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Ezekiel 20:32
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30 Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your afathers, and committing harlotry according to their babominations?  
31 For when you offer ayour gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. So shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live,” says the Lord God, “I will bnot be inquired of by you.  
32 aWhat you have in your mind shall never be, when you say, ‘We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone.’  

God Will Restore Israel

33 “As I live,” says the Lord God, “surely with a mighty hand, awith an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you.  
34 I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out.
35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there aI will plead My case with you face to face.  
36 aJust as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you,” says the Lord God.  
37 “I will make you apass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the bcovenant;  
38 aI will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but bthey shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.  
39 “As for you, O house of Israel,” thus says the Lord God: a“Go, serve every one of you his idols—and hereafter—if you will not obey Me; bbut profane My holy name no more with your gifts and your idols.  
40 For aon My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel,” says the Lord God, “there ball the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me; there cI will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the firstfruits of your1 sacrifices, together with all your holy things.  
41 I will accept you as a asweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered; and I will be hallowed in you before the Gentiles.  
42 aThen you shall know that I am the Lord, bwhen I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I raised My hand in an oath to give to your fathers.  
43 And athere you shall remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled; and byou shall loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils that you have committed.  
44 aThen you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have dealt with you bfor My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel,” says the Lord God.’ ”  

Fire in the Forest

45 Furthermore the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
46 a“Son of man, set your face toward the south;1 preach against the south and prophesy against the forest land, the2 South,  
Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
<< Ezekiel 20:31   Ezekiel 20:33 >>


Ezekiel 20:32-44

God' s future dealings with His people:

(1) in judgment Ezekiel 20:32-38;

(2) in mercy Ezekiel 20:39-44.

Ezekiel 20:32

The inquirers had thought that if Jerusalem were taken, and the whole people became sojourners in a foreign land, they would cease to be a separate nation. In their love for idolatry some may have even desired this. But more probably they thought that this very consequence precluded the possibility of such a catastrophe. God answers that He will not allow them to become as the pagan, but this will only subject them to severer trial and stricter rule.

Ezekiel 20:33

The expressions "a mighty hand, stretched out arm" carry back the thoughts to Egyptian bondage Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 5:15; but then it was for deliverance, now for judgment "with fury poured out."

Ezekiel 20:35

The wilderness of the people - A time of probation will follow, as before in the wilderness of Sin, so in the "wilderness of the nations" among whom they will sojourn (not the Babylonians) "after" that captivity. This period of their probation is not over. The dispersion of the Jews did not cease with the return under Zerubbabel; but in our Saviour' s time they were living as a distinct people in all the principal places in the civilized world; and so they live now. God is yet pleading with them "face to face," calling them personally to embrace those offers which as a nation they disregarded.

Ezekiel 20:37

To pass under the rod - i. e., to be gathered into the flock Micah 7:14.

The bond - The shepherd collects the flock, and separates the sheep from the goats, which are rejected. Compare Romans 11:7-11.

Ezekiel 20:39

Strong irony. Some prefer another rendering: "Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, yet hereafter ye shall surely hearken unto me, and shall no more pollute My Holy Name etc." In this way, this verse is introductory to what follows.

Ezekiel 20:40

This points to the consummation indicated by the vision of the temple.

In the mountain of the height - Or, Upon a very high mountain Ezekiel 40:2. Compare Isaiah 2:2-3.

The house of Israel, all of them - All the separation between Israel and Judah shall cease. This points to times yet future, when in Messiah' s kingdom Jews and Gentiles alike shall be gathered into one kingdom - the kingdom of Christ. Jerusalem is the Church of Christ Galatians 4:26, into which the children of Israel shall at last be gathered, and so the prophecy shall be fulfilled Revelation 21:2.


 
<< Ezekiel 20:31   Ezekiel 20:33 >>

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