Worthy.Bible » STRONG » Ezekiel » Chapter 22 » Verse 26

Ezekiel 22:26 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

26 Her priests H3548 have violated H2554 my law, H8451 and have profaned H2490 mine holy things: H6944 they have put no difference H914 between the holy H6944 and profane, H2455 neither have they shewed H3045 difference between the unclean H2931 and the clean, H2889 and have hid H5956 their eyes H5869 from my sabbaths, H7676 and I am profaned H2490 among H8432 them.

Cross Reference

Leviticus 10:10 STRONG

And that ye may put difference H914 between holy H6944 and unholy, H2455 and between unclean H2931 and clean; H2889

1 Samuel 2:12-17 STRONG

Now the sons H1121 of Eli H5941 were sons H1121 of Belial; H1100 they knew H3045 not the LORD. H3068 And the priests' H3548 custom H4941 with the people H5971 was, that, when any man H376 offered H2076 sacrifice, H2077 the priest's H3548 servant H5288 came, H935 while the flesh H1320 was in seething, H1310 with a fleshhook H4207 of three H7969 teeth H8127 in his hand; H3027 And he struck H5221 it into the pan, H3595 or kettle, H1731 or caldron, H7037 or pot; H6517 all that the fleshhook H4207 brought up H5927 the priest H3548 took H3947 for himself. So they did H6213 in Shiloh H7887 unto all the Israelites H3478 that came H935 thither. Also before they burnt H6999 the fat, H2459 the priest's H3548 servant H5288 came, H935 and said H559 to the man H376 that sacrificed, H2076 Give H5414 flesh H1320 to roast H6740 for the priest; H3548 for he will not have H3947 sodden H1310 flesh H1320 of thee, but raw. H2416 And if any man H376 said H559 unto him, Let them not fail H6999 to burn H6999 the fat H2459 presently, H3117 and then take H3947 as much as thy soul H5315 desireth; H183 then he would answer H559 him, Nay; but thou shalt give H5414 it me now: and if not, I will take H3947 it by force. H2394 Wherefore the sin H2403 of the young men H5288 was very H3966 great H1419 before H6440 the LORD: H3068 for men H582 abhorred H5006 the offering H4503 of the LORD. H3068

Malachi 2:8 STRONG

But ye are departed H5493 out of the way; H1870 ye have caused many H7227 to stumble H3782 at the law; H8451 ye have corrupted H7843 the covenant H1285 of Levi, H3878 saith H559 the LORD H3068 of hosts. H6635

Ezekiel 44:23 STRONG

And they shall teach H3384 my people H5971 the difference between the holy H6944 and profane, H2455 and cause them to discern H3045 between the unclean H2931 and the clean. H2889

Ezekiel 22:8 STRONG

Thou hast despised H959 mine holy things, H6944 and hast profaned H2490 my sabbaths. H7676

Jeremiah 2:8 STRONG

The priests H3548 said H559 not, Where is the LORD? H3068 and they that handle H8610 the law H8451 knew H3045 me not: the pastors H7462 also transgressed H6586 against me, and the prophets H5030 prophesied H5012 by Baal, H1168 and walked H1980 after H310 things that do not profit. H3276

Ezekiel 36:20 STRONG

And when they entered H935 unto the heathen, H1471 whither they went, H935 they profaned H2490 my holy H6944 name, H8034 when they said H559 to them, These are the people H5971 of the LORD, H3068 and are gone forth H3318 out of his land. H776

1 Samuel 2:22 STRONG

Now Eli H5941 was very H3966 old, H2204 and heard H8085 all that his sons H1121 did H6213 unto all Israel; H3478 and how they lay H7901 with the women H802 that assembled H6633 at the door H6607 of the tabernacle H168 of the congregation. H4150

Haggai 2:11-14 STRONG

Thus saith H559 the LORD H3068 of hosts; H6635 Ask H7592 now the priests H3548 concerning the law, H8451 saying, H559 If one H376 bear H5375 holy H6944 flesh H1320 in the skirt H3671 of his garment, H899 and with his skirt H3671 do touch H5060 bread, H3899 or pottage, H5138 or wine, H3196 or oil, H8081 or any meat, H3978 shall it be holy? H6942 And the priests H3548 answered H6030 and said, H559 No. Then said H559 Haggai, H2292 If one that is unclean H2931 by a dead body H5315 touch H5060 any of these, shall it be unclean? H2930 And the priests H3548 answered H6030 and said, H559 It shall be unclean. H2930 Then answered H6030 Haggai, H2292 and said, H559 So is this people, H5971 and so is this nation H1471 before H6440 me, saith H5002 the LORD; H3068 and so is every work H4639 of their hands; H3027 and that which they offer H7126 there is unclean. H2931

Romans 2:24 STRONG

For G1063 the name G3686 of God G2316 is blasphemed G987 among G1722 the Gentiles G1484 through G1223 you, G5209 as G2531 it is written. G1125

Malachi 2:1-3 STRONG

And now, O ye priests, H3548 this commandment H4687 is for you. If ye will not hear, H8085 and if ye will not lay H7760 it to heart, H3820 to give H5414 glory H3519 unto my name, H8034 saith H559 the LORD H3068 of hosts, H6635 I will even send H7971 a curse H3994 upon you, and I will curse H779 your blessings: H1293 yea, I have cursed H779 them already, because ye do not lay H7760 it to heart. H3820 Behold, I will corrupt H1605 your seed, H2233 and spread H2219 dung H6569 upon your faces, H6440 even the dung H6569 of your solemn feasts; H2282 and one shall take you away H5375 with it.

Malachi 1:6-8 STRONG

A son H1121 honoureth H3513 his father, H1 and a servant H5650 his master: H113 if then I be a father, H1 where is mine honour? H3519 and if I be a master, H113 where is my fear? H4172 saith H559 the LORD H3068 of hosts H6635 unto you, O priests, H3548 that despise H959 my name. H8034 And ye say, H559 Wherein have we despised H959 thy name? H8034 Ye offer H5066 polluted H1351 bread H3899 upon mine altar; H4196 and ye say, H559 Wherein have we polluted H1351 thee? In that ye say, H559 The table H7979 of the LORD H3068 is contemptible. H959 And if ye offer H5066 the blind H5787 for sacrifice, H2076 is it not evil? H7451 and if ye offer H5066 the lame H6455 and sick, H2470 is it not evil? H7451 offer H7126 it now unto thy governor; H6346 will he be pleased H7521 with thee, or accept H5375 thy person? H6440 saith H559 the LORD H3068 of hosts. H6635

Leviticus 10:1-3 STRONG

And Nadab H5070 and Abihu, H30 the sons H1121 of Aaron, H175 took H3947 either H376 of them his censer, H4289 and put H5414 fire H784 therein, H2004 and put H7760 incense H7004 thereon, and offered H7126 strange H2114 fire H784 before H6440 the LORD, H3068 which he commanded H6680 them not. And there went out H3318 fire H784 from the LORD, H3068 and devoured H398 them, and they died H4191 before H6440 the LORD. H3068 Then Moses H4872 said H559 unto Aaron, H175 This is it that the LORD H3068 spake, H1696 saying, H559 I will be sanctified H6942 in them that come nigh H7138 me, and before H6440 all the people H5971 I will be glorified. H3513 And Aaron H175 held his peace. H1826

Zephaniah 3:3-4 STRONG

Her princes H8269 within H7130 her are roaring H7580 lions; H738 her judges H8199 are evening H6153 wolves; H2061 they gnaw not the bones H1633 till the morrow. H1242 Her prophets H5030 are light H6348 and treacherous H900 persons: H582 her priests H3548 have polluted H2490 the sanctuary, H6944 they have done violence H2554 to the law. H8451

Micah 3:11-12 STRONG

The heads H7218 thereof judge H8199 for reward, H7810 and the priests H3548 thereof teach H3384 for hire, H4242 and the prophets H5030 thereof divine H7080 for money: H3701 yet will they lean H8172 upon the LORD, H3068 and say, H559 Is not the LORD H3068 among H7130 us? none evil H7451 can come H935 upon us. Therefore shall Zion H6726 for your sake H1558 be plowed H2790 as a field, H7704 and Jerusalem H3389 shall become heaps, H5856 and the mountain H2022 of the house H1004 as the high places H1116 of the forest. H3293

Ezekiel 20:12-13 STRONG

Moreover also I gave H5414 them my sabbaths, H7676 to be a sign H226 between me and them, that they might know H3045 that I am the LORD H3068 that sanctify H6942 them. But the house H1004 of Israel H3478 rebelled H4784 against me in the wilderness: H4057 they walked H1980 not in my statutes, H2708 and they despised H3988 my judgments, H4941 which if a man H120 do, H6213 he shall even live H2425 in them; and my sabbaths H7676 they greatly H3966 polluted: H2490 then I said, H559 I would pour out H8210 my fury H2534 upon them in the wilderness, H4057 to consume H3615 them.

Lamentations 4:13 STRONG

For the sins H2403 of her prophets, H5030 and the iniquities H5771 of her priests, H3548 that have shed H8210 the blood H1818 of the just H6662 in the midst H7130 of her,

Jeremiah 15:19 STRONG

Therefore thus saith H559 the LORD, H3068 If thou return, H7725 then will I bring thee again, H7725 and thou shalt stand H5975 before H6440 me: and if thou take forth H3318 the precious H3368 from the vile, H2151 thou shalt be as my mouth: H6310 let them return H7725 unto thee; but return H7725 not thou unto them.

Jeremiah 2:26-27 STRONG

As the thief H1590 is ashamed H1322 when he is found, H4672 so is the house H1004 of Israel H3478 ashamed; H3001 they, their kings, H4428 their princes, H8269 and their priests, H3548 and their prophets, H5030 Saying H559 to a stock, H6086 Thou art my father; H1 and to a stone, H68 Thou hast brought me forth: H3205 for they have turned H6437 their back H6203 unto me, and not their face: H6440 but in the time H6256 of their trouble H7451 they will say, H559 Arise, H6965 and save H3467 us.

1 Samuel 2:29 STRONG

Wherefore kick H1163 ye at my sacrifice H2077 and at mine offering, H4503 which I have commanded H6680 in my habitation; H4583 and honourest H3513 thy sons H1121 above me, to make yourselves fat H1254 with the chiefest H7225 of all the offerings H4503 of Israel H3478 my people? H5971

Leviticus 22:2-33 STRONG

Speak H1696 unto Aaron H175 and to his sons, H1121 that they separate H5144 themselves from the holy things H6944 of the children H1121 of Israel, H3478 and that they profane H2490 not my holy H6944 name H8034 in those things which they hallow H6942 unto me: I am the LORD. H3068 Say H559 unto them, Whosoever H376 he be of all your seed H2233 among your generations, H1755 that goeth H7126 unto the holy things, H6944 which the children H1121 of Israel H3478 hallow H6942 unto the LORD, H3068 having his uncleanness H2932 upon him, that soul H5315 shall be cut off H3772 from my presence: H6440 I am the LORD. H3068 What man soever H376 of the seed H2233 of Aaron H175 is a leper, H6879 or hath a running issue; H2100 he shall not eat H398 of the holy things, H6944 until he be clean. H2891 And whoso toucheth H5060 any thing that is unclean H2931 by the dead, H5315 or a man H376 whose seed H2233 H7902 goeth H3318 from him; Or whosoever H376 toucheth H5060 any creeping thing, H8318 whereby he may be made unclean, H2930 or a man H120 of whom he may take uncleanness, H2930 whatsoever uncleanness H2932 he hath; The soul H5315 which hath touched H5060 any such shall be unclean H2930 until even, H6153 and shall not eat H398 of the holy things, H6944 unless H518 he wash H7364 his flesh H1320 with water. H4325 And when the sun H8121 is down, H935 he shall be clean, H2891 and shall afterward H310 eat H398 of the holy things; H6944 because it is his food. H3899 That which dieth of itself, H5038 or is torn H2966 with beasts, he shall not eat H398 to defile H2930 himself therewith: I am the LORD. H3068 They shall therefore keep H8104 mine ordinance, H4931 lest they bear H5375 sin H2399 for it, and die H4191 therefore, if they profane H2490 it: I the LORD H3068 do sanctify H6942 them. There shall no stranger H2114 eat H398 of the holy thing: H6944 a sojourner H8453 of the priest, H3548 or an hired servant, H7916 shall not eat H398 of the holy thing. H6944 But if the priest H3548 buy H7069 any soul H5315 with H7075 his money, H3701 he shall eat H398 of it, and he that is born H3211 in his house: H1004 they shall eat H398 of his meat. H3899 If the priest's H3548 daughter H1323 also be married unto a stranger, H376 H2114 she may not eat H398 of an offering H8641 of the holy things. H6944 But if the priest's H3548 daughter H1323 be a widow, H490 or divorced, H1644 and have no child, H2233 and is returned H7725 unto her father's H1 house, H1004 as in her youth, H5271 she shall eat H398 of her father's H1 meat: H3899 but there shall no stranger H2114 eat H398 thereof. And if a man H376 eat H398 of the holy thing H6944 unwittingly, H7684 then he shall put H3254 the fifth H2549 part thereof unto it, and shall give H5414 it unto the priest H3548 with the holy thing. H6944 And they shall not profane H2490 the holy things H6944 of the children H1121 of Israel, H3478 which they offer H7311 unto the LORD; H3068 Or suffer them to bear H5375 the iniquity H5771 of trespass, H819 when they eat H398 their holy things: H6944 for I the LORD H3068 do sanctify H6942 them. And the LORD H3068 spake H1696 unto Moses, H4872 saying, H559 Speak H1696 unto Aaron, H175 and to his sons, H1121 and unto all the children H1121 of Israel, H3478 and say H559 unto them, Whatsoever H376 he be of the house H1004 of Israel, H3478 or of the strangers H1616 in Israel, H3478 that will offer H7126 his oblation H7133 for all his vows, H5088 and for all his freewill offerings, H5071 which they will offer H7126 unto the LORD H3068 for a burnt offering; H5930 Ye shall offer at your own will H7522 a male H2145 without blemish, H8549 of the beeves, H1241 of the sheep, H3775 or of the goats. H5795 But whatsoever hath a blemish, H3971 that shall ye not offer: H7126 for it shall not be acceptable H7522 for you. And whosoever H376 offereth H7126 a sacrifice H2077 of peace offerings H8002 unto the LORD H3068 to accomplish H6381 his vow, H5088 or a freewill offering H5071 in beeves H1241 or sheep, H6629 it shall be perfect H8549 to be accepted; H7522 there shall be no blemish H3971 therein. Blind, H5788 or broken, H7665 or maimed, H2782 or having a wen, H2990 or scurvy, H1618 or scabbed, H3217 ye shall not offer H7126 these unto the LORD, H3068 nor make H5414 an offering by fire H801 of them upon the altar H4196 unto the LORD. H3068 Either a bullock H7794 or a lamb H7716 that hath any thing superfluous H8311 or lacking in his parts, H7038 that mayest thou offer H6213 for a freewill offering; H5071 but for a vow H5088 it shall not be accepted. H7521 Ye shall not offer H7126 unto the LORD H3068 that which is bruised, H4600 or crushed, H3807 or broken, H5423 or cut; H3772 neither shall ye make H6213 any offering thereof in your land. H776 Neither from a stranger's H5236 hand H3027 H1121 shall ye offer H7126 the bread H3899 of your God H430 of any of these; because their corruption H4893 is in them, and blemishes H3971 be in them: they shall not be accepted H7521 for you. And the LORD H3068 spake H1696 unto Moses, H4872 saying, H559 When a bullock, H7794 or a sheep, H3775 or a goat, H5795 is brought forth, H3205 then it shall be seven H7651 days H3117 under the dam; H517 and from the eighth H8066 day H3117 and thenceforth H1973 it shall be accepted H7521 for an offering H7133 made by fire H801 unto the LORD. H3068 And whether it be cow H7794 or ewe, H7716 ye shall not kill H7819 it and her young H1121 both in one H259 day. H3117 And when ye will offer H2076 a sacrifice H2077 of thanksgiving H8426 unto the LORD, H3068 offer H2076 it at your own will. H7522 On the same day H3117 it shall be eaten up; H398 ye shall leave H3498 none of it until the morrow: H1242 I am the LORD. H3068 Therefore shall ye keep H8104 my commandments, H4687 and do H6213 them: I am the LORD. H3068 Neither shall ye profane H2490 my holy H6944 name; H8034 but I will be hallowed H6942 among H8432 the children H1121 of Israel: H3478 I am the LORD H3068 which hallow H6942 you, That brought you out H3318 of the land H776 of Egypt, H4714 to be your God: H430 I am the LORD. H3068

Leviticus 20:25 STRONG

Ye shall therefore put difference H914 between clean H2889 beasts H929 and unclean, H2931 and between unclean H2931 fowls H5775 and clean: H2889 and ye shall not make your souls H5315 abominable H8262 by beast, H929 or by fowl, H5775 or by any manner of living thing that creepeth H7430 on the ground, H127 which I have separated H914 from you as unclean. H2930

Leviticus 11:47 STRONG

To make a difference H914 between the unclean H2931 and the clean, H2889 and between the beast H2416 that may be eaten H398 and the beast H2416 that may not be eaten. H398

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 22

Commentary on Ezekiel 22 Matthew Henry Commentary


Chapter 22

Here are three separate messages which God entrusts the prophet to deliver concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and all to the same purport, to show them their sins and the judgments that were coming upon them for those sins.

  • I. Here is a catalogue of their sins, by which they had exposed themselves to shame and for which God would bring them to ruin (v. 1-16).
  • II. They are here compared to dross, and are condemned as dross to the fire (v. 17-22).
  • III. All orders and degrees of men among them are here found guilty of the neglect of the duty of their place and of having contributed to the national guilt, which therefore, since none appeared as intercessors, they must all expect to share in the punishment of (v. 23-31).

Eze 22:1-16

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 (ch. 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.

  • I. 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 (v. 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.
    • 1. 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, v. 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, 2 Ki. 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, v. 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, v. 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 (v. 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.
    • 2. Idolatry: She makes idols against herself to destroy herself, v. 3. And again (v. 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 (v. 9), in honour of the idols and in communion with idolaters.
    • 3. Disobedience to parents (v. 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, Mt. 15:5.
    • 4. Oppression and extortion. To enrich themselves they wronged the poor (v. 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 (v. 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.
    • 5. Profanation of the sabbath and other holy things. This commonly goes along with the other sins for which they here stand indicted (v. 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 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.
    • 6. 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 (v. 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 (v. 10) and is a sin not to be named among Christians without the utmost detestation (1 Co. 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 (Eccles. 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, v. 11. And shall not God visit for these things?
    • 7. Unmindfulness of God was at the bottom of all this wickedness (v. 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.
  • II. He is to pass sentence upon Jerusalem for these crimes.
    • 1. Let her know that she has filled up the measure of her iniquity, and that her sins are such as forbid delays and call for speedy vengeance. She has made her time to come (v. 3), her days to draw near; and she has come to her years of maturity for punishment (v. 4), as an heir that has come to age and is ready for his inheritance. God would have borne longer with them, but they had arrived at such a pitch of impudence in sin that God could not in honour give them a further day. Note, Abused patience will at last be weary of forbearing. And, when sinners (as Solomon speaks) grow overmuch wicked, they die before their time (Eccl. 7:17) and shorten their reprieves.
    • 2. Let her know that she has exposed herself, and therefore God has justly exposed her, to the contempt and scorn of all her neighbours (v. 4): I have made thee a reproach to the heathen, both those who are near, who are eye-witnesses of Jerusalem's apostasy and degeneracy, and those afar off, who, though at a distance, will think it worth taking notice of (v. 5); they shall all mock thee. While they were reproached by their neighbours for their adherence to God it was their honour, and they might be sure that God would roll away their reproach. But, now that they are laughed at for their revolt from God, they must lie down in their shame, and must say, The Lord is righteous. They make a mock at Jerusalem, both because her sins had been very scandalous (she is infamous, polluted in name, and has quite lost her credit), and because her punishment is very grievous-she is much vexed and frets without measure at her troubles. Note, Those who fret most at their troubles have commonly those about them who will be so much the more apt to make a jest of them.
    • 3. Let her know that God is displeased, highly displeased, at her wickedness, and does and will witness against it (v. 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.
    • 4. Let her know that, proud and secure as she is, she is no match for God's judgments, v. 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?
    • 5. Let her know that, since she has walked in the way of the heathen, and learned their works, she shall have enough of them (v. 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.
    • 6. Let her know that God has disowned her and cast her off. He had been her heritage and portion; but now (v. 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, 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.

Eze 22:17-22

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 (Ps. 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.
  • II. 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, v. 20, 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 leave them in the furnace (v. 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, Prov. 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.

Eze 22:23-31

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.
  • II. 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 (v. 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 conspiracy against the truth. Satan is not divided against himself. The prophets are in conspiracy with 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, Mt. 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.
      • (2.) The priests, who were teachers by office, and had the custody of the sacred things, and should have called the false prophets to account, were as bad as they, v. 26.
        • [1.] They violated the law of God, which they should have observed and taught others to observe. They made no conscience of the law of the priesthood, but openly broke it, and with contempt, as Hophni and Phinehas. They did what they had a mind, with an express non obstante-notwithstanding to the word of God. And how should those teach the people their duty who lived in contradiction to their own?
        • [2.] They profaned God's holy things, about which they were to minister, and which they ought to have restrained others from the profanation of. They suffered those to eat of the holy things who were unqualified by the law. The table of the Lord was contemptible with them. By dealing in holy things with such unhallowed hands they did themselves profane them.
        • [3.] They did not themselves put a difference, nor did they show the people how to put a difference, between the holy and profane, the clean and the unclean, according to the directions and distinctions of the law. They did not exclude those from God's courts who were excluded by the law, nor teach the people to observe the difference the law had made between food clean and unclean, between times and places holy and common; but they lived at large themselves and encouraged the people to do so too.
        • [4.] They hid their eyes from God's sabbaths; they took no care about them; it was all one to them whether God's sabbaths were kept holy or no; they neither gave countenance to those who observed them nor check to those who profaned them, nor did they themselves show any regard to them or veneration for them. They winked at those who did servile works on that day, and looked another way when they should have inspected the behaviour of the people on sabbath days. God's sabbaths have such a beauty and glory put upon them by the divine institution as may command respect; but they hid their eyes from them and would not see that excellency in them.
        • [5.] By all this God himself was profaned among them; his authority was slighted, his goodness made light of, and the highest affront and contempt imaginable were put upon his holiness. Note, The profanation of the honour of the scriptures, of sabbaths and sacred things, is a profanation of the honour of God himself, who is interested in them.
      • (3.) The princes, who should have interposed with their authority to redress these grievances, were as daring transgressors of the law as any (v. 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 (v. 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.
      • (4.) The people that had any power in their hands learned of their princes to abuse it, v. 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.
    • 2. 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, Ps. 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 (v. 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.