Ezekiel 10:2

And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Unto the man clothed with linen.—Hitherto, in Ezekiel 9, he has been employed only in a work of mercy and protection. It is not without significance that now the same person is made the agent of judgment. As God’s love is turned to wrath by man’s impenitence, and as His blessings given to man become curses by their abuse, so those employed by Him as the instruments of His loving-kindness become the very executioners of his “fury.” The “coals of fire,” the symbols of Divine wrath, are represented as “between the cherubim.” In every possible way it is signified that the impending doom is not from man’s will, however men may be used as its instruments, or from any accident, but from God Himself.

Scatter them over the city.—For its destruction. Perhaps the imagery does not signify anything more than destruction, without especial reference to the means employed; but 2Kings 25:9 and 2Chronicles 36:19 show that the Temple and city were actually burned by the Chaldæans, as was often done with conquered cities that had resisted obstinately.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-7 The fire being taken from between the wheels, under the cherubim, ch. 1:13, seems to have signified the wrath of God to be executed upon Jerusalem. It intimated that the fire of Divine wrath, which kindles judgment upon a people, is just and holy; and in the great day, the earth, and all the works that are therein, will be burnt up.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He spake - The person enthroned.

The cherub - The particular cherub who was to hand the coals to destroy Psalm 120:4; Isaiah 10:16; Revelation 15:8.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. he—Jehovah; He who sat on the "throne."

the man—the Messenger of mercy becoming the Messenger of judgment (see on [1024]Eze 9:2). Human agents of destruction shall fulfil the will of "the Man," who is Lord of men.

wheels—Hebrew, galgal, implying quick revolution; so the impetuous onset of the foe (compare Eze 23:24; 26:10); whereas "ophan," in Eze 1:15, 16 implies mere revolution.

coals of fire—the wrath of God about to burn the city, as His sword had previously slain its guilty inhabitants. This "fire," how different from the fire on the altar never going out (Le 6:12, 13), whereby, in type, peace was made with God! Compare Isa 33:12, 14. It is therefore not taken from the altar of reconciliation, but from between the wheels of the cherubim, representing the providence of God, whereby, and not by chance, judgment is to fall.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He spake that sat on the throne, i.e. God, who rules the world and church.

Unto the man; to Christ, as before, Ezekiel 9:2.

Go in: it is said, Ezekiel 1:18, that the rings of the wheels were dreadful, but here is a Divine command which encourageth, and insureth, and lessens the dread and terror.

Between the wheels; whether between the four, or between the two foremost, or hindermost, or either, between the wheels that made up one wheel, is not material to inquire.

Fill thine hand: this expresseth the fainess of vengeance which would overtake them, and the certainty and speediness of judgments; for such a quantity of coals in the hand ready to be scattered abroad will very soon set all in a flame.

From between the cherubims; either to intimate to us that this fire was the vengeance of God upon them; for he sits between the cherubims, and is consuming fire to sin; or to intimate that the vengeance was for sins against the grace of God, who sat between the cherubims, and thence gave out his grace toward Israel, Exodus 25:20-22 Hebrews 9:5. But abused grace will kindle into fire.

Scatter them over the city, that it may take fire in all parts, and none may escape; so cast the fire, that the coals may fall on every part.

He went in in my sight; which assured the prophet of the certainty, and intimated too the speed of the effect, which will be within five years’ space.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he spake unto the man clothed with linen,.... That is, the God of Israel, or the glory of the Lord, that sat upon the throne before described; he gave orders to the man clothed in linen, who appears in another character, and represents the Chaldean or Roman army:

and said, go in between the wheels, even under the cherub; the singular for the plural, the "cherubim"; the wheels were under these; the churches are under their ministers, their pastors, guides, and governors; or rather, since the wheels were by the cherubim, it should be rendered, as by some, "unto the cherub", or "cherubim" (a):

and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city; these "coals of fire" were an emblem of the wrath of God against Jerusalem, and of the destruction of it by fire; and these being fetched from between the cherubim, show that the cause of this wrath and ruin was the ill treatment of the prophets of the Lord; see 2 Chronicles 36:15; as the destruction of the same city afterwards by the Romans was owing, as to the rejection and killing of the Messiah, so to the prosecution of his apostles, 1 Thessalonians 2:15;

and he went in my sight; in the sight of the prophet, as it appeared to him in vision he saw him go in, as he was ordered, between the wheels, and under the cherubim; but as yet he did not see him take the coals of fire, and much less scatter them; these were afterwards done, as related in the other part of the vision.

