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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Ezekiel 20 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/ezekiel/20.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ezekiel/20.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/ezekiel/20-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../ezekiel/">Ezekiel</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../ezekiel/19.htm" title="Ezekiel 19">◄</a> Ezekiel 20 <a href="../ezekiel/21.htm" title="Ezekiel 21">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"><span class= "bld">XX.</span><p>Here begins a new series of prophecies, extending to the close of Ezekiel 23, and immediately called out (<a href="/ezekiel/20-1.htm" title="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, and sat before me.">Ezekiel 20:1</a>), like Ezekiel 14, by an inquiry on the part of the elders of Israel. The subject of the inquiry is not given in either case, and can only be inferred from the prophecy itself. This series begins a little more than two years (two years, one month, and five days) after Ezekiel’s call to the prophetic office (<a href="/ezekiel/1-2.htm" title="In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,">Ezekiel 1:2</a>), or a little less than a year (exactly eleven months and five days; comp. <a href="/ezekiel/20-1.htm" title="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, and sat before me.">Ezekiel 20:1</a> with <a href="/ezekiel/8-1.htm" title="And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there on me.">Ezekiel 8:1</a>) after the beginning of the former series; and it is just two years and five months (<a href="/ezekiel/24-1.htm" title="Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,">Ezekiel 24:1</a>) before another series begins. The following series is simultaneous in date with the commencement of the final siege of Jerusalem, and this series therefore, in part at least, must have extended over the time of the preparations for the siege, when generals and armies were marching out for the destruction of Jerusalem and the removal of the people. <span class= "ital">At </span>this near approach of the long-threatened judgments these prophecies take a peculiarly dark and gloomy tone, relieved only by the briefest intimations of distant good. They are for the most part couched in plain language, though falling occasionally, especially in Ezekiel 23, more or less into an allegorical form.<p>Chapter 20 recounts the history of Israel along with the often repeated warnings given, and may be compared with Nehemiah 9; Psalms 78, and the speech of St. Stephen in Acts 7. It is also to a large extent a more literal repetition of the allegory of Ezekiel 16. After the first four introductory verses, the chapter falls into two main portions, the first of which (<a href="/context/ezekiel/20-5.htm" title="And say to them, Thus said the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up my hand to them, saying, I am the LORD your God;">Ezekiel 20:5-31</a>) is subdivided into five sections, corresponding to as many marked periods in the history of Israel.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-1.htm">Ezekiel 20:1</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth <i>month</i>, the tenth <i>day</i> of the month, <i>that</i> certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat before me.</div>(1) <span class= "bld">Came to enquire.</span>—It does not appear that the elders actually proposed their enquiry. It doubtless had relation not to personal affairs, but to the welfare of the nation, and in this prophecy the Lord meets their unspoken question.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-3.htm">Ezekiel 20:3</a></div><div class="verse">Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to inquire of me? <i>As</i> I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">I will not be enquired of by you.</span>—As in <a href="/ezekiel/14-3.htm" title="Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?">Ezekiel 14:3</a>. St. Jerome thus comments on the words:—“ To the holy, and to those who ask for right things, the promise is given, ‘While they are yet speaking, I will say, Here I am;’ but to sinners, such as these elders of Israel were, and as those whose sins the prophet proceeds to describe, no answer is given, but only a fierce rebuke for their sins, to which He adds His oath,. ‘As I live,’ to strengthen His solemn refusal.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-4.htm">Ezekiel 20:4</a></div><div class="verse">Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge <i>them</i>? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:</div>(4) <span class= "bld">Wilt thou judge them?</span>—The form of the repeated question is equivalent to an imperative—judge them. Instead of allowing their enquiry and entreaty for the averting of judgment, the prophet is directed to set before them their long series of apostasies and provocations. “Judge” is used in the sense of “bring to trial,” “prefer charges.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-5.htm">Ezekiel 20:5</a></div><div class="verse">And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I <i>am</i> the LORD your God;</div>(5) <span class= "bld">When I chose Israel.