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Selected Verse: Ezekiel 1:13 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Eze 1:13 |
King James |
As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
likeness . . . appearance--not tautology. "Likeness" expresses the general form; "appearance," the particular aspect.
coals of fire--denoting the intensely pure and burning justice wherewith God punishes by His angels those who, like Israel, have hardened themselves against His long-suffering. So in Isa 6:2, Isa 6:6, instead of cherubim, the name "seraphim," the burning ones, is applied, indicating God's consuming righteousness; whence their cry to Him is, "Holy! holy! holy!" and the burning coal is applied to his lips, for the message through his mouth was to be one of judicial severance of the godly from the ungodly, to the ruin of the latter.
lamps--torches. The fire emitted sparks and flashes of light, as torches do.
went up and down--expressing the marvellous vigor of God's Spirit, in all His movements never resting, never wearied.
fire . . . bright--indicating the glory of God.
out of the fire . . . lightning--God's righteousness will at last cause the bolt of His wrath to fall on the guilty; as now, on Jerusalem. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Lamps - "like the appearance of" flames. Omit the "and" before "like." The "bright flames" resembled "coals of fire."
It went up - i. e. "fire went up." |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| The fire - This fire stood not still, but as the Hebrew is, Made itself walk up and down. It moved itself, which is too much to ascribe to creatures: God only moved all these living creatures. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| Like burning coals of fire - The whole substance appeared to be of flame; and among them frequent coruscations of fire, like vibrating lamps, often emitting lightning, or rather sparks of fire, as we have seen struck out of strongly ignited iron in a forge. The flames might be something like what is called warring wheels in pyrotechny. They seemed to conflict together. |
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.