(a) "in locum cerubinorum, vel cheruborum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "ad cherubim", Tigurine version; which is approved by Noldius, p. 84. No. 398.

Geneva Study Bible

And he spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thy hand with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over {b} the city. And he entered in my sight.

(b) This signified that the city would be burnt.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. between the wheels] The word is singular and occurs again Ezekiel 10:13, being used as a collective to describe the whole wheel-work. There were four wheels (a different word) which are called here collectively wheelwork, lit. whirling. The word is used of the whirlwind or tempest (Psalm 77:18), but also of chariot wheels (Isaiah 5:28; Ezekiel 23:24; Ezekiel 26:10).

Ezekiel 10:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The angel scatters coals of fire over Jerusalem. - Ezekiel 10:1. And I saw, and behold upon the firmament, which was above the cherubim, it was like sapphire-stone, to look at as the likeness of a throne; He appeared above them. Ezekiel 10:2. And He spake to the man clothed in white linen, and said: Come between the wheels below the cherubim, and fill thy hollow hands with fire-coals from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city: and he came before my eyes. Ezekiel 10:3. And the cherubim stood to the right of the house when the man came, and the cloud filled the inner court. Ezekiel 10:4. And the glory of Jehovah had lifted itself up from the cherubim to the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the splendour of the glory of Jehovah. Ezekiel 10:5. And the noise of the wings of the cherubim was heard to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when He speaketh. Ezekiel 10:6. And it came to pass, when He commanded the man clothed in white linen, and said, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubim, and he came and stood by the side of the wheel, Ezekiel 10:7. That the cherub stretched out his hand between the cherubim to the fire, which was between the cherubim, and lifted (some) off and gave it into the hands of the man clothed in white linen. And he took it, and went out. Ezekiel 10:8. And there appeared by the cherubim the likeness of a man's hand under their wings. - Ezekiel 10:1 introduces the description of the second act of the judgment. According to Ezekiel 9:3, Jehovah had come down from His throne above the cherubim to the threshold of the temple to issue His orders thence for the judgment upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and according to Ezekiel 10:4 He goes thither once more. Consequently He had resumed His seat above the cherubim in the meantime. This is expressed in Ezekiel 10:1, not indeed in so many words, but indirectly or by implication. Ezekiel sees the theophany; and on the firmament above the cherubim, like sapphire-stone to look at, he beholds the likeness of a throne on which Jehovah appeared. To avoid giving too great prominence in this appearance of Jehovah to the bodily or human form, Ezekiel does not speak even here of the form of Jehovah, but simply of His throne, which he describes in the same manner as in Ezekiel 1:26. אל stands for על according to the later usage of the language. It will never do to take אל in its literal sense, as Kliefoth does, and render the words: "Ezekiel saw it move away to the firmament;" for the object to ואראה והנּה is not יהוה or כּבוד , but the form of the throne sparkling in sapphire-stone; and this throne had not separated itself from the firmament above the cherubim, but Jehovah, or the glory of Jehovah, according to Ezekiel 9:3, had risen up from the cherubim, and moved away to the temple threshold. The כּ before מראה is not to be erased, as Hitzig proposes after the lxx, on the ground that it is not found in Ezekiel 1:26; it is quite appropriate here. For the words do not affirm that Ezekiel saw the likeness of a throne like sapphire-stone; but that he saw something like sapphire-stone, like the appearance of the form of a throne. Ezekiel does not see Jehovah, or the glory of Jehovah, move away to the firmament, and then return to the throne. He simply sees once more the resemblance of a throne upon the firmament, and the Lord appearing thereon. The latter is indicated in נראה עליהם. These words are not to be taken in connection with 'כּמראה וגו, so as to form one sentence; but have been very properly separated by the athnach under כּסּא, and treated as an independent assertion. The subject to נראה might, indeed, be דּמוּת כּסּא, "the likeness of a throne appeared above the cherubim;" but in that case the words would form a pure tautology, as the fact of the throne becoming visible has already been mentioned in the preceding clause. The subject must therefore be Jehovah, as in the case of ויּאמר in Ezekiel 10:2, where there can be no doubt on the matter. Jehovah has resumed His throne, not "for the purpose of removing to a distance, because the courts of the temple have been defiled by dead bodies" (Hitzig), but because the object for which He left it has been attained.

