Ezekiel 43:7

Ezekiel 43:7-9 . And he said unto me, Son of man, &c. — God here, in retaking possession of his house, in effect renews his covenant with his people Israel; and Ezekiel negotiates the matter, as Moses formerly did. This would be of great use to the captives at their return, both for direction and for encouragement; but it more especially concerns those that are blessed with the privileges of the gospel temple, and shows that they hold their blessings under the condition of their obedience. The place of my throne — The sense would be plainer if the beginning of the verse were rendered, This is the place of my throne, &c. — The cherubim are described as God’s throne, and he is said to dwell, or sit, between the cherubim, and the ark was as his footstool. Observe, reader, his temple, the church, is the place where the throne of his grace is erected; and in the dispensations of grace he has a throne, and manifests himself as a king, to whom we must be subject. Where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever — He alludes to the promise formerly made with relation to the tabernacle and temple, (see Psalm 68:16 ; Psalm 132:14 ,) which promise is to be understood, like all God’s other promises made of old, as conditional, (see Ezekiel 43:9 ,) and intended to be eminently fulfilled in and by Christ, in whom all the promises of the Old Testament are to have their final accomplishment.

Zechariah prophesied, Zechariah 6:13 , that the Messiah should build the temple of the Lord, and bear the glory; that is, as such prophecies are explained in the New Testament, he shall build the Christian Church, and in him shall all the fulness of the Godhead dwell bodily and really, not in types and figures. To the same sense we may explain the prophecy of Haggai 2:7 , The glory of the latter house shall be greater than that of the former; for no visible glory appeared in the second temple, till the Lord whom they expected came to his temple, Malachi 3:1 ; that is till the Messiah, who was the brightness of his Father’s glory, appeared there, and made it an illustrious figure of that true temple, or church of believers, where he would continue his presence for ever; see 2 Corinthians 6:16 . And my holy name shall Israel no more defile by their whoredom — By idolatry, often described in Scripture under the metaphor of fornication. The captivity had that good effect upon the Jews, that they scarce ever after relapsed into idolatry. And the entire destruction of idolatry is often mentioned as a blessing reserved for the latter days, when the Jews shall be converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles come into the church. Nor by the carcasses of their kings in their high places — Idols are called carcasses, because they are without life and motion, and likewise upon the account of their being hateful and loathsome in the sight of God: see the margin.

(7) The place of the soles of my feet.— Comp. 1Chronicles 28:2 ; Psalm 132:7 . I will dwell . . . for ever.—This should be the peculiar distinction of the Temple seen in the vision. The Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple had both been accepted as the peculiar dwelling-place of God, but both had passed away. So also it would be with the material Temple of the restoration. But in this Temple of the vision God promises that He would dwell for ever. By the carcases of their kings.—The “shall defile” with which the later clauses of this verse are connected is not an imperative, but a simple future, and is in accordance with the generally ideal character of the vision. The word “carcases” is here a difficult one. Some commentators understand it literally of the burial of some of the kings in the Temple area; but there is no historical proof that any were so buried, the gardens of the royal palace being quite too distant for the language here used, nor is there anywhere any allusion to such defilement. The simplest explanation is that the language is founded upon Leviticus 26:30, and means idols. Manasseh and others had introduced their idols into the very courts of the Temple (2Kings 21:4-7; sec also 2Kings 16:11).

Verses 7-12. - Debate exists as to who the speaker in the seventh verse was, whether Jehovah or the man - some holding with Kliefoth, Ewald, Smend, and Currey, that he was Jehovah; others, with Havernick, Keil, Hengstenberg, and Schroder, that he was "the man;" and still others, with Plumptre, that it cannot be decided which he was. One thing is clear, that if "the man" was the speaker, his words and message were not his own, but Jehovah's. Yet unless the man had been the angel of the Lord - the view of Hengstenberg and Schroder - it will always seem incongruous that he should have addressed Ezekiel without a "Thus saith the Lord." Hence the notion that the speaker was Jehovah is, perhaps, the one freest from difficulty. The message announced or communication made to the prophet related first to Jehovah's purpose in entering the temple (vers. 7-9), and secondly to his object in showing the house to the prophet, viz. that he might show it to the house of Israel (vers. 10-12). Verse 7. - The LXX. and the Vulgate divide the present verse into two parts, and take the first as equivalent to a solemn word of consecration, the former supplying ἑώρακας the latter vidisti , "thou hast seen." The Chaldee Targum inserts, hic est locus , "this is the place," and in so doing is followed by Luther and the Revised Version.

Some word, it is obvious, either a "see!" or a "behold!" must be interpolated, in thought at least, unless one adopts the construction of the Authorized Version, with which Smend agrees, and makes "the place of my throne," etc., to be governed By the verb "defile," or, with Ewald, places it under the regimen of "show" in ver. 10, throwing the whole intervening clause into a long parenthesis - a device which does not contribute to lucidity. Of the two expressions here employed to designate the sanctuary - not the temple proper, but the whole house with its surroundings - the former, the place of my throne , though peculiar to Ezekiel, receives explanation from the conception, familiar to earlier writers, of Jehovah as dwelling between the cherubim ( Exodus 25:22 ; 1 Samuel 4:4 ; 2 Kings 19:15 ; Psalm 80:1 ; Isaiah 37:16 ); the latter, the place of the soles of my feet , was of frequent occurrence to denote the ark of the covenant ( 1 Chronicles 28:2 ; Psalm 99:5 ; Psalm 132:7 ) and the temple ( Isaiah 60:13 ; Lamentations 2:1 ). The word of consecration was expressed in the promise, I will dwell (in the temple) in the midst of the children of Israel forever, etc., which went beyond anything that had been spoken concerning either the tabernacle of Moses or the temple of Solomon (comp. Exodus 25:8 ; Exodus 29:45 ; 1 Kings 6:13 ).

7 . the place of my throne ] this is the place of my throne … for ever: and the house of Israel shall no more defile. No change of reading is implied but the emphatic position of “the place” &c. requires to be expressed by some such word as “this is,” or, “Behold.” On “soles of my feet” cf. Isaiah 60:13 ; Isaiah 66:1 ; Lamentations 2:1 ; Psalm 132:7 ; 1 Chronicles 28:2 . by their whoredom ] Their idolatries, cf. ch. 8. in their high places ] Probably: in their death , i.e. when dead, Leviticus 11:31-32 . So some mss., Targ., by change of one vowel. The ref. is to the burial of the kings in the vicinity of the temple. The passages Leviticus 26:30 ; Jeremiah 16:18 , to which appeal is made, do not sustain the idea that “carcase” could be used as a mere name of opprobrium for idols ( Psalm 106:28 is of doubtful meaning). In the former passage the hewn down idol is a carcase just as the slain man is; and in Jeremiah 16:18 the use of the word “dead body” is not figurative. It is true that there is no record of kings being buried close to the temple, but their sepulchres were in such vicinity that in comparison with the new ideal of holiness they could not but be held to bring defilement to the dwelling-place of Jehovah, the living God. Ezekiel 43:9 seems conclusive for this rendering.

And he said to me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more {c} defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their harlotry, nor by the carcases of {d} their kings in their high places. (c) By their idolatries. (d) He alludes to Amon and Manasseh, who were buried in their gardens near the Temple and there had erected monuments to their idols.

He said - i. e., God "said." Both the Septuagint and the Vulgate break this verse into two, so as to make the first half the solemn words of dedication. place a full stop after "forever;" the words mark the distinction between the new and the former sanctuary. The palace of Solomon abutted upon the southern side of the embankment of the temple-platform; there was but "a wall between Yahweh and them." When the kings gave themselves up to idolatry, this vicinity was to the temple a pollution and defilement. Thus it has been conjectured that "the garden of Uzza" in which Manasseh and Amon were buried 2 Kings 21:18, 2 Kings 21:26, and on which now stands the mosque of Omar, was on the temple area itself; if so, this would explain the mention of "high places" in connection with the defilement by the "carcases of kings," since the platform of the mosque of Omar at the time of Ezekiel rose to a considerable height above the temple. Besides this, idolatrous kings of Judah did actually introduce their idolatries into the temple courts themselves (compare 2 Kings 16:11; 2 Kings 21:4).

And he; the glorious God of Israel. The place of my throne: his throne, i.e. of glory and majesty, is in heaven, but the throne of his grace is in his temple; in the dispensations of grace, God manifests himself a King. The place of the soles of my feet: after the manner of man God speaks, and expresseth his abode and rest, where it is in his temple, as type, in his church, as the antitype. I will dwell; not only shall my ordinances be there administered, but I myself will dwell there. For ever; for a very long time, till the age of infancy with the Jewish church be over; and to eternity with my church, signified by this temple and city. My holy name: see Ezekiel 22:26 36:20 . No more defile ; dishonour, and bring into contempt, as they have done. Neither they; the priests, the false prophets, and the common people, nor their governors and kings. By their whoredom; by idolatries, and worshipping of strange gods, which, after the captivity, they did very punctually abstain from, as history assures us. By the carcasses of their kings; either the dead bodies of their deceased kings, buried too near the temple, less likely; or by the sacrificing of men to their idols, to Moloch; or idols are here called carcasses, as dead, stinking, loathsome things in the sight of God. Or, if I had instances of any kings buried in the temples Of the idols, I should incline to interpret this passage of the profane and wicked burying idolatrous kings near the idols they worshipped.