the Divine righteousness. It is true, there was something like a restoration of the standing and honour of the priesthood, after the return from the Babylonish exile; and, if the ideas currently entertained upon the subject were correct, there might appear in that a failure of the prophecy. But there was no right restoration of the priestly, any more than of the regal dignity at the time specified; it was but a shadow of the original glory. For there was no longer the distinctive prerogative of the Urim and Thummim, nor the ark of the covenant, nor the glory overshadowing the mercy-seat,-all was in a depressed and mutilated condition, and even that subject to many interferences from the encroachments of foreign powers. So much only was given, both in respect to the priesthood and the kingdom, as to show, that the Lord had not forsaken his people, and to serve as a pledge of the coming glory. But it was to the still-prospective, rather than the present state of things, that the eye of faith was directed to look for the proper restoration. And lest any should expect otherwise, the prophet Zechariah, after the return from Babylon, took up the matter, as it were, where Ezekiel had left it, and intimated, in the plainest manner, that what was then accomplished was scarcely worth taking into account; it was, at the most, but doing in a figure, what could only find its real accomplishment in the person and work of Messiah. Especially at chap. vi. 14: -"And he (the branch) shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory; and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne." Thus the mitre and the crown were both to meet in him, and the temple in its noblest sense be built, and the glory be obtained, such as it became the Lord's anointed to possess. Meanwhile all was but preparatory and imperfect.

But now, with this glimpse of coming revival and future glory peering through the dark cloud of judgment and tribulation, which for the present hung around the covenant-people, let us listen to the prophet's announcement of the doom of Ammon, in which there is no such perspective of future recovery.

Ver. 28. And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, concerning the Ammonites and their reproach (or scorn), even say thou, A sword, a sword, drawn for slaughter, furbished to the utmost, that

1 The literal rendering here (taking

1

as the infinitive of, which

it might flash! 29. While they see nothingness for thee, while they divine lies to thee (while this delusive process is going on, and thou art giving heed to it, there is that drawn and furbished sword flashing in the distance), to lay thee upon the necks of the pierced-through godless ones, whose day has come, at the time of the final iniquity. 30. Let it return to the scabbard ; in the place where thou wast formed, in the land of thy nativity, will I judge thee.2 31. And I will pour out my indignation upon thee; with the fire of my wrath will I blow upon thee, and will give thee into the hand of savage men, forgers of destroying weapons. 32. Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt not be remembered, for I, Jehovah, have spoken it.

3

Here all is darkness, trouble, and desolation. The Ammonites had not only sinned, like other heathen nations, but they had also taken up a taunt and reproach against the covenant-people in the time of their declension, and had pressed up, and, in the proud spirit of conquerors, spread themselves over a part of Israel's territory (Zeph. ii. 8; Jer. xlix. 1). They might, therefore, be fitly taken here as representatives of the enemies generally of the people of God. And in them the Lord was going to show, by a palpable demonstration, that while Israel could not escape this righteous judgment, when they walked like the heathen, their fall would be no gain to the heathen adversaries, but only the forerunner of a still more severe, even a remediless destruction. A germ of life and blessing still existed in the one, which Babylon with all its might could not extirpate; but in the other there was no such Divine element; and when the sword of vengeance was drawn, it must accomplish a final end. So was it with the Ammonites as a people. A few years after

seems the most natural derivation), would be,-furbished for what it can, or as much as possible; the infinitive of the verb being taken adverbially.

1 The meaning seems to be, that these Ammonites were to be added to the slain in Judah, thrown, as it were, upon the decapitated bodies of those wicked men, who had there perished in judgment, and whom they had imitated in their foolhardy and sinful ways.

2 The destruction was to overtake them in their own territory; and the sentence at the beginning of the verse," Let it return to the scabbard," may be understood thus:-The sword must do the work of destruction for which it is drawn; do not trouble yourselves to move out of your place; let it do its work, and then be sheathed; it is in vain to resist or strive against the doom.

The word here is singular in the Hebrew, though it scarcely admits of being rendered but in the plural,-forgers of that which destroys, -slaughter-weapons. There is an evident allusion to the language in Isa. liv. 16. But compare also Jer. v. 26.

the fall of Jerusalem, the arms of the king of Babylon were turned against them, and desolated their country. But this was only the beginning of their troubles; for they never attained again to political power and importance; they gradually dwindled away, till their separate existence ceased, and their place was no more known. "So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord (so shall they indeed perish—in the destruction of these aliens and scorners the doom of all is reflected); but let them that love thee be as the sun, when he goeth forth in his strength.'

CHAPTER XXII.

THE LORD'S JUDGMENT UPON THE ALL-PERVADING SINFULNESS OF JERUSALEM.

