Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 20:23-24:26

(Ver. 23, 24 onwards) Again, I raised my hand against them in the wilderness, to scatter them among the nations and disperse them in the lands, because they had not performed my judgments, and had rejected my commandments, and had violated my Sabbaths, and their eyes had been after the idols (or thoughts) of their fathers. Therefore, I also gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments in which they would not live, and I defiled them in their offerings (or transgressions), as they offered (or led astray) everything that opens the womb because of their sins (for which the Septuagint translated, to destroy them and what they had overlooked): and they will know that I am the Lord. Where in the Old Testament, against their children, who fell in the wilderness, the Lord lifted up His hand to scatter them among the nations, Scripture does not say; but it is to be believed that this was done in accordance with what is reported here. Or he signifies by this, that after they entered the promised land, they were given over at various times, for many sins, to different nations and kings, and at that time the commandments of the Lord, which were good according to their nature, and the judgments by which believers could live, were made not good for them, since they were in no way able to keep the precepts of the law in captivity, and to do what the divine word commanded. He did not say, 'I gave them evil commandments,' but, 'not good commandments.' For it does not immediately follow that what is not good is evil, as the Apostle teaches, it is good for a man not to touch a woman; but because of incontinence, let each possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor (I Cor. VII). And if he does not do this, it is neither good nor evil. Therefore, God gave them, dispersed among the nations, not good commandments, that is, he allowed them to follow their own thoughts and desires, to do what is not appropriate. And he defiled them in his gifts: just as a Priest separates lepers from the people, and shows that they are defiled; while they offer to idols what they should offer to God. And they pass everything that opens the womb through the fire of Baal, that is, the firstborn; so that after they have deserted God and been handed over to the worship of idols, then they may understand that He is the Lord whom they have provoked to anger by their own fault. Symmachus interpreted this passage more explicitly, treating the future as past. Therefore, I will also give them bad precepts and judgments for which they will not live, and I will defile them because of their gifts, as they consecrate and offer everything that opens the womb, so that I may destroy them, and they will know that I am the Lord. And the meaning is this: because I have seen the sons of the fathers equaling the wickedness of their ancestors and doing the same things for which they offended God, I wanted to divide them into nations and disperse them throughout the whole world, and give them bad precepts and judgments in which they would not live, so that I may defile them with their gifts, for they consecrated everything that opens the womb to idols, and I may destroy them forever, and they will know that I am the Lord. Through which he showed that he had not given them good commandments who dwelt in the wilderness, but to those whom he wanted to scatter among the nations, and to make foreigners in the whole world, he gave them a desire for things that he did not give: so that there they would do good commandments of God, not good because of their own fault, while they exhibited to idols what God had commanded to be exhibited. This can also be said, that before the offense, they received only the Ten Commandments; but after idolatry and blasphemy, they received multiple ceremonies of the law, so that they would offer victims to God rather than to demons, and by comparison with sacrilege, what was not good in itself became lighter, and by no means evil, because it was offered to God, and yet not good, because they offended the author of good.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 20:27-29:29

(Verse 27, 29 onwards) Therefore speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and tell them: Thus says the Lord God: Moreover, your fathers have blasphemed against me and have treated me with contempt, even as they spurned me. And I brought them into the land that I had lifted my hand to give them ((Vulgate adds: that land)): they saw every high hill and every leafy tree, and there they offered their sacrifices and presented there the irritation of their offerings, and they placed there the fragrance of their sweetness, and they poured out their ((Vulgate is silent on this)) libations there. And I said to them, 'What is the high place to which you are going?' And its name was called the High Place until this day. Therefore speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God: As for your fathers, they have provoked Me to anger by their iniquities, by the fact that they have fallen away from Me. So I brought them into the land that I had lifted My hand in an oath to give them.' They saw every high hill and every leafy tree, and there they offered their sacrifices. They also presented there the provocation of their gifts, and they set there their