EZEKIEL 22 COMMENTARYEDITED BY GLENN PEASE

Judgment on Jerusalem’s Sins

1 The word of the Lord came to me:

BARNES, "The fourth word of judgment Ezek. 22:1-16. The sins which have brought ruin upon Jerusalem are the sins which disgraced the pagan inhabitants of Canaan, whom the Israelites were to cast out (compare Lev. 18). The commission of like sins would insure like judgment.

GILL, "Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me..... The word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum, another prophecy: saying; as follows:

HENRY, "In these verses the prophet by a commission from Heaven sits as a judge upon the bench, and Jerusalem is made to hold up her hand as a prisoner at the bar; and, if prophets were set over other nations, much more over God's nation, Jer_1:10. This prophet is authorized to judge the bloody city, the city of bloods. Jerusalem is so called, not only because she had been guilty of the particular sin of blood-shed, but because her crimes in general were bloody crimes (Eze_7:23), such as polluted her in her blood, and for which she deserved to have blood given her to drink. Now the business of a judge with a malefactor is to convict him of his crimes, and then to pass sentence upon him for them. These two things Ezekiel is to do here.

JAMISON, "Eze_22:1-31. God’s judgment on the sinfulness of Jerusalem.Repetition of the charges in the twentieth chapter; only that there they were stated in an historical review of the past and present; here the present sins of the nation

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exclusively are brought forward.K&D 1-5, “Blood-guiltiness of Jerusalem and the burden of its sins. Eze_22:1-5

contain the principal accusation relating to bloodshed and idolatry; and Eze_22:6-16 a further account of the sins of the people and their rulers, with a brief threatening of punishment. - Eze_22:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze_22:2. And thou, son of man, wilt thou judge? wilt thou judge the city of blood-guiltiness? then show it all its abominations, Eze_22:3. And say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, City, which sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols within itself for defilement. Eze_22:4. Through thy blood which thou hast shed hast thou made thyself guilty, and through thine idols which thou hast made hast thou defiled thyself, and hast drawn thy days near, and hast come to thy years; therefore I make thee a scorn to the nations, and ridicule to all lands. Eze_22:5. Those near and those far off from thee shall ridicule thee as defiled in name, rich in confusion. - The expression 'התשפט וגו proves this address to be a continuation of the reproof of Israel's sins, which commenced in Eze_20:4. The epithet city of blood-guiltiness, as in Ezekiel Eze_24:6, Eze_24:9 (compare Nah_3:1), is explained in Eze_22:3. The apodosis commences with דעתה and is continued in Eze_22:3 ,וה א .(ואמרת ) לב that her ,עתהtime, i.e., her time of punishment, may come: עתה, like מ י in Eze_21:30. ועשתה is not a continuation of the infinitive א of which different ,עליה .שפכת but of the participle ,לבrenderings have been given, does not mean “over itself,” i.e., as a burden with which it has laden itself (Hävernick); still less “for itself” (Hitzig), a meaning which על never has, but literally “upon,” i.e., in itself, covering the city with it, as it were. ותקריבי, thou hast brought near, brought on thy days, that is to say, the days of judgment, and hast come to, arrived at thy years, sc. the years of visitation and punishment (cf. Jer_11:23). This meaning is readily supplied by the context. טמאת defiled, unclean with regard to the ,ה name, i.e., having forfeited the name of a holy city through capital crimes and other sinful abominations. מהומה is internal confusion, both moral and religious, as in Amo_3:9 (cf. Psa_55:10-12).

COFFMAN, “Verse 1

LIST OF JERUSALEM'S CURRENT SINS

Whereas the previous chapter gave a record of the historical apostasies of the nation of Israel, this one focuses upon the sins that Jerusalem was then in the act of committing when Ezekiel delivered this chapter, the tremendous implication being that there could no longer be any hope of God's sparing the "bloody city."

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Also, the specific enumeration of so many transgressions, "Gives us a true picture of what Ezekiel means by `sins'."[1]

The chapter naturally falls into three divisions, presenting three oracles, each of which begins with the solemn words: "The word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man ..." (Ezekiel 22:1,17 and Ezekiel 22:23). Only the first of these is directed against Jerusalem, in the words, `the bloody city,'; and Keil objected to applying the last two oracles to Jerusalem only, because they appear to be addressed against "the house of Israel." Nevertheless, Jerusalem as the capital and final remainder of the whole house of Israel would seem to have been the principal addressee of the whole chapter.

Ezekiel 22:1-5

"Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, And thou, son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? then cause her to know all her abominations. And thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: A city that sheddeth blood in the midst of her, that her time may come, and that maketh idols against herself to defile her. Thou hast become guilty in the blood that thou hast shed, and art defiled in the idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach among the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall mock thee, thou infamous one, and full of tumult."

"Wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge ...?" (Ezekiel 22:2). The repetition indicates the strong emphasis of the command. The word "judge" here is a reference to an arraignment with a statement of the charges, as in the case of a prosecutor in a law suit. God only, in the strictest sense, is the "judge" of all men.

"The bloody city ..." (Ezekiel 22:2). "This epithet applied here to Jerusalem equates the capital of the Once Chosen People with Nineveh, that infamous whore, the

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savage lion's den, and corrupt center of heathen abominations,"[2] which God also designated with this same eloquent word of shameful guilt (Nahum 3:1), "the bloody city." Note that Jerusalem has already forfeited all of her glorious names, such as "faithful city, and beloved city."

"That her time may come ..." (Ezekiel 22:3). "This means the time of her retribution, the time when God will judge and punish her."[3] God did not punish either individuals or nations until their "iniquity was full," The meaning of this seems to be that, as long as there was hope of a change, God was always willing to spare the punishment a while longer.

"Thou hast caused thy days to come near, and art come even unto thy years . ..." (Ezekiel 22:4). "Thy days" is a reference to the days of Jerusalem's punishment, and "thy years,' speaks of the years of her captivity.

"I have made thee a reproach among the nations ..." (Ezekiel 22:5). This is a prophecy of what will soon happen, as indicated in the future tense used in the next verse, "Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall mock thee."

"Thou infamous one, and full of tumult ..." (Ezekiel 22:5). When any civilization reaches the condition in which the whole land is "full of tumult," "violence," and wholesale bloodshed, the end of it cannot be long delayed. It will be remembered that prior to the Great Deluge, the universal bloodshed and violence were cited as the reason for the destruction of the world in the flood. "And God said, The end of all flesh is before me; for the earth is filled with violence." (Genesis 6:13). The near-universal violence of our own times should be a reason for the most acute concern and apprehension on the part of the leaders of our world. Only God, of course, could know at what point the land "is filled" with violence; but when that point is reached, who can doubt that God will terminate it?

Jerusalem had certainly reached such a point, as indicated here. "Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood (2 Kings 21:2-15)."[4]

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EBC, “FINAL ORACLES AGAINST JERUSALEM

Ezekiel 22:1-31; Ezekiel 24:1-27

THE close of the first period of Ezekiel’s work was marked by two dramatic incidents, which made the day memorable both in the private life of the prophet and in the history of the nation. In the first place it coincided exactly with the commencement of the siege of Jerusalem. The prophet’s mysterious knowledge of what was happening at a distance was duly recorded, in order that its subsequent confirmation through the ordinary channels of intelligence might prove the divine origin of his message. [Ezekiel 24:1-2] That Ezekiel actually did this we have no reason to doubt. Then the sudden death of his wife on the evening of the same day, and his unusual behaviour under the bereavement, caused a sensation among the exiles which the prophet was instructed to utilise as a means of driving home the appeal just made to them. These transactions must have had a profound effect on Ezekiel’s fellow-captives. They made his personality the centre of absorbing interest to the Jews in Babylon; and the two years of silence on his part which ensued were to them years of anxious foreboding about the result of the siege.

At this juncture the prophet’s thoughts naturally are occupied with the subject which hitherto formed the principal burden of his prophecy. The first part of his career accordingly closes, as it had begun, with a symbol of the fall of Jerusalem. Before this, however, he had drawn out the solemn indictment against Jerusalem which is given in chapter 22, although the finishing touches were probably added after the destruction of the city. The substance of that chapter is so closely related to the symbolic representation in the first part of chapter 24 that it will be convenient to consider it here as an introduction to the concluding oracles addressed more directly to the exiles of Tel-abib.

I.

The purpose of this arraignment-the most stately of Ezekiel’s orations-is to exhibit 5

Jerusalem in her true character as a city whose social condition is incurably corrupt. It begins with an enumeration of the prevalent sins of the capital (Ezekiel 22:2-16); it ends with a denunciation of the various classes into which society was divided (Ezekiel 22:23-31); while the short intervening passage is a figurative description of the judgment which is now inevitable (Ezekiel 22:17-22).

1. The first part of the chapter, then, is a catalogue of the "abominations" which called down the vengeance of heaven upon the city of Jerusalem. The offences enumerated are nearly the same as those mentioned in the definitions of personal righteousness and wickedness given in chapter 18. It is not necessary to repeat what was there said about the characteristics of the moral ideal which had been formed in the mind of Ezekiel. Although he is dealing now with a society, his point of view is quite different from that represented by purely allegorical passages like chapters 16 and 23. The city is not idealised and treated as a moral individual, whose relations with Jehovah have to he set forth in symbolic and figurative language. It is conceived as an aggregate of individuals bound together in social relations; and the sins charged against it are the actual transgressions of the men who are members of the community. Hence the standard of public morality is precisely the same as that which is elsewhere applied to the individual in his personal relation to God; and the sins enumerated are attributed to the city merely because they are tolerated and encouraged in individuals by laxity of public opinion and the force of evil example. Jerusalem is a community in which these different crimes are perpetrated: "Father and mother are despised in thee; the stranger is oppressed in the midst of thee; orphan and widow are wronged in thee; slanderous men seeking blood have been in thee; flesh with the blood is eaten in thee; lewdness is committed in the midst of thee; the father’s shame is uncovered in thee; she that was unclean in her separation hath been humbled in thee." So the grave and measured indictment runs on. It is because of these things that Jerusalem as a whole is "guilty" and "unclean" and has brought near her day of retribution (Ezekiel 22:4). Such a conception of corporate guilt undoubtedly appeals more directly to our ordinary conscience of public morality than the more poetic representations where Jerusalem is compared to a faithless and treacherous woman. We have no difficulty in judging of any modern city in the very same way as Ezekiel here judges Jerusalem; and in this respect it is interesting to notice the social evils which he regards as marking out that city as ripe for destruction.

There are three features of the state of things in Jerusalem in which the prophet 6

recognises the symptoms of an incurable social condition. The first is the loss of a true conception of God. In ancient Israel this defect necessarily assumed: the form of idolatry. Hence the multiplication. of idols appropriately finds a place among the marks of the "uncleanness" which made Jerusalem hateful in the eyes of Jehovah (Ezekiel 22:3). But the root of idolatry in Israel was the incapacity or the unwillingness of the people to live up to the lofty conception of the Divine nature which was taught by the prophets. Throughout the ancient world religion was felt to be the indispensable bond of society, and the gods that were worshipped reflected more or less fully the ideals that swayed the life of the community. To Israel the religion of Jehovah represented the highest social ideal that was then known on earth. It meant righteousness, and purity, and brotherhood, and compassion for the poor and distressed. When these virtues decayed she forgot Jehovah (Ezekiel 22:12)-forgot His character even if she remembered His name-and the service of false gods was the natural and obvious expression of the fact. There is therefore a profound truth in Ezekiel’s mind when he numbers the idols of Jerusalem amongst the indications of a degenerate society. They were the evidence that she had lost the sense of God as a holy and righteous spiritual presence in her midst, and that loss was at once the source and symptom of widespread moral declension. It is one of the chief lessons of the Old Testament that a religion which was neither the product of national genius. nor the embodiment of national aspiration, but was based on supernatural revelation, proved itself in the history of Israel to be the only possible safeguard against the tendencies which made for social disintegration.

A second mark of depravity which Ezekiel discovers in the capital is the perversion of certain moral instincts which are just as essential to the preservation of society as a true conception of God. For if society rests at one end on religion, it rests at the other on instinct. The closest and most fundamental of human relations depend on innate perceptions which may be easily destroyed, but which when destroyed can scarcely be recovered. The sanctities of marriage and the family will hardly bear the coarse scrutiny of utilitarian ethics; yet they are the foundation on which the whole social fabric is built. And there is no part of Ezekiel’s indictment of Jerusalem which conveys to our minds a more vivid sense of utter corruption than where he speaks of the loss of filial piety and; revolting forms of sexual impurity as prevalent sins in the city. Here at least he carries the conviction of every moralist with him. He instances no offence of this kind which would not be branded as unnatural by any system of ethics as heartily as it is by the Old Testament. It is possible, on the other hand, that he ranks on the same level with these sins ceremonial impurities appealing to feelings of a different order, to which no permanent moral value can be

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attached. When, for example, he instances eating with the blood as an "abomination," he appeals to a law which is no longer binding on us. But even that regulation was not so worthless, from a moral point of view at that time as we are apt to suppose. The abhorrence of eating blood was connected with certain sacrificial ideas which attributed a mystic significance to the blood as the seat of animal life. So long as these ideas existed no man could commit this offence without injuring his moral nature and loosening the Divine sanctions of morality as a whole. It is a false illuminism which seeks to disparage the moral insight of the prophet on the ground that he did not teach an abstract system of ethics in which ceremonial precepts were sharply distinguished from duties which we consider moral.

The third feature of Jerusalem’s guilty condition is lawless violation of human rights. Neither life nor property was secure. Judicial murders were frequent in the city, and minor forms of oppression, such as usury, spoliation of the unprotected, and robbery, were of daily occurrence. The administration of justice was corrupted by systematic bribery and perjury, and the lives of innocent men were ruthlessly sacrificed under the forms of law. This after all is the aspect of things which bulks most largely in the prophet’s indictment. Jerusalem is addressed as a "city shedding blood in her midst," and throughout the accusation the charge of bloodshed is that which constantly recurs. Misgovernment and party strife, and perhaps religious persecution, had converted the city into a vast human shambles, and the blood of the innocent slain cried aloud to heaven for vengeance. "Of what avail," asks the prophet, "are the stores of wealth piled up in the hands of a few against this damning witness of blood? Jehovah smites His hand [in derision] against her gains that she has made, and against her blood which is in her midst. How can her heart stand or her hands be strong in the days when He deals with her?" (Ezekiel 22:13-14). Drained of her best blood, given over to internecine strife, and stricken with the cowardice of conscious guilt, Jerusalem, already disgraced among the nations, must fall an easy victim to the Chaldaean invaders, who are the agents of Jehovah’s judgments.

2. But the most serious aspect of the situation is that which is dealt with in the peroration of the chapter (Ezekiel 22:23-31). Outbursts of vice and lawlessness such as has been described may occur in any society, but they are not necessarily fatal to a community so long as it possesses a conscience which can be roused to effective protest against them. Now the worst thing about Jerusalem was that she lacked this indispensable condition of recovery. No voice was raised on the side of

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righteousness, no man dared to stem the tide of wickedness that swept through her streets. Not merely that she harboured within her walls men guilty of incest and robbery and murder, but that her leading classes were demoralised, that public spirit had decayed among her citizens, marked her as incapable of reformation. She was "a land not watered," "and not rained upon in a day of indignation" (Ezekiel 22:24); the springs of her civic virtue were dried up, and a blight spread through all sections of her population. Ezekiel’s impeachment of different classes of society brings out this fact with great force. First of all the ancient institutions of social order, government, priesthood, and prophecy were in the hands of men who had lost the spirit of their office and abused their position for the advancement of private interests. Her princes have been, instead of humane rulers and examples of noble living, cruel and rapacious tyrants, enriching themselves at the cost of their subjects (Ezekiel 22:25). The priests, whose function was to maintain the outward ordinances of religion and foster the spirit of reverence, have done their utmost, by falsification of the Torah, to bring religion into contempt and obliterate the distinction between the holy and the profane (Ezekiel 22:26). The nobles had been a pack of ravening wolves, imitating the rapacity of the court, and hunting down prey which the royal lion would have disdained to touch (Ezekiel 22:27). As for the professional prophets-those degenerate representatives of the old champions of truth and mercy-we have already seen what they were worth (chapter 13). They who should have been foremost to denounce civil wrong are fit for nothing but to stand by and bolster up with lying oracles in the name of Jehovah a constitution which sheltered crimes like these (Ezekiel 22:28).

From the ruling classes the prophet’s glance turns for a moment to the "people of the land," the dim common population, where virtue might have been expected to find its last retreat. It is characteristic of the age of Ezekiel that the prophets begin to deal more particularly with the sins of the masses as distinct from the classes. This was due partly perhaps to a real increase of ungodliness in the body of the people, but partly also to a deeper sense of the importance of the individual apart from his position in the state. These prophets seem to feel that there had been anywhere among rich or poor an honest response to the will of Jehovah it would have been a token that God had not altogether rejected Israel. Jeremiah puts this view very strongly when in the fifth chapter he says that if one man could be found in Jerusalem who did justice and sought truth the Lord would pardon her; and his vain search for that one man begins among the poor. It is this same motive that leads Ezekiel to include the humble citizen in his survey of the moral condition of Jerusalem. It is little wonder that under such leaders they had cast off the restraints

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of humanity, and oppressed those who were still more defenceless than themselves. But it showed nevertheless that real religion had no longer a foothold in the city. It proved that the greed of gain had eaten into the very heart of the people and destroyed the ties of kindred and mutual sympathy, through which alone the will of Jehovah could be realised. No matter although they were obscure householders, without political power or responsibility; if they had been good men in their private relations, Jerusalem would have been a better place to live in. Ezekiel indeed does not go so far as to say that a single good life would have saved the city. He expects of a good man that he be a man in the full sense-a man who speaks boldly on behalf of righteousness and resists the prevalent evils with all his strength: "I sought among them a man to build up a fence, and to stand in the breach before Me on behalf of the land, that it might not be destroyed; and I found none. So I poured out My indignation upon them; with the fire of My wrath I consumed them: I have returned their way upon their head, saith the Lord Jehovah" (Ezekiel 22:30-31).

3. But we should misunderstand Ezekiel’s position if we supposed that his prediction of the speedy destruction of Jerusalem was merely an inference from his clear insight into the necessary conditions of social welfare which were being violated by her rulers and her citizens. That is one part of his message, but it could not stand alone. The purpose of the indictment we have considered is simply to explain the moral reasonableness of Jehovah’s. action in the great act of judgment which the prophet knows to be approaching. It is no doubt a general law of history that moribund communities are not allowed to die a natural death. Their usual fate is to perish in the struggle for existence before some other and sounder nation. But no human sagacity can foresee how that law will be verified in any particular case. It may seem clear to us now that Israel must have fallen sooner or later before the advance of the great Eastern empires, but an ordinary observer could not have foretold with the confidence and precision which mark the predictions of Ezekiel in what manner and within what time the end would come. Of that aspect of the prophet’s mind no explanation can be given save that God revealed His secret to His servants the prophets.

Now this element of the prophecy seems to be brought out by the image of Jerusalem’s fate which occupies the middle verses of the chapter (Ezekiel 22:17-22). The city is compared to the crucible in which all the refuse of Israel’s national life is to undergo its final trial by fire. The prophet sees in imagination the terror-stricken provincial population swept into the capital before the approach of the Chaldeans:

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and he says, "Thus doth Jehovah cast His ore into the furnace-the silver, the brass, the iron, the lead, and the tin; and He will kindle the fire with His anger, and blow upon it till He have consumed the impurities of the land." The image of the smelting-pot had been used by Isaiah as an emblem of purifying judgment, the object of which was the removal of injustice and the restoration of the state to its former splendour: "I will again bring My hand upon thee, smelting out thy dross with lye and taking away all thine alloy; and I will make thy judges to be again as aforetime, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: thereafter thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city" (Isaiah 1:25-26). Ezekiel, however, can hardly have contemplated such a happy result of the operation. The whole house of Israel has become dross, from which no precious metal can be extracted; and the object of the smelting is only the demonstration of the utter worthlessness of the people for the ends of God’s kingdom. The more refractory the material to be dealt with the fiercer must be the fire that tests it; and the severity of the exterminating judgment is the only thing symbolised by the metaphor as used by Ezekiel. In this he follows Jeremiah, who applies the figure in precisely the same sense: "The bellows snort, the lead is consumed of the fire; in vain he smelts and smelts: but the wicked are not taken away. Refuse silver shall men call them, for the Lord hath rejected them." [Jeremiah 6:29-30] In this way the section supplements the teaching of the rest of the chapter. Jerusalem is full of dross-that has been proved by the enumeration of her crimes and the estimate of her social condition. But the fire which consumes the dross represents a special providential intervention bringing the history of the state to a summary and decisive conclusion. And the Refiner who superintends the process is Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, whose righteous will is executed by the march of conquering hosts, and revealed to men in His dealings with the people whom He had known of all the families of the earth.

II.

