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Ezekiel Chapter
Seven
Ezekiel 7
Chapter Contents
The desolation of the land. (1-15) The distress of the
few who should escape. (16-22) The captivity. (23-27)
Commentary on Ezekiel 7:1-15
(Read Ezekiel 7:1-15)
The abruptness of this prophecy
and the many
repetitions
show that the prophet was deeply affected by the prospect of these
calamities. Such will the destruction of sinners be; for none can avoid it. Oh
that the wickedness of the wicked might end before it bring them to an end!
Trouble is to the impenitent only an evil
it hardens their hearts
and stirs
up their corruptions; but there are those to whom it is sanctified by the grace
of God
and made a means of much good. The day of real trouble is near
not a
mere echo or rumour of troubles. Whatever are the fruits of God's judgments
our sin is the root of them. These judgments shall be universal. And God will
be glorified in all. Now is the day of the Lord's patience and mercy
but the
time of the sinner's trouble is at hand.
Commentary on Ezekiel 7:16-22
(Read Ezekiel 7:16-22)
Sooner or later
sin will cause sorrow; and those who
will not repent of their sin
may justly be left to pine away in it. There are
many whose wealth is their snare and ruin; and the gaining the world is the
losing of their souls. Riches profit not in the day of wrath. The wealth of
this world has not that in it which will answer the desires of the soul
or be
any satisfaction to it in a day of distress. God's temple shall stand them in
no stead. Those are unworthy to be honoured with the form of godliness
who
will not be governed by its power.
Commentary on Ezekiel 7:23-27
(Read Ezekiel 7:23-27)
Whoever break the bands of God's law
will find
themselves bound and held by the chains of his judgments. Since they encouraged
one another to sin
God would dishearten them. All must needs be in trouble
when God comes to judge them according to their deserts. May the Lord enable us
to seek that good part which shall not be taken away.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Ezekiel》
Ezekiel 7
Verse 1
[1] Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me
saying
An end — An end of God's patience
and of the peace and welfare
of the people.
Verse 4
[4] And mine eye shall not spare thee
neither will I have
pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee
and thine abominations shall be
in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Recompense — The punishment of them.
Verse 5
[5] Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil
an only evil
behold
is come.
An evil — An evil and sore affliction
a singular
uncommon one.
Verse 6
[6] An end is come
the end is come: it watcheth for thee;
behold
it is come.
An end — When the end is come upon the wicked world
then an
only evil comes upon it. The sorest of temporal judgments have their allays;
but the torments of the damned are an evil
an only evil.
Verse 7
[7] The morning is come unto thee
O thou that dwellest in
the land: the time is come
the day of trouble is near
and not the sounding
again of the mountains.
The morning — The fatal morning
the day of
destruction.
Sounding — Not a mere echo
not a fancy
but a real thing.
Verse 10
[10] Behold the day
behold
it is come: the morning is gone
forth; the rod hath blossomed
pride hath budded.
Is come — Of your wickedness; pride and violence in particular.
Verse 11
[11] Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of
them shall remain
nor of their multitude
nor of any of theirs: neither shall
there be wailing for them.
None — They shall be utterly wasted for their sins.
Wailing — The living shall not bewail their dead friends
because they shall judge the dead in a better case than the living.
Verse 12
[12] The time is come
the day draweth near: let not the
buyer rejoice
nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude
thereof.
Mourn — Men usually part with their estates grieving that they
must transmit their right to others; but let them now think how little a while
they could have kept them
and how little time they shall keep them who have
bought them.
Verse 13
[13] For the seller shall not return to that which is sold
although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude
thereof
which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the
iniquity of his life.
Yet alive — For if any should survive the
captivity
yet the conqueror wasting and destroying all
would confound all
ancient boundaries.
Touching — The evils threatened are designed against all the
multitude of Israel.
Strengthen — Nor shall any one man of them all
he able to secure himself
by any sinful contrivance.
Verse 14
[14] They have blown the trumpet
even to make all ready; but
none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
They — The house of Israel have summoned in all fit for arms.
None — There is not a man going to the war.
Wrath — That displeasure which takes away their courage.
Verse 15
[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.
Without — In the countries.
Within — The besieged city.
Field — Whoever is in the field.
Verse 16
[16] But they that escape of them shall escape
and shall be
on the mountains like doves of the valleys
all of them mourning
every one for
his iniquity.
Iniquity — Either for the punishment of their iniquity
or for
their iniquity itself.
Verse 18
[18] They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth
and
horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces
and baldness upon
all their heads.
