Ezekiel 1:28 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud The Hebrew future, יהיה, is here frequentative, and should be rendered, Is wont to be in the cloud, in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness The meaning is, In the brightness, or light, that was about what I saw, was the appearance of the rainbow. The rainbow, as we learn from Genesis 9:12, &c., was appointed as a sign or symbol of God's covenant of mercy with men: therefore an appearance of a rainbow in this vision signified that amidst his severe judgments God would remember mercy, and not forget his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; one part of which was, that their posterity should not become extinct, but should always remain; so that this appearance gave an assurance that the Jewish nation should not be wholly destroyed, though it should suffer very grievous judgments. And inasmuch as this vision was an evident representation of the WORD that was to be made flesh, whose incarnation was to be the foundation of God's covenant of mercy with mankind, a rainbow, the symbol and token of mercy, was a very fit attendant on such a glorious vision. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord This is a description of that glorious vision wherein Jehovah appeared to me, and whereby he made manifest his attributes and perfections. The prophet terms it, not the appearance of the glory, but of the likeness of the glory. &c., because the full discovery of the glory of God to any human creature is not consistent with the state of mortality. Exodus 33:20-23, but as reserved for the life to come, 1 Corinthians 13:12; 1 John 3:2. And when I saw it I fell upon my face Through a reverential sense of God's majesty, and his own frailty and meanness; or struck down with fear and astonishment before such glory. And I heard a voice of one that spake They that are first humbled are most prepared to hear the voice of God, whether of instruction or consolation, Matthew 5:4; Matthew 11:28.