Ezekiel 22:29

The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND HAVE USED OPPRESSION - put last, after the mention of those in office. Corruption had spread downward through the whole community. THEY HAVE OPPRESSED THE STRANGER WRONGFULLY - i:e., without cause, gratuitously, without the stranger-proselyte giving any just provocation; nay, he of all others being one who ought to have been won to the worship of Yahweh by kindness, instead of being alienated by oppression: especially as the Israelites were commanded to remember that they themselves had been "strangers in Egypt" (; )....

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 22:29. _THE PEOPLE_] All that have power or authority have abused it; _vexed_ and _oppressed_ the _poor_, the _needy_, and the _stranger_....

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_

THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND HAVE USED OPPRESSION,.... The common people, the more powerful among them, such as were in greatest authority in cities and towns, in neighbourhoods and families, the richest among them; these oppressed the poor, and those that were under them, the servants of them, and tenants to them, and who were not able to defend themselves against them: the Septuagint and Syriac versions understand this of the prophets using the people of the land ill: AND EXERCISED ROBBERY; such who had not the power as others had, became thieves and robbers, went on the highway, and took men's money from them; broke up houses, and plundered them, and stole away their goods: AND HAVE VEXED THE POOR AND NEEDY; by their oppressions, rapines, and robberies, when they should rather have relieved them: YEA, THEY HAVE OPPRESSED THE STRANGER WRONGFULLY; or, "without right or judgment" k; in a ve...

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 ...

HAVE VEXED... HAVE OPPRESSED, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Exodus 22:21; Exodus 23:9; Leviticus 19:33, etc.) App-92. POOR. Heb: ani. See note on Proverbs 6:11....

_people of the land_ The phrase for the common people already, Jeremiah 37:2, and common in Ezekiel 7:27; Ezekiel 12:19, &c. The "people of the land" is certainly subject here, cf. Ezekiel 22:7, ch. Ezekiel 18:12; Jeremiah 23:34; Jeremiah 26:7....

C. The Corrupt Land 22:23-31 TRANSLATION (23) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (24) Son of man, say to her: You are a land not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. (25) There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured souls, they have taken treasure and precious things, they have multiplied her widows in the midst of her. (26) Her priests have done violence to My law, and have profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and the common, nor have they taught the difference between the unclean and clean, and they have hidden their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. (27) Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey: to shed blood, and to destroy souls, in order to acquire illicit gain. (28) And her prophets have daubed for them with white plaster...