</span>—In <a href="/context/ezekiel/20-5.htm" title="And say to them, Thus said the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up my hand to them, saying, I am the LORD your God;">Ezekiel 20:5-9</a> the Lord takes up the first, or Egyptian period of the history* of Israel. The record of that period, as it has come to us in the Pentateuch, does not contain either any commands against idolatry, or any notice of the rebellion of the people against such command; but both are clearly implied. The very mission of Moses to deliver them rested upon a covenant by which they were to be the peculiar people of Jehovah (<a href="/context/exodus/6-2.htm" title="And God spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am the LORD:">Exodus 6:2-4</a>); the command to go into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord implies that this was a duty neglected in Egypt; and their previous habitual idolatries may be certainly inferred from <a href="/leviticus/17-7.htm" title="And they shall no more offer their sacrifices to devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever to them throughout their generations.">Leviticus 17:7</a>, while the disposition of their hearts is seen in their prompt relapse into the idolatry of the golden calf in Exodus 32. Their whole murmurings and rebellions were but the manifestation of their resistance to having the Lord for their God, and His will for their guide.<p><span class= "bld">Lifted up mine hand</span>—As the form of taking an oath (see <a href="/ezekiel/20-23.htm" title="I lifted up my hand to them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;">Ezekiel 20:23</a> and <a href="/ezekiel/47-14.htm" title="And you shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers: and this land shall fall to you for inheritance.">Ezekiel 47:14</a>). The reference is to such passages as <a href="/context/genesis/15-17.htm" title="And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.">Genesis 15:17-21</a>; <a href="/exodus/6-8.htm" title="And I will bring you in to the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.">Exodus 6:8</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/32-40.htm" title="For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.">Deuteronomy 32:40</a>, &c. The phrase is repeated in <a href="/ezekiel/20-6.htm" title="In the day that I lifted up my hand to them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:">Ezekiel 20:6</a>. which is a continuation of <a href="/ezekiel/20-5.htm" title="And say to them, Thus said the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up my hand to them, saying, I am the LORD your God;">Ezekiel 20:5</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-6.htm">Ezekiel 20:6</a></div><div class="verse">In the day <i>that</i> I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which <i>is</i> the glory of all lands:</div>(6) <span class= "bld">The glory of all lands.</span>—So Palestine is constantly spoken of, both in the promise and in its fulfilment. (Comp. <a href="/daniel/11-16.htm" title="But he that comes against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed.">Daniel 11:16</a>.) However strange this may seem to us now in regard to parts of the land, after centuries of desolation, misrule, and oppression, it is plain from <a href="/joshua/23-14.htm" title="And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you; all are come to pass to you, and not one thing has failed thereof.">Joshua 23:14</a>, and many other passages, that at the time the Israelites entered upon its possession it fulfilled their utmost expectation.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-8.htm">Ezekiel 20:8</a></div><div class="verse">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 Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">The land of Egypt.</span>—Of this idolatrous rebellion, and of this threat of the Divine anger while they were still in Egypt, as already said, we have no specific record. But they had the same disposition then as they had afterwards; and, even without such a charge, we could infer the probability of their idolatry. It is possible that the prophet may have had in mind such incidents as are related in <a href="/context/numbers/14-11.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them?">Numbers 14:11-20</a>, happening while the Israelites were still in the neighbourhood of Egypt, and when the report of them would speedily have reached Egyptian ears. It is by no means necessary to suppose that in this broad and general review of the teachings of history each incident is kept in its strict chronological place. Yet idolatry in Egypt is distinctly charged upon the Israelites in <a href="/ezekiel/16-3.htm" title="And say, Thus said the Lord GOD to Jerusalem; Your birth and your nativity is of the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother an Hittite.">Ezekiel 16:3</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/16-19.htm" title="My meat also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you have even set it before them for a sweet smell: and thus it was, said the Lord GOD.">Ezekiel 16:19</a>, and this verse may well refer to God’s judgment for this sin suspended and delayed while they were in Egypt lest it should be misunderstood by the heathen.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-9.htm">Ezekiel 20:9</a></div><div class="verse">But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they <i>were</i>, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">For my name’s sake.</span>—This is the express ground of Moses’ pleading for the people in the passage just referred to, and again in <a href="/exodus/32-12.htm" title="Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people.">Exodus 32:12</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/9-28.htm" title="Lest the land from where you brought us out say, Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.">Deuteronomy 9:28</a>; and it is repeatedly given, as in <a href="/context/deuteronomy/32-27.htm" title="Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD has not done all this.">Deuteronomy 32:27-28</a>, as the ground on which the Lord spared His rebellious people. Had they been treated according to their deserts, and destroyed for their sins, the heathen would have said that God was unable to deliver them.