Ezekiel 20:11-13 sits inside this longer paragraph.
8“ ‘ “But they rebelled against me, and would not listen to me. They didn’t all throw away the abominations of their eyes. They also didn’t forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the middle of the land of Egypt. 9But I worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them out of the land of Egypt. 10So I caused them to go out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. 11I gave them my statutes, and showed them my ordinances, which if a man does, he will live in them. 12Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.
13“ ‘ “But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn’t walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keeps, he shall live in them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them. 14But I worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. 15Moreover also I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; 16because they rejected my ordinances, and didn’t walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols. 17Nevertheless my eye spared them, and I didn’t destroy them. I didn’t make a full end of them in the wilderness. 18I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Don’t walk in the statutes of your fathers. Don’t observe their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols. 19I am Yahweh your God. Walk in my statutes, keep my ordinances, and do them. 20Make my Sabbaths holy. They shall be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am Yahweh your God.’
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv11–13 Here God enlarges upon his favors, since he had…
Here God enlarges upon his favors, since he had given his law to the Israelites, as if he would prescribe to them a certain rule of living. If they had only been brought out of Egypt, that would have been an inestimable benefit: but God was much more generous, since he deigned to rule them familiarly with his doctrine, lest they should wander to one side or the other; and in this way he testified that he would be their God. He adds a promise: for God might precisely enjoin what he wished on the people of his choice; but he spontaneously adopts the method of indulgence by promising them life. Now, then, we understand why this promise is mentioned; for God might simply command anything, and say, this pleases me, and use but a monosyllable, after the manner of kings issuing a command. Since, then, God not only exacted of the Israelites what he might justly require, but, by annexing a promise, enticed them gently to the pursuit of obedience, this was certainly a mark of his fatherly indulgence. Hence he now exaggerates the people’s ingratitude by this circumstances, that neither by commands nor by kindness could he induce these obstinate and perverse dispositions to bend to the yoke. I gave them, therefore, my statutes and my laws; and afterwards, which if a man do, he shall live in them. He thus briefly reminds them, that it was not his fault if the Israelites were not in any sense happy; for when he stipulated with them for the observance of his law, he bound them in turn to himself, that they should want nothing which contributed to a good and happy life; for in the name of life solid happiness is comprehended.
Yet it is here asked how the Prophet testifies that men should live by the works of the law, when the law, on the testimony of Paul, can only bring us death. (Romans 4:15; Deuteronomy 30:15.) He took this testimony from Moses, and we shall see immediately that he cites it in a different sense. Moses there pronounces that the life of man rests on the observance of the law; that is, — life was surely to be expected through satisfying the law. Some think this absurd, and so restrict what is said to the present life, taking he shall live in them politically or civilly: but this is a cold and trifling comment. The reasoning which influenced them is readily answered: they object, that we owe all things to God; that we ourselves and our possessions are all his by the right of possession; so that if we keep the law a hundred times over, still we are not, worthy of such a reward. But the solution is at hand, that we deserve nothing, but God graciously binds himself to us by this promise, as I have already touched upon. And from this passage it is easy to infer that works are of no value before God, and are not estimated for their intrinsic value, so to speak, but only by agreement. Since, then, it pleased God to descend so far as to promise life to men if they kept his law, they ought to accept this offer as springing from his liberality. There is no absurdity, then, if men do live, that is, if they deserve eternal life according to agreement. But if any one keeps the law, it will follow that he has no need of the grace of Christ. For of what advantage is Christ to us unless we recover life in him? but if this is placed in ourselves, the remedy must not be thought anywhere but in ourselves. Every one, then, may be his own savior if life is placed the observance of the law. But Paul solves this difficulty for us when he determines for us a twofold righteousness of the law and of faith. (Romans 10:5, 6.) He says that this righteousness is of the law when we keep God’s precepts. Now, since we are far distant from such obedience, nay, the very faculty of keeping the law is altogether defective in us: hence it follows that we