Eze 3:15 | KD | STEP | Vers. 10-15. Prepared then for his vocation, Ezekiel is now transported to the sphere of his activity. — Ver. 10. And He said to me, Son of man, all m,y words which 1 shall speak to thee, take into thy heart, and hear with thine ears. Ver. 11. And go to the exiles, to the children of thy people, and speak to them, and say to them, “Tims saith the Lord Jehovah,” whether they may hear thee or fail (to hear thee). Ver, 12. And a wind raised me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great tumult, “Praised he the glory of Jehovah,” from, their place hitherward. Ver, 13, And the noise of the wings of the creatures touching each other, and the noise of the wheels beside them, the noise of a great tumult. Ver. 14. And a wind raised me up, and took me, and I went thither embittered in the warmth of my spirit ; and the hand of Jehovah was strong upon me. Ver, 15. And I came to Tel-Abib to the exiles, who dwelled by the river Chebar, and where they sat there sat I down seven days, motionless and dumb, in their midst. — The apparent hysteron proteron , “take into thy heart, and hear with thine ears” (ver. 10), disappears so soon as it is observed that the clause “ hear with thine ears” is connected with the following “go to the exiles,” etc. The meaning is not, “ postquam auribus tuis percepisses mea mandata, ea ne oblivioni tradas, sed corde suscipe et animo infige ” (Rosen- müller), but this, “All my words which I shall speak to thee lay to heart, that thou mayest obey them. When thou hast heard my words with thine ears, then go to the exiles and an- nounce them to them.” With ver. 11 cf. -5. Observe that it is still בנ֣י עמ֔ך , “the children of thy” (not “my”) “people.” Stiff-necked Israel is no longer Jehovah's people. The command “to go to the people” is, in ver. 12 sqq., immediately executed by the prophet, the wind raising him up and transporting him to Tel-Abib, among the exiles, ר֔וח, phenomenally considered, is a wind of which God makes use to conduct the prophet to the scene of his labour ; but the wind is only the sensible substratum of the spirit which transports him thither. The representation is, that “he was borne thither through the air by the wind” (Kliefoth) ; but not as Jerome and Kliefoth suppose, in ipso corpore, i.e. so that an actual bodily removal through the air took place, but the raising up and taking away by the wind was effected in spirit in the condition of ecstasy. Not a syllable indicates that the theophany was at an end before this removal ; the contrary rather is clearly indicated by the remark that Ezekiel heard behind him the noise of the wings of the cherubim and of the wheels. And that the words תִּשָּׂאֵ֣נִי ר֔וּחַ do not necessitate us to suppose a bodily removal is shown by the comparison with , , , where Kliefoth also understands the same words in a spiritual sense of a merely internal — i.e. experienced in a state of ecstasy — removal of the prophet to Jerusalem and back again to Chaldea. The great noise which Ezekiel hears behind him proceeds, at least in part, from the appearance of the כְּבוֹד־יְה being set in motion, but (according to ver. 13) not in order to remove itself from the raptured prophet, but by changing its present position, to attend the prophet to the sphere of his labour. It tells decidedly in favour of this supposition, that the prophet, according to ver. 23, again sees around him the same theophany in the valley where he begins his work. This reappearance, indeed-, presupposes that it had previously disappeared from his sight, but the disappearance is to be supposed as taking place only after his call has been completed, i.e. after ver. 21. While being removed in a condition of ecstasy, Ezekiel heard the rushing sound, “Praised be the glory of Jehovah.” מִמְּקוֹמֽוֹ belongs not to גָּד֑וֹ בָּר֥וּךְ, which would yield no appropriate sense, but to אֶשְׁמַ֣ע, where it makes no difference of importance in the meaning whether the suffix is referred to יהןח or to כְּבוֹד. Ezekiel heard the voice of the praise of God's glory issuing forth from the place where Jehovah or His glory were to be found, i. e. where they had appeared to the prophet, not at all from the temple. Who sounded this song of praise is not mentioned. Close by Ezekiel heard the sound, the rustling of the wings of the cherubim setting themselves in motion, and how the wings came into contact with the tips of each other, touched each other (מִמְּקוֹמֽוֹ, from גְּשׁק, “to join,” “to touch one another”). Ver. 14 describes the prophet's mood of mind as he is carried away. Raised by the wind, and carried on, he went, i.e. drove thither, מַר֙ בַּחֲמַ֣ת רוּחִ֔, “bitter in the heat of his spirit.” Although מַר֙ is used as well of grief and mourning as of wrath and displeasure, yet mourning and sorrow are not appropriate to חֲמַ֣ת “warmth of spirit,” “anger.” The supposition, however, that sorrow