Ezekiel 8:1

the sixthmonth] The first vision of the prophet was in the fifth year of Jehoiachin's captivity and in the fourth month (Ezekiel 1:1); the present one a year and two months later. LXX. reads fifthmonth, and many modern scholars accept this reading, arguing that the Heb. date is due to some copyist or reader who wished to leave room for the number of days during which the prophet had to lie on his side (ch. Ezekiel 4:5; Ezekiel 4:9). The copyist must have been an indifferent arithmetician, for 7 (Ezekiel 3:15) + 390 + 40 (ch. Ezekiel 4:5-6) = 437, while a lunar year and two months, 354 + 59 = 413 days. The discrepancies between the Heb. and LXX. dates are not easy to explain.

elders of Judah Ch. Ezekiel 14:1. "Certain of the elders of Israel." The meaning appears from ch. Ezekiel 11:25, "So I spake to them of the captivity all the things which the Lord had shewed me." The community at Tel Abib were probably permitted to have a certain internal government of their own. In the "elders" before him the prophet sees represented not so much the captivity as the whole "house of Israel." On "hand of the Lord," cf. ch. Ezekiel 1:3.