THEOSISEphraem the Syrian
I will gather the shepherds of languages, and they will possess their dwellings. The prophet refers to the shepherds of languages as the rulers who accompanied the Babylonians.
Ezekiel 7:24Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers
And I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses: and I will make the pride of the mighty to cease, and they shall possess their sanctuary.
וְהֵֽבֵאתִי֙ רָעֵ֣י גוֹיִ֔ם וְיָרְשׁ֖וּ אֶת־בָּֽתֵּיהֶ֑ם וְהִשְׁבַּתִּי֙ גְּא֣וֹן עַזִּ֔ים וְנִחֲל֖וּ מְקַֽדְשֵׁיהֶֽם׃
The Church Fathers on this verse
3 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Jerome of Stridon
I will summon the most wretched of nations and seize their dwellings. This is not the fate of the Seventy. Instead of holy men and prophets, I will bring forth the most vile of all nations, the Babylonians, to take control of your homes and enslave you. Furthermore, our own houses, which are our very souls, since we are sanctuaries of God and the Holy Spirit resides within us (1 Cor. 6), will be afflicted by the most malevolent spirits, especially if our land is drenched in blood and our abodes are filled with wickedness. I shall bring an end to the arrogance of the powerful, and they will inhabit their sacred spaces. The Septuagint states that I will remove the emptiness of their might, and they shall occupy their sanctuaries. All pride is an affront to God.
Read more (167 words)
Thus, the most depraved of nations will seize the homes of the strong and the proud, invading their sanctuaries; the impure shall enter holy places and profane them with their uncleanness. While God clearly declared that His sanctuaries would be defiled, He did not assert, "They shall possess My sanctuaries," but rather "their sanctuaries," for after the corruption, they are no longer His. This is the essence of the matter. The Septuagint notes that trouble will come. In this context, Aquila and Theodotion accurately rendered it as "behold the trouble," while Symmachus interpreted it as "sorrow." However, the Seventy placed a word of joy amidst the sorrow, to uplift the spirit of the mourner and to instill hope for better days and the mercy of the Lord, who is described as one who "raiseth up the downcast" (Psalms 145:8). We, according to Symmachus, have interlinked the previous thought with the subsequent one to convey that when affliction arrives, they will seek peace, yet it shall elude them.
Theodoret of Cyrus
I will bring forth malicious speakers, and they will possess their own dwellings and desecrate the sacred things. He refers to them as ‘My sacred things,’ yet he calls them ‘Their sacred things,’ meaning those offerings they dedicated to Me, which I did not require, and that I accepted from them out of My concern for their well-being. However, because of their wickedness, which I have contaminated and trampled, I will also reject them once more.
Cross references
Passages read together with this verse.
- Ezek 28:7Therefore behold, I will bring upon thee strangers: the strongest of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy beauty.
- Ps 106 (105):41
- Ezek 33:28And I will make the land a wilderness, and a desert, and the proud strength thereof shall fail, and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, because there is none to pass by them,
- Ezek 21:31And I will pour out upon thee my indignation: in the fire of my rage will I blow upon thee, and will give thee into the hands of men that are brutish and contrive thy destruction.
- Ezek 24:21Speak to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will profane my sanctuary, the glory of your realm, and the thing that your eyes desire, and for which your soul feareth: your sons, and your daughters, whom you have left, shall fall by the sword.
- Ezek 21:2Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and let thy speech flow towards the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel:
- Jer 6:12And their houses shall be turned over to others, with their lands and their wives together: for I will stretch forth my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord.
- Hab 1:6For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation, marching upon the breadth of the earth, to possess the dwelling places that are not their own.