40. This may allude to the ornaments of a bride when she received her husband. The women carried her to the bath, dressed her magnificently, painted and perfumed her, and then carried her to the nuptial chamber.

-41.- -before thee.†

This is a description of the manner in which brides were placed on the nuptial couch.

42. This may allude to their practising the religious rites of the Sabeans, who worshipped the host of heaven. XXIV. In this chapter the utter destruction of Jerusalem is announced by a striking allegory.

2. This would shew the exact knowledge of the Supreme Being. Ezekiel was then at a great distance from Jerusalem; and yet he was informed of the very day in which the siege of that city commenced, and to write it down at the time, for the conviction, no doubt, of the people in general. And, accordingly, the siege did commence on that very day, 2 Kings xxv. 1: And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month and the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.

3. This allegory, or metaphor, is taken from the custom of boiling meat in a large caldron, after a sacrifice,§ the meat being to be eaten within the precincts of the temple.

5. By an easy alteration it will be, burn the wood under ii.ll

The choice pieces represented the nobles and the principal persons in the city, while the bones that were to be put into the fire under it, signified the common people.

6. The scum represents the wickedness of the place, as is observed ver. 12. The priests took out the pieces in their turns, and by lot; but here all were to be the prey of the enemy without distinction.

10. Remove it, and let the bones be burned.¶ the bones be put together.

Let

11. That is, make it boil as apothecaries do when they

• Chardin (MSS.), Harmer, II. p. 123.

+ MSS. Ancient Version. (P.) See Harmer, II. p. 64.

"LXX. And they struck up a fit of music, and with men of the common sort that came from the Wilderness.' Neither LXX. nor Vulg. nor Tremellius, have any thing of Sabeans." See Wall, II. p. 183.

See an illustration of vers. 3-12, according to the LXX. from Phil. Trans. (Pt. ii. Ch. ii. Art. xl. Sect. ii.), Harmer, III. pp. 152-156.

Com. and Ess. II. P. 66.

** A few MSS. (P.)

Three MSS. (P.)

prepare their medicines, the process for which often continues a considerable time, till a large quantity be reduced to a small one. Besides the pot itself was to be burned after all its contents were consumed, to signify that the city itself was to be destroyed, as well as the people in it.

14.Will I judge thee.*

15, 16. The prophets were frequently directed to exhibit in their own persons the fate of the nations against which they prophesied, and this sometimes subjected them to disagreeable circumstances. Of this we have had several examples; but this must have been more so than any that we have read of before. The prophet was to lose his wife by sickness, and observe none of the customary tokens of mourning, in order to represent the great destruction that was about to be made of his countrymen, when every person would be so much occupied about his own safety, as not to be at leisure to attend to the funerals of his nearest relations.

17. To express humility and meekness, they put off their shoes; and to cover the head and the mouth were tokens of grief, as was observed on a former occasion.† To eat the food of mourners was to partake of the provisions which were brought by friends, on the idea of mourners neglecting themselves.

This eating may refer to the custom of making entertainments at funerals. And besides what was eaten in the house, it appears, from Tobit iv. 17, that provisions were carried to the grave to be eaten by the poor. This, too, nearly resembled the Heathen custom of carrying food to the tombs of the deceased, for the ghost to feed upon.

Part of this precept may have been taken from Lev. xxi. 5, and the other part from ver. 10. They were not to imitate the Heathens, and especially the Egyptians, who expressed sorrow sometimes by shaving the head, and sometimes by neglecting the hair, and suffering it to hang in a loose and disorderly state.§ But when the Hebrew priests officiated, they were forbidden to exhibit any sign of mourning.

27. Though he was not to cover his mouth, he was to sigh in silence, and not to speak till a person came to him from

• MSS. An. Vers. (P.)

+ See 2 Sam. xix. 4; Micah iii. 7. (P.) Dr. Addison's Jews in Barbary, pp. 218, 219; Harmer, 111. pp. 882-886.

+ Secker MS. in Newcome, p. 88.

See Vulg, and Hammond (on Matt. ix. 23); Wall, II. p. 184; Young, I. pp. 259, 260; Chardin (MSS.), Harmer, II. p. 138. Spencer, p. 583. (P.)

Jerusalem, to inform him that the city was taken, as we find, Chap. xxxiii. 21, 22.

XXV. These prophecies were delivered after the taking of Jerusalem, and consequently before the events that are related in the preceding chapters. But all the prophecies concerning the neighbouring nations are placed together.

Instead of assisting the people of Judah, as they seem to have engaged to do by their alliance with them, they rejoiced immoderately in the destruction of Jerusalem; but, agreeably to the predictions of. Jeremiah, [xlix. 5,] they were all destined to undergo the same fate themselves, and from the same power.

4. The Chaldeans.

9. They were conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, together with other nations.

Teman and Dedan were cities of Idumea. Teman was one of the sons of Ishmael, and Dedan was the grandson of Abraham by Keturah. (Gen. xxv. 3.) The Edomites had probably dispossessed them.

14. The Edomites were reduced into subjection by the Jews, after their return from Babylon, and incorporated into their own nation, on their conforming to their religion.

