Introduction.

For the average Bible reader, the book of the prophet Ezekiel can be confusing with seemingly incoherent visions, incomprehensible, requiring interpretation, a kaleidoscope of spinning wheels and dry bones. For many readers, the first "terrifying" impression deters them from attempting to delve into the mysteries of this book. Jerome wrote about her that she "is the ocean and the labyrinth of God's mysteries." The extraordinary forms of Ezekiel's visions reflected the immensity of Divine glory.

And they also testified to the incomparable intensity of the spiritual experience of this prophet in his knowledge of the "supra-universal" God. Clothed in mysterious symbols, the visions of Ezekiel lift the veil over the secret meaning of things. It is also important to note the following. If for Jeremiah God is like an "inner voice", and Isaiah becomes the "mouth of God" after the shock he experienced in the temple, where he was awarded the contemplation of His glory (Is. 6), then Ezekiel's spiritual experience is reflected in a whole chain of visions in which the will of God was revealed to him. This prophet lived in constant tension from the feeling of his closeness to other worlds. His idiosyncratic style and language had an undeniable impact on apocalyptic writers of later times, such as Daniel and the apostle John.

Author.

Ezekiel was "a priest, the son of Buzios", whose activity took place "in the land of the Chaldeans" (1:3). His name meant "God will strengthen." Apart from Jeremiah and Zechariah, only Ezekiel was both a priest and a prophet; all three prophesied during and after the Babylonian captivity.

Ezekiel was taken from Judah to Babylon with the first group of settlers, along with King Jeconiah, in 597 B.C.

The time of Ezekiel's ministry is determined based on chronological references in the book itself (1:2; 8:1; 20:1; 24:1; 29:1,17; 30:20; 31:1; 32:1,17; 33: 21; 40:1). All his prophecies are "placed" chronologically (beginning with the "fifth year of the captivity" (1:2) and ending with the twenty-fifth year; 40:1); the exception is the prophecies in 29:1,17.

According to Ezekiel himself, he was called to serve "in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month" in the fifth year of King Jeconiah's migration to Babylon (1:1-2). Jeconiah became king in December 597 BC, after the death of his father Joachim (2 Kings 24:1-12). But he reigned only three months, after which he was taken away from Judea by order of Nebuchadnezzar. The fifth year of Jeconiah's captivity was thus 593 B.C.; the fourth month was the month of Tammuz, its beginning is dated to July 27, 593.

Ezekiel's indication makes it possible, therefore, to date his entry into the ministry very precisely: July 31, 593. As for the “thirtieth year” (1:1), the theologians failed to unambiguously “decipher” this mysterious-sounding figure; some tend to see in it an indication of the age at which Ezekiel began his ministry.

The last prophecy, dated by Ezekiel, was uttered by him "in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month" (Ezek. 29:17). Based on a simple calculation, it is attributed to the year 571 (by March 26). Thus, Ezekiel's prophetic activity spanned at least 22 years (593-571 B.C.).

Historical setting.

This is discussed in detail in the Introduction to the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah. The book of the Prophet Ezekiel was written in Babylon during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Many Jewish exiles who lived in the Chaldean kingdom realized by that time how important it was for them to preserve their religious shrines in a foreign land. The lifestyle and language of the Chaldeans were similar to those of the Jews, so everything that connected the exiles with their homeland was their faith. They eagerly read the letters of Jeremiah, who turned out to be right in everything, as they now understood it. How could they now remain faithful to their religion? God has met this urgent need for a true spiritual guide. And that was Ezekiel.

Ezekiel faced more difficult tasks than Jeremiah and other Palestinian prophets. After all, if for Jeremiah Babylon was the "scourge of God", then Ezekiel lived in this center of world civilization, which did not know the true God. The time had come when the Old Testament Church had to test its stability in a strange pagan world. Ezekiel and those who listened to him not only needed not to be seduced by the greatness of this world and reject its false religion, but also to carry along the roads of exile their banner of true religion.

There are four main features of the book:

1. The construction of the book according to the chronological principle. This has already been discussed above. Of the major prophets, Ezekiel is the only one who so accurately observed the chronological sequence in the arrangement of his prophecies. The same principle, however, applies to the books of Haggai and Zechariah.

2. Structural-thematic "balance". In the "focus" of the first 24 chapters - the trial of Judas; in the "focus" of chapters 33-48 is his coming "restoration". These two themes, which begin and end the book, are "balanced" by the one that is revealed in its central part, this is the theme of God's judgment on other peoples. The glory of God leaves the temple "as a token" of judgment (9:3; 10:4,18-19; 11:22-25) and returns to the temple again "as a token" of blessing (43:1-5).

3. At the "epicenter" of the story is the glory of God. This theme runs throughout the book. The nature of God, incompatible with sin, determines His actions - this idea is emphasized by Ezekiel. On the pages of his book, God repeats 15 times that he will not allow His name to be "blasphemed" (defiled, dishonored) (20:9,14,22,39,44; 36:20-23; 39:7,25; 43 :7-8). And more than 60 times He says that His actions are aimed at making people finally understand that He is the Lord (for example, 6:7,10,13-14).

4. Stylistic features of the book. They are defined by an abundance of proverbs, sayings, parables (12:22-23; 18:2-3; 16:44; chapter 17; 24:1-14), visions (chapters 1-3; 8-11; 37; 40- 48), symbolic actions (chapters 4-5; 12; 24:15-27), and allegories (chapters 16-17). Through them, Ezekiel clothed his prophecies in impressive dramatic forms, in order to attract the attention of fellow citizens, to evoke a response from them.

Book plan:

I. Judging Judas (chapters 1-24)

A. Ezekiel's preparation for ministry (chapters 1-3)

1. Introduction (1:1-3)

2. Visions (1:4 - 2:7)

3. Ezekiel is called to prophetic work (2:8 - 3:11)

4. The Spirit leads Ezekiel to his place of ministry and makes him a "watchman" of the house of Israel (3:12-27)

B. Prophecies of Reproof (chapters 4-24)

1. The disobedience of Judah and Jerusalem makes judgment necessary (chapters 4-11)

2. On the vanity of false optimism (chapters 12-19)

3. Prophet on the history of the corruption of the chosen people (chapters 20-24)

II. On the Judgment of the Gentile Nations (chapters 25-32)

A. The Judgment of Ammon (25:1-7)

B. Judgment on Moab (25:8-11)

C. Judgment on Edom (25:12-14)

D. Judgment on the land of the Philistines (25:15-17)

E. Judgment on Tire (26:1 - 28:19)

1. About the destruction of the city (chapter 26)

2. Lament for Tyre (chapter 27)

3. On the death of the "leader" in Tire (28:1-19)

F. The Judgment of Sidon (28:20-26)

G. Judgment on Egypt (Chapters 29-32)

1. About the sin of Egypt (29:1-16)

2. Prophecy about the defeat of Egypt by Babylon (29:17-21)

3. Destruction of Egypt and her allies (30:1-19)

4. About the "scattering among the nations" of the Egyptians (30:20-26)

5. The Prophet compares Egypt to Assyria (chapter 31)

6. Lamentation for Pharaoh (32:1-16)

7. About the overthrow of the people of Egypt into hell (32:17-32)

III. On blessings upon Israel (chapters 33-48)

A. New life awaits Israel (chapters 33-39)

1. Ezekiel - the guardian of the house of Israel (chapter 33)

2. Contrasting the false shepherds of Ezekiel's contemporaries with the true Shepherd (chapter 34)

3. Prophecy about the death of the enemy (Edom) - chapter 35

4. Of the blessings to come upon Israel (chapter 36)

5. About the Restoration of the People (Chapter 37)

6. The wrath of God will fall on Gog and Magog (chapters 38-39)

B. About the renewal of life in Israel, all its laws and orders (chapters 40-48)

1. About the new temple (chapters 40-43)

2. About the new service to God (chapters 44-46)

3. About the new earth (chapters 47-48)

The book of the prophet Ezekiel is the prophetic book of the Old Testament. At first glance, it is a set of incoherent visions of the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel's visions, however, are a reflection of the immensity of the glory and power of the Lord. The symbolism of the visions of the prophet is a way to comprehend the mystery of things. It is through visions that Ezekiel speaks to God, in visions the will of God is revealed to him.

Visions - prophecies are placed in the book in chronological order.

Read the book of Ezekiel.

The book of Ezekiel consists of 48 vision chapters:

The prophet Ezekiel served as a priest. His prophetic activity fell on scary times Babylonian Captivity. Ezekiel was taken to Babylon with the first group of captives. It is believed that his prophetic activity lasted at least 22 years from 593 to 571. BC e.

Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel.

The book of the Prophet Ezekiel was written under King Nebuchadnezzar. Jewish exiles in the Babylonian captivity tried to preserve their religion in a foreign land. Now they were rethinking the prophecies of Jeremiah, who had previously been persecuted. They needed a new prophet, which was Ezekiel.

Ezekiel lived in difficult times and found himself in a difficult situation. On the one hand, he prophesied in a foreign land and not just among the pagans, but among the pagans, who had their own culture and quite strong state power at that time. The entire Old Testament Church had to endure and preserve itself in these conditions. The prophet Ezekiel clearly understood the importance of his tasks:

• Keep your own religion
• To oppose the religion of the pagans, which seemed attractive to many.

In the center of the work is the glorification of the glory of the Lord. More than 60 times the same thought is repeated: God says that all his actions are needed in order for a person to realize the power and glory of the Lord.

And the slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the Lord.

…and they shall know that I am the Lord; It was not in vain that I said that I would bring such calamity upon them.

And you will know that I am the Lord when the slain lie among their idols around their altars...

Ezekiel is often called the divinely inspired interpreter of the Babylonian captivity. An interesting fact is that, according to many researchers, Ezekiel rarely prophesied among the people, he wrote down the prophecies and read them.

Literary features of the book of the prophet Ezekiel.

The peculiarity of the style of presentation lies in the fact that the prophet Ezekiel lived in a special world - on the edge of an unknown sacred world. His poetic language influenced apocalyptic writers, especially the work of the apostle John.

The book of visions of Ezekiel has the clearest chronology of all the prophetic books.

In book 2, the central themes are the judgment of the Jews (chapters 1-24) and the future restoration (chapters 33-48). Between these themes is the third - balancing. This is the theme of God's Judgment on other nations. Ezekiel predicts death to the perpetrators of the destruction of Jerusalem.

The book of Ezekiel is replete with proverbs and sayings. Many passages are in the nature of parables, visions, allegories. The high drama of visions did not leave the contemporaries of the prophet indifferent.

In view of the fact that the prophecies of Ezekiel were originally conceived as a literary work, and not as a speech for pronunciation, they are distinguished by their integrity and unity of form and content, as well as the consistency of presentation.

The following style features should also be noted:

• mystery of visions
• priestly color,
• living imagery.

Summary.

Chapters 1 - 3. Introduction to the Book of Ezekiel. The first visions of Ezekiel, he enters the path of prophetic work. The Spirit makes the prophet the watchman of the house of Israel.

Chapters 4 - 11. Description of the sinfulness of Judea and Jerusalem. Reasoning about the necessity and inevitability of God's judgment on the people of Israel.

Chapters 12 - 19. Reasoning that you should not harbor false optimism in the current situation.

Chapters 20 - 24. History of the Corruption of Judea and Jerusalem.

Chapter 25. The coming judgment on Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the land of the Philistines.

Chapters 26 - 28. The coming judgment on Tyre. Future destruction. Lament for Tyre. Judgment on Sidon.

Chapters 29 - 32. The coming judgment on Egypt. The sinfulness of the Egyptians. Prophecy about the fall of Egypt at the hands of Babylon. Destruction of Egypt. Taking the Egyptians into captivity. The fate of Egypt and Assyria in comparison. Pharaoh prophecy. About the death of the Egyptians.

Chapter 33. Ezekiel about his destiny.

Chapter 34 Prophecies about false shepherds.

Chapters 35 - 37. Prophecies about the death of the enemy and the deliverance of the people.

Chapters 38 - 39. The wrath of the Lord will be directed at Gog and Magog.

Chapters 40 - 43. Prophecy about the new temple.

Chapters 44 - 46. About a new type of service.

Chapters 47 - 48. About a new land for God's chosen people.

Content, division and origin of the book. The prophet Ezekiel can be called a divinely inspired interpreter of the Babylonian captivity, its meaning and significance in the system of God's providence for Israel. Originally a priest taken captive with Jeconiah, the prophet Ezekiel acted among the rural colonists from Jewish captives, leaving Babylon for his great co-worker, the court prophet Daniel. The result of more than twenty years of activity of the prophet (and compare with 12) and was his big book. But unlike Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel, a captive, removed from his compatriots scattered throughout Chaldea, probably simply wrote (rather than uttered) his prophecies for distribution among the people (): we only see him sometimes speaking directly to the people () or elders (and even then those who came to him) (); in addition, symbolic actions were performed by him before the people, in general, “his tongue was tied to the larynx and he was mute” (), opening his mouth only in exceptional cases (). Therefore, he often cites passages from former writers in the book - a device more like a writer than an orator. But in view of this, one cannot agree with the rationalistic interpreters of Ezekiel that he is more of a writer than a prophet: one can also prophesy in writing; and thanks to this character of the prophetic gift, which can be called literary, the book of Ezekiel compares favorably with other prophetic books in strict unity of content, consistency and systematicity.

Along with prophetic speeches, visions and symbolic actions, Ezekiel first, denouncing the wickedness of Judah, predicts the fall of Jerusalem and the final captivity of the people, and after the destruction of the kingdom, predicts death to the direct and indirect culprits of this destruction, the old and modern enemies of Israel (the neighboring pagan peoples), and comforts Israel bright pictures of the great future, i.e., the book naturally breaks up into two absolutely equal volumes, 24 chapters each, parts: accusatory and consolatory, of which the second is almost equally divided into speeches against pagan peoples (ch. XXV-XXXII), indirectly comforting for Israel, and predictions directly comforting for her (ch. XXXIII-XLVIII). As for the most particular division of the book, it is given by the prophet himself in the form of dates for his speeches. He dates his speeches according to the years of the captivity of Jeconiah, which was also his captivity, and he named the following years: 5th (), 6th (), 7th (), 9th (), 10th ( ), 11th (; ; ), 12th (; ), 25th (), 27th (). Next, the individual prophecies are arranged in chronological order in the book, with the exception of , which is apparently inserted into the finished book. In view of this, it is closest to assume that the book arose gradually from separate passages written in the indicated years.

The features of the book of the prophet Ezekiel are a) mystery and abundance of visions. The Prophet Ezekiel is rightly considered the ancestor of the Jewish apocalyptic, the emergence of which was facilitated by the then bleak state of Israel, which involuntarily directed all aspirations to the distant future, to the end of time (eschatology of chapters XXXVII-XLVIII). Hence the book of the prophet Ezekiel is filled with visions, one more majestic than the other, which give it an extraordinary loftiness of content (Divine revelation resorts to visions when the secret communicated to a person does not fit into words and concepts). Bliss. Jerome calls the book of the prophet Ezekiel an ocean and a labyrinth of God's mysteries (on Ezek LVII). Among the Jews it was forbidden for those under thirty years of age to read the first and last chapters of this book (Mishnah, Schabb. I, 13b.). But with such a sublime content of the book, the Christology of the prophet Ezekiel is not from the rich and is significantly inferior to Isaiah. This is because Ezekiel, in his prophetic contemplations, is concerned only with two such separated times, but obviously close in essence, moments in the history of Israel: the era of the Babylonian captivity and the era of the final restoration of Israel at the end of time; but the long interim period, when Israel lost the glory of God (Shekinah), which lived in the temple on the cherubim, and due to this was reduced to the level of an ordinary people, as if it did not exist for the gaze of this great Jew, although during this period something so important for all mankind took place event, as the appearance of the Messiah. Therefore, the prophet Ezekiel could not speak much about the time of the first coming of the Messiah, who became the joy of the tongues rather than Israel who rejected Him, his thought is more directed to the time close to the second coming, when all Israel will be saved.

A characteristic feature of the book of Ezek is further b) its priestly coloring. Everywhere one can see the touching love of the author for the temple, its worship and rituals (see esp. VIII and XL-XLIV ch.), jealousy for the law and ritual purity (). c) Seal of Babylonian origin. Cherubim I ch. in many ways resemble the Assyro-Babylonian winged oxen and lions. XL and cl. the chapters, with their so artistic architectural details, take us vividly into the milieu of Nebuchadnezzar's enormous buildings. Depending on life in Babylon, which was then the center of world trade, where upper and lower Asia, Persia and India met, it is also worth the fact that no prophet describes peoples and countries like Ezekiel (Schroeder, Lange Bibelwerk, Der Propheth Jeesekiel 1873, § 7).

The syllable of the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel often strikes the reader with brilliant and lively images, having no equal in this respect. It is difficult to imagine anything more amazing than his vision of a field filled with bones "dry green", anything more magnificent than the description of the glory of God in ch. anything more alive than his picture of the port of Tire (XXVII ch.). Gog's attack (XXIII-XXXIX ch.), blasphemous service to idols in the temple and God's wrathful vengeance for him (VIII-XI ch.) - pictures that are not erased from memory (Trochon, La Sainte Bible, Les prophetes - Ezechiel 1684, 9) . called Ezekiel the most amazing and exalted of the prophets. Schiller (according to Richter) read Ezekiel with the greatest pleasure and wanted to learn Hebrew in order to read it in the original. Grotius compared him to Homer, and Herder called him a Jewish Shakespeare.

Nevertheless, in places the language of the prophet Ezekiel is “dark, rough, stretched; expressions are insufficient for his impetuous thought ”(Trochon, ib). Already a blessing. Jerome finds very little elegance in the style of the prophet Ezekiel, but without vulgarity (letter to Paul.). Smend, Bertolet (Das Buch Jesekiel 1897) and others point out the following shortcomings in Ezekiel's style. This is a writer who loves to expand, and these expansions sometimes get in the way of plasticity and strength. A lot of stereotyped turns (such as, for example, “I, the Lord, said”, “you will know that I am the Lord”), which should sound especially solemn, tire the reader. The songs and allegories, in which Isaiah was such a master, are somewhat artificial in Ezekiel (ch. VII, XXI, XIX); of the songs he succeeds only in deplorable ones; in allegories, the subject and the image are gradually mixed up, it is not carried out to the end; images are rotated to different sides (; ; ); often he refers to the same images (cf. ch. XVII, XIX and XXXI; XVI and XXIII). Reflection in Ezekiel prevails over intuition; he is too rational and balanced nature to be a poet; besides, his adherence to the established, objective values ​​of the cult is little reconciled with poetry. - Since divine inspiration does not change the natural gifts of a person, but only directs them to the service of revelation, then the recognition of Ezekiel and in full measure such shortcomings of style would not damage faith in his divine inspiration. But it seems that the latest critics of the prophet make demands on him that are completely unattainable for his era. Moreover, as Bertholet says, modern times they realize more and more that Ezekiel was unjustly reproached with many things that should be attributed to damage to the text.

Language the prophet Ezekiel presents many phenomena that clearly belong to a later time. At Smenda, 2 pages are occupied by a list of turns of Ezekiel, bearing the seal of a later time. In particular, his language turns out to be heavily saturated with Arameisms (Selle, De aramaismis libri Ez. 1890). The language of the prophet does not resist the intrusion of the degenerate vernacular. Numerous anomalies and grammatical deviations reveal the decline and closeness of the Hebrew language and remind us that the prophet lived in a foreign land (Troshon 10). At the same time, the language of the prophet testifies to the great originality of his mind with a large number of words and expressions that are not found anywhere else (΄απαξ λεγομενα).

Authenticity The book of the prophet Ezekiel is not disputed even by those rationalists whose critical knife has not left a living place in the Bible. Ewald says, "the slightest glance at the book of Ezekiel is enough to make sure that everything in it comes from the hand of Ezekiel." DeVette agrees with him: “that Ezekiel, who usually speaks of himself in the first person, wrote everything himself, this is beyond doubt” (Trochon 7). Individual objections to the authenticity of the book, however, have been made since ancient times. Such, for example, was the Revue biblique of 1799 expressed by an English anonymous against chapters XXV-XXXII, XXXV, XXXVI, XXXVIII, and XXXIX. Of the latest objections to the authenticity of the book (e.g., Geiger, Wetzstein, Vemes), the most significant are Zunz (Gottedienstliche Vortrage der luden 1892, 165-170), which relates the book of Eze to the Persian era between 440 and 400, and Seineke (Geschichte des Volkes Israel II 1884,1-20), relating it to the Syrian era - 164. Both assumptions caused a serious refutation in rationalistic science itself (Kuenen, Hist. - Crit. Einl. II, § 64). Curiously, in St. In the canon, the book of Ezekiel was accepted by the Jewish synagogue not without hesitation, the reason for which was mainly disagreement with the Pentateuch of the rites of the future ideal temple XL-XLVIII ch. , then the book of Ezekiel would be considered apocrypha; what did he do? 300 measures of oil were brought to him, and he sat down and explained it” (i.e., he sat over her explanation for so many days that 300 measures of oil burned out on him, Chagiga 13a; cp. Menahot 45a. Schab. 13b.). But according to Baba Batra (14b), “the men of the great synagogue (Ezra and others) wrote the book of Ezekiel together with the 12 prophets, Daniel and Esther” (that is, of course, included in the canon). – The testimony of Josephus (Ancient Jude 10:5, 1) that Ezekiel wrote two books presents a lot of difficulty for biblical criticism. Perhaps Joseph considers two parts of the book to be independent: the book about the destruction of Jerusalem and the book about its restoration. It is less likely that Joseph is explained in such a way that chapters XXV-XXXII or XL-XLVIII were a separate book.

Text The book of the prophet Ezekiel is ranked along with the text of 1 and 2 Kings among the most damaged in the Old Testament. Although the contradictions between the Hebrew-Masoretic text and the LXX translation in the book of Ezekiel are not as frequent as in the Psalter, but where they are, they are very significant there; often in both texts a completely different thought is given (see;; and esp. -), so that the interpreter has to choose between two readings. Since the time of Gitzig (Der Plophet. Ezechiel erkiart. 1847), Western biblical scholars of all directions have considered the text LXX in the book of Ezekiel, or rather the Masoretic one. Corneille says that while he was reading the book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew text, this prophet made a heavy impression on him and he could not deal with him; When did he start reading it? Greek text, “the fog that had shrouded the meaning of the book began to clear up and a text of a peculiar rare beauty and majesty with a powerfully captivating originality appeared to the astonished eye” (Das Buch. d. Pr. Ez. 1886, 3). While giving a smoother text than the Hebrew, the LXX translation in the book of Ezekiel is distinguished, moreover, by an unusual accuracy, much more than in other books, due to which it can be a reliable corrective to the Masoretic text.

