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The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, etc. The death of Ezekiel's wife, and his abstinence from mourning by reason thereof, were symbolical, and their signification is brought before us in our text. Two scenes are presented for our contemplation.

I. A PEOPLE DEPRIVED OF THEIR MOST PRECIOUS POSSESSIONS.

1. The possessions of which they were to be deprived.

(1) The temple itself. "Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth" The last clause is literally, "the pity of your soul;" that which "your soul would spare - pledging life itself for it." See also in what exalted terms the temple is spoken of in Ver. 25: "I take from them their strength," or stronghold, "the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart." The wife of Ezekiel, who was the desire of his eyes, symbolized the temple. In some respects the Jews made too much of their temple. They gloried in its outward beauty and splendor, even while they dishonored God by their idolatries; they trusted in it as their stronghold, instead of making him their Refuge and Strength; they set their heart upon it, when they should have loved him with all their heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. And they were now about to lose that temple. Heathen intruders would first desecrate it and then destroy it (cf. Psalm 79:1; Psalm 74:3-8).

(2) The temple as a symbol. "The temple," says Schroder, "symbolizes all the possessions and power of Israel. To its existence in their midst they appealed against their brethren (Ezekiel 11:15); and to this they trusted amid all their wickedness and apostasy (Ezekiel 8:6; Jeremiah 8:4)." And Hengstenberg remarks that in the profanation of the sanctuary "is included the dissolving of the whole covenant relation, the removal of everything sublime and glorious, that had flown from that covenant relation, of all that was valuable and dear to the people. The general conception is demanded by the fundamental passage, Leviticus 26:19, where by the pride of power is meant all the glory of Israel. Then also by Ver. 25, where in place of the sanctuary here all that is glorious appears."

(3) Their sons and daughters. "Your sons and your daughters whom ye have left behind shall fall by the sword." Hitzig suggests that, "on the occasion of the expatriation, many parents may have been obliged to leave their children with relatives, from their being of too tender age to accompany them; and these would be slain by the sword. But it seems to us better to interpret, with Hengstenberg, "The sons and the daughters are not those of individuals, but of the people as a whole. The house of Israel, not the exiles in particular, are addressed. In point of fact, it is as much as to say, ' your countrymen.'" They were soon to be stripped of their temple and its ordinances, their independence and liberty, their homes and country, and many of their fellow-countrymen would perish by famine, pestilence, and sword.

2. The Person by whom they were to be thus deprived. "Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary," etc. (Ver. 21); "I take from them their strength," etc. (Ver. 25). In this destruction and slaughter the Chaldeans were as instruments and weapons in the hand of God, who was himself the great Agent.

3. The reason why they were to be thus deprived. All this loss and misery was coming upon them because of their sins. They had forsaken God, and he was about to leave them without his defense. They had profaned his temple by their idolatries, and he was about to allow the idolatrous Chaldeans to enter into it and destroy it. Their calamities were caused by their crimes. Their sufferings were the righteous retribution of their sins.

II. A PEOPLE THAT SHOULD NOT MOURN THE LOSS OF EVEN THEIR MOST PRECIOUS POSSESSIONS. "And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. And your tires shall be upon your heads," etc. The outward demonstrations of mourning are thus forbidden to the Jews in their distress. The covering of the face from the upper lip downwards was a sign of mourning (cf. Leviticus 13:45; Micah 3:7). In great grief the mourners partook of food which their neigh-hours prepared and sent to them (cf. Jeremiah 16:7, Revised Version). This is here called "the bread of men." In many cases of mourning the headdress was taken off, and dust or ashes sprinkled upon the head (cf. Leviticus 10:6; Job 2:12; Isaiah 61:3; Lamentations 2:10). But David and his companions in a season of deep distress went weeping with their heads covered (2 Samuel 15:30). It was also customary for mourners to go barefoot, as David did on the occasion just referred to. All these visible symbols of grief were to be absent from the house of Israel during the great distresses that were coming upon them. Yet our text speaks of their great sorrow. "Ye shall pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another." We suggest, by way of explanation:

1. Their calamities would so overwhelm them as to leave them no power to think of the ceremonial of mourning. Their losses and miseries would stun them with amazement and anguish of soul. "As in the prophet's case," says Schroder, "the misfortune of his wife's death disappears in the deep shadows of the overthrow of Jerusalem and Judah, so all the personal feelings of the exiles" (and we must not limit this to them to the exclusion of their fellow-countrymen) "shall be absorbed in this destruction of the last remnant of the kingdom and city. One and another shall be benumbed with pain, so that no comfort shall come from any quarter; on the contrary, a desolating feeling of guilt shall be general - such shall be their knowledge of the Lord."

2. Their consciousness of the sin which caused their calamities should check the outward exhibitions of sorrow because of them. This is well set forth by Fairbairn: "In the typical part of the delineation, it was not because the prophet was insensible to the loss he sustained by the death of his wife that he was to abstain from the habiliments and usages of mourning; but because there was another source of grief behind, of which this was but the sign and presage, and in itself so much greater and more appalling, that his spirit, instead of venting itself in expressions of sorrow at the immediate and ostensible calamity, was rather to brood in silent agony and concern over the more distressing evil it foreshadowed. And in like manner with the people, when all their fond hopes and visions were finally exploded, when the destruction of their beautiful temple, and the slaughter of their sons and daughters, came home to them as dreadful realities, they could only refrain from bewailing the loss of what had so deep a hold on their desires and affections, by having come to discern in this the sign of what was still greatly more dreadful and appalling. And what might that be but the bloodstained guilt of their iniquities, which had brought on the catastrophe?... The overwhelming sense should then break in upon them of the iniquities to which they had clung with such fatal perverseness, absorbing their spirits, and turning their moanings into a new and higher direction. The agonies of bereavement would be in a manner lost under the self-inflicted pains of contrition and remorse (cf. Ezekiel 7:16). Yet the description must be understood with certain qualifications, and indeed is to be viewed as the somewhat ideal delineation of a state of things that should be found, rather than the exact and literal description of what was actually to take place... The people should, on the occurrence of such a fearful catastrophe, have sunk under an overpowering sense of their guilt and folly, and, like the prophet, turned the tide of their grief and mourning rather against the gigantic evil that lay behind, seen only in the chambers of imagery, than what outwardly appeared; they should have bewailed the enormous sins that had provoked the righteous displeasure of God, rather than the present troubles in which that displeasure had taken effect. And such, undoubtedly, was the case with the better and more enlightened portion of the people; but many still cleaved to their idols, and would not receive the instruction given-them, either by the prophet's parabolical example or by the reality of God's afflicting dispensations."

CONCLUSION. Mark well the dread consequences of persistence in sin. - W.J.

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KJV: Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

WEB: Then I said to them, The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,