Chapter Seven

The End of the Kingdom

Concluding the first section of prophetic discourse, this chapter supplements the previous discourse in that it considers the approaching catastrophe in relation to state and social institutions, and generally depicts it more concretely. In doing so, the flowing style of prophetic speech gives way to lyricism. The surge of feeling to a lyrical pathos, striving to pour itself out in short incomplete sentences and rapidly alternating images of the impending ruin and calamity, is explained, like the visionary character of the last chapters, by the eschatological character of the thought to which the earlier speeches of the prophet have gradually led, namely, that the end is coming; this position gives the theme which resounds through the whole chapter; the end stands directly before the prophet’s eyes. Being poetically measured, the chapter falls into four stanzas.

The basic thought of the first stanza, chapter 2-9; the destruction of sinful Israel is unavoidable; in this section of the chapter there are so many repetitions that every expression of verses 2-4 except 9b is repeated in verses 5-9, but repeated with substantial additions; therefore there is no need to see in verses 2, 4 and 5-9 two mechanically joined recensions: repetitions are a peculiarity of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 7:2. “And you, son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel: An end has come; the end has come upon the four corners of the land. “You say” appears only in Greek; the Hebrew does not, as also in Ezek 39:17. “The land of Israel an end.” With the end of the Hebrew theocracy founded on the principles of Sinai legislation, Palestine also ceased to be holy land, standing under the special influence of Providence; cf. Amos 8:2; Lam 4:18. “Upon the four corners of the land.” Although the expression means the whole earth, it refers only to Palestine, as in Isa 24:4 (Palestine called the universe) and perhaps Matt 27:45.

Ezekiel 7:3. Now the end is upon you, and I will send My anger upon you, and I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. “God’s anger” here seems to be hypostasized in the form of “evil angels,” who go forth bringing calamity to the land: Job 20:23; Ps 77:49. “Abominations”—that is, sins are represented as a weight that must be borne until they are atoned for (cf. Ezek 4:4).

Ezekiel 7:4. And My eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; and you shall know that I am the Lord. Verse 4a: Ezek 5 verses 11b. “The end is upon you”—for the third time. Verse 4b, although it repeats the expressions of verse 3, develops and explains them: “I will judge according to your ways” means “I will repay you for your ways” (Church Slavonic more accurately: “your way upon you I will put”: guilt and punishment in such a natural connection that the latter is really only another form of the former); “I will punish you for your abominations”—“your abominations will be with you,” will be visible to all. While the abomination remains in the land, it remains unscavenged, as blood cries for vengeance until the earth opens to receive it. By “abomination” is understood, as shown by Ezek 5:11, idolatry; hence by “evil ways”—moral corruption. “And you shall know (in Greek and Peshitta—singular), that I am the Lord.” The goal of all punishing judgments of God in Ezekiel is always one: the knowledge of Jehovah; everything happening ultimately is directed to the glory of God (cf. Ezek 6:7).

Ezekiel 7:5. Thus says the Lord God: Disaster! A unique disaster; behold, it comes! “Disaster! Unique”—such as cannot have an equal (cf. Matt 24:21), or that which cannot be followed by another; cf. 1 Sam 26:8. The brevity of the sentences and the repetitions well express the prophet’s agitation at the sight of the coming calamities.

Ezekiel 7:6. An end has come; the end has come; it has awakened against you; behold, it has come! “Has awakened against you (the end),” that is, awakened (Vulgate: vigilanit). The end, properly, could and should have come long ago, since the measure of lawlessness has been full for a long time; but it was in a hidden sleeping state. In Hebrew there is a wordplay: hakec hakic, reminiscent of Amos 8:2 Such a passage generally seems to have been before Ezekiel’s mind here. “Behold, it has come.” The feminine gender here can have the meaning of an impersonal neuter.

Ezekiel 7:7. Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land! The time has come, the day has drawn near—not a day of joyous shouting upon the mountains. “Doom,” Hebrew tzephira, a word found besides this place and verse 10 only in Isa 28:5, where it is translated by all as “crown”; but this meaning does not fit here, which is why various interpreters give it a multitude of meanings, the most probable of which is “doom” or, according to the kindred Arabic root, “fate,” “destiny”; the Greek is closer to the Hebrew: plokee, Church Slavonic “braiding,” that is, should be a tangling of misfortunes. “O inhabitant of the land,” calmly remaining in Judea. “The time has come,” that is, “of retribution for sins” (Targum). “A day of joyous shouting upon the mountains.” Doubtless celebrations on the high places are meant. Church Slavonic: “not with tumult, neither with pains” (ωδινων, as Isa 26:17 “groans at childbirth”); there will be no noise of life and joyful labor; the word “mountain” Hebrew har the LXX read as one with the preceding ged and got “pangs of birth”.

