Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 20:44
And ye shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I have wrought with you for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
44. And the final issue of all shall be that the people will know that he is Jehovah. Jew and Gentile shall alike know that the God of Israel is God alone. Cf. Isa 40:5 “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together,” Psa 102:15-16; Psa 102:22.
Eze 20:45-49 belong to ch. 21.
On the prophet’s philosophy of history, his idea that history is Jehovah operating for “his name’s sake,” cf. Introduction.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This 44th verse doth summarily acquaint us that all Goa did for this people was of free, mere mercy, and for his own sake, not theirs.
Ye shall know; experimentally, with affection and obedience. The hypocrite secretly thinks somewhat in himself and works that God had regard to, but an honest, good heart, when God hath wrought, owneth the mercy wrought to be free and undeserved.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
44. The English Versionchapter ought to have ended here, and the twenty-first chapter begunwith “Moreover,” c., as in the Hebrew Bible.
for my name’s sake(Eze 36:22). Gratuitouslyaccording to My compassion, not your merits. After having commentedon this verse, CALVIN waslaid on his death bed, and his commentary ended.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And ye shall know that I am the Lord,…. Jehovah their righteousness, their Redeemer and Saviour, Lord and King; they shall know Christ, and him crucified, and God in Christ as their covenant God;
[See comments on Eze 20:42]; when I have wrought with you for my name’s sake; in the thorough conversion of them; not that there is any cooperation with God in that work; ministers indeed are coworkers, not as efficients, but instruments; persons converted are wholly passive in the first work of conversion or regeneration; and in all later actings move as they are acted, turn being turned, walk and run being drawn, not being able to do anything as of themselves: but the phrase signifies a working in favour of them; doing great things for them, and good things in them, well pleasing in his sight, and good unto them; plucking them as brands out of the burning; taking them out of the hands of Satan; calling them out of darkness into light, and bringing them out of bondage into liberty; and all this
for his own name’s sake, of his own will and pleasure, according to his abundant mercy, and for the glory of his rich grace:
not according to your wicked ways, not according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God; had he, they must have perished in their sins, and been miserable for ever; but he neither proceeds according to the bad works nor the good works of men, in calling and converting them, but according to his own purpose and grace, 2Ti 1:9, their evil works do not hinder his grace when he is resolved to work, and their good works do not merit it; he acts freely, and in a sovereign way.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here at length God pronounces that his glory would be chiefly conspicuous in the pity which he bestowed upon those who were desperate and abandoned, gratuitously and solely with respect to his own name. Hence Paul so specially celebrates; the grace of God in the first chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians, as that mercy by which God deigns to call his own elect in a peculiar sense — his glory; for his glory extends farther than his pity. (Eph 1:6.)
As thy name, so thy praise is extended through all lands, (Psa 48:10)
for God deserves no less glory when he destroys the wicked than when he pities his own people. But Paul calls that gratuitous favor glory par excellence, by which God embraced his own elect when he adopted them. So also it is said in this passage, then you shall know that I am Jehovah, since I shall deal with you on behalf of my name, and not according to your sins. But when God wishes his glory to shine conspicuously in gratuitous pity, hence we gather that the enemies of his glory were too gross and open, who obscure his mercy, or extenuate it, or as far as they can, endeavor to reduce it to nothing. But we know the teaching of the papacy to be that God’s gratuitous goodness either is buried or enfolded in dark obscurity, or utterly vanish away: for they have invented a system of general merits which they oppose to God’s gratuitous favor. For they distinguish merits into preparations, good works acquiring God’s favor, and satisfactions, by which they buy off the penalties to which they were subjected. Afterwards they add what they call the suffrages of the saints; for they fabricate for themselves numberless patrons, and various reasonings are concocted for the purpose of obscuring God’s glory, or at least of allowing only a few sparks to be visible. Since therefore the whole papacy tends that way, we see that they professedly oppose God’s glory, and those who defend such abominations are sworn enemies of God’s glory.
For ourselves, then, let. us learn that we cannot otherwise worship God with acceptance unless we adopt whatever pleases him as pertaining to our salvation. For if we wish to come to a debtor and creditor account, or to consider that he is in the slightest degree indebted to us, we in this way diminish his glory, and as far as is in our power we despoil ourselves of that inestimable privilege which the Prophet now commends. Hence let us desire to acknowledge God in this way, since he treats us with amazing clemency and pity out of regard for his own name, and not according to our sins. And since that was said to his ancient people because they returned to the land of Canaan, how much more ought God’s gratuitous goodness to be extolled by us, when his heavenly kingdom is at this day open to us, and when he openly calls us to himself in heaven, and to the hope of that happy immortality which has been obtained for us through Christ?
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
44. Ye shall know that I am the Lord When the Hebrews are able to look back and see that every calamity was for their good they will loathe themselves for their sins (Eze 20:43) and know that their God is indeed Jehovah, “long-suffering, and abundant in kindness and truth” (Exo 34:6; Num 14:18).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ “And you will know that I am Yahweh when I have wrought with you for my name’s sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, Oh you house of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh.’
Note the repetition of ‘you will know that I am Yahweh’. Compare Eze 20:5; Eze 20:7; Eze 20:12; Eze 20:19; Eze 20:26; Eze 20:38; Eze 20:42. God had been revealed as He is in His mighty deeds in past days, and He will be revealed so again. All that He had done and would do was so that men may know Him as He is. What mattered was the full revelation of God, for thereby would man enjoy his greatest blessing. So God would do all this for His own name’s sake, for by their behaviour and their doings the people were totally unworthy of it.
It should be noted that there is no hint here of the rebuilding of the Temple. That was not what was important to God, although it may be seen as intended in a secondary way to be included in the comments about the offerings, the firstfruits of their oblations and the holy things.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 20:44. And ye shall know, &c. The idea of mercy is naturally attached to that of repentance and reformation; and with mercy the prophesy concludes. The reader hath now a comment on the whole prophesy, whereby he may understand how justly it hath acquired its eminent celebrity: its general subject being no less than the fate and fortunes of the Jewish republic; of which the several parts are so important, so judiciously chosen, so elegantly disposed, and so nobly enounced, that we see the divinity of the original in every step we make. Div. Leg. vol. 3: p. 410.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 20:44 And ye shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I have wrought with you for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
Ver. 44. And ye shall know that I am the Lord. ] A sin pardoning and heart sanctifying God; a rich rewarder of all that diligently seek me. Heb 11:6
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
wicked. Hebrew. raa. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And ye shall: Eze 20:38, Eze 24:24
when I: Eze 20:9, Eze 20:14, Eze 20:22, Eze 36:21, Eze 36:22, Psa 79:9, Psa 115:1, Eph 1:6, 1Ti 1:16
Reciprocal: Deu 9:6 – Understand Psa 106:8 – he saved Isa 48:9 – my name’s Isa 52:6 – my people Jer 31:19 – I was ashamed Eze 6:7 – and ye Eze 15:7 – and ye shall Eze 20:42 – ye shall Eze 23:49 – and ye shall know Joh 17:11 – thine
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 20:44. Israel did not receive the severe treatment her conduct deserved, which is the meaning of not according to your wicked ways. But the Lord wished to take care of his good name and hence held back part of his fury.