Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
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Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
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The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,
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And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 14:12 The word of the LORD came again…
Eze 14:12 The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,
Ver. 12. The word of the Lord came again to me.] The utter destruction of this perverse people is once again denounced and declared to be inevitable.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain The scope of these verses is to show,
The scope of these verses is to show,
I. That national sins bring national judgments. When virtue is ruined and laid waste every thing else will soon be ruined and laid waste too (Eze 14:13): When the land sins against me, when vice and wickedness become epidemical, when the land sins by trespassing grievously, when the sinners have become very numerous and their sins very heinous, when gross impieties and immoralities universally prevail, then will I stretch forth my hand upon it, for the punishment of it. The divine power shall be vigorously and openly exerted; the judgments shall be extended and stretched forth to all the corners of the land, to all the concerns and interests of the nation. Grievous sins bring grievous plagues.
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II. That God has a variety of sore judgments wherewith to punish sinful nations, and he has them all at command and inflicts which he pleases. He did indeed give David his choice what judgment he would be punished with for his sin in numbering the people; for any of them would serve to answer the end, which was to lessen the numbers he was proud of; but David, in effect, referred it to God again: "Let us fall into the hands of the Lord; let him choose with what rod we shall be beaten." But he uses a variety of judgments that it may appear he has a universal dominion, and that in all our concerns we may see our dependence on him. Four sore judgments are here specified: - 1. Famine, Eze 14:13. The denying and withholding of common mercies is itself judgment enough, there needs no more to make a people miserable. God needs not bring the staff of oppression, it is but breaking the staff of bread and the work is soon done; he cuts off man and beast by cutting off the provisions which nature makes for both in the annual products of the earth. God breaks the staff of bread when, though we have bread, yet we are not nourished and strengthened by it. Hag 1:6, You eat, but you have not enough. 2. Hurtful beasts, noisome and noxious, either as poisonous or as ravenous. God can make these to pass through the land (Eze 14:15), to increase in all parts of it, and to bereave it, not only of the tame cattle, preying upon their flocks and herds, but of their people, devouring men, women, and children, so that no man may pass through because of the beasts; none dare travel even in the high roads for fear of being pulled in pieces by lions, or other beasts of prey, as the children of Beth-el by two bears. Note, When men revolt from their allegiance to God, and rebel against him, it is just with God that the inferior creatures should rise up in arms against men, Lev 26:22. 3. War. God often chastises sinful nations by bringing a sword upon them, the sword of a foreign enemy, and he gives it its commission and orders what execution it shall do (Eze 14:17): he says, Sword, go through the land. It is bad enough if the sword do but enter into the borders of a land, but much worse when it goes through the bowels of a land. By it God cuts off man and beast, horse and foot. What execution the sword does God does by it; for it is his sword, and it acts as he directs. 4. Pestilence (Eze 14:19), a dreadful disease, which has sometimes depopulated cities; by it God pours out his fury in blood (that is, in death); the pestilence kills as effectually as if the blood were shed by the sword, for it is poisoned by the disease, the sickness we call it. See how miserable the case of mankind is that lies thus exposed to deaths in various shapes. See how dangerous the case of sinners is against whom God has so many ways of fighting, so that, though they escape one judgment, God has another waiting for them.
III. That when God's professing people revolt from him, and rebel against him, they may justly expect a complication of judgments to fall upon them. God has various ways of contending with a sinful nation; but if Jerusalem, the holy city, become a harlot, God will send upon her all his four sore judgments (Eze 14:21); for the nearer any are to God in name and profession the more severely will he reckon with them if they reproach that worthy name by which they are called and give the lie to that profession. They shall be punished seven times more.
IV. That there may be, and commonly are, some few very good men, even in those places that by sin are ripened for ruin. It is no foreign supposition that, even in a land that has trespassed grievously, there may be three such men as Noah, Daniel, and Job. Daniel was now living, and at this time had scarcely arrived at the prime of his eminency, but he was already famous (at least this word of God concerning him would without fail make him so); yet he was carried away into captivity with the first of all, Dan 1:6. Some of the better sort of people in Jerusalem might perhaps think that, if Daniel (of whose fame in the king of Babylon's court they had heard much) had but continued in Jerusalem, it would have been spared for his sake, as the magicians in Babylon were. "No," says God, "though you had him, who was as eminently good in bad times and places as Noah in the old world and Job in the land of Uz, yet a reprieve should not be obtained." In the places that are most corrupt, and in the ages that are most degenerate, there is a remnant which God reserves to himself, and which still hold fast their integrity and stand fair for the honour of delivering the land, as the innocent are said to do, Job 22:30.
V. That God often spares very wicked places for the sake of a few godly people in them. This is implied here as the expectation of Jerusalem's friends in the day of its distress: "Surely God will stay his controversy with us; for are there not some among us that are emptying the measure of national guilt by their prayers, as others are filling it by their sins? And, rather than God will destroy the righteous with the wicked, he will preserve the wicked with the righteous. If Sodom might have been spared for the sake of ten good men, surely Jerusalem may."
VI. That such men as Noah, Daniel, and Job, will prevail, if any can, to turn away the wrath of God from a sinful people. Noah was a perfect man, and kept his integrity when all flesh had corrupted their way; and, for his sake, his family, though one of them was wicked (Ham), was saved in the ark. Job was a great example of piety, and mighty in prayer for his children, for his friends; and God turned his captivity when he prayed. Those were very ancient examples, before Moses, that great intercessor; and therefore God mentions them, to intimate that he had some very peculiar favourites long before the Jewish nation was formed or founded, and would have such when it was ruined, for which reason, it should seem, those names were made use of, rather than Moses, Aaron, or Samuel; and yet, lest any should think that God was partial in his respects to the ancient days, here is a modern instance, a living one, placed between those two that were the glories of antiquity, and he now a captive, and that is Daniel, to teach us not to lessen the useful good men of our own day by over-magnifying the ancients. Let the children of the captivity know that Daniel, their neighbour, and companion in tribulation, being a man of great humility, piety, and zeal for God, and instant and constant in prayer, had as good an interest in heaven as Noah or Job had. Why may not God raise up as great and good men now as he did formerly, and do as much for them?
VII. That when the sin of a people has come to its height, and the decree has gone forth for their ruin, the piety and prayers of the best men shall not prevail to finish the controversy. This is here asserted again and again, that, though these three men were in Jerusalem at this time, yet they should deliver neither son nor daughter; not so much as the little ones should be spared for their sakes, as the little ones of Israel were upon the prayer of Moses, Num 14:31. No; the land shall be desolate, and God would not hear their prayers for it, though Moses and Samuel stood before him, Jer 15:1. Note, Abused patience will turn at last into inexorable wrath; and it should seem as if God would be more inexorable in Jerusalem's case than in another (Eze 14:6), because, besides the divine patience, they had enjoyed greater privileges than any other people, which were the aggravations of their sin.
VIII. That, though pious praying men may not prevail to deliver others, yet they shall deliver their own souls by their righteousness, so that, though they may suffer in the common calamity, yet to them the property of it is altered; it is not to them what it is to the wicked; it is unstrung, and does them no hurt; it is sanctified, and does them good. Sometimes their souls (their lives) are remarkably delivered, and given them for a prey; at least their souls (their spiritual interests) are secured. If their bodies be not delivered, yet their souls are. Riches indeed profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death, from so great a death, so many deaths as are here threatened. This should encourage us to keep our integrity in times of common apostasy, that, if we do so, we shall be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger.
IX. That, even when God makes the greatest desolations by his judgments, he reserves some to be the monuments of his mercy, Eze 14:22, Eze 14:23. In Jerusalem itself, though marked for utter ruin, yet there shall be left a remnant, who shall not be cut off by any of those sore judgments before mentioned, but shall be carried into captivity, both sons and daughters, who shall be the seed of a new generation. The young ones, who had not grown up to such an obstinacy in sin as their fathers had who were therefore cut off as incurable, these shall be brought forth out of the ruins of Jerusalem by the victorious enemy, and behold they shall come forth to you that are in captivity, they shall make a virtue of a necessity, and shall come the more willingly to Babylon because so many of their friends have gone thither before them and are there ready to receive them; and, when they come, you shall see their ways and their doing; you shall hear them make a free and ingenuous confession of the sins they had formerly been guilty of, and a humble profession of repentance for them, with promises of reformation; and you shall see instances of their reformation, shall see what good their affliction has done them, and how prudently and patiently they conduct themselves under it. Their narrow escape shall have a good effect upon them; it shall change their temper and conversation, and make them new men. And this will redound, 1. To the satisfaction of their brethren: They shall comfort you when you see their ways. Note, It is a very comfortable sight to see people, when they are under the rod, repenting and humbling themselves, justifying God and accepting the punishment of their iniquity. When we sorrow (as we ought to do) for the afflictions of others, it is a great comfort to us in our sorrow to see them improving their afflictions and making a good use of them. When those captives told their friends how bad they had been, and how righteous God was in bringing these judgments upon them, it made them very easy, and helped to reconcile them to the calamities of Jerusalem, to the justice of God in punishing his own people so, and to the goodness of God, which now appeared to have had kind intentions in all; and thus "You shall be comforted concerning all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and, when you better understand the thing, shall not have such direful apprehensions concerning it as you have had." Note, It is a debt we owe to our brethren, if we have got good by our afflictions, to comfort them by letting them know it. 2. It will redound to the honour of God: "You shall know that I have not done without cause, not without a just provocation, and yet not without a gracious design, all that I have done in it." Note, When afflictions have done their work, and have accomplished that for which they were sent, then will appear the wisdom and goodness of God in sending them, and God will be not only justified, but glorified in them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The word of the Lord came again unto saying.…
The word of the Lord came again unto saying. At the same time as before, continuing the prophecy, and a denunciation of judgments; for it does not seem to begin a new prophecy. The Targum renders it, the word of prophecy from the Lord.
The word of the Lord came again unto saying. At the same time as before, continuing the prophecy, and a denunciation of judgments; for it does not seem to begin a new prophecy. The Targum renders it, the word of prophecy from the Lord.
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Ezekiel 14:13
eze 14:13
eze 14:13
eze 14:13Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously,.... That is, the inhabitants of the land, when they are in general become sinners against God and his law; and not merely sinners, as all men are, but grievous ones, notorious sinners, guilty of very gross enormities, of great prevarication, perfidy, and treachery; for God is a God longsuffering, and has great patience with a people; and does not usually come forth in his judgments against nation, until sin has universally prevailed among them, and they are guilty of grievous abominations, and those continued in: but when this is the case,
then will I stretch out mine hand upon it; his hand of vindictive wrath and justice, and cause it to fall heavily, and men to feel it:
and will break the staff of the bread thereof; take away bread corn from the nation, the support of human life; which is that unto it, and the stay of it, as a staff is to a decrepit old man, that cannot walk without one; or take away the virtue of it, so as though it might be had and eaten, yet not be nourishing; see Eze 4:16;
and will send famine upon it; by causing a drought, restraining rain, sending mildew, locusts, caterpillars, &c. to eat up the fruits of the earth:
and will cut off man and beast from it; the latter for the sake of the former, and both through want of food.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Jer. 14; 15 is a remarkable parallel to this…
Jer. 14; 15 is a remarkable parallel to this prophecy. Here, as elsewhere, Ezekiel is commissioned to deliver to the exiles the same message which Jeremiah conveys to the inhabitants of Judaea. The answer discovers the nature of the questions which had been expressed or implied.
