Ezekiel 20
1 “And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth
month, the tenth day
of the month, that
certain of the elders of
and sat before
me. 2 Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,”
A new date is given, and includes what follows to ch.23:49.
The last note of time
was in ch.8:1, and eleven months and five days had passed,
during which the
prophecies of the intervening chapters had been written or
spoken. We may note
further that it was two years one month and five days after
the prophet’s call to
his work (ch. 1.), and two years
and five months before the Chaldeans besieged
that some of the elders
of
message of the Lord he had to give them in the present
crisis. Whether any
stress is to be laid on the fact that here the elders are
said to be “of
and in (Ibid.) “of
seems to use the two words as interchangeable. Here,
however, it is stated
more definitely that they came to inquire, probably in the hope that he would
tell them, as the false prophets were doing,
that the time of their deliverance, and
of that of
delivers the discourse that follows.
3 “Son of man, speak unto the elders of
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to inquire of me? As I
live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.”
The inquirers are answered, but not as they expected.
Instead of hearing of the
“times and seasons” of the events that were in the near future, the prophet at once
enters on his stern work as a preacher. The general
principle that determines the
refusal to answer has been given in ch.
14:3.
The Silent Oracle (vs. 1-3)
An embassy of elders is sent to Ezekiel to make an inquiry
of the Lord
through the prophet as to what is to be expected at a new
juncture of
national affairs, and Ezekiel is instructed to tell them
that God will
give no answer.
TEACH THEM ARE ANXIOUS
FOR LIGHT ON LESS IMPORTANT
QUESTIONS. This was the peculiar, the inconsistent, position of
God had not been
keeping silence. On the contrary, he
had been sending
repeated messages to his people,
and the Prophet Ezekiel had been busy in
teaching what God had revealed
to him. (…..the Lord God of their fathers
sent to them by
His messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because
He had compassion
on His people…….But they mocked the messengers
of God and
despised His words, and misused His prophets, until
the
wrath of the Lord
arose against His people, TILL THERE WAS NO
REMEDY!” II Chronicles 36:15-16).
This was not a time, like that of
Samuel, when the word of the
Lord was rare. But the people had not cared
to receive the Divine messages. Here was Ezekiel’s trouble. He had to
preach to deaf ears and to
exhibit his prophetic signs to blind eyes
(ch.
12:2). Likewise Isaiah and Jeremiah. See
Isaiah 6:9-10; Jeremiah 5:21;
Matthew 13:14-15; Mark 4:12;
Luke 8:10; John 12:40. The perversity of
his
audience had driven him to novel
and startling symbolical representations
of truth in a last, despairing
endeavor to arrest attention. And yet even these
efforts seemed to have been all
in vain. Then there came to him an embassy,
innocently ignoring
all these neglected oracles, and
blandly requesting a
Divine answer to
certain inquiries of their own. Was
there ever a more insolent
approach to God? Now, we have a full and rich Divine revelation in the
Bible,
and especially in the gospel of Christ. Here we may see God’s message to man
and God’s answer
to the most momentous inquiries of the soul. Yet there are
men who set aside
these voices of God, and then plead piteously for light. No
doubt these elders of
they were anxious for light on
their fate. They were like those people who
discuss the problem of future
punishment, and with keen interest, but who
are indifferent to the voice of
conscience and the Divine call to repentance.
Yet there is a pathetic side to
this subject. Those who reject God still feel
driven to Him for refuge in
trouble.
THOSE WHO REFUSE TO GIVE HEED TO HIS WORD ALREADY
RECEIVED. We cannot be
surprised that Ezekiel’s oracle was silenced.
Such insolence as that of the elders of Israel could meet with no more
gracious reception.
Ø
If we refuse to hear God’s
Word, we must expect to be left in darkness.
Before we cry for more light, let us use the light we have. We may indeed
pray for God’s Spirit to help
our interpretation of the Bible, and having
read the written Word we may
crave more light still. But first to reject the
Divine revelation and then to
seek for new light is not the way to receive
more truth.
Ø
God will not give light to those who harden themselves in
impenitence.
The Jews had been charged with
sin and called to repentance. They had
refused to admit the charge and
had declined to repent. Thus they had
shut the door
against further Divine communications. The
spiritual
vision is best purged by the tears
of penitence. A hard heart is deaf
to God’s Word.
Ø It is useless
to be informed about the future unless we listen to the
spiritual teachings of God. Men resorted to
oracles to satisfy idle curiosity
or to seek mere worldly
guidance. God does not speak for such
comparatively worthless ends. We
most need spiritual instruction for the
guidance of our souls into the
way of life. Till we have received and
obeyed that instruction any
other form of revelation must be irrelevant,
distracting, and therefore
positively injurious. (Characterized by
seeking unto soothsayers and
fortune-tellers)
4 “Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them?
Cause them to know
the abominations
of their fathers:” Wilt thou judge them, etc.? The doubled question
has the force of
a strong imperative. The prophet is directed, as it were, to assume the
office of a judge, and as such to press home upon his
hearers, and through them upon
others, their own sins and those of their fathers. He is
led, in doing so, to yet another
survey of the nation’s history; not now, as in chapter16,
in figurative language,
but directly.
5 “And say unto them, Thus saith the
Lord GOD; In the day when I
chose
Jacob, and made
myself known unto them in the land of Egypt,
when I lifted up
mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your
God; 6 In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring
them
forth of the
with milk and
honey, which is the glory of all lands:”
In the day that I lifted up
mine hand. The attitude was that of one who takes an oath (Exodus
6:8), and
implies the confirmation
of the covenant made with Abraham. The land flowing
with milk and honey appears first in (Ibid. 3:8, and became proverbial. The glory of
all lands is peculiar to Ezekiel. Isaiah (Isaiah 13:19) applies
the word to
7 “Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the
abominations
of his eyes, and
defile not yourselves with the idols of
the LORD your God.”
The
Elect
The elect
the
peculiarities of the one as indications of the special marks of the other.
·
THE WAY IN WHICH
Ø
people
before they choose Him — chooses them out of the multitude, and
so
constitutes them a separate nation. The grounds of the choice rest with
Him and need
not be divulged. But we may be sure there are grounds, and
that
these are not arbitrary. History has
revealed one great end of the
election
of
channel
of blessing to all nations.
So the Church is chosen to be God’s
means of
bringing the gospel to the whole world.
Ø Chosen in a state of degradation. The Jews were chosen in
Though promises
had been made to the patriarchs centuries earlier, the
fulfillment
of those promises commenced with God’s deliverance from the
bondage
of Pharaoh. When the people
seemed to be most lost they were
found
by God. When they appeared to be of least value He chose them for
Himself. The Lord married the castaway child (ch.
16:8). Thus God
now takes
His people in their low estate.
Ø Chosen by deeds of might.
God proved His choice by
bringing His people
out of
bondage. He “lifted up” His “hand unto the seed of the house of
Jacob.” With God to will is to do. The
mighty deeds of God in the plagues
and the passage of the
WORK IN CHRIST! In Christ God does not only choose us, He lifts up
His hand to save.
Ø Chosen through the revelation of God. God made known His Name to
voice.
The revelation of Christ goes with the election of God. The chosen
are
called by means of the gospel.
·
THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH
Ø
High privileges.
o
Deliverance. The Jews were chosen to be delivered from
chooses
His people, in the first place, in order to save them from their
evil
condition. Salvation is the first result of election.
o
The possession of
which is the glory of all lands,” was given to
inherited
by right, nor won by the sword apart from God’s interference.
God gives His
people the kingdom of heaven here, and the heavenly
the
true people of God; for the fruits of the gospel are sweeter and
more
satisfying to the soul than the best crops of
Ø
Holy living. There was a condition of the Divine election, or rather, a
condition on which the continuation of its privileges depended. The
Jews
were to cast away their idols, as God could endure no rivals.
The people
had been chosen in their idolatry; but they were required to
renounce it.
God chooses His people now while
they are yet sinners. But His choice
means that they must give up their sins, and if they still
cleave to them
the election will be rendered null and void. The great mercy
of God in
choosing souls before the souls have turned to him should be
sufficient
ground to induce all who accept the privileges of the gospel to live up
to the standard it sets forth. After God has chosen us to be His people
the least we can do is to choose Him to be our Portion “My flesh
and my heart faileth; but God is the
strength of my heart, and
my portion for ever.”(Psalm
73:26).
8 “But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken
unto me: they did
not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes,
neither did they
forsake the idols of
fury upon them,
to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the
polluted before
the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made
myself known unto
them, in bringing them forth out of the
10 Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the
brought them into
the wilderness.” No special mention of the idols of
occurs in the Pentateuch, but it lies, in the nature of the
case, that this was the
form of idolatry implied in the second commandment, and the
history of the
“golden calf”
(Exodus 32:4) shows that they had caught the infection
of the Mnevis or Apis worship while they sojourned in
apparently the prophet speaks of that sojourn prior to the
mission of
Moses. In bold anthropomorphic speech he represents Jehovah
as half
purposing to make an end of the people there and then, and
afterwards
repenting. He
wrought for his Name’s sake, that the deliverance of the
Exodus might manifest His righteousness and might, the
attributes specially
implied in that Name, to
not have it in their power to say that He had abandoned the
people whom
He had chosen.
God, and
“And say unto them, Thus saith
the Lord God; In the day when I chose
in the
the day when chose
house of Jacob,
and made myself known unto them in the
when I lifted up
mine hand unto them, saying, I am the Lord your God.”
The day when God chose
their God was the time when He
interposed on their behalf by His servant
Moses. He chose them; they did
not choose Him. They did not seek to
serve or worship Him; but He
sent Moses to demand their emancipation in
order that they might worship
and serve Him. And He thus chose them
neither for their greatness nor
their goodness, but because of His own love
for them and His fidelity to his
promises made unto their fathers (compare
Deuteronomy 7:7-8). He chose
them to receive special revelations of
religious and redemptive truth,
to be “a people for His own possession,” His
visible Church in the world, and
His witnesses amongst men, testifying to
His unity and supremacy, and
observing and maintaining His worship (compare
Ibid. ch.10:15; 14:2). And still
God of His grace calls men to Himself. He
begins
with us, and not we with Him. “God commendeth
His love toward us, in
that, while we
were yet sinners CHRIST DIED FOR US!” (Romans 5:8);
“Herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His
Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.” (I John 4:10). If we have sought
God, it was because He first sought us. “By the grace of God I am what
I am” (I Corinthians 15:10).
And the Lord made Himself known to them as
their God, both by declarations
and by mighty
deeds wrought on their behalf
(Exodus 3:14; 6:1-8). He chose them to be His
people; He gave Himself to
them to be their God. “I am the Lord your God.” ‘Your God.’ This is a great
word, and hath great mercy in it; an
engaging word, tying God and all
His
attributes to
them:
Ø
your God to
counsel you,
Ø
your God to
protect you,
Ø
your God to
deliver you,
Ø
your God to
comfort you,
Ø
your God to
plead for you,
Ø
your God to
teach you,
Ø
your God to set
up His Name and worship among you,
Ø
your God to
bless you with the dews of heaven and fullness of the
earth,
Ø
your God to hear your prayers and make you happy!
And he asserts this relationship
in the most solemn manner. “I lifted up mine
hand unto them,” i.e. I sware unto them.
PEOPLE. (V. 6.) This
purpose has two branches.
Ø
To deliver them from a miserable condition. “In that day I lifted up mine
hand unto them,
to bring them forth out of the
the power of their cruel
oppressors, and by a mighty hand He set them free
from their burdens, and led them
out of the land of their captivity. And
when men believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and respond to His call, He
delivers them
from the bondage of sin. He came into
our world to
“proclaim liberty
to the captives” (Isaiah 61:1; Luke
4:18), to save men
from the
power and pollution and punishment of sin.
Ø
To establish them in a desirable condition. “Into a land that I had
espied for them,
flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory
of all lands.”
o
This land was
selected for them by God. He summoned
Abram to
go forth unto the land that
He would show him (Genesis 12:1; and
compare Exodus 3:8,17). “He shall choose our inheritance for us,
the excellency of
Jacob whom He loved.”
Ø
This land was
excellently situated and richly fertile.
(We have noticed
these points in treating of
ch.19:10.) In its natural fortifications, its
remarkable fertility, and its
religious privileges, it was glorious as
compared with other lands. And
this land God gave unto them. And
our Saviour
Jesus Christ not only delivers from sin those who believe
on Him, but He introduces them
into a condition of spiritual privilege
and progress. “Ye received not the spirit of bondage again
unto fear,”
etc. (Romans 8:15-17); “Beloved,
now are we children of God,” etc.
(I John 3:2).
them, Cast ye
away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not
yourselves with
the idols of
obligation arises out of the
relationship stated in v. 5. Because they are His
people and He is
their God, they must be true to Him as their
God, having
no connection with
idols. The great basis of their
obligation to Him is contained
in the words, “I am Jehovah your God” (compare Exodus 20:1-2). In this
prohibition of idolatry there
are two points which call for brief notice.
Ø
Sin entering by
the eyes. “The abominations of his eyes”
— an
expression which denotes idols.
The eyes look upon the idols, become
familiar with them, and come to
behold them with respect and reverence.
The eyes are both inlets
and outlets to the heart. They
convey to the heart
the impression of the idol, and
if the heart come to reverence the idol, they
express that reverence in their
gaze. The eyes are often an avenue
through which
temptation to sin enters the soul.
Ø
Sin defiling the
heart. “Defile
not yourselves with the idols of
Sin pollutes our moral life at
its very springs. It proceeds from an impure
heart, and it makes the heart
still more impure. David was conscious of its
defilement when he prayed, “Wash
me throughly from mine iniquity,”
etc.
(Psalm 51:2, 7, 10). The people of God are under the most binding
obligations to shun everything
that would lead to their moral
contamination, and to be true to
Him both in heart and in life.
Ø
The nature of this rebellion. “But they rebelled against me, and
would not
hearken unto me; they did not every man cast away
the abominations
of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols
of
idolatrous practices. The Mosaic history does not explicitly mention
the idolatry of the
Israelites in
The making and worship of
the golden calf
was probably an imitation
of the Egyptian worship of
the various sacred
cows or of the sacred
bulls. It appears from
Leviticus 17:7 (Revised Version), that in the
desert the Israelites
offered sacrifices to he-goats, and “the worship of
a deity under the form of a
he-goat was peculiar to
(Hengstenberg).
That they worshipped idols in
also from Joshua 24:14, “Put
away The gods which your fathers
served beyond the
river, and in
And from ch.
