Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 14:11
That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.
11. Yet all these judgments of God have a far-off merciful end in view. They are a blast of fire and of judgment to consume the sin of the people (Isa 4:4), and when the tempest is overpast the sky rises clear behind that the house of Israel go no more astray but that they may be My people and I may be their God.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
God, it has been said, punishes sins by means of sins, but the end is the re-establishment of righteousness.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eze 14:11
That the house of Israel may go no more astray from Me.
Chastisement of Gods people
Manton says, There is more squaring and hewing and hacking used about a stone that is to be set in a stately palace than that which is placed in an ordinary building; and the vine is pruned when the bramble is not looked after, but let alone to grow to its full length. This should reconcile believers to their chastisements. Brambles certainly have a fine time of it, and grow after their own pleasure. We have seen their long shoots reaching far and wide, and no knife has threatened them as they luxuriated upon the commons and waste lands. The poor vine is eat down so closely that little remains of it but bare stems. Yet, when clearing time comes, and the brambles are heaped for their burning, who would not rather be the vine? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Afflictions ever tend to a good and necessary effect or end, for Gods glory, and his peoples good, and so it is here.
The house of Israel; which are the seed of Jacob, and my people.
May go no more astray; they have wandered as sheep, which naturally are apt to go out of the way, and much more when seduced and drawn out of the way, but afflictions tend to reduce them from sheepish wanderings.
From me, their only God and Saviour.
Neither be polluted: idolatry is a great pollution, and ever attended with other transgressions and immoralities, which defile also; now by their present calamities God will open their eyes to see and abhor them.
That they may be my people; in name and external profession they were Gods people, but they had forgotten their relation, and the duty of it to Godward; now by these present corrections they shall be disposed to own and love, to obey and walk with, him, as he is their God, and they his people. This effect the rod will have on my own people.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. Love was the spring of God’svery judgments on His people, who were incurable by any other process(Eze 11:20; Eze 37:27).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me,…. Or from his worship, as the Targum; from the law of God, and obedience to it: sin is a going astray from God, a deviation from his commandments; it leads men out of the way of their duty into wrong paths, which issue in ruin, if grace prevent not; and sometimes the means which God makes use of for the restoring of his own people, and bringing them back to himself, are the punishments which he inflicts upon others; and which is his end in so doing, as it was here; that the false prophets, and those that followed them, being made examples of, might be a warning unto others, and caution them against falling into the same sins, that so they might not bear the same punishment; or be a means of reclaiming them from their errors, and for the future beware of going astray again:
neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; for every transgression, as it is an aberration from the law of God, so it is of a defiling nature: it defiles the mind and conscience, yea, the whole man, from which there is no cleansing but by the blood of Christ; it is loathsome in itself, contrary to the pure and holy nature of God, and abominable to a gracious mind, and therefore to be avoided; and which may be learnt from the punishment of it on others:
but that they may be my people and I may be their God, saith the Lord God; that is, that they may behave as such, and that it may appear that God is their God, and they are his people.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here God shows that there was no other remedy, if he would recall to safety those who had almost perished, and at the same time he teaches that it is useful to the Church to chastise those who had so impiously declined from himself. Meanwhile it happens that God thunders, and exercises his judgments even to the extreme of rigor: meanwhile men do not repent but remain obstinate: nay, the punishment which God inflicts upon the reprobate sinks them into deeper destruction. How so? Those who harden themselves against the hand of God heap upon themselves severer punishments, since the reprobate do not submit to the yoke when God wishes to correct their hardness and obstinacy. But here God announces that he will not be so severe as not to consult for their safety. But this contradiction might disturb many, since God destined the people as well as the false prophets to destruction, for this seems to render his covenant vain. But he prevents this question, and says, since he should exact such severe penalties from the despisers of his word and from apostates, that rigor would be useful to the Church. Now we understand the meaning of the saying, the house of Israel shall not err any more: since otherwise their obstinacy was incurable: and unless God had seriously roused them up, they had never been brought back into the way of their own accord. Here therefore God obliquely rebukes the hardness of his people, because they could not be instructed except by punishment. For incorrigible indeed are those sons who, while their father cherishes and indulges them, despise him, and become worse by the indulgence. Of this then God now complains, that the children of Israel were so untractable that they could not bear destruction, unless he descended to the utmost rigor. For it was a very sad spectacle, that God’s truth should be corrupted and adulterated by lies, and that the people, with those who imposed upon them, should utterly perish. But we now hear that there was but one remedy since the children of Israel were untameable, unless they were completely broken down. He now adds, from me: a phrase