Ezekielchapter 1
28 verses · KJVEzekiel book hub →
The Prophet Ezekiel, Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Key verse
And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
It stands in scene D of the chapter, verses 22 to 28.
The chapter
Chapter summary
By the river Chebar among the captives, 'the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.' A stormy wind out of the north, a great cloud, fire infolding itself, and four living creatures, each with four faces (man, lion, ox, eagle) and four wings, running and returning like lightning. Beside them wheels within wheels, their rims full of eyes; above them a firmament 'like the terrible crystal,' and over it a throne as of sapphire with the likeness as the appearance of a man, ringed with a bow as in the day of rain. 'This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face.' Revelation 4 gathers these creatures around the throne.
Context
Prophecy · Ezekiel · Ezekiel overview
Where the chapter sits
Ezekiel 1 falls in Call and wheels-vision (chapters 1–3). The inaugural theophany by the Chebar canal; four living creatures; commission as watchman to Israel.
The wheels vision. Four living creatures; wheels full of eyes; the likeness of the glory of the LORD upon a throne of sapphire.
After it: Symbolic acts and judgment on Jerusalem, chapters 4–24.
The whole shape of Ezekiel→The world behind this chapter
Ezekiel 1The history
The Chebar was not a river in our sense. Babylonia ran on canals, engineered channels that carried Euphrates water across a flat, hot plain to water barley fields and date palms. Business tablets recovered from the city of Nippur name a waterway called the Kabaru, the Grand Canal, and that is almost certainly Ezekiel's Chebar. Deportees were parked along these channels in work villages and put to farming.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
Deportation was Babylonian policy, not random cruelty. When Jerusalem surrendered in 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar took the young king Jehoiachin, the royal family, the officers, the metalworkers and the skilled craftsmen, the whole leadership class, and left the poor behind under a puppet king. Clay ration tablets dug up in Babylon list oil issued to Yaukin, king of the land of Yahud, and to his sons. The deported king was kept alive at royal expense, a hostage in reserve.
Ezekiel was a priest, the son of Buzi. The thirtieth year in his opening line is most simply his own age, the age at which a priest entered full service at the sanctuary. He should have been putting on linen in Jerusalem that summer. He was sitting beside an irrigation ditch in a foreign country instead.
The creatures would not have looked as alien to him as they do to us. Assyrian and Babylonian palace doorways were guarded by carved composite beings, the human-headed winged bull, the winged genie, set there to keep out what should not enter. Thrones of gods and kings were carried in procession or set on wheeled platforms. What Ezekiel sees is the real version: a throne that travels anywhere, on wheels that never have to turn to change direction, carried by living guardians.
What it meant to them
Everything the exiles believed about where God could be found was tied to one building on one hill six hundred miles behind them. If God lived in the temple, then the people by the canal were cut off and the people still in Jerusalem were the safe ones.
So the first thing Ezekiel is shown is the throne moving, arriving in Babylon, over a drainage canal, in the country of the winners. Before a single word of judgment is spoken, the exiles learn two things at once: God is not stuck in Jerusalem, and He has not lost.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- The Jehoiachin ration tablets from Babylon, published by E. F. Weidner
- C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel
A. By the river Chebar, the heavens open
1. (vv. 1-3)
a.the heavens were opened: The date is doubled, the thirtieth year and the fifth year of Jehoiachin's captivity, and the readings on the first number are named rather than settled: many, following an old count, take Ezekiel's own age at thirty, the year a priest entered his office, while others count from a fixed point in Judah's recent history. The vision comes to a priest without an altar, by the river Chebar among the captives, the heavens opened over an exile rather than a temple. Keil reads the setting itself as a claim, that the glory once housed in Solomon's temple will now visit a man who has nothing left of Jerusalem but memory, and Henry notes that God's hand found the prophet in a strange land as readily as in his own.
Ezekiel 1:1, 3 voicesWhat preachers and commentators have said about these verses, in their own words.
Ezekiel 1:1
“The Prophet Ezekiel was led captive with Joachin king of Judah to Babylon, and he prophesied there to those who were captives with him, to those repenting that they had willingly handed over the prophecy of Jeremiah to enemies, and yet saw the city Jerusalem to stand, which he had predicted would fall. And in his thirtieth year of age, and in the fifth year of the captivity, he began to speak to his fellow captives. And at the same time, though later, this one in Chaldea and Jeremiah in Judea prophesied.”
