Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 20:18
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:
18 26. The second generation in the wilderness. These only imitated the sins of their fathers, Num 25:1-2; Deu 9:23-24; Deu 31:27.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 18. But I said unto their children] These I chose in their fathers’ stead; and to them I purposed to give the inheritance which their fathers by disobedience lost.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But, and, or then
I said. The fathers were refractory, and deaf, would not hearken, therefore God turns his advice to children. Though the particular place is not specified, yet among the calamities of that mournful age, and at the funerals of so many as then died, there were some that had piety, zeal, and courage enough to warn the survivors, and Psa 90:7-11 affords us ground enough to believe Moses did warn and advise. In the wilderness; in that part of it where their fathers murmured, and where some were cut off by the hand of God, and in other parts through which they travelled and suffered.
Walk ye not: it is both counsel, as from love, and a command, as from power;
Live not as your fathers, for they walked contrary to reason, religion, and their own good, as much as they walked contrary to me.
Your fathers; though fathers, they may not command contrary to Gods command, nor be imitated in what they do contrary to Gods law.
Their judgments; it is observable, the prophet forbids them to imitate the customs, rites, and usages of their fathers, included in judgments, and thence passeth to forbid their imitating their fathers in their idolatry. Idolatry is fruitful when it so multiplied in Egyptian bondage, and in the desolate state of a people in the wilderness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. I said unto their childrenbeingunwilling to speak any more to the fathers as being incorrigible.
Walk ye not in . . . statutesof . . . fathersThe traditions of the fathers are to becarefully weighed, not indiscriminately followed. He forbids theimitation of not only their gross sins, but even their plausiblestatutes [CALVIN].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But I said unto their children in the wilderness,…. Or, “then I said” k; his judgments and statutes being neglected and despised by them, and good instructions and kind providences being of no use unto them, the Lord turns to their posterity while yet in the wilderness: what follows seems to refer to those directions, instructions, and exhortations given in the book of Deuteronomy by Moses, in the plains of Moab, a little before the children of Israel went over Jordan into the land of Canaan:
walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments; they were not only not to imitate their parents in their open sins and transgressions of God’s law; but they were not to follow them in the observance of such rules of worship, which were of their own devising, and they had formed into a law: this makes greatly against such who think it a very heinous sin to relinquish the religion of their ancestors, or that in which they were brought up; but if this does not appear to be according to the word of God, the statutes and judgments of our fathers should stand for nothing, yea, should be rejected:
nor defile yourselves with their idols; idolatry, as it is abominable to God, is defiling to men, and renders them loathsome to him; and it being what their fathers practised will not excuse them; for, as it was defiling to their fathers, it is no less so to their children.
k “postea dixi”, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Generation that Grew Up in the Desert
Eze 20:18. And I spake to their sons in the desert, Walk not in the statutes of your fathers, and keep not their rights, and do not defile yourselves with their idols. Eze 20:19. I am Jehovah your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my rights, and do them, Eze 20:20. And sanctify my Sabbaths, that they may be for a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am Jehovah your God. Eze 20:21. But the sons were rebellious against me; they walked not in my statutes, and did not keep my rights, to do them, which man should do that he may live through them; they profaned my Sabbaths. Then I thought to pour out my wrath upon them, to accomplish my anger upon them in the desert. Eze 20:22. But I turned back my hand and did it for my name’s sake, that it might not be profaned before the eyes of the nations, before whose eyes I had them out. Eze 20:23. I also lifted my hand to them in the desert, to scatter them among the nations, and to disperse them in the lands; Eze 20:24. Because they did not my rights, and despised my statutes, profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after the idols of their fathers. Eze 20:25. And I also gave them statutes, which were not good, and rights, through which they did not live; Eze 20:26. And defiled them in their sacrificial gifts, in that they caused all that openeth the womb to pass through, that I might fill them with horror, that they might know that I am Jehovah. – The sons acted like their fathers in the wilderness. Historical proofs of this are furnished by the accounts of the Sabbath-breaker (Num 15:32.), of the rebellion of the company of Korah, and of the murmuring of the whole congregation against Moses and Aaron after the destruction of Korah’s company (Num 16 and Num 17:1-13). In the last two cases God threatened that He would destroy the whole congregation (cf. Num 16:21 and Num 17:9-10); and on both occasions the Lord drew back His hand at the intercession of Moses, and his actual intervention (Num 16:22 and Num 17:11.), and did not destroy the whole nation for His name’s sake. The statements in Eze 20:21 and Eze 20:22 rest upon these facts. The words of Eze 20:23 concerning the oath of God, that He would scatter the transgressors among the heathen, are also founded upon the Pentateuch, and not upon an independent tradition, or any special revelation from God. Dispersion among the heathen is threatened in Lev 26:33 and Deu 28:64, and there is no force in Kliefoth’s argument that “these threats do not refer to the generation in the wilderness, but to a later age.” For in both chapters the blessings and curses of the law are set before the people who were then in the desert; and there is not a single word to intimate that either blessing or curse would only be fulfilled upon the generations of later times.
