Ezekiel 10:1

BURNING OF JERUSALEM; AND WITHDRAWAL OF GOD'S PRESENCE

Here we have a continuation of the major theme of Ezekiel 8-11, which particularly deals with the final departure of the presence of God from the apostate capitol of the Once Chosen people. Ezekiel 10:1-8 prophesy the burning of Jerusalem; and Ezekiel 9:9-22 show preparations for the withdrawal of God's presence, his final departure being revealed in the next chapter.

GOD'S COMMAND TO BURN THE CITY

Ezekiel 10:1-4

"Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was over the head of the cherubim there appeared above them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. And he spake unto the man clothed in linen, and said, Go in between the whirling wheels, even under the cherub, and fill both thy hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight. Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. And the glory of Jehovah mounted up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Jehovah's glory."

"Coals of fire ... scatter them over the city ..." (Ezekiel 10:2). This sentence of Jerusalem's destruction took place in the Temple itself, "Thus making it manifest that the judgment is in vindication of the affronted holiness of God, caused by the sins of Israel against his covenant."[1]

"And he spake ..." (Ezekiel 10:2). The speaker here is the person enthroned, namely, God.

The fire spoken of in this passage is far different from the fire of the altar. "That fire spoke of God's grace (Leviticus 6:12,13); here it speaks of the destruction of the wicked."[2]

Pearson noted that in Ezekiel 10:2 a singular noun is used to describe the whole complex of whirling wheels, etc., supporting the sapphire throne.[3] This indicates that the entire apparatus had the utility of standing as a representation of the presence and glory of the Almighty.

"The glory of Jehovah mounted up from the cherub ..." (4). Cook used the past perfect tense here. "'The glory of the Lord had gone up from the cherub to the threshold of the house,' to describe what had happened before the man went in (v. 3)."[4] This description runs through verse 6.