13 And -- rebel against me do the house of Israel in the wilderness, In My statutes they have not walked, And My judgments they have despised, Which the man who doth -- liveth by them. And My sabbaths they have greatly polluted, And I say to pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
And -- the sons rebel against Me, In My statutes they have not walked, And My judgments they have not observed -- to do them, Which the man who doth -- liveth by them. My sabbaths they have polluted, And I say to pour out My fury upon them, To complete Mine anger against them in the wilderness.
And -- they rebel against Me, And have not been willing to hearken to Me, Each, the detestable things of their eyes, They have not cast away, And the idols of Egypt have not forsaken, And I say -- to pour out My fury on them, To complete Mine anger against them, In the midst of the land of Egypt.
And sons of the stranger, who are joined to Jehovah, To serve Him, and to love the name of Jehovah, To be to Him for servants, Every keeper of the sabbath from polluting it, And those keeping hold on My covenant.
even in Horeb ye have made Jehovah wroth, and Jehovah sheweth Himself angry against you -- to destroy you.
for all the men who are seeing My honour, and My signs, which I have done in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and try Me these ten times, and have not hearkened to My voice --
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Until when doth this people despise Me? and until when do they not believe in Me, for all the signs which I have done in its midst? I smite it with pestilence, and dispossess it, and make thee become a nation greater and mightier than it.'
And ye slight all my counsel, And my reproof ye have not desired.
any one who did set at nought a law of Moses, apart from mercies, by two or three witnesses, doth die, of how much sorer punishment shall he be counted worthy who the Son of God did trample on, and the blood of the covenant did count a common thing, in which he was sanctified, and to the Spirit of the grace did despite?
Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, And for four, I do not reserve it, Because of their loathing the law of Jehovah, And His statutes they have not kept, And their lies do cause them to err, After which their fathers did walk,
Because against My judgments they did kick, And in My statutes they have not walked, And My sabbaths they have polluted, For after their idols their heart is going.
Whoso is despising the Word is destroyed for it, And whoso is fearing the Command is repayed.
And it cometh to pass on the seventh day, some of the people have gone out to gather, and have not found. And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `How long have ye refused to keep My commands, and My laws?
They have hasted -- forgotten His works, They have not waited for His counsel. And they lust greatly in a wilderness, And try God in a desert. And He giveth to them their request, And sendeth leanness into their soul. And they are envious of Moses in the camp, Of Aaron, Jehovah's holy one. Earth openeth, and swalloweth up Dathan, And covereth over the company of Abiram. And fire burneth among their company, A flame setteth on fire the wicked. They make a calf in Horeb, And bow themselves to a molten image, And change their Honour Into the form of an ox eating herbs. They have forgotten God their saviour, The doer of great things in Egypt, Of wonderful things in the land of Ham, Of fearful things by the sea of Suph. And He saith to destroy them, Unless Moses, His chosen one, Had stood in the breach before Him, To turn back His wrath from destroying. And they kick against the desirable land, They have not given credence to His word. And they murmur in their tents, They have not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah. And He lifteth up His hand to them, To cause them to fall in a wilderness, And to cause their seed to fall among nations, And to scatter them through lands. And they are coupled to Baal-Peor, And eat the sacrifices of the dead, And they provoke to anger by their actions, And a plague breaketh forth upon them, And Phinehas standeth, and executeth judgment, And the plague is restrained, And it is reckoned to him to righteousness, To all generations -- unto the age. And they cause wrath by the waters of Meribah, And it is evil to Moses for their sakes, For they have provoked his spirit, And he speaketh wrongfully with his lips.
Harden not your heart as `in' Meribah, As `in' the day of Massah in the wilderness, Where your fathers have tried Me, Have proved Me, yea, have seen My work. Forty years I am weary of the generation, And I say, `A people erring in heart -- they! And they have not known My ways:' Where I sware in Mine anger, `If they come in unto My rest -- !'
How often do they provoke Him in the wilderness, Grieve Him in the desolate place? Yea, they turn back, and try God, And the Holy One of Israel have limited.
`And they and our fathers have acted proudly, and harden their neck, and have not hearkened unto Thy commands, yea, they refuse to hearken, and have not remembered Thy wonders that Thou hast done with them, and harden their neck and appoint a head, to turn back to their service, in their rebellion; and Thou `art' a God of pardons, gracious, and merciful, long-suffering, and abundant in kindness, and hast not forsaken them. `Also, when they have made to themselves a molten calf, and say, this `is' thy god that brought thee up out of Egypt, and do great despisings,
`Wherefore hast thou despised the word of Jehovah, to do the evil thing in His eyes? Uriah the Hittite thou hast smitten by the sword, and his wife thou hast taken to thee for a wife, and him thou hast slain by the sword of the Bene-Ammon.