must fly to the righteousness of faith. For he defines the righteousness of faith, if we believe Christ to be dead, and to be risen again for our justification. We see, therefore, although God promised salvation to his ancient people, if they only kept the law, yet that promise was useless, since no one could satisfy the law and perform God’s commands. Here another question arises. For if this promise does not take effect, God vainly reckons that as a benefit to the Israelites which we see was offered them in vain: hence no utility or fruit would arise from it. But some one may say that the imagination was fallacious, when God promised life, and now by his Prophet blames the Israelites for despising such a benefit. But the reply is easy: although men are not endued with the power of obeying the law, yet they ought not on that account to depart from the goodness of God; for men’s declension by no means hinders them from estimating the value of so liberal a promise: God is treating with men: he might then, as I have said, imperiously demand whatever he pleased, and exact it with the utmost rigor; but he treats according to an agreement, and so there is a mutual obligation between himself and the people. No one will surely deny that God here exhibits a specimen of his mercy when he deigns thus familiarly to make a covenant with men. “Ah! but this is all in vain: God’s promise is of no effect, because no one is able to keep the law.” I confess it: but man’s declension cannot, as I have said, abolish the glory of God’s goodness, since that always remains fixed, and God still acts liberally in being willing thus to enter into covenant with His people. We must then consider the subject simply, and by itself: man’s declension is accidental. God then put forth a remarkable proof of His goodness, in promising life to all who kept His law: and this will remain perfect and entire. It now follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv11–13 Eze 20:11 And I gave them my statutes, and…
Eze 20:11 And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which [if] a man do, he shall even live in them.
Ver. 11. And I gave them my statutes.] Which were far beyond the laws of the twelve tables in Rome, whereof yet Cicero affirmeth that they were far beyond all the libraries of philosophers.
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And shewed them my judgments.] Statutes and judgments are usually put in Scripture for one and the same, though the lawyers make a difference of them. Prosper’s conceit was, that this people were called Judaei. because they received ius Dei the law of God.
Which if a man do.] But that he can never do exactly; evangelically he may, and that sufficeth to life eternal.
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 Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv11–13 I, who spared them in Egypt, had brought them…
I, who spared them in Egypt, had brought them forth, and owned them as the children of Abraham my friend: God gave his law by Moses, and now Israel’s laws are really of Divine origin, when others did but pretend it. Gave them; appointed and commanded by my authority, and communicated out of my love and kindness to them.
My statutes; the law on Mount Sinai, containing their duty.
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Showed them; plainly declared, spake so that they might know.
My judgments; not the terrible executions of his wrath, but judgments here are the rules that God gave them to walk by.
If a man do; if any one, without partiality, whosoever should keep these statutes and judgments with God is no respect of persons.
He shall live: not that any ever did or could by sinless keeping the law attain the eternal blessedness; grace gives that; but it surely points out a future prosperity and flourishing state in this life to all that are careful to keep these statutes and judgments as they can; such should not be cut off, nor brought into captivity, but live and rejoice in their own land.
In them; both in the fruit of them already obeyed, and in the continuance to do them for the future.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv11–13 And I gave them my statutes,.... The precepts of…
And I gave them my statutes,.... The precepts of his law, the law on Mount Sinai, of which there were not the like among other nations; nor were they given unto them, but were a special gift unto Israel, and greatly to be valued, Deu 4:8;
and showed them judgments: the nature, use, and excellency of the the necessity and advantage of observing them: the same as before, called "statutes", because appointed, fixed, and certain, being of inviolable and lasting obligation; and "judgments", being according to strict justice and equity: these, though they were originally written on man's heart, yet so obliterated by sin that there was need not only of their being afresh written and published, but of their being taught and made known; or of pointing out the use of them, and obligation to them:
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which if a man do, he shall live in them; or "by them" (g); in the land of Canaan, enjoying all the blessings of a long and happy life: reference seems to be had to Lev 18:5. The Targum adds,
"in eternal life;''
but eternal life is not to be obtained by the works of the law, since no man can perfectly obey or fulfil it, but is the pure gift of the grace of God.
