Ezekias (Hastings' Dictionary)

1. (A •EfeWat, B 'Efcfat, AV Ezechias) 1 Es 9' = Jahzeiah, Ezr 10'». 2. (Es-tKias, AV Ezecias) 1 Es 9".— Called Hilkiah, Neh 8. EZEKIEL (Vulg. Ezechiel, LXX 'Ie{e-cii)X, Heb. Sx.-in; ' God is strong,' or ' God strengthens '), the son of Buzi, was one of the temple priests who shared the exile of Jelioiachin in B.C. 597 (Ezk V-; cf. 2 K 24'-"). His work as a prophet commenced in the fifth year of his banishment (1-), and extended over a period of not less than 22 years (592-570) ; the latest date in the book being the ' seven and twentieth year ' of his sojourn in Babylonia (29"). This part of his life was spent (so far as appears) in a Jewish settlement at Tel-Abib (1' 3"), an unknown place near the ' river Chebar' (-155), which was probably a canal or a tributary of the Euphrates in the vicinity of Babylon,— certainly not the ^aboras (ibQ 2 K 17) in N. Mesopotamia. The life of this colony of expatri- ated Jews is but dimly reflected in the pages of EZEKIEL EZEKIEL 816 Erk ; the picture is partly supplemented by the i29th ch. of Jer. Those carried captive were the (lite of the nation ; and they seem to have lived in tolerably easy circumstances, enjoying a large measure of freedom and self-goveninient, forming a little world Df their own, and cherishing a passion- ate interest in the concerns of their native land. They kept up by some means an active intercourse with Jerus. ; and, in spite of intense mutual antipathy between them and the ruling classes at home, they never ceased to regard themselves as part and parcel of the Ileb. nation, confidently expecting that some great political upheaval would speedily restore them to their old place at the head of the state. This delusion was fostered by the rise of prophets of the same type as Jeremiah's opponents in Jerus., — an event which was haUed with immense satisfaction, not unmixed with sur- prise, by the exiled community (Jer 29"). The false patriotism thus engendered threatened to bring down the heavy arm of Nebuchadnezzar on the captives, and Jer., though his sympathies were with the patrician exUes rather than with the people left in the land (Jer 24'"'), endeavoured to allay the dangerous political excitement which blinded them to their true position. Altogether, it would seem that the main currents of feeling and opinion prevalent in Pal. were reproduced with remarkable fidelity in the community where E. was destined to labour. Although little is known of E.'s previous life, it cannot be doubted that he found himself from the first in an uncongenial social atmosphere. In spite of the statement of Jos. {Ant. X. vi. 3, iroit dv), he was probably no longer a young man when de- ported to Babylon. The meaning of ' the 30th year ' in ch. 1' is too obscure to tlirow light on the mattei, but his familiarity with the technical details of the temple and its ritual seems to show that he had officiated for a considerable time in the national sanctuary. The numerous points of contact between him and Jer. would indicate that he had come early under the influence of that great prophet, and from the whole trend of his thinking it seems probable that he had belonged to the reforming party in the state, which sought to purify the national religion in accordance with the requirements of the Deuteronomic legislation. That party had been powerless since the death of Josiali, and it is reasonable to suppose that E.'s stern and even embittered attitude towards the people was in part the fruit of the years of reaction and disappointment spent under the reign of Jehoiakim. As we have seen, there was nothing in the state of mind of his fellow-exiles to draw him into sympathy with them, although he cer- tainly agreed with Jer. in regarding them as superior to those left behind (U""'"). Accordingly, at the time of his consecration as a prophet, he appears with his convictions matured as to the character of his countrymen and the recej)tion he may expect at their hands (2. S pass.). 'They are, to usp one of his stereotyped phrases, a ' rebellious house,' brazen-faced and stitlhearted children, a people that refuse to hear J", separated from Him Dy a moral and spiritual barrier more formidable than that caused by a strange lanj,'imge (2^ 3"'). Although these facts are expressed in the form of divine communications to tlie prophet, they are not to l)e regarded as a new revolution of the dis- position of his compatriots ; they are rather the settled convictions of his life assuming definite shape in the light of his commission to speak the wonl of the Lord. They show, at all events, how fully he recognized the depth of the antagonism that prevailed between the prophetic conception of religion and the impul.ses that swayed the national mind both in Judaea and in Babylonia. The actual circumstances of E.'s prophetic career are greatly obscured for us by the difhculty we have in separating what is real from what is merely imagined, in the representation given by the book. That everything did not happen literally as it is recordea, is evident enough from sev :ral indications. The symbolic actions described as performed by the prophet are in some instances incapable of a literal acceptation (see, e.ij. 4^"- o'"- 12' etc.) ; yet there is no external criterion by which these can be distinguished from others which are possible. A similar uncertainty hangs over the events that are mentioned. These are never introduced for their own sake, but only as the setting of some idea which the wTiter wishes to enforce, and it is frequently impossible to deter- mine how far the allusions correspond with actual experiences. In such incidents as the death of the prophet's wife (24'°''-) or the opening of his mouth m the presence of ' the fugitive ' (24-'' 33, ), fact and symbolism seem to be so intimately blended that we cannot tell where the one ends and the other begins. The book, in short, is not an auto- biography, but a systematic exposition of proplictic ideas, and any attempt to extract historical information from it has to be made with a certain measure of caution. At the same time, it is quite incredible that the whole representation should be nothing but an elaborate fiction, without any basis in fact. There can be no reasonable doubt that E. really exercised an oral public ministry amongst his fellow-captives, or that its main outlines may be gathered from the thin thread of narrative that runs through the book. His work was divided into two sharply contrasted periods by the over- throw of the Jewish state in the year 586 ; or, to speak more accurately, the first period ends with tlie commencement of the siege of Jerus. (Jan. 587, cf. 24'), and the second opens with the reception in Babylon of the tidings of its fall (Jan. 585, cf. 33'-'). During the interval of two years, his public activity appears to have been suspended. Through- out the first period the almost exclusive theme of his preaching was the approaching destruction of Jerus., and the lessons of that event for the nation. His reiterated predictions of that inconceivable calamity made no impression on the mind of the exiles, and the prophet felt his energies cramped and paralyzed by the stolid incredulity which his message encountered. It is probable, however, that from the out.set his character commanded respect ; we read of visits paid to him in his own house by the ' elders ' to inquire the word of the Lord (8' 14' 20'), and tlicre is no reason to dismiss these as dramatic inventions. Still less can we doubt the popularity of his public orations ; for the picture of the people beguiling the tedium of their exile by listening to his fervid eloquence (33'''-') is one of the notices which convey an irresist- ible impression of historical reality. In the second f)art of his career the tension between him and his learers is greatly relaxed. The people were crushed by the terrible disaster that liaa befallen their nation, and the immediate eflect was a feeling of despair expressed in such woeful utter- ances as tliose of 33'" 37". The [irophet on his part ado[)ts a more conciliatory attitude towards them, as lie addresses himself to the task of setting forth tlie holies and ideals on which the formation of a new Israel depended. The circle of his immediate auditors was probably widened at this time by the arrivti of tlie new bands of captives from Judiea, amongst whom there must have been •The MT gives u the <lBt« 'the ISth year' of Jchoiachln't captivity, i.f. &&4. But it is hardly credible that tlie trani- niiiwlon of the news should have been delayed so loinr as 18 months, and hence the reading '11th year'"found In th« Hyr. and some Heb. MSS is generally regarded a« oomot. 81C EZEKIEL EZEKIEL at least a few adherents of Jer., who would natur- ally rally round E. as the representative of their master's teaching. It has even been surmised that it was through this channel that E. first became acquainted with the writings of Jer., which have left so deep a mark on his thinking. This is unlikely, because it is hardly credible that he should have recast the substance of his oral prophecies under the literary influence of another prophet ; and, moreover, he must have had abund- ant opportunity of knowing Jeremiah's teaching before hia own captivity. But it must be admitted that \vith regard to all that took place after the faU of the city we are left almost entirely in the dark. There is but one allusion in the book to the relations between the earlier exiles and the later (H"-) ; and if it is at all coloured by the prophet's actual impressions after the event, it certainly does not encourage the notion that he found tne new-comers hopeful material to work upon. It was probably not very long after the commencement of the second phase of his work that E. prepared the first written edition of his prophecies (see below). There is an interval of about 13 years (584-572) from which no prophecy is dated. What his occupations were during this period is of course imknown, but there are some signs that chs. 1-39 had been edited practically in their present form before the composition of 40-48. This last section may reveal the direction in which the prophet's thoughts had been moving in those years ; and a still later oracle ('29"-) sliows that he did not cease to be a close observer of public events. While the character of E.'s ministry does not differ essentially from that of his predecessors, it presents some exceptional features of a very in- structive kind. The mere fact of his being an exile accounts for much that is peculiar in his method of working and his conception of his oflSce. To say that he was no prophet at all, but merely a pastor exercising the cure of souls amongst tliose who came under his personal influence, is an exaggeration, but it is the exaggeration of a truth. His insistence on the independence of the indi- vidual soul before God (18. 33'-"-), and his com- parison of himself to a watchman responsible for each person who perishes through not being warned of his danger (3""- 33"'-), suggest that the care of the individual must have occupied a larger place in his work than was the case with the pre- exilic prophets. At a time when the unity of the nation was broken up, and the new kingdom of God had to be born in the hearts of those who embraced the hope set before them by the prophets, it was inevitable that a religious teacher snould devote much of his attention to the conversion and spiritual direction of individuals. This, how- ever, is a side of E.'s activity which does not directly come to light in the book ; there are more subtle indications of the effect which his position as an exile had on his prophetic mission. It was by no means a matter of course, according to the ideas of the age, that prophecy could be trans- planted to a foreign soil, and in reality it could not 1ouri.sh there without losing some of its most characteristic functions. The older prophets had all more or less been religious politicians, in touch ^vith the pulsations of a vigorous popular life, and bringing the word of God to bear directly on those national problems which arose out of the relation between J" and the community of Israel. E.'s audience, on the other hand, was but a dis- membered limb of the body politic ; his political interests were remote and secondary, and the whole cast of his thinking betrays a sense of isolation from the main current of national life. This appears moat clearly in his habit of treating the exiles as representatives of the larger Israel, \vith whose destinies he never ceased to concern himself. From the first he recomized that hia mission had a double aspect : on the one hand he was sent to ' them of the Captivity ' ; and on the other hand he was a pro])het to the whole house of Israel (cf. 3" with 2' 3<). Thus he had two audiences, one real and present and the other ideal ; and for the most part they are identified to such a degree that in addressing the exiles or their elders he fancies himself speaking to the idealized nation, whose members were then scattered far and wide over the world. It is an extension of the same tendency when he delivers imaginary discourses to those left in the land, or apostrophizes the mountains of Israel (6. 36), or exhibits the whole religious history of the people in elaborate allegories (16. 23), or even calls up from the past the vanished cities of Samaria and Sodom, and treats them as if they had a present existence, and a real interest in the unfolding of the divine purpose (le'"- 23'''-). It is obvious that oratory of this description comes very near being inde- pendent of an audience altogether ; and some perception of this fact is perhaps revealed by the too facile appreciation which it received from the immediate hearers. And although E. never abandoned the practice of public speaking, it ia undoubtedly the case that in his hands prophecy became far more of a literary occupation than it had hitherto been. A perusal of the book shows that it has been carefully planned with an eye to literary effect ; and if the prophet had simply worked out his conceptions in the solitude of his chamber, the result would hardly have differed mucli from what we actually find. More than any of his predecessors he lives in a world of abstract ideas, which are more vividly real to his imagina- tion than the circumstances of his everyday life ; though now and then an echo from the outer world breaks in to remind us that after all he was no mere recluse, but a man of large experience, keenly observant of the life of his time. Several things, indeed, go to show that his intellectual interests reached far beyond the Jewish world in which he lived. His long and accurate enumera- tion of the natural and industrial products of different countries (27), exhibits a knowledge of contemporary commerce which is surprising in a Heb. prophet. It is probable also that he had gained some new impressions from his sojourn amidst the monuments of a strange civilization in the Euphrates valley. The conception of the cherubim in chs. 1. 10 appears to borrow some of its features from the composite animal tiErures of Babjdonian art ; and in other parts of the book some striking phraseological coincidences have been thought to suggest a direct influence of the cuneiform inscriptions (Miiller, p. 56 fl'. 1. There is, however, another feature of E.'s work which cannot be wholly explained by the novelty of his position, and has sometimes been regarded as the result of abnormal physical states to which the prophet was subject. Amongst the most per- plexing references in the book are those ti a spell of ' dumbness,' which lay upon him from jear the commencement of his ministry tiU the announce ment of the fall of Jems. (cf. 3"- 24" 33'). Closely akin to this is the representation of his being bound with ropes {3'"), and lying immovable for months together on one side or the other for a sign to the house of Israel, although at the same time performing actions which formed a necessary part of the sign (4''-) There seems no strong reason why all these descriptions should not be treated as of a piece with the general symbolism which runs through the book. But to some recent inter- preters they have suggested the theory that f EZEKIEL EZEKIEL 817 throughout the earlier part of his ministry E. laboured under nervoua diseases of the most dis- tressing kind, and utilized his symptoms as a means of impressing certain truths on the minds of hia fellow . exiles. This view was first ex- pounded, with great learning and ingenuity, by Klostermann, who found in E.'s condition all the marks of catalepsy, hemiplegia, alalia, hallucina- tion, and so fortn. It is diilicult to believe that he has advanced the cause of sober and scientific interpretation of Scripture. The truth would »eem to lie rather with those writers who regard these representations as