And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. That is, the word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum: this, according to Junius, was delivered out by the prophet on a sabbath day, the twenty first of the fifth month, and in the sixth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity; and so was more than a year after the vision at Chebar, Ezekiel 1:1 . read more
Son of man, set thy face towards the mountains of Israel ,.... Or cities of Israel, the inhabitants of them; not the ten tribes, for they had been carried captive long before this time, even in the times of Hezekiah; unless it can be thought that this prophecy is designed to show the reason of their captivity, which was their idolatry; or that it is directed to those of them which remained in the land, and were mixed with the other tribes; but rather the land of Judea is intended, in which... read more
And say, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God ,.... Since the people of the Jews would not hear the word of the Lord, the mountains are called upon to hear it; unless the inhabitants of the mountains are meant: thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys : these are addressed, because idols were worshipped here; as upon the mountains and hills, so by rivers of water, and also in valleys, as in the valley of Hinnom idols... read more
Set thy face toward the mountains of Israel - This is a new prophecy, and was most probably given after the four hundred and thirty days of his lying on his left and right side were accomplished. By Israel here, Judea is simply meant; not the ten tribes, who had long before been carried into captivity. Ezekiel uses this term in reference to the Jews only. The mountains may be addressed here particularly, because it was on them the chief scenes of idolatry were exhibited. read more
Verse 1 The Prophet now turns himself to the kingdom of Israel, since he had formerly spoken concerning the Jews alone. He says that he was divinely sent to the mountains of Israel. The first question may arise about the time; for the kingdom of Israel had been cut off, and the ten tribes dragged into exile- and the kingdom had come to an end in Ezekiel’s time. The time, therefore, does not seem to accord with the denunciation of the Prophet as to what had happened many years previously. But... read more
Verse 3 Now a clearer expression follows in the third verse: Thou shalt say, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. Here an audience is required of the mountains which they could not give, but that has respect to mankind, as I have just said. God, therefore, requires the mountains to listen, so that men may understand that an inanimate thing may be endued with sense, if their stupidity is considered. For at length God enforced his judgments against the mountains of Israel. Although,... read more
The doom of the mountains. After leaving the low flat shores of Egypt, the traveller is struck by a great contrast of scenery as he approaches the Holy Land, and sees the purple mountains rising one behind another from the sandhills of Jaffa in the foreground to the distant uplands of Judah far away in the interior of the country. On landing he finds that travelling in Palestine is a rough experience in mountaineering, for the territory of Israel is a mountain country. Though Ezekiel... read more
The idolatry of the land avenged. Turning from the city of Jerusalem to the land generally, the Prophet Ezekiel addresses himself to Israel, the nation whom God had chosen, and who had rejected God. By a striking figure of speech, he delivers his message to the mountains and hills, the water courses and ravines of Palestine. How dear all these features of the land of his fathers must have been to the prophet, we can easily imagine; national and religious associations must, in the course of... read more
The land involved in man's punishment. We have here a dramatic appeal to the stony hills of Palestine. Canaan is emphatically a mountainous country; and Ezekiel, speaking as the mouthpiece of God, addresses himself to the high places of Canaan, as the scenes of flagrant idolatry. From his residence by the banks of Chebar he could not see with his bodily eye these renowned, but now desecrated, hills; yet he sees them with the clear eye of imagination. His fervid appeal to these loved hills... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezekiel 6:1-7
Here, I. The prophecy is directed to the mountains of Israel (Ezek. 6:1, 2); the prophet must set his face towards them. If he could see so far off as the land of Israel, the mountains of that land would be first and furthest seen; towards them therefore he must look, and look boldly and stedfastly, as the judge looks at the prisoner, and directs his speech to him, when he passes sentence upon him. Though the mountains of Israel be ever so high and ever so strong, he must set his face against... read more