Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
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Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
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And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
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And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 22:23 And the word of the LORD came…
Eze 22:23 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Ver. 23. And the word.] See Eze 18:1.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Here is, I. A general idea given of the…
Here is, I. A general idea given of the land of Israel, how well it deserved the judgments coming to destroy it and how much it needed these judgments to refine it. Let the prophet tell her plainly, "Thou art the land that is not cleansed, not refined as metal is, and therefore needest to be again put into the furnace. Means and methods of reformation have been ineffectual; thou art not rained upon in the day of indignation." This was one of the judgments which God brought upon them in the day of his wrath, he withheld the rain from them, Jer 14:4. Or, "When thou art under the tokens of God's displeasure, even in the day of indignation thou art not rained upon; thou hast not received instruction by the prophets, whose doctrine is said to descend as the rain." Or, "When thou art corrected thou art not cleansed; thy filth is not carried away as that in the streets is by a sweeping rain. Nay, though it be a day of indignation with thee, yet thy filthiness, which should be done away, has become more offensive, as that of a city is in dry weather, when it is not rained upon." Or, "Thou hast nothing to refresh and comfort thyself with in the day of indignation; thou art not rained upon by divine consolations." So the rich man in torment had not a drop of water, or rain, to cool his tongue.
II. A particular charge drawn up against the several orders and degrees of men among them, which shows that they had all helped to fill the measure of the nation's guilt, but none had done any thing towards the emptying of it; they are therefore all alike.
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1. They have every one corrupted his way, and those who should have been the brightest examples of virtue were ringleaders in iniquity and patterns of vice.
(1.) The prophets, who pretended to make known the mind of God to them, were not only deceivers, but devourers (Eze 22:25), and hardened them in their wickedness both by their preaching, wherein they promised them impunity and prosperity, and by their conversation, in which they were as profligate as any. There is a conspiracy of her prophets against God and religion, against the true prophets and all good men; they conspired together to be all in one song, as Ahab's prophets were, to assure them of peace in their sinful ways. Note, The unity which is found among pretenders to infallibility, and which they so much boast of, is only the result of a secret conspiracy against the truth. Satan is not divided against himself. The prophets are in conspiracy with the murderers and oppressors, to patronise and protect them in their wickedness, and justify what they did with their false prophecies, provided they may come in sharers with them in the profits of it. They are like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they thunder out threats against those whose ruin is aimed at, terrify them, or make them odious to the people, and so make themselves masters, [1.] Of their lives: They have devoured souls, have been accessory to the shedding of the blood of many an innocent person, and so have made many to become sorrowful widows who were comfortable wives. They have persecuted those to death who witnessed against their pretensions to prophecy and would not be imposed upon by their counterfeit commission. Or, They devoured souls by flattering sinners into a false peace and a vain hope, and seducing them into the paths of sin, which would be their eternal ruin. Note, Those who draw men to wickedness, and encourage them in it, are the devourers and murderers of their souls. [2.] Of their estates. When Naboth is slain they take possession of his vineyard; They have seized the treasure and precious things, as forfeited; some way or other they had of devouring the widows' houses, as the Pharisees, Mat 23:14. Or, They got this treasure, and all these precious things, as fees for false and flattering prophecies; for he that puts not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him, Mic 3:5. It was said with Jerusalem when such men as these passed for prophets.
(2.) The priests, who were teachers by office, and had the custody of the sacred things, and should have called the false prophets to account, were as bad as they, Eze 22:26. [1.] They violated the law of God, which they should have observed and taught others to observe. They made no conscience of the law of the priesthood, but openly broke it, and with contempt, as Hophni and Phinehas. They did what they had a mind, with an express non obstante - notwithstanding to the word of God. And how should those teach the people their duty who lived in contradiction to their own? [2.] They profaned God's holy things, about which they were to minister, and which they ought to have restrained others from the profanation of. They suffered those to eat of the holy things who were unqualified by the law. The table of the Lord was contemptible with them. By dealing in holy things with such unhallowed hands they did themselves profane them. [3.] They did not themselves put a difference, nor did they show the people how to put a difference, between the holy and profane, the clean and the unclean, according to the directions and distinctions of the law. They did not exclude those from God's courts who were excluded by the law, nor teach the people to observe the difference the law had made between food clean and unclean, between times and places holy and common; but they lived at large themselves and encouraged the people to do so too. [4.] They hid their eyes from God's sabbaths; they took no care about them; it was all one to them whether God's sabbaths were kept holy or no; they neither gave countenance to those who observed them nor check to those who profaned them, nor did they themselves show any regard to them or veneration for them. They winked at those who did servile works on that day, and looked another way when they should have inspected the behaviour of the people on sabbath days. God's sabbaths have such a beauty and glory put upon them by the divine institution as may command respect; but they hid their eyes from them and would not see that excellency in them. [5.] By all this God himself was profaned among them; his authority was slighted, his goodness made light of, and the highest affront and contempt imaginable were put upon his holiness. Note, The profanation of the honour of the scriptures, of sabbaths and sacred things, is a profanation of the honour of God himself, who is interested in them.
(3.) The princes, who should have interposed with their authority to redress these grievances, were as daring transgressors of the law as any (Eze 22:27): They are like wolves ravening the prey; for such is power without justice and goodness to direct it. All their business was to gratify, [1.] Their own pride and ambition, by making themselves arbitrary and formidable. [2.] Their own malice and revenge, by shedding blood and destroying souls, sacrificing to their cruelty all those that stood in their way or had in any thing disobliged them. [3.] Their own avarice; all they aim at is to get dishonest gain, by crushing and oppressing their subject. Lucri bonus est odor ex re qualibet. Rem, rem, quocunque modo rem - Sweet is the odour of gain, from whatever substance it ascends. Money, money, by fairness or by fraud, get money. But, though they had power sufficient to carry them on in their oppressive courses, yet how could they answer it both to their credit and to their consciences? We are told how (Eze 22:28): The prophets daubed them with untempered mortar, told them in God's name (horrid wickedness!) that there was no harm in what they did, that they might dispose of the lives and estates of their subjects as they pleased, and could do no wrong, nay, that in prosecuting such and such whom they had marked out they did God service; and thus they stopped the mouth of their consciences. They also justified what they did, to the people, nay, and magnified it as if it were all for the public good, and so saved their reputation, and kept their oppressed subjects from murmuring. Note, Daubing prophets are the great supporters of ravening princes, but will prove at last their great deceivers, for they daub with untempered mortar which will not hold, nor will the wall stand long that is built up with it. They pretend to be seers, but they see vanity; they pretend to be diviners, but they divine lies; they pretend a warrant from Heaven for what they say, and that it is all as true as gospel; they say, Thus saith the Lord God, but it is all a sham, for the Lord has not spoken any such thing.
