Resultados para: "Imagery"

<p>he dreamed . . . and behold a ladder--Some writers are of opinion that it was not a literal ladder that is meant, as it is impossible to conceive any imagery stranger and more unnatural than that of a ladder, whose base was on earth, while its top reached heaven, without having any thing on which to rest its upper extremity. They suppose that the little heap of stones, on which his head reclined for a pillow, being the miniature model of the object that appeared to his imagination, the latter was a gigantic mountain pile, whose sides, indented in the rock, gave it the appearance of a scaling ladder. There can be no doubt that this use of the original term was common among the early Hebrews; as JOSEPHUS, describing the town of Ptolemais (Acre), says it was bounded by a mountain, which, from its projecting sides, was called &quot;the ladder,&quot; and the stairs that led down to the city are, in the original, termed a ladder (Neh 3:15) though they were only a flight of steps cut in the side of the rock. But whether the image presented to the mental eye of Jacob were a common ladder, or such a mountain pile as has been described, the design of this vision was to afford comfort, encouragement, and confidence to the lonely fugitive, both in his present circumstances and as to his future prospects. His thoughts during the day must have been painful--he would be his own self-accuser that he had brought exile and privation upon himself--and above all, that though he had obtained the forgiveness of his father, he had much reason to fear lest God might have forsaken him. Solitude affords time for reflection; and it was now that God began to bring Jacob under a course of religious instruction and training. To dispel his fears and allay the inward tumult of his mind, nothing was better fitted than the vision of the gigantic ladder, which reached from himself to heaven, and on which the angels were continually ascending and descending from God Himself on their benevolent errands (Joh 1:51).</p>

<p>As the valleys--Hebrew, &quot;brooks,&quot; the watercourses of the mountains.

lign aloes--an aromatic shrub on the banks of his native Euphrates, the conical form of which suggested an apt resemblance to a tent. The redundant imagery of these verses depicts the humble origin, rapid progress, and prosperity of Israel.</p>

<p>I shall see him--rather, &quot;I do see&quot; or &quot;I have seen him&quot;--a prophetic sight, like that of Abraham (Joh 8:56).

him--that is, Israel.

there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel--This imagery, in the hieroglyphic language of the East, denotes some eminent ruler--primarily David; but secondarily and pre-eminently, the Messiah (see on Gen 49:10).

corners--border, often used for a whole country (Exo 8:2; Psa 74:17).

children of Sheth--some prince of Moab; or, according to some, &quot;the children of the East.&quot;</p>

<p>Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel--Although the Philistines had completely succumbed to the army of David, yet the appearance of any gigantic champions among them revived their courage and stirred them up to renewed inroads on the Hebrew territory. Four successive contests they provoked during the latter period of David&#039;s reign, in the first of which the king ran so imminent a risk of his life that he was no longer allowed to encounter the perils of the battlefield.

The song contained in this chapter is the same as the eighteenth Psalm, where the full commentary will be given [see on Psa 18:1, &amp;c.]. It may be sufficient simply to remark that Jewish writers have noticed a great number of very minute variations in the language of the song as recorded here, from that embodied in the Book of Psalms--which may be accounted for by the fact that this, the first copy of the poem, was carefully revised and altered by David afterwards, when it was set to the music of the tabernacle. This inspired ode was manifestly the effusion of a mind glowing with the highest fervor of piety and gratitude, and it is full of the noblest imagery that is to be found within the range even of sacred poetry. It is David&#039;s grand tribute of thanksgiving for deliverance from his numerous and powerful enemies, and establishing him in the power and glory of the kingdom.




Next: 2 Samuel Chapter 23</p>

<p>kindleth coals--poetical imagery (Psa 18:8).</p>

<p>arrow--literally, &quot;son of the bow&quot;; Oriental imagery (Lam 3:13; Margin).

stubble--Arrows produce no more effect than it would to throw stubble at him.</p>

<p>The glories of this empire shall be as wide as the world and lasting as eternity.

