IV. (1) HE INCIDENT CONNECTED WITH ZACCHÆUS (LUKE 19:1) INDICATES EITHER THAT HE HAD BEEN ON THE SPOT AS AN INQUIRER, OR HAD SOUGHT FOR LOCAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION. THE ASSUMPTION THAT HE RECORDED A DIFFERENT MIRACLE FROM ST. MATTHEW AND ST. MARK IS POSSIBLE, BUT HARDLY PROBABLE, AND CERTAINLY NEE... [ Continue Reading ]
SET THY FACE is a common Scriptural expression for any steadfast purpose. (See Leviticus 17:10; Leviticus 20:3; Leviticus 20:5; Leviticus 26:17; 2 Chronicles 20:3, marg., &c.) It is a particularly favourite phrase with Ezekiel (Ezekiel 15:7; Ezekiel 20:46, &c.). Here this steadfastness of purpose wa... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL LAY BANDS UPON THEE. — See on Ezekiel 3:25. This is a fresh feature of the unrelenting character of the judgment foretold: God’s power should interpose to keep the prophet to his work. Not only pity, but even human weakness and weariness, should be excluded from interfering. The prophet is sp... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE THOU ALSO UNTO THEE WHEAT. — The grains enumerated are of all kinds from the best to the worst, indicating that every sort of food would be sought after in the straitness of the siege. If the mixing of these in one vessel and making bread of them all together was not against the exact letter of... [ Continue Reading ]
BY WEIGHT, TWENTY SHEKELS A DAY. — The weight of the shekel is somewhat differently estimated by different authorities. The best computations fix it at about 220 grains, and this would make the allowance of twenty shekels equal to something less than eleven ounces, scarcely enough to sustain life. “... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SIXTH PART OF AN HIN. — There is also a difference among the authorities as to the measures of capacity for liquids. These would make the sixth part of an hin from six-tenths to nine-tenths of a pint. This also was to be drunk once a day.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS BARLEY CAKES. — These were commonly cooked in the hot ashes, hence the especial defilement caused by the fuel required to be used. Against this the prophet pleads, not merely as revolting in itself, but as ceremonially polluting (Ezekiel 4:14; see Leviticus 5:3; Leviticus 7:21), and a mitigation... [ Continue Reading ]
EAT THEIR DEFILED BREAD AMONG THE GENTILES. — The Mosaic law purposely so hedged the people about with detailed precepts in regard to their food and its preparation, that it was impossible for them to share the food of the Gentiles without contracting ceremonial defilement; and the declared object o... [ Continue Reading ]
COW’S DUNG. — In the scarcity of fuel in the East, cow’s dung and especially camel’s dung, is dried, and becomes the common fuel.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL BREAK THE STAFF OF BREAD IN JERUSALEM. — In Ezekiel 4:16, the meaning of the foregoing symbolism is declared in plain language. Bread, as the chief article of food is put for all food, the specific for the general. There shall be extreme suffering and distress, as a part of the punishment for... [ Continue Reading ]