23:3 of our prophet, “They committed whoredoms
in
to do.
Ø
The punishment of this rebellion. “Then I said I
would pour out my
fury upon them,
to accomplish my anger against them in the midst
of the
(Exodus 5:5-23), were signs
of the anger of the Lord against them. The
Egyptians acted wickedly and
cruelly in thus ill treating them; for they
Had not wronged them. Yet they
might have been the unconscious agents
Of punishing the Israelites for
their unfaithfulness to the Lord their God.
This is certain, that persistent
sin invariably meets with deserved punishment.
NOTWITHSTANDING THE REBELLION OF THE PEOPLE. “But I
wrought for my
Name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of
the nations,
among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known
unto them, in
bringing them forth out of the
Numbers 14:13-16). Had He not
accomplished His purpose in delivering
them out of
Egyptians and others. They might
have questioned or even denied:
Ø
His ability to execute
His purposes and fulfill His promises, asserting
that He did not do so
because He could not (Ibid. vs. 15-16).
Ø
His fidelity to His
purposes and promises, asserting that He does not
abide by His
determinations, but is changeable and therefore unreliable.
Ø
His kindness towards
His people, asserting that He is not so deeply
interested in them as to always
fulfill His engagements with them.
Therefore, for His Name’s sake,
He brought
sins man may exclude
himself from any participation in their
fulfillment, or any
enjoyment thereof; but he cannot defeat their
fulfilment (compare Exodus 32:9-10; Numbers 14:11-12; 23:19;
II Timothy 2:13).
Ø
Warnings against rebellion against God.
Ø
Encouragements to trust and obey Him.
See sequel, God and
11 “And I gave them my statutes, and shewed
them my judgments,
which if a man
do, he shall even live in them.” I gave them my statutes, etc.
Ezekiel recognizes, almost in the very language of Deuteronomy 30:16-20,
as fully as the writers of Psalms 19 and 119 recognized, the excellence of the Law.
A man who kept that Law in its fullness would have life in its fullest and highest
sense. He was beginning, however, to recognize, as Jeremiah had
done
(Jeremiah 31:31), the
powerlessness of the Law to give that life without the aid of
something higher.
The “new covenant” was already dawning on the mind of the
scholar as on that of the master.
Law and Life (v. 11)
His statutes in order that the
Jews might live by means of them. Without
those ordinances they were in
danger of death, for they were sinners, and
the fruit of sin is death. Thus
we see that the Law was given in mercy. It
came as a blessing. It was in
its aim a gospel. Nothing can be further from
the truth than the notion that
it was a rod of chastisement, or even, as some
have regarded it, an evil thing,
a sort of curse upon sinners. It was not so
regarded by the Old Testament
saints, who sang hymns in praise of it, and
hailed it with language of
affection and rapture (e.g. Psalm 40. and 119).
Ø
Truth leads to life. The Law was a
revelation of God’s eternal verities,
without which the soul would perish in the
night of its own ignorance.
Ø
Righteousness would make for life. The Law declared
the nature of
righteousness, and pointed out
the path on which it could be pursued.
Thus it was an aid to
conscience. Further, by its sanctions of menace
And promise it urged the
careless to walk in that path.
Ø
Grace leads to life.
The Law did not exclude all grace. On the
contrary,
it was given in mercy, and it
contained saving provisions in various
forms of condescension to human
weakness and in the great institution
of sacrifices for sin.
We have come to regard the
Law with aversion under the influence of
the arguments of Paul. Yet he
distinctly teaches that the Law was good,
but that the perversion of it
led to ruin (Romans 7:12).
Ø
The Law condemns sin. Before we have sinned
it is a friend to warn us
against doing wrong, but by sinning we have turned it into an enemy.
The warning beacon has thus
become an ominous meteor, the sign post a
gallows tree. That which by its
guidance protects the innocent from
death, by its judgments condemns
the guilty to death (Romans 7:10).
Ø
The Law is powerless to save from sin.
o
Its commandments
cannot save. They are standards of
measurement, not direct
powers. Though they urge through
conscience, fear, and hope,
they only appeal to our nature in
its present state. They do not create a new heart. They may
drive us to flee
from the wrath to come; but they do
not provide any
refuge.
o
Its sacrifices
cannot save. Ceremonial sacrifices
could only save
from ceremonial sins. In
regard to moral guilt these sacrifices
could only typify
cleansing, not really accomplish it (Psalm 51:16;
Hebrews 10:4).
LIFE. The Law was “weak,”
though not on account of its own
imperfection, but “through
the flesh,” i.e. on account of man’s human
degradation, so that man did not
respond to it. Therefore God
sent His Son
to bring the
salvation which the Law was powerless
to produce (Romans 8:3).
Ø
In Christ we have the gift of life. (I John 5:12).
Nothing less than
death is due under the Law; nothing less than life is
given by Christ.
This we receive
by ACTIVE REGENERATING GRACE, not by
the erection of a new
standard of morals — the Sermon on the
Mount
substituted for the Ten Commandments — but by the
presence and work
of a living Saviour.
Ø
This life in Christ does not destroy the glory of the Law.
o
Christ satisfies the
Law in His own Person.
o
He destroys in us the
sin which makes the Law our enemy
and earns the death
penalty.
o
He gives us His new
law of love, His eternal statutes, “which,
if a man do, he
shall even live in them” (Matthew
7:24-27;
John 15:10).
12 “Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths,
to be a sign between me
and them, that
they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify
them.” I
gave them my sabbaths, etc.
As in Exodus 31:12-17,
the sabbath is treated as the
central sign (we might almost say sacrament)
of the Jewish Church, not only as a mark differencing them
from other
nations, but as between Jehovah and them, a witness of
their ideal
relation to each other, a means of making that ideal
relation a reality.
(
into the seventy years of Captivity - II Chronicles 36:21 –
CY – 2014)
13 “But the house of
walked not in my
statutes, and they despised my judgments, which
if a man do, he
shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they
greatly polluted:
then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them
in the
wilderness, to consume them. 14 But I wrought for my
name’s sake,
that it should
not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought
them out. 15 Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness,
that I
would not bring
them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk
and honey, which
is the glory of all lands;” It is hardly necessary to count up the
several instances of
rebellion, from the sin of the golden calf onward. Of direct
violation of the sabbath we have but two recorded instances (Exodus 16:27;
Numbers 15:32); but the prophet looked below the surface,
and would
count a mere formal observance, that did not sanctify the sabbath, as a
pollution of the holy day. (For parallel teaching in the
prophets, see
Isaiah 56:2-4; 58:13-14; Jeremiah 17:19-27; and later on in
the history,
probably as the result of their teaching, Nehemiah
10:31-33; 13:15-22.)
Then I said. The history of Numbers 14:26-35 and 26:65 was probably in
Ezekiel’s thoughts.
16 “Because they
despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes,
but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.
17 Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them,
neither
did I make an end
of them in the wilderness.” Their
heart went after their idols.
The words may point generally
to the fact that the idolatrous tendencies of the
people, though suppressed,
were not really eradicated. The history of Baal-peor
(Numbers 25:3-9) shows how ready they were to pass into
act, and Amos 5:25-26
implies a tradition of other like acts during the whole
period of the wanderings in
the wilderness.
18 “But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye
not in the
statutes of your
fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile
yourselves with
their idols: 19 I am the LORD your God;
walk in my
statutes, and
keep my judgments, and do them; 20 And hallow my sabbaths;
and they shall be
a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the
LORD your God.”
The Sanctity of the Sabbath (v. 20)
The sabbath was given to
(Exodus 20:8-11). But it also had a deeper mystical
significance which
gave it a peculiar sanctity. It was the sign of
chosen people might be marked, the seal of the covenant of
Sinai, as
circumcision was the seal of the earlier covenant with
Abraham. In this
particular, of course, the sabbath
belonged only to the Jews under the Law,
and our neglect of the seventh day and observance of the “Lord’s day”
are
signs that we have passed under a new covenant with a new
sanction, seal,
and token, viz. that of the communion (Luke 22:20), which
therefore
takes a place with us corresponding to the sabbath in the Law and
circumcision among the patriarchs. Nevertheless, the
grounds on which the
sabbath was selected as the symbol of the covenant of the Law are
wider
than the dominion of
ascertaining their perpetual
significance.
NATURE. God rested
from creation (Genesis 2:2). This fact is stated
in primitive language. But the
latest science shows that the course of
nature is not a mechanical
revolution, but a sort of vital pulsation. Its
movement is rhythmic. It goes by
shock and pause. It has its work and its
rest. Summer activity and winter
sleep, day and night, storm and calm, are
nature’s alternate week days and
sabbaths. We are part of nature, and must
observe its methods.
THE NEEDS OF MAN. “The sabbath was made for man
and not
man for the sabbath.” (Mark 2:27).
Therefore man needed the sabbath.
Ø
He needed the rest. Ceaseless toil wears and frets the very fiber of life.
Masters and slaves, as well as
the beast of burden, were benefited by the
Jewish sabbath.
We are not under the same formal regulations as those by
which
modern world are so much more
exacting than any that can be imagined to
belong to the simple pastoral
and agricultural life of the ancient Jews, that
the requirement of some
equivalent to their sabbath must be much stronger
with us.
Ø
He needed the opportunity FOR
REMEMBERING GOD! The sabbath
Was sacred to the covenant.
Sunday is sacred to the resurrection of Christ.
The congenial thoughts and
holy occupations of such a day are helpful.
“The Sundaies of man’s life,
Thredded together on time’s string,
Make
bracelets to adorn the wife
Of the
eternal, glorious King.
On Sunday
heaven’s gates stand ope;
Blessings
are plentiful and rife,
More
plentiful than hope.”
(George Herbert.)
GOD. God ordained the
sabbath; it was typical of His resting; and it was
the seal of His covenant with
day. Christ has warned us
against the formal abuse of its sanctity, and
Paul has dared to assert a large
Christian liberty in regard to it. Anything
that makes its use formal savours of the Law, is Judaistic,
is anti-Christian.
Anything that makes it a day of
gloom and repression is even contrary to
its old Jewish observance as a
festival. But, on the other hand, God has
claims of worship. If Sunday is
given up to amusement or toil those claims
are ignored. It is our duty to
give them all possible range in this age of
driving secular interests. Thus
are we led on to
“The sabbaths of eternity,
One sabbatic, deep and wide.”
(Tennyson, ‘St. Agnes.’)
21 “Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they
walked not in my
statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a
man do, he shall
even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then
I said, I would
pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against
them in the
wilderness. 22 Nevertheless I withdrew
mine hand, and wrought
for my name’s
sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen,
in whose sight I
brought them forth.” I
said unto their children, etc. The words
can refer to nothing
but the great utterance of the Book of Deuteronomy as
addressed to the
children of those who had perished in the wilderness. That
utterance also,
it is implied, as indeed the Baal-peor history at the
close of the
forty years showed, fell on deaf
ears. Then also there was, once again,
in the
inevitable anthropomorphic language, a change of purpose,
from that of a
rigorous judgment to the mercy which prevailed against it.
23 “I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness,
that I would
scatter them
among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;
24 Because they had not executed my judgments, but had
despised my
statutes, and had
polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after
their fathers’
idols.” That I would scatter them among the heathen. The
words
seem to refer to the generation that had grown up in the
wilderness, and,
so taken, do not correspond with the history of the
conquest of
What Ezekiel contemplates, however, as the resolve of
Jehovah, is the
commutation of the sentence of destruction for that of the
dispersion of the
people, leaving the time and manner of that dispersion to
be determined by
His own will. Possibly even in the time of the judges, with
its many
conquests and long periods of oppression, there were
instances of such
dispersion, and these, with others that would naturally
accompany an
invasion like that of Shishak (II
Chronicles 12:2-9), not to speak of
frequent attacks from Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines, Edomites, and
Syrians, may have seemed to the prophet the working out,
step by step, of
the dispersion which culminated in the deportation of the
ten tribes by
Shalmaneser, and of Judah and Benjamin by Nebuchadnezzar.
Traces of
such dispersions before Ezekiel’s time meet us in Psalm
78:59-64;
Isaiah 11:11-12; Zephaniah 3:10, 20.
25 “Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good,
and
judgments whereby
they should not live;” The words have sometimes been
understood as though Ezekiel applied these terms to the Law itself, either as
speaking of what Paul calls its “weak and beggarly elements” (Galatians
4:9),
or as unable to work out the righteousness which it commanded (Romans 3:20),
and the language of Hebrews
7:19 and 10:1 has been urged in support of this view.
One who has
studied Ezekiel with any care will not need many words to show
that such a conclusion was not in his thoughts at all. For
him the Law was
“holy and just and good,” and its statutes such that a man who should keep
them should even live in them (vs. 13, 21). He is speaking
of the time
that followed on the second publication of that Law, and
what he says is
that the people who rebelled
against it were left, as it were, to a law of
another kind. The baser, darker forms of idolatry are
described by him,
with a grave irony, as statutes
and judgments of
another kind, working,
not life, but DEATH!
Sin became, by God’s appointment, the
punishment of
sin, that it might be manifest as exceeding sinful. So
Stephen says of
that “God turned, and
gave them up to worship the host of heaven”
(Acts 7:42). So Paul paints the corruptions of the heathen
world as
the result of God’s giving them up to “vile affections”
(Romans 1:24-27).
So in God’s future dealings with an apostate form of
Christianity, the
same apostle declares that “God
shall send them strong delusions that they
should believe a lie”
(II Thessalonians 2:11). Psalm 81:12 may
have
been in Ezekiel’s thoughts as asserting the same general
law.
26 “And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they
caused to pass
through the fire
all that openeth the womb, that I might make them
desolate, to the
end that they might know that I am the LORD.”
God, and
“Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of
chief teachings of this section of the chapter may be
developed under the
following heads.
This is brought into our notice in four respects.
Ø
In the deeds which He wrought for them. “l caused them to
go forth
out of the
emancipation from their
oppressors was effected by the mighty hand of
God, and of His unmerited grace
to them. Our Lord Jesus is the great
Deliverer from
the serfdom of sin and Satan (compare Isaiah
61:1; John
8:36).