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-10.htm">Ezekiel 20:10</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Brought them into the wilderness.</span>—Here begins the second period of the history under review—viz., the earlier part of the life in the wilderness (<a href="/context/ezekiel/20-10.htm" title="Why I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.">Ezekiel 20:10-17</a>). It includes the exodus, the giving of the law, the setting up of the tabernacle, the establishment of the priesthood, and the march to Kadesh. By all this the nation was constituted most distinctly the people of God, and brought into the closest covenant relation with him.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-11.htm">Ezekiel 20:11</a></div><div class="verse">And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which <i>if</i> a man do, he shall even live in them.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">He shall even live in them.</span>—Comp. <a href="/context/deuteronomy/30-15.htm" title="See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil;">Deuteronomy 30:15-20</a>. It becomes plain, on a careful perusal of this passage, that what was required was not a mere outward, technical, and perfunctory keeping of certain definite precepts, but a living and loving obedience to God’s will from the heart. The same fundamental principle of life underlies the Old Testament as the New; yet the former is justly regarded, and frequently spoken of in the New Testament, as a covenant of works, because the people were not yet sufficiently educated spiritually to be able to receive the principle of faith, and were therefore placed under a law of many definite precepts, that by keeping these with glad alacrity they might show their readiness and desire to do the Lord’s will. It is in this sense that a man should live by doing the statutes of the law, and not on the ground of his thereby earning for himself salvation. But even thus, they failed miserably under the test.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-12.htm">Ezekiel 20:12</a></div><div class="verse">Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I <i>am</i> the LORD that sanctify them.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">I gave them my sabbaths.</span>—“Not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers” (<a href="/john/7-22.htm" title="Moses therefore gave to you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and you on the sabbath day circumcise a man.">John 7:22</a>). The Sabbath, like circumcision, was an institution far older than the period here spoken of, but was now commanded anew, and made the especial pledge of the covenant between God and His people. The verse is a quotation from <a href="/exodus/31-13.htm" title="Speak you also to the children of Israel, saying, Truly my sabbaths you shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that you may know that I am the LORD that does sanctify you.">Exodus 31:13</a>; and every one must have remarked the great stress everywhere laid in the Old Testament upon the observance of the Sabbath, and the prominence given to it among the privileges of the Divine covenant. It is plain that the day is regarded not in its mere outward character, as a day of rest, but as “a sign” of the covenant, and a means of realising it in the study of God’s word, and the communion of the soul with Him. It is in these latter aspects also that the weekly day of rest still retains its inestimable value—that men “might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-13.htm">Ezekiel 20:13</a></div><div class="verse">But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which <i>if</i> 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.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">Rebelled against me.</span>—See <a href="/context/exodus/32-1.htm" title="And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.">Exodus 32:1-6</a>; <a href="/context/numbers/14-1.htm" title="And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.">Numbers 14:1-4</a>; <a href="/numbers/14-16.htm" title="Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.">Numbers 14:16</a>; <a href="/context/numbers/25-1.htm" title="And Israel stayed in Shittim, and the people began to commit prostitution with the daughters of Moab.">Numbers 25:1-3</a>; and for the desecration of the Sabbath in particular, <a href="/exodus/16-27.htm" title="And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.">Exodus 16:27</a>; <a href="/numbers/15-32.htm" title="And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks on the sabbath day.">Numbers 15:32</a>.<p><span class= "bld">I will pour out my fury.</span>—Comp. <a href="/exodus/32-10.htm" title="Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of you a great nation.">Exodus 32:10</a>; <a href="/numbers/15-12.htm" title="According to the number that you shall prepare, so shall you do to every one according to their number.">Numbers 15:12</a>; and on <a href="/ezekiel/20-14.htm" title="But I worked for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.">Ezekiel 20:14</a> comp. Note on <a href="/ezekiel/20-9.htm" title="But I worked for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.">Ezekiel 20:9</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-15.htm">Ezekiel 20:15</a></div><div class="verse">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 <i>them</i>, flowing with milk and honey, which <i>is</i> the glory of all lands;</div>(15) <span class= "bld">I would not bring them into the land.