26 Its priests have wronged My law, And they pollute My holy things, Between holy and common they have not made separation, And between the unclean and the clean they have not made known, And from my sabbaths they have hidden their eyes, And I am pierced in their midst.
so as to make a separation between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the pure;
and the sons of Eli `are' sons of worthlessness, they have not known Jehovah. And the custom of the priests with the people `is': any man sacrificing a sacrifice -- then hath the servant of the priest come in when the flesh is boiling, and the hook of three teeth in his hand, and hath struck `it' into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the hook bringeth up doth the priest take for himself; thus they do to all Israel who are coming in, there, in Shiloh. Also before they make perfume with the fat -- then hath the priest's servant come in, and said to the man who is sacrificing, `Give flesh to roast for the priest, and he doth not take of thee flesh boiled, but raw;' and the man saith unto him, `Let them surely make a perfume (as to-day) with the fat, then take to thee as thy soul desireth;' and he hath said to him, `Surely now thou dost give; and if not -- I have taken by strength.' And the sin of the young men is very great `in' the presence of Jehovah, for the men have despised the offering of Jehovah.
`And My people they direct between holy and common, and between unclean and clean they cause them to discern.
My holy things thou hast despised, And My sabbaths thou hast polluted.
And one goeth in unto the nations whither they have gone, And they pollute My holy name by saying to them, The people of Jehovah `are' these, And from His land they have gone forth.
And Eli `is' very old, and hath heard all that his sons do to all Israel, and how that they lie with the women who are assembling `at' the opening of the tent of meeting,
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: `Ask, I pray thee, the priests `of' the law, saying: Lo, one doth carry holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and he hath come with his skirt against the bread, or against the pottage, or against the wine, or against the oil, or against any food -- is it holy?' And the priests answer and say, `No.' And Haggai saith, `If the unclean of body doth come against any of these, is it unclean?' And the priests answer and say, `It is unclean.' And Haggai answereth and saith, `So `is' this people, and so `is' this nation before Me -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- and so `is' every work of their hands, and that which they bring near there -- it is unclean.
for the name of God because of you is evil spoken of among the nations, according as it hath been written.
And now, to you `is' this charge, O priests, If ye hearken not, and if ye lay `it' not to heart, To give honour to My name, said Jehovah of Hosts, I have sent against you the curse, And I have cursed your blessings, Yea, I have also cursed it, Because ye are not laying `it' to heart. Lo, I am pushing away before you the seed, And have scattered dung before your faces, Dung of your festivals, And it hath taken you away with it.
A son honoureth a father, and a servant his master. And if I `am' a father, where `is' Mine honour? And if I `am' a master, where `is' My fear? Said Jehovah of Hosts to you, O priests, despising My name! And ye have said: `In what have we despised Thy name?' Ye are bringing nigh on Mine altar polluted bread, And ye have said: `In what have we polluted Thee?' In your saying: `The table of Jehovah -- it `is' despicable,' And when ye bring nigh the blind for sacrifice, `There is no evil,' And when ye bring nigh the lame and sick, `There is no evil;' Bring it near, I pray thee, to thy governor -- Doth he accept thee? or doth he lift up thy face? Said Jehovah of Hosts.
And the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, take each his censer, and put in them fire, and put on it perfume, and bring near before Jehovah strange fire, which He hath not commanded them; and fire goeth out from before Jehovah, and consumeth them, and they die before Jehovah. And Moses saith unto Aaron, `It `is' that which Jehovah hath spoken, saying, By those drawing near to Me I am sanctified, and in the face of all the people I am honoured;' and Aaron is silent.
Her heads in her midst `are' roaring lions, Her judges `are' evening wolves, They have not gnawn the bone in the morning. Her prophets unstable -- men of treachery, Her priests have polluted the sanctuary, They have violated the law.
Her heads for a bribe do judge, And her priests for hire do teach, And her prophets for silver divine, And on Jehovah they lean, saying, `Is not Jehovah in our midst? Evil doth not come in upon us.' Therefore, for your sake, Zion is ploughed a field, and Jerusalem is heaps, And the mount of the house `is' for high places of a forest!
And also My sabbaths I have given to them, To be for a sign between Me and them, To know that I `am' Jehovah their sanctifier. And -- rebel against me do the house of Israel in the wilderness, In My statutes they have not walked, And My judgments they have despised, Which the man who doth -- liveth by them. And My sabbaths they have greatly polluted, And I say to pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
Because of the sins of her prophets, The iniquities of her priests, Who are shedding in her midst the blood of the righteous,
As the shame of a thief when he is found, So put to shame have been the house of Israel, They, their kings, their heads, And their priests, and their prophets, Saying to wood, `My father `art' thou!' And to a stone, `Thou hast brought me forth,' For they turned unto me the back and not the face, And in the time of their vexation, They say, `Arise Thou, and save us.'
Why do ye kick at My sacrifice, and at Mine offering which I commanded `in' My habitation, and dost honour thy sons above Me, to make yourselves fat from the first part of every offering of Israel, of My people?
`Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and they are separated from the holy things of the sons of Israel, and they pollute not My holy name in what they are hallowing to Me; I `am' Jehovah. `Say unto them, To your generations, any man who draweth near, out of all your seed, unto the holy things which the sons of Israel do sanctify to Jehovah, and his uncleanness on him -- even that person hath been cut off from before Me; I `am' Jehovah. `Any man of the seed of Aaron, and is leprous or hath an issue -- of the holy things he doth not eat till that he is clean; and he who is coming against any uncleanness of a person, or a man whose seed of copulation goeth out from him, or a man who cometh against any teeming thing which is unclean to him, or against a man who is unclean to him, even any of his uncleanness -- the person who cometh against it -- hath even been unclean till the evening, and doth not eat of the holy things, but hath bathed his flesh with water, and the sun hath gone in, and he hath been clean, and afterwards he doth eat of the holy things, for it `is' his food; a carcase or torn thing he doth not eat, for uncleanness thereby; I `am' Jehovah. `And they have kept My charge, and bear no sin for it, that they have died for it when they pollute it; I `am' Jehovah sanctifying them. `And no stranger doth eat of the holy thing; a settler of a priest and an hireling doth not eat of the holy thing; and when a priest buyeth a person, the purchase of his money, he doth eat of it, also one born in his house; they do eat of his bread. `And a priest's daughter, when she is a strange man's, -- she, of the heave-offering of the holy things doth not eat; and a priest's daughter, when she is a widow, or cast out, and hath no seed, and hath turned back unto the house of her father, as `in' her youth, of her father's bread she doth eat; but no stranger doth eat of it. `And when a man doth eat of a holy thing through ignorance, then he hath added its fifth part to it, and hath given `it' to the priest, with the holy thing; and they do not pollute the holy things of the sons of Israel -- that which they lift up to Jehovah, nor have caused them to bear the iniquity of the guilt-offering in their eating their holy things; for I `am' Jehovah, sanctifying them.' And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, `Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the sons of Israel, and thou hast said unto them, Any man of the house of Israel, or of the sojourners in Israel, who bringeth near his offering, of all his vows, or of all his willing offerings which they bring near to Jehovah for a burnt-offering; at your pleasure a perfect one, a male of the herd, of the sheep or of the goats; nothing in which `is' blemish do ye bring near, for it is not for a pleasing thing for you. `And when a man bringeth near a sacrifice of peace-offerings to Jehovah, to complete a vow, or for a willing-offering, of the herd or of the flock, it is perfect for a pleasing thing: no blemish is in it; blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed -- ye do not bring these near to Jehovah, and a fire-offering ye do not make of them on the altar to Jehovah. `As to an ox or a sheep enlarged or dwarfed -- a willing-offering ye do make it, but for a vow it is not pleasing. As to a bruised, or beaten, or enlarged, or cut thing -- ye do not bring `it' near to Jehovah; even in your land ye do not do it. And from the hand of a son of a stranger ye do not bring near the bread of your God, of any of these, for their corruption `is' in them; blemish `is' in them; they are not pleasing for you.' And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, `When ox or lamb or goat is born, and it hath been seven days under its dam, then from the eighth day and henceforth, it is pleasing for an offering, a fire-offering to Jehovah; but an ox or sheep -- it and its young one, ye do not slaughter in one day. `And when ye sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to Jehovah, at your pleasure ye do sacrifice, on that day it is eaten, ye do not leave of it till morning; I `am' Jehovah; and ye have kept my commands, and have done them; I `am' Jehovah; and ye do not pollute My holy name, and I have been hallowed in the midst of the sons of Israel; I `am' Jehovah, sanctifying you, who am bringing you up out of the land of Egypt, to become your God; I `am' Jehovah.'
`And ye have made separation between the pure beasts and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the pure, and ye do not make yourselves abominable by beast or by fowl, or by anything which creepeth `on' the ground which I have separated to you for unclean;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 22
Commentary on Ezekiel 22 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 22
Eze 22:1-31. God's Judgment on the Sinfulness of Jerusalem.
Repetition of the charges in the twentieth chapter; only that there they were stated in an historical review of the past and present; here the present sins of the nation exclusively are brought forward.
2. See Eze 20:4; that is, "Wilt thou not judge?" &c. (compare Eze 23:36).
the bloody city—literally, "the city of bloods"; so called on account of murders perpetrated in her, and sacrifices of children to Molech (Eze 22:3, 4, 6, 9; 24:6, 9).
3. sheddeth blood … that her time may come—Instead of deriving advantage from her bloody sacrifices to idols, she only thereby brought on herself "the time" of her punishment.
against herself—(Pr 8:36).
4. thy days—the shorter period, namely, that of the siege.
thy years—the longer period of the captivity. The "days" and "years" express that she is ripe for punishment.
5. infamous—They mockingly call thee, "Thou polluted one in name (Margin), and full of confusion" [Fairbairn], (referring to the tumultuous violence prevalent in it). Thus the nations "far and near" mocked her as at once sullied in character and in actual fact lawless. What a sad contrast to the Jerusalem once designated "the holy city!"
6. Rather, "The princes … each according to his power, were in thee, to shed blood" (as if this was the only object of their existence). "Power," literally, "arm"; they, who ought to have been patterns of justice, made their own arm of might their only law.
7. set light by—Children have made light of, disrespected, father … (De 27:16). At Eze 22:7-12 are enumerated the sins committed in violation of Moses' law.
9. men that carry tales—informers, who by misrepresentations cause innocent blood to be shed (Le 19:16). Literally, "one who goes to and fro as a merchant."
10. set apart for pollution—that is, set apart as unclean (Le 18:19).
12. forgotten me—(De 32:18; Jer 2:32; 3:21).
13. smitten mine hand—in token of the indignant vengeance which I will execute on thee (see on Eze 21:17).
14. (Eze 21:7).
15. consume thy filthiness out of thee—the object of God in scattering the Jews.
16. take thine inheritance in thyself—Formerly thou wast Mine inheritance; but now, full of guilt, thou art no longer Mine, but thine own inheritance to thyself; "in the sight of the heathen," that is, even they shall see that, now that thou hast become a captive, thou art no longer owned as Mine [Vatablus]. Fairbairn and others needlessly take the Hebrew from a different root, "thou shalt be polluted by ('in,' [Henderson]) thyself," &c.; the heathen shall regard thee as a polluted thing, who hast brought thine own reproach on thyself.
18. dross … brass—Israel has become a worthless compound of the dross of silver (implying not merely corruption, but degeneracy from good to bad, Isa 1:22, especially offensive) and of the baser metals. Hence the people must be thrown into the furnace of judgment, that the bad may be consumed, and the good separated (Jer 6:29, 30).
23. From this verse to the end he shows the general corruption of all ranks.
24. land … not cleansed—not cleared or cultivated; all a scene of desolation; a fit emblem of the moral wilderness state of the people.
nor rained upon—a mark of divine "indignation"; as the early and latter rain, on which the productiveness of the land depended, was one of the great covenant blessings. Joel (Joe 2:23) promises the return of the former and latter rain, with the restoration of God's favor.
25. conspiracy—The false prophets have conspired both to propagate error and to oppose the messages of God's servants. They are mentioned first, as their bad influence extended the widest.
prey—Their aim was greed of gain, "treasure, and precious things" (Ho 6:9; Zep 3:3, 4; Mt 23:14).
made … many widows—by occasioning, through false prophecies, the war with the Chaldeans in which the husbands fell.
26. Her priests—whose "lips should have kept knowledge" (Mal 2:7).
violated—not simply transgressed; but, have done violence to the law, by wresting it to wrong ends, and putting wrong constructions on it.
put no difference between the holy and profane, &c.—made no distinction between the clean and unclean (Le 10:10), the Sabbath and other days, sanctioning violations of that holy day. "Holy" means, what is dedicated to God; "profane," what is in common use; "unclean," what is forbidden to be eaten; "clean," what is lawful to be eaten.
I am profaned among them—They abuse My name to false or unjust purposes.
27. princes—who should have employed the influence of their position for the people's welfare, made "gain" their sole aim.
wolves—notorious for fierce and ravening cruelty (Mic 3:2, 3, 9-11; Joh 10:12).
28. Referring to the false assurances of peace with which the prophets flattered the people, that they should not submit to the king of Babylon (see on Eze 13:10; Eze 21:29; Jer 6:14; 23:16, 17; 27:9, 10).
29. The people—put last, after the mention of those in office. Corruption had spread downwards through the whole community.
wrongfully—that is, "without cause," gratuitously, without the stranger proselyte giving any just provocation; nay, he of all others being one who ought to have been won to the worship of Jehovah by kindness, instead of being alienated by oppression; especially as the Israelites were commanded to remember that they themselves had been "strangers in Egypt" (Ex 22:21; 23:9).
30. the hedge—the wall (see on Eze 13:5); image for leading the people to repentance.
the gap—the breach (Ps 106:23); image for interceding between the people and God (Ge 20:7; Ex 32:11; Nu 16:48).
I found none—(Jer 5:1)—not that literally there was not a righteous man in the city. For Jeremiah, Baruch, &c., were still there; but Jeremiah had been forbidden to pray for the people (Jer 11:14), as being doomed to wrath. None now, of the godly, knowing the desperate state of the people, and God's purpose as to them, was willing longer to interpose between God's wrath and them. And none "among them," that is, among those just enumerated as guilty of such sins (Eze 22:25-29), was morally able for such an office.
31. their own way … recompensed upon their heads—(Eze 9:10; 11:21; 16:43; Pr 1:31; Isa 3:11; Jer 6:19).