Ø
In the gifts which He bestowed upon them.
o
His Law. “And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my
judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them.” Statutes
and judgments express the
general idea of law. This God gave
to them at Sinai, soon
after their deliverance from
this Law was given
for life unto them (compare Exodus
20:12;
Matthew 19:17; Romans 7:10, 12). “The precepts
which God
gave His people bring life and salvation
with them to him who
does them. What grace in
God, who
gives such precepts! What a
summons to true obedience! These precepts also imply before
all things that they
shall confess their sins and seek forgiveness
in THE BLOOD OF
THE ATONEMENT! This is required
by the laws concerning the sin
offerings, which in the Mosaic Law
form the root of all other offerings;
the Passover, which so strictly
requires us to strive after the forgiveness of
sins, and connects all
salvation with it and the
great Day of Atonement.”
Ø
His sabbaths. “Moreover also I
gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign
between me and them, that they might know that I am the
Lord that
sanctify them.’ The sabbath was instituted by God, and was peculiar to
amongst them the Lord sanctified
them, separated them from the
nations as a people chosen for
Himself; and by keeping it they manifested
their allegiance to Him and
honored Him. By its institution He owned
them as His people; by its
observance they owned Him as their God. By
so doing they also
promoted their best interests. How
rich and manifold
are God’s gifts to us!
o
Laws,
o
ordinances,
o
sabbaths,
o
sanctuaries,
o
religions
ministries,
o
His sacred Word;
o
His beloved Son,
o
His Holy Spirit!
Ø
In the forbearance which He exercised towards them. “Then I said, I
would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to
consume them.
But I wrought for my Name’s sake,” etc. (vs. 13-14, 17). Many and
extreme were the provocations of
the Israelites in the wilderness.
“How oft did they
rebel against Him in the wilderness, and grieve Him
in the
desert!” More than once it seemed as though He would have
destroyed them utterly, as they
certainly deserved. Yet in wrath He
remembered mercy. “He being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity,
and destroyed
them not,” etc. (Psalm 78:38-39). How
frequently and
grievously have we sinnned against Him! We too have tried His
patience, have
provoked Him by our unfaithfulness, our rebelliousness,
our perversity. Great has been His longsuffering toward us (Ibid. ch.
103:8-11; II Peter 3:9).
Ø
In the appeals which he addressed to them. God did not stand by (as it
were), patiently bearing with
them in their sin, yet making no effort to
save them therefrom;
but He appealed to them earnestly and repeatedly
to keep His commands. “I said unto their children in the wilderness,
Walk ye not in the statutes of
your fathers,” etc. (vs. 18-20). The
reference in these verses is to
the regiving of the Law in the plains of
great appeal, in
many tones and by
many arguments, TO THE
YOUNGER GENERATION to be true to the Lord
their God.
How graciously and
powerfully God appeals to us in this Christian
age!
o
to our sense of
duty and our sense of interest;
o
by authoritative
command and gracious persuasion;
o
by strong fears
and thrilling hopes;
o
by His Divine Son
and by His Holy Spirit.
RELATION TO GOD, Three
features of their wickedness are here
exhibited.
Ø
Apostasy of heart. “Their heart went after their idols” (v. 16); “Their
heart was not
right with Him, neither were they faithful in His
covenant” (Psalm 78:37). Their sin
was not merely on the surface of
their lives, but
deeply rooted in their moral nature. “Out of
the
heart come forth
evil thoughts, murders,” etc. (Matthew
15:19);
“Keep thy heart
with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
(Proverbs 4:23).
Ø
Rebellion of life.
“‘The
house of
wilderness,” etc.
(v. 13); “They
despised my judgments,” etc. (v. 16).
It is quite unnecessary to
specify their rebellions, because they were so
numerous. And the profanations
of the sabbath must not be restricted to
the attempt to gather manna on
that day (Exodus 16:27-30), or to the
case of the man who gathered
sticks thereon (Numbers 15:32-36). God
required them to sanctify the sabbath (Deuteronomy 5:12); to “hallow”
it (v. 20); “to consecrate it in every respect to Him, and
withdraw it
wholly from the region of
self-interest, of personal sinful inclination;”
and as they failed to keep it thus, they
profaned it. Failing to sanctity
it by reverent worship and hearty service,
they are charged with
desecrating it. And it behoves us earnestly to
endeavor to preserve
the Lord’s day for the promotion of the best interests of man and
THE SUPREME HONOR
OF GOD!
Its SECULARIZATION
would be an irreparable loss and injury to man. (Witness the
present status of the
Ø
Successiveness in sin. “The children rebelled against me,” etc.
(v. 21). The younger generation were far from being so
wicked as
their fathers (Joshua
24:31); they were also far from being true and
faithful in their
relation to the Lord their God. The
generation that
entered
nation. Yet they
frequently rebelled against the Lord.
What a
lamentable successiveness in sin
there has been in the generations of
our race! Real advance certainly
has been made; but still sin, dark
and prevalent, has characterized
every generation of mankind.
(Like
father, like son. Like mother, like
daughter.
THE PEOPLE.
Ø
The nature of this retribution. The elder generation
was excluded from
the promised land because of
their unbelief and rebellion against God
and against the leaders whom He
had chosen. “I lifted up my hand
unto them in the
wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land
which I had given
them.” etc. (vs. 15-16; and compare
Numbers
14:26-35; Psalm 106:24-26). They disbelieved God’s word of promise,
and they should not share in its fulfillment; “they despised the pleasant
land,” and
they were not allowed to enter therein; they wished that
they had died in the wilderness,
and in the wilderness they died. And
as to the younger generation,
their retribution is thus described: “I gave
them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they
should not live,” etc.
(vs. 25-26). The ‘judgments whereby they should
not live’ are those spoken of in v. 18, and are contrasted with
the
judgments in vs. 13, 21, laws
other than Divine, to which God gives
up those whom He
afflicts with judicial blindness, because
they have
wilfully closed their eyes
(Psalm 81:12; Romans 1:24). We may
compare here Romans 1:24,
according to which God, in just
retribution
for their revolt, gave over the
heathen to vile affections; Acts 7:42,
where it is traced back to God
that the heathen served the host of
heaven; and II Thessalonians
2:11, where God sends the apostates
strong delusions. God has so constituted human nature that revolt
from Him must be followed
by TOTAL DARKNESS and DISORDER;
that no moderation in error and
sin, no standing still at the middle point,
is possible; that the man, however
willing he might be to stand still, must,
against his will,
sink from step to step. Revolt from
God is the crime,
excess in error and moral
degradation the merited doom, from which all
would willingly escape if this were in their power. By way of example,
the custom of sacrificing
children is mentioned in v. 26. ‘To cause to
pass through’
the fire (v. 31; compare ch.16:21;
23:37) is the current
phrase for sacrificing children
which were offered to Moloch. Into such
a detestable
custom did God in His righteous judgment PERMIT
THEM TO FALL that the merited punishment might come
upon them (‘that I might lay them desolate’),
by which they learn that
their paternal God, whom they
set at naught, is God in the full sense,
whom to forsake is AT
ONCE FALL INTO MISERY!
Ø
The
design of this retribution. “To the end that they might know that I
am the Lord.” (See our notes on these words in ch.6:7,10; 7:4.)
We must every
one be brought to know Him:
o
either by the way of His grace or
o
by the way of His judgments.
See sequel, God and
27 “Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of
them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have
blasphemed me, in
that they have committed a trespass against me.”
I polluted them
through their own gifts. The noun includes
all forms of blessing bestowed on
ch.
16:19-20), even its sons and daughters, the fruit of the womb,
as well as the increase of the earth. (For the prevalence
of Moloch worship,
and for the phrase, “pass through,” see notes on Ibid.
v.21.) The sins were
to bring desolation as their punishment, and then men would learn
to know
JEHOVAH, AS INDEED HE IS!
28 “For when I had brought them into the land, for the which
I lifted up
mine hand to give
it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all
the thick trees,
and they offered there their sacrifices, and there
they presented
the provocation of their offering: there also they
made their sweet
savor, and poured out there their drink offerings.”
It was a special
aggravation of the sin that it was committed in
the very land into which they had been brought by the oath
(the “hand
lifted up”) of
Jehovah, that it might be a holy land, a witness of
the Divine
righteousness to the nations round about. The forms of worship include
that of the high places, and the thick trees (Isaiah 57:5;
Jeremiah 2:20; 3:6)
which witnessed the cultus of the
Asherah or of Ashtaroth.
29 “Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto
ye go?
And the name
whereof is called Bamah unto this day.” Bamah, in the plural
Bamoth, was the Hebrew for “high place.” At first it was applied to
the hill on
Which some local
sanctuary stood (I Samuel 9:12; I Kings 3:4), but was
gradually extended, after the building of the temple as the
one appointed
sanctuary, to other places which were looked upon as
sacred, and which
became the scenes of an idolatrous and forbidden worship.
Ezekiel
emphasizes his scorn by a conjectural derivation of the
word, as if derived
from the two words ba (“go”)
and mah (“whither”); or,
perhaps, What
comes? (compare Exodus
16:15 for a parallel derivation of the word
marones). Taking the words in their ordinary sense, they seem to
express
only a slight degree of contempt. “What, then, is the place
to which you
go?” — what is the “whither” to which it leads? But I
incline (with Ewald
and Smend) to see in the word “go
into” the meaning which it has in Genesis
16:2 and 19:31, and elsewhere, as a euphemism for sexual
union. So later the
word “Bamah” becomes a witness that those who worship in the
high place
go there (as in v. 30) to commit whoredom literally and
spiritually. Its name
showed that it was what I have called “a chapel of
prostitution” (ch. 16:24-25).
God, and
“Therefore, son
of man, speak unto the house of
Thus saith the Lord God,” etc.
We have here:
them into the land
which I lifted up mine hand to give unto them.”
Ø
The Lord gave
them the lands of the nations; and they took the labor of
the peoples in
possession” (Psalm
105:44); “And when He had destroyed seven
nations in the
inheritance” (Acts
13:19). Look at the taking of
illustration of this. It was not by human strategy or strength
that
they obtained the city, but by Divine interposition. And this land
was a desirable possession
(compare Numbers 13:27; Deuteronomy
8:7-9; 11:10-12; and see our
notes on ch.19:10).
Ø
The Lord brought them into
“The land which I lifted up mine hand to give unto them.” The
lifting
up of the hand is the
gesture of the oath, or solemn promise.
Notwithstanding the
rebellions of those to whom the promise was given,
and the difficulties in the
way of its fulfillment, He made His promise
good. His faithfulness and
His power guarantee the performance of His
word. Here we have ground
for confidence in Him (compare Numbers
23:19; Matthew 24:35; I
Peter 1:25).
Ø
The Lord brought them into
Though not expressed, this is clearly
implied here (compare Deuteronomy
7:6-8; 9:4-6). God’s kindness to
us has been great and undeserved. Who
can count the multitude of His
mercies, or estimate their preciousness?
“The Lord hath dealt bountifully with us.” (Psalm 13:6)
Ø
By worshipping in prohibited places. “Then they saw every high hill,
and all the thick trees, and they offered there their
sacrifices,” etc.
(v. 28). The margin of the
Revised Version presents a more striking
signification and a darker
guilt. “They looked out for every high
hill,” etc.
Their conduct in this respect
was a perversion of a Divine law. When the
Israelites first entered
High place, and upon this and upon no other they were to worship
Jehovah. This was the high place (I Samuel
9:12, etc.; I Kings 3:4).
But the Israelites
followed the custom of the country, and set up idol
worship on every high
hill, and the word ‘high place’ (bamah), or in
the plural ‘high places’ (bamoth), became
a byword (compare bamoth
Baal, Joshua 13:17). This was distinctly forbidden to the
Israelites
(Deuteronomy 12:1-14).
Ø
By worshipping prohibited objects. They offered
sacrifices to idols.
This fact is not explicitly
stated in our text; but it is implied in the
charge of blasphemy preferred
against them, and in the expression,
“the provocation
of their offering.”
o
As to their blasphemy. The attempt “to combine God and
idols in one’s religion is
blasphemy.” It involves a fearful
disparagement, if not the
despising, of the Lord Jehovah.
o
The expression, “the
provocation of their offering,” indicates
the offerings made to idols
whereby they provoked God to
anger (compare Deuteronomy
32:16-17; I Kings 14:22). It was
an aggravation of their
guilt that they not only were idolaters,
but defiled with their
idolatry the land which was given them
for their glory. It was perverting the gracious gift of God to
His deep dishonor (compare
Jeremiah 2:7). How often have the
good gifts of God been thus
perverted! Genius and power,
rank and riches, have frequently
been used for selfish and sinful
purposes. And in this and other ways the kindness of
God to
man is often basely requited
still.
unto them, What is
the high place whereunto ye go?”
Revised Version,
“What meaneth the high place?” etc. This inquiry seems to be designed:
Ø
To awaken their serious reflection. It was fitted for
this. Perhaps it
would lead the idolatrous people
to ask themselves, “What meaneth the
high place whereunto we go?” Earnest interrogation might lead to
profitable consideration.
Ø
To lead to their recognition of their folly. Serious reflection
could
hardly fail to reveal to them the foolishness of idolatry. What benefit,
could they derive from it? What
could their idols do for them? How
unreasonable that reasonable
beings should pay homage to things of
wood and stone!
Ø
To lead to their recognition of their sin. Their idolatry involved
the
breach of the most sacred and
solemn obligations. It was a transgression
of an oft-repeated command of
God. Great was both the folly and the
sin of the Israelites in this
(compare Jeremiah 2:11-13). This inquiry might
lead them to perceive and to
feel these things. The Most High frequently
interrogates sinful men in order
to lead them to reflection and reformation
(compare ch.
18:31; Jeremiah 2:5; 4:14). “Not wishing that any
should perish, but
that all should come to repentance.” (II Peter 3:9)
DIVINE INTERROGATION. “And
the name thereof is called Bamah unto
this day.” The name was continued, and. the people persisted in the
practice of idolatry despite the
remonstrances of the Lord. Even under the
most faithful and godly kings
the high places were not taken away until
Josiah entered upon his great
reformation (II Chronicles 34:3). It is
difficult to eradicate sins in
the case of individuals, when the sins have
had
time to strike their roots
deeply in the heart and life. “Can the Ethiopian
change his skin,
or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that
are accustomed to
do evil” (Jeremiah 13:23). It is even more
difficult to
eradicate the
widespread, long continued, deep-rooted sins of a community
or a nation.
30 “Wherefore say unto the house of
Are ye polluted
after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye
whoredom after
their abominations? 31 For when ye offer your
gifts,
when ye make your
sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves
with all your
idols, even unto this day: and shall I be inquired of by you,
O house of
by you.” Say ye unto the house of Israel, etc.