Jerome· written before 420· Prologue to Ezekielpatristic
Ezekiel 1:1
“The thirtieth year - being closely connected with as I, is rather in favor of considering this a personal date. It is not improbable that Ezekiel was called to his office at the age prescribed in the Law for Levites Num 4:23, Num 4:30, at which age both John the Baptist and our Lord began their ministry. His call is probably to be connected with the letter sent by Jeremiah to the captives Jer. 29 written a few months previously.”
Ezekiel 1:1
“We nowhere read that succeeding writers adopted this date as a standard. Besides, there is no doubt that the usual method among the Jews was to begin to reckon from a Jubilee. For this was a point of starting for the future.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
Ezekiel 1:2, 3 voices
Ezekiel 1:2-3
“The Holy Spirit descended on Christ and remained; he descends on people, assuredly, but does not remain. Furthermore, in the scroll of Ezekiel, who is properly a type of the Savior—no other prophet, I mean of the major prophets, is called, "Son of man"; the title is given strictly to Ezekiel.”
Jerome· written before 420· HOMILIES ON MARK 75 (Mk 1:1-12)patristic
Ezekiel 1:2
“Jehoiachin’s captivity - Called also Jeconiah and Coniah; see 2Ki 24:12. He was carried away by Nebuchadnezzar; see 2Ki 24:14.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:2
“Jehoiachin's captivity--In the third or fourth year of Jehoiakim, father of Jehoiachin, the first carrying away of Jewish captives to Babylon took place, and among them was Daniel. The second was under Jehoiachin, when Ezekiel was carried away.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 1:3, 4 voices
Ezekiel 1:3
“The word of the Lord came expressly,.... Or, "in being was" (d); which phrase denotes the reality, certainty, substantiality and evidence of the word of the Lord to him: unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi; which Buzi, some say, was Jeremiah.”
Ezekiel 1:3
“Came expressly - The phrase marks that it was in truth a heaven-sent vision. The hand of the Lord - A phrase in all prophecy implying a “constraining” power, because the spirit “constrains” the prophet independently of his own will.”
Ezekiel 1:3
“The word - What was visions, ver. 1, is here the word, both as signifying and declaring the mind of God, what he would do, and as continuing his commands to Ezekiel and to the people. Ezekiel - He speaks of himself in a third person. Priest - He was of the priests originally; he was a prophet by an extraordinary call.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:3
“It was upon him (as upon St. John, Rev. i. 17 ), to revive and support him, that he might bear up, and not faint, under these discoveries, that he might neither be lifted up nor cast down with the abundance of the revelations. God's grace is sufficient for him, and, in token of that, his hand is upon him.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
B. A storm out of the north and four living creatures
1. (vv. 4-5)
a.a whirlwind came out of the north: The vision opens from the north, the direction Israel's prophets often set as the seat of trouble, and what comes is not first a throne but a storm: a whirlwind, a great cloud, and a fire folding in on itself. Out of that fire come four living creatures whose base likeness is a man, the text's own word before any of the stranger features are added. Gill and Fairbairn both hold that the human likeness named first governs the whole figure, so the wings, the faces and the wheels read as additions to a fundamentally personal form rather than a replacement of it.
Ezekiel 1:4, 1 voice
Ezekiel 1:4
“A whirlwind came out of the north - Nebuchadnezzar, whose land, Babylonia, lay north of Judea. Chaldea is thus frequently denominated by Jeremiah. A great cloud, and a fire infolding itself - A mass of fire concentrated in a vast cloud, that the flames might be more distinctly observable, the fire never escaping from the cloud, but issuing, and then returning in upon itself. It was in a state of powerful agitation; but always involving itself, or returning back to the center whence it appeared to issue.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:5, 1 voice
Ezekiel 1:5
“Living creatures - The Hebrew word answers very nearly to the English “beings,” and denotes those who live, whether angels, men (in whom is the breath of life), or inferior creatures.”
