PREFACE.

THE thirteenth volume of this work embraces the Commentaries on the Prophetical Books of Ezekiel and Daniel.

I. The Commentary on EZEKIEL was prepared (1873) by my friend, the Rev. F. W. J. SCHRÖDER, Pastor of the First Reformed Church at Elberfeld, a gentleman of thorough theological education, sound views, and great pulpit abilities. He intended to devote himself to an academic carcer, took the degree of B.D. (Lic. Theol.), in the University of Berlin, and began a Commentary on the Old Testament somewhat similar to that of LANGE, issuing a volume on Genesis, which was well received. But when the celebrated Dr. F. W. KRUMMACHER removed from Elberfeld to Berlin (in 1847), Mr. SCHRÖDER, on his recommendation, was selected his successor, and continued in this pastoral charge till his death, in February, 1876. He looked forward with great interest to the appearance of the English translation of his work, on which he spent much labor and care.

The English edition was intrusted to the Rev. Dr. FAIRBAIRN, of Glasgow, one of the fathers and founders of the Free Church of Scotland, and himself the author of a valuable Commentary on Ezekiel, as well as other well known theological works. His lamented death delayed the work. But he had associated with him his pupil and friend, the Rev. WM. FINDLAY, M.A., of Larkhall Scotland, who, in connection with two other Scotch ministers, the Rev. THOMAS CRERAR, M. A. of Cardross, and the Rev. SINCLAIR MANSON, M.A., Free Church College, Glasgow, completed the task. The translation has been executed as follows:

1 Dr. PATRICK FAIRBAIRN was born in January, 1805, and died August 6, 1874. See the Biographical Sketch by Prof. DOUGLAS, D.D. (his successor), in the "Monthly Record" of the Free Church of Scotland, for Oct. 1, 1874, pp. 217-218. and the Memoir prefixed to FAIRBAIRN's "Pastoral Epistles," Edinburgh, 1875.

Many of the additions, which are numerous, have been extracted from Dr. FAIRBAIRN'S Commentary and from his manuscript notes. His forte lay in the development of principles and com. prehensive views rather than in critical notes and details. The chief additions are on the English literature of Ezekiel (p. 30), the vision of the Cherubim (pp. 52-54), the symbolical actions (pp. 77-78), the 390 days (p. 81), the abominations in the Temple (pp. 104-106), Noah, Daniel and Job (p. 151), the marriage union of Jehovah and Israel (pp. 161-162), the Jewish Sabbath (p. 197), the Prince of Tyre (pp. 262-263), the Assyrian cedar (p. 284), the image of the Shepherd (p. 318), the divine promises in Chaps. XXXIV-XXXVII (pp. 352–353), Gog and Magog (pp. 372-373), and especially on the vision of the Temple (pp. 439–444).

II. The Commentary on DANIEL is the work of Prof. ZöCKLER (1870), whom the readers of LANGE already know as one of the largest and ablest contributors to the Old Testament part of this Commentary.

The English edition of DANIEL is the work of the Rev. Dr. STRONG, of Drew Theological Seminary, aided by the Rev. G. MILLER, B.D., of Walpach Centre, N. J., who prepared the first draft of the translation. DR. STRONG has inserted the Biblical Text with its emendations and Critical Notes, and has made all the additions to the Commentary. The most extensive of these are the synoptical view of Daniel's prophecies, in tabular form, given in the Introduction, originally prepared by Dr. STRONG for another work, and the excursus on the Seventy Weeks. Dr. STRONG has everywhere added the interpretations of later or unnoticed Commentaries, especially those of Dr. KEIL and MOSES STUART. He differs from the German author with respect to the genuineness of certain parts of Chap. XI (vers. 5–39), and hopes he has fully vindicated the complete integrity of the text, as well as cleared up those difficulties which the author has confessedly left unsolved. Dr. ZöCKLER himself admits, in the Preface, that his doubts concerning Chap. XI. are purely subjective, (the supposed analogia visionis propheticæ,) and that the external testimonies are all in favor of the integrity of the text.

