And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel Tarquinii Prisci, eat their defiled bread among the R. Roman., 22. Gentiles, whither I will drive them. 14 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of 1that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.

Jerusalem's affliction.

thee cow's dung for man's dung,
and thou shalt prepare thy bread
therewith.

A. M. 3409.

B. C. 595.
Ol. XLVI. 2.
Anno
Tarquinii Prisci,
R. Roman., 22.

16 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the "staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment: 17 That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and a con

15 Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given sume away for their iniquity.

cv. 16; Isa. iii. 1; chap. v. 16; xiv. 13.—————o Ver. 10; chap. xii 19. Ver. 11. Lev. xxvi. 39; chap. xxiv. 23.

on the ninth of the fourth month, the famine prevailed in the city; and THERE WAS NO BREAD for the people of the land." All this was accurately foretold, and as accurately fulfilled.

iHos. ix. 3. Acts x. 14.-Exod. xxii. 31; Lev. xi. 40; xvii. 15. n Deut. xiv. 3; Isa. lxv. 4.————n Lev. xxvi. 26; Psa. the horror and much of the disgust. This was required to show the extreme degree of wretchedness to which they should be exposed; for, not being able to leave the city to collect the dried excrements of beasts, the inhabitants during the siege would be obliged, lite- Abp. Newcome on ver. 6 observes: "This number rally, to use dried human ordure for fuel. The very of years will take us back, with sufficient exactness, circumstances show that this was the plain fact of the from the year in which Jerusalem was sacked by Necase. However, we find that the prophet was re-buchadnezzar to the first year of Jeroboam's reign, lieved from using this kind of fuel, for cows' dung was substituted at his request. See ver. 15.

Verse 14. My soul hath not been polluted] There is a remarkable similarity between this expostulation of the prophet and that of St. Peter, Acts x. 14.

Verse 16. I will break the staff of bread] They shall be besieged till all the bread is consumed, till the famine becomes absolute; see 2 Kings xxv. 3: "And

when national idolatry began in Israel. The period of days seems to predict the duration of the siege by the Babylonians, ver. 9, deducting from the year five months and twenty-nine days, mentioned 2 Kings xxv. 1-4, the time during which the Chaldeans were on their expedition against the Egyptians; see Jer. xxxvii. 5." This amounts nearly to the same as that mentioned above.

CHAPTER V.

In this chapter the prophet shows, under the type of hair, the judgments which God was about to execute on the inhabitants of Jerusalem by famine, sword, and dispersion, 1–4. The type or allegory is then dropped, and God is introduced declaring in plain terms the vengeance that was coming on the whole nation which had proved so unworthy of those mercies with which they had hitherto been distinguished, 5–17.

siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt
take a third part, and smite about
it with a knife: and a third part
thou shalt scatter in the wind;
and I will draw out a sword after them.

3 Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy f skirts.

4 Then take of them again, and cast them Heb. wings. - Jer. xli. 1, 2, &c.;

* See Lev. xxi. 5; Isa. vii. 20; chap. xliv. 20.- b Ver. 12. Jer. xl. 6; lii. 16.c Chap. iv. 1. Chap. iv. 8, 9.

с

NOTES ON CHAP. V. Verses 1-4. Take thee a sharp knife] Among the Israelites, and indeed among most ancient nations, there were very few edge-tools. The sword was the chief; and this was used as a knife, a razor, &c., according to its different length and sharpness. It is likely that only one kind of instrument is here intended; a knife or short sword, to be employed as a razor.

Here is a new emblem produced, in order to mark

out the coming evils.

xliv. 14.

1. The prophet represents the Jewish nation. 2. His hair, the people. 3. The razor, the Chaldeans. 4. The cutting the beard and hair, the calamities, sorrows, and disgrace coming upon the people. Cutting off the hair was a sign of mourning; see on Jer. xlv. 5; xlviii. 37; and also a sign of great disgrace; see 2 Sam. x. 4. 5. He is ordered to divide the hair, ver. 2, into three equal parts, to intimate the different degrees and kinds of punish

9 And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.

5 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. 6 And she hath changed my judgments into 10 Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons wickedness more than the nations, and my in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat statutes more than the countries that are round their fathers; and I will execute judgments about her for they have refused my judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I and my statutes, they have not walked in them.scatter into all the winds.

n

7 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Be- 11 Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord cause ye multiplied more than the nations GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my that are round about you, and have not sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and walked in my statutes, neither have kept my with all thine abominations, therefore will I judgments, neither have done according to also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye the judgments of the nations that are round spare, neither will I have any pity. about you;

12 PA third part of thee shall die with the

8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Be- pestilence, and with famine shall they be con

Dan. ix. 12;