pleasing aroma, and they poured out there their drink offerings. And I said to them: What is abbana, because you enter there? And they called its name abbana until this day. I wanted, he said, to scatter them in the wilderness, and to give them not good precepts, so that they would sacrifice to idols what they should have offered to me, and consecrate all their first-fruits to them by fire, so that I might kill them and destroy them. But when he says, I wanted, he shows that he did not do what he wanted. And that which follows: 'And they shall know that I am the Lord,' is not found in the Septuagint. For it did not seem fitting to them to know after their destruction that he himself is the Lord. But you, son of man, speak again to them, that is, to the elders of the house of Israel, who have come to inquire of you: Your fathers, from whom you have descended, have also blasphemed against me and held me in contempt; after I brought them into the land which I had given them to possess, they turned against me to provoke me. For when they saw every high hill and leafy tree, they would sacrifice on the mountains and in the groves and thickets, and offer victims to the idols, and pour out libations. And when I saw this, I said to them: What is this, Bama? for it is called high: or why do you enter into such a place which you have chosen for yourselves in all the hills, so that even today these places are called Bamoth, and the ancient error retains its original name? Regarding Bama, which we translate as excelsum, there is an error in the Septuagint edition, where it is written as ἀββανὰ, which does not resonate in the Hebrew language. Bama can mean 'in which' if the two syllables are divided into two words, but in the present context, that sense does not fit. However, wherever it is written in the Books of Kings and Chronicles: 'The people still sacrificed and offered incense on the high places,' Bama in the singular and Bamoth in the plural mean 'high places.'

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 20:35-36:38

(Verse 35, 36, and following) And I will bring you into a desert of peoples, and there I will judge you face to face. Just as I contended with your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, says the Lord. And I will subject you to my scepter, and I will bring you into the bonds of the covenant, and I will choose from among you the transgressors and the wicked: from their place of residence I will bring them out, and they will not enter the land of Israel, and you will know that I am the Lord. Thus says the Lord: I will do for you who are in Babylon, and now serve idols, what I did for your ancestors in Egypt. I will lead you into the desert of the peoples, and there I will judge you face to face, just as I contended with them in judgment when they came out of Egypt. And after I have judged you, I will subject you to my scepter and rule, and I will make a covenant with you and bring you into your land with the bonds of love, so that bound by my love, you will never be able to depart from me. But I will choose from among you the transgressors and the wicked, who persist in the hardness of their hearts in evil deeds, not for possession, but for rejection. And I will indeed bring them out of the land of their dwelling, so that when they are brought out, they will not enter the land of Israel; but they will perish in various regions. And by the distinction between good and evil, you shall know that I am the Lord, who judges all things. The rest of the discourse hastens, and we briefly go through each point, in order to provide only the meaning to the readers.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 24:1-14

(Chapter 24, Verse 1 onwards) Then in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. And speak a parable to the rebellious house and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: Set on the pot, set it on and also pour water into it; put in it the pieces of meat, all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder; fill it with choice bones. Take the choicest of the flock; pile the logs under it, boil it well; let the bones be cooked in it.' Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Woe to the city of blood, the pot whose rust is in it, and its rust has not gone out of it! Empty it part by part; pour out its blood upon the bare rock; no lot has fallen upon it. For her blood is in the midst of her; she put it upon the bare rock; she did not pour it out upon the ground, to cover it with dust. I have set her blood upon the bare rock, that it should not be covered. Because of this, says the Lord God: Woe to the city of blood, whose pyramid I will make great. Gather the bones that I will set on fire, the flesh will be consumed, and the entire composition will be cooked, and the bones will decay. Also place it on empty coals, so that its bronze heats up and melts, and its pollution is melted in its midst, and its rust is consumed. It has been labored greatly, and its excessive rust has not gone out, nor through fire. Your filthiness is detestable, for I desired to cleanse you, but you are not cleansed from your impurities; nor will you be cleansed until I have made my indignation rest upon you. I, the Lord, have spoken: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not pass by, nor spare, nor have mercy. According to your ways