{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-4730","native_reference":{"book_number":330,"chapter_from":1,"chapter_to":1,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":1,"verse_to":1},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Basil of Caesarea</b>: We believe that the Spirit is present everywhere, while the rest of the bodiless powers are circumscribed by place.<br/><i>— ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 23:54</i></p><p><b>Gregory of Nazianzus</b>: What would you say of Isaiah or Ezekiel, who was an eyewitness of very great mysteries, and of the other prophets: for one of these saw the Lord of Sabaoth sitting on the throne of glory and encircled and praised by the six-winged seraphim, and was himself purged by the live coal and equipped for his prophetic office; and the other describes the cherubic chariot of God, and the throne on them, and the firmament over it, and him that showed himself in the firmament, and voices and forces and deeds. And whether this was an appearance by day, only visible to saints, or an unerring vision of the night, or an impression on the mind holding converse with the future as if it were the present or some other ineffable form of prophecy, I cannot say; the God of the prophets knows, and they know who are thus inspired.<br/><i>— ON THEOLOGY, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 2(28).19</i></p><p><b>Gregory the Dialogist</b>: The custom of prophetic speech is to first describe the person, time, and place, and afterward begin to speak the mysteries of prophecy, so that in order to demonstrate the truth more solidly, it first fixes the root of the history, and then brings forth the fruits of the spirit through signs and allegories. Ezekiel therefore indicates the time of his age, saying: \"And it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth of the month.\" Also announcing the place, he adds: \"When I was in the midst of the captives by the river Chobar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.\" He also indicates the time, adding: \"On the fifth of the month, this is the fifth year of the captivity of King Joachin.\" And so that he might properly indicate the person, he also relates his lineage, when it is added: \"And the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the son of Buzi, the priest.\"<br/><i>— Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 2</i></p><p><b>Gregory the Dialogist</b>: But the first question arises for us: why did he who had said nothing yet begin thus, saying: \"And it came to pass in the thirtieth year\"? For \"and\" is a word of conjunction, and we know that a subsequent word is not joined except to a preceding word. Therefore, he who had said nothing—why does he say \"And it came to pass,\" when there is no word to which he might subjoin what he begins? In this matter it must be observed that just as we perceive corporeal things, so the senses of the prophets perceive spiritual things, and those things are present to them which seem absent to our ignorance. Whence it happens that in the minds of the prophets interior things are so joined to exterior things that they see both at once, and in them there occurs simultaneously both the word which they hear within and that which they speak outwardly. Therefore the reason is clear why he who had said nothing began saying: \"And it came to pass in the thirtieth year\"—because he joined this word which he brought forth outwardly to that word which he had heard within. Therefore he continued the words which he brought forth to the inner vision, and for this reason he begins saying: \"And it came to pass.\" For he subjoins what he begins to speak outwardly, as if that which he sees within were also outside.<br/><i>— Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 2</i></p><p><b>Gregory the Dialogist</b>: Now what is said about his receiving the spirit of prophecy in the thirtieth year indicates something we should consider, namely that according to the use of reason, the word of teaching is not available except at a mature age. Hence the Lord Himself at the twelfth year of His age, sitting in the temple among the teachers, wished to be found not teaching but questioning. For so that men would not dare to preach at a weak age, He who through His divinity always teaches the angels in heaven deigned to question men on earth in the twelfth year of His age. For since He Himself is the wisdom of God, the angels live by seeing Him, by which they are satisfied with eternal blessedness. Moses also admonishes this under the mystery of allegory, saying: \"You shall not plow with the firstborn of an ox.\" For we understand the firstborn of an ox to be good work in the weak age of our first time. Yet in this we must not plow, because when the times of our adolescence or youth are first, we must still refrain from preaching, so that the plowshare of our tongue does not dare to break up the soil of another's heart. For as long as we are weak, we ought to contain ourselves within ourselves, lest while we show forth tender goods too quickly, we lose them, because even planted saplings, if they have not first been rooted in the earth, wither more quickly when touched by hand; but if they have once fixed their root, the hand touches them, and yet does no harm; winds push against them, yet those pushing do not injure them. And constructed walls, if pushed, collapse, unless they have first been dried of their moisture. Therefore the mind, as long as it has not been perfectly dried from the moisture of its depravity, ought not to be touched by the hand of another's tongue, lest before it fully perceives, it lose its solidity, lest when pushed it fall, lest like a sapling without roots, while it is shaken more than it can bear, it wither. Therefore only those things that are firm should be shown as an example. For the mind must first grow strong, and afterward be displayed for the benefit of neighbors, when now it neither falls down when lifted up by praise, nor wastes away when struck by blame. For even though it is said to Timothy: \"Command these things and teach; let no one despise your youth,\" it should be known that in sacred speech sometimes adolescence is called youth. Hence it is written: \"Rejoice, young man, in your youth.