Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Ezekiel, by eating the book, by the vision of the glory of God, by the frequent command and strengthening of God, made like an adamant, is roused to prophesy freely to the obstinate Jews. Hence second, at verse 12, he is transferred by the Spirit of God to the Jews dwelling near the Chobar, and sits mourning with them for seven days. Then he is appointed watchman by God, and is commanded under penalty of death to denounce death on behalf of God to the wicked. Third, at verse 23, he again sees the glory of God, and is enclosed at home by Him, and like a madman is bound, and becomes mute; so that by this enclosure and silence of his, he may represent the siege of the city.
Vulgate Text: Ezekiel 3:1-27
1. And He said to me: Son of man, eat whatever you find: eat this scroll, and go speak to the children of Israel. 2. And I opened my mouth, and He fed me with that scroll: 3. and He said to me: Son of man, your belly shall eat, and your bowels shall be filled with this scroll, which I give you. And I ate it: and it became in my mouth like sweet honey. 4. And He said to me: Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and you shall speak My words to them. 5. For you are not sent to a people of profound speech and unknown tongue, to the house of Israel: 6. nor to many peoples of profound speech and unknown tongue, whose words you cannot hear: and if you were sent to them, they would hear you. 7. But the house of Israel is unwilling to hear you: because they are unwilling to hear Me, for the whole house of Israel is of a worn forehead and a hard heart. 8. Behold, I have made your face stronger than their faces, and your forehead harder than their foreheads. 9. Like an adamant and like flint I have made your face: do not fear them, nor be afraid of their face, because it is an exasperating house. 10. And He said to me: Son of man, all My words, which I speak to you, take into your heart, and hear with your ears: 11. and go, enter to the transmigration, to the children of your people, and you shall speak to them, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: if perhaps they may hear, and be quiet. 12. And the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great commotion: Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place; 13. and the voice of the wings of the living creatures striking one against another, and the voice of the wheels following the living creatures, and the voice of a great commotion. 14. And the spirit also lifted me up, and took me: and I went away bitter in the indignation of my spirit: for the hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me. 15. And I came to the transmigration, to the heap of new fruits, to those who dwelt by the river Chobar, and I sat where they sat: and I remained there seven days mourning in their midst. 16. And when the seven days had passed, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 17. Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel: and you shall hear the word from My mouth, and you shall announce it to them from Me. 18. If when I say to the wicked: You shall surely die: you do not announce it to him, nor speak so that he may turn from his wicked way and live: the wicked man himself shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19. But if you announce to the wicked, and he is not converted from his wickedness and from his wicked way: he indeed shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your own soul. 20. But also if the just man turns from his justice and commits iniquity: I will place a stumbling block before him, he shall die, because you did not announce to him: he shall die in his sin, and his just deeds which he did shall not be remembered: but his blood I will require at your hand. 21. But if you announce to the just man that the just may not sin, and he does not sin: he shall surely live, because you announced to him: and you have delivered your soul. 22. And the hand of the Lord was upon me, and He said to me: Rise, and go out into the plain, and there I will speak with you. 23. And I rose, and went out into the plain: and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chobar, and I fell upon my face. 24. And the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet: and He spoke to me, and said to me: Go in, and shut yourself up in the midst of your house. 25. And you, son of man, behold, bonds shall be placed upon you, and they shall bind you with them: and you shall not go out into their midst. 26. And I will make your tongue cleave to your palate, and you shall be dumb, and not like a man who rebukes: because they are an exasperating house. 27. But when I shall have spoken to you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: he who hears, let him hear: and he who is quiet, let him be quiet: because it is an exasperating house.
Verse 1: Eat This Scroll, and Go Speak to the Children of Israel
1. AND HE SAID TO ME. — The Lord, the charioteer of the chariot of the Cherubim. WHATEVER YOU FIND. — Supply, in My hand: for God stretched out His hand holding the scroll to Ezekiel, that he might eat it.
EAT THIS SCROLL, — namely through a vision, as I said, which signifies what he explains in verse 10, saying: "All My words that I speak to you, take into your heart." That is, receive, understand, digest, and memorize them.
Verse 2: He Fed Me With That Scroll
2. HE FED ME, — I seemed to myself to eat this scroll: for it appeared to me that God was putting the scroll into my mouth, and I was eating it.
Verse 3: It Became in My Mouth Like Sweet Honey
3. YOUR BELLY SHALL EAT, AND YOUR BOWELS SHALL BE FILLED, — that is, let them be filled, as if to say: Receive this divine prophecy not only with your mouth and ears, but with your whole heart and soul.
