Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 20:37
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:
37. to pass under the rod ] According to the usage of the language (Lev 27:32, cf. Jer 33:13) the rod or staff here is that of the shepherd, which he uses in counting his flock. “The shepherds carried a staff (Psa 23:4; Mic 7:4; Zec 11:7) and used it in counting when they brought the beasts forth from the place where they were kept or made them go into it. It was customary to count the beasts every day (Jer 33:23), usually at evening when they came home (Theocr. Eze 8:16; Virg. Georg. iv. 436), sometimes twice, morning and evening (Virg. Ecl. iii. 34),” Dillm. on Lev 27:32.
bond of the covenant ] The word “bond” is otherwise unknown. LXX. reads: and I will cause you to go in by number, i.e. probably in special or precise tale ( Isa 40:26 ; 1Ch 9:28; Ezr 8:34). This carries on the figure of passing under the staff, and is amplified in Eze 20:38. The word “covenant” is possibly a duplicate of the next word “purge” ( Eze 20:38). The expression “ by or, in number ” hardly of itself means few (cf. ch. Eze 5:3), neither is the idea of fewness suitable here. Cf. Jer 3:14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Eze 20:37
I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.
The bond of the covenant
This striking utterance was given forth by Ezekiel when Israel, scattered in every country, had begun to forget their nationality. They judged it prudent to disguise their distinctive character, and become like the heathen. Now, God, who chose His people of old, would not have it so, and He interposed with this striking passage. It is a dreadful thing to profess to belong to the people of God: it is a matter of great privilege if it is true, but if it is a lie it is an awful thing, involving sevenfold judgment. God will cause His professing people to be distinguished from other men, and they that come in among them who are not truly of them shall be so dealt with that both the ears of him that heareth thereof shall tingle. Special severities will overtake apostate professors.
I. The meaning of bringing men into the bond of the covenant.
1. If we take the passage as referring to the work of grace, it signifies that they shall know under what covenant they stand. Oh, the blessedness of being under such a sure covenant! This is what is aimed at, that God may bring His own from under the law, and place them under the covenant of grace. Though as yet they care nothing about it, He will bring them to know and realise that they are standing in the covenant of grace, with Christ as their Covenant-Head.
2. They shall be led to see how this covenant binds them to God. O mighty grace, thou dost hold us with the cords of a man from which we never desire to escape. We are the Lords people, and He is our God. He holds us, and we hold to Him.
3. To come under the bond of the covenant means also to come under the discipline of the covenant; for they that are in gracious covenant with God will find that He dealeth with them as with sons, and, inasmuch as He loves them, they shall know the truth of that word–As many as I love I rebuke and chasten.
4. This coming under the bond of the covenant means surely that they yield to its restraint. Can grace ever be a fetter? Oh yes, it is the most blessed of all fetters, for it holds us fast, and yet never violates our liberty. It binds the very heart in willing captivity. This is the bond of the covenant.
5. It means also the security of the covenant. I will bring thee under the bond of the covenant, must mean, I will bind thee to the Lord Jesus, thy Surety and Bondsman, and He shall secure thee forever.
II. The experience of some in coming under the bond of the covenant. These Israelites had gone very far into sin, as Jar as ever they could go: they had been false to their promises, wicked in their lives, and rebellious in heart against their God. With many of this character the Lord deals with a singular severity of love. He strikes them with a sword, for so only can their sins be slain. Of those processes of grace we will speak now.
1. First, He will cause them to come out from their present company. You shall find in your old sins such death and corruption that you shall turn from them as a man turns, from a rotting carcase.
2. Note next, that God said He would bring them into distress and loneliness–And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people. This is, indeed, a terrible wilderness; for you walk in the midst of crowds and yet you are perfectly alone; you mingle with the great congregation, and yet feel that none can enter into your secret, Where now your mirth and giddiness? Where now your comrades in iniquity? The Lord can soon make the gay worldling into the desponding solitary.
3. What does He say next?–And there will I plead with you face to face. When the Lord becomes so realised to the guilty conscience that there seems to be nothing anywhere except God and that poor sinner face to face with one another, then there is a time of fear and trembling indeed.
