Ezekiel 20:28

Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me. YET IN THIS YOUR FATHERS HAVE BLASPHEMED ME ... WHEN I HAD BROUGHT THEM INTO THE LAND. The next period-namely, that which followed the settlement in Canaan; the fathers of the generation existing in Ezekiel's time walked in the same steps of apostasy as the generation in the wilderness. YET IN THIS - not content with past rebellions, and not moved with gratitude for God's goodness, "yet in this" still further they rebelled. HAVE BLASPHEMED - `have insulted me' (Calvin). Verse 28. THEN THEY SAW EVERY HIGH HILL, AND ALL THE THICK TREES, AND THEY OFFERED THERE THEIR SACRIFICES - even those who did not sacrifice to pagan gods have offered "their sacrifices...

Hence, _after I had brought them into the land for which_, or concerning which, _I had lifted up my hand to give it them, they saw, _says he, _every high hill, and every green _or branching tree_, and there they sacrificed. _God wished to have one altar built for himself, and sacrifices to be offered in one place; nay, before the people had any certain and fixed station, God was unwilling that any altar should be built to him of polished stones, that no trace of it should remain; but a mound only was to be made of either turf or rough stones. (Exodus 20:25; Deuteronomy 27:5.) Now he says, whenever hills and branching trees were lying before them, there they found enticements to superstition. This, therefore, is the reproach which God now complains was offered to him. But this passage, like many others, teaches, that not only is God’s worship co

27-32 The Jews persisted in rebellion after they settled in the land of Canaan. And these elders seem to have thought of uniting with the heathen. We make nothing by our profession if it be but a profession. There is nothing got by sinful compliances; and the carnal projects of hypocrites will stand them in no stead....

The probation in the land of Canaan from their entry to the day of Ezekiel. Ezekiel 20:27 YET IN THIS - It was an aggravation of their guilt that they defiled with idolatry the land given them for their glory. Ezekiel 20:29 BAMAH - The Hebrew word for “high place.” Another instance of the perversion of God’s laws. When the Israelites first entered Canaan they were to set up the “tabernacle” on a “high place,” and upon this and upon no other they were to worship Yahweh (1 Samuel 9:12 ff; 1 Kings 3:4). But the Israeli

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 20:1 A new date is given, and includes what follows to Ezekiel 23:49. The last note of time was in Ezekiel 8:1, and eleven months and five days had passed, during which the prophecies of the intervening chapters had been written or spoken. We may note further that it was two years one month and five days after the prophet's call to his work (Ezekiel 1:1.), and two years and five months before the Chaldeans besieged Jerusalem (Ezekiel 24:1). The immediate occasion here, as in...

[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, and which he did, and so fulfilled his word and oath; and which was an instance of his bounty and goodness; and not owing to any merits of theirs; which he did, and so fulfilled his word and oath; and which was an instance of his bounty and goodness, and not owing to any merits of theirs: THEN THEY SAW EVERY HIGH HILL, AND ALL THE THICK TREES; as soon as they had got into the land, and took a view of it, they at once fixed their eyes upon the high hills and groves, as proper places to set up their idols on, and perform idolatrous worship in; in the one place more openly, and in the other more...

CHAPTER S 20-24 Further and Final Predictions Concerning the judgment of Jerusalem _ 1. Jehovah rehearses His mercies bestowed upon Israel (Ezekiel 20:1) _ 2. The impending judgment announced (Ezekiel 21:1) 3. Jerusalem's sins and whoredom (Ezekiel 22:1; Ezekiel 23:1) 4. The parable of the boiling pot and the last word (Ezekiel 24:1) Ezekiel 20:1. The chapter contains a divine retrospect and an arraignment of th

EZEKIEL 20. THE WICKED PAST AND THE BLESSED FUTURE. Ezekiel 20:1. A Sketch of Israel's Early Idolatries. It is now 590 B.C. Almost a year has elapsed since the last incident that was dated (Ezekiel 8:1): and as the doom draws nearer, the prophet grows fiercer. This lurid sketch of Israel's ancient sins, which partly recalls ch. 16, was occasioned by a visit of some elders (_cf. Ezekiel 8:1_, Ezekiel 14:1), who put to him a question which though not recorded, may perhaps be inferred from Ezekiel 20:32. It seems probable that, in disgust and despair,

I POLLUTED THEM, &c. See note on Ezekiel 20:25. The con. trast is with their pollution of God's gifts (Ezekiel 20:16). pass through: or, pass over. The firstborn were to be passed over to Jehovah (Exodus 13:12); but they passed them (through the fire) over to Moloch (Leviticus 18:21.Deuteronomy 18:10; Deuteronomy 18:10). Note the references to Pentateuch here. App-92....

Review of the history of the fathers The principle that has ruled this history is that all through it Jehovah has acted for his name's sake. It is this principle that has given Israel a history, otherwise their sins would have cut them off. For his name's sake he spared the people in Egypt (Ezekiel 20:9), again in the wilderness (Ezekiel 20:14), and again the second generation there (Ezekiel 20:22). The history is reviewed in these divisions: Ezekiel 20:5 Israel in Egypt; Ezekiel 20:11 the people led out into the wilderness:...