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More about the sinful past and present of Israel and the merciful nature of God’s judgment over it From Chapter XX, as the date of its 1st century shows, the first after Chapter XII, a new section of the book begins, extending to Chapter XXIV. inclusive and containing the last threatening speeches and predictions of God's judgment. This section does not add anything significantly new to the previous speeches, only the predictions of God’s punishment under the impression of impending events (this was the time before the very beginning of the last act of the drama, when the Babylonian army was already on the campaign against Jerusalem and the siege of the city was not supposed to begin today but tomorrow) become more aggravated. It is possible that the prophet found a special reason for these speeches in the state of the captives: from Eze. 20.32 it is clear that they had an inclination towards conscious assimilation in religious terms with the pagans around them. The slogan of this department is the expression: “Do you want to sue them?” (Ezek.20:4, 22:2, 23:36). Jerusalem is already standing before the court of Jehovah and his prophet and is awaiting the final verdict on itself and its immediate execution. The excited tension with which the captives followed the events in Palestine is reflected in these speeches of the prophet as clearly as in Chapter VII. As for, in particular, Chapter XX, the reason for the speech contained in it, as in Chapter XIV, was a visit to the elders to question God; Instead of giving them an answer from God, the prophet took advantage of this visit to pronounce judgment on the whole past and present of Israel and from this point of view reviews successively the idolatry of Israel in Egypt (vv. 5-9), the disobedience of the first generation of the people in the wilderness (10-17), their second generation in the wilderness (18-28), the ministry on the high places in Canaan (27-29) and after a brief reference to the sins of the captives, because of which they were deprived God's answer to their question (vv. 30–31), depicts the upcoming cleansing and restoration of Israel (32–44). To the XXth chapter in our Bible there is a speech on the “forest of the southern field”, i.e. Judea, which is about to be burned by divine fire - a prophecy that has more connections with the XXIst chapter, to which it is attributed in Hebrew. bible. Thus, XXI ch. as if exposing Chapter XVI. from her allegorical veils, speaking directly about what she is talking about allegorically. Ezek.20:1. In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, men from the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord and sat down before me. “In the seventh year...”, i.e., the captivity of Jeconiah (Ezek.1.2), therefore, 4 years before the capture of Jerusalem, 11 months after the vision in the church VIII-XI ch. (previous date). - “The Elders of Israel.” See explanation. Ezek.8.1. - “Ask the Lord,” about what, it is not said, because it is not important: the answer could not be given anyway. Ezek.20:3. son of man! Speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live, I will not give you an answer, says the Lord God. “Have you come to question Me?” - an indignant question. - “I live” - an oath from strong excitement. Ezek.20:4. Do you want to sue them, do you want to sue, son of man? tell them the abominations of their fathers “Do you want to sue them,” that is, depict before them their sins and the punishment that follows for them? Those who came to question the Lord, therefore, became involuntary listeners of speech that was unpleasant to them. The expression is repeated twice as a sign of the strong desire of this judgment on the part of the Lord, and whose infinite long-suffering is exhausted. Slav.: “If I will take revenge on them with vengeance,” that is, it must be: will I not finally take vengeance on them for the iniquities of their fathers? Ezek.20:5. and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand, and swore to the tribe of the house of Jacob, and revealed myself to them in the land of Egypt, and lifted up my hand, and said to them, “I am the Lord your God!” – “Raising his hand... he swore.” Of course, the oath at Sinai when concluding a covenant with the Jewish people. - “Houses of Jacob”. Jacob in Ezekiel often appears instead of Abraham: Ezek.28.25 and others - “He revealed Himself to them in the land of Egypt” - under the new name of Jehovah, as is explained further. “I am the Lord your God,” that is, I want and promise (in view of which an oath was required) to be such. Ezek.20:6. on that day, lifting up My hand, I swore to them to bring them out of the land of Egypt to the land that I have provided for them, flowing with milk and honey, the beauty of all lands, "Swore". This is the third time in the space of 2 verses this