Ezekiel 20 - Introduction

XX.

Here begins a new series of prophecies, extending to the close of Ezekiel 23, and immediately called out (Ezekiel 20:1), like Ezekiel 14, by an inquiry on the part of the elders of Israel. The subject of the inquiry is not given in either case, and can only be inferred from the prophecy itself. This series begins a little more than two years (two years, one month, and five days) after Ezekiel’s call to the prophetic office (Ezekiel 1:2), or a little less than a year (exactly eleven months and five days; comp. Ezekiel 20:1 with Ezekiel 8:1) after the beginning of the former series; and it is just two years and five months (Ezekiel 24:1) before another series begins. The following series is simultaneous in date with the commencement of the final siege of Jerusalem, and this series therefore, in part at least, must have extended over the time of the preparations for the siege, when generals and armies were marching out for the destruction of Jerusalem and the removal of the people. At this near approach of the long-threatened judgments these prophecies take a peculiarly dark and gloomy tone, relieved only by the briefest intimations of distant good. They are for the most part couched in plain language, though falling occasionally, especially in Ezekiel 23, more or less into an allegorical form.

Chapter 20 recounts the history of Israel along with the often repeated warnings given, and may be compared with Nehemiah 9; Psalms 78, and the speech of St. Stephen in Acts 7. It is also to a large extent a more literal repetition of the allegory of Ezekiel 16. After the first four introductory verses, the chapter falls into two main portions, the first of which (Ezekiel 20:5) is subdivided into five sections, corresponding to as many marked periods in the history of Israel.