New indictment of Jerusalem The passage has three divisions: First, Ezekiel 22:1. The sins of Jerusalem, especially her two crying ones, idolatry and bloodshed (Ezekiel 22:1); along with the dark catalogue of other offences (Ezekiel 22:6). Secondly, Ezekiel 22:13. Necessity and certainty of her j... [ Continue Reading ]
_wilt thou judge_ See on ch. Ezekiel 20:4, cf. Ezekiel 23:36. _yea, thou shalt shew_ Rather: THEN THOU SHALT CAUSE HER TO KNOW … Ezekiel 22:3 AND THOU SHALT SAY.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the city sheddeth_ Rather as address: CITY THAT SHEDDETH! ch. Ezekiel 24:6; Ezekiel 24:9. Her "time" is that of her chastisement, cf. Ezekiel 30:3 "the time of the heathen," Jeremiah 27:7. So Ezekiel 22:4, "days" and "years," i.e. full number of thy years. _against herself_ Rather: UNTO herself, p... [ Continue Reading ]
The "blood" is not only that of her children sacrificed to the idols, but judicial and other murders, cf. Ezekiel 22:6_; Ezekiel 22:9_. Cf. Ezekiel 23:37; Ezekiel 24:6; Ezekiel 24:9. _therefore have I made_ prophetic perf., cf. "shall mock" Ezekiel 22:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
_much vexed_ FULL OF TUMULTS, Amos 3:9, and on ch. Ezekiel 5:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
Particular enumeration of Jerusalem's sins 6. The "princes" are those of the royal house. _were … to their power_ HAVE BEEN HIGH-HANDED IN THEE, TO SHED. The meaning is not that they shed blood to the utmost of their power, but that they were arbitrary; their power, lit. _arm_, was the only law.... [ Continue Reading ]
"They" no more refers to the princes, but is said generally. On "father and mother" Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16; Deuteronomy 27:16. On "stranger" ch. Ezekiel 18:18; Exodus 22:21. On "fatherless," Exodus 22:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou hast despised_ Jerusalem or the community is addressed, cf. Ezekiel 22:26, ch. Ezekiel 20:13; Ezekiel 20:16, &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
Informers and false witnesses, Jeremiah 9:3; Exodus 23:1; Leviticus 19:16. Cf. ch. Ezekiel 18:6; Ezekiel 18:11. _commit lewdness_ This clause should probably introduce the vices in Ezekiel 22:10. Idolatry is metaphorically "lewdness," but here it is not the community but individuals who are spoken... [ Continue Reading ]
Leviticus 18:7; Leviticus 20:11, defiled their father's wife, i.e. their stepmother, or some of their father's concubines; cf. 2 Samuel 16:22. _set apart for pollution_ UNCLEAN FROM HER IMPURITY, ch. Ezekiel 18:6; Leviticus 18:19; Leviticus 20:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
Leviticus 18:20; Leviticus 20:10; Leviticus 18:15; Leviticus 20:12; Leviticus 18:9; Leviticus 20:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
_taken gifts_ i.e. bribes, said of judges, Exodus 23:8; Isaiah 1:23; Micah 3:11 Cf. ch. Ezekiel 18:13; Ezekiel 23:35. _by extortion_ OPPRESSION, or violence, as Ezekiel 22:7. The vices here enumerated follow one another without any strict connexion. 1. The despotic conduct of the princes, whose powe... [ Continue Reading ]
The judgment on these vices 13. _smitten mine hand clapped my hands_, cf. Ezekiel 21:14; Ezekiel 21:17; Ezekiel 6:11. The gesture is expressive of violent agitation, though the agitation may be due to different emotions here disdain and dislike.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cf. Ezekiel 21:7, "every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cf. ch. Ezekiel 23:27-28; Ezekiel 36:25; Ezekiel 36:29.... [ Continue Reading ]
_take thine inheritance_ According to the points: and thou shalt be profaned in (through) thyself. The idea that Jehovah "profanes" his people by casting them out of their land is not uncommon, Isaiah 43:28; Isaiah 47:6, cf. Ezekiel 24:21 (Ezekiel 28:16). It is doubtful if it be anywhere said that t... [ Continue Reading ]
Judgment on Israel under the figure of a smelting furnace. Israel is dross and base metal, which must be flung into the furnace.... [ Continue Reading ]
_dross_of _silver_ In construction "silver" is in apposition with dross. For the figure cf. Isaiah 1:22; Isaiah 48:10; Jeremiah 6:28-30; Malachi 3:2-3.... [ Continue Reading ]
_midst of Jerusalem_ Cf. ch. 24.... [ Continue Reading ]
The figure of the furnace expresses mainly the idea of the terrible trials approaching; it is not intimated that pure silver was obtained from the process. In a prophet toward the end of the exile Jehovah complains that his casting Israel into the furnace had been barren of result, Isaiah 48:10. Ez... [ Continue Reading ]
_the land … not cleansed_ A land. The words "not cleansed" are parallel to "not rained upon." In the east, however, raining upon is not a figure for cleansing, but for removing the curse and judgment, and blessing with fertility (Jeremiah 3:3). LXX. has "not wetted by rain" here, which most moderns... [ Continue Reading ]
_conspiracy of her prophets_ More probably with LXX., WHOSE PRINCES IN THE MIDST OF HER are like … The prophets are spoken of Ezekiel 22:28. The "princes" are those of the royal house, ch. Ezekiel 19:1; Ezekiel 21:12; Ezekiel 22:6; Ezekiel 45:8-9; those called "princes" in Ezekiel 22:27 are the chie... [ Continue Reading ]
The great influence possessed by the priests in this age appears from the place they occupy next the royal house. Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 2:26; Jeremiah 4:9; Jeremiah 8:1; Jeremiah 13:13; Jeremiah 26:11. _between the holy and profane_ ch. Ezekiel 44:23; Jeremiah 15:19;... [ Continue Reading ]
_Her princes_ The "princes" here are the chiefs or leaders of the people, cf. Jeremiah 26:10; Jeremiah 36:12. _get dishonest gain_ Cf. Jeremiah 6:13; Jeremiah 8:10. The term is used pretty generally, of selfish advantage.... [ Continue Reading ]
_have daubed them_ daubed FOR THEM, seconding them. The persons called "princes" may be referred to, but not exclusively. Cf. ch. Ezekiel 13:10, and Ezekiel 13:6-7.... [ Continue Reading ]
_people of the land_ The phrase for the common people already, Jeremiah 37:2, and common in Ezekiel 7:27; Ezekiel 12:19, &c. The "people of the land" is certainly subject here, cf. Ezekiel 22:7, ch. Ezekiel 18:12; Jeremiah 23:34; Jeremiah 26:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
All classes (Ezekiel 22:25) are alike corrupt; a man to stand in the breach in behalf of the people is looked for in vain, cf. Jeremiah 5:1. For "hedge" better FENCE, cf. on Ezekiel 13:5. A "man" here is not a man to intercede, but a man to interpose, to stem the tide of ruin and turn the fortunes... [ Continue Reading ]
_have I poured_ Prophetic perfect; the end is as good as come, Ezekiel 22:3. The result of this moral paralysis of the people must be its destruction. In the passages cited from Isaiah, written later and at a different juncture, the Lord himself interposes as saviour, there being none else.... [ Continue Reading ]