Ezekiel 22:24

Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. THOU ART THE LAND THAT IS NOT CLEANSED - not cleared or cultivated; all a scene of desolation: a fit emblem of the moral wilderness state of the people. NOR RAINED UPON - a mark of divine "indignation;" as the early and latter rain, on which the productiveness of the land depended, was one of the great covenant blessings. promises the return of "the former and latter rain," with the restoration of God's favour....

23-31 All orders and degrees of men had helped to fill the measure of the nation's guilt. The people that had any power abused it, and even the buyers and sellers find some way to oppress one another. It bodes ill to a people when judgments are breaking in upon them, and the spirit of prayer is restrained. Let all who fear God, unite to promote his truth and righteousness; as wicked men of every rank and profession plot together to run them down....

Verse Ezekiel 22:24. _THOU_ ART _THE LAND THAT IS NOT CLEANSED_] Thou art like a country where there is no _rain_, either _to cleanse_ the _garments_, or _fertilize_ the _ground_....

The sixth word of judgment. The special sins of princes, priests, and people. Ezekiel 22:26 VIOLATED - Better as in margin; to offer “violence” to the Law is to misinterpret it. It was the special office of the priests to keep up the distinction between “holy” and “unholy,” “clean” and “unclean” Leviticus 10:10. Ezekiel 22:28 See the marginal reference note. Ezekiel 22:30 The land might be said to perish for the lack of such interpositions as saved their forefathers wh

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 22:1, EZEKIEL 22:2 MOREOVER, etc. The word connects what follows with THE WORD OF THE LORD which began in Ezekiel 20:2. That connection is, indeed, sufficiently indicated by the recurrence of the formula, "Wilt thou judge?" (see note on Ezekiel 20:4). In obedience to the commands which that question implied, Ezekiel has once more to go through the catalogue of the sins of Judah and Jerusalem. It is not without significance that he applies the very epithet of BLOODY CITY (Hebrew, _city of bloods_

SON OF MAN, SAY UNTO HER, THOU LAND,.... Thou land of Israel, as the Targum: THOU ART NOT CLEANSED; from filthiness, by the fire of divine judgments; or reformed from sins, by the instructions, cautions, and exhortations of the prophets; none of these things had any effect upon her to make her wiser and better. So the Targum, "a land not cleansed it is, and good works are not done in it, to protect it in the day of cursing:'' NOR RAINED UPON IN THE DAY OF INDIGNATION; no cooling shower to quench the fire of divine wrath; nothing to avert or stop the judgments of God; no refreshment and comfort from the doctrines of the prophets, which fell like rain: it is a judgment upon a people to have no rain, either in a temporal or spiritual sense; see Zechariah 14:17. In the Talmud h, this text is brought to prove that the flood did not come u

Ezekiel 22:1; Ezekiel 23:1. Before the sharpened sword of justice and retribution does its dreadful work, the Lord uncovers the guilt and vileness of the city and lays bare the corruption of her prophets, priests, and princes, as well as of the people. The violence and abomination of Jerusalem are revealed in Ezekiel 22:1; the smelting furnace in Ezekiel 22:17 is the symbol of Jehovah's fiery indignation against Jerusalem and its inhabitants. The corruption of the prophets, priests, and princes is fully uncovered in the closing section of chapter 22 ...

NOT CLEANSED. not to be rained upon. NOR RAINED UPON. nor to receive fruitful showers....

_the land … not cleansed_ A land. The words "not cleansed" are parallel to "not rained upon." In the east, however, raining upon is not a figure for cleansing, but for removing the curse and judgment, and blessing with fertility (Jeremiah 3:3). LXX. has "not wetted by rain" here, which most moderns accept, cf. ch. Ezekiel 34:26; Leviticus 26:4; Deuteronomy 11:14; 1 Kings 8:35-36....

THOU ART THE LAND, &C.— _This land shall not have showers, nor be softened with rain, in the day of indignation._ Ezekiel 22:25. _Because her prophets in the midst of her are like,_ &c. Houbigant, after the LXX; who observes, that dryness and sterility, not uncleanness, are the subject of this verse. The false prophets are meant in the 25th verse. See Ezekiel 22:28....