Ezekiel 14

Ezekiel 14:3-10

They have given their idols the highest place in their esteem and affections, and have set them up before them as objects of worship.-If any such consult me by a prophet, let them expect nothing but fearful denunciations of judgments, answerable to their abominable idolatries, and the horrid wickedness of their heart; answerable likewise to my glorious perfections, which I will magnify in making them the lasting monuments of just indignation.-Their false prophets will I give up to the delusions of their own heart, that I may fearfully destroy them, and those who consult them

Ezekiel 14:21-23

Either the deep repentance and penitent acknowledgments of those who should be brought to Babylon, or their sinful obduracy and horrid vices, would convince these who had been formerly carried captive that God had justly desolated their country, and make them glad that themselves had been so early carried capture. II

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XIV.—The very worst of men too often hypocritically put on specious appearances of religion. But it is at their peril to mock God, or attempt imposing upon him. His judgments will fall upon them, answerably to what they really are in his sight. Their sin, shame, and misery, are all owing to themselves. And of all sinners, the doom of hypocrites and deceitful preachers will be the most terrible. If we serve idols, our heart cannot fail to be estranged from God, and we must be for ever separated from him. If we love to be flattered in our sins, God will justly give us up to such flattery. And dreadful at last shall be the punishment both of deceivers and deceived. The punishments of sin on earth are intended to prevent others from the commission of it. Nor does God ever take men into covenant with himself without purging them from their odious iniquities. National sins, carried on to an enormous height, cannot long fail to bring on national judgments. And, if men who receive distinguished favours notoriously rebel, they may expect complicated judgments. God often averts general calamities for the sake of a few, who, in the general corruption, are singularly upright, pious, humble, and mighty in prayer. But, if nations be singularly ripened for ruin, such can only obtain their own deliverance, or a blessing on their own share in the common calamity. Yet how pleasant is it in evil days to see God reserving some monuments of mercy, and to see such benefited by his judgments and repenting of their sin;—And it is well when God is not only justified, but glorified, in the manifested wisdom and goodness of his afflictive dispensations