therefore--Because thus glorious, the praise shall be universal and perpetual. Some writers have taxed their ingenuity to find in the history and fortunes of Christ and His Church exact parallels for every part of this splendid allegory, not excepting its gorgeous Oriental imagery. Thus, by the dresses of the king and queen, are thought to be meant the eminent endowments and graces of Christ and His people. The attendant women, supposed (though inconsistently it might seem with the inspired character of the work) to be concubines, are thought to represent the Gentile churches, and the bride the Jewish, &amp;c. But it is evident that we cannot pursue such a mode of interpretation. For, following the allegory, we must suspend to the distant future the results of a union whose consummation as a marriage is still distant (compare Rev 21:9). In fact, the imagery here and elsewhere sets before us the Church in two aspects. As a body, it is yet incomplete, the whole is yet ungathered. As a moral institution, it is yet imperfect. In the final catastrophe it will be complete and perfect. Thus, as a bride adorned, &amp;c., it will be united with its Lord. Thus the union of Christ and the Church triumphant is set forth. On the other hand, in regard to its component parts, the relation of Christ as head, as husband, &amp;c., already exists, and as these parts form an institution in this world, it is by His union with it, and the gifts and graces with which He endows it, that a spiritual seed arises and spreads in the world. Hence we must fix our minds only on the one simple but grand truth, that Christ loves the Church, is head over all things for it, raises it in His exaltation to the highest moral dignity--a dignity of which every, even the meanest, sincere disciple will partake. As to the time, then, in which this allegorical prophecy is to fulfilled, it may be said that no periods of time are specially designated. The characteristics of the relation of Christ and His Church are indicated, and we may suppose that the whole process of His exaltation from the declaration of His Sonship, by His resurrection, to the grand catastrophe of the final judgment, with all the collateral blessings to the Church and the world, lay before the vision of the inspired prophet.




Next: Psalms Chapter 46</p>

<p>The call on the universe for praise is well sustained by the prediction of the perpetual and extended blessings which shall come upon the covenant-people of God. Though, as usual, the imagery is taken from terms used of Palestine, the whole tenor of the context indicates that the spiritual privileges and blessings of the Church are meant.




Next: Psalms Chapter 71</p>

<p>Temporal blessings in &quot;the land of their possession&quot; were prominent in the Old Testament promises, as suited to the childhood of the Church (Exo 3:17). New Testament spiritual promises derive their imagery from the former (Mat 5:5).</p>

<p>There shall be a second exodus, destined to eclipse even the former one from Egypt in its wonders. So the prophecies elsewhere (Psa 68:22; Exo 14:22; Zac 10:11). The same deliverance furnishes the imagery by which the return from Babylon is described (Isa 48:20-21).

destroy--literally, &quot;devote,&quot; or &quot;doom,&quot; that is, dry up; for what God dooms, perishes (Psa 106:9 Nah 1:4).

tongue--the Bubastic branch of the Nile [VITRINGA]; but as the Nile was not the obstruction to the exodus, it is rather the west tongue or Heroöpolite fork of the Red Sea.

with . . . mighty wind--such as the &quot;strong east wind&quot; (Exo 14:21), by which God made a way for Israel through the Red Sea. The Hebrew for &quot;mighty&quot; means terrible. MAURER translates, &quot;With the terror of His anger&quot;; that is, His terrible anger.

in the seven streams--rather, &quot;shall smite it (divide it by smiting) into seven (many) streams, so as to be easily crossed&quot; [LOWTH]. So Cyrus divided the river Gyndes, which retarded his march against Babylon, into three hundred sixty streams, so that even a woman could cross it [HERODOTUS, 1.189]. &quot;The river&quot; is the Euphrates, the obstruction to Israel&#039;s return &quot;from Assyria&quot; (Isa 11:16), a type of all future impediments to the restoration of the Jews.

dry shod--Hebrew, &quot;in shoes.&quot; Even in sandals they should be able to pass over the once mighty river without being wet (Rev 16:12).</p>

<p>stars, &amp;c.--figuratively for anarchy, distress, and revolutions of kingdoms (Isa 34:4; Joe 2:10; Eze 32:7-8; Amo 8:9; Rev 6:12-14). There may be a literal fulfilment finally, shadowed forth under this imagery (Rev 21:1).

constellations--Hebrew, &quot;a fool,&quot; or &quot;impious one&quot;; applied to the constellation Orion, which was represented as an impious giant (Nimrod deified, the founder of Babylon) chained to the sky. See on Job 38:31.</p>

<p>said--virtually. Hast thou within thyself?

height--imagery from the Assyrian felling of trees in Lebanon (Isa 14:8; Isa 33:9); figuratively for, &quot;I have carried my victorious army through the regions most difficult of access, to the most remote lands.&quot;

sides--rather, &quot;recesses&quot; [G. V. SMITH].

fir trees--not cypresses, as some translate; pine foliage and cedars are still found on the northwest side of Lebanon [STANLEY].

height of . . . border--In Kg2 19:23, &quot;the lodgings of his borders.&quot; Perhaps on the ascent to the top there was a place of repose or caravansary, which bounded the usual attempts of persons to ascend [BARNES]. Here, simply, &quot;its extreme height.&quot;

forest of . . . Carmel--rather, &quot;its thickest forest.&quot; &quot;Carmel&quot; expresses thick luxuriance (see on Isa 10:18; Isa 29:17).</p>

<p>Sought out--Sought after and highly prized by Jehovah; answering to &quot;not forsaken&quot; in the parallel clause; no longer abandoned, but loved; image from a wife (Isa 62:4; Jer 30:14).

Messiah, approaching Jerusalem after having avenged His people on His and their enemies, is represented under imagery taken from the destruction of &quot;Edom,&quot; the type of the last and most bitter foes of God and His people (see Isa 34:5, &amp;c.).




Next: Isaiah Chapter 63</p>

<p>remain among . . . graves--namely, for purposes of necromancy, as if to hold converse with the dead (Isa 8:19-20; compare Mar 5:3); or, for the sake of purifications, usually performed at night among sepulchres, to appease the manes [MAURER].

monuments--Hebrew, &quot;pass the night in hidden recesses,&quot; either the idol&#039;s inmost shrines (&quot;consecrated precincts&quot;) [HORSLEY], where they used to sleep, in order to have divine communications in dreams [JEROME]; or better, on account of the parallel &quot;graves,&quot; sepulchral caves [MAURER].

eat swine&#039;s flesh--To eat it at all was contrary to God&#039;s law (Lev 11:7), but it much increased their guilt that they ate it in idolatrous sacrifices (compare Isa 66:17). VARRO (On Agriculture, 2.4) says that swine were first used in sacrifices; the Latins sacrificed a pig to Ceres; it was also offered on occasion of treaties and marriages.

broth--so called from the &quot;pieces&quot; (Margin) or fragments of bread over which the broth was poured [GESENIUS]; such broth, made of swine&#039;s flesh, offered in sacrifice, was thought to be especially acceptable to the idol and was used in magic rites. Or, &quot;fragments (pieces) of abominable foods,&quot; &amp;c. This fourth clause explains more fully the third, as the second does the first [MAURER].

is in--rather, literally, &quot;is their vessels,&quot; that is, constitute their vessels&#039; contents. The Jews, in our Lord&#039;s days, and ever since the return from Babylon, have been free from idolatry; still the imagery from idolatrous abominations, as being the sin most loathsome in God&#039;s eyes and that most prevalent in Isaiah&#039;s time, is employed to describe the foul sin of Israel in all ages, culminating in their killing Messiah, and still rejecting Him.</p>

<p>wine cup--Compare Jer 13:12-13, as to this image, to express stupefying judgments; also Jer 49:12; Jer 51:7. Jeremiah often embodies the imagery of Isaiah in his prophecies (Lam 4:21; Isa 51:17-22; Rev 16:19; Rev 18:6). The wine cup was not literally given by Jeremiah to the representatives of the different nations; but only in symbolical vision.</p>

<p>latter days--The full restoration belongs to gospel times. Elamites were among the first who heard and accepted it (Act 2:9).

After the predictions of judgment to be inflicted on other nations by Babylon, follows this one against Babylon itself, the longest prophecy, consisting of one hundred verses. The date of utterance was the fourth year of Zedekiah, when Seraiah, to whom it was committed, was sent to Babylon (Jer 51:59-60). The repetitions in it make it likely that it consists of prophecies uttered at different times, now collected by Jeremiah to console the Jews in exile and to vindicate God&#039;s ways by exhibiting the final doom of Babylon, the enemy of the people of God, after her long prosperity. The style, imagery, and dialogues prove its genuineness in opposition to those who deny this. It shows his faithfulness; though under obligation to the king of Babylon, he owed a higher one to God, who directed him to prophesy against Babylon.