16. Some of the Philistines are called Cherethims, probably from their coming from Crete. There was perhaps a division among the Philistines, in consequence of their having been two people united. And as David had in his service both Pelethites and Cherethites, who were equally of that nation, they may have been of these two different extractions.

XXVI. 1. ———In the twelfth year.*

2.She that was full is laid waste.t

5. This prophecy concerning the desolation of Tyre, then perhaps the wealthiest city in the world, and the least apprehensive of danger, extends to a very distant period. It is at this time in the state that is here represented, but it has required a long series of time to bring it to it, and therefore the many nations here spoken of, may perhaps mean many enemies in succession, and not merely the army of Nebuchadnezzar, though composed of many nations.

4. Earth was often carried to places where there was none, to enable it to bear vines and other plants. This process would be reversed with respect to Tyre.

5. Maundrell says, " Its present inhabitants are only a few

• MSS. LXX. (P.)

+ Ibid. &c. (P.)

poor wretches, harbouring themselves in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly upon fishing."* As Tyre is here said to be in the midst of the sea, it is probable that ancient Tyre stood on a peninsula, like Carthage, though not wholly surrounded by the sea.

14. No city was ever built where ancient Tyre stood, viz. on the continent; and it is not probable that any will ever be built on the island, where the second city of that name stood.†

16. This is a fine description of a lamentation over Tyre, by other countries similarly situated.

19. Deep and great waters, in this place, probably signify armies, alluding to the sea on which Tyre stood.

20. And thou shalt not rise upon the land of the living.‡ This may be rendered, nor display glory in the land of the

living.§

XXVII. The prophecy concerning the destruction of Tyre, contained in this and the following chapter, is of great extent, and was it perfectly intelligible at this distance of time, it would be the most satisfactory account of the state of manufactures and commerce in this early age that can be collected from all ancient writers.

3. Tyre was the great centre of merchandise to all parts of the Mediterranean, with which they had a communication by sea, and goods of all kinds were brought to that city by land in caravans, from all parts of Arabia.

4.

-Thy children have perfected thy beauty.||

5. Senir is part of the ridge of Mount Hermon, in the eastern part of the tribe of Manasseh.

Cedars standing single have many branches, and the limbs are not fit for masts of ships; but where they grow close together, as in the woods of America, no tree is straiter, taller, or more fit for the purpose.

6. With a slight alteration in a Hebrew word this may be rendered, thy benches have been made of the box tree. But whether ivory, or box was used, it must have been for ornament; and therefore it can only apply to vessels of some elegance, and not such as were constructed for the mere purpose of trade.

Travels, p. 49. (P.) Newcome, p. 93. See Vol. II. pp. 175, 176. +"Books of travels say, the island is now alınost sunk in the sea." Wall, II. p.

185.

LXX. (P.) "The mistaken reading in Heb. is ancients. Vulg. is as Heb." See Wall, II. p. 185.

§ Com. and Ess. II. p. 67.

|| MSS. An. Vers. (P.)

Chittim may signify any island, or sea coast in the Mediterranean. Cetia was a city of Latium, and Cetus was a river near Cuma.

7. Instead of sail, it may be standard, or flag, which might be of fine linen, rather than a sail of a ship. The fine linen of Egypt is often mentioned in the Scriptures.*

Elisha was Peleponnesus, which was famous for its purple. The covering, in this place, may mean the awning of some part of a ship.

8. Arvad was the island of Aradus, at the mouth of the river Eleutherus, on the coast of Phenicia.

9. Gebal was, perhaps, Biblos on the same coast.

10. Lud was an Egyptian colony, whether from Misraim or Shem. Phut was the African Nomades.

11. Gammadim were perhaps the inhabitants of Ancon and Phenicia: both the words signify a cubit. Gamale was a city in that country, according to Pliny.†

For Gammadim some MSS. have Gomerians who dwelt in Galatia, Cappadocia and Phrygia.‡

12. Tarshish was either Tartessus in Spain, or some place in Africa or the East Indies, to which they went by the Red Sea.

13. Javan was Greece. Tubal and Meshech were the sons of Japheth. The people called Tibereni and Moschi are meant here. They are generally mentioned together, and were situated near Mount Caucasus.§

14. Togarmah some think to be the country of the TurkBochart makes it to be Cappadocia, and Michaelis,

mans.

Armenia.

15. Dedan was a city on the Persian gulph, now called

* Com. and Ess. II. p. 67. See Harmer, II. p. 352.

+ By Gammadim in this place are probably to be understood images, generally about a cubit in length, which were usually fixed by the Heathens in houses and towers for their preservation. Spencer, p. 464.

The passage will be more intelligible if the part of the verse relating to the Gammadim be put into a parenthesis. One reason for making images of this small size, besides the convenience of more easy conveyance, and of erecting and fixing them where larger images could not be placed, was, that in the common opinion the image was no longer of use than it was preserved entire, aud small images were less liable to accidents, or mutilation, than larger ones. Ibid. p. 469. (P.) See Hallett, III. p. 18.

1 Com. and Ess. II. pp. 67, 68. See Harmer, II. pp. 517–519.

§ Newcome, p. 98.

Ibid.

¶ "LXX. The Rhodians (LXX. Alex. the Aradians) were thy merchants: they filled thy market from the isles with elephants' teeth, and thou payedst them.'" Wall, II. p. 186.