Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 14:21
For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?
21. How much more ] If when a single judgment is sent upon a land the wicked shall not be spared for the sake of the righteous, how much more shall this not happen when the wickedness of the land is so great that God’s four sore judgments together fall upon it, as they shall fall upon Jerusalem? Ch. Eze 5:17, Eze 33:27; Eze 33:22. Yet the history of Jerusalem may seem an exception. It is an exception for a wider purpose.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 21. My four sore judgments] SWORD, war. FAMINE, occasioned by drought. PESTILENCE, epidemic diseases which sweep off a great part of the inhabitants of a land. The NOISOME BEAST, the multiplication of wild beasts in consequence of the general destruction of the inhabitants.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Those three men, with their best interest, should not be able to keep off one of the four, much less able to keep off all four when I commission them all to go at once, as I will, nay, have done, against Jerusalem, to cut off the obstinate, incorrigible ones amidst it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. How much moreliterally,”Surely shall it be so now, when I send,” &c. If nonecould avert the one only judgment incurred, surely now,when all four are incurred by sin, much more impossible itwill be to deliver the land.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For thus saith the Lord God, how much more,…. If the Lord would not be entreated by such good men as those mentioned, for a land that had sinned against him, to whom he only sends some one of the above judgments, either famine, or noisome beasts, or the sword, or the pestilence, how much more inexorable and deaf to all entreaties must he be; or if anyone of those judgments makes so great a desolation in the land, then how much greater must that detraction be,
when I send my four sore judgments on Jerusalem: or “evil” a ones; as they are to men, though righteously inflicted by the Lord; when all these four are sent together, what a devastation must they make! namely,
the sword, and the famine, and the, noisome beast, and the pestilence,
to cut off from it man and beast; three of them, it is evident, were sent upon Jerusalem at the time of its siege by Nebuchadnezzar, the sword, famine, and pestilence; and no doubt the other, even the noisome beasts; and if not literally, yet figuratively, for Nebuchadnezzar himself is compared to a lion, Jer 4:7.
a “mala”, Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Starckius; “pessima”, Junius & Tremellius, Vatablus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He now reasons, as we said in the beginning, from the less to the greater. Hitherto he has said, If I shall have sent forth only one weapon to take vengeance upon men, no one will oppose my following out my decree: then he enumerated four weapons, one after another. Now he adds, What then, when I shall have heaped together all punishments, and not only shall have sent pestilence or sword or famine, but as it were when I have four armies prepared and drawn up, and shall command them to attack and destroy mankind, how shall even one person escape? If Job, Daniel, and Noah, cannot snatch away even their sons and daughters from a single scourge, how shall they snatch them from four at once! We see, then, that God here cuts away the false and specious hopes by which the false prophets deluded the miserable exiles when they promised them a return to their country, and daily proclaimed how impossible it was that the sacred city, the earthly dwelling-place of God, could be taken by the enemy, and the religion which God had promised should be eternal could perish. Since, therefore, the false prophets so deceived these miserable exiles, here God shows how greatly they erred while they cherished any hope in their minds; because he had not only held one kind of scourge over Jerusalem, but approached it with a whole heap of them to destroy and cut off both man and beast. This then is the full meaning.
Now he says, If I shall have sent my four evil judgments. Here God calls his judgments evils, in the sense in which he says in Isaiah, that he creates good and evil, (Isa 45:7,) since immediately afterwards he expresses his meaning by saying life and death. Hence what is against us is here called evil, and so this epithet ought to be referred to our perceptions. For our natural common sense dictates that whatever is desirable and useful to us is good: food and life and peace are good, and whatever is conducive to life, and what we naturally wish for, we call good. So also, on the other hand, death and famine are evils: so are nakedness, want, and shame: why so? since we dread whatever is not useful to us; and because we fly from evils as soon as reason dawns. In fine, evil here is not opposed to justice and right, but, as I have said, to men’s opinion and our natural senses. He now confirms what we before said, namely, that these are God’s judgments when enemies rage against us, pestilence attacks us: poverty assails us, and wild beasts break in upon us. When therefore we suffer under these afflictions, let us learn immediately to descend into ourselves and to discover the cause why God is so angry with us. For if we turn our attention towards the sword, and pestilence, and famine, we are like dogs which gnaw and bite what is thrown at them, and do not regard the hand which threw it, but only vent their rage upon the stone. For such is our stupidity when we complain of famine being injurious to us, wild beasts troublesome, and war horrible. Hence this passage should always be borne in mind that, these are God’s evil judgments, that is, scourges by which he chastises our sins, and thus shows himself hostile and opposed to us.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(21) My four sore judgments.The teaching of the preceding eight verses is here gathered up into its climax. In the case of any one of the four punishments mentioned in succession, the presence of the holiest of men should be of no avail to avert it; how much more then, when all these are combined in the judgment upon Jerusalem, will it be impossible to stay its doom.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. How much more If a transgression which has brought upon itself one of these penalties cannot be forgiven, even upon the petition of these great saints, how much more is this impossible when the wickedness has been so outbreaking that God has sent all four of his severest judgments upon the land (Eze 5:17; Eze 33:27). Remembering that Ezekiel wrote in Babylon it is a curious fact that wild beasts, famine, and pestilence were united as a trinity of death in Chaldean legend. For example, in the story of Dibbara (Hebrews, Debar, “Plague”), Kutha, the Babylonian necropolis, was the seat of the worship of Laz, the goddess of famine, while Nergal, the god of war, was also the god of death. (See Babylonian and Oriental Record, Eze 1:1-16, and Jastrow, Religion of the Babylonians, p. 505.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For thus says the Lord Yahweh, “How much more when I send my four sore judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the dangerous wild beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?” ’
The general principle having been stated it was now applied to Jerusalem. If other lands could be so judged, how much more sinful Jerusalem. The judgments previously described are now seen as ‘the four sore judgments of Yahweh’. ‘Four’ regularly indicates the whole known world. It is the number of those outside the covenant. Thus Jerusalem is numbered among them as an outcast.
All these judgments were a regular part of an invasion. The sword to slay, the famine resulting from the burning of the crops or from siege, the wild beasts taking over because of the desolating of the land and the removal of the inhabitants, and the pestilence following from the conditions under which men had to survive. Note the continual stress on the depth of the judgments, cutting off from it man and beast.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 14:21 For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?
Ver. 21. My four sore judgments. ] Every one of the four (Cardan reckons three more of like nature, viz., earthquakes, inundations, and great winds) are sore judgments indeed. Each of them is pessimum, most wicked, i.e., perniciosum. Cavete. Dangerous. Beware.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
How much more, &c. National judgments are thus sent for national sins. Compare Eze 14:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Eze 14:21-23
Eze 14:21-23
“For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! But, behold, there shall be left therein a remnant that shall be carried forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings; and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. And they shall comfort you, when ye see their way and their doings; and ye shall know that I have not done with, out cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord Jehovah.”
“There shall be left therein a remnant …” (Eze 14:22). This is not the “righteous remnant” remnant” so often mentioned in Isaiah; because this remnant was wicked. These “sons and daughters” were in no sense saved; but God preserved them as specimens and witnesses of the corrupt Israel that had required God’s terminal punishment. Ezekiel pointed out that they would be a source of comfort to those of right mind among the captives, because their ways and their doings (always mentioned by Ezekiel in the sense of wickedness) would enable the captives to see the righteousness of all that God would bring to pass in Jerusalem.
Judgment Inescapable – Eze 14:12-23
Open It
1. Whom do you consider to be exemplary, godly people?
2. What are the different responses that people can make to extreme hardship and suffering?
Explore It
3. What was the cause of Gods judgment in the first example given to Ezekiel? (Eze 14:12-13)
4. What form did Gods judgment take in the first hypothetical example? (Eze 14:13)
5. What three great servants of God are used for Ezekiels examples of faithfulness? (Eze 14:14)
6. In a circumstance that required Gods judgment, how many could be saved by exemplary men of faith? (Eze 14:14)
7. What was the second example of judgment that God gave to Ezekiel? (Eze 14:15)
8. What family members could Noah, Daniel, or Job save from Gods judgment by their own righteousness? (Eze 14:16)
9. What was a third example of a means of punishment God might use against unfaithfulness? (Eze 14:17)
10. What expression in this word from God illustrates the certainty of it? (Eze 14:18)
11. What was the fourth calamity that God might use to execute justice? (Eze 14:19)
12. If Noah, Daniel, and Job were present in Gods hypothetical country, who would be saved by his or her righteousness? (Eze 14:20)
13. How did God portray the prospects for Jerusalem in comparison to the examples He had given? (Eze 14:21)
14. When the exiled Jews encountered the survivors of Jerusalem, what would they know about the justice of Gods punishment of Jerusalem? (Eze 14:22-23)
Get It
15. What would move God to judge a nation and destroy it?
16. Why do you think God had Ezekiel repeat the same refrain with a variety of calamities that might be visited on a nation?
17. What sorts of calamities might God use as His instrument of judgment?
18. Why does God give us the stories of great men and women of faith?
19. Why is it unwise to trust in another person, even a righteous person, for your own salvation?
Apply It
20. How can you discern whether the righteous people you know are serving as proper examples of faith, or whether you are counting on their goodness to spill over onto you regardless of your effort?
21. What biblical hero or heroine can serve as your model for faith and life this coming week?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
How much more when: or, Also when
my four: Eze 14:13, Eze 14:15, Eze 14:17, Eze 14:19, Eze 5:12, Eze 5:17, Eze 6:11, Eze 6:12, Eze 33:27, Jer 15:2, Jer 15:3, Amo 4:6-12, Rev 6:4-8
Reciprocal: Exo 7:4 – by great Lev 26:6 – rid Lev 26:22 – wild Deu 28:45 – Moreover Deu 32:23 – heap mischiefs Deu 32:24 – the teeth Rth 1:1 – a famine 2Sa 24:13 – seven 1Ki 8:37 – in the land famine 2Ki 17:25 – the Lord sent 2Ki 25:3 – the famine Isa 24:17 – and the pit Isa 51:19 – two things Jer 4:20 – upon destruction Jer 14:12 – but Jer 15:1 – Though Jer 21:6 – I will Jer 25:29 – I will Jer 27:8 – with the sword Jer 27:13 – by the sword Jer 32:24 – because Jer 38:2 – He Jer 52:6 – the famine Eze 12:14 – I will draw Eze 21:3 – will draw Mat 24:7 – famines
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 14:21. Famine, pestilence and the sword were frequently threatened as a punishment upon Israel. In this verse another instrument is named, the noisome (bad) beasts. This would be especially applicable where the land In general was to be penalized, since wild beasts would not have much access to the citizens of the city.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
The Lord promised to send judgment by these four agents against Jerusalem: war, famine, wild animals, and disease (cf. Lev 26:22-26). Four agents of divine judgment would overcome even the influence of three extremely righteous individuals, super-saints.
"The number four conveys the idea of completeness with an allusion to the four quarters of the earth. The logic is this: If there would be no sparing in one judgment, how much more certain would the universal judgment be in the case of four devastating judgments?" [Note: Feinberg, p. 82. Cf. Rev 6:1-8.]