Commentary on Ezekiel 1 part 16/19

Leaving the Jews, then, to talk nonsense — those who have transferred to their soul the weakness of their mother Leah's bodily eyes, I mean, and are unwilling to behold the truth — we exhort our fellow believers to prove all things and hold fast to what is good, according to the divine Apostle; and to do with the divine oracles what we are accustomed to do with our food, preferring the pleasant to the unpalatable, and indeed choosing the more pleasant even above the pleasant — to do this same thing also with the divine oracles.

'Wisdom is found, but in a long and full life is understanding;'

for exact experience is a teacher, when it takes as its helper the revelation from above;

and, enjoying this and being illumined by its radiance, may we never miss the truth, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.

'And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying:'

'Son of man, set thy face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, and say to it:'

'Thus saith Adonai the Lord:'

'Behold, I am against thee, O Mount Seir, and I will stretch out My hand against thee, and I will make thee desolate, and thou shalt be laid waste.'

'And in thy cities I will make desolation, and thou shalt be a wilderness, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.'

Mount Seir is a mountain of Idumaea, as we have already said before;

and the Idumaeans, deriving their race from Esau, were exceedingly hostile and ill-disposed towards the Jews, for which reason they even rejoiced over the calamities that befell them.

Against these the God of all threatens utter desolation.

And the phrase 'I will stretch out My hand against thee' He set down by a metaphor from those who strike with their hands, showing the vehemence of His wrath.

Yet we know that the divine nature is impassible, and that such expressions are measured to the capacity of the hearers.

Having thus threatened the punishment, He adds also the cause:

'Because there was in thee an everlasting enmity, and thou didst set an ambush against the house of Israel in guile, by the hand of enemies, with the sword in the time of their affliction, and in the time of their final wrongdoing.'

He charges the Idumaeans with the harbouring of malice, and with the plots secretly contrived against Israel.

For this He indicated when He said:

'Thou didst set an ambush against the house of Israel in guile, by the hand of enemies, with the sword in the time of their affliction' — that is, when their foes came upon them, thou didst beset their roads with ambushes and snares, not even permitting them to flee.

For thus also the other translators have rendered it:

'And thou didst shut up,' he says, 'the sons of Israel unto the hand of the sword, in the time of their affliction, in the time of iniquity before Me.' For it is because of the iniquity — or according to the Seventy, the injustice — done against Me, he says, that the sons of the house of Israel, paying the penalty, experienced an aggravation of their calamities, namely thy deceits and thy plots together with the enemies.

'Verily, thou hast sinned unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee;'

'for thou hast hated thine own blood, thy blood shall pursue thee.'

Here by 'blood' He names not war, but kinship.

For since, He says, thou hast made war upon thine own race, thou shalt with good reason be warred upon by it, and I will raise up against thee as enemies the kinsmen whom thou hast hated.

And the kinsmen of the Idumaeans are the Jews;

for they derive their race from two brothers:

the one from Edom, who is also Esau;

the other from Jacob, who is also Israel.

And I will make Mount Seir a desolation and a waste.

Then He also declares the manner of the desolation.

And I will destroy from it man and beast, and everyone who passes through and returns. Now this reveals the extremity of the desolation: that He will strip it bare not only of inhabitants, but even of travelers passing by.

He foretells also by what manner He will consume those who dwell there.

And I will fill your hills with your slain, and your ravines, and in all your plains.

For those wounded by the sword shall fall in you.

And I will make you an everlasting desolation, and your cities shall never again be inhabited; and you shall know that I am the Lord.

Again He has set down 'an everlasting desolation' and 'they shall never again be inhabited' according to the idiom of Scripture.

Since these matters have been expounded by us in the passage on the desolation of Tyre, we shall understand these things likewise.

Having thus threatened the punishment, He again lays bare their wickedness.

The two nations and the two lands shall be mine, and I will inherit them, and the Lord is there.

Or, according to the other translators, 'And, Lord, you are there.' Now this convicts not only their insatiable greed and covetousness, but also displays the extremity of their impiety, and resembles the boastful words of Sennacherib.

For that man also said that 'The Lord shall by no means deliver Jerusalem out of my hand.' And the Idumeans likewise said in their insolence, 'Even if the Lord be in Jerusalem, we shall possess the two lands.' And yet the God of all, when He led Israel out of Egypt, did not permit him to make war upon the Idumeans.

