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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
E Z E K I E L.
CHAP. XI.
This chapter concludes the vision which Ezekiel saw, and this part of
it furnished him with two messages:–
I. A message of wrath against those who continued still at Jerusalem,
and were there in the height of presumption, thinking they should never
fall,
II. A message of comfort to those who were carried captives into
Babylon and were there in the depth of despondency, thinking they
should never rise. And, as the former are assured that God has
judgments in store for them notwithstanding their present security, so
the later are assured that God has mercy in store for them
notwithstanding their present distress,
And so the glory of God removes further,
The vision disappears
(ver. 24),
and Ezekiel faithfully gives his hearers an account of it,
| Message of Wrath to Jerusalem; Presumption of the Princes; Awakening Predictions. | B. C. 593. |
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1 Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the
east gate of the LORD‘s house, which looketh eastward: and behold
at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw
Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah,
princes of the people.
2 Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that
devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:
3 Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city
is the caldron, and we be the flesh.
4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.
5 And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me,
Speak; Thus saith the LORD; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel:
for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of
them.
6 Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have
filled the streets thereof with the slain.
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye have
laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is
the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.
8 Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you,
saith the Lord GOD.
9 And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver
you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among
you.
10 Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border
of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
11 This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be
the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the
border of Israel:
12 And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not
walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have
done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.
13 And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the
son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried
with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full
end of the remnant of Israel?
We have here,
I. The great security of the prince’s of Jerusalem, notwithstanding the
judgments of God that were upon them, The prophet was brought, in
vision, to the gate of the temple where these princes sat in council
upon the present arduous affairs of the city: The Spirit lifted me
up, and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s house, and behold
twenty-five men were there. See how obsequious the prophet was to
the Spirit’s orders and how observant of all the discoveries that were
made to him. It should seem, these twenty-five men were not the same
with those twenty-five whom we saw at the door of the temple,
worshipping towards the east
(ch. viii. 16);
those seen to have been priests or Levites, for they were between the
porch and the altar, but these were princes sitting in the gate of
the Lord’s house, to try causes
and they are here charged, not with corruptions in worship, but with
mal-administration in the government; two of them are named, because
they were the most active leading men, and perhaps because the prophet
knew them, though he had been some years absent–Pelatiah and
Jaazaniah, not that mentioned
for he was the son of Shaphan, this is the son of Azur.
Some tell us that Jerusalem was divided into twenty-four wards, and
that these were the governors or aldermen of those wards, with their
mayor or president. Now observe,
1. The general character which God gives of these men to the prophet
(v. 2):
“These are the men that devise mischief; under pretence of
concerting measures for the public safety they harden people in their
sins, and take off their fear of God’s judgments which they are
threatened with by the prophets; they gave wicked counsel in this
city, counselling them to restrain and silence the prophets, to
rebel against the king of Babylon, and to resolve upon holding the
city out to the last extremity.” Note, It is bad with a people when
the things that belong to their peace are hidden from the eyes of those
who are entrusted with their counsels. And, when mischief is done, God
knows at whose door to lay it, and, in the day of discovery and
recompence, will be sure to lay it at the right door, and will say,
These are the men that devised it, though they are great men,
and pass for wise men, and must not now be contradicted or controlled.
