Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 7:5
Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.
5. an only evil ] Lit. one evil, scarcely a “unique” evil, to which there is nothing like, but an evil which is “one” and final, 1Sa 26:8; Hag 2:6, “Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth” (Heb 12:26).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
5 7. The dirge takes a fresh turn, announcing in nearly the same words that the end is come upon the inhabitants of the land
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
An only evil – An evil singular and remarkable above all others.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. An evil, an only evil] The great, the sovereign, the last exterminating evil, is come: the sword, the pestilence, the famine, and the captivity. Many MSS. read achar, after. So evil cometh after evil; one instantly succeeds another.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
An evil and sore affliction, one misery enough to ruin the whole, so that there will be no need of another. Or, as the Chaldee paraphrase, one evil after another; and this bespeaks the extreme sadness of their condition who suffer under this evil. Open your eyes, you will see it is at the doors and breaking in upon you.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. An evil, an only evilapeculiar calamity such as was never before; unparalleled. Theabruptness of the style and the repetitions express the agitation ofthe prophet’s mind in foreseeing these calamities.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thus saith the Lord God,…. Here should be a stop, a colon, requiring attention to what follows, it being something awful and terrible:
an evil, an only evil, behold, it cometh; meaning the destruction of the city and temple; which, though but one, was such an one as was never known before nor was there any like it. The Targum is,
“evil after evil, lo, it cometh;”
one evil after another; when one evil is gone, another comes, as in Eze 7:26. The Syriac version is, “behold, evil for evil comes”; the evil of punishment for the evil of sin.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The execution of the judgment announced in Eze 7:2-4, arranged in four strophes: Eze 7:5-9, Eze 7:10-14, Eze 7:15-22, Eze 7:23-27. – The first strophe depicts the end as a terrible calamity, and as near at hand. Eze 7:3 and Eze 7:4 are repeated as a refrain in Eze 7:8 and Eze 7:9, with slight modifications. Eze 7:5. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Misfortune, a singular misfortune, behold, it cometh. Eze 7:6. End cometh: there cometh the end; it waketh upon thee; behold, it cometh. Eze 7:7. The fate cometh upon thee, inhabitants of the land: the time cometh, the day is near; tumult and not joy upon the mountains. Eze 7:8. Now speedily will I pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger on thee; and judge thee according to thy ways, and bring upon thee all thine abominations. Eze 7:9. My eye shall not look with pity upon thee, and I shall not spare; according to thy ways will I bring it upon thee, and thy abominations shall be in the midst of thee, that ye may know that I, Jehovah, am smiting. – Misfortune of a singular kind shall come. is made more emphatic by , in which is placed first for the sake of emphasis, in the sense of unicus, singularis ; a calamity singular (unique) of its kind, such as never had occurred before (cf. Eze 5:9). In Eze 7:6 the poetical , it (the end) waketh upon thee, is suggested by the paronomasia with . The force of the words is weakened by supplying Jehovah as the subject to , in opposition to the context. And it will not do to supply (evil) from Eze 7:5 as the subject to (behold, it cometh). is construed impersonally: It cometh, namely, every dreadful thing which the end brings with it. The meaning of tzephirah is doubtful. The only other passage in which it occurs is Isa 28:5, where it is used in the sense of diadem or crown, which is altogether unsuitable here. Raschi has therefore had recourse to the Syriac and Chaldee , aurora, tempus matutinum , and Hvernick has explained it accordingly, “the dawn of an evil day.” But the dawn is never used as a symbol or omen of misfortune, not even in Joe 2:2, but solely as the sign of the bursting forth of light or of salvation. Abarbanel was on the right track when he started from the radical meaning of , to twist, and taking tzephirah in the sense of orbis, ordo , or periodical return, understood it as probably denoting rerum fatique vicissitudinem in orbem redeuntem (Ges. Thes. p. 1188). But it has been justly observed, that the rendering succession, or periodical return, can only give a forced sense in Eze 7:10. Winer has given a better rendering, viz., fatum, malum fatale , fate or destiny, for which he refers to the Arabic tsabramun, intortum , then fatum haud mutandum inevitabile . Different explanations have also been given of . But the opinion that it is synonymous with , the joyous vintage cry (Jer 25:30; Isa 16:10), is a more probable one than that it is an unusual form of , splendor, gloria . So much at any rate is obvious from the context, that the hapax legomenon dh is the antithesis of , tumult, or the noise of war. The shouting of the mountains, is shouting, a rejoicing upon the mountains. , from the immediate vicinity, in a temporal not a local sense, as in Deu 32:17 (= immediately). For , see Eze 6:1-14;12. The remainder of the strophe ( Eze 7:8 and Eze 7:9) is a repetition of Eze 7:3 and Eze 7:4; but is added in the last clause. They shall learn that it is Jehovah who smites. This thought is expanded in the following strophe.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