Vision of the Glory of God on the Cherubim

Ezekiel 1:1. And it was in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day month, when I was among the settlers by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

"AND". In addition to the book of the prophet Ezekiel, the books begin with the union “and”: Exodus, Nun, Ruth, Judges, Kings, Jonah, Esther, 1 Mac. Therefore, for the ancient Jew, such a beginning of the books did not represent anything so unusual and strange as it is for us. But in most of these books, this beginning finds some explanation for itself in the fact that these books are a continuation of the previous ones. At the beginning of the book of Ezekiel, "and" is especially unexpected. It should be noted that “and” stands here not only before the first sentence of the book, but also before the second, completely independent, but connected with the first relation of the temporal sequence (the second “and” in Russian translation is translated “when”). In order to convey roundness, smoothness and solemnity to speech, which are so important at the beginning of the book, “and” is placed not only before the second sentence, but also before the first. This "and" has an analogy in the Greek. μεν, lat. nam, itaque. Therefore, the beginning of the book of Ezekiel with "and" does not give grounds to conclude that at the beginning of the book there was some lost section, for example, the story of another vision (Spinoza Tract, theol.-pol. p. 10) or information about the former the life of the prophet (Clostermann, Ezechiel in Studien u. Kritiken 1877, 391 et al.).

"In the thirtieth year." Ezekiel calls the year of his call to prophecy the thirtieth, without saying where this year was the thirtieth. But in verse 2 the prophet completes this obscure date, noting that this year 30 was the 5th year of the captivity of King Jehoiakim. There are the following explanations for this mysterious date. 1) The ancients (Origen, Ephraim the Syrian, Gregory the Dialogist, partly blessed Jerome) understood here the 30th year of the prophet's life. The following speaks for such an understanding. consideration: “if this is the 30th year of the life of the prophet, then Ezekiel entered the prophetic ministry at an age when, under other circumstances, he should have received priestly consecration; in this year he received a spiritual baptism for prophecy, as a rich substitute for the lost priestly ministry” (Kretschmar, Das Buch Ezechiel 1900). This was the fullness of age, which, according to the fate of Providence, turned out to be necessary for the Savior himself to begin His ministry. But if this is the 30th year of the prophet's life, then he would have to add "my life." 2) Others (for example, the Targum, rabbis) think that the chronology here begins with the 18th year of Josiah, when the book of the law was found in the temple of Jerusalem and when the Passover, which had not been celebrated for a long time, was solemnly celebrated, which marked the beginning of the religious and moral renewal of the Jewish kingdoms, and next. of all then Israel, the beginning of a new era of his life. Indeed, about 30–32 years passed from this event to the calling of Ezekiel. Since in the year when the book was found, God, through the prophetess Huldama, confirmed his threats about the impending calamity of Judea, according to Blessed. Theodoret and others, this year can also be considered the beginning of the Babylonian captivity, especially since according to Ezekiel 4.6, from the calling of Ezekiel, 40 years of captivity remained for Judas, next. the year of the calling of the prophet was the 30th year of the captivity. But, no matter how great the social significance of the mentioned event could be, in the life of the Jews, of course, there were events more important, but they did not become eras: for example, the construction of a temple; there is no news that Josiah introduced the reckoning from here; and the consequences of Josiah's reform were not such that other kings had reason to start a new reckoning with it. Such an era under Ezekiel would have been too young for him to use without explanation. 3rd widespread opinion about the year 30 of Ezek 1.1, that this is the 30th year of the Babylonian, so-called Nabopolassar era, from the accession of Nabopolassar, the father of Nebuchadnezzar: Nabopolassar reigned (according to Ptolemy's "Canon of Kings") 21, Joachim in Judea, on 4 in the year of whose reign according to Jer 25.1 Nebuchadnezzar came to rest, after Nabopolassar he reigned another 8 years and (omitting the reign of Jeconiah) 5 years from the captivity of Jeconiah will give 34 years. Since the vision of Ezekiel is marked with two eras, and one of them is Jewish (v. 2), the first must have to do with the Chaldean kingdom, where the prophet lived; Daniel designates the years according to the reigns of the Babylonian sovereigns (Dan 2.1, etc.), and Haggai, Zechariah and Ezra - the Persian ones, and the latter, like Ezekiel, designates the years of Artaxerxes with a bare number (Hag 1.1 cf. Zech 1.1; 1Ezd 6.15). But apart from the incomplete coincidence of this era with Ezekiel 1.1, it is not confirmed by other places in the Bible. 4) The 30th year of the jubilee is still supposed here. But only the rabbis, and not the Bible, use the jubilee count (they start counting the jubilees from the entry of the Jews into Canaan). Although the destruction of Jerusalem was believed to be in the 36th year of the jubilee, why the calling of Ezekiel falls on the 30th year of the jubilee, but maybe. the rabbis based their account of jubilees on Ezekiel 1:1-5. The newest exegetes suggest a corruption of the text here: Bertolet considers the date to be a gloss, speaking of the year 30 of captivity, Heb. sense. Luzzato (commentary 1876) by defacement of the "13th year of Nebuchadnezzar", Krechmar suggests here the omission of the words "my life".

Although it is completely impossible to agree with any of the above explanations, it is remarkable that each of them, 30 years behind the calling of Ezekiel, indicates one or another important event from which the prophet, indeed, could lead his reckoning; but from what particular led, it remains unknown, or, more precisely, left unknown to them. But can't this silence itself give the key to the explanation? Could the prophet himself indicate where the year of his vision falls on the thirtieth? If this year fell on the 30th from any particular event in time, then nothing could prevent the prophet from naming this event. But the starting point for calculating some mysterious times and dates in the Bible is not always a certain single event exactly in time: exegesis is powerless to decide exactly where the 400 years of “the migration of the seed of Abraham to the land not their own” (Genesis 15.13) or 70 weeks of Daniel should be calculated, as if the beginning of these symbolic periods is lost to human comprehension in sacred darkness. What happened to the prophet Ezekiel at Chebar was, as we shall see, an event in the history of Israel important enough to have the same mysterious dates as the Egyptian slavery and the Babylonian captivity. It was accomplished by the fulfillment of the well-known and undoubted symbolism of the number of years “30” from something that could not be named and indicated by a human finger. Full of secrets, the vision of the prophet Ezekiel on the river. It was fitting for Khovar to have a mysterious date as well. And in no way could the prophet warn the reader so immediately and amazingly about the terrible mystery of what he is preparing to tell, as by determining the very time of this by a symbolic and inexplicable number. Such an explanation of the date of Ezek 1.1 may seem strange to our European thinking, so to speak. But it must be borne in mind that the first verse of Ezekiel with this date, impossible for our hearing, was read and copied for dozens of centuries in this form, with this bare number 30, and not a single scribe and rabbi came up with the idea of ​​a possible mistake here, no one dared to correct here the prophet and finished his omission.

"In the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month." While other prophets indicate only the year of their calling (Jeremiah), others limit themselves to the designation of the reigns in which they served (Isaiah, Amos, etc.), and some do not at all name the time (as well as the place) of their activity (Nahum, Habakkuk, Jonah), the prophet Ezekiel, in addition to the year, also indicates the month and day of his vocation, because not a single prophet was called to his ministry so amazingly, thanks to which the day of his vocation could not but be imprinted in the soul of Ezekiel. In general, "later biblical writers show much more chronological care than the oldest" (Gefernik, Commentar uber d. Pr. Ezechiel 1843). The month of the calling of the prophet was the fourth, of course, sacred or Easter year, which the sacred writers alone know (Zech 1:7, 7:1; Esther 2:16, 3:7, 8:9), and not the civil one, which began with the month of Tisri (September), the very existence of which among the Jews is doubtful and is assumed based only on Lev.25.12. Fourth month of Easter. year corresponded to June - July. So, the calling of the prophet was in the midst of the eastern summer with its heat, interrupted at times by devastating storms: the vision of the prophet also began with a storm.

“When I was among the settlers”, lit. "and I am among the captives." The auxiliary verb is deliberately omitted: it is present in the analogous Neh 1.1. With a verb, the expression could only have a specific meaning: the prophet was (at the time of the vision) in the company of captives; but "what - someone was with the prophet during the vision, does not allow us to think of a way of expression other than Ezek 8.1" (Krechmar). Without a verb, the expression takes on the character of a general familiarization by the author of the reader with his personality: “I am from immigrants under the river. Howar. However, wherever the prophet in the book mentions his first vision, he associates it with this river; it is obvious that here too he calls this river not only as his place of residence, but as the place and place of his vision. A peculiar way of expression (without "was" Neh 1.1 and without "was", "sat" Neh 8.1) allows just such a double meaning in it. Epiphany and visions repeatedly occurred on the banks of rivers and seas: Daniel had two visions on the banks of rivers; apocalyptic visions were given on the high seas. In terms of suitability for visions, waters can compete with mountain peaks and deserts, these usual places of visions and theophany: something mysterious is always heard in the noise of water, the voice of the Almighty (Ezek 1.24; Ps 41.7-8; Ps 92.3-4). Maybe Ezekiel in the described 1 ch. case, “he sat on the bank of Khovar, tuned by the sound of the waters to high thoughts, which had as their subject the terrible fate of him and his people” (Krechmar). "Settlers" Heb. goal. This noun, which comes from a root consonant and unambiguous with the Russian "gol" ("gola" - to expose Genesis 9.21, etc.), entered into literary use with the Babylonian captivity (2 Kings 24.15) and became a special name for those languishing in captivity among the population of Judea, spared by the conqueror (Ezekiel 11:15). More precisely conveys the meaning of this collective name Slav. "captivity"; "settlers", the meaning is softer than necessary; westerners prefer a simple transcription - golah. With this one word, the prophet has sufficed to describe how external conditions his life, and his state of mind. Contrary to the opinion of the latest biblical scholars (e.g. Stade, Gesch. d. v. Isr. II, 1-63), the situation of the Jewish captives in Babylonia, at least at first, could not but be difficult: it was worth hard work to find means of living in an unfamiliar country, where, of course, the worst plots of land, unnecessary to anyone, were allotted for the captives. Attention is drawn to the fact that the prophet cannot name his place of residence, his city or village by name. He indicates only the river on the banks of which the Jewish colony to which he belonged lived. Probably, it was only an insignificant settlement, created by the labor and sweat of captives, that had not yet had time to get a name. And for future prophetic activity, God appoints Ezekiel not this original place of residence, but another probably more significant and rich settlement of Tel Aviv (Ezek 3.15).

"Chovar" (according to the Masoretic text kevar) the prophet Ezekiel was previously identified with Habor 2 Kings 17.6, probably a tributary of the Tigris, on which the Assyrian kings settled the captives of the Kingdom of Israel, then with Сαβορα Ptolemy (5, 6) also ʹΑβορρας (lib. 16) a tributary of the Euphrates, flowing from the Masian mountains and flowing to the Euphrates near Carchemish. But both rivers are north of Chaldea. In the region itself, ancient Chaldea has not been preserved, and a river with a similar name is unknown from the monuments. But in lower Mesopotamia, not only rivers, but also the smallest canals, were called nagar "river", as the prophet Ezekiel Khovar calls it. Raulison suggested that Khovar was a great canal in lower Mesopotamia, connecting the Euphrates with the Tigris, and called nar-malha "royal river"; at the time of Pliny, there was a legend that this canal was dug by the head of the region named Govar (Knabenbauer, Ezechiel propheta 1890). More light on Khovar's location is shed by the discovery made by Hilprecht in 1893 in Niffer'e, ancient Nitzpur, to the south-east. from Babylon; in the tables of treaties found by him here (and published in The babylonian expedition of the university of Pensilvania) from the times of Artaxerxes I (464-424) and Darius II (423-405) is called twice naru ka ba-ru, as the name of a large shipping canal, lying at Nippur; it is assumed that this is the current Shat-el-Nil, representing an ancient canal, 36 m wide; it leaves the Euphrates of Babylon, flows to the southeast, flows through the middle of Niffer "a and flows back into the Euphrates at Warka, the ancient Erech (Uruk). "Kabaru" in Assyrian means "great"; the name indicates that it was one of the main prominent ways of Babylonia. The form "Kevar" instead of "Kavar" is explained by the dialectical pronunciation of the name, as from the Babyl. Puratu, Persian. Ifrat in Hebrew became Perat (Euphrates) or this form is due to the punctators, who kvr vocalized on the familiar Perat .

"The heavens opened." “Understand the opening of the heavens as not happening as a result of the division of the firmament, but according to the faith of the believer, in the sense that heavenly mysteries were revealed to him” (Blessed Jerome). From the description of the Khovar vision, it is not clear that the sky in proper sense as at the baptism of Christ, before St. Stephen, Paul, John the Theologian; rather, a heavenly vision descended to the prophet on earth; such were all the visions of Ezekiel: they were heavenly scenes, but on earth (VIII-XI, XL-LIV). The expression refers not so much to the Khovar vision, which the prophet will begin to describe only from v. 4, but to the nature of all the activities of the prophet: starting a book, the distinguishing feature of which is visions, it was natural for him to warn the reader about this and note from what time this series began visions and the sky opened before him. This meaning and purpose of this expression is confirmed by the following. sentence: "and I saw visions of God", where pl. h. shows that the prophet speaks of all his visions; if Ezekiel sometimes uses pl. part of this word in relation to one vision, then only when the vision is too complex and presents a whole series of pictures, as, for example, about vision VIII-XI ch.; but about vision XL-XLIV pl. h. (in Ezek 40) only in some codes. "God's" can mean "which God produces" (genitivus subjecti), as well as "in whom one sees God" (gen. objecti).

Ezekiel 1:2. In the fifth day month (this was the fifth year from the captivity of King Joachim)

If we keep in mind that 1 tbsp. does not yet speak about the vision of Chebar, but in general about the beginning and nature of the prophetic activity of Ezekiel, then Art. 2 and 3 will not include those seemingly insurmountable difficulties (ch. o. repetitions) that make one suspect the authenticity of the entire beginning of the chapter (Corneille strikes out verse 1, others verse 2, etc.). Could the prophet begin the description of his first vision in a simpler and clearer way with the words: “on (that mentioned above) the fifth day of the month - it was the 5th year from the captivity of King Jehoiakim - the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, etc.? From the usual (stereotypical) beginning of the prophetic books, Ezekiel made only that slight deviation that he prefaced such a beginning with a remark (in the 1st century) regarding the abundance of visions in his book and about when and where these visions began, the sky opened before him, a remark, in view of the originality of his book is far from superfluous. Completely in the spirit of not only Jewish, but also any equally ancient language convey the concept "on the mentioned, on the named day through" the repetition of the nearest numerical designation of it. - Mysterious and maybe subjective date 1 tbsp. the prophet in this verse translates to a simpler, clearer and more objective date, from which the reader can see at what time folk life Israel was called to the prophetic ministry. Other prophets date their speeches by the years of their reigns; for Ezekiel, who lived so far from his homeland, and even then the news from there reached barely 1 1 2 years (cf. Ezekiel 33:21 and Jeremiah 39:1), it was inconvenient; besides, the kingdom of Judah soon fell. The chronology of Ezekiel sounds mournfully: years of captivity instead of years of reign!

"Joachim". Heb. Joachin, this is a shorter spelling instead of the full Jehoahin (2 Kings 24:6; 2 Chronicles 36:8 etc.). Just like in Ezekiel, this king is called in 2 Kings 25.27 and LXX there they convey it Ιωακειν, according to the glory. Joachin. This is how it should be written here. The spelling "Joachim" is erroneous and probably arose from the confusion of this king with his father Joachim. In the book of the prophet Jeremiah, this name is already written to Jehoniah, in LXX Ιοχανιαξ (Jer 24.1), as they have here; the difference came from the fact that the name of God, which is part of this word (it means "God will strengthen"), is placed here at the end of the word, and there at the beginning. The wording of this name "Jeconiah" has now become common. The captivity of Jeconiah followed in the year 8 of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 21.12), and Nebuchadnezzar came to the throne in 604 BC; track. Jeconiah (with Ezekiel, etc.) was taken into captivity in 597-598, and Ezekiel was called in 592-593.

Ezekiel 1:3. the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the son of Buziah, a priest, in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was upon him.

"It was the word of the Lord." No matter how wonderful and unparalleled in the entire Old Testament history was the vision of the prophet Ezekiel on the river. Howar, this vision was of the greatest importance to him, not because of its extraordinaryness, but because through this vision he was called to his ministry, that it made him a prophet; through him God spoke to him for the first time in the same voice with which he spoke to his prophets. The expression “the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel” sounds solemnly, put here so apparently out of place. After such an expression, the reader expects a statement of what exactly God said to the prophet - and instead, a terrible picture of vision unfolds before him, and the reader begins to understand that the word of the Lord that the prophet heard was originally a silent word, a word without words. but all the more stunning and powerful. For the purposes of this solemnity, the expression "was" in Heb. expressed twice, through the indefinite with the indicative, as in Genesis 18.18: “Abraham will be great in language” - an emphatic (enhanced, energetic) turn, which for some reason is not transmitted here as in Gen., in LXX. The solemnity of speech also explains the fact that the prophet here (cf. Ezekiel 24:24) replaces the personal pronoun “I”, which he used to designate himself in verse 1, with his own name and, moreover, with the addition of the name of the father and even the title of priest: “to Ezekiel, son of Buzios, a priest."

The name "Ezekiel" is not in the appendix to the real prophet (who is not named anywhere in the Old Testament, except for Sir. 49.10) is found only in 1 Chr. in Greek Εζεκηλ). The name (exact pronunciation - Yekhetskel, in Hebrew jargon - Khatskel) consists of a verb hazak"to be strong" and the name of God Ate(Elohim) and means (like the name Hezekiah from “chazak” and “Jehovah”): “God is strength”, “God will do, make or make strong”; Origen (homil in Ez. 1) explains it as "the dominion of God", and in Hieron. onom. sacr. (II, 12) it is explained as "God's brave" or "possessing God." “The name contains the beliefs of pious parents at the birth of their son” (Krech.). It meant that “Ezekiel will not have the tenderness and sweetness of his contemporary Jeremiah, but for that he will have amazing strength of mind (cf. in the same place with the name “Isaiah” - “God's salvation”. Gaffnik). Perhaps it was the name of the prophet not from birth, but the official one, adopted when he received a call from God (Gengstenberg. Die Weissangungen des Pr. Ezechiels erklarte, 1867–1868). A hint of the prophet's name is found in Ezekiel 3.8. The name of Ezekiel's father Buzios means "neglected", indicating, perhaps, the low position that the family of the prophet occupied for some reason in Jerusalem (contrary to the assertion of some, based on Ezekiel 44.10-14, that the prophet belonged to the aristocratic priestly family of the Sadokids, who occupied best places); the opinion of the rabbis is not based on anything, that Buzios is identical with Jeremiah, who received such a nickname from those who were dissatisfied with his denunciations.

Application "to the priest" grammatically in Heb. lang. can be attributed both to the nearest noun "Buzius" and to Ezekiel. LXX, Jeron, and all ancient translations refer him to Ezekiel, and rightly so, because the prophet himself, and not his father, must be immediately identified (cf. Jer 1:1, 28:1). If Ezekiel did not pass the office of a priest, then that the title was inseparable from him due to his descent from Levi through a known line. With Jeconiah the priests were taken into captivity (Jer. 29:1). The priestly origin of the prophet explains much in his book; but the prophet mentions him not only because, but also because he valued this title.

"In the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chebar." The repeated indication of the prophet to the place where his calling followed is one of the main grounds for the critic to suspect the integrity of 1, 2 and 3 vv. Indeed, in 3 tbsp. this indication is somewhat unexpected. Ewald (Die Propheten des Alten Bundes. 2 Aus. 2 B. Jeremja und Heseqiel, 1868) explains this repetition by the fact that when the book was written, the prophet already lived in a different place.

And the hand of the Lord was upon him there. This expression is used in the Bible about every direct, miraculous and especially strong influence of God on a person (1 Kings 18.46; 2 Chr. 30.12; 2 Kings 3.15; Ezek. 3.14; Acts 13.11); but in Ezekiel it invariably precedes the description of each of his visions (Eze 1.3; Eze 3.22; Eze 8.1; Eze 37.1; Eze 40.1); track. he uses it to designate his state at the onset of a vision (ecstasy), as produced clearly by the direct power of God and somewhat difficult for a person (cf. Dan 10.8 and the expression of the psalms: “the hand of the Lord weighed heavily on me”).

Ezekiel 1:4. And I saw, and behold, a stormy wind came from the north, a great cloud and swirling fire, and a radiance around it,

The description of the mysterious vision of the prophet on the river begins. How are. This vision, in which the prophet is shown heavenly beings (cherubim) and their transcendental activity and relations, was revealed by purely earthly phenomena, natural phenomena, although reaching an unusual and even impossible degree in the natural course of nature: a stormy wind, a large cloud (cloud) and the appearance of what some special fire. All these phenomena can be combined into the concept of a storm, which the prophet himself uses as a definition for the first of these phenomena - the wind (“stormy”). It goes without saying that the real vision of God was preceded not by a simple and natural storm, but by a storm that can be called the storm of theophany. Such a storm was accompanied or preceded by many theophanys in the Old Testament, namely the most important of them - Sinai (Ex 19.16-18), the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 19.11-12); God also spoke to Job out of the storm (Job 38:1; cf. Zech 9:14; Ps 49:3). The appearance of a storm before and during the Epiphany is understandable. If God can appear and be in a certain place on earth, then the earth in that place, like man, if not completely unable, then at least with difficulty can endure the presence of God on it; in the place where God "descends" nature cannot be confused. - The shock and shudder of nature during the epiphany is expressed primarily in the wind, which is nothing but excitement, trembling of the air. Therefore, epiphanies are often accompanied, like the present, by the wind: so the wind was accompanied by the appearance of God in paradise after the fall (“and coolness”, like the Slavic “afternoon” inaccurate translation of Heb. laruakh- “with the wind” in Genesis 3.8), theophany to David during one battle with the Philistines (1 Chronicles 14.14-15), the appearance of Elijah on Horeb. In Art. 12 we will see that the wind seen by the prophet on Chebar had such an extraordinary quality that the name of the wind can hardly be applied to it and LXX was translated here Heb. ruach not ανεμος "wind" as in Eze 13.11, but πνευμα, "spirit".

"He came from the north." Since God himself, the Glory of the Lord (v. 28), went to the prophet in the wind (v. 28), all interpreters consider, not without reason, the fact that this wind came from the north to be very significant, but they explain it differently. 1) The majority thinks that the north is taken as a place from where the most disastrous invasions were made against the Jews, from where even now an attack by Nebuchadnezzar threatened; cf. Jer 1:13-14. But the prophet is in the moment of vision precisely in the very north from where Nebuchadnezzar's invasion was being prepared; the north in relation to this north will already be Media and other regions, from where nothing threatened Judea at that time. 2) Others think that the reference to the north refers to the then widespread opinion that in the northern part of the sky there is an entrance to the dwelling and castle of the gods; since the course of the sun makes it appear that the south is inclined downwards, the north appears to be higher and its own high mountains- Lebanon, the Caucasus - reaching the sky. Usually the ancients imagined the gods living on one of these mountains, propping up the sky under the very pole (the Greeks on Olympus). This mountain, they say, was meant by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 14:13-14 (cf. Ps 17:3; Job 37:22; Job 38:1; Eze 28:14). But if a mountain existed and was known to the Jews, with which such beliefs of the pagan East were connected, then such a mountain could only be imagined by every pious Jew as a place of special action of dark forces, a mountain of demons (which are the gods of the pagans); could the ancient Jew think Jehovah came from such a mountain? 3) Finally, they think that the prophet represents Jehovah coming to him from His dwelling place in Jerusalem, which has not yet been abandoned (cf. X-XI ch.), from the temple. But Jerusalem is west of Babylon, not north.

