Commentary on Ezekiel 1 part 14/19

By his shadow, and his shoots, and his branches, he called not only the lieutenants and generals, but also the satraps who governed the nations, to whom the subject peoples continued in servitude.

Then he also teaches the cause of the multitude:

having spread out its roots and received abundant watering, it nourished these branches.

And continuing in the figure, (8)

'The cypresses,' he says, 'did not surpass him in the paradise of God.'

For none, he says, of those then reigning throughout the inhabited world became more illustrious than that man;

for by paradise he here called the inhabited world;

for meanwhile he speaks everything figuratively.

'And the pines,' he says, 'were not like his branches, and the firs did not become like his shoots.' Not only, he says, did he himself become more illustrious than the other kings, but even his branches and shoots surpassed by far in measure, in height, and in density the kings of the other nations.

By pines and firs he figuratively called the kings of the lesser nations, over whom he had set the satraps who compelled these to obey.

He says, therefore, that he became greater than the greatest kings;

and than the lesser kings, not only he himself, but even his rulers became more powerful and more illustrious.

'No tree in the paradise of God was likened to him in his beauty, (9) because of the multitude of his branches.'

By beauty he means that which is seen, that which pertains to the body: the purple robe, the crowns, the thrones set with precious stones, the spearmen, the shield-bearers, and all the other things that are wont to make kings splendid in outward appearance;

he says, therefore, that none of those who had then reigned on earth was made equal to him;

and he adds that he became an object of envy to all those.

'For all the trees of the delight of the paradise of God envied him,' he says. Then he lays bare the pride of his soul.

'Wherefore he became great in his greatness, and set his dominion in the midst of the clouds, and his heart was lifted up in his height, and I saw when he was exalted.'

'And I delivered him into the hands of a ruler of nations, and he wrought his destruction according to his impiety.'

For since, he says, he was not content with dominion over men, but employed his arrogance even against Me, I delivered him, he says, into the hands of a ruler of nations. And he means Cyrus;

for this man, being a Mede on his mother's side and a Persian on his father's, and springing from two nations, overthrew the kingdom of the Assyrians and Babylonians.

'And he wrought his destruction,' he says, 'according to his impiety'; for he suffered, he says, things worthy of what he had lawlessly done.

According to the historical sense, then, these things befell Nebuchadnezzar, who had sickened with such great cruelty and arrogance together with impiety.

But if anyone should wish to consider it accurately, he will find that the common tormentor of men, the adversary and enemy of God, the devil, is also intimated through these words: who, having been created well and good, and being made equal to the ruling powers, but existing more illustrious than the inferior ones (for by the paradise of delight and the trees in it, according to the laws of allegory, he called the incorporeal natures), raged against his Maker who had given him so great comeliness and power alike, and, practising tyranny and dreaming of becoming God, fell.

And this the blessed Paul also hints at, saying, 'Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.' For one who does not know how to use honour fittingly will suffer things similar to the devil, who made the honour given to him an occasion of arrogance and pride.

'Who shall not fear thee, O King of the nations?' And the blessed Jacob:

'A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until He come for whom it is reserved, and He is the expectation of nations.' These things Isaiah also proclaims aloud:

'For there shall be,' he says, 'the root of Jesse, and He that rises up to rule the nations; in Him shall the nations hope.' And the Father says to Him:

'and the merchandise of the Ethiopians, and the men of Saba, tall of stature, shall come over to thee, and shall be thy servants;'

'they shall follow after thee bound in fetters, and shall pray to thee, because in thee is God, and there is no God besides thee,' and what follows.

'A people whom I knew not served me.' And countless other testimonies teaching this same thing may be found.

To this One, then, he says the common tormentor and enemy was delivered up, and by Him his destruction came about according to his impiety.

'(12) And strangers, pestilent ones from the nations, utterly destroyed him, and cast him down upon the mountains.'

For when the Lord had conquered him and put him outside his power and tyranny, those who of old were pestilent and strangers to God, those from the nations, having believed the divine proclamation, utterly destroyed him, and tore up his tyranny by the roots, and cast him down upon the mountains, where formerly he had his sacred precincts and altars, having set up there the pillars of the true philosophy.

'And his branches fell in all the ravines, and his boughs were broken in every plain of the earth.' By his branches and boughs he designated the idol-temples of every kind, which had received from him the occasions of their establishment; these, both from the mountains and from the plains, were made utterly to vanish through those who of old were pestilent, but afterwards were believing nations.

'Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.' (13)

'At his fall all the birds of heaven rested, and upon his boughs came all the beasts of the field.'

For if anyone, he says, be winged and have the eye of his mind fixed on heaven, he rejoices, beholding his overthrow and the stripping bare of his impiety.

And those who formerly were bestial will rush against his branches, and with their own hands will tear up the sacred precincts of the idols;

for these he named boughs.

'So that none of all the trees that are by the water may exalt themselves in their greatness, nor set their dominion in the midst of the clouds, nor those that drink water stand up in their height against him.'

The ruin of this one, he says, and the overthrow of his power, will be a benefit to the others and an occasion of security;

for beholding the things that befell him, they will not endure to employ a spirit above their proper station;

nor will they attempt to snatch a dominion that in no way belongs to them;

taking as a provision for tyranny, as it were a kind of watering, the honour that had been supplied to them by me.

'Because all were given over to death.' For not only the devil himself, but also the demons who had shared his tyranny with him, underwent utter destruction.

But it is time again to return to the historical sense;

for what has been said is sufficient to teach that the things spoken were said not only concerning Nebuchadnezzar, but also concerning the very one who worked in him and taught him his own arrogance.

He says, then, that Nebuchadnezzar himself, and those with him, shall be delivered over to death, suffering the same things as the rest of men.

'Into the land of depth,' he says, 'in the midst of the sons of men who go down into the pit.' To these he adds:

'Thus says Adonai the Lord:

In the day when he went down into Hades, the abyss mourned for him, it covered and held back its rivers, and restrained the multitude of waters.'

By the abyss he called the subject nations, which campaigned along with him, yet mourned not his slaughter, but their own defeat and destruction.

For that they were not mourning that one, he showed sufficiently by saying:

'He restrained the multitude of waters'; that is, He will no longer suffer you to send the tributes.

he was undone. By Lebanon he does not call the mountain, but the density of the kingdom; and by trees of the plain, the rulers under him, those lesser than the lieutenants, and as it were planted in some plain.

And he means the satraps, those subordinate to the lieutenants and generals;

and by those planted in Lebanon, the greater rulers.

Just as, then, we do not here understand Lebanon as Lebanon, nor plain as plain, nor trees as trees, so neither do we understand the paradise of delight, called the paradise of God, as such; but in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, as the kingdoms of the inhabited world, and in the case of the devil, as the intelligible and incorporeal powers.

'From the sound of his fall,' he says, 'the nations were shaken, when they brought him down into Hades with those that go down into the pit.'

And this came to pass in the case of both.

For indeed, when the king of the Babylonians was slain, the report, running everywhere, threw the subject nations into confusion;

and when the devil was overthrown, the nations were shaken, and were removed from their former deception into the truth of the saving doctrines.

For indeed the blessed Paul also calls this removal an earthquake.

'And all the trees of delight comforted him,' he says, 'in the lowest earth, and the choice and fairest of Lebanon, all that drink water.'

'(17) For these also went down with him into Hades, together with those slain by the sword.'

And by lowest earth, and pit, and grave, in the case of Nebuchadnezzar he designates death;

But in the case of the devil, it signifies the humiliation into the uttermost depth.

He says, then, that those who share power will partake in these things and in those, sharing in his destruction; for when a kingdom is dissolved, the dominions that are subject to it must of necessity likewise undergo the change.

For when a kingdom is overthrown, the governments that render service beneath it must of necessity also receive the change.

But the phrase 'They shall comfort him' is spoken from what happens among us; for the fellowship of misfortunes is somehow apt to bring a certain consolation to those who are downcast.

For it is somehow natural that the sharing of calamities brings some consolation to those who are disheartened.

Not only, he says, shall those under him, the rulers appointed by his hand, be overthrown, but also 'his seed,' those who dwell beneath his shelter, perished in the midst of their own life. For Belshazzar, being the seed and son of Nebuchadnezzar, was not permitted, because of his great impiety, to advance to old age, but while the time appointed for men was already at its midpoint, he was delivered up to slaughter.

But in the case of the devil, by 'seed' one should understand the teaching of impiety that was sown by him; for this too shall be utterly abolished, together with those who contentiously strive to champion it.

For this too shall be completely destroyed, along with those who contend to fight on its behalf.

Then he turns his word toward him directly.

'To whom hast thou been likened in power, and in glory, and in greatness, among the trees of luxuriance? Come down, and be brought down with the trees of luxuriance into the depth of the earth.'

