853 



EZEKIEL. 



EZRA. 



854 



galleries of Germany and the Low Countries ; in our National Gallery 

 there is one painting, entitled, a ' Flemish Gentleman and Lady," which 

 was executed by him in 1434, but is still in perfect preservation, and 

 is a remarkable illustration of his brilliancy of colouring, general 

 effect, and surprising technical skill. John Van Eyck died July 14, 

 1441. 



EZEKIEL, the Prophet, was partially contemporaneous with Jere- 

 miah, and is one of the prophets called ' The Greater,' a distinction 

 which relates to the comparative magnitude and importance of their 

 books. He was a priest, the son of Buzi (L 3), and, according to the 

 account of his life, ascribed (erroneously) to Epiphanius, he was born 

 t a place called Saresa. In the first Babylonian captivity he was 

 carried away by Nebuchadnezzar into Mesopotamia, with the kings 

 Jeconiah and Jehoiachim, and all the principal inhabitants of Jerusa- 

 lem, who were stationed at Tel-abib (iii. 15) and at other places on the 

 river Chebar (i. 1, 3), the Chaboras of Ptolemaeus, which flows into 

 the east eide of the Euphrates at Carchemish, about 300 miles north- 

 west from Babylon. He is stated to have commenced his prophesying 

 in the fifth year of his captivity (i. 2), about B c. 598, and to have 

 continued it during more than twenty-two years, that is, until the 

 fourteenth year after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. 

 The peeudo-Epiphanius says that Ezekiel, on account of his aversion 

 to adopt the Chaldaean idolatry, was put to death by the Jewish prince 

 or commander of the captives. Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela states that 

 his tomb i* between the Euphrates and the Chebar, in a vault built by 

 King Jehoiachim, and that within it the Jews keep a lamp perpetually 

 burning. The same writer asserts, with equal appearance of tra- 

 ditional falsehood, that the Jews possess the book of Ezekiel in the 

 original autograph, which they read every year on the great day of 

 expiation. Greatly inconsistent with such veneration is the fact related 

 by Calmet, that the Jews speak of this prophet very contemptuously 

 as having been Jeremiah's servant-boy, and the object of popular ridi- 

 cule and raillery, whence his name 'son of Buzi' (ra, buz, contempt). 

 Josephus speaks of two books of Ezekiel, but commentators under- 

 stand him to mean the present book, divided at the end of chap, xxxix., 

 for the nine remaining chapters are distinctly different with regard 

 both to subject and style. 



The book of Ezekiel is a canonical book of the Old Testament, 

 divided in our English version into forty-eight chapters, and placed 

 next after Jeremiah's Book of Lamentations, and before the book of 

 Daniel. The first thirty-nine chapters are occupied with the prophet's 

 highly poetic and impassioned announcement of God's wrath and 

 vengeance against the rebellious idolatry, perveraeness, and sensuality 

 of the Jews, as well as against their enemies, the surrounding nations. 

 All this portion is replete with dreadful pictures of the calamities of 

 war of ruin, desolation, death, and destruction slaughter, pestilence, 

 famine, and every imaginable state of misery ; but in the nine chapters 

 of the latter portion the prophet describes, in a more prosaic style, his 

 visions of the new temple and city of Jerusalem. In visionary presence 

 he walks about the holy metropolis of Judaea as raised from its ruins 

 in which it was left by the Chaldaean conqueror, and restored to the 

 splendour which it displayed in the reign of Solomon. He measures 

 and observes minutely all the dimensions of the Temple and city ; 