And concerning all that land God said to Israel:

For to the sons of Esau I have given it as an inheritance. Yet nevertheless the Idumeans, not content with the good things given by God, hoped to inherit even the land of the Jews.

Whence, with good reason, the God of all both threatens the punishments and confirms the sentence with an oath.

You shall suffer, He says, things worthy of your envy and your malevolence.

And I will be made known to you, when I judge you.

(12) And you shall know that I am the Lord.

By bringing the punishments upon you, He says, I will make myself manifest to you, so that you may not suppose your grievous sufferings have befallen you from some other source, but rather, having learned my sovereignty, may gain profit from that knowledge.

I have heard the voice of all your blasphemies, which you spoke concerning the mountains of Israel, saying:

The mountains of Israel, the lofty ones, the everlasting ones, have been given to us as a desolation, for a possession.

(13) And you spoke great words against me with your mouth, and multiplied your words against me, which I heard.

He does not even endure to record the blasphemous words.

teaching us not even in narration to bring forth by the tongue the blasphemies of others, but to be mindful of the prophetic saying which says:

And most profitably He has added, 'You multiplied your words against me, which I heard'; teaching us that there is nothing of what is spoken or done by us that can escape His power of sight or of hearing.

Thus says the Lord Adonai:

In the rejoicing of all the earth I will make you an everlasting desolation.

As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was made desolate, so will I do to you.

You shall become a desolation, Mount Seir, and all Idumea shall be utterly consumed; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.

He threatened them with a punishment beyond all consolation.

For while all others, He says, pass their lives in peace and gladness, I will surround you with calamities, so that you may not have even the comfort of sharing your misfortunes with others.

For Israel had this consolation, when Nebuchadnezzar came not only against them, but also against the Tyrians, the Sidonians, the Philistines, and the Egyptians.

Yet nevertheless, in addition to these things, He promises a benefit through the punishment.

And you, son of man, prophesy against the mountains of Israel, saying, Hear the word of the Lord:

Thus says the Lord Adonai:

Because the enemy has said against you:

The everlasting desolations have become a possession for us.

Therefore prophesy, and say:

Thus says the Lord Adonai:

Because you have been made a desolation to all the nations, and because you have been dishonored by all those round about you, so as to become a possession for all the remaining nations, and you were made a byword of the tongue upon lips, and a reproach to the nations.

Having foretold the gloomy and mournful things to the Idumeans, He transfers His discourse to the mountains of Israel, and brings to them a promise of good things, and exhorts them to take courage, since the words spoken by their enemies were false and vain.

For the desolation, He says, shall not remain for very long, but I will convict the reproaches of the nations that border upon you, and I will put an end to their insolence against you, and no longer shall they recount your misfortunes, harping on your calamities.

Thus says the Lord Adonai to the mountains, and to the hills, and to the torrents, and to the ravines, and to the wooded valleys, and to those that have been made desolate and destroyed, and to the cities that have been forsaken, which became a plunder and a thing trampled by the nations left round about them.

It would have been easy and quite simple to promise the good things concisely to all the land of Israel; but He makes mention specifically of mountains, and ravines, and hills, and cities, and all the rest, consoling those who were despondent because of the desolation.

Truly in the fire of my zeal have I spoken against the remaining nations, and against all Idumea, because they gave my possession to themselves as an inheritance with rejoicing, from their whole heart dishonoring souls, so as to destroy it by plunder.

Greatly, He says, did the insolence of Idumea and of the other nations provoke me, which they employed against my land, rejoicing in its desolation, and expecting to gain mastery over it, and to take captive the souls that dwelt in it.

For this reason I have brought forth the sentences against them.

Prophesy therefore, O prophet, again concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, and to the hills, and to the wooded valleys, and to the ravines:

Thus says the Lord Adonai:

Behold, in my zeal and in my wrath have I spoken, because you have borne the reproaches of the nations.

Behold, I lift up my hand against the nations that are round about you; these shall bear their own dishonor.

these shall receive their own dishonor.

The reproach that came against you, He says, has caused the sentence against those who reproached you to be brought forth; and they indeed shall reap the fruits of their impiety against me and of their malice and insolence against you.

But you, mountains of Israel, your grapes and your fruit shall my people Israel eat, because they hope to come.

