This prediction, according to Archbishop Usher, was fulfilled, about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, by the Babylonians subduing and expelling them from Arabia Petræa, of which they never afterwards recovered possession. PART II. is consolatory, and foretells the Restoration of the Jews (17.), their Victory over their Enemies, and their flourishing State in consequence. (18-21.) Archbishop Newcome considers this prophecy as fulfilled by the conquest of the Maccabees over the Edomites. (See 1 Macc. v. 3-5. 65, &c.) There is no doubt that it was in part accomplished by the return from the Babylonian captivity; and by the victories of the Maccabean princes; but the prediction in the last verse will not receive its complete fulfilment until that time when "the kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. (Rev. xi. 15.)

I. EZEKIEL, whose name imports the strength of God, was the son of Buzi, of the sacerdotal race, and one of the captives carried by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon, with Jehoiachin king of Judah; it does not appear that he had prophesied before he came into Mesopotamia. The principal scene of his predictions was some place on the river Chebar, which flows into the Euphrates about two hundred miles to the north of Babylon, where the prophet resided; though he was, occasionally, conveyed in vision to Jerusalem. He commenced his prophetic ministry in the thirtieth year of his age, according to general accounts; or rather, as Calmet thinks, in the thirtieth year after the covenant was renewed with God in the reign of Josiah, which answers to the fifth year of Ezekiel's and Jehoiachin's captivity (Ezek. i. 1. xl. 1.), the æra whence he dates his predictions; and it appears from xxix. 17. that he continued to prophesy about twenty-one years and three quarters. The events of his life, after his call to the prophetic office, are interwoven with the detail which he has himself given of his predictions; but the manner of its termination is nowhere ascertained. The pseudo-Epiphanius, in his lives of the prophets, says that he was put to death by the prince or commander of the Jews in the place of his exile, because this prince was addicted to idolatry, and could not bear the reproaches of the prophet. No reliance, however, can be placed on this account, which is intermixed with many fables. Jerome is of opinion, that, as Ezekiel was in part contemporary with Jeremiah, who prophesied in Judæa while Ezekiel delivered his predictions beyond the Euphrates, their prophecies were interchanged for the consolation and encouragement of the captive Jews. There is, indeed, a striking agreement between the subject-matter and their respective prophecies; but Ezekiel is more vehement than Jeremiah in reproving the sins of his countrymen, and abounds more in visions, which render some passages of his book exceedingly difficult to be understood. On this account no Jew was, anciently, permitted to read the writings of this prophet, until he had completed his thirtieth year.'

II. Until of late years the prophecies of Ezekiel have always been acknowledged to be canonical, nor was it ever disputed that he was their author. The Jews, indeed, say that the sanhedrin deliberated for a long time whether his book should form a part of the sacred canon. They objected to the great obscurity at the beginning and end of his prophecy; and to what he says in ch. xviii. 20. that the son should not bear the iniquity of his father, which they urged was contrary to Moses, who says (Exod. xx. 5.), that God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." But it is worthy of remark, that Moses himself (Deut. xxiv. 16.) says the very same thing as Ezekiel.2

The genuineness of certain chapters of this prophet has

Hieronymi Procem. in lib. i. Comm. in Ezech

2 Calmet, Préface sur Ezekiel. Comment. Litt. tom. vi. pp. 353, 354.

i. On the Continent it has been denied that the last nine chapters are to be attributed to Ezekiel; but the arguments adduced in behalf of this hypothesis are by no means sufficient to sustain it: for

not at variance with the opinion that they were written by 1. The alleged obscurity of these chapters is "certainly Ezekiel, for many other parts of his work are less perspicuous, not to say, that descriptions of this kind, particularly of buildings, can scarcely be made very intelligible without the aid of drawings.

2. "These chapters are supposed to contain commands which were disregarded by the Hebrews after their return, and, therefore, it is inferred that they did not then exist, or at least were not ascribed to Ezekiel. But this supposition is unfounded; for those chapters do not contain commands, but an emblematic or figurative representation intended to confirm the certainty of the return, and the re-establishment of divine worship.

3. "It is further objected, that the prophet could not possibly retain in memory the numbers of so many measurements as were perceived by him in his vision. But this is of little weight; for as the impressions of the visions were the more vehement on account of the outward senses being at rest, there would be the less difficulty in retaining them in the memory. Besides, there are persons who commit numbers to memory with great facility, and if the objectors to these prophecies allow that visions constitute merely the dress and form in which the prophets announce their predictions, there would have been no need of memory in the case.

4. "Josephus attributes to Ezekiel two books concerning the Babylonish captivity: but as by the second book of Ezekiel he means the last nine chapters, how is it possible thence to infer that Ezekiel is not their author? There is no necessity, therefore, to apply the language to Jeremiah (as Eichhorn did), which cannot be done without violence to the series of the discourse.".

Altogether worthless is the conjecture "that some Hebrew, who returned later than the great body of his brethren, made up these chapters, in order to effect a new distribution of the country, by which he might acquire a portion for himself: for no such impostor would have written so largely and in such a manner of the temple and of the division of the country among the tribes, and at the same time forget entirely the distribution among individuals.

"Nothing, therefore, can be established in opposition to the genuineness of these prophecies; and it is confirmed by their contents. The visions, the manner of conveying reproof, the multitude of circumstantial particulars, the character of the language and style, in all which respects Ezekiel is remarkably distinguished from other writers, prove that he must have been the author of these chapters. No imitation could possibly have been so successful."4

ii. In England, an anonymous writers has denied that "the prophecies in chapters xxv.-xxxii. xxxv. xxxvi. xxxviii. and xxxix. are Ezekiel's. His reasons are so exceedingly trifling, that they are not worthy of refutation. Nor indeed is this necessary, for these very parts of the book contain evidence that they are the work of this prophet; very many particulars which Ezekiel is accustomed to introduce elsewhere are found in these prophecies; as, for instance, the designation of the year, the month and the day, on which a revelation was communicated; the remarkable phraseology son of man corresponding with the usage in the Aramaan dialect; the forms, set thy face towards or againstprophesy against-hear the word of Jehovah thus saith the Lord Jehovah the word of Jehovah came to me-they shall know that I am Jehovah-take up a lamentation for. In these chapters, as in ch. i.-xxiv., the terms and are frequently applied to kings, the same devices for conducting sieges p, a circumvallation, and no, a mound, are mentioned, compare ch. xxvi. 8. with iv. 2. xvii. 17. xxi. 27. (22.), and, in fine, the same particularity and multitude of circumstances occur. Indeed xxviii. 14. contains a reference to the vision mentioned in i. 13. x. 2. If the mention ing the regions of the departed more frequently than is usual (see xxvi. 20. xxxi. 14-17. xxxii. 18-32.) would seem to indicate a foreign origin, it must be considered that the subject required it, and it can never be alleged with any weight

3 Antiq. Jud. lib. x. c. 5. § 1.

Prof. Turner's Translation of Jahn, p. 403. Monthly Magazine, March, 1798, p. 189.

as a proof that these portions of Ezekiel's prophecies differ in character from the remainder."

Josephus ascribes to this prophet two books concerning the Babylonian captivity;2 and says, that, having foretold in Babylon the calamities which were coming upon the people, he sent accounts of them to Jerusalem.3 But these circumstances are not recorded in the predictions now extant; nor have we any means of ascertaining what foundation Josephus had for his assertion. Most commentators are of opinion that the Jewish historian divided the prophecy we now have into two books, and that he took that part of the prophecy, which contains a description of the temple (xli.xlviii.) for a distinct book, because it treats on a subject wholly different from the topics discussed in the former part of his writings.

III. The chief design of Ezekiel's prophecies is, to comfort his brethren in captivity, who deplored their having too lightly credited the promises of Jeremiah, who had exhorted them speedily to submit to the Chaldees, on account of the approaching ruin of Jerusalem. As these captives saw no appearance of the fulfilment of Jeremiah's predictions, God raised up-Ezekiel to confirm them in the faith, and to support by new prophecies those which Jeremiah had long before published, and even then continued to announce in Judæa. In pursuance of this design, Ezekiel predicts the dreadful calamities which soon after were inflicted upon Judæa and Jerusalem, on account of the idolatry, impiety, and profligacy of their inhabitants; the divine judgments that would be executed on the false prophets and prophetesses, who deluded and hardened the Jews in their rebellion against God; the punishments that awaited the Ammonites, Edomites, and Philistines, for their hatred of the Jews, and insulting them in their distress; the destruction of Tyre; the conquest of Egypt; the future restoration of Israel and Judah from their several dispersions; and their ultimately happy state after the advent and under the government of the Messiah.

IV. The prophecies of Ezekiel form, in our Bibles, fortyeight chapters; and, as he is extremely punctual in dating them, we have little or no difficulty in arranging them in chronological order. They may be divided into four parts; viz.

PART I. Ezekiel's Call to the Prophetic Office (i. 1. to the first part of verse 28.), his Commission, Instructions, and Encouragements for executing it. (i. 28. latter clause, ii. iii. 1-21.)

