Chapter 424
God Pivmiseth to Gather Israel EZEKIEL XX. ihrouyh the Power of the Gospd, tiill further they rebelled, blasphemed—"have insulted me." [Calvin.] Even those who did not sacritice to beatheu gods have offered "their sacrifices" {v. 28) in forbidden places. !J8. provocation of their offering an offering as it were purposely made to provoke God. sweet savonr—what ought to have been sivect became otlensive by Ihcir corruptions. He specifies the various kinds of offerings, to show that in all alike they violated the law. 29. Wliat is the high place wliereunto ye go! What is the meaning of this name? For my altar is not so called. What excellence do ye see in it, that ye go there, rather than to my temple, the only lawful place of sacrificing? The very name, "high place," convicts you of sinning, not from ignorance but perverse rebellion. Is called . . . nnto this day—whereas this name ought to have been long since laid aside, along with the custom of sacrificing on liigh places which it represents, being borrowed from tlie heathen, who so called their places of peoples among whom they were to be scattered, and from whom God saith (v. 34), "I will bring you out." In contrast to tlie literal " wilderness of Egypt" (i'. 30), " the wilderness of the peoples" is their «pi)-i7i(a wilderness period of trial, discipline and purification whilst exiled.among the nations. As the state when they are "brought into the wilderness of the peoples," and that when they were among the peoples "from" which God was to "bring them out" (v. 34) are distinguished, the wilderness state probably answers partially to the transition period of discipline from the first decree for their restoration by Cyrus to the time of their complete settlement in their land, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. But the full and final fulfilment is future; the wilderness state will comprise not only the transition period of their restoration, but the beginning of their occupancy of Palestine, a time in whicli they shall endure the sorest of all their chastisements, to "purge out the rebels" (v. 38; Daniel 12. 1), and then the remnant (Zechariah 1.3. 8, 9 ; 14. 2,3) shall "all servt God in the land" (t>. 40). Thus the wilderness period does not denote locality, but their slate intervening between their rejection and future restoration, plead—bring the matter in debate between us to an issue. Image from a plaintiff in a law court meeting the defendant "face to face." Appropriate, as God in Hia dealings acts not arbitrarily, but in most righteous justice (Jeremiah 2. 9; Micah 6. 2). 36. (Numbers 14. 21-29.) Though God saved them out of Egypt, He afterwards destroyed in the wilderness them that believed not (Jude sacrifice (the Greeks, for instance, called them by a cognate term, Boinoi), whereas I call mine Mizbeaach, " altar." The very name implies the place is not that sanctioned by me, and therefore your sacrifices even to me there (much more those you offer tu idols) are only a " provocation" to me (v. 28; Deuteronomy 12. 1-5). David and others, it is true, sacrificed to God on high places, but it was under exceptional circumstances, and before the altar was set up on Mount Moriah. 30. The interrogation implies a strong affirmation, as in v. 4, "Are ye not polluted? &c. Do ye not commit?" &c. Or, connecting this verse with i'. 31, "Are ye thus polluted, &c., and yet (do ye expect that) 1 shall be inquired of by you?" 31. through the lire—As " the fire" is omitted in v. 26, Fairbairn represents the generation here referred to (viz., that of Ezekiel's day) as attaining the climax of guilt (see Note,v.2(i), In making their children pass through the fire, which that former generation did not. The reason, however, for the omission of " the fire" in v. 26 is, perhaps, that there it is implied the children only "passed through the fire" for
5); so, though He brought the exiles out of Babylon, yet their wilderness state of chastening discipline continued even after they were again in Canaan. 37. pass under the rod—metaphor from a shepherd who makes his sheep
])ass under his rod in counting them (Leviticus 27. 32 ; Jeremiah 33. 13). Whether you will or not, ye shall be counted as mine, and so shall be subjected to my chastening discipline (Micah 7. 14), with a view to my ultimate saving of the chosen remnant (cf. John 10. 27-29). bond of . . . covenant—I will constrain you by sore chastisements to submit yourselves to the covenaytt to which ye are lastingly bound, though now you have cast away God's bond from you. Fulfilled in part, Nehemiah 9. 8, 26, 32-38; 10. 1- purificatior;, whereas here they are actually burnt to death before the idol ; and therefore " the fire" is specified in the latter, not in the former case (cf. 2 Kings 3. 27). 3it. We
