John Calvin on Ezekiel 10:22

He pursues the same sentiment, that nothing was obscure or perplexed in this vision, since all things were mutually suitable. For the remembrance of the vision which he had received remained in the Prophet’s mind: but now when he is hurried into the temple, he recognizes the same God and the same forms as those to which he had been accustomed. We see then how he meets their perverseness, who had otherwise boasted that he had offered them only his own fictions without any truth in them. Hence he restrains this petulance, and shows that God had certainly appeared to him, and that too a second time. Since he now says that each living creature went, forward in the direction of its face, it is not doubtful that this refers to their actions. Hence he points out that angels did not wander in their course as a person usually does who looks this way and that, or deserts the path, or turns to the right hand or the left. The Prophet therefore says, that the living creatures proceeded so that each was intent on its own end or scope: because if the motion of the angels had been turbulent, they had not been the servants of God. Finally, the Prophet signifies that the angels were not only alert and prepared for obedience, but were at the same time arranged and formed after a fixed rule, so that they did not in the slightest degree turn aside from. the command and direction of God The explanation which Calvin gives of the meaning of these singular Disclosures is indeed very adverse to our modern ideas of those physical laws by which the Almighty governs the universe; and they will not perhaps be easily adopted by those who have been inspired with the philosophy of Bacon and Newton. The reader of Calvin may with satisfaction con-suit C. B. Michaelis’ Sylloge Comment. Theol., edited by D. T. Pott, volume 5, and following; Lightfoot’s Description of the Temple, volume 1; and Jahn’s Bibl. Archoeolog., volume 2, sec. 187, and following.

The learned Commentary on Ezekiel and Explanations of his Visions, by Hieron. Pradus and Joan. Bapt. Villalpandus, two Jesuits, published at Rome in 1596 and 1604, by the permission of their superiors, illustrates this tenth chapter very copiously, and displays great diligence, erudition, and accuracy. Another valuable exegetical exposition of this chapter is given by OEcolampadius in his Comment. in omn. libr. Prophet., edit. 1558; he occupies eighteen folio pages with an elaborate comment under the title “Expositio mysterii quod hac visione adumbratur,” in which he sees Christus dominus glorioe and gratia est firmamentum justitioe Christi The discussion of the Cherubim is very complete, though it may be well to consult the article in Kitto’s Biblical Cyclopedia on the word “Cherub.” Rosenmuller, in his valuable Scholia, makes constant use of the Arable and Syriac versions, quotes fully from the Greek. of Theodoret, and diligently compares the Hebrew Codices of Kennicott and De Rossi, as well as the Greek texts of the Roman Codex, the Complutensian, and the Alexandrine. With such adminicula the reader of these Lectures on Ezekiel will have sufficient data for forming a correct judgment on the merits of Calvin’s interpretation. It now follows —

CHAPTER 11

Ezekiel 11:1-2

1. Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD’S house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

1. Et sustulit me Spiritus et introduxit me ad portam domus Iehovae orientalera: “Which looks towards the cast.” — Calvin. et ecce in limine portae vigintiquinque viri: et aspexi in medio ipsorum That is, “between themselves.” — Calvin. Iaazaniah filium Azur, et Pelthiah filium Benaiah, principes populi.

2. Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:

2. Et dixit ad me, Fili hominis, isti homines cogitant vanitatem, et consultant consilium perversum in urbe hae.