Ezekiel 9:1
shouted <07121> [cried.]
destruction <06486> [Cause.]
Ezekiel 1:1-28
thirtieth <07970> [in the thirtieth.]
among <08432> [as I.]
exiles <01473> [captives. Heb. captivity. by the river.]
Kebar <03529> [Chebar.]
Chebar, called now Khabour, is a river of Mesopotamia, which taking its rise in the Mysian mountains, falls into the Euphrates near Carchemish, or Circesioum, now Karkisia, about 35 degrees 20' N. lat. and 40 degrees 25' E. long.
heavens <08064> [the heavens.]
saw <07200> [I saw.]
word <01697> [word.]
Ezekiel <03168> [Ezekiel. Heb. Jehezkel. and the.]
windstorm <07307> [a whirlwind.]
enormous <01419> [a great.]
bright light rimmed <03947 05051> [infolding itself. Heb. catching itself. colour.]
looked like ........... form <01823> [the likeness.]
each ... four faces ... four <0259 0702 06440> [And every one had four faces.]
These living creatures were probably hieroglyphical representations of the holy angels, the attendants on "the King of Glory," and the ministers of his providence. They were four, apparently to denote that they were employed in the four corners of the world; and they had the likeness of a man, to signify that they were intelligent and rational creatures.
each ... four .... four wings <0702 03671 0259> [every one had four wings.]
legs ... straight ....... feet ..... feet <07272 03477> [straight feet. Heb. a straight foot. like the sole.]
gleamed <05869> [the colour.]
touched <02266> [joined.]
turn <05437> [they turned.]
appearance <01823> [for the.]
faces ........... face .... man .... face ......... face ........... face <0120 06440> [the face of a man.]
faces ........... face ....... face .... lion ...... face ........... face <0738 06440> [the face of a lion.]
faces ........... face ....... face ......... face .... ox ........ face <07794 06440> [the face of an ox.]
[Cherub.]
faces ........... face ....... face ......... face ........... face .... eagle <05404 06440> [the face of an eagle.]
wings <03671> [and their.]
spread ... above <04605 06504> [stretched upward. or, divided above. and two.]
Each <03212 0376> [they went every.]
spirit <07307> [whither.]
one <0259> [one.]
four <0702> [with.]
gleaming <05869> [the colour.]
wheels .................... wheel .... wheel <0212> [a wheel.]
turning <05437> [and.]
high <01363> [they were so.]
rims ........ rims <01354> [rings. or, stakes. full.]
spirit ................. spirit <07307> [the spirit.]
spirit ................. spirit <07307> [for the.]
living <02416> [of the living creature. or, of life.]
<03212> [When those went.]
living <02416> [of the living creature. or, of life.]
like <01823> [the likeness.]
ice <07140> [crystal.]
The Hebrew {kerach,} which generally denotes ice, doubtless here signifies crystal, ([krystallos,] from [kryos,] cold, ice, and [stellomai,] to concrete,) as it is rendered by the LXX. and Vulgate. It is a very large class of silicious minerals, hard, pellucid, naturally colourless, of regularly angular figures, and of simple plates; not flexible, nor elastic, but giving fire with steel; not fermenting by acid menstrua, but calcinable in a strong fire. There are three orders of pure crystal: the first is perfect columnar crystals, with double pyramids, of eighteen planes, in an hexangular pyramid at each end; the second is that of perfect crystals, without a column, of twelve or sixteen planes, in two hexangular pyramids: and the third is that of imperfect crystals, with single pyramids, of ten or twelve planes, in an hexangular or pentangular column. Terrible crystal seems to denote that which was well cut and polished, vividly refracting the rays of light.
wings <03671> [their wings.]
beings ...... covering <03680> [which.]
sound ......... sound ....... voice <06963> [like.]
sound ......... sound ....... voice <06963> [as the voice.]
sound ......... sound ....... voice <06963> [as the noise.]
still <07503> [and had.]
Above <04605> [And above.]
