John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Ezekiel 3:1



INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 3



This chapter contains a further account of the prophet's call and mission; of his preparation of him for is work; of, the persons to whom he was sent; of what happened to him upon this; of the nature of his office, and the work of it; and of what followed upon the renewal of his call. His further preparation for prophesying is in Eze 3:1; where he is bid to eat the roll showed him, which he did, and found it in his mouth as honey for sweetness; and then he receives fresh orders to go to the people of Israel, and prophesy to them, Eze 3:4; and, that he might not be discouraged, an account is given beforehand of the people to whom he was sent; of their language, behaviour, and disposition; by which he could not expect success, Eze 3:5; and, for his further encouragement, strength, boldness, resolution, firmness, and presence of mind, are promised him, Eze 3:8; also a revelation of mere things to him; all which he should hear, receive, and speak, whether the people would attend to them or not; which ought to be no discouragement to him, since it was not regarded by the Lord, Eze 3:10; then follows an account of his being lifted up by the Spirit from the earth, when he heard a voice, which is described by the manner and matter of it; and a noise, both of the living creature's wings, and of the wheels he had seen in a former vision, Eze 3:12; and next of his being carried away by the same Spirit; and of the condition he was in, in his own spirit, as he went; and of the strength he received from the Lord; and of the place to which he, was carried; and his state and circumstances, and time of continuance there, Eze 3:14; where, after a time mentioned, he has a fresh call to his office, under the character of a watchman, whose business was to hear Christ's words, and warn the house of Israel from him; and who are distinguished into wicked and righteous; and whom the prophet was to warn at his own peril, Eze 3:16; and the chapter is concluded with a narration of various events which befell the prophet; he is bid by the Lord to go into the plain, which he did, and there saw the glory of the Lord, as he had before seen it at the river Chebar; which so affected him, that he fell upon his face, Eze 3:22; the spirit entered into him, let him on his feet, and spake with him; ordered him what he should do himself, that he should shut himself up in his house, Eze 3:24; informed him what the people would do to him; bind him with bands, that he should not come forth, Eze 3:25; and what Christ would do to him; strike him dumb in judgment to the people, that he might not be a reprover of them, Eze 3:26; but he is told that, when the Lord spoke to him; his mouth should be opened, and he should declare what was said to him, Eze 3:27.



Ver. 1. Moreover he said unto me,.... The same glorious Person who had been speaking all along in the preceding chapter; and who was seen by the prophet on a sapphire throne, and described in Eze 1:26; the first fifteen verses of this chapter are by Junius and Tremellius made a part of the second:



son of man, eat that thou findest; not anything, but what he found in the hand sent unto him; wherefore the Targum is,



"son of man, receive what is given thee;''



which was the roll, as follows:



eat this roll; not literally, but figuratively, as John is bid to eat the little book, Re 10:9; that is, read it, meditate upon the things contained therein; and digest them, that he might be able to impart them, and make them known to others: it is explained in Eze 3:10; by hearing and receiving the words of the prophecy; and so the Targum,



"receive what is written in this roll;''



this is to eat it; as great readers of books are called "helluones librorum", eaters of books, gluttons at them; read them greedily, deeply meditate upon what is in them, and thoroughly digest them; so it becomes all good men to eat the word, to mix it with faith, to receive it in the love of it, and constantly meditate on it, Ps 1:1; and especially ministers of the Gospel, 1Th 4:15;



and go, speak unto the house of Israel; or, as the Targum,



"go, and prophesy to the house of Israel;''



for by eating the roll, in the sense given, he was fit for it; and when ministers of the word have read, and thought of, and digested the truths of the Gospel themselves, then they are prepared to go and enter upon their work, and feed others with knowledge and understanding.







Ezekiel 3:2



Ver. 2. So I opened my mouth,.... To take in the roll, and eat it; he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision; he did all that he could towards eating it, but was not sufficient of himself; and therefore it follows:



and he caused me to eat that roll; he, the Lord, put it into his mouth, caused him to eat it, and tilled him with it, according to his promise,

Ps 81:10. The efficacy and sufficiency to think of good things, to meditate upon them, receive and digest them, are of God; it is he that makes men prophets, and able ministers. The Targum is,



"and I inclined my soul, and he taught me (or made me wise "with") what was written in this roll.''





Ezekiel 3:3



Ver. 3. And he said unto me, son of man, cause thy belly to eat,.... Or "devour" {f}, and consume; that is, concoct and digest; do not cast it out of thy mouth, as soon as thou hast tasted of it; but let it go down into the stomach, and there digest it; and from thence into the belly, that so, upon the whole, virtue may be received, and nourishment come by it:



and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee; eat to satiety; so the Targum,



"son of man, thou shalt satiate thy soul, and fill thy belly, if thou receivest what is written in this roll, which I give thee:''



this was sufficient to qualify the prophet for prophesying, and furnish him with materials enough; and these fit and proper for the discharge of his office; and so such who study the word of God with application become scribes well instructed in the kingdom of heaven; and being filled themselves, are able to bring forth things to the comfort and satisfaction of others:



then did I eat [it], and it was in my mouth, as honey for sweetness; that is, as the roll was spread before him, he looked into it, and read it, and meditated upon it, and laid it up in his memory, in order to deliver it out when commanded; and though it contained things very distressing, and which would occasion lamentation, and mourning, and woe; yet, considering that these were the will of God, and in righteous judgment to men, he could not but acquiesce in and approve of them. All the words that come out of the mouth of God are as sweet as, honey, yea, sweeter than that, Ps 19:10; and so the Targum interprets it of the words of the Lord,



"and I took it, and his words were in my mouth as sweet honey;''



and especially the Gospel, and the truths of it, are like honey; they are gathered by laborious ministers, as honey by the industrious bee, out of the various flowers of the Scriptures, with which being laden, they bring into the hive of the church, and dispose of for general usefulness; these are like honey for healthfulness, for nourishment, and for sweetness to the taste; that which makes the Gospel so are the exceeding great and precious promises in it: its doctrines of grace, and those of peace and reconciliation, of pardon, righteousness, eternal life and salvation, by Jesus Christ; and, above all, Christ himself, who is the sum and substance of it; and all its truths being quickening; comforting, and refreshing: but thou the Gospel is, only sweet when it is eaten; not merely heard, assented to, and superficially tasted of, but eaten and fed upon by faith; and so, it is sweet, not to unregenerate persons, whose taste is not changed; nor to nominal and notional professors, who have only a superficial taste of it; but to true believers in Christ, spiritual men, who judge and discern all things; see Re 10:9.



{f} lkat "devoret, consumat", Vatablus.





Ezekiel 3:4



Ver. 4. And he said unto me, son of man, go,.... After he had eaten the roll; for then was he qualified to prophesy:



get thee unto the house of Israel; to whom he was to prophesy:



and speak with my words unto them: not with his own words; nor with the words of men, the enticing words of man's wisdom; but with the words of Christ; with the taught words of the Holy Ghost; with what is written in the roll; the words of this prophecy are meant. So the Targum,



"and thou shalt prophesy the words of my prophecy unto them;''



in like manner John after he had eaten the little book, is told that he must prophesy before many people, nations, tongues, and kings,

Re 10:9; though Ezekiel was only sent to one nation, as follows:







Ezekiel 3:5



Ver. 5. For thou [art] not sent to a people of a strange speech,.... "Deep of lip" {g}, or "speech"; difficult to be got at and understood:



and of a hard language: or "heavy of tongue" {h} of a barbarous and unknown language, whom he could not understand, nor they him; and so would have been barbarians to one another; and consequently it could not be thought his prophesying among them, could have been of any use. This may be considered, either by way of encouragement to the prophet to go on his errand to such a people; since as he could understand them, and they him he might hope to meet with success; or, however he could deliver his message so as to be understood: or as an aggravation of the impiety perverseness and stupidity of the Israelites; that though the prophet spoke to them in their own language, yet they would not hear nor receive his words:



[but] to the house of Israel; who were a people of the same speech and language with the prophet; all spoke and understood the language of Canaan; nor were the things he delivered such as they were altogether strangers to being the same, for substance, which Moses, and the other prophets, had ever taught.



{g} hpv yqme "profundi labii", Vatablus; "profundorum labio", Polanus, Cocceius; "profundi sermonis", Starkius. {h} Nwvl ydbk "graves linguae", Montanus; "gravium lingua", Polanus.







Ezekiel 3:6



Ver. 6. Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language,.... The prophet was sent, not to different nations, of different languages; but to one nation of the same language; indeed several of his prophecies concern other nations, as the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Tyrians, Philistines, Egyptians, and Assyrians; but then these had a relation to the, people of Israel, and were chiefly on their account; and therefore he was not sent to those nations to deliver his prophecies unto them, but to the people of Israel only; and so had no difficulty on his part concerning their language, which he would have had, had he been sent to the barbarous nations;



whose words, thou canst not understand: the prophet being, only used to the language of the Jews and not having the gift of speaking with and understanding divers tongues; as the apostles of Christ had, when they were sent to many people of different languages, and which is here tacitly intimates:



surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee; which is an aggravation of the obstinacy and disobedience of the people of Israel; that had the barbarous nations been favoured with the same means of instruction they were they would have been obedient; see

Mt 11:21; for though they could not understand the prophet's language, nor he theirs; yet, as Kimchi observes, they would have sought for an interpreter to have explained the prophecy to them. The thing is very strongly affirmed, "surely", verily, tmab, "of a truth"; as the same Jewish writer interprets al Ma; and both he and Jarchi take it to be the form of an oath. Some render the words, "if I had not sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee" {i}; and the sense is, either that if the Lord had not sent him to the Israelites, but to the peopled a strange speech, they, the people, would have hearkened to him: or, if the Lord had not sent the prophet, but he had gone of himself, as the false prophets in their own name, the Israelites would have hearkened to him; such was their perverseness and rebellion: others render the words, "if not", or had it not been for their strange speech and hard language, "I would have sent thee to them" {k}, the barbarous nation, and "they would have hearkened unto thee"; but the first sense seems best; which is confirmed by the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and the Oriental versions.



{i} Kytxlv Mhyla al Ma "si non ad eos misissem te", Vatablus; "si non misero te", Montanus; "si non mitterem", Pagninus. {k} "Si non misissem te ad eos", Calvin.







