Chapter Twenty

Still on the Sinful Past and Present of Israel and the Merciful Character of God’s Judgment upon It

From chapter XX, as shown by its date in verse 1, the first after chapter XII, begins a new section of the book, extending to chapter XXIV inclusive and containing the final threatening speeches and predictions of God’s judgment. This section does not add anything essentially new to the former speeches, only the predictions of God’s punishment under the impression of impending events (this was the time before the very beginning of the final act of the drama, when the Babylonian army was already on the march against Jerusalem and the siege of the city was to begin any day now) become more acute. It is possible that the prophet found particular occasion for these speeches in the state of the captives: from Ezek 20:32 it is evident that among them arose a tendency toward conscious religious assimilation with the surrounding pagans. The watchword of this section is the expression: “Do you desire to plead with them?” (Ezek 20:4). Jerusalem stands already before the judgment of the Lord and His prophet and awaits the final judgment upon 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 chapter XX in particular, the occasion for the speech contained in it, as in chapter XIV, was a visit from the elders for inquiring of God; instead of giving them an answer from God, the prophet used this visit to pronounce judgment on all the past and present of Israel and from this viewpoint reviews successively Israel’s idolatry in Egypt (verses 5–9), the disobedience of the first generation in the wilderness (10–17), the second generation in the wilderness (18–28), service on the high places in Canaan (27–29) and after a brief reference to the sins of the captives through which they are deprived of God’s answer to their inquiry (verses 30–31), depicts the coming purification and restoration of Israel (32–44). To chapter XX in our Bible is also assigned a speech about “the forest of the south field,” that is, Judah, destined to burn in divine fire, – a prophecy more connected with chapter XXI, to which it is assigned in the Hebrew Bible. Thus chapter XXI as it were disrobes chapter XVI of its allegorical coverings, speaking directly about what that speaks of in allegory.

Ezekiel 20:1. In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord and sat before me. “In the seventh year...” that is, of Jehoiachin’s captivity (Ezek 1:2), consequently, four years before the taking of Jerusalem, through eleven months after the vision in the temple in chapters VIII–XI (the preceding date). – “Elders of Israel.” See explanation Ezek 8:1. – “To inquire of the Lord,” about what is not said because it is unimportant: an answer could not be given in any case.

Ezekiel 20:3. Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: You have come to inquire of Me? As I live, I will not be inquired of by you, says the Lord God. “You have come to inquire of Me?” – an indignant question. – “As I live” – an oath from intense emotion.

Ezekiel 20:4. Will you judge them, will you judge them, son of man? Let them know the abominable deeds of their ancestors. “Will you judge them,” that is, set forth their sins and the punishment that follows them. Those who came to inquire of the Lord became, consequently, unwilling listeners to a speech unpleasant to them. The expression is repeated twice as a sign of the great desire for this judgment on the part of the Lord, and His infinite patience has been exhausted. Slavonic: “if with vengeance I will take vengeance upon them,” that is, should read: will I not take vengeance on them at last for the lawlessness of their ancestors?

Ezekiel 20:5. and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: On the day when I chose Israel and swore to the descendants of the house of Jacob, making Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, I swore to them, saying, I am the Lord your God. “Swore to them...” The oath at Sinai at the conclusion of the covenant with the Hebrew people is meant. – “House of Jacob.” Jacob appears frequently in Ezekiel in place of Abraham: Ezek 28:25 and others. – “Made Myself known 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 wish and promise (which is why an oath was necessary) to be such.

Ezekiel 20:6. On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the fairest of all lands. “Swore.” Already the third time in the course of two verses this expression appears (importance of the circumstance) and now only is clarified what the Lord swore to Israel. – “Which I had searched out,” literally “looked forth” beforehand, as a spy (Num 10:33; Deut 1:33). Anthropomorphism. LXX: “prepared.” – “Flowing with milk and honey” (Exod 3:8). “The fairest of all lands” (literally “precious thing,” “crown” of all lands). To the fertility of the land is joined also its extraordinary beauty. The epithet, first applied to the Promised Land by the prophets of the captivity: Jer 3:19; Dan 8:9. The elevation of Israel above all peoples corresponds also the advantage of his land before other pagan lands. Slavonic: “comb (κυριος; LXX read “tsuf” “beehive” instead of “tsebi” “precious thing”) is rather than all lands.”