imaginative symbols, interesting as illustrations of the prophet8 mode of thought, but not answering to anything external in his life. The ' dumbness is but a strong figure for the sense of restraint and defeat caused by the incredulity of the people, lasting till the prophet's authority was estaolished by the fulfilment of his main prediction (cf. 29^). So the actions of ch. 4 rbolize partly the siege of Jems., and partly captivity of the two branches of the house of Israel ; and their meaning as signs is inconsistent with the supposition that they were exhibitions of a bodily malady, unless we are to assume a miracle, to which the history of OT prophecy furnishes no parallel. It is, of course, equally inconceivable that the signs should have been enacted in panto- mime, either in presence of the people or in Bolitude ; and the same remark applies to many others of the symbolic actions which are describeu. Except in so far as the suggestions may have originated in an ecstatic state of mind, they do not appear to difler from the ordinary operations of the fancy in bodying forth mental processes by means of sensible imagery. The Book of Ezekiel (save for a somewhat cor- rupt text) exists in tlie form in which it left the hands of its autlior, ditt'ering in this respect from the two other great prophetical collections, which took shape through tne labours of successive editors. Neither the unity nor the authenticity of Ezekiel has been questioned by more tlian a very small minority of scholars. Not only does it bear the stamp of a single mind in its phraseology, its imagery, and its mode of thought, but it is arranged on a plan so perspicuous and so compre- hensive that the evidence of literary design in the composition becomes altogether irresistible. Critics are divided as to tlie best nrincii>le of classification, some preferring a twofold, others a threefold or even a fourfold division ; but all are agreed that the work falls into certain large sections intended to represent successive piiases of Ezekiel's ministry. Witliin the general scheme the order is on the whole chronological, although it may be doubted how far the chronology is to bo taken literally, or how far it is meant to separate difTerent groups of oracle', 00KTRNT8.— i. The flret division (chs. 1-24) embraces about a half of the hook, and corresponds to the first period of E.'b work, consisliriff almost exclusively of pro]>hccic8 of judg^ntint, tuch &8 he littered before the destniction of Jerusalem. Theso have no doubt been couHlderably altered and amplified tn the oourse of writing, and it is pos-sitilu tliat here and there traces of a later point of view may be app:irt-nt. Minor uections are partly siiif(fe»ted by the dat«8 preuxwi to ccrlain chapters (see 8 2<)i); in other cases they can be recot,'iiized by intt'rnal Indications. 1. Chs. 1-3 deHcrilnj the ecstatic experiences by which the prophet was prepare'! for his work, inciudintr, /r«(, an elaborate description of the <livine chariot which occupies so froniinent a place in the book (cf. 3^3 84 433)^ and the glory of lim who sat on it(ch. 1); gecond, his commission to declare • The chief exceptions are Zunz, who first (Oottesdi^nMliche Vortrage der Judtn, 1832) assigned the book to the early I'ers. period, and afterwards {ZDMQ xxvii. G70ff.) brouj^ht it down to the years 440-400 (the earlier view, however, is allowed to stand In the posthumous od. of the Vortriigr, 18^2) ; fJeiger ( (jW$eh Hft, p. 23); who held a shnllar view ; and Heinecke (Gfgch. d V. Israel, \. p. 138, 1876), who placed the author as lato as I 3. 164-163. VOL. I.— 52 the word of God to Israel, hia inspiration being set forth under the 8>-mbol of eating' the roll of a book (chs. 2i-3l») ; third (alttr an interval of 7 daysj, a more precise definition of his office ae that of a watcliman to warn every individual of his dan^'ei (3i'>-2i); lastti/, a second ecstasy^ in which he receives the coiii- mand to sliut himself up withm his house, and to appear in public only when charged with a special message to the people (;i"-'-i7). It hits l)een supposed that th 8 ".ast passage refers to a time considembly later than the inaugural vision, and marks tln close of a tentative phase of the prophet's work, in which he 80U(,'ht to exercise the function of a public censor, until coni' pelled to desist by the obstinate resistance of the community. It is more probable, however, that the verses merely express on its negative side the same conception of his otiice as is given in vv.lfi-'S ; the propliet is a wat<:huian, because the function of a •reprover' is denied to him from the outset by bis peculiar situation. 2. In chs. 4-7 the fate of the city and nation is set forth, first, dramatically in a complicated series of sjinbols (4l, 6-), then in three impassioned orations addressed to the city (551), the land (6), and the people (7). In the signs of ch. 4 the prophet appears to represent simultaneously two facts — the sietje of Jerus. and the captivity of the two branches of the Heb. nation. The time of Judah's exile is fixed ae 40 years, — a round number for the period of Chaldroan supremacy, — that of N. Israel at 390 years in the MT, but ISO according to the LXX. Since the destruction of Samaria preceded that of Jerus. roughly speaking by a cent, and a half, and since both capti\ i- ties terminate simultaneously, the latter figure must be accepted a.s the orig. reading. 