Ezekiel went with King Jechansa, like Daniel and others, willingly to the prison of Babylon, according to the counsel of Jeremiah, because he always advised them to surrender to the king of Babylon, so they would live and should not resist, otherwise they would perish, Jer. 21:8, 9.
002 Now when they were come to Babylon, as Jeremiah saith, Cap. 24:6, and comforted them kindly, impatience set in, and they repented exceedingly that they had surrendered, because they saw that they that remained at Jerusalem, and had not surrendered, yet held both the city and all things, and hoped to make Jeremiah a liar, and to defend themselves before the king of Babylon, and to remain in the land.
(3) The false prophets, who always comforted Jerusalem as if Jerusalem would not be won, helped confidently, and Jeremiah had to lie as a heretic and apostate. Thus it came to pass (as it is wont to do) that those at Jerusalem boasted as those who held honestly and firmly to God and the fatherland; but those had surrendered and forsaken God together with the fatherland, as the faithless and treacherous, who could neither trust nor hope in God, but joined their enemies, because of such loose speech of Jeremiah the liar etc. This bit and embittered those who had surrendered to Babylon, and their prison was now twofold. Oh, how many a woman's curse they must have wished on Jeremiah, whom they had followed, and he had so miserably deceived them.
4 Therefore God raised up this prophet Ezekiel at Babylon to comfort the captives and to prophesy against the false prophets at Jerusalem, and to confirm Jeremiah's word. Which he also does honestly, and prophesies much harder and more, how Jerusalem should be destroyed, and the people perish with kings and princes; and yet promises under it the
1) "zu," which is missing in the original, was added by Walch; it is also found in the Weimar Bible (1686).
Return and return to the land of Judah. And this is the most distinguished piece in Ezekiel, which he practiced in his time, and carries on to the twenty-fifth chapter.
5 After this he extends his prophecy to all the other countries around, which were also to be plagued by the king of Babylon, until the thirty-fourth chapter. Then follow four chapters about the spirit and kingdom of Christ. Then about the last tyrant in the kingdom of Christ, Gog and Magog. And at the end he rebuilds Jerusalem and comforts the people that they will come home again. But in the spirit he means the eternal city, the heavenly Jerusalem, of which Revelation also speaks [Cap. 21, 2].
A lesson on how to understand the vision of Ezekiel from the chariot Cap. 1 and 10. 2)
6 St. Jerome and others write: That it was forbidden among the Jews, and still is, to read the first and last parts of the prophet Ezekiel before a man is thirty years old, and thus also the first chapter of Moses in the first book.
7 There should not be such a prohibition among the Jews, because Isaiah Cap. 29, 11. prophesies that the whole holy scripture is sealed and closed to the unbelieving Jews, as St. Paul 2 Cor. 3, 14. also says that the cover of Moses remains over the scripture as long as they do not believe in Christ.
(8) This is also proved by the work, for they tear and grind up the Scriptures in their interpretations, as foul swine grind up and turn back a pleasure garden, so that one would wish that they would remain unsworn to the Scriptures. Even though many of our people cling so firmly to the rabbis, and trust them that they
2) Instead of this title in Walch's edition, the Weimar Bible has: "Neue Vorrede auf den Propheten Ezekiel" (New Preface to the Prophet Ezekiel), as does the Erlangen edition. Walch says: "that this preface is also to be counted to the years 1531 and 1532". We are not able to give a time determination. The Erlangen edition gives the year 1545 in the Jnhaltsverzeichniß.
*) This preface is also found in the Leipzig edition, vol. XII, p. 18 and in the Erlangen edition, vol. 63, p. 62.
more than the ancient Jews themselves did.
9. but this vision of Ezekiel in the first part is nothing else, to my mind (another make it better), but a revelation of the kingdom of Christ in faith here on earth, in all four places of the whole world, Ps. 19, 5: In omnem terram [exivit sonus eorum]. For no prophet can be (as St. Peter s2 Petr. 1, 21.] testifies), unless he has the Spirit of Christ. But to interpret all the pieces is too long in a preface. To say briefly: This face is the spiritual chariot of Christ, on which he rides here in the world, that is his whole holy Christianity. There are four beasts, which he calls cherubim (for he sits, rides and drives on cherubim, as the Scriptures often report), each of which has four faces, and stand, like four steeds, in the fours, but inwardly and between the wheels. There are also four four-wheeled horses around the animals, one wheel for each animal, so that they can go to the four places of the world, that is, in front of them, behind them and on both sides, and yet they must not steer.
In the same way, animals walk on round feet toward the four places of the world and are not allowed to steer. Here there is no axle, no saddle, no frame, no lunges, no ladder, no scales, no ropes, no cords, but the spirit within drives it all. Above is the sky, like a horse blanket, and a chair inside for the saddle, on which God, that is, Christ sits.
(11) So the four wheels go together; for all the churches in the four places of the world, that is, in the whole world, have the same, one, united course in faith, hope, love, cross and all spiritual things: Faith, hope, love, cross and all spiritual: being. And they are not made from the outside, by. They are not driven from the outside by the teachings of men, but from within by one spirit, Rom. 8, 9. 1 Cor. 12, 5. Eph. 4, 4.
12. and the four beasts also go with the wheels, or rather the wheels with them, before them, behind them, above them, and on either side. For the apostles, or the ministry of preaching, the word of God, baptism, sacrament, keys, and what belongs to the spiritual regiment of the church, are also one, equal and of one accord in all the world. Thus the beasts and the wheels hold together firmly and surely, that there is one
Chariot is, without all outward binding, harnessing or stretching, that everything is four, four animals, four faces of an animal, four feet of an animal, four hands of an animal, four wings of an animal, four wheels, four rims on a wheel. Means, as said, that Christianity, or the kingdom of Christ, should go in faith in the four places, that is, in the whole world.
13) But such a vision meant (as Ezekiel himself shows here, Cap. 8. 9) the end and destruction of the synagogue, or Judaism, that is, the priesthood, worship and church order, given and established to them by Moses, all of which was established no further than Christ's future, as St. Paul Rom. 8, 3. Paul Rom. 8, 3. 2 Cor. 3, 6. and Matth. 11, 13. Christ himself says, and the epistle to the Hebrews abundantly deals with it; at which the Jews have been grievously vexed and offended until this day.
14 And this is to be known specially, against the blindness of the Jews, that all the prophecy, which saith that Israel and Judah shall return into their land, and shall possess the same in the flesh for ever, is fulfilled long since, that the hope of the Jews is utterly vain and lost. For this prophecy has two parts.
015 The first, that Israel and Judah should come again into the land after their captivity, which was done by Cyrum the king and Persia before the birth of Christ, when the Jews came again out of all countries into the land, and into Jerusalem; and out of foreign countries also, as they dwelt, they came yearly unto the feasts of Jerusalem, and drew many nations with them, and to themselves.
16 But that the Jews hope that there will be another, bodily return, when they all return to the land, and raise up Moses with the old nature, they themselves dream, and no letter of it is spoken or signified in the prophets, nor in the Scriptures. It is written that they shall come again out of all the lands whither they are driven, but not all, but some out of all the lands. There is a great difference between all the Jews coming back and coming back from all the countries. To return from all the countries is fulfilled; but to return from all the Jews is never fulfilled.
but the antitype. Just as in Jerusalem, when it was still standing, both before and after the prison, they were not all God's people, but the devil's people, idolatrous murderers, and the worst people on earth.
17) The other part and the very best (which the Jews do not want to see nor respect) in the same prophecy is that God promises to create a new thing in the land, and to make a new covenant, not like the old covenant of Moses (which they dream of), as it is clearly written in Jer. 31:33, and in many other places, that they will no longer be two kingdoms, but one kingdom, under their future king David, and will be one kingdom forever, even in the same physical land.
(18) This piece also is fulfilled. For when Christ came, and found the people gathered together again, both of Israel and Judah, out of all the countries, and the land full, he began the new things, and made the promised new covenant. And this he did, not in a spiritual place, nor in any other fleshly place, but in the same fleshly land of Canaan, and in the same fleshly Jerusalem, as it was promised, whither they were brought again out of all the earth.
019 And when they would not, or ever would not much accept the same covenant, it remained nevertheless an everlasting covenant, not only at Jerusalem, and in the same land, but also departed thence into all the four corners of the earth, and remaineth this day, both at Jerusalem, and in all places. For the place Jerusalem is still there, and Christ is Lord and King there, as in all the world, helping and hearing all who are there, or come there, as in all the world, meanwhile letting Mahomet with his tyranny, and the pope with his jugglery, do what they do; he is and remains Lord over all.
020 That the Jews now stand fast upon the name Israel, and boast that they alone are Israel, but we are Gentiles, is true according to the first part, and according to the old covenant of Moses, which is now long fulfilled. But according to the second part and the new covenant they are no longer Israel, for all things are to be new, and Israel must also become new. And only those are the right Israel, which the new covenant
(founded and started in Jerusalem).
21 For according to the old covenant I am not an Israel nor a Jew, but now I boast that I am the son of St. Paul, and an Israel or Benjamin, for he is my father; not the old Paul, but the new Paul, who is the same old Paul, but from the old Paul became a new Paul in Christ, and begat me in Christ through the gospel, that I might be like him according to the new covenant. So all Gentiles who are Christians are true Israelites and new Jews, born of Christ, the noblest Jew. Therefore it all depends on the new covenant, which the Messiah should establish and make all things new, as he has done.
(22) And this rule is well to be remembered. For where the prophets speak of Israel, that he should return in whole or be gathered together, as Mich. 2, 12. Ezek. 20, 40, and the like, this is certainly spoken of the new covenant and the new Israel, since not one will remain outside the eternal kingdom of Christ. But it is not possible to understand it of the old Israel, because several parts remained in Assyria and Babylon, both dead and alive, and very few returned, as Ezra counted them all.
23. but the Jews want to have the Messiah according to the old covenant, and do not respect this new covenant. So they lack both, hovering between heaven and earth. They do not want the new; they cannot have the old. Therefore also the scripture is sealed to them, Isa. 29, 10. 11., and they do not understand a prophet. And sit thus, without government, both bodily and spiritual. They have not the bodily and the earthly (for they have no king, nor lord, nor kingdom, nor principality). They do not have the spiritual either, because they do not want to accept the new covenant and therefore have to remain without priesthood. Summa, they not only despised this new covenant, but also persecuted it, and wanted to destroy it and not live, and have been destroyed with their covenant.
(24) And though Jerusalem might have remained with all the old substance, yet the new covenant must come and make all things new, to fulfill the Scriptures as it was written.
now in Christendom, namely, that in Jernsalem there should have been an apostle, bishop or preacher, as Christ Himself began, who there should have governed the church of Christ, preached the gospel, baptized, administered the sacrament, absolved, bound etc. If it had not been the high priest Caiphas or another, it would have had to be an apostle, or the descendants of the apostles; as it has happened until now, and must happen, and therefore the eternal kingdom of Christ would also reign in the old Jerusalem, as well as in all the world, as the prophecy had promised and wants to have, and therefore the old kingdom of Moses would have remained there, as a worldly regime.
(25) Just as in all the world the old, temporal, worldly regime remains, and nothing prevents the new, spiritual, eternal regime and kingdom of Christ being established on earth under it and in it, and having its own nature, as we see before our eyes; especially where there are pious kings and princes who suffer such a new, eternal kingdom of Christ in their old regime, or even accept it, promote it and want to be in it as Christians. Otherwise, several kings, princes and lords of the old regime are just as poisonously bitterly hostile to the new covenant and kingdom of Christ, and persecute it and want to destroy it, as the Jews in Jerusalem; they also go to the ground over it, as happened to Rome, and will happen to others. For Christ's new kingdom must remain, because it is promised to be an eternal kingdom, and the old kingdom must perish at last.
26 And it is good to reckon, because God Himself calls such a kingdom a new kingdom, so it must be a much more glorious kingdom, neither the old one has been or still is, and God has been willing to make much a better one, neither the old one is. And if there were no other glory here, this alone is glorious enough beyond all measure, that it should be an eternal kingdom, which does not cease, like the old or worldly kingdom.
27. now these immeasurable, glorious goods are in it, forgiveness of sins, peace with god, safety from eternal death and all evil, fellowship of divine majesty, of all angels and saints, joy and delight in all creatures, even after the body. For this same body, which is now the old body, shall be
also become new together with all creatures, just as the soul has begun to become new in faith.
Therefore the Jews do themselves injustice and harm, because they do not desire the new kingdom through Messiah, but just the previous, old, perishable kingdom, in which silver, gold, goods, power, honor, pleasure and joy are possessed according to mortal flesh, which are of no value at all before God. For if he had promised such a kingdom, he would not have called it a new, different and better kingdom.
(29) And above this world's goods there can be nothing else, nothing new, nothing better, except the spiritual, eternal, blessed goods in heaven, under which there can be no evil or wickedness. But under the earthly, old, temporal bars, even if they were as glorious as the Jews dream of their Messiah, there must be and remain much evil and much evil underneath, least of all the death and end of such goods.
30 Ezekiel also teaches us these two things, that he comforts the people about the return from Babylon, but prophesies much more about the new Israel and kingdom of Christ. This is his face from the chariot, and almost also his temple at the last part of his book.
To teach how to understand the building of Ezekiel in the last nine chapters, from the fortieth to the end of the prophets.
(31) Whoever wants to understand this building of the temple, altar, city and land, as Ezekiel describes here, must take Lyram before him, with its figures and glosses, otherwise he will labor and work in vain. And because we do not know how to put the figure on paper better, we have left it standing, and directed the reader to Lyra; for it is also not possible to design a building on paper, but [one] would have to make a carved pattern.
32 But what it means, the teachers have thought, one otherwise, the other so. But above all the Jews and their kind are to be rejected, who think that it is to be the third temple, which is to be built by their future Messiah, and boast much and much about it.
great glory of it, in their foolish, vain hope, and do not see, the blind and coarse people, that the text cannot suffer such their dreams, as Lyra also mightily reproves. For Ezekiel does not say that this city should be called Jerusalem, nor that it should stand in the place where Jerusalem is situated, which is on the north side of the mountain, and the temple is in the midst of it on the hill of Moriah, and the castle of Zion is on the south side.
033 But this city of Ezekiel shall lie toward the south, and shall be called Dominus ibi, where God is, or God there, that is, where God himself is. And the temple shall not be within, but, as the reckoning gives, about seven good great German miles from the city toward the north. And the city on the high mountain shall have nine good, large, German miles, both in length and breadth, so that the circular wall reaches around and around thirty-six German miles; that may be called a little city, and a little mountain, on which it lies.
(34) Now if a citizen, living at the end of the city at noon, would go to the church or temple, he would have to go sixteen miles, as nine through the city, and then seven to the temple. Such an inconsistent thing the blind Jews do not see, that it cannot be a physical building, much less in the place where Jerusalem is located, as they falsely hope.
35. also a great water shall flow within out of the temple into the dead sea (which the Papists sing of their holy water, as the fools), which rhymeth in no wise with the land of Israel.
(36) The tribes and the land of Israel are also divided and arranged much differently and further, so that the city and the temple are not to be in any tribe of Israel, although Jerusalem was previously in the tribe of Benjamin, as all this and much more is made clear in the text.
The altar should also be eleven cubits high and fourteen cubits wide at the top, so that when the priest climbs the stairs, he has to have one arm seven cubits long, so that he can reach into the middle of the altar and prepare the sacrifices. This would also have to be an even little priest, who would be fifteen or sixteen good, large cubits tall or long.
38 Therefore this building of Ezekiel is not to be understood as a new physical building, but as the chariot in the beginning, so also the building in the end is nothing else, but the kingdom of Christ, the holy church or Christianity here on earth, until the last day.
But how all the pieces are to be interpreted and placed, we want to save until that life, when we will see the whole construction ready and finished. Now, because it is still in progress, and many stones and wood belonging to it are not yet born, let alone carpentered, we cannot see it all. It is enough that we know it is God's house, and his own building, in which we all are.
(40) He who is idle and merry may well see and search much in it, if he wants to understand and rhyme God's Word and the sacraments, with their powers and effects, as the Holy Spirit works through them in Christianity, and the Revelation of John can also help in this.
The preface on the prophet Daniel from 1530, together with the interpretation of the eleventh and twelfth chapters of Daniel, is in our edition, vol. VI, Col. 896.