PHILIP SCHAFF.

NEW YORK, Oct., 1876.

THE PROPHET EZEKIEL.

INTRODUCTION.

§ 1. NAME OF THE PROPHET, AND ITS MEANING.

In Hebrew, Jěchedsĕqel; according to the Greek translation, Jezeki-el; in Sirach in Grecized form, Jezeki-elos, as Josephus also writes the name; in Latin (Vulgate), Ezechi-el; Luther, Heseki-el.

Gesenius). In the) יְחַוּק אֵל Ewald) or of) יֶחֱזַק אֵל is a compound either of יְחֶזְקֵאל

former case the meaning of the name, according to prevailing linguistic usage, would be the intransitive one: God is strong (firm)" (Hengstenberg: "or he in relation to whom God becomes strong"); in the other case the name of the prophet would mean: "God strengthens,” i.e. "whom God makes firm (hardens)” (Baumgarten: "whose character is a personal confirmation of the strengthening of God"). The verb pin may be compared with ioxin (ioxús), "to be strong; " in its radical meaning it has a transitive character ("to straiten," "to press," ," "to make firm," "to fetter "). Hiller in the Onomasticon sacrum translates the name Ezekiel: Deus prævalebit; and a similar explanation is given by Witsius also (Treatise, De Prophetis in capt. Babyl., Miscell. s. i. 19, 6), J. H. Michaelis, and others.

The names of the prophets have their providential element, so that they may produce the impression of emblems in word. What the character of the time is in the divine judgment and the special task of the prophet, his calling from God, and therefore also his comfort against men, appear to have found expression in the name.

"Like all the names of the canonical prophets, the name of Ezekiel also is not such a name as he had borne from his youth, but an official name which he had assumed at the beginning of his calling" (Hengstenberg).

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When passages like chap. i. 3, iii. 14 in Ezekiel are quoted for the explanation of his name, we arrive at no further result than something like what may be said distinctively of the prophetic order in general,-this compulsion of the human spirit by the Spirit of God, as a result of superior divine power. The holy men of God were φερόμενοι ὑπὸ πνεύματος ἁγίου, 2 Pet. i. 21; God carried them along with Him (Ezek. iii. 14), proved Himself first of all in themselves to be the strong God. But while "the hand of Jehovah was upon him," and was strong upon him," there is besides a distinctive, peculiar element in Ezekiel, as contrasted e.g. with Jeremiah (comp. his first appearance, Jer. i. 4-7, xx. 7), or even as in the case of Jonah. The interpretation of the name assumes a more individual aspect only passages like chap. iii. 8, 9 are also taken into consideration. Hard against hard (pin) is accordingly the mission of our prophet, the counter-hard he is to be according to God's will. God stands fast to His purpose, alike as respects judgment and as respects salvation: this is the stamp of the time according to God in the name of Ezekiel, the objective programme of his mission for those to whom he is sent, and let the heathen also know it. And for the accomplishment of such a task God strengthens him (the subjective side), i.e. in conformity with his nature, which is, of course, of another type from that of his parallel Jeremiah (§§ 2, 4). Ezekiel has not the "tender heart" and "soft disposition," but is " an individuality already endowed by nature with admirable strength of mind" (Hävernick). Where the man is iron, the divine preparation consists in this, that God makes him steel, hardens him, -lends to his natural power and energy the consecration of a sword of God (Isaiah =God (is) salvation, God (is) gracious; Ezekiel=God (is) hard).