According to all the works that they have done from the day of My bringing them up out of Egypt, even unto this day, when they forsake Me, and serve other gods -- so they are doing also to thee.
and Jehovah saith unto me, Rise, go down, hasten from this, for thy people hath done corruptly, whom thou hast brought out of Egypt; they have turned aside hastily out of the way which I have commanded them -- they have made to themselves a molten thing! `And Jehovah speaketh unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and lo, a people stiff of neck it `is'; desist from Me, and I destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens, and I make thee become a nation more mighty and numerous than it. `And I turn, and come down from the mount, and the mount is burning with fire, and the two tables of the covenant on my two hands, and I see, and lo, ye have sinned against Jehovah your God; ye have made to yourselves a molten calf; ye have turned aside hastily out of the way which Jehovah hath commanded you. `And I lay hold on the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and break them before your eyes, and I throw myself before Jehovah, as at first, forty days and forty nights; bread I have not eaten, and water I have not drunk, because of all your sins which ye have sinned, by doing the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, to make Him angry. `For I have been afraid because of the anger and the fury with which Jehovah hath been wroth against you, to destroy you; and Jehovah doth hearken unto me also at this time. `And with Aaron hath Jehovah shewed himself very angry, to destroy him, and I pray also for Aaron at that time; and your sin, which ye have made -- the calf -- I have taken, and I burn it with fire, and beat it, grinding well till that it `is' small as dust, and I cast its dust unto the brook which is going down out of the mount. `And in Taberah, and in Massah, and in Kibroth-Hattaavah, ye have been making Jehovah wroth: and in Jehovah's sending you from Kadesh-Barnea, saying, Go up, and possess the land which I have given to you, then ye provoke the mouth of Jehovah your God, and have not given credence to Him, nor hearkened to His voice; rebels ye have been with Jehovah from the day of my knowing you.
These `are' families of Issachar, by their numbered ones, four and sixty thousand and three hundred.
And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, `Be ye separated from the midst of this company, and I consume them in a moment;'
because the word of Jehovah he despised, and His command hath broken -- that person is certainly cut off; his iniquity `is' on him.' And the sons of Israel are in the wilderness, and they find a man gathering wood on the sabbath-day, and those finding him gathering wood bring him near unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto all the company, and they place him in ward, for it `is' not explained what is `to be' done to him. And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `The man is certainly put to death, all the company stoning him with stones, at the outside of the camp.' And all the company bring him out unto the outside of the camp, and stone him with stones, and he dieth, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.
and if at My statutes ye kick, and if My judgments your soul loathe, so as not to do all My commands -- to your breaking My covenant --
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 20
Commentary on Ezekiel 20 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 20
In this chapter,
Eze 20:1-4
Here is,
Eze 20:5-9
The history of the ingratitude and rebellion of the people of Israel here begins as early as their beginning; so does the history of man's apostasy from his Maker. No sooner have we read the story of our first parents' creation than we immediately meet with that of their rebellion; so we see here it was with Israel, a people designed to represent the body of mankind both in their dealings with God and in his with them. Here is,
Eze 20:10-26
The history of the struggle between the sins of Israel, by which they endeavoured to ruin themselves, and the mercies of God, by which he endeavoured to save them and make them happy, is here continued: and the instances of that struggle in these verses have reference to what passed between God and them in the wilderness, in which God honoured himself and they shamed themselves. The story of Israel in the wilderness is referred to in the New Testament (1 Co. 10 and Heb. 3), as well as often in the Old, for warning to us Christians; and therefore we are particularly concerned in these verses. Observe,
Eze 20:27-32
Here the prophet goes on with the story of their rebellions, for their further humiliation, and shows,
Eze 20:33-44
The design which was now on foot among the elders of Israel was that the people of Israel, being scattered among the nations, should lay aside all their peculiarities and conform to those among whom they lived; but God had told them that the design should not take effect, v. 32. Now, in these verses, he shows particularly how it should be frustrated. They aimed at the mingling of the families of Israel with the families of the countries; but it will prove in the issue that the wicked Israelites, notwithstanding their compliances, shall not mingle with them in their prosperity, but shall be distinguished from them for destruction; for idolatrous Israelites, that are apostates from God, shall be sooner and more sorely punished than idolatrous Babylonians that never knew the way of righteousness. Read and tremble at the doom here passed upon them; it is backed with an oath not to be reversed: As I live, saith the Lord God, thus and thus will I deal with you. They think to make both Jerusalem and Babylon their friends by halting between two; but God threatens that neither of them shall serve for a rest or refuge for them.
Eze 20:45-49
We have here a prophecy of wrath against Judah and Jerusalem, which would more fitly have begun the next chapter than conclude this; for it has no dependence on what goes before, but that which follows in the beginning of the next chapter is the explication of it, when the people complained that this was a parable which they understood not. In this parable,
Now observe,