Ezekiel 22:17 Komentář

Here are three separate messages which God entrusts the prophet to deliver concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and all to the same purport, to show them their sins and the judgments that were coming upon them for those sins. I. Here is a catalogue of their sins, by which they had exposed themselves to shame and for which God would bring them to ruin (v. 1-16). II. They are here compared to dross, and are condemned as dross to the fire (Eze 22:17-22). III. All orders and degrees of men among them are here found guilty of the neglect of the duty of their place and of having contributed to the national guilt, which therefore, since none appeared as intercessors, they must all expect to share in the punishment of (Eze 22:23-31).

The same melancholy string is still harped upon, and various turns are given it, to make it affecting, that it may be influencing. The prophet must here show, or at least it is here shown him, that the whole house of Israel has become as dross and that as dross they shall be consumed. What David has said concerning the wicked ones of the world is here said concerning the wicked ones of the church, now that it is corrupt and degenerate (Psa 119:119): Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross. I. See here how the wretched degeneracy of the house of Israel is described. That state, in David's and Solomon's time, had been a head of gold; when the kingdoms were divided it was as the arms of silver. But now, 1. It has degenerated into baser metal, of no value in comparison with what it formerly was: They are all brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, which some make to signify divers sorts of sinners among them. Their being brass denotes the impudence of some in their wickedness; they are brazen-faced, and cannot blush; their shoes had been iron and brass (Deu 33:25), but now their brow is so, Isa 48:4. Their being tin denotes the hypocritical profession of piety with which many of them cover their iniquity; they have a specious show, but no intrinsic worth. Their being iron denotes the cruel disposition of some, and their delight in war, according to the character of the iron age. Their being lead denotes their dulness, sottishness, and stupidity: though soft and pliable to evil, yet heavy and not movable to good. How has the gold become dross! How has the most fine gold changed! So is Jerusalem's degeneracy bewailed, Lam 4:1. Yet this is not the worst; these metals, though of less value, are yet of good use. But, 2. The house of Israel has become dross to me. So she is in God's account, whatever she is in her own and her neighbours' account. They were silver, but now they are even the dross of silver; the word signifies all the dirt, and rubbish, and worthless stuff, that are separated from the silver in the washing, melting, and refining of it. Note, Sinners, and especially degenerate professors, are in God's account as dross, vile, and contemptible, and of no account, as the evil figs which could not be eaten, they were so evil. They are useless and fit for nothing; of no consistency with themselves and no service to man. II. How the woeful destruction of this degenerate house of Israel is foretold. They are all gathered together in Jerusalem; thither people fled from all parts of the country as to a city of refuge, not only because it was a strong city, but because it was the holy city. Now God tells them that their flocking into Jerusalem, which they intended for their security, should be as the gathering of various sorts of metal into the furnace or crucible, to be melted down, and to have the dross separated from them. They are in the midst of Jerusalem, surrounded by the forces of the enemy; and, being thus enclosed, 1. The fire of God's wrath shall be kindled upon this furnace, and it shall be blown, to make it burn fiercely and strongly, Eze 22:20, Eze 22:21. God will gather them in his anger and fury. The blowing of the fire makes a great noise, so will the judgments of God upon Jerusalem. When God stirs up himself to execute judgments upon a provoking people, from the consideration of his own glory and the necessity of making some examples, then he may be said to blow the fire of his wrath against sin and sinners, to heat the furnace seven times hotter. 2. The several sorts of metal gathered in it shall be melted; by a complication of judgments, as by a raging fire, their constitution shall be dissolved, they shall lose all their former shape and strength, and shall be utterly unable to stand before the wrath of God. The various sorts of sinners shall be melted down together, and united in a common overthrow, as brass and lead in the same furnace, as trees are bound in bundles for the fire. They came together into Jerusalem as a place of defence, but God brought them together there as unto a place of execution. 3. God will leave them in the furnace (Eze 22:20): I will gather you into the furnace and will leave you there. When God brings his own people into the furnace he sits by them, as the refiner by his gold, to see that they be not continued there any longer than is fitting and needful; but he will bring these people into the furnace, as men throw dross into it, which they design shall be consumed, and therefore are in no care about it, but leave it there. Compare with this Hos 5:14, I will tear and go away. 4. Hereby the dross shall be wholly separated and the good metal purified, the impenitent shall be destroyed and the penitent reformed and fitted for deliverance. Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer, Pro 25:4. This judgment shall do that in the house of Israel for the doing of which other methods had been tried in vain, and reprobate silver shall they no more be called, Jer 6:30.

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 22 In this chapter a catalogue or list of the sins of the Jews is given; a comparison of them to dross is made, and they are dealt with accordingly; and a complaint is lodged against all ranks and orders of men for their sins; on account of which, there being no intercessor for them, they are threatened with captivity and destruction. The prophet is ordered to judge them, and lay before them their abominable sins, Eze 22:1, of which a long list is given, as murder, idolatry; contempt of parents; oppression of the stranger, fatherless, and widow; negligence of holy things; profanation of the sabbath; tale bearing, lewdness and uncleanness of various sorts; bribery, usury, extortion, and dishonest gain, Eze 22:3 for which the Lord threatens to deal with them in a manner that would be intolerable to them; that he would carry them captive, and scatter them among the Heathen, Eze 22:14, they are compared to dross, and as such should be gathered into a furnace, and melted down, Eze 22:17, all ranks and orders of men are complained of, because of their sins, and threatened, Eze 22:23, the prophets for their voraciousness, rapine, murder, and lies, Eze 22:25, the priests, for their violation of the law, neglect of holy things, and profanation of the sabbath, Eze 22:26, the princes, for their cruelty, murder, and dishonest gain, Eze 22:27, the people of the land, for their oppression and robbery, Eze 22:29, and there being none to stand in the gap for them, the Lord threatens to pour out his wrath upon them, and consume them, Eze 22:30.

And the word of the Lord came unto me,.... The word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum: saying; as follows:

(Vers. 17 seqq.) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, the house of Israel has become like dross to me. All of them, copper, tin, iron, and lead, are in the midst of the furnace; they have become silver dross. Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become like dross, behold, I will gather you in the midst of Jerusalem as a gathering of silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead in the midst of the furnace, to kindle a fire in it for melting. Thus I will gather in my fury and in my wrath and I will rest and melt you, and I will kindle you in the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst, like silver melted in the midst of a furnace. So you shall be in its midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have poured out my indignation upon you. The Hebrew word Sig (), Symmachus translates as dross, Aquila's first edition as grape stone and γίγαρτον, which signifies both grape seed and grape stalk. But the second translation of it, and the Septuagint's rendering, means a blending. Furthermore, it signifies dross, filth, and the waste of metals; so that subsequently, with the nearby captivity, or rather the impending destruction of the city, fire is applied: so that during the process of blending, pure silver remains, which had been mixed with and defiled by copper, tin, iron, and lead: three of which, copper, tin, and lead, are fusible substances, and are dissolved by fire. But truly, iron between the anvil and the hammer becomes soft and thin, and takes on various forms, according to the will of the craftsman. Just as, therefore, silver, which the aforementioned metals have tarnished, is put into the furnace, so that, with the impurities and foreign materials removed, it may remain pure, thus, he says, I will gather you in the midst of Jerusalem, and I will surround Babylon with siege, in order to kindle in you a fire for refining. And just as there the immense heat of flames is present, here hunger and pestilence will do the same: so that after I have gathered you and set you on fire with the fire of fury, then I will rest, and with the punishment of your contempt, I will restrain the pain. And I will do all this, so that after I have poured out my indignation upon you, the end of your torment may be known to me; and you shall know that I am the Lord, the judge of all and the avenger. And as for what is said to be a refiner, we read in many places, but especially in Malachi and Isaiah, of whom one says: 'Behold, the Lord will come like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap, and he will sit refining and purifying like gold and silver, and he will refine the sons of Levi.' (Mal. III, 1, 3). Moreover, the Lord will wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion and cleanse the blood from their midst, with the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning (Isa. IV, 4). And I believe this to sound like what is said in the Psalms: Examine me, O Lord, and test me (Ps. XXV, 2). After which it is said: Burn my kidneys and my heart, so that all the harmful fluids of the loins may be dried up, along with their wicked deeds, and the coverings that have been placed (Ps. XXV, 2). What we understand about Jerusalem, let us understand also about the state of souls, which were created pure by God: they have received gold in sense and wisdom, and silver in speech and eloquence, so that they may express with words what they have conceived in their minds. We read of silver: The speech of the Lord is pure speech; silver tried in a furnace of earth, refined seven times.\nSimilarly, the seventy-seventh psalm mentions gold and silver, where it is written: If you sleep among the nations wilees, and the wings of a silver dove, and its back parts are in greenness, or in the color of gold.\nFor all the glory of the daughter of the king is within, which speaks in the Song of Songs: The king has brought me into his chamber. He who has slept and rested between two Testaments will immediately assume the silver wings of a dove, and with gold in the treasure of his heart, he will shine with radiant light. I believe this has the meaning that for sinners and those who have earned the offense of God, the sky is made of brass and the earth is made of iron, especially the land of Egypt, from which the Lord brought forth Israel, as if from a fiery furnace. In Zechariah, also, wickedness sits upon a talent of lead (Zech. V). And in the Song of Exodus it is said: They were submerged like lead in violent waters (Exod. XV, 10). For they were burdened with the weight of their sins, and they could say: Heavy burdens are weighing down on me (Ps. XXXVII, 6). However, just as the appearance of gold deceitfully imitates the likeness of adulterated copper, so does tin simulate the whiteness of silver, which the simple and rustic cannot easily discern. And it often happens that gold and silver, mixed with heretical wickedness, are separated by the fire of the Holy Spirit and the judgment of the Lord, and pure gold and silver remain, of which the prophet says: I gave them silver and gold, but they made Baal out of them (Hosea II, 8). To whom is it similar: 'I led them out with silver and gold, and there was no feeble one among their tribes' (Psalm 104, 37). Let the end of all punishments be to know that the Lord himself is God. We read about a tin stone, or a tin mass, in Zechariah (Zechariah 4), which we have interpreted in its proper place.

This chapter contains a recital of the sins of Jerusalem, Eze 22:1-12; for which God threatens it with severe judgments, Eze 22:13-16, in order to purify it from the dross, Eze 22:17-22. And as the corruption is general, pervading prophets, priests, princes, and people; so, it is declared, shall be the punishment, Eze 22:23-31.

GOD'S JUDGMENT ON THE SINFULNESS OF JERUSALEM. (Eze. 22:1-31) See Eze 20:4; that is, "Wilt thou not judge?" &c. (compare Eze 23:36). the bloody city--literally, "the city of bloods"; so called on account of murders perpetrated in her, and sacrifices of children to Molech (Eze 22:3-4, Eze 22:6, Eze 22:9; Eze 24:6, Eze 24:9).

Refining of Israel in the Furnace of Besieged Jerusalem Eze 22:17. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 22:18. Son of man, the house of Israel has become to me as dross; they are all brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the furnace; dross of silver have they become. Eze 22:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because ye have all become dross, therefore, behold, I gather you together in Jerusalem. Eze 22:20. As men gather together silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin into the furnace, to blow the fire upon it for melting, so will I gather (you) together in my anger and my wrath, and put you in and melt you. Eze 22:21. And I will collect you together, and blow the fire of my wrath upon you, that ye may be melted therein. Eze 22:22. As silver is melted in the furnace, so shall ye be melted therein (viz., in Jerusalem), and shall learn that I Jehovah have poured out my wrath upon you. - This second word of God rests no doubt upon the figure in Eze 22:15, of the uncleanness or dirt of sin; but it is not an exposition of the removal of the dirt, as predicted there. For that was to be effected through the dispersion of Israel among the nations, whereas the word of God, from Eze 22:17 onwards, represents the siege awaiting Jerusalem as a melting process, through which God will separate the silver ore contained in Israel from the baser metals mingled with it. In Eze 22:18 it commences with a description of the existing condition of Israel. It has turned to dross. היוּ is clearly a perfect, and is not to be taken as a prophetical future, as Kliefoth proposes. Such a rendering is not only precluded by the clause 'יען היות in Eze 22:19, cut could only be made to yield an admissible sense by taking the middle clause of the verse, "all of them brass and tin," etc., as a statement of what Israel had become, or as a preterite in opposition to all the rules of Hebrew syntax, inasmuch as this clause merely furnishes an explanation of היוּ־לסוּג. סוּג, which only occurs here, for סיג signifies dross, not smelting-ore (Kliefoth), literally, recedanea, the baser ingredients which are mixed with the silver, and separated from it by smelting. This is the meaning here, where it is directly afterwards interpreted as consisting of brass, tin, iron, and lead, and then still further defined as סגּים כּסף, dross of silver, i.e., brass, tin, iron, and lead, with a mixture of silver. Because Israel had turned into silver-dross of this kind, the Lord would gather it together in Jerusalem, to smelt it there as in a smelting furnace; just as men gather together brass, iron, lead, and tin in a furnace to smelt them, or rather to separate the silver contained thereon. קבצת כּסף, literally, a collection of silver, etc., for "like a collection." The כ simil. is probably omitted for the sake of euphony, to avoid the discord occasioned by prefixing it to קבצת. Ezekiel mentions the silver as well, because there is some silver contained in the brass, iron, etc., or the dross is silver-dross. התּוּך, nomen verbale, from נתך in the Hiphil, smelting; literally, as the smelting of silver takes place in the furnace. The smelting is treated here simply as a figurative representation of punishment, and consequently the result of the smelting, namely, the refining of the silver by the removal of the baser ingredients, is not referred to any further, as in the case in Isa 1:22, Isa 1:25; Jer 6:27-30; Mal 3:2-3. This smelting process was experienced by Israel in the last siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans.