The Maccabaean

(Concluded.)

Ezekiel was a mystic. His prophecies are full of allusions to visions and rapt states of the mind, in which he comes into personal communion with Deity. In his prophecies more than in those of any other we are impressed by the relationship of every individual soul to God. He does not regard the national calamity as the punishment of the individual sin, nor is he satisfied with the proverb that says, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge,” but his constantly reiterated dogma is, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” And we might expect that Ezekiel, realizing so fully the personal relationship of every human soul to God, would content himself with a sort of individualistic, mystical religion, a sort of Salvation Army Judaism, void of any national ideal.

And yet we find this is not to be the case, For Jewish mysticism has always had this for its distinguishing feature: that it centred about the Torah, about that law which was to guide man, not only in his communion with God, but in his intercourse with his fellows,. which was to regulate his social life through the creation of definite institutions. And this ideal of a society organized in institutions that are governed by divine law was espe- tially fostered in Ezekiel Fv the fact that he was a priest, for the priesthood was the very symbol of this hierarchy, of this dominance of the Torah, which priest and prophet alike labored to establish. Now it is perfectly obvious that such a hierarchy cannot be established by a scattered people subject to a for- eigen rule, and so this prophet-priest, like his predecessors, looked forward to the restoration of his people to their own soil.

He voiced this hope in a parable, which is so beautiful and so characteristic of its author that, despite its length, I cannot help “quoting it almost in full:

"The hand of the Lord was upon me and

carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones and caused me to pass by them roundabout and set me down in the midst of the valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord, God, thou knowest. Again He said unto me, Prophesy unto these bones and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live; . . . and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came upon them and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then said He unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, Our bones are dried, our hope is lost, we are quite cut off. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.”

In the mind of Ezekiel this return was associated with the reunion of all the Jewish tribes, even the ten tribes that had disappeared, and with the reign of the Messiah. He says, speaking of Israel and Judah:

"I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be