Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 20:10
Wherefore I caused them to go out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.
10. First half of the verse is wanting in LXX.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The probation in the wilderness. The promise was forfeited by those to whom it was first conditionally made, but was renewed to their children.
Eze 20:11
The statutes were given on Mount Sinai, and repeated by Moses before his death (Exo 20:1 ff; Deu 4:8).
In them – Or, through them: and in Eze 20:13.
Eze 20:12
See Exo 31:13. The Sabbath was a sign of a special people, commemorative of the work of creation, and hallowed to the honor of Yahweh, the covenant-God. As man honored God by keeping the Sabbath holy, so by the Sabbath, God sanctified Israel and marked them as a holy people. Therefore to profane the Sabbath was to abjure their Divine Governor.
Eze 20:13
My sabbaths they greatly polluted – Not by actual non-observance of the sabbatical rest in the wilderness, but in failing to make the day holy in deed as well as in name by earnest worship and true heart service.
Eze 20:18
The book of Deuteronomy contains the address to the children of those who perished in the wilderness. The whole history of Israel was a repetition of this course. The covenant was made with one generation, broken by them, and then renewed to the next.
Eze 20:25
The judgments whereby they should not live are those spoken of in Eze 20:18, and are contrasted with the judgments in Eze 20:13, Eze 20:21, laws other than divine, to which God gives up those whom He afflicts with judicial blindness, because they have willfully closed their eyes, Psa 81:12; Rom 1:24.
Eze 20:26
To pass through – The word also means to set apart, as the firstborn to the Lord Exo 13:12. They were bidden to set apart their firstborn males to the Lord. They caused them to pass through the fire to Moloch. An instance of their perversion of Gods laws.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. I caused them to go forth] Though greatly oppressed and degraded, they were not willing to leave their house of bondage. I was obliged to force them away.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Wherefore, Heb. And.
I caused them to go forth; removed all obstacles, furnished them with all necessaries, went before them, and showed them the way they should go, as is expressed, Exo 13:17.
And brought them; I brought; it was not Mosess error, though Pharaoh thought so, Exo 14:3,4, but the peculiar conduct of God, Exo 14:2.
Into the wilderness; a barren, sandy part of the country, the borders of Egypt towards the Red Sea; yet having mountains which shut them in on both sides, and frontier garrisons near them: and as he brought them in, so he conducted them out of these straits, though here it is not mentioned.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt,…. It was the Lord that brought them out from thence with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; that obliged Pharaoh to let them go, and gave them favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, that they went out unmolested by them:
and brought them into the wilderness; before they went into the land of Canaan; here they had freedom from their bondage, and were in a wonderful manner provided for by the Lord, guided, supported, preserved, and at last brought to the promised land.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Behaviour of Israel in the Desert
Eze 20:10. And I led them out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the desert; Eze 20:11. And gave them my statutes, and my rights I made known to them, which man is to do that he may live through them. Eze 20:12. I also gave them my Sabbaths, that they might be for a sign between me and them, that they might now that I Jehovah sanctify them. Eze 20:13. But the house of Israel was rebellious against me in the desert: they did not walk in my statutes, and my rights they rejected, which man is to do, that he may live through them, and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned: Then I thought to pour out my wrath upon them in the desert to destroy them. Eze 20:14. But I did it for my name’s sake, that it might not be profaned before the eyes of the nations, before whose eyes I had led them out. Eze 20:15. I also lifted my hand to them in the desert, not to bring them into the land which I had given (them), which floweth with milk and honey; it is an ornament of all lands, Eze 20:16. Because they rejected my rights, did not walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths, for their heart went after their idols. Eze 20:17. But my eye looked with pity upon them, so that I did not destroy them, and make an end of them in the desert. – God gave laws at Sinai to the people whom He had brought out of Egypt, through which they were to be sanctified as His own people, that they might live before God. On Eze 20:11 compare Deu 30:16 and Deu 30:19. Eze 20:12 is taken almost word for word from Exo 31:13, where God concludes the directions for His worship by urging upon the people in the most solemn manner the observance of His Sabbaths, and thereby pronounces the keeping of the Sabbath the kernel of all divine worship. And as in that passage we are to understand by the Sabbaths the actual weekly Sabbaths, and not the institutions of worship as a whole, so here we must retain the literal signification of the word. It is only of the Sabbath recurring every week, and not of all the fasts, that it could be said it was a sign between Jehovah and Israel. It was a sign, not as a token, that they who observed it were Israelites, as Hitzig supposes, but to know (that they might know) that Jehovah was sanctifying them, namely, by the Sabbath rest – as a refreshing and elevation of the mind, in which Israel was to have a foretaste of that blessed resting from all works to which the people of God was ultimately to attain (see the comm. on Exo 20:11). It is from this deeper signification of the Sabbath that the prominence given to the Sabbaths here is to be explained, and not from the outward circumstance that in exile, when the sacrificial worship was necessarily suspended, the keeping of the Sabbath as the only bond which united the Israelites, so far as the worship of God was concerned (Hitzig). Historical examples of the rebellion of Israel against the commandments of God in the desert are given in ex. Eze 32:1-6 and Num 25:1-3; and of the desecration of the Sabbath, in ex. Eze 16:27 and Num 15:32. For the threat referred to in Eze 20:13, compare Exo 32:10; Num 14:11-12. – Eze 20:15 and Eze 20:16 are not a repetition of Eze 20:13 (Hitzig); nor do they introduce a limitation of Eze 20:14 (Kliefoth). They simply relate what else God did to put bounds to the rebellion after He had revoked the decree to cut Israel off, at the intercession of Moses (Num 14:11-19). He lifted His hand to the oath (Num 14:21.), that the generation which had come out of Egypt should not come into the land of Canaan, but should die in the wilderness. Therewith He looked with pity upon the people, so that He did not make an end of them by following up the threat with a promise that the children should enter the land. , as in Eze 11:13.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Privileges and Sins of Israel. | B. C. 592. |
10 Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. 11 And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. 12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. 13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. 14 But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. 15 Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; 16 Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. 17 Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness. 18 But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: 19 I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; 20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God. 21 Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. 22 Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth. 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; 24 Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols. 25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live; 26 And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.
