Глава 33

The duties of a prophet now From Chapter XXXIII In fact, the consoling part of the book begins, in which speeches against the pagans (XXV-XXXII) constitute a transition from the menacingly accusatory part 1. “When the news came about the fall of Jerusalem (Ezek.38.21), the position of the prophet among the captives, as the Lord had predicted for him (Ezek.24.25, etc.), became completely different. The victory of his cause was decided. Of course, he always met with opposition (Ezek.33.30–33) and there could be no talk of a sudden change in the people. The antithesis between prophecy and the people was so old and so deep that it could not be eliminated at one blow. But a mortal blow was dealt to the people's tenacity, even if the flame of misunderstood patriotism could still flare up on the ruins of Jerusalem (Ezek.33.23-29). The prophet could now resume his practical pastoral activity in order to create a new one from the ruins of old Israel in view of the judgments of God still threatening the world” (Smend). And he develops this activity in a way that no prophet has ever developed it; at least in none of the prophets do we find such a clear and so deeply conscious program for this activity (Ezek.3.27 et seq. Ezek.18.1). The entire last part of the book deals with the future restoration of Israel (chap. XXXIII-XXXIX) and the order of its future social structure (chap. XL-XLVIII). The essential means for such restoration must be the prophet himself, since Jehovah through him opens for individual persons the possibility of conversion and salvation (XXXIII chapter). But despite the insignificant, at least in appearance, result that the prophet achieved in this great work of his on the restoration of Israel through pastoral care for the “sons of his people,” his gaze is involuntarily directed to Jehovah himself, on whom alone the possibility and necessity of the restoration of Israel is ultimately based. Moving from the closest to the most distant, from the smaller to the greater miracle, the prophet describes how the Lord will establish a new one in the place of the corrupted old kingdom of Israel, reforming it from the top, so to speak: instead of unworthy shepherds, the former kings, becoming the shepherd of Israel himself (chap. XXXIV), - how He will restore His land to new greatness (ch. XXXVI), having previously snatched it from pagan hands, i.e. having immediately destroyed the Edomites who had illegally taken possession of it (XXXV ch.) - how God will finally resurrect the dead and unite his divided people; and in the end, how He will reveal Himself to him and the whole world in all the fullness of His glory, which, according to Ezekiel, is the goal of all God’s actions in the world (being together the condition for the real and correct life of the world and humanity) through the final destruction of paganism on earth in the person of Gog (XXXVIII-XXXIX chapters). Since God creates a new Israel in place of the old, mainly through prophecy and a prophet, then with the renewal in the consciousness of Ezekiel of the prophetic duties already revealed to him (in Chapter III), the Lord begins his comforting revelations about the glorious future of Israel. The people were subjected to the punitive judgment of God in the fall of Jerusalem, but this judgment is not yet over: the wicked captives will continue to face death. But God has opened a way out of it, made timely conversion available to everyone through the announcement to the prophets of the upcoming judgment, which, when it comes, will find everyone as he is: the prophet is obliged to these warnings under pain of responsibility for every soul entrusted to him (vv. 1-9). For no one is God’s judgment inevitable, and no one should despair of God’s mercy, no matter how oppressed his consciousness is by sins (vv. 10–20). In such warnings and concerns for souls, the prophet always believed his calling among the people (cf. Eze. 3.16–21), but he was sometimes forced to remain silent (cf. Ezek.3.22–27); now the course of events (the news of the fall of Jerusalem) made him the master of his position, returned him freedom of speech (vv. 21-22), as the Lord promised him (Ezek. 24.23-24). Closely related to this first revelation in the prophet’s new position, outlining the program of his current activities in relation to Israel, are 1) a speech against those remaining in Canaan, who, through the fall of Jerusalem, have not yet come to repentance (vv. 23–29) and 2) a remark about those captives who only outwardly submit to prophetic authority (vv. 30–33. Smend). Ezek.33:1. And the word of the Lord came to me: The present revelation, in all likelihood, was received at the time indicated in v. 21, and the date was placed only there so that this revelation would have the appearance of a programmatic introduction to a new part of the book, dedicated to a new and different period of the prophet’s activity. Ezek.33:2. son of man! speak a word to the sons of your people and say to them: if I bring a sword against any land, and the people of that land take a man from among them and make him their guard; "To the sons of your people". The epithet of Israel, which emanates a certain tenderness, especially in comparison with the repeated designation of the people in the 1st part of the book as a “disobedient house” (in the 2nd part in Ezek. 44.6); such gentleness is caused, of course, by the overwhelming, but morally favorable impression that the fall of Jerusalem made on the captives; this epithet in the 2nd part of the book is ordinary (also vv. 12, 17, 30; 37:18; in another sense in Ezek. 3:11, 22:17, see explanation there). - “From among oneself.” Heb. myxegem, which includes kets, end, is a rare expression (Gen. 47.2; Num. 22.41) and not with a firmly established meaning; Vulg: de novissimis suis (Maldonat: a person of low position). - “Guardian” - sentry, as can be seen from what follows. Ezek.33:3. and when he saw the sword coming to the earth, he would blow the trumpet and warn the people; “Sword” is an enemy army. In relation to Israel and the prophet, we mean the punitive judgments of God, which took place, perhaps, especially among the captives (by some kind of disaster). – “He will blow the trumpet” – Am 3.6. Ezek.33:4. and if anyone listens to the voice of the trumpet, but does not take heed, then when the sword comes and takes him, his blood will be on his head. Ezek.33:5. He heard the voice of the trumpet, but did not warn himself, his blood would be on him; and whoever was careful saved his life. "His blood will be on his head." He will die death (cf. 1 Chronicles 12.19; Dan 1.10) and he himself will be to blame for this. There is no one to exact his blood from according to the law of bloody vengeance (Lev. 1:4, 20.9). “Saved his life” see explanation of Ezek.3.18. Ezek.33:6. If the guard saw the sword coming and did not blow the trumpet, and the people were not warned, then when the sword comes and takes away the life of one of them, he will be captured for his sin, but I will exact his blood from the hand of the guard. “And he will take the life of one of them,” glory. “he will take away his soul from them.” Units indicates that the guardian and prophet are responsible for every soul of the people entrusted to them. - “This one will be seized (glorified “that, i.e., soul, ... taking hold of”) for his sin.” According to the view of the prophet Ezekiel, which is not alien to other prophets, but especially clearly expressed by him, a person cannot die, first of all, of course, forever, but partly by a violent death other than for his own sin, even if, as in this case, the immediate cause of his death was the negligence of another. Ezek.33:7. And you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel, and you will hear the word from My mouth and admonish them from Me. Ezek.33:8. When I say to the wicked: “You wicked! you will surely die,” and you will not say anything to warn the wicked man from his way, then that wicked man will die for his sin, but I will require his blood at your hand. Ezek.33:9. If you warned the wicked from his way so that he would turn from him, but he did not turn from his way, then he dies for his sin, and you saved your soul. Almost literal repetition of Ezek.3.17–19. But there, what was meant mainly was the destruction of the kingdom, about which the prophet had to warn the people, and here the further purifying judgments of God over Israel. - “Lawless!” glory "sinner". This name n. addition (and expressive) to the parallel passage of Chapter III, but many ancients do not read it. translations. Omitted from Chapter III. attitude towards a righteous person who sins is a relatively rare case. Ezek.33:10. And you, son of man, tell the house of Israel: you say this: “Our trespasses and our sins are upon us, and we melt away in them: how can we live?” The second task of the prophet, after warning sinners, is to counter their despair with a guarantee of God’s mercy. The verse throws an interesting light on the mood of the captives. When the incredible threat of the prophets came true, Jerusalem fell (or was on the eve of the fall), the despair of the people became as great as their self-confidence had previously been (cf. Zech 7.3, 8.19), as the prophet predicted (Ezek. 24.23) and as he now foresees (anticipation of v. 21). The Prophet, as is his custom, takes the phrase from the very lips of the people. – “You say” you have the habit and right (Kimhi) to speak. - “Crimes (glorified “charms” should be an indication of idolatry) and sins (vices) against us” will accuse us before God and cause His anger. - “And we melt away in them,” which fulfilled Lev’s threat. 