“ ‘ “Behold, therefore I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been within you. Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I will deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it. I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries. I will consume your filthiness out of you. You will be profaned in yourself, in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ”
Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the middle of the furnace. They are the dross of silver. Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the middle of Jerusalem. As they gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you. Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you will be melted in the middle of it. As silver is melted in the middle of the furnace, so you will be melted in the middle of it; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you.’ ”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20 In token of my wrath and vengeance.
In token of my wrath and vengeance.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv13–22 Eze 22:13 Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand…
Eze 22:13 Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.
Ver. 13. I have smitten my hand.] In token of utmost indignation, as Num 24:10.
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At thy dishonest gain which thou hast made.] The Jewish doctors observe, that, whereas twenty-four different abominations are here reckoned up, the destruction of the city is attributed chiefly to covetousness. Lycurgus foretold his Lacedaemonians that filthy lucre would be the overthrow of their city, and it proved so. {a} The same is reported of Constantinople, of Babylon, the seat of the great Caliph, taken and sacked by Haalon, brother to Mango the great Khan of Tartary, who starved to death the rich but wretched Caliph in the midst of his hoards; {b} 1ike as the Roman soldiers first slew Ruffinus, who affected to be co-emperor with Arcadius, and then cutting off his right hand, carried it up and down the city, crying out to the people, Date stipem viro avaritiae inexplebilis, {c} Give an alms to a man of insatiable covetousness.
{a} Plutarch.
{b} Turkish History.
{c} Paraei, Med. Hist. Profan.
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 vv13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 22 Behold; hear therefore, and mark, ye wicked Jews.
Behold; hear therefore, and mark, ye wicked Jews.
I have smitten mine hand, in testimony of my abhorrence of your ways, as threatening to punish you, and setting on the fierce Babylonian upon you to execute my just displeasure.
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At thy dishonest gain; thy covetousness, the root of all the evils in thee; thy cursed, unsatiable hunger for wealth.
Thy blood, which thou didst shed, that thou mightest then seize their estates; kill Naboths, and take possession.
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 On v17 The same melancholy string is still harped upon, and…
The same melancholy string is still harped upon, and various turns are given it, to make it affecting, that it may be influencing. The prophet must here show, or at least it is here shown him, that the whole house of Israel has become as dross and that as dross they shall be consumed. What David has said concerning the wicked ones of the world is here said concerning the wicked ones of the church, now that it is corrupt and degenerate (Psa 119:119): Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross.
I. See here how the wretched degeneracy of the house of Israel is described. That state, in David's and Solomon's time, had been a head of gold; when the kingdoms were divided it was as the arms of silver. But now, 1. It has degenerated into baser metal, of no value in comparison with what it formerly was: They are all brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, which some make to signify divers sorts of sinners among them. Their being brass denotes the impudence of some in their wickedness; they are brazen-faced, and cannot blush; their shoes had been iron and brass (Deu 33:25), but now their brow is so, Isa 48:4. Their being tin denotes the hypocritical profession of piety with which many of them cover their iniquity; they have a specious show, but no intrinsic worth. Their being iron denotes the cruel disposition of some, and their delight in war, according to the character of the iron age. Their being lead denotes their dulness, sottishness, and stupidity: though soft and pliable to evil, yet heavy and not movable to good. How has the gold become dross! How has the most fine gold changed! So is Jerusalem's degeneracy bewailed, Lam 4:1. Yet this is not the worst; these metals, though of less value, are yet of good use. But, 2. The house of Israel has become dross to me. So she is in God's account, whatever she is in her own and her neighbours' account. They were silver, but now they are even the dross of silver; the word signifies all the dirt, and rubbish, and worthless stuff, that are separated from the silver in the washing, melting, and refining of it. Note, Sinners, and especially degenerate professors, are in God's account as dross, vile, and contemptible, and of no account, as the evil figs which could not be eaten, they were so evil. They are useless and fit for nothing; of no consistency with themselves and no service to man.
