Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 14:7
For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
7. every one sojourneth in Israel ] Comp. Lev 17:8; Lev 17:10; Lev 17:13; Lev 20:2, and remark on Eze 14:1 above. On “setteth up” cf. Eze 14:3.
answer him by myself ] Or, through myself, directly in deeds.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The stranger – They who sojourned among Israel, though they were not of Israel, were bound to abstain from idol-worship Lev 17:10; Lev 20:2.
By myself – Or, as in Eze 14:4, according to Myself. He who comes to inquire with a heart full of idolatry shall have his answer,
(1) according to the multitude of his idols – in delusion,
(2) according to the holiness of God – in punishment.
The inquiry was hypocritical and unreal – but God will answer not by the mouth, but by the hand, not by word but by deed, not by speech but by a scourge.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eze 14:7
Which separateth himself from Me.
Point of contact disturbed by sin
Dr. Cortland Meyers says that one of the electric bells in his home recently refused to ring. He failed to discover the cause. An electrician was sent for. After some time spent over it he found that right up under the bell, so insignificant as to be almost imperceptible, was a place where the point of contact was lost. It is often so with the Church. Battery all right, machinery and wires all right, but the point of contact is defective–disobedience, pride, covetousness have estranged the heart from God. (R. Venting.)
Sins power to separate man from God
A man never gets to the end of the distance that separates between him and the Father, if his face is turned away from God. Every moment the separation is increasing. Two lines start from each other at the acutest angle, are farther apart from each other the farther they are produced, until at last the one may be away up by the side of Gods throne, and the other away down in the deepest depths of hell. (A. Maclaren.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. And cometh to a prophet] Generally supposed to mean a false prophet.
I the Lord will answer him by myself] I shall discover to him, by my own true prophet, what shall be the fruit of his ways. So, while their false prophets were assuring them of peace and prosperity, God’s prophets were predicting the calamities that afterwards fell upon them. Yet they believed the false prophets in preference to the true. Ahab, about to engage with the Syrians, who had possession of Ramoth-Gilead, asked Micaiah, the prophet of the Lord, concerning the event; who told him he should lose the battle. He then inquired of Zedekiah, a false prophet, who promised him a glorious victory. Ahab believed the latter, marched against the enemy, was routed, and slain in the battle, 1Kg 22:10, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For every Jew of the seed of Abraham, and every proselyte, who withdraws himself from me, and worships idols, keeps them in his heart to the increase of their own sin and my displeasure, yet forsooth comes to the prophet to inquire how his God resenteth what they do, and what God will do with them, what they should do, what they may expect, yet all this while dote on idols, and resolutely hold on in unjust practices, they shall find by the answer it was not the prophet, but the God of the prophet, that answered them, so dreadful, searching, and astonishing shall my answer be.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. strangerthe proselyte,tolerated in Israel only on condition of worshipping no God butJehovah (Lev 17:8; Lev 17:9).
inquire of him concerningmethat is, concerning My will.
by myselfnot by word,but by deed, that is, by judgments, marking My hand and directagency; instead of answering him through the prophet he consults.FAIRBAIRN translates, asit is the same Hebrew as in the previous clause, “concerningMe,” it is natural that God should use the same expressionin His reply as was used in the consultation of Him. But the sense,I think, is the same. The hypocrite inquires of the prophetconcerning God; and God, instead of replying through theprophet, replies for Himself concerning Himself.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For everyone of the house of Israel,…. King and subjects, princes and people, high and low, rich and poor, of every rank, sex, and age:
or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel; the proselytes; whether of righteousness, such as were circumcised, and embraced the Jewish religion; or of the gate, who were only inhabitants with them; one as another were obliged to worship the God of Israel, and abstain from idolatry; there was but one law to the Israelite and to the stranger, respecting this matter:
which separateth himself from me; from the worship of God, and so from communion with him; turns his back on him, and becomes an apostate from him, by joining himself with idols:
and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face; these things are repeated, partly to observe the heinousness of the sin they were guilty of; and partly to show the stupidity of this people, which required things to be said over and over, before they could take them in, and be convinced of their evil:
and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; this explains what such persons would come to a prophet for, Eze 14:4; and exposes their hypocrisy:
I the Lord will answer him by myself; not by the prophet to whom he comes, but by himself: or, “in my word”, as the Targum; yet not by words, but by blows; not in mercy, but in wrath; and in such manner, that it shall appear to come from the Lord, and to be according to truth and justice.