The question will be somewhat illuminated if we compare this case of the appearance of the Glory of God with other cases of its appearance. In at least some of these cases, God chose a deliberately known direction for his procession on earth, and in the choice of these directions one cannot fail to notice some correct alternation and sequence. So before the prophet Ezekiel and his epoch, so critical for Israel, the holy. writers, if they ever talk about where the Lord and His glory come from, they always indicate the south as such a place: Deut 33.2; Abb 3.3. At the end of the book of Ezekiel, where the prophet speaks of the glorious future of St. earth, the distant future, the Glory of the Lord, heading for a new temple for eternal dwelling in it, is already coming from the East Only from the west, the land of darkness and evil, the Lord never came.

"Great Cloud" God repeatedly appeared on earth in a cloud: thus He led Israel through the wilderness, was present in the tabernacle (Ex. 40.34:38, cf. Ezek. 33.9-10) and in the temple (1 Kings 8.10-11). The participation of the cloud in the epiphany had the meaning that God closed himself with it from those to whom he appeared. In this case, as in Sinai (Judg. 5.4; Ps. 67.9-10), the theophanic cloud was part of the storm that accompanied the epiphany (cf. Job 38.1), it was the cloud of this storm. But of course, as much as the storm of theophany surpassed an ordinary storm, so much the theophanic cloud surpassed a simple, even the largest cloud (the prophet makes it clear by the definition of “great”), surpassed a) in density, reaching the complete immersion of the earth in darkness (Ps 17:10, 12:96:2; Joel 2:2; Zeph 1:15; Deut 4:11, 5:22; Heb 12:18); b) lowness above the earth, reaching a complete sinking to the earth (Ps 17.10, etc.), why such a cloud, next. and the present, should have looked like a tornado. (Cook in The Holy Bible 1876 puts this word in the text of Ezek); hence the addition LXX about this cloud is understandable, that it was "in it", that is, in the wind, circled and rushed by it.

"And swirling fire." Together with the wind and the cloud, he went to the prophet and the fire. These were three great whole visions, equal to each other, terrible each in itself and terrible in their combination. They explain differently the definition given by the prophet to this fire - according to Heb. mitlakahat(Russian "swirling"). This word is found only in Exodus 9, and also in application to fire, which, instead of hail, the 7th plague of Egypt, poured over the earth. LXX, translating this word εξαστραπτων, "shine" (lightning fire), they think that this is frequent lightning; but to denote lightning in Heb. lang. there is a special word barrack, used all the time even in the psalms with their figurative language. Mitlakahat reciprocal form of a verb varnishes"take". But it is difficult to find a meaning for such a form of this verb. The majority, including our Russian translation of the Bible, following the Vulgate, understand this form from the verb varnishes about appearance, the outline, the image of the burning of fire, that it was a swirling, curling, curling fire, and not spilling (perhaps they say that the clubs of fire made their way all over the cloud): others - constantly arising here and there. These explanations sin against the meaning of the verb varnishes, which never loses its basic meaning “to take” and in no way can it have such a remote and artificial meaning as the Russian “take”, in the sense of “cling to each other”, “make a circle”. And about fire varnishes can have only one meaning - "cover" the burning substance, "devour it"; and the fire that went to the prophet could not but burn something, and this should be said in the definition given to fire. Since this fire went to the prophet, as the wind and the cloud went, everything that was in its path burned with it, and the next. the very path of wind and clouds; it covered their common road (hence, mutually - return form); it was a trace. the same fiery river that flowed in Daniel's vision before the throne of God. Like wind and cloud, it did not arise from a natural cause, but would ignite from the descent of God, and it would burn the place through which God passed. So once burned Mount Sinai "descent for the sake of God's nanny", the path along which God passed before Elijah in Horeb, the thorn bush from which God made a revelation to Moses; fire and smoke passed between the dissected parts of animals during the epiphany to Abraham (Genesis 15.17); when God is called a "consuming fire," for example, this sign of His appearance is meant. In such a fire, as in a wind, a thunderstorm, an earthquake, the shock of nature is manifested when God appears in it: in the air this shock produces a strong, stormy wind; the earth shakes and shakes from the appearance of God; the waters are agitated and noisy (Hab 3.10); combustible substances ignite and burn. It is known that the last coming of God to earth will be in "flaming fire." (2 Thess 1.8).

“And the radiance around him,” that is, the fire spread radiance around itself. In order for this remark not to be idle, it must be assumed that the prophet wants to draw attention to the special brightness and strength of the radiance spread by the fire described above, and also to the fact that this radiance stood out too sharply in the darkness with which the huge cloud of the Epiphany enveloped the surroundings. In the LXX, this remark appears before the words "fire shine," where it seems to be more appropriate; then the pronoun "his" ("around him") would refer to the cloud, and not to the fire, which it cannot refer to in Heb. t. due to its grammatical gender - masculine.

Ezekiel 1:5. and from the midst of it, as it were, the light of a flame from the midst of fire; and from the middle of it was seen the likeness of four animals, and such was their appearance: their appearance was like that of a man;

"From the midst of it." What is "his"? In Heb. here the pronoun is female. R.; track. "his" cannot be attributed to the nearest noun "radiance", which in Heb. m. r.; cannot be attributed to the "fire", which is too far away; moreover, the fire 4, as we saw, covered the earth under the phenomenon moving on it, and the radiance, the light of v. 5. shone, as verse 27 shows, God sitting above the firmament; the pronoun cannot be attributed to the noun. "cloud" which is even further and m. What noun should it refer to? To none.

As we shall see further in verse 5, the feminine pronoun in the preposition "from the midst" replaces the nonexistent one in Heb. lang. pronoun of the middle gender: “out of the midst of this”, “out of the midst of all this”, of everything the prophet had seen hitherto, “the light of the flame” shone.

"Light of the Flame", glory. "vision of the ilektra" is both a conjectural translation of Heb. gene hashmal, of which the second word is ΄απαξ λεγομενον (found only in Ezekiel and in this connection). The focus of everything seen so far was something that had the appearance (the Slavic “vision” is more precise than the Russian “light”), gene hashmal "I. The prophet could not say that it had a "likeness" demuth or real appearance, outlines mare hashmal; but only "like a gene." Being words identical in outline with the word "eye", which differs only in pronunciation (gain), gene used about a small surface, about a shiny point: maybe gene precious stone (Ezek. 1.16), sparkling metal (Ezek. 1.7), scabs of leprosy (Lev. 13.2), sparkling in a vat of wine (Prov. 23.31). Meaning gene the approximate meaning of the mysterious word is also predicted hashmal(Russian transl. "flame", Slav. "ilektra"). It must mean some small, shiny object, sparkling and sparkling in the light and fire surrounding it. But what kind of subject it was, all the efforts of the interpreters to say something about it ended in almost nothing. Only in two places is the word still used by the prophet, and in both cases when describing the appearance of the One who appeared to him in a vision. Having the general likeness of a man, the one who appeared to the prophet shone all over and shone like fire, and above the loins, like hashmal(Ezekiel 1.27) and how zohar, "radiance", "luminaries" (Ezekiel 8.2). then. the radiance of the fire and the luminaries seemed to the prophet insufficient for them to form an idea of ​​the light that he saw: this light stood out and shone brightly on the field of the fire itself (“out of the middle of the fire”), differed in some shade from the light of the fire and surpassed him: they shone with the upper part of the image of the Appearing One, m. b. His very face and body (as opposed to clothing, which could be fiery). They wanted to compose the concept of hashmal according to the etymology of the word, but she herself is a mystery. In Heb. there is no root close to this word in the language; but such a root is sought in related languages ​​and on this basis they attach the meaning to the word: “golden copper” (cf. 1 Ezr 8.27), “polished copper”, “amber”, “hot or shiny metal”, consider the word the ancient name of gold (Meyer) or pure fire, without smoke (some of the latest rabbis). Recent discoveries are beginning to shed light on the mysterious "hashmal" of the prophet Ezekiel. In the list of booty taken by Thutmes III from Nagar in the north. Syria (the list is placed on the tables found in the ruins of Karnak), "ashmer" or "ashmal" is mentioned. Reminds me of "hashmal" and assir. "eshmaru", which is placed next to gold, silver, precious stones and royal regalia brought by Asurbanipal after the conquest of Susa from the treasures of this city. All this allows us to say so far about hashmal that it was some kind of large and rare jewel, not inferior to gold and precious stones. In the prophet Ezekiel, it is indeed placed infinitely higher than topaz (more precisely, some precious stone "tarshish", which in turn was placed much higher than gold - see Ezekiel 1.16) and higher than sapphire (see 26). LXX, probably also not understanding this word, like Pescito and the Targum (leaving it without translation), decided to translate it ηλεκτρον for the following reasons, probably: they, like the current interpreters, rightly thought that this word means what - either a jewel and most likely a metal of high value; on the basis of Dan 10.6 (cf. Mk 9.3; Mt 28.3) they could believe that the light seen in this case by the prophet, and different from the red light of fire, was a light of lightning. But if we compare this light with the light (brilliance) emitted by some metal, then no comparison will be more accurate than a comparison with an electrum. imagining a mix 3 4 or 4 5 gold from 1 4 or 1 5 silver, this alloy was highly valued in antiquity, almost more expensive than gold (Plinius, Hist nat. XXIX, 4; Strabo 3:146), probably due to the difficulty of its preparation and beauty; in the dazzling sparkle of gold, through such an admixture, a quiet and meek brilliance of silver was added, just as “how the unbearable radiance of the Divinity was tempered in Christ by His union with humanity” (Blessed Jer).

"From the middle of the fire." This addition, following the Vulgate, which translates it: "id est de medio ignis", is considered by some to be an explanation for the expression: "from the middle of it" (at the beginning of the verse), made by the prophet himself; but that would be a pleonasm unheard of in Ezekiel. Therefore, others believe that hashmal was, as it were, on fire; but noble metals melt in fire, and do not become hot; and was there metal hashmal? These words take on their most natural meaning in the light of v. 27: according to this verse hashmal it shone precisely from the midst of the fire, but not the fire of v. 4, and another mass of fire, which, like a robe, was clothed by him who sat on the throne. – LXX after “out of the middle of the fire” they have an addition: “and light in it”, made according to 26 st., where more precisely from Heb. it will be: “and light to him”, or “he has” (lo), i.e.: “a hashmal, ilektr was something (strongly) luminous, full of light, woven from light and brilliance.”

"And from the midst of it." The pronoun "his" in Heb. female R. here, as at the beginning of the verse, replaces cf. R. and means: “out of the midst of all this,” i.e., everything that the prophet had seen hitherto, mysterious animals were seen: the wind carried them (v. 12), the cloud enveloped them, the fire was kindled under them (v. 4) and between them (v. 13), ilektr - hashmal shone over their heads (v. 27, cf. 22). Slav. “in the middle” (without a pronoun) is not a discrepancy, but a skillful translation of an expression so obscure in Russian. per.

"Similarity". Heb. demuth can mean the most distant, indefinite similarity, bordering on the opposite (Is 40.18-19 about the likeness of pagan gods to God), Western biblical scholars do not even dare to translate this word as a noun, but translate it descriptively: “something as if”, “something like”; a closer likeness is signified in Ezekiel by other words, for example, mare ("view"); “Demuth” the prophet uses about parts of the vision that are less noticeable and clear, which at the same time turn out to be the most important: about the faces of animals, about the wheels, about the throne and the One sitting on it. Therefore, how far the similarity of the creatures seen by the prophet Ezekiel with animals extended, the word demut does not allow to say. If the figures seen by the prophet were barely distinguishable, if they had indefinite outlines (contours, silhouettes) barely visible, the prophet could say that he saw the “demut” of animals. To what extent the figures of animals were not clearly visible to the prophet, at least at first, shows that before 10 st. he cannot determine what kind of animals they were.

There were "four" mysterious animals that appeared to the prophet Ezekiel. This number is symbolic, which is already evident from the persistence with which it is carried out in this vision: 4 not only animals, 4 and the faces of each of the animals, 4 wings, 4 wheels. 4 is a symbol of spatial fullness, since it embraces all the countries of the world; therefore the body seen by Nebuchadnezzar and signifying world monarchies has 4 constituent parts; the prophet Daniel sees 4 beasts and their appearance is preceded by a struggle on the sea of ​​4 winds (Dan. 7); according to Ezekiel 14:21, if God wants to destroy any people, then he sends 4 plagues on him; the spirit that quickened the dry bones in Ezekiel's vision came from the 4 winds (Ezek 37:9). Being the number of spatial completeness, 4 is therefore also a symbol of completeness, completion, filling, exhaustion, like 7 eternity, infinity (space and time). As such, these numbers are applied to the calculation of the highest spirits - cherubim and archangels. Remarkable is not the large number of these closest servants of the throne of God, as opposed to thousands upon thousands and dozens of those angels. - The “animals” that appeared to the prophet were cherubim, as the prophet later found out, when repeating the vision (in ch. 1, therefore, he does not call them cherubim anywhere), and he recognized m. b. from the fact that God himself called these animals before him cherubim (Ezekiel 10.2). The image of animals for cherubim could be chosen instead of the human one, because the animal must have a more complete, strong and concentrated sense of life itself and existence than a person, in whom this feeling is weakened by consciousness, reflection; and as such, an animal can be a symbol, better than a human image, of the most complete bearers of created life - the cherubim. In addition, the life of animals is more mysterious for us than our life; therefore, serving as a symbol of a full and strong life, animals can also serve as a good symbol of a mysterious life; hence the representation of the Messiah in the form of a lamb, a bronze serpent, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.

The expression "and such was their appearance - their appearance was like that of a man" means that in the creatures that appeared to the prophet there was as much likeness to animals as to man. The prophet expresses by this the general impression of the beings who appeared to him. Therefore, it is unfair to look here for indications of certain particulars in their figure; so they say that the real expression of the prophet obliges everything in the figure of beings to think human, excluding those listed below (wings, legs), - therefore, for example, the body of creatures should be represented vertical, not horizontal (Bertholet), the body unfeathered and hairless (Gitzig) . Since the cherubim were as much like animals as they were like a man, their body had to be both vertical and horizontal; how a combination of such positions is possible is shown by the winged figures of lions and oxen with a human body discovered in Assyro-Babylonia. The impression from such creatures could not but be amazing, and the sacred horror is felt here in the lines of the prophet, the horror is not surprising, if we take into account that the prophet was in contact with the nearest sphere of the Divine and saw the highest angelic spheres (and angels could not be seen by a person without a strong shock his being).

Ezekiel 1:6. and each has four faces, and each of them has four wings;

The face is the most important part of the body, most distinguishing each creature from other creatures, a part so essential that in many languages ​​the face is a synonym for the creature itself. Therefore, the assimilation of 4 persons by the cherubs means, first of all, their inaccessible elevation above the limited human precision (“four faces denote something divine in the cherubs.” Riehm, De natura et notione symbobica cheruborum, 1864, 21). With that singularity, which is the distinguishing feature of our personality and consciousness, the cherubim unite, in an incomprehensible way, the multiplicity in their personality. Then, thanks to so many faces in the cherubs, there could be no difference in sides - there could not be front, back and sides (Macarius the Great, conversation 1). Further, thanks to this, they could look simultaneously in all directions and, therefore, always see everything, which indicated the special height of their knowledge, reminiscent of God's omniscience. Finally, thanks to the four faces, the cherubim could go without turning around to each country of the world, which gave them exclusive power over spatial restrictions, signified their greater, in comparison with other creatures, their freedom from spatial boundaries, reminiscent of the omnipresence of God. Since the four-faced structure of the cherubim was designed so that they would be able to go in any direction without turning, this goal could be achieved only if they had not only a face in the proper sense on each of their 4 sides, but and wings and legs, then the word “face” here by the prophet denotes not only the front part of the head, but the front part of the whole body (in Hebrew it was said: the face of the earth, the face of the field, the face of the clothes Gen 2.6; Ex. 10, etc. ).

The wings of the creatures who appeared to the prophet were supposed to direct his thoughts to their sphere of habitation - the heavenly (for the wings of the birds are called heavenly in the Bible: Gen 1.26; Ps 8.9, etc.) and show that this is their real, own sphere, like the sphere of birds - air , and fish - water. The wings of the seraphim and the cherubim are intended to show that both are inseparable from heaven and cannot be imagined without it, that the earth is a sphere completely alien to them, into which they can only temporarily descend, while the angels, who are nowhere in St. Wings are not assimilated in Scripture, they have a closer relationship to the earth. The wing serves the bird not only for flight, but also as a cover from external influences both for herself and especially for her chicks - the purpose of the wing, on which the Bible especially loves to stop (Ruth 2.12; Ps 62.8, etc.). And the wings of the cherubs had to have such a purpose. With two lowered wings, the cherubim covered their body (v. 11, 23); and with two outstretched ones they covered, no doubt, the same things that they covered with their outstretched wings, the cherubim of the tabernacle and the temple; and these latter covered the lid of the Ark of the Covenant with their wings, as a place of revelation of the Glory of God (hence the epithet “cherub overshadowing” Ezekiel 28.14, etc.); the cherubim of Ezekiel's vision also covered with their outstretched wings from the earth that vault on which stood the throne of God (v. 23). - The fourfold number of wings of the cherubim, by its inconsistency with the usual number of wings of earthly creatures that have them, indicated a special elevation of their sphere of habitation. Such a number of wings was also unexpected in comparison with the image of the previous representation of cherubim and seraphim: the cherubim of the tabernacle and the temple had 2 wings each, and the seraphim of Isaiah had 6. According to the generally accepted explanation, the cherubim have no other pair of wings, since they have the sole purpose of overshadowing the Ark, and not the movement of the Glory of God, as in Ezekiel; on the other hand, the cherubim of the prophet Ezekiel, being under the throne of God as its bearers, did not need the 3rd pair of wings to cover their faces; in the Apocalypse, the cherubim, being not under the throne of God, but around it, already have 6 wings each.

Ezekiel 1:7. and their feet were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of a bull's feet, and shone like bright bronze (and their wings were light).

The Prophet points out 3 features of the legs of mysterious animals. 1) The first feature - the straightness of the leg - is usually understood in such a way that the legs of animals did not have knee bends and even no vertebrae and joints; this is how the expression and LXX understood, translating here freely: “and their shins (part instead of the whole) are right”; the fragile structure of all the connections that the human and animal legs represent was superfluous for those creatures that could move without the aid of walking (wings, wheels); therefore, the legs of the cherubim could have the advantages of perfect straightness, which imparted to the legs a special hardness and strength, which they needed so much in view of the fact that their owners bore a great, unimaginable burden - the glory (in Heb. "kebod" - "weight") of Jehovah. The legs of the cherubim did not bend, and did not bow, raising their thoughts with this quality to the spiritual stamina and power of those to whom they belonged. 2) The second feature of the legs was according to Heb. text in their foot, which looked like a calf's foot. thus, the cherubim in the lowest and secondary part of their figure had the likeness of a calf. In the Old Testament, after the lamb, the calf is the first sacrificial animal, the sacrificial animal, so to speak, ad honorem, the sacrifice of special honor, which the high priest and “the whole society” offered for themselves, moreover, in cases of exceptional importance - for involuntary sin (Lev. 4) and when he and others have the right and need in special closeness to God - on the day of purification (Lev. 16); this is a trace. the sacrifice of a bold approach to God, a special exaltation to Him, on which only one of the people or the whole people, as one whole, can count. Even the entire community of the sons of Israel, which is left to atone for their sin, like the high priest, with a calf (Lev. 4.14), when (exactly on the day of purification) it atones for its sin with this sacrifice and enters into a terrible closeness to God, the high priest already offers a goat for the sin ( Lev. 5.15). Tempered and ascending with the smoke of its burning to heaven, the calf is one of the sacrificial animals, as it were, representing the chosen one of God before the very throne of God (in the highest celestial sphere, i.e., exactly where the area of ​​action of the cherubim already begins). The Jew represented the victim of a happy, fertile future in the form of calves (Ps 50.21); Let us also remember: “And it will be pleasing to God more than a young calf, wearing horns and brads” (Ps 69:32). It is unfair to think that the cherubim needed the foot of the calf because of its round shape, due to which it always faces in all directions, while the human foot only in one direction, which made it possible for the cherubim to move in all directions without turning in one direction or another. If we speak of the conveniences of moving in different directions, then the human foot, although turned in one direction, should take the first place; if needed here round form for such reasons, then on what basis should the hoof of a calf (not an ox!) be preferred over a mass of homogeneous hooves? - LXX in this place give a completely different idea: ... and the feathers πτερωτοι) of their feet. Greek πτερωτοι can mean winged, with wings (aligerus) or feathered, feathered (pennatus). All interpreters unanimously consider here the Hebrew reading to be more correct, and the LXX discrepancy is declared by the fact that the Alexandrian translators thought it incredible and tempting that the cherubs had the feet of a bull in view of the sad significance that the bull was destined to have in the history of Israel. Although the Masoretic reading of the present sentence, as we have seen, gives an idea that is not only quite possible, but also one that exudes mystery and grandeur, yet it cannot be said that the thought given by LXX was not impossible and did not have its advantages - moreover, both at the first and at the second meaning “feathered”. The wings on the legs of the cherubim could symbolize their speed, show that the cherubim on their feet did not run, but flew (it is true that the cherubim were equipped with wings in the usual place of the latter - at the shoulders - v. 8, next, there was no need for wings on the legs; Mercury only has wings on its legs.) In the same way, the feathered legs of the cherubim could have the same meaning as the featheredness of birds - to make the body light and enable it to soar in the air (although this goal would have been achieved to the smallest extent by the feathering of legs alone). And so, reading LXX already from its inner side, from the side of its thought, admits objections. Moreover, by accepting it, the emergence of the Masoretic reading cannot be explained, while the first of the second is easier to explain. LXX, finding, for well-known reasons, a comparison with a calf inconvenient and unlikely in the mouth of a prophet, they could decide here to freely convey the thought of the prophet; they thought that by comparing the feet of the cherubs with the feet of a calf, the prophet wanted to designate their speed: they could convey the concept of “quick” through πτερωτος in order to strengthen and poetically decorate thought. Apart from the LXX, other ancient translations did not read "calf" here: the Targum and Akila read "round" (Hegel-calf was vocalized as gogol "round"): but Symmachus, Pescito and the Vulgate agree with the Masoretes. 3) The third feature of the legs of the cherubim was that they sparkled (nocecime; cf. Isaiah 1.31; LXX: σπινθηρες "sparks"; Russian translation inaccurately "sparkled"), like some special kind of copper - kalal(Russian translation presumably: "brilliant"). To that sea of ​​light and fire by which the cherubim were surrounded, having fire under (v. 4) and between them (v. 13) and the unbearable radiance of the Godhead over their heads (v. 27), the intermittent, fickle, and generally weak light of the spark could not add nothing; track. the spark is brought here not for the lighting effect. Since sparks are produced by known objects when other objects act on them, the sparks from the feet of the cherubs were a sign that the latter were being influenced by alien influences. In order to approach the prophet, the cherubim had to be on earth, walk or fly over it, enter its sphere, but this sphere is completely alien to them, more alien than to other angels, since their life and activity is the very throne of God and its footstool. ; their contact with the earthly sphere, which is completely alien to them, can be compared with that rough touch on an object, which gives a spark from it. The appearance of a spark from the feet of the cherubim should have testified to the extraordinary strength and speed of their movement, as well as to the special strength of their feet, which should not have been inferior to the strength of metal or stone. The Prophet also adds that, judging by the sparks, one could think (“like”) that the legs of the animals were of a special grade of copper. Usually, in comparing the feet of cherubs with copper, they look for indications of the extraordinary brilliance of these feet. But can copper, even if it be the best, give a brilliance that would suit this vision, where everything shines with a light hardly comparable to anything else and shines better than the best types of precious stones? The prophet should not speak about the brilliance of the legs, but about their iron fortress (hence the straightness of the legs). At that time, the place of iron was replaced by copper (Is 45.2, etc.). Not inferior to iron in strength, copper has always been considered more noble, more elegant than iron, and therefore suitable for comparison here (as in Dan 10.6; Rev. 1.15). The foregoing predicates the approximate meaning of that most precise definition of copper "dripped", which Rus. per. conveys through the "brilliant", glory. "shiny" (i.e., lightning-like, obviously from v. 4), both presumably, as in other ancient translations (Vulg. aes candens, like the Targum; Pescito and Arabic. like LXX). It is impossible to look, as interpreters usually do, in the word kalal concepts of brilliance, radiance (since kalal means “light”, then, they say, it can also mean “bright”, because light is lighter than darkness (!), Or “polished” from the meaning “to be light, mobile”), and the concepts of hardness, strength, indestructibility; basic meaning of the word kalal it was “to make small, insignificant” (Genesis 16:4-5, etc.); in this sense, this word could easily be applied to red-hot metal, that is, placed in fire, which destroys it, crushes it, but cannot destroy it; this meaning of the word is confirmed by the meaning of the word "galil", "fin", "crucible" (cf. calere, "fire"). - In LXX 7th verse has against Heb. increase; “light (ελαφροι) of their wings”, i.e. mobile (m. b.: elastic). Since the wing is essentially movable, this remark can make sense only if this quality in real wings reached a significant, conspicuous degree. The prophet is at LXX and wants to say that the wings of the cherubs were in constant motion; they were alien to that peace into which ordinary wings must at times sink to rest. If such quality of wings does not contradict Art. 24s. 25b, then they would secretly indicate the sphere of habitation and activity of the cherubim, which is not the solid earth, where you can stand and fold your wings, but the above-ground and above-world spaces, where you can only soar.