</span>—<a href="/context/numbers/14-28.htm" title="Say to them, As truly as I live, said the LORD, as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you:">Numbers 14:28-29</a>. In consequence of their rebellion and want of faith, all the men above twenty years old when they came out of Egypt were doomed by the Divine oath to perish in the wilderness. Yet He did not utterly take His mercy from them, but promised that their children should be brought into the land, as is set forth in <a href="/ezekiel/20-17.htm" title="Nevertheless my eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.">Ezekiel 20:17</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-18.htm">Ezekiel 20:18</a></div><div class="verse">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:</div>(18) <span class= "bld">Unto their children.</span>—The prophet comes now to the third part of his historical retrospect (<a href="/context/ezekiel/20-18.htm" title="But I said to their children in the wilderness, Walk you not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:">Ezekiel 20:18-26</a>)—the generation which grew up in the free air of the wilderness, and under the influence of the legislation and institutions given at Sinai. At the same time, it would be a mistake to confine what he says exclusively to that generation. In this, as in the other parts of the discourse, he regards Israel as a whole, and while speaking of one period of their history especially, yet treats of national characteristics which may have come to their most marked development only at a later time. This generation was very earnestly warned against the sins of their fathers, and exhorted to obedience to the Divine law. The whole Book of Deuteronomy is the comment on <a href="/context/ezekiel/20-18.htm" title="But I said to their children in the wilderness, Walk you not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:">Ezekiel 20:18-20</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-21.htm">Ezekiel 20:21</a></div><div class="verse">Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which <i>if</i> 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.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">The children rebelled.</span>—The history of the wanderings in the wilderness, given in Exodus and Numbers, offers abundant illustrations of the truth of this and the following verse.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-23.htm">Ezekiel 20:23</a></div><div class="verse">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;</div>(23) <span class= "bld">I would scatter them among the heathen.—</span>This threatening was not designed to be fulfilled in that immediate generation, as abundantly appears from <a href="/leviticus/26-33.htm" title="And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.">Leviticus 26:33</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/4-27.htm" title="And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and you shall be left few in number among the heathen, where the LORD shall lead you.">Deuteronomy 4:27</a>, Deut. 27:64, and the other passages in which it is given, especially Deuteronomy 29, 30. It was given to that generation as representing the nation, but was only to be carried out when, by a long course of obdurate sin, it should be shown to be imperatively required. The threat had now been already realised in part, and was on the eve of being fully accomplished. It was important that the people should be made to understand that this had been the Divine warning from the beginning, and that in its fulfilment they were only receiving that punishment which had always been designed for such sin as they had committed.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-25.htm">Ezekiel 20:25</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore I gave them also statutes <i>that were</i> not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;</div>(25) <span class= "bld">Statutes that were not good.</span>—In this verse the general statement is made of which a particular instance is given in the next. The “statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live,” cannot be the same with those described in <a href="/ezekiel/20-11.htm" title="And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.">Ezekiel 20:11</a> as “judgments which, if a man do, he shall even live in them.” They are not, therefore, to be understood (as many of the fathers took them) of any part of the Mosaic law. Neither is it a sufficient explanation to say that God gave them what was intrinsically good, but it became evil to them through their sins; such a view of the law is emphatically discarded in <a href="/romans/7-13.htm" title="Was then that which is good made death to me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.">Romans 7:13</a>. The statutes of the Mosaic law are not intended here at all, as is plain from the particular instance of the consecration of children to Moloch in the next verse. These evil statutes and judgments were those adopted from the heathen whom they had suffered to dwell among them, and from the surrounding nations. But how can the Lord say that <span class= "ital">He </span>gave these to them? In the same way that it is said in <a href="/isaiah/63-17.htm" title="O LORD, why have you made us to err from your ways, and hardened our heart from your