(1) Can God cast out a people who are holy unto Himself?
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(2) Is it just to punish them with utter desolation?
The prophet answers:
(1) That when a people is so corrupt as to call down national judgment, individual piety shall save none but the individuals themselves.
(2) The corrupt condition of the people shall be made so manifest, that none will question the justice of God in dealing thus severely with them.
Eze 14:12
Or, “When a land” - the case is first put in a general form, and then ism brought with increased force home to Jerusalem - “sinneth against me by trespassing grievously,” and I stretch out “mine hand upon it,” and break the staff of bread “thereof,” and send famine “upon it and” cut off “man and beast: though these three men” etc.
Eze 14:14
Noah, Daniel, and Job - Three striking instances of men who, for their integrity, were delivered from the ruin which fell upon others. Some have thought it strange that Daniel, a contemporary, and still young, should have been classed with the two ancient worthies. But the account of him Dan. 2 shows, that by this time Daniel was a very remarkable man (compare Eze 28:3), and the introduction of the name of a contemporary gives force and life to the illustration. There is in the order in which the names occur a kind of climax. Noah did not rescue the guilty world, but did carry forth with him his wife, sons, and sons’ wives. Daniel raised only a few, but he did raise three of his countrymen with him to honor. To Job was spared neither son nor daughter.
Eze 14:22, Eze 14:23
Ye shall be comforted ... - By a truer estimate of the dispensations of the Almighty. This visitation will be recognized as inevitable and just.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The second part of the chapter: the effect which…
The second part of the chapter: the effect which the presence of a few righteous persons was to have on the purposes of God (compare Gen 18:24-32). God had told Jeremiah that the guilt of Judah was too great to be pardoned even for the intercession of Moses and Samuel (Psa 99:6; Jer 14:2; Jer 15:1), which had prevailed formerly (Exo 32:11-14; Num 14:13-20; Sa1 7:8-12), implying the extraordinary heinousness of their guilt, since in ordinary cases "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man (for others) availeth much" (Jam 5:16). Ezekiel supplements Jeremiah by adding that not only those two once successful intercessors, but not even the three pre-eminently righteous men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, could stay God's judgments by their righteousness.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12–23. The presence of righteous men among a sinful…
12–23. The presence of righteous men among a sinful people will not save the sinners
The passage may be in answer to thoughts which the prophet felt might rise in the minds of those to whom he spoke. He threatened destruction to people and prophets alike, a destruction indiscriminate and universal. Were not these threats exaggeration? Were they in harmony with God’s former ways of dealing with his people? Would he slay the righteous with the wicked? would he not rather spare the wicked on the intercession of the righteous and for their sake, as often in former times? (Gen_18:23; Num_14:15). To this the prophet replies after Jeremiah 15 that righteous men among the people shall not avert God’s judgment, they shall only save their own souls.
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(1) Eze_14:12-20. A supposition is put that God brings any one of his four great judgments, famine, evil beasts, sword or pestilence, upon a land to destroy it. Though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in that land, they should by their righteousness save neither sons nor daughters, only their own souls.
(2) Eze_14:21-23. Application to Jerusalem. Much less shall the righteous save the wicked when the Lord shall bring all his four sore judgments together upon Jerusalem. And if a remnant be spared and carried into all lands, this apparent exception will only confirm and impress the principle by shewing to all how inevitable the utter destruction of Jerusalem was on account of its wickedness, and that God in his righteousness could deal in no other way with it. And thus the exiles when they see the way and doings of those that escape from Jerusalem will be comforted for its fall, and their minds will be lifted up into a higher sympathy with God in his acts of righteousness.
On the prophet’s own sympathy, cf. ch. Eze_3:14.
Eze_14:12-14. Famine.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 12-14. A new section begins, implying as before…
Vers. 12-14. A new section begins, implying as before an interval of silence. What follows presents a striking parallelism to Jer_15:1, Jer_15:2. There also we have the "four sore judgments," the declaration that not even the presence of Moses and Samuel would avail to save the people. They were obviously selected by Jeremiah as examples of the power of intercession. (Exo_32:11, Exo_32:12; 1Sa_7:9 1Sa_12:23) Ezekiel"s selection of names proceeds on a different footing. He chooses exceptional instances of saintliness that had been powerless to save the generation in which they lived; perhaps, also, such as were well known, not only in the records of Israel, but among other nations. Noah had not saved the evil race before the Flood; Job had not saved his sons; (Job_1:18) Daniel, though high in the king"s favour, had not been able to influence Nebuchadnezzar to spare the people of Judah and Jerusalem. The mention of this last name is significant, as showing the reputation which even then Daniel had acquired. There is no shadow of evidence for the view of some commentators that an older Daniel is referred to. Had there been such a person, eminent enough to be grouped with Noah and Job, there would surely have been some mention of him in the Old Testament. In ver. 13, for the land, read a land." For staff of bread, see Eze_4:16. The phrase comes from Lev_26:26.
Vers. 12-23. Human atonement valueless.
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The hopeful among the Jews probably remembered that in times of former correction God had yielded, in some measure, to the intercessions of the saints. If they had not gained all that they asked, they had gained some advantage. Why might that not occur again? Might not God concede some of his demand? This was impossible, for the first necessity was that righteous government be maintained. No good can ever come to men by tampering with righteousness.
I SIN AGAINST GOD IS AN IMMEASURABLE EVIL. It is a common thing for men to affect surprise at the severity of God"s chastisement. Yet this is only an outcome of their ignorance. They have no conception of the tremendous evil of sin. Its magnitude defies all human measurement. We cannot follow it into all its ramifications of mischief. We see the beginning of the vicious stream; the ending is beyond our sight. It is an injury to the moral universe, and we cannot estimate it. Had Eve foreseen all the painful results of taking the forbidden fruit, surely she would have resisted the tempter.