4. The Lord further declares He will plead with them as He pleaded with their fathers in the wilderness. How did He do that? Why, very terribly indeed. Is God pleading with you in that fashion? Does He bring judgment after judgment upon you? Do His threatenings follow each other like peals of thunder? Has He burned up all your comfort? Has He scorched and withered all your confidence? Are you brought unto the dust of death?
5. What more does God do? Well, it is said, And I will cause you to pass under the rod. I have frequently seen sheep when the shepherd has required to count them: he makes them pass through a half-opened gate, and there he numbers them. They would all come rushing through, but the shepherd blocks the way, and as they come out one by one, he touches them with his staff, and so counts them. The Lord makes His chosen to pass through a narrow place, even a strait gate, where only one can come at a time, and there and then He counts them, and causes them to give an account of themselves individually. Then mark this: as the shepherd by counting his own sheep declares and exercises his right of possession, so the Lord, when He wakens up our minds to feel our personality, causes us to recognise that we are not our own, but are bought with a price. Moreover, we come under the rod of rulership; for a rod in the old time was the usual sceptre of kings. It means, also, the rod of chastisement. Happy is the man whom God correcteth.
III. The ultimate design of all this.
1. The first design is to bind them to God. All the better crop comes in afterlife from having a deep ploughing before the seed is sown.
2. The next design of God is that He may entirely separate His people from the world. When God makes His servants bitterly to know the evil fruit of sin, then they no longer hunger for that forbidden fruit.
3. Furthermore, the Lord chastens His people, that thus He may bring them into their own land of promise, into the rest of His love.
4. The great end of all is that we may know the Lord. When a man has smarted because of his sin, and has been made to feel the burning coals of anguish in his own spirit; when the Lord has set him up as a target, and shot at him with arrows which drink up his life; and when afterwards he has been saved, and the splendour of infinite love has shone upon him, then he knows Jehovah. When God has brought the contrite man into the place of security, comfort, joy, and delight in Christ Jesus, then he knows the Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 37. I will cause you to pass under the rod] This alludes to the custom of tithing the sheep. I take it from the rabbins. The sheep were all penned; and the shepherd stood at the door of the fold, where only one sheep could come out at once. He had in his hand a rod dipped in vermillion; and as they came out, he counted one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine; and as the tenth came out, he marked it with the rod, and said, “This is the tenth;” and that was set apart for the Lord.
I will bring you into the bond of the covenant] You shall be placed under the same obligations as before, and acknowledge your selves bound; ye shall feel your obligation, and live according to its nature.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I will bring you out by number, yet so as you shall either by a voluntary submission own my sceptre and government, or by a conquered subjection yield to my sword and power.
Under the rod; either referring to the manner of shepherds in that country, which did tell their sheep in and out of the fold; or rather, as a king, whose sceptre protects some, and dasheth others, and maintains his own right. I will difference persons and persons, that I may deal with each suitably to their state and carriage.
Will bring you, i.e. the voluntary and obedient, into covenant with myself.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
37. pass under the rodmetaphorfrom a shepherd who makes his sheep pass under his rod incounting them (Lev 27:32; Jer 33:13).Whether you will or not, ye shall be counted as Mine, and so shall besubjected to My chastening discipline (Mic7:14), with a view to My ultimate saving of the chosen remnant(compare Joh 10:27-29).