2 Kings vi.
J Ver. 12;
Zech. ii. 6.

Jer. ii. 10, 11; chap. xvi. 47. iLam. iv. 6; Amos iii. 2. Lev. xxvi. 29; Deut. xxviii. 53; 29; Jer. xix. 9; Lam. ii. 20; iv. 10; Bar. ii. 3.Lev. xxvi. 33; Deut. xxviii. 64; chap. xii. 14; ment which should fall upon the people. 6. The balances, ver. 1, were to represent the Divine justice, and the exactness with which God's judgments should be distributed among the offenders. 7. This hair, divided into three parts, is to be disposed of thus: 1. A third part is to be burnt in the midst of the city, to show that so many should perish by famine and pestilence during the siege. 2. Another third part he was to cut in small portions about the city, (that figure which he had pourtrayed upon the brick,) to signify those who should perish in different sorties, and in defending the walls. 3.

m2 Chron. xxxvi. 14; chap. vii. 20; viii. 5, &c.; xxiii. 38. Chap. vii. 4, 9; viii. 18; ix. 10.—P See n Chap. xi. 21.—o ver. 2; Jer. xv. 2; xxi. 9; chap. vi. 12.

show that even this literal sense is tolerably correct.
But the point which is the centre of the greatest por-
tion of land that can be exhibited on one hemisphere
is the capital of the British empire. See my Sermon
on the universal spread of the Gospel.
Verse 6. She hath changed my judgments] God
shows the reason why he deals with Jerusalem in greater
severity than with the surrounding nations; because
she was more wicked than they. Bad and idolatrous
as they were, they had a greater degree of morality
among them than the Jews had. Having fallen from
the true God, they became more abominable than others

which they had fallen This is the common case of backsliders; they frequently, in their fall, become tenfold more the children of wrath than they were before.

And the remaining third part he was to scatter in the wind, to point out those who should be driven into cap-in proportion to the height, eminence, and glory from tivity. And, 4. The sword following them was intended to show that their lives should be at the will of their captors, and that many of them should perish by the sword in their dispersions. 5. The few hairs which he was to take in his skirts, ver. 3, was intended to represent those few Jews that should be left in the land under Gedaliah, after the taking of the city. 6. The throwing a part of these last into the fire, ver. 4, was intended to show the miseries that these suffered in Judea, in Egypt, and finally in their being also carried away into Babylon on the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. See these transactions particularly pointed out in the notes on Jeremiah, chapters xl., xli., xlii.

Some think that this prophecy may refer to the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes.

Verse 5. This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations] I have made this city the most eminent and the most illustrious in the world. Some think that these words refer to its geographical situation, as being equally in the centre of the habitable world. But any point on a globe is its centre, no matter where laid down; and it would not be difficult to

Verse 9. I will do in thee that which I have not done] The destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar was one of the greatest calamities that ever fell on any nation or place before; and that by the Romans under Titus exceeded all that has taken place since. These two sackages of that city have no parallel in the history of mankind.

Verse 10. The fathers shall eat the sons] Though we have not this fact so particularly stated in history, yet we cannot doubt of it, considering the extremities to which they were reduced during the siege. The same is referred to by Jeremiah, Lam. iv. 10. Even the women, who were remarkable for kindness and humanity, boiled their own children, and ate them during the siege.

Will I scatter into all the winds.] Disperse you, by captivity, among all the nations of the earth. Verse 12. A third part of thee] See the note on ver. 1-4.

Farther judgments

A. M. cir. 3410.

B. C. cir. 594. OL. XLVI. 3. Tarquinii Prisci, R., Roman., cir, annum 23.

CHAP. VI.

against Jerusalem. sumed in the midst of thee: and an instruction and an astonish- A. M. cir. 3410.

a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.

14 Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by. 15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt,

Verse 13. I will cause my fury to rest], My displeasure, and the evidences of it, shall not be transient; they shall be permanent upon you, and among you. And is not this dreadfully true to the present day?

B. C. cir. 594. Ol. XLVI. 3. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., cir. annum 23.

ment unto the nations that are
round about thee, when I shall
execute judgments in thee in
anger and in fury and in y furious rebukes. I
the LORD have spoken it.

16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your a staff of bread.

с

17 So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.

37; 1 Kings ix. 7; Psa. lxxix. 4; Jer. xxiv. 9; Lam. ii. 15. Chap. xxv. 17.- - Deut. xxxii. 23, 24. Lev. xxvi. 26, chap. iv. 16; xiv. 13.- - Lev. xxvi. 22; Deut. xxxii. 24; chap. xiv. 21; xxxiii. 27; xxxiv. 25.—c Chap. xxxviii. 22.

Verse 17. So will I send upon you famine and evi beasts, and they shall bereave thee] Wild beasts always multiply in depopulated countries. In England, wolves abounded when the country was thinly peopled; it is now full of inhabitants, and there is not one wolf

Verse 16. The evil arrows of famine] Famine and in the land. Nebuchadnezzar and his Chaldeans may pestilence are represented as poisoned arrows, inflict-be called here evil beasts. He is often compared to a ing death wherever they wound. The ancients repre- lion, Jer. iv. 7; Dan. vii. 14; on account of the ray

sented them in the same way.

ages made by him and his Chaldean armies,

CHAPTER VI.

In this chapter, which forms a distinct section, the prophet denounces the judgments of God against the Jews for their idolatry, 1-7; but tells them that a remnant shall be saved, and brought to a sense of their sins by their severe afflictions, 8–14.