Ezekiel 3:7



Ver. 7. But the house of Israel would not hearken unto thee,.... "They are not willing" {l}; they have no desire, no inclination, to hear and hearken; but the reverse; they were capable of hearing and understanding his speech and language, and though he was sent unto them by the Lord: and indeed the reason why they did not hearken to him was not because they rejected him and his words, but because they rejected the Lord and his words; they were the words of the Lord, and his reproofs; and therefore they would not hearken to them as follows:



for they will not hearken unto me; and which is an argument why the prophet should bear with patience their disregard to him and his words, and their neglect and contempt of them; for, seeing they would not hear the Lord, how could he exact they should hear him? and therefore he should not be uneasy at it; see Joh 15:20;



for all the house of Israel [are] impudent and hardhearted; or, "strong of front, and hard of heart" {m}; they had a whore's forehead, an impudent face, that could not blush and be ashamed; and hearts of stone, like a rock, and harder than the nether millstone, on which no impressions, could be made by all the admonitions and reproofs given them; see Eze 2:4; and this was the case of all of them in general, excepting some very few; which shows the sad degeneracy of this people.



{l} wbay al "non cupient", Montanus; "non volunt", Cocceius; "non illi volentes", Starckius. {m} bl yvqw xum yqzx "obfirmati fronte et duri corde", Polanus, Starckius; "obfirmati frontis et duri cordis", Piscator.







Ezekiel 3:8



Ver. 8. Behold, I have made the, face strong against their faces,.... Not that the prophet should have the same sort of impudence and confidence they had; but that God would "give" {n} him such a face, as it is in the Hebrew text, such spirit and courage, that he should neither be ashamed of the words of the Lord, nor afraid to speak them to this people; so that he should be a match for them; they should not be able to outface him, or look him out of countenance; he should behave with an undaunted spirit, and with great intrepidity, amidst all opposition made to him: the Lord fits his ministers for the people he sends them to, and gives them courage and strength proportionate to the opposition they meet with; as their day is, their strength is; and all that invincible courage, boldness, and strength, with which they are endowed, it is all from the Lord, and a gift of his:



and thy forehead strong against their foreheads; which is the same thing in different words.



{n} Kynp ta yttn "dedi faciem tuam", V. L. Vatablus, Cocceius, Starckius.







Ezekiel 3:9



Ver. 9. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead,.... Or, "than a rock" {o}; the "adamant" has its name in Greek, because it cannot be conquered or subdued, neither by the hammer, nor by fire; the one cannot break, nor this other consume it; land it is called "shamir" in Hebrew, from its preserving itself from both; it will cut iron in pieces, which is harder than stone, and therefore must be harder than that. Bochart takes it to be the same with "smiris", a hard stone, which jewellers use to polish their gems with; see Jer 17:1. The design of the simile is to set forth the courage and fortitude of mind the prophet was endowed with, in order to face an impudent and hardhearted people;



fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they [be] a rebellious house; See Gill on "Eze 2:6".



{o} rwum "rupe", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Piscator; "prae rupe", Cocceius; "ex rupe", Starckius; "prae petra", Montanus.







Ezekiel 3:10



Ver. 10. Moreover he said unto me, son of man,.... The same glorious Person as before continued speaking to him, and added, as follows:



all my words that I shall speak unto thee; not only what he had spoken to him, but what he should hereafter; for he did not tell all at once what he should say, but gradually, revealing his mind to him by little and little; but then he was to receive all that he should say, and reject nothing, nor shun to declare the whole counsel of God:



receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears; what the Lord says should not only be diligently attended to, and heard with eagerness, but should be received, in the love of it, into the heart, and laid, up in the mind and memory, in order to be delivered out to others at a proper time.





Ezekiel 3:11



Ver. 11. And go, get thee to them of the captivity,.... Not in the times of Hoshea king of Israel, by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, for these were placed in the cities of the Medes, 2Ki 17:6; but in the times of Jeconiah king of Judah, Eze 1:2;



unto the children of thy people; the Jews, which were in the land of Chaldea:



and speak unto them, and tell them: the words the Lord spoke to him:



thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: See Gill on "Eze 2:5".





Ezekiel 3:12



Ver. 12. Then the spirit took me up,.... Not the wind, nor an angel, but the Spirit of God; who took up the prophet from the ground, from the place where he was, among the captives by the river Chebar, and had seen the glorious vision described in the first chapter; and had had his call and mission, as expressed in the second chapter, and hitherto in this; and was carried by him to another company of captives, who were at another place by the same river, as appears by comparing Eze 1:1, with Eze 3:15; for this was not done in a visionary way, as Kimchi thinks, but in reality; not in spirit, but in body; just as the Spirit caught away Philip from the eunuch, Ac 8:39;



and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing; of the living creatures and wheels, as is afterwards explained:



[saying], blessed [be] the glory of the Lord out of his place; either out of heaven, the place where his glory is manifested; so the Targum, out of the place of his Shechinah or majesty; or out of the temple, from between the cherubim over the mercy seat, from whence he was about to remove, Eze 10:4. These words may be considered either as a doxology of the church, and people of God, ascribing glory, blessing, and praise unto him; not only on account of the perfections of his nature, but because of his works of nature, providence, and grace, and even for his righteous judgments on men. Maimonides {p}, by his place, understands the essence of God. Or as a lamentation for the departure of the blessed and glorious majesty of God from the temple, which seemed to be threatened; for the words may be rendered, "the blessed glory of the Lord out of his place" {q}; that is, it is just ready to go out of his place.



{p} Moreh Nevochim, par. 1. c. 8. p. 12. {q} dwbk Kwrb "benedictam gloriam Jehovae e loco ipsius, migrantem", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus.







Ezekiel 3:13



Ver. 13. [I heard] also the noise of the wings of the living creatures,.... Which they clapped, when they uttered the preceding words;

See Gill on "Eze 1:24";



that touched one another; or "kissed, a woman her sister" {r}; denoting their affection and agreement in the doxology or ascription of glory to God; see Eze 1:9;



and the noise of the wheels over against them: the living creatures; for the wheels were by the living creatures, and went over against them, as they went, Eze 1:15; ministers and churches join together in this doxology:



and a noise of a great rushing; which is repeated for the confirmation of the thing, and to express the greatness of the noise made by the living creatures and wheels, like that of thunder or an earthquake; it is said to be like the noise of great waters, Eze 1:24.



{r} htwxa la hva twqyvm "attingentium [more osculantium], vira ad sororem suam", Vatablus; "osculantium", Polanus, Starckius. So Ben Melech.







Ezekiel 3:14



Ver. 14. So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away,.... Lifted him up from the earth, and carried him through the air:



and I went in bitterness; full of trouble and sorrow, that the Lord was departing from the temple; that his people had been guilty, of such crimes they had, and were such an impudent, and hardhearted people they were; and that such judgments were coming upon them he had seers written in the roll, full of lamentations, mourning, and woe:



in the heat of my spirit; the Targum and Vulgate Latin render it, "in the indignation of my spirit"; his spirit was hot and angry, he was froward and unwilling to go on the errand, to prophesy sad and dismal things to his people:



but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me; the Spirit of the Lord powerfully wrought upon him, and obliged him to go; and the hand of the Lord strengthened him, and removed his frowardness and perverseness of spirit. The Targum is,



"and prophecy from before the Lord was strong upon me;''



so Kimchi interprets it of the hand of prophecy; the Spirit of the Lord, as a spirit of prophecy, came upon him, with great impulse upon his spirit, and he could not refuse going to his people, to declare it to them.







Ezekiel 3:15



Ver. 15. Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib,.... For it seems the captive Jews were disposed of at different places, and there were some at this place; for this was the name of a place, as Jarchi and Kimchi observe; as were Telmelah, and Telharsa, Ezr 2:59; it signifies "a heap of new fruit", and so the Vulgate Latin version renders it: not that there were such at this time here; and the captives were beating out the ripe ears of corn, as "abib" signifies; whence the month Abib has its name, and which was the first month with the Jews; whereas it was in the fourth month when Ezekiel was here, and there could no ears of new corn, Eze 1:1; according to Junius, this Telabib was a tract in Mesopotamia, reaching from Mount Masius to the river Euphrates, and lay between two rivers, Chebar and Saocoras; and he thinks the captive Jews were placed here, partly that they might be secured safe from getting away, or returning from their captivity; and partly that they might secure and defend the place from enemies, it being through inundations uninhabited, and so exposed unto them:



that dwelt by the river of Chebar; See Gill on "Eze 1:1";



and I sat where they sat; there is a double reading here; the "Cetib" or writing is rvaw, which Junius takes to be the name of a river the prophet calls Haesher, the same with Saocoras, connecting it with the preceding clause, "that dwelt by the river of Chebar and Haesher"; the "Keri" or marginal reading is bvaw, "and I sat" or "dwelt"; but both signify the same thing, Since rva is from hrv, which in Chaldee signifies to dwell {s}; and the "Keri" is confirmed by the Targum, which we follow. The sense is, that he placed himself among the captives,



and remained there astonished among them seven days: at the change of place and company; at the sad condition his people were in; and, above all, at the dreadful things he had to deliver to them. The Targum renders it, "silent"; through grief and trouble. So many days Job's friends kept silence, when they came to visit him, and saw his distress, Job 2:13. Or he might be waiting all this time for orders and instructions to prophesy; or to prepare the people to attend with more reverence and earnestness, to hear what he had to say when he should break silence. The Septuagint render it the reverse, "conversing in the midst of them".



{s} Vid. Hillerum de Arcano Kethib & Keri, l. 2. p. 329.







Ezekiel 3:16



Ver. 16. And it came to pass at the end of seven days,.... Some think it was on the sabbath day he had the following declaration made to him, and instructions given him; but this is not certain; nor does it follow, or to be concluded, from such a way of speaking:



that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying; the Targum is,



"the word of prophecy from before the Lord.''





Ezekiel 3:17



Ver. 17. Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel,.... Not in a civil sense, a watchman of a town or city, or of the whole country, but in an ecclesiastical sense. So the Targum renders it by Pylm, "a teacher"; whose business it was to instruct the people in divine things, to warn them of their evil ways, and of the danger they exposed them to; such were the prophets of old, and such are the ministers of the New Testament: the office is the same with that of bishops or overseers; and lies in watching over the souls of men, as shepherds over their flocks, that they go into right pastures, and not astray, and so preserves them from beasts of prey; and as watchmen of cities, to give the time of night, and, notice of approaching danger; to the discharge of which office are necessary quick sight, diligence in looking out, sobriety and vigilance, courage, constancy, and faithfulness: and they are "sons of men" that are put into this office, and not angels; sons of fallen Adam, sinful men; men subject to infirmity, weak, frail, mortal men, and oftentimes of a mean and low extraction, and greatly unworthy of so high an honour; but Christ counts them faithful, and puts them into this office; they are not made and constituted watchmen or ministers by themselves or by others, but by him; and they are given by him as such to the church of God: "son of man, I have given thee a watchman" {t}, &c. they become watchmen through gifts bestowed upon them, qualifying them for this office; and they themselves are gifts to the churches over whom they are placed, signified by "the house of Israel"; for a church is a house of Christ's building, and where he dwells, and a family named of him, which he takes care of, and consists of Israelites indeed;



therefore hear the word at my mouth; for, as the prophets of old, so the ministers of the Gospel are first to hear what Christ says; and then deliver out his doctrine, called the doctrine of Christ, and the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus. So the Targum,



"and thou shalt receive the word from my Word;''



the word of prophecy, or the word of the Gospel, from Christ the essential Word;



and give them warning from me; in his name and stead, and as from his mouth, to take care of sinning against him, dishonouring his name, and wounding their own souls; that they live soberly, righteously, and godly, and adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour; that they avoid all appearances of evil, and shun the company of wicked men; the house of Israel, or church of God, are to be warned to be careful who they take into their communion, and to exclude such that are bad in principle and practice; to beware of innovations in worship, and of false teachers and false doctrines; and that they do not forsake the word, worship, and ordinances of God's house, but fill up their places, and perform all duties incumbent on them. The Targum is,



"and thou shalt warn them from sinning before me.''