bond of . . . covenantIwill constrain you by sore chastisements to submit yourselves to thecovenant to which ye are lastingly bound, though nowyou have cast away God’s bond from you. Fulfilled in part, Neh 9:8;Neh 9:26; Neh 9:32-38;Neh 10:1-39; fullyhereafter (Isa 54:10-13;Isa 52:1; Isa 52:2).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I will cause you to pass under the rod,…. That is, such whom God will not take vengeance on, and shall not die in the wilderness of the people; but whom he will have mercy on, and show favour to, and bring at length into their own land; these he indeed will bring under the rod of correction and chastisement, by which they shall be brought to a sense of sin, a confession of it, humiliation for it, and to seek to Christ for salvation from it; or under the rod of his word, the rod of his strength, he sends out of Zion the Gospel, the power of God unto salvation; by which they shall be brought to agree unto and comply with the way of salvation by Christ; to submit to his righteousness; to embrace the doctrines of the Gospel, and be subject to the ordinances of it: or the allusion is to shepherds, in taking an account of their flocks, or at the tithing of them, who strike and mark them with their rod, Le 27:32, and thus, as the Lord has in election distinguished his sheep from others, taken an exact account of them, and set his seal or mark of foreknowledge on them; so in effectual calling he separates them from others, takes special knowledge of them, and sets his mark of sanctification on them. This will be the case of the converted Jews in the latter day:
and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: or, “the discipline of the covenant”, as the Syriac Version; the same with the rod of correction, being what is provided in covenant for the good of the covenant ones. This covenant is the covenant of grace; the bond of which are not faith, repentance, and new obedience; for these are parts and blessings of the covenant; nor any outward ordinance; not circumcision formerly, nor baptism and the Lord’s supper now; which persons may submit to, and yet not be in the covenant: but it designs that which makes the covenant firm, sure, and lasting; which are the everlasting love of God, from whence it springs; his unchangeable counsel, according to which it proceeds; his solemn oath, that it shall never be removed; his faithfulness, which will not suffer it to be made void; and his power, which will accomplish every article of it; and the blood of Christ, which ratifies and confirms it. So Kimchi interprets it, “I will bind you in a covenant, that ye shall not go out of it for ever”: or it is that which binds persons, or lays them under obligation to love, fear, and serve the Lord; and that is the love of God and Christ, and the exceeding great and precious promises of the covenant; and now into this sure, firm, and obliging covenant the Lord has brought all his chosen ones in eternity, when it was first made with Christ; and into which he may be said to bring them in time; as he will the converted Jews, when he manifests it to them, and applies the blessings and promises of it; shows them it, and their interest in it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He follows up the same kind of instruction, that the people were not permitted to perish because they belonged to him, as if he had said that they should be always his, whether they liked it or not. And yet he seems to promise here what was very agreeable, that he would always esteem them as his flock. This is the meaning of to pass under the rod; for שבט, shebet, does not mean a scepter here, nor a staff by which a delinquent is struck, but it means a shepherd’s crook. It is, then, a simile taken from a shepherd who numbers and marks his flock; and this phrase often recurs. It means, because God has once acquired the people as his own, he cannot be rightly deprived of them. The exiles, indeed, had imagined themselves free if they could blot out of their minds and memories the name of the true God, and pollute themselves with the defilement’s of the Gentiles. But God, on the other hand, pronounces, that as a shepherd notices his sheep, and counts their number, and makes them pass under his staff, like a king reviewing his army, so he would reckon up his people, and not suffer any one to snatch them from him, since he claims authority over them all without exception. Now, therefore, we understand the sense of the words: whence we gather again, that abandoned men gain nothing by their obstinacy, but God’s really showing that the dominion which he has once assumed cannot by any means be snatched away from him. So this passage teaches us the kind of reward which awaits all apostates who think themselves emancipated when they brutally indulge in impiety, because God at length will make them pass under the rod, that is, he will call and compel them to render an account, as if their profession of faith was like a brand burnt in to their hearts.
He says, in the bonds of a covenant, but in a different sense from what Hosea denominates a bond of affection. (Hos 11:4.) He is there treating of reconciliation; but in this passage God pronounces that he will no longer be en-treated by the Israelites. Hence, the bond of the covenant means the constancy of his covenant, as far as he is concerned: and the, simile is suitable, because God had bound his people to himself, on the condition that they should be always surrounded with these bonds. Hence, when they petulantly wandered like untamed beasts, yet God had hidden bonds of his covenant: that is, he persevered in his own covenant, so that he collected them all again to himself, not to rule over them as a father, but to punish their revolt more severely. Here is a tacit comparison between the Israelites and the Gentiles; for the Gentiles, through their never approaching nearer to God, wandered away in their licentiousness without restraint. But the state of the elect people was different, since the end of their covenant was this, that God held them bound to him, even if the whole world should escape from him. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(37) To pass under the rod.A figure taken from the shepherds way of counting and examining his flock. (Comp. Lev. 27:32; Jer. 33:13; Mic. 7:14.) By this the people were to be brought into the land of the covenant, selected and reconstituted Gods covenant people.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
37. I will cause you to pass under the rod Not an Israelite shall be forgotten. As the shepherd with his rod checks the flock at night at the entrance to the sheepfold, and numbers his sheep, and separates them from other flocks and from the goats (Eze 34:17-20; Lev 27:32; Jer 33:13; compare Matthew 25), so will Jehovah count his people and separate his own true followers unto himself. Adam Clarke takes from the rabbins the statement that in giving tithes the shepherd stood at the door of the fold with a rod, dipped in vermilion, with which he marked every tenth sheep as it sprang past him.
