Ver. 1. Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year,] scil., Since the book of the law was found, and that famous passover kept in King Josiah’s days, (2 Kings 22:1-23:30) since the eighteenth year of his reign. (2 Kings 23:23) So elsewhere, they began their account from some memorable mercy or remarkable accident; as from the promise made to Abraham, the birth of Isaac, the departure out of Egypt, the division of the kingdom into that of Israel and the other of Judah, &c. In the fifth day of the month.] Which was the Sabbath day say some, Compare Ezekiel 3:16. Then was this holy prophet in the Spirit, as was afterwards also John the divine upon the Christian Sabbath. (Revelation 1:10) As I was among the captives.] In Chaldea. That rule of the Rabbis, therefore, holdeth not—viz., that the Holy Ghost never spake to the prophets but only in the Holy Land. By the river of the Chebar.] Which was rivus vel ramentum Euphratis, a part or channel of Euphrates. There sat the poor captives, (Psalms 137:1) and there this prophet received this vision here, and his vocation in the next chapter. It is observed, that by the sides of rivers various prophets had visions of God; by a river side it was that Paul and his company met to preach and pray. (Acts 16:13) And of Archbishop Ussher, that most reverend man of God, it is recorded, that to a certain place by a water side he frequently resorted, when as yet he was but very young, sorrowfully to recount his sins, and with floods of tears to pour them out in confession to God. That the heavens were opened.] Not by a division of the firmament, saith Jerome, but by the faith of the believer. The like befell Stephen the proto martyr, when the stones were buzzing about his ears; (Acts 7:55-60) and, if we may believe the monkish writers, Wulsin, Bishop of Salisbury, when he lay dying. And I saw visions of God,] i.e., Offered by God, or excellent visions. Ut montes Dei, cedri Dei, civitas Dei. Ezekiel was not only a priest and a prophet, but a seer also. Abraham was the like. (John 8:56 Genesis 20:7) This was no small honour. In Apolog. A Lapide. Ezechiel scripturarum et Oceanus, et mysteriorum Dei labyrinthus. -Jerome. Many, both writers and readers, have passed over this prophet as dark, difficult, and less useful.— Greenhill, Praef. Orat. 47. His life and death by Dr Bernard. Speed, 335.
Ver. 2. In the fifth day.] The Sabbath day, likely, that queen of days, as the Jews call it. See on Ezekiel 1:1. Which was the fifth year of Jehoiakim’s captivity.] With whom Ezekiel and other precious persons, called by Jeremiah good figs, were carried captive. (Ezekiel 40:1)
Ver. 3. The word of the Lord came expressly.] Heb., By being hath been, or hath altogether been— Existendo extitit. Accurate factum est it really wrought upon me and made me a prophet. Unto Ezekiel the priest.] Whom, therefore, some have called Urim and Thummim in Babylon. The son of Buzi.] That this Buzi was Jeremiah, so called because despised for his plain dealing, as some Rabbis have affirmed, is as true as that Ezekiel himself was the same with Pythagoras the philosopher; which yet some ancients have fondly fancied. In the land of the Chaldeans] Though a polluted land, (Micah 2:10) and the dwelling place of wickedness, (Zechariah 5:8,11) the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth. (Revelation 17:5) By the river Chebar.] The Rabbis call it the Sabbath river; and, further, tell us that it runneth not, but resteth on the Sabbath day. “ Credat Iudaeus Apella: Non ego.’’—Hor. And the hand of the Lord was there upon him.] Not only came God’s Word expressly to him, but the power and Spirit of God came mightily upon him; so that he felt the intrinsic virtue of this hand, as one phraseth it, the Spirit of God in his own heart; it was a quick and lively word unto him, and to as many as believed. Sabbatian.
Ver. 4. And I looked, and, behold.] In this ensuing mysterious vision of a whirlwind, four cherubims, four wheels, a throne upon the firmament, formidabilis Dei forma proponitur, is set forth “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord,” as it is expounded, Ezekiel 1:28, that hereby the people’s arrogance might be the better subdued, the prophet’s doctrine more reverently received, and the prophet confirmed in his calling. The sum of this celestial vision is, that the divine providence doth rule in the world, and is exercised in all parts thereof, and not only in heaven, or in the temple, or in Jewry, as the Jews then thought. As for the changes in the world, which are here compared to wheels, they befall not at all adventures, or by haphazard, but are effected by God, though all things may seem to run upon wheels, and to happen as it fortuneth. At the day of judgment, at utmost, men shall see a harmony in this discord of things, and providence shall then be unriddled. Meanwhile, God often wrappeth himself in a cloud, and will not be seen till afterwards. All God’s dealings be sure will appear beautiful in their season, though for the present we see not the contiguity and linking together of one thing with another. A whirlwind came out of the north,] i.e., Nebuchadnezzar with his forces. See Jeremiah 1:13-15, Fitly compared to a whirlwind for suddenness, swiftness, irresistibleness. A Lapide telleth of whirlwinds in Italy which have taken away stabula cum equis, stables with horses; carried them up into the air, and dashed them against the mountains, [see Habakkuk 1:6,7,9,10] and consider that those Chaldeans were of God’s sending. A great cloud.] Nebuchadnezzar’s army, (Jeremiah 4:13) that peditum equitumque nubes (2 Kings 25:1 Ezekiel 39:9) that stormed Jerusalem. And a fire infolding itself.] Heb., That receiveth itself within itself, as in a house on fire. Understand it of Nebuchadnezzar’s wrath against Jerusalem, much hotter than that furnace of his seven times more than ordinarily heated, (Daniel 3:19) or rather of God’s wrath in using Nebuchadnezzar to set all on a light fire. And a brightness was about it.] The glory of divine presence, shining in the punishment of evildoers. Out of the midst thereof as of the colonr of amber.] Not of an angel called Hasmal, as Lyra, after some Rabbis, will have it. Jarchi confesseth he knoweth not what the word Hasmal meaneth. This prophet only hath it here, and Ezekiel 1:27 8:2, as Daniel also hath some words proper to himself. Liv.