Ezekiel 1:4

God appears in cloud and storm: clouds and darkness are round about him, Exodus 9:24; 1 Kings 19:11; Job 38:1; Psalms 50:3.

out of the north In Psalms 29 the theophany also comes from the north, and passes southward to the desert. The idea of the prophet can hardly be that the "place" or abode of God, from which he now comes, is situated in the northern part of the earth, for he saw "the heavens opened" (Ezekiel 1:1). In other places he refers to Eden, the garden of God (Ezekiel 28:13; Ezekiel 31:8-9) for which he appears also to use the name "mount of God" (ch. Ezekiel 28:14; Ezekiel 28:16), though without indicating any locality for it, but it would be very precarious to bring these passages into any connexion with the present one. When Jehovah leaves the city (ch. Ezekiel 11:23) his glory passes out by the East gate and stands over the "mountain which is on the East side of the city," the mount of Olives; and when he returns to the new temple he enters by the same east gate, which therefore is to remain for ever shut (Ezekiel 43:2; Ezekiel 44:2). In Isaiah 14:3 the king of Babylon resolves to seat himself in the mount of assembly, in the recesses of the north, above the stars of God; but whatever this passage means it has no reference to the God of Israel. On the other hand the idea that the theophany appears to come from the north because the north was the region from which the enemies of Israel, the instruments of God's vengeance, were to advance, is altogether to be rejected. The theophany here is not a manifestation of God specially in the character of an avenger or judge; he does not appear to the prophet as inflamed with anger. The theophany no doubt expresses the prophet's conception of God, but it is his conception of God as he is in himself and in his nature, not as he is in preparation for any signal act of judgment. This is conclusively shewn by the fact that the theophany here, and that when Jehovah appears for the destruction of Jerusalem (ch. 8 11), and when he again appears to enter the new Jerusalem and make his abode in the new temple (ch. 43) are all identical, according to the statement of the prophet: "and the appearance was like the vision which I saw when I (? he) came to destroy the city, and like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar" (Ezekiel 43:3).

a fire infolding itself lit. taking hold of itself. The meaning appears to be that the fire incessantly gave out flames or flashes. The expression is suggested by the zigzag, chainlike flash of the thunderbolt.

brightnesswas about it, i.e. about the whole phenomenon of storm and cloud; though a great cloud it was illuminated all round by the continuous flashing of fire within it.

colour of amber Perhaps look, glance(Heb. eye) of amber. The word rendered "amber" is of uncertain meaning. LXX. renders elektron, which probably was some very brilliant metal, usually supposed to be an amalgam of gold and silver.

out of the midst of the fire The words seem an explanation of the preceding phrase "out of the midst thereof." But this phrase more naturally refers to the whole phenomenon, as in Ezekiel 1:5. The words are wanting in LXX. and may be a gloss. If genuine they might go along with amber: like amber out of the midst of fire, as Revelation 1:15, "like fine brass burning in a furnace." This is not quite natural, neither is it natural to take "fire" here in a general sense of the great light caused by the fire (Ezekiel 1:13, ch. Ezekiel 10:2; Ezekiel 10:6). Probably the words are a marginal gloss referring the expression "out of the midst thereof" to the fire, while in fact it refers to the whole whirlwind and cloud. The prophet immediately proceeds to describe in detail the four living creatures, the wheels the firmament and throne. No one of these can be the thing compared to electrum, because each of them is compared to something else. It seems that the combined effect produced by these, the look of the whole manifestation withinthe tempestuous cloud, the chariot, living creatures and the like, was a splendour like that of electrum. When the prophet looked more narrowly the general splendour resolved itself into these individual things, living creatures, wheels and so on.