2. The particular charge exhibited against them in proof of this
character. They are indicted for words spoken at their council-board,
which he that stands in the congregation of the mighty would
take cognizance of
(v. 3);
they said to this effect, “It is not near; the destruction of
our city, that has been so often threatened by the prophets, is not
near, not so near as they talk of.” They are conscious to
themselves of such an enmity to reformation that they cannot but
conclude it will come at last; but they have such an opinion of God’s
patience (though they have long abused it) that they are willing to
hope it will not come this great while. Note, Where Satan cannot
persuade men to look upon the judgment to come as a thing doubtful and
uncertain, yet he gains his point by persuading them to look upon it as
a thing at a distance, so that it loses its force: if it be sure, yet
it is not near; whereas, in truth, the Judge stands before
the door. Now, if the destruction is not near, they conclude,
Let us build houses; let us count upon a continuance, for
this city is the caldron and we are the flesh. This seems to be
a proverbial expression, signifying no more than this, “We are as safe
in this city as flesh in a boiling pot; the walls of the city shall be
to us as walls of brass, and shall receive no more damage from
the besiegers about it than the cauldron does from the fire
under it. Those that think to force us out of our city into
captivity shall find it to be as much at their peril as it would be to
take the flesh out of a boiling pot with their hands.” This appears to
be the meaning of it, by the answer God gives to it
(v. 9):
“I will bring you out of the midst of the city, where you think
yourselves safe, and then it will appear
(v. 11)
that this is not your caldron, neither are you the flesh.”
Perhaps it has a particular reference to the flesh of the
peace-offerings, which it was so great an offence for the priests
themselves to take out of the caldron while it was in seething
(as we find
and then it intimates that they were the more secure because Jerusalem
was the holy city, and they thought themselves a holy people in it, not
to be meddled with. Some think this was a banter upon Jeremiah, who in
one of his first visions saw Jerusalem represented by a seething
pot,
Jer. i. 13.
“Now,” say they, in a way of jest and ridicule, “if it be a seething
pot, we are as the flesh in it, and who dares meddle with us?” Thus
they continued mocking the messengers of the Lord, even while they
suffered for so doing; but be you not mockers, lest your bands be
made strong. Those hearts are indeed which are made more secure by
those words of God which were designed for warning to them.
II. The method taken to awaken them out of their security. One would
think that the providences of God which related to them were enough to
startle them; but, to help them to understand and improve those, the
word of God is sent to them to give them warning
(v. 4):
Therefore prophesy against them, and try to undeceive them;
prophesy, O son of man! upon these dead and dry bones. Note, The
greatest kindness ministers can do to secure sinners is to preach
against them, and to show them their misery and danger, though they are
ever so unwilling to see them. We then act most for them when we appear
most against them. But the prophet, being at a loss what to say to men
that were hardened in sin, and that bade defiance to the judgments of
God, the Spirit of the Lord fell upon him, to make him full of
power and courage, and said unto him, Speak. Note, When sinners
are flattering themselves into their own ruin it is time to speak, and
to tell them that they shall have no peace if they go on. Ministers are
sometimes so bashful and timorous, and so much at a loss, that they
must be put on to speak, and to speak boldly. But he that commands the
prophet to speak gives him instructions what to say; and he must
address himself to them as the house of Israel
(v. 5),
for not the princes only, but all the people, were concerned to know
the truth of their cause, to know the worst of it. They are the
house of Israel, and therefore the God of Israel is
concerned, in kindness to them, to give them warning; and they are
concerned in duty to him to take the warning. And what is it that the
must say to them in God’s name?
1. Let them know that the God of heaven takes notice of the vain
confidences with which they support themselves
(v. 5):
“I know the things which come into your minds every one of them,
what secret reasons you have for these resolutions, and what you aim at
in putting so good a face upon a matter you know to be bad.” Note, God
perfectly knows not only the things that come out of our mouths, but
the things that come into our minds, not only all we say, but all we
think; even those thoughts that are most suddenly darted into our
minds, and that as suddenly slip out of them again, so that we
ourselves are scarcely aware of them, yet God knows them. He knows us
better than we know ourselves; he understands our thoughts afar
off. The consideration of this should oblige us to keep our hearts
with all diligence, that no vain thoughts come into them or lodge
within them.
2. Let them know that those who advised the people to stand it out
should be accounted before God the murderers of all who had fallen, or
should yet fall, in Jerusalem, by the sword of the Chaldeans; and those
slain were the only ones that should remain in the city, as the
flesh in the caldron. “You have multiplied your slain in the
city, not only those whom you have by the sword of justice unjustly
put to death under colour of law, but those whom you have by your
wilfulness and pride unwisely exposed to the sword of war, though you
were told by the prophets that you should certainly go by the worst.
