Ezekiel 6

Ezekiel 6:1-7

In this chapter we have, 1. The destruction of Israel and of their idols threatened, ver. 1—7. 2. A promise of the gracious return of a remnant of them to God by true repentance, ver. 8—10. 3. Directions given to the prophet and other the Lord’s servants, to lament both the iniquities and the calamities of Israel, ver. 11—14.

a Chap. novel, ii. a Lib. vi. 1. a Lev. rev. vi. Or fairinsight. Ver. 6. a Lev. rev. vi. I. lib. Danghill Pitt. Ibid. Div. a Kings vol. 18.

1. AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2. Son of man, set thy face towards the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them. 3. And say, “Ye mountains of Israel, bear the word of the LORD God, Thus faith the LORD God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, Behold, I, now I will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. 4. And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken; and I will rest down your Slain men before your I idols. 5. And I will say the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones round about

your altars. 6. In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be laid waite, and the high places shall be desolate, that your altars may be laid waite and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. 7. And the Slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

We have here repeated denunciations of vengeance against a rebellious people.

1. The prophet is commanded to set his face towards the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, against the whole land, and the inhabitants thereof; against the ground among them, particularly those who had been the ringleaders in wickedness: or the mountains are adorified, as if the rocks thereon were less obdurate, and the inanimate earth more ready to hear, than that stupid people; and against the hills, the rivers, and the mullers also, the especial scenes of their idolatry; or as deforgeries of the whole country against which judgment is denounced.

2. Utter destruction is threatened both against the idols and their worshippers, from God; for though the executioners of his wrath were the Chaldeans, the sword in their hands was his. So far from being able to protect their roaches, these sacked deities would be unable to defend themselves; their high places should be destroyed, their altars desolate, their images broken, and their dreadful gods (as the word for idols, ver. 4. signifies) rest into the dust; their worshippers should share their feet, Slain before their idols, their dead couple should be laid at their feet, and their bones scattered around their hateful altars; universal desolation should spread through the land, the cities be destroyed, every dwelling-place ruined, and those high places and altars defiled by their abominations, be now more defiled with the blood and carcasses of the Slain, and ye shall know that I am the Lord; by terrible experience convinced of the difference between those senseless idols they served, and that only living and true God whom they had slighted.

3. ¶ Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some of them that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries. 9. And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations, whether they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorlth heart which hath departed from me, and with their eyes which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. 10. And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.

Ezekiel 6:8-10

When God executes judgment, he still remembers mercy. Though none should be spared in proclaim, a remnant of the dispersed shall yet be rescued from the devouring sword.

1. They shall remember me. Either, [1.] The wrath of God, visible now in their sufferings among the nations whether they shall be carried captives, would drive them to him, afflictions being often the most salutary means of recovering their abiding soul: or, [2.] They would be drawn by the tender mercies of God they had slighted, who still yearned over them, though so highly provoked by their ungrateful departures from him, and who was broken with their other heart, grieved to behold their spiritual adulteries, and attachment to their idols. Nies, Nothing wounds the awakened sinner’s conscience more deeply, than a sense of his bare ingratitude, and his grieving the holy spirit of God.

2. This will produce self-loathing and genuine repentance. They shall both themselves for the rest they have committed in all their abominations; they will be brought, by remembrance of God, to a knowledge of their own abominations, will discover the malignity of their sins, and the multitude of evils they had overlooked; and this will produce self-abhorrence and self-loathing; even though God hath forgiven them, they never can forgive themselves.

3. They will then give glory to God. They shall know that I am the Lord, acknowledging the truth of his word, the justice of their punishment, and the wonders of his grace; and this will be the calls with every truly penitent foul.

4. ¶ Thus faith the LORD God, ‘Smite with thine hand, and flamp 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. 12. He that is far off shall die of the pestilence, and he that is near shall fall by the sword, and he that remaineth and is befuged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my duty upon them. 13. Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their Slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every

Benedictus Pitt. Ibid. 11.

Ezekiel 6:10

high hill in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet favour to all their idols. 14. So will ‘I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate; yea, ‘y more desolate than the wilderness towards Diblatb, in all their habitations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel 6:11-14

Since the Jews, in general were too unaffected both with their sufferings and sins, the prophet is ordered,

1. To express the throught sinfations of grief and anguish for them, if it might contribute to awaken them from their no-fordability, when they law him so deeply affected on their account. Sins with these hand, and flamp with thy feet, and say, that I for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; their sins were grievous, and their judgment would be terrible, devoted to famine, pestilence, and the sword. Note, God’s faithful ministers have the tenderest tenibility towards miserable sinners, and often weep over those who never shed a tear for themselves.

2. To repeat the same awful warnings as he had done before, that they may have line upon line, and be affiant of the certainty of the impending judgments: in vain is flight when God pursues, he that is far off shall die by the pestilence; in vain is shift, since, when the war is of the Lord, he that is now, and stands on his defence, shall fall by the justice, or perish by the famine in the finalists of the Siege. Since God’s fury is provoked, he will accomplish their destruction. Before those hated idols, in every place where they had offered incense unto them, shall their purest people lie unburied, a manifest token of God’s righteous vengeance, v. 13. More desolate than the howling and barren wilderness towards Diblatb, Deac, viz. 15, shall the whole land be made. And since they refuse to fly to him, and prove his mercy, God will force them to know him as the sin-averaging God, in the terrible judgments he will inflict upon them.