以西結書註釋 第 1 章 第 5/19 段

'For their ruler too, in the midst of them, shall be lifted upon shoulders, and shall go forth secretly through the wall, and shall dig through it that he may go out through it;'

'he shall cover his face, that he be not seen with the eyes, and he himself shall not see the ground.'

Yet nevertheless, even though making his flight in this manner and contriving everything so as to escape notice, he shall be seized by the enemies.

'And I will spread out,' he says, 'my net over him, and he shall be caught in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, into the land of the Chaldeans; yet he shall not see it, and there he shall die.'

These things both the fourth book of Kingdoms and the blessed Jeremiah teach clearly.

'And all,' he says, 'that are round about him, his helpers, and all that support him, I will scatter to every wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.'

'And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I disperse them among the nations, and I will scatter them among the countries.'

'they went in thither, and they shall know that I am the Lord.'

'But these same,' he says, 'who shall be a remnant from the famine, and from death, and from the slaughter of war, shall become accusers of their own impiety and lawlessness, teaching the nations among whom they are sojourners that they are paying the penalty for the offenses they have committed against me.'

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

'Son of man, thou shalt eat thy bread with pain, and thou shalt drink thy water with torment and affliction.'

And this again is a sign of the famine that shall come to pass during the siege.

'And thou shalt say to the people of the land:'

'Thus saith Adonai the Lord to those who dwell in Jerusalem and upon the land of Israel:'

'They shall eat their bread in want, and drink their water in desolation, that the land may be made desolate with all its fullness, in the impiety of all who dwell in it.'

'And their inhabited cities shall be laid waste, and the land shall be for desolation; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.'

'For since, while enjoying the good things from me, and reveling in the fruits of the earth, you were ignorant of the giver, and became thankless toward your benefactor, in the deprivation of good things and in the desolation of your cities you shall learn my lordship.'

These things the prophet foretold to those in Jerusalem while he himself was in the captivity, God willing both to console those who had already become captives—that they had not suffered such things alone, but would have the others also as fellow-sufferers—

and, wishing by the fear of the prophecy of evils to persuade those still dwelling in Jerusalem to cease from their wickedness.

Besides this, since those dwelling in Jerusalem contradicted the words of the divine Jeremiah, and likewise those living in Chaldea contradicted those of the inspired Ezekiel, of necessity they confirm through one another, prophesying things in agreement, and by their concord they prove their words to be divine.

For if they had dwelt near one another, there would at least have been room for suspicion against the agreement of their words;

but since they were separated from one another by many stages of journey, and yet foretold the same things, of necessity what was said is shown to be divine.

For this reason Jeremiah wrote to those in Chaldea, and Ezekiel to those in Judea, the God of all contriving by every means benefit both for these and for those.

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

Son of man, what is this parable in the land of Israel, when they say:

The days are far off, and every vision has perished? Why is it, he says, that those who dwell in Judaea are accustomed to say to the prophets: 'You foretell things that will come to pass only after a great number of years,' mingling falsehood with their words and prophesying nothing true?

Thus says Adonai the Lord:

And I will turn back this parable, and no longer shall the house of Israel speak this parable; for you shall say to them, saying:

The days have drawn near, and the time of every vision.

For since they call my longsuffering a lie, let them be persuaded that the fulfilment of the prophecy is now at hand, and that the punishment foretold will forthwith appear at the very doors.

For I will put a stop, he says, to your false prophets, who undertake to foretell things contrary to my prophets, and who falsely announce to you the coming of good things.

For I will speak my words, and will perform them, and will delay no longer; because in your days, O rebellious house of Israel,

I will speak the word and will perform it, says Adonai the Lord.

Do not heed my prophets, he says, as though they spoke idly;

for it is I who speak through them, and swifter than speech I will bring the word to its end, making you eyewitnesses of the truth of the words.

For none of all my words, he says, which I shall speak, shall be delayed any longer; for I will speak a word and will perform it, says Adonai the Lord. CHAPTER XIII

He now turns his discourse against the false prophets.

For, he says, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy,

And lest the sameness of name should bring harm upon men (for both the true and the false were called prophets), he fittingly added:

And you shall say to the prophets who prophesy out of their own heart. That is, to those wholly destitute of the working of the Spirit, who utter falsehood out of their own reasonings.

And you shall prophesy, he says, and shall say to them:

(3) Thus says Adonai the Lord:

Woe to those who prophesy out of their own heart, who walk after their own spirit, and who see nothing at all.

Lamentation, he says, will overtake those who are not moved by the divine Spirit, but are led on by their own impulse.

For he called the soul's own inclination 'their spirit.'

Like foxes in the deserts are your prophets, O Israel.

They did not stand firm in the breach, nor did they gather a flock for the house of Israel.

They did not rise up as in battle, they who say, 'as in the day of the Lord.'

But Symmachus rendered these things more clearly:

Like foxes among ruins are your prophets, O Israel;

you did not go up into the breaches, nor did you fence a hedge about the sons of Israel, that they might stand as in battle in the day of the Lord. For your prophets, he says, O Israel, are like foxes dwelling among ruins.

For just as those creatures do not block up the exits of the ruins, but anyone who wishes may go up and in through them;

so these men, seeing the negligence of the people, did not wall off the roads that led them to wickedness, nor did they fence them about with godly words, so that in the day of wrath they might be able to prevail over their enemies;

but they exploited the weakness of the people for their own gain.

Seeing false visions, he says, divining vain things, they who say:

'The Lord says,' though the Lord has not sent them; and they began to raise up a word.

Have you not seen a false vision, and spoken vain divinations, and said:

'The Lord says'—the Lord—when I did not speak? You have misused my name, he says, offering false divinations to the people;

but I inspired none of these things in you.

Thus says Adonai the Lord:

Because your words are false and your divinations vain, therefore, behold, I am against you, says Adonai the Lord.

And I will stretch out my hand against the prophets who see false things and who utter vain things.

They shall not be in the instruction of my people, nor shall they be written in the register of the house of Israel, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel; and they shall know that I am Adonai the Lord.

For my own people, he says, I will instruct;

but these shall be delivered over to utter destruction, and shall have no recorded memorial, nor shall they be numbered together with my people.

And showing the cause, (10)

Because, he says, they led my people astray, saying:

'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.

For I foretold to the people war, and slaughter, and captivity, wishing by the threat of these evils to bring them to their senses;

but these men, doing the opposite of me, vainly promised them peace.

And that man, he says, builds a wall, as though solid, and they plaster it over.

Will it fall? (11) Say to those who plaster it: It shall fall.

For the people, he says, build a rotten wall through their wickedness and impiety;

and these men apply their agreeable predictions and good promises to the wall like a kind of plaster and coating, when they ought rather to have pulled down the unstable structure and made provision for it to become solid.

But by plastering over the wall, they thought to render it secure by means of the coating.

For there shall be, he says, a flooding rain, and I will send stones like slingshot into their bindings, and it shall fall, and a lifting wind shall come, and it shall be rent asunder.

And behold, the wall has fallen.

He has said all these things figuratively, as of a wall, and through them all he has intimated the assault of the enemy.

And by the 'bindings' of the wall he foretold the king and the rulers, who, like straps binding a building, so held the people together.

And the flooding rain, and the slingshot stones, and the lifting wind, he named as the Chaldeans.

When therefore the wall has fallen, he says, Will they not say to you:

Where is your plaster with which you plastered it? When through the events they learn that your predictions were false, and that war, and slaughter, and captivity have come instead of the hoped-for peace, will they not say to you:

Where are your agreeable words and your promises of peace? Having thus again said the same things at greater length, and having threatened the flood of the weapons of war, and the storms of stones, and the destruction of the ill-built wall down to its foundations, and the refutation of the falsehood of those who had foretold good things, he makes his discourse clearer.

For I said, he says, to you:

The wall is no more, neither those who plaster it.

(16) The prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and see for her peace, when there is no peace, says Adonai the Lord.

All things, he says, shall be brought to nothing—both the plaster, and the wall, and the prophets who applied the plaster.

For siege, he says, and captivity, instead of the promised peace, shall overtake Jerusalem.

Having said these things concerning the false prophets, he turns his discourse to the false prophetesses.