The words are
addressed primarily to the elders who had come to consult
the prophet
(v. 1), but through them to all their contemporaries and
fellow
countrymen. They still in heart and even in deed (compare
Isaiah 57:4-6, 11,
and 65:3, as showing the habits of the exiles) clung to the
old idolatries. The
question for them was whether they would continue to walk in
the ways of
their fathers. If so, it was true of them, as of the elders, that the Lord to whom
they came
would not be inquired of by them.
The Memory of Offences in the
Notwithstanding the variety of incident and circumstance in
the history of
the
chosen people, there was much sameness in their experience, in their
discipline, in their errors and faults. This may account for the
brevity with
which the later epochs of national history are treated by the
prophet in this
passage. Yet there is a consciousness on his part of the aggravation of
chapter.
·
BY THE FACT THAT THEY WERE PERSISTED IN
NOTWITHSTANDING PAST ADMONITION AND CORRECTION.
·
WHEN THEY OCCURRED IN THE
·
AGGRAVATED BY THEIR COEXISTENCE WITH THE
SANCTUARY OF JEHOVAH.
·
AGGRAVATED BY THEIR JUXTAPOSITION WITH THE PURE
SERVICES AND FESTIVALS OF THE TRUE RELIGION.
·
BY THE FACT THAT THE
RELIGION AND THE PRACTICES OF MORALLY INFERIOR
RACES.
·
PREVENTED THEIR REPRESENTATIVES FROM ENJOYING THE
FAVOR AND RECEIVING THE RESPONSE OF THE LORD.
32 “And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all,
that ye
say, We will be
as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to
serve wood and stone.”
Unacceptable Prayer (vs. 1-32)
The exact date is given as a voucher for truthfulness. The
prophet
committed to writing at once what had occurred. The people are yet
divided by distance — part dwell in Judaea
and part in
of
vain curiosity the elders of the exiled part approach the prophet to
inquire after the destined fortunes and fate of their nation. Had they sought
for
guidance or help to amend their lives, their prayer had been successful.
God does not pander
to a spirit of curiosity.
·
DISTRESS USUALLY DRIVES MEN TO SEEK GOD. The bulk of
men are self-confident. They will not seek God until they
discover their
insufficiency to meet misfortune or death. As the sailor does not seek
harbor until driven by tempest, so men
avoid God. Yet, in the hour of
peril or pain, an inborn instinct leads them to rest on an arm
mightier than
theirs. Sorrow is God’s home call.
·
PRAYER LEADS TO THE RESURRECTION OF OUR SINS. It is
impossible to do good to a man so long as he stifles the voice of
conscience; and the first duty of a true prophet is to bring sin to
our
remembrance. Unrepented sin is man’s chief
foe, and to dislodge this foe
from the heart’s citadel is God’s prime endeavor. The barrier that shuts
out the light of heaven is the shutter of our own impenitence.
The obdurate
man destroys his own hope. He bars heaven’s door against
himself; he
writes his own failure. It is kindness on God’s part to show us our sins, for
His hops is
that we may loathe them and abandon them.
·
THE HISTORY OF OUR FATHERS’ SINS OFTEN BECOMES
THE HISTORY OF OUR OWN SINS. He who hears of his father’s sin
and does not hate it soon adopts it as his own child. The
history of the past
is compressed into our own experience. The Fall in
own history. All the
history and development of a tree is condensed into
each fruit kernel; so the moral history is incorporated in us.
We may use it
for our profit or for our injury. If we continue the same line
of conduct as
our guilty forefathers, we reenact
their sins, we endorse their guilty deeds.
The entailment of moral
qualities is a pregnant truth. On this ground it was
that all the martyrs’ blood, from Abel downward, accumulated
upon the
men in our Lord’s age.
·
NEGLECT OF DIVINE ADMONITION IS FRESH SIN. The
knowledge of past admonition adds to our responsibility. Warnings
addressed to our ancestors are warnings addressed to us. Every item in the
revelation of God’s will is intended for our profit; for revelations
of the
eternal God have an abiding force. If we are not moved or awed by
judgments passed upon our ancestors, ours is the greater sin. As our
light
is greater than was our forefathers’, so is our sin, unless
we repudiate it by
repentance.
·
GOD’S PERMISSIONS ARE OFTEN CHASTISEMENTS.
“Wherefore I gave
them also statutes that were not good, and judgments
whereby they should not live.” The self-blindness and obduracy of men is
such that oftentimes God cannot give them the
best laws: such would be
above their comprehension — above their appreciation. Good law
can
never be much in advance of a people’s moral condition. God
allowed
to retire to Zoar, but the
permission became a curse. God yielded to the
Jews’ demand for a king, but
their kings led them to civic strife and
idolatry. Jesus Christ yielded to the demand of the Gadarenes to leave their
province, but their loss was great. How much
need have we to merge our
wills in God’s will!
·
GOD’S MEMORY OF OUR MISDEEDS NEVER FAILS. We may
forget, or regard as trivial, some deed of the past; yet it
lives, in complete
reality, in the memory of God. Likely enough these elders were astounded
with this long recital of their evil deeds. This, however, is a sample of
God’s
treatment of all men. The reappearance
of our old sins — the
reappearance before the public gaze — will be one element in our
punishment. The future publicity of our follies will form a great
ingredient
in our shame. The world already knows the aggravated sins of
the
Hebrews.
·
GOD’S WILL OVERREACHES AND OVERMASTERS MAN’S
WILL. “And that which
cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye
say, We will be as the heathen!” Man resolves; God overrules. Mighty as
man’s will is, it is feeble in comparison with God’s will. It
may be as iron,
but even iron is treated as a plaything by the electric force.
Even
wickedness shall be restrained of God. Satan shall be bound with
chains.
Many men are guiltier than the
measure of their deeds. There are
murderers that never slew a man, felons that never stole. The
intention is as
guilty as the act. Man’s intended wickedness shall be held in
check.
·
GOD’S REGARD FOR HIS NAME IS COINCIDENT WITH
MAN’S BEST WELFARE. “I
wrought for my Name’s sake.” One great
purpose our God has in view, in all His government among men, is to
reveal Himself — to unfold the qualities of His
character. This is essential
to the highest good of His creature man. He will be patient
and tender, or
judicial and severe, in order to bring into view all the excellences of His
majestic character. The more His saints see of His personal characteristics,
the more they admire Him, the more they become like Him. No
one will
conclude that the human family has yet seen all the aspects of
God’s
character or all the perfections of His nature. Without doubt,
eternity will
be spent in
spelling out the meaning of that great Name.
God and
“Wherefore say unto the house of
polluted after the manner of your fathers?” etc. The Lord Jehovah through
His prophet now addresses Himself to the
to the elders who had come to the prophet to inquire of
him. In these
verses He declares their sins. Three chief points claim our
attention.
SUCCESSORS.
Ø
The idolatry of the fathers continued by their children. “Say unto the
house of
manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their
abominations?” The
whoredom spoken of is spiritual —
unfaithfulness to God, in the worship
of idols. Even the exile in
fathers had done, so did they. Parental example is very powerful
for several reasons.
o
It is the example of
those who are most looked up to and
imitated by the young.
o
It influences the
young in the most impressionable season
of their life. “As the twig is bent the tree inclines.”
o
It is most continuous
in its influence upon the young.
“The characters of living
parents are constantly presented
for the imitation of their
children. Their example is
continually sending forth a
silent power to mold young
hearts for good or ill; not for
a single month or year, but
through the whole impressionable
period of childhood and youth,
the influence of parental
example is thus felt. If it be constituted
of the highest and purest elements,
the results will be unspeakably
precious. Sons and daughters will” almost certainly become
patterns of propriety and
goodness, because their parents are such.
If, on the other hand, their
example be evil, most injurious will be
its effects upon
their children. A solemn consideration
is this for
parents, and one that should be
laid to heart by them. It is difficult,
moreover, to break away from
sins which have obtained a firm hold
upon family life and practice.
“It
is easier to lead your children into
Ø
Idolatry practiced
even in its most cruel rites. “For when ye offer your
gifts, when ye make
your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute
yourselves with all
your idols, even unto this day” (see
our notes on
ch. 16:20-21).
Ø
The practice of
idolatry defiling the idolater. “Ye
pollute yourselves
with all your
idols” Worship either elevates or
degrades the
worshipper, according to the
character of the object thereof. Genuine
adoration is transforming in its
influence upon him who offers it, We
become like unto the object or
objects of our supreme love and reverence.
Hence the worship of the true God purifies, exalts, enriches,
ennobles,
sanctifies, the
worshipper; while the worship of any
idol or idols — e.g.
riches, rank, popularity, power,
pleasure — defiles, degrades, and
impoverishes the
worshipper. Moreover, sin of any kind pollutes the
sinner; it stains and defiles
his soul (see our notes on v. 7).
GOD. “Shall I be inquired
of by you, O house of
Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.” (We have already considered
this topic in our homilies on
vs. 1-4 and ch. 14:1-11.)
GOD.
Ø Here is a deliberate design formed by man to conform to
idolatrous
usages. “That which cometh into your mind shall not
be at all,
that ye say, We
will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries,
to serve wood and
stone.” Thus the house of
only living and true God,
inwardly resolved to conform to heathenish
customs, hoping in some way to improve their condition by so doing?
And in our day there are those who,
while manifesting some respect
for religion, yet conform to
this world in its questionable and even
sinful usages. And some “regard
an irreligious condition as preferable
to the struggles of a religious
life.”
Ø Here is man’s
design to conform to idolatrous usages discovered by the
Lord God. It was in vain for these insincere inquirers of the Lord
to think
that they could conceal any
design from Him. And elders of
have known this so well as to be
in no danger of overlooking it. But the
practice of sin
misleads and deceives sinners, and had
probably deceived
them. God is perfectly
acquainted with every thought of the mind of man
(ch.11:5; Psalm 139:1-5; Matthew
9:4; John 2:24-25; Hebrews 4:13).
Ø Here is man’s
design to conform to idolatrous usages defeated by the
Lord God. “That which cometh into your mind shall not
be at all.”
Their inward
purpose He would frustrate. (My prayer
is that God
will frustrate the evil in our
society which I am powerless to do any
thing about! – CY – 2014) They might attempt to carry it out, but
it would not succeed. That
would be repugnant to the nature
of God, especially to His name
Jehovah. The very reverse would
be much more in harmony with it,
namely, that the heathen should
become like
of God is not to be
conformed to and lost in the world;
but the
world
is to be conformed
to the Church and to be included therein. The
kingdoms of the
world are to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of
His Christ
(Revelation 11:15). And so the
Lord declares that the evil
designs of His sinful people
should fail. He can utterly foil the deepest,
subtlest schemes
of man; and He will do so when those schemes
are
exposed to HIS
HOLY WILL! (compare Job 5:12-14; Psalm 33:10-11;
Proverbs 21:30; Isaiah 8:10;
Acts 5:38-39).
33 “As I live, saith the Lord GOD,
surely with a mighty hand, and with
a stretched out arm,
and with fury poured out, will I rule
over you:”
That which cometh
into your mind, etc. The prophet reads
the
secret thoughts of the inquirers. If the temple were
destroyed, they
thought, then the one restraint on the idolatries they
loved would be
removed. They would be no longer a separate people, and
would be free to
adopt the cultus of the heathen
among whom they lived. If that was not
Jehovah’s purpose for them, then there must be no
destruction of the
temple, no dispersion among the nations. They come to
Ezekiel to know
which of the two alternatives he, as the prophet of
Jehovah, has in store,
and his answer is that he is bound to neither. They could
not abdicate their
high position, and would remain under the burden of its
responsibilities.
Scattered though they might be among the heathen, yet even there the
“mighty hand and the stretched-out arm” (we note the phrases as
from
Deuteronomy 4:34; 5:15) would hunt them down, and punish
them for
their iniquities.
34 “And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather
you out
of the countries
wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and
with a stretched
out arm, and with fury poured out. 35 And I will bring
you into the
wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to
face. 36Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of
the land of
Egypt, so will I
plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.” The
prophet’s words seem
to look beyond the horizon of any fulfillment as yet seen in history, of which the
return of the exiles under Zerubbabel was but the pledge and
earnest. He contemplates
not a return straight
from
in which they had been scattered (Isaiah 11:11). When
gathered, the
whole nation is to be brought into the wilderness of the peoples, bordered
by many nations. This may probably point to the great Syro-Arabian desert
lying between
wilderness of Sinai had been in the time of the Exodus. There
Jehovah
would plead with them face to face, in the first instance
as an accuser. (For
face to face, as expressing the direct revelation of Jehovah, see Exodus
33:11;
Deuteronomy 5:4; 34:10, and elsewhere.)
A Human
Wilderness (v. 35)
·
WHAT IT IS.
peoples.” The wanderings
of their fathers was in “a waste howling
wilderness” (Deuteronomy
32:10), among the wild beasts and far from
the cities and homes of men; but the exile of the nation in
Ezekiel’s day
was a transportation into the midst of the settled populous
country of
to a return to the freedom and the hardships of a nomadic
life. The
captive
Jews were planted among other nations. Although a strange blight has
since fallen upon the scene of the exile, and the ruins of the
great cities of
the
and hyenas, those cities were at the height of their
prosperity and splendor
when the prophet lived and wrote. How, then, could he speak of
them as a
wilderness?
Ø
A great city is a human
wilderness.
The greater the city, the more
desolate is the wilderness. The social life of small cities like
and
in the myriads of unknown faces that one sees in a vast city.
Great
character of a wilderness.
Ø There is no banishment so terrible as that of being lost in a human
wilderness. People who could be tracked over
fells of Yorkshire may be utterly lost in
many broken lives that go down in the awful misery that floods
the
lower parts of a great city, and no one misses them. Their individuality
has been drowned in a sea of humanity. The most heart-rending
loneliness is that of a friendless man in a crowd — so many fellow
beings, and not a spark of fellow feeling!
·
HOW IT IS USED. The
city wilderness is used for the punishment of
the Jews; but not for that only.
Ø
God meets his people in the wilderness. Success blinds
us to the
presence of God. Society makes us deaf to His
voice. Adversity
and
solitude prepare us to remember Him and to hearken to His Word.
We need not flee to the
wilderness of a John the Baptist — to the
seclusion of a hermitage among the silent rocks — in order to meet
with God. He will visit us in the crowded city. When the heart
sinks,
sad and faint at its own loneliness amid the din of a crowded
life in
which the lost wanderer has no share, God is ready to
whisper words
of comfort. He can find His poor suffering child in the
crowd, and
draw near to him there as well as in the field, the chamber,
or the
temple. God comes into most intimate relations with
His people
in their hour of desolation.
He meets them “face to face.”
In the old wilderness of Sinai
the Jews shrank from such near contact
with God, so that it was reserved for Moses alone (Exodus
33:11).
Now it is to be for all
Ø
God pleads with His people. He desires to save;
He urges repentance.
“Come now, and let
us reason together, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 1:18).
When men are most cold and
repellant, perhaps our heart may be open
to the sympathy of God. Then we can see that HE SEEKS US IN A
GREAT, UNDYING LOVE!
Note, it is a shame to
Christendom that there should be a human wilderness
among us. Heathen cities were cruel. But brotherhood is
essential to
Christianity.
May we not say that, after pleading with us for our own sakes,
God also pleads with us that we may
save our lost brothers and sisters?
37 “And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will
bring you
into the bond of
the covenant:” The “rod” (same word as in Psalm 23:4) is
primarily that of chastisement, but it is also that of the shepherd who gathers
in his flock (ch. 34:11; Leviticus 27:32; Micah 7:14). Into the bond of
the covenant. The word for “bond” (only found here in the Old Testament) is
probably cognate
with that for “fetter” or “bond” (Isaiah 52:2; Jeremiah 5:5;
27:2). The chastisement was,
for those who accepted it, to do its work by
restoring the blessings of the covenant which apostasy had
forfeited.
38 And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them
that
transgress
against me: I will bring them forth out of the country
where they
sojourn, and they shall not enter into the
and ye shall know
that I am the LORD.” The thought of the shepherd
suggests, as in Matthew
25:33, the separation of the sheep from the goats.
The land of the restored
rebels were not to enter into it. Was Ezekiel thinking of those who were
thus to die in the “wilderness of the peoples” as a
counterpart of those who
perished in the forty
years of the wandering, and did not enter
V. 36 seems to imply
that he was looking for a repetition of that history.
The solemn fast kept
by Ezra by the
noted as corresponding,
on a small scale, to Ezekiel’s expectations.
39 “As for you, O house of
serve ye every
one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not
hearken unto me:
but pollute ye my holy name no more with your
gifts, and with
your idols.” Go ye, serve every man his idols, etc. The command
comes as with a grave
irony. “Be at least consistent. Sin on, if it is
your will to sin;
but do not make the sin worse by the hypocrisy of an unreal
worship, and
mix up the name of Jehovah with the ritual of Moloch” (compare ch.Joshua
24:19-20). The margin of the Revised Version gives“but hereafter surely ye shall
hearken unto me” (“if not” equivalent to “ye shall,” as in the familiar
idiom of
Psalm 95:11, where“if” is equivalent
to “shall not”). So taken, the verse
looks
forward to what follows.
40 “For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height
of
saith the Lord GOD,
there shall all the house of
in the land,
serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I
require your
offerings, and the first-fruits of your oblations, with all
your holy
things.” From the earlier stage of the restoration the prophet
passes
on to its
completion. The people have come to the mountain
of the height of
at last be worthy of its name, the worship of false gods
rooted out forever.
The all of them
points to the breaking down of the old division between
(same word as in Exodus 29:27; Leviticus 7:14, et al.) and other oblations.
The fact that
which Jehovah accepts (compare II Corinthians 2:15;
Ephesians 5:2; Philippians
4:18) suggests a like
spiritual interpretation of the other offerings, though the
literal meaning was
probably dominant in the prophet’s own thoughts. The
nearest approach
to a parallelism in a later age is that presented by the 9th,
10th and 11th chapters of Romans.; but it is noticeable how there Paul
avoids
any words that imply the
perpetuation of the temple and its ritual, and
confines himself to the
spiritual restoration of his brethren according to the
flesh. It was given to
him to see, what the prophets did not see, that that
perpetuation would frustrate
the purpose of the restoration; that the temple
and its ritual took their
places among the things that “were decaying
and
waxing old,” and were ready to vanish away (Hebrews 8:13).
God’s
·
THE SITE. God’s holy mountain is the site of the temple at
God promises His people that the
exile will cease, that they shall return and
worship Him once more at the old sacred spot. Note the
characteristics of it.
Ø
It is exalted. A mountain.
of the
stood — now covered by what is called the “Mosque of Omar” —
is the highest part of
Ø
It is conspicuous. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Private
worship should be unostentatious and secret (Matthew 6:6); but public
worship should be open to all, and well known, that others may be
invited, and that God may
be glorified. Churches should be built
in conspicuous places.
Ø
It is consecrated by old memories. There the fathers
worshipped, and
there also God came down and blessed His people in the olden
time.
Faith is strengthened, and
worship stimulated by such memories.
·
THE SERVICE.
Ø
The people are to serve. They will not be rescued only
to be left to enjoy
themselves in idleness. The restored
exiles are redeemed for high
service. Christians are not
saved from ruin that they may slumber
in listless indifference. Indeed,
part of Christ’s salvation is deliverance
from idleness, and the redemption of
our powers that they may be
turned to higher uses, i.e. to the service of God.
Ø
God is to be the one Lord served. In the old days of
sin the people had
attempted a divided allegiance. But this must now cease. The redeemed
must live to the Lord. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon”
(Matthew 6:24).
·
THE ACCEPTANCE. This
is the heart of the whole promise, from
which the glow and joy of it spring. God had rejected His people
and their
sacrifices, casting the men into exile and permitting the sacrifices
to cease.
Before that disaster, He had
refused to accept the offerings of those who
practiced wickedness (Isaiah 1:13). But now on their return to their old
home as purged penitents, God will accept both the people and
their gifts.
All our labor is in vain unless
it be accepted by Him to whom it should be
offered. God accepts His repentant and returning people:
Ø
on the ground of their repentance;
Ø
in Christ, and on
account of His merits;
Ø
fundamentally, because of
His own forgiving love.
·
THE SACRIFICES. The
people, while they render service, do this
especially by means of the offerings that they bring.
Ø
They express gratitude. Sacrifices for sin are excluded from this passage.
Doubtless they will be required,
for unhappily the people will sin again.
But so sad a prospect is not to
be contemplated as yet. The offerings now
thought of are those of thanksgiving. They suggest the thought
that God
will give bountiful harvests. Here
is a picture of joy in worship.
Ø
They were required by God. One would have
thought that gratitude
would have made the commandment superfluous. But Malachi shows
that, as a matter of fact, the people were backward with their
gifts
(Malachi 3:8). “Where
are the nine?” (Luke 17:17). CHRIST IS
OUR ONE SACRIFICE FRO SIN!
Yet God still requires us to
offer our bodies as living sacrifices for thank-offerings and
self-dedication (Romans 12:1).
41 “I will accept you with your sweet savor, when I bring you
out from
the people, and
gather you out of the countries wherein ye have
been scattered;
and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.
42 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring
you into
the
hand to give it
to your fathers.” I will be sanctified in you, etc.
God is
sanctified when He is manifested and recognized as holy (Leviticus 10:3;
Numbers 20:13).
That recognition would be the consequence of the restoration
of
had been holy and just and true in His judgments, and that
HE SEEKS TO
MAKE MEN PARTAKERS OF HIS HOLINESS! (II Peter 1:4)
43 “And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your
doings, wherein ye
have been
defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your
evils that ye
have committed. 44 And ye shall know that
I am the LORD when
I have wrought
with you for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked
ways, nor
according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of
Lord GOD.” And there shall ye remember, etc. The words stretch far and
wide, and throw light on many of the problems that connect
themselves
with the conversion of the sinner and the eschatology of
the Divine
government. The whole evil past is still remembered after
repentance and
forgiveness. There is no water of Lethe, such as the Greeks
fabled, such as
Dante dreamt of as the condition of entering
The self-loathing and humility which grow out of that
memory, the
acceptance of all the punishment of the past as less than
had been deserved,
— these are the
conditions and safeguards of the new blessedness. Ezekiel
teaches us, i.e., that it is possible
to conceive of an eternal punishment, the
punishment of memory, shame, self-loathing, as compatible
with eternal
life. So (in v. 44) the prophet ends what is perhaps, the
profoundest and
the
noblest of his discourses, his “vindication of
the ways of God to man.”
The Glorious
Restoration (vs. 40-44)
It is difficult to believe that this language can refer to
a local and temporal
restoration and union. In this, as in other passages of his prophecy,
Ezekiel
seems to point on to the new, the Christian dispensation, into
whose
spiritual glory he seems to gain some glimpses neither dim nor
uncertain.
·
THE SCENE OF THE RESTORATION. God’s holy mountain, the
mountain of the height of
God.
·
THE PARTICIPATORS IN THE RESTORATION. Those concerning
whom the promise is spoken are those who have been scattered
abroad,
but are now brought home, and who constitute “the
house of
the true
·
THE SERVICES OF THE RESTORATION. By the services, the
offerings, the firstfruits, the oblations,
must be understood the spiritual
sacrifices, especially of obedience and of praise, which the accepted of God
delight to lay upon His altar.
·
THE MEMORIES OF THE RESTORATION. These are of two
kinds. The restored have to recollect, and to recollect with loathing, their
wanderings, their evil doings, their defilements But they have also to
remember the work which God has wrought for them,
the way by which
God has led them, and the mercy and loving kindness which
God has
shown to them.
“For My Name’s Sake” (v. 44)
The grounds of the Divine action are not man’s deserts, but
considerations
in regard to God Himself. This is the secret of our hope. “He
hath not dealt
with us after our sins” (Psalm 103:10). He hath dealt with us after His
Name. God’s Name stands
for what is known of Him — His revelation of
Himself; it also represents His fame, and then His honor — as we should
say, His “good name.” No doubt the latter is the meaning of God’s Name in
the present instance, although this rests upon the former
meaning, and in a
measure includes it. Our word “character” has this twofold meaning —
what is known to be in a person and the reputation he bears
— the
subjective and the objective characters. We may say that God saves us for
the sake of His own character in both senses.
Ø
God is honored by His fidelity. His name is pledged
to His word. His
promise involves His Name. When
a man has put his name to a deed,
he is bound to fulfill its
conditions. If he fails, his name is dishonored.
Promoters make great efforts to
secure for their enterprises names that
will inspire confidence. God will keep His word for the sake of His
credit — for this at least, though we know also for deeper
reasons.
Ø
God is honored by His success. The name of the
artist goes with his
work. If he sends out a bad
piece of work, his name suffers. Now,
was God’s rescued people. All
the world gazed in wonder and admiration
when the poor helpless slaves
were wrested by Divine power from the iron
grip of Pharaoh. They were seen
to be a nation made by God, His
workmanship. (Likewise, “we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good
works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them” (Ephesians
2:10). If they/we came to ruin after
this, God
would seem to have failed. Moses
used this argument (Exodus 32:12).
Ø
God is honored by His mercy. Cruel earthly
monarchs of the old
heathen type were proud to
record on their tablets the number of kings
they had slain, and the number
of cities they had sacked. We have
learned to see a greater royal
dignity in the saying of William Ill.
concerning a certain nonjuror, “The man has determined to be a martyr,
but I have determined to prevent
him.”
God is more honored by
saving the world
than He would be by damning it.
Ø
God acts from regard to truth. After all, it is
but as an accommodation
to human views that God can be
said to keep His promises for the sake
of His reputation, that His Name
may not be dishonored. He is essentially
true and eternally
constant. Though men may provoke Him
to change,
He is firm and holds on to His
purpose. Thus Christ persisted in His
saving work, even when those
whom He came to bless rejected Him.
He had a great purpose, and no
action of man would turn Him from it.
Ø
God acts from regard to righteousness. He desires to
establish
righteousness, and to extend its
domain. For this purpose it will not
be well that sin should be left
to run its own fatal course unchecked,
nor will it be best simply to
visit the sin with vengeance, and to cut
down the evil tree root and
branch, sweeping the sinner with his sin
into utter destruction. A
silent desolation, in which every enemy lies
low, smitten to
death, is not the noblest victory. The conquest of the
foe by his
conversion to friendship is far higher.
THIS IS GOD’S
METHOD! His righteousness is most honored by THE
REGENERATION OF
SINNERS!
Ø
God acts from regard to love. HIS NAME IS LOVE! When we
penetrate to the heart of
God, love is what we see there. If, then, His
Name expresses His inmost
character, when God acts for His Name’s
sake He acts in love. Therefore, though He might smite, extirpate,
and
destroy them, HE redeems, saves, and
restores His unworthy children
45 “Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,”
In the Hebrew the verses that follow form the opening of
the
next chapter. The Authorized Version follows the
Septuagint, the Vulgate, and
Luther. The section has clearly no connection with what has
preceded, and,
though fragmentary in its character, seems by the words, “set thy face,” to
connect itself with ch.21:2, and to lead up to it. The
words of v. 45 imply,
as always, an interval of silence and repose.
46 “Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy
word
toward the south,
and prophesy against the forest of the south field;”
Drop thy word. The verb is used
specially of prophetic utterances (ch.21:2;
Amos 7:6; Micah 2:6, 11), and stands, therefore, in the
Hebrew without an
object. Toward the south. Three distinct words
are used in the Hebrew for the
thrice-repeated “south” of the Authorized Version.
looks to the east which Ezekiel
also uses in ch. 47:19; 48:28);
(Deuteronomy 33:23; Job 37:17;
Ecclesiastes 1:6; 11:3); and
Version with a capital letter),
of Joshua 15:21, and the historical books
generally, the region lying to
the south of
The use of the three words where one might have sufficed
is, perhaps, characteristic
of Ezekiel’s affluence of diction. The Septuagint treats
all three as proper names,
and transliterates them as Thaiman,
Darom, and N’ageb.
Against this
region and its inhabitants (they, of course, are the “trees”)
Ezekiel is
directed to utter his words of judgment. The parenthesis in
the last
sentence gives the key to the prophet’s cipher-writing.
From Ezekiel’s
standpoint on the Chebar, the whole
of
The “green tree,” as in Psalm 1:1-2, is the man who is relatively
righteous; the “dry tree” is the sinner whose true life is withered; the “fire”
the devastation wrought by the Chaldean
invaders, as executing the Divine
judgment. In our Lord’s words in Luke 23:31 we may probably
find an
echo of Ezekiel’s imagery.
47 “And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the
LORD;
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee,
and
it shall devour
every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the
flaming flame
shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south
to the north
shall be burned therein. 48 And all flesh shall see
that I the
LORD have kindled
it: it shall not be quenched.”
All faces from the
south to the north, etc. The phrase seems,
at first, to pass from the figure to the reality. Possibly,
however, face may
stand for “the outward appearance,” the leaves and
branches, of the trees.
“From the south (Negeb) to the north” takes the place of the
older “from
Dan to Beersheba”
(Judges 20:1; I Samuel 3:20). Of that “fire”
of
judgment, it is said, as in our Lord’s use of a like
imagery, that it shall not
be quenched (Mark
9:43). It shall do its dread work till that work
is accomplished.
49 “Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not
speak
parables?” Doth he not speak parables? We can
scarcely wonder that
Ezekiel’s enigmatic words here, as in chapters 15, 16, and
17, should have
called forth some such expression from his hearers; but he
obviously records the
whisper which he thus heard, in a tone of sorrow and
indignation. It was to
him a proof, as a like question was to the Christ (Matthew
15:16; 16:9;
Mark 8:21) proof that those hearers were yet without understanding.
The question was, for those
who asked it, an excuse for hardening their
hearts against remonstrances which needed no explanation. The indignation
was followed by another interval of silence, during which
he brooded over
their stubbornness, and at last, in ch.
21:1, the word of the Lord comes to him,
and he speaks “no more in proverbs,” but
interprets the latest parable even in
its details.
The
Obscurity of Revelation (v. 49)
·
THE TEACHING OF DIVINE REVELATION IS SOMETIMES
OBSCURED. It was
a fact that Ezekiel had been speaking in parables. No
other prophet indulged so freely in symbolical language. His
writings are a
garden of luxuriant metaphors, which often blossom into elaborate
allegories. This style is characteristic of Oriental literature, and
it is a
feature of the Bible teaching generally, through in Ezekiel it is
carried out
more fully than elsewhere. There is an analogy between the seen
and the
unseen. Unattentive hearers may be
arrested by what strikes them on the
plain of their own earthly living. It is not enough that we
receive a bold
abstract statement of truth into our understandings, for this may
never
bear fruit. An imaginative grasp of truth, even when it is less
clearly defined,
may be more vital and fruitful.
·
WHEN TEACHING IS OBSCURE, THE TEACHER IS BLAMED.
The unwilling hearers of Ezekiel
laid the charge of failure to the account of
the prophet. His language had been so enigmatical that they
could not
understand him. It is only reasonable that the Christian preacher should
be
open to criticism. On some accounts he should welcome it, for
it shows
that the minds of his hearers are not entirely asleep. Anything
is better than
blank indifference.
Moreover, no one can be so certain that in many things
the preacher fails sadly as he is himself, if he truly
understands his high
vocation. Nevertheless, the most hard
criticism comes from unsympathetic
hearers, who care only to be taught, and seek only to be amused,
or who
are too indolent (lazy) to think, and therefore complain of
any appeal to their
intellects, and blame the preacher for making difficulties which must
stand
in the way of unthinking
minds. The earnest inquirer after
truth may pick
up some crumbs from the most obscure and dull sermon.
·
THE CAUSE OF THE OBSCURITY OF REVELATION MAY BE
IN THE HEARER.
Like Moses, Ezekiel complains to God of the unjust
judgment of
generation, whom Christ compared to children in the marketplace,
unwilling to respond to any call from their companions (Matthew
11:17). Ezekiel had tried plain
speech; and his audience had turned deaf
ears to his teaching. Then in a despairing effort to arrest
attention, he had
resorted to more novel and startling methods; but the only response
he had
received was an accusation of using enigmatical language. Neither method
had proved successful. No method can succeed with unwilling
hearers. The
best seed fails when it falls by the wayside.
·
THE REMEDY FOR THIS OBSCURITY MAY BE FOUND IN
SOME ROUSING. EXPERIENCE. What is wanted is not to scatter fresh
seed, but to “break up your fallow ground”
(Jeremiah 4:3). Therefore
the rejection of the truth recorded in ch.
20. is followed by the sword of
judgment described in ch. 21. After that, the
people will hear, for then the
soil will be prepared to receive the Word of
God, whether it come in direct
speech or in symbolical suggestions. Trouble breaks
through the
conventional crust of life, and leaves the bruised soul susceptible to
spiritual influences. At
least, this is the design of it. Unhappy
indeed is the
case of
those who are hardened even against the last appeal.
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A Rejected
Application (vs. 1-4)
It is evident that Ezekiel held a position of honour and of some kind of
moral authority among his fellow captives. Although he was
not given to
prophesying smooth things, his countrymen still resorted to
him, evincing a
certain confidence in his mission. On the occasion here
described, an
application made to the prophet was upon Divine authority
rejected —
with reason given. So unusual an incident
leads to further consideration.
·
MAN’S NEED OF A DIVINE ORACLE. The elders of
taken as representatives of mankind generally. They approached
the
prophet in order to inquire of
the Lord. And in this they were right.
Ø
For human ignorance
needs Divine enlightenment and teaching.
Ø
Human uncertainty and
perplexity need Divine guidance, wise and
authoritative.
Ø
Human sinfulness,
clouding, as it does, the spiritual vision, needs
authoritative precept as to the path of duty.
Ø
Human fear and
foreboding need the consolation of Divine kindness and
the promise of Divine support.
·
GOD’S WILLINGNESS TO REPLY FULLY AND GRACIOUSLY
TO THE APPLICATION OF EARNEST INQUIRERS. if there is one
lesson more than another
inculcated with frequency and constancy in the
pages of Scripture, it is this —
that the eternal Father is accessible to his
children, that there is no need which
they can bring unto him which he is
not ready to supply from his infinite fullness and according
to his infinite
compassion. Revelation itself is
a proof of this. The commission given to
prophets and apostles was with a
view to a suitable and sufficient response
to the inquiries of men. The
supreme Gift of God, his own Son, is just a
provision intended to meet the
wants, the deep spiritual cravings, of the
human heart; he is “God with
us.” To question God’s willingness to
receive those who inquire of him
is to cast a doubt upon the genuine: hess
of the economies alike of the Law and of the gospel.
·
THE MORAL CONDITIONS INDISPENSABLY NECESSARY IN
ORDER TO RECEIVING A RESPONSE FROM THE ORACLE OF
GOD. Two such
conditions may especially be mentioned.
Ø
Teachableness and humility;
the disposition of the little child, without
which none can enter the kingdom of heaven; the new birth, which
is the
entrance upon the new life.
Ø
Repentance. Whilst living in sin and loving sin men cannot receive the
righteousness, the blessing, which the heavenly Father waits to bestow.
“Your iniquities have separated
between you and your God.” Sin is as a
cloud which hides the sunlight from shining upon the soul; it is
like
certain conditions of atmosphere, it hinders the sound of God’s
voice
from reaching the spiritual ear. This is the action, not of
arbitrary will,
but of moral law.
·
THE PRACTICAL LESSONS TO BE LEARNED BY APPLICANTS.
Ø
Here, many, in the
same position as that occupied by the elders of
who came to Ezekiel, may learn the reason of their rejection.
“As I live,
saith the
Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you!”
Ø
Here all suppliants
may learn a lesson of encouragement. It is not in
God’s ill will that the obstacle
to our reception is to be sought; lot there
is no ill wilt in him. “Wash you, make you clean!” Draw near
with a
sense of need, with confessions of unworthiness, with requests
based
upon the revealed loving kindness of the heavenly Father; draw
near in
the name of him who has himself shown the vastness of the
obstacle of
sin, and who has himself removed that obstacle; and be assured
of a
gracious reception and a free and sufficient response. In Christ,
the
Eternal addresses the sons of
men, saying, “Seek ye my face!” and in
Christ the lowly and penitent
may approach the throne of grace with
the exclamation, “Thy face, Lord, will I seek!” (Psalm 27:8)
The Memory of the Great
Deliverance (vs. 5-9)
The continuity of the national life seems to have been as
constantly present
to the mind of Ezekiel as was the fact of individual
responsibility. He
distinguished between national and personal character; but
both were in his
apprehension real. It is certainly remarkable that, in
answering as he was
directed to do, the application of the elders, he should
proceed to
epitomize the history of the nation. His aim seems to have
been to show
that the irreligion and rebellion of which he complained in
the epoch of the
Captivity had existed throughout the several periods of Israelitish history.
In a few brief paragraphs the prophet, in a most graphic
way, exhibits the
conduct of the chosen people in several successive eras. As
was customary
and natural, the first period dealt with was that of the
momentous
deliverance from the bondage of Egypt.
·
REVELATION. God made
Himself known unto
Ø
Choice.
Ø
Covenant, confirmed by oath.
Ø
Promise of deliverance from bondage; further promise of a land
flowing
with milk and honey, the glory of all lands.
·
COMMAND. One great
duty Jehovah laid upon his chosen and
covenant people — the duty of abandoning the idolatry, whose evil
effects
they had witnessed among the
Egyptians. They could not consistently
receive the Divine revelation,
and at the same time be guilty of idolatry,
which in all its forms was a
contradiction of the worship and service of the
one living and true God.
Idolatry was not only dishonouring to Jehovah; it
was a defilement of all who took part in its practices.
·
REBELLION.
Notwithstanding the grace displayed in the revelation,
notwithstanding the authority accompanying the command, the chosen and
favoured nation rebelled. The circumstances of the case, when considered,
render this all the more marvellous. Although the superior power of the
God of their fathers had been so
conspicuously displayed, “they did not
forsake the idols of Egypt.”
Such conduct was both treason and rebellion
in one.
·
THREATENING. The truly
human manner in which the prophet, in
this and similar places, speaks of the Eternal leads some
readers to charge
him with anthropomorphism. The
language used of a man might imply
vindictiveness; and, taken in
connection with what follows, might even
imply mutability and fickleness.
The Divine “fury “and “anger” may not be
free from emotion, but such
language is mainly intended to convey the
impression that the law of
righteousness exists, and that it cannot be
violated and defied with impunity, either by nations or by
individuals.
·
RELENTING AND SALVATION. The ground upon which Jehovah
bore with his sinful people is remarkable; it was “for his own
Name’s sake,
that it should not be polluted
before the heathen.” For this reason he
brought them forth out of the
land of Egypt. Their emancipation was
owing, not to any daring of
their own, not to any heroism of their leaders,
not to any fortunate conjunction
of circumstances, but to the interposition
of Almighty power.
The Memory of the
Wilderness of Sinai (vs.
10-17)
The circumstances employed by the Most High to make
were of the most marvellous and
romantic kinds. Psalmists and prophets,
nay, even Christian apostles and deacons, looking back upon
the events of
early Israelitish history, felt
the fascination of the ancient story, of the
emancipation from Egypt, and of the lengthened discipline
of the
wilderness, by which the tribes were welded into a nation
and fitted for the
possession of the land of promise.
·
THE GIFT OF THE LAW.
Men, especially in their corporate capacity,
need something more than exhortation, dissuasion, sentiment.
They need
law. And this necessity was met, when Israel was led into the
wilderness,
by the giving of the Law at
Sinai. in this gift must be included the ten
commandments, the precepts for
family and personal life, the institution of
the ceremonial, sacerdotal, and
sacrificial dispensation, the confirmation
and sanctification of the sabbath, by their observance of which the Jews
were so well known by their neighbours. This last-named institution was,
however, regarded by the God of
Israel in a higher light — as “a sign
between himself and them.” The
people were by these means placed under
authority. Sanctions were
attached to the Law, and life was assured to the
obedient.
·
THE REBELLION OF THE SUBJECTS.
Ø
The season and scene
of this rebellion should be noticed; it took place,
as the prophet reminds the elders, and as the record itself
informs us, in
the wilderness, i.e. immediately after the great
deliverance and the
promulgation of the Law, and
whilst the people were still dependent in an
especial manner upon the bounty and the protection of the Most
High.
Ø
The offensive form of
this rebellion is noted: “They walked not
according to my statutes, and despised my judgments” — a course
which
showed their failure to
appreciate the privileges bestowed upon them, and
the dishonor which they dared to offer to their Deliverer and
King.
Ø
Their inexcusable
neglect of the provision made in the weekly sabbath
for their true well being.
Ø
Their treachery. “Their
heart went after idols.”
·
THE JUDGMENT AND THE MERCY OF THE KING AND
LAWGIVER.
Ø
The immediate
punishment inflicted upon the rebellious generation was
the refusal to permit them to enter upon the land of promise.
Ø
The forbearance and
mercy of God were displayed in that he did not
make an end in the wilderness of those who had rebelled against
Him
and defied Him.
The Memory of the Wilderness of the Wanderings
(vs. 18-26)
At this point the transition is made from the generation
who received the
Law at Sinai to the generation which followed, and to whom
another
probation was afforded.
·
THE DIVINE LAW WAS REPUBLISHED.
·
THE REBELLION AND IDOLATRY OF THE PEOPLE WERE
RENEWED.
·
THE MOST FLAGRANT FORMS OF IDOLATROUS PRACTICE
WERE ADDED TO WHAT HAD PRECEDED, In v. 26 mention is
made of the causing the
firstborn to pass through the fire in the service of
Moloch.
·
ADDITIONAL AND SEVERER THREATS WERE UTTERED. In
v. 23 threats of scattering and
dispersion among the heathen were added
to the more general denunciations.
·
STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS WERE TURNED TO THE
CONDEMNATION OF THE REBELLIOUS.
·
SPARING MERCY WAS AGAIN EXERCISED TO PRESERVE
THE NATION FROM DESTRUCTION.
·
APPLICATION. The lesson is very impressively taught in this passage
that repentance and amendment by no means follow as a matter of
course
upon either punishment or
forbearance. The discipline through which Israel
passed partook of both
characters; yet it left the people, as a people, still
disposed to rebellion against
God, and to contempt of his Law. It is the
spirit in which God’s dealings with us are received which
determines
whether or not they shall issue in our highest good.
The Purpose of
The prophecy at this point turns from the story of the past
to the prediction
and prospect of the future.
·
GOD’S PURPOSES CANNOT BE FULFILLED BY THE
ABSORPTION OF
dispersion were appointed as
chastisement and discipline. And there were
those among the Hebrews who
thought that, as a nation, they might
amalgamate with the heathen, and
might “serve wood and stone.” To
human apprehension, this might
seem the natural consequence of their
experience. But the reverse was
what happened — captivity and exile
served to restore the chosen people to their fidelity to Jehovah.
·
GOD’S RULE OVER HIS PEOPLE WILL BE MANIFESTLY AND
EFFECTIVELY MAINTAINED EVEN IN DISTANT AND HEATHEN
LANDS. Lest
it should be imagined that, when the children of Israel are
scattered among the nations, the
God of Israel will cease to exercise over
them his vigilant sway and
righteous retribution, the strongest language is
used to express the unceasing
control which, wherever his people are
found, will be maintained over
them. “With a mighty hand and a stretchedout
arm will I rule over you… I will be King over you.”
·
GOD WILL PLEAD WITH THE SCATTERED ISRAELITES
WITH A VIEW TO SECURE THEIR SUBMISSION AND
ALLEGIANCE.
The expression implies personal interest and personal
intercourse. It implies the free
agency of the human beings with whom the
Lord deigns to plead. It implies
earnest desire for the welfare of individual
Israelites — welfare which can
only be secured through the conviction, the
faith, the voluntary subjection,
the loyalty, of these who have been in
rebellion.
·
GOD WILL PURGE OUT REBELS AND TRANSGRESSORS,
AND SO PURIFY THE TRUE
ISRAELITES IN NAME ONLY AND NOT IN SPIRIT AND REALITY.
Forbearance may and will be
exercised, but discrimination must take pace.
The dross must be consumed in
order that the pure, fine gold may be
brought out.
·
GOD WILL GATHER THE TRUE SHEEP INTO THE FOLD, AND
RE-ESTABLISH HIS COVENANT WITH HIS PEOPLE. This is the real
aim of the Divine government.
Other steps are the means; this is the end.
Sooner or later this glorious
and blessed result shall be brought to pass.
“There shall be one flock, and
one Shepherd.” The bond of the covenant
shall be again cemented. The
purposes of Divine compassion shall be
completely fulfilled. The
scattered wanderers shall be led home, for he that
scattered shall gather them. He
shall make a way whereby his banished
ones shall return. In the land
of promise, the better country, the true
citizens shall assemble, and
shall offer sacrifices of perpetual obedience,
and songs of endless praise, to their Deliverer and their
Lord.
Judicial Discrimination
(vs. 33-44)
As among men, when matters of serious importance have to be
determined,
there is the employment of a religious oath, in other
words, a solemn
appeal that God should witness the truthfulness of the
parties; so, when
God discloses his intentions respecting the destiny of men,
he speaks with a
view to produce the deepest impression. He stakes his own
existence upon
the certainty of the event.
·
GOD’S RULE IS DIRECTED SOLELY FOR MAN’S PURITY. Such
is his own holiness of nature, that he cannot tolerate
impurity of any kind in
his kingdom. Or, if he does
tolerate it for a season, it is only for the
purpose of more effectually
purifying his saints. To distribute his own
happiness, he created men; but that
happiness can only reach perfection
when it is rooted in purity.
Purity or perdition is the only alternative under
the sceptre of Jehovah.
·
THE PLACE APPOINTED FOR THE TEST. “I will bring you into
the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I plead with you
face to face.”
Already this had been done in
the wilderness of Sinai, and now it shall be
done again. This wilderness is
not Babylon, nor the desert between
Babylon and Judaea.
It denotes the isolated condition of the people, when
they should be scattered among
all the nations. A desert is the outward
emblem of man’s desolation
through sin. Iniquity has made a desert in his
heart, in his home, in the
nation — a desert in all his surroundings. There,
under a sense of his folly and
misfortune, God condescends to plead with
men.
·
A WINNOWING PROCESS IS TO BE PURSUED. “I will purge out
from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me.”
If the
nation, following its lower
passions and following foolish kings, refuse
God’s salvation, God will deal
with them individually. As a nation they
shall be destroyed; but an
election shall be saved. God will appear as a
Thresher, and will purge his
floor, and separate the chaff from the wheat.
Would that the entire nation had
yielded to his righteous rule! Yet, if the
majority reject his grace, a
minority will accept it. Not a single penitent
shall be swept away with the
rebellious. Divine wisdom can and will
discriminate.
·
THE OBDURATE SHALL BE ABANDONED. “Go ye, serve ye
every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken
unto me.”
Lightly as men may esteem the
severity of such a sentence, it is the most
crushing doom that can befall
them — to be given over to the indulgence
of their vices. For God to
withdraw the restraints of his grace, and allow
them the liberty they crave,
would be the heaviest scourge, the beginning
of perdition. Said God of
Ephraim, “He is joined to his idols: let him
alone!” Of some it is declared
by Jesus the Christ, “He is guilty of eternal
sin.”
·
THE PENITENT SHALL RISE TO EMINENT PIETY. (See vers. 40
and 41.) They shall worship again in the consecrated mount.
Their
offerings shall be spontaneous
and abundant. Their gifts and sacrifices shall
send a sweet savour
Godward. Best of all, they shall find acceptance with
God. The Most High will be honoured in their midst. His presence will be
felt as a purifying power. “I
will be sanctified in you.” The remembrance of
their past ways and past
experiences shall open their eyes to the foulness
and loathsomeness of sin. Their
inmost tastes and affections shall be
refined. Self-condemnation is an
essential element in repentance.
·
THE RESULT WILL BE LARGER ACQUAINTANCE WITH
GOD. “Ye shall
know that I am the Lord.” The manifestation of God’s
patience, condescension, and
tender love will enlarge their conception of
God. He will gain a larger place
in their esteem and confidence. His true
glory will come forth. In this
way even human sin will contribute to human
elevation; man’s guilt will
promote God’s glory. In the widest sense, “all
things shall work together for
good.” The darkest disaster will serve as a
setting for the jewels of God’s goodness.
The
In a nation, men’s minds are in every stage of development;
a hundred
phases of feeling prevail. Hence God, in his kindness, sent
his instructions
in every possible form, and adapted his reproofs to every
state of mind —
to children as well as to men of riper years.
·
THE PARABLE IMPLIES A RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN MEN
AND FOREST TREES. Amid
many differences, there are some
resemblances, and it is on one
of these resemblances that this admonition
fastens. In the earlier stages
of their life, trees grow better in clusters. They
serve as a support to each
other, and also as a protection against storms.
But soon the roots rob
nourishment, each from the other. The boughs shut
out the light and air. They
prevent the growth and hardening of the wood.
They become mutually injurious.
Sap diminishes. The branches dry and
decay. So it is with men in
society. Casting off the fear of God, they
corrupt each other. They become
one another’s tempters. Healthy growth
ceases. Shutting out, each from
the other, the light and sunshine from
heaven, their proper life
shrivels, epics up, and decays. They become
combustible — lit for burning.
·
RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN GOD’S RIGHTEOUS ANGER AND
MATERIAL FIRE.
On these two resemblances the parable depends. As
fire naturally lays hold of and
destroys forest trees, be does God’s anger
naturally lay hold of and
destroy wicked men. There is a fixed and
unalterable correspondence. “Be
sure your sin will find you out!” You may
as well swallow poison, and hope
to live; you may as well set fire to
gunpowder, and expect it not to
explode; you may as well touch a galvanic
current, and think to avoid any
nervous sensation, — as to sin, and not
suffer penalty. Each is alike an
eternal decree of the living God. As each
plant has in it the potency to
produce another plant, so every sin has in it
the germ of destruction.
·
PROXIMITY TO EVIL MEN CONSTITUTES A DANGER. All the
trees in a forest are not equally dessicated.
Yet such becomes the fierceness
of the flame, fed by the drier
trees, that those less dessicated are reduced to
ashes. Men may be less
guilty than their neighbors; they may flatter
themselves that they are not so
corrupt as others; nevertheless, it they do
not separate themselves, or labor to improve their neighbours, they may
be consumed in the general
conflagration. The green trees were threatened
with destruction along with the
dry. Evil company is perilous. Each one has
sin enough to draw down Divine anger.
·
MENTAL BLINDNESS IS A DISASTROUS EFFECT OF SIN.
“Doth he not speak in parables?”
The bulk of men say, “It is a pretty story.
It has much literary beauty. The
preacher was eloquent, imaginative,
interesting.” Yet they see not
the moral significance, do not feel the points
of application. The sermon well
suited some absent person; it did not touch
them. The eyes of conscience are
put out. As it was in the day when Jesus
spake his parables, so is it always. “Men see, but do not
perceive; they
hear, but do not understand.”
Today a thousand self-blinded men say, “The
doom of the wicked is not so
terrible as it seems; for the alarming language
of Jesus Christ was only a
parable.” Yet a parable contains hidden truth,
sometimes the most arousing.
On Inquiring
of the Lord (vs. 1-4)
“And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth
month, the tenth day
of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to
inquire of the
Lord,” etc. We here enter upon a new division of this book,
which extends
to the close of ch. 23. The
prophecies of this section were occasioned by a
visit of the elders of Israel to the prophet, to inquire of
the Lord through
him. The paragraph now before us, which may be compared
with
ch.
14:1-5, suggests:
·
THAT IT IS RIGHT AND LAUDABLE TO INQUIRE OF THE
LORD. These elders of
Israel who came to inquire of the Lord, and sat
before the prophet, were of the
exiles. Like Ezekiel, they had been carried
away from their own land to
Babylon. Neither the occasion which gave rise
to their inquiry, nor the
inquiry itself, is stated. Hengstenberg conjectures
that “the embassy had probably a
special occasion in the circumstances of
the time, in a favourable turn which the affairs of the coalition had
taken.
They wish to obtain confirmation
of their joyful hopes from the mouth of
the prophet.” Or they wanted to
ascertain from him if there was a prospect
of the deliverance of Zedekiah from the Chaldean
power (compare Jeremiah
21:1, 2). It seems clear from
the answer which they received that their
inquiry was political, not
moral; that it related to the state of their country
in relation to other nations,
not to their personal relations to God. But our
present point is that it is
right and commendable to inquire of the Lord. We
may inquire of him by searching
the Scriptures in an earnest and devout
spirit, by prayer for the
illumination and direction of the Holy Spirit, and by
engaging in public worship and
attending the ministration of his Word.
Thus David desired “to inquire
in his temple.” This is often profitable to
those who wait upon him in a
true spirit. Asaph found it so (Psalm
73:16, 17). And so did Hezekiah
King of
And so have millions besides.
·
THAT MEN SOMETIMES INQUIRE OF THE LORD IN A
WRONG SPIRIT.
These elders did so (compare ch. 14:1-3). Their
outward
act was right; their inward motive was wrong. Moreover, while
it was right to
inquire of the Lord, that which
they wanted to know was not
commendable. They wanted the
satisfaction of their political curiosity, not
direction in the way of duty. So
far were they from desiring to conform to
the wilt of God, that they were
in their heart proposing to themselves an
opposite course of conduct (cf. ver. 32). “They did here,” says Greenhill,
“like many that are bent upon
marriage, who will go to two or three to
inquire and have counsel, but
are resolved to go on whatever is said unto
them; so whatever counsel they
should have had given them from the Lord,
they meant to go on in their
wicked ways; and this was profound
hypocrisy, whose wont it is to
veil the foulest things with the fairest
pretences.” And in these days
men may inquire of the Lord perversely.
They may consult him by means of
his Word in a wrong spirit. They may
examine that Word with strong
prejudices; or not to learn his mind and
will, but to obtain sanctions
and supports for their own opinions; or from
curiosity rather than piety. Men
may attend church, not “to inquire in his
temple,” but from very different
and very inferior motives. They may even
seek him in prayer in a wrong
spirit — in an unbelieving, unsubmissive,
selfish, worldly spirit. If we
would draw near to him acceptably and
profitably, we “must believe
that he is, and that he is a Rewarder of them
that seek after him;” we must be
humble and reverent; we must bow loyally
to his supreme authority, and we
must sincerely desire to do his will. “If
any man willeth
to do his will, he shall know of the teaching,” etc.
(John 7:17). By earnestly
desiring and endeavoring to do the will of
God, as far as it is known unto
you, you are qualifying yourself to receive
further revelations from him.
·
THAT THE LORD OBSERVES THE SPIRIT IN WHICH MEN
INQUIRE OF HIM. He
knew the real feelings and motives of these elders
of Israel, and spake to them accordingly through his servant Ezekiel. And
he was fully cognizant of the
idols in the hearts of the elders who waited
upon the prophet on a former occasion (ch.
14:3). The most
plausible words and the most
specious forms cannot impose upon him.
“Man looketh
on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the
heart;”
“The Lord searcheth
all hearts;” “I know also, my God, that thou triest the
heart;” “The righteous God trieth the hearts and reins;” “O Lord, thou hast
searched me and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine
uprising; thou understandest my thought
afar off,” etc. (Psalm 139:1-5).
“He knows,” says Greenhill, “upon what grounds, with what purpose,
intentions, resolutions, men
come to hear his Word, to ask counsel of his
servants. Look to yourselves,
spirits, and all your ways; God seeth and
knoweth all, and if you be not sincere, without guile and hypocrisy,
he will
find you out and detect you” (compare John 4:23, 24).
·
THAT THE LORD WILL NOT ANSWER THE INQUIRIES OF
THOSE WHO APPROACH HIM IN A WRONG SPIRIT. “Thus saith the
Lord God; Are ye come to inquire
of him? As I live, saith the Lord God, I
will not be inquired of by you.”
Bishop Lowth states the truth clearly and
forcibly: “You shall not receive
such an answer as you expect, but such as
your hypocrisy deserves.” The
Lord would not reply to their questionings.
They were not in a condition to
receive enlightening or edifying
communications from God. Deeply
insincere as they were, they could not
receive revelations of Divine
truth. The only message suited to them was a
rebuke or warning because of
their sin, or a summons to repentance. This
principle is universally and
abidingly true. “If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me;”
“When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide
mine eyes from you,” etc. (Isaiah 1:15); “Then shall they cry
unto the
Lord, but He will not answer
them,” etc. (Micah 3:4); “We know that
God heareth
not sinners; but if any man be a worshipper of God, and do
His will,
him He heareth.”
·
THOUGH THE LORD WILL NOT ANSWER THE INQUIRIES OF
THOSE WHO APPROACH HIM IN A WRONG SPIRIT, YET HE
WILL ADDRESS TO THEM WORDS SUITED TO THEIR MORAL
CONDITION. He
did so on a former occasion (ch. 14.). He does so
here.
Ø
Here is their personal condemnation. “Wilt thou judge
them, son of
man, wilt thou judge them?” The prophet is thus summoned to
“pronounce
sentence upon them. The repetition of the phrase is
expressive of a strong desire that the act should be begun, and thus
gives the force of an imperative.” God would not reply to them
for
the gratification of their curiosity, but He speaks to them
for the
salvation of their souls. This condemnation might awaken them
to reflection and repentance.
