“Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Moreover, in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.
Parallel Translations
-
“Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Moreover, in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.
-
Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.
-
Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them: Thus saith the Lord GOD: In this moreover have your fathers blasphemed Me, in that they dealt treacherously with Me.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 20:27 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Romans 2:24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.
- Ezekiel 2:7 You shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse; for they are most rebellious.
- Ezekiel 3:4 He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.
- Ezekiel 3:11 Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says,’ whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse.
- Ezekiel 3:27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.”
- Ezekiel 18:24 “But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.
- Revelation 13:5 A mouth speaking great things and blasphemy was given to him. Authority to make war for forty-two months was given to him.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He now descends to the wickedness of the people,…
He now descends to the wickedness of the people, by which God was provoked after they had taken possession of the land of Canaan, since they despised God after being so carefully warned. He complains, therefore, that this was very disgraceful, since, after he had put them in possession of the land of promise, they had never desisted from purposely insulting him. This disgrace was intolerable, since he had profited nothing by them in the wilderness: this witnessing was sufficiently serious to stir them up. “Walk you not in the decrees of your fathers: I am your God, observe you my law.” Since. therefore, God drew them under obedience to himself, what a mark of pride it was not to attend to that witness-bearing, but to pursue their own mad career? In truth, the crime was the more atrocious when at length they entered the land of Canaan, and had obtained so many victories, that they did not learn by experience how God declared his pourer for the very purpose of binding them closer to himself. For the numerous benefits which God had conferred upon them were but so many bonds by which they were bound more closely to him. This expostulation, then, is not in vain, when he reproaches them by saying, when they dishonored me, or rebelled against me. This was not a single crime, or simple perfidy, but a continual delight in wantonly insulting him; for גדף, gedef, signifies to reject, treat contumeliously, or disdain. God, therefore, by this word wishes to express the deliberate insolence of the people, while they rose so wickedly against him as if they would spit in his face. The full meaning is, that they were not only breakers of treaties and rebels when they contaminated the land of Canaan with their superstitions, but were so petulant that they professedly threw scorn upon God.
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 Eze 20:27 Therefore, son of man, speak unto the…
Eze 20:27 Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.
Ver. 27. Your fathers have blasphemed me.] Because they trembled not at my judgments while they hung in the threatenings, but went on wilfully in their wickedness, putting it to the venture. This is a kind of blasphemy. Compare Num 15:30-31. This is a sin scarce to be expiated with any sacrifice: such a sinner must be cut off.
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 Since all this evil and wicked carriage in Egypt…
Since all this evil and wicked carriage in Egypt and in the wilderness is too true, and cause of a Divine wrath against them, go on; tell what the deportment of those was whom I brought into the land.
Unto the house of Israel; to those elders that were now come to him, that they might tell others at Jerusalem.
Read full note →
Yet; or further yet, beside all the rest, this is added by them.
Blasphemed me; profanely and frowardly lessened my mercy, my law, my worship, cast a reproach upon it all, as less desirable than that of their own; theirs more august and stately, more taking and pleasing: or thus reproached my wisdom, as if it needed their additions to complete religion and Divine worship; or reproached my bounty, as if not I, but their idols, gave them what they enjoyed, as Hos 2:5,7,8; the word speaks a reproach and blasphemy that comes from a heart full of enmity, as where it is used, Num 15:30; 2Ki 19:22; Psa 44:16; Isa 37:23; 43:28; they spitefully reproached.