Ezekiel 7:8. Now I will soon pour out My wrath upon you, and accomplish My anger against you; and I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. “Soon.” In fact, within three years. “I do not foretell the future to you and threaten you from afar” (blessed Jerome). The LXX literally from the Hebrew “from nearby,” that is, very soon; only here. Verse 8 is similar to verse 3.

Ezekiel 7:9. And My eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity. I will repay you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; and you shall know that I, the Lord, strike. Ezek 7 Verse 4. Only “the one who strikes” is added. Thus the repetition is not without further development of thought (as also verse 8 in relation to verse 3): the prophecy of Ezekiel has, according to Ezek 2:5, first and foremost only the goal that the people in the coming calamity recognize the punishing hand of God; cf. Ezek 25:7. Ezek 7:10-18—form the second part (stanza) of this prophetic discourse. The prophet’s feeling subsides, and from here on one can follow his thought. The prophet begins to give himself an account of what exactly is being prepared for Judea, what awaits it. The impending evil fate, which with the necessity of nature grows out of godlessness of the people, will put an end to all abuses, which under present lawlessness weigh so heavily to feel, for under terrible blows of war the state will be destroyed to its foundation. In this section one can even note a certain chronological order in the description of coming calamity, but a peculiar, namely inverse one—from the end to the beginning: the prophet is first struck by the sad consequences that Chaldean conquest will leave in Judea (v. 10-13); and then before his eyes the terrible picture of the conquest itself is drawn (v. 14-18).

Ezekiel 7:10. Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has come out; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded. “The day.” The LXX add: “of the Lord”; but what “the day” means has been sufficiently known since Amos 5:18. “The rod,” as an instrument of punishment; the Vulgate happily: virga, “scourge of God”; thus in Ps 10:5 the Assyrian kingdom is called, and here it should be the Chaldean. The final expression that clearly parallels: “pride has budded”; cf. Jer 2:21 and ff. Hab 1:6; so also understand the Targum and Peshitta. Indeed the Chaldean monarchy grew almost before the eyes of that generation and flourished with the vigor and freshness of youth (Church Slavonic: “the rod has blossomed”). Others refer the final expression to Judea: its pride has grown so much that it provoked the appearance of the rod destined to punish it.

Ezekiel 7:11. Violence has budded, becoming a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, none of their multitude, none of their wealth, none of their prominence. “Power” is Chaldea, “rod of wickedness” is Judea; the former is required by the context, and the latter is proven by the fact that the tribe is called a “rod” in Num 1:43; Josh 13:29. The passage then indicates what will be the effect of this power on the wicked rod: “none of them” (literally: “none of them,” that is, no one; Church Slavonic: “and not of them are”) and from their wealth (more accurately from the Hebrew: “from the multitude,” that is, the density of population; Church Slavonic: “and not with tumult,” θορυβον, with noise, that is, the destruction of Judea by the Chaldeans will happen without great military noise, easily) and from their prominence (an unknown Hebrew word noham is thus translated on the basis of Theodotion, Symmachus and rabbis; Church Slavonic “beauty,” ωραισμος).

Ezekiel 7:12. The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is upon all their multitude. The catastrophe will cause a complete perversion of usual relations and cessation of commercial enterprises, for example, trade. “Let not the buyer rejoice.” Ordinarily the seller remains more satisfied than the buyer; if here it is the opposite, then it is meant forced sale, at a loss to oneself, as in Isa 5:5; Mic 2:2. As the continuation of this thought in verse 13 shows: “for the seller shall not return to what he has sold,” it is meant mainly real property: lands, houses, and, it is thought, those who, having been deported to Babylon with Jehoiachin and Ezekiel, the aristocracy, had to sell their remaining property cheaply to those left in Judea (Smend): the prophet consoles these sellers in the loss by the fact that their property would have perished all the same with the final conquest of Judea; they have now realized something for property destined to perish, while those who took advantage of their distress to buy property cheaply will soon lose both it and the money they paid. But it may also be that it is generally indicated here that in the conquest will perish property the most dear, the acquisition of which is met with joy, and the alienation of which is decided with tears and under the influence of extreme necessity (cf. Lev 25:25). “For wrath is upon all their multitude.” A large number destined for destruction will not stop the punishment; the wrath of God will not be overcome by mercy.