{t} Kyttn hpu "speculatorem dedi", V. L. Polanus, Cocceius, Starckius. So Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.







Ezekiel 3:18



Ver. 18. When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die,.... Not only a corporeal but an eternal death for this is what the law threatens with, and there the Lord says this; and this is the wages, end, and issue of sin, if grace prevent not:



and thou givest him not warning; of the evil nature of sin, and of the danger it exposes to:



nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way; to abstain from it, and live another course of life:



to save his life; for such warning, caution, exhortation, and doctrine, may be a means of converting a sinner from the evil of his way, and of saving a soul from death, 1Ti 4:16;



the same wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity; with the pollution and guilt of sin upon him, and so be punished for it; see Joh 8:24;



but his blood will I require at thine hands; thou shalt be answerable for him; his death shall be laid to thy charge, and thou shalt be chastised for thy negligence; see Ac 20:26.







Ezekiel 3:19



Ver. 19. Yet if thou warn the wicked,.... Of his sin and danger; lay before him his evil, and show him the sad consequences of going on in a course of sin, and warn him to flee from wrath to come:



and he turn not from his wickedness, and from his wicked way; does not repent of it, nor abstain from it:



he shall die in his iniquity; and for it, and that very righteously:



but thou hast delivered thy soul; thou hast done the duty of thine office; thou art clear from the charge of negligence and sloth, and from being answerable for the death of the sinner; and shalt save thyself, though not the wicked man; see 1Ti 4:16.





Ezekiel 3:20



Ver. 20. Again, when a righteous [man] doth turn from his righteousness,.... This is to be understood not of one that is truly righteous, or is justified by the righteousness of Christ; for such can never turn from that righteousness, or be in an unjustified state; seeing that is the righteousness of God, and an everlasting one; but of one that is denominated righteous, from "his" own righteousness, from a righteousness "which he hath done", as is afterwards expressed; one that is outwardly righteous before men, that is outwardly reformed, that has a righteousness of his own, consisting of a little negative holiness, and a few moral performances; from such righteousness a man may apostatize, and go into a vicious course of life:



and commit iniquity; live in sin, make a trade of it; lead a life, the whole series and course of which is nothing else but sin; in this sense, one that is born of God, and has the righteousness of Christ revealed from faith to faith unto him, and lives by faith upon it, cannot commit sin, 1Jo 3:9;



and I lay a stumbling block before him; the Targum renders it, "the stumbling block of sins"; which designs either an occasion of sinning, which God permits, leaving him to his own lusts, and suffering him to fall thereby; and by this means he is discovered to be what he is, not a truly righteous man, but only one in appearance; that looked like a righteous person, but secretly a sinner, and now the Lord by such means exposes him openly; so Jarchi and other Jewish Rabbins; but Kimchi's father interprets the stumbling block of prosperity in this world {u}: or rather the punishment of sin is meant, as Kimchi himself observes; and the Septuagint renders it "torment"; since this follows up on his turning from righteousness, and committing sin; and seems to be explained by the next clause:



he shall die; the second death:



because thou hast not given him warning: of the dreadful evil of apostasy, and the sad estate of apostates, and the danger they are in, their last estate being worse than the first:



he shall die in his sin; of apostasy, and for it, being never to be recovered and brought to repentance:



and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; according to the "Keri" or marginal reading it is, "his righteousnesses"; all his works of righteousness which he hath done; and which reading is followed by the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and the eastern versions; these shall not be remembered, neither in this world nor in that to come; no account shall be taken of them, nor shall they be reckoned as a righteousness unto him:



but his blood will I require at thine hand; See Gill on "Eze 3:18".



{u} Vid. T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 86. 2.







Ezekiel 3:21



Ver. 21. Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous [man],.... Every righteous man, that is so in a judgment of charity, whether truly righteous or not, which the event shows; who should be warned not to trust in their own righteousness, but to depend on the righteousness of Christ; that they be careful to maintain good works, to avoid sin, and live holy lives and conversations, as follows:



that the righteous sin not; not that there is any just man that does good, and sins not; the best of men are often sinning in thought, word, or deed; but he is to be warned that he does not continue in sin, and lead a sinful coups of life; which is contrary to his character, and to his faith in Christ for righteousness, which is attended with good works:



and he doth not sin; the warning and exhortation given him having so good an effect, through the power of divine grace, as to be a means of preserving him from a vain conversation:



he shall surely live; spiritually and comfortably now, and eternally hereafter:



because he is warned; that being a means, and with the divine blessing taking effect:



also thou hast delivered thy soul; See Gill on "Eze 3:19".





Ezekiel 3:22



Ver. 22. And the hand of the Lord was there upon me,.... At Telabib, Eze 3:15. The Targum interprets "the hand of the Lord" of the spirit of prophecy, which remained upon him there; but it seems to design a fresh impulse of the Spirit, a powerful emotion of the split upon his spirit, stirring up to attention to what might be said unto him:



and he said unto me; the same glorious Person, the Lord Christ, described in Eze 1:26;



arise, go forth into the plain; or "the valley" {w}; the Arabic version renders it, "the desert"; a solitary place, free from noise and hurry, and from the company and conversation of men; and so more fit for retirement and contemplation, and for attention to divine orders. What plain this was is not certain; Kimchi thinks it was the plain in which Babel was built, and where the Lord showed the prophet what he had in his providence done in this place formerly, in confounding the languages of men, and causing their devices to cease;



and I will there talk with thee; when alone, sedate, and composed; so God sometimes brings his people into a low and humble state and condition, into the valley of humility, and there grants them communion with himself; see Ho 2:14; perhaps the allusion to a custom among the Jews of revealing secrets to others in fields and deserts, and such like solitary places; see Ge 31:4 {x}.



{w} heqbh la "in istam convallem", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, "in vallem", Vatablus, Coeceius; "in vallem, quasi fissum locum", Starckius. {x} Vid. Menasseh Ben Israel, Spes Israelis, p. 110.







Ezekiel 3:23



Ver. 23. Then I arose and went forth into the plain,.... He was obedient to the heavenly vision, which was owing to the hand of the Lord being upon him; the power of the Spirit and grace of God influences and engages to obedience; he went forth where he was ordered, though he knew not what would be said to him, or what he should see there:



and, behold, the glory of the Lord stood there; the glorious Person described in Eze 1:26;



as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar; Eze 1:1; which vision was repeated for greater certainty, and to confirm the prophecies delivered to him, and to encourage him in the performance of his office:



and I fell on my face; as he did before, when he first saw this glorious object, Eze 1:28.







Ezekiel 3:24



Ver. 24. Then the spirit entered into me,.... Again; the Spirit of God, that was in the wheels and living creatures: see Eze 2:2;



and set me upon my feet; as he had done before, when in the same prostrate condition, Eze 2:2;



and spake with me; either the Spirit that entered into him, and set him upright; or rather the Lord Christ, the glory of the Lord that stood where he was, and appeared to him:



and said unto me, go, shut thyself within thine house: this was not said ironically, but in earnest; and the reason either was, because the people were not fit for reproof and correction, as Jarchi thinks, being a rebellious people; or that the prophet might receive further instructions, and have all the words of his prophecy delivered to him, before he began to prophesy. Some think this shutting up was an emblem of the siege of Jerusalem. It may seem strange that the prophet should be bid to go into the plain, where the Lord promised to talk with him; and this is all that is said to him, to go home, and shut himself up in his house: but it should be observed, that this was not the only thing for which he went into the plain: he was to have, and had, a fresh view of the glory of the Lord, and of the vision he had before, for the further confirmation of him; besides, this moving him from place to place, before he prophesied, might be partly to try his faith, and partly to preserve him from the violence of the people; who, had he delivered his message at once, might have been so provoked, as to have fallen upon him, and destroyed him; as well as to prepare them to receive his prophecies with more respect and reverence, when they saw he did not rashly, and at once, deliver them out to them.







Ezekiel 3:25



Ver. 25. But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee,.... Or, "bands shall be put upon thee"; either visionally, or really; not by angels, but by the Jews, who, taking the prophet for a madman by his motions and gestures; would bind him, and keep him within doors: or figuratively this may be understood of the sins of the people, their rebellion and obstinacy, which hindered the prophet from prophesying among them as yet; and so this is observed to conciliate his mind to the divine order, to shut up himself for a while in his own house, and be silent: or else by these bonds may be meant the divine order itself, which restrained him from doing his office as yet. So the Targum,



"behold, I have appointed the words of my mouth upon thee, as a band of ropes with which they bind;''



and shall bind thee with them; which some think is emblematical of the Jews being bound by the Chaldeans:



and thou shall not go out among them; to converse with them, or prophesy unto them. The Septuagint version renders it, "shall not go out from the midst of them"; as if he should be taken out of his own house by the Jews, and be bound by them, and kept among them, and not able to get away from them; but it is to be understood of his being bound in his own house, and not able to go out of that to them; and may signify, that in like manner the Jews should not be able to go out of Jerusalem when besieged by the Chaldeans.





Ezekiel 3:26



Ver. 26. And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth,

that thou shall be dumb,.... Which is to be understood not literally, as if he was really struck dumb, as Zechariah was; see Eze 4:9; but that such silence should be charged upon him by the Lord, that he should be as if his tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth, as Kimchi interprets it, and as if he was a dumb man: and so the Septuagint version renders it, "I will bind thy tongue"; lay an embargo upon it, that is, it shall be silent; and this sense is confirmed by what follows:



and shall not be to them a reprover; which was in judgment to them, and a giving them up to their own hearts' lusts; for, though reproofs were disagreeable to them, and they chose to be without them, yet they were necessary for them, and might have been useful to them; but they provoking the Lord, he takes away his word from them, and commands his prophet to be silent, and let them alone, to go on in their sins without control; which was a sore judgment upon them:



for they [are] a rebellious house; See Gill on "Eze 2:5".





