XIV. This chapter consists of two distinct but closely-connected prophecies, the first of which (Ezekiel 14:1) was called out by the coming of the elders to enquire of the prophet, and announces to them that God will not answer, but will destroy idolatrous enquirers; while the second (Ezekiel 14:12... [ Continue Reading ]
CERTAIN OF THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL. — There is no distinction intended here between the elders of _Israel_ and the elders of _Judah_ mentioned in 8:1, and therefore there is no occasion to suppose a deputation sent to the prophet from Jerusalem. Israel is now becoming the ordinary name of the existing... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE SET UP THEIR IDOLS IN THEIR HEART. — It was not the open idolatry of Judæa which is reproved among these elders of the captivity; that had already passed away, but still their heart was not right. Like Lot’s wife, they longed for that which they dared not do. With such a disposition, they were... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL ANSWER HIM THAT COMETH. — The words _that cometh,_ not being in the original, should be omitted. The verb _answer_ in the original is in the passive, and has a reflexive sense=“I will show myself answering,” a softer form than the English. The principle that when man persists in going counter t... [ Continue Reading ]
REPENT AND TURN. — The announcements of the previous verses form the basis for the earnest call to a true repentance. There can be no hope for Israel in any merely outward reformation; they have _to_ do with the Searcher of hearts, and the only repentance acceptable to Him is that which has its seat... [ Continue Reading ]
OR OF THE STRANGER. — Under the Mosaic legislation, “the stranger” living among the Israelites was bound to observe a certain outward deference to the law of the land, just as a foreigner in any country now is bound to respect in certain things the law of the country in which he lives. Israel being... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL MAKE HIM A SIGN. — The text of the Hebrew is here preferable to its margin, which has been followed by our translators, as well as by the ancient versions. There is a similar threat in Deuteronomy 28:37; and the clause should be rendered, “will make him desolate (or destroy him) for a sign and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF THE PROPHET BE DECEIVED. — The exact sense of the original is, “If a prophet be persuaded and speak a word, I the LORD have persuaded that prophet.” The thought is thus in close connection with what precedes; in Ezekiel 14:3; Ezekiel 14:7, the Lord has refused to allow an answer through the p... [ Continue Reading ]
MAY GO NO MORE ASTRAY. — Here is given the object of all the previous severity of judgment — that Israel may be brought to a true repentance and be reunited in communion with God. The prophet is now directed, in a distinct communication, to meet the thought which was evidently in the minds of the pe... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE LAND SINNETH. — The definite article is not in the Hebrew, and should be omitted, as the proposition is a general one. Also the future tenses throughout the verse should be rendered as present, in accordance with this character of a general statement: “When a land sinneth... and I stretch o... [ Continue Reading ]
NOAH, DANIEL, AND JOB. — These three are selected, doubtless, not only as examples of eminent holiness themselves, but as men who had been allowed to be the means of saving others. For Noah’s sake his whole family had been spared (Genesis 6:18); Daniel was the means of saving his companions (Daniel... [ Continue Reading ]
(15-20) In these verses the same declaration is repeated, for the sake of emphasis, with each one of three other instruments of punishment, with only such variations of phraseology as are required for rhetorical reasons. The phrase “their own souls_”_ is here also simply equivalent to “themselves.”... [ Continue Reading ]
MY FOUR SORE JUDGMENTS. — The teaching of the preceding eight verses is here gathered up into its climax. In the case of any one of the four punishments mentioned in succession, the presence of the holiest of men should be of no avail to avert it; how much more then, when all these are combined in t... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL BE COMFORTED CONCERNING THE EVIL. — In this and the following verse it is promised that a remnant shall be brought from Jerusalem; and it is clearly implied that they shall come to Babylonia. There the present exiles shall see them, and thus be comforted. But in what sense comforted? The co... [ Continue Reading ]