3. The" next group of prophecies (chs. 8- Jl) is an account of a vision of the destruction of Jerus., which is important for the glimpses it ^ves into the state of things in the city at that time. After reciting the abominations practised in the temple (8), it describes, under symbols, the slaughter of the people (9), and the burning of the city (10), and ends with the departure of the Lord from the sanctuary, in token that city and temple were abandoned to their fate (U). The visionary fonn in which these truths are clothed is remarkable ; the pro- phet falls into a trance in presence of the elders of Judah, the scenes mentioned pass before his inward eye, and he awakes with a special message of consolation to the exiles, who felt keenly the reproach of being cast out from J"'8 heritage. 4. A new section begins with ch. 12, and extends apparently to the end of ch. 19. The fundamental theme is still the same, but the treatment of it is more discursive and thcoljgical. The author appears to have in view various false ideals to which the people clung, and which he seeks to demolish as obstacles to the reception of his messiige. Thus in I'Ji^O 17. ]9 he announces the fate of the king (Zedekiali), on whom the people naturally looked as the anointed of J" (cf. La 4'-^^), but who, by his perlidy to the king of Babylon (17), had brought ruin on himself and his kingdom. A certain s>Tnpathy with the misfortunes of the royal house is manifested by the beautiful dirge of ch. 19. Another section (I221-14JI) deals with the wrong use of prophecy, and the existence of false prophets, as causes of the popular unbelief. Ch. 16 (Israel a charred and worthless vine branch) strikes a blow at the false patriotism which sustained the people's pride under their accumulated national calamities, and ch. 16 exhibits in an allegory the true character of Jerus. as the ungrateful and unfaithful spouse of J". Ch. 18 asserts the absolute righteousness of God in His dealings with individual men, and thus indirectly assails the Prevalent doctrine of the solidarity of the nation, which had egotten a cynical temper of mind expressed by the proverb : the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are blunted ' (v. 2). But it must be wimitted that this groun of discourses hanily dilTers in general character from that which follows. 5. The last division (chs. 20 24) contains three oracles (20. 22. 23) of the nature of formal arraignments of the people of Israel, in which the moral necessity of its destruction is shown from its past history and its present condition. The keynote of ch. 20 is found in' the remarkable purpose attributed to the people, that they would assimilate themselves to the heathen, worshipping wood and stone (v.3-). It is impossible to say whether this refers to a particular current of opinion he- ginning to prevail among the exiles, or whether it is an expres- sion of the spirit manifested l)y the nation at all times of itf, history. In either case the argument of the chapter is directed to show that the destinies of Israel hod been determined by a power higher than its own natural proclivities,— namely, J"'h regard for the glory of His name,— and that that power would yet break the idolatrous tendencies of the nation, and make Israel to be in fact, as it was in name, the people of J". Ch. 22 is an enumeration of the religious and social corruptions prevalent in Jerus., now on the eve of its destruction ; ch. 23 18 an allegory, in the manner of ch. 16, exhibiting the immorali- ties of the two profligate sisters, Ohola (Samaria) and Ohoti- bah (Jerus.). The two remaining discourses wore composed under the immediate influence of contemporary events. Ch. 21 (containing the wil<i 'song of the sword,' vv.lW (EV O-H)) refers to the march of Nobucha^Inezzar's army against Jerus. Ch. 24 records the dramatic close of the first period of E.'s activity. On the very day when the Chaldmans invested Jerus. he uttered a final oracle announcing lt« fate. The death of the prophet's wife on the evening of the same day becomes the occasion of a symbol of the despair and bewnlderment that will seize on the exiles when they receive tidings of the fall of the city. h. The next eight chapters (25-82) consist of prophcoiet against the foreign nations (seven In number) lying inunedialely round the land of Canaan ; viz. Ammon, Moab, ICdom, and th« Philistines (25), Tyro (26-28»»), Sidon (28»«). and Egypt (2'J 3?' ms EZEKIEL EZEKIEL The Insertion oJ these oracles in this place is an instance of the constructive skill which planned the order of the book. They fill up the interval of silence which separates the two periods of E.'s public ministry; and although most of them no doubt belong chronologically to the two years of retirement, there are some which bear a later date (see 29" 32'- 1'), showing that the principle of arrangement is literary and not historical. The section, moreover, embodies a distinct idea in the prophet's eschatological scheme. The motive of the judgments announced is to prepare the way for the restoration of Israel, bv removing the evil influences which had sprung from the people's contact with its heathen neighbours in the past (282'-28 aQ'O), Historic- ally, these judgments are conceived as taking place within the 40 years of the Chaldiean dominion (2913), and of Israel's banish- ment. In the case of Tyre and Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar is ex- pressly named as the instrument of J"'8 purpose ; the extinction of the smaller nationalities is ascribed to other agencies, which, however, are probably indirect consequences of a Bab. invasion. The supplementary oracle on Tyre (29"-21) was written after the 13 years' siege of that city by Nebuchadnezzar, and was evi- dently intended to counteract the impression produced by the non-fulfilment of the original