As for the wheels, it was cried to them in my hearing ,.... Or they were called, as the prophet heard in the vision, by the following name: O wheel , or, "the wheel": for though there are several particular churches, yet they make up but one general assembly and Church of the firstborn, written in heaven; and will be all together in their perfect state, signified by the round form of the wheel; See Gill on Ezekiel 1:15 . read more
As for the wheels, it was cried unto them - O wheel - Never was there a more unfortunate and unmeaning translation. The word הגלגל haggalgal , may signify, simply, the roller, or a chariot, or roll on, or the swift roller. And he clepide ilke wheelis volible, or turninge about. Old MS. Bible. Any of these will do: "and as to the wheels," לאופנים laophannim , "they were called in my hearing" הגלגל haggalgal , "the chariot." The gentleman who took for his text "O wheel!" and made... read more
Verse 13 By this verse the Prophet better confirms what I have said, that the events of things are full of eyes, since they depend on the secret commands of God. Because therefore nothing happens unless by God’s command, hence it happens in the multiform changes of things that there is an equable tenor with reference to God. He says therefore that God cried, or the angel, O wheel. We know that wheels are properly without sense: but here the Prophet signifies that God’s voice is heard by all... read more
The machinery of God's providence. A man must be embodied ignorance who should suppose that all the activities of God's government come within the range of his vision. Our knowledge is not the measure of existence. "There are more things in heaven and earth Than are dreamt of in our philosophy." What we know is an infinitesimal fraction of what we do not know. Hence every revelation of God's administrative rule should be welcomed with eager delight. I. GOD 'S ESSENTIAL ... read more
; and Ezekiel 11:22 , Ezekiel 11:23 The withdrawal of the presence of God from a guilty people. "Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and stood over tile threshold of the house," etc. These verses, which are all essentially related to one subject, suggest the following observations. I. THAT GOD NEVER WITHDRAWS HIS GRACIOUS PRESENCE FROM A PERSON OR A NATION UNTIL THEY HAVE QUITE FORSAKEN HIM . The chosen people had despised his... read more
As for the wheels, etc.; better, with the Revised Version, they were called in my hearing, the whirling wheels ; or better still, to keep the collective force of the singular galgal, the chariot. He recognized that as the right name of the whole mysterious and complex form. It, was nothing less than the chariot throne of the King of the universe. There is no sufficient reason for taking the noun, with the Authorized Version, as a vocative. read more
According to the marginal rendering the present verse refers back to Ezekiel 10:2, Ezekiel 10:6, and tells us that the name “galgal, a rolling thing” (compare Isaiah 17:13), was given to the wheels in the seer’s hearing. But taking Ezekiel 10:14 as a description, and reading Ezekiel 10:15 immediately after Ezekiel 10:13, the meaning is clear. In the hearing Of the seer a voice calls upon the wheels, and, obedient to the call, the cherubim are lifted up and the wheels roll on. The word “galgal”... read more
Ezekiel 10:8-13. There appeared in the cherubim the form of a man’s hand See Ezekiel 1:8. The following verses to the 12th are the same, in substance, with Ezekiel 1:16-18, where see the notes. To the place where the head looked they followed, Ezekiel 10:11. Each wheel consisted of four semicircles in correspondence to the heads of each animal. It was cried unto them, O wheel Or, move round, as some render the word. They were put in mind of continually attending upon their duty; for... read more
God’s glory departs from the temple (10:1-22)In the present series of visions the fiery chariot-throne of God was in the court of the temple (see 8:3-4). The glory of God (that is, the symbolic form of God over the throne) had risen from the throne and come to rest on the threshold of the temple. From there God had directed his agents in the execution of the citizens of Jerusalem (see 9:3). From this same position on the temple threshold, God now gave further commands to the man who had... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezekiel 10:8-22
We have here a further account of the vision of God's glory which Ezekiel saw, here intended to introduce that direful omen of the departure of that glory from them, which would open the door for ruin to break in. I. Ezekiel sees the glory of God shining in the sanctuary, as he had seen it by the river of Chebar, and gives an account of it, that those who had by their wickedness provoked God to depart from them might know what they had lost and might lament after the Lord, groaning out their... read more