worthy of notice, for we here gather, that as soon as we bend ever so little from following God, we wander after errors: for we shall never hold on in the right way unless we follow God, that is, unless we are intent upon the end which he sets before us: and then unless our eyes are turned in the direction that he points out, lest we bend to either the right hand or the left. Thus we shall be beyond any danger of wandering if we, follow God: on the other hand, if our minds turn to either this side or that, and we are not retained in obedience to God alone, the Prophet teaches that we wander in error, and that this will at length turn out unhappily for us. When he speaks of the house of Israel, he does not embrace without exception those who spring from Jacob; for both the false prophets and those who consulted them were of Jacob’s line, and had a name in that family. But we have already seen what was decreed concerning them, namely, that God would destroy them and blot them out from the midst of his people. We see then that they are not; comprehended under the offspring of Abraham or the house of Israel; but this is restricted to the remnant of the people whom God wished to spare. For we know that there was always some seed left, that the covenant which had been made with Abraham might be firm and sacred. This sentence then properly refers to the elect, who are called by Paul the remnant of grace. (Rom 11:5.) But God says that the example would be useful to the survivors, since the punishment of others would instruct them: and when they should see the false prophets perish, and should acknowledge God’s remarkable judgment in their destruction, then they would profit by it. Now we understand what the Prophet means by the destruction of the false prophets and of those hypocrites who despised the true prophets, and prostituted themselves to be deceived by impostors: when God makes them an example of his wrath, the Prophet says that the house of Israel should receive advantage from their perishing, and profit by their utter ruin.
Now he adds, And that they should not be polluted any more in all their wickedness. Here he purposely enlarges on their crime, that he may the more magnify the mercy of God; for if they had been only moderately guilty, his pardoning them had not been so remarkable. But the Prophet here pronounces them abandoned in sin, and does not condemn them for one sin but for many: he says they were polluted and contaminated in their crimes: and when God’s mercy is extended to such as these, we discover with certainty how inestimable it is. Finally, let us learn from this passage, that God not only pardons men who transgress but lightly through want of thought and error, but that he is also merciful to the abandoned who are convicted of many iniquities. He says, that they may be my people and I may be their God. God had already adopted the whole seed of Abraham, and all were circumcised to a man: and thus they bore personally the testimony and covenant of God’s paternal favor. Since, therefore, they were already God’s people, and were considered as members of the Church, what can it mean that they shall be my people? For God seems here to promise them something new. But by this form of speech the Prophet marks their declension and manifests their deserts. For although God had thought them worthy of such honor as to reckon them among his elect people, yet they had cast themselves out by their own depravity. For since all religion among them was corrupt, God’s worship was profaned, his whole law almost buried, and they were separated as far as possible from God, as we shall afterwards see. On the part of God the adoption remained firm: but here Ezekiel regards their condition if they would really look at it themselves, namely, as one of estrangement, since their own wickedness had cut them off: hence he speaks as of a new benefit when he says, they should be for a people when they repented.
The second chapter of Hosea will help us to understand this more clearly, when it is said,
“
I will call them my people who are not my people, and her beloved who is not beloved.” (Hos 2:23.)
For the Prophet was commanded to go into an improper house and to take an impure female and to beget sons: he says that a son was born to whom God gave the name לאעמי, lagnemi, it shall not be my people: and then when a daughter was born, she was unworthy of love. There Hosea signifies that the Jews were cut off from the sacred root, and he speaks not of one or two, but of the whole race; for they were neither God’s people nor a beloved daughter. Afterwards when reconciled, they begin again to be God’s people and a beloved daughter. Paul does not accommodate that sentence to the calling of the Gentiles rashly: (Rom 9:25,) namely, that there was no difference between Jews and Gentiles, since the former were rejected. Whatever it is, we see that those who had a place and a name among God’s people, and whom he had chosen for himself, were cast off and had become strangers through their own fault. Thus they begin to be God’s people afresh when they repent and God receives them to favor. The conclusion is, I will restore them afresh, that my covenant may be renewed in some way, that they may be my people as they formerly were; and I may be to them a God, since by their own backsliding they deserved to be treated as entire strangers. Besides, it is well to remember what we said elsewhere, that under these words is contained whatever belongs to solid happiness. For if God acknowledges us as his people, we are certain of our salvation, as when he pronounces that he will be our God while we call upon him as a father. But whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Joe 2:32; Act 2:21; Rom 10:13.) Then we must remember that celebrated sentence of the Prophet Habakkuk, You art our God: we shall not die. (Hab 1:12.) Lastly, we have nothing else to wish for towards the fullness of all good things and confidence in eternal life, than that God should reckon us among his people, so that there may be open to us a free access to him in prayer. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) May go no more astray.Here is given the object of all the previous severity of judgmentthat Israel may be brought to a true repentance and be reunited in communion with God.
The prophet is now directed, in a distinct communication, to meet the thought which was evidently in the minds of the people, that Jerusalem would yet be spared for the sake of the righteous dwelling therein, as had been promised to Abraham even in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:23-32). The course of thought is this: If any land should sin as grievously as Israel had done, and God should send a judgment, it would not be spared, though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it. This is repeated in connection with each one of four successively mentioned judgments; and then the climax is reached, that much less can Jerusalem be spared when all these judgments are combined together. In the end, the justice of the Divine dealings shall be acknowledged.
A few years earlier, Jeremiah (Jeremiah 14, 15) had uttered a very similar prophecy in connection with the denunciation of false prophets (Jer. 14:13; Jer. 14:15) in which not only he himself is forbidden to intercede for the people Jer. 14:11), but it is said (Jer. 15:1) that the presence of Moses and Samuel would be unavailing.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. That the house of Israel may go no more astray This penalty, which shall fall upon both prophet and people, is not because of God’s vengeance, but because of his mercy. God’s punishments are reformatory, and true prophecy and true religion prosper by the destruction of the false.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ “That the house of Israel may go astray from me no more, nor defile themselves any more with all their transgressions, but that they may be my people, and I may be their God,” says the Lord Yahweh.’
God’s purpose behind all this, both in what He allowed, and in the judgment He brought on those who continued in sin and idolatry, was in the end for the sake of His true people. He was wooing them and teaching them lessons by His judgments so that they would learn their lesson and once and for all turn their back on idolatry and look to Him. Then He would be their God, and they would truly be His people. This in the end lay behind all the judgments pronounced by Ezekiel. In the end their aim was mercy on those who would respond.
How often men come to God’s people with smooth words that seem so plausible. A small change here, a slightly different interpretation there that is not quite in accordance with God’s word, but pleases men. And they are such good and sincere people. And they deceive many. But they cannot finally deceive God’s true people (1Jn 2:20). And God allows it because that is what the people want. If they do not want His word in its fullness, He will let them have another. But it will stand against them in the judgment. In the words of Yahweh through His prophet, ‘if they do not speak according to My word, it is because there is no life in them.’
The Presence Of The Righteous Few Will Not Cause the Many To Be Spared.
Now came a new argument, that the presence of righteous men among Israel would not defer the judgment of God. The time for that was past. The thought looks back to Abraham’s pleas over Sodom when ten righteous men would have been sufficient to stave off judgment (Gen 18:32). But there were not such, there was only Lot and his family, and judgment came. However they were not to see hope in this, for even if three of the most righteous men in history had been among them they would not be able to defer this judgment that God had determined. Only the righteous themselves would be spared, as Lot was out of Sodom. And the judgment will be terrible and lasting, composed of famine, sword, dangerous wild beasts and pestilence.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 14:11 That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.
Ver. 11. That the house of Israel may go no more astray. ] Thus “when God’s judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” Isa 26:9 Those elect that were bad will become good, and they that were good will he made better. Poena ad paucos, metus ad omnes. When a few are punished, all fear.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
transgressions = rebellions. Hebrew. pasha’. App-44,
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
saith the Lord God, = [is] Adonai Jehovah’s oracle.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the house: Eze 34:10-31, Eze 44:10, Eze 44:15, Eze 48:11, Deu 13:11, Deu 19:20, Psa 119:67, Isa 9:16, Jer 23:15, Jer 50:6, 2Pe 2:15
neither: Eze 11:18-20, Eze 36:25-29, Eze 37:23
that they: Eze 34:30, Eze 36:28, Eze 37:27, Eze 39:22, Gen 17:7, Jer 11:4, Jer 31:33, Jer 32:38, Zec 13:9, Heb 8:10, Heb 11:16, Rev 21:7
Reciprocal: Isa 61:6 – named Eze 11:20 – and they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
14:11 That the house of {g} Israel may no more go astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.
(g) Thus God’s judgments against the wicked are admonitions to the godly to cleave to the Lord and not to defile themselves with the same abominations.