--- title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible" author: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 454 of 927 url: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/454/ cite: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, section 454. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/454/" --- # Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible *Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown* The Victorian standard commentary, critical and practical, from Genesis to Revelation. ## 454. Ezekiel · 15 of 41 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/454/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/454/#p-N [¶0] Sodom ... daughters--Ammon and Moab, offshoots from Sodom; also the towns subject to it. [¶1] 47. their abominations--Milcom and Chemosh, the "abominations of Ammon and Moab" ([1Ki 11:5], ). [¶2] corrupted more than they--So it is expressly recorded of Manasseh ([2Ki 21:9]). [¶3] 48. Sodom--([Mt 11:24]). Judah's guilt was not positively, but relatively, greater than Sodom's; because it was in the midst of such higher privileges, and such solemn warnings; a fortiori, the guilt of unbelievers in the midst of the highest of all lights, namely, the Gospel, is the greatest. [¶4] 49. pride--inherited by Moab, her offspring ([Is 16:6]; [Jr 48:26]), and by Ammon ([Jr 49:4]). God, the heart-searcher, here specifies as Sodom's sin, not merely her notorious lusts, but the secret spring of them, "pride" flowing from "fullness of bread," caused by the fertility of the soil ([Ge 13:10]), and producing "idleness." [¶5] abundance of idleness--literally, "the secure carelessness of ease" or idleness. [¶6] neither did she strengthen ... the poor--Pride is always cruel; it arrogates to itself all things, and despises brethren, for whose needs it therefore has no feeling; as Moab had not for the outcast Jews ([Is 16:3], ; [Jr 48:27]; [Lu 16:19-21]; [Jas 5:1-5]). [¶7] 50. haughty--puffed up with prosperity. [¶8] abomination before me--"sinners before the Lord" ([Ge 13:13]); said of those whose sin is so heinous as to cry out to God for immediate judgments; presumptuous sins, daring God to the face ([Ge 18:20]; ). [¶9] I took them away--([Ge 19:24]). [¶10] as I saw good--rather, "according to what I saw"; referring to [Ge 18:21], where God says, "I will go down, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto Me." [¶11] 51. Samaria--the kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel less guilty than Judah; for Judah betrayed greater ingratitude, having greater privileges, namely, the temple, the priesthood, and the regular order of kings. [¶12] justified thy sisters--made them appear almost innocent by comparison with thy guilt ([Jr 3:11]; [Mt 12:41], ). [¶13] 52. Thou ... which hast judged ... bear thine own--([Mt 7:1], ; [Ro 2:1], 17-23). Judah had judged Sodom (representing "the heathen nations") and Samaria (Israel), saying they were justly punished, as if she herself was innocent ([Lu 13:2]). [¶14] thy shame--ignominious punishment. [¶15] 53. Here follows a promise of restoration. Even the sore chastisements coming on Judah would fail to reform its people; God's returning goodness alone would effect this, to show how entirely of grace was to be their restoration. The restoration of her erring sisters is mentioned before hers, even as their punishment preceded her punishment; so all self-boasting is excluded [Fairbairn]. "Ye shall, indeed, at some time or other return, but Moab and Ammon shall return with you, and some of the ten tribes" [Grotius]. [¶16] bring again ... captivity--that is, change the affliction into prosperity (so [Job 42:10]). Sodom itself was not so restored ([Jr 20:16]), but Ammon and Moab (her representatives, as sprung from Lot who dwelt in Sodom) were ([Jr 48:47]; ); probably most of the ten tribes and the adjoining nations, Ammon and Moab, &c., were in part restored under Cyrus; but the full realization of the restoration is yet future; the heathen nations to be brought to Christ being typified by "Sodom," whose sins they now reproduce ([De 32:32]). [¶17] captivity of thy captives--literally, "of thy captivities." However, the gracious promise rather begins with the "nevertheless" ([Eze 16:60]), not here; for [Eze 16:59] is a threat, not a promise. The sense here thus is, Thou shalt be restored when Sodom and Samaria are, but not till then ([Eze 16:55]), that is, never. This applies to the guilty who should be utterly destroyed ([Eze 16:41], ); but it does not contradict the subsequent promise of restoration to their posterity ([Nu 14:29-33]), and to the elect remnant of grace [Calvin]. [¶18] 54. bear thine own shame--by being put on a level with those whom thou hast so much despised. [¶19] thou art a comfort unto them--since they see thee as miserable as themselves. It is a kind of melancholy "comfort" to those chastised to see others as sorely punished as themselves ([Eze 14:22], ). [¶20] 55. (See on [Eze 16:53]). [¶21] 56. Sodom was not mentioned--literally, "was not for a report." Thou didst not deign to mention her name as if her case could possibly apply as a warning to thee, but it did apply ([2Pe 2:6]). [¶22] 57. Before thy wickedness was discovered--manifested to all, namely, by the punishment inflicted on thee. [¶23] thy reproach of ... Syria and ... Philistines--the indignity and injuries done thee by Syria and the Philistines ([2Ki 16:5]; [2Ch 28:18]; [Is 9:11], ). [¶24] 58. borne thy lewdness--that is, the punishment of it ([Eze 23:49]). I do not treat thee with excessive rigor. Thy sin and punishment are exactly commensurate. [¶25] 59. the oath--the covenant between God and Israel ([De 29:12], ). As thou hast despised it, so will I despise thee. No covenant is one-sided; where Israel broke faith, God's promise of favor ceased. [¶26] 60. The promise here bursts forth