fear? Return for your servants' sake, the tribes of your inheritance.">Isaiah 63:17</a>, “O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from Thy ways, and hardened our heart from Thy fear?” So also St. Paul says of the heathen (<a href="/context/romans/1-21.htm" title="Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.">Romans 1:21-28</a>) that God “gave them up to uncleanness,” “unto vile affections,” “to a reprobate mind;” and of certain wicked persons (<a href="/context/2_thessalonians/2-11.htm" title="And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:">2Thessalonians 2:11-12</a>) “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believe not the truth.” And St. Stephen says of these very Israelites at this very time, “God gave them up to worship the host of heaven” (<a href="/acts/7-42.htm" title="Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O you house of Israel, have you offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?">Acts 7:42</a>). It is part of that universal moral government of the world, to which Ezekiel so frequently refers, that the effect of disobedience and neglect of grace is to lead the sinner on to greater sin. The Israelites rebelled against the Divine government, and neglected the grace given them; the natural consequence was that they fell under the influence of the heathen. Comp. Note on <a href="/ezekiel/14-9.htm" title="And if the prophet be deceived when he has spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from the middle of my people Israel.">Ezekiel 14:9</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-26.htm">Ezekiel 20:26</a></div><div class="verse">And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through <i>the fire</i> all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I <i>am</i> the LORD.</div>(26) <span class= "bld">To pass through the fire.</span>—The word “fire” here, as in <a href="/ezekiel/16-21.htm" title="That you have slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?">Ezekiel 16:21</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/23-37.htm" title="That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.">Ezekiel 23:37</a>, is not in the original, but is rightly supplied from <a href="/ezekiel/20-31.htm" title="For when you offer your gifts, when you make your sons to pass through the fire, you pollute yourselves with all your idols, even to this day: and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, said the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.">Ezekiel 20:31</a>. The custom referred to was probably that of consecrating their seed to Moloch, expressly forbidden in <a href="/context/leviticus/20-1.htm" title="And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,">Leviticus 20:1-5</a>. (Comp. also <a href="/acts/7-43.htm" title="Yes, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which you made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.">Acts 7:43</a>.) The causing children to pass through the fire continued a common sin even to the later days of the monarchy (<a href="/2_kings/17-17.htm" title="And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.">2Kings 17:17</a>; <a href="/2_kings/21-6.htm" title="And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he worked much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.">2Kings 21:6</a>).<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-27.htm">Ezekiel 20:27</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.</div>(27) <span class= "bld">Your fathers have blasphemed me.</span>—The fourth period of Israelitish history, though actually far the longest, is very briefly passed over (<a href="/context/ezekiel/20-27.htm" title="Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and say to them, Thus said the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.">Ezekiel 20:27-29</a>). It includes the whole period of the settlement in Canaan, from the conquest to the prophet’s own time, and was marked by the same characteristics as before. The particular way here specified by which they blasphemed was by the erection of idolatrous altars on every high place.<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-29.htm">Ezekiel 20:29</a></div><div class="verse">Then I said unto them, What <i>is</i> the high place whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.</div>(29) <span class= "bld">Is called Bamah.—</span>Bamah itself means <span class= "ital">high place. </span>Some have fancied that the word is derived from the two words “go” and “where,” and therefore that it contains a play upon the question in the first part of the verse; but this etymology must be considered fanciful.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-30.htm">Ezekiel 20:30</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?</div>(30) <span class= "bld">Are ye polluted?</span>—This and the two following verses constitute the fifth and concluding portion of this historical review, and relate to the then existing generation. The questions asked answer themselves, and yet in the following verse are answered for the sake of emphasis. They bring home to Ezekiel’s own contemporaries the sins which had characterised their race through nearly all the ages of their history, and show the justice of those long-threatened judgments which were now bursting upon them.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-31.htm">Ezekiel 20:31</a></div><div class="verse">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 Israel? <i>As</i> I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.</div>(31) <span class= "bld">I will not be enquired of by you.