Next: Jeremiah Chapter 50</p>

<p>We have here a further discovery of the abominations that were committed at Jerusalem, and within the confines of the temple, too. Now observe,
I. How this discovery is made. God, in vision, brought Ezekiel to the door of the court, the outer court, along the sides of which the priests&#039; lodgings were. God could have introduced him at first into the chambers of imagery, but he brings him to them by degrees, partly to employ his own industry in searching out these mysteries of iniquity, and partly to make him sensible with what care and caution those idolaters concealed their idolatries. Before the priests&#039; apartments they had run up a wall, to make them the more private, that they might not lie open to the observation of those who passed by - a shrews sign that they did something which they had reason to be ashamed of. He that doth evil hates the light. They were not willing that those who saw them in God&#039;s house should see them in their own, lest they should see them contradict themselves and undo in private what they did in public. But, behold, a hole in the wall, (Eze 8:7), a spy-hole, by which you might see that which would give cause to suspect them. When hypocrites screen themselves behind the wall of an external profession, and with it think to conceal their wickedness from the eye of the world and carry on their designs the more successfully, it is hard for them to manage it with so much art by that there is some hole or other left in the wall, something that betrays them, to those who look diligently, not to be what they pretend to be. The ass&#039;s ears in the fable appeared from under the lion&#039;s skin. This hole in the wall Ezekiel made wider, and behold a door, v. 8. This door he goes in by into the treasury, or some of the apartments of the priests, and sees the wicked abominations that they do there, v. 9. Note, Those that would discover the mystery of iniquity in others, or in themselves, must accomplish a diligent search; for Satan has his wiles, and depths, and devices, which we should not be ignorant of, and the heart is deceitful above all things; in the examining of it therefore we are concerned to be very strict.
II. What the discovery is. It is a very melancholy one. 1. He sees a chamber set round with idolatrous pictures (Eze 8:10): All the idols of the house of Israel, which they had borrowed from the neighbouring nations, were portrayed upon the wall round about, even the vilest of them, the forms of creeping things, which they worshipped, and beasts, even abominable ones, which are poisonous and venomous; at least they were abominable when they were worshipped. This was a sort of panthenon, a collection of all the idols together which they paid their devotions to. Though the second commandment, in the letter of it, forbids only graven images, yet painted ones are as bad and as dangerous. 2. He sees this chamber filled with idolatrous worshippers (Eze 8:11): There were seventy men of the elders of Israel offering incense to these painted idols. here was a great number of idolaters strengthening one another&#039;s hands in this wickedness; though it was in a private chamber, and the meeting industriously concealed, yet here were seventy men engaged in it. I doubt these elders were many more than those in Babylon that sat before the prophet in his house, Eze 8:1. They were seventy men, the number of the great Sanhedrim, or chief council of the nation, and, we have reason to fear, the same men; for they were the ancients of the house of Israel, not only in age, but in office, who were bound, by the duty of their place, to restrain and punish idolatry and to destroy and abolish all superstitious images wherever they found them; yet these were those that did themselves worship them in private, so undermining that religion which in public they professed to own and promote only because by it they held their preferments. They had every man his censer in his hand; so fond were they of the idolatrous service that they would all be their own priests, and very prodigal they were of their perfumes in honour of these images, for a thick cloud of incense went up, that filled the room. O that the zeal of these idolaters might shame the worshippers of the true God out of their indifference to his service! The prophet took particular notice of one whom he knew, who stood in the midst of these idolaters, as chief among them, being perhaps president of the great council at this time or most forward in this wickedness. No wonder the people were corrupt when the elders were so. The sins of leaders are leading sins.
III. What the remark is that made upon it (Eze 8:12): &quot;Son of man, hast thou seen this? Couldst thou have imagined that there was such wickedness committed?&quot; It is here observed concerning it, 1. That it was done in the dark; for sinful works are works of darkness. They concealed it, lest they should lose their places, or at least their credit. There is a great deal of secret wickedness in the world, which the day will declare, the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. 2. That this one idolatrous chapel was but a specimen of many the like. Here they met together, to worship their images in concert, but, it should seem, they had every man the chamber of his imagery besides, a room in his own house for this purpose, in which every man gratified his own fancy with such pictures as he liked best. Idolaters had their household gods, and their family worship of them in private, which is a shame to those who call themselves Christians and yet have no church in their house, no worship of God in their family. Had they chambers of imagery, and shall not we have chambers of devotion? 3. That atheism was at the bottom of their idolatry. They worship images in the dark, the images of the gods of other nations, and they say, &quot;Jehovah, the God of Israel, whom we should serve, seeth us not. Jehovah hath forsaken the earth, and we may worship what God we will; he regards us not.&quot; (1.) They think themselves out of God&#039;s sight: They say, The Lord seeth us not. They imagined, because the matter was carried on so closely that men could not discover it, nor did any of their neighbours suspect them to be idolaters, that therefore it was hidden from the eye of God; as if there were any darkness, or shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. Note, A practical disbelief of God&#039;s omniscience is at the bottom of our treacherous departures from him; but the church argues justly, as to this very sin of idolatry (Psa 44:20, Psa 44:21), If we have forgotten the name of our God, and stretched forth our hand to a strange god, will not God search this out? No doubt he will. (2.) They think themselves out of God&#039;s care: &quot;The Lord has forsaken the earth, and looks not after the affairs of it; and then we may as well worship any other god as him.&quot; Or, &quot;He has forsaken our land, and left it to be a prey to its enemies; and therefore it is time for us to look out for some other god, to whom to commit the protection of it. Our one God cannot, or will not, deliver us; and therefore let us have many.&quot; This was a blasphemous reflection upon God, as if he had forsaken them first, else they would not have forsaken him. Note, Those are ripe indeed for ruin who have arrived at such a pitch of impudence as to lay the blame of their sins upon God himself.</p>