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II. How the woeful destruction of this degenerate house of Israel is foretold. They are all gathered together in Jerusalem; thither people fled from all parts of the country as to a city of refuge, not only because it was a strong city, but because it was the holy city. Now God tells them that their flocking into Jerusalem, which they intended for their security, should be as the gathering of various sorts of metal into the furnace or crucible, to be melted down, and to have the dross separated from them. They are in the midst of Jerusalem, surrounded by the forces of the enemy; and, being thus enclosed, 1. The fire of God's wrath shall be kindled upon this furnace, and it shall be blown, to make it burn fiercely and strongly, Eze 22:20, Eze 22:21. God will gather them in his anger and fury. The blowing of the fire makes a great noise, so will the judgments of God upon Jerusalem. When God stirs up himself to execute judgments upon a provoking people, from the consideration of his own glory and the necessity of making some examples, then he may be said to blow the fire of his wrath against sin and sinners, to heat the furnace seven times hotter. 2. The several sorts of metal gathered in it shall be melted; by a complication of judgments, as by a raging fire, their constitution shall be dissolved, they shall lose all their former shape and strength, and shall be utterly unable to stand before the wrath of God. The various sorts of sinners shall be melted down together, and united in a common overthrow, as brass and lead in the same furnace, as trees are bound in bundles for the fire. They came together into Jerusalem as a place of defence, but God brought them together there as unto a place of execution. 3. God will leave them in the furnace (Eze 22:20): I will gather you into the furnace and will leave you there. When God brings his own people into the furnace he sits by them, as the refiner by his gold, to see that they be not continued there any longer than is fitting and needful; but he will bring these people into the furnace, as men throw dross into it, which they design shall be consumed, and therefore are in no care about it, but leave it there. Compare with this Hos 5:14, I will tear and go away. 4. Hereby the dross shall be wholly separated and the good metal purified, the impenitent shall be destroyed and the penitent reformed and fitted for deliverance. Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer, Pro 25:4. This judgment shall do that in the house of Israel for the doing of which other methods had been tried in vain, and reprobate silver shall they no more be called, Jer 6:30.
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 On vv13–22 Behold, therefore, I have smitten mine hand at thy…
Behold, therefore, I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made,.... As one amazed at it; or as filled with indignation against it; or as grieved and distressed at it; so Jarchi and Kimchi: or else as rejoicing at the punishment going to be inflicted on them for it. So the Septuagint renders it,
"I will bring my hand upon them;''
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and the Targum,
"behold, I will bring my vengeance upon thee for the sins of mammon, &c.
Jarchi and Kimchi observe from their Rabbins, that four and twenty sins are recited by Ezekiel; but the final sentence of punishment is for rapine or dishonest gain, which is the greatest evil of all, Ti1 6:10,
and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee; the innocent blood shed in the midst of her; not so much by thieves and cutthroats, as under a pretence of justice which was very abominable indeed; against which the Lord expresses just and strong resentment.
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 vv13, 14, 16, 18, 19 Smitten mine hand - In testimony of my abhorrence.
Smitten mine hand - In testimony of my abhorrence.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv16, 18, 19 Verse 16. Thou shalt know that I am the…
Verse 16. Thou shalt know that I am the Lord.] I shall so deal with and punish thee, that thou shalt be obliged to own the vindictive hand of a sin-avenging God.