He now commands the man clothed in white linen to go in between the wheels under the cherubim, and fill his hands with fire-coals from thence, and scatter them over the city (Jerusalem). This he did, so that Ezekiel could see it. According to this, it appears as if Jehovah had issued the command from His throne; but if we compare what follows, it is evident from Ezekiel 10:4 that the glory of Jehovah had risen up again from the throne, and removed to the threshold of the temple, and that it was not till after the man in white linen had scattered the coals over the city that it left the threshold of the temple, and ascended once more up to the throne above the cherubim, so as to forsake the temple (Ezekiel 10:18.). Consequently we can only understand Ezekiel 10:2-7 as implying that Jehovah issued the command in Ezekiel 10:2, not from His throne, but from the threshold of the temple, and that He had therefore returned to the threshold of the temple for this purpose, and for the very same reason as in Ezekiel 9:3. The possibility of interpreting the verses in this way is apparent from the fact that Ezekiel 10:2 contains a summary of the whole of the contents of this section, and that Ezekiel 10:3-7 simply furnish more minute explanations, or contain circumstantial clauses, which throw light upon the whole affair. This is obvious in the case of Ezekiel 10:3, from the form of the clause; and in Ezekiel 10:4 and Ezekiel 10:5, from the fact that in Ezekiel 10:6 and Ezekiel 10:7 the command (Ezekiel 10:2) is resumed, and the execution of it, which was already indicated in ויּבא לעיני (Ezekiel 10:2), more minutely described and carried forward in the closing words of the seventh verse, ויּקּח . הגּלגּל in Ezekiel 10:2 signifies the whirl or rotatory motion, i.e., the wheel-work, or the four ōphannim under the cherubim regarded as moving. The angel was to go in between these, and take coals out of the fire there, and scatter them over the city. "In the fire of God, the fire of His wrath, will kindle the fire for consuming the city" (Kliefoth). To depict the scene more clearly, Ezekiel observes in Ezekiel 10:3, that at this moment the cherubim were standing to the right of the house, i.e., on the south or rather south-east of the temple house, on the south of the altar of burnt-offering. According to the Hebrew usage the right side as the southern side, and the prophet was in the inner court, whither, according to Ezekiel 8:16, the divine glory had taken him; and, according to Ezekiel 9:2, the seven angels had gone to the front of the altar, to receive the commands of the Lord. Consequently we have to picture to ourselves the cherubim as appearing in the neighbourhood of the altar, and then taking up their position to the south thereof, when the Lord returned to the threshold of the temple. The reason for stating this is not to be sought, as Calvin supposes, in the desire to show "that the way was opened fore the angel to go straight to God, and that the cherubim were standing there ready, as it were, to contribute their labour." The position in which the cherubim appeared is more probably given with prospective reference to the account which follows in Ezekiel 10:9-22 of the departure of the glory of the Lord from the temple. As an indication of the significance of this act to Israel, the glory which issued from this manifestation of divine doxa is described in Ezekiel 10:3-5. The cloud, as the earthly vehicle of the divine doxa, filled the inner court; and when the glory of the Lord stood upon the threshold, it filled the temple also, while the court became full of the splendour of the divine glory. That is to say, the brilliancy of the divine nature shone through the cloud, so that the court and the temple were lighted by the shining of the light-cloud. The brilliant splendour is a symbol of the light of the divine grace. The wings of the cherubim rustled, and at the movement of God (Ezekiel 1:24) were audible even in the outer court.

After this picture of the glorious manifestation of the divine doxa, the fetching of the fire-coals from the space between the wheels under the cherubim is more closely described in Ezekiel 10:6 and Ezekiel 10:7. One of the cherub's hands took the coals out of the fire, and put them into the hands of the man clothed in white linen. To this a supplementary remark is added in Ezekiel 10:8, to the effect that the figure of a hand was visible by the side of the cherubim under their wings. The word ויּצא, "and he went out," indicates that the man clothed in white linen scattered the coals over the city, to set it on fire and consume it.