PART II. Denunciations against the Jewish People. (iii. 22— 27. iv.-xxiv.)

SECT. 1. Under the emblem of a siege delineated upon a tile is represented the manner in which the Chaldæan army would surround Jerusalem during the reign of Zedekiah. (iii. 22-27. iv. 1-3.)5 The inhabitants there encouraged the captives in Chaldæa to hope for a return; and such a hope they actually cherished, so long as Jerusalem was safe : but this vision was designed to overthrow their confidence. From the specimens preserved in cabinets, it is well known that the tiles or bricks, anciently used in oriental buildings, were of considerable size, with one of the surfaces well polished, so as to be capable of receiving the representation described by the prophet. By Ezekiel's lying upon his right and left side a certain number of (prophetic) days, is exhibited the number of years, during which God had borne with the iniquities of the house of Israel. (4-8.) The scanty supply and intermixture of coarse food represented the scarcity and hard fare which the Jews should have during the continuance of the siege by Nebuchadnezzar.

Prof. Turner's Translation of Jahn, p. 404.

2 Antiq. Jud. lib. x. c. 5. § 1.

a Ibid. lib. x. c. 7. § 2.

The arrangement proposed by Prof. De Wette coincides very nearly with that given in this work. He divides the predictions of Ezekiel into four parts, viz. I. From chap. i. to chap. xxiv, containing prophecies relating to the Jews and anterior to the destruction of Jerusalem, in chronological order; II. From chap. xxv. to chap. xxxii. containing prophecies relating to various heathen nations, disposed according to the order of subjects; III. From chap. xxxiii. to xlviii. containing prophecies posterior to the destruction of Jerusalem, in chronological order.

The prophetical types and figures are often adapted to the genius and education of the prophets. Amos, for instance, derives his figures from objects which were familiar to a shepherd or a husbandman. As Ezekiel seems to have had a peculiar talent for architecture, several of his representations are suitable to that profession. "And they that suppose the emblem here made use of to be below the dignity of the prophetic office, may as well accuse Archimedes of folly for inaking lines in the dust." W. Lowth on Ezek. i.; from whose summaries of chapters and the marginal abstracts of Mr. Reeves this analysis of Ezekiel is chiefly derived, in the present as well as in former editions of this work.

SECT. 2. Under the type of shaving his head and beard, and weighing his hair, one-third part of which was to be burnt, another to be cut small with a knife, and the remainder to be burnt (v. 1-4.), are, in vision, denounced the divine judgments against Jerusalem, by famine, sword, and dispersion. (5-17.) The head here represents Jerusalem; the hair, the great number of its inhabitants; and the balances, the exactness of God's judgments.

SECT. 3. denounces the divine judgments against the Jews for their idolatry (vi. 1-7.), but promises that a remnant shall be saved, and shall be brought to a sense of their sins by their afflictions. (8-14.)

SECT. 4. announces the irreversible judgment of captivity, and final desolation of the Jews for their idolatry and other heinous sins (vii. 1-22.): the severity of their captivity, which is prefigured by a chain. (23-27.)

SECT. 5. describes the carrying of the prophet, in a vision, to Jerusalem (viii. 1-4.), where he is shown the idolatries committed by the Jews within the precincts of the temple; particularly the image of Baal, by a bold figure called the image of Jealousy, from the provocation it gave to God, by setting up a rival against him in the place dedicated to his worship (5.): the Egyptian (6-12.), the Phenician (13, 14.), and the Persian superstitions. (15, 16.) The prophet then denounces vengeance against the wicked, and foretells the preservation of the pious Jews (17, 18. ix.) ; and under the command to scatter coals of fire over the city (x. 1-7.), and the vision of the Shechinah departing from the temple (8-22.), are prefigured the destruction of Jerusalem, and Jehovah's forsaking the temple. This section concludes with a severe denunciation against those wicked princes and people who remained in Jerusalem, and derided the types and predictions of the prophets (xi. 113.); and the return of the Jews is then foretold (1421.); Jehovah's utterly forsaking the temple and city is represented by the departure of the Shechinah (22, 23.); and the prophet returns to communicate his instructions to his brethren of the captivity. (24, 25.)

SECT. 6. Under the types of Ezekiel's removing himself and his household goods (xii. 1-7.), and eating and drinking "with quaking, and with carefulness" (17-20.), is prefigured the captivity of Zedekiah and of the Jews still remaining at Jerusalem (8-16.); and speedy judgment is denounced against the Jews for their abuse of the divine forbearance. (21-28.)

SECT. 7. The false prophets (xiii. 1—16.), and false prophetesses (17—23.), are reproved and threatened with signal punishment.

SECT. 8. A denunciation of the divine judgments against the idolatrous elders and their false prophets (xiv. 1-11.), and against the Jews for their obstinate impenitency (12—21.); a remnant of whom, it is promised, shall be saved. (22, 23.)

SECT. 9. Under the parable of an unfruitful and unprofitable vine is set forth the utter rejection of Jerusalem. (xv.) SECT. 10. Under the emblem of an exposed and wretched infant is represented the natural state of the Jewish nation, and the great love of God to it in Egypt, as well as afterwards. (xvi. 1-14.) The heinous and unparalleled sins of the Jews are set forth; for which sore judgments are denounced against them. But, notwithstanding all these provocations, God promises in the end to show them mercy under his new and everlasting covenant. (60-63.) The figurative mode of describing adultery, which is of frequent occurrence in the prophets, is pursued with great force, and at considerable length, both in this and the 23d chapter. SECT. 11. Under the allegory of two eagles and a vine is represented God's judgment upon the Jews, for revolting from Babylon to Egypt. (xvii. 1-21.) The "great eagle with great wings" (3.) means Nebuchadnezzar, as the "feathers of divers colours" mean the various nations that

6 Bishop Warburton has an excellent illustration of this prediction in his Divine Legation of Moses, book iv. sect. 6. (Works, vol. iv. pp. 295-300.); the most material parts of which are inserted in Bishop Mant's and Dr. D'Oyly's Commentary on the Bible.

7

Josephus informs us that Zedekiah, thinking the prophecy of Ezekiel in the thirteenth verse of this chapter (that he should be brought to Baby. lon, which, however, he should not see, though he should die there), inconsistent with the prediction of Jeremiah (xxxii. 4. and xxxiv. 3.) that the Jewish king should see the eyes of the king of Babylon,-determined to give no credit to either of them. Both prophecies, as we have already seen (Vol. I. p. 124.) were literally fulfilled, and the event convincer him that they were not irreconcilable. Compare Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib x. c. 8. §2. with 2 Kings xxv. 4-7. and Jer. lii. 8-11.

This prediction, according to Archbishop Usher, was fulfilled, about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, by the Babylonians subduing and expelling them from Arabia Petræa, of which they never afterwards recovered possession. PART II. is consolatory, and foretells the Restoration of the Jews (17.), their Victory over their Enemies, and their flourishing State in consequence. (18-21.) Archbishop Newcome considers this prophecy as fulfilled by the conquest of the Maccabees over the Edomites. (See 1 Macc. v. 3-5. 65, &c.) There is no doubt that it was in part accomplished by the return from the Babylonian captivity; and by the victories of the Maccabean princes; but the prediction in the last verse will not receive its complete fulfilment until that time when "the kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. (Rev. xi. 15.)

I. EZEKIEL, whose name imports the strength of God, was the son of Buzi, of the sacerdotal race, and one of the captives carried by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon, with Jehoiachin king of Judah; it does not appear that he had prophesied before he came into Mesopotamia. The principal scene of his predictions was some place on the river Chebar, which flows into the Euphrates about two hundred miles to the north of Babylon, where the prophet resided; though he was, occasionally, conveyed in vision to Jerusalem. He commenced his prophetic ministry in the thirtieth year of his age, according to general accounts; or rather, as Calmet thinks, in the thirtieth year after the covenant was renewed with God in the reign of Josiah, which answers to the fifth year of Ezekiel's and Jehoiachin's captivity (Ezek. i. 1. xl. 1.), the æra whence he dates his predictions; and it appears from xxix. 17. that he continued to prophesy about twenty-one years and three quarters. The events of his life, after his call to the prophetic office, are interwoven with the detail which he has himself given of his predictions; but the manner of its termination is nowhere ascertained. The pseudo-Epiphanius, in his lives of the prophets, says that he was put to death by the prince or commander of the Jews in the place of his exile, because this prince was addicted to idolatry, and could not bear the reproaches of the prophet. No reliance, however, can be placed on this account, which is intermixed with many fables. Jerome is of opinion, that, as Ezekiel was in part contemporary with Jeremiah, who prophesied in Judæa while Ezekiel delivered his predictions beyond the Euphrates, their prophecies were interchanged for the consolation and encouragement of the captive Jews. There is, indeed, a striking agreement between the subject-matter and their respective prophecies; but Ezekiel is more vehement than Jeremiah in reproving the sins of his countrymen, and abounds more in visions, which render some passages of his book exceedingly difficult to be understood. On this account no Jew was, anciently, permitted to read the writings of this prophet, until he had completed his thirtieth year.