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 vv13, 18 Eze 22:13-16. Therefore I have smitten my hand at…
Eze 22:13-16. Therefore I have smitten my hand at thy dishonest gain, &c. — Therefore I have expressed my indignation against thy avarice and unjust practices: I have called for punishment to come upon thee, and have animated and encouraged thy enemies to destroy thee. Can thy heart endure? — Will not thy heart fail thee when thou shalt fall into those calamities which I will certainly bring upon thee? And will consume thy filthiness out of thee — Will purge thee in the furnace of afflictions, and take that method to consume thy dross, and put an end to thy idolatrous practices. And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen — “Instead of being mine inheritance, and under my peculiar care and protection, thou shalt be cast out among the heathen, and there eat the fruit of thine own ways, and receive the just reward of thy wickedness.” The translation of this clause in the margin seems preferable: Thou shalt be profaned, that is, thou shalt no longer enjoy the privileges of a city called by my name, and set apart for my worship, but shalt be laid open as common ground to be profaned by infidels: compare Isa 47:6.
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 On vv16–17 Thou shalt take ... - Better as in the…
Thou shalt take ... - Better as in the margin. Thou shalt by thine own fault forfeit the privileges of a holy nation.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv13, 15, 16, 18 Hands, through surprise and sorrow. (Calmet) --- God wishes…
Hands, through surprise and sorrow. (Calmet) --- God wishes the sinner’s salvation, Genesis vi. 6. (Worthington)
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 vv13, 14, 15, 16, 18 smitten mine hand--in token of the indignant vengeance which…
smitten mine hand--in token of the indignant vengeance which I will execute on thee (see on Eze 21:17).
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 vv13, 15, 16, 18 13. Smitten mine hand at [or, in] — See…
13. Smitten mine hand at [or, in] — See note Eze_6:11. Yet perhaps this is not a clapping of the hands, but a striking of the hand upon the evil object.
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 vv13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22 13–22. The judgment on these vices
13–22. The judgment on these vices
13. smitten mine hand] clapped my hands, cf. Eze_21:14; Eze_21:17, Eze_6:11. The gesture is expressive of violent agitation, though the agitation may be due to different emotions—here disdain and dislike.
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 vv13, 16, 18, 19, 20 (13) Smitten mine hand.—See Note on Eze. Vi. 11,…
(13) Smitten mine hand.—See Note on Eze. Vi. 11, and comp. Eze_22:17 and Eze_22:13.
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 vv13, 14, 16, 17, 18 I have smitten my hand. The gesture, as in…
I have smitten my hand. The gesture, as in Eze_21:14, Eze_21:17, was one of indignant, and, as it were, impatient command.
Dishonest gain.
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I DISHONEST GAIN IS A COMMON SOURCE OF WEALTH. We set before our children, in their copy-books, the motto, "Honesty is the best policy;" but in the experience of life it is found that dishonesty is often a more successful worldly policy. Thieves fatten on their booty, and swindlers live in lordly palaces. There is not only the vulgar dishonesty that steals by direct robbery. We have our civilized and refined dishonesty a dishonesty which contrives to keep on the near side of the law, and yet is not the less real theft. The "sweater" is a thief. The promoter of bubble companies is a robber on a colossal scale. The breadth of the area embraced, the number of the dupes victimized, and the amount of the gain realized, do not destroy the guilt of the robbery; they heighten it. There was a certain frank daring about the old highwaymen which entitled them to the respect of those who condemned their lawlessness, in comparison with which the sneaking dishonesty of those who steal without risking their lives or liberties is a despicable cowardice.
II DISHONEST GAIN IS GOT BY MURDEROUS CRUELTY. In our text Ezekiel associates dishonest gain with blood-guiltiness. The thief is near to becoming a murderer; the burglar carries firearms. The immense growth of the custom of insuring the lives of young babies, together with the frightful extent of infant mortality, forces us to the conclusion that, either by neglect the crudest kind of murder or by the more merciful means of direct suffocation, numbers of children are yearly slaughtered by their parents for the sake of the paltry gain obtained from the insurance. We cannot say much of the old pagan habit of exposing children while this more vile, because more cunning and mercenary, crime is commonly committed in Christian England. It is the duty of all good citizens to be on the watch for cases of cruelty to children among their neighbors often practiced in the decent homes of thrifty folk. In other ways theft may mean murder slow murder of the most painful kind. The customer helps to murder the shopkeeper when he takes an unjust advantage of competition. He who steals a man"s livelihood virtually steals his life, for it is no credit to the thief that his victim may be saved from starvation by the charity of others.