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Appendix.-" "We may suppose that pious parents in those very corrupt times wished to testify their faith and to recommend it to their children by bestowing on them names so significant: that God will support the pious with His might, and carry through the covenant of His grace with His strong hand" (Witsius).—"The name is borrowed from the invincible might of God and our Saviour, and our prophet was able to comfort and fortify himself against all temptations and difficulties in his office by the mere remembrance even of his name and its meaning" (J. H. Michaelis)." This prophet strengthened and fortified the souls of the Israelites, and on this account he was so named through Divine Providence from his birth; i.e. he was to express the might and strength of God, which He would manifest in the future redemption. For the prophets' names were by no means given them at the will and pleasure of their parents, but they got such names from above, through Divine Providence, as corresponded with their sphere of activity and their deeds" (Abarbanel). "God, the Strong, imparts power, gives strength and continuance. Thus might, power, strength from the hand which alone is strong; with human impotence nothing is ever done" (W. Neumann).— "Many explain the name of the prophet in this way: he who is strengthened by the Lord;' others in this way: he who holds fast to God; and the man who will discharge his office with success must be strengthened by the Lord, for mere natural strength is too powerless to bear such a burden and to withstand the violence of the enemy. Let a man therefore hold fast to God, in order that he may overcome through the power of the Most High; let him do so with prayer, in order that his work may have a blessed result" (J. F. Starck).

§ 2. HIS POSITION AMONG THE FOUR GREATER PROPHETS."

As is well known, the acceptance of four so-called "greater prophets," including Daniel as such after Ezekiel, in Luther's translation of the Bible, rests on the precedent of the Vulgate, which in this had been anticipated by the Greek translation of the LXX. and also by Josephus, while the editions and MSS. of the Hebrew Bible reckon only three Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel-and place Daniel among the '.

If the designation of the "greater" prophets has a mere outward reference to the size of their books which have come down to us, a deeper instinct has combined the three, and then also added the fourth. We have here the fourfold Old Testament gospel.

The fact that in the Talmud, as in German and French codices (comp. W. Neumann on Jeremiah, pp. 10 sqq.), Jeremiah is the first, and Ezekiel and Isaiah follow him,-of which Kimchi gives this as the explanation: "As the books of Kings (being those which precede) close with the devastation, and the whole of Jeremiah is occupied with the devastation, and as Ezekiel on the other hand ends with comfort, and Isaiah is wholly comfort," the Talmudists had joined "devastation with devastation, and comfort with comfort,"-gives no help indeed to a deeper understanding of the connection, but we see, although this order of succession differs from the Rabbinical one of the Masoretic text, in the one case as in the other a prophetic triad, and that consisting of the same persons. The one arrangement is predominantly according to contents, the other is chronological.

The Calwer Handbuch thus expresses itself: "Ezekiel forms with Isaiah and Jeremiah a glorious triad. While Isaiah exhibits the servant of God marching along in exalted greatness, and Jeremiah exhibits him gently admonishing, silently suffering, Ezekiel is the one who, in the first place, breaking in pieces the hard hearts with the hammer of the law, represents the strict inexorable judge, but thereafter, pouring soothing balm into the open wounds, approves himself as the healing physician. Faith, love, hope, would be a suitable inscription over these three prophetic books also."

Whether, then, we make the ascent from Isaiah with the Rabbins, or to Isaiah with the Talmudists, in either arrangement Ezekiel has Jeremiah as a neighbour; and consequently for his position in the triad this juxtaposition, which is also otherwise confirmed (§ 3), is first of all to be noticed. What Jeremiah's policy of the kingdom of God is in its melancholy way, in presence of the temple and while still in the holy city, that same is the choleric1 Ezekiel, far from the sanctuary among those already carried away. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in His time,”—so runs the preaching of both, this is their harmonious note; thus an announcement of judgment, of the full measure of punishment; just as Calvin says, that "God has made Jeremiah and Ezekiel

'The Ezekiel of Michael Angelo on the roof of the Sistine Chapel is correctly described by H. Grimm in his Life of Michael Angelo, "with the upper part of the body eagerly bent forward, the right hand stretched out in the act of demonstration, holding in the left an unrolled parchment; it is as if one saw the thoughts chasing one another in his mind.”

the instruments of arraigning the Jews as guilty, and of holding up before them the sentence of condemnation."1

But if Ezekiel is parallel with Jeremiah, he may also further, like him, be made to approach Isaiah. In a theological point of view, Christ is certainly above all and the beginning of the way of God with sinners, God's will and purpose from eternity. The "salvation of Jehovah," therefore, takes the lead among the prophets also, and Isaiah has his place before Jeremiah. Historically, on the other hand, Christ appears as the end of the law; where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; and out of the curse on Israel came the blessing to all nations. This is, as far as the law is concerned, the historical transition, and in fact that from Ezekiel to Isaiah. For, as is included in the meaning of the name Ezekiel, not merely does the judgment stand fast, but the salvation likewise stands fast through God.