(4.) The people that had any power in their hands learned of their princes to abuse it, Eze 22:29. Those that should have complained of the oppression of the subject, and have put in a claim of rights on behalf of the injured, that should have stood up for liberty and property, were themselves invaders of them: The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery. The rich oppress the poor, masters their servants, landlords their tenants, and even parents their own children; nay, the buyers and sellers will find some way to oppress one another. This is such a sin as, when it is national, is indeed a national judgment, and is threatened as such. Isa 3:5, The people shall be oppressed every one by his neighbour. It is an aggravation of the sin that they have vexed the poor and needy, whom they should have relieved, and have oppressed the stranger and deprived him of his right, to whom they ought to have been not only just, but kind. Thus was the apostasy universal and the disease epidemical.
2. There is none that appears as an intercessor for them (v. 30): I sought for a man among them that should stand in the gap, but I found none. Note, (1.) Sin makes a gap in the hedge of protection that is about a people at which good things run out from them and evil things pour in upon them, a gap by which God enters to destroy them. (2.) There is a way of standing in the gap, and making up the breach against the judgments of God, by repentance, and prayer, and reformation. Moses stood in the gap when he made intercession for Israel to turn away the wrath of God, Psa 106:23. (3.) When God is coming forth against a sinful people to destroy them he expects some to intercede for them, and enquires if there be but one that does; so much is it his desire and delight to show mercy. If there be but a man that stands in the gap, as Abraham for Sodom, he will discover him and be well pleased with him. (4.) It bodes ill to a people when judgments are breaking in upon them, and the spirit of prayer is restrained, so that not one is found that will either give them a good word or speak a good word for them. (5.) When it is so, what can be expected but utter ruin? Therefore have I poured out my indignation upon them (Eze 22:31), have given it full scope, that it may come upon them in a full stream; yet, whatever God's wrath inflicts upon a people, it is their own way that is therein recompensed upon their heads, and God deals with them no worse, but even much better, than their iniquity deserves.
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 And the word of the Lord came unto me,....…
And the word of the Lord came unto me,.... The word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum:
saying; as follows:
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 Her - The land of Israel. Not cleansed -…
Her - The land of Israel. Not cleansed - Though God's judgments have been as violent floods; and as hottest fires. Nor rained upon - Yet neither thy filth hath been carried away, nor thy dross melted out of thee. Therefore thou shalt be deprived of the rain, that should cool thy thirsty land.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The sixth word of judgment. The special sins of…
The sixth word of judgment. The special sins of princes, priests, and people.
Eze 22:26
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Violated - Better as in margin; to offer “violence” to the Law is to misinterpret it. It was the special office of the priests to keep up the distinction between “holy” and “unholy,” “clean” and “unclean” Lev 10:10.
Eze 22:28
See the marginal reference note.
Eze 22:30
The land might be said to perish for the lack of such interpositions as saved their forefathers when Moses “stood in the gap.” This was a proof of the general corruption, that there was not in the city sufficient righteousness to save it from utter destruction. Prince, prophet, priest, all fail.
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 From this verse to the end he shows the…
From this verse to the end he shows the general corruption of all ranks.
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 23. In another communication from Jehovah the whole land…
23. In another communication from Jehovah the whole land is shown to partake in Jerusalem’s guilt.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 23, 24. A fresh section opens, and the…
Vers. 23, 24. A fresh section opens, and the prophet addresses himself, not to Jerusalem only, but to the whole land. A land that is not cleansed. The words admit of the rendering, not shined upon, and this is adopted by Keil. The land is deprived at once of the sunshine and the rain. which are the conditions of fertility. The LXX gives "not mined upon," and so the two clauses are parallel and state the same fact. So Ewald. The Vulgate gives immunda, and this is followed both by the Authorized Version and the Revised Version. (comp. Isa_5:6; Amo_4:7)
Vers. 23-31. Common corruption of all classes. To complete the picture of the debasement and moral deterioration of Jerusalem, the prophet reviews the several classes of which the population of a great city is composed. He finds in every class signs of departure from God, signs of abandonment to the vices and crimes which prevailed among the heathen around.
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I THE PROPHETS, WHO SHOULD SPEAK GOD"S TRUTH, DECEIVE AND LIE, AND THUS MISLEAD THE PEOPLE. In what sense these worthless deceivers could have been called prophets, it is not easy to determine. Probably they were persons who pretended to this office, and who were deemed by their neighbors entitled to the appellation. But a prophet is one who speaks for God as his representative; and of all men deception on his part is reprehensible. Prophets are nothing if not true. Yet in how many cases have the multitude been misled by crafty, designing pretenders to Divine illumination! And not the multitude only, but even kings and commanders have too often given themselves over to the virtual dictation of men no better than soothsayers and diviners.
II THE PRIESTS, WHO SHOULD KEEP AND REVERENCE THE DIVINE LAW, VIOLATE AND PROFANE IT. The priesthood must be regarded as part of a system, the object of which was to maintain right relations between the Almighty Ruler and his chosen people. Themselves divinely instituted, they were peculiarly bound to observe every ordinance and regulation of Heaven. Yet these are the men whom the inspired prophet of the Lord denounces as doing violence to God"s Law, profaning holy things, as breaking down the distinction between clean and unclean a distinction which it was especially their office to maintain. How should they be clean who bear the vessels of the Lord! "Like priest, like people.
