Ezekiel 3:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 3:13
I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing.
a voice or sound · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
wings
כַּנְפֵ֣יkan.Fei
H3671
an edge or extremity · noun, common feminine dual construct
creatures
הַחַיּ֗וֹתha.chai.Yot
H2416
alive · definite article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
touched
מַשִּׁיקוֹת֙ma.shi.kOt
H5401
to kiss · verb, hiphil active participle, feminine plural absolute
one
אִשָּׁ֣ה'i.Shah
H802
a woman · noun, common feminine singular absolute
another
אֲחוֹתָ֔הּ'a.cho.Tah
H269
a sister (used very widely (like brother) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
noise
וְק֥וֹלve.Kol
H6963
a voice or sound · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
wheels
הָאוֹפַנִּ֖יםha.'o.fa.Nim
H212
a wheel · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
against
לְעֻמָּתָ֑םle.'u.ma.Tam
H5980
conjunction · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
noise
וְק֖וֹלve.Kol
H6963
a voice or sound · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
great
גָּדֽוֹלga.Dol
H1419
great (in any sense) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
rushing
רַ֥עַשׁRa.'ash
H7494
vibration · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 1:24 And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as…
Ezekiel 10:16-17 And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same whee…
Ezekiel 10:5 And the sound of the cherubims’ wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.
2 Samuel 5:24 And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall…
Ezekiel 1:15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 3:1-15
These verses are fitly joined by some translators to the foregoing chapter, as being of a piece with it and a continuation of the same vision. The prophets received the word from God that they might deliver it to the people of God, furnished themselves that they might furnish them with the knowledge of the mind and will of God. Now here the prophet is taught,
I. How he must receive divine revelation himself, Eze 3:1. Christ (whom he saw upon the throne, Eze 1:26) said to him, "Son of man, eat this roll, admit this revelation into thy understanding, take it, take the meaning of it, understand it aright, admit it into thy heart, apply it, and be affected with it; imprint it in thy mind, rumina…
touched--literally, "kissed," that is, closely embraced.
noise of a great rushing--typical of great disasters impending over the Jews.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 3:13
A great rushing - All the living creatures and the wheels being then in motion.
John Gill on Ezekiel 3:13
I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures,.... Which they clapped, when they uttered the preceding words; See Gill on Ezekiel 1:24;
that touched one another; or "kissed, a woman her sister" (r); denoting their affection and agreement in the doxology or ascription of glory to God; see Ezekiel 1:9;
and the noise of the wheels over against them: the living creatures; for the wheels were by the living creatures, and went over against them, as they went, Ezekiel 1:15; ministers and churches join together in this doxology:
and a noise of a great rushing; which is repeated for the confirmation of the thing, and to express the greatness of the noise made by the living creatures…
(Verse 13.) And the sound of the wings of the living creatures striking against one another, and the sound of the wheels following the creatures, and the sound of a great commotion. Because it is understood, 'I heard behind me the sound of a great commotion, and I heard the sound of the wings of the living creatures, and the sound of the wheels,' the Septuagint added: 'And I saw the sound of the wings of the living creatures striking against one another,' and the rest according to what is written in Exodus: 'And all the people saw the voice of God' (Exodus 20:18): so that the prophet may have heard the voice that was coming from behind, and seen what was before him. But it is better and truer to have understood a heard voice rather than a seen one, as well as the striking of wings against each other and the sound of wheels, which we mentioned above, and the great commotion which showed that God's wrath was going to come upon the people of Israel.
