Ezekiel 5:13

13. I will be comforted “Either as rejoicing in the punishment of evil for its own sake (as Deuteronomy 28:63; Isaiah 1:24), or because the punishment does its work in leading men to repentance.” Plumptre.

They shall know that I the Lord have spoken it Constantly does Jehovah affirm that this punishment of Israel will produce among the nations an acknowledgment of his own power and Godhead. The object which he sought to accomplish, and did partially accomplish, by his wonderful deliverances of the Israelites, he will now accomplish by his equally wonderful punishments. Israel’s sin cannot minish Jehovah’s glory. The prophets need not plead for mercy to the disobedient people on the ground that otherwise the heathen would think Jehovah had not the power to deliver. The judgments upon the chosen people should be so startling that all would acknowledge that their God had forsaken them.

Zeal Literally, jealousy, heat of the soul. Jehovah could not accept, as did the heathen gods, a divided worship. This distinguished him among all gods. The heathen could worship many gods, but Jehovah grew hot with indignation if his worshiper recognized any other deity whatsoever. To the ancient world this was God’s most distinguished characteristic. The word may sound badly to modern ears, but jealousy, in the Bible sense, is the heat of love, and the emphasis of that monotheism which has conquered the earth.