For the destroyer of human nature, finding these women too as his instruments, wrought his falsehood through them as well;

and just as he set the false prophets against the prophets, so against the women deemed worthy of the prophetic grace he set those women who had received the working of falsehood.

He therefore foretells to these women too the things that shall befall them.

And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart, and prophesy against them, and you shall say:

Thus says Adonai the Lord:

Woe to those who sew pillows under every elbow of the hand, and who make coverings upon the head of every stature, to pervert souls.

They perverted the souls of my people, and secured souls for themselves.

This Symmachus rendered more clearly, speaking thus:

Woe to those who sew armlets under every elbow of the hand, and who make neck-cushions for the head of every stature, so as to hunt souls. By these things he figuratively hinted at the softer and more agreeable words; for both the neck-cushions and the armlets afford a certain repose and comfort to the limbs upon which they are placed.

for both the neck-cushions and the armlets afford a certain repose and relief to the limbs upon which they are placed;

and the more agreeable words, though they are false, for the moment tickle the ear, but bring upon souls all manner of perversions.

So too the false prophetesses secured for the people harm to the soul, but for themselves monetary gain, by prophesying the things that seemed agreeable.

For this he hinted at when he said:

And they profaned me before my people, for a handful of barley and for pieces of bread.

For what is meaner than these things? And what is more grievous than the outrage that ensues from it? To slay, he says, the souls that ought not to die, and to preserve alive the souls that ought not to live, in your uttering to a people that hearkens vain oracles. For the sake of a little gain you praised some vainly before the people, while others you declared worthy of punishment, having wickedly abused the levity and pliability of the people.

For being persuaded by what was said by you, they unjustly saved some, and vainly slaughtered others.

Having thus convicted their impiety, he threatens punishment.

Behold, I am against your pillows, upon which you there gather souls, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will send forth the souls that you have perverted, their souls, unto scattering.

And I will tear your coverings, and I will deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall no longer be in your hands for gathering, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

I will convict, he says, your words, and show them to be false, and in place of those agreeable promises, which resemble soft neck-cushions and armlets, I will bring pains upon the people who were persuaded by you, and I will scatter them, teaching by experience your falsehood.

Because you perverted the heart of the righteous unjustly, though I did not pervert him, and strengthened the hands of the lawless altogether, that he should not turn back from his evil way and live.

And I will deliver my people out of your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

For since, he says, you troubled and storm-tossed the righteous (for so Aquila rendered it), foretelling grievous things to them, but made the transgressors more insolent, prophesying good things for them, and both of these you did contrary to my purpose;

for this reason I will hand you over to utter destruction, and I will bring your false divination to an end, and I will free my people from the ruin that comes through you.

Having thus prophesied concerning these things, he transfers his discourse to another subject.

And there came to me, he says, men of the elders of Israel, and they sat before my face.

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

Son of man, these men have set their imaginations upon their hearts, and have placed the punishment of their iniquities before their face;

shall I indeed answer them by an answer? This Aquila rendered more clearly:

These men have brought up their idols upon their hearts, and have set the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face. For the things they wickedly devise, he says, they carry out, and having shamelessly despised the punishment threatened against the unjust, they came to you, wishing to inquire something, and expecting to be granted an answer.

Thus says Adonai the Lord:

A man of the house of Israel, whoever sets his imaginations upon his heart, and appoints the punishment of his iniquity before his own face, and comes to the prophet — I the Lord will answer him therein, in that wherein his mind is entangled, that he may lead astray the house of Israel according to their hearts that are estranged from me in their devices.

Since those enslaved to impiety resorted alike to the true prophets and the false prophets, and inquired, not that they might by all means carry out the things commanded by God, but wishing to learn whether the predictions would coincide with their own reasonings;

for this reason the God of all says through the prophet, that Every man of the house of Israel who gainsays the divine teachings, and is persuaded only by his own reasonings, and despises the punishment threatened against transgressors, even if he goes off to a false prophet — wishing to fulfil his own purposes, yet making trial whether the predictions coincide with his own reasonings — I, he says, will answer him.

Since he does not use an upright mind, I will permit the false prophet to confirm his reasonings;

for he is worthy of ruin and destruction.

their hearts that are estranged from me in their devices. For since they set themselves far from my care, and delight in the deceit of the false prophets, I will permit them to reap the fruits of their own toils.