The moral degradation of the priesthood promoted the degeneration of the nation.
III THE PRINCES, WHO SHOULD PROTECT THEIR SUBJECTS AND PROMOTE THEIR WELFARE, RAVIN, SPOIL, AND DESTROY. Judah had been afflicted with a succession of monarchs who did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. The deeper the nation sank in poverty, humiliation, and despondency, the greater the opportunity for those in authority, by self-denial and sympathy, to improve the state of the nation. But the wretched rulers who found themselves in place and power appeared indifferent to everything except their own selfish interests, and did their worst to hasten and to complete the ruin which was manifestly so near.
IV THE PEOPLE, WHO SHOULD LIVE IN THE EXERCISE OF JUSTICE, SYMPATHY, AND CONCORD, OPPRESS AND ROB THEIR NEIGHBORS. National life may be, and is in many cases, an opportunity for the display of civic and social virtues. But the abuse of the best of institutions may make them evil. It is the spirit in which the life of the nation is lived which determines the condition of the people. Differences in power, intelligence, and wealth always have existed, and always will exist, in every community. But superiority ought to be regarded as a trust to be employed for the public good. Where it is used for purposes of oppression, especially for the oppression of the poor and the stranger, such a state of things is a sure presage of national downfall. "When all men live like brothers," a nation may defy a public enemy, a foreign foe. But suspicion and discord lay the axe at the root of the tree. Such being the state of Jerusalem and Judah, all classes striving together as it were for the nation"s ruin, no wonder that to the prophet the outlook appeared gloomy, and the day of retribution near at hand. "I sought," says Jehovah, "for a man among them, that should make up the fence, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. T.
Vers. 23-31. Highest rank among men not sought.
The development of human civilization demands an organized system. Men require to be classified according to their ability and fitness to contribute to the welfare of the whole. For the public benefit there must be ruler and subject, master and servant, teacher and taught, commander and army. Each, according to his office, has duties and obligations, the neglect of which brings instant loss and distant ruin.
I OFFICIAL RANK HAS DEFINITE RESPONSIBILITIES. We cannot hold any office nor possess any wealth without incurring corresponding obligation. There is force in the French proverb, "Noblesse oblige!" Although the sovereign may be above written law, it is only for expediency"s sake, and certainly he is under law, equally binding, though not expressed in words. Every person holding office of whatever sort or kind has undertaken a definite responsibility to protect or promote certain interests of the people. He may be responsible for social order, or for immunity against invaders, or for advancement of learning, or for development of wealth, or for the maintenance of religion. But some responsibility springs out of his office.
II HIGH RANK DOES NOT SECURE HIGH CHARACTER. Character may and does qualify for office; but official position does not generate moral character. High rank has special temptations and special perils. Rank is only a change of situation; office is simply a change of occupation. They involve changes only outside the man; they do not touch or purify his real self. A man may be an apostle, and yet be harboring a demon in his heart. A man may be a prophet, yet need himself to be taught.
III RANK HAS A CROWD OF IMITATORS AMONG INFERIOR ORDERS. Because the princes, priests, and prophets acted basely in Israel, therefore the "people of the land used oppression and exercised robbery" (Ver. 29). Vice is more contagious than fever. Rank gives artificial importance to its possessor, and exerts extensive influence either for evil or for good. As a monument attracts the notice of human eyes in proportion to the elevation on which it is raised, so according to the station in society a man occupies he will have more or fewer imitators. Wide influence is a perilous possession.
IV THE HIGHEST RANK IS NOT DESIRED AMONG MEN, "I sought for a man who should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none." Real and thorough reform is always unpopular. Men are often eager to reform their institutions or their laws, but always backward to reform themselves. A faithful prophet, who shall recall the people back to God, has always been a scarce man. Nor is this the only time in which God expressed his surprise that no intercessor for men could be found. Yet this is the noblest office any man can occupy. Its aim is the very loftiest. It brings man into companionship with God. Its fruits are permanent, yea, eternal. Alongside this order of service every other rank pales into insignificance. A mediator is a peerless man!
V THE INFLUENCE OF ONE MAN MAY BE ENORMOUS, Had one real man been found to reprove the people, restore religious worship, and plead with God, Israel might have been spared its overthrow. One man may save a nation or plunge it into perdition. Paul, on board ship, obtained the lives of all the crew. The intercession of Moses brought a deed of pardon for the Hebrew host. For David"s sake God conferred large favors on the nation. Luther"s firm faith brought deliverance both spiritual and temporal to all Europe. What one man can do no language can portray, imagination can scarce conceive. A man of wisdom, piety, and faith may quietly revolutionize the world. D.
Vers. 23-31. The universal prevalence of wickedness, and the consequent certainty of judgment.
the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed," etc.
I THE UNIVERSAL PREVALENCE OF WICKEDNESS. This is exhibited by Ezekiel:
1. In the absence of any effective correction thereof. "Thou art the land that is not cleansed." This refers to the moral condition of the people. The figure is viewed by some as a land that is not freed from noxious weeds, by others as not cleansed as metals are by the refiner"s fire. With either view the spiritual signification is the same. "Judaea had been oft cleansing," says Greenhill, "but was never thoroughly cleansed. Hezekiah and Josiah made the greatest cleansings, but all the sin was not purged out in their days; they took away the objects and mediums of sin, viz. the idols, images, groves, and high places, but the people continued wicked; they did not cleanse their hands nor hearts and turn to the Lord, but returned to their former and worse abominations, when those good kings were gone. The Lord had sent them many prophets, who dealt with them several ways to draw them to repentance Besides these things, God oft sent sweeping and fierce judgments amongst them, famine, sword, pestilence; and notwithstanding all these, they returned not to the Lord, but the land, that is, the people of it, did remain uncleansed, they were like a land wherein was nothing but weeds, nettles, briars, and thorns.