Ezekiel 3:27



Ver. 27. But when I speak with thee,.... Either when I have made an end of speaking to thee, when I have told thee all my mind, and have given thee all the instructions and prophecies thou art to deliver out; or when I shall speak to thee again, and give thee orders to speak:



I will open thy mouth; loose thy tongue, cause thee to break silence, and thou shall speak freely and fully all that I command thee; fulness of matter, and freedom of speech, are both from the Lord; liberty and opportunity of speaking are at his pleasure; and when he speaks his servants must prophesy, Am 3:8;



and thou shalt say unto them, thus saith the Lord God; so and so, whatsoever he is pleased to order to be spoken; not that the following words are what were to be said to the people; but they are said to the prophet for his own use, that he might not be uneasy at the unfruitfulness and failure of his ministry:



he that heareth, let him hear; if any will hearken to what is sent to them, as few of them will, it is very well:



and he that forbeareth, let him forbear; or, "he that ceaseth, let him cease" {y}; he that ceaseth from hearing, let him do so, do not mind it, or be discouraged at it:



for they [are] a rebellious house; See Gill on "Eze 2:5". The Targum is,



"he that receiveth, let him receive instruction; and he that ceaseth, let him cease from sinning, for it is a rebellious people.''



{y} ldxy ldxhw "et qui cessat cesset", Pagninus, Tigurine version, Starckius; "qui desistere volet desistat", Piscator; "qui desistit [audire], desistet". So some in Vatablus.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Ezekiel 4:1



INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 4



This chapter contains a prophecy of the siege of Jerusalem, and of the famine that attended it. The siege is described by a portrait of the city of Jerusalem on a tile, laid before the prophet, Eze 4:1; by each of the actions, representing a siege of it, as building a fort, casting a mount, and setting a camp and battering rams against it, and an iron pan for a wall, between the prophet, the besieger, and the city, Eze 4:2; by his gesture, lying first on his left side for the space of three hundred ninety days, and then on his right side for the space of forty days, pointing at the time when the city should be taken, Eze 4:4; and by setting his face to the siege, and uncovering his arm, and prophesying, Eze 4:7; and by bands being laid on him, so that he could not turn from one side to the other, till the siege was ended, Eze 4:8; the famine is signified by bread the prophet was to make of various sorts of grain and seeds, baked with men's dung, and eaten by weight, with water drank by measure, which is applied unto the people; it is suggested that this would be fulfilled by the children of Israel's eating defiled bread among the Gentiles, Eze 4:9; but upon the prophet's concern about eating anything forbidden by the law, which he had never done, cow's dung is allowed instead of men's, to prepare the bread with, Eze 4:14; and the chapter is concluded with a resolution to bring a severe famine on them, to their great astonishment, and with which they should be consumed for their iniquity, Eze 4:16.



Ver. 1. Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile,.... Or "brick" {z}. The Targum renders it, a "stone"; but a tile or brick, especially one that is not dried and burned, but green, is more fit to cut in it the figure of a city. Some think that this was ordered because cities are built of brick; or to show the weakness of the city of Jerusalem, how easily it might be demolished; and Jerom thinks there was some design to lead the Jews to reflect upon their making bricks in Egypt, and their hard service there; though perhaps the truer reason may be, because the Babylonians had been used to write upon tiles. Epigenes {a} says they had celestial observations of a long course of years, written on tiles; hence the prophet is bid to describe Jerusalem on one, which was to be destroyed by the king of Babylon;



and lay it before thee: as persons do, who are about to draw a picture, make a portrait, or engrave the form of anything they intend:



and portray upon it the city; [even] Jerusalem; or engrave upon it, by making incisions on it, and so describing the form and figure of the city of Jerusalem.



{z} hnbl "laterem", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus. Piscator. {a} Apud Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 56.







Ezekiel 4:2



Ver. 2. And lay siege against it,.... In his own person, as in Eze 4:3; or draw the form of a siege, or figure of an army besieging a city; or rather of the instruments and means used in a siege, as follows:



and build a fort against it: Kimchi interprets it a wooden tower, built over against the city, to subdue it; Jarchi takes it to be an instrument by which stones were cast into the city; and so the Arabic version renders it, "machines to cast stones"; the Targum, a fortress; so Nebuchadnezzar in reality did what was here only done in type,

2Ki 25:1; where the same word is used as here:



and cast a mount about it; a heap of earth cast up, in order to look into the city, cast in darts, and mount the walls; what the French call "bastion", as Jarchi observes:



set the camp also against it; place the army in their tents about it:



and set [battering] rams against it round about; a warlike instrument, that had an iron head, and horns like a ram, with which in a siege the walls of a city were battered and beaten down. Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, interpret the word of princes and generals of the army, who watched at the several corners of the city, that none might go in and out; so the Targum seems to understand it {b}. The Arabic version is, "mounts to cast darts"; See Gill on "Eze 21:22".



{b} So R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 50. 9.







Ezekiel 4:3



Ver. 3. Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan,.... Which Kimchi thinks, for its metal, represented the hardness of the hearts of the people of Israel; and, for its colour, the blackness of their sins: though others are of opinion, this being a pan in which things are fried, it may signify the miseries of the Jews in captivity; the roasting of Ahab and Zedekiah in the fire, and particularly the burning of the city: others, the wrath of God against them, and his resolution to destroy them: but rather, since the use of it was as follows,



and set it [for] a wall of iron between thee and the city, it seems to represent all such things as are made use of by besiegers to screen them from the besieged; such as are now used are trenches, parapets, bastions, &c. for the prophet in this type is the besieger, representing the Chaldean army secure from the annoyance of those within the walls of the city:



and set thy face against it; with a firm resolution to besiege and take the city; which denotes both the settled wrath of God against this people, and the determined purpose of the king of Babylon not to move from it until he had taken it:



and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it; as an emblem of the army of the Chaldeans besieging it, which is confirmed by the next clause:



this [shall be] a sign to the house of Israel; of the city of Jerusalem being besieged by the Babylonians; this was a sign representing it, and giving them assurance of it.







Ezekiel 4:4



Ver. 4. Lie thou also upon thy left side,.... Some think this was not in reality, but in vision, as Kimchi observes; and so Maimonides {c}; and in like manner they understand his eating and drinking by measures and preparing food, as he is directed in a following part of this chapter: but others are of opinion that all this was really done. The reasons given on both sides are not despicable. It is urged against the reality of the fact, that the prophet, without a miracle, could never have lain so long on one side; and besides, this seems to be contradicted by a later account, of his sitting in his house before the expiration of those days; since from the fifth day of the fourth month of the fifth year, in which he began to prophesy, Eze 1:1, (and this order was seven days after that at least, Eze 3:15), to the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year, when we find him sitting, Eze 8:1; were but four hundred and thirteen days; and if seven are taken out from thence, there are but four hundred and six; whereas the whole time of his lying for Israel and Judah were four hundred and thirty; and it is further observed, that it does not seem decent that the prophet should be obliged really to eat such bread as he was ordered to make. On the other hand it is observed, that the order of portraying the siege of Jerusalem on a the, and setting an iron pan for a wall, seem to direct to the doing of real facts, and to that this order is subjoined, without any mark of distinction; besides, the prophet was to have this portrait in view, while he was lying on his side, and uncover his arms, which seem to denote real facts: and was to prophesy, not by words, for he was to be dumb, Eze 3:26; but by facts; and he was to do all this in the sight of his people; and if the order to make a cake of bread was not to be really performed in the manner directed, there would have been no occasion of deprecating it. The learned Witsius {d}, who has collected the arguments on both sides, is inclined to the latter; and observes from others, that some persons have lain longer on one side than the prophet, without a miracle: particularly a certain paralytic nobleman, who lay sixteen years in such a manner: and as for the computation of time, Cocceius is of opinion that the forty days for Judah are included in the three hundred and ninety for Israel; and which indeed seem to be the whole number, Eze 4:9; and which at once solves the difficulty; and besides, the force of the objection may be taken off by observing, that the fifth year might be intercalated, and consist of thirteen months, which was common with the Jews to have a "Veadar", or intercalated month: nor is it dishonourable nor unusual for the Lord to call his dear servants sometimes to hard and disagreeable service, as both these cases seem to be, when he has ends of his own glory, and the good of others, to be answered thereby. And the lying on the left side for the sins of the house of Israel was, as Jarchi thinks, because that Samaria, which was the head of the ten tribes, lay to the left of Jerusalem: see

Eze 16:46; or rather, because the left hand is not so honourable as the right; it may show that the Lord had not such an esteem for Israel us for Judah;



and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; not to atone for it, but to show what was the cause of their captivity; far herein the prophet was no type of Christ, but represented the people of Israel; who had been grievously sinning against God, during the term of time hereafter mentioned, and now would be punished for it; for by "iniquity" is meant the punishment of it, which is often the sense of the word used; see Ge 4:13;



[according] to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity: which are particularly declared in Eze 4:5.



{c} Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 46. {d} Miscel. Sacr. tom. 1. l. 1. c. 12. sect. 14, 15, &c.







Ezekiel 4:5



Ver. 5. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity,.... Or the iniquity which for so many years they have been guilty of; that is, the punishment of it:



according to the number of the days; a day for a year;



three hundred and ninety days; which signify three hundred and ninety years; and so many years there were from the revolt of the ten tribes from Rehoboam, and the setting up the calves at Dan and Bethel, to the destruction of Jerusalem; which may be reckoned thus: the apostasy was in the fourth year of Rehoboam, so that there remained thirteen years of his reign, for he reigned seventeen years; Abijah his successor reigned three years; Asa, forty one; Jehoshaphat, twenty five; Joram, eight; Ahaziah, one; Athaliah, seven; Joash, forty; Amaziah, twenty nine: Uzziah, fifty two; Jotham, sixteen; Ahaz, sixteen; Hezekiah, twenty nine; Manasseh, fifty five; Amos, two; Josiah, thirty one; Jehoahaz, three months; Jehoiakim, eleven years; Jeconiah, three months and ten days; and Zedekiah, eleven years; in all three hundred and ninety years. Though Grotius reckons them from the fall of Solomon to the carrying captive of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser. According to Jerom, both the three hundred and ninety days, and the forty days, were figurative of the captivities of Israel and Judah. The captivity of Israel, or the ten tribes, began under Pekah king of Israel, 1Ki 15:29; when many places in the kingdom were wasted; from whence, to the fortieth year of Ahasuerus, when the Jews were entirely set at liberty, were three hundred and ninety years {e}; and the captivity of Judah began in the first year of Jeconiah, which, to the first of Cyrus, were forty years. The Jewish writers make these years to be the time of the idolatry of these people in their chronicle {f} they say, from hence we learn that Israel provoked the Lord to anger, from the time they entered into the land until they went out of it, three hundred and ninety years. Which, according to Jarchi and Kimchi, are, to be reckoned partly in the times of the judges, and partly in the times of the kings of Israel; in the times of the former, a hundred and eleven years: from Micah, till the ark was carried captive in the days of Eli, forty years; and from the time of Jeroboam to Hoshea, two hundred and forty; which make three hundred and ninety one: but the last of Hoshea is not of the number, since it was in the ninth year of his reign the city of Samaria was taken. So Jarchi. Kimchi's reckoning is different. Abarbinel is of opinion that these years describe the four hundred and thirty years of Israel's bondage in Egypt; though, he says, they may be understood of the time of the division of the kingdom under Rehoboam, from whence, to the destruction of Jerusalem, were three hundred and ninety years; which sense is best, and is what is first given;



so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel; as many days as answer to these years; by the house of Israel is meant not merely the ten tribes, who had been carried captive long before this time, but such of them also as were mixed with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.