Ezekiel 20:7. and I said to them: Cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. About the involvement of Hebrews in the period of Egyptian bondage in idolatry there is nothing said in the books of Exodus and other sources. But this silence does not prove that such involvement was not. Meanwhile, the right to draw this conclusion about this sin of Israel is given by the very fact of Egyptian enslavement, the worship of the golden calf at Sinai, and the general ever-present tendency of Hebrews toward idolatry. Perhaps with the aim of softening the prophet’s thought, the LXX translated that Hebrew word (“ginul”) which they in other places, for example Ezek 6:6, translated as ειδολα “idols,” here as επιτηδευματα – “practices,” Slavonic “creations.” The first and indeed the only requirement of Jehovah upon entering into covenant with the Hebrew people was strict purity of worship; all else, all other moral requirements would naturally follow from this condition.

Ezekiel 20:8. But they rebelled against Me and would not listen to Me. None of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out My wrath on them and spend My anger against 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. verse 13b, Ezek 7:8 and others). The book of Exodus does not speak of God’s intention to destroy Israel while still in Egypt (except for hints like Exod 14:12). Thus Ezekiel supplements it here, perhaps from some other sources oral or written, as the Apostle Paul sometimes did in regard to Old Testament history. The prophet has in view here evidently the Egyptian oppression from which the Hebrew people deserved to perish.

Ezekiel 20:9. But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I made Myself known to them by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. “For the sake of My name.” The honor of God’s name is more important than the fate of Israel, partly because on it depends the fate of the knowledge of God on earth, and consequently the fate of mankind. Cf. 2 Sam 7:23; Isa 48:9 and others. – “That it should not be profaned.” If God had not saved Israel from Egyptian oppression, which threatened to completely destroy it, the pagans knowing of Israel’s election by Jehovah would have seen in this the powerlessness of Jehovah. By attributing Israel’s deliverance solely to God’s zeal for the glory of His name, the prophet Ezekiel deprived Israel of any occasion for boasting in the miraculous salvation from Egypt, to which Israel was always inclined (Amos 9:7).

Ezekiel 20:10. So I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them into the wilderness. Ezekiel 20:11. I gave them My statutes and made known to them My ordinances, by which, if a person does them, he will live through them; The review of the wilderness period begins (through verse 17). – “Statutes” and “ordinances” see explanation Ezek 5:7, where the same Hebrew words are translated: “statutes” and “ordinances.” – “By which, if a person does them, he will live through them” – see explanation Ezek 3:18.

Ezekiel 20:12. I also gave them My sabbaths, as a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I the Lord sanctify them. “Sabbaths.” Of all the precepts of the law the prophet singles out the sabbath (cf. Isa 56:2; Jer 17:21) a) because of the particularly mysterious mystical meaning of this institution as a sign of some future Lord’s sabbath (Heb 4:1-11; Ps 94:11); b) because the sabbath is the oldest of the ceremonial institutions; c) because it reminds man of the omnipotence of God who created the world; d) in captivity it remained along with circumcision almost the sole mark of a true Israelite (“so they might know that I the Lord sanctify them”). – “Mine,” because God reserved the sabbath to Himself among all days. – “That I the Lord sanctify them.” The sabbath is as it were filled with the holiness of God to whom this day wholly belongs, and one who observes it cannot but partake of this holiness.

Ezekiel 20:13. But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk according to My statutes but rejected My ordinances, by which, if a person does them, he will live through them; and they greatly profaned My sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My wrath upon them in the wilderness, to make an end of them. Israel chose the wilderness for its rebellion against God, where it existed only by the constant miracle of God. Particularly such facts as the golden calf, the spies, and all instances of murmuring are meant. As for the rest, see explanation of verse 11.

Ezekiel 20:14. But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I brought them out. See explanation of verse 9.

Ezekiel 20:15. Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the fairest of all lands. “I would not bring them...” God did not want to bring Israel into the Promised Land at all and the people deserved this, but He softened this terrible and just decree by bringing the younger generation there.

Ezekiel 20:16. because they rejected My ordinances and did not walk according to My statutes, and profaned My sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols. “For their heart went after their idols.” The inclination to idolatry was deep and strong (Ezek 20:24). Instances of idol worship in the wilderness are spoken of in Exod 22 and Num 25 (cf. Hos 9:10), as well as Lev 17:7; Josh 24:14.

Ezekiel 20:17. But My eye spared them from destruction; and I did not make an end of them in the wilderness. “And I did not make an end of them in the wilderness” as if contrary to My own will and decision: He spared the younger generation.

Ezekiel 20:21. But the sons also rebelled against Me. They did not walk according to My statutes, nor kept My ordinances, by which, if a person does them, he will live through them. They profaned My sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My wrath upon them, to spend My anger against them in the wilderness. “The sons” – the generation born in the wilderness. “Rebelled.” Such facts as the rebellion of Korah and the worship of Baal-peor are meant (Num 25). “They profaned My sabbaths”; for example, Num 15:32 and following. – “And I said: I will pour out My wrath on them” – Num 16:45.

Ezekiel 20:22. but I withheld My hand and acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned before the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. God in the wilderness spared the people more than once in response to the prayer of Moses: Num 16:22.

Ezekiel 20:23. Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the lands. Only the now occurring dispersion of Israel was already decided then (Lev 26:33; Deut 28:64) and is a punishment for the sins in the wilderness.

Ezekiel 20:25. I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live. “And I gave them bad statutes...” is understood in two ways. Some understand by these statutes the institutions of pagans, idol-worshiping rites; and this interpretation is apparently confirmed by the context, because in verse 26 an example of such bad statutes is given – human sacrifice. But others, perhaps with equal justification, understand by these “bad statutes” the precepts of ceremonial law, so burdensome to fulfill, depriving man of freedom in moral development so dear to him (restored by Christianity) and not giving peace of soul even with the most precise observance of them. With this interpretation the prophet Ezekiel would have anticipated the views of Apostle Paul concerning ceremonial law, which according to him “came in so that the trespass might increase” (Rom 5:20). The gentleness of the prophet’s expressions about these statutes supports this interpretation: “bad” (not “evil”), “by which they could not live” (not “they should have died”). The objection raised against this interpretation, that in such a case “bad statutes” should include the sabbath, one of the most important ceremonial laws, whereas the prophet himself sets it among the laws giving life (verses 20–21), is groundless because the sabbath is older than the Mosaic laws.

Ezekiel 20:26. and I defiled them through their very sacrifices in making them offer by fire all that opens the womb, that I might horrify them, so that they would know that I am the Lord. “Making them pass (added according to verse 31: through the fire) all that opens the womb,” consequently, and firstborn children. About human sacrifice see explanation Ezek 16:21.

Ezekiel 20:27. Therefore speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: In this again your ancestors insulted Me by dealing treacherously with Me. “Behold another way your ancestors insulted Me...” The prophet is preparing to point out the most grievous sin of Israel described – the immoral Canaanite cults.

Ezekiel 20:28. When I brought them into the land which I swore to give them, then wherever they saw any high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices and presented the provocation of their offering, and there they poured out their drink offerings. “I brought them into the land.” I had hardly brought them into the Promised Land and established them there when they... “High hill,” “leafy tree” see explanation Ezek 6:13. – “Presented the provocation of their offering” – Slavonic more accurately: “anger of their gifts,” that is, gifts that brought Me into anger. Perhaps an allusion to some particularly vile feature of Canaanite cults. – “Fragrant incense” – see explanation Ezek 6:13.

Ezekiel 20:29. I said to them: What is this high place to which you go? So its name is called Bama to this day. Of all forms of Canaanite idol worship the prophet with bitter and indignant mockery pauses on that performed on the so-called high places, Hebrew bama; see explanation Ezek 6:3 where this word in plural bamos; the prophet pauses on this form of idol worship either because of its particular prevalence or because of its particular abomination; the first is more correct: in the Old Testament Israel is constantly condemned by prophets for serving instead of one temple or traveling to many high places. The very name “Bama” (Slavonic “Abbama,” Greek Αβαμα; the first A is the article, which is why it doubles), probably of Canaanite origin, not related to the Hebrew root, the prophet ironically derives from the amazed question of Jehovah to His people, why he so earnestly goes to a high place rather than to His temple; “ba” from “bo” “he comes” and “ma” “what.” In correspondence to one temple of Jehovah and “high place” here in the singular, though there were many. About the character of idol worship on high places nothing can be said for lack of data; the supposition of some modern interpreters that they served as a place of religious prostitution and that “bo” – “to come” the prophet uses here in the sense of coition, cannot be supported by anything.

Ezekiel 20:30. Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your ancestors and prostitute yourselves after their detestable things? Ezekiel 20:31. When you offer your gifts and make your children pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I let you inquire of Me, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you. The historical review ends with a reference to contemporary idol worship indicating the modern idol worship of the captives, for which God cannot permit them to inquire of Him. Most sorrowful is that the captives have not abandoned even the most vile form of idol worship for God – the burning of children in honor of Moloch, which goes back to the time of Moses (Lev 18:21).

Ezekiel 20:32. And what comes into your mind will never come to pass. You say: “We will be like the nations, like the peoples of other lands, serving wood and stone. In the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel the desire to become an idolatrous people like all the surrounding nations became conscious and therefore firm among the people, as shown in Jer 2:25. The prophet Ezekiel combats this desire by appealing to the people’s sense of honor: Israel occupies such an exclusive and high position among the peoples that such a desire is directly degrading to it. In order to show the entire absurdity of this desire the prophet clothes it in words, thus displaying it naked: “we will be like the pagans.” For the same reason the prophet calls idols by their materials, choosing the worst of these materials: wood and stone. The expression gives the right to understand it also in the sense that here the speech is about representations of Jehovah, to stop worshiping which was difficult even for those captives who abandoned proper idol worship.

Ezekiel 20:33. As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out I will rule over you. “As I live.” An oath in view of the importance of the promise and from the fullness of feeling. – “With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” Expressions used in the Pentateuch about the miraculous acts through which God freed His people from Egyptian slavery (Exod 6:1; Deut 4:34 and others). Here on the contrary they are used to designate the character of God’s dominion over Israel, though the following verse, where this expression is repeated, shows that the “mighty hand” will be felt more by the pagans than by Israel. – “And with wrath poured out.” The severity of God’s judgments toward His chosen people will reach an extreme degree; “they will feel anger because they despised mercy” (Jerome). – “I will rule (literally “reign”) over you,” that is, will cause you to acknowledge Me as your God and become My people. – The verse presents a place in the Bible exceptional in its importance, showing how the salvation of man can be accomplished by God apart from and even contrary to his will.

Ezekiel 20:34. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the lands in which you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out. “With a mighty hand...” See verse 33.

Ezekiel 20:35. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead with you face to face. Ezekiel 20:36. As I pleaded with your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead with you, says the Lord God. “And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples,” that is, the Syrian wilderness, which lies in the same way between Palestine and Babylon as the forty-year wilderness of Israel’s wandering lies between Palestine and Egypt, and is called the wilderness of peoples because it borders many peoples and belongs to them, whereas the Arabian belongs only to Egypt and is therefore called (in verse 36) “the wilderness of the land of Egypt.” Israel needed new purification in the wilderness (even more significant) on which Hosea hints as well (Hos 2:14). “The circumstances of the last time are images of the circumstances of the first time” (Kraetzschmar). – “I will plead” – I will convict of sins and punish for them. “Face to face” – so directly, as at Sinai; see the next verse. The prophet has in view the long and difficult process of the liberation of the Jews from Babylonian captivity.

Ezekiel 20:37. I will make you pass under the rod, and I will let you enter into the bond of the covenant. “And I will make you pass under the rod,” that is, of punishment or: as a shepherd passes all his flock under his rod to count, examine, and separate sheep from goats. – “And I will bring you into the bond of the covenant” – into the obligations of the New Covenant. Slavonic “into the number of the covenant”: will bring into the promised land in the strictly determined number as measured by the covenant, a small number (Ezek 5:3).

Ezekiel 20:38. I will purge out the rebels among you, and those who transgress against Me. I will bring them out of the land where they reside, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. The mild “will not enter the land of Israel” instead of the expected “will perish in the wilderness,” as happened at the exodus from Egypt, is explained rather by such a will of God at this time than by a simple rhetorical device of the prophet – a euphemism (pleasant expression for the unpleasant). – “From the land of their sojourning” – captivity, in the Pentateuch thus (or in another translation: the land in which they dwelt, that is, the lands of the patriarchs) is called Canaan, but here, clearly, Chaldea and all lands of Hebrew dispersion.

Ezekiel 20:39. As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go serve your idols, everyone of you. But afterward you will certainly listen to Me, and you will no longer profane My holy name with your gifts and your idols. “Go serve your idols.” Irony: Israel can now indulge in idols as much as it wishes; this will not always be: the day is near when he will serve only one Jehovah. Slavonic: “whichever of you take your idols.” – “But do not profane My holy name any longer with your gifts and your idols.” Do not serve both idols and Me at the same time, for this is even more offensive to Me than pure idolatry.

Ezekiel 20:40. For on My holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel, says the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will require your contributions and the choicest of your holy gifts. “Holy mountain” – Zion, which alone here in Ezekiel is so called (Isa 11:9; Joel 3:17; Jer 31:23). – “There all of Israel will serve Me” and so forth. It was partially fulfilled upon return from captivity; more fully fulfilled in the new Israel; ultimately will be fulfilled in the church of the future when “all Israel will be saved.”

Ezekiel 20:41. I will accept you as a pleasing offering, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered; and I will manifest My holiness among you in the sight of the nations. “I will accept you as a pleasing offering.” “There is evident the former priest with his love for the fragrance of the temple incense” (Bertholet). – “And I will manifest My holiness among you.” When the peoples see that I have completed your liberation, they will acknowledge Me as holy and righteous because I have fulfilled My promises; or: I will show My holiness by making Israel a holy people. Cf. verse 9.

Ezekiel 20:42. And you will know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the land that I swore to give to your fathers, raising My hand. After liberation from captivity and after the fulfillment of all promises to the fathers which Israel’s sins had prevented from being fulfilled up to now, Israel will finally and permanently recognize Jehovah as its God, which indeed came to pass even after incomplete liberation of Israel under Cyrus.

Ezekiel 20:43. There you will remember your ways and all the deeds by which you have defiled yourselves; and you will loathe yourselves for all the evils that you have done. “And you will abhor yourselves.” Consequently, this is not yet the prediction of the gospel joy of God’s children; cf. Ezek 6:9.

Ezekiel 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 corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, says the Lord God. “For My name’s sake.” In the prophet Ezekiel this is the ultimate ground for all God’s actions.

Ezekiel 20:45. And the word of the Lord came to me: From chapter XX, as shown by its dating from verse 1, the first after chapter XII, begins a new prophecy so disconnected from the preceding speech and, conversely, so closely connected with chapter XXI that the Hebrew Bible begins chapter XXI with this verse. This prophecy “against the forest of the south field” is symbolic, and its symbols are explained by the prophetic speech of chapter XXI. It is thought that both prophecies were uttered when the army of Nebuchadnezzar was approaching Judea, which is why they are full of fear of the approaching danger and in this respect remind one of chapter VII.

Ezekiel 20:46. Son of man! Turn your face toward the way to the south, and speak a word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the southern region. “Turn your face” – see Ezek 6:2. – “Toward the way” – in the direction. – “Toward the south”, that is, as an explanation Ezek 21:2, toward Judah, which was located from the cold, inhospitable Babylon, from the prophet’s perspective Ezek 1:4, to the south (more precisely, south-southeast). – “Toward the south” – in Hebrew seemingly senseless, a word left untranslated in the Slavonic and meaning the cardinal direction, almost the tropical Judea in opposition to cold Babylon; the Vulgate: ad africam. “The forest of the southern region” – a third designation of Judea, indicating its forested mountains or the density of population, comparable to a forest thicket. Slavonic: “at the oak grove of the elder of the Negev”, that is, an oak grove, ruling over all the Negev, – a proper name of a certain Edomite region, used in the sense of all the south of Palestine.

Ezekiel 20:47. And say to the southern forest: Hear the word of the Lord; thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it will devour every green tree and every dry tree in you; the blazing flame will not go out, and all will be scorched by it from south to north. “I will kindle in you, that is, in the forest, a fire.” Forest fires in the East are not uncommon: Isa 10:17 and onward Jer 21:14; Ps 82:15; Jas 3:5. The invasion of Nebuchadnezzar is meant. – “Every green tree and every dry tree.” Ezek 21:3-4 explain this comparison: the green tree means the righteous, and the dry one means the wicked. This passage was in mind for the Savior in the words Luke 23:31. “The green tree is first burned according to what we read from this very prophet: ‘and you shall begin from My sanctuary’ (Ezek 9:6); and then the dry, which could have nothing living in it; both the holy and the wicked perish together, so that the former through death escape the calamities of captivity, and the latter are given over to eternal punishment” (Jerome). – “All will be scorched by it” – the Slavonic is more accurate; “and every face will be burned in it”, that is, the faces of the surrounding inhabitants, who will look fearfully in terror at the forest fire. – “From south to north”, that is, Judea. The conquest will begin from the south.

Ezekiel 20:48. And all flesh will see that I, the Lord, have kindled it, and it will not go out. By the horror of the calamity all the world will understand that Jehovah is its cause. 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 determination.

Ezekiel 20:49. And I said: O, Lord God! They speak concerning me: ‘Is he not speaking in parables?’ Forms a transition to the following chapter, showing that the direct prophetic speech of it, which constitutes an explanation of the allegory about the forest fire, was prompted by the complaint from the listeners of the prophet about the darkness of the allegory. This complaint awakens in the prophet deep sorrow for the lack of understanding of the people: the exclamation “O” in Hebrew is the same (“agag”) as in Ezek 4:14.