Committed a trespass against me; grievously sinned, as the phrase is rendered, Eze 14:13; what this was in particular the next verse will account to us.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Here the prophet goes on with the story of…
Here the prophet goes on with the story of their rebellions, for their further humiliation, and shows,
I. That they had persisted in them after they were settled in the land of Canaan. Though God had so many times testified his displeasure against their wicked courses, "yet in this (that is, in the very same thing) your fathers have blasphemed me, continued to affront me, that they also have trespassed a trespass against me," Eze 20:27. Note, It is a great aggravation of sin when men will not take warning by the mischievous consequences of sin in those that have gone before them: this is blaspheming God; it is speaking reproachfully of his judgments, as if they were of no significancy and were not worth regarding. 1. God had made good his promise: I brought them into the land that I had sworn to give them. Though their unbelief and disobedience had made the performance slow, and much retarded it, yet it did not make the promise of no effect. They were often very near being cut off in the wilderness, but a step between them and ruin, and yet they came to Canaan at last. Note, Even God's Israel get to heaven by hell-gates; so many are their transgressions, and so strong their corruptions, that it is a miracle of mercy they are happy at last; as hypocrites go to hell by heaven-gates. The righteous scarcely are saved. Per tot discrimina rerum tendimus ad coelum - Ten thousand dangers fill the road to heaven. 2. They had broken his precept by their abominable idolatries. God had appointed them to destroy all the monuments of idolatry, that they might not be tempted to desert his sanctuary; but, instead of defacing them, they fell in love with them, and when they saw every high hill whence they had the most delightful prospects, and all the thick trees where they had the most delightful shades (the former to show forth their pompous idolatries, the latter to conceal their shameful ones), there they offered their sacrifices and made their sweet savour, which should have been presented upon God's altar only. There they presented the provocation of their offering (Eze 20:28), that is, their offerings, which, instead of pacifying God, or pleasing him, were highly provoking-sacrifices which, though costly, yet being misplaced, were an abomination to the Lord. 3. They obstinately persisted herein notwithstanding all the admonitions that were given them (Eze 20:29): "Then I told them, by my servants the prophets, told them where the high place was, to which they went; nay, I put them upon considering it, and asking their own consciences concerning it, by putting this question to them, Which is the high place whereunto you go? What do you find there so inviting that you will leave God's altars, where he requires your attendance, to frequent such places as he has forbidden you to worship in? Do you not know that those high places are of a heathenish extraction, and that the things which the Gentiles sacrificed they sacrificed to devils and not to God? Did not Moses tell you so? Deu 32:17. And will you have fellowship with devils? What is that high place to which you go when you turn your back on God's altars? O foolish Israelites, who or what has bewitched you, that you will forsake the fountain of life for broken cisterns, that worship which God appoints, and will accept, for that which he forbids, which he abhors, and which he will punish?" And yet the name is called Bamah unto this day; they will have their way, let God and his prophets say what they please to the contrary. They are wedded to their high places; even in the best reigns those were not taken away; you could not prevail to take away the name of Bamah - the high place, out of their mouths, but still they would have that in the place of their worship. The sin and the sinner are with difficulty parted.
Read full note →
II. That this generation, after they were unsettled, continued under the dominion of the same corrupt inclinations to idolatry, Eze 20:30. He must say to the present house of Israel, some of whose elders were now sitting before him, "Are you polluted after the manner of your fathers? After all that God has said against you by a succession of prophets, and done against you by a series of judgments, yet will you take no warning? Will you still be as bad as your fathers were, and commit the same abominations that they committed? I see you will; you are bent upon returning to the old abominations; you offer your gifts in the high places, and you make your sons to pass through the fire; either you actually do it or you do it in purpose and imagination, and so you continue idolaters to this day." These elders seem now to have been projecting a coalition with the heathen; their hearts they will reserve for the God of Israel, but their knees they will be at liberty to bow to the gods of the nations among whom they live, that they may have the more respect and the fairer quarter among them. Now the prophet is here ordered to tell those who were forming this scheme, and were for compounding the matter between God and Baal, that they should have no comfort or benefit from either. 1. They should have no benefit by their consulting in private with the prophets of the Lord; for, because they were hearkening after idols, God would have nothing to do with them (Eze 20:31): As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be enquired of by you. What he had said before (Eze 20:3), having largely shown how just it was, he here repeats, as that which he would abide by. Let them not think that they honoured him by their enquiries, nor expect an answer of peace from him, as long as they continued in love and league with their idols. Note, Those reap no benefit by their religion that are not entire and sincere in it; nor can we have any comfortable communion with God in ordinances of worship unless we be inward and upright with him therein. We make nothing of our profession if it be but a profession. Nay, 2. They should have no benefit from their conforming in public to the practice of their neighbours (Eze 20:32): "That which comes into your mind as a piece of refined politics in the present difficult juncture, and which you would be advised to for your own preservation, and that you may not by being singular expose yourselves to abuses, it shall not be at all, it shall turn to no account to you. You say, 'We will be as the heathen, we will join with them in worshipping their gods, though at the same time we do not believe them to be gods, but wood and stone, and then we should be taken as the families of the countries; they will not know, or in a little while will have forgotten, that we are Jews, and will allow us the same privileges with their own countrymen.' Tell them," says God, "that this project shall never prosper. Either their neighbours will not admit them to join with them in their worship, or, if they do, will think never the better, but the worse, of them for it, and will look upon them as dissemblers, and not fit to be trusted, who are thus false to their God, and put a cheat upon their neighbours." Note, There is nothing got by sinful compliances; and the carnal projects of hypocrites will stand them in no stead. It is only integrity and uprightness that will preserve men, and recommend them to God and man.