{e} Vid. Lyra in loc. {f} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 26. p. 73.





Ezekiel 4:6



Ver. 6. And when thou hast accomplished them,.... The three hundred and ninety days, by lying so long on the left side, bearing the sins of the house of Israel in this way; or, as Cocceius renders the words, "and thou shall accomplish them, and thou shalt lie", &c. {g}, that is, thou shalt so accomplish these days, that thou mayest lie through forty days on the right hand, and then make bare thine arm, and prophesy against Jerusalem; for he thinks the forty days are part of the three hundred and ninety, as before observed: and so Piscator's note is, "when thou shalt accomplish", &c. namely, when there shall remain yet forty days, as appears by comparing Eze 4:9 with this verse and Eze 4:5; so Polanus interprets the passage: then



lie again on thy right side; that is, for Judah; which tribe, as Jarchi observes, lay to the south, and so to the right of Jerusalem; see

Eze 16:46; or rather the prophet lay on the right side for Judah, because more honourable, and in greater esteem with the Lord; nor were their sins so many, or continued in so long as those of the ten tribes; and therefore they, and the punishment of them, are borne a less time by the prophet, as follows:



and thou shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: which some think answers to the forty years of Manasseh's evil reign; others reckon from the thirteenth of Josiah to the end of Zedekiah, and others from the eighteenth of Josiah to the destruction of Jerusalem, which was five years after the carrying of Zedekiah captive:



I have appointed thee each day for a year; which is not only the key for the understanding of the forty days, but also the three hundred and ninety.



{g} tbkvw hla ta tylkw "et absolves hos, et decumbes", Cocceius, Starckius; "et consummabis haec, et jacebis", Montanus.





Ezekiel 4:7



Ver. 7. Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege at Jerusalem,.... All the while he was lying either on the left side or the right, his face was to be directed to the siege of Jerusalem, portrayed upon the tile, and to all the preparations made for that purpose, to show that all had reference to that and that it wound certainly be; for, as the prophet represented the Chaldean army the directing and setting his face to the siege shows their resolution and inflexibleness, that they were determined upon taking the city, and nothing should divert them from it:



and thine arm [shall be] uncovered; which was usual in fighting in those times and countries; for, wearing long garments, they were obliged to turn them up on the arm, or lay them aside, that they might more expeditiously handle their weapons, and engage with the enemy: in this form the soldiers in Trajan's column are figured fighting; and it is related that the Africans used to fight with their arms uncovered {h}; thus Scanderbeg in later times used to fight the Turks. The design of the phrase is to show how ready, diligent, and expeditious, the Chaldeans would be in carrying on the siege. The Targum renders it,



"thou shalt strengthen thine arm;''



and so do the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions:



and thou shall prophesy against it: meaning not so much by words, if at all, but by these actions, gestures, and habit; for they all foretold what would certainly come to pass.



{h} Vid. Lydium de Re Militari, l. 4. c. 3. p. 160.







Ezekiel 4:8



Ver. 8. And, behold, I will lay hands upon thee,.... Representing either the besieged, signifying that they should be taken and bound as he was; or rather the besiegers, the Chaldean army, which should be so held by the power and providence of God, that they should not break up the siege until they had taken the city, and fulfilled the whole will and pleasure of God; for these bands were an emblem of the firm and unalterable decree of God, respecting the siege and taking of Jerusalem; and so the Targum paraphrases it,



"and, lo, the decree of my word is upon thee, as a band of ropes;''



and to this sense Jarchi interprets it; and which is confirmed by what follows:



and thou shall not turn thee from one side to another till thou hast ended the days of thy siege; showing that the Chaldean army should not depart from Jerusalem until it was taken; for though, upon the report of the Egyptian army coming against them, they went forth to meet it; yet they returned to Jerusalem, and never left the siege till the city fell into their hands, according to the purpose and appointment of God. Kimchi that the word for siege is in the plural number, and signifies both the "siege" of Samaria and the siege of Jerusalem; but the former was over many years before this time: by this it appears that the siege of Jerusalem should last three hundred and ninety days; indeed, from the beginning to the end of it, were seventeen months, 2Ki 25:1; but the siege being raised by the army of the king of Egypt for some time,

Jer 37:5, may reduce it to thirteen months, or thereabout; for three hundred and ninety days are not only intended to signify the years of Israel's sin and wickedness, but also to show how long the city would be besieged; and so long the prophet in this symbolical way was besieging it.







Ezekiel 4:9



Ver. 9. Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches,.... The first of these was commonly used to make bread of; in case of want and poverty, barley was used; but, for the rest, they were for cattle, and never used for the food of men but in a time of great scarcity; wherefore this was designed to denote the famine that should attend the siege of Jerusalem; see

2Ki 25:3;



and put them in one vessel; that is, the flour of them, when ground, in order to be mixed and kneaded together, and make one dough thereof; which mixed bread was a sign of a sore famine: the Septuagint call it an earthen vessel; a kneading trough seems to be designed:



and make thee bread thereof, [according] to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side; the left side, on which he was to lie three hundred and ninety days: and so as much bread was to be made as would suffice for that time; or so many loaves were to be made as there were days, a loaf for a day:



three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof; no mention is made of the forty days, perhaps they are understood, a part being put for the whole; or they were included in the three hundred and ninety days. The Septuagint and Arabic versions read only a hundred and ninety days.





Ezekiel 4:10



Ver. 10. And thy meat which thou shall eat [shall be] by weight, twenty shekels a day,.... To eat bread by weight was a sign of a grievous famine; see Le 26:26; a shekel, according to Josephus {i}, weighed four Attic drachms, or half an ounce, wherefore twenty shekels weighed ten ounces; so that the bread the prophet had to eat was but ten ounces a day:



from time to time shall thou eat it; at the certain time of eating, or but once a day; from a set time in one day to the same in another; as from morning to morning, or from noon to noon, or from evening to evening; see Jer 37:21.



{i} Antiqu. l. 3. c. 8. sect. 2.





Ezekiel 4:11



Ver. 11. Thou shall drink also water by measure,.... Not wine, but water; and this not as much as he would, but a certain measure; which shows great want of it, and expresses a very distressed condition see La 5:4;



the sixth part of an hin; a hin held twelve logs, or seventy two egg shells, or about three quarts of our measure; and the sixth part of one were two logs, or twelve egg shells, and about a pint of our measure; so that it was but a pint of water a day that the prophet was allowed, as a token of the great scarcity of it in the siege of Jerusalem:



from time to time shalt thou drink: as before.





Ezekiel 4:12



Ver. 12. And thou shalt eat it [as] barley cakes,.... That is, the bread made of wheat, barley, beans, lentiles, millet, and fitches, was to be made in the form of barley cakes, and to be baked as they; not in an oven, but under ashes; and these ashes not of wood, or straw, or turf, but as follows:



and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of men, in their sight: the prophet was to take human dung, and dry it, and then cover the cakes or loaves of his mixed bread with it, and burn it over them, and with it bake it; which must be a very disagreeable task to him, and make the food very nauseous, both to himself and to the Jews, in whose sight it was done; and this shows scarcity of fuel, and the severity of the famine; that they had not fuel to bake with, or could not stay till it was baked in an oven, and therefore took this method; as well as points at what they were to eat when carried captive, as follows:





Ezekiel 4:13



Ver. 13. And the Lord said, even thus shall the children of Israel,.... Not the ten tribes only, or those who were among the other two, but all the Jews in captivity:



eat the defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them; so called, not because mixed, but baked in the above manner; which was a symbol of the defilements which they should contract upon various accounts, by dwelling among the Gentiles; so that this foretells their captivity; their pollution among the nations of the world; and that they should not be the holy people to the Lord they had been, and had boasted of. The Jews {k} cite this passage to prove that he that eats bread without drying his hands is as if he ate defiled bread.



{k} T. Bab. Sota, fol, 4. 2.





Ezekiel 4:14



Ver. 14. Then said I, ah, Lord God!.... The interjection "ah" is expressive of sighing and groaning, as Jarchi; or of deprecation, as the Targum, which paraphrases it,



""and I said", receive my prayer, O Lord God:''



behold, my soul hath not been polluted; not meaning that his soul had not been polluted with sin, or with an evil thought, as Kimchi interprets it; but by his soul he means the inward part of his body, his stomach and belly; which had not been defiled by taking in meats which were unclean by the law, as follows:



for from my youth up, even till now, have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; these were forbidden to be eaten by the law; and such that did were defiled, and obliged to bathing in water, Le 17:15; and from those the priests more especially were careful to abstain, as Kimchi observes; and such an one was the prophet; see Ac 10:14;



neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth; corrupt or, putrefied, or whatsoever was unclean by law, as swine's flesh, or any other. The argument is, that since he had never eaten of anything forbidden by the law of God, he could by no means think of eating that which was abhorrent to nature; as bread baked with men's dung was.





Ezekiel 4:15



Ver. 15. Then he said to me,.... The Lord hearkened to the prophet's prayer and argument, and makes some abatement and alteration in the charge he gave him:



lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung: that is, allowed him to make use of the one instead of the other, in baking his mingled bread:



thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith; having gathered cow's dung, and dried it, he was to burn it, and bake his bread with it, which is meant by preparing it. In some parts of our nation, where fuel is scarce, cow's dung is made use of; it is gathered and plastered on the walls of houses, and, being dried in clots, is taken and burnt.





Ezekiel 4:16



Ver. 16. Moreover he said unto me, son of man,.... What follows opens the design, and shows what was intended by the symbol of the miscellany bread, baked with cow dung, the prophet was to eat by measure, as, well as drink water by measure: namely, the sore famine that should be in Jerusalem at the time of the siege:



behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: that is, take away bread, which is the staff of life, the support of it, and which strengthens man's heart; and also the nourishing virtue and efficacy from what they had. The sense is, that the Lord would both deprive them of a sufficiency of bread, the nourishment of man; and not suffer the little they had to be nourishing to them; what they ate would not satisfy them, nor do them much good; see Le 26:26;



and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; that they might not eat too much at a time, but have something for tomorrow; and to cause their little stock to last the longer, not knowing how long the siege would be:



and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment; that such a judgment should fall upon them, who thought themselves the people of God, and the favourites of heaven.





