Commentary on Ezekiel 1 part 4/19

And he stretched out, he says, the likeness of a man's hand, and took me by the crown of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and between the heaven, and brought me to Jerusalem in a vision of God, to the entrance of the inner gate that looks toward the north, where was the pillar of the image of jealousy of him who provokes.

It must be noted that the prophet said he saw these things in a vision of God.

It was not, then, a bodily transference, nor a beholding with the eyes of the flesh; but sitting in the house among the elders of Judah, he beheld this whole vision;

And this too he makes plain after the account of it.

That is to say, 'I returned to myself.'

For since he foretells the grievous punishments, he necessarily also teaches the causes of them; and he beholds within the divine temple the pillar of the image of jealousy; for there was an idol unlawfully set up in that place.

And he calls it 'jealousy' by a metaphor drawn from adulterous wives, who move their husbands to jealousy.

This same thing God Himself also declared through the great Moses, saying: 'They provoked Me to jealousy with what is no god'; and interpreting this, He added, 'They provoked Me to anger with their idols.'

This same thing God Himself also declared through the great Moses.

'They provoked Me to jealousy with what is no god'; and interpreting it, He added, 'They provoked Me to anger with their idols.'

'And behold, there was the glory of the Lord God of Israel, according to the vision which I saw in the plain.'

'Son of man, lift up your eyes toward the north.'

'And I lifted up my eyes toward the north, toward the gate on the east side of the altar, where was the image of this jealousy at its entrance.'

And we have already said before that the prophet is taught the justice of the punishment of the Jews; for which reason the righteous Judge shows him all the things ventured upon by them.

For which reason the righteous Judge shows him all the things ventured upon by those men.

'And He brought me to the entrance of the court, and I looked, and behold, a hole in the wall.'

'Son of man, dig now in the wall'; and I dug, and behold, one door in the wall.'

'And I dug, and behold, one door in the wall.'

'Go in and see the wicked abominations which these men do here.'

'For I went in,' he says, 'and looked, and behold, every likeness of creeping things and beasts, vain abominations, and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed on the wall all round about.'

'And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan stood in the midst of them, and each had his censer in his hand, and the vapor of the incense went up.'

Great, added to their impiety, is the excess of their folly; for what is more senseless than those who worship the images of venomous creeping things and irrational beasts? For these things we are wont to destroy, as harmful and treacherous.

For what is more senseless than those who worship the images of venomous creeping things and irrational beasts? For these things we are wont to destroy, as harmful and treacherous.

'For to Him,' he says, 'who makes grass to spring up on the mountains,'—and green herb for the service of men. Let us consider, then, how full of unreason it is to worship the images of household servants and slaves.

'Have you seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel do, each in his secret chamber? Because they said:'

'The Lord does not see; He has forsaken the land.'

For the cause of impiety is the forgetfulness of God; and having persuaded themselves that God oversees none of the things done by them, they proceeded to that lawlessness.

'For I foresaw the Lord always before me,' he says, 'because He is at my right hand, that I should not be moved.' (Verses 13, 14)

'You shall yet see greater lawless deeds which these men do.'

'And He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the Lord's house, which looks toward the north.'

'And behold, there were women sitting and lamenting for Tammuz.'

And of these he accuses not only impiety, but also licentiousness.

For Tammuz is Adonis according to the Greek tongue.

The lamentation, therefore, is of the Aphrodisiac orgies, of a licentious demon who through licentiousness receives worship.

'Son of man, you shall yet see practices greater than these.'

'And He brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house.'

'And at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men.'

'facing toward the east, and they were worshipping the sun toward the east.'

This too is a most grievous undertaking of impiety; for before it had stood the bronze altar.

For before it had stood the bronze altar.

And he said that, standing between the porch and the altar, they dared to commit that impiety.

'Is it a small thing to the house of Judah to commit the lawless deeds which they have committed here? For they have filled the land with lawlessness, and have turned to provoke Me to anger.'

'And behold, they stretch out the branch, as though mocking Me.'

'For I,' He says, 'chose them, wishing through them to turn the rest also away from impiety.'

'But they not only imparted no benefit, but even ventured upon more impious things, so that in the end the whole land became full of lawlessness.'

'For they stretched out the branches of impiety, acting contrary to My purpose.'

'And I will deal with them in wrath.'

'My eye shall not spare, and I will show no mercy.'

'They shall cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them.'

For just as they stretched out the branches not of piety but of impiety, and increased the harm done to their neighbors—

so unsparingly will I apply to them the surgeon's incision, not yielding to them as they entreat, nor listening as they cry out.