III DISHONEST GAIN CALLS DOWN THE VENGEANCE OF HEAVEN. God has smitten his hand at it. Dishonesty can only appear the best policy for a season. In the long run the old proverb is certain to justify itself.
1. National dishonesty will bring vengeance on a nation. The English cotton-trade has suffered materially through the cheating custom of adding weight to goods shipped to the East by sizing the fabric. If trade with lower races is corrupt, unjust, and cruel, the wrong will be avenged either by the loss of the trade or in the hatred earned by the traders. The oppression of the poor in our midst by those who make dishonest gains in grinding down their employees will be assuredly avenged by some awful social revolution, unless the injustice is speedily atoned for by more fair treatment.
2. Private dishonesty will bring vengeance on the sinner. God sees and judges the man who enjoys dishonest gain. If he does not suffer on earth from the enmity he has stirred, this Dives will certainly not be carried with the Lazarus he oppressed to Abraham"s bosom. His gold will scorch him like fire in some dread hell.
Vers. 13-22. The dross in the furnace.
God"s mercy and kindness scarcely anywhere appear more manifest than in his method of dealing with his erring people, whom he subjects to chastening and discipline with the view of purging away their faults. The figure employed by Ezekiel in this passage occurs in other of the prophetic writings. There is some obscurity in his expression; for it seems as if, to convey the fullness of his meaning, he represents the people first as dross, and then as the metal from which the dross is burnt away. Perhaps his meaning is that the ore which is smelted contains a very large proportion of dross compared with the genuine metal.
I THE VALUE WHICH THE LORD ASSIGNS TO JUDAH. This is very qualified. There is, indeed, metal, whether more precious as silver or less so as iron. Yet there is much that is worthless; so that the Lord says, "Ye are all become dross." The inference is that, however there may be latent some possibility of good, this can only become actual after the subjection of it to much discipline.
II THE TREATMENT TO WHICH THE LORD SUBJECTS JUDAH. The ore is gathered, cast into the furnace, left there, to be blown upon by the blast of indignation, and subjected to the heat of the fire, until it be melted in the midst thereof. Through such a process must Judah pass before God could take pleasure therein. Siege, suffering, privation, pestilence, famine, decimation, captivity, reproach, mockery, such were the sufferings appointed for the people of Jerusalem. And, as a matter of fact and history, God did not spare Jerusalem favored though the city had been. He poured out his fury upon it, and for a time and for a purpose withheld from it his clemency and compassion.
III THE UTTER INCAPACITY AND HELPLESSNESS OF JUDAH TO RESIST OR TO ENDURE WHAT THE LORD APPOINTS. This is expressed very powerfully in Ver. 14, "Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee?" We are reminded of the inquiry, "Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner"s fire." The discipline of God"s justice is enough to overcome and break down the hard and obdurate hearts of men. They cannot accept it with equanimity. They must profit by it or be consumed by it.
IV THE PURPOSE OF THE LORD"S SEVERE TREATMENT OF JUDAH. Ammon was cast into the fire, to be consumed into smoke and to vanish away; Judah, in order to refinement and purification. The intention of Eternal Wisdom and Goodness was and ever is that the dross may be consumed in the furnace of affliction and trial, and thus that the pure metal may be brought forth fit for the use and for the pleasure of the Most High. T.
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 vv16, 18 Thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself.
Eze_22:16
Thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself.
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Inheritance in thyself
Man, as a moral being, cannot have happiness or misery independently of his inner life. Each man in some sense farms his own nature, and reaps the harvest planted by his own hands. Man is a wealthy proprietor. No lordly acres, no wide domain of forest land can ever equal the enclosure of his own heart.
