Ezekiel 36

Ezekiel 36:1

Not go - Thou shalt be straitly confined.

Ezekiel 36:3

But - When ever I shall reveal any thing to thee. Open - I will give thee power to speak. Let - ‘Tis his duty and safety. Forbear - ‘Tis at his own peril.

Ezekiel 36:5

Portray - Draw a map of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 36:6

Lay siege - Draw the figure of a siege about the city. Build - Raise a tower and bulwarks.

Ezekiel 36:7

A wall - That it may resemble a wall of iron, for as impregnable as such a wall, shall the resolution and patience of the Chaldeans be.

Ezekiel 36:8

Lay - Take upon thee the representation of their guilt and punishment. House of Israel - The ten tribes. The number - By this thou shalt intimate how long I have borne with their sins, and how long they shall bear their punishment.

Ezekiel 36:9

I have laid - I have pointed out the number of years wherein apostate Israel sinned against me, and I did bear with them. Years - These years probably began at Solomon’s falling to idolatry, in the twenty - seventh year of his reign, and ended in the fifth of Zedekiah’s captivity.

Ezekiel 36:10

Accomplished - That is, almost accomplished. House of Judah - Of the two tribes. Forty days - Probably from Josiah’s renewing the covenant, until the destruction of the temple, during which time God deferred to punish, expecting whether they would keep their covenant, or retain their idolatries, which latter they did for thirteen years of Josiah’s reign, for eleven of Jehoiakim’s, and eleven of Zedekiah’s reign, and five of his captivity, which amount to just forty years. But all this was done in a vision.

Ezekiel 36:11

Set - While thou liest on thy side thou shalt fix thy countenance on the portrait of besieged Jerusalem. Uncovered - Naked and stretched out as being ready to strike.

Ezekiel 36:12

Bands - An invisible restraint assuring him, that those could no more remove from the siege, than he from that side he lay on.

Ezekiel 36:13

Take - Provide thee corn enough: for a grievous famine will accompany the siege. Wheat - All sorts of grain are to be provided, and all will be little enough. One vessel - Mix the worst with the best to lengthen out the provision.

Ezekiel 36:14

By weight - Not as much as you will, but a small pittance delivered by weight to all. Twenty shekels - Ten ounces: scarce enough to maintain life. From time to time - At set hours this was weighed out.

Ezekiel 36:15

The sixth part - About six ounces.

Ezekiel 36:16

As barley cakes - Because they never had enough to make a loaf with, they eat them as barley cakes. With dung - There was no wood left, nor yet dung of other creatures. This also was represented in a vision.

Ezekiel 36:21

May want - So because they served not God with chearfulness in the abundance of all things, He made them serve their enemies in the want of all things.

Ezekiel 36:23

Take - Thus foretel the mourning, reproach, and deformity that are coming, for all this is signified by shaving the head and beard.

Ezekiel 36:24

A third part - Described on the tile, chap.4:1, a type of what should be done in Jerusalem. The days - When the three hundred and ninety days of thy lying against the portrayed city shall be ended. With a knife - To signify them that fall by the sword. Scatter - To typify them that fell to the Chaldeans, or fled to Egypt, or other countries.

Ezekiel 36:25

Take - Of the last third. Bind - As men tied up in the skirt of their garment what they would not lose: to signify the small remnant.

Ezekiel 36:26

Of them - Out of that little remnant. In the fire - For their sin against God, their discontents at their state, and conspiracies against their governor, another fire shall break out which shall devour the most, and be near consuming all the houses of Israel.

Ezekiel 36:27

This is Jerusalem - This portrayed city, is typically Jerusalem. The midst - Jerusalem was set in the midst of the nations, to be as the heart in the body, to invigorate the dead world with a divine life, as well as to enlighten the dark world with a divine light.

Ezekiel 36:28

More - More than the heathen.

Ezekiel 36:29

Multiplied - In idols, superstitions, and wickedness. Neither - You have exceeded them in superstition and idolatry, and fallen short of them in moral virtues.

Ezekiel 36:31

Not done - Though the old world perished by water, and Sodom by fire, yet neither one or other was so lingering a death.

Ezekiel 36:32

Scatter - This was verified when they were fetched away, who were left at the departure of the besiegers, and when the very small remnant with Johanan fled into Egypt.

Ezekiel 36:33

Sanctuary - My temple. Detestable things - Thy idols.

Ezekiel 36:35

Comforted - In executing my vengeance. In my zeal - For my own glory.

Ezekiel 36:37

Taunt - A very proverb among them. Instruction - Sinners shall learn by thy miseries, what they may expect from me.