For sparing towards such men is no mercy.

For it befits the physician to attend not to the tears and words of the one being cut, but to the law of his art.

'And He cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying:'

'The vengeance of the city has drawn near, and each man had the weapons of destruction in his hand.'

Then he teaches also what kind the weapons were.

'And behold, six men came from the way of the high gate, which looks toward the north, and each had a battle-axe in his hand.'

For since the idol also was set up from the north, and the women lamented Tammuz there, the punishment necessarily takes its entrance from that quarter.

And it is fitting to recall what was said above, that he said a fourth part of the city would be given over to death.

Behold, then, the avenging powers ready for the appointed chastisement.

And yet one angel struck down the many myriads of the Assyrians, and one was commanded to destroy the firstborn of the Egyptians.

But here six men were entrusted with the punishment of the Jews, because of the excess of their impiety.

'And one man,' he says, 'in the midst of them was clothed with a long robe, and a girdle of sapphire upon his loins.' The garb of the seventh was priestly.

For he was not among those who punish, but among those who redeem such as are worthy of salvation.

For since He ordained the seventh day to be honored, He necessarily shows the seventh to be most honorable.

'And they came in, and stood beside the bronze altar.' This was set up in the court before the temple's porticoes.

'And the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherubim, upon which it was, to the open court of the house.'

For since He is about to pronounce the sentence against the city, He does this outside the holy places.

for those places are dispensers of salvation, not of punishment.

'And He called the man clothed with the long robe, who had upon his loins the girdle.'

(4.) 'And the Lord said to him:'

For it is good to admonish and to counsel those who sin.

But when they contradict and are not persuaded, then lamentation is necessary and profitable.

'Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not inflamed?' And again:

'lamenting and groaning over the lawlessness of the people'; therefore they are marked out, that they may not share in the punishment.

for this reason they are made conspicuous, that they may not partake of the retribution.

Thus, he says, having given him these commands, He gives orders to the rest.

'Go into the city after him, and smite, and spare not with your eyes, and have no pity.'

'Slay utterly the old man and the young man, and the virgin and the little children and the women,'

'but come not near any upon whom is the sign; and begin from my sanctified ones.'

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, according to the word of the blessed Paul.

'Blessed are they that keep judgement, and do righteousness at all times;'

'for in an evil day the Lord shall deliver them.' For we find both these things in what has just been said: some being smitten without mercy, whole families together, and the punishment advancing against every age;

but others being justly preserved, and remaining free from fellowship with those.

He commands the punishing powers to begin from His holy ones, not truly calling them holy, but because they were supposed to be such, as set apart for the divine service.

For this was not said, as some have supposed, concerning the holy places, but concerning the men set apart for the service of God;

and what follows in the prophecy makes this plain.

'And he began from the elder men who were within in the house.' These He commands to be slain within;

for it was just that those who transgressed there should there pay the penalty.

For He said, he says, to them:

'Defile the house, and fill the ways with the slain.'

For since they themselves defiled the house with idols, the righteous Judge commands that this come about by the slaughter of the transgressors.

'And going forth they smote the city.'

(Chapter 8.) 'And it came to pass, while they were smiting, I was left alone, and I fell upon my face, and cried out, and said:'

'Alas, O Adonai Lord, dost Thou blot out the remnant of Israel in pouring out Thy wrath upon Jerusalem?' The prophet is compassionate, and inclined to mercy;

such was the blessed Paul, praying to be accursed from Christ on behalf of the Jews.

'For the iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah,' He says, 'is exceedingly, exceedingly great.'

And by the doubling He indicated the excess of its intensity.

'Because the land is filled with many peoples, and the city is filled with iniquity and uncleanness; for they said, The Lord hath forsaken the land, the Lord seeth not.' These things, He says, they dare to do, having persuaded themselves that I do not oversee, nor behold what is done.

'And I looked, and behold, above the firmament that was over the head of the Cherubim, there was as it were a sapphire stone;'

Here at length he plainly names the living creatures which he had beheld Cherubim;

and the name signifies, as I said, 'full of knowledge.'

'And He said to the man clothed with the robe:'

'Go in between the wheels that are underneath the Cherubim.'

It is worth noting that He did not command any of the six to approach the Cherubim, but the one clothed with the robe;

since evidently they were not worthy to draw near to the divine powers, the Cherubim.

'And fill thy hands with coals of fire from the midst of the Cherubim, and scatter them over the city.' The things beheld are full of dread;

coals of fire being scattered abroad;

punishing powers, that is, roaming about the city.