I. In a human sense we take our inheritance in ourselves. Most certainly we are inheritors of our past human delinquencies, or of the joy of duties fulfilled. All other inheritances drop off from us; like gathered flowers they fade! These are rooted in our hearts. Men may blame us and be wrong, or praise us and be wrong! But our conscience is a true rest, and happy the man whose smile is as bright, whose voice as cheery, and whose step is as elastic, whether the world crowns him with garlands or stones him with scorn!
II. In a mental sense we take our inheritance in ourselves. Mind is a most productive soil. Tend it well, and do not hurry the crops, and there is nothing so wonderful in the universe of God. When you enter the British Museum, remember that from year to year every little and every large volume has to be received and registered there. What a registry it is, but it is nothing to the registry of the human brain! How easily it works, how quickly it shelves for future use the rarest thoughts, how wonderfully at call it brings the fact or the illustration, not by some stately messenger, but by the swift telegraphy of its own sensations.
III. In a moral sense we take our inheritance in ourselves.
1. How true it is of national life. Rome took her inheritance when, ceasing the virtues of simplicity, honour, and home life, she chose luxury, pleasure, and the pomp of war. Greece took her inheritance when, choosing philosophic disquisitions and sophistical debates, she darkened the moral sense by mere casuistry. Jerusalem took her inheritance when, forsaking the sublime simplicity and tender spirituality of her faith, she became rabbinical in her theology, inhuman in her neglect of the needy, and proud in the speciality of her privileges. In each ease the inheritance came: the military strength of the northern armies crushed the power of Rome; the enfeeblement of Epicureanism and refined libertinism seized upon the heart of Greece; and the pride, prejudice, and pernicious formalism of the Pharisees slew the soul of Hebrew piety.
2. We, too--each of us--take the inheritance in ourselves; the harvests of life are either tares or wheat, according to our past sowing. Nor does the Gospel of Jesus Christ interfere with this law. When we become Christians our past sins are forgiven us through the precious blood of Christ., but their influence on our after character and life growth is not hereby destroyed. Old habits, old pursuits, old readings, old companionships are not dead and forgotten in a day. They, too, still will be helping or hindering our progress in the Divine life, and elevating or depressing the spirituality of our minds.
IV. In all these aspects of life we mark the Divine fitness of things. If men tell us that we have no business to occupy our thoughts with moral fitnesses, that Gods yea is yea, and Gods nay is nay, whatever we may judge, we answer that God is more considerate than such critics, for He has condescended to appeal to us, that we may judge between Him and His vineyard; He has permitted the record of those early cries--This be far from Thee, Lord, to destroy the righteous with the wicked. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And he has sanctioned St. Pauls appeal not to every mans blind obedience, but to every mans conscience in the sight of God. Thus we can rest our arguments upon the unimpeachable bases of Scripture and conscience.
V. In the ministry of Christ we see this great fact recognised. The Divine Lord saw, as we never can, the hearts of men. He not only saw rich publicans and lowly Nazarenes, not only lordly Pharisees and impoverished Samaritans, but He saw the great heart burthens men were everywhere bearing.. Surely He was a Prophet, and more than a Prophet; for prophets came to warn and to condemn, to lift up the cry, Repent! repent! But this face was not like one of the old prophets. No! There were touches of tenderness in it such as they had not, womanly almost, yet weak. Out, out, they went to Christ. Surely the voice was strange, for great souls fill words with love as well as thought, and what would not the Divine soul do? Yes! they heard Jesus. Never man spake as He spake. And what was His theme? Ah! it is well that we know it. Come, ye inheritors of shame and woe and ill-gotten wealth, and long-repented lives of sensual sin! Come! you cannot lose your memories of life, you cannot cut off their influence on mind and heart; but the bitter, bitter inheritance of shame and agony and woe and guilt--you, even you, may lose all these! Listen to me: I am the Good Shepherd; the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
VI. In the future days the inheritance will work itself out. Yes! Thou shalt take it. As a pilgrim of eternity, you take the life burthen with you. He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; and he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. This is in exact harmony with moral law. (W. M. Statham.)
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 On v17 EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Jerusalem besieged by her enemies is the furnace…
(Eze_22:17-22.)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Jerusalem besieged by her enemies is the furnace in which God will refine His people Israel.
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Eze_22:17. “The word of the Lord came unto me.” “This second word of God rests, no doubt, upon the figure in Eze_22:15, of the uncleanness or dirt of sin; but it is not an exposition of the removal of the dirt as predicted there. For that was to be effected through the dispersion of Israel among the nations, whereas the word of God, from Eze_22:17 onwards, represents the siege awaiting Jerusalem as a melting process, through which God will separate the ‘silver ore contained in Israel from the baser metals mingled with it.”—(Keil.)
Eze_22:18. “The house of Israel is to Me become dross; all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.” Some kinds of silver ore contain a large amount of copper, iron, and lead, with other impurities. The inhabitants of Judea are described as a mass of the baser metals intermixed with the impure residue of silver. The good silver had been drained out of Judah by death or exile, and those who remained had altogether become a compound of wickedness.
Eze_22:20. “So will I gather you in Mine anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.” “The smelting is treated here simply as a figurative representation of punishment, and consequently the result of the smelting, namely, the refining of the silver by the removal of the baser ingredients, is not referred to any further, as is the case in Isa_1:22; Isa_1:25; Jer_6:27-30; Mal_3:2-3. This smelting process was experienced by Israel in the last siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans.”—(Keil). “In the spiritual department, the silver may become altogether dross. The furnace is Jerusalem, according to its destination to serve for a smelting pot. Dross of silver is silver that has become dross. They are all gathered into Jerusalem (Eze_22:19), as the people far and wide, under the pressure of the foe, seek refuge in the fortified city. In the whole section the judgment is regarded not in the light of purification, but in that of destruction, as Ezekiel usually considers the population of Jerusalem as an ungodly multitude doomed to be extirpated.”—(Hengstenberg).
Eze_22:22. “As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace.” “In modern metallurgy, lead is employed for the purpose of purifying silver from other mineral products. The alloy is mixed with lead exposed to fusion upon an earthen vessel, and submitted to a blast of air. By this means the dross is consumed. This process is called the cupelling operation, with which the description in Eze_22:18-22 accurately coincides. The vessel containing the alloy is surrounded by the fire, or placed in the midst of it, and the blowing is not applied to the fire but to the fused metals. And when this is done, nothing but the perfect metals, gold and silver, can resist the scorifying influence. In Jer_6:28-30, we have a perfect description of this process. If we take silver having the impurities in it described in the text, namely, iron, copper and tin, and mix it with lead, and place it in the fire upon a cupell, it soon melts; the lead will oxidize and form a thick, coarse crust upon the surface and thus consume away, but effecting no purifying influence. The alloy remains, if anything, worse than before. The silver is not refined because ‘the bellows were burned,’ there existed nothing to blow upon it.”—(Smith’s Dict. of the Bicle, art. “Lead”).
HOMILETICS
God has a threefold smelting furnace.
1. Of sin. In which one can become dross.
2. Of trial. In which furnace the silver is tested.
3. Of judgment. In which even the dross is consumed.—Lange.
1. Churches and states may degenerate from their preciousness and purity, into vileness and profaneness. “It was full of judgment, and righteousness lodged in it” (Isa_1:21-23), but instead of these, now there was oppression and murder. “Thy silver is become dross, thy wine is mixed with water.” Thy money is counterfeit, and thy wine corrupt. Whatever was pure in thee is now corrupted, the law is corrupted with false expositions, the worship is corrupted with idols and human traditions, justice is corrupted with bribery and cruel oppressions, chastity and sobriety are corrupted with lewd and unclean practices. Rome was once a golden city for her faith and holiness (Rom_1:8; Rom_16:19); but now is so corrupt in doctrine, worship, and manners, that she is become “the mother of harlots and abominations” (Rev_17:5). The Seven Churches were once golden candlesticks, but through their corruptions and weaknesses, they soon degenerated into dross.
2. Men professing godliness, and living ungodlily, are not acceptable to God, nor fit materials of a church. “The house of Israel is to Me become dross;” they profess My name, and so judge themselves good silver; but they live wickedly, and to Me they are no better than dross, than brass, tin, iron and lead, too base materials to make a temple for Me to dwell in, or a candlestick for Me to set a prophetical light in. Whatever profession they make, whatever parts or privileges they have, they are no silver, but the dross, the excrements of silver, which defile, disgrace the name, the Church, the ordinances of God, and must be separated from the gold and silver (2Co_6:17). Many that appear silver unto men will be found dross unto God. Hypocrites and wicked ones are dross; only hypocrites are the “dross of silver.”
3. The greatest part of professors, when they come to the trial, will be found corrupt and naught. “All they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace.” The furnace discovered them to be base metal. The number of sincere and silver-like Christians will be few.
4. Those who degenerate from God and His ways shall meet with fury and fire from the Lord (Eze_22:21). When the church of Ephesus decayed in her first love, that of Pergamos turned aside to the doctrines of Balaam and the Nicolaitanes, that of Thyatira to the teachings and seductions of Jezebel; when Sardis abated in her zeal, and Laodicea became lukewarm, the Lord threatened them severely, and at last brake the candlesticks, and put out the lights (Rev_2:3). God will put away all the wicked of the earth from Him like dross (Psa_119:119).
5. Melting and consuming judgments upon a people are the wrath of God, whoever be the executioners thereof. Nebuchadnezzar should besiege Jerusalem, and make it like a furnace to melt and consume the Jews, and this the Lord owns to be His doing (Eze_22:22). The enemies of Jerusalem were but the vials or vessels by which the fury of God was poured out.—(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 On v17 The Corruption of Judah inviting Destruction
The Corruption of Judah inviting Destruction
v. 17. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
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v. 18. Son of man, the house of Israel is to Me become dross, the refuse of the purer metals, thrown out as unfit for fine use; all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the furnace, all the baser metals, unfit for the divine Refiner’s purpose; they are even the dross of silver, full of impurity.
v. 19. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Because ye are all become dross, impure with idolatry and other wickedness, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem, heaped together like quartz in a furnace.
v. 20. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin into the midst of the furnace, the baser metals being mixed with the precious and the object being to separate them, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it, the process resulting in an almost pure extraction of the nobler metal, so will I gather you in Mine anger and in My fury, in carrying out the contemplated judgment upon Jerusalem and Judah, and I will leave you there and melt you. Note that the process of refining is not used in the figure, the smelting as such being a picture of the avenging wrath of God.
v. 21. Yea, I will gather you and blow upon you in the fire of My wrath, as silver alloyed with baser metals is submitted to a blast of air in the so-called cupeling process, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.
v. 22. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof, Judah experiencing this operation during the last siege of the city; and ye shall know that I, the Lord, have poured out My fury upon you. Having thus set forth the punishment upon Jerusalem, the Lord proceeds to show the corruptness of all classes of people in Judah.
v. 23. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
v. 24. Son of man, say unto her, namely, to Jerusalem and Judah, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, namely, from the weeds, briars, and thorns with which it is overgrown, or upon which the sun does not shine in due season, nor rained upon in the day of indignation, that is, from which the Lord withholds fruitfulness on account of its wickedness.
v. 25. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, self-appointed teachers and leaders as these false prophets were, like a roaring lion ravening the prey they have devoured souls, the fierceness and cruelty of their actions being in evidence throughout; they have taken the treasure and precious things, property and jewels in possession of the people; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof, for pious men were put to death by them.
v. 26. Her priests, who held the office of keepers and protectors of the Law, have violated My Law, since they did the very things from which they were supposed to keep the people by their warnings, and have profaned Mine holy things, by not observing them with the proper respect, Cf Zep 3:4; they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, Lev 10:10-11, that is, they calmly disregarded the ordinances of the Lord concerning these distinctions, and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, by neglecting the law of the Sabbath, and I am profaned among them, for all these acts detracted from the Lord’s glory.
v. 27. Her princes in the midst thereof, the leaders and chief protectors of the people, are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain, the civil rulers thus siding with the church powers in performing deeds of wickedness.
v. 28. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, Cf.Ezekiel 13:10, by flattering the people with false assurances of peace and safety, seeing vanity, unfounded promises of good, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken.
v. 29. The people of the land, following the bad example of their leaders, have used oppression, practicing extortion and violence in every form, and exercised robbery, either open or hidden, and have vexed the poor and needy, Cf.Ezekiel 18:7; yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully, in spite of the earnest warnings of the Lord concerning this practice, Exo 22:20-21; Deu 24:17.
v. 30. And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, building up a wall against these various acts of wickedness, and stand in the gap before Me for the land, to close up the breach and make intercession for Judah, that I should not destroy it; but I found none, the moral degeneration was such as to leave even the few righteous without the power to do anything.
v. 31. Therefore have I poured out Mine indignation upon them, as explained above; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath, in melting them in the furnace of His punishment; their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God, punishing them in exact agreement with their wicked deeds. It is this fact, that they themselves have brought the evil fate upon them, which will cause many wicked the greatest torment in the last great punishment.
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 On vv13, 17, 20 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues to speak to the people of Jerusalem by speaking directly to the city of Jerusalem as if it were a woman. (See: Apostrophe and Metonymy and Metaphor)
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With my hand I have struck
"I have shaken my fist against" or "I have clapped my hands against." This is a symbolic action that shows anger and disapproval. AT: "I have shown my anger and disapproval against" (See: Symbolic Action)
the bloodshed that is done in the midst of you
"the murder that people commit in you"
Will your heart stand, will your hands be strong on the days when I myself will deal with you?
Yahweh uses this rhetorical question to emphasize how hurt they will be when he punishes them. This question may be written as a statement. AT: "Your heart will not stand and your hands will not be strong on the days when I myself will deal with you." (See: Rhetorical Question)
Will your heart stand
Here the whole person is referred to by his "heart" to emphasize his emotions and will. Here the idea of "standing" is an idiom that means to be courageous. AT: "Will you stand" or "Will you be courageous" (See: Synecdoche and Idiom)
will your hands be strong
Here the whole person is referred to by his "hands." AT: "will you be strong" (See: Synecdoche)
So I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the lands
These two phrases mean basically the same thing. See how you translated a similar phrase in Ezekiel 12:15. AT: "So I will cause them to separate from each other and live in different nations"(See: Parallelism)
purge
remove something unwanted
uncleanness
A person who God considers spiritually unacceptable or defiled is spoken of as if the person were physically unclean. (See: Metaphor)
So you will become unclean 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. AT: "So the nations will consider you unclean" (See: Metaphor)
the nations
Here the "nations" refer to the people who live in those places. AT: "the people in other nations" (See: Metonymy)
know that I am Yahweh
When Yahweh says that people will know that he is Yahweh, he is implying that they will know that he is the one true God who has supreme authority and power. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 6:7. AT: "understand that I am Yahweh, the one true God" or "realize that I, Yahweh, have supreme power and authority" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
hand
know
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 On vv13, 16, 17 22:13-16 God expressed his wrath first in the angry…
22:13-16 God expressed his wrath first in the angry gesture of clapping his hands and then by pouring out judgment. The first judgment was that God would scatter the people of Judah among the nations to purge them of their wickedness.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.