2. (vv. 6-9)
a.every one had four faces, and every one had four wings: Each creature carries four faces and four wings, feet straight like a pillar yet soled like a calf's, so the figure stands designed rather than natural, purpose-built for the vision's use. Human hands under the wings mark tools available for God's service, and the wings joined one to another let the four move as a single rank without turning, which Keil takes as a picture of instant, undivided obedience. Clarke observes that the creatures' straight, unturning advance answers the crookedness of the nation they are sent to judge.
Ezekiel 1:6, 1 voice
Ezekiel 1:6
“Every one had four faces - There were four several figures of these living creatures, and each of these figures had four distinct faces: but as the face of the man was that which was presented to the prophet’s view, so that he saw it more plainly than any of the others; hence it is said, Eze 1:5, that each of these figures had the likeness of a man; and the whole of this compound image bore a general resemblance to the human figure.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:7, 3 voices
Ezekiel 1:7
“The “foot” seems here to mean the lower part of the leg, including the knee, and this was “straight,” i. e. upright like a man’s. The “sole” is the “foot” as distinguished from the “leg,” the leg terminated in a solid calf’s hoof. This was suitable for a being which was to present a front on each of its four sides.”
Ezekiel 1:7
“Or, like solid pillars; not bending, as man's, at the knee. They glided along, rather than walked. Their movements were all sure, right, and without effort [KITTO, Cyclopedia]. sole . . . calf's foot--HENDERSON hence supposes that "straight feet" implies that they did not project horizontally like men's feet, but vertically as calves' feet.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 1:7
“The sole of their feet was like that of a calf's foot, which divides the hoof and is therefore clean: as it were the sole of a round foot (as the Chaldee words it); they were ready for motion any way. Their feet were winged (so the LXX.); they went so swiftly that it was as if they flew.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 1:8, 1 voice
Ezekiel 1:8
They had the hands of a man under their wings - I doubt much whether the arms be not here represented as all covered with feathers, so that they had the appearance of wings, only the hand was bare; and I rather think that this is the meaning of their having “the hands of a man under their wings.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:9, 1 voice
Ezekiel 1:9
“Two of the wings were in the act of flying, so stretched out that the extremity of each touched a wing of a neighboring living creature, similarly stretched out. This was only when they were in motion. See Eze 1:24. They went every one straight forward - The four together formed a square, and never altered their relative position.”
3. (vv. 10-12)
a.the face of a lion, on the right side: The four faces name the summit of each order of life under the throne, man over reasoning creatures, lion over the wild, ox over the tame, eagle over the birds, an arrangement the church later mapped onto the four Gospels though the text itself makes no such assignment. Two wings stretched upward while two covered the body, a creature always ready to fly and always covering itself before its Maker. Wherever the spirit willed to go the creatures went without turning, a phrase JFB reads as the whole vision's lesson in miniature, that a will fully surrendered needs no pivot to change direction.
Ezekiel 1:10, 3 voices
Ezekiel 1:10
“As for the likeness of their faces - There was but one body to each of those compound animals: but each body had four faces; the face of a man and of a lion on the right side; the face of an ox and an eagle on the left side. Many of these compound images appear in the Asiatic idols. Many are now before me: some with the head and feet of a monkey, with the body, arms, and legs of a man. Others with the head of the dog; body, arms, and legs human.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:10
“The Fathers identified them with the four Gospels: Matthew the lion, Mark the ox, Luke the man, John the eagle. Two cherubim only stood over the ark in the temple; two more are now added, to imply that, while the law is retained as the basis, a new form is needed to be added to impart new life to it.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 1:10
“A man - Each face is compared to what is most excellent in its kind, man excels in wisdom, lions in strength, the ox in patience and constancy of labour, the eagle in speed and high flight.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:12, 2 voices
Ezekiel 1:12
“They went every one straight forward - Not by progressive stepping, but by gliding. Whither the spirit was to go - Whither that whirlwind blew, they went, being borne on by the wind, see Eze 1:4.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:12
“Straight - Which way soever they went, each living creature had one face looking straight forward. The spirit - The will, command, and breathing of the Spirit of God, both gave and guided their motions. Was to go - Going is attributed here to the Spirit of God, by allusion, for he who is in every place cannot properly be said to go from or to any place.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
4. (vv. 13-14)
a.burning coals of fire: The creatures' appearance flares like burning coals and lamps, a fire moving up and down among them with lightning breaking out of it, imagery drawn from nothing in ordinary experience and admitted as such by the prophet's own repeated words appearance and likeness. Their motion matches the fire, running and returning as fast as a flash of lightning, never resting in one place. Fairbairn reads the restless brightness as the same energy that will later drive the wheels, one life expressing itself in both the creatures and the mechanism beneath them.
Ezekiel 1:13, 2 voices
Ezekiel 1:13
Lamps - “like the appearance of” flames. Omit the “and” before “like.” The “bright flames” resembled “coals of fire.” It went up - i. e. “fire went up.”
Ezekiel 1:13
“So in Isa 6:2, 6, instead of cherubim, the name "seraphim," the burning ones, is applied, indicating God's consuming righteousness; whence their cry to Him is, "Holy! holy! holy!" and the burning coal is applied to his lips, for the message through his mouth was to be one of judicial severance of the godly from the ungodly, to the ruin of the latter. lamps--torches.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 1:14, 1 voice
Ezekiel 1:14
“The living creatures ran and returned - They had a circular movement; they were in rapid motion, but did not increase their distance from the spectator. So I think this should be understood.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
C. Wheels within wheels, rims full of eyes
1. (vv. 15-18)
a.one wheel upon the earth: Beside each creature the prophet sees a wheel upon the earth, coloured like beryl and built as a wheel within a wheel, most commentators reading this as two wheels crossed so the chariot could move in any direction without turning. The rings, or rims, stood so high they were dreadful and were full of eyes round about, a detail Gill takes as God's unhindered sight going wherever the throne goes. The wheels are not ornamental machinery; the text ties them so closely to the creatures that the vision reads as one moving unit rather than a rider and a vehicle.
Ezekiel 1:15, 2 voices
Ezekiel 1:15
“Translate it: “one wheel upon the earth by” each of “the liviing creatures” on his four sides (i. e. on the four sides of each of the living creatures). There was a wheel to “each” of the living creatures: it was set “by,” i. e. immediately “beneath” the feet of the living creature, and was constructed for direct motion in any of the four lines in which the creatures themselves moved.”
Ezekiel 1:15
“The cherubim and their wings and wheels stood in contrast to the symbolical figures, somewhat similar, then existing in Chaldea, and found in the remains of Assyria. The latter, though derived from the original revelation by tradition, came by corruption to symbolize the astronomical zodiac, or the sun and celestial sphere, by a circle with wings or irradiations.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 1:16, 3 voices
Ezekiel 1:16
“The wheel within a wheel is life under the law, life under grace; inasmuch as Jews are within the church, the law is included in grace. For one is within the church who is a Jew secretly; and circumcision of the heart is a sacrament within the church. But that Jewish people are within the church of which it is written: "In Judah is God known"; therefore as wheel runs within wheel, in the same way the wings were still and the wings were flying.”
Ambrose of Milan· written before 397· On the Holy Spirit 3.21.162patristic
Ezekiel 1:16
“It was one of the gems in the breastplate of the high priest (Ex 28:20; Da 10:6). four had one likeness--The similarity of the wheels to one another implies that there is no inequality in all God's works, that all have a beautiful analogy and proportion.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 1:16
“Work - All that was wrought, whether engraved or otherwise was of one colour. One likeness - The same for dimensions, colour, frame, and motion. In the middle - It is probable, the wheels were framed so as to be an exact sphere, which is easily rolled to any side.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:17, 2 voices
Ezekiel 1:17
“When they went, they went upon their four sides,.... On either of their crossing rings, as they were directed by the living creatures, at whose side they stood: and they returned not when they went; they had no need to turn about when they were to go east, west, north, or south, as wheels usually do; but they turned upon the crossing ring, which was towards either of the four points.”
Ezekiel 1:17
“Upon their four sides - i. e. straight in the direction toward which their faces looked. Since the four quarters express all directions, the construction of the living creatures was such that they could move in each direction alike.”
Ezekiel 1:18, 2 voices
Ezekiel 1:18
“Three, however, are indicated both in the animals and in the wheels, when they stood, when they walked, when they were lifted up, which both the animals and the wheels did in common. For neither could animals that were standing walk on wheels, nor could animals walking on the ground lift themselves on wheels, but of those actions, one was rest, one was motion, and elevation.”
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Ezekielpatristic
Ezekiel 1:18
“As for their rings - The strakes which form the rim or periphery. They were dreadful - They were exceedingly great in their diameter, so that it was tremendous to look from the part that touched the ground to that which was opposite above. Were full of eyes - Does not this refer to the appearance of nails keeping on the spokes, or strakes or bands upon the rim?”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2. (vv. 19-21)
a.the wheels went by them: Twice over, in verses twenty and twenty one, the text explains the wheels' movement with the same clause, that the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels, so what looked like machinery is bound to a living will rather than driven by gears. When the creatures went the wheels went, when they stood the wheels stood, and when they were lifted up the wheels were lifted up beside them, a unity of motion the commentators note has no parallel in any ancient chariot. Henry draws the pastoral lesson that providence, however intricate its turning may look from below, is never separated from the Spirit that moves it.
Ezekiel 1:20, 2 voices
Ezekiel 1:20
"Wherever the spirit went, the wheels were equally lifted as the spirit went there, following it." For wherever the spirit of the reader tends, there the divine utterances are also lifted up, because if you seek something lofty in them by seeing and understanding, these same sacred utterances grow with you, ascend with you to higher things. And it is well said of these same wheels: Following him. For if the spirit of the reader seeks to know something moral or historical in them, the moral sense of history follows him. If something typological, the figurative speech is immediately recognized.
Gregory the Dialogist· written before 604· Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 7patristic
Ezekiel 1:20
“The spirit of the living creature was in the wheels - That is, the wheels were instinct with a vital spirit; the wheels were alive, they also were animals, or endued with animal life, as the creatures were that stood upon them. Here then is the chariot of Jehovah.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
D. The crystal expanse and the throne above it
1. (vv. 22-25)
a.the terrible crystal: Above the creatures stretches a firmament like terrible crystal, and above that, standing still a moment, the vision pauses on sound: the noise of their wings like great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the noise of a host, then silence and a voice speaking from above the firmament when they let down their wings. Clarke notes the escalation from natural comparisons, water, an army, to the naming of the Almighty himself, as the prophet reaches for language large enough to hold what he is hearing. The wings covering the body under the firmament repeat the reverence already shown earlier in the chapter, obedience and covering held together throughout.
Ezekiel 1:22, 3 voices
Ezekiel 1:22
“And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature,.... This was not a real firmament, but the likeness of one; it was like the firmament which God created on the second day, which divided between the waters above and below, and which he called Heaven; and is no other than the airy and starry heavens.”
Ezekiel 1:22
“The color of the terrible crystal - Like a crystal, well cut and well polished, with various faces, by which rays of light were refracted, assuming either a variety of prismatic colors, or an insufferably brilliant splendor. This seems to be the meaning of the terrible crystal. Newcome translates, fearful ice. The common translation is preferable.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:22
“Likeness - The appearance or resemblance. As crystal - For splendour, purity, and solidity, all that was above these creatures and wheels was beautiful and very majestic, and 'tis therefore called terrible, because it impressed a veneration upon the mind of the beholders.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:23, 1 voice
Ezekiel 1:23
“Every one had two, which covered on this side - While they employed two of their wings to form a foundation for the firmament to rest on, two other wings were let down to cover the lower part of their bodies: but this they did only when they stood, Eze 1:24.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:24, 3 voices
Ezekiel 1:24
“But while the animals were standing, their wings were lowered. For they could not bear the resonating voice of Almighty God in the heavens, but they stood and marveled; and with their silence, they demonstrated the power of God, who sat upon the firmament.”
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Ezekielpatristic
Ezekiel 1:24
"And I heard the sound of their wings, as the sound of many waters." In sacred speech, peoples are customarily designated by waters. Hence it is said through John: "The waters are peoples." Peoples are designated by waters for this reason: because in life they have sound from the tumult of the flesh, and daily they flow away through the course of mortality. As we have now often said, the wings of the living creatures are the virtues of the saints.