The history of the struggle between the sins of Israel, by which they endeavoured to ruin themselves, and the mercies of God, by which he endeavoured to save them and make them happy, is here continued: and the instances of that struggle in these verses have reference to what passed between God and them in the wilderness, in which God honoured himself and they shamed themselves. The story of Israel in the wilderness is referred to in the New Testament (1Co 10:1-33; Heb 3:1-19), as well as often in the Old, for warning to us Christians; and therefore we are particularly concerned in these verses. Observe,
I. The great things God did for them, which he puts them in mind of, not as grudging them his favours, but to show how ungrateful they had been. And we say, If you call a man ungrateful, you can call him no worse. It was a great favour, 1. That God brought them forth out of Egypt (v. 10), though, as it follows, he brought them into the wilderness and not into Canaan immediately. It is better to be at liberty in a wilderness than bond-slaves in a land of plenty, to enjoy God and ourselves in solitude than to lose both in a crowd; yet there were many of them who had such base servile spirits as not to understand this, but, when they met with the difficulties of a desert, wished themselves in Egypt again. 2. That he gave them the law upon Mount Sinai (v. 11), not only instructed them concerning good and evil, but by his authority bound them from the evil and to the good. He gave them his statutes, and a valuable gift it was. Moses commanded them a law that was the inheritance of the congregation of Israel, Deut. xxxiii. 4. God made them to know his judgments, not only enacted laws for them, but showed them the reasonableness and equity of those laws, with what judgment they were formed. The laws he gave them they were encouraged to observe and obey; for, if a man do them, he shall even live in them; in keeping God’s commandments there is abundance of comfort and a great reward. Christ says, If thou wilt into enter life, and enjoy it, keep the commandments. Though those who are the most strict in their obedience are thus far unprofitable servants that they do no more than is their duty to do, yet it is thus richly recompensed: This do, and thou shalt live. The Chaldee says, He shall live an eternal life in them. St. Paul quotes this (Gal. iii. 12) to show that the law is not of faith, but proposes life upon condition of perfect obedience, which we are not capable of rendering, and therefore must have recourse to the grace of the gospel, without which we are all undone. 3. That he revived the ancient institution of the sabbath day, which was lost and forgotten while they were bond-slaves in Egypt; for their task-masters there would by no means allow them to rest one day in seven. In the wilderness indeed every day was a day of rest; for what need had those to labour who lived upon manna, and whose raiment waxed not old? But one day in seven must be a holy rest (v. 12): I gave them my sabbaths to be a sign between me and them (the institution of the sabbath was a sign of God’s good-will to them, and their observance of it a sign of their regard to him), that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. By this God made it to appear that he had distinguished them from the rest of the world, and designed to model them for a peculiar people to himself; and by their attendance on God in solemn assemblies on sabbath days they were made to increase in the knowledge of God, in an experimental knowledge of the powers and pleasures of his sanctifying grace. Note, (1.) Sabbaths are privileges, and are so to be accounted; the church acknowledges as a great favour, in that chapter which is parallel to this and seems to have a reference to this (Neh. ix. 14), Thou madest known unto them thy holy sabbaths. (2.) Sabbaths are signs; it is a sign that men have a sense of religion, and that there is some good correspondence between them and God, when they make conscience of keeping holy and sabbath day. (3.) Sabbaths, if duly sanctified, are the means of our sanctification; if we do the duty of the day, we shall find, to our comfort, it is the Lord that sanctifies us, makes us holy (that is, truly happy) here, and prepares us to be happy (that is, perfectly holy) hereafter.
II. Their disobedient undutiful conduct towards God, for which he might justly have thrown them out of covenant as soon as he had taken them into covenant (v. 13): They rebelled in the wilderness. There where they received so much mercy from God, and had such a dependence upon him, and were in their way to Canaan, yet there they broke out in many open rebellions against the God that led them and fed them. They did not only not walk in God’s statutes, but they despised his judgments as not worth observing; instead of sanctifying the sabbaths, they polluted them, greatly polluted them; one gathered sticks, many went out to gather manna on this day. Hereupon God was ready sometimes to cut them off; he said, more than once, that he would consume them in the wilderness. But Moses interceded, so did God’s own mercy more powerfully, and most of all a concern for his own glory, that his name might not be polluted and profaned among the heathen (v. 14), that the Egyptians might not say that for mischief he brought them thus far, or that he was not able to bring them any further, or that he had no such good land as was talked of to bring them to, Exo 32:12; Num 14:13, c. Note, God’s strongest reasons for his sparing mercy are those which are fetched from his own glory.
III. God’s determination to cut off that generation of them in the wilderness. He who lifted up his hand for them (<i>v. 6) now lifted up his hand against them; he who by an oath confirmed his promise to bring them out of Egypt now by an oath confirmed his threatenings that he would not bring them into Canaan (Eze 20:15; Eze 20:16): I lifted up my hand unto them, saying, As truly as I live, these men who have tempted me these ten times shall never see the land which I swore unto their fathers,Num 14:22; Num 14:23; Psa 95:11. By their contempt of God’s laws, and particularly of his sabbaths, they put a bar in their own door; and that which was at the bottom of their disobedience to God, and their neglect of his institutions, was a secret affection to the gods of Egypt: Their heart went after their idols. Note, The bias of the mind towards the world and the flesh, the money and the belly (those two great objects of spiritual idolatry), is the root of bitterness from which springs all disobedience to the divine law. The heart that goes after those idols despises God’s judgments.
IV. The reservation of a seed that should be admitted upon a new trial, and the instructions given to that seed, v. 17. Though they thus deserved ruin, and were doomed to it, yet my eye spared them. When he looked upon them he had compassion on them, and did not make an end of them, but reprieved them till a new generation was reared. Note, It is owing purely to the mercy of God that he has not long ago made an end of us. This new generation is well educated. Moses in Deuteronomy reported and enforce the laws which had been given to those that came out of Egypt, that their children might have them as it were sounding in their ears afresh when they entered Canaan (v. 18): “I said unto their children in the wilderness, in the plains of Moab, Walk in the statutes of your God and walk not in the statutes of your fathers; do not imitate their superstitious usages nor retain their foolish wicked customs; away with their vain conversation, which has nothing else to say for itself but that it was received by the tradition of your fathers, 1 Pet. i. 18. Defile not yourselves with their idols, for you see how odious they rendered themselves to God by them. But keep my judgments and hallow my sabbaths,” Eze 20:19; Eze 20:20. Note, If parents be careless, and do not give their children good instructions as they ought, the children ought to make up the want by studying the word of God so much the more carefully and diligently themselves when they grow up; and the bad examples of parents must be made use of by their children for admonition, and not for imitation.
V. The revolt of the next generation from God, by which they also made themselves obnoxious to the wrath of God (v. 21): The children rebelled against me too. And the same that was said of the fathers’ rebellion is here said of the children’s, for they were a seed of evil-doers. Moses told them that he knew their rebellion and their stiff neck, Deut. xxxi. 27. And Deut. ix. 24, You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. They walked not in my statutes (v. 21); nay, they despised my statutes, v. 24. Those who disobey God’s statutes despise them, they show that they have a mean opinion of them and of him whose statutes they are. They polluted God’s sabbaths, as their fathers. Note, The profanation of the sabbath day is an inlet to all impiety; those who pollute holy time will keep nothing pure. It was said of the fathers (v. 16) that their heart went after their idols; they worshipped idols because they had an affection for them. It is said of the children (v. 24) that their eyes went after their fathers’ idols; they had grown atheistical, and had no affection for any gods at all, but they worshipped their fathers’ idols because they were their fathers’ and they had them before their eyes. They were used to them; and, if they must have gods, they would have such as they could see, such as they could manage. And that which aggravated their disobedience to God’s statutes was that, if they had done them, they might have lived in them (v. 21), might have been a happy thriving people. Note, Those that go contrary to their duty go contrary to their interest; they will not obey, will not come to Christ, that they may have life, John v. 40. And it is therefore just that those who will not live and flourish as they might in their obedience should die and perish in their disobedience. Now the great instance of that generation’s rebellion and inclination to idolatry was the iniquity of Peor, as that of their fathers was the golden calf. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, Num. xxv. 3. Then there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord, which, if it had not been seasonably stayed by Phinehas’s zeal, had cut them all off; and yet they owned, in Joshua’s time, We ware not cleansed from that iniquity unto this day,Jos 22:17; Psa 106:29. Then it was that God said he would pour out his fury upon them (v. 21), that he lifted up his hand unto them in the wilderness, when they were a second time just ready to enter Canaan, that he would scatter them among the heathen. This very thing he said to them by Moses in his parting song, Deut. xxxii. 20. Because they provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, he said, I will hide my face form them; and (Eze 20:26; Eze 20:27) he said, I would scatter them into corners, were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, which explains this (Eze 20:21; Eze 20:22), I said I would pour out my fury upon them, but I withdrew my hand for my name’s sake. Note, When the corruptions of the visible church are such, and so provoking, that we have reason to fear its total extirpation, yet then we may be confident of this, to our comfort, that God will secure his own honour, by making good his purpose, that while the world stands he will have a church in it.
VI. The judgments of God upon them for their rebellion. They would not regard the statutes and judgments by which God prescribed them their duty, but despised them, and therefore God gave them statutes and judgments which were not good, and by which they should not live, v. 25. By this we may understand the several ways by which God punished them while they were in the wilderness–the plague that broke in upon them, the fiery serpent, and the like–which, in allusion to the law they had broken, are called judgments, because inflicted by the justice of God, and statutes, because he gave orders concerning them and commanded desolations as sometimes he had commanded deliverances, and appointed Israel’s plagues as he had done the plagues of Egypt. When God said, I will consume them in a moment (Num. xvi. 21), when he said, Take the heads of the people and hang them up (Num. xxv. 4), when he threatened them with the curse and obliged them to say Amen to every curse (Deut. xxvii. 28), then he gave them judgments by which they should not live. More is implied than is expressed; they are judgments by which they should die. Those that will not be bound by the precepts of the law shall be bound by the sentence of it; for one way or other the word of God will take hold of men, Zech. i. 6. Spiritual judgments are the most dreadful; and these God punished them with. The statutes and judgments which the heathen observed in the worship of their idols were not good, and in practising them they could not live; and God gave them up to those. He made their sin to be their punishment, gave them up to a reprobate mind, as he did the Gentile idolaters (Rom 1:24; Rom 1:26), gave them up to their own heart’s lusts (Ps. lxxxi. 12), punished them for those superstitious customs which were against the written law by giving them up to those which were against the very light and law of nature; he left them to themselves to be guilty of the most impure idolatries, as in the worship of Baal-peor (he polluted them, that is, her permitted them to pollute themselves, in their own gifts, v. 26), and of the most barbarous idolatries, as in the worship of Moloch, when they caused their children, especially their first-born, which God challenged a particular property in (the first-born of thy sons shalt thou give unto me), to pass through the fire, to be sacrificed to their idols; that thus he might make them desolate, not only that he might justly do it, but that he might do it by their own hands; for this must needs be a great weakening to their families and a diminution of the honour and strength of their country. Note, God sometimes makes sin to be its own punishment, and yet is not the author of sin; and there needs no more to make men miserable than to give them up to their own vile appetites and passions. Let them be put into the hand of their own counsels, and they will ruin themselves and make themselves desolate. And thus God makes them know that he is the Lord, and that he is a righteous God, which they themselves will be compelled to own when they see how much their wilful transgressions contribute to their own desolations. Note, Those who will not acknowledge God as the Lord their ruler shall be made to acknowledge him as the Lord their judge when it is too late.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
THE SIN OF ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS – FIRST
GENERATION
Verses 10-17:
Verse 10 summarizes that because of all this mercy, goodness, and grace that God had shown, they of Israel had long been a free people, led out from former bondage, by the one living God, whom all should honor and obey, Exo 20:1-5. They had been leaf into and through the wilderness of Sinai and secured with food and shelter and a tabernacle to worship by that same grace, Rom 11:6. To Him glory was due, 2Sa 7:23-24; Isa 63:12; Rom 9:17.
Verse 11 adds that God by grace gave their forefathers sacrificial laws and statutes that did two things, Rom 7:10; Rom 10:5; Deu 4:1; Mat 19:17; Exo 20:12:
1) Pointed them to acknowledge their sins and trust His coming Son-Sacrifice to save them and
2) gave them regulatory laws for civil, moral, and ethical behavior for saved and unsaved in all Israel. Obeying His laws men should live, disobeying them they should be put to death, Deu 4:8; Neh 9:13-14; Psa 147:19-20; Lev 18:5; Gal 3:10; Gal 3:12.
Verse 12 reminds that the Lord also gave the sabbaths as holy days of rest and consecration, that they might comprehend that he had sacrificed them, or set them apart, to live separated lives from heathendom and idolatry, as also expressed Exo 20:8; Exo 31:13; Exo 35:2; Deu 5:12; Neh 9:14. The people or land that disregards this principle of sabbath rest and worship will surely come to decay, Isa 58:13-14; Heb 10:24-26.
Verse 13 reflects on Israel’s rebellion against God, even while still in the wilderness, after having sacredly pledged to keep His laws, Exo 19:1-8. For their breach of His laws and statutes, though He fed them and shod them there in the wilderness, He poured out His fury on them to consume them, as He had afore told them He would for their contempt, abominations, and rebellion, Exo 20:4-5. How they rebelled is recounted Exo 32:1-6; Num 15:1-3; Exo 16:27; Num 15:32.
Verse 14 witnesses that the Lord wrought or made a diligent effort to keep their fathers from polluting His “name,” meaning His perfections before the heathen nations round about them, in whose sight He brought them out. There were the Egyptians, Moabites, Amorites, and Philistines, who beheld and received reports on their delivery from the Egyptian bondage by Moses, at the hand of the Lord, Ex ch. 12, 13.
Verse 15 notes, however, that after God lifted His hand, by Divine oath, to lead them out of Egypt with mercy, and cared for them with longsuffering in the wilderness. He turned away for a time from leading them on to the land that flowed with milk and honey, the promised land. This He did because they had first turned away their devotions to other gods, Num 14:26-30; Psa 95:11; Psa 106:23-28. Because of their unbelief and infidelity, God’s hand of judgment was over them 40 years in the wilderness.
Verse 16 states specifically that God’s judgment was upon their fathers in Egypt because they despised (took lightly) His judgments, showed contempt for His laws, and lusted to return to the idols of Egypt, polluting themselves as if they were heathens themselves; See Num 14:22; Num 15:39; Psa 78:37; Amo 5:25-26; Act 7:42-43.
Verse 17 continues to set forth the fact that God, in mercy, compassion, and much longsuffering, spared them because of His everlasting covenant with Abraham. His fidelity to His covenant stands in stark contrast with their murmuring, whinning, and rebellion, Psa 78:38; Jer 30:11. He did not destroy or make an end of them in the wilderness, as He might have done, but for the intercession of Moses who “stood in the gap” for them, Psa 106:23-24; Exo 32:30-35.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
After Ezekiel had taught that the Israelites deserved to perish in Egypt, unless God had spared them for his name’s sake rather than for their own, he now adds the cause of their coming forth, which was the promotion of his own glory. Hence, therefore, we gather that the Israelites falsely imagined any other cause of their deliverance than that respect of which the Prophet now speaks. But this is more than if he had simply said that they were snatched from the tyranny of Egypt by God’s gratuitous pity, since God gratuitously stretched out his hand towards them, and was so induced by feelings of humanity and clemency as to snatch away from their miseries the innocent who were unjustly afflicted; but he here excludes them from God’s clemency, because they were unworthy of his notice. I said, indeed, that two things were united, the salvation of the Church and the glory of God; but at the same time I noticed that the Prophet’s intention must be considered, since he wished to withdraw all confidence from such a proud people, and to show that, as far as they could, they had always repelled God’s favor by their obstacles, unless he had overcome their wickedness by his untiring goodness. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(Eze. 20:10-17)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.The sin of the first generation of Israelites in the wilderness: yet the Lord did not make an end of them.
Eze. 20:11. And I gave them My statutes, and showed them My judgments. This was a general expression for the law which was delivered to them. God gave laws at Sinai to the people whom He had brought out of Egypt, through which they were sanctified as His own people, that they might live before God.(Keil.) Which if a man do, he shall even live in them. He who obeyed Gods laws would find them tend unto life (Rom. 7:10; Rom. 10:5). The life which comes of obedience was not mere existence, but prosperity and blessedness, both bodily and spiritual, temporal and eternal (Deu. 4:1; Mat. 19:17; Exo. 20:12, etc.). The leading through the wilderness served to test their obedience.
Eze. 20:12. I gave them my Sabbaths. God concludes the directions for His worship by urging upon the people in the most solemn manner the observance of His Sabbaths, and thereby pronounces the keeping of the Sabbath as the kernel of all divine worship. And, as in that passage (Exo. 31:13), we are to understand by the Sabbaths the actual weekly Sabbaths, and not the institutions of worship as a whole, so here we must retain the literal signification of the word. It is only of the Sabbaths occurring every week, and not of all the fasts, that it could be said that it was a sign between Jehovah and Israel. It was a sign, not as a token, that they who observed it were Israelites, but that they might know that Jehovah was sanctifying them, namely, by the Sabbath restas a refreshing and elevation of the mind, in which Israel was to have a foretaste of that blessed resting from all works to which the people of God was ultimately to attain. It is from this deeper signification of the Sabbath that the prominence given to the Sabbaths here is to be explained, and not from the outward circumstance that in exile, when the sacrificial worship was necessarily suspended, the keeping of the Sabbath was the only bond which united the Israelites, so far as the worship of God was concerned.(Keil). The weekly pause in the midst of earthly labour was a sign of the spiritual work which God was performing among His obedient people; a sign also that they were sanctified, were set apart from all other nations, as that day was from the rest of the week.
Eze. 20:13. They walked not in My statutes, and they despised My judgments. Historical examples of Israels rebellion against Gods commandments in the wilderness are given in Exo. 32:1-6; Num. 25:1-3; and of the desecration of the Sabbath in Exo. 16:27; Num. 15:32. My Sabbaths they greatly polluted. History records nothing of an external violation of the Sabbath during the journey through the wilderness. Num. 15:32, where the man who gathered wood on the Sabbath was brought before the congregation, and stoned by them after formal sentence, is rather a proof that in this respect they were not wanting in zeal. But the prophet, in accordance with Isa. 58:13-14, and with Moses himself, who commanded to sanctify the Sabbath, to consecrate it in every respect to God, and withdraw it wholly from the region of self-interest, of personal sinful inclination, according to which the festival cannot possibly be observed with indolent repose, forms a deeper and more spiritual idea of the Sabbath. Thou shalt cease from thy doing, that God may have His work in thee, in this sense the truly God-fearing only can celebrate the Sabbath; so that all that in the books of Moses attests the want of true godliness among the people in the wilderness, involves at the same time the charge of desecrating the Sabbath.(Hengstenberg).
Eze. 20:14. But I wrought for My names sake. For His names sake God destroys not the people; but He excludes the present generation from the possession of Canaan, in just retribution for that which they have practised against Him. To this just retribution points theAnd I also (Eze. 20:15). It depends on the will of every one what position he will take towards God; but he must be prepared for this, that his act will be attended with a corresponding Divine act.(Hengstenberg.)
Eze. 20:15. Yet, also, I lifted up My hand unto them in the wilderness. The lifeing up of Gods hand signifies the Divine oath (Num. 14:28-30; Psa. 106:26).
Eze. 20:16. Their heart went after their idols. The idolatries of the children of Israel during their wanderings in the desert are referred to by the prophet Amos, and in St. Stephens speech (Amo. 5:25-26; Act. 7:42-43).
Eze. 20:17. Mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness. Though the generation that sinned in the desert perished, yet God did not give the whole of the people over to the destruction which they deserved. The hand of righteous anger was lifted to smite, but the eye of gracious pity restrained it.
HOMILETICS
THE SIN OF THE FIRST GENERATION OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS (Eze. 20:10-17)
I. It was a sin aggravated in its character.
1. They sinned after a great deliverance. In Egypt they were persecuted and held in cruel bondage. They learned to worship the gods of the nation which ruled over them (Jos. 24:14). But they were brought out of that land by the manifest power of God, and were thus delivered both from bodily and spiritual slavery.
2. They sinned after special means had been used to preserve their spiritual character as the elect of God.
(1). They had a clear revelation of Gods law. God had given them His statutes, and showed them His judgments. The observance of these would have been their peace, happiness, and salvation. (Eze. 20:11.) For the law of God tends to life (Rom. 7:20.) It is true that the law would give the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20), yet that knowledge ought to have brought them to confess their sins and to seek forgiveness through the blood of the atonement. They had to render obedience not to a blind power, making in some way for righteousness, but to a living will,to the one true God who was merciful and desired their salvation.
(2.) They were placed in circumstances favourable to the spiritual life. God had brought them out from the bondage and seductive civilization of Egypt and had led them into the wilderness (Eze. 20:10). The seclusion of the desert was favourable to contemplation,to seriousness of character. They would have a time to reflect upon Gods loving kindness in redemption. Obedience would have given them the means of making a great history (Exo. 19:3-9). Placed in such outward conditions as would naturally have the effect of leading them to cast themselves upon Gods care and governance, and delivered from the corrupting influences of the world, they had the most favourable opportunity for becoming a spiritual people.
(3.) They had the ordinance of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was given to them as a sign and to promore the holiness of the nation (Eze. 20:12). For this intermission of earthly work was a pledge of that work which God was carrying on amongst His obedient people (Exo. 31:13). It was a sign that God sanctified the people, that He separated them from the rest of the world, and that He would bring them, at last, to their quiet inheritance of rest. To keep the Sabbath with due regard to its spiritual significance was truly to fear and to serve God. But they rebelled against God in the wilderness, they polluted His Sabbaths (Eze. 20:13). In the pollution of the Sabbath there was a special danger to their religious life. For if that sacred day was not piously observed, it only exposed them the more to strong temptation. If it was not occupied with thoughts of God, it laid their souls open to the incursions of every evil thought. Some of the early Christian writers charge the Jews of their time with spending their Sabbaths in licentiousness. Thus Israel had superior religious advantages in the wilderness, but idolatry was in the heart of the people. The corruptions of Egypt clung to them (Eze. 20:16).
II. It was a sin which was visited with a fitting punishment. A punishment, not only in degree, but also in kind. They polluted Gods Sabbaths, and He would not bring them to the land of rest. His plan concerning them was to lead them to the land of their inheritance, where they might dwell in peace and safety. But all revolt from God must be followed by darkness and disorder, by a disarrangement of all those good things which He has prepared for us.
III. Their sin did not altogether shut out Gods mercy. They were not all destroyed in the wilderness as they deserved. God has an eye of pity which arrests His hand of righteous anger.
(Eze. 20:15-17).
Here a difficulty ariseth. In Eze. 20:6 it is said that God had lifted up His hand, and so sworn to bring them out of the land of Egypt into the land of Canaan; and here it is said He hath lifted up His hand to the contrary. It seems that here is one oath against another. And in Num. 14:34, God acknowledges His breach of promise, for He saith, Ye shall know my breach of promise. I have promised and sworn to bring you into the land of Canaan, but you have so sinned against and provoked Me that I will not do it, yea, have sworn you shall not enter into my rest (Psa. 95:11). This difficulty is removed by considering that God did not make His promise or swear to those individual men that were kept out of Canaan, that they should be brought into it, for if it had been so God had forsworn Himself; but His promise and oath was that the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob should be brought into it (Gen. 12:17; Gen. 13:15; Gen. 15:18; Gen. 24:4; Gen. 50:24; Deu. 34:4); and their seed was brought into the promised land (Jos. 1:2; Jos. 4:1; Jos. 14:1; Jos. 24:13); and so Gods promise and oath were kept. Those He swore against were those that murmured against Him, even all from twenty years old and upwards, except Caleb and Joshua, whose carcases fell in the wilderness (Jos. 5:6). As for Num. 14:34, Gods breach of promise is, in the original, by frustration: you looked certainly to have entered into Canaan, but for your murmuring and unbelief I have frustrated your expectations. Or thus, you think My oath cannot be true, because of a former oath, and that the words I have uttered will prove false; but you shall know whether my words and oath be false or not. [The Revised Version (1885) has, And ye shall know my alienation, with the rendering in the margin. The revoking of my promise.]
Flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands. Of these words hath been spoken largely in Eze. 20:6. They are repeated here to show the ingratitude of the people, that were not affected with this land, which was a second Paradise, but despised it, and raised an ill-report upon it; as also to show what they lost in being kept out of it, and their folly in preferring Egypt before it.
1. Mens sins disappoint them of choice mercies. Yea, mercies promised, expected, and near at hand. God had promised them Canaan, they were near unto it (Numbers 13), expected to go in and possess it; but God would not bring them into the land because they despised His judgments, walked not in His statutes, but polluted His sabbaths.
In Heb. 3:19, it is said, They could not enter in because of unbelief; and Psa. 106:24, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not His word. It was their sins kept them back from so great, so near, so longed-for a mercy. Such is the malignity of sin that it drives mercies back when they are at the door, and blocks up the passage, that none for the future may issue forth towards us. God can hear and help; but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear (Isa. 59:1-2); your sins stand like a trap-wall, a mighty mountain, between Him and you; they have cramped His will, so that though He can, yet He will neither hear your prayers nor help your persons. It is sin that keeps mercy from us. (Jer. 5:25).
2. When the heart is carried out after unlawful things, then the ways and ordinances of God are neglected, slighted, and profaned (Eze. 20:16). Their idols had stolen away their hearts from God. They had whorish hearts, and whorish eyes which went after their idols, and made them depart from God. David advised men not to set their hearts upon riches (Psa. 62:10); they will then be their idols, and make them forget God and His ways, and do those things which will profane His ordinances. Look well to your hearts, and let not them carry you away (Job. 15:12).
3. When sinners provoke God into ways of destruction, He doth not utterly destroy them, but shows some pity and mercy. Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying. God did destroy many of them in the wilderness; three thousand upon their making the calf (Exo. 32:28); twenty-four thousand upon their committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab (Num. 25:9); much people by fiery serpents upon their murmuring (Num. 21:6); Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were swallowed up of the earth, and all theirs, and the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense were consumed by fire (Num. 16:32-35); fourteen thousand seven hundred were destroyed by the plague (Eze. 20:49); and many by the Amorites in Seir (Deu. 1:44). Yet all were not destroyed; God did not make an end of them in the wilderness, He did not consummate and perfect His wrath upon them. Though men have sinned much, yet God hath an eye to spare and a heart to pity. If He should punish and destroy none, He would be thought to be like unto sinners (Psa. 50:21); if He should destroy all, He would be thought to be cruel; to show, therefore, that He is a just God, He cuts off some; and to show He is a merciful God, he spares some.(Greenhill.)
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
C. Israel in the Wilderness 20:1026
TRANSLATION
(10) And I brought them out from the land of Egypt, and brought them unto the wilderness. (11) And I gave to them My statutes, and My ordinances I made known to them, which if a man do them, he shall live by them. (12) And also My sabbaths I gave to them to become a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctified them. (13) But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes, and they spurned My ordinances, which if a man do them, he shall live by them. My sabbaths they profaned exceedingly, and I intended to pour out My wrath upon them in the wilderness to consume them. (14) But I took action for the sake of My name, that it might not be defiled before the nations before whom I brought them out. (15) And also I lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them unto the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, the beauty of all the lands; (16) because they rejected My judgments, and in My statutes they did not walk, and they defiled My sabbaths, for after their idols their heart did go. (17) But My eye had pity upon them from destroying them, and I did not make a complete end of them in the wilderness. (18) And I said unto their sons in the wilderness: Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their ordinances, and with their idols do not defile yourselves. (19) I am the LORD your God; walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances, and do them; (20) and sanctify My sabbaths that they may be signs between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your god. (21) But the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, nor did they keep My ordinances to do them, which if a man will do them, he shall live by them; they profaned My sabbaths; and I intended to pour out My wrath on them to finish My fury on them in the wilderness. (22) And I withdrew My hand, and took action for the sake of My name, that it would not be defiled in the sight of the nations before whom I brought them out. (23) Also I lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness to scatter them among the nations and to disperse them in the lands; (24) because My ordinances they did not perform, and My statutes they rejected, and My sabbaths they profaned, and their eyes were after the gods of their fathers. (25) And also I gave to them statutes which were not good, and ordinances whereby they could not live. (26) And I defiled them with their gifts, in that they consecrate all who open the womb, that I might destroy them, that they might know that I am the LORD.
COMMENTS
Gods concern for His name prevailed over His desire to rid Himself of that rebellious people. He brought them out of Egypt and into the wilderness (Eze. 20:10). At Mt. Sinai He graciously gave to that people His Law. In keeping this law one could find the key to life, i.e., he would prosper materially and spiritually. National faithfulness to that Law would result in social happiness and political stability (Eze. 20:11). As further evidence of His gracious concern, God ordained the sabbath[342] as an outward sign of His covenant with Israel. Every observance of the sabbath was an affirmation of their relationship to Him (Eze. 20:12; cf. Exo. 31:17).
[342] The text reads sabbaths and may include the various festivals as well as the weekly sabbath.
Within days of the gracious giving of the Law, Israel rebelled against the Lord in the incident of the golden calf. The Book of Numbers contains numerous examples of the times when Israel murmured against the Lord. Direct violation of the sabbath is recorded on two occasions (Exo. 16:27; Num. 15:32), but that sacred day was defiled by attitude again and again. Because Israel had spurned Gods gracious wilderness gifts to His people, He was fully prepared to destroy them there and then (Eze. 20:13). However, again for the sake of His name His reputation among the heathen nations he refrained from executing His wrath (Eze. 20:14).
While God did not completely destroy the nation in the wilderness, He did swear that the guilty generation which showed such lack of faith at Kadesh-barnea (Numbers 13-14) could not enter the land of promise (Eze. 20:15). Because they had defiled the law of God and secretly had craved for their idols in their heart, God sentenced that generation to wander in the wilderness for forty years (Eze. 20:16). Yet God did not make a full end of Israel at that time (Eze. 20:17). Those under the age of twenty survived that disciplinary death march.
God warned that new generation not to follow in the sinful paths of their fathers (Eze. 20:18), but rather to recognize His absolute divinity. He earnestly pled with them through Moses to obey the divine law (Eze. 20:19) and to faithfully observe the sabbaths as an outward sign and reminder that they were indeed Gods people (Eze. 20:20). Unfortunately that new generation was every bit as bad as the former one. At Baal-peer in their very first exposure to Canaanite Baal worship, the men of that new generation rushed headlong into the vilest form of degrading worship (Num. 25:1-9; Hos. 9:10). God was of a mind to destroy the nation entirely (Eze. 20:21). However, for the sake of His own self-interest for the sake of his reputation among surrounding nations God relented (withdrew My hand; Eze. 20:22).
Though Israel survived her wilderness wandering, divine discipline was again necessary. The sentence of destruction was commuted. Instead, at some point in the future this nation would be scattered among other lands and countries (Eze. 20:23). The time and manner of that dispersion is not specified. The long periods of oppression during the period of the Judges probably were the first step in the fulfillment of this threat. Attacks by neighboring nations during the monarchy period resulted in Gods people being deported far and wide (cf. Amo. 1:6; Amo. 1:9; Joe. 3:1-8). The culmination of this threatened dispersion was the deportation of the northern tribes by the Assyrian kings,[343] and the removal of captives from Judah by Nebuchadnezzar.[344]
[343] The two main Assyrian deportations occurred in 745 B.C. by Tiglath-pileser III, and in 722 B.C. by Sargon.
[344] Four deportations by Nebuchadnezzar are recorded In Scripture The first was in 605/604 B.C. and the last in 582 B.C. See Jer. 52:30.
The generation which was brought into Canaan also rejected Gods holy law and went after idols (Eze. 20:24). God gave them over to the consequences of their own sinful desire. He punished their sin by means of their sin. As they went ever deeper into the baser forms of idolatry, they brought themselves under statutes and judgments of a different sort. The pagan religious code which they adopted as their own did not contribute to health, happiness and well-being (life), but rather became a vicious and demanding taskmaster (Eze. 20:25). Stephen describes this situation when he says, God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven (Act. 7:42), He punished them by permitting them to do what they really wanted to do.
All the material gifts which God bestowed upon His people were permitted by Him to be defiled in the debasing worship of Baal. They rejected Gods law of dedicating their first born to the Lord (Exo. 13:2) and replaced it with the horrible practice of child sacrifice (cf. Eze. 16:21). The ultimate end of such perverse pagan practices would be national destruction. Only then would Israel realize that Yahweh was the only God (Eze. 20:26).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(10) Brought them into the wilderness.Here begins the second period of the history under reviewviz., the earlier part of the life in the wilderness (Eze. 20:10-17). It includes the exodus, the giving of the law, the setting up of the tabernacle, the establishment of the priesthood, and the march to Kadesh. By all this the nation was constituted most distinctly the people of God, and brought into the closest covenant relation with him.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
God’s Deliverance In The Wilderness.
“So I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them my statutes and showed them my judgments, which if a man does he shall live in them.
So God delivered His people from Egypt by His mighty power, led them out of it into the wilderness and there entered into His covenant with them at Sinai (Exodus 20), again with the promise ‘I am Yahweh your God’ (Exo 20:2). There He gave them His statutes and judgments, response to which bring life (Exo 20:12; Leviticus; Deu 4:10; Deu 5:16). They would result in a full life of blessing. Primary in these statutes and judgments was their response to God, covered by the first five ‘words’ (commandments – the fifth is included because the parents stood in the place of God). They would live because they walked with God, which would then be revealed in their keeping the last five ‘words’ (commandments).
The later New Testament strictures against the Law (Joh 1:17; Act 13:39; Rom 3:20; Gal 3:10-11) were not against this significance of the Law, but against the idea that had grown up that eternal life was achievable by punctilious observance of every ordinance in exactly the right way, and of every detail of the moral Law. They had taken their eyes off God and fixed them on themselves.
To ‘live’ as compared with to ‘die’ indicated wellbeing and blessing. It indicated the enjoyment of God’s presence (Psa 139:7-12). While there were a few indications of it, there was not at this stage, as far as we know, any general thought out conception of an afterlife. This would slowly grow through the coming centuries (but compare Dan 12:2 which is its beginnings. See also Isa 53:12; Isa 26:19; Psa 16:10-11; Psa 17:15; also possibly Psa 11:7; Psa 140:13. It was at this stage an instinct within the heart of the righteous rather than an expressed doctrine).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
In the Wilderness
v. 10. Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, v. 11. And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, v. 12. Moreover, also, I gave them My Sabbaths, v. 13. But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness, v. 14. But I wrought for My name’s sake, v. 15. Yet also I lifted up My hand unto them in the wilderness, v. 16. because they despised My judgments and walked not in My statutes, but polluted My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols, v. 17. Nevertheless Mine eye spared them from destroying them, v. 18. But I said unto their children in the wilderness, v. 19. I am the Lord, your God; walk in My statutes, v. 20. and hallow My Sabbaths, v. 21. Notwithstanding the children, v. 22. Nevertheless I withdrew Mine hand, v. 23. I lifted up Mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, v. 24. because they had not executed My judgments, v. 25. Wherefore I gave them also, v. 26. and I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Here we have the history carried on to the wilderness dispensation. If, as some say, the direct road to Canaan might have been accomplished in a few days, the Lord’s keeping them there forty years plainly proves, that it was for punishment and the trial of their faith. Here the Lord manifested that they were under his peculiar care, for he gave them Sabbaths as a sign between Him and them, and ordinances as a means of grace to keep up holy fellowship and communion all the way. But when the people polluted the Lord’s Sabbaths, and defiled His statutes, the Lord seemed ready to enter into judgment upon them. But here again as before, that the holy name of the Lord should not be polluted and profaned in the sight of the heathen, the Lord suppressed the judgment, and His eye spared them in mercy. Reader! to preventing mercy, sparing mercy, and the mercy which forms itself in the heart of Jehovah before judgment goeth forth, who shall take upon him to state the amount in every man’s debt-book before God?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 20:10 Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.
Ver. 10. Wherefore I caused them. ] With a strong hand and an outstretched arm I caused it, against all the force of Egypt. Exo 13:18 God hath also mightily brought England out of Egypt spiritually, and dealt with it, not according to his ordinary rule, but according to his prerogative.
And brought them into the wilderneas.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I caused, &c, Reference to Pentateuch (Ex. 13, &c.) App-92.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Eze 20:10-17
Eze 20:10-17
“So I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them my statutes, and showed them mine ordinances, which, if a man do, he shall live in them. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Jehovah that sanctifieth them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; and they walked not in my statutes, and they rejected mine ordinances, which, if a man keep, he shall live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly profaned. Then I said, I will pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. Moreover I sware unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; because they rejected mine ordinances, and walked not in my statutes, and profaned my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. Nevertheless mine eye spared them, and I destroyed them not, neither did I make a full end of them in the wilderness.”
ISRAEL REBELLED AGAINST
GOD IN THE WILDERNESS
“Sabbaths, a sign between me and them …” (Eze 20:12). Behold here the true status of the sabbath. It was never given to all mankind, but to Israel only, as a sign between them and God. It was not revealed to Adam, who never heard of it, but to Moses (Neh 9:13).
“Their heart went after their idols …” (Eze 20:16). The martyr Stephen mentions Israel’s worshipping the host of heaven (Act 7:42) during the period of their wilderness wandering.
“Their heart went after their idols …” (Eze 20:16). “Israel in Canaan might have deserved this sweeping condemnation, but not Israel in the wilderness; because only two outbreaks of idolatry are recorded, namely that of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32), and that at Baal-Peor (Numbers 24-25).” Such a comment is incorrect, because it is founded upon the false notion that Numbers records all that Israel did during the forty years of their sentence of waiting to enter Canaan. As a matter of fact, very little of what Israel did during that generation is recorded; because any significance of what that evil generation did was lost in their rebellion against God. And the very few instances where such details as the Golden Calf and the fiasco at Baal-Peor are mentioned, they are reported only, “For our information upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1Co 10:11). The total history of all of Israel’s wickedness would probably have required a dozen volumes the size of the Biblical Numbers! Thus, there is no reason whatever to accept a comment that questions the blame here laid by God’s prophet upon Israel. All of the incidents actually reported of that forty-year period in the wilderness probably took place in a time period of a few weeks or months, there being no effort whatever to provide a full history of that lost four decades.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Exo 13:17, Exo 13:18, Exo 14:17-22, Exo 15:22, Exo 20:2
Reciprocal: 1Ch 17:21 – make thee Hos 2:14 – and bring Amo 2:10 – I brought Act 13:18 – about
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 20:10. After thus demonstrating his love for his people, God sent them forth out of that country to travel a while in the wilderness.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 20:10-11. Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of Egypt Removed all obstacles, furnished them with all necessaries, went before them, and showed them the way they should go, Exo 13:17; And brought them into the wilderness It was not Mosess error, though Pharaoh thought so, Exo 14:3-4, but the peculiar conduct of God that brought them thither. And I gave them my statutes A favour not afforded to other nations: see Deu 4:8; Psa 147:20. This was a treasure which David declared he prized above thousands of gold and silver, Psa 119:72. Which if a man do, he shall even live in them That is, in keeping Gods commandments there is abundance of comfort, and a great reward. By life is generally meant, in the Old Testament, all that happiness which is contained in the literal sense of the promises belonging to that covenant. Under these were mystically comprehended the promises of a better life, wherein God will bestow upon his servants the peculiar marks of his favour, Psa 16:11. These promises were made to the Jews upon condition of their punctual obedience to the whole law, Lev 18:5; Lev 26:3, &c.; Deu 27:26. And several persons under that dispensation are styled blameless, by reason of the sincerity of their obedience, though it was not perfect, or unsinning: see Luk 1:6; Php 3:6. But if we understand the forementioned condition in its rigorous sense, as implying a perfectly exact and unsinning obedience; and as the word life contains the promise of eternal life under it; (a promise which the pious Jews expected, and hoped to obtain, Mat 19:16-17; Act 26:6-7;) as it was impossible to be performed, so no person could lay claim to eternal life by virtue of any promise therein contained; from whence St. Paul infers the necessity of seeking to Christ, and laying hold on the promises in the gospel, for the obtaining of justification and eternal life. Lowth. It must always be remembered, that the promises of spiritual blessings that we find in the Old Testament, such as pardon, acceptance with God, the Holy Spirit, sanctification, &c., belong to the gospel, or covenant of grace, as much as those in the New Testament: see 2Co 1:20; Heb 6:17-18; Heb 8:10-12; Heb 11:13.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Israel’s rebellion in the wilderness and God’s grace 20:10-26
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
So the Lord led the Israelites out of Egypt and into the wilderness. At Mount Sinai He gave them statutes and ordinances that would result in their welfare if they obeyed them, namely, the Mosaic Law. He also gave them the Sabbath Day as a sign of the special relationship and blessing that they enjoyed because He had chosen them. By observing the Sabbath the Israelites demonstrated their uniqueness among the nations, their sanctification unto Yahweh (Exo 20:8-11; Exo 31:13-17). The Sabbath was a dual sign to the Israelites. It reminded them of Yahweh’s creation of the cosmos (Exo 20:11) and of His creation of their nation (Deu 5:14-15). It was the central sign of the Old Covenant (Isa 56:2; Isa 56:4).