Ø
Here is the exhibition of their national sins. “Cause them to know
the
abominations of their fathers.” By the declaration of these the Lord
would vindicate the righteousness of his dealings with them as a
people.
He would also show them “that
the evil is deep-seated, and a radical
cure is to be desired, which can only be effected by a judgment
of
inflexible rigor (Hengstenberg).
·
CONCLUSION. Our subject forcibly impresses the necessity of true
heartedness as a condition of approaching God, so as to meet with his
acceptance and to obtain his blessing.
The Sovereignty of God in the Punishment
of Sin (vs. 33-38)
“As I live, saith the Lord God,
surely with a mighty hand, and with a
stretched out arm,” etc. The
connection of this paragraph with what has
gone before, and especially with v. 32, is of the closest character; it is,
in
fact, essential. Three leading points require attention.
·
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD OVER MEN, NOTWITHSTANDING
THEIR SINS, ASSERTED. (v. 33.) The
Israelites had resolved to be as
the heathen, to conform to their
usages, and to mingle themselves with
them. But the Lord does not
readily loose them from their allegiance to
him. The sins of men do not
invalidate the sovereignty of God over them.
Men cannot by any means annul
his right to rule over them. Moral
obligations are eternal. The
Lord here asserts:
Ø
His solemn determination to
maintain His sovereignty over
“As I live, saith the Lord God, surely… will I rule over you.” The oath
indicates the settled and unchangeable purpose of the
Lord Jehovah.
He will not forego His kingly
authority over His creatures.
Ø
His sufficient power to maintain his sovereignity over
with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury
poured
out, will I rule over you.”
There is a reference here to his great and
terrible acts in the
therefrom
(compare Exodus 6:6; Deuteronomy 4:34). The Almighty
is at no loss for means and instruments to maintain His
authority.
“The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel
together against the Lord, and against his Anointed, saying, Let us
break their bands asunder,” etc. (Psalm 2:2-6). If men will not
bow
to the scepter of his mercy, they will be made to feel the
rod of his
anger. “There is no shaking off God’s dominion,” says Matthew
Henry; “rule he will, either
with the golden sceptre or
with the iron rod; and those that will not yield to the power
of his
grace shall be made to sink under the power of his wrath.”
·
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD OVER MEN MANIFESTED IN
THE PUNISHMENT OF THEIR SINS. (vs. 34-36.) These verses, we
think, should be regarded as figurative.
The people of the house of Israel
had said within themselves, “We
will be as the heathen, as the families of
the countries, to serve wood and
stone.” The Lord by his prophet declares
that they shall not be as the
nations; they shall not be lost amongst them;
for he will find them out with
his judgments. “1 will bring you out from the
peoples, and will gather you out
of the countries wherein ye are scattered,”
etc. There is here a reference
to their captivity in Babylon. The objection
that they were in one land only,
and amongst one people only, whereas the
prophet speaks of “peoples” and
“countries,” is not of much weight, seeing
that the Babylonian empire was
so great as to be spoken of in the terms
applied to it in Jeremiah 27:1-7 “To those who fancied that with
the
removal into exile the judicial
activity of God was already closed, and the
dawn of the day of grace was
immediately approaching, he announces a
new phase of this judicial
activity, similar to that which first came over
Israel in the wilderness. If
they are really led out of the former state into
the new one, in which they
underlie a second judgment, formally they are
led into the wilderness, which
here designates a state similar to that in
which Israel was formerly in the
wilderness. The wilderness is designated
as ‘the wilderness of the
peoples,’ in contradistinction to the former
wilderness, where was only the howling of wild beasts (Deuteronomy
32:10), lions,
serpents, and the like (ibid. ch.
8:15; Isaiah 30:6).
The new wilderness is one in
which
peoples, and can therefore be no
ordinary wilderness, for wilderness and
peoples exclude one another. It
must rather be a symbolic or typical
designation of the state of
punishment and purification” (Hengstenberg).
We have a somewhat similar use
of the word “wilderness” in ch.19:13 and
Hosea 2:14. What the punishments
thus indicated precisely
were and when they were
inflicted we know not, because of “the defect of
historical notices concerning
the state of the exiles.” Some idea of them
may, perhaps, be gathered from
the words, “Like as I pleaded with your
fathers in the wilderness of the
land of Egypt, so will I plead with you,
saith the
Lord God” (compare Exodus 32:25-29; Numbers 14:21-23;
16:31-35, 41-49; 21:4-6). It is
well observed by Greenhill, “That God’s
punishments are his pleadings;
when he visits men for their sins he pleads
with them. Every rod of his hath
a voice, and pleads for God. <236616>Isaiah
66:16, ‘By fire and by his sword
will the Lord plead with all flesh.’ His
punishments are arguments he
uses to convince or confound sinners.” If
men violate God’s righteous
laws, and set at nought his supreme authority,
they must bear the inevitable
penalties of their transgressions, and thus
realize their subjection to his sovereignty.
·
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD OVER MEN MANIFESTED IN
THE PUNISHMENT OF THEIR SINS IN ORDER TO LEAD THEM
LOYALLY TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SOVEREIGNTY. (vs. 37-38.)
“The Divine chastisement was
designed to exercise a purifying
influence upon the people of
Israel, and to lead them back to hearty
allegiance to the Lord their
God. Two results are here represented as
effected by means of it.
Ø
Divine discrimination of human
characters.
“And I will cause you to
pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the
covenant.”
The metaphor of passing under
the rod is drawn from pastoral lift, and
the custom of the sheep passing under the staff of the
shepherd to be
numbered and examined (compare Leviticus 27:32; Jeremiah 33:12-13;
Micah 7:14). They who thus pass
under the rod are the people of God
purified by chastisements, known of him, restored to covenant
relationship with him, enjoying the privileges and acknowledging the
obligations of that covenant. “The Lord knoweth
them that are his;”
and distinguisheth them from those who are not his.
Ø
Divine separation of human
persons.
“And I will purge out from
among you the rebels, and those that transgress against me,”
etc. (v. 38).
A separation of persons
according to their respective characters is here
set forth. The sheep will be divided from the goats, the loyal
subjects
from the hardened rebels. This verse perhaps points, as Scott
suggests,
“to the
whole of the Lord’s dealings with
this prophecy was delivered, to the establishment of a small
remnant
of them in their own land, after the Captivity; from among
whom the
idolaters and idolatry itself were completely destroyed, by their
manifold
desolations, and the terrible havoc made among them.” This separation
foreshadows that great separation which will be effected at the close
of
the present economy (compare Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation
21:27).
Blessed unspeakably
will be the lot of those who shall then be found
amongst the loyal subjects of the Lord Jehovah. And as for the rebels,
they shall know by dread experience that He is the sovereign
Lord of all.
The Gracious Restoration
of the People (vs. 39-44)
“As for you, O house of
every one his idols,” etc. It is here distinctly recognized
that not at once
would this reformation and restoration be accomplished. The
house of
Israel is told to “go, serve ye every one his idols.” These
words are spoken
of
as an “ironical conversion” (compare 1 Kings 22:15; Amos 4:4;
Matthew 23:32). They are also described as” the holy irony
of him who
knows that mercy is laid up for the future.” It is
important to bear in mind
that the words were addressed to the dissimulating elders
of Israel. They
had come to Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord through him,
while in their
heart they were resolved to “be as the heathen… to serve
wood and stone”
They received such an answer as they were fitted for: “Go
ye, serve ye
every one his idols.” Not quickly are men of such character
separated from
their sins. Not quickly are the stern lessons of
chastisement truly and
thoroughly learned by them. Moreover, this ironical
concession of their
idolatry would perhaps impress them more deeply with the
evil thereof than
a renewed prohibition or denunciation of it might have
done. Then follows
the assured declaration of their restoration through the
mercy of the Lord
God. Of this restoration the more prominent features ate
these.
·
THEIR RENUNCIATION OF IDOLATRY AND CONSECRATION
TO THE LORD JEHOVAH,
Ø
The renunciation of their idolatry. (v. 39.) The
rendering of the margin
of the Revised Version seems to us preferable: “Go ye, serve
every
one his idols, hut hereafter surely ye shall hearken unto me,
and my
holy Name shall ye no more profane with your gifts, and with
your
idols.” Hengstenberg and the
‘Speaker’s Commentary’ take this view of
the verse. “You have pretended,” says Greenhill,
“that by your idols
set up in my stead, and the gifts you have offered to them, or
by them
to me, that you have honored my Name, but by joining them and
me
together, you have polluted my Name.” And he declares that this
pollution shall cease; that they will abandon their idols. And since
their release from the Babylonian captivity, the Jews have never
been
guilty of idolatry like that mentioned in v. 32 — the service of wood
and stone; they have never since then forsaken the Lord God
for the
idols of heathenism.
Ø
Their consecration to the Lord Jehovah. ‘“ For in mine
holy mountain,
in the mountain of the height of
the house of Israel, all of them
in the land, serve me.” Notice:
o
The scene of this service. “In mine holy mountain, in the mountain of
the
height of
But in the
largest and grandest fulfillment of this prophecy the holy
mountain
is to be understood spiritually (compare John 4:20-24).
“The spiritual
worship of the New Testament,” as Schroder observes,
“can be well described in the phraseology of the Old
Testament worship,
by which
it was symbolized and prefigured. We still speak of the
heavenly
Hebrews 12:22).
o
The universality of this service. This is very emphatically expressed
here.
“There shall all the house of
this was
fulfilled on the return from the exile. “When the Jews had
returned from
who
adhered to then, from all the tribes, they formed a unity, possessed
a temple
at
presidency
“(Cocceius). But the prophecy yet awaits
its complete
fulfillment. “All the seperation
between
This points to
times yet future, when in Messiah’s kingdom Jews and
Gentiles alike
shall be gathered into one kingdom — the
Christ (compare
Jeremiah 31.; Malachi 3:1, etc.; also Romans
11:25-26; Revelation
11:15).
(Galatians
4:26), into which the children of
gathered,
and so the prophecy shall be fulfilled (Revelation 21:2)”
(‘Speaker’s Commentary’).
o
And
as for the nature of this service; they shall worship the living and
true God
as the only worthy Object of adoration, and they shall obey
Him as their sovereign Lord.
·
THE ACCEPTATION OF THEMSELVES AND THEIR WORSHIP
BY THE LORD JEHOVAH.
Ø
The acceptation of themselves. “There will I accept them… As a
sweet
savour will I accept you.”
This acceptation includes:
o
The full forgiveness
of all their offences. That he receives the
sinner is an evidence that he will remember his sins against
him
no more.
o
The gracious reception
of themselves: that God would regard
them with complacency, and enrich them with his favour. When
God accepts man he does it
heartily and with a glad welcome,
even as the father received his prodigal son (Luke 15:20-24).
When we pray,” Take away all
iniquity, and receive us
graciously.” He speedily
answers, “I will heal their backsliding,
I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned
away from him.”
Ø
The acceptation of their worship. “There will I
require your offerings,
and the first fruits of your oblations, with all your holy
things.” When the
worshippers are themselves
accepted, their worship will be accepted also.
But when the worshippers are
insincere and wicked, the Lord demands of
them, “To what purpose is the
multitude of your sacrifices unto me?” etc.
(Isaiah 1:11-15). It is the
contrite and believing heart of the offerer that
commends the offerings unto God.
Where this state of heart is we may
say, with David, “Then shalt thou be
pleased with the sacrifices of
righteousness,” etc. (Psalm 51:19).
·
GATHERING THEM FROM THEIR EXILE, AND THEIR
RESTORATION TO THEIR OWN LAND.
Ø
Gathering them from their exile. “When I bring you
out from the
peoples, and gather you out of the countries, wherein ye have been
scattered.” The Lord does not
lose sight of his people when they are
scattered abroad. He does not
cease to care for them or to protect them.
Not one of them shall be lost
through any failure on his part (compare
ch. 34:11-16;
John 10:28).
Ø
Restoring them to their own land. “When I shall bring
you into the land
of
fathers.” The Jews were restored
to their own land after the exile in
Babylon. That restoration was a
remarkable fulfilment of many
prophecies, There is perhaps
in the text a reference to another and yet
future restoration thither. God by the gospel restores man to his
forfeited
inheritance. By sin man was
exiled from Eden; by the grace of God in
Christ Jesus he is introduced
into a holier and more beautiful Paradise.
“When Divine grace renews the
heart of the fallen sinner, Paradise is
regained, and much of its beauty restored to the soul.”
·
THEIR GRACIOUS RECOGNITION OF GOD, AND SINCERE
REPENTANCE OF THEIR SINS. (The points which arise under this head
we have already noticed in our homily on ch.
6:8-10.)
Ø
Their gracious recognition of
the Lord God. “And ye shall know that I
am the Lord,” etc. (vs. 42, 44). This knowledge does not
spring from his
judgments, but from the
experience of his gracious dealings. It is a
sympathetic and saving acquaintance with him.
Ø
Sincere repentance of their sirs.
Ø
Here is a prerequisite
to true repentance. “There shall ye remember
your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled.”
Ø
Here is an essential
characteristic of true repentance. “And ye shall
loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye
have
committed.” in genuine penitence
the sinner reproaches himself
because of his sins.
·
AND IN ALL THESE FEATURES OF THIS RESTORATION WE
HAVE AN IMPRESSIVE AND BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATION OF THE
UNMERITED GRACE OF GOD. “Ye shall know that I am the Lord,
when I have wrought with you for
my Name’s sake, not according to your
wicked ways, nor according to
your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel,
saith the Lord God.” All our blessings flow to us from the
inexhaustible
fountain of the grace of God.
Mankind has merited no good from him. Our
“evil ways and corrupt doings”
have deserved his unmixed wrath. But in
his infinite mercy he has pared
our guilty race, enriched us with many
physical and mental blessings,
and provided for us an eternal and glorious
salvation through the gift of
his beloved Son. And as this restoration of his
people originated in his grace,
it shall redound to his glory. “I will be
sanctified in you in the sight of the nations” (v. 41); “I have
wrought with
you for my Name’s sake” (v. 44); “In them as a holy people,
anew
consecrated to God, shall be
exhibited to the heathen the holiness of
Jehovah.” And the redemption of
man by Jesus Christ shall issue in the
eternal glory of the God or all grace (Galatians 1:5; II Timothy 4:18;
Hebrews 13:20,
21; 1 Peter 5:10, 11; Revelation 7:9-12).
“Not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us,
But unto
thy Name give glory,
For thy
mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.”