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Ezekiel 20:25

Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;

Wherefore I gave them also statutes ... not good - since they would not follow my statutes, that were good, "I gave them" their own (), and their fathers' statutes, "which were not good" - statutes spiritually corrupting, and finally, as the consequence, destroying them. Righteous retribution (; ; ; ). proves this view to be correct (cf. ). Thus on the plains of Moab (Numbers 25:1), in chastisement for the secret unfaithfulness to God in their hearts, He permitted Baal's worshippers to tempt them to idolatry (the ready success of the tempters, moreover, proving the inward unsoundness of the tempted), and this again ended necessarily in punitive judgments.

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See also Ezekiel 20:25 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Ezekiel 20:25. _I GAVE THEM ALSO STATUTES_ THAT WERE _NOT GOOD_] What a foolish noise has been made about this verse by _critics_, believers and infidels! How is it that God can be said "to giv...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    The probation in the wilderness. The promise was forfeited by those to whom it was first conditionally made, but was renewed to their children. Ezekiel 20:11 The “statutes” were given on Mount Sinai,...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER S 20-24 Further and Final Predictions Concerning the judgment of Jerusalem _ 1. Jehovah rehearses His mercies bestowed upon Israel (Ezekiel 20:1) _ 2. The impending judgment announced (Ezek...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    EZEKIEL 20. THE WICKED PAST AND THE BLESSED FUTURE. Ezekiel 20:1. A Sketch of Israel's Early Idolatries. It is now 590 B.C. Almost a year has elapsed since the last incident that was dated (Ezekiel 8:...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    I GAVE THEM ALSO STATUTES, its. In Hebrew idiom. I suffered others to give them statutes, it,: i.e. in their captivity. Active verbs in Hebrew were used to express not only the doing of the thing, but...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Review of the history of the fathers The principle that has ruled this history is that all through it Jehovah has acted for his name's sake. It is this principle that has given Israel a history, othe...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The second generation in the wilderness. These only imitated the sins of their fathers, Numbers 25:1-2; Deuteronomy 9:23-24; Deuteronomy 31:27....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Yet though he wrought for his name's sake not to destroy them their sins could not be altogether passed by. In two ways they were marked: Jehovah laid a heavy threat upon the people of dispersion amon...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _Wherefore I gave … also_ MOREOVER ALSO I GAVE, see Ezekiel 20:23. _statutes … not good_ These statutes are of a kind contrary to those given before (Ezekiel 20:11) which were good. These points seem...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    I GAVE THEM ALSO STATUES THAT WERE NOT GOOD— This passage has given great handle to infidels and free-thinkers, though certainly it will admit of more interpretations than one, clear and consistent, a...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    C. Israel in the Wilderness 20:10-26 TRANSLATION (10) And I brought them out from the land of Egypt, and brought them unto the wilderness. (11) And I gave to them My statutes, and My ordinances I mad...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    § 5. A FINAL SERIES OF PROPHECIES ON THE NECESSITY OF ISRAEL'S PUNISHMENT AND THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM (EZEKIEL 20-24) Date, Aug.-Sept. 590 b.c. to Jan.-Feb. 587 b.c. This group includes a warning...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    STATUTES _that were_ NOT GOOD] The reference (as Ezekiel 20:26 shows) is to the practice of child sacrifice, which might seem to be justified by such a law as that in Exodus 22:29. The firstborn of me...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF Some four years before the fall of Jerusalem the elders of Tel-abib again came to consult Ezekiel, who declared that God had no answer to give them. The reason was that their...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    EZEKIEL: ‘THEY SHALL KNOW THAT I AM GOD’ THE *SIN OF JUDAH AND THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD EZEKIEL CHAPTER S 1 TO 24 _IAN MACKERVOY_ CHAPTER 20 * God is patient. He gives people every opportunity to *...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    STATUTES THAT WERE NOT GOOD. — In this verse the general statement is made of which a particular instance is given in the next. The “statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וְ גַם ־אֲנִי֙ נָתַ֣תִּי לָהֶ֔ם חֻקִּ֖ים לֹ֣א

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    JEHOVAH'S CONTROVERSY WITH ISRAEL Ezekiel 20:1 BY far the hardest trial of Ezekiel's faith must have been the conduct of his fellow-exiles. It was amongst them that he looked for the great spiritual...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    In this final section of the prophecies dealing with reprobation, the prophet in a series of messages set forth the righteousness thereof. In the seventh year of the reign of Jehoiachin, that is four...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    Wherefore I gave (l) them also statutes [that were] not good, and judgments by which they should not live; (l) Because they would not obey my laws, I gave them up to themselves that they should obey t...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    Not good. The laws and ordinances of their enemies: or those imposed upon them by that cruel tyrant the devil, to whose power they were delivered up for their sins; (Challoner) which may be styled the...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    Thus slighted and despised by the fathers, the Lord looked to their children, that the rising generation might not be rebellious as their fathers had been. But the sin of rebellion, like a chain of ma...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    Here God announces that he had taken vengeance upon people so hard and obstinate, by permitting them to endure another yoke, since they would not be ruled by the doctrine of the law; for we saw that,...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 20 AND 21. Chapter 20 begins a new prophecy, which, with its subdivisions, continues to the end of chapter 23. It will have been remarked that the general div...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    WHEREFORE I GAVE THEM ALSO STATUTES [THAT WERE] NOT GOOD,.... Yea, were very bad; not the moral law, and the statutes of it; for that is holy, just, and good, though the killing letter and ministratio...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Wherefore I gave them also statutes [that were] not good, and judgments whereby they should not live; Ver. 25. _Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good._] _i.e.,_ I gave them up to the...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Wherefore I gave them statutes that were not good_, &c. This some understand of the ceremonial law, as if it were given purely to be a check and restraint to that perverse people, consisting of numer...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Wherefore I gave them also, in just retribution upon them, STATUTES THAT WERE NOT GOOD, which brought them no deliverance, no blessings, AND JUDGMENTS WHEREBY THEY SHOULD NOT LIVE, which would, on acc...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    IN THE WILDERNESS...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    10-26. The history of Israel in the wilderness is referred to in the new Testament as well as in the Old, for warning. God did great things for them. He gave them the law, and revived the ancient kee...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    Because they did by such perverse obstinacy reject the statutes I did in mercy give them; my good laws and judgments, saith God, they despised; for this cause God proceeds to punish them in a dreadful...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Ezekiel 20:25 gave H5414 (H8804) statutes H2706 good H2896 judgments H4941 live H2421 (H8799) I gave -...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    “Moreover I also gave them statutes which were not good, and judgments in which they would not live, and I polluted them in their own gifts in that they caused to pass through the fire all who opened...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Ezekiel 20:25 The prophet Ezekiel in the text announces a very solemn judgment of God upon those who refuse truth. The chiefs of the nation are before the prophet, requiring to know how God might be p...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Jehovah vindicated in the chastising of Israel. Israel's future judgment. Parable of the forest of the south field. CHARACTERS: God, Ezekiel. CONCLUSION: God takes it as an affront when tho...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Ezekiel 20:1. _The elders of Israel came to enquire of the Lord, and sat before me._ They still respected the divine καρισματα, or holy anointing of the Spirit; but they sought it for a reverse of the...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live._ THE JUDGMENT OF INVINCIBLE IGNORANCE These words have often formed the ground of infidel cavils, and theref...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    EZEKIEL—NOTE ON EZEKIEL 20:1 This lengthy oracle has two main parts: a review of Israel’s history of offending the Lord (vv. Ezekiel 20:1), and a preview of her future restoration (vv....

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    EZEKIEL—NOTE ON EZEKIEL 20:5 Israel’s story is told in five broad movements. The author describes the exodus generation first while they were in Egypt (vv. Ezekiel 20:5), then in the exodus itself (vv

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    EZEKIEL—NOTE ON EZEKIEL 20:22 The STATUTES THAT WERE NOT GOOD AND RULES BY WHICH THEY COULD NOT HAVE LIFE are a mixture of Israelite and pagan customs that the people followed. The fact that they were...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    (Ezekiel 20:18.) EXEGETICAL NOTES.—The prophet describes the sins of the generation that grew up in the desert. Ezekiel 20:18. “BUT I SAID UNTO THEIR CHILDREN.” The second generation of the children...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 20:1 A new date is given, and includes what follows to Ezekiel 23:49. The last note of time was in Ezekiel 8:1, and eleven months and five days had passed, during which the prop

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Now it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat before me (Ezekiel 20:1). Now this e...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    2 Thessalonians 2:9; Deuteronomy 28:36; Deuteronomy 4:27; Deuteronomy 4:28;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Wherefore — Because they rejected my good laws and judgments. I gave them — Not by enjoining, but by permitting them to make such for themselves. Not good — That were pernicious to the users....

  • When Critics Ask: A Popular Handbook on Bible Difficulties, Norman L. Geisler and Thomas Howe, 1960

    Are God’s statutes evil? PROBLEM: Ezekiel tells us that God “gave them up to statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they could not live.” However, the Bible declares that God’s laws are p...

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