\" Therefore the prophet, to show of what authority he is in preaching, is described as being of a mature age, so that life and spirit and all things that are fitting for preaching may be seen to accord with him.</p><p>Neither should anyone be troubled against these things by the fact that Jeremiah and Daniel received the spirit of prophecy as boys, since miracles are not to be taken as examples for regular practice. For the Almighty God both makes the tongues of infants eloquent and perfects praise from the mouths of infants and nursing children. But it is one thing what we learn from the use and discipline of teaching, another what we know from a miracle.<br/><i>— Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 2</i></p><p><b>Gregory the Dialogist</b>: Now indeed if it is asked whether something mystical might be indicated in the very expression of that age itself, it is not absurd that the prophet should show the Lord, whom he announces in words, also by the very time of his own age. In the thirtieth year of the prophet Ezekiel the heavens were opened, and he saw visions of the Lord beside the river Chebar, because in approximately the thirtieth year of His age the Lord came to the river Jordan. There therefore the heavens were opened, because the Spirit descended in a dove; a voice also sounded from heaven, saying: \"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.\"<br/><i>— Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 2</i></p><p><b>Gregory the Dialogist</b>: But the Hebrew words themselves are also very useful to us for interpreting the mystery. For Chobar is interpreted as heaviness or weight; Ezekiel as the strength of God; Buzi as despised or contempt; the Chaldeans as those who capture or as demons. Therefore Ezekiel came to the river Chobar; for since Chobar is called heaviness or weight, what is fittingly designated by the river Chobar except the human race? Which flows from birth to death, and is heavy to itself from the sins which it both commits and carries, because, as it is written: \"Iniquity sits upon a talent of lead.\" For every sin is heavy, because it does not permit the soul to be lifted up to heavenly things. Hence it is also said through the Psalmist: \"Sons of men, how long will you be heavy of heart?\" But it is written of the Lord that he himself is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Therefore Ezekiel came to the river Chobar, because the strength of God through the mystery of his incarnation deigned to draw near to the human race bearing the burdens of its sins, which from its birth daily flows toward death, as it is said of him through the Psalmist: \"And he shall be like a tree which is planted by the streams of waters.\" Indeed, he was planted by the streams of waters, because he was incarnate near the falls of the flowing peoples. Now we said that Ezekiel is interpreted as the strength of God, but Buzi as despised. But Ezekiel is the son of Buzi, because the only-begotten of God deigned to be incarnate from that people whom the Lord despised on account of the fault of their unfaithfulness. Therefore the strength of God is born from contempt or being despised, because our Redeemer deigned to assume humanity from a faithless and despised people. But he came into the land of the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans, as we said, are interpreted as those who capture or as demons. For the wicked, because they both commit iniquities themselves and by persuading draw others to iniquity, are certainly those who capture. They are also rightly interpreted as demons, because those who by persuading draw others to iniquity take upon themselves in their own persons the ministry of demons toward iniquity, although they are not demons by nature. Therefore the strength of God came into the land of the Chaldeans, because the Only-begotten of the Father appeared among those who had flowed toward sin in themselves and were drawing others captive to sins.<br/><i>— Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 2</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: [Daniel 10:4] \"And in the twenty-fourth day of the first month, I was beside the great river which is the Tigris.\" Ezekiel also had seen a great vision beside a river, the Chebar (Ezekiel 1:1). And it was by the stream of the Jordan that the heavens were opened to the gaze of our Lord and Savior and also to John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-17). Therefore those critics should leave off their foolish objections who raise questions about the presence of shadows and symbols in a matter of historical truth and attempt to destroy the truth itself by imagining that they should employ allegorical methods to destroy the historicity of rivers and trees and of Paradise.