Ezekiel 7

Ezekiel 7:1-27 . LAMENTATION OVER THE COMING RUIN OF ISRAEL; THE PENITENT REFORMATION OF A REMNANT; THE CHAIN SYMBOLIZING THE CAPTIVITY.

2. An end, the end--The indefinite "an" expresses the general fact of God bringing His long-suffering towards the whole of Judea to an end; "the," following, marks it as more definitely fixed ( Amos 8:2 ).

4. thine abominations--the punishment of thine abominations.
shall be in the midst of thee--shall be manifest to all. They and thou shall recognize the fact of thine abominations by thy punishment which shall everywhere befall thee, and that manifestly.

5. An evil, an only evil--a peculiar calamity such as was never before; unparalleled. The abruptness of the style and the repetitions express the agitation of the prophet's mind in foreseeing these calamities.

6. watcheth for thee--rather, "waketh for thee." It awakes up from its past slumber against thee ( Psalms 78:65 Psalms 78:66 ).

7. The morning--so Chaldean and Syriac versions (compare Joel 2:2 ). Ezekiel wishes to awaken them from their lethargy, whereby they were promising to themselves an uninterrupted night ( 1 Thessalonians 5:5-7 ), as if they were never to be called to account [CALVIN]. The expression, "morning," refers to the fact that this was the usual time for magistrates giving sentence against offenders (compare Ezekiel 7:10 , below; Psalms 101:8 , Jeremiah 21:12 ). GESENIUS, less probably, translates, "the order of fate"; thy turn to be punished.
not the sounding again--not an empty echo, such as is produced by the reverberation of sounds in "the mountains," but a real cry of tumult is coming [CALVIN]. Perhaps it alludes to the joyous cries of the grape-gatherers at vintage on the hills [GROTIUS], or of the idolaters in their dances on their festivals in honor of their false gods [TIRINUS]. HAVERNICK translates, "no brightness."

8, 9. Repetition of Ezekiel 7:3 Ezekiel 7:4 ; sadly expressive of accumulated woes by the monotonous sameness.

10. rod . . . blossomed, pride . . . budded--The "rod" is the Chaldean Nebuchadnezzar, the instrument of God's vengeance ( Isaiah 10:5 , Jeremiah 51:20 ). The rod sprouting (as the word ought to be translated), &c., implies that God does not move precipitately, but in successive steps. He as it were has planted the ministers of His vengeance, and leaves them to grow till all is ripe for executing His purpose. "Pride" refers to the insolence of the Babylonian conqueror ( Jeremiah 50:31 Jeremiah 50:32 ). The parallelism ("pride" answering to "rod") opposes JEROME'S view, that "pride" refers to the Jews who despised God's threats; (also CALVIN'S, "though the rod grew in Chaldea, the root was with the Jews"). The "rod" cannot refer, as GROTIUS thought, to the tribe of Judah, for it evidently refers to the "smiteth" ( Ezekiel 7:9 ) as the instrument of smiting.

11. Violence (that is, the violent foe) is risen up as a rod of (that is, to punish the Jews') wickedness ( Zechariah 5:8 ).
theirs--their possessions, or all that belongs to them, whether children or goods. GROTIUS translates from a different Hebrew root, "their nobles," literally, "their tumultuous trains" (Margin) which usually escorted the nobles. Thus "nobles" will form a contrast to the general "multitude."
neither . . . wailing--( Jeremiah 16:4-7 , 25:33 ). GESENIUS translates, "nor shall there be left any beauty among them." English Version is supported by the old Jewish interpreters. So general shall be the slaughter, none shall be left to mourn the dead.