26.39. The image was taken from a corpse. The people are dead (Ezek.37.11). - “How can we live”? How can the promise of Art. 5. The expression also shows all the bleakness of the afterlife aspirations of the Old Testament man. Ezek.33:11. Tell them: As I live, says the Lord God, I do not want the death of the sinner, but that the sinner should turn from his way and live. Turn yourselves, turn from your evil ways; Why should you die, O house of Israel? Terrible depression by misfortune is not the goal of the disaster sent by God, just as His goal is not the death of the people, but its restoration. On the contrary, every disaster, and the present (more precisely: the future v. 26) is precisely only a necessary warning, an exhortation to correct behavior, the correction necessary to “live,” that is, to become part of the people of the blessed future that the prophet seeks to form (Bertolet). See explanation of Ezek.18.23 et al. attention to the difference in expressions (reluctance to literally repeat): the question form is replaced by a simple negation; the power of denial that has diminished from this is more than made up for by the oath (“I live”). “Convert, convert”, glory. "please contact us" . Emphasis. Wed. Ezek.18.32. - “Why should you die, O house of Israel?” Full of zeal for the correction of Israel, for the formation of a people of a blessed future, an exclamation in which the consciousness of the success being achieved already slips in just a little. Ezek.33:12. And you, son of man, say to the sons of your people: The righteousness of the righteous will not save in the day of his transgression, and the wicked for his iniquity will not fall in the day of turning from his iniquity, just as the righteous cannot live in the day of his sin because of his righteousness. The moral state of a person at the moment (“day”) when God’s judgment befalls him is decisive, and not his past. It's not too late. Condensed repetition of Ezek.18.20–21.24. Ezek.33:13. When I tell the righteous that he will live, and he trusts in his own righteousness and commits unrighteousness, then all his righteous deeds will not be remembered, and he will die from the unrighteousness that he has committed. Gain. Even if salvation and destruction are announced by God (of course: through a prophet), a change in man can lead to a change in the apparently irrevocable (Ezek. 32.18) word of God (Book of Jonah). The passage shows how the prophets themselves viewed their prophecy. The case of the righteous man was taken first, so that later we could dwell in more detail on the sinner. Wed. Ezek.18.21, 24. Ezek.33:14. And when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die,” and he turns from his sins and does justice and righteousness, Ezek.33:15. if this lawless person returns the deposit, pays for what was stolen, walks according to the laws of life, without doing anything bad, then he will live and will not die. Since the conversion of the sinner is especially important, it is defined more precisely, and only two manifestations of it are indicated, both concerning property. Probably these two sins were especially common among the poor communities of Jewish colonists in Babylonia (see explanation of Ezek. 18.7). - “He will walk according to the laws of life...”. “If the law did not give life to a person, then this was not so much a deficiency of the law as of the person himself with his powerlessness to fulfill the law.” Rom 7.10, 12; Gal 3.21 (Trochon). Ezek.33:16. Not one of his sins that he has committed will be remembered to him; he began to create justice and righteousness, he will live. Ezek.33:17. But the children of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not right,” while theirs is not right. Ezek.18.29. Again (v. 11) the interrogative form is replaced by a simple negative (for brevity of repetition). Ezek.33:18. When a righteous man departs from his righteousness and begins to commit iniquity, he will die for it. Ezek.33:19. And when the wicked man turned from his iniquity and began to do justice and righteousness, he will live for that. Ezek.33:20. And you say: “The way of the Lord is wrong!” I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways. Ezek.33:21. In the twelfth year of our migration, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, one of those who escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said: “The city is destroyed!” According to EUR and Russian According to the text, the news of the fall of Jerusalem was received by the prophet almost 18 months after the event that took place in the 4th month of the 11th year of the reign of Zedekiah (also the captivity of Jehoiachin and the prophet: Jeremiah 39.2) - a very long period of time even with the then, generally not bad, international communications, Ezek.26.1-2. Therefore the ancient translations change this date; Greek: in the 10th year (which is worse than the Hebrew text; should correspond to the 10th month), Slavic: in the 12th month (must correspond to the year and month of the 12th; the interval is even longer); best Peshito: in the 11th year in the 12th month, which will be 5 months after the destruction of Jerusalem, an interval sufficient for a journey from Judea to Babylon. The Hebrew reading may have arisen from the date of Ezekiel 32.1, so that it would not be later than the present one. However, one cannot decisively reject the Hebrew. readings: Ezekiel may have lived in such remote parts of Mesopotamia that news reached there very slowly. - “One of the survivors,” glory. more precisely: “targeted”, which can also have a collective meaning. Ezek.33:22. But even before the arrival of this one who was saved in the evening, the hand of the Lord was on me, and He opened my mouth before he came to me in the morning. And my mouth was