Ezekiel 4:17



Ver. 17. That they may want bread and water,.... Or, "because they shall want" {l} &c. therefore they shall eat the one, and drink the other, by weight; or they shall do this till there shall be none to eat and drink:



and be astonished one with another; when they shall find they cannot relieve one another; and not knowing what method to take for the support of nature:



and consume away for their iniquity; their flesh upon them black through famine, putrid and noisome; and they wasting, pining, and consuming; reduced to skin and bones; and disagreeable to look upon; and all because of their sins and iniquities.



{l} Neml "eo quod", Munster, Vatablus; "propterea", Tigurine version.



 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Ezekiel 5:1



INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 5



This chapter is of the same argument with the former; and contains a type of Jerusalem's destruction; an explanation of that type; what were the reasons of God's judgments on that city; and the nature, rise, and end of them. The type is in Eze 5:1; the explanation of that type is in Eze 5:5; the reasons of the severe judgments threatened are changing the statutes of the Lord, and not walking in them, and defiling the sanctuary with their abominations, Eze 5:6; an account of the judgments of God, answerable to each of the parts in the type, Eze 5:12; the ends of these judgments are, with respect to God, the accomplishment of his anger, and the satisfaction of his justice; with respect to the Jews, bringing them to an acknowledgment that he had spoken in his zeal; and, with respect to the nations, their instruction and astonishment, Eze 5:13; and the chapter is concluded with an assurance that these judgments would be sent, Eze 5:16.



Ver. 1. And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife,.... Or, "sword" {m}. The word signifies any sharp instrument, by which anything is cut off, or cut asunder; what is here meant is explained by the following:



take thee a barber's razor. The Septuagint and Arabic versions read this in conjunction with the former, thus, "take thee a knife", or "sword, sharper than a barber's razor"; and so the Syriac version, "take thee a sword sharp as a barber's razor"; this sharp knife, sword, or razor, signifies, as Jarchi interprets it, Nebuchadnezzar; and very rightly; so the king of Assyria is called in Isa 7:20:



and cause [it] to pass upon thine head, and upon thy beard; the "head" was a symbol of the city of Jerusalem, the metropolis of Judea; the "beard", of the cities, towns, and villages about it; and the "hair" of both, of the common people; compared to hair for their numbers, for their levity and unsteadiness, and for their being the beauty and ornament of the places where they lived; and the shaving of them denotes their disgrace and destruction, and mourning on account thereof:



then take thee balances to weigh and divide the [hair]. The Syriac version adds, "into three parts"; signifying, that several distinct punishments would be inflicted on them, and these according to the righteous judgment of God; balances being a symbol of justice.



{m} brx "gladium", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Starckius.







Ezekiel 5:2



Ver. 2. Thou, shall burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city,.... Of Jerusalem, as portrayed upon the tile, Eze 4:1; or the prophet was now in Chaldea. The burning of the third part of the hair with fire denotes such who were destroyed by the pestilence and famine during the siege; see La 5:10; or it denotes the burning of the city itself, when the siege was over; since it follows:



when the days of the siege are fulfilled; for, when it was taken, it was burnt with fire, Jer 52:13;



and thou shall take a third part, [and] smite about it with a knife; which designs those that fled out of the city whim it was broken up, and were pursued after, and overtook by the Chaldean army, and cut off by the sword, Jer 52:7;



and a third part thou shall scatter in the wind; which intends those that fled, and were dispersed into several countries, as Moab, Ammon, and especially Egypt, whither many went along with Johanan the son of Kareah, Jer 43:5;



and I will draw out a sword after them; and destroy them; which, as it was threatened, Jer 42:16; so it was accomplished when Egypt was subdued by Nebuchadnezzar. The Septuagint and Arabic versions, in every clause, read a "fourth part", instead of a "third"; but wrongly.





Ezekiel 5:3



Ver. 3. Thou shall also take thereof a few in number,.... These are they that were left in the land of Judea by Nebuzaradan, for vinedressers and husbandmen, and such as returned out of Egypt into the land of Judah, Jer 44:28;



and bind them in thy skirts; in the pockets of them; signifying both the very small number of them, and their preservation. Jarchi and Kimchi interpret these of those that were carried captive to Babylon, and lived there, and were preserved, and returned again.





Ezekiel 5:4



Ver. 4. Then take of them again,.... Of that small number preserved:



and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire: this was fulfilled in Gedaliah and the Jews that were with him, over whom the king of Babylon had made him governor, who were slain by Ishmael, Jer 41:1;



[for] thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel; from this barbarous murder of Gedaliah and his men, judgment came upon all the house of Israel; a war commenced between Ishmael and Johanan the son of Kareah; and afterwards Nebuzaradan carried captive great numbers of them that were left in the land. The Syriac and Arabic versions render it, "from these shall a fire come forth", &c. which Jarchi interprets of these intimations given the prophet, from whence judgments should come upon all the house of Israel. It may be understood of those that were left in the land, and of such who returned from the captivity; for whose sins, and those of their posterity, the wrath of God came forth upon all the house of Israel, to the utter destruction of their nation, city, and temple, by Titus Vespasian.





Ezekiel 5:5



Ver. 5. Thus saith the Lord God, this [is] Jerusalem,.... A type or sign of it; it may refer to both the former and latter type. It is the city of Jerusalem that is designed by the city portrayed upon the tile; and the same is signified by the head of the prophet that was to be shaved; that being not only the chief city of Judea, but of the whole world, as follows:



I have set it in the midst of the nations; as the chief of them; and distinguished it from them by peculiar favours and blessings, natural and spiritual; being seated in a land flowing with milk and honey; and having the house and worship of God in it; and where were the symbols of his presence, and his word and ordinances; and therefore should have excelled them in true religion, devotion, and holiness, and set an example to them. The Jews generally understand this of the natural situation of Jerusalem. Jarchi interprets it of the middle of the world; as if it was mathematically placed in the centre of the earth. Kimchi says it was in the midst of the continent; and so its air was better than others; and these sort of writers {n} often speak of the land of Israel being in the navel or centre of the earth; they say {o} that the sanhedrim sat in the middle of the world; and therefore is compared to the navel, So 7:2; because it sat in the temple, which was in the middle of the world; but the former sense is best; though Jerom gives in to the latter:



and countries [that are] round about her: this is a proposition of itself; fire former clause being distinguished from it by the accent "athnach"; and should be rendered thus, "and the countries [are]", or "[were], round about her" {p}; on the east was Asia, on the west Europe on the south Africa and Libya, and on the north Babylon, Scythia, Armenia, Persia, and Pontus; and was mere conspicuous, eminent, and honourable than them all, having greater privileges, prerogatives, and excellencies; and therefore should have exceeded them in its regard to the laws and statutes of God, which she did not; hence this is said, in order to upbraid her for her ingratitude, as appears by the following words.



{n} Kimchi in Ezek. xxxviii. 12. {o} T. Bab. Sanhedrin. fol. 37. 1. & Gloss. in ib. {p} twura hytwbybow "et circa eam [erant] terrae", Cocceius.







Ezekiel 5:6



Ver. 6. And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations,.... So they changed their glory for that which did not profit; and the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man; and the truth of God into a lie, Jer 2:11; or, "for wickedness" {q}; for judgments and laws that were not good, and which to observe was wickedness. The word rendered "changed" signifies to "rebel against" or to "transgress": and the may be, she, that is, Jerusalem, has "rebelled" against my judgments, and "transgressed" {r} them in a wicked manner, even to a greater degree than the nations of the world. The Targum and Jarchi interpret it changed as we do:



and my statutes more than the countries that [are] round about her. "Judgments" and "statutes", are the same laws and ordinances of worship, being just and righteous, and firm and unalterable; unless it should rather be thought that "judgments" belong to the moral law, being given forth by the Lord as a judge, and founded upon judgment and righteousness; and "statutes" to the ceremonial law, being of positive institution and appointment, and to last so long as it was the pleasure of the lawgiver:



for they have refused my judgments and my statutes; they refused to comply with them, and to yield an obedience to them, and that with loathing, disdain, and contempt, as the word {s} signifies,



they have not walked in them; they did not make them the role of their walk and conversation; they showed no regard to them; they went out of the way of them, into crooked paths, with the workers of iniquity.



{q} hevrl "ut improbe ageret", Cocceius. {r} rmt "transgressa est, [vel] rebellis fuit", Calvin; "refractaria {s} "Verbum" oam "significat spernere, reprobare, rejicere, idque ex contemptu et fastidio", Polanus.







Ezekiel 5:7



Ver. 7. Therefore thus saith the Lord God,.... Having observed their sins, and which are still enlarged upon, the Lord proceeds to denounce his judgments against them:



because ye multiplied more than the nations that [are] round about you; not in numbers, nor in wealth and riches, or in blessings and privileges, and therefore grew wanton and forgetful; though this was true: but in sins and wickedness, which abounded among them, and in which they exceeded the nations round about them; and so the Targum paraphrases it,



"because that ye have sinned more than the people that are round about you:''



[and] have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments; which as repeated to show the certainty of fact, and how much the Lord resented it:



neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that [are] round about you. The Syriac version leaves out the negative particle and renders the words thus, "but ye have done the judgments of the nations which are round about you"; and it may be observed, that it is omitted in parallel text, Eze 11:12; and this is what the Jews are often reproved for, that they followed the laws and customs of the Gentiles, and worshipped their gods; and the opposition to the preceding clause seems to require this sense; but the retaining the negative particle is confirmed by the Targum, Masora, and the Septuagint and Arabic versions; and also by the Talmud {t}, which reconciles the passage with the parallel text before mentioned, thus,



"according to those things which are right among them (the Gentiles) ye have not done; [but] according to what are corrupt among them ye have done;''



and the meaning is, either that they did not walk according to the law and light of nature, which the Gentiles had, and attended to, Ro 2:14; or that they did not follow them in their conduct and behaviour; they were not so zealous for the true God as the Heathens were for their idols; they were not so tenacious of the laws and worship the true God of Israel as the Gentiles were of their superstitious rites and ceremonies; the Gentiles did not change their gods, and manner of worship, but retained what, they received from their ancestors time immemorial; but the Jews changed their glory for that which did not profit, Jer 2:11.



{t} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 39, 9.





