Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 20:45
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Ch. Eze 20:45 to Eze 21:32. The avenging sword of the Lord
The passage Eze 20:45-49 belongs to ch. 21 (as in Heb.). The time to which the chapter is to be assigned is the early period of Nebuchadnezzar’s movements westwards. The prophet foresees the coming desolation of Israel by the conqueror, which he expresses under the figure of a devouring fire, consuming all indiscriminately. The passage has two divisions, ch. Eze 20:45 to Eze 21:27, and Eze 21:28-32.
First division. Eze 20:45 to Eze 21:27.
(1) Eze 20:45-49. A conflagration shall be lighted in the forest of the south, which shall consume all, the green tree and the dry.
(2) Eze 21:1-5. Explanation: the sword of the Lord shall be on Jerusalem and her sanctuaries, and on the land of Israel. Righteous and wicked shall perish; and men shall know that the Lord hath drawn his sword.
(3) Eze 20:6-7. Agitation of the prophet at the thought of the coming desolation: so shall all men be agitated and confounded.
(4) Eze 20:8-17. Song of the sword the sword of the Lord whetted and furbished against Jerusalem.
(5) Eze 20:18-27. He who is the sword or wields it, the king of Babylon. The prophet returning to the point from which he started represents the king of Babylon hesitating whether to march against Ammon or Jerusalem. He consults the oracle and the lot comes out “Jerusalem.”
Eze 20:45-49. Figure of a forest in which a great conflagration is kindled. The fire is unquenchable ( Eze 20:47-48), it devours all alike, the green tree and the dry ( Eze 20:47); all faces from north to south shall be scorched by it ( Eze 20:47); and all flesh shall see that it is the hand of the Lord which has kindled so great a flame ( Eze 20:48).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This paragraph is in the Hebrew text, Septuagint and Vulgate the beginning of Ezek. 21 to which it belongs, as it contains a prophecy delivered in a form which is there explained. It may, however, be regarded as a link between the foregoing and following prophecies, being a general introduction to seven words of judgment about to be pronounced in development of that which has just been delivered.
Eze 20:46
In this verse occur three Hebrew synonyms for south, denoting:
(1) the region on the right, Teman 1Sa 23:24;
(2) the region of dryness, Negeb Jos 15:4;
(3) the region of brightness, Darom Deu 33:23.
The variety of terms helps the force of the application. Chebar is in the north of Babylonia; from the north the Chaldaeans came upon Judaea (see the Eze 1:4 note).
Eze 20:47
Forest of the south – The land of Israel. See Eze 21:1-2.
Eze 20:49
Parables – Compare Eze 17:2. The meaning of the prophet was clear enough, if those whom he addressed had chosen to understand.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eze 20:45
All flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it.
A vision of Divine judgment
I. Divine judgment is a terrific fact. God has His ideas about conduct; has a care about His moral universe. His ideas, when uttered in what we solemnly call judgments, are appropriately uttered. The flood, the fire on the cities of the plain, the destruction of Jerusalem, the death of the Saviour, the ghastly mysteries of hell–all utter Gods judgments on evil.
II. Divine judgment wrought by human agency. Judges, and parliaments, and kings; the frown of friendship, the hiss of outraged conscience in the home, or the Church, or the State; the pursuit of the police detective, and the grip of the gaoler; the revolutions of nations, and the catastrophes of commerce, may all, however blindly, be human agents in Divine retribution.
III. Divine judgments marked by naturalness. Let a man recall his life, break it up into the seven ages Shakespeare depicts, and he will find the resultant of the sins of each age in the retribution he has to suffer. The sinner finds, as has been strikingly said, that just as by abusing the body he brings a curse on it, so by abusing the soul.
IV. Divine judgment is very comprehensive in its influence. It is in accordance with historic facts, philosophic theory, and moral rectitude, that man should bring blessing or evil upon his fellow man. This fact, first, illustrates the extent of human influence; second, suggests the accountability of man to man for his moral conduct.
V. Divine judgment benevolent in its purposes.
1. The revolutions of life are under Divine control.
2. The result of these revolutions will be the victory of righteousness.
All the processes of repentance and doubt, of spiritual and of mental struggle, are designed by God to lead not to perpetual anarchy and revolt, but the rest and peace of submission to Christ. (Urijah R. Thomas.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
A new prophecy, and which pertains, say some, to the next chapter, which is a large comment on this short prophecy in the three last verses, for the 45th and 46th are introductory.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
45-49. An introductory briefdescription in enigma of the destruction by fire and sword, detailedmore explicitly in Eze21:1-32.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Or the word of prophecy, as the Targum. Here begins a new prophecy, and most properly a new chapter should here begin; for the next chapter is of the same argument with this, and an explanation of it, and an enlargement upon it. And here Ben Melech begins one; and so Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, and Castalio.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Burning Forest
Eze 20:45. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 20:46. Son of man, direct thy face toward the south, and trickle down towards the south, and prophesy concerning the forest of the field in the south land; Eze 20:47. And say to the forest of the south land, Hear the word of Jehovah; Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I kindle a fire in thee, which will consume in thee every green tree, and every dry tree: the blazing flame will not be extinguished, and all faces from the south to the north will be burned thereby. Eze 20:48. And all flesh shall see that I, Jehovah, have kindled it: it shall not be extinguished. Eze 20:49. And I said, Ah, Lord Jehovah! they say of me, Does he not speak in parables? – The prophet is to turn his face toward the south, and prophesy concerning the forest of the field there. is used for prophesying, as in Amo 7:16 and Mic 2:6, Mic 2:11. The distinction between the three epithets applied to the south is the following: is literally that which lies on the right hand, hence the south is a particular quarter of the heavens; , which only occurs in Ezekiel and Ecclesiastes, with the exception of Deu 33:23 and Job 37:17, is derived from , to shine or emit streams of light, and probably signifies the brilliant quarter; , the dry, parched land, is a standing epithet for the southern district of Palestine and the land of Judah (see the comm. on Jos 15:21). – The forest of the field in the south is a figure denoting the kingdom of Judah ( is in apposition to , and is appended to it as a more precise definition). is not used here for a field, as distinguished from a city or a garden; but for the fields in the sense of country or territory, as in Gen 14:7 and Gen 32:3. In Eze 20:47, , forest of the south land, is the expression applied to the same object ( , with the article, is a geographical term for the southern portion of Palestine). The forest is a figure signifying the population, or the mass of people. Individual men are trees. The green tree is a figurative representation of the righteous man, and the dry tree of the ungodly (Eze 21:3, compare Luk 23:31). The fire which Jehovah kindles is the fire of war. The combination of the synonyms , flame of the flaming brightness, serves to strengthen the expression, and is equivalent to the strongest possible flame, the blazing fire. , all faces are not human faces or persons, in which case the prophet would have dropped the figure; but panim denotes generally the outside of things, which is the first to feel the force of the flame. “All the faces” of the forest are every single thing in the forest, which is caught at once by the flame. In Eze 21:4, kol – panim (all faces) is interpreted by kol – basar (all flesh). From south to north, i.e., through the whole length of the land. From the terrible fierceness of the fire, which cannot be extinguished, every one will know that God has kindled it, that it has been sent in judgment. The words of the prophet himself, in Eze 20:49, presuppose that he has uttered these parabolic words in the hearing of the people, and that they have ridiculed them as obscure ( mashal is used here in the sense of obscure language, words difficult to understand, as also is in Mat 13:10). At the same time, it contains within itself request that they may be explained. This request is granted; and the simile is first of all interpreted in Eze 21:1-7, and then still further expanded in Eze 21:8.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Judgment and Mercy. | B. C. 592. |
45 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 46 Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field; 47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein. 48 And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it shall not be quenched. 49 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?
We have here a prophecy of wrath against Judah and Jerusalem, which would more fitly have begun the next chapter than conclude this; for it has no dependence on what goes before, but that which follows in the beginning of the next chapter is the explication of it, when the people complained that this was a parable which they understood not. In this parable, 1. It is a forest that is prophesied against, the forest of the south field, Judah and Jerusalem. These lay south from Babylon, where Ezekiel now was, and therefore he is directed to set his face towards the south (v. 46), to intimate to them that God had set his face against them, was displeased with them, and determined to destroy them. But, though it be a message of wrath which he has to deliver, he must deliver it with mildness and tenderness; he must drop his word towards the south; his doctrine must distil as the rain (Deut. xxxii. 2), that people’s hearts might be softened by it, as the earth by the river of God, which drops upon the pastures of the wilderness (Ps. lxv. 12) and which a south land more especially calls for, Josh. xv. 19. Judah and Jerusalem are called forests, not only because they had been full of people, as a wood of trees, but because they had been empty of fruit, for fruit-trees grow not in a forest; and a forest is put in opposition to a fruitful field, Isa. xxxii. 15. Those that should have been as the garden of the Lord, and his vineyard, had become like a forest, all overgrown with briers and thorns; and those that are so, that bring not forth the fruits of righteousness, God’s word prophesies against. 2. It is a fire kindled in his forest that is prophesied of, v. 47. All those judgments which wasted and consumed both the city and the country-sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity, are signified by this fire. (1.) It is a fire of God’s own kindling: I will kindle a fire in thee; the breath of the Lord is not as a drop, but as a stream, of brimstone to set it on fire, Isa. xxx. 33. He that had been himself a protecting fire about Jerusalem is now a consuming fire in it. All flesh shall see by the fury of this fire, and the desolations it shall make, especially when they compare it with the sins which had made them fuel for this fire, that it is the Lord that has kindled it (v. 48), as a just avenger of his own injured honour. (2.) This conflagration shall be general: all orders and degrees of men shall be devoured by it–young and old, rich and poor, high and low. Even green trees, which the fire does not easily fasten upon, shall be devoured by this fire; even good people shall some of them be involved in these calamities; and if this be done in the green trees, what shall be done in the dry? The dry trees shall be as tinder and touch-wood to this fire. All faces (that is, all that covers the face of the earth) from the south of Canaan to the north, from Beer-sheba to Dan, shall be burnt therein. (3.) The fire shall not be quenched; no attempts to give check to the dissolution shall prevail. When God will ruin a nation, who or what can save it?
Now observe, 1. The people’s reflection upon the prophet on occasion of this discourse. They said, Does he not speak parables? This was the language either of their ignorance or infidelity (the plainest truths were as parables to them), or of their malice and ill-will to the prophet. Note. It is common for those who will not be wrought upon by the word to pick quarrels with it; it is either too plain or too obscure, too fine or too homely, too common or too singular; something or other is amiss in it. 2. The prophet’s complaint to God: Ah, Lord God! they say so and so of me. Note, It is a comfort to us, when people speak ill of us unjustly, that we have a God to complain to.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
PROPHECY OF JERUSALEM’S DESTRUCTION UNDER PARABLE OF THE SOUTH FIELD
Verses 45-49:
Verses 45, 46 begin a new prophecy of Ezekiel, from the Lord, regarding the destruction of Jerusalem by fire. He was directed to: 1) set his face, 2) drop his words, and 3) prophecy against the forest of the south. Jeremiah was to prophecy against the southern half of the holy land, where Jerusalem the capitol was, where the drought struck hardest. He was to let his words fall like large drops of rain, dropping one truth after and upon another. As rain drops bless when they soak into the ground, sometimes softly, sometimes violently, so do words from the Lord, when they soak into the heart, Deu 32:3; Amo 7:16; Mic 2:6; Psa 119:130. As heavy rains may be troublesome and grievous to those who have not prepared, so is the word of God. See Pro 27:15; 2Ch 34:25.
Verse 47 calls upon the forest, (mass of people) of the south to hear, heed the word of the Lord, that irresistible judgments, likened to fire, are to surge through the southern half of the land, devouring both the green and dead trees of all Judah, the righteous and the wicked of that day, Eze 21:3-4; Luk 23:31.
Verse 48 asserts that all flesh (living people beholding the judgment), shall see or perceive that the Lord kindled the judgment fire, not to be quenched, thought to be alluded to, Luk 23:31; See also Jer 21:14; Eze 21:3-4.
Verse 49 explains the doubts and skepticism of unbelieving Judah in that day, as they tried to explain away the parabolic meaning upon them, in that day, by their attitude, “he is just beating the air with dark sayings,” parables that we can’t accept as true or not true; God then gave to Ezekiel even a more clear explanation of the prophecy ch. 21.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(Eze. 20:45-49)
EXEGETICAL NOTES. The destruction of Jerusalem under the image of a forest devoured by fire.
A comparison of these verses with Eze. 21:2-5, shows that they belong properly to Ch. 21. They form the commencement of that chapter in the Hebrew Bible.
Eze. 20:46. Set thy face towards the south. There are three words in the Hebrew text of this verse to empress south. They are merely used as synonyms for the sake of varying the expression. The first signifies to be on the right, honoured with reference to the position of the quarter of the heavens when facing the east. The word is used both for the right hand and the south. The second word is of less frequent occurrence, and besides in our prophet, and once in the Pentateuch, is found only in Job and Ecclesiastes. The third word signifies to be dry, dried up: hence the south, where the heat of the sun is most severely felt. All the three terms specially apply here to the southern division of the Holy Land, of which at the time Jerusalem was the capital.(Henderson) Drop thy word. A very common expression for prophetic discourse (Deu. 32:2). It is suggested by the rain or the dew, and points to the place of its origin,above, and also to the beneficial influence which it is intended to exert, and is used even when the discourse does not contain promises merely, but also threatening and judgment, as is the case here exclusively, and to a large extent also in Deuteronomy 32. May it not also hint at the concise, abrupt style of composition adopted in this chapter?(Lange) The forest of the south field. Forest is used figuratively to denote dense masses of people. The densely populated country of Judea 246 is intended. Ezekiel here declares the doom of the Southern kingdom, as Amos had declared the doom of the Northern kingdom (Amo. 7:9; Amo. 7:11; Amo. 7:17).
Eze. 20:47. Every green tree in thee, and every dry tree. The righteous and the wicked (Eze. 21:3-4) Our Lord probably refers to this passage in St. Luk. 23:31. The flaming fire shall not be quenched. The fierce flame of Gods jealousy (Son. 8:6). All faces. Every single thing in the forest, which is caught at once by the flame. From south to north, i.e., through the whole length of the land. From the terrible fierceness of the fire, which cannot be extinguished, every one will know that God has kindled it, that it has been sent in judgment.(Keil.)
Eze. 20:49. They say of Me, doth he not speak parables? They wish to get rid of the application of the prophecy to themselves by describing it as obscure. They pretend not to understand it. At the same time, it contains within itself a request that they may be explained. This request is granted; and the simile is first of all interpreted in Eze. 21:1-7; and then still further explained in Eze. 20:8, etc.(Keil.) The riddle is easy to solve, and the prophet has to do with a sharp-witted people; but the hearers will not understand, because the truth is unpleasant to them, and retire with a certain irony behind the difficulty of the form, and make as if they did not understand. To take away this miserable excuse from them, to punish them for their ironical hardness of hearing, he expresses the same in clear and plain terms in the following passage.(Hengstenberg.)
HOMILETICS
(Eze. 20:46.)
Drop thy word towards the south. Heb. Drop towards the south. The word properly signifies the dropping of the clouds, or rain, and is metaphorically put for prophesying and preaching. These are likened unto rain or the droppings thereof.
1. In respect of the flowing and succession of one drop after another. The heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water (Jdg. 5:4). So in prophesying, there is one word, one truth after another.
2. In respect to the influence thereof. The drops soak into the earth; so words have influence into mens ears and hearts (Deu. 32:2). As the rains and dews insinuate themselves into the grass and ground, so do words into the heads and hearts of men (Psa. 119:130).
3. In respect to the trouble and hurt that oft rains and droppings produce. A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike (Pro. 27:15), alike grievous, troublesome, wasting, and wearying; so prophesying of judgments and destruction is grievous and troubles much; it is like great rains and drops (2Ch. 34:25). The Hebrew is, shall drop upon this place. There should be a storm, and such great drops of Gods wrath as should consume it. (Greenhill.)
The word of God is rightly likened to rain. Like rain, it descends from above, and not according to mans will; it is also, like it, useful and beneficial; as rain flows down from rocks upon the fields, so the word of God upon the godless, and, on the other hand, into pious hearts; and, like the rain, it is not equally acceptable to all. (Fessel.)
THE PROPHECY OF JERUSALEMS DESTRUCTION
(Eze. 20:45-49.)
Consider this prophecy
I. As to its form. This prophecy is uttered in a poetical form, most wild and rugged. The awful and the terrible, as well as the beautiful and tender, find their expression in poetry. The imagery here is that of a forest on fire, and its devouring flame raging beyond the control of man. The boldness of the image will account for the strange and wild forms of the expressions used, and the rapid transitions from one thought to another. We can only understand the style of the Bible, in its prophetic writings, when we consider the intensity and depth of those feelings which possessed the minds of the prophets.
II. As to its substance. The forests signify multitudesthe great masses of the population upon whom terrible judgments are about to fall.
1. The judgments are irresistible. The power of God, which is a righteous power, would be at work in them. The storms of the Almighty rush over the forest, and the trees must bend. Moreover, God sends fire, against which nothing can prevail. The flaming fire shall not be quenched.
2. The judgments fall even upon the righteous. And it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree. The dry tree would be fuel for the flame, but so great would be the destruction that even the green tree could not escape. Judgment would come even upon the house of God. Even the people of God have sins enough to bring upon them great calamities. I will kindle a fire in thee, in Jerusalem, the centre of religious life, of Church privileges. Like a raging fire, Gods judgments devour all before them.
3. The ungodly are admonished by the afflictions of the righteous. The prophet Zechariah warns the people that, when the great and noble among their countrymen fall, they cannot possibly escape, Howl, fir tree, for the cedar is fallen (Zec. 11:2.) This is but another form of the Apostles statement; If judgment first begin at the house of God, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of Christ? It is the very truth which the same apostle puts in the form of a question, If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? When our Lord bids the daughters of Jerusalem to weep for themselves for the destruction which was about to come upon their devoted city, He adds, For if they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? (St. Luk. 23:31). When the green tree cannot stand before the flame, how can the dry tree hope to escape! Christ was righteous, yet He did not escape the judgments of sin. He suffered for sin. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him and to put Him to grief. He was numbered with the transgressors. We can see how real a thing sin is, and how hateful in the sight of God, when we reflect how terribly the effects of it were visited upon Jesus Christ, the Righteous. And God employs judgments to purify His people; yet, even in their case, these are truly chastisements. God is specially severe in His judgments upon the chosen people, You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities. His very intimacy with them is put forward as a reason for leaving no iniquity unpunished. In all His dealings with His chosen, God has ever acted upon this principle. Witness the wanderings and sufferings of the patriarchsthe dispersions and captivities of Israelthe untimely death of Moses and of Aaronthe troubles of Elithe sorrows of Davidthe present afflictions of the righteous. If the green trees thus suffer, the dry cannot be spared.
III. As to its reception. The prophecy is objected to as obscure, as a dark and mysterious saying. Then said I, Ah, Lord God! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables? As if they said, He is a speaker of parables, a mere utterer of dark sayings. There is probably a vein of irony in these words with which the hearers received the prophets message; as if they would thus speak, It is a clever saying of things which sound very terrible, if we could only understand it. Sinners never want excuses for neglecting the prophets message. Either the message is too dark and mysterious, or else it is too simple. If the prophet announces unwelcome truths, and touches their conscience, they cry out against him. If he threatens Gods judgments, he is not to their mind. They will have none but those who prophesy smooth things. Thus men find fault now with Gods revelation. If He says what we already know, we think it is superfluous: we do not want a revelation to teach us that. If He says one word beyond what nature or reason might have taught us, we say it is irrational. One plain declaration of the Bible we pronounce as inconsistent with probability, another as inconsistent with some human authority, another as inconsistent with Gods justice, and another as inconsistent, with Christian charity. And in the same way men treat the proofs and evidences of religion. One does not like miracles, and another objects to the very idea of prophecy. The one saying, that it is altogether unworthy of God to suspend His own laws; and the other, that it is unworthy of God to dignify human persons by the prediction of their names and deeds. Another will hear of nothing but the internal evidence of the truth, the goodness of the word spoken, the comfort conveyed to his own heart. And what each man does not personally like, he casts aside as of no value. Objections of this kind are often but mere excuses. The real repugnance is to the idea of being taught anything from God or His prophets. Neither the ministry of John the Baptist nor even of Christ Himself could please the evil generation of their day. But wisdom is justified of her children.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
III. ISRAELS IMMINENT JUDGMENT
20:45-21:32
In the Hebrew Bible Eze. 20:45 becomes the first verse of chapter 21. Clearly this is a better arrangement than that adopted by the Authorized Version and subsequent English translations. What is said in Eze. 20:45-49 has no connection with what has immediately preceded, but rather sets the stage for what follows in chapter 21. Ezekiel starts out with another parable (Eze. 20:45 to Eze. 21:7) which may be entitled The Parable of the Forest Fire. To his parable he adds a song about a sword (Eze. 21:8-17). This song becomes the springboard for two oracles dealing with the words of the king of Babylon (Eze. 21:18-27), and the sword which would one day fall upon Ammon (Eze. 21:28-32).
A. The Parable of the Forest Fire 20:45-21:7
TRANSLATION
(45) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (46) Son of man, set your face toward the South, and preach unto the South, and prophesy unto the forest of the field of the South. (47) And say to the forest of the South, Hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to kindle against you a fire, and it shall consume every green tree in you, and every dry tree, and it shall not be quenched, a flaming flame; and all faces from the south to the north shall be seared by it. (48) And all flesh shall see that I am the LORD when I burn it, and it shall not be quenched. (49) And I said, Ah Lord GOD! They are saying to me, Is he not a maker of parables? (1) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (2) Son of man, Set your face toward Jerusalem, and preach toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy unto the land of Israel; (3) and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am against you, and I will bring out My sword from its sheath, and I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked. (4) Because I will cut off from you righteous and wicked, therefore My sword shall go out from its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north. (5) And all flesh shall know that I the LORD have brought out My sword from its sheath; it shall not return any more. (6) And as for you, son of man, sigh; with the breaking of loins, and with bitterness You shall sigh before their eyes. (7) And it shall come to pass when they say unto you: Why are you sighing? Then you shall say: Because of the tidings, for it comes; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall droop and every spirit shall be faint, and all knees shall drip water; behold it comes, and it shall be done (oracle of the Lord GOD).
COMMENTS
In another revelation from the Lord (Eze. 20:45), Ezekiel was told to direct his attention, verbally and perhaps physically as well, toward the south. He was to preach[348] the word of the Lord in that direction. The whole of Judah is the forest of the south which Ezekiel was to address in this utterance (Eze. 20:46). That entire forest would be consumed by an unquenchable fire kindled by God Himself. Fire here is symbolic of the devastation wrought by the Chaldean armies. What few righteous there might have been (every green tree) as well as the hardened sinners (every dry tree) would be affected by that conflagration. From one end of the land to the other every face would be seared by the hot flames of judgment (Eze. 20:47). That destruction would be of such proportions that the entire world would recognize it as an act of divine judgment (Eze. 20:48).
[348] Preach here in the Hebrew is literally, drop your word. This was a technical expression used to designate prophetic utterances. The same word is used in Amo. 7:6 and Mic. 2:6; Mic. 2:11.
Ezekiels audience was not so spiritually perceptive as to be able to grasp the significance of this parable and others like it (cf. chaps. 1517). In fact it would appear that his auditors were holding Ezekiel up to ridicule because of his use of the parabolic method. He could hear them whispering to one another and referring to him as a maker of parables (lit., a riddler or riddles). With sorrow, exasperation and perhaps indignation, Ezekiel turned to God in a brief narrative prayer. No petition is directly stated; but Ezekiel is obliquely requesting that he be permitted to put his parable into plain language (Eze. 20:49).
After an interval of undetermined duration, God granted the unspoken request of his prophet (Eze. 20:1). He was to preach toward Jerusalem, the holy places and the land of Israel[349] (Eze. 20:2). Ezekiel was to announce that God had assumed a posture of hostility toward the land of Israel (Behold I am against you). The divine sword of judgment (the fire in the parable) was about to come out of its sheath. Both wicked and righteous were to be cut off (Eze. 20:3). Ezekiel had already taught that as regards to final judgment the righteous would not be destroyed with the wicked (chap. 18). But of necessity in temporal judgments the entire population of an area would be affected. Other peoples besides Israel would feel the effect of the sword of the Lord which at this point in time was wielded by the Chaldeans (Eze. 20:4). Even the foreign nations would realize that they had experienced a divine judgment. The sword of the Lord would not return unto its sheath until the destructive work assigned to it was complete (Eze. 20:5).
[349] In Eze. 20:46 three different Hebrew words are translated south Here in 21.2 the symbolic significance of those three words is explained.
Ezekiel was deeply moved by this revelation, and he was told not to hide his emotion. As in other instances (Eze. 4:4; Eze. 5:1-4) he was to dramatize in his own person the coming calamity. He was to assume the role of a mourner whose sighs were so deep that they seem to break his loins, i.e., he is to bend double as though smitten with great pain in the abdomen. This agonizing sigh was to be done before their eyes so as to provoke questions. When asked about his bitter sighing, he was to explain that this was but an example of what all the exiles would do when they got the message from Jerusalem that the Temple had been destroyed. The prophet, because of his special relationship to God, had already heard those tidings through revelation. Five years later all the exiles would hear that same message from some one who had barely escaped the fallen city. With the loss of the Temple all hopes of return to Jerusalem would be smashed. Four expressions set forth the physical and psychological reaction to the news of Jerusalems destruction (1) every heart shall melt; (2) all hands shall be slack; (3) every spirit shall be faint; and (4) all knees shall drip with water, i.e., kidney functions would not be able to be controlled. Nonetheless, that bad news was coming, and when it came it would prove to be a true account of what had actually happened in Jerusalem (Eze. 20:7).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(45) Toward the south.The parable of Eze. 20:45-48 forms what might be called the text of the discourse in Ezekiel 21. The word south, here occurring three times, is represented in the Hebrew by three separate words, which mean, by their derivation, respectively, on the right hand (the orientals always supposing themselves to face the east when they speak of the points of the compass), the brilliant or mid-day direction, and the dry land, a common name for the south of Palestine. Juda is spoken of as the south, because, although actually nearly west from Babylon, it could only be approached by the Babylonians from the north, on account of the great intervening desert. Hence the prophets always speak of the armies of Babylon as coming from the north (see Note on Eze. 1:4; Jer. 1:14-15, &c.).
The forest of the south field, might be originally a mere poetic description of the land; but the figure is developed in the following verses, to make the forest the nation, and its trees the people which compose it.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
BY VIVID SYMBOL AND WITH STRONG CRIES EZEKIEL PROPHESIES THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM WITH FIRE AND SWORD, Eze 20:45-49; Eze 21:1-27.
The last five verses of chap. 20 should be regarded as belonging to the opening of chap. 21. A conflagration is prophesied in the forest of the “south field” (that is, Palestine, Eze 20:45-48). This is the Lord’s chastisement. The destruction shall be great and men shall know that it is the Lord’s sword which is made bare (Ezekiel 21:l-5). The prophet heaves bitter sighs and the hearts of all men melt before the sight of this drawn sword of the Lord (Eze 21:6-17) which is held in the hand of the king of Babylon (Eze 20:18-27).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Son of man, set your face towards the south (temana), and drop your word towards the south (darom), and prophesy against the forest of the country in the Negeb.” ’
There is an emphasis on the ‘south’ in the Hebrew brought out by the use of different Hebrew words (the Negeb also indicated south of the hills of Judah), and we can see Ezekiel turning towards the south from Babylon in the sight of his listeners. Today the Negeb is waterless desert except where it is watered by man made irrigation, but it is clear that in Ezekiel’s time the land somewhat more fruitful and sufficiently watered to produce a ‘forest’ of trees. It was from the south that Egypt was expected to come with its useless aid.
But ‘the south’ in the first two cases may have reference simply to the southern kingdom, to Jerusalem (Eze 21:2 a) and the ‘land of Israel’ (Eze 21:2-3). LXX translates the words for ‘south’ as place names.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Chapters Eze 20:45 to Eze 21:32 . The Certain Judgment of Yahweh.
In the Hebrew Bible Eze 20:45 is the commencement of chapter 21, and the passage fits better with what follows. The picture moves from the overall view of history and the future to God’s certain judgments now to come on Israel. These verses consist of a number of oracles, probably occurring over a period of time. They are connected by the theme of God’s sword of judgment.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Picture of the Forest Fire
v. 45. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, v. 46. Son of man, set thy face toward the South, v. 47. and say to the forest of the South, v. 48. And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched; v. 49. Then said I, Ah, Lord God! They say of me, Doth he not speak parables?
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Eze 20:45. Moreover, the word of the Lord Houbigant, following many learned commentators, begins the 21st chapter very properly with this verse; for what is contained in that chapter is only an explanation of what is included in the remainder of this. The south, in the next verse, and the forest of the south field, mean Judaea; because they who went from Babylon, where Ezekiel now prophesied, into Judea, went southward, and entered by the forest of Lebanon into Judaea. See Eze 20:2 of the next chapter, and Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
This seems a new discourse, or, if it be not, it is only as a postscript to a letter. The former was delivered concerning the Church in Babylon, and this is directed concerning the people at Jerusalem, which, of course, lay south of Babylon. Awful is the message: but it seems the Prophet himself entertained no hope, from the delivery of it, of any good. It was like the first account of the Lord Jesus’s resurrection; the words seemed to them that heard it as idle tales, for they believed them, not. Alas! it is but too general a complaint with faithful ministers in all ages. Isa 53:1 ; Luk 24:11 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 20:45 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Ver. 45. Moreover, &c. ] See on Eze 18:1 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 20:45-49
45Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 46Son of man, set your face toward Teman, and speak out against the south and prophesy against the forest land of the Negev, 47and say to the forest of the Negev, ‘Hear the word of the LORD: thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am about to kindle a fire in you, and it will consume every green tree in you, as well as every dry tree; the blazing flame will not be quenched and the whole surface from south to north will be burned by it. 48All flesh will see that I, the LORD, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’ 49Then I said, Ah Lord GOD! They are saying of me, ‘Is he not just speaking parables?’
Eze 20:45 A new revelation of a cleansing fire to sweep Canaan of idolatry. See Special Topic: FIRE . This parable introduces Ezekiel 21. This is where the MT starts a new chapter.
Eze 20:46 set your face toward This is a literary marker for a judgment pronouncement (cf. Eze 6:2; Eze 13:17; Eze 20:46; Eze 21:2; Eze 25:2; Eze 28:21; Eze 29:2; Eze 35:2; Eze 38:2), which follows the same imagery used of YHWH (cf. Lev 26:17; Jer 21:10; Eze 14:8; Eze 15:7).
Teman This is one of three different words which denote the south.
1. Temas (BDB 412, cf. Eze 40:24; Eze 40:27-28; Eze 40:44-45; Eze 41:11-13; Eze 41:18)
2. Darom (BDB 204, cf. Eze 21:2; Eze 40:24; Eze 40:27-28; Eze 40:44; Eze 41:11; Eze 42:12-13)
3. Negeb (BDB 616, cf. Eze 21:3; Eze 40:2; Eze 46:9; Eze 47:19; Eze 48:16; Eze 48:28; Eze 48:33)
All of these are allusions to the capital city of Jerusalem (cf. Eze 21:1).
Eze 20:47 it shall consume every green tree in you, as well as every dry tree This parable describes a coming judgment that will affect all Israelites. Here again, we are confronted with the two different ways of judgment.
1. from father to children to the third and fourth generations, cf. Exo 20:5; Deu 5:9
2. one individual’s life does not affect the children, cf. Ezekiel 18
Somehow both are true! One deals with individuals and one with a national collective. The tension remains! For me personally, my hope lies in Deu 5:10; Deu 7:9! My nation may experience the judgment of God, which affects me, but My God knows me and will bring me (and my faithful descendants) to Himself!
Eze 20:49 The idolatrous elders listening to Ezekiel (cf. Eze 20:1) heard these words and thought he was speaking only metaphorically. Chapter 21 is a reaction to this!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Eze 20:45-49
Eze 20:45-49
“And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the South; and say to the forest of the South, Hear the word of Jehovah; thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will kindle the fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming fire shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burnt thereby. And all flesh shall see that I, Jehovah, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched. Then said I, Ah Lord Jehovah! they say of me, Is he not a speaker of parables?”
PARABLE OF THE GREAT FOREST FIRE
This parable emphatically teaches the total destruction of Jerusalem. If there could be any doubt of what is prophesied, the following chapter spells it out in language so blunt and specific as to shock the evil men who pretended not to understand it.
Incidentally, the Hebrew Bible begins the following chapter with verse 45 here; but we choose to discuss this paragraph in the same chapter where we find it in our English Bibles. “The riddle here was easy to solve, and Ezekiel was dealing with a sharp-witted people; but the sinful men who heard it simply did not wish to understand it, therefore they claimed it was too difficult to interpret. Ezekiel at once took that pitiful excuse away from them with the devastating message of the “Song of the Sword” in the following chapter.
“The fire … shall devour every green tree and every dry tree …” (Eze 20:47). Eze 21:3 reveals that the green tree and the dry tree here stand for the wicked and the righteous, both of whom will perish in the forthcoming holocaust. It is regrettable that some scholars jump to the conclusion that this contradicts what the prophet said in Ezekiel 18 regarding the fact of God’s judgments being strictly on an individual basis. However, such errors are due to the false interpretation of what God said there through Ezekiel. The “death” mentioned there as the penalty of wickedness is not temporal, at all, but eternal. Failure to see that, enables a scholar such as McFadyen to write that, “This rather conflicts with his theory of individual retribution which he so fully expounded in Ezekiel 18. Canon Cook accurately explained that, “The equity of God is fully vindicated in the fact that the `death’ prophesied here was only temporal, while the death promised to the disobedient in Ezekiel 18 is eternal.
Judgment and Restoration for Israel – Eze 19:1 to Eze 20:44
Open It
1. What do you think determines whether a person will learn from his or her mistakes?
2. When would a fresh start have been very timely for you? Why?
Explore It
3. What picture did Ezekiel use to portray Judahs princes in his lament? (Eze 19:1-9)
4. How did Ezekiel use the image of a vine to sketch a “before and after” picture of Judah? (Eze 19:10-14)
5. What was Gods reaction to the elders request? (Eze 20:2-3)
6. What was the first instance of His love and favor with which God confronted the elders of Israel? (Eze 20:4-7)
7. How did Israel respond when God delivered them out of Egypt? (Eze 20:8)
8. How did God bless Israel in spite of their unfaithfulness? (Eze 20:9-12)
9. Even after they had been delivered from Egypt, how did Israel treat God and His law? (Eze 20:13)
10. What was Gods concern for His name? (Eze 20:14)
11. What punishment did the generation of the Exodus suffer for their sin? (Eze 20:15-16)
12. How did God show His pity to the elder generation and offer a new start to the younger generation? (Eze 20:17-20)
13. What was to be the punishment for the second generations rebellion? (Eze 20:23)
14. To what pagan practice did God “give them over”? (Eze 20:25-26)
15. Once they had taken possession of the Promised Land, how did Israel continue to rebel against God? (Eze 20:27-29)
16. What practices of the current generation led God to swear that He would not allow their elders to inquire of Him? (Eze 20:30-31)
17. Why did God say that they would never worship “wood and stone” as they seemed to desire? (Eze 20:32-38)
18. What would be different about the Israel that God would gather from their exile in the future? (Eze 20:39-42)
19. What would Israel realize about God and about themselves when He accomplished His final deliverance? (Eze 20:43-44)
Get It
20. What events in the recent history of Judah were portrayed in Ezekiels lament of the lioness?
21. According to the lament of the vine, what was left of Israel following Gods judgment?
22. Why did the elders who came to Ezekiel need a history lesson?
23. How often did Israel get everything she deserved in terms of punishment?
24. Why did God not allow Israel to go her own way in the long run, serving gods of wood and stone?
25. Like Israel, what do we need in order to assess rightly our condition before God and to obey Him?
Apply It
26. When in the next week or two can you take an hour for a historical overview of your life and Gods working in it?
27.What spiritual issues should you always take care of before you come to God asking for favors or insight?
Babylon, God’s Sword of Judgment
Eze 20:45 to Eze 21:32
Open It
1. Do you consider yourself a pessimist or an optimist? Why?
2. From what calamities that confront other people do you consider yourself basically immune?
Explore It
3. Where did God tell Ezekiel to direct his prophecy? (Eze 20:45-46)
4. What image of natural disaster did God use to illustrate what was about to happen to Judah? (Eze 20:46-48)
5. What did Ezekiel tell God that the people were likely to say about his prophecy? (Eze 20:49)
6. What new image did God use to describe the destruction to come? (Eze 21:3)
7. Which of the people were to be “cut off” from the land of Judah and Jerusalem? (Eze 21:3-4)
8. What did God intend for the people to understand through the immensity of disaster? (Eze 21:5)
9. What sign was Ezekiel to give through his behavior? (Eze 21:6-7)
10. How would the scepter of Judah (symbol of nationhood) stand up to the sharpened sword of Gods judgment? (Eze 21:8-10)
11. What emotion was Ezekiel portraying by wailing and beating his breast? (Eze 21:11-12)
12. According to the prophecy, what was going to become of the scepter of Judah? (Eze 21:13-17)
13. What did God reveal in advance that the king of Babylon would decide to do, guided by pagan divination? (Eze 21:18-22)
14. Since the people felt they were safe, how would they respond to the approach of the army of Babylon? (Eze 21:23)
15. Why were the people of Jerusalem going to be taken captive? (Eze 21:24)
16. What did Ezekiel say it would take to restore the throne of Judah? (Eze 21:27)
17. How would the Ammonites be judged for their insulting delight in the destruction of Judah? (Eze 21:28-32)
Get It
18. Why did the prophecies contain images of total destruction?
19. With what reasoning did the people who heard Ezekiel tend to minimize or explain away his words?
20. What nation was represented in the prophecy as the sharpened sword?
21. Why did God conquer Israels enemies, even when Israel was in need of discipline?
22. What gloomy predictions do you tend to minimize? Why?
23. What can you deduce about Ezekiels popularity among the exiles from the messages that he delivered?
24. How would you describe Gods wrath, once kindled?
Apply It
25. In what relationships do you need to ask God to strengthen you to be unpopular (if necessary) for His sake?
26. How can you reduce the security you feel in your circumstances and increase your dependence upon God?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Moreover: This is the beginning of another prophecy, and properly belongs to the following chapter. Eze 20:45
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 20:45-46. The 10-tribe kingdom had been in exile for more than a century. It was known in history as the northern kingdom as it related lo the kingdom of Judah. The latter was in the south part of Palestine, and as Ezekiel was writing its capital had not been destroyed, hence the present passage directed at Jerusalem as the south.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Section 2 (Eze 20:45-49; Eze 21:1-32).
The sword upon the righteous and the wicked.
We are nearing the end of all this part of Ezekiel -the first Division. There is little more now than the reiterated announcement of judgment, which in the last chapter, the 24th, we see begun. Nebuchadnezzar has there begun the siege of the city, which we see him here contemplating. And with this commencement of what the prophet has announced, the word for the present ceases. There is no need and no use in any further announcement. The chapter before us shows the sword in Nebuchadnezzar’s hand as God’s judgment upon the land, a judgment so complete that it sweeps away the righteous and the wicked together; that is, the whole land was desolate. It is not meant that there is no discrimination between the righteous and the wicked, for this would contradict what we have had explicitly in a previous chapter as to the seal put upon those who sighed and cried before God for the abominations of the people, and who are, therefore, by this seal itself, put explicitly under the care of God whom they have honored. Nevertheless, the land is swept bare; the righteous and wicked suffer together in this respect. The sword is upon both; only, as we have already seen, and as is simple enough, that which is pure judgment for the one class is only a refining lire for the other, and God is in it carefully superintending the process which is to bring forth a perfect vessel for Himself.
1. First of all, it is insisted that one common doom is to envelop the whole of the land. God will be true to His own, but they cannot save from destruction that which is already devoted to it. God’s wrath is as a devouring fire, which lays hold of all that is before it, and that is the first point. “The word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face towards the south” in which Judah and Jerusalem were), “and drop thy word towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field.” According to the idea here given, the cultivated “field” has, as it were, grown wild, grown into a forest, as we know was the case with Judah. (For a similar thought, the meaning of Kirjath-Jearim, “the city of the woods,” may be compared in Joshua xv: 9. See Notes.) In such a case, the very fertility of the ground, and the care that may once have been bestowed upon it, only helps the luxuriance of the wild growth. It is the common story of perverted privileges and blessing of every kind. Thus the prophet is to address himself to “the forest of the south.” God is bringing a fire upon it, which is of course the symbol of His wrath, although the wrath must in a sense be discriminative, which the fire is not. This is not a contradiction, however. The external calamity reaches all alike, and the green tree suffers with the dry, but God knows how to turn the suffering itself into blessing for His people, which eternity shall reveal; and in spite of all, as He has Himself said, the man that doeth righteousness shall live thereby.
But a flame is devouring the land from south to north. Why the direction here, when the inroad of the enemy was from north to south? It would seem that what is intimated is, what was according to the fact, that the destruction of Jerusalem would scatter the people mainly northward, as it did, and would follow them there.* It was to be the unmistakable evidence of God’s own judgment. God was to be glorified in it when His people were not glorifying, but dishonoring Him. The speech of the prophet, however, is as the people urge, in parables. God was dealing with them after their own fashion, for His plainest warnings had been but words to them; and, shut up in their own unbelief, there seemed no use in speaking more plainly. The ear that was opened would hear; and if it were realized that Jehovah was speaking, the very language of parable would only invite the more to search into the meaning of it.
{*The south was the place of light -under the sun -of privilege, and if the privileges of the light were not used, they became means of dryness. So the various words for “south” indicate the failure to enjoy privilege, and thus “I will curse your blessings” is fulfilled. The fire begins in the south, the place of privilege. “Begin at my house,” and it reaches northward, to the mass of the people until all are consumed. -S. Ridout.}
2. Nevertheless, the word of Jehovah answers the voice of the people, and Ezekiel is instructed to speak plainly, to set his face towards Jerusalem, and drop his word toward the holy places, which, of course, were that no more, but only the witness against those who had destroyed them by their desecration. The prophecy is now to the whole land, and God says plainly that the sword, which they might then see drawn out of its sheath, was the sword of no mortal enemy merely, but His own; and as the fire devoured the green wood and the dry, so He would cut off out of the land the righteous and the wicked. The judgment was, as already declared, to be plainly his judgment. And if we follow Daniel to the court of the king of Babylon, we shall see how God took care to make known, in such a way that the heathen himself had to acknowledge it, His power and majesty, whose sanctuaries Nebuchadnezzar might seem to have overthrown. The king of Babylon was, as the chapter itself declares plainly, but an instrument in the hands of the Almighty who wielded all the power which Nebuchadnezzar would naturally ascribe to himself. In fact it was this which brought judgment upon him -a judgment which humbled his heart and brought him fully to own the Most High God, while the hearts of His own people remained intractable and rebellious. But it is not without sorrow, such as He never hesitates to attribute to Himself, that God inflicts this inevitable chastisement; and the sighing of the prophet, even with breaking of the loins and bitterness, is but the echo of what is in the heart of Him who bids him give vent thus to his human sorrow. As of old it was said, “In all their affliction He was afflicted,” so it ever is, even when He whose delights are with the sons of men has to manifest Himself against them. The tears of the Lord over Jerusalem, when He took leave of it, witness with the anguish of the prophet. Yet He who wept could not spare; and that which threatened now would melt the heart and enfeeble the hands and make every spirit faint; and it was already upon them: “It cometh, it is even here, saith the Lord Jehovah.”
3. Still, we have to be reminded once more of what is involved in this. It is not simply the judgment of a people, but of a people with whom were the promises of God; and it is this which for the time sets aside those promises, that they cannot be fulfilled. The sons of David, however much in rebellion against God, had nevertheless built themselves up in pride upon these very promises; and the heart of the righteous might plead with Him: Was He going to permit that the sweet assurances He had given be made void? Might they make mirth and say, as if from God’s side of things, “The sceptre of my Son despiseth every tree?”* Could it not make light of all human power, however firmly rooted, which would set itself in opposition against it? “The sceptre of my Son” shows the thought implied. Was it not, according to the second psalm, the One who could declare the decree that Jehovah had said to Him, “Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten Thee,” who was appointed to rule upon God’s holy hill of Zion, and the very ends of the earth were to be given into His hands? And had it not been said in older prophecy, that the sceptre should not depart from Judah and a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh came? (Gen 49:1-33.) How simple, it seemed, to put such things together, and think of it as faith itself, to resist the conviction of coming judgment. Yet, in spite of this, the prophet affirms that it is coming. The sword of the Lord, He has made it ready, furbished and sharpened it, that it should be as fully as possible effective, and this sword was to be against this people of Jehovah, and against all the princes of Israel; princes and people alike were to be given up to the sword. Yea, the test (in the event) was even now being made; and what if this sceptre that despiseth were actually to be no more? asks the Lord Jehovah.
{*”He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh”; God’s sceptre, held by His Son, would lay low every thing that exalted itself against Him, would bring down the high tree and dry up the green tree. Hengstenberg makes this rod, despising every tree, to be the affliction which is now about to fall upon the people -so great that it eclipses (“despises”) all former rods of affliction. But the explanation in the text is so lucid, appropriate and complete, that there can be little room for questioning it. -S. Ridout.}
How readily may His people misinterpret His plain words! How ready are we today to misinterpret them! How often do we hear that “the knowledge of the glory of the Lord is to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea” interpreted as being of course through the spread of Christianity -and this after nearly 2,000 years, which have manifested its incapacity to do this; and not merely this, but exhibited everywhere, as is so plain today, its capacity for decay -yet how many still look for this! And the very word which announces what is plainly opposite to such thoughts is made to confirm them: “Israel shall bud and blossom, and fill the face of the earth with fruit” -and are not we Christians the true Israel?
Thus we see the heart searched out in Ezekiel’s day; and here we have a glimpse, as it would seem, that we have not elsewhere, as to the perplexity which must have been in the hearts of many of such a day, faced with all those promises of triumph and blessing of which Scripture is full for them; and then, on the other hand, faced by the prophet now with this assurance of the coming desolation. But God’s word abides, and time will reconcile all these things. What concerned them now was to realize the Lord’s judgment upon His people, and its sure and swift coming. “Son of man, prophesy and smite thy hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time:” the strokes of it growing only the more terrible to the end -perhaps, if we are to read the number symbolically, until the time of full manifestation. This is the sword which is soon to be busy in its dreadful work, and among the slain, the “great one,” the sword which has penetrated to the king himself who is the “deadly wounded.” Not that Zedekiah was himself slain in the siege or after it: we know he was not. His sons were slain before his eyes, and then those eyes that had been witness of the awful sorrow were put out, that they might see the light no more. As king, he lived no more; and his life after that, was it life? And still the sword swept on, melting every heart and multiplying the carcases so that men stumbled over them. And there was no escape from it: the threatening sword was against all their gates. Its very glitter was meant by God as prophesying the sure quenching in blood which was to follow. Jehovah turns to it and bids it do its work: gather up its strength, go to the right, turn to the left, finding its work unfailingly wherever it turned, for it could not miss worthy objects. And thus was Jehovah’s wrath: “I will smite my hands together, and I will cause my wrath to rest. I Jehovah have spoken.”
4. The next word of Jehovah contemplates more the human instrument which is implied in all this. The sword is the sword of the king of Babylon, which, even if blindly, is none the less the instrument of the Hand which is over him continually. The prophet marks his course, the path that he is to pursue. He sees him pause, and hesitate, where the one road out of his land separates into two. The one road leads to Rabbah of the Ammonite; the other to Jerusalem, strong in its fortifications. There he stands at the parting of the way, practising his vain divination, shaking his arrows, inquiring of the teraphim, looking into the liver. In his right hand is the divination for Jerusalem, to lay siege to it. A poor thing in itself, against which men might build themselves up, as mere false divination of the heathen -they who had in Jehovah’s name sworn faithfulness to the king of Babylon and broken their oath! All right to scorn the heathen divination, but what about Jehovah who has been scorned and defied? “He bringeth the iniquity to remembrance that they may be taken.” And thus the divination does not fail.
5. Divine government has not loosed its hand upon men in all this. Nay, it is the very thing that is coming out in its full reality. The “iniquity of the end” (which is bringing about the end) has taken place. The crown is gone from the head of the king of Israel, and the mitre of the high priest, which was supported by the crown, has to go also. That which still existed was to be no more. The wheel was going round! That which is low is to be exalted; that which is high is to be abased. “I will overturn, overturn, overturn it,” says Jehovah; “and it shall be no more until He come whose right it is, and I will give it Him.” Thus there is even here a gleam through the thunderclouds. All other hands are proved incompetent to wield this sceptre which God is taking for the time being from the line of David. There is One, however, who has right, and who will put forth His claim to it, and Judah’s rod of magistracy would
not cease until Shiloh comes. How sweet such a promise to a sorely-stricken heart! How sweet for us in our own day, revealing, as it does, the mystery of the breakdown of all things upon which we rest our human hopes, “until He comes whose right it is!” How we forget this, that the overturning is not something against His right, but contemplates it. Just as Israel’s desolate land with all its desolation speaks of a people for whom it is waiting, in God’s design, so the broken sceptre and the empty throne are only waiting for the One to come who surely will fulfil every promise, and outdo all that the heart can imagine or crave, in the blessing that He brings.
There is yet one final word: Ammon had escaped; the enemy of God’s people had gone scot-free. The king of Babylon had turned off to Jerusalem; and the enemy now can insult them as they will. Ammon, as we know, was an ancient enemy of Israel; and, as a type, shows still more the opposition of the heart to that which is of God. We may remind ourselves how in the days of Jephthah, and afterwards in the days of Saul, Ammon stood forth under its king Nahash. “the serpent,” as bent upon taking from Israel the land that was their own. (Jdg 11:1-40 and 1Sa 11:1-15, Notes.) This is ever the work of the enemy of our souls -not merely to gain a victory over the people of God, but to take from them the very portion which God has given them. Israel’s sins, now at their height, bringing judgment upon them, the desolate land lay open to the attacks of the enemy. But God’s eye is upon it, and Ammon is not to escape. The sword is to prove itself as Jehovah’s sword in this way also. Misjudging altogether the work of God, as the enemy continually misjudges it, Ammon brings upon himself the wrath in which, as against others, he is rejoicing. “And I will blow upon thee,” says the Lord, “with the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, skilful to destroy. Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt not be remembered. For I Jehovah have spoken.” Thus, where all seems wreck, and what God has done for His glory seems to have fully shared in this, yet Jehovah’s word stands forth unchanged in its utterance!
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Eze 20:45-49. Moreover, the word of the Lord, &c. Here we have a new prophecy, with which Houbigant, following many learned commentators, begins the xxist chapter, and that very properly; for what is contained in that chapter is only an explanation of what is contained in the remainder of this. Son of man, set thy face toward the south The prophets were generally commanded to turn themselves toward the places concerning which they were going to prophesy; and Ezekiel being now in Chaldea, near the river of Chebar, Judea lay to the south of him. And drop thy word, &c. That is, prophesy. The gift of prophecy seems to be here compared to rain, or dew, distilling from heaven upon the earth, and refreshing and rendering it fruitful: see Deu 32:2. Such is the benefit of sound doctrine wherever it is received. And prophesy against the forest of the south field By this is meant Jerusalem, the word forest being taken metaphorically for a city; either because its stately buildings resembled tall cedars standing in their several ranks, or, as Archbishop Secker supposes, from the number of its inhabitants. And say, Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee By fire here is meant, not only the burning of literal fire, but every thing which destroys or consumes, as in Eze 19:12. Indeed, fire is often taken, in a general sense, for Gods severe judgments, which, it is here said, shall devour both the green tree and the dry, that is, the righteous as well as the wicked; the righteous being here, as elsewhere, compared to green and flourishing trees, and the wicked to dry and withered ones, such as are only fit for the fire. The flaming flame shall not be quenched The evils I will send upon them shall not cease, till what I will has been accomplished. And all faces from the south to the north shall be burned The destruction shall reach from one end of the land to the other: see Eze 21:2; Eze 21:4. Ah, Lord God! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables? They make this an argument for disregarding what I say, that I use so many similitudes and metaphorical expressions, that they cannot understand my meaning. To take away all ground for this objection, God commands him, in the next chapter, to speak the same thing in plain words.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 20:45 to Eze 21:32. The Terrible Sword of Nebuchadrezzar.Here again, as shortly before (chs. 18f.), a piece of theological oratory is followed by a poemthis time a wild irregular dithyramb (esp. Eze 21:8-17), the text of which is, unhappily, corrupt in places to the point of desperation. But perhaps its very perplexities reflect the tumult of the prophets soul. The nearer the doom approaches, the more vividly does he conceive it.
Eze 20:5-49. He begins by announcing a supernatural conflagration in the south, which is to scorch the land bare. On Ezekiels audience objecting to his allegorical description, he then speaks his mind with deadly plainness.
Eze 21:1-7. The south land is Judah, and in particular Jerusalem, and the conflagration is the fire of war, or rather the sword; and the whole chapter has been well called The Song of the Sword. It is Nebuchadrezzars sword, but it is even more truly Yahwehs, for He has drawn it, and it is destined to slay righteous and wicked alike. (Ezekiel sees that the fall of Jerusalem will involve this indiscriminate destruction, though this rather conflicts with his theory of strict individual retribution which he had so fully expounded in ch. 18.) The thought of this inexorable issue makes Ezekiels heart faint and sore.
Eze 21:8-17. This awful sword will do its work well. It is sharp and shining, ready for the slaughter of Israels princes and people, a great murderous sword to be brandished again and yet again. It will strike terror into every heart, whirling to the rear, to the right, to the front, to the left, wherever its edge has been appointed by the indignant Yahweh for slaughter. (Eze 20:10 and Eze 20:13 defy translation.)
Eze 21:18-23. This deadly sword is making straight for Jerusalem. In an unusually interesting passage, Nebuchadrezzar is represented as reaching a point in his westward march from which two roads diverge, one leading to the capital of Ammon, the other to Jerusalem. Along which shall he move? In various ways he seeks to ascertain the will of his godsby shaking two arrows, one marked Rabbah (Jer 49:2*), the other Jerusalem, and drawing one out, by consulting his images, by inspecting the liver of an animal. These superstitions of Nebuchadrezzar were all overruled to advance Yahwehs purpose. The lot decided for a march upon Jerusalem, and though the infatuated inhabitants are represented as not greatly perturbed, the Babylonian advance is a stern reminder of Zedekiahs perfidy (Eze 17:19), which they are coming to avenge.
Eze 21:24-27. At this point Ezekiels emotion flames into white heat. He apostrophises the wicked Zedekiah, sees him stripped of his regalia, and announces for his kingdom utter ruin, until some worthy successor shall ariseeven the Messianic kingto whom it will be given back.
Eze 21:28-32. Ammon, though spared for the moment (Eze 20:22), shall not escape. Despite plausible oracles to the contrary, the sword that cut so deep into Judah will cleave Ammon too (in Eze 20:29 for thee read it). The Divine fury would be wreaked upon her through the brutish Babylonians; but unlike Judah (Eze 20:27) she would never rise again.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
The parable itself 20:45-49
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The Lord commanded Ezekiel to address Teman with a prophecy. Teman (Heb. temanah, right) refers to the south. Perhaps the translators of the NASB left this word transliterated because Teman was also the name of an important town in Edom to Jerusalem’s southeast, and they felt the Lord might have intended this prophecy for that town. The Septuagint translators understood this word this way, and they also interpreted the other two words that describe Judah as place names. The Lord further described the object of this prophecy as the south (Heb. darom) and as the forest in the Negev (Heb. negeb). The Negev was the southern part of Judah that was a buffer geographically between the marginally fruitful southern part of Judah and the wilderness farther to the south. Evidently the whole kingdom of Judah was quite wooded in Ezekiel’s day, and the woods extended south into the upper Negev. By using the three most common Hebrew terms for "south," the Lord referred to Judah. Later He clarified that the south included Jerusalem, its sanctuaries, and all the land of Israel, which was then Judah (cf. Eze 21:2). Judah was, of course, the "Southern Kingdom."
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
2. Judgment of Judah’s contemporary leaders 20:45-21:32
A new chapter in the Hebrew Bible begins with Eze 20:45. The section of the book that it begins contains four messages of judgment on Judah and Jerusalem with special emphasis on the judgment coming on the leaders of the people. The Lord explained the basis for His judgment of Judah (Eze 20:1-44) and then proceeded to describe and to affirm the certainty of that judgment (Eze 20:45 to Eze 21:32).
The parable of the forest fire 20:45-21:7
The prophet first presented another parable, and then he interpreted it.