HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF Some four years before the fall of Jerusalem the elders of Tel-abib again came to consult Ezekiel, who declared that God had no answer to give them. The reason was that their enquiry was insincere, and this passage is consequently an illustration of the principle of Ezekiel... [ Continue Reading ]
§ 5. A FINAL SERIES OF PROPHECIES ON THE NECESSITY OF ISRAEL'S PUNISHMENT AND THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM (EZEKIEL 20-24) Date, Aug.-Sept. 590 b.c. to Jan.-Feb. 587 b.c. This group includes a warning to the exiles against idolatry (Ezekiel 20:1), a description of the sword of the Lord directed agai... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SEVENTH YEAR.. THE FIFTH _month_] July-August, 590 b.c.... [ Continue Reading ]
LIFTED UP MINE HAND] i.e. sware, and so in Ezekiel 20:6; Ezekiel 20:15; Ezekiel 20:23; Ezekiel 20:42.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ezekiel speaks more definitely than any other OT. writer about the idolatry of the Israelites in Egypt: see Ezekiel 23:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR MY NAME'S SAKE] God's consistent motive was that His character should be known to the world. When He was patient with Israel it was because sudden judgment upon them would have been misunderstood by the heathen: see Ezekiel 20:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
Referring to the Law given at Sinai.... [ Continue Reading ]
MY SABBATHS, TO BE A SIGN] Though Ezekiel attached great importance to the sabbath, he regarded it not as one of the moral ordinances, obedience to which brings life (Ezekiel 20:11), but rather as a special sign of God's covenant which Israel was bound to observe.... [ Continue Reading ]
The first generation in the wilderness was shut out of Canaan (Numbers 14:24; Psalms 95:11).... [ Continue Reading ]
The second generation was warned that unfaithfulness would be punished by captivity (Leviticus 26:33).... [ Continue Reading ]
STATUTES _that were_ NOT GOOD] The reference (as Ezekiel 20:26 shows) is to the practice of child sacrifice, which might seem to be justified by such a law as that in Exodus 22:29. The firstborn of men, however, were expressly excepted (Exodus 13:12; Numbers 3:46) and Jeremiah declared that human sa... [ Continue Reading ]
A play upon words, 'What (_mah_).. go (_ba_)?' Bamah is the Hebrew for 'high place,' and by this punning derivation of the word (not of course the true one) Ezekiel expresses his contempt for the thing itself.... [ Continue Reading ]
God's zeal for His name is stronger even than the purpose of the human will to rebel.... [ Continue Reading ]
PEOPLE] RV 'peoples': so in Ezekiel 20:35; Ezekiel 20:41.... [ Continue Reading ]
WILDERNESS OF THE PEOPLE] the desert between Babylon and Palestine, corresponding to the desert between Egypt and Palestine which had been the scene of Israel's former discipline.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ROD] the shepherd's rod, used in counting the flock (Leviticus 27:32). THE BOND OF THE COVENANT] The old covenant made at Sinai will be renewed. Ezekiel does not contemplate such a difference between the past and the future as is expressed in Jeremiah's prophecy of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:... [ Continue Reading ]
Obstinate transgressors will perish in the wilderness like the first generation who came out of Egypt.... [ Continue Reading ]
POLLUTE YE.. NO MORE] RV 'My holy name shall ye profane no more.' Those who wished to choose idolatry might do so, but they would no longer have any connexion with God and His cause.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE LAND, SERVE ME] RV 'serve me in the land,' a promise of restoration.... [ Continue Reading ]
When God does not deal with men as they deserve, it is for the sake of His own glory. This really means that His mercy is the highest aspect of His character, and that which He is most desirous to display to the world.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SWORD OF THE LORD AGAINST JERUSALEM (AND AMMON?) Ezekiel 21 of the Hebrew Bible begins with Ezekiel 20:45 of the English. It is mainly concerned with Jerusalem (Ezekiel 20:45 to Ezekiel 21:27), but has an appendix consisting of a short prophecy about Ammon, which has been interpreted in differe... [ Continue Reading ]