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 Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of…
Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them,.... The elders of Israel, Eze 20:1; who came in the name of the whole body, and represented them, and by whom the following message is sent unto them; or the prophet by them might speak unto them, as he is ordered:
thus saith the Lord God, yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me; besides what they did in Egypt, and in the wilderness, when they were come into the land of Canaan, such was their ingratitude, that to all the rest they added this wickedness, to sacrifice to other gods on every high hill, and in all thick trees; which was a blaspheming the name of God, and casting reproach upon him:
Read full note →
in that they have committed a trespass against me; idolatry is meant, described in Eze 20:28; and which they committed, not through ignorance and weakness, but voluntarily, against light and knowledge; and obstinately, notwithstanding all the remonstrances made unto them, and cautions, exhortations, and reproofs given them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Eze 20:27-29. Therefore, son of man, speak, &c. —…
Eze 20:27-29. Therefore, son of man, speak, &c. — Here the prophet proceeds with the story of their rebellions for their further humiliation, and shows that they persisted in them after they were settled in the land of Canaan. Thus saith the Lord, Yet in this, &c. — Or, Moreover in this, your fathers have blasphemed me — Have dishonoured me in acting contrary to my commandments. For when I had brought them into the land, &c. — As soon as they were settled in the land promised to Abraham and his seed; then they saw every high hill, &c. — When they saw the high hills and shady groves, they made choice of them as proper places whereon to erect altars for the worship of idols. The Jews were wont to offer sacrifices upon mountains or high places to the true God before the temple was built, 1Ki 3:2; 1Ki 3:5. And this custom was afterward, permitted by godly kings, who were zealous in putting down all sorts of idolatry, 1Ki 15:14; and 1Ki 22:43; 2Ch 33:17. But by degrees those places became appropriated to idolatrous worship, and upon that score are severely condemned. There they presented the provocation of their offering — There they presented the offerings whereby they provoked me. This, being distinguished from their sacrifices already mentioned, is to be understood of their meat-offerings, of which see the note on Lev 2:1. These were especially styled offerings of a sweet savour. Then I said, What is the high place whereunto ye go? — What mean you that you go to the high place? What do you find so inviting there, that you will leave my altar, where I require your attendance, to frequent such places as I have forbidden you to worship in, and which I will avenge? And the name thereof is called Bamah — That is, the high place; unto this day — “Notwithstanding my reproof, the name continues, and the practice, unto this day.” So Bishop Newcome, who adds, “It may be doubted whether the last six (Hebrew words) of this verse have not been taken into the text from the margin, where they anciently stood as a note.” “All the old versions have this verse, which yet seems out of its place here. If the verse should stand, it relates to something not to be explained now.” — Secker.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The probation in the land of Canaan from their…
The probation in the land of Canaan from their entry to the day of Ezekiel.
Eze 20:27
Read full note →
Yet in this - It was an aggravation of their guilt that they defiled with idolatry the land given them for their glory.