Ezekiel 1:8. And the hands of men were under their wings, on their four sides;

Since “hands” determine the possibility of activity for a person and this most sharply distinguishes him from animals, for which, due to the absence of hands, activity is impossible, but only life (nutrition), the assimilation of hands by cherubim aims to designate their ability to activity similar to human activities. It could not but be terrible and amazing for the gaze of the prophet, this combination of the subtlety of human actions with the elemental power of the animal. In the definition of "human", as if superfluous with "hands", one can see pleonasm or an echo of some surprise on the part of the prophet before the fact of the presence of hands here. Since the creatures that appeared to the prophet Ezekiel were winged, the natural place of the hands in their body was occupied by wings, and the prophet, to the natural perplexity of the reader, where the hands of the cherubim could be, notices that they "were under their wings." - In view of the silence of the prophet about the number of hands of each cherub, a question arose from the interpreters about this, and the hands numbered from 1 to 16 for each cherub. There could not have been more than two hands on each side of the four-faced cherub, because otherwise the number of hands would have receded from the human ones, and the prophet had to say about it. But how many hands the cherub should have in this case, such a question cannot be raised, because the prophet could not simultaneously see all 4 sides of the cherub (and probably only one), and what he did not see did not exist, so how here we are dealing with a vision, and not with external reality.

Ezekiel 1:9. and their faces and their wings are all four; their wings touched one another; during their procession, they did not turn around, but walked each in the direction of his face.

The words "and their faces and their wings - all four" in its direct sense (that none of the 4 cherubim had faces and wings) would conclude a completely superfluous thought; therefore, the Targum conveys them: “and their faces and their wings were the same among the four of them,” which was already self-evident and it was superfluous for the prophet to say; Peshito and Vulgate Heb. learbagtam“at four of them” is translated “on their four sides”, which does not give a new idea compared to 6 tbsp. and is bought at the cost of inserting a new concept of "side" into the text. It is best to see in this expression the peculiar Heb. language and Ezekiel’s favorite turnover is “nominative independent”: “as for their faces and wings, they were the same for all 4 (cherubim): their wings touched one another,” etc. After the prophet in Art. 5-8 spoke about the faces, wings, legs and arms of the cherubs, he now describes the most important parts of the body - the faces and wings - more closely; “In this way, the prophet, from all parts of the figure, especially highlights the faces and wings: in those, the power of life is found mainly, in these creatures are “animals” (Gefernik).

"Their wings touched one another." The expression apparently indicates the contact of the wings of one cherub with each other, since the contact between the wings of different cherubs should have been designated more separately, i.e., it should be said that the wing of one cherub touched the wing of another. The meaning that such contact of the wings of each cherub should have with each other is also understandable: connecting one with the other on the body of a cherub, the wings would cover this body, signifying by this the complete incomprehensibility for us of the being of the cherubim, the incomprehensibility, however, is less than the incomprehensibility of the Deity, and perhaps and seraphim, whose face is inaccessible to the human eye. But the Vulgate, and almost all interpreters, are inclined to believe that it speaks of the contact of the wings of different animals, and they are inclined not without reason. The concept of "their wings" in the prophet could designate the wings and all the cherubim in the aggregate without any distinction between the wings of one from the wings of another, next. and contact is conceivable between all members of this equal union: the prophet does not say that only each of the wings (in Hebrew it would be “leish”, as in vv. 11 and 23) touched each other, and all the wings of all cherubim touched. According to Art. 11, the two wings of the cherubs were outstretched - these wings could touch the edges of the wings of other cherubs, and two wings were lowered, these wings could connect with each other on the body, closing it. The contact of individual cherubim with their wings 1) had the meaning that due to such a connection of the wings, all the cherubim, as it were, with one striving went in the same direction with the same speed; 2) could remind the prophet of the two wings of the cherubim of the Holy of Holies touching each other and show him that on these wings, as on the wings of the cherubim of the Holy of Holies, the Glory of God, the Shekinah, rests. – LXX has a different idea here: omitting the second “their wings” of Heb. i.e., they connect the verb of the present sentence (Heb. “hovers” “contacted”) as a predicate with the beginning of the verse: and their faces “and the wings of their four holding each other.” According to LXX, the prophet wants to say that the faces and wings of the creatures he saw were constantly in the same relationship, as a result of which they constituted one whole (“communion together” Ps 121.3). The four mysterious animals would thereby reveal a close connection with each other, a certain inalienability of each other. They were connected to each other in the same way that separate and independent objects on earth cannot be connected: they were connected by their faces and wings, which could never leave the same position in relation to each other. But to attribute the verb "havar" not only to the wings, but also to the faces of the cherubim, the LXX had the opportunity only due to the fact that they do not read in 9 st. "their wings". – The described position of the wings of the cherubs was so important that even the movement of the cherubs obeyed it, conformed to it. In order to maintain this position of the wings, the cherubim “did not turn around during their processions.” But this did not hinder the freedom of their movements: having 4 faces, they were at all times turned with their front side to each of the 4 countries of the world and could go all the way without turning to any of these countries, each walking in the direction of its face. The 3rd and 4th sentences of the verse have such a connection with the second. But in itself, the circumstance of which the last part of the verse speaks was of great importance. For the mysterious animals, the possibility of returning back was completely excluded by the very structure of their being. Every move they made was a move forward.

They moved only in a straight line in front of them, and not in a detour or a circle. This meant that the spiritual forces represented by these animals “never are prompted and do not retreat, but are directed further, forward” (Blessed Jerome).

They noticed (Müller, Ezechiel-Studien 1895, 15) that with this method of movement of the cherubim, they could not always move from place to place in a direct way: if the goal of their movement did not lie on the radii going from their location (o) to the four cardinal points , and at some point a, then the cherubim could move to this goal not by the shortest path along the diagonal oa, but by a roundabout, describing two legs oba or wasp. But this is not a flaw in the design of God. chariots: the vision could deliberately ignore the subtlest branches of the wind rose, since the number 4 in the Bible means the entire set of directions, and as a sign that the divine chariot was above earthly conditions and spatial boundaries. - Vatican and some other Greek. the codes give such a reading of verse 9, which eliminates from it everything that makes it so difficult to understand it, namely; “and the faces of the four of them did not turn as they walked; each in the direction of his face." But perhaps these codes “are trying to come to the aid of the somewhat unnaturally constructed exposition of Ezekiel” (Kretschmar) by eliminating its roughness and imaginary contradictions and repetitions in comparison with Art. 11 and 23.

Ezekiel 1:10. The likeness of their faces is the face of a man and the face of a lion on the right side of all four of them; and on the left side the face of a calf in all four and the face of an eagle in all four.

The prophet only now speaks about the faces of the creatures that appeared to him, having already spoken about wings, arms, legs, even feet, probably because the faces of these creatures, later than their other parts, emerged from that cloud and whirlwind, shrouded in which the cherubim went to the prophet. Perhaps these faces during the vision did not come out with all clarity and distinctness for the gaze of the prophet: clouds shrouded in thick mist, they, perhaps, loomed only with flashes of that fire that blazed between the cherubim, and those lightnings that then they cut through the darkness of the vision (v. 13). If a person cannot see the face of God at all, then the face of a cherub, the closest being to God, could not be shown to a person completely. Hence the appearance in the description of the prophet here again of the concept of “likeness”, which was not used from v. 5.

The first prophet calls "the face of a man" either by comparison with other persons in dignity or because it was the face turned by all the cherubim to him. It is clear why the lion occupies the right side, the ox the left, and the eagle the last place. The appearance of such persons in the form of cherubim is usually explained in such a way that the face of a person expresses the rationality of the creatures that have appeared, the face of a lion - their strength, the ox - strength and meekness, and the eagle - loftiness. But the strangeness of introducing the highest spirits of animals and bestial forms into the images is not weakened by this explanation; this is the secret of prophetic contemplation, on which a trace can soon shed light. considerations. The choice of animals is made in such a way that representatives of the whole living world are included here: four creatures have primacy in this world: among creatures, man, between birds, an eagle, between cattle, an ox, and among animals, a lion (Schemoth rabba 23). The kingdom of reptiles (to which fish can also be broadly referred) is excluded for obvious reasons. Thus, from each area of ​​earthly life, the best is taken as a likeness for the cherubim, as if the color of this life. If, in order to fully express the idea of ​​the cherub, it was already inevitable that the human image should be joined to the form of animals (cf. explanatory present 5), then truly no better connection could be given than here. God himself is not ashamed to compare himself with these noble animals (Hos 11.10; Ex 19.4; Deut 32.11, etc.). The multiplicity and diversity of animal forms here was required by the “fullness of the idea, which hardly allows for sensual expression” (Gefernik), just as the Egyptian gods “did not look like cattle, not a bird, not an animal, not even a man himself, but a form, especially artificially composed and awe-inspiring novelty itself” (Apuley, Metam. XI).

Ezekiel 1:11. And their faces and their wings were separated from above, but each had two wings that touched one another, and two covered their bodies.

The faces and wings of the cherubim were in such close connection that it was impossible to speak of them except together, which is why the prophet from describing the faces again (cf. vv. 9 and 6) passes to the wings and their relation to faces. Both of them, forming the top of the whole phenomenon, represented, as it were, one harmonious and strictly measured system in which not one member could move, nor set in motion another. The description of this system of faces and wings of cherubim is given to the prophet by the section of chapter 9-12, which is clearly divided into 2 parts: 9-10 st. and 11-12 st. and each of them begins with the words "and their faces and their wings." The mutual connection of the members of this marvelously coordinated system of the prophet in v. 9. expresses in concept hoverot(“touched”, “holding”), and here the verb perudot"were divided", glo. "stretched out". But in what sense could the prophet say about the faces and wings of the creatures that appeared to him that they were separated? The fact that they were not merged into one mass? But this itself followed from the very essence of the face and the wing. However, the following expression could still be expected about the wings: with this remark, the reader would be warned against such an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe connection of the wings, that this connection reached their complete merger into one wing, into one wing plane, but that on this area composed by the wings one wing is clearly demarcated was from someone else. But what sense could such a remark in relation to persons have? Is it the fact that the faces did not imperceptibly pass one into another, and each was visible so completely and distinctly, as if there were no others? Obviously, here is the verb parade, like havar Art. 9, which, apart from Ezekiel, no one uses about faces and wings, and whose usual meanings go with difficulty to either one or the other, in the mouth of the prophet has some special meaning, and we must confess that we do not understand the prophet in this place , but we do not understand because what he described in this section was, like much in this mysterious vision, not easily amenable to a clear and accurate description, as a result of which the prophet had to find new concepts for his description, adapting old words to them. The attitude of the faces and wings of the cherubs, like everything else in these latter, was inexplicable and incommunicable. The Alexandrian and Vatican Codes, the Coptic and Ethiopic translations, do not have the first word "and their faces" in this verse, so that the first sentence of the verse in them refers only to the wings. And in this case, the verb perudot acquires a more understandable meaning; besides the meaning "were divided", going to the wings, as we have seen, more than to the faces, this verb can have about the wings and the meaning "to stretch" (to separate the wings from the body), assimilated to it here by LXX. But one cannot vouch that the reading of the indicated codices is correct here (one can rather expect the omission of an incomprehensible word in the sacred text than the addition of such a word).

"But each had two wings touching one another." As in verse 9, the prophet here too, having begun talking about faces and wings together, goes on to one wings. He is already in the 9th century. said of the wings that they touched each other; now this message is supplemented by the remark that only two wings of each "animal" touched, while the other two were lowered on the body. And with regard to the pair of adjoining wings, the prophet in this v. makes an important addition to v. 9. He says that the wings did not just touch: “one to the other” (as inaccurate in Russian translation), but “at one” (“leish”, actually “at the husband”, Greek ΄εκατερω), i.e. animal, with another ("ish" "husband"), while 9 st. allowed to think of contact only between the wings of one and the same animal. Consequently, between the cherubim there was a permanently closed place, held together by wings; in Art. 13 we learn what was the content of this terrible place.

"And two covered their bodies." The two functions that are performed by the natural wing - flight and covering the body - are divided among the cherubs between special wings, of course, for a more perfect administration of these functions: just as the cherubim could not not soar constantly in the air, so they could not leave their bodies uncovered. The covering of the body with wings among the cherubim is usually explained as a sign of reverence for God; blissfully Jerome (with whom Blessed Theodoret agrees) “the two wings that cover the body depict the imperfection of knowledge”; rather, covering the body with wings could mean the incomprehensibility of the being of the cherubim themselves.

Ezekiel 1:12. And they went, each in that direction, which is before his face; where the spirit wanted to go, they went there; during their procession they did not turn around.

The first and third sentence of 12 Art. are literally identical with Art. 9. Such literal repetitions in the spirit of the prophet Ezekiel, who uses them as a means of drawing the reader's attention to one thought or another. Thus, the fact that the cherubim did not turn around when walking was considered very important by the prophet, it struck him very much. But in identical with 9 tbsp. expressions 12 Art. compared to 9. there is also a significant difference. There, the remark that each "animal" walked in the direction in front of its face is preceded by the remark that the animals did not turn around during the procession; here these two remarks are put in reverse order. In verse 9: “during their procession they did not turn around, but walked each in the direction of his face”; v. 12: And they went every one in the direction of his face; "during their procession they did not turn back." In 9 st. the main idea was that the animals never turned around, because this made possible the constant and always the same contact between their wings, which is the theme of verse 9. In verse 12, this idea is secondary, and the main one is that the animals could go in the direction of each of their faces, that is, in all directions; the main idea here is because the prophet now wants to point out what, with such indifference and equal accessibility for the cherubim of all parts of the world, determined their movement in one direction and not the other. “Where the spirit was to go, they went,” the prophet literally answers this question in Hebrew; this expression is explained by LXX: “maybe even better, march the spirit, go,” and Russian. per. where the spirit wanted to go. So “a special command to 4 beings, in which direction the movement should take place, was just as little needed as in Is VI an expressive command to one of the seraphim to take hot coal from the altar. The whole chariot was penetrated by one spirit and one will, which was communicated to beings without the mediation of a word ”(Krechmar). What is this "spirit" that determined the movement of the Divine chariot? The fact that the word “ruach” (“spirit”), which had the most diverse meanings in the language of the Jews, is used here without any explanation, as well as the member before it, leave no doubt that “ruach” is meant here - “ wind” (glor. “spirit”) 4 tbsp. The fact that the movement of the cherubim and the entire Divine chariot was determined by the movement of the wind, there was nothing humiliating for both, for that wind was not an ordinary wind. Just as the cloud that went with that wind turned out to be filled with unearthly creatures for the eyes of the prophet, so the wind that went before the Lord had to be, so to speak, worthy and capable of it; it must have contained something similar to that contained in the cloud, if not higher and more excellent; in all parts and actors of the present vision, even in such minor ones as wheels, there was life, mind and consciousness. But while the prophet speaks of the “inner content” of the cloud, so to speak, he says nothing about such a content of the wind “raising up” that went before the cloud: his spiritual vision could not penetrate into the inner content of that extraordinary wind in the same way as it penetrated into the content clouds. Obviously, in this wind there was none other than the Spirit of God (“ruach elohim”), which in the book of Ezekiel, as often in general, is represented as acting through the wind: Eze 2:2, 3:14, 8:3, 11:24 ; 1 Kings 18.12; 2 Kings 2:16; Job 37:1, 9; John 3:8, 20:22; Acts 2:2. Of these cases, the most remarkable is the appearance of the Spirit of God in the 4 winds during the revival of dry bones in the vision of Ezekiel and in the stormy breath at the descent on the apostles. The Old Testament knew so much about the Holy Spirit!

Ezekiel 1:13. And the appearance of these animals was like the appearance of burning coals, like the appearance of lamps; the fire walked among the animals, and the radiance from the fire and the lightning came from the fire.

With their mutually touching wings, the cherubim cordoned off a certain place, which, as it was already possible to conclude from such an unusual fence, had some special purpose. The description of this place is in verse 13. The beginning of the verse in LXX is rendered inconsistently with Heb. t.: "and in the midst of the animals a vision," thus, according to LXX, the prophet in 13a already describes the place between the cherubim, and according to Heb. text and Russian. per. even the cherubim themselves, about the same that was between them, speaks only in the 13th century. It is Heb. The text here describes the cherubim from the side of their color, which was fiery, so that they appeared entirely fiery and shone like lamps. But now almost everyone in this place gives preference to LXX: the prophet already spoke about the type of animals in v. 5, then it should have been said that he was fiery; and how could the cherubim have the appearance of coals and lamps? they could only shine like the one and the other: and the radiance of the coal and the lamp is too different to serve as a comparison for the same object; probably the Masoretes simply wanted to finish what the prophet had not said about the color of the cherubs. Thus, it can be considered undoubted that those coals and lamps on which Heb. t. wants the cherubs to resemble, were a new vision: they resembled the place that was cordoned off by the wings of the cherubs; the content for such a place is quite appropriate. The coals between the cherubs are called burning to show that they were not black and extinct, but red, still hot and in the process of burning. They explain the presence of coals here by analogy with the vision of Isaiah, in which the seraphim takes a burning coal from the altar and which is next. suggests, as well as apocalyptic visions (Rev. 8:3, 5; Is 6.6), at the throne of God an altar with coals; although the prophet Ezekiel did not see the altar under his mysterious coals, and he could not describe the heavenly sphere that Isaiah and John the Theologian described, this does not prevent the coals between the cherubim from giving also a sacrificial character: cherubim appear with symbols of constant burnt offering to God; the absence of an altar could indicate the highest and purest spirituality of this burnt offering. If God is a consuming fire, then the place on which He steps, seated on cherubim, i.e., the cherubim, in the closest way, must burn, and the product of combustion is coal.

"Like a kind of lamps." The lamps in front of the throne of God are also found in the visions of the Apocalypse and are explained by the seer himself that these are “the essence of the seven spirits of God” (Rev. 4.5) and “the seven churches” (Rev. 1:12-13, 20). The raising of a lamp before God is a rite of worship, signifying the warmth and selflessness of serving God. If the "spirits of God" and the "churches" appear before the throne of God not with lamps, but are themselves transformed into lamps, then this idea increases to extraordinary dimensions. In Ezekiel, instead, the lamps appear in a clearly close, but not more precisely defined relationship to the cherubim, accompanying their appearance. But their symbolism is the same as in the Apocalypse: the spiritual burning of the whole being before God. There is a clear gradualness in the picture: coals, lamps, lightning; coals may occupy the bottom, turning into a flame at the top and discharging even higher with lightning.

« Fire walked among the animals. From Heb. Literally: “she (“gi”) walked among the animals.” Who is she? What noun does the pronoun refer to? R.? There are two nouns ahead in the verse. R.: view (“demut”) and fire (“esh”; in Hebrew “burning coals” it is expressed: “the coals of burning fire”). The first cost too far and its authenticity is doubtful; besides, how can a species of animals walk among animals? The second occupies a too subordinate position: standing as a definition in "embers", it is in Heb. makes up one word with it (casus constructus). But since all the content of the space between the cherubim that has been listed so far was fiery, there was fire in one form or another, the reader of the prophet who (as in Russian translation) will understand fire by “ha” - “she” will not greatly err. Is it not used here? R. instead of non-existent in Heb. lang. cf. R.? If the prophet wanted to say: “this (i.e., everything indicated earlier - coals, lamps) walked among the animals”, how could he express “this”, if not through “here” (“this”, “that”) or “ gi" ("it")? If such an understanding of “gi” were grammatically impossible, then in the course of speech and the essence of the matter, nothing else, like exactly everything listed earlier, most likely should be what “walked among the animals”. The prophet, at least so far, sees the cherubim only in motion; track. everything that was between the cherubim, the place between them with all its extraordinary content - coals, lamps, had to move, "go with" ("mitgalleket") them. The reciprocal form of the verb "galak" - "to go", set here, indicates the exact relationship between the movement of what was between the animals (coals and lamps) and the movement of the animals themselves, as well as the mutual dependence of the movement of these fiery elements from each other: they moved not only as the animals moved and depending on their movement, but also moved depending on each other: the movement of one of these elements caused the movement of the other; here everything was movement and life. The LXX apparently give a different reading of this passage: omitting “gi” (“she” or “it”), they agree the verb “mitgalleket” (“walked”) with λαμπαδες and translates it συστρεφομενων “converging”: “like a vision of the candles of converging among the animals. Συστρεφεσθαι means joint, mutually dependent circulation or whirling; thus this word in LXX indicates that the lamps, which it defines, rotate together either with each other, or with coals, or with animals, or with all this together (which is most likely). We see that whether the verb “mitgalleket” is attributed to the lamps from LXX or read for it from Heb. i.e. special subject ("gi" "it"), the thought will be the same as could give the right to LXX for free translation here.

