Ezekiel 6:11

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. SMITE WITH THINE HAND, AND STAMP WITH THY FOOT - gesticulations vividly setting before the hearers the greatness of the calamity about to be inflicted. In indignation at the abominations of Israel, extend thine hand, toward Judea, as if about to 'strike' and "stamp," shaking off the dust with thy foot, in token of how God shall "stretch out His hand upon them," and tread them down (; )....

This confirms what we have formerly seen concerning the slaughter of the ten tribes. The kingdom of Israel had been indeed afflicted, but because those remaining in their own country thought themselves free from further calamity, and gave themselves up to their idolatries more and more, it was on this account necessary that final destruction should be denounced against them. Since, then, words moved them but little, God adds a sign, according to his custom in obstinate cases. He orders the Prophet, by clapping of hands, and by extending his legs and feet, to show that the land was cursed. _Divide, _therefore, _thy feet; _for thus men are accustomed to do when they denounce anything gravely, or burn with indignation: they extend their legs in opposite directions; so I have rendered it verbally _separate thy feet: _the clapping of the hands has the same object. God wishes by this gesture t...

11-14 It is our duty to be affected, not only with our own sins and sufferings, but to look with compassion upon the miseries wicked people bring upon themselves. Sin is a desolating thing; therefore, stand in awe, and sin not. If we know the worth of souls, and the danger to which unbelievers are exposed, we shall deem every sinner who takes refuge in Jesus from the wrath to come, an abundant recompence for all contempt or opposition we may meet with....

Verse Ezekiel 6:11. _SMITE WITH THINE HAND, AND STAMP WITH THY FOOT_] Show the utmost marks of thy astonishment and indignation, and dread of the evils that are coming upon them. Some have contended for the propriety of _clapping_ and _stamping_ in public worship from these words! It is scarcely a breach of charity to think that such persons are themselves incapable either of attending on or conducting the worship of God. To be consistent, they should copy the prophet in his other typical actions as well as these; and then we shall hear of their _lying on their left side_ for _three_ _hundred and ninety_ days, and on _their right side for forty days;_ _shaving their heads, burning their hair, baking their bread with_ _dung_, c. Now all these things, because they were typical and commanded, were proper in the prophet: in such persons as the above...

The gleam of hope is but transitory. Darkness again gathers round, for as yet the prophet is predicting judgment. Ezekiel 6:11 SMITE ... STAMP - Well-known modes of expressing grief. Ezekiel 6:13 SWEET SAVOR - Compare Genesis 8:21. Words, applied to the smell of sacrifices accepted by God, applied here to idol-sacrifices in irony. Ezekiel 6:14 TOWARD DIBLATH - Or, “Diblathaim,” the “Diblathan” of the Moabite stone, one of the double cities of Moab (see...

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 6:2, EZEKIEL 6:3 SET THY FACE TOWARD THE MOUNTAINS, etc. The formula is eminently characteristic of Ezekiel. We have had it with a different verb in the Hebrew, in Ezekiel 4:3. It will meet us again in Ezekiel 20:46; Ezekiel 21:2; Ezekiel 25:2; Ezekiel 28:21;...

THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD, SMITE WITH THINE HAND, AND STAMP WITH THY FOOT,.... These are gestures of persons in distress and agony, who, to show their trouble and grief, smite one hand against the other; or smite with the hand upon the thigh, as in Jeremiah 31:19; and "stretch out", or "make a distension with the foot" d; as it is in the Hebrew text; extend their thighs; throw out their feet; stamp with them; beat the earth, and make it shake, as the Syriac version; all expressive of anguish and sorrow: AND SAY, ALAS, FOR ALL THE EVIL ABOMINATIONS OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL! the word "alas", or "woe", as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, an interjection of mourning and lamentation, explains the above gestures; and what follows shows the cause of all; namely, the sins and abominations committed by the house of Israel; which they being insensible of, and unconcerned about, the

Ezekiel 6:1. The mountains of Israel are mentioned first, because they were the places where the people practiced idolatry; they were the high places so often mentioned in the historical books. (Read Leviticus 26:30 .) Hundreds of years before, Moses wrote these words; and now they were all to be fulfilled. But the Lord also promised that a remnant should be left. That remnant would acknowledge the evil they had done. “They shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.” The words “because I am broken with their whorish heart” means literally translated, “When I shall have broken their whorish heart which has departed from Me.” No judgment which has ever come upon Israel made a complete end of the nation. A remnant always remained and returned to the Lord. (See...

The prospect of the awful destruction of the idolaters by sword, famine, and pestilence, moves Ezekiel to give vent to his feelings in gestures of triumphant scorn; far from pitying his sinful fellow-countrymen in the hour of their sore distress, rather does he rejoice in Yahweh's victory over them. (For _alas,_ Ezekiel 6:11, read _ha!_) And again comes the scornful reference to the impotent idols who could save neither the worshippers nor the sanctuaries nor the land from destruction, but desolation would reign across it all from the wilderness in the south to Riblah (as we should read for Diblah) on the Orontes in the far north, where, after the sack of Jerusalem, king Zedekiah was taken and blinded (2 Kings 25:7)....

THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL See note on Exodus 16:31....