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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 20:35

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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 20:35

I will bring you into the wilderness of the people - I will bring you out of your captivity, and bring you into your own land which you will find to be a wilderness, the consequence of your crimes. There will I plead with you - There I will be your king, and rule you with a sovereign rule; and the dispensations of my justice and mercy shall either end you or mend you. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 20:35

Verse 35 He specially marks this reason here, which is a medium between rejection and reconciliation to favor: for God’s bringing the Israelites out of Chaldaea might seem a sign of favor, as if he were again their deliverer. But he here defines why he intended to bring them forth, namely, to plead with them in the desert as with their fathers. We know that when the people came out of Egypt they did not possess the promised land, because they shut the door against themselves by their... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 20:32-38

The purpose of Israel's election. The prophecy at this point turns from the story of the past to the prediction and prospect of the future. I. GOD 'S PURPOSES CANNOT BE FULFILLED BY THE ABSORPTION OF ISRAEL AMONG THE HEATHEN . Exile and dispersion were appointed as chastisement and discipline. And there were those among the Hebrews who thought that, as a nation, they might amalgamate with the heathen, and might "serve wood and stone." To human apprehension,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 20:33-38

The sovereignty of God in the punishment of sin. "As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm," etc. The connection of this paragraph with what has gone before, and especially with Ezekiel 20:32 , is of the closest character; it is, in fact, essential. Three leading points require attention. I. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD OVER MEN , NOTWITHSTANDING THEIR SINS , ASSERTED . ( Ezekiel 20:33 .) The Israelites had resolved to be... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 20:33-44

Judicial discrimination. As among men, when matters of serious importance have to be determined, there is the employment of a religious oath, in other words, a solemn appeal that God should witness the truthfulness of the parties; so, when God discloses his intentions respecting the destiny of men, he speaks with a view to produce the deepest impression. He stakes his own existence upon the certainty of the event. I. GOD 'S RULE IS DIRECTED SOLELY FOR MAN 'S PURITY .... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 20:34-35

The prophet's words seem to look beyond the horizon of any fulfilment as yet seen in history, of which the return of the exiles under Zerubbabel was but the pledge and earnest. He contemplates not a return straight from Babylon to Jerusalem, but a gathering from all the countries in which they had been scattered ( Isaiah 11:11 ). When gathered, the whole nation is to be brought into the wilderness of the peoples, bordered by many nations. This may probably point to the great Syro-Arabian... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 20:35

A human wilderness. I. WHAT IT IS . Israel is to be brought "into the wilderness of the peoples." The wanderings of their fathers was in "a waste howling wilderness" ( Deuteronomy 32:10 ), among the wild beasts and far from the cities and homes of men; but the exile of the nation in Ezekiel's day was a transportation into the midst of the settled populous country of Babylon. ChaLdea was no Siberia. Banishment from Canaan did not lead to a return to the freedom and the hardships of... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ezekiel 20:32-44

God’s future dealings with His people:(1) in judgment Ezekiel 20:32-38;(2) in mercy Ezekiel 20:39-44.Ezekiel 20:32The inquirers had thought that if Jerusalem were taken, and the whole people became sojourners in a foreign land, they would cease to be a separate nation. In their love for idolatry some may have even desired this. But more probably they thought that this very consequence precluded the possibility of such a catastrophe. God answers that He will not allow them to become as the... read more

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