Ezekiel 7:13. For the seller shall not return to what has been sold, as long as they live. For the vision concerning all their multitude shall not be revoked; and because of iniquity, no one can maintain his life. One can understand this about the return of sold property to their former owners in the jubilee year. It is possible that here, as was noted in the explanation of verse 12, it speaks of the prophet’s contemporaries, that they will never return to the sold property (therefore there is no reason to weep that they are sold cheaply), since Babylonian captivity will end not in this generation. Although jubilee years, as is evident from Jer 34 chapters, often were not observed, but Babylonian conquest will make it impossible to observe them even if desired. Will then the laws of the theocracy, unchanging as God’s own will, cease to operate on earth? Yes, answers the prophet to this in the next verse. No less unchangeably (“shall not return,” that is, back to God not fulfilled, cf. Isa 55:11) is the prophetic vision. “Vision” often calls every revelation to the prophet: Isa 1:1 and others; here are probably meant first and foremost the predictions about the destruction of the kingdom and the 70-year captivity. “Upon all their multitude,” hence both on greedy buyers and on grief-stricken sellers; see the explanation of the parallel expression in verse 12. “No one by his iniquity shall be able to maintain his life.” A profitable purchase of land will not help, because it was made with sin, and sin destroys life; this new sin, taking advantage of another’s misfortune, will only increase the retribution. Church Slavonic: “for the one holding to the seller to the one will not return and still in living living to him,” that is, he will not make any more such profitable purchases in the course of the rest, already short, life (or as blessed Theodoret: “wishing to change the deed of purchase”), because he will perish together with all the multitude of Jews. “A man in the eyes of his life (instead of “avon,” “sin” the LXX read “ain,” “eye”) shall not be strengthened”: when life, thanks to such profitable purchase, was just beginning to smile at him, imminent death in the general destruction awaits him.

Ezekiel 7:14. They have blown the trumpet and made all ready, but none goes to battle; for My wrath is upon all their multitude. Description of the conquest begins with a strong poetic turn: “blow the trumpet”; Russian translation contrary to Hebrew and LXX (Church Slavonic: “blow the trumpet”) puts the imperative mood: “Blow the trumpet.” To the call of military leaders (by trumpet) for universal arming (“and all made ready” so that all should prepare; Church Slavonic: “consider all”; consider the plan of war) everyone tries to evade military service: God in His anger will deprive all of courage, will strike the people with cowardice precisely at this fatal time (Lev 26:17; Deut 28:25).

Ezekiel 7:15. The sword is outside; pestilence and famine are inside. Those in the field die by the sword, and those in the city are devoured by famine and pestilence. Battles in the open field end in complete defeat, cities are unable to withstand the burden of siege and are forced to surrender by hunger and epidemic. Of course, not all the population will perish; here is hyperbole. Expressions remind of Matt 24:16-18; Mark 13:15-16. “Are devoured by famine”—an oxymoron (a union of contradictory concepts).

Ezekiel 7:16. And those who escape of them shall escape and be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, everyone for his own iniquity. The only salvation will be in flight to the inaccessible Palestinian mountains (cf. 1 Macc 2:28; Matt 24:16). But what a miserable picture these fugitives present: like “doves of the valleys,” presumably wild, they pitifully “moan” (the ancients considered the cooing of doves to be a moan of pain: Virgil, Eclog. I, 56), having only now, so late, recognized their own sin.

Ezekiel 7:17. All hands shall hang limp, and all loins shall be weak as water. Fear for the lives of the inhabitants (or, in particular, the fugitives of v. 16) will be so strong that it will manifest itself outwardly: hands will helplessly hang down, unable to grasp anything, and legs will refuse to serve, trembling like water (cf. Josh 7:5; Ps 21:15; Job 4:4); Church Slavonic: “and all loins shall become wet with moisture” (incontinence).

