Ezekiel (Believers Church Bible Commentary)
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It is no wonder that Ezekiel was reduced to using such odd images to describe his vision. How can you describe something when the person for whom you are describing them has no frame of reference for understanding your description? For instance, how would you describe the color blue to a blind person who had never seen colors? He was just trying to describe something indescribable—the glory of God. This, then, would be or B. A bit of background would be useful.
Later, Babylonia surpassed Assyria to become the dominant power, and King Nebuchadnezzar ruled supreme. In December B. Jehoiakim died, possibly by assassination, and young Jehoiachin assumed the throne. He also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: This time he destroyed the city and killed many of its inhabitants.
He took most of the rest of the people to Babylon—leaving behind only the poorest 2 Kings The book of Ezekiel refers to these Judeans as the people of Israel. In the last verse of chapter 1, Ezekiel acknowledges that he has seen the glory of the Lord. Throughout the book of Ezekiel, Yahweh always refers to Ezekiel as ben adam rather than calling him by name. This stands in contrast to the call of other prophets, such as Moses Exodus 3: God now calls him to stand on his feet to receive his marching orders.
The word ruah can mean spirit, wind, or breath. The spirit of the Lord came even on a foreign prophet, Balaam, to enable Balaam to utter the oracle that the Lord gave him Numbers They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day. I am sending you to them; and you shall tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh. The people of Israel began their rebellion against Yahweh almost immediately after being freed from Egyptian slavery:.
Why have you treated us this way, to bring us out of Egypt? In this verse, the word goyim is plural, meaning nations. In the Old Testament goyim is usually used for nations other than Israel. When it is used of Israel, it tends to carry a negative connotation, as it does in this verse. The people to whom Yahweh is sending Ezekiel are the descendants of the people who complained against Yahweh and worshiped the golden calf—descendants not only physically, but spiritually.
Yahweh would not be calling Ezekiel to take his word to these people if they were not in revolt against him. Yahweh uses this word banim to emphasize that the current generation is at issue here. They stubbornly resist following Yahweh and insist on doing it their own way—following their own star. It is that stubborn willfulness that has resulted in their exile.
Ezekiel 1 Bible Commentary
But Yahweh has not given up on these impudent and stubborn people. He could have abandoned them when they complained on the shore of the Red Sea, but instead he made a pathway through the sea to make it possible for them to be saved. He could have abandoned them when they complained about food and water in the wilderness, but instead he gave them provisions. He could have abandoned them when they worshiped the golden calf, but instead he punished them and then continued to lead them.
Yahweh is sending Ezekiel to these rebellious people hoping that they will listen but knowing that they might not. With these words, he is preparing Ezekiel for possible failure—not because Ezekiel is inadequate but because these people are rebellious. Regardless of their response, these people will know that there has been a prophet in their midst.
That will accomplish three things.
First, it will tell them that Yahweh loved them enough to try to lead them back from the brink of disaster. Second, it will serve as a warning that they are on the wrong path. Third, it will make them accountable for their decision—to listen or not to listen, that is the question. Yahweh tells Ezekiel to open his mouth and to swallow the scroll that Yahweh gives him.
What a lovely image! In recent years, I have been privileged to have time and resources to study the Bible in considerable depth, and I have found its taste as sweet as honey in my mouth. Rather than looking forward to the day when I can lay down my burden of Bible study, I find myself looking for ways to extend the scope of my work so that I can continue it. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came up to my waist.
Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed. When the man went out to the east with the line in his hand: He followed the river one thousand cubits about one third of a mile or one-half a kilometer from some point, perhaps its origin from the temple.
He brought me through the waters: Together with the unnamed guide, Ezekiel went into and through the waters. The river was not something for Ezekiel to simply look at or think about; it was something for him to enter in to. The water came up to my ankles: The phrase, the water came up to my ankles , is literally water of ankles. Taylor relates how this led to a bad translation and bad theology: A warning to both translators and interpreters! Again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters: This continued for four measures of one thousand cubits in total.
The water came up to my knees… up to my waist: As Ezekiel continued, the river became deeper at each measuring point. Starting at ankle depth, then up to his knees , then his waist. At each point along the way, Ezekiel was in the river as deep as he could be. This rapid increase in depth — from small trickle of a stream to ankle depth, to knee depth, to waist depth, all in the course of about a mile or 1. We read nothing of other streams leading into this; it is a miraculous and abundant provision.
