*H And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month: there came men of the ancients of Israel to inquire of the Lord, and they sat before me.
Ver. 1. Month: A. 3411, Aug. 27. Usher. — Ezechiel had prophesied in the fourth year; then was silent a year and two months, or 430 days. He opened his mouth again in the sixth year, (C. viii. 1.) and now in the seventh year he is ordered not to answer. W. — We know not what the ancients wanted to know; but their design was evil. C.
*H If thou judgest them, if thou judgest, O son of man, declare to them the abominations of their fathers.
Ver. 4. Judgest them; or, if thou wilt enter into the cause, and plead against them. Ch. — Lay before them the iniquities of their fathers, and their own, which bring on the reprobation of the greatest part. God will form his Church out of a few of them and of the Gentiles. The return of a small number from captivity is also insinuated.
*H In that day I lifted up my hand for them to bring them out of the land of Egypt, into a land which I had provided for them, flowing with milk and honey, which excelled amongst all lands.
Ver. 6. Excelleth. Heb. "is beauty or a desire." Sept. "a honeycomb." C.
*H And I said to them: Let every man cast away the scandals of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Ver. 7. Scandals, &c. (offensiones) that is, the abominations or idols, to the worship of which they were allured by their eyes. Ch. — Moses found them in this condition in Egypt, and he could not entirely reclaim them. C. — Many still secreted their idols. C. xxiii. 1. Acts vii. 42. H.
*H But they provoked me, and would not hearken to me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of his eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: and I said I would pour out my indignation upon them, and accomplish my wrath against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
Ver. 8. Egypt. Their disorders called for such severity. But God was restrained by the dangers (C.) of blasphemy, &c. to which the faithful and idolaters would thus have been exposed. H. — He saved them as he had promised, though they did not deserve it. W.
*H Therefore I brought them out from the land of Egypt, and brought them into the desert.
Ver. 10. Brought. Lit. "cast," (H.) as if they had been reluctant.
*H And I gave them my statutes, and I shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them.
Ver. 11. Live, and enjoy temporal felicity, which was chiefly promised, though the faithful observers of the law would obtain an eternal reward.
* Footnote * Leviticus 18 : 5
Keep my laws and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them, I am the Lord.* Footnote * Romans 10 : 5
For Moses wrote that the justice which is of the law: The man that shall do it shall live by it.*H Moreover I gave them also my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them: and that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.
Ver. 12. Sign, as also to promote piety and instruction.
* Footnote * Exodus 20 : 8
Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.* Footnote * Exodus 31 : 13
Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: See that you keep my sabbath; because it is a sign between me and you in your generations that you may know that I am the Lord, who sanctify you.* Footnote * Deuteronomy 5 : 12
Observe the day of the sabbath, to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.*H But the house of Israel provoked me in the desert: they walked not in my statutes, and they cast away my judgments, which if a man do he shall live in them: and they grievously violated my sabbaths. I said therefore that I would pour out my indignation upon them in the desert, and would consume them.
Ver. 13. Sabbaths. We only read of one man gathering sticks, and the people manna once on those days. Ex. xv. and xvi. But Moses does not mention all. C. — Sabbath often denotes the whole law, which they transgressed; and as long as they retained an affection for idols, they could not observe the sabbaths so as to please God.
*H But I spared them for the sake of my name, lest it should be profaned before the nations, from which I brought them out, in their sight.
Ver. 14. But. Lit. "And I did for," &c. This motive caused me to spare them. H. — I punished only the most guilty adorers of the calf, and murmurers, &c. Num. xiv. 28. C. — Some were always preserved for a succession. v. 9, 22. W.
*H Again I lifted up my hand upon them in the wilderness, to disperse them among the nations, and scatter them through the countries:
Ver. 23. Again, or also. H. — Four times are specified v. 13, 15, 21. which may allude to the adoration of the calf, the graves of concupiscence, the murmuring, and commerce with the women and idols of Moab. Ex. xxiii. Num. x. and xiv. and xxv. C.
*H Therefore I also gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments, in which they shall not live.
Ver. 25. Not good. The laws and ordinances of their enemies: or those imposed upon them by that cruel tyrant the devil, to whose power they were delivered up for their sins; (Ch.) which may be styled the statutes of your fathers, &c. v. 18. H. — God is often said to do what he only permits. C. — He abandoned them to their own perversity. S. Jer. Deut. xxxii. 21. 37. — If God had spoken of the Decalogue, &c. would he say such laws were not good, after he had testified that the observers shall live in them? v. 11. He established the ceremonial law, at the same time. See Kimchi. M. &c. Chal. "I have given them up to their foolish desires. They have established bad statutes and laws which will not give them life." This seems the best explanation. C. — Heb. "Have I given...(26) and have I polluted them?" &c. Manasse Ben. Israel. The precepts had also a bad effect, and were given in condescension to the weakness of the people, (Orig.) particularly the ceremonial part. S. Just. S. Chrys. S. Jer. &c. — They did not justify, (S. Aug.) and were not good, compared with those of the new law. S. Greg. mor. xxviii. 9. — Thus Solon gave the Athenians "the best laws that they would receive," (Plut.) though others more perfect might have been devised. C.
*H And I polluted them in their own gifts, when they offered all that opened the womb, for their offences: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
Ver. 26. I polluted them, &c. That is, I gave them up to such blindness, in punishment of their offences, as to pollute themselves with the blood of all their first-born, whom they offered up to their idols in compliance with their wicked devices. Ch. M. Lev. xviii. 21. and 4 Kin. iii. ultr. and xxi. 6. C. — Offered. Prot. "caused to pass through the fire all, &c. C. xvi. 21. — For their. Prot. "that I might make them desolate to the end, that," &c.
*H And I said to them: What meaneth the high place to which you go? and the name thereof was called High-place even to this day.
Ver. 29. Called high. Heb. "Bamah," (H.) out of contempt. C. — The Jews were so much attached to the high places, that they called the altar of the Lord by the same name. Thus heretics are convicted by the very names they use, calling sacrifice service, &c. W.
*H Neither shall the thought of your mind come to pass, by which you say: We will be as the Gentiles, and as the families of the earth, to worship stocks and stones.
Ver. 32. Stones. This was the secret intention of the ancients, (v. 1. H.) and of many in captivity, who were only praise-worthy compared with those at Jerusalem. C. xi. 15.
*H As I live, saith the Lord God, I will reign over you with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.
Ver. 33. Out. I will not allow you to follow idols with impunity. C.
*H And I will bring you into the wilderness of people, and there will I plead with you face to face.
Ver. 35. Of people. That is, a desert, in which there are no people; (Ch.) meaning Judea, to which they should return.
*H And I will make you subject to my sceptre, and will bring you into the bands of the covenant.
Ver. 37. Covenant of the gospel, by the powerful attractions of grace. Lu. xiv. 24. Jo. vi. 69. and vii. 46. and 2 Cor. x. 4.
*H And I will pick out from among you the transgressors, and the wicked, and will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and you shall know that I am the Lord.
Ver. 38. Israel. They shall continue in exile; or the rebel Jews who will not believe in Christ, shall be cast off. C.
*H And as for you, O house of Israel: thus saith the Lord God: Walk ye every one after your idols, and serve them. But if in this also you hear me not, but defile my holy name any more with your gifts, and with your idols;
Ver. 39. Walk, &c. It is not an allowance, much less a commandment to serve idols; but a figure of speech, by which God would have them to understand, that if they would walk after their idols, they must not pretend to serve him at the same time: for that he would by no means suffer such a mixture of worship. Ch. S. Jer. — Continue, if you dare, to serve idols. I will still bring you back. C. — Sept. "take away each your devices; and then if you hear me, (Grabe's copy adds, not) and defile not my," &c. H. — God would rather have idolaters leave him wholly, than halt between two, (3 K. xviii.) neither hot nor cold; (Apoc. iii.) for such dishonour God's name the most. Rom. ii. 24. W.
*H In my holy mountain, in the high mountain of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel serve me; all of them I say, in the land in which they shall please me, and there will I require your firstfruits, and the chief of your tithes with all your sanctifications.
Ver. 40. Mountain. The foregoing verse, to make the sense complete, must be understood so as to condemn and reject that mixture of worship which the Jews then followed. In this verse God promises to the true Israelites, especially to those of the Christian Church, that they should serve him in another manner in his holy mountain, the spiritual Sion, and shall be accepted of by him. Ch.
*H And there you shall remember your ways, and all your wicked doings with which you have been defiled; and you shall be displeased with yourselves in your own sight, for all your wicked deeds which you committed.
Ver. 43. Committed. This is a picture of the converts to Christianity. C.
*H Son of man, set thy face against the way of the south, and drop towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field.
Ver. 46. Of the south. Jerusalem lay towards the south of Babylon, where the prophet then was, and is here called the forest of the south field, and is threatened with utter desolation. Ch. See C. xxi. C. — In Jerusalem there were good and bad. W.
*H And say to the south forest: Hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will kindle a fire in thee, and will burn in thee every green tree, and every dry tree: the flame of the fire shall not be quenched: and every face shall be burned in it, from the south even to the north.
Ver. 47. Burned, with war and famine. Jer. xxi. 14. C. — North, from Egypt to Mesopotamia. Theod. — Nabuchodonosor invaded those parts. H.
*H And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God: they say of me: Doth not this man speak by parables?
Ver. 49. Parables. They were easy enough to understand, but the Jews would not comprehend them no more than our Saviour's words. Jo. x. 24. C. — Much of this prophecy was so hard, that all seemed to be parables. W.