(g) "per ea", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus, Piscator; "propter ea", Pagninus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12–13 A sign - Of their being peculiarly my people.
A sign - Of their being peculiarly my people.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv11–13 Verse 11. I gave them my statutes] I showed…
Verse 11. I gave them my statutes] I showed them what they should do in order to be safe, comfortable, wise, and happy; and what they should avoid in order to be uninjured in body, mind, and possessions. Had they attended to these things, they should have lived by them. They would have been holy, healthy, and happy.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12–13 Eze 20:12. Moreover, I gave them my sabbaths —…
Eze 20:12. Moreover, I gave them my sabbaths — Including the weekly sabbaths, the sabbatical years, and all the solemn days of divine worship, in which no servile work was to be done: to be a sign between me and them — A sign of their being peculiarly my people, and to distinguish them from all other people, as the worshippers of me, Jehovah, who in six days made heaven and earth, and all things therein, and rested the seventh day; and also of my delivering them out of their state of bondage in Egypt. That they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifies them — That by their resting on those days from their usual employments, and their coming together to wait upon me in the ordinances of my worship, they might become more acquainted with me, and with my will concerning them, and might receive a larger measure of my sanctifying grace. Observe, reader, 1st, Sabbaths are privileges, and are to be considered and improved as such. 2d, They are signs: it is a sign men have a sense of religion, and that there is some correspondence between them and God, while they make conscience of keeping holy the sabbath day. 3d, Sabbaths, if duly sanctified, are the means of our sanctification: if we do the duty of the day, we shall find to our comfort; it is the Lord that sanctifies us; makes us holy, that is, truly happy, here; and prepares us to be happy, that is, perfectly holy, hereafter.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv11–13 Live, and enjoy temporal felicity, which was chief promised,…
Live, and enjoy temporal felicity, which was chief promised, though the faithful observers of the law would obtain an eternal reward.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv11–13 which if a man do, he shall . .…
which if a man do, he shall . . . five in them--not "by them," as though they could justify a man, seeing that man cannot render the faultless obedience required (Lev 18:5; Gal 3:12). "By them" is the expression indeed in Rom 10:5; but there the design is to show that, if man could obey all God's laws, he would be justified "by them" (Gal 3:21); but he cannot; he therefore needs to have justification by "the Lord our righteousness" (Jer 23:6); then, having thus received life, he "lives," that is, maintains, enjoys, and exercises this life only in so far as he walks "in" the laws of God. So Deu 30:15-16. The Israelites, as a nation, had life already freely given to them by God's covenant of promise; the laws of God were designed to be the means of the outward expression of their spiritual life. As the natural life has its healthy manifestation in the full exercise of its powers, so their spiritual being as a nation was to be developed in vigor, or else decay, according as they did, or did not, walk in God's laws.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv11–12 11. Shall even live in them — Or, shall…
11. Shall even live in them — Or, shall live through them (Lev_18:5). Obedience to the Sinaitic law would have saved them from punishment and death (Deu_13:16-18). Obedience prolongs both the individual and national life (Deu_4:40; Deu_5:16; Amo_5:14-15; Mic_6:8; Hos_8:3). Do the “judgments” refer to the Levitical ordinances or to the laws of justice such as are given in Eze_18:5, etc.? Probably to the latter. (See Eze_20:11; Eze_20:21.) The ancient Chaldee paraphrase expands the last clause: “He shall live in them with eternal life” (Cowles).
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–13 11. gave them … statutes] Reference is to the…
11. gave them … statutes] Reference is to the Sinaitic legislation. The fact of the legislation is, confirmed by the prophet, but his language “statutes and judgments” does not enable us to form an opinion how extensive it was, nor what particulars it embraced besides the law of the sabbath (Eze_20:12), and of course the law that Jehovah was God alone of Israel, because he uses the phrase “statutes and judgments” very generally, for example of the conduct and principles of the people in the wilderness themselves (Eze_20:18).
shall even live in them] Or, shall live by them. Obedience to them will issue in “life,” the word being used in its natural sense, Deu_4:40, “thou shalt keep his statutes … that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the land,” Deu_5:16 (fifth commandment). The precepts of Jehovah given to the people were such that obedience to them would ensure prosperity and life, while disobedience would cause calamity and death, and this not only in the mere government of them by their God, but because the statutes were in themselves “good,” cf. Eze_20:25; Amo_5:14; Hos_8:3; Mic_3:2; Mic_6:8.
