Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 10:2
And he spoke 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.
2. between the wheels ] The word is singular and occurs again Eze 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 (Psa 77:18), but also of chariot wheels (Isa 5:28; Eze 23:24; Eze 26:10).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He spake – The person enthroned.
The cherub – The particular cherub who was to hand the coals to destroy Psa 120:4; Isa 10:16; Rev 15:8.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eze 10:2
Fill thy hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims and scatter them over the city.
Divine forces and human agents is retribution
I. There are in the economy of God, terrific forces for the destruction of evil. The whirling globe of fire was but a symbol of the manifold elements that, through processes of pain, and it may be throes of agony, have punished and will punish sin. And very often those elements are just those that have been guiltily used by man. It was true of these Jews that they had abused fire to maintain their gluttony, for fulness of bread was one of their sins; they burned incense to idols, and abused the altar fire which had been the greatest refreshing to their souls, and now even this fire kindled upon them. Thus, indeed, is it clearly taught in the prediction of Christ, They that take the sword shall perish by the sword, that the implements of our evil become the engines of our punishment. And such engines have terrific force.
1. To avoid sin ourselves.
2. To believe in the final victory of goodness.
II. The great forces provided against evil will often be used by the instrumentality of man. A mans hand was to scatter these coals of retribution. Thus it commonly is. As man is the tempter, so is man frequently the punisher of man. Chaldean armies are instruments of Divine righteousness. Human judges are often the swords of God: human revolutionists the vindicators of liberty against despots. It is for this hand sometimes to scatter the fires of retribution; but ever to scatter the fires of purification. The consuming of the sin–sin in thought, sin in feeling, sin in habit, rather than retribution, on the sinner, may perhaps be the higher and better teaching of this vision for all of us. (Urijah R. Thomas.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. Coals of fire] These were to signify the burning of the city by the Chaldeans. It seems that the space between the four wheels, which was all on fire, was that from which those coals were taken.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He spake that sat on the throne, i.e. God, who rules the world and church.
Unto the man; to Christ, as before, Eze 9:2.
Go in: it is said, Eze 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, Exo 25:20-22; Heb 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.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. heJehovah; He who sat onthe “throne.”
the manthe Messengerof mercy becoming the Messenger of judgment (see on Eze9:2). Human agents of destruction shall fulfil the will of”the Man,” who is Lord of men.
wheelsHebrew,galgal, implying quick revolution; so the impetuousonset of the foe (compare Eze 23:24;Eze 26:10); whereas “ophan,“in Eze 1:15; Eze 1:16implies mere revolution.
coals of firethe wrathof God about to burn the city, as His sword had previouslyslain its guilty inhabitants. This “fire,” howdifferent from the fire on the altar never going out (Lev 6:12;Lev 6:13), whereby, in type, peacewas made with God! Compare Isa 33:12;Isa 33:14. It is therefore nottaken from the altar of reconciliation, but from between the wheelsof the cherubim, representing the providence of God, whereby, and notby chance, judgment is to fall.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole 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 2Ch 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, 1Th 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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Now the end of the vision is related, which I just touched upon, since God determined utterly to destroy the city; but this is described by a visible and external symbol. God therefore is said to have commanded the wan who was clad in linen garments to fill his hands with coals, and to scatter them, on the city, namely, that he might cause a general burning. Here, indeed, God’s name is not expressed, but shortly afterwards the Prophet more clearly relates what he here touches so briefly and so obscurely. It is evident that the person seated on the throne is here spoken of, and we may collect from the context, that this command cannot be referred to any but to God. But we must observe, that the angel commanded to mark the elect now assumes a new character. And hence we collect that the angels were so the ministers of God’s favor toward the faithful, that at the same time, whenever they were commanded, they executed his vengeance; as a steward placed over a large family, not only sustains the office of providing for the family, in supplying it with food and clothing, but in chastising those who conduct themselves sinfully and wickedly. Such, therefore, is the duty of God’s angels. When God wishes to brand sinners with double shame, he often delivers them up to the devil as his executioner, and when we are delivered into the devil’s hand, this is a sign of extreme vengeance. But God by his angels often exercises judgment against the reprobate, as examples everywhere occur; but that is peculiarly remarkable, when the angel slew so many thousands in the army of Sennacherib, that he raised the siege by which the Assyrians oppressed Jerusalem. (2Kg 19:35; Isa 37:36.) The same thing is now delivered by the Prophet. We saw the angel clad in the linen garments become the protector of the faithful, to preserve them from all injury. But now he is sent to scatter coals through the whole city, to consume the stones and the wood, as well as the men.
These things seem to be contrary to each other, but we show that there is nothing absurd in it, if God imposes a double character on his angels. He said, therefore, to the man who was clothed, enter within the wheel under the cherub Here there is a change of number, because the singular number cherub is put for cherubim. But I remarked before that this is usual, and God proposed nothing else than to mark the place where the fiery coals were taken which burnt up the city. The altar was never without fire; for it was not lawful to use any kind of fire, since in this way the sacrifices were contaminated. (Lev 6:12.) But that perpetual fire, which God wished to burn upon the altar, regarded reconciliation to himself; for sins were expiated by sacrifices, and therefore the fire on the altar was as it were the people’s life. But now God signifies that he had a hidden fire within the wheels, which were near the cherubim, or the four animals. But we have said, and it will be necessary to repeat it again, that by wheels all agitations are represented which are discerned under heaven, or revolutions, as they are usually called. But he saw wheels under the angels, because when the wind rises, when the sky is covered with clouds and mists, when the rain descends, and the air is disturbed by lightnings, we think, when all these things happen, that such motions and agitations take place naturally. But before this God wished to teach us that great agitations are not blind, but are directed by secret instinct, and hence the notion or inspiration of the angels, always exists. Now, therefore, when God orders his angel to take fire from the midst of the wheel which was under the cherub, this only means that God has various means of destroying the city. Now the wheels, as we saw before, were carried in different directions, so that they flew throughout the city. Since, therefore, the fire was in the midst of the wheels, while the angels transferred the wheels by their own secret motion, hence we gather that the burning of the city was in the hand of God, and at the same time in the temple. For the Prophet does not now see the wheels near the river Chebar, but in the temple itself; and there is a tacit contrast, as I have reminded you, between the fire by whose incense God was reconciled, and whence also the sacrifices had their odor sweet and pleasing to God, and between this fire, which should be destructive to the whole people. But he says, the angel had entered, that we may know, as I have said before, as soon as God has pronounced what he wishes to be done, that the execution of it is at hand. Lastly, the Prophet here commends to us the effect of his command, when he says, that the angel entered immediately, as God had commanded. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(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 Gods love is turned to wrath by mans 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 mans 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 2Ki. 25:9 and 2Ch. 36:19 show that the Temple and city were actually burned by the Chaldans, as was often done with conquered cities that had resisted obstinately.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Between the wheels Literally, whirling; a different word from the one formerly used for wheel. It is used also in Eze 10:13, and signifies that the wheels are all the time moving like a whirlwind. (Compare also Psa 77:18; Eze 33:23.) It is used, not of a single wheel, but of the entire “wheelwork,” or chariot.
Coals of fire That which previously the prophet had only ventured to describe as appearing like coals of fire (Eze 1:13) he now sees can be handled and used as powerful weapons of judgment.
Scatter them over the city All this is symbolical of judgment to come. Josephus tells us how this prophecy was fulfilled by Nebuzaradan, who, having robbed the temple of its treasures, set fire to it “in the fifth month, the first day of the month, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, and in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he also burnt the palace and overthrew the city” ( Ant., X, Eze 8:5).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Go in between the whirling wheels, to underneath the cherub, and fill both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” ’
Where He spoke from here we are not told. In Eze 9:3 the glory of Yahweh had moved to the threshold of the temple. It is possible that we are intended to see the arrival of the heavenly chariot (Eze 10:1) as indicating that He there took His seat on His portable throne. Alternately it may have been empty, awaiting His will.
The command to the man clothed in linen, who had previously marked the chosen ones of God, is now that he carry out God’s judgments. He was to go under the cherubim between the whirling wheels to fill his hands with coals of fire. In Eze 1:13 these coals of fire described the appearance of the cherubim, and yet flickered among the cherubim. But this is a vision, a dream, so we should not be surprised at anything. However as in Revelation 6 it is apparent here that the cherubim are closely connected with bringing about of the judgments of God.
‘The whirling wheels.’ Literally ‘the whirlers’. There may be behind the idea of the whirling wheels the idea of whirlwinds (see Psa 77:18).
‘Fill both your hands.’ The judgments are to be sufficient to accomplish God’s purpose of total destruction.
Coals of fire are also described as directly kindled by God in His majestic and wrathful advance in 2Sa 22:9; 2Sa 22:13; Psa 18:8; Psa 18:12-13 where the cherubim are also present, and judgments follow. So there the coals of fire were seen as connected with His coming in judgment (compare Psa 140:10; Hab 3:5). Thus we may see the coals of fire as, as it were, kindled by the fiery breath of God and dispensed in judgment. Perhaps there is a link with the way that God hurled fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:24; Deu 29:23; Lam 4:6; Amo 4:11). Jerusalem is being likened to those totally corrupted cities (see Rev 11:8).
It is unwise to seek to identify the man clothed in linen, except as a heavenly being. The Scripture is deliberately silent. He even works like a shadow. The fulfilling of his first task is simply evidenced when he reports back ( Eze 9:11). The fulfilment of the second is never described, only that he received the coals of fire and ‘went out’. He is but an anonymous instrument of Yahweh.
‘Scatter them over the city.’ This is the symbol of God’s judgments being poured down (compare Psa 140:10; Hab 3:5).
‘To underneath the cherub.’ It is possibly significant that ‘the cherub’ is mentioned a number of times as well as ‘the cherubim’ (the -im shows the latter to be plural). See Eze 9:3; Eze 10:2; Eze 10:4; Eze 10:7, and especially Eze 10:14 where of the four described only ‘the cherub’ has the definite article. This may be seen as suggesting that there was one prominent cherub involved in the situation, possibly the leader of the group. Such a prominent cherub is certainly mentioned in Eze 28:14 as ‘the anointed cherub who covers (or guards)’ where he is connected with ‘stones of fire’. There it refers to blasphemous claims made by ‘the king of Tyre’, but presumably as based on some well recognised supernatural figure. Thus mention of ‘the cherub’ in the singular may refer to such a one well known to Ezekiel’s audience. But in context it may simply mean ‘the cherub that is nearest to you’.
LXX avoids this by translating each reference in the plural and by a change of text in Eze 10:7 where it has an anonymous ‘he’. But we do not expect the figure on the throne to be the one to hand over the coals (compare Isa 6:6) so that the idea of ‘the cherub’ doing so fits the context well. It may, however, be that the singular is to be seen as a collective noun signifying the cherubim, and that the cherub in Eze 10:7 is merely identified by the fact that he was the cherub connected with the particular wheel. Compare how in Eze 10:17; Eze 10:20 the living creature is spoken of in the singular and then it is said, ‘and I knew that they were the cherubim’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
‘And he went in in my sight.’
The man clothed in linen immediately obeyed and went in between the whirling wheels below the level plain of awesome ice and the throne, in Ezekiel’s full view. The sight clearly affected him for he specifically stresses that he saw it. Perhaps it was because he was awestricken that any being other than a cherub could enter within that place of glorious majesty. In examining the detail we must not omit to notice the glory of the occasion.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 10:2. Even under the cherub Houbigant very properly reads the first verse in a parenthesis; for this evidently connects with the last of the preceding chapter. This part of the vision represented the burning of the city by the Chaldeans. The reader will observe, that the representation of the cherubim given in chap. 1 is continued throughout this vision; and the account given at the fourth verse must strike every reader, as to its similarity with the description of the Shechinah given in the books of Moses.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 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.
Ver. 2. And he spake unto the man. ] See Eze 9:2 . Christ, who had marked the mourners, scattereth coals upon the rebellious city: “kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish.”
And scatter them over the city.
And he went in my sight.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14. Not the same word in verses: Eze 10:8, Eze 10:14, Eze 10:21. Ish is used of the man clothed with linen.
between = amid.
the wheels = the whirling [wheels]. The word here and in verses: Eze 10:6-13 is galgal. Not the same word as in verses: Eze 10:6, Eze 10:9, Eze 10:10, Eze 10:12, Eze 10:13-; Eze 10:19, and chs. Eze 1:15 and Eze 11:22. In these it is orphan, from aphan, to turn round: as in Exo 14:25, &c. Galgal occurs in Psa 77:18 (in the heaven); Eze 83:13. Ecc 12:6. Isa 5:28; Isa 17:13. Jer 47:3; and Eze 23:24; Eze 26:10. Dan 7:9 (Chaldean).
scatter = toss.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
unto: Eze 10:7, Eze 9:2, Eze 9:3, Eze 9:11
Go: Eze 10:8-13, Eze 10:16, Eze 1:15-20
thine hand: Heb. the hollow of thine hand
coals: Eze 1:13, Exo 9:8-10, Psa 18:12, Psa 18:13, Psa 140:10, Isa 6:6, Isa 6:7, Rev 8:5
scatter: Eze 20:47, Eze 20:48, Eze 24:9-14, 2Ki 25:9, Isa 30:30, Jer 24:8-10
Reciprocal: Gen 3:24 – Cherubims Exo 25:18 – two cherubims of gold Exo 37:7 – General 2Sa 22:11 – a cherub 1Ki 6:23 – two cherubims 1Ch 28:18 – the chariot Eze 1:4 – a great Eze 1:8 – General Eze 10:6 – General Dan 7:9 – and his wheels Rev 16:1 – and pour Rev 16:7 – out
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 10:2. He is a pronoun standing for the Personage described in verse 1; the man to whom he spoke was the one with the inkhorn. We have previously learned (Eze 9:2) that this ruan repersented the priestly services of the house of God. The regular order of those services had been discontinued since the invasion of Judah by the Babylonians, but. there were other things needed to be done and this man would be the appropriate one to do them. The wheels and cherub will be explained later in this chapter. Coals of fire is figurative and refers to the fiery wrath of God, because the literal fire in the Mosaic service was on the brazen altar and not in the inner court (verse 3). Scatter them over the city indicated that Gods wrath was to be poured out over the place in general.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
10:2 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.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Ezekiel saw the Lord instruct the man in linen (Eze 9:2-4; Eze 9:11) to go among the whirling wheels under the cherubim (Eze 1:15-21) and to collect coals of fire from between them (Eze 1:13). He was then to scatter the coals over the city symbolizing its judgment and cleansing (Gen 19:24; Psa 18:10-15; Isa 6:6; Isa 33:14; Rev 8:5). The man obeyed as the prophet watched.