Baldness — Either by pulling off the hair amidst their sorrows
or cutting it off in token of mourning.
Verse 19
[19] They shall cast their silver in the streets
and their
gold shall be removed: 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 stumblingblock of their iniquity.
Cast — That they may be the lighter to fly.
Removed — Carried away into Babylon.
Not satisfy — They shall afford them no
comfort.
Stumbling-block — This silver and gold they coveted
immeasurably
and abused to pride
luxury
idolatry and oppression; this that
they stumbled at and fell into sin
now they stumble at and fall into the
deepest misery.
Verse 20
[20] As for the beauty of his ornament
he set it in majesty:
but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things
therein: therefore have I set it far from them.
The beauty — The temple
and all that
pertained to it
which was the beauty and glory of that nation.
He set — God commanded it should be beautiful and magnificent.
Images — Their idols.
Far from them — I have sent them far from the
temple.
Verse 21
[21] And 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.
It — My temple.
Verse 22
[22] My face will I turn also from them
and they shall
pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it
and defile it.
Turn — Either from the Jews
or from the Chaldeans
neither
relieving the one nor restraining the other.
Secret place — The temple
and the holy of
holies.
Robbers — The soldiers.
Verse 23
[23] Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes
and
the city is full of violence.
A chain — To bind the captives.
Verse 24
[24] Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen
and
they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to
cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.
The pomp — The magnificence and glory
wherein they boasted; or
the temple that the Jews gloried in.
Verse 26
[26] Mischief shall come upon mischief
and rumour shall be
upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall
perish from the priest
and counsel from the ancients.
Seek — But in vain.
The priest — He shall have no words either of
counsel or comfort to say to them.
Ancients — Nor shall their senators know what to advise.
Verse 27
[27] The king shall mourn
and the prince shall be clothed
with desolation
and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I
will do unto them after their way
and according to their deserts will I judge
them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
The king — Zedekiah.
The prince — Every magistrate.
Troubled — Hang down
and melt away. What can men contrive or do
for themselves
when God is departed from them? All must needs be in tears
all
in trouble
when God comes to judge them according to their deserts
and so
make them know
that he is the Lord
to whom vengeance belongeth.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Ezekiel》
07 Chapter 7
Verses 1-27
Verse 10
The rod hath blossomed
pride hath budded.
Sin in blossom
I. Beauty may be
associated with evil. Well would it be for men to remember they may be thus
connected in fact as well as figure. For there may be beauty of countenance and
form that covers and quickens the corrupt
for “in all Israel there were none
to be so much praised as Absalom for beauty.” And is not the genius of poetry
often the brilliance of the fires of passion: and eloquence the engine of
error
and art the bribe of superstition? Do not magnificent mansions and
picturesque acres often stand chiefly as the symbols of the careful
selfishness
the cold self-containedness of their owners? Yes
other evils than
pride seem to have the blossoms that make the world exclaim beautiful
splendid
great! Such is the love of display
that there is many a man who “for
the spangles wears the funeral pall.”
II. Success is no
test of moral right or wrong. Pride blossoms
so does envy
so does
selfishness
so sometimes does every bough on the upas tree of sin. Lowliness
often seems sterile
so does love
so does prayer
so
indeed
often in the
winter of our soul seems every branch on the tree of life. The Babylonians
besieged Jerusalem
and had success. Judas betrayed Jesus
and had success.
What then? We dare not test our life work and the work of others by the
standard of success or failure.
III. The forces of
retribution are ever at work. Just as the circulation of the sap through all
the vessels of the tree
the influences of sunlight and air
and all the forces
working out the mystery of growth are gradually and silently (though probably not
silently
if our ears were keener) preparing for the hour of bud and blossom
all actions are ever setting at work retributive results. These results
gradually
and sometimes silently
but ever surely
are tending to the crises
that are days of judgment
and to the great crisis that “is the day of
judgment.” (U. R. Thomas.)
Verse 13
For the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof
which
shall not return.
Jewish nationality dissolved forever
Now the Jews recovered from all their former captivities; but from
this one they never can recover. Where is their tribal register now? My object
therefore
will be to set before you a fourfold contrast between the covenant that
is passed away and the covenant that shall not pass away.
