John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 7:12

"The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof." — Ezekiel 7:12 (ASV)

The Prophet now uses another kind of speech. Meanwhile, he teaches that there is to be such a change that all things will be so mixed as if there were no difference between the rich and the poor. Yet such a change does not happen unless God was grievously offended, and so He did not exact ordinary vengeance as He had previously proclaimed.

Paul indeed exhorts all the godly to pass through this world as if they were pilgrims in it (1 Corinthians 7:29–31). And thus, he says, our faith is proved: as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the married, so with the single. This general doctrine is prescribed to all the children of God—since the fashion of this world passes away—that they may pass through it without having their minds fixed on these perishing things.

But the meaning of our Prophet is different, because God will so disturb all things among the Israelites that there will be no difference between buyer and seller. He who acquires rejoices, and he who is compelled to sell suffers some degree of sorrow; and sometimes the man who is deprived of his lands and possessions tears out, as it were, his own entrails.

It is natural, therefore, for the buyer to rejoice and for the seller to lament. Now God shows that the confusion in the kingdom of Israel was so great that neither poverty nor riches provide the occasion for sorrow or grief. Now we understand the Prophet’s meaning.

He says, the time has come, the day has approached, in which the buyer will not rejoice, and the seller will not lament: because, he says, indignation is upon all this multitude.

Here, Paul's reason—that the fashion of this world passes away—is not brought forward; instead, a concussion, or rather ruin, of that land is indicated, so that nothing remains safe.

For although, while we travel through the world, we ought always to lift our minds and senses toward heaven, yet the political order remains and flourishes even among the faithful.

For the sons of God, though they are poor in spirit, yet possess what God has bestowed on them: they exist, as Paul exhorts them, as it were, not possessing, yet still enjoying their goods.

But the Prophet here signifies that when the kingdom of Israel has been overturned, there will be no use for either money or lands, because all, being cast out of their country, will be reduced to poverty.

And he follows up the same sentiment—