2. In its pernicious activity amongst all classes.
(1) The prophets. These should have been zealous by word and example in cleansing the land of its sins; but they were prominent in evil-doing. Several forms of this are mentioned by Ezekiel.
(a) Their guilty subservience to wicked rulers. "Her prophets have daubed for them i.e. the princes with untempered mortar," etc. (Ver. 28). The clauses of this verse have come under our notice already. (Eze_13:10, Eze_16:7 Eze_21:29) The princes were insatiably covetous, grossly dishonest, and ruthlessly cruel; and these false prophets who should have rebuked their wicked ness, countenanced their procedure, encouraged their practices, and assured them that their ways were approved by God.
(b) Their scandalous cupidity. "They take treasure and precious things" (Ver. 25). They extorted from the people their valued possessions as the price of their prophesying. They did not forcibly despoil them of their treasures, but they obtained them by arts and devices which disgraced the sacred office whose functions they bad assumed. "The dogs are greedy, they can never have enough; they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter". (Isa_56:11)
(c) Their grievous cruelty. "Like a roaring lion ravening the prey: they have devoured souls; they have made her widows many in the midst thereof" (per. 25). "The false prophets," says Hengstenberg, "rob the goods and devour the souls, in so far as they stand by to help forward the robbing and murdering acts of the great (Ver. 27), and sharpen not, but rather soothe their con science by saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Thus they are accomplices in the robbing and murdering course of the great, who have them in their ray. They deport themselves as smooth and peaceful men, and present themselves as men of tenderness, in contrast with the rough preachers of repentance, the true prophets; but when examined in the light they are thieves and murderers.
(d) Their shameful combination. "There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof." They were solemnly banded together for the accomplishment of their atrocious designs. They had entered into a compact to prophesy the same things, and "were careful not to contradict each other"s lies.
(2) The priests. Two principal charges are brought against them.
(a) Misinterpretation of God"s Law. "Her priests have done violence to my Law." "To violate the Law is to break it to offer violence to the Law is to misinterpret it." The latter is the charge which is here preferred against the priests. They perverted the holy Law to make it harmonize with the inclinations of a sinful people, and with their own wicked practices.
(b) Profanation of God"s institutions. "And have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and the common," etc. (Ver. 26). We have noticed God"s holy things in dealing with Ver. 8. "It was the special office of the priests to keep up the distinction between holy and unholy, clean and unclean," consecrated and common things (cf. Lev_10:10 Lev_22:1-13) They "should have instructed the people what meats were lawful for them, what not; what sacrifices were fit to be brought to the Lord, and what not; who were worthy, and who not, to eat of the holy things and to approach unto the holy God" (Greenhill). But this they had not done. "The law of the sabbath," as Hengstenberg remarks, "is given as an example. This they rob of its deep spiritual import, and limit it to the external rest, as if it were given for animals, and not for men who are to serve God in spirit" (cf. Ver. 8). By these doings they profaned God himself. "And I am profaned among them." The priests had degraded his infinitely holy and exalted character in the estimation of the people. (cf. Mal_1:6, Mal_1:7)
(3) The princes are charged with:
(a) Cupidity. They sought "to get dishonest gain." They had their own resources and revenues; but not content with these, they coveted other and larger resources, and resorted to oppression to obtain them, imposing burdensome taxes upon the people.
(b) Cruelty. "Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey; to shed blood," etc.. (Ver. 27; and cf. Vers. 6, 7; Zep_3:3) The covetousness of King Ahab led to the murder of Naboth the Jezreelite.
(4) The people. "The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery," etc. (Ver. 29). The prophet charges them with oppression by force and fraud. They deceived and cheated and robbed those whom they dared so to treat. And they thus injured those whom they should have protected, viz. "the poor and needy and the stronger." Frequently these were specially commended to the care of the Israelites; and God had taken them under his own special guardianship. (cf. Exo_22:21; Deu_10:18, 19 27:19; Psa_10:14 Psa_41:1 Psa_140:12 Psa_146:9; Pro_14:21; Zec_7:9, Zec_7:10) Moreover, it is inexpressibly mean to wrong those who are unable to defend themselves and their rights. Yet it is not to be wondered at that these things were done by the common people; for in so doing they trod in the footsteps of their guides and rulers. Thus amongst all classes wickedness in some of its worst forms was terribly prevalent.
3. In the fact that no one was found to keep back the destruction which it was bringing upon the land. "And I sought for a man among them that should make up the fence," etc.. (Ver. 30; of Isa_59:4; Jer_5:1; and see our homily on Eze_13:5) The Lord represents himself as looking solicitously and diligently for such a man, but finding none. "Jeremiah," says Hengstenberg, "by his powerful preaching of repentance, presented himself as such a public deliverer; but they despised him, and he could gain no position. The man alone is nothing. The position must be added, and the people must gather around him. One "against whom every man contends" cannot avert the judgment of God; he can only accelerate it.
II THE CONSEQUENT CERTAINTY OF JUDGMENT. When wickedness has become so flagrant and universally prevalent, and there is no one to stand between the guilty people and the approaching judgment, the execution of judgment is inevitable. Notice:
1. The dread severity of this judgment. "Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath" (Ver. 31). Words similar to these we have already noticed. (Ver. 22; Eze_21:31) The judgment is so certain that it is spoken of as already accomplished. And as to its severity, what a day is "the day of the indignation" of God! Who can even conceive the terrors of his indignation? or the dread intensity of his wrath?
2. The total absence of alleviations of this judgment. "Thou art a land that is not rained upon in the day of indignation" (Ver. 24); that is a land that in the outburst of the Divine judgment finds no grace; and simply, as the connection shows, because its impurity is not removed. The rain in the day of indignation would be a benefit. It would quench the flame of the Divine indignation (Hengstenberg). But such rain it will not have. The clause we are dealing with amounts to a declaration like this: "Thou shalt have no mercy when the fire of my wrath is kindled.