I will bring you into the bond of the covenant The Syriac version has it, “I will bring you into the correction of the covenant;” but probably the best reading is that preserved by the LXX., “I will bring you into the land by number” (Isa 40:26; 1Ch 9:28; Ezr 8:34).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and those who transgress against me. I will bring them forth out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter into the land of Israel. And you will know that I am Yahweh.”
The passing ‘under the rod’ was picturing the way that the shepherd passed his sheep under his rod as he checked and assessed them (Lev 27:32; Jer 33:13). Thus Israel would be assessed and called to account. Then the offer of the covenant will once again be made and they will be able to accept or reject it. And those who reject it, ‘the rebels’, will be purged out. They will not enter into God’s inheritance (contrast Hos 2:14-15). God’s action on behalf of Israel will only mean blessing for those who truly respond.
Lev 27:32 depicts the passing under the rod as resulting in one out of ten being declared ‘holy to Yahweh’. There may here therefore be the expectancy that the faithful will be a small minority, a ‘tenth’. Compare Isa 6:13.
‘The bond of the covenant.’ The new covenant would be binding. It was not something that could be entered into lightly. Once they accepted it they would be bound by it.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
DISCOURSE: 1108
CONVERSION, IN ITS COMMENCEMENT AND PROGRESS
Eze 20:37. I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.
THE precise import of these words is not clear at first sight. If we take them in connexion with the preceding context, they must be considered as a continuation of the threatening denounced against the Jews for their abominable idolatries. Then their meaning will be, I will inflict upon you the judgments which your violations of my covenant demand: or, as God had said by Moses, I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant [Note: Lev 26:25.]. If, on the other hand, the words be taken in connexion with the following context, then they must be regarded as a promise, that, notwithstanding the judgments that should be inflicted on them, God had mercies in reserve for them, and would, at a future period, restore them to his favour. And this is the sense to which I rather incline. The obstinately rebellious amongst them, indeed, he would give up to their own lusts, and utterly destroy them [Note: ver. 38, 39.]: but he would take out a chosen people from among them, and bring them to his holy mountain, and accept all their offerings, and make himself known to them as their reconciled God and Father, and give them repentance to salvation, not to be repented of [Note: ver. 4044.]. This exactly accords with what the prophet had spoken in a preceding chapter: Thus saith the Lord God: I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant. Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth; and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant [Note: Eze 16:59-60.]. In this view the words have a singular beauty; and will lead us to some extremely profitable reflections.
It was customary with shepherds, as it is also at this day, to make their flocks pass under their pastoral rod, in order that he might number them, or separate some from the rest [Note: Lev 27:32. Jer 33:13.]. In this way God promises to make Israel pass before him, in order to select from them a people unto himself, and to bring them into the bonds of his everlasting covenant. And, in conformity with this view, we might well direct your attention to the future conversion of the Jews, who shall assuredly be restored to the favour of their God. But, waving this part of the subject, I will rather speak of conversion generally; the process of which is the same, whether in them or in us. We may notice, then, this work of conversion, as here described,
I.
In its commencement
The Lord, we are told, hath set apart him that is godly for himself [Note: Psa 4:3.]. This he accomplishes in a variety of ways:
1.