opened, and I was no longer silent. Just as earlier the prophet was brought into silence not by external coercion, but by God himself (Ezek.3.25), so now, although his silence should have been resolved by the news of the fall of Jerusalem (Ezek.24.27), it ends a whole day before he received this news (cf. Ezek.24.2 and its explanation): even in the evening before receiving the news, the prophet comes into ecstasy (“the hand of the Lord was on me” - see explanation Eze. 1.3), in which he must have received all the revelations of this chapter (and vv. 1-20). - “And my mouth was opened and I was no longer silent.” He could speak more boldly and freely, since the fulfillment of prophecies revealed a true prophet in him before everyone. See explanation of Ezek.3.26. Ezek.33:23. And the word of the Lord came to me: This speech (vv. 23–29) is directed against the Jews left in their homeland by the conqueror, who thus found themselves the only owners of St. lands and, thanks to this, began to indulge in unrealizable dreams of a quick restoration of the kingdom: the result of these dreams was the uprising of David’s descendant Ishmael and his murder of the Babylonian governor Gedaliah (Jeremiah 41.1–2), and then a new (3rd) resettlement of Jews to Babylon in the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar, 5 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. The prophet could have received news of this mood of the Jews remaining in their homeland, which had such a sad end, from the same fugitives from whom he received (according to v. 21) the news of the fall of Jerusalem. But this speech could have been written later, when the uprising against Gedaliah took place or was being prepared, and was placed here when systematizing the speeches. Ezek.33:24. son of man! Those who live in the desolate places in the land of Israel say: “Abraham was alone, and he took possession of this land, and we are many; So this land has been given to us as a possession.” “In empty places”, which was the whole country: it was possible to settle only on the ruins. The more reckless were the dreams of the “living”. - “Abraham was alone.” The beginnings of that pride of carnal descent from Abraham (cf. Isa 51.2), which had grown so much by the time of the Savior. If Abraham alone became the owner of the land of Canaan, then a whole series (“and we are many”) of Abraham’s descendants can all the more count on such ownership. - “We have been given this land for our possession.” Arrogance, the exact opposite of the depressing mood of the captives. Wed. Ezek.11.15. They suddenly felt like the owners of the land - even if it was all in ruins, they only needed to stretch out their hands to take it; you can take it without any effort. Ezek.33:25. Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: You eat blood and lift up your eyes to your idols and shed blood; and want to own the land? The sins are indicated, as usual in Ezekiel, mainly of a religious nature and, remarkably, with the exception of one, relating to blood. Therefore, the first one: “eat with blood” (Gen. 9.4; cf. 1 Sam. 14.32); perhaps under the influence of the Philistines (Zechariah 9.7). - “And ye lift up your eyes to your idols” - Ezek.18.6. - “And you shed blood.” Perhaps an indication of the victims of Ishmael's rebellion. - “And you want to own the land,” being so unlike Abraham, to whom the Holy Land was promised possession. Earth. The verse is not in Vat. and other code. Ezek.33:26. Do you lean on your sword, do abominations, defile one another’s wife, and want to possess the earth? “You lean on your sword” instead of law and justice; the right of the strong. – “You do abominations,” which must be sexual: Ezek.18.12. – “You defile one another’s wife” – Ezek.18.6. The verse is not in Vat. and other code. Ezek.33:27. Tell them this: This is what the Lord God says: I live! those who are in the ruined places will fall by the sword; and whoever is in the field, I will give him to the beasts to be eaten; and those who are in fortifications and caves will die from pestilence. Three punishments correspond to three inhabitant zones. 1) “Those who are in the ruined places,” must be in Jerusalem, “will fall by the sword” of the Chaldeans when the rebellion of Ishmael is pacified (Jeremiah 52.30). 2) “Whoever is in the field,” on flat ground, in the steppe or villages, “him I will give to the beasts to be devoured,” especially those who multiplied after the Chaldean devastation of the country; see explanation of Ezek.5.17. 