Ezekiel 7:18. And they shall gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them. Shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness on all their heads. Continuing to depict the mental state of the inhabitants of Judea during the Chaldean conquest, which represents a mixture of sorrow, fear, and shame, the prophet sometimes looks into their soul (second and third clause), sometimes observes external manifestation of feelings (first and fourth), and the description proceeds from feet to head; they are girded with sackcloth in sign of sorrow, Hebrew “sak,” rough woolen material, which was wrapped around the body above the loins; like clothing covering them, their trembling from fear; on the face shame appears, perhaps for defeats; all heads are shaved in sign of sorrow for the slain in war relatives (cf. Mic 1:16). Ezek 7:19-22 The powerlessness of all that was relied upon will be revealed: wealth (see 19), idols (20-21), and the temple itself (v. 22).

Ezekiel 7:19. They shall throw their silver into the streets, and their gold shall be like an unclean thing. Their silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They shall not satisfy their hunger nor fill their bellies with them; for it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity. Silver and gold have no price in the time of famine, since one cannot buy bread with them; as rubbish will the precious metals be thrown into the street, so bitterly having deceived the hopes of their owners and being the cause of many sins (luxury, etc., but not because idols were made from them, which will be spoken of separately), and hence also the present punishment.

Ezekiel 7:20. As for their beautiful ornament, they used it for pride, and they made their abominable images and detestable things from it. Therefore I will make it an unclean thing to them; Ezekiel 7:21. and I will give it into the hands of strangers as plunder, and to the wicked of the earth as spoil, and they shall profane it. “What I gave for the adornment of garments, My wealth (gold and silver) they turned to pride” (blessed Jerome). To this ingratitude was added another even more offensive: from precious metals, this best gift of God, they began to make idols, joining to pride, this deification of themselves, the deification of metals. These abominable to God, but sacred to worshippers, images God will deprive even in the eyes of worshippers of holiness, the essential attribute of these images, through profanation, which the idols will undergo, falling into the unclean hands of conquerors, everywhere noted for their disrespect toward native sanctuaries.

Ezekiel 7:22. And I will turn My face from them, that they may profane My precious place; and robbers shall enter and profane it. The third and seemingly most strong and reliable support of the dying kingdom will be destroyed—the temple, which will cease to be a temple (a sanctuary) when it is profaned by the entry into its inaccessible and sacred parts of the unclean (“robbers shall come there”) and the desecration of the inviolable to laymen vessels of the temple (“robbers,” LXX: “carelessly,” that is, enter the temple without fear for themselves). The temple is called a word which it is called nowhere else, but which breathes deep sorrow of God over its destruction: “My precious place,” that is, either “inaccessibly hidden” or “My treasure” (LXX: “My watching,” επισκοπην—the place of supervision and rule over the holy people); in view of the rarity of such a name for the temple, it is thought without sufficient foundation that here is meant not the temple, but either a sanctuary, or temple treasures, or finally the holy city itself. The profaning of the temple becomes possible only because God “turns His face” from the Jews (an expression, not infrequent in Ezekiel, but in this discourse appearing only once), as though He ceases to look upon this heavy spectacle for Him; while the temple existed, Jehovah mercifully turned His face upon the people; now He abandons the land and people. It is remarkable that neither here nor in chapters VIII-XI does Ezekiel predict the destruction of the temple, but only its profanation and abandonment by God: not completely burned by Nebuchadnezzar, the temple was soon restored; therefore, for prophetic contemplation, it was not destroyed materially, but only spiritually, which was even more terrible. Ezek 7:23-27 The measure of sins is filled, and God has pronounced His judgment, which will soon be executed by the cruelest and most wicked nations of the earth. Blow after blow will fall on the proud city, no one will give counsel or help, and deaf despair will take hold of both high and low society—so demands the righteousness of Jehovah, Who wishes finally to manifest Himself in His true nature. Thus, the prophet, in his review of the future fall of Jerusalem, going from the end of the catastrophe to its beginning, in this section of the discourse reaches the first moments of it, when the news of the invasion of the cruel conqueror first reached Jerusalem and shocked everyone.