This one may find to have happened also in the case of Ahab.

For Zedekiah the false prophet, having made himself horns of iron, said to Ahab:

With these you shall gore Syria. But since Jehoshaphat did not accept what was said by the false prophets, but sought a prophet of God, Micaiah was sent for;

and having prophesied contrary to Zedekiah, he did not persuade Ahab.

For it was not because he wished to do those things which God had foretold that he questioned the prophet, but he wished by every means to ratify his own purpose.

and being persuaded, he went out, and paid the penalty of his impiety.

Thus says Adonai the Lord:

Turn back, and turn away from your practices and from all your impieties, and turn back your faces.

He offers an exhortation that procures salvation, and shows the gain that will come from it.

These things again he said more plainly, that Everyone who sets himself estranged from my care, and uses as his guide an evil reasoning, and though knowing the punishment threatened against the wicked yet despising it, comes to one of the false prophets, as though wishing to learn from me what ought to be done — I, he says, will make the answer, and will permit the so-called prophet to answer in accord with his reasonings.

Then he threatens the fitting punishment:

And I will set my face against that man, and I will make him a desolation and a waste, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

And showing that he says these things not concerning the true prophets, but concerning those who have the name but are void of the reality, he added:

And if the prophet be led astray and speak a word, I the Lord have led that prophet astray, and I will stretch out my hand against him, and I will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

And they shall bear their iniquity.

But it is not proper to a righteous judge both to lead the prophet astray, and to punish him for being led astray.

He does not therefore say that he leads the prophet astray by his own operation, but by permission;

for by his own resolve, and not by necessity, does he pursue this course.

For according to the wrongdoing, he says, of the inquirer, likewise also shall be the wrongdoing of the prophet, (v. 11) that the house of Israel may no longer stray from me, and that they may no longer be defiled in all their transgressions;

and they shall be to me for a people, and I will be to them for a God, says Adonai the Lord.

Not in vain, he says, will I bring this punishment upon them, but by the ruin of those men I am doing good to my people, and freeing them from the impiety of those men.

For I wish to have him as a people, and I will to be their God, exercising all care over them.

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

Son of man, if a land sin against me by committing a trespass, then I will stretch out my hand against it, and I will break its staff of bread, and I will send forth famine upon it, and I will cut off from it man and beast;

they shall be saved, says Adonai the Lord.

But these indeed shall gather the fruits of their own righteousness, and shall enjoy salvation, yet they shall not deliver those others from the punishment that is brought upon them.

He made mention of these men, as those who lived in their own times being exceedingly fitting to what has been said.

For Noah, being found in a generation of the impious, was not able to deliver from the utter destruction of the flood those who were unwilling to make use of repentance;

but he himself, though become a war-captive, prevailed over his enemies, and took those who had enslaved him as subjects.

Nor did the children of Job profit from their father's righteousness, but he alone was shown to be superior to the plot of the one who warred against him.

For even if I bring death upon that land, or an onslaught of wild beasts, or an incursion of enemies, and the three men be found in the midst of them, they shall not be able to save even their own sons or daughters, but they alone shall obtain salvation.

for that salvation follows upon repentance, the divine Scripture is witness, teaching this everywhere.

In addition to these things, the God of all wishes to show that what he has not done in the case of another nation, this he has done in the case of Israel.

For thus says, he says, Adonai the Lord:

But if I also send my four evil punishments (by 'evil' he means 'grievous') — sword, and famine, and evil wild beasts, and pestilence — upon Jerusalem, to destroy out of her man and beast;

and behold, there are left in her those who escape out of her, who shall bring forth out of her sons and daughters — behold, they shall come forth to you, and you shall see their ways.

By 'pestilence' he calls the sudden death, by 'sword' the slaughter, by 'famine' clearly the want, by 'evil wild beasts' those who cruelly carry off into captivity, by 'evil punishments' the grievous and bitter ones.

These punishments, he says, having brought upon Israel, I leave behind out of them sons and daughters who are saved, that all may learn their great impiety and their wicked practices, and may know the justice of the punishment.

And you also, who are kinsmen of those men, will not charge the punishment with cruelty, once you have beheld the wickedness of these people.