II FLAGRANT SIN DEMANDS EVERY SORT OF PENALTY. It is not always possible for men to discriminate between great sins and small; yet even men can discover when sin becomes rapidly contagious, and when it is largely influential for evil When a man, by a plausible embellishment of vice, entraps ten thousand others into the snare, and makes his vice fashionable, popular, universal, his sin is heinous. As for a disease that has become epidemic the severest remedies are employed, so when a sin becomes national, terrible chastisement is demanded. To vindicate his righteous law, God sometimes employs the scourge of pestilence; sometimes famine; sometimes war; sometimes a plague of locusts. But when iniquity breaks out with virulence, or becomes aggravated and stubborn, he will combine all his methods of chastisement, in order to cleanse the land. Always his punishments are well apportioned, never excessive. The balance is in the hand of Infinite Wisdom.
III MEN ARE INFLUENTIAL FOR GOOD ACCORDING TO THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS. The messenger of Jehovah singles out for mention three men who were eminent for piety and faith. His language implies that if any men could prevail with God to abate his penalties, these were the men. It was useless for him to make mention of men of inferior piety. Any righteous man would not suffice. To have any hope of success, he must be a man of transcendent purity. This conviction was universal in the minds of the people. It was founded on reason, on experience, on the records of past history. Had not Moses gained a respite for the nation by his righteous intercession? Had not Samuel averted the stroke of Divine anger from Israel? Had not Noah"s righteousness secured the safety of seven persons beside himself? Why should it not be so again? Daniel was living among them a man eminent for loyalty to Jehovah. Were not Jeremiah and Ezekiel interceding for the people? If anything could save the nation from utter destruction, surely it was the righteous zeal of these godly men!
IV YET HUMAN RIGHTEOUSNESS IS INCOMPETENT TO ABATE A SINGLE PENALTY FROM OTHERS. A man"s personal righteousness will always serve as a screen for himself, never as a shield for others. Far be it from God to destroy the righteous with the wicked! This would he to obliterate eternal distinctions. This would be for God to act against himself The righteous are safe when dangers are thickest. They have an invulnerable panoply. And the prayers of the righteous have often gained temporary advantages for the unrighteous. Such intercession has obtained a brief respite for repentance has obtained a postponement of the catastrophe. Yet as a righteous man, however zealous, has no power to transform the moral nature of another man, he cannot deliver him when God appeareth for judgment. Eternal justice is the main pillar of the universe, and, if justice fails, the universe wilt be shivered.
V MUCH LESS CAN HUMAN RIGHTEOUSNESS AVERT FROM MEN ALL DIVINE PENALTIES. This is an argument ad hominem. If the righteousness of the best men that ever lived cannot quench one fiery dart of God"s vengeance, much less can it quench all the darts in God"s quiver. There was a propriety in every particular form of chastisement which God employed; it would therefore be unbecoming every attribute of his nature to suspend that chastisement, while the causal sin yet remained. Men little surmise the terrible necessity there is for retribution, because they do not perceive the magnitude of sin. It is a fearful thing to provoke the anger of the living God.
VI GOD WILL ULTIMATELY MAKE HIS WISDOM AND RIGHTEOUSNESS CLEAR TO MEN. It is possible that the elders of Israel did not immediately acquiesce in the first necessity for this severe course. They did not know the full extent of Israel"s sin. Ignorance is often the root of discord. But God would spare a few most probably the best of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. These should in due time be conveyed to Tel-Abib, and join the older members of the Captivity. But so base and intolerable will the characters of this remnant appear, that the elders themselves will confess that God"s judgments were not a whit too severe that a less chastisement would be inadequate. This act of God exhibitsthe graciousness of his character. He deigns to explain and to justify his ways unto his trustful children. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." He takes them into his fullest confidence. D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were…
Eze_14:12-14
Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls.
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The limit of influence
The solemnity of this assurance is increased by the fact that it forms quite an exception to the general tenor of the Divine government. Again and again God has saved the earth because of the righteous men who were in it: He would have spared the cities of the plain if Abraham could have found ten praying souls in the whole of their corrupt population; He blessed the house of Potiphar for Josephs sake; He allowed the intercession of Moses to shield Israel from judgment well deserved; for Pauls sake He, saved the ship in the storm. In the text we come upon a sharp variation of the general method: no longer is Noah or Daniel or Job to count for more than one; the day of prevailing intercession is to close; character is to be individualised, and the diffusion of collateral benefit is to pass away forever. Terrible as it may seem on first reading, yet there is quite a deep well of comfort in all this wilderness of desolation. It will be observed that though the darkness brought down upon the earth by sin is very great, yet through all the gloom the figures of Noah, Daniel, and Job are seen in all their vividness and pathetic suggestiveness, showing that the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and that their memory is precious to Him. It is clear, however, that the text is meant to be a warning rather than a comfort, and it is in this spirit that we must approach its interpretation. It is a warning to individual men. They cannot tell how soon they will be called upon to cease their intercessory ministry. Specially, however, is this a warning to households. How terrible is this tragedy, that a man should no longer be the priest of his own family! The son shall be separated from the father, and the daughter from the mother, and shall realise in an awful individualism of position how true it is that every soul must give an account of itself to God. The Lord will not spare the children when they have gone astray, having broken every holy vow and shattered every commandment issued from heaven. I will also send wild beasts among you, etc. This is a threatening which may operate in either of two ways; either because the children have forfeited Divine confidence, or because the parents have abandoned the right way, and can only be brought home again by processes of affliction and desolation. This is a warning also to nations. The nation is saved because of the living Church that is within it. Prophets must not cease to pray for the land in which they live. Amid political tumult and uproar the voice of their prayer may seem to be but a feeble sound, yet they are called upon by the very genius of their faith to keep the way clear between heaven and earth for large and profitable intercourse. Into the mystery of intercession we cannot enter, but we find that it is at the very heart of things, a rule and a law, a judgment and a blessing, an opportunity large in its possibilities, but always hastening to a solemn conclusion. The great principle of mediation is, of course, most vividly and gloriously represented by the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ; but even in His case the priesthood is to cease, the long and loving prayer for others is to come to a perpetual close: Then cometh the end, etc. We live in a great intercessory period; the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered; we need not fear because our prayer halts and stumbles as to the mere eloquence of its expression; the eloquence of prayer is in its sincerity; to the man who is of a broken and a contrite heart will God look, and on him will He set signs of approval. A wondrous gift is it to have the gift of intercession, the power of putting into heavenly words the wants of other men, and the power of pleading with God on behalf of those who never plead for themselves. Some suppliants can but pray for themselves; others can only pray concerning great events and great subjects; others, more Christ-like, seem to carry the world in their hearts, and to plead for continents and empires in great intercessions. Let us get a clear view of the system of spiritual government under which we live. We are to conclude all our prayers, and indeed begin them and continue them, with the sentiment, For Christs sake. We cannot understand the mystery of this ground, and yet we feel how solid it is, and how impossible it would be for us to pray without it. It is in Christ that we find God. It is through Christ that we find access to the throne of the heavenly grace. We do not plead Christ as if we were pleading with an arbitrary deity, who would not do anything for us ourselves, but would only do it through the mediation of His Son, or because of His partiality for one whom He calls His Only-Begotten. Though our prayers are to be heard for Christs sake, yet Christ Himself was given for our sake! Herein is love, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us! God sent His Son to seek and to save that which was lost. (J. Parker, D. D.)
