Ezekiel 14:5

That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. THAT I MAY TAKE THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL IN THEIR OWN HEART - i:e., unvail and overtake with punishment the dissimulation and impiety of Israel hid in their own heart. Or rather, 'That I may punish them by answering them after their own hearts;' corresponding to "according to the multitude of his idols" (note, Ezekiel 14:4); an instance is given Ezekiel 14:9; Romans 1:28, "Even as they did not like [ ouk (G3756) edokimasan (G138...

He shows God’s object in being unwilling to dismiss without an answer the hypocrites who still impiously trifled with him. He says, _that I may seize the house of Israel in their heart. _It is yet asked how the impious are seized, when God answers them neither according to the opinion of their mind nor their expectation, but pronounces what they dislike and fear most grievously. I reply, that the impious are answered when they are driven to madness, and God thus extracts from them what was formerly hidden in their own hearts. He says, therefore_, that their impiety may be manifest to all, I will answer them_. For as long as God spares the impious, they endeavor to soothe him by a kind of flattery; but when they see that they take nothing by their false blandishments, then they roar, nay, bellow furiously against God: thus _they are caught in their own hearts_: that is, all their former d...

1-11 No outward form or reformation can be acceptable to God, so long as any idol possesses the heart; yet how many prefer their own devices and their own righteousness, to the way of salvation! Men's corruptions are idols in their hearts, and are of their own setting up; God will let them take their course. Sin renders the sinner odious in the eyes of the pure and holy God; and in his own eyes also, whenever conscience is awakened. Let us seek to be cleansed from the guilt and pollution of sins, in that fountain which the Lord has opened....

THAT I MAY TAKE ... - i. e., that I may take them, as in a snare, deceived by their own heart....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 14:1 As the result, probably, of the previous utterances, certain ELDERS OF ISRAEL, _i_._e_. of the exiles in Tel-Abib, came to consult Ezekiel, wishing to know what counsels or what predictions he had for them. In Ezekiel 8:1 we have "the elders of Judah," and it is possible that there were two groups in the Population of the town, and that these represented Israel as distinct from Judah—a deputation, as it were, from the earlier exiles. The term appears again in Ezekiel 20:1. More probably, however, the terms are used interchangeably. Ezekiel 14:

THAT I MAY TAKE THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL IN THEIR OWN HEART,.... By which they are ensnared, and drawn aside to their ruin; being given up to strong delusions, to believe a lie, and worship idols; God threatening to answer them by righteous judgments, and thereby take the wickedness, the hypocrisy, and idolatry, that were in their hearts, and expose and make it manifest unto others; or, by punishing them, to draw out the corruption and sin that were in them, that it might be seen what a wicked people they were. The Targum interprets the text in another way, "that I may bring near the house of Israel, and put repentance into their hearts;'' BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL ESTRANGED FROM ME THROUGH THEIR IDOLS; they grew shy of God and his worship, when they fell into idolatry. Alienation from God, from the life of God, from the law of God, from the worship of God, and of the affections from him, is owi...

Ezekiel 14:1. These inquiring elders, with wickedness in their hearts, give another illustration of the depth of degradation in which the people had sunk. He who searches the hearts knew what was in them. They came with pious, religious pretensions. It sounded well to inquire of the Lord and seek the prophet-priest for that purpose. Their hearts were full of evil. While their lips spoke of asking the Lord, their hearts were full of idolatry. They liked idolatry. Their hearts were in it and this stumbling-block of their iniquity they had put before their faces, which means they openly defied the Lord God of Israel by their doings. “Should I be inquired of at all by them?” To seek the Lord and inquire of Him in such a condition reveals a brazen spirit and the deepest depravity. Yet this also belongs to the conditions in which the professing people of God are when judgment overtakes them....

INSINCERITY OF THOSE WHO CONSULT THE PROPHETS. Like prophet, like people. The prophets, as _we_ have just seen (Ezekiel 13), were greatly to blame; but no less were the people partly because of their scepticism (Ezekiel 12:21), and partly, as we now see, because of their insincerity. This is illustrated by a question put by certain elders on the occasion of a visit to Ezekiel a question which neither deserved nor received an answer; for they are idolaters, certainly at _heart and_ probably in fact; they worship Yahweh with divided heart, and are therefore inevitably excluded from a knowledge of His purpose and will. No answer can be given to such, but the answer of the Divine judgment; and if they continue their policy of impenitent compromise, their fate will be nothing less than terrible (Ezek

_take … in their own heart_ The sinner's sin is like a snare in which he is captured and destroyed; sin carries its own retribution in itself (Job 8:4). The phrase "take them in their own heart" is explained by the words that follow, "because they are all estranged from me through their idols." Their "heart" is the idolatrous direction of their thoughts and affections; in this they shall be taken (Ezekiel 14:3_; Ezekiel 14:7_)....

THAT I MAY TAKE THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, &C.— "That I may deal with them according to their deserts, and thereby convince them that I am a searcher of hearts, and know the inward and secret wickedness of their thoughts....