</span>—This takes up the refrain of <a href="/ezekiel/20-3.htm" title="Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus said the Lord GOD; Are you come to inquire of me? As I live, said the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.">Ezekiel 20:3</a>, and with the following verse fitly closes this portion of the prophecy which was introduced by the coming of the elders to enquire.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-32.htm">Ezekiel 20:32</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(32) <span class= "bld">As the heathen</span>.—The desire to be “like the nations that are round about,” had long been a ruling ambition with the Israelites, as shown in their original desire for a king (<a href="/1_samuel/8-5.htm" title="And said to him, Behold, you are old, and your sons walk not in your ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.">1Samuel 8:5</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/8-20.htm" title="That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.">1Samuel 8:20</a>), and this desire, as shown in the text, had been one chief reason for their tendency to idolatry.<p>The second part of this prophecy extends from <a href="/ezekiel/20-33.htm" title="As I live, said the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:">Ezekiel 20:33</a> to <a href="/ezekiel/20-44.htm" title="And you shall know that I am the LORD when I have worked with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O you house of Israel, said the Lord GOD.">Ezekiel 20:44</a>, where the chapter closes in the Hebrew, and it would have been better if the same division had been observed in the English, as the fresh prophecy of <a href="/context/ezekiel/20-45.htm" title="Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,">Ezekiel 20:45-49</a> is more closely connected with the following chapter. The object of this concluding part of the prophecy is to declare the mingled severity and goodness with which God is about to deal with His people to wean them from their sins, and prepare them to receive His abundant blessing.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-33.htm">Ezekiel 20:33</a></div><div class="verse"><i>As</i> 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:</div>(33) <span class= "bld">With a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm.</span>—As the delineations of this whole passage are founded upon the exodus from Egypt (comp. <a href="/context/hosea/2-14.htm" title="Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her.">Hosea 2:14-15</a>), so this particular expression is the standing form in the Pentateuch for the series of mighty acts by which the Lord effected that deliverance (see <a href="/exodus/6-1.htm" title="Then the LORD said to Moses, Now shall you see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.">Exodus 6:1</a>; <a href="/exodus/6-6.htm" title="Why say to the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:">Exodus 6:6</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/4-34.htm" title="Or has God assayed to go and take him a nation from the middle of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?">Deuteronomy 4:34</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/5-15.htm" title="And remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD your God brought you out there through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.">Deuteronomy 5:15</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/7-19.htm" title="The great temptations which your eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the LORD your God brought you out: so shall the LORD your God do to all the people of whom you are afraid.">Deuteronomy 7:19</a>, &c). In <a href="/exodus/6-6.htm" title="Why say to the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:">Exodus 6:6</a> it is connected with “great judgments”; here and in the next verse, on the contrary, with “fury poured out.” Then the Almighty power was manifested for deliverance, but now it shall be for discipline; He “will rule over” and purify them with the same resistless energy which He formerly put forth to save them from their enemies.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-34.htm">Ezekiel 20:34</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(34) <span class= "bld">Bring you out from the people.—</span>This and the parallel clause, “gather you out of the countries,” cannot refer to the restoration of the people to their land, both because it is an avenging act, “with fury poured out”; and also because its object is said in the next verse to be to bring them into the wilderness. It must therefore refer to the Divine dealings with the people in their dispersion. He will separate them from other people; He will not allow them, as they proposed (<a href="/ezekiel/20-32.htm" title="And that which comes into your mind shall not be at all, that you say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.">Ezekiel 20:32</a>), to “be as the heathen;” but will bring them out and gather them as a distinct race and spiritually separated from them all, to be dealt with as His own peculiar people.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-35.htm">Ezekiel 20:35</a></div><div class="verse">And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.</div>(35) <span class= "bld">Into the wilderness of the people.