A delusion dispelled
I. The righteousness of the most godly cannot avail for the ungodly.
1. We prove this, first, by referring you to our text, and asking you to read it for yourselves. Mark ye how the anger of the Lord kindles, and how the words are launched forth like hot thunderbolts from the lips of the Most High.
2. Next, I ask you to inspect more narrowly the portraits of these men of God, who are presumed to have stood counsel for the defendants, and to have occasioned so much astonishment, because with all their special pleadings they signally lost their case. The Lord declares that if the whole three were put together they should not save son or daughter.
3. This truth may be further substantiated by observing the course of Providence as regards the things of this life. Could the merits of friends and parents secure the salvation of their relatives or children, we must expect to see the son or the daughter of a righteous man screened from the full punishment of his own misdeeds; but we have evidence that such is not the case.
4. Painful though it be, I must carry the assertion a stage further. The righteousness of good men has not availed to save their relatives from the terrors of the world to come. Cain, where are you tonight? Are you sitting here; and do you dream that your brother Abel now with God can by any means bless you? That must not be. Dispel the delusion.
II. The prayers of the greatest intercessors cannot avail if men persist in their unbelief.
1. Remember that all the prayers of godly men cannot alter the nature of sin, and if they cannot alter the nature of sin, then they that continue in it must perish.
2. Moreover, the prayers of good men cannot alter the conditions of the eternal future, so long as the present abides the same. There is no law more immutable than that to be good is to be happy, and to be bad is sooner or later to be wretched. It must be so. Trust not, therefore, to the prayers of others, but come to Christ for yourselves, that you may be cleansed from sin and made meet for heaven.
3. Perhaps you say, Sir, I did not think prayer would suffice to effect a change in my circumstances without a corresponding change in myself; but I thought that somehow by prayer I should be compelled to believe and to repent. Compelled to believe and to repent? Well, man, what sort of repentance and faith must that be which comes of compulsion? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Good men: their power and their weakness
I. God recognises the existence of good men. Many ages had passed away since two of the men mentioned here, Noah and Job, had left the world. Yet they were not forgotten by God. Their histories were fresh to Him. Good men are ever before the mind of God. They are had in everlasting remembrance.
2. God appreciates the services of good men. The language implies that Noah, Daniel, and Job could do much for the world. God hath been pleased to endow men with power for great achievements, and when this power is rightly used He grants the smile of His approval.
III. God limits the influence of good men. These men could do much, had done much; but there was much they could not do. When righteous retribution overtakes us, the services of the best men that ever lived will be of no avail.
IV. God secures the salvation of good men. Their righteousness ensures their salvation. A righteous man--a man right in his relation towards God, standing fully acquitted before his Maker, and right in the principles and purposes of his own soul, is safe everywhere--safe amidst the most terrible judgments of heaven. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Noah, Daniel, and Job
If we look at the history of the three holy men mentioned in the text we shall find that they did save their souls or their lives by their righteousness. And it is manifestly in accordance with our own deepest sense of right and justice that this should be so; the notion that good deeds will bring a reward, and that evil deeds will bring punishment, is too deep to be rooted out. You perceive how thoroughly it was assumed as a principle by Abraham (Gen_18:25), as it must be by anyone who has a sense of the goodness of God, and who believes that the feelings of right and justice which he finds in his own soul are but the reflexion of Gods image there,--assumed as a principle, I say, that God would make a difference between the evil and the good, and would allow a righteous man to live by his righteousness. Precisely the same kind of doctrine may be found in the New Testament. For let us turn to that solemn description which our blessed Lord has Himself left to us of the final judgment; I mean the description which is contained in St. Mat_25:1-46. Who shall say, with this description of the judgment before him, that the last judgment will not be a judgment according to works, that righteousness will not save souls alive? The description is only a sketch, it is not intended to be complete; but this feature is there, you cannot get rid of it, it is that which gives to the whole judgment its tone and its complexion. And why should we desire to get rid of it, when the principle upon which it is based is so thoroughly in accordance with all our sense of right, and in accordance too with those other words of Christ in which He declares that those who have done good shall rise to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation? And why also, with such words of our Lord before us, should we hesitate to give to the words of St. James their full and undiminished force when He says, Ye see, then, how by works a man is justified and not by faith only? (Bishop Harvey Goodwin.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain JUDAH AND JERUSALEM CANNOT CLAIM EXEMPTION FROM JUDGMENTS BECAUSE…
JUDAH AND JERUSALEM CANNOT CLAIM EXEMPTION FROM JUDGMENTS BECAUSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS FEW THEREIN (Eze_14:12-23)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Eze_14:12-13. “When the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously.” Their sin is more particularly defined as “trespass,” the literal expression being “to trespass a trespass,” i.e. to commit a very great trespass. The first signification of the Hebrew word is “to cover,” and therefore it is used to denote acting in any secret or treacherous manner, especially towards Jehovah, either by outward or inward idolatry or by withholding what is due to Him. Here the treachery specially pointed out is that of apostasy from God by idolatry.
