Ezekiel 1:24 - Exposition

The noise of their wings, etc. The wings representing the soaring, ascending elements in nature, their motion answers to its aspirations, their sounds to its inarticulate groanings ( Romans 8:26 ) or its chorus of praise. The noise of great waters may be that of the sea, or river, or torrents. Ezekiel's use of the term in Ezekiel 31:7 , in connection with the cedars of Lebanon, seems in favour of the last. On the other hand, in Ezekiel 27:26 ; Psalms 29:3 ; Psalms 107:23 , the term is manifestly used for the seas. The thought appears again in Revelation 1:15 ; Revelation 19:6 . In Psalms 29:3 , et al; the "voice of the Lord" is identified with thunder. For the voice of speech, which wrongly suggests articulate utterance, read, with the Revised Version, a noise of tumult.