Commentaria in Scripturam Sacram, Vol. 11: Prolegomena (prefaces and canons)
Ver. 10. “And as for the likeness of their faces: there was the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side of all the four: and the face of an ox on the left side of all the four: and the face of an eagle over all the four.” The face of a man is an emblem representing God’s goodness and gentleness; the face of a lion represents God’s strength; the face of an eagle his wisdom and providence; of an ox, his justice, religion and worship. Allegorically, the man represents Christ’s incarnation, the ox his sacrifice, the lion his resurrection, the eagle his ascension into heaven.
Ver. 12 and 14. “Whithersoever the impulse of the spirit was to go, thither they went, and they turned not when they went. And the living creatures ran and returned like flashes of lightning.” By this symbol it is signified that the Angels are most agile and most ready at every nod of God.
III. Ver. 15. “Now as I beheld the living creatures, there appeared upon the earth by the living creatures one wheel with four faces, etc., and it was as if a wheel were in the midst of a wheel. When they went, they went by their four parts: and the whole body full of eyes; and when the living creatures went, the wheels also went together. For the spirit of life was in the wheels.” The wheels signify God’s eternity, efficacy, vigilance and swiftness in working, namely in the government of the world and of the Church.
IV. Ver. 22. “And over the heads of the living creatures was the likeness of the firmament, as the appearance of crystal terrible to behold.”
Ver. 26. “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, a likeness as of the appearance of a man above.”
“And I saw as it were the resemblance of amber, as the appearance of fire within it round about: from his loins and upward, and from his loins downward, I saw as it were the resemblance of fire shining round about; as the appearance of the rainbow when it is in a cloud on a rainy day.” The firmament signifies the empyrean heaven, which is as it were God’s footstool. The throne signifies God’s, first, majesty and loftiness; second, royal dignity; third, judicial power. On this throne God was seen sitting in human form, having a body as it were of amber, or electrum, in the upper part; in the lower of fire, namely having feet of fire. The amber signifies the excellence of the Godhead; the fiery feet, anger and vengeance against the Jews and his other enemies. The rainbow round about him signifies the clemency which tempers his anger and vengeance.
V. Chap. ii, ver. 9. “And I saw, and behold a hand was sent to me, wherein was a book rolled up, and he spread it before me, and it was written within, lamentation, and canticle, and woe.” This book contained God’s threats and the calamities impending over the Jews, which Ezechiel wrote down in this prophecy of his.
Chap. iii, ver. 1. “Son of man, eat this book. And I opened my mouth, and he fed me with that book. And I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.” Because to know the counsels and judgments of God was sweet and pleasant to the Prophet: but when he learned that dire things were threatened to his people by them, and ruminated on them, his belly was made bitter, he grieved and groaned.
VI. Ver. 25. “And thou, son of man, behold they shall put bands upon thee, and they shall bind thee with them. And I will make thy tongue stick fast to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shalt be dumb, and not as a man that reproveth: because they are a provoking house. But when I shall speak to thee, I will open thy mouth.” God bound Ezechiel’s hands and tongue for a time, that by this silence, as if struck and astonished, he might move the hard hearts of the Jews. For from this they ought to conclude that he had heard wonderful and dreadful things from God, and therefore believe them, and, struck with like fear and horror, change their life.
VII. Chap. iv, ver. 1. “And thou, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and draw upon it the city of Jerusalem. And lay siege against it, and build forts, and cast a mount, and set a camp against it, and place battering rams round about. And do thou take unto thee a frying pan of iron, and thou shalt set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and thou shalt set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. Thou shalt sleep upon thy left side, and thou shalt lay the iniquities of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of the days that thou shalt sleep upon it. And I have given thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days. And when thou hast accomplished these, thou shalt sleep upon thy right side, and thou shalt take upon thee the iniquity of the house of Juda forty days; a day for a year I have appointed to thee. And thy food, whereof thou shalt eat, shall be in weight twenty staters a day. And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin. And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes baked under the ashes: and thou shalt cover it in their sight with the dung that cometh out of a man. And the Lord said: Thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread defiled among the Gentiles, whither I will cast them out. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, Lord God, behold my soul hath not been polluted, and from my infancy even until now I have not eaten any thing that died of itself. And he said to me: Behold I have given thee the dung of oxen instead of men’s dung, etc.” By this hieroglyph Ezechiel vividly represented the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. For lying 390 days on his left side, he represented the siege of the city (for it lasted just so many days). Lying forty days on his right side, he represented its destruction. Hence eating the dung of oxen, he represented that the famine in the siege would be so great that they would eat even dung. For this is what God says in explanation, ver. 16: “Behold I will break in pieces the staff of bread in Jerusalem; and they shall eat bread by weight, and with fear; and they shall drink water by measure, and in distress.”
VIII. Chap. v, ver. 1 and 2. “And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp sword (a razor) that shaveth the hair, and thou shalt cause it to pass over thy head, and over thy beard: and thou shalt take thee a balance of weight, and thou shalt divide them. A third part thou shalt burn with fire: a third part thou shalt cut with the sword: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind.” God’s razor was Nabuchodonosor: he shaved the beard, that is, the princes and priests; and the hairs, that is, the people of the Jews. Hence one part of them perished by pestilence, the second by the sword, the third was taken and dispersed in Babylon. Hence he adds in explanation, ver. 12: “A third part of thee shall die by the pestilence, and shall be consumed with famine in the midst of thee: and a third part of thee shall fall by the sword round about thee: and a third part of thee I will scatter into every wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.” Moreover, of the remnant that shall escape the slaughter, he adds: “And thou shalt take of them a small number, and shalt bind them in the skirt of thy garment. And of them thou shalt take again, and shalt cast them into the midst of the fire, and shalt burn them with fire: and from thence shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.” These are the Jews who, after the return from Babylon, on account of new sins, were slain by Antiochus Epiphanes, advancing like a fire, and afterwards by Titus.
IX. Chap. viii, ver. 3. “… and the hand took me by a lock of my head, and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the vision of God to Jerusalem, near the door of the inner gate that looked toward the north, where was set the idol of jealousy to provoke to jealousy.” Ezechiel, living in Babylon, is here carried off in spirit to Jerusalem, to see the idolatry and abominations which the Jews committed in the temple. It is called the idol of jealousy, because it provoked God to jealousy and zeal. For God the jealous one does not suffer another god to be set up and worshipped, especially in his own temple. Hence in indignation he adds:
“Son of man, etc., turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. And behold there women sat mourning Adonis,” ver. 14.