<p>Here is, I. The address which some of the elders of Israel made to the prophet, as an oracle, to enquire of the Lord by him. They came, and sat before him, Eze 14:1. It is probable that they were not of those who were now his fellow-captives, and constantly attended his ministry (such as those we read of Eze 8:1), but some occasional hearers, some of the grandees of Jerusalem who had come upon business to Babylon, perhaps public business, on an embassy from the king, and in their way called on the prophet, having heard much of him and being desirous to know if he had any message from God, which might be some guide to them in their negotiation. By the severe answer given them one would suspect they had a design to ensnare the prophet, or to try if they could catch hold of any thing that might look like a contradiction to Jeremiah&#039;s prophecies, and so they might have occasion to reproach them both. However, they feigned themselves just men, complimented the prophet, and sat before him gravely enough, as God&#039;s people used to sit. Note, It is no new thing for bad men to be found employed in the external performances of religion.
II. The account which God gave the prophet privately concerning them. They were strangers to him; he only knew that they were elders of Israel; that was the character they wore, and as such he received them with respect, and, it is likely, was glad to see them so well disposed. But God gives him their real character (Eze 14:3); they were idolaters, and did only consult Ezekiel as they would any oracle of a pretended deity, to gratify their curiosity, and therefore he appeals to the prophet himself whether they deserved to have any countenance or encouragement given them: &quot;Should I be enquired of at all by them? Should I accept their enquiries as an honour to myself, or answer them for satisfaction to them? No; they have no reason to expect it;&quot; for, 1. They have set up their idols in their heart; they not only have idols, but they are in love with them, they dote upon them, are wedded to them, and have laid them so near their hearts, and have given them so great a room in their affections, that there is no parting with them. The idols they have set up in their houses, though they are now at a distance from the chambers of their imagery, yet they have them in their hearts, and they are ever and anon worshipping them in their fancies and imaginations. They have made their idols to ascend upon their hearts (so the word is); they have subjected their hearts to their idols, they are upon the throne there. Or when they came to enquire of the prophet they pretended to put away their idols, but it was in pretence only; they still had a secret reserve for them. They kept them up in their hearts; and, if they left them for a while, it was cum animo revertendi - with an intention to return to them, not a final farewell. Or it may be understood of spiritual idolatry; those whose affections are placed upon the wealth of the world and the pleasures of sense, whose god is their money, whose god is their belly, they set up their idols in their heart. Many who have no idols in their sanctuary have idols in their hearts, which is no less a usurpation of God&#039;s throne and a profanation of his name. Little children, keep yourselves from those idols. 2. They put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face. Their silver and gold were called the stumbling-block of their iniquity (Eze 7:19), their idols of silver and gold, by the beauty of which they were allured to idolatry, and so it was the block at which they stumbled, and fell into that sin; or their iniquity is their stumbling-block, which throws them down, so that they fall into ruin. Note, Sinners are their own tempters (every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust), and so they are their own destroyers. If thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it; and thus they put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their own faces, and stumble upon it though they see it before their eyes. It intimates that they are resolved to go on in sin, whatever comes of it. I have loved strangers, and after them I will go; that is the language of their hearts. And should God be enquired of by such wretches? Do they not hereby rather put an affront upon him than do him any honour, as those did who bowed the knee to Christ in mockery? Can those expect an answer of peace from God who thus continue their acts of hostility against him? &quot;Ezekiel, what thinkest thou of it?&quot;
III. The answer which God, in just displeasure, orders Ezekiel to give them, Eze 14:4. Let them know that it is not out of any disrespect to their persons that God refuses to give them an answer, but it is laid down as a rule for every man of the house of Israel, whoever he be, that if he continue in love and league with his idols, and come to enquire of God, God will resent it as an indignity done to him, and will answer him according to his real iniquity, not according to his pretended piety. He comes to the prophet, who, he expects, will be civil to him, but God will give him his answer, by punishing him for his impudence: I the Lord, who speak and it is done, I will answer him that cometh, according to the multitude of his idols. Observe, Those who set up idols in their hearts, and set their hearts upon their idols, commonly have a multitude of them. Humble worshippers God answers according to the multitude of his mercies, but bold intruders he answers according to the multitude of their idols, that is, 1. According to the desire of their idols; he will give them up to their own hearts&#039; lust, and leave them to themselves to be as bad as they have a mind to be, till they have filled up the measure of their iniquity. Men&#039;s corruptions are idols in their hearts, and they are of their own setting up; their temptations are the stumbling-block of their iniquity, and they are of their own putting, and God will answer them accordingly; let them take their course. 2. According to the desert of their idols; they shall have such an answer as it is just that such idolaters should have. God will punish them as he usually punishes idolaters, that is, when they stand in need of his help he will send them to the gods whom they have chosen, Jdg 10:13, Jdg 10:14. Note, The judgment of God will dwell with men according to what they are really (that is, according to what their hearts are), not according to what they are in show and profession. And what will be the end of this? What will this threatened answer amount to? He tells them (Eze 14:5): That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, may lay them open to the world, that they may be ashamed; nay, lay them open to the curse, that they may be ruined. Note, The sin and shame, and pain and ruin, of sinners, are all from themselves, and their own hearts are the snares in which they are taken; they seduce them, they betray them; their own consciences witness against them, condemn them, and are a terror to them. If God take them, if he discover them, if he convict them, if he bind them over to his judgment, it is all by their own hearts. O Israel! thou hast destroyed thyself. The house of Israel is ruined by its own hands, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. Note, (1.) The ruin of sinners is owing to their estrangement from God. (2.) It is through some idol or other that the hearts of men are estranged from God; some creature has gained that place and dominion in the heart that God should have.