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Eze_14:14. “Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it. These men are named as well-known examples of true righteousness of life. They were just in their generation living that life of obedience which springs from faith in God. Noah is so described in Gen_6:9; and Job, in the Book of Job_1:1; and Daniel, in like manner, is classed with these ancient men as one who confessed a true faith by a righteous life. “The fact that Daniel is named before Job does not warrant the conjecture that some other older Daniel is meant, of whom nothing is said in the history, and whose existence is merely postulated. For the enumeration is not intended to be chronological, but is arranged according to the subject-matter; the order being determined by the nature of the deliverance experienced by these men for their righteousness in the midst of great judgments. Hävernick shows we have a climax here: Noah saved his family along with himself; Daniel was able to save his friends (Dan_2:17-18); but Job, with his righteousness, was not even able to save his children” (Keil).
Eze_14:15. “If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land.” “Beasts” in the usual sense, or in human form (Eze_14:17.)” (Hengstenberg), comp. Eze_5:17; Lev_26:22; 2Ki_17:25.
Eze_14:16. “They shall deliver neither sons nor daughters.” “In the first instance, it is simply stated that Noah, Daniel, and Job would save their soul, i.e. their life, by their righteousness; whereas, in the three others, it is declared that as truly as the Lord liveth they would not save either sons or daughters, but they alone would be delivered. The difference is not merely a rhetorical climax or progress in the address by means of asseveration and antithesis, but indicates a distinction in the thought. The first case is only intended to teach that in the approaching judgment the righteous would save their lives, i.e. that God would not sweep away the righteous with the ungodly. The three cases which follow are intended, on the other hand, to exemplify the truth that the righteousness of the righteous will be of no avail to the idolaters and apostates; since even such patterns of righteousness as Noah, Daniel, and Job would only be able to save their own lives, and would not be able to save the lives of others also. This tallies with the omission of the asseveration in Eze_14:14. The first declaration, that God would deliver the righteous in the coming judgments, needed no asseveration, inasmuch as this truth was not called in question; but it was required in the case of the declaration that the righteousness of the righteous would bring no deliverance to the sinful nation, since this was the hope which the ungodly cherished, and it was this hope which was to be taken from them” (Keil).
Eze_14:17-20. Two more great judgments are threatened. “The four visitations of God, each introduced with an if, should actually come, as had been repeatedly predicted, unitedly upon the degenerate covenant people, upon the desecrated land of the Lord. The transition from the merely hypothetical to the actual follows in Eze_14:21. The for at the beginning points to the ground of the discussion instituted, shows that it is no mere idle common place” (Heng.)
Eze_14:21. “How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem.” “How much more must the general standard of the Divine judgments manifest itself before all in the servant, who knows his master’s will, and yet does what is worthy of stripes! ‘You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities,’ says Amos” (Heng.) “The sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence.” “The number four may possibly symbolise the completeness of the judgment, as one on all sides. Formerly famine was first; here it is the sword, because the calamity of war lay immediately before them. In consequence of it the other three judgments came one after another. War brings famine into the cities; corpses outside, which attract the beasts; and from all these follows the pestilence” (Lange).
Eze_14:22. “Therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth.” “A remnant,” i.e., persons who have escaped destruction. These shall be brought forth, i.e., led out of Jerusalem “unto you.” They shall join those who are already in exile in Babylon. “Sons and daughters.” “These are called sons and daughters, with an allusion to Eze_14:16; Eze_14:18; Eze_14:20; and consequently we must not take these words as referring to the younger generation in contrast to the older” (Keil). “Ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem.” They shall be comforted in seeing the justification of the ways of God.
Eze_14:23. “Their ways and their doings.” “Not those ways by which they had provoked the Lord to punish the nation, but the fruits of righteousness—the good works to the practice of which they had been recovered by the severe discipline through the course of which they had been brought. While they justified God in all the calamities which He had inflicted upon them, their being spared was a proof of His great mercy, and a pledge that, if their brethren in the captivity followed their example by renouncing idolatry, they also should be dealt with in mercy” (Hend.)
HOMILETICS
THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD UPON NATIONS
I. They usually take the shape of great public calamities.
1. The sources of the national wealth are undermined. “I will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it” (Eze_14:13). Bread, the chief food of man, may well be called “the staff of life.” It is the prop which supports man’s physical nature, and when it is taken away he sinks exhausted to the ground. Famine is one of God’s sore judgments, for it seizes upon what is man’s greatest treasure, his life. Man and beast fail; the means of useful labour and food are cut off. The very foundations of life are destroyed.
2. The invasion of enemies. “If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land” (Eze_14:15). Man was invested with dominion over the beasts of the earth. By virtue of the power of his mind, and not merely by physical force, he retains his sovereignty over them. And God’s providence wonderfully preserves the balance of power between man and the lower animals. He sets a watch over all His creatures, so that they shall not pass His commandment, but fulfil His purpose in placing man head over all here below. But sin interferes with man’s complete dominion; and it is, after all, but a broken sceptre that he holds in his hand. God, for purposes of judgment, allows beasts to overcome man. Another enemy to nations is the sword. God says, “Sword, go through the land” (Eze_14:17). War is one of the scourges which God uses to punish wicked nations. All the evils mentioned in this section—devouring beasts, pestilence, and famine—follow in its track.
