Ezekiel 20:47 - Exposition

All faces from the south to the north, etc. The phrase seems, at first, to pass from the figure to the reality. Possibly, however, face may stand for "the outward appearance," the leaves and branches, of the trees. "From the south ( Negeb ) to the north" takes the place of the older "from Dan to Beersheba" ( 20:1 ; 1 Samuel 3:20 ). Of that "fire" of judgment, it is said, as in our Lord's use of a like imagery, that it shall not be quenched ( Mark 9:43 ). It shall do its dread work till that work is accomplished.