By the dispensations of his Providence
[Sometimes things which, humanly speaking, we should call accidental, are ordered with a special view to the awakening of immortal souls, and leading them to the knowledge of himself. In our Saviours progress from Judea to Galilee, he must needs go through Samaria; and, being wearied with his journey, he stopped at a city called Sichar, and seated himself by a well called Jacobs well. Whilst he was there, a woman of Samaria came thither to draw water. In all this there appears nothing but an ordinary occurrence: but it was Gods appointed way of bringing her, together with many others, under the rod, and eventually into the bond of his covenant [Note: Joh 4:3-7; Joh 4:25-26.]. Not unfrequently he is pleased to make use of some afflictive dispensation; as in the case of Manasseh, upon whom God brought the armies of the king of Assyria, who, as his instruments, took him among the thorns, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon: the effect of all which was, that, when he was in affliction, this monster of impiety besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers [Note: 2Ch 33:11-13.], and obtained mercy at his hands. Multitudes of others also, in every age, have found reason to say, Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now have I kept thy law.]
2.
By the conversion of some pious friend
[We see not, in general, any thing remarkable in an accidental interview with a pious person; whilst yet it may, perhaps, have been as particularly ordained of God for a special end, as the meeting of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. God especially directed Philip to join himself to the eunuchs chariot, and to explain to him a passage of Scripture which he was not able to comprehend. By this was the eunuch guided to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and made a partaker of everlasting salvation. Thus, persons sent to us, though they received not their commission in so plain and direct a way, have come to us under the same Divine guidance, and have been made alike successful in their efforts for our good. For similar benefits was Peter indebted to his brother Andrew, and Nathanael to his friend Philip [Note: Joh 1:40; Joh 1:45.]: and perhaps many amongst ourselves must trace our first awakenings to some event of this kind, even to a friendly suggestion from some pious or benevolent instructor.]
3.
By the public ministry of the word
[It is by this, for the most part, that God is pleased to separate, and seal us up, for his own. He sends home his word with power to the heart of one and another, just as he did to the heart of Lydia; and causes them to surrender up themselves to him, as his redeemed people. A whole assembly is present: but a discrimination is made by God, according to his sovereign will and pleasure; who makes the same word to be to some a savour of life unto life, whilst to others it becomes only a savour of death unto death [Note: 2Co 2:16.].]
4.
By the secret operation of his Spirit upon the soul
[We see not the rod in the hand of the great Shepherd; but he is using it every moment, for the purpose of separating a people for himself. By his good Spirit he imparts a sensation to the soul, a heavenly touch, of which the person himself perhaps, at first, is scarcely conscious. By that he enlightens the eyes, and draws the heart; and prepares a person for fuller discoveries of his power and grace. Job says, God speaketh once, yea, twice; yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man [Note: Job 33:14-17.]. Doubtless, whatever is done by the Holy Spirit, is, and must ever be, in perfect accordance with the word: but his motions are not confined to means or instruments of any kind: yet, in his operations, he always deals with us as rational creatures; drawing us, not by force, as inanimated beings, but with the cords of a man, and with the bands of love [Note: Joh 6:44. with Hos 11:4.].]
This, then, is the preparatory work, whereby God causes us to pass under the rod: and this is the commencement of that conversion, which we are next to mark,
II.
In its progress
Gods ultimate view, in these diversified dispensations, is, to bring us into the bond of his covenant, because it is only by virtue of that covenant, and through an interest in it, that sinful man can be saved. When, therefore, he has made us to pass under the rod,
1.
He reveals that covenant to us
[Previous to a work of grace upon our souls, we are altogether ignorant of the covenant which God has made with us, and with his only-begotten Son in our behalf. We have, perhaps, some general notions about repentance and faith; but we have no distinct view of the Saviour undertaking for us to expiate our guilt by the sacrifice of himself, and to work out a righteousness for us by his own obedience unto death. We see not our need of such a covenant: much less do we so behold its excellency, as to comprehend the breadth and length and depth and height of his love displayed in it. But, when God, in tender mercy, arrests us in our course, and directs our attention to eternal things, he opens and unfolds to us this covenant, in all its merciful provisions: he shewn us, that in this covenant there is abundant security, both for the honour of God and the happiness of man; inasmuch as, by the provisions of it, all his perfections are glorified, and every want of man is supplied. Thus his secret is with us, and he shews us his covenant [Note: Psa 25:14.].]