3) “And those in the fortifications and caves,” fugitives from the Chaldean pacifying troops (cf. Judgment 6.2), “will die from the pestilence,” which easily develops in besieged cities with a crowded population and without food; Wed Ezek.5.14. Ezek.33:28. And I will make the land a waste of deserts, and its proud power will cease, and the mountains of Israel will be desolate, so that there will be no one passing by. “And I will make the land a wilderness of deserts” Eze.6.14. – “Proud power” – Ezek.30.6. – “Mountains of Israel” see explanation of Ezek.6.2, 14.15. – “There will be no passers-by” Ezek.14.15. Ezek.33:29. And they will know that I am the Lord, when I make the land a wilderness of deserts, because of all the abominations that they have committed. “And they will know that I am the Lord.” This knowledge, it seems, will be more like the knowledge promised to the Gentile nations in Ezekiel, see the explanation of Eze. 25.7, i.e., it will consist in the recognition of the power of God that destroyed them, and not like the knowledge promised to the true Israel, in this case to the captives, who are mainly promised participation in the coming benefits of the Messianic kingdom. Ezek.33:30. And about you, son of man, the sons of your people talk at the walls and in the doors of the houses and say one to another, brother to brother: “Come and hear what word has come out from the Lord.” The prophet's fellow captives, although better than the arrogant sinners who remained in Judea, their attitude towards the prophet and his word makes one want much better and, apparently, a separate speech - the revelation of Art. 30–33 - although not only not marked with a date, but also without a stereotypical beginning, “the word of the Lord came to me” is directed against them. After such an accurate fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecies about the fall of Jerusalem, the prophet’s position among the captives immediately and dramatically changed: he became the subject of everyone’s attention; Not only were people looking for a chance to hear him, but he became a common topic of conversation in houses and on the street. The verse gives a vivid picture of eastern life, a city day: in the shadow of the walls near the houses and in the coolness of the doors and vestibules, the peaceful inhabitants of a Jewish town in Babylonia stand and exchange news of the day. In all such groups, there is only talk about the prophet and the brilliantly sad confirmation of his recent predictions about the fall of Jerusalem. The time is very close to the disaster and the impression of it is fresh. Now they are already catching every word of Ezekiel and, what interests everyone most of all, is that the prophet will say something today (“go, listen to what word has come out from the Lord”). The prophet lived to achieve popularity that he could not even imagine, and it could not help but delight him as a person, especially since it was for him a guarantee of the success of God’s work on earth. But he also knows the real price of this popularity; he needs more, or rather, he needs the wrong thing at all. Ezek.33:31. And they come to you as to a crowd of people, and My people sit before you, and they listen to your words, but do not fulfill them; for they make sport out of it in their mouths, their hearts are carried away by their self-interest. “And they come to you as if to a people’s gathering” - in such masses, as a whole city. - “And he sits down before you” - with the intention of thoroughly listening and not leaving soon, as if from some public entertainment. – “My people” – not in Wat. and other code. The place speaks of the fair freedom granted to the Babylonian captives. - “And they listen to your words, but do not fulfill them,” “by which the onset of the kingdom of God would be accelerated” (Krech.). Reduction of the vices among fellow prisoners, against which the prophet had been advocating since the 18th chapter. and renewed his attacks with renewed vigor in Ezek. 33.15 et cetera, he did not notice, at least to the extent desired by him. – “For they make sport out of it in their mouths” is a tentative translation of an obscure Hebrew expression; better than glory: “there is no lie in their mouth” (agavim read as kezavim), i.e. they falsely promise the prophet the fulfillment of his admonitions. - “Their heart is carried away by their self-interest.” Self-interest has always been the first vice of the Jews. 1 Samuel 8.3; Isa 56.11. Ezek.33:32. And so, for them you are like a funny singer with a pleasant voice and a good player; they listen to your words, but do not fulfill them. “Funny singer” – Heb. Shir Agavim, coll. the song of love, the most pleasant, well known to the Jews (Song; Isa 5.1). LXX general: “voice of the singer”, φωνη ψαλτηριον, Vulg. carmen musicum. – “With a pleasant voice and a good player” – a rare and especially delightful combination: a natural voice and good music; glory “sweet-voiced blessed one” (ευαρμοστου) - with a good voice and good staging. The Prophet, therefore, was known as a good speaker. In addition to their rhetorical beauty, the prophet’s speeches became pleasant music for the people in their comforting content. – “They listen to your words” – refrain; Art. 31. Ezek.33:33. But when it comes true—and now it is already coming true—then they will know that there was a prophet among them. When the predictions about the last cleansing judgments of God over Israel come true (see explanation of v. 3), just as the prediction about the fall of the kingdom came true, then the prophet will become for the people what a prophet should be - the highest moral authority. But even now God’s promise to the prophet Eze. 2.5 was close to full fulfillment. 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