3. The retributiveness of this judgment. "Their own way have I brought upon their heads, saith the Lord God." This aspect of the Divine judgment has already engaged our attention more than once. (Eze_7:3, 4 9:10 16:43)
CONCLUSION. The whole subject is charged with most solemn warnings to the wicked, both as individuals and as communities or nations. W.J. (Psa_2:10-12; Isa_55:6, Isa_55:7)
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.—The corrupt condition of all ranks of the…
(Eze_22:23-31.)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—The corrupt condition of all ranks of the people as the immediate cause of the destruction of the kingdom.
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Eze_22:24. “Thou art the land that is not cleansed.” The priests, whose office it was to keep the land tree from moral and ceremonial defilement had neglected their duty (Lev_16:19). The whole land had become corrupt, but Jerusalem was to be regarded as a concentration of the iniquity of the whole land. “Nor rained upon in the day of indignation” Heb. “that hath not her rain.” The rain which was her proper portion which ought to have fallen upon her. By this rain is signified, the gentle, sanctifying showers of the prophetic word (Deu_32:2). The blame of this desolate state of things is imputed to the prophets who were utterers of vain speeches and lying visions (Eze_22:28). “A land that has no rain in the day of indignation, is a land that in the outburst of the divine judgment finds no grace, and simply, as the connection shows, because its impurity is not removed. The rain in the day of indignation would be a benefit. It would quench the flame of the divine indignation. To the indignation, the full energy of which is here called forth by the uncleanness, may be applied that which is said in the Song of Songs (Eze_8:7) of the fire of love. ‘Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the rivers drown it.’ ”—(Hengstenberg).
Eze_22:25. “A conspiracy of her prophets.” These professed to he the messengers of God, but they were conspiring against Him. They were His enemies, even as roaring lions are the enemies of their prey. “The false prophets are first singled out; on account of the greater influence which they exerted in seducing the people by their impious teachings. Not satisfied with each propagating error within his own sphere, they had formed a complot to oppose the messages of the servants of the Lord. Thus forming a powerful body, they resembled a roaring lion, tearing in pieces his prey. Unconcerned about the well are of the souls of whom they professedly had the cure, and intent only upon their own gain, they had occasioned the death of those who perished in the war with the Chaldeans, and thus increased the number of widows”—(Henderson.)
Eze_22:26 “Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned Mine holy things.” The priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and give it out as from a pure fountain (Mal_2:7). But these did violence to God’s law, both by breaking it themselves and making it void to others by false interpretations. “They have put no difference between the holy and profane.” The priests also knowingly admitted persons to God’s sacred ordinances, without any regard or discrimination as to their moral or spiritual fitness for partaking of them. They showed utter indifference to all moral distinctions—right and wrong, pure and impure. Upon them lies the woe pronounced upon those who call evil good, and good evil (Isa_5:20). “Have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths.” They neither observe the Sabbath themselves, and shut their eyes to the desecration of it by others. Thus they failed to carry out the chief command and reason of their office, which (as laid down by Moses) was “to teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord had spoken unto them.” (Lev_10:11). “The law of the Sabbath is given as an example. This they rob of its deep spiritual import, and limit it to the external rest, as if it were given for animals, and not for men, who are to serve God in spirit. Because they thus let down the commandments of God to the level of man, and make them minister to human inclination, God Himself is desecrated by them. “I am profaned among them.” In place of the dread and holy God, who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, appears a lax and sin-favouring god, who creates no one, and is glad if any one will only acknowledge him, and is thankful for every bow that is made to him”—(Hengstenberg).
Eze_22:27. “Her princes … like wolves ravening the prey.” The term “princes” is applied generally to all the political authorities and officials. These, in their rapacity are compared to wolves, which are noted for their fierceness and cruelty.
Eze_22:28. “Her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter.” “Them,” i.e., the princes. These were prophets who meddled with political matters, and upheld the princes in their iniquity. “The false prophets recur here once more, as abettors of the nobles, to whom they hold out deliverance, and thereby confirm them in their shameful course, instead of vehemently testifying against their sins, and setting before them the judgments of God. In Eze_13:10 we have an example of the manner in which the prophets daubed with this untempered mortar. The building of the wall by the people denotes the political activity whereby they sought to raise themselves up—the effort made by the coalition. The false prophets daubed this wall; they gave to the impious and the ungodly movement of the people, that was condemned by the word of the true prophets, the appearance of a higher sanction, and confirmed them in it. The wall is a spiritual one, and so the absurdity suits it as a spiritual mortar. The attempt to put, instead of the spiritual, a material mortar, has arisen only from the want of capacity in expositors to understand the interchange of figure and reality. Nothing can be more absurd than to announce safety to a people living in sin, and to promise success to counsels that are in open contradiction to the revealed counsels of God” (Hengstenberg). These false prophets assured the princes that the King of Babylon would not take Jerusalem, in direct contradiction to the Word of God.
Eze_22:29. “The people of the land.” “As placed here immediately after the classification of persons holding office, we are to understand the inhabitants generally without distinction of rank or office. Corruption had spread downwards through the whole mass of the community (Jer_5:1-4). They ‘vexed the poor and needy,’ they ‘oppressed the stranger wrongfully.’ So far from encouraging, by their kindness and holy example, those foreigners who sojourned among them to devote themselves in spirit and truth to the service of Jehovah, the Jews did everything that was calculated to alienate them from His worship.”—(Henderson.)
Eze_22:30. “I sought for a man among them … but I found none.” “Jeremiah, by his powerful preaching of repentance, presented himself as such a public deliverer; but they despised him, and he could gain no position. The man alone is nothing. The position must be added, and the people must gather around him.”—(Hengstenberg.) It was expressly forbidden to Jeremiah to intercede for them (Jer_11:14).
Eze_22:31. “Their own way have I recompensed upon their heads.” Thus the words of Eze_18:30 are fulfilled. They are punished for their own personal transgressions, and not for those of their fathers.
HOMILETICS
THE CORRUPTION OF THE NATION
I. It was spread through all ranks and classes.
1. Prophets. “They have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof” (Eze_22:25). They were the enemies of God and of the souls which He had made. By their lying prophecies they brought the judgment of the sword upon the city, so that she was rifled of her treasure and her widows were multiplied.
