Ezekiel 7:1-27
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 Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
3 Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompensea upon thee all thine abominations.
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.
5 Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.
6 An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come.
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.
8 Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according 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 thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth.
10 Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.
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 wailingb for them.
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.
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.
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.
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 shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weakc as water.
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.
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed:d 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.
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 fare from them.
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.
22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbersf shall enter into it, and defile it.
23 Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
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.
25 Destructiong cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
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.
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.
Ezekiel 7:2. An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. The end is come at once on the whole land of Judea and of Israel. The crown is fallen from the heads of David's house: they shall no more be regal shepherds of my people, till he come whose right it is to wear the crown.
Ezekiel 7:5. An evil, an only evil, behold is come. The Hebrew reads, an evil, one evil; and a repetition in Hebrew generally denotes the superlative degree, or the consummation of evil.
Ezekiel 7:10. Behold the day, behold it is come. Yes, he adds, the morning rays shoot into all the chambers of the east. The Assyrian camp is breaking ground. They soon will scale the walls of Jerusalem, profane and burn the sanctuary, and spread themselves to all the four corners of the land. The rod hath blossomed. Though the root of this word is not found in Hebrew, the LXX have “rabdos,” which signifies the sceptre of Nebuchadnezzar, that budded with bitterness, blossomed with slaughter, and ripened into violence in all the four corners of the land.
Ezekiel 7:12. Let not the buyer of your lands rejoice, nor the seller mourn. The richer jews, by taking advantage of their poor neighbours, and by stretching the law, had gained possession of all the family estates, and in such sort, that when the trumpet of jubilee sounded there were no lands to be restored. Well; the vengeance of God shall settle those disputes; both the buyer and the seller that escapes the sword, shall die in captivity.
Ezekiel 7:19. They shall cast their silver in the streets, to appease if possible the bloody ferocity of the soldiers. But the phrase, stumbling-block of their iniquity, denotes household gods of gold and silver, gods now cast as dung into the streets. During our civil wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, and latterly between the king and the parliament, many hid their money, and those who were killed have left no traces to their treasures: yet a few have been found by the plow, and by the masons.
Ezekiel 7:22. They shall pollute my secret… Here is a pause in the Hebrew; the heart of the prophet swelled with grief, and he could not super-add the word which is wanting. What, pollute the Holy of Holies the throne of Jehovah! What, pollute the sanctuary where a voice was once heard, declaring that the king of Assyria should not come into this place: ”I will defend this city, for David my servant's sake.” Now, the glory departs.
REFLECTIONS.
Before the Chaldeans had time to invade the holy land, our prophet invades it by his sermons. It is rarely the way of heaven to strike without paternal warnings, and warnings in every form. Long and dark had been the night of apostasy and crime; but the morning of awful justice opened at last, and with the brilliancy of the glittering sword. The preachers of righteousness had long been despised, but now all believe in the ministers of vengeance.
Here is a mirror for the christian world. What are they about, buying land, and building houses; covering the seas with ships, and filling their warehouses with riches. For whom are all these preparations. Is not a recovery from the evils of the fall by genuine conversion, the first duty of man? Do they in the bustle of life forget the reckoning, while hoary time is counting the days, the hours, and the seconds.
Oh earth, earth! Earth hear the word of the Lord: hear this prophet. Neither their gold nor their silver shall save them in the day of visitation. These in the eyes of an offended God are but as the dung in the streets. How terrible are these words of a long-insulted God: “I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses.” Ah, that is the day when fasts and mournings shall be of no avail. Then, to-day, if you would hear his sweet voice of mercy and love, harden not your hearts by a continuance in sin.