1. The first contrast I notice is the passing away of the Jewish
land
and the sure continuation of a better land in its place. In the second
verse of this same chapter where our text is it saith
“An end
the end”;--that
is a remarkable form of speech--“An end
the end
”--the ultimate end
as it
means
the final end--“is come upon the four corners of the land.” Let us then
see what we have to put in the place thereof
after just observing that that
land was to pass away by violence
by war
famine
and pestilence
and
everything that was awful. Now we go to the 60th of Isaiah
and we get
something to put in the place thereof. There is a land of which it is written
“Violence shall no more be heard in thee
” etc. And what land is this? Why
the
land spoken of in the 1st chapter of the First Epistle of Peter
--“an
inheritance incorruptible
undefiled
and that fadeth not away.” Here
then
by
Jesus Christ
we have a land into which no violence can come. No sin can defile
the Saviour
and no sin can defile the people as they stand in Christ
and no
sin can defile that heavenly land into which He hath entered. There is
therefore no violence. “Violence shall no more be heard in thee.” Jesus is not
crucified there
but glorified; the people are not persecuted and hated there
but universally loved. The people have no pain
no sorrow
no sigh
no tear
there. And this blessedness
in place of the old land
is by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And now mark
--“Thou shalt call thy walls salvation”; that is
“salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks”; so that God will take care
of you as a citizen by salvation; He is round about you by the perfect work of
Jesus Christ. Can you think of a position so lovely as this?
2. The second contrast I give is that in verse 11--“Violence is risen
up into a rod of wickedness; none of them shall remain
” etc. Here is a
positive declaration. Now go to the Saviour’s day
and see how literally this
is fulfilled. Was not the government of the Pharisees
as described in the 23rd
of Matthew
a sceptre or rod of wickedness? They must be taken away
and taken
away forever. Now let us look at the contrast to this. Let us come to the new
covenant
and hear what is said there. In the new covenant the Lord speaketh
thus:--“For as the new heavens”--meaning the Christian economy of eternal
salvation “and the new earth”--meaning in substance the same thing--“which I
will make”--and which were made when Christ was on the earth
for when Christ
was on the earth He made
as it were
a new earth; that is
He established a
new life
a new inheritance
a new kingdom
a new heaven
old things passed
away
all things become new;--“As the new heavens and the new earth
which I
will make
shall remain before Me
saith the Lord
so shall your seed and your
name remain.” All now is spiritual. “The time is come when the true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth
for the Father seeketh such to
worship Him.”
3. The third contrast I notice is
I think
a very strong one. “The
seller shall not return to that which is sold.” Now
this seems a simple
declaration
but it means a great deal more than may at first sight appear.
Under the Old Testament dispensation when a man waxed poor
he sold his
inheritance
but he sold it only up to the day of jubilee. Then
when the
jubilee came
that man without money
without price
by virtue of the order of
things that God had established
returned to his inheritance. Now
this chapter
says “The seller
” alluding to that same circumstance
“shall not return to
that which is sold.” The meaning of it
therefore
is
--there shall never be
another jubilee
and there has not been from that day to this
and there never
will be down to the end of time. Where shall I now find the true jubilee? Why
in Christ. He has paid the mighty debt we owed; He has set the prisoners free;
He brings His brethren into the inheritance.
4. Is there from the first chapter of Matthew to the last of
Revelation a single hint about the restoration of the old Jerusalem? The
Saviour says
“Your house is left unto you desolate.” Does He say it shall some
day be restored? Does He say
“Your house is left unto you desolate till ye
shall say
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”? No
He says no
such thing. He says
“Ye shall not see Me henceforth
till ye shall say
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” If I should get an
invitation to preach in some Jewish synagogue
where they wanted to hear the
Gospel
what would that be but their saying
“Blessed is he that cometh in the
name of the Lord”? that is
in the name of Jesus Christ. And if God were to
open their eyes
and they should see Jesus
what would they say then? Ah
they
would say
let the shadow go; let us have the substance. Let the ceremonial go;
let us have the vital
the living
the eternal. They would turn their backs
upon the temporal
and look at those things which are eternal. (James Wells.)
Make a chain.
The chain of influences
At school and in college
in announcing the mechanical powers
we
glorified the lever
the pulley
the inclined plane
the screw
the axle and
the wheel
but my text calls us to study the philosophy of the chain. These
links of metal
one with another
attracted the old Bible authors
and we hear
the chain rattle
and see its coil all the way through from Genesis to
Revelation
flashing as an adornment
or restraining as in captivity
or
holding in conjunction as in case of machinery. What I wish to impress upon you
is the strength
in right and wrong directions
of consecutive forces
the
superior power of a chain of influences above one influence
the great
advantage of a congeries of links above one link. “Make a chain!” That which
contains the greatest importance
that which encloses the most tremendous
opportunities
that which of earthly things is most watched by other worlds
that which has beating against its two sides all the eternities
is the cradle.
