Ezekiel 20
DOYLY— And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.] The words probably refer to some noted high place, which the Jews frequented to perform their idolatrous worship. W. Lowth. The very word told them their wickedness, that they acted against the express will of God, and framed themselves to the idolatries of the nations. Poole.
tions.] The Prophet here expresses the Christian worship by those religious oblations which were proper to his own time; as the other Prophets frequently describe the state of the Christian Church by representations taken from the Jewish temple and service, Isai. xx. 19; lvi. 7; lx. 7; lxvi. 23. W. Lowth.
— and all faces from the south to the north] From one end of the land to the other. The length of Judah lay north and south. Poole. 49. — Doth he not speak parables? They complain of the obscurity of my prophecies. Bp. Hall. God therefore commands him, chap. xxi, to utter plainly what, ver. 47, 48, he was here instructed to deliver parabolically. W. Louth, Abp. Newcome. The foregoing chapter presents us with a detail of the favours, conferred by God upon the Jews; of their ingratitude for his blessings, and insensibility to his warnings; and of the severe judgments, which were for this reason to overtake them. God has done infinitely more for us than for the Jews; He has redeemed us by his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; He has given us the knowledge of his holy laws, by which we may obtain life; and the warnings, which He gives us, to induce us to serve and fear Him, are not less express, nor less frequent, than those addressed to his ancient people. If, after all, we fall into infidelity and disobedience, we shall be infinitely more criminal than the Jews, and our punishment will be proportionally more severe. Osterwald. Chap. XXI. ver. 2. Son of man, set thy face] Without all parables I say unto thee plainly, “Set thy face toward Jerusalem.” Bp. Hall. — set thy face, — drop thy word, — prophesy] These expressions are correspondent to those at chap. xx. 46. Abp. Newcome. — the holy places.] The temple and the several courts, which were holy in different degrees. Abp. Newcome. Before CHRIST 593. He prophesieth against Jerusalem. Before CHRIST 593.
Ezekiel 20:18
- But I said unto their children in the wilderness.] This refers to the many pathetical exhortations contained in the Book of Deuteronomy, particularly those in chap. xxiv, xxx, xxxi, and xxxii, which were uttered after that rebellious generation were all consumed, as God had threatened them, (see Numb. xiv. 32, 33; xxvi. 64, 65,) and were designed as warnings to succeeding generations, Deut. xxxi. 16—21. W. Lowth.
Ezekiel 20:25
- Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good.] God intended not here his own statutes and judgments, but the idolatrous statutes and judgments, the corrupt principles and practices, of the heathen nations, to which He sometimes gave up and abandoned his own people, because they first deserted and abandoned Him. This is the sense given to the passage by the Targum of Jonathan, and in the speech of St. Stephen in the New Testament, Acts vii. 42; and the context points to the same interpretation; for that this is its true sense appears chiefly from this, that God here describes these statutes and judgments by characters directly opposite to those He gives of his own in the same chapter. For it appears from ver. 11. 13. 21, and other passages, that the chief distinction of God’s own law was that a man “should live in them;” whereas He expressly says of these, that they were statutes and judgments, whereby “they should not live.” Also, at ver. 18, we have mention of statutes and of judgments, (the same words in the Hebrew as in this verse,) yet not meaning God’s statutes and judgments, but the corrupt customs and manners of their idolatrous ancestors, such as God permitted or gave them up to, because they
chose them, as is intimated in ver. 25. The original word for “give,” is frequently used in the permissive sense; and therefore “I gave them” in this verse may amount to no more than “I suffered such things.” Vitringa, Dr. Waterland, W. Lowth, Dr. Berriman. See also Ps. lxxxi. 12; Rom. i. 24.
Ezekiel 20:26
- — I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire &c.] This sufficiently intimates what kind of statutes and judgments God was just before speaking of; namely, the rites and practices of the heathen, whereby God polluted them, that is, gave them up to their own hearts’ lusts, to defile and pollute themselves. The Israelites had provoked God many ways, and more especially by their frequent idolatries; and therefore God gave them up to the vilest and most deplorable idolatry of all; namely, that of offering up their children as burnt offerings to Moloch. Vitringa, Dr. Waterland.
— that I might make them desolate, &c.] The consequence of which was, that they would be exposed to my anger, and at length would acknowledge my hand in the judgments inflicted on them. Abp. Newcome.
Ezekiel 20:28
- — then they saw every high hill, &c.] They cast their eyes upon those hills and groves whereon the heathen had been wont to offer their idolatrous sacrifices; and there, contrary to my commandments, they made their sinful oblations to provoke me to wrath. Bp. Holt.
Ezekiel 20:29
- — What is the high place &c.] What mean you that ye go to the high place? Should you not go to the altar of God, and bring your sacrifices to the temple,
Before CHRIST 593. h Chap. 16. 21. trespassed a trespass. Or, I told them what the high place was, or, Hannah. God premiseth to gather them by the Gospel. Before CHRIST 593. And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.
Ezekiel 20:31
- — I will not be enquired of by you.] I will answer you as little as you regard me. Poole.
Ezekiel 20:32
- — that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, &c.] The Jews had all along a fond desire of worshipping the gods of their neighbours, and could not bear that imputation of singularity, to which their peculiar way of worship exposed them. They thought likewise, by worshipping the gods of the heathen, to live more undisturbedly among them; but God tells them here, that He will prevent this purpose of their’s from taking effect. W. Lowth.
Ezekiel 20:33
- — surely with a mighty hand, &c.] I will no longer try to reclaim you by the gentle methods of patience and forbearance, but will govern you, as masters do rebellious servants, by stripes and corrections, and thus cure you of your hankering after heathen customs and idolatries. W. Lowth.
Ezekiel 20:34
- And I will bring you out from the people, &c.] You would have me abandon you for ever, as the nations whom I suffer to go on quietly in their ways. But I will punish you, and retain you in your allegiance to me. Calmet.
Ezekiel 20:35
- And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, &c.] I will bring you into the desert land of your captivity under the heathen, and there will I argue this
case with you: laying before you those offences wherewith you have justly provoked me. Bp. Hall. The phrase alludes to the wilderness, through which the Jews passed in their way to Canaan, in order to the trial of the obedient, and the destruction of the rebellious. W. Lowth.
Ezekiel 20:37
- — under the rod.] Both of correction and guidance. Bp. Hall.
— into the bond of the covenant.] And I will recall you to the memory and recognition of that bond and mutual covenant which has been made between us. Bp. Hall.
Or, “I will bring you into the discipline of my covenant;” that is, bring you into the chastisement due for breaking my covenant, Lev. xxvi. 25. W. Lowth, Abp. Newcome.
Ezekiel 20:38
-
— will purge out] I will separate the righteous from the wicked; see ver. 37. This may be understood of the captive Israelites in Chaldea and Babylon; God well knew how to distinguish among the captives, the just from the unjust. He will bring back the former into their country, and will disperse the latter into every part of the world. The passage may have further reference to the Jews who rejected our Saviour; they have been driven from their country, and have not re-entered the land of Israel. Calmet.
-
— Go ye. A permission, full of indignation and rebuke. W. Lowth. See the notes on Numb. xxii. 20; 2 Kings ii. 17. 18.
Ezekiel 20:40
- For in mine holy mountain, &c.] But for you, who are the true spiritual seed of faithful Israel, you shall all serve me in my holy Church, and I will both expect and graciously accept of those services and devotions which ye shall offer unto me. Bp. Hall.
— all of them in the land.] All of the house of Is- Ezekiel foresheweth the destruction of Jerusalem. Before CHRIST 593. of rest. offerings, and the || firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.
Ezekiel 20:43
- — and ye shall lothe yourselves] See chap. vi. 9; xvi. 63.
Ezekiel 20:44
- And ye shall know that I am the Lord, &c.] As in the height of God’s vengeance on the sins of this wretched people, the distant prospect always terminated in a mercy; so with a mercy and a promise of better times the whole of this prophetic scene is closed, in order that those, to whom it is addressed, should, however criminal, not be left in an utter state of desperation, but be afforded some shadow of repose in the prospect of future peace and tranquillity. The idea of mercy is naturally attached to that of repentance and reformation; and with mercy the prophecy ends. Bp. Warburton.
Ezekiel 20:45
- Moreover the word &c.] The next chapter should have begun here; as what is contained in the 2nd and following verses of that chapter is an explanation of what is included in the latter part of this. Grotius, Houbigant.
Ezekiel 20:46
- — the forest of the south &c.] Ezekiel was in the northern part of Chaldea, and therefore Judea was to the south of him. Abp. Secker supposes, that a city is called a forest, rather from its inhabitants than its buildings. In this verse there are three Hebrew words for the “south.” Abp. Newcome.
Ezekiel 20:47
- — every green tree &c.] The righteous as well as the wicked, see chap. xxi. 3. Many of these two classes the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;