Eze 20:29
Bamah - The Hebrew word for “high place.” Another instance of the perversion of God’s laws. When the Israelites first entered Canaan they were to set up the “tabernacle” on a “high place,” and upon this and upon no other they were to worship Yahweh (1Sa 9:12 ff; 1Ki 3:4). But the Israelites followed the custom of the country, and set up idol-worship on every high hill, and the word “high place” (“Bannah,” plural “Bamoth”) became a by-word (compare “Bamoth-Baal,” Jos 13:17). “Bamoth” occurs on the Moabitic stone, which records the erection of high places in honor of Chemosh. The name “Bamah” was thus a brand of the divine displeasure, and a memorial of the people’s guilt.
Eze 20:30, Eze 20:31
The present state of the people. Those who came to inquire were the representatives of the whole people though belonging to the exiles.
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 next period, namely, that which followed the settlement…
The next period, namely, that which followed the settlement in Canaan: the fathers of the generation existing in Ezekiel's time walked in the same steps of apostasy as the generation in the wilderness.
Yet in this--Not content with past rebellions, and not moved with gratitude for God's goodness, "yet in this," still further they rebelled.
Read full note →
blasphemed--"have insulted me" [CALVIN]. Even those who did not sacrifice to heathen gods have offered "their sacrifices" (Eze 20:28) in forbidden places.
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 27. A trespass — Rather, unfaithfulness. The most awful…
27. A trespass — Rather, unfaithfulness. The most awful blasphemy is seen, not in word, but, as here, in indifference and irreverence (Num_15:30).
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 27. Yet in this] i.e. the following act, Eze_20:28,…
27. Yet in this] i.e. the following act, Eze_20:28, cf. Eze_23:38.
have blasphemed] Past tense: blasphemed … they committed. The blasphemy is not in words, but in high-handed disregard of his commands, Num_15:30.
Read full note →
27–29. The people on their entry and in their abode in Canaan.
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 (27) Your fathers have blasphemed me.—The fourth period of…
(27) Your fathers have blasphemed me.—The fourth period of Israelitish history, though actually far the longest, is very briefly passed over (Eze_20:27-29). It includes the whole period of the settlement in Canaan, from the conquest to the prophet’s own time, and was marked by the same characteristics as before. The particular way here specified by which they blasphemed was by the erection of idolatrous altars on every high place.
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 Vers. 27-31. The memory of offences in the land…
Vers. 27-31. The memory of offences in the land of promise.
Notwithstanding the variety of incident and circumstance in the history of the chosen people, there was much sameness in their experience, in their discipline, in their errors and faults. This may account for the brevity with which the later epochs of national history are treated by the prophet in this passage. Yet there is a consciousness on his part of the aggravation of Israel"s guilt which is apparent in the tone of this portion of this remarkable chapter.
Read full note →
I ISRAEL"S REBELLION AND IDOLATRY WERE AGGRAVATED BY THE FACT THAT THEY WERE PERSISTED IN NOTWITHSTANDING PAST ADMONITION AND CORRECTION.
II ISRAEL"S REBELLION AND IDOLATRY WERE AGGRAVATED WHEN THEY OCCURRED IN THE LAND OF PROMISE.
III ISRAEL"S REBELLION AND IDOLATRY WERE AGGRAVATED BY THEIR COEXISTENCE WITH THE SANCTUARY OF JEHOVAH.
IV ISRAEL"S REBELLION AND IDOLATRY WERE AGGRAVATED BY THEIR JUXTAPOSITION WITH THE PURE SERVICES AND FESTIVALS OF THE TRUE RELIGION.
V ISRAEL"S REBELLION AND IDOLATRY WERE AGGRAVATED BY THE FACT THAT THE CHOSEN PEOPLE ADOPTED THE RELIGION AND THE PRACTICES OF MORALLY INFERIOR RACES.
VI ISRAEL"S AGGRAVATED REBELLION AND IDOLATRY PREVENTED THEIR REPRESENTATIVES FROM ENJOYING THE FAVOUR AND RECEIVING THE RESPONSE OF THE LORD. T.
Vers. 27-29. God, and Israel in Canaan.
son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God," etc. We have here
I GREAT KINDNESS GRACIOUSLY CONFERRED. "I had brought them into the land which I lifted up mine hand to give unto them.
