Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 11:12
And ye shall know that I [am] the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that [are] round about you.
Eze 11:12
But have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.
Yielding to ones surroundings
Surely there is nothing walks the earth more contemptible, as well as more certainly evil, than a man who lets himself be made by whatever force may happen to be strongest near him, and fastening up his helm, and unshipping his oars, is content to be blown about by every vagrant wind, and rolled in the trough of each curling wave. (A. Maclaren.)
Do not leg the world mould you
I beseech you all, and especially you young people, not to let the world take and mould you, like a bit of soft clay put into a brick-mould, but to lay a masterful hand upon it, and compel it to help you, by Gods grace, to be nobler, and truer, and purer. (A. Maclaren.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Ye shall know; though you would not believe my threats, nor fear them, you shall feel them, and then you shall know: thus the wicked learn.
I am the Lord, whom you should have obeyed, feared, and returned to, and who now convinceth you of his and his prophets truth in all that was foretold you.
Walked; a Scripture phrase expressive of the course of mans life.
My statutes; the rules for religious observances.
My judgments refer to the political and civil state, where equity and justice should have been ministered.
After the manners of the heathen; in matters of religion you have turned downright idolaters, and with the, greatest contempt of your God, the only true God, you have changed him for gods of the heathen round about, and taken in their modes and abominations. And as to civil matters, you have been as unjust, oppressive, and perfidious as these nations that know not my law.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. (Deu 12:30;Deu 12:31).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And ye shall know that I [am] the Lord,….
[See comments on Eze 11:10];
for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments; which is the reason why the Lord would judge them on the border of Israel, and deliver them up into the hands of strangers; nor can he be thought to act the severe and cruel part to them, when this their disobedience is observed; since they had his statutes and his judgments made known to them, which were not known to other nations, and yet they regarded them not; wherefore it was but righteous in him to inflict his judgments upon them; and which is the more aggravated by what follows, and which still more clearly shows the justice of the divine proceedings against them:
but have done after the manners of the Heathens that [are] round about you; or, “the judgments of the Heathens” h; regarded them, and acted according to them, when they slighted and disobeyed the judgments of the Lord; instead of worshipping of him according to his revealed will, they served the idols of the nations round about them, and gave into all their superstitious rites and ceremonies.
h “juxta judicia genitium”, Pagninus, Montanus; “secundum jura gentium”, Junius Tremellius Piscator; “secundum judicia gentium”, Cocceius, Starckius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He repeats what he had said, that they would acknowledge too late how impiously and wickedly they had despised the prophecies: because this was to draw down God himself from heaven; for God wishes that reverence which he exacts from us to be given to his own word. Therefore men rage in contempt of his teaching, as if after the manner of giants they wished to draw God down from heaven. But he expresses the cause more clearly: because indeed they have not walked in his law and his precepts; but have entangled themselves in the superstitions of the nations Here we see that God could not possibly be accused of too much rigor, because he executed a judgment so heavy and severe against the Jews. For he had given them the law. This was the greatest ingratitude, to reject the teaching, which ought to be familiar to them, and at the same time to add to it the impious rites of the Gentiles: this was to prefer the devil to God himself with full deliberation. Hence God shows that although he would treat the Jews severely, yet that his wrath was moderate compared with their sins: because nothing was wanting to complete their impiety when they so rejected his law. When therefore he says that they did not walk in the law, he takes this principle for granted, that the law was not given in vain, but that in it the Jews were, faithfully and clearly taught the right way, as also Moses says, “this is the way, walk ye in it.” There is no doubt that Ezekiel referred to that sentence of Moses, when he said,
that the Jews did not walk in the law, and did not perform the judgments of God. (Deu 5:33; Isa 30:21.)
Since therefore God has shown the way, so that they had no excuse for wandering, how great was their ingratitude in leaving the way and willfully casting themselves into wanderings?
Now comparison aggravates their crime, when he says, that they preferred the judgments and rites of the Gentiles which were around them Because they had unbelieving neighbors, God had opposed his law like a rampart to separate them from the profane Gentiles. Since therefore they had so far approached these detestable rites, and that too by rejecting utterly the law of God, do we not perceive that they were worthy of severe punishment? Meanwhile let us observe, when God has borne with us a long time, if we persist in our obstinacy, that nothing else is left but the extinction of the light of doctrine, and that God should show himself in some other manner. For the Prophet’s discourse is like a glass, in which God represents himself. But when we shut our eyes and throw down the glass and break it, then God shows himself in some other manner; that is, he no longer thinks it right to show us his face, but teaches us by his hand, and convinces us of our impious obstinacy by a proof of his power, because we were unwilling to submit to his teaching. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
“And you will know that I am Yahweh, for you have not walked in my statutes, nor have you carried out my judgments, but have done after the ordinances of the nations that are round about you.”
The result of what was to happen to them would bring home to them that Yahweh was not there to be trifled with. They would know that He was Yahweh. He was their covenant God, the One Who was there, the One Who controlled their destiny. But they had ignored His requirements, they had not walked in His ways and in His statutes, they had not ruled justly under His guidance and according to His will. Rather they had chosen to abide by the principles and ideas and customs taught by nations round about, worshipping their gods and walking in their ways at the same time as they claimed to belong to Yahweh. They had sunk themselves to their level, and put Yahweh on a level with the gods of other nations, powerless, amoral and ineffective.
This was in the end the reason for their certain judgment. They had forsaken the Instruction (Torah) of Yahweh, and indeed had it not been for this judgment on Israel which forced them into preserving it, and into once again recognising Yahweh for what He was, it might have been lost for ever, a huge loss to the world beyond description. God would have had to raise up another Abraham and begin again.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 11:12. The Lord: For, &c. The Lord; because ye have not walked, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 11:12 And ye shall know that I [am] the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that [are] round about you.
Ver. 12. And ye shall know that I am the Lord. ] That which ye would not take knowledge of by the words of your prophets, ye shall now be made to know by the swords of your enemies.
For ye have not walked in my statutes.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
statutes . . . judgments. See note on Deu 4:1. have
done after the manners, &c. Reference to Pentateuch, (Lev 18:3, Lev 18:4. Deu 12:30, Deu 12:31). App-92.
heathen = nations.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
for we have not walked, or, which have not walked, Eze 11:21, Eze 20:16, Eze 20:21, Eze 20:24, Lev 26:40, 1Ki 11:33, 2Ki 21:22, Ezr 9:7, Neh 9:34, Psa 78:10, Jer 6:16, Dan 9:10
but: Eze 8:10, Eze 8:14, Eze 8:16, Eze 16:44-47, Lev 18:3, Lev 18:24-28, Deu 12:30, Deu 12:31, 2Ki 16:3, 2Ki 16:10, 2Ki 16:11, 2Ki 17:11-23, 2Ki 18:12, 2Ki 21:2, 2Ch 13:9, 2Ch 28:3, 2Ch 33:2-9, 2Ch 36:14, Psa 106:35-39, Jer 10:2
Reciprocal: 1Ki 20:28 – ye shall know Eze 6:7 – and ye Eze 11:20 – they may Eze 13:9 – and ye Eze 37:6 – ye shall Mat 18:17 – a heathen
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 11:12. Over and over the motive, “shall know that I am the Lord,..” was stated to the people of Judah. That was especially fitting among a people who had been led off into the worship of strange and false gods.