 gives directions for the celebration of sacrificial rites, feasts, and cere- 

 monies ; partitions the country among the several tribes ; and enume- 

 rates the duties of priests, king, and people. Dr. A. Clarke, in his 

 edition of the Bible, gives a plate of the Temple, according to Ezekiel's 

 description, and a map of Judaea as allotted by this prophet to the 

 different tribes. A full and particular analysis of the contents of the 

 whole forty-eight chapters is given in Mr. Home's ' Introduction to 

 the Bible.' The following is a brief and general survey : Chapters L 

 to iii. (and see chapter x.) describe the vision of the wheels and cheru- 

 bim, called 'Jehovah's Chariot,' and the prophet's reception of the 

 divine instructions and commission. Chapters iv. to xxiv. reiterate 

 reproaches and denunciations against the Israelites and their prophets, 

 announcing, in various visions and parables, the numerous calamities 

 about to come upon them as a punishment of their rebellious idolatry 

 and depravity. The species of idolatry adopted by the Jews in prefer- 

 ence to the religious system of Moses appears, by the declarations of 

 Kw'kiel and the other prophets, to have been Sabism, or the worship 

 of the sun on high places planted with trees. (See chapters viii., xiv., 

 XVL, xvii., xx., xxviii., &c.) The 390 years signified by the prophet's 

 lying as many days (vv. 4, 5) on his right side, are said by biblical 

 chronologiste to be the period from B.C. 970 to 680 j and the forty 

 years signified by his lying forty days on his right side (v. 6) is the 

 period from B.C. 580 to 540. Chapters xxiv. to xxxii. declare the 

 dreadful judgments of God against the enemies of the Jews, namely, 

 the surrounding nations of Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and 

 Philistines ; against the cities of Tyre and Zidon ; and against all the 

 land of E^ypt. Chapters xxxiii. to xxxvii. are occupied with declara- 

 tions of the justice snd forgiveness of God to the repentant the fall 

 of Jerusalem a severe rebuke (chapter xxxiv.) of the avarice, idleness, 

 and cruelty of the shepherds or priests of Israel and consolatory 

 promises of the people's restoration and return to Palestine. Chapters 

 xxxviii. and xxxix. contain the prophecy of Gog and Magog ; and the 

 nine concluding chapters, as already stated, contain the prophet's 

 vision* of the temple and city of Jerusalem their dimensions, struc- 

 ture, embellishments, &c. the ceremonial arrangements of the hierar- 



chy, and the allotment of the land of Judaea among the several tribes 

 on their return from captivity. The subject-matter of Ezekiel is, for 

 She most part, identical with that of his contemporary Jeremiah, and 

 much similarity is observable in their declarations. The conquests 

 and devastations of Nebuchadnezzar form the principal theme of 

 each ; but Ezekiel views them chiefly as affecting Israel, while Jere- 

 miah describes them with especial reference to Judah. Both declaim 

 with vehement indignation against the depravity of the priests, and 

 against the ' lying divinations ' of the prophets who sought to induce 

 the people to shake off their Babylonian slavery. (Compare Jeremiah, 

 chapters xxiii., xxvii, xxviii., xxix. with Ezekiel, chapters xiii., xxxiv.) 

 Parts of the book of Revelations may be compared with some portions 

 of Ezekiel : Rev. iv. with Ezek. i. and x., respecting the cherubim 

 with wings full of eyes ; and Rev. xi, xxL, xxii. with Ezek. xl. to xliii., 

 describing the New Jerusalem. 



That Ezekiel is a very obscure writer is asserted by all who have 

 attempted to explain his prophecies. The ancient Jews considered 

 them as inexplicable, and the council of the Sanhedrim once deliberated 

 long on the propriety of excluding them, on this account, from the 

 canon (Calmet, Pra;f. ad Ezeeh.); but to prevent this exclusion, Rabbi 

 Ananias undertook to explain completely the vision of Jehovah's chariot 

 (i. and x.) ; and his proposal, it is said, was accepted by the council. 

 One of the reasons alleged for rejecting Ezekiel from the canon was 

 that he teaches, in direct contradiction to the Mosaic doctrine, that 

 children shall not suffer punishment for the offences of their parents 

 (xviii. 2-20). (See Hueti, ' Demonstratio Evang., prop. 4, de Prophet. 

 Ezech.') St. Jerome considers Ezekiel's visions and expressions very 

 difficult to be understood, and says that no one under the age of 

 thirty was permitted to read them. (Hieron. proem, in lib. Ezech.) 