On the contrary, when Moses addressed to the people assembled before him his last discourse concerning the renewal of the covenant (Deut 29 and 30), he called upon them to enter into the covenant, “which Jehovah maketh with thee this day ” (Deu 29:12), and to keep all the words of this covenant and do them. It is upon this same discourse, in which Moses calls the threatenings of the law , an oath (Deu 29:13), that “the lifting of the hand of God to swear,” mentioned in Eze 20:23 of this chapter, is also founded. Moreover, it is not stated in this verse that God lifted His hand to scatter among the heathen the generation which had grown up in the wilderness, and to disperse them in the lands before their entrance into the land promised to the fathers; but simply that He had lifted His hand in the wilderness to threaten the people with dispersion among the heathen, without in any way defining the period of dispersion. In the blessings and threatenings of the law contained in Lev 26 and Deut 28-30, the nation is regarded as a united whole; so that no distinction is made between the successive generations, for the purpose of announcing this particular blessing or punishment to either one or the other. And Ezekiel acts in precisely the same way. It is true that he distinguishes the generation which came out of Egypt and was sentenced by God to die in the wilderness from the sons, i.e., the generation which grew up in the wilderness; but the latter, or the sons of those who had fallen, the generation which was brought into the land of Canaan, he regards as one with all the successive generations, and embraces the whole under the common name of “fathers” to the generation living in his day (“your fathers” Eze 20:27), as we may clearly see from the turn given to the sentence which describes the apostasy of those who came into the land of Canaan (‘ ). In thus embracing the generation which grew up in the wilderness and was led into Canaan, along with the generations which followed and lived in Canaan, Ezekiel adheres very closely to the view prevailing in the Pentateuch, where the nation in all its successive generations is regarded as one united whole. The threat of dispersion among the heathen, which the Lord uttered in the wilderness to the sons of those who were not to see the land, is also not mentioned by Ezekiel as one which God designed to execute upon the people who were wandering in the desert at the time. For if he had understood it in this sense, he would have mentioned its non-fulfilment also, and would have added a ‘ , as he has done in the case of the previous threats (cf. Eze 20:22, Eze 20:14, and Eze 20:9). But we do not find this either in Eze 20:24 or Eze 20:26. The omission of this turn clearly shows that Eze 20:23 does not refer to a punishment which God designed to inflict, but did not execute for His name’s sake; but that the dispersion among the heathen, with which the transgressors of His commandments were threatened by God when in the wilderness, is simply mentioned as a proof that even in the wilderness the people, whom God had determined to lead into Canaan, were threatened with that very punishment which had now actually commenced, because rebellious Israel had obstinately resisted the commandments and rights of its God.
These remarks are equally applicable to Eze 20:25 and Eze 20:26. These verses are not to be restricted to the generation which was born in the wilderness and gathered to its fathers not long after its entrance into Canaan, but refer to their descendants also, that is to say, to the fathers of our prophet’s contemporaries, who were born and had died in Canaan. God gave them statutes which were not good, and rights which did not bring them life. It is perfectly self-evident that we are not to understand by these statutes and rights, which were not good, either the Mosaic commandments of the ceremonial law, as some of the Fathers and earlier Protestant commentators supposed, or the threatenings contained in the law; so that this needs no elaborate proof. The ceremonial commandments given by God were good, and had the promise attached to them, that obedience to them would give life; whilst the threats of punishment contained in the law are never called and . Those statutes only are called “not good” the fulfilment of which did not bring life or blessings and salvation. The second clause serves as an explanation of the first. The examples quoted in Eze 20:26 show what the words really mean. The defiling in their sacrificial gifts (Eze 20:26), for example, consisted in their causing that which opened the womb to pass through, i.e., in the sacrifice of the first-born. points back to Exo 13:12; only , which occurs in that passage, is omitted, because the allusion is not to the commandment given there, but to its perversion into idolatry. This formula is used in the book of Exodus ( l.c.) to denote the dedication of the first-born to Jehovah; but in Eze 20:13 this limitation is introduced, that the first-born of man is to be redeemed. signifies a dedication through fire (= , Eze 20:31), and is adopted in the book of Exodus, where it is joined to , in marked opposition to the Canaanitish custom of dedicating children of Moloch by februation in fire (see the comm. on ex. Eze 13:12). The prophet refers to this Canaanitish custom, and cites it as a striking example of the defilement of the Israelites in their sacrificial gifts ( , to make unclean, not to declare unclean, or