The grave is nothing in importance compared with it
for that is only a gully
that we step across in a second
but the cradle has within it a new eternity
just born and never to cease. Now
what shall be done with this new life
recently launched? Let it be constant instruction
constant prayer
constant
application of good influences
a long line of consecutive impressions
reaching from his first year to his fifth
and from his fifth year to his
tenth
and from his tenth year to his twentieth. “Make a chain!” Spasmodic
education
paroxysmal discipline
occasional fidelity
amount to nothing. You
can as easily hold an anchor by one link as hold a child to the right by
isolated and intermittent faithfulness. The example must connect with the
instruction. The conversation must combine with the actions. There is such a
thing as impressing children so powerfully with good
that sixty years will
have no more power to efface it than sixty minutes. What a rough time that
young man has in doing wrong
carefully nurtured as he was! His father and
mother have been dead for years
or over in Scotland
or England
or Ireland;
but they have stood in the doorway of every dram shop that he entered
and
under the chandelier of every house of dissipation
saying
“My son
this is no
place for you. Have you forgotten the old folks? By the God to whom we
consecrated you
by the cradle in which we rocked you
by the grass-worn graves
in the old country churchyard
by the heaven where we hope yet to meet you
Go
home!” And some Sunday you will be surprised to find that young man suddenly
asking for the prayers of the church. Oh
the almighty pull of the long chain
of early gracious influences! But all people between thirty and forty years of
age
yes
between forty and fifty--aye
between fifty and sixty years--and all
septuagenarians as well
need a surrounding conjunction of good influences. In
all the great prisons are men and women who went wrong in mid-life and old age.
We need around us a cordon of good influences. We forget to apply the
well-known rule that a chain is no stronger than at its weakest link. If the
chain be made up of a thousand links
and nine hundred and ninety-nine are
strong
but one is weak
the chain will be in danger of breaking at that one
weak link. We may be strong in a thousand excellences
and yet have one
weakness which endangers us. That is the reason that we sometimes see men
distinguished for a whole round of virtues collapse and go down. The weak link
in the otherwise stout chain gave way under the pressure. A musician cannot
afford to dwell among discords
nor can a writer afford to peruse books of
inferior style
nor an architect walk out among disproportioned structures. And
no man or woman was ever so good as to be able to afford to choose evil
associations. Therefore
I said
have it a rule of your life to go among those
better than yourselves. Cannot find them? Then
what a pink of perfection you
must be! When was your character completed? What a misfortune for the saintly
and angelic ones of heaven that they are not enjoying the improving influence
of your society! Ah
if you cannot find those better than yourself
it is
because you are ignorant of yourself. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Verse 25
Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace
and there shall be
none.
Destruction instead of peace
I remember hearing Dr. James Spurgeon
in the course of a sermon
preached at the Metropolitan Tabernacle
say that on one occasion when he was
returning from New York
and the vessel had not been long out at sea
he
noticed a number of small birds in the rigging of the vessel. “Ah
poor
things
” said the captain
“they will be dead by tomorrow; they think they are
going landward
while they are going out into the sea.” And the captain was
right
for on the morrow their little stiffened bodies were scattered about the
deck. And just so is it with impenitent men who
in their false security
pursue
what they fondly dream to be a safe way
but it is the way of certain ruin.
“Destruction cometh
and they shall seek peace
and there shall he none.” (Charles
Deal.)
Verse 26
Mischief shall come upon mischief.
A succession of evils
1. When a people is under Divine displeasure there is a succession of
evils for them
mischief after mischief; they may not expect a few
but many.
2. God proceeds by degrees and steps to severity of judgments. God
pours not out all His wrath at once. First
some drops of a vial
then some
little streams
after that the strength.
3. Wicked men in great straits will sue to them for help whom before
they hated. They could seek for a vision from the prophet now they were in
extremities
and they run from prophet to prophet to get some counsel and
comfort.
4. They that will not hear God’s servants when they are at ease
shall not have help from them in time of their distress.
5. It is a dreadful evil when God takes away the signs of His
presence.
6. Truths are not confined to any sort of men
not to prophets
priests
or ministers
in these or any days; the prophets should be without
vision
the law should perish from the priests
and counsel from the elders.
7. God gives vision
law
counsel
and takes them away at His
pleasure; He creates light and darkness. They shall seek vision of the prophets
and there shall be none.
8. Those who will not do what they know
shall not know what to do. (W.
Greenhill
M. A.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》