'And the glory of the Lord went up from the Cherubim to the open court of the house.'

For since He had commanded that the coals be taken and scattered over the city, He seems in a manner to withdraw, giving place to him who was commanded to do what was ordered;

the divine glory being borne upon the Cherubim;

and a very great sound was produced as the wings of the Cherubim were moved, so that one might suppose it to be thunder, or a divine voice;

for the phrase 'As the voice of God Shaddai'—Symmachus and Theodotion interpreted 'thunder of the Almighty God';

that is to say, You would liken the sound to the voice of the sufficient and mighty God;

in the sense of the thunder produced by the divine operation.

'And it came,' he says, 'and stood close beside the wheels.'

(Chapter 7.) 'And the Cherub,' he says, 'stretched forth his hand from the midst of the Cherubim, into the midst of the fire that was in the midst of the Cherubim;'

'and he took, and put it into the hands of the one clothed with the holy robe; and he received it, and went forth.'

The distinction among the invisible ranks may be learned from this also;

for the six were not even commanded to approach the Cherubim;

but this one draws near indeed, yet does not venture into the midst of the Cherubim, but the Cherubim themselves reach out the coals to him.

'And I saw,' he says, 'the Cherubim having the likeness of men's hands underneath their wings.'

And the hands are significative of operations;

then he again describes the things concerning the wheels, having stated all that we have already mentioned before;

but he says that he beheld only the appearance of the colour changed;

for there, according to Symmachus, he said he beheld it as the appearance of hyacinth;

but here, according to the Seventy, as the appearance of a coal;

so that from this too we may learn that he did not see the very natures of the invisible beings, but certain likenesses and images;

wherefore also he beholds them changed.

And this variation he beheld also in the case of the Cherubim;

for there he said the first face resembled a man, the second a lion, the third a calf, and the fourth an eagle;

but here the order is reversed, and he said he beheld first the face of the Cherub, which is that of a calf, and second that of the man, then that of the lion, and that of the eagle.

And I suppose that, since he beheld this vision in the temple, for this reason he saw the face of the calf placed first, since it was taken as a type of the priesthood.

which the name 'gelgel' also signifies.

'And to these wheels,' he says, 'was given the name gelgel, in my hearing.'

That is, they were commanded to revolve and to be set in motion.

'And the Cherubim,' he says, 'were lifted up.'

Then, teaching us that he had also beheld these things once before, he says:

'This is the living creature which I saw by the river Chobar.' But then he enjoyed the vision, yet was ignorant of the appellation;

but now he has learned this too.

'And when the Cherubim went, the wheels went beside them, these too keeping close to them;'

'and when the Cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, their wheels did not turn away, even these keeping close by them.'

'And when they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these were lifted up with them: for the spirit of life was in them.'

The wheels, he says, followed the Cherubim in all things: when they moved, they moved together with them; when they flew, they went after them; and when they stood still, they stood still — not dragged along by any compulsion, but performing each of these motions of their own accord;

for they too, in a spiritual manner, partook of life.

'And the glory of the Lord went forth from the court of the house, and mounted upon the Cherubim.'

'And the Cherubim lifted up their wings, and were raised from the earth in my sight when they went out, and they stood at the entrance of the gate of the Lord's house that faces east, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them, on high.'

For when He commanded the coals to be taken, He seemed in a manner to withdraw, so that he who was so commanded might take courage to draw near;

but when that was done, He seems again to return and to be borne aloft;

and the Cherubim, he says, being raised on high, were the more easily carried through the air, using the motion of their wings in place of feet;

and it was the glory of God that was borne aloft, not God Himself;

for He is uncircumscribed, present everywhere, and filling all things;

but it was His glory that appeared for the sake of the dispensations.

'This,' he says, 'is the living creature which I saw beneath the God of Israel by the river Chobar;

and I knew that they were Cherubim.'

For of the vision itself I had already had the enjoyment before;

but the name I have learned on the present occasion.

And from this too it is plainly possible to learn that he did not behold the very substance of the invisible natures, but certain likenesses and images;

for in the former vision he said that the single Cherub had four wings, but here eight;

yet the nature would not have admitted change; rather, the vision was fashioned to suit the need.

For since the prophet had received a greater knowledge from the divine discourse, and since wings signify keenness of knowledge, in order to indicate the increase of knowledge that had come to him, He shows him the wings of the Cherubim doubled;

for the very name of these, in the Greek tongue, signifies the fullness of knowledge.

'And the Spirit,' he says, 'took me up, and brought me to the gate of the Lord's house that faces toward the east, which looks toward the sunrise;

and behold, at the entrance of the gate there were about twenty-five men, and I saw in their midst Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, the leaders of the people.'