I will confirm, He says, the hope of the people, and I will make firm their good expectation, and it shall return, and shall enjoy the fruits that grow among you.

Now it is clear that He does not address the mountains as though they were living beings;

but by the discourse addressed to inanimate things He consoles their inhabitants, promising them these good things.

Behold, I am for you, and I will look upon you, and you shall be tilled and sown.

And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel entirely, and the cities shall be inhabited, and the desolate places shall be rebuilt.

And I will multiply upon you men and beasts, and they shall be increased and multiplied; and I will cause you to be inhabited as at your beginning, and I will do you good as in the years that were before you; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

And they shall know that I am the Lord.

Not the mountains shall know, but those who dwell in the mountains.

Now these things reached their fulfillment after the return from Babylon;

and the events bear witness;

for the cities of Palestine are full of inhabitants, and all have been rebuilt, and are conspicuous in their splendor.

For He prepared Cyrus to grant to all the return;

but those who were sick with their accustomed disobedience contradicted the commands, and preferred the foreign land to their own.

Thus says the Lord Adonai:

You are a land that devours men, and you have become bereaved of children from your nation.

'And the reproach of the nations shall no more be heard against you, and you shall no longer bear the revilings of the peoples, and your nation shall no more be made childless,' says Adonai the Lord.

These things too would have received their fulfilment, had the Jews so willed.

For the God of all had said beforehand, through the prophet Jeremiah:

'At one moment I will speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build up and to plant; but if they do evil in my sight, so as not to hear my voice, then I will repent of the good things which I said I would do for them.' The Jews, therefore, were themselves the cause of their not obtaining the good things promised through the prophecy.

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

'Son of man, the house of Israel dwelt upon their own land, and they defiled it by their way and by their idols and by their uncleannesses; according to the uncleanness of a woman in her separation was their way before my face.'

'And I poured out my wrath upon them.'

The very facts, he says, bear witness to the justice of the punishment.

For they did not merely persist in serving idols of every kind, but they also practised every form of lawlessness, so as to be filled with all abomination and hatefulness;

and since under the Law the woman in her separation—that is, she who is in the flowing of blood—was reckoned exceedingly unclean, he likens their abomination to that superfluity of transgression.

Then again, continuing the accusation:

'Because they shed blood upon the land,' he says, 'and defiled it with their idols.'

(v. 19.) 'And I scattered them among the nations, and winnowed them among the countries.'

And again he shows the justice of the punishment.

'According to their way and according to their doings I judged them.' They reaped, he says, the fruits of what they had planted.

By 'blood' here he has designated not only the other bloodshed, but also the sacrifices of their children, which they offered to the flesh-devouring and evil demons;

for they were not content, he says, with the transgressions before the captivity, but even after becoming captives of the spear and exiles, they persisted in the same evils.

'And they went in among the nations, among whom they went, and they profaned my holy name, in that it was said of them: These are the people of the Lord, and they have come forth from his land.'

Living, he says, in wickedness, they became the occasion of blasphemy against me.

For first the nations supposed that these were overcome and delivered up to their enemies because of my weakness;

and then, having learned by experience of their wickedness, they stirred up blasphemy against me, as though I delighted in such practices and had named such wicked men as my own people;

yet even so, taking thought for those very men:

'And I spared them for the sake of my holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations, into which they went.'

'Thus says Adonai the Lord:'

'It is not for your sakes that I act, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name, which you profaned among the nations, into which you went.'

'And I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,' says Adonai the Lord, 'when I am sanctified among you before their eyes.'

It is not you, he says, who are worthy of salvation, but rather it befits the nations to obtain healing—the nations that took occasion for their blasphemy against me from you;

your salvation being the demonstration of my power.

For having learned how great is my name, and how sufficient for the succour of those who are made mine own, they will glorify my dominion and sing its praises.

For this is what he intimated when he said:

'And the nations shall know that I am the Lord God, when I am sanctified among you before their eyes.'

(v. 24.) 'And I will take you from among the nations, and gather you from all the peoples, and bring you into your own land.'

This applies to all who returned;

for those who chose to return obtained their return;

but what follows applies no longer to all, but only to those who chose to believe the gospel proclamation.

'And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be cleansed from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.'

By 'clean water' he named the water of regeneration, in which, being baptized, we received the remission of our sins.

And what follows confirms what has been said.

'And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will give you.'

'For your heart,' he says, 'will incline toward what is better, no longer having, according to its former habit, its inclination toward what is worse;'

and the phrase 'I will give' in no way does violence to free will;

for by words and by deeds and by countless wonders he persuaded not only those men but all the nations to come to godliness—he persuaded, he did not compel;

yet even so, though he did not compel but persuaded, he himself says that he gave to their souls the inclination toward what is better, as being himself the cause of this, through the things he both said and did.

'And I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.'

(v. 27.) 'And I will put my spirit within you.'

For after the return they had only three prophets together at that time—Haggai and Zechariah and Malachi—and immediately after these they were stripped of the prophetic grace;

but after the incarnation of God our Saviour and his ascension into the heavens, the Holy Spirit came upon the holy apostles, and through them the grace was bestowed, not upon the Jews alone, but also upon all of the nations who came to the faith.

By a 'heart of stone' he means the resistant and disobedient heart, and by a 'heart of flesh' the compliant and obedient one, able to receive the impressions of the divine writings.

'And I will cause you to walk in my statutes, and to keep my judgments, and to do them.' Now this is proper to the grace of the Spirit;

for it, working together with our free will, brings it about that the things spoken of are rightly accomplished.

'And you shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers.'

Again he brings the discourse round to what is common, and transfers it from the spiritual things to the bodily.

'And you shall be to me for a people, and I will be to you for a God.'

(vv. 29, 30.) 'And I will cleanse you from all your sins, and I will call for the corn, and multiply it, and I will lay no famine upon you.'

'And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the produce of the field, that you may no more receive the reproach of famine among the nations.'

Now I know that each of these things can also be taken spiritually;

yet I consider that the prophetic word is here promising bodily things to the Jews.

For since great desolation held the land at that time, he promises them abundance of fruits of every kind, and foretells the benefit that would come from this.

'And you shall remember,' he says, 'your evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and you shall loathe yourselves before your own faces on account of your iniquities and your abominations.'

'Enjoying these good things,' he says, 'and learning how great are the fruits that righteousness bears, you will call to mind your former wickedness and the punishment that was brought upon you because of it, and you will exceedingly hate your former transgression.'

For he has put 'you shall loathe' in the sense of 'you shall abominate.'

...in the good, but he loathed not evil—that is, he did not abominate wickedness.

Having thus promised them good things, he again humbles their pride, saying:

'It is not for your sakes that I act, O house of Israel,' says Adonai the Lord;

'let it be known to you, O house of Israel.'

It is not you, he says, who are worthy of the good things promised, but I do what befits my own nature.

Then, in a manner at once admonishing and shaming:

'Be ashamed and confounded because of your ways, O house of Israel.' Do not, he says, bear your manifold punishments unfeelingly or insensibly;

but at long last, taking to heart the wickedness of your practices, blush over the things you have dared to do.

'Thus says Adonai the Lord:'

In the day when I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built up.

And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it had become desolate in the sight of everyone who passed by.

When, He says, I shall grant you remission of your sins, and by my pardon declare you clean, then I will grant to the cities their rebuilding, and to the land its plantings, and instead of the former desolation which all who passed by beheld, I will make it to be inhabited.

That land which had become desolate was made like a paradise of delight, and the cities that were waste and desolate and razed to the ground now stand fortified with walls.

For just as, He says, all men of old carried your desolation upon their lips, so now you shall be much spoken of, and you shall furnish wonder to all: your desolate land being likened to a paradise of delight, and your uninhabited and overthrown cities being walled about with strong ramparts.

And the nations, as many as are left round about you, shall know that I the Lord have built up the ruined places, and planted that which was desolate.

I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.

The neighbouring nations shall learn that I am He who formerly brought the grievous things and now bestow the pleasant, and that the surety of what has been said comes from the trustworthiness of Him who has spoken it.

Chapter 37. Thus says Adonai the Lord:

Moreover in this shall I be sought by the house of Israel, that I should do it for them.

Where the text has 'I shall be sought,' Symmachus rendered it 'I shall be found.'

In addition, He says, to the former benefits, this too I will add, and I will deem them worthy of restoration.

And I will multiply them as a holy flock. For since I have set them apart under my providence after the manner of sheep, I will impart to them a shepherd's care.