Let the heralds of the word of God note that they must first digest it by assiduous meditation. Hence Sacred Scripture compares its reception to eating and drinking.
AND IT BECAME IN MY MOUTH LIKE SWEET HONEY. — First, because it is sweet to know the divine and secret counsels and judgments of God. Second, because even the punishments of God taste sweet to those who love justice.
Note here: The word of God is like pills, which on the outside are gilded or sugar-coated and are swallowed with sweetness, but inside they are bitter and operate by purging noxious humors; for what noxious humors are in the stomach, that is what bad habits are in the mind.
Verse 5: Not to a People of Profound Speech
5. FOR NOT TO A PEOPLE OF PROFOUND SPEECH. — It is a metalepsis: "profound," that is, obscure and difficult to understand, as if to say: I do not send you to a people whose language you cannot understand, but to your own people, whose language you know.
Verse 6: Nor to Many Peoples
6. NOR TO MANY PEOPLES, — that is, diverse, various, and therefore of various speech. So Maldonatus.
AND IF YOU WERE SENT TO THEM. — In Hebrew im lo, that is, if not. Which some explain thus: if not, that is, would that! If only I were sending you to them! For they would hear you, while the Jews will not.
Verse 7: Of a Worn Forehead and a Hard Heart
7. OF A WORN FOREHEAD. — In Hebrew, strong of forehead; St. Jerome, of a hard face, that is, obstinate, shameless; the Septuagint, of a brazen forehead.
Note: In the face and forehead, the mind and its affections are discerned: hence Cicero, writing to his brother Quintus, says the forehead is the gate of the mind. For modest people, especially rustic and country folk, who are about to say or do something shameful, cover their face and wipe the shame from the face with the hand.
For who has set a limit to sinning for himself, once he has cast away shame, once ejected from a brazen forehead? says Juvenal.
Moreover, God promises the Prophet a hard forehead, but not a hard heart; because, although a stern and hard forehead must be shown to the obstinate, the heart within must remain soft, gentle, and compassionate.
Verse 8: I Have Made Your Face Stronger Than Their Faces
8. I HAVE GIVEN YOUR FACE, — as if to say: Rebuke, beseech, reprove these obstinate ones; behold, I give you courage and constancy to face them without fear.
Verse 9: Like an Adamant and Like Flint
9. LIKE AN ADAMANT. — Whose hardness is indomitable, which breaks hammers, splits anvils, and overcomes fire. So Hesiod sang of it, and Pliny devoted much attention to its properties.
Origen, homily 3 on Jeremiah, teaches that the devil is the hammer of the earth, persecutions are the anvil; those who, like the adamant, overcome both, are the true martyrs and confessors.
Such should a preacher be: bold, strong, constant, free; who is neither overcome by shame, nor silenced by fear, nor ground down by threats.
Tropologically, St. Basil was an adamant, of whom Gregory of Nazianzus writes in his Funeral Oration: "He imitated the nature of the adamant, which breaks everything, but is broken by nothing."
Such adamants in this age were the martyrs, put to death in various ways in England, Holland, and France for the faith and the Catholic religion.
Hear also the pagan Seneca, epistle 24, where he teaches that the wise man is not moved by the vain fear of men, just as the adamant is not broken by blows.
Hear also the reply of Calanus the gymnosophist to Alexander, in Plutarch; and St. Ambrose, epistle 7: "For when Alexander asked him to follow him with the promise of rewards if he obeyed, with the threat of punishment if he refused, he said: I neither desire your rewards, nor fear your threats."
And to compare our examples with the gymnosophists of India: what that man boasted of in words, St. Lawrence proved in deeds. For placed upon the burning gridiron, he said to his tormentors: "Turn me over: this side is done."
But what is more sublime than St. Pelagia, who, surrounded by persecutors, yet before she came into their sight, said: "I offer myself freely to God."
Note: Pliny, book XXXVII, chapter IV, lists four species of adamants. First: "The adamant has the greatest value in human affairs, not only among gems, long known only to kings, and to few among them." Second: "The Indian adamant does not differ from crystal in its translucent color." Third: "The Arabian adamants are tested on anvils, so repelling the blow that the iron flies off on both sides." Fourth: "The Cyprian adamant is most efficacious in medicine." Fifth: "The adamant disagrees with the magnet to such an extent that, placed near it, it does not allow iron to be drawn away." Sixth: "The adamant renders poisons harmless, drives away frenzies, and expels vain fears from the mind." Seventh: "That unconquered force, despiser of iron and fire, is broken by the blood of a he-goat," says Pliny — a figure of Christ, who broke the adamant of sin by His Blood.
His Apostles, to whom He granted that they too should be called adamants, and that separated from none they should say: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Romans 8:35.
Finally, the Rabbis, and from them Lyranus, instead of "as an adamant," translate: as a worm stronger than rock I have given your face.
AND LIKE FLINT. — In Hebrew, and stronger, or harder than flint. Tropologically, St. Gregory says: like an adamant, that is, invincible against threats; like flint, that is, producing fire — namely, the fire of divine charity from the hardness of persecution.
Verse 10: All My Words — Take Into Your Heart
10. MY WORDS. — Here He begins to explain the signification of the scroll, as I said at verse 2: "Words, that is, the things I wish to be said to the Jews, take into your heart," that is, receive, understand, memorize, and preach them.
Verse 11: Go to the Transmigration
11. TO THE TRANSMIGRATION, — that is, to your fellow citizens, who migrated with you to Babylon. The abstract is put for the concrete. YOUR PEOPLE, — as if to say: Not so much Mine, who have departed from Me, as yours.
IF PERHAPS THEY MAY HEAR, AND BE QUIET. — Vatablus, whether they hear or not. See what was said at chapter II, 5.
Verse 12: The Spirit Took Me Up
12. THE SPIRIT TOOK ME UP, — that is, the divine power, or an angelic spirit. For an angel snatched Ezekiel, who was hesitant, and carried him swiftly to the exiles by the river Chobar — by the rumbling of the wheels, as if by certain spurs, he might hasten more eagerly to carry out the commands of God.
THE VOICE OF A GREAT COMMOTION — that is, the noise, both of the stormy wind, which was stirring the air with violence; and of the wings of the Cherubim, and of the wheels: BLESSED BE THE GLORY OF THE LORD FROM HIS PLACE.
Second and better, "the glory of the Lord" is the glorious chariot of God's Cherubim, and the very majesty of God gloriously departing from the place where it had appeared.
Third, Polychronius and from him our Prado: "Blessed be the glory of the Lord," which, supply, departs "from His place." That is, blessed be God who departs from His temple, from Jerusalem — an ominous sign of the coming destruction.
Tropologically, St. Gregory, homily 10: "The place of the glory of God is either every holy soul, or each angel."
Verse 13: The Voice of the Wings Striking One Against Another
13. AND THE VOICE OF THE WINGS OF THE LIVING CREATURES STRIKING ONE AGAINST ANOTHER. — From the Hebrew, massicot, that is, which were kissing, that is, touching one another. So Maldonatus.
Morally, St. Gregory, Moralia XXIV, VI: "What should we understand by the wings of the living creatures, if not the virtues of the saints, which, when they touch one another in mutual charity, produce a most sweet harmony?"
Verse 14: I Went Away Bitter in the Indignation of My Spirit
14. AND THE SPIRIT ALSO LIFTED ME UP. — He repeats what he said at verse 12, as if to say: Meanwhile, while God departs from the chariot, the spirit lifts me up and carries me to my destination.
AND I WENT AWAY BITTER — namely, when the angel set me down, I went slowly, meditative and sad — IN THE INDIGNATION OF MY SPIRIT — that is, with a grieved and indignant spirit, because I was sent to announce harsh things to a rebellious people, and I foresaw how unwelcome my message would be.
Tropologically, St. Gregory here at the end of homily 10: "The mind which the Holy Spirit fills, He stirs to both sweetness and bitterness — sweetness in contemplating heavenly things, bitterness in perceiving the evils of the world."
FOR THE HAND — For, that is, but, as if to say: But the hand of the Lord, that is, the power and help of God, strengthened me, so that despite my reluctance I went forward.
Verse 15: I Came to the Transmigration, to Tel-Abib
15. AND I CAME TO THE TRANSMIGRATION, TO THE HEAP OF NEW FRUITS, — that is, to the place called Tel-Abib (the name means "heap of ears of grain" or "hill of new fruits"), where the Jewish exiles dwelt by the river Chobar.
AND I SAT, — I dwelt, I stayed with them. To sit is a sign of a sorrowful spirit, just as to exult is of a joyful one.
AND I REMAINED THERE SEVEN DAYS MOURNING, — that is, for a full week. Tropologically, it signifies that the entire life of the preacher ought to be spent in mourning and compassion for the sins of his flock.
MOURNING. — In Hebrew, mashmim, that is, stunned, astonished; Theodotion, wondering; Aquila, resting; the Chaldean, silent. For Ezekiel, overwhelmed by the weight of his prophetic burden, sat speechless in their midst.