“As Isaiah has the calling to bring the word of Jehovah to Israel at the time when the necessity of the judgment of the captivity to be suspended over them had publicly manifested itself, and as Jeremiah discharged the prophetic office when this great and fearful turn of affairs burst forth upon the city of Jerusalem and the house of David, so Ezekiel has the prophetic calling to introduce personally the stiff-necked house of Israel into their thousand years' school of trial-into the wilderness of the heathen" (Baumgarten). ("As Isaiah proclaims the wrath of God in words of thunder, and Jeremiah wails in deep plaintive tones, 30 Ezekiel spreads out a multitude of splendid pictures, like banners, under which the scattered people are again to gather and comfort themselves, above all the picture of the ideal temple. With Isaiah, power of intellect predominates; with Jeremiah, depth of feeling; with Ezekiel, fancy." "Wolfg. Menzel.)

If, finally, we add to the position of our prophet in the triad with respect to Jeremiah and with respect to Isaiah his position with respect to Daniel, the fourth and additional greater prophet, then we have again a parallelism. The parallel of Ezekiel with Jeremiah has reference to their labours inwardly among Israel; the parallel of Ezekiel with Daniel has reference to their labours outwardly upon the heathen. What is the case with Daniel in an extraordinary way and in subordination to his official position in the world-empire of Nebuchadnezzar, that is Ezekiel's ordinary calling and office. "It is not merely the circumstances of the theocracy in itself that Ezekiel keeps in his eye," says Hävernick, "but also its relation to the heathen world, chap. xxv.-xxxii. It is meant that we should clearly perceive by means of his word, directed to the mightiest, wisest, and proudest nations of the earth, the relation of that heathenism, which was certainly and for ever sinking, to that theocracy, which was at present indeed in a vanquished condition, but yet was ripening for an everlasting victory over the world." Comp. the article Prophetenthum des A. T., by Oehler. (Herzog, Encycl. xii. pp. 230 sqq.)-Richter: "Ezekiel encounters the heathen symbolism of Babylon, just as Daniel encounters the heathen magic of the Chaldeans."

§ 3. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS LIFE, INCLUDING WHAT IS TRADITIONAL. Ezekiel was of priestly extraction, like Jeremiah and Zechariah also. (The name occurs again in 1 Chron. xxiv. 16 in a priestly-Levitical connection.) His father is called (chap. i. 3) Buzi the priest,' ,"2 of whom Holy Scripture relates nothing else. Witsius connects the name ", "i.e. my insult," with the time, which was "full of disgrace and shame." Jewish curiosity has discovered Jeremiah concealed under that name, who, as is alleged, was called "a despised one," and was Ezekiel's father. It passes current generally with the Jews as a rule: that the fathers of the prophets also must have been prophets, if we find them mentioned by name in the Holy Scriptures.

His extraction, and that from "the more respectable priestly families," is evidenced, according to Hävernick, "also by that closer relation in which the prophet (chap. xi.) appears to have stood to the more distinguished members of the priesthood."-Ewald: "As these, the first of the exiles, were in general only richer or more respectable Israelites: he 1 Umbreit draws a parallel between Ezekiel and Jeremiah in the following way :-"Both of priestly descent, but Jeremiah is only a prophet; Ezekiel does not even in a strange land put off the priestly costume, and roots himself firmly in strictly Levitical ordinance, although he gives it a new form in a free spirit. Jeremiah is more the prophet of the Reformed Church development; Ezekiel represents outwardly the system of priestly continuance of Catholicism."

* Unless by ¡7 (Hengstenberg, Bunsen) Ezekiel himself is to be designated as the "priest among the prophets."