2. Priests. Her priests violated God’s law; not only by breaking it themselves, but by putting false interpretations on it for the purpose of their own selfish ends. They were ordained to promote holiness, but they put no difference between the holy and the profane, between the unclean and the clean. They destroyed the very foundations of religion and morality. They profaned the blessed ordinance of the sabbath, which God had given to men for rest and worship, and which was wonderfully suited to nourish the growth of religion by promoting serious thought and meditation (Eze_22:26).
3. Rulers. These no longer ruled by righteousness, but shed blood and destroyed souls to get dishonest gain. And the prophets were linked with them, upholding them in their iniquity (Eze_22:27-28).
4. People. These could not be expected to be better than their guides. There was not a man to be found among them to stand in the gap, and to save the land by his righteousness (Eze_22:30). We are reminded how when God sent His son, He was rejected by all these classes in succession,—by the religious teachers, then by the rulers, and, last of all, by the people.
II. We can trace the cause and progress of it. The prophets were utterers of lying visions and spurious oracles. Their object was only to flatter the civil authorities for their own selfish purposes. The priests had lost all sense of sacredness.
1. The decay of a nation’s life begins when false doctrines are promulgated. The history of the children of Israel was the history of religion. They were what they were because of certain doctrines and ordinances concerning God, and His service, and human duty. These were revealed to them from heaven. They were bound by solemn obligations to obey them. And God’s law is violated just as much by putting false interpretations upon it as by actual transgression. False doctrines are not immaterial. They are not mere errors of the head,—harmless speculations having no real influence upon life and duty. For it will be found that what is wrong in doctrine springs from the fountain of an evil heart. False doctrines are on the side of the passions. They are human inventions to justify the errors of heart and life. A right life must have right principles for its foundation. If we examine the errors of Popery, we find that they have their origin in corrupt human nature. They have an eye to political ascendancy, to the supremacy of a priestly class, to gain, to worldly ambitions, and to salve the consciences of men by easy and convenient methods of dealing with sin. True teaching concerning God and human duty can alone promote holiness of heart and life, which is the salt of nations to preserve them from corruption and decay.
2. The decay of a nation’s life also sets in when its rulers are no longer governed by conscience. When they set aside God’s law of righteousness, and are intent only upon dishonest gain, then they become oppressors of the poor and defenceless, and scruple not to shed innocent blood.
3. The decay of a nation’s life is imminent when priests become mere courtiers. When they flatter those in power, with the view only of advancing themselves. Corruptions of this kind soon followed when Rome embraced the Christian religion under Constantine, by which the clergy acquired political importance. The temptation to worldly ambition was strong, and they yielded to it. They sought to please princes in order to promote the temporal interests of the Church and their own wealth and grandeur. And when princes and priests are corrupted it is no marvel that the evil influence at length affects public opinion. When the reigning powers and public opinion are on the side of tyranny and wrong, corruption must find its way even to the seat of justice. Instead of equity we have caprice and irrational and unjust maxims and practices. And corruption in all these departments soon spreads into family life, and thus the last retreat of a nation’s strength and purity is invaded.
III. It brought sure judgment. The dire judgments which fell upon the people were inevitable. They happened by a moral necessity God had done everything for His vineyard that could be done in it, and there remained nothing more to be tried.
1. The ministry of the true prophets had failed. The people had been instructed and warned. When God’s teaching by the mouth of His holy prophets does no good, then have the people judged themselves. When Jerusalem killed the prophets, and stoned them that were sent unto her, then her house was left unto her desolate. “Your house,” said our Lord, as much as to say, My house no longer. They had profaned it, and God departed from His temple.
2. No righteous men were to be found amongst them (Eze_22:30). Abraham’s intercession for Sodom teaches us that the presence of a few righteous among a people stays the hand of justice. When those who fear God decline in a land, judgment is coming.
3. In these judgments God was treating them on their own terms. They had punishment in kind as well as in necessary degree. The priests had made no distinction between the holy and the profane. And thus, by their own admission, they were not “a holy nation.” Let it be so, then; let them be profaned by being treated as such. Holiness was the very reason of their existence as a nation, and wanting that, there remained only a looking for judgment. The foundation of their national privileges was thus destroyed. They profaned the sanctuary, and they were themselves profaned among the heathen. They despised God, and they were “lightly esteemed” (1Sa_2:30). “Their own way have I recompensed upon their heads saith the Lord God” (Eze_22:31).
(Eze_22:28)
1. There are prophets who will flatter wicked princes and rulers in their evil ways. The princes were ravening wolves, shed blood, destroyed souls, to get dishonest gain, and Jerusalem’s prophets daubed them with untempered mortar. They applauded their practices, justified their doings, and told them that God did approve of their ways. It was not the nobles, citizens, but the prophets of Jerusalem which did this. Princes and great ones want not false and lying prophets to bolster them up, and to bear them out in their vile and detestable courses. Ahab was a wicked king, and he had a multitude of flattering daubing prophets (2Ch_18:10-11). There were “flattering divinations” among the false prophets (Eze_12:24); and with these they bedaubed the wicked princes, and strengthened the hands of evil-doers (Jer_23:14). Flattery is evil in any, but worst of all in prophets, and especially when they have to do with wicked princes, whom they harden in their wickedness thereby, and ripen for destruction. Reproof is a precious balm (Psa_141:5); but flattery is a destructive net (Pro_29:5). Let the true prophets abhor it; and so speak the truth, that they may appeal to the consciences of great and small, as Paul doth (1Th_2:5).
2. What false prophets give out is unsavoury, and unsound, weak, and useless. It is untempered mortar: it may stick in men’s heads a little, to strengthen them to do wickedly; but it will not stick in their hearts, to strengthen them against the day of evil, and to justify their doings. What is there in vanity and lies which can establish? It is truth, and divine truth, which establisheth) (2Pe_1:19); the vain and lying imaginations of men, do deceive and disappoint. Pashur prophesied lies, the things of his own heart and spirit, which himself and others trusted in; but see how he and they who believed him, were deceived and disappointed (Jer_20:6). The scornful rulers which made lies their refuge, and hid themselves under falsehood saying, “the over-flowing scourge shall not come unto us” (Isa_28:14-15). But, see what the Lord saith (Eze_22:17). The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place. False prophecies, false opinions, false confidences are all untempered mortar.
3. The subtlety and impudence of false prophets makes way for their vanity and lies. They say, “thus saith the Lord God, “there is their cunning; and to make God author of their vanities and lies, there is their impudency. They knew that their dreams, visions, vanities, and lies would not take with princes or people if not presented unto them as from God. They did not only abuse men, but they greatly abused God. “They have belied the Lord” (Jer_5:12), and made that to be the word of God which was not; they walked in lies and strengthened the hands of evildoers; which provoked God so bitterly against them, that He saith He would “feed them with wormwood and make them drink the water of gall” (Jer_23:14-15). Many prophets amongst us have belied the Lord, in making some Scriptures speak that to maintain their opinions and tenets which never was the mind of God.—(Greenhill).
(Eze_22:30.)
1. God’s protection of them. He had a special care of them, being His Church and people, above all others; as the city Jerusalem had a wall about it (Neh_1:3), so God was a wall to the citizens thereof, “a wall of fire round about them” (Zec_2:5; Son_4:12). Lest any should hurt His vineyard, He kept it night and day, watched over it and preserved it.
2. Consider those things which God had given them to be a hedge or wall unto them.
(1.) Sound doctrine. This was a “hedge” to keep out all errors, corrupt and heathenish opinions, which they were in danger of, having the nations round about them. But God had given them good doctrine (Pro_4:2); right words (Psa_33:4); lively oracles (Act_7:38); faithful commands (Psa_119:86); sure testimonies (Psa_93:5); such as they were to try all doctrines and opinions by (Isa_8:20).
(2.) Pure worship. This was a hedge between them and the heathen (Deu_6:13-14). God had appointed them a pure way of worship, which hedged them in from all false ways of worship, from bringing in aught of their own or of others.
(3.) Good laws. No nation under heaven had such laws to be governed by as the Jews had, and those laws were hedges against all injustice; they might not wrong one another, nor strangers.
(4.) God had given them good prophets, priests, and princes. The prophets were to preserve the doctrine sound, the priests to keep the worship pure, and the princes to see justice impartially executed. Elijah, a good prophet, was the horsemen and chariot of Israel (2Ki_2:12; 2Ki_13:14); the priests were mediators between God and the people (Joe_2:17); the princes were the strength of the land (Pro_29:4). And more briefly, it was the covenant made between God and this people; He had promised to be their God and to protect them; they had promised to be His people, and to walk in His ways. But—
3. The “hedge” which God had given them was broken, and gaps were made in it.
(1). The doctrine was corrupted. There was much chaff mingled with the wheat (Jer_23:28); false prophets gave in that to be divine, which was from their own hearts and heads (Eze_13:2-3); they prophesied lies (Jer_14:14); the providence of God was denied, His justice and omnipresence (Eze_8:12; Eze_18:2; Eze_18:25). They taught the people to swear by a false God, even by Baal (Jer_12:16).
(2). The worship was greatly corrupted. The sanctuary was defiled with detestable things (Eze_5:11). They had brought images and idols into the temple (Ezekiel 8), they had high places and altars in every street (Ezekiel 16.) The statutes of Omri were kept, and the works of the house of Ahah (Mic_6:16); and the fear or worship of God was taught by the precepts of men (Isa_29:13).
(3). The laws were wrested and perverted, so that there was no justice. They abhor judgment, and pervert all equity (Mic_3:9). According to Isaiah, judgment was turned away backward, and justice stood afar off; they thrust them out of doors, out of their gates and cities, and when they pressed hard to come in there was no admission, the doors and gates were locked and bolted upon them, equity could not enter (Isa_59:14); only oppression was let in (Isa_5:7).
(4). The men who should have been as strong stakes to keep up the “hedge” were rotten. The prophets were “lions” (Jer_23:14); the priests corrupters and wicked (Lam_4:13); the princes were rebellious, and companions of thieves (Isa_1:23); and all of them make covenant with God (Eze_16:59).
4. How was the hedge to be made up?
(1.) In public opposing those corruptions which were crept in, and practised amongst them. When of old the Jews had broken down the “hedge” by making a calf, Moses appeared for God against this wickedess; he seized upon the calf, burnt it, and ground it into powder (Exodus 32). When the sons of Levi came to him, he commissioned them to slay the idolators; and this was the beginning of making up the breach. So when Josiah began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, the groves, images, and altars that were therein, then was the “hedge” making up which they had broken down (2Ch_34:3-4). In Nehemiah’s days, when the “hedge” was new-made about them, there were some who began to tread down the “hedge” and to make a “gap” therein, by doing unlawful things on the Lord’s day. The zeal of Nehemiah was kindled, so that he contended with the nobles of Judah, who countenanced them, and did violence to the Sabbath themselves (Neh_13:15-18).
(2.) In mourning for such breaches, and deprecating the wrath and judgments due for the same. Moses was affected much with what the people had done, and prays and intercedes for them (Exo_32:10). This act was standing in the breach, and making up the “hedge” (Psa_106:23); it kept out the fury of the Lord from breaking in upon them. The intercession of God’s servants is a strong “hedge” and wall to prevent judgments. Therefore, when the Lord was resolved upon the destruction of the Jews, He forbade Jeremiah to pray for them (Jer_7:16).
(3.) In putting things into their primitive condition. When Josiah caused the house of the Lord to be repaired, the covenant with God to be renewed, the law to be read, and the Passover to be kept according to the institution, and all things were brought to their primitive condition (2 Chronicles 34; 2 Chronicles 35), then was the “hedge” made up—then was there a man stood in the gap before the Lord. So, when Jehoshaphat brought back the people from false doctrine, and false worship, to the Lord God of their fathers, then was the “hedge” made up, and God protected them against their enemies.