As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

For just as, He says, before the siege that came upon her Jerusalem was filled with sheep in their greatest festivals, so I will fill all their cities with men and with sheep and with all other good things; and through these very deeds they shall learn that I am the Lord and God, who kills and makes alive, who smites and heals.

And the hand of the Lord came upon me.

Again he calls the divine operation a 'hand.'

Once more the vision is spiritual;

for it was not with the eyes of the body that he beheld the things shown, but he received the revelation of the all-holy Spirit.

And this was full of human bones;

(2) And he led me round about them on every side, and behold, there were very many upon the face of the plain.

He receives the revelations as corresponding to the circumstances;

for since, on account of the unbelief with which they were sick, those who had been taken captive out of Judaea had renounced the more cheerful hopes, the God of all displays to them his proper power, and shows the prophet a resurrection of dead bodies far more difficult than that restoration, and through him teaches all the people that all things are easy to Him when He wills.

So then He taught the Jews and the other Israelites by this, that it is exceedingly easy for God, when He wills, to bring back to their former freedom those who had become captives;

and to us, and simply to all who have received the gospel proclamation with faith, He shows the ease of the resurrection of our bodies, and that the nature of things follows upon the divine word and nod.

(3) Son of man, shall these bones live? And I said:

O Lord God, you know these things.

The prophet did not doubt, but yielded to God the more exact knowledge;

knowing accurately God's power, but being ignorant of His will.

Prophesy over these bones, prophesy, son of man, and you shall say to them:

You dry bones, hear the word of the Lord;

Thus says Adonai the Lord to these bones:

Behold, I will bring into you the breath of life.

And I will lay sinews upon you, and bring up flesh upon you, and stretch skin over you, and put my Spirit into you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.

He uses the prophet as a minister, and as it were an instrument of the resurrection seen in the vision, and through his tongue He commands those lifeless and utterly dead bones both to grow flesh and sinews and skin, and to receive the living breath.

And these things became a type not only of the restoration of the Jews, but also of the resurrection of all men.

For, He says, the divine Apostle declares, 'The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.'

And I prophesied as the Lord commanded me; and there came a sound as I prophesied, and behold, a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to bone, each to its own joint.

The prophet, ministering to the divine command, brought forth the words which he was ordered to speak, and the deed followed upon the words;

and the shaking made manifest the divine appearing, while the sound signified the operation of the angels who serve the divine will.

And the bones, he says, I saw running together, and taking again their own joining, and receiving the framework which they had at the beginning.

And I looked, and behold, sinews came upon them, and flesh grew, and came up upon them, and skin was drawn over them above; but there was no breath in them.

The second re-creation follows the manner of the first fashioning;

for just as the body of our forefather Adam was first moulded, and then thus the soul was breathed into him;

so here too both came together into their proper joining.

It grew flesh and sinews, and was covered with the skin;

yet it lay breathless and motionless;

but again it obtains both life and sensation through the divine will.

Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath:

Thus says Adonai the Lord:

Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these dead, that they may live.

...the breath, and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great congregation.

When I, he says, had conveyed the divine command, the bodies that had been joined together were made alive and attained resurrection; and there was, he says, no small multitude of those who rose.

Having thus beheld the revelation, he is taught the interpretation.

And the Lord spoke to me, saying:

Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; and they say:

Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, we are quite cut off.

This, he says, O prophet, is a type of Israel;

but they indeed despaired of their own affairs, while the type displayed the hope of good things.

Thus says Adonai the Lord:

Behold, I will open your graves, O my people, and bring you up out of your tombs, and bring you into the land of Israel.

And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, that I may bring you up out of your tombs, O my people.

And I will put my Spirit into you, and you shall live, and I will set you in your own land; and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it, says Adonai the Lord.

If, He says, I have shown that what appears among you far more difficult is very readily accomplished by me, it is plain that this too I will do with great ease, and, as it were bringing you out of certain tombs, out of the bonds of captivity, I will lead you back to your own homeland;

for falsehood is alien to the truth.

Having thus promised the return, He foretells the harmony of the tribes that shall follow after the return.

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

Son of man, take for yourself one rod, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the sons of Israel who are joined to him; and take a second rod for yourself, and write upon it, For Joseph, the rod of Ephraim, and all the sons of Israel who are added to them.