10 “Therefore I amade them go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.
11aAnd I gave them My statutes and1 showed them My judgments, b‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them.’
12 Moreover I also gave them My aSabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
13 Yet the house of Israel arebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they bdespised My judgments, c‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them’; and they greatly ddefiled My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them in the ewilderness, to consume them.
14aBut I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned before the Gentiles, in whose sight I had brought them out.
15 So aI also raised My hand in an oath to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them,b‘flowing with milk and honey,’ cthe glory of all lands,
16abecause they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but profaned My Sabbaths; for btheir heart went after their idols.
17aNevertheless My eye spared them from destruction. I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.
18 “But I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols.
19 I am the Lord your God: aWalk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them;
20ahallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’
21 “Notwithstanding, athe children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, and were not careful to observe My judgments, b‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them’; but they profaned My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them and fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness.
22 Nevertheless I withdrew My hand and acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the Gentiles, in whose sight I had brought them out.
23 Also I raised My hand in an oath to those in the wilderness, that aI would scatter them among the Gentiles and disperse them throughout the countries,
24abecause they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, profaned My Sabbaths, and btheir eyes were fixed on their fathers’ idols.
sabbaths, . . . a sign between me and them—a kind of sacramental pledge of the covenant of adoption between God and His people. The Sabbath is specified as a sample of the whole law, to show that the law is not merely precepts, but privileges, of which the Sabbath is one of the highest. Not that the Sabbath was first instituted at Sinai, as if it were an exclusively Jewish ordinance (Genesis 2:2-3), but it was then more formally enacted, when, owing to the apostasy of the world from the original revelation, one people was called out (Deuteronomy 5:15) to be the covenant-people of God.
sanctify them—The observance of the Sabbath contemplated by God was not a mere outward rest, but a spiritual dedication of the day to the glory of God and the good of man. Otherwise it would not be, as it is made, the pledge of universal sanctification (Exodus 31:13-17; Isaiah 58:13-14). Virtually it is said, all sanctity will flourish or decay, according as this ordinance is observed in its full spirituality or not.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Ezekiel 20:12:
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