"And the glow from the fire." From this remark, it is first of all clear that coals and lamps, which were in constant motion, merged for the prophet into one mass of fire, which spread light around itself. At the same time, the remark shows that the radiance emanating from this fire was of special strength (otherwise it would not have been necessary to talk about it, since every fire gives radiance), which is also indicated by Heb. the word "nogah" ("shine"), which serves as a poetic, next. especially strong designation of light (Is 4:4, 60:20, 62:1; Hab 3.11, etc.) and is used about the radiance of the Glory of God (Ezek 10.4). This was the radiance to which the prophet drew attention at the beginning of the vision (v. 4, where the same is in Hebrew. “legs”): it illuminated the cloud that was coming towards him, since this cloud contained 4 cherubim , then this radiance, illuminating its entire bulk (“great cloud”), served as an immeasurable, embracing the entire sky (“around it”, that is, the clouds of v. 4) a halo worthy of its size of those whom it surrounded. – The fire between the cherubim emitted not only a quiet, gentle radiance (“feet” in Isaiah 62.7 about the morning dawn, Joel 2.10 about the radiance of the luminaries). He continuously (“came out” in Hebrew adverb “outgoing”) sparkled with lightning. Of all the kinds of earthly light, lightning alone brings us, besides admiration, into a certain trembling and therefore can serve as the best likeness of that light with which the Divine shines. In addition, lightning can be called an inner, secret light that only temporarily breaks out and is visible to a person, and in this way it most closely resembles the divine light invisible to a person (in the service of the Transfiguration: “carry the secret lightning under the flesh of Your being”). Thanks to this, lightning in the Old Testament often acts as an attribute of theophany: Mount Sinai shone with lightning when God descended on it; lightning is mentioned in psalmic descriptions of expected or requested theophany (Ps 17, etc. cf. Hab 3.4:11); in the Apocalypse, lightning comes from the throne of God (Rev. 4.5). The fact that the fire between the cherubim emits lightning indicates a high degree of godlikeness of the cherubim: they shine with glory, reminiscent of the Divine glory.

Ezekiel 1:14. And the animals moved quickly to and fro like lightning.

The Russian translation of this verse is conjectural; glory. not much more answers Heb. text: "and the animal flows and turns, like a vision of a vezekov." The first half of the verse from Heb. letters. "And the animals ran and returned" "Ratso yours." The verbs are in the indefinite mood, which obviously replaces the final here. The second verb is undoubtedly “to return”, and the first is απαξ λεγομενον and is considered an Aramaic form of the verb “ruts” “to flee”. Replacing the final mood with an indefinite one is not alien to the Hebrew language, both ancient: Gen 8.7, and especially later: Job 40.2; Dan 9.5:1; Zech 7.5; but in these places neopr. stands not without the indicative, sometimes serving only as an addition to it; and most importantly in these places we are dealing with oratorical and poetic speech, where neopr. could be used for liveliness of speech; here “it is not clear why the description suddenly had to become so alive” (Smend). This leads many interpreters to see the indicative mood in these verbs. But if “ratso” can still be somehow made indicative (read “ratso”, which would be 3 lit. plural aor; from ruts, but the last letter - aleph - will be superfluous), then “shov” is impossible, not touching the text. So the indefinite inclination remains a mystery here. “And the meaning of “run” for the first verb is very problematic. Such an Aramaicization of the form, which is assumed here with the verb "ruts", "would not have an analogy; the concept of running does not go to cherubim” (Smend); and with such a meaning, the word would not correspond to the directly related “returned”, which contains the concept of the direction in the movement, and not its speed (although, apart from LXX and Pescito, it has “fled” here). In view of this, it is proposed to read instead of “ratso” - “yetsu” - “went out”, which would be in accordance with the Vulgate (ibant) and Targum (“converted and went around and returned”) and would require changing only one letter; but such a typo in the text is unlikely (the Hebrew rosh is very far from the small yod). - However, not knowing what the prophet wants to say about the movement of the cherub with the first verb, we extract from the second verb ("shov" "to return") one not insignificant feature of this movement, that it had at times a return direction, a feature that is important for us in in view of the earlier remark that the cherubim did not look back; track. this latter circumstance did not hinder their backward movement.

The movement of the cherubim, characterized by the words “your race”, is compared by the prophet with the movement, as it were bazage(Russian transl. "lightning", Slav. "Vezek's vision"). And this new concept clarifies the verse a little, since the word "bazak" is απαξ λεγομενον and its meaning must be searched for by the root. Many, due to the uncommon use of such a word in the Bible, suggest that Russian. per., here is a typo: instead of "bazak", they think, there was a "hut" - lightning. - As a matter of fact, it is possible that the cherubs of ch. Eze had a movement similar to the movement of lightning: the construction of a real chariot determined, as we saw in v. 9, that the cherubim could not always move from place to place in a straight line, and sometimes they had to walk along the legs of a triangle built on it; such a movement will be a zigzag movement, and lightning has a zigzag movement. But the possibility of such a mistake in the text is unlikely: the letters Rosh and Zayin are not close in outline; and why in v. 13 "barrack" has not changed, but only in 14 st., Where 13 st. forced to expect precisely comparisons with lightning? In later Heb. lang. and related languages, the root “azak” has the meaning “scatter” (Talmud), “scatter” (Arabic), “crush” (Sir.). Since the whole phenomenon has a fiery appearance, it is likely that “bazak” is here a special expression “about some kind of scattering of fire, fiery splashes” (Gefernik), or about rays of light that suddenly scatter over the widest space. Ancient translations agree in this particular understanding of this word - about rays, about light. Whereas Theodotion (whence taken from v. 14 in the text LXX) leaves this word without translation, transcribing it in Greek letters - βεζεκ, Symmachus renders it ακτιςv αστραπης, Acilla - ως ειδος απορροιας ΄αστραπες, Targum: "like a kind of lightning." Peshito puts here the related Syrian word bezek, the root meaning of which is “scattering”, and the present is lost and is indicated by various siriologists and interpreters of Peshito differently: flame, lightning, meteor, shooting star, rain of stars, whirlwind, even - a hyacinth stone. Next, no matter how the meaning of this comparison is not established, it can be recognized as undoubted that this comparison is taken from the field of light phenomena. So, the only movement in nature that the movement of the cherubim could be likened to was the movement of light. Judging by the verb “return”, used to characterize the movement of the cherubs, the movement of light could serve as a similitude for the movement of the cherubs by its side that the light always returns to its source, does not leave it. "How the ether is illuminated by sparks frequent lights and in the twinkling of an eye, lightning suddenly scatters in different directions and returns back, without losing its container and, so to speak, the source and substance of fire, so these animals, continuing their path without hindrance, hasten forward ”(Blessed Jerome). The Targum conveys the verse thus: “And the creatures (those), when they were sent to do the will of their Lord, who placed His majesty on high above them, in the twinkling of an eye turned and went around and tore through the universe, the creatures returned together and were quick, like a kind of lightning ". Thus, the cherubim could move everywhere without leaving the throne of God, and without dragging it to any place; they could have, in addition to a common movement with the throne of God, their own, which, not coinciding in the direction with that movement, was simultaneously with it. Such a combination of apparently incompatible things, says the prophet, is also given in nature, in one of its manifestations, which he calls "bases." - There are some reasons to think that this verse was not in the text used by the LXX, and to agree with the blessed. Jerome, that in the LXX translation it is added from Theodotion: it is not in the Vatican, Venetian, and one of Parsons; into code. Alexandrian, Marshalian (VI-VII centuries), Chisian (IX-XI centuries), in Syrian exapla (VII century) it is under an asterisk, next. brought from the Heb. text.

Ezekiel 1:15. And I looked at the animals, and behold, on the ground beside these animals, one wheel in front of their four faces.

The description of the new component of the vision, the wheels, begins, which will take up a considerable (vv. 15-21) section of the chapter; hence the solemn "and I looked." - The addition "on animals", which LXX does not have, indicates a close relationship between animals and wheels, such that the wheels are only, as it were, part of the animals. - "On earth" in the proper sense, as v. 19 shows, along which the wheels sometimes rose from the earth (and not "on the basis of the heavenly arena", or "on the earth that was seen in the sky"). Wheels are primarily a method of transportation adapted to the earth (like wings are air, a ship is water), therefore, real wheels can be viewed as a link between heavenly vision and the earth, of which it is the most perfect way of moving. Descending to earth, God must reckon with its frailty, which does not allow a better way of movement. The wheels are intended to show that God moves on the earth itself, not above it. “Beside these animals.” "Beside" indicates the complete independence of the wheels in relation to the "animals" - cherubs. In the book of Enoch, the ophanims (“ofaa” in Hebrew “wheel”) are numbered between the angelic ranks (ch. 61:10; 70:7). - "On one wheel." Literally: "one wheel", but Ezekiel 10.9 shows that there were 4 wheels; cf. Eze 1.16; units hours - dividing; therefore, unfairly, some assume one wheel. Between the cherubim and the Glory of the Lord they carry or the throne of God, in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, there is a new, independent and, judging by the attention paid to him by the prophet, of great importance, the figure - the wheel. The wheels suggest a chariot behind them; but the prophet does not indicate it, because the wheels, intended in this vision, as in the vision of Daniel (Dan. 7.9), for the movement of the throne of God, did not need a material connection with this latter and should, without this connection, mediate the movement of such an exceptional object; the cherubim themselves were the chariot in this case. Nevertheless, assuming behind them one or another chariot (in this case, a spiritual one), the wheels give the present epiphany the character of a solemnly majestic and speedy ride instead of a simple and slow procession, which every epiphany has been represented up to now. From now on, will not a special speed be introduced into the actions of Divine Providence, which is usual at the end of every deed, inevitable in the deeds of God at the end of time? "Before their four faces." Evp. "learbagat panav", lit. "of his four faces." Unit h. pronouns are placed according to the meaning (contrary to grammatical agreement, since the “animals” to which the pronoun refers, in the plural. h.), because we are talking about one wheel, which can be in the faces of only one animal. After the prophet remarks that the wheels were near the animals, the reader expects from him the most precise indication from which side the four-faced creature had the wheel beside him. In parsed words, such an indication should be given. “At (or “before”, as in Russian translation; coll.: “for”) all four persons,” the prophet answers this question. The indication is already quite precise and definite, but at first glance it contains something unthinkable: one wheel was at one time in four different places. No wonder LXX omitted this "exact" indication! But we must not forget that we are dealing with a vision. Just as 4 wings and 2 arms could be on 4 different sides of the animal at the same time, so it could be with the wheel; in visions, violation of the laws of space and time is allowed, which have no effect in the sphere of being affected by visions.

Ezekiel 1:16. The form of the wheels and their arrangement is like the form of topaz, and the likeness of all four is one; and by their appearance and by their constitution it seemed as if a wheel was in a wheel.

The verse contains a description of the appearance and arrangement of the wheels. Since the first half of the verse speaks of the appearance of the wheels (that they were like topaz), the words in it "and the construction of them" seem superfluous, just as the words "according to their appearance" in the second half of the verse, which speaks of the construction of the wheels, " why LXX don't read these words. - "View" - Heb. "gene" see Art. 5. - "Topaz". Heb. "tarshish"; from Ezekiel 10:9 we learn that it is a precious stone; it is mentioned among the gems and in Ezekiel 28:13; in the breastplate of the high priest, he was 1st in the 4th row (Ex 28.17-20); according to Dan 10.6, the body of the Prophet who appeared was like a “tarshish”. The name is taken from the Phoenician colony in Spain on the river of the same name, the present Guadalquivir, just as the well-known grade of gold was called Ophir (Job 22.24). LXX here they leave this word without translation ("Tharshish"), and in a completely identical place in Eze 10.9 they translate ΄ανθραξ, and in Ex 28.20 they translate χρυσολιθος (the Vulgate here is "tage" based on the epithet "Tharsh ships", but in Eze 10.8 and Ezek 28.13 - "chrysolite"; Targum: "good stone"; Peshito - transcription; Symmachus - υακινθος; Arabic translation - "yastis"). Thus, the most votes are for chrysolite; the chrysolite of the ancients, according to the description of Pliny, would be most consistent with our topaz, golden in color. This color of the wheels corresponds both to the wheels of Daniel's vision, which were "blazing fire", and the fiery content between the real wheels (Ezek 10.12) and the harmony of colors in the vision: golden-red wheels, crystal-white firmament and sapphire-blue foot of the throne.

"And the likeness of all four is one." And without such a remark, it would follow of itself from the fact that the prophet nowhere indicates the differences between the wheels; track. The remark wants to draw the reader's special attention to the similarity of the wheels. The wheels were as similar to each other as animals, and just like animals there were four of them. Thus, the wheels, like the animals, were directed at once and equally to "all ends of the earth." All countries of the world with exactly the same ease were accessible to the Divine chariot. She did not have a front and back, characterized in an ordinary chariot by the difference in wheels and their size. - In addition to the complete similarity with each other, the indifference of the wheels in relation to different sides of the movement was also achieved by their special arrangement, which will be discussed after this. "The wheel was in the wheel." Most interpreters rightly understand this expression in such a way that the wheel was perpendicular to each other in the wheel. Following. the verse says that the wheels could go on their four sides without turning around; track. they had 4 sides; the side of the wheel can only be called its semicircle; so the wheel of vision should have consisted of 4 semicircles or 2 intersecting circles. Against this, apparently, the image of the expression speaks: the member of the word "wheel", "ofan", moreover, twice, requiring to think of being in each other about the previously mentioned wheels. Therefore, it is assumed that one or another of the four wheels was located in each other, and this finding was either only apparent, in perspective, or real. But the term at "ofan" can also give such an idea that the intersecting circles of which each wheel was composed should represent not only constituent parts one wheel, but in the form of independent, although interconnected wheels; this relative independence of the component parts of the wheel would correspond to the combination in animals of several persons.

Ezekiel 1:17. When they went, they went to their four sides; did not turn around during the procession.

The wheels had the same amazing ability to move in all directions, like the cherubs. In the cherubim, the ability of such movement was due to their four-facedness, in the wheels, their four-sidedness; "Turned not as they walked" is a deliberately literal repetition of what was said about the animals; for completeness of similarity, even the pronoun is put in f. R. (in Heb.), although the wheel in Heb. m. This expression is thus repeated for the third time by the prophet (vv. 9, 12). Sounding like a refrain (a part of the oratorical speech corresponding to the refrain in the song), by its repeated repetition it draws the reader's special attention to this feature in the movement of the whole phenomenon - that it did not need to turn when walking. With regard to wheels, this feature was even more surprising and therefore deserved to be deliberately noted: movement to the sides for ordinary wheels is even more impossible than for living creatures with sufficient flexibility of the legs.

Ezekiel 1:18. And their rims were high and terrible; their rims around all four were full of eyes.

The beginning of the verse of letters. from Heb. will be: "and their rims and their height." Consequently, the words: “and their rims” (in Hebrew this is one word) stands grammatically completely independently of everything that follows, why LXX connect it with the previous verse and translate: “below their backs”: “I will not turn (i.e. wheels ) always march on them, below their backs"; but in this combination, this word does not give any new thought and is idle: if the wheels did not turn around when moving, then the rims could not turn around either. Meanwhile, in the following we are talking about rims. Therefore, the grammatical independence of this word from the subsequent one must be explained as an independent nominative turnover. As in verses 9 and 11 this nominative. The absolut prophet indicates the theme of the entire verse. And this was necessary, because the prophet both before and after speaks in general about wheels; now he wants to deal with only one part of them - the rims. Such an episodic transition in the description is well marked by this turnover. - Warning that he will now talk about the rims, the prophet indicates three features in them, as there were three features at the feet of the cherubim. The first is that they were "high". Letters. from Heb. “and their height”, an expression which can be understood in such a way that those rims “represented an exalted and majestic appearance, which is usually unusual for earthly wheels rolling in the dust” (Krechmar). The expression: “the rims had a height” in Hebrew sounds as unusual as in Russian; one could simply say: "and they were high, or they were great." Moreover, if we talk about height, then we should rather talk about the height not of the rims, but of the wheels themselves; such a quality would have an understandable meaning for them: the high height of the wheels achieves the speed of the chariot. But on the other hand, to assume here damage to the text or to attach Heb. the word “gova” (translated “height”) has a different meaning, for example, “upper side” (“the rims had an upper side”) forbid the unanimous transfer of this place in all texts and the unanimous translation of the ancient “gova” trait height.

And they were terrible. Lit.: "and fear in them." What this fear or horror of the rims was, is now said: they had eyes. Isn't it horror: eyes on wheels! Therefore, it is impossible to say with some. interpretation that it will remain incomprehensible why the wheels or their rims were terrible, and there is no need to look for another meaning here, for example: “and I looked at the rims” (“irea” horror is consonant with “eree” “looked”), as does glory. Transl.: “and videh ta” (so do most of the Greek codices; but the Venetian and 5 minuscule, that is, written in cursive, codes have: και φουεροι σαν, like one old Slavic manuscript of the Explanatory Prophecies: “and fear behu” ).

"And their rims on all four ... were full of eyes." Not only provided with eyes, but “full” (Glor. Lane) of eyes, overflowing with them (γεμοντα δφθαλμων Rev. 4.8). - And so it was "for all four" wheels - a refrain increase (vv. 8, 10, 16; for a refrain, see v. v. 17), but at the same time reinforcing the impression of the picture: four wheels and all are dotted with eyes. - The supply of wheels with eyes is one of those purely oriental symbols in which a thought of special power seeks expression, an idea that does not fit into natural ideas and concepts. And of course, what is represented in this symbol “is presented somewhat crudely and bodily due to human weakness” (Blessed Theod.). Since the eye is an expression of inner activity, vitality, insight and wisdom, the eyes in the wheels indicate life and intelligence. The wheels are animated, because a dead object cannot be an instrument of the Glory of God. The eyes, of course, were not idle on the wheels: the wheels could look with them (“and they saw” has Pescito instead of “they were terrible”); the wheels looked where they rolled; they rolled consciously: "the wheels were full of knowledge" (Blessed Theodoret). The wheels are equipped with eyes “to express the infallible confidence with which the Divine throne moved” (Smend); “with watching eyes, the wheels could not go astray” (Bertholet). Since the wheels move the throne of God, it can be said that God Himself looks at the ground through which He walks through the eyes of the wheels. This symbol apparently found a special place among the captives and after the captive prophets: Dan 7.8; Zech 3.9; Zech 4.10 was, perhaps, a consequence of the eastern environment and symbolism, “as the ancient sculptural image of Jupiter in Larissa had 3 eyes and was reduced to Trojan, at least Asian origin (Pausanias I, 24). (Gefernik); “wheels,” says the blessed. Jerome, were such as the fables of the poets depict the hundred-eyed or many-eyed Argus ”; cf. eyes and ears of the king (satraps) at Xenophon Sugor. VIII, 2; Mithra according to Zendavesta has 1000 ears and 10000 eyes.

Ezekiel 1:19. And when the animals walked, the wheels walked beside them; and when the animals rose from the earth, then the wheels also rose.

The Prophet has already finished describing the wheels: having listed all the features of their type and structure in comparison with ordinary wheels, he also described their movement. Now the question arose about the relationship of the wheels to the animals: was there any connection between the two, like the connection between the animals pulling the chariot and the chariot itself? In Art. 19-21 the prophet and gives the answer to this question, what he could give. The relationship between animals and wheels was completely incomprehensible to the viewer. There was no visible connection between the two: “the animals did not have any drawbar or yoke: the divine chariot moved by itself: the animals were in front, the wheels moved behind them, heading in all directions without turning” (Blessed Theodoret). Nevertheless, "when the animals walked, the wheels walked beside them." Such a joint movement of animals and wheels, of course, suggested a connection between the two. This connection was even more clearly confirmed by the fact that the wheels followed the animals not only when the latter moved along the ground, but also when the animals were raised from the ground, the wheels also rose. Wheel - a tool for movement exclusively on the ground; the presence of the wheels in the air was an unnatural position for them, and if they took this position, then this proved their especially close relationship with animals.

Ezekiel 1:20. Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went there too; wherever the spirit went, and the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the animals was in wheels.

Forced to return to the movement of animals, the prophet repeats the most important thing that has been said about this movement. It differed in many ways from any other movement, but most of all in that it was determined in its direction in a special, mysterious way. Its determinant was "spirit". Heb. "where was the spirit to go" glory. translates: “wherever the clouds were, there the spirit was also”; then. the verse asks for a new concept of "cloud"; in parallel 12 Art. this word does not exist, and therefore LXX are suspected of adding here: they could read the preposition “gal”, “na”, “to” as “woof”, “cloud”, or replace this last concept with “ruach” “spirit”, which, indeed it is not clear why the Hebrew text puts it twice (this substitution could be made on the basis of 1 Kings 18.45, where the cloud is the preceding wind during a thunderstorm); in putting "cloud," the LXX evidently meant the cloud which the prophet saw in v. 4, and under the spirit the wind that opened the vision; the meaning of glory. per. like this: where the cloud went, the wind was there, the animals and the wheels went there. - Why is it said about the wheels “lifted”, and did not go? "Ascended" here hardly has its exact meaning - separation from the earth: in verses 19 and 21, where it has such a meaning, "from the earth" is added to it; here it means “to rise from a place”, “to leave a place”, “to move” (Numbers 23.24, etc.); if this verb carries its usual meaning here, as in verses 19 and 21, then it gives the idea that animals with wheels hovered more in the air than walked on the ground. - The Prophet also indicates the reason for such agreement in the movement of the wheels and animals: "for the spirit of the animals was in the wheels." "Spirit of animals" more precisely: "spirit of the animal" - unit. hours (gahaya). “The prophet calls animals four inseparably connected with each other and moving animals in exactly the same way” (Smend). The Prophet more than once assimilates such a collective name to 4 animals (he calls them all - in the singular “animal”): Ezekiel 1.22; Ezekiel 10.15:20, as well as his wheels are also designated by the collective name "galgal" (Ezekiel 10.2:13). Animals were so closely related to each other that the prophet in v. 11. considers it necessary to warn that their faces and wings were nevertheless separated. In general, the cherubim are conceived in such inseparability from each other that they are almost never spoken of separately, even singly. hours of this name is almost not common. - Since with regard to the cherubim there can be no question of the spirit as their soul, then here it is obviously meant the spirit, which, according to v. 12 determined their movement. LXX, Pescito, Vulgate, here translate "the spirit of life", but "haya" instead of "hamim" in the meaning of "life" is used only in poetry; this word in this sense cannot stand with a member, as it stands here; then - if the wheels in general have only a living soul, then it does not follow from this that they should move in accordance with the animals.

Ezekiel 1:21. When they went, they went; and when they stood, they also stood; and when they rose from the earth, then the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the animals was in wheels.

