Читать книгу The Prophet Ezekiel: An Analytical Exposition - Arno Clemens Gaebelein - Страница 13

Expositors and critics have interpreted this and the other signs in various ways. Higher Criticism maintains that the whole description is purely ideal and that the Prophet never did in person what was asked of him. They point to the fact that nowhere is a statement made that he did these things. We quote from the "Expositor's Bible":

"It is clear that these signs could never have been enacted, either in view of the people or in solitude, as they are here described. It may be doubted whether the whole description is not purely ideal, representing a process which passed through the prophet's mind, or was suggested to him in the visionary state but never actually performed."

Other critics have tried to explain the Prophet's actions by some kind of a catalepsy, from which, they claim, he suffered. All these theories are pure inventions, springing from a denial of inspiration. They make much of the physical impossibility of this command to lie continuously for 390 days on the left side and for 40 days on the right side. But it does not say that the Prophet should be in that position day and night during that allotted time. The fact that he was to prepare food to eat during these days excludes this extreme view. The Prophet no doubt carried out the divine command as he understood it, and thereby gave the people a sign concerning their iniquity and the deserved punishment. But what do the 390 days of Israel and 40 days of Judah mean? The text shows that the days here mean years.[4] The 390 and 40 days make 430 days. This reminds us of Exodus xii:40-41, where the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt is given as 430 years. The 40 years of Judah recall the years of wandering in the wilderness. The 390 days apply to the period of Israel's unfaithfulness, which lead up to their punishment. These 390 years must be reckoned from Jeroboam, who was the first King of the house of Israel by divine appointment as revealed through Ahijah, the Prophet (1 Kings xi:31). The 40 years of Judah, for which Ezekiel was to lie upon his right side for 40 days must mean the 40 years of Solomon's reign. Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the vile goddess of the Zidonians. Judah worshipped besides Ashtoreth, Chemosh, the god of the Moabites and Milcom, the god of Ammon (1 Kings xi:33). Thus the captives were reminded by the Prophet's painful position of the shameful history of the long years of apostasy of their nation. But more than that. The Lord said expressly to Ezekiel: "I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity ... so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel." By consulting other passages in the Old Testament, especially in Exodus and Leviticus,[5] it will be found that the phrase "bear their iniquity" always means to endure the punishment due to sin or iniquity. Ezekiel's sign therefore pictured the actual results in punishment, which was now to fall upon the people for their sins. The 390 years and the 40 years therefore must be primarily applied to the period of their punishment. The Prophet, therefore, had put upon him suffering typical of the nation's punishment. He is in this a blessed type of the great Sinbearer, who bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Of Him it is written, "He shall bear their iniquities." And the believing remnant of Israel in a future day, looking upon Him, whom they pierced, will yet confess "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah liii:5).

III. The Sign of the Famine and the Defiled Bread. The siege of Jerusalem had been portrayed in the tile sign; the hardships in divine judgments in the second and the third sign describes additional punishments to come upon Jerusalem.

Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof. And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall thou eat it. Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink. And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight. And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them (verses 9-13).

Then the Priest-Prophet, horrified at the defilement he was to be subjected to, spoke to Jehovah and received an answer from Him granting his request and giving further instructions about the sign.

Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth. Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith. Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment: That they may want bread and water, and be astonished one with another, and consume away for their iniquity (verses 14-17).

This sign then shows the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem and what was to come upon the people during the period of their punishment. The wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and fitches[6] were to be put into one vessel, because a little of each was available. To eat things by weight and not to be satisfied with it, was announced through Moses as one of the threatened judgments. "And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight; and ye shall eat and not be satisfied" (Lev. xxvi:26). The sign meant famine as the Lord told Ezekiel (verse 16).

Then uncleanness, defilement, is added. The famine stands connected with the siege, the defilement refers more to that, which was to come upon them in their captivity among the Gentiles. It pictured the unclean religious conditions into which the people were to be plunged during the exile. "Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them." The same judgment was announced by Hosea. "They shall not dwell in the Lord's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria. They shall not offer wine to the Lord, neither shall they be pleasing unto Him; their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted" (Hosea ix:3-4). And Ezekiel baked the bread in the prescribed way, while no doubt, the captives looked on in horror, that a Priest like Ezekiel could act thus. The sign found its fulfillment. God's predicted judgments were always literally fulfilled. God means what He has declared in His Word. The future will yet witness to it.

IV. The Sign of the Shaving of the Head and the Face.

And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair. Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them. Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts. Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel (chapter v:1-4).

In this final sign we have the symbol of what was to befall the nation as such. Through the Prophet Isaiah a prediction had been given concerning the King of Assyria, which explains the meaning of the sharp knife. "In the same day shalt the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the King of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet, and it shall also consume the beard" (Isa. vii:20). The sharp knife[7] represents in Ezekiel's sign the King of Babylon. He was Jehovah's instrument executing His wrath. The people are represented by the hairs. The sharp knife, the sword of justice, was to cut them off. The third part of the hair burned with fire pictured the fate of a part of the people during the siege. Besides the fire, the pestilence and the famine were to consume them (verse 12). Another part was to be destroyed by the sword round about Jerusalem, while still another part should be scattered unto all the winds, that is dispersed among the Gentiles, where the sword would also follow the fugitives. Only a few in number, a small remnant were to be preserved which was symbolically enacted when Ezekiel took a few hairs and bound them in his skirt. But even some of them should be put into the fire. Such a remnant, saved and preserved and ultimately blessed, is often mentioned in the prophetic Word. See Isaiah vi:13; x:22; Jere. xxiii:3; Ezek. vi:8; Zech. xiii:8-9. All these judgments came upon the city and upon the nation. A remnant also was saved and in due time returned.

Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you; Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations. Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds. Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord God; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity. A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them. Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by. So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken it. When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread: So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee: and I will bring the sword upon thee. I, the Lord, have spoken it (verses 5-17).

After these few signs had announced to the captives what was to come upon the city and upon the people, Jehovah begins to speak. The solemn words we have quoted need but little comment. He speaks of Jerusalem's exalted place, her wickedness, which had become greater than that of the nations, her disobedience and her judgments. One must read the Lamentations of Jeremiah to find how all was fulfilled in the final overthrow of Jerusalem. Compare verse 10 with Lament. iv:10. How terrible are the judgments of a righteous and holy God! The calamity which fell upon Jerusalem and the land through the hands of Nebuchadnezzar was repeated on a more fearful scale in the year 70, after the greater One than Ezekiel, the Lord Jesus Christ, had given His solemn warnings and had wept over the city. And once more will Jerusalem taste of wrath and judgment in that end of the age, which is called the great tribulation. And after that the day-break, when Jerusalem will rise out of the dust and her history of shame and sorrow will be ended.