<br/><i>— St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER TEN</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: The Prophet Ezekiel was led captive with Joachin king of Judah to Babylon, and he prophesied there to those who were captives with him, to those repenting that they had willingly handed over the prophecy of Jeremiah to enemies, and yet saw the city Jerusalem to stand, which he had predicted would fall. And in his thirtieth year of age, and in the fifth year of the captivity, he began to speak to his fellow captives. And at the same time, though later, this one in Chaldea and Jeremiah in Judea prophesied. His style is neither greatly eloquent nor excessively rustic, but properly proportioned between both. And he was a priest, as also was Jeremiah, the beginning and ending of the book being wrapped in great obscurities. But also the common edition of him does not differ much from the Hebrew one. Because of that I greatly wonder what was the cause, that when we have the same translators in all the books, in some they translated the same things, in others, different things. Therefore, read this also according to our translation because, by being written in words with spaces, it gives a clearer meaning to readers. And if my friends also mock this, say to them that no one restrains them from writing. But I do not respect him who follows them, which is more clearly said in Greek, as they are called insult-swallowers (φαγολοιδοροι).<br/><i>— Prologue to Ezekiel</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: [1:2] (Verse 2) While I was among the captives by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God in the fifth month: it was the fifth year of the exile of King Joachin. As the captive people sat by the rivers of Babylon, David prophesied in the spirit: By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept (Psalms 137). Now, Chebar, either it is the name of the river, or certainly, according to its interpretation, which is translated as \"grave,\" it signifies the Tigris and Euphrates, as well as all the great and weighty rivers that are said to be in the land of the Chaldeans. And understand that the heavens are open not by the division of the firmament, but by the faith of the believer, because the celestial mysteries are revealed to them. Hence, in the baptism of the Savior, when the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove, we read of the heavens being opened (Matthew 3), and through their opening, the visions of God are revealed. Not just one vision, but multiple visions, as the Lord says through the Prophet: 'I will multiply visions and as a likeness, I have been made in the hands of the prophets' (Hosea 12:10). These are the visions that the entire prophecy of Ezekiel weaves together. According to the Hebrews and other interpreters, the migration is called Joachin and not captivity, as the LXX translated. For he was not captured when the city was conquered, but by his own will, he was taken to Babylon. Therefore, let the first migration be called Joachin, that is, Jechoniah: but let the second or final captivity be called Zedekiah.<br/><i>— Commentary on Ezekiel</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: (Chapter 1, Verse 1) And it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month. The thirtieth year is not, as many think, the age of the prophet, nor the Year of Jubilee, which is the year of remission; but from the twelfth year of King Josiah of Judah, when the book of Deuteronomy was found in the temple of God, until the fifth year of the captivity of Joachin, also known as Jeconiah, when he was led with his mother to Babylon, along with Daniel and the three young men, and Ezekiel (who was among the first captives of the tribe of Judah) when the wrath of God was poured out on Jerusalem (2 Kings 22; 2 Chronicles 34; 2 Kings 24). But according to the mystical interpretation, the Lord and Savior is prefigured, who came to baptism at the age of thirty (Luke 3), which is the age of perfection in man. Therefore, in the book of Numbers, according to the Hebrews and not as contained in the Septuagint, the priests begin to minister in the tabernacle at the age of thirty and not at the age of twenty-five (Numbers 4). In this sign, Joseph also preceded when he distributed grain to the hungry people in Egypt (Genesis 41), and John the Baptist came to the banks of the Jordan and preached the baptism of repentance (Luke 3). And what is written, in the fourth, the sentence is pending, it is understood in the month. For immediately it follows, in the fifth month. And to make it more clear, they added Seventy before.<br/><i>— Commentary on Ezekiel</i></p><p><b>Origen of Alexandria</b>: It was not enough for one heaven to be opened; a greater number was opened, so that the angels descended not from one, but from all the heavens on those who were to be saved.<br/><i>— HOMILIES ON Ezekiel 1:7</i></p><p><b>Theodoret of Cyrus</b>: He said that the heavens were open, not in reality or in deed but through spiritual contemplation.<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON Ezekiel 1:1</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"532ea9ea17e9c2b6c36df775e8f026319095edb6c9ac2a7a02ec8fe62516fdd1","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":4730,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"90cfa7ec43b52587d33e913ab30bad0f56895a9cd2ef8223d0332c67683cbaf8","translator":null,"work":null}