For since, he says, thou wast not willing to be likened to the trees planted together with thee, but rather to the Planter, I command thee to be cast away together with these trees which shared thy same mind, and to be cast down into the depth of the earth.

And this too, then, is fitting to both.

'In the midst of the uncircumcised shalt thou sleep with those slain by the sword.' And by 'uncircumcised' he speaks not concerning the body, but concerning the heart.

For not only the New, but also the Old Scripture knows of circumcision of the heart.

And this God declares through the prophet:

'That all the nations are uncircumcised in flesh, but the house of Israel are uncircumcised in their heart.' Since therefore thou wast not willing to circumcise thy arrogance, but the excess of thy boastfulness remained in thee, thou shalt suffer the same things as those who have done these things.

'Thus Pharaoh, and all the multitude of his strength, saith Adonai the Lord.' For having said above:

'To whom hast thou likened thyself in thy height?'—and having recounted the things concerning the Assyrian, that is, the Babylonian, he then added:

'Thus Pharaoh and all the multitude of his strength.' For if that one, he says, who is far greater and more illustrious than thou, shall suffer these things, await thou also the same punishment, since thou hast the same impiety.

'And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying:'

'Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Egypt, and thou shalt say to him:'

'Thou wast likened to a lion of the nations, and thou art as a dragon that is in the sea; and thou didst gore with thy rivers, and didst trouble the water with thy feet, and didst trample down thy rivers.'

And again he accuses this one of arrogance and pride, and says that he had emulated the haughtiness of the dragon that is in the sea.

And we have been taught that this one is the devil, who of old dwelt among the nations with a bitter and briny disposition.

And Isaiah too says that God will bring the holy sword upon the dragon that is in the sea.

And he says that he attempted also to be likened to a lion.

But we have learned that the Lord is the lion reigning over the nations.

'For having lain down,' it says, 'he rested, as a lion and as a lion's whelp; who shall rouse him up?' He says therefore:

Because thou didst attempt to be likened to the lion of the nations, in like manner to the dragon that is in the sea, and didst take up an arrogant mind against the God of all, trusting in the river and in its canals, as though thou hadst no need of clouds, nor of rain, nor of the providence and care from above, but usest thy feet, troubling the water and channeling it for irrigation;

'I will spread my nets over thee in an assembly of many peoples, and I will bring thee up with my hook.'

Suitably and most fittingly, in connection with the river, he made mention of hook and nets.

And he interpreted these things by saying:

'In an assembly of many peoples.' For as with a certain net, namely the army of the enemies, and as with a certain hook, namely my will, I will hunt thee and catch thee like a fish.

'And I will stretch thee out,' he says, 'upon the earth, and the plains shall be filled with thee; and I will settle upon thee all the birds of heaven, and I will fill from thee all the beasts of the earth.'

'And I will give thy flesh upon the mountains, and I will fill the plains from thy blood.'

'And the land shall be watered from thy discharges upon the mountains, and I will fill the ravines from thee.'

When, he says, thou art hunted by the enemies and slain, thou shalt remain unburied, and shalt fill the bellies of the beasts and of the birds;

and the streams of blood, and the discharges of the putrefaction—for these he called 'discharges'—shall fill both the plains and the mountains.

'And I will cover the heaven at thy quenching, and I will darken its stars;'

'I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.'

'All the luminaries of heaven I will darken over thee, and I will give darkness upon thy land, saith Adonai the Lord.'

He does not say that these things came to pass by nature, but according to the disposition of those who are grieved;

for those who are in misfortunes suppose the day to be more sunless than the night.

'And I will give darkness upon thy land'—not upon all the earth.

But if anyone should say that darkness in reality also came upon Egypt at the time of the war, God showing that he himself made use of the Babylonians for the punishment of the Egyptians, he will not err from the pious understanding.

'And I will provoke to anger the heart of many peoples, when I lead thy captivity into the nations, into a land which thou hast not known.'

'And many nations shall be sullen over thee, and their kings shall be utterly amazed, when I draw forth my sword before their face, awaiting their own downfall from the day of thy downfall.'

When thy captivity comes to pass, he says, some, remembering thy former insolence, shall appear merciless toward thee;

but others shall lament and be grieved, inferring from the things that have befallen thee the evils that shall overtake themselves.

Then he teaches that the army of the Babylonians shall come, having certain valiant champions as front-fighters;

for these he called 'giants.'