If we read אחת , acheth, or אחר, acher, the sense seems to me the same, an evil, another evil is come: that is, one evil is come from another, or one evil is come and an evil: that is, when one evil is come another will soon follow. Some explain it in way which seems to me harsh and unsatisfactory: one evil is come; this is so severe that at its first impulse it suffices for complete slaughter, so subtilely do they explain it. But it seems to me that the sense of the Prophet flows best thus, one evil shall come upon another — that is, there will be no cessation in God’s heaping evils upon evils until the very name of the whole people shall become extinct. And this appears to me to be said, that the Israelites should not after their manner suppose themselves safe, if God gives them a short respite. For when a slight intermission happens, the impious erect their crests, and keep up their spirits, and think that God is at peace with them. Since, therefore, any intermission is taken by hypocrites, as if they had made their peace with God, therefore the Prophet says, one evil shall come upon another It follow —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) An only evil.That is, an evil so all-embracing as to be complete in itself, and need no repetition. Compare the same thought in Nah. 1:9, affliction shall not rise up the second time. Some MSS., and the Chaldee, by the alteration of one letter, read evil after evil, as in Eze. 7:26.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. An only evil Literally, one evil. The final evil (1Sa 26:8; Hag 2:6).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “An evil, an only evil, behold it comes. An end is come, the end is come, it awakes against you, behold it comes. Your doom is come to you, O inhabitant of the land, the time is come, the day is near, a day of tumult and not of joyful shouting on the mountains. Now will I shortly pour out my fury on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways, and I will bring on you all your abominations. And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will bring on you according to your ways, and your abominations will be in the midst of you. And you will know that I am Yahweh the smiter.” ’
This might almost be a description of the end days before the final restoration, but it is not. It is describing ‘the end days’ for Jerusalem and Judah at that time. Notice again the repetition and the stress on the fact that ‘it is coming’. ‘An evil, behold it comes — an end is come — the end is come — it awakes against you, behold it comes — your doom is come — the time is come.’ Its import could not be mistaken. It was definitely and specifically ‘at hand’.
What was coming was not only an evil but ‘an only evil’, a singular, unique evil, unlike anything previously known (Eze 5:9). Indeed it was ‘the end’ for Jerusalem and Judah that was coming, an end awakening as though out of sleep. It was ‘doom’ that was coming. For the time of His judgments was now here.
There is in this passage a further deliberate play on words. An ‘end’ is ‘qes’, ‘the end’ is ‘haqqes’, ‘awakes’ is ‘heqis’. The word for ‘doom’ is difficult. In Isa 28:5 it is used of Yahweh being ‘a diadem’ of beauty to the residue of His people. Thus it is something that comes on people to display what they are and here a crown of doom. The translation ‘morning’ in AV is based on an Aramaic word.
And that time, that day will be a day of tumult rather than of joyful shouting on the mountains. The mountain had known much joyful shouting as men sinned before their idols, and cavorted with the sacred prostitutes, and drank and made merry. But now that would become tumult as they were hunted down by their adversaries.
‘Now will I shortly pour out my fury on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways, and I will bring on you all your abominations. And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will bring on you according to your ways, and your abominations will be in the midst of you. And you will know that I Yahweh do smite.’ The same warnings are given as before. The repetition is deliberate, to bring firmly home exactly what the coming events will indicate. It was important that Israel recognise why they were suffering, why these dreadful events would and had come on them.
They would be the signs of His fury against sin, of His anger at their behaviour. They would be the signs that He had judged them and found them wanting. And all their abominations would be poured out on them. His eye would miss nothing. None would be spared. He would have no pity. His judgment was inexorable. And they would know that it was Yahweh Who smote them. That the certain destruction of their holy city and of their temple was His doing.
‘You will know that I am Yahweh the Smiter.’ Previously stress is laid on their ‘knowing Yahweh’. Now they will know Him as the One Who smites those who do evil, the righteous One, the Judge.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 7:5. An evil, an only evil, &c. Behold, calamity shall come after calamity. Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1097
APPROACHING END OF GODS FORBEARANCE
Eze 7:5-9. Thus saith the Lord God: An evil, an only evil, behold, income. An end income; the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come. The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come; the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee; and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thee abominations. And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways, and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth.
EZEKIEL is perhaps the most terrific writer of all the prophets: there is a force and energy in his denunciations which can find no parallel: his repetitions are so frequent, as to present before the view of the reader the very judgments which he predicts. In the chapter before us we are made to see, as it were, the Chaldean army in the very act of desolating the city and temple of Jerusalem, and of carrying into captivity all who should survive the mortality occasioned by pestilence, by famine, by the sword [Note: See the foregoing chapter.]. In fact, the siege commenced within three years of these predictions, and terminated in their most exact accomplishment. It is not our intention to enter into the consideration of this prophecy as it relates to the Jews: we shall rather take occasion from it to observe in general,
I.
That the final execution of Gods judgments is fast approaching
The period for the execution of them is certainly fixed in the Divine counsels
[Known unto God are all his works from the foundation of the world. Nothing is left to chance: every thing takes place according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. We are ready to consider things as depending altogether on those by whose agency, or whose authority, they are done. But men are only instruments in Gods hands: they are his sword, and the staff of his indignation; and they only carry into effect what his hand and his counsel have determined before to be done. The elements in like manner all fulfil his will. It was at the precise time that he had ordained, that the waters deluged the earth, and that fire and brimstone consumed the cities of the plain. As in the self-same night that had been foretold four hundred and thirty years before, God brought his people out of Egypt; so at the precise period fixed by him were they carried captive to Babylon, and dispersed all over the world at the destruction of their ecclesiastical and civil polity by the Romans. The time also for the day of judgment is fixed, though it is still hid in the bosom of the Father: and the times, whether of communities or individuals, are altogether in his hands.]
When that period is arrived, they will be executed to the uttermost
[At present there is mercy mixed with judgment; but in the last day there will be judgment without mercy. Wrath now comes on offenders with measured severity; but then without any other measure than their own deserts. Then the cup of Gods indignation will be poured out for them without mixture, and they shall drink it to the very dregs [Note: Rev 14:10-11.]. Terrible is that name whereby the day of judgment is designated, The day of the perdition of ungodly men [Note: 2Pe 3:7.]. This present time may, even in reference to the ungodly, be called The day of salvation; because salvation is freely offered to every one of them: but that is the day of wrath, against which an accumulated and daily augmenting treasure of wrath is laid up for them, and shall come upon them to the uttermost.]
This view of the day of judgment sufficiently shews,
II.
That that time should be much and deeply contemplated
Let us then contemplate,
1.
Its gradual approach
[Every day and every hour is bringing it nearer to us. The delay to us indeed may appear long: but it is nothing when compared with eternity: A thousand years are in Gods sight as one day, and one day as a thousand years. Profane persons and infidels will ask, as it were, in derision, Where is the promise of his coming [Note: 2Pe 3:4.]? But their judgment lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not [Note: 2Pe 2:3.]. Let those who are advanced in life consider this. Their days must of necessity be few; and consequently every hour should appear to them as it does to criminals under sentence of death; even the striking of the clock should remind them, that the hour for their departure is rapidly advancing, and must soon arrive. And young persons too should remember, that they also are liable to be cut off in the midst of their days; and that, even if they live to the age of man, their time will soon have passed away, and appear as a dream in the night. But our text informs us, that the end watcheth for us: yea, it may come as a thief in the night. Who then should not stand on his watch-tower, that he may be prepared for it?]
2.
Its actual arrival
[The day of judgment, whenever it shall arrive, will find men as much unprepared for it as at this moment. In the days of Noah, persons of every description engaged in their respective occupations with the same confidence as if nothing had been spoken respecting a deluge; they ate, they drank, they planted, they builded, they married and were given in marriage, till the very day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came: thus will it be also in the day of judgment; persons of every age and condition will be as secure as at any period of their existence, till the trumpet shall sound, and the Judge shall summon them to his tribunal. What a sound will this then be, An end, the end, is come! Then will be an end of all that now renders life desirable; an end of all pleasures, whatever be their kind or quality; an end of all means of grace, no opportunity now remaining for prayer and seeking after God: there will be an end of all hope of mercy, the door of heaven being closed, as Noahs ark was, by the hand of God himself. Then will be evil, an only evil, such as will have no mixture of good in it. O what a morning will that be, when the voice shall sound, Awake, ye dead, and come to judgment! This will not be a mere echo, a delusion, a sound reverberated from the mountains; but a fearful reality. Let us for a moment contemplate the state of the antediluvian world, when they saw the face of the earth gradually disappearing, and the loftiest mountains sinking into the waters of the great deep: O what fear, what terror, what distraction would be visible on every side! Thus will millions, in the last day, be calling upon the rocks to fall upon them, and the hills to cover them from the wrath of the Lamb. Would to God that men would now endeavour to realize that scene; and that they would prepare, whilst yet there is time afforded them, to meet their God!]
That time being the commencement of a never-ending eternity, it is obvious,
III.
That we should spend our whole lives in preparation for it
What is the preparation that becomes us?
1.
We should humble ourselves before God for all our sins
[When Nineveh was warned that in forty days it should be overthrown, the inhabitants, from the highest to the lowest, repented of their sins in sackcloth and ashes; yes, they, though heathens, and warned only respecting the death of the body, made this improvement of their time. How much more then should we do it, who are warned respecting the death of our souls, and know not that we have forty hours to live! If God will judge us according to our ways, and pour out his fury upon all in proportion to their sins, methinks we should mourn over our sins day and night, and get them washed away in the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, even in the blood of Christ, which cleanseth from all sin.]
2.
We should get our souls renewed by Divine grace
[The foolish virgins, as well as the wise, expected the coming of the heavenly Bridegroom: but the foolish were not careful to have oil in their vessels with their lamps: hence, when the cry was made, Behold, the Bridegroom cometh! they had their oil to seek, and were therefore excluded from the marriage-feast [Note: Mat 25:1-13.]. This shews us what should be now our one concern. If we have not the Spirit of God dwelling in us, in vain will be all our profession, in vain the flame which arises only from our natural spirits: the distinction between us and others will speedily appear, and a corresponding judgment be passed upon us. How long he may delay his coming, or how soon he may arrive, we know not; and therefore we should not lose an hour in seeking that unction of the Holy One, which alone can fit us for the possession and enjoyment of the heavenly bliss.]
3.
We should be watching against every thing that may unfit us for the Divine presence
[This is the instruction which the Apostles uniformly give us: The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer [Note: 1Pe 4:7.]: and again, Let your moderation be known unto all men: the Lord is at hand [Note: Php 4:5.]. There are dangers and temptations all around us: not only do evil things solicit our regard, but things that are most innocent often become a snare to us. Surely then it becomes those who have wives to be as though they had none, and those who weep to be as though they wept not, and those who rejoice as though they rejoiced not [Note: 1Co 7:29-31.];. The fashion of this world is passing rapidly away; and then cometh the end. O! happy they who are prepared for it! Happy they whose loins are girt, and whose lamps are trimmed, and whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching for him! What I say then unto one, I say unto all, Watch.]
4.
We should be intent on finishing the work which God has given us to do
[Our Lord cautions us to work while it is day, for the night is coming, wherein no man can work. When the end cometh, there is no more scope for exertion, no further opportunity to supply what is defective, or to remedy what is amiss: there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave. Whatsoever then our hand findeth to do, let us do it with our might ]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
The same alarm is here given under another figure, to rouse Israel. The evil come, and the morning arrived, when sentence is to be carried into execution: these are strong intimations to work upon the heart. But no calls, no alarms, no threatenings avail, until grace enters the soul. How truly blessed it is, when with an eye to Jesus, the heart is led to see redemption from all evils, and from all alarms, only in him. When that effect the Prophet speaks of is wrought by grace, the Lord’s mercies in all dispensations are seen. Zec 12:10 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 7:5-9
5Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘A disaster, unique disaster, behold it is coming! 6’An end is coming; the end has come! It has awakened against you; behold, it has come! 7Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come, the day is neartumult rather than joyful shouting on the mountains. 8Now I will shortly pour out My wrath on you and spend My anger against you; judge you according to your ways and bring on you all your abominations. 9My eye will show no pity nor will I spare. I will repay you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know that I, the LORD, do the smiting.’
Eze 7:5
NASB, NJBa unique disaster
NKJVa singular disaster
NRSVdisaster after disaster
TEVone disaster after another
REBdisasters are coming, one after another
The word unique is literally the Hebrew word one (BDB 29). Translating it unique shows that there is theological significance to the phrase one God (i.e., a unique, one-of-a-kind God). Monotheism is the stark uniqueness of the OT in its Ancient Near Eastern setting!
Eze 7:6 It has awakened The end is personified. It awakens to the activity of judgment (cf. the sword of Zec 13:7).
The VERB (BDB 884, KB 1098, Hiphil PERFECT) is also used in Hab 2:19 in sarcasm of lifeless idols. However, YHWH is not a lifeless idol; He acts!
Notice the repetition of immediate and appointed time (BDB 773) markers in Eze 7:6-12.
1. the end is coming, Eze 7:6
2. the end has come, Eze 7:6
3. it has come, Eze 7:6
4. your doom has come to you, Eze 7:7
5. the time has come, Eze 7:7
6. the day is near, Eze 7:7
7. I will shortly pour out My wrath on you, Eze 7:8
8. Behold the day! Behold, it is coming, Eze 7:10
9. the time has come, Eze 7:12
10. the day has arrived, Eze 7:12
The VERB come (BDB 97, KB 112, Qal PERFECT) is used eight times in these verses! This theme of immediacy is repeated in Eze 12:23-25; Eze 12:28. Number 6 becomes a key eschatological phrase in Amo 5:18-20; Joel; and Zephaniah.
Eze 7:7
NASB, NKJV,
NRSV, NJB,
REBdoom
TEVthe end
KJVthe morning
The term (BDB 862) is also used in Eze 7:10. It usually means crown or diadem (cf. Isa 28:5). Its meaning in Eze 7:7; Eze 7:10 is uncertain. The NKJV takes it from an Aramaic root morning. Most English translations take it from an Arabic root, doom or fate.
tumult This (BDB 223) refers to the panic (originally a divinely given military technique used against Israel’s enemies, cf. Exo 15:16; Exo 23:27; Deu 7:23, but also a warning to Israel that if she was disobedient to the covenant, it would happen to her military, cf. Deu 28:20) caused by YHWH’s coming in judgment (cf. Zec 14:13). The judgment referred to is the Babylonian invasion.
This is not what YHWH desired. He wanted joyful shouting on the mountains, but His covenant people forced Him to act in judgment because of their idolatry!
NASBjoyful shouting
NKJV, REBrejoicing
NRSVreveling
TEVcelebrations
NJBjoy
This term (BDB 212) is found only here in the OT. Many assume it is from the root, loud noise (BDB 212), possibly thunder, which in this context would refer to the sounds of the harvest festivals (cf. Isa 16:9 c; Jer 48:33).
Eze 7:8 I will pour out My wrath on you This VERB (BDB 1049, KB 1629, Qal IMPERFECT) is used several times in Ezekiel (cf. Eze 9:8; Eze 14:19; Eze 20:8; Eze 20:13; Eze 20:21; Eze 22:31; Eze 30:15; Eze 36:18). It could have several origins.
1. In Eze 5:2 it is a metaphor, pour out (BDB 937, KB 1237, Hiphil IMPERFECT), translated unsheathe a sword. It may refer to the military conquest of the Babylonian military.
2. The concept also has a sacrificial connotation of
a. pour out a libation (i.e., Gen 35:14)
b. pour out the life blood at the base of the altar of sacrifice (cf. Exo 29:12; Lev 8:15; Lev 9:9)
3. pour out (same root), used of idolatry in Eze 16:15; Eze 23:8
4. the opposite of pouring out the Spirit in Joe 2:28-29
That which was meant to be a metaphor of worship and blessing has become a metaphor of judgment and destruction!
Eze 7:9 I, the LORD, do the smiting Normally in the Ancient Near East the defeat of one nation by another was viewed as the superiority of one national deity above another. YHWH wants it clearly understood that He uses Babylon (i.e., Marduk) for His purposes. Israel’s defeat is due to their covenant infidelity and idolatries, not His impotence!