And making this plain, he went on to add:

And you shall repent of the evils which I brought upon Jerusalem, even of all the evils which I brought upon her.

(23.) And they shall comfort you, because you shall see their ways and their devices; and you shall know that not in vain have I done all that I did in her, says Adonai the Lord.

For on this account, he says, I will not deliver all to utter destruction, but I will leave some of them as survivors, so that through those all may learn the justice of the punishment brought upon them.

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

...for work? Will they take from it a peg on which to hang any vessel? Except what is given to the fire for consumption, the fire consumes its yearly cleansing, and it fails utterly.

Since he always named Israel a vine through the prophets:

'My beloved had a vineyard'; and Jeremiah:

'How have you turned into bitterness for me, you true vine?' — figuratively, from the branches of the vine, he shows the uselessness of Israel. For just as, he says, above all trees the wood of the vine is unfit for work:

for no one can fashion from it even the meanest peg, but it exists only as fuel for the fire, and its yearly pruning too is handed over to the fire;

so this people is fit for nothing else than for destruction and punishment.

'Its yearly cleansing,' he says, 'the fire consumes, and it fails utterly.'

'Shall it be made fit for work?' (5.) Not even while it is still whole shall it be fit for work.

Much less, then, if the fire has utterly consumed it — will it still be fit for work? For if, before it is handed over to the fire, it is suited for no work at all, then hardly will it be useful after becoming the fire's fuel.

Having thus spoken the parable, he goes on to give the interpretation.

As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I gave to the fire for consumption, so have I given the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And I will set my face against them.

This he said by a metaphor drawn from those who show an angry and stern countenance.

'They shall go out from the fire,' he says, 'and fire shall devour them.' For being delivered from famine, they shall be handed over to slaughter and captivity.

And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.

(8.) And I will make the land a desolation, because they transgressed with a trespass, says Adonai the Lord.

For them I will deliver to captivity and slaughter, and the land tilled by them I will make desolate, since there will be none to till it.

These things they shall suffer, paying the penalty for the sins they committed.

Since, therefore, whatever was written beforehand was written beforehand for our benefit, that through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope, let us not become wood, and grass, and stubble — which are fuel for the fire — but gold and precious stones, the material of the royal diadem, that we may reign together with Christ; with whom to the Father belongs the glory, together with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages.

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

Son of man, testify to Jerusalem of her sins.

Good is the reproof of sins, when it comes for benefit.

For to those sick with insensibility it implants perception, and brings to remembrance their own transgressions.

For grievous indeed, and exceedingly hard, is being sick; but far harder is to be ignorant of the very sickness.

For which reason even the sons of physicians often teach those so disposed — who are unwilling to accept any perception of their sufferings — the gravity of the disease, so that, perceiving it, they may cease feeding the matter of the disease with disorder, and may follow the laws of the medical art.

This too the God of all continually does with regard to those who transgress the law and are in an unfeeling condition.

'I will reprove you, and set your sins before your face'; and to Jerusalem through Jeremiah:

'Know that you have acted impiously against the Lord your God'; and again:

'...of yours in the burial-place, and know what you have done'; and countless other such things one may find.

This, then, here too he bids the prophet Ezekiel to do.

Then in detail he himself recounts the transgressions.

Thus says Adonai the Lord to Jerusalem.

Everywhere the doubling teaches the truth of the sovereign lordship.

Your root and your birth are from the land of Canaan;

your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. The Jews thought highly of themselves on account of their kinship with Abraham;

wherefore also they said to the Lord in the holy Gospels:

'We are Abraham's seed, and have never been in bondage to anyone.' This arrogance too the blessed John the Baptist demolishes, saying:

'Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and think not to say within yourselves:

We have Abraham as our father.'

For whose impiety they emulated, of those they fittingly received the kinship, being allotted to this race by their manner of life.

It was quite sufficient to strike them severely, not only because of the lawlessness of these very nations at that time, but also because of their ignoble descent from of old.

For Canaan was subjected to curses, and was condemned to slavery by his forefather Noah.

'Of this one,' he says, 'you are a descendant, and you have no kinship with Abraham and Shem;

for whose piety you denied, of those you lost even the kinship itself, and were stripped utterly of that nobility.'