And inasmuch as they are more savage than all the nations, they shall, he says, O Egypt, exact from thee the penalty for thy pride;

for this he called 'insolence';

they shall dissolve their strength, and shall lead themselves away as captives, and shall plunder the cattle; and for a long time the current of the river shall remain undisturbed, with neither beast nor man troubling it, because of the desolation that has come from the captivity;

and that the canals, having ceased to be diverted this way and that, shall flow, he says, like oil—that is, quietly and gently, with nothing coming in the way.

But these things, he says, shall come to pass when desolation has overtaken her, and her inhabitants have been led away as spear-captives.

'And they shall know,' he says, 'that I am the Lord.' For by the experience of evils they shall be taught both their own worthlessness, and shall come to acknowledge my dominion.

'The daughters of the nations' [and by this he means the cities and the villages] 'shall lament him, over Egypt and over all her strength; they shall lament him, saith Adonai the Lord.'

Not only, he says, shall they lament the nation of the Egyptians, but also their king shall the cities of the other nations bewail, reckoning their former prosperity, and beholding the change that has come about so suddenly.

'And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying:'

'Son of man, lament over the strength of Egypt, and bringing it low, drag it down.'

By the word, he says, of prophecy, bending him aside from his standing, and dragging him from the royal thrones, bring him down.

'And they shall bring down her daughters, the nations, dead into the depth of the earth, to those who go down into the pit.' Again he calls the cities and the villages 'daughters,' which he says shall be delivered up to death;

for he named death 'pit,' having taken the appellation from the grave.

'Come down from the fair waters, and lie with the uncircumcised.'

She who of old, he says, luxuriated in the waters of the river, and received her fairness from the fruits that grow by them, yet did not circumcise the impiety of her heart—do thou share in the slaughter with those who are like thee.

Then, having said the same things again, he added:

'And the giants who are in the depth of the pit shall say to thee:'

'For than whom art thou better? Come down, lie with the uncircumcised, in the midst of those slain by the sword.'

These things also the blessed Isaiah says concerning the Babylonian.

And the rulers who have been from of old shall say to you:

You too have been captured, even as we were;

your glory has gone down to Hades, and your great gladness;

beneath you they shall spread out corruption, and your covering shall be the worm. And here too he says:

There shall say to you those who once were conspicuous in power and long ago died —

for these he called giants —

Become, that is to say, a corpse like us;

for than whom are you superior, that you attempt to be immortal? Come down, then, and receive the end of life, and receive a slaughter like those who have dared deeds like yours.

Then he names those who had become distinguished in power:

There is Assur, and all his assembly; all the wounded were given over there,

and their burial is in the depth of the pit, and his assembly was round about his tomb.

Who, he says, became so much talked of as the king of the Assyrians? Yet nevertheless, he says, even this man received the end of life, and all his army shared in his death.

All the wounded, fallen by the sword, who gave their burials in the sides of the pit. He so named the form of the tombs;

for the tombs are elongated, and resembling thighs.

And there came to be a congregation round about his burial, all the wounded falling by the sword. For like their king, they too received the slaughter in the same way, and were delivered up to slaughter beside his monument.

And these things, he says, men suffered, having set their terror upon the land of the living. Yet nevertheless all those who struck terror and dismay shall bear, he says, their shame together with those who go down to the pit;

for stripped of that glory, they shall end their life with shame, receiving slaughter in the same way as those slaughtered by them.

Then he speaks of the tombs according to nation:

His graves round about his tomb, and all his multitude, and all the wounded who fell by the sword, and those who went down uncircumcised into the depth of the earth.

It was the custom in wars for the tombs to be made according to nations;

for those of the same race, gathering their kinsfolk, delivered them over to a single burial.

This, then, he has here shown that the nation of Elam did;

and this approaches the Assyrians.

Then, having again stated that those who of old were terrible to all received their own torment, and died in like manner to the rest, he added:

For each one his burial round about, all of them uncircumcised, wounded by the sword.

And he speaks of the other nations that received this slaughter:

There were given over Mosoch and Thobel.

The Iberians are called Thobel, and the Cappadocians Mosoch.

And having again said the same things which he had said also concerning the Elamites, he added:

And they placed their swords beneath their heads.

For weapons are superfluous once those who wielded them have been destroyed.

And he states also the cause of the slaughter;

then he further discloses the form of their impiety:

Because giants struck terror in their lifetime, and became a terror to the mighty in the land of the living. For with such great savagery and audacity, he says, did they conduct themselves, that they laid terror upon all — not only upon the lowly, but even upon those who prided themselves on strength and dominion.

But these things the other nations also endured.

For there is Edom, and her kings, and all her rulers, who gave their strength to the wounds of the sword —

that is, those who used their strength for bloodshed.

