Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 14:23
And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 14:23
Ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.
Waiting for Gods vindication
I. The truths doubted. In all ages, as in our own, men have doubted the goodness and justice of God, and have murmured at His acts. They reject consolation, and charge Jehovah with cruelty. Speak of the sufferings of Jesus for us, and the agnostic declares that is simply another example of injustice.
II. Causes of scepticism. Ask for a reason of doubt, and the rationalist asserts that pain contradicts either the goodness or the power of the Divine Being. But reasons given are not always causes. Grief is selfish, and tears blind us. Most people in trouble are like a ship directed by a careless captain, and left with full canvas when the tempest bursts upon it. We sink because we are not prepared for gales. Men indulge false hopes, refuse all warnings, expect all things but death, and when the end comes they cry out that they have been wronged. Custom makes them regard a loan as a possession, and they call restoration robbery.
III. The futility of doubt. Of what use is doubt of the fundamental truths of Christianity? How does it work? A sinner suffering penalty is hardened by doubt of Gods justice, and discouraged from repentance by question of His mercy. A saint in agony and near to death is plunged in deeper darkness by doubt of all that remains to her. Doubt confirms a transgressor, and robs the holy of consolation. To whom, then, is it good?
IV. Comfort in Gods truth. If we could look at sin in its hideous deformity, its deep guilt, its inhuman effects, with sound vision, we mould be slow to complain. If God did not punish moral evil we could not respect Him, and if He permitted wrong to go uncorrected the holy could not hope. Haste and impatience hide truth from us. If we could see the results of suffering in character we might be consoled. History is an account of the martyrdom of man. But martyrs have not complained. They have preferred truth, beauty, goodness to the alternatives, and have not regretted the price. Can we confide in God and wait? And while you wait, be not idle. There are works meet for repentance. Gods winds are hard to face as head winds, but wondrously helpful to those who will sail with them. The Divine purpose works toward correction of evil and edification of good. Build with God, and you will have naught to tear down. (C. R. Henderson, D. D.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 23. Ye shall know that I have not done without cause] There is no part of the conduct of God towards man that is not dictated by the purest principles of justice, equity, and truth. He does nothing but what is right; and whatever is right to be done, that ought to be done. In God’s justice there is no severity; in God’s mercy there is no caprice. He alone doth all things well; for he is the Fountain of justice and mercy.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They that survive the siege, famine, and ruin of Jerusalem, and are brought to Babylon,
shall comfort you; either confessing their faults in not doing as you had done, justifying the wise course they took who yielded, condemning the folly of hardening themselves against God, his judgments, and his prophets; or be matter of comfort, affording to you just ground of comforting yourselves.
When ye see their ways: understand it in the effects of it upon the ruined Jews; or, in the relation which they will make both of their sins and sufferings in the land of Canaan.
Ye, you of the first captivity, you that obeyed my voice, and submitted to the Babylonian yoke,
shall know, be fully satisfied, that I have had but too much cause, and most just reason, for all that I have done against Jerusalem and its land, and inhabitants of both; you shall know my hand, and as you feel the weight, so you shall see the justice of it too against them, and the mercy of it towards you.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. they shall comfort younotin words, but by your recognizing in their manifest guilt, that Godhad not been unjustly severe to them and the city.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings,…. Not that their sinful ways and doings would be comfortable to them, but either their acknowledgments of them, and repentance for them; or, seeing their dissolute manner of life, it would be a means of composing their minds, and making them easy under the providence; being now satisfied that God was just in bringing upon them all the evils he had, and that they were punished according to their deserts, and less than their sins deserved:
and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God; that there was just reason for it; that he was sufficiently provoked to do it; and that it was necessary it should be done, for his own honour, and the good of others.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He now puts the verb for comforting in the third person, but in the same sense, because after the Jews shall have been led captive, they will bear sure and special marks of God’s justice against their sins. This, then, is the consolation, as I explained it yesterday, while the exiles acknowledge that cruelty cannot be ascribed to God, as if he had exceeded moderation in exacting punishment; for the desperate wickedness of the people demanded it. But this passage contains a useful doctrine, since we collect from it that we are never tranquil in our minds unless when the greatest equity and justice appears in God’s judgments, and become present to our minds. As long, therefore, as we do not acknowledge God to be severe in just cases, our minds must necessarily be disturbed and disarranged: hence the word “consolation” is opposed to those turbulent thoughts. But since nothing is more miserable than to be distracted and drawn hither and thither, and to be anxiously disturbed, let us learn that those profit most who acquiesce in God’s judgments, although they do not perceive the reason of them, yet modestly adore them. But when God shows why he treats either us or others so severely, this is a special favor, since he offers us material for joy and tranquillity. Let us proceed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
REFLECTIONS
READER! have you never seen a congregation like the one here described by the Prophet? But what a bubble is man to himself, that thus trifles with the Lord and deceives his own heart? Lord! help both Writer and Reader to keep the foot when, going to the house of God, and earnestly desire to worship God, who is a Spirit in spirit and in truth.
Precious Lord Jesus! do I set in Thy types Noah, Daniel, and Job, behold yet more and more Thy glorious person, work, and righteousness? What but Thine holiness, O Thou Lamb of God! can shelter from Divine wrath in the day of Divine visitation? And what but Thy blood, sprinkled on the consciences, can keep the destroying angel from entering in on the day of slaughter the houses even of thy Israel? Oh! Almighty God and Father! we bless Thee for Thy grace and mercy, and the fulfillment of all Thy covenant engagements, in bringing out from destruction, and bringing home to everlasting safety, the remnant of Thy sons and daughters. Blessed forever be Jehovah, in all his doings and all his ways. Truly, Lord, it must be said, both in judgment and in mercy the Lord hath done all things well. He hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 14:23 And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD.
Ver. 23. And they shall comfort, ] i.e., Quiet and qualify your spirits.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
they: i.e. the remnant of Eze 14:22.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
that I have not: Eze 8:6-18, Eze 9:8, Eze 9:9, Gen 18:22-33, Deu 8:2, Neh 9:33, Pro 26:2, Jer 7:17-28, Jer 22:8, Jer 22:9, Dan 9:7, Dan 9:14, Rom 2:5, Rev 15:4, Rev 16:6
Reciprocal: Lev 26:44 – I will Deu 29:24 – General 2Ch 7:22 – Because they forsook Neh 9:31 – for thy great Psa 59:11 – Slay Psa 64:9 – they Isa 24:13 – there Isa 42:16 – and not Jer 9:12 – for Lam 1:18 – hear Eze 6:10 – General Eze 12:16 – I will Eze 16:54 – in that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 14:23. When all of the sad experiences have been suffered by the people of Israel, they will be able to look back over the history of their national conduct. When they do so and recall also the many warnings they were given but which were not heeded, they will realize that God did not punish them without cause.