IV. The extent of this answer which God had given them - to all the house of Israel, Eze 14:7, Eze 14:8. The same thing is repeated, which intimates God&#039;s just displeasure against hypocrites, who mock him with the shows and forms of devotion, while their hearts are estranged from him and at war with him. Observe, 1. To whom this declaration belongs. It concerns not only every one of the house of Israel (as before, Eze 14:4), but the stranger that sojourns in Israel; let him not think it will be an excuse for him in his idolatries that he is but a stranger and a sojourner in Israel, and does but worship the gods that his father served and that he himself was bred up in the service of; no, let him not expect any benefit from Israel&#039;s oracles or prophets unless he thoroughly renounce his idolatry. Note, Even proselytes shall not be countenanced if they be not sincere: a dissembled conversion is no conversion. 2. The description here given of hypocrites: They separate themselves from God by their fellowship with idols; they cut themselves off from their relation to God and their interest in him; they break off their acquaintance and intercourse with him, and set themselves at a distance from him. Note, Those that join themselves to idols separate themselves from God; nor shall any be for ever separated from the vision and fruition of God, but such as now separate themselves from his service and wilfully withdraw their allegiance from him. But there are those who thus separate themselves from God, and yet come to the prophets with a seeming respect and deference to their office, to enquire of them concerning God, in order to satisfy a vain curiosity, to stop the mouth of a clamorous conscience, or to get or save a reputation among men, but without any desire to be acquainted with God or any design to be ruled by him. 3. The doom of those who thus trifle with God and think to impose upon him: &quot;I the Lord will answer him by myself; let me alone to deal with him; I will give him an answer that shall fill him with confusion, that shall make him repent of his daring impiety.&quot; He shall have his answer, not by the words of the prophet, but by the judgments of God. And I will set my face against that man, which denotes great displeasure against him and a fixed resolution to ruin him. God can outface the most impenitent sinner. The hypocrite thought to save his credit, nay, and to gain applause, but, on the contrary, God will make him a sign and a proverb, will inflict such judgments upon him as shall make him remarkable and contemptible in the eyes of all about him; his misery shall be made use of to express the greatest misery, as when the worst of sinners are said to have their portion appointed them with hypocrites, Mat 24:51. God will make him an example; his judgments upon him shall be for warning to others to take heed of mocking God: for thus shall it be done to the man that separates himself from God, and yet pretends to enquire concerning him. The hypocrite thought to pass for one of God&#039;s people, and to crowd into heaven among them; but God will cut him off from the midst of his people, will discover him, and pluck him out from the thickest of them; and by this, says God, you shall know that I am the Lord. By the discovery of hypocrites it appears that God is omniscient: ministers know not how people stand affected when they come to hear the word, by God does. And by the punishment of hypocrites it appears that he is a jealous God, and one that cannot and will not be imposed upon.
V. The doom of those pretenders to prophecy who give countenance to these pretenders to piety, Eze 14:9, Eze 14:10. These hypocritical enquirers, though Ezekiel will not give them a comfortable answer, yet hope to meet with some other prophets that will; and if they do, as perhaps they may, let them know that God permits those lying prophets to deceive them in part of punishment: &quot;If the prophet that flatters them be deceived, and gives them hopes which there is no ground for, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, have suffered the temptation to be laid before him, and suffered him to yield to it, and overruled it for the hardening of those in their wicked courses who were resolved to go on in them.&quot; We are sure that God is not the author of sin, but we are sure that he is the Lord of all and the Judge of sinners, and that he often makes use of one wicked man to destroy another, and so of one wicked man to deceive another. Both are sins in him who does them, and so they are not from God; both are punishments to him to whom they are done, and so they are from God. We have a full instance of this in the story of Ahab&#039;s prophets, who were deceived by a lying spirit, which God put into their mouths (Kg1 22:23), and another in those whom God gives up to strong delusions, to believe a lie, because they received not the love of the truth, Th2 2:10, Th2 2:11. But read the fearful doom of the lying prophet: I will stretch out my hand upon him and will destroy him. When God has served his own righteous purposes by him he shall be reckoned with for his unrighteous purposes. As, when God had made use of the Chaldeans for the wasting of a sinful people, he justly punished them for their rage, so when he had made use of false prophets, and afterwards of false Christs, for the deceiving of a sinful people, he justly punished them for their falsehood. But herein we must acknowledge (as Calvin upon this place reminds us) that God&#039;s judgments are a great deep, that we are incompetent judges of them, and that, though we cannot account for the equity of God&#039;s proceedings to the satisfying and silencing of every caviller, yet there is a day coming when he will be justified before all the world, and particularly in this instance, when the punishment of the prophet that flattereth the hypocrite in his evil way shall be as the punishment of the hypocrite that seeketh to him and bespeaks smooth things only, Isa 30:10. The ditch shall be the same to the blind leader and the blind followers.
VI. The good counsel that is given them for the preventing of this fearful doom (Eze 14:6): &quot;Therefore repent, and turn yourselves from your idols. Let this separate between you and them, that they separate between you and God; because they set God&#039;s face against you, do you turn away your faces from them,&quot; which denotes, not only forsaking them, but forsaking them with loathing and detestation: &quot;Turn from them as from abominations that you are sick of; and then you will be welcome to enquire of the Lord. Come now, and let us reason together.&quot;
VII. The good issue of all this as to the house of Israel; therefore the pretending prophets, and the pretending saints, shall perish together by the judgments of God, that, some being made examples, the body of the people may be reformed, that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, Eze 14:11. Note, The punishments of some are designed for the prevention of sin, that others may hear, and fear, and take warning. When we see what becomes of those that go astray from God we should thereby be engaged to keep close to him. And, if the house of Israel go not astray, they will not be polluted any more. Note, Sin is a polluting thing; it renders the sinner odious in the eyes of the pure and holy God, and in his own eyes too whenever conscience is awakened; and therefore they shall no more be polluted, that they may be my people and I may be their God. Note, Those whom God takes into covenant with himself must first be cleansed from the pollutions of sin; and those who are so cleansed shall not only be saved from ruin, but be entitled to all the privileges of God&#039;s people.</p>

