VI. The two prophecies contained in Ezekiel 6:7 are distinct, although both closely connected with the explanation of the symbolism in Ezekiel 5. They were probably uttered at sufficient intervals of time from Ezekiel 5 and from each other to allow of a distinct impression being made by each of them... [ Continue Reading ]
TOWARD THE MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL. — It is not uncommon to address prophetic utterances to inanimate objects as a poetic way of representing the people. (Comp. Ezekiel 36:1; Micah 6:2, &c.) The mountains are especially mentioned as being the chosen places of idolatrous worship. (See Deuteronomy 12:2; 2... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE RIVERS, AND TO THE VALLEYS. — These words stand to each other in the same relation as “mountains and hills,” that is, they are specifications of the same general character. The word frequently occurring, and uniformly translated in Ezekiel _rivers,_ would be better rendered _ravines._ It is a... [ Continue Reading ]
YOUR IMAGES. — The original word indicates, as is shown in the margin, that these were images used in connection with the worship of the sun. The whole verse is taken from Leviticus 26:30. The same woes were there foretold by Moses in the contingency of the people’s disobedience; that contingency ha... [ Continue Reading ]
MAY BE ABOLISHED. — The word _abolished_ is a strong one, meaning utterly obliterated, wiped out. This was what Israel should have done to the nations who inhabited Canaan before them; they and their works should have been so utterly blotted out that no temptations from them should have remained. Bu... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE SHALL KNOW. — As this prophecy began in Ezekiel 6:2 with an address to the mountains, many consider that, by a strong poetic figure, they are still referred to by the pronoun _ye._ It is better, however, to consider that as the discourse has gone on, the figure has gradually been dropped, and... [ Continue Reading ]
YET WILL I LEAVE A REMNANT. — In Ezekiel 6:8 the general gloom of this prophecy of judgment is lightened for a moment by the mention of the remnant who shall be brought by their afflictions “to know that I am the Lord” in a far higher and better sense than those mentioned in Ezekiel 6:7. This Divine... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE I AM BROKEN. — The verb in the Hebrew is passive in form, but it is better to take it, with most modern commentators, as a middle, in a transitive sense, “Because I have broken their whorish heart... and their eyes,” the eyes being mentioned as the means by which their hearts had been entice... [ Continue Reading ]
SMITE WITH THINE HAND, AND STAMP WITH THY FOOT. — The prophecy returns again to its heavy tidings of woe. To clap the hands and stamp the feet, either singly (Numbers 24:10; Ezekiel 21:14; Ezekiel 21:17; Ezekiel 22:13) or together (Ezekiel 25:6), is a gesture of strong emotion or earnestness of purp... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT IS FAR OFF... THAT IS NEAR. — That is, all, wherever they may be, shall be reached and overwhelmed by the coming judgments; yet not in such wise that we are to think of one kind of judgment as especially reserved for one class, and another kind for another. The different forms of punishment sha... [ Continue Reading ]
UPON EVERY HIGH HILL. — The various localities especially selected for idolatrous rites are enumerated one after another, to give more vividness and graphic character to the whole judgment. The words “sweet savour” are constantly applied to the commanded sacrifices to the Lord, and are here used iro... [ Continue Reading ]
MORE DESOLATE THAN THE WILDERNESS TOWARD DIBLATH. — The name _Diblath_ does not occur elsewhere; but _Diblathaim,_ the dual form, is mentioned in Numbers 33:46; Jeremiah 48:22, as a double city on the eastern border of Moab, beyond which lay the great desert which stretches thence eastward, nearly t... [ Continue Reading ]