Chap. xx. 46; xxi. 2; xxv. 2.- Chap. xxxvi. 1.- C Lev. Or, sun images; and so ver. 6.- -e Lev. xxvi. 30.- Heb.

xxvi. 30.

NOTES ON CHAP. VI.

Verse 2. Set thy face toward the mountains of Israel] This is a new prophecy, and was most probably given after the four hundred and thirty days of his lying on his left and right side were accomplished. By Israel here, Judea is simply meant; not the ten tribes, who had long before been carried into captivity. Ezekiel uses this term in reference to the Jews only.

give.

The mountains may be addressed here particularly, because it was on them the chief scenes of idolatry were exhibited.

Verse 4. Your images shall be broken] Literally, your sun images; representations of the sun, which they worshipped. See the margin.

Verse 5. Will scatter your bones round about your altars.] This was literally fulfilled by the Chaldeans.

The desolations that shall

B. C. cir. 594.

Ol. XLVI. 3. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., cir. annum 23.

A. M. cir. 3410 children of Israel before their and that I have not said in vain
idols; and I will scatter your that I would do this evil unto them.
bones round about your altars.
6 In all your dwelling-places
the cities shall be laid waste, and the high
places shall be desolate; that your altars may
be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols
may be broken and cease, and your images
may be cut down, and your works may be
abolished.

7 And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and g ye shall know that I am the LORD.

8 h Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.

9 And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.

A. M. cir. 3410.

B. C. cir. 594. Ol. XLVI. 3. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman.,

cir. annum 23.

11 Thus saith the Lord God; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

12 He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.

13 Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.

14 So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, "more desolate than the wilderness toward▾ Diblath, in all their habitations: and they` shall know 10 And they shall know that I am the LORD, that I am the LORD.

8 Ver. 13; chap. vii. 4, 9; xi. 10, 12; xii. 15.— Jer. xliv. 28; chap. v. 2, 12; xii. 16; xiv. 22. Psa. lxxviii. 40; Isa. vii. 13; xliii. 24; lxiii. 10. Num. xv. 39; chap. xx. 7, 24. 1 Lev. xxvi. 39; Job xlii. 6; chap. xx. 43; xxxvi. 31. According to Baruch, chap. ii. 24, 25, they opened the sepulchres of the principal people, and threw the bones about on every side.

Verse 9. They that escape of you shall remember me] Those that escape the sword, the pestilence, and the famine, and shall be led into captivity, shall plainly see that it is God who has done this; and shall humble themselves on account of their abominations, leave their idolatry, and worship me alone. And this they have done from the Babylonish captivity to the present day.

Verse 11. Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot] Show the utmost marks of thy astonishment and indignation, and dread of the evils that are coming upon them. Some have contended for the, propriety of clapping and stamping in public worship from these words! It is scarcely a breach of charity to think that such persons are themselves incapable either of attending on or conducting the worship of God. To be consistent, they should copy the prophet in his other typical actions as well as these; and then we shall hear of their lying on their left side for three hundred and ninety days, and on their right side for forty days; shaving their heads, burning their hair, baking their bread with dung, &c. Now all these things, because 440

Chap. xxi. 14.-——» Chap. v. 12.- Chap. v. 13.- Ver. 7. Jer. ii. 20. Hos. iv. 13.- Isa. Ivii. 5.- Isa. v. 25.-u Or, desolate from the wilderness.- Num. xxxiii. 46; Jer. xlviii. 22.

they were typical and commanded, were proper in the prophet: in such persons as the above they would be evidences of insanity. Such extravagant acts are no part of God's worship.

Verse 14. And make the land-more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath] Diblath or Diblathayim is situated in the land of Moab. It is mentioned Num. xxxiii. 46, Almon-Diblathaim; and in Jer. xlviii. 22, Beth-Diblathaim. It was a part of that horrible wilderness mentioned by Moses, Deut. viii. 15, "wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought." The precise reason why it is mentioned here is not very evident. Some think it is the same as Riblah, where Nebuchadnezzar slew the princes of Israel, and put out Zedekiah's eyes; the principal difference lying between the T daleth and the resh, which in MSS. is often scarcely discernible; and hence vast multitudes of various readings. Five, probably six, of Kennicott's MSS. have a riblathah, as likewise two of my oldest MSS.; though in the margin of one a later hand directs the word to be read n bedaleth, with daleth. But all the Versions read the word with a D. This may appear a matter of little importance, but we should take pains to recover even one lost letter of the word of God.

This chapter, which also forms a distinct prophecy, foretells the dreadful destruction of the land of Israel, or Judah, (for after the captivity of the ten tribes these terms are often used indiscriminately for the Jews in general,) on account of the heinous sins of its inhabitants, 1-15; and the great distress of the small remnant that should escape, 16-19. The temple itself, which they had polluted with idolatry, is devoted to destruction, 20-22; and the prophet is directed to make a chain, as a type of that captivity, in which both king and people should be led in bonds to Babylon, 23–27. The whole chapter abounds in bold and beautiful figures, flowing in an easy and forcible language.

Verse 5. An evil, an only evil] The great, the sovereign, the last exterminating evil, is come: the of sound, or reflected sound, or re-echoing from the