Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 20:47
And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
Verse 47. I will kindle a fire] I will send war, “and it shall devour every green tree,” the most eminent and substantial of the inhabitants; and every dry tree, the lowest and meanest also.
The flaming flame shall not be quenched] The fierce ravages of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans shall not be stopped till the whole land is ruined.
All faces from the south to the north shalt be burned] From the one end of the land to the other there shall be nothing but fear, dismay, terror, and confusion, occasioned by the wide-wasting violence of the Chaldeans. Judea lay in length from north to south.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Hear; hearken diligently, and consider.
The word of the Lord; what God foretells shall be done.
I will kindle a fire, I will bring an evil like fire, the Chaldean forces, in thee, in the midst of the land.
Every green tree, & c.; all that flourish, and all that are poor.
The flaming flame; it will be a raging and swift fire.
Shall not be quenched; all means that can be used will not avail to quench this fire, till it hath burnt up all.
Faces; persons and orders of men, expressed by faces.
From the south to the north; from one end of the land to the other: the length of Judea did so lie from south to north.
Shall be burnt: with terrors, labours, flight, famine, and sickness, occasioned by this mighty invasion, all persons shall wither, and be as parched, or burnt.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
47. fireevery kind ofjudgment (Eze 19:12; Eze 21:3,”my sword”; Jer 21:14).
green tree . . . dryfitand unfit materials for fuel alike; “the righteous and thewicked,” as explained in Eze 21:3;Eze 21:4; Luk 23:31.Unsparing universality of the judgment!
flaming flameonecontinued and unextinguished flame. “The glowing flame”[FAIRBAIRN].
facespersons; here themetaphor is merged in the reality.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And say to the forest of the south,…. To the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea:
hear the word of the Lord; attend to it, and receive it, believe it, and take warning from it:
thus saith the Lord God, behold, I will kindle a fire in thee; in Jerusalem; meaning that he would send great calamities among them, the sword of the Chaldean army, famine, and pestilence; and that at last it should be burnt with fire, and the remainder of the inhabitants be carried captive:
and it shall devour every green tree, and every dry tree; all sorts of persons should be consumed by one or other of the above calamities, high and low, rich and poor, good and bad; and if good men should suffer, comparable to green trees, which fire will not so easily burn, not being fit fuel for it; then much more bad men, who were by far the most numerous, comparable to dry trees, and so fit fuel for the flames, and easily consumed thereby:
the flaming flame shall not be quenched or, the “flame, flame”; or, “the flame of flame” o; signifying either the succession of these calamities one after another; or the force and strength of them, which should not be abated until the ruin of the city was completed:
and all faces from the south to the north shall be burnt therein; which some understand of an utter destruction of the Jews, either by sword, famine, and pestilence, or by captivity from Jerusalem or Judea unto Babylon; but rather the meaning is, that all the inhabitants thereof should suffer, from one end of it to the other, from Beersheba to Dan, the country lying in such a position.
o “flamma flamma, pro flamma continua et perpetua”, Vatablus; “flamma inflamatissima”, Junius & Tremellius, Polanus “flamma flammae”, Montanus, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(47) Every green tree in thee, and every dry treei.e., persons of every condition, the condition here having reference probably to their moral state; the approaching desolation should be so complete, that, like other national judgments, it should sweep away all alike. No distinction could be made in favour of those who might be less ripe in evil. Our Lord may have had this expression in mind in Luk. 23:31. At the close of the verse, by introducing the words all faces, the prophet, as he so often does, breaks away from the figure to its interpretation, and shows plainly the meaning of the former.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
47. All faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein The heat of the flames that devour Israel is so great that all the surrounding nations are scorched by them. (See chaps. 25-32.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And say to the forest of the Negeb, Hear the word of Yahweh. Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold I will kindle a fire in you and it will devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree. The flaming flame will not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north will be burned by it. And all flesh will see that it is I Yahweh who have kindled it. It will not be quenched.”
The fire would begin in the southern forest in the Negeb and would spread northward, devouring all in its path. For such forest fires as an illustration of the activity of Yahweh see Psa 83:14; Isa 9:18-19; Isa 10:16-19; Jer 21:14). In this case it was the fire of warfare, the fire of the invader, burning up the ‘trees’, the inhabitants of the land. In view of its starting point it was probably seen as involving in some way Egypt (possibly a threatening of their border by the Babylonians before proceeding against Judah), but speaking more of the forces of Nebuchadnezzar as they mercilessly reduced Judean cities one by one, until finally Azekah fell, and then Lachish, leaving Jerusalem to stand alone (see Jer 34:7). Nothing would be able to quench it and no one would be able to turn his face from it. All will see in it that Yahweh has acted to bring about His will. Its unquenchability was a sign of the certainty of His judgment.
There is in letters discovered in the ruins of Lachish remarkable testimony to the way the watchmen of Jerusalem constantly took note of the signal fires of Lachish and Azekah as the invasion progressed, testimony that they were still holding out, until one night the lights of Azekah could no longer be seen. It is tempting to see this last as the last moments of Azekah, but it may just have been the result of bad weather.
‘Every green tree in you, and every dry tree.’ It will affect both seemingly righteous and those who were unrighteous (see Eze 21:1) All will be involved.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 20:47. All faces from the south to the north, &c. “From the south of Judaea to the north, shall be seen nothing but faces, burnt, dried up, pale; melancholy through fear, famine, grief, and despair.” Isaiah makes use of a similar expression in describing the horrors of wars; Their faces shall be as flames. See ch. Eze 13:8. Lam 4:8; Lam 5:10. Joe 2:6 and Calmet. Upon receiving this message from God, the prophet observes, that the people were ready to say, he spoke parables, Eze 20:49. Whether this declaration of God was really as hard to be understood by them as a parable, I shall not take upon me to say; but D’Herbelot, in his Bibliotheque Orientale, has given us a passage of a Persian poet describing the desolation made by a pestilence, the terms whereof very much resemble the words of the prophet:
“The pestilence, like an avenging fire, ruins at once this beautiful city, whose territory gives an odour surpassing that of the most excellent perfumes.
Of all its inhabitants there remains neither a young man nor an old.
This was a lightning that, falling upon a forest, consumed there the green wood with the dry.”
So the pestilence and coals of fire are mentioned together by the prophet Habakkuk, chap. Eze 3:5. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. See Observations, p. 324.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 20:47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
Ver. 47. Every green tree. ] Good and bad shall to the fire together. Eze 21:3 Luk 23:31
Shall be burnt therein
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I will kindle: I will send war; and it shall destroy all ranks and characters of the people. Eze 15:6, Eze 15:7, Eze 19:14, Eze 22:20, Eze 22:21, Deu 32:22, Isa 9:18, Isa 9:19, Isa 30:33, Jer 21:14
green: Eze 17:24, Luk 23:31
the flaming: Isa 66:24, Mar 9:43-49
from the south: Eze 21:3, Eze 21:4, Isa 24:1-6
Reciprocal: 2Ki 22:17 – shall not be Job 15:30 – the flame Psa 80:16 – burned Psa 83:14 – As the fire Isa 1:31 – and they Isa 10:18 – consume Isa 27:11 – the boughs Isa 29:17 – the fruitful Isa 34:10 – shall not Jer 4:4 – lest Jer 7:20 – Behold Jer 11:16 – with Jer 13:19 – cities Jer 17:4 – for Jer 17:27 – then Jer 21:12 – lest Jer 30:24 – fierce Lam 4:11 – Lord Eze 10:2 – scatter Eze 11:4 – General Eze 16:35 – hear Eze 19:12 – the fire Eze 21:10 – General Eze 21:15 – that their Eze 21:32 – for fuel Eze 23:25 – thy residue Eze 24:5 – the choice Eze 36:1 – hear Hos 11:6 – consume Amo 5:6 – there Mat 3:12 – with Heb 6:8 – whose
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 20:47. The imagery of a forest was selected for the present passage hence the destruction of the kingdom of Judah was spoken of as the burning of the trees.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
20:47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every {y} green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the blazing flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned in it.
(y) Both strong and weak in Jerusalem.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Here it becomes clear that God was using the trees in the south to represent Judah’s people. The Lord announced that He was going to judge the Judahites as when a fire sweeps through a forest. All types of people would suffer, the outwardly righteous (green tree) and the outwardly unrighteous (dry tree), and the judgment would affect the whole land. The fact that the Babylonians would capture and kill the righteous and the wicked does not contradict chapter 18, which teaches that every person is responsible for his or her own actions. There the point was that God does not punish people for the sins of others but for their own sins. Here the point is that the coming invasion would affect everyone. Everyone would eventually realize that Yahweh had brought this terrible judgment on the Judahites.
"The most devastating consequences [sic] by far of Judah’s covenant failure was her depopulation by exile." [Note: Merrill, p. 373.]