 Much remains likewise to be done to restore the original Hebrew text 

 to a state of purity. Michaelis, Eichhorn, Newcome, and many other 

 commentators, have written copiously on the peculiarities of Ezekiel's 

 style. Grotius (' Prsef. ad Ezech.') speaks of it with the highest 

 admiration, and compares the prophet to Homer. Michaelis admits its 

 bold and striking originality, but denies that sublimity is any part of 

 its character, though the passion of terror is highly excited. Bishop 

 Lowth (' Prselect. Heb. Poet.') regards Ezekiel as bold, vehement, tragical ; 

 wholly intent on exaggeration ; in sentiment fervid, bitter, indignant ; 

 in imagery magnificent, harsh, and almost deformed ; in diction grand, 

 austere, rough, rude, uncultivated; abounding in repetitions from 

 indignation and violence. This eminent judge of Hebrew literature 

 assigns to the poetry of Ezekiel the same rank among the Jewish 

 writers as that of ./Eschylus among the Greeks ; and in speaking of 

 the great obscurity of his visions, he believes it to consist not so much 

 in the language as in the conception. Eichhoru (the peculiar character 

 of whose criticism we have noticed under that article) regards the Book 

 of Ezekiel as a series of highly-wrought and extremely artificial poetical 

 pictures. In accordance with the doctrines of the German rationalism, 

 he considers the prophecies as nothing more than the poetical fictions 

 of a heated oriental imagination of a similar nature with the poetry 

 of the Book of Revelations. The same character of thought and 

 expression is exhibited in the writings of the two other greater 

 prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah. (Compare Ezek. xvi. 4 to 37 ; xxiii. 

 17-21 ; Isaiah, xxviii. 7, 8 ; xxxvi. 12.) 



EZRA, the author of the canonical book bearing his name, and, as 

 is supposed, of the two books of Chronicles and the book of Esther. 

 Ezra, Esdras, or Esdra, in the Hebrew signifies ' help,' or ' succour.' 

 His genealogy up to Aaron is given in chap. vii. 1-5. In verses 6 and 

 11 he is said to have been a priest and ready scribe of the words of 

 the law of Moses, and he appears to have been an able and important 

 agent in the principal events of his age and nation. The prophets 

 Haggai and Zechariah were contemporary with Ezra. (Compare 

 Hagg. i 12, Zech. iii. 4, and Ezra v.) There are four books of Ezra 

 so called. The book of Ezra, which as a canonical book of the Old 

 Testament is placed next after the second book of Chronicles and 

 before the book of Nehemiah, and, in the English version, is divided 

 into ten chapters. By Jews and Christians it has generally been 

 attributed to the priest whose name it bears, chiefly because through- 

 out chapters viii. and ix. the actions of Ezra are related in the first 

 person. The book of Nehemiah, which by the ancient Jews and by 

 the Greek and Roman churches is considered as the second book of 

 Ezra, and two books of Ezra, or Esdrus, in the Apocrypha. The first 

 of the two apocryphal books contains the substance of the canonical 

 one, with many circumstantial additions, and in the Greek Church it 

 is read as canonical ; but the second exhibits a more decided appear- 

 ance of fiction, and by no church is regarded as a work of inspiration, 

 though it is cited by several of the ancient fathers. The first six 

 chapters of the canonical book are regarded by gome biblical critics 

 as improperly ascribed to Ezra, for between the event with which the 

 seventh chapter commences, that i?, the commission from Artaxerxes 

 Longimanus, in the seventh year of his reign, to Ezra to go up to 

 Jerusalem, B.C. 458, and that whicli terminates the sixth chapter, 

 namely, the completion of the second temple, in the sixth year of the 

 reign of Darius Hystaapes, B.C. 516, there is a chasm of fifty-eight 

 years. The events recorded in the whole ten chapters of the canonical 

 book of Ezra embrace a period of ninety one years, that is, from the 

 edict of Cyrus issued in the first year of his reign, B.C. 536, for the 

 return of the captive Jews to Jerusalem, to the termination of Ezra's 