Ezekiel 5:8



Ver. 8. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, behold, even I, [am] against thee,.... Or, "behold, I [am] against thee, even I" {u}; who am the Lord God omnipotent, great King, and a dreadful one; and a terrible thing it is for a people to have the mighty God against them; or for any to fall into the hands of the living God: this is repeated to show that it certainly was so; and that the Lord was set upon it; and determined to come forth against them in the way of his judgments, as follows:



and will execute judgments in the midst of thee, in the sight of the nations; that is, inflict punishments upon them for their disregard to his righteous judgments, which should take place in the midst of them, and consume them all around; and should be so manifest as to be seen by all the nations about them.



{u} yna Mg Kyle ynnh "ecce ego ad te, etiam ego", Pagninus, Montanus; "ecce ego contra te, etiam ego", Starckius.





Ezekiel 5:9



Ver. 9. And I will do in thee that which I have not done,.... In any other nation, or to any other people; not in the old world, when the flood was brought upon the world of the ungodly; not in Sodom and Gomorrah, when they were destroyed by fire from heaven; not in Egypt, when he inflicted his plagues on Pharaoh and his people; nor among the Canaanites, when they were drove out of their land for their abominations:



and whereunto I will not do any more the like; at least not of a long time; and, besides, this may not only refer to the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, but also by the Romans:



because of all thine abominations; the wickednesses of all sorts that were committed among them, which were abominable to the Lord, and particularly their idolatries; these were the causes why he would do, or suffer to be done, things that were never seen, known or heard of before; and are as follow:





Ezekiel 5:10



Ver. 10. Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee,.... Which was long ago threatened by the Lord, and prophesied of by Moses, Le 26:27; and was fulfilled at several times in the people of Israel, as at the siege of Samaria, 2Ki 6:28; at the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, La 4:10; and at the siege of the same city by Titus Vespasian, as Josephus {w} relates; for though these instances only show that mothers ate their children, yet no doubt the fathers took part with them; and if mothers, who are naturally more tender, could do this, it is much more reasonable to suppose that fathers did the same:



and the sons shall eat their fathers; this, though nowhere recorded, yet doubtless was done; it being as reasonable to think that a son might eat his father as a father his son, though both monstrously shocking:



and I will execute judgments in thee; punishments, such as pestilence, famine, and sword, after mentioned:



and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds; that is, those that remain, and are not cut off, by the above judgments, shall be carried captive into Babylon, or be dispersed in to Egypt, Ammon, Moab, and other places: this had a full accomplishment in the dispersion of the Jews into the several parts of the world, when they were destroyed by the Romans.



{w} De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 4. Ed. Hudson.





Ezekiel 5:11



Ver. 11. Wherefore, [as] I live, saith the Lord God,.... This is a form of an oath, and shows that what is after said should certainly be done; God would not repent of it, nor revoke it:



surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary, with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations: that is, with their idols and idolatrous worship, which were detestable and abominable to the Lord; so Manasseh not only built altars for Baal in the house of the Lord, but set up in it a graven image of the grove, 2Ki 21:3;



therefore will I also diminish [thee]; as they lessened his glory by such abominable actions, so he threatens that he would lessen their privileges and blessings; as they took away from him the worship and honour that were due to him, so he would take away from them their civil and church state, his sanctuary, word, and ordinances, and deprive them of everything that was valuable and excellent. The Targum paraphrases it,



"I will cut off the strength of thine arm;''



weaken her power:



neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity; when in the greatest misery and distress. The Targum is,



"my Word shall not spare, &c.''





Ezekiel 5:12



Ver. 12. A third part of them shall die with the pestilence,.... This, with what follows, explains the division of the hair into the three parts, and what was done with them; and shows that the burning of one third part denotes their being destroyed by the pestilence, mentioned along with burning coals, Hab 3:5; and by famine, as follows:



and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and though there is no account of the former, yet there is of the latter; and no doubt but the pestilence raged, as well as the famine, at the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar:



and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; signified by the third part of the hair, smitten with a knife; and intends such as perished by the sword of the Chaldeans at the taking of the city, and when they fled out of it; and so are properly said to fall round about it:



and I will scatter a third part into all the winds; the greatest part of which were carried into Babylon, and others into other parts;

See Gill on "Eze 5:2";



and I will draw out a sword after them; particularly after them that went into Egypt. The Septuagint and Arabic versions read a "fourth part" in each clause, as before; and make it out thus, "a fourth part of thee shall be consumed with death (the pestilence); and a fourth part of thee shall be consumed with famine in the midst of thee; and a fourth part of thee I will scatter to every wind; and a fourth part of thee shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will draw out the sword after them".





Ezekiel 5:13



Ver. 13. Thus shall mine anger be accomplished,.... Finished, perfected, consummated, by bringing the above judgments upon them, pestilence, famine, and sword, and by scattering them to every wind: what had been threatened long, and only some drops of it were let fall in times past, now was poured forth to the uttermost:



and I will cause my fury to rest upon them; to continue and abide upon them, and not move, at least for the space of threescore and ten years; see Zec 1:12;



and I will be comforted; by taking vengeance on them; so satisfying his justice, and easing him of his enemies; see Isa 1:24; a speech after the manner of men; who, when they have been affronted, and have avenged themselves, are easy in their minds, and satisfied:



and they shall know that I the Lord have spoken [it] in my zeal; that is, they shall find by experience that what the Lord had spoken by his prophets, and had threatened to bring upon them, was said in earnest, and arose from a jealousy for his own glory; this will be a clear case, and out of question:



when I have accomplished my fury in them; by the utter destruction of them; as follows:





Ezekiel 5:14



Ver. 14. Moreover I will make thee waste,.... That is, their land; which, being without inhabitants, lay untilled; and so became barren and unfruitful:



and a reproach among the nations that [are] round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by; who, seeing it in this desolate condition, shall throw out their taunts and jeers upon it, as in La 2:15.





Ezekiel 5:15



Ver. 15. So it shall be a reproach and a taunt,.... The subject of the reproaches and taunts of the enemy; see Jer 24:9; this is repeated for the greater confirmation of it:



an instruction; or "discipline", or "correction" {x}. The meaning is, that the Gentiles, seeing the judgments of God upon the Jews, would hereby learn righteousness, forsake their sins, amend their ways, and fear, the Lord:



and an astonishment unto the nations that [are] round about thee; being amazed that such judgments should fall upon a people that had been so highly favoured of God; and at their stupidity, hardness, and incorrigibleness under them:



when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury, and in furious rebukes; a heap of words, not only denoting the certainty of divine judgments, but the greatness and fierceness of divine wrath, in the execution of them; that these were not fatherly chastisements, rebukes in love, but the effects of vindictive justice:



I the Lord have spoken [it]; or those things, as the Arabic version; and as sure as I have spoken, I will do. The Targum is,



"I the Lord have decreed in my word;''



and so in Eze 5:13; where it is added, and I will confirm or accomplish.



{x} rowm "disciplina", Pagninus; "castigatio", Vatablus, Starckius.





Ezekiel 5:16



Ver. 16. When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famines,.... Either famine itself, which is as an arrow; it is taken out of the quiver of the Lord of hosts, and is shot by him; and moves swiftly when it has a commission; and is very destructive: or arrows which bring on a famine, such as drought, excessive rains, blasting, mildew, locusts, &c. or arrows which the famine brings, as leanness, faintness, blackness, and death; and, in either sense, are evil ones; and are sent of God for the following end:



which shall be for [their] destruction, [and] which I will send to destroy you; God's design in sending them was to destroy, and that was answered; and a very destroying arrow famine is, and therefore called evil:



and I will increase the famine upon you; or "gather {y} [it] upon", or "against you"; as if it was an army with bows and arrows:



and will break your staff of bread: take away the virtue from the little they had, that that should not nourish and satisfy;

See Gill on "Eze 4:16".



{y} Mkyle Poa "famen congregabo, super vos", V. L. Pagninus; "famen colligam super vos", Montanus, Polanus, Starckius.





Ezekiel 5:17



Ver. 17. So will I send upon you famine, and evil beasts,.... Famine is repeated for the further confirmation of it; and "evil beasts" are added, by whom are meant, not the Chaldeans, comparable to such; but literally lions, wolves, hears, &c. which are threatened the Jews, in case of disobedience, Le 26:22; and which sometimes were sent,

2Ki 17:24;



and they shall bereave thee; that is, of her children, whom the evil beasts should destroy; they not being able to defend themselves against them, as men can:



and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee, and I will bring the sword upon thee; the pestilence, famine, sword, which is meant by blood, and evil beasts, are the Lord's four sore judgments; see

Eze 14:21.



I the Lord have spoken [it]: who was able to perform it, and did, both at the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and by Titus.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Ezekiel 6:1



INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 6



This chapter contains a prophecy of the desolation of the whole land of Israel, and a promise that a remnant should escape, with a lamentation for the sad destruction, signified by some gestures of the prophet. The order to the prophet to deliver out the prophecy is in Eze 6:1; the several parts of the land of Israel or Judea, to which the prophecy is directed, are signified by mountains, hills, rivers, and valleys, on which the sword should be brought, Eze 6:3; the desolation is described, and the cause of it suggested, the idolatry of the people, Eze 6:4; the promise of a remnant that should escape, who should remember the Lord, loath themselves for their sins, acknowledge him, and that his word was not in vain, is in Eze 6:8; the lamentation, signified by the prophet's smiting with his hand, and stamping with his foot, for the sins of the people, and the judgments that should come upon them, is in Eze 6:11; a particular enumeration of these judgments follows, and of the places where they should be executed, Eze 6:12; the end of them was to bring them to the knowledge and acknowledgment of the Lord, against whom they had sinned and offended by their idolatry, as the places where their slain fell would show, Eze 6:13; and the chapter is concluded with a resolution to bring this desolation on them, Eze 6:14.



Ver. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. That is, the word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum: this, according to Junius, was delivered out by the prophet on a sabbath day, the twenty first of the fifth month, and in the sixth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity; and so was more than a year after the vision at Chebar, Eze 1:1.







Ezekiel 6:2



Ver. 2. Son of man, set thy face towards the mountains of Israel,.... Or cities of Israel, the inhabitants of them; not the ten tribes, for they had been carried captive long before this time, even in the times of Hezekiah; unless it can be thought that this prophecy is designed to show the reason of their captivity, which was their idolatry; or that it is directed to those of them which remained in the land, and were mixed with the other tribes; but rather the land of Judea is intended, in which were many mountains, and one part of it was called the hill country, Lu 1:39; and the mountains are mentioned, against which the prophet is ordered to direct his face, and look unto; partly because idolatry was much practised upon them; and partly to show the stupidity of the Jews, and the failure of the prophecy among them; that it was as well, or better, to speak to the mountains, than to them; for since they had so often put away the word of God from them, they were unworthy of it; wherefore such a direction to the prophet comes some degree of indignation and resentment:



and prophesy against them; as that the sword should be upon them, and the high places built upon them should be destroyed: or "unto them" {a}; direct the prophecy to them; speak to them as if they were capable of hearing: or "concerning them", as the Syriac version; and so the Targum, concerning their desolation.