'Son of man, these are the men who devise vain things, and who take evil counsel in this city, who say:

"Have not houses been newly built? This city is the cauldron, and we are the flesh."'

He brings accusation both against the rulers and against their subjects, as taking counsel contrary to God, contradicting the prophets, and being unwilling to believe that they would be handed over to the enemy; rather, they supposed they would go on dwelling in the city, and there receive the end of their life.

'For the houses,' they say, 'are newly built, and in these we shall dwell, and receive the term of our life;'

for this reason God, being indignant, foretells through the prophet the coming assault of the enemy.

'For the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me,' he says, 'and said to me:'

That is: being filled with the energy of the Spirit of God, I was commanded to speak these things in the person of God.

'Thus have you said, O house of Israel; and the devisings of your spirit I know.'

(6:8) 'You have multiplied your dead in this city, and filled its streets with the slain.'

'Your dead, whom you have slain in her midst, these are the flesh, and she is the cauldron; but you I will bring forth out of her midst.'

'You fear the sword, and a sword I will bring upon you, says the Lord Adonai.'

You, he says, have declared the city to be a cauldron, having filled her with countless dead;

for this reason you shall not obtain the things you hope for, nor receive a painless end of your life, but shall at once be handed over to the enemies whom you dread, and shall become fuel for their sword.

'And I will bring you forth out of her midst, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and execute judgment among you.'

For since you slew your own kinsmen, you shall justly be handed over to strangers and enemies.

'At the borders of Israel I will judge you;

and you shall know that I am the Lord.'

'She shall not be a cauldron for you, and you shall not be flesh in her midst;

at the borders of Israel I will judge you.'

'And you shall know that I am the Lord.'

You shall not die, he says, in the city, nor be deemed worthy of burial in her, according to your expectations, but shall be slain far away from her;

and teaching the causes, 'Because in My statutes,' He says, 'you did not walk, and My judgments you did not perform;'

'but neither did you act according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you.' It is the height of transgression and the greatest proof of impiety, not only to transgress the divine law, but even to do things more impious than the nations that live in ungodliness.

'And Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died;

and I fell upon my face, and cried out with a loud voice, and said:'

'Alas, alas, Lord Adonai! Do You make a full end of the remnant of Israel?' The prophet beholds the working of those who had been commanded to smite the city without sparing, and being afraid lest it should undergo utter destruction with all being slain,

for out of his despondency he had forgotten how many had received the signs of salvation;

but he is taught that these indeed shall be handed over to the enemies because of their great wickedness;

while those who had already been led away captive shall enjoy consolation even in the foreign land, and shall obtain a return.

'For, Son of man,' He says, 'your brethren, and the men of your captivity, and all the house of Israel, are brought to their completion.'

Some, He says — those who have become captives of the spear and have paid the penalty for the things they dared — I will keep for Myself as a people.

For this reason, He says, quite the contrary shall come to pass: you indeed I will hand over to slaughter, but of those others I will make provision.

'Thus says the Lord Adonai: Because I have thrust them away among the nations, and scattered them into all the earth, yet I will be to them a small sanctuary in the lands wherever they enter.'

For meanwhile I have made them captives, exiles, and scattered ones;

yet nevertheless, in their exile, by the expectation of a change of their calamities and by the hope of good things, I will furnish them consolation;

and this He indicated by saying:

'I will be to them a small sanctuary.' And not long after, I will again restore them, and bring them back to their ancestral land.

'For I will gather them,' He says, 'from among the nations, and receive them out of the lands wherein I scattered them;

and I will give them the land of Israel, and they shall enter there, and shall remove all its abominations and all its lawless deeds out of it.'

This the history of Ezra teaches, and the writing of the Maccabees.

For after the return from Babylon, having departed from the worship of idols, they continued diligently to serve the God of all.

'And I will give them another heart,' He says, 'and a new spirit I will give them;'

and by 'a new spirit' He called the soul's impulse toward good things;

for since they had inclined toward the opposite, He named the change for the better a new spirit;

for just as in saying 'another heart' He did not signify a change of nature, but the mind's inclination toward the better,

so also by 'the new spirit' He made known this same thing;

and the words that follow bear witness to this;

'For I will draw out,' He says, 'the heart of stone from their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh.' And no one of sound mind would suppose the 'heart of stone' to be of the nature of stone, but rather the heart that is disobedient, hard, and unwilling to yield to God.

And 'a heart of flesh' again signifies the heart that is compliant and obedient.