John Taylor has a great statement about this phrase in Ezekiel, Tyndale OT Commentary:
To hearers and readers who were used to names of God like Jehovah-jereh’ and Jehovah-nissi’ (Gen 22:14; Exo 17:15), it must have come home with tremendous force to have Him described as Jehovah-makkeh’! The Lord who had provided and protected was about to strike (p. 93).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Eze 7:5-9
Eze 7:5-9
“Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: An evil, an only evil; behold, it cometh. An end is come, the end has come; it awaketh against thee; behold, it cometh. Thy doom is come unto thee, O inhabitant of the land: the time is come, the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting, upon the mountains. Now will I shortly pour out my wrath upon thee, and accomplish mine anger against thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways; and I will bring upon thee all thine abominations. And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will bring upon thee according to thy ways; and all thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, do smite.”
TROUBLE UPON TOP OF TROUBLE FOR SINNERS
Eze 7:8-9 here are almost a verbatim repetition of Eze 7:3-4.
“An evil, an only evil …” (Eze 7:5). “This means an evil without precedent or parallel.”
“It waketh for thee …” (Eze 7:6). The judgment against Israel is here personified, “as long slumbering, but now awake.” The same personification of judgment is also found in 2Pe 2:3.
A day of tumult, and not a day of joyful shouting upon the mountains. The popular idea of `The Day of the Lord’ envisioned it as a time when God would suddenly appear and kill all of the enemies of Israel and turn the whole world over to them. Amos did his best to dispel that false view (Amo 5:18), but the idea persisted until the times of Ezekiel. What the prophet says here is that the day of the Lord will be filled, not with joyful shoutings of the harvesters, but with the screams of terror from the triumph of their enemies. The true picture of that day is given in Rev 6:14-17.
“I, Jehovah, do smite …” (Eze 7:9). The Jews knew many hyphenated words for God, such as Jehovah-jireh (God will provide), Jehovah-nissi (The Lord is my banner), etc.; but it must have struck them with peculiar shock here that Ezekiel calls him Jehovah-makkeh (Jehovah will destroy, or smite).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Eze 5:9, 2Ki 21:12, 2Ki 21:13, Dan 9:12, Amo 3:2, Nah 1:9, Mat 24:21
Reciprocal: Isa 21:12 – The morning Jer 11:11 – I will bring Jer 47:4 – the day Jer 50:27 – their day Eze 7:2 – An end Eze 7:12 – time Eze 12:23 – The days Joe 2:1 – for the Mat 24:14 – and then
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 7:5. Only is from cciiad which Strong defines, “Properly united, i.e. one; or (as an ordinal) first. Evil does not mean moral wrong, but some kind of adversity. The verse means that one great calamity was at hand, which we are to understand was the destruction of Jerusalem and the complete subjugation of Judah.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 7:5-7. Thus saith the Lord, An evil, an only evil A sore affliction, a singular and uncommon one. An end is come A destruction, which shall be fatal to a great part of those that go into captivity, as well as to those who are consumed in their own country. It is quite prepared to rush upon thee. Observe, reader, when the end is come upon the ungodly, then an only evil comes upon them. The sorest of temporal judgments have their allays; but the torments of the damned are an evil, an only evil. The morning is come upon thee Gods judgments shall overtake thee speedily and unexpectedly. The expression alludes to the time when magistrates use to give sentence against offenders, which was in the morning. The time is come The time of Gods vengeance, called elsewhere the day of the Lord. And not the sounding again of the mountains The sound of war and slaughter, and not such a joyful sound as used to echo from the mountains, by which the treaders of grapes expressed their satisfaction at the time of the vintage: which the word , here used, properly signifies. Or, not a mere echo, not a fancy, but a real noise arising from the approach of the Chaldean army.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Lord again revealed that a unique disaster was coming. It would be an end for the Israelites, and it was near. Their doom would soon arrive as a tumult on the mountains, not as a joyful sound. The Lord was about to judge His people for all their abominations. He would show no pity. They would then know that He was the Lord. This oracle stresses the horror and surprise of the coming judgment as well as the person judging. The last phrase is a new name for God: Yahweh makkeh, "the Lord who strikes."
"To hearers and readers who were used to names of God like ’Jehovah-jireh’ and ’Jehovah-nissi’ (Gen 22:14; Exo 17:15), it must have come home with tremendous force to have Him described as ’Jehovah-makkeh’. The Lord who had provided and protected was about to strike." [Note: Ibid., p. 93.]