_GOD REFUSETH TO BE CONSULTED BY THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL: HE SHEWETH THE HISTORY OF THEIR REBELLIONS IN EGYPT, IN THE WILDERNESS, AND IN THE LAND: HE PROMISETH TO GATHER THEM BY THE GOSPEL. UNDER THE NAME OF A FOREST HE SHEWETH THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM._ _Before Christ 592._... [ Continue Reading ]
IT CAME TO PASS IN THE SEVENTH YEAR— That is, from the captivity of Jeconiah: see chap. Ezekiel 8:1. The occasion of the prophesy in the present chapter was this. The Jews, by certain of their elders, had, as was usual in their distresses, recourse to the God of Israel for direction and assistance.... [ Continue Reading ]
WILT THOU JUDGE THEM, &C.?— _Wilt thou not judge them,_ &c.? Lowth. _Make thyself, son of man, make thyself their judge: declare to them the abominations,_ &c. Houbigant. This whole chapter is a kind of decree; in which the prophet, after having set forth the crimes of the Jews, pronounces against t... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN I LIFTED UP MINE HAND— _Lifting up the hand,_ was a ceremony used in taking an oath: the meaning here is, "When I entered into a solemn covenant with them, pursuant to the oath I had sworn to their fathers." But Houbigant is of opinion, that _lifting up the hand,_ in this place, means the givin... [ Continue Reading ]
FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY— Bochart, Hier. p. ii. lib. iv. c. xii. 520 observes, that this phrase occurs about twenty times in the Scriptures; and that it is an image frequently used in the classics. _THE GLORY OF ALL LANDS_— The construction of this expression may be, "This [circumstance of flowin... [ Continue Reading ]
I SAID, I WILL POUR OUT MY FURY— _I thought to pour out,_ &c. and so Ezekiel 20:13; Ezekiel 20:21. We do not read in the book of Exodus, that the Israelites worshipped the idols of Egypt. It is only collected from that book, that they were idolaters in Egypt, because they were so prone to idolatry i... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I WROUGHT FOR MY NAME'S SAKE— This in other parts of Scripture is assigned as the reason why God did not punish the Israelites as they deserved; namely, because it would turn to the dishonour of the Almighty in the judgment of the heathen world, as if he was not able to make good the gracious pr... [ Continue Reading ]
I GAVE THEM MY STATUTES— That is, says Bishop Warburton, he gave them the moral law of the decalogue, in which there was one positive institution, and no more; but this one absolutely necessary to preserve them a select people unmixed with the nations. By the word שׁבתותי _shabbetotai, my sabbaths,_... [ Continue Reading ]
WALK YE NOT, &C.— _Walk ye not in the customs of your fathers, nor pursue their manners,_ &c. Here we see that the children or progeny were again offered, as their sole rule of government what had been given to, and violated by their fathers; namely, the moral law of the decalogue, and the positive... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH IF A MAN DO, HE SHALL EVEN LIVE IN THEM— These statutes were therefore good ones. But they had been _scattered among the heathen, and dispersed through the countries, because,_ as God complains, _they had not executed his judgments, but despised his sabbaths;_ he adds, therefore, Ezekiel 20:25... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT I WOULD SCATTER THEM, &C.— We do not read in the history of the Israelites in the wilderness, that they were scattered through the countries by their God, when enraged against them. But what Ezekiel here supplies in the history is easily collected from God's desertion of the Israelites when the... [ Continue Reading ]
I GAVE THEM ALSO STATUES THAT WERE NOT GOOD— This passage has given great handle to infidels and free-thinkers, though certainly it will admit of more interpretations than one, clear and consistent, and sufficient to remove every objection. I will subjoin two; the first espoused by Dr. Waterland and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I POLLUTED THEM, &C.— The common interpretation, says Bishop Warburton, is this: "I permitted them to fall into that wicked inhumanity, whereby they were polluted and contaminated, in making their children pass through the fire to Moloch, in order to root them out, and utterly destroy them." But... [ Continue Reading ]
SON OF MAN, SPEAK UNTO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL— This prophesy hitherto contains a declaration of the various punishments inflicted on the rebellious Israelites, from the time of Moses's mission to the preaching of Ezekiel. We have shewn, that their punishment in the first period was _death in the wilder... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN I SAID UNTO THEM— _And though I said unto them, What is the high place in which you assemble? yet the high place retained its name even to this day._ Houbigant. See commentary on Ezekiel 20:27... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THAT WHICH COMETH INTO YOUR MIND— By all this it appears, that this rebellious people were not anxious to avoid their approaching captivity, denounced and threatened by all the prophets. What they wanted was, a light and easy servitude, which might enable them to mingle with, and at last to be l... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL PURGE OUT, &C.— The prophet carries on the comparison of the Egyptian deliverance. These _rebels,_ like their _fathers in the wilderness,_ were indeed to be brought out of captivity, but were never to enjoy the Promised Land; and the rest, like the _children in the wilderness,_ were to ha... [ Continue Reading ]
GO YE, SERVE YE, &C.— _Go ye, and take away every one his idols; and if ye will not hereafter hearken unto me, certainly ye shall pollute my holy name no more,_ &c. Houbigant, who, instead of, _All the house of Israel, all of them in the land,_ in the next verse, reads, _All the house of Israel from... [ Continue Reading ]
AS FOR YOU, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL— As, in the height of God's vengeance on the sins of this rebellious people, the distant prospect always terminated in mercy; so, with a mercy, and a promise of better times, the whole of this prophetic scene is closed; in order that those to whom it is addressed should... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE SHALL KNOW, &C.— The idea of _mercy_ is naturally attached to that of repentance and reformation; and with mercy the prophesy concludes. The reader hath now a comment on the whole prophesy, whereby he may understand how justly it hath acquired its eminent celebrity: its general subject being... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER, THE WORD OF THE LORD— Houbigant, following many learned commentators, begins the 21st chapter very properly with this verse; for what is contained in that chapter is only an explanation of what is included in the remainder of this. _The south,_ in the next verse, and _the forest of the sou... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL FACES FROM THE SOUTH TO THE NORTH, &C.— "From the south of Judaea to the north, shall be seen nothing but faces, burnt, dried up, pale; melancholy through fear, famine, grief, and despair." Isaiah makes use of a similar expression in describing the horrors of wars; _Their faces shall be as flame... [ Continue Reading ]
DOTH HE NOT SPEAK PARABLES?— Though these prophesies were clear enough, if they would have given themselves the trouble to have considered and compared them with the state of things; yet, as the understanding of them would have obliged the people to a change of conduct, the source of their obscurity... [ Continue Reading ]