</span>—As in the past there was a period of probation and discipline in the wilderness, so shall there be in the future. The similarity is insisted upon in <a href="/ezekiel/20-36.htm" title="Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, said the Lord GOD.">Ezekiel 20:36</a>, and the phrase “face to face” is taken from <a href="/deuteronomy/5-4.htm" title="The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the middle of the fire,">Deuteronomy 5:4</a>, not to show that the Lord will interpose again with the same sensible manifestations, but will plead with them in ways equally adapted, in their more advanced condition, to show them His overruling hand. As this phrase is plainly to be understood according to its sense, and not according to the letter, so it is quite idle to attempt to locate <span class= "ital">“</span>the wilderness of the people” as any material wilderness, as that of Arabia, or that between Babylonia and Palestine. The phrase must mean that wilderness condition of the people, scattered among the nations, in which the Lord will plead with them as He did with their fathers. This might refer, as some commentators think, to the state of the Jews in our own time, dispersed among all nations; but there is nothing in the connection to indicate so distant a future, and it may quite as well refer to the then approaching condition of the people. Already many thousands of them had been carried captive to Babylon; others (see <a href="/jeremiah/10-12.htm" title="He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by his discretion.">Jeremiah 10:12</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/43-5.htm" title="But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, where they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;">Jeremiah 43:5</a>) had been scattered among all the surrounding nations; the mass of the ten tribes had long before been carried by the king of Assyria to other regions; and the large remnant still left in Judæa, influenced by their own fears, soon afterwards went down to Egypt. In Ezekiel’s own life-time, Israel was scattered widely among all the prominent nations of the earth, and thus brought into the “wilderness of the people.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-37.htm">Ezekiel 20:37</a></div><div class="verse">And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:</div>(37) <span class= "bld">To pass under the rod.—</span>A figure taken from the shepherd’s way of counting and examining his flock. (Comp. <a href="/leviticus/27-32.htm" title="And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to the LORD.">Leviticus 27:32</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/33-13.htm" title="In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that tells them, said the LORD.">Jeremiah 33:13</a>; <a href="/micah/7-14.htm" title="Feed your people with your rod, the flock of your heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the middle of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.">Micah 7:14</a>.) By this the people were to be brought <span class= "ital">“</span>into the land of the covenant,” selected and reconstituted God’s covenant people.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-38.htm">Ezekiel 20:38</a></div><div class="verse">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 land of Israel: and ye shall know that I <i>am</i> the LORD.</div>(38) <span class= "bld">I will purge out.</span>—The discipline of affliction should have the effect of separating the rebellious in heart from the purified remnant, so that they should not return with them to the land of their fathers. A striking instance of the way in which the Divine purposes are fulfilled through the operations of ordinary laws, occurred on the return of the Jews from their exile. After a residence of more than two generations in Babylonia, they had made themselves homes there, and had become prosperous and contented. Jerusalem and Judæa were utterly desolated and environed with their persistent enemies. The journey thither was long, attended with hardships and danger, and at its close lay the toilsome and self-sacrificing work of pioneers. When therefore, the permission was given for the return, only those who were most earnest in their zeal for the home and religion of their fathers were ready to avail themselves of the opportunity. A great sifting of the people thus took place from the very circumstances of the case, and only a comparatively small portion constituting the better part, returned to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-39.htm">Ezekiel 20:39</a></div><div class="verse">As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter <i>also</i>, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.</div>(39) <span class= "bld">Go ye, serve ye every one his idols.</span>—Comp. <a href="/joshua/24-15.htm" title="And if it seem evil to you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.">Joshua 24:15</a>. If, after the warning given, ye still refuse obedience, then the Lord gives you up to your fate; “go, serve your idols.” Such should be the terrible end of the persistently rebellious part of the nation, as with the obdurate sinner of all ages, they will be given up to the punishment—than which nothing can be imagined more fearful—of being allowed to follow to the end the ways of their own choice.<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-40.htm">Ezekiel 20:40</a></div><div class="verse">For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.</div>(40) <span class= "bld">In mine holy mountain.