The purpose was to reveal to him both the size and depth of the river. It was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep: Fundamentally, this shows us the miraculous nature of a real river in a real Messianic kingdom to come. Yet by spiritual analogy there is a powerful picture of increasing progress and depth in our spiritual life. It illustrates progression from ankles, to knees, to waist, to depths where one can no longer touch the ground and must swim. Spurgeon saw a spiritual analogy between the life of faith and swimming.
We then progress to swimming by faith. Mueller of Bristol swims! What a master swimmer he is!
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Augustine condemned the Holy Scriptures at first, as neither eloquent nor deep enough for the elevation of his wit. He brought me and returned me to the bank of the river: When it was clear that the water was too deep for Ezekiel and he could not cross it, then his guide brought him out of the river and back to the bank. He asked Ezekiel to carefully think about what he saw and experienced have you seen this? When I returned, there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the other. Then he said to me: When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed.
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And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes. It shall be that fishermen will stand by it from En Gedi to En Eglaim; they will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceedingly many.
But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt. Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine. Many trees on one side and the other: Once out of the river Ezekiel noticed the many trees. They grew along both sides of the river. The waters of the river will flow east through the Arabah into the Dead Sea.
When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed: As the river flowed out from Jerusalem then down into the Dead Sea, those lifeless waters were healed. There would be a very great multitude of fish in that strange body of water that previously held no life. There is also an obvious but possibly overlooked point here: God cares about the environment and promises to restore and heal it.
Despite the many who worship the creation instead of the Creator, God Himself cares about His creation. His salvation and work of redemption extends to the environment. Jesus may very well had this image of Ezekiel in mind or a similar one when He spoke of rivers of living water John 7: There is a valid spiritual application of this wonderful image, and a literal fulfillment to come.
Yet many commentators unfortunately feel comfortable ignoring any future literal fulfillment of this and see it only as a visionary parable. Its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt: There would remain certain areas near the former Dead Sea that would keep its old characteristics. Perhaps this was so that the useful minerals gained from the Dead Sea would still be available from these places.
Ezekiel (Believers Church Bible Commentary) [Millard C Lind] on www.farmersmarketmusic.com * FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Millard C. Lind has taught the book of. Editorial Reviews. Review. Millard Lind has taught the book of Ezekiel for 30 years in seminary and in the church. He skillfully opens the prophet's message.
As an example of an overly-spiritualized approach to this passage, consider how Clarke thought of the swamps and marshes of verse Will grow all kinds of trees used for food: Along the sides of the river there were remarkable fruit trees with leaves that will not wither and fruit that will never fail.
In some unknown way, their leaves will be used for medicine.
It is no wonder that Ezekiel was reduced to using such odd images to describe his vision. Yet it seems quite possible that the biblical designation of Zion applies to the entire city of Jerusalem. Each of the four creatures had a wheel—a wheel within a wheel. First, it will tell them that Yahweh loved them enough to try to lead them back from the brink of disaster. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes. This would make an inch cubit equal to five palms, and a Yet that insight is certainly limited by having to construct in mental pictures, based on complex and detailed passages, what it was like.
Matthew Poole had an unfounded an interesting speculation: Thus says the Lord God: Joseph shall have two portions. You shall inherit it equally with one another; for I raised My hand in an oath to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as your inheritance.
These are the borders by which you shall divide the land: This emphasizes that this was not a symbolic or spiritual land, God gave specific borders to mark it. There was real land that would be given to the real twelve tribes of Israel. These are all twelve tribes.
In Numbers the southern boundary is given first; here the reckoning is from the north. Joseph shall have two portions: As was with the division of the land under Joshua, the two sons of Joseph Ephraim and Manasseh would each have their portion. I raised My hand in an oath to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you: God made these promises to:. This granting of the land in the millennial kingdom was an extension and a fulfillment of those long ago and often repeated promises.
778,78 RUB
Thus the boundary shall be from the Sea to Hazar Enan, the border of Damascus; and as for the north, northward, it is the border of Hamath. This is the north side. This is the east side. This is the south side, toward the South. This is the west side. This shall be the border of the land: In his commentary, Daniel Block has a very good map.
As he envisions it, if these borders were put upon a modern map it would include all of Lebanon and good portion of Syria including Damascus. It would not include modern Jordan or Egypt, and not extend southward to modern Eilat. From the Great Sea, by the road to Hethlon: Many landmarks are listed, but we believe that since the geography of this part of the world will be significantly transformed right before this period begins, it is impossible to exactly mark what these places will mark in the coming age.
In general we can say that it is an area somewhat larger than the land Israel occupied in the Old Testament. The description shows that this is not the eternal state.