le of a prophet. He
selects men whose natural qualities, providential training, and
sanctified hearts fit them for the work assigned to them; and under his
inspiration they speak and write in the dialect to which they and their
hearers are accustomed. Ezekiel's style is marked by Chaldaisms, as
might have been expected from the circumstances in which he wrote. At
the same time it is as forcible as it is peculiar, a style every way
adapted to the work laid upon him. He was sent to "a rebellious nation;"
to "impudent children and stiff-hearted," with the charge: "Be not
afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and
thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid
of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a
rebellious house" (2:3, 4, 6). How well he fulfilled his mission his
prophecies show, in which there is a wonderful fire and vehemence,
joined with a wonderful variety of representation and imagery. Proverbs,
parables, riddles, symbolic actions, vivid portraitures of human
wickedness, terrible denunciations of God's approaching judgments, and
glorious visions of future peace and prosperity in reserve for the true
Israel--these are all familiar to him, and are set forth often with an
exuberant fulness of imagery. When summoned by God to judge "the bloody
city" of Jerusalem, ripe for the judgments of heaven, he heaps one upon
another the black crimes of which she is guilty (22:6-12). The
repetitions so remarkably characteristic of his style are those of
energy, not of weakness. They are the repetitions of a battering-ram
that gives blow upon blow till the wall crumbles before it. The same may
be said of his amplifications, as in chaps. 1, 16, 23, 27, etc. He had a
remarkable adaptation to his office; and his influence must have been
very great in bringing about the reformation of the nation which took
place during the captivity.

17. Ezekiel abounds in allegoric and symbolic representations. These
give to many of his prophecies a dark and mysterious character, and make
them difficult of interpretation. Jerome long ago called the book "an
ocean and labyrinth of the mysteries of God." Nevertheless, the common
reader finds in him much that is plain of apprehension, and full of
weighty instruction. Reserving the general subject of the interpretation
of prophecy for another place, we add here a few words respecting the
nature of allegories and symbols, and the p