prediction. iii. Chs. 33-30 contain the discourses delivered In the period immediately succeeding the arrival of the 'fugitive' with the intelligence of Jerusalem's fall, when the prophet's mouth was again opened to declare the word of J" (332if.). The collection is prefaced (3ol-0) by a re-statement of the function of the prophet under the figure of a watchman, as in 3' f^- ; then comes the ocoount of his meeting with the bearer of the evil tidings, and the oracles uttered (apparently) on that occasion (3321-3J). These are followed by three distinct and complete pictures of the redemption and restitution of Israel ; (a) the ideal monarchy as contrasted with the corrupt administration of the pre-exilic kings (34) ; ((>) the land, reclaimed from the Edomites, endowed with supernatural fertihty, purified from its ceremonial defile- ment, shall be given as an eternal possession to Israel (35 f.) ; (c) the people, now scattered and dead like drr hones, shall arise to a new life, Ephraim and Judah being united under one sceptre for ever (37). Ch. 38 f. describe the final assault on the kingdom of God by the distant nations of the world under Gog from the land of Jla^og, and their annihilation on the mountains of Israel, resulting in a demonstration of the might of J" to all the ends of the earth. This remarkable prophecy, representing the utmost limit of E.'s prophetic horizon, has the appearance of being intended as a conclusion to the book. This fact, taken in connexion with the long period of silence which follows, and a certain change of view manifested in 40 ff., strongly suggests that the first edition of the prophecies really ended here, the remaining section having been added afterwards as an ippendix. IV. Chs. 40-48, a vision of the Ideal theocracy, with the insti- tutions by which the holiness of the redeemed people is to be expressed and maintained. There is, first, a description of the sanctuary where J" is to dwell in visible splendour (40-43) ; then, regulations as to the ministers of the temple, the duties and revenues of the priests and the ' prince,' and the system of ritual to be observed (44-46) ; lastly, a delimitation of the holy land, — which is transformed by a miraculous river issuing from the sanctuary, — and a new disposition of the tribes within it '47 f.). Although these chapters may have been a later addition to the volume, they rest throughout on the teaching of the earlier part of the book, and are the dev lopment of principles there enunciated. The chief point of difference relates to the position of the prince, whose office is hedged about with con- stitutional safeguards and restrictions, hardly applicable to the perfect Ruler spoken of in ch. 34. LiTKKARY Style.— The style of the book ex- hibits a falling off from the idiomatic purity of earlier writers, like Amos or Isaiah. The influ- ence of Aramaic is more perceptible than in any previous prophet ; the construction is loose, ami, as a rule, prosaic ; the constant recurrence of mannerisms and set phrases is at times monotonous, although the lack of variety is often compensated by a larfje rhythmic movement of the thought, running like a ground-swell through some of tlie longer orations. It is, on the whole, tlie careful and elaborate style of a literary man rather than that of a public speaker in livmg touch with his audience. With obscurity it cannot fairly be charged, for the serious difficulties which the book presents are mostly due to the imperfect con- dition of the text. Of the higher qualities of E.'s genius the most Btriking is a powerful and grandiose imagination, which reveals itself in a variety of directions, now revelling in weird mytliological conceptions (28. 32), and at other times clothing itself in the peculiar artificial realism which has been already remarked as a feature of the book. That there was a vein of true poetry in his nature is proved by hie ettective use of the' /:inah or dirge (especially ^' in the beautiful lament over the banished princec of the royal house, ch. 19), as well as by the many fine images which occur throughout the book. His first conceptions, indeed, are almost invariably beautiful and true, although to our minds their sesthetic eti'ect is frequently lost through over- elaboration. E. is perliaps not more deficient in Elastic power than Heb. writers generally; but in is case the defect is more apparent from his love of detail, and his anxiety to exhaust the didactic significance of every conception before he can persuade himself to let it go. Thus the com- parison of Tyre to a stately vessel, moored by the shore (27), which Isaiah might have presented in a verse or two, is spread out over a long chapter by the help of an inventory of the ship's cargo, which is really a valuable statistical survey of Phoen. imports. Again, the image of Jerus. as a foundling chUd (16) is intrinsically as beautiful as any to be found in prophecy ; but when drawn out into an allegory of the whole history of the nation, its unity is dissipated by the multitude of details that have to be crowded into it. A similar critic- ism has often been passed on his description of his opening vision, as contrasted with the sixth chapter of Isaiah. On the other hand, the pro- pliet's talent for lucid and methodical exposition appears to advantage when he comes to deal with practical and technical matters, as in the descrip- tion of the sanctuary (40 ff. ) A certain architec- tonic faculty is, in truth, a marked characteristic of his intellect, being visible alike in his plan of the temple buildings, in his sketch of the theocratic institutions, and in the orderly arrangement and division of the book. Religious Teaching.