a prey and my flock became meat to every beast of the field because there was no shepherd neither did my shepherds search for my flock but the shepherds fed themselves and fed not my flock Therefore O ye shepherds hear the word of the Lord Thus saith the Lord God Behold I am against the shepherds and I will require my flock at their hand and cause them to cease from feeding the flock neither shall the Shepherds feed themselves any more for I will deliver my flock from their mouth that they may not be meat for them THese verses set out the judgments threatned against the shepherds of Israel for their prementioned sins In the words take 1. Gods particular Application of himself to the shepherds vers 7 9. 2. The certainty of their punishment vers 8. As I live c. 3. A Repetition of their former sins vers 8. 4. A Specification of their judgements or punishments vers 10. Vers 7. Therefore ye shepherds hear the word of the Lord. These words are again in the 9. ver and shew the great indignation was in the breast of God against these shepherds O ye Princes Priests and Prophets seeing ye have done such things and neglected what you should have done hear the word of the Lord he is vehemently displeased with you and can hold no longer Vers 8. As I live saith the Lord God surely The Hebrew is I living if not the sense whereof is this Let me not be the living God but be laid aside as some idol or false god if I do not punish these Shepherds which have dealt so with my flock Because my flock became a prey The word for prey is Baz which signifies spoyling and such spoyling as is cum conculcatione despectu direpti Kirker with treading down and despising the thing spoiled they vilified the flock of God and spoyled them of what they had And my flock became meat to every beast of the field Wicked men are here call'd beasts and beasts of the field for that they range up and down to get a prey and when they have gotten it tear and rend it in pieces as a Lyon or Bear doth a Lamb or sheep There was no Shepherd Not simply no shepherd but no shepherd that did his duty as the next words shew Neither did my shepherds search for the flock he saith My shepherds because they were in Gods stead to look after his flock but they fed themselves not the flock they made Laws imposed burthens and found out wayes to enrich themselves and impoverish the people Vers 10. Behold I am against the shepherds In this verse the punishments of these shepherds are enumerated and this is the first viz Gods enmity against them they being great Princes Priests and Prophets kept all in such awe that none durst appear in word or action against them if any did they were soon crushed Wherefore saith the Lord Behold I am against the shepherds I that am the Governour of Nations the Lord of Heaven and Earth and so the Dread Soveraigne of Princes Priests and Prophets even I that am Jehovah that gave being to all creatures and can take away all again am against them The Hebrew is Behold I to the shepherds that is I come to set my self against them the Vulgar is Behold I am above them others have the words thus Ecce ego contra istos Pastores Behold I am against these shepherds I will require my flock at their hand Not only will I have account of them what is become of my flock but I will have recompence for every one that is wounded weak lost or slain I will require at your hand limb for limb blood for blood and life for life This is the second punishment mentioned And cause them to cease from feeding the flock Here is a third punishment and it s no less then displacing of them some were cut off by the hand of justice Jer 52.10 11 24 25 26 27. Lamen 5.12 Others were carryed away captive and held in chains and bonds as Zedekiah Jechoniah and many besides Neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more Here is a fourth punishment they should be depriv'd of those opportunities they had to enrich themselves they made a prey of the flock eating the fat cloathing themselves with the wool and killing those that were fed they made advantage of the flock only seeking themselves not the good of it but they should not do so any longer For I will deliver my flock from their mouth They have been feeding upon and devouring my flock a long time but now I will do by them as a shepherd doth by a Lamb in a Lyons or Bears mouth Amos 3.12 1 Sam 17.34 35. David delivered the Lamb so God would pull his flock out of these Lyons and Bears mouths which is a gracious promise of the deliverance of his people That they may not be meat for them Being once delivered they shall no more be spoiled and devoured by such Tyrants as they were but shall enjoy liberty and safety First Observe When there are no faithfull shepherds the flock is a prey to all sorts of beasts My flock became meat to every beast of the field because there was no