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ezekiel again returns to threats, because exhortations was not sufficiently effectual with such hardened ones; for we have seen that they were obdurate in their vices and almost like untamed beasts. For unless God’s judgment had been often set before them, there had been but small fruit of teaching and exhortation. This then is the reason why God here sets before them his vengeance : a man, a man, says he, or a stranger who sojourns among Israel. When he adds strangers, he doubtless speaks of the circumcised who professed to be worshipers of the true God, and so submitted to the law as to refrain from all impieties. For there were two kinds of strangers, those who transacted business there, but were profane men, continuing uncircumcised. But there were others who were not sprung from the sacred race, and were not indigenous to the soil, but yet they had been circumcised, and as far as religion was concerned, had become members of the Church; and God wishes them to be esteemed in the same class and rank as the sons of Abraham. The law shall be the same for the stranger and the home-born, wherever the promise is concerned, (Num 15:15,) and the same sentiment is repeated in many places. Thus the word foreigners is now to be explained. But this circumstance exaggerates the crime of the chosen people. For if any one settled in the land of Canaan and embraced God’s law, this was an accidental event: but the Israelites were by nature heirs of eternal life, for the adoption was continued through successive ages. Since then they were born sons of God, it was the more disgraceful to depart from his worship. And so when Ezekiel here gravely rebukes the strangers, he shows how much more atrocious the crime was in the case of those who were bound by a more sacred bond to the worship of God. He says, and he was separated from after me. The Prophet yesterday said מעלי, megneli, from near or from towards me: here he more clearly expresses declension, when men reject the teaching of the law, and openly show that they pay no obedience to God. For he is said to follow God or to walk after him, who proposes to himself God as a guide, and is devoted to his precepts, and holds on in the way pointed out by him. Thus by the obedience of faith we follow God or walk after him: so we recede from him when we reject his law, and are openly unwilling to bear his yoke any longer. Hence he shows of what kind the separation of the people or of individuals from God is, namely, when they refuse to follow his law. The Israelites indeed wished God always to remain united to them, but they made the divorce, although they denied it: hence the Prophet cuts away from them beforehand this prop of backsliding, when he says that they separated from God by not following him.
At length he repeats what we saw yesterday, he who caused his idols to ascend unto his heart, he who placed the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, that is, was drowned in his own superstitions, so that his idols bore sway in his heart: lastly, he who is so forward in audacity that he did not conceal his wish to oppose the Almighty: if any one, says he, came to a prophet to inquire of him in me, or my name, I will answer him. He confirms what we saw yesterday, that he could no longer bear the hypocrites who deluded themselves so proudly. And certainly when they openly worshipped idols, and were fined with many superstitions, what audacity and pride it was to consult true prophets? It is much the same as if a person should want only insult and rail at a physician, and not only load him with reproaches, but even spit in his face: and should afterwards go and ask his advice, saying, “What do you advise me to do? How must I be cured of this disease?” Such pride could not be borne between man and man. How then will God permit such reproaches to go unpunished? For this reason he says that he would answer, but after his own manner, as if he had said — they seek flatteries, but I will answer in myself: that is, in my natural character. I will not change it according to their pleasure, for they change my character by their fictions, but they are deceived: they profit nothing when they expect me to answer according to their views: I will answer, says he, in myself; that is, they shall feel that the answer proceeds from me, and they shall have no reason for thinking that my servants will be submissive to them, as they are accustomed to abuse the false prophets whom they buy for reward, because they are venal. For when any one is venal he is compelled to flatter like a slave. For there is no freedom but in a good and upright conscience. Hence God here separates his servants from impostors who make a trade of their flatteries. Now it follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) Or of the stranger.Under the Mosaic legislation, the stranger living among the Israelites was bound to observe a certain outward deference to the law of the land, just as a foreigner in any country now is bound to respect in certain things the law of the country in which he lives. Israel being a theocracy, its fundamental law against idol-worship could not be violated with impunity by those who sought the protection of its government (Lev. 17:10; Lev. 20:1-2, &c.). In this case, however, outward idolatry is not alleged, as the accusations of this verse and Eze. 14:4 refer only to the secret idolatry of the heart; and the point insisted upon is not so much the idol-worship in itself, as the hypocrisy of attempting to join with this the enquiring of the Lord. God declares that He will answer such hypocrisy, in whomsoever it may be found, not by the prophet through whom the enquiry is made, but by Himself interposing to punish the enquirer, and to make him an example to deter others from a like course.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. I the Lord will answer him by myself In matters of judgment the Lord will not speak by proxy. If they do not repent, they will hear from him in person. The future, of which they are so anxious to learn, will come all too soon, and the answer which they seek will be their total destruction.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 14:7. Of the stranger Of the proselyte who sojourneth in Israel, who estrangeth himself, &c. By myself I Jehovah will answer him, even by myself.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 14:7 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
Ver. 7. For every one of the house of Israel. ] The same over again, and yet no win repetition: Duris enim illis capitibus res non potuit satis inculcari, to these dizzards nothing could be said too much.
Or of the stranger.
Which separateth himself from me.
I the, Lord will answer him by myself.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
will answer, &c. = and being replied to for him in Myself: i.e. by his comparing his idols with Me. See note on Eze 14:4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Eze 14:7-9
Eze 14:7-9
“For every one of the house of Israel, as of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that separateth himself from me, and taketh his idols into his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet, to inquire for himself of me; I Jehovah will answer him by myself; and I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. And if the prophet be deceived and speak a word, I, Jehovah, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people.”
