Ezekiel 5:11

Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity. AS I LIVE - the most solemn of oaths, pledging the self-existence of God for the certainty of the event. BECAUSE THOU HAST DEFILED MY SANCTUARY - the climax of Jewish guilt: their defiling Yahweh's temple by introducing idols. THEREFORE WILL I ALSO DIMINISH, [ 'egra` (H1639)] - literally, withdraw, namely, mine "eye" (which presently follows) - i:e., my favours: Job 36:7 uses the Hebrew verb in the same way. As the Jews had withdraw from God's sanctuary its sacredness by 'defilin...

Here God again expresses more clearly why he was so eager to take vengeance namely, because the religion of the Jews was corrupt, and the Temple had been violated, as we shall see to-morrow....

5-17 The sentence passed upon Jerusalem is very dreadful, the manner of expression makes it still more so. Who is able to stand in God's sight when he is angry? Those who live and die impenitent, will perish for ever unpitied; there is a day coming when the Lord will not spare. Let not persons or churches, who change the Lord's statutes, expect to escape the doom of Jerusalem. Let us endeavour to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Sooner or later God's word will prove itself true....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 5:1 TAKE THEE A BARBER'S RAZOR, etc. The series of symbolic acts is carried further. Recollections of Isaiah and Leviticus mingle strangely in the prophet's mind. The former had made the "razor" the symbol of the devastation wrought by an invading army (Isaiah 7:20). The latter had forbidden its use for the head and beard of the priests (Le Leviticus 19:27; Leviticus 21:5). Once again Ezekiel is commanded to do a forbidden thing as a symbolic act. He is, for the moment, the representative of the people of Jerusalem, and there is to be, as of old, a great destructio

WHEREFORE, [AS] I LIVE, SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... This is a form of an oath, and shows that what is after said should certainly be done; God would not repent of it, nor revoke it: SURELY, BECAUSE THOU HAST DEFILED MY SANCTUARY, WITH ALL THY DETESTABLE THINGS, AND WITH ALL THINE ABOMINATIONS: that is, with their idols and idolatrous worship, which were detestable and abominable to the Lord; so Manasseh not only built altars for Baal in the house of the Lord, but set up in it a graven image of the grove, 2 Kings 21:3; THEREFORE WILL I ALSO DIMINISH [THEE]; as they lessened his glory by such abominable actions, so he threatens that he would lessen their privileges and blessings; as they took away from him the worship and honour that were due to him, so he would take away from them their civil and church state, his sanctuary, word, and ordinances, and deprive

Ezekiel 5:1. The sharp knife is the symbol of the king of Babylon. (See Isaiah 7:20 .) He was God's instrument in the execution of His wrath; the people are represented by the hair. The third part of the hair burned with fire pictures the fate of a part of the people during the siege. The pestilence and the famine were also to consume them. Only a few in number, a small remnant, were to be preserved, as indicated when Ezekiel took a few hairs and bound them in his skirt. Ezekiel 5:5. These solemn words should be carefully read. In connection with them there ought to be read Jeremiah's lamentations, for Jeremiah's outburst of sorrow shows the literal fulfillment of this message. (See...

EXPLANATION OF THE SYMBOLS. By the four preceding symbolical actions the doom has been made too terribly clear: the reason for it is now given. Jerusalem is the centre of the world, conspicuous alike for her position and her privileges, especially for her possession of a unique religious law, the gift of her own unique God. But so far was she from gratefully conforming her life to it, that she fell disgracefully below even heathen standards (_cf._ Jeremiah 2:11); and so, conspicuous in her doom as in her privileges, she must be punished before all the world a fate from which Israel had always shrunk with special horror (Ezekiel 5:8). Her punishment was to be unparalleled (Ezekiel 5:9) parents would literally devour their own

AS. LIVE. Figures of speech _Deesis_ and _Anthropopatheia._ App-6. SAITH THE LORD. [is] Jehovah's oracle. HAST DEFILED. This charge is substantiated in Ezekiel 8. DIMINISH THEE. So the Western codices. Hebrew. _'egra'_ (with _Resh_. r). But the Eastern oodices read 'egda' (with _Daleth_. d) =. "I shall cut off", with the former reading in margin, But some codices, with two early printed editions, read "cut off" in the text. MINE EYE, &c. Figure of speech _Anthropopatheia._ App-6, Ref to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 13:8). Compare Ezekiel 7:4; Ezekiel 8:18;...

Second Section. Ch. Ezekiel 3:22 to Ezekiel 7:27 The second section of the Book contains these parts: (1) Ch. Ezekiel 3:22-27. A preface in which the prophet is commanded to confine himself to his own house, and abandon for a time his public ministry. (2) Ch. Ezekiel 4:1-4. A series of symbols representing the siege of Jerusalem, the scarcity during it, the pollution of the people in exile among the nations, and the terrible fate of the inhabitants on the capture of the city. (3) Ch. Ezekiel 5:5-17. Exposition of these s

WILL I ALSO DIMINISH— _Will I cut thee off._ Houbigant....