treat as unclean). That this custom also made its way among the Israelites, is evident from the repeated prohibition against offering children through the fire to Moloch (Lev 18:21 and Deu 18:10). When, therefore, it is affirmed with regard to a statute so sternly prohibited in the law of God, that Jehovah gave it to the Israelites in the wilderness, the word (give) can only be used in the sense of a judicial sentence, and must not be taken merely as indicating divine permission; in other words, it is to be understood, like 2Th 2:11 (“God sends them strong delusion”) and Act 7:42 (“God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven”), in the sense of hardening, whereby whoever will not renounce idolatry is so given up to its power, that it draws him deeper and deeper in. This is in perfect keeping with the statement in Eze 20:26 as the design of God in doing this: “that I might fill them with horror;” i.e., might excite such horror and amazement in their minds, that if possible they might be brought to reflect and to return to Jehovah their God.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
SIN OF ISRAEL’S SECOND GENERATION IN THE
WILDERNESS
Verses 18-26:
Verse 18 recounts how the Lord warned the younger generation of Israel, twenty years of age and upward in the wilderness, who were to survive the death of all males 20 years of age and upward, to “walk not” in the idol-worshipping, statute-breaking and defiling, debauching ways that their fathers had yielded to, when only a short time in the wilderness. For they were to be accountable for their sins, Eze 18:1-4.
Verse 19 asserts that the one living God belonged to them; and He called upon them to walk in His statutes (in harmony with them), and guard His judgments, respect them and obey them, Deu 5:32-33.
Verse 20 adds that they were to hallow, or hold as sacred His sabbaths, that they might exist as a sign between Him and them, that they be preserved from destruction and prospered in spiritual ways, Exo 20:11; Isa 58:13; Jer 17:21-22.
Verses 21, 22 are a reiteration or testament of what God had done in delivering, caring for, instructing, then later punishing His chosen people, who then rebelled against Him to live in idolatry and moral and spiritual pollution, Psa 78:38. To those who knew to do good, did it not, it was sin for and in which they were severely chastened, Jas 4:17; 1 Corinthians 1-14; Heb 10:26-31; Heb 12:5-11. Other examples of their rebellion are: In sabbath breaking, Num 15:32; Korah’s rebellion, Nu Ch. 16, 17.
Verses 23, 24 continue to state that it was the Lord’s judgment hand that was lifted up against and upon Israel in the wilderness, and to disperse them among heathen countries, because of their chosen anarchy against Him who had delivered them, Lev 26:33; Deu 28:64; Deu 29:4; Psa 106:27; Jer 15:4. This judgment, it is certified, happened because of their despising His statutes, polluting His sabbaths, and their lustful rolling their eyes, turning their heads and following idol gods, to the neglect of administering His judgments, which had been delivered to them, Num 16:22; Lev 26:33; Deu 28:64; 1Pe 1:18.
Verse 25 adds that He gave them statutes or gave them over to follow statutes that were not for their good, v. 39; even as in the plains of Moab, Numbers 25; Psa 81:12; Rom 1:24; 2Th 2:11. He gave them up, without holy spirit restraint, to have their fill of rebellion, Hos 8:11.
Verse 26 asserts that the Lord polluted them (gave them up to pollution) in their own gifts, as they had polluted His sabbaths, v. 24; Lev 18:21. They mde their children to pass through the fire, burning the firstborn alive, cruelly, in the arms of the false god Moloch, as the Canaanites did, Deu 28:10. See also 2Ki 17:17. It was to make them know or recognize that He was the Lord, 2Co 8:6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
After God has shown that the obstinate wickedness of the people was such that they profited by neither rigor nor clemency, he now says that the sons were altogether like their fathers. For when he says that he turned his discourse to their sons, he obliquely indicates that he was so broken down by their disgust, that he is unwilling to address the deaf. I said, therefore, to their sons: why not to themselves? because they had become obdurate in their impiety, and gave no hope of repentance. Since then God had experienced their utmost obstinacy, he says that he turned his discourse to their sons; Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, and do not observe their judgments. Here God does not speak of bad examples and of plain and palpable crimes, but he uses words seemingly favorable — judgments and statutes. If he had simply said that their fathers were wicked, and hence the sons must take care not to imitate them, that would have been ordinary teaching; but by adaptation he uses honorable expressions, namely, my statutes and judgments. Meanwhile he forbids their posterity to conform to the statutes and laws of their fathers, meaning to their ceremonies and rites. Lest any should object that those statutes were to be observed which tend to a right end, he adds, that you pollute not yourselves with their filth and defilements. Here the former language of accommodation is removed, and God as it were wipes away the coloring, that it may be clearly apparent that those statutes and precepts differed in nothing from thefts, robberies, and adulteries: this is the Prophet’s meaning.
