English · KJV

Theodoret of Cyrus

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 1,374 passages across 50 books

Commentary

441–460 of 1,374
Ezekiel 3:4-5

And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.

Here he clearly shows the distinction between apostolic and prophetic labors. Prophets have committed to them the responsibility of only one race, from which they were to have arisen and whose native language they knew. Apostles … have all the nations and peoples of the world entrusted to them, according to the command of the Lord.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 1:3

Ezekiel 3:17

Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

“You must be,” he says, “like a watchman, who is placed on top of some hill, with orders to announce for himself beforehand any invasions by barbarians. And you must be set up as if on a watchtower, on the highest point of prophecy, and what you foresee, you must tell out to the people.”

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 1:3

Ezekiel 3:22

And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee.

Quiet is afforded by contemplating divine things, when the mind is free from external cares, which makes it anticipate things, and it is distracted no more fully here or there, but it can take in divine things more exactly when it is turned in on itself.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 2:3

Ezekiel 4:4-6

Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.

Ezekiel was to lie down on his right side for 40 days and 150 on his left, to dig through a wall and flee, portraying in himself the captivity. Another time Ezekiel is to sharpen a sword to a point, shave his head with it and divide the hair four ways and assign a part here, a part there, without listing it all. The ruler of the universe ordered each of these things to be done so that by the strangeness of this spectacle he might gather those who would not be persuaded by speech or give an ear to prophecy and so dispose them to hear the divine oracles.… So, just as the God of the universe providentially ordered each one of these things to be done for the good of those who live carelessly, so he arranged this extraordinary novelty to draw everyone by its strangeness to the spectacle and make his counsel persuasive to those who come. For the novelty of the spectacle is a reliable guarantee of the instruction it can give, and whoever comes to the spectacle leaves instructed in divine matters.

LIVES OF SIMEON STYLITES 12

Ezekiel 11:18-20

And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.

He calls it a new heart, as a force in the soul for honorable things. When they are disposed to contrary things, they refer to a change toward better things as a new spirit. Just as he spoke of another heart and did not mean a change in nature, but a disposition towards better things, so this is shared through a new spirit.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 3:11

Ezekiel 14:11

That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.

I want to have them as my people and to be their God, attending to them with every care.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 4:11

Ezekiel 16:11

I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.

The priests are anointed with holy oil and are clothed with embroidered cloth and with silk. It means riches, which the people gained as a result of his providence, as much in spirit as in body.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 5:16

Ezekiel 17:23

In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.

He says, know that it is easy for me both to humble what is lofty and to raise up what is lowly; to make dry what is wet and to manifest what is dry to be in flower.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 6

Ezekiel 18:21

But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

I will not allow those punishments that the parents avoided to be repeated by their children, since I am the Lord of both of them and have the same care for all of them. For all souls are mine, and the soul that sins pays the penalty. Thus God teaches us forms of justice, and the way people can delight in life and be released by prayer and become free.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 6:18

Ezekiel 18:28

Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

You see my just sentence and you dare to accuse me of injustice? You yourselves needed to be accused; you actually prefer injustice in the face of such an obvious example of justice by your own judge.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 6:18

Ezekiel 28:2

Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

The devil has fallen into such madness and is excited in such a frenzy that he has called himself God, and he has persuaded people to offer worship to him instead.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 11:28

Ezekiel 33:2

Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:

These words teach that it is God who gives peace to people because of goodness and allows wars to happen because of the wickedness of people who bring disaster on themselves.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 13:33

Ezekiel 34:9-10

Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;

These words predict the end both of the kingdom of the Jews and the priesthood. I will free my flocks, he says, from those who look after them badly, who have steered them with no kind of providence but have only continued to devour them. Therefore through our Lord and Savior they are granted salvation.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 13:34

Ezekiel 34:16

I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.

The words against the false shepherds have been hidden, as well as the prediction of God’s attentiveness to come. He turns his words to the flocks and teaches the useless shepherds how not to fall back in any way in defending them.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 13:34

Ezekiel 36:8

But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.

I will strengthen the people’s hope, and I will make steadfast their expectation of good things to come, and they will return and enjoy those fruits that are produced by you.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 14:36

Ezekiel 36:25

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

He calls the pure water the water of rebirth, because we who have been baptized have received the forgiveness of our sins.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 14:36

Ezekiel 36:26

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

He means by these things a change of attitude. Your heart, he says, will incline to better things, no longer following your previous preference for what is worse. That “I will give” in no way damages free will, for by words and deeds and endless miracles, not only among them but in all races, so that they start to live piously; he persuades, he does not compel. And although he does not compel but persuades, he says that he has inclined their minds toward better things.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 11:14.36

Ezekiel 36:27

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

These things did not happen before the coming of the Lord Christ. Since they had three prophets after the return to Jerusalem, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, they were immediately deprived of the gift of prophecy. But after our God and Savior was made man and ascended into the heavens, and the Holy Spirit came on the holy apostles, through them grace was given not only to the Jews but also to all those from the peoples who came to faith. He calls a heart of stone one that is antagonistic and rebellious, and a heart of flesh, one that is compliant and obedient to what it is told, and is able to draw out the meaning of the divine writings … this is the mark of a spirit of grace, which assists our free will and ensures that what has been said proceeds in due course.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 14:36

Ezekiel 37:1-14

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,

Again this is the spirit of contemplation; he did not see these bodies that were shown to him with his eyes, but he had them revealed to him by the Holy Spirit.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 15:37

Ezekiel 37:7-10

So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

The proclamation, he says is made by me, by divine command. The bodies that were bound together came back to life, and they experienced a resurrection, and the multitude of those who rose again was not small.

COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 15:37

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