1. The Lord gave Canaan unto them, and brought them into it. "He gave them the lands of the nations; and they took the labour of the peoples in possession"; (Psa_105:44) "And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land for an inheritance". (Act_13:19) Look at the taking of Jericho as an illustration of this. It was not by human strategy or strength that they obtained the city, but by Divine interposition. And this land was a desirable possession. (cf. Num_13:27; Deu_8:7-9 Deu_11:10-12; and see our notes Eze_19:10)
1. The Lord brought them into Canaan in fulfilment of his promise. "The land which I lifted up mine hand to give unto them." The lilting up of the hand is the gesture of the oath, or solemn promise. Notwithstanding the rebellions of those to whom the promise was given, and the difficulties in the way of its fulfilment, he made his promise good. His faithfulness and his power guarantee the performance of his word. Here we have ground for confidence in him. (cf. Num_10:13:19; Mat_24:35; 1Pe_1:25)
2. The Lord brought them into Canaan of his own unmerited favour. Though not expressed, this is clearly implied here. (cf. Deu_7:6-8 Deu_9:4-6) God"s kindness to us has been great and undeserved. Who can count the multitude of his mercies, or estimate their preciousness? "The Lord hath dealt bountifully with us.
II GREAT KINDNESS BASELY REQUITED.
1. By worshipping in prohibited places. "Then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices," etc. (ver. 28). The margin of the Revised Version presents a more striking signification and a darker guilt. "They looked out for every high hill," etc. Their conduct in this respect was a perversion of a Divine law. "When the Israelites first entered Canaan, they were to set up the tabernacle on a high place, and upon this and. upon no other they were to worship Jehovah. This was the high place. (1Sa_9:12, etc.; 1Ki_3:4) But the Israelites followed the custom of the country, and set up idol worship on every high hill, and the word "high place" (bamah), or in the plural "high places" (bamoth), became a byword. (comp. bamoth Baal," Jos_13:17) ("Speaker"s Commentary"). This was distinctly forbidden to the Israelites. (Deu_12:1-14)
2. by worshipping prohibited objects. They offered sacrifices to idols. This fact is not explicitly stated in our text; but it is implied in the charge of blasphemy preferred against them, and in the expression," the provocation of their offering.
(1) As to their blasphemy. The attempt "to combine God and idols in one"s religion is blasphemy." It involves a fearful disparagement, if not the despising, of the Lord Jehovah.
(2) The expression, "the provocation of their offering," indicates the offerings made to idols whereby they provoked God to anger. (cf. Deu_32:16, Deu_32:17; 1Ki_14:22) "It was an aggravation of their guilt that they not only were idolaters, but defiled with their idolatry the land which was given them for their glory." It was perverting the gracious gift of God to his deep dishonour. (cf. Jer_2:7) How often have the good gifts of God been thus perverted! Genius and power, rank and riches, have frequently been used for selfish and sinful purposes. And in this and other ways the kindness of God to man is often basely requited still.
III A SINFUL PEOPLE DIVINELY INTERROGATED. "Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go?" Revised Version, "What meaneth the high place?" etc. This inquiry seems to be designed:
1. To awaken their serious reflection. It was fitted for this. Perhaps it would lead the idolatrous people to ask themselves, "What meaneth the high place whereunto we go?" Earnest interrogation might lead to profitable consideration.
2. To lead to their recognition of their folly. Serious reflection could hardly fail to reveal to them the foolishness of idolatry. What benefit, could they derive from it? What could their idols do for them? How unreasonable that reasonable beings should pay homage to things of wood and stone!
3. To lead to their recognition of their sin. Their idolatry involved the breach of the most sacred and solemn obligations. It was a transgression of an oft-repeated command of God. Great was both the folly and the sin of the Israelites in this. (cf. Jer_2:11-13) This inquiry might lead them to perceive and to feel these things. The Most High frequently interrogates sinful men in order to lead them to reflection and reformation. (Eze_18:31; Jer_2:5 Jer_4:14) "Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
IV A SINFUL PEOPLE PERSISTING IN SIN NOTWITHSTANDING DIVINE INTERROGATION. "And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day." The name was continued, and. the people persisted in the practice of idolatry despite the remonstrances of the Lord. Even under the most faithful and godly kings the high places were not taken away until Josiah entered upon his great reformation. (2Ch_34:3) It is difficult to eradicate sins in the case of individuals, when the sins have had time to strike their roots deeply in the heart and life. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." It is even more difficult to eradicate the widespread, long continued, deep-rooted sins of a community or a nation.
