Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/210

1 92 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud.-ea. injunctions of the aged seer, speaking in the name of " the God who chastises but who is also able to raise up again;" he sets forth the conditions the fulfilment of which will bring about the reinstalment of Israel, and draws a graphic picture of Judah and Ephraim dwelling together in amity; — when the Lord shall have brought back the scattered remnants of Israel. 1 In this mood no details, however minute, are beneath his consideration : to a description of the temple are added disciplinary rules for the priests, oblations and sacrifices to be performed, tithes are enumerated, the land is to be parcelled out into lots for the twelve tribes ; one lot being set apart for the Lévites, without prejudice to the free offerings of the congregation. With these prescriptive laws which have been not inaptly called a " theocratic charter," 2 we are not concerned. Our business is with the temple and the reasons, not far to seek, that actuated the prophet to start with the sacred edifice. The massive construction of a visible and tangible temple, is to him as the foundation and warranty of the spiritual and invisible sanctuary promulgated in the Gospels. 3 Jehovah will again make the holy mount the place for his throne and for the sole of his foot, 4 amidst the children of Jacob. There the priests will bring the oblations and the prayers of the people ; and in return the Lord will shed upon them the gifts of his loving kindness ; symbolized by the fountain that jets forth from under the altar and flows out towards the east, turning the waste of Judaea into an Eden, making sweet and full of fish the bitter waters of the Dead Sea. 5 The recital of the vision begins thus : " In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, the hand of the Lord was upon me ; and He brought me to the land of Israel ; and behold there was a man whose appearance was like the appear- ance of brass." 6 . . . On the steps of his divine guide, the poet passes the outer gates into the courts and enters the sanctuary; noting what he sees along with the measurements of his guide. There are those who while admitting the full historical value that is to be gleaned in Kings and Chronicles, are niggard of their praise with regard to Ezekiel ; whom they hold as containing no information, properly so-called ; except where he transcribes 1 Ezek. xlvii. and xlviii. - Reuss, The Bible. Introduction to Ezek., p. 7. s Jbid., p. 9. 1 Ezek. xliii. ;. 6 Ibid., xlvii. 1-12. 6 Jbid., xl. 1-5.