Ezekiel 20:1

CHAPTER XX

A deputation of the elders of Israel, as usual, in their

distress, came to request Ezekiel to ask counsel of God, 1.

In reply to this, God commands the prophet to put them in mind

of their rebellion and idolatry: In Egypt, 2-9,

in the wilderness, 10-27,

and in Canaan, 28-32.

Notwithstanding which the Lord most graciously promises to

restore them to their own land, after they should be purged

from their dross, 33-44.

The five last verses of this chapter ought to begin the next,

as they are connected with the subject of that chapter, being a

prophecy against Jerusalem, which lay to the south of Chaldea,

where the prophet then was, and which here and elsewhere is

represented under the emblem of a forest doomed to be destroyed

by fire, 45-49.

NOTES ON CHAP. XX

Verse Ezekiel 20:1. In the seventh year] Of the captivity of Jeconiah, (see Ezekiel 8:1,) and the seventh of the reign of Zedekiah.

The fifth month, the tenth day] That is, according to Abp. Usher, Monday, August 27, A.M. 3411.

Certain of the elders of Israel] What these came to inquire about is not known. They were doubtless hypocrites and deceivers, from the manner in which God commands the prophet to treat them. It seems to have been such a deputation of elders as those mentioned Ezekiel 8:1; Ezekiel 14:1.