Besides, this passage is worthy of notice, because we may learn from it how frivolous is the excuse of those who boast of their fathers, and arrogantly predict that they will be pardoned if they conform themselves to their example. For God not only forbids us to imitate the gross and open wickedness of our parents, but their laws, statutes, and ceremonies, and whatever is apparently plausible, and seems to the common sense of mankind worthy of praise. And thus the foolishness of the papists is detected, who think that they lie safely concealed under the shield of Ajax, when they boast to us of the examples of their fathers, and the value of antiquity: we clearly see how plainly God’s Spirit refutes them when he pronounces that they must obey his statutes and precepts, and not listen to open wickedness only, but not even to good intentions, as they say, and devotions, and the traditions of the fathers. But what is the worship of God in the papacy in these days but a confused jumble, which they have thrown together from numberless fictions? for whoever will examine all their trifling, will find them fabricated by the will of man; and they are not ashamed to oppose the traditions of their fathers to the word of God. Now, therefore, we see the whole papacy laid prostrate, and all the remarkable traditions of the fathers in which they boast, when the Prophet says, walk you not in the statutes of your fathers. But since antiquity deserves some reverence, it would be gross and barbarous promiscuously to reject all the examples of the fathers: hence we need prudence and selection here, and God’s Spirit suggests this to us when he adds pollution’s or idols. Hence the traditions of the fathers must be examined; and it is a mark of prudent discretion to observe what they contain, and whence they proceed. If we discover that they have no other tendency than to the pure worship of God, we may embrace them; but if they draw us away from the pure and simple worship of God, if they infect true and sincere religion by their own mixtures, we must utterly reject them.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(Eze. 20:18-26.)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.The prophet describes the sins of the generation that grew up in the desert.
Eze. 20:18. But I said unto their children. The second generation of the children of Israel in the wilderness. To the children belongs, among other things, the whole second lawgiving, with its impressive admonitions, as it was promulgated in Arboth-Moab, and is recorded in Deuteronomy (Hengstenberg). Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers. The fathers in question are represented in their constant disobedience to the laws which Jehovah gave (which even necessitated their repetition and renewal in Deuteronomy), as in some sort law-givers according to their own ideas and on their own authority.(Lange.)
Eze. 20:21. Notwithstanding the children rebelled against Me. The sons acted like their fathers in the wilderness. Historical proofs of this are furnished by the accounts of the Sabbath-breaker (Num. 15:32, etc.), of the rebellion of the company of Korah, and of the murmuring of the whole congregation against Moses and Aaron after the destruction of Korahs company (Numbers 16, 17). In the last two cases God threatened that He would destroy the whole congregation (Num. 16:21; Num. 17:9-10), and on both occasions the Lord drew ba His hand at the intercession of Moses, and his actual intervention (Num. 16:22; Num. 17:11), and did not destroy the whole nation for His names sake. The statements in Eze. 20:21-22 rest upon these facts (Keil.) Gods justice was slow to punish; for from the murmuring at Kadesh (B.C. 1453) to the date of this chapter (B.C. 593) was 860 years; being two cycles of 430 years.
Eze. 20:23. Scatter them among the heathen. Dispersion among the heathen is threatened to apostate Israel (Lev. 26:33; Deu. 28:64). Nearly nine centuries had elapsed before this penalty was actually inflicted.
Eze. 20:24. Their fathers idols. They had been warned against these (Eze. 20:18). The vain traditions of their fathers had more authority with them than Gods own word (1Pe. 1:18.)