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11–17. The people delivered from Egypt and brought into the wilderness. There also Jehovah wrought for his name’s sake.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–13 (11) He shall even live in them.—Comp. Deu_30:15-20. It…
(11) He shall even live in them.—Comp. Deu_30:15-20. It becomes plain, on a careful perusal of this passage, that what was required was not a mere outward, technical, and perfunctory keeping of certain definite precepts, but a living and loving obedience to God’s will from the heart. The same fundamental principle of life underlies the Old Testament as the New; yet the former is justly regarded, and frequently spoken of in the New Testament, as a covenant of works, because the people were not yet sufficiently educated spiritually to be able to receive the principle of faith, and were therefore placed under a law of many definite precepts, that by keeping these with glad alacrity they might show their readiness and desire to do the Lord’s will. It is in this sense that a man should live by doing the statutes of the law, and not on the ground of his thereby earning for himself salvation. But even thus, they failed miserably under the test.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv11–13 I gave them my statutes, etc. Ezekiel recognizes, almost…
I gave them my statutes, etc. Ezekiel recognizes, almost in the very language of Deu_30:16-20, as fully as the writers of Ps 19 and Ps 119 recognized, the excellence of the Law. A man who kept that Law in its fulness would have life in its fullest and highest sense. He was beginning, however, to recognize, as Jeremiah had (Jer_31:31) the powerlessness of the Law to give that life without the aid of something higher. The "new covenant" was already dawning on the mind of the scholar as on that of the master.
Law and life.
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I THE LAW WAS GIVEN AS A MINISTER OF LIFE. God vouchsafed his statutes in order that the Jews might live by means of them. Without those ordinances they were in danger of death, for they were sinners, and the fruit of sin is death. Thus we see that the Law was given in mercy. It came as a blessing. It was in its aim a gospel. Nothing can be further from the truth than the notion that it was a rod of chastisement, or even, as some have regarded it, an evil thing, a sort of curse upon sinners. It was not so regarded by the Old Testament saints, who sang hymns in praise of it, and hailed it with language of affection and rapture. (e.g. Ps 40 and Ps 119)
1. Truth leads to life. The Law was a revelation of God"s eternal verities, without which the soul would perish in the night of its own ignorance.
2. Righteousness would make for life. The Law declared the nature of righteousness, and pointed out the path on which it could be pursued. Thus it was an aid to conscience. Further, by its sanctions of menace and promise it urged the careless to walk in that path.
3. Grace leads to life. The Law did not exclude all grace. On the contrary, it was given in mercy, and it contained saving provisions in various forms of condescension to human weakness and in the great institution of sacrifices for sin.
II THE LAW PROVED TO BE A MESSENGER OF DEATH. (See ver. 25). We have come to regard the Law with aversion under the influence of the arguments of St. Paul. Yet he distinctly teaches that the Law was good, but that the perversion of it led to ruin. (Rom_7:12)
1. The Law condemns sin. Before we have sinned it is a friend to warn us against doing wrong, but by sinning we have turned it into an enemy. The warning beacon has thus become an ominous meteor, the sign post a gallows tree. That which by its guidance protects the innocent from death, by its judgments condemns the guilty to death. (Rom_7:10)
2. The Law is powerless to save from sin.
(1) Its commandments cannot save. They are standards of measurement, not direct powers. Though they urge through conscience, fear, and hope, they only appeal to our nature in its present state. They do not create a new heart. They may drive us to flee from the wrath to come; but they do not provide any refuge.
(2) Its sacrifices cannot save. Ceremonial sacrifices could only save from ceremonial sins. In regard to moral guilt these sacrifices could only typify cleansing, not really accomplish it. (Psa_51:16; Heb_10:4)
III THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IS THE ONLY EFFECTUAL WAY OF LIFE. The Law was "weak," though not on account of its own imperfection, but "through the flesh," i.e. on account of man"s human degradation, so that man did not respond to it. Therefore God sent his Son to bring the salvation which the Law was powerless to produce. (Rom_8:3)
1. In Christ we have the gift of life. (1Jn_5:12) Nothing less than death is due under the Law; nothing less than life is given by Christ. This we receive by active regenerating grace, not by the erection of a new standard of morals the Sermon on the Mount substituted for the Ten Commandments but by the presence and work of a living Saviour.
2. This life in Christ does not destroy the glory of the Law.
(1) Christ satisfies the Law in his own Person.
(2) He destroys in us the sin which makes the Law our enemy and earns the death penalty.
(3) He gives us his new law of love, his eternal statutes, "which, if a man do, he shall even live in them". (Mat_7:24-27; Joh_15:10)
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 On v12 I gave them My Sabbaths.
Eze_20:12
I gave them My Sabbaths.
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The practical duties of the Christian Sabbath
Let two remarks be premised. We enforce not the duties of the Jewish but of the Christian Sabbath. Everything in the Christian Sabbath is tender and considerate on the one hand, everything is spiritual and elevated on the other; and is, in both views, adapted to the real state and exigencies of our nature, under the last and most perfect dispensation of religion. But then the determination of what is really spiritual, of what is really for the welfare of man, of what ale the real duties and employments of the day, must be taken from the Scriptures themselves, and not from the opinions, much less from the inclinations and fashions, of a corrupt world.
I. Keep ever in view the great end of the institution--which is to be a visible sign of the covenant between God and us, and a principal means of that sanctification which it is one object of that covenant to produce. What an exalted end and design of the institution! Sanctification is the work of Gods Holy Spirit by His secret but effectual influences upon the heart, separating man from the love and service of sin, and turning him to God and holiness. And how important is the thought, that the design of the Almighty in sanctifying and hallowing a day of Sabbath was that man, His moral and accountable creature, might be sanctified and dedicated by means of it--that the external consecration of the season ends in the internal consecration of the heart of man to his Creator and Redeemer! We awake to the true importance of the institution when we feel our fallen and sinful state, when we receive the covenant of grace as proposed in the Gospel, when we seek to be sanctified, body, soul, and spirit, to be the Lords. A Divine life infused into the soul of man--a perception of the nature and excellency of spiritual things--a view of the glory and majesty of the great Redeemer--a reliance upon His death and resurrection--a dependence upon the influence of His Holy Spirit--these bring the Sabbath and the human heart together.
II. The public and private duties of it.
1. The public exercise; of Gods worship, and the fellowship of Christians with each other in common acts of prayer and praise, are the leading business of this holy season.
2. The care of our families must not, however, be neglected, whilst we first discharge our public duties.
3. The private and personal duties must prepare for and succeed the public and domestic.
4. The duties of the Christian Sabbath extend to our dependents--to the stranger within our gates--to all over whom we have any natural influence--and even to the irrational creatures who subserve our comfort, and whose repose is commanded both for their own sakes and to render more completely practical the duty of religious rest enjoined upon man, their lord.
III. In order to keep holy the Lords day, we must carry the true spirit of the Christian dispensation into these duties. We must not celebrate a Jewish but a Christian festival. We must imbibe that spirit of rest and delight in God, that sense of refreshment and repose, in His more immediate service, which the liberty of the Gospel breathes, and without some degree of which we can never discharge these duties aright. Can any picture be more inviting than that of a family, a neighbourhood, a parish, honouring the day of God with cheerful and grateful hearts--meditating on that sanctification which is the great design of the day of rest--filling up its hours with the various and important exercises of public and private devotion--and imbuing every act of duty with the Christian temper, with the filial spirit--the spirit not of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption, crying, Abba, Father?
IV. Especially glorify God for those mighty blessings which are appointed to be commemorated on the Lords day--Creation, Redemption, Heaven. (D. Wilson, M. A.)
The national observance of the Sabbath day; its deep importance and present peril
I. Its bearing on the health and the enjoyment of the community. Man was not made, even in Paradise, to be idle; and if even there wholesome toil contributed to keep his happiness from stagnating and corrupting, how much more is toil a merciful provision for man in his fallen lot! There is perhaps as much mercy in the institution that six days we shall labour and do all that we have to do, as in the institution that on the seventh day we shall do no manner of work. But whilst labour in moderation is thus beneficial for man, incessant toil would infallibly tend at once to break the spirit, to degrade the mind, to ruin the health, and to curtail the life. It would at the same time have a fearful and melancholy influence on social enjoyment, on the domestic circle, on the mutual endearments and reciprocal kindly sentiments that constitute so much of the stream of earthly happiness. How gracious, therefore, and how merciful, in its bearing merely on the physical strength and health, and upon the general individual and social and domestic enjoyment of the mass of the people, is that provision of a gracious Father, who, in giving us all our time for our daily labour, yet reserved a seventh to be kept holy to Himself, in which we should rest from every toil, and the master and the servant, and the sovereign and the subject, and the brute beast of the field that serves man, should all together, unyoked and disburdened from labour and from care, exult and rejoice in the freedom and the liberty with which God hath blessed them!
II. Its bearing upon the kindly feelings and the mutual charities of the nation in which it is observed. How much depends upon the internal magnetic attraction and influence of kindliness and benevolence and mutual good will! If you could take out from the community all that tends to soften mutual asperity and knit heart to heart, all that tends to make the poor man feel a sense of honest independence accompanied with unfeigned humility, and the rich man to feel that his external condition is as nothing in comparison with the moral distinction that differences one intelligent being from another--who can tell what would be the frightful result? But how beautifully does the Sabbath day prove the medium of the circulation of kindly and tender feelings! Much as the day is broken, and often as it is spent in savage and in sensual scenes, yet nevertheless it does wonderfully tend, with its balmy hebdomadal influence, to calm ruffled spirits, to allay feverish anxieties, and to soften petulant and foolish tempers.
III. Its bearing upon the morality and the religion of the people. Take away that one purchase, on which rests all the spiritual and moral machinery in the land--let that be gone, and the whole moral and religious machinery in the land falls rapidly to pieces, because it has no fixed ground, no standing point on which to be placed. It cannot go on; it must suffer disturbance, disorganisation, and rapid destruction. Let there be no national Sabbath; where were our Sabbath ceremonies? Let there be no national Sabbath; in vain almost would our houses of prayer be thrown open, and the bell that used to sweetly tell the day of rest was come send out its notes, drowned amid the din and the uproar of the never-checked deluge of worldly anxiety, tumult, conflict and struggle, gathering fresh force and fury because the only barrier that at all checked their onward progress was withdrawn, and rushing headlong on without an obstacle to impede their current.
IV. Its bearing on the favour of God towards a people. I look upon the Sabbath, in its national observance, as the most direct and plain and palpable index of a nations relationship towards God. It is (if we may so speak) the standard of heaven waving from the battlements of our national Zion, and telling that this great people recognise God, and in testimony and tribute of their loyalty they pay Him that which is His own, and give Him the seventh of their time, secured to Him by whom their sovereign reigns and on whom all their blessings depend. And as the observance of the Sabbath by the nation is an outward and visible sign of their fealty and fidelity to God, so is it an outward and visible sign of Gods gracious faithfulness and love towards them. While that broad seal, therefore, remains intact and unbroken, how confidently may the people rest upon God!
V. The growing difficulties of maintaining the observance of the sabbath day and at the same time the growing importance of maintaining it in our land.
1. We find in the spread of infidel sentiment and spirit in the land, a fearful source of difficulty to the maintenance of the due observance of the Sabbath day.
2. The latitudinarian and unhallowed speculation indulged in by many who bear the name of Christian, and sanctioned and smiled at by others, who ought to raise the voice of holy and wholesome reprobation.
3. The increasing excitements and the increasing facilities for the violation of the holy day.
4. The lamentable spiritual destitution of masses of our people, and the consequent spiritual ignorance, utter demoralisation, and absolute barbarism which exist throughout wildernesses of human beings in this baptized and nominally Christian country.
VI. The growing importance of maintaining the observance of the sabbath day in our land. (H. Stowell, M. A.)
The Sabbath day
I. The Sabbath is of universal and perpetual obligation.
II. It has its own peculiar employments: Hallow My Sabbaths. They are to be days of rest from labour, and refreshment for the soul. Let them be sacred days; devote them to the praise and cause and glory of God.
III. There was a most blessed design in its institution: Hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign, etc.
1. They were to be a sign between God and His people--a sign more frequently brought before them than the bow in the clouds. That told they should not be destroyed; but this tells of eternal life--is a type and symbol of the Sabbath of rest in His everlasting kingdom.
2. Another design mentioned is the edification and instruction of His people, that ye may know that I am the Lord. (G. Phillips, M. A.)
The Sabbath a sign between God and His people
I. How properly the sabbath is a sign of the true God.
II. The institution of it is of the greatest use and advantage to man, considered under what respect and circumstances soever.
III. What is meant by hallowing the sabbath, or in what manner we are to observe it, so as to answer the end of its institution, so as to reap the advantages which were proposed by it.
1. To hallow the Sabbath is to set it apart to Gods honour and service; and, of course, implies that we should abstain from all the ordinary employments of life, from all such things as would be apt to debase our minds, and hinder them from fixing upon heavenly objects.
2. We should, this day above all, make Him the constant subject of our thoughts and our desires, of our prayers and of our praises. We should meditate upon His nature and His attributes, His Word and His works; and particularly upon those two grand instances of the Divine power and goodness which the institution itself, more especially, directs us to commemorate--the creation of the world, and the redemption of mankind.
IV. To neglect paying God so easy a tribute as one day out of seven must at least imply a forgetfulness of our obligations; as that must, necessarily, imply ingratitude. Shall we grudge the seventh day to His use, when He hath, so freely, allowed us the other six for our own? Shall we refuse so small a part of our time to Him, who had so just a right to the whole? (D. Lloyd.)
The Sabbath needed by man
Those who have served a battery upon the battlefield tell us that, at intervals, they are forced to pause, that the guns may cool, and that the smoke may lift to furnish accurate aim; yes, and because ammunition is exhausted. No Christian can fight the battle of the week without the quiet Sabbath to cool off his guns. He needs repose of soul. He wants heavenly breezes to lift the earth-lowering shadows. He must replenish his store from the secret place of prayer and meditation. (E. J. Haynes.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v13 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues giving Ezekiel his message to the elders of Israel.
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They did not walk in my statutes
Yahweh speaks of obeying his statutes as if the statutes were a path along which a person walks. AT: "They did not obey my statutes" (See: Metaphor)
I would pour out my fury upon them
Yahweh speaks of expressing his fury by punishing them as if his fury were a liquid that he poured out on them. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 20:8. AT: "I would act against them in my fury" (See: Metaphor)
in order to end them
The euphemism "to end them" refers to killing them. AT: "in order to kill them" (See: Euphemism)
I acted for my name's sake
Here the word "name" represents Yahweh's reputation. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 20:9. AT: "I acted for the sake of my reputation" (See: Metonymy)
so it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations
This can be stated in active form. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 20:9. AT: "so that the people would not profane it in the eyes of the nations" (See: Active or Passive)
in the eyes of the nations
Here the "nations" refer to the people who live in those places. The eyes represent seeing, and seeing represents thoughts or judgment. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 20:9. AT: "in the thoughts of the people in other nations" (See: Metonymy and Metaphor)
in whose sight I had brought them out of Egypt
"in whose presence I brought my people out of Egypt"
translationWords
rebel
desert
walk
statute
reject
decree
profane
Sabbath
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.