Gregory the Dialogist· written before 604· Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 8patristic
Ezekiel 1:24
“The noise of their wings - When the whirlwind drove the wheels, the wind rustling among the wings was like the noise of many waters; like a waterfall, or waters dashing continually against the rocks, or rushing down precipices. As the voice of the Almighty - Like distant thunder; for this is termed the voice of God Psa 18:13; Exo 9:23, Exo 9:28, Exo 9:29; Exo 20:18.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:25, 3 voices
Ezekiel 1:25
"For when there was a voice above the firmament that was over their head, they stood and lowered their wings." We have judged that the upper firmament should be expounded under a twofold understanding. For, as has been said, by the name of firmament the celestial powers can be understood. And by the name of firmament the incarnate Only-begotten can be designated, through the fact that in him our nature has been made firm unto eternity. Let us therefore first speak of what we think concerning the angels, and afterwards concerning the Lord of angels.
Gregory the Dialogist· written before 604· Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 8patristic
Ezekiel 1:25
“And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads,.... Which was the voice of Christ upon the throne, above the firmament, over the heads of the living creatures; which directed them when and where to go, and what to do, and when and where to stop: when they stood, and had let down their wings; either encouraging them to lift them up, and go on in their work, notwithstanding the sense they had of their own weakness and unworthiness; or, having done their work, calling them to himself in heaven.”
Ezekiel 1:25
“A voice from the firmament - Compare Eze 3:12; in the midst of the tumult, are heard articulate sounds declaring the glory of God.”
2. (vv. 26-28)
a.a sapphire stone: Above the firmament stands a throne of sapphire, and upon it a likeness as the appearance of a man, the chapter's most careful sentence, likeness of the appearance of a man, because the prophet will not say more than he saw. Fire and amber brightness surround the figure from the loins up and down, and the whole is finally named, the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord, framed by the ordinary sign of a rainbow after rain so the reader has one familiar thing to hold onto. Calvin and Keil both stress the guarded grammar as reverence rather than vagueness, and the prophet's response matches it exactly, he falls on his face before he hears a word spoken.
Ezekiel 1:26, 2 voices
Ezekiel 1:26
“A sapphire - The pure oriental sapphire, a large well cut specimen of which is now before me, is one of the most beautiful and resplendent blues that can be conceived. I have sometimes seen the heavens assume this illustrious hue. The human form above this canopy is supposed to represent Him who, in the fullness of time, was manifested in the flesh.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:26
“The azure sapphire answers to the color of the sky. As others are called "sons of God," but He "the Son of God," so others are called "sons of man" (Eze 2:1, 3), but He "the Son of man" (Mt 16:13), being the embodied representative of humanity and the whole human race; as, on the other hand, He is the representative of "the fulness of the Godhead" (Col 2:9).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 1:27, 2 voices
Ezekiel 1:27
“The color of amber - There are specimens of amber which are very pure and beautifully transparent. One which I now hold up to the light gives a most beautiful bright yellow color. Such a splendid appearance had the august Being who sat upon this throne from the reins upward; but from thence downward he had the appearance of fire, burning with a clear and brilliant flame. For farther particulars see the notes on Ezekiel 10 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:27
“Amber - In this colour does Christ appear against the rebellious Jews; he that would have visited them clothed with the garments of salvation, now puts on the garments of vengeance, expressed by such metaphors. Brightness - Majesty, justice, and unstained holiness, shine round about him.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:28, 2 voices
Ezekiel 1:28
“The bow - A like appearance of Christ in a surrounding brightness, as of the rainbow you have, Rev. iv, 3. Mercy, and truth, and both according to covenant are about the throne of Christ. Glory - It was not the full glory of God, but such as the prophet might bear.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ezekiel 1:28
"Let those who said, We shall have peace though we go on, know that our God is a consuming fire, whom they cannot stand before." That this vision had a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem seems plain from ch. xliii. 3 , where he says that it was the vision which he saw when he came to destroy the city, that is, to prophesy the destruction of it.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Threads running through this chapter
- The glory departs and returnsPattern, v. 28
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Ezekiel 1. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on 14 works. Open for the list.
This page draws on Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes; Ambrose of Milan, On the Holy Spirit 3.21.162; C. F. Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Gregory the Dialogist; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome; John Calvin; John Gill; John Wesley; Matthew Henry and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.
Keep studying
On this page
Studies4
On this book