Ezekiel 33

Eze 33:1-33.

RENEWAL OF

EZEKIEL'S

COMMISSION,

NOW THAT

HE

IS

AGAIN TO

ADDRESS

HIS

COUNTRYMEN, AND IN A

NEW

TONE.

Heretofore his functions had been chiefly threatening; from this point,

after the evil had got to its worst in the overthrow of Jerusalem, the

consolatory element preponderates.

2. to the children of thy people--whom he had been forbidden to

address from

Eze 24:26, 27,

till Jerusalem was overthrown, and the "escaped" came with tidings of

the judgment being completed. So now, in

Eze 33:21,

the tidings of the fact having arrived, he opens his heretofore closed

lips to the Jews. In the interval he had prophesied as to foreign

nations. The former part of the chapter, at

Eze 33:2-20,

seems to have been imparted to Ezekiel on the evening previous

(Eze 33:22),

being a preparation for the latter part

(Eze 33:23-33)

imparted after the tidings had come. This accounts for the first part

standing without intimation of the date, which was properly reserved

for the latter part, to which the former was the anticipatory

introduction [FAIRBAIRN].

watchman--

Eze 33:1-9

exhibit Ezekiel's office as a spiritual watchman; so in

Eze 3:16-21;

only here the duties of the earthly watchman (compare

2Sa 18:24, 25;

2Ki 9:17)

are detailed first, and then the application is made to the spiritual

watchman's duty (compare

Isa 21:6-10;

Ho 9:8;

Hab 2:1).

"A man of their coasts" is a man specially chosen for the office out

of their whole number. So

Jud 18:2,

"five men from their coasts"; also the Hebrew of

Ge 47:2;

implying the care needed in the choice of the watchman, the spiritual

as well as the temporal

(Ac 1:21, 22, 24-26;

1Ti 5:22).

3. the sword--invaders. An appropriate illustration at the time of the

invasion of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar.

4. blood . . . upon his own head--metaphor from sacrificial victims,

on the heads of which they used to lay their hands, praying that their

guilt should be upon the victims.

6. his iniquity--his negligence in not maintaining constant

watchfulness, as they who are in warfare ought to do. The thing

signified here appears from under the image.

7. I have set thee a watchman--application of the image. Ezekiel's

appointment to be a watchman spiritually is far more solemn, as it is

derived from God, not from the people.

8. thou shalt surely die--by a violent death, the earnest of

everlasting death; the qualification being supposed, "if thou dost not

repent."

9. Blood had by this time been shed

(Eze 33:21),

but Ezekiel was clear.

10. be upon us--that is, their guilt remain on us.

pine away in them--if we suffer the penalty threatened for them in

Eze 24:23,

according to the law

(Le 26:39).

how should we . . . live?--as Thou dost promise in

Eze 33:5

(compare

Eze 37:11;

Isa 49:14).

11. To meet the Jews' cry of despair in

Eze 33:10,

Ezekiel here cheers them by the assurance that God has no pleasure in

their death, but that they should repent and live

(2Pe 3:9).

A yearning tenderness manifests itself here, notwithstanding all their

past sins; yet with it a holiness that abates nothing of its demands

for the honor of God's authority. God's righteousness is vindicated as

in

Eze 3:18-21

and Eze 18:1-32,

adaptation of God's justice to his particular case.

12. not fall . . . in the day that he turneth--

(2Ch 7:14;

see

Eze 3:20; 18:24).

15. give again that he had robbed--

(Lu 19:8).

statutes of life--in the obeying of which life is promised

(Le 18:5).

If the law has failed to give life to man, it has not been the fault of

the law, but of man's sinful inability to keep it

(Ro 7:10, 12;

Ga 3:21).

It becomes life-giving through Christ's righteous obedience to it

(2Co 3:6).

17. The way of the Lord--The Lord's way of dealing in His moral

government.

21. twelfth year . . . tenth month--a year and a half after the

capture of the city

(Jer 39:2; 52:5, 6),

in the eleventh year and fourth month. The one who escaped (as

foretold,

Eze 24:26)

may have been so long on the road through fear of entering the enemy's

country [HENDERSON]; or, the singular is

used for the plural in a collective sense, "the escaped

remnant." Compare similar phrases, "the escaped of Moab,"

Isa 15:9;

"He that escapeth of them,"

Am 9:1.

Naturally the reopening of the prophet's mouth for consolation would be

deferred till the number of the escaped remnant was complete: the

removal of such a large number would easily have occupied seventeen or

eighteen months.

22. in the evening--(see on

Eze 33:2).

Thus the capture of Jerusalem was known to Ezekiel by revelation before

the messenger came.

my mouth . . . no more dumb--that is, to my

countrymen; as foretold

(Eze 24:27),

He spake

(Eze 33:2-20)

in the evening before the tidings came.

24. they that inhabit . . . wastes of . . .

Israel--marking the blindness of the fraction of Jews under

Gedaliah who, though dwelling amidst regions laid waste by the foe,

still cherished hopes of deliverance, and this without repentance.

Abraham was one . . . but we are many--If God gave the

land for an inheritance to Abraham, who was but one

(Isa 51:2),

much more it is given to us, who, though reduced, are still many. If

he, with 318 servants, was able to defend himself amid so many foes,

much more shall we, so much more numerous, retain our own. The grant of

the land was not for his sole use, but for his numerous posterity.

inherited the land--not actually possessed it

(Ac 7:5),

but had the right of dwelling and pasturing his flocks in it [GROTIUS]. The Jews boasted similarly of their Abrahamic

descent in

Mt 3:9

and Joh 8:39.

25. eat with the blood--in opposition to the law

(Le 19:26;

compare

Ge 9:4).

They did so as an idolatrous rite.

26. Ye stand upon your sword--Your dependence is, not on right and

equity, but on force and arms.

every one--Scarcely anyone refrains from adultery.

27. shall fall by the sword--The very object of their confidence

would be the instrument of their destruction. Thinking to "stand" by it,

Ishmael; others by the Chaldeans in revenge for the murder of Gedaliah

(Jer 40:1-44:30).

caves--

(Jud 6:2;

1Sa 13:6).

In the hilly parts of Judea there were caves almost inaccessible, as

having only crooked and extremely narrow paths of ascent, with rock in

front stretching down into the valleys beneath perpendicularly [JOSEPHUS, Wars of the Jews, 1.16.4].

28. most desolate--

(Jer 4:27; 12:11).

none . . . pass through--from fear of wild beasts and pestilence

[GROTIUS].

30. Not only the remnant in Judea, but those at the Chebar, though

less flagrantly, betrayed the same unbelieving spirit.

talking against thee--Though going to the prophet to hear the word

of the Lord, they criticised, in an unfriendly spirit, his

peculiarities of manner and his enigmatical style

(Eze 20:49);

making these the excuse for their impenitence. Their talking was not

directly "against" Ezekiel, for they professed to like his

ministrations; but God's word speaks of things as they really are, not

as they appear.

the walls of their houses in winter for conversation.

in the doors--privately.

what is the word--Their motive was curiosity, seeking pastime and

gratification of the ear

(2Ti 4:3);

not reformation of the heart. Compare Johanan's consultation of

Jeremiah, to hear the word of the Lord without desiring to do it

(Jer 42:1-43:13).

31. as the people cometh--that is, in crowds, as disciples flock to

their teacher.

sit before thee--on lower seats at thy feet, according to the Jewish

custom of pupils

(De 33:3;

2Ki 4:38;

Lu 10:39;

Ac 22:3).

as my people--though they are not.

hear . . . not do--

(Mt 13:20, 21;

Jas 1:23, 24).

they show much love--literally, "make love," that is, act the part of

lovers. Profess love to the Lord

(Mt 7:21).

GESENIUS translates, according to Arabic

idiom, "They do the delights of God," that is, all that is agreeable to

God. Vulgate translates, "They turn thy words into a song of

their mouths."

heart goeth after . . . covetousness--the grand rival to the love of

God; therefore called "idolatry," and therefore associated with impure

carnal love, as both alike transfer the heart's affection from the

Creator to the creature

(Mt 13:22;

Eph 5:5;

1Ti 6:10).

32. very lovely song--literally, a "song of loves": a lover's song.

They praise thy eloquence, but care not for the subject of it as a real

and personal thing; just as many do in the modern church

[JEROME].

play well on an instrument--Hebrew singers accompanied the "voice"

with the harp.

33. when this cometh to pass--when My predictions are verified.

lo, it will come--rather, "lo it is come" (see

Eze 33:22).

know--experimentally, and to their cost.