Ver. 1. And the word of Jehovah came to me saying, 2. Wilt thou (not) judge, wilt thou (not) judge the bloody city? and make her to know all her abominations. 3. And thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The city is one that sheds blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and has made idols for herself, that she may be defiled. 4. By thy blood which thou hast shed, thou hast become guilty; and by thine idols which thou hast made thou art defiled; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and hast reached thine years; therefore have I made thee a reproach to the heathen, and a mocking to all countries. 5. Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall mock thee (saying), "Thou polluted one in name, and full of confusion!"1 6. Behold, the princes of Israel, each one according to his power, were in thee, in order that they might shed blood (as if that were the only purpose of their existence). 7. Father and mother have been set light by in thee; in thee they have treated the stranger with injustice; the widow and the fatherless have been oppressed in thee. 8. Thou hast despised my holy things, and hast profaned my Sabbaths. 9. Men of slander have been in thee, that they might shed blood; and on the mountains have they eaten in thee; scandalous things have they done in the midst of thee. 10. A father's nakedness has been discovered in thee; they have humbled in thee her that was set apart as polluted. 11. And one has committed abomination with his neighbour's wife; and another has shamefully defiled his daughter-in-law; and another has humbled in thee his sister, the daughter of his father. 12. They have taken bribes in thee that they might shed

1 These words are best understood as the reproach itself, which the surrounding countries cast against Jerusalem. They held her up to derision as utterly soiled in reputation, and, at the same time, involved in mischief. In name and reality alike evil.

blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and hast overreached thy neighbour by extortion; and thou hast forgotten me, saith the Lord Jehovah. 13. And, behold, I have smitten my hand at thy overreaching which thou hast committed, and at the blood which is in the midst of thee. 14. Can thy heart endure, or thy hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I, Jehovah, have spoken, and I will do it. 15. And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee among the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee. 16. And thou art polluted by thyself1 in the eyes of the heathen; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah.

17. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 18. Son of man, the house of Israel has become to me dross; the whole of them are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; the dross of silver are they. 19. Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because ye have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20. As silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, are gathered into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it that it may melt; so will I gather in my anger and my fury, and I will leave and melt you. 21. And I will collect you, and will blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst of it. 22. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst of it; and ye shall know that I Jehovah have poured out my fury upon you. 23. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 24. Son of man say to her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, not rained upon in the day of indignation. 25. The conspiracy of prophets in the midst of her is like a roaring lion ravening for the prey: they have devoured souls; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have multiplied her widows in the midst of her. 26. Her priests have done violence to my law,2 and have profaned my holy things; they have put no difference between holy and profane, nor taught between polluted and clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27. Her princes in the midst of her are as wolves ravening for their prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, that they may get unjust gain. 28. And her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing vanity, and divining lies to them, saying. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, and Jehovah has not spoken. 29. The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and oppressed the poor and needy, and overreached the stranger by going against the right. 30. And I sought for a man among them that should make up the wall, and stand in the breach before me for the land

1 Our translators have here put the proper rendering in the margin, and retained a quite wrong one in the text. Most of the old translators and interpreters give the sense, " And I shall be profaned by thee." Conjectural emendations of the text are resorted to by Ewald and others, but without any necessity. The thought expressed is, that Jerusalem now appeared, from her depraved and miserable condition, as a polluted thing in the eyes of her heathen neighbours; and she had brought the reproach upon herself. It had not come upon her as a calamity, which she had no power to prevent; but she had, with her own hand, made herself vile.

2 Such, undoubtedly, is the meaning of the expression. It does not mean simply, that the priests personally transgressed the law, but that they dealt violently with it-wrested it in a way to suit their own selfish ends.

that I might not destroy it; but I found none. 31. And I pour out upon them my indignation; in the fire of my wrath I consume them: I recompense their way upon their head, saith the Lord Jehovah.

A VERY few remarks will suffice on this chapter, as it presents scarcely any difficulty in interpretation, and in its theme differs very little from some portions that have already passed under consideration. It stands closely related, however, to the last chapter, and may fitly be regarded as supplementary to it; the former having presented a striking delineation of the Lord's purpose to execute the severity of his displeasure upon the people of Jerusalem, while this returns to lay open the fearful mass of corruption on account of which such severity was to be inflicted. In what is written here, there is nothing properly new; in its general purport, it is a repetition of the charges which were urged in chap. xx.; and so the chapter begins much in the same way,with a call upon the prophet to judge the people, and set before them their iniquities. There, however, the charge took the form of an historical review, for the purpose of connecting the present state of wickedness with the past, and showing how continuously the stream of corruption had flowed through all periods of their national existence. Here, on the other hand, the prophet looks exclusively to the present, and brings out in fearful array the many heinous and rampant sins which were crying in Heaven's ear for vengeance.

The first section, reaching to the end of ver. 16, is chiefly occupied with detailing the various kinds of transgression that were practised in the land,-the idolatry, revelry, and lust, the selfishness, treachery, oppression, and bloodshed, with which all were polluted. The dark picture is drawn so as to exhibit a sharp contrast between the impure condition to which Israel had now come, and the pure one which Moses had of old represented them as called to maintain. (Lev. xviii.-xx.) In all that was holy, virtuous, and good, they were to stand honourably apart from the heathen nations; while in reality they had sunk to a level with these in the practice of every species of enormity. Hence, the necessity of a dealing in judgment,—not utterly to exterminate them as a people, but to purge out the corruptions. which were defeating the design of their calling and election of God. "And I will scatter thee among the heathen," is the closing denunciation of this part, "and disperse thee in the