2.
He enables us to lay hold on it
[There is much reluctance in us, at first, to embrace this covenant. It is too humiliating for us; in that it requires us to abandon all self-dependence, and to look for acceptance with God solely through the merits of his dear Son. But when once we have passed under the rod of our divine Shepherd, and been set apart for him, then comes the day of his power; and we are made willing to be saved on any terms which it has pleased God to prescribe. The salvation of our souls is then, in our estimation, the one thing needful: and, without any wish to stipulate for ourselves, we cry, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Then, as the man-slayer sought a city of refuge, and fled to it with all earnestness from the pursuer of blood, so do we most thankfully lay hold on this covenant, and flee for refuge to the hope that is set before us. In truth, this way of salvation appears precisely such as our necessities require. The covenant makes over to us every thing, as the free gift of God for Christs sake: and, deeply conscious that we have nothing, and can do nothing, whereby to merit even the smallest of its blessings, we are glad to receive them all without money and without price.]
3.
He confers upon us all the blessings
[This covenant is ordered in all things, and sure: it makes over to us all that we can ever need, for body or for soul, for time or for eternity. Accordingly, from the time that we are brought to lay hold upon it, God showers forth his blessings upon us in rich abundance; he blots out all our iniquities, as a morning cloud; and pours down upon us the riches of his grace, whereby we are enabled to mortify all our corrupt affections, and to walk before him in newness of heart and life. He makes known himself to us as a Covenant God, that is engaged to fulfil to us all his promises, and to perfect in us the work he has begun. In short, he gives us to see that heaven itself is our inheritance; and that, whilst that is reserved for us, we also are kept by his mighty power for it [Note: 1Pe 1:4-5.]. His faithfulness then becomes no less an object of our affiance than his mercy; and we are enabled, with confidence, to say, There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me, at the great day of his appearing.]
We cannot but remark from hence,
1.
How sovereign God is, in the dispensations of his mercy
[If a shepherd separate any sheep for his own peculiar use, it is probable that he has some reference to their intrinsic worth, as the ground of his preference. But our heavenly Shepherd has respect to nothing but his own sovereign will and pleasure. This remarkably appears in the passage before us; where the promise of Gods mercy is so interwoven with the denunciations of his wrath, as to involve a doubt in which of the two lights it is to be viewed. And in this way it is that Gods promises are frequently introduced. By the Prophet Isaiah, God says of his Church, For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth; and yet he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. Now, what might we expect to follow this? What, but some heavy denunciation of his wrath? Yet, behold, he adds, I have seen his ways, and will heal him, and will restore comfort to him and to his mourners [Note: Isa 57:17-18.]. It was in this sovereign way that Saul was made a chosen vessel to the Lord: and I doubt not but that every individual amongst you, who has ever experienced conversion in his own soul, will trace it altogether to the same source, and say, By the grace of God I am what I am [Note: 1Co 15:10.].]
2.
How mysterious are his dealings with the children of men
[Sheep, when undergoing the process referred to in my text, are usually full of fear and terror, expecting nothing but evil, whilst their shepherd designs them nothing but good. So it is also, most generally, with the children of men, at their first awakening: they apprehend nothing but vengeance at the hands of an offended God; and regard the rod as held over them only for their ruin. But at no distant period their fears are turned into joy: and it is delightful to contemplate what shall soon be the issue of those convictions which perhaps at this time may be filling the souls of some amongst you with terror and dismay. Could you but see what is really passing in reference to you at this moment, you would behold, perhaps, your heavenly Shepherd standing over you, and by his word and Spirit marking you for his own. O, beloved, lift up your hearts to him in earnest prayer, and say, Take me, Lord, even me, the least and meanest of thy flock! and learn to regard all his dispensations as means to this blessed end.]
3.
How you may best answer all the purposes of his grace
[You have heard what Gods gracious purpose is towards all the objects of his love: he seeks to bring them into the bond of his covenant. Trouble not then ourselves about the abstruse doctrines of election; but seek to have the ends of electing love accomplished in you. Lay hold on Gods covenant; embrace the salvation there offered you; go to the Mediator of the New Covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ; and seek all the blessings of it, in and through him. Then shall you have in yourselves an evidence of that, which you never can discover but by its fruits. It was from their works of faith, and labours of love, and patience of hope, that St. Paul knew the election of his Thessalonian converts [Note: 1Th 1:3-4.]: and from our laying hold of Gods covenant, we may assuredly ascertain that he has chosen us to salvation, and loved us with an everlasting love. Again, therefore, I say, perplex not yourselves about what no man can know, except from its effects; but do that which will at once ensure all the blessings of salvation, and demonstrate that God is your God for ever and ever.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 20:37 And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:
Ver. 37. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.] Why, then, Feri, Domine, feri, Smite, Lord, smite, so my sins may be pardoned, and my soul saved. Hic seca, hic ure, ut in aeternum serves, Here suffer, here burn that you may protect us in eternity, said an ancient: Do even whatsoever thou wilt with me, so I may come to heaven, though I come to it by weeping cross.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
pass under the rod. This was the manner of counting the sheep, which were numbered as they passed under the shepherd’s club: implying here that none should be lost (Amo 9:9), and that the restored nation should be holy to Jehovah (Compare Eze 20:40). Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 27:32). Occurs elsewhere only in Jer 33:10).
bond = binding obligation. Occurs only here.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
rod
The passage is a prophecy of the future judgment upon Israel, regathered from all nations (see “Israel,” Isa 1:24-26 refs. into the old wilderness wanderings. Eze 20:35. The issue of this judgment determines who of Israel in that day shall enter the land for kingdom blessing.; Psa 50:1-7; Eze 20:33-44; Mal 3:2-5; Mal 4:1; Mal 4:2 see other judgments,
(See Scofield “Joh 12:31”) See Scofield “1Co 11:31”
(See Scofield “2Co 5:10”) See Scofield “Mat 25:32”
(See Scofield “Jud 1:6”) See Scofield “Rev 20:12”
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
pass: Eze 34:17, Lev 27:32, Jer 33:13, Mat 25:32, Mat 25:33
I will: Eze 16:59, Eze 16:60, Lev 26:25, Psa 89:30-32, Amo 3:2
the bond: or, a delivering
Reciprocal: Jdg 2:20 – transgressed Psa 44:17 – dealt Psa 50:16 – thou shouldest Jer 11:8 – therefore Jer 31:32 – which Heb 8:9 – they continued
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 20:37. Pass under the rod is another flgure of speech and the meaning is that God would take account of his people. The flgure is drawn from the practice of a shepherd who caused his sheep to pass under his rod as he counted them. The ones thus enumerated were to be retained as heirs to the covenant that promised a restoration t.o the favor of God after the chastisement of the captivity had met its purpose.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 20:37-38. I will cause you to pass under the rod Of punishment. I will bring you under the chastisement due to you for breaking my covenant. Or there may be an allusion to the custom of numbering flocks and herds, by striking them with a rod: and so the sense will be, I will take an exact account of you, as a shepherd does of his flock, and will sever between the good and the bad, between the sheep and the goats. And I will bring you into the bond of the covenant By these methods I will reduce you to that obedience to which, by my covenant, you are obliged. And I will purge out from among you the rebels I will separate the righteous from the wicked, in order to destroy the latter, as I did the rebellious Israelites in the wilderness. I will bring them forth out of the country, &c. I will bring them (namely, the rebels, or wicked ones) forth out of the land of Judea, where they now sojourn, and where they boast that they shall always continue; and they shall not enter into the land of Israel They shall never return into it again. Bishop Newcome thinks those are here referred to, who, after the murder of Gedaliah, went into Egypt, called here the land of their sojourning. Some of these were to be carried into Chaldea with the captive Egyptians, Jer 43:11, though the greater part were to be consumed, Jer 44:12. Some of the obstinately rebellious Jews might also sojourn in other neighbouring countries subdued by Nebuchadnezzar, as Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, &c., and might thence be taken into captivity. The small number who returned from Egypt into Judea were righteous men, and not such as are here called rebels and transgressors.