Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 7:7
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.
7. The morning is come ] The sense “morning” is that which a similar word has in Aramaic; but the dawn or morning is always used of the breaking in of felicity not of calamity (cf. Isa 8:20). The term occurs in Isa 28:5 in the sense of crown or chaplet, probably from the idea of encircling, going a round or circuit (Jdg 7:3, R.V. marg.), and it has been conjectured that the word may have the sense of “turn” (vicem), naturally with the meaning “calamitous turn,” misfortune or fate (as da’irah in Arab.). So Abulwalid followed by most moderns (R.V. doom). Dukes quotes a Chaldee proverb of Sirach in which another form of the word has the sense of times (a hundred times, Blumenlese, p. 80). LXX. does not recognise the word either here or in Eze 7:10.
the day of trouble ] Rather: the day is near, even tumult, and not joyful shouting Upon the mountains, as R.V. This rendering assumes that the word translated “joyful shouting” is another form of the term rendered “shouting” (vintage shouting) Isa 16:9-10; Jer 48:33 “the shouting is no vintage shouting” but tumult of invasion (Lam 2:22).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The morning – Rather, The conclusion: a whole series (literally circle) of events is being brought to a close. Others render it: Fate.
The day of trouble … – Or, The day is near; a tumult Zec 14:13, and not the echo of (or, shouting on) the mountains. The contrast is between the wild tumult of war and the joyous shouts of such as keep holiday.
Eze 7:10
Rod – Used here for tribe Exo 31:2. The people of Judah have blossomed into proud luxuriance. In Eze 7:11 it means the rod to punish wickedness. The meaning of the passage is obscure, owing to the brief and enigmatic form of the utterance. We may adopt the following explanation. The Jews had ever exulted in their national privileges – everything great and noble was to be from them and from theirs; but now Yahweh raises up the rod of the oppressor to confound and punish the rod of His people. The furious Chaldaean has become an instrument of Gods wrath, endued with power emanating not from the Jews or from the multitude of the Jews, or from any of their children or people; nay, the destruction shall be so complete that none shall be left to make lamentation over them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. The morning is come unto thee] Every note of time is used in order to show the certainty of the thing. The morning that the executioner has watched for is come; the time of that morning, in which it should take place, and the day to which that time, precise hour of that morning, belongs in which judgment shall be executed. All, all is come.
And not the sounding again of the mountains.] The hostile troops are advancing! Ye hear a sound, a tumultuous noise; do not suppose that this proceeds from festivals upon the mountains; from the joy of harvestmen, or the treaders of the wine-press. It is the noise of those by whom ye and your country are to fall. veto hed harim, and not the reverberation of sound, or reflected sound, or re-echoing from the mountains. “Now will I shortly pour out,” Eze 7:8. Here they come!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The morning; the word is variously rendered, and accordingly variously applied. It is, say some, of a Chaldee original, and signifies to cry out, to encompass, and to rise betimes in the morning, very fitly applicable here. With the morning star, which ushers in the light, thine enemies and thy sorrows are risen, have compassed thee about, and the cry of their shoutings, and the cry of thy distressed people, is raised; a long day of sorrows threatens thee, is upon thee, upon every one that dwelleth in the land. The day of trouble is near; as the day near to the morning, so near are thy troubles, thy great. perplexed, and tumultuous troubles, as the word implies, like that Isa 22:5; Zep 1:14-17.
The sounding again; either it means the echo, which mountains make, and is an empty sound, makes great noise, and only startles children; the noise and report of your calamities are real, yea dreadful. Or else thus; on the mountains were your vineyards, and in vintage time your grape gatherers were wont to shout for joy, and fill the neighbourhood with their joys, but no such soundings shall you hear now. Or it may allude to the music with which their idol worship was celebrated in mountains, high places, in valleys, & C, whence the sound was heard and echoed from hill to hill. Those soundings from the mountains shall cease, it is a long day of vengeance for those sins.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. The morningso Chaldeanand Syriac versions (compare Joe2:2). Ezekiel wishes to awaken them from their lethargy, wherebythey were promising to themselves an uninterrupted night (1Th5:5-7), as if they were never to be called to account [CALVIN].The expression, “morning,” refers to the fact that this wasthe usual time for magistrates giving sentence against offenders(compare Eze 7:10, below;Psa 101:8; Jer 21:12).GESENIUS, less probably,translates, “the order of fate”; thy turn to bepunished.
not the sounding againnotan empty echo, such as is produced by the reverberation ofsounds in “the mountains,” but a real cry of tumultis coming [CALVIN].Perhaps it alludes to the joyous cries of the grape-gatherers atvintage on the hills [GROTIUS],or of the idolaters in their dances on their festivals in honor oftheir false gods [TIRINUS].HAVERNICK translates, “nobrightness.“
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The morning is come upon thee, O thou that dwellest in the land,…. That is, early ruin was come, or was coming, upon the inhabitants of Judea, which before is said to be awake, and to watch for them; and now the day being broke, the morning come, it hastened to them. Some, because this word g is used in Isa 18:5; for a crown or diadem, think a crowned head, a king, is here meant; particularly Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the instrument of the destruction of Jerusalem. So the Targum,
“the kingdom is revealed upon or against thee, O inhabitant of the land.”
Jarchi interprets it of the morning setting as the sun does, its light and glory disappearing; and so denotes a dark and gloomy day;
the time is come; the appointed time of Jerusalem’s ruin, the time of her visitation;
the day of trouble, or “noise” h,
[is] near; either of the Chaldean army, its chariots and horses, and of their armour; or of the howling and lamentation of the Jews:
and not the sounding again of the mountains; not like the echo of a man’s voice between the mountains, which is only imaginary, but this is real; so Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it: or this was not like the shoutings of the vintage, which were joyful ones, Isa 16:9; but this the voice of lamentation and sorrow, doleful sounds. Jarchi says the word signifies the cry of the voice, proclaiming or calling on persons to fly to the tops of the mountains, which now should not be; and so the Targum,
“and there is no fleeing or escaping to the tops of the mountains.”
g “corona”, Tigurine version, so some is Vatablus; “cidaris matutina”, Montanus. h “tumultus”, Montanus, Piscator, Starckius; “strepitus”, Calvin; “clamoris”, Vatablus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Now he uses another word. He says, the morning is come, though some translate kingdom, but erroneously. For although צפירה, tzephireh, is a turban sometimes, or a royal diadem, yet the Prophet’s language is distorted when they say that the kingdom was transferred, or taken over to the Babylonians. But the sentence flows best — the morning cometh By “the morning” he implies what he had said before, namely, the hastening of God’s vengeance. As, therefore, he said the end was watching, since God was hastening to take vengeance, so also he says, the morning is come to them, and then rouses them from that drowsiness in which they had grown torpid. We know that hypocrites commit all their sins as if no eye were upon them; as long as God is silent and at rest they revel without shame or fear. But the chosen remain faithful even in secret; but God’s word always shines before them, as Peter says — ye do well when ye attend to the Prophetic word, as a lamp shining in darkness. (2Pe 1:19.) Although the faithful may be surrounded by darkness, yet they direct their eye to the light of celestial doctrine, so that they are watchful, and are not children of the night and of darkness, as Paul says. (1Th 5:4.) But the impious are, as it were, immersed in darkness, and think they shall enjoy perpetual night. As the rising morning dispels the darkness of night, so also God’s judgment, on its sudden appearance, strikes the reprobate with unexpected terror, but too late.
For this reason, then, the Prophet says, that morning is come to the Israelites, because they had promised themselves perpetual night, as if they were never to be called upon to render an account of their conduct. We see, therefore, that he alludes suitably to that torpor which was the cause of their obstinacy, when they thought themselves safe in their hiding-places. Hence he laughs at their perverse confidence, who promise themselves impunity because they are in night. For the morning, he says, will immediately seize upon you; hence morning is coming upon thee, O inhabitant of the land; afterwards, the time is come: עת , gneth, properly signifies all appointed or determined time. Hence the Prophet meant that the time had come which God had fixed beforehand for his judgment, and thus he takes away from the impious the material for pride, for they always suppose that God is as it were asleep when he does not attack them at the very first moment. He speaks, therefore, of an appointed time, as in other places the Prophets usually do, and frequently of the year of visitation. He signifies the same thing when he says, the day of tumult, or noise, is at hand. This member of the sentence answers to the former. He had said the end was watching; he had said that the judgment was hastening on: now simply and without figure he says, the day is at hand, קרוב , krob, a day, I say, of noise, and not the echo of the mountains, says he; that is, it shall not be an empty resounding, as when a. sound is produced among the mountains a concussion arises, and since the sounds which are uttered there, when taken up by the neighboring mountains, return to their own place, and thus a greater resounding occurs, called echo. The Prophet therefore says, that the clamor of which he speaks should not be an echo, that is, an empty resounding, because all should seriously cry out. Some think הד, hed, means “ acclamations,” which is properly הידד , hided; it is, indeed, from the same root, but הר, her, is used in the same sense. But if this explanation seems better, the Prophet will allude to mountains, not lofty, but vine-bearing, as many were in the land of Israel. But the other explanation is preferable, namely, there shall be the sound of a tumult, not on account of the reverberation, as they say, but because every one should cry out, until sorrow and crying should abound on every side. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) The morning is come unto thee.The word here used is not the usual one for morning. This word occurs elsewhere only in Eze. 7:10 and Isa. 28:5, where it is translated crown. There is much difference of opinion both as to its derivation and its meaning. The most probable sense is circuitthe circuit of thy sins is finished, and the end is come upon thee.
The sounding again of the mountains.This is again a peculiar word, occurring only here; but it is nearly like and probably has the same meaning as the word in Isa. 16:10, Jer. 25:10, denoting the joyous sounds of the people, especially at harvest-time, filling the land and echoing back from the mountains. Instead of this shall be the tumult (rather the trouble) of the day of war. (See the opposite contrast in Exo. 32:17-18.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. The morning is come The R.V. and most modern exegetes translate “The doom is come.” This expression, however, may only mean that, notwithstanding the declarations of false prophets that things will continue just as they are or will grow better presently, a new beginning is at hand and the day of trouble has already dawned. This interpretation seems to agree best with Eze 7:10. The day of trouble, etc. Literally, the day is near, a tumult, and not a shouting on the mountains. The day in which one can hear the shouts of those who gather grapes or tread the wine press (Jer 48:33; Isa 16:10) is passing away, and a day of tumult and disorder and war has come (Isa 22:5; Amo 3:9; Zec 14:3).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 7:7. The morning is come upon thee Straits come upon thee, O thou, &c. The day of trouble is near, and not of mirth. Houbigant. Those who understand the passage according to our translation, suppose the meaning to be, “God’s judgments shall overtake thee speedily and unexpectedly;” and that the expression alludes to the time when magistrates used to pronounce sentence on offenders, which was in the morning. See Jer 21:12. The sounding again of the mountains is supposed to refer to the joyful sounds echoed from the mountains at the time of the vintage and other similar festivities. See Isa 16:9; Isa 16:14.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 7:7 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.
Ver. 7. The morning is come unto thee. ] a The morning of execution (as Jer 21:12 Psa 101:8 cf. Hos 10:15 Gen 19:23-24 ), worse than the Sicilian Vespers or the French massacre. Thine utter destruction, bene mane in te irruet, shall be upon thee early, as it was upon Sodom, and as the morning light breaketh in upon those that are fast asleep. Sicut decoctores multa sibi promittunt, interim pereunt. So it befalleth the wicked. b
The day of trouble is near.
Not the sounding again of the mountains.
a Visitaberis summo mane, id est mature. – Piscat.
b Florulenta felicitas occidit. – Oecol.
c Virgil.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The morning is come = The turn (or circle) hath come round.
sounding again. Occurs only here.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
morning: Gen 19:15, Gen 19:24, Isa 17:14, Amo 4:13
the time: Eze 7:12, Eze 12:23-25, Eze 12:28, Isa 13:22, Zep 1:14-16, 1Pe 4:17
the day: Isa 22:5, Jer 20:7
sounding again: or, echo
Reciprocal: Jdg 9:36 – seest the shadow Eze 7:10 – the morning Eze 11:3 – It is not Eze 30:3 – the day is Zep 1:7 – for the day
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 7:7. Usually the word morning when used figuratively means something favorable; that a new day has come. But in the present case it is an unfavorable term because it signifies that the day of trouble had dawned. Sounding again is from one word and is defined “a shout in Strongs lexicon. The thought is that no shouts of joy will be heard on the mountains, for it is to be a lime of trouble.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
7:7 The {c} morning is come upon thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble [is] near, and not the joyful {d} shouting upon the mountains.
(c) The beginning of his punishments is already come.
(d) Which was a voice of joy and mirth.