— E.'s rank as a religious teacher may be summed up under two general aspects. In the first place, he gave definite and almost dogmatic expression to the great religious truths which were the presuppositions of all previous prophecy, combining these into a com- prehensive theory of the divine providence ; and, in the second place, by giving a peculiar direction to the Messianic hope, he made it a practical ideal in the life of the nation, and the starting-point of a new religious development. The first of these aspects is abundantly illoB- trated by the contents of chs. 1-39. While the substance of these chapters presents no single element which may not De traced in the wTitings of earlier prophets, there is none which does not receive a more distinct intellectual expression in the hands of Ezekiel. He is concerned to exhibit the immanent logic of the abstract principles involved in the relations between God and the world ; and, as we read, the outlines of a grand theological system are gradually disclosed to the mind. Only a few outstanding features of this system can here be mentioned. 1. The prophet's idea of God, which is expressed by the visions in elis. 1. 8. 10. 43, has more of a transcendental character than that of liis predecessors. Those divine attributes which we call metaphysical, ex- pressing the relation of the Godlieau to created existence as a whole, are emphasized more than by previous writers, and are those chiefly symbolized by the heavenly chariot of the visions. And this view of God enters deeply into the fibre of E.'b teaching. While he does not lose hold of the truth that J" is a moral person having the attri- butes of anger, jealousy, pity, etc., he is never weary of insisting that the activity of the divine being must be self-centred, the supreme motive of all His dealings with men, whether in mercy or in judgment, being the manitestation of His own Godliead (' They shall know that I am J" '). It is easy to exaggerate this doctrine in a way that would misrepresent the prophet's measing ; but EZEKIEL KZEKIEL 819 the reiterated assertion of it shows that it is a truti) to which he himself attaches tlie utmost importance. 2. Another instance of tlie same tendency to rigorous and even extreme statement of a prophetic principle is found in his conception of Israel. In opposition to Uosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, he denies that there was any good time in the nation's past, tracing the idolatrous jiro- clivities of the people back to the sojourn in the wilderness and tiie oppression in Egypt (SO- " 23-). Thus, while all the prophets teach or assume that the relation between J" and Israel rests on a free elective act of God, E. takes the further step of assigning as the positive ground of this relation- ship J"'8 regard for the glory of His name in the eyes of the nations (20 pass.). 3. From this position an important consequence follows. Since the honour of J" is historically identified with the destinies of Israel, the final disclosure of His divinity can be accomplished only by the re- storation of this people to its own land, under conditions which reflect the holy nature of J". E. is alive to the false impression of the God of Israel naturally produced on the heathen mind by the great national calamity of the Exile (Se"). This efl'ect must be wiped out when the lesson of the history is complete (39^). The same principle of the divine action which caused the temporary rejection of Israel becomes the guarantee of its ultimate redemption. The prophet is thus led to a conception of salvation in which everything depends on the sovereign irresistible grace of God, which breaks the stubborn heart of the people, and produces in them an abiding sense of shame and self-contempt, and bestows on tliem a new spirit, causing them to walk in His statutes and keep His jvd'TnentB to do them (6» U" IG^ 20 SG^"- ST" 3""'-). 4. The doctrine which is usually considered E. 8 mo.st distinctive contribution to theology is th\! doctrine of the freedom and responsibility of the individual soul before God. But even here he builds on the foundation laid by his predecessors. The conception of religion as personal fellowsliip between the individual and God is implicitly contained in the consciousness which all the jiro- phets have of their own relation to J" ; and in Jer the truth is enunciated that what had hitherto been the possession of the prophets is the form which the perfect religion must assume univers- ally. It was reserved for E., however, to formu- late the principle logically, showing that neither the burden of Hereditary guilt nor the sins of a man's past can hinder the action of God's forgiving mercy towards the penitent sinner (18). But the part of hzekiel's work that was destined to have the most direct and powerful historical influence was the ideal emlx)die<t in the vision of chs. 40-48. The unique significance of that re- markable creation lies in the fact that under the form of a Messianic prophecy it presents the ecbeme of a politico-religious constitution in whicli the fundamental idea of holiness is applied to the regulation of every part of the national life. It is a picture of the kingdom of God in its final and perfect state as this prophet was led to conceive It. The niling conception is that of J" dwelling in visible glory in His sanctuary in the midst of His people, ancf the practical purpose of the vision is to set forth the conditions on Israel's part which euch a relation involves. That the institutions prescribed are mainly of a priestly