Ezekiel 20:4

Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers: WILT THOU JUDGE THEM, SON OF MAN? WILT THOU JUDGE THEM? The emphatic repetition expresses, 'Wilt thou not judge? yes, judge them. There is a loud call for immediate judgment.' The Hebrew interrogative here is a command, not a prohibition (Maurer). Instead of spending time in teaching them, tell them of the abominations of their fathers, of which their own are the complement and counterpart, and which call for judgment....

The context flows very well if we embrace this sense, that God swears that the Israelites did not come to be subject to his Prophet, and to submit themselves modestly to his instructions. If this sense pleases, it is well added, _shall you judge them? _that is, shall you spend thy breath in arguing with them? He means that they are rather to be dismissed than instructed; as Christ says, _You shall not cast pearls before swine. _(Matthew 7:6.) And we know what God pronounces: My Spirit shall not always strive with man, because he is flesh. (Genesis 6:3.) He now means that there was no need of any dispute, since there was no means of carrying it on; so in this passage, since the Prophet was dealing with men utterly broken down, who never listened to wise counsels, nor obeyed any admonitions, nor were softened by any chastisement, he adds, therefore, shall

Verse Ezekiel 20:4. _WILT THOU JUDGE THEM_] If thou wilt _enter into any_ _discussion with them_, show them _the abomination of their fathers_. The whole chapter is a consecutive history of the _unfaithfulness_ _ingratitude, rebellion_, and _idolatry_ of the Jews, from the earliest times to that day; and vindicates the sentence which God had pronounced against them, and which he was about to execute more fully in delivering them and the city into the hands of the Chaldeans....

WILT THOU JUDGE THEM? - We should rather say, Wilt thou not judge them? i. e., wilt thou not pronounce sentence upon them? Compare Ezekiel 22:2....

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...

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 repeated, to show the vehemency of the speaker, and the duty of the prophet: CAUSE THEM TO KNOW THE ABOMINATIONS OF THEIR FATHERS: the sins they committed, which were abominable in themselves, and rendered them abominable unto God, and what came upon them for them; by which they would be led to see the abominable evils which they also had been guilty of, in which they had imitated their fathers, and what they had reason to expect in consequence of them....

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,

WILT THOU... WILT THOU... ? Note the Figure of speech _Epizeuxis_ (App-6), for emphasis....

Introductory. Certain elders came to the prophet to enquire of the Lord, in the seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin and tenth day of the fifth month Aug. 590 b.c., four years before Jerusalem fell....