II. Until of late years the prophecies of Ezekiel have always been acknowledged to be canonical, nor was it ever disputed that he was their author. The Jews, indeed, say that the sanhedrin deliberated for a long time whether his book should form a part of the sacred canon. They objected to the great obscurity at the beginning and end of his prophecy; and to what he says in ch. xviii. 20. that the son should not bear the iniquity of his father, which they urged was contrary to Moses, who says (Exod. xx. 5.), that God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." But it is worthy of remark, that Moses himself (Deut. xxiv. 16.) says the very same thing as Ezekiel.2

The genuineness of certain chapters of this prophet has

i. On the Continent it has been denied that the last nine chapters are to be attributed to Ezekiel; but the arguments adduced in behalf of this hypothesis are by no means sufficient to sustain it: for

not at variance with the opinion that they were written by 1. The alleged obscurity of these chapters is "certainly Ezekiel, for many other parts of his work are less perspicuous, not to say, that descriptions of this kind, particularly of buildings, can scarcely be made very intelligible without the aid of drawings.

2. "These chapters are supposed to contain commands which were disregarded by the Hebrews after their return, and, therefore, it is inferred that they did not then exist, or at least were not ascribed to Ezekiel. But this supposition is unfounded; for those chapters do not contain commands, but an emblematic or figurative representation intended to confirm the certainty of the return, and the re-establishment of divine worship.

3. "It is further objected, that the prophet could not possibly retain in memory the numbers of so many measurements as were perceived by him in his vision. But this is of little weight; for as the impressions of the visions were the more vehement on account of the outward senses being at rest, there would be the less difficulty in retaining them in the memory. Besides, there are persons who commit numbers to memory with great facility, and if the objectors to these prophecies allow that visions constitute merely the dress and form in which the prophets announce their predictions, there would have been no need of memory in the case.

4. "Josephus attributes to Ezekiel two bocks concerning the Babylonish captivity; but as by the second book of Ezekiel he means the last nine chapters, how is it possible thence to infer that Ezekiel is not their author? There is no necessity, therefore, to apply the language to Jeremiah (as Eichhorn did), which cannot be done without violence to the series of the discourse."

Altogether worthless is the conjecture "that some Hebrew, who returned later than the great body of his brethren, made up these chapters, in order to effect a new distribution of the country, by which he might acquire a portion for himself: for no such impostor would have written so largely and in such a marmer of the temple and of the division of the country among the tribes, and at the same time forget entirely the distribution among individuals.

"Nothing, therefore, can be established in opposition to the genuineness of these prophecies; and it is confirmed by their contents. The visions, the manner of conveying reproof, the multitude of circumstantial particulars, the character of the language and style, in all which respects Ezekiel is remarkably distinguished from other writers, prove that he must have been the author of these chapters. No imitation could possibly have been so successful."4

ii. In England, an anonymous writers has denied that "the prophecies in chapters xxv.—xxxii. xxxv. xxxvi. xxxviii. and xxxix. are Ezekiel's. His reasons are so exceedingly trifling, that they are not worthy of refutation. Nor indeed is this necessary, for these very parts of the book contain evidence that they are the work of this prophet; very many particulars which Ezekiel is accustomed to introduce elsewhere are found in these prophecies; as, for instance, the designation of the year, the month and the day, on which a revelation was communicated; the remarkable phraseology son of man corresponding with the usage in the Aramaan dialect; the forms, set thy face towards or againstprophesy against-hear the word of Jehovah-thus saith the Lord Jehovah the word of Jehovah came to me-they shall know that I am Jehovah take up a lamentation for. In these chapters, as in ch. i.-xxiv., the terms and are frequently applied to kings, the same devices for conducting sieges p, a circumvallation, and no, a mound, are mentioned, compare ch. xxvi. 8. with iv. 2. xvii. 17. xxi. 27. (22.), and, in fine, the same particularity and multitude of circumstances occur. Indeed xxviii. 14. contains a reference to the vision mentioned in i. 13. x. 2. If the mention ing the regions of the departed more frequently than is usual (see xxvi. 20. xxxi. 14-17. xxxii. 18-32.) would seem to indicate a foreign origin, it must be considered that the subject required it, and it can never be alleged with any weight

3 Antiq. Jud. lib. x. c. 5. § 1.

Prof. Turner's Translation of Jahn, p. 403. • Monthly Magazine, March, 1798, p. 189.