Thus you, with your stubborn humour, have filled the streets of
Jerusalem with the slain,”
v. 6.
Note, Those who are either unrighteous or imprudent in beginning or
carrying on a war bring upon themselves a great deal of the guilt of
blood; and those who are slain in the battles or sieges which they, by
such a reasonable peace as the war aimed at, might have prevented, will
be called their slain. Now these slain are the only flesh that
shall be left in this caldron,
v. 7.
There shall none remain to keep possession of the city but those that
are buried in it. There shall be no inhabitants of Jerusalem but the
inhabitants of the graves there, no freemen of the city but the free
among the dead.
3. Let them know that, how impregnable soever they thought their city
to be, they should be forced out of it, either driven to flight or
dragged into captivity: I will bring you forth out of the midst of
it, whether you will or no,
They had provoked God to forsake the city, and thought they should do
well enough by their own policy and strength when he was gone; but God
will make them know that there is no peace to those that have left
their God. If they have by their sins driven God from his house, he
will soon by his judgments drive them from theirs; and it will be found
that those are least safe that are most secure: “This city shall not be
your caldron, neither shall you be the flesh; you shall not soak
away in it as you promise yourselves, and die in your nest; you think
yourself safe in the midst thereof, but you shall not be long
there.”
4. Let them know that when God has got them out of the midst of
Jerusalem he will pursue them with his judgments wherever he finds
them, the judgments which they thought to shelter themselves from by
keeping close in Jerusalem. They feared the sword if they should go
out to the Chaldeans, and therefore would abide in their
caldron, but, says God, I will bring a sword upon you
(v. 8)
and you shall fall by the sword,
v. 10.
Note, The fear of the wicked shall come upon him. And there is no fence
against the judgments of God when they come with commission, no, not in
walls of brass. They were afraid of trusting to the mercy of strangers.
“But,” says God, “I will deliver you into the hands of
strangers, whose resentments you shall feel, since you were not
willing to lie at their mercy.” See
They thought to escape the judgments of God, but God says that he will
execute judgments upon them; and whereas they resolved, if they
must be judged, that it should be in Jerusalem, God tells them
that he will judge them in the borders of Israel, which was
fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar slew all the nobles of Judah at Riblah in
the land of Hamath, on the utmost border of the land of Canaan. Note,
Those who have taken ever so deep root in the place where they live
cannot be sure that in that place they shall die.
5. Let them know that all this is the due punishment of their sin, and
the revelation of the righteous judgment of God against them:
You shall know that I am the Lord,
v. 10 and again v. 12.
Those shall be made to know by the sword of the Lord who would not be
taught by his word what a hatred he has to sin, and what a fearful
thing it is for impenitent sinners to fall into his hands. I will
execute judgments, and then you shall know that I am the
Lord, for the Lord is known by the judgments which he executes upon
those that have not walked in his statutes. Hereby it is known
that he made the law, because he punishes the breach of it. I will
execute judgments among you (says God) because you have not
executed my judgments,
v. 12.
Note, The executing of the judgments of God’s mouth by us, in a uniform
steady course of obedience to his law, is the only way to prevent the
executing of the judgments of his hand upon us in our ruin and
confusion. One way or other. God’s judgments will be executed; the law
will take place either in its precept or in its penalty. If we do not
give honour to God by executing his judgments as he has commanded, he
will get him honour upon us by executing his judgments as he has
threatened; and thus we shall know that he is the Lord, the sovereign
Lord of all, that will not be mocked. And observe, When they cast off
God’s statutes, and walked not in them, they did after the manners
of the heathen that were round about them, and introduced into
their worship all their impure, ridiculous, and barbarous usages. When
men leave the settled rule of divine institutions, they wander
endlessly. Justly therefore was this made the reason why they should
keep God’s ordinances, that they might not commit the
abominable customs of the heathen,
Lev. xviii. 30.
