Bible Commentaries

CONTENTS

By the figure of a pot, the Prophet is commanded to set forth the ruin of Jerusalem. And the Prophet is again made a type to the people, in respect to the not mourning for the death of his wife, to show, that Jerusalem's chastisements merit no sorrow.

The Prophet is commanded to be very particular as to the precise day and time of this wonderful transaction. The ninth year of the captivity, in the tenth month called Tebeth; and even the day of the month. And this was no doubt with a view to testify the judgment of God, in the siege of Jerusalem. For that Ezekiel who was now in Babylon, should be able to tell the people there, as he did, what was at that very day going on in Babylon, could proceed from no other than the Lord himself.

The parable of a boiling pot, with the choice pieces boiled over the fire, and then left to burn, became a very striking representation of the fiery indignation of the Lord against Jerusalem. Her scum had arisen indeed, to an enormous height, for her blood was in the midst of her, as the Lord said. Reader! what painful representations are these! And how increasingly painful, when it be considered that this is spoken of the Lord's Jerusalem. Precious Lord Jesus! how was thy soul melted in the days of thy flesh, when beholding thy Jerusalem, and weeping over it! Luke 13:34-35.

See how the Lord is pleased to deal with his faithful servants! Here is a Prophet of the Lord bereaved of one that was near and dear to him; yea, the Lord himself calls her the desire of Ezekiel's eyes: a plain proof of his great affection for her. But yet he is not permitted to drop a tear, or to manifest the least token of grief. And all this that both by preaching and by type he might show forth the Lord's displeasure for the sins of his people. And what an awful judgment must it have been, when Jerusalem was thus taken and destroyed by the Chaldean army, and when such were the miseries of individuals, that none had power, or privilege, or even opportunity, to weep over one another!

REFLECTIONS

READER! let us for one moment place ourselves in the Prophet's situation, and suppose for the Lord's glory, and the instruction of his Church, such a breach was made in our domestic comforts, as this of Ezekiel's by death: how should you or I conduct ourselves? Alas! I fear, unless a full proportioned degree of faith and grace were to accompany the bereaving providence, Ezekiel's deportment would mortify ours. And yet, the Prophet lived under a dispensation of the Church, far less blessed with advantages than you or I are blessed with.

It is very blessed when believers can acquiesce, yea, more than acquiesce with the Lord's appointments; and can approve, and even rejoice in them, Naked, said one of old, (and a blessed frame of mind must he have been in when he said it,) naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord. Precious Jesus! do thou give both to Writer and Reader, (for the gift is wholly thine to bestow,) grace for every exercise, and for every trial. And to whatever thou art pleased to call us in thy providence, give us suitable frames of mind by thy grace. May we under thy blessed teaching have always the same views of thee, and thy love towards us, whatever outward or inward circumstances may arise in, thy appointments. Lord, give us to hear thy blessed voice in every dispensation, as to thy servant the Prophet; I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord; thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.