Verse 16: The Word of the Lord Came to Me — The Watchman
17. A WATCHMAN. — The Chaldean, a teacher; the Septuagint, skopon, an inspector. Hence the name Bishop, that is, one who oversees. As if to say: what you see from afar in the watchtower of prophecy, and foresee future things, you preach to the people in captivity.
Again, a symbol of the vigilance of pastors are the parrots of Brazil, which, while they feed in flocks, place one watchful bird on a high branch to warn of danger.
I HAVE MADE YOU. — That is, I have placed and appointed you.
Verse 18: If You Do Not Announce to the Wicked
18. IF WHEN I SAY TO THE WICKED: YOU SHALL SURELY DIE: YOU DO NOT ANNOUNCE TO HIM — that is, if I commission you to warn the wicked man that he will die for his sin, and you fail to deliver that warning:
YOU DO NOT ANNOUNCE TO HIM. — The Hebrew: You do not polish him. For a teacher and advisor removes the rust from the interior man, as a goldsmith polishes metal.
THE WICKED MAN SHALL DIE IN HIS INIQUITY — on account of his iniquity. HIS BLOOD — that is, his death, by metonymy — I WILL REQUIRE AT YOUR HAND, as if to say: I will avenge his death upon you, because by your silence you failed to prevent it.
Tropologically, St. Francis, shortly before his death, when asked by someone how this sentence of Ezekiel should be understood, replied that a prelate must always have the example of a good life, by which he continually warns and admonishes his flock.
"If a prelate is held so gravely responsible for the bodily death of one who will eventually die, with what guilt is he burdened for the eternal death of a soul?"
Verse 20: I Will Place a Stumbling Block Before Him
20. I WILL PLACE A STUMBLING BLOCK BEFORE HIM, — so that he may walk and stumble upon the dangers of death, and die. Hence "stumbling block" here signifies not an occasion of ruin, that is, of fault, but of punishment, namely something that causes death and destruction.
21. YOU HAVE DELIVERED YOUR SOUL, as if to say, says Theodoret: You have gained a double life, your own and his. Hence St. James V, 20: "He who causes a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death."
JUSTICE — just works. HE SHALL SURELY LIVE — he shall absolutely live, secure from death.
Verse 22: Go Out Into the Plain
22. INTO THE PLAIN, — where there is quiet, solitude, silence; and therefore the mind is better suited for contemplation and receiving divine revelations.
23. THE GLORY OF THE LORD, — which I saw in chapter I in the chariot of the Cherubim. Hence Apollinaris: "I saw the Judge ready to strike."
I FELL UPON MY FACE — trembling and adoring.
Verse 24: Shut Yourself Up in Your House
24. AND THE SPIRIT ENTERED INTO ME, — the vital force, which had failed in me, returned to me; or rather the Spirit of God strengthened me anew.
HE SET ME UPON MY FEET, — that is, He steadied my tottering feet. See what was said at chapter II, 2.
SHUT YOURSELF UP IN THE MIDST OF YOUR HOUSE, — so that by the very action you may prophesy the approaching siege of the city. For just as Ezekiel was shut up in his house, so Jerusalem would be shut up by the besieging Chaldean army.
Verse 25: Bonds Shall Be Placed Upon You
25. YOU, SON OF MAN — hear, that is. BONDS ARE PLACED UPON YOU, AND THEY SHALL BIND YOU — that is, you shall be bound as if mad, because the people would think him out of his mind, and would bind him as if insane, as God shortly predicts to him, who nevertheless commands him to remain quiet and endure it all for the sake of prophetic symbolism.
Tropologically, St. Gregory, homily 12: "The Prophet, after the plain is commanded to be shut up in his house, because a good preacher must alternate between the activity of preaching and the solitude of contemplation."
Verse 26: I Will Make Your Tongue Cleave to Your Palate
26. I WILL MAKE YOUR TONGUE CLEAVE TO YOUR PALATE, — I will take away from you the use of your tongue, so that you may not speak to them.
NOR LIKE A MAN WHO REBUKES, — so that you may not be a man who rebukes them, because they exasperate Me, as if to say, God withdraws the prophetic word for a time, so that by this very silence, the Jews may understand the gravity of their offense.
Verse 27: When I Shall Have Spoken to You
27. BUT WHEN I SHALL HAVE SPOKEN, — when I shall have indicated to you that it is time to speak, and when I shall have opened your mouth, then you shall prophesy again.
HE WHO HEARS, LET HIM HEAR: AND HE WHO IS QUIET, LET HIM BE QUIET. — These are not words which Ezekiel is to say to the Jews, but rather the conclusion of God's speech to Ezekiel: let whoever wishes to hear, hear; and let whoever refuses, refuse — their stubbornness shall be their own condemnation. Because it is an exasperating house.