The agreement in the movement of the wheels and the animals was so remarkable that the prophet again draws attention to it by a brief repetition of all that has been said about it. He supplements this repetition by pointing out that when the animals stopped, the wheels also stopped with them - a circumstance that is far from obvious in itself, in view of the fact that the wheels were in no way connected with animals. Thus, “21 Art. combines with the addition of a new two previous verses and concludes them ”(Gitzig). In addition to this purpose - it serves as a conclusion to the description of the remarkable harmony in the movement of animals and wheels, the verse has another purpose: it draws us a picture of the general movement of the whole phenomenon. From it we learn that the phenomenon did not always go on, but sometimes stopped, and that it sometimes went along the earth, and at times it hovered above the earth, “rose from the earth” - information of no small importance and has not yet been reported by the prophet in such fullness and distinctness. The verse ends with a literal repetition of the closing words of the previous verse: "for the spirit of the beasts was in the wheels," one of Ezekiel's literary devices (refrain, see v. 17), meant to pay attention to the thought repeated with such literalness. “This causal sentence is worth twice, because it contains main force"(Krechmar). “It is said twice: “for the spirit of life was in the wheels,” so that we would by no means consider the wheels to be something like what we see in the lower parts of carts, wagons and chariots, but living beings, even higher than living beings” (Blessed Jerome).

Ezekiel 1:22. Above the heads of the animals there was a kind of vault, like a kind of amazing crystal, stretched from above over their heads.

"Animals", in Heb. again, as in verses 19 and 21, "strange" (Cornille) singular. (instead of which, however, 3 Hebrew manuscripts in Kennicott, LXX, Targum, Peshito and Vulgate have plurals) 4 cherubim and here, as in those verses, are considered as one organic being. - The word "likeness" warns the reader about the mystery of what will now be described. The prophet again (vv. 5, 10, 13) sees something that only a likeness on earth can indicate: about the wheels it is not said that their likenesses were visible; after that this word will be used only when describing the throne and Him who sits on it. - "Vault", glory. "firmament". Hebrew "rakia" (στερεομα, firmanentum) in the Old Testament is not used in any other sense than the vault of heaven, firmament. True, the absence of a member makes it possible that here the word does not mean the vault of heaven; but since Jehovah has His throne in heaven, “rakia” here can only mean heaven, the firmament. But this was not the firmament that we usually see, but only its likeness, much more excellent than its prototype. LXX before "firmament" they also have a particle "like", ωσει (as if); if this particle is genuine, then the similarity of the firmament that appeared to the prophet with the visible one becomes even less and reduces to a weak similarity. Of the invisible heaven, the visible and sensible can give a very insufficient idea.

Moses and the “elders of Israel”, who saw the place of God’s standing, found that with its pure and transparent light it resembled the firmament of heaven: “like a vision of the firmament of heaven with purity” (Ex 24.10). The prophet Ezekiel for the vault that he saw over the heads of the cherubim, does not find it sufficient to compare only with the firmament and compares it with "kerakh", Rus. per. crystal. "Kerakh" means sometimes cold, frost (Gen 31:40; Jer 36:30), sometimes ice (Job 37:10, 38:29); the second meaning is rarer and seems to be later, it must be recognized as the main one, because the root of this word is “to be smooth” and therefore it was originally supposed to be applied to water that became smooth from the cold. But since the appearance of ice, however pure and transparent it may be, is by no means so magnificent as to serve as a strong comparison for this case, the LXX and almost all the ancients (only Targum - “ice”) settled on a crystal or crystal as an object which more ice would fit here. Although “kerah” is not used anywhere in the meaning of the crystal (in Job 28.17, “gavish” is translated through “crystal”), but they think that the crystal could be called that either by its resemblance to ice or because, according to the ancients, it is produced by frost (Pliny , Hist, nat. XXXVII, 8, 9). It is believed that Bl. John, having in mind Ezekiel 1:22 in Revelation 4:6, is inclined to this meaning of the word; though he rather combines both meanings when he says that before the throne of God there was "a sea of ​​glass, like crystal." In book. Job's crystal (if so it is necessary to translate "gavish") is placed, apparently, lower than gold of Ophir, but along with ordinary pure gold (Job 28.17-18); track. it was of great value in antiquity and, perhaps, was worthy to be included in the majestic vision, where everything, even the wheels, seemed to be made of the finest precious stones. The floors in the richest palaces of the ancient East were covered with crystal or glass; in the Koran (sur. 25, n. 44) the queen of Sheba takes the crystal platform in front of the throne of Solomon for water. But if by "kerakh" we mean crystal, then it is not clear why the prophet calls it such an uncommon name. The prophet needed a mineral that would be the best combination of complete transparency with a stone fortress and could serve as a good symbol of heavenly purity and clarity. Maybe “kerakh” was the native name (Assir. kirgu - “fortress”) of a mineral that was, as it were, numb pure water, like our diamond of pure water (but diamond in Hebrew “shamir” and in a polished form is hardly was known then). - The mysterious object, called by the prophet "kerakh", he adopts the no less mysterious definition of "gannor" (Russian translation "amazing"), which LXX does not have in the code. Alexandrian and Vatican, in Coptic and Ethiopian translations. The root meaning of this word is “terrible” (Vulgate and Peshito horribilis, but Targum is “strong”), but in those two places in the Old Testament where it is used (Judges 6.13; Job 37.22), it means fear and trembling inspired by the appearance of God or angel. And in such a special meaning, the word is appropriate here: that crystal, which in the form of a firmament hung over the heads of the cherubim, certainly inspired awe in the prophet by the fact that it made its high, unearthly purpose feel; the prophet suddenly felt himself in front of a real, open sky, and this sensation could not but fill him with horror. - Over their heads. Instead of this tautological LXX indication in most of the best codes, they have a more natural one: “on their wings”, by which the prophet more accurately determines the position of the firmament: it was not directly above the heads, but above the wings, which were somewhat raised above the heads (v. 11).

Ezekiel 1:23. And under the vault their wings stretched straight one to the other, and each had two wings that covered them, each had two wings that covered their bodies.

The description that one might already expect - of what was in the firmament - the prophet dramatically postpones to the end and again returns to the description of the view in which the cherubim rushed towards him with thunderous beats of wings; to the picture of this deafening flight (see 23–25) vv. 23 serves as an introduction, in which the prophet recalls what was already described in verses 9 and 11. mutual position of the wings. The prophet thus speaks of this for the third time, which shows the importance of this particular vision. But 23 st. does not simply repeat the data of verses 9 and 11; he defines more precisely the way in which the wings of the cherubim were extended towards each other: they extended straight towards each other, i.e. b. constituted one horizontal plane lying at the basis of the firmament; this position of the wings was all the more surprising because even during the flight they did not leave this always, mathematically precisely calculated position in relation to each other. From Heb. lit.: “the wings were straight (yesharot) to each other”, the expression is somewhat strange (as before, in verses 9 and 11, the position of the wings was determined by the hardly intelligible words “hoverot” and “perudot”, as if the wings were in difficult transmitted position to each other), why the LXX put instead the expression 11 Art. “stretched out”, adding to it according to Ezek 3.13 πτερυσσομενον “soaring” (but there in the Slav. “winged”), i.e. flying, waving (other Slavic translation “fluttering”), and not only calmly elongated. – The Prophet considers it necessary again, as in verse 11, to stipulate that only two wings of the cherubim were stretched out; the other two were omitted, for their purpose was to cover the body. In Heb. this idea is expressed by a divisive sentence: “one (leish) of them had two (wings) covered, and the other (uleish) of them had two covering their body”; cf. Is 6.2. In LXX, the idea here is conveyed in one sentence with the addition of the concept of “conjugated” (the wings covering the body were connected to each other); but in code. The Chisian and Syrian exapla has a second sentence (και δυο καλυπτουσαι αυτοϊς) under the asterisk. Although the last thought of 23 v. not new, but its repetition, in addition to emphasizing it, sheds new light on it, placing it in such a connection as here; therefore, the cherubim covered only their body (literally, “trunk”) because they were under the firmament and the throne of God, and not in front of it, like the seraphim.

Ezekiel 1:24. And as they walked, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a great noise, like the noise in a military camp; and when they stopped, they lowered their wings.

And the flight of great birds makes considerable noise; and here flew winged lions and oxen. The peals of the rumble from this flight took place under the very firmament; consequently the whole place positively thundered; the footstool of Jehovah was to strike with greatness all the senses - not only sight, but also hearing. The prophet does not find sufficient comparison for the noise rushing from there; hence the heap of comparisons. But the comparisons of Heb. vol. and rus. per. unfairly referred to the same subject. Several Greek codices (Venetian, 5 minuscule, Blessed Theodoret and Slavic trans.) make a good addition to Heb. i.e., putting in the first two comparisons “always a soaring man”: when the cherubim flew, the noise of their wings was like the noise of many waters and like the voice of the Almighty. But the cherubim did not always fly, but sometimes they walked or moved in some other way on the earth, and sometimes they completely stopped. In both cases, their wings could not make noise, at least not as loud as when flying; the prophet and notices that when the cherubim were walking (“when they were walking” in Hebrew, the t. is not where it should be placed in the Russian lane, but before the third comparison), a “strong noise” was heard from their wings (“kol hamulla” cf. Jer 11.16; m. b. "haman" Eze 7.11; 1 Kings 18.41; e. b. a kind of deaf noise), similar to the noise in a military wall. When the cherubs stopped, their wings were at rest and, of course, they could not make noise.

"Like the sound of many waters." Favorite comparison of biblical writers for loud noise: Ezekiel 43.2; Isaiah 17.12; Jer 10.13; Rev 1:15, 14:2; Ps 92.4. Under the waters, many may mean rain, the sea, or most likely the mountain streams with waterfalls that are frequent in Judea; all this gives a large, but indefinite and vague sound, most suitable here. - The rumble heard by the prophet did not quite resemble the “noise of many waters”: it was stronger than him. If you look for a comparison for him, the prophet continues, then he can only be compared with the voice of God himself ("as if the voice of the Almighty"). “What is the use of looking for a similarity worthy of a thing, and not finding it anywhere? It is enough to point out the Acting One himself and show them the power of the noise” (Blessed Theodoret). The “voice of the Almighty” can also be understood as the real voice of God (heard, for example, at Sinai); such an understanding is favored by the addition to this simile in Ezekiel 10:5, "when He speaks." But the biblical writers have such an expression (“the voice of God”) as a common paraphrase for thunder: Ps 28.3-5; Job 37.2-5; Rev 19:5-6. Finally, the "voice of God" can also mean any great, piercing and terrible noise, just as "cedars of God" and "mountains of God" are great cedars and mountains. All these understandings can be combined: the comparison of the prophet wants to name the greatest noise possible on earth, reaching the degree that the Jew denoted in various qualities by the high definition of God; but no noise can compare in strength with the deafening peals of thunder, at which it seems that the universe is trembling; if anything can be stronger on earth than this noise, then only theophanic thunder, which, of course, was stronger than natural and which is meant by the places indicated in the psalms, the Apocalypse and Job. Whatever the "voice of the Almighty" means, in any case this epithet indicates a louder noise than the first comparison; moreover, the second comparison complements the first, defining the noise heard by the prophet on its other side - by degree and strength, while the first comparison defines it by quality. It is not without purpose that God is here called by the rare name Shaddai (Russian translation of "The Almighty", Slav. "Saddai"). God is called by this name on especially important and solemn occasions: Genesis 17.1; Numbers 24.4; in the book of Job this name occurs 30 times. This is some mysterious name of God, expressing, perhaps, a spontaneous, world power Deities; see on Gen 17.1. As a noun, Shaddai occurs only in poetry; in prose it has El in front of it, and on the foundations of Ezek 10.5 nek. Greek codes and glories. the translation is read and here in front of him is “God”.

The rumble produced by the wings of the cherubs during their walking, the prophet compares with the noise of a military camp, which is produced by huge troops, preparing for battle on both sides. Wed Gen 32.3; therefore the Targum: "like the voice of the angels on high." Naturally, the procession of the heavenly host is accompanied by the noise of a military campaign. And this loud military noise, reminiscent of the noise of an entire camp, comes from only 4 creatures! - The noise of the wings of the cherubim had to stop when they stood: then they did not flap their wings, lowering them. Instead of "lowered" glory. has “rest” (making “wings” and not “animals” as the subject of it, as in Russian translation), which is correct, because according to Art. On 12 and 23, the two pairs of wings of the cherubim were constantly stretched out. - At 7 euros. manuscripts (6 by Kennicott and 1 by Rossi) and some Pescito lists do not contain 24 st. The Vatican Codex reads only from this verse: “And I heard the voice of their wings as they went, like the voice of many waters; and when they stood, their wings rested”; thus, from a series of comparisons of Wat. the code. gives only one; everything superfluous stands against this in the Marshallian Codex under the asterisk marked θε (from Theodotion). In view of the fact that the reading of Wat. the codex stands alone (confirmed only by the Marsh. codex, and in other cases agreeing with it), one can suspect this codex, generally inclined to bypass difficult places by skipping them, in the correction of the verse according to Ezekiel 43.2, where only one comparison is made - with the noise of the waters.

What kind of "voice from the vault" was, various assumptions are made. The first thing that comes to mind is the assumption that this voice belonged to the One who was above the firmament, Who indicated where the animals should stop. The second half of the verse could then mean that “at the call from above, the chariot finally stopped before Ezekiel, and now the prophet could give a description of the throne and Him who sat on it. But such an understanding is hindered by 1) the fact that Jehovah first speaks in Ezekiel 2.1; 2) the chariot was already standing when the voice sounded; 3) that the animals, obedient to the voice from the firmament, finally stopped, could not be said like this: "when they stood, their wings fell." Other assumptions about this voice are also untenable. He “could not be an echo coming from below, neither by the nature of things, nor because Ezekiel, due to his location, could not hear him. He could not come from the throne that rested. It could not come from Jehovah himself, be the noise of His feet, because Jehovah does not step, but sits. If it were thunder, then it could be more precisely defined, called by its name ”(Gitzig). This list needs to be supplemented with Krechmar's witty guess that under the voice from the firmament one should “understand the noise caused by the conceivable circle of Jehovah, the army of the Lord; for Jehovah who sits on the throne, who is next. appears as a king, must be, as such, surrounded by an innumerable crowd of servants, without whom the Eastern man cannot imagine a king; "a loud noise, like the noise of a military camp" should be transferred from 24 tbsp. in 25, where it will signify the tremulous whispering that ran through the multitude of the heavenly hosts when the divine chariot stopped and Jehovah had to begin to speak; Ezekiel does not dwell on the description of the Divine Court, but hurries past those around him to the main Person. Too intricate thought would be suggested by the prophet in the reader, who must draw a conclusion from the existence of noise around the Lord about the army surrounding Him. The mysteriousness of the voice of which the verse speaks, and the complete impossibility of establishing any connection between the two halves of the verse, as well as the literal similarity of 25b to 24c. led even old interpreters to the idea of ​​spoiling the text here. This idea is also favored by the history of the text: 9 Hebrew manuscripts and some of Pescito's typos omit the entire verse; The Chisian Codex marks it with an asterisk; the second half of the verse is missing from 13 Heb. hands., in the codes Alex. Vatik., Coptic and Ethiopian translations, thanks to which the verse there takes on the following form: "and there was a voice from the firmament." This reading is smooth, but this smoothness is suspicious: how could it pass into that roughness, which is represented by the current Hebrew text and the Greek codices that agree with it?

Actually, only the second half of the verse, which is such an ear-piercing repetition of the recent 24th verse, defies explanation. But such a repetition of the final expressions in the spirit of Ezekiel and Chapter I is not one example of this author's device ("they did not turn around when they walked", "for the spirit of life was in the wheels"). This repetition replaces the prophet's current underlining of expressions. Thus, the repeated expression cannot stand in very close connection with neighboring sentences (vv. 9, 12); it has its purpose not in another sentence, but in itself: the prophet uses a distant occasion to recall the thought expressed earlier. It is possible not to read these final repetitions, and the thread of description will not be broken; this is what should be done here; needed in the 1st half of Art. see the continuation of the description, and in the second - a break in it, caused by the desire to return to the previously expressed thought; "there was a voice from the vault - it could be heard, because when the animals stopped, their wings did not make noise." - If so, then the first half of the verse can be explained completely independently of the second. Remarkably, there is no closest definition for "voice from the vault." No less remarkable is the fact that verbum finitum was used for the first time about this voice: and there was a voice. By these two circumstances, the voice from the vault is given an exceptional place and a very high and honorable one: “above the firmament” - a truly Divine place. At the same time, a certain mystery and incomprehensibility are communicated to this voice through the absence of any definition in it. Already for the noise from the wings of the cherubs, the prophet could hardly find a similarity between earthly noises. For a voice from the firmament, he does not even try to imagine any comparison. All this proves the Divine nature of this "noise". And in fact, why couldn't God by his appearance, besides everything else, make a special Divine noise? Such a noise ("voice" - "stake") was accompanied by His first appearance, described in the Bible (in paradise); the amazing noise from His appearance (“voices” - “stab”) is also mentioned in the description of the Sinai Epiphany. God first of all and closest of all reveals Himself in the world through a "stake", a voice, His Word. And the cherubim “could not endure the voice of Almighty God resounding in heaven, but stood and wondered, and with their silence pointed to the power of God, who sat in the firmament” (Blessed Jerome).

Ezekiel 1:26. And over the vault that is over their heads, It was the likeness of a throne in appearance, as it were, from a sapphire stone; and above the likeness of the throne was, as it were, the likeness of a man above it.

“The likeness, as it were, of a throne in appearance, as if from a sapphire stone.” Lit .: "As if the likeness of a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne." Thus the original text leaves it unknown whether the throne was sapphire or whether the sapphire was something separate from the throne. LXX tend to the last thought: "like a vision of a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne on it"; "on him", redundant against Heb. t., definitely says that the throne was on a sapphire and that the trace. sapphire was not the throne, but something under it - the foot of the throne or something else is unknown. But whether the throne was sapphire or something else, the appearance of this stone here is significant. This is a stone that bears the name of the brilliance itself (“safar” - “shine”), considered one of the most beautiful stones (Is 54.11; Rev 21.19), not inferior in price to gold (Job 28.6:16), a blue stone in any case (if it is not identical with our saphir) according to Pliny (Hist. nat. 87, 9) it is blue occasionally with red and glitters with golden dots (hardly ours is lapis - lasuli). Sapphire adds impenetrability to the light blueness of the sky, for which reason it is brought here for comparison. “As a crystal points to everything that is completely pure and luminous in the sky, so sapphire points to the hidden, hidden and unattainable mysteries of God, “who put darkness for His shelter” (blessed Jerome) “This likeness points to a mysterious and invisible nature” ( Blessed Theodoret). - The prophet sees the throne, regarding which there could be no doubt, whose it is. Rising at an unattainable height (cf. Isaiah 6.1), shrouded in flames and flooded with an unbearable light for the eye, the heavenly throne, of course, barely allowed itself to be seen, and the prophet now had to mentally complete what he saw. Hence the “similarity” with such a definite object as the throne, hence the silence about the light and material of the throne (except for its sapphire). - The throne presupposes a king. So God appears to the prophet Ezekiel, first of all, as a king. In the form of a king, God did not appear to the prophet Ezekiel first; but the manifestations of God in this form began shortly before Ezekiel. The idea of ​​God on the throne arose during the time of the kings: Moses is honored with the appearance of God in the form of a burning fire in the bush, Elijah in the wind of the desert, Samuel hears the calling voice of God. The appearance of God in the form of a king is first introduced by Micah: 1 Kings 22.8:17-22, followed by the vision of Isaiah. The development of such an idea could not but be influenced by the emergence and strengthening of royal power: there could not be a better image on earth for God, as an all-powerful king in all the splendor of his greatness. The splendor of Nebuchadnezzar's court could indirectly revive the idea of ​​God as King, and in the prophet Daniel we find an even more complex representation of the Heavenly King and His holy Court than in Ezekiel (Dan 7:9-10, 13-14).

“And above the likeness (repetition of the concept to strengthen the thought) of the throne was, as it were, the likeness of a man,” lit.: “likeness, as it were, the appearance of a man.” This image could hardly emerge in the sea of ​​light with which it was flooded. If the throne was indistinctly visible (“likeness”), then there was almost none to the One sitting on it and the concept of visibility is applicable. Hence this heap of restrictive words: “likeness”, “as if”, “appearance”. In this regard, the prophet Ezekiel, however, did not receive less than what was given to other God-seers. “The elders of Israel with Moses were shown only the place where God stood; Isaiah saw seraphim surrounding the throne of God; Ezekiel sees the bearers themselves, and the bearers of the immediate throne of God" (Krechmar). Actually, “God is nowhere to be seen anywhere” (Jn 1.18). If Moses, Isaiah, and Daniel say that they saw the Lord (e.g., sitting on a throne), then this brief expression of theirs is probably to be understood in the light of Ezekiel's accurate and detailed description: they did not see the face of God appearing (which could not be shown to Moses: Ex 33.23), seeing e. b. only vague outlines of the image of God.

Ezekiel 1:27. And I saw, as it were, a flaming metal, as it were a kind of fire inside it around; from the appearance of his loins and above, and from the form of his loins and below, I saw, as it were, a kind of fire, and a radiance It was Around him.

In the setting of the King who appeared to the prophet, the precious stones that usually adorn kings and their crowns occupied an obviously secondary position: they receded to such parts of this setting as the wheels of the throne, its footstool. They did not adorn the one who sat on the throne. All their beauty and brilliance could not add anything to the light with which the Seated One shone and with which one could only compare the radiance of hashmal unknown to us (hence it is only clear what kind of jewel was hashmal and how mistaken the interpreters are, assuming under it, for example, amber or some kind of copper). “It is noticeable that the prophet is very modest in this last part of his picture: he barely outlines the outline of the divine phenomenon; the radiance it cast seems to dazzle it and hide details from it" (Reiss). "And I saw." For the first time after 4 tbsp. and twice in this verse: the extraordinary importance of the moment "Like flaming metal." Letters. "like a kind of hashmal"; thus, "hashmal" in Rus. transmitted here contrary to Art. 5; where it is translated (as presumably as here): "light of the flame," Slav. in 5 st. and here it is the same: "like a vision of the ilektra." Like hashmal (see v. 5) shone He who sat on the throne; but the prophet replaces the direct description of his image (eg, "and his appearance was like that of hashmal") with this cautious expression. On the throne was a barely distinguishable human image; in fact, what could be seen on it was only the light of hashmal. “However, it was not only the radiance that came from the throne. A fiery light joined the light of the hashmal. The relation in which the second, simply fiery light stood to the first is expressed by the following obscure phrase: “as if a kind of fire inside (“bet” is an uncommon word anywhere, except for considering it equivalent to “byte” “house”) of him (actually “her” , i.e., either a human image on the throne or a hashmal, both in Hebrew. The phrase can either have the following meaning: it (the human figure? hashmal?) seemed to be all fiery, or inside: all-round fire was visible to the hashmal. - In the following words of the verse, the radiance of Him who sat on the throne is more accurately described. In the manner described, like hashmal and fire, the Seated One shone "from the sight of his loins and above"; and “from the appearance of his loins and below” the prophet “saw as it were ... fire”, alone without a hashmal. All this description is much clearer in Ezekiel 8.2, where the same Image shines below the loins only as fire, and above as hashmal and dawn (following, in the Russian translation, the semicolon must be translated to "his"). The prophet speaks with extreme caution. The luminous body of God is divided into two parts; if God is generally conceived in human form, then what is called loins among people (“the kind of loins”) would be the boundary between the two parts, which shone unequally. Since the image was in a sitting position, its vertical part from the waist up shone like hashmal and fire, and the lower part only like fire. The lower part of the image, located closer to the ground, and above all open to human eyes, shines with a more moderate light, like fire (but not like a simple fire, but “like a view”, something like fire), perhaps because wrapped in clothes that fell in wide folds all around (cf. Isaiah 6:1); the upper one, probably presented naked, at least in part, - on the neck, chest, shines with the most dazzling brilliance that we can think of (this was that bright radiance that the prophet noticed even when the cloud had just surfaced on the horizon - v. 5); but the upper part, next to the radiance of hashmal, had the radiance of fire: it may be that He who sat on the throne, shining Himself with light like the brilliance of hashmal, was dressed in fire, like a garment. - "And the radiance around him," that is, who sat on the throne. With a personal pronoun, speech returns to the main subject of the verse, which, without any explanation, is also indicated by the pronoun in "His loins." Around the entire light image of God there is a bright sphere of light, to which the view is more closely described in Art. 28 like rainbow.

Ezekiel 1:28. In what form a rainbow appears on the clouds during rain, such was the appearance of this radiance all around.

“Rainbow (and precisely in everything similar to the real one) in what form it appears on the clouds during rain. The inaccessible is separated from the surrounding sphere. While He himself shines with an extraordinary light, the circle circled around Him flickers, as it should, with a more softened, gentle light ”(Gitzig). The bright light from the throne of God is refracted in the colored radiance of the rainbow, which moderates it. Representing a variety of colors, both the most beautiful, and gradually turning into others, constituting, as it were, the greatness of God, reflected in heaven, the rainbow also in other cases comes into theophany: Revelation 4.3; Revelation 10:1 is chiefly for the significance it acquired after the flood. “Such a view” Slav.: “such a standing”, probably, the scribe took δρασις for στασις; so only, except for glory. transfer to Venetian. the code. and at the blessed Theodoret.

The signification and meaning of Ezekiel's vision on Chebar still remains and probably will remain for a long time the same mystery as the closely related and even more mysterious vision of the new temple (XL-XLIV ch.) and apocalyptic visions by this prophet are. Nevertheless, exegesis presents many attempts to unravel the mystery of the Khovar vision, the most important of which are the following: 1) St. Fathers, although the mysterious vision of 1 ch. Ezekiel, they say little about him, dwelling more on individual dark words and expressions of the prophet than on revealing the thought of the whole vision. Nevertheless, even among them we find an attempt, however indecisive, to indicate the idea to the vision. In 4 mysterious animal visions, some of them saw the image of 4 evangelists, and the whole phenomenon was considered a foreshadowing of the widespread spread of the kingdom of Christ on earth. The grounds for such an understanding were presented as follows: the evangelists as well as the animals in vision 4; they have the same number of faces, since each is destined to go into the whole world; they look at each other, as each agrees with the others; have 4 wings, as they diverge along different countries and with such speed, as if flying; in the noise of the wings they saw the gospel that went out to all the earth; in 4 different faces of animals they saw an indication of the nature and content of each of the Gospels. In addition to bliss. Jerome (who accepts this explanation of Chapter I of Ezekiel in the preface to the interpretation of Matthew, and in the interpretation of Ezekiel is afraid to follow it entirely) and Gregory the Dialogist, in whom we find a detailed development of this explanation, it was already known to St. Irenaeus of Lyons (Against heresies III, 16, 8). From the second it got quite wide use in the Western Church, where it was dominant during the Middle Ages. As for the Eastern Church, then the fathers of her, engaged in the explanation of I Ch. prophet Ezekiel (St. Ephraim the Syrian and Macarius the Great, Blessed Theodoret), we do not find any indication of this explanation. The fact that it was not unknown in the Eastern Church can only serve as some evidence, except for St. Irenaeus, monuments of iconography, sometimes depicting the evangelists in the form of 4 "animals" of Ezekiel and the Apocalypse. Our church charter, appointing Passion Week on the clock, when the Four Gospels are read, Paremias from Ezek I-II ch., also has in mind this explanation of ch. Ezekiel. - This explanation deserves attention for its antiquity. It is based on the correct idea that the vision of the prophet Ezekiel could not but point, although in part, to Christian times, from which it was separated by only a few centuries. God, who lived among the Jewish people in the temple on the cherubs, from now on, as it were, changed His place of residence on earth, not wanting to limit it to one people and one country. He had to reveal himself to the Gentiles, which happened through the preaching of the Gospel. All this could be expressed by the removal of the Glory of God on the cherubs from the Jerusalem temple, described in chapters X and XI. Ezek., to which description I ch. serves as a prelude. But, on the other hand, in the form of mysterious animals the prophet contemplated, as he himself says in Ezekiel 10.20, nothing but cherubim. Church art was entitled to choose these images to represent the Evangelists, but this choice does not oblige us to follow such a distant allegorical explanation.

Now they prefer to explain Ezekiel's vision from the immediate historical circumstances and find in it indications mainly of the era of the prophet and the content of his predictions and book. Since this appearance of God to Ezekiel was for him a calling to preach prophetically, the general content of the sermon determined the form of the appearance. Ezekiel's sermon revolved around two main subjects: the destruction of the old temple (VIII-XI ch.) and the creation of a new one in the renewed Jerusalem (XI-XLIII). From here, God appears to Ezekiel in a temple-like setting, on cherubs. But since God has to execute judgment on his people, the result of which will be the destruction of the temple and captivity, he appears at the same time as a formidable judge. Since this judgment will end not in the complete annihilation of the chosen people, but in its restoration, God, in His manifestation, surrounds Himself with symbols of mercy. From these three principles, all the particulars of Ezekiel's vision are explained. It opened with signs of a formidable, destructive nature - a stormy wind, a large cloud (cloud), fire, which indicated the impending invasion of Judea by the Chaldeans (hence the appearance of a vision from the north). The meek radiance of the elektra and the rainbow could serve as a sign of God's propitiation, the cessation of anger. Appearing as a formidable but merciful judge, God appears to the prophet, at the same time as the God of the covenant, although he avenges the violation of this covenant, but has no time to restore it. To this end, God appears seated on the cherubim, between whom He had His sojourn in the temple above the Ark of the Covenant. Between the cherubim there were burning coals, which suggest an altar under them, this main accessory of the temple. From the temple environment, even such a minor object as a washbasin has not been forgotten: in Solomon's temple it was movable, was equipped with wheels; wherefore, those wheels that were in charge of Ezekiel near the cherubim point to him. then. and to Ezekiel, God, like Isaiah, appears in the temple, but this temple is made movable as a sign that Jehovah has to temporarily withdraw from the Jerusalem temple. This explanation of Ezekiel's vision is repeated with minor variations by most commentators, old and new. Although the main points established by this explanation are correct, it does not proceed from one beginning; all the thoughts extracted by this explanation from the vision, if they are given by the vision, are not the thoughts of the whole vision, but of its individual parts, and must be united in some higher, basic thought. Moreover, although these thoughts are lofty and important, they are not new in prophetic literature; meanwhile, the Khovar vision in the book of Ezekiel gives the impression that it wants to say something new, to give a new revelation.

From this side, those attempts to explain Ezekiel's vision are more sympathetic, which try to find one thought in the whole vision. So Kimchi (rabbi of the 13th century) and Maldonat (Jesuit † 1583) think that 4 animals in the prophet Ezekiel, like in Daniel, are 4 great successive kingdoms; but this explanation obviously reduces the cherubim to the level of mere symbols. Schroeder's explanation differs in the same shortcoming, according to which animal visions represent the life of the world in all its integrity, and God appears in the present vision, as the living God, in His glory, which is the life of the world (cf. ch. XXXVII and XLVII and 1 John 1.2). - An interesting interpretation of the Ezekiel vision given by the Jesuit Nebrans in the Revue biblique 1894 octobre, which can be called astronomical. The main components of the vision symbolize the movement of the vault of heaven and various phenomena on it. galgal" (Ezek 10.13), which, as the places where this word is used, is not a wheel in the usual sense of this word, but means something having a spherical shape of a globe (Hebrans on the basis of Ezek 1.15 in Heb. t. concludes that in vision there was only one wheel.) The stars in the vision are represented by living eyes, with which the high and terrible rims of the wheels looked at the prophet (according to Hebrans "y of one wheel). The animals of Ezekiel's vision are signs of the zodiac, invented, as you know, by the Chaldeans. To complete the analogy, the fire that walked among the animals corresponded to the sun and its apparent movement in the firmament according to the signs of the zodiac. The purpose of Ezekiel's vision was to show Israel that their God is the true ruler of that sky, stars and luminaries that the Chaldeans idolized (God in the vision sits over the firmament and animals). But not to mention the fact that four wheels are indicated in the vision (Ezek 1.16), and not one, as necessary Hebrans "y" galgal "(the name of the wheels in the vision according to Ezek 10.13) means a kind of whirlwind (see rev. X: 13 ), and not a ball in general; the vault of heaven could not be personified by the wheels also because this vault appears later in the vision as a special independent part of it (v. 22). If the wheels in the vision did not mean the vault of heaven, then the eyes on them not stars Further, the signs of the zodiac with the animals of Ezekiel's vision have only one thing in common, that the first, and even then not all, and the second are animals, figures of animals; animals of Ezekiel's vision: so on this board one image of a two-headed animal is found, - “and the animals of Ezekiel, says Hebrans, had 4 heads; the legs of another animal are stretched out - and the legs of the animals of the vision are “straight” (1). Finally, if the Babylonians idolized the animals depicting the constellations (they even called them "lords of the gods"), then it turned out that the God of Israel surrounded Himself in His present manifestation with the images of pagan gods; Is such a representation acceptable? But this explanation may contain some truth: under the movement of the cherubim, which is described in such detail in the vision (vv. 9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 19-21, 24-25), one cannot but understand some activity of these highest beings; this activity, according to the very position of the cherubim at the throne of God, cannot but be worldly (cosmic), cannot but affect the world in its very foundations, and not influence the course of the entire life of the world.

The following can be said with certainty about the thought of Ezekiel's vision. The manifestations of God, among which was the vision of Chovar by the prophet Ezekiel, took place in general at the most important moments in the history of the covenant concluded by God with the Jewish people. They marked its beginning (theophany to Abraham, esp. Gen. 15.1, Jacob's vision of the ladder); then, theophanys are repeated at the renewal of the covenant of God with the peoples of Abraham, when the small family of this patriarch became a numerous people (appearance in the bush, Sinai), and then every time when the covenant is in danger. At the same time, the greater or lesser majesty of the epiphany is determined by the magnitude of the danger and, in general, by the importance of this or that moment in the history of the covenant; so one of the most magnificent theophany after Sinai was during the time of the prophet Elijah - this prophet - when one could think that only one person in all Israel remained faithful to the covenant with God. Since the appearance of God to Ezekiel at Chebar stood out in the series of theophany by its majesty, it means that the time of this theophany, the era of Ezekiel, was a particularly important moment in the history of the covenant, perhaps no less important than the era of Moses, a critical moment. Under the Sinai covenant, God promised to give part of humanity what He once deprived all of humanity for violating His commandment, that the gift of the Promised Land to the Jews had such a deep meaning, one can be convinced of this by comparing everything that was connected with such a gift: not only was Palestine by nature it boiled with honey and milk, God promised by special actions of providence to influence its abundance and fertility before the Sabbath year, etc. By the Word a new paradise was planted for man, although no longer in Eden: Lev. 26:4ff, Gen 13:10; Hos 2.18 and Ezek 36.35; Isaiah 51:3; Joel 2.3. God wanted to restore to Israel almost everything that had been taken from Adam, to make a change in the most sinful conditions of human life, even in purely natural ones. Centuries of experience have shown that Israel, like Adam, cannot fulfill their obligations under the covenant with God. The time has come for God, if not to cancel, then at least to limit His great promises to His people, to expel man from paradise a second time. In the time of Ezekiel, this turnaround was taking place: God was taking the Promised Land away from His former people. She had to be converted by the invasion of the Chaldeans into the wilderness (Ezek VI). And subsequently she could never fully recover from this invasion; at least, after captivity, she does not surprise everyone, as before, with her fertility and abundance. Ezekiel mourned the end of the land of Israel (ch. vii). God deprived the former of His people and of His immediate vicinity: since the captivity of Israel, there have been few prophets; he also does not have the former temple with the Ark of the Covenant and the Glory of the Lord over it. Such an important change took place in the time of Ezekiel with the Sinaitic covenant. It is understandable why God now appears so majestically, as at Sinai, and in an environment reminiscent of the Sinai theophany. - Among other theophanys of Khovar, it is distinguished by the presence of cherubim, who occupy a very prominent place in it - they are the main figures of the whole phenomenon. Although the cherubim in the dispensation of human salvation appear here not for the first and not the only time, nevertheless their appearance in the history of this dispensation is extremely rare. It is not difficult to list all the cases of this appearance known from the Bible: the first took place at the time of the fall of mankind, when the cherubim (Gen. 3.24: in Hebrew and Greek pl.) were entrusted with the protection of paradise taken from people; then, after the conclusion of the Sinai covenant, the cherubim overshadow the Ark of this covenant and are present in the tabernacle, which should be concluded on the basis of their images above one and the other; finally, after appearing in the visions of the prophet Ezekiel, they appear again only in the visions of John the Theologian, which, as you know, have as their subject the last struggle of the church with the forces of the world and its final victory, that is, the end of time. What all these cases have in common is that they take place at particularly important moments of God's providential influence on earth, at moments of such or similar importance as the end of the world or that profound upheaval that humanity was to experience at the fall. What the prophet Ezekiel contemplated on Chebar thus stood in some relation to the initial history of fallen mankind and to the end of this history and our world. This is also proved by the undoubted connection of this vision with the last vision of the prophet Ezekiel in ch. XI-XLVII. And this vision refers to those times when Israel, restored to their former rights, renewed and holy, will live in the Promised Land, completely different from the former land, with a new temple. Since the salvation of Israel will take place in the last times, when the fulfillment of tongues will come in, in the last chapters of his book, the prophet Ezekiel clearly describes that new earth and that new Jerusalem, which the Apocalypse also speaks of. And now the Glory of God enters into the new temple that this earth will have in the same form in which it appeared on Chebar and in which it came out of the old temple, destroyed by the Chaldeans. So the manifestation of God, described in Chapter I. book. Ezekiel, so exceptional that it will have an analogy for itself only in that mysterious time when "time ... will not be" (Rev. 10.6). At the same time, this epiphany had a great analogy with what was done through Moses at Sinai. But this analogy is the analogy of the opposite: the Glory of God, which had rested in Israel since the time of the Sinai legislation, in the time of Ezekiel passed “from the threshold of the House to the cherubim” (Ezek 10.18) to be removed from the criminal people. Israel could console himself with the hope that she would return to him in the described XL-XLVIII ch. Iez time. For such a turn in the direction of providential activity, which took place in the time of Ezekiel, God needed to “raise up His power”, “shake heaven and earth”, and for this to appear on cherubim, who “shake the world when they walk” (Targum on Ezek I, 7).

Prophet Ezekiel and his book.

Personality of the prophet Ezekiel.

"Ezekiel" in translation means "God will strengthen, betray strength."

Ezekiel was a Jerusalem priest, the son of Buzios, and in his homeland belonged to the urban aristocracy. Fell into Babylonian captivity with Jeconiah and the first batch of 10,000 Israelites around 597 B.C. In Babylon, he lived in the town of Tel Aviv (not far from the Babylonian city of Nippur) by the river Khovar (Kebaru), which, in fact, was not a river, but a canal. According to legend, Jewish settlers dug it up by order of Nebuchadnezzar and used it for irrigation, directing water from the Euphrates River through it.
In captivity, he was not constrained: he had a wife (she was a great consolation to him, but she died in the 9th year of captivity - about 587. God forbade him to mourn her - 24:16-23), had his own house (3:24) , received the Jewish leaders there and conveyed to them the will of God (8:1) [Mickiewicz V. Bibliology]. Also, Jews gathered in his house to talk about faith and listen to his speeches.

About 593, in the 5th year of captivity, Ezekiel was called to the prophetic ministry (1:2), apparently at the age of 30 (Num. 4:30).

In his book, Ezekiel indicates the exact dates of the events, considering the beginning of his captivity as the starting point. The last date in the book is 571 (29:17), after which, apparently, he soon died. Nothing more is known from the book about the life of the prophet.

Tradition (transmitted by St. Epiphanius of Cyprus) says that Ezekiel was a miracle worker: he delivered the settlers of Tel Aviv from the angry Chaldeans, transferring them like dry land through Khovar. And also saved from hunger. The legend retained the name hometown prophet - Sarir. In his youth (testifies St. Gregory the Theologian) Ezekiel was the servant of Jeremiah, and in Chaldea he was the teacher of Pythagoras (St. Clement of Alexandria. Stromata, 1, 304). Tradition also describes the death of the prophet: he was killed by the prince of his people for denunciation of idolatry, buried in the tomb of Shem and Arfaxad on the banks of the Euphrates near Baghdad [A.P. Lopukhin].

Unlike many other prophets, Ezekiel's ministry from beginning to end took place outside the Holy Land.

Ezekiel was a divinely inspired interpreter of the Babylonian captivity, its meaning in the system of Divine Providence for Israel. Most likely, he immediately wrote (rather than spoke) most of his prophecies for distribution to the people (2:9). Only occasionally does the prophet speak (24:6; 8:1; 14:1). But in general "his tongue was tied to the larynx and he was mute" (3:27). Much more often resorted to symbolic actions.

A call to service.

God calls Ezekiel in the 5th year of the captivity, about 592 B.C. The last date given in the book is 571 (29:17). That. The time of the prophet's ministry is about 22 years.
The calling of Ezekiel is described in chapters 1-3. Here we see an incredibly complex description of what he saw on the river Chebar, namely a vision of the likeness of the Glory of God. After the vision, the Lord calls Ezekiel to serve and says: “I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a disobedient people ... with a hardened face and a hard heart ...” (2:3-5). A hand stretches out to him, holding a scroll, which unfolds before him and on which is written: "weeping, and groaning, and sorrow." The Prophet is commanded to eat this scroll, and he ate it, and it was "sweet as honey" in his mouth. And again the Lord addresses the prophet: “Get up and go to the house of Israel, and speak to them in My words; for you are not sent to the nations with inarticulate speech and with an incomprehensible tongue, but to the house of Israel ... and the house of Israel will not want to listen to you ... do not be afraid of them and do not be afraid before their face, for they are a rebellious house ”(3: 4-9).

After the prophet spends seven days in amazement, the Lord says that he is henceforth the watchman of the house of Israel, which he will speak and reprove. If he convicts the wicked of sins, and he does not turn away from his sins and perishes, then the prophet is pure from his blood. But if he does not speak the words of the Lord to him, and he perishes, then his blood is on the prophet, the iniquity of the sinner will turn on him. The Lord makes the fate of the prophet dependent on the fate of those people to whom he is sent, and says that the fulfillment of what he is entrusted with is beyond his power, but to speak and prophesy, i.e. to risk his life, he must, without even having any hope of being heard [Jer. Gennady Egorov. Holy Bible Old Testament].

Purpose of service.

Defining the main goal of the ministry of the prophet Ezekiel, it is necessary to designate two periods of this ministry, because in each of them the goal changed. The first period - before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple: the captives considered themselves innocent, did not realize the reasons for such a heavy punishment for them, hoped for an early end to suffering. Here Ezekiel rises up against ethereal hopes, predicts the destruction of Jerusalem, shows that the Jews themselves are to blame for their troubles.

After the fall of the city and the Temple, Ezekiel tries to console his fellow tribesmen who have fallen in spirit, preaching the near end of captivity, the future renewal of Jerusalem and the Temple, where then the Lord Himself will be.

Ezekiel was a "sign" for Israel (24:24) both in words and deeds, and even in personal trials (like Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah). But above all, he is a visionary. Although only four visions are described in the book, they occupy a significant place (ch.1-3, ch.8-11, ch.37, ch.40-48).

The origin of the book of the prophet Ezekiel.

The book was born, obviously, the entire period of the ministry of the prophet Ezekiel: during his life he “recorded” (24:2), but finally collected it no earlier than the 27th year of captivity (29:17 is the latest date of the book).

Jewish tradition says that the great synagogue collected and published the book.

Wise Sirach refers to Ezekiel (49:10-11 - Ezek. 13:13, 18:21, 33:14, 38:22).

The book itself contains evidence of Ezekiel's authorship: a first-person narration, a language with signs of Aramaic influence and Jews in captivity (in historical reviews of the language of biblical writers, special features are attributed to the period of Babylonian captivity, which are also present in the writings of Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and also in Ezekiel), the content corresponding to the modern prophet of the era.

Features of the book.

1) One of the most important features of the book - its symbolism and description of unusual visions - is visible already from the first lines: chapter 1 is written in an apocalyptic style. Ezekiel is considered the founder of the Jewish apocalyptic.

Apocalypse is a kind of prophecy, which has the following features [priest. Lev Shikhlyarov]:

Special language: symbols, hyperbole, fantastic images;

Writing at moments of greatest suffering, catastrophes, persecution of faith, when the present is so bleak that all the aspirations of people turn to the distant future and even to the end of time (eschatology of chapters 37-48).

The transmission of the atmosphere of expectation of the speedy end of history, the judgment of God over the peoples and the visible accession of Yahweh "on earth and in heaven."

There is an opinion that apocalyptic allegories were invented for the sake of encryption from the "outside".

The book of the prophet Ezekiel anticipates the so-called. apocalyptic literature of a later time (Dan., Rev.), replete with mysterious symbols, peculiar speeches (33:32), contemplation of the mysteries of the Lord in a state of "rapture", parables (20:49), symbolic actions that Ezekiel performed more often than all other prophets (4:1-5:4, 12:1-7, 21:19-23, 37:15).

2) The priestly coloring of the book: love for the Temple, worship and rituals (Ch. 8 and 40-44).

3) Seal of Babylonian origin:

The language abounds in Aramaic, reveals the decline of the Hebrew language, which is reminiscent of the fact that Ezekiel lived in a foreign country;

There is a controversial opinion that Ezekiel's cherubim appear under the influence of the Assyro-Babylonian winged lions and oxen.

4) Sublime syllable (Ezekiel is even called the "Jewish Shakespeare").

Symbolism of speeches and actions.

The prophet Ezekiel widely and not partially, not fragmentarily uses symbols, he brings the symbolic image to the end and reveals the most perfect knowledge of what is symbolized and symbolizes. For example, knowledge of Tire and shipbuilding (ch.27), architectural design (40:5-ch.43), the last war and a description of the military field with the bones of the fallen (ch.39).

Sometimes its symbols are supernatural and revealed by God (chap. 1), so you need to be very careful in their understanding, you can not understand the book of the prophet Ezekiel literally. According to the testimony of bl. Jerome and Origen, among the Jews it was forbidden to read the book of Ezekiel before reaching the age of 30.

