1Moreover the Word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, 2And you, son of man, thus says the Lord Jehovah to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. 3Now the end has come upon you, and I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will repay you for all your abominations. 4My eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity; but I will repay your ways, and your abominations will be in your midst; then you shall know that I am Jehovah! 5Thus says the Lord Jehovah: An evil! An only evil! Behold, it has come! 6An end has come, the end has come; it has awakened against you; behold, it has come! 7Morning has come to you, you who dwell in the land; the time has come, a day of trouble is near, and not a shout of rejoicing in the mountains. 8Now upon you I will soon pour out My fury, and spend My anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will repay you for all your abominations. 9My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will repay you according to your ways, and your abominations that are in your midst. And you shall know that I am Jehovah who strikes. 10Behold, the day! Behold, it has come! Morning has gone forth; the staff has blossomed, pride has budded. 11Violence has risen up into a staff of wickedness; none of them shall remain, none of their multitude, none of their abundance, nor any eminent among them. 12The time has come, the day draws near. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all their multitude. 13For the seller shall not return to what has been sold, though he may still be alive (for the vision concerns the whole multitude, and shall not change); no one will strengthen himself who lives in iniquity. 14They have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready, but no one goes to battle; for My wrath is on all their multitude. 15The sword is outside, and the pestilence and famine within. Whoever is in the field will die by the sword; and whoever is in the city, famine and pestilence will devour him. 16Those who survive will escape and be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, each for his iniquity. 17Every hand will be feeble, and every knee will be as weak as water. 18They will also be girded with sackcloth; trembling will cover them; shame will be on every face, and baldness on all their heads. 19They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be like filthiness; their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Jehovah; they will not satisfy their souls, nor fill their stomachs, because it is the stumbling block of their iniquity. 20As for the beauty of His ornaments, He set it in majesty; but they made from it the images of their abominations; their detestable things; therefore I have made it like refuse to them. 21And I will give it as plunder into the hands of strangers, and to the wicked of the earth as spoils; and they shall defile it. 22I will turn My face from them, and they will defile My secret place; for violent ones shall enter it and defile it. 23Make a chain, for the land is filled with bloody judgments, and the city is full of violence. 24Therefore I will bring the most evil of the nations, and they will possess their houses; I will bring an end to the pomp of the strong, and their holy places shall be defiled. 25Destruction comes! They will seek peace, but there shall be none. 26Disaster will come upon disaster, and rumor will be upon rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet; but the Law will perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. 27The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land will be terrified. I will do to them according to their way, and according to their judgment I will punish them. And they shall know that I am Jehovah!
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 2 LAMENTATION OVER THE COMING RUIN OF ISRAEL; THE PENITENT REFORMATION OF A REMNANT; THE CHAIN SYMBOLIZING THE CAPTIVITY. (Eze. 7:1-27)
An end, the end--The indefinite "an" expresses the general fact of God bringing His long-suffering towards the whole of Judea to an end; "the," following, marks it as more definitely fixed (
Amos 8:2).
4 thine abominations--the punishment of thine abominations.
shall be in the midst of thee--shall be manifest to all. They and thou shall recognize the fact of thine abominations by thy punishment which shall everywhere befall thee, and that manifestly.
5 An evil, an only evil--a peculiar calamity such as was never before; unparalleled. The abruptness of the style and the repetitions express the agitation of the prophet's mind in foreseeing these calamities.
6 watcheth for thee--rather, "waketh for thee." It awakes up from its past slumber against thee (
Ps 78:65-
Ps 78:66).
7 The morning--so Chaldean and Syriac versions (compare
Joel 2:2). Ezekiel wishes to awaken them from their lethargy, whereby they were promising to themselves an uninterrupted night (
1Thess 5:5-7), as if they were never to be called to account [CALVIN]. The expression, "morning," refers to the fact that this was the usual time for magistrates giving sentence against offenders (compare
Ezek 7:10, below;
Ps 101:8;
Jer 21:12). GESENIUS, less probably, translates, "the order of fate"; thy turn to be punished.
not the sounding again--not an empty echo, such as is produced by the reverberation of sounds in "the mountains," but a real cry of tumult is coming [CALVIN]. Perhaps it alludes to the joyous cries of the grape-gatherers at vintage on the hills [GROTIUS], or of the idolaters in their dances on their festivals in honor of their false gods [TIRINUS]. HAVERNICK translates, "no brightness."
8 Repetition of
Ezek 7:3-
Ezek 7:4; sadly expressive of accumulated woes by the monotonous sameness.
10 rod . . . blossomed, pride . . . budded--The "rod" is the Chaldean Nebuchadnezzar, the instrument of God's vengeance (
Isa 10:5;
Jer 51:20). The rod sprouting (as the word ought to be translated), &c., implies that God does not move precipitately, but in successive steps. He as it were has planted the ministers of His vengeance, and leaves them to grow till all is ripe for executing His purpose. "Pride" refers to the insolence of the Babylonian conqueror (
Jer 50:31-
Jer 50:32). The parallelism ("pride" answering to "rod") opposes JEROME'S view, that "pride" refers to the Jews who despised God's threats; (also CALVIN'S, "though the rod grew in Chaldea, the root was with the Jews"). The "rod" cannot refer, as GROTIUS thought, to the tribe of Judah, for it evidently refers to the "smiteth" (
Ezek 7:9) as the instrument of smiting.
11 Violence (that is, the violent foe) is risen up as a rod of (that is, to punish the Jews') wickedness (
Zech 5:8).
theirs--their possessions, or all that belongs to them, whether children or goods. GROTIUS translates from a different Hebrew root, "their nobles," literally, "their tumultuous trains" (Margin) which usually escorted the nobles. Thus "nobles" will form a contrast to the general "multitude."
neither . . . wailing-- (
Jer 16:4-
Jer 16:7;
Jer 25:33). GESENIUS translates, "nor shall there be left any beauty among them." English Version is supported by the old Jewish interpreters. So general shall be the slaughter, none shall be left to mourn the dead.
12 let not . . . buyer rejoice--because he has bought an estate at a bargain price.
nor . . . seller mourn--because he has had to sell his land at a sacrifice through poverty. The Chaldeans will be masters of the land, so that neither shall the buyer have any good of his purchase, nor the seller any loss; nor shall the latter (
Ezek 7:13) return to his inheritance at the jubilee year (see
Lev 25:13). Spiritually this holds good now, seeing that "the time is short"; "they that rejoice should be as though they rejoiced not, and they that buy as though they possessed not": Paul (
1Cor 7:30) seems to allude to Ezekiel here.
Jer 32:15,
Jer 32:37,
Jer 32:43, seems to contradict Ezekiel here. But Ezekiel is speaking of the parents, and of the present; Jeremiah, of the children, and of the future. Jeremiah is addressing believers, that they should hope for a restoration; Ezekiel, the reprobate, who were excluded from hope of deliverance.
13 although they were yet alive--although they should live to the year of jubilee.
multitude thereof--namely, of the Jews.
which shall not return--answering to "the seller shall not return"; not only he, but the whole multitude, shall not return. CALVIN omits "is" and "which": "the vision touching the whole multitude shall not return" void (
Isa 55:11).
neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life--No hardening of one's self in iniquity will avail against God's threat of punishment. FAIRBAIRN translates, "no one by his iniquity shall invigorate his life"; referring to the jubilee, which was regarded as a revivification of the whole commonwealth, when, its disorders being rectified, the body politic sprang up again into renewed life. That for which God thus provided by the institution of the jubilee and which is now to cease through the nation's iniquity, let none think to bring about by his iniquity.
14 They have blown the trumpet--rather, "Blow the trumpet," or, "Let them blow the trumpet" to collect soldiers as they will, "to make all ready" for encountering the foe, it will be of no avail; none will have the courage to go to the battle (compare
Jer 6:1), [CALVIN].
15 No security should anywhere be found (
Deut 32:25). Fulfilled (
Lam 1:20); also at the Roman invasion (
Matt 24:16-
Matt 24:18).
16 (
Ezek 6:6).
like doves--which, though usually frequenting the valleys, mount up to the mountains when fearing the bird-catcher (
Ps 11:1). So Israel, once dwelling in its peaceful valleys, shall flee from the foe to the mountains, which, as being the scene of its idolatries, were justly to be made the scene of its flight and shame. The plaintive note of the dove (
Isa 59:11) represents the mournful repentance of Israel hereafter (
Zech 12:10-
Zech 12:12).
17 shall be weak as water--literally, "shall go (as) waters"; incapable of resistance (
Josh 7:5;
Ps 22:14;
Isa 13:7).
18 cover them--as a garment.
baldness--a sign of mourning (
Isa 3:24;
Jer 48:37;
Mic 1:16).
19 cast . . . silver in . . . streets--just retribution; they had abused their silver and gold by converting them into idols, "the stumbling-block of their iniquity" (
Ezek 14:3-
Ezek 14:4, that is, an occasion of sinning); so these silver and gold idols, so far from "being able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath" (see
Pro 11:4), shall, in despair, be cast by them into the streets as a prey to the foe, by whom they shall be "removed" (GROTIUS translates as the Margin, "shall be despised as an unclean thing"); or rather, as suits the parallelism, "shall be put away from them" by the Jews [CALVIN]. "They (the silver and gold) shall not satisfy their souls," that is, their cravings of appetite and other needs.
20 beauty of his ornament--the temple of Jehovah, the especial glory of the Jews, as a bride glories in her ornaments (the very imagery used by God as to the temple,
Ezek 16:10-
Ezek 16:11). Compare
Ezek 24:21 : "My sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes."
images . . . therein--namely, in the temple (
Ezek 8:3-
Ezek 8:17).
set it far from them--God had "set" the temple (their "beauty of ornament") "for His majesty"; but they had set up "abominations therein"; therefore God, in just retribution, "set it far from them," (that is, removed them far from it, or took it away from them [VATABLUS]). The Margin translates, "Made it unto them an unclean thing" (compare Margin on
Ezek 7:19, "removed"); what I designed for their glory they turned to their shame, therefore I will make it turn to their ignominy and ruin.
21 strangers--barbarous and savage nations.
22 pollute my secret place--just retribution for the Jews' pollution of the temple. "Robbers shall enter and defile" the holy of holies, the place of God's manifested presence, entrance into which was denied even to the Levites and priests and was permitted to the high priest only once a year on the great day of atonement.
23 chain--symbol of the captivity (compare
Jer 27:2). As they enchained the land with violence, so shall they be chained themselves. It was customary to lead away captives in a row with a chain passed from the neck of one to the other. Therefore translate as the Hebrew requires, "the chain," namely, that usually employed on such occasions. CALVIN explains it, that the Jews should be dragged, whether they would or no, before God's tribunal to be tried as culprits in chains. The next words favor this: "bloody crimes," rather, "judgment of bloods," that is, with blood sheddings deserving the extreme judicial penalty. Compare
Jer 51:9 : "Her judgment reacheth unto heaven."
24 worst of the heathen--literally, "wicked of the nations"; the giving up of Israel to their power will convince the Jews that this is a final overthrow.
pomp of . . . strong--the pride wherewith men "stiff of forehead" despise the prophet.
holy places--the sacred compartments of the temple (
Ps 68:35;
Jer 51:51) [CALVIN]. God calls it "their holy places," because they had so defiled it that He regarded it no longer as His. However, as the defilement of the temple has already been mentioned (
Ezek 7:20,
Ezek 7:22), and "their sacred places" are introduced as a new subject, it seems better to understand this of the places dedicated to their idols. As they defiled God's sanctuary, He will defile their self-constituted "sacred places."
25 peace, and . . . none-- (
1Thess 5:3).
26 Mischief . . . upon . . . mischief-- (
Deut 32:23;
Jer 4:20). This is said because the Jews were apt to fancy, at every abatement of suffering, that their calamities were about to cease; but God will accumulate woe on woe.
rumour--of the advance of the foe, and of his cruelty (
Matt 24:6).
seek a vision--to find some way of escape from their difficulties (
Isa 26:9). So Zedekiah consulted Jeremiah (
Jer 37:17;
Jer 38:14).
law shall perish--fulfilled (
Ezek 20:1,
Ezek 20:3;
Ps 74:9;
Lam 2:9; compare
Amos 8:11); God will thus set aside the idle boast, "The law shall not perish from the priest" (
Jer 18:18).
ancients--the ecclesiastical rulers of the people.
27 people of the land--the general multitude, as distinguished from the "king" and the "prince." The consternation shall pervade all ranks. The king, whose duty it was to animate others and find a remedy for existing evils, shall himself be in the utmost anxiety; a mark of the desperate state of affairs.
clothed with desolation--Clothing is designed to keep off shame; but in this case shame shall be the clothing.
after their way--because of their wicked ways.
deserts--literally, "judgments," that is, what just judgment awards to them; used to imply the exact correspondence of God's judgment with the judicial penalties they had incurred: they oppressed the poor and deprived them of liberty; therefore they shall be oppressed and lose their own liberty.
This eighth chapter begins a new stage of Ezekiel's prophecies and continues to the end of the eleventh chapter. The connected visions at Eze. 3:12-7:27 comprehended Judah and Israel; but the visions (Eze. 8:1-11:25) refer immediately to Jerusalem and the remnant of Judah under Zedekiah, as distinguished from the Babylonian exiles.
