THE PROPHET AND THE INDIVIDUAL This passage combines an expanded repetition of Ezekiel 3:17 with a condensed repetition of Ezekiel 18:5. The prophet is a watchman, responsible for warning his people of the consequences of sin. God deals with individual souls in strict justice, and desires that all s... [ Continue Reading ]
§ 1. THE RESTORATION (EZEKIEL 33-39) After an introductory passage (Ezekiel 33:1), and two short prophecies against the wicked survivors of Jerusalem and the careless exiles (Ezekiel 33:21), this section describes the restoration in connexion with the Ruler, the Land and the People successively. As... [ Continue Reading ]
THESWORD] usually a symbol of impending calamity (see Ezekiel 14:17; Ezekiel 21), but here it is simply a detail in the figure of the watchman. The destruction of Jerusalem was past, and no further judgment was specially in view. OF THEIR COASTS] RV 'from among them.' The prophet's position is repre... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT.. DELIVER] RV 'whereas if he had taken warning he should have delivered.'... [ Continue Reading ]
IF OUR TRANSGRESSIONS.. BE] RV 'our transgressions.. are.'... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR] RV 'in.' FOR IT] RV 'therein.'... [ Continue Reading ]
MENTIONED UNTO] RV 'remembered against.'... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREBY] RV 'therein.'... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TWELFTH YEAR, THE TENTH _month_] December 585-January 584 b.c. The Syriac Bible reads 'the eleventh year.' Five months seem more likely than a year and five months as the time to be allowed for a journey from Palestine to Babylonia.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PROPHET, THE SURVIVORS, AND THE EXILES In Ezekiel 24:27 it was announced to Ezekiel that the silence which began with his wife's death and the siege of Jerusalem would be ended when fugitives from the captured cities should arrive in Babylonia. This took place a year and five months (but see on... [ Continue Reading ]
WAS] RV 'had been.' Ezekiel had come under the power of divine inspiration the previous evening, when the truths in Ezekiel 33:1 had shaped themselves in his mind. The prophecy against the wicked survivors (Ezekiel 33:23) was probably called forth by information which the fugitives brought as to the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT IN HABIT, etc.] the surviving wicked remnant in the land of Israel. Their wickedness is described in Ezekiel 33:25; Ezekiel 33:26. For an historical account of the events in Palestine after the fall of Jerusalem see Jeremiah 40-43. The survivors to whom Ezekiel refera are probably the anti... [ Continue Reading ]
From Jeremiah 52:30 we learn that there was a further deportation of 745 Jews to Babylonia five years after the fall of Jerusalem.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN OF THY PEOPLE] the exiles of the first captivity. STILL ARE TALKING AGAINST THEE] RV 'talk of thee.'... [ Continue Reading ]
The exiles listened to Ezekiel's words as they would to music, which was entertaining but had no practical influence on their lives.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THIS COMETH TO PASS] the utter desolation of Palestine foretold in Ezekiel 33:27; Ezekiel 33:28.... [ Continue Reading ]