Ezekiel 7:23. Make a chain; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. “Make a chain” as a sign of captivity. The imperative mood hardly has its usual meaning here, but some other, as in Amos 9:1; moreover, the authenticity of the expression is doubtful: the Hebrew has “rattak,”—which means not chain, but a little chain; the ancient translations do not confirm the Hebrew reading: the LXX: “they will make riot” (that is, should be, before the invasion, a riot will occur in the land, which will facilitate the conquest by the enemy); Vulgate: “make an end” of speech. As the sins of Judea here, as well as in Ezek 9:9; Ezek 11:6 cf. Ezek 8:17, are pointed out differently than in chapters V, VI, VIII “the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.” Apparently all kinds of bloodshed and violence are meant, which were caused by the complete perversion of all relations after the removal of Jehoiachin; cf. Ezek 7:12; Ezek 22; Ezek 24; especially Ezek 22:25 cf. with Lam 4:12-15. The second reproach seems weaker than the first; but there could not be as much murder in the city as throughout the whole state.

Ezekiel 7:24. Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the arrogance of the strong, and their sanctuaries shall be profaned. The enemies, whom God will bring upon Judea, will in their ferocity correspond to the guilt of the land. Such was Ezekiel’s opinion of the Babylonian conquerors; cf. in verse 21: “the wicked of the earth.” Because of violence against the poor, the Jews themselves will be deprived during the invasion not only of all property, but also of shelter; because of “bloody crimes” (v. 23), taking from a man the most precious gift of God to him—life, will be profaned “their sanctuaries,” Church Slavonic: “the holy,” that is, the sanctuary, the temple, which the Jews treasured so. “I will put an end to their arrogance”—it is unanimously understood of the destruction of the temple, which was the pride (Church Slavonic: “the exaltation of power,” cf. Lev 26:11; Isa 13:11) of the Jews (“the strong,” those counting themselves strong because of possession of the temple; but better to read with the LXX “power,” “strength,” not “strong”).

Ezekiel 7:25. Destruction comes; they will seek peace, but there shall be none. Having pointed out the immediate cause of the coming calamities and their character, the prophet returns to the description of them. “Destruction”—kefadah—απ λεγ, which may be more correctly translated by newer interpreters in connection with the following verses: “fear,” “anxiety,” Church Slavonic “prayer,” εξιλασμος, repentance (later!). “Peace”—salvation.

Ezekiel 7:26. Calamity upon calamity shall come, and rumor upon rumor; they shall seek vision from the prophet, but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. “Calamity upon calamity.” Hebrew gova the LXX translate as an interjection (woe), ουαι επι ουαι. Blessed Jerome opposes this to what is said to the saints: “rejoice and again rejoice.” “Rumor upon rumor” (in German Hiobpost—“Job’s mail”). Terrible news of the arrival and cruelty of the invading troops will come one after another from all sides. Then it describes the confusion of the once so self-confident spiritual leaders of the people, of whom five classes are indicated (with the people themselves six): prophets, priests, elders, king, and princes. “They shall seek vision from the prophet,” that is, through him a revelation of God (v. 13) about whether there is still a means to avoid the threatening calamities; so did Zedekiah according to Jer 38:14. Since there will be no prophets because of God’s abandonment, revelations will be sought in vain. They may also mean false prophets. “And the law shall perish from the priest.” The priests will not be able to give guiding instruction from the law about the manner of conduct. This observation about the priest deserves attention: “not as performers of sacrifices, but as those giving instruction, do the priests here stand out, with respect to their significance in the spiritual sphere of life, and law, torah, appears as a living force, responding to every situation and not recoiling before it” (Wellhausen, Proll. 3rd ed. 414). “Elders” not a public class (elders, heads of families about whom the next verse speaks), but age rich in life experience.

Ezekiel 7:27. The king shall mourn, the prince shall be wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land shall tremble. I will do to them as they have done, and judge them by their own standards; then they shall know that I am the Lord. 2 Samuel 21:24. “The king shall mourn,” Church Slavonic: “shall bewail,” instead of guiding resistance to the enemy while this is easier to do. Usually Zedekiah Ezekiel calls a “prince” “our,” a word standing just below; therefore, some LXX codices do not read this clause. “Prince,” that is, all the heads of clans and rulers, whose presence of spirit could have compensated for the king’s cowardice; but they will panic even more than he. “The people of the land,” the common people (cf. 2 Kings 21:24, 23:30. According to Bertholet, between the lines one reads the aristocratic origin of Ezekiel) “shall have trembling hands,” will not be able to hold weapons which could have protected them and remedied the situation spoiled by unworthy leaders (panic of the troops). All this panic, as well as the calamities enumerated earlier, will be the work of the punishing God.