</span>—See note on <a href="/ezekiel/17-23.htm" title="In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.">Ezekiel 17:23</a>. The former prophecy was distinctly Messianic; in this, taken by itself, there is nothing which might not refer to the restoration from the exile. Yet in view of the parallelism and connection between the two, we can hardly avoid the supposition, that in predicting the restoration the prophetic eye looked beyond to the greater glory of the Christian dispensation, of which that restoration was a type. But, however this may be, it is not necessary to explain any of the expressions in this passage as looking for their direct and immediate fulfilment beyond the restoration under Zerubbabel.<p><span class= "bld">All the house of Israel.</span>—It has already been shown (see notes on <a href="/ezekiel/2-3.htm" title="And he said to me, Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even to this very day.">Ezekiel 2:3</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/4-3.htm" title="Moreover take you to you an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city: and set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.">Ezekiel 4:3</a>) that the existing nation is recognised as constituting “Israel,” except where special occasion arises for distinguishing between the ten tribes and the two. Here “Israel” is used throughout for the people whom the prophet is directed to address (<a href="/ezekiel/20-39.htm" title="As for you, O house of Israel, thus said the Lord GOD; Go you, serve you every one his idols, and hereafter also, if you will not listen to me: but pollute you my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.">Ezekiel 20:39</a>), as is further shown by the parallel, “all of them in the land.” Though the restored nation was made up chiefly of Judah and Benjamin, there were also among them considerable remnants of the other tribes; and it is declared that the offerings of them all shall be alike acceptable.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-43.htm">Ezekiel 20:43</a></div><div class="verse">And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.</div>(43) <span class= "bld">Ye shall lothe yourselves.</span>—The especial sin above all others for which Israel had been reproved in past ages, and which still formed the burden of Ezekiel’s denunciations, was idolatry; from this they were weaned, once for all, at the restoration, and whatever other sins may have been committed by them, into this, as a nation, they have never since relapsed.<p>With <a href="/ezekiel/20-44.htm" title="And you shall know that I am the LORD when I have worked with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O you house of Israel, said the Lord GOD.">Ezekiel 20:44</a> this prophecy ends, and here the chapter closes in the Hebrew and in the ancient versions.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-45.htm">Ezekiel 20:45</a></div><div class="verse">Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,</div>(45) <span class= "bld">Toward the south.</span>—The parable of <a href="/context/ezekiel/20-45.htm" title="Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,">Ezekiel 20:45-48</a> forms what might be called the text of the discourse in Ezekiel 21. The word south, here occurring three times, is represented in the Hebrew by three separate words, which mean, by their derivation, respectively, “on the right hand” (the orientals always supposing themselves to face the east when they speak of the points of the compass),” the brilliant or <span class= "ital">“</span>mid-day direction,” and “the dry land,” a common name for the south of Palestine. Judæa is spoken of as “the south,” because, although actually nearly west from Babylon, it could only be approached by the Babylonians from the north, on account of the great intervening desert. Hence the prophets always speak of the armies of Babylon as coming from the north (see Note on <a href="/ezekiel/1-4.htm" title="And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire enfolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the middle thereof as the color of amber, out of the middle of the fire.">Ezekiel 1:4</a>; <a href="/context/jeremiah/1-14.htm" title="Then the LORD said to me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land.">Jeremiah 1:14-15</a>, &c.).<p><span class= "bld">The forest of the south field, </span>might be originally a mere poetic description of the land; but the figure is developed in the following verses, to make the forest the nation, and its trees the people which compose it.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-47.htm">Ezekiel 20:47</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(47) <span class= "bld">Every green tree in thee, and every dry tree</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>persons of every condition, the condition here having reference probably to their moral state; the approaching desolation should be so complete, that, like other national judgments, it should sweep away all alike. No distinction could be made in favour of those who might be less ripe in evil. Our Lord may have had this expression in mind in <a href="/luke/23-31.htm" title="For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?">Luke 23:31</a>. At the close of the verse, by introducing the words “all faces,” the prophet, as he so often does, breaks away from the figure to its interpretation, and shows plainly the meaning of the former.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezekiel/20-49.htm">Ezekiel 20:49</a></div><div class="verse">Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?</div>(49) <span class= "bld">Doth he not speak parables?</span>—Or enigmas—things that we cannot understand. This the prophet did designedly, as he had done in other cases, to awaken the attention of the people to the explanation he was about to give.<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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