Facilis descensus Averni. Sed revocare gradum, superasque wadire ad auras Hic labor, hoc opus est. (Virgil.) W.J.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Israel continued to commit these sins in Canaan…
(Eze_20:27-29)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Israel continued to commit these sins in Canaan also, and still refuses to give them up.
Read full note →
Eze_20:27. “Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed Me, in that they have committed a trespass against Me.” The prophet is addressing the people of his own time, and boldly charges them with committing the same sins as their fathers in the land of Canaan. The sin of the children of Israel in Canaan took a worse form than their sin in the wilderness. It was a more open affront to God, for they deliberately “blasphemed” His name. They rejected Him contemptuously when they left that one place which He selected “to put his name there,” and chose places of their own, offering sacrifice “on every high hill.” They did dishonour to the Holy Place.”
Eze_20:28. “They saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.” The stricter designation of blasphemy follows in this verse, after it was designated in general at the close of Eze_20:27. “The provocation of their offering” the offerings to idols, whereby they provoked the anger of God; comp. Deu_32:16-17, “They provoked Him to jealousy with strange (gods); with abominations they made Him indignant. They sacrificed to lords which were not God, to gods whom they knew not.” God says to them in the tone of reproach (1Ki_9:13), “What is the high place whereunto ye go?” (Eze_20:29): How can ye, instead of seeking Me in My true sanctuary, turn to these miserable places, with their miserable gods? And yet these are named high places unto this day, in the sense of sanctuaries, and with the notion that they have something peculiar about them.”—Hengstenberg. The repetition of the word “there” three times seems to be an echo of Deu_12:5-7, “Unto His habitation … thither … thither … “there” (Eze_20:40).
Eze_20:29. “And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.” “Bamah,” a Hebrew word, signifying High-Place. The tops of high hills were used by the heathen for idolatrous worship; and, in consequence, Moses interdicted the use of them even for the worship of the true God (Deu_12:1-5).
HOMILETICS
(Eze_20:27-29.)
I. The nature of the sin of blasphemy. “Your fathers have blasphemed Me” (Eze_20:27). This was the “trespass” which they committed against Jehovah. The essence of blasphemy consists in contempt of God; in deliberately disobeying His commands, especially as to worship. For surely God has the absolute right to lay down the manner in which He shall be approached served, and adored. He appointed the Holy Place for His worship, but Israel served their own Gods in places of their own appointing. When once God has spoken clearly, all mere will-worship is of the nature of blasphemy.
II. Blasphemy is ever the sin of the unregenerate heart. We speak especially of those who have the advantages of a Divine revelation, and who have means therefore for knowing the mind and will of God. Those who have no means of knowing God cannot consciously blaspheme Him
1. The unregenerate heart may recognise the idea of God, and the duty of worship. The Israelites of the prophet’s time felt that they must worship some divinity. They must have a religion. But
2. The unregenerate heart, though it pretends to a religion, leaves out the true essentials of it. And what are these? A recognition of God’s supreme authority as a righteous Ruler, a Saviour from sin, and a Sanctifier. Such men are ready to “recognize the idea of God,” but under the pretence of a lofty philosophical religion they practically deny God’s authority, they destroy the foundations of all truth in belief and worship. Sinful man, even when he holds by some prime necessity of religion, is ever prone to exalt his own mind and will.
3. The unregenerate heart has a natural preference for a burdensome and difficult religion. Israel was not satisfied with worshipping God in His holy temple, but preferred travelling great distances and climbing the high hills. Man is ever ready to “do some great thing.” God’s way is too simple for him. There is something in human nature which is flattered by difficult demands.
III. The sin of blasphemy especially interferes with God’s gracious purposes for mankind. God chose His ancient people that through them all the families of the earth should be blessed. Salvation is of the Jews. Israel was becoming like the heathen, whereas it was God’s purpose that the heathen should become like Israel. Thus by their idolatry and even blasphemy, the chosen people were working against the gracious purposes of the Most High. All manner of blasphemy against God, whether arising from intellectual pride, or superstition, or will-worship hinders the progress of His kingdom.
(Eze_20:27)
“Have blasphemed Me.” The Hebrew word signifies, to revile with words, to reproach, and blaspheme. To blaspheme is to hurt the name or fame of any, and is a kind of evil speaking, derogating from the glory of God. God’s glory or name in itself is inviolable, but blasphemy doth what it can to violate it Blasphemy consists—
1. In attributing to God what is not congruous to Him. As to say. He is the author of sin; He sees not, He hath forsaken the earth (Eze_8:12); He is like unto man (Psa_50:21).
2. In detracting from Him what belongs unto Him. As to deny His providence, His omniscience, His omnipotence, as, “can He provide a table in the wilderness?” (Psa_78:19); If He should make windows in heaven could this thing be? (2Ki_7:2).
3. The doing of such things as cause God’s name to be blasphemed. As, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you.” As there is practical atheism, so there is practical blasphemy (Tit_1:16). “In that they have committed a trespass against Me.” The doubling of the word in the Hebrew notes the greatness of their sin, and progress in their wickedness. They sinned not ignorantly, or of common infirmity, but with a high hand. They spake against the true worship of God, and practised contrary thereunto. Wilful sinning is a reproaching of God, and provokes Him greatly. “They have committed a trespass against Me.” They have spoken against My worship, and run out to other ways which I forbade them. Other sins they have committed which I could have winked at, but when they sin wilfully, despising Me, My laws, My worship, they reproach, blaspheme, provoke Me so, that they shall hear of it. Son of man, go and speak to the house of Israel; go and tell them how they have dealt with Me, and how I take it. Such sins deserve death (Num_15:30). “The soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord.”The Hebrew word here rendered “reproacheth” is the same as that rendered “blasphemed” in Eze_20:27. For he that reproacheth the Lord blasphemes Him, and he that blasphemes Him reproacheth Him: they are joined together (2Ki_19:22). There was no mercy for those who sinned in that manner (Heb_10:26-27). Many commit such trespasses in these days, by speaking against providence, ordinances, Scriptures, angels, Christ, God himself; and so sin away mercy and their own souls at once. David prayed that God would keep him back from “presumptuous sins” (Psa_19:13); and we have need to do it, for there is that in our natures which carries us on strongly towards them. Solomon saith, “Happy is the man that feareth always; but he that hardeneth his heart”—that presumeth, that is wilful, pertinacious—“shall fall into mischief,” into mischievous sins, into mischievous judgments.—(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.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Israel’s Behavior In Canaan And The Lord’s Sentence
Israel’s Behavior In Canaan And The Lord’s Sentence
v. 27. Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, represented by the elders who had come to inquire of the Lord, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Yet in this, or, "In this again," your fathers have blasphemed Me, holding Him up to mockery and derision, in that they have committed a trespass against Me, becoming guilty of faithlessness and treachery.
Read full note →
v. 28. For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up Mine hand to give it to them, promising it to them by a solemn oath, then they saw every high hill and all the thick trees, places which were commonly devoted to idolatrous worship by the heathen, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering, for their sacrifices continually provoked the Lord to anger, since they were made contrary to His command and will; there also they made their sweet savor, said here of all burnt offerings, and poured out there their drink-offerings, thus including all bloody and unbloody sacrifices in their heathenish worship. This was the principal transgression of the entire people of Israel after they had reached the Land of Promise.
v. 29. Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah, that is, height, unto this day. In spite of the Lord’s remonstrance, Israel and Judah continued to regard the high places as places of worship, persisting in their idolatrous treachery to the very last.
v. 30. Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, namely, the generation then living, Thus saith the Lord God, Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? in being guilty of the same idolatry as that which brought God’s wrath upon Israel in the first centuries of its national existence. And commit ye whoredom, spiritual adultery, after their abominations?
v. 31. For when ye offer your gifts, as described above, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day; and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? whose representatives were even then sitting before the prophet. As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be enquired of by you, he would give them no hearing until they had done away with the wickedness which was now charged against them.
v. 32. And that which cometh into your mind, what they were now deliberately planning to do, shall not be at all, shall not come to pass, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, amalgamating with them in every respect, losing their identity as a separate people altogether, to serve wood and stone, and thus become the equal of the heathen also in this respect. It was an exclamation, partly of stubbornness, partly of despair, which they here uttered. Therefore the Lord gives them a fitting answer.
v. 33. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and with a stretched-out arm, by applying His almighty power, and with fury poured out will I rule over you, asserting His sovereign right over them in spite of their resistance;
v. 34. and I will bring you out from the people and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand and with a stretched-out arm and with fury poured out, so that they would have to acknowledge the rule of God, unwilling though they were.
v. 35. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, the spiritual wilderness which characterizes the great mass of the world, with its heathenism and wickedness, and there will I plead with you face to face, bringing the matter to an issue as in a court of law.
v. 36. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, upon the occasion of the giving of the Law, Deu 5:4, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. Cf Num 17:5-6.
v. 37. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, as a shepherd does with his sheep, in order to determine their number and thus to prepare their benefits, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant, His chastising having prepared the way to a true sorrow;
v. 38. and I will purge out from among you the rebels, those who persisted in their opposition to His guidance and rule, and them that transgress against Me, those who were guilty of apostasy and treachery; I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, the land of their exile, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel, not partake of the blessings of the Lord’s covenant; and ye shall know that I am the Lord, in His summary judgment upon the apostates. But now comes the Messianic promise to shed light into the intense darkness of faithlessness, rebellion, and idolatry.
v. 39. As for you, O house of Israel, those whom the Lord desires once more to gather as His Church, thus saith the Lord God, in an admonition calling them to repentance, not without a mixture of holy irony, Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, for open idolatry is better than hypocrisy, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto Me, since it is easier to deal with downright opponents of the truth than with such as are enmeshed in dead orthodoxy; but pollute ye My holy name no more with your gifts and with your idols, with hypocritical worship, with abominable sacrifices which they brought under the guise of true worship.
v. 40. For in Mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, in the Zion of the New Testament, there shall all the house of Israel, all those who belonged to the true, the spiritual Israel, all of them in the land, serve Me; there will I accept them, as His children by faith, and there will I require your offerings and the first-fruits of your oblations with all your holy things, that is, the worship which is done in spirit and in truth.
v. 41. I will accept you with your sweet savor, the believers themselves being a’ sweet odor in the nostrils of Jehovah with the incense of their faith, when I bring you out from the people and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered, this being used in general for the separation of the believers from the great mass of those who are enemies of God; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen, for the very existence of the Church of Christ serves to spread the glory of God’s holy name.
v. 42. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, Jehovah, the everlasting God of the covenant, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up Mine hand to give it to your fathers. The return of Israel to the Land of Promise after the Babylonian Exile was a guarantee of the greater and more wonderful restoration of God’s kingdom through the Messiah.
v. 43. And there shall ye remember your ways and all your doings wherein ye have been defiled, in true sorrow over their past wickedness; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed; for such is the nature of true repentance.
v. 44. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, the one and only true God, when I have wrought with you, in effecting their deliverance, for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God. That is the remarkable, the marvelous thing about the dealings of God with men, that He does not deal with us according as we have deserved, but according to his grace and mercy in Jesus Christ.
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 What is this high place where you bring offerings…
What is this high place where you bring offerings there?
Yahweh asks this question in order to rebuke the people. AT: "This is not a high place where you are to bring offerings!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
Read full note →
the name is called Bamah
The name "Bamah" means "high place," a place for worshiping idols. This can be stated in active form. AT: "people have called that place Bamah" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
blasphemy
betray
sacrifice
provoke
incense
drink offering
high place
name
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 20:27-31 Once in the Promised Land, Israel continued to…
20:27-31 Once in the Promised Land, Israel continued to blaspheme and betray the Lord. Their idolatry and wickedness continued to Ezekiel’s day. Such apostate people would receive no answer from the Lord.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.