Avill I)c as tlie heathen—and so escape the odium to which we are exposed, of having a peculiar God and law of our own. " We shall live on better terms with them by having a similar worship. Besides, we get from God nothing but threats and calamities, whereas the heathen, Chaldeans, Ac, get riches and power from their idols." How literally God's words here ("that . . . shall not be at all") are fulfilled in the modern Jews! Though the Jews seemed so likely (had Ezekiel spoken as an uninspired man) to have blended with the rest of mankind and laid aside their distinctive peculiarities, as was their wish at that time, yet they have remained for eighteen centuries dispersed .imong all nations and without a home, but still distinct: a standing witness for the truth of tlie prophecy given so long ago. 33. Here begins the second division of the prophecy. Lest the covenant people should abandon their distinctive hopes, and amalgamate with the surrounding heathen, ho tells them that, as the wilderness journey from Egypt was made subservient to discipline, and also to the taking from among them the reljcliious, so a severe discipline (such as the Jews are now for long actually undergoing) should be administered to them during the next exodus for the same purpose (v. 38), and so to prepare them for the restored possession of their land {Ho.sea 2. U, 15). This was only partially fulfilled before and at the return from Babylon:
39; fully hereafter, Isaiah 54. 10-13; 52. 1, 2. 38. (Zechariah
13.9; 14.2.) purge out—or, "separate." Hebrew, "Barothi," forming a designed alliteration with "Berith," the covenant. Not a promise of grace, but a threat against those Jews who thought they could in exile escape the observation and "rule" of God. land of Israel—though brought out of the country of their sojourn or exile (Babylon formerly, and the various lands of their exile hereafter) into tlie literal land of Palestine, even it shall be to them an exile state, " they shall not enter into the land of Israel," i. e., the spiritual state of restored favour of God to His covenant people, which shall only be given to the remnant to be saved (Zechariah 13.8,9). 39. Equivalent to, "I would rather have you open idolaters than iiypocrites, fancying you can worship me and yet at the same time serve idols" (Amos 5. 21, 2'2, 2.5, 26; cf. 1 Kings 18. 21 ; 2 Kings 17. 41 ; Matthew 6. 24 ; Revelation 3. 15, 16). " Go ye, serve," &c., is not a command to serve idols, but a Judicial declaration of God's giving up of the half-idol, half-Jehovah worshippers to utter idolatry, if they will not serve Jehovah alone (Psalm 81. 12; Revelation 2'2. 11). hereafter also—God anticipates tlie same apostasy afferivards, as now. 4:0. For—Though ye, the rebellious portion, withdraw from my worship, others, even the believing remnant, will succeed after you perish, and will serve me purely, in mine lioly mountain—(Isaiah 2. 2, 3.) Zion, or Moriah, "the height of Israel" (pre-eminent above all mountains because of the manifested presence of God therewith Israel), as opposed to their "high places," the worship on which was an abomination to God. all—not merely individuals, such as constitute the elect Church now; but the whole nation, to be followed by the converits full and final accomplishment Is future, with a migltty Iiand . . . will I mle over you—I will assert my right over you in spite of your resistance (v. 32), as a master would in the case of his slave, and I will not let you be wrested from me, because of my regard to my covenant. 31:. The Jews in exile might think themselves set free from the "rule" of God (v. S3); therefore. He intimates, He will reassert His right over them by chastening Judgments, and these, with an ultimate view, not to destroy, but to restore tliem. people—rather, peoples. 35. wildernrss of tlie people—rather, peopici, the various 692 sion of the Gentile 7intions (Isaiah 2. 2, "all nations ;" Romans 11. 26; Revelation 11.15). with—rather, " m all your holy things." [Mauukk.] 41. witli— i. e., in respect to your sweet savonr (lit., savour of rest, Note, ch. 16. lOX