“That separateth himself from me …” (Eze 14:7). No double minded person can be right in God’s sight. The secret love and adoration of idols cut every guilty soul completely off from God. This sin, whether committed by the racial stock of Israel, by sojourners living in Israel under God’s protection, was fatal to any satisfactory relationship with God.
“I will answer him by myself …” (Eze 14:7). This meant that God would answer, not through the words of any true prophet, but by the summary execution of terrible penalties upon the idolater.
“I will set my face against that man …” (Eze 14:8). Here is spelled out the penalty: (1) spiritual death, (2) being cut off from God’s people, and (3) the experiencing of some terrible earthly calamity, of the type that would get public attention and make the victim an astonishment and a proverb. Two examples of this in the New Testament are the sudden death of Ananias and Sapphira (Act 5:5-11) and the stroke that took away Herod Agrippa II at Caesarea (Acts 12). Nothing could be more terrible for any mortal than the fact of God having set his face against that man.
“I have deceived that prophet …” (Eze 14:9). As Cooke noted, “A statement like this is not intelligible unless we take into consideration the thought patterns of oriental mind. We have the same pattern in the thinking of believers even today. When a loved one is lost, we have all heard it said that, “The Lord has called him home.” This merely by-passes secondary and subordinate causes and attributes all that happens to the eternal will of God. God’s “deceiving a false prophet” here was in no sense an evil act upon God’s part. “As a matter of fact the false prophet had brought the deception upon himself a by his own evil desires and deeds.
What is in view here is God’s judicial blinding, hardening, or deception of wicked men. The classical example in the Old Testament is that of Pharaoh. The Lord indeed “hardened Pharaoh’s heart”; but that occurred only after the Bible had declared no less than ten times that, “Pharaoh had hardened his own heart.” Does the equivalent of such a thing happen today? Most assuredly, it does.
“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2Th 2:11-12 KJV).
It was possible to say of this self-deceived prophet that God had deceived him, because, “The consequences of his sin,. as well as the moral law of God which he violated were God’s ordinances, and because the penalty of deception, was according to God’s will, therefore his state of deception could quite properly be attributed to God. This line of reasoning, however, suggests no amelioration of the false prophet’s guilt. “No man can possibly become a false prophet without criminal blame upon himself.
This passage forbade any true prophet to provide God’s Word to idolaters; and, by definition, that meant that any prophet speaking with an idolater was, of course, an evil-doer himself.
It is amazing, as Calvin said, that, “Neither imposters nor frauds take place apart from the will of God.” Keil quoted Calvin’s remark, and then added that, “This can happen only with persons who have first admitted evil into themselves. Furthermore, the penalty of God’s judgment shall fall upon both alike, the deceived prophet, and the idolatrous inquirer.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
of the stranger: Exo 12:48, Exo 20:10, Lev 16:29, Lev 20:2, Lev 24:22, Num 15:15, Num 15:29
separateth: Hos 4:14, Hos 9:10, Jud 1:19
and setteth: Eze 14:3, Eze 14:4
and cometh: Eze 33:30-32, 2Ki 8:8-15, Isa 58:1, Isa 58:2, Jer 21:1, Jer 21:2, Jer 37:1-3, Jer 37:9, Jer 37:10, Jer 37:17, Jer 38:14-23
by: Eze 14:4, Eze 14:7, Eze 14:8
Reciprocal: Deu 7:26 – shalt Deu 29:20 – will not spare 1Ki 14:6 – why feignest Job 31:7 – mine heart Psa 34:16 – face Isa 19:14 – hath mingled Isa 30:28 – causing Isa 63:17 – why Jer 44:11 – I will Eze 3:20 – and I lay Eze 7:19 – it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity Eze 14:10 – the punishment Eze 20:3 – As I Hos 4:8 – set their heart on their iniquity Act 7:42 – and gave
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 14:7. This verse explains in what sense the Lord would answer by himself as lie announced in a preceding verse; it was to be by some direct judgment upon the wicked people of Israel. This was to be a practical rebuke to them because they thought they could by-pass Him and get tbeir information through the prophet.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Anyone in Israel, including immigrants (Heb. ger, sojourners, resident aliens), who did not repent but continued to do what these elders had done and approached a false prophet for a message would receive judgment from the Lord. Note the emphasis on personal responsibility for sin throughout this passage (cf. Eze 14:4). The Lord would oppose all such people making them object lessons to others of what happens when God’s people pursue idolatry. He would put them to death (cf. Lev 17:4; Lev 17:10; Lev 17:14; et al.). Then His people would know that He was God.
"In the Book of Ezekiel Israel’s idolatry was seen as the major cause for God’s judgment on His people." [Note: Dyer, "Ezekiel," pp. 1252-53.]