The chapter we have just studied was evidently not composed with a view to immediate publication. It records the view of Jerusalem’s guilt and punishment which was borne in upon the mind of the prophet in the solitude of his chamber, but it was not destined to see the light until the whole of his teaching could be submitted in its final form to a wider and more receptive audience. It is equally obvious that the scenes described in chapter 24 were really enacted in the full view of the exiled community. We have reached the crisis of Ezekiel’s ministry. For the last time until his warnings of doom shall be fulfilled he emerges from his partial seclusion, and in

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symbolism whose vivid force could not have failed to impress the most listless hearer he announces once more the destruction of the Hebrew nation. The burden of his message is that that day-the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year-marked the beginning of the end. "On that very day"-a day to be commemorated for seventy long years by a national fast (Zechariah 8:19; Zechariah 7:5)-Nebuchadnezzar was drawing his lines around Jerusalem. The bare announcement to men who knew what a Chaldaean siege meant must have sent a thrill of consternation through their minds. If this vision of what was happening in a distant land should prove true, they must have felt that all hope of deliverance was now cut off. Sceptical as they may have been of the moral principles that lay behind Ezekiel’s prediction, they could not deny that the issue he foresaw was only the natural sequel to the fact he so confidently announced.

The image here used of the fate of Jerusalem would recall to the minds of the exiles the ill-omened saying which expressed the reckless spirit prevalent in the city: "This city is the pot, and we are the flesh." [Ezekiel 11:3] It was well understood in Babylon that these men were playing a desperate game, and did not shrink from the horrors of a siege. "Set on the pot," then, cries the prophet to his listeners, "set it on, and pour in water also, and gather the pieces into it, every good joint, leg, and shoulder; fill it with the choicest bones. Take them from the best of the flock, and then pile up the wood under it; let its pieces be boiled and its bones cooked within it" (Ezekiel 24:3-5). This part of the parable required no explanation; it simply represents the terrible miseries endured by the population of Jerusalem during the siege now commencing. But then by a sudden transition the speaker turns the thoughts of his hearers to another aspect of the judgment (Ezekiel 24:6-8). The city itself is like a rusty caldron, unfit for any useful purpose until by some means it has been cleansed from its impurity. It is as if the crimes that had been perpetrated in Jerusalem had stained her very stones with blood. She had not even taken steps to conceal the traces of her wickedness; they lie like blood on the bare rock, an open witness to her guilt. Often Jehovah had sought to purify her by more measured chastisements, but it has now been proved that "her much rust will not go from her except by fire" (Ezekiel 24:12). Hence the end of the siege will be twofold. First of all the contents of the caldron will be indiscriminately thrown out-a figure for the dispersion and captivity of the inhabitants; and then the pot must be set empty on the glowing coals till its rust is thoroughly burned out-a symbol of the burning of the city and its subsequent desolation (Ezekiel 24:11). The idea that the material world may contract defilement through the sins of those who live in it is one that is hard for us to realise, but it is in keeping with the view of sin presented by Ezekiel,

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and indeed by the Old Testament generally. There are certain natural emblems of sin, such as uncleanness or disease or uncovered blood, etc., which had to be largely used in order to educate men’s moral perceptions. Partly these rest on the analogy between physical defect and moral evil; but partly, as here, they result from a strong sense of association between human deeds and their effects or circumstances. Jerusalem is unclean as a place where wicked deeds have been done, and even the destruction of the sinners cannot, in the mind of Ezekiel, clear her from the unhallowed associations of her history. She must lie empty and dreary for a generation, swept by the winds of heaven, before devout Israelites can again twine their affections round the hope of her glorious future.

Even while delivering this message of doom to the people the prophet’s heart was burdened by the presemiment of a great personal sorrow. He had received an intimation that his wife was to be taken from him by a sudden stroke, and along with the intimation a command to refrain from all the usual signs of mourning. "So I spake to the people" (as recorded in Ezekiel 24:1-14) "in the morning, and my wife died in the evening" (Ezekiel 24:18). Just one touch of tenderness escapes him in relating this mysterious occurrence. She was the "delight of his eyes": that phrase alone reveals that there was a fountain of tears sealed up within the breast of this stern preacher. How the course of his life may have been influenced by a bereavement so strangely coincident with a change in his whole attitude to his people, we cannot even surmise. Nor is it possible to say how far he merely used the incident to convey a lesson to the exiles, or how far his private grief was really swallowed up in concern for the calamity of his country. All we are told is that "in the morning he did as he was commanded." He neither uttered loud lamentations, nor disarranged his raiment, nor covered his head, nor ate the "bread of men," nor adopted any of the customary signs of mourning for the dead. When the astonished neighbours inquire the meaning of his strange demeanour, he assures them that his conduct now is a sign of what theirs will be when his words have come true. When the tidings reach them that Jerusalem has actually fallen, when they realise how many interests dear to them have perished-the desolation of the sanctuary, the loss of their own sons and daughters-they will experience a sense of calamity which will instinctively discard all the conventional and even the natural expressions of grief. They shall neither mourn nor weep, but sit in dumb bewilderment, haunted by a dull consciousness of guilt which yet is far removed from genuine contrition of heart. They shall pine away in their iniquities. For while their sorrow will be too deep for words, it will not yet be the godly sorrow that worketh repentance. It will be the sullen despair and apathy of men disenchanted of the illusions on which their

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national life was based, of men left without hope and without God in the world.

Here the curtain falls on the first act of Ezekiel’s ministry. He appears to have retired for the space of two years into complete privacy, ceasing entirely his public appeals to the people, and waiting for the time of his vindication as a prophet. The sense of restraint under which he has hitherto exercised the function of a public teacher cannot be removed until the tidings have reached Babylon that the city has fallen. Meanwhile, with the delivery of this message, his contest with the unbelief of his fellow captives comes to an end. But when that day arrives "his mouth shall be open, and he shall be no more dumb." A new career will open out before him, in which he can devote all his powers of mind and heart to the inspiring work of reviving faith in the promises of God, and so building up a new Israel out of the ruins of the old.

PULPIT, “Ezekiel 22:1, Ezekiel 22:2

Moreover, etc. The word connects what follows with the word of the Lord which began in Ezekiel 20:2. That connection is, indeed, sufficiently indicated by the recurrence of the formula, "Wilt thou judge?" (see note on Ezekiel 20:4). In obedience to the commands which that question implied, Ezekiel has once more to go through the catalogue of the sins of Judah and Jerusalem. It is not without significance that he applies the very epithet of bloody city (Hebrew, city of bloods) which Nahum (Nahum 3:1) had applied to Nineveh.

PETT, “Verse 1-2

Jerusalem, the City of Blood.

‘Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge, the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations.” ’

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Ezekiel continues in his silent vigil, speaking only when the word of Yahweh comes to him. God asks him whether he is prepared to pass act as prosecutor to a city filled with the spilling of blood. For the double rendering which intensifies the question compare Ezekiel 20:4.

‘The bloody city.’ This section repeats the word blood a number of times (Ezekiel 22:2-4; Ezekiel 22:6; Ezekiel 22:9; Ezekiel 22:12-13). Its streets were stained with blood. ‘Blood’ often indicates physical violence and deliberate harm, and vileness, as well as death.

2 “Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable practices

CLARKE, "Wilt thou judge the bloody city - Pronounce the sentence of death against the murderers.

Show her all her abominations - And a most revolting and dreadful catalogue of these is in consequence exhibited.

GILL, "Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city?.... Or, "city of bloods" (y)? the city of Jerusalem, in which was shed the blood of the prophets sent unto her; the doubling of the word denotes the vehemency with which it was expressed: wilt thou plead for and excuse such a city as this? surely no; so some: or wilt thou do thy work and office as a prophet? hast thou courage enough to do it? will thou rebuke and reprove? as the Targum; wilt thou examine her case, judge truly, and condemn her, as thou oughtest to do? hast thou an inclination to take this affair in hand? then be directed to it, as follows:

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yea, thou shalt show her all her abominations; lay them before her; convict her of them; show her the evil of them, and the punishment they deserve; every kind of sin she was guilty of; for, as for particular acts, it was impossible to reckon them; those sins that were the most flagrant, and most frequently committed, and which were abominable to the Lord, and rendered her so in his sight, are intended.

HENRY, ". He is to find Jerusalem guilty of many heinous crimes here enumerated in a long bill of indictment, and it is billa vera - a true bill; so he writes upon it whose judgment we are sure is according to truth. He must show her all her abominations(Eze_22:2), that God may be justified in all the desolations brought upon her. Let us take a view of all the particular sins which Jerusalem here stands charged with; and they are all exceedingly sinful.

JAMISON, "See Eze_20:4; that is, “Wilt thou not judge?” etc. (compare Eze_23:36).the bloody city — literally, “the city of bloods”; so called on account of murders perpetrated in her, and sacrifices of children to Molech (Eze_22:3, Eze_22:4, Eze_22:6, Eze_22:9; Eze_24:6, Eze_24:9).

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:2 Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations.

Ver. 2. Wilt thou judge?] Or, Plead for, or excuse? See Ezekiel 20:4.

The bloody city.] The saints’ slaughter house.

POOLE, “ Some would have the prophet here to be questioned, whether he would, and why he would, plead for such a city. Others, that God doth forbid him to plead for it, or be solicitous about it. I rather think God doth awake: him to more vigorous reproving of this sinful people, and threatening them for sin. The question is doubled to awaken the prophet more fully, and to quicken him to his work.

The bloody city; Jerusalem, which is guilty of the murders of innocent ones, of prophets and holy men.

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Show her; make her know, at least tell her by writing; for the prophet was at Babylon now, and could not speak to then at Jerusalem, but he might and must send word to then what their abominations were.

All her abominations; all the kinds, not all individual acts of them.

WHEDON, “ DESCRIPTION OF THE GROSS SINS OF THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM, INCLUDING EVEN THE PROPHETS AND PRIESTS OF JEHOVAH.

2. Wilt thou judge [see Ezekiel 20:4] the bloody city — What a name for the holy sanctuary, now filled with child sacrifices (Ezekiel 20:26) and murders (Ezekiel 22:6; Ezekiel 22:9; Ezekiel 9:10; Ezekiel 16:38; Ezekiel 23:37; Ezekiel 23:45).

Yea, thou shalt show — Literally, then cause her to know.

3 and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols,

CLARKE, "Her time may come - Till now, it was my long-suffering; she has fulfilled her days - completed the time of her probation; has not mended, but is daily

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worse; therefore her judgment can linger no longer.

GILL, "Then say thou, thus saith the Lord God,.... For though the prophet was to sit as judge, yet in the name of the King of kings, under whose authority he acted: the city sheddeth blood in the midst of it; openly and impudently, in the face of all, and in great abundance; even innocent blood, as the Targum has it: murders were frequent and common, either through quarrels, or through unrighteous judgments in courts of judicature: that her time may come; to fill up the measure of her iniquity, and to receive the just punishment of her sins. So the Targum, "the time of her destruction:'' and maketh idols against herself, to defile herself; being guilty, not only of murder, but of idolatry; she was an idol maker and an idol worshipper; and which was against herself, as well as against God; to her own ruin and destruction, as well as to his dishonour; and it is no wonder she should be defiled with such dunghill gods as these were, as the word used signifies. The Targum renders it, "in the midst of her"; and Kimchi interprets it, by "her", or "above her", upon the mountains and hills.

HENRY, "Idolatry: She makes idols against herself to destroy herself, Eze_22:3. And again (Eze_22:4), Thou hast defiled thyself in thy idols which thou hast made. Note, Those who make idols for themselves will be found to have made them against themselves, for idolaters put a cheat upon themselves and prepare destruction for themselves; besides that thereby they pollute themselves, they render themselves odious in the eyes of the just and jealous God, and even their mind and conscience are defiled,so that to them nothing is pure. Those who did not make idols themselves were yet found guilty of eating upon the mountains, or high places (Eze_22:9), in honour of the idols and in communion with idolaters.

JAMISON, "sheddeth blood ... that her time may come — Instead of deriving advantage from her bloody sacrifices to idols, she only thereby brought on herself “the time” of her punishment.

against herself — (Pro_8:36).

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:3 Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.

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Ver. 3. In the midst of it.] Publiae et impune.

Against herself.] As a sinner against her own soul.

POOLE, “ The city, Jerusalem,

sheddeth, is shedding, blood; it is her present practice as well as her former, murders are committed by her, and it is said the city did it; it was done with public consent, and probably under pretext of judiciary process to colour it, as in Naboth’s case, and as they would have done to Jeremiah.

In the midst of it: this aggravates their murders, and makes them more bloody, in that it was done where so many were, that should have been safety to the innocent; it was not done in a wilderness.

Her time; the time of ripeness in her sins, and of execution of judgments on her for them.

May come: this they did not design, they rather took away innocents, whom they surmised were dangerous to their state, to prevent, but this hastened the punishment.

Maketh idols; either maketh new images of their old idols, or repaireth the decayed beauty of them Or, taketh in new gods of their neighbours, who might hell them; but all this is against themselves, for this doth more defile them, and provoke God to wrath against them.

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PETT, “Verses 3-5

‘And you will say, “Thus says the Lord Yahweh, A city that sheds blood in the midst of her, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her. You are become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols that you have made, and you have caused your days to draw near, and are come even to your years. Therefore have I made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. Those that are near, and those that are far from you, will mock you, you who are defiled of name (and therefore ‘infamous’) and full of tumult.”

Ezekiel’s charge against Jerusalem is to be that they continue to shed blood freely, and to make the idols that defile her, bringing the time of their judgment on themselves. It was clearly a violent time. Blood was shed in the offering of their sons to Molech, and in courts that were prejudiced and hostile against those who were not in favour of the regime. Charges were probably brought against innocent men, and accepted, simply for political reasons or to destroy their influence and obtain their wealth (compare 1 Kings 21:1-16; 2 Kings 21:16; 2 Kings 24:4). Even Jeremiah found himself in danger of such a death (Jeremiah 38:4; Jeremiah 38:6). There was probably a split in views between those who followed Jeremiah in his teaching that they should submit to Nebuchadnezzar, and those who favoured the rebellion. When such ideas become white hot, violence always results. Thus were they guilty.

Furthermore the intensity of feeling multiplied idol worship, and probably also child sacrifice. They were desperate to obtain victory from the gods. What better way than to offer their dearest possessions? Possibly it had been introduced into the city from the valley of Hinnom, although that valley could be seen as part of ‘Jerusalem’. If so their idols had polluted the city even more than before. Thus were they even more defiled.

So by their behaviour they had ‘caused their days to draw near’, the days when they had to give account, and had ‘come to their years’, the time when they would have judgment passed on them. Both had been hastened by their evil behaviour. They had no one to blame but themselves. And that is why God was making them a

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reproach in the eyes of the nations, a mockery to many countries, for these would mock at the desolation of Jerusalem and of Judah. Countries both near and far would mock because she had defiled her name and was full of violence and tumult, and had brought judgment on herself.

4 you have become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries.

BARNES, "Thy days, - i. e., of judgment; “thy years,” i. e., of visitation (compare Eze_20:25, Eze_20:39).

A reproach ... a mocking - Judah shall be like the Ammonites Eze_21:28.

CLARKE, "Thou art become guilty in thy blood - Thou art guilty of blood.

GILL, "Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed,.... Not only she contracted guilt by the innocent blood she shed, but she was tried and found guilty; her guilt was notorious, plain, and evident, as well as exceeding great, and much aggravated: and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made: she not only made them, in doing which she sinned; but polluted herself with them, by worshipping them; her mind and conscience were defiled with them; and which brought such a stain and

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pollution, as could not be removed by anything that she could do: there are both pollution and guilt in sin, and neither can be removed but by the blood of Christ; and, unless removed that way, punishment must follow: and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years; to full age, to ripeness for judgment; she had hastened by her sins her days of affliction and distress appointed for her, and was come to years of maturity to suffer for her sins; the years of her captivity, which would soon take place; years in which she would have no pleasure: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the Heathen, and a mocking to all countries; who, instead of praising them for their idolatry, would deride them for leaving the God of their fathers, which they did not; and insult over them in their affliction and distress, though they joined with them in idolatrous practices.

HENRY, " Murder: The city sheds blood, not only in the suburbs, where the strangers dwell, but in the midst of it, where, one would think, the magistrates would, if any where, be vigilant. Even there people were murdered either in duels or by secret assassinations and poisonings, or in the courts of justice under colour of law, and there was no care taken to discover and punish the murderers according to the law (Gen_9:6), no, nor so much as the ceremony used to expiate an uncertain murder (Deu_21:1), and so the guilt and pollution remains upon the city. Thus thou hast become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed, Eze_22:4. This crime is insisted most upon, for it was Jerusalem's measure-filling sin more than any; it is said to be that which the Lord would not pardon,2Ki_24:4. (1.) The princes of Israel, who should have been the protectors of injured innocence, every one were to their power to shed blood, Eze_22:6. They thirsted for it, and delighted in it, and whoever came within their power were sure to feel it; whoever lay at their mercy were sure to find none. (2.) There were those who carried tales to shed blood, Eze_22:9. They told lies of men to the princes, to whom they knew it would be pleasing, to incense them against them; or they betrayed what passed in private conversation, to make mischief among neighbours, and set them together by the ears, to bite, and devour, and worry one another, even to death. Note, Those who, by giving invidious characters and telling ill-natured stories of their neighbours, sow discord among brethren, will be accountable for all the mischief that follows upon it; as he that kindles a fire will be accountable for all the hurt it does. (3.) There were those who took gifts to shed blood (Eze_22:12), who would be hired with money to swear a man out of his life, or, if they were upon a jury, would be bribed to find an innocent man guilty. When so much barbarous bloody work of this kind was done in Jerusalem we may well conclude, [1.] That men's consciences had become wretchedly profligate and seared and their hearts hardened; for those would stick at no wickedness who would not stick at this. [2.] That abundance of quiet, harmless, good people were made away with, whereby, as the guilt of the city was increased, so the number of those that should have stood in the gap to turn away the wrath of God was diminished.

JAMISON, "thy days — the shorter period, namely, that of the siege.thy years — the longer period of the captivity. The “days” and “years” express that she is ripe for punishment.

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COKE, “Ezekiel 22:4. Thou hast caused thy days to draw near— "Thou hast advanced the time of thy punishment, by heaping up the measure of thine iniquities." Instead of Thou art become guilty in thy blood, at the beginning of this verse, Houbigant reads, Thou art become obnoxious to the blood which thou hast shed, &c.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:4 Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come [even] unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.

Ver. 4. Thou hast caused thy days.] Thou hast accelerated thy punishment, as the old world did.

POOLE, “ Guilty in thy blood; greatly or deeply guilty.

Thou has shed, in abundance, cruelly and perfidiously.

Defiled thy self; as a polluted thing, loathsome to be seen or touched

Thine idols; dunghill gods.

Caused thy days to draw near; . hastened the days of thy sorrows and punishment, of the desolation in Judea, and of thy captivity in Babylon; thou hast shortened thine own peace and my patience.

Came even unto thy years; grown up now to the eldest years in sin, beyond which

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thou wert not to go: it is the same h effect with that went before.

Therefore; for thy old sin, thou art given up to be a reproach.

A reproach; to be scorned by them, to be branded as a most perfidious, irreligious, unconscionable sort of people, not worthy to live Or else to be a taunt and by-word among all nations; thus it was Psalms 44:13 Jeremiah 24:9.To all countries that were round about them, or, farther off, had heard of them.

PULPIT, “Thou hast caused thy days to draw near, etc. As in Ezekiel 22:3, the days and the years are those of God's judgments. The people had made no effort to avert their doom by repentance. They had, as it were, rushed upon their appointed fate. So, though in another sense, the righteous lives of the faithful are said, in 2 Peter 3:12, to "hasten the coming of the day of God." Exceptional evil and exceptional good alike hasten the approach of the day which is to decide between the two.

5 Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you, you infamous city, full of turmoil.

BARNES, "i. e., Countries near and afar oft shall mock thee, saying, “Ah! defiled in name; Ah! full of turbulence!”

CLARKE, "Those that be near - Both distant as well as neighboring provinces consider thee the most abandoned of characters; and through thee many have been involved in distress and ruin.

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GILL, "Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee,.... The neighbouring nations, as the Edomites, Philistines, Moabites, and Ammonites; and distant ones, as the Babylonians, Medes, and Persians; all that either hear of, or see their misery, shall rejoice at it, and triumph over them: which art infamous and much vexed; or they shall say, O thou of an infamous name and character; who hast defiled thy name, got a blot upon it, and lost thy credit by thy conduct and behaviour; and now fretting and vexing under the afflictions and calamities that lie upon thee: or whose tumults are many, as the Targum; who hast been full of noise, and factions, and tumults; thou art now come to a righteous end.

JAMISON, "infamous — They mockingly call thee, “Thou polluted one in name (Margin), and full of confusion” [Fairbairn], (referring to the tumultuous violence prevalent in it). Thus the nations “far and near” mocked her as at once sullied in character and in actual fact lawless. What a sad contrast to the Jerusalem once designated “the holy city!”