as well as anger were in him, or that he was melancholy while displeased (Kliefoth), is incompatible with the fundamental idea of מַר֙ as “sharp,” “bitter.” Ezekiel feels himself deeply roused, even to the bitterness of anger, partly by the obduracy of Israel, partly by the commission to announce to this obdurate people, without any prospect of success, the word of the Lord. To so heavy a task he feels himself unequal, therefore his natural man rebels against the Spirit of God, which, seizing him with a strong and powerful grasp, tears him away to the place of his work ; and he would seek to withdraw himself from the divine call, as Moses and Jonah once did. The hand of the Lord, however, was strong upon him, i.e. “held him up in this inner struggle with unyielding power” (Kliefoth) ; cf.Isa 8:11. חֶזְקַ֣, “firm”, “strong,” differs from כְבַּ֥ד, “heavy,” Ps 32:4. תֵּ֣ל אָ֠בִיב, i.e. “the hill of ears,” is the name of the place where resided a colony of the exiles. The place was situated on the river Chebar (see on ), and derived its name, no doubt, from the fertility of the valley, rich in grain (הַבִּקְעָה֒, ver. 23), by which it was surrounded; nothing further, however, is known of it; cf. Gesen. Thesaur. p. 1505. The Chetib ואשר, at which the Masoretes and many expositors have unnecessarily taken offence, is to be read וָאֵשֵׁ֥ר, and to be joined with the following שָׁ֛ם, “where they sat” (so rightly the Chaldee, Syriac, and Vulgate). That this signification would be expressed differently, as Hitzig thinks, cannot be established by means of Job 39:30. The Keri וָאֵשֵׁ֥ב is not only unnecessary, but also inappropriate, which holds true also of other conjectures of modern expositors. Ezekiel sat there seven days, מַשְׁמִ֥ים, i.e., neither “deprived of sensation,” nor “being silent,” but as the partic. Hiphil from שְׁמִ֥ם, as מְשׁוֹמֵֽם in Ezr 9:3-4, “rigidly without moving,” therefore “motionless and dumb.” The seven days are not regarded as a period of mourning, in support of which is referred to; but as both the purification and the dedication and preparation for a holy service is measured by the number seven, as being the number of God's works (cf. sqq.; sqq.; ), so Ezekiel sits for a week “motionless and dumb,” to master the impression which the word of God, conveyed to him in ecstatic vision, had made upon his mind, and to prepare and sanctify himself for his vocation (Kliefoth).

‏ Ezekiel 3:15

Vers. 10-15. Prepared then for his vocation, Ezekiel is now transported to the sphere of his activity. — Ver. 10. And He said to me, Son of man, all m,y words which 1 shall speak to thee, take into thy heart, and hear with thine ears. Ver. 11. And go to the exiles, to the children of thy people, and speak to them, and say to them, “Tims saith the Lord Jehovah,” whether they may hear thee or fail (to hear thee). Ver, 12. And a wind raised me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great tumult, “Praised he the glory of Jehovah,” from, their place hitherward. Ver, 13, And the noise of the wings of the creatures touching each other, and the noise of the wheels beside them, the noise of a great tumult. Ver. 14. And a wind raised me up, and took me, and I went thither embittered in the warmth of my spirit ; and the hand of Jehovah was strong upon me. Ver, 15. And I came to Tel-Abib to the exiles, who dwelled by the river Chebar, and where they sat there sat I down seven days, motionless and dumb, in their midst. — The apparent hysteron proteron, “take into thy heart, and hear with thine ears” (ver. 10), disappears so soon as it is observed that the clause “ hear with thine ears” is connected with the following “go to the exiles,” etc. The meaning is not, “postquam auribus tuis percepisses mea mandata, ea ne oblivioni tradas, sed corde suscipe et animo infige” (Rosen- müller), but this, “All my words which I shall speak to thee lay to heart, that thou mayest obey them. When thou hast heard my words with thine ears, then go to the exiles and an- nounce them to them.” With ver. 11 cf. Jer 2:4-5. Observe that it is still בנ֣י עמ֔ך , “the children of thy” (not “my”) “people.” Stiff-necked Israel is no longer Jehovah's people. The command “to go to the people” is, in ver. 12 sqq., immediately executed by the prophet, the wind raising him up and transporting him to Tel-Abib, among the exiles, ר֔וח, phenomenally considered, is a wind of which God makes use to conduct the prophet to the scene of his labour ; but the wind is only the sensible substratum of the spirit which transports him thither. The representation is, that “he was borne thither through the air by the wind” (Kliefoth) ; but not as Jerome and Kliefoth suppose, in ipso corpore, i.e. so that an actual bodily removal through the air took place, but the raising up and taking away by the wind was effected in spirit in the condition of ecstasy. Not a syllable indicates that