And having shown that these too were destroyed in like manner, he likewise added:

There are the rulers of the north, all of them, all the commanders of Assur, who were brought down with the wounded together with their terror;

in that day all his devices shall perish. This too God has said here:

Who were brought down with the wounded together with their terror; for with death the terror of their dominion also was brought to an end.

Defeated, he says, from their strength — that is, they became naked and bereft of strength.

Being ashamed, they lay down uncircumcised. For nothing so fills one with shame as the accusation of an evil conscience.

And again he called uncircumcised those who did not circumcise away the superfluities of sin.

Then, having said that they received their torment together with those who go down to the pit — that is, their punishment — he added:

Those shall king Pharaoh see, and he shall be comforted concerning all their strength, the wounded of the sword — Pharaoh and all his host, says Adonai the Lord;

because he set his terror upon the land of the living, and he shall lie down in the midst of the uncircumcised, wounded of the sword — Pharaoh and all his multitude, says Adonai the Lord.

For looking upon those, he says, who had become greater and far more powerful, Pharaoh will receive some consolation, and with him his subjects;

yet he shall nevertheless pay the penalty for his impiety, because, having laid great terror upon his subjects, he himself did not accept my law, but left his soul uncircumcised.

For which reason, together with such men, he too, and those who thought the same as he, shall receive the slaughter of those who lived like him.

Having therefore learned these things, and having come to know through the divine oracles what penalties they pay who keep the soul uncircumcised, let us, I beseech you, receive the circumcision not made with hands of the all-holy Spirit, concerning which blessed Paul says:

And circumcision is of the heart, in spirit, not in letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. And we have been taught that circumcision of the heart is the removal of sin and the excision of the evil motions of the mind.

If your right eye causes you to stumble, cut it out and cast it from you. And concerning the hand and the foot he has said the same, and added:

It is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body be cast into Gehenna. And by members here he called the activities of the members, which it behooves us to circumcise and cut off, and to cleanse the rational faculty, and to consecrate and dedicate the whole to the divine laws.

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Son of man, speak to the sons of your people.

God, being gracious, calls the people his own people;

but turning away because of their transgressions, he no longer uses the name of intimate ownership.

This one may see to have happened also in the case of the great Moses.

For before the transgression he said to Pharaoh:

Send away my people, that they may serve me; but after the worship of the calf, he says to Moses:

Hasten, go down quickly from here, your people has transgressed. So then here too he calls the people not his own, but the prophet's people.

A land — against which I bring a sword, and the people of the land take one man from among them, and appoint him for themselves as a watchman;

(vv. 3-5) and he sees the sword coming upon the land, and sounds the trumpet, and gives warning to the people;

and whoever hears, hears the trumpet, and does not take heed, and the sword comes and overtakes him, his blood shall be upon his own head.

Because, having heard the sound of the trumpet, he did not take heed, his blood shall be upon himself.

By sword he means war, and by watchman the scout;

and the word teaches us that peace he himself grants to men through his goodness, but war he permits to come to pass because of the transgressions of men who draw grievous things upon themselves.

If then, he says, when war has arisen against some city, those under attack station a scout upon some hill, and that man, beholding the advancing army, sounds the trumpet, and does not despise nor neglect the duties for which he was appointed, he himself, he says, shall be blameless, having fulfilled the task entrusted to him; but the one who was unwilling to take heed and to care for his own salvation shall become the cause to himself of slaughter and captivity.

His blood shall be upon himself; let him, he says, ascribe to himself the causes of his own slaughter.

But this man, because he took heed, has delivered his own soul. If, He says, a man takes heed, he becomes to himself the author of salvation.

And if the watchman see the sword coming, and blow not the trumpet, and give no signal to the people, and the people take no heed, and the sword come and take a soul from among them: that soul indeed is taken away because of its own iniquity, but its blood will I require at the hand of the watchman.

If, He says, the appointed watchman through negligence fail to signal to the people the onset of the enemy, those who perish shall pay the penalty for the offences they committed, but he himself shall render account for the betrayal wrought by the watchman.

And He said these things that He might make the prophet more diligent concerning the ministry of the word.

And you, son of man, I have set you as a watchman to the house of Israel, and you shall hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me.

What the scout is wont to do among enemies, this it befits you to do, O prophet, He says, and to convey with all zeal the things spoken by Me.

When I say to the sinner...

...concerning his way, that he should live: that lawless man shall die in his own iniquity.

His blood will I require at your hand.