COKE, “Ezekiel 22:5. Which art infamous, &c.— Infamous of character, mighty in broils. Ezekiel 22:6. Every one were in thee, &c.] Every one to their power have joined with, or helped thee to shed blood.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:5 [Those that be] near, and [those that be] far from thee, shall mock thee, [which art] infamous [and] much vexed.

Ver. 5. Shall mock thee, which are infamous.] This was forethreatened. [Deuteronomy 28:37] Our natures are most impatient of reproach; for there is none so mean but thinks himself worthy of some regard. Gens haec, saith Giraldus Cambrensis of the wild Irish, sicut et natio quaevis barbara, &c.; No nation is so barbarous, but that although they know not what belongeth to honour, yet do they exceedingly affect to be honoured, and will not abide to be reproached.

POOLE, “ Those that be near; as the Idumeans or Edomites, who insulted over Jerusalem when it was taken, Ammonites, and Moabites, and Philistines.

Those that be far from thee; the barbarous Medes, Iberians, Hyrcanians, &c., to 25

whom thou shalt be carried captive, whose land is far off.

Infamous; of a most infamous name.

Much vexed; afflicted, impoverished, and ruinated above what was ever done to any city.

6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood.

BARNES, "Render it: Behold the princes of Israel, each according to his might (literally “arm”) have been in thee in order to shed blood. They looked to might not right.

CLARKE, "Behold, the princes - Ye are a vile and murderous people, and your princes have been of the same character. Like people, like prince.

GILL, "Behold, the princes of Israel,.... Those that belonged to the royal family, or the nobles of the land, or the members of the grand sanhedrim of the nation: everyone were in thee to their power to shed blood; everyone exerted himself to the uttermost, according to his ability, to shed blood, or cause it to be shed; everyone strove, as it were, who should shed most, to exceed each other in this abominable sin.

JAMISON, "Rather, “The princes ... each according to his power, were in thee, to shed blood” (as if this was the only object of their existence). “Power,” literally, “arm”; they, who ought to have been patterns of justice, made their own arm of might their only law.

K&D 6-12, “Blood-guiltiness of Jerusalem and the burden of its sins. Eze_22:1-5contain the principal accusation relating to bloodshed and idolatry; and Eze_22:6-16 a

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further account of the sins of the people and their rulers, with a brief threatening of punishment. - Eze_22:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze_22:2. And thou, son of man, wilt thou judge? wilt thou judge the city of blood-guiltiness? then show it all its abominations, Eze_22:3. And say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, City, which sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols within itself for defilement. Eze_22:4. Through thy blood which thou hast shed hast thou made thyself guilty, and through thine idols which thou hast made hast thou defiled thyself, and hast drawn thy days near, and hast come to thy years; therefore I make thee a scorn to the nations, and ridicule to all lands. Eze_22:5. Those near and those far off from thee shall ridicule thee as defiled in name, rich in confusion. - The expression 'התשפט וגו proves this address to be a continuation of the reproof of Israel's sins, which commenced in Eze_20:4. The epithet city of blood-guiltiness, as in Ezekiel Eze_24:6, Eze_24:9 (compare Nah_3:1), is explained in Eze_22:3. The apodosis commences with דעתה and is continued in Eze_22:3 ,וה א .(ואמרת ) לב that her ,עתהtime, i.e., her time of punishment, may come: עתה, like מ י in Eze_21:30. ועשתה is not a continuation of the infinitive א of which different ,עליה .שפכת but of the participle ,לבrenderings have been given, does not mean “over itself,” i.e., as a burden with which it has laden itself (Hävernick); still less “for itself” (Hitzig), a meaning which על never has, but literally “upon,” i.e., in itself, covering the city with it, as it were. ותקריבי, thou hast brought near, brought on thy days, that is to say, the days of judgment, and hast come to, arrived at thy years, sc. the years of visitation and punishment (cf. Jer_11:23). This meaning is readily supplied by the context. טמאת defiled, unclean with regard to the ,ה name, i.e., having forfeited the name of a holy city through capital crimes and other sinful abominations. מהומה is internal confusion, both moral and religious, as in Amo_3:9 (cf. Psa_55:10-12).

COFFMAN, “Verse 6

"Behold the princes of Israel, every one according to his power, have been in thee to shed blood. In thee have they set light by father and mother; in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the sojourner; in thee have they wronged the fatherless and the widow. Thou hast despised my holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths. Slanderous men have been in thee to shed blood; and in thee have they eaten upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they have committed lewdness. In thee have they uncovered their fathers' nakedness; in thee have they humbled her that was unclean in her impurity. And one hath committed abominations with his neighbor's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter. In thee have they taken bribes to shed blood; thou hast taken interest and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by oppression, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord Jehovah."

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"Some of the sins listed here relate to violations of the Decalogue, but the most of them relate to chapters 17-26 of the Book of Leviticus, where is recorded the so-called `Holiness Code.'"[5] We appreciate the exceedingly significant observation of McFadyen here: "Although most of the evils listed here are social wrongs, it is significant that the low morality is traced to false religion."[6] Amen! The false notion that the prophets of God were concerned only with social wrongs has made many of the comments of radical critics worthless, because, "All sin, in the final analysis, is nothing but a failure on the part of men to maintain the correct relation with the Heavenly Father." "The First and Great Commandment is to love God" (Mark 12:48).

The student is referred to our commentaries on the Pentateuch and upon the Minor Prophets for a discussion of the sacred laws violated by these various sins. Despite the "princes of Israel" being cited here as the perpetrators of such atrocious evils, it may not be doubted that all of the people were equally as sinful. It is amazing that "even the princes" were the notoriously guilty ones. Naboth was murdered and his vineyard confiscated by Jezebel the Queen, Tamar was raped and dishonored by her brother Amnon, a prince of Israel, indeed, the first son of king David by Ahinoam. Reuben, one of the Twelve patriarchs "uncovered his father's nakednesss" by his adultery with one of Jacob's concubines.

It is of interest that this latter sin does not seem to have been very unusual, because of the plural "fathers" in 5:10. In the New Testament, it is stated that the taking of one's step-mother was an evil, "found not even among the Gentiles" (1 Corinthians 5:1).

The disobedience and despising of father and mother always accompany the ruin of any culture. In the final hardening of Israel, in the times of Christ, the religious leaders of Israel, namely the Pharisees, taught that children, under pretense of respect to the Corban, had the right to despise and neglect their parents;[7] and Our Lord specifically condemned them for their teaching. Their old evils of the times of Ezekiel were still practiced in the days shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

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"They have eaten upon the mountains ..." (Ezekiel 22:9). This refers to the widespread worship indulged by the Israelites in their participation in the licentious orgies of the "high places," where the ancient Canaanite gods of fertility were shamelessly worshipped by Israel.

"Slanderous men have been in thee to shed blood ..." (Ezekiel 22:9) Cooke tells us that, "It was a common practice of those times to get rid of persons obnoxious to those in power by the device of false accusations."[8] Plumptre agreed, citing the case of, "Naboth in 1 Kings 21:10,"[9] as an example.

"They have forgotten me, saith Jehovah ..." (Ezekiel 22:12). "Social morality always depends upon the remembrance of God."[10] In the last analysis, all correct human behavior is derived from the recognition of Almighty God as the giver of life and the only legitimate regulator of human actions. Why is it wrong to kill? This is true only because man is created in God's image, and God has forbidden it. Apart from the knowledge of God, it is not a sin to kill, to steal, to commit adultery, or to do any other deed that pleases the doer. Apart from the knowledge and remembrance of God, there is no such thing as either "right" or "wrong." It must indeed be feared that in our culture today, this fundamental criterion for determining what is right or wrong has been obscured by the increasing unbelief of our times.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:6 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood.

Ver. 6. Behold the princes of Israel.] Here beginneth the black bill or bed roll. And as in a fish corruption beginneth at the head, so in a nation at the rulers.

POOLE, “ He was in Ezekiel 23:2 commanded to show the Jews all their abominations. Now he is directed to begin with the greatest first, either those of the royal family, or else such as adhered close to the interest of them, and were advanced to places of great trust; or, who were heads of families.

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Every one; not one to be found of a juster or more merciful temper.

To their power; according to their ability and opportunity.

To shed blood; for murdering all they hated, or that stood in their way.

PULPIT, “Behold, the princes of Judah, etc. For the "bloodshed," which was conspicuous among the sins, comp. Ezekiel 9:9; Ezekiel 16:38; Ezekiel 23:37, Ezekiel 23:45; and for special instances of that sin among its princes, those of Manasseh (2 Kings 21:16) and Jehoiakim (2 Kings 24:4). To their power; Hebrew, each man according to his arm, i.e. his strength. There was no restraint upon the doer of evil other than the limitation of his capacity.

PETT, “Verses 6-8

“Behold the princes of Israel, every one according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. In you have they treated dismissively the authority of father and mother. In the midst of you they have dealt with the stranger by oppression. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. You have despised my holy things and have profaned my sabbaths.”

Notice the ‘in you’ which is continually repeated in the following verses. God is speaking to Jerusalem and depicting why it is a condemned city because it shares in the sins of its inhabitants.

In it God’s commandments have been set at nought, and God’s law in Leviticus ignored. Murder was rife, with even their princes vying to demonstrate the level of their authority in terms of blood shed. The authority of parents (Exodus 20:12; Leviticus 19:3; Leviticus 20:9), advocating restraint, has been set aside. Those on whom God called special favour,

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the stranger (Leviticus 19:33-34), the widows and the orphans (Exodus 22:21-24), the defenceless, have been wronged and ill-treated. God’s holy things have been despised and treated as of little account. The sabbaths have been neglected and profaned (compare Leviticus 19:3). This was the condition of Jerusalem egged on by their leaders. No wonder it was ripe for judgment.

7 In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the foreigner and mistreated the fatherless and the widow.

CLARKE, "In thee have they set light - The children do not reverence their parents. Parental affection and filial respect do not exist among you. The stranger is not only not succoured, but he is oppressed. The widows and fatherless are vexed by wrongs and exactions.

GILL, "In thee have they set light by father and mother,.... Through whom they received their being from God; by whom they were brought into the world, brought up and educated; and to whom they owed great respect, honour, and obedience; but, on the contrary, they wanted affection to their persons, showed great disrespect to their commands, and treated them with irreverence and contempt; a sin of a very heinous nature, of the first magnitude; reckoned among the very Heathens as next to contempt of God, and disobedience to him; is directly contrary to a law of God, and threatened with a curse, and a severe punishment, Exo_20:12 by the connection of the words with the preceding, the princes of Israel seem intended; the children of the nobles, and the sons and daughters of the king; who, it might have been thought, by the character they bore, the station they were in, and the politeness of their education, would have behaved in another manner; and if this sin prevailed among them, no doubt it did among those of a lower class, who are always influenced by such examples: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger; the

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proselyte, as the Septuagint; him that was converted to me, as the Syriac version; which is an aggravation of the sin, that it was not merely a stranger that came about civil business, but one who came from foreign parts to worship the Lord at Jerusalem, as the Ethiopian eunuch did: now, to oppress such an one, either by private frauds, or by injustice in a court of judicature; to exact upon him for food or lodging; or circumvent and overreach him in trade and commerce; or distress him by vexatious lawsuits, when ignorant of the laws and customs of the country; at a distance from his friends, and in want of money, must be a very great evil; and yet even the princes themselves in Jerusalem were guilty of it: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow; that were weak and helpless, and had none to protect them, father and husband being dead; when, according to their first rank and station as princes, they ought to have been the defenders of them; but, instead of that, distressed, afflicted, and grieved them.

HENRY, "Disobedience to parents (Eze_22:7): In thee have the children set light by their father and mother, mocked them, cursed them, and despised to obey them, which was a sign of a more than ordinary corruption of nature as well as manners, and a disposition to all manner of disorder, Isa_3:5. Those that set light by their parents are in the highway to all wickedness. God had made many wholesome laws for the support of the paternal authority, but no care was taken to put them in execution; nay, the Pharisees in their day taught children, under pretence of respect to the Corban, to set light by their parents and refuse to maintain them, Mat_15:5.

4. Oppression and extortion. To enrich themselves they wronged the poor (Eze_22:7): They dealt by oppression and deceit with the stranger, taking advantage of his necessities, and his ignorance of the laws and customs of the country. In Jerusalem, that should have been a sanctuary to the oppressed, they vexed the fatherless and widows by unreasonable demands and inquisitions, or troublesome law-suits, in which might prevails against right. “Thou hast taken usury and increase (Eze_22:12); not only there are those in thee that do it, but thou hast done it.” It was an act of the city or community; the public money, which should have been employed in public charity, was put out to usury, with extortion. Thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by violence and wrong. For neighbours to gain by one another in a way of fair trading is well, but those who are greedy of gain will not be held within the rules of equity.

JAMISON, "set light by — Children have made light of, disrespected, father ... (Deu_27:16). At Eze_22:7-12 are enumerated the sins committed in violation of Moses’ law.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:7 In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.

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Ver. 7. In thee have they set light by father and mother.] Whom very heathens honoured as their θεοι εφεστιαι, household gods.

In the midst of thee, &c.] So Jerome complaineth of his country, In mea patria deus venter est, et in diem vivitur, that they were all belly gods, and had no goodness in them. So Bede complaineth of the ancient Britons immediately before their destruction by the Saxons. Bradford crieth out against the iniquity of the times in King Edward’s days. You all know, saith he in a certain letter of his, there was never more knowledge of God, and less godly living, and true serving of God. It was counted a foolish thing to serve God truly; and earnest prayer was not past upon. Preaching was but pastime; communion was counted too common; fasting was far out of use; alms was almost nothing. Malice, covetousness, and uncleanness was common everywhere, with swearing, drunkenness, and idleness. (a) &c.

POOLE, “ In thee; in Jerusalem.

Have they: it is plural, and agrees with princes, they whose better disposition, whose education and greatness, (beside the command of God,) should have advanced their venerable thoughts and deportment towards parents.

Set light by, have contemned, father and mother, though God threatens to curse such as do so, Deuteronomy 27:16.

They; the princes still, as the construction in the original carrieth it.

By oppression; by force and fraud, for the oppression here mentioned is made up of both; where either the fox or lion could apart, or else both joined, they have oppressed the stranger, expressly against God’s command, Exodus 22:21.

They; still the same great men, and rulers, who should, as Isaiah 1:17, have defended, plead. ed for, relieved, and comforted the fatherless and widow, but

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contrariwise they oppress, disquiet, and make a prey of them.

PULPIT, “We pass to sins of another kind. The fifth commandment was trampled underfoot as well as the sixth, and the blessing of continued national existence (Exodus 20:12) was thereby forfeited. The widow and the orphan and the stranger (we note in that last word the width of Ezekiel's sympathies) were oppressed (compare the same grouping in Deuteronomy 27:16, Deuteronomy 27:19).

8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths.

CLARKE, "Thou hast despised - All my ordinances are not only neglected, but treated with contempt; and my Sabbaths profaned. There is not only no power of godliness among you, but there is no form.

GILL, "Thou hast despised mine holy things,.... The holy place, the temple, and the worship of it; holy persons, the priests that officiated there; holy sacrifices offered up by them; the holy word of God read and explained; and all holy ordinances there administered. These words are directed to Jerusalem, the holy city, and to the inhabitants of it, who ought to have been holy men: and hast profaned my sabbaths; by doing their own work, and neglecting the service of God; and which was an inlet, as it usually is, to all manner of sin.

HENRY, "5. Profanation of the sabbath and other holy things. This commonly goes along with the other sins for which they here stand indicted (Eze_22:8): Thou hast despised my holy things, holy oracles, holy ordinances. The rites which God appointed were thought too plain, too ordinary; they despised them, and therefore were fond of the customs of the heathen. Note, Immorality and dishonesty are commonly attended with a contempt of religion and the worship of God. Thou hast profaned my sabbaths. There

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was not in Jerusalem that face of sabbath-sanctification that one would have expected in the holy city. Sabbath-breaking is an iniquity that is an inlet to all iniquity. Many have owned it to contribute as much to their ruin as any thing.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:8 Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.

Ver. 8. Thou hast despised mine holy things.] These are all foretokens of a perishing people. Emphasin habet quod dicit sancta mea, Sabbata mea. Shall that which hath the impress of God upon it be slighted, as his sabbaths, sacraments, ordinances? The holy God should in all his holy things be "sanctified in righteousness." [Isaiah 5:16]

POOLE, “ Thou, all the land, or thou, O Jerusalem, or thou, O Zedekiah, the chief of the princes; or else, having spoken of them all in the plural, he now changeth number, and so speaks to each in particular.

Hast despised; hast had very low esteem of them, as if mean and ridiculous.

Mine holy things; all my institutions, temple sacrifices, feasts, and priests, &c.

Profaned my sabbaths; spent them in profane work, or bestowed them upon idols and their service.

9 In you are slanderers who are bent on shedding blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts.

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CLARKE, "In thee are men that carry tales - Witnesses that will swear any thing, even where life is concerned.

They eat upon the mountains - Sacrifice to idols, and celebrate their festivals.

GILL, "In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood,.... Innocent blood, as the Targum; such who go from house to house, as pedlars do, with their wares or spices, as the word (a) signifies; hence the Syriac version renders it "merchants"; and carry tales and lies of innocent persons, and stir up others against them to wrath and revenge, and shed their blood; or that go to the courts of judicature, and there accuse innocent persons, and bear false witness against them, to the taking away of their lives. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it "thieves": who commonly are murderers: and in thee they eat upon the mountains; that is, there were such in Jerusalem who used to go to the mountains where idols were worshipped, and eat the things that were sacrificed to them; or partook of the feast made to the honour of them. So the Targum, "in thee they served idols on the mountains:'' in the midst of thee they commit lewdness; a general word for all manner of uncleanness, as adultery, fornication, incest, &c. of which some particulars follow.

HENRY 9-10, “Uncleanness and all manner of seventh-commandment sins, fruits of those vile affections to which God in a way of righteous judgment gives men up, to punish them for their idolatry and profanation of holy things. Jerusalem had been famous for its purity, but now in the midst of thee they commit lewdness (Eze_22:9); lewdness goes bare-faced, though in the most scandalous instances, as that of a man's having his father's wife, which is the discovery of the father's nakedness (Eze_22:10) and is a sin not to be named among Christians without the utmost detestation (1Co_5:1), and was made a capital crime by the law of Moses, Lev_20:11. The time to refrain from embracing has not been observed (Ecc_3:6), for they have humbled her that was set apart for her pollution. They made nothing of committing lewdness with a neighbour's wife, with a daughter-in-law, or a sister, Eze_22:11. And shall not God visit for these things?

JAMISON, "men that carry tales — informers, who by misrepresentations cause innocent blood to be shed (Lev_19:16). Literally, “one who goes to and fro as a merchant.”

COKE, “Ezekiel 22:9. In thee are men that carry tales, &c.— "Who beat false witness against men in capital cases." Houbigant reads, Thy men are perfidious,

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that they may shed blood. The reader, for the best exposition of this chapter, will refer to the 18th.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:9 In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.

Ver. 9. In thee are men that carry tales.] Heb., Men of slanders. [Exodus 23:1 Leviticus 18:16] Whisperers, backbiters, tale bearers - pedlars, the Hebrew word, signifieth such as drop a tale here and another there - are viri latrones, thieves, as the Septuagint here translate, yea, they are murderers. The devil was first a slanderer, and then a murderer. His agents first take away the credit of the Church, and then wound her. [Song of Solomon 5:6] The primitive Christians were first belied, and then cruelly handled; so were the French Protestants before the massacre of Paris. Humphry, Duke of Gloucester was by the people of England, notwithstanding the open showing of his body, and his pretended crimes, thought to be doubly murdered - viz., by detraction and deadly practice - saith the chronicler.

POOLE, “ Men that carry tales; informers and trepanners, or persons that, corrupted with money, give in false witness against the innocent; and the princes of Israel had hand in it.

They eat, offer sacrifice, on the mountains, and feast there, celebrating the honour of their idols: see Ezekiel 18:6,11,15.

Lewdness; enormous, contrived mischiefs, as the word imports.

PULPIT, “Men that carry tales, etc. Hebrew, men of slanders (comp. Exodus 23:1; Le Exodus 19:16). The sin of the informers, ever ready to lend themselves to plots against the life or character of the innocent, was then, as at all times, the besetting evil of corrupt government in the East. Compare the story of Naboth (1 Kings 21:10) and of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 37:13). (For eating on the mountains, see note on Ezekiel 18:6; and for lewdness, that on Ezekiel 16:43.) What the lewdness consisted in is

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stated in the following verses.Men that carry tales, etc. Hebrew, men of slanders (comp. Exodus 23:1; Le Exodus 19:16). The sin of the informers, ever ready to lend themselves to plots against the life or character of the innocent, was then, as at all times, the besetting evil of corrupt government in the East. Compare the story of Naboth (1 Kings 21:10) and of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 37:13). (For eating on the mountains, see note on Ezekiel 18:6; and for lewdness, that on Ezekiel 16:43.) What the lewdness consisted in is stated in the following verses.

PETT, “Verses 9-11

“Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood, and in you they have eaten on the mountains. In the midst of you they have committed lewdness. In you they have discovered their fathers’ nakedness, in you they have humbled her who was unclean in her separation. And one has committed abomination with his neighbour’s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his daughter in law, and another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.”

The catalogue of sins continues. And this was in what they called ‘the holy city’. Men had brought about the deaths of others by slander and lies (see Exodus 20:16; Leviticus 19:16); idolatrous, licentious feasts had been celebrated within the city on its mountains; and sexual misbehaviour which it is even a shame to speak about had been practised widely (see Leviticus 18:7; Leviticus 18:19-20; Leviticus 20:10, Leviticus 21:17).

10 In you are those who dishonor their father’s bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean.

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BARNES, "Set apart for pollution - Or, “unclean by reason of impurity” Lev_12:2.

CLARKE, "In thee have they discovered - They are guilty of the most abominable incest and unnatural lust.

On thee have they humbled - In their unholy and unnatural connexions, they have not abstained from those set apart because of their infirmities. The catalogue of crimes that follow is too plain to require comment.

GILL, "In thee have they discovered their father's nakedness,.... Or, "he discovered" (b), or "uncovered", it being in the singular number; though the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read in the plural; this, though committed, was done but by a few; it being a sin not so much as named among men, as for a man to lie with his father's wife, 1Co_5:1 as Reuben did, Gen_35:22 and which is expressly forbidden; and is mentioned first as the capital sin of uncleanness, Lev_18:6, in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution; ravished and deflowered such women who had their menstrues; to lie with such was prohibited by the law of God, Lev_18:19, so that here was a double sin committed; a rape of a woman, whether married or unmarried, at the time of her purgation or sickness; and such a copulation, which at another time would be lawful, ought to be abstained from at such a time, as prejudicial to themselves, and to their posterity, as well as contrary to the divine law.

JAMISON, "set apart for pollution — that is, set apart as unclean (Lev_18:19).

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:10 In thee have they discovered their fathers’ nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.

Ver. 10. In thee have they discovered their father’s nakedness,] i.e., Carnally known their father’s wives or concubines, Reuben-like. See 1 Corinthians 5:1. {See Trapp on "1 Corinthians 5:1"}

Humbled her,] i.e., Ravished her: which was a double crime. See Leviticus 18:19; Leviticus 20:18; Leviticus 15:25.

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POOLE, “ Like wild Arabians, the worst of heathens, there have been and are some that incestuously defile their fathers’ bed.

Humbled; it seems to imply a force and violence offered to the persons, whether virgins or married, whom at unseasonable time they forced to satisfy their lusts: forbidden Leviticus 18:19 20:18, and that on very just reasons, and for preventing many mischiefs, which follow such unseasonable commixtures.

WHEDON, “Verse 10-11

10, 11. This people, called to be a witness of Jehovah’s purity to all the earth, was going into the lowest depths of lust. There is no reason to doubt that this is a true picture of the corruption of this period. (See Jeremiah 5:7; Amos 2:6-8; Hosea 7:7, etc.) Yet the fact that the prophet could use the marriage covenant as he did, to figure the relation of Jerusalem to Jehovah, shows how much purer was the sentiment of the Jewish people even in their worst days than that of the nations surrounding them. (See Romans 1:28.) These commonest sins of the heathen were always against the Hebrew law (Leviticus 21:9; Leviticus 21:15; Leviticus 20:10; Leviticus 20:12; Leviticus 20:17).

PULPIT, “This, well-nigh the vilest of all forms of incest, against which the horror naturalis of the heathen, as in the story of Hippolytus, uttered its protest, would seem to have been common among the corruptions of Israel. (For the sin described in the second clause, see notes on Ezekiel 18:6.)

11 In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor’s wife, another shamefully

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defiles his daughter-in-law, and another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.

GILL, "And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife,.... The sin of adultery, which is an abominable sin; it is so to God, and it should be so to man: or, "a man hath committed" (c); some man of note, a great man; for this sin prevailed among the princes and nobles: or "everyone"; it being a general vice, which obtained among all ranks, high and low, rich and poor: and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; his wife's daughter, or his son's wife, contrary to Lev_18:15, and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter: his own sister, begotten of the same father, though it may be not born of the same mother; yet the relation is too near for marriage; and besides, it is a rape that is here intended; and the uncovering of the nakedness of a sister, whether by father or mother's side, whether born at home or abroad, is prohibited, Lev_18:9, and some have thought that all these acts of uncleanness were committed in honour of their idols, and when they worshipped them on the mountains, Eze_22:9.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:11 And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour’s wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.

Ver. 11. And one hath committed.] So the poet -

“ Hic thalamum invasit natae, vetitosque Hymenaeos,

Ausi omnes immune nefas, ausoque potiti, ”& c.

- Virg. Aen., lib. vi.

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POOLE, “ One, i.e. some, or the man of quality, state, and such as were of high degree, as the word is translated Psalms 62:9. Or what if it were translated as Ezekiel 22:6, every one; it was grown a most general vice, as Jeremiah 5:8.

Abomination with his neighbour’s wife; adultery, which God doth, and man should, abhor.

Another: horrible, shameless doings! the father-in-law committing incest with the wife’s daughter, and brothers defile their own sisters; all this against the light of nature, the law of civilized nations, and the law of God. And, if our conjecture be right, all this done in their lewd, idolatrous feasts kept to the honour of Tammuz, and in the very temple, or near to it. Compare this with Ezekiel 23:9, and with Ezekiel 8:14.

PULPIT, “Ezekiel 22:11, Ezekiel 22:12

The list of sins follows on the lines of Le Ezekiel 18:9, Ezekiel 18:15. (For those in Ezekiel 18:12, see notes on Ezekiel 18:12.) It is to be remarked, however, that the prophet does not confine himself to the mere enumeration of specific sins. These are traced to their source in that "forgetting God" which was at once the starting-point and the consummation of all forms of evil (comp. Romans 1:28).

12 In you are people who accept bribes to shed blood; you take interest and make a profit from the poor. You extort unjust gain from your neighbors. And you have forgotten me, declares

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the Sovereign Lord.

GILL, "In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood..... Innocent blood, as the Targum; judges upon the bench, whose office it is to take the part of the innocent, and clear him from unjust charges; and protect him from the violence of wicked and unreasonable men; that lay things to his charge, which, if true, would require blood; and yet men in such offices took bribes to bring in the innocent guilty, and pass sentence of death on him; which is a most shocking iniquity indeed: to take bribes in pecuniary matters is very wicked; but to do it in cases which affect life is most dreadfully cruel: or if it is to be understood of such persons who take bribes to bear false witness against a man, to the taking away of his life, it is a very heinous and detestable sin; for, as for a set of jurymen bribed to bring in a wrong verdict, which would be equally a most enormous crime; such a custom to try causes to be determined by a jury did not obtain among the Jews: thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion; not content with moderate usury, and increase, and even that were forbid the Jews among themselves; so greedy were they of gain at any rate, that they extorted it of their neighbours, in the most violent and oppressive manner. Kimchi, by her "friends or neighbours", understands the Assyrians and Egyptians; to whom she gave gifts, extorted by oppression from her own people, to get help of them: and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord; to seek for help from me; or they had forgotten his law, which forbids the above sins; they had forgotten the instructions, cautions, and directions he had given them. The Targum is, "and hast forsook my worship;'' forgetfulness of God is the cause of all sin.

HENRY, " Unmindfulness of God was at the bottom of all this wickedness (Eze_22:12): “Thou hast forgotten me, else thou wouldst not have done thus.” Note, Sinners do that which provokes God because they forget him; they forget their descent from him, dependence on him, and obligations to him; they forget how valuable his favour is, which they make themselves unfit for, and how formidable his wrath, which they make themselves obnoxious to. Those that pervert their ways forget the Lord their God, Jer_3:21.

JAMISON, "forgotten me — (Deu_32:18; Jer_2:32; Jer_3:21).

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TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.

Ver. 12. Thou hast taken usury and increase.] Usura quasi propter usum rei, saith one, and foenus quasi funus. Such money to necessity, is like cold water to a hot ague, that for a time refresheth, but prolongeth the disease. It is like the timber worm, which is wonderfully soft to touch, but hath teeth so hard that it eateth the timber. See on Ezekiel 18:13.

And hast greedily gained of thy neighbour.] Sept., Thou has consummated the consummation of thy wickedness in oppression.

And hast forgotten me.] All the forementioned evils are resolved into this as the root and origin of them. (a) See the like, Romans 3:18.

WHEDON, “ 12. Taken gifts — Bribes (Exodus 23:8; Isaiah 1:23; Micah 3:11).

Thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors — In ancient Babylon the money lenders received twenty-five per cent a month from their victims. Assyriologists have noticed that some of these money lenders had Hebrew names, so that these words of Ezekiel may have been a severe blow to the “elders” in his congregation — as to many in the modern Church.

PETT, “Verse 12

“In you have they taken bribes to shed blood, you have taken usury and increase, and you have greedily gained from your neighbours by oppression, and have

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forgotten me, says the Lord Yahweh.”

In Jerusalem the love of money has made men forget God, a common problem through the ages. Here men take bribes so as to bring about another’s death (compare Exodus 23:8; Isaiah 1:23; Amos 5:12; Micah 3:11), they take high interest from the poor, they take a high percentage of what the poor earn to cover their own loans, they oppress others so as to gain from them (Exodus 22:21-24; Exodus 23:9; Leviticus 19:33; Deuteronomy 24:17), and all because they have forgotten God. We must all remember that the way we live ever demonstrates whether we remember God or not.

They would, of course, have protested that they had not forgotten God. That the daily sacrifices were still offered, that they still gave some recognition to the God of Israel. But God’s point was that they had not remembered Him as He was, a holy and righteous God. The Yahweh they ‘worshipped’ was but a pale, undemanding shadow of what He really was. And that applied to Ezekiel’s listeners as well.

13 “‘I will surely strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and at the blood you have shed in your midst.

GILL, "Behold, therefore, I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made,.... As one amazed at it; or as filled with indignation against it; or as grieved and distressed at it; so Jarchi and Kimchi: or else as rejoicing at the punishment going to be inflicted on them for it. So the Septuagint renders it, "I will bring my hand upon them;''

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and the Targum, "behold, I will bring my vengeance upon thee for the sins of mammon, &c. Jarchi and Kimchi observe from their Rabbins, that four and twenty sins are recited by Ezekiel; but the final sentence of punishment is for rapine or dishonest gain, which is the greatest evil of all, 1Ti_6:10, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee; the innocent blood shed in the midst of her; not so much by thieves and cutthroats, as under a pretence of justice which was very abominable indeed; against which the Lord expresses just and strong resentment.

HENRY, "3. Let her know that God is displeased, highly displeased, at her wickedness, and does and will witness against it (Eze_22:13): I have smitten my hand at thy dishonest gain. God, both by his prophets and by his providence, revealed his wrath from heaven against their ungodliness and unrighteousness, the oppressions they were guilty of, though they got by them, and their murders (the blood which has been in the midst of thee), and all their other sins. Note, God has sufficiently discovered how angry he is at the wicked courses of his people; and, that they may not say that they have not had fair warning, he smites his hand against the sin before he lays his hand upon the sinner. And this is a good reason why we should despise dishonest gain, even the gain of oppressions, and shake our hands from holding bribes, because these are sins against which God shakes his hands, Isa_33:15.

JAMISON, "smitten mine hand — in token of the indignant vengeance which I will execute on thee (see on Eze_21:17).

K&D 13-16, “Eze_22:13-16The Lord is enraged at such abominable doings. He will interfere, and put an end to them by scattering Judah among the heathen. - Eze_22:13. And, behold, I smite my hand because of thy gain which thou hast made, and over thy bloodguiltiness which is in the midst of thee. Eze_22:14. Will thy heart indeed stand firm, or will thy hands be strong for the day when I shall deal with thee? I Jehovah have spoken it, and also do it. Eze_22:15. I will scatter thee among the nations, and disperse thee in the lands, and will utterly remove thine uncleanness from thee. Eze_22:16. And thou wilt be desecrated through thyself before the eyes of the nations, and know that I am Jehovah. - Eze_22:13 is closely connected with the preceding verse. This serves to explain the fact that the only sins mentioned as exciting the wrath of God are

covetousness and blood-guiltiness. הכה , as 2Ki_11:12 clearly shows, is a contracted expression for הכה כף אל (Eze_21:19), and the smiting of the hands together is a gesture indicative of wrathful indignation. For the form דמ, contracted from דמי, see the comm. on Eze_16:45. - As Eze_22:13 leads on to the threatening of judgment, so does Eze_22:14 point in anticipation to the terrible nature of the judgment itself. The

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question, “will thy heart stand firm?” involves a warning against security. עמד is the opposite of נמס (cf. Eze_21:12), as standing forms the antithesis to passing away (cf. Psa_102:27). עשה ת as in Eze_16:59 ,א and Eze_7:27. The Lord will scatter them (cf. Eze_12:15; Eze_20:23), and remove the uncleanness of sin, namely, by purifying the people in exile (cf. Isa_4:4). התם, from תמם, to cause to cease, with מן, to take completely away. נחלת, Niphal of חלל fo lahpiN לעיני connected with ,,נחלת . ים as ,גin Eze_20:9, not from נחל, as many of the commentators who follow the Septuagint and Vulgate suppose. ב, not in te, in thyself, but through thee, i.e., through thy sinful conduct and its consequences.

COFFMAN, “Verse 13

"Behold, therefore, I have smitten my hand, at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee. Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I, Jehovah, have spoken, and will do it. And I will scatter thee among the nations, and disperse thee through the countries; and I will consume thy filthiness out of thee. And thou shalt be profaned in thyself, in the sight of the nations; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah."

"I have smitten my hands at thy dishonest gain ..." (Ezekiel 22:13). "This figuratively describes God's indignation"[11] at the crooked dealings of Israel.

"Can thy heart endure ..." (Ezekiel 22:14)? No matter how bold and daring wicked men may pretend to be, when God's judgment falls upon them, all of their alleged courage evaporates! It will be true especially upon the final day of judgment depicted in Revelation 6:14-17.

"I will consume thy filthiness out of thee ..." (Ezekiel 22:15). This will be accomplished by the total destruction of all of the wicked sinners in Jerusalem, who are, themselves, the "filthiness" of the city.

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"And thou shalt be profaned in thyself, in the sight of the nations ..." (Ezekiel 22:16). This is admittedly a difficult expression. "The meaning appears to be that `Thou shalt be inwardly conscious of thy polluted condition, and shall loathe thyself on account of thy sins.'"[12] It should be remembered here, that, "Although God allowed his people to be profaned for a time, and allowed the nations to mock them, concluding that God was powerless to save them; nevertheless, the scattering of His people was remedial in God's intention; and, in God's own time, `The holiness of God's name' would yet be vindicated (Ezekiel 36:23)."[13]

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:13 Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.

Ver. 13. I have smitten my hand.] In token of utmost indignation, as Numbers 24:10.

At thy dishonest gain which thou hast made.] The Jewish doctors observe, that, whereas twenty-four different abominations are here reckoned up, the destruction of the city is attributed chiefly to covetousness. Lycurgus foretold his Lacedaemonians that filthy lucre would be the overthrow of their city, and it proved so. (a) The same is reported of Constantinople, of Babylon, the seat of the great Caliph, taken and sacked by Haalon, brother to Mango the great Khan of Tartary, who starved to death the rich but wretched Caliph in the midst of his hoards; (b) 1ike as the Roman soldiers first slew Ruffinus, who affected to be co-emperor with Arcadius, and then cutting off his right hand, carried it up and down the city, crying out to the people, Date stipem viro avaritiae inexplebilis, (c) Give an alms to a man of insatiable covetousness.

POOLE, “ Behold; hear therefore, and mark, ye wicked Jews.

I have smitten mine hand, in testimony of my abhorrence of your ways, as threatening to punish you, and setting on the fierce Babylonian upon you to execute my just displeasure.

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At thy dishonest gain; thy covetousness, the root of all the evils in thee; thy cursed, unsatiable hunger for wealth.

Thy blood, which thou didst shed, that thou mightest then seize their estates; kill Naboths, and take possession.

PETT, “Verse 13

“Behold therefore I have smitten my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the midst of you.”

What has happened in Jerusalem has made God ‘smite his hand’, in anger and determination to do something. Two sins stand out, those of dishonest business dealings and especially of treating the poor and defenceless dishonestly, and that of murder by various means. both violent and judicial.

14 Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.

GILL, "Can thine heart endure,.... Or "stand" (d): surely it must fall within thee; become like water, and melt as wax, be it ever so hard and adamantine:

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or can thine hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee? surely they must become weak, and drop, and not be able to hold a weapon for defence: and, if this would be the case, when God should deal with the Jews for their sins, by sending the Chaldean army to besiege their city, and take it; how will it be with sinners at the day of judgment, and to all eternity, when the awful sentence shall be pronounced, "go ye cursed"; when the wrath of God shall be poured out upon them; when they shall be cast into hell, where the worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched? this will be intolerable by the most stout hearted sinner; no heart will be strong enough to stand up under it, or hands to keep it off: I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it; he who is the mighty God, the eternal and unchangeable Jehovah; he has said it, that he will deal with impenitent sinners in a way of wrath, and he will be as good as his word; he will certainly accomplish it; it is in vain for men to flatter themselves to the contrary; or to put away the evil day far from them; it shall surely be. The Targum is, "I have decreed by my word, and I will establish it.''

HENRY, "Let her know that, proud and secure as she is, she is no match for God's judgments, Eze_22:14. (1.) She is assured that the destruction she has deserved will come: I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it. He that is true to his promises will be true to his threatenings too, for he is not a man that he should repent. (2.) It is supposed that she thinks herself able to contend with God, and so stand a siege against his judgments. She bade defiance to the day of the Lord, Isa_5:19. But, (3.) She is convinced of her utter inability to make her part good with him: “Can thy heart endure, or can thy hand be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? Thou thinkest thou hast to do only with men like thyself, but shalt be made to know that thou fallest into the hands of a living God.” Observe here, [1.] There is a day coming when God will deal with sinners, a day of visitation. He deals with some to bring them to repentance, and there is no resisting the force of convictions when he sets them on; he deals with others to bring them to ruin. He deals with sinners in this life, when he brings upon them his sore judgments; but the days of eternity are especially the days in which God will deal with them, when the full vials of God's wrath will be poured out without mixture. [2.] The wrath of God against sinners, when he comes to deal with them, will be found both intolerable and irresistible. There is no heart stout enough to endure it; it is none of the infirmities which the spirit of a man will sustain. Damned sinners can neither forget nor despise their torments, nor have they any thing wherewith to support themselves under their torments. There are no hands strong enough either to ward off the strokes of God's wrath or to break the chains with which sinners are bound over to the day of wrath. Who knows the power of God's anger?

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:14 Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken [it], and will do [it].

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Ver. 14. Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong?] Interrogatio continens latentem ironiam - q.d., Misella superbula, erisne ferendo mala futura? Thou pour, proud thing of nought, canst thou make thy party good with me? Canst thou either in mind or body bear my wrath? will not thine heart soon fall into thy heels, and thine hands be enfeebled when I shall grapple with thee, and take thee to do?

And will do it.] Thou thinkest, likely, that all these are but terrible words, devised on purpose to frighten silly people, but I will do it.

POOLE, “ Can thine heart endure? this question is a vehement negation, thou canst by no means endure, withstand and repel the evils that are coming, or bear them when come. Will thy courage hold out, and conquer? Nay, it will be with thee as Ezekiel 21:7, your hearts shall melt.

Can thine hands be strong, to hold the sword, and manage the warlike provisions against Nebuchadnezzar and his army? Your hands shall be exceeding feeble, Ezekiel 21:7, your weapons fall out of your hands, your hearts first melting with fear.

The days; the times of long and multiplied sorrows, and furious indignation.

That I shall deal with thee; the Babylonians are but men, but I the Lord your God, whom you have provoked, am with them; they are my weapons of war and I strike by them, and thou shalt never be able to subsist under it. Flatter not thyself, the Lord will do it as he hath spoken it.

PULPIT, “Can thine heart endure, etc.? The question implies an answer in the negative. Heart would fail and hands wax feeble in the day of the Lord's judgment. The doom of exile and dispersion must come, with all its horrors; but even here, Judah was not, like Ammon to be forgotten (Ezekiel 21:32). Her punishment was to

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do its work, and to consume her filthiness out of her.

PETT, “Verse 14

“Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I will deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it and will do it.”

God’s warning comes loud and clear. Those who disobey His commandments will have to face His judgment. And do they think that they will then be able to endure or be strong in the face of God’s enmity and anger? And they can be sure that it will happen, because God has said it.

15 I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries; and I will put an end to your uncleanness.

GILL, "And I will scatter thee among the Heathen, and disperse thee in the countries,.... Not only cause them to be carried captive to some one place, as Babylon; but to be scattered and dispersed throughout the various provinces of it, and in other nations, as chaff is by the winds; signifying hereby the power by which it would be done; their weakness, who would not be able to hinder it; and the uncomfortable condition they would be in: and will consume thy filthiness out of thee; by destroying some filthy persons, and reforming others; by bringing them by means of those afflictions to a sense of their sins, and to forsake them; and so would be refined as silver from its dross in a furnace: it may have a particular reference to their idolatry, that filthy sin, which they were cured of, and purged from, by their captivity, and to which they returned no more.

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HENRY, "Let her know that, since she has walked in the way of the heathen, and learned their works, she shall have enough of them (Eze_22:15): “I will not only send thee among the heathen, out of thy own land, but I will scatter thee among them and disperse thee in the countries, to be abused and insulted over by strangers.” And since her filthiness and filthy ones continued in her, notwithstanding all the methods God had taken to refine her (she would not be made clean, Jer_13:27), he will be his judgments consume her filthiness out of her; he will destroy those that are incurably bad and reform those that are inclined to be good.

JAMISON, "consume thy filthiness out of thee — the object of God in scattering the Jews.

COKE, “Verse 15-16Ezekiel 22:15-16. And will come thy filthiness, &c.— And I will bring the fame of thy filthiness whither thou hopedst not: Ezekiel 22:16. And thou shalt be profaned, or defiled by it, in the sight of the heathen, who shall know, &c. Houbigant.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.

Ver. 15. I will scatter thee.] Deuteronomy 4:27; Deuteronomy 28:25; Deuteronomy 28:64.

And will consume thy filthiness.] By thy captivity and misery I will refine and reform thee (a) [Zechariah 13:9]

POOLE, “ I will scatter thee, as the wind scatters chaff, among the heathen, the worst of the Babylonish vassals.

And disperse thee in the countries; doubled for certainty of the thing.

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Consume thy filthiness out of thee: some take it for a threat by a fire, that shall consume the filthy sinners, and the filthy sins will cease; or else, that by removing them out of Jerusalem into captivity, and reducing them to a very low condition, they should not any more commit, but for ever loathe, their wickedness: some take it for a promise of purging mercy to better them, i.e. the remnant of them, when the rest are destroyed and wasted.

PETT, “Verse 15-16

“And I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries, and I will consume your filthiness out of you, and you will be profaned in yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will know that I am Yahweh.”

God will deal with them by scattering them among the nations and dispersing them through many countries. They knew what this would involve, either being led in chains to a foreign land, or fleeing as refugees to places where life would be hard and they might well find themselves unwelcome. Their wealth, such as it was, would be eaten up, and they would often face degradation. Furthermore it would tend to destroy their identity, and to make them a byword to those among whom they settled. And they would be away from the land of their inheritance.

But the purpose of all this was so as to make them face up to their sinfulness, was so that their filthiness might be taken out of them, burned out by their humiliating experiences, and so that they might recognise by what they underwent that they had diminished themselves by ceasing to be what God had intended for them, to be witnesses to the nations, they had ‘profaned’ themselves, thus hopefully bringing them to consider how they could restore themselves to their proper purpose as they came to recognise Who and What Yahweh really was.

‘And you will know that I am Yahweh.’ This is a constant theme in Ezekiel. This in the end was God’s purpose.

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16 When you have been defiled[a] in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am the Lord.’”

BARNES, "Thou shalt take ... - Better as in the margin. Thou shalt by thine own fault forfeit the privileges of a holy nation.

CLARKE, "Thou shalt take ... - Better as in the margin. Thou shalt by thine own fault forfeit the privileges of a holy nation.

GILL, "And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the Heathen,.... No longer be the inheritance of God, but their own; and not have God to be their portion and inheritance, but themselves; and a poor portion and inheritance that must be, being in captivity, poverty, and distress; enjoying neither their civil nor religious liberties, as heretofore; it would be now manifest to the Heathens that they were forsaken of God, and left to themselves. Some render it, "and thou shalt be profaned, or polluted in thyself" (e); shalt be known to be so to thyself, as well as appear so to others. The Targum is, "I will be sanctified in thee before the people:'' and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; able to do what I say; faithful to my word; omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent; and this thou shalt not only know, but own and acknowledge, when these calamities take place, and have their effect.

HENRY, " Let her know that God has disowned her and cast her off. He had been her heritage and portion; but now (Eze_22:16), “Thou shalt take thy inheritance in thyself,shift for thyself, make the best hand thou canst for thyself, for God will no longer undertake for thee.” Note, Those that give up themselves to be ruled by their lusts will justly be given up to be portioned by them. Those that resolve to be their own masters,

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let them expect no other comfort and happiness than what their own hands can furnish them with, and a miserable portion it will prove. Verily, I say unto you, They have their reward. Thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things. These are the same with this, “Thou shalt take thy inheritance in thyself, and then, when it is too late, shalt own in the sight of the heathen that I am the Lord, who alone am a portion sufficient for my people.” Note, Those that have lost their interest in God will know how to value it.

JAMISON, "take thine inheritance in thyself — Formerly thou wast Mine inheritance; but now, full of guilt, thou art no longer Mine, but thine own inheritance to thyself; “in the sight of the heathen,” that is, even they shall see that, now that thou hast become a captive, thou art no longer owned as Mine [Vatablus]. Fairbairn and others needlessly take the Hebrew from a different root, “thou shalt be polluted by (‘in,’ [Henderson]) thyself,” etc.; the heathen shall regard thee as a polluted thing, who hast brought thine own reproach on thyself.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:16 And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 16. And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself,] q.d., I will abandon thee. Or, Thou shall be profaned and polluted.

And thou shalt know that I am the Lord.] Thou shalt know me by my punishments, whom thou wouldst not know by my benefits.

POOLE, “ Whereas I was thine inheritance, and thou enjoyedst all riches, delight, safety, peace, and honour in me, so long as thou wert a holy, obedient people; now that you are polluted, a very sink of all filthiness, for which I have cast thee off, and sent thee into captivity, there be to thyself what thou canst be, for I will not be thine inheritance. And this forlorn, abject, helpless state shall be so visible, that the very heathen shall discern, and know, that you are rejected of your God, and he very just in doing so.

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17 Then the word of the Lord came to me:

BARNES, "The fifth word of judgment. The furnace. In the besieged city the people shall be tried and purged.

GILL, "And the word of the Lord came unto me,.... The word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum:

HENRY, "The same melancholy string is still harped upon, and various turns are given it, to make it affecting, that it may be influencing. The prophet must here show, or at least it is here shown him, that the whole house of Israel has become as dross and that as dross they shall be consumed. What David has said concerning the wicked ones of the world is here said concerning the wicked ones of the church, now that it is corrupt and degenerate (Psa_119:119): Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross.

I. See here how the wretched degeneracy of the house of Israel is described. That state, in David's and Solomon's time, had been a head of gold; when the kingdoms were divided it was as the arms of silver. But now, 1. It has degenerated into baser metal, of no value in comparison with what it formerly was: They are all brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, which some make to signify divers sorts of sinners among them. Their being brass denotes the impudence of some in their wickedness; they are brazen-faced, and cannot blush; their shoes had been iron and brass (Deu_33:25), but now their brow is so, Isa_48:4. Their being tin denotes the hypocritical profession of piety with which many of them cover their iniquity; they have a specious show, but no intrinsic worth. Their being iron denotes the cruel disposition of some, and their delight in war, according to the character of the iron age. Their being lead denotes their dulness, sottishness, and stupidity: though soft and pliable to evil, yet heavy and not movable to good. How has the gold become dross! How has the most fine gold changed! So is Jerusalem's degeneracy bewailed, Lam_4:1. Yet this is not the worst; these metals, though of less value, are yet of good use. But, 2. The house of Israel has become dross to me. So she is in God's account, whatever she is in her own and her neighbours' account. They were silver, but now they are even the dross of silver; the word signifies all the dirt, and rubbish, and worthless stuff, that are separated from the silver in the washing, melting, and refining of it. Note, Sinners, and especially degenerate professors, are in God's account as dross, vile, and contemptible, and of no account, as the evil figs which could not be eaten, they were so evil. They are useless and fit for nothing; of no consistency with themselves and no service to man.

K&D 17-22, “Refining of Israel in the Furnace of Besieged Jerusalem57

Eze_22:17. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze_22:18. Son of man, the house of Israel has become to me as dross; they are all brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the furnace; dross of silver have they become. Eze_22:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because ye have all become dross, therefore, behold, I gather you together in Jerusalem. Eze_22:20. As men gather together silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin into the furnace, to blow the fire upon it for melting, so will I gather (you) together in my anger and my wrath, and put you in and melt you. Eze_22:21.And I will collect you together, and blow the fire of my wrath upon you, that ye may be melted therein. Eze_22:22. As silver is melted in the furnace, so shall ye be melted therein (viz., in Jerusalem), and shall learn that I Jehovah have poured out my wrath upon you. - This second word of God rests no doubt upon the figure in Eze_22:15, of the uncleanness or dirt of sin; but it is not an exposition of the removal of the dirt, as predicted there. For that was to be effected through the dispersion of Israel among the nations, whereas the word of God, from Eze_22:17 onwards, represents the siege awaiting Jerusalem as a melting process, through which God will separate the silver ore contained in Israel from the baser metals mingled with it. In Eze_22:18 it commences with a description of the existing condition of Israel. It has turned to dross. היו is clearly a perfect, and is not to be taken as a prophetical future, as Kliefoth proposes. Such a rendering is not only precluded by the clause 'יען ת הי in Eze_22:19, cut could only be made to yield an admissible sense by taking the middle clause of the verse, “all of them brass and tin,” etc., as a statement of what Israel had become, or as a preterite in opposition to all the rules of Hebrew syntax, inasmuch as this clause merely furnishes an explanation of סוג .היו־לסוג, which only occurs here, for סיג signifies dross, not smelting-ore (Kliefoth), literally, recedanea, the baser ingredients which are mixed with the silver, and separated from it by smelting. This is the meaning here, where it is directly afterwards interpreted as consisting of brass, tin, iron, and lead, and then still further defined as סגים dross of silver, i.e., brass, tin, iron, and lead, with a mixture of ,כסףsilver. Because Israel had turned into silver-dross of this kind, the Lord would gather it together in Jerusalem, to smelt it there as in a smelting furnace; just as men gather together brass, iron, lead, and tin in a furnace to smelt them, or rather to separate the silver contained thereon. קבצת literally, a collection of silver, etc., for “like a ,כסףcollection.” The כ simil. is probably omitted for the sake of euphony, to avoid the discord occasioned by prefixing it to קבצת. Ezekiel mentions the silver as well, because there is some silver contained in the brass, iron, etc., or the dross is silver-dross. התו, nomen verbale, from נת in the Hiphil, smelting; literally, as the smelting of silver takes place in the furnace. The smelting is treated here simply as a figurative representation of punishment, and consequently the result of the smelting, namely, the refining of the silver by the removal of the baser ingredients, is not referred to any further, as in the case in Isa_1:22, Isa_1:25; Jer_6:27-30; Mal_3:2-3. This smelting process was experienced by Israel in the last siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans.

COFFMAN, “Verse 17

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"And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross unto me: all of them are brass and fin and iron and lead, in the midst of the silver; they are the dross of the silver. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye are all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you."

Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, have poured out my wrath upon you.

The figure of this illustration is that of a smelter or furnace in which dross is separated from silver; "But this is no `refining' operation which we have here, because Israel is all dross, every one, high and low alike."[14]

"I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem ..." (Ezekiel 22:19). Keil thought that this reference to Jerusalem, "Is somewhat out of place, inasmuch as the preceding Word of God referred not to the city, but to `The House of Israel' (Ezekiel 22:18)."[15] Keil failed to take into consideration that God here promised to "gather" the House of Israel into Jerusalem for the purpose of making a smelting furnace of the whole city; thus, the reference to Jerusalem is absolutely correct. (see Ezekiel 22:19).

When the siege of Jerusalem began by the king of Babylon, the whole population of Palestine, encompassing all of `the House of Israel' that remained, poured into Jerusalem for protection. This is a prophecy that, "Under the stress of the siege, Jerusalem would become a furnace in which they all shall be melted by the fierce heat of the Divine anger."[16]

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:18 Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all 59

they [are] brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are [even] the dross of silver.

Ver. 18. The house of Israel is to me become dross.] Recrementum argenti; offal stuff. Silver they were once, but now nothing less. Haec ad nos quoque transferenda sunt. This is even our case; we are quite degenerate, and altogether unlike our zealous progenitors.

“ Heu! pietas ubi prisca! profana O tempora! Mundi

Faex, vesper, prope nox! O Mora! Christe veni. ”

All they are brass.] See on Isaiah 1:22.

PETT, “Verse 17-18

The House of Israel Who Are Full of Impurity.

‘And the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me, all of them are brass and tin and iron and lead in the midst of the furnace. They are the dross of silver.”

In this second oracle ‘the house of Israel’ are described as dross, the impurities that are left when the silver is purified. And while the main idea is of ‘the house of Israel’ in Jerusalem and Judah, there is an implication in the use of the term that it also includes much of Israel far and wide. They are impure and unworthy.

We may here see it as meaning that brass, tin, iron and lead, which were of a lesser 60

value in themselves, were to silver as comparative dross, for Ezekiel is not speaking as a metallurgist. To him compared with silver they are nothing. They are equal to the dross of silver. On the other hand some see it as meaning that Israel are as the dross of all these impure metals when they are refined.

It is important to see that, unlike other Old Testament passages, the idea here is not that they will be refined, but that they will be destroyed as worthless dross.

18 “Son of man, the people of Israel have become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of silver.

BARNES, "And the word of the Lord came unto me,.... The word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum:

CLARKE, "The house of Israel is to me become dross - They are all like base metal - brass, tin, iron, and lead alloyed together with silver. Ye must be put in the furnace, and subjected to the most intense fire, till your impurities are consumed away. No ordinary means will avail any thing; the most violent must be resorted to.

GILL, "Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross,.... Vile, despicable, useless, and unprofitable; to which the wicked of the earth are compared, Psa_119:119 and here the Lord's professing people, they differing nothing from them, being sadly degenerated; formerly they were as silver, and so they might be reckoned among themselves; but to God, who is omniscient, the searcher of the hearts and reins,

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who saw all their actions, and knew the spring of them, in his sight they were as dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace: or "crucible" (f); where they are put together, in order to be set in the furnace, and melted down. It is not usual to put so many different metals together for melting, but separately; but here it seems to intend a mixture of them all together; and so the Targum and Septuagint render it, "all they as brass, &c. are mixed;'' several metals of the baser sort are here mentioned, by a gradation from the better to the worse; tin being not so good as brass, and iron of less value than either, and lead than any of them. Some think the different characters of the people are here described; impudent persons by "brass"; hypocrites by "tin"; cruel and savage ones by "iron"; and such as were sottish and stupid by "lead"; or, as others, covetous ones: they are even the dross of silver; once they were like silver, precious and valuable, while they retained the true religion, and the worship of God, and behaved agreeably to their character in the performance of all good works, and were in outward flourishing circumstances; but now degenerated from the pure worship of God, and sunk into idolatry and wickedness, and become poor and miserable.

JAMISON, "dross ... brass — Israel has become a worthless compound of the dross of silver (implying not merely corruption, but degeneracy from good to bad, Isa_1:22, especially offensive) and of the baser metals. Hence the people must be thrown into the furnace of judgment, that the bad may be consumed, and the good separated (Jer_6:29, Jer_6:30).

COKE, “Verses 18-21Ezekiel 22:18-21. The house of Israel, &c.— The house of Israel is to me become all of them alloy; brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the furnace: alloy of silver are they. Ezekiel 22:19. Because ye are all run into alloy, therefore, behold, I will amass you together in the midst of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 22:20. As they amass, &c. so will I amass you in mine anger and in my fury, and will put you in, and melt you. Ezekiel 22:21. Yea, I will amass you together, &c. God's vengeance is often compared to fire; but here it is so in a literal sense, for both city and temple were reduced to ashes.

POOLE, “ Not a few among many, but universally the whole house of Israel, the seed of him that was a prince with God, the covenant people of God, are strangely degenerate and corrupted, as if purer and richer metals should by worse and worse

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turn to dross.

All they, from the king to the peasant, the priests, and prophets, and people, are brass; impudent in sin;

and tin; hypocrites, and mixed as tin; and iron; hard, cruel, and oppressive as iron; and lead; stupid and senseless as lead. Though I rather think this particular accommodating these metals somewhat too curious, I judge the prophet chargeth them with a continued degeneracy from bad to worse, by this gradation.

In the midst of the furnace; the afflictions I have laid upon them have not bettered them, they retain their corruptions and vices. While they kept covenant, adhered to my law, kept my worship pure, and loved mercy, did justly, walked humbly with their God, they were as silver; now they are degenerated, and are but thedross of silver, vile of price, and of little use.

WHEDON, Verses 18-22

ISRAEL IN THE ASSYRIAN FURNACE, Ezekiel 22:18-22.

In this new prophecy Israel is compared with the ore in a smelting furnace. This ore looks now perfectly worthless. Once it was good silver ore, but now it is only the “dross” of silver. That some silver is expected as the resultant of the fiery test is hinted here and clearly expressed elsewhere (Ezekiel 22:15; Ezekiel 18:27; compare 1 Peter 1:7). Again and again the purpose of this punishment is declared to be, not the nation’s destruction, but its purification. Yet as the furnace is supposed to be set up “in the midst of Jerusalem” (Ezekiel 22:19), it may be that only the Jerusalemites, who are elsewhere considered as hopelessly unrepentant, are thought of in this connection, and not the remnant purified in the Babylonian fires. (See notes Ezekiel 24:1-14; Ezekiel 9:8; Ezekiel 11:16; Ezekiel 11:21, etc.) For the use of this same figure by other prophets see Malachi 3:2-3; Isaiah 1:22; Jeremiah 6:30.

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PULPIT, “The house of Israel is to me become dross, etc. A new parable, based upon Isaiah 1:22, Isaiah 1:23 and Jeremiah 6:1-30 :80, begins, and is carried out with considerable fullness. In Malachi 3:2, Malachi 3:3 we have the same imagery. Baser metals have been mingled with the silver, and must be burnt out, but there is hope, as well as terror, in the parable. Men throw the mixed metals into the smelting-pot in order that the silver may be separated from the dross and come out pure. And this was to be the issue of the "fiery trial" through which Jerusalem and its inhabitants were to pass.

19 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem.

CLARKE, "I will gather you - Jerusalem is represented here as the fining pot; all the people are to be gathered together in it, and the Chaldean fire is to knelt the whole. And God will increase thy sufferings: as the refiner blows the fire with his bellows, so God will blow upon you with the fire of his wrath, Eze_22:21.

GILL, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God, because ye are all become dross,.... King, princes, nobles, prophets, priests, as well as the common people; the apostasy was general, in city and country; scarcely any exceptions to be made: therefore will I gather you into the midst of Jerusalem; from the several parts of the country, thinking they should be safe there, when the design of God by this providence was the destruction of them in it.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD Because ye are all

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become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

Ver. 19. I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.] Velut catinum fusorium, as into a red hot furnace, or fiery crucible. [Ezekiel 24:10]

PETT, “Verse 19-20

“Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, Because you are all become dross, behold therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem, as they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire on it to melt it. So will I gather you in my anger and in my fury, and I will lay you there and melt you.”

Ezekiel as a non-expert had no doubt witnessed the pouring of all these metals in their impure form into the furnace where the bellows blew them to white heat and they melted, and there they turned into purified metal and into dross. God showed him in it a picture of His wrath revealed against Jerusalem/Judah removing anything pure and leaving them as dross.

The gathering of them all ‘into the midst of Jerusalem’ was itself a vivid picture. As the invading armies drew nearer the defenceless people would stream into Jerusalem to take advantage of her strong walls. But they would not realise, until Ezekiel revealed it, that they were being gathered into a furnace where they would be melted down and revealed as dross in the light of God’s anger.

20 As silver, copper, iron, lead and tin are gathered into a furnace to be melted with a fiery

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blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you.

GILL, "As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace,.... As refiners of metal do; though not together, as here, but each metal apart. Silver is here mentioned, to denote that those who were truly good should suffer in this calamity, and be tried and purified by it: to blow the fire upon it, and to melt it; the metal being covered with fuel, this is kindled and blown upon, to cause the greater heat, in order to melt it down; expressive of the wrath of God, as follows: so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury; from the several parts of the land unto the city of Jerusalem: this they thought was for their good and safety, but it was in wrath, and in order to ruin: and I will leave you there, and melt you; that is, I will leave you in the city of Jerusalem, to the sword, famine, and pestilence, to be destroyed by them; or with fire at the burning of the city: or, "I will rest" (g); as the refiner does; having put his metal into the furnace, and blown the fire, sits still till all is melted.

HENRY, "How the woeful destruction of this degenerate house of Israel is foretold. They are all gathered together in Jerusalem; thither people fled from all parts of the country as to a city of refuge, not only because it was a strong city, but because it was the holy city. Now God tells them that their flocking into Jerusalem, which they intended for their security, should be as the gathering of various sorts of metal into the furnace or crucible, to be melted down, and to have the dross separated from them. They are in the midst of Jerusalem, surrounded by the forces of the enemy; and, being thus enclosed, 1. The fire of God's wrath shall be kindled upon this furnace, and it shall be blown, to make it burn fiercely and strongly, Eze_22:20, Eze_22:21. God will gather them in his anger and fury. The blowing of the fire makes a great noise, so will the judgments of God upon Jerusalem. When God stirs up himself to execute judgments upon a provoking people, from the consideration of his own glory and the necessity of making some examples, then he may be said to blow the fire of his wrath against sin and sinners, to heat the furnace seven times hotter. 2. The several sorts of metal gathered in it shall be melted; by a complication of judgments, as by a raging fire, their constitution shall be dissolved, they shall lose all their former shape and strength, and shall be utterly unable to stand before the wrath of God. The various sorts of sinners shall be melted down together, and united in a common overthrow, as brass and lead in the same furnace, as trees are bound in bundles for the fire. They came together into Jerusalem as a place of defence, but God brought them together there as unto a place of execution. 3. God will

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leave them in the furnace (Eze_22:20): I will gather you into the furnace and will leave you there. When God brings his own people into the furnace he sits by them, as the refiner by his gold, to see that they be not continued there any longer than is fitting and needful; but he will bring these people into the furnace, as men throw dross into it, which they design shall be consumed, and therefore are in no care about it, but leave it there. Compare with this Hos_5:14, I will tear and go away. 4. Hereby the dross shall be wholly separated and the good metal purified, the impenitent shall be destroyed and the penitent reformed and fitted for deliverance. Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer, Pro_25:4. This judgment shall do that in the house of Israel for the doing of which other methods had been tried in vain, and reprobate silver shall they no more be called, Jer_6:30.TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:20 [As] they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt [it]; so will I gather [you] in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave [you there], and melt you.

Ver. 20. As they gather silver and brass.] The righteous perish with the wicked; but either it is temporally only, or else the seemingly righteous, who are no better than "reprobate silver."

And I will leave you there.] A terrible threat. God will bring his enemies into the briers and there leave them. See Ezekiel 29:5. His own he will not leave, or at least not forsake. He will be with them in the fire and water, &c. "Lord, leave us not," saith the Church. [Jeremiah 17:17]

POOLE, “ They; founders, who melt down metals to prove them.

Gather silver, & c.: if these different kinds of metals be to be gathered into one and the same furnace, it speaks the involving all promiscuously in the same afflictions; if it be meant as each distinct metal is tried by the fire in the furnace, but by fire proportioned to the stubbornness of the metal, then it bespeaks the future affliction shall be such as shall melt down the hardest of the degenerate idolaters and sinners.

To blow the fire; to raise the fierceness of the fire.

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To melt it; till it be melted. So will I gather you: see Ezekiel 23:19.

In mine anger; in great but just displeasure, called fury too here, and elsewhere: such were the sins of this people, that they had kindled a fire against them which should surely consume them.

I will leave you there; or, I will sit down and rest me, as the founder, when he hath taken pains to gather in the metal, heaped up the wood, kindled fire, and blown it to its full height, rests himself, observing how the metal melts down: God will so rest himself; after the manner of man it is spoken; the like phrase Ezekiel 5:13 16:42, which see.

And melt you; he will take care the fire go not out till you are melted, either to the purging away, or consuming you with your dross.

21 I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her.

GILL, "Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath,.... Not only gather them in wrath, as before; but blow upon them in wrath, which is often compared to fire in Scripture; and besides, the city and temple of Jerusalem were to be burnt, and were burnt with material fire, in consequence of God's displeasure against his people: and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof; of the city of Jerusalem; be destroyed by one judgment or another in it; or perish in the conflagration of it.

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TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.

Ver. 21. And ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.] As in a fiery furnace. Such was anciently Egypt; [Deuteronomy 4:20] afterwards Babylon; and in the year 1453, Constantinople, where cruelly perished by the hand of the Turks a very great multitude of Christians.

PETT, “Verse 21-22

“Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you will be melted in its midst. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so will you be melted in its midst. And you will know that I Yahweh have poured out my fury on you.”

It is now reiterated and emphasised that the house of Israel in Jerusalem/Judah are like the dross of metals in the midst of the furnace where the silver is purified. Ezekiel is thinking of them as impure, unrefined silver ore, indeed the dross within that silver.

All Levels of People Are Included in Jerusalem’s Condemnation.

In this oracle prophets, priests, princes and the people of the land are all indicted for their evil behaviour.

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22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the Lord have poured out my wrath on you.’”

GILL, "As silver is melted in the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof,.... This is repeated for the greater confirmation of it; and the people might assure themselves that it would verily be, as was threatened: and ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out my fury upon you; feel it upon them; be sensible of it, and acknowledge it; and that it is the Lord's doings, and righteously done; these are they who are meant by the silver, who, though cast into the furnace, were not destroyed, only purified, and made the better and brighter for their afflictions.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.

Ver. 22. As silver is melted.] The same again for better fastening. Tam diligenter de his malis concionatus est, ut conciones eius vix sine taedio legantur aut recitentur. (a)

POOLE, “Verse 22

These verses are an ingeminating of the same menaces, the more to affect the Jews with fear, and due apprehensions of their danger, and make them think of returning to God.

As silver is melted: this seems to intimate the Divine care over some few, that in the

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midst of the rest were precious, and God would purify, not destroy them.

Ye shall know; see, own, and submit to God’s afflicting hand, and comply with him, putting away your dross.

Have poured out my fury upon you, promiscuously with others, among which you have suffered the same outward troubles, though the end be different, which intimates the escape of a remnant.

23 Again the word of the Lord came to me:

BARNES, "The sixth word of judgment. The special sins of princes, priests, and people.GILL, "And the word of the Lord came unto me,.... The word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum:

HENRY, "Here is, I. A general idea given of the land of Israel, how well it deserved the judgments coming to destroy it and how much it needed these judgments to refine it. Let the prophet tell her plainly, “Thou art the land that is not cleansed, not refined as metal is, and therefore needest to be again put into the furnace. Means and methods of reformation have been ineffectual; thou art not rained upon in the day of indignation.” This was one of the judgments which God brought upon them in the day of his wrath, he withheld the rain from them, Jer_14:4. Or, “When thou art under the tokens of God's displeasure, even in the day of indignation thou art not rained upon; thou hast not received instruction by the prophets, whose doctrine is said to descend as the rain.” Or, “When thou art corrected thou art not cleansed; thy filth is not carried away as that in the streets is by a sweeping rain. Nay, though it be a day of indignation with thee, yet thy filthiness, which should be done away, has become more offensive, as that of a city is in dry weather, when it is not rained upon.” Or, “Thou hast nothing to refresh and comfort thyself with in the day of indignation; thou art not rained upon by divine consolations.” So the rich man in torment had not a drop of water, or rain, to cool his tongue.

JAMISON, "From this verse to the end he shows the general corruption of all ranks.

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K&D 23-31, “The corrupt state of all classes in the kingdom is the immediate cause of its destruction. - Eze_22:23. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze_22:24.Son of man, say to it, Thou art a land which is not shined upon, nor rained upon in the day of anger. Eze_22:25. Conspiracy of its prophets is within it; like a roaring lion, which rends in pieces the prey, they devour souls, take possessions and money; they multiply its widows within it. Eze_22:26. Its priests violate my law and profane my holy things; they make no distinction between holy and unholy, and do not teach the difference between clean and unclean, and they hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Eze_22:27. Its princes in the midst of it are like wolves, which rend prey in pieces, that they may shed blood, destroy souls, to acquire gain. Eze_22:28. And its prophets plaster it with cement, seeing what is worthless, and diving lies for them, saying, “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,” when Jehovah hath not spoken. Eze_22:29. The common people offer violence and commit theft; they crush the wretched and the poor, and oppress the foreigner against right. Eze_22:30. I seek among them for a man who might build a wall and step into the breach before me on behalf of the land, that I might not destroy it, but I find none. Eze_22:31. Therefore I pour out my anger upon them; I destroy them in the fire of my wrath, I give their way upon their head, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. - To show the necessity for the predicted judgment still more clearly, in the third word of God contained in this chapter a description is given of the spread of deep corruption among all classes of the people, and the impossibility of saving the kingdom is plainly shown. The words אמר־לה, “say unto her,” are taken by most of the commentators as referring to Jerusalem, the abominations of which the prophet is commanded to declare. But although the clause, “thou art a land,” etc. (Eze_22:24), could unquestionably be made to harmonize with this, yet the words of Eze_22:30, “I sought for a man who might stand in the gap before Jehovah for the land,” indicate most unquestionably that this word of God is directed against the land of Judah, and consequently לה must be taken as referring to ארץ which follows, the pronoun is this case being placed before the noun to which it refers, as in Num_24:17. Any allusion to the city of Jerusalem would therefore be somewhat out of place, inasmuch as in the preceding word of God the object referred to was not the city, but the house of Israel, or the nation generally, from which a transition is here made to the land, or the kingdom of Judah. The meaning of Eze_22:24 is a disputed question. לאמטהרה which is rendered ἡ οὐ βρεχομένηin the Sept., is taken by most of the ,היאexpositors to mean, “it is not cleansed,” the form מטהרה being correctly rendered as a participle Pual of טהר. But this rendering does not furnish any appropriate sense, unless the following words לא גשמה are taken as a threat: there shall not be rain, or it shall not be rained upon in the day of wrath. But this view is hardly reconcilable with the form of the word. גשמה, according to the Masoretic pointing with Mappik in the ה, is evidently meant to be taken as a noun גשם In that case, if the words were intended to .גשם =contain a threat, יהיה ought not to be omitted. But without a verb the words contain a statement in harmony with what precedes. We regard the Chetib גשמה as the perfect Pual And let it not be objected to this that the Pual .גשמה of this verb is not met with elsewhere, for the form of the noun גשם with the u sound does not occur anywhere else.

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As a perfect Pual, לא גשמה is a simple continuation of the participial clause לא מטהרה containing like this an affirmation, and cannot possibly be taken as a threat or ,היאprediction. But “not cleansed” and “not rained upon” do not agree together, as rain is not a means of purification according to the Hebrew idea. It is true that in the law the withdrawal or suspension of rain is threatened as a punishment from God, and the pouring out of rain is promised as a theocratical blessing. But even if the words are taken in a tropical sense, as denoting a withdrawal of the blessings of divine grace, they will not harmonize with the other clause, “not cleansed.” We therefore take מטהרה in the sense of “shined upon by the light,” or provided with brightness; a meaning which is sustained by Exo_24:10, where tohar occurs in the sense of splendour, and by the kindred word tzohar, light. In this way we obtain the suitable thought, land which has neither sunlight nor rain in the day of wrath, i.e., does not enjoy a single trace of the divine blessing, but is given up to the curse of barrenness.

The reason for this threat is given in Eze_22:25., where a picture is drawn of the moral corruption of all ranks; viz., of the prophets (Eze_22:25), the priests (Eze_22:26), the princes (Eze_22:27), and the common people (Eze_22:29). There is something very striking in the allusion to the prophets in Eze_22:25, not so much because they are mentioned again in Eze_22:28, - for this may be accounted for on the ground that in the latter passage they are simply introduced as false advisers of the princes, - as on account of the statement made concerning them in Eze_22:25, namely, that, like lions tearing their prey, they devour souls, etc.; a description which is not given either in Ezekiel 13 or elsewhere. Hitzig therefore proposes to alter נביאיה into נשיאיה, after the rendering ἀφηγούμενοι given by the lxx. This alteration of the text, which confines itself to a single letter, is rendered very plausible by the fact that almost the same is affirmed of the persons mentioned in Eze_22:25 as of the princes in Eze_22:27, and that in the passage in Zephaniah (Zep_3:3-4), which is so similar to the one before us, that Ezekiel appears to have had it in his mind, the princes ( שריה) and the judges ( שפטיה) are called the prophets and the priests. The נשיאים here would correspond to the שרים of Zephaniah, and the שרים to the שפטים. According to Eze_22:6, the נשיאים would indicate primarily the members of the royal family, possibly including the chief officers of the crown; and the שרים eht dna ;n (Eze_22:27) would be the heads of tribes, of families, and of fathers' houses, in whose hands the national administration of justice principally lay (cf. Exo_18:19.; Deu_1:13-18; and my Bibl. Archäol. ii. §149). I therefore prefer this conjecture, or correction, to the Masoretic reading, although the latter is supported by ancient witnesses, such as the Chaldee with its rendering ספרהא, scribes, and the version of Jerome. For the statement which the verse contains is not applicable to prophets, and the best explanation given of the Masoretic text - namely, that by Michaelis, “they have made a compact with one another as to what kind of teaching they would or would not give; and in order that their authority may continue undisturbed, they persecute even to blood those who do not act with them, or obey them, but rather contradict” - does not do justice to the words, but weakens their sense. קשר is not a predicate to 'נב, “they are (i.e., form) a conspiracy;” but 'נב is a genitive. At the same time, there is no necessity to take קשר in the sense of “company,” a rendering which cannot be sustained. The fact that in what follows, where the comparison to lions is introduced, the נביאים (נשיאים)are the subject, simply proves that in the first clause also these men actually form the

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prominent idea. There is no ground for supplying המה to 'כארי (they are like, etc.); but the simile is to be linked on to the following clause. נפש אכלו is to be explained from the comparison to a lion, which devours the prey that it has captured in its blood, in which is the soul, or nephesh (Gen_9:4; Lev_17:11.). The thought is this: in their insatiable greed for riches they sacrifice men and put them to death, and thereby multiply the number of victims (for the fact, see Eze_19:5, Eze_19:7). What is stated in Eze_22:26 concerning the priests is simply a further expansion of Zep_3:4, where the first two clauses occur word for word; for קדש in Zephaniah is really equivalent to קדשי, holy things and deeds. The desecration of the holy things consisted in the fact that they made no distinction between sacred and profane, clean and unclean. For the fact, compare Lev_10:10-11. Their covering their eyes from the Sabbaths showed itself in their permitting the Sabbaths to be desecrated by the people, without offering any opposition (cf. Jer_17:27).

The comparison of the rulers (sārim) to ravening wolves is taken from Zep_3:3. Destroying souls to acquire gain is perfectly applicable to unjust judges, inasmuch as, according to Exo_18:21, the judges were to hate בצע. All that is affirmed in Eze_22:28of the conduct of the false prophets is repeated for the most part verbatim from Eze_13:10,Eze_13:9, and Eze_13:7. By להם, which points back to the three classes of men already mentioned, and not merely to the sārim, the prophets are represented as helpers of those who support the ungodly in their wicked ways, by oracles which assured them of prosperity. עם (Eze_22:29), as distinguished from the spiritual and secular rulers of the nation, signifies the common people. With reference to their sins and wickednesses, see Eze_18:7, Eze_18:12, Eze_18:18; and for the command against oppressing the poor and foreigners, compare Exo_22:20-21; Deu_24:17. - The corruption is so universal, that not a man is to be found who could enter into the gap as a righteous man, or avert the judgment of destruction by his intercession. מהם refers not merely to the prophets, who did not enter into the gap according to Eze_13:5, but to all the classes previously mentioned. At the same time, it does not follow from this, that entering into the gap by means of intercession cannot be the thing intended, as Hitzig supposes. The expression לפני בעד הארץ clearly refers to intercession. This is apparent from the simple fact that, as Hitzig himself observes, the intercession of Abraham for Sodom (Gen_18:13.) was floating before the mind of Ezekiel, since the concluding words of the verse contain an obvious allusion to Gen_18:28. Because the Lord does not find a single righteous man, who might intercede for the land, He pours out His anger upon it, to destroy the inhabitants thereof. With reference to the fact and the separate words employed, compare Ezekiel 21:36; Eze_7:4; Eze_9:10; Eze_11:21, and Eze_16:43. It does not follow from the word ואשפ, that Ezekiel “is speaking after the catastrophe” (Hitzig). For although ואשפ expresses the consequence of Jehovah's seeking a righteous man and not finding one, it by no means follows from the occurrence of the preterite ולא מצאתיthat ואשפ is also a preterite. ואשפ is simply connected with ואבקש as a consequence; and in both verbs the Vav consec. expresses the sequence of thought, and not of time. The seeking, therefore, with the result of not having found, cannot be understood in a chronological sense, i.e., as an event belonging to the past, for the simple reason that the preceding words do not record the chronological order of events. It merely depicts the existing moral condition of the people, and Eze_22:30 sums up the result of the description in the thought that there was no one to be found who could enter in the gap

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before God. Consequently we cannot determine from the imperfect with Vav consec.either the time of the seeking and not finding, or that of the pouring out of the wrath.

COFFMAN, “Verse 23

"And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, Thou art a land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion, ravening the prey: they have devoured souls; they take treasure and precious things; they have made her widows many in the midst thereof. Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed for them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Jehovah, when Jehovah hath not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yea, they have vexed the poor and needy, and have oppressed the sojourner wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them, that should build on the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I brought upon their heads, saith the Lord Jehovah."

This reveals the utter corruption of the prophets, and the priests, and the princes of Israel. There remained not a single one of them who was true to the obligations of his holy office. They were best described as a pack of wild animals, devouring men as wantonly as a wolf or a lion would tear the body of an animal they were eating. The language here reminds us of Zephaniah. Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they leave nothing until the morrow. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons; her priests have profaned the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law! (Zephaniah 3:3-4).

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The charges made against Israel here by Ezekiel have been made so frequently, and have been commented upon already numerous times in our series of commentaries, that it is unnecessary at this point to elaborate any further the gross sins and corruptions of the Chosen People. Their apostasy was complete; they had already sustained the judicial hardening of God Himself; and the hour of the nation's terminal punishment was at hand.

Special attention should be given the magnificent prophecy in the last verse here. The verbs in this verse are the "prophetic present." They speak of what God "will do," not about what has already been done. Alexander properly understood this: "God concluded this message (Ezekiel 22:31) with a judgment, that he would consume (future tense) the people with fire from his mouth, and that the people themselves were responsible for the judgment coming (future tense) upon them."[17]

Of course, no radical scholar can allow such a prophecy, due to their incorrect and ridiculous rule that there are no "predictive prophecies" in the Bible, Based on that false rule, Cooke stated that, "In any case Ezekiel 22:30-31 were written after 586 B.C. (that is, after the fall of Jerusalem)."[18] Did Cooke offer any proof of this? Indeed no! There is no proof or evidence whatever of the truth of such a canard. Such a statement is without any doubt whatever incorrect.

PULPIT, “Ezekiel 22:23, Ezekiel 22:24

A fresh section opens, and the prophet addresses himself, not to Jerusalem only, but to the whole land. A land that is not cleansed. The words admit of the rendering, not shined upon, and this is adopted by Keil. The land is deprived at once of the sunshine and the rain. which are the conditions of fertility. The LXX. gives "not mined upon," and so the two clauses are parallel and state the same fact. So Ewald. The Vulgate gives immunda, and this is followed both by the Authorized Version and the Revised Version (comp. Isaiah 5:6; Amos 4:7).

PETT, “Verse 2376

‘And the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is not cleansed nor rained on in the day of indignation.” ’

Ezekiel now declares his third oracle. It concentrates on the infiltration of evil into the whole of society. Its first warning is that there will be no renewal of the land by rain because of God’s anger against them.

In it God gives warning that the rains which were the lifeblood of the land will fail in ‘the day of indignation’, the day of His anger (compare Isaiah 5:6; Zechariah 14:17). Notice the comparison of the falling of rain with the cleansing of the land. This will be taken up in Ezekiel 36:25. As the rain fell and life was renewed it was seen as a purification and a regeneration. (This would later be central in the teaching of John the Baptiser). But for this land in its evil there was to be no purification, no regeneration. It is in direct contrast with the ‘showers of blessing’ in Ezekiel 34:26 producing great fruitfulness.

(There is absolutely no reason for changing the Hebrew text from ‘cleansed’ to ‘rained on’. LXX, which does so, may well have been by interpretative translation rather than as indication of a different text and Ezekiel 36:25 demonstrates that Ezekiel links cleansing with rain).

24 “Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on in the day of wrath.’

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CLARKE, "Thou art the land that is not cleansed - Thou art like a country where there is no rain, either to cleanse the garments, or fertilize the ground.

GILL, "Son of man, say unto her, thou land,.... Thou land of Israel, as the Targum: thou art not cleansed; from filthiness, by the fire of divine judgments; or reformed from sins, by the instructions, cautions, and exhortations of the prophets; none of these things had any effect upon her to make her wiser and better. So the Targum, "a land not cleansed it is, and good works are not done in it, to protect it in the day of cursing:'' nor rained upon in the day of indignation; no cooling shower to quench the fire of divine wrath; nothing to avert or stop the judgments of God; no refreshment and comfort from the doctrines of the prophets, which fell like rain: it is a judgment upon a people to have no rain, either in a temporal or spiritual sense; see Zec_14:17. In the Talmud (h), this text is brought to prove that the flood did not come upon the land of Israel.

JAMISON, "land ... not cleansed — not cleared or cultivated; all a scene of desolation; a fit emblem of the moral wilderness state of the people.

nor rained upon — a mark of divine “indignation”; as the early and latter rain, on which the productiveness of the land depended, was one of the great covenant blessings. Joel (Joe_2:23) promises the return of the former and latter rain, with the restoration of God’s favor.

COKE, “Verse 24-25Ezekiel 22:24-25. Thou art the land, &c.— This land shall not have showers, nor be softened with rain, in the day of indignation. Ezekiel 22:25. Because her prophets in the midst of her are like, &c. Houbigant, after the LXX who observes, that dryness and sterility, not uncleanness, are the subject of this verse. The false prophets are meant in the 25th verse. See Ezekiel 22:28.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou [art] the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.

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Ver. 24. Thou art the land that is not cleansed.] From thy filthiness, and the fire of my judgments.

Nor rained upon.] Non compluta; no mercy shown thee, no good done upon thee by all.

POOLE, “ Thou; the land of Israel.

Is not cleansed, nor rained upon; though God’s judgments have been as violent storms and floods, though they have been as hottest fires, yet neither thy filth hath been carried away, nor thy dross melted out of thee by them, still thou retainest both. Therefore is

indignation kindled against thee, and thou shalt be deprived of the dews of heaven, the rain that should cool thy thirsty land shall be withholden, that rain that should make the ground fruitful shall not descend.

WHEDON, “24. Not cleansed — LXX., not rained upon. The rains, which in the East are especially considered marks of the divine favor, have been withdrawn. There have been no floods to wash away the filth and blood from the soil, nor showers sufficient to moisten the ground and make it fertile. Instead of “not cleansed,” Keil reads, “not shined upon,” which would give the added thought that the land was deprived of both sunshine and rain.

25 There is a conspiracy of her princes[b] within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they

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devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her.

CLARKE, "There is a conspiracy - The false prophets have united together to say and support the same things; and have been the cause of the destruction of souls, and the death of many, so that widows, through their means, are multiplied in thee.

GILL, "There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof,.... Not of the prophets of the Lord, but of her prophets; such as were agreeable to her, the false prophets. The Targum renders it, "a company of scribes;'' the interpreters of the law; these entered into a confederacy together against the true prophets, and agreed to prophesy the same things, to flatter the people with peace and prosperity, when sudden destruction was at hand: like a roaring lion ravening the prey; that roars when hungry, and while it is tearing the prey in pieces; so these false prophets thundered out their menaces against the true prophets, and those that adhered to them; clamouring against them as enemies to the state; and threatening them with accusations to it; and carrying on a judicial process against them: they have devoured souls; persecuted men to death, that would not give credit to their prophecies; and destroyed the souls of those that did, with their false doctrines and prophecies: they have taken the treasure and precious things; of those they destroyed; or of others, for prophesying smooth things to them; filthy lucre being the principal thing they had in view: they have made her many widows in the midst thereof; by persecuting their husbands to death for not believing their prophecies; or by persuading to hold out the siege, under a notion of deliverance; whereby the lives of many were lost by the sword, famine, and pestilence, to whose death they might be said to be accessary.

HENRY, "A particular charge drawn up against the several orders and degrees of men among them, which shows that they had all helped to fill the measure of the nation's guilt, but none had done any thing towards the emptying of it; they are therefore

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all alike.1. They have every one corrupted his way, and those who should have been the brightest examples of virtue were ringleaders in iniquity and patterns of vice.(1.) The prophets, who pretended to make known the mind of God to them, were not only deceivers, but devourers (Eze_22:25), and hardened them in their wickedness both by their preaching, wherein they promised them impunity and prosperity, and by their conversation, in which they were as profligate as any. There is a conspiracy of her prophets against God and religion, against the true prophets and all good men; they conspired together to be all in one song, as Ahab's prophets were, to assure them of peace in their sinful ways. Note, The unity which is found among pretenders to infallibility, and which they so much boast of, is only the result of a secret conspiracyagainst the truth. Satan is not divided against himself. The prophets are in conspiracywith the murderers and oppressors, to patronise and protect them in their wickedness, and justify what they did with their false prophecies, provided they may come in sharers with them in the profits of it. They are like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they thunder out threats against those whose ruin is aimed at, terrify them, or make them odious to the people, and so make themselves masters, [1.] Of their lives: They have devoured souls, have been accessory to the shedding of the blood of many an innocent person, and so have made many to become sorrowful widows who were comfortable wives. They have persecuted those to death who witnessed against their pretensions to prophecy and would not be imposed upon by their counterfeit commission. Or, They devoured souls by flattering sinners into a false peace and a vain hope, and seducing them into the paths of sin, which would be their eternal ruin. Note, Those who draw men to wickedness, and encourage them in it, are the devourers and murderers of their souls. [2.] Of their estates. When Naboth is slain they take possession of his vineyard; They have seized the treasure and precious things, as forfeited; some way or other they had of devouring the widows' houses, as the Pharisees, Mat_23:14. Or, They got this treasure,and all these precious things, as fees for false and flattering prophecies; for he that puts not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him, Mic_3:5. It was said with Jerusalem when such men as these passed for prophets.

JAMISON, "conspiracy — The false prophets have conspired both to propagate error and to oppose the messages of God’s servants. They are mentioned first, as their bad influence extended the widest.

prey — Their aim was greed of gain, “treasure, and precious things” (Hos_6:9; Zep_3:3, Zep_3:4; Mat_23:14).made ... many widows — by occasioning, through false prophecies, the war with the Chaldeans in which the husbands fell.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:25 [There is] a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

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Ver. 25. There is a conspiracy of her prophets.] They are all agreed to deceive the people and to persecute the true prophets. Here we have a lively description of the present Popish clergy.

POOLE, “ A conspiracy; a contrivance, or framing among themselves a design, to speak all alike flattering, smooth words, and give out promises of peace and safety, when there was no peace; they would have the Jews believe in little time the vessels of the Lord’s house, and the Lord’s people in Babylon, should be brought back, as Jeremiah 28:1-4: and whereas Jeremiah faithfully told them that it would be no such thing, but that the rest of the vessels, and Zedekiah, and the people should be carried away into Babylon, they conspire against him, and such as he was, Jeremiah 20:2 26:8 29:25,26, and persecute them with one consent and mind.

Of her prophets; hers, not God’s prophets, the false prophets, such as Hananiah, Jeremiah 28:1,2.

In the midst thereof; of the land, but principally in Jerusalem, the metropolis, and residence of the court, where were such as loved to be flattered, and of whom flatterers might make gain.

Like a roaring lion, whom hunger enrageth, and maketh roar in most dreadful manner, as some observe of them, when they hunt their prey, and when they have seized and are tearing it; so did these false prophets with cruelty and fierceness pursue the true prophets, and such as believed their word, feared the judgments, and mourned for the sins of a self-ruining people.

They have devoured souls; have eat up, impoverished, and sucked dry, men that relieved and maintained them, the guise of all false prophets; or they have taken, in their complotting, and swallowed down whole the persons that disbelieved and opposed their lies.

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Taken the treasure; they did not without reward tell their lies, nor would prophesy without a reward out of the treasures of those that advised with them; so they drained the people of their riches.

And precious things; either it is a further explication of what he had said, or possibly it may tell us, that where money was not to be had, these false prophets would demand something of value; and, if it were money’s worth, they were then for bartering the prophecies: so they gulled these sots.

Made her many widows; one while by raising persecutions, and cutting off husbands from their wives; another while, and which most agrees with the place, persuading, encouraging, and bewitching Zedekiah, and the princes, and people to hold out the war, and run all hazards and extremities of that siege, which filled Jerusalem with dead husbands and forlorn widows.

PULPIT, “A conspiracy of prophets. The prophet's thoughts go back to Ezekiel 13:1-16, from which, in Verse 28, he actually quotes It is probable that, in the interval, fresh tidings had reached him of the evil work which they were doing at Jerusalem. The LXX. ἀφηγούμενοι (equivalent to "princes") suggests that they followed a different text, and this is adopted by Keil and Hitzig. Like a roaring lion (comp. Ezekiel 19:2, Ezekiel 19:3; 1 Peter 5:8). The word probably points to the loud declamations of the false prophets (compare, as a striking parallel, Zephaniah 3:3, Zephaniah 3:4).

PETT, “Verse 25

“There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured people. They take treasure and precious things. They have made her widows many in her midst.”

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As the text stands it declares that the prophets, who should have been such a force for good as they brought the word of Yahweh to His people, had instead become like ravening lions, using their position to ‘raven their prey’. The word ‘conspiracy’ is telling. This must signify that they had formed a conspiracy together to prophesy to the leaders, in Yahweh’s name, what they wanted to hear, enabling them ‘in His name’ to ‘devour people’, steal their possessions, and dispose of many who got in their way, leaving their distressed widows behind (compare Jeremiah 15:8). It was an ungodly combination of false preachers and evil leadership.

It is possible, however, that we are to read here rather ‘whose princes in the midst of her’ (which would be ’aser nesi’eha) as in LXX rather than ‘a conspiracy of her prophets (qeser nebi’eha). I never like altering the text without very solid reasons but this change could be supported by two factors. It would mean that we have five separate classes condemned, royal princes (nasi), priests, prophets, aristocracy (sarim) and landed gentry (people of the land, which would include all full citizens), rather than prophets being mentioned twice (Ezekiel 22:28). Furthermore the activities mentioned fit better with princes than with prophets.

But against this change is the question as to how such a distinctive change would take place and not be spotted. The fact is that God may have had the princes in mind but have been more angry that His prophets had misused their status in assisting them by prophesying falsely in their favour. LXX may again have been interpretative rather than literal. And it is difficult to see why the Hebrew text would have been changed in this way by a scribe, even by accident.

But in either case we are to see here the leadership, possibly assisted by the official prophets, misusing their authority and status for selfish and evil purposes, like roaring lions devouring the weak, by dispossessing people, by heavy taxes, by wrong confiscation of goods, by false penalties and by general dishonesty.

26 Her priests do violence to my law and profane 84

my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

BARNES, "Eze_22:26Violated - Better as in margin; to offer “violence” to the Law is to misinterpret it. It was the special office of the priests to keep up the distinction between “holy” and “unholy,” “clean” and “unclean” Lev_10:10.

CLARKE, "Her priests - Even they whose lips should preserve knowledge, have not instructed the people: they have violated my law, not only in their private conduct, but in their careless and corrupt manner of serving in my temple.

GILL, "Her priests have violated my law,.... Or, "forced it" (i); they gave a wrong explanation of it, made it speak what it should not; they wrested the sense and meaning of it, and did and taught things contrary to it; they broke it themselves, who should have instructed others in it, and exhorted them to have kept it, and encouraged them by their own example: and have profaned my holy things; sacrifices and oblations, which were only to be offered and eaten by holy persons; they made them common to others who should not have partook of them: they have put no difference between the holy and the profane; between holy persons and things, and profane persons and things; they made no difference in their practice between the one and the other; but promiscuously conversed with holy and profane persons, and used holy and profane things, without distinguishing one from the other: neither have they showed the difference between the unclean and the clean: they did not show to the people, as was the duty of their office, what was clean or unclean for sacrifice; what was clean and allowed to be eaten, and what was unclean and

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forbid to be eaten; nor who were clean and who were unclean persons for conversation; who were to be kept company with, and who not: and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths; were not careful to observe them themselves, and connived at them that broke them; they might have seen men carrying burdens, and doing other servile works on such days, but they turned their eyes another way, and would not look at them; and when they did see them were silent, and would not reprove them: and I am profaned among them; for the law of God being profaned, his institutions profaned, and his sabbaths profaned, he himself was profaned; inasmuch as he was not sanctified by them, through the just observation of those things. The Targum is, "my will is profaned among them.''

HENRY, "A particular charge drawn up against the several orders and degrees of men among them, which shows that they had all helped to fill the measure of the nation's guilt, but none had done any thing towards the emptying of it; they are therefore all alike.

1. They have every one corrupted his way, and those who should have been the brightest examples of virtue were ringleaders in iniquity and patterns of vice.(1.) The prophets, who pretended to make known the mind of God to them, were not only deceivers, but devourers (Eze_22:25), and hardened them in their wickedness both by their preaching, wherein they promised them impunity and prosperity, and by their conversation, in which they were as profligate as any. There is a conspiracy of her prophets against God and religion, against the true prophets and all good men; they conspired together to be all in one song, as Ahab's prophets were, to assure them of peace in their sinful ways. Note, The unity which is found among pretenders to infallibility, and which they so much boast of, is only the result of a secret conspiracyagainst the truth. Satan is not divided against himself. The prophets are in conspiracywith the murderers and oppressors, to patronise and protect them in their wickedness, and justify what they did with their false prophecies, provided they may come in sharers with them in the profits of it. They are like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they thunder out threats against those whose ruin is aimed at, terrify them, or make them odious to the people, and so make themselves masters, [1.] Of their lives: They have devoured souls, have been accessory to the shedding of the blood of many an innocent person, and so have made many to become sorrowful widows who were comfortable wives. They have persecuted those to death who witnessed against their pretensions to prophecy and would not be imposed upon by their counterfeit commission. Or, They devoured souls by flattering sinners into a false peace and a vain hope, and seducing them into the paths of sin, which would be their eternal ruin. Note, Those who draw men to wickedness, and encourage them in it, are the devourers and murderers of their souls. [2.] Of their estates. When Naboth is slain they take possession of his vineyard; They have seized the treasure and precious things, as forfeited; some way or other they had of devouring the widows' houses, as the Pharisees, Mat_23:14. Or, They got this treasure,and all these precious things, as fees for false and flattering prophecies; for he that puts not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him, Mic_3:5. It was said with Jerusalem when such men as these passed for prophets.

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JAMISON, "Her priests — whose “lips should have kept knowledge” (Mal_2:7).violated — not simply transgressed; but, have done violence to the law, by wresting it to wrong ends, and putting wrong constructions on it.put no difference between the holy and profane, etc. — made no distinction between the clean and unclean (Lev_10:10), the Sabbath and other days, sanctioning violations of that holy day. “Holy” means, what is dedicated to God; “profane,” what is in common use; “unclean,” what is forbidden to be eaten; “clean,” what is lawful to be eaten.I am profaned among them — They abuse My name to false or unjust purposes.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed [difference] between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

Ver. 26. Her priests have violated my law.] (a) By infringing, and enforcing it to speak what it never meant; to go two miles when it would go but one, &c.

They have put no difference.] They have not taken out the precious from the vile, but made it open tide, and admitted all pellmell, as they say.

And have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths,] i.e., Either framed excuse that they might themselves break it; or else connived at others that have.

POOLE, “ Her priests; God owns them not as his, they were priests that suited such a people.

Priests; men by office bound to reverence the law, to study it, and to preserve it from men’s corruptions.

Violated my law; wrested it to oppression and impiety, and to maintain errors, and 87

made it speak what they would, not what it did.

Profaned; lightly esteemed, as if they had been but common things, and accordingly use them.

My holy things; sacrifices and oblations, which were consecrated to holy uses, should be offered with holy hearts and hands, and be eaten by holy persons in due time and place. All this neglected with profane spirits.

They have put no difference between the holy and profane: this and the following clause may be an exegesis, explication of the former, or else thus; Neither have they in their own practice differenced holy, and profane, nor in their teaching acquainted the people with the difference, nor in the exercise of their authority separated the profane from the holy, either persons or things, but with promiscuous intermixtures of every thing, and all persons have been alike to them, whether holy or profane, i.e. of common and ordinary use.

Neither have they showed difference; have not made the people know, so the word.

Between the unclean and the clean; things and persons, what things might be touched or eaten, or what might not, what persons might not be approached to and conversed with, and what might; all which was the duty of the priests, the neglect whereof spread the uncleanness of the Jews over the whole land.

Hid their eyes; despised, and would not see the holiness of the sabbaths, nor would look on such as observed them aright to encourage them, or on those that profaned them to reprove them; so they did not see what they would not see.

From my sabbaths; though they are expressly commanded to be kept holy, and with great care and exactness, Isaiah 58:13 Jeremiah 17:21,22; though the portion of time I consecrated to my service, they sacrilegiously direct to other uses, and grudge it

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me, nay, rob me of it.

I am profaned; contemned, dishonoured, disobeyed, and all my laws represented as trivial and light things.

WHEDON, “26. The priests are as bad as the royal princes. They regarded neither the prescriptions of the ceremonial nor the moral law. (Compare Ezekiel 22:8; Ezekiel 44:23; Leviticus 10:10.) The rites and ordinances of worship which Jehovah commands cannot be ignored or changed without guilt. The entire temple service was an object lesson teaching the people the meaning of “holiness.” Whatever belonged to Jehovah was holy. “Holiness is God’s claim to the proprietorship and use of certain objects.” As Dr. James Agar Beet has shown, from the earliest time the word contained a deep spiritual meaning. A holy people is a people devoted, separated, to God, and to whom God is devoted.

PULPIT, “The sins of the prophets are followed by these of the priests. Their guilt was that they blurred over the distinction between the holy and the profane (Revised Version, "common"), between the clean and the unclean (comp. Ezekiel 44:23; Le Ezekiel 10:10, where the same terms are used), in what we have learnt to call the positive and ceremonial ordinances of the Law, and so blunted their keenness of perception in regard to analogous moral distinctions. Extremes meet, and in our Lord's time the same result was brought about by an exaggerated scrupulosity about the very things the neglect of which was, in Ezekiel's time, the root of the evils which he condemns. This was true generally, conspicuously true in the case of the sabbath. Its neglect was a crying evil in Ezekiel's time, just as its exaggeration was in the later development of Judaism. Though in itself positive rather than moral, to hide the eyes from its holiness was, for these to whom the commandment had been given, an act of immorality.

PETT, “Verse 26

“Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and the common, nor have they caused men

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to distinguish between the clean and the unclean, and they have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.”

The priests also come under heavy criticism. Doing violence to the Law may suggest that they have distorted it in their teaching (as the Pharisees would later) or it may signify that that they have done violence to it by repressing it and not teaching it at all. The profaning of holy things suggests carelessness in their approach to them, and a tendency to treat them lightly. This is amplified by pointing out that they did not distinguish what was holy according to the Law from what was common, and that they failed to teach the people what was ritually ‘clean’ and what was ‘unclean’. This failure would go along with idol worship.

They failed further in not teaching and requiring the keeping of sabbaths, even ignoring the requirements themselves. Thus God Himself was (from their point of view, and from Ezekiel’s) being ‘profaned’ by ‘contact’ with the unclean and by having His feasts ignored. God’s demands were no longer being considered as important. It all went with the lax attitude towards His commandments.

27 Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain.

CLARKE, "Her princes - Are as bad as her priests; they are rapacious, and grievously oppress the people by unjust impositions in order to increase their revenues.

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GILL, "Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey,.... The king and his nobles, those of the first rank and quality, who ought to have protected the persons and property of the meaner sort; these were like "wolves" themselves, subtle, voracious, and cruel, preying upon harmless persons, as those creatures do upon the sheep and lambs: to shed blood; innocent blood, as the Targum: and to destroy souls; take away lives, under a pretence of treasonable practices, and all with a view to get dishonest gain; that their estates may be forfeited, their goods confiscated, and got into their hands.

HENRY, "The princes, who should have interposed with their authority to redress these grievances, were as daring transgressors of the law as any (Eze_22:27): They are like wolves ravening the prey; for such is power without justice and goodness to direct it. All their business was to gratify, [1.] Their own pride and ambition, by making themselves arbitrary and formidable. [2.] Their own malice and revenge, by shedding blood and destroying souls, sacrificing to their cruelty all those that stood in their way or had in any thing disobliged them. [3.] Their own avarice; all they aim at is to get dishonest gain, by crushing and oppressing their subject. Lucri bonus est odor ex re qualibet. Rem, rem, quocunque modo rem - Sweet is the odour of gain, from whatever substance it ascends. Money, money, by fairness or by fraud, get money. But, though they had power sufficient to carry them on in their oppressive courses, yet how could they answer it both to their credit and to their consciences? We are told how (Eze_22:28): The prophets daubed them with untempered mortar, told them in God's name (horrid wickedness!) that there was no harm in what they did, that they might dispose of the lives and estates of their subjects as they pleased, and could do no wrong, nay, that in prosecuting such and such whom they had marked out they did God service; and thus they stopped the mouth of their consciences. They also justified what they did, to the people, nay, and magnified it as if it were all for the public good, and so saved their reputation, and kept their oppressed subjects from murmuring. Note, Daubing prophets are the great supporters of ravening princes, but will prove at last their great deceivers, for they daub with untempered mortar which will not hold, nor will the wall stand long that is built up with it. They pretend to be seers, but they see vanity; they pretend to be diviners, but they divine lies; they pretend a warrant from Heaven for what they say, and that it is all as true as gospel; they say, Thus saith the Lord God, but it is all a sham, for the Lord has not spoken any such thing.

JAMISON, "princes — who should have employed the influence of their position for the people’s welfare, made “gain” their sole aim.

wolves — notorious for fierce and ravening cruelty (Mic_3:2, Mic_3:3, Mic_3:9-11; Joh_10:12).

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COKE, “Ezekiel 22:27. To get dishonest gain— For greediness of lucre.

REFLECTIONS.—1st, Jerusalem, the bloody city, is here brought to the bar, to be convicted and condemned: and the prophet is constituted of God both her accuser and her judge.

1. Her abominations are many, great, and aggravated; and they are shewn her to evince and manifest the justice of God in her destruction.

[1.] Murder: The blood of innocents was shed in the midst of her, from assassinations, tyrannical abuse of power, or perversion of justice; the guilt of which cried aloud. The princes and magistrates, who should have avenged such crimes, were themselves the first to perpetrate them to the utmost of their power, while tale-bearers sought to incense them by malicious reports and insinuations; and were chargeable with all the mischief which ensued; and perjured wretches or assassins, for money, were ready to swear away the life of the innocent, or murder in secret such as, by malice or revenge, were marked for their bloody knife.

[2.] Idolatry: The sad effects of which were their pollution, and, in consequence, their destruction. And those who ran not to the grosser excesses indulged themselves in eating of the sacrifices on the mountains, and thereby became partakers with the idolaters.

[3.] Disobedience to parents: They set light by father and mother, despised their authority, disobeyed their commands, or mocked at their infirmities; and this is among the most atrocious of crimes.

[4.] Oppression and deceit: They took advantage of the ignorance or necessities of the stranger; vexed with exorbitant demands, or litigious suits, the fatherless and widow, who were unable to defend themselves; extorted usury from their brethren; and with greediness increased their gain to their neighbour's disadvantage.

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[5.] The profanation of holy things, and particularly of the sabbaths: They despised God's ordinances; either totally neglected the ceremonial rites and worship of the temple, or performed them in a careless perfunctory manner; and the sabbaths were no more observed than common days; and that generally opens a wide door to all ungodliness.

[6.] Lewdness of all sorts; the most criminal and odious, open and bare-faced, that human nature could be supposed to commit; all of which called aloud for vengeance.

[7.] At the root of all was forgetfulness of God: They left him far above out of their sight; and then there was no wickedness which they feared to commit.

2. The charge being indisputable, the prophet, as judge, pronounces sentence on the criminal. Her day is come, her measure of iniquity is full, she is ripe for vengeance; therefore God hath made her a reproach to the heathen far and near, infamous in their eyes; so vile and abandoned was her conduct; and much vexed with their derision and insults, yet no more than she most justly deserved. With indignation God smites his hand at her dishonest gain and bloody crimes; and his fierce anger how can she sustain, when his terrible word shall receive its accomplishment, and his threatened wrath be poured out upon her? In consequence of which she will be scattered among the heathen, and miserably dispersed in the countries, till her filthiness shall be consumed by the destruction of the ringleaders in iniquity, and the recovery of a remnant brought to repentance in the furnace of affliction. And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself rejected of God, and possessing nothing but a miserable being in want and wretchedness; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; when these judgments are inflicted, and God's almighty power, impartial justice, and inviolable truth, are hereby signally displayed. Note; (1.) Though God bears long with sinners, he will not bear always. (2.) Reproach for God is honour and happiness; reproach for sin truly infamous, and the prelude to everlasting shame and contempt. (3.) The stoutest-hearted sinners will tremble in a day of wrath. (4.) They who promise themselves impunity in their sins, in opposition to God's warnings, will find themselves terribly deceived. (5.) Sooner or later the soul will be made to know what a portion it has lost by apostacy from God, and what wages it

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has earned, even eternal death.

2nd, They who have made themselves refuse and vile, must expect to be treated accordingly.

1. The whole house of Israel is become dross; once they were silver, but now wretchedly degenerated, despicable and useless as the scum of the furnace. Nothing precious remained in them; but like the baser metals they were as brass in impudence, as iron for hardness of heart, as tin for hypocrisy, and as lead for stupidity under all their warnings.

2. God threatens to gather them, as metals into the furnace, into Jerusalem, whither they would fly on the approach of the Chaldeans, silver, brass, iron, lead, and tin together; some gracious souls, represented by silver, being found among the rest, who would be purified by that fire of affliction, which would consume the ungodly as dross. There God will blow upon them as a refiner, in wrath and anger melt them with his judgments, and leave them there under the dire tokens of his displeasure, devoted to famine, pestilence, and the sword during the siege; and made to acknowledge, in the judgments that they felt, the heavy hand of God which was laid upon them. Note; In the day of judgment the sinners of every character will be collected, and cast into the furnace of fire; and they who are once shut up there will remain there to eternity.

3rdly, The various methods of divine providence and grace made no impression on the people of Israel. They were neither cleansed from their filthiness by the judgments that they suffered, nor reformed by the warnings which they received; like the parched ground not rained upon, so were their hearts hard and impenetrable; and while God withheld from them the dew of heaven to water the earth, in his indignation he sent a heavier judgment, withholding the dew of his heavenly influences. All ranks and orders of men among them were advanced to the summit of wickedness.

1. The false prophets, who should, by the office which they pretended to assume, 94

have stood in the gap, and by their prayers and labours sought to avert the impending judgments, instead of that, formed a conspiracy to persecute the true prophets, and flatter the people to their ruin. Like ravening lions they devoured souls, taking away the lives of the innocent, or by their false doctrines murdered immortal souls. They have taken the treasure and precious things of the innocent, destroyed by them; or of the deluded, who paid them well for their lying divinations of peace. They have made her many widows in the midst thereof, by the murders they have committed, or by their encouraging that rebellion in which so many perished. Note; Lying prophets who have deceived sinners to their ruin shall receive the heaviest strokes of vengeance.

2. The priests cordially joined with the false prophets in their wickedness. They violated God's law, perverting it in their explications, and contradicting it in their practice; so that, instead of teaching others, their examples were the greatest encouragement to the wicked. They made no difference between holy and profane, paid no regard to the prescription of God, but lived at large, observing neither distinction of meats nor days; the sabbath to them was but as a common day; they admitted, indiscriminately, any into the courts of the temple, and out of it kept company with the ceremonially unclean, or the abandoned, without a word of rebuke. Thus God was profaned among them, his word abused, his ordinances slighted, his authority despised.

3. The princes, who as ministers of justice should have vindicated the oppressed, and exerted their power in the protection of injured innocence, were themselves like wolves ravening the prey; insidious, arbitrary, lawless, cruel; not only plundering the weak with impunity, and with dishonest gain grinding the faces of the poor, but even imbruing their hands in blood, as their rage, revenge, or covetousness led them; destroying the lives of those who had offended them, or on whose spoils they had fixed their greedy eye. And, shocking to relate! the infamous prophets, to curry favour with these wealthy patrons, flattered them in their wickedness, and daubed them with untempered mortar; probably persuading them that they did God service in persecuting the troublesome prophets, and the pious who remonstrated against their sins; and vindicating their cruel deeds to others as wholesome severities. Note; (1.) The height of station aggravates the enormity of the offence. (2.) The daubing prophets at the elbows of the great, who prostitute the sacred office which they pretend to bear, by mean compliances and infamous countenance given to their sins,

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shall shortly meet an avenging God.

4. The people naturally followed examples so pernicious; the system of corruption descended; and as each in an inferior station had power, he used it to oppression; and exercised robbery, vexing the poor by extortion, and treating the stranger wrongfully, whose ignorance laid him the more easily open to deceit and imposition.

5. So general and universal was the apostacy, that not a man was found among all these prophets, priests, princes, or people, who attempted to interpose to make up the hedge, or stand in the gap to avert by his prayers, his admonitions, or his labours, the impending wrath, and endeavour to effect the reformation of the land. God sought for such, and sought in vain. Note; (1.) Sin makes the breach at which ruin enters. (2.) When none are found to pray or plead with God for the land, the case is desperate.

6. Because of these things, God's indignation is poured out; the fire kindles, the sinners are consumed together, and their own ways recompensed on their heads. Note; However terrible the end of the ungodly may be, their sufferings shall be no more than their deserts.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:27 Her princes in the midst thereof [are] like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, [and] to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.

Ver. 27. Her princes in the midst thereof.] Lupis ferociores et voraciores erant. There was in this state, as physicians say there is in some diseases, corruptio totius substantiae, a general defection: and here they are particularly told of it; so, as Isocrates saith in his oration to Philip King of Macedonia, That which is spoken to all is spoken to none. See Micah 3:11, Zephaniah 3:3.

POOLE, “ Her princes, as before, Ezekiel 22:25,26. Princes; rulers of all sorts, who should have crushed oppressors and defended the oppressed. Wolves; creatures greedy, bloody, and crafty, resembling dogs that men make use of to defend their

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folds; so the authority which God had given to defend is by these hypocrites perverted to satisfy the bloody and greedy appetite of tyrannical governors among the Jews: possibly the prophet may tax the degeneracy and baseness of these rulers hereby. Shed blood; innocent blood; a crying sin in princes, who have God’s power committed to them to preserve the innocent.

Destroy souls; undo and ruin families, cutting off the fathers, and impoverishing the widow and fatherless.

Get dishonest gain; confiscating estates not forfeited.

28 Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says’—when the Lord has not spoken.

CLARKE, "Her prophets - Even those who profess themselves to be my prophets, have been unfaithful in the discharge of their office; have soothed the people in their sins, and pretended to have oracles of peace and safety when I had not spoken to them.

GILL, "And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar,.... Palliated their sins, declared it to be right to shed the blood they did; and seize on the estates of men; but this, though it might for a while satisfy the consciences of these princes, and stop the clamours of the people against them; yet would not last long, but be like the building of a wall with bad stuff, which will not stand; and daubing it with mortar, which will soon wash off. So the Targum,

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"and the false prophets which are in the midst of her are like to those that build a wall, and daub it with mere clay, without straw;'' See Gill on Eze_13:10. Seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them; pretending visions from God, when what they see, or pretend to see, is nothing but vanity and emptiness, mere delusions; and prophesying good things, peace and prosperity, when they are all lies; giving out they have messages from God, and are ordered to foretell that happy times will be, when it is all falsehood: saying, thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken; herein mimicking the true prophets, who came in the name of the Lord, and usually prefaced their prophecies with a thus saith the Lord; and so did these false prophets, when the Lord said nothing to them, and gave them no commission to speak in his name, or say the things they did.

JAMISON, "Referring to the false assurances of peace with which the prophets flattered the people, that they should not submit to the king of Babylon (see on Eze_13:10; Eze_21:29; Jer_6:14; Jer_23:16, Jer_23:17; Jer_27:9, Jer_27:10).

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered [morter], seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.

Ver. 28. And her prophets have daubed them.] Similes iis qui parietem incrustant luto friabili et solubili. See Ezekiel 13:4, &c.

POOLE, “ Prophets; false prophets.

Have daubed them; flattered their oppressing bloody princes in their ways of sin and violence.

With untempered mortar; with promises and encouragements that, like ill tempered mortar, will deceive them, though all seems for the present smooth and safe. Divining lies; pretending they had by vision from God all the good they promised, whereas it was all a notorious lie and falsehood. God never spake to those prophets,

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and what by his own prophets he spake was of quite another tenure, it was evil, not good.

WHEDON, “ 28. Even the prophets — who were an independent order supposed to be bound by no temple prejudices or political alliances, called of God in every generation to rebuke both king and high priest when they failed in duty — even they had become flatterers, “whitewashing” (Hebrews) the sins of the nobles and crying “peace” to every voice that raised itself against the evils of the day. (See Ezekiel 13:6-10.)

29 The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice.

CLARKE, "The people - All that have power or authority have abused it; vexed and oppressed the poor, the needy, and the stranger.

GILL, "The people of the land have used oppression,.... The common people, the more powerful among them, such as were in greatest authority in cities and towns, in neighbourhoods and families, the richest among them; these oppressed the poor, and those that were under them, the servants of them, and tenants to them, and who were not able to defend themselves against them: the Septuagint and Syriac versions understand this of the prophets using the people of the land ill: and exercised robbery; such who had not the power as others had, became thieves and robbers, went on the highway, and took men's money from them; broke up houses, and plundered them, and stole away their goods: and have vexed the poor and needy; by their oppressions, rapines, and robberies, when they should rather have relieved them:

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yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully; or, "without right or judgment" (k); in a very unjust manner, contrary to the due course of law, against all equity and justice; which the Israelites were warned and ordered not to do, in many passages of Scripture; and for this reason, because they had been strangers in Egypt.

HENRY, " The people that had any power in their hands learned of their princes to abuse it, Eze_22:29. Those that should have complained of the oppression of the subject, and have put in a claim of rights on behalf of the injured, that should have stood up for liberty and property, were themselves invaders of them: The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery. The rich oppress the poor, masters their servants, landlords their tenants, and even parents their own children; nay, the buyers and sellers will find some way to oppress one another. This is such a sin as, when it is national, is indeed a national judgment, and is threatened as such. Isa_3:5, The people shall be oppressed every one by his neighbour. It is an aggravation of the sin that they have vexed the poor and needy, whom they should have relieved, and have oppressed the stranger and deprived him of his right, to whom they ought to have been not only just, but kind. Thus was the apostasy universal and the disease epidemical.

JAMISON, "The people — put last, after the mention of those in office. Corruption had spread downwards through the whole community.

wrongfully — that is, “without cause,” gratuitously, without the stranger proselyte giving any just provocation; nay, he of all others being one who ought to have been won to the worship of Jehovah by kindness, instead of being alienated by oppression; especially as the Israelites were commanded to remember that they themselves had been “strangers in Egypt” (Exo_22:21; Exo_23:9).

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

Ver. 29. The people of the land have used oppression.] Or, Deceit. Eadem hodie fiunt: charitas refrixit; omnia iniuriis, calumniis, rapinis plena sunt.

POOLE, “ The people of the land, the common people, have used oppression; greatly, continuedly, and cruelly oppressed one another, wronged each other by frauds and violence.

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Exercised robbery; on every occasion turned downright thieves and robbers.

Have vexed, by these oppressions, the poor and needy: see Ezekiel 18:7.

Wrongfully; without any colour of justice, reason, or so much as hearing him, as the phrase seems to import.

30 “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.

BARNES, "Eze_22:30The land might be said to perish for the lack of such interpositions as saved their forefathers when Moses “stood in the gap.” This was a proof of the general corruption, that there was not in the city sufficient righteousness to save it from utter destruction. Prince, prophet, priest, all fail.

CLARKE, "I sought for a man - I saw that there was a grievous breach made in the moral state and feeling of the people, and I sought for a man that would stand in the gap; that would faithfully exhort, reprove and counsel with all long-suffering and doctrine. But none was to be found!

GILL, "And I sought for a man among them,.... among the princes, priests, 101

prophets, and people of the land, who acted the part as above described; for otherwise, no doubt, there were good people in the land, as Jeremiah, Baruch, and others, but not among these: that should make up the hedge; that was broken down by the transgressions of the people, who exceeded all bounds of law and justice; one that would restrain them from sinning, and reform them, and set them a good example; one, as the Targum has it, "whose works were good;''

HENRY 30-31, “ There is none that appears as an intercessor for them (v. 30): I sought for a man among them that should stand in the gap, but I found none. Note, (1.) Sin makes a gap in the hedge of protection that is about a people at which good things run out from them and evil things pour in upon them, a gap by which God enters to destroy them. (2.) There is a way of standing in the gap, and making up the breach against the judgments of God, by repentance, and prayer, and reformation. Moses stood in the gap when he made intercession for Israel to turn away the wrath of God, Psa_106:23. (3.) When God is coming forth against a sinful people to destroy them he expects some to intercede for them, and enquires if there be but one that does; so much is it his desire and delight to show mercy. If there be but a man that stands in the gap, as Abraham for Sodom, he will discover him and be well pleased with him. (4.) It bodes ill to a people when judgments are breaking in upon them, and the spirit of prayer is restrained, so that not one is found that will either give them a good word or speak a good word for them. (5.) When it is so, what can be expected but utter ruin? Therefore have I poured out my indignation upon them (Eze_22:31), have given it full scope, that it may come upon them in a full stream; yet, whatever God's wrath inflicts upon a people, it is their own way that is therein recompensed upon their heads, and God deals with them no worse, but even much better, than their iniquity deserves.

JAMISON, "the hedge — the wall (see on Eze_13:5); image for leading the people to repentance.

the gap — the breach (Psa_106:23); image for interceding between the people and God (Gen_20:7; Exo_32:11; Num_16:48).I found none — (Jer_5:1) - not that literally there was not a righteous man in the city. For Jeremiah, Baruch, etc., were still there; but Jeremiah had been forbidden to pray for the people (Jer_11:14), as being doomed to wrath. None now, of the godly, knowing the desperate state of the people, and God’s purpose as to them, was willinglonger to interpose between God’s wrath and them. And none “among them,” that is, among those just enumerated as guilty of such sins (Eze_22:25-29), was morally able for such an office.

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up

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the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

Ver. 30. And I sought for a man among them,] i.e., A competent company of holy men, as once at Sodom; [Genesis 18:23-32] at Jerusalem. [Jeremiah 5:1]

That should make up the hedge.] Which sin had thrown down.

And stand in the gap.] By his piety and prayers. The Primum Mobile, say astronomers, turneth about with such swiftness, that but for the counter motion of the planets and other spheres all would be fired; so would this wicked world but for the saints, who keep a constant counter motion to the corrupt practices thereof.

POOLE, “ I sought, very earnestly and diligently; spoken of God after the manner of man.

A man; any one.

Amongst them; among princes, prophets, priests, or people.

That should make up the hedge; to repair the breach, and prevent further mischief.

Stand in the gap; that might interpose between a sinful, suffering people and their offended God, and entreat for mercy, that the land might not be destroyed.

But I found none; all were corrupted, not one but obstinately went on to sin and provoke me.

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WHEDON “30. There is universal apostasy. There is not left in the city even one man who can plead for it as Abraham for the Sodomites, or as Moses for the people in the wilderness (<19A623>Psalms 106:23). If only one such man could be found Jehovah would listen. (See notes Ezekiel 13:5, and compare Jeremiah 5:1; Isaiah 58:12; Isaiah 59:16.)

PULPIT, “And I sought for a man, etc. (For the imagery that follows, see Ezekiel 13:5 : Psalms 106:23.) The fact stated, as in Jeremiah 5:1, is that there was no one in all Jerusalem righteous enough to be either a defender or an intercessor, none to be a "repairer of the breach" (Isaiah 58:12). Nothing was left but the righteous punishment proclaimed in Jeremiah 5:31.

31 So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

CLARKE, "Therefore - Because of the profligacies already mentioned; because of the false worship so generally practiced; because of the false prophets tolerated; because of the unholy and profane priesthood; because of the oppressive princes; because of the unfaithful and deceiving prophets; because of the oppressions of petty officers; and because of the total corruption of manners in all ranks, places, offices, etc.: -

Have I poured out mine indignation - consumed them with the fire of my wrath - Considering the above, has there not been sufficient reason why I should abandon such a people, and pour out upon them such a destructive storm of calamities?104

GILL, "Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them,.... Like a mighty torrent, carrying all before it: I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; by the sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity: their own way have I recompensed on their heads, saith the Lord; brought just punishment upon them, such as their ways and works deserved; "the vengeance of their way,''

JAMISON, "their own way ... recompensed upon their heads — (Eze_9:10; Eze_11:21; Eze_16:43; Pro_1:31; Isa_3:11; Jer_6:19).

TRAPP, “Ezekiel 22:31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.

Ver. 31. I have consumed them with the fire.] Since thou wouldst not be cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. [Ezekiel 22:24]

POOLE, “ Therefore, thus provoked by all,

have I poured out mine indignation, as a flood to sweep them away. I have consumed them; kindled a fire against them, that will destroy them.

Their own way, sinful abominable ways,

have I recompensed upon their heads; brought these as a net on them, when as wild beasts taken in the pit to be destroyed.

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PETT, “Verse 31

“Therefore have I poured out my indignation on them, I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. Their own way have I brought on their heads, says the Lord Yahweh.”

It was because of this total lack of worthiness among the ‘cream’ of the land that God brought on them His final judgment. Here He sees it as though it were already fulfilled. He has now purposed it, the future will outwork those purposes.

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