Bible Commentaries

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts

Ezekiel 24

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Verses 1-27

Ezekiel 24:15-16

The enunciation of laws or principles seems more especially to belong to Ezekiel , as the experience of personal evil and the sympathy with national sorrow belong more to the tender and womanly nature of Jeremiah. Nevertheless, Ezekiel was to be a priest in this sense also, as well as in that higher sense of beholding the glory of God and proclaiming His name. Suffering was not the destination of one prophet; it was the badge of all the tribe.

—F. D. Maurice.

To love, is to know the sacrifices which eternity exacts from life.

—John Oliver Hobbes, The School for Saints, chap. xxv.

Ezekiel 24:18

Mr. R. H. Hutton quotes this passage (vv15-27) in his essay on the poetry of the Old Testament, to show how "this sublime characteristic of the Hebrew prophets, that they seem almost to forget their human centre of life in their effort to delineate Divine truth, is strikingly illustrated in the frequent surrender of their private lives and affections, for the purpose of sculpturing, in a living symbol, upon the mind of the nation, the lesson that no mere words could have taught. How far can any human being now, even distantly, comprehend the state of mind in which Ezekiel must have lived when he acted thus under the Divine inspiration?

References.—XXIV:18.—J. H. Jowett, Meditations for Quiet Moments, p106. XXIV:19.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxviii. No2286.

Ezekiel 24:23

"Sin will cease," said Herbert Spencer," when men shall have discovered that sin is essentially fatal to happiness."

The Significance of Ezekiel

Ezekiel 24:24

Is not every man a sign? Each man is significant of much. Each man points to something beyond himself, something either beautiful or base. Every man is a living sermon. It would evangelize our lives did we realize this. How circumspectly would we walk were this always in our recollection!

All great and good men are signs. The Bible declares that the Lord Christ was and is a sign. And of Ezekiel Jehovah attests, "Thus shall Ezekiel be unto you a sign" (R. V.).

I believe the idea to be that Ezekiel is a sign in a very special degree. Bishop Wordsworth translates my text: "Ezekiel is unto you a wonderful portent". No common sign, but a portent—flaming with supernatural significance. This is a strong claim to be instituted for Ezekiel. Can it be substantiated?

I. Ezekiel is a sign of the brave bearing of the ills of life.

II. Ezekiel is a sign of individuality.

III. Ezekiel is a sign of fidelity in proclaiming a message.

IV. Ezekiel is a sign of self-renouncing obedience.

V. Ezekiel is a sign of intensity.

—Dinsdale T. Young, The Gospel of the Left Hand, p167.

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