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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezekiel 20:33-44

The design which was now on foot among the elders of Israel was that the people of Israel, being scattered among the nations, should lay aside all their peculiarities and conform to those among whom they lived; but God had told them that the design should not take effect, Ezek. 20:32. Now, in these verses, he shows particularly how it should be frustrated. They aimed at the mingling of the families of Israel with the families of the countries; but it will prove in the issue that the wicked... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 20:33

As I live, saith the Lord God ,.... The form of an oath; the Lord swears by his own life, used more than once before; it supposes something of moment, and the certain performance of it: surely with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm ; from which none can escape, and which none can withstand: and with fury poured out : like floods of water, in a violent hasty shower of rain; it denotes the abundance of divine wrath, and the sudden and sure execution of it: will I rule over... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 20:34

I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered ,.... The Egyptians, Ammonites, and others; where they went for safety and protection, and among whom they intended to settle, and had formed a scheme to cast off the yoke of God and his worship, and be no more a nation or people under his government; but mix themselves with these nations, and become a part of them, and join with them in all matters, civil, commercial, and religious; but... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 20:35

And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people ,.... Into Babylon, and into captivity there, which they thought to avoid by fleeing to other countries. Some think that those inhospitable nations are meant, Syro-media, Caspia, Hyrcania, Iberia, and others, into which many of the Jews were brought, who sought to live elsewhere than at Babylon; and others are of opinion that this respects the time of their return from Babylon to their own land, between which lay a wilderness, here... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 20:36

Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt ,.... Which was opposite the land of Egypt, near unto it, on the borders of it; and into which the people immediately went, when they came out of Egypt, and passed the Red sea; and the Arabic version is, "when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.' This refers to the controversy the Lord had with the Israelites for murmuring upon the report of the spies; and the sentence he passed upon them, that they should... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 20:37

And I will cause you to pass under the rod ,.... That is, such whom God will not take vengeance on, and shall not die in the wilderness of the people; but whom he will have mercy on, and show favour to, and bring at length into their own land; these he indeed will bring under the rod of correction and chastisement, by which they shall be brought to a sense of sin, a confession of it, humiliation for it, and to seek to Christ for salvation from it; or under the rod of his word, the rod of his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 20:38

And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me ,.... All men are enemies, and enmity itself, against God; and every sin is an act of hostility and rebellion against him; every transgression and violation of his law is a casting off of allegiance to him, and a trampling upon and despising his legislative power and authority; wherefore rebels and transgressors of his law are put together; the one being explanative of the other. The people of the Jews were... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 20:39

As for you, O house of Israel ,.... The then present house of Israel, and the elders of it, who were upon the spot with the prophet: go ye, serve ye everyone his idols ; or dunghill gods; since they liked not to serve the true God: this is not giving them leave to serve idols, or approving their idolatrous practices; but is said "ironically", as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe, who compare it with Ecclesiastes 11:9 , and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me ; not only serve... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 20:40

For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God ,.... Alluding to Mount Zion, or Moriah, on which the temple was built, on the highest part of the land of Israel, as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe; here the Gospel church is meant, comparable to a "mountain" for its firmness and durableness; said to be a "holy" one, because consisting of holy persons, performing holy worship to a holy God; and represented as "high", being established, as it will be in the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 20:41

I will accept you with your sweet savour ,.... Their sins being expiated by the sacrifice of Christ, which is unto God for a sweet smelling savour; and their persons being, clothed with the robe of his righteousness, and the garments of his salvation, all whose garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia; the Gospel being the savour of life unto life unto them; and the savour of the knowledge of Christ being communicated to them by it; and also the savour of his good ointments, the graces of... read more

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