and your doings I have judged you, says the Lord. LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, saying: Son of man, write down the name of this day, for on this day the king of Babylon has exerted his strength against Jerusalem from this very day, and speak a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Set the pot, set it on, and also pour water into it; gather the pieces into it, every good piece, thigh and shoulder; fill it with choice bones. Take the choicest of the flock, and pile up the bones underneath it; let it boil well, and let the bones be cooked in the midst of it. Therefore, thus says the Lord God: O city of blood, the pot in which rust is, and rust has not come out of it: by its parts it has brought it forth; the lot has not fallen upon it, because its blood is in the midst of it. On a bare rock I have set it; I have not poured it out on the ground, that it may be covered with dust. That it may rise up in fury for vengeance, I have set its blood on the bare rock, that it may not be covered. Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Woe to the city of bloodshed! I will also make the pile of wood great. I will kindle the fire, so that flesh may be consumed and bones may be burned. I will set the city on fire and burn it completely. Its copper will become hot to melt, and its impurity will be consumed in its midst, and its rust will be eliminated. Its rust will be humbled and there will be no more great rust. Its impurity and contamination have brought you low, because you have not been cleansed from your impurity. And what will happen if you are not cleansed beyond until I fulfill my fury in you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and it will come to pass; I will not delay, nor will I have pity, nor will I relent. According to your ways and according to your deeds I will judge you, says the Lord God. Therefore I will judge you according to your blood and according to your thoughts; you are unclean and vile, and exceedingly provocative. ** Most of these additions are from Theodotion, and the Hebrew word Zemma (), for which we have interpreted as abominable uncleanness. And that which has been added by them, which is not contained in Hebrew, and should be noted with an obelus: Therefore I will judge you according to your blood, and I will judge you according to your thoughts, unclean and infamous, and excessive to provoke. Let us then speak about each one. In the ninth year of the captivity of King Jehoiachin (for in the fifth year he began to prophesy) and in the tenth month of the same ninth year, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Ezekiel, who was in the region of Babylon, and He said to him: Son of man, write down this very day for yourself, and know that today the king of Babylon has begun to besiege Jerusalem in the region of Judah, and to fortify it with an army; and describe this siege by means of a parable and a proverb, which in this present place signifies a metaphor and a translation. He said, 'Put a bronze pot, that is, a cauldron, and fill it with water, and cut up the bodies of the fattest animals into pieces, both the thigh and the leg and the arm, and carefully separate the flesh from the bones, and after putting the meat in the cauldron, put the bones under or arrange them around the cauldron, and make layers, and piles of bones, so that the boiling of the cauldron may bubble up not once, but frequently, and the meat may be cooked thoroughly inside, and the bones may be solidified below by the fire.' But you, O prophet, wish to know who this pot is, or what kind of flesh or bone it may be? Speak these things, says the Lord God: Woe to the city of blood, that is Jerusalem, to the pot whose rust, that is excessive wickedness, is in it, and though fire is placed under it, its rust has not gone out from it. For they have persisted, even the captives and the crucified ones, in their former wickedness. Consume it in parts and individually, let no one remain safe. The fate did not fall upon her so that some would perish, and others would be saved, but a universal destruction came upon all. For her blood, that is, her murders, and the deaths of her sons, are in the midst of her. She poured out this blood upon the clearest rock, so that it would be evident to all, and the earth would not cover it with dust: for my indignation would not pass, but my vengeance would hasten upon the most exposed blood. For it is natural that if blood is poured onto the earth, the ground would absorb the moisture of the blood, or gradually be covered by the earth and dust. But when blood is spilled over a very clear rock with no cavity, it flows and occupies a wide seat. This indicates that it has committed not hidden, but public murders, according to what is said to Cain: The blood of your brother cries out to me (Gen. IV, 10): therefore say to the city, not of one blood, but of many bloods: Behold, I will make a great pyre in you, or I will raise a tower, which the common people call a bonfire, and I will burn not only soft and tender flesh in you, but also the hardest bones in such a way that nothing remains in you that is not consumed by fire. And when both the flesh and bones have been consumed and burned, place the empty cauldron on hot coals, so that the brass may also heat up and be consumed, and with the brass consumed, may its rust