For its mystery and symbolism, Christian interpreters called it "an ocean or labyrinth of God's mysteries" (Blessed Jerome).

Ezekiel is “the most amazing and highest of the prophets, the contemplator and interpreter of the great mysteries and visions” (St. Gregory the Theologian).

Blzh. Theodoret called the book of this prophet "the depth of prophecy."

Among the researchers of the apologetic direction there is a point of view according to which Ezekiel deliberately introduces symbolism in order to oppose it to the Assyro-Babylonian symbolism that surrounded the Jews in captivity. Orthodox interpreters do not agree with this, arguing that the symbols and images of Ezekiel, bearing a biblical character, are written in the Old Testament language, are explained from the Old Testament, and not with the help of pagan symbols.

And such a love of the prophet for symbols, manifested both in style and in speech, is most likely due to the specifics of his listeners, who did not want to listen. Therefore, Ezekiel does not stop at any images that are unpleasant to hear, just to distract listeners from vice, just to frighten the lawless, just to get through (ch.4, ch.16, ch.23).

The canonical merit of the book.

The canonicity of the book of the prophet Ezekiel is evidenced by:

Wise Sirach, mentioning Ezekiel among other sacred Old Testament writers (Sir.49:10-11 = Ezek.1:4,13:13, 18:21,33:14);

New Testament: often refers to Ezekiel, in particular the Apocalypse (ch.18-21 - Ezek.27:38; 39; 47 and 48 ch.);

In further Christian conciliar and patristic reckonings, the book of the prophet Ezekiel takes its place in the canon of the Holy Books;

The Jewish canon also recognizes the book of Ezekiel.

Interpretations.

Origen: only 14 homilies have survived (not translated into Russian), the rest of his works on the interpretation of Ezekiel have been lost;

Rev. Ephraim the Syrian interpreted the book (but not the whole) in a literal-historical sense;

Blzh. Theodoret interpreted, but also not the whole book, and his work has not been translated into Russian;

Blzh. Jerome interpreted the whole book historically and tropologically;

St. Gregory the Dialogist wrote a mysteriously prophetic interpretation of chapters 1-3 and 46-47.

In Russian theological literature:

Article by F.Pavlovsky-Mikhailovsky. The life and work of the holy prophet Ezekiel (1878);

Archim. Theodora. Holy Prophet Ezekiel. (1884);

Exegetical monographs for the first chapter:
Skaballanovich (1904) and A. Rozhdestvensky (1895).

Composition.

BUT) Four parts [Victor Melnik. Orthodox Ossetia]:

1) prophecy about the judgment over Jerusalem (ch.1-24);

2) the prophecy about the seven pagan nations (ch.25-32);

3) prophecies written after the fall of Jerusalem in 587 (ch.33-39);

4) the prophecy about the new Jerusalem (ch.40-48), written in the 70s of the 6th century.

B) Three parts [by P.A. Jungerov]:

1) 1-24 chapters: 1-3 chapters - calling and 4-24 - speeches delivered before the fall of Jerusalem in order to show the legitimacy and inevitability of death;

2) 25-32 chapters: speeches on foreign nations after the fall of Jerusalem, delivered in different years of Ezekiel's life;

3)33-48 chapters: speeches and visions about the Jewish people after the fall of Jerusalem in order to comfort the Jews with the promise of future theocratic gifts and blessings.

AT) Five parts [Jer. Gennady Egorov]:

1) Calling (Ch. 1-3);

2) Rebuking the Jews and predicting the fall of Jerusalem (4-24);

3) Prophecies about other nations (25-32);

4) The promise of return from captivity, the gift of the New Testament (33-39);

5) Vision of a new arrangement of the Holy Land, Jerusalem and the Temple (40-48).

G) Researcher E. Young, in addition to dividing into parts, made a detailed analysis of the content of the chapters of each part, which can be very useful when studying the book:

1) Prophecies uttered before the fall of Jerusalem (1:1-24:27):

1:1-3:21 - introduction - vision of the glory of the Lord in the 5th year of the captivity, about 592 BC;

3:22-27 - the second vision of the Lord's Glory;

4:1-7:27 - a symbolic image of the destruction of Jerusalem: a siege (4:1-3), punishment for sins (4:4-8), the symbolism of food as a consequence of the siege, what awaits the city and what is its fault (5: 5-17), additional prophecies about punishment (ch.6-7);

8:1-8 - inspired transfer to Jerusalem and contemplation of its death;

9:1-11 - punishment of Jerusalem;

12:1-14:23 - The Lord leaves the city for unbelief and following false prophets;

15:1-17:24 - the inevitability and necessity of punishment;
-18:1-32 - God's love for sinners;

19:1-14 - lamentation for the princes of Israel;

2) Prophecies against foreign nations (25:1-32:32):

Ammonites (25:1-7);

Moabites (25:8-11);

Edomlians (25:12-14);

Philistines (25:15-17);

The inhabitants of Tyre (26:1-28:19);

The inhabitants of Sidon (28:20-26);

Egyptians (29:1-32:32);

3) Restoration prophecies uttered after the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (33:1-48:35):

33:1-22 - about the New Testament, about God's love for sinners; as well as official instruction on the prophetic mission;

34:1-31 - the time will come when the people will recognize the Lord and a true prophet will appear among them;

35:1-15 - desolation of Edom;

36:1-38 - the revival of the Israelite people;

37:1-28 - about the prophet's vision of a field of bones as a symbol of the resurrection of Israel and the world;

38:1-39:29 - the prophecy about Gog and Magog.

Chapters 37-39 are a single whole: after chapter 37, the question arises, can anyone break the connection of the Jews with God? The answer can be found in chapters 38 and 39: there will be such enemies, but the Lord will not leave the Jews, for with them there is an eternal covenant, and God will destroy enemies. Those. these chapters should be a consolation to the people.

38:8 describes the time of the appearance of enemies (as well as 38:16) (cf. Acts 2:17, Heb. 1:1-2, 1 Pet. 1:20, 1 John 2:18, Jude 18). That is, when they come last days and Israel will be established in their land (38:8), the promised Messiah will appear, and God's Tabernacle will be among the people (48:35), when the incarnate Son of God will bring peace at the cost of the Cross, then an enemy will appear who will try to destroy those for whom He died . But God will help you win.

The prophet Ezekiel speaks in the Old Testament language, using appropriate images: after the promised redemption, he writes about the enemy through a symbolic description of the great union that absorbed the forces of evil, playing on the contemporary union of states that sought to destroy the people of God (led by Gog). This union has become a symbol of those who will oppose the Lord and His redeemed.

The symbol depicting the defeat of these enemies: Israel will burn the weapons of the enemies for seven years and bury their dead for seven months.

The peoples united against Israel are interpreted ambiguously: perhaps Ezekiel has in mind Gagaia (or Carchemis), speaking of the head of the conspiracy, deriving the names “Gog” and “Magog” from this name. Perhaps these are the Moskhi and Tibaren peoples. Or maybe - Ethiopia, Libya, Homer (or Cimmerians), Fogarm (present-day Armenia).

Most likely, the prophet does not describe any historical event here, but simply means to comfort the people of God, implying that God is much stronger than the most powerful enemy.

40:1-48:35 - vision of the Church of God on earth, symbolically represented by the picture of the temple.
The prophet was not only to rebuke, but also to console. Therefore, it reminds of the coming salvation. And being a priest, he uses the symbolism of priestly service, describing in detail the structure of the temple and worship.

This passage, as well as the entire book of the prophet Ezekiel, is not to be taken literally (otherwise, let's say, from chapter 48 it can be deduced that the temple must be outside Jerusalem).
The climax here at the end is in the words "The Lord is there." These words express the essence of the time when God will be worshiped in truth.

The prophet does not say a word about an earthly temple in this place, about an earthly high priest: worship will be in spirit and in truth.

That. the messianic age is here described, when the Lord will dwell in the midst of his people. This place in the book of the prophet is a sermon about Christ.

1) Vision of the Glory of the Lord and a call to service (1-3);

2) 13 accusatory speeches against the Jews and symbolic actions depicting the fall of Jerusalem (4-24);

3) Accusatory speeches against the pagans: the neighbors of the Jews (25), Tyre (26-28, and in 28:13-19 the king of Tyre is presented as the personification of the devil (cf. Isa. 14:5-20);

4) Prophecy about Egypt (29-32);

5) New duties of Ezekiel after the fall of Jerusalem as a consolation and reinforcement (33);

6) The Lord is the Shepherd of reborn Israel (34);

7) On the punishment of Idumea;

8) About the revival of Israel (36);

9) The revival of dry bones as a type of the rebirth of Israel and the general Resurrection (37);

10) Apocalyptic prophecies about the enemies of the Church, about the extermination of the hordes of Gog (38-39, cf. Rev. 20:7);

11) About the new eternal Kingdom of God and the new temple (40-48; Rev. 21);

12) The prophecies of the last 14 chapters - about the end times - have common features with the mysterious visions of Daniel and the Apocalypse, have not yet been fulfilled, so these places should be interpreted with extreme caution.

Some visions, prophecies, symbolic actions.

Vision of the Likeness of the Glory of God :

This was the first vision of the prophet Ezekiel. Immediately after that, God calls him to the ministry. Described in the initial section of the book (Ch. 1-3). The vision of the likeness of the Glory of God and the vision of the renewed Holy Land (in the final part of the book of the prophet) are extremely difficult to interpret.

Here is how Bishop Sergius (Sokolov) happened to see the prophet Ezekiel:

“The Prophet saw a large menacing cloud moving from the north, around it there was an extraordinary radiance, inside - “like the light of a flame from the middle of the fire” and in it - the likeness of four animals with four faces and four wings and hands for each animal, with one head . The face of each was like a human (in front), a lion's (on the right side), the face of a calf (on the left side) and an eagle (on the opposite side in relation to the human face) ”[Jer. Gennady Egorov. Holy Scripture of the Old Testament].

The prophet Ezekiel contemplates God Himself on the throne (1:26-28). Moreover, unlike similar visions of Isaiah (Ch. 6) and Micah (the son of Iemblai - 1 Kings 22:19), the vision of the prophet Ezekiel is striking in its grandiosity and symbolism.

As for the interpretation of this mysterious vision, after which the prophet Ezekiel “was amazed for seven days” (3:15), as already mentioned above, one must be extremely careful here and be guided by the teachings of the Church. So, according to the tradition of the fathers and teachers of the Church, under the four faces of animals and the eyes of unearthly chariots facing the four cardinal points, it is customary to understand the omniscience and power of God, who rules the world through His servants - Angels. And also the four faces are the four Evangelists.

The vault of heaven and the firmament is the firmament of heaven, which God created on the second creative day to separate the heavenly and earthly waters (Gen. 1:6). The throne of God was above or outside this firmament. The rainbow is a symbol of God's Covenant with all mankind, not only with the Jews (Gen. 9:12).

The meaning of the vision in relation to the contemporaries of the prophet is to encourage, for the vision made it possible to realize the greatness and omnipotence of God, which is not limited by limits. This was to remind the captives that in the land of resettlement they are under His authority and therefore must remain faithful to Him, not lose hope for salvation, keeping themselves clean from pagan wickedness. [Jer. Gennady Egorov].

The Church also sees a messianic meaning in this passage, according to which “he who sits on the throne” is the Son of God, the chariot is the Mother of God, which in church hymns is called “the chariot of the Smart Sun”, “Fiery chariot”.

After the vision, the Lord calls Ezekiel to serve. A hand stretches out to him, holding a scroll, which is unfolded before him and on which is written: "weeping, and groaning, and woe" (2:10). The Prophet is commanded to eat this scroll, and he ate it and was in his mouth "sweet as honey", moreover, that such were terrible words are written on this scroll.
M.N. Skaballanovich notes that in the book of the prophet Ezekiel there is a lot of material for biblical theology:

In particular, chapter one provides important information on Christian angelology. The scientist claims that no one has said so much about cherubim;

The prophet Ezekiel, like no one before him, speaks about God, revealing Him from the side of His “holiness”, transcendence. In the prophet Isaiah, God draws the heart to Himself, gives joyful hope. In the prophet Ezekiel, God makes human thought numb before Himself, but there is something sweet in this sacred horror. Ezekiel is also the first to make such a precise distinction between what in God is accessible to human understanding and what is not even named: chapter 1 describes God, and in 2:1 it says that the prophet saw only a vision of “the likeness of the glory of the Lord”;

The prophet Ezekiel contemplates "the radiance around God" (1:28). Skaballanovich says that only from this vision of Ezekiel is it possible to talk about God as Light;

God makes Himself known, first of all, as a voice, a sound that is not defined by anything or anyone. The divine noise (“the voice from the firmament” 1:25) is different from the noise of the appearance of the cherubim.

Philosophical and historical significance of chapter 1 of the book of the prophet Ezekiel: highlighting the Babylonian captivity as a lofty turning point in Old Testament history, which, along with the loss of paradise, the granting of Sinai legislation and the end of the visible world, causes the appearance of God on earth, and differs from other manifestations of God in that here He is accompanied by cherubim.

A vision of the iniquity of Jerusalem. The Second Vision of the Glory of God :

The peculiarity of the book is that the prophet lives constantly in Babylon, but the action takes place regularly in Jerusalem. At the beginning of this vision, he says that the hand of the Lord took him by the hair and carried him to Jerusalem (Ezek. 8:3). There again appears to him a likeness of the glory of God. And so, he sees what is happening in the temple. He sees through a hole in the wall of the temple that various animals are depicted in hidden places in the temple, which were worshiped in Egypt and Assyria, he sees that there they are burned by the elders of the house of Israel, known to him. Then he sees how, after sunrise, these elders turn their backs to the altar of God and worship the sun. He sees that women are sitting at the gates of the house of the Lord and perform ritual lamentation for the Canaanite god Tammuz. The prophet sees that everything is rotten from top to bottom. Then seven angels, six of which hold weapons in their hands, and the seventh has inscriptions, go around the city: first, the one with inscriptions marks with the letter “tav” on his forehead (i.e., a sign similar to the Cross) those who mourn about the abominations that are happening. After that, the remaining six angels, having weapons in their hands, pass through the city and exterminate all those who do not have this cross-like sign on their faces.

Then the prophet again sees the manifestation of the Glory of God: as the prophet contemplates the idolaters and wicked leaders of the people, he sees how the Glory of God moves away from its usual place where it was supposed to stay, between the Cherubim in the Holy of Holies. He departs first to the threshold of the temple (9:3), where he stops for a short time, then departs from the threshold of the temple to the eastern gate (10:19) and from the midst of the city rises to the Mount of Olives, to the east of the city (11:23). Thus, the temple and Jerusalem are deprived of the Glory of God. Here is a prediction of the gospel events, that which will precede the establishment of the New Testament (Luke 13:34-35; Matt. 23:37). This is also the fulfillment of the Lord's warning given to Solomon and the people at the consecration of the temple (2 Chron. 7), as well as the warning of chapter 28 of Deuteronomy.

Those. the details of what will happen have already been given a long time ago, and when Ezekiel prophesies, he not only proclaims something new, he recalls, sometimes literally repeating what was already said to Moses [Jer. Gennady Egorov].

Symbolic actions .

In addition to the word, the prophet Ezekiel widely used preaching by deed in his ministry. Thanks to this, his behavior bordered on foolishness, but it was a forced measure, applied by him at the command of God, when it was impossible to get through to the people in any other way. His task was to convey the sad news about the coming long siege of Jerusalem and some of its details:

The prophecy about the death of Jerusalem: Ezekiel puts a brick in the middle of the village (ch. 4) and sets up a siege against it according to all the rules, with the construction of fortifications, a rampart, and wall-beating machines. Then God tells him to lie first for 390 days on one side (as a sign of bearing the iniquities of the house of Israel) and 40 days on the other - for the iniquities of the house of Judah. God determines for him the measure of bread and water for these days as a foreshadowing of the measure of food in besieged Jerusalem (4:9-17).

God tells the prophet to “run the razor of the barbers over the head and over the beard, then take the scales and divide the hair into parts. Burn the third part with fire in the middle of the city ... cut the third honor with a knife in its vicinity, scatter the third part to the wind ... ”(5: 1-2). This was done as a sign of what is to come to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “a third part of you will die of a plague and perish from a city in your midst, a third part will fall by the sword in your neighborhood, and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and draw a sword after them” (5:12).

Again the prophet hears the will of God: "go and lock yourself at home" (3:22), as a sign of the imminent siege of Jerusalem.

He breaks a hole in the wall of his house in front of everyone and takes out things - “this is a portent for the ruler in Jerusalem and for the whole house of Israel ... they will go into captivity ...” (12: 1-16).

parables.

1) Accusatory:

Jerusalem is compared to the vine (John 15:6), which is good for nothing, it can only be burned after harvest, because it is of no value (ch. 15);

Chapter 16: Jerusalem is likened to a harlot whom the Lord found abandoned as a child, “washed her with water, anointed her with oil, clothed and shod ... adorned ... But she relied on her beauty and began to fornicate ... and the Lord will judge her with the court of adulterers ... and betray her bloody rage and jealousy…”;

Chapter 23: Samaria and Jerusalem are presented as two harlot sisters.

2) Prophetic (17:22-24): the parable of the cedar, on top of which is King Jeconiah, Christ will come from his descendants. And “exalted” is Mount Golgotha ​​(Blessed Theodoret).

Prophecies spoken after the fall of Jerusalem .

After the fall of Jerusalem, the prophet Ezekiel changed the direction of his preaching. Even at his call, the Lord gave him a scroll to eat, on which bitter words were written, but which turned out to be sweet in taste (3:1-3). So in the death of Jerusalem, the prophet after 573 tried to show his people sweetness: after 573, Ezekiel speaks of the prospects for the future, that God did not forever reject the Jews, that he would gather them and comfort them with many blessings. Here are some prophecies from this period:

-Prophecy about God the Shepherd and the New Testament:

In view of the fact that the Old Testament priesthood, called to be shepherds of the people of God, forgot about its mission (“you did not strengthen the weak, and you did not heal the sick sheep, and you did not bandage the wounded ... but ruled them with violence and cruelty. And they scattered without a shepherd ... " 34:4-5) thus says the Lord God: “I myself will search for my sheep and search them ... I will gather them from the countries and bring them into their land, and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel ... in a good pasture ... and I will give them rest ... I will find the sheep and bring back the stolen sheep…” (34:11-16). Those. through the prophet Ezekiel, God reveals Himself in the new form of God - the Savior who forgives sins. The image of the Shepherd was to make a special impression on the people of God. The fact is that the sheep in the east are an object of love and care (John 10:1-18), therefore, comparing Jews with sheep, and declaring Himself their Shepherd (34:12), the Lord makes them understand how much He loved them and how God's relationship with His people is now changing: God the Shepherd is no longer the Old Testament, but something new.

“And I will make a covenant of peace with them (34:25); ... and I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be cleansed from all your filthiness ... and I will give you a new heart, and I will give you a new spirit; And I will take the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, I will put my spirit within you...and you will walk in my statutes, and you will keep and do my statutes...and you will be my people, and I will be your God...” (36:25) -28).

Here, according to researchers, the prophet foreshadows the gift of the New Testament, the result of which should be a change in man: the law will become the inner content of life, the Holy Spirit will dwell in a person as in a temple [Jer. Gennady].

In the context of chapter 34 of the book of Ezekiel, John 10 sounds in a new way: the leaders of Israel lost their functions of intermediaries, the sheep were no longer subject to them. Therefore, only spiritual blindness prevented the hearers of Christ from understanding His preaching [Jer. Gennady Egorov].

But there remained among those listening to the prophet who did not want to believe in the promises. Ezekiel's vision of the mystery of rebirth (chapter 37) was the answer to this little faith. This chapter is understood in the theological literature ambiguously. From a historical perspective, one can see here a prophecy that the people will return to their land, and from a prophetic perspective, an image of the future Resurrection. Chapter 37:3,9-10,12-14 is parimiia, and unique: it is read at matins (usually parimias are not allowed at matins) of Great Saturday after the great doxology.

great battle.

In chapters 38-39, the prophet Ezekiel first introduced the theme of the eschatological battle into the Holy Scriptures: at the end of time there will be a great battle between the faithful and the enemies of the Kingdom of God (Rev. 19:19). In addition to the figurative meaning (i.e., such a battle really should take place), there is also a teaching, the main idea of ​​which was well formulated by the Evangelist Matthew: “The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and those who use force rapture it” (11:12).
The prophet, most likely, borrows the names of the enemies from the legends about the warlike kings of the north: Gog - the Median king Giges, Rosh - the king of Urartu Rusa, Meshech and Tubal - the tribes of the Caucasus and Northern Mesopotamia. All of them represent a threat from distant lands.

Vision of the New Jerusalem (chapters 40-48).
This prophecy dates from the year 573 (40:1). In the twenty-fifth year after our migration (40:1), the Spirit of God carried Ezekiel to Jerusalem "and set him on a very high mountain" (40:2). This mountain actually did not exist in Jerusalem, this is an image denoting that the ideal City of the Future is described here with the name “The Lord is there” (48:35) - i.e. there the highest goal of creation will be realized, there God will dwell with people. All the details given in the final part of the book have a hidden meaning.

From a historical perspective, these chapters were of great practical use: in the words of Jer. Gennady Egorov, the above descriptions served as a kind of instruction for those who returned from captivity in the construction of a new church and the resumption of worship. Ezekiel was a priest and remembered the old Temple.

But still, there is a much deeper hidden meaning here than just instructions for builders. This is a description of the Kingdom of God. It speaks of both Christ (43:10) and the return of the Glory of the Lord to the temple (43:2-4). The Revelation of John the Evangelist borrows a lot from the text of Ezekiel, which means that both sacred writers spoke about the same thing (for example, Rev. 4:3-4).
The new temple has more slender forms, which testifies to the harmony of the City of the Future: the outer wall is a perfect square (42:15-20) - the emblem of harmony and completeness, the cross on the four cardinal points means the universal significance of the House of God and the City.

The resurrected Old Testament Church meets the Glory of Yahweh coming from the east, from where the exiles were to return. God forgives people and dwells with them again - this is a prototype of the Gospel Epiphany, but distant, because the Glory is still hidden from the eyes of people.
Service in the Temple is a reverent evidence that God is close, He - the consuming Fire - resides in the heart of the City.

Equitable distribution of plots of land means moral principles that should underlie the earthly life of mankind (48:15-29). Equal shares will be received by "gerim" (aliens) - converted pagans (47:22).

The "prince" is deprived of the right to own all the land, his power is now limited.

The prophet Ezekiel is considered the "father of Judaism", the organizer of the Old Testament community. But the City of God is something more, living water (47:1-9) is the mystical and eschatological plan of Ezekiel's teaching: not only the dispensation of the world in justice, but also a description of Heavenly Jerusalem (Rev. 21:16).

The waters of the Dead Sea are stripped of their destructive power (47:8) in commemoration of the Spirit's conquering power over imperfect nature and evil in the human race.
The dispensation of the New Testament land is also accompanied by a clear liturgical rule (the same in the Apocalypse: the elders, the throne, the service). This speaks of the exceptional importance of worship in the new heavenly reality, which is the consonant worship and glorification of God.