John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 7:26

"Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor shall be upon rumor; and they shall seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders." — Ezekiel 7:26 (ASV)

The Prophet here explains more fully the nature of that slaughter which he announced. And again he deprives the Jews of all ground for hope, and shows that they would look around in vain on all sides, because God would deprive them of all help. This is the meaning of the passage.

Hence he says, calamities shall come, and that some will follow one part, and others another. In this way he advises the Jews that they would grasp at security in vain, as if, when one evil passes, they were already free.

For the wicked, as soon as God withdraws His hand, think they have escaped from all trouble, and so carelessly despise God more. They imagine that God is finished with them, just as a debtor who, having paid a small sum to his creditor and thus obtained a reprieve, becomes careless. So the reprobate harden themselves when God grants them some respite, for they think they have an agreement with Him that He will not trouble them anymore.

But the Prophet denounces that there would be such a heap of evils that one calamity should have many companions, because God would not stop adding evils to evils. He adds, rumor upon rumor. This refers to the object of fear, because rumors of wars and of the cruelty of enemies would be spread widely.

Therefore, since the Jews are deaf and dull, the Prophet announces that God would continue to exercise His vengeance, so that one calamity would be only the forerunner of another, until they would perish a hundred times rather than God allowing them to escape with impunity.

Afterwards he adds, they shall seek a vision. Here the Prophet again shows that the Jews would be stripped bare of all help. For although they boldly despised God, we know that they also wickedly abused His name. For they so threw aside all modesty that they did not hesitate to ridicule God and all His gifts.

Hence their last refuge in their calamities was to seek a vision, that is, to inquire what God was about to do. Hence he says, they shall seek a vision from the Prophet. It seems to me that the expression is too abrupt, that they shall seek a vision from a Prophet, because nothing more is added except concerning the priest and elders.

מ is sometimes taken negatively when words are united: I do not know whether the language will properly support our saying, they shall seek a vision, but there shall be no Prophet. And yet the meaning would flow better if Ezekiel denied there would be any Prophets: for this is a sign of desertion, when no consolation comes to assist us in our wars.

Thus the Church complains in the Psalms that it was reduced to the greatest distress, and that no Prophet appeared: we do not see our signs, nor is there a Prophet among us (Psalms 74:9).

And, in truth, Ezekiel meant that the Jews would seek a Prophet in vain, because God would take that gift away from them. Therefore, as far as the meaning is concerned, there is no ambiguity, though the wording is, as I have said, rather obscure.

The meaning is that when they think God is so bound to them that He will never deprive them of visions which are prepared for their comfort, they are nevertheless already deprived of this good; and since they are destitute, nothing remains except that utter destruction which he has mentioned. We must leave the rest for tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, since You have until now deigned to guard us safely by Your power, and have driven away so many violent assaults from us, and turned away so many perverse counsels of our enemies, and snatched us from numberless evils—grant that we may so value Your benefits towards us that we may be grateful in return, and so devote ourselves obediently to You, that Your holy name may be glorified throughout our whole lives in Your only-begotten Son our Lord.—Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

Yesterday we began to expound the Prophet’s language when he denounced what the Jews little feared: that a time would come when God would deprive them of their Prophets. Therefore, since God was accustomed to rule His people by counselors, priests, and prophets, He says, counsel should perish from the elders, and the law from the priests. As for the Prophets, he says, the Jews would inquire of them in vain for the will of God.

The result is that since God always governed His people, there would be a miserable dispersion, because no more teaching would shine forth, but they would be immersed in the darkness of ignorance. But this was the most grievous threat, because in extreme evils it is no small consolation to have God shining upon us by His word.

For by this we are stirred up to patience, then our sorrows are lessened when we taste some hope of pardon, and God bears witness that He will be favorable to us. But when this comfort is withdrawn, we are easily overwhelmed by even the smallest evils. Yet God sustains us by His word in the deepest afflictions as if on a vast sea, and as long as His teaching remains with us, we have, as it were, a chart of guidance that will bring us safely into harbor.

But when God nowhere appears, the lightest trial buries us in the deepest abyss. So this was the sign of God’s fearful vengeance when the gift of prophecy was extinguished among the Jews, and the priests and elders had no counsel. For we know how powerfully they boasted that they were powerful in wisdom.

For while Jeremiah blames them, we see that they rose up against him, relying on this confidence: that the law could not pass away from the priests, nor prudence from the wise men and counselors, nor a vision or utterance from the prophets. "Come ye, let us take counsel against Jeremiah, and let us strike him with the tongue; for counsel shall not perish," etc. (Jeremiah 18:18).

Being incited by this diabolical fury, they dared to raise their crests against God, and boldly claimed for themselves what God here denounces He would take from them: for they asserted the vision must remain with the prophets and the teaching of the law with the priests. But we see that God averts that perverse boasting when He denounces that there would be no counsel for the old men, no teaching with the priests, and no vision among the prophets.

And from this we also gather that we can today refute the Papists by the same argument. For with what weapons do they so proudly rage against the clear and certain doctrine of the law and the gospel? Namely, that they are the representative Church, as if they openly declared to God that His doctrine could not possibly perish from their priests.

I omit to notice that this priesthood is not from God, since priests are created for sacrificing Christ, and that without any command. But suppose we grant them to be ordinary pastors of the Church; of what advantage is that title when God deprived the Levitical priests—who were created by Him and not by human votes—of all light of doctrine?

Let us learn therefore from this passage that the gift of prophecy and all teaching is God’s unique gift: let us learn that this gift is withdrawn when God wishes to exact punishment for man’s ingratitude. For if the doctrine is received less reverently than is fitting for us, and God Himself is despised, as is often the case, He throws people into darkness, and causes them to err through blindness, and deprives them of the smallest spark of light.

When the priests themselves forget their office, God makes them foolish, as we see has happened in the Papacy. Nothing is more to be despised than those beasts, and yet they claim for themselves the spirit of revelation. But God repays them the just reward for their madness, because they have ruled tyrannically and so have utterly abused the sacred name of pastors. Then, because they have mixed their fictions with the law and the gospel, they have corrupted all purity of doctrine by their commentaries. God therefore has avenged their pride, as we see; but when God shows us the way of life by His servants and shines upon us with heavenly doctrine, let us not blindly wander in darkness. Let us recognize that this inestimable treasure is not to be despised, lest we be deprived of it.