Ezekiel 1:4 - Exposition

A whirlwind came out of the north . What, we ask, was the meaning of this symbolism? In Jeremiah 1:13 , Jeremiah 1:14 a like symbol is explained as meaning that the judgments which Judah was to suffer were to come from the north, that is, from Chaldea, upon the prophet's countrymen. Here the prophet is himself in Chaldea, and what he sees is the symbol, not or calamities, but of the Divine glory, and that explanation is, accordingly, inapplicable. Probably the leading thought here is that the Divine presence is no longer in the temple at Jerusalem, It may return for a time to execute judgment ( Ezekiel 8:4 ; Ezekiel 10:1 , Ezekiel 10:19 , Ezekiel 10:20 ), and may again depart ( Ezekiel 11:23 ), but the abiding glory is elsewhere, and the temple is as Shitoh had been of old ( Psalms 78:60 ). Ezekiel was looking on the visible symbol of what had been declared in unfigurative language by Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 7:12 , Jeremiah 7:14 ; Jeremiah 26:6 , Jeremiah 26:9 ). That the north should have been chosen rather than any other quarter of the heavens is perhaps connected