ments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the A.C. 594. iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.

18 As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.

19 Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.

16. 2 Kings

xxv. 4. Jer.

20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. "The son shall not u Deut. xxiv. bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear xiv.6.2Chron. the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous xxxi. 29, 30. shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.

11.

23 * Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should xch. xxxiii. die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

25¶Yet ye say, y The way of the LORD is not equal. ych. xxxiii.

Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal.

26 When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.

27 Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

28 Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

29 Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the LORD is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?

20.

30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, Matt. iii. 2. z

A.C. 594 and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

* Or, others.

a Jer. xxxii.

39 ch, xi. 19.

зі

[

a

31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 11. 2 Pet. iii. 9. 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that + Or, others. dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn † yourselves, and

& xxxvi. 26.

b ch. xxxiii.

c 2 Kings

xxiii. 33. Jer. xxii. 11, 12.

+ Or, their widows.

+ Or, in hooks.

+ Or, in thy quietness, or,

live ye.

EZEKIEL XIX.

1 A lamentation for the princes of Israel, under the parable of lion's whelps taken in a pit, 10 and for Jerusalem, under the parable of a wasted vine.

1 Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

2 And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. 3 And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured

men.

4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.

C

5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.

6 And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured

men.

7 And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.

8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.

9 And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

10 Thy mother is like a vine § in thy blood, planted in thy likeness. by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by

reason of

many waters.

11 And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.

12 But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down

to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her A.C. 594. strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.

13 And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.

14 And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

SECTION VI.

Prophecies addressed to the Elders of the Jews 26.

EZEKIEL XX.

1 God refuseth to be consulted by the elders of Israel. 5 He sheweth the story of their rebellions in Egypt, 10 in the wilderness, 27 and in the land. 33 He promiseth to gather them by the Gospel. 45 Under the name of a forest he sheweth the destruction of Jerusalem.

1 And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth

26 The place and date of this part of Ezekiel's prophecies are assigned in chap. xx. ver. 1. A deputation of the elders come to the prophet, in the seventh year of his captivity, to request him to ask counsel of God. Ezekiel, by divine command, reminds them of God's mercies, and their continued idolatry, and rebellions against him, from their departure out of Egypt, to that very day. (chap. xx. ver. 1—40.) The expression (ver. 25,) “I gave them statutes which were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live," is obscure and has been variously interpreted. The generality of commentators, have supposed that it referred to the idolatrous statutes and judgments, and the corrupt principles and practices of the heathen nations, which were so prevalent among the Jews. Bishop Warburton is of opinion that by "the statutes which were not good," was meant the ritual law, which, though burthensome and grievous, was the only means of preserving the Israelites an independent people, and of preparing them for a more perfect and lasting covenant. Towards the end of the chapter, (ver. 40-45,) promises of mercy are held out, and their return from captivity is foretold. The destruction of Jerusalem, (ver. 45, to the end,) is signified under the emblem of a forest consumed by fire. It is called the forest of the south, because it lay to the south of Chaldea; where the prophet then uttered his predictions.

In chap. xxi. ver. 1-18, under the emblem of a sharp sword, is predicted the destruction of the Jews, and (ver. 18-25,) of Jerusalem. The destruction is foretold in a forcible and splendid manner. God foreshews to his prophet, that the king of Babylon, coming with his army into Syria, and finding that the Ammonites had entered into a confederacy with Egypt, as well as Zedekiah, was in doubt against which of the two people he should first wage war. He decided therefore by adopting the usual custom of divining by arrows. This ceremony consisted in writing on several arrows the names of the cities they intended to assault, and then putting them all together promiscuously in a quiver; they were drawn out, as lots are drawn; and the city whose name was written on the

593.

A. C. 593. month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me.

* Or, plead for them.

dch. xxii. 2.

& xxiii, 36.

and so ver. 6,

&c.

2 Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,

3 Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.

d

4 Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:

5¶ And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In Or, war, the day when I chose Israel, and + lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God;

e Ex. iii. 8. & iv. 31.

6 In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:

7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the

arrow first taken from the quiver, was the city upon which they first made war. That Nebuchadnezzar had recourse to this plan of divination seems probable from the expression in ver. 21. In our translation we read, "he made his arrows bright;" but the more proper rendering, according to Archbishop Newcome should be; "he mingled his arrows." There is however another mode of divining, which is said to be still in use, to which this expression in ver. 21, will apply with equal justice. In divination the idolatrous Arabs made use of three arrows only, on one was written, My Lord hath commanded me;' and another My Lord hath forbidden me;' and the third was blank. If the first was drawn, they looked upon it as an approbation of the enterprise in question; if the second, they made a contrary conclusion; but if the third chanced to be drawn, they mixed them, and drew over again, till a decisive answer was obtained by one of the others. Ezekiel describes this proceeding of Nebuchadnezzar by prophetic anticipation.

The subversion of the temporal kingdom of Judah leads the prophet to refer to Zedekiah, (ver. 25-28,) and to predict the total overthrow of the earthly dominion of the house of David, till the day come, when the Messiah shall visit his people. He then predicts the overthrow of the Ammonites by Nebuchadnezzar, (ver. 28, to the end;) which prophecy was fulfilled five years after Jerusalem was destroyed. Chapter xxii. contains a recital of the sins committed in Jerusalem, by all ranks of people, for which severe judgments are denounced: and chap. xxiii. represents the idolatries of Samaria and Jerusalem under the emblem of two harlots; and for their crimes, (ver. 22, to the end,) the severest judgments are threatened to both.-Warburton's Divine Legat. b. iv. c. 6; Hales' Anal. vol. ii. p. 485; Archbp. Newcome in loc.; Horne's Crit. Introd.; Note in Mant and D'Oyly's Bible, on Ezek. xxii. 25.

abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the A. C. 593. idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

8 But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

9 But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.

10 ¶ Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the f Ex. xiii. 18. land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. 11 And I gave them my statutes, and judgments, which if a man do, he shall 12 Moreover also I gave them my sign between me and them, that they might know that am the LORD that sanctify them.

i

h

shewed them even live in them. sabbaths, to be

my

*Heb. made them to know.

g

Rom. x. 5.

Lev. xviii. 5.

a

h Ex. xx. 8.

I

&

Gal. iii. 12. xxxi. 13, &c.

k

& XXXV. 2. Deut. v. 12.

13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly i polluted: then I said, i Ex. xvi. 27. I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to k consume them. 14 But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.

15 Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;

16 Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

17 Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.

18 But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:

19 I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;

20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.

21 Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments

VOL. II.

Tt

Num. xiv.

29. & xxvi. 65. Ps. cvi. 23.