Commentaria in Scripturam Sacram, Vol. 11: Prolegomena (prefaces and canons)
X. Chap. ix, ver. 2. “And behold six men came, and every man had a destroying weapon in his hand: and one man in the midst of them was clothed with linen, and had a writer’s inkhorn at his reins. And the Lord said to him (the man that was clothed with linen): Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and mark Thau upon the foreheads of the men that sigh, and mourn for all the abominations that are committed in the midst thereof. And to the others (the six men) he said in my hearing: Go ye after him through the city, and strike: let not your eye spare, nor be ye moved with pity. Utterly destroy old and young, maidens, children and women: but upon whomsoever you shall see Thau, kill him not, and begin ye at my sanctuary.” Here God commands an Angel to mark the pious of Jerusalem, who mourn the sins of the people, with the sign Thau, that is, of the cross; hence he carries an inkhorn, that like a scribe he may inscribe with ink the letter Thau upon the foreheads of the pious. Then he commands six other Angels to spare the marked, and by the Chaldeans to slay all the rest who are unmarked, and to burn the city; hence he adds:
Chap. x, ver. 2. “And he spoke to the man that was clothed with linen, and said: Go in between the wheels that are under the Cherubim, and fill thy hand with the burning coals of fire that are between the Cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” Here God commands the Angel to take from the chariot of the Cherubim the fire with which Jerusalem is to be burnt, to signify that the burning of the city will come about not by chance, nor by the counsel and strength of the Chaldeans, but by God’s providence and decree.
XI. Chap. xi, ver. 2. “Son of man, these are the men that devise iniquity, and give wicked counsel in this city, saying: Have not houses lately been built? this is the caldron, and we the flesh,” as if to say: The houses and walls of Jerusalem are like an iron caldron and very strong; we therefore, though we are flesh, yet because we are enclosed and fortified by them, do not fear the Chaldeans. The Prophet answers them, adding: “Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Your slain, whom you have laid in the midst thereof, these are the flesh, and this is the caldron,” as if to say: You, O Jews, are not the flesh in Jerusalem; but the flesh is the Prophets, whom you have slain like victims to God. “And I will bring you out of the midst thereof. You have feared the sword, and the sword will I bring upon you. This city shall not be a caldron to you, and you shall not be as flesh in the midst thereof; I will judge you in the borders of Israel,” that is, I will punish and slay you, as if to say: I will bring you out of Jerusalem to Nabuchodonosor in Reblatha, that there you may be slain by him. Wherefore Jerusalem will not be a caldron and defence for you; nor shall you be in it as flesh untouched and unhurt by the enemy.
XII. Chap. xii, ver. 3 and 12. “Son of man, make thee stuff for transmigration, and thou shalt remove in their sight. Dig thee a hole through the wall before their eyes: and thou shalt go out through it. In their sight thou shalt be carried upon shoulders, thou shalt be carried out in the dark: thou shalt cover thy face, and shalt not see the ground: for I have made thee a sign to the house of Israel.” Ezechiel is here commanded to represent in himself to the life the flight of Sedecias and the Jews on the capture of the city by night, and his blinding. Hence he adds in explanation: “As I have done, so shall it be done to them: they shall go into banishment and captivity. And the prince (king Sedecias) that is in the midst of them shall be laid upon shoulders, he shall go forth in the dark: they shall dig through the wall to lead him out: his face shall be covered, that he see not the ground with his eye. I will bring him to Babylon: and he shall not see it (being blinded by Nabuchodonosor), and there he shall die.”
Ver. 18. “Son of man, eat thy bread with trouble (in fear and trembling): and drink thy water in haste and sorrow:” He adds the reason and meaning. “And thou shalt say to the people of the land: They shall eat their bread with care, and drink their water in desolation.”
XIII. Chap. xv, ver. 2 and 6. “Son of man, what shall be made of the wood of the vine” cut from the vine? “Behold it is given to the fire for fuel: so will I give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem” to fire and sword.
XIV. Chap. xvi, ver. 4. “And when thou wast born (O Jerusalem, O Synagogue), in the day of thy nativity thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed with water unto salvation, nor salted with salt, nor swathed with swaddling clothes. And passing by thee, I saw thee trodden under foot in thy own blood; and I said: Live, etc., and I washed thee with water, and cleansed away thy blood from thee: and anointed thee with oil. And I girded thee with fine linen, and clothed thee with fine garments, and put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain about thy neck, and a crown of beauty upon thy head. And taking of thy garments thou madest thee high places; my oil and my incense thou didst set before them, and thou hast committed fornication with the children of Egypt and the Assyrians, and with the Chaldeans. Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord: I will judge thee as adulteresses are judged, and I will deliver thee into their hands, and they shall destroy thy brothel, and they shall stone thee with stones, and shall slay thee with their swords.” It is a hieroglyph of Israel, or the Synagogue, which, poor and wretched in the desert, gathered by God through Moses, and joined to him as in marriage, and endowed with all goods, soon, like a harlot, fell away from him to idols; wherefore it was justly punished and laid waste by God through the Chaldeans. See what is said on Ezechiel xvi.
XV. Ver. 45. “Your mother was a Cethite, and your father an Amorrhite. And thy elder sister is Samaria: and thy younger sister is Sodom. As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done as thou hast done: and Samaria hath not committed half of thy sins.” These are called the sisters of Jerusalem, because they were neighbors to her, and equally wicked; hence they were like her in punishment and destruction.
Ver. 52. “Therefore bear thou also thy confusion, who hast prevailed over thy sisters by thy sins; bear thy shame, thou that hast justified thy sisters,” so that they seem better and more just than thou, that is, less wicked, less iniquitous and impious than thou; so that, if they were compared with thee and thy impiety, they would seem just and pious.
XVI. Chap. xix, ver. 1. “And do thou take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, and thou shalt say: Why did thy mother the lioness lie down among lions, and bring up her whelps in the midst of young lions? And she brought forth one of her whelps, and he became a lion, and he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men. And the nations heard of him, and took him, not without wounds to themselves, and brought him in chains into the land of Egypt.” The lioness is the Synagogue, the whelp king Joachaz, whom Pharao led captive into Egypt.
Ver. 5. “Who (the lioness, namely the Synagogue, or Jerusalem), when she saw that she was weakened, and that her hope was lost, took one of her whelps, and made him a lion. And he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men, and to make widows, etc. And the nations gathered together against him, and spread their net over him, and put him into a cage, and brought him in chains to the king.” This whelp is king Joachin, or rather tyrant, whom accordingly the Chaldeans took and led away.
XVII. Ver. 10. “Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the water: her fruit and her branches have grown out of many waters. And strong rods are grown out of it to be sceptres of them that bear rule, etc. But she was plucked up in wrath, and cast on the ground: the fire hath consumed her. And now she is transplanted into the desert. A lamentation it is, and shall be for a lamentation.” This vine is Jerusalem; for royal blood is like the red juice of the grape. This vine, planted as if by the waters, grew in wealth and glory, but for her sins was uprooted by God’s wrath, burnt, and transplanted into Chaldea.