Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 5:11
Wherefore, [as] I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish [thee]; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
11. defiled my sanctuary ] The commentary on this is supplied by ch. 8.
will I also diminish thee] The word is so rendered ch. Eze 16:27, where, however, an object follows the verb. The balance of clauses here: I also will and mine eye shall not spare: I also will not pity, appears to shew that the word expresses one idea along with the words “mine eye shall not spare.” This can hardly be expressed otherwise than: I also will withdraw mine eye and it shall not spare; I also will have no pity. For the phrase “withdraw the eye” cf. Job 36:7. In ch. Eze 24:14 a similar word occurs, but there with the negative. Targ. Vulg. render “hew down,” but this kind of reading ( d for r) is too familiar to be of any value. Perhaps the reading might be: I also am against thee and mine eye shall not spare, (form of “against thee” as Eze 21:8, cf. here Eze 5:8). Cf. ch. Eze 8:18.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Eze 5:11
As I live, saith the Lord God.
The Divine oath
I. The form of the Divine oath. When men swear, they do it by the greater (Heb 6:16). God cannot do this. So He swears by Himself.
II. The use of the Divine oath. God utters His word clearly and plainly, calling on men to believe it. When they will not, He tries a new expedient, backing it up with an oath. Was ever grace more conspicuous, and forbearance more extraordinary?
III. Examples of the Divine oath.
1. The oath used in connection with the Priesthood of Christ (Psa 110:4, as interpreted in Heb 7:1-28).
2. The oath used in connection with the believers safety (Heb 7:17-18). Blessed safeguard!
3. The oath used in connection with the sincerity of the Gospel call (Eze 33:11). Must not God be terribly in earnest?
4. The oath used in connection with the ultimate triumph of the Christian cause (Isa 45:23). Can such a purpose be defeated? Encouraged by this, let the Church go forward.
5. The oath used in connection with the doom of the unbelieving (Psa 95:11). Then, Acquaint now thyself, etc. (Job 22:21). Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, etc. (Act 16:31). (John Burnett, B. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
As I live; a form of an oath becoming none but the living God, used often in Scripture and in this prophet.
Defiled; violated and profaned.
My sanctuary; my temple.
With all thy detestable things; not that all they did abominably was done in the temple; but either because they never heeded how they were polluted, but with legal pollutions on them came to the temple; or rather, brought in their idols, all their detestable counterfeit gods, as Jer 7:30, and, in 2Ki 16:10; 23:12,13, their own altars, as Ahaz and Manasseh. All their idolatry and wickednesses, expressed by two words of like emphasis.
Diminish; lessen, break to pieces, cut up by the roots such stinking weeds.
Neither shall mine eye spare; there shall not be the least sign of pity in my eye, though I see all their misery.
Neither will I have pity; nor yet will I retain any affection of kindness for them; my heart, as my eye, shall be far from all pity and commiseration towards them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. as I livethe most solemnof oaths, pledging the self-existence of God for the certainty of theevent.
defiled my sanctuarytheclimax of Jewish guilt: their defiling Jehovah’s temple byintroducing idols.
diminishliterally,”withdraw,” namely, Mine “eye” (which presentlyfollows), that is, My favors; Job36:7 uses the Hebrew verb in the same way. As the Jews hadwithdrawn from God’s sanctuary its sacredness by “defiling”it, so God withdraws His countenance from them. Thesignificance of the expression lies in the allusion to De4:2, “Ye shall not diminish aught from the word whichI command you”; they had done so, therefore God diminishesthem. The reading found in six manuscripts, “I will cut theeoff,” is not so good.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Wherefore, [as] I live, saith the Lord God,…. This is a form of an oath, and shows that what is after said should certainly be done; God would not repent of it, nor revoke it:
surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary, with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations: that is, with their idols and idolatrous worship, which were detestable and abominable to the Lord; so Manasseh not only built altars for Baal in the house of the Lord, but set up in it a graven image of the grove, 2Ki 21:3;
therefore will I also diminish [thee]; as they lessened his glory by such abominable actions, so he threatens that he would lessen their privileges and blessings; as they took away from him the worship and honour that were due to him, so he would take away from them their civil and church state, his sanctuary, word, and ordinances, and deprive them of everything that was valuable and excellent. The Targum paraphrases it,
“I will cut off the strength of thine arm;”
weaken her power:
neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity; when in the greatest misery and distress. The Targum is,
“my Word shall not spare, &c.”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here God again expresses more clearly why he was so eager to take vengeance namely, because the religion of the Jews was corrupt, and the Temple had been violated, as we shall see to-morrow.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
C. The Second Threat 5:1112
TRANSLATION
(11) Therefore as I live (oracle of the Lord GOD) surely, because My sanctuary you have defiled with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will cut you short, and My eye will spare not, nor shall I have pity. (12) A third part of you with pestilence shall die, and with famine they shall be consumed in your midst; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about you; and a third part I shall scatter to every wind, and a sword I shall unsheath after them.
COMMENTS
1. The basis of this threat (Eze. 5:11 a); This dire threat is in order because the inhabitants of Jerusalem had defiled Gods Temple with their detestable things and their abominations, i.e., their idolatrous paraphernalia. History records how King Manasseh erected an idol in the Temple precincts (2Ki. 21:7) and Ahaz replaced the divinely ordained altar with an Assyrian model (2Ki. 16:11). Because of such brazen presumption God would cur shot-(Jerusalem without mercy (Eze. 5:11). There is no evidence that the Israelites were overtly more wicked than neighboring peoples. But they had violated the first and most basic commandment in that they rendered allegiance to that which was less than God.
