_Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year_ It is very uncertain from whence this computation of time commences. But the most probable opinion seems to be that which the Chaldee paraphrast, Archbishop Usher, Dr. Prideaux, and other learned men adopt: namely, that these thirty years are to be reckone... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity_ This was of course the fifth year of Zedekiah, who succeeded Jehoiachin. And as the city and temple were destroyed in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, (2 Kings 25:2,) it follows that this vision appeared to Ezekiel six years before that event. The Heb... [ Continue Reading ]
_I looked_ I very diligently surveyed the things which were represented to me in the vision, _and behold a whirlwind_ Denoting the indignation and judgments of God; a quick, impetuous, and irresistible vengeance: see the margin. It is described here as coming out of the north, because, as has been b... [ Continue Reading ]
_Out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures_ Termed cherubim, Ezekiel 9:3; Ezekiel 9:10. throughout. These seem to have been a hieroglyphical representation of the holy angels, attendants on the king of glory, and the ministers of his providence, as well when he executes jud... [ Continue Reading ]
_And their feet were straight feet_ Emblematical probably of simplicity and uprightness, or of the steadiness of their obedience. _And the sole of their feet like the sole of a calf's foot_ To signify their firmness and constancy in performing the divine will. Or, as some think, the soles of their f... [ Continue Reading ]
_Their wings were stretched upward_ That is, two wings of each, namely, in a posture of flying, to show that they were always actively employed in executing God's commands. Some unite this clause with the preceding, and render the whole, _Their faces and their wings were stretched upward_, namely, d... [ Continue Reading ]
_As for the likeness of the living creatures_ Their colour, or aspect; _their appearance was like burning coals_ They were inflamed by the Spirit of God with a holy zeal for his glory, and with indignation against impenitent sinners. This might also be intended as a symbolical declaration, that afte... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now as I beheld_, &c. The prophet here proceeds to relate what he saw besides the living creatures, which he had described in the foregoing verses. _Behold one wheel upon the earth beside the living creatures_ By each of the living creatures stood one wheel, so that they were four in number, accord... [ Continue Reading ]
_When they went_ Namely, the wheels; _they went upon their four sides_ The wheels being supposed spherical as a globe, by an exact framing of two wheels one in the other, the four semicircles, which were in two whole wheels, may well be taken for these four sides on which these wheels moved, and suc... [ Continue Reading ]
_When the living creatures went, the wheels went by them_ The living creatures and the wheels moved in concert, to show with what readiness and alacrity all the instruments of providence concur in carrying on its great designs and purposes; and that second causes here below act under the superintend... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the likeness_ The appearance or resemblance; _of the firmament_ The expanse, as the word signifies. _Upon the heads of the living creatures_ And, of course, of the wheels connected with them; _was as the colour of the terrible crystal_ For splendour, purity, and solidity. All that was above the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Above the firmament was the likeness of a throne_ Namely, the throne of God. God having given his prophet emblems of his attendants and ministers, while he was coming forth in the chariot of his power and justice, to execute judgment, and of the mysterious dispensations of his providence toward his... [ Continue Reading ]
_As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud_ The Hebrew future, יהיה, is here frequentative, and should be rendered, _Is wont to be in the cloud, in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness_ The meaning is, In the brightness, or light, that was about what I saw, was the appear... [ Continue Reading ]