INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 20 The prophecy in this chapter is occasioned by some of the elders of Israel coming to inquire of the Lord; when the prophet is bid to tell them that he would not be inquired of by them. The reason of which were their abominations he is ordered to make known unto them, Ezek... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE SEVENTH YEAR,.... Of Zedekiah's reign, and of the captivity of Jeconiah; from whence the dates of Ezekiel's visions and prophecies are taken, Ezekiel 1:2; two years, one month, and five days, after Ezekiel began to prophesy, and eleven months and five days after the preced... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN CAME THE WORD OF THE LORD UNTO ME,.... While the elders were sitting before him, by an impulse upon his mind, dictating things unto him: SAYING: as follows:... [ Continue Reading ]
SON OF MAN, SPEAK UNTO THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL, AND SAY UNTO THEM,.... Give them this for an answer from me: THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD, ARE YE COME TO INQUIRE OF ME? no; not seriously, heartily, and in good earnest, determining to abide by the advice and counsel that might be given; or how can you have... [ Continue Reading ]
WILT THOU JUDGE THEM, SON OF MAN?.... Excuse them, patronise them, defend their cause, and plead for them? surely thou wilt not; or rather, wilt thou not reprove and correct them, judge and condemn them, for their sins and wickedness? this thou oughtest to do: WILT THOU JUDGE [THEM]? this is repeat... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAY UNTO THEM, THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... Here begins the account of their fathers; of God's unmerited goodness to them, and of their sins and transgressions against him, and how it fared with them: IN THE DAY WHEN I CHOSE ISRAEL; to be his peculiar people, above all people on the face of the... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE DAY [THAT] I LIFTED UP MY HAND UNTO THEM, TO BRING THEM FORTH OF THE LAND OF EGYPT,.... Not only promised and swore to it, but exerted his power in the miracles he wrought, by bringing plagues upon the Egyptians, to oblige them to let them go forth from thence: INTO A LAND THAT I HAD ESPIED... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN I SAID UNTO THEM,.... Having promised and swore to do such great and good things for them; which must lay them under an obligation to regard what he should command them: promises and blessings of goodness are great incentives to duty, and lay under great obligation to it: CAST YE AWAY EVERY MA... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THEY REBELLED AGAINST ME,.... All sin is rebellion against God, an act of hostility, especially idolatry; it is refusing homage and casting off allegiance to him: AND WOULD NOT HEARKEN UNTO ME; to his word by his prophets; so the Targum, "they rebelled against my word, and would not receive my... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I WROUGHT FOR MY NAME'S SAKE,.... In a way of grace and mercy; did well by thorn, did what he promised to do; not for any merits of theirs, but for his own honour, and the glory of his name: THAT IT SHOULD NOT BE POLLUTED BEFORE THE HEATHEN, AMONG WHOM THEY [WERE]; be spoken evil of, which is a... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE I CAUSED THEM TO GO FORTH OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT,.... It was the Lord that brought them out from thence with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; that obliged Pharaoh to let them go, and gave them favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, that they went out unmolested by them: AND BROUGHT THE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I GAVE THEM MY STATUTES,.... The precepts of his law, the law on Mount Sinai, of which there were not the like among other nations; nor were they given unto them, but were a special gift unto Israel, and greatly to be valued, Deuteronomy 4:8; AND SHOWED THEM JUDGMENTS: the nature, use, and exce... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER, ALSO, I GAVE THEM MY SABBATHS,.... The Targum is, "the days of the sabbaths;'' or sabbath days, the seventh day sabbaths, which recurring throughout the year are many; but, besides these, there were the year of remission, for the seventh year sabbath; and the jubilee year, the great sabb... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL REBELLED AGAINST ME IN THE WILDERNESS,.... Where they were wholly at the mercy of God, entirely dependent upon him; and miracles were wrought every day for the sustaining and preservation of, them from famine, wild beasts, and enemies; yet they rebelled against the Lord; prov... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I WROUGHT FOR MY NAME'S SAKE, THAT IT SHOULD NOT BE POLLUTED BEFORE THE HEATHEN,.... Ezekiel 20:9; who would be ready to say it was for want of power, or faithfulness, or, goodness, that he did not bring them into the promised land; or there was no such land to bring them to God's own glory was... [ Continue Reading ]
YET ALSO I LIFTED UP MINE HAND UNTO THEM IN THE WILDERNESS,.... Swore unto them, as in Ezekiel 20:5; THAT I WOULD NOT BRING THEM INTO THE LAND WHICH I HAD GIVEN [THEM]; by promise to their fathers, and to them. This is to be understood of the generation that came out of Egypt, that received the ill... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THEY DESPISED MY JUDGMENTS, AND WALKED NOT IN MY STATUTES, BUT POLLUTED MY SABBATHS,.... Which were just causes of divine resentment and anger; Ezekiel 20:13; FOR THEIR HEART WENT AFTER THEIR IDOLS; which they had served in Egypt; and that led them off from the true worship and service of G... [ Continue Reading ]