shepherd The Princes Nobles Priests Prophets and all their under Officers made a prey of the flock The flock was amongst wild beasts of all sorts and they did eat the Milk sheer the Fleece and devour the flesh of the Flock No State-Officers no Church-Officers were faithfull unto the Flock but all in place and power made a prey of it it s the nature of Dogs Foxes Wolves Bears Lyons and such Beasts to suck the bloud crush the bones and devoure the flesh of the Lambs and Sheep Kings in Daniel 7.17 are call'd beasts Rev 13.1 there is mention made of a Beast which rose up out of the Sea having seven heads and ten horns and of a beast rose up out of the earth which had two horns like a Lamb but spake like a Dragon these two Beasts denote the Ecclesiastical and Political powers and how they dealt with the people you may read in that Chapter When Gods Flock is without faithful shepherds they are a spoil to Sea-Beasts and Land-Beasts to all Beasts whatsoever Secondly Observe That the sins of Magistrates and Ministers in seeking themselves neglecting and wronging the flock do greatly provoke God bring certain and severe judgements upon themselves Behold I am against the shepherds I that am higher stronger greater then them all even I and all my attributes are against them I will call them to account and have satisfaction for all the wrong and violence they have done I will deprive them of their sweet Morsels and throw them with shame out of their places These are severe judgements which God swears by no less thâ—n his own life that he will bring upon them God commits great trust unto them and when they are unfaithful God visits severely for it
from the branch of a tree cut off from the body or from the whole tree cut off from the earth which no sooner is done but they wither become fruitless and without hope of recovering their pristine condition So these Jews who were once Gods Vine and Olive-tree said now We are cut off from Canaan the land of the living where we had alimentum vitale such nourishment as made us grow and be fruitful but here in our captivity we have no City no Temple no Sacrifice and so we are as branches cut off and trees cut down never like to be replanted more See Chap. 17 9. Like hereunto is that of Job Chap. 19.10 He hath destroyed me on every side and I am gone and mine hope he hath removed like a tree that is as the e is no hope of a tree cut off from the earth so have I saith Job no hope of recovering my former condition Verse 12. Bâ—hold O my people I w ll open your graves In this verse God promiseth unto them removal of Impediments and reduction of them inâ—o their own Land The first is in these words I will open you graves Canaan was so dear unto the Jews Si transferre sedes cogerentur major vitae metus quam mortis Tacitus that they counted it death to live out of it they esteemed it only the land of the living and had rather have dyed then left their Countrey being therefore Captives in a stange land they were as dead men and that land as a grave unto them When a man is in his grave he is cut off from the Land of the living laid in darkness bound with grave-clothes and pressed down with earth So these Jews were cut off from their own Land had long been in Babylonish darkness were bound up by Babylonish Laws and Power and so oppressed and kept down by the Tyranny of the Babylonians that they were without hope of liberty Hereupon the Lord saith I will open your graves I will remove all that hinders ex parte Babyloniorum their Policy Power Law Oppression shall detain you no longer in Captivity yea I will remove all hinders ex parte vestra Your despair and unbelief are like grave-stones which keep you in a captive and dead condition but they shall be taken away and a door opened for your coming forth It 's not irrational to conceive some or many of them might be in prisons and Babylonish Families whom God would set at liberty And cause you to come up out of your graves c. When the graves are opened the dead cannot rise or come forth no more then the dry bones could move or stir of themselves The Jews deliverance out of Captivity is likened to the raising the deâ—d out of their graves God causeth the dead to rise Isa 26.19 and he would cause them to come out of Babylon and not only bâ—ing them out hence but also bring them into their own Land though they were cut off from their own Olive-tree God would ingraft them in again Verse 13. And ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves c. When God should do this wonderful and great work viz. bring them out of their Captivity raise them from their dead condition in Babylon and restore them to life in their own Countrey then they should know and acknowledge God in a special manner Verse 14. And shall put my Spirit in you By Ruah or Spirit here is not meant breath or life as ver 9.10 for they