2. The specifics of the threat (Eze. 5:12). In Eze. 5:12 Ezekiel alludes to the symbolic act which he performed with his shaven hair (Eze. 5:1-4). A third of the populace would be consumed by pestilence and famine in the midst of the city. A third would fall by the sword round about the city, and a third would be scattered in every direction. This latter group would include both those who might manage to escape to surrounding nations and those who would be carried into foreign exile. Divine retribution would continue to pursue these folks even on foreign soil. The sword which God would unsheath after these refugees and exiles symbolizes the persecution which they would continue to experience. The horrors of the Babylonian siege were but the beginning of sorrows of the nation. The prophecy may reach beyond the limits of the Babylonian era. Ezekiel may here be foretelling the continuous misery which the once favored people of God would experience.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(11) Because thou . . . therefore will I.The parallel between Israels conduct and Gods judgments is here, as everywhere, brought into strong light. God would inflict no evil upon them which they had not themselves called down by their obdurate and infatuated persistence in rebellion against Him.
Also diminish thee.The word diminish is hardly an adequate translation of the original, and the pronoun thee is not in the Hebrew. The word properly means to withdraw, and is to be taken either as reflective, withdraw myself, or as having for its object mine eye of the following clause, the sense being the same in either case: the Lord will withdraw from them His presence and His compassion.
Eze. 5:12-17 follow in plain language the symbolical prophecies of Eze. 5:1-4, and give the inspired interpretation of their meaning. They bring out very distinctly the fact that the judgments should not end with the destruction of Jerusalem.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Detestable things, abominations These are the objects of their idolatrous worship (chap. 8). It is because of their willful and persistent insults, even in his own temple, that Jehovah declares, Therefore will I also withdraw (my glory, Eze 10:18); neither shall mine eye spare, etc. The constant reiteration of the threat shows how the heart of Jehovah longed to do differently, and how, according to the speech of men, he needed to constantly reiterate his determination to execute the full penalty of this great sin. The calls to repentance and quick offers of forgiveness show how lovingly a cry for mercy would have been heard, if the threatening had awakened the people to penitence and reformation (Jon 3:10; Eze 33:11).
Diminish Literally, withdraw. Smend translates “withdraw (thy needs);” Davidson, “I will withdraw (mine eye);” Toy, “I will deal furiously.” By a slight change the word can mean “hew down.” Plumptre holds to the Authorized Version and explains by Eze 16:27.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Wherefore as I live”, says the Lord Yahweh, “surely because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore will I also diminish you, nor shall my eye spare, and I will also have no pity.”
A further indictment was that they had defiled the temple with their abominations and idolatry (see Eze 8:10). They had diminished God. That is why He would diminish them. There would be no mercy, no pity, because they had deliberately polluted the temple and brought dishonour on God, likening Him by their behaviour to creeping and detestable things.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 5:11. Will I also diminish Will I cut thee off. Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 5:11 Wherefore, [as] I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish [thee]; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
Ver. 11. Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord. ] This is God’s usual oath (in this prophet especially), and therefore should not be used as an oath or asseveration by any other, since he only liveth (to speak properly).
Therefore will I also diminish thee.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
as I live. Figures of speech Deesis and Anthropopatheia. App-6.
saith the LORD = [is] Jehovah’s oracle.
hast defiled. This charge is substantiated in Eze 8.
diminish thee. So the Western codices. Hebrew. ‘egra’ (with Resh = r). But the Eastern oodices read ‘egda’ (with Daleth = d) =. “I shall cut off”, with the former reading in margin, But some codices, with two early printed editions, read “cut off” in the text.
Mine eye, &c. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. App-6, Ref to Pentateuch (Deu 13:8). Compare Eze 7:4; Eze 8:18; Eze 9:10. App-92.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
as I live: Num 14:28-35, Psa 95:11, Amo 8:7, Heb 6:13
thou hast: Eze 8:5, Eze 8:6, Eze 8:16, Eze 23:28, Eze 44:7, 2Ki 21:4, 2Ki 21:7, 2Ki 23:12, 2Ch 33:4, 2Ch 33:7, 2Ch 36:14, Jer 7:9-11, Jer 32:34
detestable: Eze 7:20, Eze 11:18, Eze 11:21, Deu 7:25, Deu 7:26, Jer 16:18, Jer 44:4
will I: Eze 29:15, Psa 107:39, Jer 10:24, *marg. Rom 11:12
neither shall: Eze 7:4, Eze 7:9, Eze 8:18, Eze 9:5, Eze 9:10, Eze 24:14, Deu 29:20, Lam 2:21, Zec 11:6, Mal 3:17, Rom 8:32, Rom 11:21, 2Pe 2:4, 2Pe 2:5
Reciprocal: Lev 15:31 – that they Lev 20:3 – to defile Num 14:21 – as truly Deu 13:8 – shall thine Job 16:13 – doth Psa 78:50 – he spared Isa 30:14 – he shall not Jer 13:14 – I will not Lam 2:17 – he hath thrown Eze 5:7 – neither have done Eze 7:11 – none Eze 8:3 – the image Eze 33:11 – As I live Eze 43:8 – setting Rom 14:11 – As 1Co 3:17 – any
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 5:11. The defilement refers to the practice of idolatry which the people of Jerusalem had mixed with the worship prescribed by the Lord. Will diminish thee, was a prediction of the overthrow of the city, both as to its power or authority and also materially in that it was destined to be taken and burned.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
The Lord affirmed that He would withdraw His presence from His people because they had defiled His temple with idols (cf. ch. 8; Eze 10:4; Eze 11:22-23). The clause "as I live" expresses a very solemn oath. It appears 14 times in Ezekiel, more often than in any other prophetic book. God would not have pity on them. One third of the residents would die by plague or famine, another third by the sword, and another third would scatter from the land driven by enemy soldiers.