Ezekiel 20:8

But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. THEN I SAID, I WILL POUR OUT MY FURY UPON THEM ... BUT I WROUGHT FOR MY NAME'S SAKE, THAT IT SHOULD NOT BE POLLUTED BEFORE THE HEATHEN - i:e. (God speaking in condescension to human modes of conception), Their spiritual degradation deserved that I should destroy them, "but I wrought (namely, the deliverance 'out of ... Egypt') for my name's sake;" not for their merits (a rebuke to their national pride). God's "name" means the sum total of His perfections; to manifest these perfections, His gratuitous mercy abounding above their sins, yet without wrong being done to His justice, and so to set forth Hi...

In the last lecture I began to explain the eighth verse, where God complains that he was exasperated by the children of Israel when he had begun to extend his hand to free them. He says, then, that they had rejected his grace. But at the same time we see that all pretense of ignorance was removed, because unless Moses had exhorted them to good hope, they would have pretended. to be so deserted through two centuries, that they had hoped for help from God in vain. But since Moses was a witness of their redemption, hence their ingratitude was the more without excuse, since they were unwilling to embrace the message which they had so greatly desired. Nor is the language of Moses vain, that they often cried out in their calamities. Although their clamor was turbulent, yet they doubtless remembered what they had heard from their fathers, that the end of those evils was at hand to which God had...

Verse Ezekiel 20:8. _THEY DID NOT - CAST AWAY_] They continued attached to the _idolatry_ of Egypt; so that, had I consulted my _justice_ only, I should have consumed them _even in Egypt_ itself. This is a circumstance that Moses has not mentioned, namely, their provoking God by their idolatry, _after_ he had sent Moses and Aaron to them in _Egypt_....

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...

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 prophets:'' THEY DID NOT EVERY MAN CAST AWAY THE ABOMINATIONS OF HIS EYES, NEITHER DID THEY FORSAKE THE IDOLS OF THE GENTILES; whence it appears that there were some among them that did give in to the idolatry of the Egyptians; and could not be prevailed upon to relinquish it, notwithstanding the favours shown them, and the promises made unto them. The Jewish writers, Jarchi and Kimchi, say that there were many of these wicked men among the Israelites when Moses was sent to them; and that they died in the time of the three days' darkness, so that the Egyptians did not see their fall, and rej...

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,

REBELLED. See note on Ezekiel 2:5. POUR OUT MY FURY, &c. Repeated in or Ezekiel 13:21, Eze 13:33, Eze 13:34. See the Structure, p. 1131....

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:...