{a} Mhyla "ad eos", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus; "ad illos", Piscator.





Ezekiel 6:3



Ver. 3. And say, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God,.... Since the people of the Jews would not hear the word of the Lord, the mountains are called upon to hear it; unless the inhabitants of the mountains are meant:



thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys: these are addressed, because idols were worshipped here; as upon the mountains and hills, so by rivers of water, and also in valleys, as in the valley of Hinnom idols were worshipped; upon mountains and hills, because they thought themselves nearer to heaven; by rivers, because of purity; and in valleys, because shady and obscure, and had something solemn and venerable in them:



behold I, [even] I, will bring a sword upon you; that is, upon the idolaters, which worshipped in these places; otherwise different instruments, as pick axes, &c. would have been more proper. The Targum paraphrases it,



"them that kill with the sword;''



meaning the Chaldeans, who doubtless are intended:



and I will destroy your high places; the temples and altars, built on high places, and devoted to idolatrous worship, as follows:





Ezekiel 6:4



Ver. 4. And your altars shall be desolate,.... Being pulled down; or because the priests and worshippers would now be slain, and there would be none to attend them:



and your images shall be broken; the "images of the sun" {b}. The word for images has its derivation from heat; and were so called, either from the heat of the sun, to whose worship they were devoted, or from the heat of the love and affections of their worshippers:



and I will cast down your slain [men] before your idols; before your dung, or your "dunghill gods" {c}; for the word used has the signification of dung, Eze 4:12. The Targum renders it,



"before the carcass of your idols;''



where they committed idolatry, there they should be slain; which points at the cause of their punishment.



{b} Mkynmx "simulacra vestra solis", Pagninus; "solaria vestra", Vatablus; "subdiales statuae vestrae", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus. {c} Mkylwlg ynpl "coram stercoreis diis vestris", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus; "coram stercoribus vestris", Cocceius.





Ezekiel 6:5



Ver. 5. And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols,.... Which is repeated for the confirmation of it:



and I will scatter your bones round about your altars: which were reckoned a pollution of them; see 2Ki 23:14.





Ezekiel 6:6



Ver. 6. In all your dwelling places your cities shall be laid waste,.... Which denotes that the desolation should be general, wherever they had cities and places to dwell in; the idolatry being universal, as is said in Jer 2:28;



and the high places shall be desolate; meaning such as were in cities; as, before, such as were built upon mountains and hills; see 2Ki 23:5;



that your altars may be laid waste and desolate; as they must be, the cities being destroyed in which they were set up:



and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down; such as were made of gold and silver, or of wood and stone; the same words are used for them as in Eze 6:4;



and your works may be abolished; not only the works of their hands, but of their brain; whatever they had devised, and was contrary to the pure word and worship of God.







Ezekiel 6:7



Ver. 7. And the slain shall fall in the midst of you,.... The word for slain is in the singular number, which perhaps is put for the plural; and so the Septuagint renders it; unless it should design some principal person that should be slain; but, as King Zedekiah was not slain when the city was taken, only his sons and his princes, it seems best to understand it of the multitude that were slain in the midst of the land, not only in Jerusalem, but in all the cities of Judea; and denotes how general and public the destruction would be:



and ye shall know that I [am] the Lord; the only true God, and Governor of the world; who only is to be worshipped, feared, and served, and not idols.





Ezekiel 6:8



Ver. 8. Yet will I leave a remnant,.... Not in Judea, but in Babylon, and in the countries where they should be dispersed, as follows:



that ye may have [some] that shall escape the sword among the nations; which was threatened to be drawn, and sent after them, Eze 5:2; but all should not perish by if; some should escape; for this was not the time to make a full end of them:



when ye shall be scattered through the countries; that is, of Egypt, Ammon, Moab, and Assyria; for this respects their dispersion at the time of the Babylonish captivity, and not their present dispersion.





Ezekiel 6:9



Ver. 9. And they that escape of you shall remember me,.... Either my grace and mercy to them, as Jarchi; or the fear of me, as the Targum; and so return by repentance, and worship the Lord their God, being influenced by his kindness and goodness to them: even when



among the nations, whither they shall be carried captive; so that their afflictions should be sanctified and made useful to them: in prosperity men are apt to forget God; in adversity they are brought to a sense of themselves and duty; and happy it is when chastening dispensations are teaching ones, and bring to God, and not drive from him:



because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me: by committing spiritual adultery, which is idolatry. The sense is, either that he was grieved at heart with their idolatry, which was the reason of their being carried captive, which, when they were sensible of, wrought repentance in them; or that he was full of compassion towards them; his heart was tender and pitiful towards them, though they departed from him in such a dreadful manner, justly to be resented by him. The Targum is,



"I have broken their foolish heart;''



and so the Syriac and Vulgate Latin versions, "I have broken their whorish heart"; by afflictive providences humbled them, and brought them to repentance:



and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols; they committed fornication with their heart and eyes in a spiritual sense, as wicked men do in a natural sense; see 2Pe 2:14;



and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations; abominable idolatry, 1Pe 4:3; when men remember God, against whom they have sinned, and consider how grieving sin is to him; and when they are broken for it themselves, they then loathe their sins, and themselves for it; and where all this is there is true repentance.







Ezekiel 6:10



Ver. 10. And they shall know that I [am] the Lord,.... As in Eze 6:7;



[and that] I have not said in vain; either within himself, in his own purposes and decrees; so the Targum,



"I have not in vain decreed in my word;''



or by the mouth of the prophets:



that I would do this evil unto them; in carrying them captive, and dispersing them in other lands; for this is not the evil of sin, but the evil of punishment, or of affliction.





Ezekiel 6:11



Ver. 11. Thus saith the Lord God, smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot,.... These are gestures of persons in distress and agony, who, to show their trouble and grief, smite one hand against the other; or smite with the hand upon the thigh, as in Jer 31:19; and "stretch out", or "make a distension with the foot" {d}; as it is in the Hebrew text; extend their thighs; throw out their feet; stamp with them; beat the earth, and make it shake, as the Syriac version; all expressive of anguish and sorrow:



and say, alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! the word "alas", or "woe", as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, an interjection of mourning and lamentation, explains the above gestures; and what follows shows the cause of all; namely, the sins and abominations committed by the house of Israel; which they being insensible of, and unconcerned about, the prophet is ordered to take such a method to awaken them out of their stupidity and lethargy; and the rather, since the heaviest of judgments were coming upon them:



for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; which are threatened in Eze 5:12; and the persons on whom they should be separately executed are mentioned in Eze 6:12.



{d} Klgrb eqr "extende pede tuo", Pagninus, Montanus, Polanus; "fac distensionem cum pede tuo", Munster; "divarica pedes tuos": Calvin.





Ezekiel 6:12



Ver. 12. He that is far off shall die of the pestilence,.... That flies from the enemy into the wilderness, or into other countries, thinking himself safe there, the plague shall seize him, and he shall die of that; there is no fleeing from God, and escaping his hand; when he resolves to punish for sin, he has various ways to execute his wrath:



and he that is near shall fall by the sword; that is out of the city, and near it, attempting to get away; but within the reach of the enemy, shall be slain by him:



and he that remaineth, and is besieged, shall die by the famine; that abides in the city, and does not attempt to go out; but continues in the siege, hoping the enemy will be obliged to depart, shall perish by the grievous famine. The Targum is,



"he that remains, and goes into the cities of siege, shall die with famine:''



thus will I accomplish my fury upon them; which before had been gradually, by little and little, falling upon them, in order to bring them to repentance; but being incorrigible, wrath is brought upon them to the uttermost; and God fulfils the whole counsel of his will in their destruction.





Ezekiel 6:13



Ver. 13. Then shall ye know that I [am] the Lord,.... Whom they had denied, by serving other gods; but now by those punishments their eyes would be opened to see, and be obliged to acknowledge, that there was no God but the Lord:



when their slain [men] shall be among their idols round about their altars; as is threatened, Eze 6:5; by which it will appear that the idols whom they worshipped could not save them; since they should fall just by them, round about the altars on which they sacrificed unto them; which idols were placed, and altars for their worship built,



upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains: mountains and high hills were usual places of idolatry among the Heathens, in which the Jews imitated them, and particularly Herodotus {e} says of the Persians, that, going up to the highest parts of mountains, they offered sacrifice to Jupiter; so they called the whole circle of the heavens:



and under every green tree, and under every thick oak; see

1Ki 14:23; here their slain were to fall, where they committed their idolatry: even in



the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols; or dunghill gods; yet, though they were such, sweet savour or incense was offered to them; wherefore, in righteous judgment, here their carcasses should fill and lie, and rot and stink.



{e} Clio, sive l. 1. c. 131.





Ezekiel 6:14



Ver. 14. So will I stretch out mine hand upon them,.... Not unto them, in a way of mercy; but upon, or against them, in a way of judgment. The Targum paraphrases it,



"and I will lift up the stroke of my power upon them;''



his mighty hand of vengeance:



and make the land desolate; by destroying the inhabitants of it:



yea, more desolate than the wilderness towards Diblath, in all their habitations; so the Syriac version renders it, "and I will make this land more desolate than the land of Diblath"; but other versions, "I will make the land desolate from the wilderness of Diblath"; to which the Targum agrees; or, "from the wilderness to Diblath": Kimchi and Ben Melech think this is the same with Riblath; as Deuel is put for Reuel in Nu 1:14; which was in the land of Hamath, and which, Jerom says, was in his times called Epiphania in Syria; here it was that Nebuchadnezzar brought Zedekiah, and slew his sons before him,

Jer 39:5; this, though in Hamath in Syria, was on the borders of the land of Israel, Nu 34:8; so that "hence from the desert of Diblath", as the Arabic version renders it, "even to Jerusalem", as may be supplied, takes in the whole land, and shows that it should be utterly desolate. There is a Bethdiblathaim mentioned in Jer 48:22; as in Moab; and there is also Almondiblathaim, which was one of the stations of the Israelites; and seems to be in Moab, or on its borders,

Nu 33:46; and appears, by the places named with it, to be the same as that in Jeremiah; and so was part of that terrible wilderness through which the Israelites passed; and to which the desolation of the land of Israel by the Chaldeans is compared; and which serves to confirm our version, which makes the desolation to be greater than that:



and they shall know that I [am] the Lord; the true God; the one and only Lord God; who never changes his purposes; fulfils his promises and threatenings; and there is no escaping his mighty hand.



 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

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