Eze. 20:25. Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live. This was a second retribution. We may compare here Rom. 1:24, according to which God, in just retribution for their revolt, gave over the heathen to vile affections; Act. 7:42, where it is traced back to God, that the heathen served the host of heaven; and 2Th. 2:11, where God sends the apostates strong delusions. Grotius writes: I have taken from them the understanding, that in despising my laws they may make for themselves hard and death-bearing laws. (Hengstenberg.) Various attempts have been made to get rid of the apparent incongruity of the language here employed by the Divine Being. Taken absolutely it would be flatly contradictory of the purity and rectitude of His character, as well as that of the laws which He actually gave to the Israelites (Deu. 4:8; Neh. 9:13; Rom. 7:12). The solution of the difficulty proposed by Manesseh Ben Israel, that the words should be read interrogatively, is altogether unsupported by the structure of the sentence, and is otherwise not borne out by Hebrew usage. I agree with those interpreters who are of opinion that the reference is to the idolatrous enactments of the heathen, and that the language may be best illustrated by comparison with Psa. 81:12; Hos. 8:11; Act. 7:42; Rom. 1:24; 2Th. 2:11. Because the Hebrews cherished a propensity to indulge in idolatrous practices, God in His holy providence brought them into circumstances in which this propensity might be fully gratified, without His in any way imposing upon them the statutes of the Pagan ritual. On the contrary, He did all that was calculated in the way of moral influence to deter them from idolatry. Preferring, however, the rites and ceremonies of the heathen to His holy and righteous ordinances, they experienced not only that they were not good, but, as the language by meiosis imports, that they were most pernicious.(Henderson.)
Eze. 20:26. And I polluted them in their own gifts. The language of this verse is quite in accordance with that of the preceding. The Holy One did not actually pollute the people; He only permitted them to pollute themselves, and pronounced them polluted when they had rendered themselves such. In the language of the Hebrews, and of the Orientials in general, God is frequently said to do that which He permits to be done.(Henderson.) They caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb. They followed the custom of the Canaanites in sacrificing their children to Moloch, in whose fiery arms they were destroyed. This was an awful perversion of Gods law which bade them consecrate their firstborn to Him as living sacrifices (Exo. 13:2), so that the whole nation might thereby be hallowed. They preferred to serve an imaginary malignant deity, whose commands were unnatural and cruel, to the one true God who gave them a righteous law. This was a sin which brought its own punishment in doing violence to the most sacred feelings of human nature. The repeated prohibition against offering children through the fire to Moloch is an evidence that this custom made its way among the Israelites (Lev. 18:21; Deu. 18:10). To the end that they might know that I am the Lord. By which they might learn that their paternal God, whom they set at nought, is God in the full sense, whom to forsake is at once to fall into misery.(Hengstenberg.)
HOMILETICS
THE SIN OF THE SECOND GENERATION OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS. (Eze. 20:18-26)
I. They sinned after many warning examples. Their fathers had forsaken Gods ordinances and turned to their idols. The children are warned against their evil example (Eze. 20:18); yet though they saw the sad effects of transgression against God, they sinned after the same manner. They rebelled at Kadesh (Num. 20:2); by the Gulf of Akaba (Num. 21:5); and at Shittim, (Num. 25:2-3). They had seen by sad experiment how rebellion against God must end, and yet they persisted in eating the grapes which had already set their fathers teeth on edge. They disregarded the lessons of history. Thus there was less excuse for them than for the first generation.
II. They sinned after renewed precepts.
1. Their relation to God was restated. I am the Lord vour God (Eze. 20:19).
2. Obedience was again commanded. They were ordered to walk in Gods statutes, to keep His judgments, and to observe the ordinance of the Sabbaths (Eze. 20:19).
III. Their punishment. They were to be scattered among the heathen, and dispersed through the countries (Eze. 20:23). A retributive providence was at work to bring this terrible infliction upon them.
1. God abandoned them to their own devices. Wherefore I gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live (Eze. 20:25). These were the statutes of their fathers (Eze. 20:18). The meaning is, that God withdrew His providential restraint and permitted them to have what they were bent upon (Psa. 71:12; Act. 7:42; Rom. 1:24). The parable of the prodigal son teaches us, that if a man thinks he can better himself elsewhere, God allows him to make the choice. It is a sad evil when the sinner is left to his own devices, when he casts off the authority of God and becomes his own master; Lord of himself, that heritage of woe.
2. God allowed their inward corruption to show itself. And I polluted them in their own gifts (Eze. 20:26). They felt that they must offer gifts to some invisible Power of which they were afraid. For they were conscious of impurity within; they felt the burden of sin, but they sought relief in will-worship until they became the victims of that awful infatuation which led them to offer up the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul (Mic. 6:16). It is the saddest punishment when a mans inward corruption is allowed to spread and grow unchecked.
3. Yet there was mercy in their punishment:
1.It was long delayed. In order that they might have space for repentance. They had been threatened long before with dispersion among the heathen (Lev. 26:33), but nearly nine centuries had elapsed before that sentence was actually inflicted.
2.It was for a gracious end. To the end that they might know that I am the Lord (Eze. 20:26). In the worst punishments of sinners God has a gracious end in view. Mercy, at length, rejoices over judgment.