III. This awakening word is here immediately followed by an awakening
providence,
Here we may observe,
1. With what power Ezekiel prophesied, or, rather, what a divine power
went along with it: It came to pass, when I prophesied, that
Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died; he was mentioned
(v. 1)
as a principal man among the twenty-five princes that made all the
mischief in Jerusalem. It should seem, this was done in vision now, as
the slaying of the ancient men
upon occasion of which Ezekiel prayed
(v. 8)
as he did here; but it was an assurance that when this prophecy should
be published it should be done in fact. The death of Pelatiah was an
earnest of the complete accomplishment of this prophecy. Note, God is
pleased often-times to single out some sinners, and to make them
monuments of his justice, for warning to others of what is coming; and
some that thought themselves very safe and snatched away suddenly, and
drop down dead in an instant, as Ananias and Sapphira at Peter’s feet
when he prophesied.
2. With what pity Ezekiel prayed. Thought the sudden death of Pelatiah
was a confirmation of Ezekiel’s prophecy, and really an honour to him,
yet he was in deep concern about it, and laid it to heart as if he had
been his relation or friend: He fell on his face and cried with a
loud voice, as one in earnest, “Ah! Lord God, wilt thou make a
full end of the remnant of Israel? Many are swept away by the
judgments we have been under; and shall the remnant which have escaped
the sword die thus by the immediate hand of heaven? Then thou wilt
indeed make a full end.” Perhaps it was Ezekiel’s infirmity to bewail
the death of this wicked prince thus, as it was Samuel’s to mourn so
long for Saul; but thus he showed how far he was from desiring the
woeful day he foretold. David lamented the sickness of those that hated
and persecuted him. And we ought to be much affected with the sudden
death of others, yea, though they are wicked.
| Judgments Predicted; Sufferings and Hopes of Pious Captives. | B. C. 593. |
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14 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
15 Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of
thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto
whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the
LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.
16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast
them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered
them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little
sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather
you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where
ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all
the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof
from thence.
19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit
within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh,
and will give them a heart of flesh:
20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances,
and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their
God.
21 But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of
their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense
their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.
Prophecy was designed to exalt every valley as well as to bring
low every mountain and hill
(Isa. xl. 4),
and prophets were to speak not only conviction to the presumptuous and
secure, but comfort to the despised and desponding that trembled at
God’s word. The prophet Ezekiel, having in the former part of this
chapter received instructions for the awakening of those that were
at ease in Zion, is in these verses furnished with comfortable
words for those that mourned in Babylon and by the rivers there
sat weeping when they remembered Zion. Observe,
I. How the pious captives were trampled upon and insulted over by those
who continued in Jerusalem,
God tells the prophet what the inhabitants of Jerusalem said of him and
the rest of them that were already carried away to Babylon. God had
owned them as good figs, and declared it was for their good that
he had sent them into Babylon; but the inhabitants of Jerusalem
abandoned them, supposing those that were really the best saints to be
the greatest sinners of all men that dwelt in Jerusalem. Observe,
1. How they are described: They are thy brethren (says God to
the prophet), whom thou hast a concern and affection for; they are
the men of thy kindred (the men of thy redemption, so the word
is), thy next of kin, to whom the right of redeeming the alienated
possession belongs, but who are so far from being able to do it that
they have themselves gone into captivity. They are the whole house
of Israel; God so accounts of them because they only have retained
their integrity, and are bettered by their captivity. They were not
only of the same family and nation with Ezekiel, but of the same
spirit; they were his hearers, and he had communion with them in holy
ordinances; and perhaps upon that account they are called his
brethren and the men of his kindred.
2. How they were disowned by the inhabitants of Jerusalem; they
said of them, Get you far from the Lord. Those that were at ease
and proud themselves scorned their brethren that were humbled and under
humbling providences.
(1.) They cut them off from being members of their church. Because they
had separated themselves from their rulers and in compliance with the
will of God had surrendered themselves to the king of Babylon, they
excommunicated them, and said, “Get you far from the Lord; we
will have nothing to do with you.” Those that were superstitious were
very willing to shake off those that were conscientious, and were
severe in their censures of them and sentences against them, as if they
were forsaken and forgotten of the Lord and were cut off from the
communion of the faithful.
(2.) They cut them off from being members of the commonwealth too, as
if they had no longer any part or lot in the matter: “Unto us is
this land given in possession, and you have forfeited your estates
by surrendering to the king of Babylon, and we have thereby become
entitled to them.” God takes notice of, and is much displeased with,
the contempt which those that are in prosperity put upon their brethren
that are in affliction.
II. The gracious promises which God made to them in consideration of
the insolent conduct of their brethren towards them. Those that hated
them and cast them out said, Let the Lord be glorified; but
he shall appear to their joy,
Isa. lxvi. 5.
God owns that his hand had gone out against them, which had given
occasion to their brethren to triumph over them
(v. 16):
“It is true I have cast them far off among the heathen and
scattered them among the countries; they look as if they were an
abandoned people, and so mingled with the nations that they will be
lost among them; but I have mercy in store for them.” Note, God takes
occasion from the contempts which are put upon his people to speak
comfort to them, as David hoped God would reward him good for Shimei’s
cursing. His time to support his people’s hopes is when their enemies
are endeavouring to drive them to despair. Now God promises,
1. That he will make up to them the want of the temple and the
privileges of it
(v. 16):
I will be to them as a little sanctuary, in the countries where they
shall come. Those at Jerusalem have the temple, but without God;
those in Babylon have God, though without the temple.
(1.) God will be a sanctuary to them; that is, a place of
refuge; to him they shall flee, and in him they shall be safe, as he
was that took hold on the horns of the altar. Or, rather, they
shall have such communion with God in the land of their captivity as it
was thought could be had nowhere but in the temple. They shall there
see God’s power and his glory, as they used to see them in
the sanctuary; they shall have the tokens of God’s presence with
them, and his grace in their hearts shall sanctify their prayers and
praises, as well as ever the altar sanctified the gift, so that they
shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock.
(2.) He will be a little sanctuary, not seen or observed by
their enemies, who looked with an evil and an envious eye upon that
house at Jerusalem which was high and great,
They were but few and mean, and a little sanctuary was fittest for
them. God regards the low estate of his people, and suits his favours
to their circumstances. Observe the condescensions of divine grace.
The great God will be to his people a little sanctuary. Note, Those
that are deprived of the benefit of public ordinances, if it be not
their own fault, may have the want of them abundantly made up in the
immediate communications of divine grace and comforts.
2. That God would in due time put an end to their afflictions, bring
them out of the land of their captivity, and settle them again, them or
their children, in their own land
(v. 17):
“I will gather even you that are thus dispersed, thus
despised, and given over for lost by your own countrymen; I will
gather you from the people, distinguish you from those with whom
you are mingled, deliver you from those by whom you are held captives,
and assemble you in a body out of the countries where you
have been scattered; you shall not come back one by one, but all
together, which will make your return more honourable, safe, and
comfortable; and then I will give you the land of Israel, which
now your brethren look upon you as for ever shut out from.” Note, It is
well for us that men’s severe censures cannot cut us off from God’s
gracious promises. There are many that will be found to have a place in
the holy land whom uncharitable men, by their monopolies of it to
themselves, had secluded from it. I will give you the land of
Israel, give it to you again by a new grant, and they shall come
thither. If there be any thing in the change of the person from
you to them, it may signify the posterity of those to
whom the promise is made. “You shall have the title as the
patriarchs had, and those that come after shall have the
possession.”