the theophany was at an end before this removal ; the contrary rather is clearly indicated by the remark that Ezekiel heard behind him the noise of the wings of the cherubim and of the wheels. And that the words תִּשָּׂאֵ֣נִי ר֔וּחַ do not necessitate us to suppose a bodily removal is shown by the comparison with Eze 8:3, Eze 11:1, 24, where Kliefoth also understands the same words in a spiritual sense of a merely internal — i.e. experienced in a state of ecstasy — removal of the prophet to Jerusalem and back again to Chaldea. The great noise which Ezekiel hears behind him proceeds, at least in part, from the appearance of the כְּבוֹד־יְה being set in motion, but (according to ver. 13) not in order to remove itself from the raptured prophet, but by changing its present position, to attend the prophet to the sphere of his labour. It tells decidedly in favour of this supposition, that the prophet, according to ver. 23, again sees around him the same theophany in the valley where he begins his work. This reappearance, indeed-, presupposes that it had previously disappeared from his sight, but the disappearance is to be supposed as taking place only after his call has been completed, i.e. after ver. 21. While being removed in a condition of ecstasy, Ezekiel heard the rushing sound, “Praised be the glory of Jehovah.” מִמְּקוֹמֽוֹ belongs not to גָּד֑וֹ בָּר֥וּךְ, which would yield no appropriate sense, but to אֶשְׁמַ֣ע, where it makes no difference of importance in the meaning whether the suffix is referred to יהןח or to כְּבוֹד. Ezekiel heard the voice of the praise of God's glory issuing forth from the place where Jehovah or His glory were to be found, i. e. where they had appeared to the prophet, not at all from the temple. Who sounded this song of praise is not mentioned. Close by Ezekiel heard the sound, the rustling of the wings of the cherubim setting themselves in motion, and how the wings came into contact with the tips of each other, touched each other (מִמְּקוֹמֽוֹ, from גְּשׁק, “to join,” “to touch one another”). Ver. 14 describes the prophet's mood of mind as he is carried away. Raised by the wind, and carried on, he went, i.e. drove thither, מַר֙ בַּחֲמַ֣ת רוּחִ֔, “bitter in the heat of his spirit.” Although מַר֙ is used as well of grief and mourning as of wrath and displeasure, yet mourning and sorrow are not appropriate to חֲמַ֣ת “warmth of spirit,” “anger.” The supposition, however, that sorrow as well as anger were in him, or that he was melancholy while displeased (Kliefoth), is incompatible with the fundamental idea of מַר֙ as “sharp,” “bitter.” Ezekiel feels himself deeply roused, even to the bitterness of anger, partly by the obduracy of Israel, partly by the commission to announce to this obdurate people, without any prospect of success, the word of the Lord. To so heavy a task he feels himself unequal, therefore his natural man rebels against the Spirit of God, which, seizing him with a strong and powerful grasp, tears him away to the place of his work ; and he would seek to withdraw himself from the divine call, as Moses and Jonah once did. The hand of the Lord, however, was strong upon him, i.e. “held him up in this inner struggle with unyielding power” (Kliefoth) ; cf.Isa 8:11. חֶזְקַ֣, “firm”, “strong,” differs from כְבַּ֥ד, “heavy,” Ps 32:4. תֵּ֣ל אָ֠בִיב, i.e. “the hill of ears,” is the name of the place where resided a colony of the exiles. The place was situated on the river Chebar (see on Isa 50:3), and derived its name, no doubt, from the fertility of the valley, rich in grain (הַבִּקְעָה֒, ver. 23), by which it was surrounded; nothing further, however, is known of it; cf. Gesen. Thesaur. p. 1505. The Chetib ואשר, at which the Masoretes and many expositors have unnecessarily taken offence, is to be read וָאֵשֵׁ֥ר, and to be joined with the following שָׁ֛ם, “where they sat” (so rightly the Chaldee, Syriac, and Vulgate). That this signification would be expressed differently, as Hitzig thinks, cannot be established by means of Job 39:30. The Keri וָאֵשֵׁ֥ב is not only unnecessary, but also inappropriate, which holds true also of other conjectures of modern expositors. Ezekiel sat there seven days, מַשְׁמִ֥ים, i.e., neither “deprived of sensation,” nor “being silent,” but as the partic. Hiphil from שְׁמִ֥ם, as מְשׁוֹמֵֽם in Ezr 9:3-4, “rigidly without moving,” therefore “motionless and dumb.” The seven days are not regarded as a period of mourning, in support of which Job 2:13 is referred to; but as both the purification and the dedication and preparation for a holy service is measured by the number seven, as being the number of God's works (cf. Ex 29:29 sqq.; Lev 8:33 sqq.; 2Chr 29:17), so Ezekiel sits for a week “motionless and dumb,” to master the impression which the word of God, conveyed to him in ecstatic vision, had made upon his mind, and to prepare and sanctify himself for his vocation (Kliefoth).