Ezekiel 5:15 - Exposition

A reproach and a taunt, etc. An echo of Deuteronomy 28:37 . The accumulation of synonyms in both clauses of the verse is eminently characteristic of Ezekiel's style. Word follows word, like the strokes of a sledge hammer. The word for "instruction" is that which occurs so often in the Book of Proverbs ( Proverbs 1:2 , Proverbs 1:3 , and in twenty-two other passages). In Deuteronomy 11:12 ; Isaiah 53:5 ; Jeremiah 30:14 , the Authorized Version renders it "chastisement," and that sense is manifestly implied here. Jerusalem was, as it were, to be the great object lesson in God's education of mankind. And the final stroke of all is that the words were not the prophet's own, but "I the Lord have spokes it." The words reappear in Jeremiah 30:17 .