The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Ezekiel 7
Chapter VII · Vol. III, pp. 1319–1321
1 The final desolation of Israel. 16 The mournful repentance of them that escape. 20 The enemies defile the sanctuary because of the Israelites' abominations. 23 Under the type of a chain is showed the miserable captivity of all orders of men.
1 Moreover, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of 1Israel, aAn end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
1 Judea, ch.12.22; 13.9; 17.2. Mi.1.14. Mal.1.1; 2.11, with 2 Ch.30.11,18; 15.17.
a Ge.6.13. La.1.9; 4.18. Am.6.8,11. Is.24.1-6,18. Nu.24.17. Mat.24.6,14. ver.3,6.
3 Now is the end come upon thee, and bI will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense2 upon thee all thine abominations.
b ver.8,9; ch.5.12,13; 6.3-7,12,13. Is.3.11. ch.xvi.xx.xxiii.
A.M. cir. 3410. B.C. cir. 594.
2 Heb. give.
4 Andc mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: dbut I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in3 the midst of thee; and eye shall know that I am the LORD.
c ch.5.11; ver.9; ch.8.18; 9.10; 24.14. Zec.11.6. Je.13.14.
d Ho.9.7. ver.3,9; ch.9.10; 16.15-43; 20.33-38; xxii.-xxiv. Is.59.1-18; 65.1-7,11,12. Je.ii.-xxvi. xlix. Mi.i.-iii. Zep.i.-iii. Hab.i.
3 Or, that are in, ver.9.
e ch.6.7,10,13; 12.20.
6 Anh end is come, the end is come: it watcheth5 for6 thee; behold, it is come.
* To the eye of the wicked God's judgment often seems to slumber, or take no note of evil-doers: now it awakes, and, ready to smite, watches over all their movements.—C.
h ch.5.12; 6.3-8. Je.24.9,10; 44.27,28.
5 See note * in first column.
6 Heb. awaketh against, 2 Pe.2.3.
7 Thei morning7 is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: jthe time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the 8sounding9 again of the mountains.
† Not now the sounding of the woodman's axe or the hunter's horn on the mountains; but the sounding of the trumpet, and the clang of invading swords.—C.
i Ps.46.9; 101.8. 1 Th.5.3. 2 Pe.2.3, with Je.21.12. ver.8,10.
7 Divine judgment, like the morning light, will now expose all your 'deeds of darkness.'—C.
j ver.12; ch.12.25; 21.25; 30.3. Je.17.7. Is.22.5. Zep.1.14-16. Ps.37.13.
8 Or, echo.
9 See note † in first column.
8 Nowk will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee; and I will judge thee laccording to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations.
9 And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense 1thee naccording to thy ways, and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that oI am the LORD that smiteth.
10 Beholdp the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; qthe rod hath blossomed; pride hath budded.
11 Violencer is risen up into a rod of wickedness: snone of them shall remain, nor of their multitude,2 nor of any of theirs;3 neithert shall there be wailing for them.
12 Theu time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; vfor wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
u ver.2,6,7,10. 1 Co.7.29.
v 2 Ch.28.13. ch.5.2,12; 6.11,12.
13 For the seller shall not return4 to that which is sold, although they were yet alive:5 for xthe vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; yneither shall any strengthen himself 6in the iniquity of his life.7
4 The seller shall not return to his possession at the jubilee, Le.25.13, but will die in the course of nature, before the 70 years' captivity are past.—C.
5 Heb. though their life were yet among the living.
x ver.2,8; ch.5.2,12; 6.11,12.
y Ec.8.8. Am.6.13. Is.26.11. Ps.52.5,7.
6 Or, whose life is in his iniquity.
7 Heb. his iniquity.
14 Theyz have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but anone goeth to the 8battle: for bmy wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
16 But they that escape of them cshall escape, and shall be on the mountains dlike doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
18 They shall also ggird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
19 Theyh shall cast their silver1 in the streets, and their gold shall be removed:2 their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it is the istumbling-block of their iniquity.3
h Pr.11.4. Zep.1.18. Is.2.20; 30.22.
1 Either their money, which had become useless in famine—a temptation to plunderers, a hindrance in flight; or their idols of silver and gold, which they foolishly worshipped, and now, in despair, cast away.—C.
2 Heb. for a separation or uncleanness, ch.36.17.
i ch.14.3,4.
3 Or, because their iniquity is their stumbling-block.
20 As for the jbeauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; kbut they made the images of their abominations, and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.4
21 Andl I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil: and they shall pollute it.
22 Myn face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place:5 for the robbers6 shall enter into it, and defile it.
23 Makeo a chain;7 forp the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
o Na.3.10. Je.27.2. 2 Ki.25.7. Je.40.1.
7 See note * below.
p 2 Ki.21.16. Zep.3.3. Je.6.6,8. ch.xxii.; 23.27; 9.9. 2 Ki.24.4.
* The chain was a fit symbol of captivity. The expression would appear more appalling to the Jews, from the fact that it was customary in ancient times to chain captives together in a long file, and thus to drive them as cattle away to the land of exile. Such chain-gangs are seen upon the monuments of Assyria and Egypt.—P.
24 Wherefore I will bring qthe worst8 of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: rI will also make the pomp of the strong to cease, and their holys places shall be defiled.9
q Ps.106.41. Hab.1.6-10. Je.1.15; 4.7; 5.6; 6.22,23; 12.12; 21.7; 25.9,11. ch.28.7; 30.11.
8 As there is 'growth in grace,' so are there degrees in wickedness, of which the Chaldeans occupied the bad pre-eminence. See ch.28.7; 30.11.—C.
r ch.33.28. Je.24.8-10; 52.11,24-27.
s 2 Ch.7.20. Ps.83.12. ch.9.7; 21.2. Ps.68.35; 73.17. Je.51.51.
9 Or, they shall inherit their holy places.
25 Destruction1 cometh; tand they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
1 Heb. Cutting off, ch.5.12.
26 Mischiefu shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then vshall they seek a vision2 of the prophet: xbut the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.3
v ch.14.9; 20.1; 33.7,31. Je.21.2; 38.14.
2 See this exemplified, Je.42.1,7; 43.1-13. A fact often exemplified, when those who never pray in time of health, are eager that others should pray for them in time of sickness.—C.
x ch.20.3. Ps.74.9. La.2.9,14. Am.8.11,12. Mi.3.6.
3 Or, elders, ch.8.1; 14.1; 20.1. Je.18.18.
Notes
Ver. 7. The beginning of desolation is come upon you who remain in Judea; and ye shall quickly meet with real and terrible trouble, and not mere fears and ill-grounded fancies of it. 10-15. Since pride and violence have come to such intolerable heights among all ranks, the haughty and cruel Chaldeans are in readiness to punish you; and all orders shall be equally involved in your misery: such as sell fields shall not return to them in the year of jubilee, being captives in Babylon; yea, after their seventy years' captivity, it will be impossible for many to find their own inheritances. This prediction of the desolation of the country, and of its inhabitants, shall not fail of exact accomplishment: nor shall any be able to secure themselves from those judgments threatened, so long as they continue in their evil courses. They may blow the trumpets to call them together for war; but, deprived of all courage and resolution by my wrath upon them, none shall dare to assemble. 16-22. The few appointed for escape shall indeed be preserved, and scattered here and there for their safety; and they shall bitterly bewail their calamities and sins. All shall be quite dispirited and incapable of helping themselves; and shall be quite overwhelmed with grief, terror, and shame. Their wealth shall be altogether unprofitable to them; nay, they shall be glad to be rid of it, or shall have it seized by the enemy: or, in the famine, it shall be unable to procure them sufficient food,—since they have made it the occasion of manifold wickedness, and have employed it in the service of idols. And as for my magnificent and beautiful temple, which has long been the glory of their nation, and which they have defiled with their idols and the service of them, I will quickly drive them far from it into Chaldea, and will give it into the hands of the most infamous heathens to be defiled, plundered, and destroyed. 23-27. Prepare for imprisonment, captivity, and bondage; for your land is full of capital crimes, oppression, rapine, and injustice. Therefore shall the barbarous Chaldeans seize upon your whole property, of which ye so proudly boasted; nor shall your humblest entreaties be able to procure any respite, but one mischief shall follow another. Neither prophet not priest shall be able or allowed to teach you; nor shall the most prudent and experienced know how to advise you. Both magistrates and people shall be utterly infatuated and dispirited.
Ver. 2. Land of Israel. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the fragments of the other tribes that had been left in secluded spots, or had returned from the nations into which they had fled, or been carried captive. C.
Ver. 4. Thine abominations, &c. Being 'given over' to your own will and ways, your abominations that you have chosen and loved, shall remain in the midst of every family and assembly, evidences of your apostasy and causes of divine judgment. C.
Ver. 10. The rod. Some think Nebuchadnezzar, who is called 'the rod of God's anger,' and who was a proud man; but it seems rather to describe the oppression and pride that had grown up in Israel; and on account of which God commissioned as proud an oppressor to execute his righteous judgment. C.
Ver. 12. Let not the buyer rejoice that he has obtained, nor the seller mourn that he has been forced to part with, property at an undervalue; it shall now be wrested from the buyer by a foreign power, as it was from the seller by domestic oppression. C.
Ver. 19. The possession of silver and gold led to the abuse of them in luxury, pride, covetousness, and idolatry. While the Israelites were comparatively poor, they were industrious, and remembered God; when, by their industry, they became rich, they stumbled over their abundance, and forgot the giver.—A melancholy progress which Christianity, alas! too often, witnesses in her own children; and against which all successful men have special need to 'watch and pray.' C.
Ver. 20. 'As to their beautiful ornaments, which were for pride, they turned them into images of their abominations, and their detestable things they made therewith; hence I will make them to them as an unclean thing.' Boothroyd.
Reflections.—God gives to sinners fair warning of their approaching ruin; and with tenderness he seeks by his warnings to save them from ruin. But fearful and various are the plagues which men's diversified iniquities entail upon them. And nothing can avail for their defence when God rises up to judgment. Sins and sorrows are inseparable. But happy then are they who mourn after a godly sort! Blessed are they that weep now, for they shall be comforted! Money is a dangerous snare to such as inordinately love it, and altogether unprofitable in the day of God's wrath or in the eternal state. Justly are God's ordinances taken from those who despised and profaned them. If men will not be governed by the laws and experience the power of godliness, it is not meet that they should long be honoured by the form of it. And if all ranks will add sin to sin, it is but just that God should make all of them to share in miseries, one after another.