character is partly due to the fact that E. was himself a priest, deeply imbued with the traditions of his office ; but still more to his perception of the inherent fitness of the priestly idea of holiness to be the formal principle of a theocratic polity pivinp expression to the essential character of Israel as the people of J". How fully the ideal met the needs of the time is shown by its operation in all the be.st tendencies of tlie Restoration period. This is not the place to discuss the bearing of E.'i ideal legislation on the development of the penta- teuchanaws(seeHKXATEUCH}. The viewof most re- cent critics is that he occupies a position intermedi- ate between the Book of Deut. and the composition of the so-called Priestly Code ; and it can hardly i)e denied that the peculiar features of E.'s system are more fully explained on this theory than on any other (see esp. the regulations as to the status of the Levites, ch. 44). But, setting aside the purely critical question, the fact is clear that the whole movement by which the new Israel was consoli- dated proceeded on the lines foreshadowed in E.'s vision. His position in this respect may be com- pared with that of Augustine in the history of the Latin Church. What the civitns Dei was to mediaeval Christendom, that the vision of E. was to post-exilic Judaism : each furnished the ideal that moulded the polity of the age that followed. To what extent this section of the Book of E. was adopted as a legislative programme by the leaders of the Return cannot be precisely determined from the somewhat meagre records at our disposal (see Smith, OTJC p. 442 f.) But it is important to observe that the Messianic hope as set forth by E. formed one of the most powerful impulses that made for the reconstruction of the Jewish state. We learn from Hag and Zee that the erection of the second temple was carried througli under the conviction that that unpretentious edifice was to be the centre of a renovated world, and the car- nest of the latter-day glory just about to dawn ; wliile the expectation that the Lord would sud- denly come to His temple meets us nearly a cent, later in the book of Malachi. These are conceptions which it would be difficult to understand otherwise than as consequences of the work of Ezekiel. As compared with his master Jeremiah, or Is40fr., Ezekiel's teaching as a whole appears lacking in breadth of sympathy and evangelical freedom, and to be a preparation for an age of legalism rather than for the fulness of the Christian dispensation. He is not quoted expressly bj' any NT writer, and it is doubtful if he has directly influenced any except the author of the Apoc, who was familiar with the book and has drawn largely on its imagery. But while all this is true, there are many tilings in E. which give him a high place amongst the heralds of Christ in OT. His clear assertion of the vanje of the individual soul and of the eflicacy of repentance, his profound sense of sin as ingratitude, and of the need of a new heart in order to fulfil the law of God, his impassioned vindication of the character of God as merciful and eager to forgive, are amongst the brightest gems of spiritual truth to be found in the pages of propliecy. LlTKKARY History. — Of the literary history of the book little needs to be said. It is mentioned by the son of Siracli (49) in a connexion which shows that it formeil part of the prophetical Canon in his time (c. B.C. 200). In the order given by the Talmudic treatise Bnba bnlhra (14'') it stands second amongst the greater prophets, being pre- ceded by Jer and followed by Isaiah. A further statement in the same source that the book wa.< written (like Dn, Est, and the Twelve Prophets) by ' the men of the Great Synagogue,' has no signi- ficance, unless it be an inference from the theory that no prophetic book could be written outside of tlie Holy Land (so Rashi, (juoted by Ryle, Cnnon of OT, p. 263 f.). According to Jerome {pr(r/atw fid Ezerh. ), certain parts of it were, on account of their obscurity, forbidden to be read by any Jew under the age of 30 years ; and its deviations from the Mosaic Law caused doubts to be expressed as to its canonical authority as late as the 1st cent. A.D. According to one tradition, it narrowly escaped being ' hidden ' {i.e. reduced to the rank of an apocryphal work) for this reason, hut was saved from that fate by one Hananiah ben-Hezekiah, wlio reconciled the discrepancies. Unfortunately, the works of this self-sacriticing scholar have perished as completely as the 300 measures of oil which he is reported to have consumed in their preparation. LrrgKATCEK.— Ewald, Proph. d. A.B. vol. U. (1841, 1868); HaverDick, Comm. uber den Pr. E. (1843) ; Hitzig, der Pr. E. erklart (1847) ; Fairbairn, Exposition of the Book of E. (1861) ; Henderson, The Book of the Pr. E. transl. etc. (185b) ; Heng- stenberg, Der Pr. E. (1S67) ; Keil, Der Pr. E. (186S) ; Currev, SpeakeTt Comm. vol. vi. (187(3) ; Klostermann in &A' (1877) ; Smend, Der Pr. E. (1880); ComiU, Der Pr. B. (1S82), and Dot Btich de$ Pr. E. (1888) ; v. Orelli, Kurzgrf. Commentar (1888) ; Gautier, La mission du Pr. E. (1891); Davidson, Camb. Bible for Schools (1892) ; Skinner, Expositor's Bible (1895) ; Miiller, Ezechiei.Studien (1895) ; Bertholet, Der Verfassungsentumrf des Hes. (1896) ; and Das Buch Hes. (Kur^er Handkom. 1897). See also Kuenen, Onderzoek, Godsdienst van Isra^'t. and Profeten en Protelie ; Duhm, Theologie der Propheten ; Horst, Levit. 17-26 urtd Hezekiei ; articles by Schrader, Diestel, and Orelli in the Encvclopwlias o( Schenkel, Biehm, and Herzog : and by Black In £ncyc. BrU.' J. SkINNEB,