he has observed, have sought to account for the latter, by supposing it to have been, in the first instance, preached to a congregation. In this, he takes leave to state, they are mistaken; and it is on principle, and from a regard merely to what he thinks should be found in an Exposition of the Word of God, and in particular of the writings of Ezekiel, that he has introduced so much of the spiritual and practical element. But, as this point has been noticed in the Introduction, it is needless to say more on it at present. If the volume shall be made, by the Divine blessing, instrumental in promoting a more exact acquaintance with this portion of Prophecy, or advancing the study of the prophetic Word in general, the great desire of the Author will be fulfilled. ABERDEEN, May 1855. CONTENTS. Page 1 CHAP. II-III. 1-11.-Call to the Prophetical Office, CHAP. III. 12-27.-Ezekiel's Entrance on his Mission, and the First Message CHAP. IV. The Vision of the Siege and the Iniquity-Bearing, CHAP. V. VI.-The Vision of the Shorn Hair, and its Foreshadowing Deso- CHAP. VII.-Lamentation over the Guilt and Fall of Israel, CHAP. VIII.-The Vision of the Image of Jealousy, and other Abominations CHAP. XI.-Destruction of a Corrupt Priesthood, with the Promise of Grace and Blessing to a Believing Remnant among the Exiles, CHAP. XII.-The Vision of Ezekiel's Typical Removing as an Exile, and . CHAP. XIX. The Lamentation Over the Fall of the Royal House, CHAP. XX. 1-44.-A Display of the People's Long-continued Sinfulness, and the Lord's Long-Suffering-Mercy and Goodness, CHAP. XX. 45-49.-XXI.-The Vision of the Lord's Fire and Sword, CHAP. XXII.-The Lord's Judgment upon the All-Pervading Sinfulness of CHAP. XXIX.-The Judgment of Egypt, its Desolation for Forty Years and Subsequent Degradation- the First Instrument of Chastisement, CHAP. XXXIII.-Renewal of Ezekiel's Commission, his Office as Watchman, CHAP. XXXIV.-The Promise of the True Shepherd, after the False Shep- CHAP. XXXVIII.—XXXIX.—The Assault of Gog and His Destruction, Preliminary Remarks on the Vision in Chap. XL.-XLVIII., with Respect to the Principles on which it ought to be interpreted, CHAP. XL. 1-48.—The Position, Walls, Gates, and Courts of the Temple, ERRATA. Page 79, last line in text, after sitting, insert before me. 94, third line from bottom, for rip read ripe. 130, Note 1, for pa read בקע 185, line fifteenth, for representation, read representative. 236, Note 2, for TEEN read ras. INTRODUCTION. It is not our intention to detain our readers long at the threshold, or to enter here into any discussions which might pre-suppose and require an intimate acquaintance with the writings of our author. We mean simply to present a few statements of a strictly preliminary kind, respecting the personal position and circumstances of Ezekiel, the more distinctive features of his prophetical character, the nature of his style and diction as a sacred writer, the order and classification of his prophecies, and the literature connected with their interpretation. I. On the first of these points, it is not necessary to say much; for the whole that is known with certainty of Ezekiel is furnished by his own hand, and is so closely interwoven with his discharge of the prophetical office, that it is only by following him through the one, we can become properly acquainted with the other. We know nothing of what he was or did as a man; but only of what he was and did as a prophet. That he was the son of Buzi, a priest, and entered on his prophetical career by the river Chebar or Chaboras, in the fifth year of Jehoiachin's captivity, which was the same also of his own (comp. chap. i. 1, and xxxiii. 21), he has expressly informed us; and Josephus transmits the additional information (Ant. x. 6, 3), that he had become a captive when he was but a young man. This, however, has been as often questioned as believed; and among recent commentators-while Ewald sees reason to conclude, that the prophet "was pretty young when he was carried into exile"-Hävernick, on the other hand, thinks that "the vigorous priestly spirit, which prevails throughout his prophecies, furnishes evidence of a greater age; and that he had undoubtedly for some considerable time performed the service of a priest in the temple" before he left Judea. These diversities of opinion show, that the precise age of Ezekiel at the period of A his exile can at most be only a matter of probability. But from certain considerations we intend to adduce on the dates assigned in the opening verses of his Book, we are of opinion, that the probability is mainly on the side of his having been, at the time of his removal to Chaldea, a comparatively young man—in the twenty-fifth year of his age. And as one of his later prophecies makes mention of the twenty-seventh year of his captivity (chap. xxix. 17), this, added to the original number of twenty-five, brings him to an advanced stage of life, though still not to the close of his prophetical agency. For some of his later predictions appear to have been uttered at a period subsequent to the time to which the prediction in ch. xxix. belongs. There is reason, therefore, to conclude, that Ezekiel's public life both began early, and was prolonged to the season of mature age. But of the absolute cessation of his prophetical gift, we have no definite chronological information; nor, except from incidental notices sometimes introduced into his communications, do we learn anything of the experiences and results that attended its exercise. The direct historical notices in his writings, apart from the record of the visions he saw, and the messages of good and evil he received from above, are comparatively few. But in the messages themselves references are not unfrequently made to the circumstances amid which he was placed, and the trials or sorrows connected with his official ministry. From those scattered notices we can easily gather, that as the time was marked by the fearful prevalence of evil in a moral, not less than in an outward and worldly respect, so there was the application, on his part, of an unwearied activity, and the energy of a devoted zeal, striving against gigantic difficulties and manifold discouragements. He had to plead the cause of God in an atmosphere of rebellion; prove himself to be faithful amidst many faithless; and, without palliation or reserve, lay open evils in the condition of his companions in exile, which they sought most anxiously to cover out of sight. Hence, while he appears as one tenderly sympathising with them in their depression and gloom (chap. iii. 15), there is nothing to indicate that they ever properly sympathised with him in his contendings for truth and righteousness. They recognise him, indeed, as a prophet of the Most High, and collect around him, from time to time, to hear what message he might have received for their behoof, or to make inquiry through him concerning |
