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62 A Commentary
Chapter vals which muft confequently remove fiom one
VI1|. Seafon of the Year to another. It is therefore pro-
L/"V >
bable that under the Idolatrous Kings -of Jndah,
•who brought in the Worfhip of Tamuz, this Festival
fell in the Month that anfwered the Fourth
Month of the Jews, and gave that Month this
Name: in which Month Ezekiel probably faw
this Vifion : See the Note on Verfe 2. and Selden
de 'Diis Syri*, Syntagm.i. c, ir.
Ver. 16. Ver. 16. oAt the 'Door of the Temple of the
L riRD between the Torch and the (Altar. ~\ Near
the Entrance into the Temple, where the Brazen
Altar flood, in the middle of the Court before the
Houfe of the Lord. See 2 Chron. viii. 7. 2 Kjngs
xvi. 14.
Ibid. Were about five and twenty Men with their
'Backs toward the Temple of the Lord, and their
Faces toward the Eaft, &c] So they turned their
Backs to God Almighty, and their Faces toward
the Sun. Perhaps Hezekiah may allude to fome
fuch Idolatrous Practice, in that Confeflion of his,
2 Chron. xxix. 6 Our Fathers have done Evil in
the Sight of the Lord, and haveforfaken him, and
turned away their Faces from the Habitation of the
Lord, and turned their ''Backs.
They turned their Back to God, and not their
Face ; as Jeremy exprefTes their Contempt toward
him, Chap. ii. 27. xxxii. $3. Comp. Chap, xxiii.
35. of this Prophecy. For this Reafon the People
were commanded to come in at the North or
Southern Gates of the outward Court of the Temple,
when they came to Worfhip, that they might
not at their Return turn their Backs upon
God. SeeChap.xlvi.9. God ordered the Holy
of