5. None were found to make up the “hedge.” Were there not Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who interceded with God for this people? Were there not many that mourned for the abominations that were among them? (Jer_9:1; Jer_14:11; Eze_9:4; Eze_9:8). It is true Jeremiah did appear for God: he opposed the false prophets, the perverting of justice, the iniquities of priests, princes, and people; but they would not hearken to him (Jer_44:16). They sought to put him to death, and to cast him into prison. And three times God had forbidden him to pray for them. He could prevail with none of them towards making up the “hedge.” As for Ezekiel, he was in Babylon, and the Lord looked for a man amongst them in Jerusalem. “I looked for a man among them, “not among you. For the sighers and mourners that were in Jerusalem they did it in secret. They had not spirits to contradict the wicked prophets, priests, and princes; or, if they had, yet they saw there was no good to be done. The times were exceedingly and desperately wicked; a man was made an offender for a word, and a share was laid for him that reproved in the gate (Isa_29:21). It was an evil time, and the time for the prudent to keep silence (Amo_5:12-13). From this subject we learn—
(1) That sin makes breaches and gaps. Their sins brake down the hedge and made those gaps (Isa_30:13). Solomon’s sins made such a breach therein that ten tribes were rent therefrom and given to Jeroboam (1Ki_11:31). Sin made the breach between them and other nations, the breach between God and them. Sin makes breaches in churches (1Co_1:11-12), in cities (Luk_19:14), in families (Eze_16:38), in men’s names (Pro_6:33), in men’s estates (Deu_28:15-16), in men’s consciences (Mat_27:3-4; Pro_18:14; Pro_15:4), and between the chiefest friends (Pro_16:28). There are some sins which make such breaches as shake the foundations (Psa_82:5). The laws were their foundations, but the iniquity of the judges moved those foundations out of place, and the state was like a bowing wall and a tottering fence (Psa_62:3).
(2). When breaches and gaps are made by sin, the Lord lets in His judgments thereby. When they made breaches upon the worship, statutes, and Sabbaths of the Lord, He resolved to pour out his fury upon them and consume them (Isa_1:23-24). Such is the lesson of the parable (Isa_5:6).
(3). When the hedge is down, and gaps are made, the Lord looks for some one to appear, so as to prevent those judgments. “I sought for a man to make up the hedge,” &c. God expected that they should have repented, and some at least to have said, What have I done? God was displeased, and now He looked that one or other should have showed a public spirit, opposed the sinful practices, and deprecated judgments. He looks in all the gaps round about, and “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor” (Isa_59:16), none to meet God, to set upon Him by prayer and strong arguments to withhold His judgments.
(4) Making up the hedge, and standing in the gap, is the way to save a land from destruction. Let man oppose the sinful practices in a land and deprecate the judgments of God, then the Lord will spare a sinful nation, a guilty city (Jer_5:1) In such a case one man may do much. Moses stood in the gap, and diverted the wrath of God (Psa_106:22); Aaron, also (Num_16:47-48). We, through infinite mercy, have had some like Moses and Aaron, to make up our hedges, raise up our foundations, to stop some gaps; but all our gaps are not yet stopped. Are there not gaps in the hedge of doctrine? If it were not so, how came in such erroneous, blasphemous, and wild opinions amongst us? Are there not gaps in the worship of God? Do not many tread down all churches, all ordinances; yea, the very Scriptures? Are there not gaps in the hedge of justice, through which the bulls of Bashan enter, which oppress the poor, and crush the needy (Amo_4:1)? Are there not gaps in the hedge of love; is not that bond of perfection broken? Are there not gaps in the hedge of conscience? Is not the peace broken between God and your souls? Doth not Satan come in often at the gap and disturb you?
(5) In times of general corruption in Church and State, it is hard to find a man of public spirit to oppose those corruptions, and to wrestle with God for mercy. The Lord “sought for a man amongst them.” The judges and great ones did oppress the people, and none appeared publicly for them, to plead their cause and to reprove their oppressors. Many disliked the carriage of things, but they had no spirit to oppose; they were “not valiant for the truth,” as Jeremiah saith (Jer_9:3). God doth not say that there were “none,” but “none to help, none to uphold.” In common corruptions and calamities few have hearts to appear for the public good, against overspreading evils. Sinful prudence, or fear of crushing, makes them silent and lie hid (Ecc_4:1). The oppressions under the sun were great, the tears of the oppressed many, but there was no comforter, none pitied them, none used any means to relieve them (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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh tells Ezekiel to speak to Jerusalem.
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The word of Yahweh came
This is an idiom that is used to introduce something that God told his prophets or his people. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 3:16. AT: "Yahweh spoke this message" or "Yahweh spoke these words" (See: Idiom)
You are a land that has not been cleansed
This can be stated in active form. The word "land" here refers to Israel and to the people who live there. AT: "You are a land and a people that is unclean" (See: Active or Passive and Metonymy)
not been cleansed
A person who God considers spiritually unacceptable or defiled is spoken of as if the person were physically unclean. (See: Metaphor)
There is no rain on the day of wrath
Rain is used as an example of God's blessing. AT: "There is no blessing on the day of wrath" (See: Idiom)
There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst
The word "her" refers to Israel. AT: "The prophets within Israel plot conspiracies"
conspiracy
a secret plan made by two or more people to do something harmful or illegal
like a roaring lion tearing apart a victim. They consume life and take precious wealth
This compares the prophets of Israel to lions who attack and kill their victims. AT: "They kill people for they are like roaring lions who attack and kill their prey. They take peoples' precious wealth" (See: Simile)
they make many widows within her
The word "her" refers to Israel. They "make many widows" by killing married men. AT: "they make many women into widows by killing their husbands" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
clean
prophet
lions
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 22:23-24 The previous judgments on Jerusalem had not had…
22:23-24 The previous judgments on Jerusalem had not had a cleansing effect; Jerusalem remained polluted.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.