also perish, that is, may it be burned with the city's fire and may wickedness perish with the city. But what profit is there in having done what was commanded? Not even through fire could the rust and wickedness of the cauldron, and of the city, be removed; but it remains in that impure and abominable state: for this is what the token signifies. And he directed his anger against the city itself, that is, against the city itself. I wanted to cleanse you, but you have not cleansed yourself from your filth, and you will not be able to be cleansed until I have fully vented my anger upon you. I am the Lord, and my judgment cannot be ignored. The siege of the city is now upon you, and I will do what I have threatened: I will not pass by your crimes as I have often done in the past. I will not spare you any longer, and I will not be appeased even if you multiply your prayers. Instead, I will repay you for your ways and your inventions. Indeed, I will judge you according to your deeds and your thoughts, so that in this also I may show my mercy, like a physician who does not spare rotten flesh in order to save healthy limbs. He does not spare in order to spare; he is cruel in order to show pity; he does not consider the patient's pain, but the health of the wound, according to the Gospel saying that he would rather one member be lost than the whole body perish (Matthew 5). It should also be noted how from the beginning of the prophecy until the present day, when Jerusalem began to be besieged, the captivity comes in order. First the sword is drawn; then two paths are set, one leading to Jerusalem, for which the lot falls to Nebuchadnezzar; silver is melted in the city, as well as bronze, tin, lead, and iron; the land is not watered, but occupied by thorns: afterwards, under the name of the two sisters Oolla and Oolibah, the sins of Samaria and Jerusalem are told, how the former was captured, and the latter to be captured. At the end of the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Ezechiel and those with him were put into captivity, having surrendered themselves with king Jechoniah. It is shown on what day the city began to be besieged, and a representation of a pot is set up; just as the flesh and bones piled up in the pot are burned by fire, so the whole city will perish with its inhabitants, and none of those who are besieged will remain, but they will be consumed by hunger, sword, and pestilence, and the remaining part will be led captive to Babylon. Could this same prophecy also pertain to the time of the Lord's passion, for which Jerusalem was surrounded by an army and its children were killed, and Tito, the son of Vespasian, laid siege to it, and no one escaped for safety, and the temple was destroyed; and after fifty years, under Hadrian, the city was consumed by eternal fire? But when Ezekiel beheld this present captivity in Babylon, and Jeremiah sets forth in the beginning of his volume, 'What do you see, Jeremiah?' And he answering, said, A boiling pot, and its face from the face of the north. (Jeremiah 1:13). There are those who, according to tropology, transfer the whole passage to the end of the world (or age), and the number nine, which signifies punishment and sufferings in holy scripture, and always follows justice, they temper with the mercy of the tenth month and the tenth day. For this reason, punishments are inflicted on the sick, so that health may follow pain. Therefore, the world which is situated in evil (1 John 5:19) will be set ablaze by the divine fire of judgment; and the city of blood will be placed upon the coals of fire, so that what is written in Isaiah may be fulfilled: 'You have coals of fire, sit upon them; they shall be a help to you' (Isaiah 47:14). And this is difficult to understand, how both the coals and the bones will be consumed, with which even the Pharisees are filled, about whom the Lord speaks in the Gospel: 'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, who are like whitewashed sepulchers; which inside are full of uncleanness and dead men's bones' (Matthew 23:27), unless it be said that the rust and filth of the world will not be consumed, but evil will remain even after the severity of judgment. It is easily solved, if we understand the Apostle's statement: God has concluded all under sin, that he may have mercy upon all (Galatians 3:22). For the creature is subject to vanity (Romans 8:28). And the blood that was shed on the face of all creation is presented, that the crimes of all may be revealed. But we can receive the purest rock, and the Lord Savior, who followed the people of Israel in the wilderness, of whom it is written: They drank of the spiritual rock that followed them: and that rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4): that in him all things may be revealed; and that which is written may be fulfilled: There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. And he says that the Lord does not have mercy, nor overlook the sins of the world; nor spare the wicked, nor be appeased, so that the ways of the wicked may perish, according to what is placed at the end of the first psalm: And the way of the wicked will perish.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 24:15-27

