_It came to pass in the seventh year_, &c. Namely, of Jehoiakim's
captivity. All the prophecies recorded from the eighth chapter to
this, probably belong to the sixth year of that captivity. _Certain of
the elders came to inquire_, &c. Came to me, as the prophet of God, to
inquire what would be the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wilt thou judge them_ Or, rather, _Wilt thou not judge them?_ Wilt
thou not reprove, or condemn them? Wilt thou not denounce my judgments
against them? _Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers_
The abominable crimes of which their fathers have been guilty, and
which they themselves, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the day when I chose Israel_ When I entered into a solemn
covenant. _And lifted up my hand_, &c. That is, _sware_ unto them,
this being a gesture used in swearing: see the margin, and notes on
Genesis 14:22, and Psalms 144:8. “Among the Jews the juror held up
his right hand toward heaven; which... [ Continue Reading ]
_To bring them into a land that I had espied for them_ Which I chose
out of all others to bestow it upon them. So God is said _to go before
them, to search out a place to pitch their tents in, Deuteronomy
1:33_. The expressions import, that every step the people took, till
their settlement in the la... [ Continue Reading ]
_Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes_ The idols to
which your eyes are lifted up. One of the chief allurements to the
worship of images is, that by way of indulgence to men's imagination,
they exhibit a visible object of adoration. This was what the
Israelites were so fond of, when t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of Egypt_ Removed all
obstacles, furnished them with all necessaries, went before them, and
showed them the way they should go, Exodus 13:17; _And brought them
into the wilderness_ It was not Moses's error, though Pharaoh thought
so, Exodus 14:3, but the pecu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Moreover, I gave them my sabbaths_ Including the weekly sabbaths, the
sabbatical years, and all the solemn days of divine worship, in which
no servile work was to be done: _to be a sign between me and them _ A
sign of their being peculiarly my people, and to distinguish them from
all other people,... [ Continue Reading ]
_But the house of Israel_ Not a few, but the generality of the people;
_rebelled against me_ Were undutiful, disobedient, contumacious, and
even openly and repeatedly rebellious; _in the wilderness _ Where they
were receiving daily and great mercies from me; where they were on
their way to Canaan, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_But I said unto their children in the wilderness_ In the plains of
Moab; _Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers_ Imitate not their
superstitious usages, nor retain their foolish and wicked customs, but
walk in the statutes of your God. This refers to the many pathetical
exhortations contained... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 numerous
rites and observances, many of which had no intrinsic good in them.
“But I conceive,” says Lowth... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore, son of man, speak_, &c. Here the prophet proceeds with the
story of their rebellions for their further humiliation, and shows
that they persisted in them after they were settled in the land of
Canaan. _Thus saith the Lord, Yet in this_, &c. Or, _Moreover in this,
your fathers have blasph... [ Continue Reading ]
_Say unto the house of Israel_ To the elders now sitting before thee,
and through them to the rest of their brethren; _Are ye polluted after
the manner of your fathers_ After all that God hath said to and
against you by a succession of prophets, and done against you by a
series of judgments, yet wil... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely with a mighty hand_, &c. I will no longer try to reclaim you
by the gentle methods of patience and forbearance, but will govern
you, as masters do bad servants, by stripes and corrections; and by
this means cure you of your inclinations to the heathen customs and
idolatries. _And I will brin... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will cause you to pass under the rod_ Of punishment. I will bring
you under the chastisement due to you for breaking my covenant. Or
there may be an allusion to the custom of numbering flocks and herds,
by striking them with a rod: and so the sense will be, “I will take
an exact account of you, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_As for you, O house of Israel, go ye, serve_, &c. Go at present, and
serve your idols; persist in your idolatries, agreeably to the
stubbornness of your hearts. An indignant concession. _And hereafter
also_, _if ye will not hearken unto me_ And continue to do so if you
are resolved not to do accord... [ Continue Reading ]
_For in my holy mountain_, &c. The holy hill of Zion, holy through
God's appointing it for the place of his temple. _The mountain of the
height of Israel_ See Ezekiel 17:23; Micah 4:1. Though mount Zion was
not one of the highest mountains of Israel, yet God manifesting his
presence there in his tem... [ Continue Reading ]
_And there shall ye remember your ways_ There, in my holy mountain, in
Zion, when you are restored to your own land; and more especially in
the Christian Church, when, in consequence of your conversion, you
enter into it, and enjoy the privileges of it, ye shall remember and
be humbled on account of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Moreover, the word of the Lord_, &c. Here we have a new prophecy,
with which Houbigant, following many learned commentators, begins the
xxist chapter, and that very properly; for what is contained in that
chapter is only an explanation of what is contained in the remainder
of this. _Son of man, set... [ Continue Reading ]