_Moreover the spirit lifted me up_ It seems it should rather have been
rendered, _And the spirit had lifted me up_, for here he appears to go
back to speak about those twenty-five men of whom he made mention
Ezekiel 7:16, but had broken off from speaking of them to speak of
things of greater importa... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore prophesy against them_ Declare to them how different things
shall happen to them from what they expect. _And the Spirit of the
Lord fell upon me_ See note on Ezekiel 3:24. _And said unto me, Speak;
Thus have ye said_ Ye have advanced the assertion, mentioned Ezekiel
11:3. “You have rightl... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye have multiplied your slain in this city_ Ye have, without law or
justice, shed the blood of many in your streets. From this, and many
other expressions in the Scripture, we may conclude that not only
private murders were extremely frequent among them, but that they also
frequently put to death,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye have feared the sword_ Of the Chaldeans; and have, to avoid it,
courted them, and left my worship to follow their idolatrous rites:
but this very sword will I bring upon you. _And I will deliver you
into the hands of strangers_ Defeating all your projects for escape;
_and I will execute judgment... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when I prophesied, Pelatiah died_ Mentioned Ezekiel 11:1, a
principal man among the twenty-five princes, who made all the mischief
in Jerusalem: see note on Ezekiel 11:2. It seems this was done only in
vision now, (as the slaying of the ancient men, Ezekiel 9:6,) but it
was an assurance, that w... [ Continue Reading ]
_Again the word of the Lord came unto me_ A seasonable word, to stop
the mouths of the insulting Jerusalemites, and to encourage the
captives at Babylon. _Son of man, thy brethren The men of thy
kindred_, or, _of thy redemption_, as גאלתן may be rendered: that
is, _thy fellow-captives_, as Bishop Ne... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore say_ In vindication of the captives; _Although I have cast
them far off_ Not from myself, but from you and your polluted land,
and out of the way of the dreadful judgments which are approaching;
_among the heathen_ The Chaldeans, or those among whom the Chaldeans
have placed them; _and ha... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will even gather you from the people_ This might be, in some
degree, fulfilled in those that returned from captivity, but the
perfect completion of this promise must be referred to the time of the
expected general restoration of the Jewish nation. _And they shall
come thither_ They who assemble u... [ Continue Reading ]
_But as for them_ Whoever they be, and some there will be in the best
times, who will refuse to own God for their God, and truly to love and
obey him. _Whose heart walketh after their detestable things_ Whose
judgment and choice, or whose will and affections, go after their
idols and iniquities, the... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city_ The
symbol of God's presence, which had before departed from the temple,
(Ezekiel 10:18,) now quite left the city, to signify that he would
acknowledge no longer his relation to either, but deliver them up to
be profaned by the heathen.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The spirit took me, and brought me in vision into Chaldea _ That is,
took away from before my eyes the image of Jerusalem and the temple,
&c., and presented nothing to my mind but what was the real matter of
fact, namely, that I was a captive with many others of my countrymen
in the land of Chaldea... [ Continue Reading ]