NEVERTHELESS, MINE EYE SPARED THEM FROM DESTROYING THEM,.... Utterly, so as to leave neither root nor branch; for though the whole generation died excepting two, either by the immediate hand of God in wrath, or else by ordinary deaths; yet there was a generation raised up in their stead, to whom mer... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I SAID UNTO THEIR CHILDREN IN THE WILDERNESS,.... Or, "then I said" k; his judgments and statutes being neglected and despised by them, and good instructions and kind providences being of no use unto them, the Lord turns to their posterity while yet in the wilderness: what follows seems to refer... [ Continue Reading ]
I [AM] THE LORD YOUR GOD,.... Not only that had made them and preserved them, but had chose them above all people to be his people; who had made a covenant with them, and had distinguished them by his favours from all others: WALK IN MY STATUTES, AND KEEP MY JUDGMENTS, AND DO THEM; which he had giv... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HALLOW MY SABBATHS,.... Or keep them holy, by abstaining from worldly business on them; by observing all the duties of religion, private and public, to be performed on such days: AND THEY SHALL BE A SIGN BETWEEN ME AND YOU; of present and future good; Ezekiel 20:12; THAT YE MAY KNOW THAT I [AM... [ Continue Reading ]
NOTWITHSTANDING THE CHILDREN REBELLED AGAINST ME,.... After the death of their fathers, when they were come into the plains of Moab, and just going to enter the land; they rebelled against the Lord, and greatly provoked him, by joining themselves to Baalpeor, the idol of Moab, they worshipped, Numbe... [ Continue Reading ]
NEVERTHELESS I WITHDREW MINE HAND,.... When it was stretched out against them, as in the above instance, and did not utterly consume them. The Targum is, "and I turned away the stroke of my might:'' AND WROUGHT FOR MY NAME'S SAKE, THAT IT SHOULD NOT BE POLLUTED IN THE SIGHT OF THE HEATHEN, IN WHOS... [ Continue Reading ]
I LIFTED UP MINE HAND ALSO TO THEM IN THE WILDERNESS,.... Swore unto them, as in Ezekiel 20:5; THAT I WOULD SCATTER THEM AMONG THE HEATHEN, AND DISPERSE THEM THROUGH THE COUNTRIES; after they came to be settled in the land of Canaan, they sinning against the Lord; which was fulfilled in the times o... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THEY HAD NOT EXECUTED MY JUDGMENTS,.... Had not done that which was right and just, as the Lord commanded them: BUT HAD DESPISED MY STATUTES, AND HAD POLLUTED MY SABBATHS; as their fathers had done: AND THEIR EYES WERE AFTER THEIR FATHERS' IDOLS; which they had learned to serve in Egypt, o... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE I GAVE THEM ALSO STATUTES [THAT WERE] NOT GOOD,.... Yea, were very bad; not the moral law, and the statutes of it; for that is holy, just, and good, though the killing letter and ministration of condemnation and death to the transgressors of it; indeed those laws were both good and bad to... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ONE POLLUTED THEM IN THEIR OWN GIFTS,.... Suffered them to defile themselves; or declared them to be, and treated them as polluted persons, in the gifts and sacrifices which they offered to idols, particularly their firstborn: as the next clause explains it: IN THAT THEY CAUSED TO PASS THOUGH ... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE, SON OF MAN, SPEAK UNTO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, AND SAY UNTO THEM,.... The elders of Israel, Ezekiel 20:1; who came in the name of the whole body, and represented them, and by whom the following message is sent unto them; or the prophet by them might speak unto them, as he is ordered: THUS S... [ Continue Reading ]
[FOR] WHEN I HAD BROUGHT THEM INTO THE LAND,.... Brought them out of Egypt through the wilderness into the land of Canaan, through so many difficulties, by such displays of power, goodness, and truth: [FOR] THE WHICH I LIFTED UP MINE BAND TO GIVE IT TO THEM; which he swore he would give unto them,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN I SAID UNTO THEM,.... By his prophets that he sent unto them: WHAT IS THE HIGH PLACE WHERE, UNTO YOU GO? what is the name of it? what is the use of it? to what end do you go there? is there not an altar built by my order and command to sacrifice upon is this high place better than that? does i... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE SAY UNTO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... To the elders, as before: ARE YE POLLUTED AFTER THE MANNER OF YOUR FATHERS? they were: AND COMMIT YE WHOREDOMS AFTER THEIR ABOMINATIONS? spiritual adultery; that is, idolatry, in the same abominable manner? they did, as appears b... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHEN YE OFFER YOUR GIFTS,.... And sacrifices to idols. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, THE FIRSTFRUITS OF YOUR GIFTS; it may design their firstborn; see Ezekiel 20:26 as the following clause seems to explain it: WHEN YE MAKE YOUR SONS TO PASS THROUGH THE FIRE; or between two fir... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THAT WHICH COMETH INTO YOUR MIND SHALL NOT BE AT ALL,.... What they had contrived in their own breasts, and laid a plan of, and would gladly have brought about, should be frustrated, take no effect, and come to nothing: THAT YE SAY, WE WILL BE AS THE HEATHEN; live without God; not be in subject... [ Continue Reading ]
AS I LIVE, SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... The form of an oath; the Lord swears by his own life, used more than once before; it supposes something of moment, and the certain performance of it: SURELY WITH A MIGHTY HAND, AND WITH AN OUTSTRETCHED ARM; from which none can escape, and which none can withstand:... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL BRING YOU OUT FROM THE PEOPLE, AND WILL GATHER YOU OUT OF THE COUNTRIES WHEREIN YE ARE SCATTERED,.... The Egyptians, Ammonites, and others; where they went for safety and protection, and among whom they intended to settle, and had formed a scheme to cast off the yoke of God and his worship, a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL BRING YOU INTO THE WILDERNESS OF THE PEOPLE,.... Into Babylon, and into captivity there, which they thought to avoid by fleeing to other countries. Some think that those inhospitable nations are meant, Syro-media, Caspia, Hyrcania, Iberia, and others, into which many of the Jews were brou... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKE AS I PLEADED WITH YOUR FATHERS IN THE WILDERNESS OF THE LAND OF EGYPT,.... Which was opposite the land of Egypt, near unto it, on the borders of it; and into which the people immediately went, when they came out of Egypt, and passed the Red sea; and the Arabic version is, "when I brought them... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL CAUSE YOU TO PASS UNDER THE ROD,.... That is, such whom God will not take vengeance on, and shall not die in the wilderness of the people; but whom he will have mercy on, and show favour to, and bring at length into their own land; these he indeed will bring under the rod of correction an... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL PURGE OUT FROM AMONG YOU THE REBELS, AND THEM THAT TRANSGRESS AGAINST ME,.... All men are enemies, and enmity itself, against God; and every sin is an act of hostility and rebellion against him; every transgression and violation of his law is a casting off of allegiance to him, and a tram... [ Continue Reading ]
AS FOR YOU, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL,.... The then present house of Israel, and the elders of it, who were upon the spot with the prophet: GO YE, SERVE YE EVERYONE HIS IDOLS; or dunghill gods; since they liked not to serve the true God: this is not giving them leave to serve idols, or approving their idol... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IN MINE HOLY MOUNTAIN, IN THE MOUNTAIN OF THE HEIGHT OF ISRAEL, SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... Alluding to Mount Zion, or Moriah, on which the temple was built, on the highest part of the land of Israel, as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe; here the Gospel church is meant, comparable to a "mountain" for i... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL ACCEPT YOU WITH YOUR SWEET SAVOUR,.... Their sins being expiated by the sacrifice of Christ, which is unto God for a sweet smelling savour; and their persons being, clothed with the robe of his righteousness, and the garments of his salvation, all whose garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cas... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD,.... The one only Jehovah, that keeps covenant; performs promises; is faithful to his word; is kind, gracious, and merciful, as well as mighty and powerful; and all this they shall experimentally know, and publicly own and acknowledge: WHEN I SHALL BRING YOU INT... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE YE SHALL REMEMBER YOUR WAYS, AND ALL YOUR DOINGS, WHEREIN YE HAVE BEEN DEFILED,.... Their rejection of the Messiah; their continued disbelief of him; their obstinacy, hardness, and impenitence; their adherence to the traditions of the elders, to the making void the word of God; together wi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD,.... Jehovah their righteousness, their Redeemer and Saviour, Lord and King; they shall know Christ, and him crucified, and God in Christ as their covenant God; Ezekiel 20:42; when I have wrought with you for my name's sake; in the thorough conversion of them; n... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER, THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME UNTO ME, SAYING. Or the word of prophecy, as the Targum. Here begins a new prophecy, and most properly a new chapter should here begin; for the next chapter is of the same argument with this, and an explanation of it, and an enlargement upon it. And here Ben Melec... [ Continue Reading ]
SON OF MAN, SET THY FORCE TOWARD THE SOUTH,.... The land of Judea, which lay south of Babylon, where the prophet now was, as Babylon lay north of that, Jeremiah 1:14 to set his face was to speak freely and boldly, with courage and constancy, and without fear and dread, to the inhabitants of it; and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAY TO THE FOREST OF THE SOUTH,.... To the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea: HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD; attend to it, and receive it, believe it, and take warning from it: THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD, BEHOLD, I WILL KINDLE A FIRE IN THEE; in Jerusalem; meaning that he would send great calamities... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL FLESH SHALL SEE THAT I THE LORD HAVE KINDLED IT,.... Not only the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea should see the hand of the Lord in their destruction; but even all the neighbouring nations, the case was so clear and plain, the matter so visible: IT SHALL NOT BE QUENCHED; no stop put to... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SAID I, AH LORD GOD!.... The Septuagint version is, "by no means, Lord, Lord"; that is, let me not be sent on such an errand; at least, let it not be delivered in such figurative terms; or let not such a general calamity befall the people. The Targum is, "receive my prayer, O Lord God;'' the... [ Continue Reading ]