(Verse 15 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a plague, and you shall not mourn or weep, neither shall your tears flow. Sigh in silence, you shall not mourn for the dead. Your turban shall be on your head, and your sandals shall be on your feet; you shall not cover your lips nor eat the bread of mourners. Therefore, I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening. And I did in the morning as I was commanded. And the people said to me: Why don't you tell us what these things mean, which you are doing? And I said to them: The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Speak to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will defile my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and the longing of your soul, and your sons and daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword. And you will do as I have done: you will not cover your heads with a veil, and you will not eat the food of mourners. You will have crowns on your heads and sandals on your feet. You will not weep or cry, but you will waste away in your iniquities, and each one will groan to his brother. And Ezekiel will be a sign to you; according to all that he has done, so you will do. And you will know that I am the Lord God. And you, son of man, behold, on the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, and the desire of their eyes, their sons and daughters. In that day, when the one fleeing comes to you to announce it to you, on that day, I say, your mouth will be opened together with the one fleeing, and you will speak and not be silent any longer, and you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the Lord. LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke (or in preparation); you shall not mourn or weep, and tears shall not come to you, the groaning of blood, the mourning of the kidneys. Your hair will be bound up on you, and your shoes on your feet; you will not console yourself on their lips, and you will not eat the bread of men. I spoke to the people in the morning, as I was commanded, and in the evening my wife died, and I did in the morning as I was commanded. And the people said to me: do you not tell us what these things are that you are doing? And I said to them, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will defile my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and the souls of your beings whom you spare. Your sons and daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword, and you will do as I have done. You will not be comforted by their mouth, and you will not eat the bread of men, and your hair will be on your heads, and your shoes on your feet. You will not weep nor mourn, and you will be consumed by your iniquities, and each one will comfort his brother, and Jezechiel will be a sign to you. According to all that he has done, you will do. And when these things come, you will know that I am the Lord Adonai. And you, son of man, on the day when I take away their strength, the pride of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and their soul's delight, their sons and daughters. On that day the one who has been saved will come to you to announce it in your ears. On that day your mouth will be opened to the one who has escaped, and you will speak and not be silent anymore, and you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the Lord. Above the pots and pans, the burning of the olive oil, had shown the siege of the city, now taken and destroyed, and the whole people either killed by the sword, or led into captivity, the prophetic speech testifies. And first, according to our custom, let us lay the foundations of the history. Son, he said, behold, I will take away from the sight of your eyes whatever is desirable to you, and I will take it away in a stroke, or, as the Septuagint renders it, in preparation: so that you may prepare yourself for not doing those things which are accustomed to be done in mourning. Do not cry, nor will you weep, nor will flowing tears reveal the pain of your heart: but if perhaps you are overcome by excessive sorrow, keep your groaning silent, nor let it burst forth into words. You will not make a lamentation for the dead, or, as LXX suggests, groaning is the shedding of blood, lamentation is the affliction of the kidneys. By which he indicates that his wife is about to die. For immediately after he says: And my wife died in the evening (Prov. XIX); which properly pertains to the conjunction of the kidneys. For nothing is more lovable to a man than a good wife, who is provided by God for him and joined to him by the Lord's law, and with her alone his body becomes one. And what follows, 'Let your crown be bound around you, and let your shoes be on your feet,' signifies this: You shall have hair that is cut in mourning, and shoes on your feet, which mourners are accustomed to cast off. Hence, even David, fleeing from Absalom his son and repenting of the death of Uriah, walks with bare feet (1 Samuel 12:15, 18). The Hebrews say that the Babylonian teachers, who observe the precepts of the Law, write the Ten Commandments on small parchments and bind them around their heads, and these are what they are commanded to keep before their eyes and hang on their foreheads, so that they always see the precepts. And because Ezekiel was a priest, he should not at all remove the crown of glory from his head, but have it bound. This is what they said. But we, according to the Septuagint, understand the crown of hair to be the