3. Pestilence. “Or. if I send a pestilence into that land” (Eze_14:19). In famine and other calamities men of wealth may be able to keep the enemy for a long while at bay, or even to hold out to the end. But they have no defence against pestilence. Then does the Angel of Death walk through the land with impartial step, sparing no age or condition.
II. Though they may be traced to natural causes they are still the work of God. War, pestilence, and famine, are due to the operation of natural laws. But it is also true that God sends them; for He is behind all nature, and behind all human history, whether in justice or in the mysterious march of its events. The calamities that fall upon nations have deep moral causes, and ultimately resolve themselves into the righteous will of God in His manifest indignation against human sin.
1. Nations, as such, are under moral law. This law expresses the will of God in regard to human conduct.
2. The transgression of those laws involves penalty. History has many sad examples which show how the moral corruption of a nation may become so great as to bring about its destruction. Nations can only be judged in this life, for as such they do not exist in another world. When a land sins against God by “trespassing grievously,” the calamities which are visited upon it are seen to come from God by all who believe that there is a moral Governor of the world.
III. They cannot always be averted by pleading the righteousness of the few therein. Abraham’s intercession for Sodom establishes that principle of God’s government by which whole nations are spared great judgments for the sake of the few righteous among them. The faithful few among many faithless are as the salt which preserves the whole community from corruption. We are exhorted and encouraged to pray for others, and even to be so bold as to ask that the hand of justice might be stayed when it is lifted against the ungodly. But there are limits to intercession. Even the prayers of Abraham could not save the devoted cities of the plain. In like manner the iniquity of Jerusalem had grown so great that the prayers and godly influence of men of such famous righteousness as Noah, Daniel, and Job, could not save it from the threatened doom. The Jews placed great reliance upon the intercession of the saints, and counted upon it as a refuge from judgment. They are now told that this is a vain hope, that God’s righteous law must take its course, and that the most holy men can but save themselves (Eze_14:14; Eze_14:16; Eze_14:18; Eze_14:20).
IV. The righteousness of God therein will appear unto His people. “And ye shall be comforted” (Eze_14:22). This comfort would arise from clearly seeing the justification of God’s ways (Eze_14:23). There was a sufficient cause for all the evil which was coming upon Jerusalem, and faithful souls should see how that the ways of the Lord were just. However severe God’s judgments may be in His dealings with mankind, it is a comfort when we know and believe that they are righteous. What a lesson for Christian nations! They are governed by the same great moral principles, but with added light their responsibilities are greater.
(Eze_14:14.)
From this passage we may infer two things—
I. That there are seasons when even the intercession of the most eminent will not avail. There are seasons in which it is unalterably determined to inflict punishment.
II. That these are so rare and so extraordinary that to declare He will not turn away for intercession is the strongest token of His fierce indignation.
(1.) If God delights to hear prayer it is most reasonable to believe He will favourably regard intercessory prayer; for then the supplicant is exercising two most important virtues at once, piety and benevolence. He is then employed in fulfilling the whole law, and makes the nearest approach to the divine nature.
(2.) Examples of its success—Abraham, Moses, and Job.—R. Hall.
“NOAH, DANIEL, AND JOB.”
Some make great inquiry why these three men should be mentioned rather than others, and they give in their answer:—
1. It is thought that they are named, for that they could not divert God’s wrath by their holiness and prayers from the people of their times. Noah could not keep off the flood, nor Job the sad things which befel him and his, nor Daniel the captivity.
2. Others think they are named because they freed others in imminent danger in their times. Noah saved his family from the flood; Job prayed for his friends, and they were spared; Daniel preserved the magicians and wise men. But rather they are named, because they were men of great holiness, exercised with great trials, and so the more fervent in prayer. And what if these men, who were so acceptable to me, had so much interest in me and often prevailed with me, should pray for you, yet they should do nothing for your deliverance by their prayers. These were men in great afflictions, and affliction is the whetstone of prayer, the bellows to blow up that fire.—Greenhill.
(Eze_14:22-23.)
1. When God’s judgments are sorest, yet then He shows mercy to some.
2. The Lord will satisfy and comfort the hearts of His people against the evil and scandal that comes by any of His judgments. When Jerusalem was destroyed, the Jews rooted out and carried to Babylon, what joy was there in the nations! what reproachings of the Jews! Where is now their God? At these things the Jews’ hearts in Babylon were grieved, offended; therefore the Lord tells them, they “shall be comforted concerning all the evil He hath brought upon Jerusalem.” They shall know the greatness of their sins which moved Him to do so.
3. That the Lord is righteous and just in His judgments. “I have not done without cause all that I have done in Jerusalem.” It is the devil’s design to hurt without cause; therefore saith God, “Thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause” (Job_2:3). But God would not do it; whatever He doth He hath great cause for. He is the only and infinitely wise God, and doth all things upon the height of reason. Their sins were such as impeached His honour, corrupted His worship, broke the covenant, questioned His providence, violated justice, and conformed them to the heathen. He had cause enough to do what He did, namely, to vindicate His honour, worship, covenant, providence, justice, and to show that His people, if they will sin with the world, must suffer grievous things for it.
4. Men shall know in due time the equity of God’s judgments. They are a great depth. Men cannot sound or measure them (Psa_36:6). The causes of them are hidden from the eyes of most. Job’s friends mistook the cause of God’s dealing so sharply with him, but afterwards they understood it. They in Babylon, and others, were astonished at the sore judgments of God, but God let them know the cause of it, and so they were brought to justify God (1Ki_9:7-9). God proclaims the cause of His severe judgments, so that men may see the equity of them, that “He is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works” (Psa_145:17).—Greenhill.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain A Divine Principle and an apparent Exception
A Divine Principle and an apparent Exception
As a rule when God punishes a land for its wickedness by such judgments as famine, wild beasts, sword, or pestilence, the presence in it of the most eminently righteous men will not save the wicked, not even the members of their own families. They will only escape themselves. Jerusalem will be a seeming exception to this principle, since a remnant of its wicked sons and daughters will be spared when the city is taken, and will escape into exile. But this is in order that the earlier exiles, seeing the abandoned conduct of the later, may realise how thoroughly Jerusalem has deserved its punishment, and may cease to regret its fate.
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13. The land] RV 'a land.' Eze_14:13-21 suppose a series of general cases. Then will I stretch, etc.] RV 'and I stretch.. and break.. and send.. and cut off.' All this is part of the supposition.
14, 20. Noah, Daniel, and Job] Typical righteous men, like Moses and Samuel in Jer_15:1.
21, 22. It might be expected that none of the wicked in Jerusalem would be spared, yet, in apparent violation of the law just described, some of them would escape and go into exile.
22. Ye shall see.. and be comforted] The exiles of the first captivity would be distressed at the fate of Jerusalem, but the conduct of the survivors would convince them that it had been well deserved, and was not to be regretted.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain God’s Irrevocable Sentence
God’s Irrevocable Sentence
v. 12. The word of the Lord came again to me, saying,
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v. 13. Son of man, when the land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously, in unfaithfulness and treachery, then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it, to mete out the well-deserved punishment upon its idolatrous inhabitants, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, taking away that upon which man chiefly relies for food, and will send famine upon it and will cut off man and beast from it, Cf.Ezekiel 4:16; 5:16.
v. 14. Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, the fact of whose historical, existence, together with the piety of their lives, is thus established, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. Each of these three men not only saved his own life by his fear of the Lord, but was instrumental also in delivering others from danger and death. But in this case even their presence in the doomed city would avail nothing, since the guilt of idolatry weighed down too heavily in challenging the wrath of God.
v. 15. If I cause noisome beasts, various reptiles and beasts of prey, to pass through the land, causing them to multiply and increase in an unusual degree, and they spoil it, by making men and beasts their prey, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:
v. 16. though these three men were in it, paragons of virtue though they were, as I live, saith the Lord God, the sovereign Ruler of the world, using the most solemn oath possible for Him, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, it would be impossible for them to ward off the punishment from the land doomed by its own guilt; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.
v. 17. Or if I bring a sword upon that land, in a third scourge, and say, Sword, go through the land, the figure being purposely strong in order to emphasize the severity of the Lord’s punishment through the slaughter of the battle, so that I cut off man and beast from it:
v. 18. though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.
v. 19. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, the usual companion of devastating wars, and pour out My fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
v. 20. though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter, not so much as one child; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. These facts, the prophet says, are generally true; they would be maintained under all conditions.
v. 21. For thus saith the Lord God, How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the four principal scourges of His wrath, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? The people of God were like the servant who knew his Lord’s will and still persisted in going contrary to it; wherefore he was punished with more stripes than another, all four scourges being used at once in this case. "War brings famine into the cities, corpses outside, which attract the beasts; and from all there follows the pestilence. " Note: If Noah, Daniel, and Job, noted for the piety of their lives, could not deliver the land when deserving but one judgment, how much more when all four judgments combined are justly laid upon the land for its sin!
v. 22. Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant, an escaped portion, that shall be brought forth, both Sons and daughters, whom the mercy of the Lord would spare in the general destruction, although the punishment of the exile would strike them; behold, they shall come forth unto you, namely, the exiles of Judea in Chebar, and ye shall see their way and their doings, thereby obtaining the knowledge that corruption of this magnitude fully deserved such destruction; and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, realizing the justice of the Lord’s punishments, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.
v. 23. And they shall comfort you, by offering proof for the righteousness of God’s acts, when ye see their ways and their doings; and ye shall know that I have not done without cause, in arbitrary cruelty, all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God. This will eventually be true in the case of all those who feel the heavy hand of God upon them for their transgressions; they and others with them will he obliged to acknowledge the justice of God’s punishment, as Abraham also reminded the rich man. Cf Luk 16:25.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 when a land sins against me
when a land sins against me
Here the word "land" represents the people who live in the land. AT: "when the people who live in a land sin against me" (See: Metonymy)
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break the staff of its bread
Yahweh speaks of the supply of bread as if it were a staff. The word "bread" represents all kinds of food. See how you translated a similar phrase in Ezekiel 4:16. AT: "end the supply of its food" (See: Metaphor and Synecdoche)
cut off both man and beast from the land
Yahweh speaks of killing people and animals as if he were cutting them off, like a person would cut a branch from a tree. AT: "kill both man and beast in the land" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
word of God
sin
staff
bread
send
famine
Noah
Daniel
Job
righteous
Lord Yahweh
declare
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 14:12-20 Israel had not been unjustly singled out for…
14:12-20 Israel had not been unjustly singled out for judgment. If any country were to sin against the Lord, the result would be the same. It is clear that Israel is in view here, however, because the language used to describe their sin is used elsewhere to describe a breach in Israel’s covenant relationship with the Lord. The covenant was broken, so the nation would inevitably and justly experience the covenant curses that they had ratified at the time the covenant was first made (Lev 26). • The covenant curses are itemized in four test cases. Each case envisions one of the curses listed in Lev 26: famine (Ezek 14:13-14; see Lev 26:26), wild animals (Ezek 14:15-16; see Lev 26:22), war (Ezek 14:17-18; see Lev 26:25), and disease (Ezek 14:19-20; see Lev 26:25).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.