unexpectedly like the sun from the dark clouds. With all her forgetfulness of God, God still remembers her; showing that her redemption is altogether of grace. Contrast "I will remember," with "thou hast not remembered" ([Eze 16:22], ); also "My covenant," with "Thy covenant" ([Eze 16:61]; [Psa 106:45]); then the effect produced on her is ([Eze 16:63]) "that thou mayest remember." God's promise was one of promise and of grace. The law, in its letter, was Israel's (thy) covenant, and in this restricted view was long subsequent ([Ga 3:17]). Israel interpreted it as a covenant of works, which she while boasting of, failed to fulfil, and so fell under its condemnation ([2Co 3:3], ). The law, in its spirit, contains the germ of the Gospel; the New Testament is the full development of the Old, the husk of the outer form being laid aside when the inner spirit was fulfilled in Messiah. God's covenant with Israel, in the person of Abraham, was the reason why, notwithstanding all her guilt, mercy was, and is, in store for her. Therefore the heathen or Gentile nations must come to her for blessings, not she to them. [¶27] everlasting covenant--([Eze 37:26]; [2Sa 23:5]; [Is 55:3]). The temporary forms of the law were to be laid aside, that in its permanent and "everlasting" spirit it might be established (Jr 31:31-37; 32:40; , ; [He 8:8-13]). [¶28] 61. thou shalt remember--It is God who first remembers her before she remembers Him and her own ways before Him ([Eze 16:60]; [Eze 20:43]; ). [¶29] ashamed--the fruit of repentance ([2Co 7:10], ). None please God unless those who displease themselves; a foretaste of the Gospel ([Lu 18:9-14]). [¶30] I will give them unto thee for daughters--([Is 54:1]; , ; [Ga 4:26], &c.). All the heathen nations, not merely Sodom and Samaria, are meant by "thy sisters, elder and younger." In Jerusalem first, individual believers were gathered into the elect Church. From Jerusalem the Gospel went forth to gather in individuals of the Gentiles; and Judah with Jerusalem shall also be the first nation which, as such, shall be converted to Christ; and to her the other nations shall attach themselves as believers in Messiah, Jerusalem's King ([Psa 110:2]; [Is 2:2], ). "The king's daughter" in [Psa 45:12-14] is Judah; her "companions," as "the daughter of Tyre," are the nations given to her as converts, here called "daughters." [¶31] not by thy covenant--This does not set aside the Old Testament in its spirit, but in its mere letter on which the Jews had rested, while they broke it: the latter ("thy covenant") was to give place to God's covenant of grace and promise in Christ who "fulfilled" the law. God means, "not that thou on thy part hast stood to the covenant, but that 'I am the Lord, I change not' (Mal 3:6) from My original love to thee in thy youth" (see [Ro 3:3]). [¶32] 62. ([Ho 2:19], 20). [¶33] thou shalt know that I am the Lord--not, as elsewhere, by the judgments falling on thee, but by My so marvellously restoring thee through grace. [¶34] 63. never open thy mouth--in vindication, or even palliation, of thyself, or expostulation with God for His dealings ([Ro 3:19]), when thou seest thine own exceeding unworthiness, and My superabounding grace which has so wonderfully overcome with love thy sin ([Ro 5:20]). "If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged" ([1Co 11:31]). [¶35] all that thou hast done--enhancing the grace of God which has pardoned so many and so great sins. Nothing so melts into love and humility as the sense of the riches of God's pardoning grace ([Lu 7:47]). ### Chapter 17 ### Eze 17:1-24. Parable of the Two Great Eagles, and the Cropping of the Cedar of Lebanon. Judah Is to Be Judged for Revolting from Babylon, Which Had Set Up Zedekiah instead of Jehoiachin, to Egypt; God Himself, as the Rival of the Babylonian King, Is to Plant the Gospel Cedar of Messiah [¶38] The date of the prophecy is between the sixth month of Zedekiah's sixth year of reign and the fifth month of the seventh year after the carrying away of Jehoiachin, that is, five years before the destruction of Jerusalem [Henderson]. [¶39] 2. riddle--a continued allegory, expressed enigmatically, requiring more than common acumen and serious thought. The Hebrew is derived from a root, "sharp," that is, calculated to stimulate attention and whet the intellect. Distinct from "fable," in that it teaches not fiction, but fact. Not like the ordinary riddle, designed to puzzle, but to instruct. The "riddle" is here identical with the "parable," only that the former refers to the obscurity, the latter to the likeness of the figure to the thing compared. [¶40] 3. eagle--the king of birds. The literal Hebrew is, "the great eagle." The symbol of the Assyrian supreme god, Nisroch; so applied to "the great king" of Babylon, his vicegerent on earth ([Jr 48:40]; ). His "wings" are his great forces. Such symbols were familiar to the Jews, who saw them portrayed on the great buildings of Babylon; such as are now seen in the Assyrian remains. [¶41] long-winged--implying the wide extent of his empire. [¶42] full of feathers--when they have been renewed after moulting; and so in the full freshness of renovated youth ([Psa 103:5]; [Is 40:31]). Answering to the many peoples which, as tributaries, constituted the strength of Babylon. [¶43] divers colours--the golden eagle, marked with star-like spots, supposed to be the largest of eagles [Bochart]. Answering to the variety of languages, habits, and costumes of the peoples subject to Babylon. [¶44] came unto Lebanon--continuing the metaphor: as the eagle frequents mountains, not cities. The temple at Jerusalem was called "Lebanon" by the Jews [Eusebius], because its woodwork was wholly of cedars of Lebanon. "The mountain of the Lord's house" ([Is 2:2]). Jerusalem, however, is chiefly meant, the chief seat of civil honor, as Lebanon was of external elevation.