Ezekiel 20:5

And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God; IN THE DAY WHEN I ... LIFTED UP MINE HAND ... LIFTED UP MINE HAND ... LIFTED UP MINE HAND UNTO THEM. The thrice lifting up of God's hand (the sign of His oath, Revelation 10:5; , margin; ; to which passages the form of words here alludes) implies the solemn earnestness of God's purpose of grace to them. The lifting up of the hand toward heaven was the appeal of man to Him who reigns there. When He Himself, in figurative language, lifts it up...

God confirms what I said before, that the Jews were not to be reproved for beginning lately to sin: it was not sufficient to bring recent offenses before them; but God orders the Prophet to begin with their fathers, as if he had said that the nation was abandoned from the very beginning, as Stephen reproaches them: Uncircumcised in heart, you still resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers always did. (Acts 7:51.) And Christ had said the same thing before: You fill up the measure of your fathers. (Matthew 23:32.) We know also how frequently rebukes of this kind occur in the Prophets. God therefore says, that from the time when he chose the seed of Israel, he had experienced both the wickedness and obstinacy of the people; for he says that they were not drawn aside by either error or ignorance, but because they were unwilling to hear, when they were over and over aga

Verse Ezekiel 20:5. _I CHOSE ISRAEL_] They did not choose _me_ for _their God_, till I had chosen _them_ to be _my people_. _I LIFTED UP MINE HAND_] I bound myself In a covenant to them to continue to be their God, if they should be faithful, and continue to be my people. Among the Jews the _juror_ lifted up his right hand to heaven; which explains Psalms 144:8: "Their right hand is a right hand of falsehood." This is a form used in England, Scotland, and Ireland....

The children of Israel in Egypt were warned to abstain from the idolatry of the pagan. This purpose they lost sight of, yet God spared them and brought them into another state of probation. Ezekiel 20:5 LIFTED UP MINE HAND - i. e., sware, because the hand was lifted up in adjuration. Ezekiel 20:8 IDOLS OF EGYPT - These incidental notices show the children of Israel in Egypt to have been addicted to idolatry. Compare Joshua 24:14. Ezekiel 20:9 I wrought for my name’s sake -

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...

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 earth; when he declared his choice of them, and made it appear that he had chosen them, and distinguished them, by special blessings and favours bestowed on them: AND LIFTED UP MINE HAND TO THE SEED OF THE HOUSE OF JACOB; the posterity of Jacob or Israel, to whom the Lord swore that he would do such and such things for them; of which the lifting up the hand was a token; it is a gesture used in swearing, Daniel 12:7; and so the Targum, "and I swore unto them by my word:'' AND MADE MYSELF KNOWN UNTO THEM IN THE LAND OF EGYPT: by h

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,

WHEN. CHOSE ISRAEL, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Exodus 6:7; Exodus 20:2.Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 7:6). App-92. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Adjunct), App-6, for "I sware". Compare verses: Ezekiel 20:6; Ezekiel 20:15; Ezekiel 20:23, Eze 6:28, Eze 6:42, Genesis 14:22.

_when I chose Israel_ The choice or election of Israel is referred to only here in Ez., and also once in Jeremiah 33:24. The idea is much insisted on in Isaiah 40-66. Already, however, Deuteronomy 7:6. _lifted up mine hand_ i.e. sware, Exodus 6:8; Numbers 14:30. The thing sworn is stated Ezekiel 20:6. _made myself known_ Cf. Exodus 3:6 _seq._, Ezekiel 6:3. He made himself