6: 30. 5. cf. 12: 30. 6. Sam. 6: 30. b. Met. 6: 30. 5. Heb. With their judgments. 23. ¶ Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. 24. Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease, and their holy places shall be desited. 25. Destruction cometh, and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none. 26. Mitchief shall cause upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet: but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients. 27. The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be cloathed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and § according to their defects will I judge them, and they shall know that I am the LORD. We have here, 1. The charge laid against the Jewish people, for which they are brought to God's bar. Make a chain to bind the prisoner, and bring him before the judge; or to lead them into an ignominious captivity; for their land is full of bloody crimes, or judgments of blood, such crimes as by the law were capital, and called for the blood of the criminal; the city is full of violence, a front of opposition, rapine, and injustice. And when sin is a nation is thus triumphant, her destruction cannot be far distant. 2. The instance pronounced. God threatens to bring upon them the worst of the heathen, the most savage and barbarous of the human species. The noble, the rich, the proud oppressors, with all their pomp, must bow before them, and the fruits of their injustice be for a prey; their holy places shall be desited, or they may testify them, their priests and Levites, Sain, and lying in their blood. Repeated rumours of the approaching money shall terrify them; mischief upon mischief shall overwhelm them, and destruction without remedy false them at last: no peace will be granted them by their exasperated foes, v. 25. They shall, in their distress, seek a vision of the prophet, whom they before despised and rejected; but none shall be vouchsafed them; for the law shall perish from the priest, he shall neither be able to advise or comfort them; and counsel shall perish from the ancients, given up to infatuation, and become foolish in their imaginations: so that they would be without resource. Their king shall mourn a prisoner, chastened with desolation, blind and in chains; the hands of the people be troubled, weak and unable to resist; God visiting now upon them their iniquities, and making them know his almighty power: and vindictive wrath: for God will make himself known, either in mercy to his people, or in vengeance to his enemies. The prophet here is brought in a vision to Jerusalem, that he might behold the fine which provoked these threatened judgments, ver. 1—4, and there he sees. 1. The image of jealousy set up at the gate of the temple, ver. 5, 6. 2. The elders of Israel worshipping all manner of images in a secret chamber, ver. 7—12. 3. The women usurping for Tammons, ver. 13, 14. 4. The men worshipping the sun, ver. 15, 16. And then appeals to him whether such a provoking people should have any pity forward them, ver. 17, 18. 1. AND it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah: sat before me, that the hand of the LORD God fell there upon me. 2. Then I beheld, and lo, a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire: and from his loins even upwards, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber. 3. And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head, and the spirit lift me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate, that looketh toward the north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. 4. And behold the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain. 5. Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way towards the north: so I lift up mine eyes the way towards the north, and behold, northward at the gate of the altar, this image of jealousy in the entry. 6. He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seal thou what they do? from the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary; but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. The days seem now to have been expired during which the prophet was to lie on his side, and a new vision is revealed to him, dated in the sixth year of Jehoaher's captivity, about fourteen, or, if we suppose an intercalated month, about fifteen months after the former. 1. He sat in his house, and the elders of Judah before him. Probably it was a Sabbath, and they were now assembled for the worship of God, or to consist the prophet in their present distressed circumstances; for affliction will often drive those to God's prophets who in their prosperity despaired their abominations. 2. Then suddenly a divine extacy seized him, in the presence of the elders, and a glorious perishage appeared, as far from the loins downwards, and upwards bright and glittering. The same probably as chap. i. 26, 27. even the Lord Jesus, clothed with majesty and glory, burning with love towards his people, and a continuing fire to his enemies. 3. The prophet is caught away in vision to Jerusalem. Swifts as thought he passes through the air, and at the inner gate of the temple is let down to observe what is there transacted. This seems to have been entirely visionary, and not any real or local removal of the prophet from Chaldea. 4. He records what he saw there. (1.) He beheld the same glorious vision which had appeared to him before in the plain, chap. ii. 22, 23. God had not yet deserted his temple; though he was now about to do it, provoked by their daring profanement, impiety, and hate ingratitude. (2.) He beheld the image of jealousy set up close by the northern gate of the inner court, where stood the altar of burnt-offering. What this image was we are not told; probably the idol, Saul, a King's cat. 7. But nothing could be conceived more affronting to God, nor could they have conceived a more effectual method to provoke the eyes of his jealousy. Well therefore may he bid the prophet with wonder and desertion to behold these abominations! and urges the justice of his departure from a people so desperately wicked: and greater abominations yet remained. Note, (1.) When we Ch n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n Before Chord 196. set up the idols of pride, lust, and covetousness in our hearts, which should be the temple of the Holy Ghost, we become equally criminal with those who bowed to Baal. (2.) They who provide God by their sins to depart from them, have only themselves to blame for the ruin which ensues. 1 On deepall gods. Chap. vi. 4. 7. ¶ And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. 8. Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. 9. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. 10. So I went in and saw, and behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel pourrrayed upon the wall round about. 11. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jazanah the son of Shaphan, with every man his center in his hand, and a thick cloud of interior went up. 12. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery, for they lay. The LORD feels us not, the LORD hath forsaken the earth. 9. 7—12. The farther the prophet goes the more his indignation is moved. 1. He is led to the court of the gods, and behold a hole in the wall of one of these chambers, which he is commanded to enlarge, that he might see more distinctly what was done there; and when he had opened a passage he came to a door, at which he is led to enter, and observe what passed within. Now, (1.) They who would know the mystery of iniquity within must dig deep into the hidden corners of their hearts. (2.) Hypocrites think often to hide their iniquities; but some unguarded place betrays their wickedness, and exposes their shame. (3.) Many make a fair shew in God's house in public, who, if followed to the secret chambers, would be found sunk to abominations. 2. A scene of shocking wickedness is here had open. Should every form of creeping things, and all monable beasts, so immersed were they in idolatry, that even to the vivid reptiles, and the most tedious and impure animals, they pass their adorations. On the walls around were pourrayed all the idols of Israel; and seventy others, the whole great fashierism, and in the midst of them Jazanah the son of Shaphan, each with his center, offered a cloud of incense to these hated deities; intimating how entirely the whole nation was infected with idolatry, when the great men, princes and priests together, were to descend thereunto, and to liberal in their obituaries. Now, When they who should be examples to refrain others are themselves singleaders in iniquity, the corruption of a nation must needs become general. 3. God bids him observe these abominations, done indeed in the dark; but what darkness or shadow of death can hide the workers of wickedness from his all-feeling eye? And they say, the Lord feels not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth; as if he had deferred them, would pay no regard to them in their distress, and therefore they had recourse to the gods of the nations for help. Now, (1.) The heart of man is like these chambers of imagery; abominations pass there the sun would blush to behold. (2.) The day will come when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed. What a day of terror and confusion to the unpenitent and unpardon! (3.) All sin is at bottom practical atheism. (4.) They who embellish themselves in iniquity by the flattering hope that the Lord hath forsaken the earth, shall find, by the judgments he will inflict, how near he is to vindicate his injured honour. 1 Tim. ii. vi. 13. ¶ He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than they do. 14. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house, which was towards the north, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 15. ¶ Then said he unto me, Hail thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than thee. 16. And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east, and they worshipped the sun toward the east. 17. ¶ Turn he said unto me, Hail thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to do house of Judah, that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger, and lo, they put the branch to their nois. 18. Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. 9. 13—18. Farther abominations pass in review before the prophet. 1. At the north gate of the temple sat women weeping for Tammuz. Probably the Adonis of the Greatons, beloved of Venus, according to the heathen table, and Slain by a wild boar. In honour therefore of this goddess they observed the anniversary of his death with mourning and tears, and dared even in the gate of the Lord's house to appear celebrating the shameful service. 2. In the inner court, the most sacred inclosure between the porch and the altar, where the priests mustered, there stood about five and twenty men, their backs turned to the temple, their faces to the east, adoring the rising sun. 3. God bids the prophet obliterate with wonder what he saw, and appeals to him concerning the aggravated guilt of this abandoned people. They made light of their dreadful provocations, and even there, in God's own house, performed their idolatrous rites. They filled the land also with violence, and then returned to provoke God to anger; for, whilst such wickedness was committed, their very sacrifices must need be an abomination: and is they put the branch to their nois, some indulgent perhaps of flowers, at which they smelled in honour of their idols; or, as some read the words, they put the branch to their wrath, or his wrath, adding fresh fuel to the fierceness of the divine wrath which burns against them. Therefore will I also deal in fury, pouring on them the vengeance due to their iniquities, and judgment without mercy, which all their prayers and tears shall not be able to avert. When sinners have turned their backs on God, it is but just for him to turn his back on them, and he deaf to their cries in the day of their calamity. 4. ¶ And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire; infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 5. Also 'out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And 'this was their appearance: They had the likeness of a man. 6. And 'every one had four faces, and 'every one had four wings. 7. And their feet were straight feet, and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot, and they sparkled 'like the colour of burnished brails. 8. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides, and they four had their faces and their wings. 9. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went, they went every one straight forward. 10. As for 'the likeness of their faces, they four 'had the face of a man, and 'the face of a lion on the right side, and they four had 'the face of an ox on the left side: 'they four also had the face of an eagle. 11. Thus were their faces: and their wings were 1 stretched upwards, two wings of every one were joined one to another, and 'two covered their bodies. 12. And 'they went every one straight forward: 'whither the spirit was to go,' they went: and 'they turned not when they went. 13. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, 'and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures, and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 14. And the living creatures ran, and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning. The introduction to these visions of God is very awful, tending to affect the prophet's mind with the highest reverence of that Jehovah whose minister he was, and to encourage the poor captivity, whose glory seemed now departed from them, but all their God is still in the midst of them. 1. Behold, a whirlwind out of the north, a great cloud, the vehicle of this awful vision, and a fire infolding itself, a cheering fire to God's faithful people, a conforming fire to his foes; and a brightest sun about it, the cloud was illuminated by the fire, an emblem of that irradiation which darted into the prophet's mind; and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Chaldean's translated amber, forms render a lively colour: others, a cool exceedingly fond: others suppose Christ is coming, who is determined to perform a intelligent unto, Rev. 4. 15. 16. 3. and honoured Fincione. What was who appeared to Moses in the bulb, to Isaiah on his throne, and here to Ezekiel in the midst of the fire. 2. The likeness of four living creatures came out of the midst of this vision, not any creature, but emblematical superheroes, either of the kings who surrendered the throne of God, as some; or rather of gospel ministers, see Rev. ix. 6—9, where the same emblematic figures appear. They are living creatures, themselves quickened to spiritual life, lively in their ministrations, and the means of quickening others fools, fear, as foes forth to the four quarters of the earth, to breach the gospel to every creature; in the likeness of a man, except in the following particulars: 1. They had four faces. (1.) The face of a man, being taken from among men to minister in the things of God, with understanding to instruct the ignorant, and with the feelings of humanity to have compassion on the afflicted. (2.) Of a fire, to denote their courage and boldness in preaching the gospel amidst all opposition. (3.) Of an ox, to represent their indefatigable labour and patience. (4.) Of an eagle, signifying their piercing sight, and clear knowledge of the mysteries of God, and their sharing high in divine contemplation and holy afflictions. 2. Every ox had also four wings, v. 6. From v. 11—9, they seem to have had two more, as the terapists in Israel, and the hearts in the revelations, four covered their bodies, and two were stretched upward, and these wings joined one to another, v. 9. intimating. (1.) The feudels and diligence they use in executing God's will, and the work of their ministry. (2.) The concord and union which labdits among them, visited in love, and fellow labourers in the same gospel. (3.) The consciousness of their own infirmities, which makes them ashamed of their imperfect services, and count themselves unworthy to appear before God. 3. Their feet were straight feet, vers. 7, 9, 12. They walk uprightly before God; never turn aside as the crowded paths of error and immorality; they perceivingly go forward, undismayed by opposition, periscussion, or temptation, and with a single eye to God's glory; the fate of their feet was also the fate of a calf's foot, one of the clean animals that divide the head, and intimates the purity of their congregation, or the fineness of their hearts in their ministry; and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brails, so beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that being glad tidings of peace, and so bright the lustre of their holy examples. 4. They had the hands of a man under their wings on the four sides, implying activity in executing what their wisdom and prudence directed; and many hands, because their work is well and large, yet under their wings, not making ostentation of their labours, but searching the glory to him from whom all their strength is derived. 5. They were under the guidance of the Holy Chod. Whether the spirit was to go, they went: by him alone they are called to take the ministry upon them, inwardly moved by his powerful grace, by him they are supported in their labour, led into all truth, and readily disposed for every service which he is pleased to appoint them, neither staggering at the difficulties nor can be turned back, by any fear of man, from delivering the message with which he hath sent them; like coals of fire they burn with divine zeal, v. 13. and as lamps they shine bright themselves in the exercise of every divine grace, and hold forth the word of light to others, clear, distinct, enlightening, chewing, warming their souls. It went up and down among the living creatures; the divine light and fire of zeal filled them; bright, shining on every side, and darting like lightning to the ends of the earth; so extensive, so powerful, so penetrating was the gospel word they preached: and, when they had executed their ministry with this fervour and activity, they returned to give an account to their master, and to receive fresh orders from him, desiring to approve themselves to him in all things, and take no step but under his guidance and by his direction. Let gospel ministers, looking on these cherubim, prove their own selves, and learn what they should be. 15. ¶ Chap. 10 15. ¶ Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold, one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. 16. ¶ The appearance of the wheels, and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl; and they fear had one likeness, and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. 17. When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they returned not when they went. 18. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful, and their 7 rings were full, of eyes round about them four. 19. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were left up from the earth, the wheels were left up. 20. ¶ Whistleblower the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go, and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 21. ¶ When those were, they went; and when those stood, they stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 22. And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature, was as the colour of the terrible eyelids, stretched forth over their heads above. 23. And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other; every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies. 24. ¶ And when they were, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech as the noise of an hour; when they stood, they let down their wings. 25. And there was a voice from the firmament, that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings. The same within the prophet had seen, chap. 1. is here repeated, with a particular reference to the destruction of Jerusalem signified by 1. The scattering of the coals of fire upon the city, which were taken from between the cherubims, ver. 1—7. 2. The removal of the glory of God from the temple, and its being upon the wing to be gone, ver. 8—22. When God goes out from a people, all judgments break in upon them. Before Christ the 1. THEN I looked, and behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims, there appeared over them, as it were a sapphire-stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. 2. And he spoke unto the man clothed with the linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, rose under the cherub, and fill it thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my fight. 3. Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner court. 4. Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD's glory. 5. And the sound of the cherubims wings was heard, rose to the utter court, as the voice of the almighty God when he speaketh. 6. And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels. 7. And one cherub firstreched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out. 6. 1—7. We have here a glorious appearance of the Divine Majesty, like that which the prophet saw, chap. 1. A throne of dazzling brightness is set in the firmament above the cherubim, and God's attendant ministers stand maged on the right side of the house, as expressive of their abhorrence of the image of zealously that stood on the left. 1. God departs from his holy place, from the cherub, where the Shechianah, the symbol of the divine pretence, rested, and stood over the threshold of the house, as ready to depart; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory, See 1 Kings viii. 11. The temple was in darkness, an emblem of the blindness of the Jews; and the court of the Gentiles illuminated, God having resolved to find to these the light of his gospel. And the found of the cherubim wings was heard rose to the utter court, loud as the voice of mighty thunderings; intimating their departure thence, or signifying the glorious voice of gospel grace, which, by the preaching of the apostles, should found forth to the most distant nations. 2. The city of Jerusalem is doomed to be burnt with fire, signified by the command to the man clad in linnen, &c. to go in between the wheels under the cherub, and take thence burning coals, and scatter them on the city; and he immediately went in, 6. 2. when one of the cherubs took off the coals, chap. 1. 13. and put them in his hand, and he went forth strait to execute his commission; which intimates, (1.) That the wrath of God against sin is most holy: it is fire from between the cherubims. (2.) The Lord Jesus hath all judgment committed to him, and at his secund coming to judge the world, shall burn up the earth, as then Jerusalem, with fire. (3.) The great quarrel of God against Jerusalem was especially their persecumption of those ministers the cherubim represented. 8. ¶ And there appeared in the cherubims, the form of a man's hand under their wings. 9. And when I looked, behold, the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour colour of a beryl-stone. 10. And as for their appearances they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel. 11. 'When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked, they followed it; they turned not as they went. 12. And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had. 13. As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel. 14. 'And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. 15. And the cherubims were lifted up: this is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar. 16. 'And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lift up their wings, to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them. 17. 'When they stood, they stood; and when they were lifted up, they lift up themselves also: for the spirit 2 of the living creature was in them. 18. Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. 19. And the cherubims lift up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were besides them, and every one stood at the door of the east-gate of the LORD's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 20. 'This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel, by the river of Chebar, and I knew that they were the cherubims. 21. Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings, and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. 22. And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they went every one straight forward. The particulars here recorded of this glorious vision were before observed, chap. i. and with very little variation, except that the face of an ox there, is here called, v. 14. the face of a cherub, which seems to intimate they were the same. They who interpret the cherubim of the angels, and the wheels of the divine providence, observe, 1. That this world, like those wheels, is in a state of constant revolution; and though the dispensations of providence appear sometimes intricate, as when within wheel, they all readily correspond, and tend to one great end, the glory of God. 2. Nothing can interrupt the decrees of God: whatever difficulties are in the way, the wheels go forward, and every obstruction is born down, or removed. 3. The angels are the ministering spirits, whose service God is pleased to employ in his providential government of the world. 4. Whatever instruments he employs, the work is God's, whose Spirit is in the cherubim and the wheels, guides all their motions, and directs their steps. There is no such thing as chance or fortune in the world; the least as well as the greatest event is fixed by a divine unalterable decree, and brought to pass by an irresistible energy. The design of repeating this transcendently magnificent appearance here, seems to be in order to upbraid their wickedness and folly, who provoked this glorious God to depart from them, as he was now about to do. He departs from the threshold, ascends his cherubic chariot, v. 18. and upwards they mount, removing full to the outer gate of the Lord's house, then to a mountain on the east, chap. xi. 23. and at last he utterly abandons the land. Thus God at first caused his word to be preached to the Jews, and when they rejected his gospel, he departed from them, and sent his ministers far off to the Gentiles. The vision of the wheels follows that of the living creatures, which are variously interpreted. Some suppose them as emblem of the dispositions of providence, others of the word of God and the manifestations of it; but I rather follow those who interpret their wheels as the prejud churches, according to Rev. iv. where they are represented by four and twenty elders. But one wheel is mentioned, v. 15. for the church is one body, composed of innumerable believers, though it appears they were four, v. 16. and chap. x. 9. being collected from the four quarters of the world. The wheel may be considered as an emblem of perfection; for all the faithful are compleat in Christ; or it may represent the moveable state of the churches, or the different circumstance of prosperity and adversity to which they are alternately subject; or as compelling a church with the Cheshire, I know, x. 10. in which the Lord Jesus rides in majesty and glory, Gen. iii. 9. The wheels are by the living creatures, intimating that the several congregations of the faithful follow their ministers, who profess to their worship, for up their souls to run the way of God's commandments, and direct and lead them might. With his four faces, each wheel having four faces, one on each of the semicircles which composed it, being a wheel within a wheel, v. 16. not a smaller wheel in a larger, but two circles crossing each other at right angles, and forming one wheel or arm, as it is represented chap. x. 15. and these faces are the same with those of the Cheshire, signifying that there is the most exact resemblance between faithful fathers and their people, they having the like constancy in the profession they make, labouring in their sphere with equal diligence for God, and patiently bearing the same sufferings for the gospel's sake; evident, as spiritual men, with an enlightened understanding and knowledge of the mysteries of godliness, and tenderly compassionate to their brethren; bold as lions in the cause of God and truth, and soaring aloft as eagles above these fobionary things, having their affections fixed, not on things on earth, but things in heaven. Their appearance and work was like unto the colour of beryl, so excellent and precious are his people to the Lord, they are his jewels; and they fear had one likeness, all true believers bearing the image of the same Lord, and perfectly resembling each other in their spirit and temper, they are all one in Christ Jesus; when they went they went upon their four sides, and they returned not when they went, being from their construction ready to turn to the four points, without wheeling about. The saints of God thus go full right on, and perseveringly advance towards their eternal home, v. 17. Their rings were high; for the church is visible, and lifted up above all the powers of earth and hell: dreadful; the enemies of God's people shall be made to tremble before them; or they had fear, a reverential fear of God, thrown in his worship, and considered to be offend him; and they were full of eyes, clear, lighted in, the knowledge of gospel truth, which shall have their own hearts, and jealous over each other. When the living creatures went the wheels went each other, the faithful's feeling with their ministers in the same worship, and followers of their good conversation in Christ; and when the living creatures were left up from the earth, the wheels shrouded up; for the lively frame of the minister's own soul, breathing in his discourse, hath the most immediate tendency to raise up the souls of his hearers to high and heavenly things. Whistleblower the spirit was to go, they went; under the guidance of God's Spirit they were led, and as he taught and directed, whither was their spirit to go, and the wheels were left up over against them, close to the sides of the living creatures; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels; the same spirit activating both ministers and people, giving them life and motion; and unfeasantly united, as animated by one soul, they went, or rather together. So intimate is the fellowship between a minister and his people, when he is active they will be lively; if he is indolent they will be ready to be infected thereby. Over the heads of the living creatures was the likeness of a firmament, as the colour of the terrible dreadful, bright, damning, and transparent; for though the throne of Christ is above the firmament, he sees all things done on earth; his eyes look down upon his church and people, and they by faith are enabled through the gospel glad to look up to him, and behold his glory. Under the firmament their wings were fresh, stretched upward, and touching each other, with two others covering each of their sides, v. 6, 11. and when they went, preaching the gospel, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters; to land and remember was the heads of their voice bearing the glad tidings of salvation to the distant Gentile lands, as the voice of the Almighty, awful, majestic, powerful: the voice of speech, for that the word is God's, the messengers are men, as the noise of a hell, multitudes being employed in this ministry, and all uniting in one cry, warning every man, and teaching every man, that they may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: and when they stood, they let down their wings, having finished the work on which they were sent, and waiting for fresh instructions, which they receive from Christ their Lord and Malton, who speaks from the firmament on their heads; in his word, and by the secret influences of his Spirit, directing them whither to go, and what to speak; encouraging them to persist in their work on earth, or calling them to his rest in heaven. 26. ¶ And above the firmament that was over their heads, was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire-bone, and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. 27. ¶ And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it: from the appearance of his lions even upward, and from the appearance of his lions even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightened round about. 28. ¶ As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightened round above. ¶ This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD: and when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.