The Burning of the City. But the guilty city must be destroyed as well as the people: so the awful carnage is followed by a no less awful conflagration prophetic of the fire, kindled later by Babylonian hands, which reduced the city to ashes (2 Kings 25:9). But this fire was kindled by supernatural hands which took it from among the flames that flashed and blazed between the strange creatures in the Divine chariot (Ezekiel 1:13); and again (cf. Ezekiel 9:3) the ominous note is struck of the departure of Yahweh, confirmed by the loud whirr of the wings. Very solemn was the moment when the linen-clad angel took the fire and went forth to scatter it over the guilty city. But over this scene, as over the other (Ezekiel 10:9), a veil of silence is drawn. The passage is overpoweringly dramatic. The Temple is desolate, Ezekiel is alone, around him are the slain, not far off is the mysterious chariot with its strange creatures, and, to crown all, the angel scattering flame over the city.

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