were first to be brought up out of their graves and to have natural life before the Spirit should be put into them But by Spirit here we understand the holy Spirit of God even that Spirit spoken of Chap. 36.27 where are the same words Lavater saith Indam vobis alium Spiritum I will put into you another Spirit Oecolampad saith It 's Spiritus adoptionis moderator actor Filiorum Dei The spirit of Adoption which moderates and acts the Sons of God And ye shall live They lived before a natural life a sad and melancholy life but now they should live a spiritual life and comfortable and heavenly life they should forget their sorrows and rejoyce in their God You have been in a dying condition these 70 years of your Captivity but hence forward ye shall live I shall place you in your own Land The Hebrew is I will make you to rest upon your own Land The word Janach signifies deponere demittere God would dismiss them from Babylon carry them upon Eagles wings and set them down in their own Land where they should be at rest They had been disquieted and vexed in Babylon many years and suffered grievous things but God put an end thereunto and gave them rest in Canaan which types out Gods dealing with his people under the Gospel viz. The bringing them from under the Antichristian state into Sion Then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it and performed it Ye think it impossible that you should have the Babylonish yoke knockt off be set at liberty and planted in your own countrey but if I can give life to dry bones and cause them to stand up and become a great Army which is a more difficult thing and thou Ezekiel hast seen it then let the Jews be assured I can deliver them and return them into their own Land and will do it and when it 's done they shall know that I am a God of Truth and Power Something we shall observe in General from these words and something more specially First Observe That sense which God gives of Visions Types and Parables is sound and certain yea infallible Ezekiel had a Vision of dry bones and who could tell the meaning of this Vision Many have mistaken about it but God himself he told the Prophet and so all others what was the sense of that Vision Behold the bones are the whole house of Israel God who is the authour of Visions Types and Parables knoweth best what is the meaning of them He knew what the golden Candlestick and the two Olive trees on the right and left sides thereof meant and interpreted them unto Zechariah Chap. 4. Daniel's Vision of four Beasts Chap. 7. did the Lord open and make known unto him John's Vision of the woman sitting upon a scarlet coloured Beast full of names of blasphemie having seven heads and ten horns the Lord interpreted and made known unto him Revel 17. Christ uttered many Parables which were dark and when he gave the sense of them it was certain and infallible Secondly Observe Tropes and Types are not in sacred Scripture to be taken literally These bones are the house of Israel they were not the house of Israel in a literal sense but they signified the house of Israel It 's frequent in the Word to give the name of the thing signified to the thing signifying as 1 Cor. 10.4 That Rock was Christ here the Rock is call'd Christ
the rest 2 Chron. 11.13 14 16 17. Chap. 15.9 and these are call'd the children of Israel his companions that is Judah's companions because they forsook him not as others did All these were represented by this first Stick Then take another stick and write upon it For Joseph the stick of Ephraim Having finished the first Stick he is bidden to take another The Hebrew is take one stick that is one more and write upon it For Joseph As the other Stick was for Judah so this for Joseph viz. to represent the Tribe of Joseph which was the principal of the ten Tribes and his Stick is call'd the stick of Ephraim Ephraim was the Son of Joseph and the ten Tribes are usually call'd in Scripture by the name of Ephraim as Hos 4.17 Chap. 5.3 9 11 12 13 14. But here the Tribe of Ephraim is meant The Chaldee saith Lignum Ephraim est Tribus Ephraim Jeroboam who made the great rent in the house of David was of the Tribe of Ephraim and to him did the other Tribes adhere And for all the house of Israel his companions This Stick was for the whole ten Tribes which are call'd the house of Joseph Amos 5.6 The seed of Ephraim Jer. 7.15 Samaria Hos 8.5 And here The house of Israel All these did side with Jeroboam when he revolted and so were Companions with him with Ephraim and Joseph Long before this time the ten Tribes were carryed into Captivity by Shalmanezer King of Assyria but here the Lord thought upon them and ordered the Prophet to take a Stick for them Vers 17. And joyn them one to another into one stick The Hebrew is and make them come one to one to thee into one stick Those two Sticks he must joyn together and make one Stick of them Some do make a Miracle here saying That as Moses Rod was turn'd into a Serpent and Aarons blossom'd Exod. 4.3 Numb 17.8 by a miraculous work of God So did Ezekiel's Sticks unite together in his hand It 's true God by his Divine Power could unite them into one but here he bids the Prophet joyn them one to another into one Stick which he might do by some artificial means or else hold them together in his hand which might suffice for the purpose intended And they shall become one in thine hand They shall be Vnum in maâ—â—bus tuis so Montanus renders the Hebrew not they shall become but they shall be one thing or stick in thine hand they should no more appear to be two Sticks but one and the Characters writ upon them visible for every man to read The old Translation hath it They shall be as one in thy hand While he held them they were as one but had he let them go they had fallen asunder and been two Sticks as before Verse 18. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee saying In the 12 and 13. verses God had said O my people He own'd them for his here He terms them the Prophets people The children of thy people They were Ezekiels people because he was set of God a Watchman over them Chap. 3.17 Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these The Hebrew is Wilt thou not shew us Mah elleh lack What these things are to thee So the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is thine intention in taking these Sticks and holding them in thine hand what is the Interpetation thereof It is a Riddle unto us let us know the sense and meaning thereof Verse 19. Behold I will take the stick of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim and the Trâ—bes of Israel his fellows The Stick of Joseph that 's the Tribe of Ephraim which was in Jeroboam's hand who was of that Tribe and not only that but nine more were under him and his Successors a long time 260 years or thereabout These ten Tribes made up the Kingdom of Israel which was divided from the Kingdom of â—â—dah and therefore are call'd Ephraim's fellows not Judah's All these represented by the Stick God would take and what would he do with them And will put them with him even with the stick of Judah and make them one stick and they shall be one in mine hand God would make these two Sticks one not one Tribe but one Kingdom They had been two Kingdoms at great enmity and were at this time scattered abroad among the Nations but the Lord promises to gather them together and to unite them so that there shall not be a Kingdom of Israel and a Kingdom of Judah but the Stick of Ephraim shall be united to the Stick of Judah they should be but one Stick one Kingdom and one King and that in the hand of the Lord the Septuagint saith in the hand of Judah First Observe True Types have God for the Author of them God bad the Prophet here take one Stick and another Stick and write upon them and thereby to type out the houses of Judah and Israel Had he taken these of his own head they had been nothing bastardly Types not true Types When Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of Iron saying Thus saith the Lord With these shalt thou push the Syrians untill thou have consumed them 1 King 22.11 This was a bold presumption of him to make Horns Typical without Command from God The event shew'd him to be a false Prophet and his Type to be a lying Type It 's peculiar unto God to make Divine Types Secondly Observe God can and doth make use of mean things to honourable purposes Sticks are mean and contemptible things trodden under foot yet God orders Sticks here to be taken writ upon to represent the two principal Houses in the World the house of Judah and the house of Israel and their uniting together here was high honour put upon these Sticks God made use of a Tile to pourtray Jerusalem upon Ezek. 4. And of Hair to Type out his Judgements Ezek. 5. which was a great honour unto such despicable things What honour did God put upon the Brazen Serpent to represent Christ thereby Numb 21.9 Joh. 3.14 As God puts honour upon mean thâ—ngs so upon mean persons 1 Cor. 1.28 The base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen yea and things which are not to bring to nought things that are He exalted Gideon and did great things by him Judg. 6. God took Amos an Heardman a gatherer of Sycamore fruit in vested him with the honour of a Prophet Amos 7.14 15. and by him confounded Amaziah the Priest of Bethel and Jeroboams Chaplain Thirdly Observe God hath a care of his people be they in never so poor broken scattered or despicable a condition The house of Judah had been now in Babylon upon 70 years the house of Israel 204 years if not more they were despised of men and seem'd forgotten of God but the Lord had them in remembrance and bids the Prophet write upon one stick For