Ezekiel 37

Ezekiel 37:1

Bereave thee - Of your children, friends, and your own life. Pestilence and blood - Thy land shall be the common road for pestilence and blood. Tho’ this prophecy was to be accomplished presently, in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; yet it may well be supposed to look forward, to the final destruction of it by the Romans, when God made a full end of the Jewish nation, and caused his fury to rest upon them.

Ezekiel 37:3

Bereave thee - Of your children, friends, and your own life. Pestilence and blood - Thy land shall be the common road for pestilence and blood. Tho’ this prophecy was to be accomplished presently, in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; yet it may well be supposed to look forward, to the final destruction of it by the Romans, when God made a full end of the Jewish nation, and caused his fury to rest upon them.

Ezekiel 37:4

The mountains - The inhabitants of the mountains, who were secure in their fastnesses.

Ezekiel 37:5

Rivers - To those who dwell by river sides, or in the valleys. High places - The places of your idolatrous worship.

Ezekiel 37:6

Cast down - Before the altars of your idols, which you fly to for refuge.

Ezekiel 37:7

And - Thus the idols were upbraided with their inability to help their worshippers, and the idolaters, with the folly of trusting in them.

Ezekiel 37:8

Your works - All your costly work for your idols.

Ezekiel 37:10

Remnant - It is the Lord that preserves a remnant, the enemies rage would destroy all.

Ezekiel 37:11

Shall remember - So as to turn unto me. Broken - I am much grieved. Whorish heart - Idolatrous hearts depart from God, as an adulterous wife departs from her husband. Loath - With a mixture of grief towards God, of indignation against themselves, and abhorrence of the offence.

Ezekiel 37:12

In vain - Either without cause, the sufferers gave him just cause to pronounce that evil; or without effect. Their sins where the cause, and their destruction is the effect of their sufferings.

Ezekiel 37:13

Smite - To shew thy wonder, indignation, sorrow, and pity, for their sins and sufferings.

Ezekiel 37:14

Far off - Either by flight, or captivity. Shall fall - Who dwell near to Jerusalem, or would retire to it, when the Babylonians approach.

Ezekiel 37:16

Wilderness - The horrid wilderness of Moab. Therein the fiery serpents so much annoyed Israel. Accordingly the land of Canaan is at this day one of the most desolate countries in the world.

Ezekiel 37:18

An end - An end of God’s patience, and of the peace and welfare of the people.

Ezekiel 37:21

Recompense - The punishment of them.

Ezekiel 37:22

An evil - An evil and sore affliction, a singular, uncommon one.

Ezekiel 37:23

An end - When the end is come upon the wicked world, then an only evil comes upon it. The sorest of temporal judgments have their allays; but the torments of the damned are an evil, an only evil.

Ezekiel 37:24

The morning - The fatal morning, the day of destruction. Sounding - Not a mere echo, not a fancy, but a real thing.

Ezekiel 37:27

Is come - Of your wickedness; pride and violence in particular.

Ezekiel 37:28

None - They shall be utterly wasted for their sins. Wailing - The living shall not bewail their dead friends, because they shall judge the dead in a better case than the living.