IV. The lessons to be derived from their sin and punishment.
1. That the standard to which we ought to conform our lives should be the Word of God. This second generation of Israel in the wilderness forsook the direct commands of God and followed the vain traditions of their fathers. They received for doctrines the commandments of men. The truly righteous man looks to his God alone, and is governed not by human opinion, or by ancient custom, but by the revealed Word (Psa. 119:105).
2. That even Godlessness may become a law unto men. They had statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live (Eze. 20:25). Thus the world and the devil have also their statutes and ordinances.
3. That God punishes men through the very instruments of their sin. They had copied the heathen around them, had followed mans doctrine, and it had brought them no rest or peace, nothing but sorrow and death.
4. That even the very errors of the heathen show mans need of a religion. The fact that Israel sacrificed their children to a malignant deity shows that they felt the burden of sin and the need of forgiveness.
5. That the true reform of the Church of God must begin with youth. The law of God as to His statutes and ordinances was repeated unto their children in the wilderness (Eze. 20:18). When the Church is greatly polluted the only hope lies in the careful instruction of the younger generation.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(18) Unto their children.The prophet comes now to the third part of his historical retrospect (Eze. 20:18-26)the generation which grew up in the free air of the wilderness, and under the influence of the legislation and institutions given at Sinai. At the same time, it would be a mistake to confine what he says exclusively to that generation. In this, as in the other parts of the discourse, he regards Israel as a whole, and while speaking of one period of their history especially, yet treats of national characteristics which may have come to their most marked development only at a later time. This generation was very earnestly warned against the sins of their fathers, and exhorted to obedience to the Divine law. The whole Book of Deuteronomy is the comment on Eze. 20:18-20.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
God’s Dealings with the Second Generation in the Wilderness.
So His people had proved themselves unfaithful in Egypt, even when He was working mighty things for them, and again on their journey to freedom, when again He had worked for them. But now came the new generation who should have learned their lesson from what had happened, but they too rebelled against Him. Israel’s history was one of constant rebellion.
“And I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with idols. I am Yahweh your God. Walk in my statutes and keep my judgments and do them, and hallow my Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am Yahweh your God.”
Yahweh had renewed His covenant with the children of those who had been disobedient. To them too He had said in the regular renewal ceremonies, ‘I am Yahweh your God, walk in My statutes and keep My judgments’, and had warned them against following the ways of their fathers. To them too He had stressed the need to observe His Sabbaths as the sign of the covenant. These were a gracious sign of His own creation rest, taken because all was ‘very good’. They too should have entered into rest as His obedient people.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 20:18-20. Walk ye not, &c. Walk ye not in the customs of your fathers, nor pursue their manners, &c. Here we see that the children or progeny were again offered, as their sole rule of government what had been given to, and violated by their fathers; namely, the moral law of the decalogue, and the positive institution of the sabbath.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Thus slighted and despised by the fathers, the Lord looked to their children, that the rising generation might not be rebellious as their fathers had been. But the sin of rebellion, like a chain of many links, the Lord found to run alike in father and son. The Lord therefore gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live. This could not refer to the law of God given, on Mount Sinai, for the Apostle saith, that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good. Rom 7:12 . Nevertheless, in one sense, (and so the Apostle considers it,) such was and is the nature of the law, that no man could live by it or have life from it. But by the law is the knowledge of sin; and the knowledge of sin loudly proclaims Christ. Reader! it will be a blessed improvement of this scripture, if, from the perusal of it, such effects are wrought in our hearts to lead us to Christ.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 20:18 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:
Ver. 18. Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers. ] With this text Frederick IV, prince palatine, answered another prince, who pressed him to be of his late noble father’s religion. Laban swore by the god of Nahor, or Abram, and of their idolatrous fathers; but Jacob sware by the “fear of his father Isaac,” his immediate father more right in religion. Gen 31:53 Joshua would not follow the footsteps of his forefathers, Jos 24:15 but a better precedent. Christ saith, Ego sum veritas, non vetustas; I am the truth not antiquity, and contradicteth that which was said of old by those Kadmonim, who had corrupted the letter of the law by their false glosses. Mat 5:21 Antiquity must have no more authority than it can maintain.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 20:18-26
18I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers or keep their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols. 19I am the LORD your God; walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and observe them. 20Sanctify My sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.’ 21But the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, nor were they careful to observe My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live; they profaned My sabbaths. So I resolved to pour out My wrath on them, to accomplish My anger against them in the wilderness. 22But I withdrew My hand and acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. 23Also I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them among the lands, 24because they had not observed My ordinances, but had rejected My statutes and had profaned My sabbaths, and their eyes were on the idols of their fathers. 25I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live; 26and I pronounced them unclean because of their gifts, in that they caused all their firstborn to pass through the fire so that I might make them desolate, in order that they might know that I am the LORD.’
Eze 20:18-26 Again we return to the issue of multi-generational sin. Ezekiel 18-20 are related by this theme. If one generation rebels, YHWH tries to encourage and inform the next one. Tragically Israel continued its rebellion through time. It ultimately resulted in the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles (the bondage of Egypt in another land). Moses predicted this (cf. Deu 4:25-31; Deu 28:64-68), as did Joshua (cf. Jos 24:19-20).
Eze 20:18-20 A series of commands expresses YHWH’s intent for the second generation of the Exodus.
1. Negative (Israel’s reality), Eze 20:18
a. do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, Eze 20:18, BDB 229, KB 246, Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense
b. do not keep their ordinances, Eze 20:18, BDB 1036, KB 1581, Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense
c. do not defile yourselves with their idols, BDB 379, KB 375, Hithpael IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense
2. Positive (YHWH’s hope), Eze 20:19-20
a. walk in My statutes, Eze 20:19, BDB 229, KB 246, Qal IMPERATIVE
b. keep My ordinances, Eze 20:19, BDB 1036, KB 1581, Qal IMPERATIVE
c. observe them (lit. do), Eze 20:19, BDB 793, KB 889, Qal IMPERATIVE
d. sanctify My sabbath, Eze 20:20, BDB 872, KB 1073, Piel IMPERATIVE
Eze 20:21-26 Israel did not obey, but rebelled against YHWH (several of this list are parallel).
1. They did not walk in His statutes, Eze 20:21
2. They were not careful to observe His ordinances, Eze 20:21
3. They profaned His sabbaths (cf. Eze 20:20), Eze 20:21
So YHWH
1. resolved to pour out His wrath, Eze 20:21
2. accomplished His anger against them in the wilderness, Eze 20:21
3. withdrew His hand, Eze 20:22, cf. Psa 74:11; Lam 2:3
4. acted for the sake of His name, Eze 20:22 (cf. Eze 36:22-38)
5. scattered them among the nations, Eze 20:23 (cf. Psa 106:19-27 describes the wilderness period, Eze 20:26-27 make the threat)
6. dispersed them among the lands, Eze 20:23 (parallel to #5)
7. gave them statutes that were not good, Eze 20:25
8. gave them ordinances by which they could not live, Eze 20:25 (apparently from false prophets or faithless leaders)
9. pronounced them unclean (i.e., worship of Molech, child sacrifice), Eze 20:26
10. made them desolate, Eze 20:26
Eze 20:25 I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live This verse has been a great concern to many commentators because it seems to impugn God’s character.
1. Rashi says that YHWH let their inner evil loose (cf. Psa 81:12; Isa 66:4; Rom 1:24; Rom 1:26; Rom 1:28).
2. Kimchi, another Jewish expositor, says that they were given over to the enemy (i.e., Canaanite tribes) and they tried to live by their standards (i.e., worship of Molech, cf. Eze 20:26).
3. This may be sarcasm, like Eze 20:29; Eze 20:39; they were using His guidelines (cf. Eze 20:11-13; Eze 20:16; Eze 20:19-21; Eze 20:24) in Canaanite ways (one example, Genesis 22 became a model for child sacrifice, cf. Eze 20:26). These people had the appearance of being faithful worshipers (like the elders of Eze 20:1-4), but in reality were idolaters.
4. Compare Eze. 14:29; Isa 29:13-14; Isa 63:17
Eze 20:26 they caused all their first-born to pass through the fire This refers to the worship of the Phoenician fire god, Molech (cf. Eze 16:20; Lev 18:21; Lev 20:2-5; 2Ki 17:17; 2Ki 21:6; 2Ki 23:10; 2 Kings 11 Chr. Eze 28:3; Jer 32:35). This may have been a misunderstanding about the death of the first-born recorded in Exodus 12, 13 or even Genesis 22. See Special Topic: Molech .
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
I said, &c. Reference to Pentateuch, (Num 14:32, Num 14:33; Num 32:13-15. Deu 4:3-6), App-92.
children = sons.
statutes, judgments. Like those of Omri (Mic 6:16). Compare Jer 16:13,
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Eze 20:18-26
Eze 20:18-26
“And I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols. I am Jehovah your God: walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them; hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am Jehovah your God. But the children rebelled against me; they walked not in my statutes, neither kept mine ordinances to do them, which, if a man do, he shall live in them; they profaned my sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. Nevertheless I withdrew my hand, and wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them forth. Moreover I sware unto them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations, and disperse them through the countries; because they had not executed mine ordinances, but had rejected my statutes, and had profaned my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols. Moreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances wherein they should not live; 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 Jehovah.”