3. That God by his grace would part between them and their sins,
Their captivity shall effectually cure them of their idolatry: When
they come thither to their own land again they shall take away
all the detestable things thereof. Their idols, that had been their
delectable things, should now be looked upon with detestation, not only
the idols of Babylon, where they were captives, but the idols of
Canaan, where they were natives; they should not only not worship them
as they had done, but they should not suffer any monuments of them to
remain: They shall take all the abominations thereof thence.
Note, Then it is in mercy that we return to a prosperous estate,
when we return not to the sins and follies of that state. What have
I to do any more with idols?
4. That God would powerfully dispose them to their duty; they shall not
only cease to do evil, but they shall learn to do well,
because there shall be not only an end of their troubles, but a return
to their peace.
(1.) God will plant good principles in them; he will make the tree
good,
This is a gospel promise, and is made good to all those whom God
designs for the heavenly Canaan; for God prepares all for heaven whom
he has prepared heaven for. It is promised,
[1.] That God will give them one heart, a heart entire for the
true God and not divided as it had been among many gods, a heart firmly
fixed and resolved for God and not wavering, steady and uniform, and
not inconstant with itself. One heart is a sincere and upright
heart, its intentions of a piece with its professions.
[2.] That he will put a new spirit within them, a temper of mind
agreeable to the new circumstances into which God in his providence
would bring them. All that are sanctified have a new spirit,
quite different from what it was; they act from new principles, walk by
new rules, and aim at new ends. A new name, or a new face, will not
serve without a new spirit. If any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature.
[3.] That he will take away the stony heart out of their
flesh, out of their corrupt nature. Their hearts shall no longer
be, as they have been, dead and dry, and hard and heavy, as a stone, no
longer incapable of bearing good fruit, so that the good seed is lost
upon it, as it was on the stony ground.
[4.] That he will give them a heart of flesh, not dead or proud
flesh, but living flesh; he will make their hearts sensible of
spiritual pains and spiritual pleasures, will make them tender, and apt
to receive impressions. This is God’s work, it is his gift, his gift by
promise; and a wonderful and happy change it is that is wrought by it,
from death to life. This is promised to those whom God would bring back
to their own land; for then such a change of the condition is
for the better indeed when it is accompanied with such a change of the
heart; and such a change must be wrought in all those that shall be
brought to the better country, that is, the heavenly.
(2.) Their practices shall be consonant to those principles: I will
give them a new spirit, not that they may be able to discourse well
of religion and to dispute for it, but that they may walk in my
statues in their whole conversation and keep my ordinances
in all acts of religious worship,
These two must go together; and those to whom God has given a new
heart and a new spirit will make conscience of both; and then
they shall be my people and I will be their God. The ancient
covenant, which seemed to be broken and forgotten, shall be renewed. By
their idolatry, it should seem, they had cast God off; by their
captivity, it should seem, God had cast them off. But when they were
cured of their idolatry, and delivered out of their captivity, God and
his Israel own one another again. God, by his good work in them, will
make them his people; and then, by the tokens of his good-will
towards them, he will show that he is their God.
III. Here is a threatening of wrath against those who hated to be
reformed. As, when judgments are threatened, the righteous are
distinguished so as not to share in the evil of those judgments, so,
when favours are promised, the wicked are distinguished so as not to
share in the comfort of those favours; they have no part nor lot in the
matter,
But, as for those that have no grace, what have they to do
with peace? Observe,
1. Their description. Their heart walks after the heart of their
detestable things; they have as great a minds to worship devils as
devils have to be worshipped. Or, in opposition to the new heart
which God gives his people, which is a heart after his own heart, they
have a heart after the heart of their idols; in their temper and
practice they conformed to the characters and accounts given them of
their idols, and the ideas they had of them, and of them they learned
lewdness and cruelty. Here lies the root of all their wickedness, the
corruption of the heart; as the root of their reformation is laid in
the renovation of the heart. The heart has its walks, and according as
those are the man is.