expression (the importance of the circumstance) and now it only explains what the Lord swore to Israel. - “Which I have provided”, lit. “looked” ahead like a spy (Num. 10.33; Deut. 1.33). Anthropomorphism. LXX: “ready.” – “Flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3.8). “Beauty (lit. “jewel”, “crown”) of all lands". The country's fertility is complemented by its extraordinary beauty. An epithet first applied to the promised land by the prophets of the captivity: Jer 3.19; Dan 8:9, 11:16. The rise of Israel over all nations corresponds to the advantage of its country over other pagan lands. Slav.: “the honeycomb (κυριος; LXX read “tsuf” “bee honeycomb” instead of “tsebi” “jewel”) is more than all lands.” Ezek.20:7. and he said unto them, Put away every one the abominations from before your eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. The books do not say anything about the passion of the Jews during the period of the Egyptian yoke for idolatry there. Exodus and other sources. But this silence does not prove that such a hobby did not exist. Meanwhile, the very fact of Egyptian enslavement, the Sinai service to the golden calf, and in general the ever-present tendency of Jews to idolatry gives the right to conclude this sin of Israel. Perhaps, in order to soften the thought of the prophet LXX, then Heb. the word (“vanished”), which they use in other places, for example. Eze.6.6, translated ειδολα “idols”, here translated επιτηδευματα – “institution”, glory. "creations". The first and, one might say, the only requirement of Jehovah when entering into a covenant with the Jewish people was strict purity of worship of God; everything else, all other moral requirements would be a natural consequence of this condition. Ezek.20:8. But they rebelled against Me and did not want to listen to Me; no one put away the abominations from before his eyes, nor forsook the idols of Egypt. And I said, I will pour out my wrath on them, I will pour out my wrath on them in the midst of the land of Egypt. “And I said” - to myself, I decided. - “I will pour out My wrath on them” - I will destroy them (cf. v. 13b, Ezek. 7.8, etc.). The book does not speak about God’s intention to destroy Israel even in Egypt. Exodus (excluding allusions like Exodus 14.12). Thus, Ezekiel here supplements it, perhaps from some other oral or written sources, as the Apostle Paul did from time to time in relation to Old Testament history. The prophet here obviously has in mind the Egyptian oppression, in which the Hebrews perished. the people deserved it. Ezek.20:9. But I acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be blasphemed before the nations among whom they were, and before whose eyes I revealed Myself to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. "For My Name's Sake" The honor of the name of God is more important than the fate of Israel, among other things, because the fate of the knowledge of God on earth depended on it, and, consequently, the fate of humanity. Wed. 2 Samuel 7.23; Isaiah 48:9, 63, etc. - “So that it is not blasphemed.” If God had not saved Israel from Egyptian oppression, which threatened her with complete destruction, then the pagans, who knew about Jehovah’s election of Israel, would have seen this as Jehovah’s powerlessness. Attributing the salvation of Israel exclusively to God's zeal for the glory of His name, the prophet Ezekiel took away from Israel any reason for arrogance with the miraculous salvation from Egypt, to which Israel was always inclined (Am 9.7). Ezek.20:10. And I brought them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness, Ezek.20:11. and I gave them My commandments, and declared to them My statutes, which if a man did, he would live through them; A review of the period of wandering in the desert begins (up to the 17th century). – “Commandments” and “justifications” see explanation. Ezek.5.7, where the same Heb. the words are translated: “statutes” and “decrees”. – “I would have lived through them” - see the explanation. Ezek.3.18. Ezek.20:12. I also gave them My Sabbaths, that they might be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. "Saturdays". Of all the provisions of the law, the prophet puts forward the Sabbath (cf. Is 56:2, 58:13; Jer 17.21) a) according to the particularly mysterious mystical meaning of this institution, as a sign of some future Sabbath of the Lord (Heb 4.1-11; Ps 94.11); b) because Saturday is the oldest of ritual institutions; c) it reminds a person of the omnipotence of God, who created the world; d) she remained in captivity, along with circumcision, almost the only sign of a true Israelite (“so that they could be a sign between Me and them”). - “Mine”, because God, of all days, reserved for himself only Saturday. - “Sanctifying them.” The Sabbath seems to be filled with the holiness of God, to whom this day belongs entirely, and the one who observes it cannot help but borrow from this holiness. Ezek.20:13. But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness: they did not walk in My commandments and rejected My statutes, which if they did, a man would live through them, and they violated My Sabbaths, and I said, I will pour out My wrath on them in the wilderness to destroy them. To rebel against God, Israel chose the desert, where it existed only by a constant miracle on God's part. This refers especially to such facts as the golden calf, spies and all cases of murmuring. For the rest, see explanation. 11th century Ezek.20:14. But I did it for My name's sake, so that it would not be blasphemed before the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. Ezek.20:15. Even I, having raised My hand against them in the wilderness, swore that I would not bring them into the land that I appointed, flowing with milk and honey, the beauty of all lands, “I won’t introduce them...” God wanted not to bring Israel into the Promised Land at all and the people deserved it, but this formidable and fair decree was softened by the fact that he brought the younger generation of the people there. Ezek.20:16. because they have rejected My statutes, and have not walked in My commandments, and have broken My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols. “For their hearts yearned after their idols.” The inclination towards idolatry was deep and strong (Ezek.20.24). Exodus 22 and Numbers 25 speak about cases of idolatry in the wilderness (cf. Hos 9:10), as well as Lev. 17.7; Nav 24.14. Ezek.20:17. But My eye was sorry to destroy them; and I did not destroy them in the wilderness. “And I did not destroy them in the wilderness,” as if contrary to my own desire and decision: I left the younger generation. Ezek.20:21. But the sons also rebelled against Me: they did not walk according to My commandments and did not keep My statutes, they did not do what if they did, a man would live, they violated My Sabbaths - and I said: I will pour out My wrath on them, I will exhaust My wrath on them in the wilderness; The “sons” are the generation born in the desert. "Indignant." This refers to such cases as the indignation of Korah, the service of Beelphegor (Numbers 25). “My Sabbaths have been violated”; for example, Numbers 15.32 etc. - “And I said: I will pour out My wrath on them” - Numbers 16.45. Ezek.20:22. but I turned away my hand and acted for my name's sake, so that it would not be blasphemed before the nations, before whose eyes I brought them out. God in the desert more than once spared the people through the prayer of Moses: Numbers 16.22, 17.11. Ezek.20:23. Also, having lifted up My hand in the wilderness, I swore to scatter them among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands Only now the dispersion of Israel was decided even then (Lev. 26.33; Deut. 28.64) and is a punishment for sins in the wilderness. Ezek.20:25. And he allowed them evil institutions and regulations from which they could not live, “And he allowed (slav. more precisely: “dah”) evil institutions for them...” is understood in two ways. Some by these institutions mean pagan institutions, idolatrous rites; and this understanding is apparently confirmed by the context, because in v. 26. It seems that an example of such unkind institutions is given - human sacrifice. But others, with hardly any less justification, understand by these “bad institutions” the prescriptions of the ritual law, which were so difficult to fulfill, depriving a person of the freedom of moral development so dear to him (restored by Christianity) and did not provide, even with the most precise execution, spiritual satisfaction. With such an understanding of the present passage, the prophet Ezekiel would have anticipated the views of the Apostle Paul on the ritual law, which according to him “let the crime increase” (Rom. 5.20). This understanding is also supported by the softness of the prophet’s expressions about these institutions: “unkind” (not “evil”), “from which they could not live” (not “had to die”). The objection raised against this understanding that in this case the Sabbath, the law of which is one of the most important ritual laws, should be classified as unkind institutions, while the prophet himself places it between the laws that give life (vv. 20-21), this objection (Keil) is untenable, for the Sabbath is older than the Mosaic laws. Ezek.20:26. and he allowed them to be defiled by their sacrifices, when they began to bring every first fruit of the womb through the fire, to destroy them, so that they might know that I am the Lord. “To conduct (added according to Art. 31: through fire) every first fruit of the womb,” therefore, the firstborn children. For human sacrifice, see explanation. Ezek.16.21. Ezek.20:27. Therefore speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: This is what your fathers blasphemed against Me, acting treacherously against Me: “This is another way they blasphemed Me...” The prophet is preparing to point out the even gravest sin of Israel described - the immoral Canaanite cults. Ezek.20:28. I brought them to the land that I swore to give them, lifting up My hand, and they, looking out for themselves every high hill and every branching tree, began to slaughter their sacrifices there, and there they placed their offerings that were offensive to Me and their fragrant incense, and they poured out their drink offerings there. "I brought them into the land". Before I had time to bring them to the Promised Land and finally establish them there, they... “High hill”, “branchy tree”, see explanation. Ezek.6.13. - “Your offerings are offensive to Me” - glory. more precisely: “the wrath of their gifts,” that is, the gifts that enraged Me. Perhaps a hint of some particularly vile feature of the Canaanite cults. – “Incense” – see explanation. Ezek.6.13. Ezek.20:29. And I said to them: What is this height where you go? that is why it is called by the name of Bama to this day. Of all the types of Canaanite idolatry, the prophet, with bitter and indignant ridicule, dwells on the one that was performed on the so-called heights, Heb. bama; see explanation. Ezek.6.3, where the plural word is bamot; the prophet dwells on this type of idolatry either because of its particular prevalence, or because of its particular vileness; the first is more correct: in the Old Testament, Israel is constantly rebuked by the prophets for serving instead of one church or wandering on many heights. The very name “Bama” (Slav. “Abvama”, Greek Αβαμα; the first A is a member, which is why the doubling) is probably Canaanite, not related to the Hebrew. root, the prophet ironically produces from Jehovah's astonished question to His people why he so diligently goes to the high places and not to his church; “ba” from “bo” “comes” and “ma” “what”. In accordance with one church of Jehovah, “height” is here in the singular, although there were many of them. About the nature of idolatry on the high places nothing can be said for lack of data; the assumption of some of the newest interpreters that they served as a place of religious prostitution and that the prophet uses “bo” - “to come” here in the sense of intercourse, cannot be confirmed by anything. Ezek.20:30. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Do you not defile yourselves after the example of your fathers, and commit fornication after their abominations? Ezek.20:31. By bringing your gifts and causing your sons to pass through the fire, you have defiled yourselves with all your idols to this day, and want to question Me, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not give you an answer. They end the historical review of idolatry by pointing out the modern idolatry of the captives, for the sake of which God cannot allow them to question Himself. The saddest thing is that the captives did not abandon the most disgusting form of idolatry for God - the burning of children in honor of Molech, which dates back to the time of Moses (Lev. 18:21, 20:2). Ezek.20:32. And what comes to your mind will not come true at all. You say: “Let us, like pagans, like foreign tribes, serve wood and stone.” During the times of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the desire to become an idolatrous people, like everyone else around them, became conscious among the people and, therefore, firm, as Jeremiah 2:25, 44:15, 19 show. The prophet Ezekiel fights this desire through an appeal to the honor of the people: Israel occupies such an exceptional and high position among the nations that such a desire is directly humiliating for it. In order to expose the absurdity of this desire, the prophet puts it into verbal form, exposing it in all its nakedness: “let us be like the pagans.” For the same purpose, the prophet names idols by the materials from which they are made, choosing the worst among these materials: wood and stone. The expression gives the right to understand it in such a way that here we are talking about images of Jehovah, from which it was difficult even for those captives who left idolatry itself. Ezek.20:33. As I live, says the Lord God, I will rule over you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with a pouring out of wrath. "I live". An oath due to the importance of the promise and from an excess of feeling. - “With a strong hand and an outstretched arm.” Expressions used in the Pentateuch about the miraculous actions by which God freed His people from Egyptian slavery (Exodus 6.1; Deut. 4.34, etc.). Here, on the contrary, they are used to denote the nature of God's dominion over Israel, although the next verse, where this expression is repeated, shows that the “mighty hand” will be felt by the Gentiles more than by Israel. - “Outpouring of rage.” The severity of God's judgments in relation to the chosen people will reach its extreme; “They will feel anger because they despised mercy” (Blessed Jerome). - “I will rule (literally “reign”) over you,” that is, I will force you to recognize your God and become My people. – The verse represents a passage of exceptional importance in the Bible, showing how the salvation of a person can be accomplished by God apart from and even contrary to his will. Ezek.20:34. And I will bring you out from the nations and from the countries where you are scattered, and I will gather you together with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with a pouring out of wrath. “With a strong hand...” See v. 33. Ezek.20:35. And I will bring you into the wilderness of nations, and there I will plead with you face to face. Ezek.20:36. As I went to court with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I go to law with you, says the Lord God. “And I will bring you into the wilderness of nations,” that is, the Syrian desert, which also lies between Palestine and Babylon, like the desert of Israel’s 40-year wandering between Palestine and Egypt, and is called the wilderness of nations, because it borders on many nations and belongs to them, like Arabia belongs only to Egypt and is therefore called (in v. 36) “the wilderness of the earth.” Egyptian". For Israel, a new cleansing in the desert (even more significant) was required, as Hosea also pointed out (Hosea 2.14). “The circumstances of recent times are images of the circumstances of the first times” (Krechm.). - “I will go to court” - I will accuse you of sins and punish them for them. “Face to face” - as directly as at Sinai; see next verse. The prophet is referring to the long and difficult process of liberating the Jews from Babylonian captivity. Ezek.20:37. And I will bring you under the rod and bring you into the bonds of the covenant. “And I will make you pass under the rod,” i.e. punishment or: like a shepherd passes the whole flock under his staff to count, examine and separate the sheep from the goats. – “And I will bring you into the bonds of the covenant” - into the obligations of the New Testament. Slav. “among the number of the covenant”: I will bring you into the promised land in a number strictly determined by the covenant, a small one (Ezek. 5.3). Ezek.20:38. And I will single out among you those who are rebels and disobedient to Me. I will bring them out of the land where they are, but they will not enter the land of Israel, and you will know that I am the Lord. The soft “they will not enter the land of Israel” instead of the expected one, “they will perish in the wilderness,” as was the case during the exodus from Egypt, is explained more likely by the will of God this time than by a simple rhetorical turn of the prophet - euphemism (a pleasant expression of the unpleasant). - “From the land of sojourn” - captivity, in the Pentateuch this (or in another translation: they wandered through the land, i.e., the patriarchs) is called Canaan, and here, obviously, Chaldea and all the lands of the Jewish dispersion. Ezek.20:39. And you, O house of Israel,” thus says the Lord God, “go every one to your idols and serve them, if you do not listen to Me, but do not profane My holy name any more with your gifts and with your idols, “Go every one to your idols.” Irony: Israel can now be carried away by idols as much as they want; this will not always be the case: the day is near when he will serve Jehovah alone. Slav.: “everyone take away his own idols.” - “But do not profane My holy name any more with your gifts and with your idols.” Do not serve idols and Me at the same time, since this is even more offensive to Me than pure idolatry. Ezek.20:40. because on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel,” says the Lord God, “there the whole house of Israel will serve Me, as many as there are on earth; there I will receive them with favor, and there I will require your offerings and your firstfruits with all your holy things. “Holy Mountain” – Zion, which is only here named by Ezekiel (Isa. 11.9; Joel 3.17; Jer. 31.23). - “All...Israel will serve Me there,” etc. It came true in part upon returning from captivity; more fully fulfilled in the new Israel; and will finally come true in the church of the future, when “all Israel will be saved.” Ezek.20:41. I will receive you as sweet incense when I bring you out from among the nations and gather you from the countries where you are scattered, and I will sanctify you in the sight of the nations. “I will receive you like incense.” “You can feel the former priest with his love for the incense smoke of the church” (Bert.). - “I will be holy in you.” When the nations see that I have delivered you, they will recognize Me as holy and righteous, because I have fulfilled My promises; or: I will show My holiness by making Israel a holy nation. Wed. Art. 9. Ezek.20:42. And you will know that I am the Lord when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the land that I swore to give to your fathers when I lifted up my hand. Upon release from captivity and upon the fulfillment of all the promises to the fathers, which until now the sins of Israel had prevented them from fulfilling, Israel will finally and forever recognize Jehovah as their God, which came true even after the incomplete liberation of Israel under Cyrus. Ezek.20:43. And there remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves, and you will be disgusted with yourselves for all your evil deeds which you have done. “And you abhor yourself.” Consequently, this is not yet a prediction of the gospel joy of the children of God; Wed Ezek.6.9, 16.61. Ezek.20:44. And you will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for My name’s sake, not according to your evil ways and your wicked deeds, O house of Israel, says the Lord GOD. "For My Name's Sake" For the prophet Ezekiel, this is the final basis for all the actions of God. Ezek.20:45. And the word of the Lord came to me: A prophecy begins that has so little connection with the previous speech and, on the contrary, is closely connected with the XXI chapter that the Hebrew Bible begins the XXI chapter with this verse. This prophecy “against the forest of the southern field” is symbolic, and its symbols are explained by the prophetic speech of Chapter XXI. They think that both prophecies were uttered when Nebuchadnezzar’s army was approaching Judea, which is why they are full of horror at the proximity of danger and in this respect resemble Chapter VII. Ezek.20:46. son of man! set your face toward the way of the noonday, and speak the word for the noonday, and prophesy against the forest of the south field. “Turn your face” – see Ezek.6.2. – “On the way” – in the direction. - “By midday”, i.e., as an explanation of Eze.21.2, to Judea, which was located from the northern inhospitable Babylon according to the view of the prophet (Ezek.1.4) to the south (more precisely to the south-east). – “At noon” – in Hebrew. for nothing, a word left in glory. without translation and meaning the country of light, almost tropical Judea, as opposed to cold Babylon; Vulgate: ad africam. “Forest of the southern field” is the third designation of Judea, indicating its wooded mountains or the density of its population, similar to a forest thicket. Slav.: “to the oak grove of the elder Nagev,” i.e., the oak grove ruling over all of Nagev, is the proper name of one Idumean locality, used to mean the entire south of Palestine. Ezek.20:47. And say to the south forest, Hear the word of the Lord; Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it will consume in you every green tree and every dry tree; The blazing flame will not go out, and everything will be scorched by it from south to north. “I will light a fire in you, that is, in the forest.” Forest fires in the East are not uncommon: Isa 10.17 and Jer 21.14; Ps 82.15; James 3.5. Of course, the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar. - “Every green tree and every dry tree.” Ezekiel 21.3-4 explains this comparison: a green tree signifies the righteous, and a dry tree signifies the wicked. The place was meant by the Savior in the words of Luke 23.31. “First the green tree is burned, according to what we read from the same prophet; “And begin at My sanctuary” (Ezek.9.6); and then dry, which could not have anything vital in it; Saints and sinners perish together, so that the former may escape the misfortunes of captivity by death, and the latter will be given over to eternal punishment” (Blessed Jerome). - “Everything will be scorched by him” - glory. more precisely; “and he will burn up every face in it,” that is, the face of the surrounding inhabitants, who will fearfully look in horror at the fire of the forest. - “From south to north”, i.e. Jews. The conquest will begin from the south. Ezek.20:48. And all flesh will see that I, the Lord, have kindled it, and it will not go out. Due to the horror of the disaster, the whole world will turn to Jehovah as its culprit. The power of the fire, which cannot be extinguished, will prove that it was kindled by the wrath of God and is the result of God's decree. Ezek.20:49. And I said: O Lord God! They say about me: “Doesn’t he speak parables?” Constitutes a transition to the next chapter, showing that her direct prophetic speech, which constitutes an explanation of the allegory about the fire of the forest, was caused by a complaint on the part of the prophet’s listeners about the darkness of the allegory. This complaint evokes in the prophet deep regret about the stupidity of the people: the exclamation “o” in Hebrew. the same (“agag”) as in Ezek.4:14, 9:8, 11.13. You might be interested in: