Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 22:7

In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.

7. “They” no more refers to the princes, but is said generally. On “father and mother” Exo 20:12; Deu 5:16; Deu 27:16. On “stranger” ch. Eze 18:18; Exo 22:21. On “fatherless,” Exo 22:22.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 7. In thee have they set light] The children do not reverence their parents. Parental affection and filial respect do not exist among you. The stranger is not only not succoured, but he is oppressed. The widows and fatherless are vexed by wrongs and exactions.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

In thee; in Jerusalem.

Have they: it is plural, and agrees with princes, they whose better disposition, whose education and greatness, (beside the command of God,) should have advanced their venerable thoughts and deportment towards parents.

Set light by, have contemned, father and mother, though God threatens to curse such as do so, Deu 27:16.

They; the princes still, as the construction in the original carrieth it.

By oppression; by force and fraud, for the oppression here mentioned is made up of both; where either the fox or lion could apart, or else both joined, they have oppressed the stranger, expressly against Gods command, Exo 22:21.

They; still the same great men, and rulers, who should, as Isa 1:17, have defended, plead. ed for, relieved, and comforted the fatherless and widow, but contrariwise they oppress, disquiet, and make a prey of them.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

7. set light byChildren havemade light of, disrespected, father . . . (De27:16). At Eze 22:7-12are enumerated the sins committed in violation of Moses’ law.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

In thee have they set light by father and mother,…. Through whom they received their being from God; by whom they were brought into the world, brought up and educated; and to whom they owed great respect, honour, and obedience; but, on the contrary, they wanted affection to their persons, showed great disrespect to their commands, and treated them with irreverence and contempt; a sin of a very heinous nature, of the first magnitude; reckoned among the very Heathens as next to contempt of God, and disobedience to him; is directly contrary to a law of God, and threatened with a curse, and a severe punishment,

Ex 20:12 by the connection of the words with the preceding, the princes of Israel seem intended; the children of the nobles, and the sons and daughters of the king; who, it might have been thought, by the character they bore, the station they were in, and the politeness of their education, would have behaved in another manner; and if this sin prevailed among them, no doubt it did among those of a lower class, who are always influenced by such examples:

in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger; the proselyte, as the Septuagint; him that was converted to me, as the Syriac version; which is an aggravation of the sin, that it was not merely a stranger that came about civil business, but one who came from foreign parts to worship the Lord at Jerusalem, as the Ethiopian eunuch did: now, to oppress such an one, either by private frauds, or by injustice in a court of judicature; to exact upon him for food or lodging; or circumvent and overreach him in trade and commerce; or distress him by vexatious lawsuits, when ignorant of the laws and customs of the country; at a distance from his friends, and in want of money, must be a very great evil; and yet even the princes themselves in Jerusalem were guilty of it:

in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow; that were weak and helpless, and had none to protect them, father and husband being dead; when, according to their first rank and station as princes, they ought to have been the defenders of them; but, instead of that, distressed, afflicted, and grieved them.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(7) By father and mother.Filial respect was one of the most frequently enjoined precepts of the law (see Lev. 19:32; Lev. 20:9, &c.). So the other sins mentioned in this and the following verses are transgressions of special Divine commands. Dealt by oppression is dealt oppressively (see Lev. 19:10; Exo. 22:21; Deu. 24:14, &c.); for the father less and widow (Exo. 22:22-24, &c.). The despising of holy things and the profanation of the sabbaths were the constant subject of the warnings of the law; tale-bearers are forbidden in Lev. 19:16; the eating upon the mountains (which means joining in the idol sacrifices) is often reproved by this and the other prophets; and the sins of lewdness enumerated are all specifically forbidden in Leviticus 18, 20, as well as elsewhere; while the various sins arising from covetousness, mentioned in Eze. 22:12, had been constantly denounced both by the law and in the warnings of the prophets. The expression hast forgotten me is at once the root of all these sins, and in itself the climax of all.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

7. The princes broke every commandment of the decalogue, and their example was followed by the people. (See Exo 20:13; Deu 28:16; Deu 28:19.)

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Eze 22:7 In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.

Ver. 7. In thee have they set light by father and mother. ] Whom very heathens honoured as their , household gods.

In the midst of thee, &c. ] So Jerome complaineth of his country, In mea patria deus venter est, et in diem vivitur, that they were all belly gods, and had no goodness in them. So Bede complaineth of the ancient Britons immediately before their destruction by the Saxons. Bradford crieth out against the iniquity of the times in King Edward’s days. You all know, saith he in a certain letter of his, there was never more knowledge of God, and less godly living, and true serving of God. It was counted a foolish thing to serve God truly; and earnest prayer was not past upon. Preaching was but pastime; communion was counted too common; fasting was far out of use; alms was almost nothing. Malice, covetousness, and uncleanness was common everywhere, with swearing, drunkenness, and idleness. a &c.

a Acts and Mon.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)