2. Their doom. It carries both justice and terror in it: I will
recompense their way upon their own heads; I will deal with them as
they deserve. There needs no more than this to speak God righteous,
that he does but render to men according to their deserts: and yet such
are the deserts of sin that there needs no more than this to speak the
sinner miserable.
| The Visions of the Divine Glory. | B. C. 593. |
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22 Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels
beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them
above.
23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the
city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of
the city.
24 Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision
by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So
the vision that I had seen went up from me.
25 Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that
the LORD had shewed me.
Here is,
1. The departure of God’s presence from the city and temple. When the
message was committed to the prophet, and he was fully apprized of it,
fully instructed how to separate between the precious and the vile,
then the cherubim lifted up their wings and the wheels beside them
(v. 22)
as before,
Angels, when they have done their errands in this lower world, are upon
the wing to be gone, for they lose no time. We left the glory of the
Lord last at the east gate of the temple
(ch. x. 19),
which is here said to be in the midst of the city. Now here we
are told that, finding and wondering that there was none to intercede,
none to uphold, none to invite its return, it removed next to the
mountain which is on the east side of the city
(v. 23);
that was the mount of Olives. On this mountain they had set up
their idols, to confront God in his temple, when he dwelt there
and thence it was called the mount of corruption
therefore there God does as it were set up his standard, his tribunal,
as it were to confront those who thought to keep possession of the
temple for themselves now that God had left it. From that mountain
there was a full prospect of the city; thither God removed, to make
good what he had said
I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall
be. It was from this mountain that Christ beheld the city and
wept over it, in the foresight of its last destruction by the
Romans. The glory of the Lord removed thither, to be as it were
yet within call, and ready to return if now at length, in this their
day, they would have understood the things that belonged to
their peace. Loth to depart bids oft farewell. God, by going away
thus slowly, thus gradually, intimated that he left them with
reluctance, and would not have gone if they had not perfectly forced
him from them. He did now, in effect, say, How shall I give thee up,
Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? But, though he bear
long, he will not bear always, but will at length forsake those, and
cast them off for ever, who have forsaken him and cast him off.
2. The departure of this vision from the prophet. At length it went
up from him
(v. 24);
he saw it mount upwards, till it went out of sight, which would be a
confirmation to his faith that it was a heavenly vision, that it
descended from above, for thitherward it returned. Note, The visions
which the saints have of the glory of God will not be constant will
they come to heaven. They have glimpses of that glory, which they soon
lose again, visions which go up from them, tastes of divine pleasures,
but not a continual feast. It was from the mount of Olives that the
vision went up, typifying the ascension of Christ to heaven from that
very mountain, when those that had seen him manifested in the
flesh saw him no more. It was foretold
that his feet should stand upon the mount of Olives, stand last
there.
3. The prophet’s return to those of the captivity. The same spirit that
had carried him in a trance or ecstasy to Jerusalem brought him back to
Chaldea; for there the bounds of his habitation are at present
appointed, and that is the place of his service. The Spirit came to
him, not to deliver him out of captivity, but (which was equivalent) to
support and comfort him in his captivity.
4. The account which he gave to his hearers of all he had seen and
heard,
He received that he might give, and he was faithful to him that
appointed him; he delivered his message very honestly: he spoke
all that, and that only, which God had shown him. He told
them of the great wickedness he had seen at Jerusalem, and the ruin
that was hastening towards that city, that they might not repent of
their surrendering themselves to the king of Babylon as Jeremiah
advised them, and blame themselves for it, nor envy those that staid
behind, and laughed at them for going when they did, nor wish
themselves there again, but be content in their captivity. Who would
covet to be in a city so full of sin and so near to ruin? It is better
to be in Babylon under the favour of God than in Jerusalem under his
wrath and curse. But, though this was delivered immediately to those of
the captivity, yet we may suppose that they sent the contents of it to
those at Jerusalem, with whom they kept up a correspondence; and well
would it have been for Jerusalem if she had taken the warning hereby
given.
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