'That they may walk in my ordinances, and keep my statutes, and do them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.'

For once their manner of life is henceforth ordered according to my laws, I shall be called their God, and they shall be reckoned my people.

Having said these things concerning those who had already been taken captive by the sword, he again brings his discourse back to those who at that time dwelt in Jerusalem.

'But as for them,' he says, 'their heart went after the heart of their abominations and of their iniquities; I have recompensed their ways upon their heads, saith Adonai the Lord.'

'To these,' he says, 'since they were not brought to their senses by the misfortunes of those others, but continue clinging fast to impiety, I will bring upon them the penalties deserved by their reckless deeds.'

'And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was upon them, above them.'

'And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which was over against the city.'

'When these things,' he says, 'had thus been spoken, the cherubim departed from the city, bearing the glory of God riding upon them;'

'and it stood upon the mountain opposite Jerusalem;'

and this is the mountain called the Mount of Olives, whence also the assumption of our Saviour according to the flesh took place;

fittingly therefore at that time too, having appeared in human form and having shown the two natures in one person—intimating the divine nature by the fire, and disclosing the human by the amber—having pronounced the verdict against Jerusalem, he withdraws to this mountain, and thence makes his ascent into the heavens;

for indeed after the cross and death, having again pronounced the verdict against Jerusalem, that not one stone should be left upon another that should not be thrown down, he went up with his disciples to that mountain, and, borne aloft by the spiritual and invisible powers, was taken up into the heavens.

The things shown to the prophet were therefore a type of the things to come;

and having beheld these things thus, he says:

'The Spirit took me up, and brought me into the land of the Chaldeans, in a vision, in the Spirit of God.'

'For it was not in reality,' he says, 'that I was bodily transported, now into Judea, now into the land of the Chaldeans, but in a vision'—that is, in a mystic sight.

And making this clearer, he added:

'And I went up from the vision which I saw.'

(v. 25) 'And I spoke to the captivity all the words of the Lord, which he had shown me.'

'I returned to myself,' he says, 'the spiritual contemplation having come to an end;'

'and those things I saw no more, but only the elders present with me, to whom I also related each thing, both what I had seen and what I had heard;'

but it is now the moment to utter that Gospel saying, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' For this both the foregoing things have sufficiently taught us;

for while many were seated together in the same place, the prophet alone enjoyed that spiritual contemplation.

Let us too be earnest to attain this purity and let us implore it, that being freed from every defilement, we may unceasingly bear the remembrance of God in our soul throughout the present life, and may be deemed worthy to behold him with boldness in the day of his appearing.

To him belongs the glory unto the ages of ages.

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

'Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house;'

'who have eyes to see, and see not, and have ears to hear, and hear not, because they are a provoking house.'

The word declared the soul's inclination in both directions;

'before them, and thou shalt be led captive from thy place to another place before them, that they may see, because they are a provoking house.'

And making what was said clearer, he adds:

'And thou shalt bring forth thy vessels, as vessels for captivity by day, before their eyes; and thou shalt go forth at evening in their sight, as a captive goeth forth.'

'Upon thy shoulders shalt thou be borne up, and thou shalt go forth in secret; thou shalt cover thy face, and shalt not see the ground;'

'for I have appointed thee as a sign to the house of Israel.'

'Imitate,' he says, 'one who is being besieged, then, when the city is taken, one compelled to flee, and to dig through a wall, and to contrive an exit, and to cover his face, that he may not become recognizable to those who see him;'

'for through thee doing these things I wish to foreshow to those dwelling in Jerusalem the captivity that is to come.'

Each of these things the divinely inspired Jeremiah teaches us more clearly, narrating how Zedekiah, when the city was captured, fled by night with his household and his guards, having devised a certain exit through the garden of the royal palace.

Then the prophet teaches how he brought each of the things spoken to fulfillment, inasmuch as he was carrying out the divine commands.

'When these things,' he says, 'had thus been done by me' (vv. 8–11).

'The word of the Lord came to me in the morning, saying:'

'Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the provoking house, said to thee:'

'What art thou doing? Say to them:'

'Thus saith Adonai the Lord to the ruler and prince in Jerusalem, and to all the house of Israel who are in the midst of them.'

'Say: I am doing a sign; as I have done, so shall it be to them; they shall go into removal and captivity.'

'Being asked,' he says, 'by these disobedient and stubborn ones the reason for the things done by thee, say plainly to them: I am for you a portent and a sign, prophesying through these deeds and sketching out in myself the things that shall befall both the king of Jerusalem and all the rulers.'