hair: although even their interpretation did not accurately express the meaning of the Hebrew language. And she said, 'You shall neither cover your face with a veil, nor eat the foods of mourners, which are accustomed to be made in mourning, to cover the face, and which the Greeks call περίδειπνα, let them receive from the comforters. I spoke,' she said, 'to the people in the morning, the things which the Lord had commanded me, and in the evening my wife, the desire of my eyes, and the mourning of my loins and blood, died. And immediately on the next day in the morning, I did all the things which had been commanded to me: and the people asked me why I had acted contrary to the custom of all.' To those who were inquiring about the causes of such great patience, I replied: The word of the Lord that was spoken to me, to speak to the people of Israel, commanded me to say these things: Behold, I, that is, will now defile my sanctuary, so that the temple may be burned and made open to all foreigners and profane people, and in which you had pride, that is, confidence and hope and desire for your salvation, and over which your souls were fearing siege; and I will also destroy with the sword the sons and daughters that famine and pestilence have made for you. Whatever I have done, you will do. When custom is observed in mourning, the pain is moderate; but when such a great necessity of evils comes upon us that the mourning is greater than all weeping, each person, troubled by their own need, does not groan over the miseries of others, however close they may be. 'You will do nothing,' he says, 'that used to be done in mourning: but with the city and temple set on fire, you will be astonished at the magnitude of the calamities. You will not be stunned, nor will you walk with bare feet, nor will you lament, nor will you cover your faces with garments, nor will you take food from those who would console you: but you will waste away, and you will be consumed by your injustices, and you will hardly have the freedom to groan, lest you offend the pride of the conquerors, if you are seen to weep in public; so that the prophet Ezekiel may be a portent to you, and that you may not do all the things that he did not do at the death of his wife, in the destruction of the city and temple. And yet more clearly: 'Oh,' he says, 'son of man, at the time when I take away from them their strength, the confidence and joy of the temple, as we have said, and the desire in which their souls find rest, and moreover their sons and daughters, as is implied in the preceding words, when I take away all these things from them, at that time, when someone comes to you fleeing from Jerusalem or who has escaped, saying that the city is laid waste, then you, who were previously silent and had no freedom to sigh, and who showed such great patience that even in the murder of your wife and the pain in your loins, you did not shed a tear, you will open your mouth and speak, not to the one who has come but with him, so that whatever you had foretold about the future, he may now report as fulfilled, and you will no longer keep silent; but you will accuse them and say that all these things have happened justly to them: so that you may be a sign to them, according to what is written in Zechariah: 'They are signs of men who will be prophets' (Zech. 3:8). And the Lord speaks elsewhere: 'I have spoken through the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and by the hands of the prophets I have been likened.' (Hosea 12:10) Let these things be said by way of history. Let us come to the spiritual interpretation (if it has not been thought too violent for the cautious prudence of the reader). That the Son of Man is called the Lord and Savior, there is no doubt, who in the last hour, that is, at the evening of this world, lost his former wife, and did not weep for her, nor did he cover his face with a veil, nor did he receive any consolation from men. And in the morning he foretold these things that would come, which were fulfilled in the evening, and again in the morning, in his second coming, he proved to be true what he had foretold would come: that the sanctuary of the Jews, and what they had desired in their eyes, and on which their souls trembled, had been polluted, and also that their sons and daughters had been slain by the Roman sword. But when it is said, 'You will have a crown on your heads and sandals on your feet,' we will refer that to the fact that they should never mourn or take on signs of mourning, for they have received the truth instead of shadows and have become Nazarenes. And each one will console their brother, just as God the Father strengthened Ezekiel to be a sign for them, foretelling things to come. And after Jerusalem has been destroyed and the temple burned, and the whole world has heard of this and the dispersion of Israel, which inhabits the ends of the earth, then the words of the Lord, when the work is complete, will have freedom. And with his sanctuary defiled, the Law fulfilled or destroyed according to the western interpretation, the glory of the Gospel will be revealed, and Israel will recognize that he is the Lord and God, who foretold these things in the morning and saw them fulfilled in the evening and at the consummation of the world, proving his coming.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel