Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 20:23
I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;
23. I lifted up also ] Moreover I lifted up, lit. And I on my part, so Eze 20:25.
scatter among the heathen ] The people entered Canaan laden with this heavy threat for their sins in the wilderness. Such threats were always conditional, Jeremiah 18, Jonah. This conditional character is expressed in other passages where a similar idea occurs, Lev 26:33; Deu 28:64. The prophet hardly means that the exile was due to the people’s sins in the wilderness, except in so far as the moral character of the people remained the same throughout down to the generation then living. But cf. Exo 32:34.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
23 26. Yet though he wrought for his name’s sake not to destroy them their sins could not be altogether passed by. In two ways they were marked: Jehovah laid a heavy threat upon the people of dispersion among all nations, Eze 20:23-24; and he gave them laws that were not good, that by following them they might be destroyed, Eze 20:25-26.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
On this solemn gesture and signification, see Eze 20:5. Here it is an oath added to a threat, to make it more dreadful to them, and to make it successful in keeping them from the sin threatened.
That I would scatter them; foretold them of a captivity which should come upon them for their sins, which it is probable was often inculcated in their hearing before Moses penned it for them, Deu 32:15-42; Le 26:31-33, and it is ingeminated to make it pierce the deeper, and affect them the more.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. It was to that generationthe threat of dispersion was proclaimed (De28:64; compare Eze 29:4).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I lifted up mine hand also to them in the wilderness,…. Swore unto them, as in Eze 20:5;
that I would scatter them among the Heathen, and disperse them through the countries; after they came to be settled in the land of Canaan, they sinning against the Lord; which was fulfilled in the times of the Babylonish captivity, and in their destruction by the Romans; but was threatened and foretold while they were in the wilderness, Le 26:33; with this compare Ps 106:26.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(23) I would scatter them among the heathen.This threatening was not designed to be fulfilled in that immediate generation, as abundantly appears from Lev. 26:33; Deu. 4:27, Deut. 27:64, and the other passages in which it is given, especially Deuteronomy 29, 30. It was given to that generation as representing the nation, but was only to be carried out when, by a long course of obdurate sin, it should be shown to be imperatively required. The threat had now been already realised in part, and was on the eve of being fully accomplished. It was important that the people should be made to understand that this had been the Divine warning from the beginning, and that in its fulfilment they were only receiving that punishment which had always been designed for such sin as they had committed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. I would scatter them among the heathen Jehovah changes the punishment from annihilation to captivity. This decision was announced with solemn warnings, even while they were yet wandering in the wilderness (Lev 26:33; Deu 28:64). This bondage, of which the companions of Ezekiel complain as an inexplicable providence, and which almost drives them to a distrust of Jehovah’s power and goodness, is itself a proof of the fulfillment of prophecy. It has fallen upon the people solely because of their iniquity and their failure to repent.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Moreover I lifted up my hand to them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations, and disperse them through the countries, because they had not carried out my judgments, but had rejected my statutes and had profaned my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their father’s idols.”
Nevertheless although He had spared them He had sworn to them (lifted up His hand to them in an oath) that if their behaviour continued He would scatter them among the nations, and disperse them throughout the known world to a life of restlessness and misery, because of their covenant unfaithfulness (Lev 26:33; Deu 28:64; Psa 106:26-27). This would be due both to their refusal to obey His commands, and to their turning their eyes on other than Himself.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 20:23. That I would scatter them, &c. We do not read in the history of the Israelites in the wilderness, that they were scattered through the countries by their God, when enraged against them. But what Ezekiel here supplies in the history is easily collected from God’s desertion of the Israelites when they were disobedient and rebellious: for thus he delivered them to the Amalekites. Thus also the neighbouring Arabs might carry off many of them captives; and thus also all the neighbouring people might attack and distress them with war. See Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 20:23 I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;
Ver. 23. See on Eze 20:15 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I. Some codices, with three early printed editions, read “Yet even (or, also) I”, as in Eze 20:1
that I would scatter, &c. Ref to Pentateuch (Lev 28:33. Deu 28:64). App-92. Compare Eze 12:15,
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
lifted: Eze 20:15, Deu 32:40, Rev 10:5, Rev 10:6
that I: The predictions of the dispersion of Israel, delivered by Moses just before his death, are evidently here referred to: they received a partial accomplishment at the Babylonian captivity, but are more exactly fulfilling at this day. Lev 26:33, Deu 28:64-68, Deu 32:26, Deu 32:27, Psa 106:27, Jer 15:4
Reciprocal: Exo 6:8 – swear Jer 9:16 – scatter Eze 5:10 – the whole Eze 20:5 – lifted up mine hand Eze 20:6 – lifted Eze 44:12 – therefore
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 20:23. Lifted up mine hand here is figurative and refers to the Lords determination to punish his nation finally by scattering them among the heathen.