THE APOSTASY OF THE SECOND
WILDERNESS GENERATION
“And I said unto their children …” (Eze 20:18) This appears to be the second generation of the wilderness wanderers. They did not respond, but after the manner of their fathers, “rebelled against God” (Eze 20:21). Baal-Peor is the only proof that is needed to demonstrate their total apostasy. In fact, God would have totally destroyed them at that time, except for the consideration that His holy name would have been profaned by the nations. Instead, he made another covenant with Israel, the wicked children of the first generation, and under Joshua, led them into Canaan.
“Scatter them among the nations …” (Eze 20:23). “Nine centuries were to pass before this threatened scattering took place; but that God actually did as he promised is evidenced today in the Jewish community in every city on the earth.
“I gave them statutes that were not good …” (Eze 20:25). This is a reference to the judicial hardening that came to Israel, similar to that which Paul mentioned in 2Th 2:11, “God sends them a strong delusion that they all might be damned, etc.” There is even a hint here as to the mechanics of the deception that came upon them. God’s law had indeed commanded that “The first-born of both man and beast were sacred unto God and were to be offered as a burnt-offering to God” (Exo 13:12). However, there was an exception made in the case of human beings, as every student of the scripture knows. The ordinance was perverted to allow the sacrifice of children who were passed through the fire to Molech!. “It is perfectly self-evident here that we must not understand that these `ordinances which were no good’ is a reference to anything whatever in the Mosaic Law; because the reference here is not to God’s holy law at all, but to the wicked Israel’s perversion of it.
We must not suppose that Israel was innocent in this perversion of God’s Word. “Ezekiel gives us to understand that it was, “Due to judicial blindness inflicted by God Himself.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
I said: Num 14:32, Num 14:33, Num 32:13-15, Deu 4:3-6, Psa 78:6-8
the statutes: Zec 1:2-4, Luk 11:47, Luk 11:48, Act 7:51, 1Pe 1:18
defile: Eze 20:7, Jer 2:7, Jer 3:9
Reciprocal: Jos 24:14 – put 1Ki 15:12 – all the idols 2Ch 33:22 – as did Manasseh Psa 1:1 – walketh Psa 78:8 – as their Psa 106:39 – defiled Jer 11:8 – obeyed Jer 11:10 – iniquities Jer 32:23 – but Eze 2:3 – rebelled Eze 18:14 – that seeth Eze 18:17 – he shall not Eze 18:19 – When Amo 2:4 – after Mar 12:1 – and set Act 7:53 – and have
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 20:18. The children were not to be punished for the sins of their fathers unless they followed in the evil ways set before them, and even then it would be in punishment for their own conduct and not for that of the fathers. For this reason they were admonished not to walk in the statutes of their fathers nor serve their idols.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 20:18-24. But I said unto their children in the wilderness In the plains of Moab; Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers Imitate not their superstitious usages, nor retain their foolish and wicked customs, but walk in the statutes of your God. This refers to the many pathetical exhortations contained in the book of Deuteronomy, particularly those in chapters twenty-ninth to the thirty-second, which were uttered after that rebellious generation were all consumed, according as God had threatened them. Notwithstanding, the children rebelled against me Even that generation which I afterward permitted to enter Canaan, and which I rendered victorious over all the inhabitants of that land, was guilty of many instances of disobedience and rebellion. The chief instance of that generations contumacy and inclination to idolatry, was the iniquity of Peor, (Num 25:3,) as that of their fathers was the golden calf. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel: then there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord, which, if it had not been seasonably stayed by Phinehass zeal, had cut them all off; and yet they owned in Joshuas time that they were not cleansed from that iniquity unto that day, Jos 22:17. Then it was that God said he would pour out his fury upon them, Eze 20:21; that he lifted up his hand, &c., in the wilderness When they were a second time just ready to enter into Canaan; that he would scatter them among the heathen This very thing he said to them by Moses in his parting song, (Deu 32:20; Deu 32:26-27,) which explains this passage.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
20:18 But I said to their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your {i} fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:
(i) By which the Holy Spirit confuses them that say that they will follow the religion and example of their fathers, and not measure their doings by God’s word whether they are approved by it or not.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord then instructed the children of the generation that He had liberated from Egyptian bondage not to follow the bad example of their fathers. Since He was Yahweh their God they should remain faithful to the terms of the (Mosaic) covenant that He had made with their nation.