But if, as we have said, the living creatures in turn strike one another with their wings, and the wing of each strikes against the wing of another, the meaning of this description also lies open, with the Lord's help. What does it mean, then, that these winged creatures in turn strike their wings one against another, except that all the saints mutually touch one another with their virtues, and rouse each other to advancement through the consideration of another's virtue? For all things are not given to one person, lest being lifted up in pride he should fall, but to this one is given what is not given to you, and to you is given what is denied to him, so that while the former considers the good that you have and he does not have, he may set you before himself in his thought; and again, while you observe that he possesses what you yourself do not have, you may place yourself after him in your thought, and so it comes about as it is written: "Considering one another as superiors." For to speak briefly of a few things out of many: to this one is granted the virtue of marvelous abstinence, and yet he does not have the word of knowledge. To that one, however, is given the word of knowledge; and yet he strives to attain the virtue of perfect abstinence, and cannot. To this one is granted freedom of speech, so that, providing the consolation of protection to all who are oppressed, he may speak freely in defense of justice; but yet, still possessing many things in this world, he wishes to leave all, and cannot. To that one, indeed, it has already been given to leave all earthly things, so that he desires to have nothing in this world; but yet he does not presume to exercise authority of speech against any who are sinning. And he who therefore ought to speak more freely, because he no longer has anything by which he might be held to the world, refuses to speak freely against others, lest he lose that very tranquility of his life. To this one the virtue of prophecy has been given; he already foresees many things that are to come; but yet, seeing and compassionating the sickness of his neighbor in the present, he is unable to cure it. To that one the grace of healing has been given, and by his prayers he drives away from a neighbor's body the affliction that is present; but yet he does not know what will follow him a little later. By a wondrous dispensation,…
Dictionary and topics
Wheel · SYMBOLI — SYMBOLI
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Ezekiel 3:13
Ezekiel 3:13
13. I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing.
13. Et vocem [72] alarum animalium osculantium cujusque ad sociam: et vocem rotarum e regione ipsorum, vocem (inquam) strepitus magni.
The Prophet now seems to express from whence the voice which he heard proceeded: for I do not think that the voice proceeded from any other quarter, and that afterwards the living creatures moved in unison with the wheels, but it seems to me to explain what would otherwise have been doubtful, namely, that God's glory was celebrated by the living creatures and the wheels. It is…
After the Lord had pointed out to the prophet the difficulties of the call laid upon him, He prepared him for the performance of his office, by inspiring him with the divine word which he is to announce. - Eze 2:8. And thou, son of man, hear what I say to thee, Be not stiff-necked like the stiff-necked race; open thy mouth, and eat what I give unto thee. Eze 2:9. Then I saw, and, lo, a hand outstretched towards me; and, lo, in the same a roll of a book. Eze 2:10. And He spread it out before me; the same was written upon the front and back: and there were written upon it lamentations, and sighing, and woe. Eze 3:1. And He said to me: Son of man, what thou findest eat; eat the roll, and go and…
May the glory of the Lord be praised in his place! In the Hebrew text, this exclamation of praise is odd in both placement and grammar. The alternate reading (see textual footnote) is based on emending a single Hebrew letter.
Rashi on Ezekiel 3:13
touching Heb. מַשִּׁיקוֹת, an expression of kissing (נְשִּׁיקָה). They would knock one against the other, and a song was heard with their knocking, as he said above (1:24): “And I heard the sound of their wings.”
"And the sound of the wings of the living creatures striking one against another." The prophet hears behind him the sound of a great commotion, because, as has been said, the word of those preaching is followed by the lamentation of the penitent. He hears behind him the sound of the wings of the living creatures, because from that very lamentation of the penitent arise the virtues of the saints, so that they advance all the more in holy action, the more they remember having acted wickedly before their knowledge of life. But there is great uncertainty in these words, because it is not clearly stated by the prophet whether each living creature strikes its wings against itself, or whether these same holy living creatures beat one another in turn with their wings, so that the wing of one touches another, and the wing of another touches this living creature. But because often in sacred Scripture something is said obscurely so that, by God's wonderful dispensation, it may be explained in many ways, we ought by the Lord's gift to explain both meanings to your charity. We have already often said that the wings of the living creatures are the virtues of the saints. How then does each living creature, spreading its wings, strike one wing against another, unless it is openly given to understand that, if we become holy living creatures, virtue in us stirs up virtue, while one strikes against another toward perfection? For behold, someone already has knowledge of the word of God; he learns to have also bowels of mercy. For through knowledge of the word of God he learns: "Give alms, and behold, all things are clean to you." And when he has begun to be merciful in almsgiving, he reads the words of holy authority; and whatever is said in them about mercy, he understands more deeply through experience. For there it is written: "I was a father to the poor." Perhaps before he read this and passed it by. But when mercy has begun in his heart to imitate nature, he reads and recognizes what it means to be a father to the poor, because returning inward, he understands in himself what he hears outwardly. For it is one thing to give alms from precept, and another from charity. To do good from precept belongs to beginners; but to do good from charity belongs to the perfect, who not only act because it is commanded, but also love what they do in fulfilling the command. Hence it is…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
