John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 3:12

"Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, [saying], Blessed be the glory of Jehovah from his place." — Ezekiel 3:12 (ASV)

The Prophet again affirms what we have previously seen, that God had worked on his mind by the secret impulse of His own Spirit. Although, therefore, God had exhorted him to fortitude, yet the Prophet shows what he required of himself. In short, the Prophet was strong in God, because God implanted His power within him. He says, therefore, that he was raised up by the Spirit, which only means that the agitation within him was useless, unless through heavenly inspiration; so also he needed to be carried beyond himself for the time, so that nothing human would appear in him. But more will be said about this later.

He adds, that he heard a voice of a great rushing, that is, a sonorous voice, and one different from the usual voice of men. For the Prophet, by the noise or tumult of the voice, could distinguish it from the usual voice of men. Blessed, it said, be the glory of Jehovah from his own place. We cannot doubt that this benediction was suitable to the occasion of its utterance. When, therefore, this voice was heard, God wished to refute the clamorous voices of the people who thought themselves injured.

For we know that the people were complaining, and murmured because they thought themselves treated more harshly than they deserved. Therefore, the glory of God is opposed to all impious and sacrilegious blasphemies, which the Israelites were in the habit of vomiting forth against God, as if He treated them cruelly. In short, this voice restrained all slanders, by which the impious then tried to overwhelm the glory of God. He says that glory is blessed, because although men dare not utter blatant and open reproaches against God, nevertheless they curse His glory as often as they detract from His justice, and accuse Him of too much rigor. Therefore, in opposition to this, a voice is heard, saying, the glory of God is blessed.

By God’s place, I understand the Temple. I confess that in many passages of Scripture heaven is so called; not that God’s essence, which is immense, can be included within any place. For as heaven is called His throne or seat, so also the earth is His footstool, because He fills all things with His immensity.

So here, as often in other places, the Temple is called God’s place, because He dwelt there with respect to men. Besides, this is said with reference both to the exiles and to the rest of the people still remaining at Jerusalem. For the exiles did not sufficiently consider that they were banished from their country, and dragged into a distant region, through the just vengeance of God.

Since, therefore, this captivity did not sufficiently subdue them, the name of God needed to be set before them, so that they might know that they were not banished from their country by the cruelty of their enemies, but by the judgment of God. The Prophet, doubtless, also considers those Jews who still remained at home, for they boasted that God was seated in the Temple, and so fancied that they should be always safe under His protection.

But the Prophet, as we will see later, denounces a punishment on those who remained similar to that of those who were in captivity. It is then just as if he had said that God remained in His Temple, so that He might shine there with conspicuous glory. Now as He wished to humble the ten tribes as well as the other two, so He wished to alleviate the grief of them all, so that they would not cease to hope for the promised return.

For calamity itself might lead them to despair, and to suppose their salvation impossible; indeed, to think that God was, as it were, dead, and His power extinct. To what purpose, then, was the worship of God? To what purpose the splendor and dignity of the Temple, unless that God should protect His own?

But they had been deserted by Him; here then was cause for despair, unless it had been addressed. The Prophet now addresses this, since on one hand he reminds them that God was the just avenger of wickedness, when He allowed the ten tribes to be dragged into exile, yet that He would be their deliverer, because He does not cease to reign in His Temple, although profane men think Him conquered, and treat with wanton insolence their own triumphs over Him. Now therefore we perceive the meaning of the Prophet: for this sentence would be cold if it were merely general; but when it is applied to the state of things at the time, we see that the glory of God is not extolled by any vain eulogy, and that the Temple is not mentioned in vain (Psalms 11:4; Psalms 103:19; Isaiah 66:1).