Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Verse 9. The colour of a beryl stone.] yrt ba eben Tarshish, "the stone of Tarshish." The Vulgate translates it chrysolith; Symmachus, the jacinct; the Septuagint, the carbuncle. In the parallel place, chap. i. 16, it is yrt y[k keeyn Tarshish, "like the eye of Tarshish;" i.e., the colour of tarshish, or the stone so called, which the Vulgate translates visio maris, "like the sea," i.e., azure. The beryl is a gem of a green colour, passing from one side into blue, on the other side into yellow. The chrysolith is also green, what is called pistachio green; but the chrysolith of the ancients was our topaz, which is of a fine wine yellow. The beryl, or chrysolith, is most likely what is here meant by tarshish. One name among the ancients served for several kinds of gems that were nearly of the same colour. The moderns go more by chemical characters than by colour.
Matthew Henry Commentary
- The idolatries committed by the Jewish rulers. (Ezek. 8:1-6) The superstitions to which the Jews were then devoted, the Egyptian. (Ezek 8:7-12) The Phoenician. (Ezek. 8:13,14) The Persian. (Ezek. 8:15,16 The heinousness of their sin. (Ezek. 8:17,18)
Ezek. 8:1-6 The glorious personage Ezekiel beheld in vision, seemed to take hold upon him, and he was conveyed in spirit to Jerusalem. There in the inner court of the temple, was prepared a place for some bas idol. The whole was presented in vision to the prophet. If it shoul please God to give any man a clear view of his glory and majesty, an of all the abominations committing in any one city, he would then admi the justice of the severest punishments God should inflict thereon.
Ezek. 8:7-12 A secret place was, as it were, opened, where the prophe saw creatures painted on the walls, and a number of the elders of Israel worshipped before them. No superiority in worldly matters wil preserve men from lust, or idolatries, when they are left to their ow deceitful hearts; and those who are soon wearied in the service of God often grudge no toil nor expense when following their superstitions When hypocrites screen themselves behind the wall of an outwar profession, there is some hole or other left in the wall, somethin that betrays them to those who look diligently. There is a great dea of secret wickedness in the world. They think themselves out of God' sight. But those are ripe indeed for ruin, who lay the blame of their sins upon the Lord.
Ezek. 8:13-18 The yearly lamenting for Tammuz was attended with infamous practices; and the worshippers of the sun here described, ar supposed to have been priests. The Lord appeals to the prophe concerning the heinousness of the crime; "and lo, they put the branc to their nose," denoting some custom used by idolaters in honour of the idols they served. The more we examine human nature and our own hearts the more abominations we shall discover; and the longer the believe searches himself, the more he will humble himself before God, and the more will he value the fountain open for sin, and seek to wash therein _________________________________________________
Original Hebrew ואראה7200 והנה2009 ארבעה702 אופנים212 אצל681 הכרובים3742 אופן212 אחד259 אצל681 הכרוב3742 אחד259 ואופן212 אחד259 אצל681 הכרוב3742 אחד259 ומראה4758 האופנים212 כעין5869 אבן68 תרשׁישׁ׃8658