Abp. Newcome judiciously observes, "We need not allegorize the circumstances of this august vision too minutely. Many of them augment the splendour of the scene, while others, no doubt, have much significance; which should be pointed out rather by a correct judgement, than a luxuriant imagination."
heads <07218> [over.]
like ... throne ...... throne .... form <01823 03678> [the likeness of a.]
like ................. appeared <04758> [as the.]
like ................. appeared ..... man <0120 04758> [the appearance of a man.]
saw <05869> [as the colour.]
like ... fire ............... something that looked like fire <0784 04758> [the appearance of fire.]
[at the appearance of the bow.]
appearance .............. appearance ........ looked <04758> [This.]
threw <05307> [I fell.]
Ezekiel 4:1-17
take <03947> [take.]
brick <03843> [a tile.]
[Lebˆbnƒh <\\See definition 03843\\>,] {levainah,} generally denotes a brick, and Palladius informs us that the bricks in common use among the ancients were "two feet long, one foot broad, and four inches thick;" and on such a surface the whole siege might be easily pourtrayed. Perhaps, however, it may here denote a flat tile, like a Roman brick, which were commonly used for tablets, as we learn from Pliny, Hist. Nat. 1. vii. c. 57.
Jerusalem <03389> [even.]
Lay ................ Post <05414> [lay.]
battering rams <03733> [battering rams. or, chief leaders.]
iron frying ......... iron <04227 01270> [an iron pan. or, a flat plate, or slice.]
sign <0226> [This.]
left ................ number ........... bear <08042 04557 05375> [upon.]
place <07760> [and lay.]
bear <05375> [thou shalt bear.]
determined <05414> [I have.]
390 <07969> [three.]
This number of years will take us back from the year in which Judea was finally desolated by Nebuzar-adan, B.C. 584, to the establishment of idolatry in Israel by Jeroboam, B.C. 975. "Beginning from 1 Ki 12:33. Ending Jer 52:30."
40 days ...... day ... each <0705 03117> [forty days.]
This represented the forty years during which gross idolatry prevailed in Judah, from the reformation of Josiah, B.C. 624, to the same final desolation of the land. Some think that the period of 390 days also predicts the duration of the siege of the Babylonians, (ver. 9,) deducting from it five months and twenty-nine days, when the besiegers went to meet the Egyptians (2 Ki 25:1-4; Jer 37:5;) and that forty days may have been employed in desolating the temple and city. "Beginning from 2 Ki 23:3, 23. Ending Jer 52:30."
days ...... day ... each year <08141 03117> [each day for a year. Heb. a day for a year, a day for a year.]
<03559> [set.]
arm <02220> [and thine.]
will <05414> [I will.]
side .... other <06654> [from one side to another. Heb. from thy side to thy side.]
wheat <02406> [wheat.]
millet <01764> [millet.]
{Dochan,} in Arabic, {dokhn,} the {holcus dochna} of Forskal, is a kind of millet, of considerable use as a food; the cultivation of which is described by Browne.
spelt <03698> [fitches. or, spelt.]
{Kussemim} is doubtless [zea,] or spelt, as Aquila and Symmachus render here; and so LXX. and Theodotion, [olyra.] In times of scarcity it is customary to mix several kinds of coarser grains with the finer, to make it last the longer.
390 <07969> [three.]
drink ............ drink <08354> [shalt drink.]
[cake. a "round" thing.]
Ah <0162> [Ah.]
ceremonially <05315> [my soul.]
eaten <0398> [have I.]
unclean <06292> [abominable.]
cow's manure ..... excrement <06832 01561 01241> [cow's dung.]
Dried cow-dung is a common fuel in the East, as it is in many parts of England, to the present day; but the prophet was ordered to prepare his bread with human ordure, to shew the extreme degree of wretchedness to which the besieged should be exposed, as they would be obliged literally to use it, from not being able to leave the city to collect other fuel.
remove <07665> [I will.]
eat <0398> [eat.]
The prophet was allowed each day only twenty shekels weight, or about ten ounces, of the coarse food he had prepared, and the sixth part of a hin, scarcely a pint and a half, of water; all of which was intended to shew that they should be obliged to eat the meanest and coarsest food, and that by weight, and their water by measure.
rot <04743> [and consume.]