<p>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, Eze 16:10-11). Compare Eze 24:21 : &quot;My sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes.&quot;

images . . . therein--namely, in the temple (Eze 8:3-17).

set it far from them--God had &quot;set&quot; the temple (their &quot;beauty of ornament&quot;) &quot;for His majesty&quot;; but they had set up &quot;abominations therein&quot;; therefore God, in just retribution, &quot;set it far from them,&quot; (that is, removed them far from it, or took it away from them [VATABLUS]). The Margin translates, &quot;Made it unto them an unclean thing&quot; (compare Margin on Eze 7:19, &quot;removed&quot;); what I designed for their glory they turned to their shame, therefore I will make it turn to their ignominy and ruin.</p>

<p>every man in . . . chambers of . . . imagery--The elders (&quot;ancients&quot;) are here the representatives of the people, rather than to be regarded literally. Mostly, the leaders of heathen superstitions laughed at them secretly, while publicly professing them in order to keep the people in subjection. Here what is meant is that the people generally addicted themselves to secret idolatry, led on by their elders; there is no doubt, also, allusion to the mysteries, as in the worship of Isis in Egypt, the Eleusinian in Greece, &amp;c., to which the initiated alone were admitted. &quot;The chambers of imagery&quot; are their own perverse imaginations, answering to the priests&#039; chambers in the vision, whereon the pictures were portrayed (Eze 8:10).

Lord . . . forsaken . . . earth--They infer this because God has left them to their miseries, without succoring them, so that they seek help from other gods. Instead of repenting, as they ought, they bite the curb [CALVIN].</p>

<p>From the secret abominations of the chambers of imagery, the prophet&#039;s eye is turned to the outer court at the north door; within the outer court women were not admitted, but only to the door.

sat--the attitude of mourners (Job 2:13; Isa 3:26).

Tammuz--from a Hebrew root, &quot;to melt down.&quot; Instead of weeping for the national sins, they wept for the idol. Tammuz (the Syrian for Adonis), the paramour of Venus, and of the same name as the river flowing from Lebanon; killed by a wild boar, and, according to the fable, permitted to spend half the year on earth, and obliged to spend the other half in the lower world. An annual feast was celebrated to him in June (hence called Tammuz in the Jewish calendar) at Byblos, when the Syrian women, in wild grief, tore off their hair and yielded their persons to prostitution, consecrating the hire of their infamy to Venus; next followed days of rejoicing for his return to the earth; the former feast being called &quot;the disappearance of Adonis,&quot; the latter, &quot;the finding of Adonis.&quot; This Phœnician feast answered to the similar Egyptian one in honor of Osiris. The idea thus fabled was that of the waters of the river and the beauties of spring destroyed by the summer during the half year when the sun is in the upper heat. Or else, the earth being clothed with beauty, hemisphere, and losing it when he departs to the lower. The name Adonis is not here used, as Adon is the appropriated title of Jehovah.</p>

<p>their own way . . . recompensed upon their heads-- (Eze 9:10; Eze 11:21; Eze 16:43; Pro 1:31; Isa 3:11; Jer 6:19).

The imagery is similar to that in the sixteenth chapter; but here the reference is not as there so much to the breach of the spiritual marriage covenant with God by the people&#039;s idolatries, as by their worldly spirit, and their trusting to alliances with the heathen for safety, rather than to God.




Next: Ezekiel Chapter 23</p>

<p>anointed cherub--GESENIUS translates from an Aramaic root, &quot;extended cherub.&quot; English Version, from a Hebrew root, is better. &quot;The cherub consecrated to the Lord by the anointing oil&quot; [FAIRBAIRN].

covereth--The imagery employed by Ezekiel as a priest is from the Jewish temple, wherein the cherubim overshadowed the mercy seat, as the king of Tyre, a demi-god in his own esteem, extended his protection over the interests of Tyre. The cherub--an ideal compound of the highest kinds of animal existence and the type of redeemed man in his ultimate state of perfection--is made the image of the king of Tyre, as if the beau ideal of humanity. The pretensions of Antichrist are the ulterior reference, of whom the king of Tyre is a type. Compare &quot;As God . . . in the temple of God&quot; (Th2 2:4).

I have set thee--not thou set thyself (Pro 8:16; Rom 13:1).

upon the holy mountain of God--Zion, following up the image.

in . . . midst of . . . stones of fire--In ambitious imagination he stood in the place of God, &quot;under whose feet was, as it were, a pavement of sapphire,&quot; while His glory was like &quot;devouring fire&quot; (Exo 24:10, Exo 24:17).</p>

<p>cedars . . . could not hide him--could not outtop him. No other king eclipsed him.

were not like--were not comparable to.

garden of God--As in the case of Tyre (Eze 28:13), the imagery, that is applied to the Assyrian king, is taken from Eden; peculiarly appropriate, as Eden was watered by rivers that afterwards watered Assyria (Gen 2:10-14). This cedar seemed to revive in itself all the glories of paradise, so that no tree there outtopped it.</p>

<p>plead--a forensic term; because God in His inflictions acts on the principles of His own immutable justice, not by arbitrary impulse (Isa 66:16; Jer 25:31).

blood . . . hailstones, fire-- (Rev 8:7; Rev 16:21). The imagery is taken from the destruction of Sodom and the plagues of Egypt (compare Psa 11:6). Antiochus died by &quot;pestilence&quot; (2 Maccabees 9:5).




Next: Ezekiel Chapter 39</p>